Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the recognisable characters of the franchise. This story is purely for entertainment.

Chapter 24

Ben was standing with Dameron near their fighters. His old command shuttle was left aside. Recently it was used mostly for propaganda reasons anyway. Right now they were still on board of their cruiser - the biggest ship in their small flotilla. They were waiting for the moment they would drop out of hyperspace.

They had two squadrons of mostly quite old x-wing and a-wing fighters and only light bombers at their disposal. General D'Acy couldn't afford to deplete the Resistance's fleet any more. Their plan was quite simple. While pretending to be gathering most of the fleet in order to help the core worlds – a small part of it would attack planet Bespin. They were to destroy for good the mining platform and warehouses with supplies of aluminium salts used in production of SRX Bombs.

Dameron looked at Ben. – 'I never thought I would say it but I hope that your interrogation skills are still as good as they used to be and the details we have are all correct.'

'I'm sure they are.' – Ben smiled weakly looking back at him, knowing they both were thinking about the moment they met for the first time – as sworn enemies. And now here they were, fighting together against a common enemy…But still not friends as Dameron liked reminding him. No, they weren't friends…or were they? He couldn't say. He didn't have much experience in that department.

'Commander Dameron. We will be in a launch position in 5 minutes.' – Through Dameron's commlink they heard voice of officer Zebee from the bridge.

Ben was still unsure if Dameron taking part in the action, when he was first in command, was a good idea. This was not how they used to do things in the First Order. But he had already tried to discuss it with Dameron and the result was …well, Commander Dameron was going to lead the attack personally from his x-wing fighter.

'Thank you Zebee. Keep me updated.' – Dameron touched his commlink to finish communication.

'Ready to dance?' – He smiled at Ben.

'Always.' – Ben turned around and started climbing into his cockpit.

'BB-8! - He heard Poe calling his droid. Ben was already in his seat when he saw the little droid rushing towards Poe's ship. His little metal head turning towards Ben for a moment as if the droid was checking up on him. – 'Where were you? Jump in!' – Poe shouted.

Ben wouldn't admit it aloud but he liked this droid. And what was more astounding, he knew that BB-8 liked him as well.

Ben checked all the systems in his fighter by the time he heard Zebee's voice over intercom: – '30 seconds to go' – followed by Dameron's, – 'Ok guys, stick to the plan. Red squadron, remember their communication centre is our priority. They can't have any time to send a distress signal. May the Force be with us. GET READY. ON MY SIGNAL. IN THREE, TWO, ONE…'

They left the cruiser and immediately went into formation, heading directly towards The Cloud City suspended in the planet's huge billowing clouds. Ben immediately focused on the city to get a better feeling for what was awaiting them.

'Dameron, they are definitely not expecting us…and are still not aware of our ships. I'm now blocking the mind of the guy watching the radar screen.' – Yes, the Force was with them. Ben could feel it.

'Thanks Solo. Everyone, protect the bombers! Open fire and go for the transports only when the bombs are down. Ok, bombers start your approach.'

...

'Yeah, Buddy, I can see it.' - Poe replied to BB-8 and aimed at the TIE fighter tailing one of their x-wings right in front of him. He pressed his weapon trigger and just for a second watched the enemy's fighter exploding.

He looked around to assess the situation. The green squadron managed to destroy the platform used for extracting the aluminium salts from the planet's core and the production site. They were now engaged in a fight with a squadron of enemy TIE fighters which tried to protect their BFF-1 bulk freighters that managed to leave the platform before it crashed down into the core of the planet. His red squadron mostly dealt with a few freighters which were much further away, relentlessly protected by the still active cannons spread around the heavily bombed Cloud City.

He instinctively checked if the intercom switch on his cockpit's console was on. – 'Ok, red squadron, Solo and I are gonna take the cannons out. The rest of you focus on the cargo vessels and approaching TIE fighters. There's more of them coming our way. All cargo must be cleared out. Solo, take care of the North.'

Poe could see Solo's fighter weaving and rolling throughout the laserfire towards the city. Again, he had to admit to himself that it was useful to have someone like Solo on their side, even though their opinions differed quite often. Despite their last clash over it (or maybe because of it), he most definitely still believed Rey should had been here with them. Together with Ben, they would be completely unstoppable. BB-8 beeped cheerfully.

'Yeah, I know. Dammit, He IS good. You don't have to repeat it so often though.' – He sighed towards the droid. He looked around the battlefield. It was looking good. He smiled to himself. – 'Well, Buddy, it's time for us or he'll do it all by himself. Wa-hoo!' – He shouted with renewed energy and accelerated following Solo through the barrage of laserfire and a swarm of TIE fighters coming their way.

...

Hux couldn't contain his anger. – 'You idiots! How could you allow all our supplies of SRX Bombs to be destroyed?! Do I really have to take care of everything myself?!' – The pitch of his voice was getting higher with each sentence.

He looked around the room with grim expression. No one could look him in the eye. The room was uncomfortably quiet. He knew who was behind the attack on Bespin. Everyone knew…Kylo Ren or Ben Solo or whatever he called himself now… would pay for it. He would pay for undermining his ambitions, destroying his dreams, for always getting in the way…

He would get rid of the girl first and then it would be this annoying apprentice's turn. He would kill them both and bring the end to all those superstitions about The Force. He would personally bury this old-fashioned Jedi religion which should have died with other fairy tales a long time ago! His fists tightened up.

'Get out of my sight! Now!' – He barked towards his commanders and went back to his seat. - 'Peavey and Galus! You two stay behind.'

Both commanders came closer towards the centre of the meeting room. Their faces expressionless. Hux hated it - this lack of passion for their cause, well-hidden lack of respect for himself and even lack of ambition in both of the men facing him. Yet, especially the last attribute was making them perfect to keep them close even though he knew they disliked him as much as he disliked them.

'Peavey, is everything ready for my little field trip?'

'Yes, Supreme Leader.' – Edrison Peavey took a step forward. – 'But if I may say…I still don't believe there is a need for you to get personally involved. It is not safe.'

Hux tightened his lips. – 'I will decide what is safe and what is not. After the fiasco on Bespin, I started believing this old maxim was correct…' – He paused for a moment challenging Peavey with his eyes. - 'If you want a thing done right, do it yourself!'

'Yes, Supreme Leader. As you wish. We are waiting for your orders.' – Peavey's face didn't reflect any feelings. As always.

Hux turned to the other man. He was tall and lanky.

'Commander Galus, I believe you have news for me? I hope they are good.' – He addressed him.

'Yes, Supreme Leader. We managed to intercept some communications between rebels and our spy among their ranks confirmed that the girl is on Cantonica right now.'

'Cantonica?' – Hux tried to remember why this name sounded familiar to him.

'Its capital Canto Bight is… or I should say...was a very popular tourist and gambling destination in the Outer Rim.'

'Aaah, yes. I do remember now.' – He knew they completely lost control over this part of the outer Rim. This was not good news. – 'So…you are saying, she is out of our reach now.' – He made sure commander Galus could hear displeased tone of his voice.

'Not exactly, Supreme Leader.' – Galus sounded confident. – 'We believe she is getting ready to leave this place...' – He stopped intentionally for his next words to have a bigger impact on his leader. – '…secretly.'