//God Speed Rebels\\

vi

The girl jumps to her feet, running out of the cock pit. A sigh escapes my lips. Clutching my side in pain I stumble to my own feet.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know!"

The two kids continue to talk over each other as I lean against the circular wall and watch. BB-8 looks to me then to them. A small smirk plants itself on my face. Young love.

"Your name is Finn, right?"

"Yeah, what's yours?" he asks her.

"I'm Rey." she says, then turns to me.

"And yours?"

"Alex." I nod to her. A sudden burst breaks the silence. Finn and Rey run to the pipe that had exploded and remove the flooring to get to it. Rey jumps into the hole and looks around.

"It's the motivator. Grab me a harris wrench, check in there."

"How bad is it?" I ask while grabbing the tool and walking over to the hole.

"If we run a leak, not good."

"They're hunting for us now." Finn says as he stands nervously. "We have to get out of this system."

"BB-8 said the location of the Resistance base is a need-to-know. If I'm taking you there then I need to know."

I hand her the wrench, she pops back into the hole and continues to work on the motivator. Finn looks to me then the droid. Several moments pass before Rey pops up again.

"So, where's your base?"

I look hesitantly to BB-8 before answering for Finn.

"The Ileenium system."

Rey looks to me as if I was crazy.

"The Ileenium system?! I'll drop you three off at Ponemah terminal-- I need the bonding tape, hurry!"

"Wait, where are you going?" I ask while leaning in a seat, watching Finn struggle to find the bonding tape.

"I've got to get back to Jakku--"

"Back to Ja--" He stops what he is doing to stare down Rey. "Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku?"

"It's not that." I say as he grabs duct tape. I look around for bonding tape as well.

"That place is--" Finn is cut off as he holds up a different type of tape.

"No." Rey points across the room as Finn picks up another tape.

"No. The one I'm pointing to."

I follow her finger to the yellow tape that is right next to him.

"No... No! No!"

Finn scrambles around for it again.

"If we don't patch this up then the propulsion tap will overflow and flood this ship with poisonous gas!"

I point to the yellow tape as BB-8 looks to it as well. Finn grabs it and holds it up.

"This?!" he asks.

"Yes." Rey answers. Then he tosses it to her. She catches it with ease before sinking back into the hole.

"Rey, you're a pilot. You can fly anywhere-- why go back?" Finn thinks of why as he crawls over to the opening. "You got family? You got a boyfriend?-- A cute boyfriend?"

"None of your business, that's why."

I snicker at her comment, thank god I'm not the only girl anymore. I dare say that she's more enjoyable than Strife. Just as she stands up, the ship shuts down. We all look around at the red lights.

"That can't be good."

"It isn't." I say. The all too familiar shut down sends a shudder down my spine.

The two run into the cockpit as I stay in the room. My side is in excruciating pain. I can barely move and I just need rest. BB-8 rolls up next to me and nudges my hand. I look to the droid and rest my hand on its head. He whirrs worriedly.

"I'm fine, BB-8. I think I may have cracked a rib, but I'll push through it. You need to get back to the Resistance and I'm the only one who knows how to get there." I breathe. Just a few moments later, the two rogues come running back into the room. Rey hands me a gas mask while grabbing one herself. Finn does the same as they jump into the hole from before.

"Come on, Alex. Grab BB-8." I pick him up and gingerly walk as quickly as I could to the hole. I hand the droid to Finn, who falls over; realizing BB-8 was heavier than he expected. I slowly jump into the hole, then Rey. Using the power of teamwork, we pull the flooring over the hole as quickly as we could. With just a few inches left, the door to the ship opens, causing my heart to race.

"Who is it?" I whisper.

"The First Order." Finn answers. I wrap my gas mask around my face before sitting down and leaning against the wall.

"Do you think this'll work on the storm troopers?"

"Do you think what'll work?" I ask questioningly.

"Yeah, their mask only work on smoke, not toxins."

Once everyone had their masks on, Rey started unwrapping the pipe. Oh, shit. Footsteps thump across the floor above us. We all hold our breath. Just then, Rey's gas mask knocks against the pipe. The small noise was loud enough to be heard from outside of the flooring. My heart begins to beat wildly. She looks to us with guilt in her eyes. Just then, the floor board is ripped away. An older man stands above the opening-- an all too familiar looking man.