General Organa had received word that there was a man located on Jakku that had information on the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. This being very important to the General, she sent out the Resistance's best- Commanders Poe Dameron and Cassandra Solo.

So here they were, flying to a hot planet full of sand and force knows what danger was there waiting for them. Once their X-wing landed, Cass looks over at her co-pilot, "Here goes nothing." Poe simply chuckles and pats her on the shoulder, sending her a wink in response. They both feel the extreme heat the minute they get out of the ship. Poe was dressed in a tan shirt and his signature leather jacket. Cass was in her usual attire- a tight, black jumpsuit with a grey cloak. The outfit was perfectly paired with her shoulder length, silver hair, half of it neatly tied into a knot at the top of her head.

The pair make their way into the village, looking for the tent they were to meet their contact. All her mother had told her was that their contact was a man by the name of Lor San Tekka. Not a minute later, they are greeted by a kind, older man. "Welcome, Commanders." He greets. "Worry not, the General has filled me in. I'm happy to help. Please, take a seat." He gestures to the bench behind them. The pair nod their heads and sit down, Lor San Tekka taking a seat across from them. He reaches for Cassandra's hand, then places a small pouch in her palm, which she accepts gratefully. "This begin to make things right. I've traveled too far, and seen too much, to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

Poe smiles at the man, "Well, because of you now we have a chance. The General's been after this for a long time."

"'The General.'" Lor San Tekka sighs, "To me, she's royalty." He looks at Cassandra, "As are you, princess."

Poe glances at Cass, who's trying her hardest to hide her distaste at the formal greeting. "Well, she certainly is that." They're interrupted when BB-8 enters the room, beeping frantically. Concerned looks take over the pairs face's. Poe turns to Lor San Tekka, a grim expression on his face. "We've got company." They all exit the tent, Poe raises up a pair quadronoculars. "Shit." He mutters, seeing the enemy ships quickly approaching them.

Cassandra turns to Lor San Tekka, "You have to hide."

He shakes his head, "You have to leave. Go!" They both hesitate for a moment before heading off, BB-8 in tow.

They run quickly through the village, seeing multiple villagers armed and ready to defend their home. After a few minutes the crew finally reach their X-wing, which was hidden behind a rather large rock. "Come on BB-8! Hurry!" Once he's close enough, Poe get BB-8 in the droid socket before joining Cassandra in the cockpit. The controls all light up and the roof of the ship begins to close. Cassandra glances over her shoulder and sees the First Order arrive a distance away from them. Poe urgently works the controls, trying to get them out of there. BB-8 beeps anxiously, and finally the X-wing engines start up. Just as they're about to lift off, they're hit by blaster fire. Cassandra and Poe look behind them and see two stormtroopers charging towards them, firing their blasters. "I see 'em!" He uses the controls to deploy the X-wing's drop-down blaster and takes out the two troopers, knowing there would be more behind them. He quickly tries to start the ship again, but the engine sputters. Concerned, he opens his canopy, jumps down and moves to the back of the ship where he finds the rear engine panel destroyed by the blaster fire. They're in trouble. Poe and Cassandra kneel beneath the ship, Cass pulls from the pouch a small artifact which she inserts into BB-8 She pats him on gently, "You take this. It's safer with you than it is with us. You get as far away from here as you can. You hear me?" BB-8 BEEPS, hesitantly. "We'll come back for you! It'll be alright." BB-8 watches them run off, whining nervously, before turning and heading off.

Poe uses his blaster rifle to fire at incoming troopers from cover. Sensing that he needs backup, Cassandra brushes back her cloak, revealing a belt with a holster. Pulling the weapon from the holster she ignites it, unleashing the green blade. After taking down a decent number of stormtroopers they turn their attention to the shuttle craft, just as the door opens. Through the wind and smoke, they see a tall, dark figure exit the ship. Cassandra's hear stops at the sight, watching as the figure strides through the chaos toward San Tekka. She hadn't seen him since…

She could feel through the force that it was him. Thankfully, she had trained with Luke to block him from her mind, so she remained undetected. She put her lightsaber away to further avoid standing out. Kylo Ren stops before the outraged Lor San Tekka, intimidating him with his height alone. The figure's voice comes out muffled through the mask, "Look how old you've become."

Lor San Tekka stares down the man behind the mask. "Something far worse has happened to you."

"You know what I've come for."

"I know where you come from. Before you called yourself Kylo Ren."

"The map to Skywalker. We know you've found it, and now you're going to give it to the First Order."

~8~

A distance away from the village, Poe and Cassandra watch the exchange. Poe turns to Cassandra, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Cass, you need to go. Find BB-8 and get back to the base."

She shakes her head, "Poe, you can't do this alone."

"Cass, please. You know we can't let him find you."

She sighs and finally nods in acceptance. She pulls him into a tight hug, breathing in his scent briefly before pressing a kiss to his cheek. When this was all said and done, she would totally tease him for blushing. With that, she runs further away from the action and stays put, watching Poe.

~8~

Lor San Tekka continues, "The First Order rose from the dark side... you did not."

Ren begins to get impatient. "I'll show you the dark side."

"You may try, but you cannot deny the truth that is your family."

Suddenly Kylo Ren raises his lightsaber and ignites it, revealing a frazzled looking red blade with matching cross hares. "You're so right." And he brings the blade down on Lor San Tekka, killing the innocent man. Cassandra gasps, and watches with baited breath as she sees Poe, running towards them. He yells something she couldn't make out from where she was, and then he aims his blaster at Kylo Ren and fires.

Kylo Ren raises his hand, freezing Poe's blast, leaving the bolt of energy straining in midair. Kylo Ren then sees Poe who suddenly can't move, struggling against the strength of the force. He's grabbed by Stormtroopers who drag him past the frozen blast, to Kylo Ren. The Stormtrooper kicks Poe's legs out from under him, making him land hard on his knees. Kylo Ren kneels to look at Poe.

Poe starts sarcastically, "So who talks first? You talk first?"

Kylo Ren tilts his head to the side, "The old man gave it to you."

Poe uses his head to gesture to Kylo's mask. "It's just very hard to understand you with all the..."

"Search him."

"... Apparatus." The Troopers roughly pull Poe away. A Stormtrooper begins to pat Poe down rather harshly. Kylo Ren moves closer and Poe just glares as the pat down ends.

"Nothing, sir." One of the Stormtroopers says.

"Put him on board." Ren orders.

He then regards the Stormtroopers with the rounded-up villagers, then turns to the chrome stormtrooper who, upon speaking, turns out to be a woman. "Sir, the villagers."

"Kill them all." Kylo answers simply. Cassandra's heart drops, perhaps momentarily letting her mental guards down.

Kylo Ren heads back toward his ship. But then he suddenly stops. Feeling something. He turns sharply, looking in Cassandra's direction. She holds her breath and stays as still as possible, letting out the breath she was holding when he finally looks away. Cassandra turns around and starts running off in the direction she last saw BB-8 heading. She needed to find that droid before the First Order did. She turns around, hearing a large explosion in the distance, and sees Poe's X-wing destroyed. Her heart feels heavy with everything that had just happened, but she couldn't let that distract her, she had a mission to complete first. And then she would save Dameron's ass.