Nova reawakened after another hour, throwing herself against her restraints once again, paired with a few choice curses directed at the ceiling.
From across the room, Poe too groaned to life, her curses ringing in his ears. "Nova..."
"Poe!" The strain in his voice had her concerned in an instant. "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry... he knows where the map is, Nova. I failed. I couldn't..."
Her heart sank hearing him beat himself up over it. She knew he could never have withstood that. Deep down she wondered if she should have given in to begin with. "Poe, listen to me," she begged. "It's not your fault, all right?"
"Quiet!" the stormtrooper left to guard them cut in, though he did not sound invested in his demand.
Nova ignored him. "He was going to find it either way. No one could withstand that, I just... delayed the inevitable."
The loud whoosh of their cell door opening cut their conversation off. Raising their heads as much as their aching bodies would allow, they saw it was simply another stormtrooper – perhaps there to take over guard duty. However, their words to their fellow trooper came as a surprise.
"Ren wants the prisoners."
"I wasn't told to expect you."
The newcomer's voice – undeniably male – darkened. "Do you dare to question his orders?"
"No. No! Of course not!" with shaking hands, he released them from their chairs. "You sure you can handle them alone?"
The first trooper looked between the exhausted pilots. "They don't look like they could put up much of a fight."
"All the same," said the second. "Keep your blaster on her. Should give him enough incentive not to try anything."
Nova grumbled as she was cuffed and handed over, glaring at the new trooper as he held his blaster to her ribs. She offered Poe a tight smile as he too was cuffed, and together, they were led back out into the halls of the Finalizer.
They were not walking for long.
"Turn here," the trooper said gruffly, dragging the two pilots aside into a narrow, dimly lit corridor. He did not wait for them to steady themselves before he was speaking again in a low, sharp voice. "Listen carefully; you do exactly as I say, I can get you out."
"If – what?" Poe said, his tired mind struggling to keep pace. He was unsure if he was even hearing properly anymore.
The trooper pulled off his helmet to reveal a young man. Umber coloured skin, buzzed hair, dark brown eyes, full of a surprising innocence. He looked desperately between his two 'prisoners', though that title seemed ill fitting now under the change of circumstance.
"This is a rescue," he said. "I'm helping you escape. Can you fly a TIE fighter?"
Poe and Nova exchanged a quick, hesitant glance.
"You with the Resistance?" It was the only question Poe could think to ask. Not even he knew the full extent of his general's contacts – in his eyes at that moment, it was not out of the question to have people undercover in the order as stormtroopers.
"What? That's crazy!" he said, the idea rightfully seeming insane to him. "How long do you think someone with Resistance sympathies could last in here? No! I'm just breaking you out. Can either of you fly a TIE fighter?"
"We can fly anything," Poe cut in, eliciting a smile from their saviour.
Nova however was still sceptical. "Why... why are you helping us?"
The trooper's expression grew serious. "Because it's the right thing to do."
She went quiet, watching him. She did not quite buy his answer – there was something else there. But, if something had brought them together, and it potentially insured their escape, she was not about to throw it away.
"You need a pilot," Poe stated.
"I need a pilot," he agreed.
"Okay," Nova nodded. "We're gonna do this."
It was absolutely insane, but they were doing it.
---
As they were guided across the hanger of the Finalizer, Poe and Nova kept their heads low. They had been put under strict instruction to'act as if you're being sent to your doom'.
No one had bothered to question them because it was an unbelievable set of events. Stormtroopers did not defect, and prisoners did not escape.
"Okay, stay calm, stay calm," their trooper muttered from behind.
"We are calm," Poe said through gritted teeth, resolutely keeping his gaze locked on his boots.
"I was talking to myself," the trooper admitted sharply. "And how do you know she's calm?"
"I've flown and worked with her for two years, I think I'd know," Poe fired back, unnecessarily defensive.
"Poe," Nova chided.
"Okay, go. This way," the trooper hissed, nudging the pair to follow him over to the far wall lined with TIE fighters.
The ships were unguarded and – at least from the outside – looked to be in perfect working order. That was promising.
Nova felt a shiver run down her spine when her cuffs were finally removed. She had never really considered piloting an enemy ship, no matter how desperate she got, but she had to admit it was a little exciting.
She made a beeline for a fighter alone, while Poe and the trooper headed for a separate ship.
Settling herself into the pilot's chair, Nova was faced with the challenge of figuring out how the damn thing operated. Of course, she knew the basics, having studied them for the event of an emergency, but her knowledge still had numerous gaps. But with her experience of many a Resistance starfighter, she could infer a great deal and hope for the best.
Her first port of call was to get the engines online – a simple enough task. They came to life beneath her with an oddly satisfying groan.
She let out a small laugh of victory. So far so good.
The comms crackled, signalling someone wished to make contact. A quick toggle of the switches, and Poe's voice came through.
"You got me Nova?"
"I got you," she murmured, feeling like normality was starting to resume. "Who'd have thought we'd be doing this, huh?"
Poe chuckled. "You ready for this?"
"No."
"Me too."
The TIE fighter rose, and for a second it looked to be smooth sailing. Until the cable keeping it tethered to the deck pulled taut, causing the ship to lurch backwards. At a guess, the second fighter would also be tethered.
"I can fix this!" Poe yelled. He continued to pull against the cable, but with little success.
Nova grumbled as she looked for the controls to disconnect her own leash. "Come on, come on!"
Below them, stormtroopers had begun to set up heavier weapons, while others covered them with a barrage of blaster fire. They did little damage to the fighters and posed mostly as a minor inconvenience.
Nova flinched at the sound of TIE fighter weaponry firing; the green light glaringly bright so close to her face. It seemed their new companion had figured out the gun controls.
"I got it!" Poe announced triumphantly, breaking free of his restraints almost simultaneous with Nova, and together, the ships tore out into space.
"Woooahh! This thing really moves!" He yelled, perhaps with a little too much excitement.
He was not wrong. The ship was sensitive to any input – quick to turn and surprisingly smooth in doing so. Still, it was no T-70 X-Wing.
"Glad you're enjoying yourself," Nova cut in through gritted teeth, "but can we focus!"
"Right," he agreed, recovering his head. "We've gotta take out those cannons, or we're not gonna get very far!"
"Alright," the trooper muttered breathlessly.
"I'm gonna get us in position, just stay sharp! Nova, reckon you can keep 'em occupied?"
"As long as you can have my back."
"That's my girl!"
Flying seemed to have revived some hope and cheer within the pilots – though it was most likely adrenaline doing the talking. Their bodies still ached, and their minds still reeled from the unwarranted intrusion.
Nova kept close to the belly of the Finalizer, weaving through the assault of fire she drew. 'Thank the Force for my reflexes,' she thought, making one too many close calls in her task.
"Up ahead! Up ahead! You see it?" Poe called to his gunner. "I've got us dead centred. It's a clean shot."
"Okay, got it."
A tense silence and then whoops of joy from the men as the cannon was set alight, exploding in a burst of flames.
"Did you see that?" the trooper yelled. "DID YOU SEE THAT?"
"I saw it!" Poe responded, sounding equally as pleased. Again, things were starting to feel normal. "Hey, what's your name?"
In the heat of the moment, it had not occurred to him or Nova to ask.
"FN-2187," he responded.
"FN – what?"
"That's the only name they ever gave me."
Nova frowned. She should not have expected anything else from the First Order – assigning a string of numbers to their troops to dehumanise them further; show how expendable they really were.
"Well I ain't using it!" Poe decided. "FN, huh? Finn. I'm gonna call you Finn! That all right?"
"Finn," he repeated thoughtfully. "Finn! Yeah, I like that!"
"I'm Poe. Poe Dameron. And that," he paused – Nova imagined he was pointing in her general direction from his cockpit, "is Nova Organa."
"Good to meet you guys!" Finn said.
"Good to meet you too, Finn!" Nova did not miss a beat.
The fighters weaved through and around the destruction they wrought, pulling out every trick they could pull off in an unfamiliar ship to throw off the cannon's predictors. The debris provided temporary cover, but it would not last.
Nova's radar had picked something up – several projectiles approaching, most likely from ventral cannons. "Poe, we've got incoming."
"I know!" he called back, before addressing Finn. "Something's coming towards you, My right, your left. Do you see it?"
"Hold on!" A pause, and then Finn opened fire. "I see it!"
A moment later and the missile was knocked out of the sky, shot into a thousand pieces.
"Nice shot," Nova commended.
Circling around, the fighters began to chart a decent back to the desert planet below. They could not leave without that map – and more importantly BB-8 – not when the First Order knew where to find him.
"Where are we going?" Finn demanded, panic setting in.
"We're going back to Jakku, that's where," Poe replied.
"No, no, no! We can't go back to Jakku!" he protested. "We need to get out of this system!"
"I gotta get my droid before the First Order does!"
"What – a droid?"
"That's right. He's a BB unit! Orange and white, one of a kind," the pilot elaborated – though the vague information he gave did not help his case.
"I don't care what colour he is! No droid can be that important!"
"This one is, pal!"
"We need to get as far away from the First Order as we can! We go back to Jakku, we die!"
"That droid has a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker," Nova cut in without thinking. That information was supposed to be classified, but needs must in a life and death situation.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me –!"
Before the argument could continue, one fighter was sent careening into another. Another missile had caught them off guard. Regaining control of the ships looked to be impossible; it was all happening too fast.
The engines groaned uncomfortably as the fighters spiralled downwards, back to the desert planet of Jakku.