As she walked up to the floor where all the fighter ships were, slightly pouting that she couldn't change Han's mind, Leia paused, unsure of which was happening in front of her.

There stood Winter, quietly talking to a space fighter, pale skinned and with bright blue eyes. He ran a hand through his short blonde hair as he spoke. Leia could sense that this fighter had strong, yet warm feelings towards Winter, though she didn't know if Winter understood, let alone shared those feelings.

Leia stepped forward, hoping to talk to Winter, thinking that she may know which ship was hers to pilot.

"Your father doesn't trust me," The pilot growled with contempt, his accent suggesting he was somewhat educated, "No wonder I was assigned the suicide formation."

"Well, I trust you, if that counts." Winter leaned in and touched his forearm, "that has to count, right?"

Leia didn't want to interrupt a seemingly tender moment between Winter and the seemingly off limits pilot, but noticing that Winter's touch was lingering, as though waiting for the pilot to acknowledge the feelings, she knew that her question was more pressing than a schoolgirls crush.

She walked forward, catching the attention of both the pilot and Winter. Winter turned quickly to the pilot, quietly bidding her goodbyes before giving him a peck on the cheek.

The pilot was surprised, yet annoyed: perhaps he didn't appreciate the kiss, or more likely, Leia's interruption.

As the pilot stomped away from them, Winter quickly walked up to her, a look of confusion on her face. "What's up?" she asked.

Leia pointed to where the pilot stood, "Everything okay there?"

Winter turned, meeting eyes with where she had been standing seconds before, turning back to Leia on her nonexistent heels. "His name is Tycho Celchu. He's going to be flying with you…"

Winter paused for a moment, crossing her arms as she did, "He recently jumped ship to join the rebellion. Father knew his parents back home…" Winter paused before adding, "they had different beliefs than Father."

Leia nodded before deciding to change the subject, "On that subject of flying um…"

Winter's eyes lit up. "Oh! Shit!" she covered her mouth. "I totally forgot."

She moved next to Leia, pointing it out to her, "Your ship is down that an away. Number AA-589. It's one of the best."

Leia looked at the one Winter pointed at, a distinctive starship, the S-foils making an X, thereby granting the nickname of X-wing.

"Ah okay, Thanks!" Leia looked at Winter, before realizing that while she was slightly out of place here, Winter was more so. "Hey Winter?"

"Yes, Leia?"

"What, um, are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be hiding somewhere in case everything goes to hell?"

Winter smiled at Leia, placing her hands behind her back. "I like you, Leia, you're honest in a world where others are not."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Father started this tradition during the Clone Wars, we called the morale tour. Father found battles seemed to go a lot better when he visited with the fighters before, talking with them, making them feel, you know, okay. Letting them know that people like Father cared for them. Sometimes we lost, sometimes we won. He's brought me along sometimes, usually to help boost morale. The fighters are usually very gruff, and they seemed to soften when they saw a little girl's smile. At least Father thought so."

Winter looked at the ground, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Cassian used to be a fighter pilot before Auntie Mon made him a spy. He'd sometimes tell me he'd capture a star for me during a run."

Winter looked up, a shy smile on her face coming from the memory. "I know, silly. But Cassian knew how to put a smile on my face."

"You and Cassian, were the two of you close?" Leia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Winter looked up at the ceiling, attempting to focus on something, anything really, in an attempt to keep herself from crying. "A lot of fighters here, they just see me as you know, as the Princess. The kid sister to everyone. Happy Winter, always a smile. Cassian saw me as just Winter. Father would have never approved. Mother would have, though. She just wanted me to be happy."

"Winter, I'm…"

"Don't be, Leia." Winter looked at Leia, her eyes staining red with tears. "Don't you ever be sorry. This is what the Rebellion is. Cassian knew this, Mother knew this. Luke knows this. But, you brought me back my brother, and at this point, that's all that matters now."

Leia looked up, seeing Luke, now dressed in white regal robes, almost an exact copy of the ones his Father wore, was being escorted by Dodonna, greeting fellow soldiers.

Winter grabbed Leia's forearm. "May the Force be with you, Leia."

Winter scampered off, likely before her brother had the chance to see her.

Leia watched as Luke caught sight of her, motioning with his hand, for Dodonna to stay behind him.

He approached her, his white cape gliding gracefully behind him. He looked different now: regal even. Leia appreciated seeing his face: unlike Han, who seemed to live to ruffle her feathers, Luke would never do that. She knew it had been only a day since she met the Prince, but she felt like she had known him her entire life. perhaps they were always destined to meet, for they were connected on some level.

Leia bowed when he approached, but this time he raised his hand to stop her as she approached. "Sorry, your highness, I-" Leia attempt to push out an apology but Luke stopped her, his black boots stopping and coming to attention just in front of her. "Please, Leia." He assured her, "There are no needs for formalities between us. I owe you my life and so much more."

"Yes, your Highness," Leia replied, not making eye contact with him.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Luke smile with a mixture of embarrassment and flattery. "Please, it's Luke. I wouldn't accept anything else from you."

"I know I should chuckle, but I don't feel like it. First-time nerves and everything." Leia lied.

"I sense that isn't the case, Leia. What's really wrong? Winter attempt to force you to make your hair have side buns?"

"No, it's…" Leia sighed, "It's Han. I mean, I kind of snapped at him earlier."

"I had heard." Luke pointed at his arm base, showing a small display screen filled with text, "I have my ears and eyes. You may know her as Winter."

Leia shook her head, not surprised at that at all. Luke titled her head at him. "But that's not it, is it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Leia nodded. "I just thought…maybe I could have changed his mind." She chuckled at that thought. "I know, it's dumb but…"

Luke slightly smiled as he shook his head, placing his arms on Leia's shoulders, rubbing them up and down. "Leia, Han is on a path completely separate from yours. He has to follow his like you have yours. No one is going to force him to do something he doesn't want to do, and you know that."

"You sound like Ben," Leia replied, her eyes half lowered, thinking of the Jedi, fighting for his life.

Luke smiled at the compliment. An oddly time fake cough came from Dodonna, who motioned with his head that it was time to go when Leia and Luke turned to look.

"I guess that's your cue then, Luke." Leia addressed Luke. Luke nodded, leaning in to kiss Leia at the corner of her cheek, in an almost brotherly fashion.

He smiled as he pulled away, but Leia grabbed his arm quickly. "Luke, there's something I need to ask." She said, surprised at the urgency in her voice.

"It's Ben, isn't it?" Leia was taken by surprise that he was seemingly able to answer that before she had the chance to ask that.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of the Jedi."

Luke smiled at her as he pulled away from her, silently thanking her once more, before walking away.

"Open Main Launch Tubes!" a man on the Loudspeaker announced. Leia walked quietly, running her hand against the X-wing as she walked underneath it, thinking of her Father. She wondered if he was still alive if he would be proud of her, following the apparently Skywalker family tradition.

"Hey Leia!" a voice called after her.

Leia looked confused as she turned behind. 'what now Han?' she thought.

Then, she saw…him. The voice did not belong to Han, but rather…. could it be? It was!

"Biggs!" she cried!

Of all the places in the galaxy, this is the one place where she would least suspect Biggs. A gentle reminder came to mind as she ran towards him, that he had confided in her that he had made plans of joining the Rebellion, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

She ran towards Biggs, capturing him in a hug. He swung her around, laughing with her at their reunion.

"I don't believe it!" he cried, placing her back on the ground, a big smile on his face. "How are ya?"

"Oh, Biggs!" Leia declared to her oldest friend, "It feels like an entire lifetime has passed since I last saw you!"

Biggs laughed before a serious look flashed across his face. "Wait, how did you get here?"

"It's a long story Biggs, one we don't have a lot of time," Leia told her friend, getting a sense of how pressing time was against them.

Biggs looked her up and down, a smirk on his face. "Boy, I'd love to see your Aunt Beru's face right about now, seeing you flying with the Rebels."

Leia couldn't help but grimace. "Yeh, I'll be right up there…with the Rebels…"

Biggs titled his head at her, amused at the state Leia was in. "Leia Skywalker, is your family in the dark about your jumping ship?"

Before Leia could answer, likely with a lie, a middle age man with curly brown hair, dressed for battle walked over to them, a serious look on his face. He nodded at Biggs.

"Darklighter."

Biggs nodded back. "Garven."

Garven looked Leia up and down, a curious smirk on his face as he did so. "so this is the Skywalker I've been hearing about."

He held out his hand towards Leia, which she took with a strong, firm grip. Just like Owen taught her. Garven, while he didn't say anything, gave a look that he was impressed by it.

"News travels fast around here Skywalker, so you can tell I was surprised when I got the word that a woman would be flying with us today."

"I'm guessing not a lot of women fly?" Leia asked.

Garven huffed, looking at Biggs as though it was just a joke to him. "On the contrary! Just usually in their own squadrons, but I guess Organa was desperate. No, I came down to see if you had been checked out on the Incom T-65. I don't want a rookie messing everything up."

"You have nothing to worry about Garven," Biggs butted in with an excited tone in his voice, "Leia is the best pilot in the Outer Rim Territory."

Garven looked at Leia, who gave him a confident smile, as though this made up achievement was something she bragged about like Han and his Kessel Run. Garven smirked.

"You know there was this kid that I flew missions with every once in a while during the Clone Wars. Skywalker, can't remember his first name for the life of me. We called him Pretty Boy when he wasn't looking, because he was very cocky, not unlike that smuggler fellow that delivered the Prince earlier. By Maker, he was a damn good pilot!" Garven patted Leia's shoulder with confidence.

"You'll do just fine Skywalker."

"Thank you, sir," Leia gave a half bow to him, "I'll try."

Garven nodded at Biggs before running off to his own ship. Once he was out of earshot, Leia walked up to Biggs, whispering, "What's the T-65?"

Biggs waved it off. "It's the training sim they usually put fresh meat through, see if you're going to be a fighter pilot or just a tech. Don't worry about it."

"Trust me, I had to fight off a few Tie Fighters to get here, I'm sure I can handle a few more," Leia told Biggs with all honesty.

"Oh man!" Biggs laughed as the two of them walked over to her ship, "Once this battle is over, you got to tell me how you jumped ship!"

Leia felt a strange sensation in her gut when he said this, but she ignored it, figuring it was just a bit of pre-battle nerves. "I told ya, I was gonna get off that sand pit someday, Biggs!"

"You did!" Biggs cheered, "This battle is nothing like the times we had, Leia. We're shooting stars, never going to stop for anyone!"