"Your Tie Silencer."
"Yes."
"You want to find it."
"Yes."
"Where did you leave it?"
Had she really just asked him that? True, it was late (or early?) and the events since Ben woke had come so far out of left asteroid field but… This seemed overly simplistic. Surely, if he knew where he left it, finding it wouldn't be an issue. Like anything else.
So, Ben's hesitance in answering was not just born of dumbfounded bewilderment; why his cousin would ask such an obvious question. But, upon reflection and piecing it all together like he hadn't been afforded an opportunity to do, maybe it wasn't such a stupid inquiry after all. Not when he got to take a step back and re-assess the basics.
"Last time I had it…" Ben teased out, dejecting himself by not being able to think fast and clearly enough. Then it hit, directly into his stomach; the realization winding him like a punch to the gut. "Supremacy."
Rey grimaced at the fresh despondency; a problem, indeed. She'd come as quickly as he'd summoned; they all had.
"Wai'wai'wai'wait…"
Poe sat forward, trying to pick apart the outlandish request in his sleep-clogged mind. The bewildered, disbelieving gap accommodated processing and waking up while his features almost painfully contorted with the insanity of it.
"You want us…. To sneak aboard a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer…. And steal back your Tie Silencer?"
Ben had gravitated back to the cottage, bringing his selected agents to break the news. Finn, Poe and Rey had joined their darker counterpart (and his silver-haired wife) in the living room of their humble abode; so exhausted was Normay, that her usual habit of hospitable refreshments fell by the wayside. The caf table, usually crowded with glasses, cups and plates, stood empty. The routine touch went unnoticed by her on-edge guests.
"You did it before."
"No, I didn't!" Poe spluttered, incredulous of the blatant twist on such a mammoth event. "You abducted me!"
"That wasn't me, that was… someone else." Ben wouldn't split hairs about what he had done and what Ren had done; it was too much of an argument to be had at such a critical moment. "Point is: you stole a Tie Fighter." Ben's chocolate gaze slipped one person over, to the male still half-asleep beside Poe. "And a Stormtrooper."
"I'm right here." Finn's similarly weary drone sounded from Poe's right, nestled between his partner and the arm of Ben and Normay's sofa.
"Do we even know if the Silencer is still in one piece?! If it's even still on Supremacy?!"
The ex-Knight's lips sandwiched into each other and his eyes flitted sideways; this would surely further stress an already-stressed Poe.
"No."
"Oh, for fu-!"
"Not in front of the children please, gents." Normay chimed sleepily from the armchair; the same one Rey had parked herself on the arm of. "They're listenin'. Always listenin'."
"Yeah, Poe. No cursing in front'a the kids-"
"Oi." Ben stopped short at the undercurrents of exhaustion-rubbed disapproval radiating from the sleep-deprived bundle of silver in the corner. "You're no angel either, Buster."
"Here's a better question." All heads turned to the ex-Stormtrooper, whose input had been minimal on account of being hauled out of (ironically) one of his most content night's sleeps in a quite a while. "Where's Supremacy?"
Now that… That would be worth knowing.
"I mean… If it's just docked somewhere, it'd be a piece'a cake to steal the Silencer back-"
"Babe, if it's just docked there, we take the whole damn ship!" The olive-skinned pilot protested, rounding on his partner with a whip of ebony curls. "If we steal Supremacy, not only do we get the Silencer, we get a whole fleet of Ties, First Order uniforms, and y'know… Supremacy! The most feared warship in the galaxy! Snoke's ship! A trademark of the First Order itself! Screw the Silencer, if we get Supremacy, the Order'll be eating outta our hands!"
"And d'you think Phasma is gonna part with that if she's tryin' to rebuild the Order?" Normay cut in blandly, surveying her friend through fatigue-heavy eyes. "That, and we don't know where the bastardin' thing is. Anyone that does is gonna be few and far between and most trusted allies for a reason. It's not gonna be just floatin' there."
"Now who's cursing?" Poe prodded irritatingly while Ben frantically swiped his hand repeatedly across his throat and trying to catch the pilot's eye in the meantime. A frenzied message of: Don't do it! Don't fucking do it!
"I'm their mother." The silver-crown Rosundan retaliated with restrained hostility; don't poke mama bear. "They're not gonna listen to a word I say anyway."
"Well, I hope that's not true 'cause if they're looking to me for discipline, we're screwed." But back to the topic at hand; satire is a fine distraction, but the clock was ticking, and Ben was feeling every stroke of the hand like a slap to the face. "So… Star Destroyer. Viable. Yes or no?" Would it only be Han Solo's son that would include his kid's discipline and a Star Destroyer in the same conversation?
"Not at the moment." Rey pitched in, having listened intently but contributed minimally during the back and forth in favour of analysing everything and how it fitted the overall strategy. "Not before the cantina meeting, not without jeopardizing the plan."
"We didn't bet on this happening so soon." Ben agreed, rubbing his scar tiredly then looking to the armchair that cradled his wife; expecting to find her dozing. "We need to know how to get on with it without screwing everything up."
"Let's take this from the start." May, barely awake, shifted in the chair; anything to try and wake herself a little but her inflated form prevented too much exertion. "Kylo Ren is returnin' to the First Order. Complete with saber, helmet and, if we can manage it, Tie Silencer." So far, agreement all around.
"So far, all we've got of that, is the saber and that magnificent chunk of man-meat there." Ben bit back the flattered smirk but rolled his eyes regardless; Finn and Poe were not as subtle in pulling their faces into contortions of feigned disgust. "We're waitin' on the helmet; that had to be commissioned off-world by a contact of Maz's, who had to be told it was a replica for a collector. I have the crossguard hidden and I'll get it when we need it."
"Now, if Kylo Ren turns up tomorrow… I know he's a Force-user, but that doesn't make him psychic. How's he gonna know about the resurgence?" Cue an exchange of looks, flitting between the occupants of the tiny living room; realization dawning despite the sleepy heads and the early hour. "I mean… The Resistance isn't stupid. Someone like Kylo Ren, we'd have to keep in a specific standard of holdin' cell; one that's designed specially to contain a Force-user, yes?"
"Yeah, I guess so…"
"That… That makes sense…"
"So, he's not gonna garner any information by hackin' into anyone's head, is he? For now, he's safely contained in a Force-restrictin' cell; punchin' the walls and throwin' his food tray because it's all he can do."
"What, I'm an animal on a Goddamn Resistance base too?!" Ben objected, taking his wife to task on the summary; sitting bolt upright, jaw rigid with offence.
"Back me the fuck up here." The doctor pointed to the Stormtrooper that rivalled her in exhaustion, but never took her eyes off her husband.
"She's right, Solo. You were messy. I know. How many times I clean up after you?" Finn confirmed, opening his eyes for possibly the first time to, as Normay said, and back her "the fuck up". "You're gonna be worse here too if your power is restricted; less outlet for stress relief if you can't do as much."
"Boom. Said it better than I ever could. Finn, you're a treasure."
"Hey, I got plenty of stress relief!" Unfortunately for Ben, he rarely had a filter. But even if he did, it would not be functioning at that hour of the morning. "I got twins out of it."
"OI!"
"And you're telling me to keep my mouth shut?!" The olive-skinned pilot leaned forward in his seat, practically cracking with amusement and mischief glimmering in that disbelieving grin. "Man, you gotta keep tabs on yourself!"
"What's he talking about?!"
"Ignore him, Rey! He's vile!" Giving in to the fact that she would not be getting back to bed, let alone sleep, Normay opted to maximize her productivity and that always started the same way. "I'm makin' tea. Anyone else?"
"Yeah, me, please…" Finn accounted for.
"And me, May." Tea for Rey Rey.
"Caf, if you've got it, May."
"Caf for me too, baby." Of course, a massive hand brushed the small of her back as she crossed him and her tidier one, in turn, grazed his chest; subtle gestures of affection in passing without even thinking.
The kettle quaked on the stove and five ceramic mugs stood to attention on the countertop, waiting to be assigned: caf or tea. While the beaten copper vessel started to come to the boil, May had returned the bare few steps to the living area and rested her bloated form against that of the ex-Kylo Ren. It was unspoken, automatic, for lightsaber-toned arms to envelope behind her waist to maximize the closeness between himself, his partner and the bump; much to Rey's internal squealing.
"Kettle's ready, love." Normay declared once the tell-tale sound chittered from the kitchen, scarcely managing to pry herself from his arms; but not before planting a kiss to his head to make it easier. "Smallies have to come with me."
"Tea, tea, tea, caf and caf." There was a certain element of self-service as the tray met the previously decommissioned caf table wedged between the sofa and the two armchairs; a plate of biscuits shortly followed it. "This is probably the closest we're gonna get to a breakfast, lads. Dig in."
"Kay… Where were we?" Poe resumed business; cup of caf in one hand, hunger-breaking biscuit in the other.
"Ben's stress relief."
"No, we weren't! We were passed that, thank you!" Cue the pilot and ex-Stormtrooper couple melting into each other in silent hysterics; significantly more awake now.
"Kylo Ren is in Resistance custody." Rey chipped in helpfully, just about swallowing her mouthful before she spoke. "What do we do with that?"
"We do nothin' with it." May picked up her trail of thought from before her instinct of day-to-day preservation kicked in, where tea sparked the chain of events in the morning that carried her through until night-time. "Kylo Ren isn't goin' to the meetin' tomorrow night, neither is Ben Solo." Once more, the guilt of volunteering her husband for the mission started to bubble but, as Ben already pointed out, if she hadn't said it, someone else would have and he would have accepted it just the same. "Babe, you need an alias; conjure up the dodgiest name you can think of. Or stick with Scarface, that's how they know you."
"Scarface?" Poe cringed, his handsome features crinkling under the weight of it; Ben took it in the sympathetic nature it was intended. "Really?"
"Yeah…"
"Original."
"One too many bashes to the head, I guess? One too many stun blasts. The dude was half blind, Poe."
"When you get there, keep to yourself but keep your ears open." May went on over the casual comedy routine between former enemies; one the torturer, the other the tortured. "For now, Kylo Ren is in Resistance custody. BUT. Don't discuss that with anyone. Put out the feelers and see what rumours regardin' the Jedi Killer are. We'll see what suits us best and what we can build a better, more believable story out of. Might even buy us more time to get the likes of the Silencer-"
"If it's not scrap, locked in a Star Destroyer that's impossible to find or board or in the hands of a Canto Bight collector."
"And the helmet together. And if the Silencer is a no go, it'll give us time to find a backup."
"Hold on, May." Poe had to throw in his two credits, and really, they were as valid as anyone else's. Perhaps more so. "We saw that absolute shitshow outside the cantina on Aargau. Not only were there enough Stormtroopers to staff a Star Destroyer, we have no way of knowing if they or anyone else on the landing strip or hanging around the cantina saw him long enough to identify him. What if he walks into that meeting and he's twigged? Then the whole thing comes crashing down; we can forget about it."
"I'll go." Every head turned to the soft, volunteering declaration; to Rey licking her lips before she addressed her cousin and his (secret) wife. "I'll slip into the cantina, dress appropriately. If Ben focuses on the rumours of Kylo Ren, I can tune in and listen for any signs of recognition around him. If I find any, we can either make a swift exit or dispatch whoever the recognition is coming from. Depending on if it's a group or just an individual, of course."
"Wouldn't be a bad idea to sneak in some droids either. Plant 'em around the place. Smaller ones." Finn offered, chipping in too. "Rig 'em up with recorders in case they check Ben for wires. Could be standard practice if this meeting is exclusive; might want a tight security on the people they invite, 'specially if they don't know a lot about 'em."
"Weren't there some mouse droids on Hux's shuttle?" Poe put to May, the vague memory stirring from when he examined the flight log of the ship over a year ago upon her and Ben's arrival. "Small models. Maybe Chewie can have a tinker, see if he can do some reprogramming."
"Y'know what?" Ben finally got to muscle in on his own fate, but with everyone else doing the planning for him, why not sit back and enjoy the majesty of a plan coming together? The others all tweaked in his direction, interested to see if he could improve it, or a suggestion to make. The affected one! He speaks! Enthusiastic but casual and with the frustratingly laid-back attitude of a Solo, Ben just waved if off. "I think this is gonna be fine. I don't think anyone's gonna die." Much to the shared, resigned expressions of everyone else present.
"….. We were kinda hopin' for a bit more than that, love. But cheers."