The Dark Side

"When did you learn to fly a ship like this one?" Kylo asks. I glance over to him. His dark hair is hanging into his eyes as he watches me maneuver the controls. Is he impressed? Or just worried that I don't know what I'm doing? 

The ship tilts to one side, then the other. My cheeks heat up as I scramble to level out the take-off. I've never flown a ship like Kylo's before actually, plus it was buried under so much debris on Yavin_4 that I could barely get it off the ground. But I do know the basics of flying one of these larger ships, except now I'm apparently making the worst take-off in all of flight pilot history. "And why am I flying ship again?" I ask as the ship finally levels off and we lift higher.

Kylo gets up from the co-pilot seat. "I never fly my own ships," he says, about to walk away.

"Wait. What was the disturbance in the Force, that we felt tonight?" Kylo wanted us to leave so fast that we haven't even discuss the 'why'. "Do you think it has to do with Luke?"

Kylo rests a hand on the back of my seat, looking down at me. "Either someone strong with the Force has been killed, or a planet destroyed."

"But Starkiller Base is gone. How would the First Order destroy an entire planet?"

"I don't know," Kylo says, then he leaves.

I focus on the take-off, in a few seconds I'm going to switch to light speed, then set the co-ordinates for warp drive, and hopefully get this thing on autopilot. I flip a switch and the ship blasts forward, pushing me back against the seat. I glance in one of the view screens and watch as Yavin_4 gets smaller and smaller behind us, until it's out of sight.

My stomach clenches into a knot, and I reach instinctively for my belt. My light saber is with me. I don't know how many times I checked before boarding, but it was lots. So why do I have this feeling that I've left something behind? BB-8 is with us, on board. She is. I'm sure of it.

"BB-8?" I yell over my shoulder, unable to let go of the uneasy feeling. The ship shakes with the impact of a loose flying meteor and I turn my attention back to flying. Oops. There are more ahead, a small meteor shower. I fly the ship up and around it. I just have to figure out how to activate the warp drive with the co-ordinates Kylo gave me. Then the ship will go into autopilot mode, since Warp drive pre-calculates a path free of planets and asteroids before kicking in, so that the ship can shoot through space without crashing into something along the way to its destination.

I find the button finally, on the main dashboard. But I don't want to push it yet.

"Kylo!" I call. There's no response. I grind my teeth. I look back down and realize that there are two that have to be hit at the same time to activate warp drive, one of those safety features where both the pilot and co-pilot have to consent before it works. Seriously? 

I reach over but I can't get to the second button on the co-pilot's side. If my arms were just a bit longer, I could. Should I leave the bridge and go find Kylo? We'll probably crash into something if I do. BB-8 could push the button for me if she were here. Why is she always taking off?

I give up trying to reach for the other button. I don't want to go into warp drive anyway, not until I know for sure BB-8 is on board. I check the course we're on. It looks clear enough, for the next 10 minutes of flight at least. I put the shields up in case we do run into some debris. That should deflect any objects in our way without wrecking the hull plating.

I jump out of my seat and rush to the bridge doors. On the other side is a long hallway. I run down it, unfamiliar with the layout of this ship but so far there's only one direction to go. I turn a corner and slam into Kylo, who's also rushing in the opposite direction.

"Ouch," I rub my shoulder.

"Why are the shields up?" he asks. "Are we under attack?"

"No. I need help getting into warp drive."

Kylo gives me a questioning look.

"Where's BB-8?" I say. "I need to see her."

"I don't know."

I push past him. "You'll have to fly this ship yourself," I say, rushing off.

I've all but lost my mind by the time I find BB-8. I don't know whether to be mad at her or just happy to see her. She's in the interrogation room, her little head tilted down towards the ground in a way I haven't seen before, she's usually alert and full of energy, with her head always level. I rush over to her and kneel down.

"I was looking for you! Is everything okay?" I feel the ship jump into warp drive, losing my balance for a second. We're on our way to General Hux. The plan is to pretend Kylo has captured me. The whole thing makes my stomach uneasy. But I'm more concerned about BB-8 right now. "What are you doing here BB-8?" I ask.

She raises her small head, then lowers it again. "I was looking for a place to charge," she beeps quietly.

"Charge? Oh, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell us you were low on charge?"

"There was no place to charge on Yavin_4. So I didn't want to bring it up."

I rest my hand on BB-8's little frame. She feels cold to the touch.

"What kind of power conversion do you need?"

BB-8 opens one of her small compartments, the door moving slower than usual. I look at the tiny cable inside.

"I can open up a panel in this room and use a wire from under one of the control panels," I say, thinking out loud.

"Okay," BB-8 beeps softly.

I get right to work. BB-8 rolls over to me and helps unscrew a panel with one of her tiny screws. I lift off the metal sheet and pull out a mass of wires. One of them should be the right current. But I'll need a knife. I look around the room then remember my light saber.

Before long I've got BB-8 hooked up and just as she's beginning to charge a trill sound startles the both of us. Did I trigger some kind of alarm?

"It's the communication system," BB-8 explains. "An incoming call."

"Oh." I stand and look down at the information screen. "Can you read this BB-8?" I crouch down and lift her into my arms to show her the screen. She looks down.

"An incoming communication from General Hux," she says.

"What!"