Kylo Ren

VIII

Kylo Ren paced back and forth on the control deck of the Star Destroyer.  "How did a legion of troops disappear?"

General Hux looked exasperated.  "It's a large galaxy, sir."

"But weren't there trackers?  Any radio communication?"

"None, sir," said a crewman.  "It was meant to be an incognito mission, no way to be traced."

He flinched as the room lit up red and a chair fell to pieces before Kylo Ren.  He switched off his saber.

"I want that found, before the Resistance does."

"Yes, sir."

Hux glared at his retreating back, then turned to the men and women at the controls.  "Run a scan for ships with human life forms in all the sectors surrounding us.  Anywhere they could be."

The crewman nodded and went to work.

The mission had been sent to try and find the planet on the map, a tiny gas one called P-698.  Because Kylo Ren thought that the Resistance could have the same map, but not be able to interpret it, he wanted nobody to have communication with the crew until they returned.  It's his own fault, Hux thought bitterly.

One after another, the communications officers reported.  "Nothing, general."  "Negative, sir."  "Nothing's showing up, sir."

Hux slammed a fist down on the control panel and hissed something under his breath.

"Pardon?" said the woman sitting at the control panel.

Hux fixed her with a glare and left to report to Kylo Ren.

Needless to say, he did not take it well. Hux left calling for a repair crew to fix more panels.

Kylo Ren paced around the destroyed room. What could have happened to the ship? He needed to know if Luke was there. Who knew if he would actually send another transmission?

Another wave a rage washed over and red cuts opened around the room.

It was nearly a year before the next transmission came through.

Lieutenant Connix scrambled around to try and figure out who it was sent to. She found out eventually, three days later. "Inopus'tan, a twi'lek."

This time, a pilot named Jorden volunteered. He was young, about seventeen.

Poe was reluctant to send him, but he insisted. "I want to help the cause. More than just flying around the planet, over and over."

They sent him off on the fourth day. Of course, the First Order had already been there.

Jorden returned, empty handed, but for a message from Inopus'tan's family. Apparently, the First Order had killed the Twi'lek in their search for the transmission, and they wanted nothing to do with the war they knew was inevitable.

The young pilot refused to talk to anyone. He was ashamed, a failure in his own mind.

Poe rubbed his temples and walked out of the communications room.

The base had been finished a few months before, and most of the barracks were now under the hill. A few residences were set up on one side, and the other had the hangars.

Poe headed to the hangars, BB-8 trailing at his heels.

He went off to fly for a while.

The radio crackled. "Black Leader?"

"Copy, this is Black Leader."

"We need you at the base. Right away."

"Copy. I'll be right there."

He switched off his radio and groaned. Just when he wanted, no, needed, to get away, they required him at the base. But then again, he was one of the top officers, just under General Organa.

Poe landed and left BB-8 to unlatch himself. A little tool slid out of the round droid and got to work.

He walked into the communications room. "What is it, General?"

"Poe!"

He turned to see Aura Dameron running towards him. "Mother?"

The mother and son embraced. "But they said you'd crashed! How?"

"Jakku is a softer landing than you might expect. All that sand." Aura pushed his dark hair from his forehead and kissed it gently.

"Why didn't you try to communicate with us?"

"Couldn't. I was living inside of a Star Destroyer for the longest time before I knew that there was a settlement nearby."

"Two years?" Poe asked incredulously.

"You got your father's brains, Poe."

"But what happened to Mara?" A blond man appeared behind her. "She was supposed to be with you. Where is she?"

Aura took a deep breath and turned around. "I'm sorry, Kelvin. She died when she crashed."

He took a step back as of he'd been struck. Then he turned and left. Even though the pilot had mostly accepted that he would never see her again, the fact of her death hurt.

Aura Dameron had left before Poe was made Black Leader, and they spent hours talking.

When they got to the topic of Ben's betrayal and Luke's messages, Aura's brow furrowed in worry.

She became even more concerned when he said that both messages had been retrieved by the First Order, and that they appeared to be maps of some sort, probably to wherever Luke was.

"You can't track them?"

Poe shook his head. "They're set up with something that makes them impossible to track them to their original source."

She nodded. "And the First Order has both?"

"Both that we've detected. They could have more."

Aura looked grim. Then General Organa entered. "Aura? We have a barrack open for you."

Poe's mother stood. "Thank you. It will be nice to sleep in a real bed again."

She squeezed Poe's shoulder as she left.

Alone in the control room, excepting a pair of protocol droids sitting in the corner, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

He lost a friend and regained family. If a war broke out, he could lose his mother again.

He was not the only one to have lost someone. General Organa lost her son and husband, Haasa's daughter lost a father, Jess had lost a mentor.

But it was only the beginning.