The Rise of the Final Order - A Star Wars Story

Chapter 6

Ersela Kryze

It was hard to be the leader of a republic that had to rebuild itself. Ersela had only been Chancellor for three months, but it felt as if the job had aged her twenty years.

She was constantly attending meetings, being presented with new laws, and doing all the other things she had to do to get the New Republic up and running again. It was a slow process-the new capital on Scarif wasn't even close to being finished yet, which was why, for now, the New Republic would be operating from Coruscant, much like the governments before it.

So when neither Cora nor Kelsa had checked in from Arkane Prime in over twenty-four hours, Ersela was starting to get a little worried. Of course, there were probably more important things to be worrying about, but they were her friends and they could be in danger.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to deal with it right now. She was currently in her office for her weekly private meeting with Poe Dameron and Finn, discussing the progress that was being made and going over what needed to be taken care of.

So far, they had discussed the additional troops enlisting in the military, the new capital, funding to build more ships-especially cruisers, and the details of Kaia Kestis' last transmission, in which she had said she had found Crimson Dawn on Vandor. All that was left was the issue of Ersela's two potentially missing friends.

"There is one more thing I want to discuss with you," she said. "Kelsa Antilles and Cora Tonra haven't checked in from Arkane Prime in over twenty-four hours. We can't reach them on their comms either."

"And you think they're in trouble?" Poe asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I do," Ersela responded. "I may not have the Force, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"We can send someone to investigate," Poe assured her.

"Thank you." Ersela stood up, which signaled the meeting was over, and both Finn and Poe did the same. She walked with them to the door and turned to Finn as Poe pressed open the door. "By the way, congratulations on your engagement. You and Rose make a great couple."

"Thank you, m'am," Finn replied, allowing her to step out into the hallway before him. "I'll be sure to tell her that."

Ersela smiled. "Good." She turned and started walking away towards the speeder waiting for her a few levels below, her two bodyguards who had been waiting in front of the door falling in behind her, while Finn and Poe went the opposite direction.

People stopped and nodded respectfully at her as she passed, and she nodded back. The walk to her speeder was not a particularly long one, and by the time she was back at her personal residence it had only been twenty minutes since the meeting had ended.

The guards drove off with the speeder, while Ersela carefully entered the passcode to her residence and stepped inside, relieved to home instead of the Senate building. She kicked off her shoes and let her hair down, shaking her head to let it all come loose, then went into her room for a sanisteam and a change of clothes.

Afterwards, she went to the kitchen and got started on preparing some soup and nerf steak for dinner. While she waited for everything to heat up, she turned on the holonews, where a reporter was discussing the details of the new laws that had been passed in the past few weeks.

As she poured the now hot soup into a bowl and finished heating up the steak, Ersela's comlink chimed. She set her food down and activated it, and a holographic image of Rey Skywalker appeared.

"It's good to see you, Rey," Ersela greeted.

"It's good to see you too, Chancellor," Rey responded. She had her hair up in its usual style and she was wearing heavy robes over what she normally wore. "But I'm afraid I'm not contacting you with good news."

Ersela sighed. "What is it?"

"I sensed a disturbance in the Force," Rey replied. "Something dark."

"Do you know what it is?" Ersela asked, troubled.

"No," Rey answered, sounding frustrated. "I haven't figured it out yet, but I know it's very powerful."

"Thank you for letting me know," Ersela said. "I'll look into this as soon as I can."

"Of course, Chancellor." The hologram disappeared, and Ersela was left to eat her dinner. But the whole time she did, her thoughts were elsewhere.

The fact that Cora and Kelsa had gone missing at the same time Rey had sensed a new danger in the Force didn't seem like a coincidence. This was definitely something that needed to be investigated immediately. Tomorrow she would send someone to Arkane Prime, and hopefully, she would get some answers.