Chapter 41

The extraction plan worked. Ben had demonstrated its effectiveness with Growlie once more, and then Nighwitch had volunteered to be their first human test subject. Rey had some trouble lifting Nighwitch, given that Nighwitch was taller than Rey, but then Rey thought to use the force to help her, and Ben had no trouble picking up Nighwitch on his end.

Rose volunteered next, and Finn refused to let her go first, so Rose and Finn became the next subjects. Poe was grinning big throughout the whole procedure, but showed no interest in trying to cross space through the bond himself. Ben looked at Teva and Rypo next, but they firmly and politely declined.

"You're a handsome man, Master Kylo, but I'm not interested in jumping in your arms more than absolutely necessary," Teva said.

And so ended their exploration of transferring people. Ben took Rey's hand again afterward so that he could still see and interact with the others.

Knowing the extraction plan worked relieved Ben somewhat, but he still feared for Rey. If she got in a bind, could he pull her out too? There was no way to check beforehand without permanently removing her from the Resistance ship. He had not said anything to her about it, but he could tell she was wondering the same thing.

Still, his visions gave him hope, as did Nighwitch's proposal of the academy. They would have a future together. They had to.

"I should go speak with Hama-Ki and make sure she's available for negotiations," Ben said to his knights and Rey. Hama-Ki would be needed if they convinced the Resistance to enter negotiations.

"Hama-Ki is..?" Poe asked.

"Another knight," Rypo said.

"One who's actually good at politics," Teva added, earning frowns from both his colleagues and Ben. "What? It's true." Ben shook his head. Had Teva always been this snarky underneath the knight facade?

Poe nodded. "A negotiations specialist would be good. I should bring Kaydel in on this too. She's much better at talking with people than I am, even though I got landed with the leadership role. She knows I've been in negotiation talks with the First Order and that Rey and Ben are together."

Ben nodded his agreement. He vaguely recalled Kaydel as a young girl who followed his mother everywhere and even mimicked his mother's hair styles. He wouldn't be at all surprised to discover the girl had grown into a skillful negotiator, though he saw no issue with Poe's own skills beyond that the pilot-turned-general lacked the polish the political types preferred.

"Wait, Poe and them call you Ben?" Teva asked him.

Ben shrugged. "I was Ben Solo before I was Kylo Ren."

"I'm learning everyone's original names today!" Teva exclaimed. "Nighwitch, what's yours?"

"None of your business," Nighwitch said evenly.

Ben smirked at that, though he would rather see Nighwitch get along with Rypo and Teva. "We still need to figure out how to address the rest of the Resistance. Poe, is there already a time set up for Rey to address them?"

Poe nodded. "They've been begging to meet her since she arrived yesterday. I was going to have a conference in this ship later tonight at eighteen-hundred standard cycle. There's a large auditorium mid-ship. It's a bit old-fashioned, but it should do. Some will be joining us by holo though. Can Ben be seen by holo through the force bond?"

That question led to another series of experiments, in which they determined that, yes, the holo projection equipment did properly scan Ben through the force bond as long as Rey was in contact with him.

"So what happens if this all fails?" Poe asked when they finished testing the holos. "What's plan B? Dump opposing officials into First Order prison cells via the bond like Teva here suggested earlier?"

Teva laughed. "Sure beats our original plan of destroying the Resistance from within."

Ben rubbed his forehead in exasperation. The Resistance members stared at Teva in horror, and Rypo and Nighwitch both glared at him.

"Look, it's the truth," Teva said. "Did you forget we're on opposite ends of this war? It's nothing personal, but that was the original plan. The war between us is wasteful. We'll end it one way or another with this. However, I am all for preserving life by making hostages of the bigwigs who are determined to cause more suffering for everyone."

"I will stop you if you try to kill anyone," Rey said and stepped forward. Ben wasn't certain she even realized that she was dragging him too.

Teva sighed and shrugged. "Fair enough. Just be prepared to pass some people to Master Kylo then. You okay with this, Mr. Resistance Leader?" he asked, looking at Poe.

Poe shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time I staged a revolt within the Resistance for the greater good. I'm also not sure I can actually stop you at this point either. I mean, I could order the ships to escape and attack the location of your fleet, but… well, you knights don't seem so bad… then again, who is replacing Ben when he retires? Ben, you are still retiring, right?"

Ben nodded. "I am," he said. He had given much thought to this over the last few days. Though he was tired of protocol and withholding information, he knew he should wait until all his knights were present. "I will announce my chosen successor tonight when I address the Resistance," he said. He would have Hama-Ki, Banto, and Jun'Pon join things from his end. After all, extra hands would not be unwelcome for addressing any potential complications. "Could we have the conference stream to my ship as well, so that we can follow the whole discussion?"

"I'll make it happen," Poe said.

"I would like some time with Ben, alone," Rey said. "Are we done here?"

The others filtered out of the hangar, leaving Ben and Rey alone. Once they were gone, Rey's neutral expression melted into sorrow. "Ben, you were planning to let them destroy the Resistance, weren't you?"

He gazed at her beautiful face and shook his head. "It was not a bad plan."

"Except for the part where people died for not agreeing with you," Rey said.

Ben's heart sank, even though he did not regret his actions or the plan. "Do you want me to apologize for doing whatever it takes to end this war?" Ben asked softly. "You know I'm not all light side, but I am all for our future together."

Rey sniffed, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know that, but I just…" She frowned and took a deep breath. "I'm glad Teva's plan is an option. Or we could even have made everyone go to sleep and managed things that way. There are other non-lethal options. You don't always have to blow things up."

Ben smiled. "Perhaps you could stay by my side and remind me."

Rey wrinkled her nose at him, but she smiled too. "You know I will. We'll have this argument again and again, won't we? Dark versus light?"

"Until we're old and gray, if possible," Ben said, stepping in and kissing her wet cheeks. "Let this be the last time we're separated though." He kissed her lips then, but she didn't respond. "Please," he murmured into them.

Rey pulled back slightly. "I'm still angry."

Ben sighed and stepped back to give her more space. "I understand. I'll see you tonight." He closed the connection and sat down heavily on his bed, pulling Growlie to him with the force so that he could comfort himself with petting the porg, at least. Growlie squawked at him and settled down in his lap.

The bond opened back up, and Rey stood before him. "I didn't mean for you to go away!" she said. "I still want to spend time with you. I just needed a minute before I kissed you." Her eyes fell on Growlie in his lap. "The porg can move."

Ben's heart glowed with hope and warmth, but he wasn't going to let her off too easily. "Weren't you angry with me?"

Rey glared at him. "I'll be angrier if you don't move the porg."

"No," Ben said.

Rey stalked towards him, glared at the Ben, and flicked the porg with a finger, causing Growlie to squawk angrily and take flight.

"That wasn't very nice," Ben said. He never let his eyes leave hers though.

"You know I'm not all light," Rey countered and crossed her arms.

The thrill that ran down Ben's spine at her simple words made him want to throw her down on his bed and make love to her then and there, though he knew Rey was not ready for that level of intimacy and still in the hangar on her side of the bond. "Kiss me," he ordered.

"You sure you wouldn't rather snuggle with Growlie?" Rey taunted.

Ben reached out and pulled her into his lap, wrapping an arm around her waist tightly to pull her back against him. "What do you think?" he asked, tilting her head back with his free arm to crush his lips against hers.

Rey bit his lip firmly and deepened the kiss when he opened his mouth in response. She twisted around in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. I think I never want to let go of you. Rey said into his mind.

There's a solution to that predicament. Ben returned.

What's that?

Don't let go of me.


One more chapter after this one.

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