Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 22

Poe lay on the ground underneath a Star Destroyers huge hyperdrive, his legs sticking out as Lando passed him a tool and he started detaching the brackets on the array.

BB-8 attempted to illuminate the area but struggled, unable to get into the space or extend his utility arm far enough. In the end they settled for the holoprojector shining a diffuse blue light.

"How's it going under there?" Lando asked.

"Dirty...dark, despite BB-8's best efforts...and covered in some kind of purple coloured oil that I am not going to question right now," Poe replied.

"And how are you doing?"

"I haven't stopped long enough since this all happened to give myself a chance to think."

"Time is the key."

"I just...now that she's gone...I don't really know how to do this without her...without her to guide and lead us. What she did...what she made look so easy...I'm not ready."

"Neither were we. Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia, me: who's ever ready?"

Poe slid out from under the hyperdrive and sat up, "How did you do it? Defeat an empire with almost nothing?"

Lando looked away and stared at some distant point, "We had each other: that's how we won."

Nodding, Poe absentmindedly patted BB-8 on the head and returned under the hyperdrive.

"I've gotten to the age," Lando went on, "where I've started to lose my closest friends. When I heard about Han and Luke...I didn't want to believe it...and now Leia.

"We were so close for so long, in each other's lives every day...then we went our separate ways, lived our own lives. I'm trying to remember the last time I actually saw them...it must have been years ago now. They came to visit me here before Ben...fell...and it was as if no time had passed at all.

"Then...everything happened. Leia and I had the occasional holo conversation; Luke disappeared; Chewie and Han...went back to a life I wasn't a part of anymore. They turned up here once...asking for repairs on their hyperdrive. Han never did know have much luck with them. He was like you, wanted to keep busy, not dwell on the past."

Poe undid the last bracket and passed the array up to Lando.

"Nicely done," he said placing the array onto a waiting droid, "Well you can clean up while we wait for the others to get back. I am going to have a large, tall glass of Merenzane Gold."

BB-8 sped off ahead of them as they started walking back.

"You can afford Merenzane Gold?" Poe asked, smearing his dirty hands on a cloth tucked in his belt, "The price must have dropped since I last saw it."

"No, but what can I say? The repairs trade pays well, particularly when we specialise in clients who don't want us asking questions."

"Respectable clients?"

"Mostly. Few scoundrels thrown into the mix: rakish good guys with a habit for doing the right thing."

"Oh...those guys eh?"

"Those guys," he said, his eyes sparkling.