Ben Solo

XXIII

Ben walked back into the kitchen and handed Poe's lightsaber to Luke.

He took it, and put it into his own belt.

They were silent the rest of the meal.

Ben slept fitfully that night.  The same nightmare played over and over each time he tried to sleep.

Poe left him.  He left him.

In Ben's dream, Poe's departure was less heartfelt, and more heartbreaking.

He turned his back on Ben and walked up without a glance back.

Ben had to remind himself of what had happened in real life, their goodbye.

The next morning, he was irritable, and Cody didn't help.  At one point, he snapped at the little red-head boy and told him to leave his presence.

Luke had him clean the showers as punishment.

But it was only four weeks before Poe came back.

Not for good, but he came back, in his new X-Wing, and his helmet bearing the name 'Dameron' and his orange flight suit.

One of the girls ran in, yelling, "The pilot!  The pilot is here!"

Ben perked up when he heard that, and ran outside.

He nearly knocked Poe over in his embrace.

"Ben!" Poe exclaimed.

"You came back!  You came back!" Ben said.

"Of course I did, you goon!"

Ben grinned widely.  "I missed you."

"I missed you, too.  How has the academy been?"

"Alright, Cody's usually hanging around me, but I don't know where he is.  Training's gotten harder though.  I think we're going to become Jedi Masters soon."  Ben looked around to make sure Cody wasn't nearby.

Poe clapped his friend's back.  "Congratulations!"

"So, have you gotten any status yet in the pilot business?" Ben asked, walking with Poe to the top of the base.

"No, I'm just Red Seven right now in my division.  But if I work hard enough, I can work up to Red Leader.  Leia's already talking about making me Red Two, as second in command, since I've been getting pretty good at flying."  Poe sat down.

"Of course you are, you're the best pilot they've got."

Poe laughed modestly.  "I wouldn't say that."

Onya, Averann, and Ilia came running up the hill covering the academy.

They all hugged him individually, and he recounted what he had told Ben to them.

"When do you have to leave?" Onya asked.

Poe pulled on one of her lekku and she swatted his hand away. "I'm on patrol here, so I can stay a bit. Ben, if you want, you can come on my patrol tonight. I have to look for any First Order activity."

Ben shrugged nonchalantly, but inside, he was excited. Just like old times! Well, not really that old, but older.

"Do you want to come in for dinner?" Averann asked.

"It's not burnt," Ben teased.

Poe shoved him. "I'd love to."

As they walked down, he explained, "You get tired of the packets after a bit. They're pretty bland."

He proclaimed that the food was the best he'd had in four weeks. They all laughed.

Ben teased him again, playfully, "They've been letting you cook?"

Poe made a face at him. "I'm trying to pay her a compliment, try it sometime?" He laughed.

Ben stuck out his tongue, which he hadn't done since he was ten.

Averann grinned at the two.  "You both act like the little ones over in the big mess hall.  Maybe we should send you over there."

"Oh, please don't!  Poe's back, he'll draw even more of a crowd than I do," Ben begged.

She tapped his head lightly.  "Then I pardon you."

He smiled at her, cheeks flushing slightly, but he blamed that on the spicy food.

C-3PO wandered in jerkily, followed by R2-D2.  For the last four weeks, he had been mainly with the younger ones, since they enjoyed his talking more than the Padawans.

"Ah, master Poe!  How good to see you again!"

"Good to see you also.  Leia says she misses you."  He said the last bit with a mischievous glance at Ben.

"Well, by all means, take him back," Ben said, only partially joking.

"I miss the Princess also," C-3PO stated.

"That's General now," Poe reminded.

"Oh yes, it is, isn't it.  Well, next time that Han Solo comes back, I shall request to return."

"You'll have to go without R2," Ben said, "I need him for the X-Wing."

"Oh! Speaking of R2, I forgot to show you something!"

Poe ran out, and Ben followed. At the X-Wing, Poe reached inside the cockpit and pressed a button.

A droid that Ben hadn't noticed was lowered through the X-Wing from the top until it reached the ground.

"Is that your droid?" Ben asked.

"It's BB-8, one-of-a-kind. None of the others have those paintings on the side. I bought it off of a trader who came to the base."

BB-8 rolled forward to inspect Ben. He tugged the droid's antenna playfully.

It beeped at him and rolled back to Poe.

Poe laughed. "Ready to get R2 into your X-Wing and we can get going?"

Ben nodded. "I'll get him and we can go. Meet me around at the back, by the hangars."

He ran in, and called for R2-D2.  The droid came trundling out to meet him.  They snuck down the halls to avoid the children.

Poe had already landed his X-Wing by the two academy ones by the time Ben got out to the hangar.

He was leaning on his X-Wing, and yawning.  "What took you so long?"

Ben slugged him playfully and used the little crane to lower R2-D2 into his place on the X-Wing.

"Ready?" Poe asked once they were both in their X-Wings.

"Whenever you are," Ben replied, adjusting levers and buttons.

They took off. "Let's fly towards Tutum," Poe said over the radio.

"Copy."

They flew low over, checking for any disturbances.

"Why are we checking at night?" Ben asked.

"It's easier to see the fires, they glow, and it's harder to see us."

"What's that out there? Four o'clock, looks like it might be Inops."

Then a TIE-Fighter flew over, firing at them.

Ben set his mouth nervously.

"Get ready for battle," Poe said gravely.