Restoration of Light (Star Wars/Kylo Fanfic)

Chapter II: Cyrillia

"Never tell me the odds!"~Han Solo

Getting ready to climb into the all too familiar cockpit of her X-Wing, Azalea glanced around the hangar, respectfully studying each of her team members. She watched the way they moved, the way some of them, like Poe, stood strong and confident, always with his witty sense of humor. The way others, like Karé and Oddy, looked stony and serious as they readied for departure. She smiled as she remembered her mom saying she got her always hopeful outlook from her father. Suddenly a small, gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned around and embraced her mother tightly.

"Come back, okay?" Her voice was quiet and Azalea felt her warm breath next to her ear. She always made this harder. Azalea backed up enough to look at her, offering a smile. Her mother reached forward and pushed some of Azalea's hair behind her ear.

"Of course I'm coming back, I promise. I'll bring you a souvenir. Maybe one of those bucket head's helmets." Her mother's face paled and she thought maybe she didn't appreciate that joke as much as Azalea did.

"You gonna sit there and crack lame jokes all day, or are you gonna, get up there and fly?" Jess's smooth voice rolled over Azalea's shoulder, making her smile widen.

"I'll out-pilot you any day blue three." She playfully pushed Jess's shoulder. Jess laughed and was about to make a comeback before she was interrupted.

"Yeeeaah I'll pulverize both of you." Poe looked at Azalea and raised his eyebrows. "AND my jokes are way better."

She scoffed, "you wish flyboy." He winked at her, then turning to Azalea's mother, he saluted her.

"Miss Amidala Renegade." She smiled at him and nodded. Azalea's mother was strong and had been through a lot. She definitely lived up to her namesake. "Get ready ladies, our men are waiting for us and I want to get them out and get back in my cockpit while the seat's still warm." Poe was thinking of Finn, wishing he could tell him to hold on, that help was coming. He leaned over to Jess to give her a small kiss on the forehead, and she smiled up at him.

Azalea's mom looked around the group and then back at her daughter. "I have to get back to the infirmary, and you have to get going." Her eyes were starting to get watery. Azalea gave her one last hug, trying to reassure her. As they split and climbed into their ships, Azalea closed her windshield and pulled on her helmet. She took a deep breath. Focus.

That was when it clicked.

Every time she pulled her helmet on, she got this feeling. It was peace amid the chaos. She knew what it was, just like in her dream. She could faintly hear her dad telling her to remember what she'd learned, his words etched deep into her subconscious.

You have everything you need, it lies within. Let the force guide you.

"Blue four, standing by." She switched on her engines and waited, feeling the warm energy pulsing around and through her. Sometimes it sounded like a hum, sometimes a whisper. It was always peaceful. She lived for this. Her dad's gentle words replayed in her head as Poe gave the signal for takeoff. Soon they switched over to hyper-drive and were blasting through space at light speed, their coordinates set for Cyrillia. Takodana got smaller and smaller behind them until it was no longer in sight. Planets, moons and stars were nothing but a blur whizzing by as they neared their destination.

Poe's distilled voice soon buzzed through the intercom, the first sound that the team heard after switching to light speed. "Alright, disengage hyper-drive. We've just passed Cyrillia, we're gonna turn this caravan around and approach from the East. Remember, avoid being sighted for as long as possible, and if you are seen by one of those flying-dimwits, you know what to do." Grinning at Poe's snippy insult, Azalea listened as the team rattled off their call signs and chimed in at her number, indicating that she understood.