016. SURROUNDED BY THE ENEMY

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The pounding of his head woke him up. He was absolutely certain that he'd been given a concussion after he had crashed into the wall. Recalling that Evangeline had been left alone to deal with Seth, he quickly sat up in alarm; however, he quickly came to regret this motion as he immediately grew dizzy. He also learned that he was extremely stiff which made sense since he had apparently spent the night cramped in an escape pod... that he didn't remember entering.

He slowly emerged from the pod and stretched to relieve the tension in his back as he looked around at his surroundings. Sand. As far as the eye could see was sand. The Supremacy was nowhere in view and he couldn't decide whether that was good or bad. He instinctively reached for his belt, but his saber was gone. Blast! He took a quick glance back in the pod just to make sure it wasn't there. Double blast!

Just to recap his day: he'd been betrayed by General Hux as he had brought in Seth to claim the position of Supreme Leader, he'd been reunited with an old friend from his past who now saw him as an enemy, the First Order was in complete disarray, he was emotionally and physically drained from the effects of the machine that he'd been hooked up to, and apparently the Resistance spies that had been captured had escaped since he saw them approaching from the distance- Rey and the resistance spies were here?!

"Wonderful," he muttered aloud to himself, "Just what I need."

Maybe they wouldn't notice him. All hope of that option dissipated when Rey stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. Although she was still a great deal away, she had either spotted him or the crashed pod because suddenly they were all heading in his direction. He quickly looked around and realized that there would be no cover.

"Rey found another pod!" one of the spies, the pilot he assumed, exclaimed, declaring the obvious.

"Great!" the other spy yelled in response, but the sarcasm and exhaustion detected in the voice revealed it was not meant in sincerity.

He ducked down behind the pod, perhaps they would just pass by. Again, that apparently wasn't going to happen. He slowly peeked his head around the pod, just enough to see, and noticed that Rey had held up her hand to stop the others from moving forward. He had the element of surprise, but that was just about it. However, he did note that they were unarmed. The droid could pose a problem though. He decided to stand rather than risk the chance of being found cowering behind the pod. He had an image to maintain after all. The two spies immediately jumped back in surprise which he found amusing.

"Ben," Rey simply stated.

He'd heard the name too often for his liking. It was a piece of a past he had left behind long ago and refused to return to. He couldn't. He had come too far to give everything up now. He had tasted the power and it was a feeling that he did not want to give up.

"You lost, buddy?" the pilot asked with a cocky expression but it was clear that he was using Rey as a shield as he stood just slightly behind her.

"Have you lost your mind?" the other spy whispered between grit teeth.

The pilot turned toward his friend, "What's he gonna do, Finn? He's outnumbered, got no army and nowhere to go. Not to mention by the look of it he's stranded out here just like us."

Kylo Ren immediately reached toward his belt to draw his weapon before remembering that he had no weapon. Rey raised an eyebrow, but the pilot found great delight in this discovery.

"See," he waved his hand effortlessly, "What did I tell you?"

"That doesn't mean we should underestimate him," Rey finally spoke again.

The droid chirped and the sudden noise startled Kylo Ren as he had forgotten that it was there.

Rey nodded her head, "I agree."

"Might I remind you," Finn spoke up, "That we have no way to do that? The pod's supplies were rather limited. Besides, I don't think anything stayed intact during the crash."

He took a step back. Whatever they were planning didn't sound good. Sure, he may have been able to hold himself off using the force, but that would only last so long. Especially since the effects of fatigue were still lingering. He took another step to back away, but he stumbled, disoriented. Definitely a concussion. Rey noticed.

"He's hurt."

"Great," Finn seemed to perk up, "We should go while we still can."

"We can't leave him," Rey stated leaving no room for discussion.

Finn wilted a bit with a frown.

"Are you suggesting we work together to get off this planet?" the pilot asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rey didn't say anything, but she nodded her head. She didn't look too pleased with the idea though.

"That's it," Finn started to pace, "That's got to be the worst plan I've heard yet, and I've been dealing with Poe all day!"

The pilot, Poe, nodded his head, "Yeah—wait a minute! I've had some decent ideas."

"Name one," Finn held up a single finger.

Poe opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Rey, "Enough! Look, whether we like it or not we'll need each other to get off this planet."

"But do we really need him?" Poe asked.

"No," Rey answered and shook her head, "But he clearly needs our help... not to mention Leia might be able to overlook a few of the regulations that you broke. Imagine if she found out that you left her son for dead-"

"Alright, alright," Poe interrupted, "I get it."

Finn frowned, "So we're doing this?"

"Well don't act so pleased," Kylo Ren rolled his eyes, but quickly stopped as the world started to spin.

"So where to?" Finn asked, gesturing to the miles of sand surrounding them in all directions.

"Wherever the force leads me," Rey stated, but from the groans of Finn and Poe, Kylo Ren assumed that hadn't been the first time she had said it.

"That's not how it works," Kylo Ren said with a frown.

"I knew it!" Poe exclaimed with a grin.

Finn shook his head and looked at the sky while silently mouthing, "Why me?"

He took a few steps forward, but found the motion difficult and impossible to follow a straight line in the sand. Without realizing when she had gotten there, Rey walked beside him to provide support and balance. Although he'd never admit it out loud, he appreciated the help. He also would never admit that her presence was almost comforting. Fear. Anger. Hate. Darkness. The Power. He tried to focus on the dark side of the force to distract him from the thoughts of her presence. If only he had left those chambers before Seth had arrived, but no, he had to follow Evangeline- He'd completely forgotten. Had she been with him the whole time? Of course she wasn't there when he woke up, but he couldn't think of any other way that he had gotten in that pod in the first place.

"Have you seen Eva?" he asked but the words didn't feel right as he said them.

"What?" Rey asked, facing him with confusion.

"Eva—Evangeline," he corrected himself, "White hair, purple eyes, sticks out like a wampa in a jungle."

"I think he's delirious," Poe stated.

BB-8 chirped.

Rey frowned, "No he doesn't need defibrillators."

Finn approached as well, "Were you able to make out anything he said?"

"All gibberish," Poe responded with a shrug, "Maybe we should..."

The rest of what the pilot said made no sense at all. The sun had seemed to grow brighter and his ears started to ring. He quickly blinked his eyes and slowly shook his head to clear the sensation. Even though the conversation around him continued, all he heard was gibberish. His vision started to blur as everything around him began to spin. Although Rey had been able to support some of his weight before, she wasn't prepared for his legs to give out. The last thing he tasted before he passed out was a mouthful of sand.