Ben solo ran up to his X-Wing excitedly, pulling his helmet on and quickly buckling the strap under his chin. He heard his name called from behind him.

"Ben Solo you're not leaving without giving your mother a hug are you?"

He quickly ran over to the short lady and hugged her tightly, spinning her around once before letting her back on the ground. She laughed but Ben could tell she was holding back. She was worried. Like she was on every mission before this one that Ben insisted on going on.

"Love you, mom. I swear I'll be careful!" Ben said and gave her a half smile.

"You better, young man," she warned him, but gave him a teasing look. Ben knew she secretly loved that he was so involved in the resistance.

"Come on, Ben! That first order ship won't be landed for long!" Poe Dameron yelled over to him.

"Coming!" Ben yelled excitedly, he kissed his mom on the cheek, trying not to hit her with his helmet as he did so, then jogged back over to his fighter and climbed in. He quickly started flipping switches and pressing buttons. The engine roared to life, and soon Ben was hovering in the air waiting for the last few of the resistance pilots that were coming with them to lift off.

"All ships ready to fly," he heard through his headphones from Poe.

"Roger. I want all fighters on my tail until we reach the ship, I'll give further instruction upon arrival," he said confidently. The seven other crew all gave him the confirmation he had been heard and they took off, following Ben's lead.

Ben had to admit, he was quite nervous about this mission. Attacking a first order ship, one this large non-the-less, was going to be tricky. They had received confirmation it had landed on a nearby moon to refuel, restock, and get repairs done. Usually the first order would go to their own ship docking planet to have this work done, but an asteroid storm had taken them by surprise and rendered a few of their jets useless, so they had to make an emergency landing at a neutral moon. Thankfully for the resistance, they had a few friends on this moon, ones that gave them a heads up. Ben knew they may not be able to completely destroy the ship they were going after, but his intention was to render it completely useless, take out the canons, and take out as many of the first order as he could along the way.

Nearly an hour later they made their arrival on the forest covered moon and Ben halted everyone when the ship came into view.

"I want two on the right, two on the left, one straight down the middle, and Poe and I will draw off the fighters they will surely try to use. Do as much damage to any part of the ship you can get to, especially the canons! If you happen to see any of the first order, you have permission to shoot to kill. They took down one of our medical ships last week, keep that memory strong as you fight!"

"Good luck rebels!" One pilot said.

"Let's kick some first order ass!" Poe cried eagerly and with that all of them took off at top speed towards the ship. Ben went immediately towards the control center and fired directly at the glass. He grinned as he watched metal and glass explode into shards. Of course the first order was ready, they deployed a handful of tie fighters almost immediately. Ben shot one down as soon as it came into view, then drove expertly around the ship, cutting close corners around it and the surrounding trees. He lost another one that way, cheering as it exploded against a tree.

"Good one, Solo!" He heard through his headphones.

"You've got two trailing you Poe!" Ben said loudly into his mouthpiece then began the chase of the tie fighters.

"I can't get a clear shot without hitting you." Ben said following the fighters. Then Poe suddenly sharply pulled his x wing up, throwing the tie fighters off him and Ben took his shot, one direct hit and one hit on the others wing which caused a fiery crash below him.

"Woo!" He heard Poe yell excitedly into his mouthpiece. Between the two of them, those tie fighters never stood a chance. They were chasing down the last one, enjoying all the chaos exploding around them, the other pilots damaging the large ship beyond recognition.

"Almost got him!" Ben cried, he was so close, just barely missing the shot.

"Whoa whats happening!?" He heard Poe say.

"What are you-whoa!" Ben's x-wing shook violently and alarms began going off. There was an electric malfunction of some sort and his heart dropped as he realized he had no control of his fighter anymore. It quickly began plummeting towards the ground. Thankfully Ben wasn't very high up and though he braced for impact, nothing could prepare him for the intense crash.

The next time Ben opened his eyes, he was staring at twisted metal on the inside of his fighter. He must have lost consciousness momentarily when he crash landed. He brought his arms up to remove his helmet which was cracked and so dirty he could no longer see out of it. He leaned up and tried to open the hatch to get out, but it was jammed. He brought his legs up and kicked roughly at it until it finally became free and popped open.

He raised himself to look around at the situation, it was still chaotic. The last few x wings crash landed and he watched in horror as one of them burst violently into flames.

Ben couldnt just sit there and watch his friend die, he pulled himself out of the fighter, arms aching, and dropped to the ground. His legs nearly gave out, but hot adrenaline pumped through his body at the thought that maybe, just maybe, whoever was in that fighter was still alive and was burning with the wreckage, and he soon found himself running towards it.

"Solo! Lookout!" Ben heard Poe's voice somewhere behind him. He glanced around just in time to see two storm troopers at his heels. Each of them grabbed an arm and attempted to detain him. It slowed him down, but he refused to give up. He was able to get a few more steps in, pulling against the weight of the men trying to drag him back. He groaned in frustration and nearly had them thrown off of him, eyes laser focused on the burning fighter he was almost to...

A sudden electric shock ran through his veins and he dropped to his knees instantly, jaw clenched in pain. The pain subsided and he immediately tried to get back up. Another shock knocked him to his hands and knees, his muscles not wanting to obey him anymore.

"Stop resisting!" One of the stormtroopers said angrily.

"Please!" Ben cried out desperately, "please let me get my friend out before it's too late...you can do whatever you want with me afterward, I swear!"

"No, he deserves to burn."

Those words sent white hot anger coursing through his bloodstream and fueled his muscles to jump back to life. He elbowed the trooper to his right directly in the plastic face of his helmet, cracking right through it knocking him unconscious immediately. Then he turned to the other one who was taken by surprise, he yanked the blaster from his hand and shot him square in the chest without hesitation. Wasting no more time, he ran the remaining way to the burning ship but it was too late. Whoever was inside had already perished, he could tell. He heard no screams for help, saw no movement, and the heat from the fire was so intense, he couldn't even get close to the hatch to open it.

He let out a yell of anguish and ran back in the opposite direction where storm troopers were now surrounding them in hoards. He began blasting as if each one of them was the reason for his mates death, feeling nothing but rage and grief. How many more of his friends had died today he didn't know about yet? He looked at the other wrecks all around him, then spotted Poe who was being apprehended by three troopers. He shot each one with amazing precision and Poe looked over to him, giving him a grateful nod. He would have to remember to thank Chewy for those lessons when he got back. He watched as his pilot friend took off running towards one of the fighters that looked moderately unscathed. Unfortunately, that was the last thing he saw before another shock of blinding pain made him drop his weapon and brought him to his knees where he was quickly detained, arms forced behind his back and locked into bulky, uncomfortable handcuffs. He struggled to sit up and found himself being roughly helped by a couple of troopers who dragged him to his feet. He shook the sweaty hair out of his eyes and looked around.

A few others had been captured in the chaos and all of them were being led to the large first order ship they had been attacking just minutes ago. He felt rough hands shove him in the same direction and began walking, knowing there was no getting out of this one. Not yet anyway. They were all led to a large metallic room with brilliant lights and sterile looking white floors and walls. Each of them was kicked to their knees in a line and Ben stole a glance around. There were three other resistance members alongside him all, but none of them Poe. He hoped and prayed his friend had made it out of here in time to go get help. He couldn't think about the other option.

It was a good few minutes they all kneeled there, Ben's legs were beginning to ache, his knees growing sore, but he remained quiet and compliant. They were surrounded by storm troopers with blasters all pointed at them and he knew now wasn't the time to be a hero. Suddenly the door to their left hissed open and Ben's head shot up to see who was entering.

Long black robes billowed behind a small figure who was walking briskly down the hallway. He couldn't see a face as it was covered in a hood and the shadows hid it well. He felt the brunt of a weapon collide roughly with his head.

"Keep your eyes down, scum."

Ben reluctantly looked at the ground but watched the person from his peripheral vision. They stopped in front of the four of them and Ben stared at their feet. Black boots with some heel to obviously help this short person look a bit taller...shoes size looked pretty small even with the big boots though. He deduced this was a woman, though he hadn't seen a face or body type yet.

"Well, well, well...resistance pilots..."

He was right, a very feminine voice spoke. He knew at once this must be Supreme Leader Palpatine. How lucky she just happened to be on the very ship they had attacked. If only he could have gotten a good shot at her...

"How many of them were there to start with?" She directed her question at one of the troopers.

"Eight, ma'am. Three perished, one escaped, and four captured."

Ben's heart dropped...three of his friends were gone just like that. But the one that escaped...surely that had to be Poe. It gave him a glimmer of hope.

"Have you sent a squad after the one that escaped?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Excellent. Maybe if we're lucky he'll lead us straight to the resistance base. What I wouldn't give to run my lightsaber through their precious princess..."

A few troopers laughed.

"I dare you to try it," Ben said viciously staring at her boots. The laughter stopped immediately and he felt the tip of a blaster at his neck.

"Shut up rebel! I won't tell you again!" The trooper behind him said loudly.

"Now now, we can't expect them to be friendly to us when we're holding them hostage..." the woman slowly walked over to stand in front of Ben and knelt down. Ben looked up into her dark hood that was pulled up over her head to make her look more intimidating. She looked...young. Very young actually. And very pretty. He couldn't see her hair but her eyes were a light hazel, nose small, and lips somewhat thin but shaped perfectly on her face. So this was what the feared Supreme Leader looked like...he expected something...more intimidating. He had heard horror stories about her but now that she was in front of him, he didn't feel even slightly intimidated.

"Now then, what did you want to tell me?" She said grinning at him, obviously amused. Ben stared into her eyes with all the venom he could muster, "I said...I dare you to try it..." his voice was thick and low, eyes not breaking contact with her own. She stared straight back, unblinking.

The two held eye contact for a minute, neither of them wanting to be the one to look away first.

"You look familiar," She said ignoring his hostile comment. "Have we met?"

"Haven't had the pleasure I'm afraid," Ben replied harshly without skipping a beat. She stared at him with that half grin for another moment, then suddenly her hand shot up in front of his face and before he could process what was happening, he felt a crushing pressure in his skull as if someone was blowing up a balloon inside his brain and it was close to popping. He closed his eyes against the horrible pressure and, realizing she was very strong with the force, used his own training by his uncle Luke to fight back. Instantly pushing her out of his brain.

"Interesting..." she said lowering her hand, her expression changing from one of amusement to one of interest.

"So you're the Solo boy I've heard so much about," she was excited, Ben could tell. It made him feel slightly uncomfortable. Damnit he hadn't been quick enough to get her out of his head.

"That's why you got so defensive. You don't like me threatening your family..."

Ben furrowed his brow, moving his jaw around angrily trying to control his temper.

She reached up and grabbed his jaw, turning his head to the side seemingly inspecting him. He pulled his head back away from her hand and stared at her angrily. She looked up to the trooper standing behind him.

"Put this one in the interrogation room. I want to keep him awhile."

She gave him another sly grin then stood and began to leave the room.

"What of the others, Supreme Leader?"

She stopped and looked back at them.

"We have what we need. Kill them." The door hissed closed behind her as she left.

Ben immediately began fighting his restraints and captor. He would be damned if he sat here compliant while his friends were murdered. It was tough in handcuffs, but he managed to elbow the man behind him in the stomach doubling him over, kicked another trooper in the leg knocking effectively off his feet, and was aiming for another one to kick when he felt a hard blow to the side of his head, making his vision go temporarily black, his body falling limply to the ground. He blinked and struggled hard to stay conscious, feeling people behind him dragging him out of the room. He could see through blurry eyes his friends struggling against their bonds, a trooper behind each of them with a blaster pointed to each of their heads. He squeezed his eyes closed as the sound of the weapons went off. His heart sunk again for the hundredth time today and he gave into sweet unconscious oblivion.