Chapter 10

Location: Resistance Headquarters, Planet Hrill

"Easy, easy!" the engineer guiding down the empty fuel cell called out, watching the stilts meeting the globular cell.

"Almost there," Lieutenant Connix said, watching them from afar, "After this one they move the fuel inside and then they'll be able to start combat sorties."

"I know," Finn replied, "We have to stop it."

"How?" Connix demanded, "There's already plenty of people who don't like the new commanders and his officers, but how will you get them to the point of resistance?"

"Watch this," Finn winked, and pulled his goggles over his face.

The disguised man casually walked by, and with everyone's attention focused on the fuel cell being lowered Finn moved towards the lower levels, where the fuel pumps were already installed well away from the fuel bay. This was the key to making certain that the usurpers wouldn't be able to begin using the facility to launch raids against the First Order, and thereby insure their place as the new leaders of the Resistance.

"Okay," Finn whispered to himself, walking down the metal stairs, "Best place to hit a pump is at the joints, break the seal…"

He looked down at the several pumps and the multitude of pipes snaking across the floor, built up off the ground on duracrete slabs and bolted on. There wasn't anything in them yet, so he decided to covertly go for a glass viewport. Finn could see one not too far away, and walked in past a bunch of engineers who were moving around, loudly screwing in bolts into new sections of pipes. There were plenty of personnel about, and he dropped his blaster behind a pallet of pipe sections and lifted a toolbox into both hands to look as though he belonged. It didn't take too long before he was at a pump, a large speeder-sized contraption painted yellow that was bolted into the floor with three rows of fuel lines going to and from.

Kneeling down Finn took out the toolbox and looked inside and covertly withdrew a plasmablade. It was meant for precision cutting, but the vibrations would cause more damage, and he did so when he held the handle and pushed it up into the bottom of the pump housing, and then quickly hit the button, and a sudden spike of plasma cut into the housing and Finn could feel the heat and reached over and did it again. The pump was rendered inoperable, and it was done so it was obvious, lest a major accident occur that took lives. This sabotage wouldn't even be detected without a thorough inspection, which Finn wasn't certain had already been done. All this pump would do was suck in air or spill hydraulic fluid.

Finn simply stood up and returned from whence he came. The damage was done, but he decided he wasn't done. With a quick jab he punched another hole into a pipe as he walked by, leaving a small glowing red hole on the pipe against the wall by his blaster and walked away. The engineers had no clue he'd done this, and he got away with it, for now. Lieutenant Connix was watching for him to return and saw him walking.

"Well?" she asked.

"They'll have some more repairs to do, and suspicion will be running high."

"The engineers will definitely get an earful from an unhappy Admiral," she nodded, "I hope you're right."

"From what I've seen in First Order officers, which this guy reminds me of…the hammer will come down. And those who dislike him will then start to hate him."

"You sure hate is the right call?"

"Meet you at the cave," Finn just responded and turned and walked towards the stairs upwards out of the hangar.

Location: Forest Moon of Endor

The T-70 emerged from hyperspace and Rey was still unconscious thanks to the blaster wound in her hip. Her BB unit was all-too-aware and took over control of the ship and made a bee-line towards the forested moon in front of them. Rey began to start to come to as the X-Wing began getting buffeted by the strong winds.

But it wasn't the wind and the jostling that woke her, a voice, speaking as if it were next to her.

"Rey, hang on," the voice said, and she recognized the voice speaking.

"Luke…" she whispered as the starfighter began to start its landing cycle.

"Arrived you have young one," a new voice stated, and the feeling of comfort washed over her, she didn't recognize this voice, it was spoken as if by an old yet wise individual, not Luke.

"We are with you Rey," an old voice added, and this one sounded more like a prim and proper gentleman.

"I don't understand…who…where?" she mumbled to herself as once more she was jostled around when her fighter landed.

The craft's canopy opened and she knew that she wanted out, and like an uncoordinated blob Rey pulled herself up and out and fell back and landed hard onto a wet mossy ground. Rey yelled in pain as she hit, pressing her hand to her still-bleeding wound. She didn't take notice of the tree cover over her head and the sound of the forest around her. The sound of a horn caught her attention, it was unlike anything she'd ever heard before, and the sounds of whooping and chattering made her look around. Holding a hand to her hip Rey sat up, and saw a pair of gray and brown-furred creatures standing there with spears and leather hoods and bones and teeth strung on necklaces as well as a few feathers on them. They stalked towards her, chittering at her, and Rey finally realized who they were.

"Ewoks…no wait! I'm a Jedi!" she called out, and the two Ewoks looked at each other and chattered back and forth a moment. Rey knew she had to figure a better method of communication.

"Here," she said, and slid to a dirt patch and drew the Rebellion symbol.

The two Ewoks carefully walked to where they could see it, and a similar and recognizable noise of recognition emanated from their mouths. She knew that they weren't going to be roasting her alive at least. The gray-furred Ewok walked over, and cocked his head at her wounded side.

"Help me, please," Rey asked hopefully.

The gray one took out a horn with a cork plug in it he unplugged it and gently lifted her hand off and then poured out a yellow honey-like liquid. Rey watched it drip down and then hit her wound, then it was like the lights went white and then went out. She dropped to the ground from the mixture hitting the open wound. The brown Ewok snapped at the gray one and the two argued about the chosen course of action. After the argument Rey's droid dropped down and looked at Rey as the two argued. The gray Ewok patted the little rolling droid on the head in a show greeting and allowed it to stand next to them.

Then the brown one blew curled ram's horn and more Ewoks started to arrive. Soon dozens were there, and they began to assemble a gurney and lifted Rey on it with a homemade bandage. Then, the assembly took the wounded girl towards their village. A medicine man was waiting in their healing house up in the trees, and with a few ingenious systems of pulleys the wooden stretcher and patient were lifted straight up, and the healing began.

Location: Orbit over Planet Delphon 7

Poe's X-Wing dropped out of hyperspace over the sparsely populated world, knowing that the First Order wasn't here yet, but he didn't want to make the risk of going to a more major world like Bespin. He was looking for a fleet of Republic ships, a fleet that potentially had modern Dreadnought Mk. III Cruisers in it. Arriving Poe saw a pair of cargo ships, small medium freighters just hanging out.

But one thing that he didn't see was Rey's X-Wing. She'd escaped with him, but she wasn't here which was what highly concerned Poe. There wasn't even a sign of her.

"BB, I need a full spectrum scan, every nook and cranny, anywhere she may have come out of hyperspace," Poe ordered his trusted droid partner.

BB-8 commenced the scan, and as he did so Poe noticed that the two medium freighters, Barloz-Class, started up their engines and began accelerating towards him. Narrowing his eyes Poe noted the two ships were painted with red stripes on them and had more than double the usual armament as what was factory for the design.

"Buddy, do those ships look odd to you?"

BB-8 gave him a confirmation, those ships weren't just freighters, they were converted warships. Poe accelerated, and sick of not being able to fight decided it was time to do something rather than just run from what he assumed were just local pirates.

"Open a channel buddy," Poe tersely ordered, and the beep came, acknowledging the order, "Attention unknown vessels, this is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic Fleet, state your intentions immediately or I will open fire."

The two ships kept their course, but didn't respond. Poe tapped the button to open his S-Foils to attack position. Then the two ships' power began to drop on his scanners, they were powering down their weapons.

"Wait please! Don't shoot!" a young excited voice called out, "We're on the same side Commander Dameron."

"Identify yourself," Poe ordered the two ships.

"This is Captain Stiill of the Red Blizzard, of Scarlet Squadron."

"Scarlet Squadron?"

"We're uh…hold on sir, we'll show you," the young voice responded and within a few seconds Poe's scanners lit up, ships started dropping out of hyperspace.

The ships Poe saw were old, every one of them. Three old derelict GR75's modified with three five laser turrets and a single boxy hull for crew quarters instead of modular cargo containers. Two CR90's upgraded with heavier armor and weapons, including two large fixed turbolasers mounted under the bridge and two outboard engine pods mounting four smaller sublight engines each arranged two by two on four support rods. There was also a single CR90 with a carrier modification so it held a squadron of starfighters. And scattered in the formation were four YZ-775 Medium Transports, five YZ-900 Freighters, and three VCX-825 Escort Freighters. The largest ship that appeared in this batch was an EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate in the lead of the formation. Scattered with them were RZ-1 A-Wings, T-65 X-Wings, and a few BTL-A4 Y-Wings, all of them uniquely painted and showing signs of age.

"Oh," Poe smirked, seeing the motely and antiquated collection gathering before him.

"We're Rebels Commander. Like you," the same kid responded happily, seeing that the fleet was assembled and more than a few fighters were zooming in next to Poe, and in each cockpit Poe saw he was looking at young eager faces, many wearing old-school flight helmets in their old starfighters. The vibe that Poe got from them was that he was being swarmed by fans judging by how the fighters gathering in a crowd around his ship.

"What do you think sir?" a random voice asked.

"Well, I think it's a start."

Then, to top off the assembly the largest ship there finally arrived, an MC75 Mon Calamari Cruiser, by the looks of it, it was barely even able to make it there. Carbon scoring from decades of near-neglect covered the hull and in some places hull plating was even missing. Unfortunately, this state of maintenance was actually the same as most of the ships in this motely assortment of craft. Cleaning time had probably last occurred for them back when those ships were new, which for many was decades. Poe piloted towards

"Commander Dameron," a voice that Poe recognized as coming from a Mon Cala said over the comms, "You may land aboard the Goliath sir."

"Roger that, making approach," Poe said but noted that quite a few fighters weren't exactly making it easy by crowding in, "Hey guys, clear the pattern please."

A chorus of apologies rang out as the different fighters peeled away. Three of the X-Wings very nearly smashed into one another as they crossed paths. One of them showed extraordinary skill as they dodged several other fighters, rolling and pitching away and with extreme reflexes banked around a slow Y-Wing more gently steering away. Poe just shook his head and chuckled as he made his way into the sizeable and chaotic hangar deck of the MC75 in front of him. This was, like all Mon Calamari ships, unique, having hangar that was entered from the rear of the ship in a bulging stern section behind the long ventral fin. When he landed he saw all manner of personnel and droids emerging and rushing to the hangar, most of them extraordinarily young, some military-aged, and none wearing true uniforms. Nothing appeared standard here.

Poe's impression wasn't helped when he saw the state the deck, much and filth was everywhere. Crates and barrels and munitions were laying about against the wall or around the handful of fighters and old Imperial shuttles on deck. Up close it was apparent that maintenance was most definitely not a priority around here. In fact it was so bad Poe had to say something.

"You guys don't do much maintenance around here do you?" he asked as he opened his canopy and could smell the need to change air filters hit his nostrils.

More than a few of the crew meekly looked around, knowing how right he was.

"We uh…we're kinda new to this whole thing sir," a young female Theelin pilot wearing a blue flight suit and white chest rig responded, "Commander Kee, I'm in charge of our pilots."

"Well Commander," Poe sighed, stepping out and started stepping down the ladder and dropped to the deck, "A bunch of old raggedy-ass ships and fighters is better than none. I can work with that. Who's in command here?"

"The old man sir," Commander Kee responded, "Come on, I'll take you."

Poe looked around as he followed the young pilot and saw the awe and joy that many in the crowd obviously felt seeing that such a Resistance hero was there before them. It was actually remarkably refreshing compared to the stern and military welcome that they'd received aboard the previous cruiser he'd just left. But most welcome were better than that one to be perfectly honest. The interior of the cruiser he was being led into wasn't all that bad compared to the hangar, he was seeing more in the way cleaning and maintenance being performed in the corridors and he also noticed that were very, very few in the way of crew around the ship. In fact on the way to the lift he only saw a dozen people.

"How many people do you have here?" Poe asked as the two entered the lift.

"About a fifteen hundred in our force, probably less though," the girl shrugged, then it seemed she'd finally worked up the courage to say something else as the lift went down and she turned to face him with a bright smile and big eyes, "Commander sir can…I have your autograph?"

"Autograph?" Poe stammered, this being a first for him, "Uh…sure…"

"Here," Kee offered, holding out her helmet and a pen, an old and modified A-Wing helmet.

Poe quickly scribbled on a 'Good hunting, Poe Dameron' onto her turquoise helmet and handed it back, and smirked as he saw the big bright smile that lit up her face.

"I'm never washing this ever again…" she sighed happily, almost hugging the new treasured possession.

"Well better wash the inside because…well y'know maintenance."

"Yeah, sorry about our state, we're not fully organized and there's not very many of us to do everything. The Admiral will tell you the whole story."

"Alright, let's hear it," Poe said as the lift stuttered to a stop.

"Not again…" the girl groaned unhappily and pulled up a comm, "Hey engineering, we've uh…yeah we've gotten stuck in the lift again."

A series of angry beeping came back on the comm, clearly from a droid.

"Yes, just get us going again, we've Commander Poe Dameron, the Poe Dameron, on here. It's embarrassing!" the girl griped back.

The lift began moving again, audibly screeching for a few seconds before it smoothed out. The lift then stopped at its proper stopping point and then the door opened, and Poe was confronted with a marginally acceptable state for the bridge. Greeting Poe was a Mon Cala, this time a male in a Republic Navy uniform with no legs. He floated in a hovering chair, with a cybernetic eye enhancement as he looked at the two.

"Admiral Ortugeb Ru, Republic Navy," the Mon Cala stated to Poe, "Welcome aboard Commander."

"Pleasure sir, if I may, how'd all this happen?" Poe asked.

"Well, that's a bit of a story. I was second-in-command of squadron of Republic ships that's stationed near Endor. When the Republic fell we knew that a new Rebellion would need to be made, so my boss sent me to the shipbreaking yard at Eriadu to scrape up whatever we could and we've building up and training this and two other forces ever since," the Mon Cala responded, hovering over to a map, showing the positions of four separate fleets marked with Republic markings.

"How big are they?" Poe asked.

"Oh…we've got an MC80 Liberty Type, an MC80A, and four Nebulon-B's, plus a more than a dozen CR90 and CR92 corvettes, three QuasarFire Carriers, and maybe twenty GR75's? Plus dozens of those up-armed freighters and transports and lots of fighters."

"Damn!" Poe responded in awe, "How'd you accomplish all of this?"

"We were given more time than other Republic forces. Plus, we are in a fairly populous region of space. Lots of recruits and lots of ships to pick up," Commander Kee replied.

"And we still have our primary force, a regular Republic Fleet of modern cruisers, fighters, and escort ships."

"What do you have?" Poe asked.

"A four Dreadnought Mk. III's, two Yavin-Class Carriers, and about twenty frigates and corvettes."

"Jeez!" Poe's eyes widened, realizing he'd hit paydirt, "Well Admiral, I think it's time I tell you why I'm here, you familiar with Admiral Domminis Jaye?"

"Oh no don't tell me, he's taken over your forces?" the Mon Cala responded, afraid to hear it.

"Yeah, he-he did, how do you know sir?"

"Jaye's a tyrant, he was like that before the war. Now that there's no chain of command to oppose him he's gathering every Republic and militia force under his command. He killed an admiral, Admiral Lope, because he refused to do as he was told."

"Wait a minute, Lope? He's Jaye's superior isn't he?"

"Was. Jaye's gone warlord, he has to be stopped, I assume you know where he is?"

"I know exactly where. Our base on Hrill, he's probably waiting to get it operational before he goes on the attack."

Location: Resistance Headquarters, Planet Hrill

Finn was poking at a fire that was burning in a raised clay pit in the center of the loyalist squad in the back of the cave where they were encamped. The cave was entirely sealed with a wall of hardened clay laid out a foot thick. Only a small opening allowed entry. They had set up cots up against the walls and a few lanterns provided light. Warmth was through the fire that Finn was busy stoking. For defense a small hall into the cave was formed by the pillbox that they'd built inside and gave them a full field of fire on the ledge in front of them. Around the firepit were chairs and stools made from rocks and stumps. Around him a handful of other Resistance members, the misfit squad that had been hiding him, was also sitting around the fire.

"The Admiral's Marines came down alright," Lieutenant Connix called out as she entered the room, sitting down next to Finn, she sighed heavily, "They made an example of the engineers who built the pumps when they had to shut down when leaks began sprouting."

"Told you he would," Finn responded, crossing his arms over his knees, "And?"

"The Army guys aren't very happy, a rift's forming Finn. The Admiral's people aren't letting anyone from our forces near anything vital. It could be dangerous, there was a fight in the mess hall, two Army troopers got thrown in the brig after the Admiral's men beat them up. That could be a sign of things to come if we're not careful," Connix warned him as two more people arrived, also Resistance loyalists, among them was Rose.

"Rose, you okay?" Finn asked, the two embracing in a hug as the second, an officer, sat down with Connix.

"Yeah I'm fine, the Admiral's issued orders, no major construction projects are to have our people near them anymore, not since your stunt," Rose responded as she sat.

"What's left?"

"The power generators are being installed, enough to power the base for some time. A sensor dish is rumored to be waiting to be placed on the mountain. Right now me and the others are just working on stringing lights and air filtration ducts and laying water pipes. The essential stuff that most anyone can do. We're going slowly, running into…problems as we go," Rose smirked knowingly.

"Nice, you gotten any grief for it?"

"We were yelled at by a few officers when we were on break. That didn't get received very well, so we turned off the aircon to the officer's quarters," Rose replied, "Gonna get pretty humid in there…"

"Thanks for that," Connix rolled her eyes.

"And the Falcon?" Finn asked.

"No one's touched it," the other officer responded, "The Admiral himself had a tour of it, something about it being an historical treasure."

"The Falcon is loved by everyone, no denies the importance of that ship to our cause," Connix added.

"We could use that," Finn whispered.

"What?"

"Think about it, if we could…somehow get the Admiral or his cronies to violate that general agreement of the Falcon remaining untouched…or even just make everyone think that he wants to…we could turn the tables," Finn explained, "It would be a violation of a kind of trust."

"The kind that would cause all sort of drama," Rose inferred, sensing what Finn was getting at.

"That'll be the kindling sewn into people's minds, when we spark it, it'll ignite," Finn nodded, assured in his thought process.

"But how do we do that?" the other officer asked.

"Not sure," Connix said, tapping her foot as she thought about it.

"How about tapping into the rumor mill? Like the Admiral's taking the ship as his own personal shuttle?" one of the soldiers offered.

"That'll work," Finn replied.

"Or what about you?" Rose asked, "What if we used you to add to it? The entire base knows to arrest you on sight. But what if we said that he intends on executing you. Many see you as a hero Finn, someone who risked everything turning on the First Order. The mere mention of executing you will stir resentment."

"Hey I don't-I don't wanna be executed!" Finn stammered.

"Just a rumor Finn relax," Rose laughed.

Everyone chuckled at that as they brainstormed additional ideas. Some were foolish, some were downright suicidal. Others, like harassing opposing officers, dosing their food and drinks with nonlethal chemicals like laxatives or sleeping pills were met with more constructive outcomes. A gameplan was now on the books. But there was one more part of the plan that hadn't been figured out. And it hung over everyone's heads like a ton of bricks, where was Leia. No mention of her had been made since she'd been arrested.

"And what about the General, our General?" Rose asked quietly.

"There hasn't been a word about her," Connix confirmed.

"He might just be letting the heat die down. Leia inspired a lot of loyalty, Jaye may be playing for time, trying to prove that his leadership is the preferred option so when he has to do something with her he has a solid base of support amongst our own," Finn mumbled to himself, tapping his prodding stick against the ground between his feet as he did so.

"Could he be intending to…execute Leia?" Connix asked.

"He's not foolish, he wouldn't do that. If he was that stupid he would've done it already," the other officer shook his head.

"Agreed but what if we forced him to use her as a hostage?"

"Then blood will be spilled, lots of it. Because if he gets that desperate there'll be enough of us to threaten his position," Finn sighed, knowing the end result of such a terrifying course of action.

"Let's hope it never has to come to that," Rose held a hand to Finn's shoulder.

Location: Ewok Village, Forest Moon of Endor

"Rey…" a soft voice spoke through her mind, bringing the young Jedi back from her sleep.

Rolling her head from side to side Rey started to come and opened her eyes. A soft orange light from candles set on a tiny table to her left were fairly easy on her eyes after such a long sleep. The dark of the night was evident through a circular opening in the wooden hut's wall to her right on the small bed that had been made for her. Rey found that she wasn't wearing the Republic Marine uniform that she'd had one when she'd lost consciousness when she sat up and started looking around.

"What the?!" she yelped as she saw that she wore a two-piece dress with her arms bare and a soft white undershirt under the soft brown tanned leather that showed just the slightest bit of midriff, where she saw a fresh clean bandage was tied beneath it.

She stood up hunched over in the hut and saw that she was barefoot, and that she had a dress on that cut deeply almost up to her hips, allowing for rapid and unrestrained movements. Her hair was down and had long thin braids in it on both sides with small white feathers beads and string on the ends. The Ewoks had given her the same royal treatment that, unbeknownst to Rey, Leia had received. As she looked at herself and noted the lack of pain and discomfort from her wound the Ewok medicine man came inside, rustling the rattling stick décor he held. He spoke to her in his native language, bidding her welcome.

"Umm…thanks?" Rey responded, looking down at the little being who seemed very pleased with having her awake.

The medicine man seemed to understand and bowed deeply at the waist, then gave a sudden 'ah!' as if remembering something. It startled Rey as she stepped out of his way and saw that he was going to a metal pot steaming in the corner, and he ladled out a thick stew into a wooden bowl no bigger than a condiment bowl to Rey and handed it to her. The concoction stank to high heaven, but Rey wasn't about to insult the cute little fuzzball with refusal. She took the stew and sipped at it. It was indeed bitter and foul. But such was the saying about medicine and healthy foods, if it tasted bad it had to be good for you. She finished it, and the medicine man seemed quite pleased and bidded her to lay down and rest, but something pulled at Rey as she looked to the outside of the hut, through the small door.

With the medicine man's back turned Rey stepped out into a misty foggy night. The glows of torches and interiors of the Ewok huts were scattered all around her and their bridges crisscrossed the lighter colored fog below. Rey still felt this peaceful view wasn't why she was here. Rey looked around and then gasped when she saw why she'd felt the Force call her here. A blue glow surrounding a small seated figure on the railing with long ears and a cane looked back at her.

"A good sleep had you?" the ghost asked.

"Who-or what are you?" Rey asked, curiously stepping forward.

"Oh, know not do you? Yoda am I. Here to complete your training I am," Yoda responded.

"As am I," a new voice stated, and the ghost of an aged human male with white hair and beard appeared wearing Jedi robes.

"We have always been with you. But the Force has revealed now to be the time for you to become a true Jedi," the voice of Luke stated as his own Force ghost appeared alongside Yoda, opposite of Obi Wan, "Lucky for you this is a bit of a nicer place to learn it."

"Oh, ungrateful you are young Skywalker," Yoda chided him, getting a chuckle from the other two.

"You're…you're here?" Rey asked, "How?"

"Learn that and more, you shall."

And so my favorite part begins. Writing the training segments of this is going to be a heck of a lot of fun. Looking forward to returning to this story on the update cycle I've got going here.

Next Chapter Preview: Training on Endor, and deception on Hrill, plus more fanboys and fangirls for our friend Poe.