A/N:

To new followers of the fic: welcome! Thank you for following, and I hope you'll see this fic to the end.

I set this chapter up to be a bit of an emotional reprieve from the previous two chapters. We return to some characters that haven't been dealt with in this fic for some time.

In any case, I hope you'll enjoy reading it. Feel free to let me know if you have any feedback, theories, etc.!

- Althea_Draxus

"What do you mean you don't know where she went?" Poe nearly shouted in exasperation at the dull gold humanoid.

C3-PO wasn't taking the scolding very well. "I've told you, Captain Dameron, she was right here in this room when I last saw her," he answered in a rather obtuse tone. If his face was more tactile, he would probably be furrowing his brows, extremely cross at being treated this way by some hotheaded pilot. His best friend, that petite blue and white R2-D2, beeped in support. C3-PO turned to the droid and waved his hand slightly. "It's alright R2, I've gotten used to being treated this way by the Captain."

R2-D2 screeched something in response.

Poe looked on at the two of them and sighed, putting a hand on his forehead. "Damn it. We have to leave very soon, those Pamarthean flyboys have patience as thin as thread." He gave Threepio one last look. "Are you sure Rey didn't tell you where she was going?"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself to you, Captain Dame-"

"Yeah okay, I get it, thanks Threepio," Poe waved him off. R2-D2's head swiveled in his direction. "Yes you too R2." The droid beeped again. "Yes, thank you for fixing up the Falcon. Both of you."

Finn came up to him, clearly worried about their missing friend. "Where could she be?" He gestured to Rey's cloak, which was still on one of the seats in the cockpit. "It's freezing out there and she didn't bring it with her. She can't have gone far."

"I know." Poe raked a hand through his hair. "Plus she had all those lightsaber stuff on her bed. I don't think she'll be out without at least a blaster, especially in a place like this."

"Do you think you can stall your new friends for a while?" Finn suggested. "I'll search for Rey."

"No. Finn, I need you to stay here. On board."

"Wait, what? Hey, Rey could be who knows where out there -"

"Yeah I know, Finn, I know," Poe cut in firmly. "But listen. Me, Commander D'Arcy, Connick, Nien Numb... we'll go talk to the Pamarthe boys and see if they can't help us locate her. If not, at the very least we can stall them while we look for Rey." Poe grimaced. "Although they probably can't care less about her since she's not an officer, but let's try our luck."

Finn didn't look convinced, so Poe sighed and slung an arm across his friend's shoulder. "Look, we all want to be out of this place ASAP, okay? Daxam isn't exactly Allies grounds. If anything happens to us out there, we need someone who can fly the rest of the team out of here. We need someone who can fight. We need someone who can make sure the Resistance survives no matter what." He thumped Finn's chest lightly. "Can you do it?"

"...Find her, Poe," Finn acquiesced reluctantly. The starfighter pilot shot him a half-smile and gave him a reassuring pat on the arm before he left.

Noticing that Poe was gone, C3-PO sidled up to Finn, presumably to continue his complaints. The Resistance's latest officer was having none of it. "No, I'm still angry at you, Threepio."

"Captain Finn, Miss Rey was really asleep near her bed when I last saw her," the humanoid insisted. "But suddenly she was gone."

R2-D2 let out a few more agitated beeping sounds. Finn looked at the droid, and then back at C3-PO for a translation.

"R2 said that we've been here in the main area of the Falcon all day," C3-PO continued. "If Miss Rey had left, we would definitely have seen her." R2-D2 let out a long squeal. Finn thought he sounded angry. He suspected it had something to do with Poe's earlier reaction, but he didn't want to ask. C3-PO too must have thought it better to divert the conversation elsewhere. "Did the meeting go well?"

Finn gave the droids a generic, reassuring answer before excusing himself to his bed, located in the quarters right next to Rey's. He sighed deeply as he thought back to what had transpired on the planet. In all honesty, the meeting with the Pamarthe Resistance went just fine. Of course, initially their convoy was greeted by a ring of about fifteen starfighter pilots aiming their blasters at them. But once Commander D'Arcy identified herself and pulled out a hologram message from Mon Mothma, the pilots' leader Aslik Sallaros was more than happy to host them over at their base located at one of Daxam IV's more remote outskirts. Rey had to stay behind on the Falcon, no thanks to Sallaros's snobbish officers-only policy. But the rest of the Resistance had hopped onto the snow trucks driven Sallaros and his friends to make their way over to the Pamarthe Resistance base. It was cleverly hidden behind a fake ice wall. It also had its secrecy guaranteed by paying the cartels running the area. In exchange, the pilots ran smuggling errands for them: weapons, fuel, even drugs and slaves. Rose wasn't particularly impressed by that piece of information. Neither was Finn, but he wasn't surprised. This was Daxam IV after all, and the Pamarthe Resistance's expressed orders were to ensure their underground survival at all cost. No one except the highest command of the Resistance was supposed to know they existed.

The Pamarthe Resistance base ran underground for four floors, even though it had two above-ground floors disguised as a warehouse for wool. The warehouse farce was complete with unsuspecting guards and workers who genuinely had no idea that they were scurrying around on top of a fully defensible fortress on a daily basis. The entrance to the underground floors was located in a shed next to the waste disposal area of the warehouse, accessible only by the Pamarthean Resistance officers who knew which exact wooden panels to press - and in which order - to enter their base. It was complex and impressive at the same time, and Poe had remarked to Finn that perhaps they too should consider such "fancy tricks" in the future. Meanwhile, Commander D'Arcy had muttered something about how they first needed to find a physical base in the Outer Rim, away from First Order space but close enough to the Core worlds.

Sallaros overheard their conversation, apparently. In an unexpected gesture of generosity, Sallaros unveiled to them a complete map of bases, both belonging to the Resistance or Rebel Alliance at one point in time, and those belonging to other military factions but have since been abandoned and forgotten. When asked how the Pamarthe Resistance got hold of such information, Sallaros just shrugged and credited it to Mon Mothma, "On several occasions, Her Excellency's historian training proves to be useful."

Both parties had deliberated on viable locations to re-establish a base, taking into consideration location, defense capacities, and communications availability. Commander D'Arcy and Poe were in favour of focusing on one strategic place, since both officers were reluctant to spread out the already decimated Resistance. But the Pamartheans suggested maintaining several bases - perhaps one or two functional ones, while the rest were decoys to be operated remotely.

"We have enough old planes that we can't care less if they get blown up anyway," was Sallaros's way of offering assistance.

Eventually they settled on five bases. The actual base would be located in the Mid Rim planet of Quas Killam for two reasons: its present government's sympathy for the Resistance, and that its main business was weapons manufacturing. ("Better the Resistance than have it fall to the Order," Sallaros had remarked wryly.) Meanwhile decoy bases would be scattered across the sectors, including at the peripheries of First Order space, but only on planets that were no longer inhabited or gas giants to minimize collateral damage. Sallaros then adjourned to have a discussion with his Team of 25 about the Pamarthe Resistance's place in this entire scheme. He returned about five hours later with his deputies, and announced that they had reached a consensus. The Pamartheans would escort the Resistance to Quas Killam, but they themselves would not stay on at the new base. Instead, Sallaros promised to send assistance when urgently required. Not even his admiration for Poe could sway his decision.

With the arrangement settled, the plan was for the Resistance to immediately return to the Falcon and prepare to jump to hyperspace to get to Quas Killam. Commander D'Arcy was more sanguine about staying on a bit longer on the tundra planet, but Poe was anxious to keep moving. It was as he had told Finn: Daxam IV was teeming with allies, enemies, and mercenaries. If the First Order could trace them to Chandrila, they could easily locate them on this cartel-ridden planet. They needed to leave quickly.

Except that now, Rey had mysteriously gone missing. Finn wanted to believe that she stepped out of the Falcon for a quick survey of Daxam IV's landscape, but she would definitely have brought her heavy cloak. Rey might be a Jedi, but she was from a blazing hot desert. Even Finn himself had to bundle up to stave off the planet's icy winds, and he had the benefit of years of Stormtrooper in-snow training. Plus C3-PO and R2-D2 were adamant that Rey had not left the Falcon.

Maybe it's a Jedi thing to disappear, Finn thought to reassure himself, even though the very idea of it sounded preposterous even in his head. He peered into Rey's quarters, which still had no Rey but only the dismantled components of her lightsaber and blaster on her cot. Finn sat down next to it, and noticed that somehow Rey managed to dislodge the blue Kyber crystal from the lightsaber's casing.

"She did it," Finn chuckled, remembering how frustrated she had been all this while at the stubbornness of the crystal. He was about to stand up to leave when he noticed rippling in the space next to him. Finn frowned. He reached out to touch it, but then yelped when all of a sudden Rey materialized beside him. She was clearly asleep, with a black cape draped over her. Finn watched on with a mixture of shock and disbelief as something invisible adjusted the cape to rest on her shoulders, and tucked her fringe behind her ear.

What was going on here? Cautiously he poked her shoulder, his bewilderment intensifying when he realized that the Rey that had appeared before him had a material presence. He tapped her shoulder again, this time round calling out her name, "Rey! Rey!"

His voice must have shocked her, because Rey jolted awake with a cry, "Ben!"

"Ben?"

She blinked a few times, before glancing around her. When she noticed Finn seated beside her, she murmured, "Finn...? And the Falcon... I'm back?"

"Back? Rey, what happened?" Finn asked, his brows furrowing with concern. There was a strange sadness around her.

Rey touched her forehead absentmindedly. "How did I get back here?"

"You for real, Rey? Poe and I honestly thought you went missing from the ship. But suddenly you appeared out of thin air right here, where you're seated. What happened?"

"I was..." Rey's words trailed off when she noticed the cape enveloped around her. She fingered the zinged edges and tears on the cloth, a detail that Finn came to notice as well. Where had he seen it before?

Suddenly, he remembered that Poe and Commander D'Arcy were otherwise looking for her. Now that Rey was back, he should inform them so they could make their way out of Daxam IV as soon as possible. "Hold on, I gotta let Poe know you're back. But Rey... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I am," Rey simply nodded at him with a forced smile. "It's just..." She laughed, but it sounded so hollow. "Wait, let me just get my head around all of this first."

"Okay, I'll be back. You can tell me more later." Finn returned her smile with a more sincere one of his own before he left to get to the commlinks to update Poe.

As he made his way to the cockpit, he thought back to the cape that Rey was wearing. He couldn't shake off the feeling that it was a very familiar-looking piece.

Finn suddenly stopped in his tracks. Hold on, Rey also mentioned a name. Ben. Didn't it originally belong to a particular person, who now went by a different one? A person who had no qualms ordering his men to fire all their guns on a single man, someone who had killed his own father. And of course, the very person who had almost killed him on Starkiller Base.

Kylo Ren.

His commlink beeped, indicating that Poe was on the other line. Finn hurriedly spoke into it, "Hey, Rey's back! Head on back, we're good to go."

But why did Rey have his cape? Where had she gone? And why was she so distraught for him, her enemy? None of this made any sense.

"She's back?!" Poe's voice crackled through. "Okay great! We're coming back to base. Set it up for flight."

"Got it," Finn said before he disconnected.

Rey would surely have answers for everything that happened. Her sudden disappearance, her apparition, Kylo Ren's distinguishable cape draped over her. Finn needed to know, but he would ask her later, as a friend. If it turned out to be something that needed to be hidden from the rest of the team... well, that can be a worry for later.

Meanwhile, somewhere on board the Finalizer in First Order space, Armitage Hux admired the way he a lavish red robe with white and gold trimmings complemented his hair and pale skin. He looked stately, the way that a Supreme Leader ought to look. He had secretly commissioned the robe to be made for him. How unfortunate he could only revel in such appearances in the privacy of his quarters. But this would only be until he ascended the throne, as he should have in the first place.

A couple of officers were seated in his quarters with him. Some of them were unable to conceal their amusement at the sight of their General pacing about with his robe flowing behind him. If they were friends, he probably would have minded it. Except that friends did not exist in the First Order. There were only loyalists and temporary allies. A good thing that both were dispensable. But for now, they served him very well, Hux had no reason to terminate any of them.

It was courtesy of his loyalists that Hux now had in his possession recovered holotapes of what had transpired on the Supremacy all those months ago. Everyone had assumed that all data was lost after the Raddus crashed through the dreadnought. Ren of course was completely uninterested in such acquisition. In fact, he would have called for the First Order to abandon the Supremacy entirely if he had his way. It was Hux who had argued and insisted that they retain the Supremacy, as a floating fortress for the much smaller Finalizer.

But unknown to Ren, Hux had also wanted the Order to retain the Supremacy because he wasn't entirely convinced by Ren's tall story about how a scavenger girl had snuck onto the dreadnought and annihilated not only Supreme Leader Snoke but the Praetorian Guards, not to mention knocking out Ren himself. Between Ren and that desert rat, it seemed more likely that Ren had perpetrated all of it.

Hux had secretly inquired members of the Order who were on the Supremacy that fateful day. It wasn't a difficult task; perhaps Ren forgot that behind their masks, Stormtroopers had eyes and a loyalty to serve the Order first above all. They had informed him that apparently Ren had spent a large part of the day anxiously standing at the bridge, as if waiting for something. When a pod delivered itself into the Supremacy's hangar, he almost ran towards it and would have opened the door of the pod himself if not for the Stormtroopers' insistence to do it as a security measure. Rather than an object, the pod revealed a person - that very desert rat from Jakku. At least two Stormtroopers claimed they saw the barest hint of a smile on Ren's face as he helped her out of the pod. The only thing Ren allowed the Stormtroopers to do was to cuff her, but he was to be the only one to escort her up the elevator towards the throne room. Those accounts were enough to convince Hux to order that holotapes of relevant places in the Supremacy be recovered as much as possible.

He was not disappointed. If anything, his suspicion was vindicated. His loyalists managed to retrieve most parts of the security tapes in the elevator and in the throne room. Hux had watched as those tapes showed him the way the lightsaber sliced Supreme Leader Snoke in half, and how all the Praetorian Guards were massacred. It was enough to drag Ren down.

But as Hux reviewed the tapes further, he noticed something else: Ren's utter fascination with the girl. The way his head turned to look at her every time she moved. A Supreme Leader unable to resist an enemy of the Order was a story Hux never expected, but right now, terribly useful if he needed to make use of it.

This was why he had gathered these officers in his quarters: to figure out the next step. Against a Force Sensitive like Ren, the only viable option seemed to be a coup backed by the entire Order. But with the current evidence Hux had, he might as well also use it to isolate the Resistance further. Hux had listened to the suggestions offered by his officers as he donned his future imperial robe and paced about in his quarters, weighing their options seriously.

By the time he returned the robes to his wardrobe, the officers knew he had made his decision.

General Armitage Hux regarded them with a triumphant smirk. "We proceed, officers. Release the tapes."