Theodosia

Chapter 6

"I can't believe we've had a trespasser on our base this whole time! And a force user at that!"

"She's not a trespasser, Captain. For her to qualify as a trespasser, it would imply she came here without anyone's permission," Poe replied back to Captain Gawat with a tired sigh; he had spent the past fifteen minutes trying to explain the situation.

"And she came here with your permission, I assume," the Captain said sarcastically, irritated.

Not one to back down from a remark like that, Poe nodded pointedly. "Yes, she did."

The older man made a noise of disapproval before turning to the person seated at the end of the table.

There sat General Leia Organa, the leader of the Resistance. She had let the men argue on as she thought on what to do.

"Poe, I'm sure you know why we're all hesitant about the addition of this girl," she said.

"Yes, maam," Poe nodded. "But please just give her a chance. There's good in her."

"What was she doing when you found her?" she asked.

"She was trying to escape from the Raiders. I received her distress signal, and when I got there, we fought and then...well, she managed to knock them out and then she fainted, so I brought her here," Poe explained.

"She used the force on them?" one of the officers asked. Poe nodded, immediately noticing the looks of skepticism on their faces.

"Why did you hide her from us?" Leia asked. Poe paused, unsure if he should tell them the truth. Leia must have noticed his hesitation because she repeated her question sternly. "Poe."

Poe sighed, rubbing his temples. It was now or never. "She may have been part of the First Order?" he responded. The reaction was immediate. Cries of protest rose from the team of officers, calling for her immediate removal.

"A member of the First Order? They'll hunt us down to find her!"

"She could be a spy sent by them!"

"I say we exile her before she does any more harm!"

"Wait, she could be valuable. A force user. That means they will only have Kylo Ren-"

"Enough!" came the sharp command from Leia. The protests died. The general turned to Poe.

"Can you confirm this?"

"I only have assumptions. When I found her, she was dressed in a black uniform that was very similar to the First Order," he told her. 

Leia nodded, telling him to continue. "But she had a head injury, a bad one. She doesn't have any memory of how she got there or what she was doing. She doesn't even know who she is," he explained. "We created a new identity for her to give her a fresh start."

"How can you possibly expect us to overlook that she could have been part of the First Order?" Captain Gawat asked.

"I'm not asking you to," Poe said. "I'm just asking that you allow her refuge here while she gets back up on her feet. She's still trying to discover who she is, and if she gets another shot at choosing her life, I'd like to make sure it's a better one. I get that that's not much to go on, but she's a good person."

"Who managed to injure five of our men," an officer remarked flatly.

"She was probably scared," he defended. "From what I heard, your men had blasters trained on her." He turned to Leia, knowing that she would probably be the only person he could reason with. "Please, just give her a chance. I'll accept full responsibility for her."