Star Wars VIII: Stand of the Republic

18: Dissent

Finn returned to his quarters to find Poe waiting in the hallway for him. The former pilot was slouched against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was nearly as dark as his hair.

"What are you doing here?" Finn asked.

"I needed to talk to you," Poe answered without looking up.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting," Finn replied.

"I've been relieved of duty and escorted by guards out of the command briefing," Poe stated while staring at the floor. "It's not like I'm neglecting my job."

"Maybe you better tell me what happened," Finn suggested. He pressed the door control to open his quarters, and they both went inside. "What's going on?"

Poe closed the door to the cabin before answering.

"The Vice Admiral announced her plan to save the fleet," Poe informed him through gritted teeth. "She's planning on abandoning the cruisers and offloading everyone by transport to a nearby planet and wait for the First Order fleet to pass by. Because their sensors are tracking the cruisers, she claims they won't notice the transports."

"That might work," Finn replied calmly before his voice increased to a shout, "if the entire forward bulkhead of their bridge wasn't a giant set of windows! They won't need sensors because they'll just look out and see the transports. The ships will be shot to pieces before they get anywhere near the atmosphere."

"I know!" Poe agreed. "What makes it worse is that no one will listen to me because I've been suspended."

"I'm listening," Finn reminded.

"Thanks, buddy," Poe sighed as he took a seat on the edge of Finn's bunk. "But, I don't think it's going to be enough to change things."

Poe paused as he noticed the bag Finn was still holding.

"What's in the bag?" Poe inquired.

"Just some stuff," Finn dismissed, moving the bag behind him and mostly out of sight.

"You were going to leave and find Rey, weren't you?" Poe asked.

"No, I wasn't," Finn instantly denied.

"What happened?" Poe continued. "You lack proper authorization to leave?"

Finn's shoulders slumped.

"Vice Admiral Holdo locked down the fleet," Finn admitted. "No one leaves."

"Figures," Poe responded. "If people start realizing how suicidal her plan is, the fleet will fall apart and desertion will be the least of her problems."

"What do you mean?" Finn questioned.

"The New Republic was founded by rebels," Poe explained. "We don't take kindly to bad leaders."

Poe gave a humorless chuckle. "Look what happened to me after my poor command choices."

"You think there might be trouble?" Finn queried. "Perhaps a revolt?"

"It's possible," Poe confirmed. He studied the floor as if looking for answers to be written on the bare deck plating. He continued talking, finishing his thought without full concentration. "It's actually quite likely."

Poe's eyes flicked up to center on Finn.

"We could move things on a little," he suggested.

"You want to start a mutiny?" Finn questioned in a hoarse whisper. "With the First Order breathing down our necks?"

"It's either that or let the First Order pick us off one by one when Holdo's plan goes into effect," Poe returned. "Would you rather wait to die, or do something that might save us all?"

Finn shook his head. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back and massaging the back of his neck with one hand.

"I don't believe this," Finn said wearily. "I turned against the First Order, now I'm supposed to turn against the Republic. Isn't there anywhere I can stay where I don't end up fighting against the powers that be?"

"You're not betraying the Republic," Poe objected. "If anything, you're proving your loyalty by not allowing its people to be helplessly slaughtered."

"It's a nice thought, but I know how this is going to look," Finn countered. "I will be seen as having only short-term loyalty, and you will be seen as trying to grab power for yourself after she brushed you aside. How could we convince anyone that we're any different than the way they suspect us to be?"

Poe stood and began pacing the small room, hands folded in front of him with the index fingers tip to tip and pointing in front of him like the barrel of a blaster as he considered his options.

"We'll need a better plan than what Holdo is offering if we want people to side with us," Poe muttered, mostly to himself. "It will have to be something fast if we're going to have time to implement it before we reach Crait and start offloading into those flying targets she called transports."

"What about calling for assistance?" Finn suggested.

Poe stopped his pacing and spun around to face Finn.

"That's it!" Poe almost shouted. His voice quieted to normal levels as he continued. "Signals are being jammed in this system, but in the next one over, we'd be clear to broadcast. A single fighter can move faster than the larger cruisers, so it could get beyond the interdictor field before the rest of the fleet, jump to another system and call for help."

"Even with her plan to shuttle down to Crait," Finn offered, "Holdo can't be against sending a message for help."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Poe countered. "She doesn't want to hear anything I have to say, and I'm not sure she'd listen to you either. Besides, if there's even the slightest chance she would object, we can't let her know what we're planning because if she knows, she can move to counter it and all chances of actually making the plan work would fall to ashes. We have to do this covertly. The real problem is finding a way off the ship since Holdo put everything in lockdown."

"I might have someone who could help," Finn suggested. "I met a technician named Rose Tico securing the transports. She might be able to unsecure one for us if we can get her to join us."

"Tico?" Poe questioned.  He frowned.  "I don't know about that."

"Why?" Finn questioned. "What's wrong?"

"Leia had me memorize the names of the people who died following me on my last mission," Poe explained. "Paige Tico was one of them. Her service file mentioned she had a sister but didn't go into further detail. I'm not sure Rose will help us since I got her sister killed."

"We don't have a lot of options," Finn reminded. "We'll just have to try and convince her."

"Let's hope we don't mess this up," Poe sighed. "The future of the fleet, and all the lives onboard, may depend on our success."