The Return of Ben

Chapter Nine: Distraction

ZORII

Zorii cradled the warm flask of dark bean coffee in her hands and tucked her legs up in her seat. Poe's jacket covered her torn suit. He'd insisted she use it, likely more for his sake than hers. She wasn't embarrassed being in scraps of her favourite outfit, but Poe was easily distracted.

"How did you manage to keep this roasted bean coffee warm for so long?" she asked, looking up at him. He was seated on the nose of the plane, the transparency canopy up so that they could talk. The X-wings were one seat planes and Poe gave her the seat. They couldn't speak over headset, now that Zorii's helmet was still stuck to the rock sealing at the citadel entrance.

They were regrouping at her plane, where Poe had hoisted BB-8 up beside him onto the front, his arm hung lazily around the friendly droid's body. He studied her now, shirt sleeves rolled up, an easy expression on his face. An expression she knew all too well.

"Ready to try again?" she asked, returning his gaze.

He lifted both eyebrows and she buried her smile into the wide rim of the flask. He was so easy to tease. "I meant going back into the citadel," she added, knowing that her comment made him think of their brief love affair. He was too hopeful, though she didn't see why he'd have a reason to be. He'd deserted the team to join the Resistance. That was something she'd never forgive him for. And even after all that, within hours of seeing him again on Kijimi, she'd actually asked him to join her. And he'd declined.

Poe looked behind him at the lightning filled passageway. He didn't respond right away and seemed to be thinking.

Zorii took a drink of the warm brew and instantly recognized the taste. It was made with the dark roasted beans from Kijimi. Her shoulders slumped. Poe knew it was her favourite kind, with a hint of spice. Not the narco-spice, she didn't mess with mind altering stuff, but a nutty flavoured spice. Had he specifically brought it along, for her? 'To keep you awake,' he used to say, when they were spice runners together and had to sneak around the streets at all hours of the night.

Zorii swallowed hard. Kijimi was gone. The entire planet, destroyed. She should have done more to save them, warned them somehow that the planet was caught in the middle of a war. They could have boarded escape vessels. Other planets and systems would have provided escape vessels as well, to help out, if she'd sent out a distress call.

"Durasteel," Poe said, cutting into Zorii's thoughts. "From Af'El Meleenium."

"What?"

"That's what keeps the coffee hot." He gave her a wink and she rolled her eyes. He would never stop flirting with her. And she likely would never stop rejecting him.

She took one large, final swig of the bean brew and replaced the cap.

"Time to go," she said, getting up. Poe looked like he was going to object but she tossed the flask at him and he scrambled to catch it.

She jumped over the side of the plane and was on the ground before he finished tucking the flask safely away by her seat. The small rocks on the ground hurt her feet but she ignored it. She'd be fine.

BB-8 squealed something, and Poe helped him down from the nose of the plane.

"You can't go in there like that," Poe said, catching up to her.

She stopped. "Why not?"

Poe shook his head and sighed. BB-8 let out a series of beeps and Poe laughed out loud. Zorii didn't understand Binary droidspeak but she imagined the droid had commented on her attire.

"Why would the Final Order summon you here?" she asked. The place was deserted. If this was some kind of trap, it was sure an anticlimactic one. No one had blasted them out of the sky, nor come out to hold them at phaser point.

The crackling of the lightning up ahead set Zorii's nerves on edge. The sound made her skin itch even more than it already was. The burns along her upper arms itched the most, but fortunately the healing balm in Poe's first aid kit was also a numbing agent and took the worst of the pain away. She'd been able to unlatch herself from the metal parts of her suit once her arms were free, but she'd had to leave them behind, alone with her boots, attached to the rock. Which meant now she was barefoot and without a helmet.

Poe's hair stood up with the static as they neared the entrance. Zorii held out her palm to stop him from walking. "You stay here, with the robot."

"They asked for me," Poe said. His relaxed mood had quickly been replaced with a defensive attitude that Zorii was all too familiar with.

She turned back. "This isn't right."

"What?"

"There's no point in going in there. No one is here. This was a distraction." She was walking faster now, back to their planes.

"How do you know?"

"They had you fly out here to get you away from Base." Zorii jumped up into her plane and quickly turned on the comm unit. "Zorii to Base. Please come in."

There was no response.