Han returned the car he'd borrowed from someone else at the airfield. From there, he led the way to a large gray freight plane readying for takeoff.
Up the ramp and into the belly, Rey saw a variety of things strapped down inside: huge crates, a boat, and also a vehicle that was wrapped in plastic.
Han stowed her suitcase and motioned for her to follow him deeper into the belly of the plane. There was a tiny passenger area and then a cockpit with two seats and a plethora of buttons, switches, and levers surrounding a clear windscreen. In one of the seats was a massive man with long brown and silver hair who also had a long beard.
"Chewie, this is Ursula Kuat. Ursula, this is my right hand man, Chewbacca."
Hearing her new name was jarring. Chewbacca's gigantic hand, even moreso, as he greeted her with a swallowing handshake and a friendly grumble of "Hey, hey."
She nodded and smiled as best she could. She felt more at ease when she noticed how kind Chewbacca's eyes were.
Han directed her to a passenger seat and told her to strap in. There was a small window to her left. A heavy aviation headset was plopped into her lap, and Han mimed that she put it on. The noise of the plane immediately silenced and she gave him a little smile. He adjusted her microphone before he got into the pilot's seat.
She heard sound coming through the headphones. "How's that, Ursula? Let me know if you can hear me."
"Uh, yes. Yes, I can hear you."
She heard Chewbacca's rumbling voice next. "Welcome to Solo Flight and Air Freight, Ursula. We are about to make departure."
The tail end of the plane clapped closed, and Rey felt everything begin to move. Her hands clamped down on the armrests.
"I've never flown on a plane before," she told them into the microphone.
Chewbacca laughed, low and husky.
Han Solo said, "It'll change your life, kid."
She listened without comment as Chewbacca and Han chattered back and forth, and as they communicated with the control tower. The big plane rumbled beneath her, picking up speed. The tiny window to her left was her only insight to what was happening on the outside world, which was tipping in the wrong direction.
The plane stopped vibrating so hard and she saw that they were actually lifting off the ground. A couple of hard thumps rattled her seat and Chewbacca indicated that it was only the landing gear folding away.
Her heart was already thrilling with this new adventure, but she couldn't deny the dark clouds at the back of her mind.
Here she was again, thrown into a situation where she had to rely on another stranger.
Han and Chewbacca seemed nice enough, but she missed Kylo. She rubbed her breastbone, so surprised that she was hurting this badly. Was she supposed to just move on with her life? Forget him? What was she going to do next? It was blatantly obvious how little control she had at the moment.
Kylo had decided where she was going without even telling her. Without even saying goodbye. And there was still that element of hidden danger dogging her every move.
"How you doing back there, Ursula?" Han asked.
Rey picked at her fingernails, biting her lip against more tears. "Okay. You know, I really can't stand that name. How about a nickname?"
"Nickname?" Chewbacca barked. "People call me Chewie." He hummed a moment. "Ursula means little bear. Does that fit?"
"I like that less," she stated.
There was a stretch of staticky silence. "Sula," Chewie eventually crooned over the radio.
"Hey! Sula," Han repeated.
"Sula," Rey whispered. Then, "I can live with that."
Their days together just grew more dangerous.
Snoke was on the hunt for Kylo Ren. And on the hunt for Rey.
So he had to make this decision.
He knew it was time to let her go.
He'd make sure she got away safely with Han Solo. Han could give her anonymity and a safe environment. He could provide her a real home if he wanted to.
Watching from the hill across from the mountain house, Kylo saw a small nondescript car pull up the drive. He brought a set of binocs to his eyes and tracked his father's steps up to the front door.
After Han went inside, he waited.
Kylo couldn't bring himself to stay and say goodbye to her in person. He didn't know how. Didn't know if he could. So it was better that he left her this way. Better for her. Easier for him.
Not honorable, Ren.
His jaw worked and his teeth clenched.
He was convinced this was the more honorable way. He didn't know what he would have done had he been there for her departure. Probably something uncharacteristically sentimental.
He watched through the binocs as she burst out of the house. Looking for something. Han followed behind her.
Aw, hell. She was crying. Or trying not to.
Yes. This was the right decision. He wouldn't have let her leave. He would have done something stupid like grab her and hold her and kiss her and never let her go.
It would have been to their detriment had he stayed. The only sure thing he could offer her was his sinking world of death.
He swallowed hard and followed behind the car Han and Rey were in down the mountain.
He watched from the balcony of Maz Kanata's stone fortress near the airfield as his father's freighter took off from the runway. The old Falcon was Han's favorite flyer. No doubt his co-pilot, Chewie, was by his side in the cockpit.
And Rey. Rey was with them, safely away from him. Safely hidden, he hoped. His hands clamped on the rail of the balcony. He had regrets like he'd told her earlier. More of them now that he'd had to leave her. But it would only bring harm if he dwelt on the regrets.
He knew this was the right thing to do for her. Let her go someplace safe. Be with people who could care for her. She needed good strong ground beneath her. He could not give her that. He was accustomed to being alone. He didn't want her to be alone. Putting distance between each other was also good because he'd begun to want things from her.
Kylo's death was most assuredly inevitable.
He had a mission now. It would be his last mission. Rey was being hunted and he planned to find out why. He planned to clear her name from the Order's records so that she'd never be a target again.
He straightened to his full height, fists clenched, jaw tight. Maz had completed his order and had it waiting for him below. Guns, ammo, a new bulletproof suit. He didn't know when everything would come to a head, but when it did, he would be ready. He would be ready for whatever the Order or Snoke threw at him.
Kylo turned his eyes to the sky once more, giving Rey a silent goodbye that he should have given her in person.
What he didn't understand was how could someone with no heart still feel so deeply?
I'm above this kind of need. Temptation is a seductive thing. Yet, why am I tempted, and why am I letting that temptation sink its teeth into me without fighting it off?
She is nothing.
She has no power over me.
But somehow, she owns me.
Han and Chewie made several stops at different airports in different provinces, dropping off the boat and the vehicle and crates in Naboo, Coruscant, and Hoth. The final stop, their home port, as Chewie called it, was the province of Alderaan.
Night had fallen a few hours ago.
A series of hangars along the side of the brightly lit Alderaan port belonged to Solo Flight and Air Freight. Once they'd taxied inside, Rey could see how large Han's operation was. He had multiple planes, jets, and another freighter. He had several people in his employ: pilots, mechanics, and office staff.
One of Han's crew that Rey got to meet was Rose Tico, who worked as an aviation mechanic. Rey was particularly interested in her line of work. She also met Poe Dameron, one of Han's other pilots. He flew the sleek private jets that were chartered by the rich and famous.
Rey stood aside with her rolling suitcase and watched the bustling around her. She appreciated the smell of the fuel and oil and the hard work it took to keep everything in an operation like this running smoothly.
Han handed off a clipboard with a thick stack of papers to a scheduling secretary. He caught sight of Rey and motioned her with a jerk of his head to an office toward the back of the hangar. She recognized that head movement as the same one that Kylo had used on her. No wonder she had thought there was something familiar about Han Solo. He reminded her of Kylo Ren.
"Hey, Sula. Let's talk in my office for a bit. Got some things to go over."
She followed and took a seat amidst what she thought of as utterly organized chaos. Han was not a neat freak. She knew how Kylo liked to keep things clean and orderly. She mentally noted how they were not alike in this aspect of their lives. There were stacks of things and parts and crates and all manner of items in every nook and open area of his personal office space. The place was dusty and dirty. She gingerly moved a box of machine parts aside with her toe so she wouldn't kick it over. Han had to move a pile of boxes out of the way just so he could close the door.
"Now," he began. "This conversation stays between you and me. Got it?"
Rey nodded and gave Han her full attention.
"I want to be up front so you understand how things are." He eased back in the chair behind his cluttered desk and grimaced. "No one here knows about Kylo Ren, who he is or what he does. He's a regular customer only. No one knows that he's… that he's my son. I've not even told his mother about him. She only knows that her son is alive and that he won't come home." He held her stare, making sure he was being heard.
Rey couldn't help but frown. What had happened in Kylo's life to put him on the path he now walked? His mother didn't know he was a hired killer?
Rey sucked in a huge breath and let it out slowly. "I understand," she said, even though she didn't. Not really.
"But why doesn't his mother know about him?" She couldn't stop the question once it formed in her mind.
Han leaned forward to rest his forearms on the desk. He idly flicked a stack of paperwork with his finger and eyed her quietly. Voice low, he asked, "You know what he does?"
Rey nodded. "Do you?"
His heavy brow fell over his hazel eyes. "I know enough. I can imagine the rest. He contacted me, I don't know, it's been about twelve years ago now. Said he would hire me to fly him. I didn't know the name he'd given. Didn't know it was him until he got on my plane."
Han stopped, staring off at nothing, deep in his memories. "I knew immediately that it was my boy." An anguished, cracked laugh. "But he wasn't, not anymore.
"I asked him question after question. I knew the cargo he'd brought along with him; weapons. After the first landing I waited for his return. When he boarded for the flight home, he came back with blood all over him."
Han's eyes met hers. "It wasn't his blood. I was too afraid to ask more after that. I was too afraid to say no the next time he called and chartered a flight. This is the only connection I've had with my son since he ran away from home when he was twelve years old.
"And now there's you." Han's leather jacket creaked as she leaned forward and regarded her closely like she was a part to a machine that he couldn't figure out what to do with.
"That brings me to another matter." He blinked, leaving his speculation of her.
"Kylo wanted me to make sure that, uh, you be kept safe. He says you're in some kind of danger. He didn't elaborate. But," he sighed, "I want to do what he wishes. So."
Han clapped his hands together. "You can work here. You don't like it here, my wife runs a vineyard. She's always hiring good people." He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. Waiting.
"But you don't know me. I don't know you. And you're offering me a job?"
"It's not exactly a picnic working for me. We're flying every day, all over the planet, and tensions run high. If you're serious about mechanic work, you can train here for a while before I approve you to even touch my birds. I've got time to get to know you. To get to know your work ethic. And just so you know, I won't tolerate any bullshit."
"Oh. Right." She swallowed, thinking that Kylo definitely inherited his intensity from his dad. She only slightly understood the rigors and the pressures on an airplane mechanic as opposed to a ground vehicle mechanic. Would she be up for the challenge?
"What kind of experience have you had as a mechanic?" he asked.
"There was an old man who owned a junkyard back in Niima. He was mean, but he let me tinker with his salvage-built cars. He taught me how engines worked. He showed me how to put cars together piece by piece. I built my own speeder bike from wrecks left in the lot, and that's how I got paid. But then the old man left and I got a job at a garage on the southside of Niima." She frowned and blinked. "But my first day on the job was when I met… Kylo."
"And Kylo wasn't there to get his oil changed, was he?"
Rey shook her head slowly, giving Han a meaningful look.
Han sighed. "I'm willing to give you a shot. And I'll give you a place to stay. I'll be honest and say I don't think you should be out by yourself anywhere at any time."
"Where would I stay?"
Han's eyebrows raised and then lowered just as quickly. He waved a hand. "Leia—my wife—and I live in a big house, too big for only two people. There's plenty of rooms to choose from. And I only offer because Kylo asked it of me."
He ran a hand over his face. "There's not been a lot that I could do for my son, in a personal way, but this is something I'm willing to help with." His eyes cut back to her. "And that's the only reason I would open my home to a stranger."
Rey frowned. She understood him. She wasn't exactly welcome, but she wasn't exactly free to go, either. She didn't know what or how to feel in that moment. She was still reeling about Kylo leaving and about everything else that had happened to her in the past week.
"How long are we to go on like this?" she asked.
"I don't know. We'll take it one day at a time and keep moving forward."
Rey sighed and crushed her fingers together. "Maybe," she began, finding it difficult to speak. "Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just disappeared."
Han watched her for a long time, and his rheumy eyes softened. He cleared his throat and looked away. "I, uh, saw the way you reacted back at the lake house." He tapped his fingers together and let out a breath. "You have feelings for him, don't you."
As much as she tried to keep it together, her face crumpled. Trembling with unchecked emotion, she could only nod.
Han spoke while she kept her eyes on her hands, trying to regain her composure. "I love my son. Doesn't mean I like what he does. But I haven't given up on him. And he called me to come and get you. That tells me something about you, that he sees something in you that he wants to protect.
"Maybe," he smiled a little, "you shouldn't give up on him either."