Hirani studied the readouts on the last ten solar storms they had passed on their way to the backwater planet they were staying on.
The information was conclusive and she grimaced at what she was seeing.
She could recreate the effects of the storms, but directing it was going to be a problem.
Kes walked into her workspace and snapped his fingers in front of her nose, breaking her concentration.
"We'll find another way girl." He announced decisively. "The more time we waste here is more chances for them to find us."
"We need a way to take out that fence." She protested vehemently, turning back to her task but the old man grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
"No, Hirani. There are other ways." Kes admonished gently.
"They have my sons Kes." She whined plaintively. "I have to get them back."
"The boys are my family too, don't forget that Hirani." Kes pointed out gently. "We'll get them back; in the meantime I have an idea that might get us some results that will help the resistance at the same time."
~/~/~/~/~/~
The cavernous chamber was shrouded in forbidding ebony, cruel stone bled from the ceiling, down, down, down in ominous sheets that dressed three of the four walls and spilled across the rough, volcanic floor.
The only light in the room came from the grand, floor to ceiling window that admitted the menacing view of the planet, dark black stone endeavouring ceaselessly in an ultimately futile attempt to cage the raw, burning fury of Mustafar's glowing lithosphere.
The damning scenery was hardly conducive to peaceful rest, the boy standing at the window mused thoughtfully as he stared listlessly out at the volatile play taking place outside his current home.
Behind him he could hear his brother, identical in almost every way, sleeping deeply in the threateningly sumptuous quarters they shared.
Garran Dameron sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face before staring out across the hellscape again.
His mind however was a million light-years away, worrying over his mother; the men who had taken him away from his family had told him that he had been cast off, but they had not taken into account his close bond with his brother, and then after an accident he had been taken to this burning world where he was reunited with his brother, Kes.
Kes, he knew, was not willing to try to find their mother. He had faith in the man they were to call Master.
Kylo Ren kept promising to bring their mother to them, but every time he made that promise, something did not sit right with Garran, something Kes wasn't willing to believe.
Heaving another great sigh Garran turned and scowled at his oblivious brother; they needed to get off Mustafar and find her.
Garran new they could fly a TIE fighter; they just had to get to it.
Unfortunately the guards that kept them only left them unsupervised in their private chambers, but they were never unguarded, there was always someone at the door.
The small boy sat down and closed his eyes, hoping to meditate the way Kylo had taught him to before leaving Mustafar to answer the summons of the Supreme Leader.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Poe watched the languid seeming crawl of the vast black vacuum, a permanent night, stewing privately over Leia's harsh lecture.
As much as he wanted to, he couldn't deny that she was correct in her assessment. His tactics so far had only succeeded through luck; but they had lost countless lives to his half cocked schemes.
Around him there was a hive of activity on the bridge but he was largely left alone, he felt stung but he ultimately knew he would rebound; this rebuke was just part of a seemingly endless learning curve.
The proximity alert sounded, breaking his reverie and he rounded, moving to the closest monitor, his smarting pride forgotten.
"It's the First Order" Someone called tensely. "They've found us!"
The crew pulled up a holo scan of the space behind them and Poe went cold, horror stealing up his spine to lodge in his throat, a solid rock threatening to choke him.
"That's Snoke's ship." He managed past the contagious fear that swept everyone on that bridge into the unrelenting grip of its insidious infection, threatening to swamp them all in a desperate fugue of hopelessness. "You gotta be kidding me." The pilot growled, hot determination lancing the infection.
He hurried over to another console, standing with the rest of the crew required to pilot the small behemoth they were protected in.
"Can we jump to light speed?" He asked Connix as he hastened to join the chaotic order on the bridge.
"We have just enough fuel resources for one jump." The technician replied.
"Well then do it, we gotta get outta here." He replied, his fingers starting to fly over the controls.
"Wait." Leia ordered softly, her eyes betraying her horrifying realisation as she looked around at those who followed her so faithfully. "They've tracked us through light speed."
"That's impossible." Finn denied, looking at her incredulously. If anyone else had made that highly outlandish claim Poe would have agreed with the former storm trooper.
But Leia wasn't the head of the resistance and acting Chancellor of the New Republic for nothing.
"Yes, and they've done it." She replied.
"So if we jump to lightspeed, they'll just find us again and we'll be out of fuel." Finn concluded. "They've got us."
Poe looked at them all and then at the read outs from their tiny fleet and a wild hope blossomed in his chest.
"Not yet they don't" He rebuffed the dejected claim from his friend. "We still have a bombing fleet and plenty of fighters." He pointed out, hurrying around the console. "How quickly can we scramble to bombers and fighters?"
"We already have our bombing fleet out along with our escorts." Leia replied.
"Permission to jump in an X-Wing and blow something up?" Poe asked her hopefully.
"Permission granted Captain." Leia responded and Poe winced. "Admiral, swing us around and then head straight to your bridge and take command from there…" Poe didn't hear anymore as he sprinted from the main bridge, the other x-wing pilots that had been in the unofficial command centre following him closely as all hell broke loose in the space around them.
"Don't wait for me!" He called to BB8 as he ran. "Jump in and fire her up!" He watched his faithful droid shoot ahead, being knocked bodily from his feet as a series of rapid explosions rocked the ship.
"Dammit, they've got TIE's out and under the shields." Poe scrambled to his feet as he muttered this; not sparing a glance at his comrades he continued his headlong dash to the hangar, rounding the corner into the hangar in time to be blown back away from the doors by a blast that took out the entire hangar and everyone in it, except BB8 who came careening through the air with mechanical screech of indignant surprise.
Poe saw stars as his head slammed hard against the floor and he skidded across the floor into the corridor, the wind being knocked out of him.
Snap was at his side then, looking grim and Poe shared a moment of grief with the other man. Karé had been in that hangar when it exploded.
"Are you alright Poe?" Snap asked grimly, grabbing Poe's hand to help him up.
"We need to get out of range of those star destroyers." Poe said as the doors to the ruined hangar sealed. Beside him BB8 pulled himself together, literally and they hurried back to the bridge.
"We need to what?" Ackbar was saying over the intercom when the pair arrived back on the bridge.
"Full engines ahead." Leia replied. "Get out of range of the Star Destroyers and the fighters will fall back."
"All craft full engines! Concentrate rear shields" Ackbar started calling commands over the open lines between the fleet. "Any fighters available provide cover for the bombers and try to take out as many First Order ships as possible."
Leia turned to the youths with a fearful look in her eyes.
"Both of you report to the secondary hangar and get in the air. Finn go with them, offer any assistance you can. Poe I need you leading the assault." She ordered them and the two pilots nodded, running back out again followed by Finn.
Poe and Snap took in the outdated Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wings when they arrived and a look passed between them.
"It's a good thing we're the best pilots in the resistance." Poe said with a grimace. "This would be suicide otherwise."
"What do you mean would be?" Snap responded, equally grim. "This is suicide. Let's go." The pair hurried to get into the specialised flight suits required for surviving in these relics as their droids loaded into the astromech platforms.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Hirani sat back as the old rebels spoke around her. She picked at the simple food that had been put in front of her, yet more food that she couldn't keep down.
She smirked ruefully as a small argument broke out among the old men and women around her.
Several of them had mechanical limbs, which arguably made them far better at anything they chose to do than even the young men and women who were littered around the room.
"Are you alright lass?" Lana asked as she sat down beside Hirani.
"I'm worried about Poe and my sons." The younger woman admitted. "What if we're too late to help the resistance? What will happen to my sons?"
"We'll save them, and we'll defeat these fascist bastards." Lana responded blithely. "We beat the Empire."
"That was then." A gruff old Twi'lek snapped in Ryl. "This is now; none of the actual warriors in this room have held a weapon in years."
"Speak for yourself Che'eziveri." Hirani responded in kind. "There are many in this room who can handle a weapon."
"Who are you to defile my people's sacred language?" The Twi'lek sneered at her.
"My grandfather was Ano'onbondara, chief of the Bondara clan. I was born Hiran'ibondara, now I am Hiran'idameron, wife of Poe Dameron."
"You are not even half-caste." Chee replied coldly in basic then, leaning over her. "You did not choose a proper Twi'lek husband Hirani Dameron and your ancestral clan is dead. You are nothing."
Hirani shut her mouth, refusing to respond to the blatantly racist remarks the Twi'lek was making.
"That's uncalled for Chee." Another old rebel called him out then. "We have another war to fight." He added. "It's fine if you want to go home and pretend nothing is wrong with the galaxy, but I'm going to join Kes and Lana. Who's with me?"
In the end a little over half of the gathered rebels and their children raised their hands to join the revived rebel alliance, many choosing to give Chee Ziveri dirty looks.
The rest left to return to their homes and the rebels put their heads together to plan.
So, this isn't my best work, I promise I will be tying as much as possible together as neatly as I can. Don't give up on me yet please, I freely admit that I am no tactician but I am doing my best.
And hell yeah, I'm bring the rebel alliance back, along with the kids of the rebels that didn't immediately join the resistance.
Vive la revolution!