A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back again with another fanfic. This time it's a series that I've been in love with since I was a kid - Star Wars. If someone doesn't like Star Wars, I don't trust them. I wrote a oneshot earlier that I basically just decided to write into a whole fic, so if you read that already, I'll be adding way more character depth, more storyline, more stuff. This first chapter is just a start to what I hope will be a great fic that I'm already proud of. I will be taking from the new movie as well as Before the Awakening, a book that details some of the things that led up to the events of TFA for Rey, Poe, and Finn. Here goes!

As always, I only own Vara. Everything else is property of those hooligans at Disney.

Chapter 1

A Rescue Mission

The virtual reality that had been added to the ship's treadmills had finally made running bearable for Vara. Usually it was boring, running in place until you didn't feel like it anymore. Today, she ran through the mountains of Hosnian Prime, her home planet. The huge, beautiful planet had managed to stay away from all of the action until it became the capital of the New Republic, which is why Vara's parents had moved there just before they had her. The pilot ran through the trees and down a path that led to a cave, a place that she had retreated to as a teenager with her kid brother.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it there. Her comm beeped loudly, shaking her out of the virtual planet and back onto the cold metal surroundings of the Resistance ship, Echo of Hope.

She stopped the treadmill with a wave of her hand and picked up the device, dabbing at her forehead with a towel. "Captain Hesh here." Vara was the leader of the Resistance's Red Squadron in the event that the Commander wasn't around. One of her other tasks was to keep up with the mechanics, make sure everything was flying and running okay, and she was in charge of service on the droids and astromechs.

"Meet General Organa in the command room immediately," the tinny voice echoed.

Vara jumped as if she had been physically shaken. She hopped off of the treadmill and ran, faster than she was before, down to the command center, sweaty workout clothes and all.

Blue holographic maps hovered in front of her, and she jogged through one to come face-to-face with General Leia Organa, the leader of the Resistance that Vara and her best friend had joined years ago.

"There's been a complication with the Commander's mission."

Vara, towering over the General at 5'6," clasped her hands behind her back and bowed her head. "What do you need me to do, General?"

"I need you to go to Jakku, find his droid. The First Order has gotten wind of them, and we think Dameron may have been captured."

Vara let out a deep breath. This was exactly what she was scared of when Poe told her he was headed on a classified mission.

"His droid has the map."

Vara nodded. That was the most important thing right then - getting BB-8 back and keeping the map to Skywalker safe. "I'm on it. How far are we?"

"Not far. We headed for Jakku when we heard. Your x-wing is being prepared as we speak. We can't have a big force on this, or else I would send more with you."

"I understand, General. I'm going to bring them home."

7 years ago

Her helmet tucked under her arm, Vara jumped down from the X-wing. Her first flight with the other three Rapiers had gone extremely well, enough for the usually reserved young woman to whoop over the radio upon taking down her first pirate. She walked to the back of the ship, waiting patiently for her R9 droid to come back to the ground. "Good job, R9. As usual." The perfectly maintained droid whistled happily, wiggling on its wheels a little.

"Hey, kid, you did great!" a voice said from behind her. She turned to face Poe Dameron, the Rapiers' leader. Behind him trailed the BB droid that flew with him, an orange and white sphere that beeped at her a few times in Binary.

"Thanks, buddy," she said to the droid. "Thank you, Commander. It felt amazing to be up there. And I recall only being two years younger than you, sir." She was feeling particularly sassy after their patrol run through the Mirrin sector. They had found a small squadron of pirates following a freighter, and after trying to drive them off at first, they had taken a few down. The last of them had run. The cargo had not been worth facing four ace pilots for the New Republic Navy.

"I guess so, huh?" he said, a smirk on his face. "I'm glad you're with us. You're one hell of a flygirl."

"Thanks, Commander. Glad to be here."

A/N: So this one is short, but the next one is going to be better, I promise. We get some Poe action and more about how they met. Thanks for any follows/faves you graciously give and for any feedback you may have!