Force Destiny

Maz's News

"Maz!" Poe smiled as her distorted, flickering image materialized on the dated portable holo.

"Young Dameron," she intoned warmly, adjusting the lenses on her goggles. "I trust you all are making yourselves scarce."

"That bad, huh?" He smiled confidently, though he suspected she could see right through the pretense.

"I might as well not sugar coat it," she sighed, manipulating the datapad in her hand. "The bounties read as follows..."

"There is still a five hundred thousand credit bounty on your head for various crimes against the First Order, including holding high command in a radical insurgency, concealing critical government intel, destruction of First Order property, escape from imprisonment, theft of First Order property and murder of First Order personnel. Considered armed and dangerous. Kill on sight...."

Poe chuckled as she read the list, reminiscing over each "crime" he had committed to earn each charge.

"There is a new bounty of five hundred thousand credits," she continued, "on Rose Tico's head for various crimes against the First Order including trespassing aboard a Mega-class Star Dreadnought, impersonating an officer, assault on an officer, escape from imprisonment, theft of First Order property and murder of First Order personnel. Considered armed and dangerous. Kill on sight."

Poe was not surprised after their infiltration of the Supremacy.

"There is a new bounty of one and a half million credits on Finn's head," Poe whistled in admiration at the price of the bounty on his friend, "for various crimes against the First Order including trespassing aboard a Mega-class Star Dreadnought, impersonating an officer, assault on an officer, escape from imprisonment, theft of First Order property, desertion from First Order ranks, treason, and murder of First Order personnel. Considered armed and dangerous. Kill on sight."

"The price of Leia's bounty has remained unchanged at two and a half million credits for various crimes against the First Order, including holding high command in a radical insurgency, instrumenting destruction and disorder against First Order property and associates, and unreported crimes against the Supreme Leader. Considered armed and dangerous. The curious addition is that her bounty has been changed to 'Capture only...'"

It made no sense to Poe that her bounty would be changed. Kylo Ren had done everything in his power to murder his mother; why would he change her bounty to 'capture only' unless... unless he wanted to kill her himself.

"And this is the most interesting one," Maz continued, adjusting her goggles. "A new bounty of a whopping five million credits on your future Jedi for various crimes against the First Order, including trespassing aboard a Mega-class Star Dreadnought, escape from imprisonment, theft of First Order property, murder of First Order personnel, assault on Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, and the assassination of former Supreme Leader Snoke. Considered armed, dangerous and Force-sensitive. She is also 'Capture only,' which I find quite intriguing considering her crimes."

"Did you say assassination of Supreme Leader Snoke?" Poe asked confoundedly. As far as anyone knew, Rey joined the Resistance on Crait straight from Ahch-To. The claims by the First Order must have been wrong, only his intuition told him otherwise. Maz added to his suspicion with a smirk. "Let me get this straight," he said. "She found a way to sneak onto a dreadnought, which we could only accomplish with a code breaker. Then she avoided encountering Finn and Rose, killed the most powerful and protected creature in the galaxy, and escaped from Kylo Ren a second time, completely unscathed?"

"Those, my dear boy, are questions I do not have adequate answers for," she answered. "They are best saved for young Rey, though you must prepare yourself for answers you may not want to hear."

"Any other news?" he asked hoarsely. His mind was still reeling over the revelation about Rey. Something didn't sit quite right with him about what had happened between Kylo Ren and Rey in the interrogation room. Why hadn't Kylo immediately tortured her for the map? His intuition told him that whatever it was, it was worth further investigation.

"There is one more bounty. Ten million credits for the delivery or whereabouts of the Millennium Falcon," she said delicately, anticipating a discouraged reaction. "I hope you're comfortable; as long as the highest-paid bounty in the galaxy is on that ship, you can't leave whatever planet you're on."

"Maz, we'll have to take our chances; we need supplies," he argued.

"No, that may not be necessary." A wry smile grew on Maz's face, which in turn elicited a smirk on his. "I have an idea that may provide you the supplies you need and arouse less attention than the Falcon."

"I'm listening."