Chapter 17

Rose felt sorry for herself, and she hated it. She had agreed to join this mission both because she wanted to be with Finn. She had gone because she wanted to be a hero again. She had gone because she had admired Rey's achievements and wanted to get to know her.

She hadn't gone to sit alone in a hotel room with nothing to do. At least with the Resistance she could work on ships.

"This is ridiculous. Why am I even here?" she asked the empty room.

Things had been okay at first. She had delighted in learning that Rey also had a passion for mechanical work. Finn, if not romantic, had still been affectionate towards her and attended her plenty. She had been included and part of things.

She had feared the promised introduction to the Supreme Leader, but had also imagined herself to be the hero to discover his vile trickery and comfort Rey's broken heart just as she used to comfort her sister's broken heart when dumped. She would then help Poe and Rey discover feelings for each other while she and Finn fell in love and they would all live happily ever after fighting for love in the Resistance. On some level, Rose knew her happily ever after theory was not that probable, but she had had confidence that Kylo Ren was deceiving Rey and that Rey could count on her to support like a sister.

Instead, however, Kylo Ren had shown up in person, and not only was he completely enamored with Rey, the man had enough heart and gentleness that he had adopted a porg. Rose was still terrified of his power, but there was nothing there to save Rey from. If anything, Kylo Ren seemed more likely to be the one who would suffer a broken heart. Dinner certainly seemed to go that way.

Not just that, but Finn had fallen for Rey too. Rose shouldn't have been surprised. She knew the two had escaped some desert planet with BB-8 and gone on an adventure with the famous Han Solo and escaped Starkiller Base together. It made perfect sense that they might have feelings for each other.

It made perfect sense that Finn wouldn't feel anything for her.

It made perfect sense that once Kylo Ren had arrived, everyone would forget she was even there.

Rose sniffed and stood up. If she didn't find something to do, she would lose her mind. It was late, but this was Coruscant. There would be opportunity no matter the hour.

Rose paused as she stepped outside her room. The others would worry if they didn't find her in her room, but she absolutely wasn't going to interrupt whatever Kylo Ren and Rey were doing, and she was afraid of how she might react to Finn right now.

"I'll leave a note," she said to herself. She went back into her room, scribbled a note, and deliberated whether to leave it in her room or with the front desk. In her room should be fine. Both Rey and Kylo Ren had demonstrated they could easily manipulate locks with the force.

"Maybe I should start thinking of him as Ben," she said to herself, but it didn't matter.

She left the note on her bed and locked the door behind her.

The Coruscant streets were nearly as active at night as during the day. Thankfully, they had gotten rooms in a relatively low crime area, but she still kept her blaster ready as she retraced the path to the starport they had arrived in. The weather outside was chilly, and she absently wondered how warm Rey and Kylo Ren were keeping each other, assuming they weren't fighting. Rose wondered when she would ever get a chance to have someone like that. Not that she wanted a man known as a villain across the galaxy, but she wished that she might have someone who loved her to hold her on a cold night.

The starport was huge and one of dozens on the planet. Built to hold hundreds of ships and manage dozens of simultaneous arrivals and departures, it was easily one of the largest and busiest structures Rose had ever seen. Rose headed directly for it. Where there was business, there were bound to be opportunities.

Rose didn't know where to go, having never worked outside the Resistance before, so she found a help desk for those who spoke basic and got in a line about a half dozen deep. There were at least a half dozen other such help desks for various languages used in the galaxy. Rose smiled at the thought of all the chaos and life out there. Sure, with chaos came pain, but so did happiness, and she wouldn't give that up for anything. Rose would never support the First Order, no matter how well-intentioned Kylo Ren's mission for it was.

Around her, a dozen conversations took place. Feeling taciturn, Rose resolved to ignore it all when she heard someone mention Kylo Ren in a strange, metallic voice. Rose glanced in the direction of the conversation and found two fully armored figures with sinister masks covering their faces heading for the exit.

"Coincidence, it has to be coincidence," Rose muttered even as she knew it couldn't be a coincidence. Kylo Ren had described the Knights of Ren during their investigation at the library. He had mentioned that they were the real reason he came to train Rey, as they were the only remaining power in the galaxy that could truly threaten either of them. Kylo Ren was their master, but he made sure that Rey and her friends understood that they would betray him if they discovered his plan with Rey.

And they were here.

Rose made her decision in an instant. She would follow them and see what they were up to, and, if necessary, distract them from the others.

She left the line and walked directly after them. Some part of her wondered if she should attempt stealth, but there were so many people in the crowded starport that she knew she would lose them if she didn't focus fully on following them.

A couple of large humanoids stepped in front of her, blocking her sight and slowing her down. "No, no, no," she said quietly, trying to get around them. Eventually, she was able to slip around them, but she could no longer see the two knights ahead of her.

She stood still in the flow of foot traffic, slowly spinning around to seek out her targets. When she realized they were good and truly lost, she made for the exit, knowing that she had to warn Ben and Rey. She wasn't sure why that moment was when her brain decided to call him by Ben instead of Kylo Ren, but she didn't have time to ponder it. Her friends were in danger.

Rose made it back out the starport and broke into a sprint back to the hotel, alarming more than a few of the other entities out on the streets as she dodged around them.

She made it two blocks when she felt her legs seize up. She fell hard enough on the pavement to see stars. Her ankle was screaming at her, and she had about two seconds to wonder about how badly she was hurt before an elderly man approached her, leaning down to help pull her up.

"You had a fall, young lady," the man said. Rose reached up and grasped his hand, but he suddenly let go of her, backing away as he looked at something behind her.

Rose strained to look behind her and saw the two dark figures from earlier lean down to pull her up by the arms. They supported her like two friends might support a drunk, with her arms around their shoulders as they each put an arm around her back. "We'll take it from here. Go about your business," one said in a metallic voice.

"I'll go about my business," the man said absently and walked away.

Rose was trapped between them. Though it probably looked to any passerby that they were helping support her down the street, they had frozen her upper body with the force. She couldn't reach her blaster. She could barely move her head. She tried to scream but nothing came out, and the people that passed them by quickly averted their eyes when they saw her captors.

"Is it time to notify the others?" the one on her left asked. He was the taller of the two, though both were taller than her, not that that meant much. Most humanoids were taller than her.

"Soon. I want to search her mind first and confront Kylo Ren. It may be that this girl was another victim to his act," said the captor on her right. Rose was surprised to discover the voice sounded feminine despite the modulation of the mask.

"Careful, Rypo," the man said. "You sound hopeful that our doubts are unfounded."

Rypo turned sharply at her companion. "If Banto's suspicions are true, the New Order will once again fall to chaos, and it is chaos I object to."

"Aren't you saying too much in front of the girl?"

"Were you planning to leave her alive, Teva?" Rypo said. "And to think you accuse me of sentimentality."

Rose struggled to escape again, but she found her body even further immobilized instead. Kriffing force users. She wasn't sure what she could do if she escaped. With her hurt ankle, she was likely to just fall over, but she didn't want this to be her end.

"Relax, girl. Despite Rypo's recommendation, I don't plan to kill you right away," Teva said. "Unnecessary deaths lead to unnecessary trouble, after all. Rypo, if she is a valued companion to the girl, we could use her as bait," Teva said. "Furthermore, you could take your time extracting information. Who knows what knowledge she possesses."

Rose's eyes shot wide. She had no clue what knowledge she possessed of the Resistance, but she had definitely seen enough of the moonstruck Ben for these people to doubt his loyalties. She went over her options. They had stopped her movement and her speech, but they had not stopped her thinking.

Rey! Rose thought as loudly as possible, feeling ridiculous and entirely uncertain as to whether this would work or not. Rey! The knights are coming!

Rypo let out a long sigh. "Hostages add complications and chaos, and you know my feelings there. She's trying to project to her friend. Put her to sleep."

"Aye, aye," Teva said, and Rose felt her world go dark.


A chapter for Rose! I think I got her character right, but she's the one I'm least familiar with since I only saw TLJ once, and she's not in TFA, so I'm not totally sure. The knights are original characters to this story since there's been no official release of information on their identities or personalities.

Thanks as always for the feedback, and please review!

This week may get a bit tricky for me with time management, so don't panic if I don't post every night. I do respond to PMs if you have any questions.