Halo
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A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly reviewed the last chapter.
Chapter Five-A Face from the Past
Kylo's head was filled with painful memories of his childhood as he powered up his father's ship. The Millennium Falcon shuddered, the engines pouring smoke after being unused for so long. He worried that the old freighter wouldn't make it off the ground, but after he had tried a few of his father's old tricks, the Falcon started to rise.
"You seem very familiar with this ship." Rey's tone was full of curiosity as she watched him flip a few switches and tap into the navigation system.
"Why are you still here?" Kylo said impatiently as one of the Tie Fighters whirled overhead. "Go and man one of the quad laser cannons and get rid of those Tie's on our tail."
Rey shot him a sour look as she left the cockpit and disappeared into the bowels of the ship. Kylo let out a gusty sigh. He hadn't meant to take his uneasiness out on her. She didn't deserve it. He was worried that the longer she spent in his company she would discover he was a fraud. She was already questioning why he seemed so at ease in the cockpit. How much longer could he really conceal the truth from her? It was his own tangled web of lies that had gotten him into this mess, but something inside stopped Kylo from revealing his true identity.
The Falcon shuddered as he spun the old girl on her axis. One of the Tie's chasing them got in a lucky strike causing the ship to groan in protest. Kylo heard BB-8 whining in panic as the little droid was flung all over the place. From down below Kylo heard the retaliatory canon fire. The sound was followed by a plume of black smoke as Rey found her target.
"She is good!" Kylo muttered under his breath as he concentrated on steering the Falcon along the rough terrain ahead.
Kylo expertly piloted the Falcon into open space. Stars filled the sky like pale corn into freshly turned ground. It was the promise of life in the darkness, a sense of warmth springing from the cold. No matter the years that passed, Kylo saw each night sky as a fresh gift given anew. It was the moment anyone that knew him would see his eyes smile and his breathing deepen just a little. Sitting in the very same seat his father used to occupy when he piloted the Falcon was so surreal. He began to drown in memories again, some good, some bad.
With Han and Leia both often not around for his formative years, Kylo tried everything he could to be like his father. Even honing his inherited piloting skills to match those of Han, but as the Force grew within him, his parents would often argue about his lineage not so subtly. Upon hearing their heated discussions about him, he began to feel unwanted, unloved, and a monster. His feelings of abandonment and neglect grew until he was sent away at the age of ten to train as a Jedi under Skywalker.
His mournful thoughts about his early childhood were interrupted by Rey as she came bounding back into the cockpit, practically vibrating with excitement at their narrow escape. She slid into the co-pilots seat and beamed at him joyfully. "That was such a rush! You are one hell of a pilot!"
Kylo wasn't used to receiving compliments, only degradation. The tips of his ears turned red as he averted his gaze. "Anyone with a semblance of skill could have done it. Even someone like you." He muttered.
Rey's joyful smile slowly faded at his less than stellar response. Instead of accepting her praise he had turned it into an insult. She felt her cheeks grow warm with silent mortification as she concentrated her gaze on the console. It was only then that she saw the flashing warning light indicating there was something amiss with the Falcon's propulsion system. Kylo was so self-absorbed he hadn't even noticed. Rey said nothing as she left him in the cockpit to wallow alone while she attempted to fix the problem by herself.
"I'll show him!" She mumbled under her breath. She quickly located a toolbox and upended it, spilling the contents all over the metal flooring. Taking a few parsecs to sort through the myriad tools, she pulled up one of the panels in the floor and lowered herself down into the compartment underneath.
BB-8 rolled toward her, stopping just shy of the exposed hole. He let out a series of whistles and beeps as he expressed his agitation. He rolled back when Rey's hand suddenly appeared at the top of the hole, her fingers gliding along the metal flooring as she tried to search for a hyperspanner. It remained frustratingly out of reach, forcing her head to pop as she searched for it. To her chagrin, Kylo appeared in her line of sight. The toe of his boot nudged the spanner away from her questing fingers.
"Do you even know what you're doing, Rey?" He lectured her. "One wrong move and you could flood the whole ship with poisonous gas. And I, for one, don't plan on dying today."
"I can fix it." Rey scowled up at him, her fingers finally finding the hyperspanner. "And at least I'm doing something instead of brooding like a spoiled child in the cockpit."
Kylo's scowl was the mirror of hers as he watched Rey disappear under the flooring again. He hunkered down, intending to continue his lecture when BB-8 accidentally knocked into him. He glared at the little astromech, causing the small droid to roll backward in alarm.
"The propulsion system is leaking." Rey's head popped up again as she demanded Kylo pass her another tool.
"I know that." He said testily as he passed her the tool she was looking for. "And I wasn't brooding."
Rey rolled her eyes as she dived back underneath the flooring. "I really don't care." Her voice was slightly muffled as it filtered up from below. "As soon as I drop you and BB-8 off at the Resistance base we can go our separate ways."
Kylo could feel his silent panic building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of his stomach. He suddenly lost all concentration. "What are you talking about? Where are you going to go?"
"Home."
"To Jakku?" Kylo's heart began to beat faster and harder at the ridiculousness off that statement. "You can't be serious. Why would you…?"
Rey reappeared again; her expression impassive. "What I do is none of your business. Just tell me where the Resistance base is?"
The thoughts began to accelerate in Kylo's head. He wanted them to slow so he could breathe but they continued to rattle around his frazzled brain like blaster bolts. He didn't know how to answer her. His incessant lies were catching up with him. His desperate eyes landed on BB-8. "He'll tell you."
BB-8 glided backward, chirping warily in its binary language. Kylo tried to rearrange his stern features into something non-threatening, but his attempt fell flat. Rey made an irritated sound at the back of her throat as she dived back under the floor again when she heard a strange hissing noise. In her temporary absence Kylo drew closer to the droid, dropping down on his hands and knees so he was more on BB-8's level. He pointed his forefinger in front of the jittery astromech and grimaced.
"Look I'm not with the Resistance, okay." He admitted in a low voice. "But my mother is. And I'm trying to find her. So, I need you to help me out here. It will be win win for both of us. I get you back to the base and you can pat yourself on the back that you reunited a mother and her son. What do you say, droid?"
BB-8 let out a curious whistle as he rolled a little closer to Kylo. He was asking him to confirm who his mother actually was. Kylo fumbled around, struggling internally whether it was a wise decision to entrust the skittish astromech with his darkest secret. He just hoped that BB-8 was ignorant of the fact that it was General Organa's son who was the man beneath Kylo Ren's mask.
"Leia Organa Solo is my mother. I'm Ben…. Solo." He said as he reluctantly revealed his birth name.
BB-8 emitted a series of shocked beeps. He began to babble at Kylo enthusiastically. Kylo tried to quieten the excitable droid, but Rey had already been disturbed by its fervent response to his surprising revelation. She reappeared again, the muscles in her arms flexing as she pulled herself out of the compartment under the floor.
"What is all the commotion? A girl can't hear herself think." She complained as she wiped her hands on the front of her tunic, dirtying it further. "So, where's the base then?"
Kylo gave BB-8 a pleading look. A small lighter shot out of BB-8's base as he signalled his agreement that he would keep Kylo's secret. Kylo raised his own thumb in return, silently thanking the droid for his co-operation. Rey looked at them both curiously, completely bewildered by this chummy display. "Am I missing something?"
"Nothing." Kylo tried to act casual as he pushed himself back onto his feet. "BB-8 is about to tell us… I mean you…. where the base is."
Rey put her hands on her hips. "Well?" She asked impatiently as she focused her attention on BB-8. The small droid responded with a few bell-like whistles and beeps. "I see…the IIeennium system." She smiled tiredly. "Okay, we'll set a course for- "
She never got to finish her sentence. The Millennium Falcon shuddered violently, causing her to lose her footing. Rey stumbled, colliding with Kylo. She emitted a small gasp of surprise when she felt his strong arms close around her in a vain attempt to keep them both upright. He instinctively pulled her closer when the ship juddered again. His embrace was warm, and his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her thin frame. Rey blushed as she fought the urge to nestle closer. Feeling flustered, she broke free from the comforting circle of his arms and stepped back a few paces in order to put some distance between them.
"What's going on?" She said hoarsely.
"We're caught in a tractor beam." Ben answered hastily as the Falcon began to lose power. He muttered an oath under his breath, beyond irritated that he kept lurching from one disaster to another.
"Is it a First Order ship?" Rey licked her lips nervously.
"No." Kylo was certain about that. But even if it wasn't the First Order, it didn't mean the person who had captured them was any less friendly. "We need to hide." He motioned for Rey to climb back through the gap in the floor. He was impressed when she quickly did his bidding. When he was sure that she was safe he picked up the little BB unit and handed it down to her, before hurrying after them. Kylo had only just pulled the panel back into place when he heard the familiar hiss of the Falcon's pistons as the ramp lowered and whoever had captured them entered the ship.
Huddling together in a darkened corner, the three of them waited with baited breath as the intruders stormed the ship. Despite Kylo's protestations to the contrary, Rey was still convinced that they had been boarded by First Order troops. She secretly made a plan to release the poisonous gas into the ship to kill what she assumed would be stormtroopers, but was stopped in her endeavour when the panel above their heads was ripped open, revealing their captors. Her stricken gaze went straight to Kylo, only to find his face had completely drained of all colour as he stared up at the grizzled visage of the older man and his Wookie companion, who were looking down at them.
"Ben?" The older man said gruffly as his eyes widened in recognition.
Rey felt completely bewildered. "Ben, do you know him?" She whispered frantically. "Who is he?"
Kylo's voice was bleak when he answered. "His name is Han Solo. He's…. he's my father."
A/N-thanks for reading. Please review if you have the time.