A/N: Hello all! I want to thank everyone for all the reviews I've gotten! I love this feedback! Going to see The Force Awakens for the third time today! Super pumped. I'll get right to it - all of Star Wars is owned by Disney. I just made up Vara.

Chapter 4

On Jakku

He crawled as far away from the downed fighter as he could, his whole body racked with pain. His rational mind told him that he was going into shock, but his irrational mind brought back a memory from years ago as he lay face down in the sand. The real world went dark as that day in the hangar on Mirrin Prime played back again.

Waiting for a new member was the hardest part. The Squadron had been told there was finally going to be a woman in their flight group, and Poe thought it would be refreshing. As long as she flew well, she'd fit right in. They were so anxious to meet her that they'd rushed through their flight check and prepped for the test run with her half and hour before they needed to. Muran and Iolo had gone back to the workshop to pass the time, but Poe waited patiently for her to arrive. Who else was going to greet the new Lieutenant but the Commander?

Finally the personnel door to the hanger swung open, and she walked through the threshold. Her stride was long, like her legs, and her helmet rested on her hip as she walked, her lithe form wearing the orange jumpsuit remarkably well. Her hazel eyes canvassed the hangar, examining everything, taking in each detail. Her hair was tied back, brunette but when she walked through the sunlight, it took on a coppery shine, framing her pale skin beautifully. She looked a little bit nervous. Poe didn't know how he could tell, but that was his first thought. She caught his eye and smiled at him, a wide smile that made the corners of her eyes scrunch up a little.

"Commander?" she asked, approaching him. Her voice was a medium alto, soothing. He wondered if she could sing.

"You must be the new Lieutenant," he said, extending his hand. She shook it, her grip strong.

"Yes, sir. Lieutenant Vara Hesh."

"Poe Dameron," he replied, not being able to help smiling back at her. "Well, we have everything prepped for you. This one's yours," he said, leading her over to a brand new T-85 X-wing. She gaped at it for a moment.

"Wow. She's gorgeous," the rookie mused. Poe watched her take it all in, awed by the ship. He recognized the light in her eyes, the pure excitement at the thought of flying too much to bear. It was the same thing he felt every time he got in the cockpit, echoed in this young woman's expression.

"Want to show me what you've got?" he asked, a sly tone to his voice.

"I've been waiting for you to say that," she replied.

"Okay, R9. Stay with the ship and alert me if anyone, I mean anyone, comes near. No one can find out we're here." Vara strapped on her pack, containing three water bottles, a spare blaster, and a scarf to make a head wrap if necessary, and checked the safety on her holstered blaster. It was sunset, and her tan leather jacket shielded her from the sun and from the quickly dropping temperatures. For a few minutes before leaving the specialty tandem X-wing, she listened to local radio broadcasts. Some reported TIE fighters, others just talked about stolen goods being trafficked in. Nothing specific came through, so Vara had to try her luck outside.

Now she just had to decide which way to walk. Niima outpost wasn't far from here, and she could barter for shelter if it came to that. Some smoke trailed into the sky a few kilometers to the West, so she started that way.

As she walked, she kept her senses alert, taking a sip from a canteen every few minutes. Hydration was the key to her body staying in top shape, and she needed every ounce for strength and focus to find Poe and BB-8. Jakku was a broad, desolate planet, and if she lost her way even a little, it could be fatal. Of course R9 was on the ship and within radio distance, but there was no knowing who was out there waiting for her.

Once she reached the source of the smoke, she wasn't terribly surprised at what she saw. There was a fin of a TIE fighter sticking up out of the sand, but just barely, as if it had been uncovered by the wind. The fact that it was smoking told her that this crash was recent, and since they said Poe had been captured by the First Order, there had definitely been activity on the desert planet. Whether this had to do with Poe or not, there was no way to tell. Vara had been warned about the quicksand in this part on the planet and didn't venture any closer to the recently sunken wreck, trying her best to observe anything she could from afar. An ejected seat with a parachute lay maybe fifty yards behind the sunken ship, but there was no sign of any stormtroopers in the area, nor any other TIE fighters, which she found extremely strange. Where there was one, there were usually at least three more.

By now, the sun was almost all the way down, and Vara wasn't about to head into the outpost in the dark. She made her way to the top of a dune near the wreck, scanning the area while taking a sip of her canteen. What she saw almost made her choke.

At the bottom of the dune, as if he had tried to crawl away from the burning fighter but had passed out instead, was Poe. Vara stumbled down the sand and fell to her knees next to him, rolling him onto his back.

"Poe? Poe, I need you to wake up. Come on, please." She poured a little water on his forehead, pressing her other hand to the side of his neck. She found a pulse, slow but still strong.

He moaned, shielding his face with his arm and instinctively reaching for his blaster with the other, which had fallen from its holster somewhere.

"Poe! Can you sit up?"

"Vara?" He opened his eyes slightly, squinting against the sun.

"Yes," she sighed with relief. "Are you hurt?"

"Sore," he groaned. "My leg. Left knee, a little."

"Okay, don't bend it." She reached for her canteen. "I have water if you can sit up." She paused. "I thought you had been captured."

He sat up, a little too fast. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the dizziness to pass. "I was. There was a stormtrooper that broke me out."

"A stormtrooper?" Vara asked incredulously.

Poe nodded. "We took a TIE fighter and started to come back, but they disabled us. Crashed here. How did you find me?"

"I listened to reports, saw there was smoke coming from over here. After walking a while, I found the crashed TIE Fighter. First dune I came over, and here you are."

"You're just so drawn to me," he coughed after a long drink of water.

Vara shook her head. "Even after you were thrown from a crashing fighter. I can't believe it."

"I flew that thing. Vara, they're so cool."

"We can discuss flying the TIE fighter later, because I definitely want to hear about that," she said. "But for now I need you to try and stand, okay? I've got to get you back to the X-wing and we have to find BB-8."

"Shit, BB-8," Poe said, hurrying to get up. He cringed when he bent his knee, and Vara propped herself underneath him.

"Slow down, Poe. We need you later, you know."

"BB-8 has the map," he groaned.

"I know. Put a little weight on your leg, make sure it can take it," she said, his arm over her shoulder. "We're going to find him. I'm taking you back to the X-wing and we're going to Niima. That's where we last heard he was seen. General Organa is monitoring everything, trust me. Do you have a comm on you?"

"No. Taken off of me when I...when I was on the First Order ship." He looked away from her, one of the first times since they'd met that he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Poe, what happened up there?"

"I'll tell you when we're safe, okay?"

"Whenever you're ready," she said softly. "How's your knee?"

"Actually, pretty okay."

"Good, because I can't carry you that far and dragging you would be a pain in the ass," Vara teased.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, smiling again. "Let's get out of here. It's cold without my jacket."

Poe settled into the secondary backwards-facing seat of the T-65 tandem X-wing, grumbling about how strange it was. "This just isn't where I sit," he said. "I've always been up front. Didn't think you'd bring a tank to come get me," he said, continuing to examine the fighter. In addition to having two seats, there was extra forward armor and another pair of engines on the ship. The specialty plasma cannons were Vara's favorite part.

"Shut it, Dameron, I'm piloting," Vara shot back. "What, did you expect me to tow a second fighter behind me? I'm probably not going to get this chance again, so I'm taking it. And I'm flying back to the ship, too," she said, pointing a finger back at him.

"Fine," he pouted.

Vara brought the fighter up and slowly headed low over the dunes. "So we're going to the outpost. It's about fifteen kilometers out. I'll land in twelve and wait to see what's going on to head in," she said, gazing up at the moon, which had already made it halfway across the sky.

"Is there enough room up there for me? It's weird back here. And cold. We could cuddle for warmth."

"Only if I sat on your lap or something."

"I wouldn't mind that," he replied slyly.

"Oh, cool it, Poe," Vara said, not without some heat in her cheeks.

R9 whistled from above them, translating loosely to "I'm cold too!" but with a sassy tone that only those who knew their droids well could interpret. Vara rolled her eyes.

"Didn't think I'd get sarcasm from a droid," she grumbled.

"You've spoken to BB-8, right?" Poe laughed from the back.

That made Vara giggle, remembering all of the times that R9 and BB-8 had ganged up on the pilots. Then she remembered...the whole First Order was looking for them. The downed destroyers and AT-AT walkers nearby were all too good at reminding her that she had to be serious again. "All right, I'm bringing her down. I'd say we have about two hours until dawn."

"Are those TIEs?" Poe asked, leaning up next to her and pointing towards the outpost. Vara pulled out the binoculars and focused in on the sky above the desert settlement. There were two flying above the area, patrolling low and in circles.

"How the hell did you see that? Did you swap eyes with Iolo?" Their friend was a Keshian, which meant his eyes were developed enough to see more spectrums than a human could, like UV and infrared. "You're right. We can't go in there." Vara watched the fighters, thinking hard. Should they go back up and jump back to the Resistance ship? Or should she go in anyways and try to listen to the dwellers at the outpost? She wrestled with the decision for a minute until she remembered - she could try and tune in to the First Order comm chatter with her own device. It was better than listening to Jakku radio because the First Order would speak freely over their own comms.

"Stay here. I'm going up to fiddle with something."

"You getting techie on me again, Hesh?"

"You bet, Dameron," she said, opening the hatch and climbing onto the wing. "I'm gonna rig something up to get their comm channels. They'll be talking about it, I know it."

"I'm glad you're the smart one," Poe grumbled.

"Here. Since the hatch is open." She threw him her jacket, which was a little small for him, but he could wrap it around his shoulders. "Hand me my pack and keep an eye out."

"Yes ma'am," Poe replied. "I like this demanding side of you."

"Don't push it," she called back. When it was just the two of them, they didn't bother with military formalities or rank. They trusted each other with their lives regardless.

"I like seeing this jacket on you, you know," he said, pulling it tight around his shoulders.

"You only say that because you gave it to me," Vara joked. "But it is my favorite." She took the scarf out of the pack and wrapped it around her head and neck as R9 popped up to help her. Vara opened up the casing on her comm unit while R9 shone a flashlight to help her see the tiny parts. The droid had a small set of tools packed away somewhere on him and acted as a surgical assistant. After a minute of fiddling, she had removed a piece, flipped two wires, and opened up the channels. "Yes! Thanks, R9. Okay, listen," she said, climbing back into the cockpit. She and Poe were silent, listening to the crackle of static. Vara angled the device back and forth, trying to find the best signal.

"...the droid. They've left the planet. Plutt is saying that it was the stolen Millennium Falcon."

"Finn!" Poe exclaimed. "That's the stormtrooper that got me out!"

Vara gaped. "The Millennium Falcon? If they're telling the truth, we'll be able to find them. But so will the Order."

"We have to get back to the Hope One," Poe said, sitting back and strapping in.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Vara said, powering up the X-wing. "I'll fly away from the outpost before we head upwards. I think we've had enough TIE fighters for one day."

"We can't just go up there," Poe said. "It's suicide. They have a Star Destroyer, who knows what else at this point!"

"Flying in was okay," Vara asserted. "I came in from underneath. Slipped into the atmosphere about halfway around the planet between the equator and southern pole and flew north from there."

"And you can do that again?"

"Sure," she said, starting takeoff. "I'll be more careful, obviously, but the space was pretty dead down there. Shows you how thorough they're being. Plus they'll be pulling out now that BB-8 has left the planet."

"How are the fuel levels?" Poe asked skeptically.

"I'm over two-thirds full still. You said it yourself, this thing is a tank," she replied. "I know you're used to being in charge, but trust me, Poe, okay?" she said with a small smile.

"I know, I do trust you." She heard him sigh as she flew low over the Imperial graveyard below. "After everything in the last 24 hours, I'm just a little…uptight."

"I don't blame you," she said. "We're going to find him. Right, R9?"

The droid whistled, his tone severe. Of course we are, he said.