Chapter 8 - "Can you fly a TIE-Defender?"
Outskirts of the Jakku System
Resurgent Class Star Destroyer Ravager
Poe was still alive, still breathing, but he didn't feel like it. He felt broken and exposed, like his mind had been unmade. His soul utterly desecrated. And as he lay on the table, staring up at the cold and desolate ceiling, he longed for death to come and take him.
He suspected that would come soon, too. He was a Commander in the New Republic Navy, one of their best fighter pilots… but nothing more and nothing less. Beyond what he had done with First Order's prize, he'd long since become expendable. That however wasn't what bugged him.
If his interrogators had failed to extract what he'd done with the map, then he would've died a happy man. If he had died in battle, that would've been satisfactory too. Instead, he was going to die like trash, strapped to this table. The prospect made him angry. Angry at the man who'd dug up his repressed memories; angry that he hadn't fought harder.
With a snarl, he dug his heels into the plate holding him down and tried to wrench himself free. It was hopeless, of course. But then he noticed that he wasn't feeling any pain. He pulled on his arms and legs, feeling nothing. The toxins had worn off.
"Well, that's a start. Guess I'm not important enough to keep doped up anymore."
The door to his cell suddenly opened and a Trooper walked in. Poe looked up at him and smirked. "What? Miss me already?"
The Trooper didn't reply. Instead, he looked at him for a long stretch to the point it made Poe somewhat uncomfortable.
"You gonna stand there all day or what?" he asked, about to add something along the lines of he was just that good looking when the Trooper moved and started unclamping his restraints. He pulled Poe to his feet, cuffing his hands in front of him and pushed him out the door.
"Where you taking me?" Poe asked as they rounded a corner and passed by a squad of Troopers. Poe caught his escort looking at them strangely.
"Lord Ren wants you for further questioning," his escort replied loud enough for them to hear.
"You mean execution, don't you, Buckethead?"
"Just keep moving and stay quiet."
"Why?" Poe yelled, "I'm just gonna die anyway, so why not now?"
The Trooper smacked him over the top of the head with his blaster and snarled, "I said 'keep quiet'!" He then took him by the arm, and gestured right, "Turn here."
They turned into a dimly lit and narrow hallway, and Poe smiled as his chance presented itself. As they disappeared out of sight, he suddenly dropped to the floor and kicked out at his escort. It sent him crashing into a wall, but he was already recovering as Poe tried to rip his weapon from him.
The Trooper twisted and turned, attempting to push him backwards. Poe dug his back foot in, and shoved the Trooper back against the wall. Then his sight was sent spinning as the Trooper suddenly headbutted him; kicking him to the floor with his blaster trained on him.
Through clenched teeth, the Trooper whispered tersely, "Do you want to get out of here alive, or not?"
Poe looked at him dumbfounded, "What?"
The Trooper ducked his head out into the hallway and looked both ways. The Trooper seemed satisfied that they were alone, because he then removed his helmet to reveal a close shaven, dark skinned man.
"This is a rescue," the Trooper replied, "I'm helping you escape."
Poe was still dumbfounded as he rose slowly to his feet, asking, "Are you with the New Republic? Some kind of spook?"
The question seemed to anger the man like if it had been an accusation. But he quickly suppressed it, replacing it with a hurried expression. "No. But I'm breaking you out. Can you fly a TIE-Defender?"
Poe shot him a puzzled look. Why would a Stormtrooper be breaking him out if he wasn't with the New Republic?
"I can fly anything," he stated matter of factly as he searched the man's eyes for… something. Eventually, he asked the obvious, "Why are you helping me?"
The Trooper seemed puzzled by the question, and Poe could feel he was searching for an answer. Not a lie, he could tell if he was. But instead a reason. The Trooper met his eyes and answered with a reserved sense of conviction. "Because it's the right thing to do."
Poe stared at him for a long moment, not sure of what to say. Still, he had the opportunity to escape, and he knew he needed to take it regardless of how strange the circumstances had become. "Okay. Can you get me to the hanger?"
"Yes," the Trooper replied as he donned his helm, "just do as I say and I'll get us there."
"Sure thing, Buckethead," Poe smirked, and he swore he heard a chuckle behind him. Fortunately enough for the pair of them, the trip to the lift and the ride up the various decks was uneventful. That however changed when the doors opened and a group of technicians greeted them with surprised looks.
"Lord Ren requested the prisoner be brought to his quarters," the Trooper grunted.
"Well, you're heading the wrong way, Trooper," a Technical Sergeant replied, "his quarters are down a few decks."
"I see. My apologies, Sergeant." He was about to close the door when he stopped, "I don't suppose you'd show me where that is, Sergeant?"
"Of course. Lord Ren had to be transferred after he requested his original quarters be renovated after some accident. I doubt you would've been informed so soon."
"Thank you, Sergeant."
They backed up against the wall as the four men came into the lift, turning their backs to them. Poe resisted the urge to ask what he was doing when he felt the Trooper slip him his sidearm. Poe felt that the weapon had been set to stun, and he smiled slightly.
On three? He mouthed. The Trooper nodded and they raised their blasters as one. The technicians fell like wet rags under the barrage of stud bolts, and the Trooper opened the door just slightly. Certain no one was there, he opened the door fully and quickly filed out with Poe. He closed the door behind them and activated the Under Repairs sign.
"Smart," Poe complimented. The Trooper gestured his hand forth, and Poe reluctantly surrendered the sidearm. A few minutes later, they entered the massive expanse of the hangar, and Poe couldn't help but feel amazed again at the sight of it.
"Keep your eyes down," the Trooper whispered, "make it look like you're walking to an execution."
"Yeah, yeah, I know how to play a damsel in distress."
As a column of Troopers passed them by, he quickly put on a look of defeat and averted his eyes from them. He assumed it worked because they kept on walking.
"Okay, which one?" Poe whispered as the rows and rows of fighters came into view.
"Fleet Defender," the Trooper replied, "has two seats. Regular model's too small for the both of us."
"Does it have a hyperdrive?"
"No. But it does have more armor and guns on board. Short ranged craft, meant to be an escort for support vessels. Should buy us enough time to get down to the planet."
"Good, I need to get back down there, anyway."
"Your droid?"
"Yeah… how do you-?"
"The Admiral's put out orders to send searching parties down to the planet."
"Great," he groaned, "just great. Alright, one thing at a time, then."
Once they were out of sight and under cover, the Trooper released Poe's cuffs and they took off for the fighter. Carefully, they inspected the closest one, Poe checking its fuel count and external systems. Satisfied, he nodded and the two quickly slipped inside.
"Well, this is comfier than usual," Poe commented as he began the automatic checklisting.
"You've flown one of these before?" the Trooper asked as he slipped into the backseat, removing his helmet.
"Back in the Academy, yeah. One of Thrawn's prototypes. Hey, what do you see back there?"
"Blaster controls, I think? I've got a pair of joysticks here."
Poe noticed similar controls on his end, his time in the cockpit of a Defender coming back to him. "Okay, the toggle on your left. Do you see a red switch along the side?"
"Yes."
"That manually switches between blasters and missiles. The joysticks controls magpulses, and the one on the right controls your sight alignment," he then corrected himself, "it's for aiming."
"Copy. Triggers to fire?"
"Yup. Strap yourself in, I'm about to start the take off procedures."
"Right. I'm good to go."
"Hey," Poe asked as he leaned over the seat to look at him, "what's your name?"
The Trooper replied, "FN Twenty-One Eighty-Seven."
Poe looked at him flabbergasted, "FN what?"
"FN Twenty-One Eighty-Seven," he repeated again, "my squad calls me…" he froze, a look of pain flashing across his face as he sighed, "did, call me Eighty-Seven."
Poe had seen that look before, and had a good idea why he had it. But he didn't push the issue, instead commenting on his 'name.' "That's not a name! That's a serial number!"
"It's the only thing they gave me."
"Yeah? Well, only droids go by their serial-numbers, and you sure as hell don't look like a clanker, so I ain't using it!"
"Thanks," he replied before he tilted his head in slight confusion, "I guess?"
"Yeah, well… you're welcome," he then sat back in seat, musing softly, "FN... FN… Finn!"
"What?"
Poe turned back around in his seat, "FN. Finn. I'm gonna call you Finn. That work?"
"I…" he chuckled embarrassingly, "I guess? Whatever works for you."
"Alright, Finn," Poe smiled winningly as he extended his hand, "I'm Poe Dameron. Nice to meet you."
Finn took his hand with a strong grip, shaking it with a nod, "Nice to meet you too, Poe Dameron. Hope we don't die."
"Not on my watch! You're looking at the best pilot in the New Republic Navy!"
"Well, if you get us out of here in one piece, I won't dispute that."
"Challenge accepted," a cocky smile crossed Poe's lips as he took the controls and the fighter came to life with like the roar of a dragon. Howling loudly as it ascended into the air, the black and red fighter hurtled towards the hangar doors at breakneck speed.
"Whoa, this thing really moves!" Poe laughed as the G-force hit him squarely in the chest.
Captain Phasma whirled around when the intercom suddenly blared out, "Command, we have a runaway on Bay 2. I repeat, we have a runaway Fleet Defender making for the planet below."
Admiral Hux was quick to the command, "Launch Strikers and intercept that fighter! Bring the main guns online, but only it they get past our perimeter! Captain… Captain?"
Phasma however wasn't listening. She'd pushed a technician out his seat, accessing the main data files and bringing up Barracks #2478. Her heart stopped as the information came in.
"FN-2187," the voice of Kylo Ren took her by surprise and she whirled around to face him, his helm like an accusing glare, "isn't it?"
The Captain swallowed as she replied, "He is not in his barracks, and his platoon reports seeing him leave almost an hour ago."
"And the pilot Poe Dameron is with him."
Phasma felt her face grow hot as fire as she snarled, "He is not a traitor! My Troopers are loyal!"
"Evidently, this one is not," Kylo Ren replied dismissively, "Admiral, the pilot may be attempting to recover the droid on the planet."
"I see," the admiral replied, "and you acquired all the useful information you could from the pilot?"
"I have."
He nodded soberly, "Order the Strikers to disable that fighter if possible. If it tries to escape the system, destroy it."
"It likely won't," the Bridge Executive Officer replied, "that's a protector variant, short range only."
"Yes son, I know," Hux replied as he stared out at the planet below, "but never underestimate the prowess of a good pilot."
"Especially this one." Kylo Ren added.
The plan fell apart no less than a minute into its execution.
"Poe," Finn called out from behind, "we got hostiles, 6 o'clock!"
Poe's eyes darted to the side, pulling up the rear-view cameras. Miles away, over a dozen of the drone TIE-Strikers were being deposited upon the battlefield from the belly of the Ravager.
"We need to get to the planet!" Finn called out, but Poe shook his head.
"Oh no, buddy. We've lost the element of surprise! If we try running, that ship will tear us to pieces! We need to take out as many of its onboard surface cannons before they bring their shields up!"
"But the Strikers are that way!"
"Trust me, I'll take clankers over human gunners anyday! Get ready, I'm taking us in!"
Poe executed a U-turn, bringing them into a direct collision course with the squadron of droid fighters. The intercom suddenly blared out, "Surrender your vessel or you will be destroyed!"
"Wanna bet?" Poe smirked as he removed the safety clamps on his frontal cannons. He sighted the lead fighter, bringing his sight alignment steady as the online display signalled the target was in range. He squeezed the trigger, and six laser cannons came to life with emerald fire. The Striker was hit in the front and wings, exploding in the vacuum with a concussive fireball. The rest of the squadron banked left and right as the Defender zoomed past them amid the debris of its fellow.
"They're coming around!" Poe shouted as he hugged the underbelly of the Star Destroyer, "Finn, keep 'em off of us! I'm making a run!"
"Roger!" Finn bellowed back. Poe's eyes flickered to the side, watching the droid fighters evading Finn's shots before returning fire. Sparks flared as the bolts impacted the shields, Poe banking left and right to avoid their fire. Finn managed to tag one of them and destroy another, causing the rest to disperse.
"Poe, I think I've figured out their flight pattern!" Finn called, "Swing right!"
"Swinging right!" Poe replied as he swung the craft over, the Strikers in pursuit. Poe watched his partner carefully, noticing that he was leading his aim a few hundred yards ahead. As Strikers flew in, Finn fired and clipped the second one in the wing, causing it to spin out of control and crash into the others in the line. The rest banked off to avoid the tumbling debris, Finn catching another in retreat.
"Got him!" Finn shouted.
"Nice shooting, Finn! Alright, hang on! I'm making a pass!"
In front of him was a valley of surface hull guns. These included turbo lasers, point defense lasers and missiles pods, the latter of which began turning in their direction. Poe released the safety cap on his joystick, bringing up his own missile pods. As soon as the shooting started he dived low, began spinning clock-wards and fired off his missiles. Attracted to heat, the missiles struck the surface guns and destroyed them with thunderous explosions.
As he came out of the fireball, more point defense weapons came online. Poe began diving and spinning, zipping left and right as emerald bolts as large as the fighter whipped past them. Then his warning lights came on.
"Missiles incoming!" Finn shouted as he continued firing on the pursuing Strikers.
"I see 'em, I see 'em!" Poe shouted back. He pulled on the throttle hard, causing the fighter to suddenly dive backwards and right into the middle of the swarming horde.
"What's the plan, Poe!?" Finn shouted, the vessel buckling from the laser bolts as the horde of droid fighters swept past them.
"Can't use the anti-missiles just yet! I'm gonna bring us in closer!"
"I hope you know what you're doing!"
"Yeah, me too!"
He dove under the ventral plate and rode almost flush with the line of the ship. The missiles followed in their wake, arching wide before coming center mass. Poe then flew right back into the valley of remaining surface guns, the shields flaring as they took incoming fire.
"Hang on, I'm gonna do something crazy!" He then dove to the right, swinging right past one of the point defense lasers before slowing his craft to a crawl. Behind them the missiles, Strikers and turrets all gunned for them. The shields flared wildly, the on-board computers showing the shields dropping from 45% to 33, and then 19. Warning lights started to whirl.
"Poe!" Finn screamed.
"Now!" Poe punched the throttle to the limit, the TIE-Defender rocketing forward like a raging comet as the missiles and fighters screamed after them. He darted left and flew almost flush with the hull, the missiles too close to curve away as they slammed into valley of defense turrets. Behind them, the void of space lit up with furious explosions.
"You are one hellova pilot, Poe!" Finn laughed, "Even you are damn crazy!"
"Hey, I take that as a compliment! Alright, targets ahead! Fire at will!"
Like a force of nature, the TIE Defender ripped through the next section of surface turrets, leaving behind them a long trail of destruction as they rained virescent fire down from below.
Admiral Hux grimaced at the display on the monitor below. He hadn't seen such expert piloting since the war and he was truly impressed by Poe Dameron's decisive action. It was only a shame that he was on the wrong side, otherwise he would've had him decorated with honors.
"Sir!" one of the deck personnel shouted, "They're cutting through our surface guns faster than we can engage!"
"They're trying to destroy our remaining turbo lasers so they can escape to Jakku unimpeded," the elderly commander mused before he asked, "what is the status of our shields?"
"Still coming online. Fifteen more seconds, sir!"
"Good. Order our laser batteries to begin retracting into the ship and bring the Ventral Cannons online."
"Sir, we won't be able to shoot back, and they're too close for the Ventral Cannons to be effective!"
"I know, son. I want them to try and escape. Lord Ren," he turned to the cloaked figure, "I will require your assistance. Come with me."
Poe watched as the ship's weapon systems retracted under the hull with the shields close behind. He didn't know if the Star Destroyer was using Thermal Shielding, but he didn't want to take the chance. As the energy hurtled towards them, he dove downward to escape its on rushing path. He only barely managed to pull the ship low enough, the energy clipping the upward wing and singeing a sizable chunk off. He quickly checked his onboard instruments and although shields were dangerously low, they were still flying.
"Missiles!" Finn shouted, "They're firing off the Ventral Cannons!"
"I see 'em! Deploying countermeasures!"
This had been exactly what he'd been saving them for. With a flick of several switches, the fighter shot off a barrage of hyper-sonic frequency flares. Several of the missiles veered off course, striking the flares and exploding on impact, their sensors fooled into thinking they'd hit their target. The few that didn't hit their mark continued along their flight path, but Finn took advantage of their long travel arcs and destroyed them in mid-flight.
"Nice shooting, buddy!"
"Thanks, but here comes more of them!"
Hidden among the cloud of screaming missiles was a single hidden Hunter-Killer. This missile was being guided by an operator on the bridge of the Ravager. As the pilot watched the screen in anticipation, careful to stay in formation with the other missiles, more flares fired off from the TIE-Defender and the other missiles zoomed out in pursuit.
"Sir!" the pilot called out to the Admiral, who stood on the observation deck with Kylo Ren, "I'm in position!"
The Admiral nodded, and said to Kylo, "He's all yours."
The Lord of Ren nodded, and raised his hand toward the view port.
"Poe, I think this is a guided missile! I can't bring it down!"
"Don't worry. I've got a plan! Just keep shooting!"
He turned his head back to his front, getting ready to perform another daring meanuever.
Poe?
He looked up, and he saw his mother staring at him.
"Mom?" Poe asked in utter disbelief. She was… so beautiful. So alive. So… real. With a sadness stricken voice, she reached out her hand to him, its touch cold as she asked him pleadingly: "Son, why are you running? Why are you running away from me?"
"Mom… I…"
"Poe! The missile's' almost on us!"
"You've been running away from me, Poe. You've been running away from the memory."
"Mom," Poe's voice cracked as he felt tears run down his cheeks, "I… I couldn't. I had to-"
"POE!"
"It's time to stop running."
The missile suddenly struck them, ripping off one of its three wings and sending them hurtling down to the planet in a blaze of black smoke.