The Call of the Light (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 4

9 days after the battle of Crait - The new Resistance base - Planet Arbra

As usual, they were all gathered at the command post. The room wasn't very large, but with their weakened numbers it didn't matter. Rey stood in between Poe and Finn with her arms crossed over her chest and a smile on her face. The rebels had just received a new message on an old rarely-used radio frequency from Maz Kanata. Six days ago, she, and a group of partisans to the cause, had attacked one of the First Order mines on Hays Minor. They had also managed to steal a shipment of Haysian ore and free twenty miners in the process.

Rose's heart pounded in her chest. As Leia was preparing to give the rebels their orders, she couldn't help but interrupt.

"Pardon me General, but where are they now?"

Half of her forehead was still covered by a large bacta patch and the bruise that coloured her right cheekbone had now taken on a greenish hue. Finn had insisted that she rest a few more days in the infirmary, but the technician had refused to stay in her bed even a moment longer than was absolutely necessary. She tried her best to hide the pain that shot through her body with every step she took, but Finn picked up on it anyways. The girl was just as stubborn as he was. When Kaydel had mentioned Hays Minor, the young man's head had been turned towards Rose immediately. It was her home planet. She had told him that she'd worked in the mines with her family before escaping the place with her sister, Paige, to join the Resistance. Was it possible that she still had parents or friends there enslaved by the First Order? Was it possible that they had been amongst the slaves freed by Maz?

"Maz cannot assure the protection of the miners any longer. She asked us if we could pick them up and shelter them."

"Where's the rendez-vous point?" Finn asked.

"Jakku," Leia said. "In the shipyards."

Now, Rey's heart began to pound as the rebel leader set her gaze on the scavenger.

"Where will we hide them?" Cova Nell questioned curiously.

She was one of the last five pilots who made up the miniscule group of remaining Resistance fighters.

"Here, with us." Leia said after letting out a long sigh.

A cacophony broke out among the members of the assembly as everyone began to speak at once and Poe's voice strove to be heard over the din.

"That's way too risky. I know I've been pretty pessimistic lately, but what if one of them is a spy for the First Order? If we bring them here, we'll be as good as offering Kylo Ren the Resistance on a silver platter."

"They need us!" Rose protested. "They were First Order slaves! Do you honestly believe that they would turn against the people who put an end to their suffering?"

The fiery look on the young technician's face froze Dameron where he stood.

"I know Rose, and I'm sorry, but it's too big of a risk." The captain said apologetically.

"You should know something else," Leia spoke again, her face ashen and somber. "After Maz left Hays Minor, Hux's soldiers slaughtered half of the remaining miners in retaliation."

The room quieted instantly at her words. Rey was the first to recover from the news enough to speak in a broken voice from the heart of the crowd:

"How many?"

"A hundred and sixty-two," Leia answered, shaking her head as she lowered it.

It would never stop. The suffering. The killings. The massacres. And Kylo Ren was the one giving the orders. Rey felt nauseous. She wanted to scream. She saw herself in the throne room, awakening painfully and standing to find that Ben was still sprawled out unconscious on the other side of the room. When she had told her story, she had lied. Nobody had been coming up in the elevator. Ben's saber had been close to her. She had only one thing to do. But she'd simply looked at him as he lay there at her feet and then fled to the shuttle while swallowing her disappointment and sorrow. If only she'd had the courage to...