AN: Blerg! I have a love/hate thing with this chapter. It definitely isn't where I thought the story was going but does help the actual plot in the end...please stay with it! I promise there is more fun in store for our lovelies (together even) in the next several chapters. Thanks for reading!
Rey and R2 arrived on Boz Pity right on schedule. She jumped down from the x-wing and pressed the buttons to lower R2 to the ground.
"Ambassador." Someone said behind her as they exited the command center to greet her.
"Hello." She said standing as R2 was lowered from the ship and came to her side.
"I am Theo Mark, son of One eyed Kuul. Welcome to Boz Pity." He said standing with his hands crossed over in front of him.
"I am Rey of Jakku."
"Welcome. If you would come with me." He motioned back to the doors he'd just come from. Rey removed her bag from below the x-wing, putting Luke's saber at her hip.
"Unfortunately we do not allow weapons of any kind in our city." He said. Rey's discomfort skyrocketed but she nodded and placed it back in the x-wing, glad that R2 had insisted that he carry her staff in his unit.
"I understand." She said as she followed Theo.
"General Organa was most insistent that we meet with you." He said as they walked the halls. "Here are your quarters. We will review our tactical advantage at 16:00 hours. I will have a droid escort you to the command center."
"Thank you." She said as she entered the small bunk, with R2 following her. "I look forward to it."
"Good day." Theo Mark said curtly before leaving.
"Well, it seems people don't like diplomats." Rey commented to R2 as the door shut behind her. Rey pulled her clothing from her bags and hung it up wondering what on earth Leia was thinking sending her. "R2, can you set up a feed to General Organa?"
R2 beeped out that his communications were being blocked. Rey frowned feeling again that something was off. The display at the far side of the room illuminated.
"Did you need to contact your base?" Theo asked.
"Yes, I need to inform them that I have arrived."
"Let me put you through." Theo evaporated and General Organa appeared as a hologram.
"You made it safely." The General stated.
"Yes sir." She said. "We will commence the discussions at 16:00."
"Good." The General could sense what Rey was feeling. "Make sure to ensure that the spices we've negotiated for will be delivered on time. It was one of the conditions of the meeting that we had to make purchases before the meeting would be set up."
"Yes sir." Rey said. "Do we know their ETA?"
"Two weeks from now."
"Understood. I will update you when the negotiations are complete."
Rey pressed the button on the hologram and watched as the transmission ended. She sat down on the very soft bed and pulled her legs under her to mediate. "R2 make sure to rouse me by 15:30" He beeped his agreement and stood in the corner.
Rey cleared her mind and slipped into meditation clearing away the worry and doubt that she'd been feeling as she arrived. She knew that she was there to look at the fleet of ships the traders had and she was under no impression that the people she would be negotiating with would be honorable or cordial.
Half a galaxy away on Jarl, Kylo Ren sat trying to block every emotion he could feel coming from Rey. He'd felt her panic slightly and balled his fists as he sat in the small space, wondering if he'd ever be free of it. The day was frustratingly long without Rey's presence to break up the monotony. Each moment felt like hours as Kylo went through his exercises, his drills, and meditations. He forced himself to eat the horrible food they'd brought him and wondered how long Rey would be gone and if General Organa would send anyone else in to try to interrogate him. He doubted that anyone would be sent in since Rey no doubt had supplied all the information he'd shown her inadvertently while doing training with the mind probes.
As he lay on the hard bunk trying to sleep, he wondered if this separation was part of the General's plan: To give him someone to interact with daily then take her away. It seemed more like something he would do but he knew that the dark side existed in his family. He fell asleep out of sheer boredom, trying not to think of Rey.
At 16:00 hours Rey was escorted to the trade negotiation room. She'd changed into the robes that General Organa had given her and thought she looked oddly adult. R2 followed behind Theo and herself as they entered the small conference room.
"First, thank you for hosting me here." Rey said as she seated herself so she could see the door and so that R2 would be close at hand. She was getting the feeling that Kylo was right, and that these negotiations weren't what the General thought they were. Theo nodded and motioned for her to continue. "As you know we have made purchases, in kind, to facilitate these meetings. General Organa would like assurances that the items will arrive within the next two weeks."
"And where will they be sent to?" Theo asked, his fishing so transparent it was clear Rey was in much deeper than she'd thought.
"That has already been arranged." She shaking her head. "Now, show me what you have in the way of a fleet." She said without using the force, feeling like that should be reserved for a more dangerous time than the first few sentences of negotiations.
Theo pressed a button on the table and a hologram of several ships was broadcast throughout the room. Rey wasn't well versed in the types of ships but knew that they were large. "How many crew?" She asked pointing to the largest one.
"51 personnel are required but typically we host passengers." Theo said, pulling the largest ship closer with a motion so they could see the details.
"How many do you have and what are their armaments?" She asked as she looked at the larger hologram. It was clear there were guns on the ships, the arrangement of which Rey hadn't seen elsewhere.
"12 Cruiser class, 16 destroyers, 3 light, and one station."
"And your offer to the Resistance has been what so far?" Rey asked knowing exactly what they were offering: use of all of their ships in exchange for only purchasing spices and other commodities through their confederacy. As Rey pushed out with the force she started to gather feelings from her host, feelings of deception and guile. I should have brought Kylo, she thought briefly.
Yes you should have, he said, her thoughts waking him. You're kidding me? The thought came as he realized who Rey was sitting in the room with. General Organa sent you by yourself to negotiate with one of the most notorious pirates in the galaxy? Kylo got to his feet and went to bang on the door until the guard come. "Get me my mother." He said through clenched teeth.
The guard scoffed, "Yeah, sure, whatever you say." The guard said forgetting who he was dealing with. Kylo squeezed the man's neck and would have broken it if he hadn't heard Rey's voice come, Kylo? What do you mean pirate? He dropped the guard then and looked to the other guard trying to help his friend up from the ground he'd fallen to after the Ren had released him.
"You," Kylo pointed to the second guard. "My mother. NOW!" He bellowed.
Rey, I need you to be very careful with what you say to this man. He thought imagining her on Boz Pity.
Rey tried to concentrate on what Theo Mark was saying while having a conversation with Kylo, knowing she would likely have to ask for him to repeat whatever he was saying as Kylo's anger was making it difficult to think. Theo was saying something about canons, and Rey tried to focus on what it all meant.
"Does that sound like something General Organa would be interested in?" He said as he pressed the same button and the hologram blinked away.
"As I am here, clearly she is interested." Rey said sitting back.
Kill him, Kylo's voice snarled across her thoughts.
Shut up! She thought trying to get her thoughts together.
"Are there any points that you will not negotiate on?" Rey asked trying to put her thoughts into motion. There were several points that the General had contention with, one being the smuggling and trafficking of living animals and possibly humanoids. Rey wasn't supposed to indicate that the Resistance was aware of any of those dealings.
"Yes." He said smiling, thinking that she was agreeing to all of what had just been discussed. "We will personally deliver the items to the Resistance bases." The grin the man was wearing had changed, Rey noticed. It was wilder, less careful.
"That isn't up for negotiation and by the way you're trying to figure out where the Resistance is located I would think that you have an ulterior motive."
The silent guard that Rey hadn't really put much effort into noticing shifted next to Theo, clear that something was changing. Theo laughed. "Clever girl." He said wagging a finger at her. "But I'm not going to divulge any secret or overt plans to you."
"Well then, I believe the sham that is these negotiations are over." Rey said rising to her feet. "If you would please escort me to my ship, R2 and I will leave."
Rey, Kylo's voice warned.
"We're thinking that it is best if you remain our guest until these negotiations can be completed." Theo rose and motioned for her to exit in front of him.
"You might think that you have some sort of prize here." She stopped on her way out the door. "But I am just the Ambassador for today, tomorrow another will be appointed and my assignment will end. And then you'll be left with another mouth to feed." She tried to remain calm.
"Oh I know we have a prize here." Theo bowed slightly. "That is Luke Skywalker's R2 unit, which must mean that you are somehow Jedi or a relative of the Generals. I would bet she would pay handsomely for your return."
Tell him that you know his corresponding codes and if you're not returned within the next two days to the Resistance that General Organa will 'accidently' leak them to the First Order. Kylo tried desperately to think of any lie that might get her out of the situation.
"Or better yet, you're the girl who fell the Knights of Ren. They went to the planet during the battle of New Tycho, and they never returned. Maybe you're the reason they didn't return? Wouldn't General Hux be delighted to have you?" Theo's wild side was twisting its way out, one menacing threat at a time.
Rey, run. Kylo warned and he realized as her thoughts came in a jumbled mess that she already was running and that she'd likely knocked the guard and Theo out with the force before starting down the hallway.
Rey ran blindly down the halls, not knowing where to go. "R2, here, here." She motioned him over to an excess port. "Find the ship."
R2 beeped about always being running from someone or something and that she needed to stop following in the footsteps of the Skywalkers.
"Can we talk about this on the way back?" She offered understanding the little droid was quite used to being in the thick of things. "Can I have my saber?" She asked. R2 opened a port and she reached in to grab out the staff squatting down near the droid trying to listen for any alarm that they were loose.
R2 beeped that they were 6 decks below where the x-wing was waiting but that there was some sort of port control.
"Can you override it?" She asked.
R2s beeps were less than stellar, saying the he would have to be in the detention center to do that.
"Where is that?" She asked.
R2 beeps out "This deck, heavily guarded." Rey sighed.
"Well then, let's go."
TBC...