16 | GENERAL

Finn was insane enough to take another skimmer to go after Rey with Jannah. Poe was enraged. "They know what they're doing." Celestia tried to calm him as she poked at the wires in the dash of the Falcon.

"They don't, Cel!" He shouted. Cel didn't feed into his anger, she merely let him blow off some steam on his own as she quietly worked on the ship. She wished she could do something special. She wished she could be more in tune with the force, but she wasn't. She was a simple human with a love for flying. It was the only thing she was good at, so it was what she'd stick to--working on ships and doing her part for the Resistance.

* * *

Finn came back to the shore and filled Poe and Celestia in. Kylo appeared on a ship and she stabbed him. Then, she took off on the ship Kylo arrived on.  Once again, Rey had abandoned the group. All they knew to do was to return to the Resistance base. They didn't have the wayfinder and Rey was gone.

Upon arriving back to the base, one of the commanders stopped the group before entering the base. "Something's happened." Her eyes were watery, signaling something bad had happened.

Poe brushed her off. "This can't wait. We gotta see the General."

"She's gone." The commander spoke as Poe began to walk past her.

Poe stopped dead in his tracks. Leia was more than a General to him. Yes, she was special to Celestia, but, to Poe, she was like a mother to him. And to Chewie... that was his sister, his best friend. Chewie began to moan. His body slumped down in defeat. They were taking blow after blow. They were losing people left and right and felt like there was no winning this war against the First Order. "Chewie.." Cel tried to comfort the Wookie. He dropped to his knees and let out a pained roar.

* * *

Since Leia passed away, one of her final commands was to make Poe acting general. He was the one giving orders around the place now. But, they had just come back from a mission awaiting new orders since they had no idea what to do next. The First Order seemed to have a lead on the Resistance now. They were broadcasting their terrorizing words--commanding all planets to either surrender to the new Final Order or die. It was an unnerving radio broadcast.

Poe was in despair. He wasn't ready for such a big obligation just yet. He wasn't prepared to take on the role of the leader of the Resistance. Celestia found him sitting beside Leia's corpse, saying his final words to her. "I gotta tell you, I don't know how to do this." Poe's eyes were watery as he scanned her blanketed body. No one could believe it. She was truly gone.

"What you did, I'm not ready. I don't know if I can end this war once and for all. But, I have to. For you. For Cel and I." Celestia heard Poe whisper over to Leia.

Celestia knocked on the doorframe that led to the room where Leia lay to announce her presence, though she had already been eavesdropping. Quietly, she took a seat next to Poe and leaned her weight onto him. She laced her fingers with his and just sat there in silence, providing him company. She could sense Poe relaxing at her touch. He leaned his head against hers and breathed in her fresh scent. "She knew what she was doing picking you," Cel reassured him.

"And, for what it's worth, no one's ever truly ready for something like this. I know Leia's not here now, but I think she'd agree."

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

"I can't do this alone." Poe suddenly sputtered out. "I need you in command with me. You and Finn."

Cel pulled her head away from him and looked at his uneasily. "I'm sorry, am I missing something?"

"I don't know, General Djarin sounds pretty fitting." Poe chuckled as he stood up and left the room where Leia laid.

Celestia followed him out and furrowed her brows. "General Dameron!" She shouted as he rapidly walked away from her.

Once she caught up to him, she jumped on his back to stop him. He burst out into laughter as she clung to his neck. "That's got a nice ring to it." Poe hummed, pulling Celestia in front of him.

He had a sudden burst of energy after being consoled by Cel. It was a strange wave of confidence. "I'll be sure to use it later." She winked suggestively at him, though she was joking around.

He smiled brightly down at her and cupped her face with his large hands. "I love you." His eyes glimmered happily.

She snickered at him. "I love you, too. But, are you sure about this? I mean, Leia picked you to be General."

He nodded excitedly. She looked at his face and instantly knew he wasn't going to change his mind on the matter. So, Cel sighed, defeated, and shrugged. "Fine, go on and find Finn then." She stepped out of his path and allowed him to scurry off to tell Finn he was now a General as well.

* * *

Celestia spotted Finn, Poe, and Rose huddled around a screen chattering to one another. Cel had been busy finding people to cover and Poe's job for flight attacks. Nosily, she sneaked over to the group and poked her nose into their conversation. "What's going on here?"

"We're looking at all the info we need for an airstrike on Exegol," Finn responded, his eyes never lingering away from the screen.

"Yeah, except how to get there. Are you seeing these atmo readings?" Poe's brows furrowed into a concerned look as he analyzed the screen.

"It's a mess out there," Finn mentioned under his breath. "Magnetic cross fields."

"Gravity wells, solar winds," Rose added.

"There's no way we can even get near there without being able to turn back around." Cel shook her head. The environment was harsh and treacherous. No wonder the Sith chose such a place. No one would ever want to even fly near the place.

"How does a fleet even take off from there?" Poe was just as appalled at the conditions as everyone else was. It just didn't make sense that there could even be a fleet there. Unless the enemies had technology they hadn't discovered yet.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but, I am afraid Artoo's memory bank must be crossed with his logic receptors," Threepio interjected as he wobbled over to the four. It seemed that Artoo had restored Threepio's memory, his backups weren't always reliable but they came through this time. It seemed that Artoo had an important message to deliver as he was squealing eagerly right behind Threepio. "He says he is receiving a transmission from Master Luke."

Hastily, everyone that heard the news went to the command room to check out this supposed signal from the thought to be deceased Master Luke Skywalker. To everyone's surprise, a signal of a ship--Luke's ship--had been sent to the Resistance to indicate it's location. Everyone was uneasy, wondering who had gotten their hands on Luke's old ship and why they would reveal themselves. "It's an old craft ID," Poe stated the obvious. The numbers and letters were from an identification system that seemed ancient to Poe and Celestia.

"It's Luke's X-Wing."

"It's transmitting course marker signals. On its way to the Unknown Regions." Threepio explained.

Finn knew who it was without a doubt. He just had a sense it was her already. Plus, she was the only one that could possibly send transmissions to the Resistance. "It's Rey," Finn announced nonchalantly.

BB-8 chirped, curiously. "She's going to Exegol, she's showing us--"

"The way," Celestia finished for him. "I thought--"

"She's showing us how to get there," Finn said.

Poe resisted the urge to smirk down at the screen. At that moment he felt a surge of hope, it was a feeling he hadn't felt in a while for the Resistance. "Then we go together," Poe announced.