Chapter VII

The great sweep of the external observation portal on the Star Destroyer Finalizer allowed anyone standing before it an uninterrupted view of the vastness of space. Suns and nebulae, mysteries and conundrums alike, were all laid out before the viewer to behold. It was intended to amaze and inspire. Kylo Ren regarded it in silence. He had been trained to contemplate everything and was skilled in deliberation. He could meditate for hours if need be.

But he was losing patience.

Approaching from behind, Lieutenant Mitaka could only see a tall, caped figure silhouetted against the array of stars. He was not looking forward to giving the report. It was his responsibility and he had no choice. It was not the first time he had to deliver bad news to a superior officer. But Kylo Ren was different. He was something else entirely. He would have rather been anywhere else in the galaxy than having to stand within feet of him.

The caped figure did not turn. He did not have to. Mitaka knew Ren was aware of his arrival as if he had watched him approach. He was tracking him with something other than his eyes.

"Something to report, Lieutenant?" He was cold, detached. Without emotion.

Mitaka froze, not sure if he would ever have the courage to come forward with his news. Ren spoke again before he had a chance. A gloved hand rose to take in the sweep of light displayed before them. "Look at it, Lieutenant. So much beauty among so much turmoil. In a way, we are but an infinitely smaller reflection of the same conflict. Is it the duty of the First Order to remove disorder from our own existence, so that we may return civilization to a grateful galaxy. The Empire was weak, the Republic now weaker. The rule of law will be brought back by a strong hand."

Mitaka did not want to argue politics with Ren. That same Republic they were fighting in the shadows was the same who had deposed of their predecessor. Finally finding the courage to give his report, he stood at attention, awating the worst.

"Sir. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to acquire the Beebee-Ate droid on Jakku."

Now Ren did turn. Mitaka realized he would have preferred for him to remain turned. Fear raced through him as it seemed like the masked man stared into his very soul.

"It was destroyed? Do not tell me, Lieutenant, that the droid was destroyed.

Mitaka swallowed hard. "No, sir. At least, not as far as we are able to determine. Reports from the ground indicate-"

He was interrupted. "No aerial survey reports?"

"Three TIE fighters accompanied the recovery party. Contact has been lost and it is assumed…" He paused, considering his next words carefully. "It is assumed they encountered unforeseen difficulties."

Ren sneered quietly. "You equivocate like a senator. Go on."

"Reports from our troopers on the ground indicate that the droid escaped capture by taking flight aboard a stolen Corellian freighter, a YT model. An older craft."

Atypically, a touch of uncertainty colored Ren's response. "The droid stole a freighter?"

"Not exactly, sir. Again, according to preliminary reports, it had help." Mitaka was beginning to sweat. "We have confirmation that trooper FN-2187 may have been-
He was broken off as Ren reached for his lightsaber, activaited the weapon, and raised the intense crimson bland high. Expecting a swift execution, Mitaka closed his eyes. After a moment, he realized he was still alive and dared open an eye. Ren was slashing at the console nearby, at the walls, at the deck, ripping and shredding it to pieces. His rage was terrible to behold. Mitaka aimed to remain perfectly still, to control his breathing, to become an invisible figure. Ren ultimately spared him, whether this was by chance or design, Mitaka did not know.

Shutting off the lightsaber, the taller man once again turned to the bearer of bad news. He spoke calmly, as if his mad and destructive rampage had never even happened.

"Anything else?"

The worst of the report had not even been delivered yet. He did not allow himself to relax.

"The pair were accompanied by Skywalker and a local. A girl."

Reaching out, a black-gloved hand clutched the startled lieutenant and pulled him violently forward. That metallic visage was now close, closer than Mitaka had ever been to it. As the officer struggled to breath in that remorseless grasp, Kylo Ren tightened his grip. Before the lieutenant lost all consciousness, Ren threw him against the bulkhead and stalked off, presumably back to his chambers. The lieutenant would never give bad news again to that man. He made a promise to himself of that.

Kneeling by the opening in the deck, Finn struggled to peer down into the depths. The constant hiss of escaping vapor made it difficult to hear or see anything. He badly wanted to shut off the blaring emergency alarm but didn't dare move away while Rey was still below and out of sight. He didn't trust the droid to do it, no matter how sophisticated it was. And he did not want to disappoint Cade, as there was nothing from stopping the spy from tossing him out of an airlock once he wore off his welcome.

Just then, Cade came running back with a box of tools. A head soon popped up, surrounded by vapor. Perspiration streamed from Rey's face. "It's the motivator. Grab me a Harris wrench!" Cade peeked in the toolbox, handing her the wrench she needed.

"How bad is it?" he asked her as she began to make her way into the vapors once more.

"If we wanna live," Rey's voice echoed from below, "not good!"

Finn looked over at Cade and gave him a concerned look. "That doesn't sound promising."

He returned the look. "I agree. The faster we get out of the system, the better."

As if she had super-sonic hearing, Rey popped her head back up. "We need to go back to Jakku."

Finn and Cade groaned. Not wanting to continue the argument again but wanting to have this resolved, Cade stayed firm in his stance. "We won't last an hour if we go back there. We need to get to the Ileemium system and fast!"

"The Ileenium system?" she asked as if she had heard the name before, which she hadn't. It was a Republic base in the Outer Rim for any operations that far out in space. "Quick, hand me that Pilex driver, hurry!"

Cade obliged her, but continued the argument. "There's nothing back for you there Rey. You can handle yourself well, you should fight with us." He paused as she came back up to get another tool. "We could use someone like you."

Rey continued with her work, but was obviously frustrated. "You think I would work with you? I have a family, a life back on Jakku. You think I would give that up for a cause?"

"I think you would be great at it."

Finn agreed with Cade, giving Rey a nod. "I also think you would be great at it."

Cade gave Finn a look and he went back to sorting tools for Rey. "It's none of your business, so the answer is no." She grabbed another tool and dove into the depths of the Falcon, not really wanting to continue the conversation.

She did her best to patch up the motivator, but they would need serious technicians to fully repair the ship. As the two of them helped her up, the sudden dimming of lights put a halt to the argument which was about to continue. They flickered but did not go out. The four occupants of the lounge regarded their newly altered environment. BB-8 beeped nervously.

"That can't be good," Finn muttered

"No, it can't be," Rey agreed as she made her way towards the cockpit. Cade and Finn followed closely behind.

Finn took a seat at the copilot's station with Cade standing close behind. Rey looked at the instrumentation and realized it was completely dead.

"It's the motivator isn't it? That's the component you were so worried about." When she didn't reply, Finn's heart rate increased. "It's worse than the motivator?"

Intently studying the console in front of her, Rey replied without looking up from the instruments. "I fixed that; this is something else." Without much hope, she tried several controls before sitting back, defeated. It was Cade who spoke up from a rear seat.

"Someone is locked onto us."

Rey and Finn looked at him puzzlingly. "How do you know?"

"Tractor beams have a tendency to shut off all controls, no matter the size of the ship."

"Who's taken control of us?" Tapping the scanner to remind him that it was useless, Rey shrugged but Cade had an answer.

"Pirates, Hutts, First Order. Could be any number of factions."

"It's the First Order. They've got us." Finn looked utterly defeated. "It's all over."

He knew they weren't going to the Illenium system now. Their fates would be decided on board that ship that was presently pulling them in. Decided and expeditiously carried out. The First Order was nothing if not efficient. They had been so close. He had made an actual decision for once, had rescued a spy, crash-landed on a desert planet and escaped once already. And it would all end here in the cold darkness of space.

"What do we do?" Rey was saying beside him. She kept trying the controls, but to no avail. "There must be something."

He could not look in her direction, sorry for her having to get involved in this. "We can die."

Cade looked at the both of them, refusing to accept their fate. "I sure ain't going down without a fight. I've got a plan." He walked out of the cockpit back towards the lounge. The two of them followed him. He pulled open the panel Rey had just been working on and studied it intensely.

"The poisonous gases from earlier. Can you unfix it?"

Surprised, the both of them looked at him with hesitation. "I can unfix it, yes. Why?"

He started looking around to find breath masks hanging off the wall. He tossed each of them one. "If you can unfix them, we can gas whoever is about to enter the ship. Once they're knocked out, we sneak aboard their ship, disable the tractor beam, then make all haste for safe port." He grinned at both of them sheepishly.

"That plan is suicide. There's no way it'll work." Said Finn, not wanting to have hope again but realzing it might be their only option.

"You have any better ideas?"

When the two of them realized they didn't, they went about fulfilling the spy's plan. They put on the emergency masks designed to protect against a loss of atmosphere, making sure they were secure. They first lowered BB-8 into the space, followed by Finn and Cade. They closed the section up over their heads. Rey went about trying to undo the results of her earlier repair.

"This'll work on Stormtroopers, right?" she wondered as she manipulated the tools she had used earlier and left behind.

"Standard issue helmets are designed to filter out smoke, not toxins. It's the last thing a squad meant to take a crew into custody would expect." Finn looked at Cade for a moment. "Hopefully this plan of yours works."

"If it doesn't, you can have the top bunk in our cell," said Cade sarcastically.

"We'll be lucky to be tossed out an airlock."

Rey looked at both of them as the lights came back to full strength. "Will you both shut up!" she whispered. "They're boarding!"

"Well, hurry it up!" Finn whispered back.

"I am hurrying!" Her fingers worked nimbly at the seal she had applied.

Above them, the boarding crew opened the hatch and made their way onto the deck. The group below held their breath as the boarders walked around the deck, clanking as their boots hit. But there was only one pair of boots. And the other sounded almost like a giant had stepped onto the ship.

The access hatch was tight for the three of them to fit, with Cade being on the bottom of the pile. He stared at BB-8 as Finn boosted up Rey in her attempted sabotage. She was working on removing the seal when suddenly, the tool slipped from her hand and clanked against the deck. The boarding party immediately stopped walking around on the deck. Cade knew they would be caught now.

Suddenly the hatch opened to reveal two figures who Cade could not see. Their voices were muffled and they were ordered out of the hatch. The three of them, along with BB-8, climbed out of the hatch. Cade stared at the figure holding the blaster at them. There was nothing to interfere with his face. It was one filled with aged experience. And it was one he had seen before. The figure behind the man made it easy for Cade to recognize. It was his uncle.

Cade stepped forward from behind Finn and Rey, removing his mask in the process. "Uncle Han? Chewie?"

The man holding the blaster squinted for a moment, then recognition washed over his face as he lowered his weapon. "Is that you kid?" He embraced his nephew and Chewie let loose a questioning growl. "I hardly recognized you with the beard. How did you find the Falcon?"

Cade smiled up at his uncle's face. "That's the point, I wanted to hide." He got a moment to look at his uncle for the first time in many years. He still had that same grin as always, looking like he was about to con someone out of a ship or valuable commodity. But his hair was grey and his eyes more hazel than before. The wrinkles on his scarred face indicated he had been up to no good since he last saw him. He was both delighted and worried. "It's a long story."

Chewie kept his bowcaster and eyes aimed directly at his two companions. "It's alright Chewie, they're with me." He walked in front of the massive Wookiee directly in his line of fire, hoping he remembered their friendship from his childhood. Still not believing it, the giant looked once again, then admitted a welcoming bark and shouldered his weapon. Han did the same with his blaster.

Chewie wrapped his arms around Cade, asking him a myriad of questions that came out too fast for him to answer. It didn't help matters that he was being suffocated by the Wookiee. Rey and Finn just stood there awkwardly before Cade remembered they were also witnessing his family reunion. "Oh, I almost forgot. These are my friends, Rey and Finn." He muttered from the depths of Chewbacca's hug. "They helped me escape from Niima Outpost."

Han nodded at Rey and Finn, still eyeing them up ever so cautiously, but still managing to lower his jaw in disbelief. "Jakku? That junkyard?"

"Thank you!" Finn said, looking over at Rey. "Junkyard!" His look was a pure I-told-you-so one.

Cade finally emerged out of the bear hug and addressed his uncle once more. "Yeah, we wouldn't have gotten out of it if it wasn't for Rey here. She's one hell of a pilot."

Han gave her admonishing look. "Is that so? Well, you obviously were in a fight, the Falcon looks torn-to-shreds on its outer hull."

Before Rey could muster a reply back, he addressed his towering companion. "I told ya we should've double-checked the Western Reaches!" Chewie replied with a rumbled set of protests. "We were lucky we found you. The beacon popped on as soon as the ship powered up." Rey was still trying to make sense of how these two worked together, considering they were completely mismatched.

"Who had it?" he continued talking to the group. "Ducain?"

They had no reason to lie to the man. "We stole it from a salvage dealer named Unkar Plutt."

Han's brow narrowed as his face wrinkled even more. "From who?"

Cade and Finn looked to Rey, as she obviously had more information to give than they did at the moment. She spread her hands wide. "Look I have no idea, I'm not privy to Plutt's dealings. But word has it that Plutt stole this ship from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain"

"Who stole it from me!" Han was clearly angered. Cade and Rey did not understand why. Han moved away, admiring his ship once more. He began mumbling about things that needed repaired. Cade gave Chewie a confused look, which he returned with one that was fully accepting of the situation.

Han began moving off to the cockpit and Chewbacca followed, leaving the three of them behind in the longue with the droid. They all exchanged a look.

"What now?" Finn gestured in the direction of the corridor that led to the cockpit. "He just left us here."

"I dunno." Cade said, shrugging even though he clearly was the one who was supposed to understand a member of his family.

"We could wait for one of them to come back," suggested Rey.

They all gave each other a look. Without another word, they broke for the cockpit.