Chapter 27 - Takodana

Nebula-Class Star Destroyer Kenobi

Hyperspace

"All hands, we are approaching our rendezvous coordinates," the intercom blared out in the sick bay, "prepare for deceleration and emergence into real space."

"That was fast." Finn mused as the medical officer applied the last of the gauze over his eye, "we've only been in hyperspace for a few hours."

Poe chuckled, pulling on a white cotton shirt over his bandaged chest, "One of the benefits of the new 0.8 hyperdrive engines ow!" he groaned as fresh pain hit him from his ribs, "And how long is this gonna take, doc?"

The medical officer just shook his head, "If you don't mess with the bacta strips, don't do anything stupid and get some rest? A couple of days."

"Great, nice to know. Great bedside manner, by the way."

"Flyboy," and the officer went off to treat his other patients.

"Whitecoat," Poe scoffed, "where was I? Oh yeah, 0.8 hyperdrives."

Finn shook his head, "Amazing, considering this is a repurposed Imperial II. The First Order hasn't managed to crack 1.2 for the Resurgent class."

"Heh, nice to know we'll have the speed advantage in the war."

"I don't think that was what Finn was getting at, Poe," Rey said across from them, a bacta strip and ice pack over her head, "you said the rendezvous was gonna take us a couple of days, and the Raptor has a class 1."

"Hold on a second. You're telling me that your boyfriends ship-"

"It's my ship too, Poe. I built her after all."

"Whatever. My point is, your ship, Cale's ship, is slower than his dads?"

"Maybe," she cracked a smile, "but, and no offense to the Falcon, the Raptor's packing a lot more guns and shields. It's gotta to balance out somehow."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Poe said sarcastically, "Junior was a fan of the whole 'Aggressive Negotiations' strategy."

"Hey," she shrugged her shoulders, "at least it works."

"Well," Finn chuckled softly, "at least he wasn't a proponent of the 'Abrahm Jonston' strategy."

"Which is?"

"Bravely running away."

"Hahaha ow ow!" Poe reached for his chest out of reflex, "Don't do that, man. It hurts to laugh. Wait, Jonston? Wasn't that the idiot who damn near got the Imperial Fleet killed over Jakku?"

"Yes," Finn shrugged, "he was Admiral Hux's superior. Well, former superior. I'm not entirely sure what happened to the 'good' Admiral, but some of my superiors suggest that Hux himself executed the man for cowardice and incompetence."

"Heh," Rey just shook her head, "weird. As much as I don't like yellow bellies… I kinda wish things had turned out differently."

"Who's to say," Finn then fixed her a stare, "after all, perhaps it was the will of the Force."

Rey opened her mouth to refute his claim but she just sighed, "Maybe. After all, I was stuck on that planet for a couple of years, and then you show up."

"Oh please," Poe smirked, "it was not the will of Force. It's just the fact you suck at flying!"

"Poe, I hope you realize that there are a lot of loose objects I could throw at you right now."

"Oh, I mean that as a term of endearment!"

"Really?" she asked sarcastically, "How so?"

"Oh y'know, being able to crash in things you have no right to be crashing into. I mean, an asteroid? That's kind of impressive."

"Sure…" and then she threw a series of utensils at Poe, who immediately grabbed a tray and started using it as a shield. Before it could go any further, Finn immediately grabbed a couple of stray water bags used for wound pressure and threw them at the pilot and Jedi.

Poe managed to swing the tray over and the bag just plopped away. Rey however wasn't so lucky. She'd grabbed a fork at the moment and had in just the right position when the bag hit her, ripping open and splashing her in the face. The fact that Rey yelped at the moment of impact and then fell over just add to hilarity

"Damnit, Finn!" she cursed as she climbed back onto the table, wiping water out of her hair, "You got me all wet!"

"Hmm, that sounds kind of provocative gah damnit!" Poe screamed as he was hit in the head by another bag, this time tumbling over onto his knees. Just then, the medical officer walked in.

"What the hell are you buffoons doing in my sick bay!?" he shouted, throwing his arms wide as he did, "Y'know what, out! Out with all of you! And never come back again!"

"Hey, you're not done-" Poe began, but the spectacles wearing man cut him off sharply.

"You're well enough to be throwing pressure bags and forks at each other! Get out! Don't make me get my syringe gun while I'm at it!"

"Doc, I thought that this was against your hypocritic oath."

"It's the Hippocratic oath! Get the cark out!" he then disappeared in the back and returned with the obvious looking syringe gun, loaded with something yellow and viscous, "Or I'm going to give you pain that nobody in the history of pain has been pained with like the pain you will be receiving!"

"...is he a far outsider?" Finn asked, "He seems sadistic enough."

"Um, no. He's worse, let's go!" and Poe was off his table and out the door. Finn and Rey just looked at each other as she pointed out the door.

"Did he just-"

"GO!"

"Alright, we're going!"

"And if you get messed up out there again, I will not be treating you!"

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal!" Rey called back.

"I don't give a damn! Never come back! Celestials, now I have to clean up this mess!"

As soon as the group left, Poe laughed, "Ah the good old Doc."

"He seems like a terrible chief medical officer." Finn pointed out.

"In terms of bedside manner he most definitely is, but in terms of his medical expertise, unless you're a Master Jedi Healer, he has no equal."

"So why is he so belligerent?" Rey asked.

"It's his way of motivating us not to get injured or sick again."

"Ha, I suppose that's fair," Finn chuckled as he eyed the two MP's dress in army blue uniforms down the hall, nonchalantly looking at them.

"Guys," Poe said with a little exasperation, "he's with us. You don't need to tail us everywhere we go."

"Sorry, commander," one of MP's replied curtly, "the commodore's orders were clear. He's not to leave our sight."

"Technically, he already did," Poe gestured to the sick bay.

"You know the Doc's policy: you come into the infirmary without a condition, you just volunteered to be a lab rat."

"Yeah, well the next time you boys go toe-to-toe with a frickin' Sith Rancor, ya let us know."

"What does… Sir, what are you talking about? We had no condition, therefore we couldn't go in."

"Corporal... Henkins? You think too much."

"...never been accused of that before. Look, Sir, we have our orders and if you have a problem with it, take it up with the Old Man."

"No, you say things that have no bearings on the conversation, and maybe I will-"

"Poe," Finn interrupted, "it's alright. Let it go."

Poe sighed but nodded, "Carry on, you mooks."

"We're just doing our jobs, sir."

"Yeah? Well don't do be so damn loud about it," Poe grumbled as he took Rey and Finn by the shoulders, "c'mon, let's get out of this dump."

"I heard that!" the doc yelled.

"You were meant to!" Poe shouted back, "Man, I gotta tell ya, I kinda miss when it was just us doing things by our lonesome."

"Oh, you mean us getting chased and shot at?" Rey smirked.

"Yeah, well that's just half the fun."

"Really?" Finn raised an eyebrow, "Then why do you constantly refer to that whole experience as 'the worst week you've had in a while?'"

"See, that's the thing. You don't know you've had it good until its just taken away like that."

"Ha ha ha!" Rey laughed mockingly, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'll take a good bed and refresher over that flying sandpile, thank you very much."

"Oh, I'm with you there, sister. And after we get to wherever we're going, man I am going on a very long, extended vacation."

"Speaking of which, you never did answer her question," Finn gestured to Rey, "why the changed in rendezvous times?"

"Honestly? I don't know. The original point was just gonna be a random spot in the middle of the New Republic where we'd get a pick up. I guess we're going somewhere else."

It was then that Rey's face suddenly grew a shade paler, her eyes gazing out the plas-window at the hyperspace current slowly coming to an end, "And I think I know where, too."

"Where?" Finn and Poe asked.

"Commencing emergence in ten," the intercom suddenly blared, and seconds later there was a violent jolt as though the ship had come to a sudden stop. The galaxy ahead appeared in a white flash as things seemed to stretch and pull for a moment before they suddenly rebound back into place.

Before them was a lush green world, a single massive continent pockmarked with a thousand lakes filling the void. Poe could only stare in awe at the world, but Finn wasn't looking at the planet before them. He was watching the subtle tears fall down Rey's cheek as she shakily whispered:

"Home."

Those were the only words she said the entire trip down to the planet; staring out at the world and yet also nothing in particular. In this moment, she wasn't on the shuttle, tied to a chair that rocked from turbulence. She was there that night, so many years ago, amidst the fires and the screams and an uncaring universe turning its back on its greatest defenders.

Han sat next to her the entire trip, his eyes never leaving her tear stained face. In war, he'd often seen the faces of horror. He'd even seen it briefly on the face of Leia right before he was carbonated on Bespin. But this… this was different. It wasn't just horror he saw on her face, but betrayal so deep it practically marked her soul. In every sense, Han could feel it, too.

His son had been everything to him. When everything else could or had gone so horribly wrong in his life, he could always take solace in having raised his son right. To be a better man than him. But now? He didn't know anymore.

"This is Shuttle Tydirium to Takodana ground control," the pilot said suddenly in her mike, "we're starting our approach. Permission to land, over?"

"Wedge still has that old shuttle?" the ground controller chuckled back, "Should have been decommissioned decades ago."

"You do realize that this is the Old Man we're talking about, right? He never throws away a work order ship, regardless of how old it is."

"Heh, yeah that sounds like him. Transmit your clearance codes, over."

"Already done, over."

"Alright, proceed to Temple Landing pad 1. The Boss is waiting."

"Boss?" Rey suddenly said, her eyes perking up, "You mean-"

"Yeah," Han nodded, "he's still kicking."

"Heh, why am I not surprised? I mean, if Grievous and Vader couldn't kill him, I suppose nothing will."

Finn raised an eyebrow, "Who are you talking about?"

"He's a member of the Jedi Council, and also the Deputy Chief of the Antarian Rangers."

Finn eyes widened slightly, "You mean Jacen Shrike?"

"You've heard of him?"

"Of course," Finn nodded, "he's a high priority target among the Intelligence community, and we were taught that he was one of the heads of the Fulcrum Spy Ring during the War."

"Well," she smiled slightly, "I'm not sure if he'd be flattered or annoyed that our enemies talk about him in their primary schools."

"Rey, for all its faults, the First Order isn't prideful or stupid enough not to admit we lost the last war. It's best to know why we did."

"Why do you keep saying 'we?'" Poe asked, "The Empire and the First Order are entirely different animals. Sure they use the same iconography and symbols, but you didn't technically lose the war, the Empire did."

"Poe, I was taught that the First Order and the Empire are one and the same. That though we are a successor state, improving upon what is lacking, we also carry on the same mission."

"And what is that?"

Finn sighed and closed his eyes, "To restore peace and order to a lawless galaxy… or so they taught me."

No one spoke on the irony. They didn't have to.

A minute later, the shuttle shuddered upon landing, the whine of servos and alarms ringing in their ears as the vessel settled and finally stopped. After another moment, the internal lights turned from red to green, and the external ramp started to fall with the hiss of hydraulics, the Navy personnel unstrapping themselves and beckoning for the others to do the same.

It was then that Rey smelled, among all things, the fragrance of tobacco. It was a strange concoction of bitter and sweet smells of a sort Rey couldn't quite identify immediately. Naturally, it was like burning wood but different somehow. Then she realized It was fruit wood, and upon that realization, she smiled slightly as they stepped down the ramp to meet the welcoming committee.

On either side of the ship's entrance stood a platoon of soldiers of two different sorts. The first, forming an honor guard closest to the ship, were obviously Antarian Rangers. Though these were significantly different in appearance from the desert fighters Poe and Finn had seen on Jakku-what with their black combat armor and brown coats and wide-brim hats-the attitude and posture was the same. In a way, they were almost like Jedi, with an almost spiritual and regal authority about them.

As if picking up on their thoughts, Han whispered at their elbows,"Don't let their lack of laser swords or force abilities fool you boys, they are as much Jedi as any knight."

"I believe it," Finn whispered back, careful not to let his voice carry, "they fought like devils on Jakku. I damn near lost my life a couple of times."

As they advanced further on, the second category of soldiers appeared. Though their identity was obvious from their blue uniforms and white duraplast armor, it was also rather confusing to Finn.

"Republic Army Troopers?" he asked in a low tone, "Here? On a Jedi world?"

"Yeah," Poe nodded, his eyes becoming strangely dim, "and not just any Division, either. Look at their patches."

Finn noticed them immediately. Red diamonds with black outlines and a single numeral one.

"The Fighting First," Finn said with an odd reverence, "1st Infantry."

"You know of them?" Poe asked.

"Of course. Colonel Rex's men. My superiors have always kept a close eye on this particular division, especially considering they seem to be always at the forefront of the New Republic's wars."

"Well, they are the best of the best," Poe shrugged, "though they ain't Rex's anymore. He retired a couple years ago. Colonel Nero took over afterwards."

Finn nodded, studying the men before him. Though they were all wearing fully enclosed helmets, he could still feel them looking at him with the look only veterans could. A strange mixture of grim determination, fatalism and cold experience; plus the addition of non-regulation equipment strapped to their chests was another dead giveaway.

"Never thought I'd be meeting another outfit descendant of the 501st, but I don't understand why they're here. I thought the Jedi and the government's relationship was strained at best. Why are soldiers here?"

"It is," Poe replied distantly, "and they ain't supposed to be here."

Finn turned back to look at Poe, and he was caught off guard by how haunted he looked. "Are you alright?" Finn asked.

Poe just shook his head, "It's just… all of this reminds me of how bad things are getting. These guys are supposed to be on Honsian, doing 'parade duty'."

"Parade duty?" he asked with a measure of disbelief, the idea sounded so alien to the former Stormtrooper, "These men on parade duty?"

"Yeah. Let's just the Division has a tendency of butting heads with pencil pushers."

Finn nodded, but judging by Poe's face, he knew there was something more. Something his friend wasn't telling him. "How do you know all this? For all we know, this could be an official redeployment."

"It's not," Poe grunted.

"How do you know?"

"Because my dad's stationed on Hosnia."

Finn didn't respond to that. Instead he just watched the pilot's eyes suddenly roll to the right, and look over the discipline forms standing at attention. It was clear by the scrutiny in his eyes he was looking for something… or someone. When Poe suddenly stopped and turned to face a stocky man bearing the chevrons of a Command Sergeant Major, Finn finally understood why; especially when he read the man's name tag.

For a long moment, neither said anything. Then the Sergeant Major nodded his head once, performing a sharp salute. Poe returned the gesture, smiling slightly, and Finn noticed Poe was fighting the urge to say something. Instead, he dropped the saltue and spun on his heel, continuing to march on as he did.

"It can wait," Poe whispered softly, "it can wait."

Before Finn could contemplate further, a harsh and reverberating voice cracked with a smirk, "Well well well, if it isn't Miss Little Krayt Dragon. Figured you'd be alive. Someone owes me 500 cred."

"Oh my aching wallet," someone else called.

Standing before them was a man dressed entirely in black, like a villain from an old Corellian western. Indeed, the only color that set him apart was a red bandana wrapped around his neck and parted into the double breasted suit.

Finn studied the man's face carefully, and was surprised slightly by it. Though his face was certainly gaunt and rather severe looking like any man who'd spent too much time in the sun, it was also surprisingly young looking, all things considered.

Finn had seen the only recent photo of the man once, and that had been taken some thirty years prior at the signing of the Galactic Concordance. Jacen Shrike's age was always a mystery to the intelligence community, but in that photo he looked like he was in late forties. Here and now, the man barely looked like he was in his fifties.

Shrike's chilling blue eyes suddenly turned to Finn, narrowing slightly as he the chewed the end of his wroshyr pipe. To say chilling, though, was something of an understatement. Finn practically felt his mind and soul being examined like under a microscope, and he felt the strong urge to look away. He didn't though, determined not to wilt under the man's gaze, and Shrike in turn chuckled very quietly at the expression.

"Master Shrike." Rey said as she bowed her head in his presence, drawing his attention, "it is good to see you alive," she then cracked a sly smile, "and I see you're still dressed like a cowboy."

"Hmm, I'll take that as compliment, missy," he cracked a smile as he pointed his pipe at her, "'specially coming from the dame who wears a skimpy mummy outfit. I think the Tuskans would disapprove of your choice of attire, kiddo."

"As far as they're concerned, so long as you don't show any skin in public, they don't care."

"Really?" he gestured again with his pipe, "You're still showing plenty of skin. Hmm, maybe not as much as a fine Twi'lek troubadour at a good speakeasy, but still skin."

"We're not among the Tuskens anymore, or Tatooine," she then grinned slightly, "and are you describing me or your wife, Master Shrike?"

"Take a guess," he shrugged his head slightly, "she still has the finest voice in the entire verse. Hell, I wager it would turn water into wine… or some other hyperbolic crap like that."

"I believe it. How is she, by the way?"

"Oh, she's caretaking your dad's job on Ruusan. Doing her appearance a favor, if you ask me."

"I see," she nodded simply before she then took the older man in a hug. With a chuckle, he took her in his arms and shot Han a look. Han simply shrugged.

"C'mon, Knight. Hands off the old man, eh? My lungs don't work that well anymore."

"Sorry," she whispered, "I just…" she trailed off at she looked at nothing in particular.

"Thought you were the last one left, hmm?"

She nodded, and he sighed wearily.

"Trust me, kiddo. I know the feeling. Fortunately for us, we weren't dealt quite the bad hand this time around."

"Have you… heard from anyone else?"

He shook his head, "But not for lack of trying. I've been looking, and look where that search has led us, eh?"

"I suppose so," she whispered. He gently took her by her chin and smiled slightly.

"Hey, it's okay. You're alive and you're home. All that matters."

"Thank you, Master Shrike."

He smiled at her before he turned his head to the others, "Alright, where's the gimmick the professor spent three years digging in a desert for and I spent fifty good men guarding?"

Poe nodded to BB-8, who promptly removed a data-disk from his internal drive and handed it to Poe, who in turn handed it to the Chief Ranger. Shrike took it with a reluctance, like he was grabbing a hot piece of metal, and Rey felt a sudden hollowness within the man's heart. He sighed, closing his eyes as he asked the obvious.

"I take it Lor San's dead?" he gripped the metal disk so tightly his leather gloves creased, snorting as he did, "Tionne ain't gonna like this."

"No, neither is the rest of the council, if they're still around of course." Rey nodded.

"Sir," Poe suddenly said, "the disk contains photos of a Star Map, showing uncharted regions Mr. Tekka says leads-"

"To the Star Forge, Commander Dameron? Yeah, I now what the professor was looking for, and I thought he was crazy for doing it, but," he gestured his hands wide with a tired expression, "here we are."

"Care to enlighten the company that doesn't know what you're talking about? Hell, you didn't even say how the man died, Commander," Han said with an angered tone.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we were short on time at that point," Poe replied offpointingly, looking over at Rey who was still pouting off aways.

"And I forgot to mention it, Han. I'm sorry."

"Well, I can't blame you with that whole Terentatek business, and Sydow-" Han suddenly stopped when he noticed Shrike looking at him expectantly. Han shot him an expression Rey couldn't recognize and Shrike just sighed.

"Look, we'll discuss the rest of this later, once you've rest, ate, and let's be honest here, taken a good shower," he then handed the disk off to a subordinate, who nodded and took off running.

"Now," he said, taking a long draw from his pipe, "before all that, there's one last piece of business we need to discuss," he then looked right at Finn, who nodded grimly.

"Me," Finn said, and Shrike nodded.

"Yeah, you. The big bad traitor the Hutts and Zahn's got a 50k bounty to bring your corpse back to the First Order, so they can parade it through the streets or somethin'."

"They wouldn't do that, would they?" Poe asked.

"The Imperials used to do it. I wouldn't be surprised if their successors would want to try and one-up them while they're at it."

"I see," Finn said simply, "what happens now?"

"Until I know the truth of things, you're going in a cell," he then nodded to a pair of Rangers who came up behind the ex-Stormtrooper, "cuff him."

"Hold on a second!" Poe exclaimed as he got between the Rangers and his friend, "Rey and I can both testify to his character."

"Oh, I'm sure you can, but until I can confirm his story, there is a protocol, no exceptions."

"Look, Master Shrike, Commodore Antilles-"

"Has no jurisdiction here, nor do you. This is Jedi business, this is a Jedi planet, and as you recall, we removed our official government standing with you over fifteen years ago. So you don't get a say, Commander Dameron."

"Oh for-" before Poe could get any further, Finn gestured for the man to stop. He stepped forward and held out his hands.

"I would've been surprised if this didn't happen. I will come quietly."

"Good for you. Cuff him, and take him to interrogation room 1. As for the rest of you, do what you need to do. We'll debrief in six hours."