Battle Scars

Chapter VII

"CB run a diagnostics test on the nav computer for me," CB-23 happily beeped behind Diana as she finished putting the nav computer back into the cockpit of her x-wing. She had been awake since before the kitchen crew was even awake working on her ship. She found an odd sense of peace when she was taking it apart and learning about it as she put it back together. 

Poe did not come back the day before leaving Diana worried. She had hoped that he would have been back by the first morning but that didn't come to pass. Now, it was the second morning and no sight of Rapier Squadron. 

CB-23 beeped getting her attention again. "Hm? Oh! All of your tests came back good? Excellent. Time to put it back together." Diana began to put the modules back into their places as CB heard approaching x-wings. The little droid rolled away and watched as the three fighters came into view. 

Diana heard the three ships land. She turned just as the cockpits opened up. Diana watched as Kare and Iolo climbed down in silence. Something told her that the mission was not a success. Poe finally got down from his ship. His face was a mixture of concern and anger as he stormed past Diana.

"I don't think it went well," Diana said to CB-23. 

Poe tried to calm himself before he faced General Organa for debriefing. Diana didn't go unnoticed by him, but he didn't want her to be the first person he talked to. The General was waiting for them in the central command room. 

"Your lead turned out to be an ambush lead by Terex." Poe didn't hesitate to begin. 

"I had a feeling that would be the case. Something seemed off, but I couldn't risk passing it up," General Organa commented with s sigh, "I'm sorry I even sent you there." 

"It's part of what we do, but it seems the First Order is more concerned about a rogue pilot who went missing over a week ago," Iolo added.  

The General's eyes snapped to Poe's. She knew now why he was upset. "And? What did you tell him?"

"We knew nothing. We know nothing about such a pilot," Kare chimed in, "Then he tried to get us to tell him where the base was. We were able to get away before he could do much more." 

"Good. Well, take the rest of the day to rest and repair. I have a feeling this won't be the last we hear from Terex." The general dismissed the trio. Poe was starting to feel a little better, but he had a new personal mission. He stayed behind to talk to the general. General Organa looked just as concerened as Poe did.  

"General, we need to be cautious about sending Diana out on missions. Especially if the First Order is searching for her." 

"I agree with you commander... but she needs to know if she hasn't figured it out already." 

"Agree. I'll have a talk with her today." 

"Very good commander." 

Poe left the room and headed towards the hangar where he had last seen Diana. The base was just starting to wake. The news that the squadron had returned was beginning to reach anyone who was awake and moving around. His ship had already been brought in and was being worked on, but he was looking for Diana's. 

He found her finishing up with her ship. Poe took a moment to admire that she was hard at work doing what he asked her to do. It's probably seemed natural to her to accomplish whatever task her commanding officer told her to do, but she looked so happy doing it. He also couldn't help but admire how she looked. 

Diana was fit and beautiful, which was probably why half of the mechanics kept glancing her way. Poe didn't linger too long at the thought. He needed to talk to her soon and away from listening ears.