A/N: If you are reading this – thank you so much! For giving this story your time and sticking with it up until now! Hopefully, this chapter won't disappoint either!
Disclaimer – all of the recognisable characters and locations belong to their respective owners. I merely came up with the plot.
Happy reading!
Chapter 010 – Jedi Nemesis
As they walked through the crowded streets of the city, Rey was trying to make some sense of the recent events. Quay had been instructed to keep her close to him and not let anyone else touch her, so, even though they were escorted by twenty Stormtroopers, she walked undisturbed. That was, if you didn't count the attention she was getting from the passers-by. They all seemed to recognise her, which wasn't all that surprising, given how Ben had made her the most famous criminal in the galaxy.
What did surprise her was that many of them were openly cheering her. Rey thought it was nothing short of brave. Twenty armed soldiers that were known of killing for lesser offenses than that, and, still, people were applauding her and shouting "Jedi Nemesis!" Brave, borderline on reckless.
"Tell your soldiers to do nothing," Rey muttered towards Quay, when she sensed how tense the troopers were. Last thing she wanted was another massacre caused by her. Quay obliged without hesitation, ordering the Stormtroopers not to engage with the crowd. She stole a glance at him. He stared straight ahead without a slightest worry in his eyes. His breathing was still uneven after the effort that their fight had been and his electronic collar was making not-too-healthy noises. Rey was convinced that had Quay not been wounded and weakened already, she wouldn't have been able to control him the way she did. Or maybe not at all.
Still, at any moment, he could break away. It was all one big gamble.
"Why are they calling me like that?" she asked him.
"Sullust might be openly cooperating with us," Quay answered matter-of-factly, "But Snoke wasn't exactly popular here. They liked what you did back there."
"In the cantina? Why?" Rey couldn't comprehend it. She'd expect them to hate her: she had, after all, killed innocent bystanders.
"Beats me." Quay said, "You killed a lot more of them than us, yet they immediately pronounced you to be a hero. You are now the Jedi Nemesis." The last words he spoke with certain disdain in his voice and Rey felt her heart sunk in panic that her control over him was slipping. She took a deep breath and fixed all her attention on Quay, blocking out all the noises. She had to keep him on a leash.
"ETA to the docking bay with our ship is ten standard minutes, sir." A characteristic, muffled voice of the Stormtrooper broke Rey out of her focus. She looked at Quay, who just nodded to the trooper and carried on walking steadily. She hadn't thought farther than getting to the ship and now she only had ten minutes to figure out what to do.
Quay's grip on her arm tightened, she felt her control faltering. There wasn't much time left, she had to act now.
They were walking through a particularly crowded street; people were reluctantly giving way to the First Order cordon. Here and there she could still hear someone calling out to her "Jedi Nemesis!", "The Resistance lives!".
Rey looked at Quay; despite feeling her control grow weaker, she still couldn't sense any real opposition to her control over him. Maybe this would work. Maybe, just maybe, the horrible thing she had done in the cantina could be put to a good use.
Maybe she could be the Jedi Nemesis.
"Unlock my handcuffs, give me your lightsaber and command them to stop." She said quietly, but with a steel intent. Quay did as he was told with no reluctance. Troopers, however, all reacted with understandable alarm. Suddenly the twenty blasters were pointed at her.
Rey knew she only had seconds to act, before the cameras in the soldiers' bucket helmets would process the data and automatically request a back-up. Holding Quay's lightsaber pointed at his throat, she closed her eyes and shifted all her attention to the Stormtroopers.
Freed, Quay took a sharp, desperate breath; someone screamed in terror, but all of it appeared distant as Rey allowed the Force to flow through her. It turned the blood in her veins into something else, something cold and tranquil and it emanated from her onto the soldiers exactly the moment they were firing their blasters.
They still did.
Except, instead of killing the Jedi Nemesis, they killed each other.
The street fell silent, humans and aliens of all kinds looked as if unable to comprehend what had just taken place. The unthinkable had happened. Rey took the opportunity and spoke in a loud, clear voice: "People of Sullust, you have called me Jedi Nemesis! Know that I will do everything to live up to this name! First Order will be defeated!"
"First Order will end you all!" Quay bellowed, but Rey moved the lightsaber closer to his metal collar. "One more word and I'll burn this little thing that lets you breathe!" she barked.
"He is right, though!" she addressed the crowd again, "First Order will come back and will make you pay, even though you did nothing – it was I who killed their soldiers, I alone!" With these words, Rey searched the area for where any cameras could be located. She noticed one straight away and looked right at it. In case someone would later watch through the footage, which she knew he would. "But this is what the First Order does! They make innocent people pay and pay, and keep on paying, even when there is nothing left to pay with!" A murmur of approval ran through the crowd, "I don't stand a chance alone against the First Order, neither does Resistance! No one will stand chance until people of the galaxy, people like you, realise you can refuse to pay. And fight instead!"
A ferocious roar of applause erupted in the street, and, before Rey could do anything about it, people threw themselves at the bodies of the Stormtroopers, tearing down their armours and not stopping there. Quay and Rey stared at it in an equal shock. All it took was a few words from her to make the mob insane.
"This is how much they hate you." She told Quay and dragged him through the swarm towards the docking bay. No one stopped her. In fact, people moved out of her way. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a squadron of Stormtroopers approaching – and a massive wave of angry citizens running to meet them.
"Get in, quick!" she ordered Quay, when they finally reached his ship. It was smaller than Rey had expected, almost as small as Ash Angel; something she was grateful for. The smaller the ship, the easier to pass unnoticed. She pushed Quay ahead of her. He was visibly exhausted now, his breath hissing through the tubes of the collar. She must have damaged it with the saber after all.
"You will never get clearance codes now!" Quay stammered, as she pushed him towards the ship's cockpit. "The planet must be on a lockdown already! Your dumb stunt didn't work!"
Rey regarded him coldly. Fear in his eyes told her he already knew what was coming.
"My stunt worked fine, but then you, being such a skilled Knight of Ren, overpowered me and here we are aboard your ship, on which you will now escort me to your Supreme Leader, who will give you the clearance codes himself." Rey said with a smile. Quay winced and tilted his head. He couldn't fight her any longer. Breathing itself was taking up most of his energy. "Let's get it over with," he said quietly and Rey felt an unexpected ping of guilt for breaking this man so completely.
Get a grip, she told herself, you need to get off this planet before they call your bluff!
"Put me in the handcuffs, but do not lock them," she ordered and as Quay obliged her words, she carried on, "Request a direct transmission to the Supreme Leader to tell him that you have captured the fugitive he had asked you to. Your mission is complete. Yes, you had troubles on the way, you lost your soldiers, but you managed to defeat me and you are ready to leave the planet now. Here I stand, as your proof, handcuffed and defenceless. You need to hurry, though, before the angry mob I had provoked will locate you and shoot your ship down."
She watched Quay absorb her commands. It was nothing short of terrifying to have such power of another being. Some part of her felt that, perhaps, Ben had been right back then, in Snoke's throne room, when he said all of this should end – the Jedi, the Sith, Snoke, Skywalker. Perhaps, the galaxy was better without anyone holding such dominance over others.
But then, the galaxy would be better without the First Order, too. Something Ben was not willing to understand.
She positioned herself one step in front of Quay, as he requested a direct line transmission to the Supreme Leader. She focused all her silent attention on Quay. She couldn't see his face anymore, since they were both facing the holovid transmitter, so she had to make sure her control would not weaver even for a second. This was the trickiest part of her hastily established plan.
The one she was most likely to fail at.
Gods knew, she had been losing her cool around the Supreme Leader - every single time.
Although she knew she would see Ben on the holovid transmission, she was not prepared. When his face appeared on the holovid, Rey's heart did a little dance in her chest, as if trying to break free. She wished she could give herself a solid slap for such a silly reaction. Ben, on the other hand, looked perfectly composed. It occurred to her that she should have ordered Quay to kneel in front of his superior, but it was too late for that.
"Supreme Leader, I have captured the fugitive you have asked me to. My mission is complete." Quay recited in a breaking voice. His breathing apparat was definitely malfunctioning.
Ben's flickering image stared at Quay in unnerving silence. Rey felt like her head was going to explode. How was she supposed to keep control over Quay, when Ben was there?
"Why do you sound like…that, soldier?" Ben asked. Rey panicked. Wisely, Ben did not specify what he meant, not really. He could have been concerned about Quay's weak voice, but, just as well, he could be suspicious of the way his subordinate talked: lifeless and droid-like.
"Did you think I went down without a fight?!" Rey barged in, her voice a little shaky. She had to distract Ben, otherwise he would see right through Quay and her utterly stupid – she could see that now - plan. She could only hope that she was enough of a distraction.
"Did I allow you to speak, prisoner?" Ben turned his attention to her. He sounded indifferent, but there was the slightest undertone to his voice, as if he was working really hard to restrain himself from showing any emotions.
"Supreme Leader," Quay spoke, his voice still raspy and detached, "Yes, I had troubles on the way, I lost my soldiers, but I managed to defeat this criminal and I am ready to leave the planet now."
Ben did not answer. The holovid flickered in front of them for what seemed like forever. Rey was certain he could hear her heart pounding. She had to escape, but with every passing moment she had less and less faith she would.
"Here she stands, as your proof, Supreme Leader, handcuffed and defenceless," Quay finished his speech, "We need to hurry, though, before the angry mob she had provoked will locate and shoot my ship down."
Ben was not even looking at his subordinate anymore. He stared at Ray with unreadable expression in his face. It crossed her mind that, even if he captured her, there was a small chance he'd spare her life. After all, he had hidden her in that Kubazian's apartment, even though he could have captured her. Rey still couldn't quite comprehend that.
"The planet is on lockdown already, Supreme Leader," unexpectedly, a voice of General Hux could be heard on the holovid. Rey stopped breathing. This could be her chance. If Ben wasn't alone at the other end of the transmission, he could not admit knowing she had control over his knight. Not really. Not without risking his reputation. Rey was sure it hadn't been Hux's call to send a Knight of Ren to retrieve her. The general was known from his cruel and completely over the top methods – sending one person after her would seem like a pathetic half-measure to him.
Which, ultimately, it had been.
"I am aware of that, General," Ben answered in a harsh tone, his eyes not leaving Rey's for a moment, "Transmit the clearance codes to Quay's ship at once."
"With pleasure, sir," Hux said just before the holovid transmission ended, "And then we shall proceed to annihilate this laughable rebellion."
Rey wanted to sigh with relief, but there was no time for that. Her heart ached at the thought of what would happen to the innocent people in the city, but she knew there was nothing more she could do.
In the end, she would be guilty of even more lives taken, it was naïve to think otherwise. She could only hope that the recording of her speech would spread and make people want to act against the First Order.
If Ben decides to annihilate the city for that, Rey thought, he will give others all the more reasons to fight back.
Rey shook off her handcuffs and pushed Quay towards the cockpit of the ship. "We need to get out of here, now" she said. She watched him receive the codes and confirm their status. As the ship took off and they surged through the azure waters of an enormous lake before they broke into the atmosphere, Rey allowed herself one last enchanted look at the beautiful planet. Just one moment of child-like rapture, before she reminded herself that soon, this city's streets would be awash with innocent blood.
Because of her.
She glanced at Quay. He was sitting in co-pilot's chair, silent and unsmiling. Sweat was rolling down his forehead and he struggled to take any deeper breath. Rey was deeply uncomfortable with what she was doing to him, but she knew, if she hadn't, he would do the same to her.
Once they broke through the atmosphere, into the planet's orbit, Rey told Quay to walk towards the ship's escape pods. She took his lightsaber and ceased her control over him. The moment she did that, he fell to his knees and wept.
She stared at him, paralysed.
"It will be better if you kill me," he told her, his eyes flickering between her and the escape pods. Rey knew he was right, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. You didn't seem to have a problem before, her conscience snapped, but she ignored it.
"Just get inside!" she pushed Quay into one of the escape pods, despite his protests and curses. When she locked the pod's hatch, she took one last look at the man's pained face. There was rage in his eyes, yes, of course. This was to be expected. But there was also so much aching. She knew he was the enemy. He would kill her without thinking twice.
She also knew she would never forget this look in his face. It would haunt her forever.
Rey released the escape pod and without further delay headed back to the cockpit. She set up the course to planet Eadu and launched the jump into hyperspace.
As the stars blurred into thin blue lines, Rey finally allowed herself to let go. She hid her face in her hands and cried until she could cry no more.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know your thoughts! This was another "tactical" chapter, mainly of Ray trying to get out of another crappy situation, but it cannot be all smut and kisses (ok, I know there was only one kiss so far! There might be more, though! Stay tuned)
Thank you again xx