Both, Fin and Ahsoka landed on D'Quar a few hours ago.
She told him to find a senator human female named Leia Organa, as she left him outside before she hurried to the Resistance meeting.
Now he stood outside among the officers who were drinking coffee and telling their tales from the frontier to one another.
One among them, a human male dressed as an Admiral told him to join them and wait for Leia here. They met, after Fin asked the Admiral for directions to the senator.
Most of them in the circle were Admirals of the various Star Destroyers that were floating in orbit of D' Quar.
The planet they were on was supposed to be the Resistance base, but so far the only thing that he saw they would put the planet on the suspicious list of Resistance bases by the First Order Intelligence was the many cargo garages disguised as small hills covered with grass and trees.
Truly a creative Resistance, now he only hoped they also have heat camouflage covers and anti-piercing scan disruptor and the base would be a perfect hide out for the Resistance.
The Resistance, what is it compared to the New Republic? Is it a branch of the Navy? An ally of the Navy or something else entirely?
He will have to find out.
He bumped his elbow at the Admiral next to him who was kind enough to let him in his circle.
"Yes?" the man leaned to the Jedi Padawan.
"The Resistance… what is it? where does it come from?" he asked while looking at the Admirals laughing at some joke.
"Hm…" he began to think and taught for a few seconds.
"It comes from the Rebels that fought against the Empire… and Leia s' decision of having a need to have her own Navy and troops under command." His answer caused Fins' eyebrows to be raised.
Her own personal Navy?! What?
"You did not grow up in the Republic, did you?"
The question caught him off guard. "No." he quickly began to come up with a lie that would seem believable, because he does not wish to complicate things with the truth.
"I come from the outer rim." He lied and come up with a name of a planet that he knew was somewhat populated and hoped he would not get asked any more questions about his background.
"Outer rim, huh… Tell me Jedi, where is the outer rim leaning to? The Republic or the Empire? sorry the First Order." He corrected himself and smiled "The Empire, the First Order same to me. You know same ideology." He explained his perspective as he shrugged his shoulder.
He never imagined he would compare the two, but here he was questioning the difference between the two regimes. One where his father grew up and the other where he was raised in.
Both stand for order and stability, but the First Order is the successor.
He will not deny that, but was it because of the Sith or the training programs? The planning for the war or their leadership?
No, it was all combined. He remembered.
"The Republic or the First Order?" the man asked again.
"Oh, niter. They hate and distrust both." He explained.
"Then why did you join the Jedi Order and the Republic?" the admiral asked, but Fin did not like discussing personal things with a stranger, his indoctrination still controlled him in some ways.
His Jedi Master told him many personal things and this is how she established her trust with him. "Everything is built on trust, this is how the Republic works, from its' economy to its' military to its' politics, even the Jedi's view of the Force." she explained to him once and told him he should work on it if he wishes to blend in. He needs to soften up his all too hardened duty self and open up a little.
She taught him how to trust the people he will be surrounded with as a Jedi and remember to… answer the question.
"…I was given a chance to join the Jedi Order and so I did." He finally gave an answer to the Admiral whose patience was running out.
"You really do know how to make people wait for their answers, Jedi. Patience truly is your virtue." One of the officers said.
Fin smiled. "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind right now." He apologized to the Admiral with a bow.
"No need to apologize, Je…di" The Admiral looked at one of the entrances of the cargo bays and his eyes stayed there.
Fin followed his gaze and found a group of Jedi emerge from one of the entrances.
"Luke Skywalker." An officer in the circle said out of the blue.
"What?" His mouth dropped as he couldn't believe his ears nor eyes.
The grey brown haired middle aged man with a gloved hand was the Skywalker himself?
"Holy shit." He whispered to himself.
The Grand Master looked shocked, in distress, but determined as he got into his X- wing and the rest of the Jedi boarded a worn out shuttle which followed him.
The man that recognized Luke pulled out binoculars and commented on what he saw. He followed the Jedi as they ascended through the atmosphere and stopped by one of the Imperial SDs floating in the planets orbit.
"That might be your SD, Halrick." The one with the binoculars said.
"Indeed it is." The Admiral that accepted him into the group looked in the sky and in a few seconds he pulled out of his pocket a beeping small holoprojector and activated it.
"Yes, Princess?" he stood at attention.
"Tell your crew to send five shuttles full of ground troops with Skywalker. He should be in orbit by now." A middle aged walking woman appeared in the hologram.
"Yes Princess. It will be done." He guarantied her and the hologram disappeared.
The officer put the device back into his pocket and widened his eyes.
"Five shuttles? What for?" the man with the binoculars asked as he kept staring into the sky along with the rest of the group.
The Admiral that just spoke to the Princess shrugged his shoulders and tapped at his ear piece comlink.
The man told his crew to get their men moving to the five shuttles as they will join Luke on a mission and that the Grand Master will be in charge of it.
"Good. Halrick out." He ended the conversation and looked at the sky.
"Oh, they are going into hyperspace." The man commented and put his long range seeing device around his neck and faced the circle of coffee drinkers.
Fin could sense through the Force the Jedi in starships left real space, but there were still a few Jedi on the planet, one of them was his Master.
"What do you think where they are going?" one from the group asked Fin.
"Um…" surprised at suddenly being called out, Fin struggled to get his words right. "I-I don't know. I came into the Order a year ago. I don't know what missions Luke goes on to." He was honest.
"Lets' guess then." Halrick was excited and began to drink his coffee while the group said all kinds of different reasons for the Grand Master of the Jedi Order going on a mission.
Five minutes into the guessing game the SD launched its' five shuttles and they all jumped into Hyperspace.
Not a second later Ahsoka came out of the same cargo bay as the Jedi did, but she was accompanied with the Princess from the hologram walking in toe.
"Gentlemen." The Princess said and all of them except Fin jumped into a New Republic salute.
This salute he was familiar with as Ahsoka kept drilling it into his head so he would never again make the First Order salute before the Republic high command and embarrass her before everyone.
Instead of saluting he bowed his upper torso like a gentleman.
Ahsoka did not showed any signs of being either pleased or displeased with his greetings. He assumed he did good for now.
Soon after Ahsokas' pocket began beeping and she pulled out her own small holoprojector. The moment she saw who was calling she quickly turned on her heels and walked away from the group to answer the call.
"Don't you dare listen in." she warned Fin to not mingle in her business and so he turned away and gave her privacy. He will respect her decision.
"Admiral Halrick we are going." Said the Princess and stepped by Ahsoka to whisper something in her ear.
The Princesses' Admiral, so it seems, emptied the coffee cup and gave it to one of the other officers, he then stepped out of the group and stretched his arms above his head.
Soon enough, Ahsoka, while talking to the hologram turned around and pointed at Fin.
He did not know what was going on.
He rose an eyebrow as the Princess eyed him and gestured with a hand wave for Fin to join her.
"What? Why?" he whispered to himself as he walked to the Princess, who was in term walking to the Admiral.
Both the Princess and Fin stopped a meter away from Admiral Halrick.
He didn't know how to say this but he decided to risk his first impressions with the unnamed Princess: "Um, but… I'm with Ahsoka." He pointed at his Master as he stopped before the Princess.
"Oh I know. You're coming with me." The woman said and Halrick rose an eyebrow at Fin.
"But...Ahsoka said I'm supposed to go with a senator called Leia Organa." He kept pointing at Ahsoka and at that moment everyone in the circle burst out laughing.
"Yes, that's me." The woman was annoyed at the group of laughing men as she revealed her identity.
It took him a moment for the realization to sink in…
He was standing before Leia Organa, the Senator and also a Princess. It seems Ahsoka forgot to mention a few things.
"Leia!" Ahsoka shouted.
They all turned to the old Jedi that seemed to be jumping of joy "I need to go. My daughter is graduating from nursing school." She was joyful and waved goodbye before she used the Force and ran down the road to the shuttle they both came in.
Suddenly his Master was no more and so he turned to Leia.
"Come." The princess said and began walking to one of the shuttles that were parked near the cargo bays.
The Admiral and Fin both followed.
-two hours later-
He has never been upon an Imperial SD, his low rank and standard education as a hacker in the First Order never gave him the opportunity to be a crew member upon such a glorious vessel.
He never imagined a Princess from Alderaan, a senator and the leader of the Resistance to be using a symbol of the crumbled Empire as her base of operations.
The Republic officers that served as his guide had told him that the Princess uses the SD as a mockery towards the remnants of the Empire, to remind them that her Rebels were the ones that began the down fall of their precious regime.
He didn't liked hearing that, but he began to respect her courage of playing a dangerous game.
He sat next to the Princess as the shuttle was descending upon some backwater planet beside the Rimma Trade Route.
She pulled one of her hands out from under the cloak she held in her hand, apologized to him as they could have had this meeting at Hosnian Prime, but it is likely a target by the First Order's spies.
"No need to apologize Princess Leia." He felt she puts too much effort into her meetings. Trying to look kind, caring and intelligent.
"No, I should."
She became silent as the shuttle touched down.
The shuttles' landing pod reviled grass and an either dusk or dawn falling onto the planet.
The Princess unfastened her seatbelt, put the black cloak on, pulled out of her cloaks' pocket a black scarf and hid her lower face, nose and mouth behind it as she put it around her neck. She began walking off of the ship. Fin followed her.
The grass area they landed upon seemed to be worn out a little, indicating to him they use it as a landing area frequently.
They walked around the shuttle and the Princess put her hood on, but Fin wasn't sure if he should do the same. Hoods are for hiding faces and he had no reason to hide his. He decided not to.
She even went so far as to hide her expensive dress under the cloak, but because the cloak had no buttons or a zip to keep her dress hidden, she had to keep holding on to the edges and keep them closed.
She slowed down for Fin to catch up to her.
Lights in the distance were being turned off, dawn was upon them.
The waking city was not far, but the Princess had something important to tell him. He could feel through the Force.
The two took a walk to the city.
"Why am I here?" Fin asked out of the blue.
"I summoned you here because I have a mission for you, Fin Vyrof."
His full name was said out loud.
He eyed her, his eyebrows raised. Does she know he used to be a First Order hacker?
"And what might that be, Princess?" his voice was careful.
"I'm no Princess here. Call me Aroon." She said, feeling determined.
"Ok." It seems she will go undercover, just to tell him about a mission. Interesting.
"You will go on a mission called: The Shadows seek. You will join with three other people who have a freighter. You and your team will do spying and will figure out to get the information on all of the things on the list in this data pad." She gave him the data pad she pulled from under the cloak.
He took it and hid it in the pocket inside his Jedi robes, asking himself of where will this team of his be waiting for him.
It seems the mission will be important.
"It is important." She sounded as if she read his mind.
Wait. Is she a Jedi?
Upon asking that question in his mind she should have answered it, but she didn't. Instead she stayed quite as the two came close to the city gates.
"You will claim to the guard that you are my agent." She whispered right before the two of them came into hearing range of the two alien guards.
The guards pulled blasters on them both and demanded to identify themselves.
Both of them stopped.
"My name's Aroon." Leia introduced herself.
Now the two guards turned to him.
"I'm her agent." He said and to his surprise the two were let through rather fast.
As they came through the city gates he could tell the city was just waking up.
"Want a coffee? I'm sure you have questions." Leia asked as they walked down the empty street.
"Sure." He would rather have his questions answered before the mission begins, because only the Force knows who will be on his team.
During their walk through the city he followed her and wondered of his new team.
Will he be the only Jedi there? What will his teammates pros and cons be and how will they behave? Will they be old or young? Middle-aged?
Eventually the two came to the city square where she guided the two to the closest coffee bar she could see.
He followed her inside and sat by the same table where ever she sat down.
The two ordered coffee as the droid waiter came by.
"So what do you wish to know?" she broke the silence as the droid left.
He wasn't sure if he should code his questions or not, but he decided he will do it anyways. If anything happens.
Will he do it right or will he break her cover by accident?
He really didn't want to screw this up so he taught about his questions carefully before asking them out loud.
"So when will you buy the freighter you told me about?" he played with his thumbs, his nervousness showing.
She glanced at his hands but didn't payed attention to it for longer that a second.
"I don't know when will the ship yard open, but… I have decided it will be today." She acted proud and he could see through her eyes, she smiled under the scarf.
Fin smiled back and was glad he coded his questions.
"Really? Today?" he forced his voice to sound surprised.
"Yeah, I just hope the sellers will let me look at the three ships that caught my eye." She seemed worried.
Why would sellers not let her look at the ships they were trying to sell?
Silence engulfed his mind until it made sense and he said: "Eh don't worry it's not like they would put reserved ships on sale." He tried to calm her down, even put his hand on hers.
"You know I heard that sometimes they do, especially the poor salesmen." Her worriedness continued.
What? Putting reserved ships on sale? What the fuck? "So they could get more credits for tricking the court?" he asked.
"Yes." She nodded.
His eyebrows rose.
The droid came back with their coffee and placed it on the table, but the droid wasn't done with them yet. It asked if they would like anything else.
Leia shook her head and the droid went away.
Fin searched his mind of how to further the conversation. He needed to remember where they were left off.
"More credits? Do they not get payed enough?" he asked.
"They should be, but… only they know where and what they spend their credits on." She seemed relaxed, as if she is enjoying this.
"What do you think they spend it on?" he let his curiosity guide him.
"I don't know… family, a home, food… spice."
"What?" shock engulfed him "You think they are high." He lowered his voice.
"No, I just came up with something." She also lowered her voice as well and smiled.
"I'm sorry I came up with spice out of all things, but it doesn't need to be. It could be that their families are hard on them and they have a drinking problem."
He didn't like being reminded of his drunk parents, yet he had to admit she made good conversation even if they were undercover. She is really good at it.
He wondered from where did she get such good acting skills.
His Force enhanced memory served him well; she was a senator after all.
Their conversation about the sellers and freighters continued for two hours until she paid for the coffee and walked out of the bar with him in toe.
"How much do you know about the New Republic?" she asked him under the blue sky upon a square full of activity.
He struggled for a few seconds in his mind to form a sentence, but eventually he managed to get it out.
"I have told Ahsoka and her Right hand man everything I know or better said everything we gathered as First Order agents. I'm not repeating myself again." He felt his patience slipping away, replaced by his selfishness.
"Indeed you did, I read it in your file, but this is not what I asked you for." She explained and glanced at him from under the hood.
"I generally want to know what an ex-First Order agent thinks of the New Republic." Her emotions were genuine.
It surprised him to found out that a Force sensitive senator was being interested in his stance in the New Republic. He never expected anyone from high ups from the Republic to ever give him any attention since he used to be the enemy.
"Come on, tell me what you think of this … critique my work of art." She was proud. Leia extended her arms wide as if to indicate she was talking about the city.
But why, its' not like she built the city, did she? It's nothing special, it looks just as every other city in the Republic… No, it is about the Republic.
She was asking him what he thinks of the politics.
"I'm sorry Aroon, but I'm not into politics." he kindly explained.
"Eh, you don't need to be a politician to…" her attention was torn from him towards elsewhere.
He looked where she was looking and used the Force to tell him what she was interested in.
He looked around the different aliens and people that passed them by on the square, but soon in the distance he saw Republic troops walking across the square.
Where they here to arrest him for the crimes of the First Order?
No, he glanced at Leia and found her confused and interested in this group.
But those troops were accompanied with two different aliens that were leading the troops.
One, white pale and skinny while the other blue and strong build.
The pale one glanced their way and waved her hand in the sky towards Leia.
The Princess smiled and waved back.
The two aliens now turned their direction towards them and the troops followed.
"Whatever you say, don't mention you are from the First Order. Don't let them know in any way." Her whisper sounded serious.
Whatever reason she has to hide that from what seem to be her friends he wishes to know, but he will not ask, not now at least.
"and guard your mind viciously." She added as she began walking towards the two aliens with a big smile he imagined was behind that scarf as she walked to the two with open arms.
He followed her, his mind serious and guarded with the Force. He prepared himself as much as he could for a possible storm to pass through his walls of his mind and bring them down.
And indeed the storm was coming in the form of that pale near human alien.
As all four of them walked across the square towards each other, he noticed the pale one was a female and the blue alien was a male, but as they kept closing in the distance he found that the female was an Umbaran and the male was a Chagrian. Both of them looked old.
Where did he saw this kind of parring before?
Was it on the holonet news?
He enhanced his memory and found the location where he saw this pair.
The day of the declaration of the Galactic Empire, an Umbaran and a Chagrian standing beside the newly declared Emperor of the Galaxy, but wait…
To Fin as he compared the picture in his mind and the two he now saw approaching, they seem to be the same ones as on the holo news.
"Are they…?" he whispered. "No way."
"Yes indeed they are." Leia smiled to him as the four of them stopped before each other a meter away.
"Leia, what brings you here?" the woman asked with restrained rage while looking as kind as she could manage.
"Ah, Sly Moore nice to see you again." Leia also seemed to be angry and tried to hide it with kindness.
Sly Moore? Holy Force! Then the other guy must be… Mas Amedda?… Fuck! What day is today for every famous person in the Galaxy appearing before him? His birthday? …Fuck!
He could barely keep his mind sane from the shock.
But the tidal wave was here and he should focus on that.
He focused upon the Force while sucking into his memory the two old famous faces.
"You shouldn't be here." Leia pointed at Mas Amedda and interrupted whatever he wished to say.
The storm was upon him and it kept pounding on the walls of his mind.
"Yes I agree, but I was almost assassinated last night and I wouldn't feel comfortable staying in that wretched place. Thanks to your guards they kept me safe." He smiled and pointed at the guards behind him and showed his handcuffed hands.
His head began to hurt as the storm was getting stronger and stronger.
Is he a prisoner? A war criminal? What did he done to be handcuffed? He could barely think.
"Why are you handcuffed?" he asked Amedda as he could no longer hold back his curiosity, the patience was being stripped away as the pain in his head began getting stronger and stronger yet again.
Fin needed to clench his fist. He was glad it was covered by his long sleeved Jedi robes.
He started to take fast shallow breaths.
"Me? I held a protest of how the war criminals are being treated in prisons. Some people died in that protest and now I'm held responsible for organizing it in the first place." He explained, feeling remorse.
His pain was getting out of hand so he closed his eyes and began breathing deeply.
His breaths getting slower and slower as he let the Light side flourish through him and somewhat began to accept the pain. The pain was gone in an instant.
He doubted he done it on his own. The Jedi Padawan glanced at Leia who was concentrated upon the female and was looking at her seriously.
Sly seemed to let go of the assault and looked away as if she got insulted.
It seems Leia helped him protect his mind from this Dark side welding woman.
Why is she allowed to use the dark side before the Jedi?
Speaking of evil, Fin felt it lurking in eight out of ten guards, in the form of evil intentions, but only one was a Force welder.
What?
In a moment Leia was pushed away from him as a bold of lighting hit her.
Fin pulled a blaster from one of the guards and began shooting at the enemy while dodging blaster shots.
He saw two guards before him that were shot at the back of the neck. The two troopers that shot the two victims were disarmed by Fin, who force pulled their blasters away from them. Only now he noticed Sly and Amedda were knocked unconscious and were about to be kidnapped.
He tried to Force pull the woman out of their grasps but the Sith that held her body over his shoulder had a strong Force shield up, too strong for Fins' force powers to pass through.
Suddenly all of the troopers began running away, fast towards what it seemed to be an approaching shuttle.
It began to shoot at him.
He was shocked for a moment before the Force guided him to step where he has to in order to dodge the attacks.
The shuttle came close to the ground where the kidnappers waited for the lowering ramp to open and let them in.
As the ramp was lowered and the kidnappers jumped in with their prizes he began shooting at the troopers that haven't managed to get in the hovering shuttle.
The ship began to shoot back at him faster. He was full of adrenaline, but was also glad he could dodge the attacks that fast.
The Force told him to pay attention to the troops on the ground, he did. There were three of them who just began shooting his way. This time his confidence fell.
Everything slowed down as he felt himself being lifted up and pulled backwards.
He noticed he passed by a standing cloaked figure, it was Leia.
Fin landed on his feet not far away from her, but as he looked upon her she pulled out from underneath the cloak a lightsaber hilt and ignited it.
A blue blade rose from the end of its' hilt.
Before he knew it the baster and shuttle bolts were being directed back at the enemy, most of them were, at least the ones that would directly hurt him and the Princess.
In less than ten seconds later the ramp was closed and the shuttle began to turn its guns towards its own troops that haven't managed to get in at the right time.
Some were being Force choked to death while the rest were being gunned down.
It seems they don't want anyone to be interrogated today.
The shuttle now turned to the two of them and began shooting again while it was ascending higher.
Eventually it stopped its assault upon them as it flew through the city skyline.
"Shit, they got away." He cursed.
"No need to worry I have back up." The woman under the hood looked at him confidently.
He was glad and smiled a little.
She smirked at him and tapped twice at her earpiece.
"Admiral inform the Shadow cell to pursue that ascending Lambda shuttle to blow up their ramp at the back and …" It seemed her Admiral was telling her something as she listened to her earpiece.
"and tell my shuttle to come and get me…" It seems she was interrupted again.
"NO! No shooting at the engines! Do as I say!" She shouted and placed her lightsaber on her belt.
"I'm sorry Fin." Leia gave him a hand and an apologetic look.
He was too shocked to say anything and so he accepted her handshake as an apology.
Only a few seconds have passed and Leias' shuttle came to pick them up in the middle of the city square in fast pace.
As the shuttle opened its ramp while being a few meters above their heads, in mid descent Leia jumped and landed on the ramp.
"Come on, Fin!" she encouraged him.
In an instant he used the Force to power his jump. He landed beside her.
The shuttle they were back in, stopped in its descent and closed the ramp before it began to pursue the kidnappers.
The acceleration of the ship pinned him against the ramp door while Leia walked to the cockpit as if she was walking up a steep hill.
She took a seat as a copilot and fastened her seatbelt.
"Come on, work your engines." She encouraged the pilot to go faster, he did.
Fin was now pinned to the door even more.
His body felt the pressure but soon all of this was forgotten as he heard a star fighter ship pass them by.
Fin heard the starship began firing and he wondered what type it was.
"Do we open fire at all?" The pilot asked the Princess.
"No, but keep the back end of their ship in your sight." She ordered.
The firing and chasing continued for a few minutes as he stayed pinned to the door, until something distant exploded and the pilot suddenly put the ship into a stop.
In that moment he was accelerated forward towards the windshield, his fear building up as he was accepting the fact he will fly out the window, but he never did.
His torso was stopped in midair, an arm length away from the windscreen, he could tell as his fingers lightly touched the smooth surface of it.
Upon having a full view of the situation he saw the ramp of the escaping shuttle blew open and smoke emerged from where it used to be.
Out of it were sucked two people, one was the Umbrian, the other a trooper.
Leia now guided his body behind her copilot chair.
"Hold yourself here." Fin pulled himself towards the chair and didn't let go. His fear of flying out of the shuttle at only Force knows at what atmospheric height kept him motivating enough to hold himself tight against the chair.
"Go after her!" She ordered.
Their shuttle went into descent.
He could feel Leia focusing upon the unconscious Umbrian and eventually the pilot stopped the ship.
He looked pass the seat and the woman was levitating in the air before them.
Soon enough the Umbrian was guided at the back of the ship. The ramp opened for Leia to guide her unconscious body inside.
"Get us out of here." The ramp was closed and the ship went into decent, back to the city.
Fin was grateful Leia knew how to use the Force, otherwise only the Force knows how all of this would have gone differently if he would have been here alone.
"No, stop pursuing, let them have Mas Amedda." She said to her earpiece and unfastened her seatbelt.
She walked to Sly Moor and pulled her body onto one of the chairs and fastened the seatbelt onto her, while she sat down next to her and did the same.
Fin couldn't gather his courage right away, but in a minute he managed to get himself on to the copilot chair and put the seatbelt on.
Their descent was faster than the one in the morning yet Leia was worried about Slys' injuries during the explosion and decided to treat them with a first aid kit in the shuttle.
They landed upon the same landing area they did before, except one added detail, a black orange light freighter landed beside them with its side facing them.
Soon both the shuttle and the freighter opened their ramps.
Leia unfastened Sly, picked her up with the Force and placed her on the ground on her back.
Fin felt she would need assistance and so he got up from his seat at walked up to her.
"Do you need help?" He asked.
"No." She said feeling concerned as she kept her hand on Sly's forehead.
"Should I call the medical team?" the pilot asked.
"You should." The Princess said.
He stood there with his arms crossed not knowing what to do for a few moments, until a woman jogged towards their ramp with a first air kit in her hands.
She was dressed in a worn out white shirt with long grey pants and was barefooted.
What?
Upon realizing they already had the first aid kit of their own the new woman placed it down at the entrance as she came on board.
"Is she alive?" the woman was concerned.
"Yes Rose, she's alive." Leia answered feeling annoyed but made sure it was not heard as such.
The woman known as Rose knelt beside Leia and just watched the old Umbrian's slow breaths.
"You two know each other?" he asked.
Rose raised her dark eyes from the female to him "Who are you?" she asked.
"Me? I'm Fin. Pleased to meet you." He rose his hand from his crossed arms to greet her.
"Well, we will be pleased to meet each other when this woman wakes up." She seemed angry at him.
He wondered why.
Only now as he looked at the woman, he saw her hair was neatly tied into a bun and her skin was tan.
A loud X wing approaching noise got everyone's attention.
The X wing landed beside the two parked star ships. It seemed smaller than the one he piloted a year ago.
Out of the cockpit jumped a man dressed in a white clean shirt a black leader jacket over it, dark green pants and worn out black boots.
He had a grey scarf around his neck and his hair looked messy and a little curly.
His skin was also tanned and he looked as if he hasn't shaved in a week.
"Poe, you did a nice job up there." Leia praised the newcomer.
"I tried my best Princess Leia." He bowed his upper torso as he felt humbled before the Princess.
"Princess?" he asked himself out loud, confused of not knowing how to call her now.
"She's a Princess, don't you know?" Rose seemed to be protective of Leia.
"No, I…" he was interrupted by Leia.
"Leave him alone Rose, he helped to save her. I don't know what I would have done without him." She turned to him and winked.
He was confused. Why would she not take the credit?
"She's waking up!" Poe alerted everyone.
The Umbaran was slowly opening her white eyes.
"Where… am I?" she seemed to be in pain and intended to get up.
"You're safe." Leia told her and placed a hand on her shoulder to push her back on the ground "Don't move, you might have some internal bleeding." Leia said.
"And a broken arm." Poe added as he crossed his arms.
"Fuck, what did you done to me?!" she screamed as the pain in her arm fully woke her up.
"We saved you from being kidnapped." Rose said, but it didn't matter as Sly began to trash around.
Both Rose and Poe tried to hold her down while avoiding her left broken arm.
He could feel her anger and darkness growing inside of this Umbaran.
It began to remind him of the Sith he served before.
The dark side within her was tamed as if she honed it for years. She unleashed a Force push upon Rose and Poe.
Both were thrown out of the shuttle a few meters away.
The pilot was grabbed by the throat and thrown into the wall of the shuttle. He was knocked unconscious.
Now the enraged woman turned her gaze at him, but no dark side imbued Force touched him in any way.
It seems Leia protected him again.
"You!" Sly turned her gaze at the Princess who intended to give an empathetic touch to calm her down.
"Don't touch me, you filthy bitch!... Daughter of Va…" Sly was knocked unconscious in a second as Leia touched her pale bare hand.
He was impressed by Leias' Force abilities.
She turned to him and whispered: "Tell no body that I can use the Force, only this pilot knows of my abilities." Her voice was dead serious as she pointed at the unconscious pilot behind them.
"Yes, Ma'am." He gave her a Republican salute.
Soon enough Rose and Poe recovered and got back on their feet. They came running back, Poe was armed with a blaster riffle while Rose with a blaster pistol.
He taught they intend to shoot so he put his hands up in the air.
"Why would we want to shoot you?" Rose asked feeling annoyed at Fin and relieved that the crazy woman was quiet and sleeping again.
They both put their blasters down and suddenly another approaching shuttle landed beside the already cramped landing area. Fin put his hands down.
From this shuttle came the medical team for Sly Moore.
Leia told them that this woman got a broken arm and went crazy. The medical team assured her the old lady will get the best treatment there is as they packed her up upon a stretcher and carried her into their shuttle as well as her injured pilot.
Now that Leia remained grounded, with her guards in the city, there was something she had to tell him, Rose and Poe privately.
She waited for the medical shuttle to leave before she began.
"Now that all of you are together, I want to explain why I brought you three here. You will be sent on a set of missions called: the Shadows seek, as my Resistance agents. I gave Fin a data pad on which are the details of the missions you will undertake. After each successful mission you will write down upon this same data pad what you have discovered or done. There will be no hologram calls. When you will finish all your missions upon this list you will receive further missions that will be sent upon this same data pad. Your missions will take place in the First Orders' territory."
Leia looked at Fin "Follow me when I finish explaining this." And turned back to his two new members "As for the fourth and fifth member, Luke will decide who will go on this journey with you." Now she turned to him and nodded as to tell him to follow her out of the shuttle.
He was shocked to hear he would be working for the New Republic as an undercover agent already, but this is what he agreed upon as he decided he wishes to be trained as a Jedi.
Fin expected to have two more members onboard as good as he could understand Aroons' story, but never expected for Luke himself to decide who would get on this freighter.
Him and Leia stepped out of the shuttle and began walking around the landing area side by side.
The Princess used this time to encourage him on his future missions. She gave him advice on keeping the Light side dominant in a time or place that might hold the Dark side more appealing to use.
At that moment they saw Rose ran back to the freighter for something.
They two did not pay attention to her much after, as they continued their walking.
They haven't even gone a full circle around the landing area as Leia received a call via a holoprojector she had on her. It was a call from her Admiral telling her that Luke is returning back with a prized prisoner.
It wasn't hard to guess, this all was still a test of his loyalty towards the Republic and in fact this whole set of missions he will be sent upon might be as well.
Leia said "That's good, tell Luke that we could meet here in orbit…and tell my guards that went to look for me in the city to come back to the shuttle as I'm waiting for them to take me back to my ship. Oh, and one more thing Admiral, a freighter that will come along with my shuttle, the people on it are with me, no questions asked. All my troops need to know is that they are with me…" she went quiet for a moment as she listening what the Admiral has to say. "Yes Admiral, it is Resistance business. Leia out." That is where she ended the call and exhaled.
The princess now turned to him "I'm relieved to hear that the Grand Masters' personal mission went well. It would be really hard running the war without him and you Jedi on our side." She said before cutting a corner and walking directly back to Rose and Poe.
As the two came back Poe waiter for both of them at the pilots' seat while Rose still hasn't returned.
Poe turned towards the senator "She went for her shoes." he explained his comrades' absence.
"Princess, my I offer you a ride back to yours ship?" his words were respectful.
"You could agent Poe, but we will still need to wait for my guards." She sat down next to him.
"Very well then." Poe turned to face the windshield and crossed his arms.
Fin decided to sit down as well on one of retractable chairs he sat upon before he landed on this planet.
It took the guards half an hour to return meanwhile Poe and Leia started a conversation about the Spice cartels spread throughout the Republic.
It would seem that Poe was the one with the Spice background.
Rose, who finally came back with shoes on her feet sat next to him, while Poe remembered to tell via a com on his bracelet to his droid BB8 to fold his X wing back into the Freighter.
Fin was fascinated with how the Starfighter folded its' wings in half, up and over. The small starship used its uplift generators to take flight and maneuver itself into the empty spot on the back of the Freighter, turned the opposite way.
Its' black and orange pain almost blended in with the rest of the Freighter.
"Fascinating isn't it?" Rose asked as she watched him stare in awe.
The Princesses' guard returned and apologized for losing her, she might have shouted on them, but let them onboard without punishment.
The Lambda shuttle and the Freighter both took off and flew back to the Princesses' Star destroyer, where she invited her crew of new agents to dine with her until Luke returns. They accepted her invitation and joined her.
The four of them walked into the mass hall where they ordered food and sat down. Poe like before, sat next to Leia and talked to her of where the Spice is sold on the streets, while Fin and Rose sat at the opposite side of the table and listened.
"I'm Rose Tico, by the way." Rose started a conversation with Fin.
She seemed bored of Poe.
"Pleased to meet you again." Fin smiled.
"Me too… I'm sorry if I looked angry at you, but you nearly let the woman to be dropped out of orbit." Rose complained of actions that were not his.
Fin decided to play along.
"Yeah, I know. I probably caused the poor woman s' arm to break along with it as I pulled her out of the shuttle." He acted concerned.
"You must be more careful next time." She pointed out.
"I will try better." He promised her.
Their conversation continued long after Luke came onboard and the SD jumped into hyperspace.
Leia said she has some business to talk to Luke about so she asked the three of them to get to know better.
The three of them decided to go back to the hanger where their freighter is parked.
Rose showed him the freighter's inside and mentioned the design idea came from another owner of a light Freighter called Hera Syndulla.
He heard of her, the daughter of the General Cham Syndulla, the resistance fighter and revolutionary leader during the Clone wars and the male Twi'lek that formed the famous Free Ryloth Movement against the Galactic Empire.
Hera like her father was also a revolutionary leader, one out of many that later formed the Rebel Alliance.
He was getting sick of hearing and meeting famous people of the galaxy for today. He just wants to rest.
Rose on her tour through her freighter showed him their kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms where both had bunk beds available.
He asked which one is his and she pointed at the top one. Guess he would need to climb up and down every morning and evening.
Then Rose continued her tour and came to a somewhat messy room full of droid parts, she said this room was her 'free-time' room.
"Good to know where to find you, if I need anything." He nodded.
"Sure." She smiled and directed the two of them to the door across from hers.
She opened it and it revealed an almost empty room with a lot of data pads on the table.
"This is your private room. Leia insisted that you get your own private space." Rose said and turned down the hallway where the two haven't been yet "This way is the cockpit."
Fin followed her there and saw a standard cockpit for a freighter or a shuttle.
It contained a windshield, underneath were the controls. Four seats, one for the pilot, the other for the copilot and two for extra passengers.
"Four? Didn't Leia said that Luke will pick two more passengers?" Fin asked.
"Yes, she mentioned the fourth will be a droid." Rose crossed her arms "We will have three droids onboard then." She didn't seem fine with it.
"Wait, three?" Fin asked as he didn't saw the second one.
"BB-8, Poe s' droid, Red, the droid that I'm working on at the moment" she pointed at her 'free-time' room, indicating to him it was in there "and the new droid that will come onboard. Three." She showed him three fingers as she counted them.
"Right, I forgot your droid." He lied to her as he didn't saw her droid, at least not in a clear vision as he only glanced through her room. He didn't want to insult his teammates on the first day.
In time Poe came onboard with a small metal square shaped pendant that has a shining blue dot in the middle of it "This is a tracking device." And gave the necklace into Fins hands.
He let the necklace slide off of his hand and let it hang from his fingers.
As he watched it rotate he saw it had four really small bolts that kept it together at the back.
"Ah, that's beautiful, it's a shame we weren't given a crystal one, it would look more beautiful." Rose said.
"Do you want to wear it?" Fin asked her.
"Sure." She turned around.
He put the necklace on her and she turned towards him, looking at her new necklace beside the old one.
The old one had a golden metal pendant that was in a side bent tear shape. He noticed there were some lines that used to represent something, but there were so worn out that he could barely distinguish them.
"Oh, you are looking at the old one, I taught you were looking at the new necklace." Rose spoke.
"I'm sorry," he apologized and looked at her as a whole with the necklaces on her "It looks good on you." This time he was honest.
"Oh, thank you fine Sir." Rose acted as a lady and curtsied as best as she knew how it's done. She grabbed her pants under the pockets and pulled them to each side as if she had a skirt and struggled to balance herself with one foot before the other before she made a curtsy.
It looked cute and funny to him and so he smiled.
"Don't you dare laugh." Rose got serious and pointed a finger at him.
"I will not." He promised her with a serious face, but she made him smile even more.
Rose left him in the middle of the hallway and went to her room, feeling embarrassed and grumpy.
This made him assured his company for the mission will not be boring, yet at the same time he feared attachments. He might have made a friend today and he hoped it will stay this way until he figures out how to balance all his emotions into peace on a Jedi Master or at least on a Jedi Knight level.
He would not feel comfortable going further than being a friend with Rose until then.
Yes, she is a beautiful woman when she smiles or feels embarrassed, he admitted to himself that, but not the fantasy his mind was beginning to form in his head.
He tried to scratched that out of his mind and only taught about his breathing. Deep breaths in and out.
There is no emotion, there is peace,
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge,
There is no passion, there is serenity,
There is no chaos, there is harmony,
There is no death, there is the Force.
He repeated the Jedi code in his mind and soon after the fantasy disappeared.
Fin was grateful for his Jedi training.
He felt more of a man with instant self-control in his hand, than the Sith who act like teenaged boys throwing a temper tantrum. He felt proud of himself for being a Jedi.
So far it seems he will be the only Jedi in this uncompleted team, so he better control himself or he will let them down.
He took a deep breath and became determend he will protect his team on the missions at any cost.
"Being selfless is a Jedi s' trait." He heard Ahsoka say many times.
So he shall be a Jedi like he was trained to be.
Hi everyone. I know it took me an eternity to write this chapter but here it is. I hope you enjoyed it and came to the end of this long chapter. Please leave a review, so it can help me improve my writing.
LucyStormChaser.
