Force Destiny

Allegiance

The Allied Forces had turned the tide. The heavy losses had slowed, giving the Resistance the chance to gain ground. The heavier cruises were able to lay down cover fire, so the smaller fighters could separate and eliminate the TIEs one by one.

Poe was hopeful that the trap would work on Ilum, that Finn and Grakkus would succeed in assassinating Kylo Ren. The command shuttle had already "slipped" through their defenses down to the surface. This was it. This was their only chance to stop the First Order.

If Kylo Ren fell, it would be a twofold victory. He would no longer be in Rey's mind. Poe knew what it felt like to have Kylo Ren inside his mind; Poe had no doubt the murderer was controlling her, convincing her that his ambitions and convictions were hers. Maybe Kylo loved her, maybe he loved her power, but none of that mattered. Without him, they would have their Jedi back. She would fight for the Resistance again.

It would be a significant advantage against the enemy if she was the last remaining Force user in the war. That is, if the First Order didn't implode first. If the Resistance could break through the defenses while the First Order scrambled for a new leader, the Finalizer could fall. If the Finalizer fell, the flotillas could fall to their allies across the galaxy. Yes, if Kylo Ren fell, it could set off a series of events that ended the First Order's threat to the galaxy.

The Allied Forces were strong enough to do it. They may have been a mismatched and uncoordinated ragtag group of rebels, but from everything he had learned from his parents, this was the essence of a rebellion. They didn't need the top-of-the-line fighters, enhanced technology, or daunting numbers. What they didn't have in numbers, they made up for in sheer will. They had everything to fight for...and even more to lose. If they were unsuccessful, they would be all be dead.

For a moment, everything looked hopeful.

"This is it," Poe said into the comms. "This is our chance."

"We can do this!" Connix laughed in the fighter next to him. She was laughing one moment, and then she disappeared in a ball of fire. Beebee-Ate cried out for her, but there was nothing anyone could do. Poe contorted his body in the cockpit in search of a lurking enemy ship. He banked the fighter to the right in the belief that the attack must have come from below. Though there was no hidden TIE beneath him, the maneuver saved his life. The beams from the laser cannons missed his ship by centimeters. The fatal shot that killed his squadmate was not fired by a TIE. The life of a longtime friend—and nearly his own life—was taken by friendly fire, by a Hutt ship.

"No," Poe whispered into the cockpit. He kept his eye on the surrounding Hutt ships. Several TIE fighters fell to their laser cannons, but his stomach sank as another x-wing was reduced to flames. They were still firing upon the First Order, but they had evolved into firing upon the Resistance as well. The Hutts, as always, had an allegiance only to themselves. The Resistance no longer had one foe; it had two. The consequences could prove fatal; the Hutt ships made up a substantial part of their alliance.

"No!" he shouted again. He had been so certain this was the only way to win; he hadn't seen the forest through the trees. The enemy of his enemy did not make them his ally. He was foolish enough to trust creatures who could not be trusted. By trusting them, he had likely doomed the Resistance. Their only hope was that Kylo Ren would fall to the ambush by Finn and....

If the Hutts had betrayed the Resistance, then Finn and Rey could be walking into their own trap.

He grabbed his comlink, alerting the entire Resistance, "Treat the Hutts as hostiles! I repeat, the Hutts are hostiles!"