Messages of Hope
The next day Nomi sent messages to her smuggler friends and former comrades from the Galactic Civil War over secured channels. In those messages she invited them to a meeting, only vaguely mentioning why.
Her husband stepped behind her and kissed her neck when she stretched.
"Do you think they will come, sweetheart?"
The Jedi Master shrugged. "I'm not sure, darling. But I still have hope that some of them will come to hear what I have to say."
"Hope," Dash said. "Hope is again all we have. I thought those times were over since the Empire's fall." He sighed and walked over to the couch and slumped on it. "Will this never end?"
Nomi walked over to him after sending the last message and sat down at his side. She took his hand in her hand and caressed it. Doing this she realized how old Dash had become. To fight almost his whole life had took its toll on him. When they were on Jakku a few months ago she hadn't noticed any change in him, but now it was all too visible. What if it would be the same with her former comrades? What if they were also tired of war? What if they wouldn't come? What if her call would be left unheard, unanswered? It would take more than only the Darklighter Rendar family to fight the First Order. There was still no contact with the possible survivors of the Battle of Crait. Battle. It must have been a massacre.
"Hey, what is it, love?" Dash looked his wife in the eyes.
"It's nothing, Dash only some thoughts which came in my mind," the war veteran answered. "It will end, darling. We will end it, us and our allies. You will see, Dash. There will be never again a terror regime in the galaxy like the Empire was."
She leaned her head at Dash's shoulder still caressing her husband's hand.
"They will come, Dash I'm pretty sure of this."
It knocked at their door and Dash stood up to answer it. When he opened the door the triplets stood in front of him.
"Good morning, father. Good morning, Mama," they said almost in unison.
"May we enter?" Corran asked passing his father the same instant and entered the room.
Dash made place for his other sons so they could enter too. Nomi smiled seeing the three.
"Why are you here?" She asked leaning relaxed against the back of the small couch.
"We discussed yesterday how we could carry on, Mama," her eldest as the spokesman answered. "How about we re-activate your old comrades and your smuggler friends?" Dash Jr. looked expectantly at his mother while sitting down on a chair. His younger brothers settled down on the bed and waited what their mother would say about their plan.
The Jedi Master chuckled. "It's exactly what I did since the morning, Junior."
Dash grinned widely seeing his eldest wince when his mother told him Junior. Old habits die hard he thought by himself.
"It's good to know," Corran said while Biggs only nodded in agreement. "So we will be more soon?"
His father took the word. "Your mother and I hope so. She sent a lot of messages. If only half of them join we can build a small armada. You know the firepower of the Outrider and of the Aquarius. Add some more ships and we are able to cause a lot of damage to the First Order. We will rely on hit and run tactics like in the days when the Rebellion begun. It's better to have many smaller ships than capital ships. Corran saw what happened to those of the Resistance. Smaller ships are far more mobile than dreadnoughts. They are harder to hit and our friends aren't flying the standard freighters."
"So we will be basically space pirates?" Biggs asked. His memory of the failed attack on the First Order freighter was still fresh.
Nomi shook her head. "No, not space pirates, Biggs. We are freedom fighters."
"Many people will see it otherwise," her son objected before he fell silent again.
"It's because they still don't see the danger posed by the Empire's successor. The annihilation of the Hosnian system wasn't enough to wake them up it seems."
In this moment the comm unit signaled an incoming message. The Jedi Master went over to the small desk and summoned the message which was encrypted. After she decrypted and read it she smiled. "It's Talon Karrde. He wants to join with his whole crew and he has still the Wild Karrde."
Dash Rendar smiled widely. "Those are really good news. Karrde knows his stuff."
"Alright, this makes one ship more." Dash Jr. said. "And more to come I think."
"We will see," his mother answered him. "It might take a while since some of those I called aren't just around the corner." She smiled and took a sip of the caf her husband just poured her. "Thank you, love," she said after she had swallowed the hot liquid. "That's right what I need."
"You're welcome, sweetheart." Dash kissed his wife at the forehead.
Corran gave Biggs a nudge. "It's good to see our parents still love each other," he said silently. His elder brother nodded his head with a wide grin. "I wish you would be more talkative, Biggs," his younger brother muttered under his breathe.
The comm unit signaled again that there was an incoming message. "It's from Salla…" The Jedi Master continued to read the message. "She will join us and Shug's providing her the best ship he has. Our ranks are growing." She made notes at her data pad. "We need coaxium for fuel, food, water, weapons and ammunition. Our freighters will be ready tomorrow. When everybody has answered we can make a date for the meeting." Nomi leaned back and took another sip of caf.
During the day came more and more messages in. Some of them made Nomi smile others made her sad. The last ones were those messages where the recipients denied following the Jedi's call. Dash kissed his wife's neck. "You can't force them to fight. They might be also tired of war. It's understandable from a certain point of view, love."
Nomi sighed. "I know but I hoped that they would understand why we can't sit in an armchair and look at the fire place while the whole galaxy threatens to come under the heels of a totalitarian regime again. I'm so disappointed if it comes to some of our former comrades, Dash."
"Maybe they'll follow later." He sat down in a chair and stretched his legs.
"You think so?" Nomi asked looking at her husband.
"Of course," Dash responded. "During the Rebellion it was the same way. I think you remember how it was with me."
His wife chuckled. "It took you a while until you pledged your allegiance to the Alliance."
Dash grinned widely before he gave his wife another kiss. "If it weren't for you I would have never joined. Smuggling for them was one thing, but fighting for them another."
"I never knew this, father," Dash Jr. said and looked at his brothers who stared at their father in disbelieve. "We all thought you were hooked by the Rebellion."
Dash shook his head and continued to speak. "I must admit that it wasn't this way." Then he spoke at length about what happened before he joined the Alliance to restore the Republic.
Nomi was fallen asleep in front of the comm unit when the signal of another incoming message woke her up. She looked at it and cheered when she saw who wrote the message.
"It's Tarik! He's alive since he was on a mission and now on the way to us."
Corran went over to his mother and looked over her shoulder to read the message by himself.
"Good old Tarik. You've messaged him, Mama?"
His mother turned to him and shook her head. "No, I sent the message also on our old combat frequencies. Tarik must have listened in to them and heard it."
Her youngest son nodded thoughtfully. "Uncle Tarik is a good fighter. Will he bring his X-wing along?"
The Jedi Master chuckled. "I'm pretty sure of this, Corran. It's good to have him with us."
Corran looked at his mother's data pad where she made notes about who agreed to follow her invite. The young man gave a low whistle. "Really impressive, Mama," he said finally.
"Yes, we will give the First Order a hard time," his mother answered him with a sardonic grin.