Will of the Many~ Poe Dameron

Have Hope or Have Nothing

She lives to see the sun and feel the wind and drink the rain...

- Lord Huron

Serena leaned forward and pressed her fingertips into the smooth, gray, metal table. "What I tell you... all I information I give... it cannot leave this room." Her cool amber eyes searched Leia's for understanding. "You can't tell your other Generals or- or Poe or Kaydel... none of them." Serena gave a firm shake of her head. The tips of her dry hair tickled her neck and made her lift her hands to push her hair behind her ears. 

Leia didn't say anything, but Serena could see the questions brewing within her deep brown eyes. 

"They go out on the front line," Serena explained without having to be asked to. "They are susceptible to being discovered by the First Order. If they're found... they will be tortured for information." Serena pressed her hands into the table again and looked down at the black leather of her gloves contrasting the light gray table. "I know firsthand how Ren retrieves information." She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and started to chew at a loose piece of skin. She ripped it off with her teeth then immediately had a hot metallic taste fill her mouth. She sucked on the small tear to try and clear the blood from it. When the blood lessened enough she let her lip slide from between her teeth. "We would search their minds... it's an excruciating practice. People have gone mad, they have, quite literally, lost their minds." Serena met the General's eyes again to ensure she understood. "So what I tell you does not leave this room, because if it did then Kylo Ren would know I gave the Resistance information... and my days here would be numbered. He would not stop searching for me until he drove his lightsaber through my heart." Serena's top lip twitched as she felt the ghost of pain in her chest. 

"I understand," Leia told her. But Serena had her doubts. She wasn't sure Leia knew just how vile Kylo Ren could do to those who betrayed him. "Now... what can you tell me?" 

Serena took in a shaky breath. So much, she thought. There is so much I could give that would bring the downfall of the First Order. But... She racked her brain. Where do I start?

"We were finalizing a weapon... you may be familiar with the Death Star?" Serena watched Leia's shoulders pull back as a wave of familiarity washed over her. Serena nodded. "We took the specs from an old Death Star and... improved it." Serena swallowed. It was harder for her to give the information than she thought. While she knew she would be betraying Kylo Ren, she didn't think that her body would be hesitant. But each word clawed at her throat on its way up and burned her tongue as it moved to form each sound. "The weapon you knew before-" She shook her head and lifted a hand to retuck her hair behind her left ear. "We made it bigger, stronger, more powerful... We call it Starkiller Base." Serena had to swallow again to coat her dry throat. "Kylo Ren is obsessed with Darth Vader, he is doing everything in his image. This weapon is a Memoriam for Vader's vision. It will thrive in all the ways that Vader's Death Star could not."

"Are you sure?" There was no emotion to Leia's voice, but that was more telling to Serena than anything else. 

Leia was terrified- petrified even- of what Starkiller Base could do. 

"Yes." Serena gave a confirming nod. "When I escaped seven months ago they were nearly complete with its construction. They were moving fleets onto it to being internal operations. I've been keeping tabs on the timeline... it should be functioning in a few months."

Leia leaned back in her chair, then she stood and placed her hands firmly on the table between her and Serena. She hunched forward and let her head hang down. 

Serena watched her closely with squinted eyes. The General was very skilled at hiding her emotions, her face gave almost nothing away... but her body language reeked of fear. It was all in the draw of her shoulders, in the quiver of her pulse running up the side of her neck. General Leia was scared of what was to come.