To Do the Next Right Thing

Part 6

To Do the Next Right Thing

Chapter 6

Rey kneeled down. "Did you want to join us, too, D-0?"

Currently the little droid took his usual position behind BB-8, very wary of the redheaded stranger standing beside Rey. "No, thank you," he quickly decided, scurrying away to hide behind Artoo instead.

Rey shrugged and stood, hoisting her pack higher on her shoulder. "Can't say I tried," she uttered.

Armitage raised a curious brow. "I've seen timid droids before, but I don't think I've ever seen one that's suffered some sort of trauma," he said.

She nudged his shoulder with her own, raising herself up on her toes for a moment. "Looks like you two might have something to bond over when we get back," she teased. "Come on, Tage, we should probably get going."

He scrunched his face. "'Tage'?" he repeated, like it was distasteful.

"Yeah." She shrugged again, hopping onto the boarding ramp of the Falcon. "Spent a while thinking about what else to call you while prepping. It was either that or 'Armie.'"

This time, he cringed. "All right, 'Tage' is fine," he conceded, following her. "I'll deal with it, I suppose."

Rey made a mental note to use the nickname as often as possible, if only to further annoy him. Onboard, Finn finished checking the filters on the water tank, and Poe popped his head out of the cockpit. "Shields look good, if you guys end up facing any smugglers. Navigation is set up for you to land near Scaparus Port—pretty close to the old academy."

Rey watched Armitage tense up beside her, a hand balled up into a fist at the prospect of going back to his homeworld. All she knew was that it rained quite a bit, had been under Empire control before the New Republic seized the planet. But the memories he had were far from pleasant. All they had to do was find old records. "Sounds good," she replied for the both of them. "Shouldn't take too long if we don't run into trouble."

BB-8 bumped past Armitage's leg, distracting him from his thoughts. Poe, of course, kneeled right down to give his friend words of encouragement Rey couldn't hear, except for a rather loud, "And you'll tell me if Rey gets you into any sort of trouble, won't you?"

BB-8 beeped in agreement, something along the lines of, "Of course I will," to which Armitage scoffed.

"He's lying," he said, crossing his arms. "He's probably only going to tell you if the situation is dire."

Rey, Finn, and Poe took a moment to gape at their interloper, unsure of how to respond to that. "I didn't know you understood BB units," was all Rey could come up with.

"I've been working with droids my whole life; of course I understand it." Why was his tone so infuriating? It must have been the snobbish, Imperial ring he had to it.

"Don't condescend to me," Rey warned. "I'm giving you the crew quarters, after all. Better than the holding cell we had you in all night, don't you think?"

"Fine, fine." Armitage held his hands up, conceding. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

Sighing, Rey pulled Finn and Poe aside for one last hug. "I wish you weren't so needed here, so we could do this all together."

Poe squeezed her waist. "Hey. There will be plenty of other adventures waiting out there when you return," he assured.

"Besides," Finn added, "someone's gotta watch this rogue before he causes anymore damage."