Chapter Text
Finn Calrissian, son of Rebellion General Lando Calrissian and Resistance Intelligence officer, quietly slipped off his land speeder just outside of Tuanul on Jakku. He would have preferred to either fly here himself in an unmarked vessel, or a direct drop, but General Leia Organa had declared it too risky, and since she was both his commanding officer and he was on a mission of personal import to her, Finn hadn't been about to argue.
BB-8 beeped at him as it slipped from the land speeder and rolled after Finn into the hut of Lor San Tekka. Leia had sent Finn here because Lor had specific information that they needed, a fragment of a map, necessary in order to find the General's hidden brother.
“We must be quick,” Lor San had told Finn. “The First Order has been trailing you for days.”
“I know,” Finn murmured as he handed the data stick that Lor had given him to BB-8. The little astromech quietly stored the stick away in an internal compartment. Finn was about to ask Lor another question when they both heard the sound of ships in the distance.
“They're here,” Lor San Tekka told Finn softly. He clapped Finn on the back. “Go, and quickly, whatever happens here, you must get that data to Organa.”
Finn slipped swiftly from the hut and made a break towards the dunes he'd hidden the land speeder behind. BB-8 rolled after him, quietly beeping as they reached the land speeder.
Finn could hear sound of forces converging on the village and dared to peak around the dune, his heart sinking at the sight of stormtroopers emerging from the ships. Somewhere in the night sky he saw black shapes move against the stars.
“BB, you have to get away from here, protect that data stick, get off planet and back to the Resistance,” he told BB-8.
~What of Friend-Finn?~ BB-8 beeped sadly.
“Don't worry about me, BB, I'll make it back, somehow,” Finn replied with a cockiness he didn't feel. But everyone expected that of him, and his humor and head and gotten him out of tight spots before.
BB-8 beeped once more and then rolled quickly off into the sands.
Finn could hear voices interrogating Lor and the other villages and cursed silently as he pulled out his blaster. Then the first sound of blaster fire and Finn propelled himself out of the dark. He couldn't let Lor and these villagers die for his actions.
Then the mysterious Kylo Ren was there, quite literally stopping Finn's blaster bolt mid air. He remembered asking Ren who talked first, a snarky response to Ren's inquiry. He felt the restraining bolts on his wrists and his struggle as they forced him back onto Ren's ship.
~~
PO-7032 felt the same thrill he always did as the Tie Fighters were released from the Star Destroyer Finalizer. He was flying, and flying for the glory of the First Order.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, PO-7032 knew he hadn't always been a part of the First Order, but that was all he knew. He did not remember the parents that must have given birth to him, he did not remember any life before the cadets quarters, sometime when he was around eight or nine. Ant memories that classified him as an individual were stripped away, in favor of a blank slate that the First Order could model into the perfect solider, the perfect pilot.
At twelve when all cadets were put through rigerious testing beyond the normal training for First Order soldiers, he had scored well in skills necessary for a pilot, and he'd been shunted to another base, another training program. Some soldiers went into the Stormtrooper program, others were sent to become pilots. Among those who proved themselves the elite in their tested professions, officers would eventually be chosen.
PO-7032 was a very good pilot, one who had never disobeyed an order, one who had given proven results time and time again on his assigned missions. He had only the First Order, he would not fail them. Every target he was given, he hit, every patrol assignment he followed. He would be better than every other pilot in the First Order, he would prove himself to be officer material.
He was stationed on the Star Destroyer Finalizer the day his life took a turn he never expected to.
PO-7032 knew intellectually he was somewhere in his 30s, but he didn't know his exact age. He maintained a training regime to ensure he was in pristine physical and mental shape, so as to remain useful.
Those Tie Pilots and Stormtroopers who were no longer useful were replaced. They were taken away and never seen again. PO-7032 suspected they were probably spaced, but he knew better than to ever ask any questions. He remembered PO-6304, a pilot the others had nicknamed Flames for her haircolor. She'd once asked where a fellow Tie-Pilot had gone. Then she'd been dragged away for reconditioning. She'd never answered to the nickname Flames again.
You asked questions, you got reconditioned. You became useless, you were disposed of. This was the reality of the First Order.
So when his squadron received orders to fire upon the village of Tuanul on Jakku, he didn't question the order as he and his gunner entered their Tie Fighter. He didn't question the order when they flew towards the planet, or when he guided the Fighter towards the village.
They were flying low, too low for PO-7032's comfort, but you didn't ignore a direct command. Somewhere in the dark, he could see the fires where the Stormtroopers had set buildings in the village on fire. Somewhere in the dark, PO-7032 swore he heard screams.
The reality though was he never heard anything but the sound of the Tie's guns and the breaking of his gunner.
With the village razed, the Ties flew back towards the Finalizer. PO-7032 had never fired a shot himself, he'd only piloted the Tie Fighter, but he felt a sick sensation in the pit of his stomach, a sensation he wasn't familiar with, as they landed inside the Finalizer and disembarked, quickly lining up for inspection.
As he stood at attention, black helmet over his face and obscuring his features, Kylo Ren's personal ship landed and the Darksider strode out, flanked by Captain Phasma, and a prisoner being drug between two Stormtroopers.
From inside his helmet, PO-7032 caught a glimpse of the prisoner, a muscular, brown skinned man, bruised and bleeding from the treatment of the Stormtroopers he struggled between.
Then he was lead away, and PO-7032's squadron was ordered into debriefing.
Somewhere behind his helmet, PO-7032 felt a flash of relief that he would never be asked to take it off around officers.
Since they'd flown over that village, something hung heavily on PO-7032's shoulders. Something screamed at him through the universe that all of this was wrong, that those people never should have died, and the prisoner shouldn't look the way he did.
But he's Resistance skum, PO-7032 thought. Shouldn't he be rejoicing that they'd captured a Resistance Spy?
He marched through the Star Destroyer with the rest of his squad, his mind swirling with these thoughts.
~~
Finn Calrissian strained against the straps holding him to the interrogation chair.
“The Resistance will never be cowed by you!” he shouted at Kylo Ren. He'd already been beaten once, and felt the sharp probe of the interrogation droid, but he would give nothing up to these monsters.
“The mind is weak,” Ren informed him, and then Finn felt a pull on his mind. Ren sifted through his thoughts, shredding through Finn's defenses like blasters through paper.
Finn remembered screaming as he strained against the restraints, and then slumped back as Ren withdrew, his mind and head aching, his soul screaming out against the intrusion.
He'd given up the Resistance...Ren had torn BB-8's location from him.
He'd failed the General.
That was his last thought before he passed out from pain.
~~
PO-7032 took another turn as members of his squadron continued towards debriefing.
He knew this was wrong, he felt it in his bones. He had to do something. He had to get away from here.
And there was one man on this entire Star Destroyer who might be able to help him.
PO-7032 took up a purposeful stride towards the interrogation unit. If he was right, the Stormtrooper on duty wouldn't argue too much, Tie Pilots were higher on the food chain than the troopers.
The door slid open, revealing an empty room but for the prisoner strapped to the table and a single Stormtrooper.
“Ren wants the prisoner, go and prepare the cell,” PO-7032 ordered the trooper. The white helmet nodded and marched from the room.
PO-7032 watched as the prisoner forced his eyes open, tired, pained brown eyes looking at his black flightsuit and helmet. PO-7032 pressed the button to release the restraints and took the man roughly by the arm, pulling his sidearm from its holster. He hustled the prisoner from the room and down the hall, then when he saw an opening, he took it and pulled the Resistance intelligence officer into a side room.
“Can you get us out of here, somewhere away from First Order space?” PO-7032 demanded.
“What? What is this? Are you with the Resistance” Finn demanded. Could this be one of their undercovers?
The Tie Pilot removed his helmet, revealing a swath of dark, curly hair and a handsome, tanned face, dark eyes regarding Finn. “This is a rescue. I can get you out of here if you can get us somewhere safe.”
“I'd need a pilot,” Finn hedged, trying to determine if the man was telling the truth.
“I am a pilot,” the Tie Pilot informed him.
“Then lets do this,” Finn replied.
The pilot nodded and slid his helmet back on, marching Finn through the halls of the Star Destroyer towards the hanger.
“Keep calm, keep calm,” PO-7032 murmured to himself.
“I am calm,” Finn told him.
“I'm talking to myself,” PO-7032 informed him.
Somehow they made it to the Tie Fighter, just before someone noticed them.
“Can you shoot?” PO-7032 asked Finn.
“Blaster rifles,” Finn informed him as he buckled in.
“Same principle,” PO-7032 informed him.
Somehow PO-7032 got the tether undone, and with all his skill as a pilot, he got them out of the hanger, even as other Tie Fighters were rallied to go after them.
He felt a momentary pang when Finn hit another Tie Fighter, but PO-7032 reminded himself how wrong he'd felt when they'd fired on the village.
“I'm Finn, Finn Calrissian,” the Resistance officer told him as they made their escape.
“I'm PO-7032,” PO-7032 informed him, dodging easily around another fighter.
“PO-what? That can't be your name,” Finn cried as he took another shot.
“It's the only one they ever gave me,” PO-7032 advised.
“Well I'm not calling you that. How about Poe?” Finn asked.
“Poe..yeah, yeah I like that!” PO...Poe, cried, feeling a thrill run through his body.
“Great. Now we've got to get back to Jakku, I need my droid,” Finn told him.
“Jakku, are you crazy? We need to get away, as far from the First Order as possible!” Poe replied in shock.
“No, I've got to find BB-8!” Finn said. “He's got coordinates, that could lead to Luke Skywalker!”
“Luke Skywalker, seriously?” Poe asked. Luke Skywalker, boogieman of Kylo Ren and the First Order...maybe that would be information to get. “Alright, I guess we should-”
Then there were too many Ties for Poe to dodge, and too many for Finn to hit, and their Tie Fighter was struck from behind.
“Kriff, we're going down Finn,” Poe informed him.
“Hang on Poe!” Finn yelled.
That was the last thing the newly named Poe, formerly PO-7032 remembered before they hit the sand, and blackness took him.
~~
Poe awoke alone in the sand, next to the burned out remains of a Tie Fighter. He scrambled to his feet, looking frantically for Finn Calrissian, but the Resistance officer was no where to be seen.
“Finn? Finn?”
Only the howling wind in the sands answered him.
Amid the wreckage, Poe found Finn's leather jacket. Poe stripped off the remains of his chest and back armor and dropped it in the sands. Holding Finn's jacket over one shoulder, he began to walk.