STARS ABOVE ↝ P. DAMERON

[2]

Tera studied the body of the unconscious man, searching for any sign of movement, though she was unable to find any aside from the steady rise and fall of his breathing. He was alive, though she knew if she left him out in the Jakku sun and desert heat, if his injuries were extensive enough, he might not be for long.

"Alright," she said, reaching for his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders to attempt pulling him up off the ground. "I'm going to need you to work with me here, please."

As she pulled him off the ground, she struggled a bit under the deadweight of his body, nearly sending them both toppling back onto the sand, but she managed to get them upright, his head lolling forward with another groan. "Sorry, I'm sorry," she muttered as she dragged him along behind her, into the shade of the hut.

Tera managed to deposit the unconscious man on an old lounger her father had found in the junkyard and fixed up when Tera was a teenager. It wasn't good for much these days, and she hardly used it, but it would do for now. She made sure he was lying comfortably before retrieving a rag to clean the cuts on his face, dabbing gently to mop away any excess blood, and once she was satisfied she finished patching him up with a couple bandages she had saved in case of emergencies before lighting a small fire in the fireplace.

She didn't want to leave him by going back to the shed, afraid he'd wake up while she was gone, but she knew she was short for time fixing the speeder before she needed to get it back to her client at Niima Outpost, so she quickly rushed back to grab the compressor and a couple smaller tools before going back into the house to set up shop. She placed the tools down at the small table in the corner of the room, beginning to tinker with the rusty compressor she'd gotten from Unkar Plutt's stall in the hopes that, with a little work, it'd be good as new.

Tera had hardly noticed the sun going down while she fiddled around with the compressor, her focus only leaving her work station as another pained groan cut through the air, though this time when she turned to look over at the man from the ship, she saw a pair of confused eyes staring back at her in return.

"Where..?" the man spoke, looking around quizzically as he sat up in the lounger. "Where am I? Who are you?"

Tera stood up, holding her arms up in surrender and showing the man that she meant no harm. "Your ship crashed." she explained cautiously, taking a step towards him. "You landed outside my toolshed, and I brought you inside and patched you up."

The man jumped to his feet, though Tera could tell he was unsteady, and he stumbled a little bit before he fell back on the lounger, hands reaching up to rub his temples as he slowly shook his head, trying to regain his bearings. Tera rushed to where a canister of water lay  on the table, pulling off the lid and handing it to him, which he accepted gratefully before taking a swig. He looked back up at her, sizing her up, no doubt studying her to determine if she was a potential threat, even if she had saved his life only a couple of hours prior.

"Where's my ship?" he asked.

"Landed somewhere in the mountains." she said, moving back to the counter to retrieve two of her meal portions, preparing them to roast on the fire. Tera could already feel her stomach growling, and she could only guess at when he'd eaten last. "Up there they're full of sinking fields. You'd be lucky if there was any ship left at all."

"I had a co-pilot." he said hesitantly. "His name's Finn. Is he alive?"

"You were alone." Tera explained. "My guess? When you got thrown from your ship, so did he. Judging by how far away you landed, he could be anywhere."

He looked taken aback for a moment before letting loose a sigh. "We made it to Jakku at least, right?" 

"That, you did." she reassured him. "Though I could never guess what would've made you want to land here."

"I have a droid." he explained. "That droid has some very crucial information for the Resistance on it, and I need to get it back to our general. He's a BB-8 unit, orange and white, one of a kind. Is there anywhere at all that you can think of where he might've wound up?"

"A rare droid in these parts?" she shook her head. "Not likely. If he did wind up anywhere, he was probably sold for scrap metal."

"Not my droid." he said confidently, shaking his head. "He can take care of himself, I know that for a fact."

"Well, in that case, Niima Outpost isn't far. Plutt's already shut down operations this time of night, but I can take you first thing in the morning, see if anybody's heard anything about him." she offered.

"Thank you..." he said, trailing off uncertainly, and she realized she still hadn't told him her name.

"Tera." she said, extending a hand. "Tera Thorne."

"Tera," the man repeated softly with a tiny smile, shaking her hand. "Poe Dameron."

Tera could hear the portions beginning to sizzle, alerting her that they were ready, and she reached for a couple spoons from the counter, handing him the other portion, which he gratefully accepted.

"So," she said. "You're on an important mission for the Resistance."

Poe nodded softly while he ate. Whatever he'd originally come to Jakku for that had left his droid stranded, she couldn't quite determine. She knew the First Order had business in a couple of the settlements, but those were miles away from the wasteland he'd crashed in, and there was no telling where the droid, or even his co-pilot had gone.

"I was on a mission to retrieve a map." Poe explained. "The mission went wrong, and I was taken by the First Order, but my droid managed to escape. Finn busted me out and we tried to come back, but our ship went down. I need to find them before the First Order does and get the information back to the Resistance base."

"That's one important map." Tera replied, picking the compressor back up as she continued to fiddle with it while he spoke.

"That map's a one way ticket to Luke Skywalker." Poe said, causing Tera's jaw to drop slightly in response. All the stories her father had told her of the legendary Jedi Master, and all of his adventures, and though Tera had always wanted to believe the man was truly out there somewhere, she could never quite be sure if he'd actually ever really existed.

Tera looked up from the compressor, her eyes falling back on the man sitting on the lounger. "He's real?"

"Oh, he's real." he confirmed. "And his sister's been waiting a long time to bring him home so he can end this war."