Fandom Star Wars: Chaos and Order [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

‘This is…too easy.’

No, no it wasn’t, Neria had to remind herself that the woman before her had a mission, and likely, a timeline. The Herald of Lian needed the map to Luke Skywalker. Anything else Neria had was currently irrelevant to her, which did indeed mean, for the moment – Neria might walk out of here unscathed.

‘Perhaps the Force—’

“I am of no use to you,” Neria said, but held the woman’s gaze, “but you and I both know you’d be doing me a favor to execute me before Snoke could decide what use I have.” There were better ways to ask for death. Reminding Verena that Snoke had a use for her, was not that.

But, for one moment, Neria was willing to gamble that she could get out of here alive, when Verena went to make her report. “Though, if Kylo can get away with one execution, why not you?” she allowed a playful smirk to touch her lips, “though if I get any last requests – at least before seeing Snoke – perhaps kowakian rum?”

The drink of her favorite blackouts! If only she could remember why they were her favorites.

~***~

It was obvious Dameron didn’t know where BB-8 was. The droid took the map and just…ran. But the droid was also obvious in appearance, and would stand out in a crowd. There weren’t that many places to go on Jakku to get a ride out, and the Order would be monitoring the skies to make sure no one entered.

“Your cooperation is most appreciated,” he was tempted to end Dameron’s life there, but suspected one execution without permission was enough for today. He’d let Snoke decide what he wanted to do with Dameron. Show some restraint.

And maybe he didn’t –

He cut that thought off by heading towards the door, leaving Dameron alone, only to see Hux waiting outside. ‘Ugh.’

He spat the report quickly, moving to get around Hux and head to the audience chamber, “It’s in a droid. A BB unit. White and orange.” Kylo stated, not pausing to glance at Hux as he continued on.

 

[cleopat]

If Kylo can get away with one execution…

Could Verena get away with some of the shit Kylo pulled? He acted without thinking first, allowing himself to be controlled by his anger. Verena was in more control of her anger, and allowed herself to think before making any rash decisions.

She wouldn’t risk upsetting Snoke with an unnecessary death of such a high profile politician. Maybe he’d have plans for Tarkin.

But then she’d realized, if she was able to surmise that the droid had the map, then most likely Kylo Ren had already pulled that information from Poe Dameron. She could see him strolling into the audience chamber now, gloating to Snoke that he alone found the location of the map.

Verena didn’t even humor Neria’s ridiculous request before she abruptly left the room. She marched through the corridors, using her memory as best as she could to reach the audience chamber.

And as she approached the doors, she saw Kylo march up at the same time. “I know who has the map.”

~~~

Kylo left, and Poe was only surrounded by silence, and the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest from pain. His head ached something fierce. Strapped to the chair, he could do nothing but wait for his inevitable death. Would Kylo, Ben, be the one to strike him? Would it be a Stormtrooper to deliver the final shot?

He didn’t wait long before the cell door slid open again. In came a Stormtrooper, who walked up to his chair and unshackled him. Ah, so he’s taking me to my demise.

The Trooper grabbed Poe, bound his hands in front of him with binders, and led him down a corridor, holding a blaster to the pilot’s side. The Trooper turned to lead him down a narrow hall, slightly darker than the main corridors, before he stopped them both.

“Listen carefully,” the trooper began, and Poe looked at him with some confusion, “you do exactly as I say, I can get you out of here.”

Now Poe was even more baffled. Was this a setup? “Wha…?”

The trooper pulled off his helmet. “This is a rescue, I’m helping you escape. Can you fly a TIE fight?”

Poe frowned, “Are you with the Resistance?”

The trooper shook his head, “What? No, no, I’m breaking you out! Can you fly a TIE fighter?”

“I can fly anything.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo gave Verena a side-eye as their paths crossed, “And?” Kylo asked, eyebrow cocked even if she couldn’t see it. His tone implied he didn’t care. “Did you get anything else useful?” the map was easy.

He’d known Poe knew.

He’d already let Hux know so he could start the search on the ground, now he just had to report to Snoke that this wasn’t a failure. To him, Neria was never important for knowledge of the map. She was important for a wealth of other things, but the map? No.

Snoke might feel similar if that was all Verena had from the politician.

Kylo wouldn’t give her a moment to consider if she had anything extra to bring to the discussion as he walked into the audience chamber. She did, or she didn’t, but either way – Kylo felt secure in what he’d found. Enough that her presence and knowledge of similar didn’t bother him at all.

~***~

Silence. Neria tested the bonds, and was fairly sure she could get her left hand loose. ‘Then what?’ The shadow told her there was still a trooper on duty. She couldn’t get far with one hand loose unless she could steal the blaster. They’d come near….

“FN-5429,” a voice spoke after the door to her cell opened.

“Sir.”

“Supreme Leader Snoke wants this prisoner moved to the Supremacy. Prepare an escort.”

“Sir!” The trooper left, and the one who spoke stepped forward, hands behind his back, gaze calm and assessing.

“Orrineswa. A pleasure.”

Neria’s lips cracked into a smile, and so did the agent’s, as he stepped forward and unbound her, adding a false set of binders for her hands, which she kept behind her back. “They’ll be back soon.”

“And how are we getting out?”

“Not many options,” he confessed, “it’ll have to be TIEs.”

“I suppose these aren’t the TIE defenders with lightspeed?”

“Afraid not.”

“They go to wild space and don't even listen to Thrawn! Ugh. So Jakku.”

“Mmm.”

“Let’s hurry then,” Neria sighed, as the officer led her out, keeping a hand between her shoulder blades as he escorted towards a hangar.

~***~

FN-2187 was relieved the man thought he could fly a TIE, though when confronted about why, he stumbled over the reason. It was the right thing to do, even if FN-2187 couldn’t quite explain why. The Order was all he knew, but somehow, witnessing the slaughter on Jakku gave him second thoughts.

It wasn’t right.

He knew it in his bones.

Saving Poe could show him was right, and so he led Poe to the hangar with the TIE fighters, not at all understanding the damn things as he looked upon the wall stacked with the ‘eyeballs’, as some called them.

“Okay, stay calm, stay calm,” FN-2187 was not calm.

He’d never been trained in piloting, or aerial combat. He really hoped that Poe could handle this, as he pushed Poe suddenly towards the side, and one area that was relatively well hidden from the sight of their overseers. “Okay – these should work,” FN-2187 said, gesturing with his blaster, and then reaching to remove the binders so Poe could easily climb in while they were shielded from the others of the Order.

 

[cleopat]

I bet that’s all the information you have as well.

Verena clenched her jaw. The map was the most important thing right now! Neria wouldn’t have anything that would immediately benefit the First Order, unless she was to do a longer interrogation for her knowledge on the political ongoing activities of Hosnian Prime.

“There was one thing she mentioned before any questioning at all. I shouldn’t be surprised at all that the one who hides behind his mask all the time also created a new name for himself, but really, did you two names have to rhyme?” That just seemed a bit too ridiculous for her. “Kylo and Solo. Ren and Ben.”

She shrugged as she followed behind him into the audience chamber. “I guess Kylo Ren is a slightly more intimidating name than Ben Solo.”

And maybe she had a death wish, taunting Kylo the way she did. But it was so easy, after hearing his name coming from Snoke's mouth for so long! Taunting her in return.

~~~

Poe kept half-expecting the Stormtrooper to turn and shoot Poe, like everything was some sort of test. A Stormtrooper helping a Resistance pilot to escape a First Order star destroyer! It didn’t make sense!

And yet, as they walked into the hangar, with no one stopping them yet, it was happening.

“I am calm.” Poe was, in a way, calm, though his heart belied his cool exterior.

“I was talking to myself.” Poe could’ve laughed. A nervous Stormtrooper!

The Stormtrooper led them to the side, and freed his hands, while Poe looked over the special forces TIE fighters in slight amazement. Once freed, he climbed inside the nearest one, with his rescuer right behind him. “I’ve always wanted to fly one of these things.” He could give credit where credit was due! “Can ya shoot?”

The trooper removed his helmet, “Blasters, I can.”

“Okay, some principal!” Poe sat in the pilot’s seat and flipped switches to turn on the TIE fighter’s engines. “Use the toggle on the left to switch between missiles, cannons, and mag pulse. Use the site on the right to aim, triggers to fire!”

FN-2187 situated himself in the seat of the blaster controls. “Okay, I can do this.”

Poe told himself the same thing as he lurched forward with the TIE fighter, as the hangar realized at the same time that an unauthorized TIE was departing.

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo went rigid as he heard that name. ‘Ben Solo.’ No one in the Order was allowed to say it. It had been banned for so long, few even knew of the ban, let alone the name. He wanted to immediately pull at the Force and ram Verena into something, or choke the life out of her – but before any action could take place, Snoke appeared.

He hadn’t even called for Snoke.

Perhaps he sensed the anger.

Kylo wasn’t yet at the platform, but still on the bridge. He hastily marched his way to the platform and took a knee, as Snoke loomed over them, far larger in the hologram than he was in life. “Supreme Leader,” Kylo would at least be first in delivering information, “the map to Luke Skywalker was placed in a BB Unit, an orange and white droid that belonged to a Resistance pilot. It’s still on Jakku.” He was sure of it.

“We captured the Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, and Governor Tarkin on Jakku.”

Surprise flitted across Snoke’s face, “Governor Tarkin?” a constant thorn in his side.

“Verena was charged with interrogating her.”

Snoke’s gaze fell on Verena at that, and Kylo was again grateful for the mask hiding his expression.

~***~

Alarms blared as Neria and Karan’s Agent reached a hangar. “Unauthorized TIE Fighter departure from Bay 2.”

That was not the bay they were looking at, and yet, they shared a single look, smiled, and didn’t even bother hiding it as they both darted for different TIEs, as did other fighter pilots, aware they needed to stop the unauthorized departure. No one was going to look too closely in the chaos, and Neria jumped into a TIE Fighter.

“Come on, baby,” she knew how these operated well, and unlike Dameron in his TIE, she was able to disengage the cord, and send her TIE shrieking out, hearing the First Order radio blasting commands and lighting up the enemy TIE so she could recognize it from the others.

She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, and adjusted the radio to an Imperial signal. “You on here?”

“Roger, Orrineswa,” the agent chimed.

“Let’s help the escapees a bit, hm?”

There was no question about it, as Neria blasted through a TIE that was hot on their heels, before swooping away to deal with some of the cannons on the Finalizer. They needed to bring them down before they got far from the Finalizer or they’d be blasted before they ever touched Jakku’s atmosphere.

~***~

It was chaos! The TIE first held fast to the cord, but thankfully, they were able to break free before the big guns got pulled out and brought the TIE down. FN-2187 was white-knuckling the controls, “This is very complicated,” this was not like a blaster. There were too many buttons and controls for a blaster.

Even so, as the cord broke, some of the lights on his screen lit up – and he pressed down on a few of the buttons.

Explosions rained in the hangar bay as he struck the other TIEs, and one of his shots pierced right through the hangar bay control room, before Poe wheeled them out of there and out into space.

His stomach lurched, excitement at freedom and anxiety at pending death mixing together in a volatile mix. “Wooo!” FN-2187 couldn’t help but cry out as he was able to take out a couple more cannons, before TIEs began to pour out from another hangar.

“Uh, we’re gonna have some company!” the single-piloted TIEs, he was pretty sure. He hadn’t gone to that bay on purpose.

One was quick to get on their tail, too, and FN-2187 was lining up a shot when suddenly, it was gone.

Nothing but dust, as another TIE pulled up above them and did another run at the Finalizer’s cannons. “Huh?” a third TIE seemed to be mowing down others that had been released.

 

[cleopat]

Oh, Verena knew her comment made Kylo angry. She could feel it through the Force easily, and his body language spoke plenty. She wondered if she would witness that infamous Kylo Ren anger for herself, but Snoke’s hologram appeared.

Too much of a coincidence. He had to have sensed the anger and growing tension between the two.

Verena hurried forward and took a knee, in a similar manner to Kylo. Of course he spoke first, like an eager pup awaiting a treat, but soon the attention turned toward her at the mention of their two unexpected prisoners.

“Governor Tarkin was of no use in tracking down the location of the map. It was a bit of a surprise to see her on Jakku, but after she mentioned that she was there working with the First Order, and that Tekka had already left the planet, I saw through her lies. She was stalling for Tekka and that Resistance pilot.” She wanted to mention that she was the only one who saw the lie.

Kylo Ren didn’t.

“After Ren struck down Lor San Tekka, before the old man could even be questioned, Tarkin made it clear with her attack on us that she has no intention of working with the First Order. Her alliance with Poe Dameron was initially one of convenience with a shared goal of escaping Terex, but it seems their little escapade may have influenced more Resistance sympathy.” She couldn’t understand it.

The Tarkins and other Imperial families to just turn their backs like that!

Maybe with the death of Luke Skywalker, they would see that the Resistance is nothing.

~~~

“This thing really moves!”

Once the cord was detached, they were zooming out of the hanger, but that didn’t separate them from the danger. Poe could hear explosions all around him as ship cannons and blaster fire aimed at them, but he easily dodged around the shots for now.

Poe readied himself as more TIE fighters came after them, but then one seemingly turned on the others and started shooting at them. “Well, that’s odd, but I ain’t questioning it!” He didn’t even once consider Neria, as he assumed she was still in that interrogation room.

It seemed that the Force really was with him that day.

A few more fighters were shot, one losing control and crashing into a cannon and taking it out. “I’m Poe, Poe Dameron, by the way! What’s yours?”

“FN-2187!”

Poe scrunched his face. “FN…what?”

Finn shrugged, “It was the only name they ever gave me.”

“Well I ain’t using it! FN huh? Finn, how about Finn? That all right?”

Finn grinned, the name immediately appealing to him. An actual name, not a series of numbers! “I like that!”

A different cannon shot at them. “The ventral cannons!” Finn exclaimed. Poe cursed and continued his evasive maneuvers around them and the few TIE fighters still after them.

 

[Lucyfer]

Snoke assessed the information that Verena presented, quietly noting to himself that all she presented was all that happened on Jakku. If there was an interrogation, either Verena couldn’t break Tarkin, or she hadn’t looked far enough to find anything useful. And Tarkin could be useful, as useful as Dameron.

“Both are still alive?” the question sizzled.

“I can vouch for Dameron.” Kylo said, swallowing. It was good he’d left him alive, then.

“Good,” Snoke knew Verena was not so prone to outbursts. “Find out where the Resistance is holed up,” he demanded of Kylo, before addressing Verena, “Were you unable to break Tarkin?” he demanded, “you have presented nothing but what occurred on Jakku. A stormtrooper could have told me what you’ve presented.”

Kylo kept his head down.

He knew she hadn’t gotten anything else.

However, it seemed they were to be spared. The ship shuddered around them, and Kylo looked up, startled.

Snoke sneered, “Find out what is happening.” The hologram faded.

~***~

Neria kept her attention on Poe’s likely TIE only so much as necessary to make sure she wasn’t striking it, and it wasn’t striking her. Their screens were only going to continue to register one another as enemies, but thankfully, it didn’t seem he had anything in mind to lash out at unexpected help.

They couldn’t confirm their identities to each other.

Hell, for all she knew, it was someone else the Order captured!

Regardless, the only path was Jakku, and Neria was soon making her way there, the turbolasers and much of the Finalizer’s firepower crippled. “You’re going to need to eject when we within the atmosphere of Jakku,” Neria said to Karan’s agent. “We can’t have them track us to the TIEs.”

“Understoo—shit!”

Neria saw his ship take a hit. Not fatal, but not good, and she saw why. The fucking ventral cannons!

Neria was quick to swerve her own TIE and dodge out of the way, but they were homing, following the heat signature. She was quick to add additional heat signatures by firing out shots – but she didn’t have the ability to fire behind herself.

‘Shit.’


She was able to hit the atmosphere of Jakku, at least, and far enough down to hit the eject.

The missile collided with the TIE shortly afterwards. The explosion, spray of debris, and all else, was enough to take consciousness from her for a few blessed seconds.

When she came to, she’d already landed, parachute covering her against the sun, and new blood staining her attire. She could only groan before pulling herself out from under the parachute and under the scorching desert sun.

At least her TIE was nowhere to be seen. The Order would have a difficult time finding her.

 

[cleopat]

Verena bowed her head, knowing she was about to be chastised on her failure, or worse. She wasn’t a stranger to Snoke’s punishments when he was disappointed in someone, and when wasn’t he disappointed?

If only she was better! If only she was stronger.

But it seemed luck was on her side for now. The ship shuddered around them, and Verena straightened, startled by the interruption. Snoke instructed them to find out what was going on.

Once his hologram disappeared, Verena stood up. She wanted to linger a few more minutes in isolation to contemplate her failures, to contemplate in how Kylo always made her feel inferior, even before they ever actually met.

How she wanted to scream and cry!

But they were needed immediately, and so without a glance at Kylo, she headed for the exit to the audience chamber.

~~~

Poe and Finn kept up against the attacks for a while, but eventually luck had to run out, and it did when one of the ventral cannons hit the TIE fighter, sending it hurling towards Jakku. Poe banged his head against the interior in the hurling descent, and he didn’t know much else until they crash landed.

Waking up, pain radiated in his body, and his mouth was full of sand. It had to be around midday, as the harsh Jakku sun was high in the sky. Finn, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen. First taste of freedom, and he sacrificed himself to get me out of there.

Poe felt a pang of guilt and anguish, but he couldn’t ruminate on it. He had to find a settlement soon. Or water. Well, water on Jakku should mean settlement.

He set off, aware of cuts and bruises covering his body now. Already, he was desperate for water, but he was shit out of luck for now.

Time passed, and soon, he saw something in the distance. A person? Well, he would have to hope it wasn’t someone with the First Order. “Hey!” he yelled out waving his arms. “Over here!”

Poe hurried his steps to them. Once he got close enough, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Was that you in that TIE fighter, saving my ass?” Neria was safe somehow escaping like he did. “You gotta tell me how you got out of there.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo was up and on his feet as soon as the hologram was gone, and moving after Verena as well. Whatever was going on, wasn’t good, and he had a feeling it somehow involved Poe Dameron. Trust a rebel to find a way to cause chaos quickly.

He strode into the Command Center to see the chaos, and fixed his gaze upon General Hux, who seemed to focused on his screens. The screens could wait, though Kylo glanced at them as he walked to where the General was occupied.

Screens showed readouts of the ship’s artillery and quite a bit of destruction.

There was an entire hangar bay in ruins.

And the screen Hux was looking at held the image of an officer, a member of the Security Bureau. Which…made no sense, why was an officer on the screen? ‘Agent Bertrun Yage?’ Kylo ignored that, “General Hux – is it the Resistance pilot?” he demanded, eyes flicking to Hux instead of the screens.

~***~

Neria tore into her parachute with her bare hands, cursing the lack of knife under her breath, to create a hood for herself. She was quick to tie it around her head to help shield herself from the sun, before spreading sand over her face to keep it as protected as she could. She had gloves in her pockets, things the Order never cared to remove, so she just slipped those on.

Covered, but hot. Miserably hot, but it was better than the alternative of sunburnt, and she burnt fast.

She would still burn, but this would mitigate it, as she walked towards the smoke she could see in the distance.

Eventually, she heard a voice shouting for her. She stopped, and looked in the direction of the waving figure, frowning a bit until the voice registered. She let out a sigh and smiled as he approached. He was in no danger of burning up like her, but this probably wasn’t his best day. “I have spies in the Order,” Neria answered, “apparently one was tapped to save me, instead of kill me. Not sure who I need to blame for that.”

But that wasn’t the oddity.

“How are you free?” Sure, Leia had spies, too, but this felt…well, above what Leia was capable of. Neria’s spies could blend in pretty easily. Hell, some of them had started in the Order and wanted to jump ship.

Imperial connections ran deep.

She started to walk again – no time to waste, after all.

 

[cleopat]

The Commander Center was in chaos, with officers scrambling around to get everything back in order. The look on General Hux’s face as he read the screens in front of him was not a pleasant one, one that easily scared the new recruits who were not used to his methods yet.

Hux turned his head to see Kylo and Verena, before looking back at the profile of the officer. “In this case, no, it wasn’t.” Verena’s head snapped up at that. “Agent Betrun Yage decided to show his true allegiance when he freed Neria Tarkin and proceeded to steal two TIE fighters.”

Verena felt her blood boil with the information. Fuck. Would Snoke blame her for that? He couldn’t…she was talking to him at the time!

And yet, he knew how to manipulate the situation to make her feel the guilt.

“Poe Dameron also escaped.” Okay, now Verena wanted to laugh at the situation. “He had help from a Stormtrooper. They escaped in a TIE fighter, but not before causing destruction to our hanger and several of our cannons. One of the ventral cannons hit the TIE, and they crash landed on Jakku.”

“A Stormtrooper?” Verena frowned at that.

Hux confirmed, his face grim. “We are currently trying to pinpoint who it was.”

~~~

Poe let out a bark of laughter. “Of course you have spies.” Really, the families of the old Empire still had plenty of resources, which was a big reason why Leia wanted to try and get them on their side.

It would be much better than them fully being swayed to the First Order.

He fell by her side as they began walking again. Nothing in the distance that he could see, he just hoped that some small outpost would appear on the other side of a nearby sand dune. “That’s an interesting story.”

Some of that sadness returned as Poe recalled the heroics of Finn. “It was this Stormtrooper. He came into the room, said that Ren wanted me, and then he took me down the corridor, and told me he was freeing me because it felt like the right thing to do.”

A defected Stormtrooper. Truly made for a great story!

“He helped me get to a TIE fighter and controlled the guns while I got us out of there.” Poe paused his steps and turned to Neria with a smile. “That was you in the other TIE fighter, wasn’t it? The one that was helping us.” Oh what luck!

“Anyways, we were hit and crash landed on this planet, but when I woke up after the crash,” he shrugged, “I guess I was ejected far from the actual crash sight, because Finn, the Stormtrooper, wasn’t there, and most of the TIE fighter wasn’t there either.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo understood why the officer was up now. His fists clenched tightly. He didn’t know Agent Yage, but he’d make a point not to forget that face, in case Yage survived. The news didn’t surprise him, but it did piss him off. How many others were there, in service to the old Imperial families?

He couldn’t tear through everyone’s mind to find out.

And there was a problem with a Stormtrooper. “I thought your Stormtroopers were perfect,” he snaps the word, but then shakes his head. “It has to be one who went to Jakku,” that would narrow it down, if Hux hadn’t already surmised as much.

“FN-2187.”

Phasma approached them with that calm statement, and FN-2187’s profile pulled up, “No prior issues before today.”

“But today?”

“His blaster was not fired on Jakku,” Phasma stated. “I sent him for reconditioning.”

“Apparently not.” He clearly didn’t go there. He went to save Poe.

~***~

‘Stormtroopers don’t have names.’ Neria managed not to say that. She supposed the troopers likely gave themselves nicknames, if only because numbers were a mouthful to go along with all the time. “Perhaps he got thrown somewhere to safety, too,” she glanced up, “I don’t know where my savior went,” she confessed, “don’t even know his name.”

She wasn’t meant to know all the spies they had. It was definitely a protective measure. She was, in the end, the one they always knew was the most likely to get caught. “It was me in the other TIE, though. And the agent,” she confirmed and gave a shrug, “wasn’t sure if it was you or not, but you were fighting the Order so I certainly wasn’t about to shoot you down,” she chuckled.

They’d needed all the distractions possible, and they still got shot down.

She gestured outwards, “I can see the faint hint of smoke that way. I think it may be the village,” it wasn’t the best option, but she had no others. She needed water and shelter, and she wanted to check on the kids. “I presume your droid is no longer there, but perhaps it left some signs you can pick up.”

Either way, the First Order was going to be tearing the planet apart.

“I’m sure there is at least something useful there besides water,” but water would help, “at the very least I may be able to use a datapad and call for help.”

 

[cleopat]

Hux nearly snapped at Kylo for daring to question his troopers. Obviously this one was perhaps sent out too early. Or…Or…Or…”I will not have you questioning my methods.”

At least Kylo annoyed someone else, Verena mused. Her head turned at the approach of Phasma with the number of the defected Stormtrooper. One who didn’t fire at all on Jakku, which, considering the carnage, was surprising. There was certainly enough opportunity for it.

“Did anyone else in his troop show any signs of non-conformity?” Verena asked.

“No,” Phasma said coolly. “He was the only one.”

Verena hummed. So the entire troop wasn’t defective. At least, not yet. “I can guarantee that Poe Dameron will be looking for his droid on Jakku.” She turned to Hux. “We need a bounty on that droid. A BB unit, orange and white. It’s carrying the map to Luke Skywalker, and we can’t let Dameron get back to it first.”

Would Tarkin help him? Verena was annoyed at herself. There was so much more she should have grabbed from the woman.

~~~

Poe gave a somber nod. Both of their rescuers may have sacrificed their lives to save them, two people they didn’t even know.

It would be for the greater good. Poe vowed to see the Resistance through, for them.

He chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t shoot me down. That would’ve been a bummer. And when I saw you were shooting other TIE fighters, I took a risk and guessed you were an ally. Turns out I was right. At least, a temporary ally,” he echoed her earlier words. An alliance of convenience.

Neria pointed out smoke, and Poe strained his eyesight to try and see it. “I think I see it too.” No, his droid wouldn’t be there, but it was a starting point. “That’s a good idea. We need to find my droid, and find a way off this planet before it’s swarming with First Order troops.”

He began in that direction. It would take hours for them to reach, and all Poe could think about during the trek was finding delicious, cool water to quench his thirst. Maybe even a nap, though he needed to stay on the move until he was in a safe and secure location.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘I already told him as much.’ Kylo didn’t bother to reiterate that. He was sure that General Hux was at least already on top of it.

Phasma answered, “A bounty has been placed. The information is posted in Niima Outpost, Cratertown, and along the Pilgrim’s Road. We have Troopers on the ground looking for the droid as we speak.”

“None from FN-2187’s platoon, I presume.” Kylo didn’t bother to hide the accusation in his tone, and the challenge for them to send any from that platoon to Jakku. He was sure even Snoke wouldn’t like that.

Although Phasma would agree with Hux that their soldiers were adequately trained and this was a fluke, she still answered, “Affirmative,” it was better to have trained and proven soldiers on this mission, “they were fresh. This sort of work requires soldiers that have already been proven.” Not that the others in FN-2187’s platoon were defective.

Only that the need was different.

~***~

‘A bummer.’ Why in the maker’s name were all rebels so…what even was the word she wanted? Non-threatening? Innocent? The word choice was atrocious. What kind of threat said bummer! Or swell? ‘Just say fuck!’ Not in that context, but there was a part of Neria that just wanted to shake Poe until he said something normal.

‘Maybe the sun is getting to you.’

It was not the sun.

Neria put it aside and nodded, staying on topic. They did need to find a way off-planet. It would either be with a datapad, or hitting one of the larger civilizations. It was those civilizations that were likely to have First Order soldiers, though. ‘Although if Verena took any tips….’ There might be a few waiting at the village.

Hopefully not. Verena knew she was just guessing at everything.

They trekked through the desert under the atrocious sun, saying little. The sun likely took it out of them, but Neria wasn’t going to add that to her list of complaints. The sun was on its way down, but not setting, by the time they reached the village and found some flames still smoldering upon a couple of huts. The bodies were just…left out.

Not even burned, or buried in a pit. The Order wasn’t even trying to mask what it had done! Not that there was anyone alive—

“Mari! Milo!”

Neria’s voice was a bit hoarse with lack of water, but she still shouted the names out and glanced around for movement. Their hut didn’t appear badly burned, and she knew there was a medkit, so she tilted her head that way, “I’m sure there’s water here,” and she could check the boxes, if necessary, before checking the bodies.

Except, there’d be no need to check the bodies.

Something suddenly collided with her leg, and Neria stilled, looking down to see Mari wrapped tight around her leg, head buried against her side, and tears already pouring down her face. Neria lowered a gloved hand to the back of Mari’s head, as impossibly quiet sobs wracked the girl’s body.