Search the Galaxy // Poe Dameron

dark

"It's getting dark," I sang worriedly, my eyes flickering across the dashboard of my plane.

"What was the first thing to remember?" asked Poe knowingly.

"I'm not panicking, I'm putting out reminder that we need to hustle," I defended.

"As if we haven't been?" asked Poe.

Snap cleared his throat. "Couples arguing isn't exactly what I want to hear at the moment..."

"Not a couple," chorused Poe and I, although one of us sounded entirely more saddened by the fact than the other.

"Listen up!" continued Poe, "Red Squad, I want you making dives for the oscillator. Blue, cover them, and fire on any TIE fighters you see."

"Haven't we been doing that?" I sighed.

"I can't take you anywhere," decided Poe after a pause.

"It's not my fault you didn't want us separated," I said.

"Because it went so well when we got split up on our last mission," sassed Poe.

"Stop talking to me!" I shouted suddenly.

Poe mistook it as playfulness. "Stop arguing, then," he laughed.

"Poe, I'm trying to get rid of TIE fighter on my tail, be quiet!" I yelled.

I squeaked as I jerked the wheel to my chest, flying higher into the sky. I let go. By itself, the plane tilted back, until it was diving nose down at the ground, and the TIE fighter I aimed for.

I, however, was not the one to destroy the fighter. Poe was. He swept in out of nowhere and shot it up. I was forced to quickly change courses to avoid ramming into his plane. I could have sworn, as we flew by each other, he winked at me.

"You're such a show off," I grumbled.

"Jealous much?"

I flew over the center of the weapon. Its bright middle blinded me for a minor second.

"How much time is left?" I asked, blinking hard to clear my vision.

I was answered with silence.

"Nobody thought to time how long until the weapon was charged?" I asked, appalled.

"Two minutes," said one of the pilots.

"We're overwhelmed!" yelled Snap.

I flipped my plane to reunite with the swarm attacking my squad.

"This clearly isn't working, Poe, we need a new--" I tried.

"We lost R1!"

"Someone died?" I whispered.

"Black Leader, there's a brand new hole in that oscillator. Looks like our friends got in," reported a woman.

"Red-4, Red-6, cover us!" ordered Snap.

Three planes, including myself, flew in to redirect the TIE fighters after himself and Poe.

"Everyone else, hit the target hard, give it everything you got!" directed Poe. Minutes later, he was shouting, "I need some help here, I need some help here!"

At his call, I discarded my previous order. I swooped in behind Poe's plane as he tried to fight through the swarm to reach the dips in the facility, which led directly to the oscillator. I fired crazily at the TIE fighters trailing him, dodging through the debris left by their planes spiraling out of control.

"Enna, no, back off!" he snapped.

"You called for help!"

"Watch out!" he shouted.

I dove to the ground, avoiding a TIE fighter's debris.

"All teams, I'm going in. Pull up and cover me," he ordered. "And, yes, Enna, that means you, too!"

I ignored him. I dove further, submerging myself within the dips of the facility. Poe and I eliminated ourselves from being shot at from behind, or the sides. Unfortunately, his tail was left open.

"I can get this guy that's on you!" I insisted.

I fired. The TIE fighter simply dodged. Each time my finger tapped the trigger, he moved.

The indented surface concealing us was getting smaller, as it gained distance on the oscillator. I tried to fire with a single hand, placing my other on the joystick. If I continued, I was going to have to pull up in a record amount of time.

"Enna, back off!" warned Poe.

"One... More... Sec-- Got him!" I cheered.

Poe's plane disappeared into the blown open oscillator.

My panicked reach for the joystick tilted it in a different direction than into the air. I knocked it, which sent the left wing crashing into the oscillator. I screamed for my life. I lost control of the plane. I headed straight for the forest, my plane dropping quickly.

"Enna? Enna?!" hollered Poe.

I switched communications stations. I saw a plane in the distance, a speck in the sky, a last resort to save myself.

"Help! Help, I need you to fly underneath my plane! I'm gonna have to jump!" I pleaded.

A deep, Wookie cry echoed throughout my plane.

"Chewie!" I laughed, relieved. "Chewie, do as I just asked!"

I broke the connection by wiggling my helmet from my head. I unbuckled the seat belt. Breathing in a deep breath, I punched one of the buttons on the hatch, popping the hatch. I stood on my seat, gripping the edge until my knuckles turned white, awaiting Chewie to fly the Falcon closer.

An explosion near the hatch caused me to lose my balance. I fell out of my plane. Screaming wasn't an option after a solid minute of free falling. The wind caught in my throat. I could barely breath.

Then, my breathing worsened, once my back slammed into the roof of the Falcon. I slapped the roof, searching for a grip, but my body's constant rolling across the plane didn't allow it. Soon, there wasn't any Falcon left to grab. I tumbled from the Falcon, as well.

At last, I hit the snow. I hacked against my chest with my fist, coughing, clearing my lungs. I didn't attempt to move. My legs felt limp. My head felt as though it was stuck in a blender.

There, I was going to die, I believed. No one was going to find me stuck in the snow. It was darker than in the depths of space. There were no stars to see. The single lighting I was granted was the explosions I saw in the sky, explosions I prayed were not Poe.