Chapter 5: There is so much green on Dantooine
"Could you please stop fidgeting in your seat?", Rose inquired with a sideway glance towards Poe Dameron, who had opted for the co-pilots seat in the small, but very fast shuttle.
"If you didn't trust my flying skills, you should have taken the helm yourself."
"Oh no, I trust your skills. You needed the practice more than I do." Poe answered while checking the instruments. Everything looked perfectly normal, just the distance to Dantooine seemed to not get any smaller. He sighed and ran a hand through his tousled hair. "In an X-Wing, the flight to Dantooine is much faster."
"Well, but we couldn't bring the substitute hyperdrive to the Falcon in an X-Wing. Apart from the simple fact, that I couldn't fly there in one. I'd rather keep them in the air than do that flying myself." Rose was her cheerful and excited self. Nevertheless, she suspected something other than the travel time to keep Poe Dameron on edge. She could hardly hide her knowing smile. As she didn't want to mock a Commander of the Reborn Rebel Alliance, she diverted the conversation to a safe topic. "What is the plan, once we arrive on Dantooine?"
"Simple thing. We stick to established routines. We check on Rey and Chewbacca, make sure they are unharmed. And then we immediately proceed to the repairs. With any luck, we'll be home on Lah'mu in just a couple of hours."
Neither of them expected any complications. Rose had started studying the schematics of the Millenium Falcon already as soon as possible, when Rey and Chewbacca had swept in to save the remains of the Resistance on Crait. As soon as she had woken up from her coma back then, but was still unable to return to active duty, she asked for every little bit of information that had been available. Not only herself, but also Rey, Poe Dameron and Leia Organa had known the brisance of the Falcons existence. The ship had been vital for the survival of the Resistance. With a skilled mechanic like Rose, they could take care of maintenance and upkeep even when the Falcon's crew was occupied with actually flying the ship. Rose had practically fallen in love with the legendary ship and seized every chance to get her hands on its machinery.
When the Rebels picked up again and set their permanent base on Lah'mu, she had less chances to work on the Falcon. If she could divert time from her schedule, it was always Rey, who was in charge of the repairs and Rose was only allowed to help a little. But this day, she wanted to install the substitute drive herself.
"Okay. Sounds like a great plan. And by the way, we're jumping out of hyperspace in a bit. Could you locate their position on the surface, so I can program the landing routine?", Rose asked.
"No way, I'll take over the controls, once we start the landing sequence. You're a good pilot, Rose. But Dantooine is not the easiest planet to land on. There are many forests and the weather can make it even more tricky." Poe refuted Rose's claim for the task. He smiled at the thought of forests and a lot of green. emRey must enjoy being stranded here. It's her kind of vegetation. So much green./em
"But, let me learn how to land a shuttle, soon. Okay? What good does a pilot do if she cannot land the vehicle?"
"I promise to schedule you in for flight training. Transports, shuttles and if you want to advance, you may start training for the X-Wings. You'd be on a waitlist, but I'd see to it, that you get practice." Poe promised and took over the controls.
The deep forests on Dantooine crawled with wildlife. The flora and fauna was rich and vibrant. Rey closed her eyes, when she stepped outside the Falcon and reached out. She felt calm and at peace. The last few days had been so full of energy and revelations for her, she longed for tranquility. In the green of the forest, she found her calm and secure sanctuary. She didn't even know what kinds of animals or plants were out there, but she didn't feel threatened by any of the creatures around.
The young Jedi had left the damaged Millenium Falcon and Chewbacca for a moment to meditate. She knew they were both safe and stranded for a bit. They had sent a signal back to Lah'mu asking for help, but it took at least half a standard day for them to be on Dantooine. Even after five years with the Resistance Rey still was amazed at how quickly and without much ado people helped each other and went to each other's aid, if a situation required it. Had she stayed on Yakku and stranded in a remote location, there would have come nobody. She would have had to fight for her survival and make do with what her surroundings gave her.
But now, she simply had to reach out to her friends, tell them what happened, and they send a rescue party. This simple and reassuring thought made her smile. She had a home. Her friends were her home and they would come to pick her and Chewbacca up and take her home. Technically, they wouldn't pick them up, as neither Rey nor Chewbacca would leave the Falcon behind. But they would bring the spare parts to repair the hyper-drive and make the trip back to Dantooine together.
As if on cue, her comm beeped and she heard a low growl, when she activated the comm. "Oh, thank you, Chewbacca. I'll be back in a second." Rey answered. The Wookie had informed her about the imminent arrival of a shuttle, that had identified itself as Reborn Rebel Alliance.
Walking with a little bounce in her stride she made it back to the Falcon in the exact same moment as the shuttle hovered over the clearing in the forest. It was almost too small for the shuttle to fit next to the Falcon. The person piloting the shuttle must have been a very skilled and experienced pilot to manage this maneuver.
"Poe.", Rey breathed just above a whisper. She grinned from ear to ear and ran the last few meters back to the ships. She hadn't expected Leia to send Poe on this mission. It was just a quick repair and recover assignment, too easy and unimportant to send one of the senior officers to. She reached out in the Force to see if she was right about the crew. Having been to Ahch'To had made her more comfortable to use the Force for such an innocent thing as reaching out to her friends.
She felt Chewbacca's warm presence. She felt, that he was agitated and buzzing with energy. It was a common thing to be surrounded by. Rey always felt safe and calm in this presence. She reached out again and felt the bright and vibrant energy surrounding Rose. The Jedi smiled. She was happy to have her best friend with her. Hesitating, as she never actively searched for Poe Dameron's presence in the Force, she bit her lip. Softly and only very carefully she reached for him. She was practically hit by a wave of warmth and brightness at the same time. She smiled.
"Rey, do you ever plan on helping us here?", Rose poked her head out from the lowered ramp at the Falcon. Rey's reaching out in the Force must have taken longer thatn she realized. She didn't even notice Rose and Poe exiting from the shuttle much less them already being on the Falcon. emI should not get lost in the Force. No matter how nice it is to feel my friends there./em She felt a small blush rising in her cheeks.
"Hey Rose. Thank you so much for picking us up." She ran towards her friend and quickly hugged her. "I never thought that both hyper drives would give out at once. You should have heard Chewbacca complaining about it. As if the Falcon was dying and he to eulogize it." The two women started entering the Falcon, when Rey watched around.
"Where is Poe?", she asked her friend, who only raised an eyebrow in return. "How do you know he is here?"
"I felt him in the Force." Rey answered without hesitating. Upon realizing that she usually didn't do that, she added. "I felt you all in the Force. I learnt a thing or two, when I was on Ahch'To these past few days."
"Yeah, sure." Rose giggled. "He is with Chewbacca. They wanted to install the replacement drive. It's the easy task. I left it to them. I'll be in charge of the real repairs. I'll even fight a Wookie, if he doesn't let me do this on my own." The short mechanic put her hands on her hips to mark her words.
"Oh god. Please don't fight Chewie. He is already a bit older than you are. It would be rude to do so.", Rey joked and made her way to the engine room.
Her heartrate quickened at the sight of Poe Dameron. He was crouched over the opening in the engine room, where the secondary hyper drive was mounted. He was discussing the exact way to put the drive into the opening with a very agitated Chewbacca. She could only see the back of Poe's head, the familiar mop of curls, the grease stained shirt and the arch of his back.
"If you think this is the correct way, buddy? You fly her longer than I have." Poe answered an especially loud hiss from below. "Of course, I don't fly the Falcon. That is not what was saying at all."
"I thought you wanted to keep that a secret.", Rey announced her presence with a small giggle.
Poe turned around and his face light up like a beam. He got up from where he had been kneeling and hugged Rey. "Are you okay?" He asked breathlessly, reluctant to let go of Rey.
The Jedi smiled and answered "I know how to crash land a space ship. Everything is still in place. No worries." Teasingly she added "I might have picked that up from you. After all, you're the expert in crash-landing on remote planets."
From the deck below Chewbacca moaned and growled.
"If you're done flirting, we could finish our work.", Rose could be heard from below deck, too.
With a violent blush in her cheeks, Rey let go of Poe and cleared her throat. "Sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to be in your way. I already undid all the hinges on the engine in this section before you arrived. You should be able to finish the task rather quickly down there. Chewie knows exactly what you have to do." She quickly moved to the topic at hand.
"I know, Rey. But both you and Poe are a little bit in our way. Couldn't you guys take care of our provisions? Chewie and I don't need you at the moment and we will be stuck on Dantooine overnight."
Poe raised an eyebrow in surprise. Normally it would be his task to order everyone around, him being the highest-ranking officer of the Rebellion in this mission. But he didn't mind Rose's friendly pushiness. And he absolutely didn't mind the excuse to spend some time just with Rey, even if it was part of the mission.
"Well, before Rose throws some tools at us, let's better follow her command." Poe smiled, sent a mock salute in the general direction of Rose and Chewbacca and motioned for Rey to leave the danger zone. His comment was accompanied by a series of approving growls from the lower deck. "He really doesn't like me onboard the Falcon, right?"
"Don't take it personally. I already told you that he doesn't even like me taking the Falcon out without him." Rey assured him and followed him. "What should we check with the provisions? We're only here for a couple of hours and we sit on two fully-stocked Resistance ships. There isn't any actual work for us to do."
"Let's check the perimeter instead, make sure there's no hostile wildlife out there that could eat us in our sleep or damage the ships.", Poe suggested and took his blaster from the holster, setting it to stun.
Rey stepped aside herself, making a detour over the common room of the Falcon, where she had put her staff. This didn't feel like a task to take her Lightsaber to. "Okay, let's do that. But I didn't feel any hostility out there at all. Everything feels very calm."
"What do you mean, you didn't feel any hostility at all out there?" Poe asked as they walked down the ramp and entered the forest. He felt the warmth of the late-afternoon sun on his face, smelled the rich perfume of the plants and blossoms and heard the myriad of voices in the trees. "It almost feels like Yavin 4, just a little cooler and less humid. But how can you determine there's no hostility out there? The jungle can feel very hostile."
"There is this is thing called the Force, you remember?" Rey nudged Poe in the side with a grin. She walked ahead onto a narrow path that led away from the clearing.
Poe tried to keep up with Rey. She was a very fast and silent walker, almost like a hunter. Rey wore her usual grey tunic and pants, combined with the usual arm wraps. Even with her being just a little shorter than him, she could outrun the pilot whenever she wanted. Poe admired her strength and had to admit to himself, that he also enjoyed watching her lean muscles showing between her tunic and her arm wraps.
"I know about the Force. And hell yes, I know that you are a Jedi. I just hadn't thought about the possibility that you would use your abilities for a security check. Clever thinking, by the way. Did you already check the area when you crash-landed here?" He tried to steer the conversation to a topic that wouldn't allow for him to stare at his friend. When the had last seen each other, he hadn't even thought about what she meant to him apart from their friendship. But now, there didn't pass a waking moment, when he didn't think about it.
"Well, I think intuition and the best co-pilot in the galaxy helped with that." Rey glanced at Poe who seemed to be unusually tense. Rey reached out in the Force, checking the surroundings and reached out to the warm and bright outline of Poe Dameron's presence. She would never invade his thoughts and feelings, but she worried a little about his tenseness. She physically reached out to him and put a hand on his arm. "Is everything alright with you?"
"Probably just tired." Poe lied without even blinking. "Genera Organa grounded me. She even put me off active duty, because she thinks I'm overworked. This mission is an exception. And I even let Rose fly here." He kicked a little bit of moss from the path. He would never risk their friendship by admitting that the reason for his turmoil was that rising warm feeling in his gut, that surge of electricity in every little touch and gesture they shared. He could not tell her, that every little smile and her bright hazel followed him into his dreams.
"Just taking the Falcon and excusing myself to Ahch'To for training is a privilege, I know." Rey softly admitted. "I'd love to share that privilege with you. A trip to Ahch'To would probably help you with all this tenseness." She had noticed how tired Poe had been, before she had left for Ahch'To. Nevertheless, she suspected yet another reason and thought about the solstice festivities and his homesickness.
"How was the solstice on Lah'mu? Did you go to the party?" She remembered how reluctant he had been to go there.
"As a matter of fact, yes. Finn insisted. He wouldn't let me cop out of the party. And it wasn't so bad after all." Poe shot her a quizzical look. He remembered dancing with Jess and couldn't shake the sudden thought of how it would have been to dance with Rey instead. "I realized some things that I didn't knew before."
"Oh, really? What did you realize?" Rey asked, thinking about the conversation she had had with her friends at the bar. "So, Jess and Poe had their fun. If it makes them happy. Who am I to judge." Rey sighed. She longed for a home, but if Poe didn't feel the same way about her, it was not her place to say something about it. She didn't want to risk their friendship.
"I realized that you missed a really great and almost magical bonfire. And next year, I will make sure you don't miss it." Poe answered surprisingly.
They had stopped walking and stood side by side at the edge of a small clearing that was divided by a narrow stream. Rey glanced her friend insecurely. Their hands briefly touched, when Rey raised her hand to put a lose strand of hair behind her ear. Even without reaching out in the Force, Rey felt a strange and undeniable energy surge between them.
"Oh, I don't think I missed that much. Too many people, too many thoughts and emotions in one place. I think I could handle them by now. But I needed that time on Ahch'To. I saw the presence of Master Luke there. He taught me an important lesson." She mused and a sad smile clouded her face. Such an important lesson it had been, and now it felt like it was completely futile for her current situation.
"Maybe we could go to the next party together?" Poe offered. "You don't enjoy the copany of too many people, I don't really feel like partying at the moment. We would be perfect together at a party. And it would give us the perfect excuse to leave early."
"You're a great friend, Poe." Rey smiled. "I'll take you up on the offer. But I think, instead of partying, we should focus on finally kicking the First Order to the curb. That way, you could celebrate the next solstice on Yavin 4 instead of Lah'mu." She squeezed his hand and her glance lingered on his face, focusing on his mouth for just the fraction of a moment. She couldn't shake the question inside her head. What would it be like to kiss him? She dropped her hand and turned around.
Suddenly her comm beeped. Without hesitating she activated it and a series of growls could be heard. "It seems like we have company. Chewbacca registered a couple of incoming ships in the system. They are approaching the planet. We should get back to our ships." Rey informed Poe and was somehow relieved. Even if it meant they had to get off Dantooine in a hurry and probably with just one functioning engine, she couldn't endure the strange energy between her and her friend for much longer.
"Okay, let's get to the ships." Poe agreed and together they dashed through the woods. A little breathlessly he called after her "But we should take some time off on Lah'mu and catch up? What do you think?"
Rey turned around in the middle of the jog, causing Poe to almost crash into her. "What do you mean? In the mess, together with everyone else?"
The always confident and calm pilot smiled an insecure smile, noticing how near they were to each other. He answered "Actually, I wanted to catch up with you – not with the entire squadron and Chewbacca. Do you think you could endure a dinner off-base just with me?"
"Do you mean, ehm… like, a … date?" Rey stammered in surprise and felt the suspicious blush creep into her cheeks again.
"If you want it to be a date, I'd very much enjoy calling it a date." The pilot agreed with the warmest smile, Rey had ever seen on him.
Before she could answer, the comm beeped again. "Okay, it looks like we're in trouble. Let's catch up later on Lah'mu."
Together they ran as fast as possible to the ships that were already powering up. Rey quickly made it up the ramp of the Falcon, only shortly turning around to witness Poe Dameron climbing into the shuttle safely. The next instant both ships already blasted off towards the atmosphere, where they were greeted by a squadron of Tie-Fighters.