Just a little something I'm working on
Jan. 16th, 2019 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coragypsSo this is the unedited first chapter of my "redeemed" Kylo AU. I was thinking of adding some more and actually have Kylo and Leia talk but I also kinda like ending it where I did, but I can worry about that when I finish writing the draft.
It'll be on AO3 eventually, but I've been thinking about this fic for nearly a year so since I finally have something written for it, I'm just really excited to share. No Kylux (or Hux) in this chapter, but it will be in the fic.
Anyway, it's 3k so it's under the cut.
The TIE Silencer came out of hyperspace right in the middle of a battle - just as Kylo intended. Just from looking at the scene in front of him, Kylo could see that the First Order would defeat the Resistance, although they would take heavy losses. But Kylo had something else in mind. Fortunately, he didn’t need to do any fancy flying to enact his plan because the cockpit of his fighter was rather cramped at the moment.
It was only designed for a single pilot, although there was a small area for an astromech droid behind the pilot’s seat, which was currently occupied by BB-9E, who would be in charge of sending commands to the First Order fleet. If that was Kylo’s only other passenger, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but at the last moment, Kylo had decided to bring Lieutenant Mitaka along with him. He didn’t know if he just felt pity for the man and didn’t want to make his life any worse or if he had been guided by the Force itself, but Mitaka was now almost in Kylo’s seat since there was very little additional space in the fighter.
“Sir,” Mitaka said, “the Resistance is here!”
Kylo frowned but didn’t say anything. Did Mitaka think he was blind? Of course, Mitaka knew nothing of his plan. If it hadn’t been for his last minute change of mind, Mitaka would have evacuated the Finalizer along with the rest of the crew before Kylo took it somewhere for safekeeping. He might be willing to sacrifice the rest of the First Order fleet, but he couldn’t bear to let anything happen to the Finalizer. He’d never realized how much it meant to him until he was faced with the prospect of it being destroyed.
He’d had to change his plans ever so slightly to ensure the Finalizer survived the final battle, and it meant that there would be some loose ends, but it was a price Kylo was willing to pay. His ship - Hux’s ship - would still be out there when everything was over. Kylo imagined that he and Hux might be reunited on that ship some day, but he knew it wasn’t likely.
After doing what he had to do, he would be lucky if Hux would even speak to him. If Kylo could even manage to find him.
Before enacting his final plan, Kylo had made sure Hux was well away from the Finalizer. If Hux had been there, Kylo knew he could never go through with it. No matter how much his grandfather’s ghost might encourage him, just seeing Hux would have stopped him. Even thinking about him, Kylo was tempted to do the opposite of what he intended and claim a decisive victory for the First Order.
If he did that, Hux would be so pleased with him, although he might have a lot to explain about why the Finalizer had been abandoned. He could tell Hux the truth and Hux might be mad, but he’d forgive him. They’d spend the rest of their lives together, ruling the galaxy just as Hux wanted. And they might even start the family they’d discussed on occasion. They both wanted that, but the middle of a galactic war just wasn’t the time.
“Sir, are we going to attack?” Mitaka asked, his question bringing Kylo back to reality. It was a tempting alternative, but he knew what he had to do.
Anakin had shown him the truth. About the dark side and how he’d been manipulated for someone else’s purposes. Which Kylo had known all along deep down. But Anakin had shown him the life that could have been his if Snoke hadn’t interfered and it had hurt. Anakin also reminded him it wasn’t too late - he could start to make things right. He could go where he was meant to be, somewhere free of pain. After everything he’d done, he had to do something drastic to ensure he wasn’t turned away or shot on sight.
And now almost the entire First Order fleet was there, ready to become Kylo’s peace offering.
“Niney,” Kylo said, hesitating. Once he gave the order there was no going back. He knew what Anakin would do, so he took a breath and said, “Give the order to the first ship.”
The droid beeped in acknowledgment and Kylo watched as one of the First Order ships started firing on another. Opening up the comms, Kylo could hear the shouting and confusion as the captain of the ship under fire tried to get the other to stop. Kylo then had BB-9E give out the next order - informing the other ships that the first had been taken over by the Resistance.
As the First Order ships turned on each other, the Resistance started to pull back, probably trying to figure out exactly what was happening, which was just as well. The fewer lives they lost, the more likely things would end well for him. The battle raged on and BB-9E continued to send orders to the fleet, causing more and more ships to turn on each other. Many were destroyed, but Kylo noticed that a few weren’t firing on each other anymore. But Kylo had anticipated that as well. The captain’s would of course communicate with each other and learn that they had not been taken over.
“Niney, send my messages out,” Kylo ordered. He’d recorded messages that could be sent to each captain, informing them that they needed to keep firing. They might be able to believe that someone had managed to fake an order coming from the Supreme Leader, but they would know that no one could fake a hologram of him. And the First Order officers were too well conditioned to disobey a direct order from their leader.
“Sir?” Mitaka asked. “Why are our ships firing on each other? Can’t you stop them?”
“That’s not what I’m here to do,” Kylo said, not bothering to explain to Mitaka. He didn’t need to know, but he’d hopefully be grateful when he realized he’d been spared the fate of the rest of the First Order. But Mitaka’s feelings really weren’t his concern. Especially since things were about to get a little more dangerous.
Soon, most of the fleet was destroyed. A few ships remained intact but were no longer firing their weapons. They were likely floating dead in space. Kylo would have to watch to make sure they weren’t able to make emergency repairs and get back in the fight - but then he saw escape pods. If they were abandoning ship, they probably weren’t going to bother fixing it.
He opened a comm line to the Resistance ships, who were still sitting just out of range of the First Order ships, although Kylo could see a few fighters moving a bit closer, perhaps trying to get a better view of what was happening. They probably hadn’t even noticed him yet.
“Attention all Resistance ships,” Kylo said, “the First Order only has a single operational ship. If you want to take them out, now’s your chance.”
“Who is this?” a male voice asked. Kylo didn’t recognize it. He wondered if Leia was listening and if she would recognize his voice.
“Their fighters are still operational,” Kylo warned them. “I’ll help you out as much as I can.”
He cut the transmission, not needing to be trying to talk to the Resistance while engaging in battle. Hopefully they’d stick around after the battle and listen to what he had to say because Kylo hadn’t thought of a backup plan if they simply jumped to lightspeed and left.
“Supreme Leader?” Mitaka sounded nervous. More nervous than usual, anyway.
“I’ll explain later.” Just like he didn’t have time to talk to the Resistance, he didn’t have time to explain things to Mitaka. He probably should have made him sleep, but it was too late for that now. His focus was on the battle he was preparing to enter.
The TIE Silencer cut between two of the disabled ships and Kylo then flew towards a group of fighters. Despite the battle going horribly wrong, they were still there and likely ready to fight. The First Order training had done something right. It was a shame that Kylo would have to shoot them down. They were only doing what they’d been trained to do, many of them since they were young children. But that training meant they would forever be loyal to the First Order, even when it was gone. Which meant they’d be dangerous. Maybe some of the pilots who had joined as adults and not been indoctrinated would take off and survive and those people, Kylo wasn’t concerned about.
He fired on the group of TIE Fighters, taking out three of them before the others could scatter. The attack had taken them by surprise and they didn’t seem to know who to target and those brief moments of confusion gave Kylo enough time to eliminate the other three fighters in that first group. That took long enough that the other pilots in the area seemed to realize what was going on and he heard them calling him over the comm. They didn’t want to risk firing on their Supreme Leader, but they also realized he’d just taken out six of their own. It would have been easy to order them to stand down and pick them off. But Kylo couldn’t do that. He had to give them at least the smallest chance.
It wasn’t much of a chance. He was a far better pilot than anyone else in the First Order and his ship was superior as well. They didn’t have a chance. But maybe some of them would run. Even if they might be dangerous in the future, Kylo almost wanted them to take off. If nothing else, it was one last person he’d have to shoot down. As he flew against his own people - or what used to be his people - he had to remind himself that he probably didn’t know any of them personally. He’d known some of the Finalizer’s pilots. Not these men and women on these other ships. He’d probably never even heard their names before.
Kylo didn’t know how long it was before another group of fighters arrived - the Resistance. X-Wings came in among the ruins of the First Order fleet and Kylo had to avoid them as well. They had no idea that he was on their side. At least they didn’t until he shot a TIE Fighter off the tail of one of the X-Wings.
“Thanks for the save, Silencer,” a familiar voice came over the comm.
“Learn to fly, Dameron,” Kylo answered, unable to resist taking a jab at the other man.
“You actually helping us out here, buddy? I gotta say, that’s what it looks like, but I thought I should ask.”
“It’s easier to fly if you don’t talk.”
“Maybe for you, but I’m pretty good at multitasking. Probably not a skill they teach in the First Order.”
Kylo didn’t answer right away, partially because he didn’t want to respond to Dameron, but also because he had to get out of the way of another X-Wing that thought it could take him on. Had he wanted to, Kylo easily could have taken that ship out, but he was trying to be on their side. “Dameron, you think you could ask your people to not shoot at me?”
“Well, I guess I could since you did help me out. Just as long as you don’t start shooting at us too.”
It didn’t take long before the Resistance fighters were no longer targeting him and between them and Kylo, it didn’t take them long to take out the First Order’s fighters. They had them cleared out by the time the capital ships had moved within range and took out the remainder of the First Order fleet. As the Resistance fighters headed back to their ships, Kylo stopped and simply watched as his old life broke apart in front of his eyes. When he finally turned the Silencer away, he looked towards the Resistance fleet, wondering if it might just be better to take off and find some planet in an out of the way corner of the galaxy to start a new life.
“Hey, Silencer,” Dameron called over the comm. “You planning on just sitting there all day or you wanna come on board?”
An X-Wing flew past him, and Kylo felt certain that was Dameron’s ship. But he didn’t respond to him. Despite the invitation, Kylo didn’t think he could just land his fighter on board. He doubted Dameron could authorize what was technically an enemy ship piloted by an unknown person to land. So instead of replying to Dameron, he opened up a line to the Resistance fleet.
“This is the TIE Silencer,” he said. “I’d like permission to come on board.”
Kylo didn’t expect anyone to answer right away, thinking they’d probably want to discuss it and perhaps talk to those who’d seen him in action to verify that he had really helped them. And perhaps see if anyone knew his identity. If anyone had figured that out, he’d be lucky if they didn’t try to shoot him down. When his comm crackled to life seconds after his call, he was surprised.
“Permission granted, Silencer.”
Kylo wasn’t going to question why they’d made that decision so quickly. Maybe they were just that trusting. He followed the X-Wing into the largest ship’s hangar bay. As far as he could tell, he was the last fighter to come in so he simply found a vacant spot and landed there. He could see the X-Wing from where he landed and saw that he had guessed correctly about the pilot when he saw Poe Dameron climbing down the ladder and looking curiously in his direction. He almost expected him to walk over but he started talking to someone that Kylo couldn’t see.
He couldn’t stay in his ship forever, especially not with Mitaka crammed in there with him. He opened the top hatch of his fighter and then lifted Mitaka out with the Force so he could easily climb out without stepping on him. As soon as he was on the ground, he was looking in Dameron’s general direction and then had his hands up. Clearly, the Resistance wasn’t that trusting. At least they didn’t shoot Mitaka on sight. Whether or not that would be true for him remained to be seen.
“Your turn, Niney,” Kylo said as he lifted the droid out. Unlike Mitaka who could easily get out on his own, Kylo kept hold of BB-9E with the Force until he could set him down on the floor of the hangar. He waited a moment and then he knew it was time for him to see how the Resistance would receive him.
He stood up and started to climb out when he remembered his lightsaber. Thinking it might go better if he wasn’t armed, he unhooked it from his belt and tossed it out before he got out of the ship. He saw there was a large group of people waiting but he didn’t take time to look at any of them until he had jumped to the floor. Unlike Mitaka, he didn’t bother raising his hands. He knew that would mean nothing. The people there knew what he could do without moving a muscle.
Kylo looked at the group gathered with weapons trained on him. Only two didn’t have blasters in hand - Dameron who had just gotten out of his ship and Rey who had a lightsaber instead. Some of the people looked angry, like they might shoot him while others looked shocked. Dameron was one of the ones who simply looked surprised, but he couldn’t tell what Rey was thinking. Her face remained neutral, but she wasn’t taking her eyes off of him.
In all the faces in front of him, Kylo noticed one that wasn’t there. There was one person he’d been looking forward to seeing but was also completely terrified to see, and he wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved that she wasn’t there.
“So is this a surrender?” Dameron asked. “Or was this some poorly thought out infiltration plan?”
“I…” Kylo had no idea what to say. He didn’t want to become a prisoner but he realized that might be the only way the Resistance would take him. “I wanted to join the Resistance?”
“Looks like we won’t have need for a Resistance anymore,” Dameron pointed out.
“What are you really doing here, Kylo?” Rey asked.
“You saw what I did to the First Order,” Kylo said. “I’m trying to help.”
Everyone remained silent for what felt like minutes but was likely only a few seconds. Finally, Rey held her hand out and Kylo watched his lightsaber fly to her hand, which she handed to one of the others that were with her. “Inform General Organa that Kylo Ren is here. As an ally. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
“I’m not leaving you with him,” said the man next to her. Kylo knew him. The defected stormtrooper - FN-2187.
“Neither am I.” That came from Dameron and Kylo wondered what he thought he could do in a fight. Unless he was in an X-Wing, Kylo didn’t imagine he could do much in a fight. But he wasn’t there to start a fight.
“Who’s this?” Rey asked, looking at Mitaka. “Does he want to join us too?”
“Mitaka,” Kylo said. “He’s… I don’t know why he’s here.”
Everyone looked at Mitaka, who took a step away from them. “He ordered me to come!”
“Poe, do you think you could take him somewhere quieter?” Rey asked. “We can deal with him later.”
“What about him?” Dameron asked, not taking his eyes off of Kylo.
“Finn and I can handle him,” Rey assured him. “Please get him out of here.”
Dameron nodded and then stepped over to Rey, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before doing the same to Finn. He then walked over to Mitaka and Kylo watched, wondering if he’d kiss him too, but Dameron just lightly pushed him on the back and walked him out of the hangar, leaving Kylo alone with Rey and Finn. And BB-9E. While most people might ignore a droid, Rey took notice.
“What’s with the droid?” Rey asked. “You bring him here to sabotage the ship?”
“I needed his help to bring down the First Order.”
“And you think he’ll help you bring down the Resistance too?” Finn asked.
“Not unless you think your people will follow my commands without question.”
“You really ordered your own ships to fire on each other?” Rey asked. “Why?”
“I told you.”
They remained silent, with nothing else to say. Kylo didn’t want to explain everything to the scavenger and the traitor only to have to explain again. Not unless the two of them had suddenly become the leaders of the Resistance, and Kylo highly doubted that. He could feel a presence in the Force. One he hadn’t felt since he was unable to fire on the Resistance cruiser. She was there.
Soon, the door to the hangar opened and he saw her for the first time in years. He couldn’t help himself - he started walking towards her, easily passing by Rey and Finn only to hear a lightsaber igniting behind him. He turned and saw that both of them were ready to fight as Finn had his blaster aimed at him. His first thought was to fight them - how dare they try to stop him? - but he was unarmed. He could take on Finn with nothing but the power of the Force, but Rey was strong. He might be able to hold her off for a while, but he wasn’t sure he could win.
“Stand down,” said a soft voice behind him.
When the weapons were lowered, Kylo turned and saw his mother right behind him. She was so close he could reach out and touch her. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her. This was where Anakin had wanted him to go - back to his mother. She hadn’t even spoken to him yet, but he could see the pain in her eyes, and he knew he was responsible for that. He couldn’t stop the tears as he fell to his knees.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he couldn’t help but break down, his body shaking as he sobbed. It would have been so much easier if she’d hated him and simply ordered him locked up. But she was touching him and stroking his hair. She shouldn’t be so gentle to him. She should hate him after all he’d done.
He heard her talking, but he couldn’t tell if she was speaking to him or someone else, but it didn’t matter. She held onto him and Kylo cried into her. At that moment, nothing else mattered. He was home and he was safe.
It'll be on AO3 eventually, but I've been thinking about this fic for nearly a year so since I finally have something written for it, I'm just really excited to share. No Kylux (or Hux) in this chapter, but it will be in the fic.
Anyway, it's 3k so it's under the cut.
The TIE Silencer came out of hyperspace right in the middle of a battle - just as Kylo intended. Just from looking at the scene in front of him, Kylo could see that the First Order would defeat the Resistance, although they would take heavy losses. But Kylo had something else in mind. Fortunately, he didn’t need to do any fancy flying to enact his plan because the cockpit of his fighter was rather cramped at the moment.
It was only designed for a single pilot, although there was a small area for an astromech droid behind the pilot’s seat, which was currently occupied by BB-9E, who would be in charge of sending commands to the First Order fleet. If that was Kylo’s only other passenger, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but at the last moment, Kylo had decided to bring Lieutenant Mitaka along with him. He didn’t know if he just felt pity for the man and didn’t want to make his life any worse or if he had been guided by the Force itself, but Mitaka was now almost in Kylo’s seat since there was very little additional space in the fighter.
“Sir,” Mitaka said, “the Resistance is here!”
Kylo frowned but didn’t say anything. Did Mitaka think he was blind? Of course, Mitaka knew nothing of his plan. If it hadn’t been for his last minute change of mind, Mitaka would have evacuated the Finalizer along with the rest of the crew before Kylo took it somewhere for safekeeping. He might be willing to sacrifice the rest of the First Order fleet, but he couldn’t bear to let anything happen to the Finalizer. He’d never realized how much it meant to him until he was faced with the prospect of it being destroyed.
He’d had to change his plans ever so slightly to ensure the Finalizer survived the final battle, and it meant that there would be some loose ends, but it was a price Kylo was willing to pay. His ship - Hux’s ship - would still be out there when everything was over. Kylo imagined that he and Hux might be reunited on that ship some day, but he knew it wasn’t likely.
After doing what he had to do, he would be lucky if Hux would even speak to him. If Kylo could even manage to find him.
Before enacting his final plan, Kylo had made sure Hux was well away from the Finalizer. If Hux had been there, Kylo knew he could never go through with it. No matter how much his grandfather’s ghost might encourage him, just seeing Hux would have stopped him. Even thinking about him, Kylo was tempted to do the opposite of what he intended and claim a decisive victory for the First Order.
If he did that, Hux would be so pleased with him, although he might have a lot to explain about why the Finalizer had been abandoned. He could tell Hux the truth and Hux might be mad, but he’d forgive him. They’d spend the rest of their lives together, ruling the galaxy just as Hux wanted. And they might even start the family they’d discussed on occasion. They both wanted that, but the middle of a galactic war just wasn’t the time.
“Sir, are we going to attack?” Mitaka asked, his question bringing Kylo back to reality. It was a tempting alternative, but he knew what he had to do.
Anakin had shown him the truth. About the dark side and how he’d been manipulated for someone else’s purposes. Which Kylo had known all along deep down. But Anakin had shown him the life that could have been his if Snoke hadn’t interfered and it had hurt. Anakin also reminded him it wasn’t too late - he could start to make things right. He could go where he was meant to be, somewhere free of pain. After everything he’d done, he had to do something drastic to ensure he wasn’t turned away or shot on sight.
And now almost the entire First Order fleet was there, ready to become Kylo’s peace offering.
“Niney,” Kylo said, hesitating. Once he gave the order there was no going back. He knew what Anakin would do, so he took a breath and said, “Give the order to the first ship.”
The droid beeped in acknowledgment and Kylo watched as one of the First Order ships started firing on another. Opening up the comms, Kylo could hear the shouting and confusion as the captain of the ship under fire tried to get the other to stop. Kylo then had BB-9E give out the next order - informing the other ships that the first had been taken over by the Resistance.
As the First Order ships turned on each other, the Resistance started to pull back, probably trying to figure out exactly what was happening, which was just as well. The fewer lives they lost, the more likely things would end well for him. The battle raged on and BB-9E continued to send orders to the fleet, causing more and more ships to turn on each other. Many were destroyed, but Kylo noticed that a few weren’t firing on each other anymore. But Kylo had anticipated that as well. The captain’s would of course communicate with each other and learn that they had not been taken over.
“Niney, send my messages out,” Kylo ordered. He’d recorded messages that could be sent to each captain, informing them that they needed to keep firing. They might be able to believe that someone had managed to fake an order coming from the Supreme Leader, but they would know that no one could fake a hologram of him. And the First Order officers were too well conditioned to disobey a direct order from their leader.
“Sir?” Mitaka asked. “Why are our ships firing on each other? Can’t you stop them?”
“That’s not what I’m here to do,” Kylo said, not bothering to explain to Mitaka. He didn’t need to know, but he’d hopefully be grateful when he realized he’d been spared the fate of the rest of the First Order. But Mitaka’s feelings really weren’t his concern. Especially since things were about to get a little more dangerous.
Soon, most of the fleet was destroyed. A few ships remained intact but were no longer firing their weapons. They were likely floating dead in space. Kylo would have to watch to make sure they weren’t able to make emergency repairs and get back in the fight - but then he saw escape pods. If they were abandoning ship, they probably weren’t going to bother fixing it.
He opened a comm line to the Resistance ships, who were still sitting just out of range of the First Order ships, although Kylo could see a few fighters moving a bit closer, perhaps trying to get a better view of what was happening. They probably hadn’t even noticed him yet.
“Attention all Resistance ships,” Kylo said, “the First Order only has a single operational ship. If you want to take them out, now’s your chance.”
“Who is this?” a male voice asked. Kylo didn’t recognize it. He wondered if Leia was listening and if she would recognize his voice.
“Their fighters are still operational,” Kylo warned them. “I’ll help you out as much as I can.”
He cut the transmission, not needing to be trying to talk to the Resistance while engaging in battle. Hopefully they’d stick around after the battle and listen to what he had to say because Kylo hadn’t thought of a backup plan if they simply jumped to lightspeed and left.
“Supreme Leader?” Mitaka sounded nervous. More nervous than usual, anyway.
“I’ll explain later.” Just like he didn’t have time to talk to the Resistance, he didn’t have time to explain things to Mitaka. He probably should have made him sleep, but it was too late for that now. His focus was on the battle he was preparing to enter.
The TIE Silencer cut between two of the disabled ships and Kylo then flew towards a group of fighters. Despite the battle going horribly wrong, they were still there and likely ready to fight. The First Order training had done something right. It was a shame that Kylo would have to shoot them down. They were only doing what they’d been trained to do, many of them since they were young children. But that training meant they would forever be loyal to the First Order, even when it was gone. Which meant they’d be dangerous. Maybe some of the pilots who had joined as adults and not been indoctrinated would take off and survive and those people, Kylo wasn’t concerned about.
He fired on the group of TIE Fighters, taking out three of them before the others could scatter. The attack had taken them by surprise and they didn’t seem to know who to target and those brief moments of confusion gave Kylo enough time to eliminate the other three fighters in that first group. That took long enough that the other pilots in the area seemed to realize what was going on and he heard them calling him over the comm. They didn’t want to risk firing on their Supreme Leader, but they also realized he’d just taken out six of their own. It would have been easy to order them to stand down and pick them off. But Kylo couldn’t do that. He had to give them at least the smallest chance.
It wasn’t much of a chance. He was a far better pilot than anyone else in the First Order and his ship was superior as well. They didn’t have a chance. But maybe some of them would run. Even if they might be dangerous in the future, Kylo almost wanted them to take off. If nothing else, it was one last person he’d have to shoot down. As he flew against his own people - or what used to be his people - he had to remind himself that he probably didn’t know any of them personally. He’d known some of the Finalizer’s pilots. Not these men and women on these other ships. He’d probably never even heard their names before.
Kylo didn’t know how long it was before another group of fighters arrived - the Resistance. X-Wings came in among the ruins of the First Order fleet and Kylo had to avoid them as well. They had no idea that he was on their side. At least they didn’t until he shot a TIE Fighter off the tail of one of the X-Wings.
“Thanks for the save, Silencer,” a familiar voice came over the comm.
“Learn to fly, Dameron,” Kylo answered, unable to resist taking a jab at the other man.
“You actually helping us out here, buddy? I gotta say, that’s what it looks like, but I thought I should ask.”
“It’s easier to fly if you don’t talk.”
“Maybe for you, but I’m pretty good at multitasking. Probably not a skill they teach in the First Order.”
Kylo didn’t answer right away, partially because he didn’t want to respond to Dameron, but also because he had to get out of the way of another X-Wing that thought it could take him on. Had he wanted to, Kylo easily could have taken that ship out, but he was trying to be on their side. “Dameron, you think you could ask your people to not shoot at me?”
“Well, I guess I could since you did help me out. Just as long as you don’t start shooting at us too.”
It didn’t take long before the Resistance fighters were no longer targeting him and between them and Kylo, it didn’t take them long to take out the First Order’s fighters. They had them cleared out by the time the capital ships had moved within range and took out the remainder of the First Order fleet. As the Resistance fighters headed back to their ships, Kylo stopped and simply watched as his old life broke apart in front of his eyes. When he finally turned the Silencer away, he looked towards the Resistance fleet, wondering if it might just be better to take off and find some planet in an out of the way corner of the galaxy to start a new life.
“Hey, Silencer,” Dameron called over the comm. “You planning on just sitting there all day or you wanna come on board?”
An X-Wing flew past him, and Kylo felt certain that was Dameron’s ship. But he didn’t respond to him. Despite the invitation, Kylo didn’t think he could just land his fighter on board. He doubted Dameron could authorize what was technically an enemy ship piloted by an unknown person to land. So instead of replying to Dameron, he opened up a line to the Resistance fleet.
“This is the TIE Silencer,” he said. “I’d like permission to come on board.”
Kylo didn’t expect anyone to answer right away, thinking they’d probably want to discuss it and perhaps talk to those who’d seen him in action to verify that he had really helped them. And perhaps see if anyone knew his identity. If anyone had figured that out, he’d be lucky if they didn’t try to shoot him down. When his comm crackled to life seconds after his call, he was surprised.
“Permission granted, Silencer.”
Kylo wasn’t going to question why they’d made that decision so quickly. Maybe they were just that trusting. He followed the X-Wing into the largest ship’s hangar bay. As far as he could tell, he was the last fighter to come in so he simply found a vacant spot and landed there. He could see the X-Wing from where he landed and saw that he had guessed correctly about the pilot when he saw Poe Dameron climbing down the ladder and looking curiously in his direction. He almost expected him to walk over but he started talking to someone that Kylo couldn’t see.
He couldn’t stay in his ship forever, especially not with Mitaka crammed in there with him. He opened the top hatch of his fighter and then lifted Mitaka out with the Force so he could easily climb out without stepping on him. As soon as he was on the ground, he was looking in Dameron’s general direction and then had his hands up. Clearly, the Resistance wasn’t that trusting. At least they didn’t shoot Mitaka on sight. Whether or not that would be true for him remained to be seen.
“Your turn, Niney,” Kylo said as he lifted the droid out. Unlike Mitaka who could easily get out on his own, Kylo kept hold of BB-9E with the Force until he could set him down on the floor of the hangar. He waited a moment and then he knew it was time for him to see how the Resistance would receive him.
He stood up and started to climb out when he remembered his lightsaber. Thinking it might go better if he wasn’t armed, he unhooked it from his belt and tossed it out before he got out of the ship. He saw there was a large group of people waiting but he didn’t take time to look at any of them until he had jumped to the floor. Unlike Mitaka, he didn’t bother raising his hands. He knew that would mean nothing. The people there knew what he could do without moving a muscle.
Kylo looked at the group gathered with weapons trained on him. Only two didn’t have blasters in hand - Dameron who had just gotten out of his ship and Rey who had a lightsaber instead. Some of the people looked angry, like they might shoot him while others looked shocked. Dameron was one of the ones who simply looked surprised, but he couldn’t tell what Rey was thinking. Her face remained neutral, but she wasn’t taking her eyes off of him.
In all the faces in front of him, Kylo noticed one that wasn’t there. There was one person he’d been looking forward to seeing but was also completely terrified to see, and he wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved that she wasn’t there.
“So is this a surrender?” Dameron asked. “Or was this some poorly thought out infiltration plan?”
“I…” Kylo had no idea what to say. He didn’t want to become a prisoner but he realized that might be the only way the Resistance would take him. “I wanted to join the Resistance?”
“Looks like we won’t have need for a Resistance anymore,” Dameron pointed out.
“What are you really doing here, Kylo?” Rey asked.
“You saw what I did to the First Order,” Kylo said. “I’m trying to help.”
Everyone remained silent for what felt like minutes but was likely only a few seconds. Finally, Rey held her hand out and Kylo watched his lightsaber fly to her hand, which she handed to one of the others that were with her. “Inform General Organa that Kylo Ren is here. As an ally. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
“I’m not leaving you with him,” said the man next to her. Kylo knew him. The defected stormtrooper - FN-2187.
“Neither am I.” That came from Dameron and Kylo wondered what he thought he could do in a fight. Unless he was in an X-Wing, Kylo didn’t imagine he could do much in a fight. But he wasn’t there to start a fight.
“Who’s this?” Rey asked, looking at Mitaka. “Does he want to join us too?”
“Mitaka,” Kylo said. “He’s… I don’t know why he’s here.”
Everyone looked at Mitaka, who took a step away from them. “He ordered me to come!”
“Poe, do you think you could take him somewhere quieter?” Rey asked. “We can deal with him later.”
“What about him?” Dameron asked, not taking his eyes off of Kylo.
“Finn and I can handle him,” Rey assured him. “Please get him out of here.”
Dameron nodded and then stepped over to Rey, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before doing the same to Finn. He then walked over to Mitaka and Kylo watched, wondering if he’d kiss him too, but Dameron just lightly pushed him on the back and walked him out of the hangar, leaving Kylo alone with Rey and Finn. And BB-9E. While most people might ignore a droid, Rey took notice.
“What’s with the droid?” Rey asked. “You bring him here to sabotage the ship?”
“I needed his help to bring down the First Order.”
“And you think he’ll help you bring down the Resistance too?” Finn asked.
“Not unless you think your people will follow my commands without question.”
“You really ordered your own ships to fire on each other?” Rey asked. “Why?”
“I told you.”
They remained silent, with nothing else to say. Kylo didn’t want to explain everything to the scavenger and the traitor only to have to explain again. Not unless the two of them had suddenly become the leaders of the Resistance, and Kylo highly doubted that. He could feel a presence in the Force. One he hadn’t felt since he was unable to fire on the Resistance cruiser. She was there.
Soon, the door to the hangar opened and he saw her for the first time in years. He couldn’t help himself - he started walking towards her, easily passing by Rey and Finn only to hear a lightsaber igniting behind him. He turned and saw that both of them were ready to fight as Finn had his blaster aimed at him. His first thought was to fight them - how dare they try to stop him? - but he was unarmed. He could take on Finn with nothing but the power of the Force, but Rey was strong. He might be able to hold her off for a while, but he wasn’t sure he could win.
“Stand down,” said a soft voice behind him.
When the weapons were lowered, Kylo turned and saw his mother right behind him. She was so close he could reach out and touch her. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her. This was where Anakin had wanted him to go - back to his mother. She hadn’t even spoken to him yet, but he could see the pain in her eyes, and he knew he was responsible for that. He couldn’t stop the tears as he fell to his knees.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he couldn’t help but break down, his body shaking as he sobbed. It would have been so much easier if she’d hated him and simply ordered him locked up. But she was touching him and stroking his hair. She shouldn’t be so gentle to him. She should hate him after all he’d done.
He heard her talking, but he couldn’t tell if she was speaking to him or someone else, but it didn’t matter. She held onto him and Kylo cried into her. At that moment, nothing else mattered. He was home and he was safe.
