—Don't shoot.

Just before there was a need to question the two worded message C-3PO had delivered, it was revealed. The messenger flying straight up, vertically zipping past the main viewing deck of the Tentive IV; a much smaller vessel shot through the lightning charged clouds blasting into sight across the viewport. Leia knew then, exactly who must have sent it the moment she saw the stunt pulled by the Lambda-class shuttle. The maneuver would have been risky for even the resistance's best pilot, but she couldn't think of anyone else crass enough to try such a thing.

The ship darted into sight out of no where, shooting in a straight line at a burst of speed that could have only come from the shortest pull at light speed the General had ever witnessed, and flying with her late husband had seen her on some wild rids. Mere seconds later the cruiser's engines went down and the shuttle was free falling, carried to a near stop by the inertia and the planet's upper gravity as the ship burst through the electrical stratosphere before finally reaching its peak just beyond where her own vessel floated over head and then nose diving into an instant drop.

Unable to miss how closely the thing came to plowing into their own shuttle's shields, nearly obliterating them instantly on impact, Admiral Ackbar back peddled away from the view port and stammered, "Absolute madness..." in disbelief, under his breath.

"Tractor beams. Now!" The general shouted the command but even if everyone promptly reacted there was no way to be sure there was enough prep time for the beams to gather and catch the little shuttle before it fell beyond range.

The Princess marched close enough to the blast shield to crane her neck, keeping the shuttle in view as long as possible while it passed overhead. Leia inhaled a deep breath. She closed her eyes and attempted to do something she hadn't done in so many years, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Her mind and body had been so much more youthful then. It was another time when she felt more mentally acute, physically stronger, —taller, even. When her hair was tied up it was because she needed her sight unobstructed and for the practicality of it, not to show as the figure head of yet another Resistance in another war. For the beat of one fleeting moment Leia remembered what it felt like to have her brother standing beside her, encouraging her, instructing her. She vividly recalled how it felt to have a deep connection, not just of that with her bloodline, but with the Force itself.

For just a single second she felt as though time was waiting on her. She felt the Force rushing to life around her, with her, through her. When she exhaled and opened her eyes it was already at her fingertips, already alive in her palms and for the first time in a long time she was her old self again; standing with her brother, aligned in the Force and ready to take on the entire galaxy. She hadn't needed to pull on her memories to accomplish the task at hand, and the moment was bitter sweet, but the invigorating recollection better ensured her success just the same. Leia's eyes opened and her arm straightened, her palm and fingers reaching until the ship was steadying in the field of her Force hold.

There was a brief pause for awe and then, in the next instant, the stillness on board erupted into action. Buttons, levers, and switches were all assaulted at once as the crew moved to one task or another and instructions and coordinates were being called back and forth between the limited crew mates on the main deck. Everything happened so fast it was a near miracle when even the seasoned crew of the General's ship were able to comprehend the situation and react fast enough to save the vessel in free fall before it sank back below into the destructive lightning storms beneath their current location, but that was why the General had intervened in the first place.

Her health was not what it once was, and neither was her focus. Least of all was her relationship with the Force...

—Not since her brother... and then her own son...

The truth was a hindrance and the general had lost the connection just as quickly as she'd found it, once again allowing for the shuttle to spiral out in a free fall.

The beams went out and with less then a fraction for error, the crew pulled together in just the nick of time to catch their target before it fell past the range of their tractor beams.

A loud exhale announced the General's brief response at the first small success, however, there was no real relief in the sentiment. She had no idea what can of worms they were about to open and her anxiety was running at an all time high; a feat which was hard enough to reach at this point in her long career as a Resistance Leader.

"Bring it in."

Leia stammered, her body physically bent but still she was moving as she spoke, turning on her heels while the little ship was being pulled inward by the massive fleet liner which now successfully carried the smaller towards it.

"—General..!" Before the Princess could protest the Zeltron was at her side, grasping her elbow and offering support which she could no longer deny even if she'd wanted to.

Sometimes age was both a blessing and a curse. There were times when she was glad to have moved on from being so present in the current political strifes and on the frontlines, sneaking in and out of danger with blueprints and battle strategies. Other times she longed for the days when she and her renegade husband and brother were squaring off with one faction of the galaxy or another. More often she missed the few and far in between of the quiet times, just after the fall of the Empire, when she had her husband, her brother and her son. Now, she could only be sure of one of those things still existing.

Merely a week ago she'd felt the strongest pulse through the Force signaling her brother's miraculous return. It had been sooo long, and she'd been immediately overwhelmed, but this was such a brief turnout. She knew he'd been alive somewhere. His life hadn't been in question once the girl, Rey, had found him. Messages, brief and impersonal as they were, had been passed between Poe and Rey for several months now and Leia was sure at some point soon, she'd be reunited with her brother. But then, out of no where, he was gone again and it was devastating.

   Poe, Chewie, Finn, and even Rey had yet to report anything back, though she expected that all of these things coincided with one another. At first the General assumed that wherever Luke was, Rey was sure to be with him, possibly even Finn. She could feel the Force in the young man, though she wasn't sure if he realized it yet or not, Leia was certain that once he spent some time with Luke and Rey, the truth would come to light and her brother would know what to do with him, thereafter.

  Leia's feet were heavy as she moved through the large vessel and even with the aid of the Zeltron at her side, she struggled to keep the pace she set herself. Her shuttle was being run by a graveyard crew, manned and maintained with as little manpower as possible— in case this whole thing turned out to be one well set trap for one hopeful, yet foolish mother. For her part, Leia hadn't wanted to risk any of her crew, let alone the Mon' Calamari on the main deck or the Zeltron to her right, but they'd both refused to let her go with out the accompaniment of their presence and she hadn't the time to argue before they all left together.

—Not after he came to her...

That intrusive thought made Leia pause in her tracks. The recent memory assaulting her in a way that took her heart and all other major cells in her body hostage just as suddenly as when it actually happened.

"General Organa."

His voice was deeper then she'd ever heard him speak before. Still, she knew who it was the instant she heard him... no, even before he spoke. Before the words came. She felt her son the second he created a connection that had been severed between them for what felt like a life time ago. She'd felt him once before that moment and he hadn't said anything between them then; only she felt his grief and anguish. She felt his pain and his regret as though it stemmed from her own soul; after he killed his father.

Unexpectedly, the general lurched forward, struggling to bring air in and out of her body as though she'd been wracked hard in the gut.

"Princess?" Xaurus asked after his General with such care that he'd almost whispered the word.

  He could feel when her heart wrung up like a towel being squeezed dry. He felt her emotionally seize even before her body physically reacted. Sometimes the gifts of his species felt more like a curse than the former and it pained him even more to know there was very little he could do to ease his General's current emotional afflictions. He could never heal her. That was not something his kind could offer, but he could lesson her emotions with the influence of his own.

   When he'd come to her, her son, Leia had been standing with her back to a port leading out to the stars. She was bent over three different charts, each displaying possible sites for their next destination as the Resistance was running low on supplies and even lower on recruits since the devastating loss of the Hoznian System and the destruction of the StarKiller base; a much smaller victory than the greater loss of an entire planetary system.

—Just as many recruits had abandoned the Resistance as had left, either fearing the retaliation of the First Order against their own home worlds or seeking to end the regime after such a devastating loss of life and recourses.

Leia's mouth had run dry instantly. Her shoulders had stiffened and she had to take a moment for her own sanity's sake to make sure she was feeling and hearing was actually real. She couldn't exactly feel her son the same way that she had when Rey had been on the base the day before she left for Luke's Island, but she could still feel him, in a sense. Even while he directly communicated with her, it was a weaker experience then that day, but he was there nonetheless.

Leia could hear when her son took a thick swallow, as though this was either something that was physically exerting for him, which she imagined it had to be, or it was an emotional strain... a mother could only hope.

"I've recently come across something that belongs to you."

His voice was already different from the way he'd previously said her title and donned, birth name. It was harder, cold and solid like a thick block of ice. The First Order Commander spoke in a monotone manner with clipped words. A soldier's way of speaking. A dialect the General was all to familiar with.

The General of the Resistance turned to face her son, the same Commander of the First Order and the leader of the feared Knights of Ren, but even as she turned she knew he wasn't there. Only the empty room and the darkness of space outside the view port greeted her when she swerved to meet him.

"Ben..." She spoke out loud, and to no one who could hear her in the solitude of the vacant war room, save for herself.

His sharp voice cut between them.

"My only goal is to return your property." He strategically informed.

Leia closed her eyes, unaware if her son had heard her when she spoke into the space of the room or if he'd even hear her now while she sought to project her thoughts to the long lost boy who she'd always known would grow into a man over the time they spent apart, but now had all the proof to that claim simply by listening to the sheer depth of his voice alone, wether he could hear her or not, she had to try.

"Ben, come home."  All of her focus, all of her will power went into delivering that one line, smooth and clear, from her end of this beat of communication, all the way to his, and she felt it when he heard her words. Briefly she felt the tug of something deep down in him and just a quickly as it revealed itself, it was gone.

Her son remained stern and cold. If her words had effected him at all beyond that small feeling, he was hiding it from her and it was a very convincing play, but she knew what she felt, even if it was only present for the spans of a heartbeat between them.

"The pilot and the Wookie; if you want them, they will be waiting on Malachor V."

"Chewie." Leia couldn't help but let his name pass through her mind with the same amount of weight as the concern she felt for him.

"They are both alive, mostly well... considering." His voice paused for a beat of contemplative silence. "I cannot guarantee a temporary truce. Not even a brief ceasefire if you're caught in First Order territory, so I suggest you send an inconspicuous ship for the recovery. The planet's atmosphere is hostile enough for the area to remain uninhabited by most passerby's but you should consider sending an unaffiliated ship and team, skilled enough to make the extraction."

"Why?"

Leia would give anything to see his face. To hear more then the monotone way in which he was speaking to her now.

There was no immediate response and for a good long moment, Leia thought that was all he was going to say to her and her heart dropped all the way down to the floor.

"It's not a trap. If I wanted it, you'd have already been found a long time ago... General."

Leia's heart fractured. General... He wouldn't even address her a his mother... yet at least he was addressing her at all. Without so many obvious words, he was telling her he could come crashing down on what she had left of her Resistance, —that is, if he was telling the truth at all.

"They have enough supplies for the better part of two days, and a trusted Knight will keep an eye on their shuttle for that same amount of time. After that, they're on their own."

Again the woman asked, though this time she could hear her own desperation just as clearly as she felt it.

"Ben, why?"

Suddenly her thoughts branched out and both were flooded with the possible paths either of them could assign to that question.

Why did you leave Luke's academy? Why did you go with that monster? Why did you kill your father? Why are you contacting me now? Why are you doing this...? —Any of this ...WHY?

"—You wouldn't understand."

It wasn't the same tone he used when he spoke as a Commander. It wasn't even filled with anger or what she considered to be miss placed hate.

Instead his voice was quiet. Calm. Resolved.

Hauntingly so.

This was an impasse which she'd stood at before in her own time with Ben, so long ago. When she'd finally conceded to the others and let him go to Luke's Jedi Academy. There was a disturbing sense of calmness but there was nothing peaceful about it.

It was the calm that accompanied desolation. A dark empty calm that came after there was nothing left. No hate or anger. No animosity or bitterness. Just the quiet, dead, aftermath left by complete devastation.

"Ben, please..." The defeated woman lamented.

It was a broken mother's memory which overlapped with the present and she poke the last of her plea out loud.

"Come home..."

Xaurous lightly placed his hand on his General's back. Her emotions were so mixed. So all over the place. It was something the Zeltron had noticed happening more and more often as of late. That... and the debilitating headaches she'd been trying to hide from everyone around her... those which she constantly lies about.

The man centered himself and using the abilities gifted to his particular species, he pushed through the woman's grief and pain. He calmed his own breathing until she was pulled into his rhythm. In the past, his General had forbid him from using his racial abilities on her, but this development had recently become something unspoken between them. Everyday she needed him more to help steady her emotions, and more recently, her heart rhythms. In turn, everyday she scolded and complained less about him doing so.

The Resistance Leader reached out for his forearm and he willingly obliged his Princess, offering her his arm for support and presence.

"I'm with you my General. Take your time." He politely offered.

The woman gathered one more deep breath into her tight lungs and then her spine extended until she stood straight and tall once more. She removed her hand from his forearm and smoothed her uniform at the hem before raising her head level to the direction of the hanger and launched herself into a swift stride forward.

"Im afraid time taking is not on the agenda for today." Her voice was back and as strong as her pace.

The Zeltron kept step with his General, only hanging back slightly out of respect and expectation. The two entered the hanger bay where the now settled shuttle was opening to be boarded, or de-boarded depending on how these next few moments played out.

A young Lieutenant was quickly approaching his superior. "General Organa," he nodded as they met up in the middle, "it's an unmarked Lambda-class T-4a." He informed.

Two lines of three soldiers on either side of the boarding deck had already drawn and readied their blasters.

The general waived the Lieutenant off to the side. "I already know what kind of ship it is... what I want to know is who's on it."

The military man saluted and stepped forward to the back of the landing gear. "Yes mam. You heard the General, let's get in there." He ordered the small squad perched to either side of the ramp.

"Uh, General, if that ship belongs to who I think it does, there may be a much bigger problem lurking close behind." Xaurous warned.

Leia's brows furrowed but her gaze remained fixed at the sealed loading ramp, waiting for any movement at any second, but the Lieutenant gave pause before forcing a breech in the shuttle, either from a fear born of inexperience or curiosity... Force, maybe even because of experience he feared what the Zeltron warned, or at least, the very unknown that lurked within the ship.

"Enlighten me, Xaurous." The older woman bitterly mused. —Honestly, she really didn't need anymore bad news.

"On more than one occasion there have been rumors about an unmarked Lambda-class shuttle appearing shortly before the Knights of Ren's flag ship shows up at either the same, or very nearby, locations.

"The—the Buzzard?" The Lieutenant's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Did we bring on the Knight's spotter ship?"

In all the time since the Knights of Ren had come into play, the General had yet to hear of a reconnaissance shuttle linked directly to them. Either way the General was determined to reveal the ship's contents. There could be a dozen Proton Bombs in there and it wouldn't deter her from going in, if only to see if her son had utilized a long abandoned connection between them to betray her or not.

Again Xaurous was curious as to where his General got her intel for this rescue mission. It was all so unexpected and last minute. Nothing about any of this made sense to him as nothing had turned up through any of his typical channels of contacts or intel. He'd figured she'd gotten wind from personal coms or some other closely connected source within the Resistance, but now that this ship was here... well, he was certain the intel should have come from him before anyone else. And his intel would have come directly from his Master.

The soldiers had yet to do anything to encourage the inhabitants of the shuttle to lower the boarding ramp when already it seemed to be doing just that.

"Cover the General." The Lieutenant ordered and the soldiers repositioned themselves between the ramp and Leia who scoffed, now annoyed and unable to see what everyone else but her had clear view of.

  The shuttle opened and she heard quick, heavy footsteps clanking along the metal. The woman attempted to duck out to the right but once again her soldiers impeded her sight. The footsteps banged closer and then a familiar dialect of Shyriiwook echoed through the abnormally empty hanger. Leia pushed through the line of soldiers at her front.

"Wyaaaaaa." Chewbacca howled when he saw her. "Rrrruuuurrr."

His arms were in the air and Leia was rushing to him before anyone else moved. All recognized the familiar Wookie so there was no longer a need for offensive or defensive action, all simultaneously agreeing without discussion that if he was well and unalarmed, no one had further reason to suspect danger from the inhabitants left on board the smaller vessel. Her arms wrapped around as much of the gentle giant as she could manage and the pads of Chewie's furry paws were groping and pawing at his friend's hair affectionately, leaving her typically well groomed style disheveled. It wasn't a sight many people ever get to witness; a Wookie digging through a human's hair in a full display of vulnerability, love, and loyalty. This sort of behavior was once reserved for their own dwindling kind, and even then it wasn't often a sight displayed so publicly.

Maybe even more rare of a sight was the genuine laughter bubbling up from the General's throat and she giggled and hugged her favorite walking carpet as he gently mawed at her.

"All right you two, get a room!"

The particular brand of snark was instantly recognizable, however, the tone was off for the Pilot. Missing was the supercilious air accompanying the goad.

Leia reluctantly removed herself from the comfort of one of her oldest remaining friends. She danced around his groping paws and his quieting grunts and grumbles fell to the background. The General's smile shrank as she approached the weary looking pilot.

"Poe." She nodded up at him. "It's good to have you back."

The man was white in the face and his feet seemed to halt him at the shuttle entrance. Guilt wrapped around his ankles like shackles, locking him in place.

How would his General react when she found out how his decisions led to himself and Chewbacca get caught... almost never returning home in the first place... And then... should he tell her about what had transpired between himself and her son?

He swallowed. "General." His temples were hot and sweat was leaving a sheen along the line of his forehead which he knew the observant woman wouldn't miss.

For a brief moment where Poe thought he would vomit, he let himself remain glued at the top of the ramp. In a nervous habit that his General unmistakably recognized for what it was, the young man folded his thumbs into his palms and wrapped his fingers around the joints.

For a brief moment the older woman recalled the first time her eyes fell on this man as a boy... his thumbs tucked into his palms the same as they were now. His shaggy, dirty hair hiding an even dirtier face highlighted by sunken cheeks and even more dirt and muck of all kinds caked on in different places all over him.

The General's steps grew wider as she moved in longer strides to close the space between them by first climbing the ramp that separated the two from each other. It has been decades since she's seen this man as anything but confident to such a degree that she'd often had to pull him back down to the reality that their Resistance was losing the war which they were two prominent figure heads in.

"Commander, Dameron..."

The Princess' steps slowed and she let the title linger between them, giving the Pilot ample time to retort back something suitable for his character.

But when he only swallowed out her first name, "Leia," she new something was very wrong.

Just what had he been through under her son's care? The last time he'd made it back to base after escaping as a First Order prisoner, he'd had a terrible headache that seemed to linger for a few days. She'd even noticed his struggle for sleep as they'd run into each other on the main deck or in the canteen late in the night or far too early in the morning to be considered natural hours.

Her eyes raked over his disheveled form and while she noticed an atypical slouch in his right arm and a few fresh bruises along his jaw and forehead, not much else seemed out of place injury wise.

"Are you hurt?" The puzzled woman asked with more concern lacing her words than she wanted any of the soldiers behind her to catch. "Send for a medical droid." She called over her left shoulder and her foot lifted to climb the ramp but an arm shot out from her right side, extending along the front of her chest like a parent halting a child from crossing into a busy streetway before looking twice.

Leila's head twisted back to stare daggers at the appendage's owner, but when her eyes landed on the very trusted, often overly reliable Zeltron, her anger was replaced by curiosity and concern.

Violet eyes stared intensely beyond that of the pilot whom the General hadn't thought to look beyond. As far as she had figured, the two were alone, but clearly the Zeltron sensed otherwise.

In that same moment a darkly clad figure stepped from beyond the dimly lit space silhouetting the Residence's best pilot.

Not easily intimidated, Leia nodded up to the figure. "I was under the impression this was a simple retrieve and go. Is it to be an exchange, after all?"

The helmed figure said nothing in return.

Poe turned left, his hand instinctively going back for the blaster he always wore at his side. His fingers lingered over the piece, but instead of drawing the weapon, his hand fell slack and he pivoted to half face the Knight standing parallel to his side.

While Poe hadn't drawn on the weapon clad Knight, the rest of the soldiers below had. A quick head count told him there weren't nearly enough troops in visible sight to take the warrior down with out serious casualties on their side, and maybe not even then... only with the General's use of the Force did they really have a chance, but for some reason he was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

His hands went up as though the weapons aimed at his front were pointed at him.

"Whoa whoa," he palmed the air, "let's all just calm down.

The Knight had hooded herself which seemed like over kill while masked and residing in her own shuttle, but even then, standing in front of the woman she knew to be her Master's mother, it didn't feel like enough coverage. They had little to no past together, over what felt like a lifetime ago, yet despite her own weak self restraint she'd moved into direct sight simply to view the woman for herself.

Everyone could tell what direction the visor took as the figure stared down at the Resistance Leader not ten feet away. Though the soldier's and general couldn't see it, the Knight's brazen eyes never left the familiar woman's face. Still she was certain they all recognized that her words were for the Wookie beyond her focus and the pilot who had yet to exist her shuttle.

Her helm never relocated, not even as she spoke. "You're delivered. I'll take my leave now." Surprising to her own ears, her words buzzed and crackled through the mask's modulator.

The sound of the vocoded voice so close to Poe made him cringe and for a split second he wondered if the Knight had more than one helmet or if she'd somehow managed to clean that viscous bile off during all of the commotion between their flight up and now.

Leia's eyes narrowed. She was agitated with herself for not sensing the Knight's presence sooner... especially because it was tainted with the familiar presence of her son's unique Force signature. Although she had a keen ability to sense the Force itself, there were only ever two people who she could identify through ways of the Force and that was her brother and her son. This knight's own relationship through the Force somehow twisted around traces of her Son's Force signature, of this Leia was absolutely certain. And because of it, there was no way in Hoth she was going to just let this Knight pull up ramp and LightSpeed out of here.

Disturbing the already tense moment, a voice poured through the docking bay's coms, warning the General of an inbound ship, possibly a large passenger port, or of the more likely battlement kind.

"Kriff!" The Princess unabashedly announced, causing the Knight beside Poe to cock it's head curiously. "Order us ahead, I want LightSpeed in the next five." The older woman barked back to the Lieutenant who briefly hesitated. "Now!" She ordered, snapping him back to the moment at hand.

The Lieutenant's head dipped harshly and he pivoted towards the nearest com to relay the message.

"Get off my bridge, Pilot." The Knight hissed.

Poe's hands dropped and his mouth opened but it was the General who answered the determined Knight first.

"There's no time."

Poe's head was back in Leia's direction, eyes slanting in confusion as to what his friend and colleague was up to, then swiveling back to the knight when he saw her weapon suddenly shadowing over her already imposing form by his side.

"Get off this ramp now or I'll send you out in pieces!" She threatened menacingly while transferring the heavy pole-arm from one palm into both hands.

The scythe shadowed forebodingly over the young man's already worn down frame and Leia second guessed whether or not she'd read this situation well enough to keep Poe out of further danger.

"That's not necessary." Leia cooly relayed.

The knight's helmet flicked back in the Resistance General's direction.

"I'll get my people to safety and then you can go on your way."

The Knight barely rotated her wrists, transferring the pole to her fingertips at mock speed and with sweeping grace, swiping the long crested blade out and around the Resistance's best pilot, bringing it across the front half of her body and then flicking it inward, stopping with the inside of the blade positioned just outside of Poe's neckline, the viscous blade millimeters from his skin.

"I leave now or I take his his head from his shoulders."

The typically snappy man froze with his shoulders stuck in a defensive shrug that really offered zero protection from the Knight's threat but was far more due to the natural reaction of defending his neck. His palms low but were out again and he squared himself between the two women's line of scrutiny.

"Knight, General. General, Knight. —Now we're all best friends and I'm sure we can all figure this out without taking anything irreplaceable off the top, hmm? So let's just calm the Force down!"

The Knight had little patience for antics at the moment so she pulled her blade closer to the man's flesh and it was then that she saw the first hint of real unease in the older woman further down the plank.

The General cried out a breathy, "wait!", and leaned further in the direction of the Pilot just as Poe had flinched against the cool edge of the Knight's scythe. Lana hadn't actually intended to take the man's head, but she had to be sure no one else came to that conclusion.

Now Leia had her hands up. It was less a defensive stance and more a plea to pause the Knight from taking further action.

Jumping to LightSpeed in three... two...

—Kriff! The darkly clad warrior internally swore at her current predicament.

Admittedly, the third Knight of Ren was good... but was she steady enough not to accidentally take the Pilot's head from his shoulders at the pull of launching into light speed while they both stood at the top of a declined ramp with the edge of her blade already resting against the soft line of his neck? Was she really willing to find out, and more importantly, if she hurt him now, would it mean she failed her Master?

Growling in frustration, she lifted the blade away from the pilot's neck and retracted it as she stepped back from his space, quickly shoving him forward so that he staggered down the ramp ahead of her just as the ship housing hers thrusted into LightSpeed. She made a move to dash for the button that would close her off from the rest of the group below but what she hadn't expected was to be hit by a concussive blast from an unknown Force user. Her body staggered sideways but her determination kept her working towards her goal. Her eyes focused on the small point until another shot hit her harder than the first, taking her feet out from under her. As the knight went down her eyeline found her attacker and with an astonished look, her eyes locked onto the General who already had her hand out and was gathering a sizable amount of Force energy into her palm again.

Of course his mother was a capable Force user... The knight planted her palms beneath her chest and launched herself into a roll, barely dodging the next wave of her Master's matriarch. Lana was crouched low, defensively waiting until she had to make another move to dodge another attack. Her breathing was ragged and she needed to put a pin in that quickly or she'd run out of air altogether, soon enough. She'd only been able to clear a little of the hardened goo from her faceplate before she'd returned to wearing her helmet and it left her with very little air supply and zero respiratory filters. It was still shocking to her that her vocoder worked at all.

"Leia! Wait."

The front of her mask moved between the grey haired General who could really pack an unexpected punch, and the Pilot who was moving to stand in front of the woman, ultimately placing himself between the two of them. It was unexpected that he interjected on her behalf, but what had really taken her by surprise was when the man had called the General by her first name.

How unusual for military etiquette... unless their relationship went beyond their roles in the Resistance.

...Interesting indeed...

"That Knight is the reason Chewbacca and I are alive." He stated matter a factly.

"Dameron, if you don't move, and I lose the only thing left I can use to help track down my son, I'll have you discharged and possibly even shot!" Leia gritted out.

The words were harsh but that was the only thing about the General's claim that rang true. She was desperate and anyone within earshot of the threat could see it as much as hear the anguish behind her words.

Poe cringed. It wasn't that he took her words seriously but more so how the guilt in his chest weighted on him like a stone crushing down against his ribs. The time he'd recently spent in her son's custody rushed back to the forefront of his mind, lingering like a song stuck in his head, and suddenly he was back in that moment again.

                                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Kylo Ren sat across from him on a stool, his helmet free from his head so they had to stare each other down face to face while they discussed a similar interest to keep a certain little Jedi in training safe. The whole thing had taken Poe by astounding surprise, but no more then when he'd finally shot up from his seat on the cell's long bench to confront the man across from him not for his sins, but his own trespasses against him. Or rather, against, Ben Solo.

  Kylo rose to his feet more slowly than the Pilot just had. It was a show of strength, a lack of fear that Poe chose to ignore as he too would have attempted the same thing had their roles been reversed and Kylo Ren were the one to make such an explosive move in his direction. The men were near face to face, only a few feet apart at best, but close enough that Poe had to look up to confront the dark eyes across from him. Poe made one quick glance in the direction of the sleeping Wookie before returning his attention back to the man he desperately needed to confront after a lifetime of holding up a guilt that weighed heavily around his neck every time he was face to face with his General; this man's mother.

Poe didn't know if the past should bother him more because of who Ben Solo had become, or less, but he certainly felt haunted whenever he watched Leia suffer her son's loss as though it could be lived everyday of her life like it was the first time she experienced it.

"In the early days, back on the last Resistance base you were stationed on, I know how you must've seen me... I didn't realize it then. —At least not for a while. But I know now." Poe shifted uncomfortably, and it was clearly so foreign a feeling to him that the uncharacteristic insecurity which the motion most clearly displayed, looked awkward for a man who normally exhumed so much confidence that he'd always been described as —inherently cocky.

"And then, back on that island when she took your hand and said that name... when I realized who you were..." He shook his head as though even he didn't believe what he was about to say. "Man, I..." Poe looked back up, locking his eyes with Kylo's. "I hated you more than when you were just, Kylo Ren."

The Resistance fighter spoke honestly, squeezing his fist in self disgust to push past his own blemished pride while admitting a truth he'd never thought to speak out loud before.

"It wasn't your fault, maybe now, but not back then. It was just who you were. What I thought you had. —What you still have." 

From Poe's perspective both men saw the image of Rey's hand as she grabbed at Kylo's fingers on that island... what turned out to be Ben's fingers as she finally pieced together who Kylo Ren really was and then announced it only to clarify the Pilot's own swimming suspicions.

Kylo swallowed thickly, already his skin was burning and he was itching to replace his mask over his face. From the first moment they crossed paths as adults Kylo knew the pilot had known who Ben Solo was because he remembered him too, but Maker, he'd hoped that he'd forgotten over the years. Or maybe, plain out didn't recognize him all grown up. He knew for a fact that there were very few living souls left who would still recognize him as Ben Solo if they ever saw an unmasked Kylo Ren.

Standing here now, mask off, unintentionally revealing the very truth of who the man was accusing him off being, made Kylo feel sick to his stomach. He ground his teeth in silent acceptance because he couldn't deny it now anyway. Not after the revelation Rey had shared with his uncle and the pilot as her memories flooded back. It wasn't her fault. The truth of who he'd been was like an innocent bystander caught up in the crash. His past was a casualty caught in the cross fire and unfortunately the pilot had been present to witness it all.

Poe caught the rising tension in the man across from him and he fought the urge to swallow deeply, himself. Both were uncomfortable with this situation. Neither wanted to be here, especially not faced with the reality of what they'd been to each other since childhood. At least, from Poe's side of it. The competition they'd inherently been placed in the moment a certain General had come into a small, dirty boy's life.

"She pulled me from the slums. Didn't care that I came from nothing... or that I'd never been anything to start with."

Kylo's shoulders shifted uncomfortably but to the pilot's credit, he ignored the physical warning signs of a near to snapping, lightsaber wielding, warlord, and continued with his confession. He decided he'd kept this story to himself long enough. He didn't realize who Kylo was right away, but when he'd learned of his real identity, he knew if he ever had a chance to tell him, he needed to. And boy, this rare moment seemed like the best case-scenario kinda situation. If he didn't take the opportunity now, then he likely never would and honestly, it had already been way too long.

"From that very moment on she became everything to me... well, not just to me— to so many of us! Every one she'd ever extended a hand to. Your mom had that effect on most everyone she came across and, as a kid, I had no immunities. —Maker, I still don't." He admitted sheepishly.

"She took in refugees by the troves, including myself, and at first I thought I was the luckiest kid alive." Poe's eyes brightened and for once where this man was concerned, he meant no intentional goad by it. He was just recalling as though he was living in the moment. Unexpectedly, his eyes dulled just as quickly as they'd brightened.

"Then I met you. Her son. Leia Organa's real flesh and blood, son. —And man, I'd never been so jealous of anyone before in my very young life. If I'm being honest, not even as an adult. Within seconds of seeing you for the first time, I had this whole life for you built up in my head. How great it must have been to be her son. Her real, kid."

Pausing, Poe shook his head, begrudgingly laughing at his own childish stupidity as he recalled how he'd felt for so long.

"All the individual attention you must have gotten. The time she'd spend talking with you for hours. Teaching you things... I don't know, maybe reading you bed time stories and traveling planet to planet as though your whole life were some perfect mom-accompanied planetary trip. I mean your parents were actual legends... war heroes! Defenders of the weak, destroyers of the Republic, and she was an actual princess —you a kriffing, Prince! What kid wouldn't be glamoured by all that? All the stories? Of course, your grandfather and uncle were left outta the circulating lore. What kinda image would that make of your mom and her namesake?"

His face grew sullen and his eyes widened out, softening again before he continued.

"In all the many times I'd seen her, every time she'd stopped by the bunkers and sat with the families and orphans she'd been a personal hero to... I rarely ever saw you. And when I did, you were always in the background. I guess she figured the same thing I did, you still had a mom; a home and a pre-built legacy, so maybe you needed less attention then the rest of us."

He looked at Kylo shamefully.

"I don't think any of us realized how neglected you really were. Especially, not her. Even as young as you were then, you seemed so self-sufficient and we all just assumed it was because of how much time your hero-pilot father, and your Princess-General mother, spent with you. Working with her years later, I realized you were conditioned to being left in the background."

He dismissed his discomfort through a fake laugh and rubbed at the back of his left hand with his right.

"The day you disobeyed her, suited up and flew in the same squad I was training in..." Poe wet his lips and his eyes flashed downward.

When his resolve to continue won out over his guilt, his face hardened and he continued.

"I thought you were some kind of spoiled brat." He spit bitterly, his thoughts trailing off again. "You were always quiet around the rest of us, always brooding alone in the background, and I thought it was because you thought you were better then the rest of us. Always staring at her while she ran drills with us, —and man I worked my tail off to get to the top of every chart from every class before and since.

The pilot snorted, blinking as though still astonished by the past, he shook his head and drawled on.

"Then, in one brazen move against your mother's wishes, you came in and blew all of my stats away in your very first public flight test." His nostrils flared and he stared back at a grown up Ben with perfect familiarity. "Of course you did, —Kriffing, Han Solo's son..." Poe's eyes lightened as though he'd just found the man he spoke of deep in the darkness of Kylo's eyes.

Kylo's fists clenched together tightly. His teeth were barred shut and his nostrils flared. Whatever the pilot was trying to rehash between them, it died long ago with Ben Solo and Kylo really didn't care enough now to allow his chattering to continue for much longer... so why in the fiery rivers of Mustafar wasn't he putting a stop to it?

The Pilot's sharp eyes narrowed at the man across from him.

"I thought you felt the same way I did... that you were my competition, my opponent in a race I couldn't really win. I wanted her attention the same way you did. In a way, you're the only reason I ever became who I am today."

In a display of boredom as much as a lack of care, Kylo rolled his shoulders and his eyes at the same time.

"You're welcome." He shrugged, hoping the Pilot would finally out to rest, whatever this was.

"—I'd heard rumors of what you could do..."

The Knight stiffened, though at the moment he wasn't quite sure why that small admittance bothered him.

Once again Poe's eyes averted from the form of the physically superior man across from him; Poe's shame holding his pride hostage long enough to keep him from locking eyes with the one person who it seemed the universe had a sick sense of always pitting him against. 

"I knew that one flight test would be it... the only chance I'd probably ever get to knock out the competition."

Mustering every ounce of honor he had left in him, Poe looked back up at the eyes he'd betrayed almost a decade and a half ago.

"When we went head to head..." His eyes flickered between the man who silently let him confess his sins out loud for the first time since it'd happened. "I veered off course on purpose. Announced over the coms that I didn't know what was happening, that my shuttle was out if my control... but it wasn't."

  The Pilot swallowed painfully and it was like forcing glass down his gullet.

"It was the only thing I could think of to beat you. I'd have always come behind you otherwise and at the time... it felt worth it. As a stupid kid I had nothing to lose. I didn't think to care what it could cost you. I hadn't thought that far ahead." He quickly supplied the words as his defense and then he continued back on the path of what he really wanted to say.

"From the start she never wanted you on the force anyway, never wanted you anywhere near the flight team... that's why she forbid you to join the rest of us in orange." Poe wanted to look down and away, but this time he held himself to looking ahead, to finally meeting Ben Solo's eyes straight on.

"When I crashed, no one questioned what I'd claimed..." He paused for a guilty moment. "I didn't know that you'd be removed from the base, but I realize now that she sent you away so quickly to protect you. To keep the stigmata of your grandfather and uncle from branding you, too."

Kylo's head titled slightly and his dark eyes bore into the Pilot as he watched him recount the event that was the final straw before his parent's finally had enough reason to get rid of him once and for all.

"At that early of an age, I didn't understand what she was doing. How Lei... —the General, was not just compensating for what we'd lost, but trying to make up for what she'd failed to protect under her watch... only later did I figured out the bigger picture. Your mom just wanted you out of the spotlight, out of harms way, like any good parent."

Poe took a slight step forward, almost even forgetting how different the man in front of him was from the boy he was remembering.

  Kylo in turn wondered why everyone was suddenly confessing to him, a lifetime of harbored sins... first his uncle at the ruins of his old Jedi academy while he waited for Rey within the shadows of their old meditation chamber, and now this Pilot...

"After you left,"

—Was sent away...

The Pilot paused, choking up under the strain of his weighted emotions.

"Leia was never the same. That radiance that always shone about her..."

Ren had the unfortunate experience of visually being able to see how the Pilot pictured his mother, both before and after Ben was dismissed and he hated to admit it... but the visual pulled at something he buried deep, long ago and it physically hurt to be tugged at now.

"—quickly dimmed to a soft glow." Dameron let out a melancholy sigh. "And that was on her best days. She never got over your absence, no matter how many more refugees she took in to fill the hole giving you up left in her... And that shit was my fault."

The man only a few years his senior, looked older, weary under the pressing weight of his tormenting guilt.

—Good! Kylo reveled.

The two were silent for a long, drawn out moment until Kylo finally couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't know what prompted the air-clearing confession... both those kids were from the past... and while the male in front of him may have lied to remove what he considered to be his greatest opponent, something Ben may not have understood at the time, Kylo did. It was necessary to one's survival and it was ultimately still his mother's choice to believe him over Ben. Some other kid over her own son. And when a young Ben pleaded his case between his parents, she'd still ultimately sent him away. They didn't believe him from the start and that had nothing to do with Poe Dameron. Decidedly the arrogant man was giving himself way to much credit for something that was bound to transpire with or without his encouragement.

—And what good did drudging through the past do for him here and now now, anyway? What difference could it possibly make? For Kylo, none. And he certainly wasn't going out of his way to make the Pilot feel better either. He let him clear his conscience and maybe now the self-satisfying fool could focus on more important things; like the girl he was trying to protect.

On a more personal level Poe leaned in as if to say something more vulnerable than he already had, but Kylo was done. As far as he was concerned this conversation was over.

"Don't waste an apology on someone who doesn't remember you. Beyond crossing paths on Jakku, I've never known you as anything but Resistance Scum. So if you're finally done sharing..." Kylo Ren put a sharp end to this interaction with a thick dose of sardonic acid, washing away any sentiment the Pilot pitifully placed between them.

For a split second Dameron's face shattered. He flinched back, blinking as though confused and then the cocky shield Poe typically wore was back in place.

"I said what I had to." He clipped, crossing his arms over his broad chest and spreading his legs, cocking a hip out to stand in a bored fashion.

"Excellent." The Commander of the First Order clipped, restoring the mood to a much more comfortable one in an instant. Then he held out the small data drive between he and the Pilot again, hoping this time he wouldn't fall into some air clearing confession again before finally taking the device he offered.

Poe snatched the device from between the gloved fingers of the First Order tyrant.

"So the ship's coordinates are on here?"

The Master Knight nodded.

"And it will take me right back to this battlecruiser, no matter where it is at any given time?"

"Only if she activates her end of the beacon, but yes, after that, it will." The Commander reluctantly repeated.

This whole conversation made his skin crawl but if anything out of his control put her in danger, Rey needed a plausible way out. An escape plan to keep her safe in any event that he couldn't. Kylo honestly wasn't sure of which he hated more; giving Rey a way to escape him, or allowing the man across from him the opportunity to be on the receiving end of her escape, essentially allowing him the role of her proverbial knight in shining armor should she need to flee. It wasn't as though he'd given Rey the activation beacon yet. As of now, Kylo just needed to have the option available to them both.

Staring intently, searching for any hesitance, any sign of a flaw in the Knights composure, Poe asked, "And you trust me not to use this thing to bring a fleet down on your ship?"

Kylo shifted. What he was offering this Pilot was treason against the First Order. It was a way to hang him by the neck if any doubt was ever cast in his direction, but just the same, it was a necessary precaution.

"What I'm offering you is a chance to play the hero to some one you supposedly care about deeply."

Poe read Kylo's discomfort as the vulnerability which it was. And he respected the man across him for admitting it. Almost admired him for what he was willing to risk to keep her safe, but it also puzzled him beyond belief. No where in Kylo Ren's character was there a reason for this. Unless...

Poe's mouth jarred and his jaw hung open in surprise. "You're in love with her." He barely breathed the accusation out loud.

Kylo stepped back as though the Pilot spit fire in his face. His left arm wrung tighter around the weight of his helmet against his left side.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

But without his helmet to protect his own body language, Kylo could feel the Pilot scrutinizing every twitch as it played across his features.

Of course he cared about the girl. They knew each other before Kylo Ren had come into existence and they were bonded! Of course he wanted to protect her! It was his fault she was here in the first place, wasn't it?

"She's my bond-mate. It's something you can't understand, but if anything happens to her..." His feet re-adjusted along the durasteel beneath. "If she died, I may too. And before you get any ideas about bringing a fleet —which the Resistance currently doesn't have —I might add— you should know that it works both ways." He explained a little more aggressively then he'd intended to... though he hadn't expected to have to go this far into conversation with the Pilot. He underestimated the man's ability to look beyond the advantage he'd been given; a gift, really.

Something undefinable shone in the Pilot's suddenly astute eyes, but Kylo ignored the fascination beaming in his direction before he redirected the man's thoughts to a more reasonable topic.

"The ship has full clearance in and out of the same hanger as my Knights. No one will question your approach and several uniforms will be available for your use, but I suggest you move your ass in and out as quickly and quietly as possible. And pilot, before you get anymore fancy ideas, the beacon is a one time use, so don't fuck it up." The First Order Commander barked.

                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just like that, with nothing but a few seconds lost between himself and his General, the Pilot came back to his senses. Remembering the tiny locator chip suddenly burning a hole in his pant pocket, Poe's hand padded over his thigh and just as his palm landed on the little rectangular shape in the side pocket of his flight suit, his eyes flicked back over to his General. Seeing the sudden look of eureka plastered on Poe's face, Leia allowed the Force to drop from her control and for the time being her attention completely moved from the Knight beyond him, directly to the young man in front of her.

"Not the only thing!" Poe announced.

~~~~ If you liked it, please ⭐️vote⭐️ and always feel free to comment, I love the feedback! 😍 ~~~~
*These we're some extra options I made for the chapter photo... I loved them so much I had to share them with you guys!*

                                             This is what we COULD HAVE HAD! We were ROBBED!

                           I'd never let him fly at this age but —Squeeeel —> Little Ben Solo!!!!  So adorable! 🥰