REY

A humming sound pulls me from sleep. It's the first thing I hear. Then voices. One, a male voice and the other a female, over a speaker. Light shines through my closed eye-lids from above. It reminds me of the Jakku sun. Only it's cold here, and noisy with the sound of an engine. I try to move my fingers and toes, feeling stiff.

"Is it a mirage?" 

It's Rose. When did she get back? Then I remember. Finn tranquilized me! Betrayal washes over me, then anger. I lie still and listen, not quite ready to jump up and start a fight.

"What's a mirage?" Finn asks. The sound of his voice intensifies my hurt feelings of betrayal. Why would he do this to me? I'll be nauseous for hours after being tranquilized.

"Just pull in closer," Rose says. "So we can see."

I feel the ship sway to the right.

"It doesn't read on the monitoring equipment. Technically, it's not even there."

"But we can see it."

"What if it's an illusion of some sort? Like a trap?"

I open my eyes and squint up at a service light above me. I look around. I'm in an escape pod, laying across the two seats in the back. My head feels heavy as I turn it to look towards the front. There is a planet displayed on the view screen, mostly blue.

"There are no signs of the Ruling Order anywhere near here at least," Finn says. "Should we land on the planet?"

"What about the army base we were headed for? We can't just land on an uninhabited planet."

"How do you know it's uninhabited?"

"There are no buildings or signs of intelligent life."

"I'm picking up lots of animal bio-signs. How do you know they're not intelligent?"

"The army base  might have already been taken over by the Ruling Order. I can't get into contact with them anymore. This planet looks like a safer place to hide."

"The atmosphere looks agreeable," Rose says, pushing a few buttons on the console in front of her. "But we have no idea what's down there."

I sit up and suddenly my stomach heaves. I grab the nearest thing I can find to throw up in.

"Hey! My jacket!" Finn yells.

Serves you right, I think.

"Rey!" Rose turns in her seat. "Are you alright?"

"No," I snap. "You drugged me and took me against my will!"

"It was Finn who drugged you," Rose mumbles.

"Did he also carry me all the way to a shuttle pod by himself?"

Rose looks down and I feel bad for yelling. She was likely doing what she thought was best.

"Just take me back," I say in a softer voice. "I should have the choice whether or not I want to fight for those who can't." I suddenly think of Temiri and General Leia. Will they think I abandoned them? "What about the others?" I add. "What about Temiri? Were you going to leave them all behind to die?"

My words hang in the air between us. Rose remains silent, sitting rigid in her seat and looking out at the planet ahead.

Finally Finn says, "I don't know. I was only thinking of you."

Suddenly Rose grabs the navigator handle from Finn and turns the escape pod in a different direction.

"Hey!" Finn says, but Rose pushes him aside.

"You're too close to the planet, we're getting pulled into its gravitational pull."

"Use the engines." Finn reaches for a switch and Rose smacks his hand away.

"No, it's too late. We need to save the fuel to slow the pod down for a landing. We can't waste it trying to pull away. The engine won't be strong enough anyway at this point. I guess we're landing on this planet."

I sit up straighter in the back seat, feeling better after having thrown up. 

"What planet is it?" I ask.

Rose and Finn look at each other.

"One that isn't on the map," Rose says with a sigh.

HUX

The room was empty. Hux had checked under the bed and in the washroom. There was no place else for the boy to hide, yet when Hux had come into the room he'd clearly sensed his presence. Maybe it was because this was the boy's room and he'd been here many times.

"Temiri?" Hux said, clearing his throat. He wished the boy had some sort of last name to be called by. He didn't like calling him by his first name, it felt too personal. 

There was no reply. He wasn't here.

Hux sighed. He still wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel toward the kid, some kind of love? He felt mostly anxiety about the whole father thing. And yet, here he was, making sure his son was okay.

He turned to leave the room when he heard a sneeze behind him. 

He stopped. 

So the boy was here after all. Hux turned around again but there was no one there. The boy was using his Force gifts to disappear somehow.

"I'm impressed," Hux said to the empty room. As far as he knew, being Force sensitive didn't give you the ability to disappear, so the boy was already surpassing all expectations. It made sense, he was Hux's son after all. An unfamiliar feeling of pride washed over him. He'd never felt proud of someone else's accomplishments before, usually seeing others succeed just made him vengeful.

"Even the mighty Kylo Ren can't disappear into thin air," Hut continued, hoping to coax the boy out of hiding with some flattery.

Suddenly the boy appeared, sitting cross legged on the carpet. He was wearing a child sized First Order uniform and had his hair combed back, like Hux wore his.

"I didn't disappear," Temiri mumbled down in to his lap.

"Speak up," Hux said. "And stand to attention when you're talking to me."

Temiri jumped to his feet. "I said, I didn't disappear," he yelled, startling Hux. "I tricked your mind. It's not that hard to do."

Hux was taken aback by the unexpected insult. Was his mind easily manipulated? "Don't speak to your Commanding Officer-" Hux frowned, then continued "Don't speak to your fath-" he stopped again. He couldn't say it. "Don't speak to me that way," he finally said, with less conviction than he'd hoped.

"Why? You're here to kill me anyway," Temiri said, no longer yelling but his tone still cold.

Hux crossed his arms and looked down at the boy. Why would he think he was here to kill him? He wasn't, but he'd thought of it enough times in the past that it could have been a true statement just a few days ago. "If my mind is so easily tricked," he said. "Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?"

"And I'm not useless!" the kid yelled, suddenly angry again. Hux frowned. Was someone telling Temiri he was useless?

"Why would you think you're useless?" Hux asked, looking down at him. 

Temiri's face was flushed now and he pointed at the black BB-9 unit in the corner of the room. "He told me!" Temiri yelled. "The Ruling Order told me. I'm the one who is supposed to be the leader but nobody lets me help! And they told me you're going to kill me because I'm supposed to be leader!"

Hux uncrossed his arms and went over to the robot. He lifted its head and unlocked the compartment to the battery and took it out. 

"Dusty-" Temiri said.

"It was listening to us." Hux turned to Temiri. He got down on one knee in front of him so they were at eye level. He could tell the boy was trying hard not to cry. It reminded him of when he was a kid, always wanting to be taken seriously but not grown up enough to take on the responsibility of leader.

"You will be a leader one day," Hux said. "But right now do you know how to run a ship or command a fleet of planes?" The boy looked as though he was about to answer but Hux went on. "And I'm not here to kill you. The robot leader is a liar. I know him. Everything he says is a lie. No one here thinks you're useless." Hux grabbed the boy's arm. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

Temiri looked up.

"If I thought your were useless, then I wouldn't consider you a threat and try to kill you."

"You said you weren't going to kill me."

"Not now, but I did want to." Hux got up. "Others will want to, so you need to be smart and not believe everything you're told. Especially from a robot."

Temiri nodded, his eyes wide.

"I have something important I need you to do," Hux said, walking to the door. "Something that will save us from losing this battle." He turned and motioned for the boy to follow him. "And you're the only one who can do it."