[ Poe keeps his eyes closed. He knew, he knew that would be the question. That doesn't make it hurt less. For a few seconds he can't speak around the tightness in his throat. He can't just say they blew it up. That's not enough. It doesn't mean anything to anyone outside of his own galaxy, not really. So he starts with what matters. ]
I lived there for about ten years. First at the Naval Academy, then while I was stationed there. Hosnian Prime, I mean, though I visited the other planets and the moon a lot.
[ He bites his lip, teeth scraping an older cut and making it bleed again. He still has his eyes closed. Somehow it's easier to talk that way. ]
The capital of Hosnian Prime is--was, it was beautiful. Different kind of beautiful than Yavin. Yavin was all clean jungle and open farmland, ranches. Hosnian Prime was all kinds of people, all kinds, mixing together in support of the New Republic, living the dream of peace.
[ He smiles, visualizing the place, though the smile falters almost immediately. ] There was a statue to Bail Organa in the pavilion in front of the Senate building. Solar sailor races every fall. My wing and I used to go bar hopping along the pleasure strip when we were on leave. There were great little restaurants there, too, you'd never get bored. Always something we hadn't tried before, always the places we went back to over and over.
[ Now the hard part. Poe goes quiet. Poe goes quiet for a while. ]
The First Order had a weapon. They called it Starkiller, Starkiller Base. They carved out the heart of a planet and turned it into a hyperlightspeed cannon, big enough to destroy whole systems. Draining the power of the planet's sun to do it.
[ Another silence, while Poe's jaw works, clenching and unclenching as he remembers the fight at Takodana, the fact that he had no idea what the First Order had done until after. How short-lived the buzz of victory had been. ]
They wanted to destroy the New Republic. So they did. They turned Starkiller on the Hosnian system and blew twelve billion people away. I don't even know how many of my friends were still stationed there. A lot of them, probably. Every Senator. Every restaurant owner--there was one who always gave us our food for free, said we were doing the future's work. Bantu, I think his name was. Every citizen. Everyone who believed in the New Republic.
They destroyed the galaxy's hope. They wanted to kill the Resistance with it. Didn't quite manage. But they came close.
no subject
I lived there for about ten years. First at the Naval Academy, then while I was stationed there. Hosnian Prime, I mean, though I visited the other planets and the moon a lot.
[ He bites his lip, teeth scraping an older cut and making it bleed again. He still has his eyes closed. Somehow it's easier to talk that way. ]
The capital of Hosnian Prime is--was, it was beautiful. Different kind of beautiful than Yavin. Yavin was all clean jungle and open farmland, ranches. Hosnian Prime was all kinds of people, all kinds, mixing together in support of the New Republic, living the dream of peace.
[ He smiles, visualizing the place, though the smile falters almost immediately. ] There was a statue to Bail Organa in the pavilion in front of the Senate building. Solar sailor races every fall. My wing and I used to go bar hopping along the pleasure strip when we were on leave. There were great little restaurants there, too, you'd never get bored. Always something we hadn't tried before, always the places we went back to over and over.
[ Now the hard part. Poe goes quiet. Poe goes quiet for a while. ]
The First Order had a weapon. They called it Starkiller, Starkiller Base. They carved out the heart of a planet and turned it into a hyperlightspeed cannon, big enough to destroy whole systems. Draining the power of the planet's sun to do it.
[ Another silence, while Poe's jaw works, clenching and unclenching as he remembers the fight at Takodana, the fact that he had no idea what the First Order had done until after. How short-lived the buzz of victory had been. ]
They wanted to destroy the New Republic. So they did. They turned Starkiller on the Hosnian system and blew twelve billion people away. I don't even know how many of my friends were still stationed there. A lot of them, probably. Every Senator. Every restaurant owner--there was one who always gave us our food for free, said we were doing the future's work. Bantu, I think his name was. Every citizen. Everyone who believed in the New Republic.
They destroyed the galaxy's hope. They wanted to kill the Resistance with it. Didn't quite manage. But they came close.