Ouroboros

Seven

Seven:

Stormtroopers!

Of course, he shouldn't be shocked that not every ship in the First Order was on Exegol and that not every stormtrooper had handed in his gun. It hadn't happened at the fall of the Empire-hence the existence of the First Order-and he guessed the Resistance and whatever administration they set up would be dealing with the outliers and die-hards for years. But for now, there was a small portion of Ben Solo that was thankful they had improbably appeared because he could definitely use it to his advantage. He skidded to a halt as the front four levelled their blasters at him before he straightened up, assuming his full height and reassembling his most sneering and cold expression. Pretty much everyone in the First Order knew who he was-and if these individuals were actually still First Order, then this might just work.

"Drop the weapon!" the leader clipped, his voice electronically altered. Ben glared at him as he lowered the blaster.

"About time," he growled."Assume control of the area, Section Leader. I want the two humanoids captured. Alive. They have information I need."

There was a pause and the Stormtrooper nodded, obviously inspecting his tall shape, swathed in the cloak and his gaze seeming to linger on his face. For a few microseconds, Ben was thankful his first broadcasts as Supreme Leader had been with his naked face-before he rebuilt his helmet.

"Yes, Supreme Leader," he said and gestured to his men. "You three-take the left. We'll pacify the right." And then they erupted into the street and the sounds of blaster fire intensified. There were yells and squeals and thuds and even a few explosions. Then there was silence. And then tramping feet, inexorably growing closer. Ben turned back to see Finn and Poe being shoved along, their hands in binders and sharing looks that definitely confirmed that they believed he had betrayed them and gone back on everything he had said to them. Unsurprised, he looked remotely at them as they were dragged in front of him. Finn's gaze was especially scathing.

"I believed you," he ground out through his teeth. "I thought Rey had reached you."

She did.

"You should have listened to your friend," Ben said coldly, not answering.

"Yeah-I told you a leopard doesn't change its spots," Poe snarked. A stormtrooper grabbed his arm and jammed his blaster in Poe's neck but Ben shook his head slightly.

"We can discuss this back on your ship," he said, not looking at the stormtrooper. "In detail. First, I have a mission for you." He glanced at the prisoners. "Take them to your shuttle. I have a task for your men, Section Leader. I require some specific items from the markets..."

Glaring at the tall shape, Finn felt the bottom drop from his stomach. He had found himself wanting to believe Kylo Ren, wanting to clutch the hope that Rey could be alive somewhere, that there was a way to bring her back and stop the victory feeling like half a defeat. He knew he should be glad the First Order were defeated-but it really didn't feel like it now, with them prisoners of stormtroopers and on their way to a First Order spacecraft. And along with that thought was another, graver concern: how many more were there out there?

-o0o-

Chewbacca was starting to get worried. He had managed to repurpose some other components to repair what he could but BB8 was driving the Wookiee crazy. Poe had ordered the little droid to remain behind but BB8 was rolling around, beeping and trilling until Chewie had roared at him to get out there and check his friends were okay, if he was that worried. That, at least, had delivered the peace the Wookiee craved so he could finally finish mending the conduits Finn had messed up with his incompetent efforts at piloting the incredibly temperamental Falcon so they were ready for the last few parts.