Poe ducked a blast from the stormtrooper before shooting her squarely in the chest. She fell, her armour clanking against the cement. Breathing heavily, Poe glanced around the clearing. Bodies lay strewn across the ground leading towards the large, ornate back doors of the fortress.

'Disarm them all,' he told his group. Most of the stormtroopers were dead or dying, but that didn't mean the Resistance should run across and risk an unseen attack.

Besides, they had time to kill. Finn was sneaking around somewhere inside the fortress, looking for the switch the open the back door and let them rush in.

The loud snap-hiss of a lightsaber lighting swept over the clearing. His heart racing, Poe glanced up at the bluff just in time to hear the answering cry of another lightsaber.

Blue and red collided in a shower of sparks and heat as Rey and Kylo Ren locked weapons, retreated, then struck again. They circled around one another, the bright colours reflecting off the beads of sweat on Rey's face and illuminating Kylo Ren's dark armour.

More than anything, Poe wanted to pull Rey out of there. She was strong, but she was so new at this – and over the years, he'd seen the Sith cut through opponents like cheese. But if Rey didn't keep Kylo Ren occupied, he'd come after the rest of them, and that wasn't an option. And, practically speaking, Poe's blaster could do nothing against a lightsaber.

They neededto infiltrate the command room and find the stolen data drive before the stormtroopers managed to hack it. That small disc contained maps of Resistance hideouts and drafts of their battle plans; in the First Order's hands, it could spell the end to their whole organisation.

So he joined his fighters in disarming the stormtroopers, and when the large doors creaked open to reveal Finn's impatient face, Poe didn't baulk. He glanced up at the battle on the bluff – Rey was still holding her own, thankfully – before rushing inside the fortress.

All he could do was retrieve the data drive as quickly as they could and trust that she had the power and cunning to fend Kylo Ren off in the meantime.


A/N: Prompt: 'Thinking that you can't protect the ones you love, you have to hope they're smart enough to save themselves.' from Bone Gap by Laura Ruby