The next day, Rey and the First Order went to war.
'Don't leaders usually stand at the back?' She had to flick a switch on the open-topped, lightly-armoured, ground assault vehicle she was travelling in so she could ask this question of General Hux, who was somewhere at the back.
The Azaxi's outer defences had been breached some time ago, and the First Order armies had landed, departed their transports, and were marching towards what should be a relatively easy victory. Rey had already had Major Breen transfer the majority of the Azaxi assets to the First Order coffers, and the plan today was to defeat the pigmen, assert the First Order's military supremacy to anyone who might be tempted to declare war, and then accept the surrender of the surviving Azaxi forces and leave them to rebuild their planet in peace. The only part Rey didn't understand was why she had to go to the battle at all, especially not in what was basically a lidless metal box.
Hux responded, 'Sometimes, it's wise to let the troops see their leaders in combat. It stiffens their resolve.'
It was obvious that Ben wasn't too keen on her stiffening anyone's anything, because he was prowling alongside her transport, brandishing his lightsaber at anyone who dared get too close. The transport only stopped when it was about to crash into the front lines and she got down, a shade nervously, igniting the lightsaber, just in case.
'Remind me what we're doing here?' she asked.
He gestured, and a space appeared in the First Order lines, which he stepped in to fill, deflecting the first blaster shots and advancing towards the enemy.
'First, if you're prepared to order the attack, you should be prepared to lead the attack. Second, Hux thinks the army needs to see you in action if they're going to accept your authority and I think he has a point. And third, you wanted a picnic. So, are you going to come and help or are you going to stand around with the sandwiches all day?'
She went to help. Fighting with him was almost as good as sex with him, and she found herself thinking about both things at the same time, and then rather more about the sex, preferring to disable rather than kill Azaxi soldiers now that the battle seemed to be over. He didn't take the bait though and, losing interest, she climbed back into the transport to survey the battlefield with more height.
'It's over, Ben,' she told him, although she'd lost sight of him somewhere in the midst of the fighting. 'They're retreating. Will Hux give the order to fall back?'
'No. I'll give the order to move on to the settlements. They should be easy to eliminate.'
She took a step backwards in shock, the pit of her stomach falling into a hole somewhere. 'That wasn't the plan. We're going to leave the women and children alive. They're innocent in all this.'
He snorted. 'The First Order doesn't leave survivors to recover and attack us again. And besides, these people aren't innocent. They sell children to rape parties. Whether they've done it themselves or it's been done in their name, they are responsible for terrible things. They're long past your forgiveness.'
She answered slowly. 'That doesn't mean you should slaughter them. There are some things that can't be forgiven, but I don't think that killing the culprit is the answer. I think people should be allowed to make amends, if they really want to change.'
'Me or them?' he snapped. 'Because last time we fought these people you had no ethical concerns whatsoever.'
'You don't need to kill everyone you meet just to prove a point. Leave the women and children alone.'
'Stop it, Rey. Just stop it. Stop trying to control me. Stop trying to change me. This is who I am.'
'No. This isn't who you are. This is Kylo Ren.'
'Here and now, Kylo Ren is who I am. Who I will always be. I'm sorry if that isn't good enough for you, but it's never going to change.'
'I know I can't change you Ben. You've made that perfectly clear.' She was glad that he was too far away to see the single tear that escaped down her cheek.
She took the command shuttle, with its dented nose and badly repaired wing and flew back to The Reaper without him. But he knocked on the door of her suite later. When she opened it, he took her in his arms, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
'I'm sorry for shouting at you,' he said.
'But not sorry for murdering innocent people?'
He sighed. 'Do we have to do this now? Can't we just pretend, just for an hour or two, that I'm the person you want me to be?'
She accepted the truce, lying with him on her bed for the rest of the afternoon, listening to him breathe, but her jaw was clenched the entire time. She couldn't let it go, not as easily as that. It was possible that he didn't see the consequences of his actions – it was possible that, if she was a little more direct with him, maybe he'd understand. If he loved her enough, he'd change. Surely, he would change. He needed one more chance. This was a mistake, an aberration, just a stumble on the road to redemption. She could give him one more chance, just one more.
Captain Ocram sent an emergency call through to her holopad just as her eyes were flickering shut. 'Apologies for the interruption, Supreme Leaders. I have a situation that requires your attention. Two further requests to join the alliance have arrived, but both planets are demanding that we destroy the other. What would you like me to do?'
She called from the bedroom. 'Is there an obvious answer, Menan?'
'No, Supreme Leader. This is politics, not war. There aren't any easy answers.'
She sighed, thought for a minute. 'Then I'd better speak to them both. Set it up.'
She rolled back to Ben, clambered onto his chest and kissed him, pulling the lower lip that had been pouting for the best part of the last three hours into her mouth. 'Are you coming?'
He slid a hand into her hair, cupping the nape of her neck and put his mouth to hers as lightly as ever the first ray of sun had danced across her face on a Jakku morning. He covered her face in tiny, butterfly soft kisses, tracking the contours of her cheekbones with a whispering attention and returning to her mouth only when the rest of her had been thoroughly explored.
'No,' he finally said. 'And you don't need to go either. We don't need allies.'
He rolled her over, coming to rest on top and she separated her legs automatically, hooking an ankle over his calf. His hips rocked against her, hard against soft, firm into yielding. She reached up and unfasted the small buttons holding his tunic closed, pushing it back off his shoulders until he shrugged it to the floor.
'We do if we want to survive.' She loved this bit. The licence she had to strip him naked, the way she could touch and kiss him in any way she wanted, that no one else could.
He kneeled up, took the hem of her top and tugged it over her head. Then he bent his mouth to her breast. 'You're so naïve. Everyone is going along with what you want because the army's in trouble, and you've got a good plan to fix it. But as soon as we're secure again, everything will change.'
He ceased the circling ministrations of his tongue, took a nipple between his teeth and pulled back, releasing it gently, then suckled hard enough on her other breast to make her moan, and wind her fingers into his hair to hold him in place.
He broke away, reaching for the catch on his trousers. 'We won't need allies any more. We'll overrun them. We'll take what we want, and they'll be grateful we didn't take more.'
Rey wriggled out of her trousers as he sprang himself free and he spread her open, putting a hand between her legs. 'That's not how it's going to be,' she gasped, two fingers sliding smoothly inside her. She wrapped her hand around him, feeling him harden still further under her touch. 'Nothing stays conquered forever, not in the end. That's why the Empire failed. That's why the First Order has to adapt.'
He entered her gently, her hands running up and down his spine, feeling the movement of his backside beneath her nails. She moaned at the bite of his teeth at the base of her neck.
He said, 'You want to adapt it into the Republic.'
She crossed her legs over his hips, matching the long, rhythmic drives, the sudden retreats, urging him deeper with lips and hands and body. 'There is no Republic,' she whispered into his ear. 'There is no Empire. Both failed. Both fell. Let them die. Build something new with me.'
She wanted him to accept. She held him while he shuddered under her hands, and he held her as she came apart around him, but she wanted him to understand what she was saying because this would be the last chance he was going to get.
He spent himself inside her with a long-held groan. Rolling away, he rested an arm over his eyes as he fought to catch his breath. 'We'll see,' he said.
She put her clothes back on and went out.