Beep, beep, beep.

"BB-8, don't worry. I won't forget to eat this morning," Zarabelle beamed at the droid she had temporarily adopted as she pat its head "You're like the caring mother I never had."

Zarabelle admired her appearance in the mirror. This was extremely unlike her, especially if her only outing for the day was work. Zarabelle normally just made sure her uniform wasn't creased, her hair was presentable and she usually only applied light make-up.

But today she had spent extra time in her appearance, trying to perfect the 'I took a long time to look this good, but want it to look like I didn't' facade. Her black hair was wavy as it cascaded down her shoulders, framing her oval face nicely. She used makeup to highlight her facial features, such as applying powder to accenture her cheek bones and using eye makeup to make her bright blue eyes stand out even more. She considered using makeup to hide her freckles dotted on her nose but decided they complimented the "effortless" look she was aiming for and decided to keep them.

The reason why she wanted to look good this morning was not a reason she wanted to admit to herself. But it was because of what she was about to do. She had arranged a call with one of her brother's fellow peers. Ben Solo.

The two had gotten along quite well at visitation day the previous day. So much so that they both agreed to use Ben's phone time the next day to have a holographic video call.

Zarabelle knew how to read boys very well and could tell he had developed some sort of crush on her. She was unaware of just how much she had mezmerised Ben Solo, but she knew there was something there.

What she didn't know was how she felt about him. She wasn't repulsed by him like she was towards most boys she immediately met. She thought he was quite handsome, in a completely awkward way. She thought that had to count for something, even though she wasn't smitten by him immediately.

She heard the notification of her holographic pad ring throughout her quarters and she bounced to the kitchenette in order to activate it.

"Hey there." Zarabelle responded with a cheery smile.

"Ooooh la la, Zarabelle. I've never seen you dressed so elegantly for work. You're not trying to impress a certain boy are you?" Zarabelle heard as she walked into the employee lounge later in the day.

Her call with Ben had been fairly uneventful. Ben had asked her about her return trip to Thebargo, as his father had to give Zarabelle and her mother Mink a trip back to the planet upon his ship as Zarabelle had gotten them both barred from the provided return trip.

Even though it was a mundane conversation, Zarabelle still enjoyed speaking with Ben. Unlike most people she knew from her home planet, Ben didn't try to show off in order to impress her. He was happy just making general conversation in an attempt to get to know her better. Zarabelle liked that.

"What...what have you heard?" Zarabelle asked as she narrowed her eyes at the flight attendant, Roxy. Zarabelle was fearful that perhaps her mother had been blabbing over town that Zarabelle was speaking to the son of a powerful senator.

"You're not denying anything, so that must mean yes. He's not my type, but he's a looker isn't he? I much prefer his friend though. So at least we're not vying for the same guy." Roxy grinned, showing her perfect white teeth as she did so.

This caused Zarabelle to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. At first she thought that her mother had been relaying incorrect information to the people around town. She wouldn't put it past her mother to exaggerate certain details to try and increase the family's social standing.

But then it hit her. Roxy was most likely referring to a different person.

"I have no idea who you're talking about." Zarabelle bluntly stated as she opened up her rusty green locker and threw her bag inside, before turning back to the beautiful woman next to her.

"Your pilot friend who got in a spot of trouble yesterday, that's who. I temporarily saved his ass and avoided him and his team getting banned from the spaceport on the spot, but he's pleading his case today to the spaceport manager." Roxy went on to explain with a tone that Zarabelle could tell meant she was very pleased with herself.

"Which one? I've got a lot of people you'd call 'pilot friends' who fly in here constantly and appreciate my tips. But I've got a lot of pilot enemies too which you could be joking about," Zarabelle sighed as she ran a hand through her perfectly styled raven hair "You're going to need to elaborate."

"The one that took you to the auction ball...what's his name...I forgot. I only remembered his cute friend's name, Iolo." Roxy sighed deep in thought, biting her glossy lip.

"Poe Dameron? Poe Dameron is here in Whitefield?" Zarabelle asked in surprise as her eyes widened.

Roxy misunderstood Zarabelle's surprise for excitement and sent a sly grin to the younger girl.

"He is. He's got a meeting in boardroom three in two hours if you want to go save the day. The spaceport management is deciding whether to give the New Republic continued access to the spaceport. You could run in and save the day to win your man over." Roxy said with a sultry voice, shooting Zarabelle a wink as Zarabelle slammed her locker door shut.

"Does it really matter if the New Republic can land on our runways or not? Their ships are small enough and their pilots are talented enough to land on any terrain." Zarabelle asked Roxy curiously as she subconsciously fluffed up her hair.

"Thebargo law states that all incoming ships need express permission by the city's governing spaceport to land, whether that be using the spaceport or not. The New Republic aren't going to break the law, so they need to retain permission from the spaceport management to land here." Roxy explained.

"Urgh, this is so stupid. It's just spaceport management on a power trip." Zarabelle voiced in disgust with a roll of her blue eyes.

"Yes, it is. Anyway, I'm about to start a shift so I gotta run. I might be catching up with Iolo later, so maybe we can double date or something?" Roxy asked Zarabelle with a slight grin on her face.

"I dunno, Poe and I are actually more of a platonic thing actually. I mean I barely know the guy, but-" Zarabelle began to ramble, but was cut off by Roxy.

"-those doesn't sound like the words of a girl who wants to be just friends. But I really gotta run. To be continued!"

Zarabelle let out a large sigh as she turned and walked in the opposite direction. The air traffic control tower was located fairly close to the employee lounge. The exit of the employee lounge had two large clear plastic swing doors and to the right of the doors was a heavy duty metal door which could only be accessed by a keycard. Behind the door was the passageway that led to the tower.

Zarabelle normally wore smart black pants to work and as such she could easily attach her keycard to her pants using the loopholes for a belt. But because she had dressed up for her hologram call with Ben instead she was wearing a simple black dress. She fumbled around her waist for a moment as she forgot this simple fact, and then shook her head and smiled as she remembered her keycard was on a lanyard around her neck.

Zarabelle was committed to her career as an air traffic controller. On the job she had an uncanny way of setting aside her personality in order to get the job done. She was obedient to the point many of co workers assumed she was a meek and silent type even outside of work.

Her ability to suppress her personality also extended to being able to keep her mind focused on the job no matter what was happening in her life. She was able to disregard all personal thoughts during each shift and give her job her full attention.

Except for today. She kept pushing Poe's arrival onto her planet to the back of her mind, but it kept finding a way to creep back to the front of her thoughts.

She had thought about him a few times over the past few weeks since their adventure. It was in a weird manner to which she couldn't explain properly. She wasn't pining for him or hoping to see him again, in fact she had long accepted she would never see him again and was quite surprised to hear he was once again on her planet. But her mind often wandered back to that night they had spent time together.

But it wasn't just her curiousity leading her thoughts back to Poe. It was the gravity of the situation. She had had her suspicions about the professional manner of her fellow air traffic controller. Now it was directly causing wide-spread issues with the New Republic's plan to keep the peace in the galaxy.

Surely she should do something to help? Not just for the mysterious man who had piqued her interest, but for the good of the whole galaxy. It wasn't like her to create drama (well, during work, anyway) and it was also unlike her to not almost-blindly follow orders (once again, only during work hours). But she couldn't shake the feeling that she had to somehow get involved.

Then the opportunity arose.

A few hours into her shift a large cruiser had entered the planet's orbit and there were only two air traffic controllers in the tower - Zarabelle and Bea, the controller from yesterday who had forced Poe to land on the dirt.

"Okay Alta-Four, I've been holding runway six for you for the past two hours. We have ground control on hand for you to refuel before you make the trip to the other side of the planet to collect goods." Zarabelle confidently stated to the incoming cruiser.

"Er- I've already allowed the incoming yacht to land on runway six, sorry." Bea sheepishly grinned towards Zarabelle.

Zarabelle narrowed her eyes towards her co-worker but tried to not show her annoyance.

"Then un-allow it. Just tell them to land on one of the other runways we have open for small ships. Runway six has been reserved for the cruiser" Zarabelle shrugged.

"Sorry, I can't do that. That's incredibly rude." Bea argued.

Zarabelle went to argue with Bea, finding her natural personality taking hold due to Bea's incompetence. It wasn't just anger causing Zarabelle to become frustrated, it was also her professional instincts causing this reaction. Bea was being completely negligent and at best she could cause logistic issues, at the very worst multiple people could end up killed.

But instead of getting angry, everything fell into place. The third air traffic controller had just walked into the control tower after finishing their break and an immediate plan entered Zarabelle's head.

"I'm going on my lunch break." Zarabelle announced quickly.

Poe Dameron had been reprimanded many times in his life. He didn't get to spend a lot of time with his mother before her untimely death, but some of his earliest memories were her scolding him for misbehaving. Then his father took over that role as he grew up. His parents were kind and never punished him ruthlessly, he was just a handful for them to raise.

He hadn't been in the New Republic for very long, but plenty of people in charge had berated him in their duties. A lot of people didn't understand he was a risk taker. He firmly believed that in life you had to take risks to get rewards. His rewards during his career in the New Republic were that he had yet to fail a mission, and that he had already received the rank of Commander. Both were incredible feats, especially for someone of his age.

But this was one scolding he felt was mightily unjust. Everything about it seemed wrong.

He didn't make an 'unauthorised landing' - he was authorised to land, he just wasn't given permission to land where he did. Which he only did due to incompetent air traffic control staff. He also didn't appreciate some airport manager fat cat in a suit who had nothing to do with the New Republic was the one reprimanding both him and his team.

"...I should have revoked New Republic access straight away! But sweet Roxy talked some sense into me. You all owe her a lot." The manager glared towards Poe and his team.

They all had hard looks on their faces, their eyes burning with dislike. All except for Iolo who was grinning, Poe guessed it was because Iolo was the one who had managed to charm the highly attractive air hostess the manager was swooning over.

"Have you ever even flown a ship? Buddy, you don't even sound qualified to have an opinion," Poe cockily stated "It would also explain your inability to hire people who can actually control air traffic properly."

"I-you!" The manager spluttered as his face turned purple with rage, waggling a fat finger threateningly at Poe.

The other person in the room aside from Poe's squadron was a woman he could only describe as looking like a fathier. She wore an intimidating black suit with a large black and white cloak that covered her body but still showed her thin frame and long neck. She also had long light hair that was fried from years of colouring.

She had given her name at the start of the meeting but Poe had already forgotten it, as well as what her title was. All he knew was that she held some bureaucratic position within the spaceport. She had remained silent through the lecturing the spaceport manager had been giving him.

She laid a long, manicured finger upon the spaceport manager's shoulder as she finally spoke up.

"We felt it was only fair to have a member of the New Republic here during this meeting to decide whether we should revoke access to our spaceport, as we understand revoking this access would make it very difficult for the New Republic to continue operations on our planet. It's a big decision." The woman said with a wicked smile, showing slightly yellowed teeth.

"Please don't be Lieutenant Macdonald, please don't be Lieutenant Macdonald." Poe heard Muran, his team member, whisper next to him, referring to their strict next of command navy leader whom Poe directly reported to.

"This is a little above this...Lieutenant's paygrade. No, I've organised for Senator Leia Organa to witness the meeting to ensure formal New Republic representation during the proceeding." The woman smirked, as she leaned over the black boardroom table and pressed a button on the console in the middle of the table.

Immediately a hologram had shot up in the shape of the senator, which caused the Rapier Squadron to gasp in shock. Nobody in the squadron had ever spoken to Leia Organa before - either in person or through hologram. Even Poe, who's parents knew her extremely well, had never formally met the powerful woman.

"Hello Senator, it's a pleasure to have you in our company." The fathier-looking woman spoke up, a faux sickly sweet twist in her voice.

"Hello Mrs Bearsley. Thank you for allowing me to be present. I would like an opportunity to speak about my New Republic pilot's behaviour and to plead with you to allow the New Republic continued access to your spaceport." Senator Organa stated.

Poe felt a lump form in his throat. He couldn't believe this was his first interaction with the Leia Organa. His entire life had revolved around hearing stories about Princess Leia, it seemed everybody on Yavin knew her well and had served with her. Not a single person had ever said a bad word about her.

Yet this was how he was meeting her. The son of Shara Bey, one of Leia's most trusted pilots, was meeting her because of the actions of a clumsy air traffic controller. He couldn't bear to hear Leia scold him, especially for something so ridiculous.

The airport manager (who's face was now far less purple as he had seemed to calm down) went to speak up, but in the distance they heard the large wooden door of the office fly open and the sound of a person hurdling themselves in.

"Mr Fernsby! Mr Fernsby! I have to urgently speak with you." A female voice said, but the person stopped dead in her tracks when she stumbled across the six people and one hologram congregated.

"Penthurst, this is completely inappropriate. Even if I wasn't busy my office is completely out of bounds for you to come waltzing in. I'm going to have to issue you with disciplinary action later." The airport manager grumbled as his face once again began to heat up in anger.

All eyes in the room (including the Senator's) were on the young woman, and her presence made Poe smirk. It was the air traffic controller he had met the last time he had landed on the planet, who's company he had enjoyed that evening.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it but she somehow looked different. He wondered if it was perhaps now he knew she was over eighteen she wasn't 'off limits' and any psychological barriers of him finding her attractive were now gone. But he could swear her raven black hair was shinier, her vibrant blue eyes were softer and the freckles still dotted on her nose were more adorable. He even noticed she had quite an attractively shaped figure now she was wearing more figure-hugging attire than the loose dress she wore the night he met her.

Yet that night he had first met her; she was his 'second choice' after he struck out with a beautiful exotic woman. This was even before he backed off after he learned Zarabelle was a few weeks shy of eighteen. With the way she looked today he wondered why he ever considered her a second choice. He thought she was stunning.

"Believe me Mr Fernsby, I wouldn't be charging in here unless it was urgent. You see, Controller Bea Lemmings is trying to land a yacht and a cruiser on the same runway at the same time. It's really quite dangerous." Zarabelle quickly blabbed on.

"Yes, okay Controller Penthurst, I'll speak to you later on I-" The spaceport manager responded and went to usher her out but he was cut off by the fathier-looking woman raising one of her manicured fingers.

"Controller Bea Lemmings, that's the air traffic controller named in this complaint isn't it." The woman asked curiously.

"I don't know who I spoke to yesterday, she didn't name herself. Actually I wanted this one here," Poe said as he nodded his head towards Zarabelle "As I know she's the best controller in the spaceport but she was visiting her brother or something and wasn't working."

He watched Zarabelle intently. He was hoping to flatter her, it was his only way of flirting with her from across the room in the middle of a disciplinary meeting. It was quite hard for him to be his usual charming self. Unfortunately this only caused her to send him a blank look as she raised an eyebrow, not understanding what he was attempting to do.

"Controller Lemmings has made quite a few negligent decisions this month, I know there's a few incident reports signed by duty managers. I just wanted to warn you about this one in particular because it's either going to result in a crash, or if the yacht is given clearance over the cruiser as Lemmings intends it means the cruiser will burn a lot of fuel in a holding pattern whilst they wait for the runway. That could mean the spaceport will be up for liquidated damages." Zarabelle continued to blab on.

"Incident reports by the air traffic controller in question? The New Republic wasn't made aware that the performance and competence of the controller was already under investigation." Senator Organa quickly shot up, sounding unimpressed.

"Okay well thank you Controller Penthurst, you may go." The spaceport manager quickly spoke up.

"I'll go. But I also want to be reassured I won't face disciplinary action because of my actions of coming here to inform you. The Whitefield spaceport by-laws section 9.2.8 explicitly state that no employee nor visitor will face any disciplinary action as of the result of a negligent employee." Zarabelle piped up.

Senator Organa quickly went to speak up upon Zarabelle's revelation, but the spaceport manager got in first to try and dismiss Zarabelle.

"You have my word. Now go."

Zarabelle swiftly turned around to exit, but not before she sent Poe a wink through her long lashes.