As they had been taking off from Jakku, they had once more seen ships of the First Order, hot on their heels. They had no way to know that this was a Resistance vessel. But Poe wondered how long it would take them to figure it out. As they had silently sailed past the very shiny ships, fear had clutched at his stomach. How had the First Order gotten the information that Dara had come here? Was his dad okay? He was very tempted to go back to Yavin 4 and make sure his dad was still alive, still there. But there was no time to lose. Poe was now in a race with Kylo Ren. The knights she had said. The knights. Did she mean the dreaded Knights of Ren? If so, Dara had really bitten off more than she could chew. There was no way she could do this alone. They needed to get to Coruscant and ask Luke about this Temple that Dara was talking about. Finn sat clutching a bag of Rey's things. He had not moved from the spot beside Poe since they had taken off. They were nearing Coruscant after a flight of many hours. Poe was worried about him, but he had things he needed to think about. He was trying to reflect upon himself. Did he have the Force? He tried to tell himself no, he did not have it. He had tried to move that toothbrush that time, and it hadn't worked. But in the back of his mind, the sound of something clattering into the sink once he'd left the room echoed. The image of that toothbrush lying in the sink that night when he had gone to use it again. He ignored what was going on in the back of his mind and turned his thoughts instead to all those good feelings he had about people and places. When he met people he often got a good feeling about them. In some cases a bad feeling. Was that supposed to be some branch of the Force? That sounded ridiculous. What about his abilities as a pilot? He point blank refused to believe that that was the Force. He had learned to fly in his mother's A-wing. He crashed the damn thing a couple of times. And as for shooting things out of the sky, that had taken practice in flight school. He had worked his round little ass off to get as far as he did in the Republic Navy.
With a smile he recalled a few years after he had defected to the Resistance, running into his old commanding officer. She had stood up, and yelled at him, asking where he had gone. Poe had shrugged his shoulders and said he'd slept in. He'd never seen anyone more blusteringly furious. He was a smart mouthed son-of-a-gun. But he remembered when he hadn't been an ace-pilot. He hadn't had some easy route to being the Best Pilot in the Resistance. He had worked for that honour. He had honed his potential. His hard work. The universe hadn't made him what he was, he had. There was no way some dumb magic tree could have made him into something he was not. The universe could shove its force up its bum for all he cared. Poe Dameron didn't want it.
"This is Foxtrot 349 requesting docking space in Old Town." Poe said, as they approached the planet of Coruscant. Old Town used to house the old Jedi temple and libraries. He imagined if Luke and Rey were anywhere on this planet, they would be there.
"Foxtrot 349, starship class Felix, Registered to Leia Organa. Proceed to docking Bay 43E." came the cold, automated voice. They only wanted legitimate ships docking on their fair, city planet. Not that they could stop the dregs of society coming here regardless.
"You looking forward to seeing her again?" Poe asked, as he broke the atmosphere revealing the rolling skyscrapers and green, manicured parks. Finn was staring out at the massive planet with a blank look on his face.
"Yeah." He sounded unsure.
"What's wrong?" There was silence for a second.
"She's this big, impressive Jedi. And I'm just… Me." Poe was struck by the starkness of that comment. He was in the same position as Finn, in love with a woman with great power. He hadn't seen much of Rey, but she had resisted Kylo Ren. Had fought him without a second of training on her part. Poe thought perhaps that she was an incredibly powerful woman.
"Listen… At the end of the day, Finn. She's still a person. She's still Rey. She's that girl you met on Jakku. She's still a woman underneath all that power." Poe didn't know who he was talking to now. Dara was still that girl he had met at the bar. Dara was a living breathing woman with faults and flaws, and greatness within her. And she was alone and scared right now. She thought she could do this alone, and she probably could. But she didn't have to do this alone. She had people who cared, who were willing to fight for her tooth and nail. She had the Best Pilot of the Resistance on her side. They approached the planetary co-ordinates of Old Town. They saw a large old-looking building stretching up into the sky and sprawling across more land than Poe would have thought that it should have. Craters and gaping holes marred the beautiful structure, making it a ruin, rather than a splendour. Some of the coloured windows were intact, displaying incredible patterns and pictures. Others were smashed, leaving gaping maws with jagged teeth. The building was a lot bigger than he had anticipated. How were they meant to find two people in all of this? He set down in the relatively abandoned hangar, leaving their ship with BB-8 in tow. The small droid babbled excitedly at how huge the place was. As far as droids went, BB-8 was a talkative one. Rubble littered the ground as they drew closer to the actual temple. Plants grew up and broke the masonry blocks, leaving things cracked and producing yet more rubble.
"This place gives me the creeps…" Finn said, supressing a shiver, still clutching the bag of Rey's possessions in his arms. Poe disagreed. There was a beauty to the decay of the building. The original structure must have been truly impressive, with strong lines, and a distinctive mixed media. There was power in the place, he felt. Whether that was power he could draw upon or not, he doubted. He didn't have the Force. While he marvelled at the beauty of the place, he also recognised the great sorrow of its history. One of Anakin Skywalker's first acts as the scourge of the galaxy had been to cull the young jedi padawan who trained here. The blood of children of all races washed these marbled floors. He decided that Finn was right. This place was creepy.
Standing before the large wooden doors that had been battered and pulled from their hinges, was a man-height stone monument. Poe craned his neck to look up at the top of the stone, which was a couple of inches above him.
"Remember the life that once filled these hallowed halls." A shiver ran down Poe's spine, as though he could hear the voices of all the people who had passed through this temple. Of course he heard nothing. But the simple statement was powerful. He wondered who could have possibly erected this monument? Who had been left after the massacre? He supposed it may have been the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi. That was a powerful name that evoked yet another shiver down Poe's spine.
"So what…? Do we go in or…?" Poe looked over at Finn.
"Who elected me as the leader of this outfit? What do you think we should do?" Finn bit his lip, which made adrenaline surge through Poe's veins.
"We go in." Finn said, his voice steady and confident. The pilot stared at his lips for a second more, then nodded agreement, and made for the dark, gaping chasm that lay behind the broken doors.