Awakening

Alarms are sounding all over the ship, after the initial burst of speed I get up and try to fix one of the gas leaks from a pipe that's burst under pressure spewing out a cloud of white smoke I get too close to the smog and it burns the back of my hand
a little, I hiss and shake my wrist in pain for a brief moment.
"Hold together you old rust bucket" I say turning a valve to hopefully redirect the flow while covering my mouth and nose with my sleeve just to be safe. This may be the most famous ship in the galaxy, but it needs a lot of repairing.

I can hear Chewie howling in pain in the infirmary.
"I need help with this giant hairy thing!" Finn shouts
"You hurt Chewie, you're gonna' deal with me!" Han calls back to him from the cockpit
"Hurt him?! He almost killed me six times!" Finn complains

The alarms suddenly stop and I'm able to fully shut off the large pipe from leaking. I curse and walk into the infirmary to find something to fix myself up with realising i've still not yet sorted out my arm from being shot by a blaster.

I walk in and notice Finn messing around with a holochess set, obviously not knowing what he's doing, Rey walks in behind him. I walk over to a cabinet full of medicinal supplies and look for what I need and once I find what I'm looking for I take my
jacket off and sit down in a chair, starting to patch myself together.

"So, fugitives, huh?" Han asks.
I glance up as he starts to speak
"The First Order wants the map." Rey starts to explain so I go back to first aid, thankful it's one of the skills I have.

"Finn and Ammara are with the Resistance... I'm just a scavenger."
I look at Finn as Rey says he's resistance, he manages to switch the chess set off and looks uncomfortable as Han eyes him sceptically.

"Let's see whatcha got." Han says to the spherical droid.
BB8 looks at me and I nod, since he knows me he rolls forward and projects part of a holographic star map before expanding it to fit the room.

I look at the map curiously, people have killed and died for this, it's not even complete, these seem like uncharted systems. Or at least not any I've ever seen before.

"This map's not complete. It's just a piece. Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him." Han says as he walks through the three dimensional star chart.

"Why'd he leave?" Rey asks curiously

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible... He walked away from everything." Han explains

"Do you know what happened to him?" Finn asks

"No one knows" I add, I've been quiet this whole time "Many people believe he is dead" I'm one of those people.

"There are a lot of rumors. Stories. The people who knew him the best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple." Han continues

"The Jedi were real?" Rey asks sounding amazed

"I used to wonder that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good, evil, the dark side and the light." He pauses "Crazy thing is, it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true."

I stand up pulling my jacket on over my bandaged right arm and my left hand. "But the only thing you will see of the force these days is the dark side," I say bitterly. They've caused so much suffering in their endless search for more power
and selfish gain.
"It's unbalanced, without the jedi, equilibrium is slipping, we all need Luke. The First Order want to destroy the balance. We need to make sure they don't succeed, if anyone should find the last jedi it can not be them. But you have to wonder, if
Luke is still alive, why is he hiding and not helping us? Sometimes I think we should find other options rather than chasing a ghost" I say speaking my mind, it's probably the most I have said since this chain of events had begun.
None of them seem to know what to say, all except BB8 who beeps reassuringly.
"Don't worry BB8, I'm not about to give up, no matter what we go through. I just think we should be concentrating on gathering our forces and finding out where The First Order are so we can take the fight to them rather than loosing another good
soul to them, too many people have died already" I say looking at the droid

A beep goes off on a control panel, Han walks over to it and presses some buttons. BB8 cuts off the hologram. Chewie rises and moans to Han, but Han motions for Chewie to lay back

"No, you rest." He says to his injured friend.
"You want my help?" Han half asks "You're getting it. Gonna' see an old friend. She'll get your droid home. This is our stop." Han says casually as he starts to walk towards to cockpit, Rey and Finn following. I sit back down in the
chair and put my head in my hands. I push my hair back realising some strands have come loose and take it down and then re tie it up into the bobble. It's been at least two Earth days, the last time I slept was when I crashed and I don't even know
how long I was out. Thankfully It's been kinda' hectic so the adrenaline has kept me going but now that we're not doing much I'm feeling the toll of lack of sleep. I sit there lost in thought thinking about everything that's happened. Since fixing
myself up and getting rid of all my pains I can think a little clearer, more memories have come back which I'm glad about. I remember I used to run around on this ship as a child, those memories are patchy, though nothing to do with the crash, but
I still don't feel quite myself, I still feel like I'm forgetting things.

Finn comes to find me, carrying a blaster. I look at him confused for a moment.
"Did I miss something?" I ask standing up quickly.
"You okay?" he asks concerned.
I nod "I will be"
He nods understandingly
"We're about to go" he says. I nod thanking him for letting me know and he turns to leave..
"Finn. A word?" I ask before he can run off.
I'm not sure how to start the conversation so I don't beat around the bush.
"Who are you, really?" I ask politely. "You're not resistance, I know that much" I point out. "If we're going to the Resistance Base, a base with family and friends, I need to be able to trust you, I want to but you need to be
honest with me." I say calmly. He stays quiet for a long moment.
"You're right, I'm not Resistance..." He pauses "I'm just trying to get as far away from the First Order as I can" He says
"Alright." I say nodding. There's got to be more to it than that, but it's a start at least.
"Alright?" He asks looking concerned
I nod "Yeah, I understand." He looks quite relieved about it but still slightly concerned "And don't worry, I won't tell Rey, it's up to you to do that, if she likes you half as much as It seems like she does she will be just as understanding"
He opens his mouth about to protest.
"Relax, your secret is safe with me" I tease a little. He seems to get a little flustered.
"There you are, we were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to join us" Rey says finding us.
"Everything okay?" she asks looking between Finn and I a little suspicious.
"Everything is fine, we're on our way" I reply and start walking towards the exit, I grab my riffle on the way. As I pass she looks at Finn confused, he hasn't started moving yet, I just continue outside and walk over to Han. Rey and Finn join
us not a moment later.
"You two took your time" he says
"Yes, well, we're here now, lead on" I say slinging my weapon over my shoulder

"Solo, why are we here again?" Finn asks
Did he just call him by his last name? I wonder giving him a look.

"To get your droid on a clean ship." Han replies carrying on walking towards an ancient looking castle

"Clean?" Rey asks

"Untraceable" I clarify for her

"Do you think it was luck that Chewie and I found the Falcon? If we can find it on our scanners, the First Order's not far behind. Want to get BB8 to the Resistance? Maz Kanata is our best bet." He explains as we walk towards the structure's
main door

"We can trust her, right?" Finn asks

"Relax, kid. She's run this watering hole for a thousand years. Maz is a bit of an acquired taste, so let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don't stare..." Han warns stopping at the door

"At what?" Rey and Finn ask

"Any of it." Han says simply as he turns around and walks in as the door opens. Music is the first thing we hear followed by loud chattering.
We enter the noisy, crowded hall. Humans, aliens of many colours and species are crammed around gambling machines and tables, drinking, arguing and laughing.
The door closes behind us.
"Han Solo" calls a voice.
Music stops and everyone turns to look. There's also a few sounds of glasses being dropped. The silence is deafening and everyone is looking in our direction, it's unnerving.

"Oh boy." He mumbles
"Hey, Maz!" He says smiling and waving in greeting at a small, orange, alien woman with big goggles on.

Noise returns to the establishment as everyone goes back to what they were doing. Maz walks over to us.
"Where's my boyfriend?" Maz asks
"Chewie's working on the Falcon." Han replies
"I like that Wookiee." She says, I raise a brow, unsure whether she's being serious or not "I assume you need something. Desperately. Let's get to it." She says and starts to walk motioning for him to follow, Han follows indicating for us to
follow him so we do, closely.

We pass all manner of aliens and old droids Maz picks up a bowl of food and walks over to a table putting it down before sitting down at the table. Han sits first and we all sit around him. He explains our situation leaving out the Rathtars.
She then looks at us.
"So before Han kidnapped you what were you three doing on Jakku?"
"I didn't kidnap-" he stops as she gives him a look
"Well I live there" Rey says simply yet politely.
"I crashed and ended up bumping into Rey and BB8" Finn says "...painfully..." He mumbles a little to which Rey looks amused and apologetic.
Maz looks at me. I'm unsure what to say.
"I went looking for BB8 and a friend, I was shot down by The First Order, ended up running into these two. Then The First Order came after us so we stole The Falcon from..." I struggle to remember the name
"Unclar Plutt" Rey reminds me.
"Yes, thank you, Finn dealt with The Fighters while Rey did some fancy flying, then Han kidnapped us" I explain briefly
"And now you need to get back to your base?" She asks looking contemplating.
I nod "as fast as possible" I add
BB8 beeps at her
"A map to Skywalker himself?" She asks "You're right back in the mess." She says looking at Han sounding amused

"Maz, I need you to get this droid to Leia." Han says

"Hmm. No." She says simply, giving him a serious look. We all look at him wondering what we're going to do now.

"You've been running away from this fight for too long. Han, nyakee nago wadda. Go home!" She says.
I don't understand part of what she says but it seem ms like they are quite good friends.

Noticing Rey is eating some of the food I pick up half a cut Apple feeling rather hungry and I eat as they speak.

"Leia doesn't want to see me." Han says

"Actually general, she does" I point out. Maz looks and me and smiles Han gives me a look I'm uncertain about.
"Did you call me general?"
I nod "last I knew you didn't really resign, you just vanished" I shrug

"Please, we came here for your help." Finn begs

"What fight?" Rey asks picking up on that part of what Maz said.

"The only fight. Against the dark side. Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. Fight them. All of us." Maz says passionately.
I nod agreeing with her.

"There is no fight against the First Order! Not one we can win." I look at Fin surprised at his outburst "Look around. There's no chance we haven't been recognized already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right-" Finn stops, seeing
Maz adjusting her goggles, scrutinizing him, her eyes get larger as the lenses adjust.

"What's this? What are you doing?" Finn asks. She hoists herself on the tabletop, knocking over food and plates, crawling towards Finn. A metal mug falls onto BB8's head who beeps and whistles confused.

"Solo, what is she doing?" Finn asks Han

"I don't know, but it ain't good." He replies nonchalantly

"If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people. I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run." She says

"You don't know a thing about me. Where I'm from. What I've seen. You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. We all need to run." Finn says looking between us all.
I look at Finn curiously, he admitted that he wanted to run, I knew there was something else he wasn't saying, but how does he know the First Order better than anyone?

Rey is stunned by his changed personality.
Maz, not so much. She crawls back to her chair. She points to some aliens in the corner.
"You see those two? They'll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear." Maz says simply
Finn looks over to them looking as though he is considering it.

"Finn!" Rey protests
"Come with me." He says to Rey
"What about BB8? We're not done yet. We have to get him back to your base." Rey says
BB8 beeps at him also not wanting him to go.
"I can't." He says apologetically
Finn stands to leave. He offers the gun back to Han.

"Amara" she says giving me a look wondering why I'm not saying anything.
"It's not my place to stop him" I say.

"Keep it, kid."
Finn heads off to the aliens.
"Finn" I call, he stops for a moment and looks back.
"I wish you the best" I say sincerely.
"I'm sorry" he says looking at me and Rey, his eyes linger on Rey before turning and continuing walking, Rey gets up to follow him.

I hear a voice I know, it seems to drown everything else out. "Amara!" I hear a shout from behind which gets louder as I turn around as if someone was behind me it seems to echo in my head and move away from me
"listen to me!"

I turn to Han and Maz confused.
"Amara..." The voice whispers solemnly.
"Excuse me" I say to Han and Maz as I stand up leaving the table, following the voice.
"This way" comes another voice, this one more panicked.
I step onto a stairway leading down into a dark basement.
Walking cautiously I start to make my way down curious about the voices. The stairs lead to a wide corridor which I stop at the bottom.
"Quickly"
The voice seems to be coming from a room at the end of the corridor.
I walk down it until I get to the door and slowly move towards it.
It is almost as if a something is drawing me to it, pulling me like a stretched elastic.
I move to the door and it unlocks as I reach towards it and it opens without my hand physically contacting it.

I enter the room that looks like a storage cupboard. And old box in the middle catches my attention out of everything inside and I crouch down in front of it and open it. The hinges on the aged box creak as I push the lid backwards. What's inside is unlike
anything I have ever seen. Curiously I reach out to pick it up.

Everything goes dark as I touch it and I quickly move my hand away and close the lid with an echoing thud.
I hear a sound like a shock and strained breathing, then comes a hum and the room lights up, it's changed from an ancient brick room to a dark metal corridor well lit but not illuminating the darkness.
I stand up and look around confused and concerned.
I start to run down the corridor but it tilts suddenly causing me to fall against the wall and roll as it collapses behind me into rubble. The corridor that was smooth is now rough, I'm lying on grass. I look up hearing a mournful scream, I see fire and
a building in flames. A droid and a man. Hooded and cloaked he falls to his knees next to the machine and places his mechanical right hand on the blue and white astromech.
There's a flash from behind causing me to turn and suddenly it's raining, as I turn I see a man rushing towards me, he looks as though he is about to attack but before he can he's impaled by a fiery red beam. He falls dead in front of me and I quickly
get to my feet. Bodies are lying lifeless in the mud and a man wearing a mask stands in front of me with a red bladed weapon, six hooded men behind him. I back up and he starts to move towards me.
Lightning flashes blinding white and I'm on a ship. I back into something and turn around to see a young girl looking at a star map on a circular centre console that I backed up into.
The light darkens from above and trees burst through the floor causing snow to erupt from the ground. I bring my arms up defensively to cover my face and close my eyes. The snow falls back down gently and everything is quiet.
I look around, the freezing air shown by my breath but I can not feel the cold.
"Are you afraid?" I hear an old wise voice ask
I don't think, I rush towards the sound.
A dark hooded figure steps out from behind a tree. The same masked man with the red lightsaber. I almost walk into him so I step back to get away from him tripping, falling into the snow, but it's not snow, now it's dark ancient stone. I look around,
back in Maz' castle out of breath, outside the room I had previously been in.
I hear a male voice "these are your first steps" he whispers calmly.
I try to process what just happened. What I've just seen.
I hear something and turn to look. Unnerved by the events.
Maz is hurriedly walking towards me.

"What was that?" I ask getting up quickly. "What just happened?"

"That lightsaber was Luke's. And his father's before him and now, it calls to you!" She says as if it makes sense.

"What? ...What are you talking about?" I ask baffled. My mind is all tangled in a knot of images and voices and thoughts.

"I have to get back to my base, I need to get the map to the general" I say confused. "I... I need to... Do... Something... I don't know... I don't know what to do..." I say unable to focus my thoughts.

"Han told me." She says softly. She folds her goggle up showing her small eyes. She takes my hand gently and I crouch so I'm near enough her height.

"Dear child. I see your eyes. You already know the truth. Whomever you're waiting for, they're never coming back." She says softly. I close my eyes and sigh
"But... there's someone who still could."

"Luke." I say knowing what she means "he's a ghost" I say shaking my head.

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it." She says closing her eyes.

The way she describes it is so poetic, I haven't heard anyone talk about it with such enthusiasm since my mother. I almost find myself closing my eyes like I used to. But I don't.

"The light. It's always been there. It will guide you." She opens her eyes "The saber. Take it."
Realising what she wants me to do I stand up fast. I can't find him, no one will ever find him.
"The Jedi are gone, Luke is never coming back" I say shaking my head before walking past her and outside for some air, my head is spinning, emotions, thoughts, memories, all swirling around, some I'd forgotten, others I never knew I had.

All of a sudden I feel dread wash over me then cold, I become lightheaded and have to lean on the wall for support. I hear an earth shattering explosion in the sky. I look up to see red beams of light fading away and explosions. Larger than planets in
distant space. Four small and one largest of all.

I stand up and move forward a little wondering what's happening.
Soon everyone is outside. Han and Chewie appear next to me looking at the sky. Dozens of languages exclaiming horror.

"It was the Republic." I hear Finn shout. We turn to him surprised as he returns, moving quickly through the crowd. Horror evident on his face.
"The First Order, they've done it." Finn says to Han.
Realisation hits me, Hosnian Prime, my home. Destroyed. Thousands of people killed. My parents. Distraught I fall to my knees. People start panicking and running for their ships.

I stand up feeling numb Han, Finn and Chewie go back inside following Maz.
I joined the resistance because my parents were part of it. Now it's personal.

I look up hearing fighters approaching. Over the trees I see First Order transports and TIE fighters inbound. They've killed my best friend. Destroyed my homeworld with my family and friends on it and now they're here. I get up and make my way towards
a transport that's landing while the TIE fighters start shooting the building causing chunks of the castle to go crashing to the ground. As soon as the ramp lowers and the troops appear I start shooting.

I Take cover behind some debris as they start shooting at me one gets me in the shoulder. I curse and stay down behind the debris cover. One of the aliens start to shoot the troopers as they run to my cover. He gets shot just as he gets here. I curse
as I notice he had a grenade in hand beeping. I quickly pick it up ignoring the pain in my shoulder and throw it it explodes sending troopers flying over my cover. I peek up and notice they're gone so I look around for anyone I know, I spot Han and
Chewie, but no Rey or Finn. I get up and run to them shooting any storm trooper I see, shooting one in the back before jumping over some debris. I see Finn on the floor and a trooper walking casually towards him I aim at him as be raised his weapon
to attack Finn but he's shot backwards by Han using Chewie's bowcaster.
Han helps Finn up as I run o er to them. "Han!" I call alerting them that I'm coming so they don't shoot me.
"What happened to you?" Han asks
I don't get to reply as stormtroopers surround us.
"Don't move!"
They take our weapons at gun pain before marching us towards a transport, hands on our heads.

"We have incoming at two-eight-point-six! Move! Dispatch! Move! Move! Move!" A large amount of the troopers head to cover and set up positions facing the lake "Scramble all squads! Repeat, scramble all squads! Anti-air cover en route to our position!"

We look to the source of the commotion. Over the lake spray is shooting up from the water as the firmilliar shape of X-Wings flying low over the water towards us

"It's the Resistance." Han says sounding surprised.

TIE fighters fly overhead meeting the X-Wings and breaking out of formation. A TIE crashes into the lake I front of the troopers that were taking cover behind a wall. Several fighters attack the wall sending them flying.
An x wing flies low shooting stormtroopers with precise accuracy, heading straight for us. They shoot the hostiles guarding us.
"Quick" Han says without missing a beat and we rush to find our weapons.
Finn and head head to the same two guards, he picks up a blaster and starts shooting as I pick up my riffle. I look up to see a TIE fighter shooting at Finn and I, it gets shot down and I grab Finn and pull him to the floor as it flies over head and crashes
behind us. I watch from the floor as the x wing that shot it down circles around shooting down several more fighters. Finn helps me up as I keep watching the pilot who, coming in low takes out some ground troops before swooping backwards shooting
down two more fighters as he comes back around flying over head.
"Woah! Yeah! That's one hell of a pilot!" Finn shouts
There's only one pilot that could be.
"Poe" I say quietly feeling relieved.

A blast passes my head and I turn around and start shooting the stormtroopers who are becoming few and far between.

The Storm troopers board their transports retreating. TIE fighters giving them cover. I make my way to Finn, Han and Chewie a transport flies overhead and I look up, resistance transport. Han and Chewie start to walk as I get to them.

"He took her! Did you see that? He took her. She's gone!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Han says, his mind on other things as he's making his way to a transport that's landing, Chewie in tow
"Finn, slow down. Who took who?" I ask not knowing what he's talking about as I look around. I see BB8 rolling towards us but no
"Rey." He says just as I realise "Ren, he took her"
I look over to the transport as BB8 passes and rolls next to Han the door opens a small unit of soldiers exit and Leia. As soon as she sees Han she stops stunned.

"We've gotta' do something" Finn says to me desperately
"We'll get her back, I promise" I say before looking up at the sky where the fireballs where my home used to be are still burning brightly.