The New Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 18 - Target Practice

When there was a knock on the door the next morning, Nomi rolled her eyes and wondered if no one at the Resistance trusted them to be on time without help.
Her husband was already on his way to the landing pad and she was about to leave too. Slightly annoyed, she got up from the table, which still had breakfast leftovers on it, and opened the door.
Her youngest son Corran stood in front of her, his long, curly hair tied back in a ponytail.
"May I come in, Mama?"
Nomi nodded and the young man entered the room.
He walked purposefully to the small table and sat down on one of the folding chairs. His mother sat down opposite him and looked at him expectantly.
"What's on your mind, Corran?"
Her son looked down at the floor, sheepish, wondering how he could say what he had to say without hurting his mother.
"You used the Force yesterday, Mama. I felt it," he finally blurted out.
Nomi shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm a Jedi, like you and your siblings. And Jedi use the Force."
Corran shook his head and took a deep breath.
"No, Mama, we shouldn't use the Force. It's... it's dangerous. Kylo Ren could track us down and..."
"Is that why you and your siblings are hiding your presence in the Force?" His mother interrupted him.
The young Jedi nodded his head.
"You won't be afraid of a single man, will you?"
Corran sighed and tried to remain as calm as possible.
"You didn't see what we saw, Mama. Biggs and I barely escaped. We all put the Resistance in danger when we use the Force."
His mother shook her head.
"You told me on one of your visits to Dagobah that Ben Solo is weaker in the Force than you are."

That was the point at which Corran lost his nerve. He jumped up and the folding chair toppled over.
"He's no longer Ben Solo, who was a good friend of ours. Ben Solo is dead - he's been turned into Kylo Ren. There's nothing good in him anymore. And he had become even stronger, Mama."
Nomi's youngest son turned around and went to the door.
"I have to go to Commander Dameron. We'll meet at the landing pad."
He stepped outside and slammed the door shut.
When Corran had left, his mother sat thoughtfully at the table. But then she regained her composure and a glance at her chrono showed her that it was time to go to the landing pad as well.

When she reached her destination, Dameron and her husband were already waiting for her. Corran was nowhere to be seen. Nomi had the impression that he avoided meeting her after their conversation, having left so abruptly.
Nomi nodded briefly to the two men and went to her X-wing. After getting in, she carried out the pre-flight check, put on her gloves and helmet and strapped herself in.
"C'mon, Fuzzy, let's get out of here as fast as we can."
The droid whistled a question. Nomi looked at the display and read the translation.
"No, Fuzzy, everything's fine," she replied, even though she knew it was a lie. The conversation with her son had worried her more than she wanted to admit. "I just want to get away quickly so I don't run into Corran."
Her reply triggered another series of whistles from her astromech.
"That's something you can't understand. Fire up the converter."
The droid asked no further questions and did as Nomi had ordered. Slowly, the X-wing ascended into the atmosphere of D'Qar.
After a while, Dash and Poe joined her in their fighters.
"You seem to be in a hurry, Commander Darklighter," she heard Dameron's voice in her headset. "I've already seen your husband's shooting skills when he flew through the asteroids. So today it's your turn. I set up some targets last night before I met you in the clearing." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Oh, just one more question. Did you see that strange green glow yesterday, Commander? It seemed to me that it was near the clearing."
A cold shiver ran down the Jedi's spine. Had Dameron noticed that she had been practicing with her lightsaber? She hoped that her voice wouldn't tremble when she lied to him.
"No, Commander, I didn't see anything."
"Well, maybe I was wrong," Poe dropped the topic. "The target area is 20 clicks away. Follow me. Major Rendar, you follow me too, please."

Shortly afterwards, they had reached the area. The targets hovered in front of them. "As you can see, Commander Darklighter, the targets are numbered," Poe said. "You must destroy the targets in ascending order within two minutes."
"Copy that, Commander," the Jedi confirmed before turning to her astromech droid. "Let's show the young man that we're not on the scrap heap yet. Let's go!"
She flew at full speed towards the first target, fired when it was in the crosshairs and destroyed it with the laser cannons, which she had set to quadruple mode. Two other targets hovering nearby were also destroyed.
The Jedi was sure that at this rate she would have destroyed all the targets in less than two minutes.
She steered the fighter to the left, fired and scored another hit. Three targets left. Nomi set the laser cannons to dual mode, flew a roll with the X-wing and fired at the targets during the roll. Now there was only one target left, the smallest one. It was approximately less than two meters in size.
Concentrating hard, Nomi bit her lower lip and kept a close eye on the targeting computer. She pressed the fire button when the target fields matched, and the target burst into pieces when the laser beams hit it dead center.
The Jedi looked at her chrono with satisfaction, she really had completed the task in less than two minutes.
But with stationary targets, it was easy. Still, she flew a loop with joy before returning to the other two X-wings. Dash gave her a thumbs up as she flew alongside him again while she heard Dameron's voice.
"Well done, Commander Darklighter. Let's fly back."

As soon as she landed, Nomi jumped out of her X-wing and ran to her husband, who had also jumped out of his fighter. She laughed as he hugged her.
Poe Dameron approached them.
"That was an exceptional performance, Commander."
The Jedi pulled away from her husband's embrace and turned to Dameron.
"It wasn't that difficult, Commander. Taking out stationary targets that don't shoot back is no big deal, but taking on TIEs or capital ships is another matter entirely. Aren't there any simulators at the base?"
The young man shook his head.
"This is madness, Commander," Nomi said with a horrified undertone. "How are the pilots supposed to survive a fight? Without simulator training, you're sending these kids to certain death!"
Poe flinched slightly at the pilot's outburst, but quickly regained his composure.
"There is hardly any support for the Resistance in the New Republic. Most politicians consider the general's fears to be pipe dreams. And by the way, those who fly and fight in Red Squadron and Blue Squadron aren't kids." Poe sighed. "I'd rather train our pilots in simulators, believe me."
Sensing that she had gone too far with her criticism, the Jedi backed down.
"I apologize, Commander, I didn't mean to question your training methods."
But Dameron waved her off.
"It's ok, Commander. I'll expect you and Major Rendar in the galley tomorrow at 0900. You'll meet the other pilots there."
Then he turned to go, but then he turned back again.
"And you're sure you didn't see that green glow last night? It must have been near you, Commander."
"I'm sure," Nomi replied, the lie coming easily from her lips.

After Poe left, Dash Rendar wrapped his arms around his wife.
"How long are you going to lie to the kid, Nomi?"
The Jedi looked up at her husband.
"As long as it takes, Dash," she replied with a smile.