Chapter 4
When they exited hyperspace, Poe and Padme went over the plan. They would meet the ally, obtain the map, and leave as quickly as they arrived. They could not risk the First Order catching them with the map.
"Entering the atmosphere," Poe announced. Padme concurred.
They landed just outside of the village. Sand swallowed their half of the village as they landed. The two pilots ejected their droids and climbed out of their ships. They walked by the villagers, carrying on with their duties.
A man they both recognized as Lor San Tekka made eye contact with them and walked into a small hut. The pilots followed the old man.
They walked through the opening and saw the man sitting opposite them from a fire.
"Sit," He said, beckoning them into the stools that sat next to him. They complied, walking to sit on the small chairs in the sand.
"Are you Lor San Tekka?" Padme asked, double-checking that they had the right ally. He nodded, pulling out a small pouch. He placed it in Poes hand.
"This will begin to make right. I've gone too far, and seen too much, to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force." He said.
"Well, because of you now we have a chance," Poe said. He looked to Padme, who returned a smile, then looked back at the old ally. "The General's been after this for a long time."
"The General," He smiled. "To me, she's royalty," He said, giving a soft smile.
"Well, she certainly is that," Poe said. Suddenly, Padme felt something. A darkness. The First Order was here.
"Poe-" She started to say frantically, but BB-8 and BB-7 rolled in panicked before she could finish her sentence. Poe turned to Padme, then to Lor San Tekka.
"We've got company," He said. They all ran outside and Poe grabbed his quadnocs and looked at the sky. Padme didn't need to look to see what was coming. Stormtroopers. The First Order. Kylo Ren. She had only heard stories about the infamous Dark Jedi. She had never had the misfortune to meet him, though she feared she had now. Poe put down the quadnocs and turned to Lor San Tekka.
"You need to hide!" He said, but the old man knew better.
"You need to leave!" Lor San Tekka said. "Go!" He reiterated after the pilots hadn't moved from their spots. Poe nodded and Padme shouted her thanks as they ran to their x-wings.
"Come on, BB-8!" Poe shouted to his droid, shortly followed by Padme.
"Sev, hurry!" She shouted. The four raced to their fighters. They got in and flipped the switches, but Padme's fighter was quickly disabled with a blaster shot to the wing. She knew she was a goner. Poes x-wing was soon to follow. They looked at each other from across the way with panic in their eyes. They both looked out to see stormtroopers firing at them.
"I see them!" Poe shouted, dropping down the guns to fire back at the stormtroopers. When he blasted the troopers away, he jumped out to look at the damage. Padme left her x-wing but knew it wasn't worth looking at. She just needed to get cover, fast.
They dropped down behind Padme's fallen wing. They watched as the town was burned and the people were corralled into one area. Poe turned to BB-8 and pulled out an artifact from the black pouch in his hand.
"You take this. It's safer with you than it is with me," He put the map into BB-8's small storage compartment. "You get as far away from here as you can. Do you hear me?" He asked. BB-8 protested but rolled a bit away. He looked back at the two pilots and BB-7. "I'll come back for you!" He told his droid. Padme spoke to her droid this time.
"Sev, you guys will be alright. Go!" She shouted to the droids. The humans looked at each other and ran to hide behind a ridge of sand. The droids rolled away slowly, glancing back every second.
The resistance fighters fired at the troopers until they saw another ship land in the sand. Padme felt darkness radiating from the new ship. When the cargo doors opened, both knew what was coming. Rather, who was coming, Kylo Ren. And he would stop at nothing to find that map.
He walked toward Tekka. Padme held her breath. Troopers held him in place as Kylo Ren approached him.
"Look how old you've become," Ren said, his words muffled from his mask.
"Something far worse has happened to you," San Tekka responded.
"You know what I've come for," Ren said quickly. Padme could feel something familiar, something in Ren she had felt before, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"I know where you come from," Lor San Tekka said. "Before you called yourself Kylo Ren," He spat. Poe tensed.
"The map to Skywalker. We know you've found it, and now you're going to give it to the First Order," Kylo Ren said. The two hidden pilots knew he wanted this exchange to be quick.
"The First Order rose from the dark side," Lor San Tekka stated. "You did not."
"I'll show you the dark side," Kylo Ren got closer to Lor San Tekka's face.
"You may try," The words echoed in Padme's ears. "But you cannot deny the truth that is your family," San Tekka said. At that, Padme's gears spun in her head. He had come from a light side family. She knew it, but who's family?
She didn't have time to think, as she was interrupted by the ignition of Kylo Ren's lightsaber.
"You're so right," Ren muttered, bringing his saber down on Lor San Tekka. Padme jumped up and tried to grab him, but was unable to stop Poe from jumping up to fire at Kylo Ren.
Kylo Ren turned quickly and raised his hand. He stopped the blast, something neither friend knew was possible. Instead of firing, it stood there, wiggling and vibrating in the air. Kylo Ren looked Poe and Padme and stopped them in their tracks, his gaze remaining on Padme for a single moment. Poe tried to fight, but Padme knew it was no use. Instead, she glared at the masked murdering monster. Stormtroopers walked to the pair and dragged them both past the frozen blast. A Stormtrooper started to pat down Poe. Padme became so relieved they had given the droids the map, or the First Order would surely have it. As the stormtrooper came to pat down Padme, she kicked him in the stomach, which only pushed him back. She started to fight, trying to kick her way out of their hold, but Kylo Ren reached out at her.
Quite quickly, Padme found breathing a difficult feat. She started to gasp, but it was no use. Poe struggled, watching Padme gasp for air. Kylo Ren walked closer to Poe, letting go of Padme. Ren seemed relieved when he did. Poe let out a heavy breath when he saw her drop down and catch her breath.
Poe fell to the ground with a hard blow to the back of his knees. Kylo Ren knelt to Poe's level. There was utter silence, apart from Padme's, now more steady, breathing. But the silence was soon ended by a joke Poe had heard Padme say the night before.
"So who talks first? You talk first?" He said, keeping a straight face. When he heard Padme snicker, he gave her a side eye and a half smile.
"The old man gave it to you," Kylo Ren ignored the remark. Poe loosened an arm and gestured to his face.
" It's just very hard to understand you with all the-" He was interrupted when he was lifted up off the ground.
"Search them," Kylo Ren ordered.
"-Apparatus," Poe finished. Stormtroopers started patting down and searching all pockets in the two's clothes.
"Nothing sir," One of Poe's troopers said.
"Not here either," Padme's handler said.
"Put them on board," Kylo Ren ordered the troopers. Padme and Poe were taken away towards the ship. Kylo Ren turned to a silver trooper as she spoke.
"Sir, the villagers?" She asked.
"Kill them all," He orders. At that, Padme started to pull as hard as she could. She tried to force the troopers away, but there were too many of them. At that moment, she wished she had brought her saber with her. The silver trooper nodded at the commander's order and stepped forward to speak to her troopers.
"On my command!" She shouted to the other stormtroopers. "Fire!" She shouted, and they did. Poe and Padme screamed protests, fighting to get back and save the innocent bystanders. The two were pulled into the transport ship and the cargo gate closed.
Every trooper started firing. All but one, with a bloody handprint on his helmet. Instead, he stared at the people he was firing at, clearly overwhelmed.
Kylo Ren walked back to his ship, but stopped and looked back at the trooper who didn't fire. He stared at him for a long time, until turning back to his ship.
The blast was let go when Kylo Ren's ship closed.
Two stormtroopers exited the cockpits of both x-wings and gave the go-ahead to be destroyed. The fighters exploded from blaster shots.
BB-8 and BB-7 turned to watch the explosion of the ships. They turned to each other and sorrowfully beeped. They turned again to roll through the abandoned desert in search of civilization.