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chapter forty-two: necessary risk
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    "ALRIGHT, HERE'S THE PLAN," Poe says as their group circles up. Finn, Rose, Indira, BB-8, and EV-1 all gather around to listen to his newfound strategy. "Obviously, we're not letting anything happen to Finn. He hasn't done anything wrong and he doesn't deserve to be locked up in a cell like Stefan — who, by the way, we are totally busting out of prison."

     "How are we going to do that?" Indira asks, brow furrowed. "Isn't his cell guarded?"

     "Connix will help," he explains. "I've got comm links for all of us to communicate with her. She has access to the prison cells and the schedule for the guards, so I asked her to tamper with their shifts. We should have a window of about five minutes between one of the rotations where the cell is unguarded."

     "So, during that time you sneak in and do what?" She frowns. "The cell doors have encrypted codes and they have cameras watching them at all times. If we break Stefan out, someone will notice."

     He nods. "That's right," he says. "But BeeBee can get the doors open and Evie can loop the camera footage for Stefan's cell. If we set up a decoy, it should stall the guards long enough for us to smuggle him out."

     Indira shakes her head, thoroughly unconvinced. "Even if we manage to successfully break Stefan out without getting caught, Holdo will still be after Finn," she warns. "This doesn't fix any of our problems; it just creates more of them."

      "Maybe not," Finn says. He looks to Poe. "We might have come up with a plan to disable the tracker."

     "Emphasis on the might part," Indira interrupts. "It's mostly just a theory — nothing concrete yet."

     Immediately, Poe's head snaps over to Finn. "What's the plan?"

     He sets his hands on his hips. "We figured out that they're only tracking us from that ship."

     Poe nods thoughtfully. "So we blow that one up?"

     "I like where your head is at, but no," Finn replies. "They'd only start tracking us from another destroyer. But, if we sneak on board the lead ship and disable the tracker without them realizing, then we can —"

     "They won't realize it's off for one system cycle," Rose interrupts. "About six minutes."

     "If we disable that tracker, the fleet can jump to lightspeed and escape before they even realize it," Finn finishes. "But we need a pilot to get us there."

     Poe's eyes light up. "You need a pilot?"

     Finn smiles slightly at that — as if it's some sort of inside joke — before shaking his head. "It can't be you this time," he says and Poe's shoulders slump with disappointment. "We need you to stay here and jump the ship to lightspeed once the tracker is disabled."

     "If we break Stefan out ... he could be your pilot," Indira muses, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "That might work."

     Poe nods. "Okay then," he says, clapping his hands together. "I guess that means that we've got a prison to break."

    STEFAN NAKADA LOOKS startled when he sees Poe Dameron standing outside his cell. For a fleeting moment, panic flashes across his face before Poe grins and presses the button that causes the door to go sliding open. Instantly, Stefan scrambles to his feet and stands, giving Poe an inquisitive look that he returns with a smile.

"You're welcome," he says nonchalantly, leaning against the wall lazily.

     Stefan's brow furrows before he crosses his arms over his chest. "Took you long enough."

     Poe barks out a laugh and shakes his head. "Yeah, well, planning a prison break isn't exactly easy business," he replies, ruffling his hair slightly. "Never thought I'd have to do something like that on a Resistance ship, but I guess there's a first time for everything."

     Stefan's face falls. "So you didn't come here to tell me that the vice admiral has changed her mind about locking me up?"

     Poe sighs and claps a hand on his shoulder. "Unfortunately not, pal," he admits. Beside him, BB-8 makes a sympathetic sound. "But we're still getting you out."

     His brow furrows. "Won't someone notice I'm gone?"

     "Eventually, I'm sure they will," Poe admits. "But we've scrambled their cameras and looped the footage, so it'll take them some time to figure it out. We've gotta get out of here, though. If the next guard shows up, then we'll both end up in a cell."

     Stefan gestures for him to step forward. "By all means, lead the way."

     As they sneak down the corridors of the ship, Poe fills Stefan in on the bare details of Finn and Rose's plan, explaining their idea about disabling the First Order's tracker. However, as he rehashes their strategy, a frown creases the captain's brow.

     "You can't just sneak onto Snoke's ship," Stefan tells Poe. "All vessels are required to present clearance codes before they're allowed onto First Order destroyers."

     Poe rubs a hand over his face. "Kriff. Is there any way to bypass the codes? Could we steal them from somewhere?"

     "No," Stefan replies with a shake of his head. "The First Order keeps their codes bio-hexaencrypted and re-scrambles them every hour. You can't get through their security shields undetected. Nobody can."

     "Kriff," Poe swears again as they approach the doors to the deserted medical wing where Finn, Indira, and Rose are waiting. "Alright, you know what? It'll be fine, we'll figure something out. Let's just get you out of sight."

     The doors slide open and the two men slip into the room with BB-8 following close behind. As soon as the doors close, Poe hears Finn and Rose let out triumphant whoops. From her place at Leia's bedside, Indira laughs and shakes her head in disbelief. Poe winks at her, feeling very pleased with himself despite of the urgency of the situation at hand, and when she rolls her eyes at him it makes his smile grow even bigger.

     "Well, look who we have here," Finn announces. "If it isn't my fellow traitor. Tell me, comrade, how goes our diabolical quest to destroy the Resistance from the inside?"

     Stefan gives him a rueful smile. "Did Holdo to come after you, too?"

     He nods. "Not yet, but I'm officially on the watchlist."

     "Are you alright, Stefan?" Indira asks. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

     "I'm fine," Stefan reassures her. "I wasn't treated badly."

     "Gods, I'm so sorry," she apologizes, smacking a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe Holdo would do something like that."

     "She was only doing what she thought was best for the safety of your ship," he replies. "But I'm glad to know that none of you thought I was a traitor."

     "Never," Indira reassures him before her eyes drift over to Poe's and she gives him a rueful smile. "I wasn't sure that this plan would work, but I'm glad that it did."

"Oh, ye of little faith," he replies teasingly. "Believe it or not, this wasn't my first prison break."

     "Well, I still think it was a terrible idea!" C-3PO interjects. "If Vice Admiral Holdo finds out about this —"

     "She won't find out," Poe replies, shushing him. "We've got it all taken care of." He frowns. "Well, mostly taken care of."

     At that, Indira's brow furrows. "Mostly? What do you mean mostly?"

    His shoulders slump. "There's been a small hiccup in our plan."

     "Of course," she sighs. "What now?"

     "The destroyers have high-tech security shields that can only be bypassed with clearance codes," Stefan answers. "Clearance codes that are bio-hexaencrypted and re-scrambled every hour. Without them, it's impossible to get past their shields."

     "Shit," Indira hisses through her teeth. "What are we going to do?"

     "We find a codebreaker," Rose suggests, looking around the room. "Someone who could bypass the encryption and allow us to get past the shields."

     "Yeah, but do you guys know any codebreakers skilled enough to do that?" Finn asks. "Because I don't."

     At that, Poe's brow furrows. "Actually," he says with a slight smile, "you do. I think it's time we give our friend Maz a call."

"COULD I DO IT?" Maz Kanata repeats. The small, orange-skinned alien scoffs on her end of the holographic projection before ducking to avoid a blaster shot. Indira frowns as she watches the strange woman dodge incoming gunfire. "Of course I could do it. But, I can't do it — I'm a little tied down right now!"

Indira had never met Maz Kanata before, but she knew the woman by reputation. Her legacy as the owner of Maz's Castle on Takodana had been infamous — until the First Order blew her fortress apart in a skirmish against the Resistance. In the months since then, it seemed that Maz's life had spiraled greatly.

"Maz, what is happening?" Finn asks, sounding just as confused as Indira feels.

"These First Order goons have been on my tail for weeks," she gripes. "You do not want to hear about it."

"Oh, dear!" C-3PO gasps unhelpfully as a blast of gunfire nearly strikes Maz in the shoulder before she ducks for cover.

"Lucky for you," she continues, "there is exactly one guy I trust who can crack that kind of security. He's a master codebreaker, an ace pilot, a poet with a blaster —"

"Oh, my!" C-3PO says. "It sounds like this codebreaker fellow can do everything."

Maz makes an appreciative noise of agreement. "Oh, yes," she sighs. "He can."

Indira makes a face. She looks away from the screen and her eyes meet Stefan's — only to see that he is wearing a similar expression of poorly concealed disgust — and they both stifle their laughter.

"Maz, who is this guy?" Poe asks impatiently. "Where can we find him?"

"He's an old friend of your general's. I'm sure you know him by name," she replies, arching a brow at Poe beneath her goggles. "In fact, I'm surprised you haven't guessed his identity already."

"An old friend of the general's," he mutters under his breath before his eyes widen. "Lando Calrissian?"

"Bingo," Maz confirms before running for cover behind a wall. "I lost contact with him, but recently received a tip about his whereabouts. You can find him on Canto Bight at the casino."

"Canto Bight?" Poe repeats with disbelief. "No, no. That's — Maz, that's too far away! Is there any way we can take care of this ourselves?"

She shakes her head and adjusts her goggles. "Sorry, kiddo. This is rarified cracking. If you want to get on that destroyer, I only know one option: find Lando Calrissian!"

Maz presses a button on her wrist after that, procuring a jetpack seemingly out of thin air. Before Poe can get another word in, she blasts off the ground and disappears from the hologram before it shuts off. The room is silent in the absence of her presence and the somber energy feels a bit like defeat.

"Well, that was not as helpful as I had hoped it would be," Poe sighs, breaking the silence. "But this sounds like it might be our only choice." He rubs a hand over his face. "Canto Bight. What the hell is a guy like Lando Calrissian doing on Canto Bight?"

Indira purses her lips. "I don't know about this plan," she says cautiously. "It seems too variable. There's too many ifs and not enough concrete details. What if we can't find Calrissian? What if he can't get past the encryption codes? Maybe there's another way that we haven't thought of yet —"

"We don't have time to think like that," Poe interrupts. "We have to disable that tracker before we run out of fuel and we've wasted too much time already. This is our only plan. It'll have to work."

"But it isn't a good plan," she protests. "It's dangerous and risky and totally insane! Poe, we can't go through with this."

He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Indira, sometimes when you're at war, you have to do things that are dangerous. Sometimes, you have to do things that are risky. Sometimes, you have to do things that are totally fucking insane because it just might save lives. It isn't always a perfect equation where every single detail adds up nice and neatly."

"I understand that," she replies, grinding her teeth together. "But charging into situations and acting without considering the consequences is reckless and stupid and it can get people killed. Or have you forgotten that already?"

His eyes flash with hurt before he clenches his jaw. "I haven't," Poe says stiffly. "But we are out of time and out of options, so this plan is going to have to be enough."

"Fine," Indira says, crossing her arms over her chest. "Then I'm going."

His eyes bulge. "You're what?"

"I'm going," she repeats, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'll go with Finn and Stefan and I'll disable the tracker."

"Oh, great," Finn mutters under his breath. "Mom and Dad are arguing now."

Poe shakes his head. "You are not going. Rose is more experienced with this kind of tech; she should be the one to go."

"Rose has never seen active combat before," Indira points out. "You can't send her onto a First Order ship with no combat training or experience!"

"I can go!" Rose protests, eyes wide and pleading. "I have to go. Please, this is my chance to do something that matters. I know it's dangerous, but I don't care — I can do it!"

"Rose, no," Indira reprimands, whirling on the younger girl. "Your sister just died and I promised her that I would look after you. I know that you want to go out there and hurt the people who took her away from you, but this isn't the way to do it. Paige wouldn't want this for you."

"But —"

"No buts," Indira repeats more firmly. "I'm sorry, Rose, but I can't let you go. If we're doing this, it has to be me. I promised Paige —"

In her ear, the comm link crackles to life. "Beren, do you read me?" Connix asks. "Sorry to interrupt this very cute family disagreement, but you're needed up here."

Indira frowns and taps the earpiece. "I read you, Connix. What's going on?"

"Holdo wants you to report to the bridge," the lieutenant informs her and Indira's entire body tenses. "I'm not sure why."

"Great," she replies through gritted teeth. "Can you stall for me?"

"She's being particularly insistent that you report immediately," Connix apologizes. "Sorry."

Indira pinches the bridge of her nose before nodding. "It's fine. Tell her I'm on my way."

"I will roger that," she replies before the line goes dead.

"What was that?" Poe asks, brow furrowed. "Is it Holdo? Has she found out about Stefan?"

"I don't know," Indira replies as she makes her way towards the doors of the med bay. "I have to report to the bridge, but this discussion isn't over."

He gives an exasperated sigh. "There's nothing left to discuss!"

"Like hell there isn't," she snaps. "Don't do anything until I get back."

"We don't have time for this," Poe warns as she steps into the hallway. "We're running out of time, Indira!"

"Don't fucking do anything," she repeats just before the doors close. "I'm serious!"

"So am I!" Poe shouts on the other side of the door, but his words are swallowed up as they seal shut. He sighs and sets his hands on his hips before hanging his head. "Ah, shit."

     CONTRARY TO POPULAR belief, Poe Dameron does not intentionally go looking to pick fights or start arguments. He doesn't take particular joy in being a troublemaker either, but he also knows that desperate times call for desperate measures and that sometimes, you have no choice but to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

     This is going to be one of those times.

     "I don't think we can't wait any longer," he says after nearly half an hour passes and Indira doesn't return from the bridge.

     He had waited — honest to gods, he had waited as long as he could — but there were lives at stake; the lives of everyone left in the Resistance. And, with each passing second as the fleet continued to burn its fuel, Poe knew he would have to make a decision regardless of the consequences.

     He looks to Stefan and Finn. "You have to go without her."

    "She's not going to be happy," Finn warns.

     Poe tries not to grimace. "I know," he says and he does. Indira will be furious with him. It's an undeniable truth of what will happen when she returns and the rest of their group is gone, but it's a consequence that he will have to accept.

     With his mind lost in thought, Poe makes his way over to Leia's bedside. The general is stagnant in her comatose state, chest faintly rising in falling as she breathes, but otherwise she remains completely still. Poe reaches out a hand to place it over hers, feeling the comforting warmth of her skin against his as he tries to guess what she would do in his situation.

     She would understand, he tells himself. Sometimes, risk is necessary. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few.

     Poe would go himself if he could. Sending Finn, Rose, and Stefan away on such a dangerous mission without him feels wrong, but Poe knows that it isn't his turn to play the hero. Still, the lives of his friends weigh heavily on his shoulders. If anything were to happen to them, it would be on him.

     "Poe, we have to do this," Finn interrupts his train of thought. "This could save the fleet and it could save Rey."

     C-3PO chooses to give his input then. "If I must be the sole voice of reason," he interjects, "I must say that Admiral Holdo would never agree to this plan if she were to find out about it."

    At the mention of Holdo, a righteous sort of indignation builds up within Poe and he lets his hand fall away from Leia's. "Yeah, you're right, Threepio," he agrees. "This is a need-to-know plan — and she doesn't."

     "That's not exactly what I meant," C-3PO protests. "And what about Miss Beren, sir?"

     "Hopefully she'll forgive me," Poe says before tapping into his comm link. "But we really can't afford to wait any longer. Connix, do you read me?"

     "I read you," the lieutenant replies. "What's going on, Poe?"

     He sighs. "Look, I wanted to wait, but we have to move forward with this plan. Stefan, Finn, and Rose are going to need to leave on one of the transports. I need you to keep Holdo from noticing when they do."

     "Got it," Connix confirms. "I'll take care of it."

     Poe sighs and rubs his forehead before nodding. "Thanks, Connix. You're a real superstar."

     "Always have been," she replies before the comm goes dead.

     He turns to face the trio before him and takes in the sight of them. "Alright," he says. "Here's the plan: you guys go to Canto Bight, find Calrissian, sneak onto the destroyer, and shut down the tracker. Once you're finished, you comm me and I'll make the jump to lightspeed. Any questions?"

     "Tell Indira I'm sorry," Rose requests, looking guilty. "And tell her that ... if anything bad happens, it's not her fault."

     Poe tries not to wince. Rose is so young and so inexperienced — Indira hadn't been wrong about that. Only a mere matter of hours before, Poe had listened to Paige's last words and watched as her ship went up in flames under his orders. Now, he could just as easily be damning the other Tico to an equally horrible fate. It almost makes him hesitate, but he has no other choice.

      "Rose, your sister would be proud of you," he tells her, swallowing thickly. "You're incredibly brave for doing this, kid."

     She ducks her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "Thank you."

     Poe looks to Stefan next. "Nakada, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to do this," he says sincerely. "After the way you were treated, I wouldn't have blamed you for wanting to leave the Resistance for good. Instead, you might be the one to save it."

     "Just playing the part," Stefan replies with a slight quirk of his lips. "I've already been branded a rebel traitor; might as well live up to that title."

     Poe grins before his eyes meet Finn's and his stomach twists. Finn, who had saved his life so many months ago. Finn, who had kept him from dying as a captive and gave him a second chance at life. Finn, who had come so close to dying the last time he went up against the First Order. If anything happened to him, Poe would be devastated.

He doesn't have to say a word; Finn just extends a hand to him and offers Poe the blinking blue binary beacon — his only tie to Rey, who is still half the galaxy away. Poe knows how much Rey means to Finn and how much the beacon does, too. He takes it in his hand and clutches it tightly, nodding at him; a silent promise that he would keep it safe until Finn's return.

     "Then I guess this is it," Poe announces, sealing all their fates with those words despite the inexplicable feeling of dread building in his stomach. "May the Force be with all of you."

a/n: i spent too much time on this

EDITED ON:
11.04.19