Let It Burn

I Watch This City Burn, These Dreams Like Ashes Float Away

After their successful attack on the First Order base, the Resistance salvaged whatever they could and then moved their base of operations to the Codian Moon. The First Order retreated to Borosk, rejoining their allies in the Imperial Remnant. In the absence of the Galactic Senate, planets were choosing sides. A few, particularly those in the Outer Rim, continued to ignore the greater happenings of the galaxy and saw to their own affairs, but most were at least tenuously connected with one side of the other. Finding allies was not a challenge, though the loyalty of those allies was not necessary something on which one could depend.

General Organa was facing something familiar – the threat of a totalitarian government – but under very different circumstances than those to which she was accustomed. She had known that the Imperials had fled, and were festering in the outer reaches. She had known and the Senate had done nothing, had denounced her for warmongering. No matter the evidence brought before them, they refused to accept it as a real threat. Well, now they were gone, and there was no satisfaction in being right.

This civil war might prove to be the worst the galaxy had ever seen, and she was embroiled in the middle of it. The Resistance was weak without the Republic to support her, and the First Order was weakened by the loss of their great weapon. But both were bolstered by supporters who thought they could determine who would win, and things were not as simple as they once were.

The council met daily, sometimes late into the night, to discuss what to do. As more heads of state threw in their support, more representatives appeared at the council and less could be done effectively. The General relied on her own people to carry out her commands, but she couldn't be everywhere. She needed help.

One way that help came was from a former Stormtrooper – losing Finn was a great detriment to the First Order, for more reasons than the intelligence he could provide to their enemy. He was clever and tactically-minded, easily seeing a way through issues that might otherwise set the council to bickering. His insight was greatly valued, and he soon had the status of General Organa's second in command. He inspired loyalty amongst the others, especially the pilots who followed Poe Dameron. The two were fast friends and they worked very well together.

Luke Skywalker's presence was always a benefit, and she felt that things couldn't really be as bad as she feared when he was nearby. His realm was not political, though he was willing to render assistance however he was needed, and he spent his time training Rey or furthering his own understanding of the Force. He'd changed since he'd left – he was quieter, but more clear-sighted. If she went to him for advice, he was able to see much more than she could. He would not, however, often volunteer information, and seemed almost pained when she asked.

And Rey... Well, she was close to Leia's heart.

The nightmare again. Unkar Plutt had followed her, had found her, had taken her back to Jakku. Her house was gone – unsurprising – and she had to scrape by again, forced to work for him as practically a slave. He promised to find her family, to give her a way out of here, if she would only do the work he was asking for. It wasn't much, he assured her, just enough to pay for his efforts.

Morning was still a few hours away when she sat bolt upright, then pulled her knees up against her chest. The other nightmares she sometimes had, the ones where she was being chased, were much more preferable. Because this one was the most real. The cold of her room was a relief after the heat of her former home, and helped convince her that she was far from that old life of living day to day, of starving and struggling, of fear combined with the unbearably mundane. She could easily convince her waking mind that her new friends, her new family, would never let her go back to that life against her will. But, somehow, while she slept, she worried that they might leave her like her old one did. That she could never live up to their expectations and they would abandon her.