╔════════════ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎
'𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝' ════════════╝
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
...D'QAR, ILEENIUM SYSTEM
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐂𝐄, so cold it almost burned. Stray droplets from the industrial-grade hose soaked through the canvas fabric of her pants and chilled her sun-warmed skin. Birds called out in the distance where they swooped near a trio of Y-Wings that were drifting up and out of the dry atmosphere. In the breeze, clouds scudded overhead and provided temporary breaks from the rare D'Qar spring sun.
"Commander, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to–" Dash tried to apologize again, but Lyra just held up her hand in defeat. Golden-haired and blue eyed, he looked the part of a pilot. His flying abilities were unfortunately lacking.
Dash Pellian, though a decent shot, was proving to be difficult to teach to fly. Not to mention, Lyra was not usually in charge of flight training. Poe Dameron was the one General Organa had put in charge of the whole system. The organization of it–or lack thereof–was an absolute mess to anyone but him. But with the Black Squad's secret mission, the responsibility had fallen to Lyra and the Phoenix Squadron.
"You're all seasoned pilots, I don't see why there should be any issue."
Leia was going to have to eat her words if she hadn't already.
"I get it, Pellian." Lyra didn't want to sound short with him, but this wasn't the only time this had happened. Eden refused to train any more pilots after the first time Dash hit a tree. "I am glad you remembered the emergency landing procedure."
"Right, right," he said. He was way taller than her, but right then he cowered in his embarrassment.
Lyra pulled the handle on the hose and switched off the valve. With a final splash and a hiss of smoke, the small fire on the tail of the A-Wing was finally out. It was currently sitting at the end of a carved-out skid mark of dirt with the metal plating singed and bent from the impact. The rest of the trainees were staring at it, looking over at Dash intermittently and praying silent thanks it wasn't them who had messed up.
Lyra was producing more practice for the technicians than she was creating pilots.
The A-Wing had fallen from the sky in slow motion, taking down a pine tree with it. Then the ground had shaken and Dash hoped out of the flaming A-Wing, unharmed except for his pride. Lyra had yelled, and a Rodian trainee named Siero Kena had run to grab water from the nearby tanker. Lyra had Ellis help her drag it out to the practice runway earlier that day for this exact reason.
It helped to be prepared.
Hopefully, this would be proof enough for General Organa to take her off the master flight training schedule. It was cutting into and almost overlapping the time she spent organizing and running combat training. Poe and Lyra worked on opposite sides of base operations, and that was the way they both liked it. He could have his damn flight trainees back.
Lyra thought about lecturing them again, but instead, she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Alright, everyone. This is a good lesson," she tried to smile as she laced her fingers together. "Although Pellian crashed the A-Wing, it can be fixed."
The four of them just stared at her, waiting. Blank stares on faces still not hardened by time in the air.
"I think that's enough for today," Lyra sighed, rubbing her forehead and letting her cold hand stave away a headache. "Go get something to eat. Just–tell Major Finis that you finished up early and I said you were dismissed."
Major Finis was also at wits end with her squadron. Between Ellis and Georgie's attempt to instate a hazing practice and the skyrocketing reports of A-Wing crashes, it was clear that none of the Phoenix Squadron members were cut out for teaching pilots. They could all fly beautifully, but showing someone else how to do it required patience that none of them had.
The trainees all got out of there as quickly as humanly possible, leaving her standing with her arms crossed. The problem of new recruits was always bothersome. Their turnover rate of deserters was low, but the issue was they no longer had a steady stream of incoming pilots. Recruitment posters were slapped onto walls only to be covered by First Order enlistment flyers. They were taking anyone they could, and the evidence of how well that was going was currently wedged in the dirt.
The sun was burning on the back of Lyra's neck and she was hungry, but the mess would be done serving lunch before she had finished taking care of things outside. She needed to go talk to Reeve and see if there was a way to put in an expedited repair ticket because Aliyah would need the ship out later that evening for flight drills.
Her schedule was a fragile balance to keep, and there were times it made her feel carved out and hollow. The A-Wing was only a reflection of her own failures. She should have watched Dash more closely before letting him go up in the air.
"What did you do now, Endellion?" A low, gravely voice said behind her.
Slowly, she turned around to see Poe Dameron making his way toward her. BB-8 was picking his way through the underbrush behind him. Poe was looking past her at the crashed ship and shielded the sunlight from his eyes with a lifted hand. His squadron had taken over the rec room last night until an ungodly hour. Reeve had said that Jess, who shared a room with her, barely woke up on time to run her patrol shift. Poe was tired too, eyes still pinched at the corners like he had only just gotten out of bed.
Lyra wasn't in any mood for sympathy.
"If you think this is funny, maybe you should help train the pilots," she said, glaring at him. "It is your job."
He just grinned and stifled a yawn. "Nah. Looks like you're doing just fine. I wouldn't want to steal the show."
Lyra didn't appreciate having responsibilities that weren't hers dumped upon her. She went out of her way to ensure things were done right, but even she knew when to draw a line.
"Dash again?" Poe finally asked. "I've tried to knock some sense into him myself, never seems to stick."
"Yeah," she sighed, resigned to it now. She looked down at BB-8, who had finally reached where they were standing. She smiled down at the little astromech. "Hey Bee."
The droid beeped in an enthusiastic greeting.
"Did you have a reason for coming out here?" Lyra asked him, regaining her focus. "Or did you just come to tell me I don't know how to do your job for you?"
Poe was just standing there surveying the damage. One foot was propped up on a fallen branch, an easy confidence about him. His expression shifted as he remembered what he was doing. "Oh, yeah, the General was looking for you. Said it was urgent."
"Urgent? You mean urgent enough that you should have said that first?" she seethed.
"Nice to see you too!" he called just before she was out of earshot.
Lyra grabbed up her data pad and battered gray jacket from the ground. She took the nearest maintenance trail back to the main hangar, walking quickly. Her permasteel-toed boots kicked up leaves and pine needles, and she could hear the echoing click of the satellite dish in the distance. Always moving, always adjusting, always looking for sounds of unrest.
Stepping off of the packed-dirt path, Lyra crossed the paved ground of the quadrangle that spilled out of the main hangar as she looked for one Reeve Tailor.
She spotted Reeve's head of curly black hair bent over a clipboard. She was writing something down and her hand was a blur as she tried to get down all the details of what she was being told. Oddy Muva, one of the head technicians, was talking to her with exaggerated hand motions. Reeve couldn't stand how nagging and meticulous the Abenedo man was.
Reeve's once-clean green jumpsuit was splattered with a healthy amount of machine oil. Looking up, she saw Lyra and her face fell in relief. "Yes, yes, I will check those transmissions again, Oddy," she reassured, practically shoving him away with a wave of her clipboard. Agitated, she looked thankful for Lyra's interruption.
The Abenedo glanced back at Lyra and regarded her with a nod before walking away.
"Kriff, I don't know what he expects. I'm only up to my eyes in repairs. It's beyond me how Dameron managed to only damage his communication system," she muttered, flipping through the papers in front of her. "And you!" Reeve said, stopping her flipping and flicking her hazel eyes up. "I saw it go down. Dash again?"
Dash had an infamous reputation. Poor kid.
"Yes," Lyra winced, hoping Reeve would take it better than she had last time. "The entire tail caught on fire, and the back paneling is bent. But I think it's all cosmetic," she tried. "The engine didn't clunk out this time, anyway."
Reeve hit herself in the face with the clip-board and heaved a dramatic sigh. Lyra knew Reeve hated taking care of the practice ships. It was a never ending cycle of repair to crash. "The Black Squadron, the A-Wing, your hyperdrive, will it ever end?"
"Probably not," Lyra mused, glancing at the hangar door. "I have to go, but I can help when I'm done talking to the General."
Reeve raised her eyebrows. "Oo, Lyra's in trou-ble," she sang, shoving Lyra lightly in the ribs. "Don't worry about the ship. Eleni's tow hook has been working really well. I'm sure she'll love to test it out again."
Lyra knew she wasn't in trouble. The only evidence of what she had done wrong recently was sitting in the trees far beyond the view of the command room. Leia couldn't possibly know about that.
Yet.
The command room, bathed in green light, was bustling with people walking back and forth between glowing displays. It was a maze of cinder blocks topped with various communications and research stations. Transmissions were heard beeping intermittently, and at the center of it all stood Leia. Connix was nearby, but the General was largely alone. The stoic figurehead, a foundation of the entire Resistance.
"Why, hello, Commander Endellion!" Threepio greeted loudly. "A lovely day outside, isn't it?"
Lyra clutched at her chest, fingers grazing her necklace as she recovered. She hadn't seen the droid standing there until he popped his golden head in front of her face. "Hey Threepio," she said. It was unclear if the protocol droid was patronizing her or not. "Yeah, it's nice and sunny."
"The General wishes to speak with you," the droid began, and Lyra could see Leia beyond him with a wry smile on her face.
"Thanks for letting me know," Lyra said, sidestepping his form.
The General was gazing at a glowing screen in the middle of the command center. This was the biggest holo desk they had, and it was projecting the spherical shape of a planet. It was hard to tell, but it looked uninhabited, filled with rolling waves and not much else.
"Afternoon, Commander Endellion," Leia greeted her, nodding her head. "What happened with the trainees? I'd hate to hear that there was another incident."
Lyra's eyebrows furrowed as she realized that maybe she was in trouble. Apparently, the rumor that Leia could see through walls was true. "How'd you know about that?"
The General reached her hand out to Lyra's hair and she flinched away. As Leia's weathered hand drew back, she held up a stray twig that had been lodged in Lyra's long ponytail. Leia's mouth twitched with amusement, and Lyra breathed a short sigh of relief.
"Just a guess." Leia said.
"Thanks," Lyra muttered. "We had another incident with the A-Wing. I talked to the technicians on the way in, and they're already on it," she said quickly.
Really, Lyra wanted to fall to her knees and beg to be taken off the flight training schedule. Her data pad was filled with reasons why she should be. She looked at her holo watch. Twenty minutes and she was due in the auxiliary gym to run combat drills.
Leia gave her a look of soft sympathy. "I know it's disheartening seeing us scramble for new recruits that have at least some flight experience. We're trying to get everything shuffled around, and I appreciate you picking up extra training shifts. That isn't why I called you in here, though," the General told her.
"Poe said it was urgent," Lyra remembered. She placed her hands on the module and leaned forward, waiting.
Leia quirked her brow, confused. "I never said the word urgent the whole time I spoke to him. Nor did I ask him to go find you. I told him to grab a cadet."
A wave of annoyance washed over Lyra as she realized that Poe Dameron had been messing with her again. "Really."
"He's trying to ruin this before we've even started," the General muttered, lips pursed in a thin line. "This mission is so important, and I wish he could understand that a little more clearly."
"What mission?" Lyra piped up, more curious than ever.
Leia glanced around them. Too many people were hovering around, all within earshot. Whatever she was trying to tell her was not for their ears. "Come with me."
Dutifully, she followed the General into her office, a small space with a desk and computer and not much else. It was mostly a formality, unlike the Phoenix Squadron office that was lived in and usually an organized mess.
"I hate to be so secretive about this," Leia began, taking a seat at the desk and inviting Lyra to sit across from her. "The Black Squadron has run into some trouble. They've been out twice, once in the last two weeks and again in the last two days. I heavily suggested Dameron involve you in this mission from the very beginning, but he clearly didn't want to." She raised her eyebrow, as if Lyra could have possibly known this.
The two of them on the same squadron would be catastrophic, and they both knew it. Poe didn't want Lyra flying anywhere near him. And, after picking up his slack for the last weeks, if anyone was owed favors, it would be her.
"I only know they left," Lyra said with a noncommittal shrug.
No way in hell was she telling the General what had happened when they got back yesterday. Leia put up with a lot of things, but animosity between her troops was not one of them. Lyra and Poe already had a history of their detrimental exchanges.
Leia looked at the wall behind Lyra, anxiety creeping into her expression. "I hate to ask this of you, but I really need you out there with them. They were on Ovanis for their last assignment, and they had a run-in with the First Order."
Lyra said nothing, but her posture went rigid.
"It was Agent Terex and some pilots with serial numbers connected to the First Order Security Bureau. We're still recovering the specifics, but it's clear that he's active again."
Terex. Spies, espionage, terror. Lyra's childhood rushed back at her, dragging her back to the final days before she escaped. Agent Terex and his entire crime syndicate was filth, hardly worthy of even the First Order he relied on for his power.
With the Resistance, Lyra had made the choice to reinvent who she was and what she fought for. Those slithering secrets of her past came to haunt her, and she had garnered a reputation because of it. She didn't hide her past, anyone who cared to know could access her records, but that didn't mean she had a speck of pride for who she used to be. Leia might be the only person on base who knew close to the whole story of where Lyra had come from and the things she had seen.
But Lyra herself was the only one alive who carried the weight of the things she had done. Those were sins she was still atoning for.
Lyra's body flooded with dread. "I didn't think–" she began. "I don't know what I think, actually."
"You don't have to put on that face. I know," Leia told her, inclining her head in a motion of sympathy.
Lyra cleared her throat. Strategy, talk strategy, you know how to do that. "If Terex came after them directly, he was probably after the intel we recovered from Sabre Strike. Stealing the Huverion Grace and mining the computers definitely put us on First Order radar," Lyra reasoned, coming up with everything possible to avoid seeing that sneer in her mind. "He might not have any idea of what we're actually after right now, whatever that is."
"That's what we're hoping," Leia nodded, not answering Lyra's veiled question.
Lyra absently circled her finger in the dust on the old table, trying the question again. "Why were they on Ovanis, General?"
A long breath, another pause. "There's been word about Lor San Tekka again. He's resurfaced, and he might have a map to Luke Skywalker. It's all rumors right now, but we think we have a solid lead. That's part of the reason your squadron was assigned to infiltrate the prisoner transfer ship. The data you were after is one of the links on a very long chain that will eventually put us on Tekka's front doorstep."
Her heart sped up. This was not just a map. It was the map. There were so many murky myths surrounding the lost Jedi, enough that he might never have existed at all. But Leia was living proof of the Skywalker legacy. And Lyra herself believed Leia's brother was still out there somewhere, waiting to be found. It was a child's hope that the throes of life still hadn't extinguished.
At the Imperial Academy, they were told the Jedi were the most horrendous beings to walk the galaxy. Devils, champions of the worst kind of order, and things borne out of a hatred for the Empire. That, of course, spurred Lyra to find every available text on them. She read by the light of a stolen holopad in the dead of night, flicking it off each time heavy bootsteps thundered past her dormitory door. Instead of someone else reading her bedtime stories when she was younger, she had taught herself how to put her faith in something real. The Jedi were what they needed. They brought peace and saved the galaxy time and again from the darkness of the Sith and the Empire.
If Tekka had a map, there was no question as to what both sides of the war would do to get it.
"No way," Lyra said softly, quietly filling her mind with pictures of hope.
Leia smiled a slow, melancholy smile. "You can understand how vital it is that we do all we can to get the map. If Terex is tailing them, I need you to be there. I'm assigning you to the Black Squadron on a temporary basis."
Lyra knew she had no choice but to agree, even when every single voice in her head was screaming to say no right in General Organa's face. "Of course. But once Terex finds out I'm still alive–"
"He doesn't need to," Leia shook her head, sounding certain that he wouldn't. "But if he does, I can't tell you what will happen. I need you to accept the risk."
Lyra was putting a lot of trust in this. She was risking being hunted again, a risk that her old commanding officer might find out she was still alive. "I'll do it," Lyra agreed, once and for all. For good measure, she added, "Even if Dameron would rather I didn't."
Leia laughed. A full, hearty sound that startled Lyra. It wasn't supposed to be funny. "I'm glad that's all that bothers you about this."
Lyra's mind was still screaming, no, no, no. She couldn't face Terex again. And two Commanders on the same squadron? Unheard of. Everything about this mission was unorthodox and dangerous. Probably cursed by some ancient tradition, and not ideal in any way, shape, or form.
"Well, if Terex doesn't kill me, Poe probably will," Lyra said, finally cracking a smile.
Leia just shook her head gently, as if this might turn out to be a bonding experience. "Give it time. Don't forget, you've still got just as much authority as he thinks he does."
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 gonna what?"
"Kriff, Eden," Georgie griped, running a hand through his chin-length black hair. "You're going to bust my eardrum screeching like that."
Eden shot him a look and resumed her argument. "Commander Endellion, Lyra, the love of my life, I will sweep the floor you walk on if you tell the General you changed your mind. Tell her you can't do the mission!"
"You know she can't do that," Aliyah said, shaking her head and making her flame-red ponytail swish. She had been pacing on one side of the room, too deep in thought to add much to the conversation.
"I think she can," Eden continued, bolstered by her own conviction. "The General listens to what you have to say–" she leaned forward "–so tell her the Black Squadron can figure this out on their own."
If Lyra had been allowed to tell her squadron the specifics of the mission, they wouldn't be so wary. But the words map and Luke Skywalker were not allowed to exist in the same sentence outside of an audience with Leia or the Black Squadron. It was a closely guarded secret, and Lyra knew how to keep those too well.
The five of them sat in the headquarters of the Phoenix Squadron. It was Lyra's office, the space used for all of their strategy meetings and intelligence research. Originally, it had been little more than a stark metal room with a conference table, three holo computers, and a questionable amount of rusted droid parts.
Now, the room was covered in remnants of General Organa's covert operations squadron. Georgie's excessive amount of shoes sat in the far corner. Hard copies of intelligence reports were organized into Lyra's neat filing system, and their active leads were tacked up onto the wall with Eden's heart-shaped magnets. Aliyah had every single item in the room password-protected, including the cubby where she kept her snacks. And Lyra never stopped finding Ellis's collections of items he had won in a variety of bets. Georgie had been trying to wean him off of his gambling problem, but it was fruitless. His recent win was a half-functioning mouse droid that he insisted he would fix up and use.
The space was kept slightly clean and as orderly as it could be. They even had a couch that Ellis had dragged in. Lyra had slept on it once or twice instead of walking back to her quarters after a late night of working.
Ellis was lounging in a chair with his boots propped up on the conference table. It was getting dirt everywhere. Lyra shoved them off with a well-meaning glare.
"Eden, are you suggesting that she tell General Leia Organa to shove her mission up her ass?" Ellis questioned with a lifted brow.
Eden rubbed at her nose ring. Loftily, she said, "I would never. I'm simply suggesting that–"
"–that she shove it up her ass," Ellis finished with a sage nod of his head. "Good to know. You should write her up for insubordination, Lyra."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Listen, guys, I wanted to discuss this with you, but that doesn't mean it's going to change. I'm reassigned, and no complaint is going to change that."
Unfortunately.
"She'll ground us," Aliyah said, finally taking a seat at the table. They were all sitting now and the meeting was formally underway. "You know she will."
"She won't, I made sure of it. Aliyah, you'll be taking temporary command, but I do have to tell you it'll be limited authority. I'll make sure Phoenix is still assigned missions. It's not like I'm going to be locked in a room while I help the Black Squadron, I'll still be around."
Aliyah huffed, but she remained silent.
"Why do they need your help so damn bad?" Ellis asked.
"Because their glory mission is failing. Miserably," Georgie snickered. Ellis laughed in response to the dig.
"Don't talk like that," Lyra chided. She agreed, but she couldn't say that in front of them. "It's temporary. I'll give them the help they need and then it'll be done."
Eden still wasn't sold. "You said you fly out in a few days, but that's only the beginning. Who's to say there won't be more leads to follow? You know how the First Order likes to play things, especially if it's Terex."
Lyra was allowed to tell them that much. Besides, the Phoenix Squadron had been unknowingly tailing the loose ends of the Security Bureau for a month. They all deserved to know what they were chasing.
"Believe me when I tell you this is lasting as short as it possibly can," Lyra said, sick of the formalities of this conversation. She stood up from her chair. "I'm not abandoning you." There was a raw edge to her voice, and she wanted to make that clear to them.
"We know you aren't, don't worry about us," Aliyah reassured her. "We'll be fine without you for a little bit."
Georgie's eyes lit up from across the table. "Hey, doesn't no commander mean no write-ups?"
Ellis leaned forward with a grin. "I do believe it does, Bera."
"Please tell me it doesn't," Eden groaned.
Lyra laughed, finally. "Aliyah has full authority over that."
With a wicked grin, Aliyah said, "Good."
"Damn it."
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
EDITED ON 8/27/21
a/n: the phoenix squadron in it's prime?? I think yes!! eleni dameron will be making her debut in the next chapter and I am SO excited for you guys to meet her!
a side note, I am going to be changing the context of some of the Black Squadron's missions and the storyline of the 'poe dameron comics'. if you've read the comics you'll catch some scenes and lines, but I did alter a good amount of them to fit with my story.
catch ya later!
nat :)