Finn made a sharp turn around the bend of the hallway. He nodded confidently. "Yes, this is definitely it."

Poe rolled his eyes. "Are you sure? Because you've literally said that every single time we've turned a corner in this damned place. I thought that you were supposed to have worked here, so how could you be so terrible at finding your way around?"

Finn shrugged. "Hey, in my defense-" There was the sound of blasters and shouts coming from the way that Finn had just pointed out. He turned and glanced back at Poe. "On the other hand, this way looks just as good." The two men turned left and ran for a few more minutes.

Finn grinned triumphantly and slowed down a bit. "Okay, so this is definitely it. And I'm not just saying that this time, it's really true. This is the way out."

Before Poe could say anything in response to that, there were two soft footsteps, and then the two men found themselves staring at a very small stormtrooper. Poe, who'd never seen a cadet before, couldn't help thinking that it looked just like a mini stormtrooper. Only not wearing the typical stormtrooper armor.

A soft voice came out from under the helmet. "Don't worry, you're friend's absolutely right, this does lead out. There's just one little problem left. You're going to have to get through me first."

Poe shrugged, and aimed his blaster at the small person, while keeping a steady grip on the bag that was in his other hand. Finn, however, hesitated. The cadet whipped out a little blaster pistol. Poe reacted before his opponent could fire off any shots. The cadet just barely ducked to the side, and her helmet went flying off, revealing a babyish faced girl with wide eyes. That's when Poe realized that she was just a little kid.

He swore under his breath. "What the hell is a little kid like you doing playing with guns? You're going to get yourself hurt."

The girl scoffed, and schooled her expression to look as threatening as possible. "Please. I'm not the top of my class, biggest record breaking cadet for nothing. If anyone should be worrying about getting hurt, it would be you."

Finn's eyes widened at that. "Wait a second- I know you. Well, I've heard of you. You're C-7717, right?" Poe shot Finn a confused look, but the former stormtrooper ignored it. "Everyone's heard of you. They say that you're the top cadet to ever pass through the academy."

The girl frowned, and her posture relaxed, just a tiny bit. "In that case, you must be FN-2187, a.k.a. the traitor. Everyone's heard of you around here, too. They say that you ran away because you were a coward." Her voice sounded like she had intended the tone to be biting, but had clearly missed her mark.

Finn raised his hands. "Alright, so I'm a coward, and you're one of the most popular stories to pass around in the lunchroom. I know that there can't be any orders to take us in alive, so why don't you just shoot me now, and get it over with?"

C-7717 jutted her chin out, but the two men could still see the way it shook, just a bit. She took a few steps back to quickly grab her fallen helmet and jam it back onto her head to hide her face. She extended the arm holding her blaster, and when her arm shook, she reached up with the other, so she was gripping it tightly with both hands. Her face was pale, and her arms were shaking. "I will do it. I will." Then she squeezed her eyes shut, and threw down the gun, shaking like crazy. Her voice was soft, but now it just sounded vulnerable. "Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I can't do it." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Oh gods, I can't do it. You're going to get away, and they're going to kill me." Her shoulders shook, even as she bit down on her lips to prevent any loud sobs from coming out.

Finn glanced at Poe, and he wasn't entirely sure what his friend was thinking, but he knew what to do in this situation. He took a few steps forward, and gently put his hand on the girl's shoulders to steady them. She flinched back, and he pulled his hands away, but didn't make any move to back away.

He sighed. "Come with us."

The girl looked up at him in shock, and he could practically hear Poe's frown. The girl sniffled once, then quickly ran the back of her hand across her nose. "Why would you want me to go with you?"

Finn shrugged. "I was like you once. I thought that I was just a normal soldier, but when it came down to it, I couldn't force myself to kill innocent people. The Order doesn't have that kind of hesitation. Like you said, if they find out that you let us go, they'll definitely kill you. They might even disguise it as an accident, but they'll do it. But if you come with us, you'll be safe."

Poe sighed. "I guess I can't really complain about defecting stormtroopers." He shrugged. "There's just one catch. You have to leave your helmet behind." That thing would make tracers and communications all too easy, and it would also serve as an unneeded reminder of the past.

The girl slowly reached up, and pulled off the helmet. She held it in her hands, running her fingers around the familiar edges. It was her cadet helmet, which means she'd had it for two years already. Each cadet helmet was unique, and hers was no exception. There were the sound of pounding footsteps getting closer. Finn motioned towards the exit with urgency. "You have to decide now, kid. You won't get another chance, I can tell you that much."

C-7717 nodded, and tossed the helmet behind her. She nodded at the two rebels. "Come on, the exit's this way." She snorted. "This is the first time I've ever stepped foot on this base, and even I know that much."

Then she took off, and the two men followed right on her tail. They burst outside a few minutes later, and that's when Poe took the lead, getting Finn and the girl back to the shuttle that they'd come in. There were no other rebels inside, since this had just been a quick mission, and they quickly got in. Poe shut the doors, reminded his two passengers to buckle up, and then he took off.

Once they were in hyperspace, both men let their shoulders slump as their tension wore off a little bit. They all sat in silence for a bit, until Finn finally sighed, and leaned forward. "We can't just keep calling you C-7717 forever, you know."

C-7717 frowned at that. "But that's my number. What else would you call me by?"

Finn looked up at Poe. "What do you think? You're the one who gave me my name. Maybe you could do her the same favor?"

Poe tilted his head to think about it. Before he could say anything, C-7717 looked up. "Well, if I'm going to get a new name, then it should be one that I picked. So I'll pick a character from my favorite book."

Finn looked a little surprised at that. "When the hell do you have time to read?"

C-7717 sighed. "Top of the class, remember? It means that I get a little extra freedom sometimes. And my favorite book is definitely A Beginner's Guide to Gardening." She scrunched up her face in concentration as she thought about which character's name she wanted to take. This was a very big decision, not to be taken lightly. After a few minutes, she nodded. "I think I know. My favorite character is Violet, but I don't like what happens to her, so I'll go with my second favorite, Iris." She shivered. "I can't believe I just picked a name, for myself, that other people are actually going to call me." She looked at Finn. "How did you do it?"

He shrugged. "I knew that it would be wrong to stay, and from there, everything else was easy. So you've already done the hard part. I promise, everything's going to be alright, Iris." He put deliberate emphasis on her new name.

She smiled, then looked down at her uniform. "I'm probably going to want something different. Too bad cadets don't just wear armor with clothes underneath like the full grown troopers do."

Finn smiled. "I'm sure we'll be able to find you some clothes to wear."

Iris nodded nervously. "Well, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll walk behind you. I'm not particularly fond of the idea of being shot on sight for wearing this." Then she furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait- where are we going, anyways?"

"To a place where I think you'll fit in just fine."

Iris looked around with amazement at the giant building around her. Everything seemed so much more open, so much freer, than anything that she was used to. Finn laughed at the look on her face. "I know, trust me, I felt the same way not too long ago, when I first encountered this place."

There were lots of people walking around in every direction, and Iris was afraid of getting lost, so she latched onto the back of Finn's shirt, and refused to let go. Most people were so busy rushing off that they didn't even notice. Then Finn heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, and he dragged Iris over.

He bowed his head down for just a moment. "General Organa."

The older woman peered past him, and stared down at the girl clinging to him, taking in the the uniform with the Order's symbol on it. She looked back up at Finn questioningly. "Who's your friend?"

Finn stepped aside, and Iris followed. He rolled his eyes, but didn't really look frustrated. He reached back to gently pull the girl's hands off of his jacket, and then propelled her out in front of him. "This is Iris." He smiled gently. "She's from the same place as me."

Organa nodded. "I see. I'm assuming I'll hear the full story during the debriefing?"

Finn nodded. "Of course. Now if you'll excuse us, I was hoping to show Iris around."

Organa nodded and took a few steps back to let the pair pass. Iris looked up at Finn curiously while they walked. "Doesn't this feel absolutely crazy to you?"

Finn shrugged. "I guess it was easier for me, because I already had a friend in this place. Poe, the guy who was driving the ship. I helped him get out when he was taken prisoner, and from there, I just sort of ended up getting dragged in." He hesitated, then sighed. "If I'm being honest, then I was absolutely terrified of this," he made a gesture that was meant to include the entire Resistance. "I was going to leave and get myself as far away from all of this as possible."

Iris tilted her head. "So what changed your mind?"

"Another friend needed my help. You might not meet her for a while though. She's been off-world for the past few months for training."

Iris nodded. "So why were you guys at the base anyways? Just sending in two of you means that it obviously was meant to be more along the lines of a stealth mission, so what were you there for?" Finn looked uncomfortable, and Iris brushed the question aside. "It's not important. I wouldn't want you to have to break any rules to tell me." She quickly changed topics. "So when you said that you would find me new clothes, did you mean that it would be anytime soon?"

Finn chuckled. "I'm sure we'll be able to find you something. How tall are you?"

Iris smiled. It was finally a question with a direct, accurate answer that didn't need to be danced around. "Five feet and five inches."

Finn nodded. "We'll just have to find a short rebel with extra robes. Don't worry, with the amount of people around this place, odds are that at least one of them is going to be your height"

As they walked, Iris pulled off her gloves. They were just a plain black, so she decided that it would be okay to keep them. Then she pushed up the sleeves of her uniform, showing off very pale arms. She tucked the gloves in her pocket, and made sure to keep up with Finn, though it was hard to keep up with him because his legs were longer, even though he wasn't too much taller than Iris over all.

After a bit, Finn suddenly reached out to grab the arm of a woman who was walking past them in the opposite direction. He grinned at her. "Charal, how are you? You should be pleased to know that our mission was a success. Quick question, though: do you happen to have any spare clothes that Iris here could have? What she's wearing at the moment isn't really something that would be good for prolonged useage."

The woman glanced past Finn, and saw Iris, who had decided that behind Finn was really the safest place for her to be at any given moment. The woman had a scrutinizing stare, like she was trying to figure out Iris's entire life story from just one quick glance. She nodded. "Alright. Here," she dug into her pocket, then reached out to hand Finn a key. "I should have something that'll fit in my locker, 228."

Finn smiled. "Thanks, Charal. I owe you one."

Charal crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Absolutely not. I

think it's your new friend here that owes me one."

Finn raised one eyebrow, but didn't question it. He glanced down at Iris. "Is that okay?"

The girl nodded. "As long as you don't ask me to kill anyone, I don't really care. I

just want to get out of these clothes."

Charal nodded, and then quickly walked away, getting back to whatever she had been doing before Finn had interrupted her. Finn led Iris through the facility, and they entered a large room full of bunk beds, each one with two footlockers next to it. Finn walked through the room, which only had a few people in it, and stopped next to the locker labeled 228. He used the key, then ruffled through a few things before pulling out a folded up outfit, and all that Iris could see what some black.

He handed her the bundle of clothes, then pointed to a doorway. "You can go change in there."

Iris went through, and found herself in a pretty large bathroom. She slipped into one of the stalls, and unfolded the clothes. Based on what other people had been wearing around this place, she was pretty sure that these were that Charal woman's leisure clothes, and almost felt bad for taking them. But then she glanced down at her current outfit, and decided that it was okay.

Irish changed pretty quickly and efficiently, since that's how they'd always been taught in the academy. She pulled on a thin blue tunic, which went over a pair of snug black leggings. Then she pulled her own boots back on, and tucked her gloves into her boots so they would be ready if she needed them.

She rolled her old uniform up into a ball, then exited the stall, and went to stand in front of the long mirror. She felt like she was wearing nothing, like she was naked, but the mirror proved that she looked like a totally different person. She reached back and undid the plaited hair, letting it fall in loose waves over her shoulders. Then she made sure that her necklace was tucked securely under her shirt, and that was it.

Iris went back out into the room with all the beds, and saw that Finn was still waiting patiently for her. She quickly walked over, and he smiled. "You look like an entirely different person. And don't worry, because that's definitely a good thing." He sighed. "I'd really like to show you around more, since I barely showed you anything, but I have to get to the debriefing on how our mission went." He unclipped a little tube from his belt. "Here, it's a communicator. I'll let you know as soon as the meetings over." Then he took the gray uniform. "I'll make sure to properly dispose of these."

He turned to walk away, and Iris felt a little bit of panic. "Wait!" When he turned around, she sighed. "What am I supposed to do?"

Finn shrugged. "You're free to do pretty much anything. I know that it'll probably take a while to get used to, but it's true. Once the debriefing's over, I know a lot of people who will want to meet you, so don't wander too far, okay?" He smiled encouragingly. "Trust me, I know how scary this is, but you can do it. And if you really get bored, you could try just talking to some people. They've all got interesting stories."

Iris nodded, though she still looked like she had no idea what was going on. Finn shrugged apologetically, then left the room, leaving Iris on her own. She looked around, but decided that she wasn't just going to sit in here and mope. She suddenly had the freedom to explore, and she was going to use it. She smiled a bit to herself. Things were moving so fast, but it was probably a good thing overall. It meant that Iris was getting closer and closer to something new, and she was excited to discover exactly what it was that she was feeling.