6 | FIRST ORDER ATTACK

Once the two returned to the new Resistance base, Celestia hurried over to Poe's fighter before he could even unbuckle himself. She climbed up the side of it so she could be head-level with him. She smiled widely at him. "What?" He chuckled.

"You said I love you." She poked his chest.

Poe blushed. "Like you didn't already know." He rolled his eyes, trying to brush it off.

"But you said it first. Ha!" She laughed at him.

"Haha, it's so funny, isn't it?" Poe punched her arm.

"It really is." She leaned over to give him a quick peck on the lips.

* * *

Poe and Celestia were summoned by Leia quickly after the encounter with the First Order dreadnought. Leia instantly slapped Poe when they stood before her, before a word was even exchange. "You're demoted." She told him.

"What?! We took down a dreadnought!" Poe felt like he had gained her a victory, not a loss.

"At what cost?" She grunted at him.

"You start an attack. You follow it through." Poe explained.

"Poe, get your head out of your cockpit. There are things you cannot solve bu jumping in an X-wing and blowing something up! I need you to learn that." Leia scolded him, then turned to Celestia. Cel flinched, anticipating a slap from her, too. "You're promoted. You've got, Poe's job now. You were very brave and were willing to sacrifice yourself so that the others could escape." Leia complimented.

"Thank you, General." Celestia curtly nodded at her boss.

Leia walked away from them, leaving Cel to stick her tongue out at Poe. "This isn't fair." Poe groaned.

"You know what this tastes like? Sweet justice." She began to dance by herself in front of Poe, rubbing her promotion in his face. He hadn't been so kind when he got the job as commander, either, so it was her turn to make him jealous.

Poe's entire demeanor changed as he realized he could use her to get something that his new position as Captain could not. He took a suggestive step toward her and bit his lower lip as he gazed at her. Cel stopped dancing, immediately, and folded her arms across her chest. "What do you want?"

"Cel—"

"Ahem!" She stopped him right there so that he could address her, properly.

"Commander Djarin." Poe traced his finger along her jaw, making her heart melt for him. He knew the things he could do to make her weak in the knees for him, and he was going to do just that to exploit her new level of superiority. Celestia had her ways with Poe, as well, but in that moment, Poe had her wrapped around his finger—though, usually it was the other way around. "I need a favor." He smiled, devilishly.

"Favors aren't free." Cel raised a suggestive brow at him.

"Oh, I'll be sure to repay you, handsomely." Poe leaned over to whisper in her ear as he promised her to return the favor.

"What is it?" She laughed as she pushed his face away from her, taking him seriously now.

"The First Order has a tracking device on our lead ship. Finn and Rose have a plan to destroy the tracker to get the First Order off our heels." Poe began to explain.

"What do you need me for?" Celestia seemed lost as to where she fit in the picture.

"We need a code breaker to get through the First Order's shields. And the only person we know is on Canto Bight. I need you to clear them a ship." Poe informed.

"The General would never let me—" Cel began.

"That's why I'm asking you, not her." Poe elaborated.

Cel sighed. "Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

Celestia stood in the control room, watching the projected images for any incoming enemies. The First Order was certainly tracking them. They had just jumped into hyperdrive to move to a deserted location in space, and they were still at their heels. "We're really no where. How's Rey going to find us now?" Finn questioned Leia, worried for his friend.

Leia reached out her arm and shoes him her binary beacon she had strapped on her wrist. It glowed a subtle blue light and quietly beeped at a constant rate. "A cloaked binary beacon." Finn named it.

Leia nodded curtly at him. "To light her way home." She smiled small, realizing the Resistance was the girl's home now.

"All right, so, until she gets back, what's the plan?" Finn turned to Celestia.

"We're looking for a new base. One with enough power to get a distress signal to our allies scattered in the Outer Rim. We're contacting every ally we have nearby, but it's kind of difficult when you're in the middle of no where." Celestia informed him, her eyes trailing away from the monitors.

Suddenly, in that one moment she looked away from keeping watch for any enemies nearing the ship, a loud alarm began to blare. Cel's eyes flickered over to the projections. "Proximity alert!" One of her comrades called out.

Cel groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. "They've found us." She added, suggesting the First Order was at their heels again.

"That's impossible." She heard someone whisper, in disbelief. But, she knew better now that she knew the First Order had a tracker on them. She hadn't had the opportunity to release a ship for Finn and Rose quite yet, but, as the First Order was creeping on them and they were running out of fuel, she was eventually going to be forced to let them go.

Poe hurried over to Celestia as she began to press buttons on the console, calling everyone to their posts. He leaned over to take a peak at the projected images before her. "That's Snoke's ship." He gritted his teeth, angrily. "You got to be kidding me."

Poe grabbed the collar of Celestia's orange jumpsuit that matched his, as it was their uniform as pilots of the Resistance, to pull her attention away from the buttons. "Can we jump to light speed?" He frantically asked, her.

"Don't you think I've already thought about that? We have enough fuel resources for just one jump. Then, we're done for." Cel lowered her voice to a whisper. "And they'll find us wherever we go after that, then we're really screwed."

"Do it, we gotta get out of here." Poe shook his head at her, knowing they were screwed, regardless.

"No."
"Yes!"
"No!"

"What's the issue here?" Leia snapped her head over to the bickering couple.

"General, they've been tracking us through light speed. If we make that jump, they'll just find us again." Celestia finally blurred out. She wasn't going to hide the core of their issues from her, anymore. Eventually, she would've figured it out, anyway.

"Permission to jump in an X-Wing and blow something up?" Poe eagerly asked Leia, wanting to participate in the chaos.

"Permission granted." Leia was taken aback by the sudden realization. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it earlier herself. She allowed for Poe to do what he wanted to do without even putting much thought into it because she was still processing what Celestia had just informed her of.

While Leia began to bark commands at the Admiral and others, Celestia sneaked over to Poe and grabbed the cloth of his clothes on his arm and pulled him out of the control room. "Get Rose, I'll ready your ship. You have five minutes." She instructed him, he nodded at her and she sprinted down toward the hangar.

Cel opened the ship and powered it on, hoping Finn or Rose knew how to fly an X-Wing.

Out of nowhere, the entire base shook from being attacked by the First Order. Various First Order ships began to shoot toward the hangar as they knew the fighters would soon be deployed. Suddenly, one of the First Order fighters shot right into the hangar, causing a massive explosion where Celestia was. Fires raged around her and the impact of the combustion caused her to go flying out of the fighter she was starting up for Finn. Soon, the air in the hangar grew thick from the smoke, disallowing her to breathe properly. She coughed and began to slowly rise to her feet, despite the dull pain she felt from being launched nearly a hundred yards.

"Celestia!" She heard Poe's voice shout from afar. She looked up and saw him at the entrance of the hangar, beginning to bolt over to her.

She quickened her pace to escape the hangar now engulfed in flames. Poe reached her and grabbed one of her arms to wrap around his neck as he helped her escape the burning room. Once they left the hangar, the doors to it instantly sealed shut to keep the oxygen from the ship to slip away into space as the hangar's force field had been penetrated from the explosion.

Celestia coughed out the smog she had inhaled from the hangar, trying to take in new, clean air. Her entire body was singed and her face was was black from the remnants of the fires sticking to her face.

* * *

Commander D'Acy, Leia's right hand, gathered everyone remaining on the nearly completely destroyed ship after they managed to escape the attack of the First Order. "General Organa, Leia, is unconscious but recovering. That's the only good news I have. Admiral Ackbar, all our leadership, they're gone. Leia was the sole survivor on the bridge." Everyone muttered words of grief and mourning, sad they had took such a large loss. "If she were here, she'd say save your sorrow for after the fight. To that end, the chain of command is clear as to who should take her place. Vice Admiral Holdo of the cruiser Ninka." The commander stepped away from the center of the people to allow Holdo to begin her own speech before them all.

"Four hundred of us on three ships. We're the very last of the Resistance. But we're not alone. In every corner of the galaxy, the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol, and they put their hope in it. We are the spark that will light the fire that will restore the Republic. That spark, this Resistance, must survive. That is our mission. Now, to your stations. And may the Force be with us." Holdo concluded her speech.

Poe looked around the room, analyzing everyone's reactions. They seemed satisfied with her bullshit speech. "That's Admiral Holdo?" He muttered to Cel.
"Battle of Chyron Belt Admiral Holdo?"

"Not what you expected?" Celestia chuckled.

"Nope." He sprung to his feet to speak with her.

"Don't do anything stupid." She warned him as he walked off. He waved her off, sending her a simple pshhhhh sound as he went to go bother their new interim boss.

* * *

"Let's try this again." Celestia mumbled to herself as she deployed a single escape pod from the control room for Finn and Rose.

She stood guard by the monitors to keep Admiral Holdo from stopping their plan. The radar began to beep as they fled from the ship. "What was that?" The Admiral questioned Celestia.

"Nothing, Admiral. Passing debris." She kept her from getting too curious.

"I'm watching you, Djarin. You've got the same spirit as your little flyboy boyfriend. And I don't like it." Holdo growled at her.

Celestia furrowed her brows at her, making Holdo feel like she was crazy. "Okay, Admiral." Celestia restrained herself from snickering at her extreme seriousness.