THE PAST TO COME

CHAPTER 1

''Come back to me," Lana said softly to her brother.

''Don't I always?" He chuckled and Lana rolled her eyes.

"Don't get me started on that," she said and walked away. "Remember Han, this time I'll really kill you if you don't," she said and smiled over her shoulder, just before walking out from the hangar. She was in her fifties. Her bright, blue eyes still had signs of overuse of Spice in her youth, her skin carried scars from her many adventures. She was younger sister to Han Solo and just like him, she was a smuggler and a great pilot. If one believed her own words, far better than her brother.

She took a deep breath of fresh air and watched the Falcon leave. She had her own dangerous mission ahead, but for a brief moment she could enjoy this peaceful sunrise. She quickly spotted Poe Dameron, also looking at the morning sky, his eyes clearly concerned.

"Don't worry Poe, if anyone is to fly your precious princess safely, it's Han," she said with smile.

"Ma'am," Poe straightened up immediately and nodded with a bit of respect.

"Oh stop it, I'm not your military," she dismissed him with a short wave of her palm.

"I'm not worried," he said. "It's just…"

"It's just that you think that she should travel on a corvette surrounded by dozen of TIE-fighters."

"Well…" the young pilot started, but Lana dismissed his words again.

"My brother is reckless, but that's just an occupational hazard. He'll get her there safely."

"I thought about a few dozens, to be honest," Poe replied with a shrug, making the older woman laugh heartily. She had a soft spot for him, always ready to chat with him, share her experience or even teach him a trick or two. And Dameron, he admired her since the first time he had seen her fly. She seemed like an inspired pilot, beautiful and free far up in the skies. He felt exactly the same whenever he sat behind the rudders.

"When are you leaving?" She asked, looking at the wrench in his hand. Despite of having the whole technical team, he always preferred doing the last check-up by himself.

"At noon."

"And which path are you going to take?"

"Safe one, through…" he couldn't finish as BB-8's blips explained his plans, making Lana close her eyes.

"Really? Through the galaxy core? Poe, are you mad?" She asked, unable to believe in what she just heard.

"Not exactly through. Just… close," he stumbled and sighed, running his dirty fingers through his black hair. "Look, it's the fastest way to the other side. You know we don't have time."

"I believe the whole point of your mission is to get there alive."

BB-8 blipped a few times in response like if he tried to say, I said so.

"I can do it," he assured her, biting on his lip. Lana sighed and walked to his jet, caressing it gently as if it was an oversized cat.

"Avoid abnormalities," she said after a moment of silence. "Your electronics will go crazy due to unstable gravity poles, but you should recognize them anyway. You'll feel it when you're close, the tingling on the back of your head. Don't trust your eyes, your equipment nor even BB-8. Trust only your feelings."

Poe's lips parted in sudden realization. "You went there. You went through the core."

"Like I said," she replied, still avoiding his gaze. "Avoid the abnormalities."

BB-8 looked at them both and rolled under the ship, blipping something about crazy ideas. The younger pilot walked to Lana and gently turned her around.

"How was it?" He asked, still in awe.

"Surprisingly dark," she replied with a faint smile.

"But when? How? Why?" He asked, but the radio strapped to her belt interrupted their conversation. "Captain Solo, we're ready to go."

"I'll be there, five minutes." She looked up at Poe and smiled. "I'm leading a convoy to Akiva. My knowledge of safe passages suddenly became important."

Dameron nodded, rather pissed at timing. She could tell him so much! "Have a safe journey, ma'am," he said with a nod.

"You too, dear boy," she said and softly caressed his cheek. "Be careful. I want to see you again in the new base."

"I'll be there, ma'am," Poe promised with a warm smile. When she walked away, he ruffled his hair and let out a long breath. "Come on, BB-8. We have some work to do."

"I know!" Poe shouted at another series of nervous blips from BB-8. "I know that too!"

As it turned out, flying through the centre of the galaxy was easier said than done. He wasn't even past half of his journey and already he had to deal with things like uncharted neutron stars, nearby black holes and huge asteroid fields. He couldn't fly in hyperspace, the safe routs weren't discovered, let alone charted, and flying through blindly would definitely end up with him dead in a heart of one of numerous stars.

"We're almost there, buddy. Hang on!" he shouted through his earpiece, trying to encourage his droid almost as much as he tried to encourage himself. They passed a thick gas cloud and for a moment space seemed clear. A safe passage to fly between two stars without burning to death. He was half-way through when he felt it, the strange feeling his friend had warned him about. Even though it seemed nothing was there, he felt uneasy and had to fight with himself not to turn around.

"BB, how much closer to the star can we fly?" He asked, trying to avoid the terrible void in front of him. But the answer from the droid didn't help much. They'd found an optimal path, they could turn a bit, but by no means they would manage to circle the abnormality.

"No, buddy, it's not clear there," he said, slowing down as much as he could before making the call. Every cell in his body told him to run, to drop the mission, turn around and find better, safer way around the core. But time was of the essence there. He had to get the stolen plans of weaponry to the gathering of clans from the Outer Rim. The gathering would have been in just twenty hours. No… There was no way around it.

"BB-8, punch it!" Poe finally gave the order, hoping that the full power of this thrusters would get them through that damn thing fast and smoothly.

For a moment everything seemed going well, even that dreadful feeling eased a bit. But not for long, just when he calmed down, happy they flew through the abnormality safely, all hell broke loose. First he felt an enormous headache, like if someone tried to put an burning rod right through his brains.

"Come on, buddy, we can do it…" he whispered, loosening his grip on the controllers. His eyes registered a flash of bright, blue light just before he fell into darkness. Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the galaxy, passed out.

Poe woke up in the cockpit of his crashed x-wing, hurting, thirsty and, surprisingly, in the middle of a desert. What was this place? How did he get there? All he remembered was that he had flown with an important mission through the centre of the galaxy, he flew into an abnormality and then… then what? There was only darkness and pain.

"BB-8?" He asked almost voicelessly, but after a moment managed to ask louder. "BB-8? Buddy, are you there? BB-8?" The silence that answered, terrified him. His metal friend was probably the closest creature to his heart. This panic started an adrenalin rush and he managed to get outside. Burning sun hurt his eyes, but Poe stubbornly crawled up to the top of his X-wing. He found the white-orange droid barely working, with broken antenna and many burned circuits.

"Don't worry boy, I'll fix you. I promise," he said lovingly, caressing the droid. "I'll fix you." After a few moment, Poe managed to find some water and felt a bit better. He made a backpack from his jacket and put the little droid inside.

"You're heavy," he said as he pulled him onto his back. The decision to leave was an easy one. His ship was completely broken, not a single piece of equipment was working, no transponders, no radio, no nothing. So he had only two choices. Stay there and die under a burning sun, or walk, hoping he would find a shelter and water.

A binary sunset painted the skies red when Poe, exhausted to his breaking point, saw lights in the distance. A village? A city? He didn't care. Light meant life. Life meant water and he was almost hallucinating from heat of the desert.

Seeing lights woke up new layers of strength and after half an hour he could see buildings of a small town. He was saved… He would run there if he could, but he could do nothing more than crawl on his hands and knees. But bad luck of that day wasn't going to end that easily.

"Stop right there!" a familiar voice of a stormtrooper stopped him. "Hands up!"

Poe was too tired to fight three people armed with blasters. He slowly raised his hands.

"Who are you?!" Poe tried answering, but even though he moved his lips, no voice came out. His throat was too dry to let him speak.

"Who are you scum?!" The stormtrooper asked, and when he got no answer, he hit him in the head with a handle of his gun. Before Poe passed out, he noticed something strange. Their armours seamed off, the shape of their helmet looked… old. Like from imperial times. But that was simply impossible…