Force Dyad

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A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly read and reviewed the last chapter.

Chapter Twelve-Discovery

Ben's stress response had been jacked up so high, when he heard Rey's trembling voice being transmitted through the comms system, his sheer relief was difficult to put into words. It took him longer than it should have to respond, and he was annoyed when Tai beat him to it.

"This is Tai, Rey. Ben's with me. Are you okay?"

"I'm scared." Rey whispered.

"Don't be- "

"Shut up." Ben growled as he cut Tai off and took control of the conversation. "Rey, it's me, are you hurt?"

"No." Rey answered so quietly he could hardly hear her. "Ben, I don't like it here."

"I'm coming to get you, Rey." Ben promised fervently. It cut him to the quick to hear how scared she was. He tried to focus his emotions, his mind constantly regurgitating the worries about what could go wrong. Right now, he had no new or brilliant solutions to offer, he could only do what he'd always done- take each minute as it comes.

"You promise?" Rey asked meekly.

"I promise." Ben knew he needed to coax more information out of her. He was intrigued by how she had managed to tap into the Verity's communication array. She was resourceful and he couldn't be prouder of her. "Where are Hennix and Voe, Rey?" He did his level best to keep his voice steady. Even saying their names brought back a rush of anger.

"They left the cockpit to go and look for me. I hid under the floor so they couldn't see me." Rey said in a rush, her breaths were coming quick and fast. It was obvious she was beginning to panic.

Ben spoke to her calmly in an effort to allay her fears. He reminded her of the Jedi meditation techniques he'd taught her in order to focus the mind. To his relief he heard her breathing slow down to more normal levels. "You're doing great, Rey. Now I just need you to follow my instructions. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes."

"Good." Ben exhaled slowly. "First I'm going to need you to seal the doors into the cockpit to stop Hennix and Voe getting back in."

"K.'" Rey scampered off to do his bidding and everything went quiet.

"Ben?" Tai interrupted him.

"I said keep out of it." Ben whispered harshly.

Tai frowned at the frustrated anger in his tone but forged ahead anyway. "Whatever you're planning won't work." He argued. "Voe and Hennix will soon be able to override the doors controls from the other side."

"It will keep them out long enough for Rey to work on overriding the autopilot."

Tai stared at Ben in disbelief. "You can't be serious, Ben?" He exclaimed. "She's just a kid. Even an apprentice engineer would have trouble incapacitating an unfamiliar starship. You're putting her at unnecessary risk. Anything could go wrong."

Ben's eyes glared with an intensity that made Tai's chest tighten in alarm. "Don't you dare accuse me of putting Rey's life at risk!" He growled. "Especially when you are part of the reason why she's in trouble in the first place. You don't know her like I do, or what she's capable of. She was taught by the best. Me."

The extra exertion was bringing on more breathlessness, like the air around her was devoid of all oxygen. Rey concentrated on Ben's soothing voice as he calmly talked her through the difficult task. Several wires of varying colours spilled from the console into her lap. Her hands shook as she used the tools she had found stowed at the rear of the cockpit to her advantage. She had already overridden the autopilot, now she was working on sending out a tracking signal to Grimtaash, to give Ben a better chance of pinpointing the Verity's exact position.

Muffled voices came from the other side of the sealed doors leading into the cockpit. Rey recognised Voe's high pitched whine as she banged on the doors in frustration, setting off a metallic ring around the cockpit's interior. A faint whimper left Rey's mouth and she briefly lost concentration.

"You're doing well, Rey. Just remember what I taught you."

Ben's voice was deep when he spoke. He spoke as if he controlled the world, his experience seeping through. Rey felt the tightness in her throat ease at his quiet confidence in her abilities. Even in her desperation, she was determined to make him proud. With renewed fervour, she soon had the last wire slotted into place. She jammed the opened panel in the console back into its former position and fled back to her hiding place under the floor.

By the time Voe and Hennix managed to bypass the locking system on the cockpit's doors, Rey was safely tucked away out of sight. The two Jedi apprentices couldn't believe it when they realised that the autopilot had been disabled while they had been wasting time on their fruitless search. The Verity was now left drifting in space.

Voe smacked her clenched fists on the console in a fit of pique. "The little brat!" She cussed in a very un-jedi like manner. "She did this. She must have been here the whole time."

Hennix tugged on his long tentacles in agitation-a sign of intense stress in a male Quarren. "She's a kid. There's no way she could have done this." He peered around the cockpit's interior anxiously as if expecting a hidden foe to suddenly leap out of the shadows and attack him.

"Don't be a fool, Hennix!" Voe scoffed. "Who else could it have been? She's in here somewhere. And if I have to rip up every panel in this room in order to find her, I will."

Ben knew he was being reckless. He didn't care. He would push Grimtaash until she broke apart if it got him to Rey faster. Even as the engines turned, his brain relaxed as he tapped into the Force, there was still a way to go and all he had to do was let this technological bird fly him there. The starship felt entirely organic under his guiding hand. He called upon years of learned skill from his own father, utilising every trick in the book Han had taught him to pilot Grimtaash faster. He ignored Tai's concerned protests- Grimtaash was his- he knew how adept she was at manoeuvring through space. And with him at the helm he was confident that he would reach the Verity's last location before Skywalker's traitorous apprentices had managed to pick apart all of Rey's hard work and move on.

Ben was fully plugged into the creative energy of the Force. He gave himself over to it. His heightened feeling of euphoria felt intoxicating after cutting himself off from it for so long. The dark blanket of space spread before him, with myriads of stars dotting the blanket in an intricate pattern.

This was space.

This was home.

As the panel above her head was ripped away, Rey became rigid with fear. She looked up at Voe's angry face hovering above her. There was no softness in that gaze. It was a look that conveyed a bubbling hatred. Disgust perhaps. Disconcerted, Rey averted her eyes, she felt Voe's fingers curl cruelly into the back of her tunic and haul her out of her hiding place. Rey didn't struggle. She sensed her best course of action was to behave if she didn't want to endure the angry young Jedi's wrath.

Voe shoved Rey roughly back into the same seat as before and buckled her in again. This time she tightened the straps around her upper body so tight that there was barely wriggle room. "Don't you dare move, you little wretch." A stinging slap across the face followed that warning.

"Kriffing hell, Voe!" Hennix cried, disturbed by her lack of control. "Stop it! She's just an innocent kid." He leaned down to examine the blossoming red mark spreading across the pale skin of Rey's cheek.

"She is far from innocent." Voe retorted icily. "She's been around Solo, remember. Now help me get this ship moving." She ordered.

"No." Hennix protested faintly. He was losing his nerve. He knew Voe could be fiery, but he had never seen her as fired up as this. She was brimming with righteous anger. "This is a bad idea. We should contact Master Skywalker and admit what we've done."

"Don't be an idiot, Hennix." Voe hissed. "If you do that, you'll ruin everything. You'll paint us as the ones in the wrong. Which we are not. We had no choice but to take her. Solo wasn't going to give her up. And Tai's idea of persuading Solo to return peacefully was never going to work."

Hennix continued to regard Voe dubiously. She was twisting everything around to suit her own narrative. She was allowing her hatred and jealousy of Ben Solo to cloud her judgement. They had always been close friends, Hennix knew that Voe was highly ambitious and determined to impress Master Skywalker, but lately her attempts to claim the top spot were becoming ever more aggressive. And that aggression made her impulsive and reckless. Just like now. It was difficult to admit to himself, but he was becoming afraid of Voe.

"I'll help you." Hennix eventually agreed. "The sooner we get the kid to Master Skywalker the better."

And the sooner he could get away from Voe, he thought to himself.

A/N-thanks for reading. Please review.