Flyboy - Poe Dameron

5. Master Code-breaker

"Rose-" Chess headed down to the lower floor of the ship. Although she had been closer to the other Tico sister, she still knew Rose and wanted to offer some comfort in her time of loss. She too had lost a sibling, and while the contexts were completely different, she hoped to offer some help.

She found Rose with Finn.

"Chess!" cried Finn when he saw her.  "You'll never believe it: we have a plan!" He was giddy with excitement.  She could only stare back in shock. 

"Just give it to me one more time, simpler." A very excited Finn and Rose had come searching for Poe, and now the group, including C-3P0 and BB-8 sat in the medical wing. Finn and Rose were explaining their plan.

"And slower," requested Chess. 

"Okay, so, the First Order's only tracking us from one Destroyer, the lead one," Finn explained.

"Snoke's Destroyer?"

"Yeah."

"So we blow it up," said Poe.

Chess scoffed and shook her head.

"I like where your head's at, but no," Finn continued. "They'd only start tracking us from another one. But, if we sneak on board and disable the tracker without them realizing, then we can-"

"-They won't realize it's off for one system cycle," jumped in Rose. "Which is about six minutes."

"So we one, sneak on board. Two, disable the tracker. Three, our fleet escapes before they realize."

"That's it?" asked Poe.

"That's it!"

"Hmm." Poe nodded, looking distant. Then he went over to where Chess was sitting next to the still-unconscious Leia. "How'd you two meet?"

"Just luck," answered Rose.

"Yeah? Good luck?"

"Not sure yet."

"We gotta do this, Poe," insisted Finn. "It'll save the fleet, and save Rey."

"If I must be the sole voice of reason," broke in C-3P0. "Admiral Holdo will never agree to this plan."

"Yeah, you're right 3P0," said Poe. 

"Well thank you, Captain Dameron-"

"It's a need-to-know plan, and she doesn't."

"Oh, well that wasn't exactly my point-"

But Poe was already jumping into action. "Finn, Rose, you guys shut off that tracker, and I'll be here to jump us to lightspeed. The question is, how do we sneak you guys onto Snoke's Destroyer?"

"Steal clearance codes?" suggested Chess.

"No, they're bio-hexacrypt and re-scrambled every hour," stated Finn. "It'd be a two-person job, one to cut the shields, while the other disables the tracker, all at the same time. But we can't get through their security shields undetected. No one can, not with that kind of security."

"You need a code-breaker," said Chess thoughtfully. Eyes fell on her. "Oh, no, no, no, that's not what I meant-"

"Chess, you've gotta do it," said Poe.

"Just because I'm good with codes and numbers doesn't mean I'm a code-breaker, and certainly not the kind we need."

"You're better than nothing." She gave him a look. "What? It's a compliment."

"I can't, I'm not that good, there's too much at stake-" She paused, realization flickering in her eyes. "But I think I know someone who could."

"Could I do it? Yes, of course I could do it!" Minutes later they had connected with Maz Katana via communication device. Maz's words were followed by a series of blasts. "But I can't do it - I'm a little tied down right now!" Another blast.

"Maz? What's happening?" asked Finn.

"Union dispute, trust me, you do not want to hear about it. But, lucky for you, there's exactly one guy I trust who can crack that kind of security." Blast blast! "He's a master code-breaker."

"Perfect," said Chess.

"Yes, a master code-breaker, an ace pilot, a poet with a blaster..."

"Oh my!" exclaimed C-3P0. "It sounds like this code-breaker fellow can do everything!"

"Oh yes," said Maz dreamily. "He can."

"Sounds like quite the guy," added Chess with a grin, eyebrows raised. Poe rolled his eyes.

"You'll find him with a red plom bloom on his lapel rolling at a high stakes table in the casino on Canto Bight."

"Red plom bloom, got it," said Chess.

"Canto Bight?" sighed Poe. "No, no that's not going to work. Maz, is there any way we can take care of this ourselves?"

"Sorry, Kiddo, but this is rarefied cracking. You want to get on that Destroyer? I can only offer one option: find the Master Code-breaker - oh and send him my best wishes!" And with that, she was gone and their communication link was gone with her.

It was settled then: Rose, Finn, Chess, and BB-8 would go to Canto Bight in search of Maz's Master Code-breaker.

"Hey, quit worrying, you'll do great." Poe told Chess while they were saying goodbye. He could read her so well.

"Thanks for your confidence, but this is a one-chance job.  I'm just not sure if I can do it in time."

"You can. I know you can."

"Thanks."

"You take good care of my girl and my droid, you hear?" called Poe to Rose and Finn.

Chess rolled her eyes. "This feels strange. Usually it's me saying goodbye to you while you head off on a mission, now it's the other way around."

"Yeah. It's not any easier from this side."

"No, it's not." She glanced back at Leia. "Take care of her."

"You know I will."

"Yeah, I know. And please, stay out of trouble."

"Do you know me at all?"

She raised her eyebrows.  "Don't quarrel with Admiral Holdo - too much."

"Might have to do a bit of that."

"Right." She gave him one last hug. "See you later, Flyboy." She pecked his lips, joined the others,  and was gone.

(Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))