-Aboard the Raddus- Hyperspace, The Corellian Run

Finn snapped the buckles closed on his backpack and was getting ready to put on his newly-patched jacket when his comlink beeped at him. Knowing Poe was most likely on the transmitting end ready to tell him to lighten up or be reasonable, he considered ignoring it. When it beeped a second time, he answered. "This is Finn."

    "This is General Organa. May I have a moment?"

    Finn stammered, "Of course your majesty. I mean highness. Yes General."

    His door opened and Leia accompanied by BB8 entered his room.

"General, I want to apologize," he began.

Leia held up a hand. "No need, Finn. I understand better than you might think." She walked past him to his window and watched the shifting colors of hyperspace slip by. "I have a tremendous favor to ask of you."

Finn looked down at the appendageless BB8 unit who more or less gave him what he could only imagine as a droid shrug. He cleared his throat. "General, I don't know if I'm in the best physical condition to—"

"The assignment shouldn't be physically demanding," she stated. "As you probably already know, very few defect from the First Order. This isn't surprising as their numbers consist of those loyal to the former Galactic Empire and soldiers they've conditioned since childhood. Attempting to place insurgents among them results in failure and I've decided to no longer send volunteers on missions to gather intel. We've had to avoid planets the First Order captured as getting through their blockades are suicide. Because their clearance codes are always up to date we are forced to always go around them." She turned away from the window to look at Finn who was looking at his feet.

"Except we do have clearance codes now, taken from Starkiller Base before its destruction. They will only be good for the next sixteen hours. With this intel I believe you know what I'm going to ask of you."

BB8 looked back and forth between the two.

Finn shook his head. "You want me to resume the role of a stormtrooper."

Leia nodded, saying nothing.

"Most of them will know I'm a traitor," he said without emotion. "As soon as I have to provide my operator number, they might not even bother throwing me in the brig. They'll just skip straight to the airlock." He breathed in through his teeth, mimicking the sound of a vacuum. Then he exhaled, weaving his hand through the air with the analogy of him drifting through space. "It's how they keep things in order. No tolerance." When he saw she wasn't looking at him, he stood up and joined her next to the window. "What kind of intel are we talking about here?"

Leia let the silence between them linger before she answered, "Snoke."

Finn felt his stomach writhe in fear. "Stormtroopers can't get anywhere near the Supreme Leader. And in all honesty General, I don't think I'd have the courage to even if I could."

"Between you and I," Leia explained, "This war cannot be won unless we can find a way to stop him and his forces. We need an advantage, even if that means getting you aboard the Supremacy to scour their databanks for it." she turned toward him and placed her hand on his arm. "Know however, I will not force you into doing this. Unlike the Empire and the First Order, I leave the choice to you." she paused, her eyes drilling into his. "We do these things so that others in the future may have that choice as well. You, I, Rey and everyone among this fleet know how the First

Order will rule if they are given control."

Finn knew firsthand how the First Order treated those who defied Snoke's demands. It was one of the reasons why he left them to begin with.

Memories of the night on Jakku where his former battalion massacred hundreds of unarmed men, women and children caused a brief involuntary tremor in his hands. He looked to BB8. "What do you think the chances of me succeeding are?"

The droid sputtered and blipped once before turning its head to look away.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Finn said.

Leia looked at the droid. "I certainly hope you're not serious, as you will be accompanying Finn."

The droid's head whipped back around to the General, then to Finn, then back to the General. It released a long succession of rapid beeps and whistles before Leia replied, "Poe won't need you where we're going."

The droid emitted several more blips and beeps, this time slower.

Leia shook her head. "No, it can't be another droid. Whether it's to slice a terminal or pilot a ship, you're the best in the Resistance. It has to be you."

The droid remained silent as though determining whether or not it approved the answer. A few seconds later it rolled next to Finn and waited.

Finn smiled. "I guess I'll get my gear together then."

"Thank you Finn," General Organa started toward the door, "You'll be provided with an old Empire ship we salvaged months ago. Be ready to leave as soon as we drop out of light speed."

    The BB8 unit at Finn's side whistled and beeped twice at the General.

Leia chose not to acknowledge the droid's remark and left the room mumbling to herself, "Never known an astromech without an attitude…"   

Finn rummaged through the crates of stormtrooper armor delivered to him by one of the Resistance soldiers, trying to find pieces without blaster scorch marks or holes in it. He tossed several pieces aside, much of plastoid fittings either being too small or outdated to wear. By the time he reached the fourth container, he'd started assembling everything he needed for the suit of

First Order armor on the floor to make sure he didn't miss anything. Once complete, he placed everything into a duffle bag except the helmet.

Afterwards he sat in silence, unsure of what he'd do next. Even if he somehow managed to get aboard the Supremacy, there was no way of knowing if any information on Snoke existed. Finn racked his brain trying to think of a plan that didn't end up with getting himself killed, but it proved impossible as every idea he contrived involved working with at least one other person. He closed his eyes, doing his best to focus more on a solution and less on the stiffness in his back and inevitable failure.   

Next to where he sat, BB8 rolled around in front of him and extended a single mechanical arm with a holoprojector at the end of it.

"What's this?" Finn asked taking the small metallic disk from the droid. An orange light flashed at the base of it, indicating an incoming transmission. "Where did you get this?"

BB8 whistled high to low and beeped in multiple pitches in reply.

"A secret? Why can't you just tell me?" he asked.

The droid sputtered and beeped once.

"Is it going to shock me when I accept the transmission?"

BB8 sighed and looked up.

"Fine, I'll play along." he pressed the flashing button and the image of small humanoid wearing overly large spectacles appeared, hovering in the air. "Maz?"

"I see you have decided to stop running," she said with a smile.

Finn ignored the comment. "How did you know—j"

"To contact you?" she asked. "The Force spoke to me," she held her arms up and motioned to the empty space around her. She frowned and pointed briefly at BB8. "and the droid contacted me thinking I might have some information on the Supreme Leader…or at least on how to find information that doesn't involve getting yourself killed."

"Do you?" he asked, giving the droid a thumbs up.

"What kind of pirate would I be if I didn't? When your droid informed me of your plight, I recalled a time I purchased some information a few decades ago." she tapped a combination of buttons into a band she wore on her forearm. "I'm sending you the coordinates to an old Imperial Archive on Wayland. The First Order controls most of the planet and surrounding space, but I imagine it's preferable to boarding Snoke's vessel."

"Much more preferable," Finn responded thankfully. "How is this place different than any other Archive or Library the First Order's raided?"

Maz held up an index finger. "Ah, how indeed?" another image replaced her face, displaying a rotating edge of a city surrounded by trees, with a rather ordinary building highlighted in red. "As I said, years ago I purchased some information. It was from a Bothan who took notice and followed the movements of a small, nondescript, often cloaked shuttle traveling from Coruscant or a particular Eclipse-class dreadnought to Wayland and back. He kept tabs on it, in the event it turned out to be something important.

"When the Bothan realized the two locations were where Emperor Palpatine spent most, if not all of his time, he made following the small mysterious ship his top priority. After many months of surveillance, the freelancing spy discovered the small transport possessed clearance codes to every known region and planet in the galaxy, but journeyed only to Wayland after visiting Coruscant and the dreadnought. Each time, the ship touched down on the outskirts of the city where a holopad would be delivered to a local library."

Finn looked puzzled. "I thought you said it was an old Imperial Archive?"

The holoprojector switched back to her face. "The library is the Archive, hiding in plain sight where no one would think to look."

"Maz I appreciate it and all, but the entire Resistance is counting on this—"

BB8 beeped loudly.

"Alright, okay...General Organa is counting on me to gather this information," he mouthed the word 'happy?' at the droid. "But I need intel on Snoke, not Palpatine…."

"This is true, yet consider this: the Emperor controlled the galaxy for many years. The man—if you can call him that—acquired information from the furthest, darkest parts of known space. If anyone knew of Snoke, Palpatine did."

Finn had to admit, it seemed a lot less likely anyone would be searching for him in an old library. For a moment, thoughts of the praise he'd receive if he returned successful invaded his mind. He thought of how proud Rey and Poe would be by providing real information to use against the First Order…

The thoughts vanished as quickly as they manifested themselves, replaced with a figure in black standing in a snow-covered forest igniting a red lightsaber.

He shivered and saw Maz watching him intently. Several seconds of silence passed between them before she said, "Something haunts you," she leaned closer so that only her spectacled eyes showed. "What happened to you since we last spoke, boy?"

Finn hesitated, still bothered by the memory fresh in his head. "Kylo Ren. He knocked Rey unconscious and I fought him. He almost killed me." When he didn't hear her respond, he looked up to see the space pirate staring at him. "I should have died, Rey saved me."

Maz clicked her tongue as she shook her head. "You and the girl survived against one of the most deadly beings in the galaxy with all your limbs attached and yet still something troubles you," she threw up her hands. "My intuition is strong Finn, but I cannot read minds. Most would call what you experienced very lucky."

The tone of his voice came out stronger than he expected. "I want to learn how to fight. More than what stormtroopers learn, I want to hold my own against someone like Ren."

Maz sat back in her seat and rubbed her chin. "What for? Do you desire vengeance?"

"No," he set the holoprojector down. "I've never had people I cared about before, really cared about. I want to be able to protect them and myself."

Maz sighed. "You will be hard pressed to rival the strength and speed of a Force user."

"Anything is better than nothing."

She nodded. "Then I will help you one more time," she punched more coordinates into the band around her forearm. "Along the Kashyyyk Branch on the planet Umbara is an old acquaintance. He has dwelt in the wilderness of the shadow world since the Jedi purge. While he is not a Jedi, he can teach you...if you can convince him.

"He is a Whiphid named Onik San."

Finn wasn't familiar with the race. Nevertheless, he had a name and location to begin training of his own now, after he completed his current mission. "Thank you Maz. I owe you one."

The Takodanian laughed. "Yes you do and believe me, I won't forget."