Star Wars: A Resistance Story. Book 1.

Chapter 1: Backup.

The fight was raging across the sky of Ando and it sounded pretty bad for the Resistance. The men on the ground were attacked on every corner by the First Order and in the sky, the pilots were surrounded by the ennemies. It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission but it was turning into a slaughter. And even the Commander Poe Dameron, usually so confident, was starting to feel claustrophobic in his X-Wing.

He shot on a TIE and destroyed it but half a dozen others took quickly its place. Communications had been jammed right before the surprise attack of the First Order, complicating the calls for help. Dameron tried a maneuver to avoid an ion canon and sighed in relief when it shot right behind him.

"Dammit... Where are the backups?"

*******

The Resistance base was on fire. The surprise presence of the First Order on Ando created a panic wave and everyone was trying to find a way to restore the communication system to help the Resistants run away from the planet before Kylo Ren arrival. The General Leïa Organa grabbed a communication mic and answered the pilot.

"They're on their way Commander, you should see them in any instant..."

*******

Poe looked around nervously but still couldn't see a thing. On the contrary, he had a feeling that there was more and more Stormtroopers and even less resistants to fight them back and protect the men on the ground.

"With all my respect General, if we don't get help quickly, it's not just a bad feeling you're gonna have..."

The pilot couldn't see the subtle smile of the Princess at his comment. But the following moment, he noticed two TIE fighters flying towards him. This time he would not be able to avoid them. So this is how it will end? At least he will be killed fighting for what he believed in: Freedom. He found himself starting a pray and just when the First Order pilot was about to shoot, his ship exploded. Dameron frowned and looked up. An X-Wing flew right over him, its canons smoking. After a spin, it shot the second TIE fighter and destroyed it as well. The Backups.

The pilot smiled, clearly relieved, and let out a victory cry. He then started fighting back again. But he was intrigued by this new group freshly arrived. The ships didn't look like any others and the one that saved him has a black line on each side and its nose cone had a fiery bird with red and orange wings. Its pilot was battle-hardened, he was flying quickly, had precise shots and had a perfect control of his X-Wing. Poe was watching him pursuing a TIE, while escaping the attacks of another one. He adjusted his canons and shot the first ship before flying down right towards the surface of the sea, still followed by the second ship.

"He's mad, he's gonna crash down!"

Without realizing it, Dameron was flying in hovering, eyes fixed on the X-Wing with the fiery bird.

And while the pilot was near the point of no return, he suddenly rectified his trajectory, sliding over the edge of water gracefully, flooding a First Order ship that had just docked on the shore. In the meantime, the TIE fighter chasing him couldn't rectify his trajectory in time and crashed at full speed in the ocean.

"Well... that's one hell of a pilot!"

After a soft whistle, Poe went back to fight back the TIEs. With the presence of the backups, the Commander Dameron and his men could go back to the Anodyne and the man was really curious to meet his savior. But first of all, he had to look over the evacuation of the Resistant on the ground, while the new group of pilots was taking care of repelling the First Order.

"Black Leader, Anodyne's calling. The communications are back on, we're waiting for you for a debriefing on board."

Poe and his men flew back towards the frigate, the pilot keeping an eye on the ship with the fiery bird, so he can make sure he could thank his savior face to face.