The information arrived at the Republic military base on D'Qar coded and encrypted. Like all transmissions coming into the intelligence wing, they were protected from prying eyes. But this transmission was much different. It came to Leia's personal holocommunicator. The connection had been established by the best slicers in the galaxy. Only a handful of beings knew its frequency. It had to be important.

She activated her privacy window in her office to let her aides know not to enter. She keyed the correct frequency, as she had remembered it by heart over the years, and played the message. It was her nephew Cade, but it was displayed under his codename, Agent Dewback. But it wasn't just of his head and upper torso. It was an entire body shot. There was the distinct sound of blasterfire in the background. Cade was shouting to someone. He was leaned over a console trying to repair something before he pointed at the person recording it. Then the recording shut off.

The communication stayed blank for a few moments before a text line appeared. It read, "COMPROMISED. SEND REINFORCEMENTS IMMEDIATELY. FIRST ORDER PRESENT." She realized it had to have been BB-8 who had sent the message. The only problem was that the message was time-stamped nearly twenty-four hours ago. They would be long gone by now. But she had to try.

She got up with purpose from her desk and walked briskly out of her office. She exited her executive suite as head of military intelligence. Her secretary immediately packed up his datapad and attempted to catch up. She was nearly thirty years his senior, but she moved like a nexu when she wanted to.

She navigated the hallways and noticed all the senior officers and her staff were in full military regalia. She had long ago discarded the notion that she needed to dress as they do. She was a former princess, senator, and war leader. She felt as if she could dress however damn-well she pleased. She wore a dark vest over a simple blue-grey jumpsuit. Folded sleeves halted at her forearms. She was ready for work and wanted to be comfortable when she did. It also helped morale when she visited the various troopers stationed over the planet. She was one of them at heart, and they knew it. She even dressed as they did. Admiral Ackbar was the only one of the old guard left. She had to keep that rebellious spirit alive.

She made her way to the main communications blister where Admiral Ackbar and his staff were located. They were busy evaluating war games from the Outer Rim when she approached him. Captain Snap Wexley, second-in-command of Black Squadron under Poe Dameron, was standing next to him.

Snap turned around and immediately saluted her, "General, it's good to see you, ma'am."

She nodded at him and he turned around, going back to his duties. Admiral Ackbar then turned around, as if oblivious to the entire exchange. It was a game they had played with each other for years.

"General Organa!" he said, his aquatic-like voice booming throughout the room. He was nearing the end of his lifespan for his species, but had refused to retire. The military was his life. Everyone else in the room was quickly alerted to her presence. Before they all started to salute her, she eased them and told them to remain at their posts. She was not here for an ego boost.

She showed Ackbar the transmission. She could tell even in his wrinkled face that he did not like what he was hearing. He was perhaps the only person in the galaxy who understood what type of threat they were facing. He too was hesitant on sending Cade, but trusted Leia to make that final decision. She was just hoping there wasn't an, "I told you so" coming from him.

The message finished and Ackbar was processing the information. He was older yes, but still sharp as ever. He looked at her from one side of his head, as his species was prone to do. "Do we know if they're still alive?"

Leia was grim for a moment. "I have no idea. This was the only message I received on my personal channel."

Ackbar motioned for an aide to begin searching Holonews for any information about Jakku. While it was nothing compared to the larger galaxy, it would still make headlines if the planet had been attacked by the First Order. Someone had to have heard something.

Captain Wexley came back over with Leia catching him up to speed. He was surprised at how much she was sharing, but she had no time to waste. These were desperate times. Just as she was about to start, the aide got their attention. The three of them walked over to her station. "As you can see from this report dated over seven hours ago, an entire community was wiped out. First Order Stormtroopers by the looks of it. Official reports claim to have found the body of Lor San Tekka among the dead." She glanced at Leia. "The Church of the Force is asking the Republic to officially condemn the First Order as a terrorist organization."

Ackbar and Leia shared a look of sadness, one that Wexley was not familiar with. "Tekka," he said thoughtfully. "Wasn't he a Jedi?"

Leia shook her head. "No. He taught some Jedi, yes, but he was never officially trained. He taught the younglings on how to use the Force for the benefit of others." She let a small smile creep to her face, almost as if she was recalling a fond memory. It quickly faded as she focused on the task at hand. She looked at the report again and realized what was important, was not there.

"The Map. Does it say anything about data being found at the site?"

The aide once again read through the report. "No, ma'am. It does not."

She looked at Ackbar. "If they get to Luke first, we don't have a chance," she muttered. A new thought forced her to ask a question that was burning a hole in her heart, "Anything else? Anything I'm not seeing here? What about Poe Dameron or Agent Dewback?"

"They found the U-Wing destroyed. Angle and depth of the blaster marks suggest it was blown up while still on the ground. Definitely First Order: The locals don't have access to that kind of weaponry." Her expression tightened. "There's no indication they survived. It looks like we've lost them."

Leia's expression became compressed on her wizened face. She did not want to admit the loss of her nephew and arguably the best pilot in the Republic. They wouldn't stand a chance against the First Order. She forced herself to continue reading the report over the aide's shoulder. "There's no mention of Beebee-Ate?"

"No droid matching the descrption of a Beeee-unit was found, ma'am."

She let another smile creep across her face. "Never underestimate a droid, Lieutenant." She glanced over at a droid who had served her family faithfully for decades. The golden droid was busy at his station. "See-Threepio. Locate Beebee-Ate immediately-you know what to do."

Nodding slightly and gesturing with his arm, the protocol droid responded without hesitation. "Yes, General! Of course! The tracking system. Oh dear, this is a calamity!"

She rolled her eyes at the droid's dramatic nature. She turned to Captain Wexley. "Captain, take your best pilot and see what you can find on Jakku. We need to get to the bottom of this, and quickly."

Without a moment's hesitation, he saluted and walked off towards the hangar, grabbing his wing woman on the way. Even though he was not under her command, he knew an important mission when he saw one. And one simply did not say no to the Leia Organa.

Ackbar and Leia watched the two of them walk away towards the hangar. Ackbar took on a more serious tone, one she had not heard from him since the war. "Do you think they'll find anything relating to Dewback?"

She sighed, not sure how she should answer. "I hope he's still alive. Besides Luke, he's our only hope."

Ackbar echoed her sentiments. She quickly returned to her office to find her personal envoy, Korr Sella, waiting in the reception area. She waved the young woman into her office. The young woman wore her dark black hair back in a severe bun. The dark green uniform contrasted notably with her coffee-tinted skin. The badge on her uniform identified her as a commander. Leia wasted no time with small talk.

"You need to go to the Senate right away. Tell them I insist that they take action against the First Order. The longer they bicker and delay, the stronger the Order becomes." She leaned forward and gave the other woman everything about the incident on Jakku. "Give this to them. If they fail to take action soon, the Order will have grown so strong the Senate will be unable to do anything. It won't matter what they think. It will happen all over the galaxy."

Sella indicated her understanding. "With all due respect: Do you think the senators will listen?"

"I don't know." Leia bit down on her lower lip. "So much has happened. There was a time when they were at least willing to listen. And of course, the Senate's makeup has changed. Some of those who were always willing to listen to me have long since retired. They have been replaced with individuals with their own agendas." She smiled ruefully. "Not all senators think I'm crazy. Or maybe they do. I don't care what they think about me as long as they take action."

Sella nodded. "I'll do what I can, General." She was about to leave when instead, her face took on a more serious expression. "General," she paused, not sure how to say what was on her mind. "Cade disappeared a couple of days ago… Was he…." She became slightly emotional and Leia felt for the woman. "Was he on Jakku?"

Leia was a military commander and sometimes had to accept that you lost some people. Others said it was part of the job. But it made the job no less easy, especially when you were related to the person you had sent into harm's way. Her reply was calm, but meaningful. "Yes, he was. Intelligence is still spotty. But we believe he is still alive, somewhere. I will personally let you know when he has returned safely."

Sella nodded gratefully. "Thank you, General." She straightened her posture and said confidently. "I will report to the Senate at once."

Leia smiled, having full confidence in the woman. "Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

The fleet of Star Destroyers stood off the white world. Spectacular and isolated, with a mean surface temperature varying from merely cold to permanently arctic, the planet itself had been altered: its mountains tunneled into, its glaciers hacked, and its valets modified until it no longer resembled its original naturally eroded form. Those who had remade it had renamed it.

Starkiller Base.

Hollowed out of one snow-covered mountain was a central control facility. At its heart was a great assembly chamber that held hundreds of workstations and their attendant seats. At present, it was occupied by only three figures. One was Kylo Ren. The second was General Hux, who wore his particular mask internally.

Seated on the raised platform that was the focus of the chamber was the blue-tinted holo of Supreme Leader Snoke. Tall and gaunt, he was humanoid but not human. The hood of the dark robe he wore was down, leaving visible a pink, pale face so aged it verged on translucence. Kylo Ren had always wondered just how old he was. His face was poorly reconstructed, with the broken nose adding to the asymmetry of the damaged visage. His left eye was situated slightly lower than the right. Beneath his grey eyebrows sat cobalt blue eyes. Old cuts and wounds completed the image, with a large scar being particularly noteworthy, running from the center of his head right to his eyebrows.

Seated in shadow, the tall, slender figure loomed over the other two men. That was the point of course. Only his long, spindly figures showed from beneath his robes. "The droid will soon be in the hands of the Republic," Snoke declaimed, his voice deep, soothing, and very much that of someone in complete control, "giving the enemy the means to locate Skywalker and bring to their cause a most powerful ally. If Skywalker returns, the new Jedi will rise."

Ren stood impassively, neither commenting nor visibly betraying his thoughts.

Hux stood a few feet from him to the left and dipped his head by way of apology, taking a step toward the dais. "Supreme Leader, I take full responsibility for the-"

Snoke cut him off. "Your apologies are not a strategy, General. We are here now. It is what happens next which matters."

Aware that he had just been spared an unknown by certainly unpleasant fate, the redheaded officer spoke up immediately. "I do have a proposition. The weapon. We have it. It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it."

"Against?"

"The Republic. They are fractured. If we target their center of government, chaos will certainly follow. They will become desperate and launch a devastating attack. We must assume the droid is now in their hands. With the map completed, they will lead us…"

"Directly to Skywalker." Snoke was clearly pleased, with a hideous look upon his face. "Extreme. Audacious. I agree the time has come for such measures. Go. Oversee the necessary preparations."

"Yes, Supreme Leader." Bowing stiffly, Hux turned and exited the chamber. He took long strides, his jackboots ringing throughout the chamber. Snoke and Ren silently watched the general leave.

When Snoke spoke after a short time, there was an intimacy in his voice, a familiarity that stood in sharp contrast to the commanding tone he had used with Hux.

"I have never had a student with such promise-before you."

Ren straightened. "It is your teachings that make me strong, Supreme Leader."

Snoke demurred. "It is far more than that. It is where you come from. What you are made of. The dark side-and the light." He paused, reminiscing of times long ago. "Over the last thousand years, I have never had a student with your strength. Your anger. I have watched the Republic crumble from within and the Empire rise, then fall. I waited in the shadows, bidding my time until my greatest threat was eliminated."

"Do you know how close I was?" He asked Ren rhetorically. "Lord Vader was to be my crowning achievement. My ultimate weapon. Had he not succumbed to emotion at the crucial moment, had the father killed the son and struck down his master…?" He was angry, Ren could notice. "We could have been allies. Equals in fact. And there would be no threat of Skywalker's return today." He paused a moment. "But without that, I could not have you." A thin and ghoulish smile crept across his face. "The Force works in mysterious ways."

"I am immune to the light," Ren assured him confidently. "By your hand, I will not be seduced. I will become the heir to Vader."

"Your self-belief is commendable, Kylo Ren, but do not let it blind you, as it has blinded so many others. No one knows the limits of his own power until it has been tested to the utmost, as yours has not been. That day may yet come." He stopped, as if contemplating his next statement. His voice was gravelly. "There has been an awakening in the Force. Have you felt it?"

Ren nodded. "Yes."

"The elements align, Kylo Ren. You alone are caught in the winds of the storm. Your bind is not just to Vader, but to the Skywalkers themselves. Luke. Cade. Leia…"

"There is no need for concern." Despite the Supreme Leader's cautioning, Ren's assurance remained unbounded. "Together we will destroy the Republic and the last of the Jedi."

"Perhaps," Snoke conceded. "The future is difficult to perceive." He changed subjects. "It has come to our notice that the droid we seek is aboard the Millennium Falcon." Snoke paused, smiling his atrocious smile.

Ren processed his response quickly. "Then Hux was correct, the Republic has the key to Skywalker already."

"Not yet. It is under the command of your father, Han Solo. Accompanied by your weakling cousin." He scoffed at Skywalker's son, never believing him to be a true threat. "Even you, Master of the Knights of Ren, has never faced such a test."

Ren considered his reply carefully. "It does not matter. They mean nothing to me. My allegiance is with you, and always has been. No one will stand in our way."

Snoke nodded. "We shall see. We shall see."

It was a dismissal. Turning, Ren was fully preoccupied with his thoughts and mimicked Hux in exiting the vast chamber. When he was gone, a grotesque smile twisted across Snoke's face. Then it vanished, along with the rest of the holo of the Supreme Leader.

I don't know what to do.

Stumbling down the sand flat between towering dunes, the dazed pilot fought to recall who he was, struggled to remember why he presently found himself staggering through what appeared to be an empty desert. His head hurt, and not just from the effort of trying to remember. Reaching up with one hand, he winced as his fingers took the measure of a lump on his forehead that had swollen to the size of an egg.

He'd hit his head. Hard. It seemed to him that probably meant something. But what? A concurrence…. No, that wasn't it. Concussion? Yes! He'd suffered a concussion. How had that happened?

As is often the case with a jolt to the brain, recent events came flooding back to him in a rush.

Infiltration. A traitor. The rescue. They'd stolen a ship with….with….

He looked around and began to call their names.

"Cade! Finn!"

Then he recalled that the spy and the renegade Stormtrooper had ejected from their stolen TIE fighter as it had plunged out of control toward the surface of… Jakku. That was it. He was on Jakku! As for his absent friends, there was no response to the pilot's anxious shouts. Depending on the angle and speed of ejection, his friends could have come down anywhere, Poe knew.

His name. That was his name. Poe Dameron, and he was a pilot in the Republic Starfleet. But if he was a pilot, where was his flight jacket?

Probably still pinned in the TIE fighter he had only just managed to set down in one piece. He remembered the crash now. Remembered recovering consciousness just in time to set down more or less intact, trying to get out of the cockpit before something blew, his jacket caught and holding him back, struggling out of it and then tumbling clear onto the sand-all of it recalled through the haze of his concussion.

He was alive on the surface of Jakku. Alive and alone. There was no way of telling if Finn and Cade had been as fortunate. He worried about his friends but realized there was nothing he could do for them at the moment. More important, where was BB-8?

The droid could take care of himself, he felt. Poe knew if he could just get offworld and reach a Republic outpost, a way could be found to recover the droid. All he needed was a ship. He'd already stolen one. Could he steal another? First, he reminded himself, he would have to locate one. And before that, he would have to find water.

Morning brought neither, only a relentless sun in a cloudless sky. He continued onward because, given his present situation, one direction was as good as another. The salt flat ran between the high dunes. It was not a good road, exactly, but it was a way, and the hard surface offered much easier footing than the soft, shifting sand that rose above him on either side.

Keep low, he told himself, and you might come across a depression. Where there was a depression there might be dampness, and where there was dampness he could try to dig for water. His survival training just might save him.

It turns out, he found neither a depression nor dampness. Instead, someone found him. The whine of the approaching speeder was unmistakable. Squinting against the harsh light, he turned. A dark spot appeared between the dunes, expanding rapidly as it came toward him. Flat in front and bulging at the stern, the speeder was an unlovely construct, but to Poe, at that moment it had lines as sweet as those of the fastest fighter in the Republic fleet. Standing in the middle of the salt flat, he began jumping up and down, waving his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs.

At first, he thought the speeder was going to keep coming and run right over him. Then it began to slow rapidly, angling to the right. Instead of shooting past, it came to a halt. Emitting a descending whine, it dropped slowly to the ground. A figure little more than half Poe's height promptly descended from the open cockpit.

It was a Blarina. Mirrored eyeshades swept across the broad face above the short, wide snout, and a toothy grin appeared as the speeder's scaly operator closely examine the lone human.

"A bit warm to be walking out by oneself in this country, my friend."

Poe grunted acknowledgement. "It's not my choice, I assure you."

"And where, then, do you come from?" The Blarina's grin grew wider, showing far more teeth than a human mouth. "Or do you just enjoy Jakku's gentle sunshine?"

"I'm lost." That much, at least, was not a lie, Poe knew. "I hit my head and I'm lost."

The Blarina let out of a soft hiss. "Lost, indeed. Where's your speeder, my friend?"

Poe thought fast. "Same place I am. Lost."

"I'm Naka Iit. A scavenger of sorts." Once again he looked Poe carefully up and down. "I might just scavenge you."

Poe tensed. He had no weapon, and in the event of a confrontation, he was hardly in any condition to offer much in the way of physical resistance, even to a Blarina who was half his size. The species to which the speeder operator belonged was not especially strong, but they were very, very quick. This one, he reflected, was also fast with words.

With words he could defend himself.

"It's said that the Blarina are an exceptionally hospitable people."

Naka Iit's grin gave way to a frown of astonishment. "You've heard that?"

Poe spread his hands wide and grinned. "I indeed have. Besides, you'd be wasting your time. I've got nothing worth scavenging."

Raising his eyeshades, Naka stared hard at the pilot out of gold-hued eyes crossed with slatted pupils. "Then what exactly are you doing in this wasteland, with 'nothing'?"

Poe felt himself swaying. He was hot, he was thirsty, he was exhausted, his head hurt, and except for this irritating Blarina he was alone in the middle of nowhere on a nowhere world. He was also possibly a little bit crazy from the heat. Otherwise he likely would not have said what he next said.

"I just escaped from the First Order by stealing one of their TIE fighters, used it to shoot up one of their Star Destroyers, and crash-landed somewhere near here."

Naka stared at the human for a long moment. His eyes squinted and the sun's reflections bounced off his eye shades. "The First Order you say?"

"Yes. Those thugs kidnapped my friend and I had to rescue him."

It was a long moment before the Blarina spoke. "You know, I fought the Empire in my younger years. I'm certainly not a supporter of the First Order." He extended one lightly clothed arm. "Come with me, my friend. The Blarina always say good fortune comes to those who help those in need." Lowering his eyeshades, he turned his gaze skyward. "The spirits have placed you here to alleviate my boredom. Come."

"If it's all the same to you," a sun-addled Poe mumbled as he made his way aboard the battered speeder, "I'd be more than happy if you could just give me a drink of water."

Scrunched into a passenger seat designed to accommodate another Blarina, his knees pushed up against his chest, Poe gratefully accepted Naka's offer of a slender metal drinking flask complete with a sipping tube.

"I need to get offworld." He spoke between delicious swallows. "As quickly as possible."

"Of course you do," Naka replied soothingly. "Jakku is no place for someone like you." He looked to his left. "We're not far from Niima Outpost, but I'm not going to take you there. Local commerce is more or less run by a corpulent slurge."

Feeling better now after the water, Poe felt that the least he could do was acknowledge his rescuer's predilections. "You're very fond of words."

"As are all Blarina." Naka seemed to grow slightly in his seat. "I once finished fifth in a homeworld soliloquy competition. It is one of our most notable traits."

"Any others?" Poe inquired.

Naka's grin returned, his sharp teeth glistening in the sunlight. "We're famously accomplished liars." He glanced once more at his passenger. "I'll take you as far as Blowback Town. There's a merchant there named Ohn Gos, a Republic sympathizer. I'll introduce you, but after that, you're on your own."

Taken aback that the Blarina surmised which side he was on, Naka spoke to Poe unapologetically. "I could tell the moment I laid eyes on you that you were a Republic pilot. You've all got that air about you, even thirty years later."

"Are we that obvious?" Poe asked.

"Painfully so."

The light touch of a claw on a control caused the speeder to accelerate slightly. After that, Naka went quiet. Poe was left to his thoughts. That is until a gout of sand exploded from the dune off to their left. Leaning out, Naka looked behind them, muttered a curse, and tromped the speeder's accelerator.

Thrown back in his seat, Poe struggled to regain his balance. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Without turning, a now grim Naka gestured slightly with his head. "Look for yourself."

Leaning to his right and out, Poe peered behind them. Another, much larger speeder was there and gaining. A second shot from it blew a crater in the dune face on his side.

"Strus Clan." Naka's tone was bleak. "A motley collection of grunks who can't do salvage, repair, trade, or anything else." The speeder rocked from another near-miss. "So they steal from those who can."

"They're not very good shots," Poe pointed out.

This time Naka did look at him. "Why do you think that is, hotshot? If they blow us up, they acquire nothing but garbage. They shoot to disable, not to destroy. Didn't you ever watch holos of pirates as a child?"

"They're catching up," Poe told him nervously. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"I'm a salvager, not a podracer. My craft was built for hauling, not speed!"

Poe considered for a moment. "Then let me drive."

Naka was hesitant, but finally gave over the controls. They switched positions and Poe turned the clumsy but sturdy craft sharply to the left and began to slow.

"What are you doing?" Naka screamed. "I could have done this myself."

"Just trust me. Indicate that we're going to surrender." Poe was studying the instruments on the speeder. They seemed pretty straightforward.

Watching the bigger speeder come up on them via the rearview, Poe continued to decelerate until their pursuer was near enough for him to make out the faces and assorted appendages of the now-triumphant thieves. When their larger vehicle was as close as he was willing to let it come, he tilted the nose of Naka's speeder sharply upward and gave it power. It promptly shot skyward.

The sudden explosive burst kicked what seemed like half the dune beneath them upward and back, dumping the gritty shower atop the big speeder that had slowed almost to a stop behind them. The Strus not wearing protective goggles received eyefuls of hot sand. The bulk of the grit storm instantly sank into every opening. The components created a sharp grinding noise as the craft attempted to pursue. It had been temporarily disabled, allowing them to escape.

Beside him, a gleeful Naka was emitting a kind of cackling hiss. Alien though the exclamation was to Poe, the scavenger's delight could not be denied.

"Oh joy, oh pleasurable delight!" A hand reached over to clap Poe on the shoulder. "Saved by a crazy Republic pilot."

Poe glanced over at him. "We prefer the term 'courageous'."

"I see little difference." Leaning back in the passenger seat, Naka picked at an incisor with a claw-tipped finger. "I owe you, my friend. I will intercede with Ohn Gos on your behalf. One way or another, we will get you off Jakku!"

"I'm grateful," a relieved Poe told him simply. At last, he could get off this rock and find out what had happened to his friends.

Despite their escape, all was not tranquil aboard the Millennium Falcon. Plutt had paid only for minimum maintenance on the craft in the hopes of selling it to someone quickly for a large profit. The components that were working shortly after take-off were beginning to malfunction right before the eyes of Han and Rey. They each went about fixing them as quickly as they could.

The alarms, however, were just fine.

Finn did his best to ignore them as he continued working on Chewbacca's injury. This was made difficult by the Wookiee's habit of grabbing Finn by the neck or the shoulder and shaking him violently every time a fresh spasm of pain shot through the hirsute shoulder. Each time, Finn managed to settle the patient down and continue with his work. But his neck was getting sore.

Up in the cockpit, it seemed like every time Han and Rey tried to squelch one problem, a new one materialized.

"Need to recalculate and readjust hyperdrive parameters."

"Recalculate?" He eyed his own instrumentation. "Yeah, let's do that…" Before he was able to adjust, a number of telltales suddenly went to red on the front panel. "Power overload!"

"I can fix that!" Rey's fingers flew over her controls.

"It's approaching critical! If the hyperdrive blows, there'll be pieces of us in three different systems!"

Thinking quickly, Rey had an idea. "If we can bypass the auxiliary power dampener, we can re-route it to stabilize the hyperdrive."

Han hesitated a moment. "That's risky kid, I wasn't planning on blowing up in the Outer Rim today."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

Han looked at her for a moment and realized she was right. "Alright kid, when I saw now, you flip that switch." He pointed at the switch behind her. "Ready?"

She nodded. He gave her the signal and she flipped the switch. The entire cabin went dark and Han thought this was the end.

Then the cabin lights came back on and all systems showed green. That had done it. She had actually done it. He gave the girl an approving smile. "Not bad, Rey. You just fixed all our problems."

She was immensely satisfied, with the both of them leaning back in their chairs. Suddenly they heard a deafening roar coming from the vicinity of the longue.

Han yelled back, "You hurt Chewie, you deal with me!"

It was Finn whom they heard practically screaming at the Wookiee. "Chewie, you've got to let go of me, understand? I can't secure this bandaging properly if I can't see what I'm doing."

Han looked over at Rey. "Why don't you go back there and check on them. I've got this handled up here."

She nodded and made her way back to the longue. She discovered Finn had successfully bandaged the Wookiee's arm and the two of them seemed to be having a civil conversation, even though Finn could not understand a word he was saying.

She looked to see where Cade was at and realized he was sitting on the deck with BB-8 by his side, clutching his hand. She approached him, but Cade abruptly turned away. BB-8 followed his movements. "I'm fine, we've got it under control." He said, with neutrality in his voice.

"Nonsense," She grabbed a medkit with bacta salve and sat down next to him, but he turned again. She persisted, "Cade, you were shot, let me help you."

"I can take care of myself." He said coldly, but she was not going to take no for an answer. She grabbed to turn his shoulder and discovered what the pair were trying to hide. The flesh was burnt completely away from his hand to the lower part of the wrist, but instead of bone, there was metal and wires. They were falling out and BB-8 was attempting to put them back into place.

Rey stared for a moment at his hand. Before she could speak words, he spoke them for her. "What's the matter? Never see a robotic hand before?"

She had to admit, she never had. "No, at least not like this." She stared a moment longer. "The one's I've seen were never so…" She trailed off.

"Life-like?" He answered for her with a hardened stare. He observed that her eyes were unmoving. "You know, we're just like regular people. Even if we don't have all of our original parts."

Rey had decided she had had enough of this game. "What is your problem with me?" she asked bluntly. "Ever since we've met, you've been nice to me one moment, and rude the next. Why is that?"

Cade went back to attempting to work on his hand without answering her. Even though BB-8 was a droid who was comfortable with repairing things like this, he was not having much success. Cade corrected him, "No buddy, you have to connect the red wires with the green ones."

The droid was clearly confused. Rey decided she was going to help, even if Cade protested. "Oh for stars sake!" She grabbed his hand and started connecting the correct wires. BB-8 looked at Cade and made an annoyed beeping noise. She looked at Cade. "Would you prefer if he continued, or should I fix this?" He nodded and she continued working.

"That's my problem. You're great at everything. Flying, repairing, fighting. But you don't want to use it."

She scoffed at his accusations. "I do use them."

"Yeah, for yourself. Look, I get it. You've been on your own for a while. You get a tough exterior over time. I've learned that life has a lot more meaning when you try to live it in a way that betters others."

"Oh yeah?" She asked in an accusatory tone. "How exactly do you do that?"

"By serving the Republic."

She huffed and gave him a smug look. "You can't be serious. From what traders tell us, they're more inefficient than the Old Republic was. Nothing gets accomplished and problems get worse."

He had to admit, she had him there. But this wasn't an argument he was about to lose. "It's not about that. It's what the system stands for. People have the freedom to make their own choices and not have them made for them. You're saying lawlessness is the answer?" He looked at her with his own smug look. "You've got another thing coming if you think that's the solution."

She began to tire of this constant arguing with him. "Just because you're self-righteous doesn't mean you can tell others how to live their lives." She gestured to his hand. "You clearly need someone to help you. You wouldn't last a day on your own."

She knew she had crossed a line with that statement, she just didn't know how large of one. His nostrils flared and the tool box beside them shook ever so slightly. She took notice of that. "You think I couldn't survive on my own? Newsflash sister, but my father left me when I was barely sixteen because he thought he was a failure." He gestured towards the cockpit. "I didn't have my aunt or my uncle. They were grieving in their own way. My mother was killed in front of me when I was seven years old because someone wanted to take me a way. I had no one. It was just me for a while." He gave her an icy stare that was filled with pain. "I wouldn't expect you to understand that."

She stopped working on his hand and he realized he had crossed a line as well. The toolbox stopped shaking. "I haven't had a family since I was a child. I had no idea how old I was. They left a child, alone, in the middle of a deserted planet. Why?" She paused, not knowing exactly how to answer herself. "I couldn't tell you." She gestured towards the cockpit and towards Chewie. "At least your family is still here. I have no idea if mine is still alive, or even wants me." She sniffled a little bit and finished putting the wires back into place.

She closed the panel on his appendage. He flexed his hand and looked at her. "Rey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know what you've been through."

"No, its fine. I deserved it." She smiled slightly at him. "I haven't been the most easy to get along with." She looked at him with her intense brown eyes. Cade saw both pain and compassion in them. "Maybe we could learn to understand each other better."

He returned the smile with one of his own. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He extended the hand she had finished working on. "Why don't we start off fresh? I'm Cade."

She extended hers and grasped his firmly. "I'm Rey."

Just then, Han came into the longue and checked on Chewie. Finn was putting on the finishing touches of his treatment. Chewie moaned as Han approached.

"Nah," he said. "Don't think like that. You did great. They just got lucky. You're gonna be fine." He turned to look at Finn, Cade, and Rey. They were seated around the holochess set. "You alright kid?"

Cade flexed his robotic hand with the charred metal contrasting sharply with the rest of his skin. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He paused and looked at his uncle. "I've had worse."

Han rummaged around the tool set behind him, obviously looking for something. He found it and tossed it to Cade. "Here, put this on." It was a brown working glove. It wasn't the best thing in the galaxy, but it would at least hide the fact he had a robotic appendage.

Han turned to Finn. "Good job on Chewie. I- Thanks."

"You're welcome." He replied easily, beaming in his ability to treat the wound.

Sliding a finger across a flush control brought the chess set to life. The pieces steadied themselves before gazing up at the trio seated around the table. Cade smiled while Finn and Rey stared with amazement.

This is a peculiar bunch, Han thought. He looked at Finn curiously and realized there had to be more to the man. At the moment though, he didn't know what. He shrugged and decided to change the subject. "So. Fugitives, huh?"

Cade nodded and indicated towards BB-8, who was sitting right below them. "He's carrying a map to dad. The First Order wants it, and they'll kill anyone who tries to keep it from them."

Han leaned against the bulkhead, clearly trying to process the information. "I guess that's why they sent you then." He looked to BB-8. "Alright Ball, let's see whatcha got."

Dutifully, the droid rolled into a suitable position. A lens brightened, and abruptly the longue was all but filled with an enormously detailed and complex star map. Nebulae, solo stars, translucent splashed of concentrated dark matter, and entire solar systems were displayed before them. Even Chewbacca sat up to have a better look. The trio at the table were in awe. Clearly, this was the first time any of them had seen it.

Moving forward and into the three-dimensional map, he traced system positions and locator stars. One finger traced the outlines of a particularly bright and well-known nebular cluster. Like everything in the map, it was brilliantly depicted. But it was only a fraction of the actual map.

He turned to the trio. "This is accurate. But it doesn't give us the full picture. The trail continues somewhere, but we don't have the rest of the map."

Cade stood up. "Wait, so you're telling me I risked my life and my friend died for half the map?" He nodded at Cade. "I can't believe this."

Rey spoke while drinking in the details of the map. "Why did he leave a map?"

Han pursed his lips; thinking back. Cade was waiting patiently to chime in.

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. There was no one else left to do it, so he took the burden on himself. He set up a school and for a while, it was going good. That is, until an apprentice turned against him and destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible, so he walked away. From everything."

Rey looked at Cade and realized a wave of sadness had washed over his face. He glanced at his hand, then Finn spoke.

His was respectful. "Does anyone know what happened to him?" He looked at Cade specifically.

Cade hesitated before responding. "My father," He had difficulty finding the words. "My father was heartbroken. He never told me where he was going. I've heard lots of stories over the years. The one I put the most weight behind was him going on a personal quest to find the first Jedi Temple."

Han was surprised by that, as he clearly did not know that part. "Where did you hear that from?"

He smirked at his uncle. "From an extremely reliable source."

Chewie expressed amusement at this and Han gave him a sideways glance.

Rey had been quiet for a while, absorbing everything in awed silence. She could no longer contain herself.

"So the stories were true? The Jedi were real?" She looked at both Han and Cade.

Han half smiled, to himself as much as to her. "I used to wonder that myself. A bunch of all-powerful beings controlling a magic power, holding together good and evil, light and dark." He paused, his voice fading. "Crazy thing is, it's all real." He looked over at Cade. "In fact, you're sitting next to one of the last Jedi in the entire galaxy."

Both Finn and Rey were shocked to discover this revelation. Rey spoke first, completely flabbergasted. "You're a Jedi? Why didn't you tell us?"

Cade looked at the both of them and then at Han. "I hate to break it to you, but I'm not a Jedi. Not anymore. I haven't been for quite some time now."

Han gave his nephew a disapproving look. "C'mon kid, you can't hide from this. Not now. Not with what's at stake."

Cade stepped up to Han and poked an accusatory finger at his chest. "But you can?" Even though he was much shorter than his uncle, he was not afraid of the man. "You weren't the only one who lost everything that night. What's your excuse?"

Before Han could respond in kind, an alarm sounded, but this one was different from the flurry that had preceded it. Chewbacca started to rise, but Han put out a hand to prevent him.

"No. You relax." He glanced at Cade. "We'll be alright." He headed for the cockpit. "This is our stop."