Chapter 6
Leia pulled her daughter aside, taking her wrist and holding her back just before she would climb into the spaceship after Chewie and the six most-trained Resistance members that had been selected by Caluan to protect her. A duo in a smaller but fast spaceship had been selected to follow them in case the Millenium Falcon got damaged beyond repair – the mere thought of her father's ship not making the confrontation had devastated Rey. Finn and Luke, meanwhile, would take it upon themselves to go to the source and go for the Supreme Leader himself, Poe following behind them separately. They had thought long and hard about who would go for which goal, but it had seemed best for Rey to draw the more power-hungry away from the base and give her the best defense while the quicker and more knowledgeable went for the core as everyone's attention was elsewhere. It was too important that they be able to challenge Phasma and Hux and eventually (or sooner) Ben at the same time as the Supreme Leader. It would be the only way to make the First Order fall.
The General's brown eyes roved over the younger girl's face, noting no fear in her expression but only determination. She was so much like her father. The hints of it that had been there before they had decided to give her up had blossomed and come to their full glory.
"I know you don't want to hear it right now. I know you're angry for the decisions we made in order to try and protect you, but please don't let that anger lead you into death," the older woman whispered in a raspy voice. She doubted that the pig-headed girl would pay as much attention to the words as she wished she would, but she could still try.
Opening her mouth for easy rebuttal, to release the words that implied that she had had to deal with everything on her own already and this wasn't something she wasn't used to, Jaina Solo changed her mind at the last second, as she saw the woman who was her mother's face before her and read the pain and fear in her expression. Taking a leap of faith, the untrained Jedi gently pulled her wrist free from the General's grasp only to squeeze the older hand with her own. Briefly, she saw disappointment and grief flash through the eyes she had inherited as Leia thought she would pull away without more. "I promise I'll be careful," she whispered, holding her mother's gaze a moment longer before turning around and climbing into the spaceship. Leia glanced at her base one last time before following her, hoping by all means that they would all be able to come back there unscathed. She had little hope for that lucky outcome, though.
Maneuvering the spaceship away from the hidden base, Rey set off for a small journey around space and the star systems within it. They had decided at the Resistance's base that they would fly around for a maximum of two hours before returning if no attack came. They all knew that an attack would come as soon as the First Order realized their presence. The Millennium Falcon was too recognizable and too much of a desired target. The uncertainty of what was going to happen was tangible in the cockpit of the spaceship, though. Swallowing, Rey kept her eyes straight ahead, her hands slightly shaky on the steering system. She could feel her heart beat slam against her ribcage, brown eyes sliding over the clear black around them, not a hint of an enemy ship to be seen. "How do you think they would attack?" she asked in general without taking her eyes off of her path.
The other people in the cockpit remained quiet, the Whookiee merely shrugging and grumbling mostly to himself and the General not speaking for several minutes either, until at last, she said, "I couldn't tell you. I expect it will be one of two ways, one more likely than the other. They will either bombard us and take the Falcon down and try to kill us as fast as possible, in the air or not, or they will try to keep us alive for as long as we can provide information. I am placing my bet on the latter. They will want to know why an untrained girl can master the Force better than a trained, runaway Jedi. I don't believe they would just let it pass without wanting the information or without attempting to lure you into joining their side."
Blinking to the side at her mother, noting the forlorn expression in her eyes as she undoubtedly thought about the son she lost to the dark side, Rey spoke, ever so gently, "I will not be joining them, too."
"I know." A small bout of uncertainty laced those words still.
"I–" Rey started, but she never got the chance to finish her sentence.
A flash of red was visible a millisecond before the sound of a laser shot slamming into the back of the Falcon resounded and Rey felt the spaceship swerve off course at the impact, alarms and bleeps and lights on the dashboard ringing and flashing as the ship announced danger. She heard the rest of the passengers stumble and yell in the back of the ship, Chewie's rumbling screams louder than anyone, especially as the second laser shot impacted just before she managed to take charge of the steering again and evade more damage.
"Fuck!"
It felt as if the ship hung still in space for a moment before they felt themselves fall, faster, faster. Rey tried to do her very best to stop them from falling, terrified and certainly not so sure that this had been the best decision but rather the one that would get them all killed. It was as if they had expected this, had been prepared. She felt not so certain about her mother's words anymore. This seemed like they wanted to get them killed rather than take them captive.
Through the window, she noted the others' ship falling even faster than the Millennium Falcon, part of it burning in space as it made to crash and kill the people inside. They would never make it alive, she thought. Her heart racing as she began to lose faith in her own abilities to save them, she saw a giant explosion before she saw the ship containing members of the Resistance meant to tail them slam down into the uneven surface of the star they had landed on, and then the enemy ship that had attacked her. They had damaged each other too much for a chance of survival, and she felt a pang of guilt and heartache at the loss of the people whose names she barely knew even in all her panic as the spaceships, crashed feet apart only, caught fire.
Meanwhile, they kept falling and falling and falling, and she tried to do her best to focus on making sure they would not serve the same fate. The surface began to come incredibly close, and it was only just in time that she managed to hit the right buttons to slow their fall and minimize the impact of the crash. She doubted they had attacked with the hope of keeping anyone alive. This was for death. The buttons were pushed just too late to stop the impact entirely, though, and the Millennium Falcon crashed with a giant screeching sound, shaking them all inside. Rey's head slammed against the dashboard, and she saw her mother's face as she briefly glanced sideways. She fought against the darkness that made reality dissolve, but lost consciousness with explosions banging around her.