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“Kriff!” Finn swore, ducking behind the boulder. He had his blaster out, finger on the trigger. Rey and Poe had been walking in front of him when they were greeted by blaster shots. The boulder was the closest cover for Finn, and he had barely gotten behind it when he felt the hot swoosh of blaster fire close to his leg. Quickly checking, he was relieved to see that it missed him. “You guys okay?”
“I’m good,” Poe’s voice came from a few meters ahead. Finn risked a quick glance to the direction of his friend’s voice, and saw the pilot crouched behind a smaller boulder farther down the path. Not receiving an answer from Rey, Poe yelled, “Rey! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine!” Rey replied, her voice sounding quite distant. The three had been negotiating a path strewn with boulders, and Rey, being the most sure-footed, had been moving forward faster than her two companions. “But I can’t see from here where the shooters are!”
Finn surveyed his surroundings and realized he could risk a look from the other side of the boulder. He waited a few seconds for a lull in the firing, then quickly, he peeked out. From his vantage point, he could see Rey at least ten meters away from where Poe was. Looking farther ahead, he spied what seemed like a platoon of stormtroopers spread out strategically to discourage anyone who may be approaching them using the path that he and his friends had been traversing on. He moved back behind the boulder, and got Poe’s attention from the other side. “I can see them from here.”
Poe nodded as Finn disclosed the locations of the opposing shooters. In his head, he knew the odds weren’t good. Looking at Finn, he knew the man was thinking about the same thing. It was almost like second nature to military men like them – always calculating the risks. He shared his decision with Finn, who was close enough to hear without him having to shout. “We should head back and look for another way in.”
“We should,” Finn agreed. “I could provide cover while you and Rey start going back.”
“Rey, we need to go back!” Poe shouted. “Finn will cover us!”
Her resounding “no” was not quite what her friends were expecting. “I think I can make it from here, if Finn will cover me. You both stay there. It’s too dangerous, I’m going alone!”
Finn was about to release a barrage of colorful words at the absurdity of his friend’s decision, but the words he heard next from Poe might just make him dig deep in his swear vocabulary. The pilot’s reply was quick and clear, more of a knee-jerk response than a logical one. “We’re going together!”
“Are you both out of your kriffing minds?!” Finn managed to bellow as he watched Poe prepare to leave his cover to go to Rey.
Poe gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry buddy, but that sounds like she’s made up her mind, and you know she doesn’t back down when she does. I can’t just let her go alone. Cover us, will ya?”
“Righty-o, Commander,” Finn replied through gritted teeth, hating to admit that Poe was right. He continued to mutter curses as he checked his blaster and prepared to start providing cover for his friends.
“Meet you back at the Falcon!” Poe yelled as he began to dash away from his hiding place. Instantly, blaster fire began to come from below once more, and Finn began shooting back. He used to feel a bit funny shooting at those who used to be his brothers-in-arms, but now, with them shooting at the two that were his family in all ways but blood, the decision was easy. A couple of well-aimed shots allowed Poe to reach Rey easily, who looked less than thrilled to have the pilot scrambling over to reach her. Poe had his back turned to Finn, but it was clear to Finn that whatever expression he may have on his face changed Rey’s demeanor very quickly. Her frosty look melted into a soft smile as she placed her hand on Poe’s open palm. Finn took a deep breath and began shooting.
*****
“Ready?” Poe asked Rey as Finn began shooting from his higher perch.
“You don’t have to do this, Poe,” Rey said softly. “I can go alone. Just help Finn cover me.”
“We’re going together,” Poe repeated, firmly. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, earning him another smile from Rey. She returned the squeeze, before letting go of his hand. She then unclipped her lightsaber from her belt but did not activate the weapon.
“On three, flyboy,” Rey moved to a crouch, preparing to run off. Poe mirrored her position, his blaster in his hand. “One…two…three!”
As expected, a rain of blaster shots met them as they made their dash to the bottom of the incline. Rey managed to deflect most of the blaster shots that went near them, but it was mainly Finn’s support that deterred the stormtroopers from releasing well-aimed shots. A few meters from their destination, Poe pulled Rey behind one of the last remaining boulder, as a particularly close barrage of shots nearly met their mark.
“I can’t see them!” Poe exclaimed, peering right and left from the boulder that shielded them. He took out his comm and beeped Finn. “Where are they, Finn?”
“A few meters directly in front of you,” Finn replied. “I can’t get a shot from here, there is a boulder in the way. There is also one about fifteen meters at your three o’clock.”
“I’ll go that way,” Rey said, motioning to a covered space across the path. “When they get up to shoot at me, shoot them.”
Poe nodded and moved in position. He didn’t like her drawing fire to herself, but it seemed like the most plausible action for now. Rey jumped to her feet and ran across the path, Poe rising behind the boulder and releasing two quick shots in succession, getting both troopers. However, he couldn’t get the lone one and his blood went cold when he saw the trooper aiming at Rey, who had deactivated her lightsaber once she had her back on the boulder.
“Rey get down!” Poe screamed, running full speed to Rey. He crashed into her, instinctively twisting them away from the trajectory as he felt a searing heat to his left arm, which he reflexively had wrapped around her waist. They fell with a thud to the ground, Poe half-sprawled over Rey with the momentum from his run throwing her backward and to her side. He moved to cover her more as a volley of blaster fire whizzed behind him, his other arm cradling her head to the crook of his neck. There was a satisfying grunt and thud before silence.
Poe tentatively raised his head a bit, his heart hammering in his chest. Rey’s breath was hot on his jaw, her body soft under his. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but before he could think about it, he pulled back a little to meet her eyes, baring everything he felt.
Rey’s eyes were just as telling, pupils dilated as she found herself feeling oddly safe by the weight of him on her. Her lips opened as she breathily whispered his name. She made no attempt to push him off or to move away from him.
“You all right?” Poe managed to say, his voice rough. He felt breathless and he knew it was not just because of their close call. Gods, her lips were a mere inch away from his and he wanted nothing more than capture them with his own. It felt as if it was the most natural thing to do, and yet it also felt wrong to take advantage of the situation. With a superhuman effort, Poe made himself pull back and instead ran his thumb gently against her cheek before rolling over to his left side.
They both hissed in pain as his left arm pressed against her right. Glancing at the source of pain, he realized that one of the shots grazed them both and his wound has been bleeding into hers. Or hers to his. It was a bloody mess and neither could tell which blood was which.
“You…nobody’s ever thrown themselves in the line of fire for me,” Rey said softly as they lay on their back.
Poe turned to her with a smile and reached for her hand. “I’ve been known to do that for those I care about. And I’d do that again if we ever find ourselves in another predicament like that.”
Rey smiled. “I’d do that for you…”
Finn skidding to a stop close to them cut off the rest of Rey’s statement. His eyes went wide at their prone forms and bloodied arms. “Kriff, you guys both okay? Who’s bleeding?”
“Mine is just a graze,” Rey winced as she moved her arm to try to get a better look at her wound.
“Gimme your scarf,” Finn demanded from Poe, dropping to a knee beside Rey. Poe sat up and wordlessly removed his scarf with his uninjured arm, handing it to Finn. He examined his wound as Finn promptly began tearing his scarf into smaller strips, using water from his canteen to wash the blood away from Rey’s wound.
“Just a graze for me, too,” Poe confirmed, watching Finn bandage Rey’s arm. Once he was done, Rey moved to allow Finn to tend to Poe. As he did with Rey, Finn washed the wound with some water before bandaging it. When he finished, he gave them a wry smile. “There are easier ways to make a blood pact, you know.”
Without bloodied arms to distract him, Finn did not miss the look Poe and Rey exchanged. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at his two friends. “I was just kidding, you didn’t seriously make a blood pact, did you?”
Rey did not answer, instead getting up and walking away from them. Finn turned to Poe, who just shrugged. With a sigh, Finn got up and walked after Rey. Poe followed them, looking around him for any other threats that may be lurking, a habit borne from his years in the military. He stopped a few paces behind Rey, who was now staring at the unfinished gigantic spherical structure looming ahead of them. Glancing to his left, he saw Finn looking at the same structure, his expression unreadable. After a few moments of silence, Rey turned around and faced them. “Stationing stormtroopers this far from that – whatever that is, it’s pretty important to the First Order.”
“A Death Star,” Poe stated. “It looks like they’re making another Death Star.”
“A Death Star.” Rey repeated. “Like the one the Empire made.”
Poe nodded. “That’s exactly how it looked like on all the holos shown to us in history class.”
“And I thought Starkiller was nasty,” Finn remarked. “I’ve never heard of any talks about Death Stars when I was still with the First Order.”
“Our mission is to gather intel regarding First Order activity in this planet,” Poe reminded his companions. “I think it’s pretty clear what they’ve been up to.”
“We should go back and tell the General about this,” Finn proposed.
Rey looked like she was about to disagree, but to Poe’s surprise, she nodded at Finn’s suggestion. “She may be the only one alive who knows how to destroy these things.”
As Finn started walking back, Poe hung back until Rey reached him. “So we’re just going back? Whatever happened to pushing on? Did we just go through all that only to turn around and go back anyway?”
“Of course not,” Rey replied with a small knowing smile. “I agree with Finn that it’s time the General is informed about this. But that doesn’t mean we’re leaving. If she knows how to destroy it, maybe we can do that before we actually head back to base.”
Poe grinned and began walking in-step with Rey. “Finally, a woman after my own heart! I like the way you think.”
“I think you just like the way this gives you a chance to fly and blow things up,” Rey teased, the faint blush on her cheeks not lost on Poe.
“That, too,” Poe couldn’t stop grinning. They trekked back in comfortable silence, a few paces behind Finn. Halfway through the incline, he laid a hand lightly on Rey’s forearm. “Rey, what I said earlier, I, uh, I meant every word of it.”
Rey looked at him questioningly but said nothing. Poe continued, “You don’t have to do any of this alone. Nothing’s too dangerous – you go, I go. And I bet Finn will, too. Even if you don’t actually share a blood pact with him.”
Rey couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I know. I don’t think that’s going to stop him. It’s just that, I’m not used to having people who got my back.”
“Better get used to it then,” Poe remarked. “’Coz that’s exactly what I’ll be doing, even if it meant repeatedly throwing myself in the line of fire for you.”
“Thank you,” Rey said with a shy smile.
Poe grinned and lightly bumped his shoulder with hers. “So, we’re not just torture buddies and BB-8’s humans, we’re also blood buddies now.”
“Seems like the universe just keeps making these connections between us,” Rey mused. “And I have a feeling there’s more to come.”
“I know,” Poe nodded. “And I don’t mind a single bit.”
Rey’s smile was radiant when she looked at him. “Neither do I."