A young woman stood alone on the docking bay of Yavin 4. The wind whipped through her dark hair, but she stood tall and still, as if the wind did nothing to her. Her thoughts weren't on the sharp wind or the piercing cold, but on her brother. She chewed on her thumb nail, watching the sky, almost hoping that the ship that had just taken off would touch back down.
"Be careful," she had told him, as she always did when he left on a mission. She held him close to her, not wanting to let go of him, not wanting to let him out of her sight.
"Don't worry, little sister, I'm always careful," he had told her in response, a small smirk on his face. She wasn't in the mood for smirking. She took his face in her hands and forced him to look her in the eyes.
"Come back to me."
"When do I not?"
"Promise me you'll come back. Promise me you'll always come back to me," she said to him, her tone hard, demanding.
"You spend too much time with that Princess, you're starting to sound like her."
"Cassian, I'm serious."
"I know, little sister. I promise I'll never leave you." She put her arms around his neck again and let him climb aboard the ship.
"Watch out for him, K2," she called, "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Understood, ma'am. But you know the chance of him-"
"Yes, K2, I know. Just stop him before he does it, please?"
"Yes, ma'am." Before the door closeed, she caught the eye of Jyn Erso, the daughter of the imperial. Jyn nodded, as if agreeing to do the same.
Now they were gone, and the feeling in her gut was still the same.
"Please come back to me," she whispered to the sky.
"Ma'am?" She turned and looked into the eyes of her medical droid.
"Yes, S2?"
"A large haul of injured soldiers are on their way in. They need you in the Medical Bay," the 2-1B droid said.
"Of course." She straigtened herself out. "I'm right behind you."

"Thalassa, are you listening to me?"
"Hmm?"
"Of course you're not listening to me." Thalassa's best friend, Kael Sisk, sighed and shoved another piece of egg into his mouth.
"I'm sorry Kael. I'm just-"
"Worried about your brother, I know. When are you not? It's okay though, I understand. It scares the crap outta me every time Penelope goes out to do whatever it is that she does."
"Penelope's a big girl, she doesn't need you to worry about her," said the girl named Penelope from beside Kael.
"It's weird to talk about yourself in the third person, Pen," Kael said.
"Whatever, cousin." Penelope shoveled her breakfast into her mouth. "Cassian's gonna be okay, Lass. He's always come back before. What's different now?"
"I dunno. I just...I dunno."
"S2's coming," Kael said, nodding towards the droid. Thalassa turned towards the droid and smiled.
"Morning, S2. How're you?"
"The same as usual, Ma'am. They need you and Mr. Sisk in the medical bay, one of the soldiers is having an issue." Thalassa and Kael stood quickly.
"Finish my breakfast, Cos," he said to Penelope, who complied happily.
Thalassa and Kael shuffled along the halls behind S2.
"What kinds of issues?" Thalassa asked.
"He is panicing. I diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder yesterday and I do believe he is remembering something unpleasent," the droid said. Thalassa nodded.
"That's easier to deal with that someone going into caridac arrest. What's his name?"
"Venure. Solomon Venure."
"And where was he stationed?"
"Hoth. They were attacked by Imperials and some other natives. His whole squadron was killed. I fixed him up yesterday while you were busy with the others."
"Alright. S2, Kael, you wait out here. I can deal with this," Thalassa instructed as they came upon the Medical Bay. S2 froze where he was, but Kael did not.
"Kael, I know you want to help, but when dealing people with PTSD, the fewer the people in the room, the better. Now, please, wait out here. I can handle this." After staring at Thalassa for a few moments, Kael nodded and stepped back. Thalassa waved her card in front of the scanner and stepped through the door. As soon as she did, she could hear the man screaming.
"Miss Andor!" A 2-1B droid walked over.
"Where is he?"
"Follow me."
The 2-1B droid showed Thalassa to the room where Solomon Venure was being kept. When they arrived, Thalassa found him on the ground, his wound torn open, soaking his medical shirt in blood. He was screaming as if some invisible force was killing him right in front of her own eyes. He held his hands up as if to protect himself. Thalassa could make out names of people she knew were Alliance soldiers who were now dead. She sucked in a deep breath before opening the door. She took short steps forward.
"Solomon," she said slowly. He turned to her and screamed.
"Please don't hurt me!" He begged, tears rolling down his cheeks. Thalassa lowered herself to the ground, her hands near her head. With tentative steps, she moved towards him.
"Solomon, I'm not going to hurt you. Listen to my voice. You know me. I helped you last year, remember?" Solomon moved further away from her, but he stopped screaming. He whimpered, the tears still fresh in his eyes.
"No, no, don't hurt me, please. Let my friends live."
"I would never hurt you." She took another small step.
"Don't!" He threw his hands up in the air and turned his face away.
"Okay, okay. I won't come any closer." She stayed as still as she could and waited for Solomon to look back at her. "Solomon, your wound has reopened. I need you to let me look at it. It might get infected. If we leave it open, you will bleed out and I won't be able to save you. Let me help you."
"It's so cold," he muttered, "So cold." He started to cry again.
"My friends. They're all dead. All dead. All dead in the cold. I'm so alone. So alone. Alone in the cold."
"You're not alone, Solomon. I'm right here." She reached out her hand. "Take my hand, let me help you. You're not alone, not anymore. You're safe. You're home."
"It's all my fault." His sobs tore through Thalassa's heart.
"I know what you're feeling. I know what it's like to lose people you love, to feel hopeless."
"How?" He shouted, his eyes turning angry. He stared at her with fire in his eyes for only a few seconds before the fire died and it he was swallowed whole with dispair. "How can you know wht this is like?" He groaned, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Thalassa noticed that the blood had started to drip on to the floor. She bit her lip.
"My family was killed by Stormtroopers. Only my brother and I survived. I was only three. I don't even remember what my parents looked like, or the name of my older sister. All I know of them, I know from the memory of my older brother, who was only six and remembered hardly more than I. Solomon, I understand. Listen to me, you're going to get through this. I know it really sucks right about now, but I need you to lt me help you. You're wound hass reopned. I must fix it. I need you to trust me." She offered her hand again. "Trust me."
Solomon stared at her hand, each seconds lasting as long as a lifetime. She nodded, a small smile spread across her lips. He reached his hand out to grab her. She let out a sigh of relief. She helped him back onto the bed. She turned her head towards the window where Kael, S2, and the other 2-1B droid stood watching her. Kael nodded, a proud look on his face, his arms crossed over his chest. Thalassa smiled at him.
"Let's get you fixed up, Solomon."

"It's been a long day," Thalassa said, falling backwards on to her bed.
"Tell me about it," Kael groaned, following suite. She turned her head to loo at him.
"Where;d Penelope go?"
"She had a mission or something. I don't know. She just ran off."
"Sounds like Penelope." Thalassa looked up at the cieling of her room.
"Solomon's wife visited me during dinner," she told Kael. He rolled onto his side.
"What did she say?"
"She thanked me for helping her husband. I told her that she's going to have to be very careful with him."
"Did she say anything else?"
"She said that her son would be very happy to hear that his father is alive."
"That's good."
Thalassa was silent, looking at the baige colour above her head, thoughts floating about in her mind.
"Isn't it?"
"Sure, it's a good thing, Kael. But what if I couldn't save him? What if he died in there? The wife would be distraught and the son would grow up with out a father. How awful is that? Can you imagine?"
"I bet you could imagine what that's like."
"This is different though. I didn't really know my family. If Penelope died, you'd be able to remember what she looked like, what her voice was like, the kind of person she was. I knew nothing about my parents or my sister." She fell quiet again, but Kael knew not to speak. "I hate war. I just want it to be over."
"We all do, Lass."
"I know, I know. We've all lost so much to it, put so much into it. I'm afriad of who I'll be when the war is over. And Penelope and Cassian. They're fighters, soldiers. If the war is over, what will they become?"
"Honestly, Lass, I don't think they'll be anything but dead when this war is over."
Almost shocked, Thalassa turned back towards her friend.
"What do you mean?"
"They're soldiers, like you said. They're not immortal, nor are they invinsable. They're no better than any other soldier who's died. They're no different. This war will be the death of us all."
Niether Kael nor Thalassa had anything to say after that. Kael rolled onto his back. Thalassa tucked her head into his shoulder, holding her hands close to her chest. Kael kissed the top of her head and muttered a quiet 'goodnight'. Thalassa didn't know how much time had passed when Kael's breathing told her that he had fallen asleep, but she knew that she could hardly keep her eyes shut. There was no way she was getting any sleep after that.

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So, there's not a whole lot of Star Wars canon stuff here, but there will be more next chapter. This was basically an intro to Thalassa, Kael, and Penelope. There wasn't a lot of Penelope, but there will be more. I do ope you're enjoying yourselves. :)
Please notify me of canon errors, spelling errors, grammatical errors, or puncuation errors. Basically, please just let me know if there's anything wrong and I'll fix it as soon as possible.
I relly appreciate all of you for reading this story. It means so much to me. Thank you for your votes, comments, and reads. It makes me extremely happy.
Have a great day (or night), and may the force be with you.

authorsbane