A/N: To quote Eugene Meltsner "Greetings and Salutations!"
Hope everybody is still doing well and not going completely stir crazy. (And also washing hands *fights an internal battle not to get up on my soapbox*)
*snickers at own joke*
Well, I guess I lied about bi-weekly updates. Maybe just don't count on anything at this point? They may be weekly, they may be bi-weekly. It depends on how fast some future chapters are written and how motivated I am. This ones a smidge early, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Y'all get to officially meet Tal and Sim this week! Thanks to everyone who continues to read/review/favorite/follow: you're all the best *grins like an idiot and waves*. Continued thanks to FenrisInside (the Great) and Leona2016 (the Stupendous) for all their help with everything and for their friendship. You both have and continue to be wonderful!
Praying that everyone is staying safe and healthy! Take care of yourselves until next time:)
FluffyFox: You're welcome! And thanks for the well-wishes:)
Hartmannclan: Have you so little faith in our daring protagonists?;)
"You'd think they'd be more willing to surrender after getting eight rounds of plasma bolts straight up their-"
"Tal! Concentrate!" Ben roared.
Rey ignored them both, her saberstaff clutched tight in both hands, eyes fixed on the wreckage of the Ravager. Blaster bolts rained down from high above where the Resistance had taken shelter among the many sublight thrusters lining the ship's stern. She was too busy deflecting the bolts into the sand and away from the troopers behind her to pay much attention to anything else.
"What are those pilots doing?" she shouted, sparing a glance up at the sky where she caught a glimpse of a TIE fighter darting past.
"Giving the Resistance a run for their money," Tal said, squeezing off several shots before ducking back behind the piece of a wing he was using for cover.
"Well, they'd better wrap it up," Rey said. "This'll be a slaughter without their help."
As though to emphasize her point, Ben threw out his hand and caught a blaster bolt in mid-air just before it hit a trooper square in the chest. The man leapt to the side and Ben released the blue light to disappear into the ground. The trooper nodded to him, then whipped his blaster up and picked off a Resistance fighter that had gotten a little too cocky and revealed himself while aiming a shot at Ben.
"We could use some help," Tal shouted into his wrist comm with his eyes following the TIEs fighting above them. "Six-two, I'm giving you ten seconds."
"They've got us a bit preoccupied, Captain."
"Well, find a way to get down here, we're taking a lot of fire."
"And we're not Captain?"
Despite the impudence of the pilot, Rey saw a TIE on her left go into a sudden climb with an x-wing on its tail. The TIE continued straight upwards for several seconds before Rey saw it edging over backward. With a blast of green light, it completed its rotation and began firing on the x-wing, tearing it to pieces as it fell back toward the ground. The fighter came out of the dive mere meters above the Ravager and opened fire on the Resistance snipers. Rey saw several fall over the edge of the wreck, plummeting toward the sand hundreds of meters beneath, dead before they hit the ground. Above, on the mangled aft of the ship, she could just make out spatters of red and bodies torn and burnt by the bolts of green plasma.
The TIE buzzed them and Rey caught a glimpse of the pilot, wide grin on her face as she pumped her fists in victory. Her celebratory whoop came through the comm.
"How's that for help, sir?"
"Excellent work, Six-two. Well done."
"Anytime, Captain," Six-two said, flashing a thumbs up before banking in a sharp curve to pursue an x-wing as it tore past her.
"Path's clear. Move in," Tal said into his wrist comm. "You all know what to do."
The troops around them snapped into action and began to advance on the Ravager with their weapons raised. Rey took up her position on Ben's right, staff drawn and both blades shining red. They slipped into the dreadnought behind the troopers. As soon as they entered the dim space, Rey sent out a tendril of her music to twine with that of the dark side until the murky shadows surrounding her seemed to peel back and she could see the way before her. They were in a long corridor leading deep into the ship's interior. The floor was covered in a thick layer of sand that muffled their footsteps and she could see evidence of steelpecker nests through holes they'd poked in the ceiling. She wondered how the Resistance had managed to clear them out. The creatures had killed Teng Malar, one of her fellow scavengers, and mutilated dozens more. A few in the Resistance probably had some wicked looking cuts.
Ahead of her, she could see a new corridor intersecting the path they were on. Ben reached forward and nudged Captain Tal's shoulder, pointing ahead. Tal nodded and signaled his troops to halt.
"Rey and I will go left and right. How many troopers can you spare?"
"Of my twenty? I can give you four each. Will that be enough?"
Rey glanced to Ben and nodded.
"Enough to fight in close quarters, but few to protect. We'll have a better chance of bringing them back alive."
"Your choice, Tal," Ben said. "Who do you want to send?"
Tal pointed to several soldiers and motioned them to stand at Rey's side, then did the same for Ben. Rey dipped her chin in a greeting as each took their place while she tried to remember their numbers. They didn't say anything, but Rey caught them watching her with the corner of her eyes. Tal turned back to the passage running straight ahead.
"Flush them out," he said over his shoulder. "Send updates when you get a chance on one of the wrist comms. They're short range but should come through clear. If we lose contact, get your troops out and back to the Finalizer."
"Will do. Keep us in the loop, Tal."
The Captain dipped his helmeted head in a slight bow before turning and pushing to the front of his troopers to lead the way down the hall. Rey made to turn to the right but stopped when Ben's callused hand caught her wrist. She stilled and turned back to him. Though his face was half-shadowed, she saw the worry and earnestness written plainly there. She prayed the stormtroopers at her back could not.
Be careful, Rey, said Ben's voice in her head.
You too. Watch your back.
Ben's fingers slid from her arm and he disappeared into the darkness of the side passage. She could still hear his presence in the Force, and she found her racing heart slowing to match the familiar rhythm of his music. For the briefest of moments, his song seemed to tug at something inside her as though to draw it closer to the surface. At the very edge of her hearing, she caught a faint trickling of strange notes before they vanished as suddenly as they'd come. Once more, there was only Ben's music and hers tangled together in the bond. Rey shook her head and worked her jaw, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her. She listened harder but heard nothing out of the ordinary.
"Is everything alright, ma'am?" asked a small, distinctly female voice from inside one of the helmets.
Rey snapped back to reality.
"Yes," she said. "I was just thinking."
"Perhaps we should get a move on?" suggested a trooper on her right.
"Of course. Thank you trooper..."
"MN-0856, ma'am. Everyone just calls me Mynock."
"Why-" started Rey.
"His service time as a mechanic," piped up the female trooper with a laugh. "We've never had so many malfunctions."
"Never claimed to be any good," Mynock said with a shrug.
"And what's your ID?" Rey asked the woman.
"SI-9344. But just call me Sim, it's easier. Those two are BT-7788 and RP-9905. B-T and Ripper, respectively."
"Now that we've got intros out of the way, can we get a move on?" asked B-T.
"Keep it down, will you?" muttered Ripper. "This place is probably crawling with enemies."
"Shut up, both of you," Mynock said. "B-T's right. We need to move."
Rey shook her head at the quiet bickering as she started down the corridor ahead of the troopers. They trailed behind with their weapons raised, sweeping the hall with their sights. Rey didn't waste her energy. She could hear music ahead of her, all but ringing through the long-dead starship.
"They're just ahead," she hissed, motioning to a doorway that had been propped open with a twisted piece of metal.
Rey edged forward, already drawing on the Force to protect herself and those behind. She craned her neck until she could see into the room beyond. With a shower of red sparks, a blaster bolt struck the corridor wall right next to her ear. Rey retreated out of the line of fire, nearly stumbling against Sim. Rey felt the trooper's fingers close on her shoulder and pull her backwards.
"Two on the left, a group of five on the right," Rey whispered to her. "I saw a couple of blaster pistols and I'm pretty sure one of them had a sonic rifle."
"Then they must know you're with us. Those are best used against your kind."
"My kind?"
"Force users. But they're not fun for us either. We'll do our best to clear them out, but we'll need your help too."
"Just tell me what to do."
Sim gestured to the others, then toward the open door.
"We'll send in a smoke grenade, which should stir them up, then we'll move in. You can follow me if you want. Just be careful. They'll be taking blind shots."
"Right. I'm ready."
Rey gripped her saber and edged her thumb over the activation switch. Sim pointed to the door and nodded to B-T who shouldered a heavy looking weapon. There was a rushing noise and, half a second later, a small explosion that sent smoke billowing from the doorway. Rey heard coughing and shouts from the room before the troopers rushed past her, blasters raised and already firing. She darted after them, blinking away the smoke and drawing on the Force to clear her vision.
She'd taken only a few steps beyond the door when she had to bat away the first blaster bolt. She spun towards its source just in time to see someone ducking behind a pile of boxes and crates.
"You're going to have to do better than that," she muttered, striding forward.
She caught the man just as he stood up again with his blaster trained on Sim. For one half second, his face betrayed his surprise before it went dark and he slumped to the side. Rey pulled her saber free and turned to make sure the troopers were alright. She could barely make out their silhouettes through the smoke, but she could guess their positions from the flashes of blaster fire.
"You good Sim?" she called.
She never heard what the trooper shouted in return because, at that very moment, something hit her square in the back. Noise exploded in her ears, but it wasn't the music with which she was familiar. This was a raucous, confusing wave of sound that seemed to crowd her out of her own head, overwhelming synapses fine-tuned to the intricately delicate notes of the Force. Rey staggered, disoriented, unable to tell up from down. Her vision blurred and she clawed at her ringing ears, trying to find the Force. She couldn't concentrate. She couldn't sense anything.
"Rey, get down!"
The voice broke through the haze, but Rey couldn't seem to process the words. Her world had descended into chaos. She didn't even register the hand that gripped her shoulder and shoved her to the floor behind a crate just as a blaster bolt sliced through the air above her head.
Rey lay panting on the ground, the scattered sand rough against her cheek. The world spun around her and she closed her eyes, trying to focus on the breaths she pulled in and exhaled. Slowly, the world came back into focus and her ears emptied of the high shriek. The Force began to sing softly to her once again. Sim had a hand on her back, keeping her from getting up.
"What happened?" she asked as she raised her head.
"One of those cowards got in a shot with a sonic rifle," Sim said, poking her head above the crate and squeezing off a few shots before ducking back down. "They don't usually kill, but they'll send you barvy for a couple of minutes. Long enough to pick you off with a blaster, anyway."
"He shot me in the back," Rey said, anger working through her.
"Said he was a coward, didn't I?"
"How many are left?"
"Don't know exactly. You took care of one, I got two. Not sure how the others are doing."
There was a shout and a cry of pain from the other side of the crates and Rey tried to get up again. Sim held her down with a hand.
"They know what they're doing, give them time."
Rey shoved her hand away and sat up, peering over the boxes. The smoke was starting to drift away, clearing the air. She could see B-T kneeling behind a tangle of communications equipment, clutching his shoulder and swearing. There was another flash of red light and the noise of something heavy hitting the floor.
"All clear Sim," said Mynock. "That was the last."
"The piece of scum got in a shot before you finished him," said B-T between streams of profanity. "You couldn't have been ten seconds faster on the draw?"
"Oh, stop whining," muttered Ripper. "It's hardly more than a scratch. I didn't make this much noise when I was gut shot. I'll start worrying when your intestines are falling out."
B-T made a noise that echoed Rey's revulsion, but he got to his feet, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. Sim watched him get up, then clicked a button on her wrist comm and held it to her mouth.
"This is SI-9344. We've cleared a room in the port corridor. Seven enemy soldiers dead and one casualty on our side, non-fatal."
"Excellent, Sim," came the voice of Captain Tal through the comm, crackling slightly. "We've cleared several rooms along the main corridor and I just got word from 8553 that they're in the middle of a firefight in the hangar bay. I'm sending reinforcements now."
Rey felt her stomach squeeze with sudden anxiety for Ben. He would be in the thick of it, as he always was.
"Do you want us to turn back and help, sir?"
"No, make sure the port thoroughfare is clear, then come and find us. Keep me informed."
"Yes sir."
The comm clicked off and Sim turned to her men, eyeing B-T who was still swearing under his breath.
"Are you going to make it?" she asked, voice dripping sarcasm.
B-T let out a few choice words in her direction before she shut him up with a glare. He straightened and took his hand from the wound, allowing Ripper to douse his arm with an antiseptic and plaster it over with a bacta patch.
"That'll have to do for now," Sim said. "We've got a job to do. Get it looked at when we get back to the Finalizer."
B-T muttered something under his breath as she turned. Sim spun on her heel and marched back to him, coming as close to nose to nose as their helmets would allow.
"And no whining," she hissed.
B-T held up his hands in surrender.
"Alright, no whining."
"We'll get a closer look at the communications array when we come back," Sim said, glancing at the tangle of wires. "Now, let's move out."
...
They cleared two more rooms and searched innumerable others in the hours that followed. By the time Sim ordered them to return, Rey could feel her exhaustion as an ache deep in her bones. Her mind was weary, and she tried not to think about the way her saber hilt was dark with blood and how the smell of it clung to her like a reminder of her treachery. Instead, she turned her mind to Ben. Captain Tal reported that the First Order had been victorious in the battle against the Resistance in the hangar bay, but she still hadn't felt secure in his safety until he spoke to her through the bond, letting her know he was alright.
It took a long time for them to pick their way back through the ship to reach the communication center. By the time they reached it, the other groups had arrived as well. The rush of relief that swept through Rey when she saw Ben standing there, blood spattered and pale, was so strong that she took several steps toward him before she remembered that she couldn't rush to him and kiss him as she so desperately wanted. She staggered to a halt with her eyes locked on Ben's face. The corner of his mouth quirked upward in a smile that was only meant for her.
It's good to see you too, Rey. Are you alright?
She gave him an almost imperceptible nod and turned to Sim, breaking his gaze. It was easier to bring her mind back under control when she wasn't looking into the eyes that reflected her desire.
"We ought to check the data banks for anything useful," she said to no one in particular. "They might have been in contact with other factions."
"Mynock, can you handle that?" Tal asked.
"You insult me, Commander," said the trooper with a grin as he started tapping at a keyboard, attention fixing solely on the screen before him.
"The ship is clear then, sir?" Sim asked.
"Yes. Most of them were topside and the TIEs took care of them. We were fortunate there wasn't a larger force inside, or things might have gone badly. If it weren't for you, Supreme Leader," he said, turning to Ben, "I doubt we would have taken her without much heavier losses. The hangar was a deathtrap from all my troops say."
"It wasn't the easiest battle I've been in, certainly," Ben said with a wry smile.
"Sir?"
"What is it Mynock?"
"Sir, you'd better take a look at this. You too, Supreme Leader. Rey."
Ben wormed his way through the tangle of equipment to stand behind Mynock. Rey took up her usual place at his right. Mynock glanced at them before tapping in several commands.
"It's only a partial recording," he said, apologetically. "I tried to find the rest of it, but it's either destroyed, or too badly damaged to retrieve."
"Just show us what you have," said Ben.
Mynock hit another button and a man's holographic image bloomed above the projector. It was only about a foot high, but the recorded voice was loud as the man spoke.
"Again, I ask for your help, leaders of the Resistance," said the hologram. "We are under threat from those that claim to wield this strange power. We must stomp it out before it overcomes us. First, we had Vader, then Kylo Ren and his apprentice. Those that command the Force must be destroyed. I ask only for your aid in this endeavor."
A growing chill filled Rey as the hologram jumped and fizzled into nothing. She knew that voice.
"It can't be," muttered Ben, staring at the empty air where the hologram had disappeared.
"It was," Rey breathed. "I know it was. Ben…Finn's alive."
A/N: *runs away screaming* SOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRR-YYYYYYYYYYYYY!
