Radio Silence: A Poe Dameron Series

Chapter One: On the Other End

Poe Dameron slides into a seat in front of a gleaming array of navicomputers and tech displays. He considers the many buttons and levers in front of him, then methodically enters a series of commands into a console. He waits one second, two, then it beeps at him. Correct password- well, he'd hope so. He's done this so many times that he could enter in the digits in his sleep.

After that, it only takes a couple of seconds to call up the secure communications channel. There have only ever been two people with access to this channel: one sender and one receiver. Poe is the receiver, as always, recovering data sent to him by the Resistance recon agent they've got stationed out somewhere in the Outer Rim or the Unknown Regions. He doesn't know anything about her, that's stated in the Resistance regulations- no sharing information that could get your spies killed. That's a must.

At exactly twenty standard hours, it is time for Poe to flip on the radio channel and receive the latest intel from his sender. He waits for a minute or two in silence, brow furrowing as he spends more time in solitude, and then his ears are greeted by the reassuringly familiar crackle of static across the console speakers. Poe grins. "Acer, that you?" He can practically hear her smile across the radio channel. "Who else would it be?"

Poe leans back in his chair, finally able to relax. "You were three minutes late, you know. That's against protocol." Acer sighs dramatically. "Oh come on, Bravo. You going to report me to the General for overwhelming tardiness in the line of duty?" Poe rolls his eyes. "I might, now that you mention it." Acer laughs. "I'm sure you will. Honestly, I just think this means you care about me. Were you worried for me?"

Poe taps a few buttons on his console, adjusting the sound for perfect quality. "I'm not going to answer that. You got anything good for me?" He can hear the sound of Acer's navicomputer as she loads in the data filed for transmission. "I don't know, Bravo. I'm not sure it's anything major." A sudden whir from the console catches Poe's attention, and he waits as the data files finish sending. There's a final ding of completion and Poe grabs the readouts from a dataport.

He whistles as he takes in the preview on his console. "You got troop lists? How'd you manage that?" Poe can't see her face, but he's fairly sure Acer's smirking. "I figured that if I was going to peek through the transparisteel to see the bucketheads shine their shoes, I might as well tally them down as well." Poe shakes his head in disbelief. "That's amazing. I don't know how you manage it."

Acer speaks through a slight flash of static. "Well, I'm not going to act like it was easy. My hands are still shaking." Poe clicks his tongue. "Hey, that's personal information. I'm not supposed to know about that." Acer's worried tone breaks up into laughter. "What, that I have hands? Did you think I was a droid?" Poe grins, pleased with himself for making her smile. "I wasn't about to assume anything. You could be a very human-sounding droid." Acer groans. "If you thought I was a droid throughout all of this, then I think I understand why the General doesn't have you as a spy."

Poe's mouth drops open. "Are you insulting me, Acer? After all we've been through?" Her laugh sounds musical, even through the crackles of a radio line. "I don't know. It might not be in my programming." They chat for a while longer before Acer's voice drops off. "It's time already. The minutes fly by, don't they? Well, that's all the data I've got for today." Poe smiles ruefully. "Well, there ain't nobody like you. Bravo, over and out." Acer calls out the same goodbye code before her end of the line goes dark. Poe waits a few minutes, as according to radio procedure, then shuts off the encrypted line.

It's strange to think that at the end of the day, Poe doesn't know anything more about Acer than he would a First Order lieutenant. Can you consider someone a friend if you've never seen them before? Whenever Poe's sent on a mission to some planet under First Order command, he can't help scanning the crowds of people as if he thinks he'll see her somewhere. It makes no sense- he has no idea what Acer looks like, and she only knows him as Bravo, the voice across the air. Yet he still looks around as if hoping she'll show up, like he'll see someone and just intuitively know that they are the spy he's been speaking to for so long.