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spctrsgf · 2 years

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the simulation

summary: you’re a new pilot joining the resistance, and the Black Squadron sends you and others into a simulation to test your abilities

word count: 3.1k

warnings: language, she/her pronouns, guns and blowing stuff up ig? it’s not graphic or anything

a/n: finally got around to posting this guy (unproofed cus my editor is busy)! we’re just gonna pretend that Marc’s parents found out how to live on Hoth for the sake of this story okay? please leave your thoughts so that i may improve <3

“Hello everyone, this is your pilot speaking. We will be on base in about 20 minutes, so please make sure you are seated with all your items and with your designated group.”

You looked to your right, quadruple checking that you were in the right section of the craft. Pilots, it read. Your shoulders slumped in relief and you let out a breath you’d been holding in, trying to calm your shaky hands.

To say you were nervous was a severe understatement. Everyone around you was talking, seemingly comfortable in their newfound purpose and home. Not that you were ungrateful for this opportunity, it’s just that you never felt like you really fit in. You were too nervous, too quiet to feel like the people around you were in the same boat.

There was one woman in the corner who seemed to be shutting herself out, but after a second look you noticed that she was deaf and couldn’t hear the commotion anyways. You supposed that she was set to be a mechanic of some sort.

So, that left you were alone in your feelings and nothing you were trying was helping the anxiety gnawing at your throat. Breathe, y/n, breathe. You closed your eyes, trying to drown out the particularly loud conversation from the people to your right.

“Everyone!” You jumped at the sound of the man over the loudspeaker. “We have landed. Please leave through your appropriate exits and welcome to the resistance!”

You stood up, grabbing your backpack and following the crowd out the door. You noticed helmets tucked under many peoples arms, suddenly feeling a little left out of the memo.

You don’t have the money for that, you idiot.

You smiled slightly as you remembered stealing your favorite helmet from the lady across the street, wishing you could have taken it with you. But the helmet was hers: you couldn’t do that to her even if you wanted to.

Anyway, you followed the rest of the pilots to who you assumed was the General, waiting for her to sort the masses. You were surprised at the lack of people in your group, there were roughly twenty of you. She nodded you and some ten others gently to a group of pilots, already suited up and ready to fly.

Staying to the back of the group, you found a nice spot between two heads to watch as one man stepped forward. You marveled slightly at him, his curly black hair flopped on his forehead as his brown eyes sparkled. His posture demanded respect yet he wasn’t intimidating; just enthusiastic.

“Welcome, recruits. I’m Commander Dameron,” the said man spoke. “I trust you all had a good flight in?”

Murmurs of agreement answered him.

He laughed. “Good. Now, to the point: based on a previous assessment, you all have been declared the best. We are the Black Squadron, the best of the best in the resistance. Currently we’re down two members, and that’s where you all come in. Two of you will be chosen to join us, if any of you are deemed good enough. There will be a test, but first we’ll let you all get settled into your quarters, and a droid will let you know when to come out to test.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, following one of the members of the squadron to the rooms. Your mind, on the other hand, reeled from Dameron’s speech. Best of the pilots? Two new people joining the Black Squadron? And, perhaps the most blaring thought of all: you were one of the contestants?

A man next to you touched your arm, snapping you out of your thoughts. “The droid says you’re right here.” He pointed to a door. “Oh, uh, thank you.” You smiled awkwardly, him returning the gesture (less awkward than yours, for sure) before following the rest of the group.

You pressed a button to open the door, not expecting it to work. You figured it just scanned your DNA or something when you pressed the button as you strode into the room, flipping on a light. It was a nice but simple room: a bed in the far right corner, a desk in the left, a bathroom across from the bed and a wardrobe across from the desk.

You placed your backpack on the bed before venturing to the wardrobe, whipping it open to find it stocked lightly. Their was a few pairs of orange pants, some tank tops (white and black), and a flight suit like the one Commander Dameron had been wearing.

Wait.

You whirled back to see the suit in all its glory. You ran your finger along the slightly worn material, lingering on the resistance symbol. You belonged here now, this was your home. A wave of emotions hit you like a truck, causing you to tear up and drop your fingers from where they were wrapped along the sleeve.

Composing yourself before your eyes grew red and puffy, you noticed something on the top shelf of the wardrobe. A helmet perched on it, and you quickly found that it fit perfectly on your head. “How’d they know?” You murmured to yourself, placing the helmet down gingerly and moving to unpack the rest of your stuff.

——

A knock sounded to your door, causing your to jump from your light stupor. You stumbled over to the door, opening it to find a droid waiting. “You have ten minutes to get ready before I escort you and the others to Commander Dameron. Please wear your designated flight suit and helmet.” With that, it whirred away to bother the next person down.

You swallowed deeply, your nervousness bursting up through the seams of the box you had just managed to cover as you slipped on the suit. You looked yourself over in the mirror. Part of you was screaming ‘this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever worn and the orange does not compliment your complexion’ and the other part of you was screaming ‘you did it your gonna be a fucking resistance pilot’.

You chose to listen to the ladder as you grabbed your helmet and headed out the door. Touching your free hand to your wrist, you reassured yourself that your bracelet was still intact, only relaxing once you felt your fingers brushed against the moon shaped beskar.

The droid and the other pilots arrived not long after you stepped out of your room, you falling in line with the nice man that had directed you to your room earlier. “Hey,” he greeted. “I’m Marc.” (I had to okay)

You smiled, easing at not having to initiate a conversation. “I’m y/n.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, y/n.”

“Likewise.”

“So,” he started in the short silence that ensued your answer. “Where are you from?”

“Tatooine.”

His eyebrows raised. “Really?”

“Yeah?” Was that so hard to believe?

“That’s so cool!”

You grinned. “Not really, but where are you from?”

He leaned in. “Hoth.”

Your eyes widened. “What? How? I thought it was inhospitable.”

“Not enough for my parents. They were hiding from the Empire and figured it was a good place to hide since no one goes there.”

“Huh. That’s smart if you ask me.”

Marc laughed. “Yeah, I think so too.”

“How’d you get food?”

“My mom knew a man who flew around a lot. He’d bring us a shit ton of food every few weeks.”

You gaped. “Awesome. What was his name?”

Marc was about to say something else, but your little group reached the hangar and Commander Dameron, causing Marc to quiet. “Welcome, recruits!” He waved his hands in the air. “Now we will be testing you to decide where to place you in terms of squadrons. One of which could be the Black Squadron, led by me.”

Another man stepped forward. “Hello, everyone, I’m Snap. Snap Wexley. And before you ask,” he held his finger out mockingly. “I want to be called Snap, skip all of that formal crap that Dameron does. Anyway, the test is relatively simple. The four of us,” he gestured to him, Dameron, and two others. “Will be split into two groups, as will you all. We’ll fight against each other and see which team has the last ship standing.”

“It’s a simulation,” Dameron cut in. “The simulation ships act and feel exactly as our normal x-wing would. The sides of your ship will plunge you into the reality at hand, and you will fly out of your respective star carrier to attack the other team. We will have droids act as people on the carriers to make the simulation seem as real as possible.”

Snap chuckled. “Alright, we’ll split you up into teams now.” He paused. “Oh! And this is Karé,” he pointed to a blonde haired woman. “And Mei.” He pointed to a shorter woman.

——

Soon enough, you found yourself in the cockpit of a simulator x-wing, riding along Snap, Mei, Marc and three other people who’s names you hadn’t retained.

To say you were nervous was, again, an understatement. You knew that Snap and Mei were good pilots: they were on the Black Squadron, after all. But Dameron? You’d heard things about him. Even on Tatooine you had, whispers of him being the best pilot the resistance had.

And now you were fighting against him. Lovely.

“R-four, check in.” Snap’s voice floated through the radio to your right. “R-four to Snap, I’m here.” You replied, remembering your call name.

“R-five?”

“Here, Snap.”

“Alright, Rookies,” Mei’s voice floated over the comms. “Show us what you got.”

The windows of your ship tinted, pulling you up and into the hangar of a star carrier much like the one you had just been in, but the doors were open and your teammates were rushing out of it. You quickly jetted yourself forward and out into space, getting into the zone.

“What’s the plan?” You heard Marc shout into the comms.

“Take ‘em down, R-two!” Snap yelped back.

“That’s a shit plan!” R-three yelled back.

“I have an idea!” You didn’t even hesitate to respond, your normal uneasiness fading. “We should split! Some people should distract their shooters and some people take down the carrier!”

“R-four, I like that plan,” Mei said. “But it’s hard to take down the carrier!”

“You have a point! Maybe we start with the communications first?”

“Everyone listen to R-four!” Snap cut in with a laugh. “She knows her shit!”

“Atta girl!” Marc yelled. “I’ll go with you to the comms!”

“Okay! Cover us!” You agreed, shooting up and over where the current commotion between both sides was happening.

Marc trailed closely behind you as you made your way to their star carrier. “Watch out, R-two! They got guns!” Marc quickly swerved to dodge the shots, alerting a rogue ship from the other side.

“We got company!” Marc yelled.

“I see them! Just keep trying to dodge!”

You studied the field, calculating your next move to avoid being shot. The enemy ship was coming from the right, the star carrier shooting from the front…

“Marc! I’m gonna do some weird maneuvering stuff so just try to follow me!”

“Yes ma’am!”

You dipped straight down almost immediately, dipping out of sight from the star carrier. Marc followed, and you correctly anticipated the follow of the enemy x-wing. “Time for the old switcharoo.” You yanked the controls upwards, flipping behind the trailing ship and blasting it to pieces.

“R-four! Nice shot!” Marc yelled over comms. “One ship down!”

A chorus of cheers sounded from the comms, and you beamed.

“Alrighty,” you said, mostly to Marc. “Let’s do Step 2.”

You came to the bottom of the ship, scoping underneath for a pressure point. “Y/n?” Marc asked, trailing you. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to see if there’s somewhere that I can destroy the whole ship.”

“That wasn’t the plan!”

“Yeah, I know. But the comm antenna is also down here.”

“Alright…” Marc seemed apprehensive.

“We’ll be fine! We just have to find that antenna!”

“I see it!” You turned your ship around just in time to see Marc get blasted.

Flipping away from the shots, you managed to shoot back, hitting the ship that was shooting. “R-two is out, I hit one more!”

“So is R-one! Out, I mean.” Mei yelled.

“We’re taking damage! Snap, whats the plan?” You yelled.

“I don’t know, you’re the one with the good ideas!”

“And your the one who’s actually on the squadron!”

“Hold on!” A grunt sounded through the comms. “Just shot one!”

“Me too!” Yelled the quiet voice of R-five.

“Three more to go!” Mei cheered. “R-four, how’s your job lookin?”

“Good! Comms are down!”

“Perfe-“ Snap started to say, only to be cut off.

“Snap’s out!” Mei screeched.

“Shit!” R-three yelled. “What now?”

“R-four?”

You maneuvered around the star carrier. “I can try to take out this carrier if you think that’s smart!”

“What should we do?”

“Guys! I’m being trailed!” R-one interrupted.

“I got you!” R-three yelled back.

“Mei-“

“Mei is down! R-one is struggling!” R-three cut in.

“Fuck. Um, try to stay safe, R-three! I’m gonna take out the carrier!”

“How-“

“I found the pressure point!”

“What pressure-“ R-three cut themselves of, clearly dodging shots.

“The gasoline! With these types of blasters, it’ll explode!”

“Perfect! Also, R-one and I each shot down a ship, somehow!”

“Nice job, guys! Keep going, you got this!”

“Shit, R-four, Dameron’s trailing us!” R-one screamed.

“Get back to the carrier!”

“He’ll blow up the carrier!”

“Just go!” You grunted as you maneuvered your x-wing. “Get up the shields as soon as you get in!”

“Oka-“ A sharp shrill ran through your ship.

“Attention R-four,” an automated voice said. “You are the last one standing against the enemy team’s Commander Dameron. We are connecting comms right now in order to further test your abilities.”

“Shit.”

“Hey hey hey, watch your language.” The baritone of Dameron’s voice echoed through your comm.

You said nothing, only flying further into the star carrier, shooting any probes or people that posed a threat.

“You ignoring me, R-four?”

“You betcha I am, Commander.” You said through gritted teeth, almost at the gasoline tank.

“Where are you, by the way? Haven’t seen ya yet.”

“That would defeat the purpose of the test, wouldn’t it? If I can’t resist your questions and prodding, I’m as good as dead.”

Dameron chuckled. “Ah, snappy talker, eh?”

You chuckled. “Nah, you’ll find I’m pretty quiet unless necessary.”

“So this conversation is necessary?” You could hear his smirk.

“Can’t be making a bad first impression by ignoring my maybe future commander, can I?” You made it to the gasoline dropping one of your timed emergency bombs and then getting the hell out of there.

“You must be near the carrier,” Poe said suddenly. “Smart woman.”

“Took you long enough.” You bantered, feeling suddenly confident with your progress in the plan.

“Ya know, insulting me is not helping you impress me.”

“Huh,” you shot out of the carrier. “And here I was thinking you liked a little competition.”

Just as you finished your sentence, his carrier went up in flames, eliciting a string of curses from the commander.

“Language, Commander.” You chuckled.

“Ya know what, R-four? Fuck off. Seriously, where the hell are you?”

You smirked as you pulled up behind him, locking in on his x-wing. “Nice ass, Dameron.”

“SHI-“

Then you shot him, watching the plane go up in flames. You cheered to yourself, but were quickly swept back to present as you were shot at. “The hell?!” You yelped, grabbing your controls and jerking them to move. “R-four, can you hear me?” You heard Dameron come over the comm again.

“Yep!” You jutted into a hard left, pulling behind an x-wing and blowing it up.

“You need to get them off your tail.”

“No shit, Sherlock!”

“G- what did you just say?”

“It’s-“ you grunted as you yanked yourself into a jarring dodge. “A saying.”

“What? Look, R-four, you gotta go into the debris from the old enemy carrier!”

“Respectfully, sir, that is a shitty plan and I will not be doing that.” You slowed your ship to a stop.

“What are you doing? Move your ass!” Dameron’s voice took on a tone of urgency.

“Watch!” You pulled upwards at the last second, dropping your last emergency bomb, set off with a roulette of bullets. The x-wing’s exploded, you having to pull up even further to avoid being licked by the fire.

Once you’d deemed the bomb efficient and that the enemy ships were gone, you headed back to the carrier cautiously. As soon as you released the landing gear, the windows faded and you were back at the real hangar of the resistance star carrier.

Thirteen pairs of eyes tracked you as you slipped from the simulation on slightly wobbly legs. Some were of awe, some of hate. Either way, the attention was nerve racking and frankly, you didn’t like it at all.

But perhaps the most important of them all: Commander Dameron’s. As your eyes met his, you couldn’t determine the emotion behind them. You would like to fool yourself and say that it was some sort of newfound appreciation, but in reality it must have been disappointment. You did beat him, after all.

“Well,” Snap clapped to break the silence. “We will discuss and get back to you about who, if anyone, got into the squadron!” You and the others nodded, walking away.

You had made it a total of four steps before a hand grabbed your wrist, silently holding you back as everyone else walked away. Marc turned back once with raised eyebrows, but you just gave him a look of confusion. When everyone was gone, Snap yanked you back and wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

“You got game, Hawkeye.” He said with a big grin adorning his face.

You laughed. “Maker, is that my nickname now?”

“You betcha it is.”

“Great. Lovely.”

Snap nudged you. “C’mon, that’s pretty good. Coulda been worse.”

“Snap.” Dameron’s voice was hard as his eyes darted between you and the said man, causing Snap to drop his arm.

“Sorry, Commander.”

Dameron sighed, running a hand through his curls. If only you could reach up and- “I told you to call me Poe.”

“But-“ He nodded to where you were standing a bit awkwardly.

“Call me Poe, Hawkeye.” He stuck out his hand.

“You better not use that fucking nickname, Poe.” You met him halfway.

He chuckled. “Or what?”

“How would you like the base to know that you,” you stepped closer and into his personal space. “the best pilot in the galaxy got beat by a rookie.”

He tilted his head to the side, smirking lightly. “Is that a challenge to my authority I hear?”

“You bet your ass it is.”

“And you said you’d be a quiet one.”

“Only talking cause it’s necessary.” You smiled mockingly sweet.

Poe turned to Snap. “I want her on my squadron.”

#this story was so fun to write idk #poe dameron #poe dameron fluff #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader #oscar issac #oscar issac imagine #star wars #i love poe sm okay bye

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