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ELARA HAD KNOWN WHAT THE FORCE WAS for a very long time.

One day, when she was five or six, her mother sat down with her and gave an explanation that a five year old could understand about what the Force was. Pandora had explained that the Force was not something to be afraid of, or be ashamed of. It was balance. To use the Force was to understand the Force, and to understand the Force was to use the Force. Her mother elucidated away all of her anxiety surrounding it. The Force was life, and the Force was death. Elara would never forget how her mother was the perfect representation of the Force.

When Elara turned ten, Pandora began teaching her the basics of the Force. Sitting in perfect meditation. How to find perfect equilibrium in gravity. Feeling one with the universe, like a petal on a stream, a feather on the air. Before long, Elara was able to travel through the dense forests of Batuu with a blindfold over her eyes. She could sense every root in the ground, hidden by foliage and dirt. Batuu's flora was hard enough to navigate with your five senses, let alone without your sight to guide you.

Elara never got to complete her training.

Things were starting to pick up more and more in her final days on Batuu, and the final days of her mother's life. Pandora must have suspected the invasion was near, because the last training that Elara or her older brother received was rushed, as if Pandora was attempting to pass on as much knowledge as she could in the small time frame.

The day that Pandora died was the day that Elara swore to never use the Force again.

It didn't settle in her stomach right - why should she be able to use such an ability without her mother beside her to guide her towards the full potential? Pandora Astalles' status in the Force was most likely the reason for her demise. Being one of the two final Jedi Masters in the galaxy put quite a large target on her back.

Still, Elara found herself wandering the woods of D'Qar, stepping over each and every rock embedded in the path with ease. Her eyes were trained on the greenery around her. Elara's mind took residence elsewhere at that moment. Exploring the planet did that to her⎼ the General and her friends expected not to see her for a few hours after mission debriefing. Every time, she got lost in the sapphire skies and the juniper trees of D'Qar. It truly was a beautiful planet. Elara read about the old Resistance bases, during the Empire, and compared to Hoth... D'Qar was electrifying.

Her head turned back at the massive root exposed on the path that she narrowly missed. The grin that spread across her face was enough to make her chest surge. She looked up as she walked, sunlight dancing across her head every once in a while, and the slightly clouded sky was barely visible through the thick vegetation. How swiftly she could get lost in serenity was enchanting; exhilarating, even.

Her hands cleared some bushes into a clearing, which revealed itself to be a perfect lookout into the tops of trees and a small lake. With no way to safely get to the lake, Elara sat down with her legs dangling over the ledge of the cliff. At this angle, the sun would set perfectly over the lake, and she made a mental note of her path so she could later return. Her hands reached behind her to brace her weight. The sun was blinding. It's rays made her squint slightly, but she couldn't be bothered to readjust.

How long she sat there, she was unaware. Time seemed to pass slower when she was alone. At long last, she pulled her legs back onto the ledge and safely stood back up. The trek was slightly less tranquil since Elara knew she had a destination to go to. She never quite knew how she got back to the base. But alas, she always did.

She approached the side of the base and entered her security code into the keypad which let her inside. The door clicked open, and Elara slipped inside to see a few droids whizzing towards her, one of them being an orange and white BB unit. Poe Dameron's astromech, to be exact. One of them chirped a greeting and came to a stop in front of her.

"Hey, Ivee!" Elara replied. Ivee was a blue R-unit with a clear dome, one that Elara had to use a few times for routine checks. She was a beautiful droid, and a loyal one at that.

Ivee wiggled a little bit at Elara's cheerful response. Her head swiveled to look at Dameron's BB unit and then back at Elara. Dameron's droid stopped next to Ivee. Ivee, seeing her friend beside her, beeped another string of words to Elara.

"I haven't, no." Elara answered Ivee, her attention turning towards Dameron's droid. Elara's features washed over with a small smile as she crouched down next to the droid. "What's your name, buddy?"

The droid answered happily, telling her that his name was BeeBeeAte. His body shifted from side to side ever so slightly. A panel in his body opened, and an arm reached out to shake her hand. He beeped a question as he did so.
    "I'm Elara." She reached out and shook the droid's hand. Well, to the best of her abilities. Honestly, the arm wasn't very... movable, but it was the thought that counted. "Or, Commander Astalles, depending on who you ask." She shrugged slightly, faking humility.

BeeBee chirped something of excitement, and told her that his friend was a commander too. Elara didn't have the heart to tell BeeBee that she knew, so she acted like she didn't. Bee got lost in talking about Poe, and Elara looked over at Ivee, who started glancing around. Elara understood they had places to be, and she stood up.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Bee, but I have to get going. I have friends to meet." She started walking the way they came from, and she waved at the droids.

Bee began rolling excitedly away from Elara, Ivee following behind and beeping a goodbye to Elara. She shook her head slightly at the droids. The astromech at D'Qar have always liked Elara. Poe Dameron must have good taste, because his droid was super cool. She wondered where Dameron got BeeBee, because they didn't have any other BB units on the base like him, so it must've been from somewhere else.

Elara made a right turn, her destination still quite far away. She was headed to her room. She knew her friends would already be there, because they did almost everything without her permission. Which, as their commanding officer, she shouldn't have been so lenient about, but she couldn't find it in her to care. Winnie was the one to figure out Elara's code to her living quarters. How, Elara had no clue, but she didn't feel like changing it afterwards. It was only a matter of time before the rest of them made her room their permanent hang out spot. Her room wasn't even that nice, it was just a bed, bathroom, and a desk. But apparently it was better than having to bunk together like the rest of them did.

As she walked, a few people tried to stop her to talk, but she gave a clipped response and followed it up by "I'm busy, sorry!", which got them off her back. When you were someone who was typically pretty busy, it was a feasible lie.

Elara rounded a final corner, revealing the hallway which led to her quarters, which had the door propped open slightly. Assholes, she thought endearingly. Didn't even keep her door shut. They could've locked it, considering it was her room and she already knew the entry code. But, they only kept it open like that to get on her nerves.

"Don't you guys have anywhere else to hang out that's not my bedroom?" Elara teased, closing the door behind her.

"Nope." Kathy's neck craned to look at Elara in the doorway from the desk. "I'm thinking about adding a couch. Your two sitting options aren't suitable for five people." She had a wide smile stretched across her face, her eyes crinkled shut as she did so. She had a notebook on the desk, likely writing out reports on the astromech. When she caught Elara's eye, she turned back around.

    It wasn't supposed to be. Elara wanted to reply, but rolled her eyes instead.

Winnie and Delphie were sitting on her bed and Kai was on the carpeted floor. They shuffled around quite often— Winnie's usual spot being the desk, so she could continue work with the ships even when away from them. However, today Delphie was wrapping Winnie's ankle up using an elastic medical wrap on the bed.

"What happened?" Elara pointed at Winnie, taking off her jacket and hooking it on the back of the door.

Winnie looked up at Elara with regretful eyes. Elara's eyebrows raised in a challenging way, knowing Winnie got hurt and didn't want to admit it. Delphie giggled softly, undoing the wrap slightly to tighten it.

"She got her ankle caught in her ship while doing repairs and almost slipped off." Kai answered casually, his sketchbook in front of him. One glance told her that he was drawing Fortuna Four— his ship. "I told her not to sit on it like that, but she didn't listen." He was mocking her slightly, but they all knew it was friendly.

"You'll be fine though, right?" Elara queried. She shrugged and sat down on the floor beside Kai.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Winnie snapped, her gaze switching to Delphie, who was opposite her. The bite in her tone suggested that there was more to the situation than they were telling Elara, and honestly, she was fine with not knowing. She already swept enough under the rug in her squadron.

Delphie laughed slightly and leaned back on one of the posts on Elara's bed. Elara's bed was a four-poster bed which she had made herself when she was fresh into the Resistance. She got sick of having the sunlight creep into her bedroom too early, so she wanted to make a bed that had curtains, because that's what a kid does instead of getting a curtain for the window. The fame was low quality, but the stain on it was pretty good, which pretty much made up for the fact that she made it when she was seventeen. Elara was pretty sure she was the longest recruited pilot there who didn't serve in the war between the Empire and the Rebellion. If you don't include her squadron, but they started piloting after she did.

"I'm not gonna say I told you so, but..." Delphies head tilted askew slightly, her lip curling up in a playful grin.

"Oh, shut up. I hate you." Winnie reached forward and slapped Delphie on the stomach, the latter tensing up and letting a loud giggle bubble from her mouth. She shoved Winnie back.

"You're stupid." 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being Kathy occasionally erasing things in her book. "God, we're so short on pilots." Kathy muttered. "We have, like, eighteen. Total. Including us."

Delphie snorted, "Yeah, tell me about it." She glanced up from the book propped on her knees.

Kathy and Delphie had been working with the General lately, as per Elara's request, to begin assigning the astromech to pilots. Fortuna Squadron had been docked for so long. They were all becoming restless. At the moment, the ratio between pilots and droids was quite disproportionate. The Resistance was seriously lacking pilots. Everyone knew it, which was why everybody counted. Even if your flying skills were subpar. A body is a body.

"I mean- this is crazy!" Kathy exclaimed in exasperation, standing up from the chair with her hands on her head. "We haven't had nearly as many recruits as we should from the Flight Academy, which means all of our droids are locked and loaded for no good reason."

"I get that," Kai started. He was still focused on the page in front of him, but speaking with that scholarly voice they all knew so well. Elara was about to start calling him an old man. "Plus, I think the droids would be more eager to go out if it was guaranteed that they would be returning."

Delphie snorted. "Yeah. Jess Pava, man..."

Jessika Pava was one of their best pilots, but she had wracked up quite the reputation between the astromech. She wasn't very good at keeping them... alive. Any droid she left with nearly never came back. Everyone who worked with the droids told her it didn't bother them, but a lot of them were created on D'Qar. As much as you weren't supposed to, you got attached to the droids.

"Oh, don't even get me started on Jess." Kathy pinched the bridge of her nose. "Love that girl, but Kriff, if she doesn't stop killing my droids-"

"Have you worked with BeeBeeAte by any chance?" Elara interrupted. She glanced up at Kathy with her eyebrows raised. Everyone's head turned to her.

"Poe Dameron's droid?" Kathy asked, bewildered. "Why?"

Elara's hands went to the play with the strings in her jacket. "Just wondering. Met the little guy on the way here." She explained as nonchalantly as she could. She was curious about Poe Dameron, as much as she didn't want to admit it. He had a story that he had yet to share.

"You met Poe Dameron's droid?"

"For the record, I think the guy's a prick." Winnie postulated. Her tone was clipped, still in a sour mood from getting injured. Winnie didn't like being vulnerable. "He's arrogant. Have you seen the way he walks around? He knows he's good. He's too cocky."

Kai chuckled. "You haven't even talked to the guy. Maybe you're being too hard on him"

"I don't have to talk to him to know he's a prick, Kai."

Elara deeply sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. She stood up from her spot on the floor. Her hands clasped together behind her back and she stretched. "Whatever. I'm gonna shower. If any of you need me... Don't."

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    ELARA ASTALLES' SHIP was absolutely fascinating.

The paint job on it was delicate and precise, along with the repairs. Obviously, it had to have gotten dinged up over time, but no matter how long he looked at it, he couldn't find a dent, a scratch, anything. The ship had so much love put into it. Fortuna Squadron's color theme was technically purple. On the nose of Commander Astalles' X-Wing, Fortuna One, was a lilac cornucopia, the shading on it meticulous. It was beautiful. Fortuna in and of itself was such a unique name, and he wanted to know where Astalles got it from.

Poe Dameron knew deep down he shouldn't be snooping around in the docking bay for Fortuna Squadron, but when he saw the door open, his curiosity got the best of him. He silently hoped no one would show up to do checks on their ships right then.

The silence in the empty room was so loud. His hand reached up to run across the side of Astalles' ship, the white a great contrast to his black X-Wing. He wondered where the Resistance symbol was located on her ship. Perhaps on the roof, since he was unable to see it from his spot on the floor. "Wow." His voice was barely audible.

A loud bang shook him out of his thoughts, the door opening quickly. Poe figured he just put himself in a situation that would be extremely difficult to explain. Like, "Oh hey, Commander Astalles, it's really a funny story as to why I'm closely inspecting your ship this early in the evening. Truly hilarious. I think you'll love it." He was already formulating a lie in his head before he heard the loud whizzing of his damned droid.

BeeBeeAte rolled toward him happily, already beeping in joy. He narrowly missed one of the other starfighters, Fortuna Three, not even noticing. I made a friend!

"Oh, did you, pal?" Poe attempted to shake off the heart palpitations that Bee caused him. He glanced at the door, casually meandering towards it. "That's nice." He was half paying attention as he tried to get to the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

Bee followed behind Poe, oblivious. He was definitely overjoyed to have met someone else on the base that wasn't Poe or his friends. Bee continued to chirp his story of his daily adventures. Poe slipped out the door, checking both ways before he did so. It was clear. Bee mentioned something which made Poe stop in his steps.

"What?" He whispered. "Your new friend is Elara Astalles?" He couldn't believe that his droid had gotten to talk to her before he did. He was rubbing off on his droid. BeeBee was stealing all of his game.

BeeBee beeped an affirmation, making Poe sigh. Pathetic. He's been in the Resistance for three months and had yet to find a good time to talk to Astalles, or any of her squadron for that matter. It wasn't that he liked her or anything, he was just curious. She was interesting. Everyone on D'Qar knew who Fortuna Squadron was. L'ulo L'ampar was the one to tell Poe the story, when Poe first joined and asked who the group sitting at the corner table in the mess hall was. They were tightly knit, and Poe could only hope that one day he would have a group like that.

Little did he know that he soon would.

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