Kyja woke up with a stiff back and a bruise on her side from sleeping on her favorite pistol but she managed a smile for the white mask she found above her.

"Ren wants you in the Detention Area." A man's voice told her. He held his weapon at the ready but it seemed to be the habit of a soldier, not a threat.

Kyja yawned and nodded as she sat up and reviewed her bland surroundings. "Can I leave my things here?" A short nod.

The bounty hunter stood up and followed through the dizzying hallways yet again, rubbing at her back and fully aware that she was willing to give back her earnings to go back to sleep on a decent bed. The stormtrooper marched ahead until they reached a sealed door and another trooper standing guard.

"Ren is waiting for her." Kyja's stormtrooper announced.

A nod of reply and she was waved in.

Alone.

Again.

The door sealed up again behind her and a scream followed almost immediately. Kyja found her hand on her pistol and wondered if they'd sent her here for Kylo Ren to take care of, to dispose of. If she'd missed something.

A camera caught her eye.

She slowly lowered her hand and faked a laugh.

Kyja kept a smile painted on her face and tried not to think about where she was.

"Hello?"

A menacing figure in black stepped into the pristine white of the hall, towering over her in yet another inhuman mask-why hadn't she brought her helmet? Everyone else here wore one. She bowed her head.

"Sir."

"The bounty hunter," Kylo Ren cocked his head to the side. "In here."

He disappeared back through the door and she only hesitated long enough to clench and unclench her fists. She followed him in to find an empty and lightless room, dark grey walls with no decoration except a series of recordings running on various screens. Her eyes narrowed and flicked between them; some of a rundown desert town, some of that town destroyed, most of them of a bruised and bleeding man being interrogated. The man was who Ren called her attention to.

"I want to know if he was alone," The graveled voice commanded.

Kyja nodded, stepping forward to study the man and wincing as the light from the screen flickered across her face. Was this the pilot? A small part of her hoped not as she saw a looped scene of him getting punched in the gut.

"I only heard one voice. I didn't get close enough to see inside the starfighter."

Ren waved a hand and a switch across the room flipped along with Kyja's stomach as she realized that some of the stories were true. Then she heard a familiar voice quipping at the interrogators, asking if they were sure they knew what they were doing before cutting off in a grunt of pain.

Was she about to join him? Was this a trick to get her to tell what she knew before they revealed what they knew?

But there was no fear on her face as she turned and nodded to the towering presence beside her.

"That's him. That's the one I talked to." Her eyes locked on the brazen face as his mocking voice rang out again. "I can get my droid to give you the recording, but I'm not sure what you want from him. The conversation was mostly..." She gestured to the rebel as he gave a laugh. "Just talk."

"That will not be necessary."

The two of them stood considering the man. Ren looking for a breaking point, Kyja Lissiri trying to absorb that sense of resilience and slam it against her fears of ending up in that chair after they finished with the rebel.

"How did he get away?" The warrior asked suddenly.

Kyja winced, "Pulled a stunt."

"But you almost caught him?" He watched her nod and studied her for a long moment. "What is your name?"

"Kyja Lissiri, sir."

"Well. I may have need of the woman who almost caught..." He looked her up and down before continuing. "...the 'best pilot in the resistance'. Is your ship ready to fly?"

"Your men were to repair it."

"Ah, yes." Ren stepped forward and typed something into the console. "Repair should be finished by the time we know what we're looking for. Go prepare your ship for launch and await orders from General Hux."

"Yes, sir. Are these orders for me or for my crew as well?"

"You. You will be retrieving something your quarry left on Jakku."

The girl didn't feel anywhere close to the grin she plastered on her face but she raised an eyebrow in amusement anyway. "A bit of revenge? Thank you, sir."

He nodded. "You are dismissed. One of my men will lead you to your ship."

She bowed again and walked out quickly.

She'd collected her belongings and was back to her ship before her disgust wore off enough to wonder what it was that pilot might be hiding.

..

The repairs were not finished by the time she got the com ordering her to find and capture a BB unit of all things. She filled the remaining time by pulling up a holo of the planet and doing some calculations of how far that type of droid could have moved by now.

She wasn't too happy with the results.

She'd chased a droid once before, but that one had been stolen and she'd predicted what the thief would do. She wasn't sure that she could predict what something would do if it didn't need money, water, food, friends, or shelter. The hunter also had a hunch that the pilot would have given the droid orders not to send transmissions out to the other rebels.

Just to make herself feel better, Kyja let out a curse.

A series of beeps behind her told her that H333 did not approve. With a sigh and several comments about how easy it was to recycle useless metal, Kyja fled the cockpit and began walking up and down the rows of First Order ships. Everyone ignored her and it was interesting to watch the pattern of take-off and landing that they'd established between the various types of ships and where they all had to dock.

She was playing with the idea of throwing out a few tracking pods, just to see if she could find one of their more permanent bases when she caught a flash of something that wasn't black or white. A stormtrooper escorting a prisoner, she realized and her mind dismissed it for a moment; brown wasn't that interesting of a color.

Her mind noted that there had been a bit of red against the brown.

And that the face above it had been a little familiar.

Kyja became curious and took a step back, finding that spot empty. Her eyes naturally followed up to the TIE fighters lining the wall and she idly wondered if her ship could outclass them.

She was about to turn away when she caught movement in one of the TIE cockpits. Her feet moved her closer as she tried to make sense of it.

"Lissiri?" She jumped and turned to find an officer studying his clipboard. "Your repairs are finished and you are cleared for immediate takeoff."

Kyja glanced back, lips pulled tight, at the TIE fighter and found a pair of narrowed eyes studying her between setting the controls. He was just barely visible and she was almost sure that if she claimed not to have realized who was piloting later, it would be believable. Almost believable.

But if he got back to the resistance and told them who she worked for...

Her hand went to the gun at her side and the eyes that had been watching her locked onto hers. There was a bruise around one eye. Blood matted the side of his face. That hadn't been in the video. What more had they done to finally discover the existence of the BB unit?

What could she get from them if she gave him back?

What more would they do to him if she gave him back?

"Lissiri?"

Kyja felt her jaw tremble just a little, and then she felt her hand fall away from her weapon. She couldn't help but look at the man again and wasn't sure how she felt about the wave of relief that seemed to shudder through him. She caught a glimpse of stormtrooper armor in the seat behind him and felt sick as she fought off the temptation to move closer, to find the stormtrooper's face.

It had been a man escorting the prisoner.

There was nothing here for her.

"I'll leave right away."

"Yes, ma'am."

There was a loud growl of an engine starting followed by the groan of metal.

Kyja refused to look.

The bounty hunter walked forward as chaos erupted on each side, shaking her head and fighting a desire to roll her eyes. What was the point of wrestling with your conscience if everyone else was just going to act like an idiot?

There were several explosions as Kyja reached The Sarlacc's Revenge.

"Hey, H." Her voice was dripping with annoyance. "Ask them if they want help."

She had a brief moment of terror that the droid was about to radio the escaping prisoner and whoever his gunman was. But the droid hadn't seen what she'd walked away from.

There was a negative beep.

The young woman laughed, "Well, alright then." There were several more explosions as she typed in the coordinates of a settlement on Jakku. "Let's go, shall we?"

...

Soon after, the TIE fighter had spiraled down toward the planet as well. Fire blossomed as it fell, shattering itself.

When Poe woke he found himself alone, still strapped to the chair and its parachute. His hands struggled for the release and he gasped for breath as he fought his way out of the chair. He spun, eyes searching and finding only sand.

They would be after him soon. No way they hadn't tracked the crash. He grimaced as he stopped his pointless searching: maybe they'd already found Finn.

He had no weapon, no starfighter, no allies.

For that matter, no food or water.

Poe took a bracing breath and remembered what he could of where he'd started his descent. There should be civilization big enough to spot if he headed... that way. And if Finn had stayed conscious that was the place he would have seen first, as well.

"Here's hoping," Poe muttered to himself.

He tore off some of the ragged parachute to use as cover and then he was off, marching across the desert.

Every so often he caught sight of the same cargo vessels he'd used against the bounty hunter. He figured he was either headed in the right direction of the exact opposite-either way, he ducked against the dunes every time he heard engines.

As he rested, watching, he caught sight of a smaller ship, a gunship with quite a bit of repair work recently done across the top of it. It was going much too fast to be searching for him. And he'd seen the bounty hunter who'd headed for that ship, the woman who'd... not helped exactly, but not stopped his escape. He'd seen the look on her face and it was not the look of someone who was First Order material.

He stood and continued forward, steps slow as he reached for a better option. One second of doubt, barely even a second, came as he failed to find any. Then he was marching on again, grinning and positive his new plan would work.

After all, she had offered him a job.

Why not see if she'd meant it?

...

It was hours later, the sun already on its way past the horizon as Kyja finished a long afternoon of asking questions and getting no answers. Her movements were more and more sluggish as she made her way back to the gunship, hating everything: the way her boots sunk in the sand, the way the sand sunk into her skin, the way her mind wandered back to the identity of whoever had escaped with the rebel, the way everyone around her eyed her like they wanted to rob her and then murder her and sell her corpse as food rations. She keyed in the code to her ship while rubbing one hand over her mouth and then over her neck, longing to be clean.

"This your ship?"

Kyja didn't turn around. She didn't go for her weapon. She just leaned forward and rested her head against the ship as the hatch lowered down to let her in.

She was so tired.

"What are you doing here?" She spoke the words into the ship but then turned to see where he'd been hiding. It took a moment before what she'd taken for a pile of sand stood and began brushing off his shirt. She noted a blaster at his side and wondered where he'd found it.

"Big Guns, it is you!" He met her incredulous look with a confident grin. The blood on his face was now mingling with sweat and staining his collar. "Did you find my droid yet?"

"No. What are you doing here?" She stepped toward him and tried to appear menacing, blocking entrance into her ship. "What do want, rebel?"

He hesitated, trying to keep the charm stamped on his face as strength drained away. He was leaning against a hanger wall but still had to fight to keep his knees from buckling.

"Rebel? Oh, come on, Guns." A free hand pressed to his chest to show his 'heartbreak'.

"You never told me your name," Kyja knew, she already knew that she would let him in. But she wasn't sure if he would return the favor with a laser to the back. "And you keep calling me 'Gun'."

"Guns."

"It's Kyja Lissiri. You?"

"Poe. Poe Dameron." He looked a little stunned that he hadn't been shot yet and numbly reached out to offer a hand, stumbling as he moved forward. "Nice to meet you, K-Ow. Kyja."

"Just come inside before someone sees you."

She meant to wait inside the door but she saw him eyeing the ramp uncertainly and she gave in soon after. It took a few seconds for him to understand that she was offering to be a crutch in place of the ship wall and then she had Poe's arm thrown around her neck. She glanced to the side to see if he was alright with this, if she was hurting him and found that sure enough his face was tight with pain.

"What did you say your name was again?" She knew. She just didn't want him dreading too much as she got him to the base of the ramp.

"Do all mercs have bad memories or is it just you?" He gasped out.

"You want me to remember that I should be killing you?" They were halfway there now. "That's what I thought." She added when he failed to reply.

"It's Poe."

"Yeah? How long have you been waiting out here for me, Poe?" Almost there. "Ow."

"Sorry, Kyja," His arm had pulled at her hair as he shifted his weight. "Most of today, I think. I passed out... for a bit." He laughed breathlessly.

They made the last step and she quickly closed the door, lowering the rebel to the floor.

He laughed, holding his side as she went off to fetch a medkit. "So, what are you gonna ask the Resistance in return for their best pilot?"

"I was going to ask you for something actually," She tossed him the kit and frowned as he simply nodded. "Not surprised?"

"Bounty hunter, merc: your type don't usually fight out of loyalty," He began tending to a wound on his side and Kyja snatched up some dinner, selecting a bit of floor across the room from him and settling down to eat. "Unless I really am that charming."

"We'll see," Kyja's mouth twitched against a smile as she tore off a bit of bread to study. "Where is your friend?" She asked as a few crumbs trailed into her palm.

"The stormtrooper?" Poe stopped smiling. "I lost him in the crash. I mean, I don't know where he ended up."

It had been a bit much to hope for. She ate the rest of the bread with slow, deliberate movements as she considered it all.

"Alright, then. I'm offering a ride in exchange for any information the rebellion has on First Order training bases. How's that sound?"

"Cheap."

"Plus expenses."

"Fair."

"And some flying lessons from 'the best pilot in the Resistance'."

He laughed. "Deal."

The bounty hunter watched him as he moved stiffly and treated the rest of his injuries. She wanted to have H333 look him over but had to do some programming first to keep the droid from telling Rosha. It was going to be awkward if Rosha ordered her to turn this man in. Or if her father ordered her to turn this man in. On the other hand, if Ren or Hux ordered her to turn him in she was more and more ready to tell them to shove it-every wince Poe made brought a new question of what might have happened to her sister. What her sister might have become.

"The First Order will be a bit suspicious if I just take off running," Kyja mused out loud. She saw Poe frown as he closed the medkit and carefully lean back against a console. He was completely at her mercy. "You think they'll buy it if I say I found a lead off-planet?"

"Not if they've got a real lead. You have no idea where BB8 is?"

"No. The Order offered a reward and suddenly no one wanted to share what they knew," Kyja sighed. "Why are they after a droid?"

"Why do you want information on First Order bases?"

"Touche." Kyja struggled to her feet and found another dinner pack, walking over to squat in front of him. "You going to be alright, Poe?" She asked, studying him as he took the meal from her hands.

"Offer me a chance to fly this bad boy and I'll be dancing a jig for you in a few minutes," Poe said with a wink. The wink turned into a wince and he laughed again. "Maybe a few hours."

"Right."

Poe set the meal to one side and clapped her on the shoulder. "Worried about me, Guns?"

"Of course; I still have a lot of questions for you," Kyja shook her head as he laughed and went back to eating. She moved away to grab another bite from her own dinner and began going over the missed coms before giving up on them and pulling up her holo of Jakku again.

Night had fallen when she looked back to find Poe asleep against the wall. The First Order had called off the Jakku search for BB8 but given no details so it didn't seem worth it to wake him up.

It didn't seem worth doing anything right now, really.

Kyja stretched and let out a yawn. It was hard to keep a decent sleep schedule with all the planet-hopping she did and she wasn't sure how long ago she'd had that nap on the star destroyer.

Lazily, the bounty hunter stood and moved to the sleeping droid to make sure it wouldn't wake during the night. A few minutes more and her armor was strewn on the floor of her little room among the rest of her fallen belongings, her door was locked, and she was tucked in bed.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

And she hadn't had one of those in a long, long time.