Ben Solo

XVI

Ben was taken aback by this.

Rule the whole galaxy?  One man, or thing?

How would one go about accomplishing that?

"I heard somewhere that he wants to follow in Darth Vader's footsteps, to accomplish his mission," Kelvin continued.

"Stop worrying the boy," Mara said, carrying two helmets.

"It concerns him.  It concerns all of us!" Kelvin protested.

"Which is exactly why General Organa wants them all to learn how to fly those things.  But why she wouldn't send any droids is beyond me.   At least she let Luke take R2-D2 and C-3PO."  Mara put the helmets down.

Ben grumbled inside.  That droid had no idea when to shut up.  He had hoped to only see 3PO on the rare occasion that he went home.

Just then, C-3PO walked jerkily down the ramp of the Falcon, R2 trundling behind.  Chewbacca followed them, and went into the base immediately, as though he owned the place.  He was probably just trying to get away from the droid.

"Oh, Master Ben!  So good to see you again!"

"Hey, 3PO."

To escape the golden droid, Ben ran up the ramp to see the girls.

Averann wrapped her arms around him.  When she pulled away, she said, "General Organa sent that."

Ben nodded a flustered thanks.

Then she hugged him again.  "That's from me.  I missed you."

"It was only a day."

She shrugged and ran down to Mara.

Ben was blushing.  Poe came up behind him and nudged his shoulder.  Ben elbowed him.

Onya hugged both of them quickly, and Ilia nodded at them.  Physical contact outside of combat was never really something she enjoyed.

Luke followed them down the ramp, and Poe left, leaving merely Han Solo and his son on the Millennium Falcon.

"Your mother missed you." Han
said.

"I'm sorry."

"I was going to let you copilot."

Ben nodded.

Han hugged him.  "You have to come next time your mother wants to bring all of you to Dunov."

"Yes, Father," Ben said, his arms hanging at his side.

"I love you, Ben.  I don't tell you that enough, and I'm sorry."

"I know, Father.  I love you, too."  Ben lifted his arms around his father.

See?  Those nightmares weren't real.  His father loved him!

They walked into the base together.

Kelvin and Poe were talking.

"You already know how to fly one, right?"

"I've never actually been in the cockpit of one, but I think I can pick it up fast enough."

"Good. General Organa wants us back at base soon, and we've got to leave with Han. So I can't be here to teach either of you. Could you teach Ben?"

Poe shrugged. They turned when Han and Ben approached.

"Hey, kid. You ready to learn to fly those little things?" Han asked, rubbing the boy's head.

Poe laughed. "Yes. I've been learning on the simulator, but I'm excited to use a real one."

"Would you allow him to teach your son how to fly one of the X-Wings?" Kelvin asked the smuggler.

"Well, his mother does want him to learn to fly them."

Ben and Poe ran off, before he could say no.

They picked up the helmets Mara had put down and climbed into the cockpits of the fighters. Unlike Kelvin and Mara's helmets, the nameplates were blank.

"Do these things work?" Poe muttered through the headset.

"Yup. I can hear you loud and clear, Red Leader," Ben said cheerfully, as he fastened himself in.

Poe laughed. "Alright, Blue Leader. We don't have any droids, so there's no autopilot. I'm going to teach you how to fly these things. See the control panel, there in front of you?"

"Of course."

"Alright. Flick the light blue switch, by the red button."

Ben did so, and heard both X-Wings fire up as his friend did the same.

"Right. Now, the controls, do you see them? The U-shaped things?"

"Yes, I see them."

"Pull back to go up, forward to go down, and to the right and left to turn. There's no reverse on X-Wings."

"Roger, Red Leader."

"Alright, Blue Leader. Let's fly."

Poe lifted his effortlessly into the air, but it was a bit harder for Ben.

But he quickly got a hang of it.

He whooped as they flew low over a field.

Poe banked a turn to the right, and Ben followed.

They flew over the water, which covered a good deal of the planet.

"Hey, Red Leader," Ben said, adjusting the headpiece.

"What, Blue Leader?"

"Do you think we should get back now?"

It'd been almost an hour.

"Roger. Let's go back. Follow me."

Poe led his friend back to the academy.

They landed, back where they had started from.

Ben hopped down.

"Good flying," Kelvin said. "Was that your first time?"

Ben nodded, breathlessly excited.

Poe ran over and hugged his friend, nearly knocking him over.

Han rubbed his son's head. "Great job, kid. Carrying on the family skills, even from your mother's side."

"Was Grandpa a good pilot?"

"Good?" Kelvin laughed. "He was the best pod racer ever."

"Well, I don't know if he was the best," Han said.

"Wow. I want to be just like Grandpa."

"You will not turn to the Dark Side, Ben Solo."

"No, not Darth Vader, I want to be like Anakin. A great pilot."

Han sighed. "Good."

The time came for Han Solo and the two pilots to leave.

"Take care of those two X-Wings," Mara said, rubbing Ben's head.

"I will. Are the girls going to fly them, too?"

"Of course!"

Kelvin said goodbye also.

Then they left.

Poe took Onya out in the X-Wings for a bit, while Ben, Averann, and Ilia trained with their lightsabers.  All three were easily deflecting bolts from their trainers, which were on their fastest settings, even with their eyes covered by the helmets.

After about forty minutes, they sat down and talked.

Averann told Ben that his mother had been disappointed to see that he hadn't come. He said he wished he had gone. Ilia updated him on everything she knew about Snoke, which was about as much as Kelvin had filled him in on.

Then they all went to bed.