The Galactic Adventures of Paige and Poe: A Star Wars Story

Chapter 30

The next morning on D'Qar, Paige and Poe woke up to the best news from C-3PO—he had received a signal from a Resistance spy droid that BB-8 had been located. But he was no longer on Jakku—somehow, he was on the planet Takodana, home of the pirate queen Maz Kanata. And, likely, the First Order knew of this as well and were already sending troops after the droid.

"Then we'll deploy the X-wings," Poe said. He tapped his elbow against Paige's arm. "Wanna fly with?"

"I have to," she replied with a wink. "He's our Beebee."

Leia nodded her head in agreement. "You both have my blessing. Let the X-wings lead on the attack. My ship will follow after."

"Well then," Paige said, looking up at Poe. "Let's go fetch our son!"

They deployed the X-wing squadrons, Red and Blue—Paige, of course, flew with the Blue.

And just as they suspected, when they arrived, the First Order was already there, with TIEs raining down fire on Maz Katana's castle and Stormtroopers battling on the ground.

As the X-wing fleet cruised over the water, skimming its surface so close that waves followed behind their jets, Paige heard Poe's charge over her comm system:

"Go straight at 'em," he said. "Don't let these thugs scare you."

"Copy that," Paige replied.

"We're with you, Poe," added Snap, another friend and fellow pilot.

Paige accelerated her plane toward the action, taking mental note of the battle's full boundary. Her approach to any attack was almost always calculated and methodical, albeit spontaneously thought-up in between dodging blaster fire. Before even firing a shot, she created a zone—a mental zone around a portion of the battlefield—where she'd concentrate her efforts.

Finally, it was time to attack. She skillfully maneuvered her X-wing to round up about eight TIE fighters into her circle—then fired a flurry of blaster rounds into her zone, destroying them all and, in between, wiping out a hoard of Stormtroopers on the ground.

Then, suddenly, she felt a heavy pound that caused her plane to spin. She looked left, and there was her wing, snapped in two and smoking. A ninth TIE fighter was on her tail.

"Black Leader, I'm hit..." she called to Poe. "I have to crash land. I need cover."

"I gotcha," Poe said, immediately diverting his plane in her direction. Just slightly concerned.

As Poe swooped in, taking on the new set of TIE fighters that had entered the zone, he watched Paige's plane in his periphery, as it spiraled downward in a trail of smoke. Then, a rocket blast ejected from the cockpit, and Poe breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his wife land safely to the planet's surface.

On the ground, Paige was immediately met by Stormtroopers. She'd fire a blast at them with one hand, while unbuckling herself from the ejector seat with the other. Finally free, she continued fighting the battle on land, blasting every Stormtrooper that came her way, all while her eyes darted across the scene, searching for BB-8.

Then, on the other side of the field, rolling frantically down the wooded terrain, was the familiar orange and white astromech.

Paige exhaled heavily, relieved. "Oh, Beebee-Ate..."

But before she could dart across the field to reunite with him, another blast from the battle sent dirt flying in front of her, halting her course. Then, when the smoke cleared, she noticed something else...

An Upsilon-class command shuttle, with a dark hooded figure walking toward it—and a woman's unconscious body dangling from the man's arms.

Suddenly, a swarm of Stormtroopers began to run toward that direction. Paige quickly took cover behind a tree, both hands gripping her gun and preparing to fire, until she realized what was happening.

The First Order was falling back.

Meanwhile, in the skies above, Poe had seen this too. He responded to a radio call from Snap.

"Black Leader, they're retreating," Snap said.

"I know," Poe replied. "But it looks like they may be leaving a few TIE fighters behind to finish off. You all need to head back to D'Qar. Paige and I can take it from here."

"Roger that."

Boosting thrust, Poe zoomed toward the line of fire coming from the remaining TIE fighters. He took them out one by one—but, unbeknownst to Poe, another TIE managed to escape under his nose, following the light of blaster fire sparking from the planet's surface, seemingly knocking out their own kind one after another without wasting a shot.

It wasn't long before the Stormtrooper pilots inside traced the blasts' source.

"There's still one more down there," the TIE's gunner remarked. "Should we leave 'er?"

"No, we should take her out," the pilot replied. "She's a dangerous one."

The gunner then aimed a blast at Paige—but missed as she scrambled into the forest. "She'll be an easier target if we just took her from the ground," the gunner said. "I say we land and go after her on our feet."

"Agreed."

Powering down, the TIE quietly landed between the wreckage of Maz Kanata's castle, its troopers hopping out and taking to the woods in search of Paige.