A/N: This chapter comes with a content warning. There's nothing explicit or graphic, but this chapter involves children in not-so great situations. There is brief suggestion of cannibalism and child slavery. There is NO actual depiction of either. I'm sorry if this causes you to stop reading, but I'd rather you know and be comfortable with what you read rather than be surprised and upset.

Chapter Five

Leia was ecstatic. Her communication thus far, or lack thereof, with their allies in the Outer Rim was depressing, to say the least.

"Stand here, let me look at you." Leia said, beckoning Rey forward. The young woman frowned, smoothed rumpled clothing down self consciously. "Turn around." Leia commanded. Rey remained motionless. Leia swirled her finger in the air, urging her to turn. Slowly, back ramrod stiff, Rey did so.

Leia smiled and nodded to herself. Back when she was running for Senator, she'd had assistants to help create and organize her campaign. And money to do so. Now she had herself and two communication techs.

"Connix, get Pamich and Vober for me, please. And Finn. Bring Finn." Leia ran her hands down Rey's arms, stopping to hold her hands tightly. "You need a bath, and some clean, unwrinkled clothes." Leia said.

"General Organa, I don't think -" Rey began, but she was promptly hushed.

"Hop to it!" Leia said, turning her around bodily and pushing her out the door.

"General Organa, you sent for us?" Vober Dand stood at attention. Pamich Nerro wasn't quite so formal, but respectful in her attention, nonetheless.

"I need a cam set up. There should be one still in the Falcon. If it doesn't work, we'll have to work with BB-8's recording system."

"Yes, ma'am," Pamich headed to the Falcom to retrieve the equipment. Vober remained standing.

"General, are we filming a holodrama?" It was said with only the slightest disbelief. Vober would stand on one leg and jump up and down if Leia asked it of him.

"We are waging war, Vober. And we're starting with the hearts and minds of the galaxy."

Kylo descended upon mass chaos in Athulla's largest outpost, Nethul. He drew his lightsaber almost immediately, ducking a blaster bolt to the head and deflecting another. Hux had been right. They were children. He'd been briefed over the situation moments before they landed. The Jinata System, still reeling from the J-Sec rebellion and loss of it's governing body, had erupted into tiny rebellions over the various planets and moon. An unfortunate casualty were the children. Once Project Resurrection was suspended, the trainees and recruits - read, abductees - were left without caretakers and a lot of resentment. But there should have been more of them.

Even as he sidestepped an incoming blaster bolt, Kylo counted 14 insurgents. If they could really be called that. They ranged in age from 10 to 15, he suspected.

Enough of this, he thought. He swept his arm from under his cloak, drawing on the Force, freezing the small group of militant kids in their tracks.

"Disarm them," he told the troopers behind him. One by one, their blasters were taken out of their hands, some mid-fire. Even though they were frozen in place, Kylo could see their faces transformed from angry to a mix of terror, shock, and awe. They'd likely never seen a Force user, let alone one as powerful as he.

Don't let it go to your head, again.

"Oh good, here I thought you'd left me in peace," Kylo murmured under his breath.

You were having a private moment earlier. I didn't want to intrude.

Kylo had the very uncomfortable sensation of his ears turning scarlet, and clenched his fist. It wouldn't do to start swinging his saber madly at a ghost, not in front of his soldiers on the battlefield.

We will, however, discuss the matter of Rey. But you're busy right now.

Kylo closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to still himself. He found his center, felt the Force within him, let it flow through his body. Once he was calm, he opened his eyes and surveyed the enemy in front of him.

It was a sad spectacle, really. Brow-beaten, too skinny to be standing on their feet, let alone fighting soldiers of the First Order. He flicked his wrist toward one that looked the eldest, and the kid slumped to the ground. Two troopers pulled him up heavily as Kylo approached.

"Where are the rest of you?" Kylo asked. His question was met with silence. "You surely didn't think that a mere 14 of you - children - would stand against the First Order? Where are your comrades?"

The boy spit in Kylo's general direction. Kylo stared down at him, nonplussed.

"Unhelpful," Kylo said. He stepped forward and grasped the front of the boy's shirt, pulling him close and raising him slightly off his feet. The boy's hands gripped Kylo's wrist, fingers digging in. Kylo ignored it. "Wherever they are, know that we'll find them. And it will be far worse if we have to hunt them down rather than deal with a peaceful surrender. Where are they?"

To his shock, the boy laughed mirthlessly. Kylo could see he was missing several teeth, and blood stained the rest.

"Wherever they fell," the boy answered. Kylo frowned. They had perished, then? Succumbed to malnutrition, in-fighting? "You tell me."

"Explain," Kylo said, loosening his grip and lowering the boy back to the ground. The boy didn't release his wrist though, and Kylo thought maybe the boy was using him as support so he didn't fall.

"Explain what? You want me to re-enact how your soldiers came through here weeks ago and slaughtered several hundred of us?" The boy screamed. "Or how we've been dropping like weedles from the cold?" The boy leaned forward into Kylo's space. He instinctively leaned back. "Or would you like to hear of the things we had to do to eat? I can tell you exactly where some of my comrades are," the boy whispered.

Kylo recoiled, wrenching the boy's hands from his wrist. He felt sick. It was with the strongest will that he didn't void his stomach right there. After a few moments of shocked silence, the troopers looking from one another, then back to Kylo, that he found himself in command again.

"Bring them aboard. We're leaving," he said, and turned sharply back to his transport.

He gave orders to drop them off at a sanctuary on Attera Alpha. A neutral organization, one that had never supported the New Republic nor the First Order, it had been allowed to continue its operations. That primarily consisted of sheltering the displaced and individuals unfit for service in the ranks of the First Order. With a hefty transfer of additional funds to cover the expenses, he left the pitiful remnants of the First Order's recruitment program in the hands of what he fervently prayed was a very capable matron.

Hours later, when he was back in his quarters aboard the Finalizer that he dropped to his knees in front of the toilet and vomited. Nothing but water and acid, but he could not stop heaving.

Is it what you expected? Is it all you wanted and more, Ben? This - power?

Kylo spit the last of it - he hoped - into the bowl and raised his head. It wasn't just a disembodied voice anymore. Luke stood in the doorway, arms comfortably at his sides, as he regarded Kylo with a mixture of pity and regret. The faint blue glow around him didn't seem to reflect off of anything in the room. Instead, it was tightly contained around the figure of his uncle and former master.

"You always were an asshole, Luke." Kylo muttered, wiping his mouth on a towel. "What do you want?"

"I told you, didn't I? That I'd always be with you," Luke said.

"Yeah, well I didn't strike you down, did I?" Kylo bit out. He turned the tap on, filled a glass with water, and rinsed his mouth out. Luke shrugged, nodding.

"Not for lack of trying, though," he said. "You got sloppy toward the end though, kid. I thought I taught you better."

Kylo hurled the glass at him. Predictably, it went straight through to shatter against the wall on the opposite side of the room. And Luke was gone again. Kylo gripped the edge of the sink, watched numbly as a sanitation droid rolled in to clean up the glass shards. He felt as though he was on the edge of - something. Whether that was falling off or falling apart completely, Kylo didn't know. He had to keep it together. Any sign of weakness, and Hux would likely try to murder him in his sleep, if the little man wasn't already plotting that exactly. Kylo hadn't endured years of pain, no thought to himself, no indulgence, to let it all crumble because his uncle's ghost wouldn't leave him alone. He snorted. Yeah, because Luke's taunting was what made him sick. He closed his eyes.

Why had he never seen these effects of the war before? Kylo had seen endless battles, fought at the center of them. So much blood was on his hands. And that thought in itself was best saved for another time. When he was more...stable. But how had the atrocities such as what occurred on Athulla escape his notice? Had he not cared? Kylo realized the moment the thought crossed his mind why he had been blind to such things. Groomed at infancy for one thing only by a chewed-up, rotting, sentient arch grub. To be a vessel for power. Nothing else mattered. Not even his own mental autonomy. Not even his own life. Certainly not the lives of others. One in particular. That day on the bridge -

Kylo shut that thought down before it had a chance to form. It wasn't something he could think about right now.

Kylo removed his gloves and splashed water on his face. The icy shock of it helped clear his head. He pulled his gloves back on, just as the air began to shift around him. He looked around, expecting her to be standing behind him, maybe sitting in the middle of the floor again. Instead, he saw a brief glimpse of her back, hair flying behind her. She was running.

When Leia had asked Rey to be the face of the Resistance, she hadn't thought that meant literally. Now, as she stood back to back with Finn, clean and with the clothes she wore to Ahch-to, Rey wondered - not for the first time - what she'd gotten herself into. For his part, Finn was working it completely. Rey admired the resolute determination on his face, realizing it was real and not put on for the camera. She tried to emulate it, feeling that she'd failed, but pretending anyway.

Leia's plan was to spread word across the galaxy - or at least the Outer Rim - of Luke's protege and powerful Jedi Rey, as well as the heartwarming and inspiring story of Finn, the man who defected from the evil First Order and bravely fought with the Resistance. Hope springs eternal, and all that, Rey supposed. Vober had rigged the cam and - for want of a better word - produced the entire thing, while Leia directed. Pamich hacked into the holodrama channels, ready to upload the story, fraught with danger, intrigue, hope, and maybe even a little romance. Once it was finished, Rey sagged against Finn. He slung his arm around her, pulling her close for a tight hug.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Finn asked her. "True but not. Real but nowhere near what actually happened."

"Would you be inspired by us, Finn?" Rey asked him, her mouth quirking. Finn leveled her with a serious gaze, his hand squeezing her shoulder.

"I already am, Rey," he said. "And it has nothing to do with you lifting rocks, or finding Luke, or killing Snoke." That last one still made Rey cringe a bit. "Ok, actually it might have a little bit to do with those things, but mostly," Finn stopped. "You and Poe are my first friends." He looked her in the eyes. "The first people to care about me and trust me. And you're good people. And you thought I could be good, too."

Rey pulled him into a proper hug. He was her first friend, too. In a lifetime of thinking a friend was a wandering skittermouse that returned for food each night, or the doll she'd crafted out of scraps and rags, Rey was still trying to learn the subtleties of companionship. She knew Finn was, too. And she was grateful. For him, for Leia, for Rose, for Poe, for Chewie, and all the others who welcomed her into their ranks - even if they were a little afraid of her.

The ceiling began to shake, dust falling onto their heads. Rey and Finn broke apart, staring upwards, then at Leia. The heavy sound of freighter engines rattled above them.

"The First Order," Rey whispered. She looked at Leia.

"They found us."

Rey and Finn took off running in the direction of the weapons room, racing alongside several others. Rey flicked the safety off on her blaster, diverting into the training room where she left her staff. She had only a moment to register the shift that signaled the bond opening between her and Kylo before he stood in front of her. He looked, well, he looked terrible. But she didn't have time for him. She'd either die or see him soon anyway, maybe both. She said as much.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, eyes darting around her, straining and failing to see her surroundings. "What's going on?"

"Don't lie to me now, Kylo," Rey said. She didn't see the small frown at the use of that name. She checked the battery power on her blaster, holstering it on her thigh. "You're the one who put a price on my head, and now you've found us." She tugged the staff over her shoulder, and skipped to leave. Kylo reached out and gripped her arm, pulling her to a stop.

"Let go of me!" Rey said, wrenching out of his grasp. His head was cocked, like he was listening.

"Low timbre, 2 second delay on the uplift. Whoever's there, it's not us," he said. "Freighter, Imperial. Scavenged, more than likely." Rey stared at him, impressed despite the mounting urgency. And then realization hit her.

"Smugglers," they both said in unison. He let her go, and she took off down the hallway. The others had locked down the hangar entrance and had their blasters at the ready. Chewie cocked his bowcaster, and Rey held her own blaster in front of her, waiting for the onslaught. Kylo had been right. The re-purposed Imperial freighter landed in the sand, and about 20 fully armed men rushed out of it, firing as soon as their boots hit the sand. Rey and her comrades wasted no time returning the favor. Blaster fire colored the night air, as the Resistance members fired relentlessly upon the smugglers. They were gaining ground, however. Soon they were upon them, blasters temporarily discarded for short, blunt weapons they wielded with deadly skill and speed. Rey whipped her staff around, beating down two, and taking another one's feet out from under him. Around her, she made sure her friends were holding up. No casualties so far. And then she saw a blaster shot catch Poe in the leg. He went down.

"No!" Rey screamed, reaching her arm out. The smuggler who was seconds from firing point blank into Poe's head froze. Without thinking, Rey swept her arm through the air, lifting the remaining enemies off their feet, and flinging them across the desert floor. Silence ensued, as everyone stopped and stared at her. She swallowed hard, scarcely able to believe what she'd done or how she did it. It was one thing to lift inanimate objects, and another entirely to throw multiple human beings several hundred feet through the air. Finn broke the moment, running toward Poe and dropping to his knees.

"Poe! Poe, you're hit!"

Poe sat up, aided by Finn's arms around him.

"Just grazed my leg. I think," Poe grunted. "I'm fine." He didn't take his eyes off Rey, though. Rose moved quickly toward the freighter, still holding her blaster defensively.

"We have to check the ship. It could have a tracking device on it," she said. Connix and three others followed her a job, weapons raised. They entered the ship gingerly, anticipating an attack.

D'acy moved efficiently from one smuggler to the next that lay motionless on the ground, firing her blaster at each one. Rey turned her head, unable to look.

"We need to find the others, make sure they're dead," the woman said tonelessly. Two other members set off in the direction Rey had thrown the men.

Leia holstered her own blaster.

"Let's get inside. Finn, help Poe in. We need to look at that wound," she said. They all began to retreat inside the bunker, but stopped when Connix came running out of the freighter.

"We have a problem. A big one," she said. Rey closed her eyes, expecting the worst. The ship held a tracker. Their location was now being broadcast across the galaxy. They weren't actually smugglers, but bounty hunters and had alerted the First Order to their whereabouts. The ship carried a bomb, and they were all going to be dead in minutes. What actually happened next could not have shocked Rey - or the rest of the crew - any more. Rose emerged from the freighter, a small child in her arms, followed by maybe 30 more small children. A sea of small humans, twi'leks, tholothians, and mirialans timidly followed Rose down the gangway.

Sentient cargo. They were hauling sentient cargo. Rey released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"The good news is that I disabled the tracker," Rose said. "It hadn't transmitted any information, either. We're safe. For now."

Leia stepped forward, her face grim in light of their discovery.

"I want the ship log. Where were they headed? Where did they come from? And why did they decide to make a pit stop here?" Leia asked no one in particular. Rose handed the twi'lek child she held to Rey. Rey awkwardly grasped the small body, having never held another being in her life that wasn't a game animal, let alone one barely out of infancy. She felt tears sting her eyes, and the tightness in her chest threatened to smother her. Slavers. They could only have been slavers. Why else traffic in sentients?

"I'll go find out," Rose said, walking briskly back to the ship. The children stood around, some crying, some too terrified to make a noise. Leia knelt to one of them, a small human child with dark hair and dark eyes. Rey closed her eyes tight against the pain of Leia's thoughts. She couldn't read Leia's mind, but she didn't have to. That child bore a basic resemblance to Leia's son, Ben. To Kylo Ren. Leia lifted the little boy easily.

"Let's get back inside. We need to bury the bodies. They'll attract animals," Leia said. "We'll raid the ship for supplies in the morning." She disappeared into the bunker, the other Resistance members gently herding the children inside behind her. Rey stood still with the child in her arms. She looked out across the desert, up into the sky full of stars and the two moons of Florrum. The twi'lek girl in her arms regarded her cautiously before leaning her head against Rey's shoulder. Rey waited until Rose emerged from the freighter, the log box in her hand. Even in the dark, Rey could see the wetness on the woman's face.

Wordlessly, she turned and followed Rose back inside. Behind them, Rey could hear the scrape of the ground being torn up for graves.

Hux stood in the hangar of the Absolution, watching the arrival of the knight's transport ship with eager satisfaction. It landed, and Seyla marched ahead of an older woman. The engineer's blonde hair was fading into gray, and the lines on her face made her look older than Hux knew she was. Three stormtroopers retrieved various crates and bags from the ship behind the women.

"Well done, knight," Hux said. "Make yourself at home. Rest a spell. Your rooms have been prepared." He didn't look at Seyla, eyes only for the woman she successfully delivered.

Seyla Ren glanced behind her as she made her way across the massive hangar. The growing unease she'd felt since bringing the engineer aboard her ship had turned into full-on foreboding. She didn't trust Hux as far as she could throw him. And by extension, that meant anyone who went willingly into partnership with him. She thought it might be high time she contacted her master. Not for the first time, she wondered how involved Kylo was, given his new position in the Order.

Hux glanced at the cargo being unloaded and couldn't suppress the smile that grew.

"Welcome Dr. Lekk Masra. Welcome to the First Order."

A/N: First of all, huge thanks to everyone who has read and set it to an alert and favorite. You are awesome!

I really like writing Kylo, just saying. I've been listening to Breaking Benjamin and Muse ad nauseam to get me in (what I think is) his head space. Rey is admittedly a little more difficult for me. I couldn't get a good read on her in either of the films so far. I generally think she was portrayed as being almost too serious, so I tried to give her some humor in this fic. Drop me a line and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!