You ran as fast as you could, maneuvering through the dense forest, barely able to see. Your heart pounded in your chest painfully, almost as if it was trying to escape your rib cage. Breathing felt like torture, and the whole world around you was shaking violently. You gripped your blaster pistol with a sweaty hand and let your index finger shake lightly on the trigger.
At lease two or three Stormtroopers hot on your heels. They weren't set to kill you; they wanted you for interrogation. Any member of the resistance that they could round up was taken back to Starkiller Base to have any information squeezed out of them until there was no more. The last thing you had heard before you left the Rebel base on D'Quar was that Poe Dameron was captured, and God knows where he was now. You didn't want to end up like him. You didn't want to endure any 'Jedi mind tricks,' because whatever mind tricks this "Kylo Ren" had to offer wasn't any ordinary little prank.
The Stormtroopers gained speed, while your stamina slowly began to give way. You turned, quickly firing a shot at one of them, though it gave you no relief when you hit your mark. You couldn't tell exactly how many were following you, but there were definitely a few more. Your legs burned for a break, but your mind ignored them; you couldn't afford to be caught. You knew too much. Still, the odds were in the favor of the enemy from the way things were turning out for you.
You turned around to fire again, only to trip on a root; you tumbled down the side of the path, falling under ferns and rough branches. At some point, you felt your head crack when it came in contact with a large rock, and instantly you felt nauseous. You continued to roll, unable to tell where the sky was, until you finally came in contact with something hard.
Finally, you stopped rolling when you were hit. The object you collided with fell with a thud and a grunt. You grabbed the back of your head as it throbbed painfully. Opening your eyes, you noticed a heap of black fabric on the ground next to you. It started moving, and before you could identify it, a hand closed around your neck.
You were thrust up against a tree, your feet dangling in the air. Your hands felt around your neck, trying to find the strong hands that held it, but they came up empty. Below you stood a man, clad in black, his hand outstretched to you. His face was angry, and a bit covered in dirt. Lying next to him was a woman dressed in a scavenger's attire and seemingly dead. Surrounding her and the man were more than a dozen Stormtroopers.
Was this the well known and feared Kylo Ren?
The need for air was obscuring your thoughts and visions. Your body was jerking in strange directions, as if it were trying to inhale through it's own skin.
"Who are you?!" the man said, his voice thick with menace.
You cringed. If I could speak, I wouldn't tell you.
Seconds passed, and his hold on you seemed to grow tighter. You wished you would just pass out and end the torture. He continued to stare at your throat began to make inhuman noises. He looked at your orange jumper, smirking a bit.
"Pilot." he said coldly. "What a find."
Finally, seeming to hear your prayer, he dropped you.
You crashed onto the forest floor, letting your lungs control your body and intake air. It hurt like Hell, and your throat was cold and dry with each breath and cough. Your first thought was to hide, anywhere; You started crawling away from the scene, slowly, as would an animal with two broken legs.
A crushing foot came down upon your ankle. Instead of crying out with pain, you only let your head fall to the ground, losing all sense of direction and sound. Your mind went frantic, unable to process any of your surroundings as Kylo twisted his foot on your leg.
He spat at you. "We'll find out anything we need to know soon enough."
At that moment, something roughly grazed your head, and the world around you went black.
The Pirate Castle was definitely not your favorite lounging place. It was too loud, smelly, and someone wanted to fight you all the time. But, you had to follow orders from Delmi Jaxx, who was somehow smitten with this tavern.
Delmi Jaxx was your aircraft teacher. A strong man, physically and spiritually, he was well educated. You admired him as a teacher and hoped to be like him later in your life. He was kind, but stern with rules and orders. At the time, he had been Poe's instructor, which obviously proved him to be all that people said he was: extremely intelligent.
You and Kiera Alavai, another student of Delmi's, were sitting quietly at a table with him. Your head was hurting from all of the arguments and loud music, and it was irritatingly hot in your jumper. Kiera was enjoying a mug of Elba, while Delmi was reading a map of some world unknown to you.
Kiera set down her mug. "What's with all the death glares?"
You looked around; sure enough, the majority of the tavern was staring at you with either suspicion, hatred, or confusion. You sighed and looked back at your own table, wishing that General Leia could have chosen a different pilot's uniform than neon orange.
"Because they know we're from the resistance." said Delmi, not looking up from his map. He looked weary and weathered from being away from D'Quar for so long.
Leia had given you orders to aid in the search for Poe. Not as the hunters; the role that she gave the three of you was to act as a distraction. Follow the search team, hide in plain sight, act as a distraction while the other troops searched. It was a boring job, really, but since you weren't licensed to fly, there was nothing else you could do. It had been some time since Delmi had heard from the search team, this marking your fourth week on Takodana.
The three of you weren't the only distracting group in the tavern: spread across the room were two other crowds of orange jumpers, glancing at your table every once in a while. No one knew what had happened to the search team, but orders from Leia were to stay calm under any situation. if they took to long to return, everyone was told to go back to the rebel base. So every time you met their questioning glances, you shook your head.
"Well then why don't they call us in?" Kiera asked. "Three resistance pilots - not to mention, two juniors-in-training, without a license to fly - sitting here, doing nothing, and they just stare? I would call someone."
"Anyone could be wearing an orange jumper and be a pilot, Alavai." Delmi stuffed his map into his pocket. "It's the fact that there are many of us spread about that catches their eye. And if you keep declaring to Takodana who we are, I'll let them have your head first."
You chuckled. Not only was Delmi smart with aircraft function, but he also had a dictionary of witty comebacks.
Delmi checked his watch for the tenth time. "It's getting late." He looked at you, his eyes inquiring.
You sighed and stood up from the table. "No need to ask me, Jaxx; I'll go look around again." You set a few coins next to Kiera's mug. "Get me a drink while I'm gone."
You walked out of the castle, ignoring the turned heads and foreign words as you passed. It was a relief to be outside, where most of the people paid you no mind. The air was damp, though fresher than inside. Your boots crunched melodically on the gravel as you made your way into the forest.
The farther you went, the thicker the trees became. Everything was tranquil - no one was in sight, and there was no movement besides your own legs. Your mind wandered to Poe; it was possible that the search party had already found him, and they were heading back to D'Quar. But then wouldn't they contact you and tell you to return? Maybe your communications device was damaged, and you would discover him there when you left Takodana. Or, he might still be on Starkiller base. That wouldn't give the resistance any reason to send a search party for him, though. Nothing made sense to you. All you were able to do was follow Delmi's orders until something occurred, good or bad.
Thinking of Poe only made you more stressed. You felt that the mission was dead. Poe might be dead, as far as you knew. You didn't want to think like that, but your intellect was far to advanced to accept that everything was just "peachy," as Kiera would say. Team mates don't just cease communication, and the Resistance's finest pilots don't just go missing for a few months.
Dragging you back to reality, you heard the distant sound of several jets drawing near; possibly the scout team returning? You began to walk back, ready to inform Delmi and Kiera that the search was over... on this planet, at least.
The X-Wing Fighters grew louder by the second; they should have been visible above the trees by now. You paused, staring up at the sky, waiting for the rebels to come in sight.
You noticed the wind picking up around you. Ferns danced in the current, broken twigs and forest-floor debris scattered across the ground. You could hardly keep your eyes open due to the harsh atmosphere.
Suddenly, cutting the sun out from the sky, you saw a large, black vessel. It had two wings on the sides of it, and it was surrounded by multiple Tie Fighters. It was descending upon the Pirate Castle, and fast.
You recognized it as the First Order's Command Shuttle, meaning that General Hux and Kylo Ren were on it as well.
Immediately, you rushed through the swaying forest. Blasters and shouting could be heard clear as day through the rustling and the wind. You feared for Delmi and Kiera, praying that they had heard it coming and were back at the X-Wing. Adrenaline quickly flowed through your body, distracting yourself from the shock in your feet. Twigs were scratching your face as you ran into them, but you hardly noticed it; your comrades were too important to falter for pain.
You reached the edge of the woods; Stormtroopers were everywhere, like ants swarming a nest. They were shooting at everything, wrecking any droid or aircraft in sight. People were fleeing Pirate Castle; you couldn't find Delmi and Kiera anywhere.
Then you saw it: a line of orange jumpers, crowded onto the Commander Shuttle. Not just the ones from the tavern, but the search party as well. You were able to recognize everyone of them, but you still didn't see your pilot teacher or your good friend. You shouted their names at the top of your lungs, hoping that they were somehow alive and searching for you as well.
As you were scanning the battlefield, you saw a mob of Stormtroopers running towards you... and quickly. Your first instinct was to run, but you didn't want to leave the others. You weren't sure if they were even on the Command Shuttle.
You searched for an opening, an escape through the ranks; all you found was that the longer you waited, the nearer the enemy drew, and the more eager they looked to fire.
As a prayer, you silently asked Delmi and Kiera to forgive you; quickly, you turned on your heels and ran back into the dense forest that would be your capture.