Chapter Text
Ben and Finn exchanged nervous glances, neither of them wanting to acknowledge how well and truly screwed they were.
“Well Finn, it was nice knowing you. BB8 you should hide, as soon as the shooting’s over you get out and find a way back to the Resistance. The General needs that intel…” Ben paused, checking his clips then added. “Also tell her I’m sorry.”
Finn suddenly grabbed Ben’s arm, “Wait! The gas?!”
“What?!”
“Stormtrooper helmets filter smoke, not toxins!”
A light clicked on, “How the hell do you know that?” Ben asked as they were rushing down corridor to the still open panel in the floor.
“I’ll tell you when we get out of here!” Finn responded jumping feet first into the compartment with two filtration masks in hand. It was gonna be a tight and frankly very awkward fit with Ben, Finn and the damn droid but there weren’t many options at the moment. He slid in gracelessly nearly landing on BB8’s already bent antenna.
Ben fixed the mask over his mouth and nose and then maneuvered awkward around BB8 to the roughly patched together motivator. “When this is over, we’re never gonna speak of this again, clear?”
“Clear.”
He prepared to undo his previous patch job but wanted to wait until the Stormtroopers were right overhead before blowing it. The less poisonous gas they had to deal with the better and he didn’t want any of them running back to get a toxin filter for their helmets once they realized what was happening.
There were a few moments of silence before Ben heard the door slide open down the hall footsteps echoing on the grate. With each encroaching step, the force was pushing at the edges of his consciousness with a familiar presence that he hadn’t known in over five years.
“Ben! What the hell are you--” Finn panicked.
Ben was suddenly lifting the grate up again to peer out down the corridor, causing BB8 to blip with alarm.
“You gotta be kriffin’ kidding me?!?” Ben said, angrily tossing the grate cover aside.
“Hey! Easy with that!” Han Solo responded automatically to Ben putting yet another dent in the plasteel wall (one of many that Ben had left on the ship over the course of his upbringing). Chewbacca let out signature low wail of happy surprise to see him.
Ben ignored his father, hoisting himself, “Hey Chewie,” he grumbled, ripping the filtration mask off of his face. He was happy to see the wookie, it was just under some very strange circumstances.
“Ben, what the hell are you doing out here?” Han said, holstering his weapon with a perturbed look on his aging face. “And where the hell did you find the Falcon?” he added incredulously.
“Jakku,” Ben stated plainly, helping Finn lift BB8 from the compartment.
“Jakku?!” Han said surprised, “I told you we should have check the outer reaches,” he then added to Chewbacca who gave a light grunt in response. Han turned back to Ben as he was standing to brush himself off. “Who had it, Ducain?”
Ben was starting to get angry that his first interaction with his own father in five years was more or less going more like a smuggling deal. “How the hell should I know Han, you think Jakku keeps records?”
Han looked a little taken aback by Ben using his first name. “Well you let whoever it was know that Han Solo is stealing it back,” his father said turning away to inspect his old freighter.
“Actually Ben Solo stole it back,” Ben snapped back at his father. Han turned back to him with an almost unreadable expression on his face, he knew it must be crazy but there was an odd mixture of pride and surprise. It caught him a little off guard.
“Han Solo? The Rebellion General?” Finn said surprised, drawing their attention from each other. They’d almost forgotten he was there.
“More like third rate smuggler,” Ben said kicking the grate cover back into place. Han gave him a side eye but he wasn’t paying attention.
“Ben Solo?”
“Well, it’s been fun old man,” Ben said not wanting to answer him. “See you in another five years.” He marched off to the cockpit to start working on repairs. He heard Chewie let out a low rumble, ‘he takes after Leia’.
“Don’t reminded me,” Han grumbled. Ben didn’t let himself smile, but it did make him a little proud. It also reminded him of the verbal lashing he was going to get when he got back, hopefully having BB8 would soften the blow.
There were heavy boot falls behind him as Ben settled into the pilot seat to run a systems check. The falcon was a mess and it would take a lot of work to get her back up to speed, the junkbosses on Jakku had done a number on the hyperdrive.
He heard Han’s footfalls on the grated floor, “Don’t tell me you’re here for a nice father/son chat, you’re almost thirty years late.”
“Damn it, Ben, let me get a good look at you,” Han sighed, sounding too tired to argue, there was a tinge of regret with the reminder of Ben’s age. Han had spent more time away than he had been present for Ben growing up. “You look good, kid,” he said sitting in the co-pilot’s seat that had normally been Chewie’s.
Ben said nothing, lifting a panel and pretending to inspect the wiring underneath. He heard Finn back in the corridor, “This is really awkward,” and Chewie responded with a low growl, ‘Solos’.
“Does your mother know you’re here?” his father asked.
Ben rolled his eyes, “Were you answering to your mother when you were my age?”
“My mother wasn’t a General, kid.” That was very true, Leia was a force to be reckoned with. “And your mother always finds out the truth eventually, trust me.”
“I’m sure she will,” Ben responded dryly, he shrugged back to the astromech droid with Finn and Chewbacca. “I’m taking BB8 back to the Illienium system with me,” he said casually.
“And why is that?”
“He’s got a map to Luke.”
Han froze in awe, Ben flipped a switch and the cockpit lit up, unlocking all the systems and allowing him to run a full diagnostic. He didn’t bother to elaborate instead lifting himself out of the pilots seat and marching over to open a panel to continue to go over circuitry maintenance.
“Are you sure?”
Ben sighed shutting the panel again. “Let’s see it BB.”
The droid gave a squeal and a picture projected around the room, it was a star map but that was where the familiarity ended. He didn’t know any of the star systems displayed, Luke was in a forgotten, uncharted expanse of the galaxy.
Finn looked around in awe, “Why would the only Jedi in the galaxy go into hiding,” he asked.
Ben clenched and unclenched his jaw, a dark mix of emotions rolling in his chest. He’d had nothing to do with the attack on Luke’s temple as far as he knew, but he couldn’t bring himself to shed any tears over the loss. His last interactions with his uncle had been strained and angry, he’d chaffed for years under Luke’s tutelage, unwilling to resign himself to the ancient religion. There was too much darkness in his heart, or so Luke insisted. But Ben was unable to purge it and give himself entirely to the light. It confirmed what Luke and Leia so feared about him, there was simply too much of his grandfather in him.
The realization had cut deep, left him ashamed and angry for years. Finally he left Luke’s training, returning to his mother, begging for an opportunity to come home. Leia agreed, but even that wasn’t ideal. Every nightmare led to his mother fretting, and he’d often wake up with her at his bedside trying to calm the shouting in his sleep. He didn’t understand how she managed to be a Senator, a General of the Resistance, and worried mother but she did, her head held high.
There were forces that Ben couldn’t comprehend at war inside him until suddenly they weren’t. He had dreamt of a hazel eyed girl crying for what she’d lost, the other details were lost to his memory but he could remember her as clearly as he’d just seen her. That same night the pull to the dark was finally quelled was the same night that Luke’s temple burned to the ground and several of his apprentices went to the dark side and the rest were slaughtered. And then the last Jedi disappeared.
There hadn’t been any answers, only more questions.
That was too much to spring on Finn right now. Even his father didn’t know all the details, like just how close Ben had come to giving into the dark.
“He was trying to train a new generation of Jedi, but we think one of them may have turned on him,” Han said. That was the boiled down version of events.
The map faded and the lights with it. Everything looked grimey and dull without the projection, like the entire inside of the ship needed to be sprayed down with a pressure washer.
Before they could say anything else, an alert sounded this time outside the falcon, in the much larger carrier that Han had commandeered.
Chewbacca let out another low pitch growl.
“What the kriff is it now?” Ben groaned.
Han was already heading for the exit, “Hey, watch your language,” he snapped over his shoulder. Ben rolled his eyes as he followed him and Chewie out, he turned back to Finn before exiting.
“Hey, you coming?”
Finn looked down at BB8, shrugged, and followed Ben out into the enormous cargo hold of the carrier with the droid close behind giving a delighted beep.
“What exactly are you doing with this thing, anyway?” Ben asked loudly.
“Hunting Rathtars,” Han answered casually, punctuated by a growl of agreement from Chewie.
“What the hell’s a Rathtar?” Ben asked. Finn blanched almost comically.
They turned a corner and suddenly something massive threw itself against the observer window of a secured container. Ben jumped, instinctively reaching for his pistol at his hip as slew of curses tumbling from his mouth. He looked up in horror at the gaping maw pressed against the glass, displaying several rows of razor sharp teeth, but it couldn’t get past the glass.
Han looked amused as Ben and Finn struggled to compose themselves. “How’d you capture it?” Finn asked unable to take his eyes off the creature.
“Used to have a bigger crew,” the old smuggler said sarcastically before turning on his heel and marching down the corridor.
Ben and Finn exchanged nervous looks. “Are all your relatives like this?” Finn said but Ben got the distinct feeling his new friend might not actually want to know the truth, which was yes. They hurried to follow closer behind Han, Ben wanted very much to start demanding answers but missed the opportunity when his father checked the security display.
“It’s the Guavian Death Gang,” he said but he didn’t seem that alarmed.
In truth, Ben had never heard of such a gang but what good could possibly come from a group that called themselves a ‘death gang’? “You’ve made a deal with them, didn’t you?” Ben said crossing his arms over his chest.
It was Han’s turn to roll his eyes, “What? Are you going tell your mother on me?” he growled.
“Why?” Ben snapped back, “She already knows she married an ass, why bother her with more bad news now?”
That seemed to cut a little deeper than Ben had intended, but the whole operation seemed unnecessarily dangerous.
Han kicked open a grate in the floor leading to a narrow subfloor walkway for repairs and maintenance. Ben got a distinct feeling of deja vu. “Damn it, get in don’t let them see you,” he said angrily.
“I’m not getting in another grate,” Ben said stubbornly. “Just what kind of operation are you running?”
“Damn it, Ben, I don’t need to be dealing with one of your tantrums right now,” Han snapped back.
Ben probably deserved that but that thought didn’t do much to keep his temper from flaring. “I didn’t really need to be dealing with any of this right now,” he said. “And yet, here I am, in the middle of your damn mess.”
“As soon as we’re done here, I’m hauling your ass back to D’Qar and letting your mother deal with you.”
“So just like you’ve done my whole damn life?” Ben roared, his whole body feeling hot.
That struck a nerve.
“Umm, guys,” Finn interrupted meekly.
“What a touching family reunion.”
Both Ben and Han looked down the corridor. At some point between their yelling at one another a Guavian boarding party had simply let themselves in. The Solo men stiffened and there was a moment when Han stepped forward, moving to put himself between the Guavian Death Gang and Ben.
“We want our investment back,” said the greasy death gang representative.
“I spent it,” Han said, starting to look a little nervous. “Hunting Rathtars is expensive.” Ben thought his eyes might roll completely back into his head.
“Kanjiklub wants their money back too,” the rep stated, not looking perturbed by the news that Han didn’t have their money.
“I didn’t make a deal with Kanjiklub,” Han insisted.
“Tell that to Kanjiklub.”
Finn grabbed Ben’s arm drawing his attention to behind them. Ben turned to see another gnarly looking gang standing menacingly at the opposite end of the corridor. These one’s wore black and puce green uniforms. “Uhh Han,” he said softly.
Han glanced back behind him, greeting the new gang leader attempting to keep the situation from escalating. Ben kept his hand on his pistol grip and nodded to Finn towards the open grate in the floor. Finn looked between him and grate trying to work out what Ben was saying without words.
“Have I ever let you down before?” Han asked.
“Yes.”
The Kanjiklub leader said something that sounded like an affirmative.
Han looked flustered for a moment. “When was the second time?”
“Are you kidding me?” Ben groaned aloud rolling his eyes again.
Han ignored him subtly edging his son back towards the alcove in the wall. Ben noticed Han’s hand twitch near the grip of his blaster on his hip.
BB8 gave a soft beep from their feet.
“That droid,” the Guavian leader said, “The First Order is looking for one just like it, along with two fugitives.” The man’s beady eyes glanced between Ben and Finn.
There was a quiet pause before all hell suddenly broke loose...