Chapter 12
Ben walked through the same marketplace they had gone through that first day they had arrived on Coruscant, keeping an eye out for the alleged gang members Rey had noticed before. He was alone, hooded, and trying to keep a low profile as he walked the streets of the lower levels. It was odd, being without Rey, he thought to himself. For months now, they had never been more than a few hundred yards apart and the physical distance between them at that moment made his head ache. Their Bond was very demanding, it would seem. For someone who had been a loner most of his life, this was a disconcerting feeling.
Rey had stayed on the Falcon, pouring over the several datapads they had been able to recover from the Emperor's clandestine underground operation. When Ben had awoken this morning, it had been to the sight of Rey sitting on the floor by the bed, an empty cup of caf beside her, re-reading the details and attempting to see if she could recover some of the corrupted data. It was clear she had been awake for hours already as her eyes were lined with a tinge of red from lack of adequate sleep.
Ben did not need the Bond to tell him that her mind was racing and emotions were high. Instead of tearing her away from her pursuit, he offered to scout for some intel to pass onto Poe by himself. She began to argue, but he could tell her heart wasn't in it, and she was easily convinced to stay behind.
He carried on, picking out a suspicious-looking male Torgruta that had walked into a shop nearby in the marketplace. When he got closer, he sensed that the storefront was really a disguise for something darker. He noted the coordinates and recorded them on his comlink that relayed through the Falcon's transmitter.
A couple hours and several city levels covered, Ben started his way back to the Falcon and Rey. In the deeper levels, the climate was much colder, and now he was sweating from the heat of the top level, throwing back his hood for relief. Hungry and tired, he was looking forward to getting back to the ship quickly. He was nearing the dock where the ship was located when the comlink began to beep loudly. Thinking it was Rey, he answered quickly. However, to his annoyance, it was Poe.
"Pilot," Ben gruffly acknowledged, pausing his trek home and shielding his eyes in the bright sunlight of the surface of Coruscant.
Surprisingly, Poe refrained from making a smart remark in reply and simply got down to business, "Solo. We received the intel you sent us. I was expecting it to be from Rey, though. But...er...thank you."
Ben was silent for a moment, taken aback by the positive acknowledgement before answering, "Just keeping to our end of the deal. We found what we were looking for...sort of."
"Rey's parents?" Poe sounded shocked even through the crackling of the comlink relay.
"Her father, at least. By the way...you wouldn't happen to know someone who can recover erased datapads, do you?" Ben sighed, he couldn't believe he was asking Poe for help, but the civility of their conversation encouraged him.
Ben had barely finished his question before Poe was already saying a name, "Ubba. He's the best hacker in the galaxy. Used to help out my old crew. He lives on Corellia, I'll send you the coordinates."
They didn't exactly blossom into the best of friends, but Ben was still grateful, deciding to end on a cordial note, "Thank you, General."
"Corellia?" Rey asked, looking up from her pile of datapads that she had since moved to the galley area of the ship.
Chewbacca interjected with a howl.
"Han was from Corellia?"
Ben nodded with a slightly pained smile on his face, "Poe said he has a contact there, one who can help us crack these datapads."
"You and Poe spoke? Without arguing?" Rey crossed her arms, smirking.
"Mostly," Ben shrugged, a small smirk of his own appearing.
Rey smiled up at him brightly, her dimples showing easily. She felt so full of hope and happiness and couldn't resist wrapping her arms around him tightly, pinning his arms to his sides.
A moment later, Rey emitted a large, involuntary yawn with her face pressed against his chest. As if it had been a signal, Ben lightly broke her loose grip around him and bent down, sweeping her legs out from under her and carrying her bridal-style.
"Time for bed," Ben announced, turning to walk towards their room.
"Ben, I- !" She began, a modest blush and smile creeping onto her visibly tired face.
"For sleep, Rey," Ben let out a small laugh, amused by her deepening blush.
"I can still walk, you know!" She protested, poking his chest.
"Couldn't take any chances," He joked before gently laying her on the bed, quickly tucking her under the blankets before she could make any last objections.
Her eyelids were already beginning to droop when he bent down, softly smoothing her hair out of her face and placing a light kiss on her lips.
As quietly as he could, he closed the door to their quarters behind him, and walked towards the cockpit. The deafening silence of space surrounded him, only interrupted by the occasional electronic noise or groan from the aging freighter. He found Chewie at the controls, peering at the galaxy in front of him with a contemplative expression. Without a word, Ben took the co-pilot seat next to him, briefly glancing over at the wookie to see his reaction. Chewie clearly knew he was there, but did not take his eyes off the expanse of space through the cockpit's viewport.
For some time, the two remained quiet next to one another. The Force around them was tense, but not angry or uncomfortable to Ben. It felt as if the silence was willing itself to be broken.
Chewbacca complied, uttering a conversational growl with a question.
"Yeah, he must have told the story of how you two met a hundred times. But I know it was probably you who saved him in that fighting pit despite his version of the story," Ben answered lightheartedly, finding that it was almost cathartic to reminisce with his former uncle. He couldn't change the past, nor ever be fully forgiven for it, but Ben knew he would go to great lengths to show the people around him his true self.
Their landing on Corellia was uneventful and largely ignored. Poe had given them a location within Coronet City, a bustling urban center. Though the days of building TIE fighters and Star Destroyers for the Empire and First Order were long over, the shipyards remained busy.
Rey walked alongside Ben, admiring the many shapes and sizes of speeders and ships that were being manufactured around her. More than once, Ben had to catch her before she tripped due to her gaze being everywhere except in front of herself.
A short walk from the famed shipyards, Ben and Rey found themselves at a row of multilevel apartments on the street Poe had marked for them. Ben stopped a lanky teenage boy to ask for Poe's contact, and had barely uttered the name before the boy smirked and pointed to a human male leaning against a nearby wall, intently tinkering with some sort of small electronic device. He was dark skinned and of average height, although still several inches shorter than Ben. He had cropped blue-green hair and an odd necklace with several strange key-like pendants.
"Are you Ubba?" Rey spoke as she approached the man.
He was startled at first, looking up from his task with wide eyes, glancing from Rey to Ben. When he saw that they meant no harm, he smiled kindly.
Taking the smile as a 'yes', Rey continued, "We're friends of Poe, we were hoping you could help us -"
"Poe! That scoundrel of a pilot! I hear he's the big man in the Resistance now!" Ubba laughed, and ushered them inside his modest apartment.
It wasn't exactly clean, but more of an organized clutter. Pieces of electronics and wiring were everywhere, and Rey grew excited. Surely this man could crack the mysterious datapads that may hold the secrets to her parents.
He led them to a small table with stools and politely offered them refreshment. Once they had settled, Rey reached into the satchel she had slung over her shoulder, pulling out three datapads.
Without a word, Ubba excitedly reached for the aged datapads, nimbly inspecting them.
"I haven't seen models like this in ages! Where'd you find them?" Ubba asked without looking up, already reaching to his necklace for one of the strange pendants that hung on it. He didn't wait for an answer as he jammed the piece into the side of the datapad, opening it to expose its complicated insides.
Rey and Ben exchanged an amused glance before Ben spoke, "They're from Coruscant, we're trying to find someone...a lost family member."
Ubba did not seem to need an explanation and remained silent, already rebooting the first datapad after tweaking its insides.
"How interesting!" Ubba suddenly exclaimed, scanning through the newly unlocked data.
"What? What is it?!" Rey leaned over the table anxiously, craning her neck to glance at the screen.
"It seems to be some kind of log book written by a scientist named Rala Tu," He continued to read before gasping and looking up at Rey and Ben with a raised eyebrow, "A Kaminoan cloning scientist?"
On instinct, Rey's mind reached out with the Force, causing the datapad to be unceremoniously ripped from Ubba's hands to her own. Excitement and anxiety overpowered her usual politeness as she scoured the recovered logs. She scrolled through the notes until she again came to the file that she had originally seen, the one about the man she was sure was her father.
The single image of experiment AD-6 was now accompanied by more pictures and hundreds of data entries by a single scientist. She skimmed through the details on the man's creation and genetic alterations and began looking through the entries, coming to a file of a voice recording. She tapped the entry, and a slightly distorted female voice began to speak:
Entry 97: AD-6, accelerated age: 14
This strand-cast tolerated the accelerated aging process remarkably well. Midichlorian counts remain low, but there is still time for growth.
I have come to call him Adix, a name of my own making from his experiment designation. He is a delightful conversationalist and pleasant boy to interact with. Out of all my experiments here, he is my greatest success. Unfortunately, he is not what is desired by the Emperor. I shall continue monitoring for further progress and continue the memory grafts.
Rey paused, looking at Ben who watched her with a thoughtful expression. He nodded for her to continue, reading over her shoulder as she did so. Ubba, on the other hand, appeared unfazed by Rey's eagerness and had moved on to the two other datapads they had brought to him.
Several video recordings accompanied the entries, and Rey watched in awe as the clips showed a young version of her father complete tasks and tests with the pale and willowy female Kaminoan scientist observing nearby.
Most entries were filled with scientific lingo and genetic data that Rey couldn't make sense of. She continued on, knowing from somewhere within that she would find the next clue she was looking for.
Further down, some months later in the log, she came to another voice recording entry. Again, the voice of Rala Tu began to speak, and the strain in her slow and even voice was apparent even in a decades-old recording.
Entry 206: AD-6, accelerated age: 21
Adix continues to exceed my expectations with his kind and peaceful disposition. He is a far cry from his genetic source. His affinity for the Force remains nearly non-existent. I fear I will not be able to delay his final evaluation by the Emperor and high command much longer.
Rey shuddered and Ben wrapped his arm comfortingly around her shoulders in response. They had been in the company of Ubba for nearly two hours, and the hacker had successfully unearthed much of the lost data from the datapads.
Finally, Ben convinced Rey that it was time to move their research back to the Falcon, and he vigorously thanked Ubba, offering him several credits in payment.
Ubba refused, smiling, "Call it a debt paid! Poe saved my ass more than a couple times. I'm happy to help!"
Ben smiled genuinely, nodding at the quirky man before turning on his heel to follow Rey. She was in such a hurry that he almost lost her in the crowd several times on the way back to the dock.
When they boarded the ship and closed the ramp, the silence was welcome. Coronet City was a busy and loud city, it was no surprise to Ben that his father had been a product of such a place. By time he had poured himself a glass of water, Rey was already on the bed, laying on her stomach, feet in the air with the datapads strewn about in front of her. He smiled at the sight of her and thought, 'It's going to be a long night'.
I'm pretty excited for where I'm planning on going with this. Hope you all are down for the ride :)