Chapter 9 - "Can you fly a TIE-Defender?"
Outskirts of the Jakku System
Resurgent Class Star Destroyer Ravager
Poe was still alive. Still breathing, still functioning. But he didn't feel alive. He felt broken, exposed… like his mind had been ripped asunder and his soul desecrated. He had been unmade, and as he laid back on the table, staring up at the cold and desolate ceiling, he longed for death to come and take him.
He suspected that would come soon, too. He was a Commander in the New Republic Navy, one of their best fighter pilots… but nothing more, and nothing less. The precious little he knew about military and political affairs would probably be already common knowledge to his captors. Beyond what he had done with their prize, he'd long since become expendable. Normally, this was something Poe could accept. There was nothing more that he could do.
However, it was dying without some sense of purpose that hurt him the most. Had his torturers failed to extract what he had done with the map, he would've died a happy man. Had he just a blaster or even a good knife, he could at least take some of them with him. But instead, he was going to die, strapped to a table, alone. Thrown away like a piece of trash.
The feeling made him angry. Angry at the man who'd so casually dug up memories he'd spent years trying to bury. Angry at himself for having not fought harder, for letting him win! He dug his heels into the plate holding him down and with a snarl, tried again to wrench himself free. It was futile, he knew, but he couldn't…
He felt no pain. He stopped, staring down at his bound arms. He pulled on them again, expecting the sudden terrible agony to send him to near unconsciousness. But it didn't come. The toxins must have worn off.
Well, that's a start, Poe thought to himself before he turned grim, guess I'm not important enough to keep doped up anymore.
Still, it was a chance. Depending on how they decided to kill him, he could at least try to fight back. He went over the various scenarios in his head, every possible way he could try to take his captors on. If he could get a blaster, get to some kind of choke point maybe? He sighed. He was actually contemplating on how to die, and that much scared him.
The voice of Wedge Antilles, his old flight instructor, growled at him:
A man thinking about dying is already a dead man! Always think about the fight, about the mission! That's what's important! Not your own personal life! A distracted pilot is a dead pilot!
Good ol' Old Man Antilles. Knew just how to drill useful advice into you while making you feel miserable. He wanted to say something smart back, but the image of the old man curling his lip and narrowing his eyes made him mentally shrink back into the table.
Find a way, boy, Antilles snorted, there's always a way.
"Yes, sir," Poe muttered as he began to think. He could try to escape. The ships' escape pods came to mind, but he didn't know where they were and he knew he'd probably be atomized the moment the Destroyer trained its guns on him. The ships in the Hangar came to mind, but getting there…
The door to his cell suddenly opened, and a Trooper walked in. Poe looked up at him and smirked.
"What? Miss me already?"
The Trooper didn't reply. Instead, he looked at him for a long stretch to the point it made Poe somewhat uncomfortable.
"You gonna stand there all day or what?" he asked, about to add something along the lines of he was just that good looking when the Trooper moved, and started to unclamp his restraints.
Okay, here we go, Poe thought to himself as the Trooper stood him up, applying a pair of cuffs to his wrists and began marching him out the door.
"So, where you taking me?" Poe asked as they then turned a corner and passed a squad of Troopers coming down the hallway. The Trooper escorting him looked at them momentarily and replied loud enough for them to hear:
"Lord Ren wants you for further questioning."
Then why not just do it back in there? Poe asked himself, and the grim realization hit him.
"You mean execution don't you, Buckethead?"
"Just keep moving."
"Why? I'm just gonna die anyway, so why not now?"
"I said keep moving, and keep quiet."
"And why should I, huh?" Poe asked, his voice getting louder, "I mean if-"
The Trooper smacked him over the top of the head with his blaster and snarled:
"I said 'keep quiet'!" He then took him by the arm, and gestured right, "Turn here."
They turned into a what looked like an under-repair junction set, the hallway narrow and rather poorly lit. Poe smiled to himself as the chance presented itself. As they disappeared out of sight, he suddenly dropped to the floor and kicked out at his escort. It sent him crashing into a wall, and Poe moved to try and secure his weapon. He knew the kick and the impact on the wall wouldn't have done much to actually hurt the Trooper, but he was still utterly surprised at how quickly he reacted when Poe tried to wrench his weapon out of his hand.
The Trooper twisted and turned, then attempted to push him backwards. Poe dug his back foot in, and shoved the Trooper back against the wall. Then his sight was sent spinning as the Trooper suddenly headbutt him, the blow from his helmet like running right into a brick wall. Still, he held onto the Troopers weapon arm, hoping to at least drag him down with him. Instead, he got a boot to the chest, and he was sprawled on the floor; the blaster trained on him.
Breathing through clenched teeth, the Trooper whispered tersely:
"Do you want to get out of here alive, or not?"
Poe looked at him dumbfounded, unsure if the blow to the head had knocked out his hearing.
"What?"
The Trooper stared at him, almost blankly, as he ducked his head out into hallway and looked both ways. The Trooper seemed satisfied that they were alone, because he then removed his helmet; revealing a close shaven, dark skinned man.
"This is a rescue," the Trooper replied, his Coruscanti accent now more prominent with the helmet removed, "I'm helping you escape."
Poe was still dumbfounded as he rose slowly to his feet, asking:
"Are you with the New Republic? Some kind of spook?"
The question seemed to anger the man like if it had been an accusation. But he quickly suppressed it, replacing it with a hurried expression.
"No. But I'm breaking you out. Can you fly a TIE-Defender?"
Poe shot him a puzzled look. Why would a Stormtrooper be breaking him out if he wasn't with the New Republic?
"I can fly anything," he stated matter of factly as he searched the man's eyes for… something. Eventually, he asked the obvious.
"Why are you helping me?"
The Trooper seemed puzzled by the question, and Poe could feel he was searching for an answer. Not a lie, he could tell if he was. But instead… a reason. The Trooper met his eyes and answered with a reserved sense of conviction.
"Because it's the right thing to do."
Poe stared at him for a long moment, not sure of what to think or what to do. Still, he had the opportunity to escape, and he knew he needed to take it regardless of how strange the circumstance had become.
"You need a pilot."
The Trooper nodded, "I need a pilot."
"Okay," Poe replied with a confident grin, "we can do this."
"Good," the Trooper nodded again before he donned his helm again, "now, do as I say, and I'll get us to the hangar."
"Sure thing, Buckethead," Poe smirked, and he swore he heard a chuckle behind him. Fortunately enough for the pair of them, the trip to the lift and the ride up the various decks was uneventful. That however changed when the doors opened and a group of technicians greeted them with surprised looks. The Trooper grunted:
"Lord Ren wants the prisoner. I'm taking him to his quarters."
"Well, you're heading the wrong way, Trooper," a Technical Sergeant replied, "his quarters are down a few decks."
"I see," the Trooper replied nonchalantly, "my apologies, Sergeant."
He was about to hit the button again to close the door when he suddenly stopped.
"I don't suppose you'd show me where that is, Sergeant?"
The man nodded simply.
"Of course. Lord Ren had to be transferred anyway after he requested his original quarters be renovated after some accident. I doubt you would've been informed so soon."
"Thank you, Sergeant."
They backed up against the wall as the four men came into the lift, turning their backs to them. Poe resisted the urge to ask what he was doing when he felt the Trooper slip him his sidearm. Poe felt that the weapon had been set to stun, and he smiled slightly.
On three? He mouthed. The Trooper nodded, and on three, they raised their blasters as one. With their backs turned, the men stood no chance as they were taken down by the blue stun bolts. They slumped to the floor, unconscious, as the Trooper opened the door just slightly. Certain no one was there, he opened the door fully and quickly filed out with Poe before turning around and nudging the foot of one of the technicians back inside. He then closed the door and activated the Under Repairs sign.
"Smart," Poe complimented with a slight smile. The Trooper then gestured his hand forth, and Poe reluctantly surrendered the sidearm; the weapon clamping to the Troopers armored thigh with a magnetic lock. A few minutes later, they once more entered the massive expanse of the hangar, and Poe couldn't help but feel amazed at the sight of it again. But a hurried push was enough to get him moving.
"Keep your eyes down," the Trooper whispered, "make it look like you're walking to your doom."
"Yeah, yeah," Poe chuckled back, "I know how to play a damsel in distress."
As a column of Troopers passed them by, he quickly put on a look of defeat and averted his eyes from them. He assumed it worked because they kept on walking.
"Okay, which one?" Poe whispered as the rows and rows of fighters came into view.
"Fleet Defender," the Trooper replied, nodding to the longer and slightly bigger TIE-Defender model Poe had noticed when he came in, "has two seats. Regular model's too small for the both of us."
"Does it have a hyperdrive?"
"No. But it does have more armor and guns on board. Short ranged craft, meant to be an escort for support vessels. Should buy us time enough to get down to the planet."
"Good," Poe nodded, "I need to get back down there, anyway."
"Your droid?"
"Yeah… how do you-?"
"The Admiral's put out orders to send searching parties down to the planet."
"Great," he groaned, "just great. Alright, one thing at a time, then."
Once they were out of sight and under cover, the Trooper released Poe's cuffs and they took off for the fighter. Carefully, they inspected the closest one, Poe checking its fuel count and external systems. Satisfied, he nodded and the two quickly slipped inside.
"Well, this is comfier than usual."
Poe had flown every model of the TIE line back in the Academy, including the TIE-Defender Mk. I, and was fairly familiar with the claustrophobic confines of the cockpit. Here, however, he had a fair amount of elbow room and a quick glance towards the life-support controls confirmed that he wouldn't need an atmospheric suit. His luck continued, noticing that the controls were fairly streamlined and he quickly identified the various controls and instrument modules. He strapped himself in and began the automated checklisting, running over the various subsystems but ensuring he did not activate the kickstarter and prematurely bring the fighter online. The last thing he needed was to attract company when they weren't ready to take off.
Behind him, he could hear the Trooper awkwardly slip into the back seat.
"Okay, what do you see back there?"
"Blaster control, I think?" he replied as he removed his helmet, "I've got a pair of joysticks here."
Poe noticed similar controls on his end, his time in the cockpit of a Defender coming back to him.
"Okay, the toggle on your left. Do you see a red switch along the side?"
"Yes."
"That manually switches between blasters and missiles. The joysticks controls magpulses, and the one on the right controls your sight alignment," he then corrected himself, "it's for aiming."
"Copy," the Trooper nodded, "triggers to fire?"
"Yup. Strap yourself in, I'm about to start the take off procedures."
"Right. I'm good to go."
"Hey," Poe asked as he suddenly leaned over the seat to look at him, "what's your name?"
Straight-faced, the Trooper replied:
"FN Twenty-One Eighty-Seven."
Poe looked at him flabbergasted.
"FN what?"
"FN Twenty-One Eighty-Seven," he repeated again, "my squad calls me…" he froze, a suddenly look of pain flashing across his face as he sighed, averting his eyes downward, "did, call me Eighty-Seven."
Poe had seen the look before on countless soldiers who'd lost brothers and sisters in arms in the line of duty. The look of horror, self-doubt and guilt sewn onto the souls of those who'd somehow been left alive when their fellows had not been so lucky. Poe however did not push the issue, and instead commented on the given 'name' with a bewildered expression:
"That's not a name!" he exclaimed, "That's a serial number!"
"It's the only thing they gave me," he deadpanned. Poe shook his head at him.
"Yeah? Well, only droids go by their serial-numbers, and you sure as hell don't look like a clanker, so I ain't using it!"
"Thanks…" he replied before he tilted his head in slight confusion, "I guess?"
"Yeah, well… you're welcome," he then sat back in seat, musing softly, "FN... FN… Finn!"
"What?"
Poe turned back around in his seat, "FN. Finn. I'm gonna call you Finn. That work?"
"I…" he chuckled embarrassingly, "I guess? Whatever works for you."
"Alright, Finn," Poe smiled winningly as he extended his hand, "I'm Poe Dameron. Nice to meet you."
Finn took his hand with a strong grip, shaking it as he added with a nod:
"Nice to meet you too, Poe Dameron. Hope we don't die."
"Not on my watch!" Poe laughed confidently, "You're looking at the best pilot in the New Republic Navy!"
"Well, if you get us out of here in one piece, I won't dispute that."
"Challenge accepted," a cocky smile crossed Poe's lips as he took the controls and the fighter came to life with like the roar of a dragon. Howling loudly as it ascended into the air, the black and red fighter hurtled towards the hangar doors at breakneck speed.
"Whoa, this thing really moves!" Poe laughed as the G-force hit him squarely in the chest.
On the Bridge of the Ravager, Captain Phasma whirled around when the intercom suddenly blared out:
"Command, we have a runaway on Bay 2. I repeat, we have a runaway Fleet Defender making for the planet below."
Admiral Hux was quick to the command, quickly ordering out:
"Launch Strikers and intercept that fighter! Bring the main guns online, but only it they get past our perimeter! Captain… Captain?"
Phasma however wasn't listening. She'd pushed a technician out his seat, accessing the main data files and bringing up Barracks #2478. Her heart stopped as the information came in.
"FN-2187," the voice of Kylo Ren took her by surprise and she whirled around to face him, his helm like an accusing glare, "isn't it?"
The Captain swallowed as she replied:
"He is not in his barracks, and his platoon reports seeing him leave almost an hour ago."
"And the pilot Poe Dameron is with him."
Phasma felt her face grow hot as fire as she snarled:
"He is not a traitor! My Troopers are loyal!"
"Evidently, this one is not," Kylo Ren replied dismissively, "Admiral, the pilot may be attempting to recover the droid on the planet."
"I see," the admiral replied, "and you acquired all the useful information you could from the pilot?"
"I have."
He nodded soberly, weighing what he was about to do. He didn't make a habit of killing his own soldiers, and seeing Phasma staring at him—the look of pleading present even with her helmet on—was enough to make him pale as he gave the order:
"Order the Strikers to bring that ship down. If it tries to escape the system, destroy it."
"It likely won't," the Bridge Executive Officer replied, "that's a protector variant, short range only."
"Yes son, I know," Hux replied as he stared out at the planet below, "but never underestimate the prowess of a good pilot."
"Especially this one." Kylo Ren added.
The plan fell apart no less than a minute into its execution.
"Poe," Finn called out from behind, "we got hostiles, 6 o'clock!"
Poe eyes darted to the side, pulling up the rear-view cameras. When the image came in, his stomach dropped and a sarcastic smile played on his lips.
"Oh great! Just great! Well, time to see what this thing's made of!"
Kilometers away, over a dozen of the drone TIE-Strikers were being deposited upon the battlefield from the belly of the Ravager.
"We need to get to the planet!" Finn called out, but Poe shook his head.
"Oh no, buddy. We've lost the element of surprise! If we try running, that ship will tear us to pieces! We need to take out as many of its onboard surface cannons before they bring their shields up!"
"But the Strikers are that way!"
"Trust me, I'll take clankers over human gunners anyday! Get ready, I'm taking us in!"
Poe then executed a U-turn, bringing them into a direct collision course with the squadron of droid fighters. The intercom suddenly blared out:
Surrender your vessel or you will be destroyed!
"Wanna bet?" Poe smirked as he removed the safety clamps on his frontal cannons. He sighted the lead fighter, bringing his sight alignment steady as the online display signalled the target was in range. He squeezed the trigger, and six laser cannons came to life with emerald fire. The Striker was hit in the front and wings, exploding in the vacuum with a concussive fireball. The rest of the squadron banked left and right as the Defender zoomed past them amid the debris of its fellow.
"They're coming around!" Poe shouted as he hugged the underbelly of the Star Destroyer, "Finn, keep 'em off of us! I'm making a run!"
"Roger!" Finn bellowed back as he took the blaster controls in steely hands. Before he even got a proper sight alignment, he opened fire. The droid fighters ducked and dived and spun as the rapid firing underbelly cannon sent bolts their way before they began returning fire. Sparks flared as the bolts impacted the shields with thunderous reports. Poe's eyes darted left to the monitor displaying onboard information. The shields were holding, but he didn't know how long that would last. He began banking left and right, avoiding the incoming blaster fire as Finn struggled to keep them at bay.
Poe noticed that the droid fighters were keeping their distance. He knew from his experience on Jakku that these fighters had no sense of self preservation, and could easily have tried to ram them like they did the pair of Headhunters. That meant they were merely trying to disable their ship, not outright destroy them. He knew that would change the moment they started doing damage to the Star Destroyer itself. The same thought crossed Finn's mind, and he held fire, allowing his alignment to center itself.
He then opened fire again, tagging one and destroying another. The Strikers then dispersed, spinning and diving as Finn chased them with his cannons. They were too fast and too unpredictable for him to get a hit. But then he noticed something as the fighters came at them again: they were not unpredictable. While their trajectories changed, they followed the same patterns over and over again. Dive, split apart at the left and right, then come up and engage again.
"Poe, swing right!"
"Swinging right!"
The Defender then banked and the droid fighters swung long and hard before they split apart like a horde of hornets. Instead of trying to engage them as they came into retical, Finn centered his cannons on the space a hundred yards in front of their flight path, and as they flew in, he opened fire. The first zipped past his fire, but the one directly behind it was struck hard in the wing. It spun out of control and crashed right into the next fighter in line. As the pair of them exploded in a dazzling fireball, the fourth and fifth fighters swung over and to the side of the debris, respectfully.
Finn engaged the fighter coming out on the left, catching it just as it evaded crashing right into the burning wrecks of its squadron.
"Got him!" Finn laughed with satisfaction, "I got 'em!"
"Nice shooting! Alright, hang on! I'm making the pass!"
In front of him was a valley of surface hull guns. These included turbo lasers, point defence lasers and missiles pods, the latter of which began turning in their direction. Poe released the safety cap on his joystick, bringing up his own missile pods. As soon as the shooting started, he dived low and began spinning clockwardly, firing off the missiles. Attracted to heat, the missiles struck the surface guns and destroyed them with thunderous explosions.
As he came out of the fireball, more point defense weapons came online. Poe began diving and spinning, zipping left and right as emerald bolts as large as the fighter whipped past them. Then his warning lights came on.
"Missiles incoming!" Finn shouted as he continued firing on the pursuing Strikers.
"I see 'em, I see 'em!" Poe shouted back. He pulled on the throttle hard, causing the fighter to suddenly dive backwards and right into the middle of the swarming horde.
"What's the plan, Poe!?" Finn shouted, the vessel buckling from the laser bolts as the horde of droid fighters swiped past them, giving him the opportunity to tag another in its wing.
"Can't use the anti-missiles just yet! I'm gonna bring us in closer!"
"I hope you know what you're doing!"
"Yeah, me too!"
He dove under the ventral plate and rode almost flush with the line of the ship. The missiles followed in their wake, arching wide before coming center mass. Poe then flew right back into the valley of remaining surface guns, taking fire and causing the fighter to flutter and shake as the shields started flaring from the impacts.
Shield Integrity 58%, the onboard monitor displayed, and Poe bit his lip in anticipation.
"Just give me a bit more, baby! C'mon!"
He then dove to the right, swinging right past one of the point defence lasers. The missile had to swing far and wide to avoid the turret, and Finn took the opportunity to destroy it as it came into range.
"Good hit!" Poe called out as he then swung left, destroying another turret along his path.
"I'm getting pretty good at this," Finn commented to himself as he kept on shooting. Then he lurched forward as the vessel suddenly slowed to almost a crawl!
"What are you doing!?" he shouted, and Poe replied with a "Just wait for it!"
The missiles, the Strikers, the onboard laser turrets, everything was coming at them! Shields were at 45%, then they dropped down to 33 as the Defender took another barrage of fire. The the signal lights were blaring faster and louder as the missiles crossed meters a second. Finn continued shooting, but the onrush of everything coming at them seemed utterly unstoppable! Warning lights whirled and the cockpit turned a shade of red as the shields dropped to 19%.
"Poe!" Finn screamed in true, unfiltered terror!
"Now!" Poe shouted back as he punched the throttle to the limit! The TIE-Defender rocketed forward like a raging comet as the missiles and fighters screamed after them! He darted left, flying almost horizontally to the right past one of the turbolasers, the missiles far too close to curve away! They impacted the turbo laser with a concuphony that shook the entire ship, radiating with furious explosions that ripped apart the subsection of the hull; vaporizing everything caught in the explosion to atoms!
"YEAH!" Finn and Poe cheered as the explosion hurtled out and they flew far and wide away!
"Did you see that!?" Finn shouted excitedly as he pointed out his rear view cockpit.
"Oh I saw it!" Poe shouted back, pride strong in his voice, "Nothing blows up better than a droid!"
"I believe it!" Finn laughed, "You are one hellova pilot, Poe!"
"Trust me, that ain't even the best I can do! Targets up ahead! Fire at will!"
Like a force of nature, the TIE Defender ripped through the next section of surface turrets, leaving behind them a long trail of destruction as they rained virescent fire down from below!
From high above, Admiral Hux grimaced at the display on the monitor below. He hadn't seen such expert piloting since the war, and he was truly impressed by Poe Dameron's decisive action. It was only a shame that he was on the wrong side, otherwise he would've had him decorated with honors.
"Sir!" one of the deck personnel shouted, "They're cutting through our surface guns faster than we can engage!"
"They're trying to destroy our remaining turbo lasers so they can escape to Jakku unimpeded," the elderly commander mused before he asked, "what is the status of our shields?"
"Fifteen more seconds, sir!"
"Good. Order our laser batteries to begin retracting into the ship, we will need them for later, and bring the Ventral Cannons online."
"Sir, we won't be able to shoot back, and they're too close for the Ventral Cannons to be effective!"
"I know, son. I want them to try and escape. Kylo Ren," he turned to the cloaked figure, gesturing to the observation deck, "I will require your assistance. Come with me."
Far below under the belly of the Ravager, Poe could see that the ship's shields were about to come online, and their defensive weapons were being retracted into the ship. He didn't know if the Star Destroyer was using Thermal Shielding, but he didn't want to take the chance. As the energy hurtled towards them, he dived downward to escape its on rushing path. He only barely managed to pull the ship low enough, the energy clipping the upward wing and singeing a sizable chunk off. He quickly checked his onboard instruments, and although shields were dangerously low, they were still flying.
Still, he knew they hadn't tucked their onboard weapons in without a reason, and he suspected what they might try to do the moment they tried to make a break for the planet. But if they stayed here any longer, they'd eventually be destroyed the moment they deployed more fighters. He pushed the stick forward, and eased as much throttle out of the engines as he could. And just as he expected, the warning lights rang out again.
"Missiles!" Finn shouted, "They're firing off the Ventral Cannons!"
"I see 'em! Deploying countermeasures!"
This had been exactly what he'd been saving them for. With a flick of several switches, the fighter shot off a barrage of hyper-sonic frequency flares. Several of the missiles veered off course, striking the flares and exploding on impact, their sensors fooled into thinking they'd hit their target. The few that didn't hit their mark continued along their flight path, but Finn took advantage of their long travel arcs as Poe dove downward and destroyed them in mid-flight.
"Nice shooting, buddy!"
"Thanks, but here comes more of them!"
Hidden among the cloud of screaming missiles was a single hidden Hunter-Killer. This missile was being guided by an operator on the bridge of the Ravager. As the pilot watched the screen in anticipation, careful to stay in formation with the other missiles, more flares fired off from the TIE-Defender and the other missiles zoomed out in pursuit.
"Sir!" the pilot called out to the Admiral, who stood on the observation deck with Kylo Ren, "I'm in position!"
The Admiral nodded, and said to Kylo:
"He's all yours."
The Lord of Ren nodded, and raised his hand toward the view port, whispering:
"Remember, Poe Dameron. Remember…"
Far ahead, Finn struggled to try and shoot down the remaining missile. It weaved and danced from his cannon fire, almost as if it was actually dodging his shots!
"Poe, I think this is a guided missile! I can't bring it down!"
"Don't worry," Poe shouted back as he turned his head towards him, "I've got a plan! Just keep shooting!"
He turned his head back to his front, getting ready to perform another daring meanuever.
Poe?
He looked up, and he saw his mother staring at him.
"Mom?" Poe asked in utter disbelief. She was… so beautiful. So alive! So… real. With a sadness stricken voice, she reached out her hand to him, its touch cold as she asked him almost pleadingly:
Son… why are you running? Why are you running away from me?
"Mom… I…"
"Poe! The missile's' almost on us!"
You've been running away from me, Poe, she said, her face aging with weariness, You've been running away from the memory.
"Mom…" Poe's voice cracked as he felt tears run down his cheeks, "I… I couldn't. I had to-"
"POE!"
It's time to stop running.
The missile suddenly struck them, ripping off one of its three wings and sending them hurtling down to the planet in a blaze of black smoke.
"Well done," Admiral Hux complimented as he patted Kylo Ren on the shoulder before turning and shouting down at the pilot, "excellent shot, operator! XO, do we have an estimate of where they'll be landing?"
"Our analysts suggest they'll be ending up on the outskirts of what the locals call The Graveyard of Giants, sir."
"Ah yes," the Admiral commented humorlessly, "of course they will be."
He then turned back to the planet, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Back to the place where this all started."