Chapter Four
Poe Dameron was usually a confidant man, sometimes overly so. Recently however he was finding that confidence waning. Now she was gone to who knows were. She could be lost, hurt or worse. He immediately shook that thought away. He wouldn't even entertain the possibility. He felt responsible; he should have listened to her. Addie was always a quiet sort, shy but passionate almost to a fault. Something her brother had warned him about right before he had asked Poe to keep an eye on her if anything where to happen to him. He had accepted that whole heartily. Addie was a sweet kind girl who seemed to wear her heart in her sleeve, much like he did. She had been close to her brother and that was how he had gotten to know her. There was something about her that had made him want to protect her, so he had tried and he had failed. He sighed as he looked out his window into the dark, a tumbler in his hand. The ice had long since melted as he had been nursing his drink for well over an hour. He had to find her but where was she?
He had gathered everyone together to see if they could figure out where she had gone. Rey had tried one of her force mind trick to no avail; in fact she had stated it was as if someone or something was purposely blocking her. The good news in all that was the possibility she was still alive. He refused to entertain any other thought. Finn and Rose had started back tracing anywhere she might have gone. But she had been thorough not leaving behind a trace just that damned message. It has broken his heart, which he kinda deserved. In fact it had been Rose who had stated that they had probably broken her heart first. They hadn't believed her they had been to focused on setting up a new government, a new way of life. He had been so occupied in getting it right that he had neglected his most prized thing in life, his family. She was his family, his sister, the quiet one. She had never complained and yet he had still lost her.
He turned away from the window when the beep of a message had come through. It was from Finn and stated just one simple sentence. We found something.
She woke up slowly unsure of her surroundings at first. She blinked a few times to clear the sleep from her eyes. The first thing she noticed was how much warmer she was then when she had fallen asleep. The second thing she noticed was that she was back on her ship. Looking around she found that she was curled up on a pile of some kind of blankets that she knew were not hers. Sitting up she noticed that everything around her seemed untouched. Her beloved droid sat in its charging station.
"What the hell?" She questioned out loud. She knew it hasn't been a dream. She knew that this was not where she had ended up. Which meant someone had brought her back here, which meant the voice in her head may have been real. Which meant...holy shit! The thought hit her like a time of bricks. Someone really was here with her but who and why didn't they show themselves to her? She wasn't sure rather to be alarmed that this person had been watching her or relieved that she wasn't crazy.
"Hey KD." She said raising her droid who seemed to snap to attention focusing on her.
"Yes Miss." If KD were a real person it would be the equivalent to a morning person with that ridiculously perky greeting first thing in the morning. Morning people, she didn't get it. Poe was a morning person. Always up hours before anyone else and always with that loud excitable personality, she missed that, missed him. He had taken her into his self-made family when she had none. Then she had done the worst thing she could think of and had run away from that. The heaviness of what she had done suddenly weighing her done and a tear leaked from her eye. What done was done and now she needed to do what she had come here for. But first she needed to figure out what had happened the night before.
"Miss?" Her droid questioned her again as she shook herself out of her stupor.
"How did I get here? Who brought me here?"
"I am unable to give you an answer Miss."
"What? Why?"
"It seems as If my memory banks from the last 12 hours are missing." Now that's disconcerting. Why would anyone go to those lengths to remain hidden?
"Well that's odd." She stated more to herself than I KD.
"Yes Miss." Addie sighed as she found the dock out of her shot to glance out the window. Sun was streaming through and the air in the shop started to become thick with the warming of the day. She could see steam rising from the ground indicating that it definitely was going to be another hot one. She spent a few minutes straightening up her sleeping area, grabbing a new pile of clothing along with those that needed to be washed. She was avidly trying to avoid both the ruins and the voice she had found with it. It made her feel anxious and unsettled. She choose instead decided to put it in the back of her mind and forget it at least for now. Instead she focused on other things, little things, and things to keep her busy which included medial chores.
"Okay, KD we are going back to the river. I need to wash some things and purify more water and..."
"Miss..." KD interrupted. "My sensors detect movement coming in our direction." This got her attention.
"Well is it good or bad?" Or the person from last night. She said in her own head which was surprisingly quiet.
"I am unsure at this time Miss but there is more than one."
"Well how many are we talking?" She was suddenly in alert. She grabbed her blaster and ran to the door making sure it was secure.
"Four life signs are detected Miss. Coming from the west." Addie wasn't sure what to expect especially considering what has happened the night before.
"How long do we have before they get here?" She asked automatically activating the system that allowed her ship to become literally a fortress. The sunlight was suddenly blocked out as a plated shied covered it. She had detected no life when she had first landed here nearly two weeks ago but that didn't mean anything. All new scenarios where going through her head. They could be friendly or not, they may not even be from here. They could be like her just looking to investigate or they could be worse. Being in her field she was not unaccustomed to those who sought out the same things she did for profit which in turn could make them very dangerous. KD seemed to be suddenly on alert.
"They are here Miss." Suddenly the air around her seemed to be sucked away. It left an earie silence and all she heard was the rapid beating of her own heart. Suddenly a very loud bang hit the side of her ship. She heard voices and they did not sound friendly. They were trying to get in and her anxiety spiked. In reality she knew they wouldn't get in. Before she had left she had made sure her ship was made to withstand a lot if something like this were to happen. She was after all going to uncharted territory and she wanted some kind of protection, a safe room so to speak. She turned on an emergency light, stowed a few extra knives on her person and activated a screen that allowed her to see outside. Three very large men stood by the entrance where the ramp would open. One was banging on the door which echoed within her confined space. They wore an armor she had never seen and masked that covered the bottom half of their faces. But KD had said four. So where was the fourth one? She heard another bang but this time it came from above. Relentless pounding followed by a gibberish language she had never heard but it sounded angry. She was starting to get worried. What if they kept her trapped in here? How long before they gave up? What were they doing here? She bomb bared herself with so many questions not knowing what she could do.
"Hold on. I'm coming for you." She perked up, the voice in her head had returned and it had a surprisingly calming effect on her. Another noise from outside caught her attention and she looked back at the screen. For such ugly creatures they were smart. They were trying to override her system from the outside. If they got lucky…She shook the thought from her head. She had to do something, she wasn't just gonna wait for someone to maybe rescue her. Besides she was still not entirely clear on rather this was all real or not.
"I said I'm coming for you. Stay put." The voice sounded slightly annoyed and laced with impatience as it seemed to follow her train of thought. She ignored it of course.
"KD, I need you to power down and stay out of sight."
"Damn it! At least take the BATTLE DROID with you!" Still she ignored it.
"Are you quite sure Miss?' The droid asked.
"Yes, I want at least someone on the outside in case this goes sideways. If something happens, I need you to signal Poe. I need you to tell him I'm sorry."
"Yes Miss." The thing about a preprogramed droid was it didn't argue. Unlike the voice in her head which was currently swearing up a storm. Seriously, there were words she had never heard before but she wasn't about to take this by huddling in a corner waiting for something to happen. She had been doing that most of her life.
"Now is not the time to reevaluate your life choices princess." There was bit to that comment. Which she once again choose to ignore as she faced the door with a blade in one hand, a blaster in the other and the pounding on the door increasing. "I'm almost there! Don't you touch that door!" She didn't, she touched the button that opened the door. Sunlight streamed in causing her to blink ever so slightly. She was met with three pairs of very surprised eyes.
"Hi boys." She sure hopped that they were. She hated to insult anyone further. "Don't you know it's rude to bang on someone's door like that? I could be in any state of duress and no one wants that."
"For the love of God DO NOT antagonize them!"
"I'm Addie, this is my place. I don't like uninvited guest." She gripped her weapons tighter. She knew the fourth one wasn't that far off and she knew her next moves would have to be quick and calculated. They may not have spoken the same language as her but they understood her intent. They took a collective step toward her; two had their own weapons ready and went to advance on her.
"ABOVE YOU!" His voice echoed in her head as the fourth creature went to drop down on her. Whatever they were they were not friendly. She punched the button to close the door just as the creature jumped for her and she jumped from her ship landing on a tuck and roll. She heard the door behind her slam shut with a sickening crunch as the creature that had tried to land on top of her got caught in the door, killing it instantly. That was going to be a mess. She glanced up from her crouched position at the three very unhappy looking members of the squad. She had two thoughts, the first was she was royally screwed and the second was to….
"Run." It was a simple word but it resonated with her deeply. First because she had every intention of listening to it but also it was the same voice that had said it in her dream, a dream that she had set aside until this very moment. She glanced behind them to catch sight of an even more sinister figure. She couldn't see his face but he was tall, so very tall; big and menacing. He wore all black and seemed to move like a shadow as it descended upon the small group. The air around her seemed to shift just slightly as she stood in shock. The creatures looked from her to him, back to her and then back to him. She remained frozen, unsure what she should really be doing.
Things happened so fast. In a matter of seconds she went from frozen to watching the three unfortunate souls in front of her drop to their knees gasping and pulling at their necks. They acted as if their own breath had been stolen from them. She watched the ciaos around her until suddenly he was in front of her. She still couldn't see his face because he too wore a mask on the bottom half but she saw his eyes. Brown piercing eyes that were full of all kinds of emotions and right now they were breeding intensity. So much so she could feel it.
"We need to work on your listening skills." She gasped as she looked up at him. He had wrapped a very large hand around her upper arm spinning her around away from him. The voice was the one that had been in her head except this time he had actually spoken out loud to her. The only difference was that this was raspier as if it was under used. Well if one had the ability to speak to other in their mind why waist it on spoken words. He pushed her away.
"Now run!" She was shocked by this but for once she listened and run she did as fast as she could, not looking back. She could hear the commotion behind her, there was yelling and shooting and other noises she didn't want to try and identify. She was running so fast that she wasn't really watching where she was going and tripped. She found herself stumbling head over heal down a steep embankment only to hit her head on something hard. She saw stars and tried to move but she was fighting off the darkness that threatened to take her under. She found that she couldn't really move. She wasn't sure how long she lay there but she was suddenly aware of a dark hood figure above her. Those eyes looked down at her in worry and suddenly she felt as if she was floating and it felt safe and then darkness.
A/N Sooo what did ya think. They meet finally kinda but a more formal intro will be next chapter. Let me know how you all like. Sorry it took a few weeks but real life ya know. It's so much easier living in this happy little fan fiction bubble!
