╔════════ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄
'𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐰' ════════════╝
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
...D'QAR, ILEENIUM SYSTEM
𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐍 scout tower were not on good terms.
First, there was the time one of the rungs on the ladder had broken under the weight of her boots and she had fallen thirty feet onto the ground below. That was three years ago, and Eleni had long since re-engineered the mechanics to get to the top. More recent was the time that Lyra and Aliyah had spent an entire night shift helping one of the scouts de-code a string of data that had turned out to be a radio advertisement rather than a First Order threat.
Most recent of all was the time she had almost kissed Poe Dameron.
Out on the landing strip in the light of a new day, it was easier to try and forget. Reeve was diligently working on a Green Squadron ship, and the landing area was a maze of fuel tankers, mechanics, and a scattered handful of pilots milling around outside. The breeze was thick with engine oil and damp terra.
Lyra bit into her apple with a loud crunch. Her eyebrows furrowed as she continued her conversation with Reeve through a mouth half full of fruit. "I just don't understand why you can't have Kenny redo it for you. Isn't that his job?"
Reeve scrunched up her nose, deep in her complaints about the new ensign, Kenny. "Okay, first, that is disgusting. And second, it's the principle of the thing," Reeve said, leaning forward on the tool cart. "I can't just ask him, I'm trying to establish that I have authority."
"It isn't disgusting," Lyra mumbled, taking another obnoxiously large bite just to prove her point. "And if you have to prove your authority in such an explicit way, it's going to seem like you're grasping for control."
Reeve groaned. "Have I ever told you you're too good at telling the truth?"
"Once or twice," Lyra smiled.
"You'd think since I'm his superior, he would just listen the first time. I mean, I could just threaten to demote him."
"Do it," Lyra shrugged. "He's being an ass, he might even deserve it."
Reeve shook her head. "You're more honest when you're tired, ever noticed that?"
"I'm not tired," Lyra said, covering her mouth with her hand. "Just went to bed late."
"Oh, right," Reeve remembered. "How was your lonely shift on the tower?"
"It certainly wasn't lonely," Lyra said carefully.
"Did you convince Eden to go with you?" Reeve started to laugh. "I still can't believe she knocked that scout on his ass. I so wish I had been outside to see that."
"Me too," Lyra agreed, swallowing hard to clear her throat. "But no, Eden didn't end up coming out with me."
Reeve looked at her with scrutiny. "Poe went out there with you?"
"How did you guess that so fast?"
She shrugged. "Jess and I talk about these things. I'm not blind."
Lyra glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. "It's really not that big of a deal."
Reeve just looked at her with a blank expression, one arm leaning on the side of the ship. "I cannot believe you."
Lyra stopped smiling and her stomach plummeted. "What?"
"Look at you!" Reeve exclaimed, throwing her head back. "Every time someone brings him up you grin like an idiot. Are you gonna tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to keep relying on Jess's matchmaking gossip?"
Her voice faltered. "Nothing is going on."
"Does he know that?"
"Don't be stupid," Lyra interrupted. "I can actually guarantee he doesn't think of me like that. I almost kissed him last night and now he's spent the whole day avoiding me."
Reeve's eyes widened. "You what?" she exclaimed.
"Don't yell!" Lyra hissed. "It was a mistake, it was stupid," she pressed a hand to her forehead. "I actually can't believe I did what I did and it sounds so stupid. And then of course we were at the top of the tower when this happened, so the whole walk back we said about two sentences to each other."
"Give yourself a break," Reeve insisted. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."
"Oh, it was really that bad. I can't even think about it or I'm going to have an aneurysm. Or puke. Maybe both."
"Relax," Reeve laughed. "Give it a little time before you decide it's a lost cause. He cares about you and I know you care about him. He's proven his worth. You just don't know it's okay to let yourself be happy."
Lyra frowned. "Anyone ever tell you that you're too honest?"
"Just you," Reeve said smugly. "And if you ever figure things out, let me know. Jess and I have a bet going."
"Wonderful," Lyra glowered. With her apple gone, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the ship Reeve was working on. The sky was bright, but the only thing she could think about was last night and a world full of stars. She had seen Poe earlier that morning and before she could even open her mouth to say a word, he was walking off in the opposite direction.
"I need a final opinion on the Kenny situation," Reeve said, squinting one eye as she looked at the ship. "Does the welding job on this panel look like a five-year-old did it?"
Lyra stepped back to get a better view. The metal was charred and bubbled up where the seam cut like an uneven knife blade had attempted to cut along it. Head tilted, she said, "I would put it at least at a seven-year-old."
Reeve groaned and tossed her hair back. "Damn. This is why if you want a job done right, you do it yourself. Last time I ever trust an ensign."
"You sound like your mom," Lyra told her, laughing.
"I did spend half of my childhood in her shop. It was bound to catch up with me someday," Reeve finished with a dramatic sigh. Then she raised an eyebrow, staring at something over Lyra's shoulder. "Is that Eden?"
Lyra whipped around to see Eden sprinting towards them. Her hair was in one long braid and quickly coming undone, and she almost ran into a maintenance squad and their two droids. After a quick apology, she was yelling, "Lyra! You have to come inside!"
"What's wrong?" Lyra called as she got closer.
Eden shook her head, barely out of breath. "That's the problem, we don't know what's going on. One of the computer systems is going absolutely crazy, and Ellis doesn't know if he should shut it down and reset the system."
"Oh my god," Lyra breathed. "He didn't touch it, did he?"
She shook her head. "No, it was just us in there and I told him I'd go get you."
"I'll see you later," Lyra said to Reeve. "I have to go deal with this."
"Can you at least tell me if this is good or bad news?" Reeve asked.
"Good news," Lyra said with an uncontainable smile. "It's really, really good."
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
"𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐒! Don't you dare touch that computer!" Lyra said as she entered the room. Ellis was standing with a hand hovering over the screen.
He slunk back. "What the hell are you doing on here, anyway? Georgie and I are trying to develop this new virtual reality simulation and we need the storage space."
"I'm not letting you delete my files for a damn computer game," Lyra said in disbelief.
"Virtual reality," he corrected. "Not a game."
Still, he moved out of the way as Lyra took over at the screen. She had been using what they dubbed as their 'miscellaneous burner computer'. It wasn't as high-tech as their nicer, updated models, but the best part about it was that no one had access to it outside of the Phoenix Squadron simply because the operating system was too old.
It had been the perfect option for her Tekka-hunting data.
Eden peered over her shoulder. On the screen, a map of a spinning planet was blinking with the digits of a singular coordinate. "Jakku? That's a dust ball. What's on Jakku?"
Lyra breathed deeply, closing her eyes for a second to let this new reality settle over her. "Lor San Tekka is on Jakku."
"What?" Ellis said, voice jumping an octave. "I almost deleted the data on Tekka to install a computer game! Why didn't you tell us what you were doing?"
"Because if this didn't work and Leia found out I went against her orders, it would only be my neck on the line," Lyra explained. "She was adamant that we would find nothing. All I needed was a little time."
"Wow," Eden breathed, brown eyes blown wide. "You do realize that you just found the way to Luke Skywalker, right?"
Lyra grinned. "I know."
"Send out a doppler signal," Ellis said, hauling out a backup power generator from the shelf and plugging it into the old machine. "If it's Tekka, we need to be sure."
Eden raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you practical?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Just hit me this morning, I guess. Probably a one-time thing though, so don't get too comfy."
Lyra typed in the codes and sent a signal straight to the coordinate on Jakku. The waiting would be the most difficult part so far. She wanted to believe that it was Tekka, but if there was no response at the end of her doppler signal they would know that it had all been a--
Ping.
"You're kidding," Eden said. At the same time Ellis hooted, "Holy shit!"
Lyra gave a loud laugh of disbelief.
Eden shook her by the shoulders. "Go tell the General!"
"I will, I will," Lyra agreed, already scooping up the maps from Naboo that she had been using. With a toggle of a switch, she sent the data to the General's private data channel.
Lyra left the room with nothing but a buzz in her head. This was everything and more than she had hoped would come of this. Luke Skywalker might be at the other end of this mission, and the possibility had never felt more real.
Poe stepped down the stairs from the narrow corridor that led out to the hangar. Surprised to see her, he said. "Is everything okay?"
"I found it!" Lyra exclaimed, interrupting him. "I got it, a location on Tekka, and it's accurate. I sent a doppler retrieval signal, and you're not ever going to believe the best part," she told him.
He grabbed her by both arms to get her to stop moving. "What?"
She looked him dead in the eyes. "Tekka sent a signal back."
Poe's jaw dropped, and for a moment, he just stared at her. When he spoke again, he said, "You are amazing. I could kiss you right now!"
Immediately, she straightened. That was when she remembered that they were still in a strange spot of not speaking to each other and the memories of what happened last night were dragged to the surface again. She knew he was thinking the same thing because he took a safe step back, cringing at what had just come out of his mouth.
"Commander!" Threepio called out, saving them both from any more awkward silence. He was agitated, moving--shuffling--as fast as he could go towards her. "Commander Endellion! General Organa wishes to speak with you regarding--"
"I know, Threepio," Lyra said quickly. To Poe, she said, "Come on, you need to hear this too."
People in the room were slowly starting to pick up on the fact that something was going on. The last time it had been this quiet was when the New Republic Senator Erudo Ro-Kiintor was exposed as a First Order agent. It was a subdued kind of excitement, a blatant interest in knowing every detail of what was going on behind closed doors.
"Commander Endellion," Leia said, rubbing at tired eyes. "I hear you have some news."
"I've been working on decoding the coordinates we retrieved on Naboo," Lyra began. Leia opened her mouth to tell her off, but Lyra continued to talk anyway. "And I found him. I know where Tekka is."
For a moment, Leia said nothing. She just kept staring at Lyra like she had never seen her before. Then her expression hardened and she said, "My office, now. Both of you."
When Leia turned her back in motion for her to follow them, Poe leaned towards Lyra and said, "Do you think she's mad?"
Lyra scoffed. "Of course not."
"You don't sound very sure."
"You are not being helpful."
"I'm taking your advice and being more realistic," he told her with a smug grin.
She rolled her eyes. "Could you have waited another day?"
"Nope."
There was a large chance Leia was tired of having her hope drawn out into a thin, brittle line. Even if this lead on Tekka was as solid as the durocrete ground, there was a chance his map to Skywalker would be useless. And Leia had already held out hope for so long.
They sat down in the office, taking up the chairs they had sat in the last time it had been the three of them in a small-scale meeting. Lyra spread the maps out on the table and pointed to the star chart of Jakku. She only had one chance to sell this mission.
"Tekka has been living among the Tuanul people in a small village on Jakku. It's a spiritual village, very in touch with nature and the Force. No threat to us, but we can't let them get in the crossfire of this mission," Lyra said. She was overstepping, she knew, but this wasn't going to fade into nothing if she had any say in it. There would be a mission.
The desert planet with nothing of any prominence. It was known as a Starship Graveyard, empty remnants of the Empire's fall. She didn't even know if the blasted planet had an outpost that was still functioning. It was the perfect hiding spot.
"Where the last battle of the Empire was fought," Leia said. "Ironic, now the end of the First Order will begin in the same place it last ended."
"If the First Order gets there first, we don't stand a chance." Lyra was unable to stop the possibility from popping into her head. Leia shot her a look of reproach, and Lyra shrank.
"They won't," Poe insisted, putting his hands down on the ledge of the desk. "This is in our hands, it's up to us, and we're going to finish this."
Lyra looked at him. He was so utterly convinced, perfectly confident. Not arrogant, just optimistic. And optimism was something they were desperately short on.
"You're absolutely right," Lyra smiled, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "One last solo mission and we can move forward from this."
"I'm glad –" he started to agree with her, but then he looked confused. "What do you mean, solo mission?"
"Yes," Leia agreed, giving a curt nod of her head. "I don't think that a trip to retrieve a map requires more than one pilot. We want this to stay low profile."
In the beginning, she would have wanted to be the one to take up the torch of this glory mission; to see her hard work paid in full. She had watched Poe for years, and it wasn't hard to see that he carried the hope of the Resistance with him wherever he flew. He was charming, and he always came out on top and brought back good news. All it did was form a pit of resentment in her chest; her squadron and everything they did would only ever amount to a zero sum in the public eye.
In full confidence she knew it was her own pride that had blinded her to the truth of the matter. Her calculations and sleepless nights were matched by every effort Poe had made towards the same end.
Not so different after all.
And so, Lyra said, "Who better to finish this than the one who started it?"
But instead of smiling like she thought he would, he frowned. He was upset, and he was very surprised. "Are you serious?"
Lyra looked over at Leia to back her up on this. He could argue with her all he wanted, but whatever Leia decided made it final. Poe had said it himself, General Organa always had the final word. "Yes," she told him, not backing down from his stare.
"No! Are you insane? No way am I going without you."
Lyra's cheeks flared with heat at his fierce insistence. The look Leia gave her was knowing in all the ways Lyra wished it wasn't. "Yes, you are," Lyra tried again, keeping her face pointed toward the ground. "We really don't have time to argue about this."
"No," he insisted, lowering his voice. "Not if this entire village is connected to the Force, including Tekka. Either Lyra comes too, or she goes alone, but she has to be the one to go. Doesn't it make sense?" he asked, talking more to Leia than to Lyra herself.
Leia considered this, looking between them like her mind was already made up. "Not that I want to set a precedent, but Dameron is right. I'll issue two clearances for this afternoon, it's up to you if you both want to take them. I need you in the air as soon as your ships are ready, we can't waste any more time."
Poe was already walking out of the room, making a bee-line for the hangar. Lyra was about to leave too, but something stopped her.
"I know you can feel it too," Leia said, surprising her. "An awakening in the Force."
Lyra turned all the way around, facing General Organa for what might be the last time before they found out where Luke Skywalker was. "I feel like I'm out of my mind for saying this, but it's like I can feel that this is going to change things. For the Resistance, for the war."
"And for you," the General nodded. "I'm not going to lie to you, I think you know a change is coming."
Lyra took a deep, shaky breath, looking around the control room as if it might be the last time she ever saw it. "I could sit here all day and ask you questions about this," she told Leia. "I barely know what to think anymore."
Leia, for all her prestige and composure, seemed to falter. Almost like there was something she should have told Lyra, and now it was too late. "There will be time. Get back home safely, and then we'll talk, I promise. And Lyra?"
Once more, Lyra turned around. "Yes?"
A small smile graced the lips of General Leia Organa as she looked at Lyra with nothing but pride. "May the Force be with you."
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
𝐓𝐇𝐄 wind was changing.
Scattered breaths of it raked across the cement outside. A direction still undiscovered, and a divergence from this way of living. Leaves and twigs blown in from the deep emerald jungle trees had made their way all the way to the runway and as Lyra walked, she watched them skirt by the toes of her boots. She was still thinking of Leia's face, all crisp and clear with an echo of what they had hoped would happen for months. And something else, a dire warning that was still a dull noise in the background. Soon, it too might roar.
When Lyra looked up, Poe was standing in front of her.
"Hey."
"Hey," she said back, falling into the comfort of his smile. She was dressed in the black fabric of her Phoenix Squadron uniform, every weapon pressed into meticulous place. He was wearing his orange flight suit with his helmet tucked up under his arm. This was all coming full circle to where it had all begun with her shouting at him for not having control of his own mission.
And here they were finishing it together.
He was fighting a grin. "You know, I was thinking about how this all got started."
"Amazing how many things changed," she said. "Good and bad."
He cocked his head to the side. "I'd like to think there was a lot of good that came out of this."
"You would say that."
He stepped closer to her. "You know I'm not good at being realistic. Is it such a bad thing to focus on the better parts?"
She shook her head, smiling up at him. "No, it's not."
She swallowed hard, knowing that once the words were out of her mouth, there would be no taking them back. But she needed to say it now before they left. Even if this mission was going to be a simple in-and-out retrieval, she didn't want to fly out on such strange terms.
One more deep breath, and then she spoke. "I want you to know that what I said before, about there being no one else I would want by my side besides my squadron? I didn't mean it then, and I don't mean it now."
"I know, Lyra," he said softly, reaching out and brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. The small contact of his hand on her check sent a flare of warmth over her skin.
"I trust you with my life, Poe," she said.
For a minute, he just looked at her, brown eyes focused on nothing but her face. She memorized this moment where all else ceased and there was just calm and him. The sharp line of his jaw, the stubble on his cheek, the soft lines under his eyes from nights with no sleep. The feeling of a future unfurling a path long down the road. And, maybe, another night of stars when they could try again. For now, this was more than enough.
"And I trust you with mine," he told her.
Whatever might have happened next was interrupted by a very excited Bee rolling right across the runway so fast he barely stopped before he ran into Poe's legs. Are we leaving now?
Lyra laughed. "Why? Did you want to go?"
Bee just looked up at her. Not funny.
He rolled off to go bother the mechanics, and Lyra sighed. "I don't think he's forgiven me completely for what I said on Naboo."
"He'll come around," Poe told her. "He's just being petty."
"Wonder where he got that from," Lyra retorted.
"Oh-kay," he rolled his eyes. "Says the one with the Resistance's most feared astromech."
"If you're talking about Elgie, she isn't even technically mine," Lyra defended, crossing her arms. "I have to fly with Juice today; your sister took Elgie."
"See, this is why it's useful to have your own personal astromech," Poe told her, watching as Bee-Bee rolled around in the near distance. "But I won't lie, you're pretty much BeeBee's second parent."
Lyra let out a laugh. "So if anything ever happens to you, he's mine?"
"Sure," Poe said with a light laugh. "Which isn't ever going to happen, but it's the thought that counts."
"Course not," Lyra nodded. "The best pilot in the Resistance would never lose an astromech, anyway."
He gave a dramatic, content sigh. "I love it when you call me that."
"I know you do."
All around them, the base was alive with movement. The Force, a friend old and new, threaded its fingers through the air in a rush of sunlight seeping through the clouds. This was the beginning of the end, but a beginning nonetheless.
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
-ˋˏ *.·:·. ★ .·:·.* ˎˊ-
𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄
· : . -ˋˏ * ˎˊ- . : ·
a/n truly and honestly think I'm playing this game called "how many ways can poe and lyra say 'I love you' without actually saying it because neither of them want to get it together and talk about their feelings for real"
so anyways....
THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!! woooooo the act divider chapter will be out within the next few days, and I'll post my updated update schedule (lol) on my message board. I'm so so excited to do the sequel plots their due justice (and where it is required--their due damage 😃 🔪).
--N