As the surviving pilots reassembled on the Raddus' hangar, recovering from the battle, Poe worked on repairing a damaged wing from his fighter, his mind wandering without aim.
Suddenly, amid the chatter of his fellow pilots, Poe turned as he heard the familiar sound of BB8's frantic beeping as he wheeled past parked ships and the feet of Resistance personnel as he raced towards his master.
"Hey, buddy, what is it?" Poe asked as BB8 let out a series of whistles and beeps.
"Finn, naked leaking..." Poe looked up as he saw Finn walking down the corridor into the hangar, water gushing out of the life support jacket he still wore.
Poe raced over to his friend, grabbing him excitedly.
"Finn, you're awake," he said, "We couldn't have destroyed Starkiller Base without you! You must have a million questions."
Finn looked back solemnly at Poe, only one thing on his mind.
"Where's Rey"
Luke ran his hands, both flesh and artificial, across the hilt of the lightsaber that he had long ago recieved from Obi-Wan Kenobi, originally built by Luke's father.
It had been decades since he'd seen this lightsaber, he'd thought it was lost forever.
"Master Skywalker," Rey said, "I've come for your help." She had had no plan in convincing him to come with her. She had no idea how hard it would be to persuade Skywalker. She just had to speak from the heart. "The Resistance needs you. Your sister needs you."
Luke blinked as he regarded the girl.
At long last, he spoke. "Is it you?"
"Me?" Rey asked in confusion.
"Rey," Skywalker gazed at her intently, "I've been waiting for you. I left the last piece of the map inside Artoo for you to find me."
"But..." Rey was distracted from her original purpose, now entirely occupied by the mystery of Skywalker's apparent familiarity with her.
"I'm the last thing Leia needs," he replied grimly, "I can't go back. Never." He shook his head as he reached back towards Rey, indicating for her to take the lightsaber back.
"What are you talking about?" Rey demanded, incredulous, "You're Luke Skywalker! You're the only one who can beat the First Order! Kylo Ren is still out there, and he won't stop until he's destroyed us all."
"You think I don't know that?" Luke replied angrily, "I know everything about Kylo Ren. He wiped out all my Jedi younglings. I know he killed Han, I sensed it immediately. He's the reason I can't go back."
"He's the reason you need to come back," Rey argued, unable to believe that this was the Luke Skywalker described to her by Han, Leia, and Maz Kanata. "You have to face him and his master."
Luke turned away towards the sea below the cliff, watching the waves strike against the rocky island shore.
"I can't," he said, "That will be your job, once I train you."
Suddenly, the Wookiee Chewbacca came charging down the ramp of the Falcon, followed closely by Artoo Deetoo.
"Chewie..." Luke began, but was cut off as the Wookiee let out a loud roar and grabbed Luke.
He slammed the Jedi Master against the grass and squeezed.
"Chewie, no! Stop!" Rey cried, attempting to pry Chewbacca off of Skywalker.
"Chewie...Chewie, it's me..." Luke gasped.
Chewbacca gave an angry growl in response.
"Yes...I know..." Luke replied, "I'm...sorry...I...had...no...choice."
"Chewie, that's enough," Rey said firmly.
At long last, Chewbacca released Master Skywalker, and to Rey's bewilderment, wrapped him in a tight embrace.
"Yes, I missed you too, Chewie," Luke said.
Chewbacca gave a sad, mournful bark.
"Yes, I know, I felt it as it happened," Luke replied.
Next it was Artoo's turn. The little droid came up to Luke and let out a series of frantic whistles and beeps.
"Hello, old friend," Luke said, gently stroking Artoo's domed head, "I'm sorry, but I had to go."
Artoo responded in a way that made Chewie's inital reaction seem gentle.
"I don't know what else to say, Artoo," Luke replied grimly, "I did what was best."
He turned to Rey and said, "It's going to be up to you to make things right."
"You're demoted," Leia said angrily.
Humiliated, Poe looked around at the assembled Raddus crew in the strategy room- Vice Admiral Holdo, Lieutenant Connix, Commander D'Acy, Admiral Ackbar, Nien Nunb...
He knew what they were thinking. He had gotten almost all of his squadron killed just for one Dreadnought. Their deaths were on his hands.
Struggling to defend his actions to both himself and the general, Poe argued, "There were heroes on that mission."
"Dead heroes," Leia replied bitterly, thinking of Han. "There are things you cannot solve by getting into an X Wing and blowing stuff up."
"If I may, General," Vice Admiral Holdo stepped forward, "I believe Captain Dameron should be suspended from duty."
"That won't be necessary, Vice Admiral Holdo," Leia replied, giving Holdo a look that clearly established her authority as leader.
As Holdo flushed with jealousy, Finn asked General Organa, "What's our plan?"
"We should have just enough fuel to get to our rendevous point on Crait," Leia replied, "That's the home of an old Rebel base from the days of the Empire. Hopefully, it has enough power to send a distress signal to our allies."
Suddenly, the holotable began flashing in alarm as several enemy vessels appeared.
"Proximity alert!" Ackbar reported as alarms rang throughout the Resistance cruiser.
"They found us," Lieutenant Connix muttered with dread.
"We have to go back into lightspeed," Poe said urgently.
"We can't," Ackbar replied as he analyzed the holographic images, "They tracked us through lightspeed. It's the only way they could have found our location."
"So, if we go into lightspeed, they'll just find us again," Finn deduced.
"Correct," Leia replied grimly. Turning to the pilots and crew workers, she gave them a gesture of dismissal. Immediately, the ship's gunners and pilots began racing to their stations, ready for battle.
Poe glanced at the general tentatively. "Permission to jump into my X Wing and blow stuff up?"
Leia gave him a half-hearted, world-weary smile. "Permission granted."
Holdo glared after Poe as he raced along with his fellow orange-uniformed pilots, BB8 at his heels.
"Flyboy," she muttered. She knew that Leia Organa was only in power because her brother was a legendary Jedi wizard, and those who she liked, such as Poe Dameron, received special treatment.
One day, things might be different, Holdo told herself.
In front of the Star Destroyer Finalizer, several TIE Fighters appeared in attack position, anticipating the arrivial of the Resistance's defense vehicles.
"Follow my lead," Kylo Ren said into the radio of his advanced TIE Silencer. He steered his craft towards the Raddus, followed by the First Order pilots under his command. "We're going to get them before they have a chance to respond."
As Leia watched the First Order vessels outside, Finn came up boldly behind her.
"General, listen," he blurted out, "Rey's in trouble."
Leia turned her head to listen, and Finn continued. "When I was in my coma, I saw Kylo Ren and Snoke. He's stronger, and he's going to go after her. We have to make sure she's safe."
Leia looked away to hide the expression on her face at the mention of her son, then turned back to Finn.
"I felt it too," she replied, "The dark side threatens all of us, and we will need both Rey and Luke in order to face Snoke and the Knights of Ren. I promise we will help her as soon as we are done with this crisis."
Suddenly, Vice Admiral Holdo approached them, clearing her throat.
"Excuse me, General," she said, "But are we really able to afford such attention on one person when there is a war to be fought?"
"After my brother, Rey is the only known potential Jedi that can face them. She's already faced..." -Leia paused to summon the necessary emotional strength- "Kylo Ren."
She turned back to the battle, reaching out in the Force. She sensed him, aboard one of the enemy fighters.
Ben.
She knew that he sensed her too, she could feel his internal turmoil.
Ben, come back.
She felt his reply as a channel of telepathic communication opened between them, even in the heat of battle as he was mowing down her pilots.
It's too late. You know what I did to Han Solo.
That wasn't you Ben. You're still my son.
Poe sprinted down the corridor of the Raddus towards the hangar, BB8 at his heels. His fighter was straight ahead, if he could just get to it before...
A TIE Fighter blast aimed straight into the hangar, hitting Poe's parked fighter.
"No!" Poe yelled in frustration as it erupted in a ball of fiery gas. He put his hands in front of his face as the explosion sent him flying backwards onto his spine. With a grunt, Poe slid up against the wall as he glared frustratedly at the wreckage of his burnt fighter.
As Kylo Ren swerved his Silencer to aim directly at the command center of the Raddus, his communicator beeped and a small, blue hologram of General Hux appeared.
"We can't cover you at this range," he said harshly, "Return to the fleet."
"I'm about to destroy them on my own," Kylo replied with a snarl, shutting off the built-in holoprojector, "Your guns are useless next to the dark side of the Force."
Hux was a nuisance, sometimes a major one, but he was inconsequential compared to Kylo's mother. If he got a clean shot at Leia now, Ben Solo would truly be dead and Snoke would never again question his strength in the dark side.
His finger moved onto the trigger. He felt his mother's presence, directly reaching out to him. His hand froze as he willed it to push down. She was there, and he had the perfect opportunity to end her and the Resistance. The Raddus was fully under siege and unable to defend against such a blow.
Why can't I do this?
Kylo's backup fighters came swarming behind him, opening fire. Eight jets of blue laserfire soared through the vacuum of space, with enough firepower to destroy the Raddus' command center and primary engine.
Kylo looked away as he anticipated the fatal explosion.
But it didn't come. As the crew of the Raddus cowered in terror at their impending doom, Leia Organa stood in the center of the control room, her hand outstretched, holding every single laser beam in place.
"Light...speed..." she groaned as she strained from the effort. She had had little opportunity to continue training as of late, but the instincts were still there inside her, as Luke had told her on Endor many years before.
"You heard the General!" Ackbar yelled, "Set our course for Crait and bring us into lightspeed!"
Leia was vaguely aware of the procedures as her consciousness slipped away. Lieutenant Connix and Admiral Ackbar both moved to catch her as she collapsed onto the deck, the Raddus shooting into hyperspace away from the First Order fleet.
"Get her to the medical bay!" Poe yelled as Connix and Ackbar carried the comatose Leia through the crowd.
"I must say," remarked the droid Threepio awkwardly, "space travel has never grown on me."
Accompanied by a guard of stormtroopers and First Order officers, General Hux awaited on the main hangar of the Finalizer as Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter landed.
As Kylo exited his cockpit, Hux rushed over to him, followed closely by Captain Phasma.
"Ren!" Hux snapped, "You said you were going to take them out! Why didn't you?"
"I nearly did!" Kylo shouted back, half-truthing to the military leader. He didn't need to know who did and who didn't fire on the Raddus. "The Force is strong with Princess Organa."
Hux gave a triumphant, knowing grin. "You mean your mother," he said, "You couldn't destroy your mother. The Supreme Leader is going to know about this. You've put your personal life ahead of your duty one too many..."
Hux was cut off as Kylo reached towards his throat, clenching his gloved hand. The general sputtered as he moved his hands toward his neck, gasping for air.
Phasma and the guard raised their blasters at Kylo, but in an instant, the hold was gone.
Hux let go of his neck and staggered forward weakly, glaring at Kylo.
"Do not talk to me about what you don't know, general," Kylo growled, using Hux's title with no reverence, "If I say I shot at the princess, then so I did."
Hux rubbed his neck and stood alongside the assembled squadron, saying nothing. Kylo gave them all a final glare and strode off, disappearing among the personnel roaming the Star Destroyer's hangar.
Hux turned to Phasma, shaking furiously at his humiliation. "Kylo Ren has not committed to the First Order," he said savagely, "And it will be our job to make sure the Supreme Leader knows it and eliminates any disloyalty."