Chapter Text
The Millennium Falcon had scarcely left Crait’s atmosphere before the adrenaline-fueled hugs and chatter turned to somber murmurs. Leia settled onto the lounge seat, her body buzzing with soft complaints. She heard Finn behind her, whispering reassurances to Rose, reminding her of the living, the lost, and those hovering between.
Poe slipped through the small crowd, his spirits still high enough to clasp shoulders and nod encouragingly before he found himself staring at Leia from across the dejarik table. Her elbow was propped on the table, fingertips resting at her temple.
“You first, Dameron,” she said wearily.
Poe stared at her until she gave him a pointed look and nodded toward the people behind him.
“Alright, everybody,” he began. “Look around you. Take in their faces. These are the faces of the Resistance! Every single one of you is a spark.”
His eyes were bright as he continued. “There are other sparks out there. They might not have responded at first, but we’re not going to give up. Listen to General Organa. We have all we need. We’re going to find a new base. We’re going to send out that signal again. And we’re going to hit back harder than we ever have.”
The crowd rustled as Leia left the lounge seat and stood beside Poe.
“First things first,” she began, her voice sounding slightly stronger than before. “We need to find a base. Give us your suggestions.”
“Concordia?” someone started. “The New Mandalorians seem calmer.”
“Concordia won’t work. They’re pacifists. We can’t drag the war over there.”
“Hoth? It’s close to Bespin and I think the General has a contact there.”
“No way, we can’t dig out that old base out from underneath the snow.”
“How about Cardooine? Is that old A-wing facility salvageable?”
“Wait! Wait wait wait!” Poe shouted and threw his hands in the air. “Dantooine. We should go to Dantooine.”
“Dantooine,” Leia repeated as she tapped her chin. “Dantooine would work. There’s a partially finished base there. The Rebellion had to evacuate before construction was finished. The Empire waited for us for a while, but as far as most beings know, there isn’t much of a base at all. It’s enough of a base for us.”
Leia retreated back to the lounge seat. “You heard him, Chewie. Set course for Dantooine.”
Most of the crowd dispersed to get a layout of the Falcon. A few of the higher-ranking members gathered around Leia. Finn remained by Rose’s side. Poe stood with his fist raised to his mouth, staring at the floor grates with his brow furrowed, as if all his energy drained down his body and into his boots.
“Poe.” Rey grabbed his sleeve. “Would you like to come with me to the cockpit? We’re in hyperspace, so I suppose there won’t be any actual piloting, but this is the Falcon. The best pilot in the Resistance should at least have the chance to sit in the pilot’s seat.”
Poe snapped up and nodded his sore head with enthusiasm. “Are you kidding me? Yes! After you.” He gestured down the corridor. After several turns, he found himself staring at the dash he imagined when he scribbled pictures of ship schematics during Galactic History class.
Rey grabbed Chewbacca’s shoulder when they reached the cockpit. “Chewie, go rest.”
He protested, but Rey tightened her grip on his shoulder. “Go. You and I both know that you’re tired beyond belief.”
Poe tried not to wince when Chewbacca’s footsteps echoed painfully in his head.
“There,” Rey said. “Now you sit before you fall down.”
Poe lowered himself into the pilot’s seat, holding his breath against the twinge in his ribs. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”
Rey dropped down beside him. “I think he’d rather be with Leia, to be honest. With Luke gone and Han before him…”
Poe surveyed the controls more closely. “And this is where they started.”
“Something else is starting now. I can feel it.”
“It’s starting thanks to you,” he said seriously. “Thanks for swooping in and doing your thing back there. I’m responsible for the mess you bailed us out of.”
“Surely not all of it. There is always more to the story.”
“I’m sure your story is more interesting,” Poe protested. “You found Luke Skywalker!”
Rey wrinkled her brow. “The past several days are a bit of a blur, to be honest.”
“I’ll give you that one,” Poe huffed. “So you can pilot this thing, huh?”
“I can fly most anything.”
“That makes two of us.” Poe clapped her on the shoulder. “Welcome to the club, Jedi Rey.”
“Just Rey, please,” she laughed. “I still don’t understand how the whole Jedi thing works.”
“General Organa probably knows best at this point.”
The Solos rarely visited Yavin IV when he was young, but when they did, Ben stood at the entry ramp and refused to let him in. Poe always tried to trick Ben into allowing him to dash around him.
One minor scuffle ended with both boys falling off the ramp onto the damp ground. Poe laughed as Ben wailed. Kes knelt beside the boys in concern while Han tossed out a “brush it off, Ben.”
“Poe?”
“Yeah, Rey?”
At some point, she had pulled her legs up on the seat and rested her head on her knees, facing him. Her eyebrows were knit together in concern.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m good.” He cleared his throat. “I’m good. You?”
“I’m tired,” she admitted. “But I couldn’t have done anything else. It was the right thing to do.”
Poe sat up taller and braced his hands on his thighs. The right thing to do.
Rey lifted her head from her knees and saw that his knuckles were white. She wanted to grab his hand, but dropped her feet off the seat and stared out the viewport instead. She focused on Poe’s breath over the commotion of the starship.
After a while, he lifted his gaze from his lap. “Hey, where’s the ‘fresher on this thing.”
“What? Oh – take a right. Two doors on your left. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m fine, Rey. Just worry about getting us to Dantooine.”
Rey sighed and pulled her knees back up to her chest as he walked away.
Mercifully, the single occupancy fresher was empty. Force knew he was too dehydrated to use it, but he didn’t know the Falcon well enough to dash into a private corner before he embarrassed himself. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and waited for the burning to subside.
Poe jolted at the sound of banging on the door. The sound was coming too low for it to be anybody but –
“- Hold on, BeeBee-Ate!”
“Hey! I’m out here, too.”
Finn.
Poe walked one step to the sink, briefly running the water to wash his face and run his fingers through his hair.
He palmed the door open and wiped his hands on his pants before squatting to pat BB-8. He straightened and pulled at the hem of his shirt.
“What’s up, Finn?”
“Poe, people have been looking for you. I told them to give you a minute, but that occupied light stayed on a little too long and Rey told your droid here that you’ve been acting weird.”
Poe gestured at his head. “Headache… blast doors… concussion… you know, losing track of time things. How’s Rose, by the way?”
“Unconscious.”
“Sorry, buddy. We’ll get her more help when we –.”
Finn crossed his arms and angled to face him head-on. “Don’t you distract me, Poe. As much as I hate it, I can’t help Rose right now, but I can try to help you.”
Poe smiled half-heartedly. “First Order couldn’t get rid of your maternal side?”
“Oh, come on!”
Finn led Poe to the galley and tossed him a water bottle and a ration pack. BB-8 kept up a steady line of chatter, Poe answering with variations of “Nice call, pal,” and “Great job, Bee,” and “Missed you, too.”
When he swallowed the last of his ration bar and drained his water bottle, he said, “Buddy, why don’t find somewhere to power down for a while?”
BB-8’s response could only be described as forlorn.
“Hey,” Poe continued. “All good droids need their rest.”
BB-8 turned and Poe watched him roll down the corridor. They heard an echoing thump as he rounded a corner.
Finn followed Poe’s gaze and shook his head. “Now that is weird.”
“Sometimes Bee bangs into things out of protest.”
“Okay, that’s weird, too.” Finn frowned. “But I was talking about you telling Bee to go away.”
Poe waved his water bottle dismissively. “I asked him to power down.”
“You asked him to go away.” Finn snatched the bottle away and placed it on the counter. “Rey’s right. You’re not yourself.”
Poe ran his hands down his face. “I owe you an apology, buddy. I kriffed up. I sent you back to the First Order.”
“Look, Poe. You know I stopped doing things that I don’t want to do. I went because I thought it was the right thing to do.”
Poe leaned his head back and screwed his eyes shut. For several moments, Finn wondered if he’d fallen asleep standing up. Even though he didn’t trust it, the thrum of the Falcon’s hyperdrive was downright soothing compared to the hell they’d survived.
“Damn it. Damn it, Finn!” Poe pounded his fists on the bulkhead behind him.
Finn startled and smacked his knee on a drawer. “What did I do?” he hissed.
Poe closed the distance between them until they were nearly nose-to-nose. His chest heaved, but he brought his voice down to a whisper. “What is the right thing to do? Really, what is it? How can I make those calls?”
“Dameron!”
Both men startled and turned toward the shout. “General Organa.”
Her bold voice belied her casual appearance. Of course she was the only one onboard with a change of clothing. They must have sat untouched for years.
“I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we’ve had enough of your outbursts. Sleep, already. I don’t give two bantha ticks if you need to find a sedative in the medkit. I need you quiet and I need you ready to speak to me with a clear head.”
“Yes, General.”
Poe turned back toward Finn, who watched over his friend’s shoulder and nodded when Leia disappeared around the corner.
“I get it. It’s not easy to know.” Finn said before Poe had a chance to speak. His mind wandered back to his first encounter with Rose. “You want me to grab a sedative?”
Poe shook his head, suddenly looking very tired. “Don’t think I’ll need one.”
Poe entered the captain’s quarters and the door sealed shut behind him. It was quieter and warmer than he expected. He took a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the lighting before he noticed Leia gesturing for him to sit on the edge of the bunk with her.
“General?”
“Sit down, Poe. And if I wanted you to call me general, I wouldn’t have brought you in here and I certainly wouldn’t ask you to sit on my bed.”
Poe sat down gingerly, trying not to jostle the mattress in fear of disturbing Leia’s injuries, although he was quickly becoming more aware of his own.
“I heard you tell Finn that you ‘kriffed up.’”
“Leia, I –.”
“Don’t apologize for your language. I agree with your assessment of your actions.” Leia waved his comment off. “I need you to remember that victories and defeats do not lie on your shoulders alone. War is not about you.”
“We had this conversation after L’ulo’s funeral.”
“We did. I’m not grounding you this time. I’m placing you on leave. One standard week. Two if you need more time with your father.”
“Wait?” Poe sat up straighter. “My father?”
“We’re stopping on Yavin IV to replenish supplies.”
“Leia, please – look – I can’t – you need –.”
“Don’t argue, Dameron. We mapped out supply stops. People have volunteered to stay on those planets to recruit sympathizers. Only you and I will know that you’re on leave. To everyone else, you’re spreading the sparks to spread the flame.”
Poe stared at the space between his boots. “Spread the sparks and spread the flame.”
Leia tilted her head in an attempt to meet his eyes. “You’ve lost your confidence. I can’t have my leaders lose their confidence. Take this ‘recruitment mission’ to get your head on straight. Chin up. Stand up.”
The mattress creaked when they pushed off. Leia opened her arms.
“And come here.”
Poe froze.
“I said come here,” she beckoned, the creases softening around her eyes.
Poe allowed Leia to wrap her arms around him, but he didn’t sink into the embrace until he felt her hands warm on his back.