Note: The first chapters of this story were originally written before "The Last Jedi" was out, as such they do not follow the events of that movie. Nevertheless, more than a few characters and events from TLJ shall be incorporated in the story in later chapters, within the context of the plot of course.

This is a story set a year after the events of the Force Awakens and it is my version of Episode VIII. One of the major characters will be an original one. Hope you enjoy the story and if you do, any reviews will be appreciated.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

Star Wars

Episode VIII

The Fury of Kylo Ren

It's been one year since the destruction of the Starkiller Base, and it is a dark time for the Resistance. The evil First Order has reconquered most of the worlds captured by the Resistance and in the Galactic Republic the pro-peace faction has taken control of the government and has stopped funding the rebel fighters.

While the First Order has been crushing the Resistance, the ruthless Knight of Ren, Kylo Ren, has completed his training under Supreme Leader Snoke and now, obsessed with finding young Jedi Rey, has dispatched thousands of spies across the galaxy to find her location.

Chased by the First Order and being the only Jedi disciple of Luke Skywalker, Rey must escape Kylo Ren's claws and make her way back to the Resistance, before it is too late for them and the galaxy…

Chapter 1 - Escape from Jundar

Jundar, Michael's Cantina

Jazz music. Gorgeous Twi'lek dancers dancing before you dressed in sexy outfits. Smoke and laughter. Some of the best drinks in the galaxy, from Tatooine wine to Jundar Vodka. Bounty hunters, smugglers, some of the best pilots in the entire galaxy, hunted men. Michael's Cantina had everything mentioned above and even more. Species from all over the galaxy were gathering here, drinking, chatting and sometimes blasting each other.

On the far left corner of the Cantina, a lone man was sitting, drinking a Coruscant Javu Cocktail. He was a man in his late twenties, with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes and a vibroblade scar on his right cheek. He was wearing black shirt and trousers and a dark blue jacket. From his looks, one could easily tell that he was a man of action.

A bearded fat man dressed all in black approached the lone man, sat on a chair opposite to him and said, "Hello Arthurn. I see that you enjoy yourself, don't you?"

Arthurn smiled and replied, "Hey, life is short. If we do not enjoy it, what is the meaning of living?"

"Spare me of your philosophical rant. I'm here for the money. Dragan wants it, and he is not one to accept delays. When you lost your shipment full of blasters owned by Dragan, he warned you that if you do not compensate him, he would have you killed."

Arthurn sighed. He drank some more of his cocktail and said, "Hey, Jo old buddy, I already told your boss that it's not my fault. How was I supposed to know that my co-pilot would turn out to be a bastard who would steal my ship and your boss' shipment with it?"

"And my boss has already told you that he does not care. You chose the wrong co-pilot, you lost the shipments, you will compensate him. Now give me the money, or I will fry you."

Jo pulled two blaster pistols from his belt and pointed them at Arthurn, showing that he meant business. "And as you know, my friend Arthurn, I am one of the best marksmen in the entire galaxy. I've killed countless of famous people, all with only one shot."

Seeing the blaster pistols pointed at him, Arthurn almost spilled his drink. "Hey, old pal, calm down!"

Jo laughed. "I am pretty calm. You don't seem to be calm though. You don't have the money, right?"

"Well….I don't have the money yet, but give me some more time, and I will pay back Dragan plus some extra. I am one of Dragan's best pilots and I have always pulled off the most dangerous missions for him. I just need a little extra time and I will bring back the money. I promise."

Jo put down his blasters on the table, took a Corellian cigarette from his pocket and began smoking. "Alright, pal. Although you are not the most trustworthy guy I've met, I've known you for some time and you are indeed one of Dragan's best pilots. So, I shall give you some extra time. But if you blew this chance, I shall fry you with my famous blaster pistols, even if you are my pal. Crime lords don't have friends, you see."

Jo smoked for a moment and then, with his blaster pistols in his hands, left the Cantina. While Arthurn was drinking and thinking of how to repay Dragan, a young woman, dressed in a brown gown, approached his table. She had brown hair, hazel eyes, and light skin. She smiled to Arthurn and said, "I'm Rey. You must be Captain Arthurn, right?"

Arthurn size up the girl and smirked. "Indeed, I am the famous Captain Arthurn. What do you wish of me? I always have plenty of time for pretty faces like yours."

Ignoring Arthurn's comment, she replied, "I want to hire you to take me to Hoth. The only passengers will be me and my droid, BB-8."

It was only then that Arthurn noticed that Rey was being followed by a small droid with a dome head and with the bulk of its body made up of a ball that the droid's head rolled on.

"Also, I wish to avoid the First Order," Rey continued.

Arthurn could not have been happier. He was searching for a way to repay Dragan and now this woman came, ready to pay him for a trip to Hoth. Smiling, Arthurn said, "It's a deal. About my payment…avoiding the First Order would cost more than normal trips, but I always give a discount to gorgeous women like you. So, I want you to pay me 14,000 credits. All upfront."

"What?!" Rey shouted. "Are you kidding me? I can give you 10,000 now and 2,000 when we reach Hoth, 12,000 in total. My final offer."

Arthurn knew that he had to accept the deal or else he might not be able to find another customer soon enough to pay off Dragan. So, sighing, he said, "Alright, alright! I accept your offer. Now, will you come with me to the hangar, for I am in a bit of a hurry?"

Arthurn tossed a coin to the bartender and the two of them left the Cantina. Jundar was a world of tall skyscrapers, thousands of meters tall. The surface, being flooded with toxic waste, had long been abandoned. Due to the planet's location and the huge dark clouds covering its sky, it was always dark. To compensate for this, the planet had some of the best places of entertainment in the entire galaxy and many skilled individuals, mostly shady figures with connections to the underworld, gathered in this planet.

As they were walking, Rey asked, "Don't you have a co-pilot?". Although there were lone pilots, most preferred to have a co-pilot to help them.

"I had one but long story short; he betrayed me and stole my ship. So now I am on my own."

Arthurn led Rey and BB-8 to Hangar 78. There, on a metallic platform Arthurn's new ship was stationed: the 'JJ-91'.

'JJ-91' was a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle. It had three wings: one tall, dorsal stabilizer that remained stationary, and two lower wings that would extend during flight and fold upward for landing. The shuttle was mounted with two forward-facing double laser cannons. During the era of the Empire, it was used by dignitaries and even by Darth Vader himself once, but after the collapse of the Empire, it changed many hands until it was bought by Arthurn. Usually, such a ship was not used by smugglers, but since Arthurn's ship had been stolen by his co-pilot and he did not have much money, he had no choice but to buy this shuttle.

"I thought you had a fast ship…", Rey commented as soon as she saw the ship.

"Well, as I told you, my co-pilot stole my original ship, but 'JJ-91' is a fast a ship too. I've made some special modifications myself," Arthurn said. Of course, he had made no such modifications but he had no wish to lose his costumer. 'It's not like she will understand the difference,' he thought. "Now let's get going."

Arthurn unlocked the outer hatch of 'JJ-91' and lowered the ramp. As they were about to board the ship, a lizard looking alien holding a repeatable blaster with both his hands and pointing it at Arthurn appeared. "Long time no see, scum," he said.

"Hey, Hjark old buddy, how are you doing?" Arthurn said, forcing a smile on his face.

"I am here to collect the bounty on your head by Dragan."

"Calm down buddy. I have already talked with Jo and he gave me some extra time to repay Dragan. If you don't believe me, call him right now and he will tell you about this."

But Hjark laughed. "I will kill you and say to Dragan that I was not aware of your communication with Jo. I am sure that he will be pleased anyway and give me the money he put on your head."

Hjark was about to fire at Arthurn, but he then saw a good looking blonde woman followed by three tall and sturdy looking battle droids approaching them. Arthurn saw her too and sighed. 'Oh no!' he thought. 'Why am I always so unlucky?'

Once again, he smiled and said to the woman, "Dalia sweetheart, long time no see. You don't know how much I missed you."

Dalia's face was red and she was fuming with anger. "You damn cheating scruffy looking bastard, you have quite some nerve calling me 'sweetheart' after what you did to me!"

"Babe, you know that when I cheated you with your best friend I was drunk and had no idea of what I was doing, right? If I had not drunk the whole bottle of Tatooine wine, I would have never cheated you, I promise."

"You think I will forgive you?"

"You don't want to kill a gorgeous guy like me, do you?" Arthurn joked. But Dalia was not much amused. Her battle droids pointed their guns at him.

As they were about to shoot him, an elderly man dressed in a blue gown walked to the Hangar. Seeing him, Arthurn shouted, "Oh come on! This is getting ridiculous!"

"You!" the elderly man said, pointing at Arthurn with his finger. "You stole my priceless vase from my villa. Give it back to me!"

"Baron Char, I don't actually have it with me. I sold it to Dragan. You can go get it from him or just forget about it. It's only a vase."

"No!" Char shouted. "It is my family heirloom. Although I will not be able to get my vase from Dragan, at least I will have the pleasure of killing you and taking revenge. Boys, get him!"

Suddenly, five battle droids walked into the Hanger, their blasters pointing at Arthurn.

"It seems you have quite some trouble Captain, eh?", Rey noted.

"Sorry to disappoint all of you, but I've got a trip to make with this hot lady, so I have to bid you goodbye!"

Arthurn threw a smoke grenade, which blocked the vision of his opponents. Still, they fired at him, but Arthurn was able to dodge the shots. Not being able to see their opponent, they also fired at Rey, who turned on her blue lightsaber and used it to deflect the enemy fire.

"We have to get out of here!", Arthurn said and, grabbing Rey's hand, rushed onto the 'JJ-91'. Arthurn ran to the cockpit, sat on the pilot's seat, pressed a few buttons, pulled a lever and the shuttle took off.

Laughing, Arthurn said, "That was quite an escape, wasn't it?"

"I have escaped from more dangerous enemies," Rey replied.

"Oh really? What are you? A Jedi?"

"Why do you think of that?"

"You've got a lightsaber and you certainly don't look like a Knight of Ren."

"I am indeed a Jedi, but I would prefer if you stopped asking further questions. Also; never call me 'hot lady' again."

Arthurn sighed. "Whatever sweetheart..."

Rey ignored him and sat on the co-pilot's seat. She closed her eyes, relaxed her muscles and emptied her mind of all thoughts. She could sense the Force. Her Master, Luke Skywalker, had taught her how to meditate and feel the Force. She remembered his words; 'It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.' Relaxing and feeling the Force, was a good way to remain calm and serene.

The 'Annihilator', Kylo Ren's flagship, Bridge

Space was like a dark curtain, contrasting with blacks and yellows, and the occasional white, which was shaped as a circle and sometimes a crescent. Thousands of bright stars and planets dotted that curtain in an intricate pattern. Suddenly, a menacing shadow overshadowed one of the smaller planets. It was the shadow of a Star Destroyer traveling in space. Its engines emitted a sound like the singing of whales. It was the only sound that could be heard in the silent and empty coldness of space.

Kylo Ren, leader of the Knights of Ren, was on the Bridge of that ship. It was his flagship, the 'Annihilator'. He was overlooking the vastness of space and waiting for news. Ren was clad in dark. His robe had become singed from many battles. His face was covered by a mask which projected and amplified his voice in a deeper way. A mustached middle-aged officer approached him.

"Sir, I bring news. According to our spies on Jundar, a woman that matches your description of Rey was on that planet. Also, some people claim that a woman used a lightsaber in a fight in the hangars."

"Have our spies located her?!" Ren interrupted.

"No, sir. You see, those were just rumors and have not been checked out yet, so I wanted to ask your permission before ordering them to do anything."

"You idiot!" Ren roared. "You should have acted at once instead of waiting for my permission. Now they have left the planet. You shall not fail me again!"

Ren used the Force to pull up the officer and, before he could scream for mercy, began force choking him. The officer's face turned pale and he was asphyxiating. There was a momentary struggle before he was finally dead. Ren let his lifeless body fall on the floor. He then turned on his red lightsaber and took out his anger on an instrument panel.

When he finally calmed down, he turned to the next in command officer, who was utterly terrified and his face was ashen white, and said, "Officer Maar, I want you to check all possible routes from Jundar and send Star Destroyers to intercept Rey. I want her alive. Do not fail me, or you will suffer the same fate as your superior did!"

"I…I..I.." the officer was shaking in fear and was stuttering. "I..will..will..not…fail….you. "

"I hope you don't; for your shake!"