The Supremacy was cut in half, most of her support ships were completely destroyed, and the Raddus was… gone.

Poe stood looking out the starboard porthole at the incredible destruction that Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo had just caused, his whole being filled with both awe and sorrow. He placed a hand on Leia's shoulder when he saw her sway, holding her steady. The woman was still visibly weak, but after the Supremacy had started taking out the shuttles one by one, she had stood, almost as if she refused to face death sitting down.

She wavered a bit once more, and Poe grasped her shoulders firmly and directed her back to the bench seat. "Sit," he told her softly. Shockingly, the woman obeyed.

He squeezed her gently. "I'll be right back," he said, then he left her to move into the cockpit. The other survivors in the shuttle were silent and they watched him with stunned eyes. So many dead, in just a few minutes time. It was impossible to tell how many of the Resistance members had survived the slaughter the First Order had been implementing before Holdo had turned the Raddus and jumped to lightspeed. They would need to regroup as soon as possible, before the First Order could do so.

"How much farther?" Poe asked Kamal, who was piloting the shuttle.

The young woman looked at the coordinates on the controls in front of her. "If this is where we're going," she said, pointing at the numbers. "Then not far."

Poe nodded, then asked softly, "How many are left?"

The woman looked at him, her expressions still a bit stunned. "Six, sir."

Six. Only six transports were left. There had been thirty on the Raddus, and he assumed they had all been launched. That was over 200 souls gone. He gave Kamal's shoulder a squeeze, then turned back to the main hold. He moved to sit next to Leia, who was leaning against the window, eyes staring blankly out into space.

He watched her for a while. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice cracking. "This is all my fault. Rose and Finn… they got caught. I heard it happen just before you…"

Leia turned toward him, a small smile on her lips. "Before I shot you?"

Poe nodded. "They're probably dead now, too," he mumbled. "BB-8 destroyed." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry."

"Poe," Leia said, her voice firm. She waited until he lifted his eyes to look at her. "What was your intent with this plan of Finn and Rose's? Why did you take over the Raddus?"

Poe swallowed. "I was trying to save us," he said, his voice tremoring. "I was… stupid."

Leia snorted. "No, you were not stupid," she said. "Impulsive, maybe. Not letting yourself think things through. But not stupid." She sighed. "Poe, you haven't been your best these past few days, and it's not your fault. I would have pulled you from active duty and had you strapped down in the med bay if I hadn't needed you so badly."

Poe rolled his eyes. "You should have," he told her. "I would have caused a lot less damage."

"You were doing what you thought was best," Leia said softly. "You were doing what you thought would save us." She reached over and gripped his arm firmly. "And you will continue to do so. That's an order, Commander."

He winced at the rank. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, General? I just led a mutiny on your ship."

"A failed mutiny," she added with a smirk.

Poe stared at her. Even through it all, Leia Organa could find humor through the pain. Her strength, her ability to continue marching forward no matter what was in her way, would never cease to amaze him. The light changed outside the porthole as the ship entered the atmosphere of the planet below them. Crait, Leia had called it. Poe squinted his eyes. "Looks cold," he said, more to himself than to her.

"Hmmmm…" Leia responded. "It's not snow. It's salt."

Salt. You could taste it in the air as the shuttles settled down just inside the huge hanger door. As the survivors spilled from the remaining craft, their expressions still shocked and battered, Poe tried to do a head count. He looked at Leia, who simply nodded at him as she moved to the open hanger door.

Poe clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, scatter. Find out what works and what doesn't. Let's find a control for that door and let's find out if we have shields. What the Admiral just did slowed the First Order down, but it didn't destroy them. They're coming for us and we need to be ready." His words brought everyone to focus, and they set out to find out what was left in this old base that could be used in their defense.

D'Acy immediately started messing with the comm, and Kaydel began helping her; an hour ago, one had been pointing a blaster at the other, but now they were once more working together. Ematt and Boyce set out to find any working weapons, and Cicer directed others to ensure all defensive weapons were removed from the shuttles. Poe circulated among them, eyeing the huge cavern they were in as he did so, trying not to think too much about who was missing from this group of survivors. C'ai and Jess kept their eyes on him, ready to assist him with anything he should need. Nev was also wandering around somewhere, trying to help where he could. Poe felt somewhat comforted knowing some of his best pilots were still with him. Thank the Force Snap and his team had been gone when this whole thing went down.

"They're coming," Leia's voice sounded over his comm. "Shut the door."

Poe turned toward the command consol. "You heard her."

But it was too late. The ship Leia had seen coming was too fast, and its suicide run was terrifying. Several TIEs were following it, and as the ship literally slid under the huge door before it could close all the way, the TIEs swooped up and away. Poe led the charge, firing at the First Order shuttle, ready to prevent any and all troopers from disembarking.

Familiar voices could be heard underneath the burst of blasterfire and Poe suddenly realized who they were. He raised his hand. "Hold your fire!" he shouted. "Hold your fire!"

Two pairs of hands were showing themselves from the broken front viewport.

"Finn?" Leia said incredulously.

"Finn?" Poe repeated. "Rose?! You're not dead!"

The two people in question peeked out carefully.

Joy filled Poe as he saw their faces. They were alive! Then… "Where's my droid?!"

Immediately, BB-8 raced down the forward ramp, squealing in excitement.

His heart squeezing, Poe raced forward, dropping down on his knees as he met his best friend. With all the loss, all the pain and fear of these past few days, to know that his friend had made it… He swallowed down tears as he rubbed BB's belly, grabbing the droid's head and tilting it forward so he could rest his own forehead on the cool metal surface. It eased the ache there in more ways than one.

"Is this all that's left?"

Rose's soft words seemed to echo in the huge chamber. Poe squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to let his droid go quite yet, but then Leia's voice could be heard, strong and powerful.

"We're not done, yet," she said. "Let's get ready."

XXXXXX

"What is that?!"

Rey gasped as the Falcon flew up and over the ridge. She sat in the ventral gunner's seat while Luke had taken the dorsal, and Han and Chewie were at the controls, ready to defend the survivors of whatever cataclysm had happened in the stars above. Upon first appearance, it looked as if the First Order was done for, but here it was very apparent they were not, and that the Resistance was still on the verge of being decimated.

"I don't know what it is," Han answered Rey's question. "But it looks about ready to tear a hole in that blast door, and those ski speeders aren't going to do a thing to stop it."

"Neither can we," Luke added. The Falcon was a powerful ship, but the huge tank-like weapon below them looked heavily armored.

"Let's at least draw off the fighters," Rey said, already aiming at several of the TIEs. Surprise was on their side; the First Order had no clue they were there. But they would now.

Rey fired, taking out three of the TIEs with her one shot. Luke also started firing. Rey let her gaze run over the several ski speeders down on the surface as they swept overhead. Poe was in one of them, she knew. She could sense his presence, though she couldn't pinpoint which one. The Falcon swept around and Rey fired again. Soon, all the TIEs were heading toward them. "Let's go!" Rey shouted.

"Someone doesn't like this ship," Luke said wryly.

Han snorted as he kicked the Falcon into gear, pulling away from the ongoing battle on the surface of Crait. All the TIEs followed.

A part of Rey wanted to stay, to continue helping Poe and the others, but she knew that by drawing the TIEs away, the Resistance fighters had a better chance at accomplishing whatever it was they were trying to do. And if they couldn't… Rey hoped Poe would know when to pull back. "As soon as these TIEs are taken care of, we need to go back," Rey said.

"We will," Luke said. "Ben is in that Command shuttle," he continued. "He knows his dad is here and he knows his mom is probably in that bunker. When he finds out I'm here…"

"Luke…"

"We can draw him out, Han."

"And then what?" Rey asked.

Luke didn't answer right away, and two TIEs ducking in around the Falcon distracted them all. Finally, all the TIEs were gone, and the Falcon only had minimal damage. What a tough ship, Rey thought. No wonder Poe was fascinated with it. Han circled back around, scanning the area in front of the old mine.

"The ski speeders are gone and that machine put a hole in the door." His voice was dark.

"Can the survivors get out the back?" Rey asked.

"There might be a way," Luke said. "You said you had a way to find them, Rey," he continued. "Can you pinpoint where they are at?"

Rey left the gunport and moved to the cockpit, pulling the beacon off her wrist. "I can connect it with the ship's sensors," she said in answer to Luke's question. "That way we'll know right where they are." She began to work on that project while Luke arrived back in the cockpit.

He was silent for a moment, watching Rey, then he looked down at the mess of red that the First Order's gun had created when it blew up the door. "Can you get me down there?"

"No!" Han said sharply as he pulled away from the two AT-M6's that started firing at them. "You are not leaving this ship!"

Rey looked at Luke, her eyebrows raised in challenge. She agreed with Han.

The old Jedi took a deep breath and headed back toward the hold. "Then let me try something else. We need to create a distraction, so that you can find the survivors and get them out safely."

"What are you going to do?" Rey called after him.

He looked over his shoulder and winked. "Just keep the ship out of range. I'd rather we didn't get shot down while I'm otherwise occupied."

Rey felt the surge in the Force energy around her a few minutes later. She completed the set up with the binary beacon, then looked down at the mountain of salt beneath them. "They're still there. Not moving. Yet."

"Where are they gonna go?" Han asked softly, a tinge of desperation in his voice.

"She's fine," Rey told him. "I feel her strong in the Force." Suddenly, that feeling changed. Despair followed by confusion. Fear alongside awe. Rey was tempted to try and connect with the woman, but she didn't want to distract her from whatever was going on. She reached for Poe, relief filling her when she found him, his Force energy just as strong and warm as ever.

Tentatively, she reached out farther. Would she be able to sense Kylo Ren? And if so, would he sense her like he was aware of his parents? Could she distract him?

"What the hell?"

Han's exclamation caught her attention. They had swung back up toward the plain in front of the mine. A man stood in front of the door.

Luke.

Rey looked back toward the hold. Not only was it not physically possible for the Jedi to have left the ship, but she still felt him in the hold. She looked back down. The Upsilon class shuttle was landing, and Kylo Ren himself was stepping out to confront his uncle.

"How?" Han breathed.

"He's projecting himself through the Force," Rey answered softly. "Leia and I have talked about it, but she's never seen it done." Suddenly, the beacon chirped at her. "They're moving. Away from the door."

Han pulled the Falcon away from the eminent battle on the salt flats of Crait, heading for the back of the mountain. "Tell me where, Rey!"

Rey watched the beacon, then looked down at the white and grey landscape beneath them. Suddenly, movement caught her eye. A large group of fox-like creatures, natives of this unusual planet, were coming out from the rocky terrain on the south side of the mine. "There!"

Within seconds, Han had lowered the Falcon down to an open area not too far from where the animals were coming from. Rey rushed toward the hatch, passing a meditating Luke as she did so. She opened the door, waited for the ramp to lower, then rushed out. The foxes raced past her as she climbed over some boulders, then slid down a steep slope, only to come face to face with a wall of rock. A couple more foxes squeezed out from between two boulders, but they were a lot smaller than the people she now knew were trapped on the other side.

She sighed and grimaced. "Lifting rocks," she whispered. She had gotten fairly well versed in moving small objects with the Force, but these rocks were a lot bigger than anything she was used to. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her hand, focusing on the boulders in front of her. She was vaguely aware of Han and Chewie coming up behind her, but they stayed silent.

She felt a give in the pressure she was exerting through the Force, and soon the whole barrier in front of her began to move. And it didn't collapse. One by one, the boulders began to float upward and out, away from the natural opening in the hillside that had been covered by these boulders in some landslide years previously.

Rey heard Han start to laugh behind her, and Chewie also gave a triumphant growl. She opened her eyes to see several beloved faces peering out of the opening she had created. Leia, C'ai, Kaydel, and of course, Poe.

Poe didn't even wait for Rey to drop all the boulders on the ground before he was racing toward her. She had barely even put her arm down before he was hugging her. She threw her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck, tears sliding down her cheeks. He was here. He was alive. He was okay.

He pulled back slightly, bringing his hands up to cup her face. There were tears in his eyes, too. "Force, I missed you," he hissed.

She couldn't stop the soft laugh. Out of the corner of her eye, she was aware of Han and Leia hugging, and BB-8 was nudging her leg. But at the moment, all she cared about was Poe.

She leaned forward and he met her halfway, his lips on hers. His kiss tasted of salt, which was no surprise. Whether from their combined tears or the earth around them, it didn't matter.

They were alive and they were together again.

XXXXXX