Rey had retreated along with many other rebels back into the bowels of the D'Qar Base after the destruction of the shield generator.
She'd managed to find an abandoned blaster in the chaos that had ensued when the stormtroopers had come pouring through the main entrance and she was now kneeling side by side with Finn and Jaina behind a makeshift barricade of fallen masonry.
She shot round after round of fire at the approaching stormtroopers, cursing as they deftly pulled back around the edge of the corridor.
"This is a fucking bloodbath!" yelled Jaina. "We need those idiots in charge to give us some kind of plan, I mean do we just wait until the bastards slaughter us all?!"
"I'm going to make a break for the central bunker," Rey said, panting slightly. "I'll update General Organa on the dire situation and hopefully you'll receive some tactical orders soon." She turned around and felt a tug on her sleeve. "Don't do anything stupid Rey," said Finn, gazing at her with his gentle brown eyes. She grabbed his hand in response. "I know we'll see each other again my friend."
"I just hope it's not in the mortuary," she secretly thought to herself.
She kissed his forehead quickly and then scarpered down the corridor, diving to avoid the heavy First Order gunfire.
It did not take her too long to reach the bunker entrance. She calmly punched in the classified access code, and the blast door slid apart instantly. As she stepped inside, a dozen blaster nozzles were pointed in her direction. Those sheltering here had obviously thought she was the enemy, ready to finish them off.
"Lower your rifles you idiots, she's with us!" shouted General Leia Organa. Warily, the assembled elderly rebel leaders obediently re-holstered their blasters on their hips and turned back to their command consoles. The blast doors once again closed and Rey hurried over to Leia. She hugged the woman whom she felt had become the mother she never had; grateful that the worst of the fighting had not yet touched this part of the base.
She tensed as she realised that the general was not returning her embrace. She sensed that Leia was about to disappoint her in some way.
"General, the First Order is on their way to this location, we're trying to hold them off but their numbers are just too great," stated Rey, gesturing with raised hands to emphasise the scale. "Should we give the encrypted call to evacuate through the concealed underground caverns?" she queried.
Leia shook her head sadly. "No my sweet girl, not this time. I'm afraid my patricidal little shit of a son has us bent over a barrel" The general turned back to her console and activated the comm system:
"NOW HEAR THIS, ALL RESISTANCE PERSONNEL ARE ORDERED TO LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS AND SURRENDER. ALL PILOTS ARE TO LAND THEIR CRAFT AND HAND THEMSELVES OVER TO THE NEAREST FIRST ORDER UNIT. REPEAT, THIS IS AN ORDER FROM GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, WE HAVE AGREED A PEACEFUL SURRENDER. YOU WILL BE TAKEN PRISONER BUT REMAIN UNHARMED, SO LONG AS YOU PEACEFULLY YIELD; THAT INCLUDES YOU JESSIKA PAVA!"
The other rebel leaders did not seem too shocked by Leia's transmission and Rey assumed that they had agreed to this course of action before her arrival. Rey had to agree that they couldn't win this battle. "Still… why don't some of us make a break for it? We need to report back to the Republic and regroup at a new base," she thought with confusion.
The screens and radar grids which were scattered around the bunker showed that the D'Qar rebels were obeying Leia's instructions, even if they did not look very happy about it. She spied Callista dicing with death as she spat at the feet of a stormtrooper while she was being handcuffed.
"Rey, it's all up to you now," said Leia softly. "You must go and face him."
Rey gaped at Leia in concern, "What are you talking about General? Go to whom? I'm not abandoning you all, the resistance is my family."
"You know exactly who I am referring to," Leia responded. "It goes against the grain to do this, but I am ordering you to make your way to the landing pad at front of the D'Qar base. A stormtrooper escort will be awaiting you."
Rey felt a shiver of cold run up her spine.
"Fear is the path to the Dark Side," she tried to repeat the calming Jedi litanies that Master Luke had taught her; but right now they seemed about as useful as a chocolate teapot!
"Why?" Rey telepathically communicated with Leia using the Force.
"I have to save my people; including your friends! Everyone will be spared, so long as I deliver you willingly. Sometimes we have to make tough choices Rey, I'm sorry." Leia's thoughts replied back.
It was dawning on Rey that this raid might actually be her fault somehow even if it was indirect. She owed it to the rebellion to help them mitigate their loss in any way she could. She saluted the general solemnly.
"With your leave, I will now carry out your orders," she bravely stated.
Leia gazed at her with quiet admiration. "When you see my son… don't bring him home."
As Rey walked through the now deserted corridors of the place she called home, she wondered what awful fate Kylo Ren might have planned for her.
"Why now?" she wondered "What had set him off on this crusade?" She'd had no contact with him since she'd given him that facial scar to remember her by, but suddenly he was stalking her Forcebook profile and blowing up bases in his efforts to track her down.
Stormtrooper guards had been stationed at each strategic corner within D'Qar. They said nothing to her as she passed them, they seemed to know who she was and whom she was on her way to meet and they let her proceed unmolested.
"No point in surviving hand to hand combat with rebel fighters, only to be choked by your boss for inappropriately touching the girl he fancies," Rey mused
She'd left her blaster back at the bunker, there was no point in carrying it now; but she had kept her lightsaber clipped to the belt of her jacket. If today was her day of judgment; she would go down fighting!
Rey eventually stepped out into the chilly afternoon air, the perfect snow of the morning, was now slushy and dirty; covered in a thousand different footprints. Her own boots crunched below her as she slowly made her way to the main landing pad. She could see a midnight black shuttle with long swallow-like wings parked on the tarmac, steam was hissing out from the engines, yet the scene around her was eerily quiet.
Stormtroopers were starting to file into formation in front of the shuttle, but were leaving a clear path for her to approach. When Rey had come within about fifteen metres of the closed hatch of the shuttle, a tall soldier in chrome armour stepped out to bar her path.
"We've been expecting you Jedi, I am Captain Phasma of the First Order" announced a stern no-nonsense female voice through the mouthpiece of a shiny helmet. "From this point on, you will stay standing exactly where you are. If you move from this position or try any mind tricks, I've been instructed to execute that man over there." Phasma pointed to a nearby bloodied x-wing pilot kneeling in the snow with a stormtrooper blaster at his temple.
"It's Poe!" she realised but Rey was careful not to show emotion on her face that would indicate that she had any particular connection to him. It would only strengthen the bargaining power of the First Order and she believed she was playing a very risky game of Galactic Blackjack today.
"So where is Mr Kylo 'batshit crazy' Ren Esquire?" asked Rey defiantly.
It was impossible to tell whether Phasma was angry at Rey's impertinence. Instead the stormtrooper captain merely reached down and pulled back the hood of Rey's flak jacket, exposing her head to the freezing elements. The colourful ribbons in her hair fluttered in the frigid wind.
"He'll want to see your pretty face, and I for one am curious to see your reaction to him." Phasma said this with a hint of mirth. She turned away from Rey and marched over to the right hand side of the shuttle's hatch and stood to attention, motionless as a silver statue.
Rey pondered the meaning of Phasma's words, but decided against speculation. "I'll know soon enough," she thought with dread.
First Order soldiers now all seemed to be aligned in military precision ranks around the shuttle. Despite the cold, Rey felt herself sweating in her clothing. She could sense Kylo Ren was on the shuttle, she could feel his dark power in her mind… his obsession… his lust… but also surprisingly she felt his need to impress and please her.
As if he knew she was thinking of him, she heard his voice drift into her mind. "You're not alone anymore little scavenger, I'm here to take you away from this pitiful place and make you my Dark Queen, together we will rule the galaxy as husband and wife."
"Holy crap, this guy needs serious psychiatric help," thought Rey in terror.