Chapter 17

C-3PO knew something had happened between Kylo Ren and Captain Finn, but no one would tell him what it was or even discussed it around him. Perhaps that was the price of being in such a small academy, no need to tell the protocol droid. Weeks passed since the "incident," and there was a reluctant cooperation between the Master and his students, a steady yet dispassionate routine. The Caretakers had noticed and had asked him, but with no communication, no answers came.

So, C-3PO did as he was told to do, and catalogued the stores of belongings left behind by students from long ago, even some of Master Luke's belongings. He kept those in the best care, keeping them away from the moist salt air as best he could. Especially the paper journal of calligraphy that seemed like a piece of art collected for sentimental purposes.

On top of his cataloguing duties, (which he could really do in a week if uninterrupted doing basket weaving or some other menial task), C-3PO kept a small radio that Commander Dameron had given him mostly to make sure that Kylo Ren hadn't killed his students, and to inform C-3PO of when they would be flying in.

After six months of abandonment onto the island, Kylo Ren came to C-3PO and told him, "Call Dameron. Tell him, they're ready for their first exam."

"A first exam?" C-3PO asked. "Oh, I do hope they study, then."

Kylo Ren said nothing, he simply walked away to where Captain Rey was seated washing laundry.

SWSWSW

Poe arrived on Ben's personal ship, showing up out of the blue in a move that would have terrorized Finn, Rose, and Rey if they hadn't come along in the Force. As it was, they were in the middle of fight drills, Rey on top of Finn with her fist poised to punch, when they all, in perfect unison, looked up. A pull, a familiar pull that inspired scents of jet fuel and leather polish with warm comfort of a motor's hum, tugged at them.

"Hmm," Ben's voice purred. "Took him long enough."

Rey rolled off Finn, looking to Ben, then to the atmosphere where ships usually arrived. From the grey clouds, bright white lights tore through them, followed by the sleek, black Raven Starr, circling the island slowly as it admired them from the wicked red tinted windows.

"Poe!" Rose cried over the billowing winds, waving at him.

As was customary, the students stood, then looked to their master for dismissal. He turned to them, his hair thrashing wildly in contrast to his firm stance, and nodded.

At once, Finn and Rose shot off down the path, their emotions a jumble of positivity and negativity at once. But Rey turned back to Ben and moved to stand next to him.

"You're not running to be with your friends?" He asked, turning to her.

She held out her hand to him, "Join us."

He looked at her, and smirked. "You go, I'll follow." He hesitated, then added, "I'm not good with friends."

Rey dropped her hand and looked at him. "You don't have to be alone all the time, Ben."

His smirk returned. "I know, I just want you to have friends."

She smiled, then reached up and kissed him on the cheek. As she bounded down the rock path, she could feel him smiling after her, restraining himself from keeping abreast with her to see their new arrivals. Though she mostly felt him long for his own ship.

SWSWSW

Poe was not an islander by any means. Being surrounded by water with the neighboring island two miles away, he would have drowned a hundred times by the time he reached his current age trying to get off this system. Kylo's students seemed to like it, though, as all were in good health and the girls seemed in good spirits.

Which meant Finn was feeling like Bantha dung. And he looked it, too.

"What's up, buddy?" Poe asked, looking at Finn.

At once, the girls silenced, then found some reason to disappear. Even BB-8 noticed and rolled next to Finn, chirping encouragement.

"What did he do?" Poe asked, looking to the pathway where Kylo Ren was casually descending.

"Did you know about him and Rey?" Finn asked, his entire body slumping.

Poe stared at Finn, a very large part of him wanting to answer with a sarcastic, "You didn't know?" Instead, he leaned back and said, "What?"

"I know right?!" Finn exclaimed, his body perking up.

"That's… unbelievable, man." Poe told him, shaking his head slowly meanwhile trying to refrain from shaking him. "What happened?"

"She was with him. Like… not like… you know… but they were…" He gestured with his hands to the rock in front of him. "And it just… hit me. You know? Like… how long…?"

Poe nodded slowly, "What did she say?"

"She said that they were connected. They have a connection and that they were each other's perfect balance."

"That's disgraceful." Poe frowned, shaking his head as he saw Rose peek around the corner.

"Exactly!" Finn urged, smiling at the vindication. "I've been Rey's friend for so long," He turned his heel to begin pacing, "But she goes for him? Him? I mean, what?"

Poe shifted slightly around him as he moved, and gestured softly to Rose, mouthing the words, "He didn't know?"

She lifted her shoulders and shook her head.

Suddenly, Rose snapped to attention and chirped a little too loudly, "Master Ren! It's Poe!"

Kylo Ren turned the corner the moment Finn spun on his heels to face Poe, "So fish is like the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean grilled? Mhm!"

"The both of you wouldn't have survived five minutes of interrogation," Kylo growled, stepping into his beautiful, commandeered ship.

"Enjoying my ship?" He asked Poe, running an appreciative hand over the smooth side panel.

"I love this ship," Poe grinned, nodding his head. "Ravy's a beaute."

"Don't ever call her 'Ravy.'"

"So, a first exam?"

At once, Finn and Rose blossomed, and Rey came out of nowhere in a matter of moments, standing rather close to Kylo's right arm as he nodded.

"That's right." He looked at his students, "A first exam."

"What are we going to do?" Rey asked softly.

Kylo turned from her to Poe, his eyes glittering like topaz diamonds. "Ready to rebel?"

Poe's grin spread wide across his face. "Always."

SWSWSW

Loznos System - First Order Quay

HC-4267 sat in the transport carrier, watching as the more senior Stormtroopers pulled off their helmets to head into the bar. It was allowed, so long as they didn't come back drunk. No one liked intoxicated Stormtroopers, especially the guys cleaning up after them. HC-4267 scratched through the black under covering to his neck, wondering if anyone would be around to care if he pulled his helmet off for ten minutes…

"Officer on deck!"

At once, HC-4267 jumped to his feet and poised his blaster at the position of attention.

"Stormtrooper, where is your crew?"

HC-4267 kept his face forward despite his inward panic as a dark-skinned officer moved to stand in front of him, his eyes as hard as nightmares. Behind him, a woman with slanted eyes waited, watching for the slightest nervous tick.

"Ah, sir! They went to the bar. They received permission to do so-"

"Well isn't that fantastic, you get to complete the surprise inspection by yourself now don't you…?" The officer lifted his eyebrows, waiting for his victim's call number.

"HC-4267, sir!"

"HC-4267 is a ridiculous name, Stormtrooper!" The officer declared. "I will call you Hector from this point forward!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Hector tell me when your crew will get back from the bar?"

"Ah, I cannot say, sir. They're usually… well, about a half hour, sir."

"About a half hour?" He turned back to the woman behind him. "Is that long enough?"

She bobbed her head from side to side, "If we go quickly, then yes."

"Alright, then." He turned back to "Hector" and looked him up and down. "How tall are you, Hector?"

"Um, six foot three inches, sir."

The officer nodded. "That'll work."

The last thing "Hector" saw, was the officer's arm shoot out in front of him, touching nothing, but sending him flying, helmet-first, into the wall behind him. The first thing he saw when he came to about an hour later, was his naked legs and the pristine First Order quay on fire.

SWSWSW

Hyperspace

Rey felt like a straw doll, tied at random joints by white armor over a black undercovering that felt like a sock. Finn was meticulous in his way of tying the armor onto her, making sure that at no point whatsoever she could be discovered to be an imposter.

"Thank you, Finn." She whispered to him. "I know you care very much."

He didn't look at her as he gave her shoulder plate one last shake. "I always have."

"You just thought I felt the same about you," She asked, willing him to look at her.

He glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Finn, I do love you."

He stopped, her armor still in his hands. Slowly, he turned to her. "But, you love Kylo more."

"I love Ben. I love the man he wants to be, not what he was forced to be. He and I have so much in common. From the way we were raised, to finding teachers. To being feared for what we are capable of doing by those who claim to love us…" She trailed off, pleading his spirit to understand.

Finn inhaled, and nodded, seeming to understand. "Just, make sure he's there for you, and not what you could do for him, Rey. Because," He exhaled, "Because I can't put you down if I'm fighting him, too. I won't be able to, I refuse."

His words ricocheted off her ribs. He was right, she couldn't allow Ben so much power over her life that she would turn to the Dark Side. She wouldn't let him do that to her, Finn's life depended on it.

He stepped back, eyes searching her entire frame for anything amiss. "Perfect," He declared.

SW

Outer Rim of Unknown Regions

The ship was enormous! Actually two ships that could merge into one, the three Padawans pressed their foreheads to the glass of the transport ship and watched as construction ships completed their last round of final touches. Once those final touches were done, a transport ship, very much like the one they sailed in, would dock it and begin the five year journey to complete readiness for use in the First Order. Both ships were the first in a fleet of megaships to be deemed suitable for habitation. A new breed of star fleet that could go for years without making planetfall.

"How big is it, again?" Poe's voice called from behind them.

At once, Rose, dressed in her officer's uniform, stepped forward. "About the size of the city of Canto Bight." They moved to a strategic planning table that could lift and submerge into the floor, projecting from it's center the plans Ben had given them. Poe was also dressed in Stormtrooper armor, but Ben stood tall in his black garments, armor yet to be attached. Rose looked to the hovering blue schematic in admiration, adding "And weighs over a million tons."

"It's been fitted with guns and ammunition," Ben observed, pointing to the armory and several cannons. "The First Order wouldn't send out any ship for a crew without protecting it first."

Poe nodded, absorbing the task ahead of them. "Alright, casualties. What are we looking at?"

Rey stepped forward, feeling the Force. "Construction crew, some security… and, something else."

At once, all four faces turned to Rey as she stared into oblivion. There was someone else there, someone trying to hide from the Force. A flicker in the Force trying to repress it's light.

"What is the minimum objective?" Ben asked, his voice unusually soft.

Rey looked up, seeing him turned away slightly. He felt it, too.

Poe scoffed, "Main objective is to get the big ship to our temporary base. Retire the Rising Dawn and give our allies much needed support."

"That's the minimum," Ben said. "Gather support."

"In a nutshell, yeah."

"You only need one ship for that," Ben muttered.

Poe hesitated, looking from him to Rey. "Two would be really nice. Like, really nice. Why?"

Ben looked up to Rey, the concern in his eyes sucking her into a void that belonged only to them. "Watch and learn."

SW

They were greeted with a formal welcoming party of twenty Stormtroopers, ten on either side of an engineer dressed in the same black uniform Finn and Rose wore. Rey's orders were simple, keep abreast of Poe and don't run over Finn. That would work if she could actually see through the bloody helmet that pinched her head! To keep her posture, she needed to almost lean back and sacrifice 20-20 sight, keeping an eye on Finn's ears rather than his back.

They halted before the engineer, the Force telling Rey that Ben had left the transport and was busy making his way to the command center (how was beyond her as he had flat refused to wear Stormtrooper armor since the new development). Oh what she would have given to have seen how he did that! Nevertheless, she kept her calm, and focused on the scene in front of her.

"Welcome, Colonel Cha," The engineer declared, extending his hand to shake Finn's. "Welcome aboard the Ikher Ikher."

"Good to finally be here," Finn answered.

The Engineer peered over Finn's shoulder at his entourage of two Stormtroopers. "A bit short of the crew we were promised, aren't we, sir?"

"Supreme Leader Hux cut our supplies as we were ready to head out." He sighed, and shook his head slightly, "Long live the Supreme Leader."

The Engineer gave a sympathetic chuckle and dropped Finn's hand, "One can only hope."

He turned to face the twenty Stormtroopers, "Alright, lads. Let's go home!"

As one, the Stormtroopers turned to face the transport ship and marched into it, waiting to be taken to their next assignment.

"Is that all of them?" Finn asked, watching them stand in perfect order as Rey used the Force to close the shuttle door.

"There's another squadron on the Ikher Two, sir. Don't worry, we wouldn't leave you without protection from the Rebels."

"How considerate," Finn folded his hands behind his back, twitching his fingers to Rey to fire up the ship and begin sending it on it's journey.

"Shall we?" The Engineer asked, gesturing with his hand through the hangar, ready to show them their new home.

Finn and Rose took off with the engineer, Finn moving to walk abreast to him. Poe waited for a moment, turning to look at Rey as she swayed in her armor, before rushing to catch up to Finn and Rose. Rey activated the yoke and thrust, gently pushing the ship from the loading bay into space, feeling for the best time to push the hyperdrive that would take them until their fuel ran out, leaving them in dead space. Rey felt the Stormtroopers, uniform and unthinking as they departed, possibly for the last time.

Beneath her helmet, she smiled, and punched the hyperdrive button, catapulting them into oblivion.

The moment they shot of into the black, Rey reached up and pulled off the tight helmet, feeling as she did so the engineer's panic as his "guests" revealed themselves. She took a step forward, her elation rising at such a simple task… then halted as her stomach plummeted, the Force screaming to her of a hidden danger.

She snapped the blaster to her hands and looked around. Where was it? Was it Ben? No, he was fine. But why the alarm? She moved in time to hear a loud BANG!

Rey whirled around, seeing two Stormtroopers rush over a catwalk, blasters poised to fire again. She fired, hitting both of them and bolted to under the catwalk, touching the commlink in her ear to speak to Finn and Rose.

"Guys," She breathed, looking every which way, "Something's happened. The Stormtroopers are spooked."

Suddenly, she heard her name, a powerful call to her soul rather than her ears. Ben.

"Ben!" Rey cried, reaching out to the Force as much as possible without crushing him. "What's is happening?"

She felt confusion in return for an answer. He knew nothing, and so far, saw nothing.

Rey continued on, careful now, and turned the corner.

SWSWSW

Poe cheerfully finished tying up the Engineer, a sock stuffed into the man's mouth. Finn already had his blaster poised to shoot whilst Rose tapped away on a holopad.

"No distress signals have gone out," She announced, frowning. "But alarms have been triggered in Ikher One's two main landing hangars."

"Another ship?" Poe asked, pulling a final knot tight. He faced the Engineer, "Who else is here?"

The Engineer sneered at them and grumbled something at him.

"Yeah, that's what they all say."

"What about surveillance streams?" Finn asked.

"They haven't been connected yet," Rose told her. "I'd be surprised if the torpedoes can even fire."

The Engineer whimpered, his head bobbing a sort of agreement.

"Alright, big guy," Poe told him, reaching out and ripping the sock from his mouth. "Tell us what we need to know."

"The torpedoes work," The Engineer gasped. "And so do the short range cannons, but that's all."

"Alright, now who's here on this ship?"

"I haven't a clue!" The Engineer told him, "We were preparing for your arrival and so I haven't the slightest idea of who came in or didn't."

"Who usually comes in?" Finn asked.

The Engineer scoffed. "Workers from outside? Today should have been a technician to come and connect the remaining guns." He smiled, clearly thinking that he would receive help.

"Don't get too cocky," Poe told him before looking to Finn, "Wild guess that someone other than a technician came on board?"

"Seems like it," Finn agreed.

"Wow!" Rose yelped, calling attention to her. "There's… a fight happening ten flights up."

Finn paused, closing his eyes to feel the Force. "It's Master Ren, I… think." He looked to Rose, "Rose, you stay here with Poe. I'll find Rey and give Master Ren some backup."

"Does he need it?" Poe asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Finn cocked his blaster, "Better safe than sorry."

Quickly, he left the room, looking either direction for rogue Stormtroopers or familiar faces.

As soon as he left the room, Poe turned to Rose, "He's not letting Rey go, is he?"

"You have to ask?"

SWSWSW

Rey knew that feel! Traipsing forward in her stupid helmet, she looked around first for Ben, then for the owner of that particular aura in the Force. She moved down a corridor, seeing at the end of it a fallen Stormtrooper. Stepping carefully around it, she poked her head around the corner, finding a trail of bodies slashed across the chest by what looked like a lightsaber.

A chill ran down her spine at the sight of such burns across the face and chest. Though Ben was more than capable of doing them, she couldn't help but feel that he wasn't responsible for these. It just… wasn't him!

She proceeded with caution, blaster held out in front of her. She reached the door at the end of the corridor, and hesitated, feeling the Force for whatever was on the other side. It was an outlet to the center core railing, overlooking the rest of the ship. Quickly, she removed her helmet and set it down, her messy and sweaty hair pouring over her shoulder. She inhaled, and touched the button to open the door.

Amid the pile of white armored bodies, a man wearing a mask and dressed entirely in black and bearing a type of long handled sword with a wide, short blade of pure crimson, stalked. Before him, a Stormtrooper issuing feelings of sheer terror to the point of tears and excrement, backed away, shaking.

"Please!" She cried, eyes poised on the Knight, her voice echoing in the empty ship. "Please!"

Rey said nothing as the Knight lifted his sword above his head and brought it crashing down on the Stormtrooper's shoulder, killing her instantly. Rey shifted her eyes, seeing from a darkened corner a young girl with red hair and a crimson lightsaber akin to the one Rey used to wield in her hands. It was her presence that Rey felt. She had tried to hide her presence from the Force, thus creating a waning flicker that both Rey and Ben could feel.

The man turned off his lightsaber and lifted his hands to his helmet, pushing a button that released his curly blond hair, and untamed electric blue eyes. Koita Mathe.

"Hullo, empress." He purred, turning to peer at her with those piercing blue eyes. "Long… time."

Rey wanted to kill him. Her urge to lift her blaster and slice him right in his beautiful face was so strong, his apprentice twitched towards her. Either in hope or in defense, it didn't matter. Koita Mathe could feel her want and so she lowered her blaster.

"What are you doing here?"

Koita Mathe didn't answer. He merely swept her frame slowly, a smile blooming on his face. "My, my, aren't you pretty in white?"

"KOITA MATHE!"

The man whirled in a plume of black robes, peering over the railing to the other side… where Ben stood, lightsaber at the ready.

"TOME SIAG WEY!" Ben bellowed.

Koita Mathe flinched back, his face the portrait of confusion. "Fidi ac noth bame ra!"

Ben shouted back, barking the Rentalk very much like a wolf in defense of his alpha. Beside him, Finn emerged from the dim light, blaster at the ready, but face equally confused as Rey.

"Not a word," Rey hissed quietly to him. "No names, not on your life."

The men shouted at each other, a duel they were not at liberty to share exchanged in thundering barks and the occasional arm gesture. Suddenly, Koita Mathe took a step back, his eyes wide. He looked once, meaningfully, at Rey, then back to his Master.

"Prat perac, nox umera?"

Ben seethed in silence.

"Ah, I see." Koita Mathe breathed. "Tikira, brother," He waved a lazy hand.

"Fidi ac thran," Ben spat.

Koita Mathe swept his arms out on either side of him and bowed at the waist, eyes locked on Ben. "Nos thume nan!"

Ben cocked his chin at him, "Nos thume nan!"

Koita Mathe straightened and turned his heel, eyes finding his apprentice and jerking his head out the door. The girl moved at once, stepping gracefully over the dead bodies like a dancer. The moment he came equal to her shoulder, Koita Mathe faced Rey, his gaze gripping her like an arm around her back, drawing her to him in a lover's embrace though they were a foot from touching.

He huffed and licked his lips. His gaze was ravenous, but his voice was calm as he whispered to her, "My… empress."

Rey's heart hammered in her chest. For the wildest reason, she wanted to shoot her arm out, claw the back of his neck, and bring his face to hers. She pictured the massive black bed from the Nest where she and Ben had slept together, and felt Koita Mathe's weight on top of her, his breathing as intense as hers as he succumbed to her yearning to eat his kiss, letting her fingers run through his hair.

She took a step back, unclicking the safety on her blaster, her lip curling over her teeth.

"Get, out, of my head."

He smiled, his eyes glittering. "Until we meet again," He breathed, then walked away.

Rey stood there, watching the space where he had been, practicing her breathing. It had been years since she wanted to kill someone for the sake of killing them. Snoke was responsible for this bitter hatred blossoming within her, he would always have that right. But she would be damned if she let the wrong man have another right over her.

"Rey,"

She whirled around, seeing Ben stride towards her. At once, she felt relief surge over her, though the fury remained. Unhindered, she threw her arms around his middle as he threw his over her neck.

"Ben," She breathed.

The ship shuddered beneath their feet, bringing Finn closer to them. "What was that?" He asked, looking up to the roof, then at Rey.

Still in his arms, Rey leaned away to peer at Ben. "You promised him?"

He nodded. "It's for them," He told her, his feelings freezing around her, "I… I couldn't say no."

"What did you promise who?" Finn demanded, looking to Ben.

Ben looked at him, resting his cheek on Rey's forehead. "The Resistance only needs one ship," He told him.

The ship shivered again, this time sounding an alarm through the corridors. Finn looked from him to the observation catwalk, and bolted, the sound of his boots echoing off the virgin floor.

Rey said nothing, knowing what was going to happen. Astonishment, admonishment, acceptance, followed by abandonment on Ach-To. She didn't care because in this moment, her arms were around Ben's waist and his chest was pressed against hers even in her tincan uniform.

He moved his arms to unclasp hers and took her hand, then smirked. As Finn screamed and panicked into the glass of the observation catwalk, Ben pulled her into a turbolift, and pushed a button. She stood beside him, watching the white lights flicker as they elevated to a floor unknown, dying to ask where they were going, but smiled instead. She could wait for him to show her. The doors opened, and Rey gasped, both hands moving to cover her mouth but scooped the smell of a thousand fragrant roses into her nose.

"A garden?" She whimpered, looking to him.

He nodded, smiling as he looked down at her. "Crew needs a place to decompress, especially if this ship isn't designed to make planetfall regularly. And, it's functional. Grows nutritional needs."

Rey stepped from the turbolift onto the thin layer of grass, her eyes darting from the rosemary, blueberry, and whisper berry bushes and various vegetable vines on silver metal trellises, to the hundreds of trees as tall as she was and filled with fruit of all varieties. Along an avenue clearly designed for recuperation, rose bushes dotted with small roses of every color sat erect in too perfect rows, reminding her of their newness, and between them were benches of silver metal, a functional reminder in the otherwise picturesque getaway.

Rey slid her hands from her nose and inhaled, drinking in the flavor of such beauty contained in such a space. From somewhere she couldn't see just yet, she could hear water rushing over rock to simulate a stream, and the swish of grass beneath her boots stroked her like a kitten's purr.

"Koita Mathe took the ship with the meat," Ben's voice told her, "And much of the weaponry, but this will serve as a hearts and minds mission. Show the Resistance what the First Order is capable of, and what the Resistance can attain."

Rey whirled around to him, (noting the waterfall behind the turbolift), and grabbed the back of his neck. She swallowed, staring into eyes that glittered color of honey.

"I love you, Ben Solo."

He smirked, the one he reserved only for her. "I know."

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