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

Chapter 34

The Resistance fighters had gathered in the control room, staring closely at a projection of the Starkiller base while they deliberated a plan of attack. This much they knew: The Starkiller was powered by the sun—its power contained in a thermal oscillator. Finn knew of its location and volunteered to show Han and Chewbacca where to disable the shields. With the shields down, the X-wings could easily penetrate, fly in, and destroy the oscillator.

Or, as Poe summed up in three steps: "We disable the shields, we take out the oscillator, and we blow out their big gun."

Paige liked the sound of that. "I approve," she concurred.

"I sure hope you do," Poe winked, "Blue Leader."

The widest grin formed upon Paige's face.

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The hangar was abuzz with adrenaline—techs scrambling, pilots and droids racing to their starfighters—for what many believed was one of their biggest missions to-date.

In the rush, Paige—attired in her orange jumpsuit and flak vest, helmet marked with blue insignia tucked under her arm—dashed right past Poe, hardly noticing him.

But Poe noticed her.

"Ay, Commander!" he called, stopping Paige in her tracks.

She turned around, eyes wide, waiting to hear what he needed.

"You forgetting something?" he asked.

Paige padded down her vest and pockets—didn't seem like it. "No?" she replied, as he moved toward her...

And swooped her in for a kiss.

Pulling away, he lifted a finger at her. "You don't forget that."

Paige pursed her lips to the side, shaking her head as she replied with a blush, "Yes, Commander."

Giggling, they kissed one more, short and sweet, before parting ways. As Paige walked toward her X-wing, she saluted Poe with two fingers.

"Go get 'em, Flyboy," she said.

He saluted back, before climbing into Black One with BB-8 and taking off into hyperspace with his fellow comrades.

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"All wings report in," Poe called over the comm system. "Red Leader, standing by."

"Blue Leader, standing by," Paige chimed.

"Blue 2, standing by..."

"Red 2, standing by..."

And so forth, the pilots all checked in.

"Blue Leader," Poe called, "remember when we used to sneak trainer X-wings out of the Academy and take 'em to hyperspace? Now look at us, doin' it for real..."

Paige smiled and shook her head. "Stop reveling, Red Leader..."

The squadrons flew on, racing in lightspeed toward Starkiller, waiting for their go-signal from D'Qar.

After a few moments, they heard their charge: "Red Leader, go to sub-lights. On your call."

"Roger, base," Poe responded. "Red squad, Blue squad, take my lead."

Dropping out of lightspeed, the X-wings appeared over their target. There was the Starkiller base—a Goliath of a planet, as massive and threatening as they had imagined—and without hesitation, the fleet flew straight for it, past its atmosphere and into mountainous terrain.

"Almost in range! Hit the target dead center, as many runs as we can get!" Poe commanded.

S-foils positioned in attack, the starfighters released a barrage of blasts on the oscillator—to their dismay, not causing much damage at all. It wasn't long before a sea of TIE fighters emerged in retaliation.

"Guys, we've got a lot of company!" Poe cried.

At first, it looked like a dozen...then two dozens...then over a hundred. Suddenly, Poe could feel the sense of panic, not just within himself, but among his squad.

"We're overwhelmed," said Jess Pava, their Blue Three. "What do we do? It isn't working."

Then, a chuckle was overheard through their comm system—the all too familiar voice of their Blue Leader.

"Why is everyone so scared all of a sudden? Come on, guys..." Paige laughed, kicking her plane into high gear, the engine crescendoing into a high-pitched whir—ready for this. "Let's tell the First Order the Resistance ain't here to lose!"

Her words met each pilot with a rush of newfound motivation. Behind his helmet visor, Poe's mouth formed into a determined grin. That's Paige, Poe thought—she always found a way to make everyone feel better.

"Roger that," he called back. "All right, X-wings. Let's light 'em up!"

And they were off—flying fast and firing at the TIEs with all the power they had, all while sneaking in a shot at the oscillator in between.

Poe was multitasking. A shot at a TIE. A shot at the target. A shot at a TIE. A shot at the target. He wanted so badly to get his plane into a position where he could destroy multiple enemy fighters at once.

Finally, he got it—three TIEs came flying his way. Eyes on the oscillator, he flipped into a 360 and shot a blast—baffling the TIEs, sending all three colliding into one another.

One shot; four results. Just like college.

"That was a slick move, Poe," Snap complimented.

"I taught him that," Paige remarked.

Poe chuckled. "She did."

Then, it was Paige's turn. A lengthy line of about 10 or so TIEs came her way, but as she positioned her gun, another enemy fighter sent a blast in her direction. Catching this in her periphery, she flipped her X-wing belly up, avoiding the hit—then, she mashed the button of her gun, sending a parade of blaster fire toward the line of TIEs, knocking them out one after another in a row.

All this, while flying upside down.

"You trying to outdo me, Paige?" Poe jabbed from the comm.

"Just trying to make you proud," Paige grinned, shaking her head.

Poe smiled. "You don't have to try," he quietly replied.

After a while of dogfighting, finally, the X-wings caught a break—a small explosion erupted from the oscillator. The Resistance ground team had come through, and Paige, looking down upon the damage, quickly mapped out a trail of weak points to hit. Seven total.

"All right, I think I got a clear path over here," she called to her crew. "I'm going in."

"We'll cover you, babe," Poe replied. "Everybody else, hit the target hard! Give it everything you've got!"

The starfighters descended into the breach, following behind as Paige's blue-striped X-wing weaved through the path. Aiming her gun, she fired her first blast.

"One of seven!" she exclaimed.

She flew a bit further and fired.

"Two of seven!"

And further more.

"Three of seven!"

Until, finally, Poe heard her joyous words over his comm system:

"Seven of seven! Let's get outta here! This thing's gonna blow!"

Immediately, the X-wings raced out of the tunnel as fire seeped across the planet, imploding from within, while its power blasted back into the sun.

In the blinding light, Poe noticed a familiar, circular spacecraft rising into space, escaping the explosion—the Millennium Falcon.

"All teams! I got eyes on 'em!" he said with a smile. "Our job's done here. Let's go home!"

So the X-wings took toward the stars, leaving victoriously as the Starkiller collapsed behind them in a ball of flames.