Her orders came in a few hours later, indicated by a sharp beeping, and the void of darkness was disrupted by the blinding flash of her datapad lighting up. The numbness of her brief slumber ebbed away slowly, but it didn't take long for a groan to ripple from her lips as the bone-deep aches and burns from her recent bout of idiocy began to flood back. Instinctively she stretched her hand out across the silken sheets of her bed to reach for the warm body that was usually there. This time though, all she felt was the chill of emptiness. Instantly she remembered that Poe, her Poe, wouldn't be there waiting for her this morning. He was gone, and he was never coming back.

She snatched her hand back like it was burned. Frey could feel her body instinctively curling in on itself, trying to ward away the pain the only way that it knew how. Truthfully, she prefered the type of pain that one could guard against. It was easy to buckle down and endure physical pain, but emotional pain ignored the protection of muscles and sinew, drilling directly into the heart and mind. It permeated every thought in her head like a virus, weakening her resolve to ever leave the bed again. From the depths of her psyche, she was vaguely aware that her body was trembling, but for the life of her she couldn't quite figure out why. It was only after her pillow began to stick to her skin did it finally register that she had been crying.

Once more she reached out to the other side of the bed, and grasping blindly, latched onto the only other pillow on the bed and slowly dragged it over to burrow her face in it. It smelled like him still, though she could tell that soon it wouldn't. He had been gone long enough now that even the scent of him refused to linger, if only to preserve the small amount of sanity that she still had. Wrapping her arms around the soft object felt like a struggle at the moment, but she was allowing herself this moment to mourn. She knew that eventually she would have to leave their bed and embark on her mission, but right now she really could have cared less. Right now she wasn't the Resistance's pitbull, she was just a heartbroken girl with a hole blown straight through her world.

Her datapad beeped at her aggressively, once again reminding her that she had other things that needed to be attended to. The alert finally managed to reach her at a deeper level, and she felt herself claw out of the hole she had been hiding in inside her head. She blinked away the drying tears in her eyes, and slowly allowed her body to unclench.

"What am I even doing right now?," she muttered to herself "Poe would be laughing at how stupid I look…." She released her vice like grip on the pillow and slid her elbow below it and used it to rise from her curled position on the bed.

She shoved the blanket off herself listlessly, fingers lingering in the soft linen only long enough to burn the memory of in her mind. After all, this would likely be the last time that she would feel it against her skin. Foregoing clothes for the moment, modesty not being high on her priority list, she headed straight for the refresher to clear the salt and sweat from her body. Frey allowed herself to fall into autopilot, preferring the thoughtless repetition to overthinking everything. In silence she went about her daily routine, eating sparsely though she probably should have eaten more as she wasn't entirely sure how long her flight was going to be.

At some point she had managed to locate clean underwear and slid them on before grabbing up her freshly laundered shadow suit out from the cleanser unit she had dumped it in the morning before. Her body flinched instinctively as the silky fabric caught on the angry, raised burn marks from the guard's vibroblades. Any other day, Leia would have allowed her to stop by the medbay to have them treated before her next mission, but today Freya highly doubted that would be the case. 'To be fair, I did attempt to kill her and maim her guards.' she thought introspectively. She zipped up the suit carefully and grabbed up her vibroblade and holster, buckling it on swiftly. She had already done her usual routine of braids in her hair to hold on her stealth-tech goggles, and eyeshadow. Unfortunately this morning, all the eyeliner had done was accentuate the swollen, blotchy look under her eyes.

She pulled on the white cowl over her black suit, and absently typed in a code on her sleeve that had the suit transitioning to the same hard, leather-like material it had been the day before. Only once she had latched the last buckle on her cowl did she return to her unmade bed and snatch up her datapad from the teak side table. She swiftly typed out her code into the pad and settled herself down onto the bed as she read the outline for her mission. An eyebrow lifted as confusion flooded through her. 'She doesn't actually expect me to take this, does she?' she thought to herself, eyes darting over the words typed out on the screen.

OPERATION ORDER FKR1589 "ARCTURUS"

Reference: Map of Fourth Quadrant of Unknown Sector

Task Organization:

○ Survey and accurately list unit numbers and plot mobilization of view-able units.

○ Infiltrate and assassinate the commander of the ship Finalizer and provide proof of completion.

1. SITUATION Enemy Forces. Forces have been sighted lingering in this quadrant and returning often. We must get an accurate count of the enemy force's numbers as well as a firm concept of their movements. Commander of the above mentioned star destroyer has proved himself illusive and has become ENEMY #2. Dispose of him and send proof of completion via usual methods. Friendly Forces. Will not be en-route to assist. This will be a solo mission and there will be no EVAC waiting in the wings. Attachments and Detachments. None at this time.

2. MISSION

3. EXECUTION Instant

4. CONCLUSION. Upon completion "ARCTURUS" is to be retired with full honors.

Her brain was having trouble processing what she was reading, it kept lingering on the name of the ship she was apparently going to be attempting to infiltrate in a matter of hours. 'Finalizer…. Of course she wouldn't let me go that easily. That bitch.' If she had been a lesser person, she would have given into the building rage inside her and smashed her datapad against the wall, but she beat down the urge and simply clicked the 'acknowledged' box that would alert the Commander that she had received and reviewed the orders.

Still shaking in unbridled fury, she curled her fingers around the datapad and stood from her previous sitting position on her bed. With a flick of her finger, she hit the button that would place the pad into a sleep mode and shoved it harshly into one of the larger pouches at her side.

"Damn her," she muttered, adjusting her blade that lay across her back, she stalked out of the bedroom and out towards the door. She was about to jam her hand down on the access panel and leave the room, but she halted just an inch from the pad and glanced once over her shoulder at the room around her. Internally she battled with the sentimental side of herself that was screaming for her to at least take something with her that would help her cling to the memory of him.

Once again she felt herself deflate a little as she released the breathe that she had been holding in the form of a small defeated sigh. It was better that she didn't burden herself or her ship with too much clutter, but she knew that she would regret it forever if she didn't take some kind of memento of her time with him with her before she left. Frey had absolutely no plans to return, so if she completed her mission or somehow failed, all of their things would be parceled out and granted to the hierarchy of the Resistance or merely thrown away. With that train of thought placed firmly in mind, she turned and allowed herself to peruse the items lying scattered around the living room with a critical eye.

"I will only take one thing. Anything more will only be cumbersome," she said in an attempt to reason with herself. Everything that she looked at had her feeling like she was being torn in half. They had gotten everything in this room together or for each other, and now she had to force herself not to snatch every crappy, sentimental painting off the wall and store them in her ship's hanger bay. Tentatively she slipped through the living room, fingers softly touching on the few shirts that she had to stifle a laugh as she remembered why they had been abandoned there. It was a bittersweet memory now though, so she forced herself to sideline it until another day.

Eventually her eyes landed on a worn old book that rested undisturbed upon a small stack of books on a shelf near their modest couch. It was love-worn and the spine was severely creased but she knew the moment it caught her eye that this was the memento that she would be taking with her. The sudden urge to cry resurfaced instantly once her slender fingers curled around the pages, forcing her to press the fingers on her unoccupied hand to her lips as if it could possibly hold back the whimper that slipped through them unbidden. Curling her arm to tuck the book safely against her chest, she backtracked towards the door and immediately exited. She walked down the near empty hall, fingers caressing the pages as she reflected on the way that she'd first gotten the book.

D'Qar — One Year Prior

The meager marketplace nestled under the boughs of the large trees for cover was surprisingly bustling that day, but Freya had a very specific task in mind for the day, and not even several dozen people were going to deter her from her quarry. Today was her day off, and as rare as they were, she never really had the time to restock her kitchen with anything other than protein bars and ration packs. It had begun to wear on her. She had wrapped her head loosely with the pale white cowl that usually rested on her shoulders, and she had begun her arduous task of foraging the small shops for as many edible articles she could wrap her hands around.

Money was very rarely an issue, but what she had most hoped to see lying in baskets was her favorite fruit in the whole of the galaxy; jogan fruit. One of her contacts in the supply team had sent a missive to her datapad that morning about a cache of them that was supposed to be making its entrance today at the market, but as of yet it had proven elusive. Her stomach made its displeasure known with an obnoxious rumbling and she sighed in defeat.

Spinning on her heel, she began her trek back away from the cacophony of bartering voices when the barest glimmer of royal purple caught in the corner of her eye. Excitement lit in her breast and she could have sworn she even felt her heart stutter as she immediately swung around and charged over to the small canva-covered tent. As she approached, she could have sworn she caught a small flicker of fear in the bright eyes of the alien vendor, but she brushed it off figuring she probably looked a little daunting at the moment. With a borderline manic grin on her face, she reached forward to grab a handful of the plump fruits but was abruptly stopped when a sharp pain shot up her arm.

"Nobata couma bu rowka yae «No touching the merchandise human»" the creature hissed out at her, waving what looked like a miniature stunner held in her meaty hand. Freya narrowed her eyes as the words registered in her mind. She pulled her injured hand back and her hazel eyes surveyed the angered skin on her wrist with mild disdain.

"Jee kankanla bai bedwana fa. Jee ritke banag bai mesohba fa koo «I intend to buy it. I just wanted to look at it first»" she explained brusquely, massaging her throbbing hand with the fingers on her other hand in an attempt to work the pain away. Instead of answering her explanation with one of it's own, the creature just narrowed it's eyes at her and crossed it's arms. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed that it thought she intended to steal something. 'Is my Huttese rusty? Maybe she didn't understand me properly,' she thought to herself.

"I apologize, it appears I am rusty, do you speak basic?" she asked with what she hoped was a sheepish grin, and not the annoyed grimace she thought it could be.

"I do, but I do not barter with ukaueth «thieves»," it replied with an obvious glower on her face.

Frey stood there for a moment, rendered inert by the rather surprising allegation that she would ever be considered anything close to a thief. 'I have been called many a thing, but thief is definitely a new one.' she mused to herself once her brain finally rebooted and she realized that she was staring.

"I had no intention of stealing anything ma'am—sir—um what was your name?" Embarrassment flooded through her, washing past the small flash of rage that had welled up in her at the previous accusation, and she stumbled over her words. It wasn't like she couldn't tell the difference between genders, but as of today she had run into this species a total of one time. 'So much for good first impressions,' she thought to herself glumly.

The creature exhaled a rather impressive growl and it's eyes narrowed, further hinting at the fact that she had unintentionally insulted it's pride. Deciding then and there that she needed to immediately change tact or risk losing out on any chance to taste jogan fruit in the near future, she screwed her face up into her best sheepish smile, and fished out her coin purse from the satchel on her hip.

"Alright. Anyway. Can I please get a bag of the jogan fruit? I can pay you," she offered, parting the lips of the purse to show the contents within to the vendor.

"Nobata." it said brusquely in a tone that hinted of very little room for bargaining.

"What do you mean 'no'? I'm offering to pay you and have not offered you any intentional insult?" she rebutted, immediately confused as to why this vendor was refusing her service. Apart from the accidental slip up with the gender a moment ago, to her knowledge she hadn't done much to deserve being denied.

"Jee cha dwana mah pacahlox'a bai ukaueth «I do not sell my wares to thieves»" it growled again, waving the miniature stunner in it's hand around again near her face as if it would prove some unseen point.

"I am not a thief." she hissed through her teeth. She was getting quite sick of being called something that she was obviously not, especially by some creature that barely knew her. She could feel the anger and insult that she felt at the accusation beginning to well deep within her, and she struggled silently to tamp it down enough that she didn't scramble over the counter and throttle the creature to death. Closing her eyes for a moment, she inhaled deeply through her nose and released it slowly through her mouth in an attempt to calm herself down enough to speak again without shouting. "I just wish to purchase some fruit please."

"Yoieu cahba yae «Get lost human»" it snorted and she could only assume that the deep rumbling that came from the figure was it laughing at her as well.

Freya was usually a very calm person. Usually she could be described as collected, and actually a little reserved in most regards. She actually liked to pride herself on her ability to wrangle her emotions rather adeptly, but it was as if the sound of this rude creature laughing at her and calling her 'thief' had torn down her reserves. In a flash she had launched herself at the counter and reached for the creature whose face was contorted into a mask of pure fear and alarm.

She was inches away from sinking her nails into the creatures ugly face when she felt a pair of strong hands wrap around her ankle. Enraged and fairly out of her right mind at the moment, she retaliated by kicking backwards at the hands in an attempt to disengage them. Unfortunately it seemed that the hands were attached to someone fairly determined to derail her plans of ripping the lungs out of the vendor.

"Hey! Hey calm—calm down!" a voice called out, sounding disgruntled and moderately harassed.

"No! I just have to—" she grumbled, her knee slipping and threatening to come out from beneath her.

Once again the hands shifted, moving further up her legs to grasp desperately at her hips. She felt her face flush momentarily as she felt the fingers dip down past the hem of her pants as he struggled to hold onto her squirming body.

"Hey watch your fingers there buddy!" she growled, reaching back towards the offending hand and attempted to wrest it from her body. The small adjustment had her wobbling and she felt herself sliding back despite her every attempt to lunge farther forward. With a growl, she dug her knee into the counter and launched her entire body from the counter once more as a final attempt to get her hands on the asshole who had insulted her. Her fingers brushed the air just in front of the creatures face before she found herself flying backwards into who she assumed the wandering hands had belonged to.

She struggled to turn around to face her assailant, but he must have misunderstood her actions for further aggression towards the vendor, as she felt his arms adjust and slip upwards to wrap around her shoulders in a locking hold.

"Calm down and I'll let you go," she heard him grunt into her hair, struggling to hold onto her as she thrashed in his arms.

All she could do was smirk at his rather presumptuous assumption that he was actually capable of holding her for long anyway. In a flash she had centered her weight, widened her stance, and grasped onto his arms, using her hips to pivot forward to throw the man up and over her shoulders. He landed on the ground directly on his back with a thundering slam, and in his breathlessness and alarm he had released his grip on her. Though he seemed winded, the look on the man's face as he lay sprawled on the floor seemed to her to be a mix of awe and confusion appropriately mixed with the pain from hitting the ground suddenly.

All at once the rage she had felt at the vendor fled her and she felt nothing but embarrassment and worry as she crouched down to check on the man she had so thoroughly laid out unceremoniously.

"Oh stars, I am so sorry about that. I well," she stuttered out, reaching a hand down in an offer to help him back up to his feet, "I kind of panic when someone grabs me like that. But that's so not an excuse for my behavior! Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay. You're okay, right?" she rambled on, her face flushing crimson as her cowl fell around her shoulders in disarray. She reached down further to grasp the forearm he had extended in response to her reaching to him, and scrambled to heave him back up onto his feet.

"Ha, yeah. I'm okay. Surprised. Stunned. A little confused, but okay," he replied, breathlessly while brushing the debris off his clothes. He pulled a hand across his face before shaking his head and little and leveling a look at her that said too much to decipher in one sitting. She could tell though that the underlying feeling was, surprisingly, amusement.

"You wanna explain to me exactly what's going on here miss…?" he trailed off, obviously fishing for what to call her by.

"Freya. Freya Raiza mister…?"

"Poe. Dameron."

NOTES

I am sooooo sorry that it took me so long to get this out. The day after my last update, my roommate's dog attacked and killed my cat. She died of her injuries and it kind of killed my will to do much of anything. Anyway I have been onc again working on this story and I'm sorry if this one is a little short. It's part of a much larger chapter and this was the only place I could chop it in two and it still made sense. Second chapter will be up as soon as I finished editing it! Please let me know what you think so far! I would really love any input.