Chapter Seventeen – The Fall of the First Order
General Pride stood feeling smug and vindicated aboard the bridge of the First Order's only remaining Star Destroyer. He had done it. He had decapitated the Resistance fleet. Better yet he had done it without that fool Hux there to take credit for what he had managed to somehow not foul up, and without the Supreme Leader, who would have insisted on commanding the attack himself. His position was solidified. He envisioned the First Order on its way back up, winning recruits, taking back worlds, building new fleets. And most of all he imagined himself at the head of those fleets as Kylo Ren no doubt would follow Supreme Leader Snoke's example and retreat to deep contemplation or whatever it was he had been doing before being killed. Unfortunately for General Pride, and fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the doom of all his dreams, and of the First Order itself, jumped out of hyperspace directly in front of his ship.
Pride of course, paid the ship very little mind. "What is it?" he asked.
"Nubian personal transport, sir," one ensign answered.
"Not a known Resistance ship, sir," another added.
"Do a transponder scan," Pride commanded as he began to shift his attention to something he deemed more important.
"It says it's an old Republic vessel," the captain of the watch said.
"Of course it says that," Pride scoffed, shaking his head at the idiots with which he was forced to work. "No one of any consequence has lived on Naboo for more than two decades."
"It is the ship that pinged us sir," an ensign said. "Using the highest possible level security code."
"No one is responding to hails," said another.
"Do a full scan. I don't want to let a ship with a bomb on it into our Hangar Bay," Pride said, annoyed at having to handle something so mundane.
"Scans show one life form and two droids. No signs of weapons or bombs of any kind," the captain of the watch said.
"Fine, fine let it in," Pride said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Perhaps the Supreme Leader found himself a new toy. But send some guards down to investigate, just in case."
Meanwhile Finn and Rose were walking down the ship's hallway with newly pilfered tools in their hand, which Finn was finding difficult to hold on to because of the cumbersome thickness of the Knight of Ren's gloves, which he had also pilfered.
"Ok," Rose said with false confidence, "now we find an elevator, and get down to the Engine Room." She looked up at Finn with a worried expression.
"What?" Finn snapped. "I know where we're going."
"Ok, I believe you. Its just…," she trailed off.
"Just what?" Finn asked indignantly.
"Just that a lot rides on this," Rose said as diplomatically as possible trying to get Finn to be a little quieter. She did not imagine the Knights of Ren were so whiny and didn't want him to give them away.
Finn shook his head and seemed to be about to respond when he suddenly stopped walking and cocked his head to the side, as though listening to something. Then he turned in place, looking down the hallway they had just come down.
"Finn, you said the elevator to the Engine Room was this way," she whispered while pointing ahead.
"We need to go to the Hangar," Finn said.
"Why?" Rose whispered sharply.
"I don't know," Finn said.
Rose's eyes widened at the thought that Finn was losing it then, on the verge of their victory. "Poe said to take out the hyperdrive. If they read the communication going out to the fleet they are going to try to jump away," she reminded him.
"You have to trust me," Finn said as he started to walk back the way they came.
"Trust what?" Rose said as she tried to follow along and argue against going, all without raising her voice. "You said you don't have any reason to turn around."
"No, I said I had a feeling," Finn replied.
"A feeling? You want me to disobey orders, orders that make sense, because you have a feeling?" she said.
"Did I get the restraints off or not?" Finn said testily.
Rose thought about it for a second but then concluded that there was no way around Finn having the high ground on this issue. "Ok," she said, "but we have to make whatever this is fast."
Finn and Rose walked at a brisk clip through the corridors of the ship, slowing down a bit whenever they saw someone, and coming to a brief stop at every junction so Finn could figure out which way he felt like he should go. Eventually, after several increasingly loud expressions of skepticism from Rose, they found their way into the observation deck for one of the hangar bays. As they entered they could see the Nubian ship Finn had found for Rey floating into the bay.
"Rey," Finn said with a mixture of hope and worry.
Rose cleared her throat and Finn looked to his left to see the hangar bay's crew, who were looking back at him with evident fear.
"Oh, sorry, uh, sir. I don't…What is it you need?" the officer on deck asked. Seeing the tools Finn and Rose were holding, he said, "Do you…need us to repair something sir?"
Finn, who had forgotten for a moment that he was wearing the gear of one of the Knights of Ren said "Ummm…Clear the deck." Then, affecting a far more imperious tone, he said, "The passengers are for me to deal with."
"Sorry sir," the officer said uncomfortably. "We have orders from General Pride. A squad of Stormtroopers are on their way."
Finn nodded while he thought of something to say. When this had gone on long enough to be awkward, Rose decided to take action. She smashed the officer in the face with a wrench and then, while he was stunned, pulled his sidearm from his belt and pointed it at him. Finn, as taken aback as anyone, took a moment to follow suit, but then pulled the vibroblade from his belt and activated it.
"Anyone else got blasters in here?" Rose said, pointing her blaster at the rest of the crewmen in the observation deck, who all shook their heads.
"Good," Finn said. "Everyone in the corner." When none of them responded Finn made a threatening motion with the vibroblade, causing them all to huddle together in the corner of the room. With Rose covering them with the blaster, Finn took off his helmet and went to the control board.
"Rey, do you read me?" he said into the intercom. In response he heard the familiar beeps of R2-D2. "Where's Rey?" Finn asked, then shook his head and said, "Nevermind, just don't open your doors yet."
Just then the squad of Stormtroopers entered the hangar below them. Finn pressed some buttons on the control board, shutting off the force field at the hangar entrance. The Stormtroopers were immediately pulled off their feet and shot into space, along with all the containers of cargo in the hangar at the time.
"That's a horrifying way to go," Rose said.
"Yeah, it really is. Ok, field is back up," Finn said. After turning around and seeing the horrified expressions on the faces of the First Order crew, he asked, "What do we do with them?"
A few moments later all the crewmen were unconscious, Rose having figured out the stun setting on her purloined blaster. The two of them proceeded down the stairway to the hangar deck. Finn, lifting a communicator to his face, said, "Ok R2, open the doors." The ramp in the rear of the ship lowered, and as Finn and Rose circled around the ship to get to it, they saw, to their surprise, an unconscious Ben Solo flanked by C-3PO and R2-D2.
"What's going on?" Finn yelled. "Where is Rey?"
"I am sorry sir, but she left without us," C-3PO said. "She was behaving most oddly."
"Left? Left where?" Finn asked. "What is he doing here?"
"It would be against my programming to let a sentient being die without offering assistance," C-3PO said.
"I'm all for not murdering people, but this pushes it," Rose said.
Finn stares at Ben Solo, thinking of all the harm he had caused, all the friends he would never see again because of what Kylo Ren had done. And then he thought of the man in the apartment, the man who had to be Anakin Skywalker, telling Finn to save his family. Ben Solo was the last member of that family, the last Skywalker, no matter his name. And, much as it hurt him to admit it, he was someone Rey cared about very much. Shaking his head, Finn quietly said, "Let's pick him up."
"Why?" asked, shocked.
"Please Rose. Just help me," Finn said as he started up the ramp.
Rose waited for a moment, but when she saw Finn struggling to lift the larger Ben Solo, she went up the ramp to help him. Upon getting a closer look at him she said, "That wound looks pretty bad."
"There is a med-bay near every hangar," Finn said. "Let's go."
The two of them carried Ben Solo through the corridors of the ship, with the two droids close behind them. The few First Order crew members who saw them did not seem to recognize Finn or Rose, or even to look at them for long. They saw their injured Supreme Leader and simply turned the other way, afraid, no doubt, of the fate that might later befall anyone who had seen him in a moment of weakness. When the party reached the med-bay Finn and Rose managed to lift Ben up enough to get him on the table, after which the medical droids automatically engaged to treat him. Between the bacta injections, his own Force supplemented healing, and the injection of adrenaline, it was only a few minutes before Ben woke up. When he did Finn took an immediately confrontational approach.
"Tell me where Rey is!" he shouted.
Ben, still disoriented from his injury and treatment, just looked at the medical droid for a moment before saying, "Thanks," to no one in particular
"Where is Rey?" Finn asked harshly.
After turning to look at Finn, a perplexed look came over Ben Solo's face. After a second or two of staring at Finn he shook his head and said, "What are you doing here?"
Finn, having lost patience at that point, grabbed Ben by the chin and pointed in his face with his other hand, yelling, "Answer the question!" Unfortunately for Finn's pride Ben seemed completely unimpressed at this gesture, doing nothing more than raising an eyebrow at the finger wagging in his face.
"We don't have a lot of time," Rose said to Finn. "That squad of Stormtroopers is going to be missed fairly soon."
Pulling Finn's hand of his face Ben asked, "You two killed a squad of troopers?" He seemed vaguely impressed.
"Yeah, and we can keep the streak going if you don't answer my questions," Finn said, attempting to sound threatening.
"I don't know where Rey went. But I came back here to find out," Ben said. He winced as he tried to sit up. The droid, which was still applying bacta sprays to his wound, briefly pulled back. "Also I was hoping not to die."
Ben turned to the droid and asked, "What else do you need to do?"
"More bacta, more sealant," the droid answered.
"Hurry!" Ben snapped as he lay back down.
"You came in here on Rey's ship. The droids said she flew off in yours. What happened?" Finn asked.
"We had a fight," Ben said.
"Looks like she won," Rose said smugly.
"Not at first," Ben answered, annoyed. "But yeah, she turned it around pretty well. Given that you two are here I take it that the plan to capture the Resistance leadership worked."
"You bastard," Rose said, lifting her blaster to point it at Ben. "You killed thousands of us."
"Well it is war, but honestly killing thousands of you wasn't the plan," Ben said. "It's just that when you leave imbeciles in charge, you get these kinds of results. Unfortunately all I have are imbeciles." The medical droid finished up and Ben sat up and stretched to test the seal on the wound. "They blew up your flagship right?"
"Yes," Finn said through gritted teeth.
Ben rubbed his temples as he said, "Idiots. I told them specifically to capture capital ships. I literally killed someone in front of them for not doing that last time." He sighed and shook his head before continuing, "So what, they took you two captive, and you escaped right? Trying to find a way out when I showed up in Rey's ship?"
When Finn and Rose gave each other a furtive look, Ben said, "No? Interesting. What were you trying to do?" After getting unsteadily to his feet, Ben took a long look at Finn. "You seem different."
"You said you could find out where Rey went?" Finn asked, ignoring Ben's question and brandishing the vibroblade as he did so.
"Yes, but I need to explain that situation to you, and you need to explain the situation here to me," Ben said.
"Finn, what are we doing?" Rose asked. "We have a mission."
Ben turned towards Rose and stared intently at her for a few seconds. "You were going to shut down the hyperdrive. Interesting. You aren't trying to escape, you are trying to counter-attack," he said, nodding with approval. "Bold. But why are you helping me?"
"He…he said to save his family," Finn said uncertainly.
"Who said that?" Ben asked insistently.
"Yeah, who?" Rose asked.
"The man in the apartment," Finn said. "Vader." Rose's grasp on her blaster loosened and her jaw dropped in response.
"You were in the apartment? On Coruscant?" Ben asked in disbelief. "And my grandfather was there? He told you to save me?"
"Yeah, I think so," Finn said.
"I really don't have the first clue what is going on, but can I please put my shirt on?" Ben asked indignantly. "And then can we walk and talk?" Finn's doubtful expression prompted Ben to explain, "Shutting down the hyperdrive only makes sense if you are also going to send word to your fleet to come here. But this ship is only going to stay in this position long enough for the supply shuttles to go out and steal some fuel. After that they are jumping back to First Order space, where our defenses will make it much harder for your fleet to take this ship out. So we need to move fast."
"We?" a still shocked Rose asked.
"Yes 'we'," an annoyed Ben Solo answered. "I am going to need your help to save Rey, and I am willing to help your little uprising to do it. Seems like a fair trade to me. But we really need to start moving on this."
"Finn, we do need to go," Rose said. "They've got Chewie. We have to hit the hyperdrive and then bust him out."
"Who has Chewie?" Ben asked, suddenly enraged.
"Your people," Finn snapped. "The interrogators."
Ben pushed his way through them, heedless of their weapons and started putting his tunic and armor back on. "You two hit the hyperdrive. I have Chewie. Who else of yours is here?" When Finn and Rose did not immediately answer Ben yelled, "Who else?"
"Poe, Lando, Chewie, a bunch of other people who were on the Falcon," Finn answered.
Ben closed his eyes. "Not a reunion I was looking forward to. Go! Meet me on the detention deck."
"You don't give us orders," Finn said.
Rose, however, grabbed Finn's arm and said, "We don't have time to argue. Poe is probably ready to send the communication by now."
On the other side of the ship Poe was running, the helmet concealing that he was not in fact a Knight of Ren left behind him, and shooting at the Stormtroopers following him. After turning a corner he said to himself, "Soap! Great idea Finn!" Poe kept running down the corridor he was in, and, after turning one more time at an intersection, hid in a doorway. The group of Stormtroopers looking for him split up at the intersecting corridors, only a handful heading down the corridor he had actually run down. As they closed in on his position Poe took a deep breath, steeling himself to fight, then jumped out of the doorway and rolled once before popping up in a firing position. He raised his blaster to fire at the Stormtroopers now in front of him, but before he could fire several blaster bolts sailed over his head, coming from behind him, and hitting the troopers square in the helmets. Poe turned around to see Lando walking slowly, a blaster in his hand.
"They pawned me off on some colonel or something, and then the bastard tried to lowball me for Beskar," Lando said with a smile. "You have any idea how hard that is to mine? How much heavy industry will pay for it? I had to bring an end to our negotiations."
"You mean you heard the alarms and took his gun?" Poe asked.
"Yeah, you do stir up a ruckus. I am guessing this means you didn't get the communication sent?" Lando said.
"No, hopefully they had better luck with the hyperdrive," Poe said. "If they can bring that down long enough and we have options for getting word to the fleet."
"You know, I didn't actually sign up for any of this. I was just along for the photo op at Coruscant," Lando said. When he saw Poe's wearied expression he added, with a chuckle, "But I guess they have Chewie, so might as well."
By the time Lando found Poe, Finn and Rose had found their way to the engine room. While Rose worked on disabling the engine, Finn stood above the First Order crewman cowering in the corner, a vibroblade in one hand and a blaster in the other. Flashing lights and sirens signaled that an alarm had gone out, whether because of Poe's actions, Ben's or their own they did not know.
Finn, thinking of all the years he had spent walking the halls of ships like that one in fear, smiled slightly and said, "We're getting pretty good at this. Almost done?"
"Almost there," Rose said with one arm stuck deep into the mechanism of the engine. "This should knock the thing so far out of joint that it will take hours to fix."
"Good news," Finn said to the terrified crewmen. "That means we don't have to kill you."
"And, done," Rose said, satisfied. "Let's go." After they exit the engine room, Finn turned and shot the door panel to slow down any rescuers or repair crews. The two of them then set out to the elevator, and upon reaching it Rose said, "Ok, to the detention level he said, right? Still got that good feeling, I hope."
As they stepped into the elevator, Finn said, "Well I've got a feeling."
Several levels above them Chewie hangs, restrained and bloodied, from an interrogation table. Smoke rises from his fur where the torture devices had electrocuted him, and several First Order interrogators look on with grim satisfaction at the pain they had caused him. Chewie let out a low, sad moan as the table engaged again and began to move him towards the machines of pain.
But before the suffering began again, the door to the interrogation room opened, revealing Ben Solo in the ragged remains of his armor and tunic. The officers, recognizing their Supreme Leader, turned off the torture devices so they can speak to him. The anger on his face came as no surprise to them, for in the infrequent moments when his helmet was off in public, it was his typical expression.
The lead officer stepped forward. "Ah, my lord…," he began to say before noticing that his Supreme Leader was not looking at him, but only at his prisoner, and that his rage was clearly growing. "The, uh, beast has proven quite resistant to our efforts, but I feel his will beginning to break."
Ben Solo's tightly clenched fists, wide eyes and curled lip ought to have been all the warning the interrogators needed that something was amiss. As he turned his face slowly towards them the lead interrogator continued, "We should get what we need from it momentari…"
The officer never finished his confident assessment, due to the overpowering need he felt to grab his throat. They always grab their throat, Ben thought, as though they could do something about it. As he raised his hands into the air, the officers in the room were all lifted towards the ceilings, all of them grabbing their throats. They flailed wildly, kicking their feet until, with a series of cracks, their bodies all went limp. Then Ben dropped his arms to his sides, and their bodies collapsed onto the floor. He walked over to the table to which Chewbacca was bound and began to undo the restraints by hand.
"I know you are going to want to tear me apart," Ben said. "I know that. I know there's nothing I can say to convince you not to." As he finished opening the restraints, Ben stepped back and continued, "I could stop you of course, but I won't. I know…I know what he meant to you. I know what I did."
For a moment the two of them just look each other in the eyes, both with stricken looks on their faces.
"But you have other friends here," Ben said. "I know it's not the same with them. I know nothing can ever be the same. But they need your help. Rey needs your help. And you need mine."
Chewie got to his feet without speaking, rubbing his arms where the restraints had bitten into them. Then, after looking up again at Ben Solo, strides towards him. Ben straightened up, trying to face whatever judgment Chewbacca had made without using the Force to stop him, when the Wookie simply pushed him out of the way as he made his way to retrieve his gear, which lay in the corner of the interrogation room.
As Chewie put his bandolier on, Ben turned to him and said, "Thanks Chewie." When Chewie roared in response, Ben threw up his hands and said, "Ok, ok, Chewbacca."
After Ben's rescue of Chewbacca, Finn and Rose were running around the same floor of the ship, and a frustrated Rose yelled at Finn, "You don't know where the detention hall is?"
"I thought I did," a harried Finn yelled back. "It's been five years since I was on one of these things."
The two of them turned as they head blaster fire in the distance, and started to head for it cautiously, reasoning that it was likely to be either Poe or Ben. When they turned the next corner they ran into Poe and Lando. Lando leaned against the wall, sucking in huge gulps of air. "Oh thank goodness," he said, "a break. You know I am a 70 year old man."
"Did you get the message out?" Finn asked.
"No, great plan with the soap. Guy looked at me like I was nuts," Poe said testily, to which Finn just shrugged. "Tell me the hyperdrive is offline," Poe said hopefully.
"Yep, it will be done for a while," Rose said.
"We have a pretty important update on the situation," Finn started to say. Before he could give that update though, Lando pushed them lot of them into a doorway as several squads of stormtroopers appeared, running down a hallway perpendicular to theirs. After a few seconds more blaster bolts rang out, and a now smaller group of Stormtroopers ran back the way they came, this time turning into the hallway Poe and the others occupied. The three Resistance leaders and Lando popped out from the doorway with their blasters aimed at the troopers, who immediately dropped their own weapons and held up their hands to surrender. Poe gave Finn a puzzled look, but before Finn could help resolve his incomprehension, the Resistance leaders they came to rescue appeared at the end of the hallway, following Chewbacca and Ben Solo, who strode confidently with this red lightsaber engaged. He lifted his free hand, and the surrendering Stormtroopers were flung roughly against the wall. A door opened opposite them and, with a quick flick of Ben's wrist, the troopers are thrown into the open cell just before the door closed behind them.
"Anyone not armed, get those blasters!" Ben yelled to those behind him while pointing at the blasters the recently imprisoned troopers had dropped.
Poe stood wide eyed, shaking his head slightly as Finn said, "That's the update."
"General Dameron," Ben said imperiously, "I want it to be clear that I am not surrendering. I am providing you with assistance in return for similar assistance finding Rey."
"What happened to Rey?" Poe asked.
"That's a great question, one many people would like the answer to!" Finn said.
"A question I am prepared to answer once we take over this ship, which we need a plan to do," Ben said derisively.
"We have a plan," Poe yelled. "Get word to the Resistance, they jump in, disable this ship, take everyone, yourself included, prisoner and then we go rescue Rey without you."
"Have you gotten word to your fleet?" Ben asked. Poe opened his mouth to answer but then thought better of it. Ben rolled his eyes and said, "That is a foolish plan. I have a better one."
Rather than share that plan Ben just walked away. Poe, Finn and rose exchanged looks, wondering what to do about that fact. The first to follow him was Chewie, followed by Lando. Finn shrugged his shoulders and started walking as well, which led to all the other members of the Resistance following, eventually leaving Poe standing alone behind the crowd, looking angry. He ran back up to the front of the column and Ben Solo sarcastically quipped, "Good of you to join us General Dameron."
"You know what…," Poe started to argue before being cut off.
"Here's my plan," Ben said. "We go to the bridge. I use the long range scanners to find out where Rey took my ship. Your people get to the aft Hangar Bay and take what ships you need, as long as that includes the Nubian shuttle I came in, to rendezvous with your fleet. I initiate the self-destruct sequence on this ship. Finn, Chewie and I go get Rey with the Falcon."
"You want to kill everyone on this ship?" Rose asked, horrified.
"I promised to help, didn't I? But I want to stress that the Nubian shuttle does not get left here, I do not want it destroyed," Ben said.
Poe stopped walking and said, "We don't do that."
This statement stopped everyone in their tracks except for Ben, who took several further steps before realizing that he was alone. He turned around and said derisively, "What? Squeamish? I get it. But think about who is on this ship. Think about the people who stuck with the First Order even after defeat was inevitable. Think about what it would take for you not to desert from this fleet. The people on this ship have done things, things for which they know they can't escape justice. Things they know they cannot put behind them because the galaxy will not allow it."
"People like you?" Poe said.
Ben smiled grimly and said, "Yes, people exactly like me. Do you really want to risk the lives of your people, so that you can take my people prisoner? They aren't worth the sacrifice; I assure you of that. Think about your people now, General Dameron."
"I am," Poe said resolutely. "We are the Resistance. We are the legacy of the Rebellion. We are soldiers in the army of Leia Organa. We fight for the principles she taught us to cherish. We fight the way she taught us to fight. And she would never do this." In reaction to his speech the members of the Resistance nodded and murmured in agreement. Lando gave Poe an impressed look, and Chewie turned to look at Ben.
"Fine," Ben said in disgust, before turning around to continue walking. "But no promises about any of these idiots we meet along the way!"
"What is going on? We sent troops to the detention level a half hour ago. Where are they?" General Pride said nervously, standing in the bridge.
"Sir we have reports of enemy activity in the aft Hangar Deck, the Engine Room, the Starboard enlisted toilets…," and ensign said with a confused look on his face.
"Engine Room?" Pride said, suddenly worried. "How long ago?"
"Um…It was reported only just now, but apparently the attack on the Engine Room happened before the uprising on the detention level sir," the ensign answered.
"What took them so long to report?" Pride asked angrily.
"They say they were tied up," the ensign said, holding his headset to his ear, "…with wire, while Resistance members sabotaged the hyperdrive."
"What?" Pride roared. "Status check on the hyperdrive!"
"Hyperdrive is offline sir!" a lieutenant called out.
"Get a squad down there to defend the engineers while they fix it. Captain!" Pride yelled.
"Yes sir!" an officer said quickly.
"Get down to the Engine Room and make sure they are quick about it," Pride commanded.
"Yes sir!" the frightened captain repeated. He walked quickly to the bridge doors, which opened as he approached, revealing Ben solo and the Resistance. Ben lifted his lightsaber until it was pointed directly at the Captain's chest.
"Hello Captain," Ben said coldly. "Please give one of these people your side arm and sit down."
"Supreme Leader?" Pride said. "I…I don't understand."
"No, you don't," Ben said as he held out his free hand, Force pulling General Pride to him until the General's neck was lodged squarely in Ben's gloved hand. "General Pride, I thought I made clear that capital ships were to be captured, not destroyed. Since it seems all my senior officers are unable to follow simple instructions, I decided to bring in some new ones," Ben continued to say as he dragged General Pride to the front of the bridge. Once arrived there he lifted the general up in the air and then slammed him down on the floor.
"Everyone stand up and away from your consoles," Finn said. "Remove your blasters and hand them to one of the Generals or Admirals coming around to take them off your hands. Once that is done, go lie face down next to the Captain there."
As the resistance officers take the positions on the bridge previously occupied by First Order officers, Poe said, "Recall all fighter wings. Once that is done, put the ship on lockdown, shut down the shields and power down the auto-cannons. Transmit a coded message to the Fleet. Let them know we have captured the First Order flagship."
General Pride stood up, glaring at Finn and Poe as Ben Solo stood ominously behind him, and yelled out, "You think I am going to stand by as we are betrayed? Get up men! Fight!"
Hearing this Ben spun around and plunged his lightsaber into General Pride's back. When he saw Poe's annoyed expression he said, "He was actively resisting!"
Poe turned around shaking his head as he made eye contact with Rose and Finn. Then, looking at the First Order officers he said, "People. Your former Supreme Leader is very disappointed in you. He wants all of you dead, because you are so very terrible at your jobs. I recommend you don't antagonize him. You know how he can get!"
As the First Order officers do their best to avoid making eye contact with Ben Solo he walked to a computer console in the front of the bridge and motioned for Finn to join him. Finn walked over and said, "This had better be when you start telling me what happened to Rey."
"She is under the influence of Palpatine," Ben said.
"The guy Luke Skywalker killed?" Finn said, perplexed.
Ben looked up angrily and said, "No, the guy my grandfather killed. But of course Luke let everyone give him credit for it."
"But either way, still dead right?" Finn asked.
"Yes, but that appears not to be the obstacle for him that it is for most people," Ben said. "Palpatine possessed Snoke, controlled him. Now I think he's trying to possess Rey. She took my ship and I am trying to figure out where."
"You have a tracking beacon on the ship? Like you did on me?" Finn said bitterly.
"Yeah," Ben said simply, either unaware of or uncaring about Finn's anger. "Just got to find it in the list."
"Hux said you were tracking me the whole time," Finn said.
"Not the whole time," Ben said. "We lost track of it for a while after Crait. We had to have people try tracking every signature on the personnel list because after all the excitement on Starkiller Base no one could remember your number."
"FN-2187," Finn said, again with bitterness.
"Haven't heard it in years and you still remember it?" Ben commented absentmindedly.
"Well it's hard to forget when it's the only thing you are called your whole childhood," Finn said, getting angrier that Ben seemed not to care about how traumatic all that had been for him. "But I heard it again a few hours ago. In the apartment."
"Yeah, about that," Ben said, looking back up at Finn. "What happened?"
"We were restrained. I was trying to use the Force to get us out. I'm a little Force Sensitive by the way," Finn said, a little cockily.
"Yes, I know," Ben said, who had gone back to scrolling through the list of ships.
"You knew?" a surprised Finn asked. "Since when?"
"Since Jakku," Ben said.
"Since when on Jakku?" Finn asked.
"Since the only time the two of us have both been on Jakku," Ben said impatiently.
"You knew since then?" Finn said, shocked.
"Yes. I was going to talk to you about it, but things got complicated pretty quickly after that, if you recall. But now I want to talk about the apartment. How did you get there?" Ben said.
"I just closed my eyes, to concentrate. The way Rey taught me. I opened them again and I was there," Finn said.
"With Darth…Vader," Ben said.
"He was Vader at first, while kicking my ass. Then he turned into some guy," Finn said.
"What guy?" Ben asked.
"A tall guy with blonde hair. And a metal arm," Finn said, hesitant to share his guess as to who the man had been, or the last message he had shared.
"Spending time with everyone but me it seems," Ben said, shaking his head. Just then Lando walkd over to where the two of them were talking. Ben looked up, and for a moment his face was not that of the angry battle leader, but of a boy caught misbehaving. "Hi," he said, tentatively.
Lando looked Ben square in the eyes and then punched him hard in the gut, doubling Ben over and drawing an appreciative look from Finn. "You deserve worse," Lando said as Ben tried to breathe.
"Yeah…I know…Nice to…see you…too…Uncle Ando," Ben said around deep gulps of air.
"Don't call me that!" Lando snapped. "When I heard what you did to Han I promised to kill you. You do what needs to be done here and I won't keep my promise. But that's all you get." After saying that Lando nodded at Finn, turned and walked away. Ben eventually straightened up and returned to looking at the console while rubbing his stomach.
"Ok, so I got it. Tracking now," Ben said.
"I'm just surprised Chewie didn't kill you," Finn said.
"Well he wants to," Ben said. "Plus I have a scar from where he almost did it back on Starkiller." After a moment the console beeped and he said, "She's on Naboo."
"Why? What's left on Naboo?" Finn asked.
"Some Gungans, not many humans though," Ben said.
"Not since you slaughtered everyone," Finn said.
Ben started to walk towards Poe while saying, "Actually, only one of us was a member of the First Order at the time, and it wasn't me."
"I was a toddler!" Finn yelled indignantly.
When they reached Poe Ben asked, "Is the ship locked down?"
"Yeah. We have sealed the blast doors so your people are mostly stuck where they are. The ship can't put up a fight when our fleet gets here, so we are pretty much set. Just got to wait it out," Poe said as Chewie, Lando and Rose walked over to join them.
"How long?" Ben asked.
"Nearest division of our fleet is probably three or four hours away. That door," Poe said, gesturing to the bridge doors, "will hold against blasters that long right?"
"Yes, but we can't wait that long. We have to move now to get Rey," Ben said.
"Why?" Poe asked.
"I can't explain everything, but if we don't move soon we are going to lose her," Ben said quickly.
"Lose her to what?" Rose asked.
"To the enemy," Ben answered.