Chapter Six
"Yavin Central Command, this is General Poe Dameron of the New Republic Resistance Fleet." Poe waits patiently for a reply, knowing they've seen him and have already scanned his transponder code.
"Yes sir," answers a voice almost immediately. "We were told to expect you. This is Commander Barlow. How can we assist?"
"You're aware of the situation?" Poe asks. They are on an open frequency, and he doesn't want to speak freely for fear of someone picking it up and passing it on to alarm the public.
"Yes, sir," he answers. "Commander Connix briefed us.""
"Great," Poe replies. "Then I need to know how many ships have arrived in the last twelve hours." That was the widest window they could guess at Terex arriving at Yavin 4 before them.
"One moment, sir." There is a short pause. "Twenty-four ships, sir. All of them checked out."
"Didn't think it would be that easy. Can you send the transponder codes to my ship and General Finn? Finn, you there?"
"I'm here," he says. "Standing by to take a look at those codes."
"Sending codes now, sirs," says the commander.
"BB-8, start looking through them," says Poe. "Red Squadron, with me. Blue squadron, I want you—"
He is interrupted by a frantic beep from BB-8, followed by a scroll of numbers across his computer screen.
"Yeah, I see it, buddy." He swears vehemently, and Finn asks him what's wrong, the alarm clear in his voice.
"I think we found him," says Poe. "Because he's using Snap's old transponder code."
Finn swears as well. "How the hell did he get that?"
"Probably the same way he got the—the thing we're looking for. You can get anything if you know where to look and who to pay. Dammit!" Poe wants to hit something. Terex is rubbing it in, ruining his wedding to steal a superlaser he then takes to Poe's home planet by using Snap's old transponder code. It's utterly ridiculous and yet couldn't possibly get any worse.
"All right, he's using Snap's code, so he wants to get under your skin," says Finn. "Don't let him."
"Too late," Poe mutters.
"I know. But at least we're on the right track, we can track the ship with his code, right, C3-PO?" Poe can hear the droid in the background, and tries to wait patiently, but it isn't long before Commander Barlow chimes in.
"We have their location, Generals," he says. "The pilot said he wanted to explore the Great Temple. He should still be there. Transmitting coordinates now."
"Can you put a ground stop on any ship trying to leave the planet?" asks Finn. "We can't let this guy get away."
"I'll put out the alert," says the commander. "That doesn't mean they won't leave anyway."
"We can handle it," Poe replies. "Red squadron, you're still with me. I want the Falcon with me as well. Solo, drop your team on the far side of the temple and wait for word from me or General Finn. Blue squadron, I want you on patrol with the Tantive V. Nothing gets off this planet, understood?"
"Copy that." All ships report in one by one.
"Finn, let's go stop this bastard." Poe shoots off, four X-wings and the Millennium Falcon following with the transport cruiser behind them. He knows exactly where to land, because he grew up here, and he's been to the temple before. He never thought he'd be back under these circumstances, though. He's trying to save the very world where he grew up—where his parents settled after the war, where his mom taught him to fly, where his dad took him hiking through the jungles. The planet he left to get away from it all, but that he returned to when he'd failed. The planet he always thought he'd settle on after the war, like his parents.
Poe lands Black One and is about to pop the canopy when a message comes in on his console. Using Snap's old code.
"Get off this frequency, Terex," he snarls.
"Poe!" Terex exclaims. "I'm sorry—General Dameron. You made it. Just in time."
"Just in time to stop you," Poe snaps. "Did you think I wouldn't find you with this code?"
"I was hoping you would," Terex replies. "We have a lot to catch up on. I hear you're a married man now. Or did I interrupt?"
"It was a good try, I'll give you that." Poe has dealt with this man several times, but is still hard pressed to keep his cool as Terex pushes his buttons from the start. There is something different about the former First Agent's voice, though—it is the sound of a man who has nothing to lose, perhaps not even his sanity. Poe worries about the endgame with such a man.
"Sorry to spoil the party, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Can I make it up to you? Meet for a drink in the old Rebel base?"
"What?" asks Poe, thrown off, and Finn immediately chimes in from the Falcon that there is no way Poe is going alone.
"Of course he's not coming alone," says Terex, listening in. "I would love to meet another former trooper, General Finn. We have so much in common."
"We have nothing in common," Finn snaps.
"Probably not," agrees Terex. "After all, you want to spend the rest of your life with this man, and I can't wait to destroy him."
"I really hope it's not a bottle of poisoned wine," Poe says. "Because that's awfully cliché."
"Sometimes clichés work," says Terex. "But don't worry, Poe, I've got something much better in mind. Meet me in ten minutes, and we'll catch up." He pauses, and Poe imagines an evil grin, like something from a dramatic holo-vid. "The happy couple only."
The line goes out, and Poe rubs his face. "Shit," he says. "This guy is even worse than last time I saw him."
"He's insane," says Finn.
"Of course he is. He's got a planet killing bomb in his pocket. So, I guess we have a drink with the crazy bastard."
"We're not drinking anything, Poe," says Finn.
"Figure of speech, buddy," Poe tells him, and cuts out to climb out of his ship. He is still in his flight suit, but leaves his helmet behind, with instructions to BB-8 to have the X-wing ready to fly at a moment's notice. Red Squadron lands beside him and remains standing by.
He waits for Finn to join him, after arguing with both Rey and Chewbacca over the comms about remaining behind. He needs to be able to call in reinforcements—or send them after any escaping ships. Because what Poe can't figure out is why Terex is hanging out on the same planet he's planning to destroy.
They find Terex in the entrance to the old Rebel hanger at the base of the temple, standing alone with no backup. Even though he knew that one ship landed at the temple, Poe is still surprised to find Terex by himself; it feels wrong. They approach slowly, and Finn leans closer to speak quietly in his ear.
"He's up to something," Finn says.
"Obviously," Poe replies. "Any idea what that might be?"
Finn glances around, shakes his head. "No, but whatever it is, it's already started. He's practically bursting with it."
"You can't tell what?"
"I can't read minds, Poe."
Poe shakes his head. "Yeah, I know. And I wouldn't want you to, honestly." He straightens up and they continue forward. "Keep an eye out, I'll do the talking."
Finn nods and they stop before Terex, who takes a bottle of expensive raava from behind his back and offers it to them with a calculating look Poe remembers too well.
"Poe Dameron," he says, opening his arms expansively. The man himself is a walking, talking cliché, from the pieced-together trooper armor painted black and grey, to the terrible scarring on the right side of his face, to the slightly demented inflections of his voice. "Welcome home." He offers the bottle, but Poe simply stares at him, and he sets it down with a shrug.
"Yeah, about that," says Poe, standing with his hands on his hips, looking around curiously, more casual than he feels. The hangar is dark and foreboding, like something is waiting in the shadows for them. "What are you doing here, exactly?"
"Oh, I think you know," Terex replies.
"I do," Poe nods. "What I don't get is why you're still here. Where's the bomb?"
Terex laughs. "Good job, General Dameron! What else have you figured out?"
Terex moves closer, stepping on something—an insect, a rock, old Rebel rubble—that crunches beneath his boot. He grins, and it almost sends chills down Poe's neck. The former First Order agent is a larger man than him, but Poe can do intimidating when he needs to. It's all in the attitude, and Terex hates Poe and his attitude. And he's easy to rile, though it would be easier if Poe didn't feel like the temple was suddenly closing in around them.
"I know you stole the money to pay some guys to grab the superlaser and crash my wedding," Poe says. "And you set up Bulut to take the fall by giving him the worst team—grunts guaranteed to end up dead or in jail. Nice touch, that part."
Terex remains quiet, his face unreadable aside from a single tilt to the right, as if encouraging Poe to continue. He focuses on Terex and not the feeling of dark anticipation around him; his chest feels strangely tight with it.
"Now you're here, on Yavin 4, at the beginning of the end—"
Terex grins wolfishly. "I knew the pig would squeal! I'm so glad you figured that one out."
"—with your superlaser, but no ship. We thought you might sell it, but Bulut seems to think you're still looking to bring back the glory of the Empire." Poe shakes his head, stops when it feels heavy, almost dizzy. "Kind of sad, this pathetic obsession of yours."
"I prefer to think of it as more of a goal," Terex replies. "A lofty goal, to be sure, but a goal nonetheless, attainable through strength, dedication, and ruthless, hard work." He pauses. "And some difficult sacrifices, of course."
"Really? What are you planning on sacrificing?" Poe glances into the hanger once more, but sees nothing, even if he can sense it. He can definitely feel Finn's tension from beside him. Something is going to happen—very soon, and very badly.
"My arch-enemy, of course." Terex laughs. "You've bested me for years, Poe, and I may even miss running into you around the galaxy. But this time, you will lose everything."
"I see," says Poe. "This is where you make your big speech, isn't it? How I'm going to lose my home, my family and friends, my career, my ship, my droid—am I leaving anything out?" he asks, turning to Finn. Finn has a funny look on his face, and Poe's chest constricts with the sense of something's wrong. He feels trapped, almost paralyzed. Terex is watching them closely, steps forward once more.
"You left out the part about losing your life," he says quietly. "Because—"
Without warning, Terex goes flying backward, propelled by the Force and Finn's outstretched hand. Finn staggers against Poe, unhooking the life support mask from his flight suit and slamming it onto Poe's face, sealing Poe in before he collapses to the floor, eyes rolling back in his head. Poe falls to his knees beside him, trying to breath fresh air into his lungs.
"—because poison," Poe gasps. "Shit." He lifts his arm—it feels like it weighs twice as much and takes a forced effort—and taps his earpiece to call the Falcon. "Code red, delta maneuvers." He barely manages to get it out before a coughing fit overtakes him. He falls to the floor, his limbs heavy.
There is a groan from the hanger, where Finn Force-pushed Terex away from them before collapsing. Poe tries to clear his head, reaches slowly for his weapon, and barely manages to pull it from his holster as Terex staggers to his feet, blood trickling down his face from a head wound.
"It's over, Terex!" Poe calls, then coughs again. "Give it up. Tell me where the bomb is!"
There is the sound of fighting from outside—shouting and blasters and more. Terex must have had his own people hidden somewhere, and they had to have arrived long before them because Yavin Central Command had only tracked one ship to the temple. Poe's ground troops have walked into an ambush, and Poe knows that he and Finn are on their own with Terex and whatever poison he used on them. He wonders if his dad went out to fight, hopes he stayed behind on the Falcon. He is still struggling to breathe when Terex is suddenly standing above him, kicking his weapon from his hands, then slamming his boots into Poe's ribs, hard. Poe is glad he's not kicking Finn, who is completely unconscious on the ground, hopefully not dead.
The burst of fury ends, and Poe rolls over, trying not to groan because he needs to breathe instead. Terex straightens and gazes down at him. "The bomb is gone, General, and the bomb is armed. You have approximately thirty minutes before the entire Yavin system explodes into the biggest light show the galaxy has seen since the Hosnian system." He kicks Poe once more, raises his weapon, aims right between Poe's eyes. Poe thinks it's set to stun, hopes it is, but before Terex can pull the trigger, he goes flying backward again, and Rey and Chewbacca rush over. Poe waves her to Finn, rolls over and staggers to his hands and knees, trying not to retch. Chewie helps him stand, growls something about going after Terex.
"He's armed the bomb," Poe gasps. "We have to stop it."
"Where is it?" Rey demands. "And what happened to Finn?"
"Don't know," says Poe. "And some kind of poison, feels like a paralytic, maybe. Terex wasn't affected, he must have planned for it. Finn sensed it, slapped my life support on before he passed out."
She holds her hand over his chest, and Finn's body slowly relaxes, his breathing steady. But this is a hard one for Rey, and her shoulders slump, her face pale. "How do we find the bomb?"
Poe takes a deep breath and calls the Falcon. "Rose, Terex said he's taking out the entire system, can he do that?"
"Well," she says. "I doubt he had time to do anything more than set it to detonate in some way…" She trails off. "But if he detonates it in the right place, then maybe." She swears, not something he's used to hearing from her, and though he's not an engineer or a mechanic or a scientist, he knows enough about space to figure it out.
"Yavin Prime," Poe murmurs, thinking of the gas giant that Yavin 4 orbited. If Yavin Prime exploded, would it take out the entire system? Certainly it would take out all of its moons, several of which were inhabited. "Shit. Rose, contact Yavin Central Command. They need to find any ship heading toward Yavin Prime and stop it!"
"Yes, sir," she says, then: "But Poe, they can't shoot it down, they could detonate the bomb. And it could still cause considerable damage even in the atmosphere."
"Then they should shoot to disable," he says. "Find that ship and get us the location." He starts toward the door. "We're heading back now. Dameron out."
Poe turns to Rey. "Get Finn back to the Falcon, make sure he's all right. Then finish it down here, and don't let anyone escape, especially Terex. I'm going after that bomb."
Chewbacca protests, but Poe shakes his head. "I'm fine," he says. "I didn't get too much of it, just feel woozy. I can fly, and I have an idea." He grins at the Wookie. "It's a crazy idea and Rey's going to hate it, though."
"That's a good reason not to try it, then," she says, and Chewbacca agrees.
"Not if it works." Poe starts jogging toward his ship, ignoring the headache starting to pound at his temples and the pain in his side from being kicked. He waves over his shoulders at the others. "I'll see you on the other side! Red Squadron, you still standing by?"
"What kind of question is that?" snaps Jessika Pava. "Get in your damn ship, Poe, and let's stop this bastard."
"BB-8, fire it up," Poe says. He sprints up the ladder, pulls on his helmet, and grabs a syringe from the medpack, something to clear his head from whatever Terex used on them. He starts flipping switches and is in the air within seconds, Jess and the others trailing behind him as he contacts Yavin Command.
"Commander Barlow, this is General Dameron. We have a rogue ship heading for Yavin Prime, any sign of it on your end?"
"No, sir," he answers. "But we can't always pick up ships from the far side of the planet, particularly if they are skimming the atmosphere. And it could also be hidden by one of the moons."
Poe swears. "BB-8, start scanning the far side of the planet as we get closer, that's where they'll be hiding. Red Squadron, follow me. Blue Squadron, no one leaves Yavin 4!" Everyone checks in, but Poe barely has time to process it before BB-8 is trilling in panic.
"What?" Poe asks. "Here? You're kidding me!"
"What is it, Black Leader?" asks Iolo. "I'm not picking up—oh shit."
"What the kriff?" shouts Jess. "Where the hell did they come from?"
Ten ships, most of them ancient TIE fighters with pieces of other ships attached, are screaming toward them from the far side of Yavin Prime.
"Probably hiding on one of the moons," says Bastian. "We can take 'em, boss."
"We need to get that bomb," Poe snaps. "Got anything for me, BB?"
The droid beeps at him; there is a small ship heading toward the gas giant, completely ignoring the ships around it. It's a Z-95 Headhunter, an old ship no one uses much anymore but smugglers and pirates. Too small for a full axial superlaser, but apparently large enough to carry the core.
"That's it. Jess, you three take out the TIEs. I'm going after that Headhunter. I'm going to disable it."
"And then what?" she says. "And don't you dare tell me you're going to—"
"Tow it into lightspeed and dump it somewhere?" Poe finishes. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. BB, I need a quick jump that will put us in the middle of nowhere so that thing can go off in—how much longer do we have?" he asks. "Terex said thirty minutes and that was about four minutes before we took off." The droid beeps a number at him; not a great number, but they can do it. "All right, you heard him—keep those TIEs off me, I'll grab the bomb, and either way this will be done in twenty. Dameron out."
They fly straight into the swarm of TIEs. Poe takes out one, tries for another, but he's concentrating more on avoiding them and getting through what is essentially a blockade to his goal: the tiny snub fighter screaming its way toward Yavin Prime. Poe wonders again how the hell Terex pulled this off—the attacks on Chandrila, the ground forces on Yavin, a small fleet defending his final play. It's been barely a year since the fall of the First Order, and that one man could consolidate such resources is frightening, made even worse by the lack of intelligence on it. Poe vows to finish this and make sure it never happens again, but he also feels like he's constantly fighting something from the shadows, some unknown rising up again and again, and a part of him is weary and wants to settle down. With Finn. They won the war, after all; why can't someone else protect their victory?
Thinking of Finn forces him to focus, and Poe shakes his head of the dregs of whatever drug Terex had somehow slipped into their systems (airborne, he thinks, which means Terex must have been immune to it.) He shoots forward, eyeing the ship before him. "BB-8, are you picking up any lifeforms?" There is a negative beep, and Poe is glad of that, at least. The ship doesn't have a droid either, which means it must be on some kind of autopilot program. "What about any distinct signatures from that superlaser? Any way to know for sure it's on that ship and we're not chasing a blind lead?"
BB-8 whistles an affirmative, comparing some sort of radiation signature to a similar one from Exegol. Poe asks him for the specs on the ship, studies it on the screen before him. Poe has flown a Headhunter before, knows how it handles, its weaknesses. It almost seems too easy.
"All right, I can take this out, no problem. Then we fire the cables and lock on. You got our jump ready?"
BB-8 tweets a reply—he's still searching for a both a hyperspace route and a drop point where the blast won't destroy anything. Poe tells him to keep working on it and accelerates toward the ship. It can't out maneuver him, so he moves in close and disables it quickly. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop its forward momentum toward the gas giant before them.
Yet before he can get the cables attached and stop its death spiral, a rogue TIE screams past, barely missing his X-wing as it fires. Poe swears as he evades the bogey, because time is running out: for him, for the bomb, and for Yavin 4.
Author's Note:
Just my usual disclaimer that I am not a scientist, a pilot, or a supervillain. I do try to think things through and leave them vague enough to work in a fictional universe, but I am also just trying to tell a story without having to earn my doctorate in astrophysics first.
And while I thought I'd still have time with quarantine to relax and write, that is in fact not quite true when it comes to distance learning. So, I hope to finish the next chapter by the end of the week, since this is the point I wrote up to before I started posting, but then school let out, and now my computer time is all work, work, work (me) and help, help, help (the offspring). Hope everyone (anyone?) reading this is well, thank you for reading!