Star Wars: A Resistance Story. Book 2

Chapter 20: Hunt Down.

"General! I have something that will interest you..."

After their surprise attack on the Resistance after their jump in Hyper Space, the Destroyers of the First Order had the Mon Calamari Cruiser on a leash. They had no chance to escape and it was just a matter of time before they had no fuel left. They had lost.

A small victory smile fixed on his face, Armitage Hux was watching with an obvious joy the poor attempt of escape of the Resistants. His contemplation was interrupted though, by the Colonel Kaplan's voice. Glancing quickly behind him, Hux sighed.

"What could be more enjoyable than what we have right here Colonel?"

"General... She wasn't onboard."

Frowning suddenly, Hux turned on his military heels, silently questioning Kaplan. The man stepped closer, showing his superior a recording of the attack on his communicator. Armitage studied it cautiously, but first didn't see the problem.

"Yes and?"

Kaplan played the recording back, increasing a part of the Raddus. Kylo Ren could be seen as he was flying inside the Cruiser with his TIE Fighter and, at the other side of the corridor, two ships were escaping. This time, Hux frowned and put the recording again a third time. The two ships, a Y-Wing and an X-Wing were leaving the Resistance Cruiser right before the attack of Ren. One of them had a bird with firing wings on its side.

A groan of rage escaped the lips of the General as he threw the communicator at the other side of the deck.

"She ran away..."

"No, actually, I think she left to find a new base General. Our dear Ly'ra is way too attached to her new friends to give them up.""

Hux thought about it quickly before looking back at Kaplan.

"Find her. Use all the ways you think can be necessary."

"I may have someone who could help us..."

Armitage arched a brow, glaring, disdainful, at his former father-in-law.

"If you think about Switch, I'm afraid he's no use right now. He was a complete failure on Castilon so I don't want him on this mission. And I have something else planned for him."

The Colonel Kaplan shook quickly his head, a satisfied smile appearing.

"No actually, I was thinking about... Them."

Intrigued, Hux frowned and followed the man's look. At the other side of the corridor, a group of women were getting closer, ignoring the questioning look of the Officers and the soldiers of the First Order. The General glanced at them, studying. They were a dozen, only women. They looked like amazons with their primary weapons and their sloppy clothes. They all had tattoos on their bodies and their faces. One of them stepped closer, nodded towards Armitage proudly before removing her hood. The young man was stunned by the resemblance between this creature and his ex fiancé.

Hux studied them few more minutes before looking back at Kaplan.

"Who are they?"

"Nightsisters General. They're the best to find Ly'ra, trust me."

The young man seemed to hesitate, but the Colonel seemed to know more than he was saying. He looked back at the group of amazons and ended up nodding softly, turning on his heels to head up towards the main deck.

"Very well. As I said, use all the ways you want, but bring her back to me. Oh Kaplan... Alive."

"Yes General!"

*******

Aboard the Raddus, the atmosphere was gloomy. Everyone was waiting to have news from Leïa, and Poe hadn't moved for several minutes. Snap finished by stepping closer to his friend and kneeled in front of him.

"Hey... D'Acy has just announced a meeting in few minutes. You should get change Buddy."

Dameron knew that he had to get back on tracks, that he had to move and keep fighting but, for the first time in his life, it seemed to be something overwhelming. The loss of Ly'ra and Jay destroyed him, without talking about the fact that Leïa might not get it out alive either. Seeing that he didn't seem to move, Snap sighed before grabbing him by his shoulders and forced him back on his feet. Poe frowned and looked up at the other pilot.

"Hey listen to me, we all lost someone today. It's horrible, and unfair and everything you want. But you can't honor them by giving up miserably like you're doing now. Jay was also my friend and believe me, I'm truly sorry for Ly'ra's loss, she was really awesome. But if you truly loved them, then we're gonna have to keep fighting. For them."

Dameron looked down at BB8, who let out a little questioning beep, before taking a deep breath. Staying without fighting back was not like him at all. He felt empty, dried out from all emotions and feelings, with only pain and absence left. But he decided to use this pain to keep fighting. He looked up at Snap and nodded slowly.

"Okay... I'll be right back."

He then headed towards his quarters to change and refresh his face. Once in the room, he tried his best to ignore all the stuff his girlfriend left in a corner before stepping out few minutes later. He stepped on the main deck at the same time of several other High Officers from the Resistance. BB8 rolled behind him and all of them listened attently to the small discourse D'Acy was giving. There wasn't any good news and when she announced the assumption of command of the Admiral Holdo, Poe frowned slightly. He heard about this woman but what he knew about her and what she declared at the meeting, there was a big difference. After the meeting, Dameron got closer from his new superior. He remembered that Ly'ra had talked about a recognition mission before being... Before being killed. But as things had changed, the pilot had several options he wanted to share.

"Vice Admiral? Commander Dameron. With our current fuel consumption, there's a very limited amount of time that we can stay out of range of those Star Destroyers."

"Very kind of you to make me aware."

Without even looking back at the pilot, Holdo was getting busy taking all the informations she needed. Poe didn't pulled back and went on:

"And we need to shake 'em, before we can find a new base so, what's our plan?"

Finally, feeling that the pilot wouldn't let it down, Holdo turned and faced him.

"Our plan Captain? Not Commander right? Wasn't it Leïa's last official act to demote you for your Dreadnought plan? Where we lost our entire Bombing Fleet?"

Dameron sighed, looking away a second and tried his best to not break everything around him to let off steam.

"Captain, Commander, you can call me whatever you like. I just wanna know what's going on."

Holdo offered the man a hypocritical smile. She had a big problem with that kind of people and she would enjoy telling him her way of thinking. The man and his mercenary girlfriend were a real danger for the Resistance and she still couldn't understand why Leïa was trusting them. Of course the young woman's death was a tragedy, but at least, the risks of treason were now close to none.

"Of course you do. I understand. I've dealt with plenty of trigger-happy flyboys like you. You're impulsive. Dangerous. And the last thing we need right now. So stick to your post and follow my orders."

With a last despising smile, she turned on her heels, leaving Poe completely taken aback. He started hoping that Leïa would soon wake up because he knew he would not bear this woman very long.