If there was one ecosystem Elena hated, it was the desert. Unfortunately for her, the planet her next mission was on happened to be entirely desert. Even though her and Poe arrived on Jakku at night, you could still tell; what with the bitter cold that most deserts seemed to have at night and the dryness.
Heaving a sigh, and wrapping her brown cloak tightly around her resistance uniform, Elena followed Poe as he led the way to their informant's tent in the small Jakku village. Poe had just sent BB-8 away to keep watch for them and seemed amused to find his companion annoyed with their location. Elena was from a planet with a very temperate climate, which was why visiting a planet with such harsh conditions set her on edge. However, the pull of the mission was just too great and the hope that maybe she could find Master Skywalker was enough to get her to ignore the climate, for the most part.
"Don't worry, we're just getting the map and then we're leaving," Poe informed, smirking at her. Poe didn't seem to have a problem with the climate, then again he always seemed to adapt to wherever they were; climate, culture, he took everything with stride which added to her ire.
"I'm aware," she huffed, rolling her eyes, he laughed and threw his arm around her shoulders guiding her into a tent.
To Elena's surprise, their informant happened to be Lor San Tekka, an old friend of Master Luke's. She'd never met him, but Elena had heard of him a little bit from Ben and Master Luke. Apparently, he had helped her old master recover all the information about the Jedi that the Empire had tried so desperately to erase. The friendship between the two men lead to no surprise that the older man would have a clue to her missing Master's whereabouts.
"Lor San Tekka, it's an honor to meet you," Poe greeted, shaking the mans hand. Elena quickly stepped forward to do the same thing and found herself under the keen gaze of the old man. If there was one thing Elena didn't like, it was when someone looked like they were staring into your soul, that they knew all your secrets. An unfortunate issue to have when surrounded by older people, as that's all they ever seemed to do.
"It's an honor to meet you to Commander, and you Jedi Riga," Tekka responded, making Elena flinched at the title.
"I-I wouldn't say I'm a Jedi, sir. I never exactly finished my training," Elena pointed out, a little half heartedly.
"My mistake," he conceded, not sounding like he meant it, "now to give you what you came for, so you both can get out of here quickly." The older man moved to a table and picked up a small drawstring bag, before grabbing Poe's hand and placing the item into it. "I have traveled to far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the force," Tekka explained, closing Poe's palm and glancing at Elena, who tensed at his unspoken implication as he looked at her.
"Well now because of you we have a chance," Poe commended, also glancing at Elena, "the General has been after this for a long time."
"The General?" Tekka asked amused, "to me she's royalty." Elena chuckled, imagining the reaction that Leia would have upon hearing that, Poe seemed to be of the same thought as he did the same thing.
"Well she certainly is that-" A loud twittering noise broke into the room as Elena and Poe both shot around to face a frantic BB-8. The pair looked at each other in fear, before running outside.
Poe immediately looked through binoculars to check to see if BB-8 was right, but Elena already knew, she could feel it.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she moaned in annoyance, voicing what she imagined everyone was thinking. The lights in the distance had quickly become actual ships as First Order shuttles approached the small village.
"We've got company," Poe agreed before turning to Tekka, "you have to hide."
"You both have to leave," he ordered, and noticed that they hesitated. "Go!" Poe nodded to BB-8 and Elena and the trio set off towards their ship.
Unfortunately, the arrival and disembarking of the First Order happened a lot quicker than they hoped and a battle started quickly around them.
"Come on BB-8, hurry!" Poe shouted, picking up his already fast pace and Elena strained to catch up, BB-8 trailing a little behind. Dodging blaster shots, they soon made their way to the ship, climbing in quickly. However, their departure was halted by a shot that rocked the ship and BB-8 started beeping frantically about the people behind them.
"I see 'em. Elena!"
"Got it!" Elena quickly started up their weapons system and shot down the storm troopers behind them. After seeing Poe climb out, Elena quickly followed suit, and soon found out that their engine was busted.
"What do we do?" She asked frantically, but Poe had already kneeled down and taken the map out of the small bag before placing it into the small droid next to him.
"You get as far away from here as you can, alright?" Poe ordered BB-8, who immediately bleeped back its dissent, "Elena go with him."
"What!?"
"You are just as important as that map," He responded quickly, "The Resistance needs you."
"Says their best pilot!" She scoffed, crossing her arms in a huff.
"Says the Jedi," he shot back, and a quick silence spread between them.
"I'm not leaving you," she declared and when he opened his mouth to argue, added "we don't have time for this- BB-8, we'll come back for you alright?" The droid quickly looked between the two of them before bleeping out an agreement, Elena grabbed Poe's hand and dragged him away.
"You'll be alright!" Poe shouted back towards the droid, grabbing a blaster from the ground, Elena did the same with the next one they came across, "you're stubborn, you know that?"
"Shut up and shoot," she retorted, but with a smirk on her face as they began to shoot down the troopers.
The loud sound of another ship approaching brought the pairs eyes to the sky, and Elena was immediately filled with dread; she knew exactly who was on that ship. In unison, both Elena and Poe crouched behind the cement block they'd been using as a shield.
"I should've gone with BB-8," she admitted quietly, Poe looked at her in shock.
"Not that this isn't an astounding proclamation but why-"he stopped his jesting when he saw the fear on her face and glanced over their cover to see who was leaving the ship, and immediately saw the problem. "There's still time…"
"No."
"Elena…" He frowned at her as she stared unseeingly into the darkness in front of them before she quickly turned to face him, "what are you-?" Before he had a chance to finish, she grabbed him by his collar and kissed him. Frozen, Poe didn't respond for a minute but before he could, she broke away. Unbeknownst to him, she used his momentary distraction to halt him in his place with the force.
"Probably not the best time and I'm sorry," She whispered before pulling up the hood of the cloak she was wearing and quickly moving into the shadows.
"Elena! Dammit-"Poe hissed, when he realized he couldn't move and was forced to stay in his position as Elena crept into the crowd that had been rounded up. She didn't know what she hoped to accomplish, but she thought that if things started to go south, which was likely, she might be able to get a few people away from the bloodbath.
As soon as Elena snuck into the fray, she saw Kylo Ren approach and begin interrogating Lor San Tekka. He looked just as intimidating as the last time she'd seen him, the mask really adding to the whole effect, but before she could ponder anymore Ren quickly sliced through Tekka with his saber.
Shock and anger raged through her which ended up being a big mistake; most of her energy was trying to keep Poe in his place, so Elena wasn't able to hide her emotions and there was someone who was attune to reading them not twenty feet from her. Realizing her mishap, she turned and tried to move as quickly as possible away from the group without being noticed.
Suddenly, Elena wasn't able to move forward at all and she shut her eyes in distress as she realized the problem; she'd been stopped by the force. She heard the people around her move quickly out of the way and tensed. Elena felt herself be quickly turned around and was met with the looming figure of Kylo Ren. He seemed to hesitate before quickly reaching out and yanking the hood from her head and through the force she could feel his surprise. Not wanting to outwardly show the fear she felt (which Elena was sure he noticed), she attempted to glare at him.
"Of course they'd send you," he drawled, Ren then paused and seemed to be observing something "you're using the Force, why?"
"I'm not telling you anything," She growled, and struggled to break away from his hold before her efforts were hindered even more by the fact she suddenly couldn't breathe. He was force choking her. Coughing, Elena's eyes widened, but as her hands were kind of literally tied, couldn't attempt to do something about.
"You will. Soon enough." Suddenly, Elena's vision went dark and she felt herself hit the sandy ground.