Last On: Rey tells Leia the memory that caused Ben to almost kill Poe. The Force Ghosts teach Rey how to control the bond between she and Ben, allowing them to communicate by thought only when they want to.
Chapter 32
In the other relm, the ghosts were gathered to discuss their plans, moving forward.
"I still think it's time for another date. This time with dancing!" exclaimed Anakin.
"And I said No! How does dancing save that boy's soul?" Luke debated with him.
"You've agreed that his bond with Rey is his lifeline. Strengthen the Bond, save him." Anakin debated back.
"But you have to admit, your lifeline is only as strong as it's anchor." A woman's ghost floated through the space. She was dressed in a beautiful gown, made of silver pieces that shined and sparkled with the light of the relm. It had a headpiece that matched coming down over her shoulders and pooling at her sides. Both Anakin and Luke's mouth's dropped when they saw her.
"How wonderful of you to join us, Padmé." Obi Wan Greeted her with a warm smile.
"Dear, you don't understand the situation," said Anakin.
"Oh, I know all about the situation. Ahsoka filled me in. And if you had bothered to ask me sooner, I'd of told you. There are two people attached to this bond. You've been ignoring one while focusing on the other. Yes, he's our grandson and the trouble patient. But this girl needs our attention too. As recent events made clear," Padmé said.
Luke took a moment to give Anakin a satisfied smirk, before smiling at his mother. "And what do you propose we do?"
The following day, Rey was preparing in front of a mirror. She looked down anxious at her clothes. Leia had helped her the day before to pick out the outfit. It was a pink top with pieces that hung down at her sides. Rey balled one in her fist. The outfit didn't feel right. The whole day didn't feel right.
"You look beautiful." Said a strange voice behind her.
Rey turned and saw Obi Wan, floating there in ghost form. "What are…" Rey was shocked to see him.
"The others have agreed that you need a mentor, and since I've already mentored two men from desert worlds, they figured I had a knack for it."
"Oh." Rey turned back to the mirror in front of her, her tension apparent in the way she held her arms out beside her.
"You do look beautiful, by every definition of the word."
"It's not that." Rey looked back at him. "Leia wants me to film the holo today. My testimony." Obi Wan nodded, listening. "I'm not worried about how I'll look. I'm worried about what I'll say. What they'll all think of me."
"Well, if Leia is using the Old Republic as her model for her new law, you're face won't appear on the holo recording. Only your clothes. Your identity won't even be revealed. As to what to say, no one expects anymore than the truth." Obi Wan walked up to Rey and seemed to put his hands on her shoulders. "You can trust them with the rest."
"Mom! You have to let me go!" Ben stormed
"NO!" Leia was as stubborn as ever. "We are developing a system of justice."
"Justice!"
"And I will not let you get in it's way all for petty revenge!" Leia had her hands on her hips, and was leaning forward. She somehow seemed to be looking down on her six foot plus son, despite her lack of height.
"He deserves to die for what he did. That's justice!" Ben growled back, unintimidated.
"He will be arrested, and he will be tried in a court of law for his crimes. If I need to lock you in the brig, I will." Leia's voice was calm and resolute. Ben knew he'd never win the argument now. Instead he swiped the stack of papers off of her desk so they made a mess on the floor, and stormed out of the room.
In the hallway he saw Rey. She had a serious look on her face, but broke it when she saw Ben.
"Am I interrupting something?" The corners of her mouth tugged up into a smile. Rey walked up to Ben and put a hand on his chest. Ben's heart nearly stopped. Then she stood on her tip toes and grabbed a small piece of paper from on top of Ben's head. Ben was going to explain, but then she giggled, and his mind went to complete mush.
"I uh…" Ben sidestepped and practically ran down the hall. He knew he'd be kicking himself later for the whole thing.
Rey looked surprised at his back as he ran away. Then Leia popped out of the office. "Rey. Don't worry about him. He'll come around later." Leia held out a hand and smiled at Rey. "I had Connix set up a studio we can use in another office. Come, we can walk there together."
By the time Ben made it back to his room he was storming again. 'How dare she!'
"Your mother's right. Justice may seem slow and less fulfilling, but for someone like Unkar Plutt, to have his dirty laundry aired out for the court, it can be a torture all the same."
"Uncle, you don't know torture!" Ben hated being talked down to, by the ghost of his former Jedi Master none the less.
Luke looked at him with a compassionate mournful frown. Then Ben's door buzzed announcing someone was there. Luke's ghost looked up, surprised by the door, then disappeared.
Ben opened his door, and stepped back in shock as Poe walked into his room.
"You still want to get to Jakku?" he whispered.
Ben closed his door before saying, "Yes."
"Good. Then be at the hanger at oh five hundred hours, tomorrow morning."
"Wait, How?" Ben asked confused.
"I'm on the team the general ordered to bring that Bantha spit in. I'll put you on in place of Rex. He's gonna be off sick tomorrow."
"Wait," Ben was still confused. "I thought you were off active duty after the whole Falleen thing."
"Well, the general originally gave me a choice between two punishments. Originally the six months off active duty was the lesser of two evils, but this changes things. Rey's a friend, and no one hurts my friends."
"So what's your new punishment?" Ben asked, feeling oddly appreciative of the pilot.
Poe blushed and rubbed his hair. "Trust me, you don't want to know."
That night, between his thoughts on how to do the deed, and the constant visits of his dead uncle and grandfather trying to persuade him not to, Ben didn't get much sleep. He managed to stumble out to the hanger by quarter to five hundred hours. As he waited for Poe to arrive, he started to nod off.
"You know this doesn't help the whole 'tough guy' image." The words of Poe woke Ben in a startle. Poe then laughed, as Ben shook himself awake. Poe handed him an energy drink, then put his hand on Ben's back. "Come on. This is my team: Snap, Jess, Karé, and Charth. Team, this is Ben. He'll be taking Rex's place."
"This why you had me mix that stuff in with Rex's drink last night," Jess said.
"It'll all be worth it, trust me," said Poe. "Ok Ben, this is your ship. Experience tells me you'll have no trouble piloting."
Ben was just reaching out to examine his shuttle, when they could hear a shuffling sound from the hallway. Poe motioned for Ben to hide under the X-wing. Snap and Karé jumped up and ran over to hide Ben. They embraced very obviously in front of the X-wing. Though Ben knew they were posing as a distraction to keep eyes off of him, he still felt slightly uncomfortable with the view.
"Poe, the General sent me to give you this warrant." Kaydel paused for a minute staring at the embracing couple. Then she handed Poe a datapad. Before she let go, she turned and bent to look Ben directly in the eye. "Do me a favor, will you. Make it slow." She then turned around and left the hanger.
Later that morning, Leia stood on the Bridge, prepared to send Poe's Black Squadron off to arrest Unkar Plutt. She hoped Ben would at least see them off, but apparently he was still sulking over not being able to join them. In her mind Leia sighed. 'like father, like son. Han would sulk for days, when the situation allowed. Better not tell Ben that, though.'
Leia refocused. She was watching the young officer push the controls to open the hanger, and close off the other systems. None of her people had been trained to use First Order systems. It always marveled her how fast these young officers adapted to the new tech. But then she was that young once, right.
Leia refocused again as Poe was headed out the hanger bay doors. Then the whole room looked up at once, as a bump and a crash could be heard just past the doors to the Bridge. Leia ran to see what it was.
A very dizzy looking man in casual dress lay on the ground where he'd landed. "Rex!" said one of the Bridge officers who'd run out behind her. "What did you drink!" She turned to Leia. "He smells like that special liquor the pilots sometimes drink, Ma'am. I'll take him to the medbay."
Leia turned around and went back onto the Bridge, where she paused. "Wait, Rex, wasn't he supposed to be on Poe's squad. Did he file a replacement?" Leia turned to another officer. The other officer shook his head. Kaydel, shrunk back to avoid the General's eyes, as she was not comfortable with lying, and didn't want to get in trouble again. It didn't work. the General's eyes found hers. "Lieutenant. Who was in that sixth shuttle?"
Kaydel tried to hold firm, but then Leia took a step towards her, and she caved. "Ben, ma'am. Poe took Ben with him."
Leia huffed, then turned to rush off the Bridge. If he had truly gone, she wanted to see for herself, though she knew it was too late to do anything about it.
The ride to Jakku was smooth. They land a distance from Nima Outpost and Ben looked out on the horizon. The last time Ben was here it was late at night, and he didn't stay to admire the view. It looked just like his dream, sand was everywhere. He thought about what it must have been like for Rey to grow up here. 'No wonder she loves colors so much. And plants. And life.'
The team was making preparations for leaving their crafts, closing off ports to keep the sand out of the engines, and such. Ben learned something else from his dream too. "Lock them extra tight." Folks around these parts were desperate for any bit of scrap to trade in, and he didn't want their only rides being turned into said scrap.
Poe split his team and sent them to surround the Junk Boss's hut. Ben stayed with Poe as they both made for it's entrance. The team all had their blaster's drawn, but Ben opted for his saber. When they got to the door, Poe banged on it and the service window opened.
Behind it a Crolute appeared. "What's this about?"
"Unkar Plutt, I have a warrant for your arrest. Come out with your hands up, and we'll make this easy on you," said Poe in his most diplomatic voice.
"Boys!" Unkar Plutt pulled back from the window as a shield came down. Immediately two thugs, dressed in a ridiculous getup that could only be to conceal their identity, stepped out of another hut nearby armed with Blasters.
One shot at Poe, but Ben used the force to stop it in it's tracks. Poe then leaped behind an overturned crate. The shot continued and hit the shield on Unkar's hutt. Poe then motioned to Ben to 'go, I'll cover you.' Ben leaped out from behind the crate and stormed over to the men with his saber drawn. Poe shot rounds at the thugs, almost hitting one when he turned to see what dark shadow was approaching. Ben swung his saber, taking out both men at once.
Ben backed up as Poe came over and slapped him in congratulations. "Come on. We've got business to take care of." Ben had never enjoyed killing. Snoke used to make him carry around ashes of his victims to desensitize him, but it never really worked. He still felt that light side battling within him in these moments.
Ben pushed it aside and went back to Plutt's hut. Poe was trying to smash it with his blaster. Ben grabbed his shoulder to stop him, then put his hand out over the lock. Unlocking a door like this is as easy as lifting a few tumblers with the force. It clicked to unlock in a few seconds.
Inside, the Crolute was hunched over a table of supplies, clearly loading them into a box. He looked up at them nervous, then held out his hands, expecting to be cuffed.
"Oh no. You had the chance to play this nice, before you called your boys to kill us." Poe punched Unkar in his abdomen. Unkar Plutt looked down at him, clearly not pained. Poe shook his wrist, then stepped back to the door. "I'll just keep lookout. Have your way."
Ben then stepped forward. The look on his face must have shown more than he intended, because Unkar then squirmed, trying to get away. Ben ignited his lightsaber. He'd thought long and hard about how he was going to do this. In the end he decided on a set of strikes he knew would cause the most pain, without killing him straight away. He flicked his saber in play. As long as Plutt was afraid, he was going to enjoy this.
"You're afraid? That's how she felt." Ben looked around and noticed the place looked exactly as it had in Rey's memory. He felt her in pain and helpless as she was pushed against the very table the Crolute was leaning against then. But he couldn't stand to picture her that way, so he pulled from his memories images of her strong. The way she told his mother what had happened to her, he knew that act was very difficult for her. Then he remembered the look on her face as she was going to give her testimony for his mother's trial. Then Ben came to a sudden realization. This man was the monster she compared all monsters to. The look in her eyes when she called him a monster was on her face the previous day. When she went to see his mom.
Ben deactivated his lightsaber. He reached out his hand and the cuffs clipped to Poe's belt flew to him.
"Wha-at." Poe exclaimed looking over in shock.
Ben had Unkar Plutt in the cuffs by the time he finished blinking in shock. "We're taking him in."
"But I thought… Justice…" Poe stammered.
"This is justice." Ben pushed him towards the door to where Charth had walked up. "Take him to the ship." When he was out of earshot, Ben explained further. "He's Rey's monster. She needs to see him conquered for her to move on. Let him stand trial."
Poe turned, nodding. He didn't quite get what just happened, but he wasn't going to debate it here. A few minutes later Snap and Karé walked into the hut.
"I won't ask what changed about the plan," Snap said.
"I assume the rest still stands." Karé pulled out a long roll of paper and began attaching it to a board near the hut's service window.
"The rest?" Ben said perplexed.
"The general's idea." said Poe. "We're taking out a major player here, and if we do nothing, someone else will come in and take his place."
"So that's what we're going to do." said Snap.
"Be a Junk Boss?" Ben's brow furrowed in confusion.
"No," Poe slapped Ben in jest. "We're going to start a Scavenger's Guild."
"Sign-ups start today!" Karé exclaimed. "The Guild will be run by the scavengers, for the scavengers. No one to take advantage of them."
"It's why I brought a team of six to catch one cretin. Karé and Snap will stay here to get things set up, while we bring him in," explained Poe.
Ben pulled in to land his ship in formation with the others. Unkar Plutt had been tied up with Jess in her shuttle. Ben expressed concern over that part of the plan, but the others didn't share it.
"I can handle him." Jess had said, waving a knife in front of him with a look of glee in her eyes.
Still, they landed their shuttles in a triangle with Jess's shuttle in the middle. There were a number of officers in the Hanger, and his mother. Ben gulped when he saw the expression on her face. She was not happy.
Despite that, Ben didn't have anything else to do, so he opened his shuttle and walked down the ramp. His mother didn't look at him. Instead her eyes were fixed to the prisoner being led out by Jess. She must have been shocked to see him actually brought in.
The general waved her hand and Resistance officers moved in to take control of the prisoner. At that point Unkar pulled a vibro-shiv from some unknown place on his body and grabbed Jess, holding the blade to her throat. Jess screamed, and the others backed up.
Unkar then slowly backed up, heading for her shuttle, while still holding his hostage. But then he stopped. The muscles in his hand spasmed and he dropped the blade. One of the officers took advantage of the opportunity quickly to kick the shiv away, and grab a hold of the prisoner.
As they moved him Ben could see Rose standing there, with one of her homemade taser weapons held out. She looked just as nervous as Jess did with that shiv to her throat. Ben strode over to her and said, "Good job."
"Thanks," Rose said, breathing again.
The trial took several more days to prepare for. A jury was gathered from common citizens of the galaxy. Unkar Plutt hired a defense attorney and the Resistance had their prosecution attorney. As for the Judge, Leia stepped up and presided over the court.
Ben and Rey sat in a box above a courtroom on the planet Falleen. There was a shield built in front of them that hid them from view of everyone except the raised stand where Leia sat.
During the trial, Ben was surprised to see evidence of his mistreatment of the scavengers brought up. Crimes against the galaxy, the prosecution attorney called it. A few witnesses from Jakku had been flown in to speak. The newly minted scavenger's guild had approved several traders to set up shop on the planet, and their economy, no longer restricted to just portions, was booming. They'd voted soon after to join Kylo Ren's Order, and he'd even heard word of a petition to build a school in Nima Outpost.
Still, Unkar Plutt's attorney attempted to tear down the whole opposition. His defense was that Unkar Plutt was a local hero who set up shop where no one else wanted to do business. Said that without Plutt the scavenger's would've starved long ago. That was when they played her testimony. Ben could see the shocked faces of the Jury turn white and red as they heard her. Even the face of Plutt's attorney seemed affected by the video, as he and Plutt shared a look and a shake of the head.
Ben was holding Rey's hand for the whole trial. When the video came on he gave her hand a squeeze and opened that connection between them again. 'I'm so proud of you,' he thought to her. Sure, he could've spoken those words, but it felt more intimate to use their bond. Her face had been stoic throughout the trial, but he could just barely see faint upturn to her lips as she heard him.
"Guilty, Guilty, Guilty." The jury one by one read their ruling.
Leia banged her gavel. "Pronounced Guilty by a court of his Peers. I rule that Unkar Plutt be sentenced the highest penalty this court can give. Execution via Infernaworm implantation. She Banged her gavel again.
Ben's mouth dropped as Rey whispered to him, "What's an Infernaworm?"
"It's a parasite. Implants itself into the soft tissues of the brain then it causes it's victim searing pain until it kills. It kills slowly."
"Oh," Rey's eyes were as wide as Ben's. It was now that Ben understood that if he had killed Unkar on Jakku, it would have been a mercy kill.
The courtroom below was emptying as Unkar Plutt was carried away by Falleen law enforcement officers. Leia took the steps to go join Ben and Rey on the balcony.
"Hello dear. You did very well. Now he won't be able to hurt anyone else," Leia said to Rey.
"Mom, just where did the Resistance get an Infernaworm?" Ben asked.
Leia smiled. "I've been breeding them since Snoke announced you as his apprentice." Ben looked at his mom aghast. "Everyone kept saying I needed a hobby. Think Unkar will mind if I give him one with Snoke's name on it."
"Mom..." Ben shook his head.
"What?…" Leia shrugged.
Hello again,
I had Poe be a little rogue in this chapter, because I feel he'd be likely to understand someone wanting to go against orders for something like this, and I feel he'd be one of those types who'd round up a posse to enforce justice.
I debated giving Unkar Plutt the sentence he got here, but decided in the end that it is a fantasy story after all. I had to make up the name of the worm, because I couldn't find an existing parasite on Wookieepedia that did what I wanted it to. But if you do know of one, please tell me and I'll correct this. I used Latin and Google Translate to pick the name. I love Google Translate.
I don't think any of this chapter needs a Trigger Warning, but if you do, please leave me a comment and know that I am very sorry.
