Chapter 2

It wasn't long after Everly left D'Qar that she became aware of company before the proximity alarms on her ship even sounded. She wished that she was surprised to see TIE fighters approaching her ship. She sent Demetri, one of her guards, to man the single gunner position the cruiser had, cursing her slow cruiser that was meant for luxury not battle. She couldn't see a destroyer where the Tie's had appeared from but she wasn't taking any chances and decided to ramp up the speed to the maximum the ship can go. She knew they needed to get away quickly and immediately started inputting coordinates for jumping to hyperspace. Everly was nearly done before she felt and heard the hit her cruiser took to the rear and alarms started belting out uncontrollably in panic.

Everly gasped in shock and frantically tapped on numerous buttons, trying to control the cruiser when she realised her hyperdrive has been damaged and the jump to hyperspace is now impossible. They had her. Everly looked ahead into space, watching the TIE fighters fly over her vessel in reluctant acceptance. There was no getting out of this. She calmly reached for her radio with shaking hands, trying to quell the panic in her voice but she knew it was still recognisable.

"Mayday Mayday, this is Princess Everly Solo's ship the Ariel. We are under direct fire from the First Order, requesting support." Everly spoke into the radio. She soon felt another jolt as they took another hit. Matthew, her other guard, ran to check on Demetri and found the whole of the gunner position was gone, Demetri included. Everly's eyes watered in loss of one of her men.

Everly turned back to the radio and repeated her message, with more urgency than before, hoping someone would hear her cry. She never thought this would be how she would go. She wondered if her brother was watching from a distance or if he was even in one of the TIE fighters. She couldn't feel him but she had a feeling her big brother knew what was going on, maybe even ordered the attack himself, too much of a coward to face her directly.

Everly continued to pilot the ship as best she was able knowing that she had to buy time if anyone had received her transmission.

It felt like a lifetime, dodging blasts from TIE fighters and praying that rescue would come soon.

She heard the familiar crack of ships coming from hyperspace and she chanced a look to see the familiar outlines of x-wing fighters. Her mother had heard her. She looked up at the sky and sensed Poe was among the fighters going after the TIE's who all of a sudden found themselves outnumbered. She was too engrossed with the dogfight above that she didn't see the TIE fighter approaching before it was too late.

As soon as Poe heard Everly's voice on the radio he wanted to run to her. When General Leia gave the command to scramble the squadrons he was already half way out the door. Nothing could stop him from rushing to her side. Not even if Leia had ordered him not to go. He could recognise the poorly concealed panic in Everly's voice and he never wanted to hear her like that again. he had a feeling Leia knows about us but he couldn't even care at the moment- all he needed was to make sure Everly is safe and he didn't trust anyone else to do that but him. Sooner than expected everyone was ready to take off, permission immediately granted- everyone anxious to rescue General Leia's daughter, probably no one more anxious than him to see her safe and sound.

It was a quick journey, recognising that her cruiser hadn't got far from leaving D'Qar. We dropped out of hyperspace to see the TIE fighters circling her damaged cruiser like vultures.

"Draw the TIE's away from the cruiser!" he ordered down his comms as he surveyed the area, looking for a star destroyer but not finding one. He frowned in confusion, where had the TIE's come from then?

Black and blue squadrons immediately started attacking the TIE's and drawing them away from the cruiser that was thankfully still going and relatively in one piece.

"It looks like her cruiser has taken some damage!" Jess commented whilst zooming past the cruiser, on the tail of a fighter.

"Yeah, her hyperdrive must be damaged otherwise she would have been gone by now." Poe muttered to himself.

"I've got a body over here, looks like one of her guards." A call came through from Blue 3. Poe frowned, knowing how upset Everly would be after losing a guard. Poe continued to chase the remaining TIE's, keeping them as far away from the cruiser as possible.

"I've got a TIE headed your- wait he's gone past, he's heading for the-"Poe heard coming from the radio before a blast was heard and he immediately swivelled his head to see an explosion shook the cruiser- blowing out the entire rear of the ship.

"EVERLY!" Poe shouted, all noise ceasing in his ears as he watched helplessly.

Poe could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he witnessed the cruiser nearly break in half. He was in a world of his own as he tried to swallow but found he couldn't. He was panicking and he didn't know what was going on around him, he couldn't draw his eyes away from the ship. Muffled voices coming from his comms broke his concentration. Poe slowly took control of his breathing and the voices started making sense again.

"Aw shit!" "-too late-" "we've lost The Ariel!". Poe didn't pay any attention as he concentrated on the ship. He could feel her still, whether it was wishful thinking or something else, he knew he had to see her.

"I'm docking, take care of the rest of those TIE's." Poe ordered, making his approach to the badly damaged cruiser. Protests and concerned voices from both squadrons came through immediately but Poe didn't pay them any attention.

"Debris is coming out, the air lock is gone Poe!" Snap argued.

"Docking? The entirely rear is gone! Where are you going to dock?" Jess voiced her concerns.

Poe ignored his teammates and continued to head towards the rear that now had a massive hole blown out of it. He surveyed what was left of the ship. He had a feeling she was still here and nothing would deter him until he saw that she was actually gone. He didn't believe it.

He angled his x-wing the closest it can get to the cruiser and handed over the controls to BB-8 whilst he tried to peer inside the cruiser. He spotted dark hair and immediately shouted her name, even though he knew she couldn't hear him but then she turned and locked eyes with him, mouthing his name back.

Poe scrambled to get his seatbelt unbuckled, uncaring of how he was going to get to her; he just knew he needed her in his arms now. He prepared to jump into the cruiser against the opposing shouts from his squadron echoing in his ears. He was prepared to fight against the gravity but then a funny thing happened and his feet stayed on the ground as he entered the cruiser. The air lock must still be in place but the debris that filtered out…

"Everly!" Poe shouted as he ran to her, a single thought on his mind, getting her out of there. He looked around at the damage the cruiser had sustained and found out the reason why Everly hadn't moved a muscle even at Poe's shouts. She was standing over her guard Matthew who has badly wounded and was sitting up against a wall.

"Poe." Everly replied, relief evident on her face. Poe cupped her face, checking to make sure that she was ok. She had a deep cut on her forehead and her gown was covered in blood but after looking at Matthew, it looked like the blood wasn't hers.

"We need to go," Poe commanded, taking her hand. "The air lock won't hold for long." Trying to make Everly budge but she stayed still.

"The air lock is gone." Everly faintly told him, unmoving.

"Then how…" Poe started to ask but then realised she was using the force and the extent of her power used was taking a toll on her as sweat beaded on her forehead. Poe stared in awe, he knew she was strong with the force like the rest of her family but he never actually witnessed it before.

"Take the princess; you need to get her to safety." Matthew muttered weakly. Everly protested as she kneeled down. Matthew took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You need to go." Matthew repeated softly. Everly let out a squeak of protest but Poe pulled her up and nodded in mutual understanding with Matthew. Suddenly their feet started lifting off the ground before Everly furrowed her brows in concentration and they found their feet back on the ground. Poe saw the strain of using this amount of power for so long was having on her. She felt weak in his arms and he knew she couldn't hold forever. She stumbled and he immediately scooped her up in his arms with one arm around her back and the other under her knees. Everly immediately curled into Poe's arms and placed a hand around his neck- partly to support her and partly just to touch him again.

Matthew sent a nod to Poe in approval before watching him carry the Princess away from him.

Poe's teammates who continued to circle the sky searching for any approaching enemy's saw Poe walk back to his x-wing with the princess in his arms- not knowing whether she was alive or not.

Poe carefully lowered Everly into his pilot seat and he dropped down behind her and manoeuvred her so that she was sitting between his legs. She leaned back into Poe's arms that came around to take control of the x-wing from BB-8. Poe was just pulling away from the cruiser when Everly reached a hand out with the last of her energy and the cruiser subsequently exploded and Everly passed out in Poe's arms. Poe looked down at Everly in concern before snaking an arm around her waist giving it a squeeze and dropping a soft kiss on the crown of her head before he ordered everyone back to base. Everly didn't move once.

Poe was the last to land back on D'Qar and Everly hadn't moved an inch but he checked numerous times to make sure she was still breathing throughout the flight home. Poe could see the base buzzing with activity as soon as he landed and he could see Leia waiting on the runway along with a medical team and stretcher ready. Poe powered down his ship and immediately slid out from underneath Everly, who didn't react at all to the jostling, before turning back to lift her from the cockpit. He cradled her in his arms while trying to work out how to get down from the wing without hurting her and himself. A pairs of arms were suddenly held out to take her from him and he hesitated for a second, not wanting to let go of her so soon. Poe realised though that it was the only way and he wanted Everly to get looked at as soon as possible so he reluctantly handed her carefully over to the arms waiting before jumping down from his ship following the small crowd of people looking her over on the stretcher.

Leia stroked her dark hair softly for a second before moving to stand beside Poe.

"What happened?" Leia asked, unable to keep her eyes off her only daughter as the medical team assessed her for injuries.

"She only has a cut on her forehead from what I can tell but…" Poe hesitated, not sure on how to word what she had been able to do.

"But what?" Leia asked concerned, looking at Poe in the eye for the first time.

"She used a lot of force energy- she did things I didn't even know could be done before." Poe tried to explain.

"She is strong with the force, maybe even stronger than Ben, she will be fine." Leia told him, her face relaxing. Leia took Poe's hand in hers for a brief squeeze in comfort before following after the medical team who were rolling her daughter inside to the medical centre. Poe watched longingly after the figures and ran a hand through his hair anxiously. He could feel the stares of his teammates burning into his head but he didn't have time to worry about them, he needed to get changed and rejoin Everly's side because he wasn't going anywhere.

So there is chapter 2! Let me know if you like it.