Teresa was standing in the open field for the Resistance and was starting to really worry. She noticed there was no sign of Poe's X-Wing, any ships, or just about anyone entering the atmosphere.

"Something's wrong," Teresa said in worry.

"What is it with the two of you?" Leia wonders as she was just approaching her. "Do you both have a sixth sense or something?"

"He should have been back by now. I'd give him a day longer, but he couldn't have been captured." Teresa knew those two wouldn't have been captured easily...unless Kylo was on the ship. "I gotta go check it out."

"And do what?" Leia asks her.

"See if I can find some trace of them on Jakku," Teresa answered and looked over to Leia with a plea look in her eyes. "Please?"

Leia smiled at her and pat her on the shoulder. "As if you need to ask."

Teresa was happy to hear that and gave Leia a loving kiss on the cheek. Leia has been the closest that Teresa has ever had to a mother and was always looking to her for advice or anything of importance.

Fueling up her U-Wing, she was given the permission she needed to take off and make her way back to Jakku. Flying off the planet's surface, she jumped into hyperspace and made her way to find her brother.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the cockpit of the Falcon, Han and Rey pilot the Falcon as alarms were blaring, problems everywhere. A few sparks went off as a fuse blew and caused Rey to duck to try and dodge them from hitting her. Meanwhile, in the lounge, Chewie yells as Peter works to bandage his shoulder.

"Electrical overload," Han commented.

"I can fix that!" Rey promised as she quickly got out of her chair and tried to fix it.

Peter was holding Chewie down with one hand as he tried to bandage his injured arm. "Come on, Chewie, you need to work with me here!" He then lost the bandages when Chewie knocked them out of his hands. "BB-8! Get that!"

BB-8 chirped as he rolled across the ground and tossed the bandages back to Peter. He caught the bandages and tried to put them on the Wookie.

"Come on, Chewie!" Peter cried in annoyance as BB-8 quickly rolled off towards the cockpit.

"You hurt, Chewie, you're gonna have to deal with me!" Han warns Peter from the pilot seat.

"Me?!" Peter asked in annoyance as he looked across the hallway. "It's this hairball that's uncooperative."

Chewie then grabbed him by the neck, pulling Peter closer and snarling at him.

Peter immediately remembered the rule to never upset a Wookie. He never tested it, but he had no interest in testing it out if he was stronger than the creature. "But I probably deserved it."

"This hyperdrive blows there's gonna be pieces of us in three different systems." Han was at the controls when all the alarms suddenly came to a stop.

Rey was satisfied with her work as she sits in the co-pilot seat.

Han was confused about what she did and was wondering what she had done. "What'd you do?"

Rey had a giant smile as she showed she was holding a piece of the ship. "I bypassed the compressor."

Han looks at her in shock and amazement as he replied with a little, appreciative laugh. But then he gets up as he wanted to go see if Chewie was doing any better.

"Move, Ball," Han demanded as BB-8 rolled away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Han kneels at Chewie, who lies awake but recovering. Han checks his friend's wound with care. Chewie moan-talks to Han who was able to understand him. Peter sits at the Holochess set with BB-8 beside him.

"Nah, don't say that you did great. Just rest." Han turns to Peter. This is awkward for Han, but damn, he means it. "Good job, kid. And thanks."

"You're welcome." Peter leans his elbow against the table and accidentally hit a button on the chess set.

The pieces appear, looking up at Peter, curiously before they suddenly start to fight as Peter fiddles with the controls, trying to turn them off. Han watches him struggle and Chewie watches in amusement. Rey then strolled into the room from the cockpit and watched him struggle with the game.

"So." Han looked between the two and the robot. "Fugitives?"

"The First Order wants the map," Rey explains and looks over to Peter, who finally got the game off. "Peter is with the Resistance." Han eyed Peter and saw his stern expression, seeing it was the truth. "I'm just a scavenger."

Han then looked down at BB-8. "Let's see what you've got there."

BB-8 rolls forward and projects a holographic projection of the map. They all react in their own ways and yet almost the same way. Awe, shock, and amazement. Rey looked around at the stars and the trail. Peter was shocked at what he was seeing and how close they were to turning the tide. Chewie sits to look up. Han moves through the stars becoming reflective.

"This map's not complete. It's just a piece." Han was sorry to tell them. "Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him."

"Why did he leave?" Rey was curious to know.

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all." Han explains and Peter was told this story, just never who the apprentice was. "Luke felt responsible... He walked away from everything."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Peter asks the war hero.

Han sighed as he kept walking around the map hologram. "There're a lot of rumors. Stories. The people who knew him the best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple."

"The Jedi were real?" Rey asks in amazement.

"I used to wonder the same thing myself," Han muttered as he looked around the map. "Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo - a magical power holding together good and evil, the Dark Side and the Light. Crazy thing is..." he then looked over to the two of them, "it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true."

An alarm rings on the control station, prompting Han to toggle some nearby switches. BB-8 cuts off the hologram as they no longer needed it open.

Chewie rises and moans to Han as he tried to get up, but he motions for Chewie to lay back.

"No, you rest," Han tells his oldest friend. Then he sighed as he turned to Rey and Peter. "You want my help? You're getting it. Gonna see an old friend. She'll get your droid home. This is our stop."

Han leaves towards the cockpit, Rey and Peter following behind him. They then came out of lightspeed, revealing a beautiful green planet ahead, Takodana.

Han pilots as Peter and BB-8 stood beside him, Rey was sitting in the co-pilot seat. She was looking out the window in amazement and close to tears due to the sight.

"... I didn't know there was this much green in the whole galaxy..." Rey whispered to herself.

Han watches her and sees a vulnerability that touches him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Teresa landed on the landing port of Jakku and started to look around the area. She landed just outside of the Niima Outpost and got a look at the destruction that was left behind by the First Order and her brother.

She didn't even need to ask anyone; she just knew this was all her brother. As she started to look around, she wondered if it was okay to ask about the three of them.

Deciding to just go with it, she walked over to the nearest inhabitants and tried to talk to them. "Hi, excuse me, I'm looking for someone. Two someone's actually."

The alien gurgled and chipped in response, luckily Teresa has been taking classes to understand the different languages in the galaxy.

"Two guys? Black hair? Maybe one had a bit of brown hair?" Rey tried to explain Poe and Peter the best she could. "A droid might have been with them?"

The alien then repeatedly gurgled and chipped to answer her question. All he said was he saw one man, wearing a jacket, who destroyed the place and ran off in a ship with a girl and a droid.

"A girl?" Teresa was confused, wondering if maybe to his species Poe looks like a girl. "You sure it was a girl?"

"Teresa?" A familiar voice asked, getting Teresa to spin around and see it was Poe.

"Poe!" Teresa cheered as she ran over and hugged her brother's friend. "You're okay!'

"Of course I'm okay!" Poe said with a sigh as he hugged her back. "But why are you here? Where's Peter?"

"That's my question for you," Teresa stated as she broke the hug. "He came here looking for you and BB-8. And apparently, he escaped the planet with a girl?"

"Don't ask me," Poe stated as he gestured to the locals. "I've been getting the same stories from everyone."

"How'd you guys get separated?" Teresa was curious to know.

"The TIE we escaped in was hit, we crashed, then I woke up in the middle of the night. There was no sign of Peter or BB-8, and I've just been looking for transport." Poe admitted as he gestured around the area.

"Well, looks like I'm it." Teresa guessed and started to walk back to the ship. "Come on, let's go find our idiot."

Poe agreed and quickly chased after Teresa as they raced back to the U-Wing.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Falcon crests over an endless green forest and they fly over a mountain to reveal a castle on a picturesque lake. The Falcon lands near the castle, among dozens of worn, smallish freighters.

Rey steps off the Falcon, BB-8 at her side. She takes in the towering stone castle, the forest to one side, and the lake to the other. Everything was serene, beautiful, and all new to her.

Peter watched her from the doorway and couldn't help but chuckle at her. Han noticed him watching her as he opened a chamber of weapons.

"What's your name?" Han asks Peter.

"Peter," Peter answered as he looked over at the man.

"So... how'd a guy like you end up with a Scavenger?" Han was curious to know.

"She found my droid," Peter admitted as he looked down at BB-8, who was outside with Rey. "Got spotted with me, then ended up becoming a target. It was my fault."

Peter then walked over to Han as he took some weapons out of the storage unit. Han was a little curious about something as he looked at Peter.

"Hey...I'm just curious...Does Leia ever mention me?" Han was curious to know.

Peter couldn't believe that this man, this living legend, was asking about his ex. From what Leia mentioned, Han left her after what happened to their son.

"A few times." Peter decided to mess with him as Han picked a few weapons out of the unit. "Her favorite adjectives involving you are scruffy looking, stuck up, half-witted, and..."

"Don't say it..." Han knew where this was going.

"Nerf herder." Peter confirmed to him.

"Of course she did." Han couldn't really say he didn't see it coming.

Peter chuckled and saw he had his blaster. "But she does miss you."

"She does?" Han was suddenly curious again.

"She never says it, but I can tell." Peter shrugged.

"Huh," Han said as he held out the blaster to Peter.

"I don't need it," Peter informed him, not wanting to carry it as it'll only slow him down.

Han was curious about who in this galaxy would turn down a weapon but decided to let it be. "Alright." He then strolled out of the ship and made his way towards Rey with a blaster pistol in his hand as she stands at looks at the castle. "You might need this."

Rey looked at the blaster and was a bit skeptical. "I think I can handle myself."

"I know you do. That's why I'm giving it to you. Take it." Han said as he held it out to her.

Rey picks it up and grips it. Raising it to her eye, she was trying to get a handle on the weapon.

"You know how to use one of these?" Han was starting to wonder.

Rey shrugged as she kept a finger on the trigger. "Yeah, you pull the trigger."

"There's a little bit more to it than that. You got a lot to learn." Han rolled his eyes, figuring the girl from Jakku didn't have much experience with guns. "You got a name?"

Rey didn't realize she never introduced herself. "Rey."

"Rey," Han repeated the name, seeing she didn't either know or didn't want to give her last name. "I've been thinkin' about bringing on some more crew, Rey. A second mate. Someone to help out. Someone who can keep up with Chewie and me and appreciates the Falcon."

Rey was surprised at what she was hearing and grew a smile. "Are you offering me a job?"

"I wouldn't be nice to you." Han immediately warned her off the bat. "It doesn't pay much."

"You're offering me a job," Rey confirmed for herself.

"I'm thinking about it." Han corrected her.

Rey wants to say yes. But something stops her. A line she can't cross. She couldn't stay away from her home, not wanting her family to find out that she left and will have no way to contact or find her.

"Well?" Han asks, watching the inner struggle in her.

"If you were, I'd be flattered. But I have to get home." Rey was sorry to tell him.

Han looks at her, questioningly. "Jakku?"

Rey looks off in thought. Yeah, Jakku. "I've already been away too long."

Han decided that it was her decision and sighed before turning to Chewie. "Chewie, check out the ship as best you can."

Chewie growled in confirmation that he understood him.

"It's too bad," Han tells her. "Chewie kinda likes you."

Han then walked off and Rey tried to keep up with him whilst BB-8 followed when Peter exited the ship. The three of them walk to the castle and they were wondering why Han brought them there.

"Solo, why are we here again?" Peter questions him.

"To get your droid on a clean ship," Han explains, only raising a few other questions.

"Clean?" Rey asks.

"Do you think it was luck that Chewie and I found the Falcon?" Han asks the two of them. "If we can find it on our scanners, the First Order's not far behind. Want to get BB-8 to the Resistance? Maz Kanata is our best bet."

"Can we trust her?" Peter wonders.

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

"At what?" Peter and Rey questioned.

"Any of it," Han answered.

Then he walked up and opens the doors to the castle. The two newcomers looked around and saw it all. Music. Madness. And... a loud, crowded mess of a hall. Pushing through a room full of rough and odd aliens and humanoids who gamble, drink, scheme, negotiate, and argue.

It took a moment until they end up seeing the back of a tiny, thousand-year-old, four-foot-tall alien, who suddenly starts as if sensing something. The alien then turns and noticed them across the crowd: she is female, wearing large adjustable goggles.

This is Maz Kanata.

"Han Solo!" Maz called out, causing the entire bar to go silent at the mention of his name.

"Oh boy," Han muttered quietly. "Hey, Maz!"

Then everyone just returns to their business as if nothing happened. Maz walks to them, pushing a few of the people out of her to reach the group.

"Where's my boyfriend?" Maz asks Han.

"Chewie's working on the Falcon," Han answered with another sigh.

"I like that Wookie," Maz said as she then saw there was a reason why he was here. "I assume you need something. Desperately. Let's get to it."

They then took a seat at a table and Han informed Maz what he needed her to do. Peter and Rey sat across the table and allowed him to explain it whilst BB-8 stayed by his side.

A map to Skywalker himself?" Maz asks as she eyed BB-8 and chuckled. "You're right back in the mess."

"Maz, I need you to get this droid to Leia," Han explained why he came to her.

"Hmm." Maz looked across the table and back to Han. "No. You've been running away from this fight for too long. Han, nyakee nago wadda. Go home!"

Han looked down in sadness. "Leia doesn't want to see me."

"Please, we came here for your help," Peter begged of her, knowing Han doesn't want to go back to Leia after their talk. Maybe Leia doesn't want to see him, and he is just making assumptions after a few sights and guessing how she feels.

Rey sat at the table and was feeling like she was missing something here. "What fight?"

Maz looked at the girl as if it were obvious. "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."

Peter had flashes back to his past and what happened to his parents. "There's nothing anyone can do to stop the First Order. Because nobody cares." He then gestured around the room. "Look around. Three fugitives walked into a bar, and nobody batted an eye. The galaxy doesn't care who controls it, as long as they can go about their lives. Until they see-"

Peter stops when he sees Maz adjusting her goggles, scrutinizing him - her eyes get huge.

"What's this? What are you doing?" Peter asks her in confusion.

Maz adjusts the goggles again. Her eyes get impossibly bigger as she grunts in recognition. She hoists herself on the tabletop, knocking over food and plates, and crawling towards Peter.

"Solo, what is she doing?" Peter asks Han, no idea what to do right now.

"I don't know, but it ain't good." Han didn't know what was happening himself.

"If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people," Maz explains what she was doing as she got a look into Peter's eyes. "I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run from the fight, but only because he fears what he can do."

Peter clenched the table as Maz seemed to be looking into his soul. "You don't know anything about me." He snarled as he leaned over to Maz. "Where I'm from. What I've lived with. What I've seen. What I've done. You don't know the First Order as I do. They will slaughter anyone who gets in their way."

And with that, Peter stood up from the table in anger.

"I need some air." Peter groaned as he then rubbed his head.

BB-8 beeped as he tried to leave with him.

"BB-8, stay with them," Peter demanded his droid.

BB-8 was a little hurt by this as he walked off.

"Peter?" Rey tried to get his attention as Peter just marched and made his way over to the door. She looked over to Han, wondering what she is supposed to do now.

"You better go talk to him," Han said, gesturing for her to leave.

Rey agrees with him and gets up to chase Peter. Han then looked over to Maz who had already crawled back to her seat and put her goggles back to normal.

"Who's the girl?" Maz wonders.

Rey was walking through the bar and tried to catch up to Peter when her arm was suddenly grabbed. She looked at who took it and noticed it was Unkar Plutt.

"Hello, Rey." Unkar snarled at her in anger. She tried to take her hand back, but he kept a tight grip on her. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did."

"I suggest kindly that you let go," Rey asks of him.

"And I suggest less kindly that you come with me," Unkar stated in anger.

Rey then smacked his hand and raises her blaster at him. But that didn't last long as Unkar ended up ripping the blaster out of her hand and aimed it back at her.

"You have no idea how much trouble you are in," Unkar promised her.

That's when Chewie suddenly came in and took the gun out of Unkar's hands. He then growled at the man and handed the blaster back to Rey who had a smile. She's never had anyone help out or stand up for her before.

"I am not afraid of you," Unkar stated as he poked Chewie's injured arm. "Half a Wookie isn't much."

Not taking anything like that, Chewie growled as he then grabbed Unkar's arm and in one swift motion, placed his foot on Unkar's using it to rip his arm right out of its socket. Unkar screamed in terror as Chewie ripped it out and tossed the arm across the room. Rey watched in horror and amazement at what Chewie had done for her.

Han however was oblivious to the action and didn't even bother turning around. "Did something happen?"

Maz watched the interaction and decided not to tell him. "No."

Peter watched the action from a window he was sitting against and just looked back out the window. After everything he's seen in his life from the First Order and the Resistance, that was nothing.

Rey then approached him and saw the sadness in his eyes. "Hey. What's the matter with you? We're not done yet, BB-8 needs you."

"Of course, he does." Peter knew he needed to get BB-8 home. But he can't drag Rey along anymore. "Listen, Rey, because what I'm telling you might save your life."

"What are you talking about?" Rey wonders.

"I'm a monster," Peter confessed to her. "I'm a freak." She then waited for him to expand upon that to explain it. "When I was born, the First Order had captured my parents. They threatened to kill me if they didn't work for them. They wanted better soldiers. Stronger soldiers. Genetic mutation. When I was a kid, one of my father's experiments got out and transferred the abilities to me. We got out of the Order before they could use me and turn others into creatures like me."

Rey listened in silence but was starting to feel sorry for Peter but was also wondering how she managed to miss this. It explained his speed, strength, and what was going on with his face back on Jakku when he took that blast and his face healed in seconds.

"But they found us." Peter continued his story of woe. "They hunted me and my family down. My parents stayed back to give me and my sister time to escape."

Rey was surprised to hear he had a sister, as that wasn't exactly something that had come up yet.

"When they were gunned down, I felt it. I was far away from it, but still felt the blast as if I was the one being shot. The Resistance has raised me and my sister ever since." Peter started to tear up as he remembered his parents. "She didn't get to know our parents for very long, because they took them away from both of us. How much she was loved. How much they loved her. I have been protecting her ever since. And every time I go out to fight the Order, I ask myself if I made the right call. If I should have stayed by her side. I have been running for years. And I ran...right into you." Then he looked away in sadness. "And the way you looked at me...it wasn't as a freak. As a monster. It was as if you saw a real human. But I'm not a human." He then looked back at her as he wiped his tears. "I'm not someone who can protect you. I'm only someone who is going to get you caught in the line of fire." He then gestured to the room of smugglers and thieves. "I'm sure someone here will give you some transport to the Outer Rim. You can live your life. Because there is no life for me. I'm a weapon. Only useful in battle. Run while you still can."

"Peter..." Rey tried to get him to look at her again. "Peter?"

"Take care of yourself, Rey," Peter said as he walked off and went to get some air this time. "You deserve someone who can promise you safety. I can't promise that."

Rey is heartsick, but she turns as she hears the sound of a young girl in anguish, crying. She follows the sound into the castle, turning so she didn't notice Peter felt something off as she started to hear the voice.

They both felt like something was suddenly calling them to something. Peter however ignored the call and left it alone whilst Rey was following the pull.