The Return of Ben

Chapter Five: A Leader for the People

REY

Rey slammed the cryogenic chamber lid down with a thud, startling D-0. Her thoughts swirled too fast for her to decide what to do.

Secure the chamber. Check the settings. Don't let the boy die.

He was the spitting image of Luke, but as a child. Rey wasn't sure why, but it just felt as though the boy had the same Force energy that she always sensed from Luke.

She looked around frantically. Whose ship was this? Not Ochi's, but someone like him maybe. Someone who worked for Palpatine. Were they still looking for her? Why did they have this boy? How long had he been in this chamber already? Were his vital signs still okay? She didn't know how to check, the gauges and other writing were all in alien writing. Was the boy still alive?

The monitors beeped and flashed. The crash had caused the chamber to open and the liquid nitrogen to seep out.

"D-0 can help." D-0 rolled back and forth, trying to get Rey's attention.

It took her a second to realize what D-0 was saying. He wanted to help. Rey had seen Poe connect cables to the back of D-0's head before, and now D-0 was rolling over a cable with a connection on the end that looked like it would fit into his outlets.

"You know a lot of things, don't you?" Rey said as she grabbed the cable off the cold ground. She plugged it into a connection on the back of D-0's head and a long beep sounded, as though to indicate that the connection had been made. The settlings recalibrated and the numbers slowed down until the indicator lights stopped flashing and turned green.

"Fixed," D-0 said.

"Amazing," Rey patted his little head the removed the wire from D-0's head. She sighed with relief but also concern. She didn't know how to properly bring the boy out of his frozen sleep. It could be dangerous, especially without medical staff on hand.

She stood up and walked around the chamber to assess the damages to the pod. Other than being jostled open, and the safety latches coming loose, the pod seemed fine. It looked very new; shiny metal and the model was definitely newer than the age of the ship that was transporting it.

But who was the boy?

Rey's fingers pinched with the cold of the metal casing. 

"Ouch." She removed her hand from the metal and sucked on her frostbitten fingertips.

"Fixed," D-0 repeated.

"Yes, fixed..." But for how long?

The liquid nitrogen had stopped seeping out to the ground, which now sparkled in the dim light of the pod, frozen particles of dirt and dust.

"We need to take this pod to the Resistance Base," Rey said to D-0.

D-0 nodded then rolled away, did a loop and returned. "This ship is broken."

D-0 was right. This ship wouldn't fly again and she couldn't carry this pod to her own ship. If she enlisted the help of Jakku's current Junk Boss, he would only see dollar signs and want to sell it. He wouldn't care about the safety of the boy inside.

A sound caught her attention and she reached for her lightsaber. But the sound was just her discarded helmet which lay on the ground near the entrance to the small room. It was crackling with static and a distant voice. Rey picked it up and set it onto her head so she could hear through the speakers.

"Rey? Are you there?" It was Finn.

"Finn?" Rey adjusted the microphone. Her lungs were beginning to burn from the nitrogen in the air. She stepped out of the room where the air was warmer.