**For previous chapters, refer to the Table of Contents**
Poe contemplated his hand a moment longer before nodding back at Finn.
"Ok, you're up, buddy."
Finn considered his own hand, then moved two more tokens from his pile towards the pot at the side of the table. Upping the bet yet again.
"Alright, alright, playing dangerous" Poe muttered challengingly, speaking with the tone he would use if they were playing at a real sabacc table at a proper Corellian gambling joint, with actual money and genuine stakes at play.
If only, Poe thought to himself in exapseration for probably the hundredth time, Stars, if only.
Try as he might, Poe just could not get himself to adjust to the overwhelming lack of action that now pervaded their daily lives. He was a man constitutionally incapable of sitting still for too long before getting real antsy. With so little capacity left to communicate and move between worlds, the rebels had to limit flights and missions as much as possible to avoid detection. Even around Talrezan Four itself, Leia had decided to limit recon flights to the bare minimum, just in case First Order ships appeared in the system at the wrong time.
The end result was a far more sedentary routine than Poe had ever known before. Even in the darkest days of the earlier rebellion, there was always some mission that needed doing, and he was always the first to jump at the chance to do them. Now, real activity was few and far between. Kuat had been the rare exception, and even though the mission ultimately went sideways by the end, Poe had relished the chance to be doing something again, to at leasy try and get the Rebellion back on solid ground. Since then, though, it had been back to days upon days at base camp, with no idea what would come next.
Not that he didn't understand why Leia was being so careful. He'd learned the hard way the price of rashness, and with the Rebellion as strung out as it was now, any mistake on their part really could mean their end. Poe would rather die than let that happen.
Didn't mean he had to like being grounded like this, though, and boy, did he not like it. He and Finn had, by now, resorted to coming up with about 50 of their own varieties of sabacc to try and kill time, inventing ever-more elaborite systems of betting money and riches they most definitely did not possess to give themselves a reason to play.
If he didn't have Finn, or Rose, or Rey around to connect with like this, Poe thought, he would have gone completely insane by this point.
After considering whether or not he wanted to risk pulling another card, Poe decided against it.
"Alright, show hands," he said, laying down his cards; he had 21, nearly a perfect sabacc hand.
Finn smiled and laid his down in response; 22.
"Damn," Poe smiled, as Finn swept the "pot" towards his side, "got me again. How'd you get so good at this anyway? Until I taught you you'd never played this before."
"Dunno," Finn replied sheepishly, clearly letting himself bask a bit. "Sixth sense, I guess."
"At the sabacc table again, eh?" A warm, chuckling voice came up behind Poe. He turned around to see Lando Calrissian, beaming with that usual nuclear-powered smile of his.
"Hey General. Yes sir. Gotta kill time somehow."
"Care if I join you?"
Poe laughed a bit, "With all due respect, General, we know your reputation. I don't think Finn and I would stand much of a chance."
Lando beamed again and winked, "Yeah, you're probably right. Anyway, once you fellas are done, Leia would like a word. Any of you seen Rey today?"
Poe shook his head no. "Not yet. Finn?"
He shook his head too. "Me neither. Should I go look for her?"
"Let's both look," Poe responded, gathering his deck back up, "I need to stretch my legs before they turn to stone."
Rey was, at that moment, sitting cross-legged in her training glade, flipping through another of the crinkled Jedi books she'd brought with her from Ahch-To.
Somewhere along the line this had become part of her morning routine; taking one of the tombs and flipping through at random, stopping every so often to read a brief passage here or there, to see if something caught her attention that could further her training and knowledge of the Force. Some days, she'd had moments of real inspiration, finding a new exercise to expand her skills, or a description of the powers of the Force that let her feel a sense of accomplishment, like she was actually making good on her promise to Luke to carry on with the Jedi order. Her discovery of the passages about lightsaber construction had been a particular high point.
Those days, sadly, were few and far between, and she'd not had a single one of them since Kuat. It had been over a month now, Luke had not reappeared since their last (rather testy) conversation, and Rey once again felt like she was floundering in a sea of unknown depth and size, with no indication in which direction she should start swimming.
It didn't help that the pages she was landing on today were proving especially, almost annoyingly unhelpful.
In considereth of the boundless natures of the Force, the Jedi shall knoweth all the most sacred sacraments of the said nature of living organisms-
Ugh. Nothing made clear the sheer age of these things like their very wordy, very old-fashioned style. Next. Flip.
The edible plants to be utilized most in the gardens of the Jedi temple that shall yieldeth the caloric variety necessary-
Old Jedi diet rules. Riveting. Flip.
The younglings, upon rising with the first sunlight, are to be brought before breaking fast to-
Youngling training guidelines. Also extremely not helpful. Flip.
In this lower chamber resideth the Jedi Force beacon, with which the whole of the galaxy may be called-
Maybe she should give Luke's first journal another go-
Hang on, Rey thought suddenly, her hand frozen in the process of turning the page yet again, was that....
Looking at the page she'd been about to lose track of with new intensity, she scanned it from the top before finding the passage she'd just read:
In this lower chamber of the sacred Temple resideth the Jedi Force Beacon, with which the whole of the galaxy may be called for the defending of Coruscant and the Temple from the most graveth of threats. Through the Force, the whole galaxy and all life is forever boundeth. Thus, the first Jedi Council determined a method by which, within the Force, a summons may be transmitted instantly to every known corner of civilization. Utilizing the structure of the Temple itself, built to focus the Force within....
What followed after, Rey confirmed with a quick scan, was a technical guide to this device, its construction, and instructions for its use; a remarkably old piece of technology that seemed to be specially designed to be a conduit for the Force to send a message on a unique quantum wavelength that would almost instantly reach the farthest parts of the galaxy.
By all the stars, Rey thought, a slow, warm, feeling of euphoria beginning to wind its way through her body, this is it. A unique beacon in the depths of the Jedi Temple, capable, it seemed, of sending out a signal that First Order tech would not be able to jam quickly, if at all, a call to all potential friends and allies throughout the galaxy that everyone, this time, would definitely hear.
If there was some way- any way- to pull off finding and using such a device, they could gather enough strength to retake Coruscant, maybe all of the Core Systems. That, surely, would send the First Order reeling, and the Rebellion could once again take the offensive.
The only question was, how to even begin planning something this complex-
"Rey? Hey, Rey!"
Shaken from her thoughts quite suddenly, Rey turned to see Poe approaching her from the pathway, Finn close behind.
"Thought you might be here. Lando told us that..."
His voice trailed off as he noted the expression on her face, one that, Rey assumed, was of pretty obvious shock.
"Rey, are you okay?"
Slowly, Rey nodded, a grin starting to make its way up her face.
"Yes. I think...I might finally have an idea."
"The whole galaxy? Really? You're absolutely sure?" This sounded so good, too good, that Finn was almost afraid to believe his own ears.
"That's what it says. I know this is our key. I can feel it." Rey looked over at Lando and Rose, sitting side-by-side and examining the page with the schematics of the beacon with looks of intense concentration. She turned towards Leia, who was yet to say a word. "Gen- Leia. What do you think?"
Leia sat in chair with an almost nostalgic look on her face, one hand slowly rubbing her lower lip.
After another moment, she spoke:
"I remember....Luke told me about this, once, after he'd explored the Jedi Temple for the first time. He'd heard of it too and wanted to see it for himself. I don't know if he ever found it though. Lando, do you think it could really work?"
Lando looked up finally from the book, while Rose continued to scan it. "It looks legit. Real old tech, sure, but if no one's messed with it it should still work."
"Hm," Leia's mouth tightened, "how many crewable combat ships do we have right now?"
"Enough to start a scrap. But we sure as hell don't have enough to finish one. Not without help."
"Well, that's where hope will have to come in, I suppose."
"General," Poe spoke up, "look, to be frank, we don't have much left to lose. Sabatoge missions aren't getting us anywhere, and as long as we don't have a way around First Order jamming, there's nothing big we can do anyway. If there's even the slightest chance this can work, we gotta take it."
"But..." Finn, over his shock, could finally speak again, "what about Kylo Ren? He might not know about the beacon, but if he'll probably be on Coruscant anyway. Or at least his Knights will be."
Rey nodded, "I know. But," here she glanced back at Leia with a worried look in her eyes, "I...assumed that from the start. One way or another, I'm going to have face him. There's no other way this can end."
She turned fully to Leia now her voice dropping down almost to a whisper, "I'm sorry."
Leia was silent for a moment more. Everyone present could feel the weight of the moment through her stillness. Then, she smiled, gentle and loving.
"Don't be, Rey. I agree. This is the path we're on and we have to see it to the end. One way or another, this is it. We either succeed, or this will be the Rebellion's final stand." She looked at Rey with an expression that contained worlds. "I can feel it."
Rey nodded slowly, "So can I."
Finn felt a familiar trickle of worry run down his throat. That hidden, tickling sensation he'd spoken about with Rose before was still running around the back of his mind, and he still had no idea why or what he should do about it. He was with everyone here, to the death, but he would give anything to feel at least a modicum of assuredness that all these people he loved so dearly would make through okay.
"Alright then," Leia was speaking again, and Finn snapped back to the present. "How do we go about this? We need a small team to infiltrate the planet the first and activate the beacon, then have a plan to coordinate and organize anyone who responds. Rey, you are going to have lead the ground team, there's no question about that. Who else should join you?"
Rey smiled, "My friends. Finn, Rose, and Poe. I wouldn't trust my life to anyone else." The confidence in her voice allowed the concern in Finn's heart to loosen, just a bit. Damn right, he thought.
Poe clapped his hands, clearly pumped at the idea, "Alright! So! How soon can we head out?"
"Hold on, flyboy," Leia said, rather winkingly, "Rey's idea is fine, but my only overriding order is that you stay with the fleet. You're still my best pilot. We're bound to be outnumbered, at least at first, and our best hope lies in having every Poe and Lando and Chewie who can fly out until help arrives."
Poe looked as if, instead of being given an order, Leia hat just smacked him across the face. Rey stood silently for a moment, then spoke up again.
"Well, what if he flies us down into Coruscant airspace? We'll need to have someone smuggle us down anyway to avoid detection. Poe can pose as a shipper of some sort and let us off. It'll probably take us awhile to get into the Temple and find the beacon anyway. Plenty of time for him to fly offworld again and rejoin the rest of the fleet."
Leia considered this for a moment. "I think I can live with that. Poe?"
Poe thought a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Anyone can get them onworld safely it's me, and I wouldn't miss a final battle with the First Order for the whole galaxy."
He then turned to Rey, "But take BB8 with you- he'll have orders from me personally to keep an eye on you guys."
Rey was about to smile when a tweedle-wheee sound came from behind Poe and the little droid itself came rolling in, almost as if on cue.
Rey couldn't help herself but laugh. "Alright. But what about you? Doesn't BB8 fly all your missions with you?"
"Yeah," Poe responded, "but this time I could fly out with R2. He's just as creative in a pinch, right buddy?" He glanced down at BB8.
Whistling a decidedly affirmative sound, BB8 wiggled its head back and forth in a "yes" motion that was astoundingly human-like.
"It's settled, then," said Leia, taking the conversation back over, "Poe will land the ground team and rejoin Lando, Chewie, the Falcon, and every ship we have at a pre-settled rendesvous point. Rey, if you can get the device working, your message will be for all friends and allies of the Rebellion and of freedom to head straight for Coruscant. Once that's done, we'll move in to kick-start the battle."
"Lando," she then turned to the last of her old friends, "you and Poe have until tomorrow morning to settle on coordinates and relay them to the rest of the fleet. After that, Poe will head out with the ground team."
"Ay-yay, general," Lando replied, his face already filling with swaggering confidence.
Leia turned back to the rest of the group, looking at everyone's face in turn. No one said anything, waiting on her. "That's the plan, then. You have your orders. It's now or never."
"May the Force be with us all, one last time."
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