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chapter fourteen: lor san tekka
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THERE ARE NO dramatic goodbyes or declarations of love for Poe Dameron when he leaves for Jakku. Instead, he receives an awkward sort-of hug and a pat on the back from Indira Beren, who seems very determined to pretend that the near-kiss they'd shared never happened. "Be safe, Poe," she'd told him in the hangar, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet and wringing her hands nervously. "Please. Yes, you too, BB-8."

      Poe had been hoping for something a little more ... well, more. But, he'd been able to, for the briefest of moments, hold her in his arms and feel the warmth of her body pressed against his. He'd been able to press his face into her hair and inhale her scent; a mixture of something sharp and sweet, like engine-oil and spice and whatever shampoo she'd used. He'd been able to be close to her, without being pushed away. Letting go had been hard; leaving had been even harder, but he has a job to do. Staying behind was never an option.

Poe will be the first to admit that he's always been a bit of a hopeless romantic. For the most part, he chalks it up to his parents having such a kickass marriage. They'd given him so many newfangled ideas about love at a young age that he couldn't help but be an optimist. Falling in love, at least for him, is just as easy as flying. It'd been that easy for his parents, too.

Shara Bey and Kes Dameron had been wed to one another in the midst of the Galactic Civil War. Two years before the Battle of Endor, Shara gave birth to a baby named Poe that would one day grow up to follow in her footsteps and become a badass pilot for the Resistance. After Endor, Shara and Kes decided to retire from the Alliance thanks to the persuasion of a certain Duros male and settle down on Yavin IV with Poe, who'd been left behind in the care of his grandparents for the first two years of his life. For six blissful years, he and his parents had been a happy family together — until his mother's sudden and unexpected death. Nothing was the same after that. Sure, Poe and his father still got along fine, but there was a distance there and the two had definitely drifted.

      Still, Poe remembers his mother and the years they'd had shared with an unending fondness. Shara Bey had been one hell of a woman. On this, both Poe and his father can agree. More than twenty years after her death, Poe's father still wears his wedding band on his ring finger; never looking for love anywhere else. Shara had been the brightest star in Kes's universe. No one else could ever compare to that.

      At the time of their marriage, Poe's father had neither the time nor the money required to acquire fancy wedding bands for himself and his bride. They'd been living in the middle of a war zone, so he'd fashioned them matching bands out of brushed steel washers from discarded rebel tech. Poe had kept his mother's ring after she died, wearing it around his neck on a chain in constant remembrance of her — and as a reminder for what he was looking for when it came to finding the right partner.

Even though their time together had been brief, Poe always saw clear as day in his parents' marriage what he wanted to find in a spouse someday. He wanted that sense of camaraderie that his parents had; the belongingness that kept them running like a well-oiled machine. He wanted that home that they found in one another; the type of love that turned another person's arms into a sanctuary. He wanted someone unafraid to challenge him; to call him out when he deserved it, but to support him in his times of need, too. It was something he'd been in search of for quite a long time, leaving a trail of failed and fumbled romances in his wake.

     He really, really, really does not want to add Indira Beren's name to that list.

The sound of vaguely distressed beeping alerts him to BB-8's presence in the back of his ship, drawing him out of his thoughts as they soar through hyperspace. Poe checks the nav screen and realizes that his droid is right; they've nearly reached their destination. If BB-8's calculations are correct, they'll land on Jakku within the hour; something that sends a nervous thrill of excitement through Poe's entire body.

"Thanks for letting me know, buddy," he calls to the droid, hunkering down in the cockpit to meditate a little and get his head in the right space for his mission. All thoughts outside of his upcoming task begin to slowly fade away as he breathes in and out slowly, leaving him focused and controlled.

This would be it. If things go as they're supposed to, Poe will have successfully completed his most important mission yet. The General, the Resistance, the entire kriffing galaxy — all of them are depending on him; even if they don't know it. They all need Skywalker and Poe is going to find him. He has to.

Many years ago, his mother had been a friend to Luke Skywalker. The famed Jedi Knight had given her possession of a Force sensitive sapling that grew into a towering tree in the backyard of Poe's house on Yavin IV. As a child, he spent his days climbing its branches and resting beneath its shade. Poe never saw himself as a Force user, but even he could feel something running through its roots that set it apart from any other tree he'd ever touched. His hope is that, wherever he is in the galaxy, Luke Skywalker will remember that tree and Poe's mother. Maybe, if he's lucky, the Jedi will remember him, too. Above anything else, Poe hopes that Skywalker won't be disappointed when he finds him.

But, those are worries for another day, though. Poe still has one more hurdle to jump before he can find the lost Jedi. He can't afford to let himself get ahead of his mission; not when there's still one key piece missing — the map to Skywalker's location.

When his ship finally touches down on the desert planet's surface, night has fallen on Jakku. Poe's muscles are a little stiff from sitting for so long and his eyes are gritty from lack of sleep, but he knows that he can't let his exhaustion show. Now, more than ever, he needs to be on guard. He's close to completing his mission ― so close, after months and months of endless searching ― but it's not complete yet. Until he and BB-8 touch down on D'Qar again, Poe doesn't have the luxury of allowing himself to think that it's over.

The Jakku village is small, though Poe has seen smaller. People watch him with wary eyes as he passes by their shelters, footsteps slow and steady as he comes to a halt outside of the largest hut. Inside, he knows, Lor San Tekka is waiting for him, but something makes him stop just shy of the entrance and hesitate for a moment.

Before he can move, the flaps concealing the hut's entrance are swept aside and he is beckoned inside by an older man. A famed traveler and seer of many things, Lor San Tekka has wise eyes that seem to know a great deal about the universe. If they'd met under different circumstances, Poe thinks that he could have asked the man a thousand different questions. Today, he has only one.

"The map," he inquires, voice hushed as he sits across from the traveler on the floor of his hut. "Do you have it?"

The old man reaches into the breast pocket of his robes before presenting a small leather pouch to Poe; something entirely unassuming, so simple and small, yet it may hold the key to bringing peace to the entire galaxy. Poe wills his hand to be steady as he outstretches his palm and takes the pouch from the man sitting across from him.

"This," Lor San Tekka says, voice weary, "will begin to make things right. I've traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

Poe's no Jedi or great traveler, but he knows the older man's words to be true. In a world of darkness, light is necessary. It is the very foundation upon which their Resistance is formed. Without Skywalker's presence and the light he possesses, peace will remain as nothing more than a far-off fantasy.

"Well, because of you, we now have a chance," he tells the older man warmly, closing his hand around the pouch. "The General's been after this for a long time."

A grin breaks across San Tekka's weathered face, crinkling the curves and ridges of his wrinkled skin. "Oh, the General?" He asks, eyes shining. "To me, she is royalty."

Poe grins back. "Yeah, but don't call her Princess," he says. "Not to her face. She doesn't like it anymore. Really doesn't like it."

A frantic series of beeps interrupts Poe's train of thought as BB-8 comes whirling into the hut from outside. Poe had told the droid to stand watch outside, so an appearance from the round astromech means only one thing: trouble. Another round of beeps turns the blood in his veins to ice. Somehow, they've been found by the enemy. The First Order is here.

"We've got company," Poe tells the older man grimly before rising from the tent floor and hurrying outside to get a closer look.

In the inky blackness of Jakku's darkened skies, Poe can see several ships on the horizon approaching at rapid speed. Damn, he thinks. Threepio's encryption must not have held out.

Spinning on his heel, Poe turns to face the weary traveler that had given him so much. "You have to hide," he warns him.

The elderly man nods his head, fear in his eyes. "You have to leave."

Poe wants to protest, but he knows it is futile. There would be no point in him playing the hero today; not if it means losing all that he'd gained thus far. General Organa is counting on him to do this right. Staying behind would jeopardize the entire operation and he can't afford to do that — no matter how much he loathes having to leave. Still, abandoning Lor San Tekka and the villagers feels wrong. He knows that leaving them behind will all but sign their death warrants.

Sensing his hesitation, San Tekka shakes his head sternly. "Go!" He instructs Poe and the pilot doesn't need to be told twice.

He turns on his heel and, like a coward, he runs.

The sand underneath his feet is slippery, but Poe doesn't stop running. Behind him, he can hear the sounds of the approaching ships growing louder and louder as they close in on the village. BB-8 is rolling along somewhere behind him, but it's not fast enough.

"Come on, BB-8!" He snaps, voice harsher than usual. "Hurry!"

BB-8 gives him a snarky remark about the difficulties of navigating sand as an astromech, but increases his speed nonetheless just as Poe reaches the ship's ladder. He climbs the metal structure quickly, diving into the cockpit before getting behind the controls of the ship. In the distance, he can hear the sound of the First Order troops opening fire on the villagers and it fills him with rage. Still, he knows that this is not his fight; not today.

He's nearly clear for takeoff, with BB-8 tucked safely in the back of the ship, when the vehicle is hit by a sudden blast of heat and energy that sends it rocking. On the ship's screen, Poe can see the flashing engine display that tells him they've been hit ― and that they're in big trouble.

He exits the ship without another thought, picking up his blaster and readying himself for a fight. There would be no flying his way out of this; not when his engines have been shot to hell. As soon as his feet touch the ground he takes aim, targeting two of the nearest stormtroopers and taking them out efficiently before going to his droid's side.

With trembling hands, Poe unlaces the leather pouch that Lor San Tekka had given him to reveal the small artifact. His fingers fumble as he inserts it into BB-8's exterior. "You take this," he instructs the small droid. "It's safer with you than it is with me."

Crouching down so that they're at eye level, Poe puts a hand on the droid's round body. "You get as far away from here as you can," he orders his small companion. "Do you hear me?"

BB-8 gives an anxious response; somehow childlike in all its innocence. Poe knows the droid doesn't want to leave him, but he also knows that it won't disobey a direct order from him. BB-8 is far too loyal for that. "I'll come back for you," he promises, standing to full height and lifting his gun once more. "It'll be alright."

He watches for a moment as BB-8 begins rolling off in the opposite direction before taking his place behind one of the sand dunes. From his position, Poe has good coverage and enough of the high ground to pick off his enemies one by one, taking out as many of the bucketheads as he possibly can before they're able to do the villagers any more harm.

However, his attention is diverted from the fight when he sees another ship approaching in the distance. Dread settles into Poe's stomach as he takes in the sight of the folded frame of the Upsilon-class command shuttle. A ship like that signifies only one thing: the presence of First Order leadership.

Watching in horror, Poe sees the villagers being herded into a small pen surrounded by stormtroopers. Lor San Tekka is dragged out of hiding, frail and fearful as two troopers grasp him by both arms. The command shuttle makes its landing mere feet way and the doors fall open, revealing a masked figure cloaked in black that strikes fear into the very pit of Poe's soul.

The menacing figure approaches Lor San Tekka, appraising the man through its machine-like face. Tales of the infamous Darth Vader flood Poe's mind, though he knows that this person is no Vader. Still, they are an intimidating specimen and Poe knows that they will not be a creature of mercy; especially when San Tekka refuses to give them the information that they want.

"No," Poe mutters in horror, knowing how this will end before it even begins. "No, no, no!"

The masked figure unsheathes a blade that glows red-hot, striking the old traveler down with alarming speed before Poe can do a single thing to stop it. He cries out in shock, watching as Lor San Tekka falls dead to the ground. Anger courses through him and before he can think to do anything else, he charges forward from his hiding place with a shout of rage and fires his weapon at Lor San Tekka's murderer.

The masked figure turns its face toward him and raises a hand in the air, freezing both Poe and the blast that had escaped his weapon. Unable to move, Poe feels a slight sense of panic set in. He knows what Force users are capable of ― knows the tales of the evils of Sith Lords and those who belonged to the Dark Side ― but he has never experienced anything like this. He hardly feels like he can breathe. In the distance, the bolt from his blaster crackles in the sky; frozen in time in space in the same way that Poe has been paralyzed.

Two troopers approach and latch onto his arms before roughly dragging him away from his frozen spot and into the presence of their masked leader. His knees are kicked out from under him sharply and Poe falls to the ground with a muted grunt, flesh digging into hard stone.

For a moment, there is nothing but still silence; the kind that could swallow you up whole. The masked figure drops to a crouch to examine Poe closely, giving the pilot his first real look at its ugly, machine-like face. Unnerved, the commander finds himself reaching for the only weapon he has left now that his blaster has been taken from him: his bravado.

"So," he says casually, thankful that his voice doesn't betray his fear, "who talks first? Do you talk first? Do I talk first?"

The figure doesn't respond, mask clouding its face from Poe's sight. Part of the pilot wonders just how hideous the person underneath it must be ― why else would you wear a stupid looking mask like that if you aren't horrendously ugly?

"The old man gave it to you," a mechanical voice observes.

"It's just very hard to understand you," Poe continues, waving his hand in their face. "With all the ―"

"Search him," the masked man cuts him off, paying no attention to his taunts.

"― apparatus," he finishes, even as he's dragged off the ground and prodded by the hands of the stormtroopers surrounding him. He takes a brief moment to thank his lucky stars that he'd given BB-8 the map long ago. Hopefully, the little astromech droid was halfway across the desert by now.

"Nothing, sir," one of the troopers reports once their search is done.

"Good job," Poe snarks before wincing as the trooper kicks him in the back of his knees once more.

If the masked figure is disappointed by the discovery, they do not show it. "Put him on board," is their emotionless reply.

Before he has a chance to respond, Poe is being dragged away again ― this time, towards the hellish looking command shuttle. Force have mercy, he thinks to himself. You've really outdone yourself this time, Dameron. How he would get himself out of this situation, he had no idea.

As he's being dragged up the metal ramp, he hears the sound of people screaming in the background. Struggling against his captors, he watches in horror as the stormtroopers raise their weapons at the remaining narmed villagers, readying themselves to fire.

"No!" He shouts in anguish, but his protest does nothing. The troopers unleash their fire without hesitation, slaughtering all the innocents from Lor San Tekka's village.

As despair creeps up on him, Poe allows himself to be dragged inside of the carrier; no longer able to resist the guards on either side of him. There was no point in him struggling anyways; not now, when escape is futile. He would have to save his strength. Whatever is to come in the future, he knows that it will require everything that he has to endure it.

SEVERAL WORLDS AWAY, Indira Beren sits up straight in her bed with a strangled gasp. Air fights its way into her lungs as she forces herself to breathe in and out. Around her neck, the kyber crystal burns with so much heat that it nearly sears her skin and she rips it off, sending it clattering to the floor. Trembling and soaked in sweat, she stumbles out of her bed and towards the light switch on the wall.

General Organa, Indira thinks frantically as she walks on trembling legs. I have to speak to General Organa.

Fumbling around in the darkness of her empty room, she nearly sobs with frustration as she searches for the switch to no avail. The horrifying images from her dream play over and over again in her mind. She envisions the fire and the blood, the masked figure unleashing its glowing blade, and ―

"Poe," she gasps to the darkness, remembering his anguished face as he was dragged aboard the First Order ship.

Somewhere in the room, a light shoots on and Indira flinches against the blinding white glare before she sees EV-1 shining it on her, beeping out a series of anxious sounds inquiring about Indira's well-being. Indira wants to thank the droid, but finds herself briefly incapable of speaking, so she just nods before yanking open her drawers and stuffing herself into the first available pair of clothes she sees.

She forgoes shoes as she stumbles barefoot into the hallway. Probably not her brightest idea, but the logical part of her brain telling her to do otherwise is not strong enough to stop her. She races through the corridors of the base before finding the officers' corridor and marching her way to the largest door at the end of the hall, banging roughly on the door's exterior without an ounce of hesitation.

Within seconds, the door comes flying open to reveal General Leia Organa, eyes bleary and hair down in loose waves as she takes in the sight of the young woman before her. "Indira?" She frowns, face drawn tight. "It's three in the morning ― what's wrong?"

"It's Poe," she says, voice breaking before she can stop herself. She covers her mouth with her hand and shakes her head. "I think something terrible has happened."

A myriad of different emotions flicker across the general's face before she beckons for the younger girl to step inside her chambers. "Come inside," she says, taking her arm and leading her past the door's threshold. "Something tells me that we have a lot to discuss."

a/n: AND WE MADE IT TO THE MOVIE! things are gonna move quick from here on out. act one will be wrapped up in 25 chapters. also: please note that this fic will mostly follow the movies, but some parts will follow the novelization or my own tweaks! with that said, i wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone reading this book! you guys have been absolutely amazing! i'm so glad that you seem to enjoy reading this fic as much as i enjoy writing it! your comments always bring a smile to my face and i appreciate every vote, read, or kind word left behind! 💓

EDITED ON:
08.21.19