Program 2187

III

The room wasn't empty. And maybe that was a little relaxing for Rey, but she didn't put away her lightsaber, if not only because its weight in her hand was oddly comforting. Poe was the one to run forward, his hands stumbling over latches that held his friend.

Finn came to slowly as Poe worked with his restraints. Rey watched as he woke, and silently stared at his saviors. BB-8 stayed in the doorway, swiveling nervously back and forth.

"Finn, buddy!" Poe's voice shook with ecstacy. Rey knew he had already forgotten about the danger of traps or getting caught. "You don't look nearly as happy as I thought you'd be to see us." Poe was joking, but Rey could see the truth in it. Finn was acting incredibly strange.

He must have known the whole set up was a trap, she reasoned. But she didn't waste her energy trying to ask, it would have been impossible to separate Poe from him for a second.

"You had me really worried, buddy," Poe just kept talking at Finn. Rey began to wonder of Finn would have warned them if he could have gotten a word in.

It was then, as Poe helped Finn out of the chair and Rey began to turn for the door, that things went wrong. Kylo Ren was the first to enter the room, followed by several white clad stormtroopers.

Rey felt her heart rate accelerate, her grip tightening on her weapon. And BB-8 rolled to hide behind his owner, but Poe, with his hand confidently resting on his holster, was again the first to step forward. "So," He said with a wolfish grin that made Rey's stomach drop. "Who talks first? We talk first? You talk first?"

It was at that moment that it dawned on Rey that she had traveled across the Galaxy to save her best friend with a complete mad man. And, it was more likely than not, that she would die with him.

"Dameron." Kylo also seemed oddly confident. Rey felt like she was missing something. "Charming." Suddenly, following the focus of the room shifted seamlessly to Finn, following Kylo Ren's lead. "FN-2187, you have done well. Return to your quarters."

"FN- wha? Finn, what?" Poe's grin had fallen from his face, it was replaced by features expressing something between horror and shock. Rey felt as if she'd been hit by a train.

"Thank you, sir." Finn replied, his face slack and emotionless.

"Finn?" The same voice that had sounded bold and confident only seconds ago sounded broken and quiet. Finn ignored Poe, brushing past Rey, causing her to flinch.

Ren nodded to the other stormtroopers. "Take their weapons and lead them to the holding room." Rey could hear the joy in his voice, even through his mask. "I can't thank you two enough, this went better than I could have hoped." And then he was gone.

Rey wasn't done, though. She unsheathed her lightsaber, blue light filling the small room. She stood there, facing the trooper who had been tasked with her, until she realized there was no blaster fire from across the room.

"Poe?" She turned to see her partner still frozen in shock and defeat. The other stormtrooper had already confiscated his blaster.

Rey took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and then lowered her lightsaber. She couldn't risk Poe getting hurt while she attempted to take down everyone on her own. Besides, if everything went well, she had a plan.

×××

"You left him down there?" Rey could remember vividly how angrily those words had been said. She remembered that it wasn't a question, it was a thinly vieled accusation.

"The First Order was able to get a ship off the base before it was fully destroyed." General Organa was staying oddly calm despite all the loss of the day.