When everybody eventually parted from their group hug after this sudden act of collaborative murder, Finn, Rose, BB-8 and two other rebels left the elevator some levels earlier than the others as planned, so they'd be able to ignite the bomb. Everybody wished them luck, as they were on their own now and Rey hoped so much they wouldn't run into any more trouble.
Rey was left with Ben, Poe, Lieutenant Connix and three other rebels in the elevator again as they kept on their ride, luckily with no one else joining them at least.
After several more straining seconds, which felt like hours, they finally reached the upper level of the Nihilus. Again they separated into two divisions, as Connix took the three other rebels with her so they'd go to the communication room and send out the broadcast to cease the air traffic on Coruscant,
while Poe, Ben and Rey stayed together as they were the ones who'd be going to hijack the command bridge.
It was obvious they'd be outnumbered once they'll reach the bridge, but as Poe had a dead-aim as well as Rey and Ben were powerful force users,
their best bet was that it simply didn't matter much how many First Order Generals would be in that room, as they'd be at an advantage anyways and be able to overpower them. At least they hoped so.
Ben cloaked their presence once again, as it was much easier for him now to do so with just three people instead of a whole group and they passed several Stormtroopers and Generals who didn't seem to mind them at all, or at least looked away after some seconds when they walked by.
Rey made a note to herself to ask Ben to teach her this technique too, as it turned out to be extremely useful every time and she was also sure he was using a light sided technique which made it even more interesting for her to learn.
If the galaxy wouldn't be thrown into an age of darkness by the First Order right now, she would probably drill Ben with questions the whole time and urge him to train her day in and day out as there was so much to learn and discover with the force and she was so eager to learn all about it. As well as she was sure Ben would do everything to teach her all he knew about the force.
But for now, she was destined to only use everything she discovered by herself and absorb every bit of information or knowledge she was able to gain just through learning by doing, reading the Jedi texts or by chance being pressed by Ben to use a certain technique in dire situations to somehow survive.
As they were walking through these typical First Order corridors, Rey's breathing became faster as she heard the boots of her Stormtrooper uniform clicking on the silverish metallic floor. Everything seemed so silent suddenly as if it was the calm before the storm.
Eventually, she heard a beeping sound and saw Poe shuffling around in his uniform as if he was searching for something. Luckily they were alone and nobody else heard or saw it. The pilot pulled out a commlink he had hidden under the white armour, turned it on and Lieutenant Connix voice was to be heard as she announced:
"The broadcast was sent, air traffic on the whole planet will be ceased. We'll leave the ship now. May the force be with you!"
"Stars end! You heard that - right?"
Poe effused in a joyful manner but instantly refrained to walk like a good Stormtrooper again in case somebody else would cross their path.
Ben nodded, while Rey bumped her shoulder into Poe's in relief and joy that the other group did it and were on their way to safety right now.
So one-third of their mission was accomplished at least, it was up to them, Finn and Rose now.
They passed several doors until Ben suddenly walked a little slower and nodded forwards while he stated:
"The door over there. That's it."
Suddenly said door opened as two Generals darted outside, visibly stressed as they were yelling orders into their commlinks and Rey heard it was because of the broadcast as they obviously didn't understand who sent it and why. While they went straight into their direction, one General suddenly bellowed at them:
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Command by General Virmiss to deliver an urgent message to General Fribar after the meeting, sir."
Ben lied, now putting together several names and information they gathered through their last encounters to spin another story as he stood face to face with them.
The commlink of one General beeped again and a Stormtrooper informed them about several dead troopers in the communication room.
The man grew obviously nervous and looked from his commlink to Ben in his Deathtrooper uniform, then back to the device until he muttered out:
"Go on then, the meeting is over anyway, we've got other incidents to attend to right now."
"Affirmative."
Ben answered and saluted the General. Rey thought it to be absolutely unfitting for him to salute anybody as he was the damn leader of the whole First Order just several days ago, but he did it as if he had done it a thousand times already and nobody noticed who he really was.
The two Generals gave orders through their commlinks once again and hastily stepped down the corridors, leaving the group alone.
That's it, they'll be going into the command bridge room now.
Suddenly she heard Ben's slightly concerned voice in her mind:
"I'll leave my mind open for you. Use caution. There are 43 people in this room. We have to work fast and kill them all. Stay close to me."
"I will. Let's keep an eye on each other, as well as on Poe, please."
Rey answered a little worried too as Ben turned around to her and the pilot as everybody nodded, motioning each other that they are ready.
Both force users pulled their lightsabers out, while Poe readied his blaster and Ben pressed the control pad of the door leading to the command bridge.
It opened with a hissing sound and inside sat and stood several Generals on the controls, talking hurriedly with each other, probably because of the news about the broadcast.
The first ones sitting near the door looked over to the group in annoyance as if they didn't want another thing to be pestered with right now,
until Rey and Ben simultaneously ignited their lightsabers illuminating their Stormtrooper masks in red and blue lights.
The faces of the Generals were absolutely flabbergasted and they jumped off from their chairs, to reach for their blasters while screaming through the whole room:
"ITS THEM! SHOOT THEM!"
And then shit was going down fast.
Ben and Rey parried the incoming shots, while Poe stood behind them and aimed at the others, bringing down one after another with perfectly aimed headshots each time.
Everybody in the room now realized what exactly was happening at the moment and started shooting at them, while simultaneously calling for back up.
Rey closed the door fast and destroyed the control pad with her saber, so nobody was able to come inside for now, while she saw Ben jumping over a console,
bringing his lightsaber down to behead two attacking men with one fast swipe.
Rey was still close to Poe, who hid behind a corner to deal out shots here and there, then she leapt forward to cut off the hand of an officer who held out his arm and was about to shoot at them.
The clinking of metal was to be heard everywhere as the laser beams hit the walls around them, as well as screamed orders and insults from the Generals.
She turned around and ducked away just in time as one shot flew over her head, just to come up again and force push the attacker to Ben who instantly impaled him.
Rey jumped on top of a jut to instantly kick one guy in the face while plunging her lightsaber through another and dodge a shot aimed at her side.
Meanwhile, Ben froze several laser beams in midair and stormed forward, relentlessly mowing his way through the attackers as Rey did the same from a higher position,
using her lightsaber, as well as force pushes to kill their enemies.
Suddenly there was a pained scream, of a voice Rey knew all too well and she turned around so fast, she nearly tripped and toppled over her own feet.
Poe had a pained expression on his face and kneeled down as one of his legs was obviously injured. A General stood right behind him and had just ripped the helmet off him, holding a blaster to his now exposed head and announced through the whole room:
"Playtime is over! One wrong move now and your legendary pilot gets shot in his face!"
There were 5 Generals and Officers left alive by now and everybody including Rey and Ben looked with a shocked face in his direction and ceased their fighting in an instant.
Nobody dared to move until Poe mumbled out between gritted teeth:
"Don't listen to this fucker guys!"
The man shot into his shoulder to make a point and Poe groaned out in pain as Rey screamed and was about to jump forward,
but the General pushed the blaster so hard against Poe's temple again that he winced from the pressure and had to hold his head to the side while he gritted his teeth.
Rey stopped her movements and instantly contacted Ben through her mind in total panic:
"BEN BEN BEN! Stars! What do we do? What do we do now?"
"Stay calm and comply with his demands for now."
He answered and she turned her head around to him with tears in her eyes as she was absolutely scared for Poe's life right now.
Ben glanced back at her for a second with a meaningful gaze and retreated from his fighting position, obviously waiting for the General to say something,
which he did a moment later:
"Turn off your lightsabers, throw them in the middle of the room and surrender yourselves right now."
Rey's gaze still was fixed on Ben who indeed turned his lightsaber off while he stared intensely at Poe who was panting heavily with a strained face from the two injuries he received while blood started dripping on the ground next to him.
Shit, they fucked up. They didn't have a good enough eye on one of her best friends. Rey thought and tears started rolling down her face as she saw Poe suffering like this.
Ben tossed his lightsaber in the middle of the room as inelegantly as Luke did it on Ahch-To when he tossed the saber over his shoulder and kneeled down, pulling his hands behind his head, while two Generals walked over and stood next to him with pointed blasters at his kneeling form.
Rey's breathing became faster from fear, as she too turned off her lightsaber and kneeled down to roll it over the floor to the spot where Ben had tossed his as she also pulled her hands up behind her head.
How the hell shall they ever get out of this situation? They were absolutely fucked and clearly failed, getting themselves captured by the way.
If any of them dared to move right now, Poe would be shot in an instant and Rey held all her hopes up that Ben cared enough about Rey's feelings towards the pilot as one part of her family that he doesn't just leash out to kill the others regardless of Poe being shot as a result of such action.
The other two Generals walked over to Rey and also pointed their blasters in the direction of her head and she froze in fear, not daring to move a muscle.
The man who was holding Poe at gunpoint grinned maliciously and with victory written all over his face, as he ordered:
"Pull off your helmets - fucking Jedi scum!"
Ben and Rey did as they were ordered and pulled off their helmets to let them drop on to the floor next to them with a loud clonk. She couldn't read Ben's face at all as he looked extremely concentrated instead of angry while his glance darted back and forth between Poe, her and the Generals. Suddenly she heard him in her mind:
"Try to talk to them, distract them without angering him. Tell them something they want to know. I need a moment to solve it."
"So...Kylo Ren. Missed the First Order already? After blowing half of it to bits like the maniac you are? Resistance was not your thing then? Did you come here to reclaim your leadership or what is it you seek?"
"No." Ben plainly answered as he stared daggers at the man.
Suddenly Poe mumbled out between gritted teeth:
"We are here for something entirely else actually! This is just a distraction."
The Generals changed glances fast, not knowing what that meant while Rey started hearing noises outside of the door of First Order troops trying to open it from the outside with blasters. Meanwhile, she saw Ben staring specifically at a point somewhere behind Poe and his hostage-taker and she was absolutely sure he was planning something out at the very moment and she knew she had to make sure he'd be free of any obligations to be able to do so.
One General who stood beside her, who obviously had no idea why else they'd be here spat out:
"Then enlighten us! Why are you really here?"
"Actually we are here because your former leader over there knew you'd still have that electro-proton bomb on the Nihilus.
We were going to ignite it to bring down all your ships at once."
Rey announced, hoping they'd catch on and win some time. She didn't even have to invent a story, as this was the truth, which should be shocking enough for them right now. The First Order Generals now looked at her wide-eyed, obviously not believing her, until the one who held Poe at gunpoint snorted out:
„Yeah...sure. Then you are doing a pretty bad job right now, being on the command bridge. It's a few levels down from here actually. Nice try. But I didn't expect anything intelligent coming from rebel scum such as you are."
„You assume we came alone?"
Ben sneered at the man who just talked before, obviously also trying to buy time right now while Rey could see he was moving his index finger and ring finger just the slightest bit in circling motions behind his head. So he was absolutely doing something right now. Luckily the Generals who were holding him at gunpoint didn't see this,
as they probably weren't aware that he'd be able to use the force with small hand gestures too as he did when he killed Snoke back then.
Suddenly Poe's commlink started beeping again for an incoming message and all the Generals flinched together a bit until one ordered the other who threatened Rey at the moment, to come over and grab the device from Poe's chest protector. It kept on beeping as the message wasn't being taken and Finn, as well as Rose, probably kept on contacting them right now.
„You should really take it. We made an agreement for when we don't answer in the span of 30 seconds, they'll ignite the bomb, assuming we are dead already."
Poe lied at them, probably to let them hear, they are right about the others and the General behind him smacked his gun against his temple to make him shut up to which the pilot once again winced out in pain and ceased the talking. Rey felt just the slightest bit of the force being used somewhere right behind her and knew Ben was doing something and she hoped the others wouldn't notice anything.
„Take it."
The man behind Poe ordered the other one, who then turned on the commlink to receive the message.
It was Rose voice and she panted out excitedly:
„Ok guys! We are at the bomb, BB-8 already overcame all the security systems and we are ready to ignite it. Did the ship move already?"
The Generals gasped out in complete shock as Ben, Rey and Poe obviously didn't lie to them and suddenly everything happened at once:
The officer who had the pilots commlink in his hand, grabbed his own and was about to contact other First Order troopers in an instant to warn them, maybe to jump to lightspeed to save the fleet, while Rey felt Ben yelling into her mind suddenly:
„DUCK!"
She bent forward in an instant on his command and saw from the corner of her eye a large metal plate being ripped from its wall behind her, slicing the general apart horizontally just above his stomach as it darted forward just an inch over her head and shot over to Poe who ducked down exactly the same moment she did and both Generals who stood around him were too sliced in half as they stood on a straight line before.
The two leftover Generals who held Ben at gunpoint realized what happened and instantly started shooting at his head, but he held both blaster shots in midair just an inch next to his temple as Rey called both lightsabers into her hands, darted forward in one swift motion and impaled the attackers from behind as they were both turned to Ben.
Their bodies dropped down a second afterwards as Rey stood behind him panting heavily as her shoulders heaved up and down from the tension and just now saw that all their attackers are finally dead and Poe is safe. As well as Rey and Ben are unhurt.
Ben turned around with wide eyes and watched Rey in absolute amazement with the two sabers in her hands until a proud smirk appeared on his face as their glances met and he let go of the light beams next to his head, which shot at a wall then. They didn't need to tell each other what they just achieved in a matter of about 3 seconds,
so she just smirked too and threw him his lightsaber back, which he caught easily above his head as his eyes were fixed on hers in a sudden longing way as if he was just about to crush into her and devour her right now.
But he didn't and both turned to the pilot, who was kneeling on the floor, leaning still over as he had also bent forward under the metal plate because Ben had obviously too warned him before he did it. He gripped his bleeding leg as well as stared at them in utter shock until his brain started to realize too that they got rid of their enemies and they were free to continue.
He gritted out between his clenched jaw with a big, pained grin:
„What in the universe...! Stars you two are fucking unbelievable! That was freaking awesome!
I thought we were goners, seriously! Ewww, that guy bled on me when he was dissected!"
Rey laughed a bit in relief and instantly darted towards Poe, to support him as he tried to stand up with her help, while Ben took the beeping commlink from the dead Generals upper half of his body and glanced over to them with a strange look.
If he was jealous right now or not, Rey couldn't tell, but there was no place or time for this kind of negative feelings in their situation right now.
Obviously, he knew too and turned the device on to finally answer Rose:
"We had an inconvenience. Everything is under control now. We are about to move the ship and call you back in an instant."
"Ok – everybody's alright?" She asked a little suspiciously.
"Yes."
Ben lied and turned the commlink off, as he turned around to Rey and Poe, who was being held up by Rey. They could still hear the pounding and by now usage of heavy machinery of the Stormtroopers outside trying to pry open the door and once again Rey grew uneasy as she didn't know how much time they had left before the door bursts open. Stars, that's how Ben must have felt when he locked himself inside of Starkiller Base II to fire the superweapon.
But back then he was all alone, hearing this earsplitting banging on the metal surface of the door while waiting for the second the troopers burst in to kill him.
Suddenly he turned around and went to where the loud noises were coming from as he announced:
"Go, steer the ship, I'll guard the door, in case they'll come through."
"Alright! Take care, big guy!"
Poe saluted him, while Rey nodded in understatement, hoping they wouldn't be able to come in too soon as she dragged her friend over to the control panel and seated him on a chair, as they both fastly started to operate the controls which moved the ship in a sharp turn around, away from the city. Rey had never steered a ship this size and she felt a little excited doing so, Poe obviously had neither and he just huffed out in annoyance as he held his bleeding leg:
"Boy, is this piece of shit slow!"
Suddenly a big monitor flickered on and General Hux was to be seen, absolutely enraged as he yelled out:
"Why is the Nihilus moving its position and what is this broadcast all ab..."
Then he suddenly stopped himself as he obviously saw Rey and Poe steering the ship and his eyes widened in realisation of what was happening right now.
"What in the blazes of...!" He started, but was interrupted by Poe who just waved at him with a bloody hand:
"Hey there Space Carrot! Already missed your voice!"
"DAMERON? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SHIP?"
Hux screamed out so hard, his eyes looked as if they'd plop out any second. Then he instantly turned around and commanded several generals some things about informing the other ships on Coruscant. Obviously, he couldn't even see Ben from the perspective of the monitor as he was solely fixed on Poe and Rey, fletching his teeth as he announced:
"You two! You will fucking burn for this! When I get my hands on you we will rip your guts out and space them all over the galaxy, murder everyone you ever cared about and..."
"Hey there, calm down, calm down. You seem a little frustrated. Maybe there is something bottled up inside you...like...in your underpants..."
Poe purposely riled the new Supreme Leader up, obviously to gain some more time, but also because he probably just had fun doing so. Ben watched the whole scene with a frown until the last sentence about Hux pants where he even snorted and had to rearrange his position to look serious again, while he leaned against the wall next to the door, where still loud banging and by now metalworking was to be heard.
Hux now was getting into a rage fit, which he didn't let out like Ben usually did, but instead turned around and bellowed several commands at the whole room of Generals he was having around him and Rey swore she heard the words: Kill, murder, hunt down, slaughter, destroy and slay them about a hundred times.
Then the transmission was shut down by him suddenly and Rey pressed several more buttons on the control panel to shut down several doors on the ship, so the troopers had it harder to reach them, while the Nihilus was still moving away from the city as she turned around to Ben and announced to both men:
"Very funny with the pants and all. We are reaching our destination in 20 seconds. Let's contact Rose and Finn, they can ignite the bomb now!"
Next to Ben was a huge electronic metal saw cutting through the side of the door with sparks flying all over the room and Rey instantly jumped up, as the Stormtroopers outside were on the verge of getting through it now, while he announced into the commlink, watching the sparks flying next to his face onto the ground and already ignited his lightsaber:
"Ship is reaching its destination in about 15 seconds. Ignite the bomb now and flee in an instant."
"Roger! We'll meet on the ground!"
Finn replied a second later as Rey jumped up from the chair, to also ignite her saber for one last battle before they'd finally bring this ship down and hopefully be able to leave before it crashes as the troopers from outside were nearly done cutting open the door. Poe was steering the ship alone now, but already started to duck away under the control panel as he expected another fire exchange any second and suddenly the damaged door fell open with a loud clonk on the metal floor and there were several heavily armoured stormtroopers barging in with rotary blaster cannons to which Rey knew she would certainly not be able to parry off the stream of continuous laser blasts at all.
Ben took several steps backwards and positioned himself right next to Rey, as she glanced over at him and stated with a shaky inhale:
"Together?"
"Together!"
He answered in a low voice and both raised their lightsabers above their heads.
Uh noo! Poor boy Poe getting hurt :(
Seems like his fine ass indeed needs some saving too for once.
Also, he mentioned that Hux probably was not having enough sex, so that why he was so bottled-up.
Funnily Ben is totally at balance since he started having sexy time with Rey. Maybe Hux should try it too, or eat a chocolate bar from a famous company instead.