A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

25 years have passed since the fall of the Galactic Empire and death of the Emperor. The newly reestablished Republic, after several years of struggling to hold together, has finally reached the point where a time of unparalleled peace is in sight. Unfortunately, in the outer edges of the galaxy, a new threat has begun to raise its head.

6 years ago Luke Skywalker, famed hero of the Rebellion and Jedi Knight, disappeared after a mysterious fire torched his newly formed Jedi Academy. No one seems to know where he went, but in his absence a threat to the new peace has arisen in the form of The First Order, a militaristic organization, presumably made up of Imperial remnants, and led by an enigmatic figure known as Supreme Leader Snoke.

The First Order has begun ravaging the edges of the Republic, leading to the Senate, not wanting another all out war, to order the creation of The Resistance, a covert military force meant to halt the attacks of the First Order, without revealing any overt connection to the Republic. Led by another Rebel hero, the former Princess of Alderaan, Leia Organa, the Resistance has placed itself as a wall of defense between the First Order and the rest of the Republic. But their strength is wearing thin.

Led by the Masked Butcher, Kylo Ren, right hand to Snoke himself, the First Order has begun a renewed attack upon the Resistance. In desperation, General Organa has sent one of her best pilots, Poe Dameron, in search of Luke's location.

His search has led him to a colony of Alderaanian survivors on the desert planet of Jakku, where the former senator, Bail Organa, claims to offer a clue to the Jedi Knight's location…...

Poe Dameron sat in a dark tent, the shadows cloaking most of his features, leaving only his dark eyes and roguish face visible. The tent was lit only by a single small lantern in the corner that barely gave off enough light for him to make out the elderly, sand-weathered face of the former senator of Alderaan. In the dim light the elderly man held out his hand to Poe. Clasped in his fingers were the strings of a small pouch. Reaching out, Poe took it and held it up in front of himself.

"What is this?" he asked, gesturing with the small bag. The old man smiled.

"Skywalker left it with me in case anyone came to look for him. It's a map, or at least part of one." Bail replied, solemnly. "He said he wanted to make sure that the only people that could find him were his allies."

Poe looked at the drive in his hand, he grasped it more firmly, nodding with a smile.

"The General will be happy to get it, then." he said with a look of satisfaction. Bail just smiled.

"Tell my little princess I said hello." he replied with a grin.

Poe chuckled. "Sure, old man."

Suddenly, a sound of beeping broke the quiet as BB-8, Poe's spherical-bodied astromech-droid rolled into the tent, his beeps conveying a strong sense of urgency.

"Whoa, Whoa. Slow down buddy. What's going on?" Poe asked the droid, raising one of his hands in a placating gesture. BB-8 chirped again, but his tones were drowned out by the distinctive sound of a ship flying overhead. Rushing to their feet, Poe and Bail burst out of the tent and looked up in surprise. Above the scattered field of huts that made up the colony, the dark shapes of several First Order shuttles rumbled overhead, trailed by a squad of TIE fighters. Below them, the figures of the colonists scattered for their weapons.

"Damn it!" Poe muttered under his breath before making a mad dash for his nearby X-wing, BB-8 trailing behind him. As he reached his ship he realized he wouldn't be able to take off before being spotted by the TIE fighters. Instead, he turned to his droid, dumping the contents of the sack into his hand. A small rectangular data drive fell into his palm. He leaned down to the droid, gesturing towards him with the drive.

"Buddy, I need you to take this in case something happens." he said quickly.

*Worried Beeps*

"No, don't worry I'll be fine. I always am. But this is more important," Poe explained, trying to instill confidence in his words. " Take it and head east. I'll meet with you a few miles from here once I get the ship off the ground."

*Hesitantly compliant beeps*

"Good. Now go!" Poe said urgently, turning to his ship and reaching for where he kept his macrobinoculars and blaster rifle. As he did a hesitant BB-8 rolled off into the sand, stopping by a nearby dune to watch as Poe moved stealthily toward the now landed shuttles, before turning and heading off into the sand.

Troopers, clad in black armor, had begun issuing from the ships as Poe took up a position, firing off a few explosive shots at them. Despite the best efforts of both him and the colonists, however, the highly trained soldiers took practically no time in subduing the colonists. As Poe watched, two troopers took hold of the elderly Organa and were now dragging him to the front of the largest shuttle.

Poe didn't recognize the odd angular markings on the large shuttle, but it was obvious to him that it belonged to someone important. His thoughts were confirmed when a tall figure in pitch black robes strode down the ramp, it's face hidden behind a dark, silver lined mask.

The figure strode formidingly down the ramp, the troopers to the sides of Organa standing at attention as he leaned forward to put his masked face directly in front of the old man's wrinkled one. Surprisingly, the old diplomat seemed unfazed, though his face gave a hint of recognition.

"Nice to see you again." The figure said, its voice distorted by the mask. A tense moment of silence passed before it spoke again.

"Where is Skywalker?" It asked calmly.

"I have nothing to offer you." The old man replied tersely, after a short moment.

The masked figure stared at him for a long few seconds, unmoving and still.

As he did, the old man's face seemed to twist, as if straining against some weight, before he finally wilted, his head dropping as he gasped for air. The dark figure seemed to nod to himself thoughtfully.

"Kill them." he said suddenly, turning away.

The black clad troopers began gathering the colonists, surrounding them with their blasters. Bail seemed to look at the masked man with a mixture of horror and pity.

"Please, you don't need to do this!" He pleaded. "This is Snoke, Ben, not you. I know you!"

Suddenly, the man known as the Masked Butcher turned back, raising a single hand. As he did, the old man rose in the air, clutching at his throat, choking.

"You knew a child, once." he said in his distorted voice. "But, you don't know me."

With that last word, Kylo Ren's fist closed and the body of bail Organa trembled and went limp, hitting the ground with a thud as he dropped his arm. He seemed to flex his hand oddly, staring at the body for a few moments.

He was broken from his reverie by the sound of a blaster bolt being fired.

Poe watched the exchange from his hiding place on the dune, his dark brown leather jacket working surprisingly well as camouflage in the desert night. He recognized the masked man as the warlord Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader's right hand man, if his info was accurate, but besides that little tidbit, he knew little more than rumors about the mysterious commander of the First Order. Aside from the fact that he apparently never took off that mask and had led most of the First Order's conquests, no one knew much about him.

Which made the old man's plea all the more surprising. He seemed to know the person behind the mask. And apparently, Ren knew he was right, based on his reaction.

As the old man was lifted into the air, Poe slung his blaster off his back in an attempt to save him, but struggled to get a good shot, as Bail was being lifted directly in front Kylo, blocking his view. He muttered a curse under his breath and slammed his fist into the sand as Bail's body fell limp to the ground.

As the mask warlord stared at the body, Poe realized he had a perfect shot at Kylo's head. He took it.

To his surprise, the bolt only made it half the distance before freezing in mid air, as Kylo's hand shot up instinctively, then, with a pushing motion, sent the bolt back the way it came. Poe barely managed to roll out of the way to avoid it. Rather than running, however, Poe came up to a kneeling position and fired off several more shots at Kylo, but this time, in a flash of red light, Kylo ignited a lightsaber to deflect them. As he did, the trooper captain, an ominous figure in a silver accented armor made a motion to several black clad soldiers who moved to flank Poe. Too focused on firing at Kylo, Poe missed the motion.

The warlord seemed to have no problem deflecting the shots with his cross-guarded saber, as he smoothly swung it from side to side, deflecting every shot, until suddenly, he stopped, and with a motion of his hand, the blaster flew out of Poe's hands and crashed into a nearby hut.

"Bring him to me alive." Kylo called out in his distorted voice, as two groups of troopers appeared to either side of Poe, weapons trained on him. They rushed forward, grabbing him roughly and dragging him, struggling to no avail, towards the warlord's feet. Kylo loomed over his new prisoner, seeming to study him for several moments. Poe glared back at the expressionless mask for a few seconds before smirking.

"So, how does this usually work? Do you start talking? Do I start talking?"

The warlord didn't respond to the pilot's question, instead leaning down to stare into his eyes.

Suddenly, Poe felt something pressing on his mind for a brief moment. With a quick swipe, Kylo gestured towards the dead body of Bail Organa with his still ignited lightsaber, his eyes not leaving Poe's.

"You knew the old man." he stated, matter-of-factly. "What did he give you?"

"Him?" Poe said, scoffing and nonchalantly gesturing towards the body with a nod of his head, "Not much really. Some fuel for my ship, a few supplies. Extravagant prices though."

A distorted sigh came from the mask. Kylo stood, looking at the troopers holding Poe.

"Bring him." he ordered. Turning to the captain he nodded. "Captain Phasma, I think you can finish up here."

"Of course, sir." Phasma replied, turning to the troopers surrounding the colonists, as Kylo led the way back into his shuttle. "Open fire." she ordered.

Instantly the night was filled with red light as the troopers fired on the colonists, their screams causing one trooper to freeze with his finger on the trigger.

Kylo stopped halfway up the ramp and turned to the troopers. He'd felt something strange. A pull of some sort. As he watched he noticed the one trooper who seemed to have frozen up, and wasn't firing with the rest. Watching him for a moment, the feeling seemed to pass and he shook his head his head, telling himself Phasma would deal with it. For now he had a prisoner to interrogate.

Minutes later the shuttles and ships took off, exiting the atmosphere. Below on the dunes of Jakku, a small droid looked up as the ship's shot over his head. BB-8 let out a worried beep, before determinedly rolling off across the dunes.