For allbingo
Jan. 15th, 2022 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Explosions In The Sky
Summary: The battle of Starkiller Base has an unexpected outcome.
Prompt: Tool/Technology
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Luke Skywalker disappeared without so much as leaving a clue to his whereabouts, so the Resistance has to deal with Starkiller Base. It’s a monstrosity, Poe knows that much. According to Snap’s reconnaissance reports, it’s bigger than even one Death Star, making one Death Star seem positively like a toy next to it. And then there’s their mysterious spy's notes.
Poe knows the spy showed up after Starkiller Base made its debut wiping out the Hosnian system. Not even so much as a name, a face, or a voice. Just words on a datapad screen. It was one of those things where Poe could say their (never assume gender with a mysterious identity, after all) writing style reminded Poe of how Ben used to take notes on what could be improved about ships and whatnot.
Despite having no idea who this spy was, Poe did want to smile despite himself, feeling a strange warmth in his heart just looking over the datapad.
"Whatever else you can say about our spy,” Poe said, “They’re very thorough in outlining what’s wrong with Starkiller Base. It does help us remember, at least, that evil can always be beaten even if it seems insurmountable."
“Well, good,” Jess said. “How much did he list?”
“A lot,” Poe said. He began to read aloud. “ ‘Starkiller Base is an exercise in a different sort of stupidity than its predecessors: unintentional stupidity. At least Galen Erso did it on purpose when he left in that design flaw in the First Death Star.’" Despite himself, Poe wrinkled his nose in amusement. “Guess I’ll give him credit for wit. The little bastard…”
“Less ‘bastard’ and more ‘lovable scamp’,” Snap said.
“Does anyone use that word anymore?”
“Don’t try and police my vocabulary, rapscallion,” Snap joked.
Leia stepped in, looking almost like she was about to laugh. “Not now.”
***
“ ‘Starkiller Base,’” Poe read aloud, " ‘In addition to having an obvious infrastructure for living that can be easily blown up by any stupid youngling with explosives…’” Poe trailed off. “Hang on a second; he used the word ‘youngling'. Does anyone else in the First Order…”
“Some civilians have used the word,” Leia said. Except, Poe thought, there was something about the way she said it that suggested she was keeping some sort of secret.
Poe sighed. “Anyway, back to reading. 'They also have controls to the shields inside the building, guarded by Captain Phasma, a woman who no one should trust. I would argue that mercenaries from Cantobight have more of a moral code than she does.’”
“No arguments there,” Jess said.
As if it was some snarky coda, Poe found several suggestions that the spy had left for improving Starkiller Base. Poe had to chuckle a bit, despite the circumstances. If the spy was trying to get a gold medal for being a little shit, he was doing a good job.
***
Poe, of course, volunteered to lead the strike team into the heart of Starkiller Base. They had explosives, blasters…everything.
Leia turned to look at Poe, even before Poe headed for Black One. “You know, despite our disagreements, I wouldn’t trade your presence in the Resistance for the galaxy,” she said. “I think Shara Bey would be incredibly proud, knowing her son turned out to be such a good man.”
Poe swallowed. “I hope so.”
“I know it.”
She hugged him. Poe was struck, in that moment, by how much he feared it would be the last time.
“Find the spy too,” Leia said. “Bring him back.”
Poe nodded. “Promise.” He didn’t know what Leia’s investment in the spy was, exactly, but at least he could bring the spy home. After all, Poe Dameron wasn’t one to neglect helping someone.
***
They managed to come out of hyperspace, just in time to skid their X-wings to the edges of cliffs. Even as Poe disembarked from his X-wing with BB-8 in tow, he was struck by the fact that this wasn’t a space station. A space station would have been less cruel than essentially torturing a planet.
Was there a way to save the planet Starkiller Base had been?
Poe knew he’d get there when he got there.
***
When Kylo Ren confronted them at the entrance to Starkiller Base, Poe’s first instinct was to raise his blaster and shoot.
Kylo Ren froze the blaster bolt in place, effortlessly. Then, wryly, “Not only ungrateful, but reckless. Shooting a Force user never works.”
“What are you doing here?” Poe said.
“I’m the spy.” Then, “It’s a relief, I think, getting to say that. Though I don’t know what to expect from Snoke…”
“What do you mean?” Poe said.
“Snoke is not the forgiving type…let’s leave it at that.”
Poe bit his lip. Despite better judgment, he found himself pitying the man with the ridiculous apparatus that made him hard to understand. “After all this,” he said, “The Resistance can offer you temporary shelter. If you want.”
"You think that you can override your General like that?”
“I’m sure she’d agree,” Poe said. “She’s merciful. More merciful than you think. She wouldn’t turn away someone in need, no matter what their crimes."
Kylo seemed to go still, like he was thinking. Then, “I can accept a temporary truce, then."
***
The others seemed distrustful of Kylo Ren. Except Poe. He couldn’t say he liked Kylo, as a person (committing war crimes often had that effect), but there was something about trusting him that felt natural. Maybe Poe found the apparatus, while distracting and making Ren incomprehensible, also bizarrely cute in a creepy way. Maybe it was the fact that Poe Dameron just naturally trusted people. (He wouldn’t die of anything else) Maybe it was the fact that Kylo had some victim status in this too given the implication of Snoke possibly hurting him. Maybe it was the fact that Kylo was about to save them all whether he knew it or not.
“Just know that I’m not doing this for the Resistance,” Kylo said. “I don’t want the Resistance to win, only for this monstrosity to be destroyed. Destroying one system was bad enough.”
“You’ve committed war crimes before.”
“Hardly any that were genocide.”
Poe frowned. “They said you killed the Jedi. And you just…rolled with it.”
Silence fell. Kylo looked, unexpectedly, very alone. That wasn’t something Poe expected from the Jedi Killer.
"Metaphorically, that’s true.” Kylo said. “But legends often get distorted. Sometimes they’re told without knowing any context.”
“You’re not making any sense.” Why didn’t Kylo outright admit that “yes, I killed them and their little porgs too”? It wasn’t outright remorse, it wasn’t outright gloating.
“Why does it matter to you?” Kylo said. “You’re no Jedi.”
“Yeah, well…you could say I take mass murder and genocide very seriously.”
A beat. “It was an electrical storm that destroyed the Academy,” Kylo said. “You’ll be relieved to hear, at least, that I didn’t kill them.” A thoughtful silence. “As much as Lord Vader was an admirable man in many ways, I never…approved of him killing younglings.”
There was a lot to take in. “I never thought you’d have standards.”
“I am a Knight of Ren; I’m not pointlessly cruel. Even though I work for people who are.”
Poe didn’t know why Kylo would actually act like he metaphorically killed the Jedi at the Temple. Did he summon the storm, accidentally or on purpose? Did he somehow feel guilty for not being able to — no, Poe couldn’t imagine Kylo actually feeling guilty. He’d managed to do everything else with no problem on the guilt front. He had weird choices of where to establish standards.
***
Confronting Phasma was easy; Kylo froze her in place with the Force. He lowered the shields himself, and it was there that Poe managed to contact the flight team above, led by Tallie Lintra — part of the last remnants of the Republic after the Hosnian system had been destroyed.
"We got through,” he said. “Tallie — go in and give this place a good pounding.”
“Copy that,” Tallie said.
The transmission ended. Kylo turned to look at Poe. "I think you’re forgetting the explosives.”
“Right. Rig the place so it blows to hell.” Poe sighed. “You probably know the spaces, right?”
***
They set the explosives, and made it out in time for the base to start collapsing. It was a good thing Kylo Ren had decided to take his shuttle off Starkiller Base as it collapsed.
Poe was probably expecting too much, thinking Kylo could stay. But he had hoped. Maybe their paths would cross in the future. Perhaps.
***
He didn’t expect to see Kylo Ren, in the midst of the Resistance, speaking with Leia Organa. Maskless and…
Ben. Ben was under the mask. After all this time. On the one hand, Kylo had done all these horrible things, but on the other hand…
He’d helped them. He'd stopped Starkiller Base.
Ben looked up at Poe. “Mom told me quite a bit,” he said. “More than I thought.”
“How?” Poe exclaimed. “Why — how could you betray us like this? Why did you come back?”
***
Leia left them alone. She had to contact Han, of course, and continue the search for Luke Skywalker, but there was also the fact they had to sort out their new problems.
“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “Leaving you behind…I thought I was doing the right thing. Trying to protect you. I knew where I had to go; after that…incident with my uncle…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I woke up to him pointing a lightsaber in my face.”
It couldn’t be processed. But this was Poe’s friend, the man he loved more than anyone could ever know, and he couldn’t just reject him. “Ben…”
“I good as killed the Jedi through my own inaction,” Ben said. “I was too late to save them, and…I was left in the ruins of the Academy and what I hadn’t been able to do."
“It wasn’t your fault.” Poe, gently, took Ben’s hand. “Was that why you…embraced the Jedi Killer idea?”
"As a form of self-punishment, yes. I couldn’t save them. Then there were the murders of Voe and Ren. Hennix…it was a horrible mistake. Ren killed Tai. I guess it makes no difference. I still failed everyone.”
“You saved the galaxy from another system annihilation,” Poe said. “That makes a difference, Ben. Plus, managing to deceive Snoke. That’s something. You mean something, Ben. You mean everything.”
He found himself tracing circles on Ben's palm. Quiet reassurance. Murmuring old Yavin IV endearments, phrases of love.
And Ben understood. Reciprocated. “I love you, Poe,” he said. "There is nothing that makes me feel safer, right here, right now, than being loved by you."
And Ben hugged him, right then and there, and Poe couldn’t say he could be more grateful that Ben was here, home.
Summary: The battle of Starkiller Base has an unexpected outcome.
Prompt: Tool/Technology
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Luke Skywalker disappeared without so much as leaving a clue to his whereabouts, so the Resistance has to deal with Starkiller Base. It’s a monstrosity, Poe knows that much. According to Snap’s reconnaissance reports, it’s bigger than even one Death Star, making one Death Star seem positively like a toy next to it. And then there’s their mysterious spy's notes.
Poe knows the spy showed up after Starkiller Base made its debut wiping out the Hosnian system. Not even so much as a name, a face, or a voice. Just words on a datapad screen. It was one of those things where Poe could say their (never assume gender with a mysterious identity, after all) writing style reminded Poe of how Ben used to take notes on what could be improved about ships and whatnot.
Despite having no idea who this spy was, Poe did want to smile despite himself, feeling a strange warmth in his heart just looking over the datapad.
"Whatever else you can say about our spy,” Poe said, “They’re very thorough in outlining what’s wrong with Starkiller Base. It does help us remember, at least, that evil can always be beaten even if it seems insurmountable."
“Well, good,” Jess said. “How much did he list?”
“A lot,” Poe said. He began to read aloud. “ ‘Starkiller Base is an exercise in a different sort of stupidity than its predecessors: unintentional stupidity. At least Galen Erso did it on purpose when he left in that design flaw in the First Death Star.’" Despite himself, Poe wrinkled his nose in amusement. “Guess I’ll give him credit for wit. The little bastard…”
“Less ‘bastard’ and more ‘lovable scamp’,” Snap said.
“Does anyone use that word anymore?”
“Don’t try and police my vocabulary, rapscallion,” Snap joked.
Leia stepped in, looking almost like she was about to laugh. “Not now.”
***
“ ‘Starkiller Base,’” Poe read aloud, " ‘In addition to having an obvious infrastructure for living that can be easily blown up by any stupid youngling with explosives…’” Poe trailed off. “Hang on a second; he used the word ‘youngling'. Does anyone else in the First Order…”
“Some civilians have used the word,” Leia said. Except, Poe thought, there was something about the way she said it that suggested she was keeping some sort of secret.
Poe sighed. “Anyway, back to reading. 'They also have controls to the shields inside the building, guarded by Captain Phasma, a woman who no one should trust. I would argue that mercenaries from Cantobight have more of a moral code than she does.’”
“No arguments there,” Jess said.
As if it was some snarky coda, Poe found several suggestions that the spy had left for improving Starkiller Base. Poe had to chuckle a bit, despite the circumstances. If the spy was trying to get a gold medal for being a little shit, he was doing a good job.
***
Poe, of course, volunteered to lead the strike team into the heart of Starkiller Base. They had explosives, blasters…everything.
Leia turned to look at Poe, even before Poe headed for Black One. “You know, despite our disagreements, I wouldn’t trade your presence in the Resistance for the galaxy,” she said. “I think Shara Bey would be incredibly proud, knowing her son turned out to be such a good man.”
Poe swallowed. “I hope so.”
“I know it.”
She hugged him. Poe was struck, in that moment, by how much he feared it would be the last time.
“Find the spy too,” Leia said. “Bring him back.”
Poe nodded. “Promise.” He didn’t know what Leia’s investment in the spy was, exactly, but at least he could bring the spy home. After all, Poe Dameron wasn’t one to neglect helping someone.
***
They managed to come out of hyperspace, just in time to skid their X-wings to the edges of cliffs. Even as Poe disembarked from his X-wing with BB-8 in tow, he was struck by the fact that this wasn’t a space station. A space station would have been less cruel than essentially torturing a planet.
Was there a way to save the planet Starkiller Base had been?
Poe knew he’d get there when he got there.
***
When Kylo Ren confronted them at the entrance to Starkiller Base, Poe’s first instinct was to raise his blaster and shoot.
Kylo Ren froze the blaster bolt in place, effortlessly. Then, wryly, “Not only ungrateful, but reckless. Shooting a Force user never works.”
“What are you doing here?” Poe said.
“I’m the spy.” Then, “It’s a relief, I think, getting to say that. Though I don’t know what to expect from Snoke…”
“What do you mean?” Poe said.
“Snoke is not the forgiving type…let’s leave it at that.”
Poe bit his lip. Despite better judgment, he found himself pitying the man with the ridiculous apparatus that made him hard to understand. “After all this,” he said, “The Resistance can offer you temporary shelter. If you want.”
"You think that you can override your General like that?”
“I’m sure she’d agree,” Poe said. “She’s merciful. More merciful than you think. She wouldn’t turn away someone in need, no matter what their crimes."
Kylo seemed to go still, like he was thinking. Then, “I can accept a temporary truce, then."
***
The others seemed distrustful of Kylo Ren. Except Poe. He couldn’t say he liked Kylo, as a person (committing war crimes often had that effect), but there was something about trusting him that felt natural. Maybe Poe found the apparatus, while distracting and making Ren incomprehensible, also bizarrely cute in a creepy way. Maybe it was the fact that Poe Dameron just naturally trusted people. (He wouldn’t die of anything else) Maybe it was the fact that Kylo had some victim status in this too given the implication of Snoke possibly hurting him. Maybe it was the fact that Kylo was about to save them all whether he knew it or not.
“Just know that I’m not doing this for the Resistance,” Kylo said. “I don’t want the Resistance to win, only for this monstrosity to be destroyed. Destroying one system was bad enough.”
“You’ve committed war crimes before.”
“Hardly any that were genocide.”
Poe frowned. “They said you killed the Jedi. And you just…rolled with it.”
Silence fell. Kylo looked, unexpectedly, very alone. That wasn’t something Poe expected from the Jedi Killer.
"Metaphorically, that’s true.” Kylo said. “But legends often get distorted. Sometimes they’re told without knowing any context.”
“You’re not making any sense.” Why didn’t Kylo outright admit that “yes, I killed them and their little porgs too”? It wasn’t outright remorse, it wasn’t outright gloating.
“Why does it matter to you?” Kylo said. “You’re no Jedi.”
“Yeah, well…you could say I take mass murder and genocide very seriously.”
A beat. “It was an electrical storm that destroyed the Academy,” Kylo said. “You’ll be relieved to hear, at least, that I didn’t kill them.” A thoughtful silence. “As much as Lord Vader was an admirable man in many ways, I never…approved of him killing younglings.”
There was a lot to take in. “I never thought you’d have standards.”
“I am a Knight of Ren; I’m not pointlessly cruel. Even though I work for people who are.”
Poe didn’t know why Kylo would actually act like he metaphorically killed the Jedi at the Temple. Did he summon the storm, accidentally or on purpose? Did he somehow feel guilty for not being able to — no, Poe couldn’t imagine Kylo actually feeling guilty. He’d managed to do everything else with no problem on the guilt front. He had weird choices of where to establish standards.
***
Confronting Phasma was easy; Kylo froze her in place with the Force. He lowered the shields himself, and it was there that Poe managed to contact the flight team above, led by Tallie Lintra — part of the last remnants of the Republic after the Hosnian system had been destroyed.
"We got through,” he said. “Tallie — go in and give this place a good pounding.”
“Copy that,” Tallie said.
The transmission ended. Kylo turned to look at Poe. "I think you’re forgetting the explosives.”
“Right. Rig the place so it blows to hell.” Poe sighed. “You probably know the spaces, right?”
***
They set the explosives, and made it out in time for the base to start collapsing. It was a good thing Kylo Ren had decided to take his shuttle off Starkiller Base as it collapsed.
Poe was probably expecting too much, thinking Kylo could stay. But he had hoped. Maybe their paths would cross in the future. Perhaps.
***
He didn’t expect to see Kylo Ren, in the midst of the Resistance, speaking with Leia Organa. Maskless and…
Ben. Ben was under the mask. After all this time. On the one hand, Kylo had done all these horrible things, but on the other hand…
He’d helped them. He'd stopped Starkiller Base.
Ben looked up at Poe. “Mom told me quite a bit,” he said. “More than I thought.”
“How?” Poe exclaimed. “Why — how could you betray us like this? Why did you come back?”
***
Leia left them alone. She had to contact Han, of course, and continue the search for Luke Skywalker, but there was also the fact they had to sort out their new problems.
“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “Leaving you behind…I thought I was doing the right thing. Trying to protect you. I knew where I had to go; after that…incident with my uncle…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I woke up to him pointing a lightsaber in my face.”
It couldn’t be processed. But this was Poe’s friend, the man he loved more than anyone could ever know, and he couldn’t just reject him. “Ben…”
“I good as killed the Jedi through my own inaction,” Ben said. “I was too late to save them, and…I was left in the ruins of the Academy and what I hadn’t been able to do."
“It wasn’t your fault.” Poe, gently, took Ben’s hand. “Was that why you…embraced the Jedi Killer idea?”
"As a form of self-punishment, yes. I couldn’t save them. Then there were the murders of Voe and Ren. Hennix…it was a horrible mistake. Ren killed Tai. I guess it makes no difference. I still failed everyone.”
“You saved the galaxy from another system annihilation,” Poe said. “That makes a difference, Ben. Plus, managing to deceive Snoke. That’s something. You mean something, Ben. You mean everything.”
He found himself tracing circles on Ben's palm. Quiet reassurance. Murmuring old Yavin IV endearments, phrases of love.
And Ben understood. Reciprocated. “I love you, Poe,” he said. "There is nothing that makes me feel safer, right here, right now, than being loved by you."
And Ben hugged him, right then and there, and Poe couldn’t say he could be more grateful that Ben was here, home.
