PHOENIX ━ dameron

071 | dead wrong

"What happened to you?" Poe asked as if noticing him for the first time.

"I tried training for about fifteen minutes with Rey," Jacen groaned. "Did not go too hot."

"He got his butt kicked by a tree," Rey said smugly.

Not quite ready to drop their argument, Poe said, "The same tree you dropped on my droid?"

Rey frowned, leveling her gaze with his. "Different tree, actually."

Leia shot him a look of disapproval, but the machine beeped before she could say anything. Thankfully so because they might have started bickering all over again. Poe was dangerously close to getting written up. If he wasn't doing enough good to outweigh some of his more reckless decisions, he would have been demoted again.

They needed leadership. Especially since Wedge Antilles had made contact with the Inferno Squadron a week ago. Soon, a fresh transport ship of pilots would be arriving on Ajan Kloss. Wedge vouched for the troops, but it was clear that they had all come from backwater spaceports, only keen on fighting for fighting's sake. Wedge was over the moon to know that Poe would be training them.

Leia yanked the cord out of the machine without another word.

"What was it?" Poe asked, brows furrowed in confusion.

"An omen," Leia responded cryptically, eyes darting between them. "Jacen, go with Dameron. Spread the word, I need everyone gathered in the next hour. Tell Major Tailor I'm going to need a dry run on logistics for getting the Falcon up and running within the next cycle."

"I don't think you want me asking Reeve about the Falcon right now."

"I can go," Rey volunteered. It was a truce, and Poe looked to her appreciatively.

"No, I need you to stay here," Leia said cryptically. "I need to discuss some things with Luke before we move forward. This--" she glanced once at Rey with unmistakable pity "--is the point of no return."

Poe waited until Leia's back was turned to mouth, what's that all about?

Rey shrugged. No clue.

Only slightly panicking, Rey followed the General to the secluded side of the cave where Leia's office was. It was a high-powered command module obscured by a small wall without a door. Not much privacy, but enough.

Luke was waiting for them. He smiled in greeting, but Rey's attention was captured by the other person in the room.

Lyra Skywalker stood, bathed in the light of a flickering full-color WANTED hologram. Her long hair was braided back, and she wore the dark uniform of her old squadron. The distortion made Lyra's skin look like it had an inhuman, orange tint. This was an old image, the same one the First Order had been circulating for the past year.

The First Order had made her into a myth, and the Resistance had started to turn her story into a legend. Both sides had reduced her to a part of the past. It was seldom that anyone spoke of her coming back anymore.

She had missed Lyra and her constant presence. The older girl had been someone to count on, to look up to, to talk to about the things that kept Rey up at night. Above that, she was a friend who had seen straight through her all the way back on Jakku.

"Did we get any information on her?" Rey asked, not even daring to hope. It felt silly now after so long.

"Not from the contact, no," Luke sighed, switching the holo screen over. "The transmission that Poe and Finn uncovered was in relation to Palpatine. He's alive. And he's creating what his followers have dubbed a Final Order. It's slow going as far as we know, but one thing is for certain. Once it's complete, it's going to be near impossible to stop."