02 | dameron's dilemma

"WHEN I SAID I WANTED TO GET A PIECE OF THE ACTION, I DON'T THINK THIS WAS EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT." 

EMPIRE BASE, BATUU, OUTER RIM-

Giving a groan as Poe rubbed his head, trying to gain a clear picture of his surroundings, the young man gave out a sigh of frustration. This was probably exactly the worst situation that he could've been thrown into during this mission- and getting this one mission had been hard enough.

The Resistance wasn't really all too for listening to what the young pilot Poe Dameron had to say about- well, anything really. He was a younger pilot, only really known for the reputation that preceded him by his mother. He was known as the spunky 24 year old pilot who didn't know any better, and every mission that he had been a part of was one to prove himself-to show that he was a man ready for whatever the leadership had ready for him.

Now he was trying to process the fact that the only real other rebellion grouping inside of the galaxy was not one, but two women, the two having blown the base that he was supposed to infiltrate to get the latest details on Empire grade weapons and their new strategies to smithereens- along with any chances of the Resistance actually trusting him. He wasn't sure of the relation between the two women who had royally screwed up everything for him, but he was sure of one thing about the two of them- they both wielded lightsabers, a lost weapon of the former Jedi of over 60 years ago.

Oh, and the cherry on top of the cake was that the young woman that he ran into (who probably couldn't have been much older than him at the time) could use the mythical power called the Force, which actually added onto the long list of questions that Poe had instead of resolving them.

And now, he was barely outside of the outskirts of a base that had somehow imploded behind him when he had been stunned by that same young woman, the blaster that he had been given as protection long gone with her. Which was exactly what he wanted while dealing with an Empire that was most likely to have questions about why one of their bases had just been blown to kingdom come.

Picking himself out of the crumbling ruins of the Batuu base, Poe reached into his jacket for his comm device, giving another sigh before pressing into it, deciding to speak up. "This is Dameron." He winced, trying to brace himself for the words that he didn't want to tell the leaders of the Resistance. "We lost the Batuu base. But I think we have a bigger problem."

Doors whooshed in front of Poe as soon as he returned back to the new system where the group of the Resistance ships were stationed, the first person he was greeted with being General Organa, with a rather unhappy look on her face. Of course it was her to greet her. Poe had always considered the woman to be his advocate inside of the Resistance's higher ranks, especially given her connection to his late mother, and the fact that she had essentially been his maternal figure after he had lost his own. "What do you mean, bigger problem, Dameron?"

"Soterios. There's more to them than we originally thought." Poe remarked, looking behind him to make sure that the new BB unit that he had been gifted a couple of months earlier after being officially welcomed into the fold of the Resistance was following him. The droid's name was BB-8, and to be honest, Poe had taken quite a liking to the BB unit that had a mouth and mind of his own.

"What do you mean?" General Organa questioned, a look of confusion immediately replacing the peeved one that had been plastered over her face, clear as day, seconds before. "I thought that we had established that it was probably a myth if anything- or some rogue person who had just gotten enough stories around them to make it seem like they were some great help."

"Yeah well, it turns out that it isn't the case." Poe started to walk down the hallway of the main Resistance ship, trying to think of the way to best word everything that he was about to say to the general without completely perplexing her or throwing her off from the words that he was about to say. "It turns out that Soterios isn't a myth. It's two women."

There was a pause after he said that, an annoyed expression falling upon Leia's face, the woman stopping in her tracks almost as if to say, that's all of the information that you were giving me with this, really?. But she could tell that there was something more, something deeper from the way that Poe was flustered- even if he was being a little incompetent at explaining it.

"They both can wield sabers. I saw one- she looked younger, probably born a little after Skywalker turned- hold it in her hand. The hilt was unmistakable. And if one has the power, and the rumors around the galaxy that have been circulating about a green and blue saber that line up with Soterios are true, then-" Poe took a deep breath, shifting the weight of his body to a more relaxed position as he placed his hands on his hips, making a light gesture with his hand. "I mean, we can only assume."

"This... this changes a lot of things for the Resistance." Leia mumbled under her breath, her right hand immediately coming to rest under her chin, the woman contemplating all of the plans that the Resistance had that could potentially go up into flames with the revelation that Soterios was such a powerful group. "But what were they doing at that Batuu base? I know that we sent out the coordinates of the base to help with our mission over the encrypted channel, but that line is secure. How-"

"They were looking for something. What in particular, I don't know. I was able to pick up the end of a conversation before I realized what was going on and tried to get some answers, but that backfired in more ways than one. The younger one-" Poe hesitated with the information that he had, looking back and forth in the very sparsely populated hallway to make sure that no one would hear what he had to say next. "She used the Force to grab my blaster from my hands and make sure that I couldn't follow her and her accomplice."

"Poe, even that seems a little out of hand." Leia sighed, now thinking that maybe the young man was having delusions of grandeur. She could wrap her head around some of the information she had been given by the young pilot, sure, but the concept of the Force finding itself inside of a young woman?

Poe and Leia both knew that it was impossible.

Luke Skywalker had ensured that no one would ever rise to compete for his power. He had gone mad on a spree of eliminating anyone that was remotely in tune with the Force, sending his prized Inquisitor down to conquer any remains of the last of the men and women in half of the galaxy and kill them to prevent any resistance to his rule.Anyone who could cause even the slightest disturbance in the Force had been hunted down and killed like animals heading to the slaughter by the Inquisitor and his terrifying ruler.

Leia could still remember the day that she had been hunted and found with her son and her husband by her own brother. She could still remember the pleas for him to stop, the screams, and the endless tears that had been shed while she grieved over the body of her dead son. She could remember everything so vividly, like the things that had happened over 20 years ago were just yesterday.

Leia had been lucky to escape with her life the day that Luke had found where she had been sheltering on a planet that was full of secrets and places easy to hide- but her son had not been so lucky. Sometimes she wondered if Luke had just killed him and spared her to let her and Han suffer after they had failed to bring him back to the light. Back to everyone that he had cared about after Alora's death.

But how wrong that idea had been.

"You and I both know what Luke did to ensure that no one would ever come to challenge his power. What he still continues to do. Everytime there's a disturbance inside of the Force, it gets snuffed out as quickly as it comes." Leia shook her head, not believing for a second that there was someone still out there that could stop Luke- that had the power that would allow the galaxy to hope again.

"General, I know about everything that you've lost." Poe spoke tentatively, realizing that what they were discussing made a deep memory that had been suppressed inside of Leia's brain come back to light, understanding that he had to tread carefully with his words. "But I know what I saw. The evidence that I had seen doesn't lie- at least not to me. You have to trust me, General."

There was a moment of silence as Leia closed her eyes, deeply considering everything that was in play at the moment. To pull all of their scattered Resistance resources across the galaxy to focus in on this one hope, this one singular girl, was too much. It would risk too much with all of the moving pieces at play that were scattered across the game board in the twisted game of chess the Resistance played with the Empire.

But this path had to be explored. Something deep inside Leia had a fluttering feeling that suggested that Poe was right, an instinct that she had always trusted to make decisions before in the Rebellion and now in the reformed Resistance. There wasn't an easy way to do everything that the Resistance needed to do, but yet-

"I trust you, Poe." The general whispered, watching as a deep sigh was released from the young pilot in front of her. She wasn't sure if it was out of relief that the worst of the conversation was over or at the mere concept that she trusted him, but it allowed for a small smile to fall upon her face. "But this information? It's crazy. The other leaders wouldn't believe you if you came forward with it."

"I know." The young pilot whispered, his own thoughts now racing at a mile a minute. "They all like to focus on the tangible, what they can see in front of them. Facts, data, evidence, schematics- they'd rather study the possible and the reality rather than the fantasy and the impossible." He scoffed at the thought of the other Resistance leaders actually believing something that was just told to them by a simple pilot like him- they would laugh him out of the room. "That's why I'm grateful I found you first. You're the only one with any remote connection to the things that I saw in Batuu. If anyone would know what to do about any of this, it would be you."

"Even so, all of the mystical sides of the Force were Luke's expertise before he turned." Leia remarked, muttering a string of curses under her breath as she tried to remember the small tidbits of information she had been told as a child on Alderaan and the small discussions that she had once had with her former Jedi brother. "Although, I suppose-"

"What?" Poe leapt at the opportunity for something to come out of the information that he had gotten, the hope that his mission wasn't going to be fruitless bubbling up inside of him as he waited for Leia to fully explain the concept that was running around inside of her head. "What is it?"

Tapping her fingers on her chin for a moment, Leia finally remembered the information that she needed- formulating a plan as she began to speak in hushed tones with Poe, the two of them continuing their walk down the Resistance ship so as to not arouse any suspicion. "Whatever happens next- whatever we decide to do- this has to stay a mission only for you and only between us. No matter what orders you get, you report directly to me on this mission. The information is too sensitive for it to get out too far, so we keep the circle tight."

"Of course." Poe agreed, trying to keep up with the quickened walking pace of the general that was beside him. "The information that I told you isn't' going to go anywhere. Well, maybe expect into my droid's hard drive, but I've programmed him to keep secrets for the Resistance just in case." The young pilot flashed another look down at the rolling ball of a droid that was still by his side, some quick and happy beeps of affirmation the only thing that he got from the droid.

"There's a woman. And old friend of the Resistance that knows quite a lot about the Force and the Jedi and any and all of the rumors that circulate around the galaxy about any of the information that pertains to lightsabers. If you go to her, maybe she can provide some answers on what you've seen."

The general took a hard drive out from the inside pocket of the simple cloth vest that she had been wearing, holding it out for Poe to grab. "Her name is Maz Kanata. Her last coordinates were seen here. Find her, and-"

"We might be able to find Soterios. And if we find them, we can convince them to join our fight." Poe realized, carefully wrapping his hand around the hard drive and the important information inside, gripping it as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

"This might change the tide of everything that we've been working for." Leia finished the sentence that Poe was inevitably going to say, seeing a new spark of determination and hope light up inside of his eyes. " But we have to be discreet about it. If Soterios finds out that the Resistance is on their heels, it's not only going to be a problem for them but for us. This is an unauthorized mission in all technicalities, so you have to be willing to do whatever it takes- no matter the consequences."

"I understand, General." Poe spoke, bending down quickly to give the hard drive to his droid, who absorbed the information that he had been given quickly and promptly. "You won't hear a word from me unless the situation gets dire. Even then, I'll use your specific channel if it does." Gathering himself together, the young pilot gave a respectful dip of his head to the Resistance general before moving away from her, heading back to his X-Wing where he would leave the base just about as quickly as he had arrived."

"Poe?" Leia called out one final time, seeing the young pilot turn around expectantly, the woman herself unsure of what she was going to tell the young man. What he was doing, what she had assigned him- it was risky, and she wanted to tell him so many things before he left. But there was really only one thing fitting-

"May the Force be with you." 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

okay hello this was written all in the span of I'd like to say the past hour or so???

idk I was challenged by angel because she said I hadn't updated this fic in a little while and I was like, you know what, she's right, lemme just have all the ideas that I have been daydreaming and thinking about for the past week and a half and slap them into a chapter

so essentially, this chapter was made out of determination and spite

alrighty, anyways, we get a basic introduction to this universe's versions of poe and leia, we get some more backstory on what the hell the sith lord mister luke skywalker has been doing in the galaxy (aka some fuxked up shit) and we get some more stuff to drive the plot forward!

the next chapter is going to be a SUPER fun one, I'm really looking forward to it!!

okay I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one! 

bye!