After a hurried conference with the General and his squadron and their equally swift trip to the locker room to don flight suits, Poe's thoughts about the Takodana rescue were racing. The warm feeling that had spread in his chest from Tali sending him off with well wishes was gradually quelled by his tension. He swung himself up into the cockpit of his X-Wing, brow furrowed under his helmet. The Resistance had it on good authority (okay… decent authority, the intelligence had come from a pirate's droid after all) that BB-8 was in Maz Kanata's castle, along with General Han Solo of all people. And maybe Finn! Hope he's okay.
So not only could Poe's botched mission potentially be salvaged, but a great Rebel leader (well… formerly) and a First Order defector who could provide classified information (not to mention the guy saved my life, I owe him one) needed to be rescued. Just the small matter of an entire First Order garrison stood in the way. No pressure. Piece of cake, really.
A garrison that might well include Kylo Ren (Ben, dammit, Poe reminded himself for the umpteenth time). He grit his teeth as a phantom twinge of pain briefly flared in his skull. Fuck that guy. Poe fired up the craft's engines, plugging in hyperdrive coordinates with a bit more force than necessary. Well, it's not every day you see a thousand-year-old pirate queen's castle. That was something at least. Provided it hasn't been demolished by the time we get there.
Piloting up and away from the base, Poe relayed commands to his squadron before they made the leap into hyperspace. Takodana was close to several known trade routes, at least. That increased their likelihood of arriving in time... before the First Order destroyed yet more lives, along with the Resistance's last chance at locating Luke Skywalker. Hang in there, BB-8.
Poe considered again the presence of General Solo and the Millennium Falcon in this mess as his ship hurtled through the alternate dimension's blue tunnel. His father had been a commando under Solo as a member of the elite Pathfinders squad. Poe had heard plenty of Kes Dameron's colorful war stories about their various adventures in the Rebel special forces.
He'd always admired the daring General. Hell, everyone does, the man's a certified hundred percent bad ass. But growing up, Poe had considered him a personal hero, even, never daring to try the Kessel Run however much he itched to out of respect for Han's unbroken piloting record. Not to mention the man's role as style inspiration… Poe allowed himself a fleeting moment of grief for his tooled leather jacket, forever lost to the sands of Jakku.
But Solo had sort of lost it when Ben went dark, and he'd taken off to rejoin the smuggling world before Poe had really gotten to know him. He couldn't imagine what it had felt like for Han in the aftermath of the awful massacre, probably feeling somewhat responsible as the father of the murderer, but just up and leaving like that… seemed like a bit of a dick move, honestly. Poe knew it hadn't been easy for General Organa, skilled as she was, to run the Resistance by herself in the ensuing years. Wonder if he'll come back after this.
General Organa didn't exactly talk about her feelings with Poe, but he could tell that her family's estrangement weighed on her. Fucking Ben. Han Solo's reappearance now, with the First Order on the offensive and the Resistance so close to contacting Skywalker, felt… significant.
Poe pushed all non-combat thoughts away as the squadron neared Takodana, jumping back into realspace and closing into approach formation. Time for business. He loosed a whoop of exhilaration, speeding through the planet's atmospheric layers towards the enemy troops in the distance.
"Head straight at them," he instructed over his comlink, "don't let these thugs scare you." His jaw clenched in preparation for the impending battle, pulse quickening. No, fear's not in the cards for today. His overarching feeling was definitely anger.
The Stormtroopers' white armor gleamed in the sunlight as Poe swooped in, coming recklessly close to treetops while he took out several TIE fighters. Oh hello, is that an Assault Lander? Well fuck you very much—
His strafing run continued with a blast centered on a group of Stormtroopers, and Poe gave a sharp cry of triumph, barrel rolling into a turn without letting up on the assault. A fierce exhilaration filled him. This, this is what I'm meant to do. He never felt as good as he did behind the throttle—they didn't call him the best pilot in the Resistance for nothing. He loosed another energy burst. And he wanted to destroy these bastards. Bare his teeth. They had hurt people he cared about, people who didn't deserve any of this.
Poe caught sight of Solo, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and… yep, that's Finn! Heblasted a few troopers out from around them, taking a wickedly close shot. A fellow fighter's voice crackled through his comlink. "Getting a little low, Black Leader."
Yeah yeah… stuff it, Wexley, Poe thought with good-natured vexation. His face split in a savage grin as he swooped up immediately to take out an advancing TIE fighter with a single energy burst. "Nothing like living dangerously, Captain!"
The dogfight continued, Poe looping around to fire at more enemy troops and occasionally issuing commands. The First Order unit seemed a bit unprepared for the Resistance's surprise assault. Good. He swiftly destroyed another cluster of troops, whooping with triumph. Haven't missed a shot yet.
Poe saw Kanata's castle continuing to crumble in his peripheral vision… the pirates didn't deserve this… they're politically neutral, for god's sake. And all those billions of people in the Hosnian system just living their lives sure as hell didn't deserve this, didn't deserve to be exploded alive, you motherfuckers.
Poe continued his assault, red haze of fury doing nothing to diminish his aim. But after a few more minutes under heavy fire, the First Order troops started to retreat, their command shuttle pulling out initially and TIE fighters following.
Clearing his combat-induced tunnel vision with a quick shake of his head, Poe took down a straggling enemy fighter before giving his squadron the return signal. "Alright team, moving out. Good work—we're done here." …Too easy. Now it was up to General Organa and the ground troops to pick up the pieces… well, hopefully to pick up their allies and BB-8 in one piece. He chose not to dwell on why the First Order had retreated so soon… couldn't mean anything good.
It wasn't until he was rocketing through the blue tunnel of hyperspace back to headquarters that Poe realized that for the first time, his focus hadn't been entirely on the mission, on his all-consuming end game… instead, he was thinking about the innocent lives lost, and those that still hung in the balance. Huh. He found his thoughts immediately turning towards the small, fierce desert woman back on base whose sense of duty to her people tended to outweigh her sense of self-preservation. Someone's rubbing off on me.
...
Back on base, Poe climbed out of his X-Wing, freeing himself from the helmet and running a hand through his sweaty hair. An excited string of Binary bleeps alerted him to BB-8's presence before he saw the loyal astromech bowling towards him at full speed. Poe felt a grin stretch across his face as he greeted the excited droid. "Hey, my buddy!"
Midway through a warp speed recounting of his adventures, BB-8 alerted him to Finn's presence. Poe rose, grinning, and rushed towards the former Stormtrooper to embrace him warmly. After a round of congratulations, exclamations, and a brief explanation of Poe's time on Jakku and rescue by Tali (at the mention of whom Finn raised his eyebrows and gave Poe a crafty smile), Poe finally noticed the taller man's clothing.
"You completed my mission, Finn! …That's my jacket." Holy shit, so it didn't get swallowed by sinking sand?!
Chagrined, Finn immediately moved to return the article, but Poe laughingly stopped him. Whatever, don't need the thing. "No, no, keep it. It suits you." Smiling, Poe bit his lip, clapping Finn on the shoulder. The galaxy works in mysterious ways. "You're a good man, Finn."
After agreeing to bring Finn to see the General about launching a rescue mission for his friend Rey (damn, for a formerly brainwashed drone, guy knows how to make friends), Poe led him towards the conference room. He couldn't help but glance at the many faces of the fighters rushing around on the tarmac they passed on the walk over. The one he was (sort of, maybe) hoping to see was nowhere to be found.
…Not that he was expecting her to, like, run through the crowd dramatically and leap into his arms or something… but still. He searched the crowd fruitlessly for her face.
The General, predictably, wanted to know any and all information Finn had about Starkiller Base before she'd consider rescue plans. The need to destroy the First Order's superweapon had grown more urgent as the Resistance came to the realization that D'Qar was more than likely their next target. And after the galaxy witnessed what had happened to the Hosnian System… my god, the sheer power. Horrible. If it was possible to say that anything good had come of such immense, terrible destruction, at least the Republic was now well and truly convinced that the First Order needed to be taken out. As soon as possible.
As Finn was hustled off towards a bay of computers to explain what he could of the base's structure, General Organa met Poe's eyes. "Captain Wexley will perform the recon flight, Commander… you're free to go for the moment. We'll hold a briefing and make a plan of attack upon his return." Her eyes softened slightly as she ran her gaze over his disheveled face before turning to follow after Finn, continuing over her shoulder, "go ahead. I'll call you, Poe. …Oh, and I believe Officer Zev is in the medical bay."
Poe raised a hand in a half-hearted salute as she walked away, lips quirking. He glanced towards Finn, who was surrounded by eager technicians. Maybe Poe should stay for the description of the superweapon, or for moral support, or whatever, but… he'll be fine. Dude survived a TIE fighter crash and a lifetime of servitude to evil, after all.
Poe ran a hand through his damp hair tiredly. The medical bay? Well, maybe he needed these bruised ribs inspected anyway… he reached down to make sure the comlink was still securely affixed to his belt and turned on his heel. After all, what if the worse case scenario occurred, they couldn't destroy the Starkiller in time and D'Qar's star went supernova, killing all the Resistance? And maybe there's someone I want to see.
Poe exited the conference room swiftly. His gaze didn't linger on any of the faces he passed in the hallway. He was beginning to understand that there was really only one he wanted to see.