Beep! Beep! Beep!
Rey ran to the cockpit, hearing the console's frantic alert that someone was trying to contact them on the comm. It was the following morning, and they were no more than two standard hours from Naboo now. Jamming her palm against a large white button, she accepted the call, and her chest tightened as she suddenly found herself face to face with Finn.
"Rey!" he exclaimed, momentarily caught off guard. "Did you get my last message?"
"Yes," she nodded anxiously. "I'll be arriving on Naboo soon."
He paused and swallowed hard. "We just heard from Poe, and, Rey, the attack has already begun. The First Order has formed a blockade around the planet."
"What?" she exclaimed in dismay. "So quickly?"
"Rose and I will be there within the hour. We're going to try to make it past them."
"Have they deployed any ground troops?"
Finn shook his head. "Not yet. But they have a dreadnought, so Theed's deflector shields have been activated. Poe thinks that they're debating how to proceed."
"Well, we can't take down a dreadnought on our own," she replied, her hand propped thoughtfully beneath her chin. "Will the queen send her security forces to confront it?"
"No," he answered disappointedly. "She refuses to engage them unless the First Order tries to fire on her people."
Rey sighed and buried her face in her hands, massaging her aching forehead. Finally, she looked up and met his eyes again. "All right, then I suppose we have no choice but to return to the surface and hope that the First Order comes to us."
His brow furrowed, and she could tell that he was trying to smile for her sake. "We'll see you on the other side. Good luck, Rey. And may the Force be with you."
"You too," she said, managing a small smile in return.
His eyes shone as he gazed at her for a moment, and then he ended the call. She took a deep breath and sank into the pilot's seat, checking the navicomputer one last time.
"It would've been a good idea to tell them about me before I walk into the palace," she heard Ben say behind her.
"Probably," Rey admitted. But the truth was that she couldn't bear to see the sense of betrayal in Finn's eyes—not right now. Not when she didn't know if this would be the last time she would ever see him.
"We'll drop out of hyperspace in less than two hours," she added, changing the subject, "and I'm guessing that we won't receive a warm welcome when we do."
His boots thudded on the durasteel floor as he approached. Coming to stand between the two seats, he placed one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the copilot's. "It'll be difficult to get through the blockade without a distraction."
"But not impossible," Rey responded, glancing up at him with a smile.
Ben looked down and met her gaze, an affectionate smirk playing on his lips.
"Are you any good at flying?" she asked, oblivious to how her innocently posed question might be perceived.
He laughed incredulously.
"What? I'm being serious!"
She stared at him as he leaned down toward her, his face inches from hers. Heat rose into her cheeks.
"I'm the best pilot in the galaxy," he purred, his brown gaze penetrating hers.
Rey's heart fluttered, but she refused to refused to break eye contact. "Have you ever flown the Falcon?"
Caught off guard, Ben blinked and gave a slight shake of his head. "No."
Darkness had crept into his eyes, shadows of guilt and repressed memories. Even resentment.
"Would you like to?" she asked, hoping to lift his spirits.
"I…" he glanced uncertainly at the console, "I guess."
"Good," she replied promptly, "because I like being on the gun turret. So we have a plan then?"
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "Yeah."
HHHHHHHHHH
When they dropped out of hyperspace, the Falcon nearly collided with a wall of Resurgent-class Star Destroyers. The dreadnought was positioned at the center of the blockade, its orbital cannons aimed toward Naboo's surface.
"All right," said Rey, rising swiftly, "it's time to make our run."
She moved out of the way, allowing Ben to shift from the copilot's position to the pilot's chair. He took a deep breath as he lowered himself into the seat, and she noticed that his fingers were trembling as he grasped the controls. Rey paused, then bent down and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Good luck, Captain Solo."
Without giving him a chance to respond, she straightened and turned, running out of the cockpit and through the corridor that would lead her to the access tube. When she reached the ladder, she climbed quickly down into the gun well and took up her position at the turret.
The First Order never attempted to make contact—never bothered to warn them that they should turn back. They knew the Millennium Falcon, and they had no intention of allowing it to escape in one piece. Rey saw one of the Star Destroyers open fire, green bursts of energy flying toward her. But the Falcon ducked beneath them, keeping just out of range of the cruisers' tractor beams.
"They're sending out fighters!" she called into her headset.
"I see them," Ben answered calmly, his voice crackling through the speaker.
The Falcon made a sharp turn as TIEs swooped in from the left and the right, and she jammed her thumbs down on the triggers, sending her own red lasers flying back at them. One fighter exploded in a ball of flames, then two more at she eliminated both of them with a single blast.
"Nice shot," said Ben, and she could almost hear him smiling.
"Thanks," Rey responded with a smirk.
Suddenly, he flipped the Falcon belly-up, and she found herself staring at the underside of a Star Destroyer as they passed over the swarming TIEs. Her orientation rotated again, and then they were behind them, having completed a 360-degree turn. She fired again, continuing to thin their numbers as several fighters peeled off from the main group and circled around behind them.
"I'm taking us down," he told her.
The Falcon dipped into a nosedive, plummeting toward the planet's atmosphere. Rey swiveled the gun around and aimed it at the TIEs that still pursued them. She managed to pick off three more of them even as Ben guided the freighter through a series of elaborate maneuvers in a valiant effort to avoid the barrage of laserfire that was assailing them from above. But in the end, even his arsenal of clever tricks was unable to protect them from the sheer vastness of the force that sought to turn them into space dust.
One of the shots fired from the nearest Star Destroyer slashed the belly of the Falcon, causing the freighter to shudder and blare shrill warnings at them. All Rey could see now was a trail of thick gray smoke and flashing sparks.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she grunted in response to his anxious inquiry, "but I can't see a thing."
"Come back to the cockpit. We're entering the atmosphere, and this could be a rough landing."
"On my way."
Yanking off her headset, she sprang out of her chair and scrambled back up the ladder. Then she returned to the cockpit.
Ben's fingers were flying over the controls, screens flashing and frantic beeps alerting them to the fact that multiple systems were damaged. White clouds were rushing past the viewport, and Rey wiped her sweating palms on her tunic as she slid into the copilot's seat.
"If your friends give us the same welcome as those Star Destroyers, we're going to be in real trouble," he said through gritted teeth, gripping the controls with white-knuckled hands as he fought to keep the freighter steady.
"They won't," she assured him.
The remaining TIEs had finally decided to turn back, unwilling to stray too far from the host ships. They had made it past the blockade, and now all they needed to do was ensure that they landed the Falcon in one piece.
As they broke through the last of the clouds, Rey saw green hills and mountains rolling below them, winding rivers and lakes glittering in the light of the rising sun. Situated atop a vast plateau was the grand city of Theed, sheltered beneath a massive dome of rippling energy.
"You're sure that we'll be able to pass through?" Ben asked apprehensively.
"Yes," she nodded as she did what she could to stabilize the Falcon's faltering functions. "It only protects against plasma and laser weapons—not ordinary physical objects."
"All right…"
She could see the uncertainty flickering in his eyes, but he clenched his jaw and focused all of his attention on the rapidly approaching palace hangar. The battered old freighter lurched and jolted, the straining groans coming from its durasteel skeleton causing Rey to wonder—once again—if it was going to hold together. She clutched the arms of her chair, holding her breath as the deflector shield loomed directly ahead.
But they slipped through unscathed, and she exhaled, her tensed shoulders relaxing. Their speed was slowing, the yawning mouth of the hangar growing larger and larger until it swallowed the entire viewport.
"Ben?" she questioned nervously, noting that he had pressed the same button three times.
His eyes narrowed as he slammed his palm against it in frustration. "The landing gear's jammed."
"Oh, wonderful," Rey responded sarcastically.
"Hold on," he muttered, biting his lip in concentration.
A second later, the Falcon's exposed belly hit the floor of the hangar, scraping and sliding across its smooth surface with a terrible grating noise. She cringed, wishing that she could shut her eyes, but they were skidding dangerously close to the interior doors. Fearing that they would crash into them, she cried out in alarm. But at the last possible moment, the freighter's momentum ground to a screeching halt.
Silence fell.
Her chest was heaving, her eyes wide as she stared through the viewport. Finally, she blinked and glanced over. Ben was breathing hard, having released the controls and leaned back against his chair. His gaze met hers, and they shared a look of mutual astonishment and relief.
Then, quite unexpectedly, Rey laughed. It was a gleeful and unrestrained thing that surprised even herself. "We did it!" she exclaimed.
Ben smiled back at her, locks of disheveled black hair falling over his eyes.
But their moment of triumph was suddenly interrupted as the interior doors opened. Rey turned to look, her expression darkening as she saw rebel troops and members of Queen Vashti's Royal Security Forces advancing on the Falcon with their weapons drawn. The man leading them was none other than Poe Dameron.
Ben tensed beside her, and she swallowed hard. "Oh no."