Chapter 3

A Near-Fatal Blow

Rey had been making some small repairs to the life support systems when he had appeared out of the blue. Some of the wires were fraught and things had to be fixed if they wanted to keep breathing in the vacuum of space. Her hair was down, and her arm wrappings were thrown on a seat in the lounge. The pale blue moon of Raspitar (she finally learned the name of their gracious host world) sat low in the dark sky above them. Sleep was drawing closer, and she couldn't be happier about it. Chewie was thankfully at the other end of the ship, checking on the weapons and rations they had in the cargo bay.

Then the Supreme Leader materializes next to her and tells her of the danger the Resistance in is if the First Order takes Nov Sensum, of how his generals are plotting to kill him. It'd be enough information to leave anyone speechless. She couldn't come up with a good reason why Ben would tell her of his army's plan and ask for her help. Enemies didn't share invasion plans, let alone offer refuge from a coup. Confusion turned to anger, then that turned to fear. What was even happening between them anymore?

Ben had vanished as soon as he had appeared. His eyes flashed in her vision every time she blinked, wrought with distress and desperation. She hadn't seen that look since the throne room, when he begged her to leave everything she knew behind to join him and create a new order for the galaxy. Parts of her wished she could help him in some minor way that didn't get either of them killed, but the rest of her knew her place right now was in the Resistance. She had to report this to Leia and the others before the First Order arrived on their doorstep, blasters blazing.

Rey pulled her hair up into a casual bun and jogged to the other end of the ship to meet Chewie. His large hairy frame was hunched over a large wooden box stocked with vacuum-packed rations and dissolvable powders. He gave her a friendly roar but the look in his eyes changed when he caught a glimpse of her troubled expression.

"I need to find Leia. Do you know where she is?"

The Wookie roared again, nodded, and pressed to button to open the doors. They both walked swiftly onto the launchpad. Many of the ships had their lights on, giving their crowded landing space a look like Coruscant or the other city planets.

They headed towards the massive palace, Rey's boots and Chewie's paws scraping the wooden bridge. Each window carved into the stone walls glowed with a warm yellow light. A towering arch stood above a pair of intricately carved doors. Small leafy trees grew from cracks in the rock or in planters by the entrance, decorated with lights like miniature suns. Of all the places the Resistance had visited, this one stood out as the prettiest by far.

The doors opened with a startling creak as two Dorjaak servants let the scavenger and Wookie inside. Their yellow feline eyes followed the pair while their long tails twitched curiously.

Chewie led her through the massive entrance hall, past the hissing fountains and large red flowers which blossomed on vines along the walls. Rey almost wished she had gone with Finn and Rose to the negotiations if she could have seen all this earlier. More jungle natives in leather armor were stationed at various doorways, never taking their eyes off their guests. They reminded Rey too much of wealthy traders stopping off at Jakku, staring down the small, dirty scavenger girl who struggled to move her pile of junk across the sand. But what did they know about her? She was delivering important information to the General of the Resistance, more than they had accomplished.

At the last doorway on the right Chewie stopped and turned to Rey, letting out a slow growl.

"I hope we can pull something together, too," replied Rey, swallowing her nervousness. "If not we're all screwed, to be honest."

Chewie opened the heavy doors for her and Rey stepped inside, her heart hammering.

General Organa had both hands on a holographic table displaying a map of the Outer Rim. Rey assumed the Dorjaak across from her was the king of this whole place, judging from his ruby robes and the gold on his neck that seemed to weigh as much as he did. The small room was dark, the only sources of light being the hologram and a few torches lining the walls. The two leaders were deep in conversation, not even noticing Rey was there until she gathered enough courage to pipe up, "General Organa, I need to speak with you right away."

The older woman turned her head, her brown eyes focused on Rey with a kind attention. Her expression was steely.

"You have information for me, I presume?" she asked.

"Yes," Rey answered. "The First Order is planning an invasion of Nov Sensum to claim an old Imperial base. There they have easy access to the rest of the galaxy. I didn't get an exact time, but they have to be launching their destroyers soon, I know it."

Leia's mouth hung slightly open in surprise. She held the tips of her fingers together in a gesture of thought.

"How did you find out about this?"

"I… was in the Falcon when I accidently picked up an enemy transmission. I only got snatches of speech." What else could she tell her? That her son had traveled lightyears through the Force to betray war plans to his enemy?

The general's eyes narrowed, and Rey's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't have known she was lying, could she? What would happen if she knew the truth? Thankfully, Leia didn't call her out or question her about it.

"Alright. Thank you for sharing this with me, Rey, it means so much to the Resistance and to me." Leia turned back to the Dorjaak king. "Canaan, would we be able to call upon your services sooner than we discussed?"

The king's tail twitched in annoyance, but he replied in broken Galactic Basic, "Your needs are our commands, your majesty. How soon would your ships need to move out?"

"We will leave first thing in the morning." Leia took a couple of strides toward Rey and pushed her slowly towards the door. "I'll be back in a minute, Canaan."

Rey knew her time here was up as Chewie followed them as well. They stepped out into the hall as Leia gave them an affirming wink.

"I'll alert everyone once I am finished making plans here. Find Finn and let him know what's happening. We'll have a formal plan of attack by sunrise."

"Yes, ma'am," Rey nodded her understanding and Chew let out a loud roar.

"We can't let them take the Outer Rim. If they do we're lost."

"Yes, ma'am, we won't let anything happen." Rey turned from the general and ran down the hall to the outside, followed closely by her Wookie co-pilot.

They were both gasping for breath when their feet hit steel. More lights were shining than before and she could catch snatches of chatter from some of the smaller, less dense vehicles. Leia's word seemed to have spread in the time it took the pair to arrive at the Falcon.

Finn and Rose were staying in the new cargo ship they had obtained from a generous city planet a while ago. To her relief they were standing outside the massive ship, talking urgently with one another. They seemed to be waiting for her.

"Did you get Leia's order?" she asked as she and Chewie approached them.

"We did." Rose held Rey's hand and squeezed it affectionately. "Where did you hear about this? Everyone was expecting a First Order attack sooner or later, but apparently they decided this was a great time."

"I accidently found an enemy transmission on the Falcon," she repeated to them. Finn nodded, and Rose gave her a small smile. They bought her lie more than Leia did.

"You've probably saved everyone here, Rey," Finn said seriously, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, guys. I promise I'll make sure I do more than just stumble on lucky info, though." She laughed at the irony of her situation. Her friends owed their thanks not to her, but the Supreme Leader of the First Order. What would he say if he were here? Maybe he'd make a sarcastic comment about his role in the continuing existence of his enemy.

"You alright? You looked kind of dazed," Finn told her. Chewie bleated his concurrence.

Her attention snapped back to her friends and she shook her head. "I'm fine," she said, her tone a little bit more defensive than she had meant.

"You'll be good where you are? You can always stay with us if you want before we fly out tomorrow." Rose and Finn held hands and waited for her reply. Rey glanced at their intertwined fingers and an acidic bubble floated up inside her. Jealousy, she realized sadly.

"No, it's alright. Chewie and I can take care of ourselves in there. I'll see you in the morning." Rey rushed off with Chewie toward the Falcon where she could sleep and formulate plans of attack during the long battle ahead. She loved her friends, there was no question about that. But since the two of them got together, she felt a wall growing between them. She had no intention of being the third wheel tonight. At least during their chess game Poe kept the conversation going. She hadn't told anyone about her unusual standing with Kylo Ren, which had its pros and cons. No one would suspect her of treason, but the isolation from fellow Resistance members proved to be more than she could deal with alone.

Chewie opened the doors to their beloved ship and they slunk inside, tired and apprehensive about what tomorrow would bring. Rey pulled her hair out of her bun and made her way to the bunks by the chess table. Pulling a hunk of bread off a forgotten plate, she plopped down on the covers and stared at the underside of the top bed. The prospect of another huge battle resembling the one on Crait turned her stomach. Hopefully everything would work out fine and they could drive the First Order back. They had fantastic pilots and captains to steer them in the right direction.

If her side won, what would even happen to her and her friends after? She took a bite of bread and chewed thoughtfully. She never considered what kind of things she could do with her time if or when the war ended. She could perhaps be a mechanic on a city planet and make a fine credit or two. But she would be alone again if her friends decided to stay with Leia or move to other places. The bread caught in her throat as the thought passed by.

She levitated the remaining hunk of food back to its plate and she pulled the blankets over her. The hum of the ship started to lull her to sleep. She pushed all of her worries deep down and fell into an uneasy slumber.

…

The next morning zoomed by as if time itself rushed to keep up with the pace of the running pilots and marching officers. Rey and Finn and Chewie offered help to anyone within shouting distance, loading up cargo and weapons and making last minute checks to the fighters. If Rey had a credit for every box she Force-lifted, she would have had enough money to leave Jakku years ago. Leia walked quickly from ship to ship, talking with each captain and verifying last minute commands.

"Rey," she called over the roar of dozens of engines. She was discussing plans with the captain of the medical frigate, who turned around and walked back up the ramp to his ship. The young scavenger ran over as quickly as she could, expecting orders.

"You're taking the Falcon, I suppose? You and Chewie better be careful in there, that piece of junk still worries me." The older woman chuckled.

"Yes, ma'am. Chewie and I will do our best to protect everyone we can."

"And be careful around my son, Rey. He seems to mean well, but good intentions never excuse bad consequences." She turned to walk to their command ship, a large frigate holding every high-ranking officer and their plans of attack.

Rey's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"You knew that he told me?"

Leia smiled and tapped her temple with her forefinger. "You seem to keep forgetting I'm a Skywalker, too."

Rey didn't respond.

"I just want you to be careful. That boy may have saved my life, but if there's a wrong way to go about things, he'll certainly take it. And he is the leader of an evil organization bent on galactic dominance, keep that in mind."

Rey stood as still as stone, guilty and relieved simultaneously at the general's response. At least she wouldn't be banished from the resistance because of her fraternization with Ben. And had he really saved Leia? But how?

"May the Force be with you, my dear," Leia smiled and continued her journey, her long navy robes trailing behind her.

"And with you," Rey murmured, still in awe. She started to run back to the Falcon, where things could make more sense. Hindsight was indeed twenty-twenty. She should have guessed Luke Skywalker's sister would find out sooner of later. She prayed that the general would put off talking to Finn or Rose about it. Their reactions were less than ideal.

Rey climbed on board just as Chewie pressed to button to seal the doors. Both of them scrambled to the cockpit. An amazing site met them: dozens of ships lifted slowly up into the air, a solid gray mass stocked with laser cannons and loyal men and women to operate them. A few smaller craft, painted with green and brown stripes, flew in the join up. Rey assumed King Canaan's forces had arrived.

The Falcon took to the skies, rapidly ascending with the rest of the Resistance fleet. Soon the individual trees of Raspitar disappeared into one green mass. They had reached the vacuum of space.

"Let's do this," Rey said, mostly to hype herself up. Chewie roared in agreement and they entered the coordinates to take the ship to lightspeed. The stars began to bend and a sudden lurch signaled the start of their journey to Nov Sensum.

A few short minutes of tense silence later the Falcon slammed out of light speed and a green and blue marble of a planet appeared outside the cockpit window. Resistance shipped already floated around them, ready for an attack. The planet they were all fighting for reminded Rey very much of Takodana when she and her friends visited Maz in her castle. Before the big battle and before Kylo Ren took her away, starting a chain reaction that put her where she was today.

Chewie bleated nervously, and Rey snapped out of her flashback. Out of the corner of her eye more ships materialized out of hyperspace, but they weren't friendly at all. Three First Order destroyers, most likely with hordes of TIE fighters at the ready, hovered ominously mere kilometers away. The two warring factions had brought the fight to each other, and it was time for both sides to follow through.

"You fly, and I'll shoot." Rey leaped up from her seat and made her way down to the laser turret, her boots clanking against the metal grates. Chewie roared behind her and the ship accelerated toward the destroyers.

Hell had already broken loose by the time Rey sat herself down in the turret and adjusted the headset. Green cannon fire zipped past dodging X-wings while the larger ships in their fleet returned fire, shields at full capacity. Screams of TIE fighters filled Rey's ears and Chewie swerved the shipped up and over the oncoming wave of dark winged shapes.

A couple of fighters drifted two close for Rey's liking and she carefully took aim. Laserfire blazed around the glass. Red blasts erupted from her guns and landed squarely in the center of each ship, sending them tumbling down to the planet below.

"We have to protect the larger ships!" Rey shouted into the headset to her co-pilot. Her hands were shaking from a burst of adrenaline. In response the Falcon flipped over, the stars and lasers spiraling around Rey, and rushed away from the X-wings and jungle fighters. The hulking gray frame of Leia's vessel made itself visible. First Order fighters swarmed all over its exterior like angry insects going in for the sting. Rey put her fingers on the trigger, blood pumping. Poe had told her about how General Leia almost perished in a battle with the Supremacy. All of the Resistance commanders had been killed. She couldn't let that happen again.

TIEs swerved around to meet the Falcon, but Chewie and Rey were more than prepared. The aging vessel maneuvered around each blast while Rey picked off their foes one by one. Rey ducked as the main body of a TIE fell toward her and almost scraped against the glass of her turrent, though ducking in this situation was not very helpful. Sweat ran down her forehead.

"Just like Crait, huh?" Rey shouted to Chewie. The Wookie growled, and Rey grinned. They had managed to blast some ships out of the fight, but the battle was not yet won.

"Rey, Chewie? Are you there?" Poe's voice asked from the cockpit. "We need you guys by the destroyers, these bastards just won't stop coming!"

The Falcon swooped around, shifting Rey's view of the planet below, and sped toward the massive First Order command ships. Rey's eyes picked out the white X-wings from the black TIEs, red lasers meeting green in the darkness of space. The resistance ships moved out of the way as Chewie and Rey plowed through the mess, firing at any and all enemy craft the scavenger could seek out and shoot. Explosions blossomed everywhere. Rey was reminded of the decorative flowers from the palace on Raspitar.

The destroyers crawled nearer and nearer. Endless streams of ships poured out of launch bays, dealing blow after blow on fighters and command ships alike. An X-wing burst into flames and fell to Nov Sensum before Rey's eyes. She gritted her teeth and abandoned all caution. Wherever Chewie steered them, she fired straight ahead with a newborn ferocity.

A flash of orange caught her attention and she recognized Poe's X-wing. He was weaving in and out of the chaos, a TIE fighter on his tail and slowly gaining. Rey tried taking aim at his assailant but before she could shoot the burning wreckage of a First Order shuttle slammed into the TIE with tremendous force. Poe managed to zip away.

"That was pretty lucky!" Poe crowed into his mic, and Rey breathed out in relief. She was glad she got to know him during their weeks of recruitment. Listening with the cocky pilot often raised her spirits, and now was no exception.

The Falcon dipped and flew out of the cloud of ships toward the destroyers. A small number of X-wings followed them. Broken hulls of TIEs drifted off behind them.

"We need to take out their surface cannons, we need to protect the bigger craft." Poe's orders crackled into Rey's ear as she prepared her gun for another round of destruction. She'd spent plenty of time hiking around the fallen ships in the Graveyard back on Jakku, and the outer workings of these killing machines were all too familiar to her.

Just as their squadron reached the massive destroyers, a small dark shuttle sped past the Falcon,headed in the opposite direction. Rey turned back around in her seat only to be greeted with a new swarm of enemy fighters, guns blazing. She was about to yell to Chewie but, to her disbelief, the fighters passed them by, the force of their speed rattling the entire ship. There must have been a dozen of them in pursuit of the shuttle.

Just then Rey's ears popped, and a word formed on the very tip of her tongue: Ben. She now knew who was in that shuttle. Hopefully the Supreme Leader would escape safely and jump to another system to find refuge. Rey pursed her lips. There was nothing she could do to help him now. The Force would take care of the rest.

In her second of distraction, a TIE fighter screamed towards them and unleashed a barrage of green lasers. They shot through the hull of the ship above her, rocking her in her seat. The noise was deafening. Hissing steam and alarms blared above her. Rey looked out of her turret in horror. The surface of Nov Sesum grew larger and larger as the Falcon fell through space. Rey let out a panicked yell and tried to climb the ladder up to the main level, which was filled with stiff black smoke. She popped her head out.

"Chewie! Are you alright?" she shouted in between coughs.

She heard the distant cry of her co-pilot and she climbed up to run to the cockpit. Luckily the craft was affixed with two escape pods and they could abandon ship if worst came to worst.

Her stomach lurched as she slowly made her way to the cockpit. Lights flashed and sparked flew through the darkness. Buttons blinked on and off as the planet's surface came closer and closer. It was in these lights that Chewie became visible, his hulking frame moving rapidly towards the nearest escape pod.

"Go, get in, don't wait for me!" she yelled to her friend. The Wookie bleated sadly as the door to the pod opened with a painful squeal.

This was Han's ship, and his best friend had to abandon it to keep him and Rey alive. Rey felt a trickle of sadness as she moved forward to join him in the cramped space. Though she had only known the smuggler for a short while, her heart went out to his old ride as she took one last good look around.

"We'll be okay, Chewie, they have dozens of ships we can borrow—"

An explosion rumbled to life from the wall next to her, knocking off her feet and into the steel beams lining the next wall. A small crack in her arm told Rey she had broken the bone there, and her head collided with the hard metal, her vision flashing white. She crumpled to the floor, unable to move a single muscle. Red-hot pain flowed from her left arm, though she couldn't have screamed about it if she wanted to.

The last thing she heard before falling into a painful unconsciousness was Chewie's roars as the doors to the escape pod closed prematurely, sealing him off from her. A loud blast from in front of her signaled Chewie's escape. The ship continued to rumble and quake as they descended to the green and blue surface of Nov Sensum, dropping into the atmosphere faster and faster each moment. Rey lay still, the Falcon burning around her.

. . .

Rey woke with a start, gasping for breath. Strangely, the air she breathed in was not filled with smoke as she last remembered but was clear and cool. The fires and sparks of the falling Falcon were gone, replaced with a dark glossy interior of a newer ship. She was laying down on some kind of bed or table, judging back the shorter distance between her face and the bright cold lights shining down from the ceiling. The smell of singed clothing emanated from her and her nose wrinkled. Letting out a moan she tried to sit up and was met with a wall of agony. Her left arm oozed pain and her back felt bruised beyond imagining. She laid back down with an audible thump and realized a bunched-up cloak or blanket of some sort had been under head as a pillow. Something hugged her broken arm and she turned her head to see a makeshift cast there.

She noticed a window next to her head and she looked blearily outside. Nov Sensum drifted by dreamily below her. The absence of ships and their laserfire led her to believe the battle between the First Order and the Resistance was out of reach.

"Rey?" A few heavy footsteps echoed throughout the cabin and a dreadfully familiar face appeared in Rey's line of vision. Black hair tumbled around a long, scarred face wearing an expression of worry.

"How…?" she croaked. Her lips were terribly dry. "Where am I?"

"I'll try to explain later. Even I don't really know what's happening, but you're on one of my escape craft for now. You're safe."

"But how did I…" Rey again struggled to sit up, but she cried out in pain and slumped back down. Adrenaline flooded her veins but there was no use for it while she was incapacitated.

Ben held out his hand to discourage her. "You need to rest. I'll try to find us a safe place to land." There was real concern in his voice, but that didn't relax Rey in the slightest.

Rey lay there fuming while Ben disappeared from her vision to pilot the ship. She wanted to run up and grab him by the collar and demand an explanation for all this. But her body seemed to have taken his words to heart. Sleep was taking over fast. She closed her eyes despite her anger and confusion and fell into a deep sleep.