In fact, it really was a weaponized planet.

Of course her brother would have to outdo himself this time.

Mara now leaned against a wall by herself, watching the crowd before her. Finn had gone to talk to one of the tacticians about Starkiller while Poe did whatever a commander in the Resistance did at a time like this. She stuck close to the edges of the room, nearer to the exit out of old habits. She started to observe everyone in her new environment with great care, a paranoid trick she'd been doing for as long as she could remember.

It wasn't long before Mara saw the General and Han Solo practically part the room like a sea as what she assumed was a husband dutifully following his wife. Leia seemed to be having none of it, not giving Han even a simple glance as she went to a less crowded section of the base. The blonde tried to brush her initial curiosity off, but within a few minutes she heard their voices once more.

She really shouldn't eavesdrop, she really shouldn't. Getting into mischief now was an incredibly stupid thing to even fathom given her situation. Mara considered moving away, but truly that would also mean leaving her conveniently placed vantage point which allowed her large visibility of the room and gave her a way to run if she had to for some reason. So finding another spot to be mysteriously attractive was a risky move.

While mentally talking herself out of listening in on the couple's fight, she had already begun to hear the conversation taking place, "You think I want to forget him? I want to save him."

Mara was terrible at pretending she wasn't eavesdropping, her face scrunching up as she became confused at not only the softness in the General's tone but exactly whom they were discussing that they intended to save.

It was a small pause before Solo spoke once more in a somber voice that Mara never imagined he could possess, given his rather ruggish persona, "There was nothing we could've done. There was too much Vader in him."

Vader

Darth Vader

Vader Junior

The blonde's mind became of frenzy of firing neurons as her brain frantically tried to process her train of thought, all while still having a killer headache. Vader? One of the most fearsome and powerful Sith in all of history who happened to father the Skywalker twins. Then there was Kylo Ren, who was an obvious admirer of the long dead knight, this being heavily indicated; the helmet, the distorted voice, the black cape.

Too much Vader in him.

"That's why I wanted him to train with Luke. I never should of sent him away, that's when I lost him. That's when I lost you both."

Mara remembered the conversation prior to the battle of Takodana, back in Maz's castle around a wooden table filled with delicious fruit and lively music. Leia doesn't want to see me.

Never should have sent him away.

She had a very sickening feeling of who 'him' was.

"We both had to deal with it in our own way," Han continued to comfort Leia, unaware the conversation was being listened in on, "I went back to the only thing I was ever good at."

"We both did."

Mara's head still had the prolonging feeling of constantly being beaten on from inside her own skull, but that extended tenfold as her thoughts became muddled as she found her final conclusion.

"We lost our son, forever."

Kylo Ren was the child of Han Solo and Leia Organa.

She couldn't listen to anymore. She stumbled away, one hand holding her temple as her thoughts blared like earsplitting sirens.

That monster was born from the galaxy's greatest heroes.

Mara kept close to the wall, steadying her breathing while rampant questions laid on her tongue and her eyes didn't take in all she could've seen. It grew fuzzy at the edges, much like she was once again being held in mid air, pain wrapping around her throat. She actually grasped at her neck, swallowing to remind herself she wasn't really being choked.

Calm down, calm down.

The revaluation that Kylo Ren might have once been Kylo Solo began to slowly become clearer as Mara did her best to slow her heart rate. That thing that probed, no, viciously clawed at her memories probably per her brother's request had once been a pinnacle of light. That monster was probably torturing Rey right now.

Oh, she wished Rey was here. After years of constantly being by her side, it felt as if she'd almost lost a part of herself. Now, struggling to breathe in a place where most would be happy to lock her up or worse, Mara's heart yearned for her friend. If only she hadn't been so stupid. If only the son of Han and Leia had not gone to the dark side, for whatever twisted reason he had. Even thinking that faceless villain had parents, had a family, made her skull hurt more.

Mara regained her balance, trying to free her mind from that striking revelation. She need to focus on finding Rey, getting her back before that monster did whatever he intended to do with her friend.

"You okay?"

Poe's words seemed to pull her out of her trance, not noticing he'd approached her while she digested a hard truth.

Mara did her best to manage a half-smile, physically shaking her head as if the action would rid her mind of her prior thoughts, "Yeah, yeah, just still recovering from the fiasco on Takodana, plus the whole tricky thing up here."

The blonde tapped her temple, hinting at the headache she'd been experiencing the last few hours. Dameron nodded, but wasn't fully informed on why she was pointing at her skull, "Concussion?"

"Something like that, force-mind tricks actually. Feels like my brain-"

"Has been pulled out then shoved back in?" He finished for her, making Mara surprised when she found herself agreeing with the statement.

"I was going to say something a bit more vulgar, but that sums it up." She crossed her arms over her chest, now remembering Finn had mentioned Poe had gone through the same ordeal as she had. A sickly feeling coated itself on her skin, her mind blaring a little louder. It pained her to think another human had gone through that horrifying experience that she could only describe as the desecration of the mind. To imagine him going through it? The very thought just made her angrier, "A little bit jarring is one way to put it."

Dameron gave a sad attempt at a smile, tapping the side of his own head as if he could point out the reminiscent pain, "I guess. For me it was to get information. Can't imagine why they'd make you go through that in the middle of a fight."

Mara let out of breath before clenching her jaw at the thought, a sharper tone when responding, "Try your family getting back at you for being alive, or that's the best guess I can think of. I don't know what that-that thing pulled out. Maybe it was just punishment."

Both victims exchanged a glance of sympathy, perhaps an understanding. Each of them had their thoughts on display for something else, an enemy they bitterly hated. This particular breach in privacy was hardly a normal experience, and it was most likely a trauma they'd deal with for awhile.

"Do you need painkillers?" Poe asked, then gestured towards a corner of the room, "Medics could fix that."

She shook her head, pointing towards Finn, more specifically the jacket he wore, "Remembered those pills you practically tortured me with years ago? Came in handy."

There was a brief pause in conversation, noise of the active room filling up any thing that would be considered silence. Mara flicked her eyes across the room, her gaze resting momentarily on Callisto. She was currently talking to a Mon Calamari in a matching uniform, though looked up to the blonde for a moment. Mara turned away, trying to distract herself from the pit of guilt digging itself in her stomach, "So when does the recon get back?"

"Anytime now actually, but Snap's gotta be careful." Poe answered, noticing the odd expression she had after observing the room, but didn't comment on it.

She nodded, the name he said resonating somewhere in her mind, deciding to keep the conversation going to distract her from guilt and ghastly revelations, "Now where have I heard that name before? Snap?"

Dameron let a small smile fall on his face, perking up at the mention of a friend, "I'm pretty sure he was one of the guys who picked me up off Ratakka."

"We raised him on a channel, didn't we? Not the first one, that didn't go nearly as well."

"I wouldn't put being assaulted by stormtroopers as 'well' in any aspect."

She mused softly, before looking back again at the room. Was the current conversation a little strained and perhaps awkward? Definitely. Though both were very glad to see each other, they were grasping at foreign ground. How did former enemies talk after thinking the other one was dead? Finn had been there as a sort of bridge out on the tarmac, bringing a jubilant atmosphere that was now lacking.

So Mara glanced at Finn, who was describing something to an officer across the room, "You let him keep the jacket."

"Looks better on him than me." Poe commented off hand when she faced back to him.

"Don't think he'd let of that thing go if it was ripped from him anyway." Mara let hints of a chuckle finish her sentence, praying it would break whatever tension was between them, "He was pretty devastated when you 'died'."

Dameron's smile somehow mutated to something quite different from his previous grin, sighing deeply as he too looked at his newfound friend, "Yeah,"

The pilot shook his head, "He's a good guy. Doing all that for me, 'thought no one else was coming. Then I wake up, and he's not there. Felt like history repeating itself."

Mara's eyebrows knitted together, wondering what he was getting at, "Hold on, you thought you got Finn killed?"

"Thought I got you both killed."

And suddenly her pilots, the four men she'd seen die under her command, rushed into her mind without hesitation. Got them killed. Though this was an entirely different situation, guilt carved itself into her chest as they flashed quickly before her eyes once she closed them. By the Maker, the pain came back clear as day even though she had spent years pushing it back. She chalked it up to the reorganization of her mind.

Mara breathed out, again shaking her head as she persisted to rid herself of those unwanted images, instead focusing on what Poe said, "Hey, hey don't think like that. Hell, don't think like that at all! This is war. Death happens, and in this case, death didn't happen. Either way, we don't have control over it most of the time!"

I did once and screwed it up. You buddy? You didn't.

Mara tried to keep her voice low, but her regular vigor found itself behind her words as she attempted to dash away whatever guilt Dameron thought he should have, "The First Order shot you and Finn down. A mistake happened, and the Resistance shot me down, not that I'm not still a little bitter over it, but I'm bitter over most things. So shut up."

Poe at first didn't react, soaking in what this previously 'dead' woman practically scolded him on. An odd grin curved his lips while Mara awaited a reaction, "That is perhaps the most aggressive support I've ever gotten, and I'm grateful for it."

She almost snorted at the comment, "You're not the first person to tell me that, Rey practically laughs every time I attempt it. But hey, one more reason it's a good thing I am, shockingly, alive."

Dameron seemed as if he was going to say something, but didn't. Mara pressed her lips together, not sure either what to do after that. Once a few painstaking seconds went by, she blurted out what came to her mind moments before he did.

"Is this weird?" She asked, gesturing a bit before he finished his thought.

"-this awkward to you?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

Poe let out a long, thankful sigh, "I'm sorry, just you've been dead awhile-"

"And you've been dead for a few days." Mara nodded, rambling a bit at the opportunity, "And two years ago I wanted to kill you, then I didn't, and next thing I know this guy's putting me on a shuttle to give me another chance. How do you even approach that situation?"

"I don't know." He said, crossing his arms over his chest, "And right now were just waiting on schematics on something that just destroyed an entire galaxy."

She shrugged, glad she wasn't the only one feeling the taut pressure between the two, "Perks of living in interesting times,"

So now she softly grinned, rubbing her palms together. It was surreal, finally seeing someone after so much time had passed. It felt like viewing an odd mirage, and she barely had time to fully process it. Hell, Mara hadn't had time to process anything the last few days.

"I guess I'll just get some stuff out of the way then; if I didn't say it before, thank you. Thanks a lot. I owe you so much for letting me go, something I'll probably never repay." Mara could've swallowed her words, but she was never good at holding her to tongue anyway, "And it's a really good thing you're alive."

Poe followed her suit, elaborating on something he should've said years ago, "Thanks for helping me back then. Me and BB-8 wouldn't of gotten off Ratakka without you. And the bases you typed on that holotransmitter? That helped a lot. And getting my droid back safe to the Resistance is another thing entirely. Thank you, and I'm also very happy you're alive."

Both now shared a mutual smile, the air less apprehensive. Mara felt another heavy weight leave her; how long had she wanted to say that? Two whole years. Without him, she would've never met Rey. She'd probably still be in a cell. Probably nowhere near the healing she needed. He gave her that chance, and now here she was. She was alive and most importantly, finally free.

"Commander, recon's back." The blonde moved her line of sight to see one of the officers standing a few feet away, addressing Poe, "And odds aren't looking to favorable."

~~~~~~~~

Within the next few minutes, most key Resistance figures were huddled around a map table in the cramped space. Out of all the strategy meetings Mara had been in, this was by far the most messy, the most urgent. She managed to squeeze in close to Finn, who seemed to now be in the innermost workings of the Resistance once he relinquished information on Starkiller base, and would now again. The blonde thought it best to stay near him, considering he was one of the very few people she could trust at the moment.

"The scan data from Snao's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's reports." Poe stood at what could be called the front of the circular table (even though circles don't have fronts but moving on), before a wireframe hologram of the base. Many leaned and peeked over the front row, trying to get a glimpse of the weaponized planet that had erased five planets from existence.

Another pilot, whom Mara assumed was Snap, spoke up, "They've somehow created a hyper lightspeed weapon with the planet itself."

"A laser cannon?" A voice offered.

"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale." Snap answered, letting the crowd murmur what everyone was thinking; it was a reboot. They made a kriffing reboot.

"It's another Death Star!" An officer cried, desperation obvious as horrific memories filled most people's heads.

Poe tapped a few buttons on the console, "I wish that were the case."

The hologram flickered, the blue light changing to the previous weapon, "This is the Death Star."

The former power began to shrink, and shrink, and Mara anxiously tapped her foot as the new planet came into view. It was a mere satellite compared to what once held the greatest dominance in the galaxy, "This is Starkiller base."

Whispers suddenly rose, panic spreading like a virus throughout the room. The blonde swallowed, but one thought persisted; Rey was there. She just needed to get Rey. Just get Rey.

"So it's big." Han joked a few spots away from Mara, hoping to calm the restlessness among everyone.

"And unoriginal." She added, talking to distract herself from the fear that slowly crept up her throat, "First Order's creative juices must be lacking."

Solo seemed to get a kick out of her fast comment, smirking the tiniest bit and talking her way, "Blondie, I'm beginning to like you."

Mara's triumphant smile couldn't been hidden, even brushing off the use of the obnoxious nickname. She opened her mouth to reply, but Han cut her off, "But you still owe me a starfighter."

Damn it.

"How is it possible to power a weapon of this size?" A Mon Calamari raised his voice above the doubt, Poe looking to Finn for the answer.

The hysteria died down as the new ally began to elaborate. The gravity of the situation deepened his vital speech, "It uses the power of the sun. As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears."

Odd, probably not scientific, but Mara could roll with it.

"The First Order is charging the weapon again; now." Leia Organa informed on the other side of the table, data card in hand, "Our system is the next target."

This got everyone's attention. Once again, a fire of panic made questions rise. Mara pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as it all seemed to go south. This is not the thing you tell to a whole room of already scared people; they freak out and nothing productive gets done, at least in her experience. So she whistled loudly, hoping to rein in the attention focus on whatever the plan ended up being. The sooner she got to Rey, the better.

The shrill noise gave Han the momentary attention he needed to get the meeting back on track, "So how do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that."

That wasn't helping either. Finally, Leia sighed out of frustration, raising her tone above the crowd's in an attempt to rally them back, "Han's right."

Another science officer began to study the hologram, thinking through a plan of attack. He hesitantly proposed an idea, "In order for that amount of power to be contained, the base would need some kind of thermal oscillator......"

Finn moved quickly once the admiral trailed off, leaving Mara's side to point out a certain hexagon, "There is one. Precinct 47, here."

Mara leaned over towards the structure her friend brought to attention, feeling a bit exposed once he'd left. Yet that wasn't what preoccupied her mind. 47. Hexagon. 47. Hexagon.

The admiral who presented the idea began hypothesizing, "If we can destroy that oscillator, it might de-stabilize the core and cripple the weapon."

"Maybe the planet!"

Poe nodded in approval, scanning the crowd. His positive aura resumed, addressing the mass, "We'll go in and we'll hit that oscillator with everything we've got."

47, hexagon. 47, hexagon.

Shit.

Mara's eyes widened, mind traveling back farther. Hexagon 47. She did a defensive strategy on it years ago, it was her last assignment before her expulsion. She designed the defense, though not knowing what for at the time. She just thought it was the layouts for some random base on a planet, not part of some big science weapon.

"......we'll disable the shields." Han's voice brought her out of a brief trance, talking to Finn, "Kid, you worked there, what do you got?"

If the Resistance went in there with a head on attack, they'd be demolished. Mara had planned for that.

"I can do it."

She made the plans. She designed it to be one big trap.

"I like this guy."

If they went in there blind, the fleet would be wiped out in minutes.

And it'd be Mara's fault.

"So we disable the shields, take out the oscillator and we blow up their big gun. All right. Let's go!"

Suddenly she was in a flurry of a people, real panic rising now as bile coated her throat.

She knew how to beat it. She knew how to beat it.

The blonde had to fight the current, one singular thought on her mind as she pressed herself between the entirety of Resistance command. She had to talk to Poe. If she didn't, they'd die.

"Mara, c'mon lets go!" Finn called, moving with the sea of the crowd she braced against. She reached him, grabbing ahold of his coat to force him the other way.

"We need to get Poe," She laced her voice with urgency, forcing her words through her teeth, "We need to find him now."

"What-"

"Now."

Finn didn't protest again, grabbing her hand to not lose her in the ocean that attempted to hold her back. His bigger figure made it easier to make a path, pulling the woman through the whirling pandemonium around them. He yelled to his friend, making Dameron's focus shift to the pair of defectors trying to get his attention.

Finn released his grip on her, Mara rushing up to Dameron with her mind in a frenzy. Her headache prolonged itself on her, but she talked anyway, "You go in there, you're all going to die."

Poe's puzzled look was completely justified, but it angered Mara when he didn't respond immediately. She said her words with more volume now, trying to get her point across, "Call your pilots back in, now. If not, I'll be the one who killed them."

"Slow down, slow down. You're talking pretty crazy right now." He quelled, casting glances at Finn for help. He didn't offer any, just as confused as he was.

"The hexagon! Precinct 47!" She almost yelled, wanting her statements to resonate with him, "I designed it! All those years ago, I designed it. I didn't know what it was then, but I'm positive a basic attack on it won't work."

Poe still didn't fully understand, but nodded anyway. He took a deep breath, hoping to calm her down from whatever calamity had come over her, "I have a plan for that-"

"That's nice." She cut him off, tone sharp and not giving any grace in his ignorance, "I have my own."

Her hand wrapped around his arm, determination and pure stubbornness giving her already iron grip even more strength to drag him right back to the map table. Poe stumbled, Finn following them as the two men were led back to the hologram.

Snap Wexley observed his commander being carted off by what seemed to be a very blonde stranger, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, "Dameron...."

"She's fine Snap, give me a sec." He hollered to his friend, then focused back on Mara, who had now released him to tap a button on the console that flickered the image of Starkiller in front of them, "What's going on? I need to start getting prepped, we don't have time for this."

"No, you need to listen to me." She fired back, her obstinance covering her desperation as she zoomed in on the oscillator, "Right now."

She spun back to face him, met with more resistance than first anticipated as Poe's tone became more condescending, "No Mara, I'm going back to my ship and flying out the orders I gave-"

"Do you want die?" She spit at him, fingers latching around his arm once again to keep him from leaving, "Listen now, I designed the defense for it. I thought it was just a base then, I had no idea Starkiller was a thing in development, but it'll work just as I planned it. And I'm incredibly smart. You go in, TIE's will descend on you like demons from desert lands and tear your fleet apart before you even dent the surface."

Dameron soon began to get a rough idea of what she was getting at, but could only shoot the proposal down, "I understand, but it's our only chance-"

"And I'm your second best. I know how to beat it."

The crowd had mostly scattered, only a few officers seeing the dispute between the two, Callisto being one. Mara's blue eyes bore into the commander's, trying to relay the urgency of her claims as she ignored Leneller's piercing glare, "Call your pilots back in."

"I can't do that Mara." Poe told her, voice firm. He talked to her as authority would an unruly child, which may have hurt her if she weren't so blinded by her stubbornness, "Now go with Finn."

"Trust me." She ignored his command, instead tightening her hold on him. Could he not understand? She was trying to help. She was going to help, "Trust an old friend."

"I can't." Was the harsh reply, "You made that years ago. I can't trust this."

Mara found her mouth agape again, ready to convince him with another borage of quick fire reasons that seemed empty to his ears. Yet he knew her, didn't he? He should at least think of hearing her out.

But that was just it, they didn't know each other. They never had, even back on that goddamn desert planet years ago. Both were just acquaintances who happened to be working towards the same goal, which was to survive almost insurmountable odds. A type of trust did bloom, one that was quite unlikely looking back on the circumstances. It was the only thing that ultimately kept them alive in the end.

Here now, they were strangers. Neither one was the person the other had met on Ratakka, not anymore. There hadn't been time then to get to know each other, and there wasn't time now. Mara was still a former enemy who even in complete honesty may be entirely wrong about the base.

Yet she felt as if she was right. She knew she was. One of the first things you would underestimate the blonde on besides her temper was her intellect. She was never particularly good in school, never really giving the effort, but it would be a lie to call her dumb because of that fact. The First Order didn't recruit her for her piloting skills, not at first. Mara was a strategist in planning, this being evident whenever she would observe crowds for long periods of time before taking action. Her impulsive nature usually took over her rather thought out plans.

When it came to planning aerial defense design? She was a mastermind. They wouldn't throw away her plans, no, they knew her value in that area.

"Has the First Order changed their attack patterns in combat? Their basic defensive maneuvers? Anything I created?" Mara let her grip on Poe loosen, her temper still bubbling underneath her words, "Anything?"

Words from years ago on a faraway planet fell on her tongue, his pleas of hoping she would listen now became her appeal to him, "Think about it logically. The Order used me until they didn't need me because I was a wild card, a liability. This, Hexagon 47, was my last strategy assignment. They needed me for this, and I made them a trap for you if you ever attacked. If you don't listen me, I will have gotten you killed."

Those were the words she needed. Mara wasn't a gifted manipulator, but this wasn't average exploiting. She was trying to save Poe's life, the Resistance itself.

His demeanor softened with her last attempt to make him listen, "You saved my life once; now let me save yours."

~~~~~~~

Within minutes the map table was surrounded once again, this time by bewildered pilots in orange jumpsuits who gave each other skeptical glances as Commander Dameron stood at Mara's left side, "Okay guys listen up!"

Mara's eyes peered through the holograph, watching the worried faces that reminded her all too much of one's of her past squadron. Wandering gazes passed over her, whispers working their way around in a circular motion as no one knew who she was. They were doubtful and disrupted now, running against the grain of time already. What was the now?

Finally, a voice managed to find her ears, calling out, "Who's this chick?"

An enemy. An unworthy scavenger. A woman who's seem many die under her command.

Before Poe could respond, the blonde faced up towards the swath of the Resistance fleet, hands pressing against the table's edge as a title made its way onto her lips, speaking before more doubt could crawl into the spaces in her head.

She had to get Rey. She had to destroy what she helped defend. She could. She could.

"The name's Mara Estoni, and I'm the one who's gonna save all your asses."

bad, not edited, buts it's been over a month since an update, so I'll edit tomorrow. *squints at the time of 1:26* later today.