Crait almost killed the Resistance. The base was heavily armored and there was equipment to use, but General Leia Organa faced unforeseen complications.
First, there was the fear that no one would come for the Resistance. It swept through the cave like wildfire. Once the distress signal was ignored by dozens of planets, people began panicking. As more and more allies received the signal but didn't respond, the question changed from 'How long will we be in here?' to 'How long can we survive in here?'. The First Order hadn't chased them down to Crait, but no one took comfort realizing that they had been trapped on a mineral planet instead of being chased through space.
Finn tried to keep morale high by leading a group through the cave looking for food and water (there was none) while Poe and Rose examined the rusting speeders to evaluate how useful they were (hardly at all). Lieutenant Connix typed out multiple signals with shaking fingers as Leia suggested additional planets that could help them.
There were no responses by the time night fell, and as many exhausted soldiers settled in for an uneasy sleep, Leia sat at the distress signal, wracking her mind for who else there was in the Galaxy.
Leia searched the Force for Luke, knowing she had felt him just hours before, but he was gone again. She cursed and kicked an outdated mapping display. Several foxes skittered away, and Leia sighed. So many lives had been lost, and she would not have any more deaths.
Then, in the morning, Poe rationed out the meager food and drink that had been stored on the transport ships. It was barely enough, but not a single person complained. When Connix checked her systems again and saw no response, she sighed deeply but said nothing. Leia gently pat her on the shoulder and pulled Poe aside.
Leia didn't let the despair show on her face when Poe informed her that what everyone was eating was half of what they had. She didn't look hopeless when Finn informed her that he hadn't found any additional food. Not one frown crossed her face when Connix informed her that every one of the Outer Rim systems had ignored the distress signal.
But internally, Leia was truly panicking for the first time in a long time. It was the same feeling as knowing there was nothing she could do to save Alderaan, or that there was no way she could stop Han from being frozen, or that she couldn't save Ben from Snoke. She was powerless.
To Leia, the steel doors of the base were beginning to feel like a tomb.
On the second day, there had still been no response to the distress call. No one had come in the night. The food and water ran out. Soldiers sat on the floor, faces blank as they pet the crystal foxes. Leia stood by the window, desperately waiting for help to arrive. Crait was in the middle of nowhere, though. There was a reason the Rebellion had loved this base— no one could ever find it without someone wanting them to.
Leia was polishing her blaster when she heard the telltale sound of the Falcon. She promised to the Maker that she would never call it junk again if it managed her to get away from this planet.
The Millennium Falcon landed right outside the base's doors, and Chewbacca emerged, screaming for Leia to come outside, he'd give her a lift. She almost tripped over herself reaching for the controls to open the base.
Leia tried not to let her grief show when the remaining Resistance fighters could all comfortably fit inside the ship.
It was aboard the Falcon that Leia first realized there was something wrong. She had asked Chewbacca how he'd found them, and when he held out Rey's binary beacon, she demanded to know where Rey was. Chewie couldn't look Leia in the eyes as he told her that Rey had gone alone to see Ben aboard the Supremacy.
Leia's heart sank. If Rey wasn't aboard the Falcon by then, if she'd never been able to rendezvous with Chewie….
Leia couldn't bear any more losses. And this would be the first, and hardest, for Finn. So, she didn't say anything right away. She sat in the cockpit with Chewie, silently mourning Rey and any chance her son had to come back to her, until a large ship made contact with the Falcon.
It was part of the Corellian fleet, and they had received a distress signal but were unable to respond through the open air for fear of being detected by the First Order. Leia remembered listing off Corellia to Connix the day before, and when they provided the exact message the Leia had sent, she asked Chewie to dock with them.
Soldiers greeted them within and led the Falcon's passengers to their mess for food and water. Generals were waiting for Leia when she emerged, and she shook all of their hands.
"You have no idea how thankful I am," Leia said, and the youngest, a girl no older than Rey, nodded.
"We couldn't sit by. My great-uncle Wedge fought for you, and Han Solo was Corellian. To us, you are as good as family," she said, and Leia recognized her as Captain Lysa Antilles. They had met once before, when Lysa was a baby, and Leia was impressed by the life she had made for herself.
"Well, we thank you for that, too," Leia said, and she was ushered through the hangar. She motioned for Poe, Rose, and Finn to follow with her, as they would prove to be useful from their past scheme.
The third unforeseen complication came once Lysa had sat everyone down and begun filling them in about what they had missed.
"So, Snoke's dead," Lysa said, and this caused a physical reaction from Finn and Poe, who both kneed the table in their shock. Rose choked on her water. Leia merely leaned forward onto the table.
"Then why look so distressed?" Leia asked. Lysa looked like she wanted to bolt from the room.
"The war isn't over because new Supreme Leaders replaced him immediately," Lysa said.
"'Leaders'? With an 's'?" Poe asked. Leia anticipated half of the blow that was coming next.
"Supreme Leaders Ren and Rey," Lysa said, and silence fell over the room. It only lasted for a moment.
"What did you just say?" Finn asked, his voice sounding dangerous. Lysa focused on her rings.
Leia wasn't sure what threw her more: Ben or Rey. She knew that Rey walked the line between Light and Dark, just as Ben had, but Rey was training with Luke to become a Jedi… just as Ben had. She took a deep breath and tried to center herself.
What the hell had happened?
"I'm sorry," Lysa said. "The First Order issued an announcement across every network announcing the change in power. We found out this morning."
"Sorry, is this the Rey you've been telling me about? The one who went to find Luke Skywalker?" Rose asked, looking between Finn and Leia. Finn just nodded.
"Tell us exactly what happened," Leia said.
"Snoke was found murdered and shortly after, your son and…Rey," Lysa paused at her name, evidently unsure of how to label Rey, "declared themselves as Supreme Leaders. She was aboard the Supremacy when it was last seen entering hyperspace."
"She declared herself Supreme Leader," Leia said, unsure if she was asking a question or trying to make herself process it.
"Yes," Lysa said.
"Kylo has to have forced her," Finn said, and Lysa looked doubtful.
"Reports came back that she was seen at Kylo Ren's side and speaking freely," Lysa said.
"There's no way Rey could join the First Order," Finn insisted. "We fought to get out of there. She fought Kylo. She's up to something." Leia could hear the desperation in Finn's voice and tried to think from his perspective.
He knew Rey best, and he was right— they had done everything they could to escape and destroy Starkiller Base. Rey had only left to go to Luke. Ben was dangerous and manipulative and would know that Rey as a prisoner in power would break any strength the Resistance still had.
"Finn," Rose said, gently. "Wouldn't we have seen her if she'd been a prisoner? She was on the Supremacy while we were, and I feel like the First Order would show us to her or the other way around."
"What are you saying?" Finn asked.
"I don't think you're wrong. I think the Rey you know would never betray us… but how well do you know Rey?" Rose asked. Finn looked like Rose had punched him.
Leia let her mind drift to Rose's perspective. How well did any of them know Rey? Finn knew her best, but their friendship had only lasted for a few days. Leia didn't know her at all, and she had trusted that she stay with Luke. But Chewie said that she had him drop her off at the Supremacy with no explanation after some sort of argument with Luke.
It was pretty damning.
"I'm with Finn on this one. I don't think she's betraying us," Poe said.
"So, what, she's playing double agent? She's a prisoner?" Rose asked.
"Look, I don't know," Finn said. "But I do not believe that she just turned on everything we fought for to rule with Kylo Ren. That is not Rey. And I don't care what I have to do, I'm going to figure out what's happening."
"General, what are you thinking?" Poe asked, and the attention in the room shifted to Leia. She'd felt betrayals over the years— as a Princess, as a senator, as a sister, as a mother. Betrayals always left the harshest wounds.
She thought of Rey, with her grief-stricken face after she returned on the Falcon without Han. Rey had sat at Finn's bedside whenever Poe couldn't be there to keep vigil. Rey had offered to go to Luke by herself to convince him to come home and save the Resistance.
But Leia had felt it, the darkness in Rey. And to take such a position of power— to rule the Galaxy— was something that few could turn down. Ben, evidently, had felt it, too. Leia herself knew that kind of power had a certain draw to it.
"I don't know," Leia said, folding her hands. "I don't know enough. But, for now, all we know is that she's a Supreme Leader and we have to treat her as such."
"General…" Poe began, but a cold look from Leia ended the rest of his thought. Poe turned to Finn and frowned. Leia sighed.
"I'm sorry," Lysa repeated. Leia had briefly forgotten the young Antilles was in the room.
"We can discuss this further privately," Leia said. "Now, Lysa, where are you going to be dropping us off? There are plenty of allies that we can go to. We're so thankful for your kindness, and we don't want to take advantage of it."
Lysa blinked for a few seconds before saying, "We're not dropping you off. You're coming back to Corellia with us. And then we're going to find you another command ship and fleet."
"Lysa, that's not necessary," Leia protested. Lysa smirked.
"Corellia fought the Empire thirty years ago. We are one of the Core Worlds. Your husband was Corellian. Leia, this is not a problem," Lysa said, standing from the table. "I'll give you the room. There's food in the mess when you're ready." With a short nod to the group, Lysa left the room and shut the door behind her.
"General," Finn said, "you cannot actually think that Rey is with the First Order willingly." Leia swiveled in her chair to face him fully.
"I have been in wars for a very long time. And I have learned to never make assumptions about people without knowing everything." Leia said. "Vader, Ben, even Han. I don't know what happened on the Supremacy that took Rey to the title of Supreme Leader, so I don't want to jump to any conclusions."
"But she's the Supreme Leader," Rose said. "That might be all we know, but it's a pretty important thing to know."
"Rose is right. Finn, you might not like it, but that's all we know right now. And because of that information, we have to deal with her the same way we'd deal with Snoke," Leia said.
"Or your son," Finn said, and Poe shot him a glare. Leia was used to it. The fact that Kylo Ren and Ben Solo were the same person was common knowledge through the Resistance, but it was hardly ever discussed. Leia knew, though, that people thought it during every meeting, battle, and loss. She didn't blame them.
"Or my son," Leia agreed. She looked around the table at Finn, Poe, and Rose and distinctly felt like she was speaking to her own children. Or, what she imagined it would feel like.
Finn seemed to want to argue the point further, but he just closed his mouth and took a deep breath. Leia's stomach growled, loudly, and it seemed to break the tension.
"Maybe we should head to the mess," Poe suggested, and everyone seemed to like that idea. They stood up and headed for the doors, and Leia put her hand on Finn's shoulder.
"I promise you," she said, "that we are not giving up hope on her. If we find anything to prove that she is in danger or not with the First Order of her own free will, we will find a way to bring her home."
Leia couldn't tell Finn that she had held that same belief for her son over so many years. She knew that he'd guess it, but she hoped he could tell she spoke the truth.
Finn nodded and thanked her, but Leia could plainly see the pain on his face. Lysa led the group to the mess, chatting with Rose about the mechanics of this ship as Poe and Finn spoke in hushed tones. Every corner they turned, the crew stared at Leia. She smiled back kindly but didn't stop to speak with anyone.
In a way, Leia supposed she was just as much of a legend as Luke. She searched the Force for him again but found nothing. Only when Leia searched for Luke did his absence pain her. It felt like she was missing a hand— which she guessed was just her way of truly being a Skywalker.
When she entered the mess, Leia tried not to let her face show how she felt when the entirety of the Resistance could fit at two tables. They all ate like they hadn't been fed in weeks, which, considering the stress they'd been under for the past few days, seemed reasonable. Several Corellians were scattered throughout the mess, keeping their distance from the Resistance.
Poe, Finn, and Rose took seats at the closest table as everyone else looked anxiously to Leia.
She didn't want to do this. Breaking her own peoples' spirit was not part of being a General.
"We are being transported to Corellia. From there, we are going to find ourselves a new ship, locate a new base, and rebuild the Resistance," Leia began, and people actually smiled. It pained her.
"This next part isn't easy for me to say, considering the heavy losses we've taken recently. Captain Antilles informed me that Supreme Leader Snoke has been killed," Leia said, and she watched as a brief moment of delirious joy rose on everyone's faces. She raised her hand to stop anyone from speaking before she finished. "But the First Order is still strong, because he had been replaced by two Supreme Leaders."
She paused— not for dramatic effect, but because she didn't want to say it.
"Kylo Ren is one, naturally," Leia said, and Finn already put his head in his hand. Poe rested his hand on Finn's shoulder and Rose closed her eyes. "Rey is the other."
"Our Rey?" Connix asked. Murmurs broke out across the table. Leia could feel the pain in the Force, the betrayal. Compounded with her own pain, it was almost unbearable.
"Yes," Leia confirmed, "our Rey." The murmurs turned to shouts, and Leia wanted to leave. She wanted to go back to Endor or Alderaan, or even Crait. Anywhere but here, where she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.
Leia knew that no one would ever say it, but she know the thought that entered their minds was: her fault. Ben was her son. She had allowed Rey to leave. Leia knew that it wasn't her fault, but that didn't ease her guilt if people thought it for even a moment.
"Enough," Poe said, ending the noise. He looked back to Leia and nodded.
"What's important is that we are together. We are on a path to rebuilding. No betrayal means more than the sacrifices made in the past. We will endure. We will survive. And we will win," Leia said.
A/N: The best way to start the year was with notifications about this story. Seriously, I am so blown away by the response this has gotten, and I want to thank all of you for everything. Even after Colorblind, I still feel nervous posting new content.
On a side note, the 10 day gap between 'Supreme Leaders' and this chapter is gonna be closer to the usual time between updates. I'm not as quick of a writer as most other people, but I promise you that this story is just getting started and I'll be seeing it through to the end.
Thank you all so much. Happy New Year, let's hope 2018 doesn't suck!