Chapter 9
A City of Neon and Secrets
Before long Rey and Ben pulled the shuttle out of hyperspace when the time was right and saw themselves faced with yet another planet to seek refuge on. As the stars swirling around their cockpit flashed to a stop a large, silvery planet zoomed towards them, one half glowing under its yellow sun, the other cloaked in darkness. Within that darkness millions of miniscule lights shown golden and white. At first Rey wasn't too impressed; she'd visited city planets before with Leia and her friends in search of new allies. But as Ben drew them closer and closer to the night-covered surface and the shapes individual of buildings faded in, he could pick out flashes of neon color: hot pinks, electric blues, and rich purples. Strobes, spotlights, and lavish adverts radiated into the clear night sky and Rey couldn't peel her eyes away for a second.
"I'd never see stuff like this back on Jakku. It was always so dark when the sun went down," she muttered to Ben, who carefully steered them through the lines of oncoming traffic. His skin shone under the colors outside, his scar standing out along his face.
"I suppose the people here aren't much of an improvement from Jakku, though," he grumbled.
Rey could see what he was talking about. The people that blurred passed them were either stumbling drunk, scantily clad, breaking out into arguments, or a combination of all three. Smoke from pipes swirled around the crowds moving across bridges and standing by brightly lit shops and stores. Even though the air that filled their cabin was clear, she couldn't help but hold back a cough at the sight of the thick putrid clouds.
"How could Exbi have allies in a place like this?" she wondered aloud. "He looks like he's never left Nov Sensum in his life."
"I don't know, but first we need to find a place to land." His dark eyes scanned desperately for a free landing pad. It seemed that every flat surface was lined with either ships or dense crowds of lifeforms.
Soon they were able to take a spot in front of a rundown bar. Ben flew into the open space just as a speeder full of grans pulled up to take it. They shouted garbled curses out of their windows, their eye stalks flailing wildly. Ben paid no attention and powered down the shuttle so they were free to get up and leave.
The black sky above them was clear but no stars were visible. The city seemed to reside in an empty black void, separate from the rest of the galaxy. Rey almost felt claustrophobic, and she'd been able to squeeze herself inside he broken hulls of ships no problem in the past.
"Hopefully we can find these allies and make contact with the Resistance again." Rey kneaded her crystal in her hands to work off her stress. Finn and Poe and Rose were out there and now was the time to put away any more distractions.
Her biggest distraction pulled his cape around his shoulders and moved quickly towards the back doors of their ship.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
He pointed at the flashing sign of the bar across from them. "We're not going to find any friends waiting in here. And I want a drink. Want to join me?"
Rey hesitated. She'd never had anything more exotic than the nightblossom tea she sometimes drank in her walker back on Jakku. But bars were pretty social places; maybe she could find a Resistance ally waiting in the dim space inside. She set her crystal on the dashboard, grabbed her staff, and set out with Ben.
The outside air she gulped in was stale and unpleasantly warm. Noise surrounded them like transparent walls. The sidewalks were slick, but with what? If only they could have stayed on Nov Sensum with its beautiful forests and friendly inhabitants.
Ben held open the large wooden door for Rey and she stepped inside cautiously. A bith quartet strummed a laid-back kind of tune on a small stage in the back of the large dark room. The central bar was jammed backed with lifeforms of all kinds of species, illuminated by small lanterns hanging from the low ceiling above. The whole place smelled of cheap liquor and dust, as every table and shelf were lined with a thick coat of either one. Despite the crowd, the place gave off a feeling of intense loneliness.
Rey licked her lips and gathered up her courage. Her yellow robes swayed around her as she strode to the bar, displaying more confidence she actually felt. Ben followed her closely, turning in circles as he walked to survey the scene around them.
"One nightblossom tea, please," she called to the bartender, a shorter woman with a shaved head. She nodded and began to shift through the glass and porcelain bottles behind her.
"Interesting choice," Ben muttered. His hand was on his hip, but Rey could tell that his lightsaber was hidden under his cloak, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice.
"Why is that so strange?"
"You've basically branded yourself as an outsider. Be careful."
It was only now that Rey began to notice the grumbles and clicks of the other patrons around her. The bartender set her steaming mug down with an unfriendly clunk.
"A Swau, make it a double," Ben ordered. A small glass of glowing purple liquid was pushed towards him with a little more kindness. His large hand wrapped around the glass and he downed it in one quick gulp.
Rey raised her eyebrows. "Is this a repeat of last time?" she asked with a small smile as she sipped her tea. Sweet and spicy, just as she remembered.
"It could be if you get a little braver with your beverage choices."
The idea of another drinking contest sounded like fun, but she reconsidered. "But what if something happens and I can't get my brain to respond in time?"
"I guess you're right. We're not among friends anymore." He eyed the quarren sitting on the stool next to him with that steely stare she had seen so much of.
Unfortunately, the quarren noticed this. It shoved its stool away roughly, its tentacles waving in a threatening manner. Its mouth opened, and a strangled gurgle escaped.
Ben threw his arm across Rey, barring her from the angry attacker. He stared straight ahead with his eyes blazing and his lip curling.
"Stay back," he muttered harshly. The quarren screeched at him and its hand drifted toward its belt. Rey saw the metallic flash of a small blaster.
Before Ben could draw his lightsaber, she dipped under his arm and ran at the quarren. She swung her staff towards its ugly with all of her might. If Ben ignited his lightsaber, they could possibly be discovered again.
Their alien foe crumpled to dirty bar floor with a low moan. Its stool caught on the hem of its shirt and fell with a loud clatter. The whole bar quieted down all at once, as if put on mute.
Frustration bubbled up inside of her. "Anyone else want some?" she shouted to the rest of the patrons sitting around them. She kneaded her staff in her hands.
Every head, eye stalk, and lense turned guiltily back to their drinks. The silence had reached a crescendo.
She looked back at Ben, panting slightly. His whole face was slackened with admiration, his mouth open in a silent o.
"We should leave," he mumbled, extending his hand to her. She took it without question and they sprinted out the bar and into the smoky night.
Both of them were breathing heavily by the time they reached the safety of their shuttle. They let go of each other, not making eye contact with her.
"So much for lying low and finding friends," Ben said, coughing a bit on the vapors of his downed drink.
"If you had drawn that lightsaber we'd both had been found out," she returned. She eyed the crowds outside warily. It was a miracle no one had reported them already. Spies and traitors stood around every corner on a metropolitan planet like this.
A sharp rapping rang out on the window behind her and she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. She turned sharply, her staff in hand.
A small girl stood on the other side of the glass, her tiny fist poised to knock again. Her light hair hung in untidy dreads and she only wore rags held together with loose cloth wrappings. Rey stared back, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Rey, ignore her, she's probably just messing with us." Ben told her.
As if in response the girl pulled a leather cord out of the folds of her tunic. A medallion was tied to one end and she held it up so Rey could see.
The symbol of the Resistance shone as clear as day, carefully carved in the center of the metal disk.
Rey gasped and leapt to her feet. She marched out of the shuttle and back into the stuffy city air. The girl nodded in understanding and began to walk slowly towards a dark alley next to the bar they had just fled.
Ben gave her a pained look but didn't protest. He probably knew there was no way of changing her mind and turning back. The little girl disappeared into the shadows of the alley and they both followed quickly after, Ben's cape fluttering behind him. Her staff was still clutched in her hand just in case they met someone unsavory on their way to wherever they were headed.
The dark alley ended abruptly, and they now ran across a wide plaza. Tall yellow lanterns stood at intervals throughout the crowd, their tops cuts like flower petals and spilling out light. They didn't have time to take in the sights, however. Their guide ducked through the mass of people and out the other side while Rey and Ben had to force themselves awkwardly around.
Finally, a small metal door stamped into the side of a lonely row of dimly lit shops appeared in front of them, just a hole in the wall. No one with a brain would be caught dead in this part of town unless they were asking for trouble, but the girl reached up and waved at a tiny glass widow set into the door as she stood on her tiptoes. The door slid open with a rusty scrape and the child skipped inside with her arms swinging gleefully. Rey stepped inside, her heart pounding. Despite the girl's medallion, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Several people dressed in grubby attire circled the room, arms folded and faces harsh. The space they occupied was littered with opens chests and loose articles of clothing as well as dirty plates and wrappers. A few tables and chairs were spread out through the mess, holographic maps glowing green. Rey squinted into the bright overhead lights. The air here was so stale she felt as if she could bite into it.
As if by a silent command the figures surrounding her drew blasters from their belts and aimed their barrels straight at Ben.
"Wait!" she shouted, jumping in front of him with her arms spread out protectively. "He's not with the First Order anymore! He's been helping me!" Some of her hair had come loose from her half bun. She probably looked half insane, which probably didn't help her case.
She saw a few pairs of eyes widen in surprise and a few unsure hands lower their weapons at her words. Ben still glared and bared his teeth but nodded to Rey in thanks.
One woman stepped forward while pocketing her blaster once more. She was tall, only a little shorter than Ben, with long gray hair tucked back in a ponytail. Rey could see the glimmer of three small rings hanging from her right ear. Despite her intimidating appearance she smiled warmly and held out her arms as if to embrace the pair of them.
"Welcome, Jedi and Supreme leader," she trilled, sounding genuinely thrilled, "to our humble Urear hideout. I'm so glad Kala was able to scout you out at Botrop's back there." Crow's feet wrinkled at the edges of her sea green eyes.
"Do any of you know Exbi from Vaas Minas on Nov Sensum?" Rey addressed the room.
"Exbi? That old kook?" A squat young man came towards them, shaking his head playfully. "Of course! A couple of us have stopped by and helped him out from time to time."
"He sent us here to find you. Will you be able to help us? The First Order found us on Nov Sensum and we don't know if they're still on our trail or not," Rey explained.
More and more figures moved forward out of the shadows, exchanging bemused looks.
"Is your shuttle trackable?" the older woman asked.
"No, it's one of my personal escape craft," Ben spoke up. His voice was harsher than Rey had heard in days.
"Then you should be alright. There are stormtroopers walking about some of the time, but we're planning to take care of that sooner or later. After all, that's why we're here!" The woman laughed, slapping her hands on her thighs. She smiled at Rey. "Your friend really knows how to take care of business."
Rey's cheeks burned. He had literally been a lifesaver for the past week.
"Name's Jayne," their host said and held out her gloved hand. Rey took it and shook uncertainly. Her grip was vice-like.
"Please, make yourselves both at home. Take a blaster, any blaster. You'll be needing them soon enough."
"Why?" asked Rey, approaching a large chest and pulling out a large gun. The weight of it felt wrong, so she set it back down gingerly.
"We've been trying to take out the First Order Command that reigns over this part of Urear. Those bastards have most everything under their thumbs at this point," answered the squat man. "Since you're here our plans could go a lot smoother. A couple of Force users ought to do us some good, especially the last Jedi."
His comrades nodded around him, lazily plopping down in the chairs and scrolling through the holomaps. From Rey could see they were schematics of ships and buildings.
Ben scowled but said nothing. Rey understood why, as their hosts had just aimed blasters at his chest minutes before. She put a hand on his shoulder to give reassurance. His posture relaxed, and he turned to her, his expression softening.
One by one the others in the room came up and introduced themselves, though it was hard for Rey to keep them all straight. Names like Lopek, Bids, and Tazine all swirled around in her head. All she really knew was Jayne and Bossen, the squat man.
Once all of the Resistance soldiers finished their conversations and introductions, they all moved to sit down around a large metal table in the center of the cluttered room. Rey and Ben took spots next to one another and waited for what was next, Rey trying to straighten her back and look professional while Ben slouched with his head on his fist. Finally, Jayne pressed a key on the holomap's projector and a large rectangular building etched itself out in green light.
"The First Order has stationed themselves in the Main Square a few miles away. It's a beast of a building with some pretty nasty security measures put in place to keep the galaxy's heroes out." The map zoomed into key rooms that contained weapon detectors, ray shields, and password protected doors. Rey gulped, all too familiar with how the First Order organized themselves. After all, she escaped her restraints on Starkiller Base and snuck around, looking for a method of escape. Luckily Finn, Han, and Chewie had found her.
"Originally we had planned on Bossen and Tazine to disable the machines and get us inside, but with you two things will be so much easier." She pointed over to Rey and Ben with a small smile.
"Once we're inside we need to locate the commander in charge, Captain Cross, and take him out." The building disappeared and the face of a shrew, sickly-looking man flashed into existence. "Once he's out of the picture, the troops will dissolve, and our work here will be done."
"That's it?" Rey asked.
"That's it," Jayne confirmed.
"Once we do this the planet will be safe?"
"As safe as we can make it for now. General Organa and her other troops should be here after we're finished and start some reconstruction with the Urear government."
"Leia will be here?" Rey's heart leapt at the sound of the general's name. Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewie would also still be with her after the battle over Nov Sensum.
"You got it, sweetheart. Once Captain Cross is history and his band of monsters is disbanded, you will see Leia and your friends again."
Rey found herself shaking with joy. After days and days of hiding in the woods with Ben, she was going to see her friends again! And only one simple mission stood between her and the people she loved like family. She wondered how Finn and Poe would react to seeing her alive and well after having supposedly dying in the crashed Millennium Falcon. Their disbelieved expressions had her silently laughing as the meeting concluded.
"Alright, people, let's get some sleep! We've got a big day tomorrow, so be ready to move out when I give the word!" Jayne shouted. Her soldiers slowly slipped into what Rey figured were bedrooms through a large wooden door on the opposite wall from their initial entrance.
"I guess that's that." Ben muttered. He stood up and strode rather quickly to the exit, his fists clenched.
Before Rey could follow him out back to the shuttle, a hand landed on her shoulder.
"Before you go," Jayne asked, her tone now icy, "I wanted to ask you a question."
Rey's little bubble of hope from before popped, and she turned around stiffly.
"Is Kylo Ren really back for good? Can you swear this to me?"
Rey was startled and couldn't answer at first.
"Scum like him are always clawing and pleading their way out of places. I just want to know if you're being as careful as I want you to be. Who knows if he hasn't gotten to you already."
Her green eyes stared daggers, but Rey took a deep breath and faced her.
"Of course he is. He wouldn't be here if he truly wasn't"
It came out a lot harsher than Rey intended, but she supposed it was true.
"That's what I like to hear. You're really something, Jedi." The older woman winked and let Rey go, striding back to join her companions.
"Will you two be ready tomorrow morning?"
"Yes," Rey answered. "We'll give it our all."
With that, she jogged out the door to meet Ben outside. His dark robes and hair practically blended into the surrounding shadows where he stood, only his pale face and scar standing out. He had waited for her and her cheeks burned despite the simplicity of the action.
"Let's get back before anyone recognizes us," he said. His jaw was set.
Rey nodded, and they began their trek back to the shuttle. Her last conversation shook her a bit, but Ben didn't need to hear about it.
The glow of the flowery lanterns greeted them as they walked through the pavilion they had passed through before. The masses of people had dwindled to only a few small gatherings of city goers. The lights changed colors before their eyes, from yellow to sky blue to purple.
A large ball whizzed past Rey's leg. Luckily, she knew what that meant and pulled Ben out of the way just as a hoard of young children clambered past. Cheers and shouts rang up as they sprinted towards the ball at varying speeds, trying to get the first kick at it.
One child lingered behind his peers, a younger Rodian boy with glistening black eyes. Rey could hear his pants from where she stood. The ball bounced between the older kids, excluding him.
Ben seemed to notice this and flicked his index finger. With an unnatural force the ball flew from one kid's foot and soared into the air. The Rodian looked up and caught it haphazardly in his tiny hands. At first the child stood there in stunned silence, but soon smiled widely and called for his companions to chase him. Setting the ball on the ground he kicked it away and ran away from the screaming mob of kids already right on his trail.
Rey smirked. "That was very kind of you," she complimented.
He shrugged pointedly. "Well, of course it was, that's why I did it."
No matter how sarcastic his answers got, they never failed to put the smallest of smiles on her face. "I'm just glad you're here helping people instead of terrorizing the galaxy, that's all."
They stared off into the shifting colors of the lanterns' petals. Even on such a rusty husk of a city planet beauty still found its way through the cracks.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rey saw a grin play on the edges of Ben's lips. The air she breathed suddenly felt lighter in her chest.
…
They made it back to their parked shuttle in one piece. A few stormtroopers ran a patrol nearby, but they slipped away undetected. But that didn't stop Rey from leaping through the cabin doors as quickly as she could.
Ben was sprawled out on the bunk with his hands under his long hair while Rey lay out on the bench opposite him, absentmindedly running her fingers over the cover of one of the Jedi texts. They had been sitting and finishing off the last of a leftover ration packet.
"Are you sure we can trust them?"
Rey stopped chewing and swallowed carefully. "Ben, they're with the Resistance, we can trust them. They're our best shot of getting back with my friends."
She could feel his distaste wafting through the air like a noxious chemical. "I just have a bad feeling about this. They saw you with me in that bar, they should have known I wouldn't hurt you."
"Yes, but you were the Supreme Leader of the First Order. I wouldn't trust you either, in that situation."
He pressed his lips together in that gesture Rey knew too well.
"I know you're scared about this whole thing, but this whole mission will work out. There's a light at the end of the tunnel." She ran her fingers over the lengths of leather straps wrapped around her staff. "We can spar a bit outside somewhere, if that'll help wind you down."
"No, I just need to rest. It's just this nasty feeling I have about all this." He rolled onto his side and said no more. Rey sighed and put her belongings back in the cabinets.
If Jayne's plans succeeded tomorrow morning, this may be one of the last nights they'd be sleeping here. She'd have a new ship to pilot with Chewie, a new place to call home. She would talk and laugh with her friends again. The future looked as bright as the vibrant columns of light blazing outside their window. How Ben fit into all this she would need to wait and see.
As usual, Ben's snores filled the cabin before her head had even hit the pillow. She stared at his broad back, new worries springing up every which way. She still had no idea how he did it.
She was thankful that he saved her life all those days ago, but would Leia or Poe or Finn want to accept the man who had helped divide the galaxy in war? Laying back against her headrest, she pulled her hair out of its half-bun and closed her tired eyes, her mind spinning in tight circles.
Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for your support and patience! Midterms have been kicking my ass, but spring break is finally here and I'll be able to write more on a daily basis. It's been so fun writing for you guys! :)