Chapter 26 - Another Option

Ben awoke early that morning and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Only he had a problem; he couldn't move his leg. He laid still for a few more minutes until his brain had woken enough to figure out the situation. When he did he almost rolled his eyes.

It was Rey and their bond again. 'Must've opened in the night,' he thought. She lay, wrapped in her own blankets, seemingly on the same bed that he lay on. And her leg had been kicked over his own while they slept.

Ben collapsed back on the bed. It was thanks to this bond that he knew she was a light sleeper, and that she often kicked in her sleep. Ben looked over at Rey's sleeping form. Strangely, though, it was this bond that, of all the recent changes to his life, he found to be the least unbearable. 'No, that's wrong,' ben thought. 'Not unbearable at all, indispensable, that's what this is.'

Ben only wished that he had some ability to control when these 'bond moments' occurred, or at least that he'd have some understanding of why they occurred when they did. He and Rey had been experimenting, with Luke's help, trying to gain better control over this thing. And they had succeeded in improving in several areas. He could sense her emotions from short distances now, and dangers from slightly farther, but the actual bond. Whatever made them see each other from across distances, that remained a mystery.

Ben sighed. He figured he shouldn't stay there all morning. If she woke up now, she'd find him staring at her, and she might find that strange. With surprising gentleness, he used the force to move her leg and he slipped off the bed. 'Caff, that's what I need.' After using the 'fresher, he left his quarters.

Ben had gone only a few doors down when he ran into an unexpected figure. "Luke!"

"Oh, Ben. How are you this morning?" his uncle greeted him with a big smile.

Ben squinted his eyes to be sure he was seeing things right.

"It's early to see you. Are you going to get Caff?" Luke continued.

'Is he smiling? Something has to be up,' Ben thought, and then he asked out loud, "What are you doing here? I thought your quarters were in the other wing?"

"Oh, uh, yes. I was just having a little walk. Are you going to get Caff?" Luke repeated his question. "I'll walk with you."

Ben turned to continue walking, his brow still tense with thought. "A walk. Did you have another panic attack?"

"No, no. I'm feeling great today."

'I've noticed,' Ben thought. They kept walking.

Then Ben got an idea. He walked down another hall and stopped near one of the doors.. "I'm going in here."

"Your parent's quarters?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, my mom's been wanting to have me over," Ben said, truthfully.

"A little early for that, you think?" Luke pointed out.

Ben shrugged, "She said drop by anytime."

Luke nodded, and backed up a step. "Well, it's your risk. I'll leave you to it. I learned early on not to wake those two before dawn." With a last wave, Luke turned and continued down the hallway.

Ben stood watching his Uncle with a curious stare. There was something about Luke's gait this morning. His shoulders were high and his step was light. He looked, almost proud, if that was the right word for it.

Ben turned back to his parents door, satisfied that he would never understand his Uncle completely, and rang their buzzer.

His father opened the door and stared at him in disbelief a couple seconds.

"Mom said I could come over to talk," Ben pointed out.

"Uff Urr." His father mumbled before stepping back. This early in the morning, without caff, the man was incapable of forming words.

"Ben, It's early," His mom pointed out groggily from the bed.

"You said anytime." Ben made his way over to the caff-maker and started brewing a pot.

His mom sighed. "I did, didn't I. Alright, let me wake up and we'll talk. What is this about?"

"Something's wrong with Uncle Luke." His mom gave him a 'didn't we already talk about this' gaze. "No, really. This morning he was smiling. It was really weird."

"Mmm-hmm." His mom shared a look with his dad, filled with a meaning they didn't share.

That morning, when Luke got to his quarters, his father was already there, sitting on his made bed. He looked down and started to talk. "Luke, I want you to listen to me. I know we didn't end it well before, and I've been thinking. I know you just want to protect everyone. That's the only reason why you would ever consider using the dark side, but I wanted to warn you. That is the very same reason I fell. I thought I could save my wife, but soon it had a control over me, and I couldn't see the light anymore. Not until you." Anakin took a deep breath. "And I wanted you to know. If you do do this, I understand. And I will still love you. No matter what you do, I will always love you." Anakin looked up at Luke, and saw his son smiling back at him.

"Thank you, father."

Anakin sighed. "That went well, I think. I had been wanting to tell you that since last night, but then the Auctor had to be doing some book maintenance, or something like that. And he was doing it all night too! Can you believe that, first they want me to look down and see you, and then when I am ready, he decides to do the book maintenance."

Luke's eyes became slightly larger, as he realized he owed a special 'thanks' to whoever this Auctor is.

"Anyways," Anakin went on. "You won't believe what Obi-Wan said, to try and get me to come to this realm. He said you had a date."

Luke tried very hard to hold a stoic face, but found a blush creeping across his cheeks.

Anakin's expression then turned from humorous to shock. "Ooh, you did! You did have a date. Tell me all about it."

"Nah." Luke waved his hand and tried to move away from his father.

"Come on, the only sources I have for stories of romantic rendezvous are from Jedi. And I'm starting to think Obi-Wan's been making some of his up," Anakin grumbled. "Please, tell me about your date?" Anakin made a pouty face. Then Luke took a step towards him and suddenly Anakin was lying on the bed with his elbows on the comforter, and his chin in his hands. A hopeful smile was on his face.

When the rest of the base was finally waking up, Ben went to the cafeteria where he met with Finn and Sal.

"I can't believe you guys have to attend lessons with them," said Sal.

"It's not that bad. You should've seen Ben here wipe the floor with Captain Phasma at Lightsaber practice the other day." Finn elbowed Ben as he talked.

Ben nodded, his head wasn't really into the conversation. He was thinking about Rey, and he couldn't help feeling like a failure. He'd stayed to help her save Palpy, and though he'd been able to reforge connections he'd long thought dead, they still were not one step closer to saving the man than when he'd first arrived.

"Still, you two can have your force training, I've found my own branch," Sal bragged.

Finn's eyes opened with interest, "Oh really, what is it?"

"Well, you know all those lessons on battle formations Captain Phasma made us sit through." Finn rolled his eyes and nodded. "Turns out they have a purpose other than merely following orders. Battle Tactics." Sal waved his hand in dramatic fashion. "I've been working with the command of several teams who are responsible for devising battle strategies and planning missions. I mostly help with their paperwork, but yesterday they got into a really big argument, and the General herself asked me for an opinion."

"Ooh." Finn sounded impressed.

"Yes, Lieutenant Connix even said I had a 'natural gift for strategic planning.' And when she heard I was interested in helping them more, she lent me these books so I can learn more," Sal went on.

"That sounds great. Ben, what's up? You've been staring at that wall since we sat down," Finn looked concerned at their other companion.

Ben sighed. "Yeah, I was just thinking about some things. I think I'm gonna take off, and see if I can find my Uncle before class. I need to talk to him about something."

"Okay, try the commanders lounge. Word is he's been in there making something all morning," Sal advised. He and Finn went back to their conversation while Ben walked out.

"Luke, are you in here?" Phasma called at the door to the commanders lounge. She wore her armor again, though she carried her helmet at her side.

"Yes, come in." The door clicked as Luke unlocked it with the force.

Phasma entered the space and saw Luke placing some type of cut up tubers into a pot. "What are you making?"

"A surprise," he answered, and smiled warmly at her.

"Oh, can't I have even a clue?" As she asked, she walked up to him and pressed her body close to his.

"Oh, I might be tempted," Luke teased.

Phasma leaned over and started kissing Luke. His hand went up and brushed her cheek as their kiss deepened. Then suddenly Luke broke the kiss and pushed her shoulders down. She heard footsteps approaching and rushed to hide, pulling herself the rest of the way, until she was fully crouched behind the bar.

"Ben, twice this morning. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Luke greeted his visitor.

Ben sighed, and Phasma could hear him pacing. "Did you make a decision yet. About Ap'lek?"

"No." Luke sounded firm.

"You know his information will only be good for so long."

Luke sighed. "I am close to making a decision."

"Every day, the chances of a live rescue go down. Rey is counting on us to save the man who raised her. What more do you need to know?" Ben shouted.

"I will tell you when I make up my mind. Now, unless you want to chop vegetables, I urge you to go. I'll see you in class," Luke responded calmly.

Ben made another loud sigh and stomped out of the room.

Luke then reached down to help Phasma stand up. "I am so sorry."

"Relax, it's not like it's the first time I ended up hiding from the family member of a lover."

"There's no excuse, I just heard my nephew coming and panicked," Luke continued his apology. "I still think he's this tall, sometimes."

"I'm not ready for everyone to know about us either, so it's okay, really." Phasma looked pointedly into Luke's eyes.

"Thanks," he said.

"What was that all about, anyway?" Phasma asked.

"Oh, well, before you guys got here, we captured one of the Knights of Ren, Ap'lek. He's been resistant to usual interrogation methods. Ben wants to use the dark side to get the information out of him, but…"

"But you have your reservations." Phasma finished.

Luke nodded. "The dark side is dangerous. And Ben has already fallen once." Luke took a deep breath. "I was planning to do it myself. It'll be very risky, even for me. I was just hoping to get through a few more lessons with your class first. Teach at least the basics of avoiding the dark side."

"Hmm?" Phasma looked down for a minute deep in thought. Then she looked up with a serious look in her eyes. "What if we try something else first?"

"Hmm?"

"Trickery. This Ap'lek was taken prisoner before I left the First Order. I tell him I was sent here to rescue him. He'll have to tell me what the interrogators were asking him, so I can know if he spilled anything unforgivable. I'd just need to get him to tell me the real answers too."

"I don't know. I don't want to put you in that kind of danger."

"I've done far more dangerous stunts for the First Order, and I'm good at getting a man to talk." She waited a moment then continued, "You know what, why don't I just tell this to the General. I'm sure she'll appreciate my help."

"No! I'll talk to my sister and see if I can work out a proper mission plan, with an exit strategy in case things don't work out."

Luke then picked up a knife and began chopping a vegetable. Phasma smiled and walked up behind him. Wrapping his arms with hers, she asked, "What're you making?"

Luke turned and waved a finger at her. "Nice try, it's a surprise."

Phasma frowned teasingly. "Don't I at least get a hint?"

Luke put down his knife, and his Lips met hers to resume kissing. After a while she broke the kiss and he spoke, "It's Mandalorian. I remembered what you said about your mother's family, and I had a little recipe I'd learned from another officer in the rebellion."

Phasma's smile was big. "Then I can't wait. Speaking about my Mandalorian family, I had been wondering. Is Force Sensitivity genetic?"

"Hmm, well it can be. In my case it was, but so many Jedi didn't have kids, so in most cases it just pops up without any family history." Luke went back to cutting as he put his teacher hat on.

"It's just that, my mother's family was actually a noble family back on Mandalore. My mom said they left because of the empire."

"Yes, Palpatine became very greedy for power, after dissolving the republic. He went after a lot of the noble families because he wanted there to be no other power out there besides his own. Some went into hiding, while a lot were lost forever."

"Yeah, anyways according to the family lore, my maternal grandfather was the son of a duchess, but they kept that part a secret. Officially he was her nephew, I think. She became unexpectedly pregnant after spending some alone time with a Jedi protector."

"Ooh," Luke's eyebrows rose and he laughed. "Well trists like this probably did occur from time to time, though they can be hard to prove. What was your grandfather's name?"

"Kryze, Korkie Kryze," Phasma answered.

"Huh," thought Luke. "I don't know of any Jedi with the name Kryze."

Phasma laughed. "No, he took his mother's name of course."

In the other realm Anakin sat watching Luke. He was pleased Luke may have found an alternative to using the dark side. Then his mouth opened wide in shock, only to slowly transform into a smile of juvenile delight as he listened. "Oh Obi-Wan," he called out loudly over his shoulder. "You won't believe what I just heard."