We arrive at our first planet in the Outer Rim-Iriad.
We'll soon discover more about the planet-and how reluctance may come into play with the normally neutral inhabitants.
We'll also figure out Poe's history with the Tico family, and just how important that makes Rose.
A note: A flashback is used in this chapter. I signify flashback by placing them in italics and using page breaks.
Without further adieu-
6. Poe II
Poe watched from the cockpit as the Falcon lowered into the atmosphere of Iriad.
From the little he knew of this word, he could distinctly remember somebody mentioning to him the focus on mining.
Many of the Outer Rim planets were limited in their biodiversity-planets like Jakku, for instance, which was covered almost entirely in dunes
Iriad was no different.
Poe looked out the window to see vast mountains of navy blue debris. The ground here was a cool color-resulting in an almost permanently nighttime appearance.
"Is it late here?" He asked Leia, who sat beside him.
"Mid-afternoon," she replied. "There's not much to look at anyways."
"You've been here before?" Poe asked.
"You see a lot of the galaxy when you're a princess," Leia admitted. Poe was surprised to even hear Leia mention her time as royalty. "My family had a fair few trade deals with the Iriadians. What Alderaan held in beauty, it lacked in minerals. Iriad held minerals, but needed coal and wood to power their machines. They didn't like us, but they liked our arrangements."
"So I take it these people aren't friendly?" Poe asked.
Leia scoffed. "They're Iriadians, Poe," she responded. "They wouldn't know friendly if it shut up behind them and stunned them."
Poe's mind flickered briefly to the stunning that Leia had put him under. His neck was still a little sore from the fall.
"So who are we meeting?" He asked, trying to distract his mind.
"The governor of these parts," she said. "Last I checked, the Arren family held control over the Confederacy. By now, old Jaquen should be dead, so power would have passed to his only daughter."
"Who is she?"
Before Poe could answer, a transmission came into the Falcon.
"Unregistered craft," a voice called out over the noise and feedback, "You are entering the sovereign airspace of the Iriadian Confederacy. State your business or you will be shot down."
"Friendly guys, aren't they?" Poe muttered to himself.
Leia leaned forward to their pilot, Yorn. "Transmit this code," she said to him. In her hand, she held a small rectangular device.
Yorn took it from her and placed it into the Falcon's transmission hub.
"What's that?" Poe asked.
"That," Leia explained, "Would be the personal code of the Organa family. And since I'm the sole living heir of the Organa bloodline, it should be enough to keep them from blasting us.
"Princess Organa," came another voice from the transmitter-this time, a female voice. "It's an unwelcome surprise to hear you."
"Rowe," Leia responded. "You know I'm no longer a princess. And from the sound of your voice, you're no longer Jaquen's little girl."
Poe looked to Leia. Was it really wise to demean the Governess of a planet?
Several seconds passed before the transmitter rattled again: "I'm letting you land for his sake, Organa," Rowe responded. "But if you try anything funny, I'll blow that damn ship to oblivion."
"Good to see you too, Rowe!" Leia exclaimed. "Yorn, cut the transmission."
Yorn did as instructed, and Leia rose from her seat. "You're going to have to come with me, you know," she said to Poe. "Rowe Arren was a stubborn woman when I knew her. And she was only twelve."
"So why do I have to come with?" Poe asked.
"Because" Leia explained. "They'll hate you. Which makes me look good by comparison."
Poe nodded as Leia left the room.
After a moment...
"Hey," Poe said, rising from his chair. But before he could take offense to her comment, he noticed that she was already gone.
Poe sat back down in a heap.
Things moved quickly from this point forward. The ship initiated landing protocol, and the non-essential crew was ordered to wait in place and defend the ship from any invaders.
Poe waited by the exit with Leia and two soldiers assigned to be their escort. After the ship landed, Poe could see Finn walking towards them.
"Need any help with the negotiations?" Finn asked. "I need off this damn ship."
"Any more people and we'll intimate the Iriadians," Leia explained. "I'm afraid you're going to have to sit this one out."
Finn nodded. He looked to Poe. "Be smart, okay?"
"When am I not?" Poe replied. He tried to force a smile to convince Finn that he was alright, and held it until long after he left. But soon after, the smile dropped. Something was bothering Poe. Something serious.
But his thoughts would have to wait for another time, as the doors opened, and Poe exited with the others onto Iriadian soil.
The ground here was a deep blue, and seemed to be made up of black rocks and blue soil. They had landed on a plateau. In the distance, Poe could make out faint, brown towers, reaching into the sky.
That must have been the capital.
"Don't move!" Came a voice from the edge of the plateau. Leia and Poe paused-with their escort keeping a firm hand on their weapons.
"For goodness sake," Leia said. "Is this really necessary?"
But it seemed that it was. Several armed men crested to the flat surface of their landing pad-blasters in hand and aimed at them. The men stopped about ten feet short of them, before splitting to reveal a general in the midst of them.
"My name is General Emin Trake," the man said. "What is your business on Iriad?"
"I'm afraid that's a conversation I can only have with your Governess," she explained. "Where is Rowe, anyway? I figured the Organa code would have been enough."
"You ask for an immediate audience with our Governess without so much as an invitation?" Came General Trake's response.
"Look," Leia said. "Emin? Is that right? My name is Leia Organa. Back where I'm from, I'm galactic royalty. We tend to pop in on other leaders from time to time. If you could just escort me and my men here to the Governess, we'd greatly appreciate it."
The General looked displeased, but relented. "Your crew must remain on the ship. If anyone else exits, they will be imprisoned and sent to the mines."
"Yeah, yeah," Leia dismissed. She took several steps forward. "Just put us on your transport."
Everyone-Poe and the soldiers included-seemed surprised at her forwardness, but no weapons were raised to her. Instead, the Iriadians surrounded Poe and Leia's escort and led them to a ground-based vehicle. They were seated in several curved seats.
"You better hold onto something," General Emin warned. "It's not a smooth ride. You should be in Iriad City by nightfall."
"It's not nightfall already?" Poe quipped, but the door was shut on him before anyone could have heard it. For the next several hours, it would be nothing but shaky travel in a dark, dim transport.
Nobody spoke for a long while as the journey continued. And Poe had many questions for Leia. Who was this Governess? Would they be willing to house and arm the Resistance?
But Leia seemed to rest soundly in the transport-and the two soldiers talked to themselves.
Poe was only left of his thoughts, and his thoughts led him back to one thing:
The Tico Family
It was several months into the Resistance's formation.
Poe was just returning from a skirmish with the First Order in the Uvoss System. In the mission's aftermath, he had returned to his shuttle bay to find a young woman standing nearby. She approached him as he and BB-8 exited his X-Wing-
"Hi," she said as she approached. "You're Poe Dameron, right?"
"Absolutely," he said, eyeing her. She was dressed in a Resistance flight uniform, but Poe had never seen this person before. "Who are you?"
"Paige Tico," came the response. "I was just added to the bombing fleet. I wanted to introduce myself to the other flight crew."
"Bombing fleet, huh?" Poe asked her. "They don't put just anyone on that crew. How'd you get on board?"
Paige smiled. "I just joined the Resistance, actually. Me and my sister are from the Otomok system. I used to help with the local militia after the First Order encroached on our system. After the First Order came down and ravaged our town, we figured it was time to stop sitting and take action."
"Woman after my own heart," Poe explained. "It's good to meet you, Paige. You said you have a sister..?"
"Right," Paige said. "She'll in maintenance now. Not the flashiest job, but she was the best mechanic where we're from. She'll serve the Resistance well."
"Every person counts," Poe said. "It's good to meet you, Paige."
Poe had several more interactions with Paige after that moment. He had known of her importance on her ship, the Cobalt Hammer. It was her bomber that dropped the final payload that destroyed the dreadnaught over D'Qar.
And it was Poe's recklessness that got the entire bombing fleet-Paige and the Cobalt Hammer included-destroyed.
There had been so little time to ruminate on what had happened during the past few days. So many people had lost their lives. From the bombers to the other ships to the transports to Crait-the destruction of the First Order had been monolithic.
But, the bomber's deaths were not the First Order's fault. It was Poe that had endangered them. It was Poe that had caused their death.
Poe thought now to Paige's sister Rose-now fighting for her life on the Falcon. The maintenance worker that had saved Finn's life.
If he was to make amends for any of what he'd done, he needed to save Rose. He needed to push for more medical supplies.
"Poe?" came a voice beside him.
Poe was shaken from his trance. In the time he had spent in his own mind, the transport had arrived at the front doors of a massive building in Iriad City. Poe shook away his feelings and exited the ship with the others.
Downtown here looked just as rugged as the mountains of blue that surrounded it. Poe could see many cloaked figures passing by as they entered the building. It seemed that almost everyone was coated in the thick soil of Iridan. It seemed as if it could never wash out-no matter how hard you tried.
The next part of the journey was quick-the group was led to a service elevator, taken to a higher level, and then escorted into a stark, cold waiting room. In the corner, were two black doors. The doors to the Governess' chambers, no doubt.
"When we get in there," Leia said to Poe, "Let me do the talking first. If she asks about our men on the ship, you need to stick up for them. Explain how important this fight is. How the galaxy needs us."
"Do you really think she's going to be sympathetic to the Resistance?" Poe asked. "I mean, there's practically no sign she'll even let us out of here alive."
"You got any better ideas?" Came Leia's quick response.
In front of them, the two massive doors opened, to reveal an assistant. She was a small human, dressed head-to-toe in black. Black and blue seemed to be the running theme of this place.
"The Governess will grant an audience with the Princess," the assistant said. "Alone."
"What?" Poe asked, but Leia had already risen. "Leia, you can't just go in there alone," Poe pleaded with her. "We need you."
"Poe, if they were going to kill us," she explained, "they would have done it ten minutes ago. So here's the new plan: wait for me."
Poe wanted to say more, but he knew that there was nothing more that he could say. He watched helplessly as Leia entered the two doors with the assistant, and the doors slammed shut.
He could only hope the Governess was willing to hear them out.
What other option did they have?
My apologies for the shorter and generally segue-like structure of this chapter. However, it was necessary to set up the new characters and move Poe/Leia to Iriad City.
I'm aware that OC's are generally frustrating for the average reader of Fanfictions. Most seem to be self-inserts for corny romances. I promise you, that this is not that. The Iridians are important to this story moving forward.
Also, Poe's lack of knowledge about Rose Tico bothered me in The Last Jedi-I hope to remedy this here.
We'll be spending the next chapter in Leia's meeting with the Governess, before moving laterally to see what the First Order's up to.
Until next,
-BYIT