Hello and welcome to the sequel to Star Wars: The Last Hope, a companion novella that goes with my Reylo Star Wars series. Now that the second installment of the Reylo series is out I figured it was time to start the companion novella for The Neo Order: a Reylo Star Wars Story. I will try to keep this novella more coherent so that while it will rely on the main story you can read the chapters without being totally lost if you miss a chapter from the other story.
With that being said: PLEASE READ CHAPTERS 1-3 OF THE NEO ORDER: A REYLO STAR WARS STORY IN ORDER TO GET THE FULL EFFECT.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the amazing character except Eshreal Mecca!
If you like it let me know. If you didn't let me know why...
Chapter 1: The Aftermath and Improvements
Once Eshreal Mecca, Asera Tessu, Cade Hacduel, Talik'Ivaddi, and Arca Gearsky now calling themselves the Knights of Rey arrived back on Olara, Asera and Gear worked tirelessly to help Kylo Ren and Zer-o, one of their own who'd been gravely injured along with Kylo in the fight against Zoroyais a dark Force user in league with the first. Neither of them had regained consciousness even after Rey. Their wounds couldn't be treated with Bacta or any of the other remedies that Asera tried. Needless to say, the whole process was daunting and slow going.
Once Rey shared her light with Kylo Ren and Asera corroborated her claim of black mist rising from Kylo's wound Gear began working on a device to capture the mist in order to analyze it and it's connection to whatever was wrong with their people. Once he came up with the design Eshreal and Cade helped him get everything he needed to complete it.
It was that device that allowed Asera and Gear to figure out that the reason Zer-o and Kylo's wounds were not closing was because the blade Zoroyais used was made of strange metal mixture. For sure they were able to identify Durasteel as one of the components. The other seemed to be a poison bonded metal that somehow broke down when it came into contact with living matter. That was what was keeping the two men unconscious.
Seven days after Rey shared her light with Kylo he regained consciousness.
That was all the confirmation that Asera needed for her to suggest that Rey try the same process with Zer-o. Rey was skeptical at first. But when she agreed, Asera agreed to try with her. While Asera was unsuccessful, Rey was able to get her light through to Zer-o. It seemed to tire her out so Sera agreed to let her and Kylo sleep it off in the med bay until the next day when they could go back to their hut.
None of the members of the Knights of Rey ever lost hope as they waited for Zer-o to wake up. Cade, Eshreal and Taliki took turns sitting by his bedside. Cade would tell him about the gadgets that the Jasmenerthians have been building for the Resistance. Eshreal had taken over taking care of Zer-o's pet Nexu and would give him regular updates. Taliki on the other hand would just come to sit at his bedside; she would never say anything and would only come when no one else was around.
She didn't tell anyone but she'd been feeling out of place lately. Sitting with Zer-o made her feel useful. Even if she was only sitting there.
Kylo Ren was out for several days after Rey's visit, but he also had more wounds, Zer-o only had one bad wound so it only ended up being 3 days before he regained consciousness. It was late Asera had fallen asleep at her desk so it was Taliki who was at his side when he woke up. They had taken to sitting on his right side so that when he did wake up he would be able to see whoever was there.
"Where the hell am I," his deep voice startled Taliki who had been lost in thought.
"You in the med bay back at the Olara base," Taliki said softly once she'd regained her composure.
Zer-o turned his head so that he could see her better. The male's one good eye looked over Taliki and wondered what she was doing here.
"Did Cade make you sit in here," he asked.
"No…I just…," Taliki was nervous and she didn't know why.
"Just making sure I didn't croak," he asked and sat up so that he could see her better.
"NO! I just figured it would be better if you woke up with someone by your side to explain everything," she said starting to get irritated with the male's attitude.
"What's to explain? Zoroyais took my eye with that damn blade and tried to kill Ren. Did that dark haired bastard make it," Zer-o asked genuinely curious.
Taliki nodded, "Yes. He's been out of the med bay for two days now."
"How long were we out?"
"We've been back on Olara for 10 days," she said gently.
"Shit! I've missed 10 days of training," Zer-o asked, trying to get up.
The machine monitoring his heart began going crazy as he got worked up.
"No, not really. There hasn't been much training with you out and Kylo Ren still healing. You've both had to heal naturally as the poison from Zoroyais' blade prevents things like Bacta and healing with the Force from working. Our group really hasn't gotten together since before Ilum," Taliki explained trying to calm him down before he woke up Asera.
"Oh," he said but it was too late.
"Taliki, I said you could sit in here but you better not be agitating my patient," Asera said as she came out of the office.
She stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw Zer-o sitting up on his own. Taliki smiled at her while Zer-o just scowled. Asera came over and began checking him over ignoring the expression on his face.
"She really is amazing," Asera said.
"Who," Zer-o asked.
"Rey. She's the only reason why you aren't dead right now," Asera said.
"Taliki said that you couldn't heal us with the Force so what did our great leader do that you couldn't Zer-o asked.
Asera proceeded to tell Zer-o everything that had happened with Rey sharing her light with the two of them while Taliki went to gather the other members of the Knights of Rey. Zer-o was just as impressed with Rey as the rest of them were as Sera explained how impossible it'd been for her to try to force her light into Zer-o the way that Rey had.
Eshreal and Cade showed up first with Gear not too far behind them. Eshreal ran and threw her arms around the Zabrak male. Taliki suspected that if it was anyone other than their captain he wouldn't have allowed it.
"Ease off of him, Essie," Cade said as he went over and shook his partner/brother's hand.
"Oh, sorry," Essie said moving to the other side so that she wasn't crowding him.
"How are you feeling, brother," Cade asked.
"Like Rhimar would have kicked my ass for sacrificing my perfect vision to help out Kylo Ren," Zer-o said but Cade could tell that he was at least half joking.
Rhimar had been the woman who pretty much raised the two of them. She had been killed by the First Order a few years before Cade and the others joined up with the resistance. She taught them never to sacrifice something you can't live without for something you could live without and at the moment Zer-o didn't know if he could live without his eye.
"I think she would be proud of you for being willing to die for the good of the group. Though if you ever do that again I may have to kick your ass myself," Cade said with a half-smile.
"I second that notion," Eshreal said.
"Well don't blame me. How was a supposed to know that the dark super being would be using a blade made of poison metal," Zer-o asked.
"That is a good point," Taliki said.
"Speaking of which, Asera when you get some time can you help me in the lab. Your medical knowledge would be a great help in trying to isolate the poison in the metal. Maybe if I can figure it out on a molecular level we could reproduce it," Gear said to which Sera nodded.
"So Doc, when can I get out of here," Zer-o asked, drawing the attention back to him.
"You can leave today as long as you have someone to help you around the base. Your depth perception will be off and I can't have you falling or running into walls," Asera said.
"Cool, so who wants to be my base guide," Zer-o asked.
Asera and Gear were out as they would be busy in the lab until someone needed medical attention, Rey and Kylo called a meeting for them, or they figure out what the blade had been made of.
"Sorry brother, I've been helping out with the new security measures around the base and I'm supposed to be meeting with Taliah in the workshop like right now," Cade said.
"Alright, tell Taliah I'm willing to help out too as soon as Sera clears me," Zer-o said.
He and Cade shook hands and the Shistavanen took off. Zer-o looked to Eshreal.
"Poe promised to teach me to shoot a bow and arrow as well as a blaster today. Otherwise you know I would be happy to escort you around the base," Essie said.
"Please tell me you are free Liki. Otherwise I'll have to resort to younglings or worse regular people," Zer-o said and Taliki actually laughed.
"As the most useless member of the Knights of Rey, my day is wide open," she said. Gear, Eshreal, Asera and Zer-o all open their mouths at the same time but Taliki just held her hand up and said, "I'm more useful in a fight than I am with any of the things that need to be done around here. I'm not a healer/Doctor or a scientist so I can't help identify the metal from your wounds. I'm not mechanically inclined so I can't help with all of the new advancements the Jasmenerthians are working on. I have no interest in learning to shoot anything. And as a former slave I need the classes that Leia and Poe have taken over more than I could ever hope to help out with."
Eshreal headed off once she was sure that they hadn't hurt Liki's feelings. Asera and Gear waited until Taliki and Zer-o were safely out of the med bay before Sera locked the place up and they headed for the lab. It seemed the air was lighter now that the med bay was totally empty.
…
Cade left the med bay and went directly to the Workshop that was right off of the hanger area of the Olara Base. It was a long walk but when he got there Taliah and Tommen were just opening the shop. The two giants paused and waited for Cade to join them so they could all go in together.
"I heard Zer-o is up," Taliah said with a smile.
"Yeah, all thanks to Rey. Now we can get back to our training," Cade said flashing teeth.
"Aww, does that mean we are losing you or that Zer-o will be joining us," Tommen asked.
"Of course he wants to join us. We could use his weapons' expertise for some of the defense systems we are working on," Cade said. "Though I don't think we'll just be sitting around once Zer-o and Ren are back to full strength. There'll be training and missions to go on but we'll try to come by as much as possible," Cade said.
"Well next time you all are facing my sister I would like to be there," Taliah said.
"I'm sure we can arrange that. Eventually we will need all of the help we can get," Cade said. "So what are we doing today," Cade asked.
"We're still working on the new motion sensors for outside of the Force field," Tommen said.
"We could be done with those and have moved on to something else if you weren't such a perfectionist," Taliah said with a teasing smile.
"I am not a perfectionist. Is it too much to ask that the sensors be able to tell sentient from non-sentient life as well as our people from those who'd want to hurt us," Tommen asked.
"No its not," Cade interjected before the couple could start arguing.
"Well then Cade I really hope you have some suggestions on how we can complete those sensors so we can start working on the ones I want to deploy into the atmosphere so that they can detect incoming ships," Taliah said.
"I though Micah was working on those," Cade said as he sat down at one of the tables with one on the motion sensors.
"He is but he's also been working with Saniyah on the J-wings. We need to finish and deploy all of these new instruments as soon as possible. We need more workers. Splitting our number between ships, weapons, and defense technology is really slowing us down," Taliah said with a sigh.
"Plus we could really use a real factory," Tommen added.
"Hey what if we started training some of the people who aren't being taught to fight," Cade suggested.
Taliah and Tommen both seemed to think on it.
"With all of the ex-slaves and rebels who want to fight the First Order but can't because of age, sickness, injury or disability that Poe is bringing in we could easily double the size of each department," Cade said trying to sell the point more.
"We can try it, Cade but some of us went to school for almost a decade to learn some of this stuff," Tommen said.
"I'm not saying we teach them rocket science but we could teach them to weld and basic wiring. That takes up most of our time anyway," Cade said. "I can't get us a factory but this could help."
"I think it could work, love. Let's talk to Leia later and see what she says," Tommen said just as the others began arriving for the days' shift.
…
Eshreal was meeting with Poe Dameron outside of the Force Field that not only kept things and people from just waltzing onto their land and also kept the base from being detected or spotted by ships flying by. The rest of Olara was dense jungle with rolling hills and sweeping valleys. There were a couple of oceans and lakes but where Poe suggested they meet was one of Essie's favorite spots.
There was a hill overlooking one of valley's that was more rock and stone than jungle and water near the edge of the landmass that the base was built on. Whenever Eshreal got home sick she would go there and practice the flying drills her mother used to put her through when she was little. Poe suggested the spot because there was a very narrow chance of her actually shooting someone out there on accident.
Eshreal's trusty droid V5 followed at her side. The little purple and white astro-mech let out a stream of whistles, beeps and boops that made Essie laugh. She'd asked Eshreal about her sudden interest in things that shoot when she'd had the same lightsaber for almost as long as she's been alive.
"I don't mind close quarters combat but almost everyone on our team can fight up close. I can fly. I need a weapon that can be used at long range so that I can help my team more," Eshreal said as she spotted Poe sitting on a particularly flat rock near the edge of the cliff. "Hi Poe," Eshreal called.
Poe looked up and spotted her and her droid. When BB-8 rolled from behind him V5 stopped in her tracks. Eshreal knew that if she could the little astro-mech would be blushing.
"If you like him you should just tell him," Essie said and kept going.
Behind her she could hear V5 spewing insults her way. She just laughed and unfolded her wings. She flew toward Poe who watched her in awe. Most people forgot about her wings unless they were out or she was talking about them.
"Hey Eshreal," Poe said with a smile. "So I know you said that you have no experience shooting anything so I brought several options with me," Poe said.
He proceeded to show Eshreal a wooden bow and arrows that he had to have made himself, a crossbow blaster like the one Chewie carried, a bow made out of metal with arrows that looked sharper than anything she'd ever seen, a blaster pistol and a blaster rifle.
"We won't get to all of these today but I wanted you to at least know what they all look like," Poe said as Eshreal came over and touched each of the weapons.
"Thank you for helping me with this Poe. I know that shooting is taught in basic Resistance training but I haven't got that. If I tried to get Cade or Zer-o to help me they would probably just misunderstand why I feel the need to do this and then they'd get all offended and I don't have time for that. I just want to have more options," Essie said.
"It's no problem, Essie. Let's get started shall we," Poe said with a smile and handed her the wooden bow.
…
The Lab was only a short walk from the Med Bay. There weren't many scientists clamoring to join the Resistance so most of the time Gear had the lab all to himself. Though sometimes the droid known as BQ-21 would come into do some light cleaning but otherwise the lab was Gear's personal space.
Off and on over the last couple of days Asera has been in and out checking on whatever progress he made. At first it had irritated Gear that she kept bugging him but after sitting and talking to her for a couple hours he came to the conclusion that she really cared about her patients and would do whatever she had to in order to help them.
"So you said you had made some progress," Asera asked as Gear sat down at a microscope.
"Yeah, I was finally able to find a solution that would dissolve the Durasteel but wouldn't compromise the unknown component. I've been looking for a poison that matches what I'm seeing but I can't think of one," Gear said and moved so that Asera could look.
"I've never seen anything like this. It almost looks like Sith Poison but not," she said.
"And the effects are similar. Sith Poison preys on the emotions and tries to draw you to the dark side, this seems to prey the darkness already within the person and uses it to suppress the parts of themselves that are light. Which would only keep someone who is connected to both the Light and the Dark sides of the Force like Kylo unconscious," Gear paused to make sure that Sera was following where he was going.
"We know that Zer-o was with Kylo by mistake. It should have been Rey out there with Kylo. Are you saying that Zoroyais planned to knock them out with this poison and the take them," Sera asked. Gear nodded and she asked, "But for someone who obviously pulls to the light wouldn't this poison have killed her like Sith Poison?"
"Look at what happened when we escaped Ilum. Rey was never touched with the Poison but she was still unconscious for well over 12 hours. That would have been more than enough time to get them to wherever," he reasoned.
"So really it was just luck that it was Zer-o out there and not one of us. We could have been killed. Hells he probably was trying to kill Zer," Asera said.
She wandered over and picked up one of the matte gray and silver cylinder that Gear called a jar. It was a tiny opening on one end and there was a piece of transparisteel so you could see how much of the substance they had collected. There was a button that would allow you suck in a gaseous material and another button that would release tiny quantities of the material. Gear had even included a button that would cause a tiny fire to destroy the material inside if need be.
There were 10 of the jars full of the poison in total. Three of them had come from Zer-o but the other seven had come from Kylo and Sera suspected that if she'd listened to Rey right away that they would have been able to collect more.
"We need to run more tests," Gear concluded and Asera had to agree.