Author's note:
I meant to update earlier than this but my brain doesn't always agree with my desire to write and/or edit when I have the time but better late than never.
Chapter Summary: Rey explores the premises of the Organa Engineering Company on Chandrila in order to find a clue about Ben Solo and meets someone who is willing to help her.
- PREVIOUSLY-
Shrugging her shoulders, she left the place to continue in her investigation by paying a visit to the seat of Organa Engineering Company that housed the factory, the hangar with spaceships and the mansion.
Chapter 3 – Organa Engineering Company, Chandrila
The seat of Organa Engineering Company was a complex of buildings situated on the outskirts of Hanna City with a great vehicular access from the centre. Industrial spaceport was attached to the hangar standing on the edge of a cliff, overseeing the usually calm ocean beneath, with rolling hills towering in the distance over the large factory in one corner and the spacious mansion on the other side.
The architectural style of the buildings was very typical for the rest of the planet but Rey still noticed a couple of features usually attributed to the Aldenaarian style that honoured the original seat of the company that had been obliterated during the war. These features could be seen in the beautifully blooming garden stretching across the premises as well, enlivening the otherwise industrial feel of the area.
After a moment of contemplation, Rey decided to visit the monumental mansion first but it turned out to be a disappointment. It had once been an amazing place to live for sure since it provided enough space for all the family members permanently living in the estate, as well as for the arriving guests. But now, only a couple of rooms on the first floor essential for survival showed any evidence of a recent presence.
The rest of the house was strangely empty and locked up.
As it seemed, Leia didn't consider the house to be the core of her existence – at least not in the recent years. It was stripped of the sweet comfort of home. Decorations of the modest flat consisting of a living room, adjacent kitchen, refresher and a small bedroom were scarce as if the person occupying the space barely spent any time in here and there was no reason to make it cosier.
Whatever could have served as a painful remainder of her late husband and son was gone. Rey also found no personal belongings one would expect to find inside. No written documents. No holographic storage devices. No images or drawings. No mementos or trinkets. There was nothing she could use as a cue to find the information she needed and nothing that would tell her where to look for it.
Shrugging her shoulders, Rey left the mansion behind and hoped to obtain more answers in the factory.
Even though the labyrinthine corridors of the colossal structure made her head spin, the way to Leia's office was actually well-marked and easily accessible. It also proved to be the gold mine she wanted because the word 'office' didn't quite encompass the living space she found behind the inconspicuous sliding doors.
The guests coming to visit the owner of the company could wait for her in the beautifully decorated drawing room where they could admire the holographic blueprints of the famous spaceships produced in the past and holographic photos marking the milestone in the history of the company. The insignia and the photos of the current management on the walls only completed the representativeness of the room.
The comfort of the visitors was ensured thanks to the comfortable armchairs arranged in a circle around a holographic table operated by a currently deactivated service droid. There was also a bar and a refresher available for the guests, as well as a vast archive of data tapes with supplementary information about the company and its history, including biographies of the people managing it.
But what took Rey's breath away was the excessively furnished core office behind another set of doors. Leia Organa had definitely lived her life in the factory because the three sections of her core office – a living room area, an office area and a rear area – emitted the perceptible domestic feel Rey was looking for the whole time.
The rear area served as private corner with a refresher and a small kitchenette equipped with all necessary appliances to make a good meal. A couple of armchairs, two couches and a holotable formed a living room area that could easily work as both a relaxation corner and a bedroom in the time of need. Judging from the worn out padding, Rey guessed that it had been often used as such.
Walls were lined with shelves full of books and other documents stored in various ways from a written word to holographic chips and data tapes, interspaced with several trinkets and souvenirs Leia gathered during her life while travelling the Galaxy. The homely feeling was supported by ornate vases and pots with blooming plants and flowers from various planets.
Rey, however, was immediately drawn to a large window in the office area that provided the view inside the factory because a massive desk with several drawers on each side stood in front of it. Feeling a bit intrusive, she nevertheless searched the contents of the drawers, rummaging through myriad of strange devices and things she honestly had no idea how to name.
In the end, she settled down in one of the couches so she could calmly read and watch through several data tapes in hope that she would find something useful like whether Ben Solo was actually dead and if he was alive, then where she was supposed to look for him.
It took her a great portion of the afternoon but all the documents, reports, messages and even diary entries worked like puzzle pieces. She just had to put them together to discover that the financial situation of the company was actually much worse that it had been first estimated. Organa Engineering was on the verge of bankruptcy, pushed into the sale by its creditors who – unsurprisingly, given his reputation – were more or less controlled by Snoke Industries.
That bastard.
At the same time, the discovered source of information helped her to reconstruct the recent history of the Skywalker-Organa-Solo family. The point of view perhaps belonged to Leia but the records were informative enough to get the idea what had exactly transpired all those years ago and make her understand some of the steps that had seemed illogical to her before.
With the end of the Galactic Civil War, Leia had been on the course for becoming a rising star in the diplomatic field as a respected politician. Leia personally had no such ambitions but Mon Monthma valued all the natural-born passionate leaders she needed in order to rebuild the Galaxy and restore it back to its democratic roots. Logically, her friend had been supposed to become one of its cornerstones.
However, Leia's political career had been terminated shortly after the capital of the New Republic had moved to Chandrila. While searching for a new, inhabitable home, she had found one of the remaining factories of her father's company. Practically untouched by the war, the premises were in a very good condition and Leia had rather decided to pursue a profitable business to honour the legacy of her surrogate family.
It had taken two years of hard work to reach a meaningful progress in renewing the company but then-young, tireless Leia who had been very deeply in love at the same time, had barely let anything to deter from the goal she set. The first testing flight of the newly produced spaceship conducted by her future husband Han had been promptly celebrated by the long-awaited wedding between the two.
Leia had felt as if she had reached the top of the world because she had it all. Her success and wealth had grown as the company kept on flourishing in the following years, reinforcing the credible reputation it had. Her personal life as a newlywed had bloomed as well when she and Han had welcomed a son who had taken from both his parents, becoming the source of their indescribable joy.
Ben had been a cuddlesome child with dark thick hair and big brown eyes. When he had suffered from the night terrors or had refused to sleep, he could have been a real nuisance but he had compensated his naughty behaviour with his cuteness. Just like his father, he had proved to have a knack for spaceships since a very early age, no matter whether it was flying them or understanding their technology.
As a member of the Skywalker family, however, he had also been a Force-sensitive. In spite of her past experience with the power that had also resided within her in a limited amount, Leia hadn't tried to smother it in him but neither had she encouraged him to use it. She had just let the nature take its course and see whether his potential had been strong enough to require training.
While he had been a toddler, it had seemed that no lessons to learn how to control it would have been necessary. All he had ever done was to telekinetically throw things across the room in childish anger or to bring object to him out of laziness. At times, he had used the Force to levitate things in the air to impress and entertain the others. It had hardly been harmful or in any way unwelcomed.
But then the puberty had hit and he had become almost dangerous to both himself and to everyone else in his surroundings. His mood swings had made him to spiral out of control, throwing his concentration off balance. The Force he had harnessed manifested in a very strange and scary way as if the Light side had wrestled with the aggressive Dark side.
Concerned for her overly temperamental son, Leia had promptly contacted her twin brother, a legendary Jedi. Luke Skywalker, one of the leaders of the recently established Church of the Force that unified the non-Force-sensitive believers in the ideals of the Jedi Order and the Force-sensitive ones including the surviving Jedi, had immediately resigned from his posts in the organization and temporarily moved to Chandrila.
Ben had been ecstatic to start training with his uncle and learn the famed ways of the Jedi – at first. But the more the demands of training, lightsaber combat and meditation had taken his time, the more he had had less time for his hobbies. Hobbies he had considered just as important as the control of the Force, unlike his uncle Luke who had thought of these as perhaps entertaining but immensely distracting spare-time activities.
Conflicts had started to arise. First, between frustrated Luke who had only sought to motivate his nephew and teenager Ben who had refused to give up on his tinkering with the spaceship parts or spending hours on flying simulator. Then even between the two old friends, Luke and Han, because Han had helped his son to avoid the training by taking him on flying trips with his other two uncles, Chewbacca and Lando.
Wisely, Luke had made certain concessions and eased up the demands on the control over the Force Ben had been supposed to ideally reach. Instead, he had lectured him more about the power itself to make him understand how important it was to command it. He had even linked the duty of training with the hobby of flying and had gone with Ben to several trips off-world to show him the history of the Jedi Order.
But the well-intended compromise had only caused further problems.
All of a sudden, Ben had started to act extremely secretive, constantly seeking seclusion so he could draw some nonsense. Whenever someone had tried to make him show it was or confiscate his drawing tools, he had become almost hysterical. Distracted from both the Force training and his hobbies, he had upset his uncle and father alike.
As Leia had later realized, he had been drawing individual parts of the Millennium Falcon, his father's ship, to propose their technological adaptation and enhancement. If these had been applied, Falcon would have been much better in navigating through the Unknown Regions and the Wild Space, easily evading all the lurking hazards such as black holes, supernovae, gravity wells, asteroid fields and other fatal threats.
Ben had probably intended to surprise his uncle Luke with a viable spaceship that was capable of venturing in the most perilous corners in the Galaxy. Like that, he could have found the fabled planet which was believed to be the birthplace of the Jedi Order and the holder of the ancient Jedi texts. But back then, none of them had had any notion what rainbows Ben had been chasing and he had refused to share.
That had led the adults to unite and push Ben into carrying out his duties such as training with is Jedi uncle. Eventually, however, the boy had snapped.
Leia had no idea what transpired between her son and her twin brother on that fateful day. All she had ever had were hypotheses, speculations and assumptions. But the memories of what she had witnessed had haunted her for the rest of her life.
Ben had turned fifteen some time ago when Luke had decided to venture into the peaceful wilderness of the woods on Chandrila, ordering Ben to accompany him. He had sought to take him away from the distracting civilization and show him that to connect with the Force among the elements of nature was one of the best approaches how to gain the inner balance.
Two days later, her battered, dishevelled and inconsolable son had appeared back on their doorstep, completely alone. Unable to say a coherent word or to respond to any questions, he had only managed to indicate a place on the map through sobs and tears where they had eventually found a mound of rocks with her brother's dead body buried under it.
Grief had overwhelmed her instantly, weakening her unwavering strength. Although she had fought the thought that her son had killed her twin, it had found its way into her mind nevertheless. Never had she thought, however that it had been intentional. She had been convinced that a terrible, unfortunate accident must have occurred. An accident that had resulted in Luke's death.
Her guesses had been supported by Ben's taciturnity, ceaseless weeping and insomnia. He had clearly blamed himself for the death of his uncle but none of the comfort she and Han had applied to soothe him made him talk and tell them to truth.
After a couple of days since the dreadful discovery when the first waves of shock and disbelief had subsided, rationality had taken over Leia's actions. Mechanically, she had started to arrange the funeral of her brother, facing incomprehension of her behaviour from her even more emotionally driven husband who had been taking care of their wrecked son in the meantime.
Several exchanges bordering with quarrels had ensued between them, filling the air with hurtful words, incorrect assumptions and false accusations, only to end up in a moving emotional connection between spouses who had just lost a dear friend. Somewhere in the middle of it, their son had started to crawl out of his shell, probably overhearing words he had immediately – and understandably – interpreted in a wrong context.
She had never ever forgotten the paralyzing cold seeping through her bones when she had found his bedroom empty one morning. He had packed most of his things, leaving but a letter with 'I'm sorry. I'll make amends.' written hastily and crossed out multiple times as if he didn't know what exactly to write to explain his decision to flee.
Her knees had eventually buckled and she broken in tears with a scream, her whole body quaking, when she had realized that her son wasn't holed up in some secret corner on the estate. According to the surveillance cameras, he had actually stolen one of the spaceships stationed in the hangar, disabling all tracking systems in order to avoid being found.
In that moment, Leia Skywalker Organa Solo had been ready to throw herself off the cliff and end her life. Once, she had lost her home, her surrogate parents and her friends, yet she had come out of it stronger than ever before. But losing a twin brother and a son in the scope of a few days had proved to be too much to handle. If it hadn't been for Han… Han had kept her from drowning in the depths of sorrow.
He had asked his friends and acquaintances to let him know if they had ever spotted his son. He had given tasks to Leia to keep her mind occupied although he had criticized her for it earlier. And he had been the one who came up with the idea to pretend in front of the public that Ben had died, providing the 'answers' the people had naturally demanded.
The fake burial had provided anonymity to the covert Galaxy-wide search for their teenage boy and helped to keep Ben out of danger. Both Leia and Han knew what kind of shady characters roamed the Galaxy – such as bounty hunters, members of criminal syndicates and so on – who would have surely taken the advantage of their desperation, kidnapped Ben and blackmailed them for ransom.
Secretly committing several false flag operations in order to find their son, Leia had personally participated only on a handful of these because such operations needed to be appropriately funded. She had primarily taken care of the business that had been earning them the so-much needed credits and played her part of a grieving mother and sister whose husband had chosen his own ways to mourn.
But years had passed and they had been nowhere near finding Ben, albeit being so close several times. Her marriage had been practically non-existent since Han had been spending most of his time in the darkness of the Galaxy, pursuing clues and checking the reports they had obtained. There had been rare times of reunion that had energized her enough to keep going but with time, she had started to lose her hope.
When the news had broken that her husband died in an accident unrelated to their search – apparently, someone had wished to settle an old debt with her beloved smuggler – her health had quickly begun to deteriorate. The strokes of fate had done to her what she herself could have not and contributed a lot to her untimely death.
For two years, she had trudged through life like a ghost, doing the absolute minimum. She had been but a shade of the beautiful, fierce and strong woman she once was. At times, she had been able to bring her back, especially when she had fought tooth and nail for her company that had been on the verge of bankruptcy, but such moments had been scarce.
All she had ever wanted was to find her son and tell him that everything would be okay.
She had just wanted to tell him how much she loved him. She had wanted to ruffle his dark hair and hug him as if her life depended on it. She had wanted to assure him that no one had ever thought of him as a murderer and that he hadn't had to leave to make amends. She had wanted to find out what kind of man he had grown up to be. She had just wanted to finally reunite with her precious, handsome boy.
But then, about a year ago, a dear friend of hers had contacted her and a new spark had set her fragile, broken heart ablaze for one more time. He had claimed that he knew where her son had been residing for the past few months and as it had seemed, he had no intention of leaving the place anytime soon.
It had been a chance she waited for all those years so to throw it away would have been criminal. She had just needed to tie a couple of loose ends and gather enough funds to finance her journey across the Galaxy that had also involved renovating the Millennium Falcon according to the blueprints she had once found hidden in Ben's former bedroom.
After the sale of the company, she had meant to leave Chandrila for good and visit a couple of places related to her son's past in order to understand what he had become and what to expect from him. Her dear friend had been tasked to keep an eye on him in the meantime to ensure that he would have been where he allegedly was.
That poor woman...
Rey wiped away her tears and ran a hand through her hair in distress. Most of what she had just learned was told to her by Leia herself in the form of holographic diary entries. If her broken voice was any indication, the depth of the pain and sorrow she must have felt when she suffered the most was unimaginable.
Closing her eyes, Rey used her fingers to massage and stimulate her temples to convince herself to put the compassionate sympathies aside for the sake of her duty. Once again, she quietly summarized her findings and eventually let out a light, sarcastic chuckle. No matter what she knew now, she still had no idea what to do next.
According to his deceased mother, Ben Solo was alive but Rey still had no idea where to find him or who might know his location. Neither the storage devices, nor the diary entries had divulged the name of the planet where he supposedly resided, or the name of the 'dear friend' Leia had mentioned on a couple of occasions and who apparently knew where she should look.
The holochip she had taken with her from the cemetery also proved to be fruitless because all it contained was outdated information Han had apparently gathered throughout the years. She was left with appearance descriptions, blurred images and records of the visited and scoured planets, and a list of people who had promised to contact Han in a case they would have learned something new.
Frustrated with her continuous failure to find the information she needed, she shoved away the pile of documents and drew her knees up to huddle in a comfortable ball. She wouldn't cry, no, but being so close to her goal only to accept that it had slipped through her fingers because some people tended to be overly secretive filled her eyes with angry tears.
She didn't – and couldn't – hate Leia for being that way because if she hadn't been, the Rebels would have never won the Galactic Civil War and Rey would have probably never been born. Yet, an earthy curse was barging on her tongue and she was ready to vent her despair aloud when the sliding office door opened a golden-plated droid entered the room.
"Oh, dear! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt—" The droid began to apologize the moment he spotted her sitting on the couch.
Rey immediately stood up, suddenly feeling ashamed that she had settled inside an office that didn't even belong to her. "Oh, no! I'm the one who is sorry. I certainly didn't mean to trespass..."
Pausing, she took a second, proper look at the droid because he was oddly familiar. "Wait... Are you Threepio, the protocol droid?" She frowned while she inspected his golden and almost humanlike appearance. "I mean… Are you THE Threepio?"
Threepio pensively tilted his head to the left to check with his programming what the emphasis on the definite article could mean. "Well, yes. I suppose I am the person you believe me to be." He responded with somewhat complacent tone of his voice when he realized she had probably guessed what an important and unique droid he was.
"Wow. It's such an honour to meet you." She couldn't help herself, the excitement from meeting someone who had actually been in the centre of action during the Galactic Civil War getting better of her. Approaching him, she extended her hand in genuine greetings. "I should introduce myself. My name is Rey, I'm lawyer from Plutt & Associates and I was supposed to—"
"—meet with Ms Leia for an afternoon cup of tea." He completed her sentence since he was familiar with the schedule of his late owner, accepting her hand. "I'm truly sorry that you won't be able to meet with her in person."
"Please, accept my condolences. She will be sorely missed." Rey expressed her sympathy, knowing very well that some droids in particular were much more humane than some of the human beings she had ever encountered. Threepio definitely seemed to be one of them.
Releasing her hand, Threepio lowered his head as if he needed a moment collect himself before speaking up. "That is very kind of you, Ms Rey. I really do appreciate it." He thanked her as gloomily as possible in spite of his inability to change his facial expressions.
"And I'm truly sorry for trespassing but Ms Kanata granted me the permission to search the premises of the factory in order to find all I can about the son of Ms Organa, Ben Solo, including his current location." She carefully proceeded to explain the mess she had created in the office while rummaging through everything. "As the rightful heir of the whole estate, he's now the only person who can conclude the prearranged deal with Snoke Industries."
Threepio remained unfazed by the fact that she spoke about Ben Solo as someone alive. Since he had been in personal possession of Leia Organa for decades, he had probably known much more than whatever she had found out from her research session in the office. "Completely understood. If there is anything I can do for you Ms Rey, just ask." He offered his services politely with a throw of his hands in the air.
"I... I don't want to give the impression that I'm taking advantage of your offer, but...," she shifted on her feet, toying with her fingers nervously, "I'm quite desperate, to be honest. Do you have any idea where her son lives? Or at least where Ms Organa intended to go once the sale of the company was completed?"
Threepio sent her what she interpreted to be a regretful look. "I'm afraid I don't." He snuffed out the last remnants of hope she had ever had. "I asked her multiple times since I was naturally expected to accompany her. You see, my chassis suffers in certain weather conditions and I like to be prepared. But she always waved me off, telling me that I didn't need to know."
"Oh, I see. Thank you, anyway." She appreciated his sincere reply in spite of the deeply rooted disappointment inside her heart.
The droid tilted his head again as if to verify information stored inside his wheelwork or whatever kept him functional. "But there is someone who might know what you want to know." He informed her and turned around to leave the office. "Please, follow me."
She did as he asked, gathering her things as quickly as she could before she followed him through the door. Her hope of learning something useful was still very shallow but if the droid believed that he could help her, then she believed it, too. After all, she had no other clue to pursue, no other hint to check, no other person to talk to. Only to admit defeat and return back home. And she wasn't one of those who would give up easily.
As it turned out, Threepio was quite a talker because he simply couldn't shut up while they were walking through the empty factory. She couldn't quite tell whether he was just nervous – could droids even get nervous? – or if he was trained to inform the incoming visitors about the history of the company, its owners and its products but she felt as if she went on a tour with an adorable, all-knowing guide.
"And now, we are entering the Hangar H." Threepio recited whatever was written inside his memory, punching several buttons on the wall pad to switch on the lights inside the hangar. "As you can notice, Hangar H serves for the personal use of the owner of the company. Currently, it houses only one spaceship – the legendary Millennium Falcon."
Rey would excitedly clap her hands if she didn't have enough self-control. The factory building already been as a spaceship museum with discharged models displayed all over, but to actually see the fabled Corellian YT-1300 light freighter with own eyes and be small step away from boarding, equalled to the most delightful feeling she had ever felt. Sharing the same space with a relic that allowed her to be part of its past and present was amazing.
No other spaceship had become as famous as the Millennium Falcon. No other spaceship was as holily revered as the Millennium Falcon.
"Ah, there you are Artoo." Threepio greeted a droid friend of white, blue and silver colouring that had just emerged from the insides of the ship. "Ms Rey, this is THE Artoo. Artoo, this is Rey."
Rey, who had no idea how to approach and shake hands with an R-2 series astromech droid whose arms were hidden, bowed her head. "Hello, Artoo. It's nice to meet you." She greeted him politely, fighting with a queasy feeling that she had already seen the domed head somewhere and not in the history archives.
All she got in response, however, were series of agitated and exasperated beeps. "There is no need for such an outrageous language, Artoo!" Threepio exclaimed, horrified with the reaction of his domed friend towards someone as nice as Ms Rey was to him.
"I am truly sorry but I cannot translate what he has just said, Ms Rey. Vulgar words don't go well with my programming." He turned to the lawyer, apologetically throwing his arms in the air. It was clear that he wouldn't translate it even if he could.
Rey raised her hand to stop him from saying whatever he wanted to add. "No need, I know what he said. I'm fluent in binary." She explained soberly, watching as Artoo suddenly moved back, raising his photoreceptor in the form of a large black eye at her.
"Oh." Threepio peeped sheepishly, trying to come up with a diplomatic solution of the unpleasant situation so the conversation could keep flowing. "In that case, allow me to apologize on his behalf. Since Ms Leia passed away, he is… somewhat oafish."
Artoo briskly shifted his attention from Rey to his golden friend, throwing an accusatory look in his direction – or at least that was how Rey interpreted it. For a long moment, the two droids were locked in some silent, expressionless conversation only those two could probably understand. Then Artoo turned back to Rey, beeping meekly several times as if he was ashamed of himself.
"Loss of someone who is dear to us can hurt more than we expect, no matter what species we are." Rey remarked sympathetically, sending the domed droid a comforting smile. "You don't have to apologize for that, Artoo."
With the issue settled, Threepio broached the subject of reasons for Rey's presence in the factory and presented Artoo the question the lawyer had asked him earlier – whether he had been let on the intended destination of Leia Organa where she had planned to start a new phase of her life.
"Coruscant?" Rey frowned as soon as she mentally checked the translation of the moderate binary beeps Artoo responded with. "What she would be doing on Coruscant?"
It didn't matter that she already knew. Threepio didn't spare a single chance to inform her that Coruscant was home to a famous Jedi Temple built on the remnants of its predecessor after it had been turned into Imperial Palace decades ago. These days, it served as headquarters of the Church of the Force led by those who were sensitive to the Force and the non-Force-sensitive believers in the ideals of the Jedi Order.
These two groups now worked on preserving the balance of the Force, tutoring students and training new Jedi peace-keepers who helped to defend peace so dutifully maintained by the New Republic. Their service and loyalty to the Church, however, was completely voluntary. Rarely anyone was denied to spend just a few months within the walls of the temple but they were always welcomed to join for the rest of their lives.
"I suppose she meant to meet with someone from the leadership of the Church." Threepio mused to provide a helpful advice. "After all, most of them were friends or acquaintances of Master Luke, her brother."
Rey, who had sat down on the boarding ramp of the Millennium Falcon to make herself comfortable while Threepio had been babbling, rubbed her chin pensively. "That makes sense." She nodded in agreement.
Her underlying impression was that the trip to Coruscant meant to have much more importance than just chatting with buddies of her dead brother. Leia had intended to find her son and in order to understand what man he had grown up to be, she had decided to visit an organization that was run by Force-sensitive people just like her son and herself were.
But why?
Because her power was less potent and she needed someone more experienced to help her out? Or what if Ben was actually in regular contact with the Church? What if someone from the leadership was the 'dear friend of hers' who knew where her son was and she had to travel to Coruscant to learn the location?
"I hoped to find out more but this is still better than nothing." She resolutely stood up and removed the specks of dust from her clothes. "Thank you both very much. You were immensely helpful."
To respectfully part with them, she patted the domed head of Artoo and shook her hands with the other, golden droid with a smile. "I guess I should be going now. Thank you again and… Goodbye." She honestly appreciated their help, trying to ignore the pang in her heart when she noticed their bewildered expressions. Yes, both droids were able to pull one.
Turning on her heel, she began to walk away in complete silence. But her legs started to feel extremely heavy with every step she took as if weight made out of lead was tied to her ankles. Somehow, it felt cruel to just abandon the pair of friendly droids who had recently lost their owner. It was more than obvious that they respected Leia a great deal and loved her very much.
After a short moment of contemplation, she made a sudden, sharp turn to march back towards them. Her heart sank when she realized that those two didn't move a single inch since she had turned to leave. They just stood there, watching her retreating back and now the approaching front.
"Is there someone who will...," she paused for a moment, mentally flipping through the pages of her personal dictionary to find the right words, "...who will take care of you? I mean, you're both so..."
Human. Sentient. Alive.
She said none of those words.
Threepio exchanged a meaningful look with Artoo and threw his arms in the air. "There is no need to worry about us, Ms Rey. We'll be fine." He assured her in a comforting tone she had never imagined to hear from a technically inanimate being. "But if you don't mind me asking, what are your immediate plans?"
"Well, I need to get to Coruscant as soon as possible which means that I have to check for the fastest connection of the Star Liners, pack my bags and get out of here." She summarized her upcoming schedule briefly. "I should also contact my boss to let him know I have a lead and ask him to put the sale of the company on hold until I find Ben Solo."
Threepio tilted his head – again – as if he wasn't entirely sure about the following words he was about to say but they would lead the conversation in the intended waters. "That sounds like a marvellous adventure!" He exclaimed enthusiastically, although the tone of his voice betrayed how much he actually 'loved' getting sucked into such risky ventures. "May I—"
Running out of patience, Artoo moved forward with a couple of exasperated beeps, effectively interrupting his golden-plated friend. Then, in much calmer binary, he presented his generous offer and knocked Rey's breath out of her lungs.
"I intended to offer her just that, Artoo." Threepio objected vehemently but just like the domed droid, he eagerly awaited the answer of the young lawyer.
Rey shifted on her feet nervously, bracing herself with a couple of gasps for breath. "You're very, and I mean very, kind but I... I can't possibly take the Falcon to fly it to Coruscant, that's just so..." She trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentences unspoken because even droids could complete it with such words like daring, impudent or illegal.
"Why couldn't you?" Threepio asked innocently as if 'borrowing with the intention of giving it back' was a completely moral and lawful interpretation of what others considered to be a theft. "The ship has been recently equipped with a revolutionary autopilot system so to fly with it is extremely easy now."
For a moment, Rey thought that she was dreaming and she would soon wake up out of this strange vision in which two droids had offered her to fly the legendary freighter. "That's not the main problem here, Threepio. The spaceship is now a property of the very same man I am looking for so... I can't just take it and act as if it was mine." She explained her hesitancy because as a lawyer, it was her duty to abide by the law and not to circumvent it at the first chance she had.
"But Ben Solo is missing, Ms Rey." Threepio confidently raised his objection, accentuating his statement with a raised golden finger. "Isn't there a person who administers the inheritance in his absence until he claims it? Could this person give you an official authorization for a temporary access to the Millennium Falcon?"
Her mouth opened wide because she had never seen a droid so adept in legal matters. His suggestion wasn't just a result of the information and data stored in his memory. It was a wilful proposition to facilitate her presence aboard the Falcon while maintaining the legality she swore to observe.
With that, the illusion of travelling to Coruscant together with Threepio and Artoo had already taken roots inside her heart. She saw herself sitting behind the controls, navigating the ship through the darkness of the universe. Her enthusiasm grew another bit when she realized she would have the ship all for herself. She'd be the master of her own time and space.
"I suppose I could do that." She admitted reluctantly when she came back down to the ground from the heights of her daydream. "But I mean... this is THE Millennium Falcon. I don't think I'm worthy—"
The loud and vehement beeping sounds coming from Artoo cut the rest of her sentence off. Threepio turned his head towards his friend and nodded in mutual agreement. "I completely agree with you, my friend. Han Solo would find Ms Rey acceptable and worthy of owning the Falcon." He confirmed the translation of the binary Rey thought she must have misinterpreted.
Yet, the very next morning, she found herself sitting in the office of Maz Kanata, humbly asking her to issue a temporary authorization that would give her full legal access to the spaceship. The tiny notary just smiled at her as if she seemed to expect such a visit and was more than willing to entrust the invaluable space vessel into her hands without demanding any answers.
Since then, everything passed in a blur as the events began to gather the momentum. Rey rather turned off her brain and mechanically executed a task after a task, trying to prevent herself from second-guessing every decision she had made so far. If she let any of it to get too close, the disbelief over her own actions in the combination with her anxiety would force her to go mad.
And so, once she had become an interim owner of the Millennium Falcon, she packed her bags, checked out of the hotel and headed for the hangar. Threepio and Artoo had already prepared everything they would need for the journey, including food rations, so all she needed to do was to sit behind the controls and follow the instructions of the autopilot in order to safely take off and jump into hyperspace.
It wasn't until she had sent the pre-recorded message to her boss about the recent development when she finally allowed herself to marvel over the risky business she had gotten herself into.
Pulling the practically forgotten lightsaber hilt out of her satchel, she placed it on the table in the main hold of the Falcon and started it for a good minute or two. Somehow, the vision she had seen when she had touched this fabled weapon for the very first time was getting true and real.
She had embarked on an adventure – a wild bantha chase, to be exact – having no idea what to expect or what to do. All she had was a goal – to find Ben Solo.
The End of Chapter 3
Updates will come as I will progress in writing future chapters of the story as this is not my only WIP.
Thank you for your attention!