Program 2187

VII

The pilot seat of the Millennium Falcon felt strangley unfamiliar. It shouldn't have felt weird, Rey had only owned the ship a few weeks. But, no matter how cliche it sounded, the Millennium Falcon had felt comfortable from the first moment she'd stepped on the ship. Now, with all that was left of the Resistance base in the back of her ship, she felt oddly out of place. The full force of the fact that this had been, and still should have been, Han Solo's ship hit her. It was a bad time for it to, and maybe it was because she was flying to the old Rebel Alliance base. Maybe it was because she knew, as she lowered the ship onto the dock outside the base, that the Millennium Falcon had been here, years ago, piloted by Han.

She wondered, as the ship touched the ground, if Chewbacca was thinking the same thing. If he was, he didn't indicate it, he simply stood with a small grunt and headed towards the back of the ship. He was already carrying R2-D2 out to the awaiting swarm of Resistance pilots when Rey made her way to the doors of the Millennium Falcon. She exited after her co-pilot and stood next to her ship on her tip toes, looking for the General or Poe in the teaming masses, heading into the Millennium Falcon to help move things in. After a few minutes of searching she caught a glimpse of Poe, sneaking away into the base.

She pushed her way through the pilots, some holding things, others not. Most were angry, and Rey was suddenly aware that, with all the animosity the pilots seemed to be feeling toward her and Poe, she'd be lucky to make it out of the crowd alive. She began to panic, pushing more and more frantically towards the edges of the fray. Until another realization hit her. That was how it was on Jakku. If you were angry with someone, or they were in your way, you killed them. But, in the majority of the Galaxy, in the Resistance, that wasn't the case. These people who surrounded her were good people, they were hurt and scared, but they were good. Killing innocents wasn't their M.O.

"Sorry." She mumbled to a small man she pushed out of the way particularly hard. She kept her head down, but she felt safer, and possibly a bit melancholy. Part of her, and not a small part, wished that she had grown up around people like this.

Finally, she broke through the horde and began to jog to the hanger she had seen Poe heading towards.

Inside was dark, and cold. Old, dusty X-Wings loomed in the shadows, making ominous shapes in the darkness. Out dated computers and expired equipment sat further inside, and faded quickly into the gloom as the door closed behind Rey. The ceiling was tall, and the stone walls helped the echo of the closing door carry for longer than Rey had thought possible. She tried to look for Poe again, this time inhibited by the pitch black that seemed to be well settled in the old base.

She almost looked right past Poe, who was sitting on the folded wing of a nearby X-wing. He was looking away from the door, deeper into the base. A deep, quiet sadness seemed to stem from him. It made Rey stop in her tracks.

"Shouldn't you help people move stuff out of your ship?" Was all Poe said. He didn't even turn to see it was Rey. She jumped at the sound of his voice, which bounced across the room, chasing the earlier echo from the door.

"Shouldn't you help people move stuff into your base?" She replied cautiously, feeling more comfortable with moving closer to the place he was situated.

He let out a small, raw laugh. "Touché."

Neither of them said anything for what seemed like too long. So, Rey broke the silence with the first thing that came to mind. "Poe, where did you grow up?" She asked. "What was it like?"

"My mom fought in the Rebel alliance." He said, taking a moment's pause, as if to gather his thoughts. "So, I didn't usually stay with the same people very long. She was always away on missions, so I'd stay with anyone she could get to look after me." He sounded bittersweet, as if he knew it wasn't the best upbringing, but he'd give anything to be back in those days. Rey wondered how missing childhood felt. "The General says I got my piloting skills from her."

"I didn't know my parents." Rey admitted, climbing up on the wing next to Poe. "Did she ever spend anytime with you?" Rey realized almost as soon as she brought up her childhood that she didn't want to talk about it. It felt a lot better to keep the focus on Poe.

"Yeah," He said. Rey could see his face now, only a sliver of it, but it was enough to see he was smiling. "Whenever she was down from any mission. She'd come barging into wherever I was staying, she never bothered to knock, and yell, 'where's my boy?' She always had this kind of presence, like whenever she walked into a room you could just feel the energy she brought with her."

Again, stifling silence fell over the two. This time, Rey let it last longer, and Poe seemed fine with that. However, when it was eventually was broken, it was Poe who spoke.

"Do you think he'll ever be himself again?" He asked, any remnant of a smile long gone. Rey didn't answer for too long. For a while she couldn't decide if it was because she was shocked by the subject change, or she just didn't know the answer. Regardless, after a while Poe became noticeably uncomfortable. "I mean, I don't know what you have to do to someone to get them like that. And-" He had been talking quickly, almost as if he was afraid that if he didn't get the words out fast enough, he wouldn't have enough courage to say them at all. "And I don't know what we'll have to do to get him back."

Rey stayed quiet, trying desperately to think of something to say. When she came up with nothing she sat quietly next to her friend. She felt disgustingly helpless, like she never had before.

"And if we do do anything," Poe whispered, "how are we better than the First Order?"

The large hanger door jerked open behind them. Light poured onto the cold cement floor below Rey and Poe's feet, and beyond them.It threw shadows across the floor, stretching a distorting the dark reflections. It exposed old computers, covered in tarps, and other doors leading further into the base past that. The clamor from outside spilled suddenly into the room.

Poe heaved himself off of the wing and let himself fall to the ground. He landed on his feet and walked away, as he had been sitting completely alone. Rey, on the other hand, sat numbly barely registering that Poe had left. She could only think of one thing, and that was if Poe had had a point.

((Sorry for the obnoxious note here, but I just thought I'd say, I started writing another Star Wars based story. This one takes place long after any of the continuity though, so it's all OC's. It's titled Relapse, the first chapter is out, and there's a playlist on my profile. I'd be hella thankful if you'd check it out. Thanks so much for reading this story, though, and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!))