The moment she jumped to hyperspace, LN began questioning her decision. With nothing to do until she reached New Alderaan, she was forced to wrestle with her thoughts the entire time.

He has Ar'tak with him. A Jedi apprentice, trained by Leia Solo-Organa. He will be fine.

An apprentice. Not a Jedi - an apprentice. With the Knights' destroyer lurking just overhead.

In the back of her mind, a dark thought formed and would not go away. A parallel, and a sneering accusation.

I am leaving comrades behind again while I flee to safety. I'm abandoning Raey like I abandoned FL-2218.

She told herself it was different. That she had reasons. That she was trusting Raey and Ar'tak - trusting the Force they seemed so certain about - and that this time there were no other options. The Resistance had to be told. Leia had to be warned.

Alone, her thoughts twisted up into a tangle of guilt and fear, but LN did not turn back. She watched the stars flash by and let her worries circle around inside her... but she did not let them make her reach for the control console.

She came out of hyperspace beyond the moon of New Alderaan. Whatever the Alderaanians had done to prevent communication in and out of the system extended to her scanners, and it occurred to her that she didn't have any way to find the city again without them. It had been luck that they crashed so close the first time.

Flying low, skimming just above the atmosphere, LN kept her eyes fixed on the continents as they rolled by beneath her.

Even if I had been completely focused on where we were going while we were being shot down, the angle is different. None of these landmasses look remotely familiar.

The dense jungle took up most of the planet, so she couldn't even narrow down her options by biome. Clouds frequently obscured her view, thunderstorms whirling in from the oceans to add to the already-damp air.

This is hopeless.

LN let go of the steering and leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath. The Jedi knew that Raey and I crashed the first time... Ar'tak- no, Leia knew where to find us. If she could do that...

LN had no intention of crashing another stolen ship, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She remembered Raey, somehow finding his way unerringly through the jungle to the black acolytes' fighter, and Ar'tak showing up just in time to save them. The Force could... show people things. She didn't know how, or why, but it did. Ar'tak had gone on and on about it in the fighter on the way to the station, trying to teach Raey everything there was to know about the Force. Raey hadn't been listening, obviously (and even if he had LN wasn't sure how helpful the apprentice's rambling explanations would have been), but LN got the general idea.

The Force wasn't just some thing that worked between Jedi. If Leia was listening, she might just hear. Even someone like LN.

LN fixed the idea of the planet-weapon in her mind, a vague mental image supplemented by her feeling of dread upon seeing it, and her horrible certainty of the destruction it could cause.

Leia. You need to hear this. You need to warn everyone.

Without meaning to, LN slipped into her sniper's-nest concentration. Still and silent, focused on a single job but looking at everything. Instead of a bullet fired from the barrel, it was a warning. Instead of a victim, she tried to find a Jedi.

And, finally, a ship appeared over the horizon of the planet, small and agile. A modified and ancient rebel X-Wing, coming to greet her.

.

The princess was waiting for her at the landing bay. The X-Wing did not land, but dipped a wing in salute then took off across the jungle again, leaving LN to land her fighter on the simple landing pad alone.

Leia's solemn expression suggested she had gotten LN's message, but the first thing she said when LN jumped down from her fighter was, "What's wrong? Where are Ar'tak and Raey?"

"They stayed behind to gather intel and try to rescue Raey's friend, Dameron." LN grimaced. "We agreed that someone had to come back to warn you."

A look of realization crossed Leia's lined face. "I could sense your distress in orbit, which is why I sent Liam," she explained, "but the rest was unclear. Intense dread, but I couldn't read the cause." She extended a hand towards the city. "Come inside, and tell me everything."

"We might not have time," LN warned, but fell in next to the princess. "We encountered a Knight of Ren, and Ar'tak wanted me to give you the warning she shouted after him." Leia's expression sharpened, and LN continued. "Someone she called 'The Fury' is trying to find you, and the Knights seem to think he is close. And Dameron is being held on, or at least above, a planet-sized weapon. I think they may be preparing to..." She hesitated, then forged on ahead. "I think... they might be getting ready to destroy New Alderaan, the first blow in the next conquest."

Leia's shoulders slumped slightly as she sighed. "Another planet-killer? I had hoped the galaxy had seen the last of those, but the First Order has always been desperate to outdo the Empire in destructive power." She stopped, looked up at the temple on the mountainside. "The Fury," she mused. "The Knight Marauder. I don't know much about him, but we do not need to fear him discovering New Alderaan. The damage has already been done."

LN looked at her sharply, and Leia returned her gaze with one of grim remorse.

"The second black acolyte... he killed Marden before I could stop him, and then escaped in one of our fighters. If the Knights are still looking for New Alderaan, it won't be for long."

A chill ran through LN. "Can you evacuate? Get everyone off-world?"

"Even if the people had somewhere to go back to, we don't have the ships."

"Then we have to tell the Resistance, or the New Republic. You are allies, so they would have to come help you, wouldn't they?"

Leia nodded. "The Republic might be willing to help relocate us, but it will be slow. The Resistance is a military organization, a small one, and would be of little help getting people offworld, but they might see this as an opportunity to strike the First Order. Do you know anything about this weapon?"

"No, only that it exists." A thought struck LN. "And... it appears to be incomplete. There were civilian cargo ships coming and going from the planet, and there were very few military ships guarding it. Only one - the Resurrection."

The name made Leia twitch, and she closed her eyes for a long moment. "Ah... the Knights."

LN looked at the princess, a frown of growing concern crinkling her forehead, but she didn't say anything. 'What is it that bothers you so much whenever the Knights of Ren are mentioned?' would seem a stupid question in any context, but LN still felt there was something more then was obvious behind the princess's sigh.

"What is the plan?" she asked instead, and Leia opened her eyes again, her expression determined.

"We contact the Resistance. And then, LN... tell me everything."

.

.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" asked Raey, listening to Ar'tak hiss through his teeth as he did his own first aid. The alien chuckled tensely.

"They were grazes... hurts like you wouldn't believe, but neither blow went much deeper then skin. I wish we had some bacta, but I can make do for now."

"LN would kill us if she knew my Jedi backup was going to be limping the whole way..." Raey muttered, drawing another pained chuckle from said Jedi backup.

"But then she wouldn't have gone."

Raey did not reply. He concentrated on his scanner, trying to figure out how and where to land in a way that would draw the least attention from the First Order.

The planet was huge, and the weapon stretched across half the circumference like they were trying to cut the planet in half. Ship traffic came and went from what he assumed were docking bays, but they were all transports or cargo vessels - no fighters. The only ships that looked remotely First Order were the Resurrection and the smaller fighters that accompanied it, and they were waiting some distance away from the planet like some stern overseer.

He realized Ar'tak was still talking and briefly focused on his voice, but the apprentice was just talking about his emotions again.

I wonder if Luke Skywalker was this open about how he felt every hour of the day.

Not that he didn't get it. In a weird way, he did know what Ar'tak was talking about. Something drew him towards the cyborg planet, but it was such a deep - Raey hated to put it like that, but such an intimate - pull that it made him uncomfortable. He certainly didn't want to talk about it.

The communication console lit up, and Raey's heart leapt into his throat. He gestured for Ar'tak to be quiet and opened the channel.

The person on the other end didn't wait for him to speak first. "Acolyte, your fighter has been cleared for landing on the base, Bay D4-dash-6. Uploading coordinates now. Standing by to send a docking request to the Resurrection at your command."

Raey glanced back at Ar'tak, who met his questioning gaze without any answers. Dameron might well still be on the Resurrection, Raey knew that, but so were the Knights. And... his instincts insisted that he would find what he was looking for on the planet, not the Knights' flagship.

He steeled himself, reminding himself of every tip LN had ever given them about fitting in with the First Order, or the acolytes. Stern, judgmental, constantly looking for fault, haughty. He settled into a scowl and hit the button.

"Unnecessary," he snapped. "Docking at Bay D4-dash-6." He accepted the coordinates transfer and let the computer process them. "Out."

"Acknowledged. Shield-exemption granted. Welcome to Starkiller Base."