It was General Organa who insisted that Verena Calrissian leave the Resistance. She had nearly worked herself to death, Leia said. Verena had never agreed with that assessment. Sure, she had taken to working through meals and not sleeping regularly but she wasn't doing anything uncommon among her fellow resistance fighters. No, it was Verena's mother who had demanded, much less suggested, that Leia put her on leave. The older Calrissian woman had the talent for always getting what we wanted. And so the General sent Verena to work as an aide for a friend in the Senate. It was only supposed to last six months, but it quickly turned into two years.
The entire time Verena ached to return to her former position as a programming specialist for the Resistance. Life with the Senate had its moments of intensity, particularly when a contentious vote was pending, but the usual mundane pace never sat well with Verena. Her old job of staring at a computer screen was nowhere near as exciting as being a fighter pilot but it was the environment of the Resistance base she missed most and she wanted to return. But Leia had suggested something else, and Verena was certain her mother would hate the General if she ever found out.
The plan was to get captured. Get on the inside of a First Order Star Destroyer, find a computer terminal and hack into the files. It sounded simple but such internal espionage had never been attempted before. Planting a spy within the First Order in a more traditional manner would take several years. But a spy as a prisoner was much more time efficient. And time is of the essence in a war. Verena could be that spy. She had the name recognition not to be killed right away and she was trained in computer intelligence. Given enough time and incentive, she could bypass any code and lock. The hard part would be slipping from whatever cell they put her in and getting to a computer terminal unnoticed. And then there was the whole escape part. But Leia Organa was convinced Verena could succeed. And the Resistance was desperate for information regarding their elusive enemy.
There were rumors that the First Order were building something. Reports of increased mining on ore plants and the recruitment of engineers and labor contracts were enough to raise some red flags. Reconnaissance flights were too risky for the lack of information they provided. But a spy undetected on the inside could provide more significant information. The risk was greater, but so was the reward. Verena had agreed to bear that risk. Still, there were precautions to be taken, and Verena voluntarily demoted herself in the Resistance to keep important knowledge out of her hands. It was necessary for Verena to be kept at arm's length from the Resistance, so she wouldn't have any vital secrets to spill when was she was interrogated. So Verena stayed with the Senate, waiting for further orders.
Those orders still hadn't arrived when Poe Dameron asked her to join him on his trek out to the Western Reaches. But Verena had accepted nonetheless. The pilot had become her only connection to the Resistance during her time on Hosnian Prime. Still, his invitation surprised her, as she wasn't supposed to engage in or even know about actual Resistance missions. That didn't stop her from saying yes when Poe asked her come along. It was a mission from General Organa and Poe needed backup, just in case he said when Verena explained she wasn't good with a blaster, but she was the most convenient option since they both were on Hosnian Prime at the time. And Verena had not ventured out of the Core Worlds in two years, not even to visit her home planet of Bespin.
It wasn't until they had landed on Jakku that Poe informed her of the exact details of his mission. Even then, Verena hadn't expected things to go sideways. Her mission was to get capture, Verena just hadn't expected it to happen here on the desert planet of Jakku with Poe Dameron. Still, the plan was there, she reminded herself as another regiment of stormtroopers departed the shuttle that had appeared at the edge of the village. As backup, she wasn't much help, having never received any actual weapon training.
Poe had even grabbed her hand as they darted away from Lor San Tekka's hut but somehow they still managed to get separated in the firefight that ensued. Weapon forgotten in hand, she had to double back and circle around the cluster of huts before she was able to safely reach her X-Wing. Poe was standing next to his, blaster in hand with a finger on the trigger. He had waited for her. Verena gave her partner a stiff nod to signal that she was okay before she started to climb into the cockpit. Then the back engine exploded, sending Verena falling to the hard sand below and chucks of metal flying through the air.
Without even looking, Verena knew the X-Wing was no longer flyable. Poe's had taken similar damage, forcing him to climb out of the cockpit and pull his orange and white droid out of the ruined ship. They were stuck. More red beams of blaster fire flew in their direction, causing them both to hide behind the short wall made out of packed sand. "Got any ideas?" Poe asked, as he prepared his blaster.
Ignoring the odd pain that had appeared in her side, Verena glanced over the wall, looking into the once quiet village, whose inhabitants were now being herded together into the center of the clearing. Fire from burning homes lit up the night air. "I got one," Verena whispered before turning to her fellow pilot. "But it doesn't involve you."
He gave her a quick look before pulling the map out of his pocket. The map to Luke Skywalker. Stowing it safely inside BB-8, Poe said a few words to the droid, Verena couldn't hear over the sound of another approaching ship. It wasn't another trooper transport. No, this ship was black with large folding wings that reminded Verena of a bird. A bird of prey, maybe.
Poe's voice pulled her eyes away from the ship as it landed. "Are you sure about this?" He asked. BB-8 had disappeared with the map.
Verena nodded. "We all have our jobs to do, Poe." She knew what he thought of her job, that it was a death wish. In a way, perhaps it was. "You should go with your droid. Get the map back to the General. Complete your mission."
He shook his head causing his dark curls to bounce slightly. "I'm not leaving you."
Verena was about to argue when a figure caught her attention. He was clad in all black and beneath his hood, Verena could make out the shape of a mask as it reflected in the firelight as he marched off the winged shuttle, flanked by more stormtroopers. She had never seen Kylo Ren but she knew this was the First Order's mysterious Force-user. Sinking further into the sand beneath her, Verena cursed under her breath. This complicated everything, but Verena wouldn't allow it to change anything.
"Poe, please." She grabbed him roughly by the jacket, forcing him to look away from the Jedi Killer and to her. His brown eyes were a shade lighter than hers and were often filled with a warm glow that put Verena at ease. But now that glow was gone, replaced by a sharp seriousness that flickered in the dim orange light of the fires burning around them. His eyes were calculating, absorbing the images in front of them and analysing it all. It was second nature by now. He wasn't just Poe, the friend who occasionally sought her out, pulling her away from her duties with the Senate for the day. Now, on this desert planet in the middle of nowhere surrounded by First Order troops, he was Commander Poe Dameron. Her superior.
Verena had never commanded anyone. She wasn't even a soldier. During her time with the Resistance, she programmed computers, fixed droids, oversaw communication channels. With the Senate, Verena attended committee meetings, took notes and filed reports. She was privileged enough to have never had to defend herself or those she cared about. She didn't even know how to properly use a blaster, for godssake. But Leia had given her a mission. Verena could have easily stayed on Hosnian Prime and finished her paperwork. She could have refused any part in the General's plan, and Leia wouldn't have thought any less of her for it. But she had trusted Verena with it. And Verena had accepted the challenge. She yanked Poe closer to her. "We both have our orders, Poe. Get outta he-" Before she could finish telling him off for his stubbornness, something in the village won the battle for their attention.
When Kylo Ren struck down Lor San Tekka with his fiery red lightsaber, Poe reacted before her. He jumped over the sand wall, firing a single shot at the tall hooded figure. The blue beam never reached its target. With an outstretched hand, Ren stopped the beam mid-journey and it hung there as a pair of stormtroopers made their way over to Poe, who had also been frozen in place. Verena peered over the edge of the wall far enough that she was seen.
Tossing her unused blaster to the side, Verena threw her hands up as the stormtrooper approached her. Together, Poe and her were pulled forward until they were standing directly in front of Kylo Ren. Verena kept her head down, preferring to stare at the sand than the strange mask. "Search them." His voice was distorted, altered by his mask. Rough hands swept over her clothes, in and out of pockets quickly and not finding anything but specks of sand. The same occurred to Poe before they were forced to their knees. Pain erupted in her side as her body bent and Verena knew her injuries were more than superficial, but there was no time to worry about it now.
Ren lowered himself as well, but remained silent as he stared at the pair before him. "Do I talk first or do you talk first?" Poe said bravely, looking Kylo Ren directly in the mask. He quickly turned to her, "Do you wanna talk first?"
Under different circumstances and in better company, Verena would have laughed at Poe's attempt at a joke. But all she could manage was a quiet sigh as Kylo Ren's attention was shifted to her. His gaze was heavy and Verena tried not to think about the eyes that were behind the mask and whether or not they recognized her. An odd feeling appeared in the back of her mind. It was soft and gone just as quickly as it had appeared but she knew it was him. She expected him to say something to her, but instead he turned back to Poe.
"The old man gave you the map." He said after a moment. It wasn't a question. "Put them on-board. Separately." Without another word, the pair were pulled to their feet and marched forward towards the transport ships. Verena closed her eyes as Ren instructed the stormtroopers to open fire on the remaining villagers. You have a plan, she thought to herself as rough hands escorted her up a ramp. Stay alive and stick to the plan. All the while, she wished Poe had listened to her and followed his droid.