Fragments in itallics are used to dive into specific characters' heads throughout the narrative.
Chapter 14: "The Pillars of the First Order"
Finn was holding in his hand a small device that read the disk they retrieved from the First Order, with data about its presence over the galaxy.
"No. We just escaped the First Order," Walden said, "No way are we now going to a planet that is controlled by them!".
"Remind you of anyone?" Rey snarkily asks Finn, hinting at their own history together.
"The irony isn't lost on me," Finn responds, "Thank you, Rey".
"Look," Cade explains, acting like an experienced negotiator, "We want to escape this conflict, but we get it, you helped us escape, you may expect a favor in return".
"Yeah?" Rose replies, unsure of what the deserter is getting at.
"That won't happen" Cade concludes.
"No. Look," Rose says, getting serious, "You can't fly this ship. You're not pilots. Even if you were, we could easily disable it for unidentified subjects, and you'd have no way out. You're coming with us. We'll compromise. We'll go to a planet with little First Order presence and overthrow them. We win and you're not in danger. Chances are, either you get your own ship and fly off to make new lives, or, if you don't find a ship, you make your new lives down there"
"This is the middle ground," Finn adds, "Just agree to it".
"All right," Cade says, "You win".
"Get some rest," Finn says to the three deserters. He then turns to Rey and Rose, "You too. We're gonna need it. I'll find where we can go to". The deserters stand up and walk elsewhere. Rey and Rose pull blankets out of compartments around them. Finn walks over to the cockpit.
"Hey, man" he says to Poe.
"Hey. Where is everybody?" Poe says.
"Going to sleep" Finn responds, as he sits down beside Poe and gets comfortable, "A much-needed rest". Poe has a natural follow-up question.
"Why aren't you resting?" he asks Finn.
"You're in here all alone," Finn explains, "I wanna be with my buddy. Plus, somehow you have to stay awake until we're somewhere safe" he says. Poe laughs.
"Actually, I'm glad, I guess, that we have this chance to talk just the two of us…" Poe says. He then remains quiet, looking stressed and anxious.
"Poe?" Finn says, hoping for some kind of followup.
"Yeah…" Poe responds.
"What's going on, man?" Finn asks, looking for an answer.
"When they trained you… the First Order… was it purely physical? Did they also make you believe in everything they stood for? I don't…" Poe begins to say.
"They made us buy into that, of course. If they believe in what you stand for, they'll fight alongside you" Finn responds, "Why, what's going on?" Poe remains quiet, looking at the front, at the shining hyperspace, and not at his friend.
"Is there any part of it that you still believe in? I mean…" Poe tries to explain, but is having trouble externalizing his anxieties, "We all know they're bad and we hate them, but… like the Empire, they got to power for a reason, and it wasn't just a military reason. People must believe in at least some of what they stand for. You know, even if we could kill all of them somehow, even if it was for some reason okay to kill them, which there isn't, I know…" Poe is confused by his own words, "… I fear that, even if we can literally destroy the First Order, they may easily come back because a lot of people still believe in the things they stand for… I guess that's what Rose was trying to tell me the other day"
"So, what you wanted to tell me was that we have to find a smarter way to fight the First Order… a more definitive way to beat them… one that actually accounts for why it exists in the first place" Finn concludes.
"Yeah" Poe says, hiding the truth in his lips.
"And Rose… the person who insisted that we should find a smarter way to fight the First Order, couldn't hear this?" Finn asks, genuinely baffled.
"Well, no. See, I… it's more of something… you know how even if we all hate the First Order, we're still, even me sometimes, practicing their discrimination against droids? We all know it's one of their core beliefs, and yet we still do it… weird, right?" Poe asks Finn.
"I guess it is hypocritical…" Finn says, attempting to understand his friend, "That's your worry? I mean, we should work on that, but I still don't get why Rose couldn't hear this. Does she hate droids? That's never come up" Finn says.
Poe contemplates what he wants to say, and tastes it again before making up his mind to reveal it to his best friend, "… what if you found out I was a droid? Would you treat me differently, buddy? Would everyone else treat me differently?" he asks. He appears to be in pain, burning up inside.
"That's an oddly specific question" Finn says, worried about his friend. Clearly, despite how much Poe has been talking, he hasn't yet said what he intends to say, "No, I would not change the way I treat you, man" Finn responds, assuredly. Poe sighs, both in relief and in worry. Finn still wonders what Poe was anxious about. There's a brief silence, which is interrupted by BB-8 making a sound.
"Hey, buddy, haven't seen you in a while!" Poe says, "Where were you when we were in the Star Destroyer? Wasn't Rey in here with Kylo Ren?" BB responds with a cryptic sound, "Well, electrocuting him, maybe, not hiding. I don't know". Finn chuckles and pulls out the disk reader to decide where they're going.
"Let's see…" Finn says, looking at the disk-reader's screen, "There's data here that shows me visually how much of a presence the First Order has on… well, many, many planets", he scrolls through the screen, "Look, there's the Gner system. They just recently started to take control of it, so there's very little presence there," Finn keeps searching.
"Don't you think we should go somewhere they're…" Poe wonders, "I don't know, somewhere they've already been in for a while? You know, makes it harder, will be bigger news if they break free" he proposes.
"So the criteria are not having too much of a presence, but having had that presence for some time now?" Finn asks, just to make sure, and Poe nods, "Sounds pretty good. There are a few of those, I'm sure, let me just cross-reference with statistics about longevity".
Poe lies back onto his seat. They just got out of a tough, life-threatening situation and are already about to ride into another one.
"Hey, do you think we'll live?" Poe asks. The ship flies slowly, and Poe contemplates the stars around them. There's a lot of galaxy out there, "Past the war, I mean… You think we'll live to see the galaxy we're fighting to save?"
"I certainly hope so," Finn responds, while searching and mouthing to himself the names of each planet and system he reads.
"I feel like there are parts of ourselves we've just…" Poe says, his sight still lost to the endless beauty before him, "… I don't know, parts we've kept inside that I'd love to explore if we're ever past this conflict". Some things, however, he can't just talk about out loud. The two thus sit quietly for some time, one of them daydreaming in secret and the other one still searching. Finally, Finn has an answer.
"The Fegwet system," Finn says, as Poe snaps out, "Occupied for roughly ten years now, but largely sidelined because it means relatively little to them. They get materials to make the solar panels in TIE fighters, but it's just one of dozens of systems that provides them".
"Alright," Poe says, "Fegwet then. Here we go…" he has the ship enter hyperspeed, and they fly off into their fate. Moments later, it exits hyperspace near a small planet with a few moons surrounding it.
"All right, so we'll land," Poe proposes to Finn, "and then we'll rest because I have not slept in… I don't know how long". The Falcon enters the atmosphere. The planet is a steamy valley filled with lakes and mountains, all of it in blue-ish tones. There are urban regions spread across the atmosphere, only interrupted by lakes and large, oddly-shaped mountains and formations.
"I'd heard of this planet when I was growing up," Poe says, looking out the cockpit to see the landscape, "The lakes run through everywhere. They are literally all connected to each other. It's an interesting thing" he keeps explaining, excitedly. Finn listens, somewhat taken by surprise but interested, "See, the rocks, the land, all of this, it really needs water nearby to flourish. Of course, for the First Order, they allow this because it's that material that they use for the panels, but it really is beautiful. Every drop of water is connected, it's… harmonical, I'd say".
"Well, I'd heard nothing of this place" Finn adds, "So I've got nothing to impress you, but, well, you impressed me".
"We'll land in here. The trees will hide the ship" Poe says, as he operates the Falcon to stop and land.
"I'm surprised we got this far without getting attacked" Finn admits, relaxing and laying back in his seat.
"Well, let's not get too confident about it" Poe says, concerned, while shutting off the engines, "We'll give them a few hours of sleep. Then, we're all set".