Forbidden

Han Solo

Rey scattered down the ladder and stopped short when she saw Finn and I. She yanked me behind her and poised herself, stick above her head, ready to attack.

"Woah, woah," Finn said alarmed, backing away, "No need for fighting."

"What do you want?" Rey demanded, inching closer to him, "What is your business here?"

"Rey--" I was cut off.

"I heard her scream. What did you do?" She grumbled.

"Rey!" I interrupt, pushing in front of her. "He's not bad. In fact, I think he's wimpier than us." He shot me a look, but I continued to speak. "He is running from the First Order, just like we are. He needs to get away."

She studied me for a moment, taking all of this in. "Is all of this true?"

Finn nodded furiously.

"Why are you running?" She asked him, slowly lowering her weapon.

Finn shifted uncomfortably, his eyes flitting down to the ground. I stared at him, starting to wonder what his story was. "Um? Have you forgotten my question?" Rey retorted, crossing her arms. "We haven't got all day."

"If I told you, you'd boot me off of this ship as soon as you had the chance." He mumbled.

"Well now you've got to tell us." She sighed.

Finn took a deep breath. "I'm running from the First Order. They're after me because I helped Poe Dameron escape."

BB-8 began to beep hurriedly. Finn scrunched his face.

"What is he saying? I don't speak droid." He asked.

"He said Poe was his master. He wants to know where he is." I translated.

Finn's face dropped. "The TIE fighter we were flying crashed. Poe, he didn't make it. I'm sorry."

BB-8's head drooped as he slowly rolled away. "BB-8, come back!" I called after him.

Rey kept her eyes trained on Finn. "Why were you on the base in the first place?"

"Here's the part where you boot me off the ship," He sighed, "I was a storm trooper.

My eyes widened as I gasped, taking a step back. Rey's face filled with anger as she raised her stick above her head once again.

"I was a storm trooper," He continued, avoiding Rey's fuming state, "But I ran. I was taken from a family I'll never know to be trained. At my first attack, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I couldn't kill all of those innocent civilians."

I pieced all of this together. "You couldn't kill those people, and you saved Poe. Poe was visiting my village, and he was taken away by Kylo Ren. Those civilians must have been villagers from my village. Was your attack on a village in Jakku?"

He nodded. My face drew a blank. I couldn't comprehend what feelings I was facing.

"Your people killed my village." I said, voice trembling, "You destroyed my village."

"I didn't pull the trigger Violet. I couldn't do it." He repeated, desperation edging his voice.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep the lump in my throat down. I would not cry.

Just then, the lights in the ship went dark. Rey rushed over to the controls and jiggled a few, but none of them would work. We'd been locked on to.

"Storm troopers," Finn breathed, "We need to hide."

"We're in the middle of the Galaxy, genius!" Rey snapped at him. "There is no where to hide!"

My eyes were focused on BB-8, who was rolling over a panel on the floor. He beeped at me.

"Down there," I said hurriedly, "We can climb down and hide. Maybe they won't find us."

We rushed down the ladder, Finn grabbing BB-8. He toppled under the weight of the droid.

"Ouch, BB-8! Get off of me!" He said through clenched teeth.

"Shhh!" Rey hissed, pulling closed the grate. We looked up in anticipation as a pair of feet walked over us. They stopped, backing up. We all held our breath. The grate suddenly opened and a man pointed a gun at us. He was joined by a Wookie who growled.
Rey put her hands up. Finn and I followed her lead.

"What do you want?" The man demanded, putting his finger on the trigger. My eyes widened in fear and darted to look at Rey, who had the same horrified expression on her face.

"You're on my ship. How'd you get it?" He said, temper rising.

"It was in the ship yard on Jakku." Rey trembled. "We needed to get out of there. So we flew it out."

I scrunched my face at him, studying him intelligently. He noticed what I was doing and pointed the gun at me. Rey immediately moved in front of me.

"You hurt her, you'll be killed by both of us." She said fiercely, pointing at Finn.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked me, ignoring Rey.

"This is the millennium falcon. You're Han Solo!" I exclaimed.

His face dropped and he lowered his gun. "I used to be."