Thalassa awoke with such sudden movement that she fell from the garish thing you might call a bed. Her heart pounded against her chest as she fell to the floor. Still lost in the world of her dreams, her breaths came out short and quiet exhalations of terror followed. She snapped her head back and forth and scrambled back towards her bed. When she finally realized that she was locked in a cell and not on Scarif running across an endless beach towards her brother, she calmed down slightly.
The pain in her elbows from landing on the ground were suddenly apparent as she crawled back onto her bed. Curling herself into a fetal position looking at the wall, Thalassa felt tears filled her eyes. She shook her head and blinked them away. She didn't know how long she lay there, thinking about her brother, but it was long enough for her entire system to go numb. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her brother's face. Every time she breathed, his name passed her lips. Every thought, every beat of her heart, every movement of her lungs, it all reminded her or her brother. Yet, somehow, she still didn't believe he was dead. Her brain couldn't process the fact that she would never see Cassian again. She hardly noticed that she was a prisoner on a space ship.
No one ever came in to give her food. No one ever showed up to torture her. No one gave her any news. She had no idea how long she had been in that cell for. Sleep left her. It was impossible to keep her eyes closed for long. When her mind finally went numb from thinking about her brother for too long, she transferred her thoughts to the princess. The princess who she was supposed to befriend. The princess she was supposed to keep out of danger. The princess she was supposed to protect. It seemed she couldn't do anything right these days.
After her thoughts tired of her failures in protecting the princess, she started to think of Kael and Penelope. She wondered if they were worried about her. Did someone tell them that she and the Princess had been kidnapped? Penelope would kill her for getting herself kidnapped. Did they know that everyone on Scariff was dead? She imagined what their lives would be like if she never came back. They would get over her eventually. They would move on with their lives.
Just as she managed to close her eyes without seeing the beach on Scariff or her brother's face, the door to her cell opened. She rolled over on her side and standing there was the Princess.
Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was holding them back. Her body was stiff. Her lower lip quivered, but she tried to hide it from the man standing behind her. The officer shoved her forward into the cell and shut the door. Thalassa leaped from the bed and caught Leia before she fell.
As soon as she was in Thalassa's arms, Leia started to cry.
"Princess, what's happened?" She asked, holding her friend tight as she cried.
"They're monsters," she sobbed, clinging to Thalassa. Scowling, she pulled away from the Princess, cupping her tear stained face in her hands.
"What's happened?"
"Do you remember the space station that destroyed Scariff?" Leia asked. Images of a sandy beach exploding with a giant metal moon looming overhead flashed through Thalassa's mind. She nodded. "That's where we are now. We're on that station now. They've just used it again, but this time, it blew up the entire planet in second."
For a brief moment, Thalassa feared they had used it on Yavin 4, and that Kael and Penelope had been killed. She dropped her hands to her sides.
"Which planet was destroyed?" She asked. Leia lowered her head, sniffling. Her shoulders shook.
"Alderaan." Thalassa just barely heard what Leia had said. Guilt immediately struck Thalassa's heart. She had been too busy thinking about herself and didn't realize what might have made Leia so upset. Thalassa hugged her again, letting her cry.
"Leia, I'm so sorry," she whispered. She remembered what it was like to lose her parents, but this was different, she knew. Leia hadn't just lost her parents, she lost her home, her people. Anything that could help her move on was gone.
"I failed them," Leia muttered after pulling away from Thalassa. Thalassa offered her a small smile.
"No, you didn't. You did everything you could, yes?" Leia nodded. "They couldn't expect you to fight everyone in this station and win. You can carry on their legacy, Leia. We'll get out of here and we'll take down the Empire, together. We'll make them feel the same hurt we've felt. We will take everything they love from them, just like they took everything we love."
Her throat tightened, her thoughts once again on her brother. Leia took her hand and smiled.
"We will avenge the dead, Thalassa. Your parents, my parents, my people."
"Cassian."
"Everyone who died to get us the information we needed. Everyone who sacrificed their lives to taking down the Empire. We will avenge them like you said, together."
A fire burned in the young girls' hearts at that moment. Nothing would get in their way. They would be freed from this terrible place and they would watch the Empire burn.
But for now, they would sit and devise a plan of escape.
In their years together as children, they had developed a way of communication with each other that was silent. When they were kids in meetings who weren't supposed to disturb the adults, they found a way to talk to each other without words. In a series of taps against the other's hand, they could talk to each other secretly, hands under tables as they sat still and listened to other conversations. And now, sitting silently beside each other in their own personal prison, they scraped up what they could remember and began to tap out their plans of grandeur. 
Neither truly believed any of their plans would succeed, but hope still sparked inside their bones. Hope was all they needed. 
And soon, their hope would be worth it. 

Garbage chute? Thalassa asked, tapping Leia's ankle as they lay, pretending to sleep. 

Never suspect us there. Leia replied. Get out? Thinking. The girls were tired, if they were to be completely honest. They were tired of trying, tired of thinking. It had been no more than a day and a half, but they never slept for fear of something important happening that could signal their escape. Their brains were fried from all the insane ideas they had. 
How get in? Thalassa asked. Blaster? Leia really had no idea how they'd get in the garbage chute or how they'd get out, but the Troopers wouldn't shoot inside, would they? It was better than any of their other ideas. Someone's coming. Thalassa told her quickly and both girls shut their eyes tighter, trying to keep their breathing steady. Troopers didn't come by their room anymore, not even to give them food. Instead of opening the door, there was the sound of a blaster. Both girls snapped their eyes open as the door slid crudely open. As the smoke cleared, they sat upon, confused at the sight of the Stormtrooper standing completely with the gun. Out of new habit, Thalassa had her fingers on Leia's wrist. 
Short? And apparently Leia was thinking the same thing because, with her gull, she spoke to him. 
"Aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper?" She asked him. 
"What?" The Trooper asked. Thalassa had hardly ever heard one speak. "Oh." The Trooper took off his helmet and underneath wasn't at all what Thalassa had expected. He wasn't an old man with scars and wrinkles and dark eyes. No, he was a boy, with sandy blonde hair and young blue eyes. "The uniform. I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you." 
At the sound of rescue, Thalassa was ready to go with him without any other questions, but Leia was more quick witted than she was. 
"You're who?"
"I'm here to rescue you," Luke Skywalker said, stepping forward urgently. "I have your R2 unit. I'm here with Ben Kenobi." 
Thalassa's heart leaped in her chest. This boy was more than a rescuer, he was here with Ben Kenobi, the Ben Kenobi. 
"Ben Kenobi is here? Where is he?" Leia asked, dropping Thalassa's hand in her excitement. 
"Come one!" Luke beckoned the girls outside where there was an explosion and the sounds of blasters coming from every which way. As they exited, they ran into another man, a taller one with dark hair, and a Wookie. Thalassa had the privileged of knowing many Wookie's in her life time, but never one in battle mode and she had to admit that his teeth looked sharper up close. 
"Can't get out that way," the tall man said, firing his blaster at the Troopers in front of them. 
"Looks like you've managed to cut off our only escape route," Leia said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Thalassa looked around her, and her eyes fell on the garbage chute, just as the man turned to look at Leia. 
"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Highness," he snapped. Thalassa was surprised at his frankness. No one dared speak to Princess Leia with that kind of voice. Thalassa yelped quietly as a blaster bolt flew past her head. A hand lay on her shoulder, pushing her closer to the wall and away from the Troopers that were pressing in on them. Luke stood behind her, firing his blaster just as quickly as the other man was. Luke pulled out a comlink and started talking into it. 
"See-Threepio! See-threepio!" Threepio was here too? Who thought that was a good idea?
"Yes, sir?" The golden droid replied from the other side of the comlink. 
"We've been cut off!Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?" Threepio said something, but over the sound of the blasters, it was impossible to tell. "What was that?" 
Thalassa had never been in a situation like this, with blasters and explosions and so much death. She was used to dealing with the aftermath of fights like this, not being dead set in the middle. That's what Cassian is good at...was. That's what Cassian was good at. Thinking about Cassian at this time was not the best of ideas as tears started to form in her eyes. She shook them away, refusing to think about her brother at this moment. She would mourn once they were all safe. 
"There isn't any other way out," Luke said, finishing his conversation with Threepio as Thalassa managed to pull herself together. Thalassa looked back at the garbage chute again, remembering that it was there. 
"I can't hold them off forever! Now what?" The tall man asked. 
"Some rescue!" Leia growled. "When you came here didn't you plan an escape?" 
"He's the brains sweetheart," the tall men hissed back, nodding his head towards Luke. Leia turned to look at him and he smiled sheepishly. 
Thalassa grabbed Leia's hand, her heart pounding in her throat. 
Garbage chute. She tapped on Leia's wrist."Well, I didn't..." Luke started, but never finished before Leia grabbed his blaster and shot at the grate that covered the garbage chute. 
"What the hell are you doing?" The tall man asked. 
"Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute wise guy." Leia motioned for Thalassa to jump in, but Thalassa shook her head. 
"You first," she told the Princess quietly. Leia handed her the blaster and jumped into the chute. Thalassa's hands burned with the blaster in her hands. Her heart thudded. Cassian. Cassian. Cassian. 
She turned and shoved the gun into Luke's hands, not thinking about her brother, not thinking about Jyn, nothing thinking about K2. not thinking about Scariff, not thinking...
She dove feet first into the garbage chute right after the Wookin. Plugging her nose, Thalassa fell through the chute until it opened into the pit. The Wookie caught her before she hit the garbage and set her down gently. Leia wadded over to her and embraced her as Luke fell into the garbage after her. Luke saw the door and fired his blaster at it, but it was magnetically sealed and the bolt just bounced off the walls. Thalassa and Leia ducked and the Wookie growled. Just as the bolt died, Han fell in, hollering like a five-year-old. 
He stands and makes his way towards the hatch that Luke had just shot at and tried to open it, but it wouldn't move. He turned with a look that could match Leia's. 
"Oh, the garbage chute was a really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered! Let's get out of here," he pointed his blaster towards the door. "Out of the way."
"No wait!" All three of them yelled as he fired. The bolt once again bounced off the walls, narrowly missing Thalassa's head. She breathed a sigh of relief once it hit the garbage. Emotions ran high among her new companions. Apparently they weren't used to stressful situations.
"Would you forget it! I already tried it. It's magnetically sealed," Luke said, standing up. 
"Put that thing away! You're going to get us all killed!" Leia yelled at him. 
"Yelling won't help," Thalassa added, but her addition went unheard by everyone besides Luke, who looked at her with a a half smile. 
"Absolutely, Your Worship," the tall man said. "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here." Thalassa lowered her head, not wanting to say that it had been her idea originally. "You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us." 
"It could be worse," Leia told them all, her voice low and most definitely angry. 
A low, inhuman sound echoed through the room. The five glanced around at each other, unsure of what it was. 
"It's worse," the man said, looking around with his blaster ready. 
"There's something alive in here," Luke said, doing that same as the his partner. 
"That's you imagination, Kid," he replied, but he didn't sound so sure. 
Thalassa jumped away from Luke as something passed between them in the muck they stood in. 
"Something just moved past my leg! Did you see it?" Luke asked. Thalassa nodded.
"I saw it," she said. Leia and Han approached them slowly, but before they could reach them, Luke's legs were pulled out from underneath him and, with a cry, he fell into the water. 
"Luke!" All three of them cried out after him. They all splash the water around, hoping to find him. He resurfaces seconds later with some kid of snake creature wrapped around his neck. 
"Luke!"
Thalassa reached for his hands, but the creature brushed against her legs and she jumped back. 
"Grab this!" Leia yelled, offering a pole to help. 
"Blast it! My gun's jammed!" Luke croaked, pulling at the creature.
"Where?" The tall man asked. 
"Anywhere!"
As the man fired his weapon, Luke was pulled back under the water and all went still. 
"Luke? Luke!" Thalassa wadded through the water, hands in the muck searching for any sign of him. 
The walls began to shudder. Thalassa looked up from the water to see the walls moving inward, just a few inches. She stumbled backwards, away from the wall she was looking at. The Wookie howled in the corner. 
Behind her, Luke suddenly appears at the surface, the creature gone. He coughed and spluttered as Thalassa reached to help him up. 
"Grab him!" Leia said, but Thalassa didn't need to be told. She helped him stand up as he struggled to breathe. 
"What happened?" Thalassa asked.
"I don't know. It let go of me a disappeared," he told her. 
"I've got a bad feeling about this," the dark haired man said quietly as they watched the walls inch closer. 
"The walls are moving," Luke said in awe. 
"Yeah. It's kind of a problem," Thalassa replied. Leia started rummaging through the garbage. 
"Don't just stand there, try to brace it with something!" She commanded. Leia was good with commands. Thalassa and the others did the same as Leia, picking through the garbage looking for some way to stop the walls from moving in any further. As they did so, Luke remembered his comlink and tried to call Threepio, but there was no response. Leia was trying to get on top of some pole and the Wookie simply tried to push against the wall. By the time that Luke finally got a hold of Threepio, the walls were a mere two feet apart and closing in rapidly. Thalassa wasn't a fan f small spaces, never had been. Her heart started to pound again and her breath caught in her lungs. She was going to see Cassian sooner than she thought. 
But then it all stopped. The walls stopped getting closer, the weight of pounds and pounds of garbage lifted, and Thalassa could breathe again. Laughter broke out among them and joyous cries as the walls started to return to their place. Luke put his arm around Thalassa's shoulders as he told Threepio they were okay and asked him to open the door.Lifting her skirts, Thalassa wadded out of the room after Leia and into a musty, unused hallway. The two guys stripped of their Stormtrooper outfits as Thalassa helped fix Leia's hair. "Who are you, anyway?" The tall man asked. Thalassa didn't realize he was talking to her until no one responded. She looked away from Leia's hair and towards him. Luke was also standing there, looking curious. "I'm the the Rebellion. A Healer.""That's helpful," the man said with the roll of his eyes. Thalassa glared at the back of his head. "Ignore Han. What's your name?" Luke asked. "Thalassa. And she's-""The Princess. Princess Leia," Luke said with a small smile. "I know."Thalassa nodded. "Can you shoot a blaster, Healer?" Han asked, shoving Luke's blaster into his hands and offering her one of her own. "If I need to." She didn't want to. Guns reminded her of Cassian. Cassian loved guns. "Well, you'll need to," Han said, tossing a spare blaster towards her. Thalassa caught it and eyed it uncertainty."You okay?" Leia asked quietly. Thalassa nodded and gave her a smile. "Of course. You?" "Never better." "Now," Han said as they started down the hallway, "If we can avoid any more female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here." 

***

Haha, this is awkward. It's only been a million years since I updated, but I have good reason. I've been super duper busy but also because I've been really struggling with my confidence in writing, which isn't any of your faults, I just have to deal with it. 

Hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently now that I've crossed over from Rogue One to A New Hope more fluidly. I don't think this story is going to be super long, since I probably only have two more New Hope chapters and then a few Empire Strikes back and some Revenge of the Sith. I might do the sequel trilogy but since only the Force Awakens has come out, I don't know how that would work. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you'll enjoy the next. 

with love,

authorsbane