The bridge was unraveling.
Flames licked along the edges of the cracked ceiling. Console lights stuttered and died one by one. The red emergency beacons pulsed like a warning heart that was slowing, dimming.
The blast doors of the bridge were still open.
And the sound of boots was getting louder.
Not hurried. Not wild.
They marched.
Heavy, synced, perfectly timed—like war given form.
Leia stood just to the right of the command terminal, hand braced on the edge of the console. Her heavy chest rose and fell, sharp and quiet. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat, as sparks fell like snow.
She had given the order, she had already sent Kael to the pod bay, and now she just had to reach him.
And she'd hoped—by the stars, she'd hoped—to steer the ship closer to the far side of the planet. To buy more time. To land closer to the rendezvous point.
But the moment had passed. The ship was lost, it was barely moving anymore. Thinking of it her throat tightened.
Then a shout came from down the long corridor to the bridge.
> "They're coming! They're almost here!"
A rebel—bloodied, limping—rushed down the corridor leading to the bridge. His voice cracked with exhaustion as he yelled in desperation.
> "Seal the doors! Seal the fucking doo—"
He didn't finish.
A red bolt lanced through his spine. The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him sprawling, hard against the wall, limbs limp.
Leia's eyes went wide.
Just beyond his falling body, the enemy arrived.
They came from behind the corner, a solid wall of stormtroopers.
Six across. Shields up. Formation tight. Like a gliding wall of bone-white armor and black visors, they advanced without sound. Behind them came the support troopers, already firing over their shoulders—precise, mechanical bursts of red death.
Immediately in response the bridge crew exploded into action.
Blaster fire erupted as officers ducked behind consoles and gunner stations. Captain Antilles bellowed something over the chaos, already squeezing off shots. One of the junior engineers dragged a wounded tech behind a burning panel. Two more rebels sprinted for the blast door controls.
> "Seal it! NOW!"
One slammed his hand down on the override, the other was sent flying by an explosion from a Class-A thermal detonator.
Then the doors hissed, slower than they should've, the servos sputtering from the power reroute.
Leia stood frozen, her blaster half-raised. Not from fear—but from the cold realization, she might not make it to him.
But then a hand grabbed her arm, it was Captain Antilles. His face was bloodied, jaw clenched as he spoke to her.
> "Focus Princess! You were supposed to go to the pod bay remember!"
She didn't answer.
She couldn't. Her voice had collapsed in her throat.
Then he pointed to the side and said.
> "Take the vent. There—behind that stack. It leads to the mid-deck. Drops out above the launch bay. You've got thirty seconds before those troopers break through that door and kill us all, Princess."
And just as he said this the doors screamed as a welding torch sparked from the other side. Instantly the Captain's face dropped as he yelled.
> "Go Princess, go now! We will see eachother again on the other side!"
Leia wanted to say something, the man had been with her ever since she was just a baby, but he turned her towards the vent and gave her a push while yelling. "Go, just go! Make our deaths mean something Princess!"
Her chest tightened as she heard the words, and without a word she ran.
The vent was just as narrow as she feared, but doable for her. And so she ran to it, and quickly dropped to her knees, fingers fumbling for the latch.
The blast door behind her shook—the cutting torch had fully ignited, burning through the plating in a perfect, glowing circle.
Then just in time she yanked the vent cover free and crawled inside.
It was really narrow, and instantly her tits got caught, but with some effort she squeezed inside. Next her tight small waist went in, but then came her hips and butt that instantly got caught bad, and she was stuck.
For a moment she froze, this was it, the rebellion was lost. But just then she heard hurried footsteps come from behind her, followed by Captain Antilles yelling.
"I'm sorry Princess, but you have to go!"
And then he kicked her ass with force. "Ahhhhhhh!" She screamed in a mix of pain, shame and surprise as she suddenly found herself fully inside the vent now.
Still the metal kept scraping against her, her shoulders were quick to catch a crossbeam, her braid caught on a bolt and tore loose, she cursed, but managed to yank it free.
And all the while her breasts and curves dragged against the frame and she grunted, wriggled, and pushed forward.
> "Damn it..."
Another explosion roared behind her.
Screams. Blaster fire. And then—
Silence.
Leia crawled faster.
Each hand forward was a prayer.
Each elbow pressed to hot steel was a promise.
She would reach him.
She had to.
She didn't care if she had to bleed for it.
Meanwhile Kael waited for her at the pod bay, it was quiet now, but not calm.
The silence there was fragile, the kind that could at any moment be broken by a squad of Stormtroopers bursting through the door. And there in the Pod Bay, only one pod remained intact still. It hissed gently, its door open like a mouth waiting to swallow hope and run.
Kael was standing beside it. By now his armor was scorched and blackened. Blood clung to the edge of his collar. His hair—silver and damp with sweat—hung loose across his forehead. His eyes were fixed on the door at the end of the pod bay, and his grip around his Vibroblade tightened every time the hull groaned.
R2-D2 waited at the nav socket, already spinning diagnostic subroutines. C-3PO paced in circles beside a crate, muttering predictions of doom in six languages.
Kael didn't move.
He was waiting for her.
And then he heard it.
> Clang.
A sharp metallic pop above.
His head snapped up.
The vent creaked.
And then—suddenly—a scream.
> "Kyaahh!"
A tangle of limbs, white fabric, and dark braid dropped through the opening like a comet. Leia twisted midair, her hand reaching instinctively for something, anything—
And then Kael caught her. Hard, clean, perfect.
His arms locked around her small frame, one hand under her back, the other beneath her thighs.
She landed squarely in his grasp, her face flushed, lips parted from the shock, braid half undone and swaying over her shoulder.
For a long, charged moment… they just looked at each other.
Leia's eyes were wide—hazel-gold in the dim light, made brighter by the blush blooming across her cheeks. Her large chest rose quickly against his forearm, the curve of her bust pressing firmly into him.
And as for Kael he instantly couldn't help but be shocked at how light she was, this fearsome young leader of the rebellion, this Princess. Her light weight startled him, he feared he might accidentally hurt her, but as she held her he instantly felt it.
She was not some typical delicate little Princess. She had muscle, she was firm in all the right places, toned but so soft as well, curved but controlled with firm large breasts. He could feel her hips shift slightly in his grasp, the shape of her thighs against his arm, her toned heart shaped butt pressed slightly against him, the narrowness of her waist held tight in his grip, and her chest rising and falling in a fast rhythm as she looked up at him with those beautiful eyes of hers.
And for the first time in his life Kael's breath caught, not from exhaustion, but from the sheer beautiful sight of her, of a woman unlike anything he had ever before seen or touched.
Leia blinked up at him, her long lashes fluttering as her lips trembled with an unspoken breath.
> "You caught me," she said quietly, voice like velvet.
He swallowed hard and said. "Well you fell on me. So of course, I did what any man would have done in my situation."
His voice was deep, rough, manly and full of power. Hearing him speak and seeing him up so close, Leia blushed as she quickly looked away for a second, just one second, her cheeks darkening even more as she murmured.
> "Would you, mmm, mind putting me down, you know?"
Kael didn't say yes.
He just did it.
Gently. Like she was something sacred. He lowered her until her boots touched the ground, but his hands lingered longer than they should have, but not from hesitation, but from need.
And the second he let go, he felt slightly more empty, but the moment had nonetheless left a burn behind.
Leia stepped back, smoothing her tunic, though the cut across her shoulder still revealed the upper curve of her chest, soot-streaked and flushed with heat, and glowing faintly from sweat. She adjusted her braid, and tried not to look up at his towering figure, but failed.
> "Thank you," she said softly.
Kael nodded, mouth dry.
R2 beeped once, impatiently.
And so Leia turned back to business. She pulled the data drive from her belt and slid it into R2's primary socket.
It clicked into place with a sharp hiss, final, absolute. Kael felt it in his chest. Like a door closing.
> "Encryption engaged," Leia said. Her voice was steady, but her hands were trembling. "If you die buddy, they'll never recover it."
Then she turned to loom up at him and said. "And you'll have to make sure that they don't get their hands on him, ok?"
Kael's gaze didn't waver. He had figured this was what he had been summoned here for. So he simply said.
> "I will see it done my lady, and I won't die. That's a promise."
But that wasn't what she was afraid of. So she walked to him, slowly. Stopping only just before their bodies touched eachother. He was almost two heads taller than she, and so she had to really look up at him now.
His hair was wild with sweat and ash. A cut bled slowly down his jaw. The skin beneath his collar was bruised, and his uniform was a ruin of soot and torn seams. But none of that mattered.
He was still standing. And gods help her, he was so handsome in her eyes.
Then she took one final step forward, their bodies touched, she could feel his hard muscles against her breasts, along with the warmth coming off his chest, and his intoxicating masculine smell. And while dust, blood and something darker clung to his skin, it didn't matter for it only made him all the more fierce and reliable looking to her. And underneath it all she could feel something else, something warm, a kind gentle heart that beat rapidly in her presence.
Feeling it all Leia couldn't help but feel a heat rise in her stomach, but she pushed it aside and smiled up at him, as she then said.
> "You can't stay."
But he protested.
> "I can still fight."
And as much as she didn't want to say it, she said.
> "No."
Then before he could say more, she pulled a small silver disc from her pocket and placed it in his hand. Her fingers brushed his palm. Lingering.
> "This will mask your life signal. It'll make you look like scrap. And better yet, they won't track you if I'm still onboard to give them a reason to think their prize is still here."
Kael stared at her, a knot twisting behind his ribs.
> "You're going to let them take you."
She didn't answer immediately.
Then, with a small, tired smile, she answered.
> "I'm going to let them think they won."
But her eyes—those wide, golden-hazel eyes—wavered.
Just a little.
And Kael saw it, and he couldn't help but say in worry.
> "Leia…"
But she snapped back at him, as she said.
> "No. Don't argue, just go."
But he pulled her closer, and firmly said.
> "No I will not. I'm not leaving, well unless you promise me."
That made her blink.
> "Promise you what?"
> "That we'll see each other again. That you'll stay alive. That you won't do anything reckless."
He sounded worried to her, it was as if they were some married couple who had known eachother for a lifetime. And yet they hardly knew eachother at all. But it made her feel happy nonetheless, and she laughed once, quiet, shaky, but real.
And for the first time in her life, she hugged a man, and blurted out words that she had never said to anyone before.
> "You think I'd let myself die before I find out what else you're good at?"
Instantly his breath caught, and she blushed, but didn't look away this time. She slightly rose to her tiptoes, her lips parted and Kael knew exactly what she was now expecting him to do.
Her eyes glimmered, and her body was pressed so close that he could feel the shape of her curves, the way her chest rose quickly, the sway of her hips barely hidden by her battle-worn uniform.
> "Don't worry about me, hot stuff," she whispered. "This princess is a lot tougher than she looks. If they try to hurt me, I'll bite them. Scratch their eyes out. Like a cat."
Kael smiled.
But it was a bitter smile.
Because he hadn't known her long. Not really. But something deep inside him, something ancient, inevitable, already knew.
> She's the one.
And Leia saw it in his face.
And she also knew, he's the one.
But neither of them said it.
There wasn't time.
So he leaned in close, their lips touched, breath mixed together, and then he closed the final gap, and kissed her, hard, long, and with an unspoken passion.
It was sudden, it was not shy, it was not simple. It was everything either of them had ever wanted. It was love at first sight and both of them knew it from the very moment they had seen eachother and now this was just even more confirmation of it.
And Leia even if she was a Princess, and even if her father and mother would get mad at her for doing this, she didn't care anymore, she didn't regret it at all. Then she felt his hands wonder down, and he actually to her surprise grabbed her by the butt hard, pulling her ever closer. She let out a soft moan, and he immediately used his powerful tongue to size the moment as it slipped into her mouth. And soon their tongues were tangling together, and both wanted more.
His lips, his kiss, his touch, it all felt practiced. He knew what he was doing and she liked that. She didn't have to think of anything now and just let him, and her own instinct take hold. Although it did surprise her, just how many had he already been with, how many women had felt these lips, but these questions only thrilled her more. It was like a challenge to see if she could keep him, and he would push those others away for her sake.
Thinking of it she all the more melted into the moment, and let him do with her as he pleased.
Soft curves pressed to hard muscle. Her hands tangled in the fabric of his collar, her breath caught in his throat.
For just that long moment, the war and trouble's of the galaxy had seemingly vanished.
Only them, and only this moment was what mattered.
But then finally it ended, as she pushed slightly against him, because if she didn't she feared that she could never let go. And as he released her lips, and she pulled back, she was flushed, breathing hard, but still managed to say.
> "Go."
But he didn't move, his powerful hands still held onto her small waist. So she spoke louder this time.
> "Go already. Before I change my mind and we end up totally abandoning the rebel cause or something."
Kael smirked at this. He looked like he was about to say, ok let's do it then. But just then, a shriek of steel came from the corridor.
The stormtroopers had found them.
Sparks flew from the pod bay blast door. A cutting torch hissed to life.
Kael looked back, heart hammering.
Leia stepped away from him, fast.
> "I'll draw them. I'll waste their time. I'll make it count."
She looked back over her shoulder, smirking through the haze.
> "Run, Kael. And next time… bring flowers."
Then she vanished into the smoke.