Chapter 19

Borrowed Time

Poe stared at Finn, his throat tight. To his own surprise, he wasn't angry. Finn had had every right to keep this from him, and really, what did it matter? The location of Luke Skywalker was of no importance to them. Not as long as they stayed out of this fight anyway.

"Did we just decide to help the Resistance?" he asked hesitantly. He had never thought this day would come, but apparently it had. These last few hours had shown him that. Not only had he realized that they couldn't possibly keep running from the Order for the rest of their lives, but it had also become apparent that he didn't want to be the coward he had been most of his life. He wanted to do something, anything to prove that he wasn't like Morap.

Finn nodded slowly. "It would seem so. But first we should probably deliver those crates down there, before the smell gets any worse."

"Fine by me," Poe said, getting to his feet. "We should get some rest, though. As long as we're still in hyperspace."

A soft whistling sound made Poe spin around. "What's that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at Finn.

"Yeah, well I did have some help with the navcomputer. He was here when I got back. Didn't seem to be messing anything up either, so I let him keep going."

"You understand Binary?" Poe asked, unable to suppress a laugh. "Why did you let it in?"

"Well, as it just went over to the nav computer and plugged itself in and the letters flashing across the screen over there told me what it wanted to do…"

"You trust that droid?" Poe asked.

"Oh well, I thought we could always check the system for viruses or whatever later. They know where we're going anyway don't they?"

"Yeah, I suppose…"

"Hey! Anyone here?" The voice from below was the last thing Poe wanted to hear at the moment, but there was not much he could do about it. They were still aboard Morap's ship after all.

"We're up here!" Poe didn't take his eyes off Finn as he said this, who merely raised his eyebrows and stayed where he was, feet up on the consoles. The relaxed post a perfect mask to what he was really feeling probably.

A moment later, Morap appeared in the doorway. "I can see my friend is working back there. You're okay with that?"

Finn scoffed, then folded his hands behind his head. "Shouldn't we be?"

Morap shrugged, meeting Finn's gaze. "I don't know. Are you?"

"It's fine."

With a sigh, Morap turned to Poe again. "We'll be dropping out in about an hour near Fi-Chten."

"Thanks." Poe crossed his arms again and took a deep breath.

"So… I guess this is it?"

"This is it… for now. We might want to contact you again though."

Morap cleared his throat, brushing his hand through his messy red hair. "You do, huh?"

"Shut up." With a scowl, Poe took a step towards him. "Just in case we have something for your friends with the Resistance."

Morap laughed. "I never said I was friends with any of them. And since when are you so interested in their cause, Poe?"

"Oh, just cut it out!" Finn was beside Poe all of a sudden, hands on his hips and his eyes narrowed. "Will you just stop being…."

"Being what? What's your name again? Finn?" The sneer on his lips made Poe want to step forward and push him back, even though he knew all that would accomplish was to make this whole situation even worse.

"Does it really matter why I've changed my mind, Morap? Don't you think you owe it to me? This one favour?" He wasn't exactly sure Morap owed him anything. Probably not. If anything, Poe had driven Morap away as much as the Order had, but that didn't seem to matter now.

Morap sighed. "Alright." He shrugged, backing off. "Beebee-Ate here will know how to contact me. I won't bother you anymore." He looked as if he was going to reach out and touch Poe's arm one more time, but the beginning movement was cut short before Finn could even register it. "I'll be off then."

"We don't need an astromech." Finn said, all the anger gone from his voice.

"You might need one. You never know. Just take him." Morap turned and started walking away, as a white and orange Beebee-unit shot out of the bathroom, where Poe had repaired the plumbing before they had been dragged out of hyperspace. "You stay with them, Beebee-Ate, alright? Take good care of them!" Morap didn't turn to look at them again. The droid rolled forward, its sensors trained on the figure disappearing in the trap door.

Fi-Chten was a moon like so many others, though to be fair, the climate in the area where their designated landing site was, was infinitely more bearable than that on Tatooine or Jakku. Poe shuddered, just imagining that they had to go back to the desert world next. He looked over at Finn and smiled slightly at the look of utter concentration on his face as he studied the map the Sullustan on Tatooine had given them. The city of Welhagen where they had landed was densely populated, but by far not as big as the spaceport of Mos Espa. The droid was plugged into a socket on the right of the pilot's chair. Poe had to admit that navigating this ship with a little help from the droid had been a lot easier than without.

"You alright?" he asked, getting to his feet and ignoring the droid complaining shrilly about having to make room for Poe.

"Yes," Finn sighed, closing the map. "Just wanted to make sure we know where we are and how to get away as quickly as possible."

Poe nodded, remembering that he should have thought of that, too. "Thanks. Hey, droid!"

A low beeping told Poe that the droid apparently didn't appreciate being addressed like that. The machine seemed to have an odd personality program anyhow. Someone should have wiped its memory more often, Poe thought, wondering how long the droid might have remained like that it had developed this kind of personality.

"Alright, Beebee… watch the ship while we unload alright? We're running late. Can you keep a lookout for approaching people? Can your sensors handle that?"

Another set of sounds, which Poe couldn't even begin to translate, made Poe's ears ring, but at least he thought he understood that the droid was outraged at Poe even posing this question.

"Alright. Thank you." He threw Finn a significant look, then started towards the lower deck. Morra-han had given them a precise date and time for the delivery and originally they would have had time to spare, but as it was, what with the attack by the First Order and their detour on Morap's ship, they had only just made it in time. The small hangar on the outskirts of Welhagen in which they had landed, was barely big enough to hold the Beginner, but that didn't really matter so long as they managed to get out of here before things got sour. He only hoped that they wouldn't.

While he opened the door to the hold, grateful for the air conditioning inside to have kept down the temperature somewhat so the smell had subsided significantly, Finn moved to the loading ramp.

"We're really gonna go back there?" Finn asked, as Poe stepped inside the hold. "To Jakku?"

"I suppose so," Poe answered, starting up the repulsorlifts beneath the crates. "Why? Don't you want to do this?" He looked up at Finn standing on top of the now open loading ramp, evening sunlight streaming inside, making it impossible for Poe to make out Finn's features.

"No, it's the right thing to do, I suppose… just… all the sand. Didn't we say we say we had enough of that?"

Chuckling, Poe leaned in, kissing Finn briefly on the cheek. "You said you had enough of it."

"Yeah, right. Because you're such an enthusiast."

Grinning to himself, Poe pushed the first crate down the ramp, while Finn went back inside to get the next one. Morra-han had told them the hangar had been paid for already and the code he had provided them with had opened the door well enough. Now they only needed to wait for the other party to arrive.

He was pushing the last crate outside, when he heard a soft whistling coming from inside the ship. Turning to Finn, raised an eyebrow, checking the perimeter one more time. "Here we go," he murmured, turning towards the door and freezing in place when he saw the four figures in white armour walk in.

Finn's hand was on the small of his back before his finger had even twitched towards his blaster. "Don't," Finn whispered. "No use. If they know it's us, they're bound to have guards everywhere."

Poe nodded, his tongue sticking to the roof of his head. Finn was right. As usual. "Just… stay calm."

Finn scoffed, his lips almost forming a smile.

Swallowing hard, Poe moved forward, when he saw another person walk in. When their eyes met, Poe felt his heart sink. This was it. Six months. That was the exact amount of time he and Finn had had before it had all gone to ruins. He only wished he had given the plans to the Star Destroyers to Morap before this.

Meelan stood stock still for a moment, eyes fixed on Poe, then slowly moving on to Finn. He turned his head, opened his mouth as if to say something to the Stormtroopers filing in to the small hangar, then seemed to think better of it. Taking a deep breath, he started walking towards them. "You are Bey?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Poe's face. His mouth was pressed into a very thin line, and the anger at seeing him here only too apparent. What was Meelan doing here? Why him of all people?

Poe nodded, then pointed at Finn. "My partner Finn."

Meelan didn't stretch out a hand towards Poe and Poe was grateful for it. His heart was racing. What in the galaxy had he done to deserve this? It didn't seem like Meelan would betray them, at least not straight away, but that didn't mean that this situation couldn't become more dangerous.

Poe took a deep, calming breath, as Meelan took out his datapad and scanned the code embedded in the first crate.

"What's inside?" Finn asked, sounding as if he didn't mind the whole situation. "The smell isn't our fault."

Meelan nodded. "No, it's not," he answered and waved at the troopers standing by the door. Four of them started towards them. "And it's none of your business, smuggler."

Swallowing hard, Poe took a step back, following Meelan's example to make room for the Stormtroopers. They had been on the run from the Order for six months now and to encounter Meelan of all people seemed like a stroke of fate.

"You're not going to rat us out?" he whispered, as the Stormtroopers started shoving the crates towards the exit.

Meelan's gaze met his again. "I don't know what you're talking about," Meelan replied a sneer twisting his lips. "You should be aware however that both your names and the name of your ship will be in my report."

"You're saying that you'll let us go but you're going send some head hunters on our trail just to make sure we don't get away us after all?" Finn hissed and with a raised eyebrow Meelan looked him up and down, hands clasped firmly behind his back. As if thinking over whether or not he should answer a Stormtrooper's question.

"You are free to think whatever you please," he said and as the last Stromtrooper was out of earshot, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a satchel and throwing it at Poe. When he caught it, Poe could hear the clinking of credits. "Just be grateful it was me who found you here." With that he turned around, walking swiftly towards the exit without turning back to look at them.

Poe closed his eyes, as the door slid shut behind him and he could feel his shirt sticking to his back.

"That was close…" Finn mumbled and Poe couldn't help but laugh.

"You think?" Smiling, Poe weighed the credits in his hand, then opened the satchel.

"Still wondering what the First Order wants with whatever is in those crates."

Poe shuddered. "Me too. But I don't want to know. Meelan works with the security bureau from time to time. No idea what they're up to these days." He swallowed hard as he checked the content of the satchel, spilling the chips into his open palm. It seemed to be the price they had agreed upon with the Sullustan back on Tatooine. The smile slowly faded from his lips as he realized that these chips could most likely be tracked back to them at some point. It would have been something Meelan would have thought of. Meelan… who would have thought he'd see both him and his brother again within the same day?

For a moment Poe couldn't help but think back to their long talks and the feeling of having found a true friend within the Order. And then that feeling had been taken from him within a heartbeat.

Had he remained with the Order, Poe and Meelan might have been able to patch things up eventually.

He would have remained an officer in the First Order.

He would have gotten to know Meelan's child at some point.

He would have kept on fighting the Republic and the Resistance.

Shaking his head, he put the credits back in the satchel.

"We can't keep those, can we?" Finn asked quietly.

"No." Poe sighed, letting the satchel drop to the ground. "No, we can't. But we should get going."