Rey and Ben were not met by Imperial starships at the Rebel base, but smoldering remains. Taking his place in the cargo hold to avoid detection, Ben left the cockpit while Rey angled the ship with the swift deftness of a skilled pilot. When she departed the ship, Rey was met by a handful of Rebels, some known while others she didn't recognize. It was often uncomfortable when newcomers greeted her, as many viewed her as some sort of galactic savior. No matter how many times she tried to dissuade this belief, she couldn't get some individuals to understand that she was merely human.
"Did one of the Rebels brief you on the situation?" Rey was asked almost instantaneously.
"No," she replied. "We- I mean I- received a distress call from this location. That's the only contact I had. Did one of you send it?"
The Rebels looked curiously at one another. "We didn't call you," one of the men said. "We know you are on a very important mission right now, so we don't have access to your channels. Quite frankly, we didn't even know you were able to receive transmissions,"
Rey was quiet for a moment. "What's going on?" she asked.
As it turned out, the First Order had indeed attacked. To the Rebels surprise, however, the supporters of the Sith were not out for blood. This time, they wanted something intangible: information.
"What sort of information were they after?" Rey probed, keeping an eye on her cruiser as the small crowd led her further away. What she couldn't wrap her head around was why this particular base had been singled out. As far as she could tell, none of the top tactical leaders were even there.
"They had their hearts set against the Jedi," one of the female pilots said. "They knew some of the Rebels at this station were privy to the Jedis' location. And as soon as they got what they were looking for…" the pilot gritted her teeth, "They ceased fire and left,"
Rey stopped dead in her tracks. She thought of Luke and the eight other Padawans who trained under him. About half of the Padawans were teenagers, while the others merely children. Alone, they were no match for the dark army.
Perhaps this was what the First Order wanted all along: to steal the encrypted codes for her radio channel, and then lure her to this base, where she would then find out about the unshielded Jedi and run straight to their aid, right into the arms of the First Order.
And why wouldn't they expect otherwise? She'd sought them out when they'd captured Ben. Was it really surprising that the First Order would now put what she considered her extended family in danger as well?
"Where are the Jedi now?" Rey asked, her heart racing. One of the Rebels typed information into a device, and a hologram of a planet appeared.
"They were training amongst the ruins of an old civilization," the Rebel explained. "Luke was teaching the Padawans about histories of the Jedi past,"
"Have any of our crew gone after the First Order, or left to warn the Jedi?" Rey asked.
"Yes," another pilot, one Rey bunked with in the past, replied. "The First Order all but destroyed our ships at this location, but the neighboring bases sent their pilots, Poe and his men included,"
Rey glanced around at the scene before her. She was surrounded by people who were either injured or aiding the injured. She felt the pull to the help the Jedi, but at the same time she did not wish to leave the wounded unassisted on the base.
"You should go," Rey's bunkmate said, as if reading her mind. "We've called for re-enforcements here. Right now, it's the Jedi that are in need of your help,"
