02 | the ultimatum

"WE'RE TRAPPED. THE FIRST ORDER LOCKED US IN."

MAIN RESISTANCE SHIP, ILLENIUM SYSTEM-

Leaving the Resistance base had been nothing but chaos.

People had scrambled around the base for about an hour trying to prepare and gather everything that they possibly could as the threat of the First Order grew nearer and nearer to the Resistance's base. Poe and Kyra had run through the crowds, packing all of their personal belongings that they could possibly manage into a small box before reporting back to the main headquarters.

From there, assignments had been issued out for everyone to complete for the evacuation. The X-Wing pilots were sent to prep their ships, the charters were to plan out a course that would lead the Resistance to safety, and Kyra was to stay by General Organa's side- something she despised and appreciated at the same time.

Kyra had said her hasty goodbyes to Poe, a quick kiss of good luck and a promise in the two of their eyes that they would get themselves out of whatever mess the First Order had dragged them into again going unspoken as they parted. Even then, in the moment, Kyra hoped that whatever was out there in the galaxy would allow for Poe to return back.

This time around, the stakes were higher.

Fox had joined the ranks of the X-Wing pilots, his knowledge as Kyra's former pilot himself making him a quick fit for the X-Wing crews, the man being welcomed into Poe's crew with open arms. Everyone seemed to grow accustomed to him rather quickly, but it still worried Kyra that he was going out there to fight when he had barely just been brought out of the First Order.

She knew why he was fighting though- to get Silas back eventually. The two had been inseparable when they had run missions together, and Kyra knew that the separation was most likely killing Fox. He had to get his partner back, and if he had to test himself and earn the trust of the Resistance by risking his life to try and initiate a rescue mission for the man, he would do so.

The rest of the Resistance had loaded into various ships to travel the galaxy in quickly, as to make sure that if the First Order got ahold of any of the ships, the entire Resistance wouldn't go down with it. Generals had been scattered through the ships, smaller transports that were able to make the jump to hyperspace alongside the main transport, which was where General Organa- or Leia, as the woman made Kyra call her now (she wasn't all that excited with the idea that her niece would call her by such a formal title) was located.

Kyra was inside of that ship as well, standing by with some of the other higher ups that Leia trusted inside of the transport, the woman spotting Finn a couple of paces away at another station, probably helping some of the other transports plot a course out with the ships that the First Order had brought.

She had to admit, Finn had started to fit in nicely with the way that the Resistance worked. After recovering, he had become one of Kyra's closest friends- besides Fox, of course, running some smaller scale missions with him. Kyra hadn't wanted to overexert the young man when he was still on the mend, although she could tell that he hated being held back.

Before Kyra could think about her friends and everything that had just occurred so abruptly for another moment longer, there was a blinking light that flashed at the station that she stood at, bringing her attention back to the more important matters at hand. Fox had created a separate channel for them to talk, and she figured he wanted to say his goodbyes and wishes of luck before they all were sent off for their tasks.

Pressing her hand to the side of her communication device, Kyra heard the static that indicated the channel going live, deciding to speak before Fox could get the opportunity to. "You know, I don't like the idea of you going out here." Kyra sighed as she stared out from where she stood inside of the Resistance's main transport, seeing the X-Wings that were prepared to attack start to fly out, her eyes trained upon the map in front of her that had the proper comm link to talk to the X-Wing pilots.

"I'm flattered Princess, but I don't think it's as big of a deal as you think it is." Fox chuckled, the rhythmic sounds of him flicking switches inside of an X-Wing echoing through the communication device inside of his own helmet. "I've done this tons of times before in a TIE fighter. This isn't any different."

"Still." Kyra sighed, tracing the outline of the map that was on the screen below her, trying to watch where Fox was on the lower one while also monitoring the attack as a whole on the screen above. "Doesn't scare me any less, you know."

"I'll stay safe for you out there, Kai." Fox reassured, the next words that he was going to say making him chuckle in advance. His eyes were focused on the galaxy and stars ahead of him as he flew into formation with the rest of the X-Wings of the Resistance, his mind set on what was going to occur in front of him. "No fancy flying like what you and Poe do in the Falcon."

"Hey! I take offense to that." Kyra grumbled, a small laugh slipping from her mouth as she stared out into the stars, once again watching as all of the X-Wings lined up, ready for an attack if needed, but also ready to escort the vital Resistance members out of the system they were in.

"All units, report in." The familiar voice of Poe echoed through all of the comms, Kyra realizing that it was probably her cue to get off the communications device with Fox, and to let him and all of the pilots get back to work. She didn't want to distract them from their important task at hand.

"I'll leave you to it then." Kyra cleared her throat, giving one small final wish of luck to Fox before she pressed her hand against the comm, switching to the channel that would allow her direct access to all of the X-Wings communication. In case they needed her expertise, of course. "May the Force be with you, Fox."

"And with you, Princess."

Tearing herself away from all of the communication and the maps that were in front of her at the station, Kyra took a deep breath in, deciding to distract herself by walking over to where Finn was, the man seeming bored himself. "This enough action for your early morning?" Kyra joked, giving Finn a small bump as he realized he stood in front of her, a small smile growing on his face as he shook his head.

"Uh, not what I expected, but I did say that I wanted a change of pace when we were talking last night." He scratched the back of his head, karma coming back to bite him in the ass in that sense. "Although I gotta say, it's nice to be out of that base- even if it's not under the best circumstances."

"Well, Genera- Leia did say that she wanted a change of scenery sometime soon." Kyra quickly corrected herself, trying to smooth over the mistake as she saw the woman she spoke about in the corner of her eye, watching her and Finn talk. "Guess we're getting that in an unexpected way."

"Suppose so." Finn looked back up at the map with the coordinates that had been plugged into the ship, trying to read the map of the galaxy quick enough to add onto their conversation. "It says that we might be heading towards a system in Naboo. General Organa thinks that maybe they'll let us lay low for a while. She's technically one of them, and with them being impartial with the second reign of an empire, maybe they'll let us in."

"I've been to Naboo once." Kyra remarked, slightly nudging Finn over to stare at the map, studying the details of the route towards the system carefully. "It was for a mission I wasn't all too fond of. Don't have the best memories of the place, but they say that the second time's a charm, eh?"

"Let's hope so." Finn agreed, remembering the stories of what had been told between the two of them and the First Order troopers about what Kyra had to do on Naboo years before. There had been whispers that she had to take out a whole group of First Order "loyalists" that had betrayed the regime and allowed for the Resistance to get ahold of vital information about a new Star Destroyer weapon that would've brought ships out of hyperspace in a gravity well.

Though he supposed that the First Order loyalists weren't the one to sell out the information- that was most likely Kyra when she used to be a double agent back in the day.

"Kyra. Finn." The sound of General Organa's voice brought the two of them out of their conversation, the general right in front of the two of them. "We're starting our preparations for the jump to hyperspace- that is if we can shake the First Order's tail that they put on us." She informed the two, recognizing that the duo would probably want to keep their eyes on the inevitable incoming battle. "You two should probably get linked back in- the pilots are going to need you."

"Right." Kyra agreed, nodding her head as she gave one last apologetic look over to Finn, sorry that they had to finish their conversation so quickly when they had just started to talk. "I'll get back to my station then, Leia." She pointed over at Finn when she spoke the general's name, finally getting it right after weeks of nudging.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly after that.

The battle was a flash of explosions from both sides, the X-Wings weaving around the stars and space by the transports to ensure that no TIE fighters were able to destroy the Resistance's members that were waiting to help direct the fighters and others to safety. There seemed to be flashes of green and red everywhere that you looked, the Resistance's hopes looking sort of grim for a while before the bombers came in and started to do some real damage to the Star Destroyer that had been the ship supplying all of the smaller First Order fighters.

Kyra was right in the midst of it all, instructing X-Wing fighters the most vulnerable spots to hit the Star Destroyer besides the weapons and cannons that lined the ship, telling the bombers to aim for the docking bays that went unshielded when deploying TIE fighters or the random spots on the outside of the ship that led straight to more vulnerable spots of the Destroyer.

It seemed like the more that the Resistance fought, the more their chances of survival grew. There were only so many ships that the Star Destroyer could supply out before they ran out of time and resources, and it looked like that time was coming nearer.

"Great shot Poe!" Kyra let out a sigh of relief as a smile grew on her face as she watched the familiar black X-Wing circle around the ship, a vital piece of the Star Destroyer artillery being obliterated. The ship flew straight through the fiery orange flames of the explosion, leaving behind a deep orange trail behind the ebony X-Wing. "Now you fighters just have to hit that last cannon and the spot I told you about earlier, Blue 6, and we've shaken the trail."

"That's great news, Kyra." The woman heard Snap through the communication device, relief obvious in his voice too. All of them were desperate to escape, to get out of the fight safely, and with their chances getting higher and higher, it looked as if things could only get better from here. "Anything the rest of us fighters could do?"

"Get the rest of the TIE fighters off of our tail. The TIEs can't travel through lightspeed, but they can deal some serious damage to our smaller ships if we're not careful. They could damage the hyperdrive on those ships. We need them out of the picture." The woman explained, trying to see which X-Wings had the closest TIE tails near them. "Snap, there's a TIE following Red 3. Do you think you can take it?"

"Copy that, kid." Snap echoed back a response, thinking of Kyra as somewhat of a younger sister to him. Sure, she was Poe's gal, but she had become kind of a leader of the X-Wing squadron of Poe's that had become invaluable for their missions- whether it be big group ones like the one that they were on now or individual ones.

"I would recommend if you don't have a TIE in pursuit or on your tail to fall back to protect the fleet or dock. The more people we can get back inside of the ships and their safety ensured, the happier the generals are going to be- especially Leia." Kyra advised, looking over to where the general was watching all of the action go down.

"I still can't believe she lets you call her that." Snap shook his head inside of his X-Wing, laughter rolling through his communication device with the rest of the squadron. "I guess with the reputation that you have, it kind of gets you those kinds of advantages."

"Not the kind of advantages that you'd want, Snap." Kyra teased the man back, shaking her head with a heavy sigh. "It isn't always the best thing in the world to call the woman who oversees this whole operation by her first name. It makes her more intimidating." Clearing her mind of all the comments that she could say after that, Kyra brought herself back to the matters at hand. "You got rid of the tail, right Snap?"

"Just cleared it." The man confirmed, circling around the slowly deteriorating Star Destroyer ship. "Looks like Blue 6 just got that spot that you told them to hit. The destroyer's going down." He commented, whoops of joy coming from all of Poe's squadron, Kyra leaning against the table in relief.

"Good. Now get your asses back in here before you all make me burst a blood vessel." Kyra laughed, her relationship with the squadron easy and lighthearted as they all echoed a response that sounded like a yes back to her. "That means the three of you too, Fox, Snap, and Poe."

"Copy that, Commander." Poe chuckled, a hint of love and a huge amount of respect obvious in his voice as he veered his ship back around, savoring the moment he watched the Star Destroyer fall in a series of explosions that he could see from the view inside of his X-Wing. "Follow Commander Ceydea's lead, fall back in and head into the main transport. We got a ship to catch."

Above him, BB-8 whirred a message down to the Commander. Glad that's all over. I want to be back on solid ground and not partake in any more missions that make my head fall into the back of the X- Wing. Kyra doesn't fly an X-Wing as bad as you do- and I've seen her fly. The droid commented, getting a stark laugh from Poe and a chuckle from Kyra, who heard him through the open line of communication Poe and Kyra always had during missions.

"Just get back to the ship, you two.  The general wants us to leave as soon as possible before the First Order sends even more backup." Kyra tried to stop her chuckles, turning back around to face her station, seeing the blips of the X-Wings in space slowly decrease as they all flew back into the landing bay.

Taking off her headset, Kyra moved away from her station, leaving the main room of the transport to wander the hallways to the docking bay, already anxious to see the squadron, Fox, and Poe back inside the ship safely. Luckily for her, when she made it to the landing bay, the first person she saw was Fox.

"You couldn't wait just a minute longer, could you?" The man laughed, giving his friend a light hug, his Resistance X-Wing jumpsuit uniform looking a little baggy (which was ironic, considering the man was about 6'3) as he stood by Kyra.

"Never was one for waiting to reunite with family." Kyra fired back, giving a small hip nudge to Fox, who just rolled his eyes as he patted some of the newfound X-Wing pilots he had on the back as they ran inside, happy with the mission they had just completed. "Besides, you were expecting me."

"Can't say you're wrong about that." Fox chuckled, wrapping his arm around the much shorter woman, the two of them looking out at the X-Wings that were docking inside of the bay. It wasn't long before a familiar sleek black ship landed inside of the bay, Fox nudging Kyra teasingly as he squeezed her shoulder. "Well, I should probably get inside before I ruin another reunion between the two of you." He laughed, thinking back to the time that he had caught the two of them in one of their hideaway spots on the old Resistance base that would never be used again.

Rolling her eyes, Kyra gave Fox a light smack before bidding him farewell, waiting for Poe to come in. Instead of seeing his face first, the first thing that Kyra saw was BB-8 barrelling towards her, the woman laughing and leaning down to greet the droid. "Yes! Hi, BB." She gave the droid some belly rubs as congratulations for "toughing out" another mission with Poe, the little droid beeping with excitement as she greeted him.

You wouldn't believe what he put me through this time. BB-8 chirped, getting another loud laugh out of Kyra as she studied the droid. It didn't look like there had been any damage to the small BB unit, although she could never tell with Poe.

"Okay, it wasn't that bad." Poe sighed, Kyra's attention immediately falling upon him, the woman rising up from her bent position by BB-8, immediately giving Poe a hug. She knocked the wind out of him, the man laughing as he hugged her back. "You know, no matter how many times that you do that, I'm still not going to be used to how tight you hug."

Pulling away from the hug, Kyra gave a laugh, a smile already obvious on her face. "Gotta hold onto those that I love, you know?" There was a light tone in her voice, but something deep in her eyes held some sort of sadness and regret about the words she spoke- but it wasn't obvious to many. Giving Poe a light kiss, warmth spreading through her as he kissed her back, Kyra smiled even wider, grabbing his hand and gesturing her  head towards the hallway,

"C'mon. I think Leia wants us in the main room when we make the jump to hyperspace. You and Snap were the last ones in." She commented, seeing the pilot in Poe's squadron pass her when she had been greeting BB-8. "We don't want to keep them waiting."

"Right." Poe agreed, following Kyra's lead on a ship he wasn't as accustomed to. There were many hallways inside of the main transport, leading to many different places that Poe was sure to forget about. He would have to have Kyra explain them all to him once they got out of hyperspace- if they had the time.

Making their way into the main room, Kyra and Poe seemed to be the last ones in- which didn't really surprise anyone as the Resistance members on board all resumed to their normal stations. General Organa and some of the more trusted crew were all towards the front of the ship, Kyra and Poe the last two to join the crew, Finn and Fox lingering on opposite sides of the ship.

"Looks like we're all here." The general commented, making nods to the pilots that were charting the course at the front of the ship. "Let's make the jump to hyperspace. Hopefully our luck in the Nabooian System will be better than what we've had here recently."

Hands intertwined together, Poe and Kyra watched as the stars started to bleed together, the familiar tunnel of hyperspace greeting them, other Resistance ships making the jump behind them. Elated cheers from some members erupted as they made their escape from the First Order, everyone inside of the ship giving a breath of relief. Some of the tension of the moment had been lifted.

"Jumping out of hyperspace... in three, two one!" The pilot called out, the world and the stars that bled around them slowly fading back into a familiar galaxy that the crew recognized. But there was something that the crew didn't expect, something unfamiliar inside of the system as they jumped out of hyperspace.

There was a First Order dreadnought waiting for the Resistance.

"How-" Kyra started to try and speak, turning her attention to Poe, who had the same look of disbelief on his face. How had the First Order known exactly where they had been going? How had they walked straight into whatever trap that they had been setting up? "How did they find us?"

"Wouldn't we all like to know." General Organa grumbled, turning around to give a large sigh. This was exactly how she didn't want this day to go. They were trying to evade the First Order- to no luck, with one of their best warriors and brightest minds out on a mission to find Luke Skywalker. "Plot another course, and qui-"

"Ma'am, we're being hailed by the dreadnought." A Resistance member that Kyra recognized as Kaydel Connix got the attention of General Organa, the woman turning around to look at where she stood at her station immediately. "They want to speak to you and-" Her eyes fell on Kyra and Poe, her look telling enough of a story. "Her."

Giving a stern look over to Kyra, General Organa made her way over to the station, all of the Resistance crew's eyes trained on Kyra as she made her way over to where Connix stood. Neither of them had any clue what the message would be about- and if the First Order knew that Kyra was with them on that specific ship- well, it meant nothing good.

"Put them through." The general instructed, seeing Kyra stand side by side with her. Reaching out her hand, the woman tried to show her support for the former First Order member, taking Kyra's hand and holding it. There was a small moment when Kyra looked up at Leia in appreciation, almost like the calm before a storm.

"This is General Hux from the First Order speaking." The familiar cold ginger's face appeared on the small hologram communication table, Kyra's face immediately falling into a sneer as her heart dropped into her chest. If Hux was contacting them, there was something that the First Order had planned, and whatever it was- it was something very dangerous.

"This is General Organa." Leia responded back, keeping her voice cool and collected in the moment as she tried to figure out what was going on in that moment. "Now, tell me, what the hell do you and the First Order want?"

A cold snarled look showed up on General Hux's face as Leia's aggression became evident through her tone, the man's eyes falling upon Kyra, whom he could see through the communication. "I suppose I should be talking to you. This is about you, after all."

"I thought the First Order didn't want traitors back." Kyra found her voice in that moment, surprisingly calm and unwavering as she spoke, her voice as icy as Leia's maybe even more so. "Especially after they shoot one of their most prized and leave them for dead."

"Unfortunately... that isn't the case." A snarl turned into a cruel smile on Hux's face, his eyes moving away from the communication device where Kyra and General Organa stood, his eyes falling upon something else. "On the contrary of a threat to destroy you and your fleet, as tempting as it is, we're here to bargain."

"Bargain?" It was Leia's turn to speak, a scoff evident as she gave a quick glance over to Kyra, trying to get a read of what the woman was thinking in this situation. "From what I know, you First Order types aren't ones to bargain under any circumstance."

"Oh, but I believe this is something worth bargaining for." Hux slyly grinned, his arm grabbing something and pulling it into view. It was obvious from the pure amount of joy that was coming to his face that it wasn't something good- rather, it wasn't something at all.

It was a person.

Now in frame was a beat up Silas, his face almost tattered and torn as he was forced onto the screen, an audible gasp escaping Kyra's lips as she stared at her friend through the communication device. They had found him. Stars- the worst case scenario that she had imagined for her friend had come true. They had found him.

"I believe you know who this is, don't you Solani?" Hux questioned, his tone sly and spiteful with every word he spoke. There seemed to be some sort of payback in holding Silas inside of the message, almost as if he was holding him over Kyra's head.

"What do you want?" The question was spat out of Kyra's voice, a hatred and fury for Hux and the First Order obvious, her eyes showing the intention of getting Silas back if she could. There was no way in hell that she would let him just sit there in the First Order's captivity- she would break into the damn dreadnought and rip it to pieces if it meant getting him back.

"Simple." Hux shrugged, a more negotiative tone sliding easily back into his voice as he stared between Silas and Kyra, almost as if he was negotiating a deal. "You turn yourself into the First Order, and little FN-6978, or, what do you call him- Silas? Gets to keep his life."

"And if I don't?"

"Let's just say that you can add another mark to your skin." Hux coyly responded, making Kyra's blood run cold. The hand that she had intertwined with Leia's dropped from her grasp. There was nothing that the woman could feel but shock, and a desperation to get her friend back before the First Order could kill him.

Kyra couldn't let Silas die on her watch- not when Fox was so desperate to earn his partner back. She wouldn't let herself be the cause of his suffering or his death- she wouldn't allow that kind of guilt on her conscience. And yet- there was so much in the Resistance that she had to stay for. Poe, Finn, Fox- but was it all worth it in the end? To stay and watch the bloodshed continue?

"You have one hour." Hux broke Kyra out of her thoughts, the woman's eyes suddenly filled with fear and a terror that made Hux almost laugh. It was funny to see a woman who had betrayed the First Order slowly begin to crumble- and just from this one ultimatum.

They would rip her apart.

"Choose wisely."

<~•~>

HI GUYS SORRY IT TOOK FOREVER THIS CHAPTER WAS A COMPLETE PAIN THE ASS TO WRITE

I'm literally writing this as I'm watching Hamilton and my life could not be better 😛😛

LIKE JONATHAN GROFF SINGING YOU'LL BE BACK?? >>

okay so this chapter is just setting up a ton of stuff, although some of it is still exposition but, you know, it's chapter two, what did we expect from me, just fully jumping into the plot?

funny. y'all think I'm an actually consistent and good author.

so I've made a ton of edits for this book ( like video edits ) but they're for stuff deeper in the plot so it looks like I'm actually gonna write so y'all can actually see the edits :)

OKAY IM DYING JONATHAN GROFF IS TOO ICONIC I AM GOING TO GO BACK TO MY HAMILTON AND REVERT INTO MY 2017 SELF 🙈

love y'all, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you soon! ( comments make me work faster 😉 )

special thanks to remuslupout for the new banner!!