Rey lazes in the hammock, really just an old parachute rigged up in the common room, as Poe deals the cards on the table in front of them. As she contracts her abs to grab them, the scar tissue on her side snags, reminding her, even in these moments of calm, of Kylo Ren.
She hurries him out of her mind and expertly plays a hand, laying out her cards on the folding table in front of her.
Poe's eyebrows shoot up in response to what Rey lays out.
"The student becomes the master" Poe teases, as he mindlessly scratches at the beard he has grown in his first few months as General. It suits him. Finn had tried to grow a beard at the same time, but it grew in patchy and sparse, highlighting the age difference between the two men. Finn has been bare faced since.
Poe gathers the cards and starts shuffling and dealing out the next hand. Chatter takes over the room, broken when Kaydel Ko Connix walks in.
Connix's doe like eyes light up as she strides towards Rey's table. Rey is the first at the table to notice her, and the two women share a brief smile. She's found something.
Connix leans over to Poe, and whispers in his ear. Instantly, his demeanor changes from her friend Poe to her General Dameron.
"Sorry kids, I have to go deal with big kid stuff," he folds his cards in front of them, face up, so Rey can see how royally screwed she would have been on the next hand. He winks at Rey when he sees her staring at his cards, "Don't wait up." He stands and lets Connix lead the way to the war room, which was really just the forward Cargo hold.
Rey waits until he is totally out of the room, then makes eye contact with Finn and Rose who had been canoodling near the dejarik table.
She jerks her head in the direction Poe and Connix have just taken.
Finn and Rose, always up for an adventure, follow Rey out of the room, lightly stepping until they are just outside the forward cargo hold.
They press their ears to the durasteel jokingly, knowing they would never be able to hear through it, but scatter when C'ai Threnalli, Poe's wingman, enters through the doors for the meeting.
When the doors open, they all hear a snippet of the conversation.
"...It's only 12 parsecs away"
"Yes, but General Dameron, it's through an asteroid field"
"And?"
Rey and Finn catch eyes and smile.
Rose is already at the control panel, shorting the circuit just enough to keep the door open an inch. It is too little for anyone inside to notice, but still large enough for noise to travel through.
"Kriff, you're amazing" Finn whispers into Rose's ear.
"Duh," Rose retorts, before shushing him behind her.
"I'll lead the mission. I'll take my best pilots. This type of asteroid field is easy to navigate."
Groans ring out in the room.
"No, look, it's so close to the gas giant that the asteroids will be slow under its gravity. It will be just like wading through a still pond."
"Dameron, you're the General, you don't have to explain yourself. Just issue the order" a gruff voice from the room rings out, probably Threnalli.
"Right, fuel the ships and inform the Squadron. We leave at 0200."
Before they know it, Poe is out of the room and they are all still stammering in the hallway. Finn even starts whistling while looking at the ceiling above and Rose gives him a love tap to the stomach for being such a cliche.
Poe stands with his hands on his hips waiting like a big brother ready to chastise the young ones as the rest of the delegation seeps out of the hold.
Once all the more senior officers are out of earshot, Poe lets out an incredulous, "Really?"
He looks to the control panel near the door, still ajar from Rose's manipulation.
"Really?!" his tone is more disbelieving as he points to the exposed wires.
Rose rushes back and fixes what she broke, "Sorry, General."
A few seconds pass as he stares them down, they all look down at the ground with their guilt.
"You could have just asked me." He softens. "I was heading back to the common room to tell you all right now anyway. They found another planet, an old Resistance base. They think there are ships still on it."
"We're going with…" before she can launch into a rousing speech about how they're all in this together, Rey's firm voice is interrupted by Poe's.
"Yeah, yeah," Poe waves Rey's words off, "I already know. I'd rather you just come than to find you all stowed away in my landing gear when we get there."
Poe starts to walk away, leaving all three of their mouths hanging open. It usually wasn't that easy. Poe yells back to them when he reaches the end of the hallway, "Did you hear? 0200! Better get ready!"
The three of them scatter towards the launch bay.
Poe was right, the asteroid field was the laziest Rey had ever seen, and even the cargo ship they were in was in no danger. They are on the planet, named Nirauan according to their limited data, before they know it, using an old cargo ship they had salvaged about a year before to transport Poe's Squadron, along with Rey, Finn, Rose and BB-8. R2-D2 came too, being well acquainted with X-Wings and able to help, and of course, since R2 was there, C-3PO was on his heels, complaining about this change to his routine.
They spend days salvaging parts and making repairs, sleeping in the open air of the planet together. Rey loves the work. She knows better than anyone else what parts to grab and which to ignore. She is the unofficial arbiter of which fighters would fly again and which should just be scrapped for parts. At least her time on Jakku was good for something.
After about 4 days, they have their repairs almost under control and have salvaged about 34 X-Wings. They're not perfect, but they're needed. The mechanics and Threepio start to head back to the Cargo ship while the pilots all run to find the best ship to pilot back. Rey starts running with them.
Poe steps in front of her once she starts to hit her stride. She has to dig in her heels to avoid smacking into him as he holds up his hands and says, "Hey, not so fast, you're riding back on the Cargo ship kid."
Rey looks to his stubbled face, then looks behind him at the expanse of starfighters, then back to Poe's face, disbelieving, "Poe, there are more X-wings than pilots here. Let me handle one. You need the help. It will take forever with just your skeleton crew."
"It's too dangerous Rey," his voice comes out more paternal than he means it to. "I brought you because you're a damn good salvager and mechanic, but I can't let you fly one of these back."
"You said yourself that asteroid field was nothing. I know how to fly, you know I know how to fly, we've been flying together for YEARS, what's the big deal?" Rey is growing more and more pissed the longer he stands between her and the X-Wing she has her sights on.
"Not X-Wings, their controls are more sensitive, they're harder to handle than a giant clunker like the Falcon ," Poe doesn't budge.
"Yes, X-Wings. I learned to fly on an X-Wing...kind of," Rey's expression betrays her lie as she tries to get her way.
Poe's eyebrows shoot up. He had never asked her where her flying skills came from, not even when they spent hours shooting the shit in the cockpit of the Falcon on long missions. He never wanted to delve too deeply into her past, knowing that like most survivors, it probably wasn't pleasant. But this was news to him.
Rey capitulates, "Okay, it wasn't an X-Wing, it was a Y-Wing...simulator, but still. I've never gotten to fly a starfighter for real."
Poe looks at Rey, at how much she wants to help, at how much she could help. He was so frustrated with her for disobeying him openly, but he knew that she was him not too long ago. He sees so much of himself in her.
"Oh for kriff's sake, is this really what I put Leia through?" his voice is tired, but full of love.
Rey lets out a chuckle, "The student becomes the master."
A huge, dashing smile spreads out across Poe's, not General Dameron's, face, as he playfully grabs Rey's head under his arm and locks it in, rustling up her hair before pushing her out towards the X-Wings.
"Fine, but take that one, it's the most complete." He points right to the plane she had been coveting, "And BE. CAREFUL. And take Rose with you, you're both small enough to fit in there. She can help in case something goes wrong." Poe yells out the last bit, making sure Rose hears also.
Rose spins around from working on sautering one of the last of the fighters above them, "Okay, dad!" she yells out before returning to her work.
Rey laughs heartily. Poe laughs a little less.
"Also, you have to remind me to ask you about the Y-Wing simulator. I've never even seen one!" Poe's face doesn't lose his boyish smile.
"Sure thing boss!" Rey replies as she grabs Rose and drags her to her desired X-Wing, the letters AA-589 fading on its side.
R2 rolls up as they scramble inside, Rose adjusting her tool belt as they squeeze in together.
"Hey, do you wanna be our navigator?" Rey yells to the blue and silver droid below.
R2 lets out a cascade of happy beeps and rolls under the fighter's belly, which immediately grabs him and brings him into his once familiar position. The old friends interface their hellos, and R2's beeps turn into almost cries as the plane's systems recognize him and vice versa. Rey and Rose buckle themselves in, not realizing the reunion taking place just inches from their heads.
They traverse their way back to the Falcon through the asteroid field, Poe leading the Squad, watching for any stray rocks that had been knocked out of orbit so he can warn his crew. In his periphery, he sees an object moving much too fast and erratically. His whole body tenses and he scrambles for his controls, before shifting quickly to see the object out of the visor of his helmet.
Rey and Rose are careening past him, barrel rolling through the field, laughing their heads off as R2 screams joyfully above. Poe opens the comms to them, initially going to yell at them for being irresponsible, but then he hears their laughs. He hasn't heard them laugh so fully since before Leia's death, months ago. He can't help but smile and in an instant tilts his joystick and flushes his thrusters, chasing after them in a roll as well. It ignites the whole Squad in a playful game behind them. They all tumble back to the Falcon together.