Chapter Text
I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone on my first day.
Leia leads me to the command room, and it’s so… busy. People running back and forth, tech and droids being thrown every which way, a frenzied hum rising in the air like the strange cicadas that made their home in D’Qar’s trees. Infinite distractions. But I focus on keeping my gaze straight ahead, quelling my curiosity. You’re not here to be curious.
As I watch the commanders filter in, I’m hyper aware of everything around me. My braids winding around my skull, tight enough to pull skin. The traveling cloak draped around me, conveniently hiding the small insignia patched onto my right shoulder. My pack, holding what little I brought, digging into my shoulders as the leather straps grow heavy with gravity. I’m glad for a familiar face standing next to me. The reunion with Leia was heartfelt, to say the least. She met me on the outskirts of the planet, and I could feel as I was landing her holding back tears, because I was doing the same.
Underneath the main hologram console, she gives my hand a reassuring squeeze as the rest of the people gather around us. Two of them- probably mechs, gathering from their oil-slick clothes- have pulled up stools and are chatting animatedly about something or other. Head of medical, in his white lab coat, is absentmindedly scrawling notes on a digipad. Last to come in is a curly-haired pilot, orange jumpsuit tied around his waist. Nearly everyone in the room calls out a greeting to him and he nods back with a large smile. Charmer. I make a mental note to stay far away from him. Charmers have a way of getting you to trust them much too easily.
“I believe I will call us to order,” Leia says, her soft voice backed with steel as it filtered through the room. The conversation around us dies, leaving only the atmospheric hum of a busy workplace. “Thank you for meeting me. As I’m sure you read, we have a new arrival on D’Qar. I expect you all to make her feel welcome in the following days.” Days. Weeks. Months. Who knows how long I’ll be here. “Cade, would you like to say something?”
I step forward, fingers drumming a tattoo on my right hip where my saber would normally hang. Nervous tick. Blue light illuminated the faces surrounding me in an eerie glow. I try not to think of it as a premonition. “Thank you, General. As she said, my name is Cade. You may address me as such.” I pause, trying to think of something else to say. At home, that would have been enough. Here, they’re much more… open. “It is an honor to be accepted by the Resistance. I look forward to aiding you all in my time here.” Satisfied, I give a small nod and step back into shadow, feeling safer in the partial concealment.
They still seem to be waiting for more, but Leia speaks up before I’m put on the spot again. “Poe, I’ve assigned you to show Cade around the base until she’s comfortable with it herself.”
Charmer pilot steps forward with a broad grin, hand outstretched. I stare at it for a second before tentatively shaking it, not letting his grip outweigh mine. “I’m Poe, Poe Dameron. Commander of the Black Squadron here on D’Qar. Looks like I’ll be showing you around.” He winks at me, and I have the sudden urge to roll my eyes so hard they detach from my head. Leia gives a disapproving tut, but there’s warmth behind it.
“Poe, please, let’s keep the flirting to a minimum.” He had the decency to look mildly embarrassed. “I’ll consider us adjourned. Thank you all, you’re dismissed.”
As everyone floats away, it’s just me, Leia, and Poe left. She nudges me subtly on the back towards the pilot before being called away to another post. “I’m glad you’re here, Cade. We’re glad you’re here.”
I nod to her, grateful for the kind words. I hike my pack farther up on my shoulder and look expectantly at Poe. “I’m told I have quarters in the East wing?”
“I- yes, of course! It’s just through here.” He gestures to a door nearest us and I follow, a few steps behind to his left. Protocol. Difficult habit to break. He winds us through corridors of dirt and concrete, a maze of workrooms, quarters, and people, all rushing to get to where they need to go. There are a few groups here and there meandering through the chaos, laughing, and I assume they’re on break. “This here’s the mess hall.” He points to a cavernous room to our right, filled with the sound of echoing voices. “Best food on the planet, twenty-four-seven. And over here is…”
I try to listen politely, but the exhaustion of the day’s work is taking over, and all I want to do is crash in a bed. Finally, we seem to reach a quieter part of the base. Less movement, and a settled sort of feeling. A welcome change from the madness of the rest of the place.
“So, Cade. Where ya from?”
I eye him, trying to suss out how much he knows. “Here and there. Nowhere permanent.”
“No home planet?”
“No.” He seems surprised at my lack of an answer, which I take to mean he’s completely clueless as to why I’m here. And if he’s clueless, so is everyone else. Fantastic.
“What made you want to join the Resistance?”
I stiffen involuntarily, one hand squeezing the leather strap slung over my shoulder until it bites into my hand. “I am not with the Resistance, Mr. Dameron. Make no mistake on that.”
“…still deciding, then.”
He makes it sound like that’s the only other possible explanation. As though everyone in the world is tripping all over themselves to join the Resistance. “No, Mr. Dameron. I currently remain unaffiliated.”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “We don’t usually allow visitors on D’Qar.”
“The General and I have an agreement.”
“Such as?”
Stars. “Do you always ask this many questions?”
“Only when I’m trying to be nice.”
I sigh. “I take it no one here has actually been informed of my arrival.”
“Other than meeting you in command today? No, no one knows a thing. You’re quite the enigma.”
He says it jokingly, like he’s trying to get a rise out of me. “I see. Perhaps that’s for the best.” No telling as to what they’ll do when I start swinging a saber around, but hey, if Leia didn’t tell them, I’m certainly not going to. I’d be a smudge on the floor before the day is up.
He blessedly says nothing for the remainder of the trip until we stop in front of a heavy metal door. “C3, East wing. Your new abode.”
I step forward and pretend to press buttons on the keypad, when really I just unlock it with a swipe of my hand. “Thank you. I appreciate the guidance.”
“No problem. Let me know if you need anything. There should be a comm pad in there with my ID keyed into it.”
I nod and step forward, then will the door shut, not caring that I left him mid-sentence. The room is small, but adequate. A bed tucked into an alcove, a chest of drawers, a door leading to what I assume is the bathroom. There’s even shelves for knickknacks or books, which strikes me as a little absurd. This is a military base, not a dormitory. Then again. I think of Faustina back home, who keeps pictures from magazines taped up beside her bed. For the color, she says. Maybe it’s a universal want.
I investigate the drawers. They’ve been filled with plain clothing, conspicuously absent of any Resistance logos. Thank you, Leia. I change into a comfy looking pair of pants and shirt and climb into bed, leaving my bag to be unpacked tomorrow.
I get up again. Tie the pants tighter around my hips, situate my boots at the corner of the bed so I can leap into them in a moment’s notice if need be. I take my saber from my pack and it hums underneath my palms, begging to be activated. Some sense of normalcy in this strange new place. But instead I carefully tuck it under my pillow, just within reach.
Just in case.