Serendipity // Poe Dameron

•Chapter II: The Resistance•

The Planet D'Qar, Outer Rim, 34 ABY

They hadn't been long in hyperspace when the questions started. Apparently, Poe couldn't keep his mouth shut for long.

"So, you said you had lots of piloting experience. What exactly did you do?"

Sora supposed it wouldn't hurt giving him some answers. After all, they kind of were on the same side. Whilst she might not have been a Resistance member, she certainly didn't support the First Order either. Heck, if they knew she was alive, she'd probably get a bounty put on her head.

"I am...was a smuggler," she said, leaning back into her chair. Poe kept his gaze locked on her, the ship navigating on auto-pilot during their hyperspace journey to D'Qar. He had turned his seat towards her and made himself comfortable. "We were a tiny crew of two and had a nice ship. We traveled all around the galaxy to look for jobs and it kept us pretty busy."

Poe raised one brow. "A smuggler, huh? Didn't expect that. But I guess that's how you learned to fight."

"It comes with the job." She shrugged her shoulders, fingers drawing imaginary patterns on her trousers. "A smuggler who can't land a good punch or knows how to fire a blaster is as good as dead."

"Can't disagree. But how did you end up on Jakku then? What happened to your crew and ship?"

Sora didn't want to go into detail, not yet. Besides, they were on a mission and would part ways again afterwards. He didn't have to know everything about her. "Two years ago, our last job...escalated and we were forced to split up. My crewmate managed to escape but I wasn't so lucky. Honestly, I don't know how I ended up on Jakku. One second, I was unconscious and suddenly, I woke up in the desert of Jakku in an escape pod where Rey found me. That's all I know."

A look of sympathy flashed across the pilot's face. "I'm sorry. And out of all the places you could have landed, it just had to be Jakku."

She huffed. "Yeah, I guess someone out there really hates me. Do you know how hard it was to look at Unkar's ugly face everyday and not being able to punch him? Everyone on that planet depends on him and it made me sick."

"Saw him for the first time today and all I wanted to do was punch him. So I get your feelings, princess."

There it was again, that damned nickname leaving his tongue so easily. Maybe this was just the way he talked to every woman. The name should annoy her way more than it actually did. Somehow, it made it easier for her to converse with him. It was more like talking to a long lost friend than a total stranger, something she appreciated after two years of basically speaking to no other human apart from Rey.

"Why didn't you steal this ship earlier though?" Poe sounded genuinely baffled, as if he really couldn't believe why she had stayed so long when she could have left at any moment.

"And leave Rey behind, after everything she did for me?" Sora shook her head, knowing that she had never even been tempted. "No way. Never. I knew I had to wait until she was ready to leave her home."

Poe hummed, smiling at her. "A loyal friend. You know, we could use someone like you. The Resistance, I mean. You're a pilot, you can fight and you're loyal to your cause. The general would be honored to have you on her team."

"Look, all I want is to make sure Rey is safe and gets back home unharmed. That's it." Deep down, she knew it was only partly true.