14. Gains and Losses
"What? How?"
"I don't know - he must have been on a different transport!"
"We've gotta get him," cried Finn.
"Your friend's on that sky trash?" Zorii asked Poe.
"I guess he is!"
It was at that moment that 3PO suddenly powered up again. "Hello, might I introduce myself. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. And you are?"
"Okay that's going to be a problem," said Poe.
"Hello, I Babu Frik," said Babu.
"Oh, hello!"
"No time to fix it now!" Chess grabbed her husband's wrist in one hand and the droid's in the other, dragging them forward.
"3PO move your metal ass! We're almost there!" ordered Poe.
"How dare you! We've only just met!"
"Poe, Chess-" Zorii stopped them. She held up a small metal disc. "Might get you on the capital ship. Go help your friend."
"That's a First Order-"
"Captain's medallion, yeah."
"I've never seen a real one."
"Free passage through any blockade. Landing privilege's, any vessel."
"Zorii, I don't think we can take this-"
"I don't care what you think." She dropped it in Poe's palm, closing his fingers around it.
"Come with us."
"Go! Get out of here!"
Chess pulled the other woman into a hug. "Thank you!" And then they were off.
"Medallion's good. Clear for entrance in Hangar 12," Poe announced. "Thank you, Zorii."
"Hang on, Chewie, we're coming," said Chess.
"Whoever this Chewie person is, this is madness!" cried 3PO. Well, the new 3PO.
Thanks to Zorii's disk, they were able to fly right onto the destroyer without raising any suspicion.
Well, that was until the door lowered and two Stormtroopers immediately rushed over to question them.
"Where are your credentials?"
"Uh, oh yeah, right here-" Chess blasted both through the chest. Then she grinned. "I feel like that's something Dad would have done."
"You three, stay here," Rey told the droids.
"Happily!" cried 3PO.
"Which way?"
"Uh, no idea - follow me," said Finn.
They didn't make it far before they were stopped again. "Drop your weapons!"
"It's okay that we're here." Rey waved her hand in front of their faces.
"It's okay you're here."
"You're relieved we are here."
"So glad you're here."
"Welcome guys!"
"Does she do that to us?" Poe asked.
"We're looking for a prisoner and his belongings."
"They said Chewie's this way," said Finn continuing to lead the way. "Rey, come on. What is it?"
"The dagger's on this ship, we need it."
"Why?"
"A feeling - I'll meet you back at the hangar." With that she took off.
Finn went to stop her but Poe stopped him. "Chewie," he reminded.
"You got the same feeling?" Finn asked Chess.
"No."
Finn sighed in frustration. "It's probably Ren."
"It's probably their Force bond, still connecting them."
"Yeah, but I don't think either if them resists it that much," he said, jealousy lacing his words.
"Finn, you know that Rey's pull towards the Dark isn't just Ben," she said. "She feels it too."
But it seemed he wasn't willing to believe that.
Finally they reached Chewie, who was very glad to see them.
"Chewie!" Chess threw her arms around him. "Of course we came for you. Oh I was so worried we'd lost you!"
"Rey's here, she's gone to get the dagger," Finn told him. "Ship's this way - follow me." They ran right into a pair of Troopers. "Wrong way!"
"There really isn't a right way, is there," Poe called back.
"Uh, it is okay that we're here-" Chess waved her hand in front of their faces as Rey had.
"No it's not!"
"Okay, worth a shot I guess-" Instead of the Force, they continued to blast their way through.
Poe was struck by a blast to the arm.
"POE!" Chess raced to where he had fallen. "You okay?"
"Nope," he said as they were surrounded by Stormtroopers.
"Put your hands up!"
"Drop your weapons now!"
"Hey folks." Poe gave a little wave.
"Shut up, scum."
They were taken to a holding cell where four Troopers lined up behind them, blasters ready to fire them down.
The door slid open and Hux entered the cell. "Oh, look who it is." He grinned when he saw them. Chess spit in his face. "I want to do this myself." He grabbed the blaster from one of the troopers.
"What were you going to tell Rey before?" Poe asked Finn.
"You're still on that?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, is this a bad time? Still a bad time? You got something to get off your chest, later isn't really looking like an option-"
"Poe, just shut up," she cried.
BLAST BLAST BLAST BLAST!
Four shots were fired, but none hit them. Turning, they saw Hux still armed with the blaster, having shot down the Troopers. "I'm the spy!"
"What?!"
"You?!"
"We don't have much time."
"I knew it!" cried Poe
"No you didn't," protested Finn.
"Uh, sorry for spitting at you, I guess," Chess told Hux.
With Hux's help they managed to escape the destroyer aboard the Falcon and were on their way to Exegol - or at least to wherever the dagger's coordinates led them.
Chess was cleaning and bandaging Poe's wound. He was staring at her, eyes heavy-lidded and a smoldering expression on his face.
She rolled her eyes. "Stop it."
"What?"
"I was really scared back there. I thought for sure we were gonners."
"Yeah, me too."
"All this, it all really puts into perspective whatever we were mad about."
"Which time?"
"When you lightspeed skipped the Falcon."
"Oh yeah."
"Don't do that again, please. If you do, my dad will come back and haunt you." She was only half joking.
He chuckled. "I don't doubt it." He placed his hand over hers on his wounded arm, and she pressed their foreheads together.
Their moment was broken when they turned to see BB and D-O staring up at them.
"S-sweeet," said D-O.
The landing when they finally reached the correct point was rough, but they had bigger things to worry about at the moment. They crossed the field to the edge overlooking a stormy sea - giant metal ruins sticking out of the water.
"My stars," Chess breathed.
"W-what is that?" asked D-O.
"It's the Death Star. A bad place from an old war."
"'Only this blade tells...'" Rey held up the dagger, holding it up against the skyline, moving it slowly. Suddenly, she stopped. "There. The Wayfinder's there." She pointed.
"Head's up," said Poe. They turned to see several people approaching.
"Rough landing," said the woman at the front of the group.
"I've seen worse," said Poe.
"I've seen better. Are you Resistance?"
"That depends."
"We picked up a transmission from someone named Babu Frik."
"Babu Frik!" cried 3PO. "Oh, he's one of my oldest friends!"
"He said you'd come. He said you were the last hope."
"We have to get to that wreck," Rey explained. "There's something inside there we need."
"I can take you by water," the woman offered.
"Have you seen the water?" cried Finn.
"Not now, it's too dangerous. We can go at first light tomorrow."
"We can't wait that long, we don't have the time," Rey protested.
"Or the choice," said Poe. "Let's get that ship fixed. You got any spare parts?" he asked the woman.
"Some. I'll help you."
"Thank you."
The woman, Jannah, assisted them with the Falcon.
"What a dreadful situation! Is everyday like this for you people? Madness!" 3PO was muttering.
"Did we ever find his volume control?" asked Poe.
"Not yet," answered Chess.
BB-8 rolled over, beeping wildly. "What is it buddy?" Poe asked. "What do you mean you haven't seen her?"
By the looks of it, while they had been distracted with fixing the ship, Rey had taken it upon herself to cross the water and seek out the Wayfinder.
"Damn it, Rey," sighed Chess.
"What the hell was she thinking?" agreed Poe, storming back to the Falcon.
"Poe, we've gotta go after her," Finn cried.
"Let's get the Falcon fixed and get out there as fast as we can-"
"No! We're gonna lose her!"
"Look, she left us! What do you wanna do? Swim?"
"She's not herself, you have no idea what she's fighting-"
"And you do?"
"Yeah, I do, and so does Leia."
"Well I'm not Leia." Poe pointed at him.
Finn smacked his hand away. "That's for damn sure."
"Just stop it, both of you," Chess stepped-in. Finn stormed off, Jannah following, while Poe headed off back to the Falcon. Chess followed him. Right now it seemed like getting their ship fixed in order to chase after Rey was their only option.
"He loves her, Poe," she said, catching up to her husband.
He whirled around to face her. "What?"
"Oh come on, it's so obvious. Don't you see how jealous he gets whenever Ben is brought up? And how much he worries about her. It's love." Poe just stared back. "Now come on."
Rey and Ren were fighting it out again, while Finn desperately tried to get Rey's attention and get her to rejoin the group.
Back on the Falcon, Chess, Poe, Chewie, and the droids were finishing up the last of the repairs.
"I think we're back in business!" Poe announced, flicking some switches which blinked on and hummed to life.
"And not a moment too soon." Chess hauled away the toolkit.
But suddenly, she stopped, as though driven to a halt by something. A wave of sadness hit her, a wave of loss; the toolkit fell to the floor with a loud crash! and suddenly she was on her knees beside it, sobbing.
"Chess! Chess, what is it?" Poe was at her side in an instant.
"M-Mum-"
"What, what about Leia?"
"She's - she's gone..."
Aw Leia, I miss her (and Carrie herself) so much! :(
Sorry to end on such a sad note, but I guess we knew it was coming... Still, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
