Beeping caused Kat to turn around. She really didn't pay attention to her surroundings as she raced off the Falcon. She wanted to get to her room, grab her batons, and think things through. Apparently, though she walked right by BB-8 and the droid had yelled at her to grab her attention. "What is it, Bee?"
The droid chirped, asking for Poe's location.
"Last I saw him, he was on the Falcon."
BB-8 thanked her but before they could roll off, she called out for the droid to wait. At their slight head tilt, Kat crouched down to speak with them. "He's probably going to be a little upset, mostly at me so don't take anything personally."
The droid beeped at her, asking what she did, which caused her to sigh.
"It's a long story, buddy. If he'll listen, tell him I'm sorry?"
They moved their dome from side to side before chirping, asking why she couldn't tell Poe herself.
"There's a conversation waiting to happen on the other end of that apology that I'm not ready for. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you, though. So go find him before he decides to leave the Falcon." She gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Even BB-8 could tell that whatever happened between Poe and Kat, hurt her too. They beeped an affirmative before bumping her knee and rolling off. They wondered if Poe would give them any more information. The droid had grown to really like Kat and they knew that she made Poe happy, they made each other happy so they hoped that they would be able to work things out.
✧☆✧
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Kat asked as she saw Wes sitting on her bed, putting on his shoes.
"Rose let me stay here since you were presumably with that pilot of yours all evening," Wes said, not even looking up at her.
Letting out a small huff, Kat laid the datapad on her drawers and grabbed her batons. "How long are you staying?"
"Why? Trying to get rid of me already?" He teased, finally looking up at her. His smirk quickly fell as he took in her facial expression. Sure there weren't too many emotions expressed since it seemed like she was trying to hide behind annoyance but her eyes were far too telling, they always were. "What's going on, Kat?" He asked, standing up, approaching her like one would approach a scared animal.
"Nothing. I just have a lot of plans to make."
He rolled his eyes as he gently removed the batons from her hands and led her to sit down. "Yeah, you're not making the face you usually make. So wanna try that again and cut the banthashit?"
"How would you know what faces I usually make?"
Wes chuckled and shook his head. She was trying to push him away. Something must have happened between her and Poe. He should have known from the moment she stepped in. She was on the defensive and it reminded him of the times after he rescued her from the First Order POW site and again after she ended her relationship with her cheating ex-boyfriend. "We may have not seen each other except once in the three years after school but the only thing that I see that has changed is that you're not so lonely anymore."
So completely overwhelmed with everything swirling around inside her, she began to cry, slouching forward to rest her head on Wes's shoulder. There it is, he thought as he wrapped his arms around her so he could stand and sit next to her on the bed.
"I'm so sick of crying." She said in between her tears. It felt like that's all she did lately.
Rubbing his hand along her back, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head which only made her wish that it was Poe instead. "Kat you've gone through a lot of shit, especially in the seven years that I've known you. Just because you're crying, doesn't make you any less of the badass that you are. Those people out there are still going to follow you to the ends of the Galaxy regardless."
She let out a watery laugh. "I doubt that. Or did you forget that I didn't throw my evil brother in some kind of cell?"
"Well, there is that." He chuckled. "He is still your brother though, evil or not, I know how much family means to you. And I mean besides before that feisty mechanic took my place you took a chance on a kid from a world deemed evil because it's a sith lord's homeworld."
"Are you saying that I have a soft spot for jerks?"
"No, you have a soft spot for good people who've been thrown in shitty situations."
She sat up, wiping her tears away, shaking her head. "I think you just made an understatement of the year."
Wes laughed. "Okay, so maybe it's not exactly that but I know how high you place family on your list of priorities. So what are you thinking?"
"I've got a basic idea but I need to discuss some specifics with Finn before anything is solid."
"Anything I could help with?"
Kat stood and grabbed her datapad. "Mom left these files that detailed all that the previous Republics did when running the galaxy." Wes raised his eyebrow at Kat calling Leia mom, something she never did when they were on Naboo. She just rolled her eyes and waved off his silent question before continuing her request. "I've already made some notes and marked things I need to reread but I would like your opinion on things and what I've already started to piece together. I just can't focus on the Republic right now until I settle things with Ben and end the First Order for good. I'm going to need you as a soundboard."
He took the datapad from her and turned it on, planning on spending the next few hours combing through things. "You got it. Anything as a senator from Naboo I can do for you, General?"
Kat rolled her eyes at his emphasis on their titles. "I ask for your planet's patience and support as we work through rebuilding efforts."
"I can give you that too." He smiled up at her. "Now you wanna talk about that other thing that's bothering you?"
"Not to you I don't."
"Oh, c'mon, I'm great at relationship advice."
Kat rolled her eyes and picked up her batons to which Wes rolled his eyes at.
"Leave them."
"No."
"You don't need them."
"They help me think and besides you definitely don't give great relationship advice. You punched the last guy I had issues with." She said as she opened the door to come face to face with Poe who was just about to knock.
"Hey! I told you that was more for me than for you. And don't forget you agreed that it made you feel better." Wes said, not realizing Poe was on the other side of the door until the pilot spoke up.
"I'm glad you're at least admitting to someone else that there're some issues."
Kat ground her teeth in frustration. "I don't have time for this." She said as she pushed past him.
"Ooh, I'm surprised you didn't get slapped, pal," Wes said.
Poe just glared at the other man before going after Kat. "Kat! Kat, wait!" He called out before he finally caught up to her.
He caught her wrist and she whirled around on him, pulling her wrist from his grip. Poe was reminded of Leia's warning when he had just brought Kaz on. You're playing with fire. It had been a while since they had actually fought that he almost forgot what it was like to have those stormy blue eyes pointed at him.
"This better be about the rebuilding efforts, Dameron." Her voice was cold and he knew he shouldn't push. She had her batons in her hands and her words could be just as harmful.
He didn't get the chance to even try to breach the topic for Finn came down the hallway, not realizing the tense situation happening between the couple.
"Oh good. I'm glad I found you guys. I wanted to run some ideas by you for our next steps."
At the sound of the other man's voice, Kat let out a deep breath before turning to give him a smile. "We were just on our way to find you. I've got a few of my own so let's see what we can come up with together. Let's head to the conference room, shall we?" She started walking, motioning for them to follow.
✧☆✧
Once they were in the conference room, Kat pulled up a map of the galaxy and marked each of the planets they knew held First Order bases. "This is a good start but I'll talk with Ben and get any others."
"And you're sure he'll even cooperate?" Finn asked.
Kat nodded. "He will. He won't earn any privileges if he doesn't."
"So you have a plan?"
"I do. Instead of putting him through a full trial, he'll be given an initial assessment that I would like to work with you on so we can model it after any Stormtroopers who wish to defect now. I'll get into that a little later. From that assessment, we'll have things he can improve on to get privileges back. I'm planning on putting him on house arrest. He can't fly anywhere. He can't use or practice the force. He won't be able to go beyond the property unless it's to his bi-monthly assessment sessions so we can track his progress."
"What if the person who's giving the assessment comes to him until we all feel comfortable that he's not a flight risk?" Finn asked.
Poe leaned forward on the table, arching an eyebrow towards her. It was a good question especially in this new development she had since breakfast. He too would love to know the answer.
She thought it over and nodded. It made sense. "That could work. We'd just need to assign someone who isn't biased and unafraid to be in the same room as him."
"Shouldn't that also apply to the one who's watching over him during his house arrest?" Poe asked, breaking his silence. His words definitely held a bit of a bite and even Finn noticed it.
Finn looked between the couple who had now entered into a staring match. Kat's stare was her typical ice-cold glare while Poe's was challenging.
"Now is really not the time for this," Kat said, not breaking her stare.
"Seems like the perfect time for me. If you're reading something more into my question then that's on you."
"Uh, do I need to go?" Finn motioned behind his shoulder. Something clearly happened between the two and he was not about to get into the middle of it.
"No." They both replied, looking towards their friend.
Kat then turned to Poe and gave him a sickly sweet smile. "I will take your suggestion under consideration, General Dameron."
He rolled his eyes. He had heard that exact phrase plenty of times when they first started working together. He knew very well that it meant no.
"Now," she returned to the map, arms crossed over her chest, "once we know more of the locations we can plan out our path but I'm thinking that each one, we close them down, take all we can alive, and those who wish to defect can and those who don't will be put on trial along with any high ranking officers."
"I think that most of the Stormtroopers who were too scared to defect will have already, maybe even tied down the base. I mean we all heard Rose, uprisings were happening everywhere after we destroyed their new fleet. So I think it would be smart to reach out to those planets, see what their need for assistance is and go from there. We can split up those who still wish to stay to finish out this thing. You can lead a group that will help rebuild governments and Poe and I can lead a group to close down the bases." Finn said.
Kat slowly turned around and both men could see the wheels turning in her mind. "That's actually not a bad idea. That way we can go ahead and start setting up democracies and build stronger relationships so that when the latest of the Republic is formed it should hopefully be a pretty seamless transition."
"So what about this assessment you were talking about earlier?"
"Well, as you pointed out most potentially already defected so it's more so a question of how do we help them enter back into society? I also assume you'll be pushing to help find their families?"
Finn nodded. "So this assessment will help us track and guide them in the best way we can to get them started on their new lives?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, General Metonae, but didn't you say earlier that it was to also make sure that we wouldn't have a rebirth of First Order ideas after the Republic has been reestablished? Making sure the Emperor's rise to power didn't happen again?" Poe asked and yes if she was going to be formal about things then so was he. He also knew that now that she was presented with this new idea that she was now trying to work through things in her mind which meant she wouldn't bring up everything she had initially wanted to.
Kat's stoic demeanor towards him, softened a bit as she sent him a grateful smile. It wasn't exactly what he was looking for but it was something and he would take it.
"Yes, I also want to make sure that we don't have anyone just claiming to defect. So I'm hoping that this assessment will help us determine who's telling the truth and who's lying to us to get out of punishment."
"I can work with Rose and Connix on it if you'd like. I know they both were asking what the next steps will be."
Poe nodded. "Those two would be good for that. We can discuss what the actual rebuilding will look like when we work through what the latest Republic will look like. I think we have a solid plan to move forward and to let the rest of the Resistance know. Would you like me to call a meeting, General Metonae?"
"Not yet. I'd like to speak with Ben first. You can go ahead and inform Rose and Connix of how we currently want them involved. Even ask Commander D'Acy to reach out to those who have sent us word of their uprisings so we can get an assessment. I want to start on this no later than tomorrow." Kat turned off the map and headed for the door of the conference room, fully planning on going to talk with her brother.
Finn nodded and stood, ready to head out himself now that he had some sort of direction. Poe's voice, however, stopped both of their movements.
"Hey, Kat?" Poe called out. His voice was soft and a little unsure causing Kat's heart to clench.
She slowly turned around, her usual stoic mask nowhere to be seen. Her face showed every single emotion she had swirling on inside of her and Finn hoped to sneak away but she beat him to leaving. "I need to speak with Ben." She said before darting out of the room.
Poe let out a frustrated sigh, smacking the table. "Dammit!"
"Uh, you wanna talk about whatever's going on between you two?" Finn asked, motioning between Poe and the spot Kat once stood.
"Clearly she doesn't want to talk to me."
Finn rolled his eyes and sat down next to his friend. "And why is that?"
"I in a roundabout way asked her to live with me once we got off this base but instead of talking things through, she ran away. Well, ran right to kriffing Wes Trelli." Poe grumbled.
"Oh, I think that was just a coincidence." Finn chuckled, earring him a pointed look from his friend. "Rose put him in Kat's room cause you two were gone all night." He said by way of explanation.
When Poe didn't say anything Finn rolled his eyes. "Listen, I know I haven't known Kat the longest but anyone can see how much you two mean to one another. She'll come around."
"You think so?" He asked.
"Absolutely."
"Then I guess we better go out and do as she asked so she doesn't have any more reason to be mad at me," Poe said as he stood.
Finn laughed, swinging an arm around Poe's shoulders as they made their way out to base to look for those they needed to update.
✧☆✧
Ben opened his eyes when he heard footsteps stop outside his room. There really wasn't a whole lot that he could do since they kept his room pretty bare. The medic droids really weren't much conversationalists and Kalonia only spoke to him about updates on his condition. He knew that Rey was still nearby, he could hear her when Kalonia spoke with her. He really shouldn't have been too surprised that things around him were being kept to a bare minimum but he already felt himself growing bored past bearable levels.
Seeing Kat in his doorway, he grew a little hopeful. Their reunion hadn't been too terrible. Maybe they could go back to how things were between them faster than he had expected. That, of course, was before he really registered his sister's expression. "I take it, this isn't a social call."
Kat rolled her eyes before making her way to his bedside. "No, it's not. But before I get into it, are things healing up as they should?"
Ben nodded. "Kalonia hasn't expressed any concerns."
"Good." She gave a curt nod before rolling out a map across his lap. "Now, mark out each planet the First Order had bases." She held out a marker to him.
He raised an eyebrow as he slowly took the pen from her hand. "And what do you plan on doing once you know where every base is?"
"We're ending the First Order, Ben. Just please cooperate."
"Then I should probably tell you all I know about each one."
"Any information would be helpful, yes."
He pulled the cap off the pen and was just about to start marking on the map when he looked back up to Kat. "What happens if I don't cooperate?"
Kat groaned, rolling her eyes. "Then you go on trial with every other First Order officer to be tried for war crimes and treason. It's out of my hands."
"I'm assuming you have an alternative plan then?"
"Yes, and I will tell it to you after you tell me where all the bases are." She gave him a pointed glare, doing her best not to show just how annoyed with him she was getting.
"Fine." He said before he began marking the map. He gave exact coordinates and even some details he could remember at each one. He was actually a little surprised she had given him a blank map. He was sure he remembered hearing about how the Resistance had gotten ahold of some intel about a few of the First Order bases. Instead of asking her about it, however, he continued working his way through. With how this interaction was going, he was sure she had given him a blank map for a reason.
As he marked the map, Kat watched closely. Although she felt utterly betrayed when he joined the ranks of the First Order, one of the very few promises he still kept, was not lying to her. He always told her as close to the truth as he could without giving the Resistance an upper hand. So she was testing him, not only so she could defend him when people asked but for her own need for some peace of mind. She knew each of the First Bases the Resistance already knew about and as he marked each one, she felt a little better, felt like her brother was really coming back to her even if he was physically in front of her.
"Alright, that should be all of them," Ben said once he was finished.
Kat took the map and did a brief glance over it. The map was practically full of his markings. They would have a lot to do before she focused solely on the political side of things. Then again Finn's idea of splitting things up was actually pretty good. She just didn't exactly like the idea of her and Poe being separated for Maker knew how long. "Thank you. This will be very helpful." She said as she folded the map up.
"So, what's my punishment?"
She let out a sigh. "I need you to remember that this punishment is going to be far lighter than what it actually could be, what I'm sure plenty of people want it to be."
"If anyone can get people to agree, it's you."
Kat rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You think too highly of me. I'm going to get a lot of pushback, I'm sure. I'm going to be called biased and deal with those damn holonet publications again."
"You mean the ones that I was able to keep tabs on you with?"
"You read those?" Her nose scrunched in disgust.
"Why, yes I did, Party Princess." He smirked a bit which earned him a small shove.
"Shut up. They were the worst and definitely didn't know everything."
"You mean you didn't spend your entire time there completely wasted?" He teased her.
She glared at him, pointing a warning finger his way. "Remember who's in control of your punishment, mister."
He let out a sigh. "So, go on with it. What have you decided on?"
"When we get back home -"
"We're going back to Chandrila?" He asked, interrupting her.
"Can I finish?" She asked, waiting for a moment to make sure he wouldn't interrupt again before continuing on.
"Yes, my plan currently is to go back to Chandrila. The capitol in Hanna City is still set up from when it housed the Senate. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," she gave him a pointed stare, "you will be placed under house arrest. You will not have any sort of privileges. You won't be able to leave the house, won't be able to fly, and you won't be able to use the force or even rebuild a lightsaber, let alone touch one or any other weapon for that matter. You will have bi-monthly assessments to track your progress and as you improve, you will earn the privileges I mentioned back starting with a limited list of places that you can go to within Hanna City. I will not be the one to assess you but I will be the one keeping watch over you."
"There's really nothing better than some glorified pet?"
"The alternative is for you to stand on trial for your crimes and let the court decide. You would either be thrown in prison for a very long time or sentenced to death." She paused for a moment, trying to gather herself from the mere thought. She let out a shuddering breath before looking back at him, tears stinging her eyes. "Don't make me send you to your death." She whispered, silently pleading with him to just take what she was offering and to cooperate.
Ben reached out and took her hand. "Okay." He gave it a small squeeze. "Okay, Kat. I'll listen. You won't lose me again."
"Good." She gave his hand a squeeze before returning hers back to her side. "Now get some rest. You still look like shit." She smirked before leaving his room. The rebuilding efforts could now officially begin.