Chapter 10
A Job to Do
Ben snored himself awake and found himself staring out the window next to his bunk. The skyscrapers surrounding the shuttle held up the fabric of the grey, cloudy sky like tentpoles.
He missed the clear blue of Nov Sensum. He missed not having to look over his shoulder every other second. They may be out of the clutches of the First Order for now, but that didn't make him feel any safer. Danger lurked behind every shop door and back alley on planets like this, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep Rey and him out of harm's way.
Something about those Resistance fighters got under his skin. Their scout, the little girl, had seen them at the bar. How hadn't she picked up on his attempts to protect her, his arm out to shield her? Nothing he did during that skirmish warranted guns to his chest.
He rolled over to find Rey still asleep, snoring heavily with an arm draped off the side of the bench. Her favorite blue blankets had fallen to the floor during the night and lay in a jumbled heap. She still slept like a scavenger, he noticed fondly.
He got out of bed as quietly as he could and picked the blankets up. Praying that she wouldn't wake up, he floated the covers up into the air with the Force, unfurled them, and floated them gently back down on top of her.
She sniffed and mumbled but didn't fully stir. A small smile formed on his lips as he turned away and headed up to the cockpit to survey the scene outside. He sipped from a mug of cold water in an attempt to wake up his sleepy mind.
They'd have to meet up with Jayne and her gang soon and complete this mission. Rey would finally be reunited with her companions and he would be left alone again. Alone and either on the run from Hux or a prisoner of General Leia and her soldiers. He knew Rey had forgiven him, but anyone else would be happy to punch his one-way ticket out of this life. He could strike up some kind of deal, but any chance of that happening seemed unlikely, even his Rey at his side to defend him. And he didn't want her to get in trouble for his mistakes. Maybe it was best to just leave and let her live her life. He'd been delusional to think that their quiet little life together in their shuttle could last forever.
A high-pitched scream echoed from behind him.
His surprise manifested in a physical force, causing his mug to shatter in his hand, spilling water and porcelain shards all over the floor. Cursing, his stepped over the mess and into the cabin, his eyes searching for any signs of an outside attack.
Rey had bolted upright on the bench, her breaths short and stressed. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she shook horribly. Something in Ben's chest fell at the sight and he rushed over, wiping water off of his doublet and crouching down next to the bed.
"Rey! Are you alright? It's okay, take deep breaths."
He held his hand out and helped time her inhales and exhales. After she calmed down a bit she turned to look at him. Her eyes were wide and practically spinning in their sockets. She wiped her hand over her face as if embarrassed.
"I'm so sorry, I had a nightmare," she muttered, her face reddening.
"It's okay. What happened?" he asked, keeping his tone patient as to not frighten her more.
She shook her head slowly and twisted her hands in her sheets. "I can't really remember. Everything felt so… upheaved? Is that the word for it?"
He nodded in understanding. Although he hadn't had his usual bout of night terrors in the week they've been on the run, he still remembered how painful and inescapable they could be in the moment.
He told her what he needed to the told in those moments. "You're not alone in this. If you need to talk about it, please do." His pressed his lips together.
To his surprise she chuckled nervously. "I wish there was something to talk about. I don't remember what exactly happened. It was like this huge rush of feelings I can't really describe." Her hands gesticulated wildly. Then she paused and looked him in the eye. "Do you have dreams like that?"
"All the time," he answered, sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed.
"What does it feel like for you?" she asked.
He took a deep breath before continuing. "Like everything that's ever happened to me is crashing down… like a huge wave." He mimed a moving wave with his hand.
Rey didn't reply but nodded for him to go on.
"Luke's always there, and so are my parents. Snoke, the First Order, you, it's all coming at me, all of my mistakes, and—"
His voice was rising with each word and he managed to stop himself before escalating into a shout. He lifted his hand to his scar and sighed.
"It's okay, Ben." Now it was her turn to comfort him. Her light brown eyes shone with kindness. The early morning light played on her tanned skin and pinpricks of freckles. Her hair was messy, but it added to the unkempt charm she always seemed to have about her.
"You don't need anything else on your plate. I hope you don't have to go through another one of those again," he said to her.
Rey rubbed the back of her neck and the corners of her mouth lifted. "Thank you. If I remember anything later, I'll tell you."
They stayed silent for a moment. The gray light outside turned a few shades lighter as the sun rose higher into the sky. Ben tapped his fingers on the cabin floor.
"Thanks for sharing, too," she added. "It means a lot that you can trust me."
"Of course," Ben said briskly. "Why wouldn't I trust you? We've been in this together and still are."
A real smile graced her lips this time. She shook out her hair and sighed. "I'd never thought I'd say this, but I hope when everything is over we can still see each other. With the First Order gone we can finally have a few moments of peace without them on our heels." She didn't meet his eyes but kept them downcast. Her hands fiddled nervously with her bedsheets.
"Really?" She still wanted to see him even after the First Order eventually burned down. But how? Would the Resistance allow it? His pulse quickened and a blush rose up along his neck and face.
Maybe this was the time to tell her what he meant to say on Nov Sensum, that night in the forest after the dance. If she was willing to stay with him even after this war, maybe she would…
He opened his mouth but a series of loud bangs on the hull outside interrupted him.
"Are you two in there? We have a mission to complete, remember?"
Jayne's husky bark cut through their tender moment, and it took all of Ben's willpower not to launch her away with the Force and fly away from this whole plan.
Rey seemed to have read his mind and gave him a stern look. She then hopped out of bed, tied her hair back into three buns, and slung her staff over her head. Ben took this as his cue to get ready as well and hooked his lightsaber to his belt. The slow blue blink of Joran's tracking beacon caught his eye and he considered slipping it into his pocket just in case his bad feelings turned out not to be in vain. But as he glanced at Rey, he realized why she had thrown herself into this mission wholeheartedly. She knew these people better than him, had worked with them and trusted them with her life. He had no reason to call his friends in.
He sighed and followed her out of the cockpit and into the cooler morning air. Jayne stood with her arms crossed and her legs wide with confidence. The rest of her team stood behind her, faces determined and hands itching over hidden blasters. The lot of them were dressed in gaudy, clean attire. The tourist look they were going for wasn't bad, Ben had to admit that much.
"We're going to take public transit over to the Main Square and infiltrate the building," Bossen explained as they neared a shuttle stop that already had dozens of species congregated by it. "You two walk over as quickly as you can, and we'll meet you over by the western entrance, the one with the black archways. You can't miss it."
"Wait, why can't we—"
But Rey cut him off by grabbing the hem of his cloak and pulling him away towards the busy streets that hummed with speeders and clunky public shuttles. By the time he could look behind him Jayne and her crew had already reached the shuttle stop and were waiting with the rest of the large crowd. He then turned his attention back to Rey, who strode forward with a new aggression.
"It'll be fine," she muttered to him as they passed a pair of muuns laughing and gabbing with each other. "We'll look less suspicious if we don't travel with them."
Again, Ben wanted to desperately to turn the both of them around leave this hunk of metal behind them. But he had to trust her. If anyone knew the Resistance, it was Rey. She was their Last Jedi, after all; whatever she said was probably law to them. So he kept his mouth shut and let her lead the way through the mild daytime crowds toward their destination.
If Urear had been unimpressive even with its hypnotizing lights at night, it looked positively run down now. Broad daylight always had a way of stripping the façade away from even the glossiest of finishes. The whole planet felt like a corrupted copy of Coruscant. The idea was there but the execution fell flat.
After looking at some directories, they took flights upon flights of stone stairs, ascending one level at a time. At least there was cloud cover and sunlight wasn't blazing in their faces. Hopefully they were close to the Main Square, so they could take out this First Order captain and leave.
He heard Rey's astonished gasp before he could see anything clearly but almost echoed the sound she made as they stared up into their destination.
The Main Square was surrounded by white, elegant buildings, a far cry from the dingy husks they climbed up before. Everything was graceful, rounded architecture and sweeping gardens and Ben shook his head at the spectacle of it all. He and Rey looked at one another and nodded, then proceeded forward.
Black arches, Bossen had said, and there they were. The tower behind these fifty-foot arches soared into the gray sky, as white and hewn as a bleached bone. Their captain sat inside somewhere, unaware that a squad of Resistance fighters would make him meet his end. He wondered if he had met the man during a meeting on the Finalizer during his time as Supreme Leader, but it seemed unlikely. And it was easier to kill someone if he had never met them before.
By the time they reached the base of the arches, Jayne's people appeared in front of them, looking absolutely ridiculous in their bright colored clothing. Rey waved them down and they all reconvened.
"Alright, all of us are going to go inside and ask for a tour of the place. Once we're totally past the security we'll, as they say, take control and let you two inside. Sound like a plan?" Jayne eyed Ben with unnecessary intensity, her lip curling. Ben couldn't help but glare back. This woman rubbed him the wrong way, although he couldn't quite put his finger on why that was.
Rey noticed this. "Right! Sounds good." Her voice carried a little more pep than was needed, but that snapped Jayne out of her stare and earned Rey a respectful nod.
"Alright, gang, you know the drill, let's move out!" she crowed, and her men mumbled their agreements. Their soft shoes hammered the pavement, which wasn't a very threatening sound like the usual thud of combat boots. This left Ben and Rey with no choice but to stand around and wait awkwardly.
"They know what they're doing," Rey said with a small huff.
Ben raised his eyebrows. He had gotten her message loud and clear. "I don't doubt that. Whatever happens, I won't get in anyone's way."
"I know that, but—"
"Hey, if someone's got your back, they can count on me, too."
She bit her lip but nodded quickly. A cold morning wind had picked up and pieces of her hair floated on the breeze.
The faint bark of a blaster sounded from inside the First Order headquarters, and they both walked up a set of carved stairs quickly but not running. It seemed that the Resistance fighters had completed their tasks quickly and efficiently. They made it to the tall ornate front doors, which swung in and invited them into the threshold. Two soldiers smirked and nodded at them on their way through.
The interior of the building was just as pristine and orderly as the First Order usually kept their places of work. The glossy black floors of the initial atrium met walls coated with warm grey mosaics. But it was what was on those mosaics that drew his attention.
Blood, and a lot more of it than Ben had expected. Dead stormtroopers lay crumpled on the ground, a lot of them with guns still in their holsters. Some had slid down metal detectors or had fallen onto the small lines of conveyor belts lined up to scan incoming bags. There had to have been twenty bodies at least.
Jayne was wiping blood off of a small, deadly-looking knife when she noticed Rey and Ben coming towards him. She smiled, a little bit too widely in Ben's opinion.
"Nice and easy so far," the old captain mused, throwing a glance over her shoulder at Bossen. He yanked a blaster out of a fallen stormtrooper's stiff hands and wiped some sweat from his brow.
"So glad you could join us! Now let's get moving so we can be ahead when they sound the alarm." He had to shake the gun from his firm grip, sending him clattering ungracefully to the floor.
"Why did you have to kill them like that?" Ben asked suddenly. He and Rey both heard blaster shots outside, and he thought that's all the weaponry they had utilized in breaking in.
"With this?" Jayne flipped the knife over in her red-stained hand. "The bastards deserved it for working for these monsters. A blaster sometimes isn't painful enough."
Stormtroopers had tried to kill him and his guards as he escaped the Finalizer. They had raided and pillaged countless planets with innocent civilians, including Vaas Minas. But even so, what she had said felt oddly sinister.
"They don't join willingly." Now Rey spoke up. "They're taken as children and forced to undergo training. Finn told me. How can you know that and still did what you did?"
"To kill the machine, you have to knock out whatever cogs you can." Bossen approached them and shouldered his stolen blaster. Reading Ben and Rey's dark expressions he forced out a chuckle. "Come on, you kids, you don't actually feel bad for these pawns, do you?"
They both kept their mouths shut. Jayne sniffed and waved her men forward to the huge elevator on the other side of the atrium.
"Finn could have been here," he heard Rey mutter under her breath, so the others wouldn't hear. An ugly feeling rose up in his chest and he had to swallow to keep it down. Stormtroopers were in no way innocent, but even so these were people with personalities and ties to other friends.
They stepped onto the elevator with the Resistance fighters. Levels of clean white hallways flashed by them as they ascended into the higher levels. Ben began to feel boxed in, and it wasn't just the physical closeness that brought on this claustrophobia. When he reached out with the Force, the energy exuding from each Resistance member, excluding Rey, was aggressive and harsh. The Resistance prisoners he interrogated never gave off these kinds of signals.
The elevator stopped at the top floor, where a thick metal door greeted them. Only a keypad gave any indication of it being able to open for anyone at all.
"I believe this is where you come in, Supreme Leader," Jayne smiled, waving him forward. Her tone may have seemed playful at first, but Ben could sense how much she despised him through the inflections of her voice. Nonetheless, he stepped forward and unhooked his lightsaber from his belt. He ignited it, letting the hissing red blade spring to life. A few of the soldiers behind him gasped and stepped back and he couldn't help but smirk cruelly. He was glad Rey couldn't see his face.
He stabbed into the door and began to carve an opening. It took a bit of work but eventually a large chunk of door came free and fell with a loud bang. He carefully stepped over the steaming edges of the opening and led the others through.
More stormtroopers waited for them on the other side, but the poor souls weren't able to shout a word of alarm before Jayne's men were bearing down on them. Ben didn't even have time to register what was happening and stayed back. Blaster bolts splintered their white armor while Bossen, Jayne, and Rey charged forward. Rey chose to hit her opponents upside the head, knocking them out rather than killing them. But Jayne never missed a chance to sink the silver of her knife into the neck of any stormtrooper that was unfortunate enough to cross her path.
Once this new wave of troopers was no more, they filed swiftly past the carnage down the hallway of office doors. Rey walked ahead with Jayne, leaving Ben a bit behind the others. He shut off his lightsaber and gritted his teeth as he stepped over the collapsed form of a stormtrooper, his blaster wounds still smoking.
A Resistance soldier accidently hit his shoulder as he brushed past.
"Move it, traitor," he heard the man hiss under his breath.
Ben would've loved to have the man say it to his face and see if he could survive the encounter, but he made a promise to Rey. He had to look out for whoever she was looking out for. Even if that included untrustworthy, trigger-happy dunces.
It took what seemed like an eternity before they reached the end of the hallway. This particular set of double doors were more ornate and impressive than its neighbors. Captain Cross might be sitting just beyond them, lazily shifting through reports and giving out orders to anyone within earshot. Ben had spent plenty of time around officers like these, all bark and no bite.
Rey held out her hand to the locked doors and stood still for a few tense moments. The soldiers around them shifted and clasped their blasters with a new intensity. Ben crossed his arms and waited for Rey to finish unlocking the doors. Only one more step in killing this captain and getting the hell out of here.
An audible clack sounded from the heavy mechanisms on the door and the slid open. Ben was impressed; her skills had improved tenfold since their fight on Starkiller. He just wished that she would look behind her to see the pride on his face.
Shouts and blasterfire rose up as they filled the large office. Cold stone turned to deep red carpet and the dim, overcast light from outside filtered in from wide, clean windows. Stormtroopers ran at them from all sides and tried to defend their position. Some even managed to hit two Resistance fighters and they fell painfully to the ground, clutching at their chests.
Jayne was slashing her knife at trooper with her teeth bared, dodging all around him so he couldn't land a single shot on her. However, Ben saw that a trooper she hadn't counted was sneaking up behind her and taking aim.
His gut moved before his brain and he felt himself throw out his hand. The blast hung in midair, a foot from Jayne's upper back. She tackled her trooper to the ground and planted her blade into the covered neck of her opponent. Once they ceased to move, she stood up and finally noticed the green bolt that Ben held back for her.
"Thank you," she panted, but her eyes avoided his as she moved to regroup with the rest of her men. The stopped laser shot into the wall when Ben made sure no one would be directly in front of it.
"You're welcome," he muttered to himself and searched around for Rey. To his relief he found her knocking out the last of the stormtroopers with her staff at one end of the room. They made eye contact and then focused their attention to the back wall.
A black, geometric desk faced away from the tall windows behind it. On it sat a holopad, still on and glowing, and a set of loose papers that were ripped and scattered. This desk had still been in use when they stormed in. Where was its occupant?
"I give up, I surrender! Just don't shoot!" a timid voice squeaked as in on cue. From under the desk rose a plump, dimpled young man in a black uniform a few sizes too small. His shaking hands were above his head. A dozen blasters pointed in his direction with a series of heartless clicks.
"You're Captain Cross, correct?" Jayne asked him, all of the mirth gone from her voice.
"Yes, what is it you want? Whatever it is, I can meet your demands." Cross squeezed his eyes shut, as if that would protect him from the lasers that would soon slam into him.
Rey walked over to Ben and slid her staff strap over her shoulder. She gave him a worried look but didn't speak but stared ahead at their captive. He breathed through his nose and waited for the inevitable.
"We want you to release control of Urear and every other planet you scum have under your thumb and leave with all of your troops to never be seen again. Does that sound reasonable?" Jayne smiled poisonously. Her earrings glinted in the morning light.
Cross stared around wildly, and his eyes finally rested on Ben. His fat face fell, and he gasped loudly. "Kylo Ren? What are you doing here? They told me you were somewhere on Nov Sensum with your scavenger rat."
Ben shook his head and didn't respond. Rey positively puffed up behind him, but he held out his hand so she wouldn't move forward and do something stupid.
Cross's expression turned even more desperate, sweat beading on his forehead. "Listen, I can see what I can do but I'll have to contact Supreme Leader Hux to make any real progress—"
"You won't be having to do any of that," Jayne simpered. She tossed her knife up into the air with a flourish and caught in by the handle. "We've got a plan of our own, you see, and you're not in it anywhere."
Before Ben or Rey could react in time. A dozen simultaneous blasts rang out, straight into Captain Cross's chest. The man flew backwards into the window, cracking the glass and crumpling into the carpet below. His uniform smoked so profusely it almost looked like it was going to catch on fire.
Ben's jaw dropped. They didn't even want to question the man about the placement of his forces or his links to the other officers in the First Order? All they wanted was bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed, and while he had no true right to judge them, this all seemed wrong.
"You didn't have to do that!" yelled Rey. She jumped in front of the dead man and spread her arms wide as if to shield him fron any more damage. "We could've kept him for questioning, Leia needs all the information she can get."
Jayne's eyes widen in shock, but immediately narrowed in suspicion. "You really wanted this piece of garbage to live while we had the opportunity to wipe him away and make the galaxy a better place?"
"No, that's not what I meant—"
"No, that is what you meant, dear, I can tell." Jayne slid a finger down the blade of her knife while her soldiers shifted threateningly.
Ben stepped closer to his friend and placed his hand on his lightsaber, glaring at the Resistance leader.
"Do you know why my team and I were sent out to this miserable metal wreck of a planet?" Jayne asked.
Bossen smirked menacingly and a few others shook their heads and chuckled as if acknowledging an inside joke.
Ben stood perfectly still, his muscles on edge. Rey's breathing had become quick and shallow, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"It's because we get stuff done." She gestured behind them with her knife to Cross's smoldering corpse. "But Leia didn't really like that, so she told us to keep a lookout on Urear and keep us contained so we wouldn't rightfully try and cleanse the First Order from the galaxy. Apparently, our methods were a little 'distasteful.'" She chuckled and combed her gray ponytail with her fingers.
"This is wrong. You can't just kill these men like this without reason," Rey shouted behind Ben's shoulder.
Jayne sighed and took out her blaster, this time aimed it at Rey. The rest of her men followed suit.
"Has this traitor been filling your head with all these stupid notions? Or are you turning against us all on your own?"
Rey's mouth fell open and Ben ignited his lightsaber. The ragged red blade mirrored the rage that coursed throughout his body.
"Don't you think about it," he snarled. "She's your Last Jedi! She's served with you for weeks! How idiotic can all of you be?"
Bossen laughed from behind his superior officer. "We're not idiots. We can smell a traitor from a mile away. And you…" He gave Ben a look brimming with hatred. "Once First Order, always First Order. You're converting her."
Ben felt a small tap on his shoulder and looked over at Rey, who jerked her head over to the cracked glass of the window. Then she made motion with her hand like the letter c. Immediately he understood what she was going for, but could they pull it off? He held out his hand and she grasped it firmly.
"Time for us to clear up another mess," Jayne said brightly and was about to bring her hand down in a signal for them to shoot.
Ben and Rey both jumped backwards, smashing through the already weakened window. They last thing Ben saw before they fell past the edge of the windowsill were Jayne and Bossen's livid expressions. Cold air curled around them like a plastic sheet.
Author's Note: We've hit double digits, boy-os! I put this chapter out a bit early in celebration. I cannot thank you all enough for your follows, favs, and reviews! I appreciate every single one of you for stopping by and jumping into this Reylo dumpster with me.