"You're a lot more chipper than I would have expected," was Poe's first comment the next day.

She'd been whistling when she walked in on a com with one of his superiors and she'd replied to his comment by offering him breakfast. There was a long pause on the other side of the com channel before the woman finally spoke again.

"Poe? Who is that?"

Poe held out a hand to accept the bowl, eyes never moving away from the radio. "Big Guns." He said, as though it were obvious.

"Dameron, is this person not even sharing their name with you?"

"Sure, they are." Poe looked to Kyja. "Any guarantee this channel is safe?"

"It was yesterday. But if you can avoid my name being thrown around..."

"Course. I wouldn't throw you to the rancor." Poe seemed a bit stronger today, ruffling his dark curls off his face between bites of breakfast and moving the chair back and forth with his feet as he talked. She still noted that he winced whenever his movements twisted his torso.

"I should be getting orders soon so don't answer any other incoming." Kyja spooned the remainder of her own breakfast down and walked away to reprogram H333 not to report the rebellion. 

It took her the better part of the morning and she shared the news about BB8's escape with Poe while she worked. 

He hadn't been surprised.

When her orders came in, they were to await any follow-up news and report anything she'd already learned. The bounty hunter announced her intention to leave as soon as they could and the rebel offered no argument.

Kyja let Poe program in the coordinates and then checked them over his shoulder a few minutes later, just to be sure it wasn't anywhere too dangerous. When she'd decided to go to the rebellion for help, she'd hoped to have something more to offer them than a beat-up pilot. She wasn't entirely sure they wouldn't decide to toss her into a cell, with or without Poe's approval.

A comment from Kyja about some weather readings, a few adjustments of Poe's, and The Sarlacc ready for take-off.

An awkward pause followed.

"You know they can see right through to the cockpit, right?" The woman said finally. "You can't actually fly us out of here."

"I'm aware," Poe's hands steadied on and then fell against the armrests. "I'm just not sure if I can get up."

He looked up to where she stood, waiting for her spot, and gave her a dazzling smile.

Kyja returned it.

Then, after making him wait just a few moments more than he expected, she offered a hand and helped him limp his way over to a couch and games table that had been set in a back corner. He was pale and clammy by the time she shoved aside a datapad and let him fall onto the cushions.

"Try not to hurt yourself while I get us out of here." She said drily.

He just nodded.

Kyja returned to the console--clicking H333 on as she walked by--and replaced Poe in the pilot's seat. The ship rose off the ground jerkily, sand that had built up in the night weighing down the roof. Kyja made a frantic face as her view was covered with a cascade of beige. She took a slow breath in and out and simply let the ship's nose dip, clenching her teeth and continuing to hover even as she heard the contents of her shelves once again sliding around the floor behind her.

Soon enough, the ship was clear and The Sarlacc was heading straight up. Then they were back in space and with a few button taps they were headed into hyperdrive and she was calling over her shoulder.

"H, scan my guest and give him any medical attention he needs."

She watched long enough to make sure that Poe was distracted with fighting off H333's more motherly instincts and then finally called up a call to her father, lowering the volume as she did so.

"Ky!"

"Hello, papa; I'm alright." She let him absorb that. "I'm following a new lead. I've got an in with the Resistance."

Silence followed. Silence always followed statements like that.

"Keep H at your side. You know you'll be safer."

And more obvious. "Always, papa." She lied easily.

"Are we compromised with the First Order?" His voice was becoming more professional now. If she'd messed things up with the Order, his other bounty hunters would never stick around.

"No. Our device worked like a charm. It just wasn't the right place." Kyja considered. Her voice was hushed and eager as she continued. "Did you hear about the deserter? One of the stormtroopers, one of Hux's betrayed them."

"What? Do you know where he went?"

"No, but he'd crashed on Jakku. If you can find a lead there... If nothing else, it will help me with the Resistance."

"Thank you, Ky."

"Of course." She heard the pleased beep that meant H was satisfied with his work. Poe was currently swearing up a storm but that would end soon. "I'll let you know what I find."

"I'll do the same."

With their now traditional goodbye, the conversation was over.

Kyja watched the stars blurring past for a moment and then turned to give her passenger a smug smile. "Better?"

"I miss my droid."

...

The Sarlacc's Revenge pulled out of hyperdrive to find empty space, which wasn't what she'd expected. There was a dead grey planet, there was a pale blue moon and a pale brown moon, and there was not a single sign of life as far as she or her radar could see.

"Poe? What were you..." She drew her gun and rose grim-face to look at him. "Where did the Rebels tell you to take me?"

He held up his hands. "Hey, you said the channel was compromised. The general just told me to go to the last rendezvous mentioned and they'd meet us there."

Kyja was screaming at herself: she'd been distracted with H and her father and Poe's injuries. And now she was a sitting duck. "I'm not sitting out here. This could be an ambush. From anyone." She added as he opened his mouth to argue. "Where can we land? We can wait until your friends arrive."

"So you can ambush them?" Poe struggled to his feet but his voice was more wry than threatening. "There's an old base. We had to leave in a hurry when the First Order started sniffing around this galaxy. Should be locked up tight."

"Even for you?"

"It'll give us enough shelter for a few hours."

Kyja's fingers drummed on her pistol. She knew she would have to explain what she wanted to Poe soon. Right now it was too much change to absorb. Too much to plan around and adjust to. She'd hoped to be allied with the First Order, to be able to hang around and get to know how things stood before showing her hand.

As she considered this, Poe was readying himself to stand up. He hadn't actually thought much about the destination or what they were running from since he'd typed in the coordinates--instead he was wondering how much it was going to hurt to move if Kyja changed her mind and took him hostage.

It would be smarter to simply surrender; there was a droid here, his hand was nowhere near his pistol. He was a pilot not a soldier... not really. Poe shook off the smart decision and tensed his body, readying to fight anyway. His eyes darted between Kyja's fidgeting gunhand to the absent look on her face.

Darted again.

He relaxed.

"You alright, Big Guns?" He slowly, hands up, stood and approached her. She didn't seem to hear him so he placed a hand on her shoulder again, bringing to back to reality. "How about I bring us down? And then we can talk?"

Kyja's jaw clenched. She looked to the hand on her shoulder and then to Poe's uncertain smile. He gritted his teeth, readying himself for a punch to the nose.

"I can help; I promise." Kyja blurted. "I can spy. I have knowledge. I--"

"Hey, hey; easy." Poe gripped her other shoulder, leaning closer to look her directly in the eyes. "We can talk planetside, alright? Figure it all out?"

Kyja blinked back at him.

"Besides, you've already saved my life, right? So we're buddies."

The panic left her eyes and the bounty hunter that had chased him up and down the skies of Jakku returned. "Buddies." She repeated. "Right."

"So I can fly us down?" He patted her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, have some fun. Why not." Kyja pulled away.  A moment later she'd disappeared into the back room and was rummaging around, muttering to herself.

Poe sat himself down in the pilot's seat and grinned. The ship moved even more smoothly then he'd imagined, the engines purring even after the abuse and sand that Kyja had put them through an hour or so before. The only thing he could complain about was that monster of a droid assisting him instead of BB8.

In what felt like seconds, the ship was approaching the brown rock of a plateau. Poe evened out and skimmed the ground, searching for a familiar set of rock formations. Once the strange lumpy stone forest appeared on the horizon, he headed for it and dipped into a canyon as it appeared.

Kyja came out of her room as Poe found the large empty space below the plateau, too open to be considered a cave quite yet.

"Don't crash my baby."

"Wouldn't want to follow in your footsteps, would I, Big Guns?"

"That was your fault, rebel." Kyja gave him a congratulating pat on the shoulder as he landed about 100 feet into the space. "This is a base?"

"Landing space for it." Poe leaned forward to point out a spot further under the rock canopy. "We can wait for a com in there. I'd like to check for anything left behind as well. We left fast."

"Hm." Kyja held out a helmet for him, placing her own on her head. "The First Order knows about this place then?"

Poe considered the helmet and then slipped it on, better safe than sorry. "This planet. They don't seem to have found the actual base."

The two stepped outside, Kyja waving for the droid to stay behind before pulling her pistol. Poe was already striding forward, his blaster held steady before him. She followed him at a slower pace, eyes checking their surroundings for any creatures or cameras.

"You coming?"

She glanced at him, then longingly back at the ship. "I don't like this place."

"Really? After Jakku and the prison cell, this place feels like home."

Kyja wrinkled her nose and only turned toward him once she heard the door opening. She threw out a hand and seized his jacket, holding him still for a moment and listening for any sign they'd been noticed. The two of them stood, hunched in the dark, the only sound their anxious breaths.

Finally, Kyja dropped her hand and they both relaxed.

She pulled out a pair of light sticks, handing him the one that still had a loop to attach to his jacket.

"What might have been left behind?" She asked, letting him lead the way into the cramped stone tunnels. She could see offshoot tunnels with dozens of doors, some of them left swinging open. Every object on the floor or displaced shelf was a sign of panic, of fleeing in terror. She set her jaw against the memories threatening to bubble up and locked her gaze on the back of Poe's head.

"Codes... Tools..." Poe was saying. "The rebel in charge of those things was shot down on our way out so there was no confirmation."

"You think they ran instead?"

"We were on a time crunch," Poe pointed out. He stopped a moment to catch his breath and frowned down at her. "The order was to get out."

"No judgment here," Kyja held up her lightstick, peeking into nearby doors. "Though it seems like a shame to have to leave home behind like this. What?"

Poe's eyes were studying her again.

"What were you doing there?" He stepped closer, clipping the blaster to his side and crossing his arms across his chest. "Working for the First Order? Getting their help?"

Kyja hesitated.

"Credits." She turned to walk on, but Poe stayed put. After a few steps, she sighed and turned to see what he was up to. "People need credits, Dameron."

"They do," He agreed. His face was in shadow now, the lightstick hanging from his chest. "So then why are you here?"

She swallowed, simply not ready to talk about it. She'd held onto this thing for too long to simply dump them on the first sympathetic ear.

"They were asking too--" She shook her head. "It was never going to last, rebel. And when Ren brought me in to--"

"Woah," Poe was at her side in an instant, looking her up and down. "Ren interrogate you too? You alright?"

Kyja's mouth fell open. He was too close, he was too nice, he was too much. She could see his stubble, the healing wound on his forehead, the concern in his eyes.

Kyja raised her hands, placing a palm and the butt of the pistol against his chest to gently push him away. "I was trying to shoot you down a day ago, rebel."

Poe shook his head but stepped back. "Yeah, but that was for credits. And you've decided you don't need those now because..."

"As I was saying," Kyja turned and they continued through the tunnels, side by side now. "Ren brought me in to question me about you and I saw... more clearly what things are like. I'd never been that close to the Order before. For that matter, I've never been close to the rebellion before." She glanced up at him, checking for hostility. "You all seemed like a distant... distraction."

"From?"

"Survival. Success." Kyja's voice dropped and became wistful. "Home."

A sealed door appeared at the next turn of the tunnel; their destination. Poe entered a code and, with a hiss, the door slid out of place and revealed a room with dozens of consoles and a similar feel of panicked disorder to what they'd already been walking through.

"So let me take a guess..." Poe said, stepping over an overturned chair and scooping up some severed wires to repair. "You've decided that we can get you those things better than Ren and Hux."

Kyja scoffed. "They were never going to help." She walked up to the largest console as it began to light up, leaning over it to watch the green code begin to scroll past. "And Hux can get kriffed." She added venomously.

"The enemy of my enemy," Poe simplified.

"Sure..." Kyja froze. The console was flashing on and off.

Poe reached out and tapped a few keys at random. "Nothing..."

"The rebel who was in charge of this..." The console stopped flashing and began to boot up normally.

And then somewhere, deep in the tunnels, came a very...

Loud...

BANG.