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chapter twenty: taken
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D'QAR IS ABSOLUTELY buzzing when the transport touches down on the planet's surface. Pilots and ground workers mill around the area, mingling with one another in the aftermath of a successful battle. As soon as the doors to the transport open, Indira wastes no time in exiting them with BB-8 following close behind her. In the sea of orange and brown uniforms, she does her best to pick out Poe's figure for BB-8. The astromech droid had chattered on about its master for nearly the entire flight from Takodana to D'Qar, pausing only once or twice to tell her about two people named Finn and Rey — the ones who had rescued him from Jakku after Poe's imprisonment.
Indira had only been half paying attention as BB-8 prattled on, still reeling inside from the aftershocks of the destruction of the Hosnian system. A slow, but steady ache had spread its way throughout her temples, making her head pound with every small noise. Even so, Indira couldn't help but feel concerned when BB-8 shared with her that the girl who'd helped rescue him — Rey, the scavenger from Jakku — had been taken prisoner by the First Order on Takodana.
"I'm sure General Organa will do everything she can to help your friend," Indira reassures the droid as they descend the ship's ramp, wincing against the brightness of the daylight around her. "It's gonna be okay, Bee."
At least, I hope it will.
Before she can say another word, BB-8 lets out a loud series of beeps as he spots Poe's ship and goes barreling towards it at full speed. In his haste, the astromech droid nearly knocks over a dark skinned young man standing nearby. Quickly, before he can fall, Indira reaches out to steady the stranger and grasps him by his forearms.
"Sorry," she says apologetically on behalf of the droid. "He's just ... excited. Those two have been apart for quite some time."
The stranger's brow furrows as he squints in the direction that BB-8 had gone in. The two of them watch from a distance as Poe turns around and spots his long-lost droid companion. Indira can't help but smile when she sees the way his face lights up and she laughs when she hears his enthusiastic cry of "BB-8, MY BUDDY!" before Poe drops to the ground to speak with the droid, waving his hands around wildly as he talks.
"Wait a minute," the man next to her mutters under his breath, eyes widening in disbelief before he takes off running in the same direction as BB-8. "Poe?" He shouts as he runs. "Poe Dameron, you're alive?"
"Buddy!" Poe exclaims, standing from the ground and running towards the man to meet him in an embrace. "So are you!"
Indira watches in confusion as the two men burst into an enthusiastic conversation filled with lots of excited hand gestures after breaking apart from their hug. Hanging back at a distance, she glances over at BB-8 before nudging him gently with her foot.
"Who is he?" She whispers, nodding towards the stranger. BB-8 gives a few short beeps in response and Indira's eyes widen. "Wait a minute. That's Finn? The Finn?"
The astromech droid nods, beeping in confirmation and Indira shakes her head in disbelief as it all begins to make sense. I sort of named him Finn, Poe had told her about the stormtrooper that helped him escape from the First Order. I managed to eject his seat before we crashed, but I don't know if he survived. Evidently, he had and somehow managed to find his way back to Poe with BB-8 in tow.
"Indira!" Poe shouts, waving her over enthusiastically once he catches sight of her. "You have to meet Finn. He's the one I told you about — the one who helped me escape from the First Order."
Indira approaches with wide eyes, reaching out her hand to shake Finn's. "It's so good to meet you," she tells him. "Poe told me all about you."
"Oh," Finn says, almost startled before he shakes her hand. "I mean. Uh, it's good to meet you, too."
"BB-8 said that you saved him," Poe tells Finn, eyes shining with admiration.
"No, no, no," Finn protests quickly, shaking his head back and forth. "It wasn't just me."
Poe, seemingly distracted, continues to talk over him. "You completed my mission, Finn. I —" he cuts himself off before looking down at Finn's clothing. "That's my jacket."
"Oh," Finn says again, quickly moving to shrug it off.
"No, no, no," Poe stops him before he can remove it fully. "Keep it; it suits you." He bites his lip before punching Finn on the shoulder. "You're a good man, Finn."
Finn's face turns somber and he completely ignores the compliment. "Poe," he says gravely. "I need your help."
The pilot's brow furrows as he senses the change in the other man's mood. "Sure, pal. Anything."
The ex-stormtrooper takes a deep breath. "I need to speak to General Organa," he tells him. "Can you manage that?"
POE LEADS THE WAY to the base command center without hesitation. The general is already deep in conversation with several of her advisors — including Snap, Connix, and Admiral Ackbar — but Poe doesn't bat an eyelash before interrupting them. He walks towards the general with purpose, crossing the room in a few strides before he reaches her.
"General Organa," the pilot calls out as Indira and Finn hurry to keep up with him. "This is Finn. He needs to talk to you."
The general looks at Finn with curious eyes, pulling away from the rest of her entourage. "And I need to talk to him," she comments, greeting Finn with a warm smile as she takes his hand. "That was incredibly brave, what you did. Renouncing the First Order, saving this man's life —"
"Thank you, ma'am," Finn cuts her off in a way that isn't quite disrespectful, but still bold for someone who is speaking to the General Leia Organa. "But a friend of mine was taken prisoner on Takodana —"
Leia's eyes grow sad. "Han told me about the girl," she says. "I'm sorry."
Finn falls silent at that, looking absolutely startled. Noticing his friend's reticence, Poe quickly jumps in to speak. "Finn is familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system," he interjects. "He worked on the base."
Immediately, Leia's eyes brighten. "We're desperate for anything you can tell us."
"That's where my friend was taken," Finn replies quickly. "I've got to get there — fast."
"And I will do everything I can to help her," Leia tells him; patient yet firm. "But first I need you to tell us everything you know."
Seeming to realize that the Resistance has bigger priorities than one missing girl in the aftermath of the destruction of an entire planetary system, Finn nods slowly. If getting to Rey required him to give away all the secrets the First Order shared with him, he would gladly surrender every last one.
"I will," he agrees and Leia squeezes his hand gratefully before letting go.
"Thank you. Admiral Ackbar will debrief you," she tells him, motioning the Mon Calamari male forward.
"Come with me, young man," the admiral says, voice deep and rumbling as he takes in the sight of the former stormtrooper. "I wish to hear everything and anything you have to say. I have a great many questions to ask you."
The admiral leads Finn to a secluded area of the room while Indira and Poe watch from a distance. In the brief moment of calm amongst all the chaos, Indira allows herself to lean up against one of the nearby tables and close her eyes, rubbing at her temples with two fingers. From beside her, Poe watches with concern.
"Hey," he says gently, bumping her shoulder with his. "You okay?"
Indira forces herself to smile and nod, blinking quickly. "Just a headache," she tells him. "I'll be fine."
He frowns slightly, drawing her in close by tugging gently on her hand. His lips brush against her forehead and she closes her eyes briefly, allowing herself to lean against him for a moment of stability in the midst of all the chaos. It's intimate and very public, but Indira can't find it in herself to protest. She inhales deeply, breathing in his comforting scent, before squeezing his hand gratefully and stepping back just as C-3PO begins an announcement.
"General, I regret to inform you, but this map recovered from BB-8 is only partially recovered," the droid reports as it uploads the file into one of the computers. "And even worse, it matches no charted system on record. We simply do not have enough information to locate Master Luke."
Instantly, Indira sees the general's shoulders sag with defeat. Her mouth curves down into a frown as she stares at the map's projection forlornly. "I can't believe I was so foolish to think that I could just find Luke and bring him home," she mutters.
From his spot beside her at the table, Han Solo does his best to comfort his wife. "Leia," he begins before she cuts him off.
"Don't do that," she warns him with a shake of her head, turning away from the table and stalking away in anger.
"Do what?" Han asks in bewilderment.
"Anything!" Leia replies sourly from across the room as she heads towards the exit.
Frowning, the former general follows his wife out of the room with determination. "I'm trying to be helpful!"
"When did that ever help?" She retorts. "And don't say the Death Star!"
Indira watches the couple continue to bicker as they step outside of the command center and frowns before looking over at Poe. "What happened between them?"
It was a universally acknowledged truth across the galaxy that the rebel princess Leia Organa and the reformed smuggler Han Solo had been part of a once-in-a-galaxy romance unlike any other during the Galactic Civil War. It was a tale that had inspired lovers for generations, but in reality it appeared that their whirlwind romance had fizzled out in the decades after the war, leaving nothing behind but pain and sorrow for both husband and wife. In all her time on the base, Indira had never thought to ask anyone else why this was the case until now.
"Beats me," Poe admits with a shrug, crossing his arms over his chest. "Things went south for the general and her husband after their son died — at least, that's what I've heard people say."
Indira's eyes widen in surprise at the new information. "They had a son?"
Poe nods. "Yeah," he says. "A kid named Ben. He was training with Skywalker to become a Jedi before he disappeared."
Her brow furrows. "Did you know him?"
"Sort of," he admits with a shrug. "Our paths crossed a few times when we were kids, but I didn't know him well."
"What happened to him?" Indira asks.
"Nobody knows," Poe replies, looking uneasy. "The stories I've heard involve one student of Skywalker's going rogue and slaughtering all the others before joining the First Order."
Instantly, Indira is taken back to her dream of Jakku, remembering the masked figure with the glowing red blade who had slaughtered Lor San Tekka. She glances over at Poe, feeling unsettled. "You saw him," she says and it's not a question; just a stated fact. "On Jakku."
Poe's brow furrows slightly. "I — yeah," he admits. "I did. How did you know that?"
A stabbing pain flares through her skull and she winces at the sensation, reaching up to touch her forehead once more as her headache worsens. "I had a dream," she tells him, feeling her necklace burn under the collar of her shirt. "I saw him, too."
For a moment, Poe goes very still before he looks over at her warily. "What else did you see?"
"Just Jakku," Indira says, gritting her teeth as her head twinges again. "When you were taken and when you crashed."
His suspicion is quickly replaced with concern as he studies her carefully. "Indira, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she repeats unconvincingly, swaying slightly on her feet as dark spots dance across her vision.
"You don't look fine," Poe says, clearly not buying her act. He pulls a chair over from one of the tables and guides her towards it. "I think you should sit down. Do you feel faint at all?"
"No, it's just my head," she winces, sitting down without protest and resting her head in her hands. She plants her elbows on her knees before pressing her palms into her eyes in an attempt to relieve some of the tension there. "It hurts."
"I'm gonna find a medic," Poe tells her, backing away slowly. "Just stay here, okay?"
She manages a nod before he leaves, but slumps over in her seat once he's gone. Breathing in and out slowly, Indira squeezes her eyes shut tightly in silent agony. The pounding in her head grows stronger and stronger with each passing second, merging with the thumping of her heart until it envelops everything else and the rest of the world falls into absolute silence.
When she opens her eyes once more, everything is black. Blinking rapidly, Indira tries to take in her surroundings as she feels the weight of a blaster in her hands. Somewhere, an alarm is blaring at a shrill pitch that makes her wince. She presses her back against the walls of the ship, waiting in absolute still silence as her heart beats wildly in her chest. Without warning, the doors to the ship's cabin go flying open before a masked figure steps into the room and unsheathes a glowing red blade, with a hilt shaped like a cross. Standing quickly, she abandons her hiding spot before attempting to blast the figure in front of her, but finds herself instantly frozen in place. The masked figure steps closer to her, towering over Indira's frozen frame. Gritting her teeth, she glares unflinchingly up at the monster before her. He sheathes his blade, circling around her once before coming to a stop in and a terrible sense of deja vu washes over her.
"Senator Beren," the man leers, voice deep and mechanical. "How nice it is to meet you at last."
Indira can't speak. She can hardly even breathe as she struggles against the force that is keeping her paralyzed. She had known something like this might happen; had tried to prepare for this day for years, but it hadn't been enough. She had been foolish to think that she could ever prepare to face a monster like this on her own.
"Tell me about Skywalker," the voice instructs, compelling her to obey.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she says coolly, her voice foreign to her. It's a voice she knows well, but it is not her own.
"We both know that you're lying to me," the man scoffs before holding a hand up to her face, attempting to pry the truth from her brain with raw force. "Tell me everything you know."
Her resolve hardens as Indira glares back at him fiercely. "Never."
With a roar of frustration, the man unsheathes his glowing blade and holds it near to her face. She can feel its heat licking against her skin and her breath catches in her throat "Tell me!" He screams, raging with anger at her refusal to submit to his will. "Or you will suffer my wrath."
"I'd rather die," she hisses, knowing that she will never betray the secret that had been entrusted to her.
The sensation of an invisible force wrapping itself around her neck catches her off guard as it cuts off her air supply from her lungs. Desperate to breathe, the woman claws at the phantom hand around her throat as it slowly but surely begins to squeeze the life out of her.
"That can be arranged," the man replies coolly, tightening the invisible fist around her neck until she gags violently.
Just as her vision starts to fade to black, the force that had been holding her captive releases her and she falls to the floor, fighting the urge to vomit as she sucks in air desperately. Before she can fully recover, a hand fists itself into her hair and tugs at the strands painfully, so that she has no choice but to look up at the face of the soulless creature before her.
"If you won't speak here on your own accord, then I will force you to speak elsewhere," he threatens. "Are you going to comply or must I make this unpleasant for the both of us?"
Glaring fiercely, Indira spits on the man's boots in response. Immediately, his gloved hand strikes her across the face, knocking her to the ground once more. Blood trickles from her mouth and she spits it out before being dragged up by her hair once more.
"Very well," the man sneers viciously. "You've clearly made up your mind. Sleep well, Senator. We'll have much to discuss when you wake."
Before she can say another word, Indira's body falls limp and the oblivion of unconsciousness rushes over her in an instant. She has only one thought as her eyes fall shut.
Force protect my daughter, she prays silently. Keep Indira safe.
INDIRA.
As her unconscious body falls to the ground, the masked man steps forward and lifts her up like a rag doll, tossing her over his shoulder violently before leaving the cockpit of the ship behind and stepping into the main part of the cabin. Numerous bodies litter the ground, still and unmoving now that the life has left them. He feels no remorse as he looks down upon them expressionlessly.
WAKE UP.
"Once we leave the ship, destroy it," he instructs his squadron as they stand at attention, waiting for his orders. "Leave no evidence behind of what's happened here."
WAKE UP!
In a violent rush, her body jerks upwards and Indira's eyes shoot open. Feeling disoriented and bewildered, she sucks in air through desperate gasps as her eyes blink rapidly. The lights around her are almost blinding as she focuses on the sight of several concerned faces looking down at her.
A quick scan of her surroundings lets her know that she's still in the command center of the base, slumped over in a chair, with Poe, General Organa, and Doctor Cosimo hovering over her. Behind his wife, Han Solo towers over her smaller figure, lips curled down into a frown.
"What happened?" She asks, throat dry.
The phantom feeling of being choked haunts her and she reaches up to touch her neck, searching for any trace of bruising, but finds no sign of it. The crystal around her neck is hot to the touch when she brushes up against it and she winces, pulling it from under her shirt. When she sees how brightly the stone is glowing, she feels alarmed, but has no time to think on it before Cosimo interrupts her train of thought.
"You were unresponsive," the doctor tells her, frowning deeply. "For several minutes. We feared the worst. How do you feel? Poe said you had a headache earlier."
She lets out a shaky breath before shrugging her shoulders. "I feel ... strange, but better," she tells him truthfully. "My headache is gone."
Cosimo leans back and he crosses his arms over his chest. "You're not lying to me, are you?" He asks skeptically.
"No," she shakes her head quickly. "My head feels fine."
Leia squints at her, studying her face carefully before coming to a conclusion. "You saw something, didn't you?" She inquires. "A vision."
Indira looks at her with wide eyes before nodding "I — yeah," she says, wetting her lips nervously. "Yeah, I did."
"Tell me, please," the older woman requests, her expression anxious. "Indira, what did you see?"
For a moment, Indira does nothing but close her eyes and breathe. The vision she'd had flashes through her mind and her blood runs cold when she realizes the implication behind who she was dreaming of and what it meant. Opening her eyes quickly, she looks at the general with a terrified expression.
"It was my mother," she tells her, chin quivering slightly as she speaks. "On a ship — her ship. There was a man wearing a mask on board with her. He had a blade that was glowing red and —" her voice breaks as she shakes her head in disbelief, missing the way both the general and her husband freeze at the mention of the masked figure.
"And what?" Leia prods gently, having recovered from her momentary shock. "What did you see?"
All the air leaves her lungs in a single exhale. "He took her," Indira finishes numbly, meeting the general's gaze. "My mother. She wasn't murdered; she was taken."
a/n: she was whaaaaat???
EDITED ON:
08.26.19