Chapter Thirty-Eight: Cataalda Base: Roles

Poe opened the hatch of his X-Wing, taking in a breath of fresh air. he'd just gotten back from his test flight with his new X-Wing. It was an older model, but it was all they had at the moment. BB-8 whistled as he was removed from his compartment.

"You did good work today, Buddy," Poe told the droid. He pat the ship. "But we're going to have to get this thing painted black if we're going to keep flying it. Just doesn't seem right."

Snap ran up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. "How did it feel to be up in an X-Wing again?"

"Good, I just miss the old one." Poe shook his head. "You're lucky, Snap. Being out when the First Order attacked. Didn't get your ship blown to hell."

"Listen... I wanted to talk to you before we left, but I didn't get the chance..."

Poe sighed, knowing what Snap was going to ask him. "Major Syndulla shouldn't have worried you about Wraith Squadron. We don't know if anything is wrong yet."

"We know something is going on with Master Bridger," Snap pointed out. "Kaila said she sensed it with the Force... By the way, did you know Kaila was a Jedi? I've known her for years and she just... Never mentioned it."

"It's not really something she talked about... for good reason." Poe sighed. "Yeah, I knew."

"Yeah. I guess there's a lot about her that you know that I don't." Snap gave Poe a leering look, nudging him. "Still. I'm pretty inclined to believe a Jedi if she says something is wrong."

"We're not planning to abandon Wraith Squadron." Poe clapped Snap on the shoulder. "We just need time. Once we get the clone army up and running... We're going to have a lot more people to mount a rescue. Don't worry."

Poe jogged into the base, BB-8 following alongside him. When they arrived at their quarters, BB-8 backed up and let out a low whistle.

"It's okay, Buddy," Poe replied, opening the door. "It's the first thing in the morning, you're not going to interrupt anything."

Poe blinked when the door open and he was greeted by Kaila's naked, green backside. "BB-8!"

BB-8 chirped and immediately turned his dome to face away. "Go and get charged up, maybe?"

BB-8 rolled off and Poe went into the room, quickly closed the door. "You just gave BB-8 a photoreceptorful."

"Hm?" Kaila turned away from the bed. "Sorry. I didn't see you there. How did the test flight go?"

Poe walked up to Kaila and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her bare shoulder. "Good. Controls need a bit of a tune up, but I can fly anything. Why are you so distracted?" He looked down at the bed. There were robes spread out there. They were tan and brown. He'd only seen a few people wear them in real life. Mostly it had been confined to holovids. He slipped a hand up, playing with the ring that rested on her breasts. "Why are you standing in our quarters naked and staring at robes? Not that I have a problem with the naked part. Coming back from a flight with a naked woman waiting for me is definitely not a bad thing. But it's not really a fantasy if you're distracted. What's going on?"

"Convincing myself to get dressed." She leaned heavily against Poe. "I only ever dressed in these things at the temple. When I first met up with Ben, he called me a Jedi washout. And he wasn't wrong. Since the Jedi fell, I've hidden from it. I couldn't be a Jedi. Not with the Knights of Ren out. But now I've got to be a Jedi. Major Kaila Syndulla. I don't know what I'm doing, Poe."

Poe pressed a kiss to Kaila's lekku. "I bet you look really good in them. But you don't have to wear them. You're going to be good at this. You just need to give yourself a chance."

Kaila's lekku crossed over each other twice. Poe smiled. "I love you too." He turned her around to face him. "Leia wants to wait until the clone army is ready to deploy before we take on any new missions. General Calrissian is working on getting us some more ships. You have some time to get used to things. And no one is expecting you to be a green-skinned Luke Skywalker."

"I still have to be a Jedi." Kaila wrapped her arms around Poe's neck. "I've heard the chatter around the base. People know."

"You can be a Jedi baring your midriff. I like your midriff." Poe crouched down and kissed Kaila's navel.

She laughed, pushing him away. "I don't even know what Leia wants me to do yet."

"You'll find out. Kai, you can do this. Like you said, you watched your mother do this kind of stuff for years. Hera Syndulla is one of the greatest generals the Rebellion and the New Republic ever had."

"That's not intimidating at all." Kaila strode across the room and grabbed her usual pants and midriff baring top. She began to pull them on. "Poe, I'm a smuggler. The only Jedi thing I've done in years is begin to train a conflicted dark side user." Once she was dressed, she looked back down at the robes on the bed. She snatched up the dark outer robes and donned them. She slipped her lekku out to rest in the hood. "You're my commander. Tell me what I'm supposed to do."

Poe took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of her in the robes. He didn't know if he'd ever seen her look so powerful, so beautiful. "You're supposed to be you, Kai. You can do this. Leia wouldn't have promoted you if she didn't believe in you." Poe walked up to her and cradled her face. "Be brilliant and fearless. I know you can do both."

Kaila leaned into Poe's hand. She closed her eyes and smiled. "Why didn't we do this years ago, Poe?"

Poe smiled back, shaking his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. I think we're just idiots."

"A clone army?" Rose repeated, leaning towards Finn as he looked over schematics. "That was what you didn't want me to know? Why is that such a big deal? I've been mad at you for days."

Finn sighed, looking away from his work. "You didn't have to be mad at me. You know there are sometimes when I'm not going to be able to tell you something. It's not because I don't want to. I want to tell you everything. But sometimes I'm under orders."

Rose sighed. "Fine. But I'm still not happy about this. You don't have to send me out of the room because you need to make a plan. I thought we were a team." She stood back up. "I have to get back to work."

"I'm so sorry about that. I was looking forward to being yelled at some more."

Rose scowled at her boyfriend, but turned and stalked off without another word. She needed to get to work on the X-Wings. They all needed work if they were going to be going off into battle soon. They needed to take advantage of the lull while there was one.

Rose started with Poe's X-Wing. She knew that was going to be the first one that was going to see action. There was no way Poe would stay away from danger. She got to work tuning up the engines.

"What are you doing?"

Rose shrieked in surprised, jumped back and tossed her hydrospanner up in the air. It hovered in front of her. She hesitantly reached out and plucked it out of the air. She then turned back to look at Ben. "All we have are T-65s except for Snap and Jessika's."

"Those are seriously out of date," Ben replied, eyes widening. "The First Order will massacre you."

"That's why I need to get to work on them. So we have a chance." She got back to work opening the panel.

"Can I help?" Ben asked. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Kaila's training me, but now she's working for the Rebellion and..."

"Toolkit is there." Rose smiled. "You seemed to know what you were doing on the Ghost . Basically... Make these better. Try to get them as close to the T-85s as you can."

Ben obligingly went to get some tools and get to work on the ship. Rose watched him as he went. She didn't understand Ben Solo at all. She was glad for the help, but he could have been far more use to the Rebellion using his other skills. He was a Jedi. Why was he slumming it helping her out?

Ben turned his head to look at her. He stared at her. Rose gulped.

"You think really loudly," Ben commented.

Rose nearly dropped her hydrospanner again. "Oh? You know what I'm..."

Ben shook his head. "I'm not using the Force on you, if that is what you're wondering. You're just not being very subtle. Certainly you've realized I'm different."

Rose nodded. It was obvious to anyone.

Ben opened up a panel, focusing himself on his work. "I didn't believe in any of this for a long time. I pulled myself away from my family. But now I'm back. It's not easy. I'm not just going to swagger in, swinging my lightsaber and act like I know what I'm doing. So I'm going to help where I can. And where I can is with you."

"So Ben the Technician." Rose smiled broadly. "Thank you. I could use the help."

Ben looked away from his work. He met Rose's eyes. "You just accept my help. You don't want to ask any questions about where I was when I wasn't here?"

Rose shook her head. "I figure you'll tell me when you're ready. I do want to get to know you, but I'm not going to force it out of you. I trust you."

This time, it was Ben who nearly dropped a tool. "Why would you?"

"You seem nice," Rose replied. "Besides, I don't think Rey would waste her time with someone I couldn't trust."

Ben's cheeks turns a deep red color. "You know about me and Rey?"

Rose giggled, going back to her work. "I just knew she liked you. I didn't realize there was anything to know passed that. So you two are..."

Ben cleared his throat. He focused back on his work, his face still very red. "I wouldn't mention it to Finn. He won't be too happy about it. He doesn't like me much."

Rose didn't understand the problem her boyfriend had with Ben. A dark part in her that she tried to ignore wondered if maybe it was jealousy. She knew that Finn had feelings for Rey before she had come along. What other reason could be for Finn disliking Ben so much?

But then, Poe also seemed to dislike Ben. That wasn't explained away by Rey's feelings for the man. There must have been something else...

Then, Rose thought- really thought- about what Ben had said. He had left his family. He'd abandoned their ideals. There was only one thing that would make Finn and Poe both dislike Ben. "You were with the First Order."

Ben kept looking away. This time, it wasn't out of embarrassment. It was pure shame. "I thought I could find something with them. All I found was pain and misery. What I was looking for was here. I was just afraid of it."

Rose knew she should look at him differently. He had been a part of the enemy. But then, hadn't Finn also been the enemy at one time? "You're here now. That's what matters."

Ben looked at her and for the first time since she'd met him, Rose saw him genuinely smile. "I think I'm going to like working for you, Rose."