Star Wars Redemption #1: Across The Stars

Chapter 6: Found

    Ben was awakened by the sound of a hard banging on his door. He opened his eyes blearily and sat up, the banging still continuing.
    "Supreme Leader! Supreme Leader!" Hux said standing outside, gleefully rapping on his door knowing full well Ben had been asleep. "We found the scavenger!"
    Ben jumped out of bed, fully awake. "Meet me in conference block 2A!" he said, his voice muffled as he threw a shirt on over his head. Mercifully, Hux went away, although Ben thought he heard him snicker before knocking one last time. Ben dressed in a panic and ran through the halls, Force-pushing any Stormtroopers in the way to the side.
    "How could this have happened?" he thought to himself. He had been so careful. He'd never mentioned Ach-To to anyone other than AB, and he'd deleted the coordinates himself. He even waited a few days since he got back so that he could leave without raising any suspicions. There was no way he could have led them to Rey.

So how did they find her?
    Ben burst into the conference room. Hux had assembled all the major generals currently at base and was pacing around the room, nearly giddy. It took nearly all of Ben's willpower not to shove him into a wall. Instead, he settled for trying to keep his own face neutral. It was times like these he missed his mask. Ben had never been good at hiding his emotions.
    "One of our droids we sent to the Rutath system was destroyed an hour ago," said Hux. "Here's the footage it collected just seconds before it was attacked and activated its self-destruct." He played the holo. Ben's heart beat quickly. The Rutath system- where else had he heard that name? With a start he realized AB had pulled up the system when looking for Ach-To. Ach-To was inside the Rutath system, and Hux had found her.
    The video showed a small island in a vast ocean. Ben sucked in a breath quickly. He had seen that island before, when he first met Rey. When he looked into her mind and saw her visions of the future.

    The video circled around. Ben could hear the droid beeping as it scanned for life forms. Suddenly it spun quickly and fired a shot at a figure diving behind a rock. Hux paused the video. There she was, blurry but unmistakably Rey. Her dark hair was flattened down with sweat from the hike up, her eyes wide with the surprise of nearly getting shot.
    "There you have it," said Hux, holding the remote and almost gloating.
    "So your rumor was right after all," said Jilluu. She started up a round of applause.
    As for Ben, his thoughts were going a mile a parsec. He had to warn Rey, and quickly. But how? Their Force bonds were random and only lasted a few minutes. There was only one thing left to do: stall.
    "I suggest we send a squadron there right away," said General Pryde. The other generals agreed.
    "Wait," Ben said, trying to keep his voice steady. "She's too strong to be taken down by a single squadron. You're going to need more backup than that." A plan was beginning to form in his mind. It took time to mobilize troops. If he could convince them Rey was a big enough threat, there would be just enough time for him to slip in and warn her before the whole fleet arrived.
    "Mobilizing troops takes time," said Czen. "No doubt the very presence of the probe droid has alerted her we're coming."
  

"General Czen is right," said Hux. "We've lost the element of surprise, and now we must act quickly. We'll send Ren and a squad of Stormtroopers to fetch her, and send backup as soon as we can."
    The table agreed. There was no way for Ben to get out of it. He had to go to Ach-To and capture Rey.