Part XX
Rey's anxiety was only calmed by Ben's strong arms around her that night. She kept second guessing her plan, running through each scenario, and early into the morning she started to reach out to the Cosmic Force, seeking the future.
"Don't," Ben muffled into the hair at the back of her neck. Her busy mind had kept him up for hours and while he wished to lessen her burden, he also knew that she needed to be able to do this herself. But using their connection to the Force was not always going to be the answer. She needed to learn to trust herself first and foremost.
Rey huffed in frustration and flopped her body around on the bed dramatically. Ben just raised his arm to allow her room to physically express her irritation. "We can still call off the mission. I'm sure the ship hasn't even left port yet."
"No," she whined. "I'm just worried about Cale and the Knights and also who ever Poe will send out." Rey almost wished that Finn wasn't on his honeymoon and was going on the mission. She knew that he could keep a level head, now that he had something special to come home to.
Feeling as if she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Rey pushed out of the bed and padded to the fresher. As she flipped on the light, she sucked in a breath. Sometime in the night Ben had set her personal items out on her side of the vanity. But what really drew her attention was the old silver hair brush that had once belonged to his mother.
She crossed the room and picked up the brush, turning it between her fingers, watching the light shine off the design that was carved into the rare metal. It has been cleaned and polished since she had left it with him on Mygeeto and she ran her fingers lovingly over the bristles.
Shifting around in her toiletry bag, she pulled out the bottle of white pills. As she shook one out into her palm and turned on the tap, Ben stuck his head into the fresher. She caught just a hint on a frown on his lips when he eyed the tablet, but he neutralized his expression before speaking, "You want some caf?"
"Please," she answered. He didn't move for a long moment, watching her place the pill in her mouth and take a swig of water from the sink. "Not yet," Rey offered as she felt his disappointment through the bond.
He just nodded once before moving back through the bedroom and out into the living area of the apartment. In the kitchen he pulled out a bag of grinds from his home world and set a pot to brew. He could still feel her worry through the thread that connected them and he rolled his shoulders before sending out feelings of relaxation and confidence.
Pouring the deep and aromatic brew into two cups, he turned at the sound of tiny feet against a polished floor. Rey had a woven throw from the base of their bed wrapped around her body. He handed her a cup and then took his own, making his way towards the terrace doors.
He sat down in oversized lounger and held out his arm as an invitation for her to join him. Carefully she settled across his right thigh and snuggled into his side. The city world was uncharacteristically quiet in the early morning hour and they watched as the sky just started to be colored with a haze of purple from the rising sun.
"Everything will be alright. Alister and Jix know what they are doing and they will keep Cale in line."
"It's not them I'm really worried about," Rey said honestly. When she had access to Ben's mind, she had seen the training that Snoke had put the Knights through and they were able to embody restraint, but the desperate and blood thirsty Resistance were a different story. They didn't care if the pilots were civilians or had families of their own. They wouldn't care that the medical supplies could have been slated to provide assistance to a dying world. The Resistance was a relic that was just trying to survive by bending morals and scrapping at any victory. Rey wondered for a moment what Leia would think of her band of rebels now.
Ben kissed at her temple as the sky started to shift from purple to pink, "I'll instruct Jix to wash the Resistance fighters with feelings of calm as soon as they board. He's our strongest empath and you wouldn't believe how many battles he has won without drawing a drop of blood."
Rey shifted on his lap so she could press her lips to his, "Thank you for trusting me, Ben."
He returned the kiss in kind, "I trust you with our empire. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my heart."
She smiled against his lips, "I will serve our empire. I will protect your life. I will cherish your heart."
They sat together, sipping caf and sharing simple kisses until the sun started to crest from between the other towers around them.
"When do you want to make the call?" Ben asked into the soft skin just behind her ear.
She hummed under the influence of his attentive lips, "Soon, I think. They will have to scramble the fighters and the trip from Dantooine to N11 will take them half the day."
He took her mug and set it on the ground next to his before he started to nudge her from her cocooned spot at his side. "I'm sure Dameron wouldn't take to kindly to receiving a holo with you just wrapped in a bed sheet."
"I don't think he would mind," she said in a cheeky tone. Having spent more time combing through Poe's thoughts, she had on more than one occasion caught him thinking about her in a less than platonic manner.
Rey's thoughts were loud again and he groaned, "I don't need to be privy to all of Dameron's fantasies about what is mine."
"Then maybe you should stay out of my head," she called over her shoulder as she trotted back into the apartment.
Ben tipped back his head, laying it on the back of the chair and looked up at the now pale blue sky. He wasn't naive to the fact that other men would be attracted to Rey, she practically radiated Light and beauty, but he would never be pleased with the fact that Dameron coveted what was, perhaps from birth, destined to be his.
Rey quickly dressed in her usual tunic and vest and pulled her hair back into a simple bun at the base of her neck. Ben joined her and also dressed in a relaxed tunic and pants. They walked together out of the apartment and then took the lift up to the landing pad where the MK3 Command Shuttle and her transport were located.
He sat in the co-pilot's seat, just outside the frame of the holocomm system. Rey adjusted the transmitter, making sure that not too much of the city behind her showed through the side view screens.
"Ready?" Ben asked.
She nodded, fiddled with her hair for a moment then let out a deep breath before throwing a switch that would hale the comm link.
A few seconds later a woman's face appeared, "Access code?"
"750-ZA-3," Rey listed off her personal comm number.
"Go ahead, Rey." The comm station was mostly manned by a young woman named Eirta Jiktar who had joined the Resistance shortly after they settled on Dantooine.
"I need to speak with the General. It's important and time sensitive."
"Hold the line," Eirta replied and the feed went blank, but still displayed a greenish hue to the projector.
After about a minute she started to fear that he was already out on a mission and that she had missed her chance, but then the comm beeped and Poe's face appeared. "Rey…what's wrong? Did your ship malfunction?" Then his eyes went wide with horror, "Did Ren get you?
Ben had to bite the heel of his hand to suppress his laugh, but Rey was ever focused, not even shifting her gaze his way. "No…no, nothing like that. But I have some intel that I think you will be interested in."
When Poe just nodded she laid out her plan, "I dropped Finn and Rose off on Coruscant and then on my way to Antar, I stopped on Corellia…"
"Corellia? Why would you stop there? It's crawling with the First Order."
Rey just shrugged, "I'm a woman…I wanted to go shopping for a new pair of boots." And she made it even more believable by flashing him a girlish smile.
Poe scoffed but also had a playful pull to his lips, "What did you find on Corellia?"
"There was a freighter docked a few slots from my transport and I over heard them talking about hauling medical supplies for the New Order and I know that our med bay is in desperate need of restocking."
Poe's eyes lit up, "Please tell me you used your little Jedi tricks to find out where they were going."
Now Ben rolled his eyes, only someone completely ignorant of the Force would call what they did 'little tricks', but he kept to himself, watching his Empress spin her web.
"They are headed to Lexrul in Q10. The Nanth'ri Route is bogged down so they are going to go through open space in N11 and link back up to the Ootmian Pabol lanes at Chanosant."
"What do you think?" Poe asked someone off screen and the light voice of Kaydel could be heard agreeing to the plan. "What kind of crew are they using? Any TIE escorts like they have been doing with the food shipments?"
Rey's chest slightly swelled at the mention of the TIE escorts. Ben had taken her suggestion and since the start of her assistance program, ten worlds had been brought back from the brink of famine. "A crew of three, none of them in uniform. I think they are just contracted freighters. No TIEs in sight."
Poe looked off screen again and then smiled. "We are going to get a team together and go after them. This is just the break that we needed. Keep this up Rey and we might get you out of the hangar pit and send you on more recon missions."
Rey smiled like the complement wasn't laced with a backhanded jab. "Thanks Poe!" Then she bit at her lower lip for a moment. "Tell the guys to go easy on the crew. They are just like so many others out there, just trying to get by and support their families."
"Always so light-hearted," Poe said with a mocking laugh. Even with all of the power of the Force behind her, Poe often saw her as weak due to her disinterest in taking up arms with the rest of them.
She blushed, more out of anger than embarrassment, but she continued to smile like Poe wasn't completely demeaning her. "Oh and sweetheart, be careful out there. Wouldn't want Ren to snap you up, carry you back to his lair, and strap you to a table again." He flashed her a signature Dameron smile and winked at her.
Rey gritted her teeth, "Thanks, General. I'll check in tomorrow when I get to Antar to see how the mission went."
She shut off the comm before Poe could answer and she growled out in frustration. Ben puffed out the breath he had been holding, "Tell me again why I can't just kill him?"
Putting her face in her hands Rey just shook her head, "Because of justice or something like that…"
To her surprise, Ben actually snorted out a laugh and she peeked up at him through her fingers. She watched him stand from the seat and reach for her, letting out a squeal as he lifted her easily and threw her over his shoulder.
"Now that I have snapped you up, I am going to take you to my lair and," he slapped at her bottom as they exited the shuttle and paused thoughtfully, "I don't have an interrogation table in the apartment, but we can make do."
She giggled all the way back into their home and Ben walked them into his office, spreading her out before him. "I've dreamed about taking you on this desk…" he whispered into her neck as he placed sucking kisses upon her soft skin.
Pulling at the ties of her wrap tunic, he opened her like the gift she was. "I have freed worlds from this desk. Abolished cartels…" he kissed down between her breasts. "Liberated the trooper and shut down child labor camps…" he pulled down her leggings and hooked his fingers into her boots to shed her lower half completely bare. "And now I will have my Empress on the very surface that has seen the shaping of our galaxy."
He firmly planted his lips between her thighs, foregoing any light touches or playful teasing, he sucked at her clit with the vigor of an Emperor set ablaze. She bowed off the hard surface to the point that just her rear and shoulders were grounding her. One of her heels was hanging on the edge of the desk as the other foot was planted on his shoulder, her toes curled with absolute pleasure.
Ben worked Rey with his mouth and fingers until she was panting, scratching her nails into the varnish of the hardwood top, swearing in basic, and begging him not to stop. With a few more rolls of his wrist and flat tongued passes over her bud, she was crashing around him and her body jerked as he continued to rub the pads of his middle and ring fingers against the front wall of her core. His thumb made lazy circles around her clit as he looked down upon her flushed and sated from.
Lastly, he gathered her pleasure limp body in his arms and carried her across their home, laying her out across their still unmade bed and commenced to make slow and tender love to her.
When they both lay together and Rey's lids blinked slowly with pure bliss and satisfaction, Ben ran his large hand down her bare torso, "I want to show you something…"
She hummed as his fingers danced across her toned stomach. "Does it involved clothes?"
"Since we are leaving the apartment, I would think so." He smiled into her shoulder and placed a kiss upon it.
Rey groaned in a teasing manner and rolled over on top of him, pushing his hair back out of his face and touching her lips to his. "It better be worth it."
"I think it will be," he answers before grabbing her rear and sitting up in bed, shifting a few times and then standing while carrying her to the fresher with her legs wrapped around his hips.
They showered quickly and then both stood in front of their clothes. "Wear a dress," he offered.
"Why?" Rey asked back, not in offense but in curiosity.
"If we are spotted, I am to say that you are a visiting dignitary and dressing the part would make the charade more believable."
Rey nodded and looked back to the line of gowns hanging before her. She bit her lip and shifted on her feet before she felt Ben come up behind her.
He reached for a cream-colored floor length dress that was made of a soft but heavy cotton. It had a boxed neckline and would leave her arms bare. The dress was slightly tailored in the bodice but was cut to drape elegantly off her hips. "This one." He could feel her embarrassment over not knowing what type of dress would be appropriate, but he was also too proud to admit that he knew more than he should about women's fashion.
She slid on a pair of panties before stepping into the dress and Ben pulled the zipper up at the back, placing a simple kiss where her neck met her shoulder. He dressed quickly in his black uniform, sans the helmet. He had shown his face to the galaxy and even though the black and chrome helmet was more recognizable, he felt that if not in battle, he didn't see a need to continue to conceal his identity.
After Rey fixed her hair into a neater bun, she did a twirl for Ben. "Now that's a dress," he smirked remembering the pink monstrosity she wore for Rose's wedding.
"Yes," Rey said, looking down at herself and running her hands over the cool material as it flowed over her hips and rear. "I could get used to this."
"One more thing," Ben reached back into the closet and pulled out a red velvet cloak. It had long sleeves and slightly longer in the back, creating a small train. It also had a oversized hood that would effectively hide her face from any prying eyes. It had a darker pattern that curled like delicate vines across the material and Rey wasn't sure if she had ever seen anything so fine.
"I thought you said I should dress like a dignitary," she fingered the smooth fabric, "not like an Empress."
Ben chuckled, "This is actually similar to what the handmaidens to the Queen of Naboo wear."
Her eyes went large again, "If this is what servants wear, I'm almost scared to know how the Queen herself is dressed."
"Naboo is very rooted in tradition and the fashion for the Queen have not changed much since my grandmother's time on the throne." He held out the cloak and allowed her to slip her slender arms in as he pulled it up around her shoulders. "But you, my Empress," he kissed her nose as he fastened the broach at her throat, "will dull every star in the galaxy, no matter what you wear."
Sometimes Rey wanted to melt at his words. She had never been so cherished in her entire existence. She had never felt so needed…desired…but also completely respected and trusted. She doubted that any other soul could make her feel as Ben could. So she grabbed at his surcoat and pulled him in for a searing kiss.
Once they parted, Ben held out his hand, calling her saberstaff from the table at her side of the bed, and it landed soundly in his palm. Pulling back the right side of her cloak, he slid it into a long slender pocket perfectly concealed within the billowing fabric.
Next, he called to his own saber and clipped it to the belt that sat around his waist. When he held out his hand again, it was for his love to take, as he wished she did all these many months ago on the Supremacy, but as her warm palm slid against the cool leather of his gloved hand, he was pleased none the less.
They took the elevator back up towards the landing pad, but got off on the floor just under the tarmac and entered a small hangar. Ben approached a sleek looking black XJ-6 Airspeeder and after drawing a formation on the touch-sensitive glass of the pilot's side, the top lifted and exposed the two-person cabin.
He held out a finger to tell Rey to wait, but she was too distracted by looking at the massive twin engines that sat at the rear of the craft. Ben tilted his head to the side, smiling and watched his woman, dressed like an Empress and prattling on about revolutions per second and turbo thrusters.
Rey looked up and saw the blissfully happy look on Ben's face and stood up straight, "What?" She asked with her own smile.
Rounding the speeder to come before her, he cupped her cheek, "Just you…there was never anyone so perfectly made for me but you." He kissed her softly before sweeping her up in his arms.
"I can walk, Ben." She chucked and then felt him lower her into the passenger's seat of the speeder.
"I know," he smirked and kissed her while leaning down to be on her level. "I just didn't want you to rip that beautiful dress."
Just then noticing the three-foot drop to the ground she would have most likely had to ask him for help getting into the craft. So she blushed at feeling his warm breath across her cheeks, "Thank you."
"Any time my love," Ben ran his thumb along her bottom lip before moving to the other side of the speeder and gracefully hopping into the pilot's seat. With a swipe of his hand, the dark tinted glass dome came down over their heads and sealed. The craft was rated for higher atmosphere flights and could almost rival an Old Empire TIE with it's speed and maneuverability.
Flipping a few switched and pushing a button on the console, the twin engines roared to life. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you were compensating for something," Rey repeated the words that she had heard leave Poe's mouth just a few months prior.
The Solo smirk came out, "But you do know better and I don't remember hearing you complaining about my…compensation." He glanced down to his crotch before lifting his heated gaze back up to her.
Her face was flushed, pupils dilated, and she bit at her lip. Her mind was fuzzy and even though he had fully satisfied her just an hour before, she rubbed her thighs together and responded with a very unladylike groan.
He outright laughed at her and then took the speeder's steering wheel in his large hands, pressing the ship forward and towards a door that was opening, exposing the mid day light to the otherwise dim hanger.
The city was bustling and Ben easily merged into an airlane. Rey's face was practically glue to the windows as she tried to take in all of the sights from the elevated position. There were more high rises like the one their apartment was in and then the space opened little and the old Senate building came into view.
The space that it occupied was massive, "Why did they need such a large building?" Rey asked as they continued to fly over it.
Ben scoffed, "They build it on the lateral plane because it was thought that if it was built vertically it would be considered giving preferential status to those with officers on higher floors."
Rey looked back at him and pulled a face, "They took up all that space just because of pride and hurt feelings?"
He nodded and chuckled, "My mother wrote about it in her journal, at times having to walk over a mile to get to a Senator's office for meetings." His tone and gaze turned serious, "Do you see why it had to end? Why I had to destroy it?"
"I never doubted you, Ben." Rey wasn't quite sure why he was still asking for validation in his decision to disband the New Republic Senate, but from what she had learned over the past year, she sometimes wished that she was at his side when the great ruse of a government fell.
So she just reached over and took his hand that was resting on the console between them and pulled it up to her lips, placing a lingering kiss upon the knuckles of his right hand. The same knuckles that had split during the battle at the Senate. The same knuckles that she had bandaged with care even before she knew she loved him. Rey was still amazed that the same hands that were so gentle on her skin, that pulled at her light, and brought her so much love and pleasure, were the same hands that overthrew a galactic government, drew blood, and ended life.
She kissed his knuckles again, pouring love and understanding…acceptance through the bond. His shoulders visibly relaxed and he continued to allow her to hold his hand, now down in her lap, as they flew on through the Federal District.
Soon they came upon a massive building that stood tall above the surrounding city like a mountain. Ben took the speeder in a large sweeping circle around it, allowing Rey to see it from all sides.
"If anyone was compensating for anything…it was who ever built this. There is no reason to take up this much space." Rey's brows were pinched together in concerns for the wasteful people of this world but her attention was drawn away from the window when she heard Ben's barking laugh. "What?" She asked, slightly hurt that he would find her serious thoughts amusing.
The smile on his face was knowing and he could feel her irritation rolling off her in waves, "I'm not laughing at you, my love. I'm laughing at our forefathers." When her brows just pinch further together he continued. "The Jedi built this…"
Her brows stayed pinched, now in consideration and not annoyance and she looked back out over the structure. "A bit ostentatious, don't you think?"
"Very," Ben agreed as he rounded the building once more and then dropped down to street level where he alined the speeder with a hanger door that opened under a wave of his hand.
The power of the place hit Rey like a bucket of cold water to the face and she sucked in a deep breath as her eyes slid closed. Reaching out, she opened herself to the power and let the Force flow through her.
Ben parked the speeder and quickly jumped out of his seat, rounding the craft to come to Rey's side. Her eyes were still closed and her expression was knitted together as if in deep concentration. "Darling," Ben offered gently as he ran his finger tips along her cheek.
Rey cupped his hand to her face, feeling grounded again, and looked up at him, "The Darkness…" Her gaze was a mix of concern and wonderment.
"There has always been two sides of the Force, Rey," he said simply as he took her right hand and helped her stand up in the speeder. Begrudgingly, he pulled his hand away from her warm face and wrapped his strong fingers around her waist and lifted her easily.
Before setting her back down on her feet, he pulled her in close to his body, now snaking his arms around her slim waist. He rested his forehead against hers and he too connected on the power that flowed through the ancient building. Rey reached up and placed her hand upon the scar on the right side of his face and sighed, dipping into the Force with him.
For the first time in her life, Rey felt completely balanced. She stood firmly in the space between the Dark and the Light, pulling at passion and peace, strength and serenity, finding harmony in the power around her, and order and purpose within the bond. She felt the Force, the pure unmolested, balanced Force.
Ben rubbed his forehead against hers as if the slight motion would further and deepen the connection of their minds. The sound that escaped him was a groan of relief. "I feel it too," his tone was tight as if a lifelong pain was being healed.
This connection…their connection through the Force was beyond any physical coming together. While being intimate with Rey was otherworldly, nothing could compare to her Light, her essence in the Force, and he soaked it into every cell of his body as black and white swirled to create a perfect shade of gray.
"My beautifully gray Empress," he said just above a whisper.
AN: Happy Saturday everyone! Part 21 has been sent to my Muse for review and I hope to have it up for you soon, but let me know what you think about our couple in this part. I really enjoy doing research for this story, but I do pull from Canon and Legends throughout.