D'Qar
Ten standard days later Poe Dameron came back to the base. After reporting to General Organa about the outcome of his mission, he went to Nomi's and Dash's barrack.
When Nomi opened the door when he had knocked, she was startled. Dameron had a wound under his right eye, a bloody lower lip, dark circles under his eyes, and clotted blood on his left temple. He really didn't look good and Nomi felt that he was not doing well either.
"Can I speak with you, Nomi?"
The Jedi stepped aside. "Of course. Come in, Poe."
The Commander went slowly to the table and sat on one of the folding chairs in front of the table, groaning of pain. When Nomi had also sat down, he began to speak: "I've already reported General Organa, but I would also like to talk to you about my mission to Jakku."
He paused to collect himself. "The mission failed, Nomi. When I received the data store from Lor San Tekka which you had given him on behalf of Master Skywalker, First Order troop carriers suddenly landed near the village. The stormtroopers attacked immediately and destroyed the engine of my X-wing. The data store I've given BB-8 for safe-keeping and sent it far away, so that it doesn't fall into the hands of the First Order. Then I grabbed my blaster rifle and went for cover nearby. I shot at the stormtroopers and killed some, but it was no use.
The villagers were round-up at the evaporator cistern.
Finally, a shuttle landed from which a black-clad, masked man stepped out. The troopers hauled Lor San Tekka before him. The old man said something to the masked man, which I could not understand because of the distance.
Suddenly the man activated a lightsaber and killed Lor San Tekka. And then I did a great stupidity, Nomi. I broke cover and fired at the killer. You won't believe it, the shot stopped in mid-air and I couldn't move.
Then came two troopers, who dragged me to their leader. They dashed me before him to the ground and he knelt down in front of me. He knew about the map and let them search me. When they found nothing, they took me to a troop transport. I was just on the access ramp when the order was given to kill all villagers. Why did they do this, Nomi?"
The Jedi looked at Poe in horror. The First Order was apparently just as cruel as once the Empire.
Dameron continued with his report: "They brought me to the detention block aboard a Star Destroyer. With my hands still shackled, they threw me into a cell. I regretted to not being able to swallow the poison capsule, Nomi.
A little later the cell door opened and two stormtroopers came in. One of them brutally yanked me up at my tied hands. They drove me through a long passage. When I slowed down, I got a blow in the knee pit with the blaster rifle, which caused me to stumble. Again they brutally yanked me up at my tied hands. I guessed that what was laying ahead of me would be much worse." Poe interrupted his narrative again. "Do you have anything to drink, Nomi? My throat is quite dry."
The Jedi took a Corellian brandy and poured a glass for Dameron. "That will do you good, I think."
Dameron looked grateful at her and took a sip before he continued talking. "When we finally arrived at the destination, the stormtroopers pushed me into a room that was dominated by a strange looking apparatus. One of the stormtroopers untied my handcuffs and together they dragged me, despite my desperate resistance, onto the apparatus and strapped me in. Then they left me alone and closed the door behind them.
When the door opened again, a man dressed in an officer's uniform, entered the room. Behind him floated an Imperial interrogation droid. I'll spare you the details of the torture, Nomi. The officer asked again and again for the map. And with every time the pain he inflicted on me grew stronger. Finally, I must have lost consciousness because I woke up in the arrest cell. My head ached terribly and I tasted blood in my mouth. When I raised my bound hands and swept my face, I felt a wound under my right eye. Soon I had lost track of time, and I no longer knew how often they had brought me out of my cell and tortured me."
Again he interrupted his narrative to drink a sip of brandy. "Then they had not even bothered to take me back to the cell. They had simply left me in the torture chair, in a half-lying position. I felt blood running down the left side of my face.
When the door of the room opened, I expected to see one of my well-known tormentors. But there was another who entered the room. It was the black-clad and masked man who had been in command of the attack on the village at the Kelvin Ridge.
He approached and asked as if to mock me whether I was comfortable. It seemed that he knew exactly who I am. Then he said: 'I'm impressed. No one has been able to get out of you, what you did with the map.'
I didn't want to show any weakness despite my pain, Nomi, and replied: 'Maybe you rethink the technique.'
Suddenly the black-clad man raised his hand and I felt an eerie pressure when my head was pushed back. 'Where is it?'
I could hardly swallow through the overstretched neck and struggled painfully for breath. Desperately I struggled against it. Then the pressure in my throat finally ceased. But suddenly I felt something and almost throw up. Something, no someone, had penetrated my mind. This tentative search with invisible fingers in my brain made me almost mad, Nomi and I screamed in my agony. Before I fully lost consciousness, I heard my tormentor say to a red-haired officer that he now knew where the map is. They now had no reason to leave me alive."
The Jedi looked with pity on Poe, who took another sip of brandy. When he put down his glass again, she took his hand. "You have not committed any conscious betrayal, Poe. What has been done to you can only be done by someone who can use the Force. I've already thought that this masked man is Force-sensitive when you told me about the shot hold in mid-air and your inability to move. This man must be strong in the Force if he can manage both at the same time."
Dameron looked at her incredulously and continued with his story. "When I awoke from my deep swoon, a stormtrooper stood guard in the room. A second stormtrooper came and said: 'Ren wants the prisoner.'
The stormtrooper released me from the apparatus, shackled my hands and drove me out of the room. I was prepared to die soon and I've only regretted that it wouldn't be in combat."
The name Ren made Nomi sit up, but she didn't interrupt Poe. It was now clear to her who was the man who had Dameron in his grip. However, she didn't let it show and said instead: "Now that you're sitting here with me at the table, your escape must have been successful."
Poe nodded and took another sip of brandy. "I've already settled my affairs, because I was sure that the trooper would bring me to my execution. But then everything turned out differently. He pushed me into a side passage and said that he wants to save me. I could hardly believe it. The trooper wanted to desert and take me with him. He was in need of a pilot and asked me if I could fly a TIE. I answered him that I can fly anything, Nomi. He took me to the hangar, where we actually climbed unhindered into a TIE, after he had freed me from my shackles. Our escape had almost failed because the TIE was still anchored, but somehow we managed to get away. Before we flew out of the hangar bay, we destroyed all TIEs and the hangar control bridge with the laser cannons."
He interrupted his narrative, emptied his glass, and handed it to Nomi. "Could I have another glass of brandy?"
The Jedi refilled the glass and gave it Dameron. Nomi felt that the alcohol did Poe good and took a little of his physical and emotional suffering. She knew what sort of traces the grasp with the Force in a mind left behind on the soul, for she too had had to make this experience many years ago.
After another sip of brandy, the Commander continued with his narration. "The TIEs were no longer a problem, but there were still the laser batteries and the rocket launchers of the Star Destroyer. I told the trooper how to use the TIE's lasers cannons. When I asked him about his name, he told me only a letter-number combination: FN-2187. The poor guy had no other name. That was too long for me and I asked him if he agree to be called Finn. From his reply I clearly heard his joy that he was no longer just a number.
We had just destroyed the laser batteries when the rocket launchers started to fire. I eschewed the incoming rockets while Finn fired at them. Then it happened. Finn lost concentration when I told him we had to go back to Jakku and why. A rocket hit us, tore one of the wings apart, and we rushed uncontrollably toward the planet. I activated the ejection seat and left the crashing landing TIE when we had reached the appropriate height to do so. Through the impact on the planet's surface, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, neither Finn nor the TIE could be seen.
I beat my way to a village and finally got back to the base." Poe winced when he grabs again the glass filled with brandy. "I should better go to Dr. Kalonia, Nomi. Maybe I broke a few ribs at the crash. It hurts badly."
The Jedi nodded. "Don't forget to tell her that you had two shots Corellian brandy. Didn't you actually look for BB-8?"
Dameron shook his head. "No, there were too many First Order troops on Jakku and I thought its droids tracking system was activated. Unfortunately, they've forgotten to activate it before our mission, as I learned from the General. Everything has gone wrong, which could go wrong, Nomi. The General was not pleased when I told her about my failure."
Dameron finished his drink and winced in pain when he stood up. When the Jedi wanted to help him, he waved her off. "I need no help, Nomi."
He went slowly to the door and turned again. "Thank you for listening to me and thank you for the brandy. Both have done good to me, Nomi."
Then he left the barrack to go to Dr. Kalonia.
When Dash came home from monitoring the simulator training, he saw a thoughtful Nomi sitting at the table. Before her was still standing the bottle with Corellian brandy.
He looked back and forth between the bottle and his wife. "You're not about to drink, honey?"
His wife looked up and shook her head. "Poe is back on the base, Dash."
Dash sat down to Nomi. "Ah, and you both have drunk on his successful mission."
"The mission has failed, Dash. Lor San Tekka was killed by Kylo Ren. All the villagers are dead and Poe was captured. Previously he could give his droid the data store, but we do not know where the droid is now. Dameron was tortured and Kylo Ren has entered his mind and now knows that BB-8 carries the map inside it. Together with a deserting stormtrooper, Poe finally managed to escape."
Dash looked at her aghast. "Damn crap, it could not have been worse for the kid."
His wife nodded. "You should have seen him, the interrogators of the First Order have done their job."
Dash muttered: "If the First Order is as good in torture as the Imps in the Civil War, I can imagine what Poe had to go through and what he now looks like." He sighed as he remembered how he had been tortured by Ysanne Isard and had thus lost his eyesight. It was only because of the help of his wife, who used the Kaiburr crystal and the Force, that he could see again. But then he pushed these murky thoughts aside. "Somehow I knew that the kid would get in trouble some day. The general won't be pleased."
"It can't be helped, Dash. Let's hope that BB-8 doesn't fall into the hands of the First Order."
Her husband nodded and replied, "That would be a disaster for the Resistance, if not for the entire galaxy."