Star Wars: Episode X - The Rescue Mission

Chapter Ten: Audacity

Rey exited the restroom and turned left, the opposite direction from where techs would working on the nearest security camera.

"I just don't understand what happened," one of them said. "There's no record of any power surges in this sector."

Rey walked purposefully in the direction Ben had told her to go. "You there," one of the men called. "You with the tech repair bag."

Rey froze. She turned around to face the man. He saw her rank insignia and apologized. "Forgive me, lieutenant. I have never seen you before. I wondered where you were going, because you weren't assigned to any of the camera repair teams, yet you got here before us."

Rey knew that Jedi mind tricks wouldn't work on everyone here, especially not smarter crew members like tech repair personnel. But she used the Force to project as much confidence and authority as she could, hoping that would at least influence them and make them more likely to believe her. Time was ticking!

"I just transferred from Sector Delta," she said, referencing the area of Starkiller Base farthest from the control room. "I'm here to make sure there was no surge damage in the control room. General Hux is about to launch the attack on the New Republic."

"Yes." The man sounded proud. "We wouldn't want anything to disrupt this momentous occasion. Carry on!" He gave her a smart salute and went back to his work. Rey breathed a sigh of relief and hurried down the corridor as fast as she dared. There at the end was a thick metal door with a biometric security lock, and Rey knew she was indeed in the right place.

In order to save time once she made it through, Rey brought up the tech repair order she had planted just minutes ago so that she would have it available on her communicator the instant she made it through the door. Then she pulled her ID chip out of her uniform pocket and stuck it in the slot on the lock.

The security system processed her chip and asked for a security code. After typing in the code the Resistance hackers had put in for her, the display screen asked for her to look at the camera for the iris scan. After the scan, she placed her fingers on the print recognition pad, then rubbed one of them on the skin cell collector, which would analyze her DNA. It took what seemed like forever to complete, though in actuality the analysis lasted only seconds.

Rey heard the door lock release, and suddenly she was facing the control room she'd seen in one of the dreams she'd had when Ben was calling out to her.

The weapons systems commander whirled around to look at her. His face was stern and angry at the unexpected disruption. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"Project authority," Ben hurriedly spoke into her mind as she held up her communicator facing the commanding officer. "He won't respect you—and will start to suspect you—if you shrink from him at all."

Rey infused her demeanor and speech with all the authoritative assurance she could. "First lieutenant Taryss Dru from Tech Repair." She held up her communicator. "I have an order here to inspect this room for possible damage from electrical surges. Several of our security cameras in this area went black due to a power surge. Since all the controls in here are wired, it's imperative that everything be kept in perfect working order."

"What a time to be having power surges, just as we are about to launch our attack on the Hosnian system!" he barked. "Get right to work!"

"Yes, sir!" She saluted him and turned to the nearest console. "I need to run a diagnostic," she told the woman sitting at the station. "I'll just plug into the port here and start a systems check."

"Check up on that service order," Rey heard the commander say to a nearby officer.

"I'll keep a lookout," Ben told her, and went through the door into the corridor.