Chapter Twenty-Five: Coruscant: Confrontation

Rose held up her hands in surrender towards the security guard. She glanced nervously over at Finn. He hadn't put his hands up, his hand still over the place she knew his blaster resided. Things were going to get really, really messy.

"What's going on?" The rude, smoking news presenter demanded. She stalked up to the mounting situation. "Why are there blasters?"

"These two are trying to sneak in," The security guard gestured to Finn and Rose. "Their credentials are no good."

"They're obviously the maintenance workers who are supposed to fix my fresher. Let them in." Miss List held her head up imperiously.

"But Miss List-"

"I said let them in." Her voice reached new levels of shrillness. Miss List stalked through the entrance. "Well? Are you three coming?"

The security guard sighed and gestured for Finn, Rose and Chopper to go in with his rifle.

Rose was the first to go, followed closely by Finn and Chopper. They followed the Theelin down the echoing corridors until they came to a dressing room door. She opened it and gestured for them to come in.

Once they were all inside, Miss List turned and appraised them. "Princess Leia must be getting desperate if she's sending her big heroes here."

"Huh?" Finn questioned, sounding wary.

"You two," Miss List gestured to them. "I saw you two in the footage from the Battle of Crait. My friend Suralinda was at the battle. She sends me her scoops now that the Galaxy Beacon's been destroyed. Not that I was able to do anything with it. Intergalactic pissing contest, my producer calls it. Don't want to upset all of the Coruscanti citizens over that messy war stuff. They've had enough of that already."

"Enough of that?" Rose repeated, feeling disgust for the citizens of this planet growing. "Do they have any idea what people are doing? How the galaxy is suffering?"

"Not much," Miss List replied. "They don't want to know. Coruscant was part of a political tug-of-war for sixty years. The epicenter of Palpatine's tyranny. You can't blame them for wanting to stay out of this conflict."

"They're going to die," Finn snapped, stepping forward. "The galaxy is tearing itself apart and the First Order isn't going to leave them alone just because they're ignoring it. If Starkiller Base wasn't destroyed by the Resistance, the Coruscant System would've gone the same was as Hosnian!"

Rose looked at Finn in shock. She hadn't know about that. Miss List looked similarly taken aback. But she recovered quickly, taking a breath. "They know they're going to die. The galaxy is drowning in its own blood. It has been for decades. There's no peace. But maybe they can ignore it long enough to live out their lives. I don't like the First Order. That's why I let you in here. What you're doing is noble. But if you expect me to help past that... If you expect me to report on whatever you have... The only wars people care about here are in holodocs. People who have been dead for so long that it's just entertainment hearing about their deeds."

"We didn't come for you," Rose rushed out quickly. "I mean, if you wanted to help us, we'd be all for that. But we came to transmit a message. This planet is huge. Over one trillion people... Some have to agree with us."

Miss List pulled out a new tabacc stick and an igniter stick. She lit it and blew out smoke. Rose waved it away, coughing. "I thought you weren't allowed to do that here."

"What does it really matter?" Miss List snapped. She pointed to Rose. "So you think some people might agree with you. Over one trillion people... You're right. Odds are in your favour. Even if one percent agrees with you that is ten billion people. That far outstrips what you have now. But what will they bring to you? Of those great numbers, most of them have nothing to their names. The elite have money and ships, but all of them have been gutted by the wars of the past."

"Support," Finn replied.

"Oh, support, right..." Miss List nodded, taking a deep inhale of her tabacc. "I support you. How much good is it doing you other than getting into the building? Support won't put food in your stores or weapons in your hands or ships in your fleet."

"It's all we have right now," Rose replied. She looked to Finn, sighing deeply. They needed to get on with the mission. Miss List wasn't going to help any further than she had.

"I'm sure your mission briefing show you where the transmission room is. Do what you have to do. Just keep me out of it." She looked to her dressing table. "Oh... Before you go... You're FN-2187, right? That's what Suralinda's report said."

Finn nodded warily. "Why?"

Miss List grabbed a datachip. "I received this transmission a few days ago. I think they wanted me to beam it out, but I don't report on anything having to do with the First Order. You might want to look at it before you do whatever it is you do."

Finn accepted the chip, while Rose took out her communicator. Finn plugged it in and the holo of a Stormtrooper appeared on the screen. The Stormtrooper pulled off his helmet, revealing a handsome, dark-skinned man with a scar across his cheek.

"Zeroes," Finn said in awe.

"This is Captain Zeroes of the Star Destroyer Silencer . This ship is now under the command of members of the FN Corps. We have broken away from the First Order. We will no longer serve as blaster fodder and executioners for leaders who do not know how to lead. We are no longer stormtroopers. We don't seek war or revenge. We seek freedom. We will, however, fire upon anyone threatening our freedom. This is a warning to the galaxy: Let us live in peace, or we will retaliate."

The message cut out. Miss List looked to Finn and Rose. "I think you two have a Star Destroyer to track down." She strode to the door, opening it and gesturing for them to leave. "Good luck with your message."

"What are we supposed to do?" Poe hissed to Kaila. "A Knight of Ren just walked into the room and we still haven't found General Calrissian."

A million options were going through Kaila's mind. Most of them were awful. Well, all of them were awful. Some of them did seem less awful than others. "He's under cover. Or else he would've come in wearing that stupid helmet. We might have a shot."

"What kind of shot?" Poe asked. He was reaching into his tuxedo jacket for his blaster.

Kaila turned to face Poe, frowning slightly. He was ready to die in the fight. That was why she'd avoided him for so long. She knew that Poe would've given his life to protect her and against a Knight of Ren he didn't have a chance. Kaila cupped his face and kissed him passionately. She hated and loved him for that. "Go find General Calrissian. I'll take care of this."

"Kai, what are you doing?" Poe asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Something stupid," Kaila replied. "But it will buy you some time."

Poe glanced over at the Knight. "Did you really date him?"

"I sort of... Lost my virginity to him." Kaila pat Poe on the cheek. "Don't worry about it. Just find the General."

Before Poe had the chance to argue, she ran off towards the dance floor. He was weaving his way through the couples. Kaila grabbed his hands and led him around. "May I have this dance?"

"Kaila Syndulla," the words were dripping with malice.

"Kyp Durron," Kaila answered in a much more cheerful voice. "It's been a long time. How have you been doing? You're evil now, I suppose. I can't say I didn't see that one coming when you broke up with me. It was a little gross... You being twenty-three when I was sixteen."

Kyp grabbed her wrists. "I felt your presence as soon as I set down on the planet. Is he here with you?"

"He who?" Kaila asked. She knew who Kyp was talking about. She glanced around, hoping to see Poe making progress. She needed to buy him more time.

Kyp leaned in, his breath hot against Kaila's ear. "Solo showed us the true way of the Force... And then he betrayed us. I will make him pay for that."

"Well... Ben's not popular with anybody, is he?" Kaila smiled tightly. She felt Kyp release one of her hands. She knew it was coming...

She snatched the lightsaber out from beneath her skirt, bringing it up to meet Kyp's red blade. Screams of shock erupted from the dance floor. "This really isn't the appropriate place for this," She pulled her other hand free, gripping her lightsaber. "Why don't we do this somewhere a little less fancy?"

She turned off her lightsaber and broke into a run. The partiers retreated quickly, giving them a wide berth. Kaila made her way to the open doors of the balcony. She jumped up onto the duracrete wall encircling the balcony. She looked back at Kyp. "Thanks for the dance. It's good to catch up with an ex."

She looked only briefly down the seemingly endless void down to the Corsucant surface. They were so high up. Still, she took a breath and threw herself off the balcony.

Despite slowing herself down with the Force, the impact against the airspeeder jolted her. She pulled herself up off the hood and smiled at the confused driver. "Sorry. Can I get a lift?"

She slipped her comm earpiece in. "Hey Flyboy... So... I threw myself off the balcony. Kyp is..." She saw the dark body falling down, now a few speeders back. "Yeah, Kyp is right behind me. He wants to find Ben and kill me. Maybe not in that order."

"I'm coming to get you," Poe said through the comm.

"No!" Kaila cried. "Find General Calrissian. Finish the mission. I'll handle Kyp. I'm a Jedi. This is sort of what I do. I'll see you back at the Ghost."

"Kai..."

"I said I'll see you back at the Ghost," Kaila insisted. She stood up on the speeder and ignited her lightsaber. Kyp Force Jumped between speeders, getting closer and closer. Kaila walked over the seats to take her stance in the back. "Now I've got to deal with this."

Rey reached for her lightsaber, ready to jump in and fight alongside him.

"NO!" Ben cried, reading her intentions through their Bond. "Go find the younglings. I'll take care of her."

Rey hesitated, desperately wanting to defend Ben from the attack of the redhead. But they had a mission. Rey ran into the Hand's home and immediately shivered. The whole feel of the house was dark. Not just through the Force, but physically. The walls were covered with peeling black paint. Nothing decorated them, save for datapads displaying holopix of Luke Skywalker. They were of a much younger Luke than Rey had met. Long before he went into exile... Before he began to teach Ben... Most were bounty notices. The Hand was obsessed with him.

Rey could hear noise coming from upstairs. She walked up the steps slowly, keeping her hand near her lightsaber. There were three doors. The noise came through one that- Rey felt herself become nauseous- had a powerful security lock. Rey placed her hand against it and closed her eyes. She reached out with the Force. There was no twin on the other side. It wasn't just meant to keep people out... It was meant to keep the inhabitants in.

"Is anyone in there?" Rey called out.

"You're not Miss Jade," a small voice replied.

"I know," Rey grabbed her lightsaber. "I need you all to stand out of the way of the door. Hold on!"

She pressed her through the metal door, cutting carefully around the lock. She cut enough of the door away that she could get through. She kicked hard, sending the metal door to the ground.

There had been no worry about the younglings getting in the way. Rey felt herself become sick again. There were four metal bunks against the walls. Each of the bunks had binders that kept the younglings in them.

They were different species and possibly different races, but it was difficult to tell. They had nearly all gone chalk white from lack of sun. Only horns or lekku or other extreme characteristic told them apart. They'd all been shaved bald and were malnourished.

Rey couldn't believe that- in that moment- she felt she was lucky in her own upbringing.

The younglings were all waking. They looked at her with wide, fearful eyes. "Don't worry!" Rey said softly. "My name is Rey. I'm here to rescue you."

"Where is Miss Jade?" One of the older younglings asked.

"Don't worry about Miss Jade," Rey replied. "She's not going to hurt you."

She carefully used her lightsaber to cut the bindings holding them. But none of the younglings moved from their bed.

"It's all right!" Rey insisted. "You won't be hurt anymore. I'll take you somewhere safe."

Hesitantly, one by one the children began to follow Rey. But how was she supposed to get them out? Ben was still fighting with the Hand- Miss Jade. She then noticed a barred window in the corridor leading to the downstairs. She picked up her communicator. "BB-8, remote pilot our airspeeder to my coordinates."

There was a beep in response and Rey went to work cutting the window open with her lightsaber. She had just pushed it out of the way when the airspeeder arrived, coming to a stop right in front of the window. BB-8 was good.

"Come on," Rey insisted, helping the younglings in. "You'll be safe. I promise."

When the last one was in, she hesitated.

Ben ...

Go, Rey! She heard him insist through their bond. Just get somewhere safe with the younglings!

She looked to the frightened younglings. She then raised her communicator again. "BB-8, remote pilot our airspeeder to the Ghost. There's something I have to do."