Battle Scars

Chapter XIV

They arrived into the system too quickly for Diana liking. Atterra Bravo was in their sights but they were just out of scanner range for the FIrst Order. "You sure you can do this?" Snap asked Diana.

"Yeah. You could say I'm a bit of a First Order expert." Diana made a few adjustments to mask her signal. If they did contact her as she was entering the atmosphere, she would be able to talk her way down.

"OK, so Diana will land outside of the base and out of sight. Then she will steal a ship and meet us at the meetup point. Coordinates have been uploaded to our droids. Ready Dianne?" Poe's voice seemed wary.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Diana breathed. She began to make her way to the planet. It was a smaller base so, there were fewer ships in the area. Her knowledge about the base didn't make being near the First Order any less nerve-racking.

Once she got through the atmosphere, she found a wooded area near the base. A perfect place to hide the x-wing. "Alright CB let's land there." It was perfect. Diana climbed out of her x-wing and took off her flight suit. "Meet up with Poe and Snap. After that, fly to the meetup coordinates."

CB beep in acknowledgment. Diana took a deep breath before sneaking out of the forested area and towards the base.

There wasn't much of a barrier, but there was no need for one. It was small and in a low populated area. It worked in her favor.

She pressed her back up against a pillar waiting for the stormtrooper to turn his back. Diana knew changing of the guard would be soon. Finally, the stormtrooper turned his back long enough for her to slip by unseen. She found where the pilots quarters were and headed that way.

After finding a terminal, she looked up female pilots on the base. "Perfect," she whispered with a smile. She had found a pilot who had patrol in about an hour. "Now, where is your bunk... Gotch yea." Diana quietly headed down the hall to the elevator. She had to go up three floors praying no one would enter it. Luckily, the very pilot she needed to knock out walked in just the elevator reached the second floor.

A look of shock appeared on both of their faces but Diana was faster. She knocked the First Order pilot out. Before the door opened to the third floor, Dianne had her over her shoulder. "of course her bunk is all the way at the end of the hallway." She grunted as she carried the pilot's unconscious body.

Using the pilot's hand, she gained access to her bunk with no hiccups. Before she began to go through her room, she gagged the First Order pilot and tied her up. "Ok, so let's change." Diana began to change from her Resistance clothes and into T.I.E. pilot armor. It felt weird being back into the armor. It no longer fit her.

She had twenty minutes before the pilot's patrol started, so she left the bunker and locked it. Diana made her way to the airfield. She hated how right at home she felt. This was so familiar to her, and she hated how quickly she was able to fall right into line with the rest of the base.

"Rapier Five, how goes the mission?" Poe sounded way too official.

"Good, so far. Heading for the airfield for my patrol."

"Good, CB-23 has already joined us. Stay safe... please." That was the voice she was expecting. Worried.

Diana approached the officer, "TP2010 reporting for patrol duty."

"Early as per usual. Your ship is ready in bay five." The officer waved her along. She made her way to the interceptor with nerves eating away at her. She stood before the interceptor scared to get back into it. This time she would fly one to help take down the First Oder.

"Hello old friend," She said with a sharp edge to her voice, "Time to fly." Diana flipped her coms on and started the engines. This is TP2010 requesting permissions to disengage from the platform for routine patrol."

It was all too familiar. She was only a little nervous when the comms went silent. "Permission granted TP2010." A deep sigh of relief. She slowly rose from the ground. She held her breath once more as she flew out of the base's range. She wasn't sure how long the other pilot would be out or how long it would take for someone to find her.

"I'm in the interceptor and heading towards you both boys," She said over the secure comms.

"Sounds good I'll have the transport ready," Snap replied. Diana broke atmosphere and turned off transmissions from her to the base. It wouldn't take them long to notice she had gone a-wall. If the other pilot wasn't found first, then they would know something was up once she didn't make it to her next checkpoint in time. She had to hurry.

Poe, Snap, and her x-wing came into view. They were hiding just out of reach of the scanners. Snap opened up the vehicle bay allowing for her to land the stolen interceptor. "Ok, I am safe and sound Snap you can close the door."

"Do it quickly, they just found out we're here," Poe warned.

"Shit, they must have found the real pilot. CB, when we get to the meetup point, scan for any trackers," Diana commanded as she jumped out of the cockpit of the interceptor to remove the tracker's transmitter. She needed to get it off quickly so they could dump it at the dummy site. Diana could hear Poe scrambling to get to hyperspace. Combat was a worst-case scenario for this mission.

"Get into formation. Let's get out of here!" Poe flipped the switch and watched as the distance stars warped going into hyperspace. "Hows that tracker removal coming along Diana?"

"Almost got it. Gonna have CB scan it again for any additional trackers." Diana worked at the last wires before it came loose. "Got it!" How much longer till we are out of hyperspace?"

"Not much longer Diana," Poe answered. She could tell he was still a bit nervous from being nearly caught going into hyperspace. "Exiting hyperspace in three, two, one."

They dropped into a nearby system. Diana jettisoned the tracker into space. "CB, how's that scan coming?" CB reported back with confident beeps that all of the ships were clear. "Alright, let's get out of here before..." Before she could finish her sentence, two interceptors from the base dropped out of hyperspace.

"Shit, now we really have company!" Poe swung his x-wing around gave cover fire to Snap and Diana.

"Well, time to get back into the battle. Snap, open the door." Diana hopped back into the interceptor and flew out of the bay door with haste. She may have been great at piloting an x-wing, but piloting an interceptor was second nature to her.

Poe and Diana weaved in and out of blaster fire. "These pilots are young. We can easily outmaneuver them. Drastically cut your speed. I don't think they've seen that." Diana suggested over a secure channel.

"Oh, and you have?" Poe smirked.

"Yeah back in the day. Some cocky pilot thought he could throw me off with that cheap move."

"Was he wrong?" Poe knew when and who she was talking about. It was the last time they fought against each other. Just days before she showed up at the base.

"Yeup. SO wrong." With her last statement, she cut her speed and allowed the two interceptors trailing her to speed ahead of her making them easy targets. "Two down!" She came back around to take down another interceptor as Poe shot down the two that were trailing him.

"Nice work you guys," Snap cheered, "Now, let's go home."

"Agreed," Poe said as he punched in the coordinates to the base. Diana couldn't wait to be back to the base to celebrate this small victory with Poe and Mae.

I am super sorry I haven't been updating as I have been. Life has been a little stressful. I hope you enjoy!!