Running Away- finnpoe

Chapter 5

The only other person in the starfighter was a young woman with brown hair, and she stared at Finn.

"Who are you?" She asked, giving Finn a look.

"Uh, I'm Finn."

The woman gave an irritated sigh and said, "No, I meant why are you here?"

"Um." Finn himself wasn't entirely sure. "I'm Force Sensitive. I've.. uh, got powers?" He cringed slightly, realizing how stupid it sounded.

The woman raised her eyebrows. "You?" She asked, genuine disbelief in her voice. "You're the Jedi we risked everything for? You're just some kid."

"Jedi?" Finn asked. "What's that?"

The woman was becoming increasingly tired of Finn. "You don't know what the Jedi are? The ancient protectors of the universe? The ones that dedicate their lives to bring peace to the galaxy? Those Jedi?"

Finn's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, hold it. Ancient protectors of the universe? What?? I didn't sign up for that."

The woman looked at the pilots. "Really? Poe, this is just some kid."

Poe shrugged. "I don't know shit about the Jedi. He had the letter. The only instructions I was given were; if he had the letter, I had to take him."

The woman glared at Finn. "I don't know who you are." She spat. "But you are no Jedi."

"Rey." Poe called from the pilot's seat. "Be nice."

As Rey was about to respond, the entire starfighter lurched sideways, sending Finn, Rey and Snap to their knees.

"Hey, watch it!" Snap yelled.

"Sorry!" Poe apologized. "I'm tryna get us in a good place for Jess to start shooting."

"Start shooting?" Finn got to his feet. "Shoot who?"

"These guys." Jess said, as a jet shot past them, trying to scare them off. Poe seemed more amused than scared. He buckled himself in, Jess doing the same.

"They won't be expecting this." Poe grinned. "You three back there, hold onto something!"

Snap and Rey immediately grabbed handholds, and Finn was a second too slow. He was thrown to the side, as Poe spun the ship around.

"Poe!" Jess snapped. "We're not in space- don't expect to start defying gravity or whatever you're about to do."

"Are you kidding?" Poe almost laughed. He was clearly happiest when he was piloting. "I've been doing this my whole life! I could fly with my eyes closed! In fact-" He shut his eyes, and the starfighter shot forwards, slamming Finn against the back wall. Everyone screamed.

"Poe!" Rey yelled.

Poe opened his eyes, and the ship slowed down slightly. "I'm just messing with ya. No need to worry."

"I can name about five reasons we should be worrying right now." Snap pointed out.

"And my flying abilities are not one of them." Poe insisted, swiveling the ship round, so Jess could get a clear shot at the unfortunate pilot in front of them. Pressing her fingers on the triggers, beams of energy were launched from the starship, the pilot in front exploding into flames. Poe gave a cheer.

"One down, four to go."

Everyone except Finn seemed to be somewhat enjoying themselves. Finn stared out of the cockpit, horrified, as Poe angled the starship yet again for Jess, the second jet exploding in front of their eyes. He couldn't understand how they were cheering after watching a real person get killed. Finn watched, dismayed, as a third fighter jet fired at Poe, who dodged every single bullet, and blew up the jet in a matter of seconds.

"Another easy win for Poe Dameron, huh?" Jess joked, as a fourth pilot was turned into a ball of flames.

Poe grinned. "Alright. That's four. Let's find the last one and get the hell outta here."

"Or, you know," Finn suggested. "We could not kill this last guy and just escape now."

Poe rolled his eyes. "That's no fun." He insisted. "What's the point of shooting at them if we're not gonna get rid of all of them?"

Finn felt like he was about to throw up. "I'm going to die here surrounded by homicidal maniacs." He groaned.

The starship shot around the area for a minute or two, before Snap asked, "Should we head back now? I don't think this last guy is gonna show up."

"Agreed." Rey said. "We're wasting time."

Finn was all too happy to not have to kill anyone else.

Poe sighed. "You guys are no fun." In the end, he gave up, and aimed the starship for the sky. As they flew above the clouds, Finn thought of the city. All of this had happened because of him. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, thinking about how people would react. He wondered how the government would deal with the sighting of the starship, and the decimation of four trained pilots. Four pilots who were just doing their job were not going to come back home today. Their families would be devastated. And it was all Finn's fault.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the starship lurched to the side, lights flashing red in warning, alarms blaring.

"Goddammit!" Poe swore.

"What is it?" Finn asked. He looked out of the cockpit and his eyes went wide in wonder. They had left the familiar atmosphere of Earth, and were now in space. The stars he watched every night were much closer now.

"We've been hit!" Jess cried. "That bastard, he was following us!"

Finn began to panic. "We've been hit?" No. They were so close. That wasn't fair.

"We'll be fine." Snap assured Finn, seeing the terror on the young man's face. "As long as we don't get hit again."

"Finn, it's fine." Poe called. "I've been in loads of situations like this before. Don't worry." Just as he finished the sentence, the starship lurched again.

"Shields are activated." Jess told Poe.

"Those jets aren't designed for space." Finn said. "They won't last long out here."

"Neither will we if we don't get moving." Rey snapped. Finn was surprised.

"We're not moving?"

They were not moving. "It's fine." Poe insisted. "I'll get us moving again, but give me one sec."

"Need a hand?" Rey asked. Poe gave her a thumbs up from where he was pressing buttons and flicking switches, and she came over.

Finn watched, devastated, as the jet flew towards them from above. It would destroy them, and head back to Earth. One hit was all it would take to finish off the starship. Finn closed his eyes and clenched his fists, waiting for the end.

It did not come. He opened one eye slightly to see shards of metal and flames, but no jet. Another starfighter shot past.

"Commander Dameron." A voice came through Poe's comm into the starship. "Need some help?"

"Connix!" Poe exclaimed, relieved. "We could do with some help. I can't get this damned thing to work. Controls are fried."

"We're picking you up now." The voice said.

Outside of the cockpit loomed the starcruiser. It was very big, oval in shape, with little windows and huge engines.

Poe turned around to look at Finn. "See? I told you it would be fine."

Finn smiled. He was too shaken up to argue.

"Well done, Poe." Jess gave him a fistbump.

Rey left the two pilots and glared at Finn. "Alright, Jedi." She said drily. "You're up."