The events of The Force Awakens take a surprising turn!
Rated NC-17 for explicit sexual content, loving and consensual as always.
Less than an hour after the survivors of the Battle of Starkiller Base arrived back on D’Qar, another emergency meeting was called.
Rey was still in her flight suit, as were the rest of the pilots. Ships had been checked for necessary repairs, losses had been counted (and the mourning had already begun), and the adrenaline let-down was being managed; every individual had different methods for the latter. Rey was about to seek out Poe when she got the notice from Command.
She had been able to gather snippets of news in the past hour. The hard stuff, like the number of losses, and the good stuff, like the fact that the team that had gone to Starkiller to disengage the shield had all arrived back alive. Finn was injured, and rumor said that it was a lightsaber wound to his arm, but both Han and Chewbacca were unharmed.
When Rey arrived at Command, a holo of a galactic map was lighting up the center of the room. A map with a missing piece.
“How?” Rey asked anyone close.
It was General Statura who answered. “General Organa’s droid woke up. He had the rest of the map we’ve been looking for in his data bank.”
R2-D2 was awake? Rey had known about the droid almost from the day she had arrived on D’Qar. It had been dormant, but she had been told that Leia was too attached to it to get rid of it. Later she had learned that it once belonged to Luke Skywalker.
BB-8 was beeping excitedly, and Rey watched as he rolled across the room to Poe. Poe immediately responded by collecting the chip with the map they had gotten from Lor San Tekka and giving it to BB-8, who rolled up across from R2-D2, projected his own hologram, reduced its size, and placed it right where it belonged, completing the map.
“Luke,” Leia gasped, hope filling her tired face. Han grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Several others began to laugh and cheer softly. Rey looked at Poe, who was already crossing the room to her, a broad smile on his face. Rey lifted her arms as he enveloped her in a bear hug. She started laughing. After all they had gone through these past few days, they had finally achieved what had been the goal all along: finding Luke Skywalker.
The crowd settled and the droids turned off their holos, scurrying off to share their information with each other so that both would have the completed maps in their memory banks. C-3PO toddled after them, chastising R2 for making him fret for so many years. General Statura stepped forward, clapping to get everyone’s attention.
“As I’m sure you all know, we gave the First Order a huge defeat today. But Starkiller was not their homebase, which we still believe to be an actual Star Destroyer. The Supreme Leader is still alive, as are most of his top Generals. And they know where we are.” He was silent for a while, letting his words sink in. “We figure we have a minimum of three standard days before they come after us. I want mechs to get started on any repairs to our ships, especially our fighters. Twelve hour shift limit, please. I don’t want anyone dropping from exhaustion. Pilots, you have 48 hours to rest up, but keep your comms on in case the enemy shows up early. We’ll start evacuation procedures in 24 hours.” He looked around. “Let’s go!”
Leia suddenly spoke up. “Rey, I’d like a word with you.”
Rey nodded at her, then looked at Poe, who still had his arm around her shoulders. His smile was gone, and though he still looked pleased, he also looked exhausted. She gave him a little shove. “Get some sleep, Commander.”
Forty-five minutes later, her head and her heart a jumble of confused feelings and nervous anticipation, Rey walked down the hall of the barracks, heading for the only person she wanted to be with right now. Her meeting with Leia had created a landslide of emotions in her, and she had returned to the barracks to shower and change in a daze. Now, unable to sleep, she found herself in front of Poe’s door.
She knocked softly, suddenly unsure if she should be there. The door opened immediately, and Poe stood there in nothing but a pair of sleep pants, his hair still wet from his own shower. She was caught off guard by his appearance, but not so much that she forgot why she had hesitated.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, knowing almost everyone in the building was either sleeping or trying to. “I shouldn’t have come. You should be sleeping.”
“Leia’s sending you to find Luke, isn’t she?” Poe asked, his eyes intense.
“How..?”
He shrugged. “You’re the obvious choice.”
Rey swallowed. “I’m leaving with Han and Chewbacca at first light tomorrow.”
He nodded but stayed silent.
“I…” She stopped, uncertain what to say. What to do.
He reached for her arm, grasping it lightly and gently pulling her inside the room. “Come here,” he said, his voice low.
She shook her head, but didn’t fight him. “You should be sleeping,” she argued. “You’ve been through more than anyone else these past few days.”
The door closed behind her and Poe smiled. “I’ll sleep better if you’re by my side.”
She licked her lips nervously. “You want me to sleep here?”
He stepped into her and cupped her face with his hands. “If you want?” he whispered, bringing his lips close to hers. “Or you can leave after.”
“After?” Rey’s voice was barely a breath. She knew what he meant, but she wanted to hear him say it.
But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he kissed her, and that was answer enough.
She let herself fall into the kiss, opening her mouth under his without hesitation. His hands were running up her back, sliding under her sleep shirt and making the bare skin of her back both burn and tingle at the same time. She returned the favor, running her hands along his shoulders, then running them down his chest, her fingers brushing the ring he wore on a chain around his neck. He gasped into her mouth as her fingers swept over his nipples, and she retraced her path so that she could touch them again, fascinated by his reaction.
He backed up briefly, grasping the hem of her shirt and pulling it up and over her head. “If you get to touch, so do I,” he told her, his voice rough.
“Oh, yes!” she nodded, and watched avidly as his hands moved to cup her small breasts. She jumped as his thumbs ran over her nipples, and she felt an embarrassing amount of moisture flow from between her legs. It was almost as if touching her breasts had turned on a spigot. She felt her face heat and she grasped his wrists as her breathing increased.
He stopped. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Do that again?”
A slow smile spread across his face, and he carefully brushed his thumbs over her nipples again.
Rey couldn’t stop the moan.
“Ooooh,” Poe said softly. “I think you like it.” He stepped in and started kissing her once more, his hands gently kneading her breasts.
She let her own hands explore him as her body began to heat up. She ran them along his ribs, then down to his waist, then around to his belly. He sucked his gut in at her touch, hissing into her mouth. She smiled. “I think you like that.”
He growled softly, then grasped her upper arms and began to direct her backwards toward his bed. It was still mussed from his earlier nap, and Rey felt more than a little excitement at the idea of sharing it with him. Slowly, he directed her to sit, and then lay back, on the bed. He propped one knee on the edge and leaned over her, kissing her lips, then moving down to tongue her jawline and even further down her neck. One of his hands brushed her breast again, and she arched her hips up almost involuntarily.
“Poe!”
He brought his hand down to the waistband of her sleep pants and began fingering the tie. “May I?” he asked softly.
She arched up again. “Yes. Please, yes!”
He chuckled, then moved to stand next to the bed once more. Slowly, he undid the tie, then he pulled them and her underwear down over her hips. Rey felt her breathing quicken until she was almost gasping. To think the idea of someone touching her so intimately once disgusted her. She wanted his touch so desperately she wanted to scream. He slid the pants off completely, dropping them on the floor as his eyes roamed her naked form. His face was serious, his eyes huge.
“Poe?” she whispered.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, blinking rapidly. He licked his lips. “I can’t believe…”
“You can’t believe what?” she asked when he didn’t continue.
“I can’t believe… you’re mine.”
Her heart racing, she pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Yours?” she teased.
He looked at her, embarrassment filling his expression. “What am I saying? Of course, you’re not mine. You belong only to yourself. I-“
“Poe?” she interrupted him. She waited until his eyes met hers once more. “I am yours. But only as much as you are mine.”
His face relaxed and a soft smile played at his lips once more. “I can handle that.”
“Then why are you still wearing your pants?” she asked playfully.
Taking a deep breath, he untied his own sleep pants and pushed them down and off. Rey’s eyes were immediately drawn to the part of him that she had long been curious about. She felt her breath catch a bit. He was impressive to say the least.
She raised her gaze to his once more. He had been standing still, letting her look at him, what could only be described as a devilish smirk on his face. “Well?”
She bit her bottom lip. “You’ll do.”
He laughed out loud, and Rey couldn’t help but laugh with him. He moved toward her and she lay back down, sighing in appreciation as he moved to lie over her, his legs straddling hers, his arms bracing himself on either side of her. He lowered himself down and began kissing her once more. Both the heat and the weight of his body aroused her even more, and she began to make soft little noises in response to every kiss. To every touch. He responded with his own vocalizations. A grunt here. A moan there.
His fingers found her core, and his “Oh, kriff,” as he discovered her wetness was heartfelt.
She arched into him. “Oh! More! Please, more!”
“Rey, I can’t-“ His middle finger slid into her folds, but then he moved to position himself between her legs. She spread them willingly. “I can’t wait!” he gasped. “I’ve wanted you for too long!”
“Don’t wait!” she answered. “Please, Poe! Now!”
Taking his cock in hand, he carefully slid the tip in her. When the head was firmly inserted, he looked at her, his eyes intense as he pushed in, slowly but deliberately. All the way.
Rey felt a sting and an almost unbearable tightness. She couldn’t take him! He was too big! But then her body seemed to relax around him and the discomfort eased. She brought her knees up, gripping his hips, and felt an amazing rush of pleasure. “Oh!”
“Oh,” Poe echoed. “I think you like it.”
She started giggling, and he smiled at her in response. Then he began to move, and the pleasure intensified. “Mmmmmmmm,” Rey mumbled as he began to stroke back and forth. The sensations were not what she had been expecting from this act. They were so much more! “Oh, kriff!” she gasped.
“Too much?”
“No!” she shook her head. “Oh, Force, no!”
He smiled again and began to kiss her, pumping his hips faster, stronger. “You feel amazing,” he said in between kisses. “I can’t believe this is real. You’re so perfect. So beautiful. Kriff, I love you, Rey!”
Rey felt a strange feeling grow inside her. It originated from her arousal, of that she was certain, but it started taking a life of its own. It pulsed and swelled and expanded until she was frightened of it. “Poe?” she whined, wanting him to stop, but not.
“Let it go, Sunshine!” Poe told her, his voice ragged. “Let it go!”
Trusting him, she did so. Her vision suddenly became dark, then flashed white. Her whole body began to seize up and the arousal that had been so comforting before was now a conflagration. She cried out, squeezing her eyes shut as her lower body tremored and her center squeezed the man still thrusting away inside her.
“That’s it!” he encouraged her. “That’s it, baby! Ahhhh, yes!”
His own shout of release caused her to open her eyes, and she saw an expression of pure bliss on his face as his thrusts became erratic. Another wave of astounding pleasure rippled through her as she felt a warmth fill her. His seed, she thought. While she knew the birth-control injection she was given every month would keep her from conceiving, the idea that this man was giving her a part of himself in this way was more than a little overwhelming.
All too soon, he went still above her. The heaviness of his breathing caused his chest to rub against her peaked breasts and the air from his exhalations tickled the sweaty hair that was plastered on her neck. Her own gasping breaths began to gradually slow. He pushed himself up and over, sliding out of her and laying on his side next to her, his eyes on her face.
“You okay?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, licked her lips, nodded, then asked, “When can we do that again?”
******
Poe wasn’t sure how he managed to drag himself out of bed just before dawn, pull on his dress uniform, fix his hair so that it looked at least somewhat contained, and head out to the area where the Millennium Falcon was docked. He had only gotten maybe three hours of sleep the night before. The rest of the time was spent teaching an insatiable young Jedi about the joys of sex.
Three times they had come together, and he had lost count how many times Rey had orgasmed. His body was aching even more than before her hesitant arrival at his door. His lack of real, deep sleep combined with the aftereffects of the torture that still lingered were now joined by his body’s reaction to actions and efforts it hadn’t had to deal with in almost a year.
Kriff, he thought. It had been almost a year since he had sex! And he knew why. After he had brought Rey back to D’Qar with him, he had not been interested in anyone else. No wonder everyone on base knew he was in love with the woman, as much as he tried to deny it.
He was not going to deny it anymore.
When he reached the open area where the Falcon sat, the sun was starting to rise. He knew he would have to head back to his bunk and sleep, really sleep, after it left, but he was not going to miss seeing Rey and the others off. BB-8 rolled up to him, asking why he wasn’t in his room sleeping.
“I’ll go back to bed, soon, buddy. I promise. I just wanted to say goodbye to everyone.”
Rey had risen and dressed in her sleep clothing shortly before he had gotten out of bed, sneaking back to her quarters. He wondered if her roommates had been aware of her not spending the night in her bed or if they were all out doing maintenance stuff. He looked over and saw her talking to Leia. BB-8 noticed her at the same time and rolled off, twittering that he wanted to say goodbye, too. Poe grinned as the two women looked down at the ball droid, and Rey’s soft smile bloomed. She looked up and over at him, then looked back at Leia.
The older woman clasped her hand and said something to her. Rey turned serious and nodded, then looked down at BB-8 as he beeped something to her as well. Leia released her hand and Rey turned toward him. As she walked over to him, Poe couldn’t help but feel a bit of gratification as he noticed her gait was a bit shorter than usual; he wasn’t the only one sore after last night.
She stopped in front of him, biting her lip self-consciously.
“You take care of yourself,” he said softly.
She smiled slightly. “Chewbacca will make sure I do.” She glanced over at the Falcon, where Chewie and Han were standing at the foot of the ramp talking with Leia, who had moved over to them. She looked back at Poe. “You better sleep after I leave,” she said, then she blushed. “I’m sorry I kept you up all night.”
He grinned. “I’m not.”
She smiled back. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she assured him. “I know I’m the best one for this, but I hate leaving everyone, especially knowing you’ll be evacuating.”
He nodded. “Speaking of, how are you going to find us?”
Rey lifted up her arm, showing him a transmitter beacon bracelet on her wrist.
“Leia has the other one, I’m assuming?”
Rey nodded.
“Rey?” Leia called to her, and they both looked over. The General’s voice was regretful, but even he knew how important it was for Rey to be on her way.
“Goodbye, Rey,” he said softly as Rey looked back at him. “Come back to me.”
She nodded, then brought her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. He squeezed her back.
“I love you,” he murmured into her hair.
Her hold tightened. “I love you, too.”
Poe felt his heart leap. It was the first time she had uttered those words, and he hadn’t realized how important they were until he heard them.
All too soon she pulled away, then turned and headed for the Falcon without looking back. He could see her wiping her face as she went, and knew there were tears in his own eyes that were threatening to fall. Rey walked past the others and moved up the ramp. R2-D2 and Chewie followed. Han and Leia were giving each other a hug of their own, sharing soft words of endearment, and Poe couldn’t help but smile, happy that they had found each other again. Even if Han was leaving again so soon.
It was to bring Leia’s brother back to her, so it was okay.
Han turned up the ramp and it closed behind him as Leia moved over to stand next to Poe. The rest of the Resistance members that were still awake gathered behind them. The Falcon roared to life and lifted off with more grace than such a ship should be capable of exhibiting.
As it disappeared above them, Poe glanced at Leia. “Does it get any easier?” he asked quietly. “Watching the people you love leave?”
Leia shook her head softly. “Never.”
Poe made his way slowly back to the barracks, making a brief stop at the mess to grab some Haroun bread and blue milk, eating it as he walked. Once back in his quarters, he stripped down to his boxers and crawled back into his mussed bed, not at all concerned with the damp spots he and Rey had created on the sheets. He grabbed the pillow and burrowed his face in it, smiling when he smelled Rey, and quickly fell asleep.
It was more than eleven hours later, with the sun already starting to set on D’Qar, when his chirping comm woke him. He reached for it, his whole body stiff and sore, his head aching. He knew he was going to need another stim shot before he had to get back in the cockpit. He keyed the comm. “Yeah,” he croaked, then cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry to wake you, Commander,” Lieutenant Connix’s voice sounded over the comm. “We just got word from one of our droid spies that a First Order Dreadnaught may be heading this way.”
Taking a deep breath, Poe sat up. Damn, they were serious. “How’s the evacuation going?”
“The essentials are on the Raddus, but we still have a lot of equipment and munitions down here.”
“Get what you can,” he told her. “I trust you to use your judgement on what’s more important and what we can leave behind. Is the General on the Raddus?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Comm all the pilots. I want them in the Command Center in fifteen.”
“Yes, sir!”
Within thirty minutes, all Resistance personnel were either on board the Raddus or its two support ships, or working at loading the transports with supplies. Poe left Connix in charge of that while he went over his plan of attack for the coming Dreadnaught. Snap, Karè, Suralinda, and Wrobie had left for a mission for Leia a couple hours previously (“she wasn’t going to wake you,” C’ai told him), but Poe trusted that the pilots still here could handle what was coming.
Before he made his way to Black One, Poe checked in with Dr. Kolonia and her patients, including Finn.
Finn’s arm was healing well, but it would scar. “It didn’t even bleed,” he told Poe. “But kriff it hurt!”
“I bet, buddy,” Poe laughed. “I think you have the honor of being one of the few people in the galaxy injured by a lightsaber!”
“It was worth it,” Finn told him. “Ren was going to kill his father. You could see it in his eyes. But he stopped, like he got distracted or something.”
“Rey,” Poe told him. “He sensed Rey in the battle above.”
Finn nodded, an awed expression on his face. “Anyway, Han ran back to Chewie and Chewie set off the bombs they had set. I met up with them half-way to the Falcon, and Ren was almost on them, too, so I distracted him.” He looked down at his arm. “I guess I wasn’t fast enough.”
Poe laughed. “I’d say you were. You’re still alive!”
Kalonia walked up to them. “I suppose you want another stim shot?” She looked disapproving but he knew she would concede it was necessary. She looked at Finn. “You have been discharged, and the General would love to have you on the Command ship to offer advice if you’d like?” She moved toward her medical bag.
Finn looked startled and looked back at Poe. “Do we know for sure they’re coming?”
“Word is it they’re sending a dreadnaught.”
“Kriff.”
“Yeah.”
Finn thought for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll help where I can,” he finally said softly, but Poe could tell he was nervous. He wondered if the young man was regretting his choice to stay and help the Resistance rather than just run. If he was captured, the First Order would show him no mercy.
Poe grasped his shoulder and squeezed gently. “Thank you,” he said with emotion, hoping Finn recognized his immense gratitude.
Kalonia came back with the stim shot. “Commander? This better be the last one for a while.”
“We can only hope.”
******
Rey sat on the hard stone bench, more confused than she had ever been in her life.
She had found Luke Skywalker. She knew it was him. He was much older looking than the holos she had seen, but his eyes were the same. He had been standing alone on top of one of the tallest summits on this strange island, and he had seemed startled to see her. Had he not heard the Falcon land on the beach down below? Had he not sensed her through the Force?
And why had his eyes gone cold as she told him who she was and why she was there? Why had he stormed past her, marching back down the trail she had come up, taking a sharp right just past the lip of a steep drop-off? She had followed him into what looked like a simple village. He had entered a small stone hut and slammed a metal door. She could hear the bolt as he locked it behind him.
When her polite taps and more explanations didn’t get a response, she called in the big guns. She commed Han.
“I found him,” she said tentatively. “I… I must have said something wrong. He completely ignored me and locked himself inside what I think is his home.” She paused. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I said to make him mad.”
She heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the comm. “Kid, I’m 100% certain you didn’t do or say anything wrong. There’s a reason he came here, remember? I don’t think he’s happy being found.” There was a pause. “Did you tell him you came with me and Chewie?”
“No,” Rey said. “I just told him that his sister sent me. That the Resistance needed his help.”
“We’re on our way,” he said, sounding a little less than enthusiastic about the climb ahead of him.
So, Rey waited, staring at the door. She glanced around at the other huts. They looked occupied, but so far, she had not seen anyone else. Their doorways were simple drapes, not metal panels that could be bolted shut. She looked around the barren but strangely beautiful area. It was cool, but not cold, with a brisk wind blowing off the sea. Clouds scuttled quickly across the sky, allowing the sun to shine for brief moments, but Rey gathered due to the green vegetation all around her that there would be rain sooner rather than later.
Finally, Han and Chewie came over the rise. Chewie was leading the way, and he turned to wait for his partner, who was huffing and puffing along behind him. Rey understood his distress; she hadn’t exactly reached the top of this mountain with all her breath, either.
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” Han muttered as he made his way over to Rey. He plopped himself down next to her on the bench eyeing the closed door. “Is it locked?”
“I heard what sounded like a bolt from the inside,” she told him. “And it didn’t budge when I tapped on it. No handle or latch that I can see.”
He nodded, then looked at Chewie, who was also eyeballing the door, a contemplative tilt to his head. “Let’s do this,” he said to his partner.
Rey watched as Han stood and he and Chewie moved over to the door. Han knocked firmly, but didn’t say anything.
Nothing.
He knocked again and got a response this time. “I said go away!”
Han and Chewie looked at each other, and Rey could tell by their expressions that it was indeed Skywalker inside the hut. Han shrugged, then backed up a step, motioning toward the door. Chewie stepped forward, raised his fists, and pounded on the door with both of them. Once. Twice. Rey could see the metal bend with the strength of his fists. Then the Wookiee backed up, lifted a foot, and kicked the door.
The metal plate came off its hinges and disappeared inside the hut. Rey could hear shouting and watched as Chewie stepped inside, roaring at the occupant, saying that they “asked nicely and you didn’t listen, so you lose your door!”
Han grinned at Rey as Luke shouted a startled, “Chewie!”
Rey got up and followed Han as he moved to the now open door. He leaned on the jamb, his arms folded. “You know, kid. You should have known you couldn’t hide forever.”
“Han?” Luke’s voice was weaker now. “I…”
Rey stepped forward just in time to see Chewie wrap Luke in a hug. Skywalker closed his eyes, shaking his head, but he reached an arm up around Chewies bicep, hugging him back. Chewie stepped back, releasing Luke, and the grizzled man looked at Han, a combination of anger and affection on his face. He glanced at Rey, frowning once more, then looked back at Han.
“How?”
“It’s a long story, kid,” Han responded. He motioned back outside toward the bench. “Wanna talk about it before you use a Mind Trick and send us on our way?”
Luke sighed. “I wouldn’t do that.” He stepped out past them and sat heavily on the bench. Han moved to sit next to him and Chewie and Rey moved to stand in front of them.
“You didn’t make it easy,” Han continued. “It was a group effort, finding you, and you’re fortunate the First Order didn’t get here first.”
Luke glared at Han. “Maybe that would have been for the best,” he grumbled. “It would have been nice to get it over with.”
“Get what over with?” Han growled. “Your self-pity party?”
Luke sighed and looked away. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Why?” Han said sharply. “Because I’m not a freaking Jedi? Or because I’m emotionally involved?”
“What happened was my fault, Han!”
“You still believe that?” the pilot argued. “After all this time alone to contemplate what happened, you still blame yourself for something that was inevitable?”
“It was not inevitable,” Luke denied. “Ben was good. Ben was the best of both you and Leia. I ruined that with my mistrust!”
“Sithspit!” Han practically shouted. “We all know Snoke was influencing him long before he finally turned. Just because one mistake on your part set him off doesn’t mean some other little thing later on wouldn’t have done the same.” He shook his head. “Leia and I finally had a long talk just before I came here. We all should have noticed sooner that something was wrong and faced it. Leia felt it, but she ignored it. You felt it, but you thought you could train it out of him. I might have even felt it, but I was in denial, imagining that our love was enough to beat off the Dark Side.” He paused. “And maybe it was. Maybe if we had all been on the same page, focused and aware, we could have kept him from…” His voice broke. He took a deep breath. “Losing both you and Ben, and then me, almost broke Leia. But it didn’t. She’s the strongest of all of us. So, we need to let her show us the way.”
“The way?”
“He almost killed me. I thought I had him. I thought I had found my son again. But his eyes changed, right in front of me.” He shook his head, then motioned to Rey. “She’s the reason I’m still alive. He felt her, in the sky above, fighting in her X-Wing.” He took another deep breath. “Leia feels Rey is the answer to all of this. That her light is so strong it will not only help us defeat the First Order, but bring Ben back.”
Luke was staring at her, now. “You’re that strong?”
Rey shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious as he scrutinized her. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I… something inside me… has always been there… Leia recognized it. I didn’t know what it was, or how to handle it. She’s shown me, but she’s convinced you can help me more.” She took a deep breath and straightened up. “Having met you, I’m not so sure of that.”
Han started chuckling, but Luke just watched her, his expression contemplative. He looked at Han. “How bad is it?”
“You don’t know?” Han responded.
Luke looked away, grimacing.
“You’ve closed yourself off to the Force,” Rey suddenly realized. “That’s why you were surprised to see me. Why you didn’t know we were here.”
“And why you don’t know that the First Order destroyed a whole star system,” Han added, understanding what Rey was saying.
Luke looked at him, his eyes wide.
“The Hosnian System is gone. Just like Alderaan. Billions gone. Without a chance to fight or even time to prepare.”
“How?” Luke whispered, his expression devastated.
“A weapon that we managed to destroy,” Han answered. “Made out of what was left of Ilum.”
Luke looked away, but then his expression hardened. “And you think what? That I’m going to walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order?” He motioned toward Rey. “Show her just how powerful she is and watch her turn to the Dark Side?” He stood. “Do you think I came to the most unfindable place in the galaxy for no reason at all?” He started walking away from them, his shoulders slumped. “Go away.”
“We’re not leaving without you!” Rey said, her voice firm. Han stood and grasped her arm lightly, keeping her from following Luke as he left the village.
“Give him some time to think,” he told her.
“I think he’s had plenty of time to think,” Rey responded angrily.
“Yeah, but he has new information now.” He glanced at his brother-in-law and friend. “His heart won’t keep him from helping. Especially if we can get him to open up to the Force again.”
“And how do we do that?”
Han’s smile could only be described as devious.
******
Poe lay on a bed in one of the bunk rooms, trying hard to not fidget. Three others were sleeping, or trying to sleep, in the same room, and while he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, he didn’t want to prevent them from doing so.
He lay on his back, hands under his head, fingers laced. For a while he had had one knee up and the ankle of his other leg braced on it, but it had been too hard to keep from bouncing the foot that was in the air, so both feet were on the bed now. His mind would not stay still, either, but at least that wasn’t going to keep anyone awake.
If Rey was here, she would probably tell him to ‘shut up’ his brain, he thought. But if Rey was here, he probably wouldn’t be in this position.
He felt a slight jolt as another bolt from the Supremacy hit its target, but the shields held.
His thoughts ran in circles. Leia, and the fact that she had somehow survived a short jaunt in space a few hours ago, but was now lying comatose in the med bay. Finn and Rose, who had somehow connected and come up with a plan to defeat the Supremacy, a plan that Poe had approved of and then had helped them escape the Raddus unnoticed so they could implement it. Holdo, who he wanted to respect due to her background and her association with Leia, but he just could not trust. And Rey.
Always his mind came back to Rey.
Had she reached this Jedi planet? Had she found Luke Skywalker? Had she convinced the man to come with her or were she and Han and Chewie still there? Had they run into trouble?
He pulled one of his arms out from under his head and looked at his wrist, where the cloaked binary beacon Leia had worn was now situated. Finn had found it on the floor after they had pulled Leia back onto the Raddus and had in turn given it to Poe before he and Rose left. Rey could find him wherever he was now, but did he really want her to come into this mess?
Sighing heavily, he rose from the bed and made his way to the door as quietly as he could, grabbing his boots off the floor by the bed as he went. Once outside in the corridor, he quickly pulled them on and headed to the med center to check on Leia. While he knew Holdo didn’t want him on the bridge, she at least hadn’t forbidden him from being with the General.
He entered the room, which was quiet except for the noise of the machines monitoring Leia. She was breathing on her own and her heart was strong, but there was no indication of brain activity. Kalonia and the medical droid assigned to the Raddus both had assured him that wasn’t a bad thing; Kalonia believed that Leia was in a Force Trance, and that was why she was so still in both mind and body. The Force was healing her, and they needed to be patient and let it.
Poe didn’t have much patience left.
He looked at the beacon on his wrist one more time, gave Leia’s hand a squeeze, and then headed for the bridge. D’Acy was in the corridor just outside the door, heading somewhere on an errand for the Admiral no doubt. Her eyes widened when she saw him.
“Is she in there?” Poe asked the older woman, knowing she would know exactly who he was talking about.
“Yeah,” D’Acy said, then stepped in front of him as if to block him. “She forbade you to be on the bridge! Let’s not have a scene!”
“No. Let’s.” Poe easily brushed by D’Acy, his ire building as he got closer to his destination. He strode in, quickly eyeing who all was in the room. Who did he trust? Who didn’t he trust? Connix made eye contact with him briefly from her position at one of the comms. He acknowledged her with a tiny nod, then turned to face the Admiral.
“Holdo?”
The tall woman turned toward him, grimacing. “Flyboy.”
Force, he hated that nickname. “Can it, lady,” he told her. In all his years with the military, he had never disrespected a fellow officer, but he was tired, angry, and scared. He noticed a couple security people move toward him, but Holdo waved them back. “We had a fleet,” he continued. “Now we’re down to one ship and you’ve told us nothing. Tell us we have a plan!” he demanded, his voice rising. “Tell us there’s hope!”
Holdo looked at him for a moment, her expression almost contemplative. Then she spoke, her words soft. “When I served under Leia,” she started, and Poe felt ready to snap. “She used to say that hope was like the sun.”
Poe froze. He recognized those words.
Holdo continued. “If you only believe in it when you can see it-“
“You’ll never make it through the night,” Poe finished, his own voice softer now. He clenched his teeth willing his temper in check. Just hearing the words he had heard Leia say more than once calmed him, but they didn’t ease his frustrations completely.
“Yes,” Holdo said with a nod.
Poe took a deep breath, looking down as he tried to collect the strength to apologize. He heard a familiar tone in the suddenly silent room and he looked up, past Holdo. On the screen behind her, he could see figures that he knew represented the transport ships in the aft docking bay, the one that hadn’t been destroyed in Kylo Ren’s attack earlier. The sound he heard…
“Are you filling up the transports?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm. Any reassurance he had gotten from this woman quoting Leia was quickly dissolving. “You are.” He moved past her to look more closely at the screen. “All of them?” He turned to face her, not unaware that timid Ensign Serrie, who he had worked so hard to befriend upon her arrival several months ago, was inching away from him, a fearful look in her eye. “We’re abandoning ship? Is that… that’s what you got?” His anger surged, spurred on by absolute, undiluted fear. “That’s what you’ve brought us to?”
Every pent-up emotion from the last several days exploded. He kicked the equipment on the desk next to him on the floor, then grabbed the poor ensign’s chair and swung it up and over. “Coward!” he shouted. He literally saw red, the rage pouring through him was so strong. He looked around the room. He saw a combination of fear, disbelief, and anger on the faces of the people around him. Holdo herself was standing with her arms folded, her face a mask.
“Those transports are unarmed, unshielded,” he explained to any who didn’t understand. “If we abandon this cruiser, we’re done. We don’t stand a chance.” He faced Holdo again. “No, you are not just a coward,” he said, his whole body quivering with rage. “You are a traitor.”
Holdo’s impassive expression changed to anger. “Get this man off my bridge.”
Poe didn’t resist as the security officers moved in to escort him away. No, he’d already let his temper get the best of him. He wasn’t going to do anything that would make her have him locked up. He needed to see this through. For the Resistance. For Leia. For Rey.
He brought his hands up to his hair, clenching it in his fists and pulling just enough to feel pain. Kriff. Rey would be so pissed at him for losing his temper like that. What the hell was he thinking? He groaned. He needed to think of something. And fast. He was not going down without a fight.
Even if that fight was with his own people.
******
“Stick with him. Follow him. Pester him.”
Han’s words played in Rey’s head as she trudged up the hill, the wind whipping the light rain around wildly, trying to keep Luke Skywalker in sight. She had been following him all morning, as she had the day before; the man wasn’t doing anything to warrant any Master Jedi title, that’s for sure. But Han wanted her to keep Luke focused on her, while he and Chewie did another quick fix on the Falcon, then he said he would implement his ‘plan.’ In the meantime, Rey was learning patience, she supposed.
Yesterday evening she had found the dead Uneti tree, and the old books that were contained inside the shell. Luke had followed her then, and he had told her how it was time for the Jedi to die. She had argued with him, but he was as stubborn as his sister, and not in a good way.
Occasionally, on the rare moments he was still, Rey would find the old Jedi watching her with a focused look on his face. He would look away as soon as he realized she noticed him, pretending indifference once more, but Rey felt as if he was desperately trying to figure her out. Why he didn’t just open himself up to the Force again, she didn’t understand. Though she did not know the complete story, it was obvious that Luke blamed himself for Ben Solo’s turn to the Dark Side. Rey knew for a fact that neither Leia nor Han blamed Luke, however the Jedi Master continued to beat himself up over it; knowing the pain and destruction Kylo Ren had caused and was currently creating was sobering, and Rey supposed just that knowledge was enough to keep his guilt, warranted or not, strong.
It was just before the noon hour on this blustery day when Rey followed Luke back into the village. She was hungry, cold, and tired. But as she moved to sit down and pull some rations from her pack, Han rushed into the small settlement.
“Rey!” he called, his voice panicked. “Is there any way you can,” he waved his hand in the air around his head. “Communicate… with Leia?”
“What?” Rey asked, confused.
“Through the Force,” Han explained. He took a deep breath. “We received a distress call, but it cut off before we could hear much. It sounded like Leia, but I can’t get anyone on the comm.” He glanced at Luke, who had stepped to the door to his hut and was watching them. “I need to know she’s alright.”
Rey felt panic of her own start to grow. Poe. She licked her lips and shook her head. “I don’t think I can. We’ve never really trained on that kind of long-distance communication.” She looked at Luke. “Maybe we should just head back. It’s not like we’re accomplishing anything here.”
“The transfer manifold is off-line again,” Han groused. “Chewie’s working on it as fast as he can.”
Rey felt her panic spike. She tried to focus, closing her eyes and imagining Leia’s face in her head. She and Leia had ‘spoken’ a few times in the Force, but they had always been in each other’s presence. To do so while thousands of light-years apart…
Nothing.
“It’s not working,” she whispered.
She heard a huff and opened her eyes to see Luke heading out of the village, taking the path up the mountain that led to the temple Rey had yet to really investigate. She looked at Han who was watching his brother-in-law and friend with intense focus.
“Han?” she whispered.
He held up a hand to silence her, waiting until they could see Luke half-way up the mountain.
Rey suddenly realized what was going on. “You didn’t get a distress call, did you?”
Han shook his head and sighed, then moved to sit down on the bench. “Got anything to eat, kid? I don’t feel like hiking all the way back down until I know if this worked or not.”
Rey pulled two ration packs out of her bag, handing one to Han, and the two began to eat in comfortable silence. After a while, Rey spoke.
“I think I should take the books. Whether he comes with us or not, I feel like those books should come with us.”
“Books?” Han had spent most of the time since arriving here with Chewie and R2 on the Falcon, and Rey had only been able to tell him bits and pieces of the things she had seen on this island.
“Luke called them the Sacred Jedi Texts.”
“Actual books?”
Rey nodded.
“Wow. Yeah, maybe you should…” he stopped as there was an ever so slight tremor in the earth around them.
Rey felt a powerful surge in the Force and she gasped. She looked at Han. “It worked!”
“That was Luke?” Han asked, startled.
Rey nodded, awed by the power she was feeling. “Yeah.” Suddenly, the tone of the energy around her changed, and she felt Luke’s distress. “Something’s wrong.” She stood and turned. Luke was heading back down the mountain, his pace swift. Rey moved to the head of the path to wait for him, Han behind her.
As soon as he was close enough, he spoke to them both. “They are in trouble. Big trouble. They can’t jump to hyperspace and are running out of fuel. Leia’s been hurt bad, but she’s awake now.”
“Poe?” Rey gasped, once more reaching out with the Force, knowing there was no way she could sense her lover from this great a distance, but wishing anyway.
“I’ll get the Falcon prepped,” Han said as he turned to head back down. “And you’re coming with us!” he called to Luke over his shoulder. “Even if Chewie has to drag you on the ship!”
Luke frowned, then glared at Rey. “You lied.”
Rey shook her head. “I didn’t lie. Han lied. I didn’t know what he was doing until you left.”
Luke suddenly started laughing, rubbing his hands over his face. “Oh, Kriff. What am I doing?”
“Saving your sister,” Rey answered without hesitating. “You better grab whatever you want to bring. I’m going to get those books.” Rey grabbed an old bag from the front of one of the huts that belonged to one of the Lanai, the native species that lived here. Rey had only seen a few of them since their arrival, as the little avians did their best to avoid her and her companions, but she decided they wouldn’t miss one bag. She started making her way up to the old Uneti tree cave, but stopped when she realized Luke had gone very still and was watching her with a rather soft expression on his face. “What?”
He shook his head. “You remind me of someone. Someone I knew long ago.” His expression became almost wistful, then he shook himself. “You mentioned Poe. Poe Dameron?”
Rey tensed. “Yes.”
Luke nodded. “I knew his mother well. I imagine he’s one hell of a pilot.”
“The best,” Rey said softly.
Luke bobbed his head again, then cocked it. “You love him.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “And what are you going to do if he’s dead?”
Rey felt her heart skip at his words. She wasn’t going to even let herself imagine that nightmare. “He’s not,” she whispered. “I would know.”
Luke stared at her for a long time, then he sighed heavily. “Go get those books… padawan.”
******
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.”
******
“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.
*******
Confused wasn’t a strong enough word for how Poe felt when he walked into the hold of the Millennium Falcon and saw Chewbacca carrying an unconscious Luke Skywalker to one of the bunks. He had just seen the Jedi speaking with Leia not so long ago, then they had watched as he walked out to face Kylo Ren and the rest of the First Order.
Poe had been the first to realize what the Jedi was doing, and he had pushed everyone to look for a way out. It had been the disappearance of the crystal foxes that had alerted him to a possible exit, and Leia’s encouraging expression had strengthened his resolve to save what was left of the Resistance. Finding a dead-end had not been in his plans, but he hadn’t had much time to be discouraged before the large boulders blocking their escape had moved all on their own. Or so it appeared.
He hadn’t been one bit surprised to see Rey on the other side, but the awe he felt was as strong as ever. This woman would never cease to amaze him. He rushed to her, barely aware of the rocks tumbling safely to the ground around him, and then she was in his arms once more.
Their reunion, though passionate, was brief, as both of them immediately turned their attention to the people around them. Rey began to direct everyone up the short but steep hill where Chewie was waiting to usher them all into the Falcon. Poe had taken the Wookiee’s place so he could get the ship ready to go, and he hurried everyone along as fast as the injured could go. Finn and Petty carried a still unconscious Rose by him, and Poe looked at her too still face, worry filling him. He couldn’t lose both Tico sisters in this mess; Rose had to live!
Finally, everyone was on board, and though the Falcon was packed full, it was still too few, Poe thought.
As he watched Chewie carry Luke to the bunk, his heartache turned to utter bewilderment. He looked at Leia, who was making her way through the crowd in the hold to her brother. Rey, who had given BB-8 a swift hug and kiss (which made Poe smile), rushed toward the cockpit to help Han take off. Poe moved through the crowd as he felt the ship lift off, giving hugs of gratitude to all of his friends that were still alive. C’ai, Kaydel, Nev, Jess.
He finally reached the bunk where Luke lay. Leia was sitting on a barrel of some sort holding her brother’s hand. He looked down at the older man, noting that Luke’s chest was rising and falling ever so slightly. He looked at Leia. “How?”
Leia gave him a sad smile. “The man you saw was a projection through the Force,” she said quietly. “I remember he and I talked about it, once, long ago. About how impossible it would be.” She gave a soft laugh.
“Did you know?” Poe asked. “Did you know it wasn’t really him when he arrived?”
Leia shook her head. “Not until he touched me.”
Poe looked back at the unconscious man, his awe towards Rey and her ability to move the boulders combining now with what he had witness Luke Skywalker do. “I don’t suppose Kylo Ren knew Luke wasn’t really there either, huh?”
Leia’s smile broadened. “That was the point.”
Poe was silent for a while. “Will he be okay?”
Leia’s smile faded. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
Poe reached out and squeezed her shoulder.
Leia took a deep breath. “Commander, I’m going to need your help more than ever now,” she told him, her voice firm. “I gave Han coordinates to Berlina, where I know we can take a break and gather our wits. I’ll need you to contact the rest of your team and let them know what happened.” Leia and Poe were the only survivors that knew how to contact Snap and the others. “Then we need to figure out where we’re going to go. Who we can trust.”
He nodded. “I have ideas, but I need to talk to Snap first before I seriously consider them.”
Leia gave him a grateful look. “I knew I could count on you.”
Poe gave a soft snort. “I’ve got a lot to make up for,” he told her.
She tilted her head at him. “I know you’ll manage.” Her chin rose and she looked past him. “Why don’t you go check in with Rey. She needs to be updated on all that happened while she was gone.” As Poe looked over his shoulder at Rey standing on the other side of the hold watching them, Leia squinted at him. “Don’t leave anything out, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Even I will admit that Amilyn should have told you more.”
He felt his face heat, feeling both shame and gratitude at her words. He turned and made his way through the crowded hold. Everyone was starting to settle down now that they were safely in hyperspace, any immediate danger behind them. Since there weren’t nearly enough seats for the amount of people on board, they were finding places to ‘camp out’ on the floor; some were already curling up to sleep.
Poe felt an overwhelming exhaustion of his own hit him as he reached Rey, her concerned and compassionate gaze giving him immediate comfort. “We need to talk,” he told her softly.
She glanced around at the people behind him. “Are you going to tell me what happened that so few of us are left?” There was pain in her expression now.
He nodded. “You mean how it was my fault?” Leia’s words about not being hard on himself were already being forgotten.
Rey gave him a disapproving frown. “I know you think you’re important Dameron, but I have a feeling there’s a whole lot more to this story than ‘it’s my fault’.”
Poe brought his hand up to rub his aching temple, closing his eyes. He felt Rey reach up and grab that hand, then she tugged on it, turning away and pulling him along with her. “Come on.”
He followed her without question as she led him down the bending corridor and into the cockpit. Han Solo was just getting up from the pilot’s chair.
He saw them and paused. “We’ve got more than two standard hours until we reach this Berlina,” he said. “Might as well make yourselves comfortable.” He looked back at Chewie. “I’ll be with Leia.” He nodded at them, then passed them and left the cockpit.
Chewie acknowledged his friend’s statement, then his blue eyes focused on Poe and Rey. He grumbled something Poe didn’t understand, but Rey just nodded and smiled softly. “Thank you.” The Wookiee got up and slid past them, leaving them alone in the cockpit of the legendary ship.
Rey moved to sit in the navigator’s chair, motioning to the chair next to it. Poe slid gratefully into the seat, feeling only slightly guilty that he wasn’t sitting on the deck like the others in the hold.
“So, where do you want to start?” Rey asked him softly. Once more, the look in her eyes was one of compassion and understanding. He only hoped she would still be looking at him that way after he told her everything. He took a breath, ready to start telling her about the dreadnaught, but then he stopped. Rey tilted her head questioningly.
Poe felt his throat thicken and his eyes started burning. Kriff, he couldn’t cry. Not now.
“Poe?” Rey whispered, and he could hear the concern in her voice.
He licked his lips. “I feel like I’m going to fall apart,” he mumbled, suddenly unable to look into her eyes.
Immediately, she moved across the space between them, sliding onto his lap. She brought one arm around his shoulders and cupped his face with her other hand. “No, you won’t,” she told him. “I’ll hold you together.”
He looked at her, then closed his eyes and nuzzled the palm of her hand. Her arm tightened around his shoulders pulling him closer, and he let himself fall into her, burying his face in the hollow of her throat. Her other arm came around him and her fingers threaded through his hair, gently massaging his scalp as he let the tears come. She lowered her head, whispering into his hair, as she held him tight. “I’m here,” she said on a breath. “I’ve got you.”
Trusting that her words were true, Poe Dameron let himself go and wept.
******
The next several weeks were spent on the move.
The small group of survivors never stayed in one place for more than a day or two, and the places they stopped were carefully considered. Leia continued to push for the continuation of the Resistance and begged for support with the people they sheltered with, but their fear was obvious and it wasn’t easy convincing anyone to join them when the story of their destruction was being spread far and wide by the First Order.
The Resistance’s near demise wasn’t the biggest story in the galaxy. News spread quickly that Supreme Leader Snoke was dead, and Kylo Ren had taken his place as leader of the First Order. Rumors ran rampant that a Jedi had somehow snuck onto the Supremacy and assassinated Snoke, but Leia was quite sure the real assassin was her son; his turn to the Dark Side was complete.
Snap and the others joined with the survivors about a week after they left Crait. Rey could tell Poe was very nervous about reuniting with his friends and fellow pilots, afraid of what they may think about his actions while they were away, but he had nothing to worry about. The hugs that were shared among the pilots were genuine, and Rey overheard Karè whisper, “I wish we’d been with you.”
“I am so glad you weren’t,” Poe said firmly. “You’d probably all be dead. No one in that hanger survived.”
Rose woke within a few hours after they left Crait. She had a concussion and a few bruised ribs from her deliberate crash. When Rey learned just why she had rammed into Finn, she thanked the woman. “Poe said there was no way what Finn was planning to do would have worked. He would have died for nothing. I hope he realizes that now.”
Her roommate and friend smiled at her. “He does. He can’t stop apologizing.”
Rey also spent a great deal of time with Rose listening to her talk about her sister, mourning with her.
Luke took much longer to awaken.
He was kept on the Falcon so that if they needed to evacuate quickly, they wouldn’t have to worry about moving him. Harter managed to scrounge up enough medical equipment when they reached Berlina to ensure they could keep him monitored and comfortable, and someone was at his side at all times. Artoo never left him.
Rey and Poe were almost always separate during the day, with Poe working extensively with Leia planning and organizing missions to find supplies, ships, and recruits. Rey could tell that Leia was watching her protégé closely, worried about his mental state and his physical well-being. He wasn’t the only one to suffer from nightmares, emotional breakdowns, and uncharacteristic behaviors; every survivor from Crait was dealing with trauma. But Rey recognized that Leia looked at Poe as more than just her new second-in-command; Leia worried about him as if he was her son.
Rey’s Jedi training was put on hold for the time being. Not only did Leia not have time to train her, but her abilities as a pilot were needed more, as so many had died on the Raddus. Snap had led two raids on private docking platforms, both of them supporters of the First Order, and stole five Y-Wings and seven X-Wings. One of the X-Wings immediately became Poe’s and another was claimed by Rey. One of those raids included liberating a handful of astromech droids. Rey also claimed one of them, but as she set about wiping its memory and introducing it to her X-Wing, she mourned the loss of Sandy, who had been destroyed in the same attack that had killed most of the Command staff, pilots, and had almost taken Leia away from them.
Though most of their ‘nights’ were on the Falcon, usually in hyperspace, Rey and Poe always managed to find each other, no matter what other tasks they had been working on. They would settle into a corner of the hold, curling up together on whatever blankets and pillows they had scrounged and gifted each other with. The few nights they had to sleep separate for one reason or another were nights that one or both of them had nightmares. Poe’s involved fire and explosions and death. Rey’s always consisted of a dark figure in a mask, a red lightsaber, and her mother screaming at her to run.
They had been on the move for over five weeks when Luke finally woke. Rey just happened to be the one by his side when his eyes opened.
Rey felt a slight surge in the Force around her just before she realized his ice blue eyes were looking at her. She sat up from her slumped position and focused on him. “Hi,” she whispered.
“Did it work?” His voice was ragged and weak.
Rey immediately reached for the water container on the floor next to the bunk. Artoo realized his master was awake and rolled over, softly beeping as Rey began to help Luke sit upright. He pushed himself back so he could lean against the bulkhead and accepted the water when she offered it to him, but his eyes remained on her. He was waiting for an answer.
Rey nodded. “Yes, it worked. We found the survivors. A lot of them are still here on the Falcon.” She sighed as Luke finally began to drink. When he focused on her again, she continued. “There weren’t many left.”
He frowned, then took a deep breath of his own. “Leia’s here.”
“Yes,” Rey confirmed unnecessarily. She was actually surprised Leia hadn’t already shown up, having felt her brother’s revival.
Luke looked around the hold. A few people were playing dejarik, and another group were gathered on the floor having their mid-day meal. They all watched Luke with expressions of curiosity mixed with awe. Luke looked back at her. “And your Poe?”
Rey couldn’t help but smile at his use of the ‘your.’ “He made it, though he’s currently flying with his team right now and not here on the ship.”
There was a flurry of movement from the passage that led to the cockpit and Rey turned her head to see both Leia and Harter walking quickly toward them.
“Luke!” The relief in the General’s voice made Rey smile even more. She stood and stepped away from the bed as Leia moved in to hug her brother. Luke’s arms wrapped around his sister tightly, and they held each other for a long moment. When they pulled away, Leia looked over at Rey, grinning. “It’s really him this time.”
Rey laughed softly, knowing Leia was referring to Luke’s Force projection on Crait, then moved even further back, allowing Harter into the confined space around the bunk.
“All right, Master Skywalker. Let’s have a look at you,” the doctor said.
“And you are?” Luke’s voice was dry and sarcastic, just as Rey had gotten used to it being.
“Currently, I’m your doctor,” Harter snipped. “Now lay back and let me examine you.”
As the two women fussed over Luke, Rey wandered away, her job done. It would take time for Luke to get his strength back, she assumed, and she was quite sure they wouldn’t start any real training until the Resistance found a place to hide planetside. It would be a long road back to becoming the finely tuned army they had been before they had evacuated D’Qar. But with Leia Organa, Han Solo, and now Luke Skywalker on their team, Rey was convinced they would get there again.
******
It took another seven weeks for the Resistance to finally find someplace to hunker down. They had settled twice on quiet worlds where the residents seemed sympathetic and mostly trusting, but the First Order always seemed to appear close by, never really threatening as if they knew the Resistance survivors were hiding nearby, but too close for comfort.
That’s when Leia remembered Ajan Kloss.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner,” she griped to herself when they arrived at the almost completely uninhabited world. Uninhabited by sentients, anyway. A moon of the gas planet Ajara, Ajan Kloss itself was teeming with life, both plant and animal, and Poe found himself absolutely enraptured by it almost immediately.
It reminded him of home.
There were a handful of small settlements in the southern hemisphere of the moon, but Leia led them to an area that had very obviously not been used by anything but wildlife for years. Luke had nodded his head sagely as he stepped off the Falcon into the humid, oxygen rich air. He looked at Leia, quirking an eyebrow at his sister.
“I wonder if the training course still exists?”
Leia scoffed. “I wouldn’t trust most of it if it did.” She looked at Poe, who was by her side, as he often was these days. “Maybe Poe can help Rey fix it up.”
“Training course?” Poe asked.
Leia nodded. “This is where Luke trained me. Now, it’s time for him to get down to training Rey.”
“Well, if she gives me even half of the grief you did,” Luke said, frowning. “I’m not sure I’ll survive this time.”
“Very funny,” Leia snapped back. The expression on her face was severe, but Poe recognized the humor glinting in her eye.
The small group of fighters and other ships the Resistance had acquired eventually made their way to the surface, finding whatever open areas they could to land. The large trees and huge rock formations would hide them. They were a long way off from finding and putting together a planetary shield, so keeping everything as concealed as possible was currently their only defense.
For two days the group, whose number had only grown slightly since Crait, worked at creating not only a working base, but a place they could live and relax and feel safe for however long it lasted.
Tents were set up throughout the small valley to protect them from the frequent rain. The sides could be pulled up to allow air movement as they had no way to artificially cool the hot, humid air. A few people, including Leia and Luke, found caverns large enough to settle in comfortably. While the caves were cooler, there were none large enough for a command center, so that was still located under a large canvas tent.
The remaining Resistance pilots set up tents of their own in a clearing off to the side of where most of their ships were docked. Poe helped them, laughing and teasing and feeling more comfortable than he had in a long, long time. He was far from over the trauma of the past few months, but he felt that he was slowly getting back to his old self.
Eventually, he noticed Rey watching them. She was leaning against a tree off to the side, a small smile on her face. After a teasing shove from Snap, he made his way over to her. “So, where’s Luke making you put your tent?” he asked. He already knew from Leia that Rey would be working with the Jedi more than the flight team from here on out.
She shook her head. “He’s not. I got to choose where I’m going to stay.” He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Where’s Leia making you put yours?” she asked.
Poe laughed softly. He had officially been declared Leia’s second-in-command at their morning meeting, and while he was proud of the promotion, he was also nervous about it. “She’s not,” he told her. “I get to choose where I’m going to put my bed down, too.”
“And have you?” she asked softly.
“No,” he replied in kind. “Have you?”
Rey gave him a sly smile and motioned for him to follow her, then headed through the base. He followed, eventually jogging up to walk next to her as they maneuvered around trees and roots and ships and tents. They passed the cliffside where the other caverns were and continued past them. Poe was openly curious now. They passed a beautiful lake with waterfalls and Poe immediately wanted to jump in for nice, long bath. They came upon another area of rocky outcroppings. Rey led him to a lone cavern and walked inside. Her belongings were already there, her bedding along the back wall where she had put down a bed of rushes that she must have found next to the lake.
Poe nodded in appreciation, then looked at her. She was looking back at him intently. “It’s big enough for two,” she said simply.
Poe felt his heart start to beat a little bit faster than normal. He leaned out of the cavern entrance and looked back toward the base, which was a good 200 meters away. “The radios work out here?” he asked, looking back at Rey.
“Yes, I made sure.” she nodded. “I know it’s a bit of a distance from command, but I’ll need to be away from the others to meditate. And I think it will do you good to be able to get away from all that activity, too. When you need to.”
He stared at her earnest face for a long moment. “Did you talk to Leia about this?” he finally asked.
“I told her I was going to ask you,” Rey said. “She agreed that it might be good for you as well, but she wanted to make sure you weren’t pressured.” Rey looked away quickly, her cheeks taking on a rosy hue. “If you’d be more comfortable closer to Leia or the squadron, I understand.”
“I actually love the idea,” Poe told her quickly.
“But?”
He glanced around the cavern. “It’s still really small. We’d have to sleep awfully close together.” He had to work to keep his face serious.
Rey looked at him, her brows furrowed. “That’s… that’s kind of the point.”
Poe couldn’t help but laugh at her confused expression.
She opened her mouth in astonishment, then reached over and smacked him on the arm. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
He moved into her, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug. She didn’t resist, falling against him and bringing her arms around him in return.
“I would love to stay here with you,” Poe told her, serious once again. “But are you really sure you want it? Are you sure we won’t get on each other’s nerves?”
“I think we’ll both be so busy we’ll hardly ever be here, and probably not always at the same time.” She looked at him, her eyes large and sincere. “But I think when we can be together, even if only for a few hours of quiet and rest, we’ll heal each other’s nerves.”
Poe smiled. “I agree,” he whispered. Then he nodded. “I’ll get my stuff out here before nightfall.”
******
Rey’s prediction that she and Poe would hardly be in their shared quarters at the same time unfortunately came true. For the next six weeks, as word of Snoke’s death and the news of the return of Luke Skywalker spread, more and more people began to join the Resistance. Poe spent the great majority of his waking hours either transporting new recruits to Ajan Kloss (after serious vetting) or working to establish a larger spy network than what they already had. When he was on-world he was training with the new pilots or helping Leia plan.
Rey spent most of her time with Luke. He was impressed by what she had already learned from Leia, but he also got frustrated easily by her stubbornness and her refusal to take whatever he said for granted, always wanting to know the ‘why’ more than the ‘how.’ She also continued to spend time with Leia, meeting with her early in the morning to meditate in the meadow beside the lake and often sharing meals with her.
Whenever Poe was done with whatever task he had been busy with, he would find his way to the little cave on the far side of the lake, clean up as best he could, then wrap himself around an already sleeping Rey, as it was inevitably the middle of the night when his work was done for the day. She would wake early and regretfully slide out of their bed (which eventually became a cot rather than a makeshift pallet on the floor), leaving him to sleep as long as he could. Other than a few shared meals of their own, they rarely saw each other while they were both awake.
It was disappointing, but Rey admitted to Leia that at least knowing the other would eventually come ‘home’ was a comforting feeling.
Despite their rough start, Rey eventually learned to enjoy being with Luke, and she learned to appreciate his dry sense of humor. He spoke to her about the history of the Jedi, things he had learned in the years following the war with the Empire, and stories he had gathered from other survivors. He talked about the Bokken Jedi, Force sensitives that had been trained after the destruction of the Jedi order by survivors of the purge. Unfortunately, most of those survivors had been padawans, whose training had been incomplete, making their own training inadequate.
“Including yours?” Rey had asked.
“Especially mine,” he had told her. “I only learned the basics from Obi-wan and Yoda. But at least I had two Masters training me. And there’s my heritage, of course, which is either something to take pride in or something to try and rise above, depending on your point of view.”
During quiet moments, she often caught him watching her with more focus than normal, his ice blue eyes intense and a frown on his face. She always became slightly unnerved by his expression, wondering what he was thinking and remembering how he had told her she reminded him of someone he used to know. Finally, during one of those moments, she decided to pressure him into talking about whatever he was thinking.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
His eyes widened, startled. “Like what?”
“Like you’re angry at me, but not really me.”
He winced, then muttered, “Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “What was your mother’s name?”
Rey shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t remember much about her.”
“Do you remember what she looks like?”
She bit her lower lip, then shook her head. “In my dreams, I can still see her face, but I couldn’t describe it to you. I think if I saw her again, I would recognize her. Although I guess she would be much older now.” She frowned. “Why?”
“Your eyes are very distinct, Rey,” Luke answered. “I knew someone with eyes like yours. And your mannerisms often remind me of her, too.”
“A student?”
He shook his head. “No. She initially came to me to learn, but she already had training.”
“She was a Bokken, then?”
“Of a sort,” he said softly. He stood from where he was sitting. “Come with me.”
Rey also stood and followed him out of the clearing and back toward the main part of the base. They often trained in this clearing, which gave them privacy from the activity going on in the encampment, but kept them close by if they were needed. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the cave Luke called home. He went over to the small satchel he had brought with him from Ach-To and reached inside. To Rey, it looked like he was reaching into a hidden pocket in the lining of the bag. He pulled out a flimsy with an image on it. He looked at it for a moment, then handed it to Rey.
Rey took the image carefully, knowing how fragile such things were, and studied it. Immediate recognition flowed through her. A young woman was smiling at her from the flimsy and it was as if she had appeared straight from Rey’s dreams. Dark hair, hazel eyes, a confident bearing. “That’s her,” Rey whispered. She looked at Luke. “You knew my mother.”
He nodded, though it hadn’t really been a question.
“What was her name?”
“Mara.”
“Do you know where she is?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I have my suspicions.”
“How long ago? Did you know me?”
He looked away for a moment, then back at her. “Rey, you weren’t born yet when I knew her. She…” he stopped and looked away again, frowning.
Rey studied him, realization dawning. “Are you my father?” she whispered.
He looked at her again. “I don’t know.” He paused. “It’s possible.”
Rey took in a shuddering breath. “She told me when she left, she was going to find my father and they would both come back for me. Do you think something bad happened to her?”
Luke laughed suddenly, but there was no humor in it. “I can almost guarantee it.”
“What do you mean?”
He took a deep breath. “Rey, when Mara came to me on Ossus, everything she told me was a lie. She wasn’t there to learn more about Jedi teachings. She was there to spy on me. And on Ben, who had arrived shortly before her for training.”
“To spy on you? For who?”
“She belonged to the Knights of Ren,” Luke continued, his voice hard. “Who do you think?”
Rey stepped back, stunned.
“When I learned about her deception, I had already fallen in love with her. I don’t think she intended that, to be fair. She said she loved me, but I couldn’t trust her, so I banished her.” He bit his lower lip and looked as if he was holding back tears. “If you are mine, she probably didn’t even know she was pregnant yet. But I think we both know who she was hiding you from on Jakku.”
“Snoke,” Rey whispered. “Do you think they found her? Killed her?”
Luke shook his head. “I know she’s still alive, Rey.”
“What?”
“Or at least, she was before I found Ach-To,” he continued. “She was back with the Knights of Ren. I saw her on more than one occasion whenever they caught up to me.” He gave her a sad smile. “Leia wasn’t the only reason I closed myself off from the Force.”
Rey turned and sat on the chair by Luke’s desk. “If she went back to them, why did she leave me in hiding? If she was protecting me from them, why didn’t she just send me to you?”
“I don’t know, Rey,” Luke told her. “I don’t know her reasons for anything.” He moved to sit on the bed, reaching forward to grasp her hands in his. “But I do believe she loved you and that she is still protecting you. I believe Snoke knew nothing about you until Ben – Kylo Ren,” he corrected himself, “sensed you in the Force for the first time.” He squeezed her fingers softly. “Kalonia can test us, if you want?”
Rey focused on him. To think, she might be a Skywalker, part of that lineage Luke had just been talking about. She nodded.
“Not that it matters,” Luke said as he let her go and stood. “You’re already part of a family here. Your bloodline won’t change that.” He smiled down at her.
Feeling her heart swell, Rey smiled back.
******
“You’re Luke Skywalker’s daughter?!”
“Shhhhh!!!!” Rey reached across the table and grabbed Poe’s hands in hers. He hadn’t spoken loudly, but it was loud enough she apparently feared others might hear. She looked around nervously, but no one in the clearing that had been designated ‘the mess’ was looking at them. “Not so loud,” she whispered as she looked back at him. She took a deep breath. “And we don’t know that for sure.”
Poe leaned in closer to her, his food forgotten. “When will you know?” He couldn’t help how excited his voice sounded.
Rey shrugged. “Harter doesn’t have the equipment here to test our blood, so she had to send it away. Wrobie’s taking it.”
Poe nodded. He had known Wrobie had been sent on a special mission by Leia this morning. “No one mentioned your name I hope,” he said. “Or what the test was for?”
Rey shook her head. “No. As of right now, only you, me, Luke, and Leia know anything about this.”
Poe sat back, not letting go of Rey’s hands. “You could be a Skywalker,” he breathed. “You could be Leia’s niece!”
“Yeah,” she huffed softly. “Weird, huh?”
“It’s perfect,” he told her. “The idea that I found you on Jakku, where you were waiting for your family, only to bring you right to them without anyone knowing.”
The corner of Rey’s mouth quirked up. “I didn’t think about it like that.” She smiled fully. “Thank you, Commander.” She let go of his hands and looked down at her mostly empty plate. “So, what are your duties tonight?”
Poe felt a grin tug at his mouth. “Actually, I was going to tell you before you told me your big news…” He paused, his eyebrows raised teasingly.
“Tell me what?”
“I’m done for the day,” he said, letting his smile break free. “And better yet, I’ve got all of tomorrow off. Leia insisted.”
Rey stared at him for a long moment and he could almost see her thoughts swirling behind her gorgeous eyes. “Wait,” she breathed. “Luke insisted I take tomorrow off, too.”
Poe nodded. “I know. Leia told me.”
Rey looked around the area again, her cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink. “So, we can spend tonight and a whole day together?”
Poe shrugged. “Looks like it.”
He could tell when Rey truly began to realize what this meant. “Whatever are we going to do, Commander?” she asked sweetly.
“Well,” he said thoughtfully. “We could go hiking. Or swimming. Or you could ask Chewie if I can fly the Falcon and we can go for a joy ride.”
Scrunching up her face, Rey reached across the table and smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “You know very well what we’re going to do!”
Poe laughed out loud, then he grabbed up his plate and stood. “Let’s go home,” he said as she also stood, a smile still on his face. She smiled back at him, her expression almost gleeful.
Less than ten minutes later they had reached their shared quarters, and Poe realized this was the first time they had walked there together since the day she had brought him out here to ask if he wanted to live with her. That realization brought about another: they had not had sex since their first time together on D’Qar. It was a strange thought, as they had become so accustomed to being in each other’s space these past few weeks, had become used to sharing a bed, even if they were rarely in it at the same time, that intimacy between them was still unfamiliar.
Once they reached the little cave, Poe pulled the tarp they used to cover the entrance closed completely, something they rarely did. Then he pulled out his commlink and sent out a familiar but mostly unused by him code: “Do Not Disturb Outside of Emergency.”
Rey was sitting on the cot removing her boots. She looked up at him with an expression full of worry and uncertainty. He was gonna have to fix that. She licked her lips. “They’ll know what we’re doing,” she said softly.
Poe couldn’t help but smile at her shy words. “Good.” It was no secret that the two of them were living together now. Why should they hide the fact that they were enjoying it? He reached out to her with both hands and when she grasped them with her own, he pulled her to her feet, bringing her all the way into his embrace. He nuzzled her nose with his own, feeling her relax in his arms. “I know this is still new to you. If ever you want to stop, just say so.”
She looked at him, her eyes shining in the soft light coming from their one lamp. “I’m worried I won’t ever want you to stop.”
He smiled and kissed her, gently coaxing her lips open with his tongue. She responded with a soft sigh, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing her body tight up against his. He felt one of her hands dive into his hair and his arousal surged; he had always loved having his hair messed with. He turned and regretfully pushed away from her, his hands dropping down to remove his weapon. With a soft whine, Rey let him go. She currently wasn’t wearing any weapons. She never wore her blaster while training, and though there was talk about her making a lightsaber of her own, currently she was training with Luke’s. Poe sat on the cot and began to remove his boots.
Rey moved forward, dropping to her knees in front of him, helping him. The action startled him, and he watched her as she completed removing his footwear. “This doesn’t seem right,” he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes questioning. “What doesn’t seem right?”
“You,” he continued. “A Jedi. A possible Skywalker. On your knees at my feet.”
She smiled suddenly, then leaned forward and began undoing his belt buckle. “Really?” she asked casually. His breath caught as she started to open his fly. “What’s not right about it?”
His breathing quickened as she reached into his pants and pulled out his already stiffening cock, looking up at him with a slight smirk. “I may be on my knees,” she hummed. “But who is really in charge?” Poe gasped as she proceeded to wrap her lips around the tip, her mouth warm and wet.
“Kriffin’ hell,” he whispered as he brought his arms back to brace himself on the cot, careful not to lean back too far so as to not hit his head on the rock wall behind him. He closed his eyes as Rey’s tongue began to circle the head of his cock, groaning. He had plenty of experience with lovers giving him head, but this was like nothing he had ever felt before, and he sure as hell hadn’t taught Rey this!
“Where…” he tried to say. He cleared his throat. “Where did you learn how to do this?” He couldn’t help but feel a surge of jealousy as his brain focused on what he was asking.
He felt her mouth leave him for a moment and he opened his eyes to look at her smiling up at him. “I’m not always reading about Jedi history, you know.” She licked her lips and the action made even more blood shoot south. “Don’t tell Luke.”
Poe laughed, both relieved and excited by her words, wondering exactly what else she had read about. She brought her mouth back to his cock and he shuddered at the sensation, knowing it wasn’t just what she was doing, but that it was her that was doing it that caused this amazing feeling in him. No one had ever made him feel the way this woman did, both physically and emotionally.
He brought one of his hands up to cup her head as she began to suck lightly, one of her hands pumping him at the base firmly at the same time. His fingers found her tight buns and he immediately knew he needed them gone. He opened his eyes and brought his other hand to her hair, trying his best to focus enough to take out her hair ties. Her tongue, however, was making it very difficult. Finally, her hair was loose and he finger combed it for a moment, his breathing quickening even more as she moaned in response to his stroking.
“Rey?” he gasped. “Rey, please. I need...” he groaned as she sucked a little harder. “Please!” He pulled ever so slightly on her hair, trying desperately to get her attention.
She finally leaned back and looked at him, her pupils blown wide, her own breathing coming fast. “Don’t you want to finish?” she asked, her voice almost a whine.
“Yes!” he said emphatically. “But not without you!” He pushed into her a bit to make her move back, then stood, stepping away so he could finish removing his trousers. Kriff, his hard-on hurt! He was so close! Rey watched him for a moment, then she reached down to remove her tunic, messing up her now loose hair as she pulled it off. Poe sat back down on the cot, moving far enough so that his back was against the wall. He kept his shirt on, hoping it would protect him from the rough granite behind him. “Ride me?” he asked her.
Her eyes excited, Rey stood and quickly removed her leggings. Poe licked his lips as he watched her, now completely bare, walk toward him. Without hesitation she straddled him, bringing her center over his still straining cock. He grabbed her by the hip with one hand, then brought the other up between her legs, unsurprised to find her almost dripping with moisture. “Kriff,” he muttered, rubbing his fingers along her slit firmly, gathering up as much of her arousal as possible. She gasped, then moaned and rocked her hips at his touch. He brought his slippery fingers to his own erection and rubbed her essence all over his cock, adding to Rey’s saliva that had yet to dry. “Now,” he croaked. “Please?”
While he held his cock steady, Rey lowered herself onto it. They both watched intently as she slowly slid down, her body swallowing his inch by inch.
Poe felt almost light-headed at the sight.
Once he was completely enveloped in her wet heat, he looked up at her face. She had closed her eyes, her mouth open, her expression both focused and euphoric.
“Rey?” he whispered.
She slowly opened her eyes. She met his gaze with her own, then smiled softly. “It’s better than I remember,” she muttered. She bit her lower lip, then began to rock her hips.
The pleasure that shot through him was immense, and he groaned, his fingers tightening on her waist. She whined in response and began to move faster, her hips alternating from back and forth to side to side to a circular motion. Poe couldn’t keep up with the sensations flowing through him. His brain was having a hard time focusing on anything but the feel of her, her smell, the sounds she was making. He brought a trembling hand up to stroke her back, letting his fingers trail along her spine and feeling her shiver. He felt a moment of relief that she was apparently feeling things with as much intensity as he was.
Her own hands began to move along his shoulders, occasionally bracing herself off of them as she moved. When he leaned in to kiss her, she met his lips eagerly, crying softly into his mouth as her movements became stronger and a little less fluid than before. They continued to touch and kiss and rock into each other until Poe felt as if his whole body would shatter. He pulled back and cried out from the magnitude of pleasure and emotion roaring through him, and Rey responded by riding him hard, bouncing up and down on his cock with fervor.
“Poe!” she wailed as her fingers tightened on his shoulders. Her fingernails were digging in, his shirt offering little protection, but he barely felt them as he erupted.
Wave after wave of pleasure poured through him as he emptied himself inside her. He was vaguely aware of the sound of his own voice crying out in exultation as he wrapped his arms around the woman astride him and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Her whole body was shuddering, with tremor after tremor making their way through her and into him, making him feel like he was vibrating as well. She fell limp against him, dropping her head onto his shoulder.
Finally, their breathing slowed and they pulled back to look at each other.
Rey reached up and pushed sweaty curls off of Poe’s forehead. “I’m not going to be able to walk after tomorrow, am I?” she asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.
“I’m not sure either of us will,” Poe told her with a smirk of his own.
******
End of Part 2
Part 3 Begins Here!
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