#stormtrooper aim is not enough to explain how shit these soldiers are

[firehandlerfred]

My parents decided to watch fast and furious (the ninth one), and in 30min the laws of physics have been destroyed so much I'm waiting for aliens to show up or smtg

I Can't believe the space launch WASN'T the least believable part of this shitshow

[cactuskate]

Chapter 2: The Offer

the perfect gif doesn't exi- (gif by @yodaprod)

AN: here is chapter 2! sorry for the delay :)

Summary: Poor Y/N is just looking for an easy day after a night full of fighting stormtroopers. Unfortunately for her, the fight is not quite over. Besides, an annoyingly handsome Han Solo just seems to keep showing up wherever she's at... and this time with an offer she might not be able to refuse!

Warnings: another stormtrooper fight, blasters, bruises, Chewie swearing

word count: 2,484

____

The next morning you wake up sore. Your side is starting to turn an ugly shade of green, but you welcome it. Green is your favorite color, and you don’t get to see much of it in the desert. After spending the morning at the daycare, you are instantly in a better mood than the previous night. Something about being around foundlings has always made you feel at ease. Your day is wide open until later in the evening -- when the Union meets.

Walking down one of the main streets, you figured you would stop at your favorite bakery for more bread. Baba is an older woman who has owned the store since she was your age. Everyone loves Baba, but to you, she is like a grandmother. Every day, you walk past her booth and she yells at you for not eating enough, offers you bread, and refuses your payment. It is quite an honor for her to treat you like this. She isn’t kind to everyone, despite being one of the highest esteemed community members on Tatooine. As you turn down the path that leads to her storefront, you stop cold in your tracks. The trooper from last night. Harassing Baba.

“Where is she?! Huh?! Tell me, you old bat, I know you know who I’m talking about!” he shouts at Baba, who is huddled behind the kiosk countertop. Suddenly, a rush of adrenaline overcomes you and you start sprinting towards the trooper.

----

“Hey, Chew, look it’s your friend,” Han says, as the pair turns the corner in search of a junkyard for some parts. There you were, sprinting down the street.

“Hey, loser! Leave her alone,” you shout, crouching down to help Baba up and into the store where you instruct her to lock the door. The rest of the street comes to a silent hush as other storekeepers and customers follow suit and hide in the buildings.

“Can’t seem to get enough of me, huh?” you taunt the trooper. “Seems like I did a real number on that handsome face of yours last night, you sure you want a second round?” The trooper grunts as he lunges at you.

“Leave her be!” Han shouts. Chewie growls, pulling Han back before he can insert himself in the situation.

“Solo, go away, this isn’t your fight,” you shout back, annoyed that you now have an audience. You swerve the trooper’s advancements, sweeping his legs out from underneath him causing him to land on his back.

“It’s embarrassing how bad you are at this,” you huff at the trooper. “I have no tolerance for men that harass innocent people. You’ve picked on the wrong person, soldier.”

The trooper reaches for his blaster, aiming to shoot at you. Before he can even turn off the safety, you’ve kicked it out of his hands. The trooper lunges for it, regaining whatever was left of his balance. You reach for it too, sending it flying down the street without even touching it.

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a fair fight,” you say as you bat your eyes.

“Jedi scum,” huffs the trooper, standing now, ready to charge you.

He hits your side - in the same exact place he struck you last night - and you topple to the ground. Okay, that time I definitely heard a crack. Without a second thought, you spring back up to catch his fist, flipping him to the ground and pinning him down with all the strength left in your body in one motion.

“I’m no Jedi. A Jedi would show mercy. You won’t be getting any of that from me. I know who you are, TK-079. I know everything about you. You’re a bully. I hate bullies,” you sneer at him, fear growing on his face.

You reach for the blaster again, and it comes flying into your hand like a moth to light. You slam the butt of it up onto his chin, in the same place as last night. An eye for an eye, you think, as you start to feel the pain bubble up in your side, this time at a higher intensity. The trooper is knocked out cold. For a moment, you feel peace.

Han and Chewbacca come running up to you. Shit. How much of that did they hear?

“Seems like he came back for round two really thinking he would win,” Chewie chuckled. You look up at him, noticing the noise beginning to resume on the street as people come out from their hiding.

“Can you pick him up for me?” you ask Chewie, not wanting to draw any more attention to the fight that just played out. Chewbacca hoists the trooper over his shoulder. “Through there,” you point at the tunnel leading to an alley. Han stays put, still processing what he just witnessed. “Solo, come on,” you urge, picking up the trooper’s blaster and tugging on Han’s sleeve.

----

“Well, I’m starting to think I need to practice my combat a little more, what do you think Chewie?” Han dramatically announces as the three of you and the unconscious trooper enter the alley.

“You can put him down right here, thank you,” you tell Chewbacca, ignoring Han’s comment. “Solo, destroy the blaster, down there,” you instruct, handing Han the gun and pointing further down the alley. He looks at you with a face of bewilderment.

“You want me to destroy this perfectly fine blaster? No. No, I can’t do that, that would be sacrilegious. Clearly, you won that fight, you should keep it,” Han rebuttals, extending the blaster to you.

“No, I don’t want it. I don’t like guns. Destroy it, or keep it - whatever, I want it out of my sight,” you grunt, as you try to figure out which door in the alley belongs to the Resistance.

You know the mission already went sideways, it would be too risky to let the trooper get away again. Just deliver him to Resistance officers to arrest, and then deal with whatever consequence the Union is sure to dream up.

“Wha- You don’t like guns? I don’t get you. You go and pick fights with stormtroopers and then won’t even use a gun? That’s all they know how to do -- point and shoot!” Han says, bewilderedly. He shudders. “I don’t want to keep the blaster of a dead stormtrooper.”

“He’s not dead!” you whisper-shout at him. “Look, I don’t know what you think you heard, but I do not go picking fights with stormtroopers,” you huff. “Chewie, can you destroy the blaster?”

Chewbacca and Han move further down the alley to deal with the gun as you knock on the door of the Resistance office. You explain what happened to the Resistance officer and they gratefully take the unconscious man into custody. Venturing down the alley, you find Chewbacca and Han hovered over the smoking blaster.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” you huff, as you squeeze past them to reemerge on the main street.

“A perfectly good blaster,” Han mumbles, following you to the street with Chewie right behind.

“What were you two even doing over here, the cantina isn’t remotely close,” you ask annoyedly, wondering what stars-forsaken reason you had company on a botched mission. Not botched. Just... improvised.

“We’re looking for a new junkyard to find parts at. Han got us banned from our usual dealer,” Chewbacca growls, clearly annoyed with Han.

“It was not my fault! That guy was a lunatic. Trying to upsell pieces of junk,” Han argued back.

“My roommate’s friend owns a junkyard near my house. I’ll show you. I can probably get you a good deal… a sort of thank you for helping me back there,” you offer, genuinely thankful there was at least someone with the muscle power to help bring the trooper out of the street. Even without an injured side, you would have struggled to do it yourself.

Argh, my side. The pain swells up. You look down to see the exposed skin peeking out of your top become even more discolored, and hope that it will subside in a couple days.

----

The three of you walk up the street leading to the junkyard in silence. Estrella, although part of the Union, seems to take the attachment rule with a grain of salt. She has been secretly dating Brendol, who owns the junkyard you are taking Han and Chewie to. Brendol is a piece of work. You can’t fathom why Estrella would break this rule for him.

“Hi Brendol, I brought you some business,” you announce as you enter the shop, the bell above the door chiming. Brendol looks up from his book, underwhelmed. “This is Chewbacca and Han Solo. They’re looking for some parts.” Turning to Han and Chewie, you gesture to the yard. “I’ll leave you boys to it.”

“Do you speak Wookiee?” Chewbacca asks Brendol, who looks somewhat more enthusiastic.

“Yes,” Brendol responds, somewhat relieved when he realizes he’ll only have to deal with Chewbacca as Han stays back in the shop. Word seemed to have gotten around about Han’s scuffle with the other junkyard owner.

Making your way to the opposite side of the shop from Han, you begin tinkering with parts of a droid that needs repair. Han’s gaze is steady on you as you work with your back to him. You feel him just standing there. Watching you.

“Enjoying the view?” you ask annoyed, as you turn to meet his gaze from across the shop. He continues to stare as you work with the parts in your hand. You walk to the counter where he is leaning, purposefully placing yourself with as much distance the tiny shop will allow between you.

“What do you want?” you finally huff, placing the parts down on the counter with a clang. You don’t dare meet his eyes. He’s already gotten to know you enough in the past 24 hours than anyone else has.

“Just… thinking,” Han responds coyly. “You know, Chewie and I were talking. You’re a great fighter. You clearly know what you're doing around parts,” he says, gesturing to the droid you’ve nearly fixed. “Chewie told me a few other things about you, too.”

“Like what?” you ask, trying to sound bored rather than panicked. You finally turn to meet his gaze. He hasn’t stopped looking at you since the three of you arrived at the junkyard.

“Like how you’re loyal, how you have so much more to offer than what this crummy planet deserves...,” he trails. “How you should join us on the Falcon’s crew.” You freeze. He can’t be serious.

“You’re crazy, Solo. You don’t even know me and you're asking me to fly away with you?”

“With us. It was Chewie’s idea,” he clarifies. “You’re right, I don’t know you. But Chewie knows you enough to trust you and that says a lot to me.” He pauses for a moment, contemplating what to say next. “I know you don’t know me, but Chewie trusts me. So that must mean something to you, too,” Han argues. You search his gaze for some sort of sign as to why he’s asking you. You come up with nothing.

“What do you do?” Han asks, interrupting your thoughts.

“What?”

“What do you do for a living? Here on Tatooine. What do you do?” Han asks.

“I’m a daycare teacher,” you respond. He laughs.

“Right. I’m supposed to believe you're a teacher? None of my teachers ever knew how to throw a punch like you do,” Han says, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I learned how to fight when I was a waitress a few years back,” you say, not completely lying. Maz thought it would be good for you to know how to fight when you got your first job working in the cantina. “You don’t have to believe anything I say,” you continue, “But of all the jobs I could lie about having, why would I choose being an underpaid teacher?”

“Fine,” Han says, putting his hands up in the air as a surrender. “I believe you. I just don’t think you’re telling me the whole truth,” Han falters, as if he’s considering whether or not to say what he says next. “I just think someone like you is wasting your potential staying here. Come with us or don’t, that’s up to you. But this planet… this planet doesn’t deserve you.”

Han holds your gaze, a little longer than you would like. The shouting match between Chewie and Brendol ends the moment as quickly as it came.

“Y/N, would you tell your friend the Wookiee that I will not go lower than 400 credits for these parts,” Brendol whines as he returns to his spot behind the counter.

“Y/N, you tell this puny man that he knows that price is bullshit,” Chewbacca cries, carrying a load of parts in his arms to the counter. Han leans himself against the doorframe, entertained that you are put in the middle of Chewie’s bargaining negotiations instead of him.

“Brendol, come on. 400 credits? Cut it down to 200, I’m cashing in on my favor,” you say firmly, planting your hands on the counter so you face him square on.

“What favor do I owe you for exactly?” Brendol sneers, certain you have nothing of value for him to fold on.

“Two months ago, you told Rella you were going to visit your mother on Corellia, but I know for a fact and have evidence that you went to Canto Bight and spent all of your savings on gambling. I haven’t told Rella because I care too much about her, but I’m starting to think it might be better for her to know…,” you counter, knowing this is enough for him to fold.

Brendol pauses, seeming to process the information you just told him. Han and Chewie exchange an entertained look.

“Fine, 200 credits,” Brendol grunts.

“150, I just fixed this droid,” you shoot back, hitting a wire that makes the D-O unit reel to life. Brendol looks defeated but agrees. Chewie cries a coo of delight, happily paying 150 credits for the parts he needs.

“See ya later, Brendol!” you sing, as you leave the shop, passing by an impressed Han Solo on your way through the door.

As the pair meets you outside of the shop, you know this is goodbye. As tempting of an offer Han made, it is not enough to get you to leave Tatooine. Not wanting you to decide so quickly, Han places a hand on your shoulder.

“Just think about what I said. We leave tomorrow at sunset.”

You nod, with your mind already made up and turn to give Chewie a hug. You watch for a moment as they walk away, back through town and to their ship. You sigh, as you know your day is far from over. Rough day.

//kp

[amintyworld]

Candles - Dream SMP Star Wars AU

A/N: Welcome to - Another piece that’s wayyy too long to submit. I spent two days straight writing this between writing the next chapter of Beginnings. I sent this as an ask but then I think Tumblr ate it so anyway here’s a fic based on the concept. This is from @dreamsmp-au-ideas‘s Star Wars AU. I’m a sucker for father/son Wilbur and Fundy, okay? Anyway, hope you enjoy! - Minty

TW: Major Character Death, drinking(?), kidnapping, fighting, cursing. (Tell me if I need to tag anything else!)

Summary: Wilbur still has hope of finding his missing son, and has a special way of remembering him. Fundy gets a renewed sense of hope for finding his own parents and grows closer with Wilbur.

-----------------------------------------

“Sir, you need to let us in.”

“The fuck I will!” Wilbur shouted angrily from the other side of the locked door. “We don’t want any part of- We’re not with the Rebellion, we’ve done nothing to you or the Empire. Leave us alone.”

“Sir, you need to open the door.”

“I know you’re taking kids, and I’m not letting you take him. You’ll have to get through me first, and I don’t go down so fucking easily.”

“Sir, please calm down and open the door.”

The house was humid and dim from the hot day, the windows shut and every entrance locked. The only way in was through the front door, which Wilbur trained his blaster at, ready to shoot whoever was stupid enough to enter. Sally sat behind him, her blaster on the ground as she held the small baby in her arms, trying her best to keep him quiet. Wilbur could hear screaming children and sobs from across the silent town, as the stormtroopers marched down the road, children grabbing back for their parents as the parents desperately rushed after their children only to be knocked down with the blunt of the blasters, a few bleeding out, writhing on the ground in agony with their skulls cracked open, a few dead bodies scattering the ground. He noticed a hysterical woman shaking the body of her husband, a bleeding wound in his chest, and a sizable dent in his head that looked like a bruised watermelon. He wasn’t moving. A sizable knot formed in Wilbur’s throat at the sight.

This was sick. 

Wilbur’s body shook with anger and adrenaline as he heard the click of the stormtrooper’s gun. A tense moment of silence passed before the door flew open so quickly that it almost fell off its hinges as three stormtroopers rushed in. Wilbur gunned down the first in the chest, Sally managed to blow the second one’s head clean off from her position on the floor, leading the third scrambling for cover, not realizing exactly who he was messing with. “B-backup, I repeat we need backup in Section 10 House 23, two soldiers down, I repeat, two soldiers down!” Looking over to Sally with a nod, they moved deeper into the house for cover as they heard more stormtroopers approaching quickly, flooding into the house. “Shit, they’re Mandalorians!” A commander shouted from outside the house. “Surround the house, send a widespread barrage!”

From the sounds of it and the blasts whizzing by, there were at least twenty stormtroopers around the house, maybe thirty - it was hard to get an accurate count from where they were. Sally cupped his cheek as she gave him a reassuring smile. “You take the left, I’ll take the right?”

“As always.” Wilbur’s face brightened as the two shared a soft kiss. The small baby made grabby hands toward Wilbur as Sally gently put the child in his arms.

“Hm, looks like someone wants his Dad.” Wilbur loved how much Sally was always so confident, so relaxed when it came to times like this. At least, more relaxed than he was. She moved out of cover to begin to shoot back, and Wilbur kissed Fundy’s forehead. 

“You’ve gotta be quiet as a mouse, alright? Stay right there for now and stay quiet, Dad’s gonna be right back.” Gently as he could, he placed the baby in a small steel cabinet to keep him safe from any stray fire. Fundy looked up at Wilbur with wide curious eyes, a hand in his mouth. Wilbur’s heart melted at the sight as he securely closed the cabinet, grabbing his second blaster and moving toward the window to aim. 

------------------------------------------------

“Oh, uh… I didn’t mean to interrupt anything-” Fundy asked awkwardly from the doorway as Wilbur kneeled in front of a table, a single candle sat on it. The glowing flame was the only thing otherwise lighting up the dark room. Wilbur moved around quickly, slightly startled when he saw Fundy, and rushed to put his helmet back on. Though Wilbur couldn’t see Fundy’s face through his own helmet, he could see how the kid awkwardly shifted in the doorway, looking away quickly in embarrassment. “Wait, I’m not supposed to-! I’m so so sorry-!”

“No, no. It’s fine, Fundy.” Wilbur breathed, not exactly expecting any company. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, uhm… well Eret wanted to go over the plans with you for the attack, and…”

Wilbur sucked in a breath as he nodded. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Tell him I’ll look it all over with him tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow…?”

Fuck, they didn’t know. He was so used to being left alone today that he forgot he wasn’t living on the ship anymore. They didn’t know. Wilbur mentally kicked himself. “Right. Uh… why is this so hard to explain…”

“Is this another Mandalorian thing?” 

“Well, uh… not- not exactly.” Wilbur managed. “Kind of. It’s a long story.”

Fundy moved to sit down a bit behind Wilbur on the floor, smiling behind his helmet. “I’m all ears.” 

“Heh.” Wilbur smiled behind his mask. “Well, you know how I lost my son to the Empire when he was a baby?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, in Mandalorian culture, we keep the memories alive of those who aren’t with us anymore, but we don’t really have any way to keep the memory alive for something like that. I know that he’s alive and out there somewhere, so any of the normal ceremonies just don’t feel right. I needed to do something to keep his memory alive in me, so I won’t forget him, and I can find him again.” Wilbur said, turning to gently take the candle in his hands, careful of the wax. “So, I light a candle on his birthday every year.”

“Every year?”

“Of course.”

Fundy’s eyebrows furrowed. “How are you so sure he’s still alive?” His eyes flicked down toward the ground in thought. “So much could have happened, I mean, it’s been so long...the Empire’s not exactly merciful.”

Wilbur slowly took Fundy’s hand in his, placing the candle down next to them. “I dunno, it’s like… there’s some kind of feeling in the air, like a connection. No matter how far away he is, I just have this feeling that I can’t ignore when it comes to him. As long as it’s there, I know he’s alive - out there, somewhere, and I’m gonna find him.”

Fundy stared up at him in awe, not finding any words. After this long, after everything that’s happened, Wilbur still had hope. He lit candles and sat and loved and remembered. Despite odds, despite logic, all because of a hunch. It was more than admirable, and Fundy moved to pick up the candle, watching the flame flicker. Something about all of this felt right. “Could I… maybe… light candles too? For my parents.”

Wilbur placed a comforting hand on Fundy’s shoulder and Fundy looked up to see Wilbur’s helmet framed and lit from the flame. “Of course.”

--------------------------------------------

“Drop your weapons.”

They were surrounded, several stormtroopers pointed their blasters at them. Even if they shot two of them down now they’d be dead within seconds. Sally looked over to him, her confident smile gone and replaced with worry. Wilbur swallowed the knot in his throat as he slowly raised his hands in surrender, dropping his blaster to the floor.

“I said drop ‘em, missy.” A stormtrooper growled at Sally, who reluctantly tossed her blaster to the ground and slowly raised her hands. The Commander looked around the small house for a moment before angrily pressing his blaster to Wilbur’s forehead. “Where’s the kid?!”

Wilbur took a shaky breath as he kept his calm. Quiet as a mouse, Fundy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Within seconds, Wilbur was hit across his face with the blunt of the blaster as the Commander kicked in him the stomach, leaving Wilbur sputtering for breath. “Does that jog your memory?!”

“Babies go missing, sir. The galaxy’s an imperfect place.” Wilbur huffed from his place on the ground, gaining confidence at the Commander’s growing frustration. More pain suddenly as the Commander’s boot collided with his face, each kick making his vision more blurry as blood dripped to the floor. He struggled to breathe in as he heard Sally yell, pure emotion in her outburst.

“Leave him alone, fuckface!” Tears welled up in her eyes as she began to stand, ready to charge at him and tear him to shreds. Her arms were quickly pulled behind her back, and she struggled against their grip. Wilbur coughed a bit of blood, trying to stand, as the Commander slowly walked over toward Sally. He tilted her head up to face his.

“Such a rebellious spirit...stupid, reckless, pointless rebellion. You do know how the Empire treats rebellion, don’t you sweetheart?”

“Fuck you.” Quickly, Sally was thrown against the wall, pictures and furniture fell to the floor with a loud crash. Scratches and blood littered Sally’s skin as she struggled to move or even speak as the room spun like a top. “Ugh…”

“It’s time you learned to hold your tongue.” The Commander spat as he aimed his blaster at Sally.

“NO!” Wilbur leaped, helplessly, across the room only to be punched down once more. “Leave her alone, I told you the baby’s not even here-!”

Wilbur’s heart dropped as a baby’s cry rang throughout the room. The Commander stared down at him coldly. “Not even here, huh?” 

Wilbur’s eyes grew wide. “I-” Another strike across Wilbur’s face and he went down, shaking as he tried to crawl and stop the Commander who was walking toward the cabinet swiftly. No, no no no Fundy-

Suddenly, Sally gripped the Commander’s blaster as tears streamed down her face, fighting for control. The Commander pushed her up against the wall with his blaster with ease, shoving her to the floor. The sound of a shot rang through the air as blood poured down from Sally’s head. Her body dropped to the floor in a heap. 

No.

Tears welled up in Wilbur’s eyes as he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her lifeless body. Nothing about this seemed right, nothing seemed real. She was just there, she was just alive and moving and talking, and the next moment she’s just… gone. Wilbur screamed as he rushed over to Sally’s body, tears streaming down his face as he shook her. Words tumbled out of his mouth like a waterfall, so fast he had no idea what he was even saying. His heart felt like it shattered as he held her cold hand in his, a pool of blood beginning to form that stained his clothes, but he didn’t even care. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as blood dripped down from her forehead across her limp body. Wilbur’s shaking hands ran through her hair for the last time.

Fundy’s cries quickly pulled his attention away from Sally toward the Commander, who looked down at the child making grabby hands toward Wilbur, hysterical. “Aw, what a cute kid.” Wilbur stumbled to his feet, pain coursing through his body. Blood seeped down his skin, and his head throbbed uncomfortably. He raised his fists in a sort of fighting stance. 

“Get the fuck away from him.”

Another shot rang out as he rang down and saw crimson blood spill down to the floor from his chest. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He fell to the floor, crimson spilling onto the floor as he fought to stay awake. He curled into himself, all he could feel was pain, pain, pain…

Tears blurred his vision as his body shook. The stormtroopers and the Commander looked down at him with almost pity. You’re weak. Weak weak weak weak...

He could practically hear the smile in the Commander’s voice. “The Empire thanks you for your sacrifice.”

------------------------------------------------

Fundy’s eyes lit up in wonder as Wilbur handed him the matches, and moved to go grab something. The two candles are old - one shorter than the other, each with varying fruity smells compared to Wilbur’s vanilla one. He leaned over, lighting up the tall yellow candle then the smaller pink one.  He turned, blowing out the match then turning to stare at the flames. Warmth spread in his chest as he whispered to himself, head bowed. “I’ll find you, Mom and Dad. I promise.”

“Guess what I found!” Wilbur smiled as he brought over a large corked bottle and two steel cups.

“What’s that?”

“Phil found Tihaar, I haven’t seen this stuff in years!” Wilbur smiled, and Fundy looked toward him confused. “It’s a Mandalorian drink, nothing too heavy, I promise.” Wilbur laughed a bit as he poured out the cups. “You can’t find any of the good stuff anymore anyway.”

Fundy took the cup and sniffed it curiously. “It smells like syrup.”

“Tastes a bit like it too. Much more sweet than alcoholic.” Wilbur said, raising his cup. “Now then - a toast.” Fundy raised his cup as well with a smile. “To all those we’ve lost along the way. We keep you in our thoughts always, and may we reunite again.”

“We will find each other again,” Fundy added, looking to the sky, more hopeful than he’s felt in months.

Wilbur looked over toward him, nodding in agreement. “We will find them again.”

[ashaywalker-author]

Natural Instinct - Chapter 3 (Poe Dameron/Reader Fic)

SUMMARY: After feeling Kylo Ren rip through her mind and memories, the reader finds herself with a chance to finally escape from the First Order.

CHAPTER WARNINGS: Some strong language

PAIRING: Poe Dameron/Reader

A/N: Goodbye First Order; we won’t miss you. This probably has the most Force Awakens scene repetition in the whole story, but we’ll be back on Jakku in the next chapter and get a whole bunch of new content. Please enjoy and let me know what you think! Love ya!

CHAPTER 3 – ESCAPE

When I came to, I was back in the dim cell with the shelf-bed and the surveillance cameras, alone. I was on the floor, whether I had been dumped there or I had rolled my way onto the ground, I had no idea. Rising to sit, I felt the way I did when I often woke from nightmares. There was a great, gaping chasm inside my chest, the one I usually filled with thoughtless activity and survival instincts. This feeling was stuck somewhere between indifference and sorrow, as if I was turned inside out and no one was around to give a shit. My senses were heightened, causing me to notice with a new fervor the grit that coated every bit of me, as well as the tenderness of my chin. I wondered briefly what had happened to Poe, what he had been subjected to after I passed out, but I was too locked within my self-pity to dwell on it. I figured it was a side effect of my mind being practically shredded by Kylo Ren. Perhaps I wasn’t entirely fond of my life, but I hadn’t felt this much hatred and self-doubt since my father had been swallowed up by the sands.

I sat there for what felt like a very long time, when the door to my chamber slid open once again. This time a single stormtrooper, and behind him, a disheveled and downcast-looking Poe. How much longer would we be stuck in this kriffing game?

“This way, prisoner,” the trooper said.

I stood without a word. Part of me wanted to fall to my knees and pledge my allegiance to the First Order, just to stop from being shuffled in and out of torture chambers, fearing what came next. But I wasn’t entirely sure it would make a difference. My fate seemed to be linked with whatever Poe did or didn’t do. For attempting to save him, my life was now dependent upon his decisions. Maybe that was why Ren had ordered me to be brought along in the first place. I was meant to set an example for all; you don’t mess with the First Order.

Wordlessly the single trooper guided us around bends and wide balconies overlooking a gigantic cargo bay. When walls closed around us once again and we were alone in a hallway, I was pushed roughly through an open door. Poe and the trooper jumped inside and shut the door manually. I released a tiny squeak when the darkness blocked my sight, and jump a millimeter when a light flicked on overhead. We were in a storage closet. Cleaning bots sleeping away on low-power mode were stacked up each wall, emitting no light, no recognition of our presence.

Before I could say anything, Poe came forward and wrapped me up in a hug that was both gentle and engulfing at the same time. He smelt terrible, but I found I didn’t much care. It wasn’t as if I looked or smelled any better.

“Are you okay?” he asked, pulling away just enough to be able to search my eyes.

“Yes,” I said, albeit confused. I peeked around Poe’s shoulder to stare heavily at the trooper, who did and said nothing. “What the hell is going on?”

“We’re getting out of here.”

“What?”

The stormtrooper pulled his helmet off, and I saw the fear in his incredibly dark, wide eyes, the sweat that made his black skin glisten. He was nearly panting, as if we had been sprinting down the hallways.

“We need to get out,” the stormtrooper said in a rushed voice. “Before they notice the two of you have been removed without clearance.”

“He’s leading us out,” Poe explained. “And I’m flying us the hell out.”

The rogue stormtrooper had us flanked on either side of him, his blaster up and at the ready. Walking through the cargo bay, even with the flickering lights, cascading sparks, and heavy stomps against metal flooring, it was a wonder no one stopped us. To have a single stormtrooper escorting two prisoners was odd and—if it were up to me—highly unprofessional, but luck must have been on our side. That, or everyone was too stressed out by their own duties to care. Even the watchtower and communications station hanging out and above the hanger didn’t call out for our immediate stop. Although I knew that would change once we made an unauthorized escape in a TIE Fighter.

“Not yet,” the stormtrooper whispered to us as a group of generals clomping along in routine, rectangular fashion passed us.

The moment they were behind our shoulders, the rogue trooper urged us with a, “Okay go, this way!”, and we made a hurried break for a set of idle TIE Fighters, unmanned and unwatched. Poe and I were released from our cuffs and, without another moment of hesitation, Poe unlatched the roof of the Fighter and slipped his way down into the pilot’s chair. I, on the other hand, did hesitate. When the trooper took the gunner’s chair, I was left without a spot of my own.

“Uh, Poe. There’s only two seats…”

“Yeah.”

Poe reached up and grabbed my ankle, giving a firm enough tug to set me off balance. I tried not to yelp as I regained my footing and slipped down onto the chair the Resistance pilot currently occupied. Only there was no seat left to take, so on his thigh I sat, uncomfortably aware of how compacted the round chamber was.

“You can’t fly with me sitting on your lap!” I hissed.

“I could fly with a Tauntaun on my lap.” He stated, as if it was common knowledge, while flicking on various switches.

“Did you seriously just relate me to a

Tauntaun

?!”

“No! I mean, it was a metaphor.” He looked up at me propped up on his knee. “A really bad metaphor!” When I said nothing in response, he said; “Trooper, can you shoot?”

“Blasters I can.”

“Okay, same principal,” Poe reached overhead to continuing prepping the Fighter for launch. “Use the toggle on the left to switch between missiles, cannons and magpulses, slider on the right’s to aim, trigger’s to fire.”

“This is very complicated,” the trooper said, so quietly it could have been to himself.

I couldn’t help but to agree.

Poe put both hands on either thruster, forcing me to slide in between his legs, and with a steady push forward the TIE Fighter began to sing to life. He turned the ship, aimed forward, and just as we were about to launch, our speed choked, and we were yanked backward.

“I can fix this!” Poe said.

I tried to maneuver out of his way, opting to lean away from most of the controls and look out the ship’s wide, circular windows. Behind us was what looked like a cable, still attached to the middle of the left-hand wing. Poe flicked a few more switches and forced the Fighter to pull forward, trying to release the cable and break it at the same time. By now, I knew that we were screwed. While the trooper behind us looked around the compartment frantically, generals, mechanics and white-suited soldiers below were noticing three idiots trying to steal a ship without really knowing how to fly it in the first place. And then came the blasters. One trooper even placed a mini cannon on a tripod on the floor, aiming it directly at us.

Red bolts of light shot outward, hitting our shields which—thankfully—Poe had known how to engage beforehand.

“Now’s a good time to start shooting, trooper!” I said.

“Right,” he said, gripping his controls with a little more certainty.

The Fighter squealed as it shot signature green blasts. Each duel blast exploded upon impact and projected outward, creating mini-craters in the hanger’s steel floor. I colored myself impressed when he aimed and shot up into the rest of the idle TIE Fighters before they could follow, and then turn his missile’s sights onto the watchtower. Two blasts and it was done for, the generals inside ducking quickly, as if that would do them any good.

“I got it,” Poe said, and with one more flick the cable released with a few sparks of protest.

The Fighter guttered a moment and then sped out the hanger as if glad to be free, a sharp sound following its sudden blast of power.

Poe made a sound that was between excitement and hysteria, then said; “This thing really moves!”

The velocity with which we were yanked into space had my back pressed up to Poe’s chest, to the point where I worried it might be uncomfortable. He didn’t utter a complaint through, switching our trajectory to fly beneath the Finalizer, where a much larger and more fearsome amount of firepower greeted us. I moved with the ship’s sharp zig-zags as Poe dodged emerald cannon-fire, keeping my center of gravity as steady as possible with only one seatbelt strap over my shoulder.

“Alright,” Poe said, “We need to take out as many of these cannons as we can or we’re not going to get very far. I’m going to get us into position, just stay sharp.”

Poe was in constant motion, flicking controls and maneuvering at a rate I couldn’t comprehend. Maybe he hadn’t been exaggerating with the whole Tauntaun thing. But the moment I was mentally applauding him became the moment I had to stop myself from shouting about his idiocy, when we began to weave around the cannons, just feet from the barrels.

“Up ahead!” Poe called out. “Up ahead, you see it? I got us dead center, it’s a clean shot!”

I heard the trooper mutter under his breath behind us, something obviously meant to ground himself, and all I could thing to do was reach behind the seat and grip the shoulder of his armor. He had gotten us this far; but he was obviously a nervous wreck.

“I got it,” he said lowly, positioning the slider.

When the cannon blinked bright yellow in his sights, he put a grunt of force behind the press of the trigger. Poe flew the Fighter through the fiery blast when the cannons were reduced to scrap metal. The three of us cheered, the trooper the loudest, screaming at us, asking whether we had seen the job well done.

Poe’s grin was infectious; “We saw it.”

That was the break we needed, and with a bit more careful maneuvering we were through, flying beyond the Finalizer as it tried to catch us with a few more shots. In the brevity of the moment, Poe grabbed my neck and pulled my face down to kiss my cheek, smacking his lips off my sweaty skin happily.

“Hey what’s your name?” he asked the trooper, while I tried to figure out ways to cool my body temperature.

“FN-2187.”

“FN—

What

?” Poe said, taken aback.

.“That’s the only name they ever gave me.”

“Those assholes don’t even give you names?” I asked. “They just number you like prisoners?”

“Well I ain’t using it,” Poe said. “FN huh? Finn, I’m gonna call you Finn, that alright?”

“Finn,” the trooper tested it out, “Finn, yeah, Finn, I like that!”

“I’m Poe, Poe Dameron.”

“Y/N,” I greeted him, not really bothering with a last name. It didn’t seem all that crucial, considering I was the last of my family left.

“Good to meet you Poe, Y/N,” Finn said.

“Good to meet you too, Finn.”

We flew freely for another minute, but then ventral cannon shots were hot on our tail. Poe dodged and skittered from them like a bloody prodigy, and Finn was getting better at knowing when to shoot and where to calculate his aim. The former trooper was able to take care of two, but two others were still hot on our tail. Then Poe made a dive down for the nearest planet: Jakku.

“Where are you going?” Finn asked, before I could.

“We’re going back to Jakku, that’s where.” Poe said.

“No—no-no, we can’t go back to Jakku!” Finn admonished him, “We need to get out of this system.”

“I need to get my droid before the First Order does.”

The droid, of course. The rolly-polly one I had seen in Tuanul, the one I hadn’t seen after Poe’s X-Wing was blown to smithereens. I had assumed the droid had been demolished along with the ship. Finn continued to argue, his fear of the First Order evident in how he nearly begged our pilot to go far away, as far from our escaped prison as possible.

“That droid has a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker!” Poe said, unwavering.

“What?!

” I yelled above Finn’s mini-tantrum in the back.

It was that very moment of slipped focus that cost us a very deadly hit to the TIE Fighter. We began to spin out of control, one of our wings chipped and warped, the other barely stabilized.

“Shit,” Poe said, frantically flipping along the control panel, trying to regain some ability to control the ship. “Shit!”

“What do we do?” Finn asked. “What do we do now?!”

Poe didn’t answer. He bit his lower lip, a new film of sweat along his brow. We were careening down toward Jakku’s atmosphere. Once we broke through it, our speed would become volatile.

“That shot splintered our engine,” Poe said, flicking the power switch up and down, the light behind it sputtering. “I’m losing all power.”

We were nearing the break in the planet’s atmosphere. I could feel the shift of gravity on the ship, becoming less of a result of the blast and more of an actual pull into a maddening, inescapable descent. Finn was panicking. I couldn’t express my panic the way I wanted to. My eyes were locked onto what I saw greeting me through the outside of the window. Would I die on Jakku’s surface? Just like my father? Just like my mother, whose blood seeped like water into the hungry sands, draining itself after my birth?

I always expected to die there. Just… not like this. Not on the brink of a newfound freedom I had never known.

“Listen up,” Poe said, going full commander in his tone. “I’m going to use the remains of our power to slow us down once Jakku’s atmosphere pulls us through. Hopefully I will reduce our speed enough to keep us from burning to death in midair. Once we are close enough to eject, I’ll flip the switch.”

“Ejector seats are only meant for one passenger each, Poe.” I said.

He looked at me, a grunt behind his teeth. He had them bared as he forcefully pulled against the thrusters. “I know. The parachute won’t hold both our weights for long. We will have a short window of time to eject, shorter than Finn. About a 10-yard difference between being too close to the crash site, and too far from the surface to land safely.” He held my gaze with his, daring me to look away. I didn’t. I reached out and put a hand over his, over the knuckles that strained and the veins that popped. I trusted him. Even in this horrible situation, I did. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like deadweight.

The Fighter broke through Jakku’s atmosphere, and it was with a sudden jolt that was so fierce I was yanked backward into Poe, my head hitting his shoulder harshly. The impact left stars blinking along my vision. We would be minutes in the air, if that. Poe struggled against the thrusters, pulling them back to their breaking point, fighting gravity. I wrapped my hands around his and put my own weight into it, bracing my foot against the Fighter to give me more force. The small bit of power the ship had left communicated with the engines to thrust backward, and so they did, although the difference was minute.

At what I estimated to be roughly 40 yards from the desert surface, Poe warned Finn that it was his turn to eject. The pilot pressed the dead-man’s switch and Finn catapulted upward through the Fighter’s hatch, the wind breaking in through our compartment and tossing sandy gusts around us. The hatch didn’t close again; the ship had lost all power.

“Get ready!” Poe said above the torrent of air.

With his finger hovering over the switch, I watched him count under his breath, pressing down hard when our time was up. Only, nothing happened.

“No,” Poe said to himself, pressing the dead-man’s switch repeatedly, jabbing hard. “No—no, no! It’s jammed.” He brought me down more securely in between his legs, and I felt his heart against my spine, a rapid, trembling beat that set my own fluttering even faster. We were closing in.

“There has to be a manual override!” He said, searching on either side of the seat. I tried to help him, but I didn’t have the faintest clue what I was looking for. I’d never flown a day in my life, never set foot in a ship until the last few days. For the briefest moment, I thought about Finn. Poor guy. He didn’t want to go back to Jakku in the first place, and now he would be stranded there. He would probably die in the sands.

Too much damn much irony for one day…

“Hold on!” Poe yelled in my ear.

We were maybe 15 yards from the surface, but suddenly I was watching the Fighter hit the sands without me, the compartment slipping around my body as if falling through an invisible floor.

[the-desolated-quill]

The Caretaker - Doctor Who blog (More Like The Piss-taker)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

An episode co-written by a sexist moron and a transmisogynistic arsehole? What could possibly go wrong?

It’s present day Earth and the Doctor needs to go undercover and pretend he’s human in order to lure out and defeat an alien threat. No it’s okay. You haven’t stumbled onto my review of The Lodger by mistake. This is actually believe it or not a completely different episode. Seriously, is this the only idea Gareth Roberts has got? It wasn’t even very good the first time around. I might as well keep this review short because I’ve basically already talked about this. If you want to know what I think of the premise, read my review of The Lodger again.

It all feels so half-arsed this time around too. I mean The Lodger stopped being scary after about five minutes, but the idea had potential. This is just pathetic. The Skovox Blitzer. What a truly rubbish monster. It’s so generic and completely non-threatening, spouting silly catchphrases and possessing worse aim than a drunken Star Wars stormtrooper. The humour too is incredibly painful. Mind you, The Lodger wasn’t very funny neither. It took Eleven’s goofy eccentricities and magnified them to such unbearable levels of obnoxiousness that by the end I just wanted to hit him on the head with a chair. But in The Caretaker, the humour is actually worse because it makes the same mistake Robot Of Sherwood made. This type of humour just doesn’t suit the Twelfth Doctor at all. I admire Peter Capaldi as a performer and he does the best he can with what he’s been given, but he simply can’t do this kind of comedy. But it would be unfair to lay all the blame at Capaldi’s feet because I honestly can’t imagine anyone making these jokes work. The scene where Clara tries to convince Danny that his encounter with the Blitzer was part of a surprise play was just cringeworthy to sit through because nobody would ever talk like that in real life. And some of the jokes don’t even make sense. Why is the Doctor insistent that Danny is a PE teacher? What makes him think he can’t do Maths just because he’s a soldier?

Which brings me to the main problems with the episode. Once again this is yet another episode that focuses entirely on the Doctor, which is not only starting to become incredibly boring, they don’t even do it very well. Moffat and Roberts want to convey that the Doctor is a trustworthy leader who may need to rely on his companions sometimes for moral guidance, but always cares deeply about their welfare. How do they go about showing us? By having the characters just flat out telling us this. This is writing at its most amateurish. If you want to define a character, let them actually do stuff and then let the audience work it out for themselves. Show, don’t tell. And why do we even need an episode reiterating shit about the character we already bloody know? Here’s an idea. The episode is set in Coal Hill School. You know? The school his granddaughter went to? Maybe this would be a good opportunity to dwell on that. The Doctor hasn’t seen Susan in centuries. How does he feel about that? Has he ever thought about going back to the 22nd century and paying her a visit? (assuming she’s still alive). What about her teachers Ian and Barbara? Did they ever make it back? What happened to them? Oh but that would require some original thinking on Moffat and Roberts’ part and they’re clearly not fucking capable of that. It’s much easier to just rehash the same old ideas and use references to Who’s past as lazy fanservice rather than actually doing anything with them.

And why for fuck’s sake are we going down the love triangle route again? No doubt Moffat thinks the lack of romantic interest on the Doctor’s part puts a new spin on it, but it actually doesn’t. How is Twelve/Clara/Danny any different from Ten/Rose/Mickey or Eleven/Amy/Rory? (Don’t forget before this series aired, Moffat said this was going to represent a brave new direction for the show. What? Doing the exact same shit over and over again constitutes a brave new direction, does it? Fuck off!) This doesn’t work for three reasons. 1) We’ve done this many times before; 2) I don’t give a shit about Clara or Danny; and 3) the writing is fucking atrocious. Remind me, why does the Doctor hate Danny again? Because he’s a soldier? (and part time circus acrobat judging by the way he flips over the Blitzer). What is with Twelve’s one note hatred against soldiers? We’re back to the same problem we had in Into The Dalek. Yes the Doctor has always felt slightly uncomfortable around the military, and Nine and Ten’s anger toward soldiers and guns could at a push be justified by their PTSD after the events of the Time War, but Twelve doesn’t seem to have any justification for his extreme hatred toward them whatsoever. The two soldiers he’s met (Journey Blue and Danny Pink) have given him no reason to hate soldiers at all as far as I can see. He just hates soldiers because the script says he does, and that’s just not good enough.

But what angers me the most about this whole love triangle is the underlying sexism to it. (Brace yourselves @prettycanarynoir and @thealmightytwittytwat because this is probably the one and only time you’ll ever hear me defending Clara). When Clara has finished explaining to Danny all about the Doctor and the TARDIS and everything, the Doctor then angrily says that she needs to explain to him why she’s going out with a soldier (because all soldiers are inherently evil just because). I’m sorry, why the fuck does Clara need to justify who she’s dating to the Doctor? Who the fuck does he think he is? And it gets worse when it’s revealed that the reasons behind the Doctor’s mistrust of Danny is because he wants to make sure Danny is good enough for her, which just comes off as really patronising. Clara doesn’t need the Doctor to vet her boyfriends. I’m sure she’s fully capable of making her own decisions, thank you vey much. Not that this lets Danny off the hook. In fact in this episode Danny goes from being a gormless nobody that I couldn’t give a shit about to being quite possibly one of the most hateful figures I think I’ve ever comes across in New Who. The scene in the TARDIS where he effectively throws his toys out of the pram and starts mocking the Doctor for his soldier-ness really soured my views toward him as a character. The episode tries to present it as Danny making these deep observations about the Doctor, except he’s only just met the Doctor, so he can’t really judge, and he comes across as a spoilt little shit having a temper tantrum because he’s suddenly not the centre of Clara’s life anymore. And then there’s the scene at the end when Danny and Clara talk about her continuing to travel with the Doctor. Not only does he threaten to dump her if she doesn’t tell him every single aspect of her life, he then goes on to say this:

“If you don’t tell me the truth, I can’t help you. And I could never stand not being able to help you."

Um... who the fuck asked you to Danny boy?

It’s disturbing because Moffat and Roberts clearly don’t see this the same way I’d like to think most sensible people would. They think this shows two fiercely protective men looking out for the woman they care for, whereas in reality it looks more like two selfish arseholes trying to assert control over ‘their’ woman as though she’s their property rather than a person in her own right. It’s legitimately disgusting to watch, and the sad thing is I’m not even shocked by this. I mean what did you expect? Gareth Roberts has already displayed his sexist side in The Lodger with Craig Owens. A character presented as a romantic everyman, but who is actually a hideous embodiment of male entitlement who throws a hissy fit every time his girlfriend shows even the slightest bit of independence because her plans don’t coincide with what he wants. And we all know by now how much of a sexist twat Moffat is, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. Put them together and you create a misogynistic neutron bomb.

As you can probably tell, I don’t like this episode very much. It’s unoriginal, uninspired, boring as fuck, painfully unfunny, and the sexism is just gross, end of. Can it get any worse than this?...

Yes. Yes it can.

[drinkupthesunrise]

If you're still taking fic requests... Wedge/Lando, one-upmanship. Or, you know, any pilot and Lando. I'm not picky. :D

Yes, I am still filling my prompts from ages ago, they are nice to chip away at. This has so little to do with the prompt you gave, spooky, that I don’t even know – I know I’m not exactly great at sticking to prompts but this is beyond that :D Anyway, it hopefully has several other things you like instead?

General warning that Wedge is not entirely in the fittest state of mental health here; nothing bad happens but things are discussed which might be unpleasant for some. (also on ao3)

TheX-Wing. Incom’sfinest achievement; the Rebellion stalwart. An all-rounder, not quiteas fast as an A-Wing but with more manoeuvrability, fire power tomatch any ship of its size, and one sizable advantage on the TIEfighter so beloved by the Empire. Shields.

Asfar as Lando is concerned, the things are death traps. His opinion onthis extends not just to the X-Wings, but the Alliance’sentire compliment of snubfighters. The Millennium Falcon is justfine, and whilst Han is stuck in the blasted carbonite, his to lookafter. So it makes sense to use it whenever the Alliance sends himout on a mission.

Thereare plenty of daredevil X-Wing pilots in the service, but Lando keepsgetting stuck with the same one flying his escort. A dark-hairedyoung Corellian, in a battered X-Wing that has seen one too manybattles. Lando is no stranger to dark-haired Corellians in batteredships, but this one doesn’thalf worship the ground he walks on.

(Hanhadn’tdone that, not exactly,but he’dalways regarded Lando with a gleam in his eye, like he couldn’tquite bring himself to tear his eyes away. The feeling had beenmutual. When Han had left, Lando had spiralled; he’d done a lot ofstupid things in the months that had followed, including a run-inwith Hera Syndulla – which he guesses is one of the reasons whyAntilles doesn’t trust him. He’d come good there in the end.

Butit’sdifficult to shake that impression, if Antilles had been told thetale; how he’d almost sold someone into slavery because he was moreconcerned with his own ideas than with anyone else’s safety.He’smade plenty of mistakes since, too. He might be with the Alliancenow, accepted a commission as a General, even if he refuses to bow toall their rules and regulations, but he can’t fight the naggingfeeling that he should have been here from the start. He made contactwith a part of the Rebellion before the Alliance was even signed; nowhe’s rocked up late to the party.

There’sstill time to make a difference.)

It’sthe chancellor herself, Mon Mothma – who Lando likes, because shetakes very little shit when he attempts to charm her, merely rollingher eyes and sending him on his way – who keeps assigning Wedge toaccompany Lando. So Lando can’t exactly do anything to countermandher orders. He’s stuck with this by-the-book pilot – whateverhappened to X-Wing pilots’ reputation as daredevils? – who’sgot a stick up his arse, and seems devote on infuriating Lando to thebest of his ability.

Atleast he’spretty. Or Lando might have tossed him out the airlock already.

.

Itmust be said that Wedge Antilles has one other great advantage; he’sone hell of a pilot. He flies an X-Wing like he was born to it, likehe’d never dreamed of doing anything else but flying.

Rightnow, he’sdarting under the belly of a mid-sized Imperial cruiser, leading amerry chase for the four TIE fighters that are following him. Theships defensive cannons are firing, but Wedge is dodging every shot,heading straight and single minded for the shield generators.

Landois keeping a close eye; the pilots in the TIEs are idiots, not theEmpire’sbest by a long way, but they still present considerable danger ifWedge takes his eye off the ball. “Rogue One, are you sureyou don’tneed assistance.” From the co-pilot’s seat, Chewie growls anegative before Wedge manages to respond with one.

“Yeahyeah, he’s capable, still doesn’t mean that what he’s doingain’t hella dangerous,” Lando shoots back, silencing the commsystem once again. The Falcon is far enough away, and hidden behind amoon, and for whatever reason the Imperials haven’t detected it.

Intelligencesaid this ship was full of idiots, washouts from the lower Imperialacademies, but Lando hadn’tthought they’d be this slow. The Falcon and a solitary X-Wingshouldn’t pose much of a threat to a ship like this, not if it wasmanned properly, and if the X-Wing and the Falcon were piloted by menlesser than Lando and Wedge.

Aping from the sensors say that the shields are down; time for theFalcon to move. Two of the TIEs veer off Wedge as they spot theFalcon, deciding to pursue the larger target. To their peril. Onequick word to Chewie and he’son it, targeting the rear gun on them, and taking down one, and thenthe other as Lando loops over the cruiser. “Rogue One, how’re youdoing with those TIEs?”

“Fine,get on with your half Falcon!” Wedge’s words are short andcursory, like he barely has time to contemplate Lando’s existence,and that he dearly wants to get back to his own concerns.

Landorolls his eyes, whilst a snort from Chewie indicates that he agreeswith Wedge, and that Lando should get on. So Lando flicks on an opencomm channel, and says, in the steeliest tones he can muster: “Thisis General Calrissian of the Millennium Falcon, representing theAlliance to Restore the Republic, and given that myself and my friendhere could shoot you out the sky right now, can we have your fullsurrender?”

“Die,Rebellion scum!” is the immediate response, but it’s followed bysome hasty clattering, so Lando waits patiently until someone withsense comes to the lead comm station.

“Thisis First Officer Helen, I’m authorised to offer you a conditionalsurrender on behalf of the bridge crew, will that do?” It’s anervous, young voice, this time.

Landosighs. He never planned to blow anyone out the sky; this crew is tooinept to deserve it. But they carry Imperial clearance codes, onesthat the Alliance needs for another mission. “I’lltake it for now. I’m going to dock, and I warn you; I have an angryWookiee on board who doesn’t like to be crossed.”

Chewieregards Lando with just a hint of betrayal; Lando shrugs. Chewie isintimidating, at least to those who don’tknow him. “Of course sir,” is the response.

“Andspace for my companion in the hangar, please.” A quick check onsensor logs reveals that all the TIEs have long faded to dust, andWedge is hovering a short distance away, lasers primed and aimeddirectly at the bridge.

Theship holds no surprises; the First Officer greets them, alreadyhaving stripped her rank insignia and imperial crest from her uniform– she had no great love for the Empire, Lando soon gathers. TheCommander is knocked out cold, the only one with real objections. Itdoesn’ttake long for Lando to find what he needs, and reach an agreementwith Officer Helen about bringing her crew back to the Alliance. TheCommander – along with a few of the soldiers with families who fearImperial reprisals were they to defect – are stuffed into an escapepod.

Aftereverything settles, Lando finds Wedge in the hangar, inspecting theLambda class shuttle that they’vesomehow crammed on board. “Good shooting out there,” Landocomments, the easy praise of a man who is used to leading.

Wedgejust huffs, running his hands over cool steel, and Lando wonders whatthe hell is his problem.

.

Ona planet which Lando barely remembers the name of – something likeCrestia II, or maybe III – Lando picks the most inopportune momentto ask “Sowhat the hell is Antilles’ deal?”

He’sgreeted with a groan from Leia Organa, who is his partner for thismission. She’s an effective one, able to slink past the localImperials – who don’t seem to be paying any attention to their‘most wanted’ posters – with the sweetest smile. Only that parthas all gone wrong, and now they’re in the middle of a firefight.“You’ve got great timing.” Readjusting her rifle, Leia takesaim through the scope and unleashes three perfect shots, each of themtaking out a stormtrooper below. “Gonna elucidate on that any, oram I supposed to guess which one you mean? We’ve got a few floatingabout the Rebellion.”

“Onlyone of whom you interact with regularly.” The glare with which Leiagreets that statement makes him doubt the veracity of it, andindicates that Lando is wasting his time by not explaining thingsproperly. “Wedge. I can’t figure him out at all.”

“It’snot that hard,” Leia replies, tone perfectly casual. “He’s gota case of survivor’s guilt the weight of a planet, a sense ofhumour black as carbonite diamond, a sense of loyalty so strong it’sa wonder it hasn’t gotten him killed, and the best – and justabout only – way of making him see sense is to screw him into themattress. I’d give that a try.”

Leiapunctuates her statement with a shot. Another stormtrooper goes down,but Lando can’tconcentrate on that. He’s taken completely aback by the crassnessof Leia’s words. The blushing princess, the favoured portrayal ofthe holo news even now, when she’s been outed as a Rebellionfighter for four years, is a complete fiction, he knows that. Butthis is something else entirely. “What?” Lando stutters,completely unsure of what he just heard.

Surelythe Princess of Alderaan didn’tjust tell Lando she’d screwed Wedge Antilles.

“Ittends to make him relax. And if it doesn’t, then you get a damngood night of sex out of the ordeal, trust me. You’ll feel a littlemore charitable towards him after that.”

Landofurrows his brow. “Yourcoping strategy for dealing with one of your senior pilots is to fuckhim?” The Alliance is hardly known for its conventional rules, butthis is beyond that. They are still a formal military, and shit likethis doesn’t fly.

“Offthe record off course,” Leia clarifies. “The Alliance neverformerly encoded fraternisation regs, for which a million youngsoldiers offer their unending thanks.” Lando had, briefly, been oneof them. But no one has yet held his attention for more than apassing second. Except Wedge. Who doesn’t seem to be a big fan ofLando. Which is Lando’s lot in life, honestly, to fall for men whohaven’t got a jot of interest in return. Honestly, Lando wouldsettle for working out how to have a conversation with the guy. “I’mfairly certain Luke gave it a shot when he was Wedge’s CO, and Monhas a soft spot for him and I wouldn’t like to say she hadn’t—”

Landoremembers his aborted attempt at flirtation with the Chancellor.She’sa fine woman, one who Lando would be delighted to be invited to herbed, but she made it clear enough that she wasn’t interested. Hedoubts that she goes around inviting junior pilots to her bed.

“Idon’t want to know how to screw him, I just wanted to know how tomake him less ascerbic! Or talk to me in the first place!” Landothrows his hands up in frustration.

“Sex.”Leia is chirpy and unrepentant in her answer. She takes a moment tosurvey the ground below, where a new legion of stormtroopers isslowly gathering. “Better get going, or we’ll really be introuble.”

Landofollows her lead.

.

It’sanother two weeks before Lando sees Wedge again. In that time, hedoes manage to verify that he was entirely wrong about the idea thatMon Mothma is above inviting junior pilots into her bed, because itappears she’s currently sleeping with WesJansonof all people. Lando tries another piece of flirting on her, but it’sshot down immediately; it seems that her tastes run very specificallyto dark-haired men in orange, and whilst Lando can also appreciatethe look, it’s not something he wants to try for himself.

Wedgemight not have much time for Lando, but the other Rogues don’tmind him, so Lando’s invited to participate in the card game thatthey’ve got going on in the corner of the pilots’ rec room. Themood is miserly. A report crossed Lando’s desk that morning; theRogues lost a pair of pilots in their last mission, and a resignationhad followed. It had cited the Rogues’ dangerous working practices,the increased jeopardy that came with being a Rogue, and well. Landodoesn’t think it went over well.

Mostof the Rogues are hardly the best Sabacc players in the world, butthey’repassable. A bottle of something makes its way surreptitiously roundthe table. Lando declines it after taking a whiff. He wants no partof that toxic mess, that smells like it might have been brewed in anengine.

Oneby one the Rogues fall away, bowing out as their credit lines runout, until it’sjust Wedge and Lando playing. Wedge’s strategy is gettingincreasingly erratic, risky, a contrast to the man Lando has observedin battle. He mentions something to that effect, and Wedge merelyshrugs.

“We’reas likely as not to die tomorrow, so why not?” The words are thatof a man with a maudlin sense of his own mortality. He lays one finalcard down; his daring has paid off. Lando knows he can’t beat it.

“You’vesurvived this long, don’t be so quick to throw that life of yoursaway.” Lando tosses his cards on the table, face down, in defeat.“See, you won this one.”

Wedgeclears the credit chits to his side of the table, without theslightest hint of satisfaction.  “Agame of Sabacc ain’t half as hard as surviving a battle.”

“Oddsare about the same.”

“Yeah,shit.” Lando raises his eyebrows. That’s not the Corellian spirit– how many times has he had to sit through Han’s ‘don’t tellme the odds’ speech? More than a few times, he’s thought that alittle more attention wouldn’t go amiss, but there’s somethingabout Wedge’s tone that unsettles Lando. “Yeah yeah.” Wedgewaves his hand with a false display of casualness that is so utterlyunlike him that the hair on Lando’s neck stands on edge. “Betrayingmy fellow countrymen by worrying in the first place. Well fuck them.This galaxy could use a few more people who give a shit.”

Wedge’seyes are dark, just a little hazy, and it’s clear that the alcohol,along with everything else, has gone a little to his head. He’snever been this candid in Lando’s presence before. “How about youdrop this maudlin attitude that you’ve been wearing all eveningthen, the one where you’re pretending that you don’t care aboutanything, because you aren’t fooling me, command, or yoursquadron.”

Leaningback in his chair, the barest hint of a smirk crosses Wedge’sface. The rigidity is gone, in its place – spurred on by the drink,no doubt – is a looseness that doesn’t quite suit. This Wedgecould be a whole hell of a lot of trouble in a completely differentway. “Yes sir,” he says with enough cheek to make even theeasiest-going senior officer stand on edge. “Didn’t know youcared so damn much. Should have joined us sooner, maybe, if you’regonna lecture me on my attitude – what right do you have to tell meshit? I’ve been through the wars, in this war—”

“Idid the best I could to keep the people I was responsible for safe.”Lando cuts Wedge off with a certainty that surprises even him. Heknows his words are right, the truth settling within him. He did allhe could. And Wedge is just trying to get a rise out of him, andLando won’t meet him. “And now I fight alongside you to try andbring them a galaxy in which they can be safe, and part of that meansensuring you are capable of doing your job.”

“I’mone of the best pilots in the fleet.”

“You’reno good to anyone if you’re constantly assuming you’ll go down inflames. That’s not bravery, or knowing the odds Wedge, it’s—”suicide.The word dies on Lando’stongue as Wedge stiffens.

Itwas the wrong thing to say. Almost say.

Itwas accurate, and that terrifiesLando.

“I’mnot—” Wedge can’t quite finish his denial. He can’t say it.It wouldn’t be true.

IfLando could prove it, if the Alliance wasn’tso desperate for Wedge’s skills, Lando would have him off theflight roster in an instant. But there is a war on, and that meansthey have to live with things that aren’t ideal.

“Forgetit.” Lando stands up, clearing the scant remainders of his creditback into his pocket. “Doesn’t matter. Go to bed, sleep it off,get up tomorrow and go back to being an X-Wing ace, not whatever thisis.” Lando gestures at Wedge. “I don’t like you like this.”

Lando’sexit route takes him past Wedge, and Wedge catches his wrist in astrong grip as he attempts to leave. “Does that mean you like me?”Wedge is on his feet suddenly, in Lando’s space, eyes shining thatdark colour that Lando is never sure about, and Lando doesn’t havetime to form a response before Wedge kisses him.

Hegasps into the kiss, in shock and surprise, and Wedge’stongue flicks into his mouth. Lando can taste the alcohol on histongue, cheap rotgut in an idiotic Corellian pilot’s mouth, Landohas played this game before and it has not ended well. In lettingWedge kiss him, he’s making a grave error in judgement, the sort ofthing which is stupidly reckless.

Wedgebreaks away. He regards Lando for a single, too-long moment, beforestepping back and releasing his grip. Lando is still too surprised todo anything. Another moment, and Wedge is walking away, and Landodoesn’tknow what he’s supposed to think.

.

“Whatthe hell did you say to Wedge?” Leia hisses at Lando in passing.

“Nothing!”is Lando’s reply, but he’s aware of the futility of it; you’dhave to be a fool to not notice that Wedge has tightened up recently,coming into his own as the commanderof Rogue Squadron, not just a fill-in who doesn’tthink he’s supposed to be there.

Leia’smouth pulls into a wicked smile. “Ahh.” There’s an assumptionthere, that Lando has followed the advice Leia gave him, and it’sfaulty; but Lando has thought about it, can’t stop thinking aboutit, ever since Wedge kissed him.

Sohe lets her be, because honestly, she’snot wrong. Screwing Wedge into the mattress probably would do him theworld of good.

.

It’searly morning – or at least, it is by ship’s time, not that thatmeans anything to anyone really. Lando is taking one last look roundhis office, attempting to commit the whole thing to memory beforehe’s cast out into the desert wastes, when Wedge slips round hisdoor. “I hear they’re sending you to Tatooine,” he says.

Information,barely a week old, had confirmed that Han was located in Jabba’spalace. It was from a reliable source, but Lando and Luke knew enoughabout Jabba that mounting an attack without inside information was afool’s errand; so, it’s Lando’s job, with the leastrecognisable characteristics of the four of them, to infiltrate. Heleaves in three hours. “If we’re gonna get Han back, someoneneeds to go, and it might as well be me.”

Wedgenods. He does it like he understands the responsibility of goingafter your best friend and dragging them back from hell itself. Maybehe’sdone that. Lando doesn’t really know him well enough to say.“Tattoine’s a shit hole.”

“I’maware.”

Uninvited,Wedge takes the chair in front of Lando’sdesk, swivelling it around so h can rest his arms on the back of it.“Yeah, Luke will have given you the salient points, but he grew upthere. He can’t really explain what it’s like. Whatever he’stold you, it’s about a thousand times worse.”

FromLuke’sdescription – along with the scant information in the Alliance datafiles – Tatooine is only a step away from hell. But in some ways,so was Cloud City, built in the upper atmosphere above a planet ofTibanna gas. Tatooine is a habitable world, without any modifications– well, except the need to bring a bundle of vaporators along withyou – and there is food, water in the atmosphere, and it’s notlike the core of the planet wants to eat you whole. There are worseplaces in the galaxy, and Lando’s visited a bunch of them. Histolerance may be higher than the average person’s. “And you’rean expert?”

Fromwhat Lando knows, Wedge hasn’teven been to Tatooine, but he suspects he’s wrong about that too.“Not an expert, but Booster took me there once as a kid. Well,thirteen. He said I should see a bit more of the Galaxy. It was hell.I swore after that week that Booster was certifiable.”

“Booster?”There’s a man who Lando has heard of, who had dealings on Tatooine,but he can’t be the man who Wedge is talking about.

“Terrik.”Or he is.

Landolets out a low whistle. “Well,turns out there’s something interesting about you after all. How’dyou get tangled up with Booster as a kid and not end up a smuggler?”

“Hewas a family friend; my parents would have killed him if he evertried to recruit me.” Wedge is surprisingly nonchalant about hisconnection to one of Corellia’s famed smugglers. “And who said Ididn’t?”

Landofiles that piece of information away for later. “So,have you got anything useful to tell me, or have you just come hereto inform me that Tatooine is going to be hell to live with?”

Thatwas not the only reason Wedge came. He does turn out to have amoderate amount of semi-useful information, gleamed from his ownexperiences and from stories from Luke, and another pilot he knewonce, by the name of Biggs. Some of them even make Lando laugh. Thathelps. Dread has settled in his stomach, ever since he and the othersdecided that Lando needed to go to Tatooine, and Wedge’ssmile and quick words help lift it. It’s still going to be bad, butLando can forget, for just a little while.

AfterWedge finishes recounting a tale, he cocks his head at Lando. Hebites his lip, looking almost speculative, then asks: “DidI kiss you last week?”

Landojust – only just – keeps his mouth dropping from surprise. Hetries to play it cool. “Youdid. Was it that forgettable?”

Wedgeregards Lando with no small degree of scrutiny. Finally, he sighs.“Notat all. Thought I might have dreamt it though.” Lando loses all thewords he was going to say. Is that an admission that Wedge wanted thekiss, that it wasn’t some spur of the moment thing? “Look, I knowthat I have god-awful timing, but can we try that again when I’mnot drunk off my face and in a depression spiral?”

What—

Landoblinks several times at Wedge in quick succession. He’sstill there. Lando isn’t imagining things. But he heard right;Wedge wants to kiss him. “You really do have awful timing,” Landosays, because he is leaving,and who knows if he’llsurvive Jabba’s clutches, or if Wedge will still be alive when hecomes back. But they’ve still got a little time, so Lando standsup, making his way round the desk so he can drag Wedge out of hischair and tip his head up and kiss him.

Asoft moan emerges from Wedge’smouth, as he clutches his hands in the soft material of Lando’sshirt. Lando pushes him back against the desk, sliding a thingbetween Wedge’s legs and wondering why on earth he didn’t trythis sooner. Wedge’s mouth is sweet under his, kissing back with aquiet fierceness that Lando didn’t expect. It’s completelydifferent from their last kiss, which was uncertain and full of adegree of wild desperation on Wedge’s part. This time, it’smutual, wanted and appreciated.

Whenthey break the kiss, Wedge stares at Lando for a long moment,observing his entire face. A flush has coloured his cheeks, Landoknows that, almost embarrassing but not because he likes Wedge, morethan he ever thought he would, and he’sat a point in his life where that’s okay with him. “I know mytiming’s rotten,” Wedge whispers. His head fits into the crook ofLando’s neck almost perfectly. “How much time do we have beforeyou leave?”

Landochecks his chrono. “Notenough.” He strokes a hand down Wedge’s jawline; it’s sharp andstrong, and there’s the barest hint of stubble in a few placeswhere Wedge must have been in a rush that morning. A finger beneathWedge’s chin tilts his mouth up to meet Lando’s again. Landotries to memorise Wedge’s mouth, his lips, his taste; this entiremoment. It’ll be something to keep to himself, a memory totreasure, to remind him that there’s the potential for somethinggood in his life. “Force.” He exhales, lips not breaking apartfrom Wedge’s, breathing the words into his mouth. “You betterstill be here when I get back Wedge.”

“I’lltry and stay safe.” It’s all he can promise. Anything more wouldbe a lie, and Lando knows it. Wedge slips a hand round Lando’swaist, pulling him in close. “I’ll try. I’m not fucking aroundwhen I say it’s dangerous.”

“Iknow you’re not.” Lando sweeps a hand through Wedge’s hair;it’s surprisingly soft. “I just like to get a chance to see it…”He trails off. However he was going to end that sentence is too manywords, too soon. So he kisses Wedge again, silently counting down thelast minutes he gets to spend with this man he unexpectedly adores.

“Yeah,”Wedge mutters into Lando’s mouth, and maybe, just maybe, they’lllive to see it.

.

Alive– though only barely – Lando flies back to the Alliance fleet onthe Millennium Falcon, alongside Chewie, Leia, and an unfrozen Han,who seems to be recovering his wits at a pace. The Falcon docks withHome One, and Lando says his goodbyes to the rest of them quickly –Han needs to see a proper medbay before they all debrief, so he’sgot time – and heads to the Hangar.

RogueSquadron’sX-Wings are in the hangar, twelve of them, none looking the worse forwear. Lando breathes a sigh of relief. It’s no guarantee, ofcourse, but it’s a good omen. He rounds a corner and finds Wedge,sitting on a crate, consulting a data pad, biting his lower lip infrustration. A couple of the other Rogues are dotted about thehangar, decompressing in their various individual ways, but Landoonly has eyes for Wedge.

Wedgelifts his eyes at the sound of Hobbie’sindignant cry as Janson tackles him to the floor, and catches sightof Lando. He ignores his pilots, sets the datapad down and slips offthe box he’s sitting on, making his way over to Lando. Lando slideshis hands in his pockets, attempting to look nonchalant – he can’tlet his entire reputation go – but he can feel his mouth workingits way into a giddy smile, because force damn it, he really doeslike Wedge, and he’s missedthebloke, and it’sjust a delight to properly see him.

Wedge’space is just a little faster than ordinary; he stops a foot clear ofLando, appraising him. “You don’t look too badly off, for someonewho spent a couple of month’s in Jabba’s palace,” he says.

“Yeahwell, I’m pretty glad that Jabba’s dead.” Lando wants to reachout and touch, pull Wedge close. But Wedge is maintaining a distanceand they’re in front of not just Rogue Squadron, but dozens ofsupport personnel, and they never did have a conversation aboutwhether they wanted to make their relationship public.

Wedgeraises his eyebrows. “Dead?”

“ThePrincess. Things went a little awry.” Lando makes a motion with hishand, waving the details away. Wedge is familiar enough with theantics of Skywalker and co. “Glad to be back. Any hope of somepeace and quiet and a chance to catch up?”

“I’mbooked to run sims with the kids in half an hour, but my evening isclear and yours.” Wedge looks a little bashful, but Lando smiles inappreciation. That’ll give him a chance to get properly clean andhave some sleep. “And peace and quiet ain’t on the radar. There’sbeen no formal announcement, but something’s definitely up; Iexpect they’ll brief you on it first chance they get.”

Landogroans, just a little, though he didn’treally expect anything else. “It’s not the welcome home you mighthave wanted, but I’ve got a bottle of whiskey in my quarters andI’ve been looking for an opportunity to share it,” Wedgesuggests.

“Darling,”the endearment falls off Lando’s tongue with accustomed ease, butWedge’s eyes widen like he wasn’t expecting it, “your companyis the only welcome home I wanted.”

“Oh.”Wedge steps forward, into Lando’s space and says; “In that case.”His hands move to the collar of Lando’s cape, and he pulls the maninto a kiss. It’s a little rough, and they still haven’t quiteworked out the height difference – Wedge still seems unaccustomedto kissing people taller than him – but it’s niceand honestly? Lando really could get used to this. There’shooting echoing behind them – probably Wedge’s pilots, but Landocouldn’t give a fuck right now – he just concentrates on kissingWedge, long and slow, taking his chance because who knows if therewill be another, Lando is lucky to get this homecoming.

Theypart; Lando strokes a hand down Wedge’sjaw and looks him over properly. He’s smiling, eyes bright, and helooks a world away from the man who Lando left a couple of monthsago, who had darkness bleeding at the edge of his psyche. Landodoesn’t dare to hope that Wedge is completely shot of that suicidalideation, but he looks happier; Lando won’t have to worry abouthim, anymore than he already would, with whatever this thing that iscoming is. “It’s good to see you,” Lando whispers, leaning backin for another kiss.

Wedgeresponds by wrapping his arms around Lando’sneck and pointedly ignoring the loud jeers from his gathered pilots,and yeah; Lando likes this.

[multi-muse-transect]

A Father’s Sacrifice

AU: There is still light in her.....Ezra knows it. Even Rey. As always, Mira Wren Bridger belongs to @meldy-arts

Mira Wren Bridger or now at least, Mira Ren, watches the window as star-destroyers and other ships fly past her. The ship she is in is the Chimaera, Thrawn’s flagship. Its been a month since her and Rey’s fight back at the base, she has recovered but her mother’s death haunts her. She didn’t save her mother...She wished that she held her temper in and just simply let go. The door behind her opens to reveal Grand Admiral/Director Thrawn himself. Mira looks at Thrawn underneath her mask as he enters the room causing her to take it off and turn to him.

“Sir.” Mira nodded. She still considers herself a soldier not a high ranking officer or commander. Something that Snoke doesn’t seem to like much but she obeys regardless.

“Interesting that you still call me sir despite your rank being obviously higher than mine.” Thrawn commented intrigued by Mira’s still soldier-like attitude.

“I’m still a soldier not a sith lord. Sir.” Mira replied.

“Aren’t we all soldiers to the First Order?” The Chiss countered.

“Well I guess soldiers come in different forms whether they be command or infantry. What brings you here to my room?”  Mira asks him.

“The supreme leader told me to tell you that we are mounting an assault on Coruscant. Even after the destruction of Starkiller base. Its a setback but the Resistance has only scratched the surface of the First Order. Now that their fleet has been destroyed, it its time to strike back.” Thrawn informed.

“Their victory will become their undoing then. Any news.....On the girl?” Mira asks him.

“Not known but she may have reached Skywalker alongside Solo.... But the Resistance is unpredictable to a degree and we must pay attention to them after what they’ve done.” He suggested.

“Leave them to me.” Mira added.

“No, no. The rest of the First Order can handle them. You shall be with the Knights of Ren in the assault of Corusant.” Thrawn said as Mira nods. He leaves the room with Mira following him. Mira activates her hologram disk which activates with Mira kneeling in front of it.

“Supreme leader.....” Mira greeted.

“I see you’ve heard news of our assault on Corusant, you and the Knights of Ren shall spearhead the attack on the capitol. Talon Ren will be the leader.” Snoke informed.

“Yes sir. By your teachings we shall succeed.....But what about the Resistance?” She asks.

“Our fleet led by general Hux and the super commandos shall seal their fate. The girl and Ben Solo has fled with Skywalker too...” Snoke replied.

“Then Resistance is truly dead. Your will shall be done sir.”  Mira assured.

“Your training hasn’t begun but you can apply skills to this mission. You shall bring an end to the senate truly.” The alien disappears before Mira rises. 

The city of Corusant is on panic mode right now. Hosnian Prime was destroyed by the First Order, a threat they only saw as a small band of fanatics who still believed in the empire. Politicians have either suggested to surrender to them or fight them but it remains divided. It makes sleeping uneasy, especially how night is open for anything. Watching over the planet is another republic fleet. They pick up something on radar much to their fear.

“Sir, we’ve picked up a large mass of contacts breaching the Corusant alert zone!” He notified his superior causing him to notice it.

“Go to condition one emergency! Alert the fleet!” The superior replied. Another soldier turns to him.

“Sir, First Order ships emerging from hyper-space! Its an invasion!” Soon a swarm of TIE fighters fly towards them as they start firing at the fleet decreasing their shields at a dramatic rate. 

“Sir, what do we do?!” The soldier asks as he looks at the incoming star destroyer in a humiliated face.

“.....Organa was right.” He is blasted away by an incoming fire. Flying towards the planet is an imperial shuttle drop-ship and flies among the TIE fighters. The citizens in the market are in panic as soldiers head out of their posts to open fire on them before the city suddenly goes dark. The lead soldier breathes in fear and looks around for a moment.....

Suddenly, they hear the shuttle land but they can’t see the lights. The crowd goes silent.....Suddenly, an orange lightsaber ignites and lights up the scene illuminating the place like a car with a mad driver behind it. Standing in front of them is Mira in her black cloak with mask resembling Rook Kast’s and visors glowing yellow in the dark. The soldier’s eyes widen in fear alongside his team.

“OPEN FIRE!” He ordered before Mira blocks the shots with the Knights of Ren following her. Mira uses the force to lift a soldier as the sharpshooter shoots him midair. She continues to block the shots and impales a soldier in the chest right before using the force take away their guns. A soldier aims a pistol at Mira’s head causing her to swing her saber at his stomach which slices him in half. Another fires his pistol at her but she uses the force to stop it then fires it back at him then force chokes one and slams him against a barrel of spices. A soldier continues firing at her but she simply decapitates him. 

Mira breathes heavily as the crowd mutters in the dark before she raises her lightsaber to reveal their scared look on there faces. The Knights of Ren continue their way into the city as stormtroopers round up civilians with Mira passing by. A young boy smacks a stormtrooper’s gun off his hand causing the trooper to pull out his sidearm as Mira quickly notices causing her to slice his weapon in half.

“You won’t be killing civilians around me soldier. Stand down.” Mira ordered as the stormtrooper looks at her before holstering his weapon. She helps the boy and gives him a pat on the shoulder before walking away. They overlook the now the occupied city of Corusant as Mira breathes it in then takes off her helmet to take it all in.

Ezra watches the TV in horror alongside Rey, Ben and Luke. Corusant has fallen into First Order hands.....Luckily, the Resistance has moved to Lothal after what happened. The First Order is expecting an empty base. But that won’t save them for long. Rey looks in sadness at the screen at what her girlfriend had become....But can feel her pain and sadness. Luke can sense it so can Ezra too.....

“She’s still there. Deep down inside her. There is still hope.”Luke said to Ezra as he turns to him. He remembers Sabine....She tried her best to talk to Mira. But he knew it was an accident. He can sense the guilt within his daughter, how she blames herself for falling into a trap.. 

“I can talk to her.” Rey suggested causing Ezra and Luke to turn around. 

“We were together once and I can talk to her.” She continued. Luke places his hands on Rey’s shoulders.

“Rey, I know how much you love her but she needs her father to talk to her. She believes she doesn’t deserve to be forgiven.This is her family’s matter.” Luke implored before Rey lets go and walks up to Ezra. 

“Mr. Bridger please!” Rey pleaded. Ezra hangs his eyes and looks at Rey for a moment....He sighs.

“Fine, but stick with me though. Mira is dangerous as of now and she’ll probably anticipate our plan.” 

Mira walks in the streets of the city and looks at the stores at night. People avoid her out of fear which is fine by her, she deserves to be alone after what she did. She can’t find forgiveness in herself. She doesn’t deserve it. Mira’s stomach grumbles causing her to turn to Dex’s diner. The Knights of Ren rookie feels a tap from behind her causing her to turn around to look down on a little boy, he appears to be homeless because of his rags. He reaches his hand out to her if she has anything.

She looks at him underneath her helmet so she checks her pocket and pulls out nine-hundred credits causing the boy to gasp in shock with Mira smiling. The boy takes it and runs off before Mira enters the diner. The patrons all turn to her in silence including Dex. Mira sighs then sits on a table and waits. A waitress droid arrives then hands her the menu.

“Thank you.” Mira thanked in her altered voice. She takes off her helmet revealing her face so she can read it clearly. Dex saw what she did outside so she gives the girl some slack. Unlike the other First Order members, she seems very human and not like a pompous jerk like the rest of them. Dex walks towards her.

“So what brings you here? First Order food ain’t good enough?” Dex asks.

“No, I was just hungry so I decided to find the nearest restaurant after a long day of patrolling for any criminals or insurrection against the supreme leader.” Mira explained.

“So you consider yourself a cop?” Dex replied.

“Funny, I was basically a cop before I ended up joining the Knights of Ren. First Order Rescue and Intelligence.” Mira explained with pride in her voice. Dex’s eyes widen.

“I heard about them. Specialize in hostage rescue, liberating places and even high risk missions. Best of the First Order.” 

“And I was.” She added with a small smile.

“So what made you join the Knights of Ren? By the looks of things, you’re force sensitive cause of the lightsaber you’re carrying.” He asks again.

“......A long story that I don’t want to go into.” Mira said. A disheveled-looking man enters the diner as Mira reads his mind....He’s a drug dealer. He’s making a deal with a Rodian in a booth in front of her. Mira leans to Dex.

“The man in the booth in front of me is making a deal with the Rodian.” Mira whispered. Dex glares at them.

“You don’t say....” Dex growled and walks towards the two. The man looks at Dex.

“Yeah we’d like the-”

“My Knights of Ren friend over there told me you’re selling the good stuff. Look punk, this isn’t some backwater bar. Get out of here before I call the troopers.” Dex warned. 

“Knights of Ren-Oh shit....” The Rodian cursed and looks at Mira. He looks back at Dex then her and back at Dex......The alien pulls out a blaster alongside his friend as he grabs Dex in a choke hold. Mira puts on her helmet then whips out her lightsaber. People in the diner panic as Mira gets up with the two scared.

“Sir, there are kids in the diner. Please don’t make me do this.” Mira warned. The man aims his DH-17 blaster pistol at Mira.....Before turning his attention to a child sitting in the counter. He then switches his aim to him but Mira uses the force to sway his arm and hit the menu board. The Rodian aims his blaster at Dex’s head. The two step out of the diner as Mira continues stand guard with her lightsaber in hand. She heads out with them.

“Back off! We’re not scared to off his sorry ass!” The Rodian warned. Mira looks back at the diner as the parents in there are covering their children’s eyes. She looks back at them as the people in the sidewalk watch in fear. Mira force pulls the Rodian’s accomplice’s gun which flies off as she walks up to him and punches him in the stomach. Dex elbows the Rodian’s stomach causing him to let go of him as he fires at Dex who avoids the shots with Mira pulling out her lightsaber again. He fires three shots at Mira, all of whom miss since she deflected most of them right before avoiding another shot to headbutt the Rodian in the face and tripping him. She aims her lightsaber at his neck as stormtroopers arrive at the scene. Mira deactivates her lightsaber and holsters it.

“MAMMA!” Mira quickly turns to see that the Rodian hit a mother who was defending her child. Rage pents up within her as the memories come back....Her mother on the ground dead by her own hands as an accident. How she fell to the dark side so easily..... 

“.....HOLD HIM.” She ordered before the troopers force the Rodian up. Mira reactivates her lightsaber then kills him with a swift slice to the chest. Little does she know, Ezra and Rey are watching cloaked among the crowd of people.

Mira walks in the slums continuing her patrol once more after another nap. Most of the degenerates there are behaving well so that means good news. Unlike the other Knights of Ren who focus on meditation and all sorts of things like worshiping Vader or any dark side user. Last time she attended one of those rituals, she swore she met Darth Revan and Bane in a vision. She calls in a speeder taxi which arrives then enters it. The driver is beyond scared right now but she doesn’t care, she just wants to go home. 

“Residential.” Mira explained before the driver flies off. The speeder rises and reveals the skylines of the city. Its like down there is hell and up here is heaven. Mira looks to the window to see the skywatch park where couples come there to see the view. She imagines herself with Rey, how their life could have been.....How it would have been so easy for her to join her. The speeder soon stops at the apartments with Mira getting out. It flies away with Mira still looking at the city. Her vision shifts to a clearer city as she can tell that someone is contacting her through the force. 

“Its beautiful isn’t it?” Sabine asks her as she joins with Mira watching the city. Mira continues to watch.

“Yeah....It is.” Mira replied.

“That is all going to change when the First Order arrives.” She said as Mira looks down for a moment.

“I don’t want things to change....” The Mandolorian muttered.

“They already have Mira....You have made me so proud.” Sabine replied causing Mira to turn around in confusion since Sabine is proud of her.

“But I killed you....I killed Mira Wren Bridger also. How can you be proud of a person like me?” Mira asks her.

“Because I know deep down inside that you’re the girl Ezra and I raised despite us not being there. Like I said before, Rey told us about you. How you were different from the others. How you show compassion and care for the people of Nima outpost. How you save people when you were an agent. You’re still my little girl.” Sabine smiled. Mira’s eyes widen underneath her helmet then turn to understanding.

“I need you to forgive yourself, can you do that for me?” She asks with her face turning serious.

“I....I think I can....” Mira answered feeling the light within her. Sabine smiles again with her arms crossed.

“Remember Mira, without hope.....we have nothing.” Sabine places her hand on Mira’s face plate of her helmet and smiles before vanishing. Mira finds herself standing in front of the entrance.....A cloaked figure stands in front of her. The figure removes her cloak revealing herself to be Rey herself. She is wearing a short sleeved shirt and also pants.

“Rey....” Mira greeted. 

“Mira....” The scavenger replied. Silence falls on the two.....

“You shouldn’t have come here.” Mira spoke as the two circle each other preparing for a fight. 

“But I came....” Rey countered.

“They’ve sent you to kill me didn’t they?” The Mandolorian asks in an unsurprising.

“No....Your father and I came here to bring you back to the light.” Rey explained which surprised Mira for a moment. She is caught off guard now...Mira knows how Snoke works. He goes for the ones you love.

“Where is he?” Mira asks her.

“Here.” Ezra’s voice called causing her to turn to see Ezra walking out of the apartment. She is surrounded now....If she joins the light then Snoke will end up targeting her father and Rey at the same time. She wants to protect them. Mira sighs.....

“Then you both shouldn’t have come here.” Mira spoke before pulling out her lightsaber. Ezra and Rey respond by doing the same.

“Mira don’t make me us fight you! We all want to help!” Ezra pleaded.

“No, you all want me to be something I’m not!” Mira lied. She runs towards Ezra then swings her saber like an axe but Ezra blocks it. Mira swings her saber left and right before raising it as Ezra defends himself. Rey runs towards Mira who turns to her with her lightsaber raised and blocks her strike. The recoil pulls Rey as Mira swings her saber against Rey’s to push her back. Mira throws a punch at Rey who ducks as Mira swings her lightsaber too. Rey then blocks another strike from her as Mira raises her saber again then slams it causing Rey to drop her it.

Mira breathes heavily in exhaustion as she looks down on Rey. Little does she know, a man and his wife spot the fight in their speeder. He has an incendiary grenade as he was a former rebel during the war. He drives the speeder towards Rey, Ezra, and Mira.

“Honey don’t-”

“EAT THIS IMPERIAL SCUM!” The man throws the grenade at Mira which sets her on fire causing her to scream in horror. The fire burns MIra’s cloak off....revealing her armor underneath it. It resembles Rook Kast’s armor except black and also a little samurai-like. Mira gets up as the man’s eyes widen knowing he made a huge mistake. 

“GET OUT OF THE SPEEDER AND ON THE GROUND NOW!” Mira roared before pulling out some handcuffs but Rey tackles her causing her to drop her saber. Mira force pulls her lightsaber towards her which she catches then runs towards Rey who reclaims hers as well. Ezra comes in between the two as he interrupts Mira which catches her off guard. She blocks everything Ezra throws at her but his swings are too fast for her to catch up. Ezra throws one last swing which knocks away her lightsaber. Mira runs towards where it landed so she can grab it but Ezra uses the force to take it away from her. She turns around towards Ezra.

“Mira stop this! I know you didn’t mean to kill your mother, you didn’t mean any of this to happen to anyone.” Ezra pleaded and walks towards her. Mira removes her helmet.

“I said its too late for me! I’m far too gone to the dark side!” Mira countered as she is close to pulling out her blaster on Ezra.

“No, you’re not. You’re being something you are not. We saw what you did.....and that is not what a dark sider nor a sith does. Sure you killed him but you saved lives....Wasn’t that your job once? Saving people?” Ezra asks her causing Mira to fall silent.....

“You care about the well being of others. If you were far too gone in the dark side then you wouldn’t have cared for them. My daughter is not dead, she’s far from dead.” He continued.

“We miss you Mira....I know you don’t know us well but we all are waiting for you. Everyone is.” Mira looks at Ezra for a moment....

“What do you mean everyone?”

“Your real family.” Ezra replied. Mira looks at her lightsaber for a moment then back at Ezra. He can sense the conflict within her.....She’s giving in to the light. Ezra places his grip on the lightsaber so he can take it. The Jedi holsters the weapon on his belt as Rey sighs in relief that Mira has come back to her. Mira takes off her helmet and smiles before Rey grabs her cheeks and kisses her then lets go. Ezra smiles at his daughter and future daughter in law, Sabine would be proud. He activates his coms.

“Spectre-1, this is spectre-5, we’ve got the package over.” Little does he know, the Knights of Ren sniper saw the whole thing from afar. Rage builds up in him as he saw Kylo Ren like a brother and now she betrays the Knights who trusted her for months?! He aims his rifle at Mira who is distracted with Rey. Ezra senses the sniper causing him to run towards Mira.

“Mira look out!” He pushes her out of the way as the sniper hits him in the shoulder then the chest. Mira gets up and looks in shock.

“NO!” Mira cried as she runs towards her father. She lifts him up as Ezra gasps for air and breathes heavily. He coughs in pain.

“No....Not you.....Dad please stay with me!” She pleaded knowing she lost her mother and she can’t loose her father.

“Mira....I’m so proud of you....” Ezra painfully muttered. He places his hand on hers.

“We.....Sabine....And I....Made a good kid....Phasma raised you well......” He smiled.

“Dad......” Mira tearfully spoke with her voice quaking. 

“.....I am one with the force.....The force....Is with me....” Ezra closes his eyes and smiles before Mira could feel the life drain out of him. The ghost decloaks as the hatch opens to reveal Kanan and Zeb who’s eyes widen and runs towards Ezra’s lifeless body. Mira picks up her dead father and runs with Rey into the ghost before it cloaks again then flies.

Kanan felt it. He felt Ezra die. Ezra Bridger, his student and basically is son....Gone. First was Sabine and now him. Luckily his death wasn’t in vain at all. None of it was. With a sad smile, Kanan takes off his mask and places Ezra’s old lightsaber on his hand.

“.....You did good kid.” Kanan sadly complemented. What he doesn’t know is that Mira is watching him before heading off to the cockpit to sit with Zeb. 

“It wasn’t your fault kid.” He sadly assured.

The Resistance gather around the pyre for Ezra Bridger. His ashes is to be with Sabine in Lothal where they would be beside each other in Ezra’s old home. Hera hasn’t spoken nor Kanan as the two watch in silence. Leia also and Han who was best friends with Ezra. Luke remembers the arguments they had when he signed in on his order and wonders if that’s the reason why it failed, how Ezra left his order because he wanted to fight and help people...

Watching beside them is Mira, Rey, and Ben. The two sense the pain within Mira since she has just lost her parents. Ben places his hand on Mira’s shoulder pad. Tears stream from Mira’s eyes as she grits her teeth before kneeling on the ground hanging her head in remorse in sadness.

Mira sits on her bed looking at her helmet while rest of her armor is on a mannequin. This was her former self....There was no difference though. Her past and former self had no differences, they were basically just different names. Mira Ren, agent Mira, FN-5678, or just Mira....but she knows what she is. She is Mira Wren Bridger, clan Wren and house Bridger. The door slides open to reveal Rey with some kind of chip. 

“Hard to believe that you’re back to the light side now huh?” Rey spoke. 

“Yeah....” Mira replied.

“Your father wanted to give this to you. I think its something important.I know its been a month but I think he would want you to have it.” She presents the chip as Mira takes it then installs it onto the computer. A holographic image pops up revealing a picture of Sabine taking a self Ezra smiles at the camera while holding a baby Mira. Rey smiles at the picture as Mira is silence.

“Happy Birthday Mira Wren Bridger.”