FIRST MISSION for Amara since Crait. It was a lot to mentally prepare for. Amara had been under the impression her mom wasn't going to be sending her out on mission, considering her vision she had only weeks ago. However, Leia claims they are down in support until they receive new recruits in the coming days. The mission is a three person mission, well three person plus a droid. Finn, Poe, and Amara were given the mission whereas Rey was to remain on Yavin 4 to continue her training.
Leia hands Poe a datapad while the three of them were being briefed on their mission inside the command center.
"This is a simple aiding mission," Leia says, "The people of Lothal are asking for help with First Order activity."
Poe looks up at Leia, "Lothal?" He spoke, "I haven't heard of the First Order staking out there."
Leia glanced at Poe, "This came from a reliable source." She says, "The news came from Fulcrum."
Amara looks at her mother a bit confused, "Fulcrum?" She tilts her head.
Finn looks at Amara and then to Leia, "Who is Fulcrum?"
Amara glanced at Finn, "Fulcrum is a code name. It was a title used during the time of the Rebellion back in the day." Amara says, "I had only known of three people who bare the name Fulcrum."
Leia nods, "As did I," Leia says, "But this chain code they've sent were old codes from our second Fulcrum."
Amara was handed the datapad by Poe.
Poe seemed to be interested in this. He loved hearing stories of the old Alliance and the war that his parents took part in. He loves hearing about the days Leia, Han, and Luke stood toe to toe with the Empire.
Amara frowns, "Alexsandr Kallus?" She asks, "Didn't he end up on the planet Lira San? How would someone randomly have access to his codes?"
Poe glanced from Amara and then to Leia, "It might be a trap, General."
Leia shakes her head, "I don't think so." She looks at her daughter, "It's possible he returned to Lothal."
Amara nods and looks at the datapad, "Maybe."
Amara pondered over it and then handed the datapad back to Poe. Poe looked down at the chain code. He had heard some stories over the name of Fulcrum, but never personally met anyone who wore that title.
"When do we leave, General?" Poe asks.
Leia looks at him, "As soon as you can." She says.
The three nod. Then they headed out to go to their tents and back. They were taking the Falcon, seeing as the only other ships to take were X-Wings and neither Amara nor Finn would pilot an X-Wing. Amara knew, chances are that Chewie would end up on the mission. Chewie had been way protective of Amara as of late, and she wasn't sure if her recent vision made things worst for the Wookiee.
{RISE OF SKYWALKER}
HYPERSPACE ALWAYS takes forever. Poe and Chewie were in the cockpits, piloting the Falcon. Yeah, Chewie managed to convince Leia to send him with. And yet, Leia couldn't argue with the oaf.
Chewie turns to Poe and growls.
"Hey, this isn't my first ship I've piloted." Poe says to the Wookiee.
Chewie growls at him again.
Chewie was possessive of the Falcon. Even on the mission to get Black Squadron, Chewie was just barking orders at Poe to not hit certain buttons. Poe got it, this was his ship as much as it was Han's ship. But it didn't mean Poe couldn't pilot the rust bucket. A knock got their attentions. It was Amara by the cockpit door. She had a small smile on her face. Both Chewie and Poe turned in their seats to face the young Solo.
"Finn was wondering how long it'll take for us to reach Lothal?" Amara asks.
Poe glanced at Chewie, "A couple hours." He answers.
Amara grins and glanced to Chewie, "Is that true?" She teased.
Chewie growled in agreement.
Poe looks at her, "Oh wow, you don't believe in my piloting skills." Poe pretends to be offended.
Amara lightly laughs, "In an X-Wing complete confidence, but in my dad's ship the confidence goes down." She says.
Poe pretended to look hurt, "Wow, that's sad." He says, "You don't trust me."
Amara kept a grin on her face, "Nope." She then gestures to them, "Come on since we won't be out of lightspeed for a bit, why don't you come to the lounge."
Chewie growls and Amara followed it with a light chuckle. Hearing Amara laugh and seeing her smile has been making Poe feel like she's getting better. After all, this is her first mission since the Battle of Crait and since her vision. She has been getting some training with her mother in the ways of the Force, but it's a slow process. As they walk down the halls of the Falcon, Poe couldn't help himself from glancing over at Amara. Amara seemed to be doing much better, but Poe knew she wasn't at a hundred percent yet.
Upon reaching the lounge, Poe sees Finn arguing with BB-8. Before he can even say anything, Amara steps in the middle to defuse the situation. Watching her get in the middle of the droid and former trooper just gave Poe a moment of seeing Leia in Amara.
"Okay, okay." Amara says, "What is it?"
BB-8 starts beeping. To which Amara and Poe understood, but Finn did not. The droid was claiming how Finn doesn't respect BB-8 in learning binary.
Amara knelt down to BB-8," You know binary is a hard thing to learn. I'm certain even Poe had his issues the first time." Amara says looking at Poe.
Poe chuckled, "Oh yeah." He ran a hand through his hair, "Mom made me read a book on binary when I was a kid. She even had me listen to a variety of droids to understand the different beeps and what they meant."
Amara couldn't help but grin.
Finn looks at Poe, "Really?" He asks.
Poe nods, "I started that at four," He says and then turns to BB-8, "It'll take Finn some times."
Amara glanced at the droid and patted the top of BB-8, before she stood up and turned to Finn.
"It's okay," She says, "I wasn't fluent in binary until I turned twelve."
After that everyone just moved to sit where they wanted to. Chewie sat at the table and challenged Finn to a game of Dejarik. Poe was cleaning up some scuff on BB-8, he glanced over to watch Amara watching the game unfold between the Wookiee and former trooper. Poe took a towel and was rubbing off the dirt from the droid, but kept glancing over to Amara. She seemed fine. Almost normal like before. Although, he can't help but worry about her.
{RISE OF SKYWALKER}
NEVER ACCUSE a Wookiee of cheating, because you'll never hear the end of it. Finn playing a simple game of Dejarik turned into Finn asking for Poe to help him out, neither men really understood the game itself, but that didn't stop them. At one point, getting fed up by the Wookiee beating them, Poe called Chewie a cheater. Which did not go well for the pilot or the former trooper.
Chewie extended his arms up and growled in annoyance.
Amara looks at the big guy, "He doesn't mean it," She turns to Poe, "Right Poe? You're just sore losers."
Poe nods, "Uh, yeah right. You're not cheating." He says, "We just suck badly."
Finn nods adding, "The worst."
Chewie seemed to calm down from that. Lowering his arms and then went to make his next move. As Chewie was about to do that, sensors started beeping, to indicate to everyone on the Falcon they are about to get out of hyperspace.
Chewie looks at the two men and growls at them.
"We won't turn off the game," Finn says, "Right?"
Poe nods.
Chewie gets up and runs out of the lounge, meanwhile, Poe shuts off the game and follows after Amara from the lounge to the cockpit and Finn is right behind him. As they reach the cockpit, they had just gotten out of lightspeed and stare at the planet of Lothal in front of them.
"That's Lothal," Finn says.
Amara glanced from the planet to Finn, "Yeah."
Finn nods, "I've never been there before."
Poe glanced at his pal, "Same here," He says, "What about you and Chewie?"
Amara glanced at Poe, "Uh- um I've been once when I was a kid." She says, "Chewie?"
Chewie growled. His response had told them that he had never stepped foot on Lothal.
Poe grins at Amara, "Looks like you're the expert of the planet then," He says resting his hand on her shoulder.
Amara rolls her eyes, "Oh goodie me,"
Chewie and Poe, but mostly Chewie because he kept growling at Poe for piloting his ship, piloted the ship into Lothal's atmosphere. Amara had plugged into the ships mainframe the coordinates that they were given from the chain code from Fulcrum.
As soon as the Falcon landed on the surface of the planet to where they were told to go, Amara looked out the window. It was the window and saw where they were.
"We're near Capital City," Amara tells them.
Finn glanced at her, "Wow," He was taken back, "It looks amazing."
Amara only stared at the city, "Back in the days of the Empire, this city was known as the main population of Lothal, but it was in disrepair due to the Empire's effects on it's economy."
Poe looks at Amara.
"Really?" Finn asks.
Amara nods, "It became a big territory for the Empire. It housed the Imperial Command Center and the Academy for Young Imperials." She says and glanced over, "My mother is Leia Organa, knowledge about the Empire tends to be a household conversation."
Poe glanced from her to look at the city, "So Fulcrum is meeting us here or in the city?"
Amara grabbed a small datapad she had on her. She tapped on the screen and pulled up the message. She lowered the datapad and moved closer to the window in the cockpit to look outward.
Chewie growls.
"I won't touch a damn button, Chewie." She snapped at him for snapping at her.
As Amara looked outside she scanned to see if there was anyone nearby. She sees two speedsters coming in their direction. She had no idea by any indicators that it was where they needed to go, but Amara could sense it.
"We got company," Amara says.
"Think it them?" Poe asks, "Or something bad?"
Amara shakes her head, "It's them."
Finn looks at it, "You sure?" He asks.
Amara nods, "Positive."
{RISE OF SKYWALKER}
EXITING THE ramp of the Falcon was Finn, Poe, BB-8, Chewie, and Amara. All of them, minus BB-8 were armed with their blasters. The speedsters slowed down and stopped at the bottom of the ramp. One did not wear a helmet and that was the Lasat, but the other one removed a helmet and he was a man. A human. He had brown hair and brown eyes. Just then the Lasat pulled out their blaster upon seeing them, and in doing so both Finn, Chewie, and Poe pulled out their blasters. The gentlemen with the Lasat turned to the creature and gestured to lower the weapon, which the Lasat complied with. Amara held her hand on top of Poe's blaster, his eyes meeting her, but her eyes on the man in front of them, and she lowered the blaster in her man's hand. Finn glanced over and followed suit.
Chewie growls at them.
Amara glanced at him, "Trust me," She says.
Poe and Finn put their blasters back in their holsters and Chewie just lowered it, whereas the Lasat held onto the blaster against his shoulder.
The man looks at them, "My apologizes," He spoke with an accent, "My friend here only thought you were thieves."
The Lasat looked at him, "We still don't know if they are or not."
Amara stepped forward, "Did you send us the chain code?" She spoke.
The man nods and stepped forward, "Ah, I was in fact correct. Not thieves but Resistance." He gives a big smile, "Wonderful."
Poe crossed his arms on his chest, "And who are you?"
"My name is Torrin Kallus," He says, "I used the chain code and title of Fulcrum to insure some quickness in your arrival."
"Kallus?" Amara's eyesbrows furrow, "Like Alexsandr Kallus? He's your father?"
Torrin nods, "Why yes," He says, "And my friend here is Janan Orrelios."
Janan looks at Amara, "And before you "ooh" and "awe", yes my father is Zeb Orrelios." He says sounding annoyed.
Amara nods at Janan's response.
"And you are?" Torrin asks.
Finn held his hand up, "I'm Finn,"
Poe kept his arms crossed on his chest, "Poe Dameron," He says.
Amara gestured to Chewie, "The big guy is Chewbacca," She then adds, "I'm Amara Solo," She tells them.
Both Torrin and Janan looked shocked at that. Torrin placed his hand on his forehead and took a step back with a small smile on his face.
"You are- You are the daughter of Han Solo and Princess Leia?" Torrin asks.
"General Organa, but yes." Amara corrects.
Torrin blinks back his shock, "Wow- uh wow."
Amara rolled her eyes.
She recalled in the past having met people who freaked out meeting her because of who her parents were, so this was nothing new. Instead, Amara crossed her arms on her chest.
"We were here to help aid Lothal regarding the First Order?" Amara asks.
Torrin snaps out of it and nods, "Yes." He says, "We have coordinates for you. We were suppose to meet with you to make sure you are really Resistance."
Torrin's eyes never left Amara, which was making Poe a little irritated by that. It's not that he doesn't trust Amara, he doesn't know this Torrin guy and he doesn't like the way he is looking at her.
"Our base is a little away," He says, "But seeing as you all don't have speedsters-."
Chewie growled at them, causing Amara to turn her head to Chewie. Both Janan and Torrin looked a bit startled and unsure of what the Wookiee had said.
"He says load the speedsters in," She says.
Chewie growled again, this time both Finn and Poe grinned a little bit. Amara had a smirk on her face.
"Wh- What did he say?" Torrin asks.
Amara kept the smirk on her face, "Don't touch anything on the ship." She says.
{RISE OF SKYWALKER}
THE BASE Torrin had spoke of was small. It reminded them of the Resistance taking home on Yavin 4. The Falcon lands and people begin to gather around. The ramp lowers and Torrin steps out first with Janan. Torrin and Janan are being hugged and celebrated by the people in the base. Amara, Poe, and Finn looked below. These were just normal people. Not fighters. Mothers. Fathers. Children. Grandparents.
Amara's eyes turns to Poe. She looked worried. Whatever this is, it isn't going to be pretty.
"My friends!" Torrin calls outs, "Please, come down."
Poe, Amara, Finn, and Chewie walked down the ramp with BB-8 trailing behind. They were greeted by people shaking hands and even kissing on the cheeks with tears in their eyes. Amara was being passed around by people wanting to hug her, she glanced over to Poe and saw him being kissed on the forehead by an elderly man. Once Amara managed to get out, she turned to Torrin.
"What exactly is going on?" She asks him.
Torrin glanced at the people on the base and then to Amara, "We need your help getting the First Order out of the Capital City."
Amara ran a hand over her face, "The First Order is here on Lothal?" She asks, "You didn't think to notify us that?"
Torrin nods, "I did in the code."
She shakes her head, "It said First Order activity," She says, "There is a real difference between them being here and them interfering with life here."
"How so?" He asks.
Amara ran a hand over her face in frustration. She turns to Poe, he made eye contact with her. He moves through the crowd over to her, BB-8 is right next to him rolling.
"Poe," She pulls him over to whisper in her ear, "The First Order is here, on Lothal, in Capital City."
Poe's eyes widen, "What?" He asks.
Amara nods, "We have to be radio silent in case they can pick up our chatter. Which means-,"
Poe sighs, "Leia is going to be pissed." He says and turns to Torrin, "Who is in charge here?"
Torrin gestures to a large tent at the edge of the base, "Captain is in his tent."
Both Amara and Poe glanced at each other with confused looks on their face's.
"Captain?" Poe asks.
Torrin nods, "He's been around through it all," He says, "But- But he thinks his accelerated aging has finally caught up with him."
Amara's eyebrows furrow, "Accelerated aging?"
Torrin nods, "Follow me."
Finn and Chewie stayed behind with the ship and the people who were so happy to have help arrive to aid them, while Amara and Poe with BB-8 followed Torrin to the tent where the Captain rested. Once reaching the tent that Torrin had told them was their Captain, their leader, whoever. He had told them he needed to step in first to alert him. The two nodded and stepped inside.
Poe glanced at Amara, "What are you thinking?"
Amara glanced at him, "Not a Jedi." She says, "I don't sense another Force user here."
Poe nods.
"What do you think?" She asks.
Poe sighs, "Honestly, I don't know."
Torrin pops his head out, "You may come in now." He tells them.
Torrin holds the tent open, allowing both Amara and Poe to enter the tent. Amara looked around and the first few things she noticed was the old blasters near a cot in the tent. Her eyes moved to a helmet, her eyes narrowed. It looked to be an old trooper helmet or was it different?
"Captain," Torrin says.
Torrin had let them to a command part of the tent. That's why he had the large tent. He slept in the command center. The captain had his back tot hem.
"Allow me to introduce to you two people from the Resistance," Torrin says, "Poe Dameron and Amara Solo."
The captain turned around. Amara got a good look at him, he looked in his sixty but his eyes told her he's been around longer. He's seen things and experience things most people in their sixty don't.
Poe extends his hand, "Commander Dameron actually and she is Commander Solo," He says.
The captain looks from Amara to Poe. Poe shakes hands with the captain, and the captain extends his hand out to Amara. Amara gives a small smile and offers her hand for him to shake.
"Welcome," He says, "I appreciate you coming."
Amara glanced from Torrin to him, "We would've appreciated knowing the First Order is already here."
The captain nods, "Torrin can get a bit ahead of himself." He chuckles lightly.
Torrin stands straight and goes to say something, but the captain turns to the man and gestures out.
"I need a word with these two," He instructs him.
Torrin nods and says, "Yes, sir."
Torrin leaves. Amara and Poe catch the captain shakes his head as he sits down, he gestures for them to sit down. They sat in front of the command table.
"The boy knows of the stories of the Rebellion and Empire," He says, "He calls me "Captain" when I haven't been one in years."
The man chuckles.
Amara looks at him, "Who are you exactly?" She asks.
The man looks at her and grin, "I'm surprised you don't know, Commander Solo." He says, "With the way the Force seems to work for your bloodline."
Amara and Poe glanced at each other a bit shocked before turning back to the man in the chair. He had a small grin on his face and looked from the floor to the young woman.
"I fought along side your grandfather in the Clone Wars," He says, "My name is Rex."
(re-uploaded: 7/18/21)