Finn's arms were curled around his head protectively. He took a deep breath and assessed the situation. He was under a heavy jumble of spare parts for the ships, the mobile shelving it had been on, and possibly the collapsed wing of an X-Wing. He ticked off the checklist that had been drilled into him from when he was small. He could feel all his limbs. There was a heaviness on his legs and he couldn't moving them because of that, but it didn't appear that they were crushed or broken. Other than that the rest of him was in a pocket empty space without a lot a room to moved around. He couldn't feel anything jabbing into him, so he was relatively sure nothing had punctured him. He could see tiny bits of light and he could hear people shouting. Shouting for him. If everything went well he would be rescued, he would be fine.

Now the hardest part.

Someone had shouted at him to look out, someone had pushed him into the right place so he couldn't be crushed.

Now he had to determine if they had sacrifice their life for his. He pushed away all the other noises and tried to hear the breathing of the person who had to be beside him.

Nothing.

Still.

"Hey? Hey you okay?" He asked into the darkness.

"I'm fine, kid," came the response that was more a fading echo in his head and raised the hair on the back of his neck, "I'm fine..."


Luke's reaction was to swing himself around so he could wrap an arm around Boba's waist and pull them both off the rafter beam. He cushioned their landing using the Force, and then was kneeling by Rey's side before Fett could even begin to vocalize a response to being grabbed like that. Luke gently grabbed her hands to stop her as she tried to dig through the debris.

"He's fine, Finn is fine," he said softly, "I can feel him; try reaching out and you'll see for yourself."

Trembling, Rey closed her eyes and reached with the Force. With a sigh bordering on a sob, she looked at Poe who had stopped digging when Luke had come over. Her smile was shaky, but...

"He's alive."

Poe sagged in relief and BB-8 beeped and tootled and bumped up against him in the little droid's version of comforting.

"Now," Luke didn't even have to finish his sentence as he closed his eyes.

There was a faint screech of metal rubbing against metal as the jumble of debris rose from the hangar floor and started to move. Rey and Poe scrabbled under it the second they saw Finn and Finn tried to sit up.

"No, no, I'm fine," Finn protested as they made him lay back down, "nothing broken."

But Poe and Rey insisted he wait for a medic to check him out.

Luke set the jumble of metal down on an area that had been rapidly cleared. He looked around and spotted Fett leaning against a wall, looking slightly green, and glaring at him. Deciding that given how Rey and Poe were fussing over Finn and the hangar crew was attacking the debris pile, he could return to Fett.

"Did you really need to pull me down with you?" the old bounty hunter growled.

"Yes."

Fett blinked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he repeated unimpressed, "care to elaborate on that?"

Luke took a moment to consider it. He tilted his head, stroked his beard, nodded to himself.

"No."

"No?" it was growled, but Fett couldn't quite keep the corner of his mouth from twitching up.

"Are you going to tell me what legend you're making?"

"Yes, a friend of mine is dying," Fett answered tightly, looking down, "he deserves to have death that can be spun into a myth of epic portions."

"I see," Luke felt the sudden stab of grief that had flashed through Fett through the Force as if he were the one losing someone, "I'm sorry."

Fett was looking every place he could not to meet Skywalker's eyes, then he chuckled dryly.

"He knew your father too. If you're lucky, Hondo Ohnaka may still have just enough life and time left in him to tell you about the time he captured him and Kenobi and held them for ransom. It's a very funny story," He finally looked back at Luke, "I'm pretty certain Hondo exaggerates bits of it. He exaggerates every story he tells. But they're all true, even the ones I know he makes up. You'll see your father it. But we need to get to Florrum soon."


"Florrum," Leia said slowly, "you want to go to Florrum now?"

She heaved a sigh and set her datapad down. She rubbed at her temples. Then looked at her brother and the bounty hunter standing there like, like, well it hurt to think of the last time Luke and Han had been up to mischief together. It didn't seem right to have Fett standing there in Han's place, but there he was anyway.

"It would incline smugglers and pirates to look favorably at the Resistance," Fett offered blandly, "The Lady Kanata is there already."

"We might even recruit some of them," Luke serenely added. Leia could see even if she did not go, Luke's mind was made up.

"Is it possible some are trustworthy enough to help us find a new location?" Leia asked wearily.

"Chewbacca is a favorite of Lady Kanata, and from what I've heard from the Governor of Florrum, she's fond of both Finn and Master Skywalker's padawan Rey as well," Fett reasoned, "and you know she has no love for the First Order since they razed her fortress on Takodana. You should seek her advice at the very least."

"The Governor of Florrum? Florrum doesn't have a governor. It doesn't have a government."

"Connor Freeman rebuilt the stronghold on Florrum after the Empire fell. He owns the largest cantina and all the landing docks and repair bays," Fett said with a shrug, "Connor's intelligent enough to know when to pull back from a conflict and skilled enough when a conflict refuses to pull back. And Hondo favors him; that's come to mean a lot to certain people. Connor is recognized, more or less, as the Governor of Florrum."

Leia and Luke shared a look; they had both observed, other than his sons, Fett only ever referred to someone with a given name was if they didn't have title or family name. And now here he was discussing two people by given names. Leia arched an eyebrow, and Luke returned the gesture with careful tilt of his head. Leia gave a mental sigh; Luke was intrigued and since she really didn't want to let him out of her sight again…

"We will go on two conditions," Leia said, picking up her datapad and tapping to begin making the proper arrangements, "The first is that we will all go in the Falcon…"

"I need to take Slave I, Hondo would never forgive me if I don't bring her," Fett interrupted, "but…my boys can travel in the Millennium Falcon, if Master Skywalker travels with me."

"All right," Luke conceded before Leia could object.

"All right then," Leia wanted to thwack her twin upside the head, "the second condition, is you have to start speaking to the other Leaders of the Resistance; they're convinced that should something happen to Luke or I, you'll just disappear, or attempt to take over."

Luke and Leia felt the fleeting sense of terror come from Fett before he responded casually.

"Really? Sorry, my father taught me to talk to the Boss or don't talk at all," Fett shrugged, "I'll do my best."

Leia accepted that that was the best she was going to get at the moment.

"I need to discuss some matters with Luke," she replied graciously, "and then we'll prepare to leave."

Fett nodded and left to tell his sons to get ready.

"You're going to fly with him?" Leia asked Luke, irritation mixing with fondness in her voice.

Luke just laughed, and Leia just shook her head. On one hand she thought he was being terribly careless, on the other she had no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing. Then Luke took Leia's hand, concern filling his eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Leia laughed sadly in turn.

"No, no, not at all," she admitted, "I have no doubt some of them will have known Han, and some of them will certainly trash-talk him, but if Fett is right, it will engender favorable leaning towards the Resistance," she smiled distantly, her eyes looking somewhere other than the present, "you never know when you'll need a smuggler to come swooping out of a sun."

There was nothing Luke could say to that, but he pulled his sister into a hug.


After arrangements had been made, there was one last hurdle. Poe had been seen off on his mission with many hugs and kisses from Rey and Finn. But Leia spotted the travel bag at Finn's feet and raised one elegant eyebrow.

Finn swallowed but stood up straight.

"Ma'am, I cannot in good conscience allow you go to Florrum without a bodyguard," he said evenly, "You're too important, Ma'am."

"And my brother the Jedi Master, his apprentice, and Chewbacca are not sufficent?" Leia asked wryly.

"I did not say that, Ma'am," Finn replied.

Leia snorted, she knew with Poe on his mission, Finn didn't want to be separated from his other lover, but her features softened nonetheless. This young man would be a great leader someday, this she knew without reservation. This was good opportunity for him to observe and learn.

"Then I will be honored to have you come with me," she nodded her head, as she turned on her heel to walk up the Falcon's ramp.

Finn smiled as he followed her.