Chapter 54: Allies

It's been a while! Sorry about that, between this pandemic ruining my mental health and nearly getting fired from work, these couple of months have been insane! My laptop also broke and i was told it couldn't get fixed for less than $600 so i thought i had lost 2 whole chapters of this story... and one of them is the longest one yet but thank goodness i managed to get it fixed! So i'm back with a new chapter and I hope you guys enjoy! Also, there's a character in this chapter inspired by my other Star Wars love, Pedro Pascal, AKA, the Mandalorian I'll leave you to figure out which character is based on him ;)

After hours of making love, swimming and pillow talk in their cave on Felucia, the two had fallen asleep in each others arms at the side of the pool, but after a few hours, Poe was woken from his sleep by the sound of mumbled cries.

Lyra. She was crying in her sleep, twisting about as she called out for some imaginary enemy to stop.

Poe's hand went to her arm as he tried to rouse her from her dreams gently. She woke with a gasp and looked up at him slightly disorientated.

"Sorry baby, didn't mean to scare you, but you were having a nightmare" he whispered.

She turned from their spooning position to face him as he wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry if I woke you up."

He shook his head. "What? No, don't be sorry for that. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Do you have nightmares a lot?"

She pause before nodding. "Since Ren started torturing me yes, I have trouble keeping his visions at bay. When I'm awake I can usually control them, but when I'm sleeping, when I'm off-guard, it's tough to keep them out of my mind."

She trailed her hand over his arm absentmindedly as she told him as his hand stroked her hair as he tried to provide her some sort of comfort.

"You have visions he hurts you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but those are bearable. It's the ones where he hurts you that I can't stand."

"And that's what you were dreaming of before, me getting hurt?"

"Yes. I dreamt he and Palpatine had you at their mercy. I screamed for them to kill me instead, I told them I would do whatever they asked, be whatever they wanted me to be, but they killed you in-front of me and told me the anger and pain would fuel my connection to the dark side."

More tears stung her eyes but Poe was quick to wipe them away. "Hey, hey look at me sweetheart. It was just a nightmare. It can't hurt you Lyra, it was just a dream, I'm fine see, right here, safe. We're gonna take down Ren and Palpatine together and stop these bad dreams, I won't let anything hurt you, not if I can help it."

Lyra snuggled into Poe closer, knowing he was telling the truth, he would do anything to protect her.

"We have to go sweetheart, there's work to be done, before I took us here, I picked up a list of potential allies, we have to find them, or at least try before Palpatine's forces become unstoppable" he said against her hair.

He heard her sigh heavily, neither of them wanted to leave the cave.

"Listen, we find these allies, we gather the troops, find Exegol, take down Palpatine and then we can go back to being regular people without the sense of impending doom. We can go live out our days peacefully on Yavin, or Naboo, wherever you want to go, and you won't have any cause for bad dreams ever again, just you and me and a galaxy at peace."

She pulled back to smile at him. "Do you think you can deal with that? A world without fighting, a world that doesn't need rebels, maybe not even X-Wing pilots?"

He paused, thinking about it, the arm he had around her reaching far enough around her that he could stroke her neck as he mulled it over.

"Maybe we could sprinkle just a few missions to help restore the galaxy to what it was like before the First Order in-between domestic bliss?"

She nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a plan."

XXX

Back on Ajan Kloss, Poe and Finn carried out their duties as Co-Generals and delegated different jobs to different commanders and captains of the Resistance. Finn and Rose were being sent to ask a Twi'lek named Bisbon Hodd, an ex-rebel hiding out in Plexis, a small planet known for it's spice trading for his help fighting against the Final order. The list Poe had obtained had said Hodd still had a lot of rebel friends hiding out across the galaxy that he could perhaps rope into fighting their enemies.

Chewie and Connix along with a handful of rebels were being sent to Horuz to liberate a group of prisoners that promised troops for the resistance as well as access to the makings of a fleet. Rey and BB-8, alongside trying to find a wayfinder that would show them the location of Exegol were to go to a particularly sinister planet called Cyrkon to trade with pirates for high-tech weapons after Poe's list had named a resistance sympathiser who traded in the planet's capital Motok.

Poe had been invited to an auction in Corellia by one of the contacts on his list, Nifera Sha. Nifera could provide the Resistance with credits and as well as that, there was a Final Order member working there, keeping his own stash of rebels as prisoners beneath his mansion that was being used as the auction house, his own stash of human trophies. Poe of course, asked Lyra to accompany him on the mission, providing they both used false identities and disguises of course.

They would go on the mission as Sio and Verse Lezwin, two lovers from Naboo, both from rich families at the auction to procure a necklace Sio had promised his lady love for months now.

Poe was known by the first order as the clean shaven, messy-haired boyish rogue so his disguise consisted of his three-day old stubble, green eye contacts and his thick hair slicked back. He donned a burgundy velvet suit, much to his dismay and as he waited for Lyra on-board the ship they were going to use, he caught sight of himself in the shiny surface of the walls.

"Kriff, this is not my style at all" he muttered.

"You're still handsome to me" Lyra remarked as she boarded the ship. He stared at her, she was donning a silver wig, the long hair reaching her backside, held up in a high regal ponytail with the sides of her hair plaited to her head. She wore a bejewelled pantsuit, burgundy, to match Poe's suit.

"Why do you always look beautiful in disguises and I just look like an asshole?"

She smirked as she took the Co-Pilot seat and he took the Pilot's position. "You're just less suited to these kinds of things is all, I grew up with people who dress like this and think of nothing else but what they would wear to the next party or ball. Stars, I think I was one of those people once."

As they flew the ship to Corellia, Poe shook his head. "Maybe you were once, but not anymore, that's not the person you have been for a while now."

"Maybe not. But tonight, I'm Verse Lezwin, so I'll take the lead on how we speak to others, alright? Does this remind you of anything by the way, this mission?"

Poe nodded. "Sure does, our first real mission together, on Canto Bight."

Lyra remembered it well. Her and Poe had pretended to be husband and wife back then, she remembered how guilty she felt at how much she loved pretending to be his wife, how good his touch felt when he flirted with her and held her close as they put on a believable show. It had also been the first time Lyra had killed anyone, a man who had done terrible things, who would have killed her if she hadn't have beaten him to it. It had been her first real taste of danger and while she had found it hard, it had cemented her place in the Resistance, and that was a decision she hadn't regretted since she had made it.

"Yes, Canto Bight. I remember when you kissed my neck, the butterflies in my stomach were so intense I felt like I was falling, still feels like that, every time I see you, green eye contacts or not" she replied.

"You're telling me, I thought you were the bravest woman I knew from the second you came to talk to me in that interrogation room on the Finalizer but then you threw yourself into that mission like a true resistance fighter, worthy of some of the greatest freedom fighters I know, worthy of Leia and that's the moment I realised I had found someone special" Poe replied.

XXX

At the auction house, the two resistance fighters noted the security on the door as they entered.

"So, how do we make this a covert mission with this added security?" Lyra asked.

He held her close as he whispered the plan in her ear, playing it off like he was just an attentive lover.

"We find Nifera, the prisoners are being kept below the house in the basement, she'll get us access, we take out the limited security in the basement and free the prisoners. There should be another exit down below that takes us close to the docks, we can escort the prisoners out to the ship before anyone even notices what we are up to, simple."

As someone passed them Poe nibbled her ear playfully.

"When have our missions ever been so simple? Alright, let's plan on finding Nifera then? We'll cover more ground if we split up?"

He frowned. "Is that a good idea?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself, Sio darling."

His hand went protectively to her stomach. "Yeah? How's that blaster wound healing?"

"Good point. It's just an auction my love, I'll be fine, I promise. You search the items hall, I'll look around the bar" she replied before sauntering off with a final squeeze of his hand.

"She gets the bar and I get the room full of stuffy old items? Great, thanks sweetheart" he muttered before reluctantly leaving to look for their potential ally.

At the bar, Lyra scanned the crowds, Poe had already given her the description, a woman, small, white blonde hair with a rather eccentric sense of style. She would be wearing a boa of some kind around her neck to help her stand out but not so much she wouldn't fit in with some of the other guests.

Lyra approached the bar and managed to get the bartender's attention.

"A fuzzy tauntaun please" she asked.

The bartender looked at her in confusion but before she could explain the drink, a man sidled up next to her and beamed at her.

"They don't do those here, but if I might give a suggestion, try a Tatooine sunset, it's a little similar" he said.

She nodded in agreement, not wanting to cause a fuss with so many others around. The man signalled for two of the same drink and as he held out his hand to shake, she took it reluctantly, managing a polite smile as he brought it to his lips and kissed gently.

"I'm Ezra Ardon and might I say what a pleasure it is to meet a lady with such good taste in drinks" he remarked.

She noted he was handsome, tanned with dark eyes, not unlike Poe. He had a moustache and a boyish grin that revealed dimples and hair that unlike Poe's tonight was tousled and rather on the messy side, a far cry from his very smart looking grey suit.

"I'm L, Verse Lezwin, pleased to meet you sir" she replied.

The man smirked as the bartender served their drinks, calling for a toast. They clinked their glasses together before taking a sip. Ezra awaited her response to his suggested drink.

"It's good, thank you for the suggestion, and for the drink, I should be on my way though" she answered.

"You know, a fuzzy tauntaun is a strange drink to order in a place like this, not the most refined drink for such an event, you might draw attention to yourself."

That's when she noticed a small badge on the lapel of his suit, a firebird, a symbol of the resistance. He saw her eyes fall upon the badge and grinned.

"My taste in drinks is only matched by your sense of fashion, a badge like that might land you in even more trouble than me" Lyra said quietly, nodding her head in the direction of the firebird pin.

"I don't mind a little bit of trouble, especially when I'm causing trouble for a certain group of people. What brings you to the auction anyway?"

Lyra took another sip of her drink. "Just scoping the goods I suppose. I came here with my lover who has an eye on a necklace I've been interested in for a while."

Ezra put a hand on his heart as he sighed. "And so my unluckiness continues."

Lyra shot him a confused look.

"You see it's just my luck, I meet the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, only to discover she already has a lover, are things serious between you and this lover?"

She scoffed, he was charming, and forward, just as Poe had been towards her once upon a time.

"Unfortunately for you, very serious. You see, him getting me this necklace might even be his way to propose, and so me being caught talking to a handsome, charming, albeit very brazen would ruin my prospects of being married to a wonderful man who loves me very much" she said.

"Well now, we can't have that can we" he winked at her.

"No, we can't. Forgive me sir, but I really must be getting back to my partner. It was ever so nice to meet you though, thank you again for the drink."

He tipped his head to her as she began to walk away. "I do hope we meet again under different circumstances."

As Lyra went to find Poe, she couldn't help but blush and was ever so thankful Poe hadn't been there to watch that handsome stranger flirt with her so openly.

As Lyra went to enter the auction room, she was met with a familiar voice.

"Ah my darling Verse, look who I bumped into, our good friend Nifera."

Lyra turned to see Poe with their informant close, her arm around Poe's. She was as beautiful as Poe's description had made her sound. Lyra stepped close and kissed Nifera on both cheeks in a friendly greeting.

"It's wonderful to see you again Nifera, it's been too long" Lyra said.

"Quite so. We have some time before the auction, let's grab a drink and catch up before it starts shall we?"

Poe and Lyra nodded and followed Nifera to the bar to get drinks before allowing her to lead them to a quieter part of the house to discuss the plan.

"Congratulations for making it this far you two, and might I say it's a pleasure to meet the hero of the Resistance himself" Nifera smiled as she sat down with them in the corner of one of the reception rooms.

Poe waved a hand as he shook his head in dismissal of her compliment but Lyra knew that he appreciated the compliment all the same.

"Thanks, and thank you for agreeing to help us, we truly appreciate it" Poe told her.

"It's fine. I've lost good friends to the First Order, I won't lose anymore, and my family fought against Palpatine the first time he tried to control the galaxy, I'm happy to follow in their steps."

She handed Poe an electronic pass. "This will grant you both access to the basement, I'll distract the guards guarding the entrance to it but once you get down there, there's going to be around 4 guards patrolling the hall guarding the prisoners, maybe more. I trust you can take them out though, quietly of course. There are 6 prisoners, and if all of them make it to freedom safely, they might even be persuaded to help the Resistance out. I have ships waiting for them in the docks, you'll have to disburse when you get there anyway, if anyone follows you, going in different directions will mean you'll suffer fewer casualties."

As Poe pocketed the key, Lyra spoke up. "And what will you be doing in the meantime? Keeping watch? What of the First Order officer who put the prisoners in those cells? What do we do with him? He can't be allowed to live surely?"

Nifera smirked. "You're a merciless one, I like you. Don't worry about Tatrian Voss, he's already been taken care of. I put a slow acting poison in his drink about an hour ago, it's traceless, but it will take effect in around 3 hours' time. That sonofabitch has hours to live, and his death will come after we have had time to escape without causing need for alarm."

The three of them smiled in realisation that meant there would be one less First Order Officer to worry about.

"Go now, I'll distract the guards" Nifera told them and made her way to the guards guarding the off-limits section of the house. She distracted the two guards on duty by telling them she had seen a shifty looking gentleman in the item room looking as if he was about to steal something.

As the guards slipped away, Poe and Lyra went down the corridor towards the basement. When they reached the door, Poe used the key and unlocked it. They made their way down further into the lower grounds of the house until they came across two men guarding the cells. Lyra indicated for Poe to knock out one guard as she dealt with the other and the two of them, as if completely in sync managed to dispatch the guards with ease.

Lyra pulled the master key from one of the unconscious guards pocket and moved over to the cells. She unlocked the cells, and not just the ones of the resistance sympathisers and members. Nobody deserved to be kept as a trophy after all. As they made their way to the back door of the basement with the prisoners in tow, they came across a serious problem. The door was locked from the outside.

"Dammit, I thought you said this door would be unlocked?"

Poe shrugged. "Nifera said it was meant to be, maybe the guards shifted rotas and the new ones on duty locked the door from the outside, it's fine, we can just go outside, unlock it and let these guys through? That shouldn't be a problem."

"Unless of course, in-between us getting to the door from the outside and unlocking it, more guards come downstairs and stumble upon freed prisoners and two unconscious guards? Did you forget that possibility?"

Poe put his hands on his hips as he looked down. "I hadn't, hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

"You hadn't thought that far ahead yet no, well, I suggest the prisoners wait in the cells, we hide the bodies of the guards with them so if anyone comes looking they don't suspect things are wrong quite as quickly until we can unlock the door and let them out" Lyra replied.

"Good thinking, though there's just one, teeny, weeny problem with our plan" Poe replied.

"Oh stars what?"

"What if the guards upstairs have returned to their stations?"

"Shit."

Poe couldn't help but smirk. "Didn't think that far ahead huh?"

Lyra gave him an unimpressed look. "Oh ha-ha. Well, we can't just stay here, we'll have to just take our chances and deal with the guards as and when we need to."

Poe nodded and the two of them directed the prisoners back to their cells before cautiously returning to the auction. Luckily the guards were still occupied by Nifera's distraction so the two of them managed to get back into the public space of the auction house unnoticed. That was until Lyra heard a somewhat familiar voice.

"There you are, the most beautiful woman in the galaxy."

Lyra turned to see Ezra, the handsome stranger from the bar stood with a box in his hands. Poe immediately looked between him and Lyra.

"Ezra, good to see you again, Sio, this is Ezra, Ezra, may I introduce my partner Sio" she said, forcing a smile as she tried to remain calm.

"Ah the dedicated lover. Not so dedicated that he bid on that necklace for you though, you missed your lot champ, and after promising the beautiful lady the necklace she wanted too" Ezra smirked.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Poe asked accusingly.

"Nobody, just a nice man I met at the bar, Ezra, do excuse us, we really must be going" Lyra said as she spotted the guards in the corner of her eye close to entering the room they were in.

"Well beautiful, seeing as your lover didn't treat you to the necklace, I figured I would bid on it for you, heads up" he said as he threw her the box.

"Hey where do you get off buying necklaces for a taken woman, she's my girlfriend pal, back off" Poe said, momentarily forgetting the mission's aim.

Lyra tugged on his arm as the guards began to approach them.

"Sio, really, it's not worth fighting over, we have more important matters to attend to. Thank you so much Ezra, you really are too kind, but please, please forgive us as we really do need to go now, right now" Lyra said somewhat frantically.

Ezra, noting the way Lyra stared at the guards in a panicked state decided to step in as the guards approached them.

"Is there a problem here?" one of the guards asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is, I have just noticed some credits have gone missing from my pocket, I think they were stolen and I actually think the one responsible for stealing them just ran through that room over there, could you do something about it please gentlemen?" Ezra asked the guards.

He nodded once to Lyra as he began to lead the guards away from them and she mouthed her thanks to him as they left to unlock the door. He was a resistance member she knew it, he had to be.

As they made their way to the door from the outside, Poe looked down at the box she was carrying. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

She nodded. "The second we get out of here safely I'm happy to tell you the tale."

"Freeze, hold it right there!"

Stormtroopers. The ones guarding the entrance to the auction house.

"Why is it never simple?" Lyra asked, more to herself than anyone else.

Poe, without warning fired his blaster at both stormtroopers, stunning them instantly.

"COVERT! It was meant to be a covert mission!"

"Well, it's not anymore, come on" Poe cried out as they both immediately ran to the door. Nifera was there, waiting for them.

"There you are, I figured the door must have been locked again from how long you were taking to meet me here, I've done you the courtesy of reopening it, now we just need to get the prisoners out" she said.

"Great, we might want to do this a little quicker than we originally wanted to on account of Mr Trigger Happy here getting ahead of himself" Lyra said.

Nifera looked at Poe waiting for an answer.

"I might have shot a couple of stormtroopers about a minute ago" he answered.

Nifera rolled her eyes. "For stars sake, now everyone will be looking for us" she said as Poe opened the door.

They quickly managed to get the prisoners out of the cells again and led them outside but as they made for the docks, more stormtroopers started taking shots at them.

They ran for the ships, covering the prisoners escape as they did so, shooting down the enemy guards as they allowed the prisoners to board and ready their ships for take-off. Poe frantically shot at anyone aiming at Lyra, considering what happened last time stormtroopers and Lyra were together.

Nifera was the last to get into her ship. "Thanks for the help you two, it was a little unorthodox but still, now get away from here now so we can avoid any casualties, may the force be with you" she said, climbing into her pilot's seat.

"And with you" Poe and Lyra said in unison before shooting back more of their attackers.

Finally, with the prisoners and Nifera safe and evacuated, the two of them made with their escape too, managing to fly off back towards Ajan Kloss before anyone could board a ship fast enough to follow them.

XXX

As they flew back to Ajan Kloss, Poe cleared his throat as he watched Lyra take her silver wig off, shaking her normal black hair out so it cascaded down her shoulders.

"Sorry I jeopardised the mission" he said softly, causing her to shake her head as she smiled over at him.

"It's fine, we survived. The prisoners are free and we have their contact information to rally some help for the Resistance, it's fine."

He nodded, reaching over to hold her hand as he managed to fly the ship one handed. "I just panicked, when I saw those stormtroopers, I just thought back to you taking that blaster shot for me and I didn't want you to get hurt again, I couldn't see that happen again."

She entwined her hand through his and stroked his thumb as she nodded. "I understand Poe, it's fine, we survived, no harm done."

Poe noticed the box that stranger had thrown her and nodded towards it. "So that guy, who was he? The one who gave you the necklace?"

"His name is Ezra Ardon, I met him at the bar, I think he knew who I was. I think he was a resistance member, or sympathiser at least, he was wearing a firebird pin."

Poe raised an eyebrow as he nodded. "What was the deal in him buying you that necklace?"

She shrugged. "He liked me I suppose, asked me if I was single, seemed pretty disappointed when I told him I wasn't."

"A guy you just met buys you a necklace worth thousands of credits? Seems a little too eager."

Lyra grinned at Poe's response, leaning towards him. "Poe Dameron are you jealous?"

He rolled his shoulders back as he scoffed. "No, I'm not jealous, not jealous of some sleazy, arrogant stranger who thinks he can just flirt with my girlfriend right in-front of me."

Lyra laughed at Poe behaving like a teenager. "You are jealous. You don't need to be jealous Poe, he was just a stranger."

"Suppose I can't blame him, he was right, you are the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, there will always be men who flirt with you."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "And there will always be people who fling themselves at the poster boy of the Resistance and the most handsome charming man in the galaxy, but we chose each other, so none of that matters."

He turned to face her, kissing her quickly before focusing his attention on flying again.

Lyra moved back to her seat, taking the necklace out of the box to inspect it before draping it over her neck.

"I suppose we should be thanking that kind stranger, his excessive flirting bought us a necklace that will fetch us a pretty price that could help buy supplies for the resistance" she said.

He gave her a lopsided grin as he looked at her leaning back on her seat with the huge diamond necklace draped over her neck.

"Guess that handsome stranger did have his uses after all" he replied.