Chapter Text
She closed her eyes as the shuttle magnetically locked itself against the durasteel wall of the base. Aclo was a fairly narrow complex, rising upward in an elegant spire. Not that aesthetics had influenced the design, the building’s construction allowed it to act like a giant antenna, allowing it to receive intelligence transmissions from deep space, and the height of the tower was necessary to send transmissions above the distortions caused by the planet’s turbulent surface.
“Rey.”
Pava stood a few feet from her, arms outstretched. One hand holding out a blaster rifle, the other her lightsaber. Ignoring the wary looks the rest of the team cast towards her and Pava, she reached out and took the rifle, slinging it over her shoulder, then took the lightsaber. It felt good to have her weapon back in her hand. Almost calming.
Almost.
“Get your oxygen masks on,” Pava ordered, “Atmosphere is probably breathable for short term but would be a strain we don’t need.”
The shuttle had docked itself below a ventilation shaft. That would be their point of entry, hopefully one that would keep them out of sight. From there it would be a brutal, vertical climb up the shaft to the upper levels of the base, where the data center was. Clipping her saber to her belt and pulling the oxygen mask over her nose, she waited for the roof hatch to be opened.
Pava gave one scan around the transport and then gave a nod for the hatch to be released. It let go with a loud pop, and faint sound of rain and wind could be heard from outside.
The team climbed out into a turbulent, storm of erratic, stinging raindrops and grit blown against them in the swirling wind. The ventilation access shaft was sealed with a large locked durasteel door, big enough that construction and repair machinery could be brought through. They waited while it was examined for the best way to breach it.
A scrawny redhead, Ran or Ram or something like that was his name, stood next to her, hunched slightly. Holding a hand out into the rain, he winced, leaning over to her, speaking loudly to be heard over the wind and through the oxygen mask, “Is it me or does this shit sting a lot worse than rain should?”
She glanced his direction, trying to pull her hands into her sleeves. It probably wasn’t too dangerous, but the rain was acidic enough to be irritating. “Not going to be on my list of potential vacation spots,” she answered, getting an amused snort in return for the quip.
“Think there’s no outside access,” a Lieutenant who’s name she’d forgotten yelled over the wind to Pava. “Going to have to blow it.”
Pava frowned, clearly having hoped to avoid using explosives since that would increase their chances of being spotted. “We need to get out of the weather so let’s get this over with—”
“Wait!” She stepped next to Pava, shaking her head, closing her eyes and reaching out, feeling the electromagnetic locks with the force. From the locks she traced the wires powering them, following them up into a junction… then a switch, an access panel.
The access door rattled and slid open. Every head turned to look at her, slightly stunned, until Pava’s voice broke the silence, “What are you waiting for? Get inside!”
There wasn’t need for further urging, the Resistance team quickly streamed through the shaft to a large durasteel landing suspended between four durasteel walls. The shaft was an endless drop below them, and a seemingly even more endless rise above them. A pair of ladders, one on each end of the landing, were embedded into the walls, climbing ever upward, broken only by occasional small landings with access doors to various levels of the base.
Pulling off her oxygen mask, Pava adjusted her blaster strap, looking at the two ladders.“Split the team half and half up each ladder, just keep pace with each other.”
The soft clang of feet on durasteel rungs echoed down the shaft. Ram… or Ran, the scrawny redhead who’d talked to her while they were outside, had lead position, with her right below him. The climb was steady and exhausting and seemingly endless, air blew up the shaft from below and out of small side vents they would pass along the way.
As they reached about the halfway point, there was a slightly wider landing above them, one that looked just big enough they could all squeeze on for a brief rest, someone halted on the other ladder, calling out, “Did you all hear that?”
They all froze in place, the landing above them, and she thought she might have heard something like a scurrying of small feet on durasteel.
Ram or Ran shook his head, starting to climb up towards the landing again, “Probably nothing, but we aren’t going to figure out what it is from below the landing anywa—”
His voice cut off with a surprised yelp as something small and leggy bounded off the landing, bouncing off his head and jumping to the opposite wall. It scurried downward, but her attention was on the redhead as he flailed backwards, falling, having lost his grip on the ladder in surprise.
Her hand shot up instinctually and she caught him with the force, freezing him in midair before pushing his body up right to the ladder. Once he grabbed on, she released her hold on him, and he turned to look down at her with wide brown eyes, almost disbelievingly. Glancing across at half the team on the opposite ladder, she realized most of them were also staring at her.
“What? You brought a Jedi for a reason, didn’t you?” she said, rolling her eyes. That got several soft and wary chuckle. “Anyone see what that thing was?”
“Gizka, which probably means this base is infested with the little bastards,” Pava answered. “Good thing they’re harmless, unless you’re wiring, anyway. You all right Ran?”
Ran, she made a mental note that his name was Ran, not Ram.
“Yeah… um… fine,” he tilted his head down to look at Rey, “thanks…”
She shrugged.
“Watch out in case any more startle us, but let’s get up to the landing and take five,” Pava ordered. “We’ve still got a lot of climbing to do.”
The hallways seemed like an endless maze.
Skye stayed next to him, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever been so happy to have her near him. Somewhere along the way he’d reached out and grabbed her hand, and neither had let go since. They walked down the long metal corridors, following an invisible beacon, a dark and murky pulse they could feel vibrating through their entire being, that the thing in their minds was somehow using to guide them.
“Sol!” Skye whispered, jerking him into an empty, open room.
“Wha—” he started, anxious to continue following pull of the pulse.
“Shhh!”
The sound of footsteps echoing the hall had him snapping his mouth shut, cowering out of sight until the people passed. He took a shaky breath as Skye leaned out into the hall, her black hair falling into her face.
“They’re gone,” she said, voice quiet.
He nodded, blinking back the wetness in his eyes, suddenly wanting to turn around and run. Wishing Mom was there to pick him up and snuggle him against her and tell him it was going to be okay.
Time is short, children. As is my patience.
They both stiffened as the voice hissed in their heads. The beacon grew stronger, feeling now like it was trying to pull them to it. He closed his eyes tight.
“Sol…”
He blinked his eyes open and his sister’s eyes met his, frightened and wary.
“I don’t know if we should do this,” Skye whispered, grabbing his hand, “That thing… we can’t trust him.”
“But Dad…” he started, weakly. He didn’t trust the monster in their minds either, but—
Something akin to annoyance and anger rose in the back of his mind. Then the voice was back, clucking disapprovingly, Doubt me, do you, girl?
An image flashed through his mind, the one the thing had shown him in the dreams, of his daddy being shot in the head while a crowd cheered. He flinched, shutting his eyes as if that could drive it away as it replayed on a loop. When it finally stopped he opened his tear filled eyes and saw Skye trembling in front of him, eyes glassy and hands clenched into fists. She’d been shown the same things too.
Is this what you want?
He took an almost mindless step towards the door, but Skye grabbed his shirt sleeve, jerking him back.
“It... it’s not real.”
Exhausted and numb, he stared at his sister, not sure of what to do. Then a low, angry hiss flooded his mind and he flinched.
Skye shivered, but her eyes hardened, breathing out through gritted teeth to the invisible presence, “I think you’re a liar. You’re trying to trick us.”
Such beautiful rage… oh you do have such potential. The anger in the voice and faded, slightly, and it chuckled, Solan knows I’m not lying, don’t you, child? He’s felt his mother’s fear, felt the hatred those people have towards your father. This will be your father’s fate if he does not escape.
He bit his lip. Mom was afraid, so afraid, for Daddy, for them.
If you want your father to live, you will do as I say, go to the room, deactivate the main console.
Closing his eyes, he shook his head at his sister, “We have to, Skye. We have to.” Determined, he took a breath and looked at his sister’s worried face before turning and walking out in the hallway again.
For a moment there was only silence and the sound of his footsteps, and he blinked back tears, he didn’t want to be alone.
Then the echo of footfalls running to catch up came, and he glanced back, relieved to see his sister following after him.
“They’ve just let this base go to shit, haven’t they?” Ran muttered, gripping the ladder tight as a dozen gizkas scurried past them, skittering of their feet echoing throughout the shaft. “Place is infested.”
She took a pull off her water bottle, looking down at the long legged, mottled-skinned creatures as they ran vertically down the shaft wall, “At least they’ve got to be used to hearing noises here cause of them. If they hear us, they’ll probably assume it’s them.”
“Positive thinking, nice Rey,” someone on the other ladder quipped, slightly sarcastic.
“It’s not like she’s wrong, Danab,” Pava replied, curtly. “And let’s move, we’re nearly there.”
The landing for their floor was too small for the entire team, so instead the first two from each ladder climbed up. She shook her head, “This floor is mostly empty. I’m not sensing anyone… a few droids, no people.”
Pava frowned, “We know they had minimal staffing on this base, it’s why we felt it was an easy target to reacquire.”
“This seems beyond minimal.” She stretched her senses out even further, straining to extend her reach. Nothing.
“We confirmed the databanks were online and transmitting their linkup to First Order servers.” Danub raked a hand through his brown hair, “If the base was abandoned they would have wiped them and severed the data mirroring.”
“Too far to turn back,” Pava sighed, readying her blaster. “Be ready and be wary. It all could be a trap.”
She opened the access door and checked the hallway, “Clear, let’s move.”
The team filed into the hall, moving forward cautious and slow.
“Droid ahead around the corner,” she warned.
Danub crept forward, peering around corner and slowly raising his blaster. He fired a single shot and it was followed by the sound of metal crashing to the floor. Glancing back at her, he smirked, “Nice trick, but can you tell me the model?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Shut up and keep moving,” Pava muttered.
There was little resistance as they advanced, just a few patrol droids they dispatched without being scene. It put her ill at ease, it was too easy.
The door to the data-center was locked, but the room itself was empty when they overrode the lock. Within the darkened room, consoles glowed, flashing and beeping. She walked over to one, cautiously tapping in a status request.
“Online, data is intact,” she glanced back at Pava.
“Sever the network link so we can secure the local data,” Pava said, walking to stand next to her. “If they discover we’re here remotely somehow, they could still send a purge comma—”
An alarm screeched, cutting off Pava’s words. Red lights flashed Everyone turned, looking around wildly with their guns drawn.
Everyone but her, she remained staring at the console. Her eyes widened, as her hands flew across the controls, “No!”
Pava spun, “Rey?! What?”
“They’re trying to purge the databanks. I’m slowing it down but I’m not sure if I can stop it.” She blinked, her eyes wet. She hadn’t gone through all of this to fail. “Jess, there’s a datastick in my bag.”
She felt confusion from the rest of the team, but Pava only hesitated for a second before hurrying over and finding the datastick. Jamming it into an access port, Pava glanced at her, “This will hold maybe a tenth of this, I’ll focus on the high security files.”
He stood on the bridge of the Finalizer, hands clasped behind his back. A gnawing impatience made him want to move, to pace the bridge and clench his fists. But to do so would be unseemly, undisciplined. Instead he fought the impulses, keeping himself still.
“General Hux?” Glancing down at the officer, he raised an eyebrow, waiting. “Data-center on Aclo was breached. Sending down an assault team and activating the security droids we had in hibernation.”
A small smile crept across his face, “The Supreme Leader wants the Jedi girl if possible, the rest should be executed.” Personally, he’d much rather see Ren’s whore dead. Her and Ren both laying in puddles of their own blood for all the trouble they’d caused. But alas, it wasn’t his decision.
“The rest of the rebel assault ships are still waiting in hyperspace?” he asked, blue eyes glittering.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well then,” his smile widened. “Tell our ships to ready the hyperwave pulse and drop out of hyperspace. I think it’s time we give that weapon its first combat run.”
Something was wrong.
He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. The strike team should have breached the data-center of the base by now. Casting a glance at Finn, he saw the same concern in his eyes as well.
“Admiral Dameron, we’ve got a transmission from the strike team.”
Oh, thank the gods. “Put them through, now.”
Static burst through the speakers, followed by the steady howl of an alarm on the other end. Oh hell, “Jess?! Everything okay?”
“We breached the data-center, but a remote purge command was issued. We’re trying to download at least some of the data right now before it’s too late.” Jess sounded short of breath and slightly frantic. “Poe, the base is deserted. I think this may have been a tra—”
Pava was cut off by shouting and blaster fire. Faintly, he thought he could hear someone yell “security droids.” Then the transmission abruptly terminated.
“What happened?!” he snapped.
“Long range sensors are detecting ships dropping out of hyperspace at Aclo,” another officer spoke, voice wavering. “Sir, it looks like First Order ship signatures.”
No no no… this couldn’t fall apart like this.
“Tell the assault fleet to return to base,” Finn spoke sharply.
He spun, “The hell, Finn! We can’t…”
“Poe,” Finn might have been able to hide the fear and defeat from his voice, but not his eyes, which were pained and haunted, “if there are Star Destroyers waiting for them, they’re going to be blasted as soon as they drop from hyperspace.”
“The strike team…”
“Let’s hope Jess and Rey can get them out of their alive,” Finn said, quietly, staring down at his hands as he fidgeted with his wedding ring.
The room was silent. He clenched his fists and drew a shaky breath, closing his eyes.
“Patch me through the lead ship in the assault fleet,” he said, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. “I’ll call them back home.”
“What the hell are you kids doing here?”
He had been lost in the pull of that murky pulse that was guiding them, and hadn’t been paying enough attention to their surroundings. Stepping backwards as a man hurried towards them, he slammed into Skye, who squawked as she was knocked off balance. Their legs tangled together and they landed in a heap together on the floor.
Skye punched his shoulder in annoyance as they sat up and looked at the man looming above them. He was tall and imposing and had a blaster slung onto his shoulder.
“This is a high security area, you shouldn’t be here,” the man spoke, pushing back his helmet and squinting down at them. “The hell are you doing even wandering alone anyway?”
Opening and closing his mouth dumbly, he found he couldn’t get any words out. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt frozen suddenly with fear.
“We got lost,” Skye answered, defiant, glaring up at the man. He blinked at her through eyes that stung with tears he was trying hard not to shed. Her hazel eyes were bright and dry and angry. It always seemed to be that way—what terrified him made her furious.
Kill him, the voice hissed through his head.
Blinking back tears he took a shaky breath, he didn’t want to kill anyone. He looked at Skye to see her nostrils flared and a defiant set to her jaw as she looked down and glared at the floor. She had decided she didn’t trust the voice, and unlike with Threepio, she wouldn’t be the one to do something this time.
“Lost?” The man shook his head, incredulous. “Who the hell are you, anyway? What’s your names?”
“Solan,” he mumbled, looking down.
“Skye,” Skye’s eyes flicked up the man.
So weak, boy. So afraid to act. I see I need to help you.
Anger surged through him, drowning out his fear. His teeth gritted together and he trembled with the force of it. It was nothing like the brief explosions of rage he had on occasion. This was sea of red fury, and he was drowning in it.
Vaguely he wondered if this was what Skye felt, why she was angry when he was afraid. This anger left no room for fear. It left no room for anything.
Yes… now use it to destroy your enemy.
A realization dawned in the man’s eyes and he grabbed his comlink, “You’re General Organa’s grandkids…”
His hand shot up and the man let out a shout as he was sent flying backwards into the wall, crashing into it with a sickening thud before falling to the floor in a heap. He stared, disbelievingly for a minute before getting to his feet. The anger was fading, the sea draining away now, and the fear was coming back. What had he done?
Numbly, he walked over to look at the man. Blood trickled from the back of the man’s head, but to his relief, he saw the man was still breathing.
The voice in his mind tutted with disappointment, And for a moment you had done so well, then your weakness comes back. There’s much to work on with you, boy, if you’re going to live up to your potential. But time is short, continue on children, follow my guidance. You’re nearly there.
“Amatera?” his voice was gruffer than he liked as he tried to swallow down a mixture of failure and guilt.
“We copy, Admiral Dameron.”
“First Order ships have emerged from hyperspace around Aclo, you are to abort and return to base.”
There was a pause, a hesitation, “The strike team, sir? Aren’t they still down there?”
He closed his eyes, “We’re going to have to hope they’re able to get out on their own.”
A pause again. Nobody ever liked hearing they were leaving people behind.
“Yes sir, we wil—”
There was a sudden squealing burst of static as the transmission cut off. His brow furrowed, “What the hell just happened?”
“I… I don't know, we suddenly got massive hyperspace distortions…” the communications officers hands flew across her console. “Sensors are getting heavy interference, but… it… I think our ships have been knocked out of hyperspace.”
“Knocked how?” Finn asked sharply.
“I-I don't know, sir.”
He raked a hand through his hair, the hell was happening here? “Are our ships still there? Can you get a hold of them? Any of them?!”
“Their new weapon,” Leia’s voice was soft, but her eyes were sharp as she stepped over to stare at the communications officer’s console. “They found a way to destabilize hyperspace?”
“That…” Kelen’s voice cut in, “how the hell could that even be possible?”
“I’m not getting any response from the assault fleet...”
He squeezed his eyes shut, people were talking over each other and it was getting hard to follow. A sudden beeping filled the room, and his head snapped towards it, “The hell is that now?”
“Sir! Kylo Ren just broke off one of his electro-restraint cuffs.”
“What?!” he turned sharply, catching sight of Leia tensing. “Get a gods damned squadron down there, I want his ass knocked unconscious.” Ren had to wait till now to attempt some shit like this? This was the last thing they needed.
The building around them trembled and she fought the urge to look up. So far she was keeping the system from deleting the most high security files, but if she stopped for one second it might be too late.
“What the hell was that?” Pava said, looking up from the console. Shouts and blaster fire echoed through the door from the hallway. The rest of the team trying to push back the security droids that had put together an assault.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good,” she answered. “How much longer till you fill that datastick?”
“Maybe ten minutes… maybe we should cut our losses,” Pava shook her head, “take what we have so far and make a run back to the transport. Before it’s too late.”
She gritted her teeth, “You didn’t put me through all of this to cut your losses. We’re getting as much as we can, keep fucking downloading.”
“How are our communications links to the Aclo fleet?” he asked. “Can you connect us?”
“We’re modulating the frequencies to match the distortion field generated by the pulse. Communication link is up, General Hux.”
He smirked, perfect, not as good as if he’d been present to see the pulse used, but given circumstances… “Patch through the visual sensor feed from the Fellfire to the main view screen.”
The screen flickered a bit, and it looked at first as though the images were distorted with a strange rippling quality. But it wasn’t the image, but space itself that was distorted and wavering with the force of the hyperwave pulse. The rebel ships were adrift amid the small ripples of blue light rolling by—leaks slipping through the tears between space and hyperspace. They would heal as the effects of the pulse receded.
It was serene in its strange way, and he clasped his hands in front of his stomach, “It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?”
“If you say so, sir.” The Lieutenant manning the communications link answered, clearly not sharing the same opinion.
He tutted, disapproving at the officer’s lack of enthusiasm, but otherwise opted not to chastise the man. Stepping towards the screen, he hummed, “The rebel ships are disabled?”
“Yes sir, most had all systems disabled when the pulse hit them. A few have managed to maintain minor subsystems, but all have engines disabled.”
“Well, then,” he turned, smiling down at the officer. “Let’s let the Fellfire have a little target practice, then.”
Kylo hooked the second cuff onto the jut of metal by his cot, hissing in pain as the shock jolted through him. Fighting through the pain, he jerked hard, twisting. The locking mechanism of the cuff squealed and then broke, leaving it to fall to the floor and join its partner from his other wrist.
Not much time, he crouched by the door, waiting. They would be coming. Coming to incapacitate him, or maybe to kill him. It didn't matter. In either case he fully intended to kill them first, suppressed or not.
The door burst open and he lunged, grabbing and breaking the first one’s neck, using him as a shield as he grabbed the man’s blaster and opening fire. It was on stun, but there was no time to adjust it. Everything blurred together in a mixture of shouts and stun bolts, but in the end he stood panting among seven fallen Resistance guards. He’d broken two of their necks, and taken the rest out with the blaster on the stun setting.
He walked back to his cot and broke off the suppression cuffs, keeping an eye on the door. Another wave might be coming, he needed to be careful. As the second cuff clattered to the floor, he raised his hand and fingered the suppression collar. There was no way he could see to get it off, not without breaking his neck.
That was okay, he adjusted the blaster to the kill setting. Suppressed or not, he was going to get his children back and escape this shithole of a base.
“I don’t know if we should do this, Solan,” Skye whispered.
They had found the room they had been guided to, the one it had shown them in their dreams. It had been locked and he had blasted the door off its hinges at the goading of the voice, though he was still not entirely sure how he had done it. The console it had shown them was there, all they needed to do was power it down.
“We have to,” he said, his voice wavering. What if she was right? He didn’t trust the voice, but he believed what they’d been shown was true. If they did nothing, Daddy would be killed. He couldn’t let that happen.
Yes. Yes. If you wish to save your father, power it down. End this.
End this? He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he walked to the console, stopping before it and raising his hand. All he had to do was cut its power.
“Sol… why would he want to help us? Because he’s nice?” Skye shook her head hard enough that her black hair whipped in front of her face. “That thing isn’t nice. I don’t know what it wants but it doing this to get something.”
He frowned, hesitating. She wasn’t wrong.
Ignore her, power down the console.
Somehow he knew this time it was speaking only to him. His brow furrowed.
“Sol, don’t. I mean… we should have told Mom. She’d have known what to do…”
Always in her shadow, aren’t you? Little weakling letting your sister tell you what to do. You know what will happen if you don’t do this. Turn off the console, Solan. Save your father.
He closed his eyes, feeling ashamed and angry at himself. His bottom lip trembled as he stepped forward and flipping the power switch. There was a whining hum as it shut off.
An alarm blasted, setting his ears ringing, and he shrieked in surprise, stumbling backwards. In the hallway lights were flashing.
Yes! The voice was gleeful and laughing, Yes, children! Now, find your father. Go to him. Hurry!
He looked at Skye, who was blinking back tears, hands over her ears. She met his eyes and the two of them ran out the door.
“What the fuck?!” Kelen snarled next to him, loud enough to be heard over the alarm.
Poe stared in disbelief as the alarm sounded. This… this couldn’t be happening.
“B-base shields are down!”
Okay, this wasn’t—it might still be salvageable, “Don’t panic… let’s not panic. Get someone down to the shield room… we might be able to to get them back—”
“First Order ships have just jumped into orbit… two star destroyers and a dreadnaught.”
For a few seconds there was silence, just the blaring of the alarm. Then Kelen stepped forward, “Send out the evacuation order. Full base evacuation, now!”
Leia took a shaky breath, “Skye and Sol, I need to get to them…” She rushed out the door. Finn stared after her moment and then hurried out, following her.
He didn’t try to stop him, instead he walked across the room and grabbed a blaster from a storage closet.
“The hell are you doing, Dameron?” Kelen looked at him, brow furrowed.
“Ren,” he growled. “If we’re going down I’m gonna take the bastard out first.”
Slinging the blaster over his shoulder, he strode out of the door.
On the bridge of the Finalizer, Hux was feeling quite pleased. More pleased, even, than he’d been watching the little rebel fleet at Aclo being blasted into debris.
He had no idea how the Supreme Leader had managed it, but the rebel base shields were down. The rebels were completely at First Order mercy, and he would delight in crushing them.
If it was up to him, he’d blast them to oblivion from orbit, leave nothing but a smoking hole where the prison turned nest of rebel vermin had once stood.
But it wasn’t, unfortunately, “Launch the assault shuttles, and remind them that there are three prisoners that must be taken alive.”
Three, yes, Kylo Ren, and two children. Ren’s children. If they were killed the Supreme Leader would be quite unhappy.
“Tell the Fulminatrix to begin isolated fire. I want the outer walls breached, but structural integrity must remain intact until our targets are captured.”
Ren’s children . That was still something he hadn’t quite gotten his mind around. Ren had bred . It was a slightly horrifying thought to think of that unstable, uncouth, destructive oaf as a father. Perhaps the little Jedi whore had been able to keep him in line, given that she apparently had managed to lead the idiot astray by his dick in the first place. For their children’s sake he rather hoped so. He knew more than enough about having a brute as father.
Not that it was really his concern. His concern was not getting his neck crushed by Snoke for failure.
“Ready my shuttle,” he ordered. “I’ll monitor the ground invasion in person.”