Battle Scars

Chapter XVII

Poe was already getting his x-wing prepped when Snap and Kare came running already suited up. "Where did she go?" Kare asked breathlessly.

"She went to get whatever information she could from that conditioning facility." It was obvious that Poe was worried sick.

"Alone?" Snap asked.

"That's a suicide mission without back up..." It dawned on Kare that Diana knew that and intended on not coming back. "Send us the jump coordinates. Maybe she'll stall."

Poe nodded and relayed the coordinates to their ships. "We gotta get a move on."

~

"Clearance code 49228."

"Welcome to Institution Platform Three Lieutenant."

"Such an unassuming name," She thought to herself. It had been easy enough to get past initial security but her main worry was trying to not get found out before she was able to transmit the information out. Diana flew in following all First Order protocol to a tea. When she had let go of the controls she noticed had much her hands were shaking. It got worse when she noticed Elrik's interceptor was docked on the other side of the hanger.

Diana regained composure and hopped out of the cockpit where she was met with whom she assumed was a captain.

"Commander Vonreg wants to see you." The Captain couldn't have been that much older than herself.

"Yes, of course. I will go see him right away. Where is his office located here?"

"Top floor Lieutenant. I can escort you there if that would..."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm sure I can find my way there." Diana walked past the captain without removing her helmet. She wasn't sure if anyone would recognize her but it wasn't uncommon for pilots to keep their helmets on until they got to their bunks. It was all too easy.

No one gave her a second thought. She had followed all the protocols so everyone was alerted that there was a new lieutenant on the station. Now, Diana just needed to get to a console in a secluded area. She began to think about the training floors.

Diana took a look at the lift and chuckled. This time no one would know. She headed towards it and indicated that she wanted to go to the top floor, but before she let it go up too far she stopped it on a training floor that didn't seem like it was in use.

The lift doors opened and Diana stepped out into an empty hallway. Her timing was perfect. Most of the students were either in their bunks or doing chores. She stepped into an office inside one of the training rooms. "Let's hope they didn't change too much of the security on these things since I've been gone," she said as she sat at the desk.

She put in Elrik's login information and took a sigh of relief when it accepted the information. She knew that any new stations that were being built would show up here since many of these new stormtroopers would inevitably end up at one. Diane scrolled through the list of new, and recently built stations. One stuck out. Normally, stations would list the coordinates followed by the station's name and function. However, this specific one had just a planet name listed with the function listed as Quintessence.

Diana wondered when the First Order had figured out how to harness quintessence. The Empire had been trying to figure out how to do it for the majority of their time in power, but how did the First Order figure it out? This alone could cause trouble for the Resistance. She took another look at the planet that was listed as the base. Ilum. It was once home to a Jedi temple until the Empire took it over and mined it for its kyber crystals.