Chapter X: Act

He couldn't sleep but wasn't truly awake. He kept his eyes closed, his throat painfully dry. She couldn't really breathe but stayed still and quiet, her eyes fixed on the oximeter. They both had to pee.

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes until Kotka, that's all. Nineteen minutes. Sixteen, come on, it's okay. Twelve. Ten minutes. Breathe. Calm down, it's almost over.

The planet that appeared at long last before them was a big ball of blue, with large areas of white, grey and a little green. Water!, Rey instinctively rejoiced, before mentally cringing.

"Okay, now move with the flow", Poe said, unaware of his poor choice of words. "Slowly. Don't attract attention. There, behind that corvette."

"Yes, I know!", she snapped back.

"Oookay..." He said wide-eyed, sitting back.

"Sorry, I - I'm nervous."

"No problem. Had better days myself."

She had never seen so many ships at the same time. Thousands of them, from one-seaters to large cruisers, were all either leaving through a giant central gate, or obediently queuing up behind an endless, tight control grid of portals surrounding the entire planet. She wondered how they would ever get out of there. As if reading her mind, Poe said: "Don't worry. They all look nastier than they really are. They're mostly there to appease big traders. Politics..."

"What's that?"

"What, politics?"

"Yes."

Poe opened his mouth and stopped mid-breath, squinting.

"Yeah, well, that lesson's gonna have to wait, I'm afraid."

"Lesson?"

"Yeah, you'd need more than one... Later, later", he said, pointing at the rear radar display. There was no sign of the First Order. Yet. "I told you we'd need a story, remember? I got one, but you need to let me speak, okay? Your name's Kaytlin Klips, that's all you need to know. Repeat it."Poe instructed.

"What?"

"We need –"

"Oh, okay. Tayklin Lips."

"Klips. Kaytlin Klips."

"Kaylin Klips.

"Kaytlin", he corrected again. "Kaytlin Klips."

"Kaytlin Klips. Kaytlin Klips. What kind of name is that?"

"A registered one, and a real tongue twister for sure, I give you that. Trust me."

They finally reached the metal ring and waited.

"A tongue – what?"

He turned to face her. "You don't know what a tongue twister is? Damn, kid, you need to –"

"Identification!", barked a low female voice.

Poe gestured for Rey to switch the mic on. "699-4A6-70K", he said. She did a double-take, startled by the completely different voice suddenly coming from Poe. She then proceeded to mouth her alias over and over again, only to be stopped by him nudging her. He was looking down at the radar, a somber expression on his face. The radar had turned from full of dots to almost entirely bright red at its bottom, and there was evidence of one or several collisions happening behind them. He noticed a bigger ship. They had been tracked all right. Even if he had assumed the worst, Poe still couldn't believe it. They should've lost them at that blue giant. There must be a tracker in here, or they've really made some big-ass progress.

After a few seconds, the voice resounded again. "Work or leisure?"

Rey was bewildered by the question. Traveling for leisure seemed a thing from another galaxy. Poe didn't respond right away, his eyes still on the radar.

"Oh, sorry, leisure", he replied in the same high nasal voice, certain that TIEs weren't heading directly towards them. So, no standard tracking device was on their ship, but couldn't they use their new tech to track them down now? Or that just worked in frikking light-speed? This didn't make sense at all to him.

There was another pause, longer this time.

"Explain headcount!" The voice made them both jump.

"We're honeymooners. I'm Jet Klips and I'm with my wife –"

"Kaytlin Klips!" Rey exclaimed before turning around swiftly, a look of shock at how loudly she had said it, and as if to ask whether or not she'd said it right. Poe gave her a look. For a split second, he thought she was adorable, before slipping back into character.

"So why in an old Z-95, you may ask? That sure's an antique, and no room for luggage, no, no! But there's all the fun, he-he! All close together in a cockpit, there's room for somethin' else, if you know what I mean, he-he! We're fan of the Isaka holos, you see. Have you seen those? Well, that's our little Moonlight Adventure! And…well, we're not very… very opulent, you see. I bought this beautiful lady – the ship, not my wife, he-he-he! Sorry, honey. Anyways… I bought it with the dowry, you see, and here we are, on this wonderful adventure together! This is our first time on Kotka, and d'you know how we chose our destination? Not for the weather, no, no! My folks said: Why not Sentir or Takodana? Why, that gotta be more symbolic than that, I said. Future little Klipses gotta come from somewhere special, hey? Not that we could afford Takodana, he-he! Anyway, so you see, we're from a small village called Kirshe and my name's Klips, you see, and my wife's name's Kaytlin, and my mother's name's Klarisse and my brother's name's –"

"Clear."

"Well, close enough, he-he! Why, thank you Ma'am and have a nice day! Or night, he-he!"

The light around them turned green.

When he saw Rey wasn't moving, Poe gritted his teeth and bent over to take the commands and switch the mic off, then exhaled loudly, back to his normal self, a look of pain on his face. He slowly guided them towards the main continent, his eyes still on the radar. The two ships that had waited behind them passed quickly, but the next didn't. He saw hundreds of queues behind them beginning to grow suddenly. A filter block had been ordered. Another minute, and they would've had to force their way in.

"Hold on, things are gonna get tricky. Won't get long till they raise the alert. We gotta change our course." Of what course he had initially been thinking, she had no idea.

Heading to the capital city was too obvious now. Instead, he directed the ship towards a high-altitude hyperway, mingling with hundreds and hundreds of other ships flying straight to Kotka's second largest trade center: Tampere. She let him pilot, quiet, facing away. Her cheeks and entire right side felt hot. When they were about to land however, she finally regained her voice.

"You sounded like a completely different person", she said in a small voice.

"That's called acting, honey."

"Don't call me that." She brusquely ordered, her voice low. "And I'm not a kid either".

He glanced at her. There had been no humor at all in her tone and she looked completely serious. "I'm sorry", he simply said, taking a mental note never to do that again.

He avoided the main docks and landed right behind what looked like a large hangar instead, parking in a sea of speeders and small shuttles.

"Follow me", he said, but he grunted as he lifted himself off the seat, and had trouble climbing down the hull. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he turned to see Rey already there, waiting. "It's really not as bad as it looks, just overworked joints, I'll be all right."

She silently presented her hand to him.

"I thought we'd already done that – the introduction part?"

She gripped his hand and started walking, Poe failing to contain a cry of pain. She stopped and gave him a look. Defeated and a bit stunned by the situation, he let her put an arm around him, slightly lifting him.

"Really, Rey, it's not that bad."

"Sshhh!"

A siren made them jump. Poe focused on the building ahead.

"There, up ahead! That door – d'you see it?"

"Yes!"

Poe disentangled himself from her and ran as fast as he could, but tripped on one of the steps leading to the door. After eventually accepting her help, they soon found themselves inside a huge trade gallery, all bright lights and colors and pairs of eyes everywhere. Rey turned right, only for Poe to tug her to the left. "Clothes!" he breathed.

They entered the first crowded little shop. "Sales season, perfect", Poe whispered. He swiftly grabbed two colorful robes and hats and exclaimed, this time in his own voice: "What?! What do you mean someone stole it?! What do you mean? Don't tell me… You looked everywhere? No, tell me you have it. Tell me you have it, stars, please. No, no, this is not happening. Tell me this is not happening. I knew I shouldn't've given it to you! I knew it! Stars, what are we gonna do? What am I gonna do?" His voice cracked. Rey watched, mystified. "Stars, she's waiting for me, the baby's almost there, stars! Why now, why today?! Oh, what am I gonna do? We can't go like that, all dirty, I told you, she'll kill me, mom will kill me! And all the money and the papers, stars, the papers! What am I gonna do?" He was sobbing now, actually sobbing. Everyone was watching. Rey heard gasps. She was speechless. Poe stepped on her foot, hard.

"I'm so sorry, it's - it's okay, don't worry, she'll understand", she managed to say.

Rey glanced at all the faces in front of her. Every single one of them appeared to believe every word he had just said. Some were looking down, embarrassed, while others were staring, either gaping at him or visibly moved. A being from a species she'd never seen was looking at Poe with two pairs of huge, moist eyes. An old lady reached for something in her handbag.

"Here, my poor babies, I'll pay for the robes. So, it's a boy? Congratulations! Is it your first?"

"No, no, no, don't, it's okay, I'll –" Poe mimed trying to regain his composure.

"Poor honey, I wanna help too, here, I'll pay for the hats."

"Congratulations!"

"D'you need a ride?"

"Thank you, thank you. No, that's okay. Oh, you're so nice, how can – Yes, it's a boy, thank you. Yeah, yeah, it's my first. Jet, like his grandpa. Oh, thank you so much, you don't know what it means to me."

Walking out the shop after countless handshakes, Poe stayed in character until they reached an exit door, but almost tripped twice. After turning away from a busy street to a cul-de-sac, they quickly put on their disguises over their own clothes and, now clad in a long blue and purple robe, a bright yellow hat on her head, Rey felt absolutely ridiculous. However, everywhere she'd looked, people had seemed to be wearing bright multicolored robes, and every head was covered. Later, she noticed the yellow hat was apparently trendy, and she even spotted a girl wearing the exact same robe. Poe had an orange and brown one, with touches of gold on the collar. His hat was brown, like most men they passed. After a few yards down the same street, he suddenly stopped, his face distorted with pain.

"Sorry. Need to rest for a bit."

"No. Come, I have an idea."

She dragged him by the arm towards a cantina, and sat him down at a terrace table that had just been cleared.

"We don't have –"

"I know. I'll be right back", she said, before vanishing in the sea of hats. He wondered if he had the time to go pee.

"You all right there, sir?"

He turned to see a very handsome man bending over him, and caught a glimpse of his dark skin under his bright green, low-cut shirt.

"Yeah, well, bad lunch…", he smiled, not being able to stop himself from peeking again inside his shirt. He could almost see his nipples. Kriff, if we weren't at war…

"Oh, ouch, bad luck. You should drink limon, it helps a little."

"Yeah, thanks, I'll do that."

The man took the seat next to him. Kriff, why do I always have to be obvious… Was I that obvious with Finn too?

"I'm Map", he said, his eyes smiling, and then he ran the tip of his tongue along his bottom lip. Oh, my…

"Jet. And I'm not alone."

Map sat up, visibly disappointed.

"Oh. Well, whoever you're with is one lucky being. You sir, are gorgeous". His tone and the expression on his face were so sexual that Poe shivered.

"Thank you", he said, smiling with the same seductive eyes. Map didn't go.

"You sure you don't wanna... have a drink some other time? When your special one's away?"

"Nah, we'll have to leave it at that, Map. But it was very nice to meet you; you're not bad-looking yourself."

Map gave him a long look.

"All right. Still hope to see you around, though. I'm here every Saturday night." He winked at a smiling Poe unconsciously biting his lip, then finally walked away.

Something was shoved into his lap. A small canvas bag full of –

"I got 90, here's half in case we get separated. Let's go", Rey whispered in his ear. He put the bag into his partially burned satchel.

"Hello, dear customers, sorry for the wait, what would be most –"

She grabbed his arm before the droid could finish.

"How did you –" Poe started.

"No time. Keep your head low." He spotted a peace-keeper patrolling right next to the cantina. They walked arm in arm down the street, then took a right turn and walked up a wide steep avenue with heavy traffic.

"We should separate", he breathed out. "They must be looking for –"

"No. You're too weak!"

She pushed him into an alleyway.

"Too –", he couldn't even repeat it. He huffed. "Look, I told you, I can perf –"

"Shhh! There!"

Above a white porch overflowing with green, big flowery letters read "CARNATION HOTEL - RESTAURANT".

Poe sighed. "Smile, look happy", he whispered, just before the door slid open.

"Good afternoon!", a tall droid wearing a white lace apron chanted. "What can I do for you?"