23|| the plan to end the base

"YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ME ON THIS? I LIVED ON THIS BASE FOR YEARS. I GOT THIS."

RESISTANCE BASE, ILLENIAN SYSTEM-

"Poe? Briefing room is ready, whenever you are."

In that exact moment. Kyra had never felt this amount of nerves rush through her body. If her first interactions with the Resistance General Organa hadn't been enough to make her almost want to turn up any remaining amount of food she had eaten in the past three days (which wasn't much at all, the most being some dried jerky on the Millenium Falcon), now she had to face the entire Resistance. She had seen the stares that the Resistance had given her- and now Kyra was going to be the one informing all of them on the weapon that had just destroyed one of their most important allies.

"Did BB-8 get all of the information I gave him uploaded onto the Resistance's database?" Kyra found the voice inside of her, swallowing down any nerves that were rising into her throat. There was a nervous look on her face, her brow furrowed deeply, almost as if she was trying to concentrate but was too nervous to do so. She turned to Poe, who gave her a small smile, grabbing a hold of her hand again.

"Yeah, he did, Kyra." Poe reassured the young woman, seeing the unrest in her eyes. It made him upset to see her this nervous, especially when he knew that the Resistance would welcome her with open arms. Granted, the looks when they had walked in had kind of set a bad precedent, but he was sure that when they all got to know Kyra- the real Kyra- they would warm up to her like he did.

"Okay, because I wouldn't want him to get lost with all of the information." Kyra gave a small sigh, looking at Poe with a relieved look. There was still that glint of nervousness in her eyes, something that probably wouldn't go away until she got more comfortable with the Resistance. " That's practically everything that I could grab before I-"

"Kyra." Poe stopped her, placing his free hand on her cheek, his eyes making direct contact with hers. He could feel the heat rise to her cheeks, and it made him blush a little bit too. "Everything you have will be more than enough help to us. It'll be alright in there."

Taking a deep breath in, Kyra tried to calm her nerves as she grabbed Poe's hand on her cheek, savoring the moment that she was in. She had to admit, it was strange to have someone be there for her and make her feel as comfortable and happy as he made her during such a dark time. But Kyra was there for every second. "Thanks." She muttered, smiling back up at him.

Are you two done staring intently into each other's eyes or can we get this report done with? BB-8 quietly rolled up to the two's conversation, seeing the two people that he was closest with in the middle of what he could only call an intimate conversation.

The two immediately broke free of the moment that they were in, Poe awkwardly clearing his throat as BB-8 looked at the both of them. Kyra and Poe exchanged a nervous look, both of them quickly letting go of the other's hand. Whatever the two of them were- well, they weren't exactly ready to start declaring it to the entire Resistance. "We should probably listen to BB-8 and get inside there. They're probably waiting for all of that information that you're going to give them.'

"Right." Kyra gave a formal nod back at Poe, the two of them attempting to maintain a business-like relationship now (whatever the hell that meant) now that there were eyes on them. More specifically droid eyes. That could record them with his camera. "C'mon, BB-8, if you're going to complain about us not going into the briefing room, let's get in there."

Great. I knew you two were taking too long after the information runner told you they were ready. I knew you were going to take your time, but not this much time. It's like you two haven't seen another living person in the galaxy, ever. BB-8 complained, rolling after Kyra, the girl seeing all the important officials flock to a room that was just behind the one that they were in now. She figured that they were headed there too, and started to walk with the crowds.

"Can it, BB-8. Just because you're back with the Resistance doesn't give you an excuse to be an ass." Poe rolled his eyes at BB-8 antics, giving his small droid a light kick as BB-8 continued to move behind Kyra. The droid was sandwiched between Poe and Kyra, and he evidently now wished that he wasn't.

Sorry that you two had your heads stuck up in the clouds and didn't realize that the briefing session was about to start without you two. What were you even doing over there all by yourselves? The droid sounded kind of disgusted at the concept of the two of them doing anything, which was sort of surprising. BB-8 had been the reason that the both of them were together now, which was a funny and ironic fact to think about.

"We were trying to get me patched up, you stupid beach ball." Kyra looked down at BB-8, the withering glare that she gave the droid enough to shut him up. "In case you forgot, I can still hear you, even if I only have one ear left." She hissed down at him, earning a chuckle from Poe.

"Glad to know that you still put my droid in his place while I was gone." He laughed, watching as Kyra looked back at him, a small smirk on her face as he did. "Sometimes BB-8 needs to learn how to shut his mouth. I've been trying to teach him that, but sometimes it feels like he hears me but doesn't process it. I'm glad you got some sense into him."

The two stepped through the doors to the next room soon after, the room falling silent again as the two stepped in. Kyra gave another small sigh, trying to hide her discomfort as she watched as the whole room had their eyes on her. "I hate it when they do that." She muttered, taking in another deep breath as she reassessed the room.

"Kai." Finn called from across the room, indicating that Poe and Kyra should come in and stand beside him. He had changed from his initial all black getup that he had been in under his stormtrooper armor, trading it for a black t-shirt, a leather jacket of his own from the Resistance, and some cargo pants. Kyra had to admit, it was nice to see him in something other than the clothing under his armor. He looked happy, almost confident when he was talking to everyone in the room. "Perfect timing. We were just going to start talking about the extent of the machine. I was able to explain what other things the First Order has been doing, but I figured you would be the best person here to explain Star Killer base."

"Great." This was something that Kyra could focus on, just informing the Resistance about the base that she lived on for four years. It was much easier to understand than having to process everyone's stares that were probably on her, or the complicated history that every Rebellion member she had met had discussed about her mother, but never told her the full story. "BB-8, if you could."

Quickly walking rapidly around the room, Kyra saw the hologram of the Star Killer base pop up on the screen. "This is Star Killer base. It's been the First Order's grand weapon they've been working on for the past ten and a half years. For the past four, as some of you may know, I've been trying to feed the Resistance as much information about this base as I can." She quickly walked around to stand by Finn's right side, Poe trailing behind her to fall in on Finn's left. "This is the weapon that destroyed the New Republic- and the entirety of the Hosnian System."

"They've somehow built a hyper lightspeed weapon within the planet itself." One of the Resistance pilot members remarked, looking at the weapon in both awe and shock. Kyra watched as the pilot intently studied the model, the girl making eye contact with the man with a small look that indicated that he was correct.

"Right." Kyra continued on, pressing a button on the holotable that she was familiar with. She had done countless briefings before with the First Order before she went into battle- she assumed that this one wouldn't be much different than what she did back then. "These are the schematics of the base. Every hallway, every hangar bay-"

"I don't understand." One of the generals spoke up, confused as to what exactly was going on here. There was a new and young member of the Resistance feeding them information about a place that was barely even known about- much less tested. "Is this a laser cannon?"

"It's another Death Star." A major whispered, their fear evident. Kyra looked at the major who spoke, seeing the nervous look in his eyes. She wasn't sure how to handle this situation, the whole briefing slowly starting to spiral out of her control. Kyra gave a glance over at Poe from across the area of the table they were standing on, silently pleading to him to help her.

"I wish that were the case, Major." Poe's voice echoed through the room, all attention drawing back upon him, Finn, and Kyra. "This was the Death Star." He pressed a small button on his side of the holotable, a figurine of the Death Star coming up.

"And this is the size of the Star Killer base." Kyra finished for him, pressing another button to put the base that she had been displaying to scale. There were surprised gasps from all around the room, people surprised to the extent of the weapon. It was much larger than the Death Star, which could only mean that it was much more dangerous.

"So it's big." Kyra's eyes flew to Han Solo, who was standing on another side of the holotable. The two made quick eye contact, the man giving her a somewhat nod in greeting again. Han and Kyra had both made it out of the reactions that they were dreading- and Han could see that she had found her Resistance pilot that she had thought was dead.

"How is it possible to power a weapon of this size?" Another voice spoke up, Kyra turning to see Admiral Ackbar. He was a famed hero of the Rebellion- Alora could remember her mother telling her of the famed Mon Calamari general and what he did to help save the Rebellion in their time of need. She was rather surprised to see him still here, but rather grateful to see that there were still veterans of the first revolution still willing to help.

"It uses the power of the sun." Kyra and Finn answered at the same time. Kyra gave a small chuckle as Finn and Kyra looked immediately at each other, the young woman gesturing to Finn to take the question and finish whatever he was saying. "As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears." Finn explained, gaining more and more of his confidence as he spoke next to his two friends that were now a part of the Resistance like him. "Once the sun is gone, the weapon is fully charged."

Suddenly, an officer ran up to where General Organa was standing at the table, the woman directly across the way from Finn, Poe, and Kyra. She was handed an information card, the woman reading it with dismay as she looked across the way, her eyes locking directly with Kyra. "The First Order, they're charging the weapon again now. The Sorganian System is the next target."

In that immediate moment, Poe looked straight over at Kyra, who was looking straight back at him. The fear in her eyes was indescribable, the fact that her home planet and their entire system being at risk to be destroyed was something that she couldn't fathom.

"We can't let the First Order spill anymore innocent blood. I was a bystander in this for too long. We have to take a stand and destroy that weapon before it destroys the rest of the galaxy." Kyra spoke up, finding her voice in that moment as she tore her eyes away from Poe, looking over at General Organa with such desperation and spirit that it overwhelmed Leia.

"But without the Republic fleet, we'll be doomed." C-3PO spoke, dismally looking at the crowd in front of him. BB-8, who was just below the droid, rammed into 3PO's leg, indicating that the droid should can it. BB-8 knew that the situation and what he said would only make everyone more worried about the event, and that it probably wasn't helping anything.

"Okay, how do we blow it up?" Han questioned, looking around the room for an answer. If they were going to save Kyra's home planet and their entire system, they probably should come up with ideas. He wasn't just going to watch as the kid's home was ripped away from her by the First Order, blown to smithereens like Ceradicia. He had seen enough that time around, and he didn't want history to repeat itself for the Ceydea family. "There's always a way to do that."

"Han's right." General Organa spoke up, earning a surprised look from her husband. Han had expected someone to back him up, but he had expected Finn or that Resistance pilot that kept giving Kyra a pining look to speak up and support him.

There was a moment of silence before someone spoke, that person being one of the majors that Kyra had seen ask a question earlier on in the briefing. "In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base would need some kind of thermal oscillator..."

"There is one. It's one of the most unstable parts of the planet, which is why the First Order was so intent on getting every bit of that oscillator right. I was on a mission to get a piece for the machine when I first met the Resistance." Kyra's face lit up as she gave a quick look over to Poe, whose face lit up in recognition as she continued to speak, their first interaction coming to mind. She adjusted the hologram, finding the exact spot she wanted to find. "Precinct 47."

"If we can destroy that oscillator, it might destabilize the core and cripple the weapon." An admiral spoke up, rubbing the stubble on his chin as he tried to comprehend the effects of what destroying the oscillator would do.

"Maybe the planet." A major scoffed, all eyes falling upon him, the room going silent once again when he spoke about the idea. Nobody wanted the entire planet to go down with the base, but it seemed like that was the only option at this point.

"We'll go in there and hit that oscillator with everything we've got." Poe tried to bolster the spirits of the group, seeing the motivation falling in the briefing room as the fear of failure began to rise. He had to do something to support this plan, and if motivating the people was the way he was going to do it, well Poe would do it.

"They have administrative shields that our ships cannot penetrate." Admiral Ackbar spoke out, gesturing to a fluctuating wave around the entire planet. A frown formed on Kyra's face as she stared at the figure, realizing the admiral was correct.

"We disable the shields." Han acted as if he was stating the obvious, gesturing over at both Kyra and Finn as he continued to speak. "You two worked there on this base, hell, you lived there Kyra. What have the two of you got?"

Finn and Kyra paused, the two of them glancing at each other again. They seemed to be having a conversation with the looks they exchanged, a small pause occurring in between when Han raised the question and when Finn spoke for the both of them. "We can do it."

"I like them." Han remarked, stating a fact to the Resistance that he was pretty sure everyone knew. Ah, well, it didn't hurt to give the two rebellious First Order members a little bit more of a confidence boost and a compliment. It would make them look better in the eyes of the Resistance- even better than they already were, that was.

"We can disable the shields, but we have to be there, on the planet." Kyra finished Finn's thought, the two of them having an ulterior motive as to why they wanted to get onto the base. Kyra was sure that she could do it remotely, but she wanted to be there to rescue two of her friends before the planet blew.

She owed them that much.

"We'll get you there." Han answered, no hesitation in his voice as he spoke, getting a relieved and happy nod from Kyra as a thank you. He tried to hide his joy at the small gesture that the young woman gave him, overlaying his typical cocky behavior over the joy that was slowly rising inside of him.

"Han, how?" General Organa questioned, unsure of how her husband was going to do this. She had seen him pull countless stunts before, but this was a whole other feat in it of itself. There was no way that he could do this without doing something incredibly stupid.

"If I told you, you wouldn't like it." Han scoffed in return, getting a weary look from Leia that begged him to try and stay somewhat safe during the mission. It was somewhat reassuring to the man- a reminder that he was still cared about by Leia.

"So we disable the shields-" Poe looked over at Kyra and Finn for confirmation, getting a quick nod in agreement from Finn. "Take out their oscillator and we blow up their big gun before it destroys the Sorganian System. All right." He looked at the people around him, a smile coming to his face as he realized that they were actually doing this. They were going to metaphorically and physically shove it to the First Order.

"Let's go!"

<~•~>

hi and welcome back everyone!

this chapter was really simple and it was very easy and fun to write. the phat chapter is next- coming your way on May 4th!

also, just before I go, I wanted to plug my new one shot book that I made! I already posted a one shot with Kyra inside of it, and, I AM taking requests if you guys wanna see different scenarios with my different OC's inside of there! please, I kinda need validation so if y'all wanna check it out that'd be amazing 😪

btw it's a rise of the resistance one shot based off of the Disney parks ride, so if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is tbh

anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter!