STAR FIGHTERS - A STAR WARS story (fanfiction)

Chapitre 1 - Crazy and the droids

1

The old jumpspeeder splitted the air, sliced the wild vegetation growing along the pathway as the speeder bike flew through the jungle of Yavin 4, and riding it, two teenagers screaming at the top of their lungs.

Poe Dameron took a second to clear some loose strands of his messy dark hair off his driving goggles before gripping back at the handlebars, his pulse racing, adrenaline rushing through every fibers of his body- oh, how he loved it!

"Faster Poe!", yelled the girl behind him, frantically hitting on his shoulder, " Faster!"

A cocky smirk spread on Poe's lips and he pushed the engines a little more, bending over to try and protect himself from the violent wind the speed was creating. Behind him, he felt Deelio, his childhood friend, standing up, her hands firmly grasping at his jacket to keep her balance, and urging him to go faster again.

Poe pushed the thrusters with an exalted whoop that instantly died in his throat as the speeder jerked and the engines started coughing.

" What the-" said Poe as he felt the handlebars shaking violently in his hands.

He hit the brakes and engaged the bike in a drift to lose more speed while Deelio wrapped her arms around his chest- they should have put their helmets on! Poe clenched his teeth as they hit a trunk and the speeder bike was thrown in the thick jungle of their home world.

The jumpspeeder ended its course in a curtain of vines that tangled around the machine and its passengers as a black smoke escaped from the dying engines. Poe felt his friend shaking against his back and feared she'd hurt herself in the crash but he soon heard her chuckling in his neck. He spat a laugh, removed his goggles and ruffled his hair before saying : "Well, that was fun."

"Dad is going to kill me", replied Deelio.

Her father had brought that old Empire's jumpspeeder from one of his scouts a few month ago and allowed them to ride it out of exasperation at their constant asking. "Don't go too far", he had said. " Or too fast", he had added eyeing Poe whom had wisely nodded even though he knew he wouldn't obey.

"You mean me", he snorted.

She shook his shoulder, mildly at first but then with more force and Poe woke up with a start. His eyes took some time to adapt to the dim light of his surroundings and his brain even more to understand why Finn was staring at him urgently.

2

"You need to see this", said the former stormtrooper, squeezing his shoulder.

Poe frowned, the nervousness in his friend's voice putting him out of his reverie and casting away the long lost memories of his childhood home. The time for reckless joyrides in the jungle was long gone - even though one could say flying the Millennium Falcon was close to it.

Finn took a step back and motioned the pilot to follow him with a lift of his eyebrows. Poe scratched his hair and stood up from his bunk bed: back to the mission.

Leia had sent them off to an old mining asteroid in the Outer Rim to persuade a droid programmer that was already working for the Resistance to come work in the new base on Ajan Kloss. After the battle of Crait, the Resistance had been reduced to a few tens of people and they were in desperate need of any help.

Poe felt his gut twisting at the thought of all the lives they had lost on that dreadful day, the lesson had been hard to learn - Admiral Holdo's sacrifice, his own retreat order as he realised they were no match against to First Order canon...