8 Without BB-8

An incessant beeping sound seized Poe's attention from the lewd dream he'd been having; he groaned loudly, as if matching its volume would somehow silence it. In his dreams he'd just saved the galaxy from utter destruction, like he always did, and Zorii was actually about to let him kiss her. However, just like in real life, the door to that fantasy was slammed in his face. Poe was still lying on his face in the makeshift bed he'd made in the dark chilly cockpit of his x-wing.  Reaching down with one hand to pull off the solo boot that still remained on his foot, he expertly launched it at the screaming comm link near him. Poe seemed temporarily pleased with himself as the noise seemed to have stopped if but only for a moment. His newly achieved peace was violated when the comm link began strangely buzzing and Poe decided he'd investigate the unhealthy noise, but with great reluctance. The pilot dramatically rolled over and wrapped his blanket around himself like a human cannoli as he waddled over to the control panels. Punching it hard with his fist, Poe was struggling to trace the events of the late night he'd had. Somewhere in the back of his muddled mind was a memory of an incoming call from BB-8...

Poe was now leaning against the wall with his own face, the cool metals of the x-wing's interior soothing his sickly expression. He reached over and clicked on the Comm Link to hear its saved messages; the first was from BB-8; his anxious droid voice dropped him some random coordinates late last night. Poe felt pretty bad about the last few times he'd taken BB-8 with him on some not so noble ventures; barely saving their skins the last time. BB-8 had been gravely disappointed with him after that and chose to serve Ms. Perfect, another unattainable woman he couldn't help but love. Dameron didn't blame his little buddy; his life had literally fell apart after the war-he just wasn't the same on the inside. With Leia leading the resistance, and the threat of danger all around was where He'd felt perfectly in his element-with chaos all around. Now with the galaxy at peace, most of the pilot's missions included either dull diplomacy or supply trading; driving Dameron to seek the thrills he craved on the occasional spice run.

Poe saw the second message was a message from Chewie who was following up BB-8's coordinates with a standby code. This really piqued his interest because Chewbacca had been giving him the cold shoulder once he managed to sniff out the trouble he'd been getting into lately. With a heavy sigh, he knew the fuzzball or perhaps even Ms. Perfect, could probably be in some kind of trouble if Chewie bothered to dig him up. Pulling his haggard face off the wall of the cockpit, he wished he hadn't been such a drunken bastard the night before; large gaps of time were not accounted for and he was really cold. Idly stuffing his hands in his pockets; Poe smirked slightly as his fingers clinked together a nice sum of credits he suddenly remembered winning at a hole in the wall in the Outer Rim.

Poe wiped his mouth and half-hearted beard with the back his hand; sliding back down into the cockpit cavern he called a bed. The inside of the x-wing was suddenly completely frigid and Poe could see his breath, which seemed completely insane for the season he believed he was in. The hairs on the back of his neck stood rigid and he didn't feel safe until his wandering left hand gripped the barrel of his trusty blaster. In protest of lifting the shields to be blinded by the maelstrom of light; Poe checked the navigation panel to be sure that he was still at the docking bay of the Outer Rim. A quick study proved that clearly he was NOT. A nervous laughter rippled through him as he casually dropped his blaster on the co-pilot seat and anxiously dug his fingers into his mess of brown wavy hair. How the kriff did he fly all the way to Hoth and not remember it? A good night; another bad morning. Poe slowly opened the shields to confirm and was greeted with a white glare from every direction he looked.

As Dameron adjusted to his new frozen hell, a foggy memory of an argument with Finn washed over him; all the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. This was the supply mission he'd played hooky on last week and apparently in his drunken stupor he decided to finally complete the mission. A droidsmith required a certain power converter to finish the tech update on all the service droids at this base; long turned into a research and tactical development lab after the war. Due to the extreme climate; there were far more droids than there were humanoids. Digging frantically through his storage compartments he found his Bantha fur bomber jacket and immediately applied it's cozy warmth to his shivering body. Armed with the power converter, his trusty blaster and a quick sip of the trouble he'd got into last night; Dameron headed out into the blizzard. Luckily the research lab was only a few paces from him and the Comm Link in his pocket began to vibrate; no way in hell would he remove his glove until he reached the shelter.

Reaching the entrance, he punched in the universal Resistance code on the door panel but it beeped angrily at him. Poe chuckled as he remembered the General's original password for the base (I-NO) and tried it immediately. A sharp hiss released the pressurized door lock and he hurried inside; shaking like a dog. A flurry of snow drifted all around him like a halo of snowflakes. The flickering overhead light caught in each flake and they twinkled in his wet hair like glitter. Poe dialed the standby code on the Comm Link, his bare hand freezing against the metal surface of it. Bypassing a protocol droid in the hallway, he slipped into a nearby guard's quarters; unnoticed by anyone else. As he waited for Chewbacca to reconnect, he quickly changed out of his frozen wet clothes; finding some garments more suitable to the climate. The tiny room heated up rather quickly and much to Poe's delight began to work on the deep chill that had set into his bones.

A smirk creeped across Poe's face as the indicator on the Comm Link lit up. A ferocious blast of Shryiiwook came through the speaker and made it crackle with the sheer force of it. "Wait, is this General Hugs ?!" Dameron joked, "Okay, okay-Chewie-I promise to take a nap first." The Kashyykian moof milker proceeded to chew Poe out about his recent shenanigans but gentled as he mentioned his nephew, Lowbacca. Dameron laughed nervously "Sounds like a helluva plan, Captain fuzzball." Chewbacca wrapped up the conversation with some coordinates to Lowbacca's location on Kashyyyk; plus a joke about smelling like a TaunTaun that Poe could only partially decipher. Chewbacca grunted a quick goodbye and Poe felt the warm exciting feeling of adventure deep into his soul as he wholeheartedly followed the Wookiee's order to sleep.

Feeling like a kid after his mid morning snooze, Poe was already landing on Kashyyyk. The pilot's jaw dropped in awe of the space port that was nestled into the canopy of the most immense forest you could ever imagine. He had sat through a few of Chewie's tales of his home world and he now gripped the memory fondly as he proceeded in the direction of the Wookiee's family home. He was thrilled to meet Lowbacca; having heard of his intellectual pursuits and secret agent status, Poe hoped the kid would be more fun than his bewildering uncle. Before he could even get to the door, a red haired Wookiee came lumbering down the wooden boardwalk towards him, streams of a different dialect of Shryiiwook wildly flowing from his smiling face. The pilot and the young Wookiee stopped almost toe to toe, sizing one another up. "I'm Poe Dameron," the pilot said as he extended his hand to Lowbacca's ready paw. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me calling you, Lowie?" The young Wookiee was noticeably eager to start their mission and nodded enthusiastically at the request. Dameron unleashed his own version of a Chewbacca hug on the unwitting Jedi Wookiee and it felt like the beginning of a beautiful brotherhood. As the heroes headed back towards the X-wing, Poe and Lowie got to know each other for the first time.