8012

7976

7979

7987

The numbers repeated themselves. Poe translated them into as many other calendar years as he could to reconcile the extraordinary coincidence of the dates. It was a psychological mess of confusion and disbelief that powered his hands, welding parts onto the T-85 X-wing.

The ring on the chain around Poe's neck burned against his chest.

Is it possible…?

No.

It's not possible, he scolded himself. Get your head out of the clouds, Dameron.

But no amount of self-reprimand could mask or alter the innate curiosity within himself. Theoretically, he could see her.

He could talk to her.

…he could save her…?

But what does that prove? Hooray, he and the old Resistance could mess with the course of time. That's exactly what Cassian wanted, right? But… all those battles, all that hurt… just to be erased at the snap of their fingers. The bumping of shoulders with some pirate. But what else could that change? Poe was no scientist, but some things had to happen for a reason, right?

What he wouldn't do to hear Rey or Finn's logic and reasoning right about now. He was pulling too much double-time in the common sense department.

"I have stripped the Rogue Star of all appropriate parts," K-2SO announced, his bulbous eyes staring at Poe from the other side of the X-wing. It was hard to miss the vitriol dripping from his voice box. "I suppose Cassian intends to leave me behind…"

"We have a plan."

"Really?"

Poe paused, gaping for a moment. "We both have half a plan."

K-2SO's stare continued.

The pilot sighed. "Your captain plans to use the temporal anomaly to take the Empire's new gizmo, and me, back to your time. That Mandalorian is getting you guys a ship to do it."

"And what is your plan?"

"I'm going to take this X-wing and get the hell out of here, as soon as he gets back."

So much for preserving the timeline, he thought sourly. That had been Cassian's original schtick – but of course, now that he potentially had the power to change the course of reality itself to his heart's desire, his goal had changed. In the short time Poe had spent with him, Cassian had proven himself a master manipulator. It made sense, really. He was a spy. But that meant his plans changed with the influx of new information. Nothing was ever concrete for him.

Cassian observed, considered, and acted on new information.

Poe was very obviously attached to his astromech.

Poe wouldn't easily leave BB-8 behind during an escape from Geezor.

Cassian made the smart and calculated move of keeping BB-8 on the Mandalorian's ship.

Poe would have taken K-2SO hostage in retaliation… if it wasn't for the fact the battle droid only needed to knock him upside the head to stop him. Poe was bitter about it.

…and Poe had just told Cassian's droid pal that he intended to leave them both to it. Pending BB-8's safe return. Great.

"You trust me with that information?"

Poe raised an eyebrow and K-2SO's query. "Fulcrum and I are at a stand-off. You need me to make repairs to the X-wing to ensure it gets back to your time. It's too advanced for your piloting subroutines, so you need me alive to pilot it. I want BB-8 back. So, for now, I assume, we're working amicably until Cassian returns."

The globes in K-2SO's head turned upward as though he were pondering the line of thought. "That does accurately reflect our current conundrum."

"Yes it does," Poe nodded heavily.

"Why don't you wish to change the course of history?"

There it is, Poe sighed. He put the isometric splicer in his hand down onto the X-wing's hull, leaning against the starcraft. "Because I've lost a lot of family and friends."

"But Cassian intends to save them from death. They won't know any different."

"Maybe not," Poe agreed. "But I will."

"I believe that is your conscience speaking for you."

"Probably."

As curious, as desperate, as Poe was to maybe see his mother again, he recognised the weight of each loss over the years. He'd had to come to terms with it all, as General of the Resistance. He couldn't just push the 'reset' button on that.

It wasn't his reasoning. It would have been Finn's too, with Rey standing behind him.

"The Empire, the First Order… I'm sure people have thought if only I could turn back time and stop this from happening. But that's not reality, Kaytoo. Cassian is thinking about the big picture – and that's great, but what about individuals? What about people like my partner? Rey? Kazuda? Call me selfish, but I wouldn't have met all these people without the First Order."

K-2SO gave a grim nod. "I do find that answer selfish."

"I know first-hand the devastation Cassian wants to prevent and I always think back on what I could have done differently. But this…" he sighed, resting his hands on his hips. "It's weird Jedi voodoo that we shouldn't be messing with. It's not how we should do things."

"Do you have an alternative?"

"We send ourselves back to where we belong. No one goes to change any times," Poe picks his tool back up, priming the isolinear arrays. "Let fate and the Force duke it out like they have for the last couple thousand years."

"What about me and Cassian?"

Poe's hands paused. His jaded eyes flickered up to the battle droid, his lips crinkling downward. "Honestly? I don't know, Kay."

"You didn't know who we were when you woke."

"No. I only know about the Fulcrum codename," Poe breathed. "And that could mean anything for you. Could mean you perished in battle, but it could also mean you retire on some faraway world sipping yippers on a beach."

Though he knew, realistically, the pair's escapades as a spy would likely have landed him in the former scenario. The Fulcrum codename had been made infamous by people like Ahsoka Tano – Tano, a notable Force user, was a hard figure to contend with. It was possible Cassian's name had simply slipped through the cracks.

Possible. But… probably unlikely. That was reality.

The more Poe thought about it, the more he wondered whether Cassian was actually being motivated by his self-preservation, and not for the Rebellion.

"Alright," K-2SO suddenly announced. He begins to march away from the X-wing, back to the remains of his crashed vessel. Poe stares after him.

"Huh?"

"I'll help you," the droid calls, throwing an arm up.

Poe almost drops his tool. He scrambles away from the X-wing, limping as he rushes to catch K-2SO. "Help me?"

"Help you escape."

The pilot gapes. "Aren't you programmed to obey Cassian?"

"I am also programmed to preserve the Rebellion in the event Cassian is compromised. And I believe he is compromised."

"'Compromised'?"

"He is rather injured."

Poe trips, stumbling as he rounds K-2SO to stop in front of him. "You're gonna help me? Just like that?"

"Sometimes I hate to admit it, but Cassian is my friend," K-2SO states. "His stated plan does not have a high probability of success. And our orders were to return home."

The droid pushes past Poe, stepping onto the Rogue Star.

"Besides," K-2SO adds, "Temporal manipulation ruins strategic analysis."