NEW BEGINNING
She could barely keep from fainting. She was sure she had sweated through her standard issued under armor and was thankful for the metal concealing her nervous dread.
"Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm." She chanted softly.
Poe turned his head slightly in her direction. "I am calm."
Her voice wavered. "I was talking to myself." She caught Poe hide a quick smirk as she lead him through the docks of the ship.
"Keep walking." She whispered. They were mostly past the prying eyes of the Troopers, but the TIE Fighters where a little further ahead. She felt her stomach role and was afraid she would throw up in her helmet. She really wanted to avoid doing that a second time in two days.
What was she thinking? She couldn't get away. She was Trooper. The only way they left the First Order was by death.
"Now." She pushed him towards the first TIE Fighter she saw. Poe turned around and quickly pushed his hands forward as she clumsily unlocked them. She watched as he jumped into the TIE Fighter gracefully as if he'd done it a million times before. Maybe that was a sign of a truly great pilot? This easy grace. She felt confident now.
She climbed into the Fighter with much less grace and crashed into the seat behind Poe. She pushed her helmet off and wiped some of the sweat out of her eyes.
"Buckle up." Poe chuckled as she fumbled around. She resented him slightly for his teasing, but as long as he got her away from here, she wouldn't say anything.
"You sure you can fly this thing?" She asked as she looked at the different contraptions in front of her.
"I can fly anything." There was no cockiness in his voice. She breathed a little easier. "Do you know how to shoot?" He asked.
"Blasters, yes." She said. She really hoped he wasn't going to ask her to work the all the extremely intricate dials that were in front of her.
"Same basic principal." He said. She highly doubted that.
"This looks really complicated." She was never one to be overoptimistic.
He turned around to look at her. "Ha." He stopped.
She glanced back at him. "What?"
"I just didn't think you'd look like this." He said as he studied her featured. At least he was looking from her left and wasn't able to see the scar tissue on her throat.
"What am I supposed to look like?" There was a bit of a bite to her voice, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want to be scrutinized, she wanted to be off this ship.
"I don't know… Generic." Yes generic. Like a robot. So, that it wouldn't matter when she died in battle. So, it wouldn't matter when all them died and were left to rot on whichever planet the First Order felt needed "liberation."
"We need to go now." She said, looking away from him.
"Yes, lets!" He was full optimism. She hadn't thought there were people like him in the galaxy. So simply happy. "On your left, that's the controlled and on your right is the blaster. The screen will tell you of anything incoming, so just point and shoot. Got it?" He asked.
She glanced at him form the corner of her eye and gave a stiff nod. "Got it."
He turned back to his seat. "I've always wanted to fly one of these!" There was giddiness in his voice. Was this asshole excited about potentially dying? She shook her head and focused on the controllers in front of her. She didn't have time to contemplate the suicidal tendencies of crazy men.
She felt the vibrations of the ship as it started. She gripped the switches as Poe moved the Fighter out of its station. But just as quickly as they started they stopped.
"Oh shit." She heard behind her.
"Why aren't we moving?" She wanted to scream and cry and possibly pass out so that her death would be painless.
"I can fix this!" He said with determination. She saw Troopers coming at them with their blasters raised and already firing. "I need a little help here." Poe ground out as he attempted to dislodge from the charging station.
She snapped out of her trance and started jerking the controllers in front of her. The maneuvering was much more touch sensitive then she anticipated and she ended up hitting closer to the Troopers than she had intended. She saw two of them launch of the ground and hit the metal walls of the ship.
"Glad to see you're in the game!" Poe exclaimed. She didn't need to see his face to know that he was smiling. She almost felt like smiling herself. Freedom was so close.
Even if it ended at the end of a blaster.
"Now we're going somewhere." She heard him explain. She watched as one of the blasts from a Trooper severed the charge line. Poe didn't hesitate, he flew them out of the charging dock.
She didn't let herself relax, she knew they were far from being out of the danger zone.
"We'll need to destroy those cannons, otherwise we won't make it far." He said. She nodded her head even though he couldn't see her.
"I'm Poe. What's your name?" She heard him ask from behind her. She focused on the display screen as one of the Fighters got in her line of fire, then she shot. She saw a blaze of red out the corner of her eye and knew she had hit it.
"Great job!" Poe laughed. She felt a smile stretch across her face. "So tell me, what's your name." He asked again as he smoothly maneuvered around the lasers that were trying to kill them.
"AM 491." She recited the name in monotone, used to saying in front of her superiors and no one else.
"That's not a name!" Poe seemed indignant. Maybe she should share her other title with him.
Pet.
The thought of anyone else knowing made her throat tighten over her scar and made her eyes burn.
No, no one would ever call her that again.
"Allyria!" Poe finally said. "Are you okay with Allyria, can I call you that?" He asked.
"Yes." She said in a small voice. "Allyria, I like that." He must have heard the tremor in her voice because he didn't say anything further.
They flew directly towards the rear of the ships were the two larger cannons where located. "Alright Allyria, I'm giving you a straight shot."
She swallowed, the action difficult as usual. She wouldn't die today. She needed one day of freedom. Just one. Then she could die.
She looked at the screen as the cannons aligned. Then she fired. Everything around her slowed as she waited for the sound of destruction. The machine around her was one of the best the galaxy had produced, she knew it would hit its target. The sound she was waiting for would mean the beginning.
And then she heard it.
"Yes! You hit it, you hit it!" She was laughing now, so much that there were almost tears in her eyes. But, as was the case with most good things, it came to an end.
"Allyria, we need to head back to Jakku." Poe said. There was real remorse in his tone. Almost as if he knew that it would mean the end of her.
"Why? We'll be sitting ducks on Jakku. They'll find us and kill us." She tried to reason with him.
"I need to go back and get my droid."
"A droid?!" She exclaimed. She couldn't believe he would put them in this situation over a droid.
"It's a very special droid. It's white and orange. One of a kind. I need to get it before we can leave." Poe said coolly.
"We can't go back! We can't!" Allyria didn't know much about strategic escapes, but this seemed especially stupid.
But before Poe could counter her argument, their Fighter was hit by the enemy and jerked towards Jakku. Soon, they were pulled into the gravitational force and were plummeting towards the surface.
NB*NB*NB
Allyria woke up with sand in her mouth.
She remembered unlocking the emergency escape, and hurling into the air above the desert planet. She must have lost consciousness.
She looked around and saw the partially destroyed TIE Fighter a few hundred meters away from her. At least they had made it back in one piece. Poe should be close by.
She forced herself to stand. Everything around her seemed to spin and she set back heavily onto the sand. She allowed herself a moment of composure, but she knew that the Order would not be far behind. She needed to get supplies form the Fighter and to find Poe.
Her steps were slow and she stumbled more than once. It took her longer than she anticipated. Already her throat felt stretched and rough form the dry air. She climbed over the wing of the Fighter and looked inside for any possible supplies. What she saw was the pilot's seat, still intact and Poe's jacket.
The emergency escape had not unlocked properly for him.
Allyria picked up the pilot's jacket and felt something she had not allowed herself to feel for a long time.
Loss.
NB*NB*NB*
Author's Note:
This will definitely be a Kylo Ren/OC. A little dark. It will follow the movie…mostly.