Beating Heart ♔ Rey

seven

Chapter Seven;

The vastness of space stared at Hester, straight in the face, and for a minute she could only eye it with shock. Then she leapt out of her seats grinning and rounded on the girl. "That was incredible!" she crowed, and pulled the girl to her feet so she could hug her. "You were amazing!"

The girl laughed and returned the hug. "You weren't too bad yourself."

Hester winked.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then turned and sprinted toward Finn, who had left the guns and was dashing toward them. They hadn't even reached each other when excited chatter left their mouths in floods.

"That shooting!"

"That flying!"

The girl beamed. "Thanks."

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know, she helped -"

Hester shook her hands frantically. "No, she was amazing, I only assisted -"

"Don't say that!" the brunette exclaimed, though her eyes were shining. "I mean, I've flown ships but I've never left the planet!"

Finn grinned. "That was amazing -"

"It was incredible!" Hester exclaimed.

The girl chuckled. "Yes, it was very good."

Behind them, BB8 let out a string of beeps. The girl turned to him and bent down to his level.

"You're okay," she murmured reassuringly. "They're with the Resistance, they're going to get you home." She hesitated - missing the uneasy look Finn and Hester exchanged - and bit her lip. "We both will," she added quietly.

Hester frowned at the girl - her tone of voice worried Hester. It was vulnerable and desperate, almost full of longing. Hester stepped forward to address the girl, but she'd already stood and was facing them.

"I don't know your names," the brunette murmured.

"Finn," Finn said, the corners of his lips turned up slightly.

"And I'm Hester," Hester introduced softly. "What's yours?"

The girl smiled.

"I'm Rey."

+++

Why would Rey want to go back to Jakku?

That was all Rey thought about as she and Finn assisted Rey fix the ship (or rather, they passed the tools when Rey needed them). It had occurred shortly after they'd all introduced themselves, and Rey soon discovered the problem. She'd been quick to work on it, and after she said the ship would flood with poisonous gas should it not be fixed, Hester hastened to help her.

Hester had put her robes back on shortly after they reached space again; it was cold there.

Hester couldn't fathom why anyone would want to return to Jakku if they could fly anywhere, do anything. Why would you stay on a place where every day was a struggle to survive when you had the galaxy at your fingertips?

Her eyes had barely left Rey as she'd worked.

There must be a really good reason for Rey to want to return to Jakku. Was it family? A boyfriend? Or something different? Hester suddenly found herself itching to know what exactly was going on in Rey's head (though she'd never force it out of Rey - she hated that little trick).

Her thoughts were interrupted when their ship lurched. It had shocked the others as well, and without warning they all made a dash for the cockpit. Rey flung herself into the driver's seat and checked all the controls.

"Someone's locked on to us, all controls are overridden," she muttered, eyes wide in fear.

Finn stood up on his chair and peered up through the window above them, looking at an angle they couldn't see while they seated.

"Do you see anything?" Hester demanded.

Finn squinted outside for a minute then inhaled sharply, falling back into his chair. "Oh no. It's the First Order."

Hester's heart faltered.

Rey slumped back into her seat. "What do we do?"

Hester bit her lip. She was so tempted to just say, leave it to me, but now that Kylo Ren knew she had joined Finn and Rey, he would undoubtedly be joining the Stormtroopers, knowing that Stormtroopers wouldn't be able to stop her. And she didn't stand a chance against them - BB8 would only land in the hands of the First Order.

Hester wracked her brains, trying to think of something. She looked over at Rey, and they held gazes for a minute.

Finn then gasped. When Hester glanced over at him, she thought she saw a lightbulb go off in his head.

"You said poisonous gas," Finn muttered.

"I fixed that!" Rey exclaimed.

Hester's eyes widened as she caught on.

"Can you unfix it?" she breathed.

For a moment, all three of them were frozen, and then they were all on their feet and were making a dash once again for the compartment. They swiped oxygen masks as they ran, and when they reached the compartment, pulled the cover off.

Finn clambered in first, followed by Hester.

"Come on, BB8," Rey muttered, and she helped the droid fit inside the compartment - where he landed on top of Finn. Hester winced as Finn fell to the floor under the droid's weight.

Rey climbed inside and leaned over to draw the cover back over them.

"Let me do that," Hester said, directing Rey inside the compartment. Once they were all inside Hester used the Force to draw the roof over their heads.

Rey's jaw dropped open. "You can -"

"Worry about that later!" Hester hissed. She could hear the scuffing at the door grow louder.

"Right!"

After the three fastened their oxygen masks, Rey set to work unfixing the repairs she'd just made.

"Do you think this will work on the Stormtroopers?" she hissed to Finn, who nodded.

"Yeah, their masks will filter out smoke, not toxins."

Hester stood on tiptoe and lifted the roof of the hidden compartment to look into the empty halls. The sounds were growing consistently louder - in no time, the First Order would be storming the ship.

"Hurry!" she cried.

"I'm hurrying!"

Hester heard the door open. She quickly dropped back down and soon the three and BB8 were all surrounded by darkness as the First Order entered. Hester hardly dared to breathe as she crouched lower into the compartment. The only sounds came from Rey fiddling with whatever it was that held the poisonous gas back - Hester might know how to fly ships, but she didn't know how to fix them.

Hester could hear footsteps above them, slowly making their way across the ship. They were lighter and fewer than she expected. Maybe it was only Kylo Ren? She reached out and frowned. No, that definitely wasn't Kylo... but whoever it was, it was similar...

Then the roof door was thrown back, and Hester bit her lip to stifle a surprised yelp. Her eyes snapped up to see whoever had cornered them.

Her blood froze.

It wasn't the First Order, but it still wasn't someone she was particularly excited to see.

Han Solo.

Ben's father.