The room stirred restlessly as Commander D'Acy finished delivering the news about Leia to the rest of the crew. Two of them—Poe Dameron and Bernard Walton—sat beside each other, watching the goings-on. Poe was curious to see who their new leader was.

"Oh no…"

Poe tilted his head back toward the sound of the muttering. "What is it, Bernard?" he whispered back.

"Well, it's—"

"The chain of command," Commander D'Acy continued, unknowingly interrupting him, "is clear as to who should take her place." She paused slightly. "Vice Admiral Holdo, of the cruiser Ninco."

"That's what." And the janitor nodded toward the figure that stepped forth.

Holdo was a tall middle-aged woman, wearing a long grey gown and a round hairpiece that looked like it was made of gold. Her short, curly hair was a striking shade of purple. Poe lifted an eyebrow. "Thank you," she said as D'Acy stepped aside. Then she looked out at the crew.

"Seven hundred of us, on six ships. We're the very last of the Resistance. But we're not alone. In every corner of the galaxy, the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol, and they put their hope in it." Poe reared his head back slightly as he listened, perhaps taking pride in the fact. "We are the spark that will light the fire that will restore the Republic. That spark—this Resistance—must survive. That is our mission." She paused, as if for effect. "Now to your stations. And may the Force be with us."

After a moment, the crew began to disperse. Poe looked around in surprise, as if he expected there to be more. But no more came. Holdo stepped lightly off to the side and struck up some conversation or other with Commander D'Acy.

"That's Admiral Holdo?" he asked the janitor. "Battle of Kyron Belt Admiral Holdo?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Bernard sighed.

Poe cocked his head. "Not what I expected." Then he got up and started walking, straight toward the admiral.

Bernard reached out, as if to stop him. "Uh, hold on, Poe. I-I don't think you should—" But the young man was already gone. He sighed again, wearily. "On second thought, I think I'll sit this one out. Don't want to rush into that mess."

Meanwhile, Poe approached Holdo, who was now heading for a computer console, manned by one or two technicians.

"Vice Admiral?" he said as he came up. "Commander Dameron. With our current fuel consumption, there's a very limited amount of time that we can stay out of range of those Star Destroyers."

"Very kind of you to make me aware," she said without looking at him, then she began to speak to one of the technicians.

"And we need to shake them," Poe continued, re-confirming his presence, "before we can find a new base, so… what's our plan?"

"Our plan, Captain?" She began walking away, and Poe followed. Holdo turned. "Not Commander, right? Wasn't it Leia's last official act to demote you? For your Dreadnought plan," and she walked another few steps, "where we lost our entire bombing fleet?"

She seemed to think she had ended the conversation, and began once more to leave. Poe stared for a second, trying to figure her out. But he was persistent. "Captain, commander, you can call me whatever you like," he said, following her. He inhaled as she turned to look at him, uncertain of the reaction their plan would get. "I found out some information—some friends and I did, I mean—and we thought it might be helpful."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. We found out that there are people out there who can scramble the First Order's tracking signal. Codebreakers. One of them is pretty nearby, in a city called Canto Bight, on—"

"—Cantonica," she finished, with curling disdain. "I don't think there's much chance of us finding allies on that planet. Not any that won't stab us in the back."

"But on the database, it said that he used to be some kind of technical consultant or something for our side. That could mean he'd be willing to come back and work for us again."

"Who?"

"Well…" Poe paused, going back over the information Davin had given them. "Well, I never got his name."

"I see."

"A friend was looking it up for us on one of the other ships when the attack happened. He… If we just go back in the database, we—"

"Unfortunately, Captain, I don't think it's worth the risk to send a team out on a chance like this."

"Not worth the risk of saving the Resistance?" Poe snapped back, losing patience sharply. However, he quickly reined it back in, and sighed. "Look, Admiral, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I just don't see the point of my sitting here wondering when we'll run out of fuel. I wanna do something to help. But right now, I just wanna know what's going on."

Holdo stood still and looked at him a moment, smiling. "Of course you do. I understand." He stood a little straighter, assuming soldierly posture in anticipation of learning their plan. But she shook her head, still smiling. "I've dealt with plenty of trigger-happy flyboys like you. You're impulsive… dangerous… and the last thing we need right now." She fixed her eyes on him coldly. "So stick to your post, and follow my orders."

The Admiral gave him a last Hothian look, then strolled away.