The next morning, the delegations from Coruscant and Corellia each deliver separate lists of demands. "This is a child's birthday wish," the senior political advisor scoffs as he finishes reading aloud their proposals. "Like something Leia Organa herself might write." The man tosses the datapad on the table dismissively. "We shouldn't dignify this with a response."
But Rey has other ideas. She marches next door to hand back to the two lists. Come back with one joint list, she tells the Coruscant and Corellia teams. Later that day, they do. It's basically the two lists combined.
With a sigh, Rey realizes this will not be easy.
The difficulty is as much on her side as with the enemy. As Rey walks the First Order team through the joint list to discuss each point, no one on her team seems in the mood to deal. There is righteousness and anger on both sides plus clear distrust. This isn't Jakku where everyone is a repeat player dealing with one another time and again. These are people who don't want to deal with each other. And at least on the First Order side, no one feels like they should be dealing at all.
It doesn't take long for the disgruntlement to come out. First one woman makes a comment under her breath: "Ren is going to ruin the Order. Leader Snoke would never have done this." Everyone looks up at the woman and then looks around in defensive suspicion. But an hour later someone else complains, "If Hux were in charge, we wouldn't be wasting our time on this." And now the floodgates of opinion open. These peace talks are a very unpopular move, Rey realizes.
Rey is anticipating harsh criticism for herself as the team leader, but instead she garners sympathy from the others. They clearly think Kylo Ren is going to pin the success or failure of the negotiations on her. "How did you get roped into this?" Rey is asked. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. Ren must have known that he couldn't get any in the senior command to lead this folly. You're way too young for this." Rey just responds that she is following orders. "We know. I just hope you don't get the sword when it's all said and done. Ren is awfully quick with that sword." Another disgusted voice chimes in. "Ren uses that sword as often on our own people as he does on the enemy. He's a madman. The rank and file might admire him for taking on the Jedi, but everyone above the rank of captain knows what an embarrassment he is. The man is unstable. He's not fit to lead." That sentiment garners a chorus of agreement and head nods.
And now, Rey for the first time comes to appreciate what a tenuous position Ben is in. This grumbling goes way beyond just the secret peace talks. Ben is going to have to convince both the enemy and his own people that he can lead. And judging by the undisguised contempt—mixed with fear, of course—that seems to pervade the topic of Kylo Ren, Rey has misgivings. Rey is starting to understand the high stakes power play that was unleashed with the death of Snoke. Kylo isn't just fighting his mother and the Core, he's adverse to the officer corps of the First Order he claims to rule.
When she tells Ben about it that night, Rey worries that he will be offended. But he isn't surprised. Hux is biding his time for a coup attempt, Ben tells her bluntly. And then, there will be no chance at peace because I will get pushed to placate the hardliners in the Order. It's one more reason I need to end the war soon. The longer this drags on under my leadership, the more vulnerable I become. Ben looks her in the eye. This is why I need your help, he tells her. For myself and for the galaxy, peace is the answer.
Yikes, Rey thinks. No pressure there. Now more than ever, she is feeling in over her head. But Ben gives her the pep talk she needs. The next morning, Rey marches into the conference room with her head held high. She's determined that her colleagues will take her seriously today. Yesterday, they had treated her like a little girl being used as a fall guy chump for Kylo Ren.
But today, things are not much better. Rey sits down with the other side and starts talking through their list of demands, feeling her way through the issues. Rey is trying but everyone else is going through the motions. So she starts making unilateral decisions for a counterproposal. She'll counter the Core on the major tenets of their demand, but not on everything. And she tries to load up the counteroffer with as many feel good symbolic gestures as she can. In the ensuing days, Rey goes through two more rounds of this. They are making progress at narrowing the issues but Rey feels as though she has more rapport with the Core negotiators than with her own team. It's not that her team isn't helpful, it's more that they clearly do not approve. They are following orders without any enthusiasm.
It's Rey's third go-round with the Core guys when she decides to accept their request for an apology for the Starkiller. It's a step beyond the already agreed First Order commitment not to create any new planet killing super weapons. As the lawyers propose some very vague language that avoids actual blame, a bald middle-aged man abruptly stands and storms out of the room. All heads turn to watch him go, including Rey's. The woman seated across from Rey supplies the missing context. "His brother was the lead research scientist for the weapon. He died there." Looking around the room, the woman informs Rey, "Pretty much all of us know someone who died there."
"Did anyone know someone who died on Hosnia?" Rey asks tartly.
Apparently not. And that's not surprising. The First Order is an insular group. They watch the same media, they hear the same news, and they do the same things. They all live within the 'us versus them' echo-chamber bubble of the First Order. Rey wonders if the citizens of the Republic live the same way. Probably, she thinks. She's noticed that people tend to surround themselves with others who think and act like they do. It reinforces your values and opinions and everyone agrees. Right? Well, everyone you surround yourself with.
As a Rim girl, Rey is familiar with the prevailing attitudes of the Republic Core elite. It's mostly condescension mixed with scorn. Rey herself lives up to the stereotype of an uneducated, unskilled manual laborer from a dead-end world. She truly is the archetype of the First Order supporter. And that's the problem with stereotypes—more often than not, they are true. They are just not the whole truth. And in Rey's case, the truth is something no one in this room would ever guess.
Day after day, the discussions grind on. Rey gains confidence as she goes. Sure, this is galactic civil government and not hydration tablets and portions. But a lot of the basic concepts are the same. Rey knows how to present items to the other side, in what order and when. She knows to walk away at different times to keep the other side guessing how far they can push things before the First Order balks. Plus, Jakku has taught Rey an impressive poker face.
Not surprisingly, Rey reads peoples' reactions better than anyone else on the team. It's simply because she's done this a lot more. And also because the chain of command culture permeates the First Order. Very few career officers in Snoke's regime have spent much time attempting to persuade others. These are men and women who are used to telling people what to do, not trying to get people to agree on what to do. Those are two very different skill sets.
As she feared, there are definitely moments when Rey feels lost. Many historical and political references made by her learned advisors go right past Rey. There is a lot of talk about the Concordance that ended the Rebellion and some famous disarmament treaty. And the discussions about the powers and makeup of the new Senate invariably lead to comments about the Separatist Crisis. Rey just stays quiet and lets others do the talking then. Asking questions that reveal her ignorance will only undercut her already shaky leadership role.
Trust is the ultimate gating issue to a deal. It keeps coming up again and again in different ways. This isn't like a business venture with mediation and arbitration clauses and recourse to the rule of law. If Coruscant and Corellia surrender and the First Order reneges, there is no remedy. Of course, the enemy knows this dilemma. Their solution is to agree on as much as possible upfront to then make public to the galaxy at large. Their strategy seems to be to raise everyone's expectations. Maybe Coruscant and Corellia will try to shame the First Order into upholding their end of the bargain? Rey is dubious about that remedy. But it's probably the only remedy the other side has. Still, hammering out all these details keeps bogging the discussions down. Rey now knows far more about Senate quorums and election policy than she ever wished to learn.
She gripes to Ben about it. Now more often than not, Rey is the last one to arrive back to Ben's quarters at night. He is very interested in her progress, so they discuss the day's developments over dinner. Then they do some lightsaber forms or watch a holochron together. Rey wants to go flying again, but Ben puts her off. We can fly all you want when the deal is done, he promises. First, get the deal done. And that task worries Rey. Ben knows it too. So he is her incessant cheerleader and motivator. Telling her what a great job she is doing and keep it up.
Confidence is a strange and variable thing, Rey is learning. In her element on Jakku, Rey knows her mind and isn't afraid to speak it and act accordingly. The same goes for arguing with Ben. She has no trouble staring down Kylo Ren and telling him he's wrong. But a conference room full of grumpy First Order loyalists is not the same thing. Neither is the room next door with enemy leaders trying to negotiate peace under threat of death and destruction. It's a steep learning curve but Rey is finding her way, asserting herself against both sides equally. For Rey feels very much in the middle. She tells Ben about that and he approves. You are on the side of the future he tells her. Our future together.
During all of this, Ben starts reading his mother's memoirs. Ostensibly, it is to learn Leia Organa's thoughts on topics relevant to the peace deal. But more than once Rey wanders in late to find Ben staring off into space as he pauses in the text. When he turns to greet her, Ben always looks haunted. The Dark prince of the First Order is always so sad where Leia Organa is concerned. Still, his mother has observations about the Senate structure that Rey incorporates into the peace deal. For even Leia Organa will admit that the New Republic Senate was fundamentally flawed in key ways that impeded decision-making.
Rey keeps slogging on and the days slip into a week and then into two weeks and then three weeks. She's asked Ben to set a deadline, but so far he has refused. Ben likes the progress they are making and doesn't want to preemptively cut things short. Rey views things a bit differently. Back on Jakku, there was always a de facto deadline, usually death by starvation or thirst. With consequences like that staring you in the face, you start to compromise fast. Let's just end this and declare victory, she urges Ben. But he has changed his tune on negotiating the details of his new Senate. Ben now thinks this is the best forum to decide the minutiae upfront rather than publicly debate it for months to come. This new legislature will be presented as a done deal, Ben tells her. Unlike the New Republic thirty years ago, we will hit the ground running and be ready to host elections and govern immediately. Then, I will deal with Hux and nothing will stand in our way.
General Hux won't be going away of his own volition, they both know. Rey discovers this abruptly one day when Hux strides into the First Order conference room unannounced. He has the run of the ship as the commanding officer second only to Kylo Ren. So it's not like junior Lieutenant Solo has grounds to refuse him entry. But the very sight of the redheaded zealot makes Rey's blood pressure rise and adrenaline kick in. All her senses are suddenly screaming 'Danger!'
Looking around at the many relieved faces of her colleagues who all now perk up, Rey is very suspicious that General Hux has been tipped off. This unplanned visit is no accident, she judges.
"I thought these negotiations were scuttled a month ago," Hux announces as his opener. His tone betrays that he knows full well that is not the case. "What are you working on?" he demands of the First Order General Counsel, who is the most senior person in the room.
The man fairly leaps to his feet to hand over his datapad. "Take a look at this, Sir. It's our draft memorandum of understanding for a peace accord." He nods gravely at his superior. "These are the Supreme Leader's orders, Sir."
Hux's face is a grimace that becomes a scowl. "A Senate? Ren is giving them a Senate?"
The lawyer nods. "Keep reading, Sir. It gets worse."
"Civil rights? We're agreeing to a list of civil rights?" Hux is in disbelief at this move. "Dissidents are only going to use all these freedoms to promote disorder. Terrorists like Leia Organa always take advantage of the freedoms of an open society to wreak havoc on good, law-abiding citizens like ourselves."
"There's more, Sir."
Hux keeps reading and reacting. "A prohibition on super weapons? That's a nonstarter. We will keep the peace through fear, like the Empire did."
"Read the next part, Sir."
"We are apologizing for the Starkiller? Granting reparations for Hosnia survivors? Who approved this?" the General demands. "This deal is getting worse all the time!"
The lawyer now reveals the punchline for the draft agreement. "There's amnesty for enemy combatants, too. You'll be pardoning Leia Organa herself, Sir, along with the rest of the Resistance."
And that news is what takes a bad situation for Rey and makes it worse.
"Who is in charge here?" the outraged General demands.
"Over there, the young Lieutenant." Emphasis on 'young.' The General Counsel is very quick to point Rey out. Before Hux appeared, Rey had been huddled in the corner in conversation with one of the political types. She has remained there in hopes of being inconspicuous. But no such luck. "Ren put that inexperienced girl in charge," the lawyer informs Hux as he points out Rey.
There's no avoiding it. Rey straightens up and stares General Hux down from across the room.
He recognizes her. "It's you. Of course, it's you. Lieutenant Solo, right?"
Rey plays it cool. "General, Sir," she nods respectfully. Rey decides she will play the role of dutiful subordinate doing her job. Like before in the hallway with Ben.
"Should I call you Rey?" the redheaded general sneers. His icy blue eyes are boring through hers with undisguised hostility and suspicion.
Uh oh. That's not good. But Rey keeps her poker face. "Solo will do, Sir," Rey answers back, determined to keep playacting her appointed role. Hux is standing between her and the door, so Rey now walks out a bit from behind the large conference table. She might not be prepared to negotiate galactic peace, but Rey is up for this. She's stared down danger more times than she could count back on Jakku. And the first move, Rey knows, is to identify an escape route.
"What is the meaning of this?" The General shakes the datapad with the draft agreement at her.
Rey takes a deep breath. "The Supreme Leader has tasked us with finding a peaceful end to the war. That is our current draft agreement. But things are still shifting around a bit, Sir."
"Ren tasked you with finding a peaceful end to the war," Hux repeats, his derision clear in his tone. "By undermining our values? By negating why our troops fight and die? This is classic Ren!" Hux roars.
All around her, Rey can sense universal agreement with this assessment. But she sticks to her guns. "We have our orders, Sir."
Apparently, that's the General's cue to grandstand some more. He's pacing now like it's a stump speech. Suddenly, this confrontation feels very staged. Just like the moment Hux had ambushed Ben to execute her in the hangar bay months ago. "Ren has never been a true believer in our cause," the General accuses. "The First Order was mostly his vehicle for personal revenge against Skywalker. He was always more interested in killing the Jedi than he was liberating the galaxy from the Republic. This proves it!"
Rey quickly speaks up in Ben's defense. "The Supreme Leader wants peace. So the war will end and there will be order again." She spouts the First Order party line.
"He isn't fit to be the Supreme Leader! He doesn't share our goals. This is proof!" The General again brandishes the datapad. Then his eyes narrow and his voice lowers as he looks grim. "You are proof too."
Rey knows a threat when she hears it. She is tempted to reach into her bulky jacket to grab at her saber hilt hidden inside. But the moment she reaches for a weapon, this confrontation hits a new level, she knows. Still, Rey is a girl who always shoots first. It's how she stays alive.
The General is advancing slowly across the large, crowded room. Rey watches as her colleagues automatically shrink back to let him pass. "I know who you are," Hux tells her softly. He might as well be shouting in the silent room. "I know what you have done. What I don't know is why you are here. Why you would ally with Ren. But I guess this is it." Again, the General brandishes the datapad. "You are here to take down the First Order from within."
Those are fighting words and Rey decides to respond. She grabs for her saber hilt. Holding it down and off to the side, she lights her sword.
The whole room flinches at the sound. For a few seconds, the only noise in the room is the low hum of Anakin Skywalker's refashioned lightsaber. Every eye in the room—including the General's—focuses on the gleaming blue blade. No doubt everyone here knows what it means. Rey has just outed herself as a Jedi with the Force to the First Order's high command. Here is the girl rumored to have killed Snoke.
No one moves a muscle. Everyone is looking to see how General Hux will respond. As the sole military officer in the room, he's the only one wearing a sidearm, Rey assumes. Will he reach for it?
He does not. "Jedi," the General says this word with dripping contempt, "If it were up to me, you would be dead. But he wants you alive, so you get to live. But your day of reckoning will come."
Rey isn't one to be cowed in a situation like this. With a bravado she learned as a child on Jakku, Rey starts talking trash. She makes sure her voice is equally as intense as Hux's when she responds. "If you know who I am, then you know how dangerous I am. Careful, General," Rey warns. Then she moves her sword slightly. Just enough to make its hum flare and buzz. It is very gratifying to see the General and everyone else present flinch at the sound. No doubt these men and women have all seen Kylo Ren use his sword. They know what a lightsaber can do.
"He wants you alive," Hux sneers. "That's the only reason you live now, Jedi!"
"You don't know what's really going on," Rey challenges. She's trying to throw the cocksure General off his game. On Jakku, Rey learned that a good bluff is effective intimidation. All you have to do is make your opponent unsure and confused, and you gain the upper hand. "You're in the dark, General," she taunts him. "You don't know what's really going on!"
"Oh, no, Jedi. You're the one who is mistaken." Hux is very smug now. "Just wait. You'll see." Then, the confrontation abruptly ends. Hux scans the room and decides, "Carry on, everyone. We'll give Ren enough rope to hang himself. So, go ahead," he tosses the datapad he's holding onto the table with a loud thud. "Finish your negotiations, Lieutenant Solo. It will make a useful record of Ren's treason."
Then the General turns on heel and departs.
Rey looks around at the stunned, hostile faces. She keeps her sword lit a moment longer before making a show of deactivating it and stashing it away. "You heard him," she barks to the assembly. "Get back to work."
"I want no part of this!" the General Counsel guy hisses as he stalks out of the room. Presumably, he's off to join Team Hux.
"Anyone else?" Rey challenges the remaining group. "Anyone else here want to get on the bad side of Kylo Ren?"
No one else leaves. These people did not get this high up in the First Order hierarchy by getting crosswise with their superiors, Rey knows. And Hux himself had told them to carry on.
Ten minutes later, it's like nothing ever occurred. Well, almost. Suddenly, everyone gives Lieutenant Solo a lot more respect.