Merry Christmas!

Chapter 27

Ikher Dawn

Rey awaited in the main hangar as the Raven Starr docked alongside three transport ships from the Tarpeian. In one of the windows of the transports, Rose's face appeared followed by Finn's forehead over her shoulder. Rey laughed to herself as the two heads rushed to the lowering ramp and Finn nearly plowed over two unhelmeted Stormtroopers to get to Rey, almost dragging Rose with him.

"Rey!" He cried.

"Boy are we glad to see you!" Rose called.

Rey flinched forward once, but turned her attention to the Raven Starr where Ben was emerging. She turned back to them and issued a quick, "You're alive!" before moving towards Ben.

At once, the clamor of the new rebels ceased as Rey nearly skipped into Ben's arms, throwing her own around his neck and resting her forehead against his shoulder.

"I'll have to get used to this," She whispered to him.

"I probably won't," He whispered back, rubbing her spine. Suddenly, his grip tightened and he whispered, "Watch your back."

She slid her arms down his chest, feeling the Force as she did so. The atmosphere had turned almost hostile. "Kiss me," She commanded. "Let them stew."

He obeyed, swooping down and covering her face with his hair. She smiled as soon as he pulled away, watching his eyes shift from honey to chocolate as they glittered over her.

"What is he doing here?" A voice demanded loudly.

Rey couldn't stop her head from turning around to see a female Stormtrooper with long black hair pulled into a ponytail that slung over her shoulder glare at them, a cluster of other Stormtroopers gathered around her.

"He's one them!" She screamed, pointing and looking at Finn. "He should be killed for what he's done!"

Rey tensed her hand on Ben's chest, but it flexed the moment she felt the heat from his lightsaber warm her knee.

"You want to be first?" He asked, his deep monotone echoing in the hangar.

All of them, simultaneously, took a step back.

Finn and Rose stepped around them, (Finn shot the female a sort of knowing look), and knelt before Ben, prompting him to release Rey so that he could tilt his chin at them whilst Rey bowed slightly at the waist.

"You did well," He told them, straightening. "You stuck to your training, and succeeded in your mission."

Finn and Rose looked up, genuine smiles blooming.

"But the task is going to only get harder," He continued. "You can guarantee that. So take an hour and settle yourselves and what business has grown in your absence, then meet us on the Falcon."

"Yes, Master," They said in unison.

Rose made a soft noise, prompting Ben's gaze to turn to her. "Is that a new lightsaber on Rey's hip?"

Rey turned to Ben who smirked at her. She stepped forward and, quick as a flash, ripped her lightsabers from her hips, connected them, and twirled the complete staff on either side of her, much to the delight of everyone present in the hangar.

"Woah!" Finn cried, his eyes dancing. "When do we get one?" He asked gesturing to Rose.

"When you earn them," Ben told them, his eyes on his wife as she set her staff on her side, the lighted fury purring beside her.

"Heads up, kids!" Poe's voice shouted, his gaze immediately finding Rey's ivory staff. She turned it off, allowing the people to turn to him. "Just got word from the command bridge. The First Order's scrambling a massive fleet together. So, do what you need to do, then I want all commanders… and Jedi," He shot a glance to Rey, "At command in half an hour."

SWSWSW

Rey stood beside Ben, her arm wrapped around his waist and vice versa, listening to the chatter of everyone present. There was a tense murmur throughout the room with the fifty commanders swaying nervously. At her shoulder was Finn, and at Ben's was Rose, the four of them standing firmly without speaking, feeling the Force for what could possibly be happening.

"Commander on deck!" Someone shouted, instantly silencing the mob as Poe and two admirals stepped through the throng. Poe reached out for Kaydel, holding her hand as he passed as though she were the only reason he entered the room. Rey swallowed, realizing she wore the gold and diamond wedding ring that Poe used to wear as a necklace. When did that happen, She thought.

Poe released her hand and stepped around a holotable. "Good afternoon," He called.

"Good afternoon," The room -save the Jedi- responded.

"Alright, let's get down to it," Poe sighed. "The First Order isn't messing around this time. They've mobilized their biggest dreadnoughts and bombers, destination: here," He tapped the holotable and showed them no less than twenty blue dreadnoughts surrounded by upright bombing ships and countless TIE fighters.

"We can fly around them," Admiral Ndian told them. "But, we face a greater threat of losing the Ikher Dawn in the process."

"It seems like a last push," Poe added, stepping around the table to directly address the Resistance. "The trap, this assembly, the fact that they haven't jumped on us yet even though it's very likely that they know we're here. It feels like they are getting ready to try and wipe us out once and for all."

"They can try!" A voice called out from the crowd that earned a few cries of support.

"Shadow games," Ben grumbled, though only Rey heard him.

"So long as there is the First Order, there will always be Resistance!" Someone else shouted.

"All valid points guys," Finn told them, turning their eyes to him. "But it means nothing if there isn't a fighting force to counter them. This here," He pointed to the assembly of enemy ships. "This means something. It means we've gotten to them where it hurts, where they are tired of dealing with us. If they don't hit fast, they will hit hard, and we've got to weather the storm."

"That's the point," The other admiral whom Rey had never seen before sighed, her hands sliding into the pockets of her trousers. "We don't have the strength to fight. We've numbers, yes, but they are spread thinly. If the First Order breaks our flanks, then the chances of the organized Resistance are slim to none."

Silence fell upon the crowd, with worried faces exchanging nervous glances.

"What do the Jedi have to say?" Kaydel asked.

All eyes turned on Rey and Ben. She could feel him inhale deeply before tapping her side twice and dropped his arm prompting her to drop hers. He stepped forward, eyes scrutinizing the holotable.

"Is that the Sidious?" He asked, pointing to the biggest dreadnought.

Poe tapped the image, bringing a small square above the top cannons that he quickly read. "Yeah, that's the Sidious. Why?"

"That's the Command Ship, Hux's Command Ship," Ben told them. "Blow that one up, you lose communication to the other ships and the First Order itself. Individual Resistance pockets can attack at will without punishment."

"And, how exactly do we do that?" Admiral Ndian asked. "We will need every spare pilot we can use."

Rey knew the answer before Ben could open his lips.

"We'll take care of that," She told them.

"You guys?" Poe asked, "The four of you?" His eyes found Finn and Rose and their lack of lightsabers.

Ben looked back at Rey, and she shivered. "We won't be alone," She continued, staring at her husband, willing him to be right about this.

SWSWSW

The Knights of Ren moved in a single file off their ship, Faceless, masks drawn and their cloaks billowing freely about their ankles in the exhaust gusts so that they looked like black sand demons, their heavy looking weaponry glinting off the hangar lights. At once they fanned out, the six main knights up front and two apprentices behind their masters, their presence halting all movement in the hangar as they moved, an eight person omen that was as dangerous as it was mysterious.

Rey could not control her feelings as she watched them approach. Of all the things she wanted, these creatures were the very last thing! She scanned their masks, naming their presences as her eyes absorbed the sight of them. She wouldn't dignify Koita Mathe with his own name, though if he read her thoughts he would know his name to be one of a dung beetle. Rose moved beside her, her presence oozing calm to Rey.

"You hate them?" Rose asked.

"We have to work with them," Rey answered, her voice scraping a slight growl.

"What will they do to Master Ren?" She asked, looking at Rey.

Fear snaked it's way through Rey's body. "I don't know," She breathed. "He's grown so much. I'm afraid…" She trailed off, unable to speak the words.

A soft nudge brought Rey's attention to her friend, "Hey," Rose told her, "If he loves you, really loves you, then what they say won't matter."

Rey smiled at her, doing her best to conceal the fact that these men were not of many words, but of many, many deeds. What they would do to Ben worried her far more than what they said. Lightsabers left as deep burns as words across the heart, and lightsabers were made to kill.

They halted six feet from Ben and knelt in perfect reverence before him, all on one knee with their right hands resting on their kneecap, chins against their collarbones. Ben's feelings flashed conflict, the same conflicted spirit that had been there when he had killed Snoke. As Rey stepped forward to stand at his flank, she wanted to send them away to the nearest sun-star, but swallowed and forced herself to remain calm, following Ben's simple bow at the waist with a deeper one.

"Brothers," Ben commanded, straightening. "Welcome to the Resistance."

She could feel their snigger so strongly she almost heard it. It was a clever joke, after all. They who had pursued and tortured members of the Resistance for so long were now in it's walls, ready to join it's flanks.

"Rise," Ben told them, "Remove your masks, show them there's nothing to be afraid of."

This time, it was Rose's and Finn's turn to be intimidated. They felt as she did so long ago when she had been captured on Takodana and held by Ben to be interrogated. He had revealed himself to be so handsome, yet so completely dangerous. What had been the most dangerous bit about that time? It hadn't been his use of the Force, or his strength, though both were astoundingly formidable. No, it had been the fact that he had looked perfectly ordinary, someone she would have admired from a distance, if not made attempts to speak to.

And Koita Mathe looked heartbreakingly ordinary.

Rey turned to Rose, watching her lean away before turning away, her cheeks reddening as she did so. The moment Rose moved, Koita Mathe's eyes found her, thoroughly sweeping her body from head to toe. Rey turned back to him, noting that his gaze paused at her waist, the traditional spot for carrying lightsabers, and a line of confusion appeared between his brows. Rey pinched her side; anything from thinking the truth.

Ben hadn't given them lightsabers because the Knights of Ren would see them as threats. Without them, they could simply be Rey's tagalong friends.

"Come on," Ben commanded, turning towards Rey. "Strategy time."

They said nothing, and did nothing but kick their legs forward and move, in perfect unison, towards the command bridge. Even Koita Mathe behaved and kept his tentacles of the Force away from Rey and Ben, (though Rey had a sinking suspicion that he was feeling for other people he could use, he had an entire ship after all).

The command bridge halted all movement the moment they saw the figures in black file in behind Ben, the feeling of fear swelling as they settled themselves.

As one, they turned to Poe Dameron, eyeing the blaster in his hand that had been switched to lethal.

"Rey," Poe breathed, glaring at them, "Can we trust the knights here present with our lives and our cause?"

Rey leaned back, her heart pounding at the question. This hadn't been discussed, either with him or with her husband. Fraja turned to look at Rey, Serotti, Brunfar, and Koita Mathe doing likewise.

"Yes," She told Poe. "They'll behave… if we live up to any promises given to them."

One by one, they turned their attentions back to Poe, the feeling of satisfaction creeping from them.

Poe lifted his chin, and flicked his eyes to Fraja. "We're not giving you anything. You answer to Kylo Ren and he's willing to help us, even if that means taking orders from us, got it?"

None of the knights moved, save for Fraja who barely turned to make eye contact with Ben. Ben gave a slight nod, only one dip of the chin, to which made Fraja turn and nod to Poe.

"Alright, then," Poe breathed, his stature still firm. "We have a task for you, taking down the Sidious, eliminating Hux, and completely dismantling the First Order. Sound up for the task?"

Fraja merely cocked his head and lifted his eyebrow. The other knights said and did nothing.

"Do you guys talk at all?" Poe asked, lifting his own eyebrow.

"Yes," They said in unison.

"They speak when there's something worth saying," Ben told Poe.

Rey had to think of something, anything, to keep from snorting. They weren't speaking because it simply looked cooler to be so uniform as to let only one person speak for them. Or, because they wanted to hear what Ben would say for them.

"Alright, that's not creepy at all." Poe muttered, holstering his blaster. He turned to the holotable and turned it on, showing the same display as he had earlier, only this time more ships had been added.

"This is what we're dealing with," Poe told them, eyeing Ben as he moved forward, scanning the different ships. "This is the mass of ships formed against us." He opened his lips to say more, but Ben had lifted his hand, cutting him off.

He turned to the knights and asked, "Suggestions?"

At once, Koita Mathe stepped forward and pointed to a smaller, significantly less impressive ship floating up to the Sidious.

Ben nodded slowly. "Perfect," He breathed. He turned to him, "Go get it."

Without another word, Koita Mathe bowed low, straightened, turned his heel so quickly his cloak rotated around him, and headed out followed closely by his red-headed apprentice.

"You care to explain?" Poe asked, eyebrow almost hidden in his dark hair.

"Service cruiser," Ben told him, pointing to the small ship. "They will come to the Sidious non-stop."

"Why?" Poe asked. "Can't they just upload stuff?"

From behind Fraja, a giggle reverberated through the room. Romtao stepped forward, his grin as wide as it was wicked.

"I'll be needing a server," He smiled.

SWSWSW

"Is he actually doing something or is he just hitting keys?" Rose asked, leaning close to Finn.

"I honestly have no idea," He whispered back.

The Knight, one Rey had called Romtao, had started working before his bottom hit the seat. His fingers worked faster than anything they had seen, crawling up and down the keyboard, highlighting and dismissing code like some insects dug through dirt.

Alarms began blaring, slowing him a fraction as he looked up at the scarlet holoscreen then began working again.

"You break it, you buy it," Master Ren's monotone chided.

Romtao flashed a grin, tapping away until it disappeared.

Finn turned back to the Knights of Ren. They hadn't really moved, they just stood at parade rest, watching almost lazily as their comrade worked.

"Got it," Romtao announced, still tapping. "Their files are corrupted. Not enough to notice a hack, but enough to demand for hard copy files." He lifted his hands, eyes twitching over the screens as though a monster face was going to emerge from them. He jumped up, and faced Master Ren. "All done, my master."

"How much time until they come?" Master Ren asked, looking down at the Knight from his nose.

"I bought us a day at most, master." Romtao declared in much the same tone as announcing what was for lunch at the mess hall.

At once, the leaders of the Resistance flinched to life. "A day?" Senator-General Farea breathed.

Romtao turned to him, his face upturned into one of textbook sarcasm. "Ugh, yeah."

Suddenly he flinched straight, a hand clapping his forehead. He turned back to Master Ren and bowed low at the waist. "Apologies, Master." He crooned, his skin turning a shade of purplish grey before normal white.

Master Ren stared him down, the atmosphere in the room thickening in the seconds of silence that passed between them. He flicked his eyes to Poe and parted his lips.

"Need us for anything?"

Poe shook his head, "I'll let you guys know."

Wordless, the Knights of Ren filed out of the Command Bridge, Romtao bringing up the tail after Master Ren jerked his head at them.

Her presence on the Command Bridge floor was like a moon beam slithering through a window. She slipped between Master Ren and Poe, bringing the attention to her for a moment, held it as she kissed his hand, then released it like a held breath as she guided her husband away from the Resistance Leaders.

Rose watched Rey glide, almost gracefully, as they left. She could feel the sneer coming and swallowed it. She didn't want such attention, didn't know what to do with it even if she did want it. She exhaled, and turned to Finn, fully expecting him to be in mourning of her affection for someone other than him.

But he wasn't. Instead, he was looking at her, and smiled when she faced him.

"Let's go for a walk," He suggested, his hand covering hers.

Don't be an idiot, Rose commanded herself as she let him pull her. Don't be an idiot!

They walked, moving towards one of the many observation decks built onto the Ikher portion of the ship. Thousands of glittering stars, spirals of galaxies and divots of nebulae against the black space. This particular observation deck had been known as the "Lovers' Look" after the amount of couples found around these parts… not that she would keep note of that. Of course.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked, tightening her grip slightly as though he would run off at any moment.

"Just here," He told her, looking down at her with a smile. "It's not like we have too many other places."

"Right," She guffawed pathetically, shoving a piece of hair behind her ear.

They reached the main observation window, the sight of it making Rose's heart skip a beat. It was nothing spectacular, save the view. It was his feelings that made her shiver. His feelings exploded when he turned this corner, jittering all around like a firecracker.

She turned around and faced him, making him stop in his tracks. "What's up?" She asked. Seriously, she demanded of herself, That's the best you got?

He sputtered before her, a cute halt and go, halt and go, before he inhaled, rising his shoulders.

"I want you to marry me."

If Rose were a computer, she would have crashed from overload of wish fulfillment. She might as well have been from how her bottom lip dropped, then smacked shut, and dropped again.

"Wut?"

He exhaled, his shoulders dropping. He took her hands, rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. "I… want, you to marry me."

Her heart hammered against her chest, and she felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards at the thought of being married. But, she stomped on the feeling just enough to ask, "Why? Why now?"

He hesitated, eyes searching her face for sincerity. He moved his hands to her upper arms and he looked down, and swallowed. "I'm tired of looking for someone to love me back," He confessed. "Rey… hell, even Poe." He looked back to her, the truth seeming to age him five years. "You've loved me in spite of everything, and I… I'm just seeing it come to light."

"What did it?" Rose asked, her hands fluttering up to rest against his chest.

"It was Hope," He told her. "Seeing her admire me. It felt… wrong. You did that but, it wasn't you. That doesn't mean I want you for- what I'm trying to say is…" He dropped his hands and rolled his eyes in exasperation, but Rose pulled him back with a gentle tug on his robe.

"I love you, Finn," She told him, a tear sliding down her cheek. "And yes, I'll marry you. Just… not today." Now she inhaled, and blurted quickly, "I want to be courted by you. I want," She giggled, "Flowers. And long walks. And…" She looked around to see if anyone was near before whispering, "Sex?"

He spewed an embarrassed, breathy laugh and he smiled. "Okay. If that's what you want."

"It is," Rose grinned. "I want to fall even more in love with you than I already am. Even through Jedi training."

Finn hesitated, his smile freezing on his face. "Rose, we… don't have to go back. We can find a place of our own, start a family."

Panic started to rise in her chest, but she swallowed it. "I want my lightsaber," She told him. "After all the hell Master Ren has put us through, I want my stupid lightsaber!" She gave a small laugh that almost seemed futile in the wake of his disappointed face. "And once we're Jedi, we won't have to answer immediately to them. They're never going to leave our lives completely, but they won't have direct control over us."

He regarded her, smiling slowly as though allowing himself to become convinced.

"You'd like your own lightsaber, right?" She asked, a hole the size of a peach opening up in the pit of her stomach.

"I would," He admitted, scratching his forehead. "Can't argue against that." He looked at her suddenly, and touched her arms once more, "We'd be our own people," He grinned. "Free and clear."

"Free and clear," She repeated, losing herself in his warm eyes, savoring how they came closer and closer, until she had to close them and just… feel.

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