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_fn_2187_ is a Finnamon Roll ([info]_fn_2187_) wrote in [info]valarlogs,
@ 2016-07-30 00:02:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:finn, poe dameron, rey

Who: Poe, Rey, and Finn!
When: During the SW Plot in May
Where: Death Valley
What: Star Wars hijinks in the desert!
Rating/Warnings: Low, just Star Wars fun :D
Status: Complete.



“Well,” Rey said. “Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”

She brushed her hands on her trousers, giving Poe a reassuring smile. To be fair, it had been a wild, cramped ride and an exhilarating one, but getting shot down wasn’t anyone’s fault. Finn was a good shot and Poe was probably a better pilot than even she was and that was admitting a lot for her. She looked over the destroyed Tie fighter and marveled that they’d survived.

Of course, now they were lost in the desert and the battle was back...to the west somewhere.

It’d seemed like a good idea at the time; pull the fake prisoner trick like he’d done with Poe so they could steal a TIE fighter. Once they’d gotten inside though, it had been abundantly clear this was not a First Order TIE but an antiquated Empire one. Between Rey’s scavenger knowledge of old Empire ships and her piloting skills, Poe’s equally as impressive flying skills, and Finn’s nearly perfect aim they’d managed to get off the ground and take out an impressive number of enemy targets before the other Empire forces got wise. Then it had been an all out crazy brawl between TIE fighters and confused Rebel X-Wings. In the end, they’d been shot down by the latter with all the crossfire going on. The experience of hurtling towards the earth and certain death didn't feel like old hat for Finn second time around, he was just as terrified.

But now here they were, alive and well. Mostly. Finn had woken up briefly thinking they were on Jakku and yelled for Poe as his first instinct. Once he realized they were in the California desert he was both relieved and instantly frustrated.

He’d winced as Poe had helped him out of the smashed up fighter, and he stood in his Stormtrooper armor, staring at the desert in dissatisfaction.

“Yeah. But look. Now we gotta walk through the damn desert. Again.” He frowned and hung his head. Dammit.

What a ride. Too bad it ended in a familiar scenario, and, even though Poe wasn’t concussed and lost this time, he still felt embarrassed about it. Talk about luck. All he could do was give Finn an apologetic shrug as he helped him up, then turned to look at Rey and their surroundings.

“A little walking never hurt anyone,” he said, even as he shaded his eyes. There wasn’t even any sign of action above them, meaning they had some distance to cover. “At least we’re not alone, right?”

“At least we’re together, right? Weren’t you two separated the last time?” Rey shielded her eyes as she looked around them at the desert. She seemed unduly cheerful for their predicament and was taking everything in stride. “We have a better chance of making it back if we stick together rather than be… not together.”

Finn was instantly grumpy that they had crashed in the California desert. Of all the places! He knew it wasn’t Poe’s fault, he blamed the Empire entirely. And maybe those two over achieving X-Wings that couldn’t figure out they were the good guys in a hijacked enemy vessel.

“I thought Poe was dead the last time,” Finn replied, and instantly his tone softened from it’s irritated state. He looked over at his friend, realizing how grateful he was history hadn’t entirely repeated itself, quietly clapping him on the shoulder as he smiled a little as if to reassure the other man this wasn’t his fault. “And yeah, we definitely need to stay together. But we also need supplies seeing as I have no idea where the hell we are. Do you guys?” He turned and climbed back into the fighter - at least this time the sands wouldn’t randomly swallow it whole. White stormtrooper armored legs sticking out of the hole in the cockpit, he scrabbled around with his gloved hands for the survival kits.

“Definitely not dead this time,” Poe agreed. “My pride’s pretty wounded, though.” He scoffed, but then he couldn’t help but give a bit of a laugh, shrugging a shoulder. “Uh. If we’re lucky, we might be in the National Park, but I’m gonna go ahead and say luck is pretty rarely on our side. I vote we just start walking back the way we flew towards the ground. At least we know civilization is that way. This would have been a great time to have BB-8 around, huh?”

It was really warm, hot even. There weren’t too many places that got this hot in May and Rey had a suspicion that she was afraid to think about. “He definitely could have helped us. I think the last position I saw us at we were headed towards Death Valley.” She gestured around them. “Lucky us?”

“Did you just say Death Valley?!” came Finn’s voice screeching from inside the TIE. His head popped up and he swung down from the broken and smoking vehicle with emergency packs in hand. “Seriously?” He handed one to Rey and one to Poe. Guess Empire TIE pilots only got two packets of water and food for whatever situation they might end up in. He hoped the stuff was as sustaining as the First Order ones were.

“She did, in fact, just say Death Valley,” Poe echoed. He took the pack from Poe, and then paused. Digging through his pockets, he produced his phone. Service was pretty limited, but, hey, what good was technology if you conveniently forgot it, right? “Hang on. I might be lucky enough to latch on to a GPS signal and point us … Anywhere. Or call someone.” He shielded the phone from the sun’s glare, starting to flip through apps. “I just lost my bars.”

Rey swung the emergency pack onto her shoulder, and checked her blaster. Her lightsaber remained in her pocket, though she hadn’t really bothered to use it yet. Nerves, mostly.

And maybe if she used it everything would really be happening. She held up her phone. It was smashed. “Mine didn’t survive, I’m afraid.”

Finn didn't have a smartphone on him. The First Order didn't design Strorm Trooper armor with mobile media in mind. “Well y’know, no pockets.” He gestured at himself. He picked up his helmet from the desert floor and held it under his arm...and then realized something. “Wait, hold on a second!” And he popped the helmet on and pushed a button on the bottom edge. Green electric lines popped up, overlaying the landscape. Labels came up on Poe and Rey along with basic physical health data, and it even gave him info on the wrecked TIE fighter. Best of all, it had a compass and navigational help.

“WOO-HOO!” he whooped, raising both arms in victory, his voice slightly distorted by the helmet. “It totally works! We gotta go that way!” And he pointed pretty much in the direction Poe described, but further west. “It says that's the fastest route to civilzation.” Somehow the helmet was working off of the Earth’s satellites. Or maybe it was connecting to the Empire destroyers that were deploying all these troops. Either way, they might not be as screwed as Finn initially had thought.

“Yeah, buddy!” Poe gave a whoop of his own, clapping Finn on the back. The Stormtroopers may be their natural enemy, but hell if they didn’t think of the darndest things. “All right. Let’s get going. And if we’re lucky maybe we’ll catch the eyes of someone friendly up there who might give us a lift.”

“Handy. My old fighter helmet never had anything like that.” Rey gave Finn a quick, tight hug, then pulled away. She gripped her staff like a walking stick. “Finn isn’t going to like this if we do flag someone down he might have to play pretend as our prisoner. Our us vice versa if we want to get past any Imperial patrols.” She could act well enough, she wagered.

Finn shrugged. “Hey whatever we gotta do, right?” His two friends had already played prisoner just so they could steal a TIE fighter. Hopefully the next time around would work out better.

They started walking mostly keeping pace with one another. Finn felt a bit like a human compass with the helmet on guiding them. He’d pull it off every now and then, when it got to be unbearably hot inside. He was dying in his uniform but realized it was better to keep on the white reflective parts than just the black, sun absorbing undersuit. Plus this time around he couldn't abandon the outer armor like he had on Jakku. “Hey Poe,” he said at one point, helmet being carried in one hand as sweat beaded on his face and trickled down his neck. “How’d you get off of Jakku? Never did ask.” Funny he hadn't until now when they'd found themselves in another desert.

“Playing prisoner seems to be how I get out of everything,” Poe joked. He didn’t mind the sun, really, but the whole situation sucked. It was good they were together, they could keep their minds off it.

“Huh? Oh, I had no idea who I was and someone picked me up cause I amused them. Eventually once my memory came back I was already in a village, so, you know. A whole lot of luck if nothing else. I must have gone the entirely opposite direction of you.”

Rey almost made a joke about Poe liking being tied up, but it wasn’t appropriate in the slightest. It still made her snerk a little. She followed behind the others as they walked, “Don’t walk too fast. It’s really easy to wear yourself out and dehydrate yourself in the desert. A slower, steadier pace is better. With lots of resting.”

“You? Amuse somebody? Pft.” Finn teased. “You’re boring as hell. Worst sense of humor I’ve ever seen in a person.” And he playfully shoved at Poe’s shoulder. The man was nothing but a snark machine, full of quick wit as Finn realized in his dreams and here as well. “Glad someone found you, bro. Pretty sure the Resistance would be SOL without you.” Poe was their best pilot after all.

At Rey’s suggestion to slow down - because clearly Finn had accidentally set the pace as he wanted to get the hell out of there - he frowned a little, but eased up, falling into stride with her. He wasn’t about to argue with the woman who’d grown up on a desert planet. “Sorry. I just...can’t stand the fact we’re in another desert. I mean, damn!” Finn flailed, gesturing at his cumbersome uniform. “I stripped out of this thing ASAP on Jakku. Which, by the way, is about as hot as this place. Death Valley, right? At least on your planet Poe’s jacket came in handy for shade. No such luck this time.”

“I’m not sure why I’m the one that gets picked on,” Poe grumbled. It was all in fun. When Rey reminded them to take it easy, he almost felt embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of that himself. Sure, they were in California, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t do themselves some serious harm out here. Still, at Finn’s comment, he rolled his eyes.

“Come on, buddy. Soak up the vitamin D. Think of how golden I’m gonna look after this.” Poe’s lips quirked up, then he slowed more, glimpsing something glinting up ahead. “Hey - do you guys see that? It … Sort of looks like a downed X-Wing. Maybe someone needs help. Or maybe it’s communications are working.” Or both.

She’d seen Poe in action over Starkiller base. It had been impressive, though there’d been other concerns that had quickly drawn her attention. Survival, blowing up the base..Han Solo.

Rey put the memories aside, still unsure how she was going to tell either man what was coming for them. “I look forward to being mostly red all the time.” It was really a miracle her skin hadn’t turned to leather, but she’d been particular about keeping herself covered in the worst of the heat and sun.

“Hopefully both.” She whacked them both playfully with her staff. “This calls for running!”

“Soak it up where? I’m in armor” Finn retorted crossly, spreading his arms. “And I’m already black. I don’t think I can get any blacker.” His skin tone barely changed, even when he’d been in the middle east in conditions like this. Those memories made him frown further.
“Red? You? In your dreams you grew up in a desert! You don’t think that sort of thing transferred over?” he said to Rey. It was possible. Then she’d probably never burn again. Then again, when he’d first met her, she’d been pretty decently covered up anyway. So maybe she had a point.

At Poe’s mention of an X-Wing, Finn squinted also, momentarily forgetting to use his helmet. “Are you sure, Poe? I mean...it could be a mirage or somth-” Startled, he jumped nearly a mile high at the whack from Rey’s staff - that sucker was not something to mess with - and watched his two friends run pell mell for the glint ahead. He stood there stupidly a moment, then yelled out in frustration, “I THOUGHT YOU SAID NOT TO RUN?!” before popping on his helmet and running a scan. Yep, it was coming up Resistance. Which was weird, because everything around here was Empire and Rebellion stuff, decades older than any of them.

He sighed heavily and started to jog. He wasn’t going anywhere fast in this damn armor, might as well go at a double time pace as opposed to break neck like the others.

Poe also had the thought about Rey just telling them to take their time, but, hey. She was running and there was something interesting to see. Poe had no problems running after her.

“I think I’d know a real X-Wing from a mirage,” he yelled at Finn, over his shoulder. “Also I think you need to be stranded longer than fifteen minutes to start hallucinating.” He laughed, breathless from the exertion, eyes on the prize. As he got nearer, though, he felt himself slowing. The plane wasn’t in perfect condition. It looked like it’d seen some action, but it had that well-cared for look, too. It was the colors that got Poe. Not a whole lot of X-Wings looked like that, and once his brain had processed it, he was running again to close the minimal distance. “This is mine!”

She’d only heard of a black x-wing when she’d seen it being flown. It could only belong to one man and of course it was Poe’s. “How did they let you get away with that, anyway? Isn’t being a different color just asking to be singled out?”

Plus side, it meant they could get out of here. If they could all squeeze in properly. It would just be… cozy.

It took Finn a minute or so to catch up to the others, by the time he had he was huffing and puffing. “Dude...you’re like, drooling over this thing.” He’d missed the part where Poe had said it was his. “Can she fly?” He frowned, because he knew they couldn’t all fit. That thing was made for one pilot and a droid sticking out of the back. And while they might be bros, he wasn’t about to sit on Poe’s lap just to hitch a ride out of here.

He still had the helmet on, and it was scanning the ship automatically. But before Finn could interpret the readouts something caught his vision on the the corner of his eye. A small, green, blinking triangle was singling something out at the horizon - he tapped the side of the helmet twice and it zoomed in - Oh no.

“Uh, guys.” he said. “We’ve got an AT-AT two clicks away. I know they’re slow as hell, but I don’t want to be on the business end of those blasters.” But then he had an idea and he turned to Rey.

“Hey, you have that lightsaber right?” It was crazy, but like the stolen TIE Fighter it might just work.

“Well, Rey, when you’re as good as I am …” Poe trailed off, flashing her a grin. His hand ran along the side of the X-Wing, and, yeah, maybe he was drooling a bit but. Come on. “Looks like it’s in perfect order. Just like I remember it being.” But, yeah, there were three of them and … Not three seats.

And an AT-AT on the way. Poe ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. We can all pile into this thing and really get to know each other, or I can take it and go find help. I’d be back before that thing got here.”

“I’ve got it,” Rey replied, patting the hilt on her belt. “What’s your plan?” Getting cozy wasn’t high on her priorities either, so she was willing to try just about anything. Two people could probably work. Three was impossible. She turned to Poe. “They’re weak in the neck, if you can get a shot at it.”

She nodded. “I used to live in one. Well, what was left of one.”

“Well I was thinking…” Finn cut himself off and gaped at her. “Wait...you lived in one of those things??” That. Wow. He couldn’t imagine making a home inside a former Imperial AT-AT. Kinda interesting though. He shook his head, realizing he was getting off track. “I was thinking that maybe we can hijack the AT-AT and lead it back to the heavier parts of the fight. Help out our Rebellion buddies. Poe can tell them we’re a friendly now that he’s got an X-Wing so we won’t get shot at. Again.” He turned to Poe. “If you can distract it long enough, maybe take a shot at the neck like Rey says, we can get inside the thing. The main hatch is on its side, but there’s two smaller escape hatches that might be easier for us to get into.” Finn didn’t envy the idea of climbing a moving AT-AT. He wasn’t afraid of heights per se, but again - climbing the leg of a moving AT-AT. It would have been easier if they had grappling hooks but as far as he knew, no one did. “Rey, how good are you at climbing? Cuz we’re gonna have to climb one of its legs to get there.”

Listening to the two talk, Poe nodded and gave them both a salute. Though he paused for a second to take in a breath (it was a big moment), he climbed into the X-Wing and felt a bit like he was coming home. The controls made so much sense to him, it was like he always flew one. “I’ll make sure I get shot in to help you guys before going to see if I can round up a squad to come in for a rescue.” Not that Finn and Rey need rescuing. They’d probably have it all under control, but Poe wouldn’t take chances. He started the plane up and took off, heading in the direction of the AT-AT. He’d catch up to his friends after.

“I can climb. I used to scavange inside Star Destroyers for a living,” Rey pointed out, grinning cockily. “Or how did you think I knew how to fly through the remains of one without getting us killed?” She waved as Poe took off, then turned back to Finn. “Well then. Shall we?”

Finn waved to his friend as well and watched as the X-Wing from their collective dreams rose and took off from the desert floor. It was one thing to dream it, but to experience it in person was a whole other thing.

“Wait, that’s how you were able to do that??” he gaped at her behind his helmet as they started for the AT-AT at a trot. “I thought you were crazy! I thought we were gonna die.” He had been in the gunner’s turret so the sight of a canyon of metal whizzing by as they tried to escape the TIEs at high speed hadn’t exactly been encouraging. It was like being on the world’s scariest roller coaster going backwards, now that he thought about it.

It occurred to Finn about halfway to the giant, lumbering armored vehicle that he was still clothed as a bad guy - a sheep in wolf’s clothing as it were. “You think they’ll fire at us considering one of us is dressed as a Stormtrooper?” He wasn’t certain what communications might have been relayed after their little ruse earlier. He pressed buttons on his helmet to try to tap into the communications band but was only getting static. “I think my tech is too new, not sure if I’m going to be able to actually talk to them. This helmet can track stuff, might be it.” He still couldn’t believe they were in the presence of an AT-AT. Those things were legendary vehicles of the Empire. Heavily armored, four legged terrain troop carriers, they’d kicked some serious ass on Hoth.

“Try different frequencies until you find the one they’re chattering on,” Rey suggested, moving in front of him and putting her hands on top of her head, like a prisoner. A bit of roleplay was always fun.

“I am trying!” He kept hitting things but these were frequencies from twenty years ago. It was like trying to pick up an AM station with a Sirius XM radio. He heard nothing but static for a few more paces until finally a voice came into range, Empire chatter. “Got something!” They were now close enough that every step of the AT-AT created a dull thoom, making the ground tremble beneath their feet. “They’re scouting out the desert, looking for any Rebellion fighters that went down...they’re looking for our TIE!” Damn, they might have to do this the hard way if they got recognized.

“Talk to them!” she hissed. “Tell them you have a prisoner and ask them where to take me. Once we’re too close to the walker for the big gun we can climb it. Hopefully they won’t notice us and hit us with anti-personnel blasters.”

Finn racked his brain for what Imperial call signs were. They had been covered during his training but First Order code was what had really been drilled into his head. “Um, okay, you can do this, you can do this.” he muttered to himself. He started off with the call sign and then said, “Imperial Walker this is FN-2187 I have a Resistance prisoner. My TIE was hijacked and crashed. Permission to come aboard.” It took a moment to get a response over the other open channel chatter he could hear in the background.

A hostile “What?” was what he got in reply. “Resistance? You mean Rebel fighter? What's your unit designation? I don't recognize that code.”

Finn swore under his breath and switched off the coms. Dammit! He was forgetting his history! Wrong decade, wrong term. He watched as the massive head of the walker started turning in their direction. Uh oh.

Rey grimaced. “New plan!” She dropped her hands, grabbing her lightsaber and igniting it. She force pushed Finn away as the Walker opened fire. Instinctively she deflected the bolts but they were so powerful she was sent flying. She landed dazed five meters away.

“Boring conversation anyway,” he muttered as Rey declared a change in tactics. He wasn’t prepared for what came next, and let out a cry of surprise as he felt the incredible power of the force throwing him sideways. He saw sky and desert before he hit the ground, tumbling in his armor.

“Ow.” he said, dazed and blinking. He rolled over onto his back and saw the walker slowly turning to bear down on them. “Poe you have your opening dammit, you better take it!” he bellowed, not that the pilot could hear him or anything. He watched as the black and orange X-Wing banked, crossing in front of the glaring sun before aiming for the mammoth vehicle. He glanced over at Rey and immediately scrambled over, shouting her name. “Rey! You okay?! What the hell was that?”

“An error in judgement,” Rey replied. She grasped onto Finn’s arm to pull herself up, not needing to be prompted to grab his hand for once. “I don’t think I’m a jedi yet.”

Where was Poe? Poe would be good right about now…

While the two on the ground made their plans, Poe circled the sky to wait for his chance. His own radio was working and he managed to lock on to some help, who navigated their course to come give the trio some aid. Poe couldn’t keep his eyes on Finn and Rey all the time - the skies weren’t friendly, and he moved out to take care of a few unwelcome guests who might rain on their parade. He got back just in time to survey the situation, and, yes. He had an opening.

The rush of shooting those guns from the X-Wing was ridiculous. No one could hear the shout Poe gave when he hit his target dead on, and he pulled the plane up and out of the way of any return fire. The guns would follow him and keep the coast clear for Rey and Finn to move in.

“Yes! Let’s do this!” Finn shouted as he watched Poe’s X-Wing make a direct hit at the neck joint of the AT-AT. It was just enough to create some damage and a lot of distraction. He started sprinting for the giant metallic beast, which blocked out the sun once they were in its shadow. It’s enormous grey metal legs - each roughly about the height of a four story building - slothfully moved forward in giant, sweeping steps. Now with each impact the ground shook hard, and the sound was like someone had set off TNT underground.

Finn hesitated. The walker was busy trying to shoot at Poe, who was now joined by fellow X-Wings, who were swooping and taunting the lone AT-AT. But he could hear the distant scream of TIE’s coming in, and knew he and Rey had limited time before the AT-AT would have support.

“Unless you got a grappling hook or some sort of force trick up your sleeve...you ready?” he said as they lined themselves up to hop on board a foot. He really wasn’t ready. This was insane. He wasn’t even sure with this armor on he’d be able to do it.

“Honestly all we need really, is a giant trip wire,” Rey remarked. She followed Finn, staying low and trying to figure out exactly how they were going to get up. “No hook, and I’m not sure I trust my skill with the Force enough to throw you up there. I rather like you when you’re not a pancake.” She smiled reassuringly, then ran and lept onto the foot. She turned to reach out and help him, then decided to try using the Force to bring him up.

“Ha, ha.” Finn replied, knowing full well the reference to the battle on Hoth. Finn’s helmeted head swiveled in her direction when she mentioned liking him; granted it was in reference to not getting squashed, but hell, he’d take it as a compliment all the same. Watching as she nimbly leapt aboard, Finn jogged to keep pace with the moving foot then let out a yelp of surprise when he felt himself being pulled through the air! Their hands clasped and Rey pulled him aboard. Clinging to the metal foot of the gargantuan machine, Finn gaped at his friend even if she couldn’t see his face. “Did you just…?”

The sound of the AT-AT’s blasters firing suddenly nearly made Finn jump. For all the simulations they had done, these old AT-AT’s had not been a part of them. And boy were they loud up close and personal! “All right, we better get up there, pronto.” Climb now, talk later.

She held on probably a moment longer than necessary as Finn steadied himself. Then she started climbing again, moving as quickly as she dared. She already had a plan. It was a reckless, stupid plan, but she doubted that anyone inside would actually see it coming.

Once they were on top of the walker (and staying steady was harder than expected), she ignited her lightsaber. “I’m going to cut open the hatch, you shoot anyone inside. Then we’ll take this thing over and knock out the rest of them.”

Easy.

The climb up the moving leg of the AT-AT was definitely not for the faint of heart, and how Rey was able to do so as quickly as she was blew Finn’s mind. Clearly being a scavenger had its advantages. He’d made it to the top a minute after her, the climb slower in the armor.

At the top it was wobbly, but much more bearable than the climb. Finn was just grateful he hadn’t thrown up in his helmet yet.

“What? But the hatch...ohh. Right. Lightsaber.” He’d been about to point out there were no hatches on the tops of these things, hence his plan to access the precariously placed side hatches. But as they surfed the backside of the AT-AT and he watched Rey ignite the light sword, he knew this was way easier.

He pulled his weapon and stood in position, ready. He gave Rey a nod and then said, “Go for it.”

She jammed the saber into the top of the AT-AT and tried to do a perfect circle. It ended up being an awkward oblong oval with several extra cuts. Hey, she was a beginner! She shoved the hunk of metal down onto a storm trooper and then stepped back for Finn.

The hot beams of laser blasts erupted from the hole as one of the pilots abandoned his seat briefly to shoot at them. Finn ducked out of the way before returning fire, hitting the man squarely in the helmet. Stunned, the trooper crumpled to the floor. Finn jumped into the hole before the other pilot could scramble an offense, and pressed the blaster to his head.

“Don’t even think about it.” He twisted around to wave Rey down into the thing. While AT-AT’s were troop and vehicle carriers, it was obvious that they had deployed their troops already into the city since they were now in the desert firing at X-Wings. Finn ordered the man up, and bound him in Empire issued shackles on his hands and feet, and removed his helmet so he couldn’t communicate anything to the other troops.

“Traitor!” the man bellowed at him.

“Yeah, heard that one before.” Finn muttered, and plopped himself quickly into one of the seats.

Rey gave the trooper a little wave as she slipped in after Finn. She settled into the other seat and looked down at the console. A huge grin spread across her face. “I once programmed my flight simulator to give me one of these. Since I lived in one on Jakku. But this is the real thing!”

She rubbed her hands together, and just as she started to change their course, she added. “I made it fall over the first fifteen times.”

Finn wasn’t sure how you could even get an AT-AT to fall over, but then he had simply been infantry, not cavalry or supply. “Well…” he said hesitantly, eyeing Rey’s movements on the controls with a bit of concern, “...practice makes perfect?” He watched as X-Wings and TIE’s danced about in the sky in deadly aerial combat. So far they were engaged with each other, and hopefully Poe had seen their efforts and communicated to his buddies the lumbering beast of a machine was a friendly now.

A sudden blast from behind struck the bulkhead above Finn’s head. He twisted around to see a pair of stormtroopers running up from the back of the behemoth - where the troops were carried - stepping aside their crushed and imprisoned comrades and rushing for he and Rey.

“Rey, we got company!” Finn bellowed and struggled to pull out his blaster from its holster in time.

“I was fifteen, okay?” Rey rolled her eyes, bringing the walker around towards a squadron of troopers. “Hold them off, I’ll take out their friends!!”

From their vantage point Finn could see the troops Rey was talking about were on speeders and smaller AT-ST walkers which had seemed to have apparated out of nowhere. He was suddenly glad they weren't all down there in the desert.

Finn raised his blaster and fired at the advancing soldiers, ducking their blasts and trying to maneuver away from Rey to draw their fire; it struck him as strange momentarily to be firing at his own. He’d been raised to be nothing but a Storm Trooper so shooting at white armor like his own didn't come easily in his mind, though self defense wise he was always quick on the trigger. He knew the Empire and the First Order were merciless and there was no way he’d let them take Rey.

The second trooper was on top of Finn after the first fell. Armor against armor they struggled in a grappling match. His attacker slammed Finn's hand against the dashboard and something shot off from the ship - the laser cannons by the sound of it. His blaster fell out of his hand and the soldier was trying to choke him in anger.

“A little...help...here?” Finn rasped, looking over at Rey.

“Are you sure you need help, big deal?” Rey’s tone was tense, though a little teasing. She reached out, shoving the trooper back with the force. In the next instant she’d handed Finn the lightsaber. “We really ought to get you your own.’

He coughed and gasped, catching his breath. Gratefully taking the lightsaber he quirked a brow beneath the helmet at her remarks. “Thanks.” Then muttered to himself, “Should never have said that to Solo.” before igniting the weapon - stopping his enemy in their tracks. “You see this? Yeah, this here's a lightsaber. So unless you wanna be shish kabob I suggest you take a seat.” The other trooper cocked his head at the reference, hands aloft, but did as he was told and slid down against the wall. Finn picked up the blaster, set it to stun, and fired it at the guy, knocking him out. Turning he did the same to the other guy he’d tied up. Better not to risk anything. Placing it back into his leg holster, Finn felt confident and well armed. “I'm gonna check out the rest of this beast for any more surprises.” he said, even as his helmet was already giving him no signs of other people aboard so far. “You're gonna need me for those guns though,” he called over his shoulder. “So I'll be back ASAP.” AT-ATs were manned by two people, a driver and a gunner. Small Rey would have to reach pretty long to both drive and fire.

“Just be careful. All right?” Rey sounded stressed. They were under attack from both the air and ground at this point and she didn’t want to have to worry about Finn too. “I can’t lose you.”

She turned her attention back to what she was doing. The main cannons were enough to disperse all but the most stubborn troopers, but the anti-air wasn’t doing as nice a job as she’d have liked against those tie fighters.

Finn smiled behind the helmet at her words. Placing a hand gently on her shoulder a moment he said, “I'm not goin’ anywhere except back there. I'll be all right.” He wished his voice sounded less robotic and more soft as it sounded inside his helmet, but the speakers on the helmet always made one’s voice sound a bit harsh.

He quickly made his way towards the back of the vehicle, a long walk into mostly darkness as it seemed the rest of the troop and vehicle carrier wasn't being used. The lightsaber helped him see though really the helmet was doing the better job. Finn just honestly really, really liked the weapon and relished the chance to use it.

Readings were showing there were some troopers in the far back, grabbing weapons from a rack and grouped together, probably figuring out a game plan. If Finn could get to the compartment controls in time he could just shut them in the aft compartment and then disable the controls.

Of course, they saw and heard the blue humming lightsaber first and immediately Finn was taking fire. He instinctively angled the sword to deflect the laser beams; having thorough training in melee weapons at the academy clearly hadn't all gone to waste. Two Stormtroopers fell after deflected blasts hit them, while the others tried advancing.

“Oh no you don't!” Finn said, leaping for the panel. He slammed his fist against the emergency button and the door whisked closed between them. Finn sliced at the controls with the saber, sparks flying everywhere. That would hold them.

Running back to the deck where Rey was he handed back the now switched off lightsaber and finally pulled off the helmet. His dark skin was streaming with sweat. “Okay, we're good. What’d I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Rey replied, looking for all the world as though it had been anything but nothing much. She glanced at him and gave him a smile. “Think we’re ready to get this over with? I have an idea.”

“Hell yeah. Let’s do this! I want outta this desert, outta this hunk of junk, and outta this damn uniform ASAP. What you got?” He was ready for anything, and knew basically what the controls did. Basically. Again, he was more of an overachieving grunt than a specialist.

Rey grinned, doing the equivalent of flooring it. In her best Klingon impression, she declared. “Ramming speed!”

Finn completely missed the Klingon reference as he wasn't as much of a geek as he probably should have been. But he totally got what Rey was aiming for: two smaller AT-STs were busy trying to fire at any low flying Rebellion pilots as well as Rebel ground troops that had finally made it to the scene on various speeder craft. The more agile two-legged Empire tanks were so busy they didn't see the lumbering beast coming right for them. The AT-AT had sped up almost imperceptibly at Rey's command and Finn watched as they essentially kicked one of the AT-ST’s out of the way and knocked over the second, sparing the boxy cab but crushing its legs.

“Yeah!” Finn crowed and suddenly realized how amazingly effective this old thing was. Even the TIE fighters who were now firing at them more frequently - but from what Finn could tell was with confusion and hesitant glancing blows - were barely causing any damage. Seeing a cluster of Storm Troopers cornering and corralling a group of Rebels, Finn found the firing controls and sent his fellow white armor clad brethren flying, sparing the Rebels who gaped up at them in bafflement. Finn grinned and looked over at Rey.

She glanced at him, winking. Not a bad ‘second’ date, if she did say so herself! “Lets see if we can give Poe some return support.”



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