BEYOND THE STARS → POE DAMERON

XIV. A Tragic End

Chapter Fourteen

Retribution, 34 ABY

Zay dropped the targeting rifle onto the catwalk and tried to escape the clutches of the person who had snuck up behind her. However, her attempts were all in vain.

"Zay..." her mom began.

"LET GO!" Zay shouted.

Iden whirled around to see the horrifying sight of Hask holding her daughter at blaster point. "No!" she cried and raised her F-11D blaster rifle.

Hask sneered and pointed his blaster pistol at Iden "That's the Iden I remember. Bold. Unpredictable!" He put the pistol back against Zay's head "Use your weapon. Come on, use your weapon!"

Iden lowered her blaster rifle. "Zay! It's okay," she said and then tossed her blaster into the hyperdrive pit.

"Mom, no! What are you doing?"

"Motherhood has made you weak," Hask taunted his old comrade and once again pointed his blaster pistol at Iden.

Once he did this, Zay took the opportunity to break free. She reared her right arm back and elbowed Hask in the stomach as hard as she could. She followed that up by twisting out of his grip, raising her right arm, and bringing it down on Hask's blaster arm in an attempt to dislodge the blaster pistol from his hand.

In response, he fired a few stray blaster bolts and then tossed his blaster away onto the catwalk and threw Zay off the side of the catwalk.

"Ahhhhh! Mom!" she yelled as she started to fall.

As if in slow motion, Zay watched her mom dive forward and grab her right hand, catching her.

"Gotcha!" her mom said.

Thinking quickly, Zay reached down, grabbed her Glie-44 from its holster, and held it up to her mom to take. "Do it."

Zay watched her mom take her blaster pistol and at the same time, Hask lunged towards his fallen blaster pistol. He grabbed it but before he could fire a shot, Iden shot him twice in the chest. He let out a small grunt, stumbled backward, and fell off the catwalk into the hyperdrive core along with his blaster.

Iden tossed Zay's blaster onto the catwalk. "Come on, Zay! Come on!" she urged as she pulled Zay away from the chasm.

After the two were safely away from the edge of the catwalk, Zay was on her hands and knees catching her breath while her mom was sitting on the catwalk doing the same.

"Thanks. You okay?" Zay asked as she looked at her mom in the eye.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You?"

"Never better. Let's finish this," Zay replied as she grabbed her blaster pistol and holstered it.

After the two were on their feet, they approached the generator together. Zay saw her mom hold out the last charge for her.

Zay frowned slightly. "I thought I told you to do it, Mom."

"You did," her mom replied, "but I insist that you do the last one."

"Okay," said Zay as she took the last detonator. She placed on the generator and pressed the arming button. She then glanced at her mom as they turned around and started to walk out of the generator room. "Where to now?"

"Let's get back to the control room we were in earlier. We should be far enough away from there to blow the detonators and bring the ship out of hyperspace."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

They made their way back to the control room, thankfully not encountering any resistance along the way. Dio met them halfway through their journey.

"Now let's stop this ship," Zay said as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Agreed. You better hold on to something," Iden said as she pulled out the remote.

Zay grabbed onto the nearest console and looked out the small viewport. "Ready whenever you are, Mom"

"Alright, here we go," Iden said and pressed the button on the remote.

Zay felt the rumbling of the ship around her as the ion detonators went off. She saw a large flash of white in front of her that had her covering her eyes. When everything had gone quiet, she opened her eyes to see a large gaping hole in the star destroyer where the hyperdrive used to be and sparks were flying around the room but weren't close enough to hurt either of the Resistance members or the droid. Out in the distance was a planet of some sort.

Zay released her grip on the console and approached the viewport. "Mom, look!" she said in astonishment and turned around to face her mom.

"We did it," Iden said as she slowly started to sway on her feet. Then she collapsed against a nearby console holding her hand against the lower left side of her stomach.

Zay rushed over to where her mom had fallen and knelt beside her. "What's wrong? Hey, hey. " Her mom removed her hand to reveal a blaster wound she had sustained from Hask's blaster. "No, no, no, no, no. Okay, Mom, you need to get some help. Come on, come on," she urged, trying to pull her mom back up.

"No, no, no, Zay. Zay, stop," her mom said as she put her left hand on Zay's left shoulder and the other gripped her right arm. "It's too late. Listen, you... you need to get Dio to the Resistance. Do you understand?"

"No. What are you talking about? No."

"It's gonna be okay," Iden assured her.

No, it isn't," Zay protested as her voice started to crack. "I need you. How are you so calm right now?"

"I'm scared," Iden admitted quietly. "Just more afraid of failing than dying. And I have hope in you. Listen. Listen," Iden looked her daughter in the eye, "We fight so that others can live. And if we die, it better be for the same reason. You understand?"

Zay felt tears start to slowly roll down her face as she nodded silently.

Iden removed her hand from Zay's shoulder and cupped her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, Mom," Zay said tearfully.

Iden looked at her daughter in the eye one last time. "I wish you could see what I see," she said before she passed on. Her hands fell to her sides her head rolled slightly to the right and her eyes closed shut.

"Mom?" Zay asked softly before skating her a little. "Mom?" It was then she realized that her mom was truly gone.

Beside her, Dio beeped sadly upon seeing the last of his two masters die.

Zay got to her feet and wiped tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket then walked slowly to look out the viewport with Dio to her right. After looking at the planet in the distance for a couple of minutes she saw the planet explode into a star.

"Iden, Zay, you there?" Shriv asked over the comms. "I hope you two are ready because we gotta move."

Zay looked back at her mom's body and then activated her commlink. "It's just me, Shriv. She's gone."

"Oh."

"It's okay," she assured him as she turned back to look out the viewport. "She made it count."

"She always did," Shriv said sadly.

"Contact the Resistance. Tell them this is just the beginning. The First Order is still coming. But we have hope. And hope is the reason we are going to win." Zay deactivated the commlink and looked at the droid to her right. "Isn't that right, Dio?"

Dio beeped in agreement.

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