Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

Let's get to it.

MatbeK01: They will, but they won't be the only First Order forces present. As for the Grysk War, it will be ending soon, but not before the Battle of Exegol.

Chapter 83- An Unexpected Blessing

(March 16, 2053)

As the sun rises high over Naboo, in the living room of their apartment in Theed, Ben and Rey are gathered in the living room and are in the midst of playing with Vestara. After the frustrations of the last month, they take every moment they have with their daughter even more seriously.

Rey smiles as she quickly moves a small stuffed nexu around in the air using the Force. Vestara is giggling like crazy as she toddles around after it, trying to catch the toy. Ben and Rey are both laughing together as they watch their daughter trying to run as fast as she can after her toy.

"You've got it, little star. You've got it," Rey says encouragingly. Vestara just continues to giggle as she chases after it, arms outstretched. Soon enough, Rey sees Vestara stretch out one hand particularly far, and the stuffed nexu stops in midair as Rey feels something resisting her hold on the toy. After just a second, the toy begins floating back towards Vestara and into her little hands, which makes her squeal with delight.

Rey shakes her head, but with a smile on her face. Ben chuckles from where he is sitting on the couch. "We definitely need to keep a close eye on her until she gets old enough to understand how to use her powers. She's a little too mischievous for her own good," Ben says.

"Our little trouble-maker," Rey says with a small laugh, just staring with adoration at her daughter.

As she sits there, looking at Vestara play with the stuffed toy, Rey reflects back on the last few years and how much things have changed for her. Just a few years ago, she was a scavenger on Jakku, just harvesting parts from old shipwrecks to survive with no sign her life would ever be anything but that, and no knowledge of her family at all. Now, she is a Jedi Knight, she has a husband, she's a mom, and she has learned she is a descendant of one of the most influential family lines in galactic history. Life has definitely not turned out like she thought it would, but she wouldn't trade it for anything.

(Outer Rim)

On the bridge of the battlecruiser TAS Duke of York, Vice Admiral Bianchi is waiting for the task force to come out of hyperspace. He's only hoping he can get there in time.

A short time ago, Jonathan had received a tip that a First Order task force had come to the Endor system. Given there wasn't currently a garrison in the system except for a single company of American troops on the planet itself to keep an eye on the Ewoks and ensure no trouble befell them, as well as to protect a small Terran research facility on Endor, Jonathan had quickly dispatched Admiral Bianchi's task force, which had been stationed in the Chalcedon system not too far away.

Biachi's task force was relatively small, but packed a lot of firepower. In addition to the Duke of York, Bianchi had the former First Order battlecruiser Finalizer (now rechristened the TAS Han Solo as a tribute to the fallen war hero and as a personal jab against Kylo Ren), two Tokyo class Star Destroyers, a Baltimore class Star Destroyer, a former New Republic MC80 cruiser, three Naboo class heavy cruisers, and two Anzio class light cruisers. He just hoped it was enough to repel the incursion, as there wasn't any intel on the size of the task force that the First Order had sent.

"Vice Admiral, navicomputer shows we are 30 seconds from the end of hyperspace run," a navigation officer calls out.

"All ships to battlestations!" Bianchi orders. In seconds, general quarters alarms sound on all ships of the task force.

Bianchi waits patiently for the task force to emerge from hyperspace. After 25 seconds, alarms sound to signal that the force is about to come out of hyperspace. And five seconds later, the blue of hyperspace lengthens out, and then the task force drops out of hyperspace.

Immediately, Bianchi scans the view from the viewport. However, to his surprise, all he can see above Endor is two small orbital defense platforms that the Alliance had installed at the outbreak of the war. The platforms were about the size of a football field each and each carried a dozen turbolasers, and were manned by just a dozen people each. There is no sign of the expected First Order fleet.

Bianchi scans his entire range of visions several times to make sure he's not mistaken before he calls out, "Scanners, any sign of enemy forces?"

"Negative, sir," an officer calls back to him.

Bianchi sighs. "A false alarm," he mutters. There had been several of those in the last week. Jonathan was concerned that the First Order had found a way to feed faulty intelligence to the Alliance and was doing so to throw the Alliance off guard and wear down their responses ahead of the anticipated attack by the Dark Empire.

"I'd say thats probably so, admiral," one of the men manning the sensors responds.

"Alright. Well, best to make sure. Launch fighters and begin patrols throughout the system. I want to be absolutely sure the First Order isn't here," Bianchi orders.

Orders are relayed down to the hangar bay. The pilots feel a sense of relief to know that they won't be going into battle after all, and those that will still be flying actually take a few minutes to allow for drinks and snacks brought to their fighters for a quick refreshment before they take off while most of the pilots actually leave their cockpits to get a real lunch.

The Duke of York soon launches 20 of its starfighters. The fighters separate into pairs and head off to their designated patrol sectors. Each pilot powers up their sensors to full power, and settle in for what they expect to be a rather boring patrol.

On board the ships of the task force, the crews settle down, and the captains cancel the call to general quarters. The environment is quickly settling into a slightly tense calm.

On the bridge of the Duke of York, Admiral Bianchi moves into the center of the bridge to confer with his staff and have a quick meeting regarding the latest intelligence reports. With Operation Overlord II stalled after the Emperor's broadcast, as Jonathan was tightening the Alliance's defensive lines in the event that Exegol could not be located in time.

The meeting lasts for 20 minutes. As they are wrapping up, Admiral Bianchi calls out, "Any reports from our starfighters?"

"Negative, admiral. All flights report no sign of enemy activity," a communications officer calls out.

"Alright. Start calling the fighters back," Bianchi orders. Bianchi then turns to his staff and says, "I say we leave our Star Destroyers here just in case the First Order does show up."

"Agreed, admiral," his chief of staff says.

"Prepare the orders for our Star Destroyers. And once, our starfighters are back, we'll head back to Chalcedon," Bianchi says.

The other men give their approval, and the meeting ends. The officers begin to disperse, and Bianchi goes to take his usual position at the viewport.

As Bianchi is lost in his thoughts, the buzz of chatter on the bridge hardly even a noise in his ear, an alarm suddenly jolts him out of his thoughts. Bianchi swivels his head around as he demands, "Status!"

A few moments later, one of his officers monitoring the ship's sensors calls out, "Admiral, I've got a contact coming out of hyperspace!"

"ID?" Bianchi demands, thinking he might end up having to do battle after all.

"Standby," the officer says. He types away furiously for a second before he says, "Admiral, I'm getting a code back. It looks like one our codes, but this series, I haven't seen it in a long time."

The officer continues typing for a few seconds, and Bianchi can see that he's pulled up a list on his console, presumably trying to identify the contact from a list of all registered Terran codes. Privately, Bianchi wonders if this operation has timed with the cargo vessel that comes to Endor once a month, bringing supplies for the researchers and scientists on the moon and for the Ewoks.

Suddenly, the officer throws his headphones off and springs to his feet, shock written all over his face as he stares down at the screen. Bianchi can't see what he's looking at, but the man sitting beside the officer can as he takes a look at the man's screen. A second later, he also springs to his feet, eyes bugging out of his head.

"What is it, men?" Bianchi demands.

Both officers stare at the admiral, eyes wide and mouths gaping. Everyone on the bridge is now focused on them and their strange reactions, wondering what could've caused this. Finally, the first officer manages to find his voice and says, "Vice Admiral…the code that I'm picking up…it's from the Hood."

The silence that crosses the bridge is so complete you could literally hear a pin drop. Everyone is just staring at the officer in question, unable to believe what they just heard. Then, another alarm sounds to signal that the contact is coming out of hyperspace.

Bianchi slowly turns his head towards the viewport, and right as he does, a massive vessel drops out of hyperspace not far from them. And Bianchi's eyes widen even more as he recognizes the distinctive shape of a Repulse-class battlecruiser.

Bianchi takes a moment to take in the sight before him. The ship before him is clearly a Repulse-class vessel, thanks to certain small but distinct design differences between the two classes. But the ship looks as if it's sailed through hell and been hastily patched. Several large sections of the hull are no longer made of the thick, grey metal they once were, instead patched up with a gold colored metal, with the patchwork clearly not done by professionals who knew what they were doing. Using his binocks, Bianchi scans the hull and can see some weapons mounts are mangled. There's also some craters in the hull surrounding the bridge, and some damage around the tail. The prow of the ship is no longer pointed, as the very tip has been torn apart by an explosion of some kind in the past. Small pits line the edge of the ship, clearly battle damage. Although not in peak condition, she's certainly not a wreck, and Bianchi doesn't doubt she could still give most ships a run for their money in battle. On top of it all, he can also see clear signs of wear and tear that he knows come from not having had any maintenance, cleaning, or dockwork done in many years.

Hope that he's not dreaming this rises, but Bianchi knows he needs to see one more thing first. He scans the hull, looking for the tell-tale markings that will confirm it. And finally, he finds them. Along the bottom of the hull, he can just catch part of the flag of the United Kingdom painted on the hull, and on the top of the hull, the ship's seal. And the final nail in the coffin, right along the side of the bridge, he just see, painted in now-gold letters a single name: Hood.

"How? How is this possible?" Bianchi mutters in shock. Like everyone in the Alliance, he believed that the Hood was gone for good. Most within the Alliance believed that the ship had been destroyed, with the rest thinking she had either gotten so lost that she would never be seen again or that she had been captured by some unknown party. After over 30 years since her disappearance, it was accepted by all, save a few of the families of those aboard who still held out faith, that the Hood would never be seen again.

A few more moments pass in silence before one of the communications officers calls out, "Admiral, we've got someone attempted to contact us on official Starfleet frequency."

"Put them through," Bianchi orders.

Bianchi turns towards the large holotable in the center of the bridge. A moment later, an image of an old man in a Terran naval officer's uniform appears before them. Even though the man is much older than any of his photos Bianchi has seen, Bianchi knows who this is.

"Admiral Pellaeon," Bianchi says in shock.

"Yes, this is Admiral Gilad Pellaeon. Who am I speaking to?" Pellaeon asks.

"This is Vice Admiral Bianchi, Terran Starfleet, Andromeda Fleet," Bianchi responds. He pauses for a moment, then says, "Admiral Pellaeon, serial number." He doesn't want to take the chance that this might be someone just impersonating the admiral.

Pellaeon smiles a bit as he immediately repeats off his serial number. Bianchi glances to the side, and an officer checking to confirm the number nods to confirm it's right.

"Admiral…how?" is all that Bianchi can get out.

"On our mission all those decades ago, we ran into a missing Imperial Super Star Destroyer that we were forced to engage in battle. The resulting battle caused terrible damage to the ship, including the destruction of our long-range communications, the loss of most of our stored maps, and heavy damage to our hyperdrive. We were never able to repair certain systems, and so we were forced to wander the Unknown Regions all this time until we were able to find a way to return. It wasn't until recently that we were able to acquire the navigational data needed to return home," Pellaeon says.

Bianchi and the bridge staff are still too stunned to speak. Pellaeon is quiet for a moment before he says, "Vice Admiral Bianchi, I need your task force to escort my ship back to Naboo. I must speak with the commander of the Andromeda Fleet immediately."

And, I'll end there.

At last, the mighty Hood has returned! And with her, the climax of this story is about to begin.

Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!