Chapter 5
Kylo sipped his apple juice, watching the servants clear away the breakfast tray. It was a beautiful Naboo morning, with the birds chirping and the cool breeze like an attractive lady's hand upon his cheek. After rising from a decent nap, he commanded his breakfast be laid on the terrace, overlooking the far waterfalls of the countryside. He hadn't wanted to eat, but one look at Koita Mathe and he decided against arguing. He flicked his eyes to the man in question, watching him withdraw a handful of credits and slapped them into the outstretched palm of the Naboo landing team leader. The Leader's face was long, his feelings greatly saddened, but he took his money and moped off, allowing Koita Mathe to join Kylo at the terrace.
"Business is secure." He announced, his muffled voice sending a hint of annoyance down Kylo's spine.
"How much time is left in the ceasefire?" Kylo asked, setting his glass down.
"A little under four hours, sir."
Kylo nodded. "I want you and Faroh to take the north and west access points. I will start things at the south. Drive them into the city to give Naboo the option of remaining loyal or choosing destruction."
From behind him, he heard the quick shuffling of feet belonging to a servant sent to spy on him from the current queen. Word would spread as quickly as he anticipated.
"What are our orders, sir?" Koita Mathe asked, his body standing as rigid and ready as a scythe.
Kylo looked at him, "Kill them all."
"Sir," Koita Mathe answered, stepping back to tell his fellow Knight of Ren, but hesitated. "And… the girl, sir?"
Rey's face flashed into his mind, lovely and weeping. He pushed that image aside in favor of her forest face, the one she had shown him in revenge of killing Han Solo and for striking down her treasonous friend. His finger twitched, his body excited.
"Leave her to me. You're no match for her. I'll take care of her."
SWSWSW
Rey bolted, burst fuel surge in hand, her heart hammering against her chest like it was trying to escape to run a relay to the next parts yard. Of six ships, two were flyable but did not have nearly enough room for the entire landing party. But, the Millennium Falcon could be counted as a third if Rey could find an old enough ship with a similar fuel surge. Whoever damaged their ships had either not known enough about older model freighters, or had felt enough sympathy to want them to leave. Or this was a sick new game Kylo had thought up and he wanted to see them squirm before killing them.
She shook her head and propelled herself onward, seeing a familiar heap of scrap metal and rust upon yellowing grass and overgrowth.
"Excuse me!" She screamed, waving the long brown pipe in hand. "Excuse me!"
A Nabooan, a short man with dark skin, emerged from the hull of a land cruiser and immediately began wiping his hands on a grease cloth. "Can I help you?"
Rey screeched to a halt, her lungs protesting so much against the movement that all she could do was hand him the part before gripping her knees.
The man's eyebrows knitted, eyeing the clean laser cut on the fuel surge. "Need a new one?"
She nodded, hair shuffling over her shoulders to catch her sweat drops.
"I think I've got an old freighter that has one like this. Let me go and check, you sit there and, er… catch your breath."
Rey gave a short wave, nodding. She lifted her head, watching him shuffle off and sighed, knowing that at this little man's pace, she might as well shoot the Rebels herself. She reached out to the Force, begging it to fill her, to smooth over the edges that her lungs ripped open in her desperation to find another junkyard.
Three junkyards, three! And none of them either had or were willing to sell to her the vital fuel surge. As she ran, she knew, could feel, Ben had kept his word to the letter of his word. He didn't attack them or damage their ships, but, that didn't mean others couldn't do so on the First Order's behalf. Its just that those others attacked in impeccable detail. Almost as if they didn't get the idea to do it themselves in the first place. And then were suddenly deathly scared to come out and conduct business or their normal routines that day.
Rey stretched to full height, her feelings brushing off her chest like a dark hand was wiping her clean of sympathy or empathy and replacing it with intolerant spite. Kylo Ren didn't know whom he was dealing with, not in the slightest!
She took one step, then another, the Force calling to her where she could find the junkyard owner. She moved around a row of land cruisers, some with roofs and most without, all overgrown with weeds and vines, and looked up to see the bright green overalls of the short junkyard owner looking up at the base of a freighter with his hands on his hips. Rey trotted to him, her chin tilting upwards at the oil smelling freighter.
"There it is," The owner announced matter-of-factly.
"I'll take it," Rey told him quickly, looking at him.
"Bet you would," He replied, reaching up with the hand that held her broken fuel surge and scratched his chin. "There's only one problem: gettin' it." He looked at her, "My lift broke sometime back. I was going to fix it today, but you came in. Give me until tomorrow… where you goin'? Miss!"
Rey trotted back to the land cruisers, seeing three stacked neatly on top of each other. The top of the last cruiser came to almost flush with the roof of the freighter. With hardly a second thought, Rey was climbing it and leapt onto the rusty freighter, much to the shouts of precaution from the owner.
"I've got this!" Rey shouted down at him, leaping delicately over the fragile surface. She crawled over the side, holding on with fingers long accustomed to gripping tightly questionable edges. "Tell me when I'm nearly there!"
"Just don't fall!"
Rey swung, latching onto what outstretched solid things were available to her. Suddenly, the panel she grabbed broke away, eliciting a scream from both her and the owner.
"Come on down!" He cried, shuffling around her.
"No!" She shouted, swinging back and forth. "People are relying on me! I need this fuel surge!"
The owner looked on in conflicted worry, then inhaled. "On your left, there's a handle. It should hold."
Rey grabbed it, finding a new way to swing about around to the vital part. When she reached it she hung, holding on with both hands to the latest sturdy branch, staring at the fuel surge. It needed to be cut cleanly, evenly. From behind her, she withdrew her lightsaber and ignited it, the pain of the heat scalding her palm. She sent the Force around her, begging it to protect her. The owner gasped, breathing an other worldly curse as he stared at her lightsaber.
"Where'd you get one of those?" He called up to her.
"Long story!" She shouted back, feeling her palm cool enough to lift it and stab the far edge of the fuel surge to begin cutting it away.
"Wiggle it!" The owner directed. "I'll catch it from down here."
Rey heard a clink as he tossed away the destroyed fuel surge and aimed below her with outstretched hands. As instructed, Rey wiggled her sputtering blue lightsaber back and forth, cutting gently on one side, then the other until the fuel surge fell free from the ancient freighter and landed, (almost slipping) into the hands of the owner. Rey breathed quickly, dousing her lightsaber and letting herself descend. She landed on all fours, seemingly each joint grumbling their discontent with the move, but she ignored them, rising painfully to her feet.
"How much do I owe you?"
Ten credits, taken for her insistent banter of "I'm-not-stopping-so-save-your-breath-I-know-you-must-make-something." Once paid, the owner handed her the fuel surge like a relay baton and Rey bolted, her entire being focused on the Millennium Falcon waiting to fly.
Naboo was eerily quiet, the bustling natives who had been outside and cheerful the day before had not emerged from their homes at all this day. In fact, the only ones who seemed to have any dealings with the outside world were palace guards who scurried from shadow to shadow, avoiding the Rebels at all costs as though they were enemies who would kill on sight. It was a welcoming sight for Rey as she could bolt center aisle down each avenue without running into some unfortunate. It also meant that she could run through the city instead of around it like she had done before, cutting her arrival time in half.
Though that was not to say that she wasn't completely exhausted by the time she ran through the evergreen meadows stinking with soft fuel and stress. Poe ran to her, already changed into his flightsuit, and caught her as her tight calves gave way, her lungs ready to burst.
"Relax, relax," He urged, turning her onto her back.
Rey stared at his face, a halo of sunlight formed around his hair. "I," gasp, "Got," gasp, "The fuel surge." Gasp, gasp, gasp.
Poe snapped his head up and shouted for Finn before turning back to her, smiling. "That's my best wingman!"
Rey smiled, her heart beating so loudly she was surprised he couldn't hear it. "I'm sorry," She breathed. "I'm," gasp, "I'm sorry."
"We've got a better chance now, because of you." Poe assured her, his heartbreaking smile beaming down at her.
"Rey!" Finn's voice shouted. His face appeared next to Poe's prompting their commander's face to change once again.
"Take Rey into the Falcon," He commanded, easily lifting her limp body to Finn's immediately outstretched arms. "I'm going to fit the fuel surge where it needs to go. We've got two hours worth of work and forty-five minutes to do it, let's go!"
She felt the metal pipe leave her grip, the cool of the soft breeze freezing her scalding palm. Mustering his strength, Finn lifted her to his chest and squelched through the grass and up the ramp of the Millennium Falcon. From what she could see, dozens of crew flew in an endless blur. Some even had hammers to whack hard drive files to pieces before the First Order had a chance to dissect them and discover pivotal secrets.
Finn carried her to the life support systems and seated her on a support bed, wordlessly handing her a breathing mask and turning on the oxygen so that it blasted her nose and lips with the precious air her lungs were begging her for.
"Hey," He told her softly, his eyes warm. "How are you? You okay?"
Rey nodded, pressing the mask to her face and inhaling slowly. She lifted a weak hand and waved it palm up in a gesture of "What?"
Finn's face smoothed with gravitas, his shoulders slumping. "Kylo Ren's been seen with two guards, only two. They stayed in some posh pad in the city, his guards coming in and out every now and then. The Nabooans, they're afraid of them."
"Yes, and indeed they should be." C-3PO's mechanical voice added, his shimmering body coming into the room, making Finn and Rey turn to him. "My intelligence has developed a profile of those, 'guards' as you call them. They are the Knights of Ren, a ruthless mercenary group that calls Kylo Ren their master."
"Yeah, I've heard of them before." Finn murmured. "Snoke didn't use them very much. I mean why would he when he had Kylo? But from what I heard," He shook his head and turned to Rey, "They were each one man Star Killers. If Snoke wanted someplace burned quietly, no survivors or traces of any kind, he'd send the Knights of Ren. He liked examples so he didn't call on them very much. But when he did…" He trailed off shaking his head and shivering.
"Yes, indeed." C-3PO admitted, waving his bent arms, "Which means we're doomed! He means to kill us all the moment the ceasefire has ended. I knew I shouldn't have left the star fleet!"
"Can it, Threepio!" Finn shouted, glaring at him.
"Is there no help?" Rey asked, her voice stifled by the air and the mask.
Finn turned back to her, his eyes immediately soft. "No." The word seemed to echo in the room. "We did everything we could to send the message, but no one would help us and our ships are out of fuel and cannot fire up. Two might make it into hyperspace but there's not telling how long they'll stay there or where they'll end up."
Rey pulled the mask down to her throat the strain of the elastic band pushing on her ears. "There is a ship left unguarded. Kylo Ren's ship."
Finn lifted an eyebrow in confusion, but leveled it the moment he understood. "It could transmit messages to both the First Order and the Rebellion."
Rey nodded, her breathing finally slowing to normal. "The private palaces are nearer into the city. To come and kill us, they would have already left."
Finn nodded, understanding hunching his shoulders. "Right," His face softened, and his hands slid into hers. "Alright, I'm going. But, before I go, I want you to know something."
Her hand reached up and touched his shoulder, that familiar stepping away feeling creeping over her. "Tell me when we see each other again." She told him, his face falling slightly. "And we will see each other again, Finn."
He leaned away, his lips mashing to a solid line before parting, "I'll see you soon, Rey."
"Go," She told him. "You're our last hope."
Finn nodded, squeezing her hands. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. He leaned forward a fraction, his eyes seeming to study her face. He squeezed her hands, leaned back to swing to his feet and stood. "I'll see you on Takodana."
Rey watched him go, her chest alighting for the first time in a while. She swallowed, and rose to her feet, her calves absolutely burning. Slowly, she hobbled to the cockpit, seeing Finn and Kaydel Connix bolt helter-skelter across the grassy plane. She sat down in the pilot's seat, hands instinctively gripping the steering controls. Suddenly, the radio barked Poe's voice.
"Can somebody hear me? Is anyone there?"
Rey grabbed the speaker, "This is Rey, what do you need?"
"Turn on the Falcon, I think we're ready to go."
"Copy that," Rey replied, hands already switching on the many buttons and switches that would begin to give the ancient ship life. As the ship began to give signs of life, she looked out the windshield and saw a figure dressed entirely in black move across the horizon in a slow, purposeful gait. She reached for the last button, stealing glances at the figure, realizing with a tightening chest and gritting teeth that this man was masked, the silver lined jaw piece jutting slightly over the eye shield to further distort the man's appearance.
The Millennium Falcon gave a mechanical whistle, and the control panel shivered with light as the jet turbines sputtered awake. A quick glance determined that the ship had enough fuel for one hyperdrive jump and then gentle cruising, but not much else. Rey heard pounding feet up the ramp, followed by Poe's handsome, sweating face over her shoulder. "Alright, we're good to go," He told her, looking for the ship's status as she had. "Inform the readied ships that they can take off."
A cold, nail scratching feeling slithered down Rey's side, straightening her. She rotated in her chair to the cockpit door, completely ignoring Poe, seeing Ben standing in the meadow, black cloak swaying in the wind. He must have known that she was watching him, but his eyes never lifted. Instead, he looked with a relaxed attention on the object in his hands. Her eyes travelled to his hands and she gasped, her own hands gripping the seat rests. He held his mask in both hands.
"Ben," Rey cried, fear gripping her more than anger.
Poe looked at her, also turning his chair to see what she was begging for. "Rey?" He breathed, seeing nothing but a metal wall.
But Rey couldn't hear him, she was gone from the Millennium Falcon, present only before the one she called in futility, "Ben?"
He didn't look at her, only at the mask in his hands.
"Ben!" She screamed, leaning forward in her chair. She shot out her arm, calling on the Force, "You will put that mask down."
Nothing. He simply moved his mask slightly to his left, admiring it.
Rey shoved her hand through her hair, "Ben, this isn't you. That mask isn't you. You're…" She trailed off, feeling deep within her that the last thing she wanted to do was to tell him what he was feeling. Snoke had done that, and she was quite certain that his parents did that as well. She had to be different.
But she wasn't, in that moment. He flicked his eyes to her in that silence, watching her squirm before him. It was what he had wanted from the moment he first saw her on Takodana all those years ago. He had wanted her to be afraid of him like the rest. Now, the feeling revolted him. His onyx eyes swept her body, his chest dangerously calm. Slowly, he turned the mask so that the back faced him, and he bowed his head.
"Ben!" Rey cried, her voice breaking.
His fluffy hair was immediately tamed, his plump lips hidden, and his beautiful eyes erased to this devilish black mask outlined with silver. His thumbs pushed the buttons that sealed the jawline smooth, and he lifted his head, hers no longer.
Rey stared at him, her chest sputtering with tears. "Poe," She sobbed, "Get everyone on the ship." She felt, rather than saw, him rush out of the cockpit.
Kylo Ren moved his cloak aside, his silver cross blade handle glinting in the sunlight. He unclipped it, lifted his leg, stomped it down on a cluster of yellow flowers and ignited the blood red laser.
SWSWSW
Finn and Kaydel Connix skidded to a halt outside of a sandstone and green turquoise mansion. "You sure this is where Ren stayed?" Finn demanded, looking over her buns.
"Positive," She whispered, barely moving.
Gingerly, she stepped forward, moving her head all around on a constant swivel for anyone possibly guarding the mansion. Suddenly, a Storm Trooper emerged from a lower stair. "Hey!" He shouted, pointing his blaster at her. "How did you get in here?"
Connix shot out a palm towards Finn, halting him whilst holding her other hand high. "I'm sorry," She told him, "I'm a servant from the palace sent to serve the Supreme Leader."
"Get over here," The Trooper commanded. "Where's your uniform or your assignment papers?"
Connix neared him quickly, but her kick to his groin was faster. She dodged the blaster by pulling herself to his side, jamming her elbow into the black tender area that was not covered by white armor. Finn bolted from his hiding position as the Trooper fell over, wheezing in his mask.
Finn grabbed the fallen blaster and pointed it at Connix's victim. "Where's Ren's spaceship?"
"Below," The mechanical voice wheezed, doing his best to gesture with his leg.
"And the code to get into it?"
"3-8-1-9!" The Trooper shouted, his voice echoing in the courtyard. Finn looked up a and saw Connix had already skipped to the stairs, leaving Finn to kick the Trooper out cold.
She ran down the stairs and waited for him, then tapped in a different code in the keypad, "That's not right!" Finn cried.
The door elevated, exposing them to a clean, sandstone and green turquoise hangar where Kylo Ren's ship, the Raven Starr, lied in wait for it's master. That beautiful, fear inducing TIE Fighter waited like a dog posted on guard whilst it's master was away on business. Finn looked upon it and gasped, feeling like the ship itself would attack in place of Kylo. But Connix bolted towards it with complete disregard for caution.
"How'd you do that?" Finn asked, looking down at Connix, "How'd you open the door?"
"Long story." She told him, then rushed forward towards the entrance of the dark ship, Finn on her heels. She punched in the Storm Trooper's code on the glass square that had surely been wiped clean by a servant or Trooper. The ramp lowered with a gentle hiss, making Finn awe at the prestige and finesse of such a space ship. The interior was glossy black steel with white enamel finishing. It was sleek, modern, and could withstand anything six X-Wings could throw at it. It could hold up to a dozen passengers and three gunners, though it only ever used one. Even the pilot's and passengers' seats were black leather, leaving Finn to wonder if the ship had a refrigerator for beverages and snacks.
Finn watched Connix rush to the control panel, the entire thing -save the steering units- looking like a solid board of glass. It appeared that the ship could shift into two modes: steering and combat that would lower the pilot into a safer position where they could be in command of absolutely everything. But at this moment, it was in cruising mode, allowing Connix to easily maneuver it.
"Chewbacca is the closest," Finn told her, reaching over and pressing the button to close the ramp door. He turned his back on Connix, lifting his blaster to his chest, ready for any intruders.
Connix tapped away on the glass panel, red letters appearing on the windshield before her, reflecting off her pale cheeks. "I've got it!" She chirped, looking at him over her shoulder. "I'm sending a hyperwave to Chewbacca and the Resistance." She turned and tapped, her fingers audible in the tense quiet. "Man, this thing is nice."
Finn swallowed, "You think Poe would like to fly it?"
Connix whirled around, her eyes wide. "What?"
Finn turned half around to smirk at her, "You're a pilot, right?"
SWSWSW
Rey watched, frozen with terror as Kylo Ren waited, watching the sun, the sounds of panicking Rebels pounding into the Millennium Falcon and other ships of refuge.
From somewhere, she heard Poe's voice. Something touched her forearm, and for a moment she wanted to slap it away, to preserve this moment with her tormentor. The thing gripped her shoulder, and she gave in, tearing herself from the towering vision of Kylo Ren to stare, nose nearly brushing, at Poe's face.
"Rey," He breathed, enunciating each word, "We need, to go!"
"He wants me," She breathed. "All of this, is for me. He wants, me."
Poe's grip on her shoulder tightened. "Rey, I know what you're thinking. You can't."
"If I go, it'll draw the attention away from you and the Rebels. Give you a chance."
He shook his head, his eyes softening, "I can't let you do this."
"I'm sorry," Rey pleaded. She thrust her opened palm at him, the Force sending him flying to the co-pilot's seat. She jumped up and bolted out the door, brushing passed the Rebels as they ran into the Millennium Falcon.
She skidded down the ramp, several people still running, still trying to fix what couldn't be fixed in the seconds remaining. Many were still running outside, knowing that they wouldn't all fit. Rey herself could feel the hourglass run out of sand the moment her feet touched the tainted grass.
"BEN NO!"
Kylo Ren lifted his lightsaber above his head, both arms raised, then slammed it down with all his might on the fuel soaked ground in front of him, sending a curtain of fire towards the ships.
Kylo watched as the fire chased down the Rebels not quick enough to take shelter. Their screams reached above the blaze, shapeless masses moving through the waving flames as the fire closed around them, consuming the ships.
A blue light cut through the orange and out shot Rey, her teeth gritted in absolute fury, a roar screeching from her throat. She bolted forth, her eyes, fiery and filled with hate, were locked on him. Kylo's lightsaber caught hers, buzzing and hissing as she rotated her arms and attacked him again, then again, her rage blinding her. Kylo's arms shivered with tension as his muscles contracted, absorbing her blows and pushing her away from the fire.
They separated, her toes digging into the delicate meadow, her body hunched. Her feelings hummed with sheer hatred and disappointment, the animal instinct to defend her young flashing red in her eyes. Kylo stood tall, his lightsaber light in his hands. He opened himself to the Force, feeling the world burn in chaos around him. He liked this feeling, it had happened so many times before that he thoroughly enjoyed it. The ships strained under the heat of the fire, the ants building their mounds retreated deep into their tunnels. The wind whipped, casting more embers over delicate flowers and grass. There was no peace except for that which he made.
"Let the past die," He told her calmly.
"No!" She screamed, lifting her lightsaber and charging him.
They fought, crossing blades and jabs, Rey even punching Kylo's jaw at one instance, only to receive for it a swift pulling of her hair that swung her nearly to the fire. Rey looked up and saw a silver object fly over her eyes, hitting her square in the face.
Then all went black.
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