The Flame [3]

Chapter 14

I bump my hip with Suralinda's and Poe reaches past her to fill up a cup with whatever is coming from the falls.

"Nice gift," he says. "Did you know she was an antomologist?"

Suralinda's jaw drops.

"That's what I thought," I mutter from beside her.

Poe takes a drink then sets it down, smirking.

She watches us and narrows her eyes. "I assume that means you got the packet?"

I put my hand in the dress pocket and pull it out slightly. Suralinda slides me a comlink. "Stay in touch,"  and then disappears into the crowd.

I hand it to Poe. "You're the one who's is bidding, right?"

"Unless you want to," he says.

"No thanks."

"Then you keep this and keep Suralinda updated," he puts the com in my hand and closes it around the com, eyes locked.

"Whatever you say, Commando," I tell him putting the com in my pocket and head back to the buffet where we left Finn.

"Hey Skylar, try this," Finn hands me a slice of yellow gelatinous cake. Finn takes a big bite of his.

I look at mine and have a small bite. Something crunchy? I look at the cake and see sea worms. I force the bite down then throw the cake away. I feel hands on my shoulders, and I tense. I know who it is but he knows better then to do that to me.

"Relax, Ree. It's only me," Poe whispers in my ear.

"You know you can't do that, Dameron," I whisper back, turning around. "I almost killed someone last time they did that."

A bell chimes, marking the hour for all the guests. 

"Come on. Let's get Kade, and go find somewhere more private to see what Nifera gave us," Poe tells me.

I nod, and take his hand leading him to Finn. "Kade, let's go."

Poe leads us to a back corner of the room with a balcony. I take the comlink out and hold it tightly in my hand. Finn is keeping watch from the doors. I take the bag out of my pocket, and hand it to Poe. He opens it and holds an imagecaster and a single ear piece in his hand. He looks at me, and gives a little nod. I shake my head, and he puts the earbud in and presses a button on the caster. The holo is of an auction droid and the Resistance's credits. Poe whistles, and I look back at the credits. My eyes grow wide as I look at the amount of credits the Resistance gave us. Different sea creatures come up on screen and Poe chooses one. Not so much fun being on this side of it.

"How's it going?" Finn asks.

"I think, good," I tell him.

"I'm waiting for it to start," Poe says from beside me.

"Great! All clear out here," Finn tells us giving two big thumbs up.

"Thanks, Finn," I tell him.

He nods and turns back around. I turn my attention back to the screen to see a horned serpent and the words "All Knowledge Must Be Free". Poe turns to me and I shrug. We both know those words were  the Collective slogan. The serpent slithers off screen and the auction droid reappears along with the credit account. Half of the credits disappear.

"What the hell?" Poe says.

"What happened? Why did we loose half of our credits?" I ask him. Finn's head pops back through the door.

"They've claimed half our credits as a donation!" Poe says.

"Criminals," Finn says shaking his head. "Can't trust them."

"That's not the point. Well, not entirely. The point is if this auction gets pricey, we won't be able to compete."

Finn grabs Poe's arm. "We've got to get that list, Poe. That's why we're here. The future of the Resistance is that list!"

"I know, I know," Poe scratches his chin. "I'll think of something."

"Better think of it fast," I tell him.

He turns his attention back to the holo, and I see the screen change to the list that we got from Maz.

I see Poe grimace. "Twenty," he says into the mike. "You have twenty"