I have moved the Poe and BB-8 reunion down two scenes for structuring reasons. Otherwise things are unchanged.
…
The ship floats powerless in orbit around the desolate waste of Tinis. In the low oxygen of the lifeless ship Ben sits immobile beside the body of Denya. The light of a distant sun shining through the viewport and into the hold is all that illuminates them. From the cockpit R2 beeps sadly as he sends a pathetically weak distress signal into the void. His power source is the only thing powering the signal, and it’s fading.
Rey frantically digs through wires under the console beside R2, raging at her lack of any proper tools. Ben calls to Rey, tells her to conserve air. She shouts hoarsely back that they’ll die anyway if they can’t get the power back. Ben says that the fuel is gone, and there’s nothing else to be done. Rey cuts her hand on a panel trying to wrench it open and screams. She sits on the floor, blood oozing from her hand and from the unclosed wound on her forehead, struggling to draw breath. Ben says for her to just come into the hold and rest. She crawls past Denya’s corpse and onto the seat opposite Ben. She tells Ben that she’ll be back up in a minute, that she refuses to let them die here. Ben simply looks down at his father’s blaster on his lap, the only weapon they have left.
…
A battered Star Destroyer drifts in the blue and pink clouds of a nebula, its engines dead. From the socket of the reconnaissance ship, BB-8 whirrs and whistles as he takes in the battle damage. The ship docks in the back of the Destroyer’s bridge.
Repair crews shuffle through the halls, scuffing the floors with tubing and welding torches. Connix looks around the partially disassembled bridge and asks Threepio where Poe has gone. The droid points to Finn’s quarters but says that she may not want to enter. She goes anyway. Poe is sitting on the side of the bed, an unreadable expression on his face. She says that she has the final report of the battle. He doesn’t respond. She asks about the Falcon, and Poe answers tonelessly that its signal has been lost. Connix bows her head. She holds the report in her hands, and after a moment of hesitation she decides to place it on the desk next to the bed and leave. As she reaches the door BB-8 rolls into the room and leans his head against Poe’s legs. Connix closes the door on the pair and Poe completely breaks down, falling onto his knees and hugging BB-8 as if the droid is the last stable thing in the universe.
…
R2’s lights dim. He struggles to keep the signal on but he’s out of power. With a final whine he powers off and the last living part of the ship goes dark.
Rey shivers in the darkness, seeing R2 sitting dead. She and Ben are lying huddled together for warmth in the corner of the hold. Rey lifts her head, struggles to speak. She hoarsely utters the name ‘Leia’. Her eyes plead to the darkness around them. Ben opens his eyes, watching her levelly. She begs to Leia, to Luke, to anyone to listen. Ben finally speaks. He says it’s no use. A tear runs down Rey’s bloody face and she puts her head back down on the floor. Han’s blaster lies before them on the cold grating, a final and terrible choice.
Ben reaches out for it. Rey stays his hand. Ben chokes out that he shouldn’t be alive and doesn’t deserve to live regardless, after what he’s done. Rey should get the chance to live, for she is the hope of the galaxy. Rey can hardly speak. She finally whispers ‘Ben…you were right…’ Ben shakes his head. ‘No…the Force chose you.’ She turns to look at him. ‘The Force? It’s gone, Ben. It’s all gone. You ruled the galaxy, the knights of Ren, it’s your destiny to live. To survive.’ She pulls the blaster to her breast. ‘Chewie gave his life so you could live. You were right…I am nobody.’ They struggle with the blaster, Ben pleading with her not to do it, but she forces the handle out of Ben’s grasp and pulls the trigger.
Nothing happens. Ben smiles tiredly. ‘Safety’ he says, his thumb still on the side of the blaster. He wrenches it from her and it skitters across the floor to the other end of the compartment. ‘We’re even.’ Ben manages. Rey drops her head into his chest, heaving gasps which are less like sobs than a struggle for air.
They drift into unconsciousness. The compartment grows dark, a shape obscuring the distant sun. The small pirate vessel draws them into its docking bay in a clanking and grinding of metal. The hatch is forced open. Two pirates enter with pistols drawn, coming up short when they see the three bodies already on the floor. They look around, one announcing that there’s nothing here worth stealing with even the droid being over fifty years old. He suggests that they dump the whole ship for scrap. The other examines Kylo and says that this one is quite valuable owing to the bounty on his head. The first turns Rey’s face towards the light and asks whether they could get a price for this one as well, but the second pirate says she’s probably not worth saving, considering the scar.
…
Rey floats in the abyss of oblivion, images and sounds of her scavenger life gathering around her. Every abuse, every sleepless night seems to invade her mind. Helplessness, death, despair. She finds herself falling, finally landing on her side in the throne room of Snoke’s command ship. Ben stands there, looking as he did on the derelict ship. He turns, confused. He asks if this is a dream. Suddenly the voice of Snoke emanates from everywhere and nowhere, bidding him to join the Sith. The voice of Palpatine joins the two, entreating Ben to use his power. One after another, the Sith beckon to Ben, dozens, hundreds, a thousand. It rises to a deafening roar and Ben quails beneath the onslaught. Cloaked shapes converge on Ben, and Rey shouts at them to leave him alone. Their eyes turn to her as if beholding her for the first time. They move towards her. Rey turns in terror and begins to flee.
…
Rey comes to in the brig, bathed in sweat and shackled to Ben. The only other items in the cell are a couple of slicer keys and what looks like the remains of a hat. She shakes Ben into wakefulness and they take stock of their situation. Ben looks as haggard as Rey feels. They lock eyes, but quickly look away, remembering the dream.
They are both in irons. Ben says that based on the fact that they are in pirate space, this is most likely a pirate vessel on patrol. Rey deduces that it could be a Hutt ship based on the lingering smell of Gammorean on her clothing and the grimy nature of the cell. Rey goes to the bars and looks down the hall. Sure enough, one of the guards has remained. She yells at him to take them to the captain. He bangs on the bars in response to her shouts, grunting in a language Rey doesn’t understand.
A group of spikily clad figures approaches from down the hall, opening the door and dragging the prisoners out. She asks if they are going to see the captain, and a particularly spiky alien spokesman replies that they are, and that the so-called Supreme Leader will pay for his crimes. They are taken into a large hallway with many branching corridors and crew milling around and they see that this must be a massive pirate vessel.
The two prisoners are taken to the bridge where a panoramic view of a gas giant appears out of the viewscreen before them. In the center of this cavernous space a throne sits adorned with the bones of many alien and human victims. The throne faces away from them, but they are thrown down on the floor behind it. Ben asks what crimes the First Order has committed against these pirates, and the spokesman says that they are multitudinous. From ordering the harvest of innocent planets, slaughtering pilgrims of the Force, destroying and occupying the free worlds of the galaxy, and most importantly, of destroying the captain’s castle in an act of wanton barbarity. Ben looks confused, trying to recall when that might have been. Rey is quicker on the draw. ‘Maz!’ She almost shouts in relief. The chair swivels to reveal the wizened alien smiling wryly amid the carnage of her bloody decorations.
By Maz’s side is a fierce avian creature much like an oversized hawk, except with too many eyes. It stares the duo down and shrieks with displeasure. Maz pets it, and oddly enough it purrs. She motions them forward. She asks what her boyfriend is up to, and Rey starts ‘Chewie…’ She falls silent, unable to say it. Ben takes up her statement ‘He’s gone.’ Maz looks grieved. Rey says that he sacrificed himself to save Ben from the First Order. Maz says that she has known Chewbacca for over a hundred years and says that Ben must be special indeed to give his life. She says that this changes her pronouncement. Maz tells the duo to kneel before her, and they obey. She gazes levelly into Ben’s eyes, and then into Rey’s. She stands on the seat of the throne and bids the duo to follow her. The bird follows her first, and then the two prisoners. They make their way down the main hall and into the captain’s quarters.
