Dara had managed to work up the courage to send word ahead to her mother about their guest. Leia had sounded so relieved to hear from Dara after so long. She assured her mother that she was fine. Her mother gushed and chastised as all mothers did, but she became silent when Dara mentioned that they had Ben.
"When can we expect you?" Leia had asked, stiffly. She was shocked, feeling an ocean of conflicting emotions.
"In a day. We're nearly home, mother." Their conversation had been short, but it was clear that they were both now miserable. It was at the same time fascinating and horrendous how one person could ruin the lives of so many. Dara had few comforts in the tense atmosphere on the Millennium Falcon. She spent a lot of time with Chewbacca, reminiscing about her father. Chewbacca told her many stories of their misadventures together. Her other comfort was Poe. He was always a comfort to her. Her sassy, sometimes sarcastic, pilot. She didn't know Rey nearly as well as she would like to. She was a smart girl. She was like the glue that held them all together. And she still didn't quite know what to make of Finn. Excitable and grumpy, it was such an odd mix for a young man. But he had been a Stormtrooper.
The dread tightened in her stomach as she entered the small cramped quarters where she kept Ben confined as they were angling the Falcon down towards the base to land. Poe had taken over being the main pilot from Rey, alongside Chewbacca, who had always preferred being the co-pilot. She stepped into the room alone. The atmosphere was one of strain and anger. Ben was straining against Dara's hold on him with all his might, but failing. He would not break free. She had become much stronger than him. It had not always been so, she recalled. But now was the only time that truly mattered.
"It's time for you to face our mother." she said, quietly, her voice cracking and breaking. Ben only stared at the opposite wall. He wouldn't look at her, wouldn't speak to her. And so it remained until they were walking out of the ship down onto the heavily guarded runway. Dara had bound his hands behind his back, more-so for show. The Resistance forces may not have felt very reassured to see him walking into their base with his hands swinging free.
"Are you ready to break your own mother's heart, sister?"
"Shut. Up." she muttered through her clenched teeth.
The Resistance forces gazed at the party of seven making their way down the gauntlet that had been marked out by armed men and women. They stared in wonder, they whispered amongst each other. But they did not cheer, they did not clap. They did not celebrate. They knew that he was Leia's son. They remained silent out of respect for her. And there she stood. It seemed like she was miles away. She stood as tall as she possibly could, and she saw that her Uncle Luke stood beside her. Dara felt some small measure of comfort knowing that her mother had him here. That they could face down Kylo Ren together. Poe walked by her side, but not even his presence could take the sick tortured feeling away from her. The walk from the ship to her mother seemed to take forever. Dara gripped Ben's bound hands in a tight claw. She felt her nails digging into his skin, but if he complained she didn't hear. Everything around her was white static. She had dreamed of this moment many times. It was triumphant, it was victory. She had taken her brother away from the darkness! Rescued him! But now she was simply brining a murderer in to face his fate. There was no way that they could be lenient on him. He had helped to kill billions. This was a death march.
They finally came to stand before General Organa, who stared them all down with a severity that Dara rarely got to see in her mother's face.
"Dameron. I asked you to seek out my daughter and return her safely. Yet again, you have proven yourself to be a valuable member of this Resistance, achieving the impossible yet again. You have my deepest gratitude and respect." Dara knew, that to Poe, that was the highest honour he could ever achieve.
"Thank you General." He was a little choked up. Emotional. It almost made her smile. Almost.
"Rey, Finn. As always, you have turned up in unexpected places and shown yourselves to be endlessly helpful. I thank you both." They both nodded, and Rey gave an awkward smile. She did not address Chewbacca. She was sure she would have some choice words for him later on for assisting her daughter on what could deemed to be a suicide mission.
"Dara Varana Solo." Her voice carried out into the crowd, ringing out. "You have achieved what many have been trying to do for years. You have brought our greatest enemy to hand. Kylo Ren, dog of the First Order." The creases on her mother's face deepened as she spoke these harsh words about her son. She had a look of distaste and great hurt. "This is a day of great victory for the Resistance. For the new Republic. And you are to be commended and celebrated." It was as though her words gave permission to those who had gathered to be happy, to cheer, as they suddenly erupted in applause and roaring cheers. Dara looked away for a moment, catching Poe's eye. He looked sickened. He knew that this was a time of new mourning brought to the Organa Solo family.
Ben stared at his mother, and there was what appeared to be genuine sorrow in his eyes. To be faced with his mother, who did her job reluctantly enough, knowing that she would most likely have to have him put to death. It could not have been an easy thing. She thought perhaps that this had finally humbled him.
"Mother… Please…" he said quietly. Leia glared down at her son, horror etched into every part of her face. It softened into deep sadness quickly enough.
"You will join your father soon enough Ben. I'm sorry. It's out of our hands. You will stand trial, and you will be found guilty." Luke said. Ben looked at his uncle for the first time, a look of twisted hatred transforming his features, but he did not speak again. Leia still stared down at her son, her heart clearly breaking all over again. She had borne him into this life, and she had watched as he destroyed it. She felt like she had failed him. Her guilt and sorrow and anger must have made for a despairing cocktail of emotion.
"Take him away." her mother said, in a shaky voice.
Walking away from the roar of the crowd into the sparsely occupied base felt completely surreal to her. Dara walked alone with Ben, a few guards trailing a bit behind. Her friends had stayed behind, and she could feel their sympathetic gazes in her back. She felt that she was the one marching to her own death.
"They are going to kill me, sister." Ben said. Fear did not make an appearance in his voice. He was steady and seemingly calm.
"What did you expect would happen, Ben?"
"I thought I could change things. Change the balance of the Force. Thought after a time I could stop him." He sounded more impassioned now. Fevered almost.
"You were weak, and you were taken in. There is no strength in the Dark side, nor is there strength in the Light. There is only strength within ourselves and the choices we make. And you have always lacked conviction. You have always felt mortally wronged by…. Something. You have always found something to pity yourself for. But now… You have gotten yourself into this mess Ben, and there is no way out. I could have helped you earlier on down this road, but now we are at the end, and I cannot pull you out." She found the high security holding cell, and opened the door with a quick thought. "This fate is of your own making, and now you must languish in it." she said, her tone softer than her words. She gave him a small push into the cell, and closed the door with a clank, building up strong walls of her power around it. But she could tell he was broken. He was finished here.
"We could have done so much good together. I see that now." Ben said, his deep voice carrying through the glass on the door. He easily broke the bonds around his hands, and placed a hand on the glass. "Promise me you will do what has to be done." He hammered his palm on the glass as Dara turned away. "Promise me!" he yelled. She walked away from her brother. She would make no promises to him. He didn't deserve any.