Huddled beneath the scratchy fabric of a borrowed cloak, Rey touched the swollen lump of flesh above her eye yet again, and hissed in pain.
"Stop that!" Poe ordered, catching her hand and drawing it away from her face. "Wait a few more minutes. It takes awhile."
Rey sniffed and glanced toward the empty syringe he had dropped on the tray beside her. "I didn't know you had medic training," she grumbled.
"I picked up a little here and there," he shrugged.
He was staring at her intently under the guise of watching the bacta injection site for a reaction. Instead of dropping her hand, he pressed it firmly between his own. Rey shifted in her seat and tried to look anywhere but at him.
"You're mad at me," he grinned. "I don't blame you. I'd be mad at me too. Of course, deep down, I'd know I couldn't stay mad at me. I mean- how could I stay mad at me? I'm just so roguishly handsome, after all."
Rey smirked, and pulled her hand away. Unabashed, Poe crossed his arms over his chest and continued to study her face.
"Alright. Stay mad at me... for now, but explain to me how selling yourself as a slave on Lothal is going to bring down the First Order, because I don't understand what the plan is."
"Sometimes you don't get the details. In fact, sometimes you don't even get to know the plan," she reminded him. He winced, catching the slight bitterness in her voice. Even though she knew that it was for the good of her friends, being left in the dark didn't sting any less.
He reached out and gently prodded down her cheekbone. Even as lightly as he palpated, the pain was still enough to make her eyes water.
"They really did a number on you," he murmured. "It's going to need at least one more injection."
Poe was going to be a problem. If she had been thinking clearly, she wouldn't have told him Lothal. She would have named the planet furthest from Lothal and slipped away the first time he turned his head. If Master Luke had not already made contact with the Resistance, he soon would. In fact, even now, Poe might have already known she had gone missing on Ka'vec, and given her location to the general or to her master. His concerned and careful ministering of her wounds might be nothing more than an act to buy time and keep an eye on her until back-up arrived. He was a favorite of the general, after all, and to her, he was extremely loyal.
She drew in a deep breath and glanced up at him. When their eyes met, he smiled again. It occurred to her that what she was feeling at that moment, must have been what Kylo Ren felt every day of his life- to always be suspicious of the people standing nearest to you. To suspect everyone of an ulterior motive- to think every act of kindness came laced with poison. That was the dark side. That was what the corrupting nature of the dark force did, and what had caused the Sith to follow the rule of two, and then... the rule of one. Perhaps, it was the darkness inside her that Master Luke feared. Perhaps it was already changing her.
Still, there was one thing she knew Poe wasn't faking. Despising herself in advance for what she was about to do, she reached for his hand, clasping it between both of hers.
"I don't blame you," she said, dropping her voice. "I don't blame anyone, really. I understand why it had to be done. Master Luke was right. I can't keep that kriffing bastard out of my head. I've tried! I've tried so hard, but he's too strong."
At her words, Poe's smile faded. He sat down beside her, his leg pressed against hers, his eyes never leaving her face.
"I didn't know," he said. "I didn't know that you actually knew that he was in your head, that you were fighting him all that time. On Hoth, you seemed so distant from everyone... from me-"
"I had to be," Rey lied, glancing down at their hands. She began to trace his knuckles lightly with one finger. "I was too afraid to get close to anyone- too afraid of what he might see, of who he might hurt. I was too afraid of what might happen... to you."
Poe froze.
Too much! Had she gone too far? Was he suspicious of her? Rey dropped his hand, and drew away from the pressure of his leg against her own.
"Sorry, I-" she began
"No. No, no, no. Don't-" he insisted, catching up her hand again. "Don't stop talking. Don't mind me. I just never thought that you..."
"I can't. I can't have those sort of feelings. Don't you understand what I'm trying to tell you? You and I can't-"
Poe wrapped one arm swiftly around her, drawing her close as he stopped her words with his lips. It was her turn to freeze.
It was not as awkward as she had feared. Poe Dameron, she quickly realized, was not an inexperienced man. The way his hand moved slowly down to her hip, slipping beneath her cloak, skimming across the exposed skin of her thigh, raising goosebumps wherever he touched- he knew what he was doing. She would have to be the one to stop first and she would... she would as soon as...
His lips moved to her neck, causing her breath to catch.
"SIR! They've pulled out of-"
Rey's eyes snapped open and met those of a young resistance fighter standing just beyond the open doorway.
"I... sir... uh..." he stammered.
"Perfect timing, Vance!" Poe snapped, turning slowly to glare at the boy. "Well? Go on, say what you've come to say."
"The... uhhh... the First Order... all their ships... sir, they've pulled out of Hutt Space," Vance stammered.
"What? Why?" Poe demanded, pulling away from her completely.
"We don't know that. All their ships left at the same time, and we've intercepted an order to halt all cargo inspections on all the main trade routes," the boy continued.
"What are they up to? Are they massing their fleet for a strike of some sort?" Poe mused.
"Maybe they've figured out that they're driving allies to us because of what they're doing, sir. They've been spacing whole cargo holds, and-"
"No. No, they don't care about slavers joining the Resistance. This is not like him... this seems... hasty, somehow," Poe muttered. "Have we contacted the base?"
"They've contacted us. The General wants all ships back to Jaro 1, as soon as possible. They might have more information."
"Right. Right. Send them a reply, we're bringing forty more, and we're on our way," Poe ordered.
His cheeks still flaming, the boy nodded before disappearing. Before he could stand, Rey grabbed Poe's arm and held firm.
"I can't! You know that. You can't take me to the rebel base. It's too dangerous. He's still in my head-"
"The General will have some idea," he began.
"No," Rey argued. "I won't. Give me one of your fighters, We must be close to the Calamari Sector by now. I can take it the rest of the way, and then catch a transport to Lothal."
"No. We need you. I don't know what your plan is but-"
"That's right. You don't know what my plan is, but I can tell you this: I have to kill Kylo Ren. You know well enough, that the General will never send someone to assassinate him. She will never stop believing that her son can come back. Master Luke carries enough guilt as it is. This is something only I can do."
"No."
"I must. I absolutely must. I will never be free of him, not until he is dead. Do you want the truth? I want to be with you, I want to.. to..." Rey pressed her lips together tightly. Even in her desperation, lying to him was not something she could easily do. "I can't be of anything, even the Resistance, until I can free myself from him. Help me, Poe. I'm not asking you for something outrageous. I'm just asking you to look the other way. I'm just asking you to pretend you never saw me."
"And what if he kills you first? Or captures you again? What if he takes you and twists you into something so dark-"
"That won't happen. I can resist the dark side. I've done it before."
"I don't like this."
"Can't you trust me? Please Poe, you don't know what it's like when no one trusts you."
"Yeah, I guess I do," he muttered. "I'm not giving you my permission. I'm not going to pretend I never saw you, and I'm not agreeing to this."
Rey exhaled slowly and clenched her fist.
"But I can't stop you. If you were to take the transport- say, in Bay 4, I wouldn't be able to chase you down. It would be a violation of the General's order to return to base. There's nothing I could do." He shrugged.
"Poe, I-"
"Don't thank me," he warned. "I don't like this. I don't want you to do this, and I don't-"
He cast one last lingering look toward her and shook his head as though even he couldn't believe what he was doing, and then... he left.
There was no chance that he wouldn't tell General Leia and Master Luke where she was headed. All he was really giving her was a transport and a head start. She realized this as she began to walk, and then to jog, and then to run towards Bay 4.
Poe was telling the truth. She commandeered the transport with relative ease. As she pulled away from the dock, only a handful of Resistance fighters had appeared, most of them simply to stand there looking confused. No small craft pursued her as she set a course for Lothal. So when she heard her own name shouted almost directly into her ear, she screamed and clutched at her chest.
"Rey!" Albion repeated, throwing his arms wide. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again. Talya, you can come out now. It's just Rey!"
"Wh... what are you doing here?" she stammered, still clutching at her chest.
Talya's purple head emerged cautiously from the open engine access panel in the floor. She glanced up at Rey and offered a tentative smile before pulling herself up and out. Albion bent to offer her his hand.
"Did we scare you?" he grinned.
"A-a little bit," Rey rasped, her voice slightly higher than normal.
"Imagine the scare you gave us then!" he chuckled.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, regaining her composure.
"Okay. Okay. I was about to tell you that," he soothed. "Look, when you took off with the pretty boy, we figured that was the last we'd see of you-"
"You seemed to know each other pretty well. So don't be mad us, thinking we were trying to take off without you or anything," Talya added.
"Right. Well, we figured that was the last we'd see of you, and so there we were, stuck in the middle of a gang of vicious revolutionaries-"
"Vicious might be a bit much," Talya amended.
"Who's telling this story? I'm a professional after all, aren't I?" Albion scoffed. "Alright so there we were, stuck in the middle of a slightly-less-than-vicious gang of revolutionaries. We knew that if we didn't join their ranks, we'd likely be killed-"
"Put off at the next planetary hub actually- at least that's what they said. Still, some hub in the middle of nowhere-"
"- OR tortured. Who's to say?" Albion insisted, speaking over Talya. "At any rate, we knew that our only chance was to escape. Gathering our courage, we saw an opportunity while our captors were busy taunting some of the other prisoners-"
"distributing c-rations actually-"
"And without hesitating, we took it! I used my body to shield my companion from blaster fire as we ran-"
"He really can't run very fast at all," Talya whispered.
"We were lucky, and reached the bay without taking a single shot, but then what to do? We had no weapons-"
"I wouldn't know how to use a blaster even if I had one," Talya admitted.
"So we stowed away on the first ship we came across. We figured that soon enough, one of the rebels would take it out to resupply, and as soon as we were free of the ship, we'd overpower them and set a course for Corellia and-"
"We were just going to hide in here until they ended up taking it to one of the core planets. It wasn't that great of a plan now I think on it a bit," Talya finished.
Albion sighed in a defeated sort of way and slumped down in the co-pilot chair beside Rey's.
"So... where are we heading?" he asked.
"Lothal," she snapped. "That's where I'm heading. When we get there the ship is yours."
Albion opened his mouth, and it seemed he would protest, but perhaps, cautious of the sharp tone in her voice, he closed it again.
"Well, at least we aren't folded in half in a storage bin waiting to starve to death anymore," Talya reminded him. "And besides, we've got a bit of time. Let's hear a story-a real story this time too, not a made up one. I think you could use the practice."
Albion seemed to pick up a bit at this. He straightened in his chair and began:
"The tragic death of Cress Thul is an old story remembered only by the Bimm, but it has a lesson... a lesson that is just as pertinent in this age as it was then..."
His words began to fade out along with the cockpit of a transport.
Rey clenched her teeth and tried to focus on what the Bimm was saying, but the pull was too strong, there was another voice speaking, a voice she didn't want to hear, and he was shouting, drowning out Albion's calm and measured voice.
"EVERY LAST SHIP, HUX! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? EVERY SINGLE SHIP MUST BE ACCOUNTED FOR!"
She could hear the metallic tap of his booted feet pacing quickly, nervously, but all was dark before her.
"Sir, I hope you understand that without the presence of a regulating agency, smugglers will have a free run of the-"
"If one more cargo of slaves is spaced- No! One single slave- you and your commanding officers will be joining them, General Hux!"
"I've only done what you've-"
Hux's voice cut off, replaced by a horrifying gurgling sound, and the scene came sharply into focus before her eyes. General Hux had fallen to his knees. His hands scrabbled uselessly at his throat as he choked. Above him, eyes wide and wild-looking, stood Kylo Ren. He dropped his hand when he saw her, and Hux collapsed to the floor.
"Where are you?" he thundered, heedless of his companion gasping for air on the floor.
Glancing away from him, she realized that she could still see Albion sitting beside her. His mouth moved, but she could not hear his words. Kylo clenched his fist and took another step towards her. General Hux, aware that his master was no longer focused on him, got slowly to his knees and crawled a few paces before finding his feet. He gave one last horrified glance at the black-robed figure before making a hasty retreat.
Rey didn't blame him. Kylo Ren appeared... for lack of a better word, unhinged. His fists clenched and unclenched reflexively, and his lower lip seemed to tremble ever so slightly. He stared at her as if he could burn her alive with his very gaze.
And she understood why. He had somehow lost the ability to see inside her mind. For months, he had had been able to find her whenever he had looked. He had found her on Crait, and on Hoth, but now, he had searched and found nothing, and for some reason, he was afraid. No, he was terrified. She could feel the fear emanating from him.
He swallowed hard and glanced away from her, perhaps realizing how he appeared.
"I gave you what you wanted," he growled. "I allowed you to go free. Now I find that you want to play at being a slave? Good. Because when I find you-"
"But you can't, can you? You can't find me," she gave a short hard laugh at this. "I think I already told you, Ben. Don't look for me. I'll find you!"
"REY!" Albion hollered into her ear.
"Wha-" Rey gasped, as the room spun. She had slumped forward over the console. "What happened?"
"I don't know.. I... I was telling the story and-"
"It's a great story, I can't believe you fell asleep," Talya sniffed.
"You just fell forward- passed out and fell forward. I thought you mumbled something, but I couldn't hear. We were so worried-"
"Neither of us actually know how to fly," Talya confirmed.
"No... I'm... I'm just tired," Rey mumbled.
Albion and Talya exchanged a quick glance.
"There's a bench in back. Probably not very comfortable, but I noticed it earlier. If you've set a course for Lothal then perhaps you should rest for a bit. Like Talya says, neither of us can fly a ship, but I suppose we could keep a look out for anything, -err, off, I suppose," the Bimm offered.
"No, no that's fine."
"I can tell another story, you know. Something with a little more action. Something that I know will keep you awake. The Battle of Yavin 4 and-"
"No. Definitely not," Rey interrupted. "No more stories, please."
The Bimm smiled and threw his hands up in a small gesture of surrender.
"Alright, I suppose I'll take a quick nap then," he decided.
As he left the cockpit, Talya pursed her lips and watched Rey with a very unimpressed expression.
"He really is as nice as he seems, you know. A bit melodramatic, maybe, but he's kind. You don't need to be so-"
"I'm sure he is," Rey cut her off.
"Well..." Talya sniffed in disapproval. "I suppose I'll go stretch my legs a bit."
Rey sighed and leaned back in her seat. Left alone, she suddenly regretted her dismissive manner of the two. She needn't be so suspicious of them, or unkind either. She could sense good will in both of them. She thought immediately of General Hux running from Kylo Ren, and of how alone Kylo really was. She wasn't like him though! She was impatient, certainly, but not... she would never hurt one of her companions.
But hadn't she been willing enough to hurt Poe? Perhaps not in the physical sense, but to lead him on... to almost promise him her heart, knowing full well that she would never give it... simply as a means to an end. Wasn't that how Kylo justified the horrible things he did? No jedi actually believed that wickedness or cruelty was justifiable... for any reason. Master Luke often spoke of the path to the dark side. A path had to be walked... it took many small steps to travel it completely. Perhaps she had already begun to walk.
"I'm not dark," she whispered. "I'm not, and I won't go that way."
Lothal glowed blue before them. Not the healthy blue of a planet which glowed with life, but a dark and smoky blue, hinting at an atmosphere choked with industrial smog. She could already make out the bits and pieces of scrap metal and garbage orbiting the globe.
"It was a very nice planet once," Albion informed them. "Farms, wide expanses of grassy plains, forests of spine trees and when the winds blew through them, one could smell the sharp scent of their needles from miles away. All gone now, of course. A long time gone. I believe it was in the days of my grandfather, when the Empire took it over and began strip mining the entire planet for crystals. What a waste! When they were finally defeated, there wasn't much left here. I suppose that's what makes it an ideal place for a slave market."
"Its also in the middle of nowhere," Talya reminded them.
"You'll want to set down in Capitol City. You're still looking for the slave market aren't you?" he confirmed.
"I am," Rey agreed, searching for landing coordinates in the ship's memory bank.
Albion whistled as they drifted slowly past the revolving wreckage of part of an imperial-era ship.
"You'd think the scavengers would have descended on it by now," he commented.
Rey gave the enormous piece of junk a quick once over
"They have," she confirmed.
She slowed as they approached the trash field, navigating deftly through the wreck and scrap. From time to time, small bits of flotsam and jetsom pinged harmlessly against the viewing window. The field cleared as they descended into the thick atmosphere of Lothal. Albion was on his feet before she had even touched down.
"Never been here before. There's bound to be a story or two out there I haven't heard yet," he grinned at them as he left.
"I think I'll wait here," Talya informed him. "I'm still a little nervous from my last encounter with slavers."
The ship touched down, and Rey sighed and rubbed her eyes a few times.
As she moved her arm, he cloak fell open, exposing her bare leg, and the hilt of her light saber.
"What's that?" Talya asked, reaching for it at once.
"DON'T," Rey snarled, but seeing the shocked look on Talya's face, calmed her at once, "-touch that. You shouldn't touch that. It's... It's dangerous."
"Alright, alright, take my head off will you? Not like it's your blood arrow or something," Talya scoffed.
"My... what?" Rey whispered.
"Your blood arrow! You really should have listened to that story. I told you it was a good one!" Talya chided.
