Eighteen.
"What d'ya mean, we can't see him?" Poe asked in exasperation. "He's ours!"
"I beg to differ," the heavyset humanoid sneered at him, his dark eyes and deeply tanned face mocking. "Possession is all of the law on D'Nolos. He is in our custody so he's ours."
"But this man is our agent, a man who is currently on a critical mission for the Resistance-and by doing this, you are siding against us!" Finn added, his fists clenched in exasperation. "Ilios Dando-we have to respectfully demand his release to our custody." The leader of the kidnappers-the Yanoj Free Traders, almost the most immoral and criminal gang in the Galaxy-pulled his thin lips into a leer, showing sharpened teeth.
"Good try but you'll have to bid for him like everyone else," Dando sneered, inspecting his grimy nails. Dressed in leather and studs, he was all business behind the steel desk. A bank of screens were playing behind him, showing markets, remote bids and personal messages from many of the potential bidders, all asking for a discount, favouritism, an edge… Finn felt his heart plummet, exactly understanding what they were facing.
"You broke into our ship and kidnapped him!" Poe protested.
"Did we mention he's actually one of our double agents?" Finn repeated, knowing now there was no chance of this grifter being reasonable.
"And you allowed the First Order to see him!" Rose put in suddenly, her eyes narrowing. Dando inspected her small shape as if she was some particularly nasty insect.
"Kylo Ren is their escaped traitor," he sneered.
"And they paid you well for the privilege," Rose realised before her eyes flashed in anger. "How much?"
"More than you can afford," Dando scoffed, looming over her. His mouth curled. "Unless you fancy some way of persuading me that there's something in it for me."
"Maybe the friendship of the Resistance-as opposed to our enmity?" Poe spoke up, his voice far calmer and less animated.
"Never heard of yer," Dando scoffed.
"You should," Rose told him. "We defeated the Final Order."
"Word was yer Jedi did that-and I don't see her here," Dando scorned.
"Our Jedi-and Ren," Poe insisted. "You don't want to be our enemy."
"I'll take my chances," Dando sneered. "Is that all? I'm a busy man." The leaders shared a look.
"Thank you for your time," Poe told him. "And be assured-our Jedi will have words with you." And with that, they stalked from the room. The little group walked along in silence until they reached the waiting others.
"What was that?" Finn asked as Poe ran his hands through his hair in exasperation.
"He's already decided who he's selling to," he explained.
"The First Order," Rose realised.
"So we have to be ready to act when it all goes down," Poe told her. "And for the record, when we get Rey back, I'm gonna her ask her to come here and trash this place." Rose stared at him in shock, her brows furrowing.
"You really believe that is possible?" she asked him directly, her tone still suspicious. Poe nodded.
"A lot has gone on that we haven't really gone into-but Ren has delivered," he explained. "And he delivered, every time we needed him to. He believes he can get her back. He's determined. I think…" And then he shook his head. "No, that's not right. He knows she is there-and she needs him. If there is any chance, we have to do whatever we can."
"You mean, we have to break him out from the middle of an auction in front of half the Galaxy?" Zorii asked them. "Ya think we can do this, flyboy?"
"I don't think anyone thought defeating the Final Order was possible either," Finn put in.
"But we improvised around it and got the job done," Jannah added. "So what's the plan?" Poe and Finn frowned but Rose gave them a stern look.
"If we're really doing this, then Beau and I will be our bidding team up in the stands while the rest of you find a way of getting Ren away," she said. "Take the Falcon and head directly to where you need to be. We'll field any questions here and head back to the Base. And tell Rey I love her and want her back too." Finn grabbed her shoulder and gave her a smile.
"Thanks," he breathed as they dived into the throng, rapidly heading to the imposing black stone arena that was the main slave market of D'Nolos.
-o0o-
It was like a prickle in the back of his head, not so much the sudden absence of sound as the gentle muting of the already muted sounds. But as he looked up, he knew he would see her.
What he wasn't expecting was to see another at her side, a tall relatively young male Jedi in old fashioned cream and tan robes with a stern expression and a familiarity that nagged somewhere at the back of his memory.
"Ben!" He swallowed. Her voice was worried, urgent even and she raced forward, her translucent shape crouching by him. He forced himself to smile, a weary expression that didn't reflect how he was feeling.
"Rey," he managed as his eyes drifted to the stranger. He was aware he had never seen a real Force Ghost-because he hadn't earned that right. Somehow, Rey had earned that during her training and had seen Luke-he had sensed the flash of his presence through their bond as he had raced towards Exegol. But Ben had been mired in darkness for so long and Sith didn't appear as Force Ghosts so he was shocked that Rey was looking…like this. It caused a shard of ice to stab his heart, hammering it home that perhaps, this was all for nothing. Perhaps it was too late and the Force had accepted her, meaning she was beyond resurrection. Maybe, while dealing with all of the consequences of his own crimes, he had lost the chance to atone a little by giving her the chance of life she deserved. Maybe he truly was alone.
And then her concern flooded his mind through their bond, her warmth and light chasing away the shadows and the grim, dark thoughts that whispered that he should give up now and return to the darkness where he belonged. That his attempts at redemption were vanity and a fantasy to soothe the guilt that everyone he had ever professed to care for had died for him. That he was death, poison, an anathema to life and only deserved misery and pain and torture and death…
"BEN!" Her insubstantial hands rested on his cheeks and he wondered how he could feel them when she wasn't there. She sighed. "Ben-focus on me," she breathed. "I can feel the darkness." He blinked and then closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I-I just…I mean…" He took a deep breath. "Are you okay?" She gave a small chuckle.
"Considering I'm dead-yeah, I'm just great," she teased him and then she looked up. "Ben-this is Anakin Skywalker…"
"My grandfather," he mouthed. The Jedi looked at him and quirked an eyebrow.
"At least you didn't die immediately after renouncing the Dark Side," he commented wryly. "That, at least, is a step in the right direction for the family." Lifting his shackled wrists, Ben scowled at the ghost.
"Yeah, we're really making great progress," he commented sarcastically. "Only another fifty kriffing generations before one of us actually gets to live a normal happy life."
"Well, that would be down to you, kid, since you are the last Skywalker," Anakin reminded him. His shoulders sagged.
"Then we're doomed-because I cannot see any way out of this," he admitted.
"The others are here," Rey told him. "They will help. I have faith in them. And in you. I know you can do this." Guilt curled in his stomach because he had been doing a pretty poor job so far. She glanced over to the former Sith Lord.
"You need to head to Mustafar," Anakin told him. "The ruins of Castle Vader hold the key. In the very bowels of the castle, where the gateway to the Dark used to exist, there is a vault which houses an ancient Sith holocron."
"Pertaining to resurrection?" Ben asked dryly, his eyes fixated on the ghost of his grandsire. Anakin nodded.
"Palpatine told you that the Sith had access to technologies and knowledge, some of which would be considered unnatural…" he reminded his grandson.
Images of the dark, gloomy temple, cold blue luminescent light lightening the smothering darkness enough to outline the rough hewn walls, the jagged throne, the enormous statues, the scientific equipment. A tank of Snokes, floating sightlessly. Weapons. And the machine, dangling the rotting corpse that moved despite greying, putrescent flesh and milky sightless eyes, the half-rotted features thrown into sharp relief by the ceaseless lightning…
"Are you sure he's gone?" he asked. "Please promise me he's gone…"
"The Emperor and the Sith are annihilated, finally," Anakin confirmed. "Rey, the last Jedi, is dead. All is balanced. But darkness and light still exist and your battle between them is the most intense because you suffered in the dark for so long. You used the dark, clung to it like a friend, used it to escape your pain and shield you from your loneliness."
"But I was still in pain. I was still lonely. More than ever."
Rey blinked at his honest words and he instinctively raised his hand to touch her insubstantial face. He could feel her distress through the Bond.
"It's okay," he sighed. "I accepted it. I thought there was no other choice. My mind was groomed, primed to allow Snoke to use me as his tool. I welcomed it because it was a kind of belonging. I thought I was in charge of my destiny. But all I did was serve a crueller master and sink deeper and deeper into the night." He took a slow breath. "I heard your voice." Anakin quirked an eyebrow and folded his arms. "At least I thought I did. In truth, it was Palpatine. Everything I believed in was wrong. And I committed terrible crimes in the name of that belief. And I still sometimes hear the whispers, generated by my own mind, trying to tempt me back." His fists clenched. "I don't want to go back. Force, please don't let me go back. Anything but that."
"I couldn't reach you while you were shrouded in Darkness," Anakin told him. "No one could reach you-until you made the decision to allow glimmers of light back in. To allow Rey in. She was your salvation, the only voice you needed. Not the voice of a dead Sith Lord who would have warned you that repeating my mistakes, following my damned path would never lead you to the release and salvation you sought. You craved the light, kid-and Snoke perverted that and made you a creature of darkness. You were lonely and he isolated you more. You were hurting and he tormented you. I was never the voice you needed."
"But I need you now," he breathed.
"Mustafar,"Anakin repeated. "I can't go there now. Neither can Rey. She will be waiting on Dathomir. You are the only one who can save her."
"And who will save me?" Ben asked as they started to fade. The door swung open and his guards marched in.
"Your friends," Anakin said. "And yourself."
"I have faith in you, Ben," Rey told him, her eyes lingering for a long moment. Warmth flooded down the bond. "No one is stronger than you. And I believe nothing will stop you when you begin on this quest."
He rose to his feet, staring into the empty space.
"I wish I believed in me as much as you did," he muttered as the the familiar shapes of his guards closed round him and his arms were grabbed.
"Showtime," Mongur sneered, his hand digging hard into Ben's bicep. Another four unfamiliar cowled guards had joined the party and he was jostled and hustled along a relatively short stone passage and out into a gritty arena. The cloudy sky formed a white-grey bland arch overhead as the black stone walls of the arena surrounded him, banks of seating crammed with buyers and screens decorating both sides, displaying his vital statistics in humiliating detail. His guards stepped back but still covered him as he scanned the stands, seeking Finn, Poe…even Chewie. But all he could sense was concern from the young woman wearing the Resistance tag on her cloak…Rose?…and an anxious-looking young man at her side. Disappointment bubbled in his throat and he felt a sour taste of betrayal. They had abandoned him again. Sooner of later, everyone abandoned him.
"And now the clock has ticked to the appointed time and we are present for the most eagerly anticipated auction in the history of the Galaxy!" Ilios Dando announced. His image filled the screens and his voice boomed round the arena, amplified to the point of distortion. He grinned and his arm swung out expansively. "Welcome, friends," he added and then his finger stabbed at the lone shape in the centre of the arena.
"Today we come to buy a single lot. This lot. Humanoid male, thirty standard years. Detailed biometric analysis has been circulated to all those who requested it and has been displayed on the boards. Known as Kylo Ren. Also known as Ben Solo. Also known as Ben Organa." Ben quirked an eyebrow: he had never, to his knowledge, ever taken his mother's name. "Also known as the Jedi Killer. Also known as the Master of the Knights of Ren. Also known as the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Also known as a traitor, a murderer, a genocide. Also known as a former Jedi Padawan. Now meat to be purchased."
"Objection!"
Silence fell over the arena as every eye turned to Rose, who had activated her microphone and was standing stiff and furious, her eyes sparkling with anger. The uncertainty was gone, replaced with white-hot rage.
"What?" Dando asked, his eyes suddenly perplexed and irritated that he had been thrown out of his flow. But Rose was the young woman who had started as a mechanic and loyal sister and who had stood up for what she believed to become a Resistance Leader.
"I object. To this whole concept-that you can sell anyone as a slave-because slavery was outlawed by the Republic, the Empire, the New Republic, the First Order and the Council of the Resistance! This is a core world and as such, this whole auction is illegal!"
"You can always go," Dando hissed, gesturing to the other buyers. "No one asked you to be here.".
"Or you can face up to the fact you have kidnapped a valued Resistance officer and are attempting to sell him to enemies who want to murder him!" Rose repeated, her voice durasteel hard. "A man who was safely within one of our vessels seeking supplies in a neutral port when he was brutally kidnapped. A man whose actions saved this Galaxy and ended the Emperor. A man who is the son of General Leia Organa-Solo and who accepted this most dangerous of missions."
Ben bowed his head, trying not to flinch. Almost everything she had said was wrong but he could sense her anger at the whole situation. A flash of memory treacherously reared its head and he recalled the glimpse of a medallion around her neck, the aura of sadness about her as she unconsciously touched it.
She lost someone to them in the war.
She had been a slave or seen slaves up close and hated the whole idea of slavery.
He couldn't argue with her on that one.
"So I am asking you very nicely to return him to us right now and we can all move forward legally and reasonably," she said sternly. Dando stared at her-then laughed out loud. There was a ripple of laughter that ran around the arena.
"I'm afraid all my esteemed guests and friends would be very disappointed!" he scoffed. "You've said your piece. Now let the rest of us get on with the business of the day…"
Ben inclined his head, hearing soft sounds behind him. The new guards had hauled back his usual guards, who had been loitering in the shady alcove at the entrance of the arena, while every eye had been on Rose. He frowned, hearing muffled thuds, cussing and then the muffled sound of a blaster had him flinching. Then the four new guards flanked him and one reached out, resting a hand on his arm. He shook the man off, his face closing.
"Easy, Ren," the familiar low voice of Poe murmured. "Play along."
"You okay?" Finn added.
"What do you kriffing think?" Ben growled, unable to stop himself.
"You look like shit," Finn told him bluntly.
"There you go," Ben muttered. "Do you actually have a plan?"
There was a click and his shackles opened very slightly.
"Yup," Poe murmured. "Be ready to help out and do something useful when we get the signal."
"No one asked you to come," Ben found himself saying ungraciously.
"Nah-but letting these people get their hands on you would betray what we stood for," Finn reminded him. "And Rey would expect us to help you."
"Shall we start at a million?" Dando roared over the PA. There was silence. "I see none of you are willing to show your hands but if you're not even willing to even start at a meagre million that will scarcely over my expenses, I may as well just hand him over the the Resistance…"
"ONE MILLION!" a voice precisely enunciated. There was a sigh as Dando grinned.
"A million it is!" he announced as Finn and Poe peered round Ben.
"Is that General Hugs?" the former pilot asked as Ben sighed.
"Yup. He's harder to get rid of than a case of Corellian Clap," he shot back.
"Not what I expected," Zorii murmured to Jannah as the two women took up station to the side. "Got a mouth on him like an old-time smuggler."
"Ten million!"
"Well, he's got them going now," Finn murmured.
"Forty!"
"Fifty!"
"Sixty!"
"General Hugs really really wants you," Poe murmured.
"Yeah, he said as much," Ben muttered. Tilting his head, Poe inspected him, his dark eyes sweeping over the tall shape of the former Supreme Leader with a calculating expression.
"You two got a thing going?" he asked. "You know a personal relationship sort of…"
"No."
"I guess I'm meaning more of a sexual sort of…"
"NO!"
"Because, well, I've obviously got nothing against anything like…"
"NO!"
"I mean, you guys have worked together for really long and what with the First Order being a bit…"
"What part of 'No' don't you understand?" Ben snapped. "Hux is an ass who has tried for years to undermine me, sideline me, even assassinate me. We competed for Snoke's favour and supremacy. I won. He lost. Now he wants to get his revenge."
"You know he was our spy?" Finn put in, glancing around. Many of the bidders had dropped out and were watching the handful of bidders left-all representing the less legal groupings wanting to get their hands on Kylo Ren…and, of course, the First Order.
"I'd gathered," Ben admitted.
"Though he admitted he didn't care if we won as long as you lost," Finn continued and he looked at Ben.
"Figures," he said.
"FOUR HUNDRED MILLION!" Hux's voice was sounding a little ragged. The representative of the Hutts, a vile bloated creature which smelled so bad there were three rows vacant all around him finally flicked his tail in disgust and dropped his hand. Dando glanced around at the muttering crowd.
"Any more offers?" he asked.
There was silence as Hux drew himself up.
"Sold to General Hux of the First Order for Four Hundred Million credits!" Dando announced.
"And that is our cue to leave," Poe murmured as he pulled Ben back. "I hope you're ready for this."
"Dameron-what the kriff is that supposed to mean?" Ben growled.
"Fetch my slave!" Hux announced as several of his Stormtroopers emerged from the gates at the opposite side of the arena. As one, the 'guards' all fired at them while the remaining Resistance members in the audience joined in and cut down the nearest couple of stormtroopers. There were screams and the sudden stampede of bidders running for cover which enabled Rose and Beau to scramble for cover. Dando dived for safety as he screamed for his own men to restore order while the stormtroopers lined up and as one, blasted at the pinned down would-be escapees. The others dived for cover but Ben reacted, eyes narrowing and hand flinging up to freeze the blaster bolts in the air. He was trembling with the effort, sweat standing out on his pale brow.
"If you wanna move…anytime would be good," he managed through gritted teeth. "Or shoot them. "Really 'm not fussy…" Zorii and Jannah immediately started blasting at the stormtroopers, followed instants later by Poe and Finn before Ben shoved the blasts back and watched them explode around the men who had fired them. The shackles fell from his wrists but he groaned as the current surged through his collar, activated by a cruel hand. Ben's mind immediately supplied the image of Hux, playing with his new favourite toy. Rose and Beau burst into the arena, ducking blasts from the pursuing stormtroopers. Without missing a beat, they accelerated over the bodies of the troopers Ben had taken down and fired over their shoulders, rapidly being followed by more white-armoured shapes as well as more of Dando's guards as Hux's frustrated screams sounded over the chaos.
"SHOOT THEM! GET MY PRISONER BACK!"
"You okay?" A dark-skinned woman leaned towards the sagging former Supreme Leader, her eyes professional and Ben glanced up.
"Be better if this thing was off," he murmured, gingerly touching the collar. A couple of trickles of blood seeped from under the rough metal. Then he stiffened again, his muscles tensed and he grunted in pain as a further surge of electricity ripped through him. "And soon."
"Any time?" Poe shouted into his comm as he fired back at the approaching guards and ducked down. In response, a familiar ship zoomed over the bank of seats, shielding the defenders from the raging maelstrom of blaster fire. The Millennium Falcon came in for a fast landing, engines still full on and ready to lift off. The ramp was down and the little band of defenders sprinted onto the old freighter, Ben and Jannah last. A blaster almost clipped his leg and he unconsciously deflected more shots as the current surged again. Then the ramp closed and he collapsed to his knees as the ship accelerated up. Everyone was thrown around the corridor.
"Poe-can you please start driving?" Finn yelled as they swooped over the city. Guns exploded around them and as they all started to straighten up, proximity alerts sounded.
"What's that?" Jannah asked as Rose scrambled over to Ben. The two women hauled him to the bank of seats by the chess table and Rose immediately started inspecting the collar.
"First Order Star Destroyer on intercept course," Poe reported, sliding into the pilot's seat as Chewie moved over. Finn and Zorii took the guns and prepared to fight their way out. Rose was frowning.
"I knew I should have choked Hux when I had the chance," Ben muttered.
"Exactly what we don't want you doing…Ben Solo," Rose murmured as Ben stared at her. "Hold still," she added, fiddling the collar.
"Thanks," he said after an awkward pause. Her eyes flicked up for a second.
"For what?"
"Helping," he admitted awkwardly. "I know you would rather have left me." She lowered the probe she was using and looked at him.
"No," she said. "Look, I hate everything you have done, everything you represent, everything you have supported…but I hate slavery more. And my friends were right. No matter who you are and what you have done, you deserve be treated the same as everyone else." She fiddled again at the collar and then sighed. There was a click and she gently removed the collar. He took a relieved breath and then looked down into her dark eyes.
"Thank you," he said simply. She rested the collar on the desk, dropping it as if it scorched her. There was no fear in her eyes as she faced him, reading his face carefully. She imagined she would be more alarmed facing Kylo Ren…but she understood what Poe and Finn meant: there was no malignancy hanging around this man. He was still big and imposing physically but there was a subdued sensation that made her feel…sad. As if something was missing and he was merely existing, not quite living. She chewed her lip. Her head wanted to scream at him for everything he had done but one on one, her heart reminded her…that he was still human. He needed to pay and make reparations for his sins…but allowing his execution or being tortured or enslaved made them no better than the First Order. She sighed.
"Rey was one of my closest friends…and if you think you can get her back…then that should be your penance," Rose told him sternly. "Whatever it takes, whatever you have to do-I want her back." There was just the faintest hint of a smile as he heard her words.
"That's something we both agree on," he told her. The ship shook.
"Hang on!" Poe yelled. "We got company."
"HUX," he growled, feeling the approach of the enormous StarDestroyer. He winced as a bracket of shots from the ventral and dorsal guns exploded far too close. The shapes of TIEs dodged around them, exchanging fire with Finn and Zorii. A desire to help, to fight for himself jerked him to his feet as they slammed sideways. He hung onto the table, almost losing his balance. The raw fury of Hux was discernible across the Force, frustrated beyond all reckoning: somehow, it made him feel a hundred times better.
A TIE fighter exploded just off the port hull, the death of the pilot causing him to wince.
And then they shot into hyperspace.
"They're going to follow, aren't they?" Rose asked. He nodded, heading for the cockpit.
"Hux just paid four hundred million credits so he could gloat over me for years and torture me to death…eventually…" he reminded her. "Of course he's annoyed. He's not giving up."
"And a number of the rest won't as well," Jannah commented, following him to the cockpit.
"Did we just make ourselves fugitives?" Beau asked, listening to the chatter on the comm. "Because it kind of sounds like we just did…"
"Good to be popular," Poe teased him. Ben scowled as he stared at the elongated star trails all around them. He could sense it: time was running out. The image of Rey as a Force Ghost, irrevocably lost to him, surged urgency through his exhausted body.
"Set a course for Mustafar," he said.