Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"THIS WILL BEGIN TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT."
The final piece of the puzzle fell into Poe Dameron's calloused hands as he stared intensely into the glassy eyes of Lor San Tekka. Heat from nearby candles filled the sand hut, leaving an ever-so-bitter taste of smoky acid in the pilot's throat.
"I have travelled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy," San Tekka continued, his voice aged with desperation. "Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."
The small disk felt heavy in Poe's hand, like a pile of rocks that were weighing him down. There was a light in his chocolate eyes and his stomach flipped when he saw the object staring up at his messy dark hair. A part of him was still in disbelief. The disk was the most important item in this expansive galaxy which they trekked, and somehow, Poe Dameron, a Resistance pilot with a bubbly companion, had managed to get his hands on it.
For the first time in all his years, he felt important.
Meanwhile, Arabella Kyber stood outside the sandstone hut, scanning the barren terrain with her quadnoculars. The sand crunched beneath her worn leather boots as she slowly stepped forward, inspecting each square of land that sat under the dark night's sky. She made way to the large sand dune which kept the small village from the arid desert fields of Jakku.
Beside her, the small white-and-orange BB droid whirred around spasmodically, catching the brunette's attention.
"What is it BeeBee-Ate?" The young woman asked as she lowered her quadnoculars. She bent down before the two-foot-tall droid that was swaying back and forth on its spherical body. Their head moved excitedly, like a child on sugar rush, as it beeped out all its anxieties to the girl.
As Arabella listened to the droid's concerns, her stomach turned painfully, as if someone had reached into her and had begun twisting her intestines around mercilessly. She felt all the air rush from her lungs and she choked desperately at the sudden lack of oxygen. She could already feel his grasp around her neck, forcing every part of her into helpless shambles.
It wasn't until her sidekick, BB-8, zapped her back to reality, that the girl broke from her waking nightmare. Arabella looked around suspiciously, almost as if she could feel his eyes on her, and then she instructed the droid, "go warn Poe. Tell him we have company."
Like the good messenger they were, BB-8 sent the girl a small nod before rolling back into the hut, interrupting the pilot's special meeting.
Now alone, Arabella turned back to view the void of land beyond the village, and when she held up her quadnoculars in front of her chocolate eyes, her hands began to shake. Suddenly she saw the inevitable disaster in the sky that was making its way to the planet.
The First Order, she shuddered in horror. They're here. They're really here.
For months, the First Order had remained quiet, and for a minute there, Arabella had doubts that they really existed—but here they were, flying down to the planet right before her very eyes.
