Eris' acquaintance with Han and Chewbacca spanned ten years, how often she'd spent time with them spanned less. She went months, years even, without seeing them and the time they had spent together lasted only a short time. Often she was their hired gun, having more connections, the reputation that followed her spanned farther, and often she took what she needed and left them stranded somewhere safe. But of all the times she'd been with them, had flown with them, had fought with them, one thing remained constant: their incessant bemoaning of their lost ship the Millennium Falcon.
"Ship that made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs has seen better days," Eris responded to the view she was greeted with. It was dirty, run down, abused, and barely holding together after years of neglect. This wasn't the infamous ship she'd been told about. This hunk of metal looked more like something Rey would scavenge for old parts.
Something Chewie wholeheartedly disagreed with and was quick to correct her in a series of harsh growls.
Eris raised her hands in surrender. "I'm sure it was the best ship in its time," she relented but the sarcasm was heard thick in her dry voice. Chewie gave a growl of a sigh as he motioned for her to sit. "Well I can at least start it up while we're waiting," she said ready to get going. The longer Rey was with Kylo Ren the less chance they had of getting her back, already Rey could've escaped immediate capture but she was still stuck on the base and was the most important prisoner The Order had ever had.
But Chewbacca bellowed a response shaking his head and pointing again to a chair.
"What d'you mean I can't be trusted?" she demanded causing Chewie to throw his head back and laugh at the absurdity of trusting her. "I always ditch you somewhere safe," she said in her defense. At the Wookie's next words she crossed her arms defiantly. "Yeah it's safe here, point for you. Won't I still need a pilot to get to the base?"
Chewie had always liked her attitude, had found her amusing, but it was usually aimed at Han rather than him. His cries echoed in the empty ship, his mouth open wide, his array of teeth exposed as he reminded her she usually flew alone.
It was true and she supposed it was strange to find that she'd willingly come to the Resistance's base instead of knocking out Poe and flying them somewhere else. "That ship was a hunk of junk I wouldn't've gotten it anywhere. I did need him."
Roughly translated his next remark fell more in line with, you keep telling yourself that. He pointed again to the chair before walking back off the ship and helping to prepare them for what could be their last day.
Eris didn't take the chair. She'd never been good at sitting back and letting others make decisions, if she had a hand in everything it meant she knew everything there were minimal surprises. She didn't even know what weaponry they'd have available to them hell she didn't even know the plan. All she knew was this rag tag group of four was gonna infiltrate the Starkiller Base and find Rey, the others she assumed were going to fly around trying to break through the Order's defenses and maybe serve as a distraction. She was finding herself, yet again, being forced into a position where she didn't know what to expect.
So she paced. Over and over her boots clanged harshly on the floor, her hands folded behind her back, her eyes downcast. She was weighing her options: find Rey, get Han Chewie and Finn back on board ditch them somewhere and get away. That was the only way she stayed out of a prison cell. Rey wouldn't go for it she was too good to leave anyone behind, would suggest trying to talk to General Organa about pardoning her. Diplomacy and pragmatism weren't always the same, she'd have to leave Rey – or knock her out. Which brought Eris to her second option: knock the boys out keeping them on the ship, find Rey, knock her out, she'd fly them somewhere far far away from the Resistance and the Order where they could live as outlaws. Han and Chewie would probably be up for it, Rey might be as well depending on whether they told her about the Resistance's involvement, and Finn being a runaway stormtrooper would jump at the chance. And even if when they all woke they wanted to go back they could drop Eris somewhere safe, and who knew maybe watching her walk away would prompt Rey to go with her.
"You plannin how to leave us?"
Her shoulders slumped as she turned to Poe, facing the problem she couldn't solve. He was the leader of a squadron if she took Rey and left she'd be leaving him behind. The thought of that weighed on her more than it should've. "You need me to be there?" she asked heavily.
Poe looked at her troubled face knowing she was weighing options, most of which he knew involved abandoning him and his men – the fact that she was even considering it should've been a deterrent but he could see she was formulating a plan she wasn't happy with which meant she wouldn't leave. "Yeah," he answered giving her the simple honest truth.
Her eyes fell from his searching gaze and she instead looked at the black signa on his white vest. "Then I'll be there," she told him unhappily, the proof of which was visible in her frowning mouth.
He nodded glad to hear, and even happier to hear he was the reason. "I told her as much," he said admitting his confidence in her loyalty – and it was a relief to hear that he'd been right about her. But her eyes narrowed hearing a request. "The general wants to speak to you, only for a moment then we'll move out."
"Sounds like a waste of time," Eris said but stepped forward and walked down the hatch with Poe at her back whispering a hushed plea for her to behave. "Yeah yeah," she said more so to mess with him.
She found the general standing with a knowing look in her sad eyes beside her guilty husband. "Han's said a lot about you," Eris said coming to a stop in front of them, finding herself very uncomfortable beneath the weight of her gaze. "You're smaller than I thought you'd be."
A smile twitched on Leia's mouth as she looked the girl over. And she truly was a girl, not even thirty and already she had a reputation spanning the galaxy, already she'd known such loss. Leia could feel the ache gnawing inside her, eating away at her soul til their was nothing left but bone. And Leia could feel it was what Eris wanted, to be empty, to be rid of his memory. "You have more good in you than I thought you would," Leia responded seeing the surprise in Eris' face at that declaration. "It's nice to formally meet you," she extended her weathered hand and shook Eris' firm one, "Eris Neme."
Han stood with his hands in his pockets watching her face shatter, the walls behind her eyes crumbled, she looked as she had five years ago – as if no part of her had been able to heal.
"Cal Neme was a great man," Leia said, her heart going out to the girl. "He would've done his people proud. I am very sorry for your loss." The words he'd once said about her, his Viderian, were why Leia would pardon her. It was obvious to her that Eris wasn't a woman who didn't pick sides, she was a woman who was so lost she didn't know what end was up.
Eris scuffed her shoes on the ground looking everywhere but at Leia. "If that's what you wanted to talk about I'd rather go."
Leia nodded, Poe having warned how hard she could be. "I'd like to know what this girl means to you," she said cutting to the point of why she'd asked to speak to her having known Han would break her out when he was the one who knew her.
"Rey?" Eris asked looking up at Leia's kind and aged face. The answer was there was no answer, and it almost pained her to say, "I don't really know her." It was a surprise to even her, all she'd done to get this kid back. "She's good, a lot better than I am." Eris brushed her tangled hair out of her face not knowing if there was any other reason but knowing she was done talking. "That's all I have to say," she said abruptly turning on her heel and marching back to the starship.
She didn't know what Leia's intentions had been, she knew the old woman wanted something from her just not what. It didn't help that Cal had known Leia, had been saved by the Resistance and held the former princess on a pedestal. Eris didn't know if she helped her case or made it worse but it didn't matter now because she planned to stick around long enough to make sure Poe stayed alive. Which meant sticking around long enough there was no other option but return to the Resistance.
Needless to say she was a very disgruntled passenger and she sat herself in the seat behind Han's with her harness buckled glaring at the back of his head. "Is she looking at me?" Han asked feeling daggers at the back of his neck. Chewie turned to see Eris' yellow tinted eyes fixated on Han's skull. He turned back to Han and shook his head innocently.
Finn looked over at her remembering how hard her hand had slammed into his chest and that she was prettier than she had any right being. He wondered if Rey thought so too. "How long have you known Rey?" he asked wondering how close the two were.
Without taking her eyes from Han Eris blandly answered, "few days longer than you."
"Really?" Finn asked sounding so surprised she turned to him with knitted brows. "From what she said I thought you knew her longer," he said by way of explanation. Though in truth Rey hadn't said much, only that Eris might come looking for her, and when Finn asked who Eris was Rey answered with, the only person I have. Finn assumed Eris was male, cute, someone Rey was attached to given the hope she had that Eris would come for her. Given the light in her eyes when she'd said Eris' name. This mean pale woman wasn't what Finn expected.
Raising a brow Eris tilted her head as she appraised the boy seeing the intention in his nervous stare – he liked Rey. "It was love at first sight," she answered dryly watching his eyes widen. "She chained me to a wall, that's how I knew it was love." She turned back to Han's head finding she wasn't half as irritated as before, instead she was anxious to get Rey and get the hell off the base before Kylo Ren realized she was there.
"Are you joking?" Finn asked quietly, not knowing enough about Eris to tell if she was being serious.
With a hard roll of her eyes Eris turned back to him. "Of course I'm joking," she said seeing him give a quick laugh that might've been out of relief. Kid was as obvious as they came, not that Rey was likely to notice when she was a bit thick.
He sat back with a sigh feeling better about seeing Rey, now that he knew for sure Eris wasn't romantically attached. Although then he was left with getting to Rey, it was a testament to his own loyalty that he was going back to the very evil he'd tried so hard to escape from. "How're we getting in?" he asked knowing there were measures to keep unwanted visitors from entering.
"Their shields have a fractional refresh rate," Han answered feeling the ship begin to drop out of lightspeed which meant they were nearly there. "It keeps anything traveling slower than lightspeed from getting through."
The meaning behind those words had Eris uncrossing her legs as she sat up and turned to an equally wary Finn. "We're making our landing approach at lightspeed?" he asked wondering what Solo's plan was to keep them from crashing, because there was no way they wouldn't.
Eris watched Finn rise to his feet and she reached an arm out grabbing the hem of his jacket and pulled him back into his seat. "We're landing at lightspeed," she said over Han's order for Chewie to get ready, "buckle up." Unlike Finn she'd flewn with Han many times before, he was reckless and brave, and more than that he was damn good. But while she had no doubt they'd land safely she knew they'd be sore and bruised from how wildly they were thrown around.
And she wasn't wrong. They dropped out of lightspeed level with the base's tree line, they were all thrown forward as they struck and then jarred as they hit the ground. "I am pulling up!" Han yelled to Chewie. The force with which the bottom of the ship landed on the rocky cliff flung them back into the air with their momentum propelling them forward, and as gravity would have it their ship violently crashed back onto the planet. There was a moment, a brief second of fear, as Eris caught sight of the cliff they were now skidding toward that she honestly thought they'd die. But luck was apparently on their side as they were brought to a jolting halt just beside the edge.
Unbuckling herself and pushing the hair out of her face Eris stood on uneasy legs and stepped toward the back of the ship for the exit.
"Just like old times, huh Eris?" Han asked close at her back.
Casting a dark look over her shoulder she seethed, "go suck a nerf Han."
Her insult had him pausing as he looked at her back. "There's that winning personality that's gotten you so many friends," he sneered as he began walking again, grabbing a jacket on the way. "How's that been workin for ya?"
"Coming from the old man whose best friend's giant dog."
Han heard Chewie laughing behind him, far too used to her to mind that she'd insulted him as well – Chewie had stopped minding when he realized she liked him. They all pulled closer at the first bite of the frigid air, their feet crunching in the snow. "Want my jacket?" Han asked seeing around his hood Eris' thinner form as she marched with her arms hugging her waist tightly.
"No," she said through clenched teeth and a trembling jaw.
She was as predictable as he was sometimes which was exactly why he'd offer because he got feel like a gentleman without having to do a damn thing. He did look to Chewie and jerk his head in her direction causing the Wookie to move closer to her, not that he was any warmer. When Finn caught his first glimpse at the daunting structure he stopped. "The flooding tunnel's just over that ridge. We'll get in that way," he said pointing in the general direction, seeing Eris' purple head following his hand. Poe told him she was a great ally to have, difficult as anything, but she'd put herself in front of any blaster to keep the people with her safe; but his compliment was double handed, he warned Finn to watch her in case she decided to leave. Finn was seeing Poe was right, he looked at Eris' narrowed eyes as she tried to spot the entrance realizing she was already planning it. He'd have to watch her alright.
"What was your job when you were based here?" Han asked wondering how the kid knew about the flooding tunnels.
Finn's answer was simple. "Sanitation."
"Sanitation?" Han repeated baffled at the kid who helped plan their whole mission having been in sanitation. "And how do you know how to disable the shields?" he asked seeing Eris' head turn as she rolled her eyes.
"I don't," Finn answered simply still. "I'm just here to get Rey."
She looked at him then, saw the honesty in his readable face; he'd be easier to convince than anyone to cut ties and run. Finn had looked to Eris for added measure as a show that he'd been honest earlier when he first told her he only wanted to get Rey – Eris already knew she was gonna like this kid. He'd probably be more willing to live an outlaw's life than Rey, they'd double team Rey she'd have to agree.
Han looked between the two having known what Eris would do soon as he broke her out, he'd only hoped either the pilot or Rey would convince her to stick around to help. "People are counting on us," Han somehow finding himself the voice of reason. "The galaxy is counting on us."
Finn looked at him excitedly and shrugged. "Solo, we'll figure it out." His face was the optimism of that of a child and it was almost endearing. "We'll use the Force."
And there went all thoughts of Eris liking him, he was thicker than Rey and she didn't have time for naïvee. With a scoff she walked in the direction Finn had pointed leaving the three behind, hearing Han break the news to Finn that wasn't the way the Force worked. She smiled though at Han's raised voice asking, "oh really you're cold?" as they marched on after her. Leave it to Chewie, she thought to herself as she wrapped her arms further around her waist against the wind.
She made it before they did, and after hauling the heavy door and wincing at its moan she stepped in and slowed her breaths to listen. Finn came in next watching her back, making sure she didn't run off, and he watched her step forward on light feet and peer around a corner. "What's she doing?" he asked when Han stepped in after him seeing her drop to a crouch with both palms flat on the floor.
Han pulled off his jacket and let it drop to the ground waiting until she righted herself, satisfied no one was coming. "Feeling for vibrations," he answered stepping forward.
Finn nodded understanding that she'd been feeling for footsteps. She was a hunter, it wasn't until he saw her in this base with her wild violet hair that he recognized her – or at least the idea of her. Her callsign was 501, the only one of her kind as far as Finn had been told – she was more than the average bounty hunter to The Order but she wasn't actually with them which discluded her from being an agent. "Do you know who she is?" he asked hushedly turning to Han.
"We don't have time for this," Han said pushing past him standing in the wide doorway next to her. "The longer we're here the less luck we're gonna have. Which way?" he asked forcing Finn to the front.
Eris felt his eyes on her as they walked, checking every so often that she was still there. She stuck to his side letting her arm brush against his every so often so he'd know she was there. It was a pattern, one he got used to. He didn't have to see her over his shoulder he could feel her. Which meant he wasn't consciously seeking her out, his mind was convinced she was there.
"What's the plan, kid?" Han asked looking around them with a blaster raised on the chance they stumbled across anyone in the halls. Eris was good, very much so, but that didn't mean she was omniscient, she couldn't be there with them and still listen for small sounds – she'd miss something. And it had him wondering why she wasn't at the front considering she'd probably been to this base and walked these halls til she had it memorized incase she was ever the one who needed to escape.
"My old captain'll know where the shield's coms are and how to shut them off. Besides, I've got several things I'd like to tell her," Finn said wishing he'd ever seen her face so he could imagine the surprise on it. He was brought short by Eris throwing her arm across his chest stopping him in his tracks. With her hand now wrapped around his arm she stood holding him to her side as she listened, hearing the rustling of Han's pants as he stopped, the deep breaths of Chewie behind her, the muted muffled voices around the corner ahead of them. She couldn't make out a single word spoken and the hair on her neck rose when what she heard next was silence.
"Don't move," she breathed before turning to look at the walls. Her feet were light, her steps quick and quiet, her hands running along the wall looking for any doorway and praying it would open. With a soft whoosh one opened and Finn peered around Chewbacca's shoulder watching her run in. He half expected someone to cry out, to yell intruder. He turned to Han and opened his mouth.
Han was quick to raise a finger to his lips silencing him. He knew Eris, someone was coming down the hall and someone was in the room, only thing they could do was wait. The three men released the breath they'd been holding when she came back into the hall and motioned quickly for them to follow. Soon as they all they were all inside she shut the door, nearly catching Chewie's fur.
She stood with an ear pressed to the metal listening to the two pairs of feet rounding the corner and come to a stop, looking both directions wondering if someone was there because they'd heard voices – voices not distorted by helmets. The sound of their footsteps started again and Eris breathed a sigh of relief to find them growing softer. They'd turned the other way. She moved from the door and knelt beside the The Order agent who'd been inside and pulled the knife from his throat where she'd stuck it. "Here's an idea," she said turning to the others, two of which knew she was brutal and one who stood with a closed mouth and wide eyes staring at her bloody knife, "no more talking in the hallways. We all in agreement?" She moved back to the door and pushed the button to open it, pulling the blaster from her belt she quickly looked in the direction the others had gone before looking behind her.
Han nodded at the hand she raised knowing she meant for them to stay there while she checked it out. "You know where your former captain's gonna be?" he asked looking to Finn, who had to tear his eyes from the body lying on the floor.
"What?" he asked having not heard. But as Han sighed and opened his mouth to repeat himself Finn saw the open door, he'd forgotten to watch her. "Where is she, you don't let her go out there alone did you?"
"Kid," Han hissed trying to grab him before he could run out there.
But he missed and Finn looked down the empty hall seeing no sign of Eris' gray suit or her dark hair. He ran forward rounding the corner to see yet another empty hall. "She's gone," he said reentering the room.
"Of course she's not," Han said shoving passed him thinking Eris wouldn't leave them, not when they were all so vulnerable. But he saw what Finn had, bare metal walls. "Aw hell."
.^.
Eris moved quickly stepping on the balls of her feet not making a sound as she rushed through hall after hall. They were too loud all together, they were going after the shield first as well. Han was right the longer they were there the less luck they'd have – someone was gonna find them and whether or not they'd be able to fight their way out Eris planned on having Rey before the fighting started. Besides, she'd always been better on her own.
She was brought to a halt at distorted voices. Her feet were widespread having gone to take another step but didn't finish it, her shoulders were bent forward as she strained to listen. There were four of them, four distinct metallic sounding voices, and they weren't moving. She dropped to the floor and crawled slowly to the fork in the hall; left were stormtroopers, right was a wall, behind her was backtracking, and forward was the bridge that'd take her to the other side of the base where prisoners were kept to be interrogated. Eris didn't know where Rey was or if she'd even gotten free, forward was the only option.
With as little of her face exposed as possible Eris looked down the perpendicular hall to see four stormtroopers standing at the back having some sort of a conversation about Kylo Ren's prisoner having escaped. All Eris heard was the word escape, that was all she needed the rest was noise. Watching them, waiting until the two that faced her end of the hall were blocked by the two with their backs to her she got on her hands and feet and darted across to the other side. She stood with her back to the wall holding her breath listening, hearing their uninterrupted conversation continue and breathed a quiet breath of relief.
Every turn was a threat, every corner, every hall – there were stormtroopers and guards everywhere – half the time she was forced to climb the wall and hang from the ceiling. Her least favorite place as it had both her hands occupied unable to reach for a weapon. Until finally she reached the last walkway that led to the center of the base with a large chasm in the middle. She didn't know what it was or what it did, all she knew was there was a bridge somewhere – the problem, of course, were the stormtroopers. She wouldn't get anywhere without being seen, and they were making rounds walking on the platform overlooking the…
Eris caught sight of a dirty light brown tunic set against the cold gray of the metal lining the walls of the chasm. She couldn't have helped the smile that spread wide on her face if she'd tried. Dammit was the kid good. Eris watched Rey climb inside something in the wall, seeing the stormtroopers on the other side she'd been avoiding.
Eris ran. Back the way she'd come, going right then left then straight. She turned down the hall to see the four were still there, she pulled her staff from her belt and flicked her wrist elongating the sharpened end. They were caught wholly by surprise. She gutted two, sticking the rod through their soft middles like a kabob. She knocked the feet out from under one, and while he fell she grabbed her dagger and jammed it up through the last ones chin feeling him jerk before he fell limp. Grabbing the handle of her staff she flicked the lever retracting it letting the two dying troopers fall to the ground. The one she'd knocked down didn't have a moment to collect himself, to understand what'd happened before she was standing over him. He reached for his gun at the sight of her cold face, his mind finally catching up, but not faster than her. By the time he moved she already pressed the lever unleashing the blade on her staff and it stuck in his neck. He choked for several long moments, blood pooling on the floor beneath him, his hand reaching uselessly to his throat. And then he stilled, his hand fell limp, his blood kept coming, and his voice was silenced.
She pulled the blade from his throat and retracted it, far too used to her own brutality to spare thought to what she'd done. Her mind was on Rey, on getting her as far from this planet and Kylo Ren as she could. She bypassed the pathway entirely through the halls of the base, and after a few minutes Eris found herself on the other side of the chasm. "Need a hand?"
Rey looked up from the structure she was climbing to see the owner of the light yet firm voice. In the cantina Han had taken them to Rey had seen a great many aliens new to her, but none like this one. "Eris," Rey sighed taking her hand and pulled herself onto the platform. Without warning Rey threw her arms around Eris' shoulders holding her as though she were the very air she needed to breathe. "I didn't think you'd find me," she mumbled into her hair having wished Eris had been there from the beginning. Eris had crossed the galaxy to find her, and she clung to Eris not wanting to lose the warmth of that realization.
"Told you I would, didn't I," Eris said wrapping her arms tight around Rey's back. As the more practical of the two Eris kept her hold on Rey and stepped back toward the hall she'd come from, not willing to keep them in the open for any bypasser to stumble on. She held Rey to her feeling the kid's fluttering pulse against her neck, their rapid breathing slowing into rhythm, their relief shared.
There was a whisper of movement behind them, a faint clanking of the white plates stormtroopers wore that had Eris pulling Rey tighter against her. Rey stiffened in Eris' arms as she felt their presence drawing near. Without letting her go Eris turned to see a dead end on their left and an open platform on their right – so Eris stepped right bringing Rey with her. A group of stormtroopers stepped onto the platform further down, at the sight of them Eris shoved Rey to the corner between a column and the doorway. The two stood flush against each other staring at the other's wide uncertain eyes as they realized they were surrounded.