𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒

𝟎𝟏𝟑. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

013. THE GANG'S ALL HERE

∘₊✧───────────────────────────✧₊∘

Although the sound was partially muted, Poe could tell something was wrong when he woke up and an alarm was the first thing that he heard. He immediately sat up straight and tried to run for his battle station when he was stopped in his tracks. He rubbed his head as he looked at the wall that had seemed to appear in front of him. That is, before he remembered where he was. Dreadnought. He looked around and assumed that Finn's escape plan hadn't gone accordingly as they were both now back in a cell. Aside from the alarm, he noted that the cell's emergency lights had started flashing as well. As Finn groaned, signifying that he had woken up, Poe made his way over.

"How are you feeling?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Finn retorted, "Still high on drugs?"

That would explain why his head still felt groggy, "I'm fine."

Finn raised an eyebrow. Though his expression remained neutral, Poe knew him well enough to see that he wasn't convinced.

"Guessing the plan didn't work," Poe noted as he gestured to their surroundings.

"No," Finn muttered under his breath.

"Great," Poe turned to face the cell door, "Because I have—"

He was interrupted as the cell doors opened.
"What are you waiting for?"

"Rey!" Finn exclaimed with relief before pushing past Poe.

"Let me guess," Rey looked in Poe's direction, "You had a plan?"

"Yeah," he mumbled deflated.

A series of beeps and boops improved his mood though.

"Buddy!" he exclaimed excited as BB-8 rolled out from behind Rey, "You made it!"

"We haven't made it anywhere yet," Rey shook her head, "And we'll need a new ship since you two laser brains blew ours up!"

The entire ship rocked.

"Um," Finn spoke up, "What was that?"

Several stormtroopers passed by without giving the escaped prisoners a second glance.

"Nothing good," Rey answered before reiterating, "We need a ship, now."

BB-8 chirped.

"What do you mean the hangar's locked down?!" Finn asked hysterically.

BB-8 chirped again.

"What?!" Finn's eyes widened further.

"Escape pods," Poe and Rey both said at the same time.

It only took the dreadnought shaking once more for the group to take off running down the halls. They shoved past several troopers who seemed more concerned with leaving the ship themselves than keeping the prisoners contained. Poe barely had time to skid to a halt once they reached the room releasing the pods.

"Hey," one of the troopers looked up from his console, "You're not supposed to be here."

"You will allow us to leave."

"I will allow you to leave."

Poe looked over at Finn, "Could she do that to us?"

As several other troopers could be heard coming from the exterior corridor, Finn shoved Poe into a pod, "Not now, Poe!"

"You will release us," Rey waved her hand.

"I will release you," the trooper responded with a nod of his head.

As the pod doors closed, another trooper entered the room.

"FN-2552, what are you doing?" the trooper asked, "We got the problem taken care of. There's no need to abandon ship anymore."

"Well that's a relief," Finn whispered.

Poe nodded, "Now we can make our way over to the hangar and commandeer one of their fighter ships."

"2552," the trooper waved a hand in front of the other's face, "Are you listening? I said the problem was taken care of. Come on, we're getting ready to jump to hyperspace."

2552 snapped out of his daze just as he pressed the release control, "Sorry, 3852, I don't know what came over me—"

The two troopers looked in the direction of the pod just released. Rey waved sheepishly as Finn buried his face in his hands and screamed. The pod was quickly shot out from its location aboard the dreadnought.

"It could be worse," Poe tried to lighten the mood despite the fact that they were now cruising through open space.

"How?" Finn looked up, "How could this be any worse?"

"We could have taken a pod that was out of order," Poe stated.

BB-8 chirped. Finn looked at Poe with a deadpan expression.

"What do you mean the navigation malfunctioned?!" Poe exclaimed in response.

Rey took a deep breath, "How do you two manage to find trouble so easily?"

Poe balled up his fist and hit the navigation computer once. The screen turned to static before readjusting the escape pods course.

"There," Poe stated satisfied, "Fixed it."

Despite his statement, the opposite was true as the pod crashed to the surface of the planet below. After landing, the three crawled out from the pod. Poe made sure to lean back over the side and hoist BB-8 out as well.

Finn raised a finger before he could speak, "Don't say it."

"We need to find some way to contact the resistance," Rey instructed as she began to walk off.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Poe yelled as she left.

"Wherever the force leads me!" she yelled back in response.

"I don't think it works that way," Poe said to Finn amused.

His expression remained unamused as he followed after Rey and hollered over his shoulder, "Don't want to hear it!"

Poe shook his head and looked down at BB-8, "Can you believe these guys?"

BB-8 chirped.

"I know," Poe nodded his head in agreement before following the other two, "Some people just don't know when to lighten up."