In a Galaxies Far Away: Uniting Two Worlds

"Are you really sure this is the right thing to do?" He asked me.

"All we have to do is get past the blockade and take out those two carriers." I replied. It's a shame to say that I didn't know his name, but it was for the best. My people were very strict about keeping their names secret from outsiders, so that they could keep their identities secret from those who might hunt them down. We were hunted back on our homeworld by people who thought we weren't "real" women, and so now we had to hide in plain sight for our own safety.

I looked over at where he sat, only slightly visible in the shadows of my ship's dimly lit cargo hold. He was tall, with long limbs and a slender frame that fit into the low gravity seats of my ship without much trouble. His skin was a pale blue, giving him an almost ghostly appearance in the darkness, his yellow eyes catching any light that infiltrated the hold. I knew what he thought of me. A woman, on a mission like this? Unheard of! And yet here I was, doing the unthinkable. Doing what no one else would even try.

"It's not what I expected when I woke up this morning." He said quietly as he leaned forward against the edge of his seat. "I didn't expect to be on a human ship, let alone one piloted by a woman."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned away from him to look at my control panel again, though I already knew everything there was to see about the Imperial fleet that lay between us and our destination. "The Imperials are all men, so what did you expect?" I asked him with a sneer. "A big pink spaceship piloted by a man? That would be hilarious."

He chuckled quietly before falling into silence again while I continued to scrutinize the fleet before us through the viewscreen of my ship's cockpit. As I watched, the ships seemed to shift formation slightly, unknown orders given by unseen commanders causing small adjustments here and there across the vast expanse of ships that waited between us and our target: two Imperial carriers stationed at either end of the rebel home world's star system. The last thing we wanted was for one of them to jump away and warn HQ about our presence before we had a chance to destroy them both with our bombs aboard my ship here, The Broken Arrow. If that happened then all would be for naught and we'd have failed in our mission.

"I guess it's a good thing that humans don't care about gender." He said suddenly from behind me after several minutes of tense silence as we both continued to watch the fleet ahead of us through my cockpit viewscreen. After a moment spent wondering if he'd even heard me call out his species earlier I realized he must have been talking about my sexuality instead- another thing no one else seemed willing to accept as truth. Most people assumed that if you looked like me then you must be straight; some people even called me sir because they couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that someone who looked like me might actually prefer women instead of men! It was infuriating! So infuriating in fact that it made me wonder if perhaps that kind of anger wasn't part of why I'd volunteered for this mission in spite of all risks involved thanks to my people's inability to accept themselves for what they were despite how far we'd already come as a society... It was an irony lost on nobody who knew me well enough though apparently- not even my lieutenant or pilot who offered only a knowing smile when she saw how angry I got whenever someone called me sir or used male pronouns whenever referring to me back on our home world... This man however had no idea who or what I really was and so he didn't understand why I got so upset when people called me sir instead of calling me ma'am- but he also never tried using male pronouns either so he got points on some level for trying at least...

"I've never met anyone like you before." He broke into my thoughts suddenly as if reading them from across space just by sitting there watching me think through my cockpit window like he was doing now.

I turned back around to face him and frowned deeply as another wave of self doubt hit me hard in the stomach again; making it hard to breathe without gasping just a little bit while tears filled my eyes once more despite all attempts otherwise... "Why did you sign up then?" I asked him angrily finally breaking the silence between us with a question he clearly hadn't expected from someone who looked like me... He paused for only a moment before responding though which made it clear that no one besides myself had ever asked him such an honest question before... In spite of all odds he surprised me once more by answering honestly instead of bowing his head or changing the subject like everyone else did every time someone like me asked them about something like this... "Because nobody else ever has!" He finally answered simply, eyes still trained on mine intently even though mine had drifted down after asking my question... He sat waiting patiently for more answers while tears streamed down my face silently while I continued staring into those beautiful golden eyes until finally breaking eye contact first after an indeterminate amount of time passed between us during which neither one of us moved except for his gentle nod when I took out some paper and began writing down specific coordinates on them; telling him where exactly they needed to go when they finally arrived at their destination deep within enemy territory aboard The Broken Arrow... Then after giving him one last look before turning back around again facing forward towards her controls over her shoulder before whispering softly if only half to herself while she stared off into space beyond her viewscreen...