"Black Leader to Red Commander, Cover my Six, I'm goin' in!"
Poe Dameron's voice crackled over the Comm in Rhea Song's red X-Wing. She rolled her eyes and adjusted course to follow the blur that was Dameron's customized black X-Wing.
"Right on your Six, Black Leader. Be careful. I don't want to have to swoop in and save the damsel in distress." Poe could almost hear the snark in his best friend's voice. He and Rhea had been friends for years. They'd joined the rebellion together, and were both counted among General Leia Organa's best and most trusted pilots. They'd risen very quickly through the ranks of the resistance, becoming the youngest squadron leaders to date.
"That's never happened, Song." Poe retorted, executing a perfect barrel roll in his ship, evading laser blasts.
Rhea grinned, swooping low to avoid more enemy fire.
"Stay close, Rhea, These TIE fighters are pretty scrappy." Poe's voice became serious as more and more First Order fighters closed in. Rhea immediately sobered when her shields barely deflected an enemy laser blast.
"Damn it!" she grumbled, doing some complicated maneuvers "I thought we were supposed to go unnoticed!"
"I know, right!?" Poe replied sardonically. "It's almost as if they don't want rebel pilots running scans to map out the giant base they're building. How rude-YOU GO TO HELL!" Rhea winced as Poe screamed the last of his sentence as he fired his weapons wildly.
"Black Leader. If you're going to scream at enemy pilots who can't hear you, could you at least TURN YOUR COMM OFF!?" Rhea could feel the headache forming at the base of her skull. She couldn't wait to be back onboard the Hermes (the carrier that had brought them and their X-Wings here was currently hidden, cloaked deep in the black. It was named after an ancient God from Earth-That-Was.) She was wondering if she'd have enough time to have a hot shower and a nap before they arrived back to the Rebel base.
Just as Rhea reached for the button on her control console that would turn off the Comm and plunge her into sweet, blessed silence, she felt her ship shake. Raincloud-gray eyes scanned the readouts on the console as multiple warning alarms screamed at her. What they told her wasn't good. A glancing blow to her fighter had damaged one of the engines, essentially crippling the ship from making all but the slowest, most basic moves. As it was, the landing gear was currently melting in its housing and she was going to have to make a crash landing into the Hermes' hangar. The captain was going to have her head when he saw the burn marks she was about to make.
"Black Leader from Red Commander, My ship has been damaged, I'm gonna try to make it back to the Hermes for repairs. Command of the Squadrons is yours." Rhea did her best to keep the blind panic from her voice as she began evasive maneuvers and began to limp her fighter towards the dark shadows where she knew the Carrier was lurking. Cloaked to all but the rebel X-Wings.
"Gotcha, Red Commander, I'll cover your retreat. Looks like you got some strays sniffing your tail.
"Negative, Black Leader. The mission still stands. General Organa is counting on us to bring back at least some idea of what they're building. I'll be fine!"
To illustrate her point further, she hit one of the TIE fighters with a direct blast from her blaster. The bug like ship exploded into a spectacular fireball.
"Rhea, let me-"She could hear the concern in Poe's voice, his desire to protect her. She shook her head, already in the process of linking onto the encrypted frequency that would put her in contact with the bridge of the Hermes.
Just as she opened her mouth to hail Combat Operations on the bridge, she felt another violent shudder. This time, she saw pieces of one of the wings fly past her windshield. She did her best to keep control of her ship as it spun wildly towards the giant, man-made planet they'd been inspecting. She fought valiantly with the controls, trying to stay airborne for as long as possible. As soon as she realized she was not going to be able to land safely, she closed her grey eyes and pressed the eject button, feeling herself go flying out of the doomed X-Wing. The last thing she knew before everything went black was hitting the trunk of what seemed to be a large tree, and landing on something cold.
Snow…Why is it snowing? She thought as she was pulled into unconsciousness.
"RHEA! RHEA NO!" Poe shouted as he watched his best friend take a crippling hit, watched her red ship spiral down towards the First Order's secret weapon. He was cocksure she would make it, up until he saw the explosion.
"All squadrons, to me, we're going to get her back." Poe deftly set a course for where he'd seen the red X-Wing crash.
"Black Leader, you are to return to base. Immediately." Came a clipped voice. He recognized it as the no-nonsense voice of General Leia Organa.
"But Rhe-"Poe began to argue.
"I'm sorry, but there are no life signs. All evidence suggest that Commander Song did not survive her crash. We have what we need, now return to the Hermes for return transport immediately. Serenity will be waiting to escort you when you get back to this quadrant."
Poe Dameron lost all composure at the order to retreat. He screamed curses at no one until his throat was raw. He was nearly mutinous until his BB Unit, BB-8, overrode his manual controls and set the course for the carrier. The squadron surrounded his ship and shepherded it back to the waiting carrier. He stayed by the window as the large carrier flew into hyperspace.
Kylo Ren watched the battle impassively, his black helmet doing a very good job of hiding the expression underneath.
"We should not let these Rebel Scum get away so easily." He mused, not realizing that he was no longer alone on the bridge of the nearly-completed Starkiller Base.
"Not to worry, sir. We still came away with the advantage." Came the smug voice of General Hux.
"Why do you say that, General?" The black-cloaked Knight of Ren fixed his gaze on the General. Hux allowed a careful smile to grace his features. Something about his face made the gesture seem sinister.
Knowing the unbalance state of Kylo Ren's mind, Hux chose his words very carefully.
"Follow me, please. I must show you our newest advantage." With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the bridge, knowing that his superior would be right on his heels. Ren was curious, even more so when he noticed that he was being led to the newly-built cells.
Hux stopped about halfway down the nondescript corridor, nodding to the two Stormtrooper standing guard at the door, blaster-rifles at the ready.
Hux typed in his authorization code into the keypad next to the door, allowing the steel door to slide open mechanically.
"This, my friend, is our advantage. What a wealth of knowledge this…urchin will be to us when she awakens. A patrol found her wounded and nearly frozen to death in the northeast quadrant. Luckily, she was for the most part unharmed. The report says that the wreckage of a red X-Wing was found near where they found her. The markings on her uniform identify her as a member of their Senior Command. Her loss will be a hard one for the Rebels, but her death will surely demoralize them."
Ren surveyed the small figure on the cot in front of him. She had pale, porcelain-like skin which accentuated the thick black eyelashes that rimmed her eyes. Long black hair splayed out beneath her. The only sign that she'd been injured at all was a scape on her jaw and a gash along the cheekbone of her round face.
"Yes…" Kylo Ren said, an unseen smile behind his mask. "Yes, I believe this girl will give us much information about the Rebels."