Chapter 7: Stormtrooper of Sorts

Salty tears were still clinging to Rey's eyelashes from a long night of crying herself to sleep when the door to her room opened quite abruptly the next morning. Those same lashes blinking against the sudden light so that the moisture shimmered there, Rey squinted at Finn and a deeply concerned Rose backlit against the threshold.

"Rey?" Her best friend's voice was gentler than she had expected, considering her actions the previous day, which now came rushing back along the wave of grief. "Time to get up."

"Come on, love," Rose extended out a hand. "It won't do to just stay in bed."

Maker Bless Rose Tico. And so, even though getting out of bed was the last thing she wanted to do, Rey reluctantly threw back the covers. She didn't even bother stepping in the fresher, preferring instead to stay in the clothes she'd gone to bed in and pinning up the buns in her hair that had jostled loose during the night.

Finn led the two most important women in his life towards the hangar bay, he, his beloved technician and the Jedi walking three abreast. Between her two compatriots, Rey gazed resolutely at her feet, distrusting her bantha-skin moccasins to take her where she wanted to go. Entering the hangar, Finn led the girls over to the base of a sleek and large Y-Wing, where two men were huddled together and talking.

"Gentlemen!" he called out to the pair. "I'd like to introduce you to some folks. This is Rose Tico, my girlfriend, and this is my best friend, the Jedi I was telling you about."

Both men turned to face the group. Rey was immediately struck by the one on the left.

He had a chiseled face, kind and ice-blue eyes, with flaming red hair that tumbled down to his shoulders. Muscular, with a chest just as broad as Ben's. Though Rey would always maintain that her recently deceased husband was the most handsome man she had ever met, she had to admit... this man came in at a close second.

Clearing his throat, the redheaded man held out his hand to Rey. "ADM-4548, ex-Stormtrooper... of sorts."

Rey pursed her lips in a thin, but amused smile as she shook it. "Rey Solo, Jedi of sorts."

ADM-4548 chuckled, the timbre of his voice deep and rich... and also accented, much like Rey's own. Then, he did a double-take, upon hearing her surname. "Solo... you don't mean to say that THE Han Solo is your father?"

"Father-in-law," Rey corrected, her heart twinging in pain as two deaths now seemed to play out in her mind back-to-back. Han falling off that skybridge, and then just last night, when the last of life left her beloved Ben as she cradled him.

ADM-4548 dipped his head as he took this in. "In that case, I am delighted, Mrs. Solo."

Rey smiled broadly. "Thank you, Mr..."

ADM-4548 grinned self-deprecatingly. "No surname, unfortunately. But please, call me Adem."

"Nice to meet you, Adem."

As Adem turned to exchange pleasantries with Rose, the second man stepped forward to shake her hand. He had dark skin, though browner than Finn's.

"NK-0809. You can call me Neek'o."

Rey giggled a little at the name. "Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Finn actually helped me, a little bit," Neek'o smiled at Rey's best friend. "He told me the story of how he got his name, and so I just sort of stitched it together." He turned to her earnestly. "I am glad to meet a Jedi."

Rey grinned. "The pleasure's all mine, Neek'o. But how did you and Adem get here?"

At this, Neek'o's gaze turned grim. "We were on the Darth Nihilus X-Wing craft carrier, orbiting just off of Hapes, when a mass mutiny took place. Troopers refusing to engage innocent civilians instead took on their commanding officers and hijacked the ship. We incurred many casualties to do it, but didn't realize that one of the Admirals had deliberately disengaged the anti-gravity shields. By the time we did, the carrier was being dragged into Hapes' orbit. It was too late to save her. Many of us had no choice but to abandon ship. Adem and I commandeered one of the last escape pods out and set a course for the Resistance, here."

"And apparently, there are more, Rey," Finn came up behind her excitedly. "Stormtroopers rebelling all over the Outer Rim systems and the Core Worlds. We expect many more of them to find their way here, in the coming day cycles. They will have to be absolved into our fighting forces, maybe even be deprogrammed from conditioned thinking."

"Neither of you seemed to have any struggles with turning against the First Order, though," Rey looked between Adem and Neek'o.

Turning back from where he had been chatting with Rose, Adem peered at Rey almost intensely. "It was... an instinct. A feeling. That what we had been doing till now was wrong."

Finn nodded, all too familiar with that belief himself. But to Rey, it meant only one thing: the Force.

"Will we be meeting with your leader, Lieutenant General?" Adem addressed Finn.

"Oh, I'm sorry - yes, you shall, but he is in a fragile condition at the moment. In the med ward. Took a nasty scrape yesterday." He said all this while making a concerted effort to not look at Rey, and kept his wording intentionally vague. Rey appreciated it.

"How is he?" She immediately cursed herself for her concern, recalling all over again just what Poe had done to her. To Ben.

"He'll live," Finn clipped shortly. There was a small pause. Thankfully, Rose broke it.

"I'll escort you to General Dameron's rooms, gentlemen," she offered. "Finny, you can meet us there."

Smiling at his lover gratefully, Finn softly pecked her lips. "Thank you," he murmured.

Rose and the defected Stormtroopers headed for the double doors. As soon as they were out of earshot, Finn turned to Rey, eyes grim and admonishing. Rey winced, even as she internally stood her ground. If he was looking for an apology, she would give it to him, but never to Poe.

"Am I going to be punished? Court-martialed or something?"

Finn ran a tired hand over his face. "No. I spoke to Poe this morning about it. He was awake and alert, and he made it clear to me that he will not press charges."

Rey blinked in surprise, but the vindictive side of her drew back, hissing in a threatened way. If this was Poe's magnanimous way of trying to get an apology in return, well then, sorry, but he was out of luck. Unsure how to respond to the gesture, Rey opted to say nothing, scuffing at the ground with her bantha-skin moccasins.

"I'm going to run the training course," she mumbled. "Have fun getting Adem and Neek'o acclimated." She didn't mention how Finn would be seeing Poe again. She would feel content if she never mentioned the pilot from this point forward. Trying to hide frustrated and bitter tears, she hurried out to the jungle trees, Finn staring after her.

Finn took his time meandering back to Poe's room in the med ward. Thankfully, his beloved apparently had too, for he somehow met up with her, Adem, and Neek'o just as they were reaching the door to Poe's suite.

Large brown eyes wide in loving concern, Rose rested a gentle hand on Finn's chest, searching his face. "Is Rey OK?"

Finn didn't know which expression he should show on his face, much less how to respond except, "Let me get back to you on that?"

Biting her lip, her face pretty, Rose nodded before turning and opening the door to Poe's room.

"Leave it by the door!" Poe huffed almost reflexively.

"I'm not your maid, Dameron," Rose scowled, though there was levity in her voice.

Poe Dameron lifted his head from where he had been morosely staring at the ceiling. "Oh, it's you, Rosie," he sighed, flopping back. He couldn't even be bothered to chastise her for not addressing him appropriately.

"How are you feeling, General?" Finn tiptoed into the room behind Rose.

Poe shrugged, but even this flippant gesture caused him to hiss with pain. "See for yourself."

Drawing near the bed, Finn felt his mouth drop as the light caught the skin on Poe's upper arms. Red lines, circling down in rings until they colored more like a salmon pink, ran from both shoulders to elbows. At the moment, it appeared not unlike the indentations someone got when sleeping too long on one side.

"Forearms, same story, under all these bandages," Poe grunted. "They'll heal just as well as up here, eventually."

Finn gestured lamely, still gaping like a Sando aqua monster. "This... is healed?"

Poe sighed, fixing Finn with a comforting stare. "The Bacta tank did its work, Finn. It could be a lot worse."

"I daresay it could," Finn quipped. In any case, he was beginning to second-guess Poe's decision to not press charges against Rey. Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. "Sir, I know you're on bedrest, but there is an urgent matter that needs to be discussed with you, in the form of these two men." He beckoned for Adem and Neek'o to come forward. "This is Adem, formerly ADM-4548, and Neek'o, formerly NK-0809."

Poe shook each of their hands in turn, lingering a little on Neek'o while lifting his head from the pillow with interest. Neek'o also appeared to be appraising him with intrqiue, dark eyes bright and smile exuberantly wide as their hands shook.

"Defected Stormtroopers?" Poe turned to Finn excitedly.

"There was a mass mutiny on the X-Wing craft carrier, the Darth Nihilus, just outside Hapes' orbit," Finn reported.

Poe nearly cackled with glee, turning to their new comrades earnestly. "Will there be any more mass defections?"

"One can only hope, General," Neek'o reported. "Especially once word gets round that the Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren, is dead."

The dark-skinned man's coal-black eyes gleamed, bloodthirsty, but at this, the light in Poe's eyes strangely faltered. Dimmed, even as he took in the handsome, dark-skinned man. Neek'o didn't appear to notice.

"Miss Tico briefed us, we understand that he was assassinated last night," Adem prodded.

"That is true..." Poe allowed, his voice significantly more hollow. Then, under his breath so no one else could hear, he added, "From a certain point of view..." He cleared his throat. "Finn, see to it that these gentlemen are given proper quarters, three square meals a day, and a new assignment. They are to both be commended for their bravery."

"Right away, sir," Finn saluted. As he ushered everyone out, Neek'o's eyes lingered.

"I'm glad to have met you, General Dameron. I hope to see you again."

Poe couldn't help but grin broadly, even as a strange pink discolored his cheeks to match his scarred arms. "You as well, Private Neek'o..." Humming to himself curiously once his allies were out of sight, he sank back into the bedclothes and tried to go to sleep.

Poe felt like he had only just drifted off when he was jostled awake by someone entering his room. By the light of the setting sun pouring in, Rey's face, twisted in anger and pain, seemed bathed in fire, making her appear as ghoulish as a demon from Hell.

Poe stiffened, and the monitor keeping tabs on his heart-rate started to beep faster. "Rey..." he breathed.

The heartbroken Jedi widow drifted quite close to the bed, but halted at the footboard. Still, Poe glanced her up and down, eyes wary with fear. His voice belied this with a strange calm as he asked:

"Are you going to kill me?"

"I would certainly like to..." Rey snarled, her words more growl than Basic.

"Why don't you?" Poe almost goaded, gaze challenging. Even as his insides twisted and pain of his own fought to creep its way onto his face.

For a long and tense moment, Rey's hand flickered to the lightsaber hilt at her hip. Then, her entire expression shattered, her body sagging with exhaustion. Tears slipping down her cheeks, she finally willed herself to sort of look Poe in the face. Her pained brown eyes seemed torn between beholding him and the monitor at his left.

"I never want to see you again..." she drew forth in a shaky whisper. "And I will never forgive you for what you did."

Poe's entire frame slumped, but he nodded numbly. He couldn't think of anything he could possibly say as Rey turned and slunk despondently out of his room...