𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒

𝟎𝟐𝟑. 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

023. FLYING OHNAKA AIRLINES

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The general was silent when they arrived, but Rey could tell that she certainly wasn't pleased. The flight had certainly been an interesting one. While the Weequay focused on flying, Evangeline and Ben did their best to catch Rey up on everything that had happened. Of course, they were missing some aspects of the story since Finn managed to sleep the entire trip while Poe tried to weasel his way into the cockpit's pilot seat. Rey thought that at one point Hondo had even threatened to throw the pilot into the brig if he didn't stop.

However, they had almost been shot out of the sky before they could explain that the pirates had agreed to deliver them to the base. Rey didn't understand everything that had happened, so she was certainly glad that she wasn't the one who had to explain it all to Leia. That responsibility was left to Poe since he had caused most of the trouble. At least the trouble that involved the resistance. Evangeline and Ben had their own problems to sort out.

"Yeesh," Han took a step back from the window before looking over at Rey, "What's got her so upset?"

"Poe went against orders and got caught by the First Order," Finn explained with a yawn as he rejoined the group, "We're several days past the rendezvous period."

"Good luck, kid," Han shook his head, "I certainly wouldn't want to be you right about now."

"And how do you think she'll respond to seeing her dead husband?" Evangeline asked.

"She makes a fair point," Poe noted.

Rey chuckled as she walked over to another set of windows where Ben had been standing. His arms were crossed and his posture was tense.

"Nervous?" she asked.

He didn't reply immediately, "How would you handle walking through a base of operations that saw you as the enemy?"

Rey raised an eyebrow and waited for him to think about the question that he had asked.
He turned to look at her almost apologetically. That was certainly new. Very different from the last time that the two of them had interacted. She remembered clearly as he stretched out his hand for her to join him. She'd been trying to do the same, but their paths led in different directions.

"You're not being brought in as a prisoner, you know," she informed.

"We'll see."

"I was instructed to return this to you," Evangeline broke the moment of silence that followed their conversation.

Rey looked at the object that Evangeline had held out and offered to Ben. He quickly accepted his lightsaber and seemed to relax knowing that he had some means to defend himself in an environment that had made him so vulnerable. Evangeline eyed the weapon warily before turning to leave. Ben looked as if he wanted to say something, but he remained silent. Rey decided to risk asking a question.

"You didn't really answer me before when I had asked," she spoke in a soft tone, "How do you know one another? There seems to be a lot of history."

Ben sighed, "We trained at the temple together. I didn't think that she had survived the temple's destruction, but I was clearly wrong."

Rey nodded her head, but didn't push the subject any further. It was clear that he was uncomfortable talking about it and didn't really wish to say anymore on the matter.

"We've landed," Hondo said as he entered the room, "Thank you for flying Ohnaka Airlines, where your pleasure is our profit."

Kenobi rolled his eyes at the comment.
Although the pirates had been an issue before, their attitudes had completely changed once they realized that they would receive some reward for assisting the resistance. Just another reason that the general may be irritated.

"General!" Poe tried to greet her charismatically, an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Dameron."

"Oh, that's not good," Poe muttered under his breath.

Rey chuckled quietly as they disembarked.
Poe quickly tried to make an excuse and Finn was roped into helping. Leia started to protest, but immediately stopped and her expression softened when she noticed Ben.

"We'll discuss this later, boys," Leia addressed both Finn and Poe.

They walked toward the medbay to have their injuries checked out. Rey noticed that Finn remained silent but glared at Poe the whole time.

"I think that went just fine," Poe's voice faded as he walked away.

BB-8 chirped in response, but Rey was unable to determine what had been said. She was too focused on how Leia would respond to Ben's presence... among others.

"Ben," Leia said soft-spoken.

"Mom," Ben refused to lift his eyes from the ground.

"It's been awhile," she said quietly, disheartened that he refused to even look at her.

Rey noticed that her expression quickly changed to shock.

"Hey, Princess," Han greeted her uncomfortably as he exited the ship, "I, uh, I hope you don't mind company."

Han stepped down off the ramp and slowly gestured to the others that exited the ship after him. Leia glanced at each one before setting her eyes on Rey.

"Get Finn and Dameron back here," Leia instructed calmly, "We need to talk now."