CHAPTER FIVE
Resistance Base, D’Qar
As soon as Toah and Rey had arrived at the Resistance Base on D’Qar, Finn was already waiting for them at one of the base’s exposed landing areas, having been alerted to their arrival ahead of time. Judging by the cagey way the young man was acting, in subtle ways that only Force-sensitives such as himself and Rey would notice, Toah could tell that Finn had not yet told anyone else about the droid. Even the words he greeted them with made it clear that he was trying to keep things secret.
“I’m glad you guys could make it,” Finn had said to them. “Come on; I’ve got the parts in one of the storage rooms.”
The two Jedi followed him into the Resistance’s underground base and bypassed the command center by heading a deserted hallway. As soon as they were outside earshot of anyone else, whether they be droid or living being, Finn turned around to give Toah and Rey a slightly annoyed look.
“I was wondering when you two would finally get here,” he said in a hushed tone. “People have been giving me strange looks for constantly coming back here to check on it.”
“Do they know about the droid?” Toah asked.
“General Organa does. I told her that the Naboo security captain let me have it to use for parts. She seemed to accept that story.”
“Seemed to,” Toah said dryly. “You do know she has Jedi training, right?”
Finn shook his head. “I’m not going to even pretend I understand that Force thing you guys use.”
“You seem to have a connection to it yourself when you summoned Master Maren’s lightsaber to you back on Lothal.”
“I don’t know what happened back on Lothal,” Finn snapped, looking at Toah with a fiery look in his eyes. “I don’t even want to think about it. Right now, I just want to focus on the here and now.”
With that, he turned back around and continued to walk down the corridor, this time taking swift strides to create some distance between him and the Jedi.
Looking over to Toah, Rey said, “Those stormtroopers we faced back on Lothal were some of his friends. He grew up with them. They were like family.”
“I see,” Toah murmured. “Still, it’s undeniable that he has a connection to the Force. Perhaps he could use some training.”
“We’re here,” Finn’s voice came from up ahead. Once Toah and Rey had joined him, he opened the door to a storage closet, revealing a small room full of droid parts. The only complete droid was the one they had encountered on Naboo, its multiple appendages tangled together as it sat there in a heap on the floor. Stepping over to it, Finn flipped a switch on the back of the droid’s head and 11-4D’s photoreceptors glowed back to life.
“Where am I?” the droid asked.
“That’s not important right now,” Finn said. He gestured to Rey, who stepped into the droid’s line of sight. “You said you know where her parents are. We’re listening.”
“I never said I knew where her parents are,” 11-4D replied. “I said I know where to find them.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Not in the strictest sense of term, if you want to be semantic.” Focusing its optical sensors on Rey, the droid said, “Do you know what your parents did?”
“I… no,” Rey said, shaking her head. “It’s been too long. I only have vague memories of them.”
“They were junk traders by the names of Dathan and Miramir. I worked as a navigator and medical droid aboard their ship.”
“That’s strange,” Rey murmured. “I don’t remember a droid….”
“But I remember you,” 11-4D said. “I was there for your birth, assisting your mother as she gave birth to you. I was there for every moment of your life… until your parents sold me.”
“Sold you?”
“Yes, they were in dire financial straits and needed the credits. They found a junk dealer named Jonkar Ludd on Ronyards and sold me to him for over a hundred thousand credits. He kept me in his possession for several years before selling me to a Naboo nobleman.”
Rey frowned. “So you don’t know what happened to me or them after that?”
“No. But Jonkar Ludd might, if he still lives.”
“How long ago were you sold to him?” asked Finn.
“Approximately twenty-one years ago, if my memory banks serve me.”
Toah rubbed his chin. “Ronyards… I’ve heard that’s a planet inhabited mainly by droids. I wouldn’t think any living beings lived there, let alone be allowed to run a droid-selling market by its ‘people.’”
“I must confess that I have little data on Ronyards itself in my databanks,” 11-4D said. “I know very little of the planet outside of what I have already told you.”
“Where even is Ronyards?” Finn asked.
“It is located in the Inner Rim Territories, along the Hydian Way.”
“What are we waiting for then?” Rey said, stepping away from the droid and turning to head out. “Let’s go to Ronyards—”
“Hang on.” Toah raised a hand to stop her. “We should get General Organa’s approval for this mission.”
“And if she says no?”
“Then that will be that, and the search for your parents will have to wait.”
Defiance blazed in Rey’s hazel eyes as she folded her arms over her chest. “Why did we come all the way here then?”
“Because I knew we would be needed here again soon. And because I thought the droid would actually give you closure,” Toah added with a pointed look at 11-4D.
Rey opened her mouth to speak, but before she could deliver any objection, the three of them heard footsteps coming from down the hallway, followed by a female voice.
“Is someone down here?”
Finn quickly switched 11-4D off and shoved the droid into the corner of the storage closet. He and the Jedi then stepped out and closed the door just as a woman with short black hair came from around the corner.
Regarding the three with skeptical brown eyes, the woman said, “What are you guys doing down here?”
“Ah, we were just getting a hydromop,” Finn said before either of the Jedi could speak. “There was some spilled water over here so we cleaned it up. Wouldn’t want any of the generals slipping on it.”
“Oh,” the woman said, eyebrows knitting in confusion as she seemed to look for wherever the water may have been.
“But we took care of it,” Finn went on. “It’s all good now. We’re fine. How are you? I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“I’m… doing fine,” the woman said tentatively. “My name’s Rose. Rose Tico. Head of Engineering. And you would be?”
“Finn. I’m new around here.”
“Yeah, I could… I could tell.” Rose then looked over to Toah and Rey, eying their Jedi apparel. “I take it you two are Jedi?”
“Yes, I am Jedi Knight Toah Jarsan, and this is my apprentice Rey. We were with General Organa on Naboo not so long ago.”
Rose’s face lit up at this. “Oh! That’s right. She’s actually been waiting for your return.”
Toah raised an eyebrow. “Is she expecting us?”
“Yes. She’s at the command center. I can take you to her.”
Toah nodded and motioned for Rose to lead the way. As they started to follow her, he glanced over at Rey. She met his eyes with an expression that still carried a hint of defiance. He sent a message to her through the Force, imploring for her patience, before looking away.
* * *
“Our agent was sent to Coruscant right after the First Order had taken control of the Ojoster sector,” General Leia Organa was saying, standing before a holographic display of the planet in question with her gathered generals and advisors. “They were supposed to gather intelligence on what the Alliance is doing there and give us an idea as to how much influence, if any, that the First Order or the Malvis Cabal currently has over the Senate. They were supposed to report back a few days ago but we haven’t anything from them. Given the current situation—especially after what happened back on Naboo—we are more than a bit worried about them.”
Toah Jarsan nodded, taking everything in with a stoic expression. “This is a rescue mission then, I take it?”
“If it needs to be,” said General Joma Helricks. “We don’t know what predicament our agent is currently in; they could be dead, for all we know. What we want you to do is to find out what happened to them and to extract them from Coruscant if necessary.”
“And you need a Jedi specifically?”
“Yes,” Leia said. “Because our agent is a Jedi. If something has happened to them, then it is most likely something that most of our operatives aren’t trained to deal with. However, I have faith in you and your apprentice, Toah.”
A scowl started to form on General Helricks’s face. “I personally think our agents are more than capable of handling things that Jedi cannot….”
“I am aware of your feelings on the matter, General,” Leia replied to her. “But I’ve known Toah for some time now. I would trust him with my life.”
“Because he’s your brother’s student,” Helricks stated.
Leia ignored the comment as she returned her attention to Toah. “I trust you and your Padawan can handle this?”
“Of course,” Toah said. “Do you have any information on this agent? Their name, their appearance?”
Helricks handed him a datapad. “Everything you need will be on this encrypted device. It will decode itself within the time it will take you to reach Coruscant, if you leave as soon as possible, and it will wipe itself clean as soon as you’ve read it.”
“Is their information that sensitive?”
“Everything is considering who we’re dealing with,” Helricks said darkly.
“Right,” Toah said. “In that case, we shall take our leave right now. Rey, go ahead and prepare the—”
He looked over to where he thought Rey had been standing, at his side, but saw nothing. Nor was Finn there, for that matter. He looked around the room, seeing only a perplexed Rose and other Resistance members milling about their business in the command center, before finally looking back at Leia and the other generals.
“Did anyone see them leave?” he asked.
Before anyone could answer him, he heard the distinct sound of a ship’s engines starting up and taking off.
“It would appear,” Leia said, “that she’s doing what you were going to ask of her.”
* * *
“Are we seriously doing this?”
“Yes,” Rey said as she sat in the pilot’s seat of the transport she and Toah had taken to D’Qar. “Do you know how to fly a ship?”
“No!” Finn replied.
“Okay, that’s fine.” She flipped a few switches. “I used to test fly ships for Unkar Plutt back on Jakku. This shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Shouldn’t be too—” Finn ran a hand over his face. “Did you have a plan for this that went beyond ‘sneak out without your Jedi Master knowing and do the opposite of what he told you?’”
“Look, I know how to fly out of a planet’s atmosphere, plot a course through hyperspace, and land on a planet. That’s all we need to do to get to Ronyards.”
“Oh yeah? Do you know how to even get there?”
“The droid said it was on the Hydian Way, right? Check the navigational computer. It should be on the map.”
Finn shook his head. “This is crazy. I don’t know why I let you drag me into this. People here are already wary of me as it is, being an ex-stormtrooper and all.”
“I won’t stop you if you want to get off,” Rey said.
Finn was silent for a long moment as he studied the navigational computer. Finally, he said, “All right. Found it. Ronyards, grid N-Thirteen.”
“There. See? What did I tell you?”
The transport shuddered as it began to lift up from the platform.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Finn muttered.
“Are you always this morose?” Rey asked.
“Only when people give me a reason to be.”
Within moments, the transport was taking off and heading up into D’Qar’s sky. Rey had half the mind to glance out the viewport, to see if Toah had sensed or noticed their departure and come out to stop them. But she decided against it and focused her mind on piloting the ship through the planet’s atmosphere, watching the blue sky fade into black space. As the transport already had a transmitting clearance code, none of the ships in orbit stopped them as they passed the security perimeter. Once Finn had set in the coordinates, she pulled the hyperdrive lever and the stars stretched out as they jumped to lightspeed.
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