"Fail with honor than rather succeed with fraud."

Finn

"Hey,
hey, hey, Whoah. Alright back up, who are you?"

"The names Kendra. Now come quickly, you never know when Kylo Ren's runts are sneakin' around these parts."

"Runts?"

She turns to look at me, her dark hair hitting my face in the process, "storm troopers." Her eyes roll as if to also say; 'duh', and she heads forward again but quicker, peeling away from the crowds.

Poe is trying to keep up with me, he hasn't asked a word about what was happening and for that, I will be eternally grateful.

We exit the cantina and into the cool night air, stars still speckled the sky and the sun was about to rise. Soft purples and pinks filled the horizon with radiant color and light.

The mysterious woman's hair bounced around her shoulders as the wind played with the seemingly soft tendrils that were flicked back near my face and tickling my nose from our close proximity.

Whoever this woman- Kendra, is, she isn't wrong about the storm troopers. Scouting troops were on the rise ever since my permanent hiatus from the First Order.

"Come, quickly." She continued to walk through the crowds of heated bodies before we came out into an opening. My gaze drifts to a cloaked, stocked, figure that looms in a bright corner of a seller's stand.

A sudden jerk made me lose my balance. I look back to my arm that's being grabbed by a gauntlet, quite violently if I might add.

"What?" I annoyingly spit through my gritted teeth.

Von's armored hand ripped it's way back to his side.

"Why are we following this woman?" He asks with a hint of irritation in his accented voice.

I opened my mouth to speak but a different one took its place from behind us.

"Oy!"

I whip my head in the direction of the hissing voice to see Kendra in the shadows with the cloaked figure, she gave me a glare and continued to converse with the figure. Von's visored face slowly rose up to follow my gaze, his grip tightening on his blaster, I could see his finger hovering over the trigger just waiting for a signal to squeeze.

Ignoring the sudden burning sensation at the base of my spine from Von's eagerness, I began to walk in Kendra's direction until we were just a foot away from her. Poe hovered behind my right shoulder as Von towered over my left. Small clicks from his armor plates din in my ear as he impatiently shifts his feet.

Kendra's face was unreadable when she looked up: boredom? Uneasiness? Regret? I couldn't tell.

"This is my father." She bluntly voiced and gestured with a wave of her delicate hand towards the still-cloaked, stalked fellow that stands next to her.

The hooded man peeled back the cowl to reveal a familiar face.

From behind my left shoulder, I can hear Poe breath out in surprise; "Lando..."

Lando twitched at the mention of his name.

"I haven't been called that by another man in a long time, son."

The old man had a fringe of grey-white hair around his balding, mottled scalp. He had a wizened face and a back slightly hunched. With each movement, there was the creak of old bones. He had the resigned look of one who knows that at his age, life has stopped giving and only takes away. The lids of his eyes are drooping, along with the weight of the frown that creased his face. His dark skin is wrinkled like used leather, he had an air of wisdom around him though and it's equally intriguing.

His voice was mudffled by the dust that constantly whirled through the air, the morning was casting a white shadow over the empty space between beings when you could see the sand and dust floating passively within the air.

"My daughter says your lookin' for me." He says with a slight wheeze as if he was a smoker than barrels out a raspy cough from deep in his throat.

Poe bumps shoulders with me as he tries to get by and stands in the lead of our small pack. He quickly shoves his hand into his back pocket, revealing the holo transmitter of the picture of a younger looking Lando Calrissian.

"This is you, right?"

Lando curiously peered at the blue, twirling identification image suspended in the air just above the small holo-projector that nestled itself in the palm of Poe's calloused hand.

I also stared at the floating image, trying to compare the younger man from the older one, hoping to find predominant similarities between the two.

In the image, Lando had a broad smile across his features with good teeth and a twinkle in his brown eyes. This image looked as if it was simply zoomed in on another picture, cutting anyone else who was originally in it, out.

"Poe, did General Leia give you the full file on this projection," I ask, earning a curious look from him as he turns his head slightly at the sound of my voice.

"Uh, I'm not sure but I can probably access it. Is it important right now?" He asks, a little peeved, most likely from me interrupting his passive interrogation.

"Possibly, open the entire file." I request outwardly, having an idea slowly building together in my head. I think I can actually hear the gears turning.

Poe sighs and taps a few digits on the device to try to expand the image.

My eyes dart to Kendra and she catches it like a Wamp rat caught in the evil clutches of a Loth cat, her steel brown eyes bore into mine like some sort of ice pick jutting into stone. Her pale lips are pressed into a firm line and her eyebrows furrow together in question of my request to Poe.

Suddenly, the picture expands before our eyes into a bigger image of not only Lando but of four other people as well. Our bodies are basked in the blue glow from the projector as we all stare blankly at the suspended projection, I steal another glance at Kendra, eyes wide and her mouth is partly opened in wonder.

Two faces in the image stood out to me almost automatically. I see General Leia's soft face and Han's, except he was wearing a genuine grin. They both were.

It seemed odd for some reason, I've seen Leia smile before even in the short time that I've been here but it was never a genuine smile like the one she wore here.

My eyes quickly flicked from the image to Lando, he wore a sorrowful expression on his lips and his eyes seemed to droop more, somehow without closing.

Between Han and Leia were two children, and next to them was Lando with his puffy black hair and matching mustache, smiling like a giddy child. One of the kids had long dark locks that almost went down to his shoulders, he wore a sort of a cocky side grin that went along with his inky brown eyes. The next child was a girl, long brown hair past her shoulders, dark skin and happy brown eyes as she wore more of a sweet grin than the boy. They both looked no older than eleven years old.

"Is that..." Kendra spoke up, but in a hushed tone as if someone with dangerous intentions might be hearing. She steps closer to the image, her hand twitching in a way as if she wants to reach out and touch it.

"Me?" She asks, turning towards Lando. Her eyes cloud in over with as sense of astonishment and unanswered questions.

Lando finally looked away from the image of the happy family and looked at his daughter, the frown still apparent on his face.

"Yes, that was when Han took-" *coughs* "-Ben to the Corellian shipyards for the first time and he invited us along. That was the first time you and Ben met." Lando laughs, "you two were glued to each other for the rest of the evening. I loved that day."

Lando casts his eyes back to the image; wishfully thinking back as if wanting to just jump back to that time, a simpler time.

"Wait, Ben? As in...Ben Solo?" My eyes popped out of their sockets and my mouth hit the dusty ground in shock.

Flashback:

"BEN!" Han's voice barked out across the metal bridge traversing the deep cavern that held the heart of the world. He stood there, stable as a deep-rooted tree and stared at the masked man before him.

"Han solo, I've been waiting for this day a long time."

"Take off that mask, you don't need it."

"And what do you think you'll see if I do?"

A short silence followed but was soon cut through by Han's unsteady tone.

"The face of my son..."

Reality:

"Finn, Finn!" Poe began to rattle my shoulder violently, shaking me from my sickening daze.

That Ben? That same one?

My mind couldn't comprehend my thoughts as they reeled out onto my mental assembly line. It's not new to lose control of my thoughts, but this time was different. These thoughts are terrifying, I never wanted to go this deep, all I wanted to do was leave the first order and live a different life where I didn't have to kill for another man's twisted reasons and revenge. I didn't want to be just an empty husk, I wanted to be somebody.

My tongue feels like it's layered with sand as I try to scrape it around my mouth. The heart that usually beats rhythmically in my chest, is now pounding an anthem against my rib cage, making my ears pop.

"Finn! Buddy are you alright?" Poe's concerned face comes into view as he peers at me from my right.

I nod my head vigorously, finally gaining consciousness once again as my eyes focus in back on the hologram. I look past the blue image to notice my brain mentally kicking me in the shins for not realizing; Kendra was gone.

"Hey, where's Kend-"

A high pitched yelp rang throughout the air, sending a chill raking down my spine.

My feet move faster than my thoughts as I run down a dusty alley that's adjacent to the corner we were all huddled in, but only to be met with another corner to turn. I can hear Poe racing behind me, shouting out for me to stop and wait, but I press on.

Dust and sand fly up from my boots in my wake, I'm like a thunderous whirlwind pounding towards its next destination.

Why am I running so hard? Why am I in the lead?

"Finn!" Poe cries out again but I don't stop, not until I collide with an all too familiar chrome armored figure. Everything seems to go in slow motion as my back sails to the ground. A burning sensation shoots up my spine from the impact, but shock and adrenaline is a great pain killer. Dust and sand drifts sting my eyes and settled deep in my throat, producing a raspy cough and spit.

I lay on my back, wheezing my lungs out with my knees up and ready to run again until a heavy metal boot presses down on my chest.

"Going somewhere? FN-2187."

I squint through my lashes and see the looming, black eyed helmet of my former Captain.

Phasma...

"It's Finn." I retort stubbornly.

"Oh yes, your little pet name. How adorable." I can almost hear the sneer on her face as she starts to press her heavy boot down even harder on my chest.

I wince under the pressure and grit my teeth, "how was your time spent in the trash compactor eh?"

Shut up, you idiot!

Phasma presses her boot down even harder to where the burning pressure in my chest is almost unbearable. "I'm not here to chat, I'm here to teach a lesson."

The scorching sun rested low in the sky due to the early time but it's bright rays still reached this sector of town, where Phasma happened to be pinning me. So basically Phasma just looked like someone on fire, her suit absorbed the sunlight and bounced it back into my eyes.

"And what's that?" I spat back.

She leaned down, her chest plate almost connected with her knee. "Traitors will not be tolerated."

Fear flashed across my face, my thoughts scrambled up like a drink in a mixer but I manage to snap back; "isn't that exactly what you did back on Starkiller?" I grunted out, trying to wiggle my blaster from my holster that's behind me, out of her view.

Phasma didn't reply, she merely shrugs me off and aims a blaster at my skull.

"Pity, you were one of the best on my squad. But I'm sure Lord Ren will be pleased to see your severed head rather than your old track record."

My eyes widen at the sight of her trigger finger slowly begin to squeeze.

Don't look scared! Be a man! Die with dignity!

Right before I was about to make a move, "hey!"

I attempt to crane my neck to look at Poe who has come out of the shadows holding his blaster pointed at Phasma. His eyes gleamed in the shine of the sun as well as the sweat that boiled on his face, he nervously licked his lips.

A moment of silence held our tongues in suspense. Our eyes daring the other to speak first, or even, shoot first.

Then a sound, a cracking that hummed through the air like a lullaby, was soon followed by a fiery blue bolt of energy being hurled in Phasma's direction.

She returned fire just as quickly.

I look to my left and to my right.

A wall of troopers clad in white are all I can see, all I can hear is the sound of screaming villagers and warfare; one blaster after the other being fired.

Yet, another famous match between The Resistance and The First Order, and I just happen to be caught in the middle.