No Review Responses Today, I'm Lazy~
Wah. I'm tired. Only 6 weeks left of school.
I'm gonna start vlogging tomorrow.
How exciting.
To The Stars and Back
Chapter 15; The First Order
A Fanfiction written by TheObsessory
It was a solid four weeks until we had a serious run in with trouble.
"All wings, report in." Poe's voice crackled over my headset. It was a peaceful day. In fact, a peaceful week. Our scouting had been anything less than fruitful, and we were all a bit unnerved by it all.
"Rapier Two." Karé's voice drifted over my ears next, "Everything green, Commander."
"Rapier Three, and I have to agree with Rapier Two, Commander." Iolo spoke next, "This is another waste of fuel and time."
"Rapier Four. Standing by."
"Rapier Five as well." I shot in before Poe began.
"You see, you should all follow Muran's example, there. You hear how nicely Rapier Four reports in, without editorializing or anything?"
"She was only saying what we were all thinking, Poe." I defended Karé.
"Bring it around to one-four mark four," Poe continued. Of course he wasn't actually chastising us. I'm sure he felt the same, "One last loop and then we're back to base."
We all followed Poe, the basic maneuvers simple enough to do in my sleep.
"Thing I don't understand, Commander, is why we keep coming out here." Iolo's voice once again came over the speakers.
BB-5 beeped a few times, something about Iolo whining. I paid more attention to what Poe said next, as BB-5 had a tendency for disliking Iolo and Karé's complaints.
"We are members of the New Republic's navy." Poe shot back quickly, "Or have you forgotten who it is you signed up to protect?"
"I know it's our job." Iolo was walking a thin line, "What I'm saying is, look, I understand the Republic is concerned about piracy in the trades lanes, I get that. I absolutely, totally, I get it. Impact to galactic commerce, citizens need to feel safe, rule of law, all of that. But we've been flying this patrol for three weeks now-"
"Four." Karé corrected him, her voice as deadpan as ever.
"Four- thank you, Karé- and not one smuggler, not one pirate, not one miscreant, heck, not even one unmanned drone has so much as beeped our scanners. I'd take a hunk of space debris. Anything." Iolo's words had sense behind them, but his easily bored nature was what fueled his words. Both he and Karé had a hard time coping when there wasn't anything to do.
"What do you want me to tell you, Iolo?" Poe asked, "I've been writing to the Guavians daily asking them to step up their criminal activities, but so far, they're just not responding."
I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm, BB-5 clicking his own disapproval.
"That's your problem." Karé spoke next, a laugh on her voice, "The Guavians can't read, Poe. You should be writing to the Hutts."
We all laughed, including Muran, surprisingly enough. Thankfully, our prayers for some action were answered.
"Got something. BB-8 is patching it to you all now."
No sooner had Poe finished talking, another voice filled my ears, this one foreign and new.
"-free trader Yissira Zyde- nder attack, please to any vessel receivi- us we-" A patch of static interrupted, "-have- st power to sub- ght engines cannot man- peat cannot maneuver- multiple- ighters attacking-"
The line was cut and we all waiting it excited silence for BB-8 to find the coordinates of the signal.
"Got it." We all breathed as one, "Suraz 4. All Rapiers, confirm hyperspace coordinates."
88-5 had located them for me in a matter of seconds, his chirping and whiring exciting me further.
"We're going in hot." I could hear the anticipation in his own voice, "Punch it."
In a matter of minutes, we had reached our destination, everyone reporting in as we took the position Poe had called out to us the moment we had arrived.
"Yissira Zyde." Poe left his comm. open for all of us to hear his transmission, "This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic Navy, we have received your distress call and are en route to render assistance."
It was unsurprising when nothing came back. From the first message, it sounded like whatever was going on was happening fast.
What we had all been expecting- specifically, what we had all trained for, for the last few years of our lives -was not what we were given.
What we had thought was pirates that might put up a small fight. Maybe. Five X-Wings were usually enough to frighten off even the boldest of pirates. And it probably would have gone down that way if they had been pirates.
The Yissira Zyde was in shambles, losing what little air it had from a breach in its starboard side. Shuttles had pulled up beside the larger ship, and at first I was confused by how a few non-equipped shuttles could cause so much damage, but then I saw what we really had to worry about.
"First Order." Poe's voice broke over the communicator as eight TIEs began to head straight toward us.
The First Order. What had started out as a myth, as a passing matter, was growing. Not many liked to talk about it, myself being one of them. While I believed they were, in fact, a threat, just as their roots had been all those years ago, I was unsure whether they would return to the former power their predecessors had come to. I mean, the New Republic would have done something to stop it, surely?
"Not necessarily." Poe told me one afternoon as we worked on our ships, BB-8 and BB-5 blipping away aimlessly, "You saw what happened. Emperor Palpatine ripped the first Republic apart from the inside out. Who's to say it won't happen again?"
"Makes sense." I had answered, "History is bound to repeat itself if no one is made wiser about it."
"Break, two elements. Rapier Two and Five, on me." Poe commanded as we all quickly reformed into the two teams, "Rapier Three, you and Four see if you can't get those shuttles to break off."
"Three against eight." I watched as Iolo and Muran sped off towards the mess, facing the TIEs a bit nervously.
"Yeah," Poe said, a smile evident through his speech, "I feel kinda bad for them."
With a deep breath and Poe's words, I felt my unease sink away. Everything would be fine.
The fighting was quick, but not precise. The first two casualties, TIEs of course, were down in a matter of a few seconds, shot by none other than Poe.
A glance toward Muran and Iolo reassured me that everything was going to plan.
Two of the five TIEs left- one had already broken off from the skirmish- took off after Poe, hard on his tail. Sure of Poe's abilities, I assisted Karé with the last three.
They tried desperately to maneuver behind us, but they were less coordinated and in tune with each other than Karé and I were.
"Sid, drop it."
I quickly pushed my nose down, a deafening explosion erupting behind me as Karé got one of the TIEs. We danced with the other two a little while longer, both of us trying desperately to get the upper hand.
I landed a crippling blow on one, causing it to go spinning out of control before I finished it off with a final laser shot.
It was then that our last TIE took off with one that had been perusing Poe, headed towards one of the shuttles that was just about to shoot off into hyperspace.
The other shuttle was nowhere to be found, supposedly destroyed by Muran and Iolo.
But it wasn't just the shuttle and TIEs that were jumping into hypersapce.
"Muran! Iolo! Break port!" Poe's yell made me jump, and I searched the stars around the Yissira Zyde for the two of them.
Both banked left, Iolo high and Muran low.
My heart fell to my stomach as it seemed the events folded out slowly before my eyes. I wanted to shout, to scream like Karé was doing and Poe had, but the sounds were stuck in my throat as I watched Muran's Z-Wing rip apart and then explode from the ripple left behind by the freighter.
The flight home was silent. Even the droids, who were constantly interacting with each other, remained quiet as we mourned for Muran. Poe on the other hand… he was furious. I could sense that much.
For weeks he had been talking with Deso about the growing strength of the First Order, voicing his concerns, trying to push Deso to talk to those further up about the threat they posed, but Deso remained resolute. As he did now.
"It's unfortunate." We had returned back to Mirrin, Poe and I making a bee-line straight for Major Deso, "It's never easy to lose one of your squadron, Commanders. But I've reviewed the flight data, I've reviewed the entire engagement up to and included the astromech telemetry, and there's nothing you could have done. Lieutenant Muran's death is tragic, but it's my considered opinion it was unavoidable."
"I disagree." Poe quickly parried, leaning against the table that stood between Deso and the two of us.
"You can't blame yourself."
I felt Poe tense beside me, his fists clenching.
"I don't blame myself." He answered calmly, a few moment later, "I'm blaming the First Order."
"Commander, we are not having this discussion again." A cringed inwardly at the the standoff. I was often the mediator between the disputes Deso and Poe had. Both had extremely strong arguments, and I understood them all, but my loyalty was always to Poe.
Not that I didn't understand Deso's position. There wasn't much he could do. He was a Major of a single branch of the New Republic's Navy. He had power, but not that much.
"This isn't another isolated incident Lonno," Poe argued back, probably making a reference to one of the incidents brought up in a past skirmish, as this had been our first run in with the First Order, "I'm seeing the same intelligence reports that you are."
"The Senate Intelligence Committee has reviewed the reports and has found them inconclusive, at best grossly overstated, Poe. This is a non-issue. It's a big galaxy. The First Order is a remnant born of a war thirty years gone. Yes, they persist, yes, they continue, but by all accounts they do so barely. They are, at best, an ill-organized, poorly equipped, and badly funded group of loyalists who use propaganda and fear to inflate their strength and their important." Deso continued, rather irked at Poe.
"You think the Empire appeared over night?" I questioned softly, "One man, Deso." I held a finger up. "It took one man to speak false fantasies into the ears of others. Into the ears of those truly good people who were corrupted by him. Or have you forgotten as the rest of the galaxy has?"
Both Poe and Deso looked at me in surprise. I was usually quite silent during their spats, but the loss of Muran had instilled an anger in me.
I remembered the stories I grew up learning about. The stories of Anakin Skywalker, the so-called Chosen One who was supposed to bring balance to the Force.
I had laughed begrudgingly to myself as I read the histories. He had, in a sense, balanced the force. What had once been hundreds of Jedi against a couple of Sith Lords was, indeed, now even.
"And they're flying state-of-the-art TIEs, they're using commando boarding parties and latest-generation attack shuttles in clear violation of the Galactic Condordance." Poe continued in Deso's shocked silence, his eyes still on me as he contemplated our words, "They're training troops and pilots. We interrupted a military operation, Lonno, not some snatch and grab. They wanted the Yissira Zyde and they got it. They wanted it badly enough they paid for it with six TIEs, those pilots, and however many people were aboard the shuttle that Muran and Iolo shot down. That's not a poorly organized force. That's not a poorly motivated force. That's a real threat."
"An emerging threat then, Commander Dameron."
I scoffed, earning a narrow eyed glance from Deso.
"An 'emerging threat'." My usual cool behavior was gone, "An emerging threat that should be stopped before it emerges any further."
"Give it to the Resistance."
Deso scowled, clearly not happy that I had forsaken my middle-group.
"Don't be absurd. The Resistance is as overstated as the First Order."
"They're at least doing something about them!" Both Poe and I argued in defiance.
"Rumored to be doing something about them." Deso countered.
"We have to act."
"I'll pass along your concerns to Command." Deso was clearly trying to end the conversation, as he always did, but saying he'd 'do something'. Whether he did or not was still in question.
"That's not enough." Poe shook his head, "We need to know what the Yissira Zyde was hauling. We need to know why they took it and, more importantly, where. I'd like permission to take the Rapiers out, try to track the trajectory, see if we can't find the freighter."
My siding with Poe stopped abruptly. That was absurd. We had lost one man in a small skirmish, how did Poe think four X-Wings could fare against anything more?
"Denied." Deso said resolutely.
"There are questions-"
"I said denied, Commander." Deso had grown in height, probably pleased with my silence, "Rapier is assigned Mirrin sector patrol, that's all. Your orders are to continue as before. Nothing more, and nothing less. Am I clear?"
Both Poe and I sat in silence.
"It's going to happen again, you realize that, don't you?"
"If it does, it'll be dealt with then."
"So we do nothing? That's the solution? An emerging threat, and we do nothing?"
"That is correct."
"That is insane." Poe finished, and I couldn't help but agree. Muran would receive no justice for his death.
"I don't like it, either." Deso began to speak again, his tone subdued, "But this is the order from the Republic Command, do you understand? We don't engage the First Order, we don't provoke the First Order. I don't like it any more than you do, but those are orders, Commanders. You break them, you'll be up on charges. You'll lose your commissions."
"And that doesn't bother you in the least that the Republic, those in charge of protecting their people, are allowing their people to die without justice? Without stopping those who are killing? There's something wrong here, Deso." Everything he had said rubbed me in the wrong way. History was repeating itself, in a way. There must be someone on the inside orchestrating this.
Deso waved his hand, clearly done with the conversation.
Poe and I left, both fuming inwardly. We headed for the hangar bay where our X-Wings stood, the lack of Muran's making the hangar seem unbelievably empty. But as we walked toward the pilot prep room, I felt my anger cool down.
I felt torn. Torn between what I wanted to do and what I was being told to do.
I was well known for my ability to follow rules, and my enjoyment of following rules. Rules were placed to be followed, not broken and not stretched.
But another part of me told me not to. Told me to stop listening to the rules, the false rules, the rules put in place because of liar's and wrong-doers, and fight back.
Never had I been so torn. It was times like this when I hated the galaxy for what it was. There was never just good versus evil like was so often told in story books for children. There was too much gray. Too much in between.
"We finishing this?" Karé and Iolo both stood just inside the doors of the pilot's prep room, wearing their flight suits, all the droids waiting anxiously with them.
I looked to Poe as he shook his head, clearly at war with himself as well.
"They took that freighter somewhere, Commander." Iolo nudged R5, the droid blipping in agreement.
"Figure we need to find out where," Karé agreed, "We owe it to Muran, right?"
"No go." Poe murmured, my heart beating painfully at the mention of our fallen friend, "By Major Deso's order."
"What?" Iolo and Karé both looked shocked and irritated, as if they had expected a different answer. They knew of Poe's fights with Deso, and they knew Deso's position. Perhaps they thought with the death of Muran, Deso might have been swayed.
"Let's just see about that." Karé grumbled, beginning to stalk back the way Poe and I had just come from.
"Karé, don't." Poe grabbed her arm as she pushed past us, "It's not his call. It's coming down from on high."
"'On high' who?" She spat back, clearly not pleased.
"He won't say, other than Command. It could be Senate level. We go up on any other than a routine patrol, we're all looking at charges."
"So what're we doing, Poe?" Iolo asked, his eyes flashing momentarily, "We're just sitting on our hands?"
"No," Poe turned, BB-8 rolling after him as he started toward his ship, "We're going on patrol."
I followed suit, BB-5 bumping gently against my boot as we headed for our ship. I had a nagging feeling, however, that Poe had something else in mind.
Ooo, one of the longer chapters.
And, of course, I do not own any of the characters from the Star Wars universe other than my own fanmade ones and I do not own "Before The Awakening".
Hope you're all having a wonderful week and I'll see you all on Friday!
Coming up in Chapter Sixteen: We meet another very familiar face as 'The Force Awakens' grows closer...
~TheObsessory
