"Get that out of my face!" Rey growls as she pushes away the barrel of the blaster pistol that Army has in his hand. The gun is still hot from the shot that killed the unlucky shuttle pilot they had found waiting onboard. The poor guy is lying dead at their feet in the cockpit. "If you're not going to shoot me, then put it away!" she hisses.
"Sorry," Army mumbles as he stashes the pistol on the floor for want of a better place. He leaves the safety off, she notices. Probably because Army Hux is not a man who often handles a gun. "I had to make it look good. Did I hurt you?"
"What the Hell are you doing?" Rey demands. But just then, the ship lurches hard to the starboard side. Rey hastens to take back her question. Now is a time to act, not to talk. "Forget it! Don't talk, just fly!" The ship lurches again and Rey stands to lean over Army to toggle the stabilizer switch. It turns out that what Army had told her long ago is right. He's not much of a pilot.
"I can't believe you did this," Rey mutters under her breath as she watches the horizon tilt yet again. The movement reveals they now have company. She spots at least two TIEs, maybe more. Those ships sure scrambled fast. Kylo's command shuttle is just barely aloft and already they are pursued.
"You are being rescued," Army announces through gritted teeth.
"Rescued? This is some rescue!" Rey snaps back, just as stressed as he is.
"It was your idea! I'm getting out of here and taking you with me."
"You're damn lucky I might be- Well, you're lucky I wasn't in the mood to fight back because I could take your skinny ass, Army." Rey is livid to find herself in this situation. "And did you have to kill that poor pilot? Couldn't you have stunned him?"
"I can fly. We don't need him." The com button is flashing and buzzing loudly now, no doubt a hail from the TIEs on their tail. Thankfully, they haven't started firing. Yet. As the seconds tick by, Rey is getting more and more concerned.
"Shields up, Army! Those TIEs are heading right for us."
"Shields," he repeats under his breath as he scans the complicated cockpit control panel before him. "Shields . . . where are the shields?"
"There!" Rey points and then lunges to activate them herself. "Can you even fly?" she demands. "You can't fly, can you?" she accuses.
Army shoots her a look. "I told you, I'm a thinker not a doer."
"Well, get out of the pilot seat, genius, before you get us killed!" When he hesitates, Rey gives his shoulder a hard yank. "Move! And strap in because this might end badly once they start shooting."
And now Rey is in the pilot seat and she's gunning towards the planetary shield gate portal that's straight ahead.
"They're not going to shoot us down," Army says with far more confidence than she has.
"Yeah, how do you know that?" she challenges.
"Because you're onboard, Rey. You're our ticket out of here."
She punches at the blinking com light and there's an open link now. The shuttle is being hailed by the TIEs and ordered to land.
"Are you going to answer that?" Rey complains.
He blinks at her. "Should I?"
"They aren't just going to open the shield gate for us, are they?"
"There's two gates," he informs her.
"Great-twice the chance to die." Rey gestures to the com. "Well, get on the line and start making threats to get us through or I'm going to land this ship and Kylo and Snoke can kill you."
Army starts talking. Rey isn't really paying attention. There are four TIEs now surrounding the shuttle and trying to box her in and force her down. Whoever these TIE pilots are, they are good. Constantly rearranging their formation and herding the shuttle along with them. No shots have been fired, but it's a quick ever-changing game of cat and mouse. And while Kylo's shuttle is agile and quicker than it looks, it does not have the maneuverability of a small one-man fighter. It's a command shuttle meant for transport and not an aerial dogfight.
"As soon as we get clear, you're dropping me at the nearest system and we part ways."
"No," Army says this in as firm a tone of voice as she has ever heard from him. "You're coming with me. I need you, Rey. You're my ticket to the Resistance."
"The Resistance?" Rey sighs and makes a face. "They are going to shoot you on sight, Army. They are going to shoot this shuttle on sight." The only place more dangerous for Army Hux now than the First Order is the Resistance.
He ignores her and resumes bickering over the comlink. Army is right. It doesn't take much conversation before the giant shield gates open. As usual, General Hux's tactics prevail. He had called it: the First Order values her enough to let her escape unharmed with their lead general.
They are in space now and away from the planet but deep in First Order territory in the Outer Rim. "Here are the coordinates for the jump." Army fishes a datacard out of his pocket to hand it to her.
"Where?" Rey asks.
"Crait. It's a mining planet where the Resistance command center has been hiding for the past few months. We've known where they are for a while."
Rey nods and inputs the data into the navicomputer. Kylo's shuttle has the most current technology and so seconds later the jump calculations are complete. Rey reaches for the lever and they make the jump to lightspeed. They are away.
Beside her, Army sighs and slumps in the co-pilot seat. Rey too exhales the breath she has been holding. Adrenaline still has her heart pounding and her mouth dry. As they sit there in mutual silence a long moment, Army reaches over to grab for her hand and squeeze. "We did it. We're safe."
"Safe?" Rey marvels at this self-delusion. "We are fugitives from the First Order in Kylo Ren's stolen ship headed for the Resistance base. You're a war criminal in their minds and I'm . . . " Rey's voice trails off. She doesn't want to speak aloud that she is Kylo's maybe pregnant girlfriend. "Oh, Army," she looks to him. Then her gaze wanders to the body on the floor. "What were you thinking?"
His pale blue eyes stare deeply into hers. "I did this for you, Rey," he declares hoarsely. "For us."
Rey raises a hand to her forehead, suddenly very scared for where this conversation is headed. "Army," she says softly. "There is no 'us.' I told you that we can't be together."
"We can now," he says hopefully. "We'll hide at the Resistance, just like you did before. I have the highest level security clearance in the Order and I personally planned the Coruscant invasion. I'll trade that information for sanctuary for us." He looks so earnest now as he assures her. "Don't be afraid. We'll get through this."
"But I don't want this, Army! Why did you do this?" she wails.
"I will keep you safe, Rey," he promises. "Don't worry. I will treat you well. Ren is the past. I will be your future."
"We will be hunted everywhere we go. It won't take Kylo and Snoke long to figure out where we've gone." She looks around miserably at Kylo's plush shuttle. "They are tracking us. There's a transponder on this ship somewhere. Probably in the back near the hyperdrive . . . "
"Fine. We'll find it and turn it off. The Order will figure out where we are headed soon enough. And then Luke Skywalker will take care of Ren. That Jedi killed Vader and the old Emperor. He can kill Ren."
Rey blinks at this plan. "Army, the Resistance isn't going to be happy if we show up and you lead the First Order right to them."
"I'm not leading the Order anywhere they don't already know to go. The First Order has known for months where the Resistance hides. It's all part of my invasion plan. The Order first launches a diversionary strike on the base before it heads to Coruscant."
Rey's eyes widen and then narrow. "So the First Order knows where we are heading and it's where they plan to attack?" Why ever did Army think this was a good idea?
"Yes," he confirms. "But we'll get there first to warn them."
"I don't like this," Rey groans. She has a bad feeling about this. With her luck today, the Order will get there first and she and Army will run right into them.
"Look, I know it's not perfect, Rey. But it gets you away from Ren."
"But that's not for you to decide!" Rey sputters.
"I won't let you go back to him," Army vows with a conviction that matches his old zeal for the First Order. "He'll only use you again. Like he used you before for the map to Skywalker. Like the Leader lets him use you now for sex."
Rey shoots the general an ugly look. But then she colors deep red with embarrassment and confusion. How had Army known that she and Kylo were having sex? She's going to murder Kylo if he bragged.
"You don't know, do you?" Army surmises. "Remember that day a few weeks ago when the Leader summoned me and Ren was there? The Leader wanted to congratulate us on the Mid Rim. My reward was that he didn't fry me. Ren's reward was you."
"Me?" What?
"The Leader gave you to Ren for the night. With the sole stipulation that he not harm you."
Rey looks away and swallows hard. So that's why Kylo had been so insistent about getting her into bed that night. And that's why he had been so certain they wouldn't be interrupted. That asshole, she thinks, as she remembers Kylo declaring that a night with her was worth frying in blue lightning. There was never any risk that he would be punished. That fucking Sith was just manipulating her. And, of course, she had fallen for it.
Army must sense her reaction because he starts playing on her fears. "If you stay with the Order, the Leader and Ren may start passing you around next. Ren and his knights are not known for their respect for women, Rey. Neither is the Leader with his slave girls. I won't let them treat you like that. You deserve better than that."
Upset, Rey stands to her feet, steps over the body on the floor and stalks into the back of Kylo's shuttle. She slumps dejectedly into the couch in the lounge area. Her elbows are on her knees and her chin is cupped in her hand. Seconds later, Army settles down beside her.
"Rey—" he begins as he lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset you." When she doesn't object, he takes it as encouragement. His hand is stroking her back now and he scoots closer to plant a chaste kiss on her upturned cheek.
"D-Don't—" Rey warns.
But he ignores her. "The first time I saw you hovering over my hospital bed, I thought you were an angel. You were wearing this dress and you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen."
"Please d-don't—" Rey warns again. Her face is in her hands now and her eyes are closed as if to blot out this no-win situation she finds herself in.
"Every day, you came to see me. It was the best part of my day." Army keeps stroking her back. His voice is soft and sincere. It ought to be comforting, but it's only making things worse. "Back then everyone hated me. Everyone blamed me. There were betting pools in the officer corps on how long it would take the Leader to kill me. No one gave a damn about me except you. You didn't care what I had done or why. You only cared about me."
"Army, please don't do this—we can't do this—" Rey's voice cracks with the intensity of the situation. She has spent the last week agonizing about whether she is pregnant or not. Worrying about how Kylo will react. Terrified for what it means for the future. Naively, Rey had believed that issue to be the overriding factor in her life. Never once had she contemplated she would end up kidnapped by her best friend and on her way back to the Resistance.
"We don't have to make anyone happy but ourselves. I don't care what Ren and the Leader think or what my father thinks. I can fight for the other side just as well as I can fight for the Order."
"No, no you can't," Rey corrects him. "We live in a real world, Army. Come back to it," she gripes. "You are not some ordinary soldier. You are the face of the First Order. And I'm supposed to be Snoke's daughter. We are not anonymous people. We cannot just go sign up for the Resistance."
"Why not?" This attitude is the same bold daring that makes Armitage Hux a brilliant strategist, but it's not working for Rey just now. Because this isn't only his war, this is her life. And she's not about to let Army Hux hijack it further.
"Rey, I lov—"
"Stop!" This can't go on. It has to stop. And so, Rey drops the bombshell secret that not even Kylo knows. "I think I'm pregnant."
Army's hand freezes on her back and she senses him stiffen at her side. As she glances over at him, Army is staring at her. His expression is more disbelieving than stunned.
"I think I'm pregnant." She repeats. "It's true," she mutters, then pauses to swallow the lump in her throat. This is the first time she's actually said it out loud to anyone. "I wish it weren't true, but it is."
"Oh, Rey."
She sits back now to face him. "Army, you and I can never be together. Not now." Not ever.
"Does he know?"
"What?"
"Does Ren know?"
"No. Not yet." She hasn't had a chance to tell him.
"Okay," Army reasons, as if he is brainstorming through one of his tactical scenarios. "Then you can get rid of it. We can solve this problem and it will be like it never happened."
"No."
If Army hears her, he doesn't process it. "Then we can be together. Like we want."
Rey takes a deep breath. "Army, I'm not getting rid of this baby." By the time this war is over, this child may be all that Rey has left.
"Wait-you want Ren's kid?" He is surprised. "But you just said you wished it wasn't true . . . "
There is a difference between wishing you hadn't gotten pregnant and planning to abort the child. But maybe that's something only a woman can understand, Rey thinks. Army sees this as a problem to be solved and she sees it as a child to be born. And that's a fundamental disconnect. "I can't kill this innocent kid. I won't do it." And that too is probably a fundamental disconnect between them. Because Starkiller Hux has no problem killing innocents. His recent maximum slaughter strategy in the Mid Rim bears testament to that fact. "This kid is a Skywalker," she reminds him since Army already knows Kylo's parentage. "Snoke will take my head off if I kill a Skywalker baby."
When Snoke finds out about this, he's going to be very pleased, Rey knows. A baby from the Skywalker and Palpatine lines, born from Jedi and Sith on both sides. The very epitome of the balance the old Muun so desires. This kid will be born full of Force, she thinks. Full of power. The Sith will covet this child for that alone. Darth Plagueis will be delighted that the line of the Chosen One continues another generation. And this means Snoke will make them get married for sure now, Rey thinks.
"What matters is that it's Ren's kid. You will never be free from him if you keep his kid."
Rey takes another deep breath. Suddenly, she's very glad that they are in the back of the shuttle and far away from the blaster pistol tucked under the pilot's seat. She looks over at Army and confesses, "I don't want to be free from Kylo Ren."
Army is silent a long moment. Then he asks in a calm and quiet voice, "What are you saying? What are you telling me?"
"That we can't be together-"
"Because you want to be with Ren," Army finishes for her. He catches her eye and she nods at the truth of his words. "But Rey, he's a maniac! Violent and obsessive and impulsive . . . "
"I know." Kylo Ren is all of those things and more. Some of them good, some of them bad. "I know who he is, Army." And Kylo knows who she is too. That's why they work. It isn't always pretty, but she and Kylo work together. And they are going to have to work together for the good of this child, Rey knows.
Army shakes his head. "I can't let you do this . . . "
"You don't get to decide," she tells him gently. "This is my decision, Army," she whispers.
Abruptly, he shoots to his feet and begins pacing. "What is with women who let guys treat them like dirt?" he grouses, arms waving in emphatic anger. His gestures are more wild Kylo Ren than controlled Army Hux in demeanor. But everything about this man seems atypical today. "What do you see in him? Is it the mask—is that it? All that posturing? I know it's not the proximity to the Leader or the Force. You've got that all on your own."
"There are good sides to him."
"I haven't seen them and I've known him for a decade."
"We are all more than we seem, Army." She gives him a look of compassion. He is a dear friend who today is acting completely out of character. And that scares Rey. For herself and for him. "Kylo Ren is more than he seems. And so are you. Even after the Starkiller." She's speaking of his genocide but he's understanding her to mean his defeat, but whatever. The point is still the same. We are all more than our worst moments, our regrettable deeds, our cringeworthy comments. The things we wish we could undo, unsay, take back.
"Do I need to slap you around, is that it? Do you need someone to hurt you, to use you? Because I don't do that to women. I'm not Ren!" His face is so bitter now. It's a mix of hurt and disappointment that she wants to look away from. But Rey forces herself not to. Through the Force, she feels Army's pain wash over her. "Rey, I have just turned my back on everything for you and for our future. And now you tell me we have no future . . . "
He stops pacing now and looks away.
Rey just sits there miserable.
They are quiet for what seems like forever.
"Now what do we do?" Army asks finally.
She sees panic momentarily cross his handsome features. Armitage Hux looks like a man who has lost everything. Well, in reality, he may have just thrown everything away. But his desperation scares Rey. She hurries to reassure him. "We go to the Resistance as planned. I'll get you in. You will be safe there." That prediction might be a bit optimistic, but there's no point in being negative now.
"But then you're leaving me," he concludes, his voice flat and strange.
"Yes. I can't stay there. Not now. You know the family connection between the Skywalkers and Kylo. It's too risky for me to stay there. They will eventually find out about the baby and use it against Kylo." In the back of her mind, Rey remembers old Milo speaking of how the Old Republic Jedi used to steal children. They stole Rey's grandmother from the Emperor and his wife. And they stole Kylo's mother and uncle from Darth Vader and his queen. Yes, it would be best for her to keep far away from the Skywalker twins, Rey knows. She doesn't want her or the baby to be used as a pawn in that family's wars.
Army looks at her again for a long moment before he concedes, "Okay. Then that's the plan."
Rey gives him what she hopes is a reassuring smile. "We'll make it work, Army. But you need to make a very contrite speech to Leia Organa. She's the one you need to convince."
"I can do that," Army sounds heartened. He gives her a half smile. "Speeches are my thing."
"Yeah," she agrees. "Yeah, they are."
Rey! It's Kylo speaking to her through the Force. Before she can stop herself, she says his name aloud. "Kylo."
Army's eyes narrow. "Ren?"
Are you okay? Please be okay.I need you to be okay.
"I'm fine."
"Are you talking to Ren?"
Are you headed to the Resistance?
"Yes."
"What are you telling him?"
Stay alive, Rey. Do what you need to do. Tell them anything they want to hear. But stay alive. I will come for you.
"I'll be alright. I can take care of myself."
I know.Do not trust my family. If I fail, find Snoke and he will keep you safe. Trust our Master.He will protect you.
"You stay alive too. I need you alive." Army is scowling at her as she says this aloud.
It's a deal.What were you going to tell me on the landing platform?
"Later. Now is not a good time."
Hux is there, isn't he?
"Yes."
Okay.Got it. I'll shut up.
After that exchange, it is a long, nervous and coldly distant ride to the Resistance. Army doesn't speak to her. He barely looks at her. He stays in the back so she wanders up front to the cockpit. She fiddles with the shuttle controls and tries to ignore the dead man by her seat.
She feels guilty and angry and sad at the same time. And she is worried, more worried than ever now. She might be pregnant with Kylo's baby. The next Skywalker scion. And here she is about to march into the Resistance headquarters. She's about to step back into the middle of the galactic civil war. And now, the stakes are higher than ever. It's not just about her any longer. It's about this baby Rey didn't want and isn't sure how she feels about. All she knows is what Rey has always known: she wants to survive. Only now, she wants her baby to survive too. Because when you grow up stepping over bodies on Jakku and you spend your days in a constant struggle to survive, you learn the value of life. It's a simple truth: all human life has value. The poor dead pilot behind her seat had value. Orphan scavenger girls marooned on Outer Rim worlds have value. And this unborn baby too has value. Even if this kid wasn't a Skywalker and a Palpatine. Even if this kid doesn't have the Force. This baby has value and she wants it to survive. And that means Rey needs to get away from this war.