Stands alone, but "This Is My Day (This Is My Song)" is an optional prequel.
The first time Luke walked in on Leia—nearly asleep, retired to the quarters that had been hers years before, after lights-out—it was with a memory, and a warning.
"Obi-Wan spoke to me several times after his death. He was plenty strong, of course, strong enough to find me when I was hurting, or lost. He wanted me to continue training as a Jedi, so that I'd be strong enough to face Vader. Kill him."
"I remember," said Leia. And, "what are you doing here?"
"Talking to you. If that's all right? Is there a better time?"
"I—no. Now is fine."
"Even after—I learned that Vader was my father, he and Yoda both still wanted me to prepare to kill him. When they spoke through the Force, it was to try and answer my questions."
"Somewhat," Leia said. "And?"
"They had the strength to appear anywhere. They could have gone to Vader themselves, seen if he was as wholly evil as he seemed."
"They weren't going to look," Leia pointed out. "They didn't see him as family, didn't want to know him."
"I'm not so sure about that," said Luke. "But that's beside the point."
"Did you have a point, or were you just here to keep me up all night?"
"My point is, even within the Force, I cannot apprehend two moments at once. Were I to journey to another, I do not know if I could know their heart, and I could not keep watch here while I did so."
"You want to see Ben."
"Not to turn his path. That choice is his alone to bear. But in speaking with him, I might find another purpose."
Leia sat down on the bed, Luke drifting by her side. "I've missed you."
"I can't apologize. Not with my words alone."
"Do you need my permission to do whatever it is you're dreaming of now?"
He gave a small smile. "I would have your blessing."
"Then go," she said, "and come back."
Luke nodded, and his light faded into the darkness of her quarters.
GL-8192 had been posted on the Leader's personal ship. It was an honor, they told her. A privilege to serve the First Order. It definitely wasn't a place where they assigned failures who weren't fit for combat service or who some higher-up had a vendetta against.
That was what she told herself as she passed by Kylo Ren's quarters, where Ren seemed to be having an animated and ill-spirited discussion.
"I killed you!" he raged. "You're dead!"
GL-8192 paused. Should she page a sanitation trooper? Leaving corpses strewn around the ships seemed like a perilous venture.
"I'm not going to have a change of heart just because you show up haunting my ship," Ren thundered.
Spies? Whatever the problem was, he could handle it himself.
"Great. Then you're dismissed."
Instinctively, she glanced over at the door.
"What do you want on a ship full of no-hopes?"
Was there a problem? GL-8192 tapped at her wristcomm and issued a "Code Two Nine," paging for backup. The rest of her four-person crew was there within moments. "What's the situation?" inquired DN-1093.
"The Leader appears to be having some difficulties," explained GL-8192. "Suggesting backup."
"If you say so," said HB-5602, who had always seemed to lack initiative.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to give you an audience," Ren began, before GL-8192 rapped on the door.
Ren threw it open. "What is this disturbance?" he yelled.
GL-8192 nodded. "We only wished to make sure you did not require any—assistance," she said, glancing around the room, which was completely empty.
"I am not in need of assistance!" Ren yelled, drawing his lightsaber and stepping forward.
"My apologies, sir. We are, of course, on standby if the situation deteriorates." GL-8192 backed away and shut the door.
"What was that about?" said HB-5602. "You're going to get us all killed!"
"Don't you think that's a little worrisome?" pointed out PF-1371. "That you're more scared of our commander than the Resistance?"
"He was talking," GL-8192 said, as they speedwalked down the hallway. "To someone who wasn't there."
"You're just saying that," said DN-1093, but then they heard the lightsaber buzz and whirl, the sound that some articles of furniture were being sacrificed to Ren's rage.
"Who do you believe more," PF-1371 asked. "Him, or GL-8192?"
"GL's never led us wrong," HB-5602 said.
"Oh come on," said DN-1093. "This is...this is..."
"This is every single day since Supreme Leader Snoke died," PF-1371 said. "I don't know about you, but I'm not staying around to get myself killed for an idiot."
"Where can we go?" HB-5602 asked. "They'll kill us if we make one false move."
"FN-2187 got away," GL-8192 whispered.
They jerked over to stare at her, even though they all heard her perfectly well the first time.
"We move as a squadron, people will think it's normal. We don't...we don't have to look for the Resistance."
"They'd shoot us on sight anyway," said DN-1093.
"But we go together, we can do it. Yeah?"
"Yeah," said PF-1371.
"If you say so," said HB-5602.
"Oh, all right," said DN-1093, "someone needs to run the weapons station for you goons."
Everybody and their droid had opinions on how Rey could build a new weapon. Rose had offered to weld together a firm metal base. Finn suggested something compact, so that she could hold a blaster in her other hand. Poe had sketched out something that curved like the arc of a ship in flight before admitting he didn't really understand what he was up against.
It hadn't been too hard to find a rod that telescoped in and out, and just as she'd been silently despairing of ever finding an intact crystal, Leia had emerged with one from the Falcon's storage chamber.
"But how..." Rey trailed off.
"Luke gave this to me long ago, when he thought I might take after him. I never used it, but I couldn't bear to part with it, and one day I just left it here. Time now you make something of it."
"I'll do what I can," Rey had pledged.
Attenuating the crystal to the finely-cut hollows of the weapon itself, however, seemed to be a harder task. What notes her books had on weaponcraft seemed to stress meditation and focus, making the light her own more than just a simple tool, but it was hard to find time for herself when she was busy helping the straggling Resistance with whatever she could, taking shelter on alien worlds, going on patrols, having the ship ready to fly on a moment's notice.
Harder still when she could be interrupted even in her room.
"Just my opinion," Luke said, "but it might fit better lengthwise."
"Oh!" Rey said, dropping the crystal down the shaft in surprise. "Great! Very helpful. Anything else you have opinions on? Recruiting an army out of nothing?"
"You have far from nothing. You have—"
"I know, I know," Rey cut in. "I have the Force. Leia has years and years of experience. Finn and Rose have each other. Poe has way too many spaceships for his own good. C-3PO has millions of languages, none of which seem to get through to our allies. R2 has...what does R2 have?"
"Some very annoying holograms."
"Can't be more annoying than bodiless visions walking in on you. What am I missing?"
Luke winked. "Me?"
"You're all lay down your sword this and the Jedi must end that, and now you're raising an army?"
"I'm not raising anything. I'm just...giving a nudge here and there."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means if you pass by the control room in, oh, about five minutes, you might want to lower the shields before anyone gets too trigger-happy."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come now, you can't say that was particularly vague."
Before she could dispute that, she felt the shaft glowing warm under her hand, and gasped.
"See?" Luke said. "Turns out I know a thing or two about this."
"But how...I thought I needed to be meditating?"
"Well, I would say you've been focusing very admirably on the Force," Luke said. "At least, one incorporeal aspect of it."
With a sigh, Rey jogged down to the control room on the temporary base. "Everyone hold still," she said. "No fast moves if something, er, strange happens."
"What do you mean?" Poe asked anxiously.
"The Force told me," she summarized.
Moments later, a staticy intercom greeted them. "This is Unaffiliated Squadron Chi, flying First Order zipclass-V. Requesting safe passage. We offer surrender and sporadic notes on command ship flight plans."
"Give them a chance," Rey said.
"Disable weapons systems," Poe responded.
"Disabled," said the ship.
"Hold for clearance," said Poe, then muted them. "Did you know about this? This is a trap waiting to happen."
"I didn't," she said. "Not until just now, I—felt something."
"Is there a Force-user aboard?"
"I have no idea," she said truthfully.
"Sporadic notes...what good does that do us?"
"We should take whatever surrender we can get," said Rose.
Rey caught her eye. "Get Finn."
"Really?" she said. "Now?"
"If we're gonna let this ship through? I think he should be there."
"The Force tell you this too?"
"No. Just a guess."
Rose sighed, hustling off. Poe flipped the intercom back on. "Proceed to dock," he said, "and you will be treated as non-combatants."
"Understood," they replied.
The zip-V made landfall at the edge of the tiny hangar, carefully keeping its distance from the scant ships the Resistance had managed to acquire from their allies on the chilly mesas and the oxygen-poor planet they'd been on before. Rose, looking frustrated, jogged back, Finn in tow behind her. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Poe, checking his blaster.
"There's a ship," Rey said. "And, uh—never mind."
He tilted his head at her, but didn't object as they made their way outside. A foursome of disheveled humans was pacing over to them, arms raised. "I'm GL-8192," said the one who had talked on the intercom. "This might have been a stupid idea, but please don't hurt my friends."
"What kind of a name is that?" Rose asked. Finn looked over at her, flinching.
"That's him," whispered one of the others, "that's really him!"
"Who, Finn?" Rose blinked, then smiled. "He's really not all that impressive once you get up close."
"Tico!" Poe snapped.
"Um," said a third stranger.
Rey clutched her half-formed lightsaber. "Why don't you all come inside and sit down?"
"Look at you," Kylo Ren yelled. "Reduced to reading over my shoulder like some common spy! Are you going to smuggle all my notes back what's left to your precious Resistance?"
EK-7354 did not wait for permission to go bursting into his superior's chambers. Slackers like GL-8192 came to no good, he had seen that for himself. If he wanted to move up in the ranks, he would need to show the capacity to solve problems of his own accord.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Ren demanded.
"Sir. Permission to dispose of the cowardly spy who has dared to infiltrate your private sanctuary?" EK-7354 asked.
"Denied," Ren nearly spat. "He is not the sort to succumb to your feeble efforts."
Feeling a bit taken for granted, EK-7354 hastened out.
"Never mind," he could hear Ren continue. "I am capable of committing my stratagems to memory."
It was reassuring, EK-7354 decided, that Ren still had stratagems.
"You're bluffing. All you sense is 'shadows' and 'murmurs,' and you can't even make sense of those."
Well, if there were Resistance spies on the loose, they seemed to be ineffective ones!
"I am perfectly able to communicate to my subordinates!" Ren bellowed
Was that a test? Nobody else seemed to be responding. With a gulp, EK-7354 stepped back inside.
"What now?" Ren asked, while appearing to thrust his lightsaber in the general direction of nothing in particular.
"I was merely demonstrating that you can, in fact, communicate with us and give us orders. Not that that should have ever been in doubt. But if you have a message you need sent..."
"Now is not the time," Ren said.
"Er—understood." EK-7354 backed away.
"Exactly what he should!" Ren went on from within. "That my authority is not to be questioned."
Was Ren talking about him? He certainly hadn't been about to question the Leader's authority…
"Well, you weren't exactly open to questions," Ren said, almost petulant.
It was all part of the ways of the Force, he told himself. It wasn't his job to wonder why.
"How dare you! How dare you blame me! At least—"
The rest of Ren's complaint was drowned out by the lightsaber making contact with something expendable.
"I admit nothing. You divide, you moralize, I only see the world as it is."
EK-7354 opened the door.
"Get out!" Ren turned. "All of you, get away from me, and stay gone!"
Well, he wasn't about to disobey a direct order from the Leader himself. Making to the nearest TIE fighter, EK-7354 supposed that there were other militaries that offered much more rapid opportunities for career advancement.
Rey stared down at a faint diagram in one of the ancient books. The image depicted something like a shield that radiated light from a hollow core. If she welded the broken piece of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber within a metal piece gently curving outward...there…
"Very impressive," Luke spoke. "Of course, that picture is actually of the waxing moon of Wauskin."
Rey placed aside the metal, almost burning her hand. "I didn't think you'd read it."
"I haven't," he said. "The author gave some fascinating talks."
She rolled her eyes. "Was that before or after you steered the latest defector across hyperspace?"
"Both. For all his weaknesses, he does have an acceptable command of autopilot."
"What weaknesses?"
"You'll see," Luke said, fading.
That was probably her cue that she needed to be more social and not just a symbol of the Jedi, she supposed. Climbing down to the mess hall, which for once was full enough to be messy, she joined Ekrem and Pafko, who were devouring the rations with gusto. Finn had informed her that the First Order's nutritional plans, while tasteless, had been nominally optimized to achieve overall fitness goals. At D'Qar he'd enjoyed their meals much better; life on the run was a sizable step down in many ways, despite the fact there was usually more to go around, but the newcomers seemed too excited to mind.
"So you're the Jedi?" Ekrem asked.
"Um, sort of," said Rey, then thought of her new-forged shield, and strengthened her resolve. "Yes."
"So what do I call you?"
"Call me?"
"Mistress Rey? Jedi Rey?"
She shuddered. "Rey is fine."
"And where do you rank? Is that like above a Commander?"
"Hopefully I don't have to issue orders so I don't really care."
"But then how—"
"Ekrem, quit it," Pafko said. "See? Not hard. Look at this. Ekrem, this is Rey, Rey, this is Ekrem."
"Good to see you," Rey nodded.
"And I'm Pafko," he repeated, almost like he couldn't believe it was true. "Pafko. That's me."
"You have unimaginable power, the likes of which I have only begun to understand?" Kylo Ren asked skeptically.
"Sir," said OL-0215, "that may be the nicest thing you've ever said about me."
"I wasn't talking to you," Ren said, while his eyes roved, unfocused, throughout the bridge.
"Excuse me, sir." OL-0215 waited for Ren to look the other way before doing a quick glance around the bridge herself. It was, in fact, still empty.
"And so far you have only used it to destroy! Striking down stormtroopers without a trace."
"BH-3569 left a trace, sir?" OL-0215 pointed out. He hadn't been very subtle about it, either, deciding to strip off his armor before deserting. OL-0215 had thought about commandeering it, but it stank.
Ren ignored her. "So am I to be next on your target list? Or are you waiting to give me another chance?"
KW-6423, now she had been a surprise. Maybe she was just fond of BH-3569. Or maybe she was fond of the spaceship he was taking with him and didn't want to give it up. She was sharp, the others said, would have been promoted far beyond them at their annual exams. And then she was gone, just like the rest of them.
"The power of the Force is worth more than even destroying planets. Who was it that said that? Greedy enough to take us all out in one fell swoop?"
BH-3569 squinted, concerned not so much with her overlord's babbling into thin air so much as his sudden reminder of the vanquishing of the Hosnian system. General Hux had managed to build a weapon that could take out the capital even under Snoke's eye, or whatever sensory apparatus the bygone Supreme Leader had. Now with a new leadership and the remains of the Resistance on the run, what exactly were they doing to finish the war? True, reprising the mistakes of the past was a guarantee for failure, but it felt like every other cocksure Stormtrooper had some plan to track down the rebels, worthwhile or not. Was Ren just ignoring them all?
"Or have you realized you'll never win, and want to make amends with me?"
Some Resistance emissary? Invisible, even from her?
"Keep waiting. You're going to be here a long time."
Maybe the unseen rebel was, but OL-0215 had better ideas. If Ren was so confident in his leadership, the least he could do was let his soldiers in on his plans, rather than negotiating with invisible strangers who made loyal Stormtroopers disappear. The safest place to be, she figured, was as far from him as possible.
Despite C-3PO's advancing age, the quadrupeds of Gantzen preferred to have him there for all their major discussions with the Resistance. "When we first arrived here, we were a very small band," he explained. "Now we are a growing militia, and it requires much in the way of water and other resources to continually replenish. We have appreciated your hospitality, but we must find a defensible location that requires less maintenance, whether it be on this planet or elsewhere."
Rey stifled a yawn. No doubt the Gantzen elders would respond with a stern message that theirs was the finest highland on all the planet, and that leaving at once would be unfeasible, but not before conferring in long groans.
She looked up again, and there was Luke, perched as if about to saunter off on one of the Gantzen aliens. Trying to keep a straight face, she turned back to C-3PO.
"I do hope the proceedings have been informative," he announced.
Curse the man for waiting until Leia delegated responsibility before showing up to distract her, and no one else in the room! Well, she was poised, she could achieve the stillness of a Jedi. She gave a slight nod, hoping it would be seen as affirming Threepio's latest insistence.
"You'll be pleased to know I've been scouting out some uninhabited moons and talking to Leia about them. Of course, my criteria for occupation might be slightly lower than yours."
Tempted to smile, Rey instead stared at the nearest droning Gantzen speaker. He fussed over something and C-3PO tried to placate him instead of underscoring that they really did need to leave.
"Of course, there's no reason why I can't talk to you about them as well. Leia seems most curious about Kuymar, a rivery world with a high gravity. The spaceports are quite modern, though there's a bit of prejudice against off-worlder species. Humans have been assimilated, but several others still find trouble..."
Finally, C-3PO and the Gantzen elders seemed to have reached a concord; as soon as their hosts were assured the Resistance's next destination would be safe, they were free to leave, and any who wanted to volunteer were welcome to join. Before Rey could pester Luke in return, he'd vanished.
"This is getting out of hand," said Kaydel.
"The Gantzen consensus-seeking?" Rey asked. "I agree."
"No, the enlistment numbers. I mean, it's a great problem to have, but we need to be more organized about it. Can we agree that before we get to—wherever we're going, we start digitizing records or something? I think I still have the forms for when I signed on."
"That sounds okay," said Rey.
"I agree," said Poe. "We've been very fortunate with, uh, our new arrivals' loyalty so far, but it would be good to have some way to keep track of everything."
The next volunteer came alone, and at first the routine was much the same. Gasps (hers) and blushing (his) when she shook Finn's hand. Hugs (mutual) when she was reunited with some of her comrades. Frustration (all-around) when she explained she had little new information to share about First Order movements, but relief (hers) when everyone told her she didn't need to bring updates to be welcomed, accepted, treated like a person.
Curiosity when she searched through a roster of names from humanoids across the galaxy, narrowing down to ones that sounded familiar. "Ol...ivia," she trailed off. "I think I'd like to be an Olivia."
"That's wonderful," said Kawehi. "Welcome."
But then there was the new routine of Kaydel's data entry. Name: Olivia, she typed, with trembling hands. Also goes by: "That's where you put your designation," Danielle called, "just in case, I dunno, we intercept records about you." Species: Human.
Birthdate?
"I don't have a birthday," Olivia said quietly. "I mean, I do, everyone does, but I don't know when mine is."
"You can just put down the first of Eimol or something," Finn called. "That's what I did. It's the same as General Organa's, but she won't mind."
"All right," said Olivia.
"Thanks," said Kawehi.
"Got it," said Danielle.
"So," Rose warned Poe, "people might not be getting a whole lot of work done tomorrow."
It could be exhausting to move about aboveground, or above water, on Kuymal, and many of the Resistance preferred to stick to the subways to remain as incognito as possible as well as adjusting to the gravity imbalance. After another day of setting up defenses and securing the base, Poe was on alert. "Is everything all right?"
"Very good," she said. "Only Eimol is beginning and..."
"Of course," said Poe.
Between her desire to have a birthday celebration for Finn and Kaydel's hopes of sorting through the records, one thing had led to another. Almost one third of the Stormtrooper defectors were observing their birthday on the first of the new month, not to mention General Organa herself.
"Do I need to get gifts for everyone? That's going to deplete our economy pretty quickly."
"No need. Finn and Kawehi said they'd organized something for them."
Poe nodded.
"If you want to help, see if Kaydel needs help with dessert or anything. I would, but I kind of got exiled from KP after the Ewok incident."
Poe grimaced. "Right."
The first of Eimol dawned rainy and windy, which was typical of Kuymar, but moods were buoyant within the base. For lunch, Pafko prepared an infamous set of Sweet Carbohydrate Rations, which appeared to be somewhat of an in-joke among the ex-Stormtroopers. Dinner was Kaydel's beef stew, which was becoming a traditional Resistance festival meal.
And then the gifts; in order to handle the overflow of honorees, those celebrating had drawn names so they would only be responsible for acquiring a gift for one other person. Olivia had gotten Danielle a new blaster holster, Danielle had gotten Kawehi a Kuymarese globe, Kawehi had gotten General Organa a holovid of embarrassing debacles at Empire Day parades across the galaxy (to much acclaim once the significance of the date was explained). Organa got Trisly a set of blueprints for constructing her own comm system, Trisly got Finn a Resistance flag that one of Maz Kanata's vexillographer friends had made, Finn got Yerbin a Gantzen recipe anthology…
The party lingered late into the night, and Rey was swept up in the festivities, almost too gleeful to notice the spark of blue that flashed near the window. Once Pafko and Ekrem were busy kissing, to the delight of the crowd, she snuck over and smiled. "Enjoying yourself?"
"Very much," said Luke. "And you?"
"Me, too," she said. A thought occurred to her, overlooked in all Rose's pestering and the months of running and evasion. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You may always ask. I'm not sure how helpful you've found my answers."
Rey sighed. "When is your birthday?"
Luke's image blurred for a moment, and then he refocused. "You know Leia is my sister?"
"Of course."
"And you know that we're twins?"
"Twins?" Rey echoed. "But that means...you were born on the first of Eimol too?"
"Afraid so."
"Then what are you doing here? Go celebrate with her."
"Very well," Luke smiled, and walked across the room to where Leia was standing.