Everyone had a part in the plan. Leia, Rose, Finn, and Rey were to distract the Queen and her advisors in a meeting. Chewie and R2D2 guarded the throne room door and relay to to C3PO and BB8 if anyone was coming towards their location.

Poe collected the Naboo telling them there was something of interest going on in the center of the hold. They were hesitant until he told them their Guardian was making an announcement, and then they came in droves. Calliope sat nearby watching them flood the center. She wore a faded green tunic with such sharp shoulders her mother would have been proud of since she couldn't exactly braid her hair anymore, a high waist brown belt and tall over the knee brown boots to compliment. Her heart fluttered. She knew how many people lived in the stronghold, but she had never seen them all at once… in one place.

"Cali," Poe called.

She looked at him his dashing smile uplifted her spirits,

"What did you call me?"

The pilot scratched the back of his head,

"It's a nickname.." He admitted embarrassed.

Calliope stood giving him a reassuring smile, "A lot better than my last nickname." She passed him slowly, "I like it."


Leia entered the throne room at her own pace with the brightness of the rebellion behind her. The Queen sat perched looking pristine as always with a three parted head piece that made the child look older, and more convincingly so was the makeup. Leia found it odd as it mimicked Queen Soruna's so accurately it almost threw the General into a flashback.

"General Organa, I am glad to see you are doing well." her voice was different, ever faintly, but changed with a more austere tone than she had heard before.

"Thank you, your Majesty." Leia's eyes narrowed noticing that the Nubian's who were usually manning the planet's monitors were wearing blasters on their hips for the first time. She breathed, "You wanted to see me." She turned to Rey specifically, "Everyone else can head back to the living space." while she silently connected with Rey replacing 'living space' with the Falcon.

"That won't be necessary." The Queen replied, "For I would like to address all of the resistance."

"This is all of us." Finn said quickly, "This, this is what we look like."

Rose gave him a swift elbow in the side.

The Queen stood with hesitation that appeared as regret, like she was fighting inwardly,

"All the Mid-Rim systems have received a message from the First Order. The first was merely about harboring the resistance and today I was going to ask you all to leave our system for both our well beings." She stepped down from the throne, "However, today their broadcast changed. Informing us that anyone harboring a Jedi by the name of Rey," Instantaneously every blaster in the room became pointed, "To give her up, unharmed, and that system will be left to their own devices."

"And you believed that?" Rose's voice peaked, "The First Order are slime balls who make up their own rules and live by what they need, not what they said."

"I'm giving you a choice General Organa. Let us hand over the girl, and your resistance can live their days in peace."

Leia couldn't get out the words before Finn, who placed himself protectively between Rey and a stun gun,

"Well you see your shittyness. We're not interested in living out our days in peace until the First Order is burned to the ground."


Poe stood behind Calliope taking in her commanding and gentle stature as she began to speak to the Naboo. She was tense at first, but she seemed to resign to her anxiety not letting it control her,

"You all know me as Guardian. I've been here since this stronghold was built and some of you even know me from my childhood. I will always be your protector, but today Naboo needs to be reminded of our history.." She drew a long inhale, "Both the good and the bad. If some of you remember my mother you can recall her call for strength as well as keeping our culture intact."

Some of the greying men and women nodded. "We have failed my mother on both accounts." There were some confused murmuring in the crowd. Poe couldn't pin down on any exact words, but Calliope continued, "The Naboo, during the trading crisis didn't hunker down and give in to the federation. No we flew our star fighters and bombed the hell out of the bastards. When the failing empire tried to make our planet uninhabitable? My mother took out those satellites with the very general that is here now urging our leaders to take up arms. We aren't people to cower, so why are we? Because we're afraid? Well I've been to the dark side and back and let me tell you this their scared of us a hell of a lot more than we are of them. My mother-."

"But she wasn't your mother." And elderly woman came into view as the pocket of people surrounding her backed away, "No, no, in service to this planet I killed your birth mother, the bitch offspring of the Emperor. My foolish sister had to save you out of her conscious and belief in superstition."

"Aunt Sonya…" Calliope said calmly, "I've known for a while from whom I was born. Mother used to say-"

"I should have just blasted you when I had the chance."

"Oh shut up you bitter old hag. She's more a Soruna than you'll ever be." A grey bearded man yelled, "I served with you on that mission you were blood-thirsty."

Calliope became detached from the bickering older generation. Anakin's voice called to her, "They're in trouble."

She jettisoned through the crowd without another word. Poe called after her. BB8, chirped saying the blast doors of the throne room had closed. He ran after her as fast as his legs would carry. They arrived at the blast door with its lock busted by Chewie's bow caster.

"Shit!" Poe pulled at his hair.

Calliope held out a hand with her eyes closed. The pilot had to duck as her metal orb came flying down the tunnel. She ignited the crystal inside it letting the orb clatter to the ground. The saber pierced the metal screeching as it did. She let out a yelp of pain. Her fury was driving the crystal into her hand. "Focus. Clear your mind." The voice advised.

When she let go the crystal came into alignment with her will and carved out a hole big enough for them to enter. Finn and Rose were stunned on the ground. Leia had a blaster on her set to lethal and Rey was resigning her hands over to cuffs.

"What exactly is going on here?" She curled her voice viciously expanding the breath of the crystal letting it spark and lash out.

"Guardian stay out of this." the advisor, holding a gun to Leia, ordered. He went to speak again but found himself choking on words, dropping the blaster he clawed at his throat. Calliope's curled hand threw the man into the wall.

"That's enough pull back." Her phantom reached out. Poe went to Leia who needed his physical support. The men with blasters wavered to point them at Calliope, and when they did their hands shook uncontrollably until they pointed the weapon them at themselves, or they dropped to the floor. "That's enough!" The voice yelled.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. Her son was hiding under a control desk looking on his mother. This brought her back from the brink of darkness. She wouldn't have her son see her like this.

"Sabe, what are you doing?" Calliope addressed the Queen after deactivating the crystal.

The Queen was shaking her shoulders heaving like a traumatized child.

"This is our chance to come out of the shadows. Out of this mountain. Isn't the sacrifice of one over the many the right way for peace?"

Calliope took cautioned steps towards the girl, "Peace for who? Just us? While the First Order tramples over the rest of the galaxy."

"A monarch has to rule for her people." The Queen replied.

Calliope gently shook her head, "A monarch needs to rule with a conscious of all life, and look outward."

"Your highness you don't have to listen to her! We can still do it." An advisor yelled cowering behind a communications board.

"Sabe…you know its wrong. You can feel it." Calliope pleaded.

Poe had slipped towards the communication line where the advisor was stealthily entering in a coded message. The blaster echoed through the hall. Calliope joined Poe by the board,

"Only a partial message went out," She scanned the code realizing that it was hurried gibberish that addressed the First Order but nothing else, "Since there's no coordinates they'll have to track the signal, but eventually…. It will lead them here."

She wanted to throttle the unconscious man until he gasped for his last breaths. Leia sank into a nearby seat sorrowfully holding her head. Finn and Rose jolted from the stunned positions yelling out words that currently were trivial. Calliope's and Rey's eyes met.

"I have an idea." Rey's voice rippled through the room.

Calliope grinned, "I think I have the same idea."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about that?" Leia groaned.


Shout out for the continued reviews Pseudopsia ! They urge me to keep writing!

Thanks for all the follows!

My favorite part is Finn calling the Queen 'your shittyness' I about died of laughter writing it.