Oddly enough, it was the sore knees that told Kaydel she wasn't dreaming when she woke to find Rey curled up around her, and a scattered mess of clothes and armour carpeting the floor. Under the covers Rey's hand rested on her midriff; the same point where Gwaelyn Ren's spear had pierced through her front.

The healing process hadn't been entirely clean. It had left a scar on Kaydel's back and a smaller one at the front. A little ridge of flesh under Rey's callused but gentle hand, but Kaydel found she didn't mind. Reminders of her near-death they might be, but they were also a memento of what Rey had done for her.

Kaydel wriggled a little, fighting the twin urges to laugh and cry out in euphoria.

That woke Rey; Kaydel felt her stirrings against her back, and rolled over to see her lover's eyes - stars ablaze, that thought hit her hard. To see her lover's eyes open, and the same flash of disbelief that she felt.

And then, pure elation. "Morning," Rey beamed.

"Heya," Kaydel returned the smile. "I don't even know what to say about-"

"Me neither." Rey kissed her, slipping her arms around Kaydel's shoulders. "Except I adore you, and it scares me but I'm so bloody glad I said it. Even if I'm now kicking myself that I didn't do so sooner."

"Ah, but there's no rushing it, right?" Kaydel rolled onto her back, pulling Rey with her. The scar on Rey's upper arm was exposed, and she leaned over to kiss it. She wanted to never have to leave this cabin, to pretend that there wasn't a Galaxy and a war waiting on the other side of that door.

Maybe they could indulge that daydream for a while. Rey grinned down at her, only to glance left and suddenly frown. "Oh, no, that's not fair."

"What's-" Kaydel followed her eyes, seeing the clock where it had come to rest on her shirt. It was late morning already. "Urgh," she groaned, then sighed. "No rushing love, but for now, looks like it's going on the back burner."

As if on cue, there came a rap on the door. "Rise and shine, lovebirds." Finn's voice. "Poe's orders. We've got a briefing in fifteen."

"Be there in ten," Rey called. Then she added more quietly, "it's going to have to be a very quick shower."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Finn and Rose were already up. They'd awoken before anyone else, grabbed quick showers, got a quick brew of caff on and roused the Scrappers from their tangle of bedrolls in the old cargo hold before feeding Gial. Kaydel's usual space was conspicuously empty.

Then they made for the bridge via the canteen, finding Maz and Poe already on deck. Maz was sat on her command chair, which meant that for once they were at eye level. She greeted him cheerfully. "I take it you were too tired to celebrate with all of us last night, Captain? No bother, we saved the big reveal for you all. We just need Rey."

A featureless starfield greeted Finn as he scanned the view beyond. "Middle of nowhere again?"

"Safest place to be," Maz replied. "It looks like the First Order thought better of following. No scanning locks at all after the first jump. Though I suppose we did do quite the number on their ships."

"There'll be more soon," Rose said. "I can't imagine Kylo Ren is going to let two dead Knights of Ren slide."

Finn felt an itch between his shoulder blades, where Ren had slashed him once. That particular thought hadn't crossed his mind, though he knew they'd have to confront the Supreme Leader sooner or later. Suddenly, though, that prospect seemed much closer.

He tried to divert his thoughts – it helped that he had a question on his mind. "Say Maz," he said. "When we first met, you knew Rey had a connection to the Force straight away. Why didn't you notice it in me?"

She chuckled. "After two years in this mess, you still think the Force works that simply? A connection needs awakening." Maz turned her head to regard him. "Luke knew Leia for a good few years before he realised it was in her."

"Hmm." He distracted himself further as the various captains and sergeants from the division entered, thanking and congratulating them for their conduct yesterday.

Rey and Kaydel entered a little later, bleary-eyed but beaming, and Maz finally unveiled the findings. Once decrypted, Cherilan's last recordings had turned out to be a detailed account of his travels through the Tion Sector, and the trail that the Vehement had left behind it. A trail which, though it had been difficult to find, was easy enough to follow.

"And that takes us to…" The holographic image of a planet snapped into life, green and verdant. A jungle world according to the accompanying description. "Omunak." Maz whistled. "I hadn't heard tell of that world in a very long time."

"What's the story?" Finn asked, but there was a look of recognition on Rey's face.

"It's mentioned in the oldest Jedi texts," she said. "It used to be a subsector capital. These here," she pointed to several dark patches on the globe, "were its cities. Advanced, beautiful cities." Her face darkened. "Until a Sith Lord and his armies came to Omunak. They conducted a Dark Side ritual which consumed every soul on the planet." She glanced at Maz. "Or so I've read."

Maz nodded ruefully. "It's hard to know how much is fact or myth in the old texts, but what's certain is that no one has lived on Omunak since the Sith attacked it."

"Until now," Finn finished. He stepped away, hearing Maz start issuing instructions to the fleet.

His thoughts were a constant swirl in his head. The deserters had gone to ground on a world that hadn't been inhabited for thousands of years, he considered. Which made sense; with so many of them they couldn't just jump on a little vessel and vanish in a crowd. He wondered how they were living on that world.

"Finn." Poe's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Finn turned to find him flanked by Rey and Rose. Kaydel and Chewbacca hung back a little. "You OK, pal?" Not to be outdone, BB-8 assumed a quizzical tilt. His lighter sprang out in a thumb-up gesture, but there was a questioning wobble to that too.

Finn thought about saying yes, for a moment. But Rey didn't give him a chance. "It's about the mission, isn't it? About the deserters."

He breathed out slowly. "Yeah." The three of them waited silently, letting him gather his thoughts. "I've spent a lot of time fighting my own kind, the last couple years. It gets to weighing on you, after a while."

Poe nodded. "Understandably. But there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Finn took another swig of caff before he continued. Rose looked at him – she knew where he was going to say – and give him an encouraging smile. Rey and Poe waited in silence. "I never told you this, but on the Supremacy, that day above Crait… I saw Stormtroopers hesitate. I challenged Phasma on her selling out the Starkiller, and the Stormtroopers who were with her… it shook them."

Poe prompted him gently. "What happened next?"

He let his shoulders sag. "She gunned them down. No hesitation from her." He looked at his friend. "But I saw it, and I know what it means. I don't know how many Stormtroopers would hear that and question their masters, but every time I take one down now, I have to wonder if, given the right circumstances…"

"That's rough," Poe said, just to punctuate Finn's words.

Finn nodded. "And I know the math, before you say it." Them or us. "Same call I've been making since we bust out of the Finaliser. But now I might actually get to save some of these people. People like me." He tried to find the words for how much that would mean to him. "And I'm scared of blowing this chance."

"We'll do it, Finn," Rey said. Then she frowned and corrected herself. "You'll do it."

Poe took over. "And from there, who knows? This might be the point where the Galaxy looks at the First Order and realises how fragile it really is. Maybe more Stormtroopers will see your example, and find the courage to renounce them too. Finding the Vehement might be the first step to ending the tyrants." He paused, setting a hand on Finn's shoulder. "I'm honoured, pal, that you feel able to share all that with me. Think I speak for all of us there, right?" Rey nodded, giving Finn an encouraging smile.

That brought a lump to Finn's throat, though he managed to force it back down and thank them.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Hours passed in which they made a few checks on the Falcon, bringing them to a new system. Eventually, Maz beckoned them all back to the bridge.

A dark, rocky orb hung in the void before them. Not Omunak, but one of its moons. Maz had taken advantage of the extensive charts left by Cherilan to effect an old Resistance ploy, jumping into its shadow. Unless the deserters were keeping a very close eye on the surrounding system, this shouldn't spook then, and it would let the ship get close enough that they couldn't just pack up and flee.

That said, there had been some debate over that. Did they broadcast their approach, come thundering in or sidle up, even drift in from the edge of the system?

In the end, Poe had cast the deciding vote. They would take the approach that the First Order was least likely to adopt, approaching cautiously but not trying to actually hide themselves. When the deserters were found, he'd pointed out, they'd need them willing to talk.

Thus the Rapscallion left the rest of the fleet orbiting the moon and crept forward, while lone fighters took it in turn to run ahead. Omunak, crawling out from behind its moon, grew steadily in the viewports. "Serene" was the first word that came to mind for Finn; the world was all blue ocean and greenery across its landmasses. He checked himself, remembering Vatel. Up close, it might not be that friendly.

The forward scopes picked out the remains of cities on the surface; the civilisation which the Sith had laid low, thousands of years before.

"No sign of the Destroyer," Kaydel observed, tapping her chin as she watched the reports file in. "Must be down on the surface."

"There can't be many places big enough to hide one," mused Rose.

Rey turned to Poe, clearly about to offer to take the Falcon and join the scouting parties.

She didn't get the chance, however. A shout went up from the sensor pit. "Something's approaching!"

Poe reacted immediately. "Jess, Snap, pull your fighters back." He cut their protests short. "Do it!"

"Scopes, magnify!" Maz called. "What've we got?"

"Looks like," Poe said, studying the consoles. "Three fighters. Standard TIE pattern, all of them. But the livery…" Then the scopes found the approaching fighters, and they saw what he meant. The black paint had seemingly been stripped away, leaving bare metal. "Definitely not First Order colours."

"Do we call that promising?" Rose asked. Poe shrugged, wary of speaking too soon.

"They're hailing us," one of the comms team announced.

"Poe," Maz said. "I assume you're doing the honours?" He nodded, stepping onto the holo array, and she turned back to her officer. "Put them through."

Three little specks of light appeared opposite the Rapscallion and grew steadily to become a trio of TIE Fighters. Poe cleared his throat, but he was cut short when a young woman's voice emanated from the speakers. "Go. Leave this system."

He turned to Kaydel. "Well that's a good start. We sending them an image?"

She nodded. "They're just not reciprocating."

"Fine." He returned to the console, assumed his usual friendly manner. "Greetings Vehement. We don't mean you any harm. We're enemies to the First Order. We're your friends."

"Go!" The voice lacked the kind of blunt hostility you normally heard from Stormtroopers. With a jolt, Finn realised that the speaker was frightened – frightened of them, however much she fought to hide it. "We will fire on you if you do not desist."

Finn and Rey exchanged worried looks. Poe tried again. "I'm telling you, we're not here to-"

"You don't fool us!"

"Does this look like a Star Destroyer?"

"We'll die before we give in-"

Finn pushed past Poe. "This is FN-2187."

The other side of the exchange suddenly went very quiet. He looked back at Poe, who just raised his hands and took a step back. Over to you.

He took a deep breath, staring out at the fighters and trying to project a calmness which he didn't feel. "Vehement, we come from the same place. I wanna talk to you guys, that's all we're after here. I think we might be able to help you."

Silence met him.

"They still talking to us?" he hissed to Poe.

"Channel's still open," Kaydel confirmed.

"Huh." Poe grinned ruefully. "Seems to me that we're on hold."

The silence stretched out, leaving them all to fidget and wonder what was going on at the other end of that channel. For his part, Finn suspected that it was a furious argument.

Jess made contact. "Commander, should we intercept?"

Poe's refusal was immediate. "Negative, Black Leader. Stay alert, but you guys need to keep right back. Defensive positions only, nothing that'll spook them. Blue Squadron, that goes for you too. Everyone else, you're staying grounded."

The link reopened. "You can send one transport. Follow me, you'll be transmitted landing coordinates."

Sighs of relief all round behind Finn. "Give us a moment please and we'll be right with you," Poe said. He clapped his hands together and turned to the rest. "All aboard the Falcon, then."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Whatever Omunak's landscape had been back when it was settled, now the entire biosphere seemed to be one huge jungle. Trees as tall as skycrapers and almost as thick carpeted the landscape, themselves festooned with vines and creepers. Creatures swung and scampered through the branches, or took wing as the Falcon and TIE Fighters disturbed them. Rey watched, eyes constantly darting from one sight to another.

Poe wasn't enjoying the view, however. He'd taken over the pilot's seat from her – ostensibly to take his mind off the situation, but she could tell he was trying to keep one eye on the scanner feed. Knowing of Finn's presence had calmed the deserters somewhat, which was good news in anyone's book. Though it would be nice if they could move on to trusting the Resistance.

"Commander," Nyzar called from the hold. "Want us on the turrets?"

"Negative. We're going for friendly, Nyzar." He leaned over toward Chewbacca, trying to look past the Wookie. Conceding defeat, he asked, "Still just those two TIEs behind us?"

"In the air, yes." Rose glanced at a console. "But we've also got targeting locks from the ground."

"How many?"

Chewbacca growled an answer.

"Twenty?"

"They're wary," Finn offered, stood at the back and holding a rail to steady himself. These days the cockpit was a lot more cramped, with Rose taking a seat and Rey squeezed up next to Kaydel.

"You think?" Poe winced at his own tone after a moment, offering Finn an apologetic look and getting a handwave in response. None of them were exactly pleased to be exposing themselves like this, Poe least of all. He stayed silent for a few moments, then, "Jess and Snap aren't going to be happy about this."

"None of it's ideal," Kaydel said. "But you were right. We've gotta play nice with fidgety Stormtroopers, wouldn't you say, Finn?"

"Uh huh."

Poe huffed a little but didn't argue the point any further.

"Landing in five minutes," came a TIE pilot's voice, the same woman who'd addressed them before. "Sending coordinates now."

"Thanks," Poe said. That got no response. "Man, I didn't think they'd be as friendly as you, Finn, but if they're all this tetchy…"

They were over the outer districts of the old city now. It was hard to tell how far it had extended as the forest had reclaimed so much terrain and so thoroughly. What remained of the city was worn-down stone and ferrocrete, with the odd protruding spar of metal. Not one building looked to be over four stories tall. On the ground and the lower roofs, people were visible, and the glossy black surfaces of what looked like solar panels. Possibly repurposed from machines aboard the Vehement, Rey thought.

More obviously, there were a number of turrets which must have been hauled up from the gorge or lowered to the ground while the Destroyer was in the air. Just as Rose had said, they were tracking the Falcon assiduously.

Chewbacca made an appreciative noise, prompting them all to sit up a little and look further ahead.

Poe whistled. "No argument here, Chewie. That's pretty impressive."

A chasm yawned on the far side of the city, steep-sided. It was deep enough that the floor wasn't at all visible from here, but they could just make out the heavily armoured bridge of a Star Destroyer. For the first time, Rey felt a little surge of hope at the sight, but behind her, Finn was rather more tense. She could feel it rippling out from him through the Force. When she glanced back, he was leaning forward a little, gripping the back of her chair more tightly than before.

His power – or rather his connection to the Force, she thought – had grown since they set out. Facing the Knight of Ren had probably been just the sort of crisis moment to draw it out. She'd experienced that herself, after all, and so had Leia during the pursuit from D'Qar. Though Leia's had been altogether more extreme, and it hadn't delivered her unscathed. Rey felt a sharp pang just thinking about the General's condition.

Abruptly the Star Destroyer was hidden, the view swallowed up by the architecture around them as the Falcon descended. They found themselves on an airfield of sorts, surrounded by twenty or so Fighters. Presumably the rest were aboard the ship.

And stood around the base of the fighters, their audience. A first look at the deserters they were hoping to recruit.

"Hey." Poe stood, prodding her shoulder. "Better not keep 'em waiting, and we'll get a better view out there. C'mon, c'mon."