"What do you mean you know how we can train her?" Bon Bon called, sitting in bed.
It was time to be heading to bed, but Lyra was still finishing getting ready in the bathroom. Flurry had already gone to sleep, and the droids had powered down for the night. Standing in the mirror, brushing her teeth wearing a long night shirt, she listened as her wife yelled from the other room.
"Spitfire just said she would get killed if we did, and Flurry doesn't want to do the same thing again!"
"I'm not saying we are doing the same thing!" Lyra protested.
"Then what are we doing?"
"Teaching her to learn how to fight!" Lyra snapped, spitting the excess toothpaste into the sink before washing her face.
"What do you think you've been doing for the last fifteen years with her?"
Lyra emerged from the bathroom, and pulled herself under the blankets beside her wife. Bon Bon too, was wearing a long baggy shirt.
"I just... I want her to be safe. Bringing my kid into the fight isn't something I want to do, but I also didn't want to be fighting in a war I didn't intend to be a part of," Lyra sighed, throwing her head back against her pillow. "Better she be prepared for a situation and know what to do than not know and panic."
Bon Bon moved closer to her wife, giving her a peck on her cheek. "I know hon. But I just don't want her getting hurt."
"Neither do I," Lyra agreed, kissing her back. "But I think we can at least prepare her to defend herself."
"And that hasn't been what we were doing for the past--"
"--you know what I mean," Lyra interrupted, knowing what she was going to say. She pulled herself up, not ready to lay down and go to sleep just yet. "I just... I want her to be okay."
"I do too, but I'm not entirely sure about the idea of sending her off to war," Bon Bon worried. "This isn't the Clone Wars, she's not been indoctrinated into the Jedi Order like you once were."
Lyra gave her wife a harsh glare. "I joined the Order willingly, and I left the Order willingly."
"I'm just saying..." Bon Bon said, raising her hands up. "But at the very least, if we're going on any kind of missions, we should at least be with her."
"Of course," Lyra agreed. "But it doesn't mean we can't help her. And if you don't mind, I'd like to explain just how we can help her."
"Go on..." Bon Bon said, hesitantly.
"Flurry may not have done well in the training sessions before; but it's not helped by the fact she stresses out very quickly, and she when she gets stressed, she doesn't think. This only happened during the last test, when she didn't need to be running anywhere."
"Okay, I'm still not understanding..."
"I'm getting there, I promise," Lyra reassured. "But throughout her shifts today, I noticed with each one she has done, she not only has gotten each of her jobs done efficiently, but she also seems much happier when she works with people she knows. Team Six might be the key to helping her train and get better."
"Yes, and they could also very well be a detriment, if she relies on them too much," Bon Bon argued.
"Only if we let that be the case. I say we ask for their help, and if they can help us, we might be able to help her get into the adequate shape she needs to be given the okay for missions. Fair enough?"
"Well..." Bon Bon began to drone, getting an adorable pout from her wife. That was enough to give her a teasing smirk and kiss her on the cheek. "Okay. Let's see what we can do."
"Eeee," Lyra adorably squeaked. "I know she'll be great. I just know it."
Bon Bon reached over and flipped the switch on the wall, turning out the lights for the night. Her wife scooched herself closer, and Bon Bon wrapped her arms around her stomach, spooning her and nuzzling her as they slept together in a warm, sweet embrace.
The next morning, Lyra and Bon Bon met up with Team Six down by the main tarmac, near one of the main hangar bays on the base. Mounted on a peat of grass was a massive pole that wasn't used for anything, but just above it, everyone saw their eyes locked onto something tied to the top of it.
"Soooo... what are we doing, exactly?" Silverstream rubbed the back of her head.
"We're going to help Flurry train to become a better Rebel. The only way she'll be given approval is if she can meet up to the required standards to pass. And after seeing her work with you guys yesterday, I have reason to believe that she works better with people she's gotten to know more and can mutally trust."
"Buuuut we only met her a few days ago," Gallus pointed out, folding his arms.
"Yona doesn't even know much about Flurry Heart," Yona added.
"Not yet at least," Bon Bon corrected. "But you six are the first real friends Flurry has had, and I think she needs it. Lyra and I, we... well we've kinda spent most of our lives hiding from people, worried someone evil was just going to take her away. But since she's met you guys, I've seen her be more productive and helpful than she has been when she was training by herself."
"Positive reinforcements?" Silverstream asked. "Or, wait. No, is that the right word?"
"I call it motivators," Lyra reaffirmed. "Now where is she, she's supposed to be here?"
Just then, Flurry came running out of the hangar and down ot the main ground where the group was.
"Ahhh! Sorry! Sorry I'm late, I was trying to find the elevators, all the rooms look the same!" Flurry apologized. She clutched her knees, trying not to hyperventilate. "I accidentally walked in on some couple who really wanted to be alone."
"Ooof," everyone hissed.
"And I accidentally walked back into the medical ward. Some Twi'lek woman's apparently pregnant?"
"Oh yeah. Hera's due any day now," Ocellus explained. "Oh I can't wait to see the baby, they're going to look so cute!"
"Maybe," Gallus rolled his eyes playfully.
"It's fine, Flurry. The reason we called you down here is because we've found a way to help you train without being screamed at by Spitfire or other newbies," Bon Bon explained.
"Oh. Really?" Flurry beamed. "How?"
"Look up," Bon Bon pointed up at the beam.
Flurry looked up. Her eyes squinted, but she couldn't see. But then when the light hit it just right--
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Flurry's voice shrieked across the entire outside of the base. Team Six covered their ears from how loud she yelled, they weren't expecting that reaction from her. "I... wh... you... wh... okay, that does it!"
Flurry jumped up, clutching onto the pole, but immediately fell off. She jumped again, and tried to climb up some more, and she fell back again.
"Why did you have me put that plushie up there, again?" Smolder whispered.
"Motivation," Bon Bon nonchalantly answered. "And it's clearly doing the trick," as she watched Flurry attempt to climb up the pole again, this time getting a few inches farther than before... only for her to fall back down and land on her back. "Well, it was working."
Flurry tried to climb up again, and slammed back on the ground.
And again.
And again.
And again.
"Okay, this isn't working, maybe we should try something else..." Lyra sighed, rubbing her face.
"If you're going to stay in shape and help fight alongside us against the Empire, we need you to go through the same regiments that we all use," Smolder instructed.
Flurry stood, arms behind her back like she was giving respect, keeping her posture straight and eyes focused on Smolder, wearing a coach's uniform; complete with a cap and whistle around her neck.
"We know you're trying to learn, and you're just a kid--"
"--I'm 17, I'm not--"
"--but we're not taking it easy on you!" Smolder snapped, pointing at her. "You will not face just us, but other members on this planet. Stronger. Faster. You will need to be ready for anything that may come your way; Midnight Troopers will not play nice! And if you so much as falter, or not know when to show mercy," she zipped right into her face, smoke coming out of her snout. "YOU'LL BE DEAD!"
--
The first exercise Flurry was demanded to do was a simple running exercise. Well, simple at first. She had to run with Team Six throughout the woods holding a metal beam behind their necks and over their shoulders, with heavy materials weighing on both sides to balance. Unfortunately, even with using her own physical means and not through the Force, she had extreme difficulty trying to carry the heavy weights. Smolder and the others managed to get far ahead, and she was still barely keeping balance way behind them. She quickly fell over, dropping the weights over her head, grunting in pain. Smolder and the rest of Team Six could only shake their heads in disappointment.
Later, Flurry was pressed with another possible strength exercise; simple arm-wrestling. She had her hand wrapped around Gallus's claw (which dug into her skin very painfully) but she was ready. Sandbar gave it the okay, and the two of them tried to pin the other down. Flurry got an easy push on Gallus... for about two seconds. The Griffon quickly overtook the match and pinned Flurry's wrist down. They arm-wrestled again and again, for about fifteen more times and she lost every single one of them.
On a firing range, where a group of Rebels dressed in clone commando armor were training, they were standing in position to fire shots across an empty field from a few towers. Flurry's objective was to run across the field and avoid their targets, grab the flag, and run back. She ran as fast as she could, and the commandos fired down at her. Luckily the shots were set to stun, so she wouldn't seriously be injured. But Flurry, just like before, was facing difficulty. Unable to anticipate their shots, she kept panicking and moving side to side in a serpentine-like pattern, before her legs got zapped with the stun and she got taken out.
The very next week, Flurry was tasked with running across an obstacle set over a river that connected to another set of barracks. Her only means of getting there was a set of rocks and wooden planks that were meant for walking, which was adjacent to the much more safer bridge. Floating above the waters were Silverstream, along with aquatic co-workers, who had volunteered to help out with this test. All Flurry had to do was run across without slipping or falling, and avoid being shot at or punched.
Taking that first step, she carefully leapt to a rock, and then to another plank. But all the while, she was trying to wonder where Silverstream and the others would be when they attacked.
"Get outta there, Equestrian!" Some Rebel yelled from the bridge.
"Go back to Tatooine!"
"BOO, YOU STINK!"
Added recently to the test were some more volunteers whose only job was to literally heckle her and distract her. And unfortunately, she was quickly distracted, not seeing the Mon Calamari jump up and across the walking path and throw a fish at her. Flurry yelped from the attack, but she tried to keep going, only for Silverstream to leap up and jump across her, and nearly slapped her in the face with her tail-fins which had once become her legs.
One more distraction provided by the hecklers, and a Nautolan who leapt up and fired a small rock with a slingshot was enough, as Flurry fell over into the river.
"Ooooh!" The Rebels from the bridge winced.
"You think she's dead?"
And Flurry was lifted up out of the water, thanks to the Nautolan and Mon Calamari helping her. Both of them sharing empathetic frowns as Flurry hacked and coughed, having never fallen into a river or stream like this before.
All the while, Sunset, Bon Bon, and Lyra watched from afar. Sunset shook her head disapprovingly, knowing Flurry and her parents weren't going to be happy with what she had to say.
--
At a firing range, Flurry held a DH-17 blaster in her hands, ready to practice on the firing range. Several projections and cardboard cutouts were displayed for her and other recruits to practice on. Sandbar and Ocellus showed Flurry how to hold one properly, and both took the time to show her the quick safety tips so she didn't get herself killed operating that kind of weapon.
Flurry fired off one shot, which went straight past the cutout she was supposed to hit. Both Ocellus and Sandbar understood and were calm, knowing she hadn't had to do this for real in a while, but their confidence continued to dwindle when they saw her shots. She managed to fire everywhere, except for the cutouts or the projections. She held the gun right, but they noticed she kept shaking when she held it. The weapon wasn't heavy, but they could tell right away her anxiety was getting the better of her.
--
The final straw kicked in on the next day. Flurry had one simple task; stay alive in the boxing ring with Yona for over three minutes. It only took a minute for Flurry to get her butt kicked, and Yona's strength overtook her. She tried to get back up, but Yona kept preventing that, and she was being the most gentle and easiest as she ever was.
But by the time the day had ended, Sunset had to make a decision. She knew she wasn't going to like it, nor would her parents, but she had no choice. She confronted the family face to face, and let them know that Flurry wasn't going to be able to participate or help on any missions. She wasn't progressing any further than before, and she didn't want to hurt the kid. Flurry said nothing, but instead just walked away without even so much as a comforting hug or discussion from her moms.
--
Flurry didn't sleep. She couldn't. Sunset was right, she wasn't going to be up to speed at this rate. But she couldn't stop, she didn't want to stop. Flurry wanted to help, she wanted to do good around here, she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. The teen pulled herself out of the hammock, and rubbed her eyes. She looked at the time on the wall; roughly 5:00 in the morning; way too early for her to get out of bed.
Flurry didn't care. Pulling herself out of bed, she slipped her boots on and put on a fresh tank top. She grabbed her left arm guard, placing it back on her bare skin. Her forearm, upper arm, and shoulder were now covered in the clone trooper armor again, and she had grabbed her goggles. She crept out of the Sweetie Drop, and made her way back down on the tarmac. It was still early hours of the morning, the only staffers around were people working the night shift.
She walked back to where the pole stood, standing high above the ground with her plushie still tied to the top. The crack of dawn was half an hour away from coming to the horizon. She jumped onto the pole and tried to climb up, but she fell back down again. She grunted from the pain, but she pulled herself back up. Flurry slowly looked down at her fingerless gloved hands, seeing the scuff marks from all of the rigorous training she had done over the past few days. They clenched into fists with determination as she turned her eyes back on the pole.
I can't give up. If they can do it, so can I.
She jumped up again, this time clutching both her hands and her boots to grab on. To her surprise, she didn't fall back down this time. Finally getting the idea, she moved a hand up, clutching the pole to pull herself up, and then moved one of her feet up in sync. Then the right hand and boot, and so on after the other. She grunted as she felt herself almost about to lose control, but she didn't stop. She kept a steel grip, no matter how much sweat was running down her head.
As time went on, the sun began to rise, casting it's light over the base. It was time for the day-time staff to get up and get ready for another day of work. Engineering staff began to move their way outside to get back to work on their shifts, completely oblivious to the teenager climbing up the pole she had constantly fallen from. However, someone did notice her going up. One of the crewmen stopped moving to their station, eyes glued to see how far the young girl had gone.
"Huh. Look," the man pointed. "The kid's finally doing it."
Another technician saw, standing beside him to look. "She's actually doing it..."
Flurry kept climbing, and she didn't stop. She was getting closer and closer to her plushie, she almost had it! Just a few more inches and she could grab it!
Lyra and Bon Bon were seen running out of the hangar, worried sick about where Flurry had gone. They got up, awake for the day, but found their daughter no longer in her hammock bed. Then they saw the massive crowd of engineers and staffers surrounding a pole and looking up. Both of them looked up, and they couldn't believe their eyes. Flurry Heart was found... sitting on top of the pole, with her plushie clutched in arms, raising a fist in the air for victory.
"She did it... she actually did it," Lyra gasped with excitement. "SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I knew she could do it!"
Bon Bon's reaction was much more subdued, but she didn't hide her smile. "I'm proud of you, kiddo."
As the next few weeks continued to pass, Flurry Heart's training continued like before, and she started to get better with each course she did. While she wasn't ultimately as strong as her mothers, General Shimmer, or some of the other more hardened and tough Rebels on base, she was at least getting it to the requirement for field work.
During a running exercise, she learned to find the proper balance with the two heavy sacks of metal on the beam carried over her shoulders. She didn't beat Smolder, or Gallus, or even Yona, but she did keep up decently a few inches behind them, and stayed next to Sandbar and Ocellus during the run. And while she didn't win the race, she did not fall on her face once during the entire exercise, and didn't keel over once she crossed the finish line this time.
At the firing range, Flurry's focus continued to get better. While she continued to use the WESTAR-35 makes, she did practice with some other different types. E-11s, the kind that were used by the Midnight troopers. DC-15s, both regular carbine and rifle (both of which were types her mothers had in their arsenal), even ELG-3A types, supplied by refugees from Naboo. She tried to use the DC-17ms, but those were a bit more heavy for her control. Sunset however did take notice her grip was stronger with smaller blaster types.
During the boxing with Gallus, she kept herself moving as she worked to take all of Gallus's punches. Flurry got hit hard a few times, but she got some blows back on Gallus, real hard ones. By the end of the fight, Gallus was nearing close to falling over, but hadn't. Flurry hadn't been able to finish him thanks to the match being over, but it was clear to the others that she was getting better.
Weight lifting with Yona and Sandbar improved, as she finally got enough strength to lift heavier weights than before. Just like before, it wasn't anything past the more experienced rebels, but it was enough to get her approval. More running, combat practice, boxing, climbing, dodging incoming fire, the teenager was improving on all fronts. Sunset took notice during these training sessions, and it was enough to get a small but sincere smile on her face.
Looks like you'll be joining us after all.
--
Sunset paced back and forth in front of Flurry Heart, who stood at ease. She kept her eyes forward, awaiting Sunset's instructions.
"I didn't think you'd improve, but I have to say, the past several weeks I've noticed you've made incredible improvements since you've first began. But there leaves one final test; and it's not a fighting. This test requires your intelligence, your thoughts, and your moral alignment," Sunset instructed. "I have five questions. I want to hear your answers to these possible scenarios. If you pass; you'll be approved for missions. If not... well, I think we know."
Flurry felt sweat running down her head, but she did not want to break face. She had to keep her head in the game, no more distractions, no more looking everywhere at once; she had to focus.
"First question; you see a Midnight trooper coming onto your position, what to do you?"
"Quietly take him out," Flurry answered.
"And if this trooper has a hostage, what do you do?"
"Don't fire; look for a possible way to save the innocent before making a move, and keep them out of harms way."
"Good," Sunset replied. "Next question; the Empire doesn't allow aliens who aren't us or human into their services, give me a reason for why this is."
"The most basic answer is they believe in being superior and on top and keeping peace by forcing people by gunpoint, but economically, they don't want to pay extra costs to create a ton of armor just to accommodate every species different sizes and builds," Flurry answered.
"Good answer, and you thought creatively," Sunset pointed. "If there's a stranger trying to speak to you, and you can see they have a weapon. Do you speak to them, or keep moving about your business and avoid them as best you can?"
"Unless they give a secret phrase that only Rebels know, do not provide eye contact, they are not worth your time," Flurry answered.
"Next question. If at first a plan doesn't succeed, do you give up?"
"No ma'am. If your plan doesn't work the first time, you either try it again, or you look for another alternative that can still get the job done with minimal damage and death," Flurry said, still trying to keep it together.
"Now it comes down to the very last question; questions only people like you and I can answer... when is the appropriate time to break out into a choreographed musical number?"
Flurry heard glass shatter. "I... um... uhh... u... I don't know!"
And almost immediately Sunset stopped giving her the serious look and held back a chuckle, grinning at her. "That was a silly question, I know you don't know it. I never prepared you for it. But the rest of the criteria... Flurry Heart. I think after hearing your answers, accompanied by your physical improvement... you are hereby approved to go on field work."
Flurry gasped, cupping her mouth in excitement. "I can...?"
"Yes. You can come with us on missions to help save the galaxy."
"EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Flurry ran out of the room and into the outside tarmac, screaming and cheering her head off like a little kid. "I'm going to be a Rebel! I am finally going to be a Rebel! Whooohooo!!!!!"
Sunset chuckled in the doorway, watching her run around with excitement. Indeed, she was ready. And Sunset could only hope she would be prepared for the real thing when the time came...
Several days had passed. Mystery Mint however wasn’t trying to plot another escape attempt; instead, she sat on the roof of the cabin she had residence in, watching as the slaves were working on their last shift of the night, just some time before the dawn of the morning. She wasn’t interested in trying to find a way to escape. And after the last few attempts had gotten her more injuries, and more Rebels hurt… it finally sank in. Every attempt she had made had only made things worse, and not better.
Mystery Mint’s eye still hadn’t gotten better from the blackening, and her jumpsuit had more ripped holes that it was teetering on the edge of it just being a few more snags from ripping it entirely off her body like an exotic Twi’lek dancer at some adults only club. The bare skin that was visible was now covered in more bruises and scars, and her other eye that hadn’t been blackened looked weary and tired. She hadn’t slept in days, not helped by being caught during the escape attempts that had only made the guards more encouraged to beat her.
It hurt just trying to move some of her muscles, and because of the Empire’s mindset, there was no doctors or infirmary for her to go to, and they barely had much in terms of medical staffing in their prison camp. Despite a few bandages over her body, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t getting anyone out of this camp. It didn’t matter how many skilled Rebels she gathered for her plans, they weren’t getting them anywhere except right back where they had started.
She slowly lowered her head into her arms as she hugged her knees, trying to breathe carefully without choking or loosing any breath she could inhale or exhale.
She had given up.
Just then, she heard a noise coming from behind her. One of the others that shared the cabin with her; a Lurmen, climbed up and using his hands, clambered over to her, sitting beside her.
“Mystery. Aren’t we going to plan another attempt?”
“… No. We’re not. We’re done,” Mystery said, rather lowly.
The Lurmen raised a brow. “Okay, not sure I’m understanding this strategy, are we being watched…?”
“No. We’re done. I’m done trying to form escape attempts,” Mint said, starting to get a little tired with speaking about their plans. “Let’s face it. There’s not enough of us; we have no weapons, these Imperial rankweed suckers keep us malnourished and thirsty to the point where we can barely think, and all I’ve done is get us into more trouble. Only one person escaped in the thirty days I have been here, and who knows where she is. I’m a plague to you guys.”
The Lurmen hopped around her, moving himself to squat in front of her to look up at her face.
“If you were a plague; the others would have ignored you, and just let you die. We may not be going anywhere, but every attempt we make, we learn more and more about our environment and alternative venues for plans,” the Lurmen said, trying to find a place to speak and make his voice heard.
“Kilo Da, I’m done,” Mystery raised her voice. She looked at him, both eyes cross. “Innocent people have died more and more because of me. They killed half of my group on my first attempt just to punish me for even considering to escape. Everyone in the camp is scared because they’re going to just silence their voices no matter what jargon the Empire speaks about making things better! At this point Kilo Da…” her voice started to shake. “The rest of you would be alive if I had just died on the spot…”
Kilo Da wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he felt any attempt he would was only going to make things worse. But he didn't go away. Instead, he sat down next to her, and scooched closer to her so she could have something to hug if she needed.
Just off in the distance, the sun was casting its light over the horizon. It was almost the early hours of dawn, ready for a new day. The ocean waters beyond their eyes were reflecting the sun's golden yellow light, signalling for another beautiful looking sky.
"I know you've lost hope. But you shouldn't. Someone will come to help us. Maybe it isn't right away..." the Lurmen looked across the camp, gazing at the sun rising in the distance. His paw slowly intermingled with Mystery's hand, who softly accepted his small bit of comfort and company. "But someone will come. I know it."