Here you go ;) Next chapter will be following the main plot again, sort of. With a few loops. How do you people like it so far? Feedback is appreciated!

Chapter 09

"I see you are working on it again."

Ripley looked up and over her shoulder to see Poe walking towards her little spot at the edge of the cliff. Rey's staff was on her lap, the middle section opened up and wires protruding out of it. She shifted a bit when he sat down on a rock next to her and focused her gaze on her work, suddenly very self-conscious and aware of her actions of the day before.

"Didn't think anyone would be up yet," she murmured and split a few wires with deft hands, tying them together in a different way than before. She pressed a button on the handle, nothing happened and she sighed. Untying the wires.

It was barely dawn. Some stars still littered the sky that was slowly turning from the inkish black into a type of blue.

"No one else is. I had to grab some water, then I noticed you and the staff gone.."

"So you came to check if I didn't leave?" Ripley cut him off sharply and looked up at him from her spot on the grass next to his rock. His dark brown eyes were almost black in the absence of decent lighting, but calm. Instantly realizing her intonation was quite rude Ripley tore her eyes away from him and back to the staff on her lap.

"Sorry, I just.." she sighed and felt her shoulders go slightly lax. She felt a hand clasping the one nearest to Poe. It was warm.

"I know," he simply said, his voice soft.

Ripley reached up and placed her hand over his, then they clasped each other. His was larger than ears, a bit more calloused due to his lifestyle, but comforting. A thumb gently brushed her knuckles, back and forth. Then she slowly felt her hand being lifted and her eyes tracked it. His was looking at her as his breath was warm on the skin of her hand but made the hairs on her arm stand on end anyway. Ripley felt her stomach churn in a not so awful way..

"Hey, have you seen my staff?"

Instantly the two flinched, hands were let go and her cheeks burnt like someone had rubbed lava over them. She took a second to regain herself and not to feel caught. Nothing happened right? They were just holding hands..

"Yeah, I got it here!" She called back and the grass rustled when Rey approached and plumped down next to her.

"What are you doing with it?" The desert girl asked, oblivious to the fading redness of Ripley's cheeks or Poe rubbing the back of his neck before he excused himself and left while murmuring something about food.

"I'm trying to improve it. It's a electro staff from a IG-100 Magnaguards of the Separatist State," Ripley glanced up to see Rey having a confused look. "It's a type of droid." The girl then nodded, understanding it.

"I hope to make the electric ends work again. That will give it a nice kick," Ripley said as she twisted the wires together again, but then in another order.

Suddenly it gave a buzz, just a tiny one and it was over just as quickly. But it was a good sign. Ripley tightened the wires, adjusting them and pressed the button on the handle. It flickered and buzzed like a drunken humblebee, the ends lighting up as electricity coursed through it. After a few seconds the buzz was continuous and she handed the staff over to Rey who was staring in awe at it.

"Here you go," Ripley chuckled, proud of her work and because of Rey's look in her eyes. It was endearing. "No one will be able to get close to you now."

The staff buzzed almost like a lightsabre as the girl twirled it a few times in her hands as best as she could while seated, then Rey switched it off. She did not take her eyes off her weapon when she murmured.

"That is so awesome.." Rey finally glanced at her, the expression in her face warming . "Thank you."

Ripley merely grinned back at her.

"God damn.." Finn cursed and brought his hands to his face, breathing heavily through his nose to compose himself. "How can you win! I've been playing this game longer than you have!"

Rey sat back in her chair, crossing her arms with a smirk on her face. Her own team of monsters were cheering, screeching and holding up their arms whilst Finn's side of the battlefield was littered with the corpses of his.

"That's for me to you and for you to guess," she stood up from her seat and stretched. Her gaze and Ripley's met, the desert girl winked causing Ripley to shake her head with an amused chuckle as she focused her attention back on the blaster in her lap. She found that modifying everyone's guns proved to be quite relaxing and it kept her busy.

Han was making a final run of supplies with Poe and Chewbacca, not that he was paranoid (his own words) but just to make sure. Leaving the three of them and BB-8 to run the ship and prepare for take-off. Which they did in like half an hour, allowing some recreational time.

"You know," she started when Finn slumped down next to her. "You should really be better at the game, given the circumstances." Her eyes met his for a brief moment. The guy sighed and leaned back.

"I know, I just.. can't seem to get it. My tactics don't just work on this stupid game."

"Perhaps you are over-thinking it? Maybe it should be more played on instinct than strategically correct. That what you did with the squad anyway, and that always worked out." She murmured as she poked the insides of the blaster with a screwdriver. Smiling when something flicked inside of it. She then closed it up and laid it down on the cushion next to her.

"Perhaps," Finn repeated her slowly, thoughts mulling.

Later Ripley managed to get her hands on Chewbacca's bowcaster and was tinkering away with it as they were travelling to Takodana, where someone (according to Han) could help them to get a clean ship that the First Order could not track. Rey was getting more and more acquainted with the ship and knowing the ins and outs, which Han Solo somehow seemed to appreciate but didn't quite show it, though everyone knew he did. What Finn and Poe were doing, Ripley did not know.

Her small room on the Falcon merely consisted out of two bunkbeds, one for her and one for Rey. The Falcon's capacity was actually four, but Han had made some accommodations that all six of them had a place to sleep, which meant sharing rooms. Ripley did not mind, she liked Rey even though she talked a lot when being enthusiastic about something.

'Is this what having a little sister feels like? Or family at all?'

Ripley paused her tinkering with the bowcaster and looked up at the bare dark durasteel wall in front of her, surprised by her own train of thoughts and the pulling of her heart strings. This mixed up bunch they all were was as close to family as it would ever get. Even though they had all known each other for a short time they were close, she felt it inside of her. Though describing what it was exactly, was hard.

Her eyes shot to the door when Rey came in, smelling clean and wearing a comfy shirt and pants. Wet hair loose around her face. The girl paused for a bit, noticing Ripley but quickly resumed her stride and plopped down on her own bed next to Ripley's, she was beaming right at her and did not take her eyes off her. It made Ripley uncomfortable.

"Did something just happened?" Ripley asked. "You look like you've had the best shit of your life."

Rey just shrugged. "Nah," she merely said and not elaborate.

'Fine, don't share your thoughts,' Ripley thought and stood up, placing the Bowcaster against the wall next to the beds in a small corner, making a mental note to return it to Chewbacca when he was awake. Rey was still beaming by the way.

"Rey, something is happening inside your head and I don't like it. Whatever your thinking; share it or drop it and don't just.. stare at me like that it's creepy," Ripley snapped a bit irritated. She kicked off her boots and shook her jacket off her shoulders, folding it neatly and hanging it in the locker.

"Have you ever liked someone?"

Ripley eyed the corner in her peripheral vision as she continued to undress to her smalls, which were designed to be practical for combat instead of fashionable. She was comfortable with her limited amount of clothing, having lived with Stormtroopers and shared dressing rooms did that to a person.

"Well, I like you but I have a feeling that is not what you mean," she said and walked over to her bed, sitting down on it and released her blond hair from its ponytail. The locks tickled her bare shoulders. Rey rolled her eyes as if saying 'obviously'.

"No I mean, like as in fancying someone."

Ripley stared at the girl, mind blank. "Are you?"

Rey suddenly grew flustered and stammered an unconvincing no, causing Ripley to chuckle. "Well if you are and want my love advice I don't have any, sorry."

"I find that hard to believe," Rey snorted with a hint of amusement.

"Take it how you want, but it's true," Ripley said and crawled below her blankets and turned off the lights, succumbing the room to darkness. "Now if you don't mind I want to have some shut-eye before we hit Takodana, I suggest you do the same."

There was a rustling of sheets and finally a sigh, which was slightly unsatisfied. Ripley did not know what Rey meant with her question but now thinking about it in silence made her a bit uneasy. It wasn't frowned upon in the First Order, liking someone, but it wasn't encouraged either. She have had her infatuations, a flutter of the heart when someone came in the room, but that was it. It wasn't practical in the life of Stormtrooper so she never gave it much thought.

'It's not practical. You've already accepted that,' a little voice inside her said. But did she truly?

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