"Rey."
The voice sounded distant and muffled. It sounded like her name but she couldn't tell who was saying it. Was it Ben? Did he come back?
"Rey come on. We're here."
The sounds of the real world came flooding back to her and she scrunched her face up. The whirring of the machines besides her. The footsteps of other passengers. Rey sat up and opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them and taking a moment to reorient herself. Right. She was on the Millenium Falcon.
"I must have fallen asleep." She mumbled, glancing up when she noticed the door was open and seeing Poe grinning down at her.
"Good." He said, and held out a hand to help her up which she took at once. "We've landed already. Come on." Poe waved her out of the room and through the halls to the loading ramp. Some people were sitting down just beside it, keeping warm from the chill that swept in. Poe grabbed a jacket from a nearby chair and held it to her. "Here. You'll need this. We couldn't get the hangar door open, so the ship is still outside." He continued talking as she threw the jacket on and followed him down the ramp into the snow. "Our plan is to enter through the maintenance door. Those of us with mechanical knowledge, meaning me, you and Chewie, will try to get the door open while the rest work on clearing some debris. General Organa says the Empire basically brought the place down on their heads."
Rey nodded understandingly. "So we've got our work cut out for us, is what you're saying."
"Essentially." Poe responded with a grin.
"Poe!" That was Finn's voice. It was blizzarding out, so at first her only indication as to where Finn was was the direction his voice came from. But after walking a few feet his figure came into view, among a few others. "The door is frozen shut!" Someone behind him was trying to kick it in. "We can't get it open."
"It's been abandoned for decades." Leia sighed from within the layers she'd placed on to shield herself from the cold. "That doesn't surprise me. Rey. I know you're still learning, but perhaps you could open it?"
Rey's first instinct was to say no, but the look on everyone's faces made her sigh and step forward. Even through the snow it was easy to tell it was sunset. If the desert on Jakku got cold at night, she could only imagine what it was like here.
"You move a couple of rocks and suddenly everyone thinks you can do anything." She muttered to herself as she stepped towards the very frozen door and lifted her hands.
'Let yourself be taken away by the force, and trust it.'
Ben's words echoed through her head. Whether by her memory or their bond, she wasn't sure. Rey closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to stop thinking. Just do it. No trying. Just do.
Someone said something but she couldn't understand what it was. Ben had been able to command the force while still aware of the world around him. She supposed that would come with practice.
Something gave, and Rey opened her eyes with a gasp, suddenly realizing she hadn't been breathing again. The ice around the door was cracked and it was slightly ajar, but not open.
"You did it!" Poe exclaimed happily and jumped forward, far more excited about her accomplishment than her. "We should be able to get it now. Come on Finn. Help me pull this thing open."
Together, the boys held the handle and dug their heels into the snow, pulling on the door with all of their combined weight. The door squeaked and creaked and finally, opened at once. Both Poe and Finn fell back into the snow.
"Good job, Rey." Leia patted her shoulder with a proud smiled and stepped past her to enter the base. The rest followed her inside, including Finn and Poe who had to brush all the snow off themselves.
The hangar was slightly caved in as well. Even if they got the door to open, there wouldn't be enough room for the Falcon, so Rey, Chewie and Poe set to work figuring out the issue while the rest worked on moving the debris.
Poe had been right. The door was damaged. It seemed a piece of debris had smashed a small part of it. The easiest route would be to replace it, but the machinery was so old, they had no spare. At least one was accessible, as most of the base was cut off. It took them all day to reshape it, using both hammers, various other tools and even the force in some parts. By the time they tested the door to see if it opened, the others had cleared enough space for Chewie to fly the Falcon in out of the snow.
With the ship safely inside, all that was left was to spend the next week or so clearing the rest of the debris and then, repairs.
Rey sometimes wondered what Ben was doing during that time. The First Order had yet to appear. Were they looking for the Resistance? Or were they taking time to recoup, like they were? Or was Ben holding them off? Reorienting himself in his new role? Rey was only guessing he had taken command. With Snoke gone and Ben's temper, there was no way that General Hux or whatever his name was had taken command. Was Ben calling himself the new Supreme Leader?
"Hey Rey." Poe grinned at her from across the control room, where they, along with Rose who was now up and about, were trying to repair the consoles. The mood around the base was sour and solemn, so the pilot had taken it upon himself to tease and joke and try to make everyone a little happier. "You're out of your element here, aren't you? So used to taking things apart, rather than putting them together."
Rey smirked back at him. "That's true, but the thing with taking things apart all the time." She twisted a wire together and grinned as her console roared to life. "It teaches you a lot about how it all goes together."
A second later, Chewbacca's came to life as well, and Rose's followed not long after. Poe stared around the room as the three of them moved onto the next one while he was still working on his first. "Oh sure! I see. You all think you're better than me. Alright." He grumbled before dipping back down under his console to finish repairs.
Rey felt Ben appear while she ripped the panel off her second console, and sighed, looking over to see him standing with her back to him. He glanced behind him as well, but didn't say anything to her. Instead turning to speak to someone she couldn't see.
"Well pick up the pace then. We need more ships."
She watched his face contort into a frown. "I don't care if you're low on men. Get to it." He turned to face her, but didn't meet her eyes besides a small glance.
Of course. Snoke's ship had been destroyed by the Vice Admiral. That's what Leia had said. That was their main vessel. So they must be low on ships. Which meant the First Order was in rough shape after all.
Ben seemed so collected in his words, but Rey recognized the look in his eyes. Uncertainty.
"Rey." Poe's voice called her back to the real world and he raised an eyebrow at her. "You alright? You're spacing out."
Rey smiled and nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. Let's finish this and go eat."
Ben's eyes finally flickered over to her. Neither of them could say anything, or else everyone they were surrounded by would know, but she swore she saw something other than uncertainty in his face. What was it, longing?
Author's note: Wow I did not expect comments that quickly. Thank you! This is my first fanfic in a while so I hope I dont disappoint.
Rey is being a little grumpy and moody right now because she's feeling a bit hopeless. I'll try to make it not so angsty all the time. But as we know, Ben is an angsty boy so we'll see how this goes. :P