Author's note: Graphic descriptions of violence ahead. And potty mouths.
Field of Vision
Chapter Eighteen
As the gang plank lowered and the sleek, black floor of the hangar bay could be seen bearing several pairs of legs attached to the bodies of his enemies, Ben could feel his heartbeat thrumming in his ears, and it was absolutely exhilarating. He hadn't felt this way in ages.
Ben couldn't pinpoint exactly when he had made the decision, but during the past month or so, he had been adamant to never show his face on a First Order base again. He wanted nothing to do with his former life or the suffocating madness of it all. But, as circumstances dictated he bend and become comfortable with being uncomfortable, Ben knew he had to face it. Despite all these things, a shadowy, withdrawn part of himself still craved to be feared, and he hoped his very presence would provoke such a fear in the occupants of this frigate and give the Rebels a strong advantage.
The gang plank clattered against the floor and settled. Then, officers began to approach the ramp to ascend into the shuttle.
Something felt wrong.
Changing everyone's plans at the last second, Ben snatched up Rey and hauled her backwards into the dark corners of the cargo hold.
"What're y—," Rey tried to scold him, but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand and waited for her to catch on.
We need the trooper's suits for Poe and Finn.
Finally, Rey understood and became still, waiting for their opportunity.
Meanwhile, Poe and Finn were as still as stone in the shadows of the rear of the cargo hold, throwing anxious glances at Ben as they heard troopers climbing the ramp. As footsteps on the ramp got louder, indicating their positions were about to be revealed to First Order militants, Poe and Finn's blasters were held at the ready, still unaware of the reason for a change in plan.
But, Ben lifted a single finger in warning, keeping the two at bay. Seconds later when the Stormtroopers reached the top of the ramp, Ben reached out and Force-choked them unconscious. Once the officers realized their protection had been swiftly and unexpectedly eliminated, they panicked—but not before they realized who they were facing. The officers' eyes grew wide with fear as they recognized the altered image of Kylo Ren emerging from the shadows of the cargo hold. But before either man could utter another word, Rey knocked them out and their unconscious bodies dropped to the metal hull like rocks.
Wasting no time, Poe and Finn sprang into action and began to change into the fallen trooper's gear while Ben and Rey took off down the ramp. The vast hangar bay was littered with Stormtroopers that had yet to realize they've just been infiltrated.
Ben ignited his lightsaber and stood boldly, waiting for the scores of troopers to notice the illuminated blade. They needed to draw attention away from the shuttle for Poe and Finn to make a clean getaway into the depths of the ship.
Adrenaline dumped into Rey's system at the sight of officers shouting and pointing in their direction, ordering the troopers to attack. All eyes were on them now. She risked a quick glance at Ben for confirmation that they were actually doing this, but noticed his cold, steely eyes were narrowed in twisted amusement at the sight of his new targets, and stalked towards them as if in slow motion.
xx
The low, elephantine siren blared in the distance, but the dyad was barely aware of it as they tore through the hangar bay and away from the stolen shuttle. The sudden chaos gave Poe and Finn the opportunity to sneak out of the shuttle without being noticed. Donned in stolen Stormtrooper gear, the pair fled the hangar bay for the location Leia had provided them. Other troopers didn't look at them twice, giving the pair a boost of confidence they didn't realize they needed as they hunkered on. Yet, Finn was trembling from being back in the environment he hated the most.
Before the mission, Hux had indicated to Leia the exact location he would await extraction, away from the noise and prying eyes, but Poe still had his doubts. Although Hux was a high-ranking general and could go wherever he wanted on the Finalizer, Poe knew questions might arise if Hux were to be found in an area outside of his normal purview. Poe didn't want to get caught up in any of that.
The pair turned corners and wove through the pristine, maze-like hallways of the ship, getting closer to their destination with every step. Everything seemed to be going fine until Finn's absolute worst fear showed up in gleaming chrome armor.
xx
Rey didn't need to look at Ben to know he was enjoying this. Nobody stood a fighting chance against him. One by one, troopers fell at his feet as Ben blazed a path forward. Some officers even ran away at the very sight of him, aware that their life would end the very moment they raised a blaster against him.
Together the dyad had swiftly drawn the enemy's attention far enough away from the hangar bay that Poe and Finn should have had plenty of time to disembark the shuttle and disappear into the chaos.
It all felt too familiar to her; the two of them fighting together, side by side against a common enemy. Memories of the last time she was on a ship like this returned to her, when she willingly came to the Supremacy. She came with almost no game plan, but was full of determination to convince him to leave all of this behind.
It almost worked, too.
But now, she had to fight to keep him on the path he needed to stay on. Rey could feel the darkness encroaching in him, like evening sun setting below the sand dunes of Jakku. His sky was still vivid and bright, but everything on the surface was covered in shadow.
This was easy work for him, leaving practically nothing left for Rey to do but follow him and cover his back—but even then, she didn't need to. They felt everything together; they sensed when enemies appeared before they even surfaced. The collective fear that encompassed the hangar bay was palpable, and it only continued to grow the longer they stayed on the frigate.
However, as they rounded a corner into a narrow corridor, a real threat emerged in the form of a squadron of Death Troopers wielding anti-lightsaber batons. The only difference was these troopers weren't afraid of them; weren't afraid to die in the fight. His eyes had a wild shine to them, wide and hyperaware of everything happening around them.
"Finally, something worth my time," breathed Ben as he noticed the unit filing into the area, surrounding them on either side of the corridor. Troopers clad in all-black, glossy tactical armor stood between them and their exit. Ben heard one of the troopers behind him address Rey as 'scum' and it was all over then.
A rising anger flared in Ben; he was ready to burn this place to the ground.
xx
"What're you two doing here," came a cold voice from behind the chrome helmet.
Poe and Finn immediately halted in their tracks, terrified and thinking fast how to get out of this unfavorable situation. Captain Phasma had crossed their path, apparently on her way to join the chaos happening in the hangar, but discovered two of her troopers in a location they were seemingly not supposed to be in.
"Give me your numbers," she said sternly as she walked up to them.
Poe clutched his blaster tighter in hand as Phasma approached. Her very presence spelled doom for their short-lived mission.
"Uuhhh, I'm TZ-1719," said Finn, trying to mask his voice from being recognized.
Poe struggled to come up with anything; Finn had offered up a bullshit number so fast he didn't have time to formulate his own.
Phasma cocked her helmeted head to look at Poe; her expectation of an answer hung in the air like a bad odor. And Finn didn't need to see through her helmet to know that she was scouring with disbelief. They had exactly 0.04 seconds remaining before she shot them dead.
"Thank you, captain, that will be all," came a slimy voice from behind her massive form.
Both Poe and Finn peered around Phasma, hoping their helmeted ears hadn't deceived them.
Then, Phasma spun around quickly, her black cape fanning out around her. She was possibly even more shocked than the two phony Stormtroopers to find General Hux staring them down.
"General, sir, these two have been found loitering when there's an invasion happening in the hangar bay! All troopers are to report to,"
"Yes, thank you Phasma, I requested two troopers to accompany me to the hangar and now here they are, late," he emphasized his mock displeasure there, but the Rebels in disguise could read between the lines. "I wanted protection as the amount of assailants are yet unknown."
Neither Poe nor Finn could believe it when they realized Hux was actually saving their asses. Furthermore, Hux was carrying a long range blaster in the sniper configuration, and whether or not he actually knew how to use it remained to be seen.
Phasma's silence was thick with disbelief, but she lived by the code of the First Order soldier and knew she had to obey her superior's commands. Though, she had never in her life seen Hux respond to any situation in such a manner that didn't involve him shouting at subordinates. To see him stepping into the action so readily and actually welding a weapon for battle was incredibly unlike him.
"Of course, sir. But," Phasma tried to argue.
"That is all, Captain! Don't you have a situation to get under control, or shall I do it for you?" Hux snapped back at her, his blaster clacking as he loaded it with flair. Then, he pushed past Phasma and motioned for the two dumbstruck stormtroopers to follow in close pursuit.
xx
The dyad squared up, back-to-back and ready for the melee attacks to begin. Despite the nerves in her system from the entire mission, Rey felt balanced and ready for anything these troopers could deal out. Ben, of course, was comfortable with everything. He had lived so long at the top of the food chain being Master of the Knights of Ren and The Supreme Leader's apprentice, that little distractions like these were nothing short of target practice.
The troopers waited to make their move, preferring to wait for the invaders to strike first, but Rey sensed Ben's growing impatience. Rey tried to take in slow breaths, taking a moment to re-center herself within the Force.
Slowly, the Death Troopers began to close in on them, narrowing the distance between themselves and the dyad. Soon, they were close enough to reflect the blue glow of Rey's lightsaber off their glossy armor. At that moment, in such close quarters with each other, was when Ben struck. He hurled them backwards by use of the Force and then lunged forward, sweeping wide with his saber. He struck the first three troopers in front of him, but his saber abruptly met with their batons rather than slicing through. Unfazed, he kept pressing forward, aggressively lunging and striking blows with his enemy until they too fell at his feet.
Mimicking Ben's actions, Rey used the Force to hurl several troopers backwards, momentarily stunning them as they all fell backwards like dominoes, before sweeping in and parrying the strikes from the ones quick to get back on their feet. Their batons were much heavier and bulkier than lightsabers, which caused Rey to have to strain against their heavy blows as she held her ground. Lighter and faster than any of them, Rey hurled herself forward, bounding off of the wall and landed behind the first wave. Then, she swung down hard, finally able to penetrate their armor.
Ben continued to parry with three Death Troopers at once, while also deflecting blaster fire from the rear. Though, after toying with them like his mother had suggested, Ben finally had enough playtime. His rage and anger shot through him like cannon fire as he used the Force to still all the remaining Death Troopers, even the ones battling with Rey, and slowly asphyxiated them. He curled his fingers into a claw-like fist as he compressed their all-black, glossy armor in on their bodies, crushing each of the troopers in their own armor like a tin can. The Death Trooper's voices were strained and eerie-sounding behind their masks, almost like electronic beasts as they wailed until their windpipes were finally crushed.
Rey finally realized what was going on as she felt his rage boil over, watching in horror as the trooper in front of her writhed mid-air and gasp for his next breath through the filtered helmet. All of them had dropped their batons to claw at their own helmets and chest gear, their legs kicking out from underneath them as they suffocated.
"Stop, Ben!—BEN!" Rey cried as she watched in horror as the trooper's chests caved in with a sickening crunch and all of them stopped writhing at once.
In a panic, Rey rushed towards Ben and grabbed him by the arm, shaking him hard. One by one Ben dropped their bodies to the ground with a clatter, his own chest heaving from the effort and the blinding rage.
xx
"How did you," Finn started, but Hux abruptly interrupted him, spinning around and throwing his hand up in Finn's helmeted face.
"Not here! Let's get to the hangar first," he said hurriedly before pressing on, clutching the sniper blaster close to his chest.
Together, the spy, the deserter, and the pilot soldiered on down the pristine corridors, trying to knock Phasma off their trail, until they smelled acrid smoke and arrived into the hangar bay. Hux had taken them through a lesser traveled path that led back to their shuttle. The floor was littered with dead or wounded troopers everywhere, causing the trio to slow down their hustle as they passed through.
"Keep your helmets on and follow my lead," he said tersely, raising his blaster to eye level like he was expecting something to jump out at him.
Finn and Poe exchanged nervous glances with each other, shrugged and then raised their own blasters in pursuit.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Hux," Poe warned in a low voice, looking left and right for anyone unfriendly to come across them.
But Hux ignored him as they pressed on, approaching the center of the chaos-ridden hangar bay. They followed the path of bodies until they came upon a squadron of Death Troopers marching in about ten yards away. Hux stopped and raised his fist for the small pack to halt, waiting for the dark-suited troopers to pass without noticing them. He knew their presence spelled trouble for whatever this extraction mission was becoming.
"Are those…" Finn whispered fearfully, unable to finish his question. He had seen them in action before and became afraid for Rey's sake.
"Yes. But Ren will have them bagged in no time… little prick."
Hux made them hold position until the Death Troopers passed into a corridor and out of their line of sight, then slowly crept forward, maintaining his blaster at the ready.
xx
Standing horrified in the narrow corridor alone with him, Rey started to back away. Tears welled in her eyes, terrified that she had lost him to the darkness again. More memories of the last time they fought together like this surged into her mind's eye, reminding her how much this kind of pain stung.
The burning throne room.
Snoke's mutilated body.
The dead Praetorian guard.
The fiery red of Kylo's lightsaber bearing down on her before she knew what he would do.
These were the memories of things she wished she could forget.
At the sound of her panicked voice, Ben shook himself out of it, glancing around in bewilderment at what he had done. He turned to find Rey and reached out an unsteady hand.
"…Rey," he said wearily, losing all remnants of his fury at the sight of her tears. It was becoming his trigger memory; he was making another mistake right now and it hurt worse than a Wookie sucker punch to the gut to realize it.
But Rey jerked away from his reach, both the memories and the present pain hurting her.
Back then, he'd reached out for her, too; desperately wanting her to join him in his kingdom of darkness. Back then, she had almost said yes, but now, she thought she knew better.
"Goddammit, I'm sorry," he said, holding both palms up in front of himself and backing away. It stung deep every time she denied him.
But they didn't have time to make amends yet. Another squadron of troopers were currently filing into the south end of the corridor, lining up for their attack. The troopers didn't hesitate to unleash their blaster fire at the pair as Ben ran towards Rey to shield her.
"We've gotta go," said Rey firmly as she deflected the blaster fire with her saber.
Ben sought after her, noticing that same stark look in her eye again. It reminded him of the day he met her in the forests of Takodana. The fear and the intrigue. The doubt. It had gnawed at him that he couldn't solve her then, like it did now. But he couldn't let his guard down yet.
They dashed out into the hangar, finally clear of the corridor and kept running for the shuttle while continuing to deflect blaster fire with their sabers as much as they could. Troopers were hot on their trail, never ceasing their attack. The two Force-users could handle a lot, but they were quickly becoming outnumbered.
As distracted as she had been by Ben's chaotic turn, Rey still sensed that Finn and Poe were near. She glanced wildly around the vast hangar bay looking for the guys, but couldn't find them. Then, she remembered they had donned Stormtrooper gear and her mind instantly ran through all the negative "what-if" scenarios. Her adrenaline-spiked fear caused her to have such blindingly narrow tunnel vision, but with limited options left, Rey reached out through the Force to hone in on Finn. She closed her eyes and breathed deep, then suddenly everything was in her field of vision.
xx
The sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps preceded the blaster fire that flew past, dangerously close to Hux's ear. The trio stalled momentarily, just enough to process what was happening when they realized Phasma was hot on their heels with a unit of Stormtroopers and a vengeance.
Hux quickly realized she'd figured it out and immediately became enraged. "What do you think you're doing, Phasma?" He shrieked, pulling his blaster up so fast it made the shoulder strap fling out wildly.
"Subduing the enemy incursion," she said in a hollow, filtered voice. She raised her hand and her unit of troopers continued to fire at them.
At the same time, blaster fire seemed to come at them from all sides. A cargo box near Poe's head had abruptly been stuck by blaster fire coming from behind them. It was too close. Poe and Finn ducked and turned around to find Rey and Ben bolting out of a corridor, wielding their sabers defensively against the hail of blaster fire.
The three men were caught in the crossfire and quickly sought cover where they could. But Poe had suddenly crashed to his knees; shot from behind. Immediately, Hux angled his sniper blaster at the unit trailing after Ben and Rey and began to pick off troopers in an attempt to get their attention to head this way.
Finn spun back around, blaster raised in a natural defense, only to find his former commander barreling down on him from only a few yards away. Hux had switched positions to address the more pressing threat of his former allies, picking off the encroaching troopers from close range.
Phasma stormed forward, blaster aimed straight at Finn.
"TZ-1719 was an obsolete unit. She's a traitor, not worthy of being called a trooper. And neither are you, imposter," said Phasma.
Suddenly finding the courage within himself, Finn tore off his stolen trooper helmet and stared coldly back at Phasma, enraged. Insulting him and Jannah would be the last thing she did.
"FN-2187! I should've known!" She spat angrily, firing several times at them in close range.
Fighting the pain through the adrenaline still pumping through his system, Poe raised his blaster and began firing at Phasma, though every single shot aimed at her armor was deflected. But the distraction worked and she backed off.
"His name is Finn, bitch!" Poe yelled, continuing to fire as much as he could.
Phasma approached closer and closer with renewed anger.
"Finn! Grab this!" Rey called from close behind him. Finn turned at just the right moment to find Rey flinging her unlit lightsaber towards him. It spun end over end until he caught it in his right hand, igniting the saber and forever grateful to Rey twice over.
Finn swung hard, completely untrained, but furiously charging forward into Phasma. He had the upper hand now and she knew it. He swung left and right before finally coming in contact with her. He shoved harder and the saber penetrated her armor, slicing into her left arm all the way through into her torso. Finn pulled back harshly, watching his former abuser crash to the ground.
xx
Rey and Ben had rushed over to rescue the stranded trio. Ben found Poe bleeding from his armor, and wrenched his helmet off. Evaluating the damage, Ben noticed it wasn't anything they couldn't fix, but his emotions had returned to him at the sight of his newfound friend injured on the ground.
"Hey asshole," said Poe weakly, smiling through bloody teeth. "What took you so long?"
Without wasting anymore time, Ben hauled Poe up onto his back in a fireman's carry away from the crossfire. Hux maintained his cover fire against the troopers coming out of the corridor while Rey took care of the remaining unit that accompanied Phasma. Grateful, Finn returned her lightsaber and communicated for the Rebel gunny in waiting to fire up the shuttle for a quick launch.
"Don't you puss out now!" Ben said condescendingly to Poe as he made a mad dash for their escape shuttle.
While carrying the injured man, Ben continued to deflect fire against them, walking backwards up the entry ramp. He paused long enough to fling the dead troopers and the officers backwards out of the shuttle by means of the Force. They didn't need any more rubbish tagging along for the ride. Next, came Hux and Finn, covered by Rey as they made their timely escape. It couldn't have gone any better than that, until they all settled in the sealed hatch and realized Poe wasn't the only one injured.
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