Chapter 7: Puppet
Luke carefully stood up and began to walk forward. He made sure to keep his steps quiet and his breathing silent. Wherever he was at, must have been where Palpatine has been. Ahead of him, he could see an archway leading into what looked like the inside of a stadium. Walking through it, he quickly recognized the two figures up ahead. Palpatine was attached to a mechanical arm that held him in place. He stood a little above Ben, who was across from him. As Luke got closer, neither Palpatine nor Ben looked in his direction. The Force was helping him stay concealed. Luke also noticed Ben's eyes appeared distant and soulless. Rey was right, Palpatine had a tighter grasp on Ben mentally. Palpatine reached in his pocket and took out a small black disk that pulsed a red light. He pressed the top of it, which released a holoprojection of a man in a First Order uniform.
"General Pryde," Palpatine addressed, "It's so good to see there's more loyal subjects out there in the galaxy."
"Good to see you as well Emperor," Pryde replied with a smile.
"Is there anyone else there with you?" Palpatine asked curiously.
"It would be me sir," General Hux replied as he stepped right next to Pryde.
"Excellent," Palpatine complimented, "You two received my message, yes?"
Pryde and Hux nodded in response. Luke could see the excitement in their eyes.
"Kylo Ren is now under my control. You two must carry out the plans, I set forth, to fight against the Resistance. Unite everyone and brief them on the plans as well. Gather them here right afterwards! Hurry and lead us to victory!"
The two Generals give their salute and ended the projection. Palpatine carefully placed back the disk into his pocket and turned his attention towards Ben.
"Now Ren," Palpatine began, "How about we try to connect with Rey again? My assistants will take you to a place where you might be able to reach her, but keep in mind…Don't return until you physically bring her to me. Understood?"
Ben nodded in agreement and began to walk away. Luke began to walk backwards, while keeping an eye on Palpatine. He too had to leave, but he didn't want to do so while grabbing Palpatine's attention. When he was further enough away, he sat back down on the ground and closed his eyes.
"Ben is going to make a connection with you soon Rey," Luke informed as he joined Rey, Leia, and Chewie who were sitting around the fire, "But we need to speak with the rest of the Resistance first. We don't know what Palpatine intends to do, but we need to be two steps ahead of him."
"I'll inform Connix back at the base," Leia quickly answered, "Rey, speak with Finn and the others."
Everything quickly ran into motion. As Leia spoke to Connix in the pilot area of the Millennium Falcon, Rey sat at the holochess board with her holoprojector. After she took a moment to go over the plans, Poe replies, "You got it, we'll meet with all of you in Ahch-To soon. He pauses and Rey notices he's looking over at Rose behind him.
He nods and looks back at Rey, "Real quick, Rose would like to speak with you."
As Rose walks to where Poe stood, Rey could see Poe and Finn walk out of sight.
"Rey, we've been talking, and we wanted to be clear about a couple of things," Rose began, "Whether Kylo Ren choose to be Ben or himself, at the end of the day, he's still needs to face his crimes and give an apology to all of us."
Rey nodded in agreement, "Of course Rose! I understood that from the very beginning."
"Right, but something else we want to stress as well," Rose cut in, "Ben is Kylo Ren. Only accepting his good side, is excusing all his crimes. In order for us to accept and forgive him, we want him to stand trial. It's only fair Rey."
"I completely understand Rose," Rey expressed whole heartedly, "I'm slowly accepting the Kylo Ren side to Ben. Believe me. I want to make this right with everyone, not just for myself."
"Thank you, Rey," Rose smiled in return, "Get some rest."
Rey nodded and returned the smile.
As Rose ended the holoprojection with a soft sigh, she turned her head towards Poe and Finn. They listened the entire time. Both gave a sigh as they returned to their pilot seats.
"We have a long way to go before we all can accept Ben Solo," Finn declared.
~to be continued….