The Lady of Ren

The Baleine Skirmish (PART III)

Three Years Before

From its cargo hold to its receiving room, the Raddus was tangled with Resistance fighters. Not just officers – heavys, snipers, pilots – and each one of them were armed. The Raddus was the heart of the Resistance's navy and this mission was beginning to feel impossible.

It takes a lot to stun you. You've seen it all on both battlefields. As an ambassador, the political terrain (while frightfully corrupt) was a cake-walk. As a special forces commander, the objectives you've suffered through were assignments you might have been able to do in your sleep. But the Raddus was intimidating and brooding – a worthy adversary. Its halls were etched with decades of history and that, in itself, was startling.

It was also a kriffing maze.

Both you and Kylo had managed to stay concealed in the shadows. Maybe it was years of training or maybe it was just dumb luck. Either way, you must have proved yourself worthy in his eyes because he hadn't left you stranded yet, and he very well could have when you had passed the trash compactor.

There was one moment when your cover was almost blown but it hadn't been you who failed to peer carefully around the corner – it was Kylo. You grabbed his bicep in the nick of time and dragged him to safety. The officer was completely oblivious, even with Kylo's dramatic apparatus, probably assumed it was a trick of the light, and ignored his suspicion.

Once the officer had left his post (it took a good fifteen minutes for him to decide there was nothing worth guarding) you allowed yourself to exhale. "Will you be more careful?" you sneered.

The knight glanced down at you through his visor but didn't say a word.

The two of you continued like that for a while – quiet and reserved within yourselves – before a group of soldiers rounded the corner. They donned blasters you recognized were fatal, to say the very least, and patches you knew meant they were skilled in using them. This time it was Kylo who grabbed you, threw you into a nearby closet, and clasped a hand around your mouth. The taste of leather against your lips felt odd. You gulped.

It was a janitorial closet. You knew this because of the utility droid that beeped awake underneath your legs (which tangled uncomfortably with the man no more than a few inches before you). The droid was bigger than those that occupied Baleine's ships and you struggled to comprehend the size, cringing at its echo, and waiting for the group outside to notice. They don't.

"Squadron three hasn't returned to their post. We should check it out..." someone muttered. A male. Human.

"Where were they sent?"

"Cargo hold. There was a serious noise - sounded like a ship wreck."

"Shit," a woman grumbled. "Everyone got their blasters ready?"

"Aye," they agreed in unison.

"Let's go then."

The droid whirled softly before it clicks in alarm, red lights blinking itself awake. You threw your head back in exasperation and it landed with a soft thud against a durasteel plate.

Stay still.

The thought wasn't yours. It was Kylo's.

You couldn't help but gasp a little. How are you...?

"What was that?" someone asked in alarm. A blaster cocked.

There's silence behind the door before a woman laughed. "Just the janitorial droid. Probably beeping because of its charge."

There's a hum of agreement. "Alright. Let's move. I want to get to break before the admiral assigns us to something else."

Their boots marched across the floor, indicating they removed themselves from sight. Kylo opened the blast doors and the two of you stumbled upon one another, clattering to the ground.

While his mask camouflaged his expression, you knew he wasn't happy you'd just knocked him to the floor. Sensing a mistake, you muttered a quick apology.

"Only a block more." He stood and straightened his cowl. He didn't help you up.

You glowered at him, still acutely aware of the unspoken exchange back in the closet. Should you have ignored it? Or...

"I know," he grumbled aloud, turning his back to you.

You want to ask what the kriff that was. But never mind; you knew exactly what it was – it was just too unviable to say out loud. Force bond.

You'd first heard of the legend from your mother who had thrown a book of ancient texts your way to study. A Force bond was extremely rare, something only mates of the soul shared. Rumor has it that Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa – the twins – shared it. But they were the only case you'd known, nor anyone else for that matter.

The Force so rarely honored two people.

You tried to push the idea that maybe Kylo Ren was the man your mother had prophesized out of your mind.

A man clothed in black will bear your seed.