by Ian Doescher
[Exeunt Colonel Kaplan and Officer Thannison. Stormtroopers begin shooting at the TIE fighter. FN-2187 takes the controls and fires back.
FN-2187
Though ye have been my friends and comrades both,
You shall not stand athwart my passage. Fie!
POE
We have escap’d, and fly among the stars
Like some full-orbèd moon that, like a soul,
Sought a precipitate pathway through heav’n.
[Exeunt stormtroopers as Poe and FN-2187 fly into space.
O, how this vessel soars most pow’rfully!
See thou those cannons yon? Thou must destroy
Them utterly, lest they do us destroy;
We shall not venture far if they are whole.
I shall put us into position, thou
Give ev’ry gun thy sight but few thy shot.
Ahead, ahead, dost see? A target clean,
If thou canst hit it.
[FN-2187 shoots and destroys the cannon.
FN-2187
—Ay, I shall not fail!
Didst thou see? Ha! My finest shot! Didst see?
POE
I saw, forsooth. Thy hearty, joyous laugh
Is like the tintinnabulation that
So musically wells up from the spheres!
What is thy name, O worthy rescuer?
FN-2187
FN-2187 is my name.
It is the only name that was for me,
The only name the vile First Order gave,
The only name, forc’d on me by cruel men,
The only name—of signs and numbers form’d.
POE
I shall not use the letter-digit phrase
By which a hateful enemy hath call’d
Thee, soldier, utterly expendable.
Say, what of Finn? How doth this title suit?
By that dear name I e’er shall call on thee,
Thou who art more than brother unto me.
FINN
Finn. Finn! Indeed, it suits me well, my friend.
I’ll be the quickest Finn that e’er did steer
The brawny figure of a colo claw,
The fish that swimmeth ’neath the briny depths!
POE
My name is Poe—Poe Dameron am I.
We shall be friends: ’tis well to know thee, sirrah.
A voice from out the future cries, “On! On!”
We shall be friends whate’er the episode.
FINN
’Tis well to know thee too, my new friend, Poe.
Enter KYLO REN, GENERAL HUX, and an OFFICER above, on balcony.
OFFICER
They have destroy’d the turbo lasers, sir.
HUX
I prithee, use the ventral cannons, then.
OFFICER
Ay, sir, we shall anon bring them online.
KYLO
Good general, is’t the Resistance pilot?
Hath he somehow absconded?
HUX
—Verily,
And had he help, from one of our own men.
E’en now we search the registers to find
The traitorous stormtrooper who did aid him.
KYLO
The Force doth know what your computers seek:
’Twas that one from the village on Jakku:
FN-2187. Fie upon’t!
OFFICER
The ventral cannon is prepar’d to strike.
HUX
Fire thou with all the fury thou canst send.
We’ll spill the blood that hath today escap’d!
[Exeunt Kylo Ren, General Hux, and officer.
POE
One shot approacheth hastily. Dost see?
My right is right, thy left is also right.
How statue-like I see thee stand—be brave!
[Finn shoots one cannon.
Well aim’d, we may evade this salvo yet!
FINN
Yet wait, where are we bound? Where fliest thou?
POE
E’en by a route obscure and lonely must
We swiftly make return unto Jakku.
FINN
Back to Jakku? Our newfound friendship hits
Its first blockade. Nay, not unto Jakku—
We must depart the system sans deferment!
POE
My droid must be retriev’d ere the First Order
Takes him into captivity. He is
The truest—the most fervently devoted.
A BB unit, white with orange, too.
He hath no peer in all the galaxy.
FINN
His color doth concern me not, fair Poe,
But mine own color if we do not leave:
The yellow of the fearfulness I feel,
The blue of my heart, frozen in my chest,
The red blood that shall fall when I am dead.
No droid could be so vital to our fates.
It is unfathomable—we must leave,
Put the First Order far behind us. See?
If we return, our sentence sure is death.
POE
My sentence is: we shall find BB-8.
The droid is trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
And holdeth he a map to Luke Skywalker!
FINN
This far-gone droid withal thou art consum’d!
Pray tell me, friend, that thou dost only jest.
[The TIE fighter is blasted by a cannon shot. Exit Poe. Finn falls to the surface of Jakku in the ship.
Enter GENERAL HUX, CAPTAIN PHASMA, and OFFICER UNAMO above, on balcony.
PHASMA
FN-2187 made report
Unto mine own division. There was he
Evaluated carefully and sent
To have his courage solder’d up and to
Be recondition’d, for to serve again.
HUX
Show’d he e’er signs of nonconformity?
PHASMA
This was his first offense, and first I saw
Of his deep feebleness, as weak as tin.
UNAMO
My general, their vessel hath been hit.
HUX
Destroy’d?
UNAMO
—Disabl’d, bound unto Jakku.
The fighter shall make landing in the badlands
Of Goazan.
HUX
—Back for the droid, no doubt.
With haste dispatch a squad unto the wreckage!
[Exeunt General Hux, Captain Phasma, and Officer Unamo.
FINN
What’s this? Alone upon a lifeless dune.
Yet where is Poe? O, Poe, where hast thou fall’n?
[Finn searches around the wrecked TIE fighter. He finds Poe’s doublet and picks it up.
The fighter’s here, yet pilot is there none.
His doublet only is what’s left of him.
The man hath flown away, sans trace or hint.
Yea, disappear’d, an ’twere a fairy tale.
[The ground under Finn begins to shake.
The ground doth shake! Is failure not enow?
Shall ev’ry element turn foe as well?
[Finn steps away from the TIE fighter. The sinking sands swallow the fighter whole.
Fie! Wonder ’fore mine eyes, most horrible!
Was Poe made landlord of a sandy grave?
Did he attend a desert funeral?
Do his bones lie full fathom five below,
His final resting place upon the dune?
O, may it not be so, yet so I fear.
The man belike is dead: mine only friend.
What shall I do? I have borne fardels plenty,
And now—for Poe, and for myself—must live.
[Finn begins walking away from the wreckage, removing his uniform and donning Poe’s doublet.
My stormtrooper veneer I do forsake,
And make my life hereafter as a man:
The odious First Order I disown,
And shall, fr
om now, with honor mark my days.
Too long I play’d my cards and bet my life—
I wager’d, like a fool, with mine own soul.
The future look’d as bright as any diamond,
But wretched duty form’d a knocking club
That furnish’d me with only crooked spades,
With which I might forfend my weary heart.
The mean First Order held the final card—
The trump that would undo me finally.
This trump card was my freedom’s shocking end,
The king that did make forfeit all my days,
This card did lie to me and all my friends,
This trump was base and fickle, villainous.
The cruel First Order conn’d me from the first,
And rais’d me to be faithful to its ends—
I was confin’d to years of losing bets.
My life was play’d away e’en from my birth,
The ante that I ow’d too great a fine
Than I could pay had I five hundred lives.
When man is but a number, standing fix’d
Against a foe that’s far more powerful,
He’ll fail at ev’ry trick and hand and game.
Thus I shall leave my life of cards behind,
No more to gamble in a game of folly,
Wherein the stakes are far too high for me.
My life ere now was but a prelude to
The future, which I do embrace with yearning.
But soft, what is this vision that appears?
Far off I see a post where I’ll begin
My life anew: no trooper I, but Finn.
[Exit.
SCENE 1.
Aboard the Finalizer.
Enter GENERAL HUX and KYLO REN.
HUX
Our Supreme Leader Snoke explicit was:
Detain the droid if we’ve the wherewithal,
Destroy it if we must.
KYLO
—How capable
Are these, your soldiers, whom we send to do’t?
HUX
My methods shall not answer to your queries.
KYLO
’Tis certain you have no objection to
Committing e’en the highest treason, hmm?
Perhaps our leader Snoke would benefit
From clone-led army, rather than your troops.
HUX
My soldiers are exceptionally train’d,
Programm’d from birth, ere they do parents know,
To serve, to heed, to fight, and to obey.
KYLO
They should, therefore, have little trouble with
This mission on Jakku—retrieve the droid,
Sans its destruction. Do you understand?
HUX
Take care, dark Ren, that purpose personal
Doth not our leader Snoke’s will contradict.
KYLO
I want the map, and have it soon I shall.
For your sake, pray deliver it anon.
[Exit Kylo Ren.
HUX
Oh, how that man doth stir my very soul—
A young man, yea, yet still a valid threat.
His power with the dark side hath increas’d
Beyond what I can fathom or imagine.
He, though, should render me the due respect
That doth befit the title General:
I am no juvenile, naïve recruit,
No beastly soldier of the lowest rank.
I am no less than Hux, the general,
And should be giv’n the proper deference.
Yet Kylo Ren by other thoughts is mov’d,
Not soon impress’d by title, place, or rank—
He hath no dread of his superiors
Save Snoke, who causes all to be afeard.
Thus, if to gain my leader Snoke’s esteem
I must discover and bring back the droid,
I shall do it, with ev’ry mean employ’d.
[Exit.
SCENE 2.
On the planet Jakku, at Niima Outpost.
Enter FINN. Enter a HAPPABORE aside, drinking from a trough.
FINN
Lo, I have walk’d five hundred miles at least,
And I would walk five hundred more, forsooth!
Nay, not five hundred, mayhap four or five—
Sufficient distance, still, to work me woe.
O, now my throat is parch’d, on fire with thirst,
And only water satisfies its burn.
Yet in this awful outpost is the taste
Of water an exclusive luxury.
I am not proud, not Finn, not in this life:
There stands a fierce and mighty happabore
Who drinks his fill of water from the trough—
I’ll thither haply, for to quench my thirst.
[Finn runs to the happabore’s watering hole and drinks greedily.
O, water foul, yet sweet upon my lips!
HAPPABORE
[aside:] O, wherefore should it be that I am call’d
A beast of burthen, when my burthen is
To share my water with an animal
Far wilder, more voracious, than myself?
He hath the look of madness in his eyes,
Whilst I am an enlighten’d happabore:
I do my work upon Jakku’s bleak dunes,
As any must, who would survive this clime.
Thereafter, though, when day hath turn’d to night,
I make my way unto my shelter meek,
And read the classic tales that are renown’d
Throughout our galaxy: my mind is sharp
Though some may think my body base and rude.
Give me a book to read, a mind to think,
And time to contemplate life’s mysteries,
And ye shall find a happy happabore—
Far more refin’d than th’man who drinketh here.
[Exit happabore.
Enter REY, surrounded by and fighting with two RUFFIANS. Enter BB-8, behind.
FINN
What’s this, a maid in danger? Fie upon’t!
I shall a feat of bravery endeavor!
[Rey fights off the ruffians, who exit hastily.
The lady is formidable, indeed,
No freeing doth she need, to my chagrin.
But soft, the droid who with her stands—is it
The BB unit whereof Poe did speak?
BB-8
[to Rey, seeing Finn:] Bluuzoom zood blayflig zoomflit zzwablic blis
Blip flitflew blee roohflir bluublis blip reej
Blox zzwablis blic zoozblik blooblee roilflit!
REY
’Tis he! Avaunt, thou scurvy, wretched knave!
[Rey begins chasing Finn.
FINN
From hero unto harried in a trice!
[Finn is caught and leveled by Rey’s quarterstaff.
REY
Where art thou bound, thou vile, conniving thief?
FINN
Thief? [BB-8 shocks Finn.] O, alas! Now wherefore shock’st thou me?
REY
The pilot’s doublet wherewith thou art cloth’d—
The droid hath told me it is stolen. Was’t?
FINN
This day hath been an ’twere a lifetime whole;
Thy patience and forbearance I would have.
[BB-8 shocks Finn again.
Wilt thou, I prithee, end thy fearful pricks?
REY
Where didst thou find the doublet? For the droid
Doth say it was his master’s property.
FINN
Faith, ’twas the doublet of Poe Dameron.
That is his name? Thy master and thy chief?
The rank First Order captur’d him, and I
Did help him hither flee, unto Jakku.
Our small TIE fighter, though, did crash nearby.
Unfortunately, Poe hath flown his last,
For he is dead and gone beneath the d
unes.
I fain would save him; my condolences.
BB-8
Flib zzwablic roilzoon zzwa zood blicflit blik.
[BB-8 rolls aside in grief.
REY
Thou art, therefore, with the Resistance strong?
FINN
[aside:] She now regards me with a lofty eye!
I’d not her heart extinguish, all aflame.
[To Rey:] Forsooth, I am Resistance in itself.
A pilot of the bold Resistance, yea,
Resistance is my faith, my suit, my hope,
And of Resistance am I finely made.
REY
O, wondrous soul! Ere now the face of the
Resistance I have ne’er laid eyes upon.
FINN
We fighters of the valiant Resistance
All look like me—or else look different.
REY
The droid, this BB-8, doth tell the tale
Of secret missions and the hidden base
To which he must return with all due haste.
FINN
Thus Poe hath spoken, too, for BB-8
Doth hold a map to find Luke Skywalker.
It seemeth friend and foe alike do seek’t.
REY
Luke Skywalker, e’en he? Methought ’twas myth,
A bedtime tale to whisper to the young.
Enter STORMTROOPERS. BB-8 rolls toward REY and FINN in haste.
BB-8
Zzwaflit blipflir bleebloo flew blooblox blip
Roohblis bleeblic zoon blooblav zoombluu blee!
FINN
Stormtroopers do approach—hold fast my hand!
[Finn takes Rey by the hand and starts running away. BB-8 follows them.
REY
Hast thou gone mad? Why pullest thou mine hand?
FINN
I bid thee, fly, there is no time to talk!
Flee, BB-8, anon!