Force Destiny

Goodbye

Ben deactivated Blue's holorecorder, standing as the ship came to rest in the hangar. "All right, we don't have a lot of time. Once we land, we need to fight our way out of here and get to the Detention Block...." Ben turned to the Wookiee but realized that he was slumped over in the chair.

"Chewie!" he cried. He pulled the large creature, who was barely responsive, onto the floor. "Chewie! Stay with me!"

As Ben moved Chewie, he found a scorched, black hole where fur should have been. No! He found the wound on the other side and traced the tell-tale burns around the wound.

A lightsaber. The Knights... That was why they didn't take him. They left him for dead.

He winced as he ripped the Bacta patch off the side of his forehead.

The Wookiee moaned at him.

"I know," he replied hoarsely as he worked. The wound from his side ached in response to the memory Chewbacca was apologizing for. "I deserved it; I would have shot me, too. And I stopped the brunt of the bolt with the Force. I'm fine. Please don't apologize."

Ben surveyed the damage done to his old friend and he knew. He knew from years of being the perpetrator behind those wounds. It was fatal.

Chewbacca whimpered weakly.

"Hold on, please," Ben begged him, knowing that it was useless. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

The Wookiee whined back at him, bringing his giant paw up to Ben's shoulder, squeezing in a reassuring way that reminded him of days long gone—games in the Falcon while his father worked, days at the lake waiting hours for the Wookiee's fur to dry, growls of encouragement when he practiced the Force on his own. Ben shut his eyes to stem the tears threatening to flow. "Me too, Chewie" he choked.

Chewbacca whined again in reply.

"I promise, I will," his voice broke as his vision blurred. The Wookiee sighed, and his giant paw slid to the floor. Ben waited for Chewbacca's chest to rise one last time, but it never did.

"Goodbye, old friend," he whispered, "tell my father... thank you, and... I'm sorry."

Ben knelt for a moment, reflecting on his childhood, which was nothing but a memory. His mother and father were gone. Luke was gone. Even his childhood playmate Chewbacca was gone. It was everything he had wanted for years, but it didn't ease the suffering. Destroying the past would have never brought him peace. Even with them all gone, the past was still there, as painful as before. And they were gone, because of him. His only comfort was that, in all likelihood, he would be joining them soon.

There was a soft beeping behind him, and Ben turned to Blue. "He's dead," he told him. "I'm sad because I'll miss him." The droid cocked its domed head, whistling more questions.

"Yes, like missing Rey, but different." Anticipating the droid's next question, he continued, "Different because he can't come back."

Ben hoped more than he had ever hoped for anything before that he wouldn't be too late for Rey. He couldn't fathom the thought that she would be gone forever, too.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard movement and voices on the ship. Tucking his lightsaber into his boot, he reached for Chewie's weapon. He would have to fight his way out, but a blaster would do better in close quarters. Ben listened as the voices got closer; there were too many. He knew he couldn't fight his way onto the destroyer, or persuade them to ignore him without the Force.

Even if he was able to make it out of the hanger, in his current attire he wouldn't be able to make it to the detention block without being stopped by someone. He was left with few options and a dwindling amount of time to decide how to get to that Detention block. Then he recalled the legendary stories of the man without the Force who could talk his way out of anything.

Well, if it worked on the Death Star....

He stared at the droid. The First Order droid. "Blue, I need you to pretend you're bad!" The droid regarded him silently, and Ben knew Blue must be feeling something close to betrayal. "I need your help, and you can only help me if you're not a prisoner, too," he whispered. The droid protested weakly, but they both knew they didn't have time to hide while the troopers searched the ship. "It's all pretend, okay?"

The droid cocked his domed head, but beeped in affirmation.

"Ow! I give myself up!" he shouted, kneeling before Blue. "Please, stop! The pilot is dead, I'm throwing my weapon away from me!" He threw the bowcaster down the corridor.

"When they come in here, shock me," he whispered to the droid.

The stormtroopers cautiously walked around the corner with their weapons raised, and Blue shocked him, sneering in a deep tone that Ben had never heard before. The little droid was convincing. "I surrender to the First Order," he said hoarsely, putting his hands behind his head. "Just don't let the droid hurt me again."

"Who brought the droid?" One of the troopers asked the other, as they dragged Ben to his feet. The other shrugged, and that was the last of it as they placed Ben's wrists in binders and marched him off the ship. He had always hated that he had been fated to be Force-sensitive, but in that daunting moment when an entire destroyer stood between him and Rey, he would have given anything to have it back. He had to escape capture, defeat the First Order, save Rey, take control of the ship, and do it all without the Force. The dice in his pocket rattled together as he walked. "For luck," his father had told him a lifetime ago. Ben hoped they were as lucky as his father suggested; he would need it.

There were several more stormtroopers gathered at the bottom of the ramp. The hangar swarmed with activity. Ben was gambling that the chaos would preserve his anonymity.

"On your knees!" a commanding stormtrooper demanded with her weapon aimed at Ben's chest. He swallowed his irritation at being commanded to do anything by a subordinate.

She's not my subordinate anymore, he reminded himself, slowly dropping to one knee, then the other.

"This is Han Solo's ship," the decorated trooper continued. It was a statement, not a question. "It was on the back of Sabacc cards issued by the Order, I would recognize it anywhere."

"On the back of 'The Idiot' card," another trooper added.

"No, it was on the back of 'The Star' card," the commanding trooper corrected. "Han Solo's face was on the back of 'The Idiot' card; a good choice if you ask me." Anger shot through his veins at their inciting comments. Ben closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing before he did something incredibly foolish.

"No, they changed the deck after Kylo Ren killed Han Solo. Now the back of 'the Idiot' card is – "

"This is Han Solo's ship," Ben ground out, interrupting their argument before he had to hear more rage-provoking judgments of his father. Han Solo hadn't been perfect, but he would not allow anyone else to speak ill of him.

"You're not Han Solo."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Clearly," he scoffed. "He died killing a bunch of you idiots on Starkiller." His vision went white, and he collapsed forward onto his hands. It wasn't until the pain radiated from the back of his head seconds later that he realized he had been struck by the trooper behind him. "Has anyone ever told you guys that you have no sense of humor?" He felt an odd surge of strength as the pain in his head intensified.

"What is your name?"

He grinned, staring into the visor of the nearest trooper. "Would you believe Supreme Leader Kylo Ren?" The butt of a weapon struck him in the side. "Didn't think so," he gasped through a coughing fit.

The commanding trooper's patience had clearly worn thin judging by the clipped tone of her voice. "Your name."

"Ben Solo," he rasped, suppressing another cough. "My name is Ben Solo." The trooper stared at him for a moment, or at least it looked like she was staring at him, and fear crawled up the back of his neck. He didn't have the roguish charm of his father, no matter how much he attempted to channel it. His heart pounded against his rib cage as he waited for them to see right through him.

Does she recognize me now? What would they do?

The stormtrooper turned to the others.

"Take the prisoner to the Detention Block."