It seems like nothing short of a miracle that he's gotten away with this deception for so long. He's been living on the edge for the last two weeks, wondering every night if General Organa and the others would break down his door at any moment, announce him being a spy to the whole base, and feed him to a pack of Rathtars. But he continues to keep his thoughts on lockdown and his communications with Captain Phasma to a minimum, and General Organa and the others do not suspect anything. Captain Markus Dinoa continues to give him hell, but that's to be expected. In fact, Finn would be worried if Dinoa had suddenly turned nice overnight.

He's enjoying himself, despite the danger of his situation. He enjoys the food in the mess hall, which contains more variety than he'd grown up with. He enjoys learning universal history and checks out several books from the Resistance library about the times of old and stays up late at night reading them. He enjoys flying with Poe and his squadron, who have sort of taken him under their wing and have become the friends that he'd never known he wanted. Pava and Karé tease him and give him flying tips. Oddy and L'ulo teach them their respective languages. Snap and Poe pull pranks with him and teach him new swear words. Around them, he feels so much more relaxed than he ever had with Nines and Zeroes.

What he doesn't like, however, is how they'd assumed the worst of him from the start. Like how Pava had thought that just because he'd been a Stormtrooper he had no idea how his body worked or what sex was, or when Poe had thought that he hadn't known how to read due to his upbringing, or when Snap and Karé had taken it upon themselves to explain every little detail of how a military base worked. He'd explained to them (politely albeit through gritted teeth) that even though he'd grown up in the First Order, he isn't completely naïve and does not need to have information spoon-fed to him like he's a child. They'd all immediately apologized and ever since then he's been treated like an adult.

Every day it's getting harder for him to focus on his mission, but he knows that if he refuses there will be nothing to stop Captain Phasma and General Hux from flying to the Ileenium System and bombing the hell out of the Resistance base. So he keeps passing information onto Captain Phasma and tries not to think about the consequences of his actions.

He's not sure what he will do if he pauses to think about it.


"I have a mission," General Organa announces one afternoon when the Black Squadron's X-Wings land after a simulation. Finn feels rather nauseous as Poe (against medical orders) had done several corkscrew spins while chasing Pava around, but it doesn't stop him from automatically straightening and saluting. Oddy trips over Karé, who curses at him under her breath. "At ease."

"What is the mission, General?" Finn asks. His first job for the Resistance—this will be interesting. He clasps his hands together, rubbing at his wristband due to nerves.

General Organa's eyes pass over him and he feels like she can see into his soul, but then the moment passes and she's speaking again. "The mission, Finn, is one of the highest caliber." She pauses, inhaling and exhaling quickly. If Finn had known her any better, he'd say that she's nervous. "I'm sure you all know of my brother, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker." Poe gasps, looking rather like an excited child. Finn stifles a snicker, but is secretly excited. If General Organa is bringing up Luke Skywalker, then that means… "He disappeared many years ago, but he left a map behind. For what reason, we do not know, but there is a map. We have recovered most of the pieces from his R2 unit, but the final piece has gone missing for quite some time. Our intelligence teams have discovered the final piece of my brother's map on the desert planet Jakku."

Karé giggles, and General Organa is on her case in an instant. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant Kun?"

"No, General," Karé says, immediately straight-faced. "I was just surprised that Jedi Skywalker chose to hide the last part of his map on a remote planet in the Western Reaches."

General Organa looks wistful. "Luke does many things that we don't understand. But," and the moment passes, "that is beside the point. The mission, Black Squadron, should you choose to accept it, is to fly to Jakku and recover this map."

This is it. This is the reason I'm here. Focus up, buckethead, you need to go on this mission.

"We'll take it, General," Poe says immediately. "How many of us do you need?"

"One person and one droid, Commander Dameron, as to attract as little attention as possible. My first choice would be you, but your wrist is still in recovery and it's on Dr. Kalonia's strict orders that you do no flying—that rule I see you've already broken." General Organa sounds faintly amused. Poe stares down at his cast. Finn can feel the heartbroken vibes from where he's standing and is swarmed with guilty thoughts for breaking Poe's wrist all over again. "I'd like to choose Captain Pava to take this mission, as well as your BB unit."

"I'd be honored, General Organa," says Pava after a quick look toward Poe. "When would I start out?"

"Tomorrow morning," General Organa answers. "If you leave by then you'll be in Jakku by evening. Start preparing supplies, Captain Pava, and I'll see you at the tarmac at oh six hundred hours. The rest of you are dismissed. Except," she says once they begin moving, "Finn."

Shit. He fights not to let any of his fear show on his face and blocks out all thoughts of his mission as he turns to face the general. Force, he'd give his left arm for some company. "General," he says evenly, giving her a polite nod.

"Are you enjoying your time here, Finn?"

That hadn't been the question he'd been expecting. "Yes, ma'am," he says, imagining in an effort to relax that he's speaking to Captain Phasma but that just makes him more nervous. "I like it better than Starkiller Base." I like it better than Starkiller Base—honestly, Finn, you sound like such an idiot.

"I'm very glad to hear that." General Organa tilts her head slightly. "Finn, I," she hesitates, "I don't suppose you've ever seen…Kylo Ren? On Starkiller Base, of course."

Out of everything he'd expected her to ask, this hadn't been one of them. "Uh—yes, ma'am. I've never spoken to Kylo Ren, but I've seen him."

"Is he…" She exhales. "How is he?"

Force. What exactly does she want from him? "…fine, I suppose. Ma'am." He doesn't add that Kylo Ren scares the shit out of everyone on base, or that several Troopers had never come back after a meeting with him, or that Kylo Ren is possibly the most evil man in the galaxy. He has a feeling that she already knows this.

His theory's proven correct when General Organa sighs like she'd expected exactly this response. "I see. Thank you, Finn. Dismissed."

He salutes and starts to move away from the general, but catches a glimpse of her expression before he leaves that rocks him to the core. She looks almost haunted, like she's reliving awful memories that she's tried to erase but can't. Like she's watching someone close to her die.

Finn leaves before she notices him still standing there.


Pava and BB-8 leave the next morning as planned. Karé worries the entire day, uncharacteristically biting her nails and snapping at anyone who comes close to her. Finn isn't sure why until Snap hints that it's more of a romantic interest in Pava's wellbeing than a friendly one, and he immediately gets it. Oddy and L'ulo work with General Organa and Admiral Ackbar for the rest of the day, communicating with Lor San Tekka, the one with the last piece of the map. Poe's still upset about his situation regarding not being chosen for the mission but he's put on a happy face for the day as to not upset anyone (namely Karé) further.

"I'm sorry you weren't chosen," Finn says to Poe during dinner. Karé's elected to skip, which is why they're having this conversation at all. "It's my fault for that—if I hadn't broken your wrist you could be going instead of Pava."

Poe shrugs. "Skipping one mission isn't the end of the galaxy."

"You seem to think otherwise," says Finn. Then he adds, "There's always the next one, you know. It's not like the galaxy will be peaceful forever—I guarantee you'll be able to complete the next crazy dangerous mission General Organa comes up with."

That makes him grin, at least. "Thanks, buddy," he says, cuffing Finn playfully on the shoulder with his good wrist. "And I'll tell you what—I won't be upset about my not going on the mission if you won't be guilty about breaking my wrist. Deal?"

Finn grins back. "Yeah, deal."

The rest of their conversation is cut off by Karé racing into the mess hall like she's been chased by a battleprep droid for a hundred miles. Poe and Finn immediately get to their feet. Snap, who'd been sitting at the next table with some other friends, gets up and nearly trips over his chair. "Guys," she gasps, bent over slightly, "it's Pava."

Finn and Poe and Snap take off from the mess hall at a sprint after Karé, who'd disappeared as quickly as she'd entered. Somehow she's still talking a mile a minute even through her heavy gasps, and Finn manages to make out a few facts: Pava had arrived on Jakku, she was about to land near Lor San Tekka's village, and she was just fine, as was BB-8. When they finally arrive in General Organa's office, Oddy and L'ulo are already there, Snap is sweating like crazy and Karé's lost the ability to speak, but a hologram of Pava is beaming and waving at them. A few chirrups from her side signify that BB-8's close by.

"Captain Pava," says General Organa because apparently she's the only calm one in the room, "have you landed yet?"

"Yes, General, I'm about to exit," Pava replies promptly. "Would you like me to keep the camera on?"

"Yes, Captain, I would," General Organa says. "Please tell Lor San Tekka that I say hello."

"Will do, ma'am." Pava salutes the general and as they can see whatever Pava sees, once she exits her X-Wing everyone in the room is granted a view of Jakku. Finn's never been to the desert planet but from what he can tell, he's not missing out on much. It's all sand as far as the eye can see, with a few ramshackle huts in the distance. Besides the map, he doubts that there's a single important thing on the entire planet.

Pava enters a hut, where a rugged old man sits on a cot with his eyes shut, almost as if he's meditating. He looks like he's fought in many wars, and when his eyes open Finn has no doubt that he's seen more bad than good. Nevertheless, the man smiles when he catches sight of her. "Hello," he greets her, standing up. "You must be Captain Jessika Pava."

"Yes sir," Pava says, straightening. BB-8 chirps and leaves her side, but Pava's eyes return to the man immediately. "You must be Lor San Tekka, correct?"

"Lor San Tekka," he muses, savoring the name like it's a fine wine. "That's a name I have not heard in a long, long time. I've hidden my identity from the good people of the village to protect them. Most here know me just as Elder Crèche—from my explorations when I was affiliated with the Church of the Force, you know. But it is good to hear my name again, Captain Pava, thank you."

"You're welcome, sir," says Pava. Lor San Tekka gestures for her to sit down on the nearest chair, which she does. "I believe you have…something of use to us. Something that will make things right."

"I do." Pava's eyes follow Lor San Tekka as he walks over to a chest near the foot of his cot. Bending down, he unclasps the lock, opens the chest, removes a small sack, closes the chest and returns to Pava. "This will begin to make things right. I've traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

There it is again. The Jedi. It's a bit strange to hear the Jedi referred as the keepers of balance after years of listening to the First Order calling them unimportant believers in a hokey religion. Finn can tell that Tekka's words hold more merit than General Hux's. He supposes that just like several other things, the First Order had not been right about the Jedi either.

Pava's gaze goes to the sack, and it's all that the people in General Organa's office can see now too. "Thanks to you we have a fighting chance. General Organa's been after this for quite a while."

Lor San Tekka chuckles to himself, like Pava's said some inside joke. "General, you call her. To me, she's royalty." Finn sees General Organa half-smile. "Well, she certainly can be both."

Suddenly, there's beeping in the background and Pava's gaze switches from Lor San Tekka to BB-8 so quickly that Finn's eyes cross. He can't understand what BB-8's beeping about but judging by Poe's face it cannot be good. General Organa sums up the thought of the entire room when she says rather grimly, "They've got company."

Pava and Lor San Tekka exit the hut and Finn's breath gets caught in his lungs when Pava raises quadnoculars to her eyes and everyone in General Organa's office gets a glimpse of enemy ships approaching. The First Order. How did they know about this mission? Finn hadn't told them anything—helmet, he hadn't even gotten a chance to! How in the galaxy—

Oh Force. His wristband. What if he'd accidentally turned it on yesterday during the briefing? He chances a quick look at his wrist but he can't see anything that signifies that the earpiece is on. Then how in the galaxy had they known about the mission?

"You have to leave," Lor San Tekka is saying. "Go!"

Pava's jaw clenches. "With all due respect, sir, I refuse. What kind of Resistance member would I be if I didn't stay and fight?"

Karé's hands are clasped over her mouth and her eyes are wide with terror. Poe looks lost for words, as does Oddy. Snap and L'ulo are conversing with each other in a low, worried tone. Whatever expression is on Finn's face can't be good. General Organa looks lost in thought. Lor San Tekka isn't having any of it. "I will not risk one of the general's top soldiers," he snaps. "You must depart, child. Things will get dangerous."

"I will not leave you," Pava replies just as ferociously. Without another word to Lor San Tekka, she kneels down next to BB-8 and pulls from the leather sack a small, old artifact. The missing piece of the map. She inserts it into BB-8, who chirps once in question. "You take this, BB. It's safer with you—no one will think to search a droid. I want you to get as far away from here as you can. Do you hear me?" BB-8 hesitates. Poe looks horrified. Karé's began to cry. "Get this as far away from here as possible. Get somewhere safe. I'll come for you!" Pava's voice cracks. "It will be alright."

BB-8 beep-whines nervously, but Pava's head turns, preventing them from seeing any more. Hopefully the droid's managed to escape. All they can hear now is blaster fire. They catch a glimpse of Lor San Tekka reassuring the villagers but then Pava's gaze is torn away from him and she moves to hide behind a structure. Finn watches Troopers run out of a shuttlecraft with blasters held aloft and bites back a groan. He can't help but root for the Troopers and yet, his heart skips a beat whenever he sees a villager fall to the ground. Conflicting emotions swirl within him.

And then Kylo Ren exits the shuttlecraft, striding through the chaos toward Lor San Tekka. He's so much taller than the other man, yet Lor San Tekka stares him down anyway. They can't see much from where Pava's standing but they can see enough. General Organa is motionless.

"Look how old you've become," Kylo Ren is saying. Pava inches closer to the commotion. Finn hopes that she's still out of sight. Lor San Tekka does not reply. "You know what I've come for."

"I know where you came from." Lor San Tekka is either exceedingly brave or exceedingly stupid. "Before you called yourself Kylo Ren."

Kylo Ren ignores him. "The map to Skywalker. We know you've found it, and now you're going to give it to the First Order." Finn inhales. So they did find out. But how?

"The First Order," Lor San Tekka muses, "rose from the Dark Side. You did not. You may try to hide it, but you cannot deny the truth that is your family."

Suddenly, Kylo Ren raises his lightsaber, igniting it. Finn's never had seen it in action before, and doesn't feel any better now that he's seen it. "You're so right," he says conversationally, like they've ran into each other into a cantina or something. And then he rips it down across the older man's body.

Lor San Tekka falls like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Pava screams and fires her blaster. The bolt freezes an inch from Kylo Ren's head, stopped by his outstretched hand. Pava is frozen where she stands, and all those in General Organa's office watch with bated breath as Pava's eyes are locked onto Kylo Ren.

"The old man gave it to you," Kylo Ren says. Then he reaches forward, almost as if he's stroking her cheek, and removes the camera that had been located in Pava's helmet. How had he known about it? The Force? "Take her," he orders the person behind him, and then crushes the camera with his fist, severing the connection.

General Organa's office is silent for a long time. Finn can hear the clock ticking on the wall. Poe is speechless. Karé is enveloped in Snap's arms, but both of them are motionless and say nothing. Even her tears have halted for now. Oddy breaks the silence first, of all people. "We must rescue her, General," he says in accented Basic. L'ulo nods in agreement. "It is not a question of if but rather one of when."

Her lips press into a thin line. "I agree," General Organa says, causing Karé to heave a sigh of relief. "We will rescue Captain Pava as soon as we can identify her location."

This statement causes a mass uproar in the room, namely by Poe and Karé and even Finn, who has never agreed to leave a man behind. "We can't just leave her there, General," Poe says, "what if they're torturing her, what if they're—"

"I understand your concerns, Commander Dameron," General Organa snaps, and Poe falls silent instantly. "However, I will not have my best squadron of pilots flying around the galaxy like a crew of headless Loth-cats and alert the First Order of our every move. We will send every intelligence unit to gather information on Captain Pava's whereabouts but until then I forbid you to go after her. Is that clear?"

"Yes, General," Poe says under his breath, looking none too pleased. Karé looks ready to start flipping tables and yelling but her white knuckles show that she's barely abstaining. Finn nods.

L'ulo speaks now. "General," he says calmly. "Do you require assistance alerting the intelligence units?"

"Yes, that would be much appreciated. Captain Wexley, Lieutenant Muva, if you would assist him as well. Commander Dameron, Finn, and Lieutenant Kun, please alert the others of the news." General Organa turns away from them all. "Dismissed."


Before the end of the night, everyone knows about Pava's capture. Karé's been snapping at anyone who even looks at her funny, and Snap's taken to biting his fingernails out of worry. Oddy and L'ulo haven't been seen since the general had asked them to help her alert the intelligence units. Soon, everyone's been alerted, and the commanding officers finally get sick of everyone talking in the mess hall in low voices and order everyone to go to bed. Tensions have been rising ever since the news had broken out, and everyone files away rather easily.

Finn lies awake in his quarters, still steaming mad over his confrontation with Captain Markus Dinoa an hour earlier. Dinoa had been spouting off his insistence to the entire mess hall that it had been Finn's fault that Pava had been captured, that Finn had alerted the First Order of Pava's mission, and if General Organa had any sense Finn should be launched into space to rot. Finn's never taken someone slandering his name well before and it had made no sense to break tradition. He'd managed to get off a punch to Dinoa's jaw before they'd been pulled off each other and sent to bed.

He can't stop thinking. He can't stop thinking of the 'what ifs'. What if Dinoa had been right? What if it had been his fault? BB-8's got a piece of a very important map and is wandering around on Jakku all alone. Pava's kidnapped and most likely being tortured on Starkiller Base far away from here right at this second and he can't stand the thought. She may be Resistance, someone that he's been conditioned since birth to hate, but Finn's got enough sense inside him to know that she doesn't deserve torture. She needs to be rescued as quickly as possible.

He'll rescue her. The thought surprises him but the longer he thinks it the more he's certain that it's right. He'll get Poe or Snap or even Karé to fly him, they'll go to Jakku and go from there. If Finn knows Kylo Ren at all, Starkiller Base probably has not moved far since Pava's kidnapping. He'll do it. He'll prove he can be trusted.

The First Order won't like what he's about to do, but he is surprised to find how little he cares.

He gets off his cot and goes to his dresser, where he pulls out a pair of trousers and a shirt and puts them on. Once he's got his combat boots on as well, he makes for the door and gets the surprise of his life when he sees Poe standing frozen on the other side of the door with his fist poised to knock.

"We need to rescue Pava and BB-8," Finn says once he's recovered from shock. "I'm assuming you thought that too."

"You're damn right," Poe answers with a deciding nod. "We'll take a TIE Fighter, enough room for us both—"

"I'll sit be your gunner, I know how to work the guns—"

"—and we can be in Jakku by morning and find BB-8—"

"—then we can find Pava from there."

"Perfect."

Sneaking out is almost easier than back when he'd snuck out of Starkiller Base. No one's on duty guarding Black Squadron's aircrafts when they arrive, thank the Force, so maybe they've arrived at a good moment or there's really no one on shift over here tonight. Poe climbs into the front, Finn into the back, and they both buckle up. He can't help but be reminded of sneaking out all over again with nothing but the navigation box to keep him company.

Hopefully it won't end like that again.

They manage to leave without anyone noticing, and Poe pilots them easily into space, then putting the TIE Fighter on autopilot for a moment so they can talk. "General Organa's going to kill us," he says in a tone of faint surprise, like the thought had never occurred to him. "I should've left a note or something."

Finn can only imagine how that would've gone. Hi, General. Finn and I left against your orders. Will be back soon with the droid and the map and our missing pilot. Love, Commander Dameron. "I have a feeling that when we come back with Pava and BB-8 she'll forgive us," he finally says. "How's your wrist, by the way?"

"Fine, fine," Poe says distractedly, directing the TIE Fighter out of the Ileenium System. Only four hours to go, proclaims the clock. "Doesn't hurt me anymore, and I don't see why the General thinks it affects my flying. I can fly through pain."

They discuss injuries and funny stories for another hour, and then they fly in silence while Poe navigates a sudden and violent asteroid belt. When the danger finally passes, it's been another hour, and the Western Reaches are just sliding into view. Not particularly special, Finn has to concur. Just a bunch of asteroids surrounding larger, dusty-colored asteroids.

"Hey," Poe says as they get closer and closer to Jakku, "I've been thinking. How did the First Order find out about Pava's mission?"

Finn swallows the question that he wants to ask (do you suspect me too?) and says the truth instead. "I don't know," he admits. There's a flicker of light in the distance and he focuses on that. He's somewhat thankful for the fact that they aren't facing each other. The Resistance must have another mole on the inside because Finn hadn't had time to tell them anything. "Kylo Ren has the Force, apparently, so maybe he read someone's mind here. I really don't know."

"You didn't tell him," says Poe. It's not so much a question as it is a statement. He really believes that Finn never told the First Order anything. It's somewhat gratifying.

"No," Finn answers firmly. "I didn't."

Someone must have, though, he thinks as Jakku comes into sight. That flicker of light keeps getting closer. Someone must have told the First Order and soon, because they'd gotten wind of Pava's mission within a day of it being assigned. Then again, if the First Order had heard of Pava's mission so quickly, what would stop them from hearing of Finn and Poe's rescue mission?

Nothing. Nothing would stop them.

Finn's eyes widen. He turns around and sees Poe staring directly at him. Both of them have understood the same thing at the same time: if they'd heard of Pava's mission, then they must have heard of their mission somehow too. The First Order must be on their tail by now at least.

Just as Finn gets ready to voice this thought, there's a whistle and a shriek of cannonball against metal, and then they're falling, falling, falling down. Jakku is getting bigger and bigger and Poe is furiously hammering at the controls of the TIE Fighter while Finn fires into the distance in hopes of getting whatever First Order ship that had shot at them. The TIE Fighter sparks and smokes, spiraling out of control as it careens toward the surface.

"We have to drop out!"

"Go, you go!" Poe yells over the multiple screeches of every machine in the TIE Fighter failing at once. Finn can see tiny villages from this height. "I can fix this—"

"I'm not going to just leave you—"

"You have to! If you stay here we'll both die!" For a second there's nothing but silence choking them. "Trust me, Finn, I can fix it. You have to get out now. Go!"

Finn takes one final look at Poe, typing quickly on one of the keyboards with one hand and flying the TIE Fighter jerkily with the other. His hair's mussed, his eyes are wild, and the collar of his jacket is askew. He will fix it. Poe can fix anything. He's the best pilot in the Resistance. He'll be able do it.

Before he changes his mind, he pushes the red button on the armrest of his chair, and the air is punched from his lungs as he goes flying out of the TIE Fighter, leaving Poe and the wailing monitors and machines behind. The stench of burning metal is acrid in his nostrils and the air is getting thinner and thinner.

He manages to get one final glimpse of the falling aircraft before he is forced unconscious.