Chapter 21 – Finn's Date

Finn was getting used to this new life. Though it surprised He and Sal at first, they had both been accepted openly by the Resistance. Sal was spending a lot of his time with one of their gunners, Paige Tico. The two of them kept trying to convince Finn to meet Paige's sister Rose, a maintenance worker, but he so far had been resistant.

"Come on, Finn," Sal begged.

Finn winced. "I don't know."

"Just one date. What's it gonna hurt?" Sal kept begging.

Finn started breathing harder. "I've never even been on a date before. How does one do that?"

Sal gave Finn a look. "You know I hadn't been on a date before I met Paige either. And it's not that traumatic. You just sit down and talk to the girl."

"Talk to the girl… You realize I can count on one hand the number of girls I've talked to," Finn whined.

"Come on Finn. One hand. That's stretching it." Sal rolled his eyes.

Finn held up his hand and began counting. He got to four, then paused. "Does Captain Phasma count. I don't think she does. And then there's General Leia, and that makes five."

Sal rolled his eyes again. "Well, you're gonna have six now. Rose is Paige's sister, and your not gonna embarrass me by not showing up." Finn lifted a finger and tried to say something. "Un-uh! Tonight, seventeen hundred hours. Or I'm coming to get you." Sal turned and walked away before Finn could argue anymore.

Finn put his nerves aside, and went to the hanger. The resistance had asked him and Sal to do some light duties while they all figured out their permanent roles. Finn had been assigned to general labor, for which he was mostly lugging out crates from the deeper supply rooms. Though he did get to help the pilots prep their crafts for flight on occasion too.

"Hey Finn," Poe gave him a wave.

Finn walked up to Poe, who was having a conversation with another pilot. "No, I'm sorry. We just can't spare the fuel right now. You can take another ship, or wait till we have a mission going, but I can't justify you taking that much, just for a personal vaycay."

"I understand Poe. I was just hoping to see my sister's newest kid before he turns three. But, yeah. I understand there's nothing you can do." The other pilot replied, then they walked off.

"What was that about fuel? I thought we… I mean you guys had lots in the tanks," Finn asked.

"We do, of the regular fuel. But his personal craft uses Malastarian Fuel, and ever since the first order took over Malastare, our supplies have been cut off."

"Really…" Finn stopped. A thought was clearly on his mind. "What if I knew where you could go to get more?"

"General, General!" Poe ran into the command room shouting.

Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo stood up and crossed her arms. The look on her face said she was anything but pleased at this interruption. "The General is handling personal matters. What is this about?"

"Finn. Finn has something to say." He pulled Finn into the room and pushed the man in front of the group of Resistance command.

"I uh…" Finn started looking down.

"Just tell them what you told me." Poe prompted.

"General Hux had a barge of Malastarian Fuel built in orbit around the Nyat Moon for his personal use. It's only got a basic security protocol and a few troopers stationed there off and on. I did a round there a few months back. It's not… I mean it should be possible to strike it and steal the fuel."

"Sit down Finn, and tell us more." Amilyn pushed out a chair and motioned for him to sit down. Her mood seemed to be suddenly improved, and they all listened with great interest as Finn went over the security protocols. Occasionally Poe would pop in with a suggestion too.

That night at Seventeen hundred hours, Finn walked into the cafeteria. He was thankful that Poe had been willing to help him prepare for his date, once they finished the mission prep. Finn wore a borrowed suit and had a datapad with several conversation starters in his pocket. He was still nervous, though, even after Poe gave him the protocols for a date night.

"Looking nice. See, you've got this." Sal patted Finn on the shoulder. "She's over there." He pointed to a table where Paige sat next to a young woman with shoulder length black hair that curled out at the ends.

As they walked over to them Rose gave Finn a nervous smile, and leaned over to whisper to her sister Paige. Finn felt strange bubbles inside him and he stopped Sal. "I don't know if I can do this."

"It's too late to back out now. Just 'keep your head high and don't let them see your fear.'" Sal quoted a line Captain Phasma used to boost their courage at times.

"Keep your head high. Don't let them see your fear." Finn whispered this to himself as they walked up to the ladies.

On the other side of the room Rose leaned over to whisper to Paige, "I don't know about this. He looks like he doesn't want to be here any more than I do. Why don't I save us both and just…"

"Because, then I'll show the whole maintenance department your baby photos. Just give him a shot, Okay. He's Sal's best friend," Paige shot back.

"Hello sweetheart. Hello Rose, this is Finn." Sal greeted.

"Hi." Finn smiled weakly.

"And Finn, this is Rose." Paige tapped her sister's arm, then suppressed an eye roll when the girl sat there silently. "Why don't we get something to eat." Rose stood up with her sister and the four of them made their way to the line.

While they were in line, Finn remembered the date protocols Poe filled him in on. "Rule number one," Poe had said was, "treat her like a princess." When Finn had inquired what a princess was, Poe looked aghast for a few seconds, then he added, "The General was a Princess."

"Treat her like a general," Finn breathed. When he got to the start of the line, he picked up two trays, then motioned for Rose to step ahead of him. As she passed him he stood tall and saluted her. There was a light snickering behind him from someone, but Finn felt confident he was obeying the 'date' mission protocols, so he didn't turn around.

When they'd gotten through the line, Finn carried Rose's tray and his own. He was about to put them on a table, when Paige spoke up. "Un uh. I've planned something special. We're eating in the south field."

Finn and Sal walked over to the doors. Finn struggled to open the door and carry two trays of food, so Sal opened it for him, since he was only hindered by one tray. Then Finn stood back, holding the door with his body, while Sal just walked through. Finn regretted that he couldn't salute the ladies as they passed him, not without dropping the trays.

"What was that Finn?" Sal questioned him when they were on the other side.

"Date protocol one," Finn answered.

"He could teach you something. Infact, he could teach a lot of guys something." Paige laughed. "Do I know how to pick 'em or what?" she picked at Rose's elbow, who gave a reluctant smile back.

Outside, in the south field, there was a holo-projector set up and Paige ran ahead to set it to play a holo-film as they ate. After a while Sal stepped off to help her.

Rose turned to Finn. "I just want to say, so everything's clear. I only agreed to this as a favor to my sister."

"Oh really. Same here. I mean as a favor to Sal." Finn replied.

"It's not that I don't want to be here. It's just that I have a lot of work to do."

"You're maintenance, right?"

"Yes," she sounded defensive. "I mean, it's not saving the day and all, but it's still valuable work."

"Hey, the only people I save are those wanting more hydrospanners from storage." Finn leaned back.

"Are you kidding! You left the First Order. That makes you heroes. It's much better than the engine upgrades I've been doing. I mean, if I didn't have to rework every G-class and lower to run on anything but Malastarian Fuel, I could get something valuable done. But until that is done, I'm tied up.

"Come on Sis, lets not bore him with shop talk." Paige corrected when the two walked back.

"Really, I was helping Poe earlier today plan a mission to get more Malastarian Fuel."

"No way! If you can do that, you really are my hero," Rose exclaimed, and Finn smiled, feeling proud of himself.

The rest of their evening was filled with 'shop talk' as Finn asked Rose what other supplies they were running low on, and he started to strategize ways the Resistance could get them.

Hello,

I started this chapter intending to just have Finn plan the mission with Poe, but then the characters seemed to insist on doing the date night. I think it's cute and I hope you do too. Anyways, I realize cafeteria food is not very romantic, but I looked it up on Wookieepedia, and D'Qar has a population of "none." So there wouldn't be anywhere else to go to get a meal, unless they went off-world.

And the plans with Poe. There really is a Malastare and Malastarian Fuel on Wookieepedia. But the Nyat Moon, and Hux's secret stash is entirely my imagination.

I know this chapter centered on the B-team characters, but I have a reason for going down my rabbit-trails. My next chapter will feature the mission Poe and Finn planned here. It will likely be a somewhat action-y chapter, and I have a couple... unexpected events planned. And this will come around to tie into the main character's story, so it will be worth following.