Chapter 5
Flashback
It had taken them a couple of weeks to track down Ben's ship once they had repaired the engines to their own. After Hennix managed to find Bens ship it became even harder for them keep up. Ben had tried many ship manoeuvres in an attempt to lose them. But each time Voe managed to catch up with him again. Elsi almost wished that Ben's attempt to lose them would work, if only so that he could get away. She feared what Voe would do when they came face to face with him again.
Did he really kill Luke?
Would she really let Voe and the others kill Ben as justice for his betrayal?
She could not bear the thought of losing Ben. But at the same time, she knew that she could not betray her own sense of what was right and wrong. Ben was clearly in the wrong. The only thing she needed to do was try keep everyone alive, including Ben.
"He's about to enter into lightspeed, I'm going to track him through it and hopefully follow him to wherever he's heading." Voe aligned the ship to follow the path Ben took through lightspeed. Elsi was sitting in the seat behind, thoughts racing through her mind.
Both ships exited lightspeed and Voe kept the distance between them as they watched Ben's ship head towards a planet on the Outer Rim. Ben could probably sense that they were behind him, but they needed to confront him anyway. They followed and landed on the planet a short distance away from his ship. They watched as he left his ship and wandered off further across the planet on foot.
Elsi knew this place, though she had not been here herself. She remembered being told about it by Ben when he returned from a past mission with Luke and Lor. This was where Ben first encountered the knights of Ren. If he was back here then Elsi feared Ben's reason for returning. Was he searching for them?
"Let's go, we need to follow him and confront him for what he's done." Voe shut down the ship and headed for the exit.
They all walked across the planet, following the path that Ben took and eventually entered a large gorge, finding Ben standing in the middle of it with his back to them.
He was holding something in front of him. It looked to be some sort of helmet.
"Ben?" Elsi asked softly. She walked forward slowly, standing in front of the others.
Ben lowered his arms, placing the helmet slowly to the floor. Straightening his back, he half turned to look at her, ignoring the others behind her.
"You shouldn't have followed me Elsi." The way he says her name sends shivers up Elsi's spine. Half because he sounded like her Ben, half because his voice sounded haunting.
"You know why I had to."
Tai pushed in front of Elsi. "There's nowhere left to run Ben." He along with the others, apart from Elsi, ignited their lightsabers.
Ben grunted in response and put himself into a defensive stance.
Without any prior warning, Hennix and Voe shot forward to attack Ben who ignited his own saber to block them both.
"Wait!" Everyone ignored Elsi's protest. The three started battling out in front of her.
"I'm sorry Elsi but we have to stop him." Tai was still beside her but edged his way forwards preparing to attack Ben.
Tai reached forward and attempted to reach Bens mind.
"Get out of my head Tai!" Ben force threw Tai back into the rocks behind him. Ben force jumped to the rocks above them.
"STOP FIGHTING! CAN'T WE JUST TALK ABOUT THIS!" Elsi shouted to all of them, hoping they would listen; they didn't.
"Why did you follow me here? JUST LET ME LEAVE!" Ben shouted at them as Voe jumped up after him.
"It's too late for that Solo. You killed master Skywalker! You must face justice!"
Hennix, Tai and Elsi ran after Voe and Ben who were fighting viciously on top of the rock face.
"Justice! You want justice! The whole Jedi orders' sense of right and wrong is messed up." Ben looked down at Elsi deep in thought of how it was the jedi's belief that love is forbidden and those two should never be together. As his saber clashed with Voe's, she followed his gaze to Elsi below. It was then that she realised that perhaps Ben and Elsi's relationship was based on more than just friendship.
Momentarily distracted Voe shot backwards as Ben force pushed her off the cliff.
"VOE! NO!" Elsi shouted, staring up at her falling friend.
"No." Ben whispered as he realised what he had done. He immediately stopped her in mid air and held her still from falling. He couldn't hold it for long.
Whilst Ben was so focused on the friend he had almost killed, he failed to notice the one sneaking up behind him.
Hennix threw his lightsaber at Ben, believing Voe to be dead. "YOU KILLED HER! MONSTER!"
Ben narrowly avoided the attack, but he lost his concentration and Voe started falling again.
Tai rushed towards Voe and used the force to catch her and lower her to the ground. Elsi ran over to them both and helped them sit up.
"Are you both okay? We all need to stop this. Ben didn't mean to hurt you. I saw, he tried to save you."
"I'll be okay once I get justice for what he did to our master; once I know that Ben is dead." Voe pushed herself up and began to march back to the cliff when Ben was now fighting against Hennix.
Elsi ran in front of Voe. "I won't let you kill him." Elsi regretfully pointed her saber once again at Voe.
Voe stared back at Elsi in shock. "You would choose him?! After all he has done? After knowing what he did to our master? After knowing that Ben KILLED HIM?!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE!"
Voe noticed the tears now streaming down Elsi's face.
"You love him?" Voe's voice softened. "And he loves you back." She says as a statement knowing it was true based on Bens earlier glance at Elsi.
Elsi lowered her head at her words as Tai gasped in shock behind them.
"I- I love him more than anything. And I will protect him, no matter what." Elsi lifts her blade.
Before either of them could do anything else they heard a scream from above. It was Hennix.
They each lowered their sabers and looked towards the noise.
Ben landed in front of them. "Get in the outpost. Now!" He ordered, refusing to look Elsi in the eyes. What had he done?
"What happened to Hennix? Ben what did you do?"
"I SAID NOW!" Consumed with rage, Ben force pushed all three of them inside the outpost and caused the rocks to crash down around them, blocking the entrance.
"BEN!"
Elsi struggled to hold up the rocks from crushing around them. She only hoped that Ben had intended to slow them down and not to kill them. Through the dust she could barely see Voe and Tai desperately trying to force push the rocks themselves.
After a few minutes of trying to move the rocks, they realised that they needed to work together.
"On three. One… Two… THREE!" Together they each forced the rocks away from the entrance and light shone through into the cavern.
As soon as they escaped, they ran and jumped up to the cliff face where they had fought earlier. There Hennix was, at the top of the cliff.
"No. I- I can't believe that Ben would do this. The dark side is deceiving him. We have to go after him."
Tai walked forward. "We have no clue where he's going."
"I do." Elsi interrupted. They both turned towards her. "This place it was where he first met the knights of Ren on a mission years ago. I think he's trying to find them again."
"Why?" Voe questioned.
"I don't know, but what I do know is that we must find him first. I will not let you kill him. But, he does need to answer for what he has done. For Hennix."
They all looked down at the lifeless body of Hennix lying in front of them.
"For Hennix."
Present Day
The hatch above them opened as none other than Han Solo himself peered down at each of them. Elsi was right.
Finn and Rey looked up in fear. Elsi stayed where she was sitting, still hiding her face.
"Where are the others? Where's the pilot?" Han questioned pointing his gun at Rey.
"I'm the pilot." Rey responded, briefly glancing at Elsi in question.
"You?" Han asked in disbelief as Chewbacca echoed his reaction saying that there must be others on board.
"No, its true. We're the only ones on board." Rey responded to chewie.
"You can understand that thing?" Finn could not believe that Rey had responded to Chewie. Elsi was also unsure how she could understand him as well.
"And that thing can understand you too so watch it. Now come on out of there. And bring your silent friend out too."
What's with the hood? Chewie roared softly.
Elsi couldn't help but smirk as she followed the others out.
As she stepped up out of the panel she shot forward for Hans hand that still had the blaster pointed at them in caution; mainly towards her.
She took the blaster and turned it around, pointing it at Han just as chewie reached for his crossbow.
"Now is that any way to treat family Chewie?" Elsi lowered her hood and looked at the shocked faces of two of the people she considered family.
ELSI! Chewie exclaimed rushing towards her to pull her into a giant hug.
"Elsi?" Han questioned as Chewie let her go.
"Hi Han."
"Come here then, give me a hug." She stepped forward into his arms and felt glad that she could see him again, even though his son was the one she really wanted to see. "It's so good to see you. What are you doing here? And on the Falcon."
"Well its quite a long story, the short of it is that Leia sent me on a mission to collect a droid and bring it back to the resistance base."
"You went back to the base?" Han raised his eyebrows in shock.
"No I didn't, we've just been communicating by hologram and I was in the area where the droid was; thought I would help out. But it looks like I'm headed back to the base now."
"And Leia is she-?"
"Hey sorry to break up this little reunion but I guess this means that we're safe now if you guys know each other." Finn, always the one to break the mood.
"Yeh Finn, we're fine. They won't harm us." Elsi reassured him.
"Where did you find the Falcon?" Han questioned.
"Niima outpost" Rey interrupted.
"Jakku? That Junkyard." Han and Chewie both looked to each other. "Told you we should have double checked the Western reaches."
Finn just appeared happy that someone else didn't like Jakku like him.
"We stole it actually Han. Guess your early days were a bad influence on me." Elsi shrugged and Chewie laughed.
"Who had it Ducain?"
"We stole it from Unkar Plutt. He stole it from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain." Rey explained.
"Ducain stole it from me. And now Han Solo has just stole back the Millennium Falcon for good."
"This is a millennium Falcon?" Rey seemed excited at the news. "You're Han Solo?!"
Elsi rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "I did just call him by his name not minutes ago."
Han walked off to the front of the ship. "I used to be."
"Han." Elsi sighed, looking disappointed as Han left the room heading to the cockpit. "He's still grumpy then Chewie."
Chewie shrugged a yes in response.
"Han Solo the rebellion general?" Finn asked.
"No, the smuggler." Rey responded. "Wait did you say you guys are family. Are you related to Han Solo?"
Elsi shook her head. "Not by blood obviously but we have always treated each other as family, ever since I was very young."
"Wasn't Han a war hero?" Chewie responded to Finns question but he didn't understand him.
"This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in 14 parsecs."
"12" Elsi whispered, slowly sitting down on the bench beside her.
"12!" Han shouted back. "Hey! Some moof-milker put a compression on the ignition line!"
Elsi looked up in shock as both Han an Rey spoke at the same time saying how the compression would put stress on the hyperdrive.
How did Rey know that?
"Chewie throw them on a pod we'll drop them off at the nearest inhabited planet. Elsi, you are more than welcome to come with us."
"Wait no. We need your help." Rey insisted.
"My help?" Han was surprised that they would ask him.
"This droid has to get to the resistance base as soon as possible. Elsi, tell him."
Elsi stood up and walked towards Han.
"She's right Han. This is not something you can walk away from. We need your help. I need your help."
"Why does Leia need this droid so badly Elsi?" Han said, continuing to walk away from them.
"Because he is carrying a map that will lead us to Luke." Elsi sighed as Han stopped walking, looking forward in silence. "Look Han, I know that things have been difficult between you and Leia but we're talking about more than just the resistance here. We are talking about everyone. If the first order get a hold of that droid and use it to find Luke… Well it just doesn't bare thinking about."
Han turned to Elsi and rested his hand on her shoulder.
"That won't happen Elsi. I could think of no better person to get that droid safely to Leia than you."
Elsi smiled back at him.
"So wait, if you're the Han Solo that fought with the rebellion, then you knew Luke? Did you both know Luke Skywalker?"
"Yeah, we knew him. We both knew Luke." Han sees Elsi with her head lowered in memory of her former jedi master.
Elsi sighed deeply and was about to respond to Finn when a loud bang echoed from above them.
"Don't tell me a Rathtar's got loose." Han ran through the Falcon, the others following quickly behind him.
"Wait did you just say Rathtar's?!"
Authors Note:
Hi all, sorry for the late update I had a family situation this weekend so I had to focus on that. This chapter is the longest one yet so I hope that makes up for it. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this story. I would really appreciate it if you could leave a quick review to let me know what you think. It would really motivate me to continue writing. Poor Hennix, I can't believe that Ben would kill his friend. Even despite that it seems that Elsi still loves Ben. What will she do next? I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again, ZV.
