"He says the First Order came and immediately began searching every crevice of the pub," C-3PO translated. "When they stopped at the cellar door Ki-ah began to protest ever more vehemently, but the Stormtroopers blasted their way through it nonetheless,"
"Ask Ki-ah what he overheard," Rey said, glancing around. The tavern was no high-end establishment by any means, but the boarded up windows from where the First Order entered certainly didn't help the atmosphere. Nor did it help with the clientele; the pub was much quieter than it should have been for a weekend evening.
C-3PO asked the question in a slur of what Rey considered unintelligible words. After the Rodian responded, the droid said, "Ki-ah claims he did not hear the conversation, but not much was spoken, as the discussion was brief. Shortly after Captain Phasma entered with the Stormtroopers, they remerged carrying Ben. It seems he was unconscious,"
Rey felt her throat constrict. "Was he wounded?" she asked.
Another bought of translations went through he droid's circuitry. "It appears not. Ki-ah thinks they used a high grade stun gun,"
"Does Ki-ah have any idea where the First Order may be headed?" Poe asked.
More warbling. "He says he does not know, but he did hear something about them going to a Star Destroyer that held the Finalizer,"
"Kylo Ren's old ship," Rey confirmed. "Did he say anything else?"
"Nothing else Miss Rey. Although I might add Ki-ah used more colorful language to describe the getaway ship,"
Rey remained silent as she and Poe boarded the Millennium Falcon, set the coordinates to locate any nearby Star Destroyers, and returned to their separate chambers. The two had not said much since they left. After all, there was not much to converse about. They were on a rescue mission, and the odds of success were not in their favor.
Maybe that's why Han was never a fan of knowing the odds, Rey thought. Still, it was better to make an attempt than to hold regret from not knowing the outcome.
Rey was certain that one way or another the First Order would find the Falcon. Han's old ship had been on their radar for years. And with every dark eye in the galaxy searching for her, whispers that she made an appearance at a public bar would certainly trickle down and catch their attention.
What Rey didn't know, however, was if the First Order knew about her and Ben's relationship. Albeit, their relationship was hard to define. Never had the two engaged in any activities that would indicate they were an item. Every time Rey had seen Ben since they shared their first kiss, it was to check in with him on some distant planet, with some strange alien life hovering protectively nearby. Rey cherished the time she and Ben did have, but it was not of the quality many couples envisioned for each other. There were no walks, candlelit dinners, or anything of the sort. When all was said and done, however, they engaged in one of the most important activities possible: they talked. And when they conversed, Rey would momentarily forget the war that raged between the stars. The two could easily spend an hour simply comparing the quality of their living conditions ("At least you have a room all to yourself," Rey would say) or the pros and cons of the various hastily made dinners they were served.
The fledgling Jedi rested her head on her hands. If there was one thing she always held on to, it was hope: hope for her parents return, hope for the war to end, hope for a better life. But in that moment, all Rey hoped for was that she, Ben, and Poe would make it out of this situation alive.
There was a violent shake as the Millennium Falcon rocked from side to side. Gripping the nearest object to keep from falling, Rey steadied herself and joined Poe in the cockpit.
Sure enough, they'd been discovered, and were being pulled by tractor beam into a Star Destroyer. Rey reached out with the Force, searching for one particular ship…and found it.
The Finalizer was onboard, just as they'd planned.
Poe and Rey crouched under the steel floorboards, waiting for the Stormtroopers to invade the Falcon. Rey thought back to the last time she and Finn hid like this from potential threats, but she quickly forced the thought from her mind. This was no time to reminisce, especially when a plan required precision on her part.
The Falcon's entry ramp thumped against the docking bay. There was a clattering sound as boots tramped across the floor, completely unaware that they stood above the people they searched for. Rey just hoped the Stormtroopers would not find C-3P0 before she could make her first move. The slow pace of the protocol droid would surely have slowed her and Poe down, so they switched the gold droid off and placed him in a locked closet. The other droid on the rescue mission, BB-8, was a different story, as he moved much faster. The orange and white sphere sat faithfully between Poe and Rey, ready to help in whatever way he could.
Rey closed her eyes and searched the cabin, penetrating her mind's eye through the steel above her head and searching for the Stormtroopers' Captain. This was one of the many lessons Luke taught her during her training: Jedi needn't use their eyes to see what was in front of them.
After a few minutes of waiting, Rey found what she was looking for. When Phasma crossed the threshold and was standing directly above the two Rebels, Rey called upon the Force, crashing it down onto the silver leader. Securing Phasma with invisible arms, Rey pulled the captain to the floor, clutching her in a grip so tight she could not break loose.
Rey tried to tune out the distracting shouts of surprise from Phasma's guard. A few Stormtroopers tried to pull their captain to her feet, but her body may as well have weighed as much as a Hutt. Other troopers turned frantically left and right, searching for the culprit behind this surprise attack.
The gray helmet was clear in the Jedi's second vision. Rey pulled out a lightsaber-formerly Ben's- and placed the tip between the black marks that shielded Phasma's eyes.
"Great ready to run," Rey whispered to Poe and BB-8, and then powered the blade on.
The shouts of confusion quickly turned to screams of horror. Rey took their momentary distraction and threw open the hatch, trying not to look as Phasma's body rolled off to the side. Poe flung BB-8 out of the hole, and then joined Rey as the three made their way off the ship. After the initial shock wore off, the Stormtroopers began firing lasers at the three Rebels. Rey reached out again, caught each bolt, and tossed them backwards, just as Ben had once taught her.
Most Star Destroyers had similar floor plans, this one was no exception. After spending the last couple days familiarizing themselves with the general layout as they wandered through space, Rey, Poe, and BB-8 maneuvered their way to the section designed for holding prisoners. Generally, interrogation rooms and prisoner cells were not far from the docking bay. This was to make the transition of captors easier. While this gave a shorter distance for the three Rebels to run, there was a flip side to the coin… the area held additional security. As they had anticipated this, Rey threw every Jedi trick she could think of at the Stormtroopers so that they could get through.
The first stop along the way was interrogation room. Both Rey and Poe suspected the First Order, Hux in particular, would not grant Ben the luxury of pacing around his cell. They would make him uncomfortable in whatever way they could.
BB-8 squealed to a halt as Poe and Rey stopped at the door, the latter placing her hands on the frame and staring at the slab of metal as if she expected it to tell her something.
"I can't find anything in here," Rey said after a moment, a note of panic in her voice. "It's like something's blocking my vision,"
"Can you unlock the door?" Poe asked.
Rey ran her hand horizontally along the door. "Yes,"
"Then you better hurry," Poe said as a fresh wave of Stormtroopers began to round the corner. "We've got company,"
Rey bit her lip. Anything, or nothing, could be in that interrogation room. If they went in, no doubt the Stormtroopers would block their only method of exit. Of course, provided there were only around twenty Stormtroopers, Rey could push them back so she and her friends could get through. Still, such a task was physically taxing, and would surely slow her down. As it was, her Jedi powers were already beginning to take their toll.
"Rey?!" The tone of Poe's voice indicated time was not on their side.
Forcing the locks open, the three clambered into the room, the door slamming shut behind their heels. As soon as the locks sealed, Rey was simultaneously hit by the image of Ben on the slab and the suffocating darkness that surrounded them.
Rey imagined that when she found Ben, he would be grateful beyond words. Now that they had succeeded, it was a different story. All Rey saw and felt was seething hatred pointed at her.
"Get out," Ben said slowly, his body trembling against crackling energy restraints. Part of his face was swollen from an injury, and the redness from the bloodshot in his eyes gave Ben an almost inhuman appearance. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
Rey took a cautious step forward. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this scared. "Do you know who I am?" she asked, her voice sounding far away in her own ears.
"Of course," Ben scoffed as a tear rolled down his cheek. "You're Rey,"
She gave a small nod. "We're here to get you out,"
"Rey-" Poe began to protest, but she silenced her partner with a thrust of her hand. Angered by how she'd misused the Force on his best friend, BB-8 began to roll forward in protest, but Rey shoved the droid backward without touching him as she took another step forward.
"Don't come near me," Ben warned, flattening his back against the diagonal slant of the slab.
Rey felt her stomach drop. "What have they done to you?" She loosed her restrictions on Poe and BB-8, placing her concentration fully on Ben.
"I SAID DON'T COME NEAR ME!" Ben was now thrashing against his restraints, a wild look renewed in his eyes.
Please, Rey prayed as she entered Ben's mind with unnatural ease, Let at least a trace of him still be there.
Bracing herself to face the man who killed his parents, Rey only met ripples of darkness coming from Ben's mind. She let out a small breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
He was alive. Ben was still alive.
So where was all this darkness coming from?
Rey spun around, looking for anything that could cause such an anomaly in the Force. She found it almost automatically, sitting on a chair. Without a second thought Rey strode over to the mask of Kylo Ren and brought the red lightsaber down upon it, cutting the object in two. The two halves sizzled from the heat, quavered unsteadily for a moment, and finally fell on opposing sides of the chair to the ground.
For every Force-sensitive person in the room, it felt like a storm had suddenly ended. Everything became clearer, now untainted by the hate that had once imprisoned Ben. Rey slashed her saber against the sensors which emitted the Force dampening electric restraints, and caught Ben before he hit the ground.
"You're not real," Ben said quietly, his eyes half open from exhaustion as he slid into Rey's arms. "You're only the dark side's twisted projection of her. The one who is real is safe from all this chaos,"
"Listen," Rey said, cradling Ben so he wouldn't hit the ground, "Whatever you think is going on, I promise I'm real. But if we expect to get out of this place alive, we need to move now. The longer we wait, the more Stormtroopers we'll have to contend with," Rey looked up. "Poe, BB-8, help me get him to his feet,"
Without saying a word, Poe came over. BB-8, on the other hand, stayed rooted where he was.
"Come on," Poe said.
Reluctantly, the droid rolled forward, placing himself behind Ben's back to prop him up while Rey and Poe slung Ben's arms around their shoulders.
"On the count of three," Rey said. "One, two…" With their combined effort, they were able to lift Ben up.
"Can you walk?" Rey asked.
"I don't know," Ben mumbled, his head hanging limply forward.
BB-8 twittered a comment from behind. "I'm going to push through the Stormtroopers on the other side," Rey told Ben, "Then we're going to the docking bay and getting in the Millennium Falcon,"
"Sure," Ben said, dejection and disbelief in his voice.
A sense of confusion settled on Rey. What had the First Order been doing to him?
"Right," Rey focused on the cylindrical locks buried within the doors. "Here we go…"
