Across The Stars // Star Wars (Sequels)

✰Chapter 32✰

"Right away, admiral," one of the commanders says. 

"Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that," Poe mumbles to himself before whipping out his blaster. Several others join him in aiming the ends of the blasters at Holdo. "Vice Admiral Holdo, I am relieving you from your command for the survival of this ship, its crew and the Resistance." 

"I hope you understand what you're doing," Holdo states.

"Yeah," Poe says. "I'm going to the bridge. If they move, stun them." On his way to the bridge, he takes out his communicator. "BB-8, tell me something good." 

The droid answers in a few happy beeps before Finn says, "Poe, we're almost there. Have the cruiser prepped for Lightspeed." 

"I'm on it, pal. You just hurry," he says before the door to the bridge hisses open. "Clear the bridge. Escort the officers down to the hangar." 

"Commander- Captain Dameron," C-3PO greets him. "Admiral Holdo was looking for you." 

"Yeah, we spoke," Poe answers, sitting down behind the main controls of the ship. The pilot inside him can't help but feel excited at the thought of flying this big of a ship.

"Sir, I am almost afraid to ask-" 

"Good instinct, 3PO. Go with that," he replies before shutting off all power in the hangars. 

A second passes and on the security camera, he can see Holdo break free from being held at gunpoint by breaking off one of the cooling vents, causing a white mist to fill the air surrounding her. "Seal that door!" he calls to Connix and she gladly obeys. 

The gold droid turns around. "3PO, where do you think you're going?" he calls. 

"It would be quite against my programming to be party to a mutiny," the droid answers. 

"Hey!" Poe shouts. 

"It is not correct protocol," he states simply, turning to the door, which only erupts in bright sparks as someone tries to open it from the outside. "Oh, but neither is this!" 

Poe turns to the communicator. "Finn! We're ready to make the jump!" He kneels behind the seat and aims his blaster at the door all while setting the right coordinates for the jump to Lightspeed. On the other side of the communicator, he hears voices bark at his friend to get down. 

"FN-2187," a female voice says. "So good to have you back." 

"They didn't make it," Poe mutters to himself. 

The door is blasted out of its hinges and a cloud of smoke prevents Poe from seeing who got through at first, but after the smoke cleared enough, his eyes widen. "Leia," he says with relief. 

She just raises her blaster and shoots him down with a stun blast.

***

Not long after, Poe wakes up with a jolt, instantly confused by his surroundings. But he soon realises he is on one of the transport ships. "No, no, no, no!" he rambles, running up to the window and seeing the cruiser. He lowers his head in defeat, feeling utter failure take over. 

"Poe," Leia calls from behind him and he turns around, seeing her seated by the adjacent window. She motions him over and when he walks up to her, he spots a small planet ahead of them. 

"What's that?" he asks.

"The mineral planet, Crait," D'Acy answers. "An uncharted hideout from the days of the Rebellion." 

"That's a rebel base?" 

"Abandoned, but heavily armoured. With enough power to get a distress signal to our allies scattered in the Outer Rim," she says.

"Holdo knew the First Order was tracking our big ship. They're not monitoring for little transports," Leia says. 

"So we could slip to the surface unnoticed and hide until the First Order passes," he says. "That could work." 

Leia nods. "She was more interested in protecting the light than she was seeming like a hero," she says, taking the homing beacon for Rey off Poe's wrist. He nods softly. 

Her eyes darken. "Poe," she says. "Where is my daughter?" 

He looks down, searching for the right words to bring her the news. "She went to see her brother," he mutters. "She thought she needed to save you." 

Her expression falls. "S-She went... She went to Snoke?" 

He nods. "I'm afraid so," he says. "But she promised me she'd be back so she has to." 

A breath escapes her lips and her eyes fill with tears. 

"I'm really sorry, Leia," he says softly. "She only wanted to do the right thing. I tried to stop her but she wanted to save you so badly." 

She nods her head softly. "I understand," she says before looking up. "Do you love her, Poe?" 

He shoots upright, looking at her with wide eyes. "What?" he asks, unsure if he understood her correctly. 

"Do you love my daughter?" she repeats calmly. 

His brows etch into a frown. "Why would you think that?" he asks her slowly. 

The corner of her mouth twitches up. "Have I ever told you the story of how Han and I met?" she asks. 

He nods. "Raven told me. He and Luke saved you from the Death Star," he says. 

"Yes, that's true. And we hated each other at first. At least, I hated him. He was arrogant, cocky. Not my type at all," she says. "But then something changed. He slowly let go of the scoundrel act and I guess I loosened up around him. We became friends and that slowly turned into more." A soft smile plays on her lips at the memory, accompanied by a hint of sadness in her brown eyes. "I will never forget the way he looked at me." 

Poe eyes her curiously. "Why are you telling me this?" he asks softly.

She looks up. "Because I see that same look in your eyes when you look at Raven," she says. "So I'm going to ask again. Do you love my daughter?" 

He fiddles with his hands for a moment before meeting eyes. "Yeah, I do." He can't help but smile and to his relief, Leia smiles too. She reaches for his hand. 

"I'm glad she has you," she says. "And when she comes back, she's going to need you more than ever." 

He nods. "Yeah, I think so too." 

She leans closer and says in a hushed voice. "Just for the record, if you ever hurt her, I'm going to stun you again." 

He laughs. "Understood, general."