Star Wars: 30 Years Later The Real Story - Chapter 43

Rey could see the horror and unbelief in the eyes of Si’nie and she felt a very rewarding sense of victory knowing that until now this thug had thought he had the upper hand. The plan had been a success and now the planet which was kind of the center of the sector was under the control of the Republic.

– “It’s over, Si’nie”- said Serine who had changed her calm and collected aura for a ferocious and wild ȧssassin like one and Rey could understand the confusion in Si’nie’s eyes since she had been the same when she had seen her companion change for the first time- “surrender and go to your knees or…”

– “This is tyranny!”- shouted Si’nie with absolute rage- “The Republic is no different than the First Order!”

– “If we were like them you would be already dead”- said Serine whose sharp eyes seemed to be looking for an opportunity to shoot- “an idea that is more tempting every second you don’t surrender.”

– “Exactly”- said Rey closing the lightsaber on Si’nie”- “this is what my master calls hostile negotiations.”

– “Fuck that! You won’t catch me alive!”- shouted Si’nie in madness and jumped back as he placed his hand on one of his pockets.

The reaction was so fast and unexpected that Rey did not have time to stop him and she could only see how he threw a thermal detonator to them. The typical mechanical whistle of the grenade before announcing its detonation filled the room. Rey immediately submerged into the Force and used it to take control of the grenade in midair and redirected it to the window which had shattered in the previous blaster exchange.

BOOM!

The grenade exploded just after it was outside but the explosion was extremely potent and the window and wall were destroyed and reduced to nothing. Even though this shielded Rey and Serine from the worst of the explosion, the flying debris and te owerful wave caught both girls sending them to the floor stunned. Rey knew Si’nie had got her and she could see him running through a secret door that he had opened during the distraction. A powerful sense of outrage filled her and she forced herself to stand up and go after him. However, she saw Si’nie returning to the room while having his arms raised and walking backwards slowly.

– “To your knees!”- she heard saying in a voice that was more mechanical than human and soon she saw a squad of Republic commandos entering the room while pointing their guns at the Thug lord- “to your knees now!”

– “This is tyranny!”- shouted Si’nie and Rey knew he was trying to get time as he had done with her- “I’ll present a compl….”

Phseww!

Contrary to Rey, the squad leader shot Si’nie with a paralyzing round after he did not comply with his order and the Knocto thug fell heavily on the floor with his eyes opened wide in disbelief.

– “Phoenix 1 here. We have secured the BIG PIG”- informed Phoenix 1through the intercom- “understood!”

Under the orders of their leader, the rest of the commandos ried Si’nie to a chair and waited surrounding him. Phoenix 1 walked to Rey.

– “You are injured”- said Phoenix one seeing blood running down Rey’s face- “medic! Give first aid kit to both!”

– “Yes, Sir!”- said other person in the squad and immediately set to attend Rey and Serine

– “You arrived just on time, soldier!”- said Rey in a teasing tone- “I almost let the main target escape.”

– “Well, unexpected things happen all the time in operations like this.”- said Phoenix 1 looing how Rey was being treated.

– “Must you have your helmet on until the end of the operation?”- said Rey with a furrow in her face- “we haven’t seen each other for a long time.”

– “Haha…”- The commando laughed- “is that an order, ma’am”

– “Will you make me repeat myself, soldier?”¨- joked Rey using a snobbish tone and the commando took off his helmet showing the healthy and manly gorgeous chocolate skinned face of Finn whose features had grown sharper and his eyes shown a decisive but warm light- “now that’s much better… it’s great to see you, Finn”

– “It’s great to see you, Rey”- they both looked at each other warmly and Rey could not help thinking that this was their first meeting in months since they had been ȧssigned to different sectors and had been able to see each other except for training. Of couse they had been talking by hologram but it was not the same.

– “Seriously… you two”- said Serine with an annoyed voice- “I’m fine, too. Thanks for asking!”

– “Oh, I’m sorry”- said Finn looking at the extremely beautiful asian girl next to Rey- “I didn’t mean to ignore you, Rose… wait what’s your name today?”

– “Haha! Very funny!”- said Serine whose real name was unknown due to be part of secret service operation but who Finn and Rey knew as Rose Tico- “but I’m Serine today, lovely name isn’t it?”

– “How can you keep track of all those many names and act differently with each one of them?”- asked Finn who had seen her act in a different way with each name as if she had multiple personalities.

Secret undercover operations was a special unit in charge of infiltration in enemy territory and their missions ranged from gathering data to kidnapping and ȧssassination which required their members to be able to go undercover and not attract any attention. Rose was one of those special members and she was one of the best ones.

– “I’m a born actress”- said Rose using a very warm smile worthy of a graduate of the diplomatic school- “or are you telling me you’d rather see me as the rookie and innocent mechanic girl you talked to when we met for the first time?”

The first time they had seen her, she had been under the disguise of a chubby and messy maintenance worker girl who was very timid and inexperienced. She had come with shining eyes asking for Finn’s autograph and acting like a fan girl who had met their idols. She had even shyly mentioned how Finn was more handsome than she had heard and even hinted she had feelings for him. Of course, all of this was just an act to get information from both of them and once the farce was over, she had apologized with a more stunning looking image which made them both drop their jaws at how beautiful she was.

– “Oh, stop that”- said Finn with a blushing remembering that embarrasing incident- “that was embarrasing… and mean from you.”

Rey still could remember the face of Finn when he saw her again and how embarrased he had been for the next months. Since then, they had worked together in different times and as Finn said, Rey could not help but feel amazed at the acting skills of Rose who could pretend to be anyone from a beggar from the worst slums to a royal member of any royalty in the galaxy. Every time she changed her character, Rey had the impression she was a completely different person and plus her stunning talent to use make-up she was one of the best agents in the Republic and Rey trembled every time she imagined what would happen if she decided to defect to the enemy.

– “What makes you so sure I’m not a double agent?”- she had said once with a joking tone but she and Finn had started to sweet to this comment- “you two are so innocent… huhuhuhu…”

Of course she was telling a joke but the possibility of that scenario made Rey very nervous and she prayed for her to always being on their side. Returning to the present the asian beauty got close to Finn with a grin.

– “Aww… did little Finn got hurt?”- said Rose with a very seductive tone and ċȧrėssed his face as she looked at him seductively- “I wonder how can I make it up for you… that time I wasn’t lying, you know?”

– “*Cough* Ehem…”- said Rey who sent a chilling warning to her friend- “we’re still in the middle of the mission, agent.”

– “Ara… everything is over, though… the target is secured, is he not?”- replied Rose with a grin but she immediately noticed the freezing glare coming from Rey- “huhuhu, just kidding! Don’t be so serious!”

Rose started laughing after watching Rey’s reaction and some steps back from Finn. However, Rey noticed her expression and she knew Rose was already preparing another plan to get a reaction from her. She was having too much fun teasing both Rey and Finn. She really seemed to find amusement in making them feel embarrased. However, Rey sometimes got worried since she had the feeling that Rose gave Finn more attention than any other man. After two years of knowing her, Rey considered Rose a friend but she did not like her to be so close to Finn.

– “Officer in the room!”- said a commando and Finn stood firm and saluted. Rey and Rose followed suite.

The captain in charge of the operation entered the room and stood in front of the prisoner. He nodded and a soldier injected the nikto with a special liquid that made him conscious once again. He immediate panicked when he realized he was tied and surrounded by commandos.

– “Si’nie Jkojavar, you are arrested under the New Republic’s law under the charges of laundering, corruption, abuse of power, murder, intimidation and illegal traficking and collusion with the enemy in times of war.”- the captain said as he read a document- “you’ll be transferred to a safe place util your trial starts.”

– “You can’t do this!”- the thug yelled almost spitting each word- “we’re not part of the Republic… you have no authority here! This is abuse of power!”

The captain showed a document at the face of the prisoner where he saw the majority of the rest of shareholders had accepted to join the Republic without him. He got stunned by this but immediately he started to complain in his highest volume.

– “I’m the major shareholder!”- he said in wrath showing his fangs to intimidate the person in front of him- “they can’t take a decision like this without me! That document is illegal!”

– “They can if they consider the leader to be incapable to take decisions due to the illegal activities which could compromise the image of the corporation”- said a voice behind the captain. Rey recognized a neimoidian which according to the information they had received was working alongside the Republic.

– “Ksilis! You traitor!”- shouted Ni’sie wishing he could rip each of the neimodian limbs one by one- “There’s no such clause! You are just making all this up!”

– “There is… since the last corporate regulation update that you signed, dont you remember?”- said the neimodian with a grin of someone who knew the game was over while showing another document with the signature of Si’nie.

Rey could see the blood abandoning the face of the Nikto. According to what Rey had heard, certain day, Ni’sie had signed a lot of documents but he had been drunk and he wanted to finish quickly to see certain events and his loyal secretary, Ksilis, had took pity on him and pointed just the most important documents he had to sign. He had not read them as he was with a hungover and fed up so he just signed the document which read “update of corporate regulations” which he had always called useless burocratic stuff others can deal with. As anyone can imagine, one of the new clauses indicated what the captain had said and so, Si’nie had been removed from his position by his own hand. After that, in the next meeting which Si’nie did not go either, the rest of shareholders voted to be part of the New Republic and the Senate accepted their inclusion so now, they had to follow the Republic’s laws.

– “You treasonous worm!”- shouted Si’nie trying to reach him violently, but he was immediately restrained by two commandos. He could only bump in his place under the weight of the powerful soldiers next to him while shooting insults and curses- “I only signed ’cause you told me it was a meaningless document… I was drunk and didn’t know the contents of the document…”

– “Is that your signature?”- asked the captain showing the original document he had signed accepting the new regulaions of the company.

– “Yes but…”

– “In that case it is legal and binding and the Republic had accepted the joining of this corporation and as such, any member must comply with the New Republic’s law”- said the captain with a fed up tone and just ignored Si’nie placing his sight on the neimodian- “according to it the secretary Ksilis Dresalis is in charge of your shareholdings and becomes the major shareholder of the corporation. Your time is over, Ex-chief. Take him!”

– “NO! YOU LL PAY FOR THIS!”- started to shout Si’nie as he was being dragged out of the office.

– “It’s a pŀėȧsurė to do bussiness with the Republic.”- said the neimodian with a bow- “I wish to have a more in depth discussion about what it is to come.”

– “Of course”- said the captain who seemed to unwilling to take part in those negotiations- “Please deal with the rest with the diplomat.”

– “Greetings, Lord Dresalis. My name is Serine Munlite and I’m in charge of the negotiations- said Rose who had taken the personna of Serine once more and was now in front of the neimodian who seemed delighted to have someone to talk from the Republic- “I apologize for shameful state of my attire. If you find it offensive I will just need a few minutes to be more presentable”

– “Oh, that would be unnecessary”- said Ksilis with a warm smile- “I understand your situation and I apologize for the savagery of the previous chief”

– “It was… horrifying”- said Rose in a tone which let the others feel a sense of fear and would activate a dėsɨrė to protect from any man- “but I am so glad you are now the new leader… I am sure your leadership will make this company rise to new heights of success.”

– “Hehe, you are very kind…”- said Ksilis who seemed to be very proud after those very well calculated words- “I hope the republic can take in consideration the dealings with the Trade Federation once more.”

– “I don’t see the problem with that…”- said Rose and in that moment they both got out the office where they were to a more comfortable area accompanied by another squad of soldiers.

Rey and Finn looked at each other and smiled and both knew what the other was thinking. Rose was terrifying and it was better never to be on her bad side.

– “Shouldn’t you go with her?”- asked Finn with a smile.

– “My mission ended with the capture of the target”- informed Rey with a sigh- “what about you?”

– “Awaiting for new orders”- said Finn sitting next to her- “of course later I will have to start doing the summary of all the operation which will be a pain…”

Rey laughed at the desperate tone he was using but she knew she also had to do something similar. It had been three years since she had met Finn and she had joined the Resistance. In those three years, she had improved a lot from that naive girl she had been but even now she realized how much she still lacked. She had messed up a few minutes ago and if not for Finn, Ni’sie would have escaped. She could already hear the lecture Luke would give her once she returned.

– “Always be prepare for the unexpected”- he would say to her with a hard tone- “never drop your guard!”

This had been her chance to have an independent missionwithout his watch and she had failed and almost compromised all the operation.

– “Don’t be so hard on yourself”- said Finn as if he could read her mind- “none could have predicted this outcome.”

– “I wish Master Luke were as understanding as you are”- said Rey smiling sourly.

– “He’s strict but fair”- said Finn who had also received harsh lectures from the jedi master from time to time- “he is strict because he cares…”

– “I know that…”- said Rey with a sigh- “but sometimes I wish he were more encouraging.”

– “You want him to pat your head and tell you did a good job?”- asked Finn jokingly.

– “That would be nice, you know?”- said Rey half joking.

– “There there… you did a great job…”- said Finn patting her head and made her blush.

– “Ha! you’re not master Luke!”- said Rey mocking him but she did not stop him- “I must remind you how many times you have lost to me in dueling?”

– “Hey! We are 2891 to 2890”- said Finn with a cheeky tone- “and last time I lost onbly because I had slipped in that oil pond”

– “Hahahaha, yeah yeah!”

They kept bantering for some more minutes until they were called to present their informs to their respective superiors. Rey and Finn had gone up the ranks of the Resistance and the New Republic and they both officially had the rank of First Lieutenient after having graduated from the New Republic Officer school. Since they had been recognized as padawns tey could have just received higher military ranks but Luke had prohibited that and had told them that being a Jedi would not give them any unfair benefit and they should gained their own ranks.

– “Jedi of the past lost sight of their own path”- he had said with a serious tone- “Jedi should be models and participate more actively in society to avoid being looked badly by the public.”

And so they entered the officer school and they graduated with honors. Finn especially was like a fish in the water and all came very naturally to him. Rey had more problems but she ended up graduating as a top student too. Finn had chosen the army and infantry while Rey had chosen to be a pilot and had found it extremely suiting for herself. Of course, they had been receiving training in the Force personally by Luke and they had also received flying lesson by him who was recognized as the best pilot of the galaxy.

– A Jedi must be able to fight on air and on land”- had said Luke to them- “You will be ȧssigned missions on both fronts so train well to not be surprised.”

Rey was a better ilot than Finn but Finn was a better strategist and shooter than her. Both trained together when possible and a certain sense of rivalry and wish to outdo the other had pushed them to improve their skills.

– “Done?”- asked Finn who was stretching in the gym as Rey entered.

– “Yeah…”- said Rey also moving to warm up- “did master Luke send a message?”

– “He just said to train as usual and wait for instructions”- said Finn after some warm up he stood in front of Rey.

– “Ok, then let’s start”- she said and took out the lightsaber that was used for practice and had a yellow tone- “prepare to lose”

– “Ho… confident, aren’t you?”- said Finn and he also ignited the practice lightsaber and ȧssumed high guard stance.

Rey changed her position ȧssuming an agressive stance knowing very well that he was showing openings for her to take. She closed her eyes and controlled her breathing while submerging into the Force. She saw Finn doing the same and she felt the warm embrace of that energy which was omni present all around her. It was as if a kind voice was whispering to her ear. In her mind, many possibilities presented themselves but she knew that the best was to trust the Force and let it guide her attacks to get the best outcome.

– “Here I go!”- she said and dashed to Finn who just nodded and waited for her and parry her attack with easiness but she felt that her momentum was about to be lost with that simple move.

Rey rebounced using her leg and followed with a new attack drawing a circle and aiming for the head of Finn. The young man evaded the hit taking a step to the side and immediately counter attacked with a slash aiming for her side but she immediately blocked and countered with a stab which was immediately parried by Finn who seemed to be extremely focus on the duel. They both continued with the duel with none of them getting the upper hand in the fight until the moment in which Rey had the feeling that all her attacks were being redirected at her somehow. This made her lose her focus for a moment which let Finn break her defense and being cornered. Rey could not recover the momentum and was overwhlemed by Finn who defeated her.

– “It’s my win!”- said Finn who was sweating and out of breath but very satisfied.

– “What was that?”- asked Rey who was trying to recover her breath- “I felt like fighting against a mirror. I had felt that before but not as clearly as today.”

– “Yeah… that was the style of Master Windu… the idea is to…”- Finn was explaining when an alarm sounded and the two young people knew that something bad had happened.

They both received orders in their holotablets too. Once they read the information they both looked in horror to each other and ran to get changed and prepare to depart.

– “Today at 1600. The planet Phindar had been attacked and razed by the First Order”- the note said- “all personnal receiving this order must present immediately to reinforce the sector.”