Two Days Later. . . .
Rey stepped inside the base, feeling the whoosh of the blast doors close behind her, cutting off the sounds of the jungle. A flood of people streamed down the corridor in front of her and she frowned. It was barely mid afternoon- nowhere near dinnertime. Where were they all going? She joined the flood of people and her eyes fell on Moda Wen, a flight tech she had become friendly with. He smiled at her in the way of his people, ears rustling.
"What's happening?" Rey asked.
He shrugged, "Big news. A communique came from outside. The First Order's finally made a move."
She felt as though a lightsaber had sliced through her torso, cutting her off from her lungs, from breath.
"What?" She tried to form the words but Moda Wen was already gone, spirited away by the push of the crowd. She remembered the echo of fierce satisfaction that had woken her a few nights ago. Was this connected? Ben, a deep treacherous part of her repeated, what have you done?
"Rey!" A familiar voice called, "Rey!"
The Jedi smiled, despite the ache that seemed to have become part of her bones these last months. A second later, Rose emerged, pushing against the flow of people. "There you are! The general sent me to find you!" A small calloused hand gripped Rey's wrist and began to tug her forward.
"Sorry. I was outside-"
"Training," Rose finished for her, "I figured. Geesh. I thought the life of a Jedi would be exciting. But it seems to be all meditating and sweating."
Rey nodded absently, her mind churning with questions, "That does seem to be the case." Was it about the resistance? Was Be- Kylo Ren coming after them?
. . . . was it about her? Was he searching for her?
Rose was still towing her through the crowd which was quickly becoming impassable, "Jirak's balls," She muttered. And added louder, "Don't you people have jobs?! You should all be at your work assignments!" She complained to the press around them.
Finally, with a sigh of complete disgust, Rose dropped her friends' arm and pulled open a panel in the corridor wall. She yanked the small handheld free, shaking out the cord as she pushed the button, "Attention!" She snapped and her voice reverberated through the hallway speakers. The flow of people slowed, "This is Lieutenant Rose Tico! You are all ordered to return to your duty stations! The general will make an announcement soon."
"Boo!" Complained a voice in the back.
"Was that you, Jeb Stell?" She demanded into the handheld, "I'm adding two hours of latrine duty to your assignment roster!"
There was a groan from the same vicinity as the boo.
"What was that?" Rose asked, "You wanted to make it four?"
"No." Came the feeble response.
"Good! Get back to your posts!"
It seemed to take an eternity for the crowd to clear enough for the two women to continue down the hallway. But finally, finally they stood in front of the doors to the command room.
Rose took a deep breath, squaring off in front of the door and Rey suppressed a smile.
The doors opened and they stepped through.
"Rey!" General Organa watched her from across the communications pit, her expression tense. Rey felt her stomach knot. The flow of Force around Leia was agitated, chaotic. Not like its' usual gentle swirl. The general glanced around at the assembled officers, "Rey and I need the room." Her eyes fell on Rose, "Thank you Lt. Tico."
Rose murmured to Rey in a soft voice, "I'll see you at dinner."
Rey nodded in agreement, catching Poe's gaze as he moved toward the door with the other officers. He gave her a sympathetic smile and touched her briefly on the arm as he passed. The touch startled her and when he had gone she rubbed a hand across the skin he had brushed. These little touches had become more frequent as of late. She didn't know what to think of them.
When the room was empty, the general waved her over impatiently, "I want you to watch this."
"What is-"
But the vid was already playing, the projection filling the space above the pit.
"This is Captain Jace Andor of the starship Corvid," The man's face was intelligent but worn. His age somewhere deep into his fourth decade, Rey guessed. He stared out at them, his hesitation at odds with the resolute lines of his face, "I would like to start by assuring you that this intelligence comes from reliable sources, sources I have always trusted without question."
Rey crossed her arms against her stomach, hands gripping her upper arms.
"My source informs me that three days ago, Kylo Ren took a handful of his knights to the Excargan Mining Facility and liberated the 2.5 million workers who had been enslaved there-"
The girl heard herself gasp, and felt Leia's eyes on her.
"The laborers turned on their captors when freed. We have estimates that perhaps as many as 100,000 Excarga Corporation employees have been slaughtered in the uprising. Who knows how long thorilide mining will be disrupted? Furthermore this action seems to be the first move in the establishment of a new regime under Kylo Ren's leadership. He has declared himself an emperor and seems intent on ruling the territories previously controlled by the First Order." His voice continued, strained but steady unlike the frantic beating of Rey's own heart, "What this means for the Resistance, I do not know. I await further instructions." He paused, "May the Force be with us all."
Rey felt her knees give way and she sank into a chair. She gazed up at the general, a deep line etched between her brows, "What does this mean?"
"Rey," Leia asked, sitting down beside her, "Did you have any idea this was going to happen? That he would do something like this?"
The girl recoiled, "No!" She protested, "When we- in the throne room, he offered- he said," She took a deep breath, tried to order her scattered thoughts, "He said, the past had to die. That we could make something new. I don't understand. What is the Excargan Mining Operation?"
The general looked down at her hands, "The E.M.O. is a disgrace, a failure of the Republic and the First Order alike. It's a mining colony operated by the Rapora Alliance. It is also the home of one of the galaxies largest self-sustaining forced labor populations. Or it was."
"2.5 millions people," Rey whispered, "All slaves?"
Leia nodded.
Freed. Kylo Ren freed millions of slaves. And was responsible for the deaths of a hundred thousand more people.
And the dark half of her murmured, Good.
They were people! She reminded herself.
They were slavers and the employees of slavers, making their livings off the sweat and pain of other people.
"What does that mean?" Rey asked, "Self-sustained population?"
The general gave her a sad look, "They were born as slaves, Rey."
Bile burned a trail up Rey's throat. Imagine that. Imagine being born in the dark, working your whole life in a tunnel shifting rock for years and dying deep underground, never having seen the stars.
And she thought her life on Jakku had been cruel.
"I don't know what to think." She admitted. But deep down in places she was careful not to touch, something stirred. Something that felt buoyant and wild . . . like hope.
"I don't either." The general answered and Rey glanced up, surprised.
"When you don't know what to do, it generally means you need more information," Leia pushed to her feet and her fingers flew over the control panel. A star map bloomed to life in front of them, "That's why I'm sending you on a mission to gather more information." She nodded to the two points on the map and the path between, "It's a long journey to Excarga even with hyperdrive but we need a first hand account of what happened there. Take Poe, Finn, and Rose with you. I know Chewie's been itching to get out into space again."
Rey felt herself nodding, and stood, eager to get moving, "Yes, General. We'll be gone in the next few hours." When she turned to go, she felt Leia's hand on her arm. She glanced back. The general was looking at her with concern, "Rey, just remember, people do things for a lot of different reasons."
"I don't understand."
"Good people can do bad things. . . and vice versa."
Rey nodded quickly and gently pulled her arm free, "Yes, ma'am." She agreed.