starter for @scxvengerism
Finding out that Nikai had dark secrets was hardly a surprise to Abby, at this point. She knew well enough that the woman was villainous and rotten to her very core; just looking at her own children was enough to reinforce the deadly consequences of Nikai’s actions. Records of Nikai’s past experiments as a scientist for the Emperor weren’t needed to prove what sadistic bitch she truly was, but Abby found herself perusing them anyway, searching primarily for information on Palpatine that she and Kylo could use as they prepared to take him on, but of course things couldn’t be that simple.
First, Abby discovered a file on one of Nikai’s many and various genetic experiments. One that was strange, since it seemed she had overseen his growth all the way from a cell culture to an adult human -- a type of work that she didn’t often do at that point in her career. So Abby couldn’t help her morbid curiosity, and kept digging about this man, only to discover something even more gut-wrenching; Nikai had used her own DNA to create him, DNA she combined not with Snoke like she had for Abby and Jamie....but with Palpatine himself. The very idea that Abby had a half-brother who was the son of Palpatine made her skin crawl, and she wondered what had happened to this man, if he was still alive, lurking out there somewhere, and how she had not run into him yet -- but her questions were answered for her by Nikai’s records.
The man had a death date recorded. It seemed Abby’s ill-fated older brother had escaped as an adult, and met a grisly fate a few years thereafter, but his death somehow did not mark the end of the data file. After it, there came a single holo; an image of the scavenger girl’s -- Rey’s -- face, presumably taken when she was prisoner on Starkiller base, captioned with one word; Mine.
Abby had to put the data file down after that. She stepped away and went about her work for the rest of the day, all the while trying to digest what she had learned -- that, by some sick twist of fate, Rey was not only Palpatine’s granddaughter, but Abby’s own niece. She didn’t mention it to Kylo, or Jamie, or anyone else; not yet. Surely, they’d ask her about what she’d found in Nikai’s files, but she needed to prepare herself to answer that question, and she was lucky enough to not be questioned about it for the next few days.
Then, of course, the Resistance had to win a stroke against the First Order; they mined data from the Finalizer’s internal network and escaped with more than a few files intact, including the very same records Abby had been going through when she’d had her sickening revelation. It was mere hours before Abby felt the twinge in the Force that meant the Resistance knew the same cursed information she did, and Abby couldn’t help but be compelled to address it. So when the chaotic workday came to a close aboard the Finalizer and she finished putting her children to bed, Abby informed Kylo that her presence had been requested by the Countess -- she knew that Kylo would believe it, and that Edoli would cover for her, should she need it. Then off she went in an unmarked transport ship, alone save for Crimes McGhee, heading for the Resistance base.
It was easy to land her ship a few miles out from where the Resistance had made camp, hike through the forest up to where the base began, and send out a cloud of her influence in the Force that encouraged all those awake to turn away from her cloaked figure as she slipped through the base like a shadow. Abby was quick to search for Rey, finding that was aboard the Millennium Falcon, and climbed the ramp of the ship herself, letting the Force distortion she’d cloaked herself with fall away as she found the girl sitting in the cockpit, facing out through the windshield, all alone.
“So,” Abby began, her voice breaking the silence suddenly, but without venom. “Rey Palpatine, huh? I imagine that doesn’t sit very well.” She shrugged, putting her hand on the back of the unoccupied co-pilots seat as if she planned to sit down. “Where I’m from, its usually the mother who passes down her name, so I suppose you could take Grace if you wanted...but that has some negative connotations too.”