Chapter 6

Found

Poe walked into the elevator of his hotel. He pressed the button for his floor and leaned back against the wall as he watched the doors close in front of him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a holographic card. On this card was a picture of himself with the phrase, "Enemy of the First Order," written beneath.

After leaving the lake he returned to Fusho's post and handed over the flower as promised. As promise, Fusho handed him that card and told him that he was on the First Order's most wanted list. He also informed him that Chiara was an informant that was working with the First Order and ever since she spotted him at the Red Veil, a small task force had been mobilized and they were now tracking him. It wouldn't take long before they found him and the rest of black squadron at this hotel. They needed to get out of here, and fast.

As he watched the numbers of the floors change with each level he rose he ran his hand along the back of his neck. His mind went to Amara and he couldn't help but smile.

She was captivating, he had to give her that. With things heating up he was going to have to put a pin in whatever was going on between them. But one thing was for certain, he sure as hell wasn't done with her yet.

"Not even close," he asserted to no one in particular.

He looked down and noticed that he was running his thumb and forefinger along the ring that hung around his neck. He hadn't even realized that he was doing it. Before he could delve deeper into his thoughts the elevator slowed and chimed. When the doors opened, Poe started to step forward but was slammed into by BB-8.

"Beebee what the—"

"BREEE WRRRRP BRREEET BREEET WRRRRRRRRRR!"

"Woah, woah, buddy slow down..." he knelt so that he was on the same level as his droid. "Who's here?"

BB-8 continued to beep frantically. Poe stood and moved around the droid. He pressed her body against the wall of the elevator and peeked around the corner into the hall.

Walking down the hallway towards their room Poe saw two stormtroopers. Poe cursed and hid back into the elevator. He quickly pressed the button for the lobby. "Snap, Kare, Jess… did they—"

"WRRRP WOOOT BEET WRRR—"

"Okay good… Did they say where to meet?"

"BRRRRRREEEEEEE"

"Brilliant. Once we get there we will just need to find a ship."

The elevator dinged a few floors shy of the lobby and the doors opened. As the doors parted Poe came face to face with two stormtroopers. Both Poe and the stormtroopers stood there frozen in surprise.

After a few moments Poe cleared his throat and gestured inside the elevator. "Hey guys…" Poe began. "Going down?"

Amara groaned as she ran her hands along the side of her neck. She looked down at her watch. It had been 5 minutes since the last time she looked to see what time it was. She was barely two hours into her shift at the cantina and she was beyond ready to leave.

Ever since leaving the lake she was on edge. She had a knot that sat in the pit of her stomach. This knot was all too familiar, and usually the precursor to her quickly needing to get her things and leave.

The resistance was in Hosinian Prime, and so was the First Order. It was only a matter of time before she was found. She started going through her things in her mind. She made sure to not have any ties holding her to this planet. She didn't have exactly what she had planned on leaving with, but she had enough to buy passage on a ship and use the remaining funds to start over.

As her mind worked through the various numbers, she saw in her peripherals someone sit in a stool at the bar and raise a hand to get her attention.

She walked over and sat a stone coaster on the counter in front of the man. "What can I get you?"

The man was wearing a heavy cloak that covered his head.

"Poe Dameron," a deep voice spoke from under the hood.

Amara felt her breath hitch. Alarm bells immediately going off in her head. "Excuse me?"

The man pulled back the hood and looked up at her. He was bald, except for a small gray tuft of hair on top of his head. A scar, reaching from just under the right eye and ending below his brow, told a story of both war and pain. There was something frightening about him and the way his gray eyes narrowed on her sent shivers through her body. She could sense a bit of arrogance in his gaze and she knew that this man was not someone she wanted to voluntarily cross paths with. He was exactly the type of person she was avoiding.

The unfamiliar man pushed forward a holographic card on the counter towards her. She looked down at the card and saw that it was a candid picture of Poe. It was the same picture that Chiara showed her earlier of him walking down the stairs in the cantina.

Amara shook her head, not wanting to go through this questioning all over again. "Look man… I already told Chiara that I saw him at the club yesterday. I haven't seen him since." She shifted her weight to her other foot. She had a bad feeling about this man. She needed to end this conversation fast and get the hell out of here. Her time was up. "Look sir, if you're not going to order anything then—"

"Now see," the man said deeply as he gave her an unnerving smile. "One thing you'll learn about me miss is that I do not like liars."

Amara laughed. She tried not to sound nervous, but she was already on edge, and by his facial expression, she knew that she had failed miserably. "I'm not lying. Last I saw he was hog tied upstairs. I don't know what happened to him after—"

Another holographic card slid across the counter and Amara felt her skin go pale as all the blood left her face.

It was a picture of her in the boat with Poe from earlier that afternoon. He was bandaging her head. Instinctively her hand reached up to touch her head, her fingers lightly brushing against the scab that was beginning to form. She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Are you spying on me?" She asked.

The man picked up the cards and put them back in the front pocket of his shirt. "Now I'm going to ask you again, and this time I would like an honest answer." He looked up at her and gave her a smile that sent shivers down her spine. "Where is Poe Dameron?"

Amara decided to change her tactics. "Okay… yes I ran in to him yesterday when I was at the lake. But I don't know anything else. He didn't tell me where he was going."

Out of the shadows behind the man, Amara saw two stormtroopers come into the light. Her heart quickened.

"Well if that's the case then this won't take very long," he said simply as he stood from the stool.

"What won't take very long?" she asked cautiously.

"Now… you see those men over there?" He pointed to the two stormtroopers. "They're going to escort you upstairs and we are just going to have a little chat."

"And if I refuse?" she said in a level tone. She wasn't going to panic. She was taught better than that.

The man smiled at her once more. "I suggest you come upstairs with us Amara."

Amara looked at the stormtroopers and then glanced at the exit. There was no clear path from where she was standing to the door. She knew she would have been caught instantly. She was cornered. She had was trapped. She had no choice but to bide her time until she found her out. And if that meant she had to go upstairs with these men then so be it.

Amara nodded and took a step from around the bar and walked towards the unknown man.

He placed his hand softly on her lower back and leaned down towards her. "Good girl," he purred into her ear and Amara shuddered in disgust.

She walked with him upstairs as the two stormtroopers followed closely behind. When they reached the top of the stairs the man walked in front of her and went towards one of the rooms in the hall. It was the same room she had found Poe in the other day. She knew that if she went in there with him she would find herself headed towards the same fate he was. His hand went to the knob and he opened the door. He turned towards her and spoke.

"This way."

Amara turned her head up to him and looked up into his eyes. She had seen this arrogance before in men, especially with men in the First Order. Men who were drunk on power and looked down on women like her as inferior. As if they were powerless.

What he underestimated was that she was taught how not to be one of those women. He had underestimated her, and she knew how to use that to her advantage.

She pulled up her leg and aimed it right at his groin. He grabbed her leg in mid air and held it in front of him. The two stormtroopers quickly came up to her sides and grabbed onto her arms, holding her in place. The man chuckled as he leaned towards her, putting his face right in front of hers.

"You aren't the first person to try to hit me with a knee to the groin, and I suppose you won't be the last."

She smiled. She knew that he wasn't going to fall for her crotch shot. Which was good. That meant he still underestimated her.

"Well at least I'm the first person to try this."

"And what is that?" he asked curiously.

Amara smiled, and headbutted him right in the nose.

"You bitch," he screamed as fell backward, letting go of her leg.

His hands went to his nose, blood dripping out from his fingers. When he leaned forward to stave off the bleeding, she set her foot on the ground to regain balance before she raised her knee to give him a hard crack in the chin. He fell backwards with a loud thud as he groaned.

Once her leg was free, Amara immediately slammed her foot hard into the side of the knee of the stormtrooper to her right. He quickly let go of her arm as his leg buckled and he yelped in protest. As he stumbled over to the wall beside him, she reached into his waistband and grabbed his blaster plaster pistol that was attached to his belt. She took the blaster and pointed it at the stormtrooper to her left and blasted him in the leg. As he let her go Amara took off in a sprint back down the stairs.

She snatched off her wig and tossed it to the ground as she bounded down the stairs and made her way through the club. The last thing she wanted was to be spotted by her bright red wig from a distance.

As she passed through the crowd, she could hear shouts coming from behind her. People quickly moved out of her way as they saw her holding the blaster in her hand. She made it out of the door and quickly bolted to the left, running down the alleyway and away from the club. She took an immediate left into a space between two buildings and ducked behind a trash bin.

She crouched as she peeked around the side. After a minute she saw one of the stormtroopers, the one whose foot she stepped on she was assuming, run past her with his blaster drawn.

Amara didn't move. She remained crouched behind the trash bin. Adrenaline coursed through her body, her heart pumping a mile a minute. She barely registered the pungent smell of the rotting trash in front of her. She shut off her sense of smell and poured that energy into heightening her sight and hearing. Her eyes quickly scanned the passing people for any hint of the remaining stormtrooper and the unknown man.

After a few moments she saw the first stormtrooper slowly come back into view in front of her. He stopped a few feet in front of her. She crouched further down, trying to make herself as small as possible. She pressed her body against the concrete wall and peered through a gap between the trash bin and the wall, her fingers gripped the blaster in anticipation for any movement he made in her direction.

She watched in silence as the scarred man walked into view and approached the stormtrooper. His nose was slightly purple from where she cracked him in the nose with her head.

"I lost her," the stormtrooper spoke.

The man did not move and instead calmly looked at the stormtrooper in front of him. "That really is unfortunate," he said coolly.

The man reached into the waistband of his pants and pulled out his blaster, aiming it at the stormtrooper. He didn't flinch as he pulled the trigger.

Amara held back a gasp as she saw the mans scarred face light up red from the blast. People that were walking past screamed as they scattered from the area.

Amara looked at the lifeless body of the stormtrooper and closed her eyes. She knew that no one would mourn for that man. Soldiers like him were conditioned to disregard fallen comrades and were trained to press on, no matter the cost. She was familiar with their training, grew up watching boys and girls train in the Imperial Academy. She had grown up beside them. She knew what they had sacrificed to move up in the ranks. All this sacrifice for a cause that easily replaced them the minute there was a kink in the chain.

Her eyes went back to the man in front of her. He placed his hand out and a holographic image of a stormtrooper appeared before him.

"Agent Terex." It was a female voice. Although they were a rare sight, women were not prohibited from serving in the ranks of the stormtroopers. Amara could count the female stormtroopers on her hands, and there was only one she knew what that cold voice.

"Captain Phasma," Agent Terex spoke from a fake warmness.

"Did you secure Commander Dameron?"

"My men are on their way to his place now. I should receive confirmation shortly that he is in their custody."

"And the girl?" she asked.

Agent Terex paused. "We are working on bringing her in. We had a bit of a—"

"Grand Admiral Sloane will not be pleased Agent Terex to hear of another one of your failures."

Amara could see his jaw clench as his face hardened. "I have not failed."

"You were instructed to bring her into the custody of the First Order—"

"I am aware of what I was tasked to do Captain Phasma," he said with a clip of annoyance in his tone. "I will see that the mission is complete."

"You have failed us too many times." Captain Phasma turned her head to some unknown figure out of the frame. After a moment she nodded and turned her head back to Agent Terex. "General Hux says that he will take over the mission personally if you fail to bring her in tonight."

Amara felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach at the mention of General Hux.

Armitage.

Agent Terex pressed a button on his wrist and turned off the hologram, not giving Captain Phasma an answer. He lowered his arm and straightened the sleeve of his shirt. From behind him, the remaining stormtrooper limped towards him, a crude bandage wrapped around his leg.

"Any word from the rest on Poe Dameron?" Agent Terex spoke calmly.

The stormtrooper had his mask focused on the slain stormtrooper on the ground. "No sir." The stormtrooper turned his focus to Agent Terex. His mask completely shielding whatever emotion he had on his face. "I have not received word from them yet."

"Let's just hope that we hear good news." Agent Terex looked down at the fallen trooper that he had shot down, the hole in his chest from the blast still steaming. "For all our sakes." He stepped over the body and walked out of her sight. The final stormtrooper limped off after him, not giving the fallen man a second glance.

Amara counted her breaths. She wanted to make sure that there was enough distance between her and the two men. When she counted her one hundredth breath she slowly stood from her hiding position. She had no time, she needed to get off the planet now.

She quickly ran down the alley until she reached a ladder that was attached to the side of the building. She was able to jump high enough to catch the bottom rung of the ladder. With all her strength she was able to pull herself upwards until her feet were firmly resting on the rungs. She quickly climbed until she reached the roof of the building.

She had always known that Grand Admiral Sloane was on the lookout for her and she knew her well enough to know her tactics. She relied on the fact that Sloane did not know Amara as well as she thought she did, and as a result she always was able to be one step ahead of her.

But Armitage… Armitage knew her better than anyone else did. If he was now on her trail, she had little hope to stay hidden for much longer.

She was running out of options. She knew that she couldn't go back to her home. That would be the first place anyone would search in looking for her. Instead she went back to the Red Veil.

From the roof she was able to access a door that led to the employee corridor. She was able to get inside the building, grab her stuff and head back up to the roof without being seen. Once outside she opened her bag and took quick note of the contents.

She pulled out her wallet. The contents containing the 15 credits that Fusho gave her for the watch, a fake identification card, and a debit card that was linked to her savings account. She would be able to use that to barter passage on a ship. She pulled out her spare change of clothes. Her clothes were the clothes she was wearing earlier in the day. She didn't have time to go back to her home after the lake, which meant that she still had Poe's sweater.

She could still smell him on it. The acrid smell of petroleum permeated her nose, but beneath the strong aroma she could smell a hint of warm clove and the remnants of fresh soap.

She stood and placed the blaster in the waistband of her pants and covered it with the sweater. She picked up the rucksack and pulled the strap so that it crossed over her body. She took a deep breath and let the scent of the sweater warm her, overpower her, and after a moment it felt as if she had renewed strength.

You can do this.

She told herself as she took off in a run and leaped from the roof and onto the building next to her and made her way towards the ship docks.