Last On: Obi Wan Kenobi is chosen as Rey's new Force Ghost Mentor. Ben decides to bring Unkar Plutt in to have him tried in a court for his crimes. Meanwhile a Scavenger's Guild is started on Jakku. They vote to join Kylo Ren in his First Order. Unkar Plutt is found guilty and will face a not so pleasant end.
Chapter 33
All eyes in the room went straight to the two lovebirds who entered the room holding hands. Ben's head was tilted to the side whispering something in Rey's ear, which made her laugh. A second later they realized the attention they were receiving, and he dropped her hand, but stayed by her side as they took their seats.
"It's good of you to bless us with your presence." Leia went straight to business, though she had to suppress a grin seeing those two. "Now, we saw this today on our news-feeds."
Leia nodded and a Holo began to play. It showed a bunch of First Order officers and stormtroopers being held at gunpoint by a mix of other uniformed officers and casually dressed civilians. But the thing that got everyone's attention was the banner on display. It was a typical First Order banner, only this one had been altered. In the middle of the gear wheel a bird was painted, like the ones that were on the sash Ben wore for the first Holo the resistance had him make a while back.
"This was taken in Myrra, the capitol city of Akiva," Leia explained.
"Akiva, that's another planet under our belt." Poe slapped hands with a few others in the room.
"Yes, it seems like a portion of the population heard about what we accomplished on Falleeen and Jakku, and wanted in," Leia began. "But, I expect not everyone. The planet Akiva is also home to the Uugteen. A native race which has no doubt faced discrimination since the First Order took over less than a year ago. They live secluded in the jungles and also in the Catacombs under the city of Myrra. These catacombs could be a huge resource for us. Over the years they have housed numerous activities including a droid factory and an old rebel prison. But I will not attempt to displace the Uugteen to have access to them."
"We will be reaching Akiva in a few days. When we are there our plan is to throw a ball. We will send out an open invitation to all Akiva residents, whatever species. And we will have our Supreme Leader, and his date make an appearance." Leia looked pointedly to Ben and Rey. "You will dine and dance among the casual citizens, thus changing the precedence of our First Order. I will hope members of the Uugteen will attend the ball. If they do we can sit with them to discuss their participation in our 'empire,' but if they do not, we can, hopefully make contacts who'll introduce us later."
"A ball, really." Ben rubbed his face with his hand. "If there's anything that'll convince Hux more that this is not my empire, it's me attending a ball."
"With a date… Having a woman changes you. Even Hux'll know that," Poe contradicted.
"So… Who's gonna be posing as his date?" Rey asked, with only a subtle hit of jealousy.
Leia laughed. "We were thinking, why try to fake something when we have the real thing right here…" Leia paused expecting Rey to realize her meaning, but she didn't seem to understand.
Ben, though seemed to understand. "No. Any attachments I make Hux'll try to assassinate. I will not put her under that risk."
"Wait… Me…" Rey's eyes finally shown with realization. "But the First Order still has a warrant out on me for murdering Snoke. Any First Order personnel will recognize me and they'll find it strange their Supreme Leader dancing with his enemy. Don't you think?"
Most of the rest of the room were smiling at this point. Leia laughed. "It won't be unbelievable, trust me. And Ben, the First Order already wants her dead, this only changes why." Leia sighed. "I will send down a team in our stormtrooper outfits, capable of defending both of you."
"Then I have another issue," Ben argued. "Our men can put on the outfit, but they don't have the discipline a real stormtrooper has. On Akiva there will be real troopers, and unless you want our men to stand out like a sore thumb, Finn and I will need to train them too."
Leia looked at Poe, who nodded in agreement, then shrugged. "How hard can it be."
"And I can't dance," Rey put in.
"Ben does, and he can teach you in no time at all." said Leia.
Later that day, Ben and Finn stood in the training room with a large group of resistance personnel marching in formation around the track, usually used for running. They were all dressed from head to foot in the brown stormtrooper armor.
"Thanks for including me in this," Finn said.
"I could think of no one better. Besides, this is our project anyways," said Ben.
Just then Finn pushed a button on a device he held and one of the 'troopers' yelped in pain. "Back in formation," Finn shouted at the man, who had stepped out of formation a second before.
Ben laughed. "Gotta thank your Rose for her invention there."
Finn nodded, then pushed another button. This time the trooper stopped, pulled off his helmet and a very sour Poe yelled at them. "Hey. I was not out of formation that time!"
"Yes you were," said Ben.
"And this whole shock system isn't even fair. We have a few days to learn what took you guys years. Give us a little mercy."
"The First Order has no mercy. Whenever a stormtrooper is caught out of line, he's sent for reconditioning. It is a process you do not wish us to use." As Ben said this, Finn looked down rubbing sweat off his face. "Another three rounds for talking back to a superior."
"Four… for removing your helmet without authorization," Finn added.
Poe rolled his eyes and put his helmet back on. He then stepped back into formation with the others, and they kept marching.
"Well, I don't know. It's gonna take us all day to get them to walk in a straight line." Finn mumbled.
"Yeah, I could use yours and Rose's help with something else too. I need to teach Rey to dance. Wanna help?" Ben asked sheepishly.
After their meeting Leia summoned Rey to her office. When Rey got there she was surprised to see the room was cluttered with dresses hanging from everywhere she imagined a dress could be hung. Leia was in her office, seeming to be straightening out one of the gowns. She looked over her shoulder and greeted Rey with a smile.
"Rey, it's time to pick your dress for the ball."
Rey's eyes went big. "But I already have one dress." Rey's eyes caught on one of the gowns she recognized. "Besides these are your mother's."
"That old dress is not suitable for this kind of outing. And you are almost the same height as my mother, so it's perfect. Come… Come…"
As Rey stepped closer to Leia a droid came out from beneath one of the dresses and began to take measurements. Kaydel was also in the room, looking through the gowns. As the droid did it's work, she and Leia held outfits up to Rey, and either nodded enthusiastically, or shook their heads with their brows scrunched together.
When they had finally gone through every outfit, Rey was sent with several of them into an attached room to try them on. For each outfit she would walk with outside the room, and the other two would pick and preen at it before sending her back to try on another. After trying on four dresses, Leia and Kaydel finally turned her towards a full length mirror.
When Leia saw how Rey smiled at the gown, she nodded. "Well, that makes up my mind. This is the one."
When Rey was back in her usual outfit, Leia gave the gown to the droid. "To make the necessary modifications," she explained.
Later that evening, Rey was dragged by an excited Rose to the former stormtrooper mess hall. The tables had been moved and the large space temporarily repurposed into a dance hall.
"Where can I hook this up?" Rose asked Ben and Finn, who had been standing there talking.
"In the kitchen." Finn led Rose to where there was a sound system she could attach her music player to.
Meanwhile, Ben stepped over to Rey. "Dancing is simple. It's moving to the flow of the music. And when you're the supreme leader, you don't need to follow choreographed steps, so there's really no reason to be anxious here."
"Ok, Lets start out with something slow." Rose used her datapad to start the player, and the room was filled with music.
Ben held out a hand for Rey to take. As he reached his other hand around her waste, she looked up at him anxiously. "Put your other hand on my shoulder."
When Rey cooperated, he took a step with the music. Rey didn't. She stayed staring at him with wide eyes. Ben nodded encouragingly and she stepped to match his. A few steps later Ben yelped. Rey had stepped on his foot with her boot.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Ben walked it off, then returned to her to try again.
Meanwhile, Rose and Finn danced around them and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Anakin, What are you doing?" Whispered Luke.
"They've been getting a lot closer: holding hands, whispering sweet nothings into each other's ear. The next step is for them to kiss."
Luke rolled his eyes. "That explains what they're doing. But what are you doing?"
"I'm just setting the stage. Giving them a little light encouragement." Anakin placated. "First step, is to set the mood. Now where is that music player." Anakin walked over to where it was plugged into a wall in the kitchen. He touched the device and it changed tracks to another song. "Perfect." Anakin smiled.
Luke winced. "What kind of music is that. No, those kids are gonna hate it. What else do you have on that thing."
"What is this." Rose made a face when the music changed unexpectedly. "This is like my grandparent's music. I don't know where it came from."
"It's alright, we don't mind it." said Rey, who had just managed to turn without stepping on her partner's feet.
A few moments later the music changed again, mid song. "Yuck, now this is my parent's music. I have to go see what's wrong with my player." Rose ran off to the kitchen. Finn followed her.
"Well, I don't know what happened, but it's working alright now. I've got it set back on the good music. Lets go," Rose said to Finn after she took a few minutes to examine the device.
Finn walked back to the door and swiped to open it, only nothing happened.
"Well, open the door already," ordered Rose when she got to him.
"I am." Finn repeated the swipe and it still didn't open.
"Oh, not this now!" Rose pulled a hydrospanner from her pocket and began examining the door's mechanics.
Meanwhile, Ben and Rey just kept dancing. Rey wasn't sure if it was what she was supposed to be doing, but she was using the Force to keep track of Ben's feet and avoid stepping on his toes. Either way, she was enjoying herself, and Ben was happy too.
After three more songs Rey stopped and asked, "That music player should be fixed by now. It seems to be playing fine anyways. Should we go check on them?"
"I don't know. They could have found… other activities for a dark room, all alone," Ben suggested with raised eyebrows.
"And we don't want to interrupt them," Rey agreed, nodding.
Several songs later, Rey stopped again. "I'm getting worried now. Even if they are doing, that, they've been gone an awfully long time." Rey ran over to the door to the kitchen. Ben was right behind her as she swiped to open the door.
Inside they saw Finn standing and sweating in the doorway. Over his shoulders went Rose's legs.
"Nope, I can't find it up here, either." said Rose. "But the door's open now. Thanks Rey." Rose waved as she slid down Finn's back. "Why are you blushing?"
Hello everyone, I hope you like this chapter because I really had fun writing it.
I started with my idea about them seeing their flag on worlds suddenly, and read on Wookieepedia for a world to do this on. When I read about Akiva I got several ideas. Most of them are not Cannon, exactly, but I hope they don't contradict Cannon in any way.
Also, I brought up stormtrooper training methods here, and while Finn, in cannon, doesn't ever seem to display any bad memories or trauma with it, I added a bit of anxiety to his reaction. I think it is more realistic for him that way.
