The Mechanic

V

V The Resistance

I landed my ship on the planet of Crait, a dusty white looking planet where the ground was streaked red outside the entrance to the rebel base. Streaked red, from afar anyone might have mistaken it for an unholy amount of blood. I strode towards the massive door set into the rock. Only to be greeted with the sound of guns cocking and blasters charging.

"Hey! I'm not here to kill you!"

"Are you with the First Order?" One of the rebels asked

"No of course not- neutral party"

The rebels looked like they were about to say something but thankfully Poe jogged over.

"Aelin!" He called out. "It is Aelin, right?" The rebels looked at him in confusion. "It's good to see ya. I see you found the base."

"It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"No, I suppose it's not. Your mom's been waiting for you"

"Course she has."

Poe showed me over to a small control room.

"Aelin... I thought you wouldn't come..." Leia had tears in her eyes.

"I figured I might as well."

"You've grown up so much."

"A lot happens in 5 years." I wasn't going to pretend I wasn't still bitter about that.

She sighed. "I want to introduce you to some people." I didn't reply. It's not like I had a choice anyway. Leia lead me around the base introducing me to various resistance workers. I forgot most of their names.

"Mngraaaaaaaah!" I spun around and was knocked over by the giant wookie that was Chewie.

"Hello Chewie." I wheezed, he was crushing me.

"Ngraaaagh"

"General, who's this?" A voice came from behind me. It was a girl- about 19 brown hair and a piercing gaze.

"Rey, this is my daughter Aelin. Aelin, Rey- The Last Jedi."

I stuck out my dirty hand. This time there was no hesitation from Rey- she grinned and shook my hand firmly.

"You look like you've come a fair distance."

"Corellia," She nodded "How about you. You don't look like someone who's been with the resistance all that long."

"No, I come from Jakku."

"That junkyard?" She nodded. We talked politely for a bit until Poe jogged over and clapped me on the back. He had another man in tow.

"Aelin meet Finn, Finn meet Aelin." I nodded and smiled. We shook hands. God how many times am I gonna have to this today?

"So, uh, you're the General's daughter?"

"Yep."

Another person hurried over calling out "Finn!" She started to say something then noticed me. "Who's this?"

Rather than have to go through all the being introduced I stuck out my hand. "Aelin Solo, at your service," I gave her a mock bow. She laughed.

"Rose, resistance mechanic."

"Pleased to meet you."

Rey cut in. "What exactly do you do, then?"

"Many things, Rey, many things," She raised her eyebrow.

"Hacker, mechanic and professional assassin. Although the hacking is more of a hobby..."

"Mechanic! Cool, that's great you don't exactly meet many." Rose smiled, pleased to have found common ground.

"An assassin?" Finn looked at me suspiciously. "Who do you work for?"

"Private hire, local victims killed in one day or your money back."

"Seriously?" Rey was utterly shocked.

"People aren't perfect, love"

"Yes, But-"

I was saved from a very awkward conversation by Poe, "Is that your ship outside?"

"Yes it most certainly is."

"You own a A-grade curved glide V-wing?"

"Yep."

"But they cost...unreasonable amounts of credits."

"When people are desperate enough to have someone do their dirty work for them, you can make whatever damn fees you want."

"I'll bet you can." There was an awkward silence. Rey was giving me a death-stare. "Can I have a look?"

"Sure. Come on." Poe looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.

"Wow. It's so smart, how do you keep it so clean?" I laughed "And...it even has a toilet!" I laughed harder

"It's like my apartment. Who needs to stay on one planet all the time?"

"Solar chargers in the wings...pulse cannon...wow. I've never seen one of these up close before..." Poe was certainly impressed. I grinned, it was nice to meet someone who shared my weird obsession with space ships.

"Do you have a ship?" I asked him. He must have, right? Being 'The Best Pilot In The Resistance'.

"Yeah, But it's no where near as fancy as this. I just have a standard X-wing."

"Can I see it? I've never had the chance to see one up close."

"This is it. Not quite big enough to live in though," he laughed.

"We have the same colour scheme. Good choice." He grinned. "I should probably go...what's this?" I noticed a fox-like creature covered in crystals near my feet.

"Ah, that's a Vulptex. Saved our lives, not too long ago."

"They're so. Freaking. Adorable. Ohmygod."

"They are pretty cute."

"Anyway, I should go. Nice meeting you..." I started to walk back towards where my mother was.

"Wait!"

"Yeah?" I turned around

"Won't you stay, for food or something?"

"I will be back you know,"

"I know, just, I don't want you to be lonely." That struck deep. Somebody wanted to make sure I wasn't lonely. That hasn't happened in a long time...

"Alright, then."