Chapter Seven
"Shit!" Poe shouts as the TIE fighter sticks with him. "Red squadron, I've got one on my tail and I need to get to that bomb."
"Sorry, boss," says Bastian. "They're sturdier than they look, taking longer than usual."
"You don't have longer than usual," Poe snaps. "I need—" He takes a hit, not bad, but enough to shake him. "We all right, BB-8?" he asks, and the droid beeps affirmatively, with the warning that they probably shouldn't take another hit like that so close to the planet, especially when they don't have much time and still need to get to the Headhunter and jump it into hyperspace.
"I know, buddy," Poe says. "But we can do it, we've done crazier things than this." BB-8 is not impressed with his optimism.
He goes after the Headhunter, but the TIE won't leave him and he zigzags everywhere, trying to avoid being shot down over a gas giant. Before long, the bomb will be out of his reach, or he'll run out of time to get it away from Yavin and end up blowing himself to pieces. "Jess, what the hell is going on?" he shouts.
The answer is the TIE exploding in a fireball as the Falcon zips past above him. Finn's voice is on the comms, and Poe can't help but cheer.
"I'm saving your ass, that's what's happening," Finn says. "Get that thing out of here already."
"On it," Poe says. "Thanks for the save, General."
There is a silence on the other end of the comms. "Make sure you come back, Poe."
Poe swallows and nods even though no one can see him. "I will," he says softly. "We still have a wedding to plan."
There is a sharp laugh from the Falcon. "You said you'd make the plans," he replies.
"I said I have an idea." Poe takes the controls for the tow lines, brings them closer to the Headhunter and tells BB-8 to prepare. "But don't worry, I'll take care of it. Any word on Terex?"
He fires the tow cables, holds his breath as they latch onto the Headhunter. For a moment, he's not sure Black One can handle it, that gravity and the dead ship will pull them both into the planet, but he shouts at BB-8 to put everything into the rear thrusters and he manages to stop their forward momentum enough to breathe easier.
"All right?" asks Finn, and Poe makes an affirmative sound.
"Ready for that jump?" he asks BB-8, who tells him one more minute before the calculations for the best drop coordinates are done. Poe takes a deep breath. They're cutting it awfully close. "Terex?" he asks again.
"They scattered into the jungle. Chewie took our people after them with a team from Yavin."
"And my dad went with, didn't he?" asks Poe. Kes had insisted on traveling to Yavin, and Poe still isn't sure whether to be terrified for or proud of his father.
"Of course he did," says Finn. "And I know I should have gone with them too, but I had to be up here. I just…had a feeling." BB-8 beeps then, spoiling the moment.
"I understand," Poe says softly. "I have to go now, the jump's ready."
"Poe—"
"I'll be back before you know it. Keep looking for Terex. We can't let him get away. Who knows what he'll do next if he can pull off something like this."
"Be careful," says Finn.
"I usually am," says Poe. "It's everything around me that goes to hell."
"Try not to let it go to hell this time."
"Not this time," echoes Poe. "I love you, you know."
"I know. I love you too, General."
Poe smiles; what they might otherwise say in the privacy of their own room is not something either one of them will say now, in open space, surrounded by others on the comms. Poe takes another deep breath, reaches out, and calls to BB-8.
"Ready?" Affirmative beep. "Punch it!"
They shoot into hyperspace. "How much time to the release coordinates?" Poe asks, and BB-8 gives him a five-minute countdown. Poe tries to think through his next move, or plan for something going wrong, but all he can think about is getting back to Finn, moving on from this and finishing what they started on Chandrila. He is planning it all out in his head when BB-8 whistles frantically at him. Ten seconds, with less than a minute left until the bomb detonates.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake, buddy," he tells the droid. "Ready?"
They count down together. Poe releases the cables, and the Headhunter spirals off behind him. He drops out of hyperspace right before the bomb explodes, yet the explosion is so large it creates a shockwave that follows him back to realspace, tossing the X-wing around like a toy.
Poe does his best to stabilize the ship, but even strapped in, he's bounced around hard, and all he remembers is a sharp pain, and then darkness.
Poe wakes with a gasp, his head pounding. He reaches up under his visor to wipe blood from his face, feels a deep cut near his temple. He doesn't think it's serious, or that anything else is broken, but he feels sore and nauseous from being tossed around like a rag doll. It must have been a hell of an explosion. He hopes it worked, and that it didn't hurt anyone, let alone take out a planet.
Everything is quiet aside from the frantic beeping of BB-8. Poe shakes his head, clears his throat, and finally replies.
"Yeah, buddy, I'm okay. Just banged up." The beeps change to relieved. "You all right? Good. What's our status?" The droid gives him the bad news: Black One is dead in space. Which explains the silence: not a single thing is running in the cockpit aside from an emergency light.
"All right, first of all, how long was I out?" He groans when BB-8 tells him it's been almost thirty minutes. "Were you able to contact anyone? Nothing works, right. Shit." He rolls his shoulders and takes a calming breath. He has an emergency beacon in his flight suit he can activate. "Okay, second question—do you know where we are?"
They hadn't been in hyperspace for long, but they'd dropped just past the drop coordinates and were pushed further by the explosion. BB-8 says they should be somewhere in the Outer Rim, out past Felucia. Which means no one is nearby, but help shouldn't be too far. Assuming someone picks up his beacon signal.
"Last question," he says. "Can we fix it ourselves?"
It turns out an awful lot has been knocked off line, so Poe reconsiders the idea of leaving the cockpit to try out some repairs. Not that he had been looking forward to working in zero gravity, but he hates the idea of sitting around waiting for rescue even more. He activates the emergency beacon, hoping someone back at Yavin is already looking for him given how long it's been.
"Sorry, one more. How long can we last out here?" Poe asks. He remembers floating in an asteroid field once, the ruins of his ship drifting around him, his air slowly running out. It is not something he wants to repeat, even relatively safe in the cockpit of his intact X-wing. BB-8 gives him a decent number, but not a great one. Enough that Poe decides to get out and look at the damage after all. At the very least, he would love to have life support and weapons in case someone unfriendly happens to find him first—or he's out there for a while.
He's not out for long and hasn't got much back online when BB-8 trills in alarm. Poe turns around and sees a large freighter behind him. He swears under his breath, because it actually looks unfriendly, and that's the last thing he needs after everything else that has gone wrong that day.
"I see 'em," he tells the droid, and scrambles back into the cockpit. At least he managed to get the short-range radio and one of the cannons working, just in case. In case of what? He'd be better off taking any offer of assistance he can and then working his way out of it if something goes wrong. He's about to hail the freighter when they contact him first.
"Poe Dameron, what the hell are you doing out here?"
He exhales the breath he'd been holding; he may be okay after all.
"Grakkus, you slimy son of a Hutt, what are you doing out here?" Poe is still slightly nervous, given the unpredictable nature of a Hutt lord, but he knows this one, saved his life, so he's hoping that Grakkus will help him out. The problem being, of course, that Grakkus has helped him out before and may not be feeling gracious.
"On my way home, Dameron," the former prisoner replies. "Or should I call you general now?"
"You can call me whatever you want," Poe replies. "Especially if you can help a general out."
The Hutt laughs, and Poe grimaces at the sound, glad that Grakkus can't see him. "You helped me, Dameron, and I helped you. We're even now. You don't want to be in my debt, do you?"
"Depends on what that entails," Poe says. "Can I at least ask a question? Where the hell are we exactly?"
"You're in the middle of the Outer Rim," Grakkus replies with another deep laugh. "Past the Lothal system."
"Great," Poe mutters. It's farther than they thought. "Look, I get that you're on your way back to Nal Hutta, but you did stop for me. Could you at least let me send a message to my people?"
"Or I could let you float around out here and die of asphyxiation before they find you," the Hutt replies. "And no one would ever know."
"My droid would know," Poe snaps. "And then my people would be all over you like—"
Kriff, he hates the way Hutts laugh. "Dameron, you are too easy. I'll send a message, but that's it. I have important cargo on board that I'd rather not share with the New Republic."
"Fine," Poe tells him. "I get it. Could you send these coordinates to Yavin 4, then? A mutual friend of ours just tried to blow it up, that's why I'm stuck here. I dropped off the bomb in hyperspace and got knocked out."
"Ah, that's what that anomaly was on the sensors," the Hutt replies. "And what mutual friend are you referring to?"
"First Order Agent Terex," Poe replies, and he suspects that will get the Hutt's attention, since Grakkus has had his own run-ins with Terex. He is right and hears the Hutt roar.
"That son of a bantha is still alive?" he asks.
"And crazy as ever," Poe tells him. "Wait till you hear what he pulled off on Chandrila."
"I heard something was going down on Chandrila," Grakkus replied. "But I didn't know it was Terex, and I certainly didn't think it involved a bomb."
"What did you hear?" Poe demands. "And could you send those coordinates while we chat?"
"Already sent, General." He laughs at the title. "And I heard there was going to be a hit on the Galactic bank."
"The bank, a weapons lab, and my wedding," Poe grumbles, earning a surprised exclamation.
"Your wedding? Well, maybe I should offer some assistance, after all. As a gift."
"It's okay," Poe tells him. "I don't need to owe you one, I've got enough to worry about. And I definitely do not want to see your cargo."
"No, you probably don't." There are voices in the background. "All right, Dameron. Yavin has your coordinates. I leave you in their capable hands."
"Thanks," Poe tells him, hoping it won't be too long until someone manages to jump to his location. "And if you hear anything about big bombs in the future, can you maybe pass it on?"
"I'll consider it, general," the Hutt replies. "I'm no friend to terrorists. Smugglers and thieves, yes, but not former First Order."
"Good man," Poe says. "I mean, Hutt. Thanks. Dameron out."
BB-8 trills a question. "Of course I don't trust him, pal," he says. "I think he probably contacted Yavin, and I'm hoping he didn't send our coordinates to anyone who might want to hurt us, but I don't think he's going to feed us intel, no." Another question. "No idea what his cargo might be, and I don't want to know. Now, do I head back out or do we wait for rescue?"
BB-8 whistles a response, and Poe agrees: as much as he wants his ship up and running, he'd rather stay inside. It shouldn't take too long for someone to get there now that Yavin has his coordinates.
He passes the time telling BB-8 about his plans for a new ceremony with Finn, one that hopefully won't be interrupted this time. He has to keep talking the little droid out of the same grand plans BB-8 wanted back on Chandrila, when Finn and Poe wanted to keep it small and simple. Well, if he can pull off what he's thinking now, it will definitely be small and simple, just sort of complicated. And yet, Poe is even more excited than he was before, because maybe this time they can exchange their vows without being interrupted, and in a place they will remember far more than Chandrila.
It's not long before the Falcon arrives, and Poe breathes a sigh of relief. It's over, and he's more than ready to go home. They attach his X-wing beneath the freighter, and Poe climbs aboard. Finn is there to meet him, pulling him into a tight embrace that feels like home—and also hurts like hell. Which is when he guides Poe over to the medical bunk, lays him down, and starts to clean the cut on his head, as well as several other deep bruises.
Finn tells him that Chewbacca and his father are fine. Terex managed to make it off world, and Blue Squadron went after him, but he jumped to hyperspace almost immediately, clearly prepared to make his escape. But they know now: they know he is out there, and that tech from Exegol is making its way into the wrong hands. They can be prepared. They will stop him.
The Falcon jumps into hyperspace for the trip back to Yavin IV, and Poe lets himself drift off. They saved his home world, and while there is still a lot to do, the first thing on his list is to start making other plans, plans that have nothing to do with stopping madmen and saving the galaxy. He's getting married, and this time nothing is going to stop him.
Author's Note:
Sorry about the long wait! I'm not sure how many people are reading this, but I also wasn't sure what I wanted to do with Poe once the bomb exploded. So I wrote lots of shorter stories in the meantime! I toyed with the idea of him ending up in enemy hands, or coming across some bounty hunters, or even getting rescued by some old friends, but I'm not that familiar with the EU. I have, however, read the comics, so it seemed appropriate that in a story about Terex, he might run into Grakkus the Hutt as well. Thanks for reading, there is one more chapter and hopefully our space idiots will cooperate!