The Chosen One: A Reylo Story

Chapter 11: The Chosen One

Chapter 11: The Chosen One (Final Chapter)

"Approaching target for strike two."

"Right behind you, Poe."

"Me too."

"I'm with you."

The calm confidence in Poe's gut strengthens every time he hears another voice chime in on the other end of his comm.

A tight formation of X-wing Starfighters descends upon the nearest Dreadnought.

"Shields are still up, so focus on the cannons," Poe reminds everyone. "I'm going for the reactor core."

"No word from Finn? We can't blow up cannons forever." Hala sounds anxious.

"When I know, you'll know," Poe assures her. The truth is, he's worried too. For more reasons than one. They had to move up their attack on Starkiller 2 after they discovered the First Order's plan to destroy the Concord Dawn system. That really put Finn and his team under the gun. Then, they arrived to find their intel hadn't adequately prepared them for the number of First Order forces that would be here. It seems like every damn Dreadnaught and Star Destroyer in the entire fleet is crowded around this ugly, mechanized weapon-planet.

But Poe can honestly say he's faced worse odds. Despite all logic, his signature smug self-assurance is undeterred.

As they swoop down on the steely grey Dreadnought, he hears a sensor go off to his right. A large cluster of unidentified aircraft is approaching quickly.

"We've got company," Pavan warns the group.

"Cam and Vido, come with me to take out those TIE fighters. Everybody else—keep going for the cannons." Hala and her crew veer sharply to the right. The rest of them fan out over the wide expanse of the ship, exploding cannons right and left. Except for Poe. He's dead center and going straight for the reactor. It's a long shot... most would say an impossible shot. But that's never stopped him before.

As he approaches, his sensor zeroes in on the target... almost there.... That's it! He takes the shot... but it misses. Expertly, he maneuvers up just in time to avoid crashing into a large side panel on the Dreadnought. He veers to the left and begins taking out an oncoming cadre of TIE fighters.

"Hala, how many fighters do you have left over there?" Poe barely gets the question out, tucking and diving towards another enemy craft just below.

"Hala's gone, Poe. We've got eight and more on the way," Vido responds.

Poe's heart drops. He's never gotten used to it... hearing he lost a good friend forever, just like that, in a split second.

"I'm coming around for a second shot at that reactor." Adrenaline coursing through him, he suddenly maneuvers up and around to the center of the ship.

"Yes! Yes! Look at that! Look at that!" Shin's voice blasts through his comm.

"Whoa, what's going on?'

"Shields are down! Shields are down!" Shin repeats.

"Alright guys, now the fun begins," Poe tells his squad. Atta boy, Finn.

"Whoa...it looks like all of them are down," he hears Faisal.

"What do you mean all of them?" Poe asks confused.

"Seriously, it's all of them," Cam confirms. "I can see it. Our squads are moving in on Dreadnoughts and Star Destroyers all over the place."

Damn... he didn't know Finn was that good. It seems improbable he'd be able to shut down the entire fleet's shields at once, but Poe's never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.