"Do we have a plan?" Finn asked me as we ran through the ship through the chaos of the resistance readying themselves for battle.

"Yeah, stay alive and not get blown out of the sky," I told him bluntly, knowing that there was no formal plan as we approached the X-Wing bay, pilots running past us in flight jumpsuits.

That was when I felt someone grasp hold of my arm as we ran, pulling me to a stop. Both Finn and I stopped, seeing Poe adjusting his jumpsuit, except now that we'd stopped he quickly pulled me closer into a kiss, his lips against mine making me forget for a moment everything else happening around us. As much as I wanted to savour it and enjoy him properly, I pulled away, even if everything inside of me was telling me to say close to him since being with Poe meant safety and in that moment I wanted nothing more than to feel safe.

"Is now really the time?" I heard Erika's voice call as the Antilles' twins approached, both of them already wearing their helmets.

"No, but might be my last chance," Poe shrugged at the twins before gesturing off to the X-Wings. "Go, get ready to take off, I'll be there now,"

"Don't you dare say that!" I snapped at him, my eyes wide in shock and fear, glancing away as I watched my two best friends run off towards their ships. "What's the plan?"

"We take out their weapons systems," he nodded at me, the two of us moving in towards the bay as BB-8 followed us eagerly, beeping at Poe with urgency. "Go on, buddy, don't wait for me, jump in and fire her up!"

"Take out their cannons and try and do as much damage to their communications decks as possible," I told him firmly and he nodded along, his mind clearly in the same place as mine. "We don't know how they've tracked us so just try and hurt them wherever you can, and... stay alive?"

"Will do, General," he nodded, kissing my cheek and making me flush bright red.

With that, he ran off towards his ship and I felt my heart ache at the sight, not knowing if I would ever see him again. I couldn't let myself be consumed by my feelings for him though, so instead I busied myself, shouting commands at nearby technicians as they all readied the fleet for take off. That was until I felt another pain in my chest, with every instinct in my body screaming at me to run far away, that trouble was coming. I quickly got hold of Finn's arm, the ex-stormtrooper still next to me, and shoved him away, knowing something awful was about to happen.

"Move back, everyone get away!" I screamed, unsure of what was about to happen, but knowing nothing good was ever going to come from the feelings the force was projecting into me.

Izzy and Erika clearly felt it too, as I saw the two of them jump out of their X-Wings, screaming at the other pilots to follow them. Not enough of them listened to them soon enough though, as just as they reached the gateway back into the corridor a firey blast ran through the docking bay, knocking the two of them into the wall opposite. The docking bay had been targetted by TIE fighter blasts and had exploded, I knew, and was grateful that the force instincts had served my friends well enough for them to get out quick enough, even if Erika was swearing in pain, holding the back of her neck as she laid on the floor, with Izzy holding her right arm tightly, her whole body trembling.

"Fucking gundark shit," I heard Izzy snarl in pain, and when I got closer to the two of them, kneeling down by their side, I saw that the blast had burnt Izzy's arm, the sleeve of her jumpsuit singed off.

"Were we..." Erika gasped out, and I could tell she was fighting back tears from the blast, panic in her eyes as she looked between me and her sister. "Shit, were we the only ones who..."

Her words struck panic in me, realising that I had only seen the two of them escape the explosion. Maybe my vision had been too focused on them, given that we were all force-sensitive and so were connected by our feelings, but I hadn't noticed anyone else manage to get away. Not even Poe. As soon as my mind fell onto that conclusion, I jumped to my feet, looking back into the fire as if expecting to see him wander out, but no. Surely I'd have felt it if he'd been killed in the blast, but I couldn't see him, not as I looked up and down the corridor, grief shielding my judgement, anger suddenly washing over me.

"Luci," I heard a voice in my mind, and instantly recognised it. Uncle Luke couldn't seriously be trying to reach me now, not after the last conversation we'd had. "what's going on there?"

'Go away, not now,'  I thought, hoping he'd get the message as I shook my head, trying to clear him from my mind.

"Luci!" someone screamed urgently, snapping me away from any thoughts of my uncle and back to reality, not that it was really a reality that I wanted to be in.

It was only when I felt someone grab hold of my arms, squeezing them tightly, that I fully broke out of my headspace of panic. I blinked rapidly, fighting the fear to see Poe stood over me. I was so relieved that he'd survived, yet I couldn't quite believe it considering I'd not felt him escape. I sighed with relief, taking hold of his hand tightly as I looked him over for injuries, and when I didn't see any overt damage I pulled him into an embrace, though it didn't last long, the two of us quickly turning our focus back onto the battle at hand.

"Poe, are you alright?" Finn called, running over to the two of us anxiously.

"We need to get out of range of those Star Destroyers," Poe breathed out, our hands still entwined.

We didn't have much time, and as soon as he'd spoken I felt another wave of pain wash over me. It was like a dull throbbing sensation and I knew it was from my brother, out there in his TIE fighter. There was the conflict again, and I felt my heart break at it. I wanted to hate him, after everything he'd done, but to feel his wild mixture of emotions through the force left me feeling nothing but desperation. I remembered the hopelessness I felt the last time it was in his presence, when my dad walked out to the bridge to beg him to come home. I swore I would hate him for what he'd done, but I couldn't, not when I knew he was hesitating in the middle of the attack.

He was meant to be firing at us, but as I shut my eyes I saw him in his ship, his thumb hovering over the trigger, his hand shaking as if he was willing himself to fire but couldn't quite bring himself to. Why wasn't he firing? He didn't seem to hesitate when it came to killing our father, so why was he holding back now? Perhaps he felt me the way I felt him, our souls intrinsically linked thorugh the force and our family bond, or perhaps he could sense our mother. Either way, as I saw him disconnect his weapons system, I sighed in relief once more. There were other fighters out there imposing danger on us, but Kylo Ren wasn't engaging. Maybe there was more Ben Solo left in him than I thought.

I didn't have long to savour that realisation as our ship shook, a burning pain rushing through me, so harsh I let out a small scream, keeling over and falling back into Poe's arms. It reminded me of how I felt back at Maz's castle when I felt the Hosnian Systems destruction, when I felt those planets be destroyed and heard the screams of those who were being subjected to such an awful death. Except I didn't know those who had died on the Hosnian System, but I knew everyone on this ship, and as the pain flowed through me I heard voices I knew. I heard my mother's voice.

I tried to stay calm, tried to keep my mind rational, but how could I, not when the force was flurrying around me in my anxious realisation that something terrible had happened. I didn't even need to see it, my minds eye projecting the image of the command deck's destruction, the image of my mother's acceptance of the situation before she was blown out to space. I wanted to scream, to cry, to hug Poe so tight I forgot where I was and what was going on around me, but I couldn't. I couldn't shut down, couldn't let the nerves take over me the way they had done so many times before. Not this time, not now that my mother was gone, out there amongst the stars, drowning in moonlight.

Everything around me felt blurry, distorted. It was as if my mind, as a coping mechanism, was trying to take me off to somewhere else. I wanted so desperately to be focusing, to engage with those I was actually with, but my mind was sending me off to different places. To my brother, in his TIE fighter, devestation evident on his usually stoic face. To Rey on the Island, sat outside the temple, waiting for something. To my Uncle, sat on the Millenium Falcon next to R2, the little droid playing the hologram of my mother that had dragged him into this mess. To my father, falling from the bridge. The last was possibly the worst, as even in my state I reached the realisation that if the command deck had been destroyed, if my mother was truly gone, I was alone. The last Solo, the last Organa. I was completely alone, my uncle far, far away and my brother still subjected to darkness.

The only thing tethering me to what was currently going on was Poe's hand wrapped in mine, the pilot shaking me gently as if he was trying to bring me back to where I really was. I could hear people talking around me, anxiously shouting to one another as they tried to figure out a plan, and I knew people were trying to talk to me, asking me what should be done now, but I was so numb I barely noticed. I knew Poe had pulled me from the destroyed X-Wing bay to the destroyed command deck, and I knew I was surrounded by people who needed me, but I couldn't seem to focus on anything. What snapped me out of it was the feeling of someone punching my arm, hitting it hard, pulling me back to reality as I saw Erika and Izzy stood either side of me. I wasn't sure which one had hit me, but it had brought me back to the chaos.

"General!" Erika yelled, speaking so loud I knew it was because she wanted to make sure I was listening, and the fact that she used my title showed how serious the situation actually was. "What do we do?"

"Like Poe said, we need to get out of range," I ordered, not looking at anyone in particular, perhaps because I was scared to see people's expressions of worry. "They have more power than us but we're lighter and faster, we can't lose them but we can get to a distance where their fire won't do damage against our shields... The fighters will fall back,"

"That's what General Organa said, before..." I heard someone said quietly, someone that I didn't know particularly well, and I instantly felt anger rise in me.

The strong emotion washed over me, and as soon as I realised it I felt electricity buzzing through me, reaching my fingertips. Quickly, I balled my hands into fists, but considering Poe still held one of them it wasn't a particularly effective method of prevention. I managed to stop my lightning shooting out, but Poe yelped quietly, flinching as he looked over at me worriedly. I glanced over at him apologetically, but I could see that what the person had said had annoyed him too, except he didn't have to watch his emotions as much as I did.

"I'm not General Organa!" I snapped, trying to ignore the grief in my mind that was fighting to take over, and I knew I was shaking when Poe moved his hand to squeeze my arm reassuringly, the way he used to when I'd have panic attacks.

"And she was right!" Poe cut in to defend me. "We need full speed ahead, try and get us as far away from them as possible,"

I could feel my entire body trembling, wanting to just lay down in a dark room and cry, but I couldn't, not now there were so few of us left, not now I was the only form of leadership the resistance had. What that person had said stuck in my mind, replaying endlessly. To compare me to my mother seemed so cruel, especially since it was so soon after we'd lost her in the destruction of the command deck. I knew I would never live up to the great Leia Organa, Princess, Senator or General, and so to bring her up almost instantly after my first command as the only general left seemed to double the immense pressure already weighing down on my shoulders. I realised far too late, as I dared to look out of the window into space at the wreckage, just how much I actually needed my mother.

"Luci," I heard the voice of my uncle once again, except this time it was stronger, and I could hear his surroundings.

'Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope...'

The voice of my mother echoed around my mind, haunting me as I connected to where my Uncle was. My last vision had been right, him sat in the Falcon by R2, the little droid showing him the hologram of my mother from years ago. What a cheap trick to pull my Uncle back to the world around him, back to the family he had abandoned, but yet it seemed to have worked. That was probably why he was projecting it to me through the force too, reminding me that my mother was always going to be there.

'I need you, Uncle Luke,' I thought with desperation, taking in a deep breath as I calmed my emotions, imagining him sat on the Falcon where we had all shared so many memories. 'Please come home to me, I need you,'

There was no answer, our connection broken, and I knew I would not be able to reach him again unless I meditated properly, which would be impossible given what was currently going on. Except out of the corner of my eye as I dared to glance out of the window I saw something shooting towards us, out from the stardust. There was a pull of the force from within me, and before I fully knew what happened I was running towards one of the external blast doors watching through the small window as my mother floated back to the ship.

She was coming back, she wasn't gone.

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