Chapter Text
Raydonia, 34 A.B.Y.
It was supposed to be a simple mission. Sari Jama thought to herself as she struggled to connect the cables. (Was it red to blue? Or green to blue?) Get in, help these colonists out with their supply chain problems, get back to the ship.
And it had been, until the damned ‘Resistance’ had shown up.
Ever since Starkiller Base had been destroyed, those ragtag idiots had been a kriffing pain. But at least there was enough air and ground support to cover her while she worked.
“Are those bombs ready yet, Private Jama? They should have gone off by now! Even a child could do it!” General Hux screamed into her comm link.
Sari blushed in shame. This was typical for her. Distracted, having weird dreams, never really accomplishing much. It was a miracle she hadn’t washed out yet. Those who washed out were never heard from again.
So she really needed to get this right.
”S-Sorry! They’re just tangled, I need two more minutes, max!” She replied. Once these were set off to these old pipes, the Resistance would be cut off from the First Order and the village. And the village would be safe. Sari tucked a stray red curl away from her face and connected whatever cables she could find. Surely one of these was right.
General Hux visibly sighed. ”Two minutes. But they are gaining the upper hand. So be quick!”
Sari finished the bombs, giving them one last check. She had to get this right. No, she had to make this perfect. She was already in trouble with Hux for being late to the briefing. And she had flunked her pilot’s exam for the fourth time. If this failed…who knows what would happen?
Beep!
Sari sighed. Her soulmate timer was going off again. It was now at one minute and thirty seconds, but there was nobody around here but her. Maybe it was defective?
How could a biological timer even be defective?
It had appeared on her left wrist (her dominant hand) during her second week in the First Order. She had been excited at first. At twenty eight years old, getting your soulmate timer for the first time was rather unusual, especially in her homeworld of Naboo. But as time went by and Sari made few friends and fewer emotional connections, she was uneasy. Did she want any of these people as her soulmate? But regardless, in less than one minute, her soulmate and destined partner would appear.
Please let it not be General Hux.
Sari had her hand on the detonator, about to set off the bombs and run. But right as she was about to get up, a blaster clicked behind her.
“Step away from the water pipes.” The voice commanded.
She turned around, facing the voice. It belonged to a Resistance pilot. He was in his uniform save for his helmet. He had tanned skin, messy black curls and dark eyes. And stubble. Clearly he was too busy harassing villages to shave properly.
Shit. Sari was getting captured. By a Resistance flyboy. And of course, she had no blaster or guard or anything. Could this get any worse?
BEEP! BEEP!
Her timer.
No.
It couldn’t be. Not him. Not a loathsome, self righteous, selfish Resistance pilot. Maybe General Hux was standing nearby? Or a Stormtrooper?
But Sari watched as the pilot examined his own beeping wrist and then look back at her with the shocked expression she must be wearing.
Before he could say anything, she cleared her throat. “You’re..you’re too late, scum. And you’re mistaken about these pipes. These are disused and they only serve to protect this village from you. For the First Order!”
Sari clicked the detonator.
The pilot braced himself.
Nothing happened.
Sari turned around, eyes widening when she saw the intact bombs. She clicked again. Nothing.
A third time. Nothing.
Fourth time. Still nothing. The pilot was now looking at her with amusement in his eyes. “Are you going to blow us up already? I have to meet my friends later.” He teased.
Sari’s face turned red. Giving him a dirty look, she tossed the useless detonator over her shoulder before raising her arms in surrender. “Fine. You win. You messed with my timer and now you can take me to whatever cell your Princess created. But they’ll find me and you’ll be sorry.”
The pilot simply cuffed Sari and urged her to walk forward. “Two things: First, do not call General Organa a princess. Second, I don’t like being your soulmate either. We can talk about this another time, but I don’t think we can get out of this. This is the fault of whoever created soul timers, not mine. So you can blame them.”
Sari sighed as she walked towards a waiting Resistance ship. “Fine. Since someone fated us to be together, we might as well exchange names. I’m Sari Jama.”
”I’m Poe Dameron.” He said. Admittedly, he had a decent name. And he was tall. Well, compared to her anyway. She was rather short at 5’4”, with pale freckled skin, a stocky figure, light blue eyes and long curly red hair that she tried to keep in a ponytail or braid. (Loose hair was discouraged in the dress code guidebook.)
Sari looked around, in hope that someone from the First Order was hiding nearby to get her out of this. But there was nobody in sight. There wasn’t even another prisoner. She sighed in defeat.
They must’ve retreated. If only I’d set off the bombs! Then I’d be celebrating with my real soulmate, not being held prisoner!
At least Dameron hadn’t taken her comms. As soon as she could, she was going to send a distress call. Even though General Hux would kill her for failing her mission and the village the First Order had sworn to protect.
No, he wouldn’t kill her. Kylo Ren would kill her, have her brought back and then General Hux would kill her.
It wasn’t until she was on the Resistance ship and Dameron had walked away to his nearby X-Wing that Sari realized that her comms had fallen off.
As the Resistance left the planet, a scream of ”KRIFF!” could be faintly heard.