I jogged through the bustling base, just searching for a familiar face. I walked through the crowds of chattering people, the sound of people yelling for fuel was the most notable sound. The smell of metal, fuel and pine flooded into my nose as I left the mess hall and walked into the sunlight. It was a cloudy yet warm day, the clouds in the sky were thin and grey. The sun dared to peak through the sheet of clouds, small beams piercing through. My attention was sudd rly caught as I heard a frustrated voice yelling for his droid.
I ran toward the shouts and saw Poe standing outside of an X-Wing, staring off at trees, I guessed he was waiting for bb-8 to come back from his solo adventure, looking slightly peeved. I looked down and saw Connix at nose of his ship. The sound of a tool clattering against the ground broke Poe's attention, his eyes scanning over the crowds. Poe turned toward me and met my eyes, he looked very relieved.
"Thank god" he sang loudly, "We just got orders from Leia, she wants us to leave now" Poe said urgently. I stared at him for a second in shock.
"What...why?" I asked, he shrugged his shoulders and nudged his head toward the main control center. I looked where he motioned and saw Leia staring at a map with a concerned look on her face. I became extremely curious as to why she looked so distraught. "Why is she-" I began to question, but Poe threw his hands up and raised his brows.
"My guess is as good as yours but you can ask her yourself" he dared, "I have to find my stupid droid" he cursed. I looked back at Poe and he had already turned back to his trees and told Connix to start pumping fuel into the his ship. I looked back towards Leia and took a deep breath. I had to know.
I slowly made my way toward her, my heart beating faster as I approached the obviously distressed general. She didn't even look up as I walked toward her, she was just so distracted by everything else around her.
"Leia?" I called, her head darted up as she heard her name called. She saw me and her face turned to stone, worrying me.
"Kriff...What is it, Rey?" She asked firmly, turning back to her map and staring at the green lines. She was obviously fed up with the galaxy at the moment.
"I was just wondering why you are having us leave so soon," I stated, she glanced down at the ground and smirked as though I was an idiot.
"The First Order will be advancing on that planet and taking Wef as a person of interest. If we can beat the First Order and get to Wef before they do, we have another mind in this damn war" she explained quickly. I didn't even have time to speak before she motioned me away. "I'm sorry you're leaving so soon, but I don't have a choice anymore Rey" she sincerely apologized. I just nodded my head and turned back towards Poe, slightly hurt. She touched my shoulder and nudged her head towards a small box next to her. "That's for you" she said quickly.
I curiously opened the box and inside was Luke's reforged saber, I smiled and looked up at her. "How'd you do it?" I asked with excitement in my voice. Leia just smiled and cleared her throat.
"Later...Take it with you, I have no use for it here" she said proudly. I stuttered to make words of gratitude but she pointed towards my ship. "Go!" She ordered.
"Thank you, Leia," I said quietly, I took the lightsaber from the box and clipped it onto my belt. I now had a better understanding why she was so nervous, we need Captain Wef in order to get another step ahead of the enemy. She trusted Poe more than anyone on this entire base, so I had no reason to even argue with her thinking.
I ran back towards Poe and he pointed to another ship on the far West Point of the outdoor hangar. "That one is yours...you can fly that right?" He asked, sounding immediately worried about my lack of piloting skills. I forgot he wasn't there for when Finn and I escaped Jakku. He also always insisted that he and Chewie piloted the falcon.
"Yes, I can fly it" I reassured him, he gave me a thumbs up and I smiled before sprinting over to my assigned ship. The small white and orange ship looked extremely thin and nimble, a polar opposite of the Falcon. A woman walked up to me and handed me a helmet and padded vest. She said I needed them for communications and safety, that it was just procedure. I thanked her and wrapped the white vest around my body, it was smaller then I expected but I quickly got over the ill-sizing. The helmet was tightly fitting to my head, the yellow visor tinted my vision to a golden hue, making my eyes take a minute to adjust. I jumped into the pilot seat of the ship and saw Poe do the same exact same thing.
"Coms check, 1 2 3, Rey and Finn, can you guys hear me?" Poe called. He sounded like a leader, even with a simple communications check. I felt my confidence in this mission rise slightly.
"I can hear you" I replied, there was a small static between Poe's words.
"Finn, Finn can you hear me?" Poe asked once more, I waited anxiously for his response.
"Yeah, yeah I hear you" Finn called, a small bit of relief filled me as I heard Finn's voice.
"Alright, I've set your coordinates in for a planet called Hajjo, it's a small planet, sometimes mistaken for a moon. Our job is to escort Captain Wef off of Hajjo and to the resistance base safely" Poe explained, I became extremely anxious as I heard the directions, as I always do.
The amount of seriousness in Poe's voice was so strong, it was almost threatening. My ship hummed as the sound of the engine roared in my ear, I was flipping switches and hitting buttons that prepared my ship to fly. Red, orange and blue light flashed as a small nav-chart awoke in front of me.
"Poe, what happens if the first order sees us?" Finn asked.
"If we do this right, they shouldn't. The invasion isn't rumored to happen for eight hours, we get in, get Wef and then get the hell out of there as fast as possible" Poe commanded, denying the idea of failure.
"Ok...yeah, got it. In then out... easy" Finn mumbled.
"Poe, how are we going to get Wef off the planet of X-wings are single-seaters?" I asked, I was expecting him to not have an answer but he right on it.
"Wef received an anonymous transmission from us earlier, she has a Y-wing waiting for us, yiy and I will take the X-Wings back to base and Finn's flying Wef back" he explained, "oh and one more thing, Captain Wef is extremely stubborn, so be warned" Poe advised.I just nodded my head and took a deep breath, my chest becoming tight with anxiety and excitement.
"Alright, let's get moving" Poe instructed. I watched as his ship started to levitate off the hangar ground. Finn followed soon after and I pulled up on my joystick. The ship roared as I floated off of the ground and aimed the nose toward the sky.
"Good luck Rey," a woman's voice said quietly, Leia's. But her voice didn't go through the coms...but it was in my mind. Strange.
"Let's go" Poe yelled, I directed my attention back to the sky and pushed forward on control. My ship soared into the sky and through the thin layer of clouds, I took a shaky breath as I emerged from the clouds. Seeing the dark, vast galaxy in front of me. We cruised out of the atmosphere and infinite darkness surrounded my ship.
"Finn, when did you learn to fly so well?" I asked into the coms, looking to my left and see the ex-trooper successfully flying a real ship. Which was something he couldn't do only a month ago.
"What? Oh! Poe's been teaching me, I'm getting pretty good aren't I?" Finn boasted, I giggled and I heard Poe sigh.
"Don't get ahead of yourself kid, you're still pretty awful" Poe joked, I had to suppress a laugh from Poe's quick comment.
"Entering lightspeed now" Poe commanded, I prepped the ship for lightspeed, initiating the shields and navigation. "Jump now" Poe informed, I looked to my right and saw his ship zip away, disappearing from sight. I pressed the flashing button above my head and felt the pressure move my hair and skin back.
"Copy that," I said plainly, my stomach flipped as we hopped through lightspeed, the stars stretched into white lines until everything normalized and a very small, blue planet was in front of us.
