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Chapter Text

Episode VII

THE DARK SIDE RISES

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.

Leia has brought the Resistance on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke’s whereabouts...

The desert planet Jakku loomed large in the viewport of the Finalizer’s bridge. They had arrived after the First Order’s intelligence department had intercepted a transmission stating that the Raddus, General Organa’s flagship, would soon be arriving after receiving a transmission from the planet. Intelligence had decoded the message and believed Organa could not resist to chase  down a clue of her brother’s hidden location herself.

Just as General Hux had predicted, the bulky flagship that resembled a large aquatic creature rather than a state ship exited hyperspace and entered into orbit around the planet. As yet the Resistance flagship had not identified the First Order Star Destroyer quickly closing in on their position.

General Hux ordered the forward batteries to open fire on the Raddus. He wanted that ship and the Princess destroyed.

Without warning the Raddus lurched on its side, spewing forth a squadron of rag tag X-wings, A-wings and other small fighters towards the Star Destroyer.

“I want a full squadron of TIE fighters deployed at once.” Hux bellowed at his crew. His fists tightened as he surveyed the ensuing battle. 

A number of X-wings broke off from the main attack against their TIE fighters and made their way towards their bridge. Hux ducked instinctively as a white X-wing flew too close to their bridge. He recognised the white X-wing with thick blue stripes painted along its sides. He blew out a breath as he stood, righting himself, tugging on the bottom of his officer jacket. He hated that damn, cocky Resistance pilot. He wanted to watch him burn. “Target that X-wing. I want that pilot dead.”

“Sir,” came the voice of an officer from below where Hux stood on the bridge.

Hux hissed in frustration as the white and blue X-wing managed to evade their turbolasers.

Kira stood on the bridge of the Supremacy, her back ramrod straight in her ill-fitting adapted Black Ops First Order uniform. Her fingers itched to tug at the too-tight collar, but she refrained, keeping her hands tightly curled into fists at her side.

She tried not to visibly wince as her husband verbally berated a tactical officer who rattled off the number of casualties their TIE fighters had sustained.

As she glanced out the expansive bow viewport of the bridge at the frantic battle raging outside she could follow the tactics of the more manoeuvrable enemy ships and made a tactical assessment of her own. The rag tag assortment of X-wings and ancient A-wings were trying to lead their TIEs away from the larger cruiser, then picking them off one by one.

She had noticed that her husband seemed more intent on cutting down one particular X-wing rather than focusing on the flagship itself.

Kira marched forward on silent feet towards her husband. She kept her voice low as she made her assessment. “Instead of allowing them to be diverted by the smaller fighters they should concentrate their attentions on the largest cruiser’s shield generators.”

“Adjutant,” General Hux snapped as he about faced and glared at her, his cheeks flaming, almost matching his hair. “Should I want your opinion, I would ask for it. You have no tactical space battle experience. You are here on this bridge to serve me and protect my person.” His green eyes narrowed on her coldly, a sneer turning up at the corner of his mouth. “Unless your precious Force senses can tell me something useful to deal with this rebel scum.”

Rather than back down from his bristling state, Kira felt her hackles rise in response to his belittling words. Her eyebrows drew together tightly. 

“Actually, Sir.” She clipped off in her precise imitation of his accent. “My master has been impressed with my battle precognition. My skills in this area would greatly reduce our casualties.”

The General’s eyes narrowed further, as if daring her to contradict him in front of his entire bridge crew. “Do continue.”

She flinched inwardly, knowing she would pay for this insubordination later - when they were alone.

Nevertheless, she stilled her breath and closed her eyes while she watched the white and blue X-wing that had so gripped her husband’s attention descend to the planet below. Perhaps with her husband’s quarry out of the picture she could make him see reason. 

“The General is on the bridge of the Raddus. If we had an especially skilled group of pilots they could take out the bridge and wipe out the greatest hope of the Resistance.”

Hux snapped his gaze at her, his whole body trembling with anger. His voice was as terse as it was filled with warning. “No wonder the Supreme Leader no longer teaches you his sorcerous ways. You must have been a most inept pupil if you think you have brought anything of significance to this situation. Of course Organa is on the bridge of the Raddus. It is her capital ship. A cadet fresh out of Arkanis knows this. You are a fool if you think you have any thing of value to offer of significance. Keep your superstitions to yourself and leave intelligence to those who are actually trained in it.” Hux snapped his heels as he turned back to the viewport.

As hard as Kira tried to school her face she knew that some of the anger and hurt at her husband’s very public dressing down showed on her face. As quietly as she had crept upon him to offer her advice, Kira now moved to the main exit of the bridge. 

Her battle precognition had picked up something else. Something very unusual and she intended to investigate it herself.

“Adjutant Hux,” the ginger haired General called after her, without deigning to face her. “Don’t come back unless you have something useful to offer of tactical significance.”

***

General Leia Organa sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Raddus, her hands gripping the armrests of the chair as she surveyed the unexpected encounter with the Finalizer.

“General,” the voice of a young woman called out to her.

Leia turned her head to the young Comms Officer, Lieutenant Ko Connix. “Yes, Lieutenant?”

The woman lifted her blonde head from her screen, adorned with two buns on the sides. She tapped the side of her headset to close the frequency. “Commander Dameron made it safely to the planet.”

“Good.” Leia visibly relaxed her grip on her armrests. “Get us out of here.”

“Yes, General.” Came the reply from the helmsman.

Leia looked back at the young Comms lieutenant and smiled at her. Oh to be that young again. “Hopefully Poe can get that clue from our old friend himself.” She rubbed her forehead as weariness settled over her. “I would have liked to see San Tekka again. But once again war calls me away.”

“The fighters are safely back to the Raddus.” Another voice called out.

“Good.” Leia nodded. “Take us back to base.”

***

FN-2187 stood awkwardly at attention on the troop carrier, trying not to bump into his fellow stormtroopers as the ship descended to the planet below. This was his first mission on-world and he wanted to prove to his superior officers, especially that pompous chrome dome Phasma, that he was up to the task.

He had hardly believed his ears when Hux’s young Adjutant officer, who he and FN-2003 had been escorting, had made her way down to the flight deck where Phasma was in the middle of organising troops to be deployed to the planet below.

When the Adjutant officer had informed Phasma that she along with both FN-2187 and FN-2003 would be joining them in their mission to the planet, he had almost hyperventilated. 

The young Adjutant had then turned to him, her expression something akin to sympathy. “You’ll be fine.” She told him in a soft voice, filled with warmth.

***

Commander Poe Dameron found the settlement the General had given him coordinates to easily enough. He had asked the local settlers for directions to Lor San Tekka’s domed mud brick hut. He had told BB-8, his white and orange astromech droid, to staywith his ship in case they needed to make a quick exit. He had no idea if the Star Destroyer had made chase after the General or if they were still lurking in the system. But he knew he needed to prepare for either possibility.

Lor San Tekka was an elderly bearded man whose ancient eyes sparkled in the firelight with wisdom. He handed Poe a small brown bag, which he assumed contained the clue to Luke Skywalker’s location. Poe remembered from the stories his mother used to tell him when he was a kid that San Tekka had once been a close friend of Skywalker. He had helped the Jedi Master to find artifacts that had been kept safe from the single minded destruction of the Empire. 

San Tekka had been more than just a member of the Church of the Force. He had been integral to the survival of hundreds of its members and had hidden so much of its secrets himself. He had also helped Skywalker when he had set up his Jedi Praxeum on Ossus and collected Jedi artifacts that contained much of the knowledge Skywalker used to train his students.

The old man folded his wrinkled fingers over Poe’s, enclosing the small bag in his hand. He fixed a piercing gaze on Poe’s much younger face. “This will begin to make things right.” He sat back on his seat as he sighed. “I’ve travelled too far and seen too much to ignore all the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force.”

Poe looked down at the bag the old man had given him. “Well, because of you, now we have a chance. The General has been after this for a long time.”

“Oh, the General?” San Tekka smirked. “To me, she is royalty.” He winked at Poe, which made him smile.

His mother had also been friends with Princess Leia, back when she was one of the founding members of the Rebel Alliance fighting against the evil expansion of the Galactic Empire. He remembered all of her stories about the Princess as well. “Well, she certainly is that.”

The noise of ship engines drew Poe’s attention to the slats hanging over the doorway as the wind picked up. BB-8 broke through the slats and chittered to Poe in a panicked tone. His spherical body wriggled agitatedly as he described the scene outside the hut.

Poe turned back to San Tekka. “We’ve got company.” Poe exited the hut and pulled out his quadnocks to survey the night sky beyond the village. He made out four First Order troop carriers approaching the village, their search lights leaving him with no doubt about their intention. They were looking for him. “You have to hide.” He told San Tekka.

“You have to leave.” The old man countered.

Poe turned back to Lor San Tekka as he realised his meaning. He intended to distract their enemies so Poe could escape. The thought filled Poe with dread.

“Go!” The old man demanded as the sound of the village warning bell rang out.

Poe ran as fast as he could through the village, heading towards his X-wing. He dropped to his belly behind some crates at the village outskirts as he cocked his blaster and watched the blocky troop carriers make an inelegant landing.

Poe opened fire as the ramp lowered and First Order stormtroopers ran down the gangway. Other blaster bolts whizzed past Poe as the villagers also opened fire on the troopers, who fired on anything that moved as they descended through the primitive village.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Poe ran to his X-wing. He could hear BB-8 prattling anxiously as he trailed behind him. “Come on, BB-8. Hurry!”

Poe jumped into the cockpit and revved the engines as BB-8 was lifted into place behind him. As Poe settled his helmet into place he saw several stray blue bolts hit the side of his X-wing. He looked at his ship’s engine readout. Friendly fire had taken out one of his hyperspace engines. Sparks flew from the back of the X-wing. There was no question of him making a run for it now. 

He popped open the hatch and descended from the ship to survey the damage of the engine that was now on fire. He looked back at the village in dismay as he took in the carnage. Stormtroopers had taken villagers of various species hostage, one trooper was setting huts and tents on fire, possibly just for fun.

A plan began to form in Poe’s head. He removed the data chip from the bag San Tekka had given him and held it out to BB-8. “You take this. It’s safer with you than it is with me.” BB-8 opened a compartment from his sphere body and Poe placed the data chip inside. “You get as far away from here as you can.” He nodded. “Do you hear me?”

BB-8 made a dejected sound, realising Poe was not coming with him.

“I’ll come back for you!” Poe promised as he stood with his blaster in hand. “It will be alright!” He ran back to the village, hoping that BB-8 would keep the data chip safe and follow his order to get away to safety. He also prayed that he would keep his promise to BB-8 and live long enough to find him again.

BB-8 looked longingly after his master before wheeling across the sand, away from the burning village as fast as he could.

Poe cocked his heavy blaster as he ducked behind a small wall and picked off stormtroopers one by one.

***

FN-2187 reeled back in fright as he made his way through the burning village. He had never seen anything so terrifying. He tried to keep up with FN-2003, who was following the troopers they had been assigned with.

Without warning, FN-2003 was struck in the chest by a blue blaster bolt and he fell heavily to the ground. FN-2187 stopped in his tracks as he watched his friend fall. 

FN-2003 and he had been assigned together since crèche. They had bunked together, told one another stories when they couldn’t sleep. They had been sent to Starkiller on janitorial duty together when one of their pranks had backfired on them. But they had been reassigned together to guard Adjutant Hux once their punishment had ended.

FN-2187 approached his friend, hoping he was alright. Hoping that the blood on his chest wasn’t actually his. As he knelt before his friend, FN-2003 touched a gloved hand to his chest and surveyed the crimson blood staining his hand. He reached out to FN-2187 and touched a hand to his friend’s face, in friendship, in love, as his world turned to black.

FN-2187 stood gasping as he looked around at the stormtroopers picking up random villagers and rounding them up or shooting them where they stood cowering. He couldn’t be a part of this. This was wrong ! He ran for cover and hid behind a mud brick hut, hoping no one would notice him.

***

Poe lowered his blaster as he watched the stormtrooper he had lined up in his scope fall to the ground. The trooper with a bloodied handprint on his helmet looked so out of place. There was none of the usual confident movement or shots from the blaster he held loosely at his side. The trooper had actually checked on the one he had been following, the one Poe had shot down. 

Then something else caught his attention. A black First Order shuttle descended to land on the outskirts of the village. Its huge wings folded up as it landed. He knew that shuttle. That was the shuttle of Adjutant Hux. The Jedi killer. She was General Hux’s personal attack dog. She was responsible for murdering some of their best Resistance intelligence agents.

*** 

FN-2187 had been called to attention by a trooper with a red pauldron. He had motioned FN-2187 to follow him to the centre of the village where other troopers were filing in to stand in rank opposite the village prisoners who had been rounded up.

FN-2187 watched in bewilderment as an old man was captured by two troopers and brought to the rank of villagers opposite.

The hiss of the shuttle’s gangplank lowering caught FN-2187’s attention. As the smoke cleared he made out the slender figure of Adjutant Hux, now dressed in her paramilitary uniform, complete with a black mask. She descended the ramp and made her way to stand directly before the old man who had just been brought out. The old man was clearly the leader.

***

Kira stopped before the old man who barely resembled the once proud friend of Luke Skywalker himself. “Look how old you’ve become.” She sneered at him. She knew Lor San Tekka was once a revered member of the Church of the Force and collector and protector of Jedi artifacts that were outlawed by the Empire and its successor, the First Order. He was high on the list of Jedi scum her master had demanded that she hunt down and destroy. But even more than that. She felt as though she had actually met him before. His presence felt so familiar to her. Like that of a dream. He seemed taller than her in her dream and younger. With piercing eyes that seemed to see into her very soul.

She shook the random thought from her head.

“Something far worse has happened to you.”

“You know what I’ve come for.” She told him, infusing her words with the Force to make him comply.

“I know where you come from .” The old man stated, his riddles infuriating her. “Before you called yourself Kira Hux.”

She bristled at the reference to her name. There was no other name she was known by. She had been known by just Kira before she had married General Armitage Hux. She could hardly even remember that portion of her life prior to marriage. She had been married when she had first started to bleed.

Determined not to let her quarry rattle her, Kira brought the conversation back on her own terms again. She would not allow this Church of the Force acolyte to distract her from the mission her master had given her. “The map to Skywalker. We know you found it.” She turned from him to put some distance between them. San Tekka obviously had some meagre control over the Force. That was how he was able to rattle her. “And now you’re going to give it to the First Order.”

“The First Order arose from the Dark Side.” San Tekka continued, frustratingly. “You did not.”

Perhaps he had mistaken her for someone else. He clearly thought he knew her. But she had been apprenticed to her master since she was a girl. If she wasn’t raised from the Dark Side - as Snoke’s apprentice - then who was? Clearly he was senile.

She had had enough of his riddles. She stepped up to her quarry. He was just another one on her master’s list. She would destroy him and think nothing more of this nonsense. “I’ll show you the Dark Side.”

“You may try.” The old man countered. “But you cannot deny the truth that is your parents wanted to protect you from the Dark Side.”

Her parents? She didn’t even know her parents. Obviously the old fool in his addled brain thought she really was someone else. Someone from his youth. She had heard of conditions where old people’s brains failed them and they thought they recognised people and confused them with someone from their youth.

“Well, they failed.” Kira lit one end of her red sabrestaff and slashed through the cowering old man, shoulder to hip. She spun and held out her hand as her battle precognition kicked in and warned her that a blaster bolt had just been fired towards her back. She stopped the blue blaster bolt mid air before it could reach her as well as the human man who had fired the weapon.

She watched emotionless as two stormtroopers ran forward to punch and subdue the would be assassin. The man struggled as the troopers dragged their quarry past the frozen blaster bolt before Kira and unceremoniously knocked him to kneel at her feet.

She smirked as she took to a squat before the man. He seemed quite handsome in a roguish sort of way, with wildly curly dark hair, heavy eyebrows and dark eyes, but his skin took on a glowing look as if it had been kissed by the sun. Even the blood trickling from a cut on his brow could do nothing to diminish his attractive features. In fact it seemed to enhance them, to make him appear more devilishly handsome.

There was a drawn out pause while she took in his features. She hadn’t realised how distracting she found his appearance until he spoke. “So, who talks first? You talk first? I talk first?”

She took in his tan jacket with red stripes and Resistance firebird. This must have been the pilot who had buzzed the bridge of their Star Destroyer. No wonder her husband wanted to destroy him personally. Hux had clearly had dealings with the cocky pilot before.

“The old man gave it to you.” She spoke in a hushed tone, reading the recent memory that was on the surface of his brain.

“It’s very hard to understand you with all the…” he made a gesture to her mask.

“Search him.” She ordered to the troopers who had apprehended him.

“Apparatus.” The pilot finished as the troopers hauled him to his feet and patted him down.

“Nothing, ma’am.” The trooper reported.

“Put him on board.” Kira commanded as she stepped out of the way to watch the two troopers lead the pilot to her shuttle. 

Captain Phasma in her chrome plated stormtrooper armor approached Kira, her long black cloak with red lining billowing behind her. “Ma’am, the villagers.”

Kira scowled as she took the haughty captain’s insolent tone. She hated the stormtrooper captain with a passion. Not just because Phasma worked so closely with her husband on the stormtrooper program. Kira knew that her husband was faithful to her. But she hated the way the giant woman thought so openly amorously about her husband in Kira’s presence. It’s like she wanted to make her mad with jealousy. Seeing images of the two of them tangled together, Phasma loving to dominate Hux when he barely allowed Kira to touch him.

How she longed to run the chrome stormtrooper captain through on her scarlet blade. To watch her blood run in rivulets from her body. Her vision turned red as she imagined both of them lying together naked, covered in their blood with Kira standing triumphant before their lifeless corpses.

“Kill them all.” She ordered as she stormed away from the captain and walked back to her shuttle. She ignored the sound of blasters cocking, the screams of terror from the unarmed villagers. But she did feel the pain and sorrow radiating from one lone stormtrooper. Kira slowed to a halt and looked across the burning village. Her eyes fell upon FN-2187. The stormtrooper she had ordered to accompany the fray. He had been by her side for months and she had dragged him to his first battle. She had promised she would keep him safe. She’d told him he would be fine . Nothing radiating from the stormtrooper resembled fine . 

Swallowing her guilt, she turned back to the shuttle and loosened her Force hold on the blaster bolt. It hit the moisture vaporator behind where she had earlier been standing, sending sparks in the air. She continued up the shuttle’s ramp, mulling on her darkened thoughts as stormtroopers continued to reduce the village to ash.

***

BB-8 stopped on a sand hill as a huge blast caught his attention. He wheeled his head back to the village where he had left Poe and watched as it was swallowed up in a large plume of flame. He recoiled from the shock. He whistled sadly as he hoped that Poe had made it out safely. He promised he would find him.

He moaned softly to himself before he turned away from the village and sped off into the night.

Chapter Text

Poe struggled against the bucket head who gripped his arm mercilessly. His hands were bound in binders in front of him as he moved down the gangway of the bitch’s shuttle. He took in the flight deck of a Star Destroyer and realised that escape was currently not a solution.

“Alright.” He struggled against the gloved hand gripping his bicep. “Alright!” He tried again to shrug off the guard as he surveyed the enormity of the flight deck and hundreds of stormtroopers marching past him in formations. The flight deck alone was easily bigger than their entire base.

***

FN-2187 was overwhelmed once he descended to the flight deck amongst the other stormtroopers and officers, all going about their business as if nothing was out of place. As if they hadn’t just been to Hell and back. As if they hadn’t just watched their best friend die before their eyes.

He ducked past those making their way off the transports and made his unsteady way up the gangplank to the black shuttle. He just needed to breathe. He needed to…

Panic gripped him as he tore the helmet off his head. He tried desperately to control his fear but all he could see was FN-2003 being shot down in front of him amidst the fire and death, his bloodied, gloved hand touching his helmet as his soul left his body.

“FN-2187.” A mechanical voice purred from behind him.

He swirled around to find Hux’s adjutant standing behind him in her dark helmet and black robes. He hadn’t realised it up until now but she was shorter than him. He had been trailing along behind her for months. But she always seemed larger than life. So sure of herself. 

Now she seemed like a shell of her former self.

“Yeah, me too.” She told him sadly as she reached up and pressed the buttons under her chin that released her helmet. She tore it off her head and threw it to the ground in disgust. “I hate that sort of thing.” She confided in him. 

He turned to face her in shock. She was an officer. More than that, she was adjutant to General Hux himself. She was supposed to revel in murdering innocents. He took in her glassy hazel eyes that looked so sad. He had seen her often enough without her helmet. Most days, even. But now her eyes looked haunted and so sad.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into that hell hole.” She told him, shaking her head and slumping to the floor in a despondent heap. “I never wanted you to be a part of that.” She met his gaze solemnly. “You’re too good for the First Order. Too full of hope.”

She should have said those words as if there was something wrong with him. But instead he only felt pity from her.

“FN-2187.” Another female voice filtered through his ears, again with the vocoder’s modified tinny sound. But he knew that voice all too well. He had nightmares of that voice. He whirled around to face the giant chrome form of Captain Phasma. Her armour was dulled with soot from the fires that had engulfed the village but that did nothing to diminish the fear FN-2187 felt in her presence.

“Submit your blaster for inspection.”

“Yes, Captain.” He turned back away from her, willing that she hadn’t seen the terror in his unmasked face.

“And who gave you permission to remove that helmet?”

“I did.” Kira raised herself to her feet, calling her saberstaff and helmet to her hands with the Force.

“Adjutant Hux.” Disgust for the younger woman seeped into her voice, even through the vocoder’s distortion.

“I’ll leave his punishment in your capable hands.” Phasma snapped disdainfully as she whirled away, her long black cape fluttering dramatically behind her as she stomped down the gangway.

“I hate that woman.” Kira muttered softly before replacing her helmet over her head.

FN-2187 turned to her in shock. He had never considered any kind of rivalry between the two women. Adjutant Hux always seemed so sure of herself. So certain in her place at the very top of the First Order, beside Hux.

***

Kira slammed both ends of her saberstaff at the training droids one after the other. She ducked under bolts set to half stun as she ran through the obstacle course. A smaller, more nimble droid flew over her head, swivelling its head as it spewed more green stun bolts at various parts of her body. She parried them easily with the red glow of her saberstaff. As she ran she gathered up speed and vaulted over the flying droid, splitting it in half with one side of her saber. She landed gracefully on the bridge suspended over the training room in a squat, one hand braced against the bridge, using the Force to still her momentum and balance herself. She sensed another droid flying towards her on the upper deck. Using a Force push, she tried to slow its path as it barreled towards her at an unholy speed as if it intended to collide directly with her. Maybe it was malfunctioning.

Turning off her saberstaff, she clipped the weapon onto her belt and used both hands to push more forcefully at the droid. Sparks flew from the droid as it fought against the unseen energy halting its movement. Kira redoubled her efforts as sweat dripped into her eye, momentarily blinding her. But she didn’t need to see the droid, she could feel it. There was a darkness emanating from the droid as if it wanted to hurt her, to push her past her limits. To test her.

It was a test, she realised.

She changed tactic and poured her frustration over Hux’s earlier humiliation of her on the ship’s bridge to infuse the Force. She squeezed the air around the droid. Closing her hand into a fist, the droid instantly crumpled and dropped to the bridge.

A voice floated into her mind. Well done, apprentice.

***

Kira returned to her quarters, drenched in sweat from her training session. She felt physically exhausted but satisfied that she had passed the test her master had set for her. 

She breezed through the spartan living area to the bedroom and headed straight to the refresher, determined to remove the sweat stuck to her skin. She peeled off her reeking training clothes and turned the spray to extra hot. The spray was scalding yet comforting as she ducked underneath the nozzle. 

The steam filled her nostrils as she breathed through the frustration that had spiked to a fever pitch, allowing her to destroy the training droid. Her tired muscles started to relax as she let go of her emotions and let herself flow within the comforting eddies of the living Force surrounding her.

Even on a starship, devoid of anything natural, she flowed through the life energy that embued every crew member, through the recycled air to her favourite part of the ship. The garden that housed living plants, fruit trees and vegetables that supplemented the diet of only the most upper echelon of the First Order’s officers. Here the Force felt different, more real than the recycled air of the rest of the ship.

Kira longed to step foot on a planet again, without her terrible mask and armour. She wished she could feel grass beneath her feet, feel the warming sensation of a sun warming her face and body through the dappled barrier of an atmosphere. To feel herself come alive again. To look at her own reflection and see her lips a bright and healthy shade of pink, to see the almost faded freckles that dotted across her nose. To feel the bloom of life within her once again.

She felt so confined on this ship.

So trapped.

She longed to be free.

That was what her master had promised. That she would break her bonds and be free.

But here within the confines of the First Order she was just as confined as the stormtroopers who were programmed from their youth to follow orders.

With a whoosh the main door to their quarters opened, her head snapped up as she shut off the water and snagged her black robe from the refresher wall. She tied it around her waist and stormed towards the living area to meet her husband head on. Her frustration was back in full force.

She wondered how satisfying it would be to watch her husband’s skull crush with the same power she had used to destroy the training droid.

What? No. She loved her husband. Even if he had humiliated her in front of the entire bridge staff.

She stopped before Hux and dropped her eyes to the black carpet. “I’m sorry for speaking out of turn earlier. It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not.” His crisp accent cut through the air. His cold green eyes glinting dangerously in warning. “Or you know what will happen.”

Her eyes flicked up to her husband in fear. Yes, she knew what he meant. Terror filled her mind and threatened to overwhelm her senses. She could not let that happened. She dropped her eyes to the floor again. “I know.” She spoke almost in a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Hux stepped within her personal space and raised her chin with a single finger. “I don’t like having to remind you.” He told her, his voice softening slightly. “I don’t like causing you or anyone else I love pain.”

“I know.” Kira told him, raising her eyes to meet his. “I really didn’t mean to embarrass you. I’m sorry.”

“You keep saying that,” he lowered his finger from her face. “Yet you keep doing it.” He stepped back and resumed his stiff military posture. “The Supreme Leader wants to see us. Both of us.”

“Really?” Kira could hardly keep the smile from her face. This was her reward for passing his test in the training room. Perhaps the Supreme Leader would override her husband’s insistence that she was needed as his own personal enforcer. Perhaps she would be allowed to resume her training in the Force.

Hux’s eyes turned cold again as he took in her excitement at his statement. “Yes. He probably wants to chastise you himself for your meddling.”

Kira had to force herself not to smirk at his comment. Her husband was willfully blind to the Force and the actions Force adherents were capable of.

Yes. She thought to herself. I’m sure he will want to chastise someone for meddling. But it won’t be me.

She was determined that she would make her case directly to the Supreme Leader to continue her Force training immediately. She had had enough of tagging behind her husband, being wheeled out whenever he needed an attack dog with more fighting power than an entire squadron of his precious stormtroopers. 

Kira was determined to be useful to the First Order and to the Supreme Leader himself.

***

Kira stood at attention beside her husband in the Audience Chamber before the enormous hologram of Snoke sitting on his throne. Although her master was shrouded in shadow she knew the projection was meant to be intimidating. In truth she knew her master was only a foot or so taller than herself.

Even so, she could feel the darkness emanating from the hologram even though it was a diluted presence of her master.

She stood in silence, hiding behind her black mask her master insisted she wear in his presence. She knew her master resented Hux’s demand that she acts as his private adjutant within the military. It was a waste of her true skills, which should be as a Jedi hunter. Her master had promised that she would provide him with the heads of their enemies once she had completed her training under his guidance. But her husband had intervened in the Supreme Leader’s plan to have her play act as his bodyguard.

It was ridiculous.

Hux had a puffed up sense of his own importance to believe he needed a bodyguard on the bridge of his own flagship. He never even listened to her advice. He never used her skills as a warrior except when his stormtroopers had failed to subdue some element of rogue miscreants.

She listened intently as Snoke addressed her husband’s failure to eliminate the Resistance’s flagship and its puny squadron of motley fighter ships.

Under her mask she smiled and fought back the instinct to snort with laughter.

“The Resistance General was within your grasp.” Her master drawled indolently as if measuring each word with the weight of a future history’s judgement. “While Organa still lives, Hope still lives within the Galaxy.” He spat the word hope as if it were a dirty word. “While Organa lives she may call upon the aid of the last Jedi.”

Kira scrunched up her nose at the mention of her greatest enemy.

“If Skywalker returns,” Snoke’s form was made hideous in its appearance from its emergence from the shadow. “The Jedi will return.”

“Supreme Leader,” Hux nasally interrupted with haste. “I take full responsibility for-”

“GENERAL!” Snoke bellowed as the hologram stood to his full amplified height, making Hux raise his glance up a hundred feet to meet his eyes. Her master’s single admonition echoing menacingly through the chamber.

This time Kira did allow herself a smirk within the confines of her mask. Her master would not allow her husband to hide behind indolent excuses for his failure. And that would make her revelation about him failing to heed her advice all the sweeter.

“Our strategy,” Snoke glanced off to an unseen corner of the audience chamber. “Must now change.”

“The weapon,” Hux countered with conviction. “It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it.” He continued as Kira looked at her husband in disbelief. “We will destroy the government that supports the Resistance.” He paused with dramatic effect. “The Republic. Without their friends to support them, the Resistance will be vulnerable and we will still stop them before Organa can reach Skywalker.”

“Go.” Snoke melted back into the shadow, mollified. “Oversee operations.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Hux turned his head to look at his wife, who met his eyes behind her mask, daring him to order her to join him as he withdrew from her master’s presence. 

Hux sneered as he turned from her towards the exit of the audience chamber and stomped his way to the exit like a petulant child. 

Once they were alone Kira turned to her master and gave him her undivided attention. 

“We are to have a visitor.” Snoke confided in her. “Have you sensed it?”

Kira quirked her brow quizzically. In truth she had sensed nothing from the Force that could trouble her master. 

“Yes.” She lied quickly, adding every ounce of conviction behind her word. 

“There is something more.” Snoke added, rubbing a bony finger and thumb against one another, betraying his anxiety. “The visitor is one sent by my own master.”

“You have a master?” Kira exclaimed in astonishment.

“Yes.” Snoke almost whispered as if he were loathed to admit such a fact. “He is your grandfather.”

Kira’s eyes instinctively widened in shock, which she was quick to school into an air of nonchalance. As if this revelation of her ancestry had been part of her character from her birth instead of a spontaneous revelation. 

“He may be my grandfather but you are my true master.” She told him with a gravity she hoped would soothe her master’s obviously ruffled ego.

“Emperor…” Snoke deliberately dragged the words out, heightening her sense of anticipation. “Palpatine.” 

Kira could not contain her shock at this revelation. Not only the revelation that the emperor of the former Galactic Empire was her grandfather, but that he was her master’s Master.

Kira suppressed a gasp as she closed her eyes against the truth she felt in every bone, coming from every word from her master’s infinitely dry, almost nonexistent lips. “He makes no difference to me. You are my true master.”

“You, as my only apprentice.” Snoke looked almost sympathetic towards her. “Have never faced such a test.”

Kira was quick to take up the challenge offered by her master. “By the Grace of your training I will not be seduced by the folly of family.” She spat the last word as if it were detestable in every fibre of her being.

Even within the shadow of the hologram she could feel and see Snoke’s intense glare focus down to a tiny pinprick that made her feel tiny.

“We will see.”

Chapter Text

“You can have a turn.” Her husband sneered at her. “If you think you can do any better.”

Kira took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly. He was baiting her. Trying to get to her now that Snoke had once again transferred her back to training under him instead of babysitting her husband.

“With my skills with mind control I’m sure I can do a much better job at making him talk than whatever your torture droids can come up with.”

“Oh, yes.” He moved closer so they were almost nose to nose. “Your precious mind tricks. Tell me how well they worked against the Resistance?”

Kira fought with every ounce of her strength not to bite back at him. The only reason the Resistance General had gotten away was because he refused to listen to her advice in the first place!

“They will work with the pilot.” She assured him. “Much better than any of your methods.”

He leaned in closer until his cold green eyes were all she could see. “Make sure you get results. Or I will know who to tell the Supreme Leader is to blame for the failure.”

She watched him stalk away from her. “Sure.” She muttered under her breath. “You fuck up a hundred times then when you let me have one chance you blame it all on me!” She shook her head. “No thanks.”

Determined to prove her husband wrong she stormed down to the detention deck where the Resistance pilot was being held. She found him unconscious and strapped to an interrogation table. His head bleeding from a split on his forehead, the blood running over a well-endowed eyebrow. She trailed her fingers over the cut, thinking about the suffering he had endured under her husband’s watch. Sympathy was swelling in her eyes as she watched the marred skin knit back together.

She jumped back in surprise. She didn’t even know that Force healing was a thing. 

It was an instinct really.

The door whooshed open, surprising her. She spun around to see who had intruded upon her interrogation session.

To her surprise an unknown stranger stood in the doorway, clad all in black wearing a mask not too dissimilar to the mask she wore when she was on-world. The stranger emanated a dark signature unlike any she had ever felt. And it was more powerful than she had known in a human.

She knew without being told that he was human, though she had no idea how she knew it.

He was taller than her, by a lot. But that wasn’t what intimidated her. It was the fact that she knew that even in the midst of a torture chamber - even with the mask hiding his face - with an unconscious subject on the table he was looking only at her.

Her mouth was suddenly dry. She had no idea what to say to this unknown intruder. Then it occurred to her, perhaps he was the visitor her master had alluded to. 

“You’re the Emperor’s apprentice.” She stated as a matter of fact.

“I am.” His deep, sonorous voice made even more menacing through the vocoder sent shivers down her spine.

“I’m -“

“The Supreme Leader’s apprentice.” He answered tightly, cutting her off. “I know.” He seemed to take in a long breath before speaking again. “I’ve come to observe you.”

“Me?” Kira recoiled in surprise.

“The Supreme Leader, General Hux,” he waved his hand towards the door he had just come through. “The entire First Order.”

“So, not me?” Kira huffed, rolling her eyes.

There was a moment of silence before he responded. “You don’t consider yourself a part of the First Order.”

She met his helmet with a cold stare. “Only so far as the Supreme Leader is my master and Hux is my husband. The First Order rescued me. But aside from that,” she shrugged.

His black helmet tilted to the side in what she could only assume was surprise. It was a moment before he replied. “You do not hold to the ideals of the First Order?”

Kira caught her tongue in between her teeth. She knew this was a trick. If she answered wrong she would be dead before she knew it. “Of course I do.” She lowered her voice and answered honestly. “I just want more than to be someone’s apprentice and someone’s wife.” She searched his Force essence for the hint of sympathy she felt there for her words. “I just want for someone to see me for who I really am, rather than what use I can be to them.”

She felt a slight pressure in her head and closed her eyes against the images that came unbidden to the surface. Her twin children being handed to her as her pain began to subside. Hux’s red face as he screamed something she couldn’t hear. Twirling her red saberstaff around her body in an elegant figure eight pattern. A face shrouded in darkness as she writhed beneath him, giving her the most unadulterated pleasure she had ever felt in her life.

She sucked in a deep breath as the images suddenly stopped. 

The dark helmet tipped down towards her. She could feel something emanating from his Force press now. Hunger.

He stepped towards her, his feet moving unconsciously. She scrambled backwards until she felt her back hit the durocrete wall behind her. She fumbled her palms against the wall, trying to find purchase. Turning her cheek to press her cheek against the cool surface, trying to defuse the heat spreading across her face and neck.

His masked helmet hovered inches from her face. All she could hear was his breathing through the vocoder and her own desperate gasps for air.

“Uh,” a rough voice came from the table behind them. “Is your flirting part of the torture?” They turned as one as they realised their prisoner was awake. “‘Cause if it is, it’s working.” Poe winced as he turned his head to face them.

Kylo Ren strode towards the interrogation table where the pilot was almost in an upright position, sweat and blood intermingling with the dark curls at his forehead.

Kira remained in the shadows of the room, watching intently. Determined to learn all she could from the Emperor’s apprentice. 

“I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board.” Ren spoke, his voice somehow darker and deeper than it had sounded before.

The pilot said nothing more as he lifted his head wearily from the table.

“Comfortable?” Ren asked quizzically.

“Not really.” The pilot drawled.

“I’m impressed.” Ren stepped closer to the pilot. “No one has been able to get out of you what you did with the map.”

The pilot lifted his gaze to the dark mask now towering over him. “You might want to rethink your technique.”

Ren looked back at Kira to see if she was watching. She got the feeling this was a lesson of some kind. When he turned back to the pilot he raised a hand towards the man’s head. She could feel the darkness swirling from his gloved fingers towards the pilot. The pilot grunted as he struggled against Ren’s hold. “Where is it?” 

“The Resistance will not be intimidated by you.” The pilot spat out.

“Where is it?” Kylo pushed harder, pulling images to the surface just as he had done to her moments before. But where she knew he had traced through her memories with a delicate touch he gave no such consideration to the pilot’s mind, rummaging through images roughly. She realised with surprise that she could see what he saw.

The old man San Tekka handing him a small bag. The First Order troop carriers landing just beyond the village. A small spherical white and orange astromech droid opening a compartment. The pilot hiding a data chip inside. Herself standing before San Tekka as he fell under her saberstaff, his body sliced in two.

The pilot screamed as one by one his memories flooded to the surface.

***

The door to the interrogation room slid neatly into the ceiling as Kira followed Kylo Ren back into the corridor where her husband waited impatiently.

“It’s in a droid.” Kylo Ren told him. “A BB unit.”

“Well then, if it’s on Jakku, we’ll soon have it.” Hux told him, his thin lips pulled into a tight line. It was clear that while her husband hated to be proved wrong by her, it made him furious to have this creature make his efforts look fruitless.

“We will collect it ourselves.” He told Hux firmly.

“We?” Hux scoffed at him, almost forgetting the walking terror that was standing before him.

Kylo Ren turned to Kira and held out his hand to her. “Shall we?”

Kira’s breath hitched as she looked back and forth between her husband and the Emperor’s apprentice. She should refuse. She knows her husband will be wracked with jealousy over her taking the dark knight up on his offer. But a shiver of pleasure washed over her as she remembered the heat that rose inside her from their earlier proximity in the interrogation room.

Without glancing at her husband she followed Kylo Ren out of the detention block.

***

Poe came slowly to consciousness and wished that he hadn’t. Even the low blue light in the interrogation room hurt his eyes. His head felt like his brain was trying to burst out of his skull.

“Ren wants the prisoner.” A bucket head informed the trooper standing guard beside him.

Poe felt the binders on the table snap open and he looked down in surprise. Then he looked up at the bucket head who had spoken as he put a pair of stun cuffs on his wrists. Great. Now I’m going to die.

He almost stumbled as the lone trooper pulled him along the corridor with a blaster trained on him. He led Poe through a maze of corridors before he nudged him with the nuzzle end of his blaster. 

“Turn here.” The trooper shoved him into a small alcove off the main corridor.

There was barely enough room for the two of them to face one another in the alcove. Poe looked in confusion as the bucket head spoke to him. “Listen carefully. If you do exactly as I say, I can get you out of here.”

“What?” Poe almost smiled as the bucket head fumbled to remove the stun cuffs.

The trooper removed his helmet to show a young man with swarthy skin. His dark eyes were full of determination. “This is a rescue. I’m helping you escape.” The man spoke quickly, sweat breaking out all over his face. “Can you fly a TIE fighter?”

Poe felt hope filling every fibre of his being. “You’re with the Resistance?”

The trooper scoffed in confusion. “What? No, no, no. I’m breaking you out. Can you fly a TIE fighter?” He repeated his question.

“I can fly anything.” Poe answered confidently, still bewildered by the situation. “Why? Why are you helping me?”

The trooper looked solemnly at Poe. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

That sounded like a bunch of bantha shit to Poe. “You need a pilot.” He made the realisation. This trooper wanted out and Poe was his ticket out of the First Order.

“I need a pilot.” The trooper nodded.

Poe nodded, smiling at the trooper encouragingly. “We’re gonna do this.”

“Yeah?” The trooper looked confused at Poe, wondering if he had made a mistake in trusting this man. Surely he was mad. He looked crazy.

Without any other options available to him, FN-2187 followed the pilot towards the hangar. Although this had originally been his plan, he was happy to defer to the Resistance pilot’s obvious experience in the areas of subterfuge and escape plans. There was no way FN-2187 knew anything about how to actually carry out his plan. Springing out the pilot had been his plan.

Poe had put the cuffs back on his wrists but now held them closed with his hands. He waited for FN-2187 outside the hanger for him to catch up.

“Wait for my signal.” Poe told him before gesturing a seemingly bound hand towards the control panel for the door.

Suddenly understanding his meaning FN-2187 leaped forward and punched the door control panel, harder than strictly necessary.

Poe gave him a look of bafflement and stepped through into the hanger he had arrived in with Snoke’s bitch.

FN-2187 held onto his arm and kept his blaster trained on his ‘prisoner’, all the while muttering. “Okay, stay calm. Stay calm.”

“I am calm.” Poe threw quietly over his shoulder, scanning the hanger for the best opportunity to board a TIE fighter.

“I’m talking to myself.” The bucket head replied.

Poe just looked over his shoulder at the trooper in disbelief. Under any other circumstances he would have laughed at the man. But the danger they were in was very real. The First Order forces in the hanger would not hesitate to shoot them both down. And he didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to their unorthodox situation. He kept his head down and continued walking.

“Not yet.” The trooper told him.

At some unseen signal, the trooper nudged him with the muzzle of his blaster. “Okay, go. This way.” 

Poe followed the trooper as he ran to the side of the hanger and they boarded an unmanned TIE fighter. Obviously the trooper had actually made a plan of his own and had forgotten to share it with him.

Poe jumped into the pilot seat and flicked on the switches to fire up the engines. It was a standard configuration, not too dissimilar to his own X-wing. He blew out the breath he was holding when the readout screen flicked to life. “I’ve always wanted to fly one of these things.” He turned to where the trooper sat behind him, facing the rear window. “Can you shoot?”

“Blasters I can.”

“Okay, same principle.” Poe continued to flick switches to bring the engines, shields and other systems online. “Use the toggle on the left to switch between missiles, cannons and mag pulse. Use the sight on the right to aim.” He rattled off faster than FN-2187 could keep up. “Triggers to fire.”

“This is very complicated.” FN-2187 was overwhelmed as he looked around at the various controls around him. Then he jolted as the TIE fighter lifted off the ground, ungangly veering away from its docking station. 

They had barely made it from the docking station when Poe heard a cable go taut. The TIE wouldn’t respond no matter how much he accelerated the forward thrusters. “I can fix this.” He said as an alarm started blaring throughout the cockpit. 

***

“We have an unsanctioned departure from Bay Two.” The colonel reported to his officer. What he was seeing made no sense. A TIE fighter was trying to take off while the support cable was still attached. 

His commanding officer stepped up behind him. “Alert General Hux. And stop that fighter.”

***

FN-2187 flicked between the two controls on his left and right hands as stormtroopers opened fire on their TIE fighter. He made a few adjustments and began to fire back, improving his understanding of the unfamiliar weapons system with each passing second. He was able to aim and shot several stormtroopers who were firing on them. He also managed to accidentally hit some of the docked TIEs. He adjusted the toggle on the left to switch to another type of weapon and hoped it would work. 

He aimed for the control room itself and blasted. The resulting explosion attested to the fact that he had hit it.

“I got it!” Poe exclaimed as the support cable broke away and he lifted the TIE fighter through the hanger and out into the black of space. Poe exclaimed as the G forces pushed him back into his seat, “Whoa! This thing really moves!” 

He whirled the TIE fighter around and flew under the belly of the Star Destroyer. “We gotta take out as many of these cannons as we can or we’re not gonna get very far.”

“All right.” Acknowledged FN-2187.

“I’m gonna get us in position.” Poe continued,. “Just stay sharp.” 

Poe moved the TIE fighter faster, whipping around extruding aerials. “Up ahead! Up ahead. Do you see it? I got us dead centre. It’s a clean shot.”

“Okay, I got it.” FN-2187 said mostly to himself as he used the scope to line up one then the other turbolasers. They flew through the fireball. “Yeah!!”

“Yes!”

“Did you see that?!” FN-2187 exclaimed triumphantly. “Did you see that?!

“I saw it.” Poe smiled as he flew them away from the Star Destroyer. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“FN-2187.” The trooper replied automatically.

“F….” Poe struggled to follow the numbers and letters the trooper had rattled off. “What?”

“That’s the only name they ever gave me.” The trooper answered dejectedly.

“Well, I ain’t using it.” Poe told him firmly. “F-N, huh? Finn. I’m gonna call you Finn. Is that alright?”

“Finn.” The trooper rolled the name off his tongue. “Yeah. Finn, I like that.” He smiled. “I like that.”

“I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.” He shouted over his shoulder to his new companion.

“Good to meet you, Poe.”

“Good to meet you too, Finn.”

***  

“Sir, they’ve taken out our turbolasers.” An ensign reported from the work station below where General Hux paced the bridge.

“Bring the ventral cannons online.” Hux barked out the order to the weapons station.

“Yes, sir. Bringing them online.” Lieutenant Mitaka acknowledged and resumed his work.

Phasma entered the bridge and stormed up to the General. Her chrome armour once again polished and shining as her cape flowed behind her. “General Hux, is it the Resistance pilot?” She asked him lowly, standing closer than was strictly necessary. 

“Yes, and he had help from one of our own.” Hux admitted lowly. He turned to the operations officer. “We’re checking the register now to identify which stormtrooper it was.”

Phasma tilted her chromed helmet to the side. “The one from the village. Your wife’s pet. FN-2187.”

The weapons lieutenant Mitaka called out. “Sir, the ventral cannons are hot.”

“Fire.” General Hux ordered.

***

Poe ducked and weaved the TIE fighter to evade the blue trails of the ventral cannons. “One’s coming towards you! My right. Your left. Do you see it?”

“Hold on.” Finn scanned his rear viewport. “I see it.” He aimed for the cannon trail and fired, destroying it.

“Nice shot!”

Poe continued to evade the green turbolasers from their pursuing TIEs and more blue trails from the ventral cannons and set a course for the bare landscape of the planet below.

“Whoa! Where are we going?” Finn demanded.

“We’re going back to Jakku. That’s where.”

“No. We can’t go back to Jakku.” Finn protested. “We need to get out of this system.”

“I gotta get my droid before the First Order does.” Poe explained, continuing towards the planet. 

“What? A droid?” Finn exclaimed, incredulous.

“Yeah, a droid” Poe continued. “He’s a BB unit, orange and white. One of a kind.”

“I don’t care what colour he is! No droid can be that important.”

“This one is, pal.”

“We gotta get as far away from the First Order as we can.” Finn tried to reason with him. “Go back to Jakku, we die.”

“That droid had a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker.” Poe explained.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” Finn screamed in disbelief. He agreed with his earlier assessment of the pilot. He was crazy. Skywalker was a myth, nothing more. Before he could explain this to his companion one of their twin ion engines was hit. 

***  

“FN-2187 reported to my division, was evaluated and sent to reconditioning.” Phasma explained to the General. 

“No prior signs of nonconformity?” Hux asked quietly, hoping his question wouldn’t travel too far from the stormtrooper captain to the sharp ears of the rest of the bridge crew.

“This was his first offence.” Phasma confirmed. 

“General,” a female officer’s voice called out from a tactical station. “They’ve been hit.”

“Destroyed?” Hux demanded, coming up beside the officer.

“Disabled.” She confirmed. “They were headed back to Jakku. The fighter is projected to crash in the Goazon Badlands.”

“They were going back for the droid.” He turned back to Phasma. “Send a squad to the wreckage.”

***

Kylo Ren strode down the gangplank of the First Order shuttle with Rey Hux at his side. She was dressed similar to him now, complete with a black helmet that hid her too beautiful face. It was just as well. The woman had become a distraction in the interrogation room with the pilot. 

He scrunched his hands into fists at his sides as he fought back the heat that moved through his body when he thought about how close his face had been to hers. That if he hadn’t been wearing his mask he would have taken her mouth and plundered all its hidden secrets. His head snapped to hers as he realised she had said something.

“What?”

She gave an exasperated huff through her vocoder as she stepped onto the sand. “I said, how can anyone survive in this furnace?” 

Although the sun was close to the horizon, the sand was indeed scorching hot.

“Use the Force to cool your body.” He told her, following her down onto the sand.

She snorted a laugh. “Yeah, like it’s that easy.”

He stopped in front of her and glanced down at where her lips would be under the helmet. “Close your eyes and feel a cool wind blow over your body.”

Kira shivered as she felt the Force tingle along her skin, setting her flesh to goosebump and felt the fine hairs on her body rise with the sudden coolness. 

“Wow,” she breathed as she opened her eyes to find the chrome slats where his eyes should be. “Thanks.”

Ren tipped his mask down in a curt nod of acknowledgment before he set out across the sand to the remains of an Imperial AT-AT on its side, half buried by sand.

A moment later he was joined by Kira Hux. “Why did you land us all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Tuanaal Village was back over there.” She pointed off towards the South West of their current position.

“The droid didn’t stick around after the pilot told him to leave.” Ren moved his head to the side, glancing towards the top of a nearby dune. “Owners leave a Force signature on their droids if they work closely together for long enough.” His masked face turned back to her. “Can you feel it?”

She felt the heat rise once again in her cheeks at his words and remembered their close proximity in the interrogation room, how she had longed to rip the mask off his head and let him do whatever he wanted with her. “Feel what?” She asked in a small voice.

His mask snapped back to the dune. “The pilot’s signature is faint. But it’s coming from that direction.”

“Oh,” she replied, deflating. She reached out with her senses but felt nothing. But she could hear muted mechanical sounds and the laboured breathing of a creature coming from the direction he had pointed out. She grabbed her saberstaff from the clip on her belt and ran past the AT-AT and crested the dune, being careful not to lose her footing. 

As she reached the top she saw a strange creature with rusted armour covering its huge head leaning over something on the ground. A much smaller alien was riding on the creature’s back. The worried trills came from a small white and orange spherical droid caught in a black net on the ground. The droid was wriggling frantically in the net, squealing out a protest.

Kira stood as straight backed as she could and projected an air of authority she didn’t quite feel. “That droid belongs to the First Order.”

The alien babbled back to her in a strange dialect she didn’t understand.

She pushed a Force compulsion behind her words. “You will surrender the droid and be on your way.”

The alien brandished a staff in her direction and chittered again angrily in that unfamiliar language.

Without saying a word, Kylo Ren stalked towards the small alien and its armoured creature. As he got closer he pulled a black lightsaber from his belt. It was unlike anything else she had ever seen, with a cross guard at the emitters end. He stopped solemnly before the creature before he lit the lightsaber. An unstable, crackling red beam shot out from the emitter, followed a second later by two smaller beams from the cross guard. Given the unstable beam of the lightsaber she surmised the side vents of the cross guard were needed to regulate the unstable flow of energy from the crystal to stop the lightsaber from blowing up in the user’s hand. No wonder he wore gloves. Her fingers almost itched to take the lightsaber apart and see if she could regulate the flow between the crystal and the power source without the need for the ventral shafts of the cross guard.

“That droid,” Kylo Ren pointed his flaming saber towards where the white and orange droid rocked back and forth under the net with fear. “Belongs to us.”

The small alien said something else in his unknown language before dropping the net and leading his beast away from the menacing dark figure.

Kira replaced her saberstaff on her belt and drew a small curved knife and set to work slicing open the netting, freeing the droid. The droid rocked back and forth taking in the two dark clad figures in front of it, chirping angrily at them. Then it sped off away from them.

Then it stopped.

Kira looked back at Kylo Ren to see that he had returned his unusual lightsaber back on his belt and held out his hand, fingers splayed towards the droid. He had it trapped in a Force hold. He walked unhurriedly towards the trapped droid. He waved a hand over a hidden compartment on the droid’s spherical body. The tiny compartment slipped open easily, commanded by the Force. Kylo Ren reached down and removed the small data chip. He spun and walked back towards their shuttle, leaving Kira staring at the droid, dumbfounded.

“What about the droid?” She asked, more to herself than to the Emperor’s apprentice.

Without bothering to answer or turn back to her, Kylo answered in her mind. We just need the map. The droid itself is unimportant.

With a cluck of her tongue against her teeth, Kira followed him down the dune to the gangplank. Once she stood by Kylo Ren’s side she hung her head in dismay. “I should have left it in the net. I should have known it would run once it was free.”

Kylo turned his masked face down to her. “Yes. But you will learn.” He turned away from her and returned to the shuttle.

Kira blinked. She had expected a dressing down from him, to be told what an idiot she had been for making such a basic mistake. She rolled his words over in her head. You will learn. Was he going to teach her himself? Was that why the Emperor had sent him?

And why did that thought fill her with dread and excitement in equal measure?

This is the Alternate artwork for this chapter. I couldn't decide which one I like more. Let me know in the comments which one you prefer.

Chapter Text

FN-21…no. He reminded himself firmly. He was Finn now. Thanks to the Resistance pilot who had saved him from the First Order. 

Finn sat up with a jerk, realising he was hotter than he had ever been before and he was lying on something very uncomfortable. He fumbled at the seat buckle at his waist and rolled over to stand. Scanning the rolling dunes of sand, he made out a plume of black smoke on the horizon.

The TIE fighter. 

Without hesitation he ran over the nearest dune until he found the TIE crash-landed in the sand, a large channel carved in the sand belied where it had skidded to a stop after hitting the ground.

“Poe!!” He screamed, desperately sprinting around the fallen TIE, looking for signs of the pilot. He reached inside the smashed forward viewport of the smouldering wreckage and reached inside, spotting what he thought was his rescuer still inside, but his hand came away bearing only the brown leather jacket instead of the man made of flesh and blood. “Poe!” He screamed again, hoping the man had made it out alive and had wandered off in a daze. His seat was still inside the ship, so surely he had been in the ship when it crashed, instead of being ejected as he had obviously been.

Without warning, the ship creaked ominously and Finn struggled to find his footing in the shifting sands. He held his arms out for balance while the ground shifted again. 

What the…?

He continued to move backwards from the ship and screamed again, “Poe!” As he watched the sand burst forth in several sections around the ship and enveloped the ship unceremoniously, as if being eaten by some huge sand monster.

Finn could do nothing but cling to the leather jacket as he watched helplessly while the ship slipped below the surface of the sand.

He was out of breath from running and his mouth felt impossibly dry from the scorching heat. He looked around at the desolate, unforgiving planet he had found himself never wanting to return to, alone. He glanced down at the leather jacket in his hand.

What do I do now?

An enormous explosion came from behind him, nearly knocking him off his feet. His heart jumped into his throat. He was worried it would stop altogether with fright. He turned back to where the ship had slunk beneath the sand to find sand falling from a huge eruption as if a sand creature had just thrown up the contents of its enormous stomach.

But there was still no ship. Just sand falling to the ground.

He hung his head in regret, knowing he would never see Poe again and he had failed to save him from this awful fate.

Just as he had failed FN-2003.

He looked across the dunes as he felt something stirring in the distance. He couldn’t tell what it was. But he knew he had to walk in that direction. Forcing one foot in front of the other, he walked in the direction that seemed to be calling to him, peeling off the stormtrooper armour as he went, dropping them carelessly to the sand behind him. He felt as though he was shedding his old skin and becoming the man he was always meant to be.

If I don’t die of thirst first.

Using Poe’s jacket to protect him from the harsh sun, he continued to walk across endless dunes.

After what felt like the better part of a day he saw meagre signs of civilisation. Moisture vaporators reaching tall from rusted out bases.

Still he continued his unforgiving sojourn until he spotted a flatten out plain that had a number of tents and semi permanent buildings dotted around. Ships as well.

It must be a town. Or whatever passed for a town on this hellhole planet. Though why anyone would choose to eke out a living on Jakku was beyond him.

***

“You found the map?” Her husband rounded on her as she returned to the bridge of the Finalizer with Kylo Ren to report their success. His reddening lips turned up in sneer. “You?” 

“As I said,” Kylo Ren continued in his dark, melodious voice, made menacing by his vocoder. “Apprentice Kira proved herself most capable.”

Hux snapped his gaze to the taller, forbidding figure of Kylo Ren. “Supreme Leader Snoke was explicit. Capture the droid if we can, but destroy it if we must.” Hux turned his cold eyes to his wife. “Adjutant Hux,” he spat the words, correcting the dark knight of his incorrect use of her name and title. “Take off that ridiculous helmet. You will not wear it in my presence.”

Kira turned her head to her husband, pleading that he would stop embarrassing her in front of the powerful Emperor’s apprentice.

“She will do no such thing.” Kylo Ren snapped at the General. “She is a true apprentice to the Force. All shall tremble at her appearance.”

Hux rounded on Kylo Ren and stood toe to toe with him, as if he could intimidate someone who had the Force as his ally. “You dare to intervene between my subordinate officer? My wife?!”

Kylo Ren raised a finger almost lazily between them and her husband immediately reached to loosen his collar, he gasped as if he were choking.

Kira watched on with equal horror and fascination as she realised her husband was being choked through the Force. She had heard of the Emperor’s first apprentice, Darth Vader doing this, but never had seen it performed in person. She didn’t say a word, but reached out to touch Kylo’s free hand at his side in supplication.

Without hesitation, Kylo released Hux from his hold. Her husband sputtered as he tried to gulp lungfuls of air.

“Your wife is now my apprentice.” Kylo spat out to him, holding a finger in warning in front of the pasty General’s face. “I suggest you show her the respect that position deserves.”

Kira stood up straighter, daring her husband to push the dark knight further.

“We have the map.” Kylo barked with authority.

“And if the droid has seen the map and transmits that information to the Resistance?” Hux demanded as Kylo began walking towards the exit of the bridge, with Kira falling into step behind him. 

“How capable are your soldiers, General?”

Hux scrambled to catch up with him. “I won’t have you questioning my methods.”

“They’re obviously skilled at committing high treason.” Kylo drawled as he continued at a quick clip. “Perhaps Supreme Leader Snoke should consider using a Clone Army.”

Hux stood his ground in front of Kylo Ren. “My men are exceptionally trained. Programmed from birth.”

“Then they should have no problem retrieving the droid.” He sidestepped the General and continued walking towards the exit. Kira resumed her pace behind him. “Pack your belongings.” He told her firmly. “You will be moving to my quarters and begin your training immediately.”

Once again, Hux stood in front of the dark knight, blocking his exit. His voice was deathly quiet as if he were revealing a secret. “Careful Ren, that your personal interests not interfere with orders from Leader Snoke.”

Kira watched both men with a keen interest. She couldn’t help a shiver run down her back as she almost felt as though she was a precious jewel the two were fighting over.

“My master has commanded me to take over her training if I found it necessary.” Kylo stepped closer to Hux as he drove his point home. “And I find you have squandered her talent.”

Hux lowered his eyes in submission as Kylo Ren sidestepped him, once more with Kira in tow as they left the bridge.

***

Finn moved among the tents of the town, swerving around its few inhabitants, desperately searching for water for his burning throat. He grabbed one after another of the strange traders. “Water.” He managed to croak out. He was met with unfamiliar words that seemed like a dismissal. He grabbed hold of a metal pole that held up one of the tents as his vision blurred.

He heard water splashing behind him. He must have been hallucinating. He spun around to face a giant animal with a thick hide, short tusks and large, bulbous snout drinking from a pool of water.

Without stopping to think of the danger associated with running up to a wild happabore, Finn threw himself to the pool’s edge and cupped his hands to drink as much water as he could. He fought the urge to gag at the taste of the water, laced with happabore saliva and dove back to drink more of the precious water.

***

“BB-8, my buddy!” Poe found his orange and white astromech droid trundling amongst the various tents of Niima outpost. He knelt and gave his friend the equivalent of a belly scratch as they celebrated their unlikely reunion. “It’s so good to see you!”

BB-8 let out a series of squeaks and whistles, demanding to know what happened to Poe.

“Don’t worry about it.” Poe waved off his ordeal. “I’ve been through worse.” He looked around at the vendors and scavengers scrubbing various tech to barter for food. “I made a friend - Finn. He helped me escape the First Order. Have you seen him?”

Poe looked up as he heard a rumbling growl from a large animal as it tossed a man wearing his own jacket from the pool of water. “Don’t worry. I found him.”

Finn stood upright and spotted his new friend with the astromech droid he recognised from Poe’s earlier description of it. “Poe?”

“Oh, no.” Poe was already running towards him, a large smile lighting up his face.

“Poe Dameron, you’re alive?” Finn exclaimed as he rushed towards the other man and clung to him in a fierce embrace. 

“Buddy! So are you!” Poe hugged the former bucket head, relief flooding his body as the wind whipped up the sand around them.

“What happened to you?” Finn demanded.

“I got thrown from the crash.” Poe explained, refusing to let go of his friend, holding onto his arms, his shoulders. Wanting to make sure he was real and not a hallucination brought on by the heat and lack of water. “I woke up this morning. No you, no ship. Nothing. BB-8 says two First Orders goons in masks stole the map but he saved the contents. Now we can complete the mission” He knew he was rambling but he couldn’t stop himself. “Must be Hux’s bitch and the guy who tore through my head.”

“Wait, Hux’s bit-” Finn shook his head. “You mean Hux’s wife? Adjutant Hux? You saw her?”

“Yeah, she was with the guy who scrambled my brain.”

“What? General Hux?” Finn tried to make sense of what his friend was telling him.

“Nah, not Hugs.” Poe shook his head, his dark curls falling around his face. “Some other guy. Said he came from the Emperor or something to check on Hux and Snoke.” It was then that Poe finally took in his friend’s appearance. “That’s my jacket.”

Finn looked down as if only just realising that he was wearing it. He made to take it off but Poe stopped him. “No, no, no.” Poe looked into Finn’s eyes and smiled. Something about this former stormtrooper was entirely unexpected and disarming. He liked the thought of him wearing his jacket. “Keep it. It suits you.” Punching him playfully on the shoulder, Poe couldn’t help but imagine what Finn would look like without the jacket. A playful smile crept onto his face. “You’re a good man, Finn.”

“Poe, I need your help.”

“Again?”

“Yeah,” Finn held onto the arm where Poe was holding firm to his shoulder. “We need to get out of here. Can you take me with you to Resistance?”

BB-8 whirled up to Poe and Finn, demanding their attention. Poe followed BB-8’s agitated tone and spotted two stormtroopers speaking with a couple of shady looking characters. They pointed to them and the stormtroopers saw them. They ran to where Poe and Finn stood with BB-8, their blasters already firing red bolts promising death. 

Poe grabbed Finn’s hand and led him through the stalls. “Come on, buddy!” Poe called to BB-8 over his shoulder. “I know a way out of here. Stay close.”

As they approached the small landing pad Poe had spotted on his way into Niima outpost, he led Finn through the various tents to the north side of the town. They stopped in one tent where Finn rummaged around for a weapon of some kind. “Doesn’t anyone have any blasters around here?”

The sound of ion engines pulled Poe and Finn from their frantic search. Poe once again took Finn’s hand and led him out of the tent. They only made it a few feet before they were flung through the air by the blast of a TIE fighter, kicking up sand behind them. Poe crawled to where Finn lay unconscious on the ground, unmoving. He shook his friend frantically. “Finn! Finn, buddy. Do you hear me?”

Finn shook his head as he came to. “Poe! Are you okay?”

Poe smiled at him. “Yeah.” He offered him his hand to help him up, which Finn gladly took. “Follow me.” Poe told him. 

They raced once more through the entrance to Niima outpost towards the landing pad, avoiding explosions all around them.

“What?” Finn exclaimed. “A quad jumper? That’s your plan for getting us outta here?”

“Nah!” Poe pointed to a large ship that stood partially covered by a large canvas sheet. “We’re getting outta here in that ship.”

“That looks like garbage!” Finn screamed as he followed his friend to the unspaceworthy looking saucer shaped ship.

“That’s the Millennium Falcon!” Poe hooted wildly, letting go of Finn’s hand to pound up the open gangway. “My mother flew with her at the Battle of Endor. Trust me, I’d know it anywhere!”

As they entered the rounded corridor, Poe pointed to a ladder. “Gunner position is down there!” He left Finn to continue onto the cockpit. 

He had flown so many simulations as a kid in his mother’s flight simulator, imagining he was helping General Lando Calrissian blow up the second Death Star with his mom’s Green Squadron running defence for the Falcon. Now he could hardly believe he was firing up the Millennium Falcon with a bunch of TIE fighters on his tail.

“You ever flown this thing?” Finn demanded as he strapped himself into the gunner’s chair.

“No! Only in my dreams!” Poe yelled back.

“Great.” Finn muttered to himself as he scanned the controllers and read out, trying to work out the gun system on this bucket of bolts. He donned the headset so he could communicate with Poe rather than having to yell through the ship.

“It must have been abandoned after the Battle of Jakku.”

“What?” Finn exclaimed, doing the math in his head. “That was thirty years ago.”

“Twenty nine.” Poe corrected, setting his own headset in place.

“Are you sure this thing will fly?”

Poe chuckled. “She’ll fly.” 

He continued to flick switches until the engines roared to life, he raised the landing gear and took off smoothly, careening over the endless dunes towards the ship graveyard where his mother had once fought alongside Luke Skywalker’s squadron.

Poe took the ship in a long arc and brought them hurtling towards two TIE fighters. “Finn, buddy. They’re all yours!”

Finn lined up one of the smaller fighters on the ancient targeting computer and fired. His first set of volleys missed the lead TIE fighter, but managed to clip the wing of the second, sending it barrelling into the hull of a long abandoned Star Destroyer. “I got it!”

“I see ya, buddy. Great work.” Poe called back, manuvering the ship to come around for another pass. “Now finish off his pal so we can get out of here!”

Once more Finn felt as though something else was guiding his hands and eyes, lining up the fighter in his targeting computer. Once the yellow arrows indicated that the fighter was in the centre of his targeting zone, Finn hit the button, firing off rounds at the last remaining TIE fighter. “Yeah!”

“That’s it, buddy!” Poe called over the headset. “Now hang on tight. We’re getting off this rock of a planet!” 

Once they made it to the safety of space, he jumped out of his seat to input the calculations in the navicomputer. Need to make a few stops to shake them off our tail. 

BB-8 came wheeling into the cockpit to squeal at him in protest. “I know, I’m sorry!” Poe told his droid. “I’m setting the coordinates as fast as I can.”

BB-8 asked him if he wanted help. “Sure, buddy!” He pointed to the astromech input and got out of BB-8’s way while he communicated directly with the ship. The droid asked Poe a series of questions as he retook the pilot’s seat. “Uh, D’Qar eventually. But we’re running low on fuel so find the nearest Resistance friendly fuel stop.”

Poe chuckled at BB-8’s suggestion. “Sure, Takodana sounds great. Can’t wait to see Maz again. Punch it in.”

***

Kira removed her helmet as she looked nervously at Kylo Ren. She surveyed the new quarters she was to inhabit. He had yet to remove his mask but she felt the anticipation rise in her the longer he took. 

“Refresher is that way,” he told her, pointing down a short corridor. “Your bedroom is the room at the end. Mine is here.” He pointed to the closest doorway. “But first, we will go to the training room.”

“What for?” She asked, baffled by his authoritative tone still disguised by the vocoder.

He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her. She felt the intense heat of his stare, even through his mask. “You have had no formal training with your saberstaff. Form VII - Juyo would suit your staff, but it requires a great deal of agility and focus on your darker emotions to channel your movements.”

“And you will teach me?” She asked him, desperate to reach for his hand but forcing herself to hold still; pinned under his piercing gaze.

“There are seven forms. Each one favoured by a different school of thinking. The Jedi taught these forms for a millennia.”

“How do you know Jedi saber forms?” She enquired.

He stopped in mid-stride and looked away from her, as if suddenly shamed. “My first master was a Jedi.” He turned his head to her as if in a challenge. “He taught me the forms.”

“Before you trained with the Emperor?”

He nodded.

She swallowed thickly before asking her next question. “Did you kill your first master?”

“No.” He glanced away again. “He tried to kill me in cold blood. Six of his apprentices joined me against him and a handful of his favourite apprentices and we destroyed his Jedi Temple and fled to the Emperor. But Skywalker himself survived.”

“Skywalker?” Kira rounded on him. “Luke Skywalker was your first master?”

This time Kylo Ren said nothing, but a series of images flooded Kira’s mind. A bearded man standing over a young man asleep in his bed, a green lightsaber held above his sleeping apprentice’s head. A group of teenaged knights standing behind the dark haired young man. Their master stood opposite them with a young woman with swarthy skin and white hair, a human male who was bald despite his youth and a Quarren with tentacles moving beneath his mouth as he shouted something she couldn’t hear. An auburn haired youth with ice blue eyes that matched the old man’s blue eyes. The scene shifted in her mind as the temple burned with the apprentices who had stood with Skywalker either lying dead or dying. Skywalker himself was nowhere to be seen.

Kylo Ren reached to the base of his mask and clicked an unseen button under his chin. The chrome eye covering remained in place as the black mouth and nose covering popped open with a small hiss and moved away from his face. With one gloved hand he leaned forward and  removed the helmet. He stood back up to his full height, flicking his long dark hair out of his whiskey coloured eyes. Eyes that burned with an intensity she wanted to fall into and run from all at once. Even before she realised the gasp had left her lips she felt her breath catch. He was beautiful.

“Did you see?”

Not trusting her voice, she nodded, desperately trying to regain control over her heart thumping hard in her chest.

His eyes burned further into hers. “Can we…?”

“Can we, what?” She stuttered, knowing at once that she would give him anything he asked for.

He took a step closer and cupped her face gently with one gloved hand. His long fingers touched the curls near her ear. She tilted her chin up to grant him easier access to her lips. Before making a move to close the gap, he let loose a low growl and tore at the glove with his teeth, removing the offending article and throwing it to the floor. Once more, he reached out and touched her face. His hand was burning hot. She felt a fire burn down her cheek and spread through her entire body.

At the same time images, feelings, entire years worth of lessons flooded her head. She screamed in pain at the overwhelming sensation. When her vision finally cleared she blinked away tears to see his beautiful eyes crinkling with compassion.

“I’m sorry.” His plush lips tightened. “It was the fastest way to teach you everything I know.”

She blinked again, her brain still painfully bursting at the seams. “What did you do?”

“I gave you all my knowledge about the Force, the Jedi and the Sith.” His dark eyes flicked down to her lips then back up to her eyes, almost remorseful. “You now know everything I know.” He stepped back, away from her and she almost clutched his hand, needing his warmth on her cheek once more. “But knowledge is only part of your training. You must put it into practice.” 

He reached out a hand to her. “Will you join me?”

Kira inhaled deeply. She felt as if this was the most important question in her life. More important than when her husband had asked her to marry him. More important than becoming Snoke’s apprentice. This was the first question she had free will to refuse. Only, she found that she did not want to refuse him. She never wanted to refuse this man anything. She would give her whole life to him if he asked her to. But she noticed that he had replaced his glove. The warm thrill she had felt from his naked hand on her face was not what he was offering her.

Sensing that she had hesitated too long, he added. “For training?” He knelt down and scooped up his helmet before placing it once more on his head.

She wanted to howl in frustration as his face was once again covered by that damned mask.

“Oh.” The tension that had been gradually building up in her body deflated instantly. “Of course.” She ignored his proffered gloved hand and slid past him to the exit of their quarters, leaving him to follow her for once.

Chapter Text

Kylo stood opposite her, his black, unlit cross guard gripped in his strong hand by his side. His body seemed at ease, but the tension in his hand belied a readiness to jump into action at a moment’s notice.

Her eyes flicked down to the toned and muscular shoulders and arms, covered shamefully by his long-sleeved black top. She tried to banish the heat that rose in her face as her eyes followed the contour of his uniform. She forced herself to let out a slow breath and focus on his masked face as he spoke in that mechanised voice she hated so much. She wished he would dispense with the uniform and formality altogether as she did whenever she trained.

“You’ve seen some of the lightsaber forms in my memories, but you need to develop muscle memory to accompany the knowledge.” He flicked the unlit lightsaber hilt towards her head. She forced herself not to flinch as the emitter lined up with her eyes. “Form One.”

“Also called Shii-Cho.” She answered almost robotically, rattling off information without quite understanding where or how she knew it. “Body target zone one is the head. Zone two is the right arm and right side. Zone three is the left arm and left side. Zone four is the back. Zone five is the right leg and zone six is the left leg.”

She let out a long sigh. “It’s the original form of the Jedi and the first form learned for lightsaber training.”

“Good.” He breathed, his eyes skimming over her revealing training gear which consisted of her usual black tank top and tight leggings. Normally she trained on her own so her preferred choice of clothing was more from necessity than providing an audience with something to stare at. She bristled at his unwanted attention and offered his praise with a fierce glare.

“Let’s see how well you defend those areas.” He told her.

“Don’t you dare go easy on me because I haven’t had the opportunity to spar with another Force user.” She told him firmly. “I’ve been training with droids and faced the rebel scum for years.”

“Of course I won’t.” His voice almost sounded like he was smirking beneath the mask.

Without another word being exchanged he lit his lightsaber with a sharp hiss, followed a split second later by the short side exhaust emitters. Kira lit only one end of her saberstaff and settled herself into the typical Shii-Cho opening defensive pose with her red blade held double handed rising towards the ceiling of the training room.

She easily blocked Kylo’s repartee to several zones in a seemingly random order. 

He raised an eyebrow as if impressed at the speed she was able to block his moves. “Form Three?”

“Soresu.” She supplied once again, accessing the knowledge he had miraculously supplied her with. “A mainly defensive form developed from Shii-Cho to combat blaster fire and attacks from multiple targets.”

“Opening stance?” He prompted.

She settled back into a side-on stance with her lightsaber in a single handed grip perpendicular to her body and the other arm stretched out parallel to her blade. She met Kylo’s flurry of side-on and overhead attacks with a speed she never thought she could possess. It felt so much like facing off with the training droids that she felt herself fall into her familiar battle precognition meditation, no longer looking for the unstable blade but knowing instantly where it would strike. She felt like no time had passed when Kylo finally stepped away from her and deactivated his weapon.

“Where did you learn to do that?” He drew in a long breath. 

“What?” She blinked, deactivating her own weapon. “Battle precognition?” Shrugging her shoulders. “Snoke taught me some things before Hux refused to let me train with him any further.”

His amber coloured eyes narrowed dangerously. “He refused to let you train?” 

She shrugged again. “He said he needed me to lead the ground forces more than I needed to learn how to use magic.”

“Magic?!” Kylo fumed, turning around and kicking over one of her powered-down droids. “What the hell does he think we do?”

Kira let out a weary sigh. “He doesn’t care. He just wants results. His results done his way.”

Kylo scoffed without turning back to face her. “Sounds like a joy to be married to.”

Startled by such a personal statement about her husband, she rounded on him fiercely. “You have no idea about our marriage or my husband. How dare you criticise him when you know nothing about him!”

Kylo stepped forward, almost nose to nose with her. “Why do you think the Emperor sent me to investigate Snoke and Hux?” His voice was deathly hushed, but it lacked none of the intensity of when he had yelled.

She blinked, searching his eyes through the mask and his Force signature for signs of dishonesty. Although his mental shields were mostly locked tight, she could sense a little crack in his shield. A tiny fissure where she could slip through.

Endless pain. Every nerve in his body was on fire. He just wanted the pain to end. Even if it ended in death at least he would be free from the endless torment. At least he would be free from this torture. Free from his failures. Free from his Master’s endless disappointment in him.

When she opened her eyes, she could barely see through the haze of her tears. She found her body was unresponsive, locked firmly in a Force hold. Her hands were still reaching for the release mechanism under his mask.

“You will not do that again.” His metallic voice warned, his tone dangerously low.

“Why do you follow a master who tortures you?” She asked, trembling in his Force hold.

Kylo’s black mask tilted down towards her. “You know I can take whatever I want.” His intense stare burned into her. Despite the fact that she couldn’t see his eyes, she could feel them upon her face, her barely concealed chest. Once more she fervently wished she had thought of wearing more than just her training tank top. His mask leaned in closer to her, the cool metal brushing against her cheek, her shoulder and she felt true fear rise inside her as she fought desperately against his Force hold. “You think you know me?” 

She knew he was taunting her. But she knew this game all too well. She closed her eyes and summoned her rage at all the taunting she had endured from her husband. From Phasma. From Snoke.

No more. She vowed to herself as she ripped herself free from his hold and lit both ends of her saberstaff. Launching herself into a rapid fire attack of Juyo form overhead strikes, side strikes and strikes to Kylo’s back as she almost danced around him. Her double ended blades whirled around her in a flurry of red.

Kylo was surprised by her ferocious attack and the familiarity of her attack sequence. He knew it because it was his own development of Juyo but she had almost subconsciously adapted it to a saberstaff. But he had never had to face off against his own form he had developed from training with the knights of Ren. He found himself pushed further into defence as her attack became even more difficult to counteract. Stepping back from her, he pulled up into a Force flip and propelled himself backwards, away from her and landed near the other end of the training room, perfectly settling into a crouch. He touched the ground with his hand to push the remaining momentum into the floor of the ship, causing a slight tremble through the floors below.

But Kira was still furiously on the offensive. She wouldn’t let him retreat from her. She launched herself into the air after him, pirouetting over his head to land behind him. But she mistimed the landing badly and found the floor rushing towards her face. Her momentum was stopped abruptly when she felt the heat of Kylo’s Force energy once again coursing through her body. The flames were enough to burn through her anger, leaving it little more than a memory.

“Kira,” His voice was soft and human right next to her ear as he gently released her from his hold to land softly on the ground. 

She looked up into his unmasked face. He must have removed it after she had made her disastrous attempt at a Force jump. She couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. He had made it look so easy.

“Are you alright?” His expression was one of concern and compassion.

“What did I do wrong?” She sat up and moved out of his reach. This pull between them was starting to feel uncomfortable for her.

“You copied my Ataru jump perfectly.” He told her, wincing at her rejection of his close proximity. “But I think the issue is that you used my understanding of how to land the jump based on my own size and body proportions.”

She winced at this. She didn’t want to think about his size and body proportions given the fact that their entangled emotions was what made her feel something she shouldn’t feel for a man who wasn’t her husband. “So I should work out how to land it on my own.” Kira pulled herself to standing, ignoring his move to assist her. “Got it.”

Without waiting for a response from him, she left the training room and stormed back to her own quarters.

***

Hux lounged on his sofa holding the data pad Phasma had given him upon her arrival. “So you’re saying that FN-2187’s break with programming is an isolated incident.”

“So far, yes.” Phasma removed her helmet, letting her short cropped, blonde locks flow freely from their confinement. But she made no other move to relax in his presence. There was still business to attend to. “But we should look into others from his unit to see if there are any further anomalies. To be on the safe side, I recommend that we send the whole unit to Reconditioning.”

Hux sighed as he set down the data pad onto the side table beside the black sofa. “Agreed. See to it.” He looked pointedly at Phasma’s chrome covered body armour. “But for now, why don’t you make yourself more comfortable?”

“Where is your wife?” Phasma turned towards the door to his quarters, then back at Hux.

He let out a soft scoff. “Ren has taken her to train in his Sith sorcerous ways.”

“Shouldn’t it please you to get her off your hands?” She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. 

“Why exactly would that please me?” Hux countered evenly, though with a warning edge to his voice. “She should be where I need her. On hand, ready to snuff out the pitiful Resistance threats whenever I need her. Not galavanting off with some Sith devil.”

Phasma twitched slightly. “Sorry, I just thought with her gone…“

“She’s not gone!” Hux pushed himself off the couch, furiously moving towards her. “She’d better not think she can do anything with that monster. She’s mine!”

“But we—“ Phasma tried to reach a gloved hand to his face but he snatched her wrist before she could make contact.

“We must remain as we always have been.” He told her firmly. “I won’t jeopardise my marriage for this.”

“Marriage.” Phasma scoffed. “You don’t even like her. You love me!”

“Marriage has nothing to do with love.” Hux told her coldly. “I need her under my control. Not Ren’s!”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Phasma countered evenly. “You don’t miss her?”

Hux laughed, still clutching her chrome-plated wrist. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

The door to his quarter swooshed open without any warning and Kira moved swiftly through and halted instantly as she saw Hux and Phasma. “What the hell are you doing here?” She demanded of Phasma.

Hux dropped Phasma’s wrist but made no other effort to conceal their proximity. “We were discussing that traitorous stormtrooper. Phasma suggests that we investigate the rest of his unit to see if we have any other potential threats of mutiny.” He turned to look at Kira’s disheveled, barely concealing training clothes. “Where have you been, dressed like that?”

Kira blinked and looked down at her customary training gear. It was what she always wore. He’d seen her in it hundreds of times before and never made an issue of it. “Training.”

“With him?”

Kira’s eyes snapped to Phasma. She didn’t want to be reprimanded in front of Hux’s Stormtrooper Captain. This was too humiliating. “Can we do this in private?”

“Captain Phasma is here at my invitation.” Hux waved a dismissive hand towards his subordinate. “I thought you had moved in with that sorcerer.”

“I haven’t moved in with him!” Kira countered. “I have a separate room. There’s nothing inappropriate.”

“You sleeping in another man’s quarters is entirely inappropriate!” He roared at her. “You are my wife! Not his. How dare you forget that the moment another man gives you a scrap of attention!”

“He’s training me!”

“Oh, yes?” A sinister smirk hardened his face. “Tell me all about the training he was giving you with your breasts on full display?”

“How dare you?!” Kira roared at him. “We were training with lightsabers. Don’t you dare complain about what I’m wearing when I come in here and find you two acting like I don’t even exist.”

“Phasma and I were working.” Hux looked at her incredulously. “And I can hardly say that you and Ren, hitting one another with those ridiculous swords, is work.”

Kira stormed past Phasma to stand right in front of her husband, trying her best to block the giant, armour-plated woman from her periphery. “That is work for me! My job is to hunt down Resistance forces and destroy the spies your Stormtroopers are too stupid to find.”

“Oh, I suppose your playtime is supposed to be helping with that somehow?”

Kira pointed towards Phasma. “Her Stormtroopers do hours of drills every day. I do the same. But I’ve learned more in one day than I ever could on my own against droids.”

Hux stepped back from her and returned to his previous position on the couch. “Well, don’t let us stop you from your training. By all means, return to him if it really is for the good of the First Order.”

Kira shot him an incredulous look. “It is. That’s all it is.” She insisted.

“Good.” Hux snapped his attention back to Phasma. “Do continue with your intelligence about the traitor and the Resistance pilot.”

Phasma straightened her posture as Hux’s focus returned to her once more. She noted that his wife looked defeated and humiliated to be dressed down in front of her and it almost made her break character and smile. “Our troops on Jakku witnessed the traitor and the pilot escape in the Millennium Falcon.”

Hux scoffed. “Might it not have been some other Corellian freighter? Might they not have been mistaken?”

“Our TIE pilots scanned the ship and transmitted the data before they were destroyed. The transponder codes match that old relic that destroyed the Second Death Star. And our Imperial records also placed the ship at the Battle of Jakku. It must have been dumped there with the rest of the battle wreckage.” Phasma picked at an infinitesimal speck of dust on her armour nonchalantly. “That Resistance pilot Dameron would know that ship intimately as Organa’s pet.

“Have Mitaka scan their last known trajectory and alert our spies to look out for it and our traitor and the pilot. Set a bounty on both of them.” Hux settled back with the data pad once more. “And once we find them, Kira can prove how effective her training has been and bring them back in for interrogation.” He raised his eyebrow at Kira, as if just noticing that she was still standing before him. “Hadn’t you better get back to him, then?”

Without saying another word, Kira stormed towards the door of their quarters before she heard her husband calling after her. Perhaps he was regretting humiliating her in front of Phasma. She turned back to face him while she stood in the doorway.

“And Kira,” Hux drawled from where he sat on the sofa. “I’m expecting a call from the creche on Arkanis.” His eyes narrowed in warning. “Don’t give me any reason to order them to harm our little darlings.” 

True fear coursed through Kira’s body. She knew her husband did not offer empty threats. Any misstep could mean the death of their children. Without another word, she drew herself up to her full height and bowed lowly to him before turning on her heel, leaving her husband and his Captain behind.

Chapter Text

Kira’s feet took her back to Kylo’s quarters. Before she even became aware of where she found herself, she waved the door open with the Force and found her hands in Kylo’s long, black hair, tugging him roughly down towards her as she kissed his plush, pillowy lips. Her hands ran down his - oh, naked back. Somewhere she dimly realised she had caught him after a shower. His hair was still damp. And yet, she refused to let him pull away from her kiss. She needed him like she needed air to breathe. The Darkness rising within her demanded it. She chased after him as he pulled away from her.

“Kira!” He demanded as he halted her with the Force again.

“I told you not to do that!” She trembled as she struggled against his hold on her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He hissed at her.

“You said you can take whatever you want.” She spat back at him. “Well, I can do the same.”

“This isn’t what I meant.” He turned away from her and ran a hand through his hair.

Anger rose further within her at his words. “This is exactly what you meant.” She narrowed her eyes at his back. “Or is it because I’m not a perfectly, submissive little -”

“That’s not it at all.” He spun back to face her, incredulous. “I like your fire.” He closed his eyes and turned his head to the ceiling, blowing out a long breath. Slowly, he opened his eyes and released her from his Force hold. “Passion is a good tool for drawing on the Dark Side.” He took a few steps towards her and lightly placed his hands on her bare arms gingerly. “As your Master, I expect to be able to trust you not to cross any further boundaries between us because of your jealousy of your husband and his Captain.”

“What -?” 

“Or to take out your feelings of inadequacy for his treatment of you,” He lightly strokes her upper arm with him thumb as his eyes flicked down to her lips and instantly back up to her eyes. “On me.”

“Oh.” She felt deflated. All the fire, anger and jealousy that had fueled her earlier actions fled her in an instant. “You felt all that?”

He gestured a hand between their heads. “We’re still entangled. I can hear all of your thoughts as clearly as if they were my own.”

Horror overtook Kira’s expression, followed by shame. “I’m so sorry.” She covered her face with her hands, desperately trying to block out the look of sympathy he gave her.

“Kira,” He gently removed her hands from her face. “There’s nothing to feel sorry for.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he pulled back, but kept his hold on her wrists gentle. “Your husband is an ass. He doesn’t deserve you. But we need to continue your training and build your mental shields to keep your thoughts from bleeding through all the time.”

“Is that what I slipped through earlier during our training?” She asked quietly. “Was that your mental shields?”

“Yes.” Kylo sighed, dropping her wrists. “I’ll show you how to do that first thing in the morning. But for now, go grab a sonic shower while I order dinner.”

“Okay.” She made to leave down the corridor, but something stopped her. A feeling of longing that she didn’t think came from her before it was quickly shut down.

“Kira,” He called after her. “Tomorrow we will train with the rest of my Knights. I called them to help me develop your saber skills against multiple opponents.”

“That’s a good idea.” She was relieved that they wouldn’t be training alone after today’s embarrassing fiasco of turmoiling emotions.

***

When they pulled out of hyperspace, Finn’s eyes were captivated by the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. A blue planet filled the viewport, crisscrossed with more green than he had ever seen.

As Poe brought the Falcon down through the atmosphere, Finn took in the sight of trees hugging a series of lakes. “I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy.” He breathed.

Poe turned to him and smiled. “This is just the start of your adventures.” He shook his head, his smile widening. “Man, I’ve got so much to show you.”

He manoeuvred around a series of mountains until a large stone castle came into view. Bringing the Falcon down lower, Poe angled the ship on its side, skimming along the lake, letting out a loud whoop. Finn joined in the fun with a laugh. It felt good to be able to enjoy simple pleasures. Poe made him feel human, instead of a tiny cog in a giant war machine.

Poe corrected his angle at the last second and expertly landed the ship on the landing pad adjacent to the castle. He clapped Finn on the shoulder. “Let’s go see Maz.” He turned to exit the cockpit as he called to his droid. “Come on, BB-8!”

Finn followed his new friend and the droid down the gangplank and ran to the lake’s edge. He breathed in the fresh air that was filled with so many amazing scents he had never before experienced. It was so much more alive than the processed air on a Star Destroyer, or a planet’s air filtered through his Stormtooper mask. This was real air, on a real planet, filled with trees, animals, a weird chirping noise. Birds! He could hear birds! It was all so peaceful. And overwhelming. He found that he was crying from the beauty of it all.

Poe stepped up to him and softly wiped a tear from his cheek. “You were treated like a number your whole life. But you’re worth more than that.” He gently pulled Finn into his arms. “The Resistance needs you as much as you need us.” He pulled away and pointed over his shoulder to the castle with his thumb. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Finn pulled on his arm to stop him. “How do we know there aren’t First Order sympathisers here? What if someone sells us out?”

Poe held out his hands in a calming gesture. “Relax, the First Order should be more concerned about Maz finding their operatives in her place than they are about finding you and me.”

“You hope.” Finn followed Poe as he started through the forest towards the castle.

***

Kira managed to land her Force flip perfectly this time and she wheeled around and kicked the nearest of the three Knights of Ren in the stomach, sending him stumbling back. She added a Force shove to give her more time to recover as the other two Knights came lunging towards her from either side at once. With one end of her saberstaff, she blocked Trudgen’s vibrocleaver while blocking Usher’s war club with the other end. Just as Vicrul entered back into the fray to land his vibro-scythe on her head, Kira dropped to a crouch and sent out a wave of Force Concussion towards the group, sending all three of the Knights skidding across the polished training room floor.

Ap’lek hefted his Mandalorian Vibro-Ax in his hands from his vantage point next to his master. “She’s good.”

Kylo let out a grunt of approval.

“So, she’s living with you now?” Ap’lek continued in his mildly mocking tone. “I bet Hugs is thrilled with that.”

“I’m training her.” Kylo offered tightly.

“Sure.” Ap’lek snorted. “I’m sure that’s what all the kids are calling it these days.”

“This isn’t the Jedi Temple.” Kylo turned to his oldest companion. “I’m not Skywalker.” He pointed a gloved hand to Ap’lek’s chest in warning. “Do not try my patience.”

“Give me your saber.” Ap’lek smirked.

“Why?” Kylo seemed genuinely surprised.

“What? You think you’re the only master of Ataru?” Ap’lek countered. “The best way to work out how she countered your own form against you is to see it in action.”

After a moment of hesitation, Kylo handed over his cross guarded hilt.

“This should be interesting.” Kuruk murmured to Cardo.

“Twenty credits on the girl.” Cardo countered.

“Done.” Kuruk slapped his fellow knight’s gloved hand, sealing their bet.

***

As Poe, BB-8 and Finn approached the stone castle, the ancient architecture took on a life of its own. The castle was a a series of soaring towers, all various sizes, all connected to a central keep. It looked more like a series of ancient ziggurats stacked alongside one another than a single, cohesive castle.

They entered through the gate into the main courtyard that was festooned with flags of various sizes and colours.

“This Maz.” Finn asked. “Can we trust her?”

“Don’t worry.” Poe told him. “She has no love for the First Order, that’s for sure. Maz and I go way back. And she knew my parents back in their Rebel days as well.”

“Wait—” Finn stopped suddenly and turned to his friend. “Your parents fought for the Rebel Alliance?”

“Yeah,” Poe scratched his neck. “My mom flew alongside General Calrissian when he blew up the Second Death Star.”

“No wonder you’re a pilot for the Resistance.” Finn whistled. 

“Yeah, Mom always spoke so highly of General Organa.”

“Did your mom die?”

Poe’s smile faded and his eyebrows furrowed.

“Damn,” Finn said quickly, placing what he hoped was a reassuring hand on Poe’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Poe shrugged as he looked at the entrance to Maz’s castle. “Uh, this place is going to be a little weird for you.”

“We can trust her, though?”

“Yeah, of course. Maz personally organises hot goods for the Resistance. I’ve been Leia’s main pilot to ship Maz’s payloads since…” Poe looked back to where the Falcon was parked. “Let’s just say, since the General’s last ace pilot ditched the Resistance.” He placed his hand on top of Finn’s. “Do me a favour and try not to stare.”

“At what?”

A crinkle brightened the corner of Poe’s mouth. “Anything.” As he approached, the ancient double doors hissed open, revealing a large main room divided into small hide holes, booths, a large fire pit where something Finn could only describe as meat was cooking. Everywhere he looked was filled with an assortment of aliens of various shapes and sizes, colours and origins. They all seemed to be engaging in conversations, gambling on games, drinking or eating food, the likes of which Finn had never seen before.

Overwhelmed with the assault on all of his senses at once, Finn put his head down and followed Poe to what he assumed to be a bar. By the time Finn spotted Poe again he was already speaking with a tiny, orange skinned alien with large goggles on her widely spaced eyes. “It’s always a pleasure to see the second best pilot of the Resistance.”

“Please, Maz.” Poe leaned in close. “You and I both in know he’s not coming back. The General has already given up on him. It’s time for the rest of us to accept it as well.”

“The General has her own issues with him that we don’t need to get into here.” The small alien looked up at Finn. “Who’s your friend?”

Poe slapped a hand on Finn’s back. “This is Finn. He’s our newest recruit. I’m bringing him back to our base.”

Maz narrowed her eyes at Poe. “So, why are you visiting here? What do you need?”

“Uh,” Poe awkwardly rubbed his hand through his hair. “Some fuel and hyperspace parts for a ship.”

“What type of ship?” Maz flicked a switch on the side of her goggles, adjusting the focus, which made her eyes appear unusually large. “What ship?”

“Uh,” Poe stammered. “It’s a Corellian TY-1300.”

Maz lifted her head suddenly and tilted it to the side. Adjusting her goggles again, her head whipped towards the entrance as a newcomer approached. “Han Solo!”

An older man with grey hair and a harried expression approached the trio at the bar. “Hey Maz!” Walking behind the old man was the unmistakable form of a Wookie. Finn had heard about Wookies from his studies on different species from the crèche he was raised in, but the size of the furry beast was even more intimidating than he had anticipated. Then the Wookie let out a terrifying roar.

“Chewbacca!” Maz ran up to the giant Wookie and immediately clambered up his body to sit on his shoulder. “It’s good to see you as well, old friend.”

“Wait,” Finn asked incredulously. “You can understand that thing?”

“That thing can understand you as well, so you watch it.” The old man turned to Finn in warning. He turned back to Poe and placed his hands on his hips in consternation. “Kid, you wanna tell me why Kes Dameron’s son thought it was a good idea to steal my ship?”

Poe’s eyebrows shot up as he sputtered a response. “I didn’t steal it. We crash landed on Jakku and I found it at Niima Outpost.”

The old man’s jaw dropped. “Jakku? That junkyard?” He turned back to face the Wookie. “I told you we should have double checked the Western Reaches!”

“Wait,” Finn interjected again. “You two know each other?”

Poe stuck his thumb in Han’s direction. “My old man fought alongside this old bag of bones at the Battle of Endor.”

“How is the old man?” Han raised an eyebrow at Poe, regretting the question as soon as he had asked it. These were uncertain times and it was never a good idea to assume the worst, but Han had become used to losing old friends and comrades over the years.

“Still kicking around on Yavin Four. He prefers me working for Leia rather than,” Poe gives a nervous cough as he remembers that he wants to keep the good opinion Finn has of him. “Other things I could be doing.”

“Right,” Han raised an eyebrow, knowing all too well what seedy jobs a pilot could be doing for work.

Poe shook his head. “How did you find us here?”

The old man’s face crinkled with consternation. “You’re lucky we were in the area when the ship’s beacon snapped on. We’ve been tracking you since you left hyperspace.”

“So, now what?” Poe narrowed his eyes, challenging his dad’s old superior officer.

“So, now Han Solo is officially taking back the Millennium Falcon.” The old man declared.

“Han Solo?” Finn’s head whipped around to the old man. “The Rebellion General?”

From where she was perched on the Wookie’s shoulder Maz let out a laugh. “The smuggler.” The Wookie let out a soft growl.

Poe laughed, “Yeah, pirate is more like it.”

Maz looked down at Han. “I assume you want something. Desperately.” She signalled for Chewie to lower her down, which he did and she took off for a private booth, signalling them all to follow her. “Let’s get to it.”

***

From her vantage point in the bar, Bazine Netal placed a call to the First Order, informing them the traitor and pilot have been found and where to find them. The bounty for information would more than make up for her time spent on this backwater planet fishing for information.

***

Kira was having trouble meeting this new Knight’s assault on her. The fact that he was wielding Kylo Ren’s own lightsaber, using the same form she had used against him yesterday was clearly throwing her into an uncomfortably defensive mode. Sensing the need to surprise her superior opponent by changing her attack drastically, she shoved him back with the Force. But he barely budged. The moment’s hesitation was all she needed to step back from him and untwist her saberstaff into two separate lightsabers.

Ap’lek stepped back in astonishment. He turned his helmeted head and demanded of Kylo, “Did you know it did that?”

Kylo shook his head, not trusting himself to speak aloud.

Ap’lek turned back to Kira. “Let’s see how well you know Jar’Kai.”

As soon as the word dropped from his lips Kira felt as if a livewire had jolted her body into movement on its own accord. She swung the two lightsabers, one overhead, and the other in line with her midsection, in a complicated series of attack manoeuvres almost impossible to see with the naked eye. She instantly had her opponent on the defensive and giving up an astonishing amount of ground.

“Ap!” Kuruk called out as he threw Ap’lek’s own Vibro-Ax to him. 

He spun gracefully away from Kira, switching the cross guard saber to just his right hand as he caught the ax in his left. Without missing a beat, Ap’lek switched to an attacking series of Jar’Kai forms that Kira couldn’t even follow, let alone counter effectively. She settled for just blocking wherever she felt the weapons would land, hoping her moves were effective. Before she even knew what was happening, she lost her footing and felt on her backside, only managing to deactivate her blades before she sliced her own legs off.

Cardo groaned as Vicrul gave a cheer. “You owe me twenty credits!”

“You cheated!” Cardo insisted.

Vicrul slapped him on the chest. “She cheated first with the two lightsabers.”

“Enough!” Kylo roared above them all before removing his helmet and stalking over to Kira to crouch before her. “Ap’lek is the strongest in all the forms of lightsaber dueling. If you believe our former master, he’s the first since Jedi Master Yoda to master all seven of the forms.”

Ap’lek has removed his helmet to reveal a surprisingly youthful face with scraggly red hair and bright blue eyes. Kira recognised him from Kylo’s memories as one of the padawans who stood with him against Skywalker. “That’s what happens when your first toy is a training saber.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

***

From his vantage point on the bridge above the training room, Hux watched with guarded jealousy as his wife split her saberstaff into two separate pieces. His face fell as he watched her attack the Knight of Ren with a ferocity he had never seen in her before. He couldn’t believe anyone could move as fast as she did. It was unnatural! His face twisted into a smirk as the knight caught another weapon and went on the offensive. He smiled tightly as she fell backwards and then he started down the stairs to the main floor.

“Enough!” He heard the sound of that pumped up Sith Ren call out as he dared to approach his wife with an unguarded familiarity that made Hux’s ire rise.

He reached where his wife sat, unceremoniously on the floor while two of the hideous knights shamelessly barefaced stood over her.

“That was an interesting display.” Hux commented as he reached them.

Kira hauled herself to her feet, assisted by Ap’lek who grabbed her arm without her permission. “I’m still learning new forms.”

“She has already made adequate progress.” Kylo Ren added, his eyes hardening at Hux.

“Are you kidding?” The younger knight scoffed. “She was kicking my butt until Kuruk threw me my ax.”

Hux snapped his perfectly coifed head towards the knight who had dared to speak in such a disrespectful way of his wife.”

“I’m A-“

“Ap’lek,” Kylo Ren cut off his knight. “General Hux. Forgive his enthusiasm. He’s the youngest of my knights. But he is the most proficient duelist aside from myself.”

From behind him the young man with hair even more red than his own let out a snort of laughter.

“I suggest, Lord Ren,” Hux stepped closer to the leader of the knights. “That you punish him severely for his disrespect towards my wife.”

Kylo Ren snapped a warning glance to his young knight, who rolled his eyes in response. “I shall, General. What brings you to our training session?”

“I wanted to see what tricks my wife has learned with my own eyes.” Hux spoke with a nauseating amount of superiority, which was met with a near-imperceptible flare of Ren’s nostrils. “I see that she has indeed made some improvement under your guidance.” Hux turned to Kira who stood visibly trembling with rage at his belittling of her ability to absorb and conquer most of the saber forms in just two days.

Behind her husband’s turned back, Kylo gave Kira an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Instead of the choice words she wanted to bite out, Kira forced her sweetest smile. “You have intelligence for us.”

That she said it as a statement of fact rather than a question made him bristle with rage. She was obviously using her mind tricks against the supposedly solid defences Snoke had drilled into him. Yet he refused to grant her any satisfaction.

“Ah, yes.” Hux smoothed down the front of his uniform fastidiously. “One of our operatives spotted the traitor and Resistance pilot on Takodana, in the den of that vile Maz Kanata.”

From his periphery, Hux saw Ren’s head snap up. He kept his gaze firmly on his wife as she gave a slight nod. It made him suspicious that they were somehow able to communicate without speech.

“You will take a squadron of Stormtroopers to apprehend them at once.”

“Forgive me, General.” Ren stepped forward, interceding between Hux and his wife. “I think this would be a valuable opportunity for Adjutant Hux to gain appropriate field experience with the Knights of Ren. As you recall, my Master decreed that you and the Supreme Leader should allow me to train your wife in all aspects of the Force including espionage and combat.”

“My Stormtroopers are—“

“Adequately equipped in the field of battle.” Ren finished for him, which earned a disgusting display of conceitedly arrogant scoff from the younger knight.

Hux threw a blazing glare at the ignorant youth for his insolence. But his face visibly paled as he noticed the remaining knights had joined on silent feet to their leader’s side.

“After all,” Ren continued. “Between the seven of us we have over a thousand years of training in the Light and the Dark sides of the Force.”

One of the largest of the knights hefted his Vibro-Scythe over one shoulder in a menacing manner. “And everything in between.”

Understanding the implied meaning and seeking a way to gracefully acquiesce without losing face, Hux looked back to his wife with a demand that she should defend his Stormtrooper program to these sorcerous knights.

Kira stepped forward and place a placating hand on her husband’s arm. “If the First Order have received word of our quarry’s whereabouts, it is possible that the Resistance may also have been alerted.” She turned to Ren. “We should gather intelligence only and make contact for military backup if it looks like they are not alone.”

Hux stood straighter in his confidence. “Very well, then.” He nodded to Ren as if he were the one making the final decision. “You, my wife and your Knights shall perform a surveillance role only and call for aid from my forces if you become aware of a Resistance presence on the planet.” Hux snapped a perfectly executed about-face and ignored the youngest knight’s snigger as he left the training room. 

Chapter Text

Kira looked at herself in the mirror in her bedroom in Kylo’s quarters. She smoothed her hands down her form fitting grey dress. She never thought she would wear something like this for anything other than a dinner party where her husband wanted to show off his wife to prospective financial supporters. Let alone wear it for another man who was not her husband. But her wardrobe choices were fairly limited to dress up adequately enough to be shown off as a wife, First Order uniforms or training clothes. She knew that her uniforms were out of the question since she was supposed to be incognito on this mission. And this dress was the least fancy of her ‘wife’ costumes.

It would have to do.

She made her way into the lounge room of Kylo’s quarters to find him dressed head to foot in his usual uniform, sans the mask. But then she eyed the hated mask sitting on the low table and realised that it was going to be part of his costume for the mission as well. Maybe his wardrobe choices were even more limited than her own.

Kylo had appeared to be deep in conversation with Ap’lek when she had made her way into the room before both men had stopped mid-conversation to gawk at her.

She had to say, she didn’t hate how they both stared wide eyed at her in her dress.

Both men stood from the sofa in unison and seemed to take a moment just to take in her visage. It felt nice to be appreciated as a woman, instead of with a critical eye or a fashion accessory to her husband.

It was flattering.

She felt powerful.

Finally she felt she ought to draw them out of their staring at her. “Is that what you’re both really wearing?”

Kylo recovered first. “No one will recognise us on Takodana. We’re fairly well known on sight in the Unknown Regions like this. But with our helmets on we will just be taken for bounty hunters or,” He looked her up and down again. “Bodyguards, more likely.”

“Yeah,” Ap’lek added. “Bodyguards for a really hot crime gang boss’ daughter.”

Kylo flicked his fingers and his friend fell twitching back onto the sofa, suffering an unseen consequence of disrespecting her. He managed to mutter something that sounded like “Ren” as the convulsions finally died down.

Kylo merely turned back to his friend and stated evenly, “I promised Hux I’d punish you for your disrespect for his wife. Consider yourself punished.”

He turned back to Kira, leaving his friend to pull himself together, and walked around the low table to fully appreciate her outfit. “You look,” He didn’t hide the way his eyes roamed all over the dress as it hugged her curves in all the right ways.” “Adequate.”

Adequate?! Kira wanted to scream. It was exactly the same word her husband had used when he had seen her in the same dress! She damn well knew she looked better than ‘adequate’. Why were men such spiteful creatures? At least Ap’lek had called her ‘hot’. Even if he had been punished for his honesty.

“Shall we go meet the others?” Kira enquired, a little more coldly than she had intended.

Kylo shot a look back to his friend on the couch, who seemed to have recovered from the assault on his nervous system.

“Sure.” Ap’lek answered for them as he pulled on his helmet. Kylo followed suit as Kira made her way out of Kylo’s quarters.

***

Kylo and Ap’lek left the remaining knights at the exterior of the pirate queen's castle to run their own reconnaissance and set up a perimeter for potential traps for their quarries. They escorted Kira into the main bar room of the castle. 

Ap’lek nugged Kylo with the Force as he spotted Dameron and FN-2187 in a booth sitting with… “Ky,” He whispered, his anxiety bleeding through his vocoder. “Look at who they’re talking to.”

Kira followed Ap’lek’s gaze to a grissly looking grey haired old man sitting beside a huge brown Wookie. Beside him sat FN-2187 and the Resistance pilot. She saw nothing especially concerning about the odd couple and the ancient looking orange alien. Their quarry were probably just trying to barter for passage back to their base.

“That’s-”

“I know who they are.” Kylo snapped, sounding every bit as strained as Ap’lek.

They must be well-known mercenaries or something. Kira thought. Maybe Kylo and Ap’lek had spent more time in the Mid Rim than they had previously mentioned.

“I’d better run point on this one.” Ap’lek told Kylo quietly. 

“No.” Kylo responded. “I’ll do it.”

She didn’t understand either man’s hesitation with approaching the strangers, but it was starting to annoy Kira. “Oh, I’ll do it.” She turned back to the men who’s Force energies felt like a swirling cloud of childish fear. “You two go take up defensive positions in case they try to make a run for it.”

Without waiting for a reply, Kira moved close enough to the group’s booth to make out their conversation by augmenting her hearing with the Force.

“A map?” Maz looked up from where she was sitting beside Han. “To Skywalker himself?”

“Yeah,” Poe told her in a low, fervent voice. “At least that’s what Lor San Tekka assured me. The General was the one who sent me to meet with him. Until that First Order bitch murdered him and destroyed his entire village just for kicks.”

Despite herself, Kira bristled at the comment about herself. Yes, she had cut the old man down. But he was a known scourge who scavenged Jedi artifacts for Skywalker. San Tekka had been helping to perpetuate the lies about the Jedi. And it was Phasma who had killed the villagers and burned the place to the sand, not her. She had just wanted the map from the pilot.

Maz looked up at Han. “Skywalker, the Princess,” she let out a chuckle aimed squarely at the smuggler. “You are right back in the mess.”

“Kid,” Han told Poe firmly pointing to BB-8. “If what you’re saying is true, you need to get this droid to Leia.”

Kira blinked. General Leia Organa? Maybe the group were more well-connected than she had given them credit for. But it still didn’t explain Kylo and Ap’lek’s reactions to spotting them.

“That’s just the thing.” Poe winced, knowing he was throwing a hydrospanner into the mix. “We need to repair the hyperdrive. We barely made it here in one piece.”

“What did you do to my ship?” Han demanded, pointing an accusing finger across the table at Dameron.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Poe raised his hands in surrender. “It was sitting in the Jakku desert for the past thirty years. All I did was fly it. You’re the one who modified that hyperdrive I don’t know how many times.”

“There was nothing wrong with the hyperdrive.” Han told him, bristling at the accusation.

Beside him, Chewie let out a short series of grunts.

“Oh yeah,” Han raised his eyebrows. “Except that.”

Poe turned to Maz. “So, you get me the parts we need and I’ll get BB-8 to Leia.”

Maz appeared to mull things over before answering, “No.”

Poe and Finn exchanged a look before turning back to Maz, who continued, addressing Han this time. “You’ve been running away from this fight for too long.” She gave him a sympathetic but stern look. “Han, go home.”

Han gave her a wry expression of defeat. “Leia doesn’t want to see me.”

Han?! Kira’s eyes widened. Han Solo: the Rebel Alliance General? That explained a little better why two knights who served the First Order would be a little more hesitant to go up against two vile enemies of the old Empire.

“Please,” Poe pleaded with Maz. “We came here for your help.”

“What fight?” Finn enquired, confused as to what Maz was talking about.

“The only fight.” Maz told Finn firmly. “Against the Dark Side.”

Kira had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that.

“Through the ages,” Maz continued. “I’ve seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. Fight them. All of us.”

Finn sat trembling in fear before he leaned onto the table towards Maz. “There is no fight against the First Order. Not one we can win.”

Kira smiled. It made her proud to hear her former bodyguard’s statement. But then she felt it. Fear. His utter despair at what he had witnessed in Tuanul. The loss of his comrade, the loss of the innocent villagers, who were guilty of nothing more than subsisting on scraps to eke out a living in a barren wasteland. All destroyed for nothing. All on a whim. Her whim.

What she felt in FN-2187 made her feel cold and lonely. She pulled back from his feelings and built a defensive shield, blocking his thoughts out. 

“Look around.” Finn continued. “There’s no chance we haven’t been recognised already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right…” He trailed off as he heard the sound of gears clicking. Looking across at Maz he saw her adjusting her goggles, making her eyes look impossibly large. “What’s this?”

Maz leaned closer to look intently at Finn. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, feeling like the old alien was peering directly into his soul instead of just his eyes. Then she climbed across the table to take a deeper look into Finn’s eyes. He looked around at the other occupants of the table, worriedly. “Solo, what is she doing?”

Han just shook his head. “I don’t know. But it ain’t good.”

Maz finally spoke. “If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people. I’m looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run.”

Finn leaned closer to Maz, intently. “You don’t know a thing about me. Where I’m from. What I’ve seen. You don’t know the First Order like I do. They’ll slaughter us. We all need to run.”

“Hmm,” Maz concluded, climbing back across the table to resume her seat.

Kira felt troubled by FN-2187’s assessment of the First Order. How dare he? They were trying to bring order to the chaos of the Galaxy. They were only fighting those who stood in their way. Those who protected the weak. Those who perpetuated the lies the New Republic spread throughout the Galaxy.

Then it hit her.

All she had done was at the command of her husband - the General of the First Order Army.

And he had done nothing but lie to her. Tell her she was weak, pathetic, when she had learned more about fighting and her powers with Kylo Ren than she had the whole life with Snoke or Hux.

Maz pointed two large aliens in one corner of her bar room. “You see those two?” Finn’s eyes followed her gaze. “They’ll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear.”

“Finn,” Poe grabbed his elbow. “Buddy?”

Finn leaned closer to his new friend with a desperate look in his eyes. “Come with me.”

“Nah, buddy.” Poe told him sadly. “What about BB-8? We’re not done yet. We have to get him back to my base.” Then Poe sighed. “If you’re not into it, I can’t drag you with me.”

“I can’t.” Finn told him, too full of fear. He stood up and made to return Poe’s jacket to him.

“Keep it.” Poe told him firmly, resolute.

Kira watched FN-2187 as he left their table and walked over to introduce himself to the alien group. Behind her, she heard Maz mutter, “Who’s the girl?”

Kira froze, realising she’d been made. Kylo! She called out to him through their bond.

What is it? She felt him approaching closer to where she stood, leaning against the wall.

I think that old alien has figured out I was spying on them.

She heard him swear in her mind. Stay there. Ap and I are on our way over.

Kira turned back slowly to see that the old alien woman was clearly looking intently at her, as was the old smuggler and the Wookie Kylo and Ap’lek had been arguing about, along with Dameron, who’s eyes widened in recognition.

Kira ran. 

*** 

Han Solo stood up and watched the young woman flee into the crowd where he lost sight of her. Poe made to chase after her, but Han grabbed him by the elbow. “Let Maz handle her.”

“But she was with him when he tortured me.” Poe told Han firmly.

“With who?” Han looked from the crowd to Poe with confusion.

“Him.” Poe stated firmly, tight-lipped, his body trembling at the pain he had endured as his mind was ripped open. “Your son.”

Han fell back into his seat with an open mouth, unable to hide the shock. Chewie growled in protest that Han’s son was long gone, probably dead by now.

“I know it was him.” Poe continued fervently. “He may have been hidden under that ugly mask, but the feeling in my head was definitely him. The same as when he was an apprentice at Luke’s academy. I had felt him in my mind back then and I felt him when he was trying to find the map.”

Chewie let out a series of mournful howls and barks.

“Yeah, you’re right, Chewie.” Han seemed to recover his composure from the shock of Poe’s words. “Leia needs to know.”

“We need to stop him.” Poe insisted, pulling out the blaster he had taken from Jakku. “If she’s here, then he will be as well.”

“Right,” Han told him firmly, pushing Poe’s weapon down. “But you know what he’s capable of. You know what he did to the Jedi Temple. We’re not going to be any good to anyone dead. And that’s what will happen if we chase after him.” Han let go of a long sigh. “We need Luke.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.” Poe cocked an eyebrow at him.

Han rolled his eyes and handed him a comm device. “Call Leia. Tell her to bring everything she’s got.”

“What are you going to do?” Poe looked back at Han and Chewie.

“I’ll do what I always do.” Han took out his blaster from his weapon belt. “I’ll improvise.” Chewie let out a viscous war cry that chilled Poe’s blood as he turned to make the call to Leia.

***

She pushed through the crowd of aliens and humanoids, occasionally stumbling over chairs or tables that were in her way. She found a flight of stairs and made her way down as quickly as she could. It led to a long, dimly lit corridor. Then she heard it. The voice of a little girl. She was screaming something from a distance. 

No! Come back!

Despite knowing the pilot was probably after her, Kira couldn’t help but follow the little girl’s voice. It sounded so familiar. She felt as if she were disconnected from her own body, following the voice as it led her further down the corridor.

Without warning, a side door opened, revealing a small chamber. But there was no girl. Only a mismatch of ancient junk and an ordinary enough looking box. For some reason she couldn’t explain, the box seemed to call to her. She crouched down before the box and opened the unlocked lid, the hinges squealing in protest, attesting to its age. 

Inside the box, laying on brown cloth that looked homespun lay a simple silver cylinder with a blocky ignition button. She knew instantly it was a lightsaber. But whose?

She reached in to pick up the saber and was flooded with sounds and images.

Loud, mechanical breathing. Darth Vader! She recognised the sound instantly from all the holovids she had watched of the legendary Sith Master growing up. But the room around her was thrown into darkness, lit only by a faint blue light. The room transformed into a narrow corridor that suddenly disintegrated around her when she tried to move. She could hear the mournful cry of a young man screaming, “NO!” over and over again. And an ancient voice floated above her as she landed on the hard rocky ground. “It surrounds us and binds us.” She saw a burning stone temple and a hooded form in a brown cloak reaching out with a mechanical hand for a blue and white astromech droid as rain began to pummel her face. As lightning flashed behind her she saw the Knights of Ren in their usual mismatched armour and uniforms. Kylo Ren stepped forward and tried to cut her down with his red, spitting cross guard lightsaber. She managed to swivel aside at the last second as she heard the voice of the little girl again. This time behind her. “No!” She turned to see a middle aged man with a greying beard, the one from Kylo’s memories. Skywalker! She saw again the figures of six teenagers and one smaller boy with long red hair and ice blue eyes that seemed to see into her soul. They were all standing beside Skywalker with other teenagers. The only ones she recognised were Kylo Ren and Ap’lek. She assumed that the others must be the rest of the Knights of Ren and the other Jedi apprentices. Skywalker held the arm of the little girl and pulled her away from her parents who she knew were standing behind her without seeing them. She looked up at Skywalker as the girl struggled against him. “You’ll be safe here,” he told her in a kind voice. “No!” The little girl screamed again. From behind Kira she could hear the engines of a freighter taking off. She spun around to watch a rectangular shaped ship with round under belly and twin rear ion engines firing as the ship ascended above the forest, up into the clear blue atmosphere. Finally she saw Snoke, sitting on his throne before her. Hux was standing beside Snoke’s throne with a sneer firmly squared at her. “She is nothing to me.” Snoke’s horribly deformed face smiled as he unleashed Force lighting at her. 

She fell back from the Force lightning and landed on her backside in the corridor she had just been in. A whispered voice seemed to follow her. 

These are your first steps.

Just then she saw the ancient alien woman approach her.

“What was that?” Kira demanded of her, crying from the overwhelming scenes that had filled her head. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t rid them from her head. They were playing over and over in her mind. “I shouldn’t have gone in there.”

“That lightsaber was Luke’s.” The old lady explained. “And his father’s before him. And now it calls to you.”

“I have to get back to my husband.” She told her firmly, despite feeling like the very foundation she stood on had been ripped away from under her.

Maz only nodded, took off her goggles and held out a wizened old hand. Kneeling before her, Kira took her hand. “Dear child,” Maz told her. “I see your eyes. Whoever you thought your husband was, it was all a lie. But there’s someone else who could be the one for you. The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead.” She shrugged as she continued. “I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes.”

Kira followed the old alien’s lead as tears fell from her eyes. 

“Feel it. The Light. It’s always been there. Despite how hard you fight against it with the Dark. The Light will guide you.” Maz opened her eyes. “The saber. Take it.”

Kira pushed herself to her feet, instantly recoiling. “I’m never touching that thing again. I want no part in this.” She stormed back down the corridor and fled the castle. She continued running until she was deep in the forest.

***

Kylo Ren skidded into Ap’lek as they exited the castle. They had searched most of the castle and found no trace of Kira either through the Force or in person. “Nothing?” Kylo demanded of his closest knight.

“No sign of her.”

Kylo swore as he grabbed his comm to speak with the other knights from their various vantage points around the castle and surrounding forest. “Does anyone have eyes on Kira?”

Kuruk responded instantly over the comm. “I have her in my sights. She’s a few klicks North West of your position in the forest. Past the Millennium Falcon and down along the lake.”

The name of the hated ship from his childhood.

“Kuruk and Cardo, vector in on her trajectory: but do not engage.” Kylo ordered. “If she continues to run, use stun only.”

“What about the others?” Ap’lek reminded him of the actual object of their mission.

Kylo continued to bark out orders into the comm. “Vicrul, Usher and Trudgen. You three track down Dameron and the stormtrooper. Disable and capture them.”

He closed the comm link and turned his head to Ap’lek. “You and I are going after Han Solo.”

Ap’lek grabbed Kylo’s arm. “Ben, no!”

Kylo wrenched his arm from Ap’lek forcefully. “That was not a suggestion.” He leaned in closer to the youngest knight. “Do not ever use that name again.” He took off at a dead run towards where Kuruk had spotted the ship he hated more than any other ship in the Galaxy, leaving Ap’lek with no choice other than to follow along behind him. 

Chapter Text

Hux stood on the platform high above the sea of Stormtroopers standing neatly in their squadrons. The Propaganda Department had outdone themselves with enormous black and red banners bearing the hexagon and multipointed star sigil of the First Order.

Starkiller Base was finally operational. The Supreme Leader had given him the first target of the Hosnian System, the home of the New Republic Senate.

It was his time to make History.

Hux turned to survey his senior officers who shared the platform with him. For their part in developing Starkiller Base, he would allow them the honour of sharing in his moment of triumph.

He turned back to his audience who waited for his prepared address. “Today is the end! The end of a government incapacitated by corruption! The end of an illegitimate regime that acquiesces to disorder! At this very moment, in a system far from here, the New Republic lives and wheezes, staggering onward, depraved and ineffectual and unable in any way to support the citizenry it claims to serve. Meanwhile a host of systems are left to either and die - without aid, without care, without hope. Drowning in its own decadence, the New Republic ignores them, unaware that these are its final moments.”

Hux gestured to the ground beneath them all, and the weapon below that. “This fierce machine which you have built, to which you have dedicated your lives and labour, and upon which we now stand, will bring a final end to the worthless Senate and its dithering members. To their cherished fleet. When this day is done, all the remaining systems in their hundreds will bow to the dictates of the First Order. And all will remember this as the last day of the last Republic!”

Giving the signal, he turned to face the adjacent snow covered mountains, to the part of this former planet where death unlike any previously seen on a cosmic scale will be unleashed. The crowd followed his gaze with military precision.

After a brief pause of silence a massive blaze of blinding death erupted from the planet, half blinding the assembled forces of the First Order. Hux watched on with pure elation as the culmination of his years of struggles under his oppressive father - the father he and Phasma murdered - melted away as he finally achieved the pinnacle of his success under the Supreme Leader.

The beam shot into space and went on and on in its targeted trajectory.

***

Kira stopped on the edge of the forest and looked up. A beam of red plasma fire streaked across the sky. She knew at that moment that her husband had fired Starkiller base.

She knew in that moment that she could never go back to him.

***

Finn was helping the two aliens he had made a bargain with, load goods onto their ship outside the castle. Cries of disbelief and despair stopped him. He turned and followed the crowd’s gazes to the sky. A huge streak of red light sped across the clear, blue sky.

In that moment he knew. The First Order had fired Starkiller Base.

He had to find Poe.

***

Kylo Ren heard the distant cries of disbelief from the nearby castle from where he stood beside Ap’lek. A red beam screamed across the sky before splitting into five separate projectiles. He knew that he had failed to stop Snoke and his General from destroying the New Republic Senate. Although his master would be pleased, his stomach dropped.

He felt Ap’lek’s gloved hand on his shoulder. He knew his oldest companion shared in his grief at their failure. Kylo covered the proffered hand of comfort with his own.

***

Korr Sella, former assistant to Senator Organa watched in fear and horror from her balcony on Hosnian Prime. Several red beams streaked out across the sky above the home of the New Republic Senate.

One of the beams was heading straight for them.

She closed her eyes, breathing through her fear, and waited for the end to come.

***

Han Solo, Chewbacca and Poe pushed through the crowd gathering outside Maz’s castle to watch helplessly as five fireballs that were once the planets of the Hosnian system burned brightly in the day-lit sky.

He felt the overwhelming horror of what had been lost. His wife had always tried to hide her grief of losing everyone she had loved on her home planet of Alderaan when it had been destroyed by the Empire. He could only imagine the grief the destruction of the Hosnian System would do to Leia as the Republic she had fought so hard to establish was snuffed out in an instant by their new enemies born out of the old Empire.

Finn skidded to a halt beside Poe and grabbed his arm, frantic. “It’s the Republic!” He turned to Han. “The First Order, they’ve done it.” Turning back to Poe, he spoke firmly. “I’ll come with you.”

***

Kira ran until she felt her legs would give way. She hunched over a mossy rock to catch her breath. Try as she might, she couldn’t get the images of the Force vision out of her head, nor the words of the strange old alien woman. 

From behind her, a series of droid speak knocked her out of her reverie. She whirled around to see the very same white and orange BB unit she and Kylo had taken the data chip from on Jakku. “What are you doing here?”

BB-8 told her he was following her for Poe. Then he asked what she was doing. Unsure of why she wanted to unburden herself to the droid of her enemy. “I’m leaving.”

She knelt before the little droid as she felt the weight of all the pain and loss of life on her shoulders. She should have tried harder to convince the Supreme Leader and Hux not to use the weapon. “What’s your name?”

BB-8 answered her. 

“BB-8? You have to go back to your master. They need the information you have to bring back the Jedi and stop the First Order.”

BB-8 beeped again, suggesting that she could come with them.

“They can help you.” She shook her head. “I’m nobody.”

The scream of TIE-fighters filled the sky overhead. She looked up in terror at the ground troop carriers and their TIE escorts heading towards the castle. She couldn’t let them find her. She wouldn’t go back to them.

Once more, she ran. Further away from the castle and the First Order forces.

***

Maz led Han, Chewbacca, Poe and Finn downstairs and through the corridor to the small room where she had found the First Order girl. Opening the chest, Maz pulled out the Skywalker lightsaber. “I’ve had this for ages.” She handed it to Han. “Kept it locked away.”

“Where’d you get that?” Han breathed, hardly believing his eyes. Of course he recognised it. The lightsaber had belonged to Luke. But he had lost it while trying to save Han, Leia and Chewie from Darth Vader and the bounty hunter who had captured them. Han had learned the whole story once they had been reunited on the Rebel fleet, on their way to Endor and the Second Death Star.

“A good question for another time.” Maz told him as she held the weapon out to Finn. “Take it. Find your true path.”

Finn was thoroughly surprised by her offering the Jedi weapon to him. He bit back a ‘Why me?’ He knew why. He had always known.

Before anything else could be said, a loud rumbling shook the ancient castle. Chewie let out a warning growl. They were under attack.

“Those beasts.” Maz spat as she steadied herself. “They’re here.”

***

Kylo Ren and Ap’lek returned to the castle to watch its towers crumble under the fire power of the TIE-fighters. Stormtroopers were spreading out, cutting down the inhabitants of the castle as they tried to flee to safety.

“Sir,” Kuruk spotted him. “The Hux girl was spotted headed west with the droid we’re looking for.”

Kylo turned towards the direction Kuruk had indicated and took off after Kira.

***

Kira stopped running long enough to crouch by BB-8. “Stop following me! You have to get back to your master. You have to get out of here before they find you.” She gestured further into the forest. “Keep going that way. Keep out of sight.”

BB-8 mournfully told her that he hoped he would see her again.

Kira gave the droid a sad smile. “I hope so too.”

*** 

Han Solo and Chewbacca made their way out of the fallen ruins of the castle to find stormtroopers scattered all around them. They both opened fire with precision and cut down each trooper ready to fire upon them.

“Come on, Chewie!” Han yelled to his friend.

Poe, Finn and Maz followed the old grizzled Rebellion general as he picked a path through the battle.

Maz stopped both Poe and Finn. “The girl and BB-8, they need you.”

“The Hux girl?!” Poe rounded on her incredulously. “No way!”

“I need a weapon!” Finn told her.

Maz pulled up his hand that was still holding the lightsaber. “You have one!” She told him over the screaming TIE engines.

Finn looked down at the handle in his hand full of trepidation. Of course he had seen Adjutant Hux using her saberstaff on occasion. But this one looked totally different. He held up what he assumed to be the emitter end away from his face and thumbed the ignition switch. A sky blue blade spat forth from the emitter. He was awed by the colour. He had only seen the red of Adjutant Hux’s blade. He didn’t know they came in different colours. He wondered if the blue meant something different. The blade certainly felt different. Something he couldn’t explain. It was like the weapon itself felt pulled in two different directions, torn between wanting to save and wanting to destroy.

Finn stepped up behind one stormtrooper who had just cut down a man fleeing the castle. He ran the saber through the stormtrooper’s back.

“Traitor!” He heard another stormtrooper yell as he pulled out a weapon that had a plasma end. Finn had seen some elite stormtroopers sparring with Adjutant Hux with those very weapons, so he knew them to be lightsaber proof.

The trooper lunged towards Finn, as he did his best to block and protect himself from the fierce attack. But before he could mount any kind of attack, Finn found himself forced backwards and fell on his rear, luckily deactivating the lightsaber in the process. Just as the trooper stomped towards him, readying himself to deliver the killing blow, A blaster shot bloomed in the chest of the trooper, throwing him backwards.

Finn rolled over to find Poe, Han and Chewie running towards him. Poe holstered his weapon and helped Finn to his feet. “You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Finn told his friend.

“Don’t move!” A stormtrooper demanded, his voice muffled through his vocoder. The four of them were quickly surrounded by more stormtroopers. Too many to fight all at once. Another trooper yanked the lightsaber from Finn’s hand. “TK-338, we have targets in custody.” The lead stormtrooper informed his squadron leader. 

Han, Chewie, Poe and Finn had no choice but to surrender and follow their captors back through the rubble of the former castle. Han halted in his track when he heard the familiar scream of an X-wing fighter.

The lead trooper looked up at the sky at the sound. “We have incoming at 28.6. Move, move, move! Scramble all squads, repeat, scramble all squads!” The majority of the stormtroopers left their captives and moved through the rubble to take up defensive positions. “Head to higher ground and wait for our position.”

Chewie let out a growl of disbelief as he lowered his hands from his head.

Poe also lowered his hands as he whooped in triumph. “It’s the Resistance!” He continued to cheer as his fellow squadron members cut down TIE-fighters in a fierce dog-fight. They blew up the low wall a group of stormtroopers were using to fire upon them, tossing them bodily into the air.

One by one, the stormtroopers around Poe, Finn, Han and Chewie were picked off by the X-wings.

“Quick!” Han ordered as they all collected their weapons from the fallen troopers and picked off the remaining enemy ground force around them. Finn also picked up a F-11D blaster rifle from one the troopers. This was a weapon he was more familiar with. He shot off several rounds. Felling troopers was much easier without a stormtrooper helmet to impede his vision.

“Woo hoo!” Poe yelled ahead of Finn as he watched his squadron members pick off more troopers. 

“They’re a hell of a bunch of pilots!” Finn yelled to him over the roar of the engines.

“Who do you think trained them?” Poe shot back.

***

Kira lit one end of her saber staff as Kylo Ren moved through the forest as he approached her. “Kira.” He held up his hands in defence. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Stay away!” Kira told him defiantly. “I’m not going back!”

“Kira,” Kylo told her gently after removing his helmet. “You saw what they did.”

“They murdered the entire Republic.” Kira sobbed. “My husband did that.” She shook her head, as she tried to scrub the feeling of millions of beings crying out in terror as the plasma beams ripped into the planets beneath their feet. “I can’t go back to him. I can’t.”

“Where will you go?”

“You’re not going to stop me?” She looked at him, incredulous.

“You don’t want to stay and I can’t make you.” Kylo told her softly. His amber eyes filled with a pain he couldn’t express. “No matter how much I want you to come back with me.”

Kira sobbed again. She wiped her eyes and shut down her saber. She took his arms in her hands and looked up into his eyes. “I wish I could. But I can’t be anywhere near him.”

“I’ll stop him.” Kylo promised. “I’ll turn Snoke against him and kill him myself.”

Pain filled Kira’s soul, not at the thought of her husband dying, but at Kylo going back to the First Order without her. They may even end up on different sides of this war. And she never wanted to fight him.

“Come with me.” Her eyes filled with tears again, she pleaded with him. “Please.”

Kylo looked up as a transport flew overhead. Kira could feel a well of pain fill his heart. “I can’t go back to them. No more than you can go back to Hux.”

Kira let out a shuddering breath. She didn’t know what her future would look like now. But she knew what it wouldn’t look like. “I’m sorry.”

Kylo took one long look at her before replacing his helmet. “Ap’lek, pull the division out.” He ordered through his built-in comm and stormed back the way he came, leaving Kira alone in the forest.

***

Han made his way back through the castle ruins towards one of the First Order command shuttles. A figure all in black with a black helmet stormed up the gangway followed by a shorter, similar dressed figure. The tall figure stopped and faced the shorter one, who placed his hand on the taller figure’s shoulder in sympathy. 

He had seen that so often in the past between two boys. Two cousins who had grown up with no one but one another to understand the weight of the entire Galaxy holding them accountable to their impossible legacy.

Han knew instantly upon seeing that simple motion who the two figures were.

He watched in sorrow as the command shuttle took off, surrounded by the remaining TIE-fighters.

***

Kira slipped back towards the ruins of the castle and found a beat up looking YT-1300 Corellian light freighter. The gangway was closed but she bypassed that easily with a wave of the Force.

***

The Resistance troop carrier landed gracefully before the quartet. Several ground troops exited the ship once it touched down. Han shifted awkwardly in anticipation of a reunion too long in coming.

As General Leia Organa Solo made her way down the gangplank she surveyed the ruins of the proud pirate Queen’s once formidable fortress. Her eyes scanned down to take in the three men and Wookie standing before her. Her eyes fell upon her husband and she could only shake her head in bemusement. Of course he would be mixed up in all of this.

Chewie growled out his greeting, which made her smile in response. 

BB-8 rolled up to the General and bumped into her legs, demanding that she look at the information he contained to help the Resistance. Poe, sensing the difficult conversation that the General needed to have with her wayward husband, called BB-8 over to him. “Not now, buddy. We’ll show her. But just let them catch up first.”

BB-8 swivelled his domed head towards Poe, then to the General, across to Han, then back to Poe. The droid asked if Poe thought this was really more important than his information. “Yeah, buddy. It really is.”

Poe led Finn and BB-8 off towards where the X-wings were landing to introduce his new friend to the members of his squadron, leaving Han and Leia alone with Chewie to oversee their private reunion.

Finally, Han spoke. “You changed your hair.”

“Same jacket.” Leia observed.

“No,” Han scoffed, slightly offended. “New jacket.”

Chewbacca strode past his friend’s awkwardness to envelop Leia in a Wookie hug, which made her smile broadly. He told her in Shiriwook that while he had no problem displaying his affection for her openly, he couldn’t say the same for the rusty old smuggler. Leia laughed at Chewie’s observation. But her smile faded as she took in the serious expression on her husband’s worn face.

“I saw them,” he bit back tears. “Leia, I saw our son. And Luke’s son. They were here.”

***

As the four of them boarded the Millennium Falcon, with promises to meet Leia’s Resistance forces on their base on D’Qar, Han and Chewie made their way to the cockpit to start up the ignition sequence. Han was startled from his task by Poe’s voice screaming from the passenger lounge. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Han, followed by Chewie, made their way through the cockpit access corridor to the passenger lounge to find Poe pointing a blaster at the girl they had seen in Maz’s castle. Her fine dark grey dress was now heavily covered in mud and her perfectly styled hair now stuck out at all angles.

“Please,” Kira pleaded, holding her hands up in surrender. “I mean you no harm. I have information about the First Order that can greatly help the Resistance.”

“I still say we shoot her.” Finn told Poe, pulling up his blaster rifle and pointing it at his former mistress.

“FN-“ she began.

“My name is Finn.” He declared fiercely, his finger hovering over the trigger. “The First Order stole me from my family and gave me a different name.”

“I know that.” Kira spoke softly. “I think…” Her voice faltered. “I think they did the same to me.”

Poe holstered his own blaster and gestured for Finn to do the same. “Let’s just hear her out.” Poe suggested. “If we don’t like what she has to say, then we can shoot her.”

Kira shrunk under his words, but as her eyes met Han’s she saw a depth of understanding there she hadn’t expected to see from the old Rebellion General.

“Let her talk.”   

Chapter Text

“YOU LOST HER?!” Snoke’s hologram roared thunderously from his colossal throne, his deformed body filling the cavern of the presence chamber. “How could you lose my apprentice?” He faced down a stoic Kylo Ren, who refused to cower before his Master’s subordinate.

“Supreme Leader,” his helmeted voice projected low and confidently in defiance. “I didn’t lose her, she ran away.”

“Straight into the arms of the foul Resistance?” Hux scoffed. “You really expect us to buy that pathetic story?”

Kylo Ren snapped his visored face at the ginger madman. “It wasn’t me she was running from.” He projected the rest of his thoughts into Hux’s mind for him, alone to hear. She saw how you fired the weapon and wiped out the Hosnian System. She didn’t want to live with someone who could kill his wife just as easily as he could kill billions of innocent strangers.

Hux snorted back his amusement. “Destroying the Republic was always our endgame. She knew that. I don’t believe you for one moment. Those Resistance scum must have kidnapped her.” Hux turned his attention back to their Supreme Leader. “And they shall pay for their insolence.”

Snoke resumed his seat as he pursed his thin lips together. He watched the interaction with growing interest.

“She left of her own volition.” Kylo insisted.

“Into the beds of the traitor and the pilot, no doubt.” Hux sneered, still not buying the story. He wanted to see if his hunch about Ren would prove fruitful. “Once she realised that you and your knights couldn’t easily be seduced.”

Kylo’s gloved hand snapped towards Hux. As his fingers tensed, Hux could feel the muscles in his throat contract, cutting off vital air supply. He tried to gasp for air, but it was no use. He knew without a doubt that if the Supreme Leader did not intervene on his behalf he would be overcome by this dark Force user.

“Enough,” Bemused, Snoke flicked his gnarled fingers towards Ren and sent him flying across the room, skidding the last few meters on his back and into the wall.

Kylo rolled over onto his hands and knees, trying to clear the sudden headache that was blooming across his eyes.

Snoke leaned forward, gripping the hand rests of his throne. “Take off that ridiculous mask and let me see who my Master deems worthy enough to assess me and my army.”

Kylo knew he had overstepped and shown too much in the Force. He had become a threat to Snoke and his outdated notions of the Sith’s power of two. He had no choice but to comply and appear humble and compliant. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realised that this was how Kira had managed to survive so long in Snoke’s company. She had shown her usefulness, but had never directly shown her power in opposition to Snoke’s wishes.

Kylo took his cue from her stolen memories and knelt on one knee in supplication, removing his helmet as he did so. He shook his sable tresses out of his face and kept his eyes fixed firmly on the polished durocrete floor.

Snoke let out a small sound that surprised Kylo. It was a wheezing, guttural noise that he finally realised was this deformed alien’s approximation of laughter. “So,” Snoke purred as he gained control over his composure. “My Master thinks to supplant me with the spawn of his own would-be assassin.” Snoke wheezed an approximation of a laugh again as he mocked him openly. “Kylo Ren, heir to Lord Vader.”

Hux whipped around, incredulously facing his opponent. “Supreme Leader, I demand that this filth is dealt with at once.”

“Hold your tongue.” Snoke’s finger barely twitched as he held Hux in a full-body Force hold. His warped lips pulled back tightly in a facsimile of a smile. “My Master’s humour is not without irony. The last Skywalker will rise and destroy the treachery of his rebellious family.”

Kylo slammed his mental walls shut and held them fast against Snoke’s slithering Force tendrils attempting to infiltrate his mind. “I do not presume to know my Master’s plan for me.”

“No? Your mother leads the Resistance forces.” Snoke’s eyes danced with mirth before they narrowed. “Because of your failure, they now have the map leading to where the last Jedi is hiding away, like some miserable womp rat. And you,” He leaned forward, drawing Kylo’s attention from the floor to the Supreme Leader’s face. “Will destroy Skywalker before he can aid the Resistance. Take your knights with you and finish him this time.” Snoke released Hux from his Force hold and motioned to them both with one finger. “Go.”

***

The turbolift felt too closed in, too claustrophobic with Kylo and Hux standing side by side. The helmet hung limply from his hand. He hadn’t had the strength to lift it to his head. There was no point. His two greatest enemies in the First Order now knew the truth about his identity. Without the mask he was nothing but the failed son of Rebellion heroes. 

The fallen Jedi. He would never call himself a Sith, despite his Master’s insistence on following the old lore. Kylo Ren and his knights were something different. Something new. He had hoped that Kira would join their way of navigating a path between Light and Dark, taking the best from all traditions of Force users and cutting out all outdated concepts.

He tried his best to ignore the man standing beside him, his jaw clenching with the effort.

“Quite a bit longer than regulation.” Hux muttered beside him.

“What?” Demanded Kylo sharply.

“Your hair.” Hux shrugged as he continued to look straight ahead at the closed doors. “Clearly your Master doesn’t care what you look like under the mask. I can see why.” He let out a short laugh. “No wonder my wife ran away.”

Kylo grabbed the front of Hux’s uniform and shoved him against the wall of the turbolift. He kept his face close enough to Hux to intimidate him but his face remained unreadable. “She’s starting to question, you know.”

Startled by his quiet tone, Hux feigned innocence.  “Question what?”

A muscle in Kylo’s jaw tightened in a minuscule movement, betraying a tension he was trying to hide. “Everything.” 

Kylo released Hux and pivoted as the turbolift doors opened onto the hanger bay where the rest of his knights were waiting with their heavy weapons on display. As Kylo stepped out of the lift, he could feel the pure terror and hatred emanating from the ginger General. He threw a lopsided smirk towards Ap’lek, who sent out a tendril of amusement at the General’s expense.

Once the doors closed, Ap’lek stepped forward to greet Kylo. “We got your summons. Snoke wants us to find our former Master.”

“Ap,” Kylo grabbed his arm. Naked concern was evident on Kylo’s face as Ap’lek regarded him, locking his emotions down tightly. “He ordered us to kill him.” Kylo could sense nothing from the younger man, he knew he had his mental shields masking any betrayal of his true emotions. “You can sit this one out, Ap. None of us will think less of you for it.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Ap’lek shook his helmeted head. “It’s high time I faced my father. Time to own up to being the greatest disappointment of his life.”

Kylo gave him a wry smile. “I think only I can claim that title. All you did was follow me.”

“Yeah, to keep you out of trouble.” Ap’lek returned.

“Yeah,” Kylo blew out a breath. “Serving the Emperor, learning the ways of the Dark Side, you did a really good job of keeping me out of trouble.”

“My issues with my father have nothing to do with your need to break with the Jedi’s suffocating doctrine and everything with me having to escape my name and my dictated destiny.” Ap’lek shook his helmeted head. 

Vicrul joined them and placed a comforting hand on both Kylo and Ap’lek’s shoulders. “Let’s just agree that we’re all a bunch of disappointments to our former master. Let’s get onboard the Night Buzzard and get out of here. We can discuss who’s the biggest loser later.” He shot a look behind him in Usher’s direction. “It’s you, by the way.”

Kylo rolled his eyes as his oldest friend’s comment set off a round of bickering between the knights as they boarded their ship, heading to the First Jedi Temple.

***

Poe was helping Chewie boost the power to the hyperdrive engines to keep them flying, but the Millenium Falcon continued to bounce its way through hyperspace, leaving Finn fighting the urge to throw up as he watched the famous Han Solo at the helm of his beloved ship. Adjutant Hux, however, was firmly getting on Finn’s nerves. She was buzzing around the cockpit, inspecting the wiring on the console behind the co-pilot’s seat.

“If this hyperdrive blows, there’s gonna be pieces of us in three different systems.” Han crossed the ship to his co-pilot and Poe.

A sudden noise and a spark drew the attention of both Finn and Han as Kira pulled a square shaped device from the console bulkhead. “Huh,” she looked triumphantly at the small device in her hand as the ship settled back into a regular rhythm and the alarms ceased their blaring. 

She sat down in the co-pilot’s chair as Han turned to her. “What d’you do?” 

Kira smiled as she held up the small device that had a series of torn blue and red wires hanging from it. “I bypassed the compressor.”

Finn took in the dumbfounded expression on the old smuggler’s face as he took in General Hux’s young wife. “How did you learn to do that?”

Kira frowned as she turned back to her former bodyguard. “Between training with Snoke and being ignored by my husband, my life with the First Order was fairly boring. I developed an interest in electronics. I can work my way around droids, a whole lot of different engines and control systems.”

“Huh,” Han muttered as he was forced to re-evaluate this young woman. He stood and left the cockpit, shoving BB-8 out of the doorway on his way out. “Move, ball.” Han called up through the open access hatch, telling Chewie and Poe to come down since the hyperdrive problem was now resolved.

Finn followed behind Kira as they all gathered in the crew lounge of the ship. Finn and Poe sat beside one another as Poe flicked the dejarik board to life, gesturing for Finn to play with him. Kira stood behind them, gripping the back of the booth-style seating.

“So,” Han stood across from her. “A fugitive now, huh?”

Kira pulled herself up to her full height, despite the dirtiness of her once formal dress, she realised that she had little other bargaining power aside from her knowledge of the inner workings of the upper echelons of the First Order. “The First Order also has the map. BB-8 downloaded it into his memory before Kylo Ren and I removed the data chip from him. They will be trying to get to Skywalker as we speak.”

Poe looked down at his spherical droid with encouragement. “Come on, buddy. Show us what you’ve got.”

BB-8 wheeled over to the centre of the lounge and projected a quadrant of space into the room. A red line meandered from planet to planet across the projection, showing the end point as a planet named Ahch-To.

“The map’s not complete.” Han commented, observing the map carefully. “It’s just a piece. Ever since Luke disappeared people have been looking for him.”

“Why did he leave?” Finn asked quietly. 

“He was training a new generation of Jedi.” Han explained solemnly. Two boys, just apprentices turned against him, destroyed it all.” 

Finn caught Kira’s expression in his periphery vision. It was a mixture of awe and sadness.

“Luke felt responsible.” Han continued. “He just walked away from everything.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” Finn pressed.

“A lot of rumours.” Han sighed wearily. “Stories. People that knew him best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple.”

“I thought that was all just First Order propaganda.” Finn spoke up. “The Jedi, the Sith, the Force. I thought it was just something they told us to keep us under control. I didn’t think it was real.”

“I used to wonder about that myself.” Han muttered, his eyes still scanning the holographic map, but his mind was recalling all the so-called miracles he had witnessed over the years. With Luke, with Vader, with Ben and Leia. “Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good and evil, the Dark side and the Light.” He took a deep breath. “Crazy thing is…” turning back to face the three wide-eyed young people, still so full of life despite all the trials they had suffered. “It’s true. All of it. The Force. The Jedi. All of it.” He met their hopeful faces. “It’s all true.”

The console beside Han in the lounge started beeping, signalling that they were dropping out of hyperspace. Chewie and Poe followed Han into the cockpit, while Finn stayed to watch over Kira. Finn mused over how he had gone from her bodyguard to her captor in the space of a few days.

“So,” Finn eyed her carefully. “How are we going to play this?”

“We?” Kira raised her eyebrows at him.

Finn shrugged. “You’re a fugitive from the First Order, just like me. I figure if we play our cards right, tell them what we know, they will protect us.”

Kira rolled her eyes as she leaned against the console opposite the lounge and crossed her arms over her chest. “Sure, I give them intel on the leadership and you give them intel on the Stormtrooper program. They’ll welcome us with open arms, if they don’t shoot us on sight.”

“I have Poe to vouch for me.” Finn told her, feeling confident. “Who do you have?”

“Fine.” Kira sighed, uncrossed her arms and joined Finn on the couch. “They’re going to want to know everything we can tell them about Starkiller.”

Smiling, Finn leaned in towards her. “Well, isn’t it just lucky for me that I was assigned there before I had to follow you around like a lost Loth cat.”

Kira quirked her head towards him. Despite their current strained relationship, she had always admired this Stormtrooper’s forthright nature. “What did the pilot call you again?”

“Finn,” he nodded firmly. “My name is Finn now.”

Kira smiled back at him. “Finn. It suits you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Blunt and to the point.” She raised a sardonic eyebrow.

Finn snorted. “So, what do I call you now? Adjutant Hux always seemed like a mouthful.”

“Kira.” She told him automatically, but then her mind wandered back to the little girl she had seen in her vision. The name Kira didn’t seem to match the little girl. And she knew that it had been her, with her parents, with Skywalker. But that didn’t make any sense. She knew for a fact that she had been raised in the creche with the children of First Order officers before Snoke had found her hidden talents. She wondered what the little girl’s name was if not Kira.

“Hey,” Finn waved a hand in front of her eyes. “You good?”

“What?” Kira blinked back at him.

“You sort of drifted off there for a bit.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kira waved it off. “Force stuff.”

Finn snorted a laugh. “Force stuff. Sure. Happens to me all the time.”

“Does it?” Kira turned to him in surprise.

“No,” he let out a low chuckle. “So, Kira. I know the entire First Order facility on Starkiller like the back of my hand. Every corridor, every refresher…”

“How do you know so much about it? Were you in security?”

“Uh,” Finn cleared his throat awkwardly. “Something like that.”

“And I can give them all the intel about the military leadership. The number of dreadnaughts, star destroyers, personnel numbers…”

“Are you kidding me?” Finn interrupted her as he felt the repulsor engines power up to guide them into a gentle landing. “You can tell them everything about that psychopath you’re married to.”

Kira winced. “Hux.”

Finn cocked his head. “Hux?”

“What about him?”

“You call your husband Hux?”

“Everyone calls him Hux.”

Finn leaned in closer. “I thought you would have called him by his first name. I assume he has one.”

Poe entered the lounge, closely followed by the grisly looking Han Solo and the giant hairy Wookie. “Who we talking about?”

“Hux.” Finn supplied.

“Hugs?” Poe leaned against the back of the couch. “Sure the jerk has a first name. I’m surprised that his own wife doesn’t know it.”

Kira sighed. “He never let anyone call him anything other than Hux.” She squinted at the rugged rebel pilot. “I can see why.”

“It makes a lot more sense when you know his first name is Armitage.”

Kira blinked. She had literally never heared that name before.

“Armitage?” Finn roared with laughter.

Han stormed back into the lounge. “Are you kids ready to go meet the Princess?”

“General, Han.” Poe stood and reminded the surly old man. “She’s a General now.”

Han sighed mournfully as he watched the young trio leave the lounge of his beloved Millenium Falcon. The trio reminded him so much of himself, Luke and Leia when they had first met up on the Death Star. So full of fire, hope and fear. He shook his head. Now all he had left was fear. He muttered to himself, “She’ll always be a princess to me.”

Chapter Text

Kira fell in behind the group as Poe led Finn, BB-8, Han and Chewbacca down the ramp of the Falcon, through the busy landing area of the Resistance base on D’Qar. Some of the X-wings were still landing from their recent battle on Takodana. The pilots and their astromech droids greet their ground crew and friends, relieved to be reunited once more after the battle with the First Order forces.

Poe led the group down the vine-covered stone steps into an underground bunker that was fitted out with ancient tech. Well, ancient by First Order standards. But Kira surmised that this was the standard for the outlawed freedom fighters.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kira watched as Han Solo and the Wookie peeled off to speak with some Resistance personnel in a dark alcove. She kept her attention firmly on the woman Poe had navigated his way to.

“General Organa,” Poe called as he maneuvered around the consoles to a small but determined looking older woman with her greying braided hair coiled artfully around her head. Kira noted the plain utilitarian clothes that only barely registered to her as a uniform. “I’m sorry to interrupt. This is Finn and Kira Hux. The First Order deserters. They need to talk to you.”

“And I need to talk to you both.” The older lady pursed her lips. “That was incredibly brave what you both did. Renouncing the First Order, saving Poe’s life.” 

“Thank you, General.” Finn answered. “Kira escaped from the Knights of Ren to join us.”

“Han told me about you.” The General’s piercing brown eyes focused in on Kira, and she felt a gentle tendril of the Force seeking through the surface of her mind before she locked her mental shields in place.

“You have the Force?” Kira blurted, surprised that the leader of the Resistance was Force sensitive.

“Far less than you, I’m afraid.” The General gave her a wry smile. “And far less than my brother, Luke.”

Kira couldn’t hide her astonishment. “Luke Skywalker is your brother?”

Poe managed to hide a laugh behind his hand before he turned serious once more. “Finn’s familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system. He worked on the base.”

“We’re desperate for anything you can tell us.” General Organa pleaded with Finn.

“We can tell you anything you need to know.” Finn promised her. “How to disable it, destroy it.”

“What about the people on the base?” Kira interrupted. 

The General turned to her, giving her a sad look. “I understand your concern for the lives that will be lost. But you need to understand that the First Order has already wiped out billions of lives with the press of a button. They will not stop with the Hosnian System. Any system that poses a threat to them will be targeted next.” A morbid expression crossed the General’s regal features. “Just like the Empire before them. You need to tell us all you know. If we can, we will minimize the loss of life, but we need to eliminate this threat before they target another system.”

***

“General,” C-3PO stated as he loaded the data chip from the small astromech droid into the circular communications panel. “I regret to inform you but this map recovered from BB-8 is only partially complete. And even worse, it matches no charted system on record.” General Organa sighed as she looked from the golden droid to her right to where her estranged husband stood on her left, then back up at the projected system of stars hovering above the communication console. “We simply do not have enough information to locate Master Luke.”

“I can’t believe I was so foolish to think I could find Luke and bring him home.” Leia sighed mournfully.

“Leia,” Han said softly, gently.

“Don’t do that.” Leia snapped at him as she stormed away from the console.

“What?” Han was taken aback.

“Anything.” She called over her shoulder as she continued to walk away.

C-3PO met Han’s sour expression and made an indelicate sound. “Princesses.” The droid huffed. Han raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sardonic tone the droid had used.

Han took off after his exasperated wife. It seemed like no time at all had passed since the last time he had argued with her. “I’m only trying to be helpful.”

She let out a snort of derision. “When did that ever help? And don’t say ‘the Death Star’.”

Han sighed as he trailed after her, knowing that this was going to be a long day.

***

Kira was grateful that the two blonde female Resistance officers had allowed her to shower and change into fresh clothes. Even if the clothes were decidedly more plain than her usual attire. At least she was now comfortable as she sat facing her would-be interrogators. The Resistance officers couldn’t be more opposite in appearance. The older of the two was named D’Acy and seemed to be a relic from the Rebel Alliance, a similar age to the General. While the younger of the officers had a fresh face. Who, despite her youth, commanded an aura that betrayed an uncanny intelligence. Commander D’Acy was the one conducting the interview, but it was the younger officer - Lieutenant Connix who was piecing together Kira’s intelligence.

“Now,” D’Acy asked, referring to Connix’s notes. “These Knights of Ren you spoke of earlier. Can you tell us more about them?”

Kira wasn’t sure what more she could say about the Knights. She had only spent a matter of days with the seven men. “They are led by Kylo Ren. He’s the one I spent the most amount of time with. He told me that they had been sent by their Master to review the Supreme Leader and General Hux.”

“General Hux, your husband?”

“Yes,” Kira answered, uneasy. She definitely did not want to answer any personal questions about her relationship with her husband. “I’m happy to tell you anything you want to know about him on a professional level. However, all personal information is firmly off the table.”

“We can circle back to Hux.” Connix stepped into the conversation for the first time, before looking apologetically to D’Acy. “The general wants to know more about Kylo Ren and his Knights.”

D’Acy gave her subordinate a small nod. “Are all of the Knights Force sensitive?”

Kira could understand why the general would be interested in a group of warriors well trained in the Force. “Yes. They all have various degrees of power, but two of them are far stronger than the rest.”

“Kylo Ren?” D’Acy nodded, confirming her own suspicions. “And he has a cousin?”

“Well,” Kira started, unsure of how they even suspected their identities when the Knights had been unknown to the First Order until only days before. “Kylo and Ap’lek are close. I would have thought they were best friends. They didn’t look similar enough to be cousins.”

D’Acy looked up sharply. “You saw them? Without their masks?”

“Not all of them took their masks off.” Kira shrugged. “But Kylo and Ap’lek were…” What? Nice to her? “Different. They both wanted to teach me their philosophy on the Force.”

“Yeah, Sith.” Connix muttered under her breath.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Kira replied hotly. “Even Snoke wasn’t truly a Sith, and he never taught me the Force in such binary ways as Light and Dark. Power is just power. It’s the intention behind the action that determines whether it is meant to harm or heal.”

“Using Starkiller to kill billions of beings was certainly meant to harm.” D’Acy told her pointedly.

“Only from your point of view.” Kira contested. “Snoke would argue that the destruction of the Republic paves the way to restore order to the Galaxy.”

“Oppression is not order.” D’Acy quipped.

“I agree with you.” Kira countered. “That’s why I’m here.”

D’Acy clucked her tongue as she reached for the tablet Connix was holding. She selected an image and projected it on the screen before them. The image made Kira sit up in astonishment. The scene was so similar to part of her vision that she had to stifle a surprised cry. A group of various beings who appeared to be early to mid adolescents. And in the centre stood a greying, bearded human male. The same one she had seen in her vision.

“This was Luke Skywalker’s last group of Jedi students.” D’Acy confirmed what Kira had already suspected. “Seven of them rose up against their Master and destroyed the entire Temple.” D’Acy pulled up another image, this time of a single male human adolescent. The face had a long prominent nose, dark eyes, full lips and rakishly long hair. It was unmistakably a younger version of Kylo Ren. A shiver passed through Kira. Those sad eyes that had once held so much promise were the same that had burned with fire for her onboard the Finalizer. 

“That’s him.” Kira whispered, her eyes fixed on the image of the man she had known for such a short time. The man she had regretfully said goodbye to on Takodana.

“Ben Solo.” D’Acy supplied.

“What?” Kira looked at her in confusion.

“You’ve just confirmed the true identity of Kylo Ren is in fact, Ben Solo.”

“As in, Han Solo?”

“Han and Leia’s son.” D’Acy spoke quietly. Her voice was full of regret for one of her oldest friends. “The General never gave up hope that her son was still out in the Galaxy.”

“He wouldn’t come with me.” Kira told her regretfully. “I asked him to leave with me, but he refused. Even with how much he despises Snoke and the First Order, he wouldn’t come to the Resistance.”

D’Acy sighed. “I’m not surprised. He wouldn’t want to return to his parents after he and his cousin both led the attack on the Jedi Temple.” She added an image of a young boy with flaming red hair who Kira instantly recognised as Ap’lek. “This is Ben Solo’s cousin - Anakin Skywalker.”

“Skywalker?!” Kira barked in disbelief. “There’s no way Ap’lek is any relation to the Luke Skywalker. He’s just not.”

D’Acy let out a soft laugh. “I met him a few times as a child. He was completely irreverent. As disinterested in the fame of his family as one could be. Where young Ben Solo felt the full weight of his legacy, young Anakin couldn’t have cared less. It fell off him like water from a Nubian duck.”

Kira cocked her head and conceded the point. “Well, that certainly matches the Ap’lek I met. I thought he was almost incapable of taking anything seriously, much less be considered a Dark Side initiant. But Kylo explained to me that he and his Knights follow more of a balanced path than that prescribed by either the Jedi or the Sith. He had wanted me to learn their ways as well.” She looked sadly at the projected faces of young men who had yet to face the Master they betrayed their families to serve. “What exactly happened at the Jedi Temple?” Kira asked D’Acy.

The older lady shook her head. “I don’t know. By the time Leia arrived at the Temple, there was nothing left but smoking ruins. Luke had already fled.”

“Could Luke have just died?” 

D’Acy shook her head again. “Leia would have sensed his passing. They’re twins.”

Kira nodded, understanding D’Acy’s earlier statement. “Cousins. You said that Kylo and Ap’lek are cousins.”

“Yes. Luke had a girlfriend who he had never quite gotten around to marrying. She was a former student of his. One of his first. Mara Jade. She used to work for the Emperor. From what Leia told me, she had originally planned on killing Luke, but she had a change of heart. Then eventually she got pregnant.”

“Was Mara there when the temple was destroyed?” Kira asked, worried about the answer.

“No.”

“So she could still be out there somewhere?” Kira didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Well, yes.” D’Acy nodded. “But her whereabouts are even more of a mystery than Luke’s. And we’re already chasing down one wild bantha.”

“Right,” Kira agreed. “We can track down Luke Skywalker, then go find this Mara Jade.”

“And hopefully convince their son and Leia’s son to come to our aid.” D’Acy concluded.

“Well,” Connix blew out a breath. “That’s a lot to digest.”

“That’s what Leia hopes for.” D’Acy shook her head sadly.

“But you don’t think it will happen?” Kira asked the older woman.

“I think the General relies too much on hope.” She admitted nervously. “We didn’t defeat the Empire purely on hope, but on a lot of people working together to blow the whole thing apart. It will take a huge coordinated effort to defeat the First Order. We’re nowhere near that level either in personnel or firepower. Especially since the First Order just took out the entire Senate and their fleet.”

“Surely not all of the fleet?” Kira bawked.

“No, not all of it.” D’Acy admitted. “Leia is working on bringing the scattered remnants of the senators and ships to our side under her authority.”

“But they don’t like it.” Connix was in charge of communications, so she had been present for most of the holographic meetings. “They don’t trust her since she was outed as Darth Vader’s daughter in front of the whole Senate. They just don’t trust her not to go all Dark Side.”

“And they especially won’t trust her once they find out where her son and nephew have been hiding all these years.”

“But they both only just showed up to the First Order.” Kira countered. “They can’t prove anything against them.”

“Well, they’ve been hiding somewhere for the past five years.” D’Acy sighed.

Kira cocked her head in thought. She wasn’t sure if she should voice it out loud, but she was supposed to be delivering intelligence to secure her position with the Resistance. “Kylo said that their Master was also Snoke’s Master.”

D’Acy’s head snapped up and her eyes brightened. “There’s another Master working behind the scenes?” She caught Connix’s eyes. “We thought that Snoke was the power behind Hux.”

Kira shook her head. “Hux is the face of the First Order, but he’s the head of the army.” She snorted, suddenly thinking of something snarky Ap’lek might say. “Snoke’s not pretty enough to be the poster boy for the First Order.”

Connix let out a snort of a laugh before she recovered her composure. “He’s certainly not. But Hux?”

Kira could only shrug. There must have been something attractive about him that made her want to marry him. But she couldn’t recall what that was now.

D’Acy turned back to Kira. “Have you ever heard or seen this Master? Ever heard Snoke refer to him?”

Kira shrugged again. “Snoke mentioned his Master in the terms of what he had taught him. But I had assumed him to be long dead, not a Master in the present tense.”

D’Acy winced. “So that’s a dead end.” She straightened her shoulders. “That will be all for now. But I’m sure the General will want to meet with you now.”

“General Organa?” Kira shrank back. She had heard fearsome things about the General’s prowess on the battlefield from Hux. She knew that Organa had been one of the leaders of the New Republic before her dramatic fall from grace. And before all of that, she had been one of the key figures of the Rebellion against the Empire. But now what worried her the most was the fact that she was Kylo Ren’s mother. She wondered what questions the General would have for her based on her recent interactions with her son.

“I’ll take you to the General.” Connix gestured towards a narrow corridor shooting off the main control room. Kira fell into an uneasy silence as she trailed behind the young communications officer. “Leia’s not that bad. Probably nothing like you’ve heard about from the First Order. She’s actually more like a mother figure, especially for us younger officers. Anyone she feels a kinship with she takes under her wing.”

“Is that what she did for you? Took you under her wing?” Kira asked, suddenly feeling like a young child again.

Connix turned to her, her face bright with a smile. “Absolutely. I left my family, my home planet with hope to make a difference for the Galaxy. She said that I reminded her of herself when she first helped her father with the Rebellion.”

Kira frowned in confusion. “I thought her father was Darth Vader.”

“Her adopted father, Bail Organa, helped build the Rebellion against the Empire.” Connix clarified. “Unfortunately he was lost when Alderaan was destroyed by the first Death Star.”

A wave of pain tore through Kira. So strong she lost her footing. She steadied herself against the cool stone walls. Connix was at her side in a moment, her arms around her, holding her steady. “Are you okay?”

Another wave hit her before she managed to shut down her mental shields against her bond with Kylo. She would have to deal with whatever was happening to him later. After she met with his mother. Kira took a deep, fortifying breath and stood upright again. “I’m better now. Sorry, Force stuff.” She had used that excuse so many times before with Hux that she was used to it being ignored.

Connix’s face lit up with wonder. “You have the Force? Wow! I’ve never met a Force user, other than the General. And she doesn’t really use the Force anymore. But I know her brother trained her before she gave up the idea of being a Jedi. She never said why. But given what Commander D’Acy had said about Leia being publicly denounced as Darth Vader’s daughter, I can see why. No one would have trusted her to lead the Galactic Republic. She was pushed out of office and not long after was the whole debacle at the Jedi Temple.”

“That Kylo and Ap’lek were responsible for.” Kira finished for her, still skeptical.

“The General will be able to tell you more about that.” Connix led the way once more down the narrow corridor. “She never talks about it with us. But I’m not surprised. It must be very painful to her considering it’s the long running family feud between the Light and the Dark.”

Connix stopped before a closed door. She pressed a switch and the door slid effortlessly open. “General, Kira Hux is available now if you want to speak with her.”

General Leia Organa sat behind a small desk. In the split second before she drew herself up into a stronger posture, Kira saw the weight of the Galaxy on the small woman’s shoulders. Then it was as if the decades fell away as she drew on the Force to make herself appear more regal and self-assured. Kira thought that was a very interesting use of the Force. She had never thought to use it inwardly to impress her importance to command a room with a seemingly effortless grace. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I’ll take it from here.”

The young woman nodded as she took her leave and the door snapped shut behind her, leaving Kira looking at the older woman sitting behind the desk.

“Please, Kira - you don’t mind if I call you Kira, do you? Please take a seat. You can call me Leia.” She gestured at the seat opposite her own.

As Kira sat, she felt another set of eyes on her. She spun around in her seat and spotted an ordinary looking mirror set into the stone work. Small, nothing of significance. Except for the presence of a familiar form behind it. “You may as well tell your husband to join us.” Kira told Leia, looking pointedly back at her.

Less than a minute later the door slid open once more, revealing the scruffy form of Han Solo. He moved past Kira and sat on the corner of the desk, close to his wife, but able to intervene if the conversation became physical. Not that he would present much of a challenge to a Force wielder like herself. She thought the gesture was sweet, nonetheless.

“You both want to know about your son.” Kira decided to cut straight to the point of why she had been summoned to the General so soon after her arrival at the Resistance base. Her debriefing should have taken days, with every piece of intelligence gathered, cross examined and verified before she was released into a supervised position to ensure she was not a spy. 

“We know you’re not a spy.” Leia smiled warmly. “I’m not a Jedi, but I did train with my brother.” She looked over to Han, who made a wry face as he looked away. “It comes in handy when we need to verify intelligence quickly.”

“Of course.” Kira righted herself and fortified her mental shields once more. “Your son found the same thing very useful with your pilot Poe Dameron.”

Leia raised an eyebrow. “We don’t torture people.”

“Neither did your son.” Kira snapped. She couldn’t understand why this calm exterior was grating on her nerves. But she felt herself being wound tighter the more the General insisted on maintaining her calm veneer.

“Poe described it as torturous.” Leia said, a flicker of emotion crossed her face before her facade returned.

“It can be.” Kira explained. “The technique is similar to the Jedi mind trick. But this goes further, deeper than the surface thoughts and skims through the subject’s memory. It’s only painful if someone fights the process or has been trained to repel it.”

“I know what my son did to Poe.” Leia informed her, placing her forearms on the desktable before her. “What I don’t understand is why or how he ended up on the Finalizer. What do you know about the assignment he was given?”

“All he told me what that his Master had sent him and the rest of his Knights to provide an assessment of Snoke and General Hux.” 

“Did he tell you who this new Master is?” Han interrupted.

Kira looked up at Han as a sudden chill swept through her. She closed her eyes as the feeling intensified. In her mind she could see only darkness, interrupted by the flashing of lightning in an expansive cavern, like. Like an underground arena. At one end of the arena stood a large throne with a figure shrouded in a dark robe. The lightning flashed again and she could almost make out a face, but the hood was too low over the figure’s face. All she could make out was a pale angular nosenote, thin lips and a cleft chin. The sight of the figure chilled her to her bones. She let out a small cry of fear as the image left her mind.

“What is it?” Leia stood up and reached across the desk and grabbed her hand. The older woman closed her eyes and tried to connect with Kira’s vision. But it wasn’t a Force vision. This was something else. Like a memory. But it was clear from Kira’s fear that it wasn’t her memory. The memory had a masculine feel to it. One that felt so familiar to her it hurt her just to feel it again after all these years. “Ben!” Leia called out to the darkness. 

“Leia, what is it?” Han was standing at her side with his arm wrapped around her waist. 

Her vision cleared as she looked up at her wayward husband. She was still in her office. Kira still sat in the seat across the desk from her, looking very shaken.

“Our son’s Master…” Leia took a shuddering breath as she turned to Han. “Is Palpatine.”

Han turned to his wife and she was shocked by the haunted expression on his face. She had never felt such raw fear in her husband. “Oh Han,” she touched his face. “We have to get our son back.” She fell into his arms and tucked her head under his chin. Being together like this was as easy and comfortable as breathing.

“He’s not entirely Dark, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Kira offered quietly.

“What does that mean?” Han raised his head to look at the young Hux woman. “Luke always talked about the Force in concrete terms: Dark and Light, Jedi and Sith.”

“But your son doesn’t.” Kira replied hotly, not understanding where her sudden frustration came from. But she could feel it welling up inside of her until she had to let it out. “Whatever I can remember from Kylo’s training under Palpatine was just the beginning.” Kira explained. “Kylo and the Knights travelled all over the Galaxy learning from all traditions of the Force - they are all equally valid and just as useless as the dogmatic rules of the Jedi and the Sith.”

“Wait,” Leia told her, holding up a hand. “Kira?”

“What?!” Kira demanded loudly.

“What are you feeling?” Leia asked her firmly. “What emotions, right now?”

Kira blinked and the emotions that had been churning through her ebbed away just as quickly as they had started. “Nothing. Not now.”

“But just before?” Leia coaxed her gently, leaving her husband’s arms and standing before Kira. She took her hands and sat on the edge of the desk. “Those emotions didn’t come from you, did they?”

Kira’s face crinkled as she thought about the origin of those emotions and knowledge. “No, they didn’t. I’m not sure how he did it. But it’s like he transferred all his training, all his studies and trials to me. It’s like he bundled it all up and just shoved it all into my mind. It hurt like hell.”

“I’ve never heard of anything this strong before.” Leia admitted. “Luke and I can feel one another’s emotions and reach out to communicate across large distances. But it takes a lot of effort. This was just as easy as breathing. You can just tap into his memories. Does it work both ways? Can he recall your memories?”

“No, he just gave me all the memories of his training.” Kira explained. “Like a fast tracked first lesson.”

“Huh.” Han sighed. “That’s pretty cool, you’ve gotta admit.”

Leia looked from her husband, back to the young woman sitting before her. “Once we have the full map, I want you to go with Han to bring Luke back.”

“Why me?” Kira and Han both said at the same time.

Leia flicked an annoyed expression at her husband. “You, because you’re here now and you have a lot to make up for.” She turned back to Kira. “You, Kira, because you may have come from the First Order, but the hope you carry and the connection you have to our son means that you may very well be the only one who can spark hope back into Luke.” She turned back to her husband. “And if that doesn’t work, you and Chewie will drag him back here kicking and screaming.” She tilted her head in warning. “Don’t take no for an answer.”

“As you wish, your Worshipfulness.” Han quipped as he motioned for Kira to follow him out of her office.

Chapter Text

BB-8 rolled across the stone floor in a dusty, disused corner of the Command Centre. There he found a discoloured sheet hanging haphazardly over what he knew to be the silent form of his old friend. He extended a claw from his compartment. He rolled backwards and pulled with his claw and removed the sheet, revealing the form of R2-D2. Just like last time he had checked on his friend, he was powered down.

He chittered to the silent droid about the new friends he had made and the adventures he had recently been on.

The blue and white squat droid made no movement or sound, nothing to indicate that this information would stir the droid back to powering up.

In frustration, BB-8 rolled forward and wacked the stubborn droid several times with his domed head, trying to force him to wake up.

“BB-8,” Threepio waddled towards him with a mournful sigh. “You’re wasting your time.”

BB-8 gave him an affronted reply.

“It is very doubtful that R2 would have the rest of the map in his backup data.”

BB-8 rolled as he replied argumentatively with the protocol droid. What would a dumb walking dictionary know about the glorious wonder of star maps? If his friend would just wake up, they could discuss the fragment of the map and piece it together with corresponding known planetary bodies.

“I’m afraid not.” Threepio lamented. “R2-D2 has been in low power mode ever since Master Luke went away. 

BB-8 swiveled his domed head back to his silent friend and sighed in resignation.

“Sadly, he may never be his old self again.”

***

“Listen, will ya?” Han told his estranged wife as she continued to dodge his attempts to talk to her about their mutual shame. 

Leia moved briskly around the Command Centre, moving boxes that didn't really require to be shuffled from one desk to another. She just wanted to appear busy so Han would take the hint and drop the subject that had been weighing on both of their minds since their awkward reunion. She turned from the box and faced her husband with an undisguised look of exasperation, preparing herself for the inevitable argument. That was what their discussions always descended into. She had no expectations that this one would be so different to all their other discussions.

“I know every time you see me,” Han started awkwardly, feeling a deep, bitter sense of pain,being blamed for something that was out of both of their control. He had tried his best to be a father to an unruly, dark haired boy, whose emotions were always bubbling up to the surface, threatening to overwhelm anyone who came into contact with him when he got into one of his moods. “Every time you look at me you're reminded of him.”

“You think I want to forget him?” Leia’s dark eyes that so perfectly matched their son’s pleaded with him. The longing in her still-beautiful face tugged at his heart, as it always had. “I want him back.”

Han’s face set into a stony expression as he reiterated the same thing he had told her hundreds of times before. “There’s nothing more we could have done. There’s too much Vader in him.”

Leia shook her head. She knew they were retrodding old ground, picking at old wounds that had scabbed over but never fully healed. “That’s why I wanted him to train with Luke. I should never have sent him away. That’s when I lost him.” She looked up at him, emploring him to understand her guilt. “That’s when I lost you both.”

“We both had to deal with it in our own way.” Han offered his own version of an apology. They never offered one another the word ‘sorry’. They never had. They were both too stubborn.

It was like the moment they had received R2’s distress call all over again. Threepio had translated the astromech’s garbled message that their son, nephew and five of their friends had turned on Luke and killed some of the students, burned the temple to the ground, leaving their Master for dead. The surviving students had taken off after them, trying to track them down and bring them to justice. But Luke had just left that night without an explanation and had flown off somewhere to live with his own shame.

Han picked up on what Leia was thinking about. He didn't need the Force to know her thoughts right now. Her face was too expressive. Just like their son’s had been. “We all had to deal with it in our own way. I went back to the only thing I was ever good at.”

Leia attempted a wry smile. “We all did. You went back to smuggling, me to the Senate and Luke,” she snorted in derision at her twin. “He went off to hide just like Obi-Wan and Yoda.”

“We lost our son.” Finally admitting their shared pain felt like it was a little lessened. “Forever.”

“No.” She shook her head. Over the years, many different scenarios had been worked over and over in her mind. Until now she had had no one to confide these thoughts with. “It was Snoke. He seduced our son to the Dark Side. Anakin, I don't think he would have so easily been turned. I think he just went along with Ben because he was more like a big brother he had always looked up to. Wherever Ben led, Anakin would follow.”

“Ben and AK.” Han let out a gruff chuckle as he was reminded of the two cousins who had been almost inseparable, despite their difference in age and temperaments. The younger cousin had struggled with his toddler babble to pronounce his full name and his self-proclaimed nickname of AK had just stuck.

“But we can still save them.” She gave him that look, the one she gave him whenever she was asking him to do something important. Something they would argue about, but in the end he knew he would give in and do it. He almost always did. “Me. You.”

“If Luke couldn't reach them how could I?” Han knew he was nothing special. He had no mysterious powers like his wife and her brother. “Luke is a Jedi.”

“You’re his father. Bring Ben home. Anakin and the others will follow.” Her eyes misted as she pleaded with him to understand that although light years separated them, she could still feel her son in the Force. “There’s still light in him, I know it.”

“General,” Commander Stratura called as he approached cautiously. “The reconnaissance report on the enemy base is coming.”

Leia shared a mutual look of hope and longing with her husband before she followed her intelligence officer.

***

Kira stirred slowly to wakefulness. She had been so exhausted with all that had happened since arriving on Takodana with Kylo and the knights. Fleeing the First Order and her husband with the destruction of the Hosnian System and attending several debriefing sessions with different departments of the Resistance. She had hardly been able to keep her eyes open when Lieutenant Connix had finally showed her to a single bunk in a tiny self contained room that the young officer quickly assured her was not a cell. 

As she gazed around the small room she could barely make out the details. There were no windows or natural light in the underground base. The only dim light came from the buttons on the door’s control panel. But she could almost make out the silhouette of a person crouching in the corner of her room. Alarmed, she sat upright in the bed. She stretched out to the presence through the Force and felt the wash of calm resolution. A presence she recognised instantly.

“Kylo?” She whispered into the darkness.

The silence stretched into minutes with no response. The silhouette hadn't moved, and she received no reply from the darkness. “Kylo? I can feel you. Please, answer me.”

Finally, he sighed. “You’re not real.”

“Ben?” She finally whispered his true name. In the darkness, she can see his head snap up, his eyes meeting hers as her vision begins to adjust to the dim light. “Ben.” She repeated, almost a sigh, a prayer, hope filled her for the first time since she left him on Takodana. Slowly, as to not spook him, she got out of bed. “I’m real. I’m here.”

Before she could say more he was on his feet, his hand reaching for her face before he stopped. His hand remained outstretched, hesitant. She could feel through their bond how unsure he was. He still thinks this is a dream. She leaned her face into his outstretched palm and instantly felt the sparks of connection between them. Her gasp echoed as they felt one another, warm and real.

Before she could think of anything to say, his lips connected with hers, soft and plump, so incredibly real and moving against hers. As she let out a small gasp, his tongue flicked out between the small parting of her lips and she met him with her own as her hands sunk their way into his wavy locks. She pulled him to her with more force than she had intended until their bodies stood plush together. She wrapped her other arm around his back, determined to somehow mesh their two bodies into one, if that were possible. She was suddenly desperate to disappear into this man and become one whole person rather than two broken halves.

She never wanted to let him go, but they had to talk. Too many important decisions were being made by those above them. They needed to do what they could to save people.

“Ben,” she breathed as she mournfully pulled away from his hungry mouth. “Ben,” she repeated, pushing him to arm’s length. “The Resistance wants to destroy Starkiller Base. Please tell me you and the Knights aren’t there.”

“We’re about to leave.” He caught her eyes and she saw the heavy emotions rolling through him. “To kill Skywalker.”

“You can’t.” Kira started. “Ap’lek, he’s Anakin Skywalker. He can’t kill his own father. He’s your uncle.”

“Snoke wants us to prove our loyalty to him and the First Order.” He looked down at her, his dark eyes full of hurt and pain. “We have no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“No, Kira.” Ben stepped closer, gripping her hands together and folded his over hers. “Not for us. Our Master lives in our minds. We have to obey him and Snoke is his creature. We have to do this.”

“I’ll come to you. I’ll meet you there. And we can face Skywalker together. Leia wants me to bring him to the Resistance. You can all-”

“Kira!” He snapped at her, dropping her hands. “We can’t go to the Resistance. Our Master will track us to them and they will all be destroyed. And you along with them.” Fury swelled within him and she realised that it wasn’t directed at his family, but at his own Master. He hated him. As much as it was possible to hate another being.

“If you hate him so much, why do you all follow him?”

“Because we have no choice.” Ben sighed. “First we followed him because he taught us all of what Skywalker had kept hidden from us, all the secrets of the Dark Side. But he has allowed the Dark to control him instead of the other way around. All for power, for long life, for the power to decide the fate of all life forms lower than him. He wants the power of a god. And he’s so close to it.” He closed his eyes and laid his forehead on hers. “I can’t let him have you.” His warm breath mingled with hers.

“I have to stop you from killing him.”

He rubbed his forehead against hers lightly. “My Master?”

“Skywalker.” She replied, then her face turned feral. “Then we kill Snoke and your Master.”

He shook his head and held her at arm’sarms’ length by her shoulders. She looked tiny in his huge hands. Tiny, but so fierce. “I can’t let you get involved in this.”

“I’m already involved in this.” She replied hotly. “Snoke raised me to be a killer. He’ll finally get what he wanted all these years. Only he won’t be around to enjoy it.”

“Kira,” Ben begged. “Please, don’t come.”

She kissed him, pushing all her determination and protection of him through the bond. “I won’t let you do something you and Anakin will regret for the rest of your lives.”

Without warning, before she could kiss him again, he disappeared.

***

Lieutenant Connix had returned as soon as Ben had faded away and led her to the Command Centre where Poe was addressing the gathered leaders of the Resistance. Kira spotted Finn, her former bodyguard across the room, standing before a large, circular holotable, next to Poe Dameron. But Finn’s face was alight with vengeance. She saw Han Solo leaning against the hologram table standing near General Organa.

Kira locked eyes with Leia as soon as she entered, and she couldn’t help but feel that the General knew of her conversation with her son. Did she think she was a traitor to them? Kira had warned her son about their plans to attack Starkiller Base. But she had only wanted to protect him, not to disclose their plans to the enemy. Had she accidentally revealed too much to the wrong person? Ben had said that his Master lived in his head and that Snoke was his creature. Would the enemy know they were coming? She had to warn the General. But she knew she could not be involved in this fight.

Poe stood over the hologram table, his face lit up with the reflection of the hologram of the Starkiller Base topography as he spoke. “The scan data from Snap’s reconnaissance flight confirms Finn’s report.” Poe gestured to Snap across the table.

“They’ve somehow created a hyper-light speed weapon built within the planet itself.” A bearded, heavy set man in a pilot’s uniform who Kira realised was named Snap explained. “We’re not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale.”

Another man commented, “It’s another Death Star.”

“I wish that were the case, Major.” Poe countered as he pressed several buttons on the holotable and pulled up a side by side comparison of the Death Star and Starkiller Base. “This was the Death Star. And this is Starkiller Base.” The comparison was unmistakable. The Death Star looked like a tiny moon next to the planet-wide weapon. Around her, Kira could hear gasps of shock and concerned muttering.

“So, it’s big.” Han stated sarcastically. 

A fish faced admiral spoke up. “How is it possible to power a weapon of that size?”

Finn stepped up beside Snap to speak. “It uses the power of the sun. As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears.”

Kira knew the science behind the weapon as well as Finn did. It was her own husband who had conceived of the idea and boasted endlessly about its potential to dominate the Galaxy.

Kira saw an aide hand a data pad to the General. “The First Order is charging the weapon again now.” She announced to the concerned assembly. “Our system is their next target.”

“Oh my,” the golden protocol droid standing behind the General spoke up. “Without the Republic fleet, we’re doomed.”

“Okay, how do we blow it up?” Han looked around the holotable to his wife. “There’s always a way to do that.”

Kira held back a snort of laughter. This man had personally been involved in the destruction of both of the Imperial Death Stars, so he knew what he was talking about.

“Han’s right,” The General agreed.

Another Resistance leader, one Kira recognised as the head of Engineering, spoke up. “In order for that amount of power to be contained that base has to have some kind of thermal oscillator.”

“There is one.” Finn said as he walked around to where Poe stood at the controls of the holotable. “Precinct 47.

The Engineer continued, “If we can destroy that oscillator, it might destabilise the core and cripple the weapon.”

“Maybe the planet.” Someone else added.

“We’ll go in there.” Poe suggested. “We’ll hit that oscillator with everything we’ve got.”

The fish admiral spoke again. “They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate.”

“We disable the shields.” Han explained as he looked across the hologram to Finn. “Kid, you worked there. What have you got?”

Finn nodded. “I can do it.”

“I like this guy.” Han said, a crooked smile filled his face and Kira was instantly reminded of Ben. It was the same smile she had seen on his face when she had told him her plans for Takodana. It was then that she remembered that this man was not only Han Solo, but Ben’s father.

“I can disable the shields,” Finn continued. “But I have to be there. On the planet.”

Han looked up at the tall Wookie standing beside him. “We’ll get you there.”

“Han, how?” General Organa gave her husband a worried look. She must have known he was planning something dangerous or stupid. Probably both.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t like it.” Han told her confidently.

Poe summed up. “So we disable the shields, we take out the oscillator and we blow up their big gun.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Poe announced as Chewbacca let out a loud war cry, making Kira almost jump back. 

Kira pushed through the busy crowd as they all made their way to their stations. She finally found the General now standing beside Han and the Wookie. “General, Han, I have to speak with you both.”

“It’s about our son.” Leia confirmed, reading her emotions.

“Yes.”

“He’s on Starkiller Base and you want us to stop?”

“Yes, he is, but he’s leaving to kill Skywalker.” 

Leia stopped moving and stood still, staring at her. “He appeared to you? Through the Force?”

“Yes.” Kira admitted. “It’s never happened like that before. Have you heard or experienced this before in your Force bond with your brother?”

“No,” Leia shook her head. “Luke said that Force Projection is possible, but it’s very dangerous. If you expel too much of your own Force energy you can drain it completely and die.” She looked up at Kira. “But you don’t even look tired. Was it easy? Like when he shared his memories with you?” Leia looked like she was going to ask something before stopping herself short. She lowered her voice and asked with as much kindness as she could. “Could you two touch?”

Kira’s resulting blush was all the reply the General needed.

Leia nodded, accepting the truth of Kira’s words. “You need to go to him. You need to stop him from killing Luke. And you need to help him break free of Palpatine.” She looked up at Kira, her eyes full of hope. “This is special. The Force connected you two for a reason.”

“Ben said that his Master is in his head and he and the other knights have to do his bidding.” Kira explained. “But Ap’lek - Anakin can’t be forced to be involved in his own father’s death. It will destroy him. Which is exactly what their Master wants. It will drive them all further to the Dark, maybe even lose themselves completely. Then they will all be completely at his mercy.” 

Leia searched Kira’s eyes, she could feel the warm tendrils of her presence skimming her mind. She let her see all the tender moments between them and their kisses. “You love him.” 

Kira couldn’t find the words as tears filled her eyes at the truth of the older woman’s words. She nodded.

Leia gripped her hands, just as her son had done earlier. “That could be enough.” She smiled up at her husband fondly. “It worked for us.”

Kira looked up at Han to find an expression of bewilderment on his face. Kira felt a little hurt that his own father wondered how his son was worthy of such love and devotion. “Yes, I love him.” Kira told him defiantly. “And he loves me. I can’t bring him back to the Resistance, his Master will track him and kill you all. He’s staying with the First Order to protect you all. But we have to destroy Snoke together. Then we can cut down his own Master.”

“And save Luke.” Leia breathed quietly.

Kira snapped her attention back to the older woman. “Skywalker is your problem. I won’t have anything to do with him.”

“Why?” Leia’s face hardened. “You know something about why my son turned against him.”

Kira skimmed the memories she had extracted from Ben, sleeping in his bed, awaking to find his Master and uncle standing over his bed, a green glow from his lightsaber lighting up the anger in his old face. “Yes, but I can’t explain it.” She felt the warm tendrils fill her mind once more and she knew that Leia had seen what she had.

The older woman’s eyes widened. “Luke…” She shook her head. “You save the boys. I will deal with Luke myself.

“May the Force help him when Leia has that look in her eye.” Han chuckled, not understanding what they had both seen, but knowing full well the fury he saw in his wife. Kira wondered if he had been on the receiving end of that look more than a few times. Had Ben?

“What do you need?” Leia asked her.

“Just a ship. If you can spare one.” Kira told her. “And an astromech droid. We have part of the map to the First Jedi Temple. I need the rest of the map to configure this piece.”

“BB-8 couldn’t decipher it. He said he needed R2.” Han added softly.

“Take R2 and an X-wing.” Leia nodded.

“Princess, uh General.” Threepio, the golden protocol droid stepped up. “R2 is still in low power mode.”

“Well, wake him up.” Leia growled. “Tell him to drag my brother back from whatever hole he’s dug himself into.” She moved away from the holotable to meet with other members of the Resistance leadership to go over the plans for the upcoming attack.

Han gave Kira a wink as he followed after his wife.

Kira looked back at Threepio. “Where do I find R2?”

Threepio swivelled his head towards her. “R2 is this way.” He shuffled off through the crowd to a secluded corner of the command centre. Kira followed him and saw a blue and white ancient astromech droid standing idle.

“R2-D2, wake up.” Threepio banged the astromech droid on his domed head. There was no response.

Kira thought of the droids she had known in the First Order. They had all responded to logic and sometimes needed a little motivation. She knelt down before the idle droid and placed her hand on its metal dome. “R2-D2, my name is Kira. The General - Leia needs you to come with me to find Luke Skywalker so we can bring him back here.” She smiled before letting out a breath. “I think she wants to kick his ass.”

Before she could move, the little astromech whirled to life, its lights blinking and its head swivelling from side to side. R2 let out a furious string of beeps and whistles. Kira couldn’t help but chuckle. This little droid obviously had a few choice words of his own to say to the former Jedi Master. “R2,” she placed her hand on its domed head again, reassuringly. “BB-8 has the coordinates of where Skywalker is hiding. But I need to work out where it fits into the Galactic map. Can you come with me and bring him home?”

R2 swivelled its head back to face its scanning device close to her face before emitting an affirmative response.

Chapter Text

Kira tugged at the orange flight suit she had fitted over her borrowed clothes. Much to her surprise, she had been provided with more clothing while preparing to leave on her mission, ostensibly to retrieve Luke Skywalker and return him to the Resistance. She stepped out onto the tarmac as pilots and engineers were busy preparing ships for their attack. She spotted R2 conversing with BB-8 beneath Poe’s black X-wing. 

“Kira!” Poe called out to her as he poked his head around the back of his ship. “You’re in this one.” He pointed to the older X-wing parked beside his ship. 

“Thanks.”

“Have you said goodbye to Finn yet?” He asked her as he continued fine tuning the ship. 

“Not yet. Have you?”

He jumped down to the ground beside her. “No. I’ll take you over to him. They’re going in the Falcon. C’mon.” He went to hold her arm, but she reflexively jerked away from him.

“Sorry,” she sighed. “I’m still not used to people being friendly with me.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t imagine wanting to be touched by Hugs either.” Poe eyed her carefully, gauging her reaction. She could sense that he hated that she was married to the First Order General, and he suspected that she had been abused by him. “The guy’s a jerk.”

Kira sighed, “That he is.”

They stopped beside the Millenium Falcon where they found Finn packing bombs into crates. “Finn,” Han Solo called to him. “Be careful with those. They’re explosives.” Han moved away to say a private farewell to his wife.

“Now he tells me.” Finn muttered as he stepped towards Poe and hugged him fiercely. “You stay safe up there.”

“You can talk.” Poe returned as he kept his arms wrapped around his friend. “Just get those shields down for us and get out safe.”

“We will.” Finn promised.

Poe smirked. “Got a plan yet?”

“I’ll figure something out if Solo doesn’t.” Finn smiled as his friend playfully punched him on the shoulder before returning to his X-wing, leaving him alone with Kira. He gave her a look of expectation as he lifted the crate of bombs and turned to take them up the ramp. Kira used the Force to levitate the second crate along behind him. “You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Finn asked. “You could be pretty useful to the Resistance in taking down Starkiller.”

Kira shook her head. “The General wants me to track down Skywalker and bring him back to her, kicking and screaming if necessary.”

“So much for the big hero of the Jedi. The guy sounds like a jerk.” Finn shook his head. “Abandoned his family when they needed him the most.”

“Isn’t that what you and I both did?” Kira gave him a challenging stare as they unloaded the bombs in the cargo area. “We both abandoned the First Order.”

“First of all,” Finn replied hotly. “The First Order was never my family. I don’t remember my family. I was taken from them as a baby, raised to be a number, to be disposable.”

“We all were.” Kira shot back.

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Finn shook his head. “You want me to feel sorry for you? Is that it? Poor little General’s wife, trained in the Force by Snoke, has everything she ever wanted.”

“Are you serious?!” Kira demanded. “Is that what you think of me?” She shook her head, deflated. “All the time you were assigned to my protection duty, did you once see me doing something I wanted? I was forced to fight by Snoke and Hux.”

“What if you had just said no?” Finn challenged her.

“The same as you.”

“What?” Finn scoffed. “Reconditioning? Execution?”

“Pretty close.” Kira shrugged. “Force Lightning, beatings from Snoke’s Pretorian Guards, a dressing down by my husband in front of the entire command. I learned not to outright disobey my instructions but would make suggestions. It was the closest I came to making any kind of change in the First Order. I was always overruled. I was just as insignificant, just as much a number as you.”

Finn took in the hopelessness in Kira’s voice and face. Her whole body shook with emotions she had kept bottled up under the First Order’s oppression. He realised that although their circumstances had been vastly different, their treatment had the same result. They had been raised to believe that they were only as worthy as their usefulness to the First Order. Neither of them had been free to demonstrate their autonomy, to exercise their free will, speak with their own voice. They had been slaves to the powerful overlords that controlled their very existence on a whim. Where Finn and his fellow stormtroopers had suffered under Phasma’s control, he realised Kira had suffered just as badly, if not worse under Hux and the Supreme Leader. No wonder she was so jaded with the First Order.

“Okay, well. Say hi to Skywalker for me.” Finn smiled warmly, offering her his hand in a truce.

“Sure,” Kira smiled warmly as she shook his hand. “Take care of yourself, Finn.”

“You too, Kira.”

***

Kira watched the countdown to real space reversion on her console. She heard R2’s whistles and beeps over her headset, but she didn’t need the translation on her screen to tell her what the droid had said. “I’m sure Skywalker will be very interested in what you have to say about his life choices. But we do need him to return to his sister, the General. The Resistance will need his help more now than ever, especially if the attack on Starkiller Base fails.”

She listened to his reply. “I think they could succeed. But there are many factors that could go wrong. Snoke and his military still need to be eliminated. A Jedi would certainly even up their odds.”

She listened again.

“No, you’re right. It didn’t work out well for the Jedi Order against the Empire.” She knew her Galactic history well enough, but she suspected that this droid knew much more than he was letting on. She wondered how long it had been since the droid had last had its memory wiped. “We’re coming up on Ahch-To now. Prepare to scan for human life signs as soon as we pull out of lightspeed.”

The droid whistled a confirmation as the stars shortened into their usual pin pricks instead of the long lines of lightspeed. The lush planet of Ahch-To filled her viewport. She deftly flew the fighter through the thick cloud towards the scene of tiny islands dotted with green in a vast ocean. A readout appeared on her screen as R2 displayed one taller island that housed a single human life. “Alright, I’ll circle around and look for a clearing to land the ship on.” She skimmed the surface of the ocean as she came in low and looked for an area large and stable enough to hold the weight of her fighter ship.

Once she had shut down the engines, she pulled off the orange flight suit and gathered her bag with her lightsaber. Her vision followed the long trek up the stone steps that led to the pinnacle of the mountainous island. R2 beeped at her from the base of the ship. She turned around to face him. “R2, stay with the ship. I’ll bring Skywalker down here to you. Then you can give him a piece of your mind.”

She made the long, lonely climb up the winding steps, ignoring the strange birds making their way around the island, looking for food, or caring for their young. She walked past the stone structures that once housed the inhabitants of this island. As she neared the top she could make out a lone figure in a long, faded robe. She reached out to feel his presence in the Force, but felt… nothing. It was as if the lone figure had shut himself off from the abundant life around him, from the Force itself. No wonder the General hadn’t been able to sense her twin in their Force bond.

As she approached, she slowed to a halt, far enough from the figure to appear unintimidating, but close enough that she didn’t have to shout to make herself heard. She reached into her backpack for the Skywalker lightsaber that had been given to her by Maz after she had accidentally touched it and fell into a Force trance. Unlike that time, she was not assaulted by visions of the past as she held it out as the figure slowly turned towards her and removed his hood with one mechanical hand and one made of flesh and bone. His face was older than she had seen in Kylo - Ben’s vision of him when he had attacked his sleeping nephew, more careworn.

She held out the lightsaber to him, hilt towards him, in an offering to resume his place in the galaxy once more.

His face scrunched in dismay and deep furrows as he took in the sight of the young woman with hope and determination in her gaze as she held out the all-too familiar lightsaber that had once belonged to a father he had never known as Anakin Skywalker. The lightsaber he had clung to with such reverence until he learned that his father had fallen to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader, the very enemy he had fought when he had last held that lightsaber. He couldn’t even begin to consider how it had ended up in the hands of this young woman. 

He reached out and took the grip of the lightsaber from her hand.

He looked at her, long and pensive.

Then he tossed it over his shoulder and stormed back to his stone hut.

***

Poe dismounted gracefully from his X-wing in one leap and was instantly running towards the Falcon where it was powering down on the tarmac. The object of his attention was disembarking down the ramp, his feet barely touching the ground before Poe grabbed Finn in a hug strong enough to crush bones.

“You made it!” Poe revelled in the relief he felt at seeing his friend had survived their part of the operation.

“Yeah,” Finn laughed. “Piece of cloud cake. We captured Phasma and forced her at gun point to lower the shields.”

“Whoa! Really?” Poe pulled back to look at his friend, wonder in his eyes. “Well done.”

“Thanks, man.” Finn smiled broadly. “You too. Any trouble?”

“Nah,” Poe clapped him on the shoulder. “Those TIEs are no match for my squadron. They didn’t stand a chance.” His face turned serious. “But the General called an immediate evacuation of the base. The First Order knows we’re here and we’ve gotta get out quick before they can mobilize a retaliation for destroying Starkiller Base.”

“Where are we heading?” Finn fell into step beside Poe as they made their way to the Command Centre. 

“No idea yet.” Poe walked down the stone steps to the main Command Centre to find General Organa already in the midst of discussions with other members of the Resistance leadership. “General, where are we headed?”

“Commander,” Leia sighed in relief at seeing their strike team return unharmed. “We will rendezvous at Crait. There’s an old Rebel base hidden underground.”

“General,” the young Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix ran down the stairs into the Command Center. “They’re here!”

“Alright,” Leia ordered crisply. “No more time. We need to leave now.” She turned to Poe. “Get your wings up in the air and cover all the transports as they make their way onboard the Raddus.”

“Aye, General.” Poe grabbed Finn and walked back to the Falcon to find Chewbacca descending the ramp, howling for instructions.

“Chewie, we’ll meet on Crait.” Poe told the giant Wookie. “Take Finn with you. We’ll cover the transports until they can make the jump to lightspeed.” The Wookie howled his affirmative and ran back up the ramp. “See you on Crait, buddy.” Poe gave a long look at Finn before running back to his own black X-wing.

***

Captain Peavey looked out the forward viewport of the Finalizer and smirked at General Hux. “We’ve caught them in the middle of their evacuation.”

“I have my orders from Supreme Leader Snoke himself.” Hux replied smugly. “This is where we snuff out the Resistance once and for all.” He walked, ramrod straight towards the Comms station. “Tell Captain Canady to prime his dreadnaught. Incinerate their base, destroy their transports and obliterate their fleet.”

“General, Resistance ship approaching.” A female officer called from the tactical station. “Guns and shields in attack mode.”

Hux marched over to her to see her screen readout for himself. “A single light fighter.” He scoffed at the puny defence offered by the Resistance. 

***

Poe pulled his X-wing before the enormous enemy dreadnaught. BB-8 chitted away nervously, not trusting his human who had a tendency to act recklessly. “Happy beeps here, buddy. Come on. We pulled crazier stunts than this.” He told his droid, projecting an air of confidence.

General Organa’s voice came over his headset. “Just for the record, Commander Dameron, I’m with the droid on this one.”

“Thank you for your support, General.” Poe rolled his eyes and took a fortifying breath, reminding himself. “Happy beeps.” He opened a comm channel to a standard Imperial frequency. “This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet. I have an urgent communique for General Hugs.” He emphasised the name.

A few seconds later, Hux’s irritating, nasal drawl came through his headset. “This is General Hux of the First Order.” His arrogant tirade continued, waxing poetic. “The Republic is no more. Your fleet are Rebel scum and war criminals. Tell your precious princess there will be no terms, there will be no surrender.”

Poe took a deep breath before responding in a bored tone. “Hi, I’m holding for General Hugs.”

 “This is Hux.” His clipped tone continued. “You and your friends are doomed. We will wipe your filth from the galaxy.”

Poe fought the urge to break character as he felt a wave of laughter bubble up from within him. He urgently suppressed his amusement. “Okay, I’ll hold.”

“Hello?” 

“Hello? Yup, I’m still here.” Poe returned.

“Can he hear me?” He heard Hux ask quietly. “He can?”

Poe sighed, speaking over Hux. “Hugs? With an H. Skinny guy. Kinda pasty.”

Hux continued, his voice becoming more irate. “I can hear you. Can you hear me?”

Poe received a signal from the fleet stating that it was time to stop stalling and unleash the cavalry. “Look, I can’t hold forever. If you reach him, tell him Leia has an urgent message for him.”

He smirked as he heard someone else mutter over the channel. “I believe he’s tooling with you, Sir.”

“About his mother.” Poe added, smirking.

***

Without warning, Kylo Ren stalked up to the viewport beside Hux and Captain Peavy. His terrifying six dark Knights fanned out behind him. “General Hux,” Ren demanded. “Why have you not blown that rebel scum apart?”

“Oh, Hugs.” The familiar and grating voice came over the bridge speakers. “You didn’t tell me Kylo Ren would be joining us! I have a message from his mother as well. She wants to know if her son has been brushing his teeth despite wearing that stupid helmet.” 

“Destroy Dameron, NOW!” Ren barked at the bridge crew. “And cut that damn transmission. You do not negotiate with scum. You destroy them without question and without quarter.” 

“Ren, I was just about to-” Hux attempted to gain control of the unfolding situation.

“Kylo,” Ap’lek spoke up from behind him. 

Kylo spun around and faced the younger Knight, holding up a hand to suspend his order for the moment. “Just cut the transmission.” He knew better than to dismiss his cousin in circumstances like this, where his battle pre-cognition was second to none. “The Resistance fleet is making their way off-planet. They have bombers, lots of them. And…” His masked face turned from the viewport to Kylo. “Her. She’s on the lead cruiser.”

Inside his mask, the muscle below Kylo’s eye twitched. He had not seen her since he had been unceremoniously dumped at his uncle’s Jedi Academy. He knew that she was leading the Resistance fleet, but he had been anticipating their meeting on the battlefield.

“Open a channel to their lead cruiser.” Kylo Ren ordered.

Hux stepped up to him, embarrassed at being overruled on his own bridge. “Ren, I must insist.”

One of the faceless Knights stepped beside Hux and leaned in close. “We’re all Knights of Ren. You’re going to have to be more specific if you want his attention. His subordinates usually call him Lord Ren.”

“I will call him no such thing.” Hux scoffed at the Knight. But when he looked down at the Knight’s hand, it was ominously removing a short cylindrical weapon from his belt. It was not unlike the one that Kira used. “I’m Cardo. You may call me Cardo. I suggest that you learn each of us by sight and offer our Lord the proper respect.”

“Or?” Hux challenged him.

Cardo brought the cylindrical weapon up and held it before Hux and lit the red blade to show him the consequences of his defiance. “Your wife is not the only one who knows how to use a lightsaber.”

Hux nodded and Cardo returned his lightsaber to his belt, confident that Hux had learned his lesson, for now. He was certain that more instruction would be required to make the lesson stick.

An older female voice came through the bridge speakers. “This is General Organa of the Resistance. Our fleet means you no harm. We are simply trying to evacuate our people to safety.”

“General Organa,” Kylo’s deep voice resonated through the bridge. “This is Kylo Ren. I believe you have heard of me.”

A soft gasp and a single word whispered, almost inaudible, “Ben.”

Kylo clenched his fists by his side as he continued. “You will return Adjutant Kira Hux to the First Order immediately. In turn, we will allow you to continue to evacuate in safety - without your bombers.”

“Forgive me, Lord Ren.” The General’s voice returned. “How do I know you negotiate with us in good faith? I have no proof with which to trust you.”

Kylo took a deep breath before uttering a single word. “Mirrorbright.”

“Ren - Lord Ren,” Hux corrected himself reluctantly. “You cannot trust the Resistance, especially not Organa-”

“Thank you, Hux, for your opinion.” Kylo cut him off. “General Organa and I are well acquainted with one another.” 

Hux scoffed as he returned to his silent fuming.

A moment of tense silence was finally filled with a long sigh from the speakers. “Unfortunately Kira Hux has already left us. She is on her way to the First Jedi Temple on Ahch-To. We can send you the coordinates for where to find her.”

“We already have the coordinates. You may continue your evacuation unmolested, but your bombers must remain on the planet’s surface.” Kylo informed her.

“Thank you, Lord Ren.” The voice finished as the transmission was disconnected.

“You can’t just let them go.” Hux’s voice was shrill as he rounded on Kylo.

“Ap’lek,” Kylo approached his cousin. “You will accompany me to Ahch-To. We will recover the Adjutant ourselves.” He turned to the rest of the Knights of Ren. “You will all remain here and ensure that General Hux maintains the terms of our temporary truce. Destroy those Resistance bombers and sweep the base to make sure they were all evacuated.”

“The Supreme Leader will have your head for this, Ren!” Hux’s face turned almost the same colour red as his hair.

Turning slowly, Kylo Ren faced his cold, expressionless mask to Hux. “My Master has informed your Supreme Leader that all of my orders are to be followed without question. Would you like to take this matter up with my master?”

Hux knew almost nothing about this mysterious master, only that Supreme Leader Snoke followed his master’s orders without question. He believed that it was wise for the short term that he does the same. But he would have the last word in the reason for Kylo Ren’s spontaneous truce. “I assure you, Lord Ren. Kira Hux is the last person who should engender this type of sentimental -”

Kylo Ren turned abruptly and cut off Hux with a squeeze of his throat, constricting his vocal chords and his breathing in one squeeze of the Force. He watched with clinical satisfaction as the general’s face began to turn purple. Kylo released the general and stepped next to Cardo. “If he steps out of line or insults his wife again, kill him.”

“With pleasure, Lord Ren.” Cardo raised his arm cannon in salute as he watched Kylo and Ap’lek leave the bridge.

Chapter Text

Kira fumed as she watched Skywalker storm past her. Using the Force, she called the lightsaber to her hand and clipped it to her belt, beside her own. If Skywalker didn’t want to claim his own family’s saber, she would offer it to Ap’lek or Kylo. They both had just as much claim to it as this pathetic excuse for a Jedi Master. “Skywalker!” She yelled as she trailed after him. He continued to ignore her as he stomped down the steps and retreated to his stone hut. He slammed the door shut.

She banged on the door, which she realised was actually a repurposed panel from a ship - an X-wing, she realised. “Skywalker! Your sister, Leia, sent me. She needs your help!” She kept banging on the door until her hand started to ache. “Screw this,” she muttered to herself.

Kira walked towards the cliff that overlooked where she had parked her X-wing. She pulled out a small communicator. “R2, I’m going to bring you to Skywalker instead. Try not to freak out.” She ignored the frantic beeps and whistles as the disgruntled astromech droid was raised from the ground and sailed straight up the cliff’s edge. She gently guided the droid into the small village of stone huts and set him down beside her, directly in front of Skywalker’s closed door.

“Skywalker, you have exactly ten seconds to unlock this door before I take my lightsaber to it.” She warned him. R2 added his own frustrated warning to Kira’s.

The door unlocked and opened almost immediately. The grizzled, old man looked down at the blue and white astromech droid. His face lit up as he took in the droid, “R2?” 

The droid spat out a slew of unsavoury observations about the old Jedi Master. Kira stormed in behind the droid and translated. “He said you’re coming back to the Resistance to help your sister. He’s not taking ‘no’ for an answer, and neither is Leia.”

Skywalker looked up at Kira, a wry smile seemed unnatural on his face, as if from disuse. “I understood exactly what he said, but thank you for cleaning it up for me.” R2 continued to spit a string of observations about Skywalker’s current life choices. “Hey, sacred island, watch your language.”

His face took on a melancholy expression as he took a knee before the astromech droid and gently stroked the droid’s casing. “Old friend. I wish I could make you understand. But I’m not coming back. Nothing can make me change my mind.”

Without another sound, R2 turned to the middle of the small stone hut and projected a hologram of a young woman who she realised must have been a much younger version of the General, from a time when she had been no older than Kira, herself. “General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to bring my father’s request to you in person…”

Luke side eyed R2 ruefully. “That was a cheap move.”

The small hologram continued, “But my ship has fallen under attack and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory bank of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

Kira stared wide-eyed at the hologram, amazed at how the message conveyed could have been recorded for this very same scenario. But in place of this Obi-Wan Kenobi, the message was meant to coerce Skywalker from his self-imposed exile. “That was Leia, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Skywalker sighed. “A long time ago. Before we knew we were twins.” He sat back properly on the single chair in the hut. “She recorded the message for Obi-Wan - Ben Kenobi.”

“Ben?” Kira echoed. 

Skywalker eyed her carefully, gauging what she knew already of their story. “He was my first Jedi Master. He had trained my father, Anakin Skywalker.”

“Before he became Darth Vader.” Kira finished for him, nodding. Crinkling her face, Kira looked up at him. “Couldn’t either you or your sister have come up with original names for your children?”

Skywalker’s face paled considerably at her comment. For a moment she almost felt sorry for him.

She pressed him while she held the advantage. “I mean, at least Leia named her son after Obi-Wan’s nickname, while you literally named your son after Darth Vader.” She smiled at the memories of her interactions with Ap’lek. “It’s a wonder your son turned out as normal as he is. I mean,” she rolled her eyes. “Normal for a Dark Sider. Funny too.” She let out a snort of laughter, before she looked up at Skywalker’s ashen face. His mouth was agape in shock.

“You know them?” Skywalker’s question was answered by a long string of angry whistles and beeps from R2-D2. “What does he mean, you were with the First Order?”

It was Kira’s turn to sigh. “I recently defected to the Resistance. Leia thought my information was valuable enough to send me on this all-important mission to retrieve you.” She rolled her eyes again. “I must say that your sister had suggested that you would be difficult. But this is just ridiculous.”

Skywalker’s eyes narrowed harshly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. You may think you know my son and nephew, but there is nothing fun about the Dark Side of the Force.”

Kira rounded on him sharply. “You think I don’t know that? I grew up with Snoke stuck in my head, punishing me with Force lightning if I made the slightest mistake in following his training. He used to have his guards beat me just to test my fighting skills. He once threw me off a cliff, to see if I could put his theoretical lesson of Force levitation into practice. I was twelve!” She spat out as she poked Skywalker in the chest. “At fourteen he forced me to marry and have children with his favoured General as a prize. Everyone thinks they know me, but they don’t.” She almost blushed, thinking of one person who could potentially know everything about her if the memory transfer had gone both ways.

Instead of the fury or sympathy she had expected to see from her outburst, Skywalker’s expression was one of curiosity. “Who are you?”

Kira fought back the instant rebellion that question usually raised in her. Instead she just huffed. “I’m General Hux’s wife, Snoke’s apprentice.”

“No.” He shook his head, looking deeper into her eyes with an intensity that she didn’t like. “Who are you?”

“Kira.” She answered simply.

“Are you?”

“What kind of stupid question is that?” She countered. “It’s my name.”

“Where were you born?”

Her face crinkled. “I don’t know.”

“Who were your parents?”

She started to become frustrated. “I told you, I was raised by Snoke.”

“But who were your parents?” Skywalker pushed gently, but insistently. “Do you remember them?”

She shook her head fiercely.

“Do your children look more like you or your husband?”

“What?” She barked back.

“Your children.” He insisted softly. “Can you picture them? When was the last time you saw them? Or held them in your arms?”

Kira threw her arms up in the air, frustrated with the old busy body. “Why the hell are you asking about my children?!”

“You were the one who said you have children.” He insisted.

“So what?”

He nodded gently, infuriating Kira even more. “What do they look like?”

“I don’t know! Like children!”

“You don’t know what your own children look like?” He challenged.

“They live on Arkanas.”

“Do they?”

“Why are you asking so many questions about them!” She demanded. “Do you want to steal them?”

He stopped his barrage of questions for a moment to look deeply into her eyes. “When you say ‘children’, I feel the word children in your mind but there’s no image or emotions connected to them. I have plenty of emotions, memories and feelings about my son when I think about him.” He looked up at her sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” She demanded.

“I think Snoke has planted the idea of children to keep you tied to the First Order.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” She told him firmly.

“You say that they’re real but you can’t remember even the slightest detail about them except that they exist.” Skywalker continued in that infuriatingly calm manner. “Aren’t you curious to know for sure?” 

At first Kira felt confused by his certainty that she had false memories. But if her memories had been tampered with by Snoke she would never know for certain. Snoke had taught her to alter memories for a short time but she had never learned anything of this scale before. But then, everything she had learned about the Force before meeting Kylo had come from Snoke. How would she know what was real and what wasn’t?

“Kira,” she vaguely heard Skywalker talking to her. “You’re spiraling. It’s okay. I can help you recover your real memories.”

Kira felt like she couldn’t catch her breath, no matter what she tried. She held out her hands to stop him from coming any closer to her. “I need some air.” Rushing out of the small hut, she stomped across the long grass, accidentally startling some small bird-like creatures from their nests. They let out an angry chittery sound as they scrambled away from her. She continued until she reached a wind-swept cliff top. It took a few more minutes to catch her breath and regulate her body enough to feel the Force sweep back into her. And then she heard - nothing. All the sounds that had previously been overwhelming her senses suddenly stopped, like entering an airlock. 

Then she could feel Kylo again.

She turned to where she could sense his presence and stopped again.

He was shirtless with only his black high waisted uniform pants on. She blushed furiously and turned back around. “I’m sorry. You’re changing.”

Kylo’s voice came from behind her. “Wait, can you see my surroundings? I can’t see yours.”

Flustered, she peaked over her shoulder at him before turning back away. “Can you put something on, please? A cowl or a shirt?”

“Why?” He asked as his voice moved closer to her. She felt shivers cover her body as he reached out and ran a finger along her arm.

“Kylo,” she protested weakly as he slowly turned her to face him.

“Say my name again.” He whispered in a low voice. “My real name.”

“Ben,” the word tumbled out before she could stop it. She fell into his arms and tucked her head under his chin. After a few minutes, she found her voice. “I’m glad you changed your mind about coming here.”

“Kira,” he sighed, pressing a kiss to her hair in apology. “ We were delayed with the destruction of Starkiller base and we had to deal with your husband’s overzealous reaction to destroy the Resistance in the middle of their evacuation.” He made another sound, like it almost pained him to admit the next part. “I made a deal with Leia to ensure their safe evacuation.”

Kira lifted her head languidly, loathing even the small distance between their intimate embrace. “With your mother? What was the deal?”

“You, for their safe evacuation.” He pulled back to meet her eyes. “The truce is temporary. I can’t hold them off for long. Right now, five of my knights are all that’s keeping the military elite from forming a coup. Snoke is too concerned with disregarding my Master’s orders to belay my order for now. But it won’t last. They need a serious plan if they want to continue their existence and build upon this win.”

“But you still won’t help them directly?”

“We will.” He tucked her head under his chin again, feeling calmer from her close proximity. “But we will do it our way, not theirs.”

“You mean your mother?”

“Leia, Luke, Snoke, my Master.” He replied tightly. “None of them will control us anymore. We will forge our own path, with the Force and the galaxy.”

“And Luke?” She raised her head again. “Have you decided yet what you will do?”

Instead of answering her, he gently raised her chin and claimed her lips once more. As their kiss began to deepen, a rough voice interrupted them.

“STOP!” 

They jumped apart and stared at an outraged Luke Skywalker, standing some distance from them, as he had stopped dead in his tracks once he had noticed them. When she looked back at Ben, he had disappeared. She stormed towards him, closing the distance between them with a cold fury burning within her.

“You think you understand Ben and your son, but you haven’t got the slightest clue about who they are, what they’ve been through, what they plan to do.”

“They destroyed the Jedi temple.” Luke countered.

“Because their Master has been whispering poison into their minds since before they were born.” She volleyed. “You and Leia ignored their concerns and the moment you felt the dark presence yourself, you turned your lightsaber on your own nephew.”

“You only have his version, of course he would-”

“I saw it all!” She shouted at him. “He shared his memories with me. I know everything. What you did. How you made him feel inadequate day after day. Like he was failing as a Jedi for feeling too much, for wanting to study all aspects of the Force. But you dismissed everything that didn’t come from the Jedi Order at their height of their greatest failure as ‘forbidden’. Any other schools of thought were lesser because they weren’t sanctioned by your own precious masters who expedited your own training rather than teaching you the very content you deem as superior.”

Rather than biting back, Luke’s face was the picture of quizzicality. “Now I know who you are.” He sat down on a large nearby boulder. “Your parents brought you to me when you were small, maybe no more than four or five.” He rubbed his brow with his human left hand, the right robotic one resting on his knee. “They wanted me to protect you. To hide you in the Force. When I explained that I trained Force sensitives rather than repressed them you became quite upset. Threw a tantrum that rivaled my own nephew for its ferocity.” He gave a wry smile at the memory. “Actually, it was Ben who calmed you down. I often wondered where you ended up and what you could have been if I had accepted to hide you.”

Kira blinked, taken aback by his admission. “I’ve never met you before today.”

“That you remember.” He countered, spreading both mechanical and flesh hands. “Planted memories.” After a brief pause, he offered. “I can show you, if you like.”

Kira looked sharply at him, ready to dismiss his offer out of spite. But she recalled the memory transfer process from Ben and her anxiety spiked. 

Luke remained seated and held out his hands, as if attempting to coax a skittish creature. “It won’t hurt. I will just show you when I met you and your parents, nothing else.”

When Kira’s hesitancy failed to evaporate, Luke offered gently. “If I hurt you, you can test my own levitation skills by throwing me off the cliff.”

Despite herself, Kira managed a scoff as she moved slowly towards him. “I will, you know.”

Luke chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.” Standing swiftly, he motioned for her to sit on the boulder he had just vacated. She did so slowly, hesitantly, as if he would take any sudden movement on her behalf as a threat and attack her. When she was settled, she opened herself up to the Force, as she had done before receiving Ben’s memories.

“Ready?” His voice asked near her ear.

“Yes.” 

Once she let go of the breath she had been holding, images flooded her mind.

A young girl with her brown hair in three distinct buns from her crown to the nape of her neck, holding hands with a woman dressed in a blue cloak with the hood pulled down. Her pleading hazel eyes matched her own. “Please Master Skywalker. There is no one else who can help us protect her. We are being hunted. She must remain safe from her grandfather’s agents.”

“I run a school to teach Force sensitives,” a younger version of Luke explained. “If your daughter wants to stay, she will be encouraged to learn to develop her skills and knowledge of the Force. The Jedi are protected by the New Republic. No harm will come to her here.”

The man standing to the other side of the young girl spoke up in desperation. “My father will find her through the Force, especially if you teach her. We need you to suppress her connection to the Force, hide her very existence from him.”

“Who is your father?” Luke enquired, his eyes narrowing. In his journeys to contact Force sensitives for his Jedi school he had met several adults and children with varying levels of talent with the Force. But what this man was describing was something more, a fully trained Dark Sider.

The man shook his head. “I can’t say. Only that I got away from him as soon as I was old enough to escape with my life. He wasn’t terribly interested in me since I had no ability to speak of. But our daughter does. He will hunt her down and use her for his own goals.”

Luke shook his head. “If you can tell me more about him and what his goals are, I can petition the New Republic government to send a delegation-”

“The New Republic will do nothing.” The woman hissed in frustration. “And even if they did they could take years debating about it in the Senate. By then he will have found her. I beg you, Master Skywalker. Please help our daughter.”

Luke sighed. “Let me meditate on it. I will give you my answer in the morning.”

The scene faded away and Kira scrambled to try to memorize the faces of the people who could have been her parents. As she opened her eyes, tears fell from her eye lashes. “You didn’t help them.”

“No.” Luke admitted softly, ashamed. “The Force showed me that I couldn’t intervene.”

“Was that the Force showing you that, or Snoke?” Kira spoke softly.

“What do you mean?”

Kira closed her eyes and turned over Ben’s memories in her mind. As a child, his desperate nightmares, a teenager with Snoke’s seductive voice in his mind telling him that Skywalker was holding him back from reaching his full potential out of jealousy and spite. She wondered if he had also been in Luke’s mind, manipulating events to suit him.

“Snoke was in Ben’s mind for as long as he can remember.”

“He told you this?” Luke was shocked.

Kira shook her head. “He didn’t have to. He shared his memories with me.”

“Which ones?” Luke enquired, suspiciously.

“All of them.” Kira shrugged. “He had intended to give me a crash course in Force training, but he inadvertently gave me everything.”

Luke’s eyes widened with surprise. “He must have become very powerful to be able to transfer all that information to you.”

Kira winced. “It hurt like hell. But now I can remember his own life as if it were my own.”

“Did you share your memories as well?” Luke asked with curiosity.

“No, it was just a one way transfer.”

Luke took a few moments to really study Kira, to feel her energy in the Force. Finally he spoke. “You love him.”

Kira gasped, tears springing to her eyes. Not trusting herself to answer, she simply nodded.

Luke nodded once. “That might just be the one thing that can hold the Force in balance. You are both equally strong in the Force, both strong in Light and Dark. If you can work together and bring balance to the Force and the galaxy, we might be able to get more than one generation of peace.”

He reached out his hand to her head once more. But Kira flinched away, suddenly anxious about his intentions. “What are you going to do?”

Luke sighed. “I didn’t help you once and it cost you dearly. I’m going to break the block on your real memories and remove the implanted memories.”

“Will it hurt?”

Luke shrugged. “I have no idea. I haven’t done it before. But I have read about the process.”

Kira gave him a sceptical look, then shrugged. “Just do it.”

Chapter Text

Kylo brought the Knight Buzzard in low as he took in the chain of islands surrounding the largest island. As he circled the island, looking for a place to land their bulky converted dungeon ship. 

From the copilot’s seat beside him, Ap’lek pointed to a beaten up Resistance X-wing. “There’s a parking spot.” 

Kylo grunted his agreement as he brought the Buzzard in to land gently beside the small fighter. Running through the powering down cycle kept Kylo’s mind occupied so he didn’t have to contemplate all the potential disastrous ways this meeting could go. But, of course Ap’lek wouldn’t let him brood in peace.

“I can’t feel him. Maybe he took a holiday from being a hermit.”

Despite his best efforts, Kylo couldn’t repress a snort of laughter. His cousin always knew what to say to pull him out of his own thoughts. “Sure. The whole hermit thing can be exhausting.”

Ap’lek stood and touched his cousin’s bicep reassuringly. “Whatever comes, we’ll face it together.”

“Always.” Kylo softly agreed as they turned as one and marched toward the ship’s exit, where Kira was already waiting for them at the base of a trail of meandering steps. 

Forgetting his former concerns, Kylo rushed forward to gather her in his arms. This time felt almost overwhelming without the dulling of the Force bond. He took in the scent of her hair as she tucked her head under his chin. “Miss me?”

She pulled back but kept her arms firmly wrapped around his waist, offering him a cheeky smile. “Not really.”

Ap’lek threw his arms around both of them. “Is this a private cuddle or can anyone join in?”

Kylo rolled his eyes and shrugged his cousin off. “You’re uninvited.” 

When his attention turned back to Kira, he noticed that her eyes were a lot brighter than he had seen them before and her smile seemed a lot broader, more genuine. But her mental shields were firmly in place, offering him no insight into her state of mind. “You seem different.”

Her smile brightened further as her eyes sparkled mischievously. “You have no idea.”

Concerned, Kylo looked up the stone path as he saw the robed figure of his uncle descending to meet them. The three stood in stony silence until Luke had finished his descent and stopped a short distance from them. He held out his hands in a peaceful gesture, showing that he was unarmed. Of course that didn’t matter to someone who could wield the Force. But Kylo realised that his uncle’s presence was not so much cloaked as it was vacant. 

When the old man finally spoke, it wasn’t to them, but to Kira. “Did you tell him yet?”

Kylo shot her a worried gaze. “Tell me what?”

She smiled mysteriously. “Luke did it. He unblocked my memories.” Without warning she touched her hands to his temples and pushed into his head, flooding it with all of her recovered memories, bridging the final gap that kept them apart. Kylo let out a scream of pain as he pulled himself away from her. But it was already done. They were permanently and irrevocably bonded.

***

They sat awkwardly on boulders in a makeshift meeting circle that reminded Kylo far too much of their Jedi Academy days. They sat not far from the two ships, protected from the sea spray by the Knight Buzzard. He looked at Ap’lek, who was busy trying to make himself appear as small as possible, as if that would allow him to somehow avoid his father’s disapproval. Kylo glanced across at Kira - Rey, he corrected himself. No apology or explanation had been necessary once the bond had blazed into its full capacity. He understood that she had seen this as a natural progression from his accidental memory download. It seemed so logical to her. But to Kylo, who had lived with his Master’s voice continuously invading his mind for his entire life, she seemed like an unwelcome intruder.

“Ben. It’s better this way, trust me.” Her voice came unbidden in his mind.

Petulantly, he raised his mental shields and forced her presence into the back recesses of his mind. He glared at Luke instead. “You’ve got something to say, old man?”

Ap’lek’s head snapped up at Kylo’s voice, his voice firm. “Kylo. Don’t.”

Kylo pushed his long dark hair away from his eyes as he fixed his attention on the failed Jedi Master. “Don’t what? Don’t expect an apology, or at the very least an explanation for this pathetic excuse of a Jedi for leaving us at the mercy of our Master for the whole of our lives?” He continued hotly. “Ignoring us any time either of us raised it with him. He just brushed it off as the wisdom of the Living Force. Telling us to listen to the Will of the Force, even if that will was terrifying us.”

“It’s really not going to make any difference now, is it?” Ap’lek sighed bitterly. “It’s not going to change the past, what we chose to do. It’s not going to bring our friends back. We chose to do that, not him.”

“Because the voice kept telling us lies.” Kylo returned.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference.” Ap’lek debated.

“Do either of you hear him now?” Rey asked sharply, cutting through their argument. 

“What?” Kylo and Ap’lek demanded simultaneously as their heads snapped to her as one.

“I asked, do either of you hear him now?” Rey asked a little more gently. She pushed herself off the rock and knelt down beside Kylo, placing a gentle hand on his knee. “Ben, he’s not able to get through, is he?”

Kylo refused to look down at her pleading eyes. But he only had the strength to resist for a moment. When their eyes met, he softened towards her, knowing he couldn’t stay angry at her for what she considered to be their best option given the circumstances. “No, he’s not. There’s just you.”

“Isn’t that better?” She asked, her fingers drawing delicate shapes on his thigh.

Kylo’s voice was hoarse as he responded. “For me, yes. But that puts AK at greater risk.”

To his right, Ap’lek snorted derisively. “I can handle it. I usually sing whenever he enters my mind. It drives him nuts.”

“You sing?” Luke cut in, shock written clearly on his weathered face. “To a Sith Master?”

“Yeah.” Ap’lek replied, forcing himself to meet his father’s icy blue eyes. “I sing all sorts of things to him. The more annoying the song, the more frustrated he becomes until he finally gives up.”

Luke offered a wry but wistful smile. “That’s definitely something your mother would do.”

Ap’lek’s face turned serious for a moment. “Have you heard from her?”

Luke deliberately looked out at the churning waves, hurt filling his heart. “No.”

“Me neither.” Admitted Ap’lek. “She’s out there somewhere. I’m sure she’s doing whatever she thinks will help somehow. She’s not exactly the type to hide from the Galaxy when it’s in trouble.”

“Not like me.” Luke offered, self-deprecatingly. “She’s a warrior. A spy. An assassin. She can’t stay still and just sit out another war.”

“That’s why you two never saw eye to eye.” Ap’lek told his father firmly. “You just wanted to commune with the Cosmic Force and she wanted to be part of the Living Force. She always said that you should have been a Sentinel. If you meditated long enough you would turn to stone like the old temple guardians.”

Despite himself, Luke laughed. “Yeah, I really annoyed her need for justice.” He let out a long sigh before turning once more to face his son. “As much as we argued, as much as she sometimes wanted to run me through with her lightsaber, I loved her.” He turned back to the angry sea. “I still do.”

Ap’lek sighed as he followed his father’s gaze to the horizon where the twin suns were setting. Their faces awashed with the glow of the reflected daily reminder that life will be renewed after the dark of the night. “Yeah, me too.”

Rey sat beside Ben on the rock only just large enough to fit them both. He wrapped his arm around her as she nestled in closer. Together, they watched the suns slowly make their way to the horizon, one following the other in their daily dance.

Ben thought about how his mother would always remind him; “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.”

Beside him, Rey lifted her head off his shoulder enough to murmur, “Leia is right.”

Ben tucked her head back under his chin as if that was where she belonged. Having Rey in his thoughts, tangled with his own whirling emotions was like the glow of the suns reflecting off the churning waves. There was a calm to this state of feeling their separate emotions wash over one another. He could still tell which thoughts and emotions began with him, but he wondered over time if they would become less individual identities and more one joined entity.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Rey commented on his thoughts.

“I’m just glad it’s you.” Despite his best attempts to control his thoughts, alternate options came unbidden into his mind. Ap’lek for one, would have been annoying as hell. For a moment, he almost felt sorry for his Master after Ap’lek’s admission about singing in an effort to ward their Master from his mind.

Beside him, Rey let out a small laugh. “It’s his own way of coping with the emotions that are too big for him to deal with.”

“I know.” Ben sighed. “He’s always seen as irreverent and sometimes downright ridiculous, but I know he’s always got my back and I have his.”

Ap’lek broke the silence of the sunset to reprimand them. “Can you two stop talking about me? I can feel it.”

“You can?” Rey sat up.

“Just the feelings, not the words.” Ap’lek admitted. “It’s annoying. Stop it.”

Luke turned to Rey and Ben. He closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling their energy, where it met, where it joined, where it swirled around in formless patterns. “You two are beautiful. It’s like the energy equivalent of an eclipse. The Dark and Light together in an endless spiral.”

Ap’lek turned and followed his father’s gaze again, landing on the couple. He closed his eyes and saw the energies swirling around them. “He’s right. You two aren’t quite in balance yet, but you’re close to it.” He looked back at his father. “Closer than anything you ever preached about balance.”

“Anakin,” Luke started softly.

“Balance isn’t being stuck firmly in the Light.” Ap’lek deflected, pointing at the couple. “If what they are doesn’t convince you, then nothing will.”

“What are we?” Rey asked them all quietly.

Luke sighed, locking eyes with his nephew. “Do you remember the stories of Darth Revan and Bastila Shan?”

Ap’lek turned sharply to his father, his face broadening into a grin. “A dyad?”

Ben looked at Rey, who wordlessly shook her head, not understanding Luke’s reference. Then her mind was flooded with images and stories of the fallen Jedi who joined the Sith Cultists to become Darth Revan during the Jedi Civil War. How Revan had lost his memory during a battle and been captured by the Jedi Bastila Shan and under her watchful care, became a reprogrammed warrior for the Jedi Council. Bastila Shan’s initial Force healing of Revan created the spark that eventually forged into a bridge between the two of them in the form of a Dyad - two souls that are one. “I can remember everything you learned about them. I agree that it does seem similar.”

“I just needed to guide you to the right memories.” Ben told her, awe brightening his features.

“There hasn’t been a dyad for thousands of years.” Ap’lek stated.

“Nearly four thousand years.” Luke agreed. “But if they’re not a dyad, they’re as close as we will ever see in our lifetime.”

“Battle meditation?” Rey asked Ben, following his thoughts. “You’re right. I do seem to be able to do that. Not to anything like the degree that Bastila Shan could. But, maybe?”

“Hey,” Ap’lek snapped his fingers towards them. “How about you two have this conversation out loud for those of us not sharing one brain cell?” 

Despite himself, Ben smiled. “I was just thinking over Rey’s memories of her time with the First Order. Hux used her to coordinate their TIE-fighters, to keep them in formation, that sort of thing.”

“It was one of the more useful things Snoke taught me.” Rey nodded. “But your memories show that Bastilla Shan used her battle meditation to help the Old Republic forces destroy the Star Forge. My own skills are not as advanced as hers. But, I’m sure I could learn how to harness it.”

“Well,” Ap’lek smiled mischeviously. “It’s just fortuitous that you happen to know a legend in the field of battle meditation.”

“Hardly a legend,” Ben scoffed. “But yeah, you are pretty damn good.”

Ap’lek acknowledged the compliment with a nod and a hint of conceit. 

“Anakin,” Luke picked up his son’s hand and covered it with his own. “I have made so many mistakes. In my hubris I thought I could train my students with the wisdom handed down from Yoda, Obi-Wan and the rest of the Jedi who fell with the Republic. You’re right. I ignored warnings from both of you - and I failed to see what Rey could become. The Dark side destroys so the Light side can build something new. If you three can work together to harness the dark and the light tendencies you all contain, something truly unimaginable can be achieved for the Galaxy. A generation of neither Jedi nor Sith. A path of Grey.” He looked across at both Rey and Ben, who stood as one and approached Luke as he sat holding his son’s hand. “Ben, you are the embodiment of the perfect Guardian. You fight for those you love, those who have no voice. Anakin, you have always been a Consular, the peacekeeper, that’s why you can see a balanced side of every argument. That’s why you use humour to diffuse so many tense situations. Even though it drives everyone around you to want to choke you.”

“It was one time.” Ben rolled his eyes skyward. Beside him, Rey let out a snort of laughter as the memory was triggered by Luke’s words.

“And Rey,” Luke’s serious eyes fell upon her. “You are a Sentinel. Battle Meditation is just one of the traits of the Sentinels. They blended Force skills effortlessly with seemingly mundane skills, like slicing, intel gathering, investigators-”

“Jedi Shadows.” Anakin added softly. “Like Mom.”

Luke merely nodded as he acknowledged his son’s observation. “You three are the beginning of something entirely new, from incredibly ancient origins.” He watched the horizon as the second sun slipped from sight to mark the beginning of the night. “We all have our own roles to play in this war.” He sighed wearily. “I guess I’d better start working out how to apologise to my sister for abandoning her all these years.”

“She’ll forgive you.” Rey told him confidently. “Just let her yell at you for a bit first. She’s earned her anger.”

“You’re right.” Luke agreed. “I just hope she goes a little easier on me than R2 did.”

Ben smiled, catching Rey’s memory of the interaction and his mother’s ire before she sent Rey on her quest to drag her wayward brother back to civilisation. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

Rey just rolled her eyes at Ben before she turned to Luke with a serious expression. “Snoke destroyed the entire Hosnian System. He’s only getting stronger. The First Order will control all the major systems within weeks. Hux would brag endlessly about their plans to me.”

Ben pulled her in possessively by hisher side at the mention of the man Snoke had convinced her was actually her husband. “Did Snoke evernever confide in you directly?”

“Did your master ever confide his plans to you?” She countered fluidly.

AK cleared his throat. “Of course not. We were nothing more than an extension of his will. A sword when he decided someone needed killing. Someone to be a figurehead for his army.”

“Vader was no different for the Emperor.” Luke cut in.

“You know, you could have told us about Vader yourself.” Ben told him rather petulantly. “Instead we had to hear it from the holonews.”

“In the middle of dinner.” AK agreed.

“Voe wanted to cut us down then and there just for being his grandchildren.” Ben added.

“Like we could help who our grandfather was. Like it didn’t matter that he was actually your father and you never even mentioned it.” AK felt like all the anger he had pushed down inside him for his whole life was finally bubbling up from within him. “We deserved to know. Ben was treated differently by all the other students because of how you handled him. It’s like you expected him to spontaneously combust anytime hehis lost his composure.”

“AK.” Ben tried to calm his cousin.

“And the only reason he lost it during daily meditation sessions or sparring classes was because of the damn voice telling him that you never thought he was good enough to be one of your perfect little Jedi. Because he felt things too strongly. Because he couldn’t just shove everything down like I could. Do you know why, Father?” He almost spat the word. “It’s because you were the worst teacher we could have had. Maybe you were fine for people like Tai, Hennix - hell, even Voe. Because they all bought your Light side is the only way bantha poo doo. But for darklings like Ben and me, everything we did was wrong. I couldn’t take the Jedi stories as anything more than allegories and Ben wanted to know more than the strict rules and dogma of the Jedi who were so blinded by their own hubris that they couldn’t even see they had been manipulated by the very Sith Lord they had been fighting all along!”

Ben had stolen upon his cousin during his rant to settle in beside him. “Anakin,” he said softly, touching his bicep. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

For a few minutes AK did nothing except close his eyes and concentrate on his breathing until he felt the anger subside. Luke watched with misty eyes as Ben cared for his cousin, who had been more than a sibling than his own twin felt to him. They had been raised together for half of their lives, unlike him and Leia. It showed in the way they could calm one another with such ease.

After a few more minutes of silence, Luke spoke gently. “You’re right, Anakin.” He pushed himself to stand and held his hand out for his son. “I have something for you.”

AK blinked as he looked up at his father in the budding twilight. “Me?”

“For all three of you.” Luke clarified. “It’s in the remains of the dead Uneti tree.” Without further explanation, Luke set off up the steps. 

AK blinked again as he watched his father take the hundreds of steps at an easy pace before he turned to Ben, who just shrugged. When Rey set off wordlessly after Luke, both young men fell in behind her.

***

Rey was the first to enter the cavernous interior of the gnarled ancient tree stump. Ben and AK followed cautiously behind them. Once all three of them had taken in the sight of the ancient Jedi texts, Luke finally joined them.

“I know this place.” Rey muttered as she looked around the twisting bark interior of the cave. A single beam of moonlight streamed in through a small hole and lit up the ancient texts.

Ben looked at her and she could feel him sifting through her memories for the right one. “This place and the island. You saw them over and over in your dreams as a child.”

“It was built a thousand generations ago to keep these.” Luke explained.

“The original Jedi texts.” Ben breathed, disbelieving. He turned to his uncle. “Have you read them?”

Luke sighed. “Read, yes. Understood, not as much as I’d hoped. I’m hoping your generation will overcome my one-sided ignorance and get the Jedi back to their core tenets.”

Ben looked at Luke as if he were speaking a foreign language. “You’ll let us take the texts with us?”

Luke nodded. “They’re not doing much for the tourism industry on this planet.”

AK snorted a laugh. “So you’re saying there’s no annual hermit convention here?”

Luke smiled self-consciously. “I’ve missed you, kid.”

Tears sprung to the young man’s green eyes. He made a rueful face as he looked up at the gnarled ceiling of the ancient cavern. “Yeah, me too.”

Luke laid a hand on his son’s cheek, fondly. “Let’s get you all set up in the huts for the night. Tomorrow I can show you the temple.”

“Thanks, Dad.” AK told him sincerely. 

“Of course.” Was Luke’s only reply as he led them out of the ancient tree.