Maverick » Poe Dameron

III. THE TAKE OFF

THE HANGAR IS eerily empty. It's a Friday afternoon, so the dorms are probably beginning to bustle with people as the rookies and the squadrons alike let loose for a short amount of time. There's only one other guy here just cleaning the exterior of a Y-Wing. He's just about done and I doubt Poe will be here before the guy leaves.

I lean on my ship, brushing some dust away from the pod. I haven't done a great amount of flying in the last couple weeks, but I'll guess I make up for it with this long flight.

The last man in the hangar leaves and I'm alone with nothing but the sound of the crickets. Well, on this planet I don't know if there actually called crickets, or if they even are crickets. But they sound like them.

Ten more minutes pass and I get nervous, fearing that Poe has done something stupid like fall asleep or has decided to drop by the dorm parties. I sigh, and begin to play with my braided hair that I've taken out of the ponytail, because it's easier to fit a helmet on my head when my hair is loose. My hair is long these days, just past my elbows. But being a rebel means you haven't got time for much except fighting the first order. Haircuts are not a necessity.

"Howdy partner,"

I turn to my right and my nose touches Poe's. He's crawled over the body of my x-wing, balancing on his stomach. Anything for a grand entrance.

I pull back away from his face slightly, an actually genuine smile on his face, not a cheeky grin. He's like a little kid, giddy with excitement. Us pilots, the original adrenaline junkies. Poe taps my nose like I'm a cat or a dog and I flinch, raising an eyebrow. He chuckles, but he turns on his side and slides right off the ship, smacking the ground hard and falling in a heap.

"Poe!" I cry and bend down to pull him to his feet. He groans as he rises to his feet. As he straightens up my arm is still looped around his, I'm worried he's going to fall over again.

"Ah, could you pick that up for me?" He says, scratching his head.

I look on the ground and see nothing but a thin layer of dirt and dust. "Pick what up?"

He runs a hand through his luscious hair. "My dignity,"

I have to restrain myself from hollering with laughter. I silently cackle, stomping my feet. Poe just crosses his arms and acts all cool again. I flick my hair and regain my composure, a small laugh racking my body every now and again.

"So? Are we leaving?"

He shakes his head. "No, not yet. We'll wait a couple more minutes,"

I nod, and look around. The sky is still pink, not quite dusk yet. The music from the dorms gets louder every minute, I guarantee Leia will have it all shut down by seven.

Suddenly a loud bleeping noise cuts through the momentary silence. I jump, startled. Poe just laughs at me. And then I see the droid rolling down from the control room, and I recognize it as Poe's droid. It excitedly beeps as it rolls around Poe and I, it's head (I think that's what you would call it? I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the anatomy of droids) wobbles and spins.

"Hey buddy! All ready for the mission?" Poe bends down to the droids level. It's cute how he speaks to the little 'bot. The droid whirrs with glee in reply.

He looks up at me, his eye adjusting like he's zooming in, before he says something to Poe.

"Oh of course! BB-8, this is Kitana Yexley. She's going to be coming on the mission with us. The other pilots call her Maverick because she doesn't like taking orders,"

"Hey!"

BB-8 makes a noise I'll assume is a laugh in droid. Poe looks up at me and smirks. I frown.

He stands back up and fixes his jacket, and BB-8 rolls away over to Poe's ship, loading himself up into the co-pilot position.

"We should get going,"

Poe shrugs and puts his hands on his jacket pockets. "We could go and party for a little bit?"

"Poe,"

"We should get going,"

Poe pats me on the back before running over to his starfighter. I climb into mine and get comfortable for the long trip. I slip my helmet on my head and make sure the comlink is functioning.

"Commander?"

"Maverick?"

"Ready for take off?"

"Intiate lift off,"

-

Space seems so lonely sometimes. The only thing in the sky is Poe and I, and some stars and asteroids.

Jakku is not far away now, both of us recently coming out of hyperspace. I'm tailing Poe, looking out for any signs of The First Order. My scanner is picking up nothing, but who knows if they've got cloaking devices or not. You always have to be prepared.

"Black Leader to... Uh, hmm. How do I address you? No squadron number to account for..." Poe's voice rings through the comlink. I shake my head.

"Red Zero? I don't know, Poe. Just call me Maverick,"

He chuckles. "Alright. Black Leader to Maverick, any sign of The First Order?"

"Nothing on the scanner, nothing in sight. Just you and me in this part of space right now,"

"Keep your look out, they'll be here at some point,"

I gulp. I've flown around space a lot, I've been boarded by stormtroopers and even shot at once, but being in an x wing and flying almost alone in space on a resistance mission, First Order entanglements sound so much more threatening and scary. I've heard other pilots talk of what happens to rebels that get caught, and it doesn't sound nice.

"About to Land..."

I bite my lip in concentration, carefully steering the starfighter through the atmosphere of Jakku. I'm not the best at landing, let alone landing at night. Poe pulls up calmly and lands as if there's no gravity, while my ship shudders and I pull up just short of nosediving in the sand. I exhale and lean back, exhausted.

Poe is already out of his starfighter, BB-8 getting unloaded. I quickly scurry out of the ship and clamber down the ladder. I notice the landing gear is a few inches deep in the sand. I cringe and hope Poe doesn't notice how much of a rookie I am.

"So, this is Jakku?" I look around in the dark, finding only a single village behind the sand mound, the villagers looking less than impressed about us being here. I guess its understandable.

"Yep, not much is it?" He ruffles his jacket, BB-8 circling his legs.

"The sky looks nice, though," I nod for him to look up. He does.

The sky is full of stars here, because of the miniscule amount of civilisation. I can point out all kinds of planets from here.

"Hey Poe, see the tiny blue star over there, its pretty far from here, but see it?" I point up to the sky.

"No, where?"

I pull Poe's arm and he stumbles into me, and I point back up to the star. Poe just looks at me with a grin.

"Dude, you're not even looking at the sky," I scoff.

"I see stars all the time. Pretty girls, not so much"

I hate myself because that comment makes me smile like an idiot. "Stop flirting and look at the sky, Dameron,"

He looks up and I point to the star again. "See it?"

"Oh yeah, yeah!"

"That's my planet! Hosnian Prime,"

"Cool, I can never pick my planet from the sky,"

"Where are you from?"

"Yavin 4,"

"Nice, very nature-y,"

Poe laughs softly. "It's quite nice. C'Mon, we better get on with the mission,"

Yewwww next chapter!! hope you all like. votin' n commentin' appreciated.

I'm not even sorry Poe is such flirt w kitana.