Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the recognisable characters of the franchise. This story is purely for entertainment.

Chapter 21

Poe whistled looking at the old T-65 X-wing fighter coming out of the craziest manoeuvre he had ever seen. Ben Solo had just saved Nien's life. He was wondering about how it could be that no one knew that Ben Solo was such a brilliant pilot.

They were under attack so he couldn't focus on it for too long. He had a few seconds to dive himself to avoid being hit by the stream of plasma. He quickly went into a flip and counterattacked his attacker from behind. He was finally successful this time.

He looked around. Nien was still struggling with his engine but fortunately there were no more enemy fighters left. Solo somehow dealt with the other two TIE fighters and he was now tilting his fighter from one side to the other as if in some weird dance.

'All right Solo!' – Poe used the intercom for the first time since the attack started. – 'You earned it!' – He laughed and copied the tilting movement. The old machine was slightly protesting after all the strain he had just put it through. – 'It looks they were only scouts, although there was quite a few of them. Well done. Now, let's go back to the base.'

'Happy beeps, Buddy, happy beeps!' – He addressed BB8 sitting as always in a tailseat. The droid responded cheerfully.

'Yeah, I know. I will think of something.' – He replied.

The 3 fighters went into a V formation and headed straight towards the planet.

As soon as Poe got out of his fighter, he run towards Ben Solo. He put his hands on his hips while waiting for Nien to finish thanking Solo for his help during the fight and saving his life.

'Why haven't you told us you can fly so well? We could had used you earlier.'

'No one asked.' – Ben shrugged his shoulders.

'I guess it's mostly my fault then. Let's eat something and have a drink.' – Poe started walking towards the canteen.

Ben Solo and Nien followed.

In a way, it was good that Ben Solo had a beard now. Poe found it easier this way to try not to remember that it was the same man that tortured him only months ago. Now, Poe wondered how he spent over a month in young Solo's company and yet he knew almost nothing about him.

So far, Solo was following his orders and, just like Maz predicted, the miracles did happen wherever they went. Poe had to admit that this guy made even him hopeful.

And today's fight…That was unexpected. The enemy was not supposed to be here. The three of them were just going to check the fighters that had just been repaired. He didn't want to use unexperienced pilots. Ben offered to help. Poe accepted, thinking he would have a chance to teach Solo a lesson. And now he was relieved. The outcome could had been very different if Solo was not with them. 'Coincidences' like that one, kept happening since they left Dantooine.

They sat down at the table. Usually Ben sat separately with Quan. No one else was confident enough to join them. It was the first time Poe sat at the same table with Ben Solo. Nien went to his room to get something stronger to drink and Poe asked one of the young volunteers to bring them cups. Young man looked frightened being forced to come so near to Ben.

'So how did you learn to fly like that?' – Poe started.

'My…father and Chewie taught me well. Apparently, I could fly before I walked.' – Ben looked straight into Poe's eyes.

Poe faltered. He realised it would be a very difficult task to avoid talking about painful topics with that guy. He definitely didn't want to talk about Han Solo now. He wondered if it was a good idea to invite Ben for a drink. And yet…he believed that the guy deserved at least that much for what he had done today.

'Same with me.' – He finally said. He tilted his head. – 'How about speeder bikes? Did you take part in many races?'

'Yes, as a boy.'

'Same with me. And you won them all?' – Dameron was smiling expecting a boastful reply.

'Yes and no.' – Solo's answer caused Poe to raise his eyebrows. Solo shrugged his shoulders. – 'After winning it, I was disqualified each time for using the Force.'

'That's too bad.'

'Yeah.'

Solo's short answers were a bit off-putting but Poe was getting more and more intrigued by him and tried to understand the whole thing better. – 'Did you do it on purpose? I mean using the Force.' – He was pressing on.

'No. It was just…always a part of me. I always had quick instincts and sometimes could predict the future.'

'That's too bad.' – Poe repeated. He couldn't imagine how disappointing it had to be for a young boy to lose the winner's position. Ben seemed more human to him now than ever before.

In silence, they both watched as Nien approached their table with a big container filled with bottles.

Poe opened the first bottle up. – 'I hope you can drink as well as you can fly.'

'I don't know. I never drank alcohol before.' – Ben admitted truthfully.

Poe's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and he snorted with laugh. - 'We're gonna have fun then. But remember it doesn't mean we are friends now.'

...

Dameron fell under the table with a loud thump. Nien was sleeping with his head on the table for the last hour or so and now his snoring was echoing in the empty room.

Ben looked around the canteen. His head was slightly spinning but apart from that and his being more talkative than he remembered himself ever to be, he felt quite normal. So it seemed that he even couldn't get drunk in the usual way.

He was disappointed. He hoped he would forget, at least for a moment, about the past…his present situation…about Rey…about everything.

He stood up a bit shakily but he was feeling almost normal before he reached his quarters. The fresh air was so invigorating on this cold planet that instead of entering the building, he decided to stay outside. He was alone and the wall of the building looked inviting.

He leaned against it heavily and looked at the sky. It was so clear and starry that it felt like he could grab one of the stars if he only reached out his hand. But he was past reaching towards the stars. He could not even reach out towards Rey…who would know how to appreciate this sky. Just like she did on Dantooine.

He caught her once when she was talking to the porgs on a night like that. That was when he heard the whole story about the porgs moving out of the Falcon. He didn't have to imagine how awful Chewie's lullabies sounded, he heard him singing his wookie songs before. Poor porgs – a bit by force they became mascots of the Resistance survivors and on top of that had to listen to Chewie's singing…He understood why they moved out of the Falcon as soon as it landed on Dantooine.

Despite himself, he smiled thinking about the time spent on Dantooine, about Chewie's singing (read: wailing), about Rey. He didn't allow himself to think about her too much…especially not about the way she looked when he saw her last time.

He even avoided talking to Quan about her. But Quan was very insistent in giving him general updates on how she was doing. From the beginning, Quan didn't like the idea of Ben's going behind Rey's back and requesting private conversation with General D'Acy.

That morning, before the famous command meeting on their second and last day in the main base on Dantooine, general D'Acy met with Ben. Even though Quan witnessed the whole conversation, he couldn't understand why Ben agreed to help the Resistance without any reservation but only under the condition that Rey would be placed with a different squadron from him and sent as far away from heavy fighting as possible.

D'Acy wasn't too willing to cooperate at first. She started changing her mind only when Ben explained that having the two of them separated gave a certain dose of security to the future of uprising in case one of them dies. Which was highly possible as they both were or soon would be considered by the First Order, as the most dangerous rebels. She had to agree that his logic was undeniable.

Seeing her hesitation, he also reminded D'Acy that his main goal still was to kill Hux and therefore allowing Rey to be anywhere near him was only placing her in bigger danger. Now that he knew that the knights of Ren were killed, he believed that the safest place for her would be as far away from him as possible. Quan tried to contradict him when he noticed that Larma was swayed by Ben but it was too late.

'You shouldn't have done it, Ben. She is a big girl. She should make her own choices.' – Quan told him shaking his head as soon as the general left. He got up from his chair. – 'She may find out about it one day' – He started leaving after D'Acy. – 'And I wouldn't like to be in your shoes when it happens.'

Yes, Quan knew how to be a pain. Even though Ben's plan worked perfectly as Hux seemed to focus his effort on finding and killing him which meant that Rey was relatively safe, only yesterday, Quan again cornered Ben suggesting that she still needed Ben's help. When Ben truthfully said that he was avoiding her intentionally and that it was both for her sake and an act of self-preservation, Quan replied: – 'She is not your weakness but your strength.'

Ben tried to not think about it until now. He was gazing at the stars. It was thanks to her that he started noticing again how beautiful they can be.

Suddenly, everything around him shifted. He saw and heard her right in front of him. He knew immediately that the alcohol made him too relaxed and he let his guards down and let the connection open again. He knew he should stop it but, instead of retreating before she saw him, he was just watching her.

She was moving gracefully, practicing with her lightsaber. He knew the moment she felt his presence. Her movements stiffened. She was angry with him and she was ignoring him. But all he could focus on at the moment was her lightsaber. He couldn't take his eyes of it. Her lightsaber wasn't light blue anymore.