Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 31

Poe and BB-8 entered the bridge and came towards the group congregated in front of the large console. He nodded to Finn and Rose as he came to stand beside Rey.

"Thank you for waiting," he said, taking a moment to collect himself, "The good news is our disrupter works."

"Do we know how long their systems took to recover?" Rey asked.

"I left a probe droid to monitor them and we're waiting to receive its transmission," Poe said turning on the holographic projector displaying every fighter and ship, "Now for the bad news..." he pressed a button and almost half of them turned red, "...these are the ships that we lost."

A grim silence followed, the thin veneer of their victory wearing away.

"What damage did the cruiser sustain before the deflector shield was activated?" Commander D'Arcy asked.

Rose stepped forward, "We have some extensive damage on the ventral and dorsal hull; we've plugged the breaches but there are some sections that have been totally compromised. Three of the ion engines are still damaged and the deflector shield is down to forty percent. On top of all that we still have no long range communications."

Poe sighed heavily, "Given what we've all been through in the last two days, I think all further repairs that aren't immediately required can wait. We need time to rest."

"That's the best idea I've heard today," Snap said smiling.

A quiet chuckle spread around the room.

"There will be a memorial for those that we've lost once we reach our base on Ajan Kloss. I'll make an announcement in a few hours once the arrangements have been finalised," Poe gazed around, "We've survived an impossible situation...and we did it by working together. I want you to pass on our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to our safe escape. Finn," he said looking at him, "can you do the same for the kids that assisted the engineering team?"

He nodded.

"I think that is everything for now," Poe said, "Go and get some sleep."

Everyone slowly started to leave accept Rey.

She came across and placed her chin on Poe's shoulder.

"Do I want to know why there's a badly burnt helmet in the generator room?" he asked.

She leant back shaking her head, "It's a long story; I'll make sure that it's laid to rest."

"...Is it Vader's?"

"...Yeah..."

"...Ok...Vader's mask...on the floor of our cruiser...it's been an unusual day."

"I know," she said leaving.

He smirked, gazing at the readouts on the disrupter.

"Poe," Connix said from a console, "private transmission for you."

"Tap it through to this headset," he said holding it up.

Connix nodded and he put them on.

"Poe, is that you?" a woman's voice asked.

"No this is General Hux; do you have a Death Star I can borrow?"

"Don't start Dameron. I'm short on time."

"Sorry, what have you got?"

"Our spy has been in touch again."

"Anything good?"

"Isn't it always? They say that there's a small fleet of four Star Destroyers moving into the Lasan system. They don't know what they're up to, but there's been a lot of chatter about it in the last few hours. Someone high up has definitely got something planned."

"Ok, I'll pass it onto Resistance High Command. Any clue as to who this guy is yet?"

"As usual I got an untraceable message through our communication network."

"Did you scan the last site they left those First Order transports?"

"I did and it drew a blank. Whoever they are, they cover their tracks well."

"Keep trying. Got anything else?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"I'm a demanding man."

"I am overpowered by the sheer number of things I could say to that."

"Thanks for the information."

"Until next time."

Poe put down the headset and smiled to himself.