Gnovian angrily marches towards the hospital in the temple, where Finn, Poe, Rose, and the Jurials are hiding. Many soldiers march alongside him. Yatu, looking confused but desperate to take action, runs up and shouts at the troops, but no one answers him. Finally, he catches up to Gnovian.
“Hey, Mr. Resistance leader sir, I want to help! This is my home too. What can I do?”
Gnovian looks at him, feeling remorse for the young kid. “You have been through a lot. Something terrible has happened with your people. If you are willing to know the truth, then come with me. But it will not be easy to hear.” Yatu, without question, follows Gnovian.
In the temple, Merilia is carrying suppies towards wounded civilians in the hospital. There is a grave look upon her face, as she knows what is about to happen.
“Seize her!” He points to the old Jurial. Finn is afraid, but feels guilty, as he knows what is about to happen. Yatu is aghast, looks at the old Jurial, then back at Gnovian. Gnovian points to Merilia, “And her too. She’s with them.” The soldiers cuff Merilia.
Gnovian speaks to the old Jurial, “The First Order wasn’t here for the temple’s artifacts. You struck a deal with them to lead us into a trap.”
The old Jurial, in true guilt, tells him, “We did not lead you into a trap. The ceremony was genuine. But-”
An older general, standing next to Gnovian, interrupts, “Lies! Then how did they know where to attack us?” Gnovian puts his hand up, and says, “Stand down, Vice Leader Citho. We shall hear what the Jurial has to say.”
The old Jurial confesses, “I did not finish. It was not our intention for them to find us. But... it was our fault that they did. For centuries, our people have prided themselves in surviving with our traditions and isolation. But recently, we have not been doing very well. Our planet is dying- and our resources are being drained. The only way we Elders knew of to survive was by joining the intergalactic trade federation, trading the artifacts that we had in exchange for food.”
She continued, “All our Elders did was speak with the trade federation. We did not contact the First Order at all. But after we signed an agreement... we later discovered the horrible truth that the trade federation had already allied itself with the First Order. Our people have no contact with the current events... so this news was not known until later. They must have planted spies in our midst, and used droids in the equipment we’ve obtained from them, to discover we were meeting with you.”
Gnovian sternly replies, “Your people had a vote to decide who to contact- the Resistance, or the Trade Federation. Instead of contacting the Resistance, your kingdom chose, by a large margin, to ally with the Trade Federation. If you went to us first, we would have informed your people about the alliance between the First Order and the Trade Federation.”
Breaking her silence, Merilia shouts at him, “The First Order was the only faction that could help them with trade!”
Yatu looks at Gnovian, expecting him to silence her. Instead, he sees that Gnovian is grounding himself in self-control, making himself focused on listening to what Merilia is saying.
Merilia continues, “Once the Jurials discovered the First Order had infiltrated their kingdom, they were trying their best to break off their trade federation treaty. The First Order was threatening them to keep it, so they needed protection. But if the Resistance knew about this risk, we would never protect them.”
Citho shouts back, “We? You think you’re still with the Resistance, backstabber? The Resistance trusted your intel! You hid the fact that you were adopted by a Jurial family! We lost many of our soldiers today. Don’t you dare say you are part of us again.”
Citho turns to the old Jurial and says, “You only believed in the Resistance when you needed it? Cowards. You traitors do not fight for the rest of the galaxy; you fight for yourselves. How do you expect to join an intergalactic alliance if you have such selfish views?” Now Gnovian speaks up: “Soldiers,” Gnovian gestures to the Resistance, “Since the promise has been broken, retract aid away from the Jurial kingdom. Imprison everyone who did not vote for collaborating with the Resistance, or has been deemed a worthy suspect. Then, question them.”
At long last, Yatu can’t take it and blutters out, “List of traitors? Who’s on that list?”
Resistance soldiers begin seizing many Jurials, including many parents from their children. Finn speaks up to object, “General! So you’re saying anyone who didn’t say they supported the Resistance is considered a ‘suspect’? They only wanted to save their people!” Rose and Poe, who are next to Finn, try to tell him to shut up. One soldier tells Finn to be quiet, but Gnovian tells him, “Let’s listen to his reason- I don’t just silence our soldiers. We have to try to reach an understanding.”
Gnovian stares at Finn, then moves towards him, not shifting his gaze one bit. “You do not know just how bad our situation is due to traitors. In many, previous battles, we turned a blind eye to those we suspected... and it cost us greatly. It is harsh, but there is no other way. We cannot just let these suspects go and risk having them harm our cause again. Who knows what else they may be up to? Who knows if these Jurials are even telling the truth?”
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The old Jurial speaks up, “We have official documents proving this. Along with recorded testimonies of Jurials who were surprised and guilted at the revelations about First Order ties.”
Gnovian firmly replies, “Remorse is not enough. The First Order spies were able to hack into our Hararian ships and cause them to self-destruction, destroying our only supply of Littim crops. The Turbulisians can only eat Littim, and are in a food crisis. We promised them Littim- now, their deaths are on our hands.”
Finn retaliates, “That’s another issue. More than half of the Jurials wanted this trade plan. You’re taking parents away from their children, so how are the children going to live now? Who’s going to help them with food? The Resistance has no resources to do that. Their kingdom is destroyed- they don’t have anyone. What they need isn’t for us to imprison them, but for us to protect them.”
Gnovian counters, “Who knows how many of them are spies? Since many of them now know of Resistance plans, it’s too risky to let them run free. We can’t trust selfish societies who won’t risk their lives to help our cause. They may not have directly collaborated with the First Order. But their indifference to our cause will also hurt us. I know it is hard to accept, but the fact is, they are only using us.”
Finn grits his teeth. “I know that. Before we came in, I suspected the Jurials. But I’d rather be used than let all these people be threatened by the First Order in exchange for food they need. The First Order knows the Jurials will do whatever they want for them. They can force the Jurials to fight for them, even if they don’t want to. It’s a risk, but if the Resistance helps them, maybe the Jurials will change their mind about the trade pact. They deserve a second chance.”
Gnovian glares at him. But then, he takes a deep breath and calms down. “Finn, you are a Hero of the Resistance. A soldier whose actions we are very thankful for. But you’ve never had to truly lead a cause, and make these hard decisions. It’s because a leader has to be unquestionably loyal to the cause. Just because someone is a hero, does not mean we can trust them.”
Citho interrupts him, “We trusted Merilia unquestionably, and that was our mistake. You’re also a hero, but who’s to say... you’re completely loyal?”
Finn tenses up and gets angry. Some other soldiers look at him with suspicion. Gnovian sighs, “Citho, please tend to wing X-4. I will handle it from here.” Citho nods, gives Finn a dirty look, and marches off. Gnovian continues, “We are all aware you used to be part of the First Order. And you can sympathize with these people. Put in a hard situation, with no way out. You have to give a little of yourself to the First Order to survive. But a Resistance fighter is a different. A Resistance fighter would rather be gunned down than lift even a finger to fire a shot for the First Order.”
Finn glares at him. “You think I wouldn’t do that?”
Gnovian replies, “If you are willing to do that, then trust in our cause. You know what happened when you disobeyed orders. It cost us as we landed at Crait.” Rose bows her head down. Finn grits his teeth even more. Gnovian, with a stern yet grieving face, turns to Rose, “You know how destructive those actions were. I appreciate that you are trying your best to redeem yourself.” He turns back to Finn, “It takes time to get rid of that First Order mindset. I encourage you to think about the bigger picture.”
Finn was ready to attack Gnovian. But he calms down, and replies with quiet anger, “You didn’t answer my question. What are we going to do with these families? Their economy is in shambles. Who’s going to deal with all the orphans?”
Half of the other soldiers begin to speak up against Finn. One of them shouts, “After all that, you don’t feel ashamed, you damn Hutt? Can’t you make up your mind about what side your on?’
The other half of the soldiers speak up against them, defending Finn. Then another one shouts: “Are you with us... or do you feel more like a stormtrooper?”
The soldiers started shouting against each other, dividing into two groups: one, with Poe and Rose, trying to maintain order and defend Finn, the other attacking him. Poe restrains one soldier who lunges at Finn, “Hey, knock it off buddy!” Poe snaps.
The soldier stands down, but scowls at Poe, “You have no say in this! You’re not a general anymore!” Just as the other soldiers are about to gear up and surround Poe, Rey enters the scene. She shouts, “Get off of him!” The soldiers all stop. Finn nods at Rey, and she nods back.
Gnovian says, “Soldiers, back to your positions. We have to evacuate this place. Rey, come with me. The leaders want to meet with you.”
The soldiers do their duty. Poe lightly punches Finn on the arm, saying, “What was that about?” and then continues walking to where he’s ordered to be. Rose tells Finn, “Finn, you’re already on the ropes. I feel sympathy for the Jurials too, and so does the rest of the Resistance. But there’s too much at stake; we can’t risk it. At least Gnovian is a different kind of commander who lets soldiers speak their mind and question him. You could have been in a lot more trouble.”
Finn shakes his head, “But what he did wasn’t right. He was painting me as a First Order sympathizer just to get on the moral high ground.” Finn stares into Rose’s eyes, to see how she truly thinks, “I hate the First Order from the bottom of my heart. But there’s something about the Resistance you should know...”
Rose whispers, “What?”
Finn continues, “Back when we were with DJ, he told me about who gave weapons to the First Order. Those rich weapon dealers. DJ... also revealed something to me about the Resistance. They bought weapons from those same weapon dealers too. Not everything that the Resistance does is the right thing to do.”
Rose is startled, but replies, “The Resistance has to do some of these questionable things sometimes because of how bad the First Order is. That’s just how war is. If we lose, and the First Order takes over, it’d just be like the Empire all over again. Haven’t you heard stories of how terrifying that time was? The massacres, the torture chambers...”
Finn hangs his head down, remembering all the atrocities he witnessed during his time in the First Order.
Sensing his unease, Rose walks closer to him, and puts her hand on his face, “We’re going to get through this. Together.”
But Finn turns away, leaving Rose facing no one. He replies, “Thanks. You’re a helpful friend.” And then he walks into a different room. He goes about doing his duty again, now torn in his thoughts.