The New Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 15 - The Veterans Test

It was early in the morning when there was a knock on Nomi and Dash's door. Dash had just finished showering and was leaving the refresher. He wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door. His eldest son stood in front of him.
"Mama and you shall come to Commander Dameron. He wants you two to train with the T-70," Dash Jr. said, turning on his heel and walking towards the landing pad.
"Our son could have wished us a good morning, Nomi," Dash grumbled.
His wife had already put on her coveralls and was zipping it up.
"We'd better hurry, Dash. I don't think Dameron likes to wait."

A short time later, they had gotten ready and went to the landing site with their helmets under their arms. Poe was already waiting for them there. He stood between two X-wings and looked at Nomi and Dash expectantly. The commander let his hand glide almost tenderly over the hull of one of the fighters.
"Let's see how you two get on with these beauties," he began, as the two experienced pilots stood before him. "Commander Darklighter, you are Blue 12. Major Rendar, you are Blue 11 and your wife's wingman. I am Blue Leader. You will familiarize yourself with the fighters in atmospheric flight."
Nomi whistled softly. She knew that flying in the atmosphere with an X-wing was not easy. There were many things that had to be taken into account. In a sudden downdraft, the fighter could go into a spin and risk crashing. The Jedi wondered why Dameron had come up with this crazy idea. No X-wing pilot made such a flight unless it was necessary.
She looked at her husband, who had raised an eyebrow and hoped that he wouldn't make a comment about the lack of greeting. Fortunately, he refrained from saying anything. Apparently he was just as surprised as she was about the task ahead.

Poe climbed light-footedly up the ladder and jumped into his X-wing, where BB-8 was already anchored in his astromech socket.
Nomi approached her assigned X-wing and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the astromech droid.
"Fuzzy? Is that you?"
A happy warble was the response from the R2 unit. It was really her astromech that she had flown with in so many battles during the Civil War.
The Jedi quickly climbed up the ladder and jumped into the cockpit. After putting on her helmet and strapping herself in, she closed the canopy.
By now Dash was also ready to go.
"Blue 11, Blue 12, Blue Leader here. Follow me in close formation," they heard Poe's voice over the comms built into their helmets.
"Copy that, leader," Nomi and Dash confirmed the order.
The three X-wings slowly ascended into D'Qar's atmosphere. Shortly afterwards, Poe's voice was heard again over the comms.
"We've reached our altitude, Blues. Now show me what you can do."
Nomi looked at the console and held the yoke firmly in her hands. Fuzzy warbled a long sequence of beeps. The Jedi glanced at the monitor with the translation.
"Yes, I'm happy that I can fly with you again, Fuzzy. And now full throttle. Let's see how good this fighter is."
"Wow, that thing is really fast!" Dash and Poe heard Nomi's shout of joy over the comms a little later as she flew just above the treetops.

The commander shook his head. He had never tried the maneuvers this woman was flying. And he loved flying in the atmosphere with its unpredictability.
He watched the flight in awe. But then Dash Rendar began his flight and Dameron realized that he was just as brave and skilled at flying as his wife. Poe was impressed and eager to see what they would show him in D'Qar's orbit.
"I've seen enough. Fly back to the landing site," Nomi and Dash finally heard the commander's order.

The three X-wings landed gently next to each other and soon all three pilots jumped out of them. Poe grinned as he slapped Dash on the shoulder.
"Damn, that's what I call flying. You and your wife are both damn good pilots."
Dash grinned too.
"If you'd like, we can show you a trick or two, Commander."
Nomi put her arm around her husband's waist and looked at him contentedly, then glanced at Dameron.
"Those are some good maneuvers," she said. "This was the only way we could survive the war. We were forced to constantly adapt our flying style."
"Very well," Dameron replied, not responding to Dash's offer. "Tomorrow I want to see your skills in orbit."
Without another word he turned around and left the landing pad.

When Nomi and Dash were back in their quarters, the former mercenary sat down at the small table while his wife took off her pilot's gear and hung it in the locker."Why didn't you tell Dameron that you sometimes use your Jedi skills when you fly?"Nomi turned to him as she pulled on her old, shabby coveralls."I don't think it's important, darling."Dash grinned. "But you know he can't pull off the Darklighter Roll without those skills."His wife shrugged. "I'm not going to show him this maneuver. It will be better if Dameron and the other pilots don't know that I'm a Jedi. I can train in the evening when I'm safe from prying eyes. When I flew over the treetops, I saw a good spot for my training."She sat down next to her husband.Dash nodded thoughtfully"Whatever you say. But I'm afraid you won't be able to hide it for long. At the latest when General Organa returns...""Leia won't say anything if I ask her to," Nomi interrupted him. "And our children are afraid to use the Force after the attack on the academy. They fear that Kylo Ren will track them down and they could endanger the Resistance. But I somehow have the feeling that Ren has other interests than finding the Resistance."Dash stared at her."I don't know, Dash, but I have a feeling that..."