Chapter: 4 Precious Cargo

The First Order frigate departed from Manaan. At the command bridge, an officer stood idle before flipping on a hologram transmission. He saluted as a figure began to materialize. "General Hux."

"Admiral Tolgeth. What news from Manaan?"

"The Star Tours flight was captured, but the pilot's whereabouts remain unknown. The ship's occupants have yet to reveal his location."

"Then bring them to Starkiller Base. I'm sure my methods of persuasion will prove fruitful. We must ensure that the First Order reaches Luke Skywalker before the Resistance does."

"What are Kylo Ren's orders?" asked the admiral.

Hux sneered. "You have my orders. Are they not enough? Bring the prisoners to me."

"Yes, general."

In the frigate's lower decks, stormtroopers were almost finished heaving the kolto crates into storage. One of the troopers grunted as he set down the final crate. "Damn those rushing ground troops. They must've overstocked this one. Feel how heavy it is! I think I pulled something in my back."

"Quit your whining," jeered his partner. He was alarmed when the trooper proceeded to open the crate. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I busted my back hauling this overstocked shipment, so I deserve some kolto to heal it. Have it go down as a service fee." He mocked.

The trooper pried open the crate to face down Poe Dameron's pistol. "Here's MY service fee!"

BANG!

Poe blasted the stormtrooper in the face before rolling forwards and shooting down the second. Poe blew the smoke off of his pistol's nozzle. "Thanks for the lift, boys. All clear, BB-8." The spherical droid rolled out of the crate and beeped irritably. Poe glowered at him, "What? I had to say something creative. Alright, buddy. See if you can access the frigate's schematics." BB-8 connected himself to one of the down stormtrooper's datapads, which had an entire mapping of the ship. Poe analyzed it precisely. "The detention block is on the second level and the StarSpeeder 1000 is docked on the third. BB-8, I'll need you to sneak your way onto the ship and prep it for a quick getaway. I'm going to find the others, then I'll meet you onboard." Poe handed him a tiny comlink to store in his interior. "Stay in touch...stay out of sight."

After hiding the bodies inside the kolto crate, Poe and BB-8 went their separate ways, each sneaking down a metallic corridor. Poe backed up against a wall, observing three stormtroopers accessing an elevator. He waited for the machinery to ascend before forcing open the doors and leaping into the shaft. Poe had to have been the luckiest man alive, considering he had just barely grabbed hold of the elevator's bottom. As the best pilot in the Resistance, he was never one to fear heights. For some reason however, there was something terrifying about dangling hundreds of feet in an elevator shaft. Just when Poe had finally regained his composure, he tensed upon realizing he had missed his floor. With a mighty swing that tightened his core, Poe sprung from the elevator and grabbed hold of the rafters. Just as he dreaded, the structure was electrified, and shocked him into letting go. Poe found himself freefalling from the rafters, and hastily kicked off of the wall to land on the second floor. Now, he found himself dangling, his gloved hands clenching the ledge of the elevator entrance.

Enna flailed in any way possible. She kicked and thrashed, twitched and squirmed. Nothing she could do could get her out of her restraining chair. "You'd better let me out!" she screamed. "I'm...a Jedi! Yeah, that's it. A very powerful Jedi! Don't make me call my other...hidden...Jedi friends!"

"Jedi are extinct," spat the trooper guarding her cell.

"No they're not! I'm a Jedi! And when I get out of here, I'm...uhhh...going to find a lightsaber and hack you to bits!"

The stormtrooper ignored her threats and sighed in relief when a torture droid arrived. The pitch black droid was structured as a floating orb that teemed with torturous devices. Razors, needles, drills, and pliers lined its sides. "Torture droid, designation code PN-8DA." It computed.

The stormtrooper chuckled. "Finally, something to shut this girl up." He opened the door to her cell. "Have fun in there."

PN-8DA hovered towards Enna as she cringed. Her fighting spirit had diminished, and now the teen succumbed to a very ominous level of fear. A level that paralyzed her, sinking her heart and widening her eyes. Eyes that nervously darted from one torture device to the next. The droid spoke, "Where is the Resistance pilot?" The shrilling screech of one of the droid's drills echoed throughout the room.

"I'll...n-n-n-never tell you anything." Enna was mortified, barely able to speak. She clenched her sweaty fists, shut her eyes, and dared to say, "Do your worst."

Poe's arms were incredibly sore from all of his climbing, and it took an even greater effort to open the elevator doors. With one final burst of energy, Poe was able to hoist himself onto the detention block. "That wasn't so bad," he panted to himself. Just as he looked up, he found himself staring down an entire crew of stormtroopers. "Of course," As they trained their guns on him, Poe dove to the ground. He rolled and shot the nearby fire extinguisher, coating the area in mist and screening his movements. Red lasers zipped overhead while others ricocheted against the walls. Poe shot another extinguisher before kicking a stormtrooper down. He rushed down the detention block, his eyes burning from the mist. He then heard a young woman's scream. "ENNA!" he exclaimed.

"Poe!" echoed the urgent voice.

"I'm coming!" Poe intoned while exasperatedly feeling around for rooms. Enna's screams were getting louder when he reached her cell. PN-8DA had a drill just centimeters from her face when Poe stormed in. "Hey!" distracted Poe as the droid turned to face him.

At the sight of her rescuer, Enna's face lit up with joy, "Poe!"

"Shut your eyes!" he warned as she did so. He then blasted the torture droid in the face, sending sparks flying everywhere. Once it fell, Poe immediately knelt to shoot off Enna's restraints. "Hang on, kid."

Enna gasped, "Behind you!"

Poe turned just as a stormtrooper took aim. He quickly disarmed him of the rifle, forcing him into a grapple. But the trooper would not be so easily defeated. He headbutt Poe, sending him into a daze. Poe quickly recovered by swiftly kneeing his foe in the chest. Meanwhile, Enna hopelessly wriggled in her restraints, desperate to help her friend. Poe growled with a punch to the trooper's chest. He ducked under a jab and flipped the trooper over. The foe was able to counter by lunging back up and uppercutting Poe in the jaw. "No!" cried Enna as Poe clamored against the cell wall. The pilot fell to his knees as the stormtrooper removed some sort of melee weapon from his back. When his dizzied vision settled, he could see that it was a Z6 riot control baton. The trooper electrified the weapon and then began to rigorously spin it from the handle. Poe held up his pistol, but the trooper swatted it out of his hands. Acting fast, Poe grabbed the dropped rifle to defend himself. He blocked the troopers spin attack, which severed the rifle in the process. The end of the baton struck Enna's chair restraint, snapping one of her cuffs and tipping her over. While Poe fought to stay alive, Enna used her freed hand to inch for the pistol.

She managed to obtain it and blast her second cuff off, only to be disarmed by the stormtrooper's spin attack. Poe tackled the trooper to the ground, attempting to rid him of the baton. The trooper countered by kneeing his torso and shoving him off. He raised the baton, determined to bring it down on Poe when Enna leapt onto his back. "Leave him alone!" she wrapped her arms around the stormtrooper's neck, distracting him enough to drop the baton. He elbowed the teen, picked her up, and threw her across the room.

"Enna!" yelled Poe before grabbing the baton and jabbing the trooper with it. He grunted at the electrified strike before punching Poe across the face. He regained his baton and struck Poe in the chest. As the pilot succumbed to the electric shock, his vision began to fade. His breathing hastened only to be cut short. Hope seemed lost until Enna's scream filled the air. The teenager screeched before smacking the trooper with her restraining chair. The steel seat clanged against the trooper's head, knocking him out.

Enna helped Poe to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he wheezed. "Fine." BB-8 signaled him via comlink, saying that he had successfully snuck onto the ship. "We need to move, now!" Enna handed poe his pistol before they departed from the cell.

"Pilot!" wailed Rurik from the adjacent room. "Over here! Hurry!"

"The cartographer," recalled Poe before hobbling over. He shot off his restraints and provided covering fire while Enna helped him out of the chair.

Rurik cowered behind the wall. "I don't suppose you have a plan for getting out, do you?"

"BB-8's got the ship. We just need to ascend a floor." Poe scavenged a rifle from one of the troopers and handed it to Rurik. "I'll need your help to fight our way there."

Rurik flashed a squeamish glance at the weapon and flinched. "I've never shot a blaster in my life. I...I'm just map systems!"

"Now's the time to learn," insisted Poe.

Rurik shook his head and shied from the rifle, "Oh no no. I couldn't possibly. I don't do well under pressure."

A laser struck dangerously close to their proximity. Enna huffed, "Oh for the love of-" She lunged at Poe. "Give me that!" She took the spare rifle and wildly fired back at the stormtroopers.

"Where'd you learn to shoot?" asked Poe as he fired his pistol.

"Never done it before," she grunted. "But in this day and age, I'll have to learn eventually!"

"It's in your blood, after all." added Poe.

"This is true," smirked the teen. "For Mandalore!" She bellowed before blind-firing down the corridor.

"For the Resistance!" Poe exclaimed.

"I like that one better," she concurred.

Poe and Enna offered suppressing fire while guiding Rurik down the hall. They made for the nearest stairwell, only to encounter idle First Order troops. Poe and Enna gunned them down before he asked, "Where's AC?"

Enna grimaced. "I overheard the chrome captain conversing with a trooper. They said his power ran out, and that he was bound for the incinerator to melted into replacement parts."

"Not on my watch," snapped Poe. "Enna, I need you to get yourself and Rurik to the StarSpeeder on the docking level. BB-8 will meet you there."

"What about you?"

"I'm going for AC. If I'm not back in ten minutes, leave without me."

Enna gasped, "But-"

"That's an order." quipped Poe. "If you fight for me now, you fight for the Resistance. Now follow orders."

Enna nodded sternly, "Yes sir." she tugged at Rurik's sleeve. "Come on, you spineless whelp." Rurik trembled as they disappeared up the stairs.

"Go kid, go!" affirmed Poe before calling in. "BB-8. Check those schematics again. I need to know the quickest way to the incinerator room."

A panicking stormtrooper ran down the hall, watching as other First Order personnel tended to the wounded. He could not stop hyperventilating from the combat stress, and sought refuge in Enna's former prison cell. There, he gasped upon finding his squadmate badly beaten. "FN-2199!" He called while helping him up. "Are you alright?"

"Get off of me, FN-2187!" scorned the trooper. "And my name is Nines. Got it? Nines!" He picked up his riot control baton and electrified it once more. "Now stay out of my way. The Resistance will pay for this. They're all traitors, and must be dealt with as such!"

"This way!" beckoned Enna as she cleared the halls. Rurik timidly trailed behind her. "The docking bay is just right around...here." Enna found herself facing a line of stormtroopers, all accompanied by Captain Phasma herself. Together, they formed a wall of white and chrome in front of the StarSpeeder.

"I see I underestimated you, girl." said the captain. "Lesson well-learned. Men! Open fire!" A storm of lasers blasted away as Enna and Rurik took cover.

"Not good," she huffed before returning fire. "We're pinned! Rurik, do you see a way around?"

When he didn't answer, Enna glanced over her shoulder to find him cowering. He was rocking back and forth, whimpering, "It's just a bad dream. It's just a bad dream. Just a bad dream..."

Enna rolled her eyes before continuing to shoot.

Poe followed BB-8's coordinates to reach the incinerator room, where he found a stormtrooper stuffing scrap onto a conveyor belt tray. He immediately shot the trooper and shoved the try of parts off of the belt. Without wasting a moment, Poe began to rummage through the scrap until he found AC's limp body. He then pried open his chest and inserted the cylindrical power generator. Within seconds, AC reactivated while flailing his arms. "I don't know anything!" he exclaimed.

"Shhhhh!" Poe covered the droid's mouth.

"Poe? How did you get here?"

"Stowed away. No big deal. Are you alright?"

"You...came back for us?"

"I got you all into this mess. I'll get you out it." smiled Poe. "Now come on, we found your ship."

As they fled, AC could not help but ask, "Where did you find another power generator?"

"Traded my helmet for it on Manaan. I'll tell you the rest later."

"Poe," began the droid as he turned. "Thank you."

Poe gave a nod and urged him to keep running.

Enna and Rurik were getting hammered by laserfire. Phasma signaled for three of her men to flank them while she provided covering fire. Aboard the StarSpeeder, BB-8 synced himself with the ship's laser cannons. He proceeded to fire from behind, blasting stormtroopers in multiple sections. Phasma turned and ducked for cover when Poe and AC emerged from the hall. BB-8 opened the entry door, and the four of them ran for it. Rurik was first inside, followed by AC. Enna and Poe blasted away at Phasma, keeping her pinned while they boarded. "We're all in, BB-8!" hollered Poe. "Get us out of here!"

BB-8 chimed in agreement before flying the ship out of the hangar. Soon after this escape, the StarSpeeder 1000 came under heavy fire from the frigate's laser turrets. AC immediately went to the controls and worried. "The hyperdrive is disabled! I can reboot it, but I'll need time."

Poe went towards the controls, "I'll buy you that time. I can fly us-" He stopped himself and stared at AC, expecting the droid to scold him.

Instead, the droid replied, "By all means, Poe Dameron."

AC made his way to the hyperdrive located at the end of the StarSpeeder. Poe took a seat at the ship's controls. "BB-8, go help AC reboot the hyperdrive. Enna and Rurik, buckle up."

Rurik immediately followed orders. "Don't have to tell me twice."

Enna snapped her buckle in place, and then pulled on the yellow safety strap to ensure it was secured.

Poe took a deep breath as a series of Tie fighters emerged to give chase. "Hold on, everyone. We're going to experience some turbulence."