Author's note: Thanks to all who have reviewed this story so far and those of you who have chosen to read it through; they have gone a long way to increasing my enthusiasm for this story. This chapter was written in 2 hours non-stop. I have never written anything that quickly. I love this story and I love that you love it too. Enjoy ^^.

Poe and Tekka were dragged back into the burning village by the stormtroopers who had captured them. The heat from the fires was occasionally batted away by the cold air of the desert night, and ambers flew around them like fireflies. Several of the villagers had survived and had been huddled together in the central area where the weariness of a hard day's work had once been washed away with both drink and food. Men and women of faith, much like their leader, they had also traded stories of times gone and hopes to come. Now, as the stormtroopers stood surrounding them, only despair remained.

The pilot and the Explorer were brought before the group, where a young officer was waiting for them. Poe assumed, for his bearing, the hard look in his eyes and the authority he seemed to force on any who stood around him, that he was the 'General' that the stormtroopers had mentioned; the one who had come here looking for Tekka.

Poe was held back roughly by the two stormtroopers who had taken hold of him, while the Explorer was brought forth. Soon he was standing facing the General. The contrast between the two men spoke to the different views they held: one was harsh, the other was accepting. One had chosen to define his life with war, the other had chosen faith. There was an intensity to such a meeting and Poe waited to hear them speak.
The General broke the silence: 'The famous Explorer.'

He spoke with a sneering tone, as he appeared to distain the very notion of speaking to Tekka.

'You have cost the First Order time and resources,' he went one. 'I hope your capture will give us what we need.'

Poe listened more keenly. Maybe he would learn something interesting. If the First Order was looking for a way to find Skywalker, he needed to know. Certainly, his return could cause them a great deal of harm. For an emerging power determined to acquire complete galactic domination, it couldn't just stand by and let potential enemies band together to stop them.

Tekka was still calm when he answered.

'What you seek, you will never get.'

The General stared at him even more harshly, if that was even possible for him. 'What could an explorer know of what we seek? Of how the galaxy could grow from our guidance?'

He said that as he looked at the gathered and, sometimes terrified, villagers. The contempt in his face would have been clear enough, his voice just emphasized it.

'I have seen where you have come from,' Tekka continued. 'I know what the First Order has grown from.'

The General's eyes turned back to his prisoner. Poe spied what he suspected was disgusted amusement in him. 'And where is that?'

'From the dark side.'

A harsh laughter followed Tekka's statement.

'Your religion does not interest me, Explorer. It will be soon rendered irrelevant. Your… Force… has no place in our galaxy.'

He moved closer to Tekka. 'The First Order will not make the Empire's mistakes: none will live to become Jedi… or anything else.'

Tekka smiled sadly. 'Your ignorance is unfortunate: the Force cannot be silenced. Attempts to quell it will only strengthen it. That is its way.'

The General looked away from the Explorer in disgust. 'I have no patience to argue with you. I have more pressing matters to attend to.'

Standing beside the General was one of the most imposing and eye-catching stormtroopers Poe had ever seen: covered in a Chrome-plated armour and sporting a cape with the First Order's colours, it held a blaster in its hands. It was obviously in command of the squad, but it could possibly be more. Despite the New Republic's attempts to foster peaceful coexistence with the First Order, not even those who supported the false peace argued that a militaristic power could be ignored. Intelligence gathering missions had been conducted to collect as much information on the new organization as possible, especially regarding its military. Poe had conducted several of these missions, several at high risk to him and his team. He liked to think the information he had brought back had been worth the risk. The only picture that New Republic intelligence had been able to build of the First Order was sketchy. But a semblance of hierarchy had been established.

And in none of the reports he had read had a Chromed stormtrooper been mentioned.

This was obviously a serious mission: General was not the highest rank of the First Order's army but it still held considerable importance. That such a high-ranking official, flanked by an important stormtrooper commander, had come to a remote world like Jakku in search of the Explorer spoke to its importance.

And now, the Chromed stormtrooper turned its attention towards Poe.

'Bring him forward,' she said.

She? Poe thought as he was shoved forward by the stormtroopers. That was useful information as well. He would be able to report this new information to New Republic intelligence, another piece of the First Order's command chain. If he could escape.

Poe was forced in front of the General, who looked at him with far more interest than he had had in Tekka. But with no less contempt.

'A New Republic pilot,' he said. 'What is your mission here?'

Poe smirked at him. 'I'm on holiday. Isn't there a summer retreat around here?'

Wit was just part of his character; even under duress, he wouldn't turn it off.

It earned him another punch to the stomach, at the instruction of the Chromed trooper. The General smiled slightly. 'Your defiance will not last.'

He nodded to the stormtroopers, who started to drag the pilot towards the shuttle.

As Poe was led away, the Chromed stormtrooper turned to the General. 'General Hux, the villagers?'

The question seemed like a formality, and so did the answer.

'Kill them all', he said, barely gracing them with a glance.

The villagers gasped and screamed as the stormtroopers, instantly upon hearing the General's command, primed their blasters and prepared to fire.

-0-

What none had noticed was the slow reaction of one stormtrooper, one whose mask seemed to bare a three-pronged scar.

After his team's death, he had run from them. He had not known what he was doing until one of the sergeants had ordered him to follow his unit. In his confused flight, he had headed back towards the fight, which had spared him immediate execution for dereliction of duty as he had appeared to be following orders. The fight had been winding down and his only task had been to assist in the round-up of the prisoners just as the General had been landing. Following this, he had been a part of the ring of troopers to secure the prisoners on the sergeant's instruction.

And now, he was being instructed to kill the prisoners. His training told him that he needed to obey orders. But his body didn't seem to obey him. Whereas all his comrades had raised their blasters the second the General had given his order, he had turned to look at him. Now, he primed his own weapon, his hands shaking.

'On my command,' he heard the captain say, dreading the moment she would complete it.

'Fire,' her voice was surprisingly calm for the order she had just given. But none of the stormtroopers hesitated. Bolts of blaster fire tore the remaining villagers apart. But the marked trooper didn't fire. He tried to pull the trigger, to accomplish all that his training had forced into him. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Eventually, he let his blaster fall to his side.

The firing stopped and all the prisoners were dead.

-0-

Once the last shot had been fired, General Hux headed for his shuttle. He hadn't watched the execution. Not because he could not stand its sight, but because his attention had been fixed on Lor San Tekka. He had hoped to see something break in the arrogant old man, as his friends were slaughtered while he stood helpless. But the Explorer had merely looked on with sorrow, his eyes falling once but immediately returning to the sight of those who had followed him being executed for that. It left Hux feeling exasperated.

Tekka had seen what Hux had not. He had seen the marked stormtrooper's defiance. He had remembered his flight from earlier. And he had hidden his surprise behind the sadness of once again losing friends to make the galaxy a better place.

As the stormtroopers led him to the command shuttle, he looked at the lost stormtrooper, who remained standing with his blaster at his side, while his comrades returned to their ships. Then, he turned his head and his black visor seemed to meet Tekka's eyes. A brief moment they maintained eye contact, and Tekka inclined his head before being dragged into the shuttle by the stormtroopers.

-0-

Soon, the command shuttle and the AALs took off, leaving the burning village and the bodies of the dead behind. No eyes remained to spot what the First Order's scanners failed to pick up.

A small probe droid, with a round head and tentacle-like appendages, emerged from one of the ridges. It sole red eye had witnessed the assault and the slaughter. It had waited, and now it acted. Activating its small repulsors, it headed for the command shuttle, which had just started to take off. As the craft turned to head back into space, it attached itself securely to it, prepared to endure the rough ride through the atmosphere.

Its position secure, it sent out a transmission to the ship he knew was nearby. It had found its prey: now, the hunters could come in.

-0-

Far off from the events of Calvin Ridge, an X-Wing was flying precariously away from danger, its flight erratic. The little droid controlling the craft was having a hard time navigating. The stormtroopers had hit his stern and damaged some of the circuits controlling the engines. It had not been enough to disrupt it, but it had been enough to force the X-Wing to compensate. It was drawing more energy into other cables and threatening to overheat. Fires remained from the plaster shots that had hit the fighter and were causing further damage.

There was little BB-8 could do about the fires other than try and seal off what he could. He diverted coolant from other sectors to try and end it, an effort that had limited success, but that also forced him to try and balance the new charges heating up the struggling engines. He tried passing the energy through other circuits, ones who could take the extra charge. But it could only lengthen his time of flight, not maintain it. He wouldn't be able to leave the planet.

A part of his circuits thought back to Poe, who had ordered him away. A mechanical whine escaped him as his sensors registered the destruction at the excavation site. But he could not focus on it for much longer, his master would need to manage without him for a while.

He continued to limp through the sky in the damaged X-Wing, as nocturnal predators of sand and sky took notice of him.