Halo

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A/N-thank you to everyone who kindly reviewed this story.

Chapter Seventeen-Losing Control

"I'm coming for you, Rey. Be ready."

Rey's eyes widened slightly with elation at the sound of Ben's voice in her head. She had no idea how this sudden telepathic communication worked, but in that moment, she was grateful for it.

"Rey, are you okay?" Rose asked cautiously. "You look kind of strange."

Rey hesitated, wondering whether it was safe enough to confide to her new friend the strange things that had been happening to her ever since Ben had come into her life. Loneliness had been her only dependable friend, there morning, noon and night. On Jakku she had led such an isolated life, that days, sometimes weeks went by without her conversing with anyone. Now in such a short amount of time her whole existence had been turned on its head. She now found herself around people that actually cared about her, cared enough to risk their own lives to come to her rescue. It was a heady feeling and also a frightening one. Rey didn't think she had the words to explain that to Rose. Not yet.

"I'm fine." She said eventually.

"You sure?" Rose checked.

"I'm sure." Rey promised with a small smile.

"Good." A determined glint lit up Rose's dark eyes. "Now we need to come up with a plan to get out of here."

Rey looked at her new friend in confusion. "I told you my friend is coming. We need to just sit tight and wait until he gets here."

Rose was disbelieving. "You don't know that for sure."

"I do. He's on his way right now." Rey answered fervently.

"Oh, so you've got a secret communication device stashed somewhere, have you?"

"Well…no."

"Then you can't be one hundred percent sure that he's coming." Rose said dismissively. "We need to help ourselves, Rey. Don't you see that?"

"If you thought that, then why didn't you try anything before?" Rey questioned sharply.

Rose lowered her voice just in case the guard was listening in on the other side of the cell doors. "The odds were against me before. But you're here now. The two of us can easily overpower a single stormtrooper. We just need to create some kind of fuss to get him in here-maybe we could fake a fight or something."

"How do you know there's only a single trooper out there?"

"We're low level prisoners. They won't throw much of their resources at us." Rose explained in a hushed whisper. "Come on, Rey. We need to be pro-active. You don't seem like a girl who's willing to just sit on the side lines like some kind of damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. Or did I read you wrong?"

Rose's sly taunts found their mark. Rey narrowed her eyes in indignation as she drew herself up to her full height. "Bring it on." She snapped.

"That's more like it." Rose said triumphantly. "Now we just need to create that diversion."

"Leave it to me. Just make sure you're ready." Rey pushed Rose none too gently to one side and began to hammer on the cell doors. "Help!" She shrieked. "She's gone crazy. She's trying to kill me. Help! Get me out of here."

Rose remembered the old holodrama's she used to watch with her family when she was very young. A lot of the acting was very bad, but not as bad as Rey's. She really didn't think the guard was going to fall for it, until to her surprise the cell doors swept open, but instead of revealing a single trooper, there was a whole squad of them and at their head stood General Hux.

When he entered the base Kylo found it in complete chaos. His attack on the lead dreadnought had the desired effect he wanted. The First Order was scrambling to defend itself, thinking it was under attack from a horde of Resistance fighters. That would come soon, but not just yet-Han, Chewie and Finn needed to complete their mission first and disable Starkiller's shields so the Resistance fighters could destroy it.

"Ben…. hey, son! Answer your old man, would you!" Han's irritated voice crackled through the handheld comm-link that was clipped to Kylo's belt. When Kylo didn't immediately answer, there followed a series of muffled curses from Han, complaining that the damn thing was useless. In the background Kylo could hear Finn calmly telling Han that the device was in perfect working order. Han silenced the former trooper with a sharp retort as he demanded Kylo answer him.

Kylo sighed in annoyance as he unclipped the small device and held it close to his mouth. "If you keep yelling like that, you'll attract unwanted attention. You're supposed to be keeping out of trouble, not looking for it." He seethed.

"I don't look for trouble. It finds me." Han answered grumpily. The sensitive microphone on the small comm-link picked up Chewie's loud whine in the background. There was another muffled curse from Han. "You're cold?" He accused his hairy friend.

Kylo huffed impatiently. "Are you even in the base yet?"

"We're close. Don't worry." Han downplayed everything as usual. "We just had a bit of a skirmish but we're all good now. We're about to go in. And you? You find the kid yet?"

"For fuc…." Kylo had to bite his tongue in order to stop himself venting his fury on his hapless father. "I've only just got here myself."

"What?" Han responded incredulously. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Nothing much-just blowing up a kriffing dreadnought!" Kylo snapped.

There was an amused chuckle from Han. "That's my boy. I'll check in again when we've disabled the shields. Say hi to Rey from me when you find her. Over and…"

Kylo cut off the link before his father had a chance to complete his sentence. He scowled as his fingers curled around the haft of his cross-guarded lightsaber. His anger burned as intensely as the fiery red plasma blade. Why did Han Solo never take anything seriously? He just had to have faith that Chewbacca could rein in his father's impetuousness long enough for them to complete the mission without incident. His sole focus was on finding Rey, that was the only reason he was here in the first place.

Dismissing everything else from his mind, Kylo gave himself over to the Force and immediately sought to bridge his mind with Rey's long enough to locate her. Elation washed over him as he felt the familiar sensation of their unique connection hovering on the edge of his consciousness. He could feel the raw power simmering underneath, like touching a live wire. As soon as their minds linked, Kylo was privy to all of Rey's thoughts and feelings, and what he saw infuriated him. Unforgiving rage burned like a hot white flame deep inside him, setting off a primitive part of the brain that is activated to produce aggression. His fingers tightened on the hilt of his saber as he lost control and sped off in hot pursuit of the target of his ire.

"We meet again, Ms. Tico." Hux sneered derisively in Rose's direction.

Rose's pretty features twisted into a fierce scowl as she stepped forward and spat in Hux's face. "You murdering bastard." She was immediately accosted by two of the troopers, who forced her down onto her knees in front of their enraged general.

Rey immediately went to her friend's aid, she fought valiantly with her bare fists, but was soon overwhelmed and forced down next to Rose. While she was being subdued, Hux took the opportunity to wipe the spittle from his face with the sleeve of his jacket. Rose was still struggling, unwilling to show any weakness in front of her loathed enemy. A pendant she wore around her neck fell to the floor and Hux immediately placed his boot over it, before leaning down to pick it up so he could inspect it.

"The Otomok system. That brings back memories." He said smugly as he leaned closer to Rose. "You vermin may draw a little blood with a little bite now and then." He continued as he carefully draped the pendant back around her neck, before letting his forefinger graze the soft skin of her cheek. "But we will always win."

Rose suddenly surged forward, her teeth biting down on that very same finger. Hux let out a startled yell as he jumped back, cradling his bloodied finger. Rose smiled up at him defiantly, not cowed at all.

"Execute them both!" Hux's reckless orders were cut off as he began to choke. His fingers began to claw at his throat. His face turning puce as his airways were completely cut off.

Rey exchanged a confused glance with Rose, before slowly turning her head so she could look over her shoulder. She had been so caught up in fighting for her life that she had been completely unaware of him, but as soon as her thirsty gaze drank him in, she could feel his dark rage seeping through the bond, tightening her throat and making her eyes burn. Rey hardly recognised him; this wasn't the man she had come to know. This man was truly terrifying, his dark eyes feverish with anger, his whole body was vibrating with it as he continued to Force choke his hated rival, Hux, for daring to lay a finger on her.

"Ben?" She whispered through bloodless lips.

Rose looked at Rey as if she had lost her mind. "What are you talking about?" She whispered harshly. "We're really in trouble now. That's Kylo Ren."

A/N-thanks for reading. Please review.