"General, we have a Resistance ship inbound from the outer system. Moving fast."

"What class?" Hux demanded, hands gripping the back of the officer's seat. Of course the Resistance would have something in the void for an operation like this. There were far too many craft down there for them to all just jump straight to hyperspace.

"Corvette, sir. Looks like it's optimised for transport capacity."

Hux smiled. "Then they've made a break for it." And I'll be the one to capture them, not those wretched Knights. "Let it get close, it'll have to slow to collect the scum on the ground. Then move to intercept. Disable it when the transports are aboard – and if that somehow fails, we track them." He would secure the objective, be the one to excoriate the deserters and more importantly, take the prisoners.

He indulged a private smile at that. For all Ren's obsession with running down the girl and her friends, it would be he who delivered them to justice and robbed the Resistance of its most precious mascot. A clear demonstration of the virtues of rational leadership, which would not be lost on the First Order's political and command echelons.

He could see his prey coming now, the corvette cutting in from the starboard side while on the holo displays, the Resistance craft streaked up into orbit.

Everything was falling into place. "On my signal," he ordered.

One irritant snuffed out, and the way open to remove every obstacle from his path.

"Ready the ventral cannons," he said. "Prepare boarding parties-"

"General!"

He wheeled around. Sirens had started screaming around him. "What?"

"We have proximity alerts! Several ships, emerging from hyperspace!"

Hux moved back to the viewport, but before he'd even taken a full stride a Resistance fleet leapt into realspace, bombers and fighters already spilling from hangars.

A snarl broke out on his face. "Acquire targets, fire on the fleet!"

The patrolling TIE fighters moved to respond, but were set upon and destroyed while the Resistance ships began raking the Star Destroyers with laser fire.

"They're squandering their firepower," Stolan remarked next to him. "They can't break the armour of any one ship if they're spreading their volleys so thinly."

"No," Hux rasped. "This is D'Qar again, they're going after our surface cannons."

And sure enough, in the wake of the broadsides came the Y-Wings and X-Wings. They attacked with a precision that would make his own squadrons proud, striking at the emplacements in a rippling wave of explosions. Some of them were caught by lasers or missiles, spinning away in clouds of debris or vanishing in explosions. But too few, not enough to stop them from clearing out the guns.

"Does any ship at least have a firing solution on the corvette?" he railed.

A comms officer spoke up. "The Adamant reports that it- ah," he said, suddenly deflated. "Deprived of cannons, General."

"They're preparing to jump to hyperspace!" another officer cried.

"We have a tracking lock," Stolan murmured in Hux's ear. "Do we pursue?"

"And run headfirst into hostile space, with barely a working gun?" Hux hissed at him. He turned away, tasting bile. "Stand down and prepare to extract surface assets."

The Resistance craft had made it to their ships. Hux watched the enemy blink out of range, seething all the time. Victory gone to disgrace again, and Ren wouldn't take any explanations about cunning enemy tactics. Suddenly the whip hand was very much the Supreme Leader's.

Stolan didn't look at him, but remarked tonelessly, "An accelerated timeline may be preferable, given this development."

Hux, not looking at Stolan either, nodded. "Torqueda will need to be informed of that, so he can relay it to his operatives." He grimly considered that he'd have rather had some of Torqueda's own Inquisitors set aboard Ren's fleet, but they were operating on a limited timescale. They worked with what they had. He put the thought aside and turned to a lieutenant. "What word from the surface?"

"Moderate losses to the division, General, though our fighter and bomber wings report rather greater casualties. Excuse me sir, the captain has more…"

Hux stalked closer, watching the man's face go pale and slack. "And?"

"My word," the lieutenant muttered, and gulped. Then he straightened up as best he could. "General, both Knights have been found dead, close to the landing site. It seems likely to be the work of the scavenger, and perhaps the deserter."

"Both of them?" Hux repeated. Exhaling slowly and kneading his temples, he stepped away. What had been an unwelcome pair of presences breathing down his neck was now blood on his hands. Of course he'd been up here in orbit and had no control over the circumstances in which those wretched Knights perished, but he didn't imagine for a second that Ren would see it that way.

He had his death sentence. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but when Hux's head was struck from his shoulders, this was the reason that Ren would give.

"Colonel," he said eventually. "The timetable is to be accelerated drastically. I need a missive composed for the Supreme Leader, informing him that we are unable to mount a viable pursuit of the Resistance forces and will need to refit and resupply at Corellia. We will leave the Resistance to their rightful hunter." He stared down at the planet, breathing heavily through his nose. "And then another message for Torqueda and the others. The Supreme Leader is about to give us an opening we can't afford to miss."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Safely aboard the Rapscallion and with the fleet in hyperspace, Poe got on the radio to address the strike force. He congratulated them on a job well done, but he didn't let himself get too ebullient. "We lost friends and comrades today. They more than accounted for themselves and what we retrieved brings us a step closer to victory, but we mourn them nonetheless."

He replaced the handset and sat back, reminding himself that they had done good today. Hell, the First Order's attack had actually worked in their favour. Thanks to Maz's fleet, the enemy weren't in any condition to offer meaningful pursuit. Now he had a free hand to find the Vehement and get his force back to Resistance space before another fleet came calling. Not to mention that if he was any judge and with two Knights of Ren among the enemy dead, the First Order were about to be short of another general.

Still, it could only do so much to salve the pain of seeing more comrades killed. Chewie patted him gently on the shoulder and gave an encouraging growl.

"Thanks Chewie. I hope it sounded that way to the others." Then he moved into the main cabin, finding Finn and Rose with the Scrappers, who were already breaking out rations and refreshments. It sounded like a good party was starting up, outside in the hangar.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were there too, Threepio trying in vain to get some sympathy from R2 for his begrimed state. "I've even got shrapnel abrasion on this leg! The barbarity of that world, R2! You really don't appreciate how lucky you've been, cooped up in here."

Finn was tending to his blaster, concentrating so much that Poe had to nudge him with his boot. "Finn, put the blaster down. You can clean it in the morning."

Finn looked like he was going to protest – in truth Poe knew it would hurt him to leave the blaster dirty for any length of time – but then he saw the flask in Poe's right hand, and the three tumblers in his left. "Is that-"

"Merenzane Gold? Yeah, my treat."

BB-8 trundled up to Finn. "Hey."

BB-8 warbled his reply, rocking from side to side.

"Thanks little guy. No, I was worried about you too." Finn patted the droid's side, and BB-8 wobbled appreciatively. "Glad you made it."

"Where'd you get it?" Rose asked Poe, taking the proffered tumbler.

He took his eyes off Finn and the droid. "Sejatul. Pava and I ran across a bottle in a bombed-out apartment and we had an empty flask, so…" he took a seat. "I carried out a quick rescue. Believe me, Rose, no one was coming back for it," he clarified when she raised an eyebrow.

Finn eyed his drink with mild suspicion. "What's the occasion?"

"What's-" Poe looked hard at him. "Don't give me that. I saw you take a Knight of Ren down. What's the occasion," he muttered.

Finn nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's pretty big." This time, Poe knew his friend was trying to rile him. Rose smiled and shrugged when he rolled his eyes.

"And," Rose added, "we still have Kaydel, when we so nearly lost her."

Finn lost the distinctly cheeky smile he'd had on his face. "I'll drink to that," he and Poe chorused immediately.

Finn took a swig. Then he stopped himself, and held the tumbler up to his eyes. "Damn, I see why this stuff's so pricey. That's exquisite."

"Savour it buddy," Poe told him. "We've only got this flask. Seriously though, and leaving aside what Rey did for Kaydel, just for the moment. I saw how you took that bastard out – that was you using the Force, right?"

From the look on Finn's face, he couldn't quite believe it himself. "Yeah, I just reached out and the Force was there, ready to guide me. Like Rey said it would be."

Poe grinned. "Try and give yourself a little credit, pal. That was some good fighting. And Rose tells me Rey got the other one."

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Consider me in her debt for sure, not just Kaydel."

Gial approached Poe, and he tickled the little creature behind the ears. "Have either of you talked with her about it – about all this, yet?"

Finn shook his head. "She's in her cabin with Kaydel."

Poe's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. Are we leaving a glass aside for her?"

Finn took another sip and thought about it for a moment. "Nah. They're gonna be a while."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Hold still."

"Ow. Oww…"

"I said hold still," Kaydel took the wipe away and inspected the cut on Rey's cheek. They were sitting on the bed in Rey's cabin, where she had insisted on getting Kaydel cleaned up and finding her a new top from her own wardrobe, before finally letting Kaydel tend to her in turn. "Mm hmm, I call that almost clean."

"More than I can say for the fight," Rey murmured. She still felt drained from the fight and the effort of healing Kaydel. "She nearly killed me three times in a minute. I haven't seen anyone move that fast since Ren himself, in Snoke's throne room." She sighed, leaving unsaid the other thing – that she hadn't been quick enough to stop Gwaelyn from wounding Kaydel. "I need to put the time aside and get a lightsaber of my own, like you said. The one we found wouldn't have been much good there, but the old staff doesn't quite cut it either."

"Pun intended?" Kaydel saw her expression and made an apologetic look. "You're right, but for now I'm glad we both came away in one piece. And that's two fewer Knights of Ren for us to fear."

"Did I hear right about Finn getting the other one?"

Kaydel shrugged. "So Poe says. Sounds like the saber did come in handy, even if it wasn't right for you." She picked up a med scanner, checking the wound for any contaminants she couldn't spot herself. "I didn't see it, so you might want to check with Finn later. OK, one more dab… and we're done here."

Rey grimaced as she picked up a mirror and examined the wound. "That's going to scar."

"I think it's going to be dashing." Kaydel smiled, dropping her voice to a purr. A 'ripe' purr, as she'd call it. "The roguish warrior girl." Her finger traced a line, parallel to the cut, and Rey suppressed a shudder at the touch. "I didn't thank you for saving me yet," Kaydel said quietly. Her free hand went to her sternum, where Gwaelyn's spear had lanced clean through it.

"It was instinct," Rey replied quickly, trying to stem the emotions which welled up in her. Too quickly, the words feeling curt even to her own ears.

Kaydel's face fell at that, and Rey felt a sharp pang in her chest. She'd really done it this time. "Well, thanks-"

"No, that's not right," Rey interrupted, taking hold of her wrist before the other woman could pull away. She swallowed, but there was no going back now, no room to sidestep. Kaydel's kicked-dog expression fell away, and Rey knew they'd both been waiting a long time for this moment. "I meant to say that I saw her go for you. And seeing her stab you…" her voice grew thick with emotion, "the very idea of seeing you die… that hurt, Kaydel." She tapped her cheek. "More than any little cut. A lot..." she let out a slow breath. "A lot of feelings came bubbling up then. Feelings I've had about you for months."

Kaydel's eyes widened, her lower lip trembling a little. "I don't know if you realise how much it means to me, to hear you say that."

Rey mustered a little smile. "I think I might. I've been running scared of it for long enough. I haven't dared to say anything about how I feel. And then she came at you and I realised that I'd have never said…"

"And I get that." Her face was so very close to Rey's now. "Rey, I don't just want to be around you because you're Rey the Jedi. It's… it's because of everything else about you. It's because you took the time to talk to me after Crait."

Rey was losing the fight to stay restrained. "Poe did ask me to." Apparently she couldn't shake her inability to take a compliment, however.

Kaydel's eyebrow rose a little, a smirk threatening to break out for a moment. "Yeah, he asked – and you went straight ahead and did it. You made time for the girl from Mission Control, not because that's what Jedi do, but because you wouldn't think not to." Tentatively, she put her hand to Rey's cheek. "Rey from Jakku, I… I love you, whether you're a Jedi or not."

And suddenly, the thundering in Rey's heart didn't seem a problem at all.

She raised her fingers to stroke Kaydel's hair, provoking a tiny intake of breath. "Well, I love the girl from Mission Control."

Kaydel took her face in both hands and leaned in, tilting her head just a little. Rey shut her eyes, feeling the same tremor she had when she'd put her hand to Kylo's two years ago. But when Kaydel pressed her lips against hers, it hit Rey even harder. The outside world seemed to fall away, and all she felt was the soft pressure of Kaydel's mouth. For a second they held still, and then Kaydel pulled away. Rey's eyes snapped open with a little gasp and she saw Kaydel, smiling nervously, plainly dreading that she'd done something wrong.

She smiled back at her – and surged forward, throwing her arms around Kaydel and kissing her hard, feeling the grin which broke out across the other woman's face. Kaydel responded in kind, her arms wrapping themselves about Rey's waist, her kisses urgent and hungry...

They tumbled back onto the bed, Rey's wrist catching the mirror on her bedside surface and knocking it off.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Out in the main hold, Poe heard a muffled thump, grinned at Finn and raised his tumbler in a silent toast.