Ben bolted upright in his cot, saber flying to his hand and igniting. Chest heaving, he looked around, but saw nothing; just the dark and eerie interior of the Falcon. Slowly, he lowered his saber and sheathed it. Setting it on the bed next to his thigh, he rubbed his face and sighed. It was just another nightmare, he told himself. Go back to sleep.

He laid back down. He shifted his pillow. He poked his foot out from underneath the blanket. He twisted around to lie on his side. He pulled his knees to his chest. He stared at the ceiling, studying each little panel and knob. But nothing helped his mind relax. So he closed his eyes and reached out to Rey.

And was met with a foggy silence.

Furrowing his brow, he reached into it.

Nothing.

And then a flash of a memory: A stormtrooper standing over him, bringing the butt of a blaster crashing into his skull.

His eyes flew open. She was in trouble.

Throwing the blanket off, he swung his legs over the side of the cot and stood. Half-jogging, he made his way out of the Falcon, his bare feet padding down the gangway and out onto the grass. Then, breaking out into a full sprint, he went straight for the command pavilion, throwing the front flap open, then the curtain that partitioned Poe and Finn's sleeping area off from the rest of the pavilion.

Both bolted upright as he entered, Poe whipping out his blaster to aim it at Ben's head.

"It's me," Ben said, raising his hands up.

Poe lowered his blaster and rubbed his eyes. "What is it?"

"Rey's in trouble," Ben said, letting his hands fall and taking a step forward.

"What?" Finn leapt to his feet. "What happened?"

"I don't know for sure," Ben replied. "All I know is that she's been captured by stormtroopers."

Poe got out of bed and brushed past Ben to go to the holotable. Ben turned to follow, Finn right behind him.

"Let's see where their trackers put them last," Poe muttered as he powered it up. Ben and Finn came to stand on either side of him. A map of Mygeeto pulled up, with a blue, pulsing dot identifying their location. All three stared at it intently in silence.

"We have to get them out of there," Finn said to Poe.

Poe shook his head. "We can't compromise the mission by dividing our forces between a rescue mission and an attack. And going to rescue them would take away the element of surprise."

"We can't just leave them there," Finn said through gritted teeth.

"The stormtroopers won't kill them as long as they still think we might come for them," Poe replied. "We still have time."

"No. We don't," Ben said. "I refuse to leave her there to suffer at the hands of the men I used to command."

"He's right," Finn said. "We don't know what they'll do to them in the meantime."

"I know the risks," Poe said, glaring at each of them. "I know what they might do to them. But the greater good of the galaxy comes first before any one individual."

"Rey is the greater good of the galaxy," Ben shot back, standing straight. "Without her, there is no hope. The galaxy believes in her, they trust her. Rey can heal the galaxy in ways no one else can. We. Cannot. Leave. Her." With each word, he drew closer to Poe, staring him down.

Poe sighed wearily, rubbing his face. "I can't endanger our people on an impossible rescue mission," he said. "If they were able to capture Rey, I can't imagine any of us have much of a chance against them. It's better just to take the base out all at once and find them after."

"I can do it," Ben said, his gaze fixed on Poe. "I can rescue them."

Poe's eyes narrowed as he studied Ben, and he finally nodded. "Do it." Ben's expression eased, and he nodded in response. "But make sure you get them out before we attack," Poe said. "We won't wait."

"I understand," Ben said, then turned and left the pavilion. He headed to the main hangar, stepping into its cool, cavernous interior. The shock of cold stone underneath his feet reminded himself that he was nowhere near ready to head out on a rescue mission. Clenching his fists, he turned around and ran back to the Falcon.

: :

Under a heavy guard, Rey and Zorii were taken inside the compound, dragging Rey unceremoniously as Zorii followed behind. Zorii's narrowed eyes took in the spartan surroundings, searching for a way out, a chance to escape. But she knew well that there were too many troopers for her to take on alone, especially without her blasters. Her fists clenched at her helplessness, and her eyes fell to Rey. Wake up.

The stormtroopers dragging Rey stopped in front of them, then entered a holding cell. Zorii caught a glimpse of chains hanging from the ceiling as she passed by. The cell block seemed to be fairly primitive, as most of the base did, but she didn't doubt its effectiveness. As they left Rey behind, she realized that she was on her own to escape. Her brows furrowed as she thought.

The stormtroopers on either side of her roughly pulled at her upper arms, and they continued down the hallway, turned left, and entered another bank of cells. They stopped her outside the very last cell in the row, and one of them released her arm, turned his back, and punched in the passcode, the door quietly sliding open.

Now's my chance. Zorii wrenched her arm out of the other trooper's grip and kicked his legs out from under him before he could reach for his blaster. The other trooper whirled around, and she landed a solid kick in his chest, knocking him back into the cell. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him start to rise and reach for his blaster, as she turned back to the first trooper. She grabbed him by the upper arm and hauled him up, her arms around his chest, just as the other trooper shot, hitting his comrade in the shoulder. She snatched his blaster off his belt and threw it to the ground beside her, then, grunting with the effort, she pushed him into the holding cell to join the other, their armor clattering as they crashed into each other and hit the floor. As they began untangling themselves, she slammed a button and the door slid shut.

Retrieving the blaster from the floor, she brushed a few wisps of hair from her face and glanced warily around. No sign of any stormtroopers. She jogged down the rows of cells as silently as she could, wincing every time her boots tapped the smooth floor. She slowed as the approached the corner and carefully peered around it, blaster at the ready. Three stormtroopers stood with their backs to her. She glanced the other way and saw nothing. Keeping her eyes on the stormtroopers, she silently crept down the hall to her left instead of the way she'd come initially. They never even turned their heads.

She turned the next corner and was confronted by a stormtrooper looking straight at her. He grabbed for his blaster, but she was quicker, nailing him in the chest. His body smacked against the wall as it was thrown back, and she heard a stormtrooper say, from much too nearby, "FS-3971, are you all right?"

Heart racing, she sprinted to the body and tore off his helmet, jamming it onto her head. Making an attempt at lowering her voice, she replied, "Yes, I just tripped. Everything's fine."

This statement was met by a chorus of laughter. The same voice responded, "Try to be more careful next time," still chuckling.

"Will do," she replied, then yanked the helmet off again, setting it carefully down beside the fallen stormtrooper. Her eyes found his face. He was handsome, olive-skinned with black, curly hair. It struck her that he didn't look too different from Poe. Just younger. Then she pushed the thought away. Spending time with all these Resistance fighters is making me soft.

: :

Ben took the controls of an X-wing, settling into its cockpit. As he fingered the controls, a memory flashed through his mind: his tiny hands guided by Luke's larger ones, one flesh, the other gloved; his body nestled in his uncle's lap as Luke taught him how to fly his X-wing. A small smile crossed Ben's lips. He'd completely forgotten about that. Perhaps because he'd chosen to.

He shrugged the memory off and strapped himself in with one hand, programming his destination into the navicomputer with the other. The X-wing lifted off the ground, its landing gear retracting, and he pushed the throttle forward, sailing out of the hangar and into the night sky.

: :

Zorii stood up from where she had crouched by the body, pondering her options. To her left were the three stormtroopers she had evaded earlier. To her right were an unknown number of stormtroopers potentially headed her way.

Acting on her first instinct, she went back the way she had come. She peeked around the corner to find that one of the stormtroopers had left, leaving only two. And one had seen her.

"Hey!" he shouted, and his companion whirled around to face her.

She shot the one who had shouted, but the second one stepped into a doorway just before she could get him.

"A prisoner has escaped, I need backup." She heard him say.

She knew she couldn't wait around for any more stormtroopers to show up, so she tore one of her boots off and threw it against the opposite wall. He poked his head around the corner, and she blasted him twice just to be sure. She heard his body crumple against the wall She limp-sprinted across the hall, snatched her boot, and yanked it back onto her foot clumsily, blaster still in hand.

Then she took off down the hall, knowing she had to get as far away from the dead stormtroopers as possible. I better make it out of this alive, or I'm coming for you, Poe Dameron.

: :

Ben's hands clenched and unclenched on the controls, wishing his ship could go faster. There was still a barely perceptible ache in his temple from where that stormtrooper had hit her. He reached out. Still nothing. Sighing and jiggling his knee, he checked the navicomputer. 0.98 parsecs had never felt so far.

: :

She skidded to a halt when she heard the sound of marching feet ahead of her. Looking around desperately, she saw only closed doors and bare hallway. Then she looked up to see a loose panel in the ceiling. As the footsteps drew closer, she stuffed the blaster in her belt and jumped, her fingers just catching the lip at the top of the wall. Pulling herself up, she braced her feet against the wall and reached for the panel, her fingers straining to push it aside. Her thumping heart matched pace with the stormtroopers' march. One hand gripped the gap, then the other, and she swung herself up into it, her breath heaving.

It was a tight space, full of electrical cords and air ducts, but she could just fit. She squatted inside, placing her feet carefully on the metal beams that held the ceiling panels up. The footsteps halted suddenly, and she sensed that they had entered the hall. One set of footsteps continued more slowly. She held her breath, heart in her mouth, as she watched him pass below her. Gingerly, she slid the panel back over the hole before he could look up to see her.

It was utterly dark. She heard his footsteps continue down the hall, halt, then start to come towards her again. They halted again, almost exactly underneath her. That was a rookie move, sliding the panel back. Now he's going to notice something's different. Blood rushed through her ears as she waited for him to sound the alarm. She gripped the handle of her blaster, ready to leap down and give them hell.

Her heart stopped as she heard him speak. "No sign of her in cell block A," Then the march started up again, moving right under her. As their footsteps receded, she let out a long, slow breath. She slid the panel open again and glanced down into the hallway to make sure it was clear. Seeing no one, she lightly dropped down into the passageway, taking her blaster into her grip once more, and raced on down the hall.

: :

At last, Mygeeto appeared within eyesight, swirling clouds and all. Hastily, he made his descent to the surface, landing much less gently than he intended to. Throwing open the cockpit, he leapt out into a blustery gale. Gritting his teeth and wishing he'd brought something warm to wear, he looked around for signs of Rey. Between the trees to his left, he just caught a glimpse of something white. He headed for it, folding his arms over his chest against the cold. There it was. The X-wing she had taken. And right next to it, a Y-wing. He hurried towards them. He touched a hand to the nose of the X-wing. Cold. As was the Y-wing. It had been some time since they had landed. He looked around for the place he had seen in Rey's memory, but everything looked totally different in the dark. Where are you, Rey?

: :

Zorii peeked around one last corner, and there, finally, was the way out. A dense, metal door, it was guarded by two stormtroopers, both of whom were at attention, but neither of whom had noticed her yet. She brought her blaster around the corner, aimed, and hit one in the chest. He slumped against the door, and as the other one grabbed his blaster, she shot it out of his hand, then hit him in the thigh, bringing him down.

She sprinted over to the door, knowing it wouldn't be long before more stormtroopers showed up. As she had expected, it required a passcode to exit. She grabbed the injured trooper by the arm and shoved him against the door.

"Tell me the code to get out and I let you live," she murmured in his ear, pressing her blaster to the gap between his backplate and shoulder plate.

She felt him struggle against her, so she jerked her knee into his injured leg. Groaning in pain, he said, "Six-eight-two-four-seven." She let him fall to the ground, punched in the code, then, as it opened, she turned back to him.

"I lied," she said, and shot him point-blank in the head.

She headed out into the whistling wind, folding her arms tight across her chest as her teeth began to chatter. Rain droplets whipped across her face. She knew Poe wouldn't have approved of her killing the trooper like that, but she couldn't have him telling all the troopers where she was. She still hadn't escaped the planet, after all.

She broke into a run, scaling the hill they had captured her and Rey on and hurtling down the other side, hardly able to see a thing.

: :

Ben started up the nearest hill to get a better look at his surroundings. He heard footsteps, gasping breath; sensed something hurtling through the dark towards him, then something small smacked into him from the side, and they both hit the ground, legs tangled.

Gasping for air and blinking to clear his vision, Ben snatched his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it as he felt the other person's legs kicking against him to free itself. He sensed more than saw a blaster bolt fired at him, and he deflected it with his saber. Then the kicking stopped.

"Ben Solo?"

He knew that voice.

He sat up and held his saber horizontally to illuminate their face.

"Zorii?"

They separated their legs and stood.

"Is Rey with you?"

She shook her head. "She was pretty heavily guarded. I figured I had more of a chance in getting her out if I went back for someone from the Resistance. I had no idea you were on your way. How did you know to come for us?"

"The Force," he replied, in no mood to explain the full extent of his connection with Rey.

"Of course," she replied, her tone dry.

"Where is she?"

"Inside." She pointed back up the hill towards the compound.

"Show me."

They walked up the hill, crouching to a crawl as they reached the top. Zorii pointed out the building the cell blocks were in and her best approximate position for where Rey was inside that building.

"They're still on high alert because I just escaped," she said. "So it might be best if we wait for a few hours until things calm down."

"We don't have time for that," Ben replied. "Dameron's going ahead with the attacks whether I get Rey out or not. We have to get in there now."

"It'll mean a lot of dead stormtroopers," she said, glancing over at him.

"All the better," he replied, his brows drawing together.

"You literally brainwashed these people into serving you," she said, fully turning to face him. "And now you're going to kill them for obeying?"

He turned on her, his eyes fierce. "Don't ever mention my past to me again."

Her gaze locked with his, undaunted. "I don't have to," she replied. "It tortures you enough as it is."