The man's frown broke His eyes moistened The light saber carried so many memories Too many He shouldn't accept it Not now Not after so long His metal fingers touched the hilt and took it from her The man stood there near the edge of the cliff considering considering the lightsaber in his grasp It felt as light and familiar as it had the first time he had held it back when he was around the girl's age The old hermit who had given it to him said his father had built the lightsaber and had wanted his son to have it but the boy's uncle wouldn't allow it That day so long before was the day his life had changed It was the day he no longer had only dreams It was the day he suddenly had a destiny Holding the hilt now part of him wished he had never held it at all With a swift snap of his wrist the man flung the light saber off the cliff toward the sea
CHAPTER 1 THEY'VE found us shouted a tactical officer On the bridge of the Resistance cruiser Raddus Poe Dameron stood with General Leia Organa and her protocol droid C 3PO whose coverings had been recently buffed to a bright and shiny brass But there was nothing bright or shiny in what captured their attention Above a communication communication table the holograms of three dark hulled warships blinked into existence setting off alarms and panic across the bridge Admiral Ackbar the Mon Calamari military genius who had directed the Rebel Alliance's triumph at Endor manipulated manipulated the table's controls with his webbed hands Two of the warships were identified as First Order Star Destroyers the Fellfire and General Hux's flagship the Finalizer The other was the massive cannon laden Dreadnought Fulminatrix Well we knew that was coming Poe muttered The Resistance had recently obtained intelligence about the First Order's fleet from a pair of battle hardened spies Not only did the data include detailed schematics of the
Dreadnought it showed that the enemy's navy was much larger than anyone had estimated Anticipating the First Order would retaliate for the destruction of Starkiller Base the Resistance leadership had begun the evacuation of their secret headquarters on D'Qar in earnest But what no one had foreseen was how quickly the First Order would locate their hideout Poe pressed the transceiver button on the table Connix is the base fully evacuated Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix's image appeared on a monitor Her long blond hair was knotted in side buns and her natural smile wavered under stress Still loading the last batch of transports she said We need more time A glance out the viewport showed freighters transports and personnel shuttles rocketing away from the green orb of D'Qar All headed toward the Raddus or one of the three other capital ships that made up the Resistance's meager starfleet the spindly hospital frigate Anodyne the bunker buster Ninka and the cargo hauler Vigil But it was clear that many wouldn't make it to safety since they lay in the firing range of the Destroyers and Dreadnought Poe wished he were out there in his X wing defending the evacuees instead of stuck on the bridge as a spectator spectator The mechanics had just mounted a souped up booster engine to his starfighter and there seemed no better time than the present to put it to use Poe turned to General Organa She was the last living living princess of Alderaan and had witnessed firsthand her
homeworld's annihilation by the Empire's Death Star Her hair was rolled in a neat tuck and she wore a regal mantle over a plain silk gown both in black If not for the color of her dress Poe never would have known she was mourning the death of her husband Han Solo He could only imagine the heartache she was hiding under her poise You've got an idea she said to him but I won't like it She didn't make him explain himself Go Poe issued a remote command to his astromech BB 8 from his wrist comm and rushed to the cruiser's hangar When he got there BB 8 was already secured in the socket of Poe's X wing Black One Poe climbed into the pilot's seat Let's roll The starfighter shot out of the cruiser's hangar its S foils clamped and wings closed for maximum velocity Poe called up an overview of the Fulminatrix on his cockpit display Larger than the other vessels the Dreadnought resembled three Star Destroyers welded atop each other in the form of a sinister three layered spearpoint Turbolaser guns along its upper hull turned toward the Resistance fleet in orbit while the huge autocannons on its belly began to charge with energy Poe's job was to stall the Dreadnought from firing firing those autocannons at D'Qar until the evacuation of the base was complete He flew straight toward the warships BB 8 squawked his displeasure which the X wing's computer translated as he had a bad feeling about this Happy beeps buddy We've pulled crazier stunts than
