CHAPTER 2
"It's OK." He lets the words escape as a whisper while he busies himself with the futile effort of trying to overpower the tractor beam.
"Poe, we can't escape it."
He knows but he has to do something. His mind frantically reels through the snippets of memories from the last time he came face-to-face with Kylo Ren and his body automatically reacts to it with futile attempts at escape. After several attempts he finally gets a grip on himself enough to stop and calm down so he can at least approach the situation with a rational, logical mind.
"So what do we do, Jedi?"
"We let it take us in and we figure out a way to escape them from on board."
"We could fight our way out when we land."
"No; we have to disable the tractor beam before we can get out or we won't get very far. Besides, there will be too many of them waiting for us in the hangar. Kylo Ren knows I'm in this ship; he'll have every Stormtrooper imaginable waiting for us."
"That guy really does have a strange obsession with you."
"You have no idea."
"What is with that, anyway?"
"It's complicated."
He figured as much. The Resistance had been very concerned about Kylo Ren's apparent search and pursuit of Rey following Starkiller base. Quickly after the Resistance's victory, a bounty had been placed on her head and their spy network confirmed that Kylo Ren's movements were due to his ongoing search for her. It seemed that half of the First Order had been devoted to locating her. While Poe knows that Force users are rare, it still makes little sense to him why Kylo Ren would have such an obsession; she's pretty plain.
"Well, looks like it's about to get more complicated." Whatever lies in store for them will not be good and they both know it.
Rey, all business, doesn't bother to respond to his smart remark. It's just as well since this really isn't the best time for the two of them to argue and he knows it— she really is his best chance at survival in this situation given her abilities. The lightsaber helps, too.
"When we land, stay close to me as we get out. There's very little chance that we will be able to escape right then, though we can give it a shot anyway, but you have to stay right next to me so we don't die."
Her giving orders again chafes on him.
"Thinking you're going to protect me, Jedi? I'm pretty good with a blaster, you know."
"Yeah, but you can't stop blaster bolts and I can. Have you ever seen Kylo Ren Force choke someone before?"
"No."
"Me either and I don't want to witness it today. That's why you need to stay by me; we can give each other cover. If you wander away, I can't stop Kylo Ren if he decides to kill you."
"Won't he be more focused on killing you anyway?"
"He'll want to kill me one-on-one in a fight like he was going to do on Starkiller or he'll want to bring me to Snoke. Remember how the bounties for me were to bring me alive and unharmed; not dead? He won't want a random Stormtrooper killing me. You, on the other hand, he might make sure dies just because of your position in the Resistance."
"You weren't kidding that this whole thing is complicated." He tries to say it in a playful tone to push down the growing terror he feels as the landing dock of the Star Destroyer draws closer to them.
Truthfully, he never fully recovered from his last stay with Kylo Ren. While his body has, in fact, healed, his mind hasn't and nightmares still plague his sleeping hours. He's tried everything but nothing has worked yet; his reality as far as he can tell will continue to include nightly terrors for however long his life continues. Right now it seems as though that won't be long.
"It's going to be fine, Poe. He won't get a chance to torture you again."
Her words are so softly spoken that Poe wonders if she even realizes she said them out loud. Either way, they strike him with realization once again. Suddenly, the cold slug of betrayal settles in his stomach as he understands why she would say such a thing.
"Stop reading my mind, Jedi."
"Stop projecting your thoughts, Pilot. It wouldn't take a Jedi to know what you're thinking right now."
With a thud and a clatter, the Y-wing lands on the dock. They're out of time.
"BB-8, you should go hide somewhere as soon as we get out. Don't let them get ahold of you. We won't leave without you." Rey's words to the droid are met with a series of beeps affirming understanding of her instructions.
Even though Poe's trained for every eventuality of war, in theory, this reality is overwhelming. This was supposed to be a quick, easy mission to bring Skywalker and his student back. That was it. It was supposed to be so easy that originally it would be one person assigned to it if that one person hadn't have been someone who still doesn't have full function of his body back.
Reluctantly, Poe hits the release on the hatch on the ancient Y-wing and sets about fumbling with his belt so he can stand. Once he hears the telltale click of his restraint coming apart, he checks for his blaster in its holster and pulls himself into a crouch on his seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rey doing the same, readying herself for the impending clash that will undoubtedly happen. Oddly enough, though, her lightsaber is missing from her belt. She clearly had it on Ahch-To. It must have dropped in their rush to leave— that doesn't inspire confidence about their chances of escape.
There are at least two hundred Stormtroopers waiting next to where they land. At the front of them stands a man in a crisp officer's uniform, a shock of copper hair peaking out the sides of his matching hat. But no sign of the black clad monster that stalks the galaxy.
Even without Kylo Ren present, the slow creep of terror advances through Poe's body. He can't stand the idea of Rey picking up on his fear, much less Kylo Ren, so he quickly quells it. Instead, he puts on an arrogant smirk and carefully hops down on to the floor, Rey following close behind.
"This is quite the welcoming committee, boys. No need to go to such extravagance for us."
"Silence, Resistance filth." The red head's tone is sharp. He's clearly used to giving orders exactly once and judging by his uniform, he is an officer of high rank. "You are now prisoners of the First Order— submit peacefully or die."
Rey immediately shifts so she's standing slightly in front of Poe, separating him from the troops and angry officer in front of them. The movement causes every Stormtrooper to draw their blaster, aiming it directly at them. In response, Rey extends her arm in front of her, pointed at the group.
"You can shoot all you want but you know I can easily stop your fire or even reverse it."
Now it looks like they're going to have to fight their way out of this— so much for Rey's insistence that they not. The thought of this pulls a groan from deep in Poe's chest.
"We talked about this, Rey," it's a low murmur but she clearly hears it since her head turns to the side to eye him.
"Shut. Up. And stay close." She turns her attention back to the group of armed combatants who have their weapons trained on the two of them.
"There's no way you could single handedly block fire and fight all of us at once."
Rey moves several steps forward and plants her feet defiantly.
"Do you want to find out?"
"No need, Scavenger."
The words come out deep from a modulator, its source directly behind Poe. Poe would move but he's frozen in place as Kylo Ren quickly grabs Poe's arm, pulls it behind his back, and brings his lightsaber up to halt inches from the pilot's neck.
It's a lot harder to control his terror now when Poe can feel the heat from the blade that is so close to ending his life.
Rey turns then to see Poe clearly at the mercy of the man known to be incredibly destructive and apt to kill for no reason.
"You were supposed to stay close." She hisses it at Poe, though her eyes stay locked on Kylo Ren.
Seriously, that is what she's thinking about right now?
"Surrender, Scavenger, or I will have no qualms ending the pilot now." It's practically a growl from the residual noise of the mask's modulator.
Any other person would hang their head in defeat at the words but Rey keeps her chin up and her shoulders squared as she stares down the mask of a person. Even when it's clear she's lost she still faces it with bravery.
"You're making a big assumption that she cares if you kill me, Metalface."
"Oh, she cares. So would General Organa." The black clad figure scoffs as he inches the glowing blade closer to Poe's neck.
"Alright. I'll surrender but only if you promise not to harm him in any way, Ben."
"Fine."
An irritated huff accompanies the single word, but it's Kylo Ren's quick agreement to such a demand that catches Poe's attention.
Four Stormtroopers approach and one demands Rey hold out her arms for them to cuff her. Even if she very slowly does so, she still complies. The cuffs close with a series of clicks and and it feels like the door to survival does, too. Once Rey is secured, Kylo Ren immediately withdraws his lightsaber and shoves Poe forward to be cuffed as well.
Briefly Poe meets Rey's eye, silently asking what he should do. By the threat he sees in them, he decides it's best not to resist and reluctantly follows suit. As the cold cuffs meet his flesh he silently hopes that Rey has a plan for this because he certainly doesn't. But he's unable to say anything to her because he's immediately being pulled forward and out of the corner of his eye he sees the butt of a blaster come down on the back of Rey's head, rendering her unconscious.
The cells they put them in are devoid of anything other than a slab that would only generously be called a bed. Rey sits up on the slab, wondering why they even bother to put it in here since the floor would be the same effect. Her head throbs from where she was struck earlier, the pain explaining why she doesn't remember how she got from the hangar to the cell. The Stormtroopers are still standing in the cell watching her for unknown reasons.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" She glares at them belligerently from behind dark lashes.
The Stormtroopers turn to each other in confusion but ultimately leave. It's completely silent other than the faint sounds of boots marching down the hall outside the door. An inspection of the cell reveals no cameras though she knows she must move quickly, regardless. It's only a matter of time before Kylo Ren returns—most likely to take her to Snoke if he doesn't decide to kill her instead.
The cuffs dampen her Force abilities so she must find another way out of this. She only has so many chances to attempt this so she carefully raises her cuffed hands to pull a pin from her hair. Luckily, they haven't figured out how to make Force dampening cuffs without accessible locks. She knows they'll undoubtedly be complicated but her years of having to survive alone have taught her a lot, including how to pick even the most difficult locks with little. Once she has the pin free and straightened enough, it doesn't take long before the cuffs fall to the floor.
When the sounds of Stormtroopers recede far down the hall, she Force opens the door and carefully slinks over to it, peeking out to check for any other troopers or officers. It's clear. She doesn't know which cell Poe is being held in, though. That's a big problem; she can't leave without him.
Before she steps out into the hallway, she takes a breath and closes her eyes to reach out through the Force. Surprisingly, there aren't many prisoners detained here. Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised, though: Kylo Ren has a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. Regardless, it at least makes the task of finding Poe easier. She senses him two cells down and quickly makes her way there, remaining in a low crouch as she proceeds.
The sight that greets her when she opens the door to his cell makes her take in a quick breath: while she's remained relatively unscathed through her imprisonment, Poe sports several bruises and cuts. It makes her gut twist with guilt— she had promised him Kylo Ren wouldn't torture him again. She even made that monster promise. Perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised that a homicidal maniac doesn't keep his word.
Even with several injuries apparent, he immediately draws himself up to his full height as soon as he hears the door open. When he sees it's her, he only marginally relaxes, though she notes how his chest still remains puffed out. She would roll her eyes at him for this unnecessary display but she can't bring herself to when she feels responsible for his current state. Without much thought she rushes over to him, an appraising eye inspecting his visible wounds.
"What happened? He said he wouldn't hurt you."
"Don't worry, Jedi— he didn't. The Stormtroopers just roughed me up a bit after I made a crack at them. I've had worse." He tries to smile as he speaks but it comes out more as a grimace. Rey frowns at him.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Clearly. No sense of self-preservation, me." He grins wider at her, satisfied with himself.
"We don't have time to deal with your injuries now— we need to get out of here."
"I know. I hope you have a plan."
"I do…kind of." Her eyes refuse to meet his; instead casting about the barren cell.
"That isn't very reassuring, Jedi." He sighs heavily and would run a hand through his hair nervously but he still remains cuffed. "Could you help me out with these?" He raises his hands in reference.
It only take a wave of her hand for them to fall to the floor with a clatter that makes them both wince. Hopefully nobody heard. Even though he hasn't been wearing the cuffs for long, he still finds the feeling of unrestricted movement foreign and novel.
"What's this plan you kind of have?"
"Let's get out of these cells first before Kylo Ren comes back and then I'll tell you."
He sees her logic so he doesn't argue, even when she insists on leading them down the hallway. Once they're clear of the detention wing she ducks into a dark alcove and he follows.
"So what's your plan, Jedi?"
Her eyes raise to his and she notes that while he's all confidence and vibrato, anxiety rolls off of him in waves that crash into her like the waves on Ahch-to she used to watch meet the rocks.
"We have to deactivate the tractor beam in order for us to escape, otherwise they'll just pull us right back in. If we just deactivate it in their system, they might be able to reactivate it before we even can take off. It's best to actually mechanically disable it. It will take them longer to identify and repair."
"Can we do that?"
"I can but it means I have to actually be down where it's controlled so I can manually do so. When I do, there will probably be some sort of alarm that will sound, alerting the entire ship. It will need an override in the system."
"And how will we do that?"
"Find a Stormtrooper that has that level of access."
"And they're just going to hand their access code over to us?
Rey shoots him a cocky grin. "Of course."
He's not sure what to make of that but she quickly jumps from their hiding spot into the hallway. There are two Stormtroopers heading toward them that aim their blasters at Rey upon seeing her.
"Halt, intruder!" The voice is modulated to sound mechanical and cold. It doesn't seem to faze Rey, who stands before them with her shoulders straight and her gaze settled on them.
"You will hand me your weapons and give me your access code to the alert system."
Poe cringes, waiting for the inevitable blaster fire and ensuing crowd of Stormtroopers. Surprisingly, that's not what happens. The troopers stand stock still for a moment before parroting her words back to her.
"I will hand you my weapon," they both surrender their blasters, handle first. "And give you my access code to the alert system."
"Which is?"
"Alpha eight two nine delta."
"You will now leave and forget this ever happened."
"I will now leave and forget this ever happened."
Once they've continued halfway down the hall she waves Poe from where he still stands concealed in darkness. She offers him a blaster as he reaches her side, which he gratefully takes.
"That was pretty impressive."
She looks up at him with a raised brow. "Is that a compliment, pilot?"
"Don't get too excited. We still have to get out of here. Do you even know where the tractor beam is controlled?"
Her face becomes more self-satisfied. "Remember that the old Star Destroyers were my playground as a child and they couldn't have changed that much so I have a good idea. You'll need to find a station to access the alert system so you can manually override it."
"Right. That will be simple." His words drip with sarcasm.
She knows they don't have time to waste bickering in the hall— it's only a matter of time until Kylo Ren realizes they've escaped and comes looking for her. So instead of responding, she leads them down the hall, back toward where she believes the hangar is. It seems to be too simple that they have easily evaded any other Stormtroopers.
"How are we getting this lucky? We haven't been caught again. Something is up."
"You're right, something is: I can sense them coming."
"Oh." He hadn't really considered that she could do that.
They come upon a desk area with a large screen and a keyboard. It's not too far from the hangar as far as Rey can tell.
"OK, this should be able to get you into the system with the access code. I'll take care of the rest." She starts to walk away but Poe catches her wrist.
"Where are you going?"
"I have to disable the tractor beam unless you want to wait around and see how hospitable Kylo Ren is the second time."
"Right. Do you even know if what you need is here?"
"Yes— the tractor beam is controlled here. I've been through enough ships like this to know." She walks over to the wall and wiggles a panel until it comes loose, revealing a gap large enough for her to crawl through. "So I'm going to figure out how to disable it."
Before he can respond, she's scurried through the gap in the wall and disappeared. By himself, Poe feels a creeping fear growing in him again. He turns around, his stolen blaster poised in case someone happens upon him. As the seconds tick by into minutes, he finds himself fidgeting more and moving around to check any area nearby that isn't readily visible from his station. He's about to consider following Rey when the alarm overhead begins to blare.
"Well, at least she knows her way around a tractor beam."
He searches the main menu that's up, quickly finding the control to turn off the alarm. The blaring stops and then there's a voice coming from the comm on the desk.
"Station 647, please report on alarm."
"False alarm. Situation normal." He has no idea if that is what the person who would normally be stationed here would say; First Order protocols are not his specialty.
Anticipating Rey's return, he collects himself, pushing away any anxiety. It wouldn't do for Rey to sense such from him; he can't stand that idea. If anyone had told him there would be a time he'd be happy to see the scrawny, irritating Jedi, he would have laughed at that person. The moment she pulls herself from the darkness and stands to replace the panel, however, brings him profound happiness and relief. He quells it though, lest she realize it and interpret it incorrectly. He's just happy they can get out of here.
There's not time for congratulatory sentiments so he skips straight to the point. "We're going to have a lot of company soon if we don't get out of here."
"Right. Let's go."
Unconcerned now with being detected, they run down the hall and around corners, until the hangar is just as the end of the hall they're currently in. They're closing in, so close to freedom, when Rey can feel a dark presence prickling at the back of her neck.
"Rey!" The deep, loud, modulated voice causes her to stop in her tracks.
Poe stops, looking back at Rey, who is turned to look at the black clad, masked monster that stands about halfway down the hall. He can't understand why she stopped—surely they could make a run for it still. Why does it seem that Kylo Ren always finds a way to muck up any plan?
"Rey," Poe hisses desperately. She turns her head to meet his eyes. "Let's go."
Slowly she shakes her head. "No. Go find a ship and prepare it to take off. I'll be right there."
"Rey, no."
"Go, Pilot!"
He grits his teeth, debating whether he should listen to her instructions. It's useless to argue with her so he decides to do as she says, practically growling as he turns to go. There's no way he can leave without her— Finn would never forgive him and neither would either the General or Jedi Master. Besides, she could have left him in his cell and saved herself but she took the time to find him and made sure he escaped with her, even though he's certain that his injuries slowed them both down.
The Y-Wing isn't anywhere to be found so he quickly dashes into a black cargo ship. He's been one of the best pilots in the galaxy for over a decade— he's sure he can fly this. As long as it has some sort of weaponry, it should be sufficient. He only pauses for a few seconds, considering the controls, before he starts flipping switches and pushing buttons to prepare it for flight.
Once he's programmed the navigation computer with coordinates for their light speed jump, he waits for the ship to warm up by walking back through the ship to look for trackers. He's certain that the First Order places them on every ship and this one is no exception— he finds two and promptly destroys them. Satisfied he's located all, he picks up his blaster and goes to stand on the ramp, ready to give cover for Rey if necessary.
She'd better hurry.
