A/N: Four days out from the wedding. Evening.
Kes washed his hands from breading fish nuggets and headed in to the front room. The transmission center continued to chime with an incoming call. He slid back the panel, flipped a switch, and said, "Dameron here."
A professional, imperially-accented voice answered, "Hold for connection." No 'please', 'will you', or any other pleasantry that was common in the local vernacular. Kes sighed. In the few seconds he was holding, it occurred to him he should have clarified he was Kes, because this was probably the call Poe had mentioned. He looked at the transmission code. It was from somewhere off-planet, one of the core worlds if his memory served him right. Interesting that the communications officer had been a live being and not a droid. This was someone higher-up.
He was picking at a bit of breading under a fingernail when the screen lit up. It was a woman. Human. About a decade or so younger than himself. Dressed in one of the upper-ranked First Order uniforms, because with the transfer of power barely a month old, they hadn't settled on a new design yet. He wasn't up to speed on how the Order's rank designations differed from the Empire, but she had a bunch of stripes.
A slow smile creased his face as he studied her. She studied him right back. He saw she was in an office somewhere, but mostly he had eyes for her. He sank down in the chair, feeling a sudden appreciation for what Poe saw in these guys. "Hi there," he said in a deep, friendly voice. "How are you doing this evening?"
She smiled and actually blushed, because his eye contact and expression could only be read one way. "I was calling for Poe Dameron. Is he there?"
"I'm Kes, his father." He kept looking at her. She was no physical beauty, but that wasn't what he was looking at anyway. He was watching her reactions and how tickled she was by the attention. It was like a fun version of Hux's prickliness and Kes found it just as irresistible. "He said you were going to call."
She hesitated. "I have the information he asked for. If you can let him know that, he can call me back later."
"Sure. I'd love to have your name. So I can tell him who called."
She smiled at him, because they both knew Poe knew who she was. "General Birnham."
"A general? Color me impressed. Where are you calling from?" He grinned as he appended, "So I can tell him where to call."
"I've seen this before from your son." She looked amused at his act.
Kes shrugged. "He learned from the best."
She laughed at his confidence. Then she answered him. "Coruscant. He knows how to get in touch with me."
"Coruscant, huh? How do you like it there?" She was obviously angling to end the call. He had no intention of doing so.
"Ah …" She seemed torn about answering.
"It's a new posting for you, right?"
"Yes … yes, it is." He could see her shoulders relax slightly as she decided to go ahead and talk with him.
He nodded to reinforce that decision. "How is it, to be planetside now? Is it much of an adjustment from where you were?"
"It's interesting," she said carefully. Her eyes narrowed a little at him in suspicion or curiosity. "It's very cosmopolitan – a much more diverse mix of species than I've dealt with in decades."
"Yeah, I'll bet. Coruscant is a busy place. Decades, huh? You must be talking about before the First Order. Where were you then?"
"The Empire."
"The Empire's so big." Kes raised his brows and tilted his head forward in question.
She responded to the prompt by elaborating, "I grew up on Lothal and went through the academy there. I left about the time of the Siege. Many imperials did. It was … no longer a welcoming place. My ship was incorporated into the First Order."
"Lothal? They had a lot of trouble there, but I've heard it's calmed down. Do you ever think about going back?"
"No. There's nothing there for me. My family were farmers. They were lost in the destruction of Tarkintown at the hands of Vader."
"Vader? Wow, that's terrible. Him personally?"
"I don't know. But they didn't make it."
"I'm very sorry to hear that. There's a pretty big Rebel faction there anyway. They're probably as much against the Order as they were the Empire."
She smiled thinly. "True. I don't think the Rebels understand how determinedly anti-imperial the First Order was. They were fooled by appearances. Many are."
"You know, that's just fascinating to me," Kes said. He leaned forward to rest his chin on his hand. "The sides have really flipped. I'm seeing some very strange things going on here on Yavin. People don't know what to make of the new government and it's almost like, in reaction, they're shifting towards being more conservative. What do you think?"
"I think if the new government turns into another empire, then they'll only have themselves to blame. The grand marshal and the committee did everything in their power to avoid that, but it will be in the hands of the Senate once the elections are finished."
He nodded slowly. "How's it going on Coruscant?"
She rolled her eyes. "Coruscant has its own challenges. The powers that be see the potential for substantial loss to the Outer and Mid-Rim worlds, who have been crippled for decades by criminal activity and military pressure. The removal of both of those should usher in prosperity for those regions and declining power in the core. But if the Outer Rim senators are too weak to make sure that happens, if they're bought off or easily intimidated, then nothing will change and the core worlds will retain their power."
Kes nodded again. "Yeah, I can see how that would play out."
"So can the common people on Coruscant, but it seems most of them are voting with their feet. We're already seeing emigration going up. A place like Yavin … I suspect you'll see immigrants."
"Oh, we could use them. There's room here." He nodded slowly. "I heard there was recruitment going on in some places. Is that connected?"
"What kind of recruitment?"
"I think military."
She shrugged. "Yes, that should be happening. Part of the interim turnover plan was an agreement that police and security work be done by locals and not by First Order ships. So especially in the outer worlds that don't have strong security forces, they should be getting started building them."
"Ah-hah," Kes nodded. "That makes sense then. So a place like Yavin, for example, that already has a stable infrastructure and a sound defense force, aren't seeing any recruitment. We'll only see outside supplementation, like from converted Order ships. You know, you guys need to be real careful with that. Sending destroyers or troopers in, or people wearing those uniforms," he jerked his chin at her, "will cause people around here to get their backs up. Appearances matter. They fool a lot of people."
"Why do I need to be careful with it? You're the one on Yavin. Talk to your senator, or whoever gets elected. They're the ones who have a say in it."
Kes opened his mouth to say something, then shut it and straightened, tilting his head. "You know, you're right. We need to do something about this. Us. Right here."
She raised her brows in question.
"Yeah, I've got a whole new job. Thanks." He started to sign off, then said, "Oh, and I'll tell Poe you have that information for him." He started to sign off and caught himself a second time. "Oh, would you like to talk like this again sometime? I've got to get dinner going or I'd have more to say now."
"About what? Politics?"
"Sure. What's going on at Coruscant. Tell me more about Lothal. You guys have the best stories because they're things I've never heard before. I figure that's got to work both ways. I'm sure I could … tell you a few things in exchange." He smiled charmingly.
She laughed lightly at his flirting. "I'm sure you could. Let's find out. Some other time."
