—Chapter 4: Overtures—
"You are a miserable failure of a general," Faris Ren barked from his perch in the throne room of the Supremacy II. On his knees in front of him, sat a contrite and prostrate General Hux.
Looking down into the shiny obsidian floor, Hux tried to recover. "Supreme Leader, I am terribly sorry for—"
"Don't speak!" bellowed Faris Ren. "I am in absolutely no mood to listen to your pathetic excuses. I allowed you to take your vengeance upon Kylo Ren. I did as you asked and incapacitated him thoroughly. Yet still, somehow, you managed to completely lose control of the situation. I will never again allow you so much leeway. I trusted you'd be able to handle him in his broken state. I will not give you so much credit ever again."
"Please, Supreme Leader, allow me to prove my usefulness," pleaded Hux.
"Your 'usefulness' has allowed the Resistance to flourish. Your 'usefulness' allowed Kylo Ren to escape. Is your 'usefulness' going to end him for good?" He was actually spitting as he spoke, he was so irate with Hux.
"There is a chance he is already dead. I had injured him quite severely before he..." Hux trailed off."
"Before he what, General?" needled Faris. Hux lowered his head shamefully.
Faris Ren rose from his throne and stepped toward Hux, circling him dangerously as he spoke. "He isn't dead. Of course he isn't dead. I would've felt it if he'd died. No, he's alive, and who knows what sort of trouble he's going to cause us now." He stopped to kick Hux in his side, knocking him over and painfully exacerbating the injuries Kylo Ren had left him with. Hux recovered quickly, a simpering grimace on his lips. Faris continued, "He's too arrogant to just fade away into the galaxy. He will be back for you, to finish this, and we won't be able to distract him by killing his mother a second time."
"Then we should begin bolstering our defenses now." A wicked smile twitched at the corner of Hux's mouth. "We take their children."
Faris Ren did not respond. Seeing an opening, Hux seized this moment to pull the necessary strings, puppeteering his figurehead toward sensible action. It would be a delicate act, equal parts logic and flattery.
"We descend upon any worlds not already aligned with the First Order—who don't demonstrate fealty to you, Supreme Leader. Kylo Ren had curtailed the conditioning program in favor of using clones, because he was weak, but we could easily do both. We will go to these worlds, enslave or recruit the adults, and take their children for stormtrooper conditioning. It is due to Kylo Ren's abatement of these methods that the Resistance has flourished of late. We must send a message: Any individuals not actively engaged in supporting the First Order will die."
"That will only galvanize the Resistance," smoldered Faris Ren.
"There may be uprisings at first, but with a strong enough fist, the people will relent. They will learn that only fools resist the First Order." Hux, sitting taller now, knew this fresh Supreme Leader wasn't well-versed in strategy. Hux was close. He kept talking, deftly handling the marionette, making it dance. "When they see firsthand what Faris Ren's Order can do, they will know whose side to be on."
"And if I consent to such efforts, what then? What assurance can you give me that you won't foul this up as well?" demanded Faris.
"By your leave, my lord, allow me to recommission our recruitment transport ships and I will immediately undertake efforts to collect child conscripts."
"And where do you plan to find such conscripts?"
"My lord, I know exactly which world to strike first to make a prime example for the rest of the galaxy: the planet of Lothal. It is rich in ore, and has virtually no military. We could easily overtake it. Each of our recruitment transports can hold fifteen hundred children, and their parents will either volunteer to fight, work in the mines, or die."
"And what of Kylo Ren? How will these efforts keep him at bay?" asked Faris, unwilling to ignore that his main rival for the throne still walked free thanks to Hux's failure.
"What of him? He is a pathetic, insignificant fool. That is why I wanted him replaced with someone superior, more steadfast," he said, looking obeisantly up at Faris Ren. "We neutralized him once, we can neutralize him again. I have a plan."
Faris paused to consider Hux's proposal. "I'm listening…"
—
Ben was only in the bacta tank for a few hours before his injuries had abated to the point that it was safe to remove him. His cuts and bruises had mostly faded, leaving only a handful of tender looking spots here and there. His blaster wounds were evident from the raw, angry looking patches of skin left in their wake, but those would heal soon with time and treatment. He was sleeping in the bed in his secured room in the medical wing of the base. There were two guards stationed outside his room, and cameras monitored his every move.
As Rey approached, she overheard two orderlies discussing something, one of them gesticulating animatedly with a wad of black fabric in his hands.
"He's naked because we have nothing that will fit him! Have you seen him? I think there might be some swim trunks somewhere that I could squeeze onto him, or maybe a parka, but we don't keep clothes that size in stock—none of our recruits are that tall!"
"What about the clothes you're holding?" asked the second orderly.
"These are practically shredded! I'm surprised anyone bothered to clean them. When I pulled them out of the sanitizer I was shocked."
"I'll take them," said Rey as she approached, startling them to attention. "I can sew. I'll fix them."
"Are you sure? I'm not sure you realize what you're signing up for…" The orderly had a profoundly skeptical look on his face.
"It's fine." She looked at the rags in his hands. "I'd appreciate if you could find me a needle and thread though."
"Uh, sure. I'll go right now."
"Thank you. That's fine, I'll be here," said Rey, distantly. At that, both orderlies turned to leave, and Rey approached the door to Ben's room. She glanced from one guard to the other. "May I go in?"
"You're Rey? Yes. Commander Dameron gave explicit instructions that you be the only visitor allowed inside, besides himself."
"Thank you." She turned the knob and stepped inside.
The room itself was bare—every recovery room in the base was. The walls were white and the lighting harsh. A bed jutted away from the wall opposite the door, empty tables on either side. The front wall consisted of an array of windows looking out into the hallway, and biomonitoring equipment hummed unobtrusively against the wall. There was a single stiff guest chair, with another small table adjacent. Rey sat down.
Ben lay on the bed asleep, the sheets pulled up to the middle of his body, leaving his chest exposed. She observed the mottled, blotchy color of his skin where the remnants of old wounds remained. His head was tilted off to his right, away from where she sat. He was not restrained at all, except by a monitoring tag that reported his vitals and location back to StratComm. She regarded him silently. His chest lifted and dropped steadily with his breathing. His arms lay at his sides, unmoving, and his jaw was relaxed. Dark eyelashes were settled gently against the tops of his cheeks. She knew it was the same face, yet he looked so completely different than he did the last time they really saw each other, amidst the smoldering ruins of Snoke's throne room. In this moment, the anger and resentment stripped away, he looked almost serene. She sighed, and leaned back in her chair, causing it to creak under her shifting weight.
The noise couldn't have been that loud, but his eyelashes fluttered. Ever so slowly, he turned his head back to center. "How long have you been sitting there?" He spoke quietly, practically croaking, as his vocal cords struggled to comply with his will to speak. His eyes remained closed.
"Just a minute or so."
He opened his eyes and turned towards her. As their eyes met for this first time in two years, she found herself struck, unprepared for how arresting his gaze was; her hair was standing on end. It wasn't until he began speaking again, after a deep sigh and some effort to clear his throat, that she realized she'd been holding her breath.
"So in case it wasn't obvious, I'm not with the First Order anymore." He had regained control of his voice, though it remained low.
Rey almost choked, realizing it was her turn to speak. She willed herself into a casual response, giving a quick, silent chuckle and tossing her head back ever so slightly with a snort of breath out her nose. "Does that mean you're with the Resistance?" It was meant as a rhetorical question, but he answered it anyway.
"I don't know, Rey," he said with a resigned sigh. He turned his head back to center and stared out the window of his room, into the hallway where the two guards stood on alert, trying not to look like they were eavesdropping. "I just thought, considering my current standing with the First Order, that perhaps the Resistance might want to murder me less."
"You were counting on me to keep them from murdering you. What made you think I wouldn't just help them?"
Ben gave a small shrug, "I rolled the dice."
Rey's eyes narrowed. "How very Han of you."
At her words, Ben exhaled sharply and sadly, averting his eyes from hers. Han's murder was a transgression she would never forgive him for. He wasn't sure he wanted her to.
Mercifully, Rey broke the strained silence. "But really, why?"
For a couple of interminably long seconds, Ben didn't speak. "I heard you scream."
Rey flushed. He had appeared so totally unconscious when she'd seen him, she didn't realize he would have registered anything she'd said or done. She hadn't just screamed—she had screamed the name "Ben". Is that what he'd heard?
"Is that how you figured out where I was? Just from my scream?"
"Honestly, I still don't know where this is. Looking for the head of the Resistance forces has been one of my top priorities these last two years, but I never thought to try to find you using the Force," said Ben.
"Why not?"
Ben was silent for a moment. "I just didn't."
Rey could tell he was holding something back, but she pretended she didn't notice, letting him continue, which he did, after drawing another long breath.
"Anyway," he continued, "after your scream, I had a strange episode that I can't really explain, something like an out of body experience, and when I looked back at the shuttle's console I just started entering coordinates, not registering what they were. I would have to look at the shuttle's log again to know where I am."
Rey eyed him incredulously. "Like I'd believe that."
"You can tell if I'm lying."
"Can I?" she asked, cynically. Then, she realized, she actually could. And he wasn't.
Rey was intrigued by the abilities she hadn't realized she possessed, but she didn't want to get distracted from his account. Resolutely, she continued, "So now you're here. Poe is pretty unequivocal about not granting you asylum, if that's what you're looking for, so what do you suggest? Gonna repair X-wings in the hangar? Prepare food in the canteen?" There was only a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "What is it you thought you would do here?"
Ben leveled his gaze squarely at Rey. "I thought I might train you."
After a stunned silence, Rey actually laughed. "Train me? Are you serious? That's your plan?"
"Were you ever able to fix Luke's lightsaber?"
Somewhat sheepishly, she looked at him. "No."
"Then you're clearly not a Jedi yet. You need a teacher."
Again with this. Rey sighed. Sweeping her arms out in front of her, she asked, somewhat sarcastically, "I don't suppose there's anyone else in the galaxy who's qualified to do that?"
"I sincerely doubt it," he deadpanned.
Rey actually guffawed at the improbability of the situation. "Okay, well, I'll need a little time to consider this. You're going to be stuck here resting for a couple days, at least, and at the moment, you have no wearable clothing. So, while you busy yourself resting and doing your best to avoid trouble, I will busy myself with repairing your clothes and considering your proposal."
"There were no spare clothes in the shuttle that might fit me? First Order officers are taller than you Resistance lot," he teased.
"No, all they found when they searched the shuttle was your cloak, a couple pairs of gloves, and a moronically unused medkit."
"There's no way that medkit would have helped." His tone was actually amused. Then, annoyed, "Is that really all they found? Not my lightsaber?"
"No, they most definitely did not find your lightsaber."
Ben frowned. "Dammit."
Rey stood up to leave, spying the orderly out the window. "Here comes my needle and thread, perfect timing. I'll see you when I see you, I guess. Remember: rest good, trouble bad."
His lip twitched in a subtle smile. "I think I can remember that. Just please make sure no trouble finds me. I may be naked, but I'm not defenseless."
Rey felt her ears redden. "Yes, well, anyway, I'll see you later."
And with that, she left him to his recovery.
—
Poe had been in meetings all afternoon since leaving the medical bay. The confusion and turmoil roiling through the base was palpable, and since Poe was considered the highest ranking individual who was familiar with all the parties involved, he was being interviewed left and right by various higher-ups at the base. They wanted to know all sorts of things that Poe didn't really have the answers to: Why is the Supreme Leader here? Why was he in such terrible shape? What sense does it make to have healed him? What is Rey's involvement in all this? Does the whole First Order know where we are? Do we need to evacuate?
Poe certainly hoped that Rey had gotten some answers by now. He walked briskly up to her door and knocked on it vigorously. Rey called for him to enter, so he turned the knob and stepped inside. He found her sitting on her bunk with a pile of black fabric beside her, holding a needle and thread. "What are you doing?" he asked, forehead creased in confusion.
"We have no clothing—on the whole base, apparently—that is big enough for Ben to wear, so I'm sewing up his old stuff," she replied simply.
Poe was slightly dumbfounded at this. "So you're playing seamstress now. Sure, why not…" he said sarcastically. Rey just looked at him, furrowing her brow in light irritation.
"What can I help you with, Poe?" she said, trying to change the subject.
"Well, I've been getting grilled all afternoon about what is happening with Ky—with Ben, with you, with the Resistance, all of it, and I don't really have clear answers, so I was hoping you could please enlighten me. Please tell me you've learned something I can tell them." It was with no small measure of conciliatory effort that Poe used the name Ben rather than Kylo Ren. Rey couldn't place his motive for having done so. She decided to let it go.
"Well, I was there when he woke up. We mostly talked about how he found me and why he's here. He said he's not with the First Order anymore. He said he thought the Resistance was less likely to kill him than the First Order…"
"Ha!" Poe laughed hard at this, incredulous. "Less likely to kill him? Wow, he must have really pissed them off to say something like that. So, what? Are you telling me he wants to join us now? That seems unlikely."
Rey wasn't sure how to say the rest, so she decided not to overthink it and just spit it out. "He says he wants to train me in my use of the Force."
Poe's face darkened, and he gave her a stony stare. "The Force... you mean the dark side?" It was more a statement than a question.
"I don't think so, but we didn't really get into it."
"Rey, this is a terrible idea. I know he's the general's son and all, and his dad was a good guy, but he's been with the dark side for a lot of years. He's going to turn you into something… different. I don't think you should do this." He was upset, but appeared more concerned than angry.
"He made the excellent point that there is literally no one else in the galaxy who could do it. If I ever want to be a Jedi, he's the best hope I've got."
"Not if he pulls you to the dark side," he said, beginning to pace the confines of her tiny room. "The dark side is fueled by hate, anger, fear, revulsion... I don't want that to be where you go." He stopped pacing to look at her. His face had softened.
Rey set her sewing down on the bunk next to her and stood to face Poe. "I understand your concern, but there's a good chance it will go the other way. I've seen light in him before. After Crait, things looked bad, I admit, but even Darth Vader found his redemption before the end."
"It doesn't really help us if he finds it at the end. Besides, Vader had Luke to help guide him, and I'm not sure it would have worked if Luke hadn't already been a Jedi. He could do things you can't."
Rey sighed. "Listen, I really don't know another way. I've learned next to nothing in the last two years just reading these books," she said, gesturing to the Jedi texts on her nightstand. "They all just seem to talk about meditating and getting in touch with positive emotions. That's all well and good, but I haven't been able to put that to much practical use. If I want to go further, I may need to try something more unorthodox." Ironically, this conversation with Poe had actually helped her come to the exact decision he didn't want. Sitting there sewing, Rey's mind had just been going around in circles; Poe had forced her to defend Ben, and that had given her clarity.
Poe looked at her with a doleful expression on his face. "I don't like this."
Rey pulled him into a hug, but Poe's arms stayed at his sides. "I understand. Really, I do. But I can take care of myself. I'm strong, and I know myself. I won't change who I am."
Poe brought his arms up and wrapped them around her waist and shoulders, burying his face into the crook of her neck. "See that you don't."
After a few seconds, they broke apart, but Poe wasn't done with her yet. "So, what did he tell you about the general's death? I need to know what the First Order knows about us. Did he have anything to do with it? How did they know about her mission?"
Rey blinked. They hadn't even discussed any of that. Rey sat back down on her bunk and folded her hands in her lap, feeling sheepish. She struggled to come up with a kernel of useful information to offer him. "Well, I know the whole First Order doesn't know where we are. According to him, he doesn't even know that. He says he was guided here by the Force after he was attacked, and he doesn't know what coordinates he punched into the navigation system of his shuttle."
"Can we trust that he wasn't lying? It will be catastrophic if they know and we don't evacuate."
"I didn't feel any dishonesty from him." She felt the need to explain that, "I can tell when people are lying or holding back information…"
"Yeah, Jedi stuff, I got it," he said, waving her off. "Okay. Anything else? The general?"
Rey's mouth set into a crease. "No, not really."
Poe was dumbfounded. "Seriously? You didn't talk about any of that?" Poe groaned, "Rey, now I have to face more embarrassingly underinformed interrogation from the leadership. You have got to discuss this with him, as soon as possible."
Rey understood his impatience, and was embarrassed by her own ignorance. "I promise to get right on it. Just let me finish stitching up these pants, and I'll go talk to him some more."
"Please be quick about it. I don't know when they're going to haul me in again." Poe gave a last quick sigh. "Okay, well, I'm heading out. Get to work. We'll talk later. Soon, but later."
"Okay, later then," said Rey, as she picked up her needle and thread to get back to work sewing. She could tell the thigh holes weren't going to look fantastic—no amount of needle-smithing was going to regenerate that fabric.
Poe turned and left her room, and headed for his own quarters to make himself scarce for a bit. His quarters were all the way across the base from Rey's, so he had a ways to go. As he walked, he felt the sudden urge to go see Kylo Ren—though he'd made an effort for Rey, he was still struggling with thinking of him as "Ben". He decided to take a little detour on his way back.
He rounded the corner into the hallway where the recovery rooms were and could see the profiles of the two guards who had been assigned to watch him, standing on either side of the closed door. As he approached, he made sure he wasn't visible through the windows. "Anything interesting to report?" he asked the guard nearest to him.
The guard turned to Poe, "No, not really. Rey was in here earlier and they chatted for a while, uneventfully. She left when the orderly came back with some stuff she'd asked for. Every time we turn around to check on him, he's just lying there. Sometimes his eyes are closed, sometimes they're open, but he's not moving very much. Frankly, I thought this would be more exciting…"
Poe nodded. "Okay, well, let me know immediately if anything… 'exciting' happens." The guard nodded back, and Poe took a couple steps forward so he could see into the room. Kylo Ren was awake, and staring at Poe through the glass. His expression was utterly unreadable to Poe—he couldn't tell if Kylo recognized him, if he had a good guy vibe or a bad guy vibe, or anything else about his mood. He just stared back at Poe as they silently regarded each other. Poe tried hard to appear equally unreadable, then turned around and continued back down the hall toward his quarters.
Yeah, this is definitely a bad idea.
