Ben Solo

XVIII

In the morning, Poe announced to Averann, Ilia, and Onya that he was leaving. Luke hadn't told them, and they hadn't heard anything about it the day before.

Averann kept on asking him why he was leaving, even after he had explained it.

Ilia, after the first time he explained it, was silent. She turned it over in her own mind.

Onya hugged Poe. She had tears in her eyes.

"Cheer up," Poe said. "I'm not leaving yet!" He tugged one of her lekku playfully.

That made her smile.

Poe decided that Ben needed to learn how to fly well, before he left, so he could teach the others. Luke didn't have time to teach Ben once Poe was gone, so, while the girls trained their Force, Ben and Poe went out to the space outside the hangar.

They climbed into the X-Wings.

"Alright, Red Leader," Ben said. "What's the plan?"

"You're leading, Blue Leader. We're going all of the way around this time. Should be a four hour flight. You up to that?"

"Sure."

They took off.

Flying over the farming planet, they tried to point out the settlements.

Then Ben noticed something.

"Hey, Red Leader, I see smoke at four o'clock."

"Could be a crop fire," Poe said. "A routine burn."

"It's too dark for that. Should we go in for a look?" Ben tried to squint and see it better.

"Do you know how to work your guns?" Poe began to circle back towards the fire, to keep it in their sights.

"No." Ben watched as another pillar of flame went up.

"The little screen thing next to you? That's your targeting computer. Pull it down in front of your face when you need to shoot something. Then the red button there next to the switch is the firing button. Got it?"

"Yes."

"And do you have your lightsaber?"

Ben tapped his side to make sure. "Yeah, and my blaster. You've got yours?"

"Yes. Even if it is just a crop fire, it never hurts to be prepared."

Poe descended into a nearby forest. Ben followed.

They jumped out, putting their helmets into the X-Wings.

Poe touched his friend's hand for reassurance, and they snuck towards the smoke.

Looking between the trees, their eyes burning from the smoke, they saw a village, on fire.

A man in a black uniform stood, straight, watching as men in white armor pulled people out of houses.

Stormtroopers.

But the helmet was different from the one Luke had had in his home back at the base. Were these Snoke's men?

The man ordered the troopers to search the village and surrounding woods for any runaways.

Poe and Ben glanced at each other, terror painted on both of their faces. If they were caught, there was no telling what might happen to them.

They ran, low, through the woods, until they reached a wide tree. The stood behind it, waiting for the troopers.

The stormtroopers crashed through the underbrush, poking with their blasters.