Star Wars VIII: Stand of the Republic

03: Discovered

Poe saw the destruction of the station and the few ships that didn't escape to hyperspace. He switched off his jamming device in order to tell the bombers to retreat, but a quick check of the sensor display showed none were left. The last cruiser jumped to light speed, leaving Poe alone with the First Order ships.

"BB-8," Poe called out, "set the coordinates for the rendezvous point and engage the hyperdrive when ready."

A series of confirming beeps were issued by the droid in the socket behind the cockpit.

Being the only remaining target, Poe was hard pressed to evade the volume of incoming fire, but he managed to weave his way between and around the larger ships, using them for cover from the countless fighters chasing after him. He barely had time to hang on when BB-8 signaled him about the jump. Poe was thrown back into his seat as his fighter shot forward into light speed.

It didn't take Poe long to reach the rendezvous point on the borders of the Serator nebula, his fighter snapping into existence a short distance from the scattered remnants of the evacuation fleet. The nebula was large, filling most of his cockpit window behind the fleet. Swirls of green and blue mixed together near the outermost edges, but the heart of the nebula glowed bright gold as if a dozen stars were clustered within its depths. Altering course, Poe flew into the landing bay on the cruiser belonging to Leia. As the engines powered down, he opened the cockpit and jumped down without waiting for anyone to provide a ladder for him.

"BB-8, check the ship out and make sure it's ready to go if we need it," Poe instructed, to which the droid answered in an affirming whistle.

Poe had to report in, but as he headed toward the exit, he noticed something odd. The workers tending to the other ships in the bay refused to meet his gaze.  A few stared at him, everyone quickly found something to do we he looked in their direction. Dismissing the strange occurrence, Poe continued toward the bridge to report on the outcome of his part of the evacuation.

General Leia Solo was waiting on the bridge. Her posture was stiff, her arms crossed, and everyone around her seem inordinately focused on their work.

"Poe," Leia commanded the moment he walked through the doors. "Come with me."

She led the way off the bridge and into her small office. A white desk and matching chair were positioned near a window looking out at the swirling gas of the nebula. A silver handled lightsaber resided on the desk beside a data pad. Leia turned her back on the window and stared unflinchingly at Poe, waiting for the doors to close behind them before unloading on him.

"You blatantly disobeyed my orders," Leia told him when no one could possibly overhear their conversation. "I ordered you to pull back and you refused."

"I didn't hear that order," Poe defended.

Leia's jaw clenched and she stepped within an inch of him.

"You would have if you hadn't activated a jamming device," she growled through gritted teeth. "Because you jammed the comm waves, I couldn't order the bombers to retreat either, and now all of them are gone."

"We had a chance to take out a dreadnought," Poe protested.

"It didn't work, did it?" Leia accused. "If we encounter another, with what ships and pilots will we be able to fight it? You expended our entire supply of bombers, and cost us the lives of highly trained bomber crews. Ships we might be able to replace in time, but qualified people are a little harder to come by."

"I was sure we could do it," Poe insisted.

"That wasn't your call to make!" Leia snapped. "You aren't in command. You don't get to decide which orders you want to follow. You will do as you are told or end up in the brig. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, General," Poe accepted.

"Poe you are a great pilot," Leia sighed, massaging her forehead with one hand. "But other pilots don't have your skill at getting out of difficult fights. When you go racing headlong into dangerous situations, you have to think about those you're taking with you."

She picked up a data pad from her desk and handed it over to him.

"These are the personnel files of the people we lost because of your reckless actions," Leia told him. "Memorize them. Your flight status is revoked until you do."

Poe opened his mouth to argue against the imposed punishment, but Leia cut him off.

"Don't you say one more word," she ordered. "With your insubordination and the lives you cost us today, you're lucky I don't have you shot for treason. Now, get out!"

Poe took the data pad and retreated from the room. No one on the bridge looked in his direction as he walked through, the metal housing of the data pad feeling deathly cold in his hand. Before he reached the exit, alarms began blaring.

"Report!" Leia command as she swept on to the bridge.

"Star Destroyers coming out of light speed in sector nine," the tactical officer reported from Leia's right.

"Have the fleet jump to the next point," Leia ordered. As she watched, the damaged dreadnought appeared among the First Order ships, but an explosion erupted from its dorsal section. "Report on the dreadnought."

"Sensors detecting damage to their hyperdrive system," a tech leaning over the scanner station reported. "They seem to have overtaxed their power relays."

"At least they won't be giving chase for a while," Leia said. "Get us out of here."

The First Order Star Destroyers pushed their sublight engines hard and closed with the Republic fleet. From their ventral fighter bays under the ships, waves of TIE fighters were launched to attack the evacuation fleet before they could escape again.