Echoes
The Force bled- no, the Force was hemorrhaging. The Galaxy lay in ruins as screams of the dead echoed across the cold abyss of empty space. Where there was once life, there was now only gaping holes, wounds, and the echoes- the terrible undulating echoes.
Rey awoke with a scream, echoing the scream of the Force itself, her body drenched in a cold sweat. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves as her heart continued to beat faster than a Tatooine podracer.
I am one with the Force, she thought to herself, the Force is with me, and I take refuge in it.
She tried to call upon her very, very limited Jedi training, she tried to take refuge in the Force, but the Force itself was the one that was in pain. She was just a lens for it.
It had been two months since thirty five billion perished in the Hosnian Cataclysm and ensuing chaos. Five planets had been wiped off the face of the Galaxy all at once. But it was not only the toll in sentient life that caused the Force to reel as five planetary biospheres had disappeared in the same instant.
Most people don't think about just how much life most planets have. Planetary cataclysms were thankfully rare, but when they did happen the aware galactic population would mourn the massive loss of sentient life, but what about the insects? What about the plants? What about the wild beasts, or the fish, or the bacteria, or the countless other teaming life forms contained in each and every large planetary biosphere? Obviously, the birds and the beasts don't care about the sympathy of a distant galactic population, they were already dead. The departed have no need for something as abstract as sympathy. But nobody thinks about the tidal wave of death that comes when everything down to the most humble microorganism is annihilated in a flash.
The Force, however, did remember, as it remembered all the departed. The Cosmic Force took all into itself as the Living Force cried out like a wounded animal. However, it was not just the tremendous loss of life that caused the echoes, the overall chaos of the Galaxy caused them to travel far and wide. The Jedi were dead, the Sith were dead. It had been two months since the two most powerful practitioners of the light and dark had passed into the Force as well. Snoke was dead, and not long afterwards Luke Skywalker himself had died. There was nobody left. No Jedi, no Sith.
That's not to say that there were no other Force users, there were, but these scattered dark Jedi and half-trained apprentices were but children playing with toys compared to the power and wisdom of the old masters. The most notable of these was Ben Solo. Also known as Kylo Ren, the madman had served Snoke before eventually betraying him. Now, Ren ruled the shattered remains of the First Order as they continued their unsuccessful campaign against the dying embers of galactic civilization.
Rey thought about Ren a lot. They shared a strange bond in the Force. She couldn't explain how or why, but it linked them together despite their mutual efforts to ignore it. Somehow Snoke had linked them together and despite his death, the bond remained. Or perhaps the bond was already there before Snoke's interference. She thought back to her first encounter with Ren. The monster had tried to rip information out of her mind, and yet somehow, despite having absolutely no training in the Force, she had been able to resist him. In fact, it was more than that. She had been able to copy him. It was as if once he tried to invade her mind, she instantly understood how he was able to perform such a feat, and could then counter and even reverse the effects. It was almost as if their minds had touched and had become intertwined even then.
Hours later, when they fought on the artificial frozen terrain of the Starkiller, it was almost as if she could visualize his attacks and counter them before he had even swung his lightsaber. She had zero training in lightsaber combat, and yet she could tell what he would do, and even more so, she could copy his own lightsaber form and use it to counter his own clumsy strikes. Perhaps the bond was there even back then, Snoke just excited it, and took advantage of it.
Rey shook her head. She could not dwell on these things. She ripped the tangled sheets off her bed and landed her feet on the floor. She looked around the darkened interior of the Millennium Falcon. She reached out with the Force despite being well aware that she was the only living being aboard the ship as it made its way through hyperspace towards the planet Ossus. She stood up and walked to the refresher.
Splashing her face with water, she thought back to the events that led up to her making a pilgrimage to the lost Jedi world of Ossus. After the Battle of Crait, the Resistance was devastated. The survivors had been reduced to the double digits and they had no supplies, no allies, no ships, no weapons. Many considered throwing in the towel. After all, why not? The Resistance was founded as a means to stop the First Order from spreading and engulfing the Galaxy, turning it into a second Galactic Empire, and for the most part, they had succeeded. It had cost everything, but they had stopped the First Order, and utterly humiliated it at that, before they could spread.
After a string of defeats, the First Order had no hope of conquering the burned out cinder of the Galaxy they lived in. The New Republic was ashes and would remain ashes, but at least such an extreme brand of imperialism was not running the show. The Starkiller had been destroyed and Snoke was dead. The First Order had all the faults of the Empire taken to the extreme.
The Empire had dumped trillions of taxpayer credits into moronic superweapon projects, such as the Death Star. The Death Stars had no practical economic use and only served to cow planetary governments into submission, although, even that had the opposite effect. Grand Moff Tarkin, displaying his usual lack of tact and long term strategy, had fired upon the peaceful planet of Alderaan. Although the Empire tried to manufacture a cover story, they could not hide what had happened for long. Just as the echoes in the Force continued to the edges of the Galaxy, the political repercussions spread, fanning the flames of the Rebellion. With the Death Star's destruction, this Rebellion was given a new impetus, and after the Battle of Endor, the whole Imperial monolith fell in flames. The First Order had similarly destroyed the Hosnian System. Presumably, Snoke had planned to have the First Order slowly expand, consuming systems one by one and reuniting them into a second Galactic Empire, but with his death, the Galaxy remained in a state of anarchy.
While this galactic state of nature was not preferable, at least the First Order had no shot at coming back. Perhaps, in time, the Republic would bounce back, or perhaps a new confederation or alliance of systems would form, but it was too early to tell. The Galaxy stood on the verge of a dark age if this continued. There was no point for the Resistance to exist, they had done their duty, and the Galaxy must be given time to heal. And yet, despite being utterly devastated and under the command of incompetent leadership, the First Order was still out there, and if they were not stopped, the Galaxy would not be allowed to heal, and the Dark Age would follow. They had no hope of conquering the Galaxy, but their very presence was a source of general instability.
To this end, General Leia Organa Solo had gone to her mysterious allies in the Unknown Regions. Rey personally doubted that they, whoever they were, would be willing to help, but when you have nothing, you can at least try. With the death of Luke, Rey was left completely without guidance. She begged Leia to tell her where she could find more information on the Jedi. Leia was hesitant, but in the end Rey coaxed the name of a planet out of her. The planet Ossus, rumored to be the original home of the Jedi, was where she and Luke had once gone looking for any available information on the Jedi. They had found none, but Luke had befriended a tribe of natives known as the Ysanna. They were mildly Force sensitive and retained some of the the teachings of the Jedi. Perhaps due to her familiarity with Luke they would be willing to help her. Or perhaps they would kill her and roast her flesh for a holiday feast. Worth a try.
"Mocking Query: Master, are you finished hydrating your epidermis?"
Rey groaned and turned off the water. Standing in the doorframe was a large red droid with an oversized BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle. Rey wanted to make the journey to Ossus herself, but Leia had insisted that the journey was too dangerous to go on alone and that she should take someone. Rey had suggested that the shellshocked ex-First Order stormtrooper Finn should accompany her, but Leia thought that was a terrible idea. Instead, she had given Rey a 'translator droid' for safekeeping. This droid, had somehow come into the service of Luke Skywalker, but after Skywalker's self-imposed exile, the droid was left lying around in the ruins of Luke's Jedi academy. Leia had found it and since she was the brother of Luke, it pledged itself to Leia. Leia was not exactly thrilled with this development and was quick to pass it off to Rey.
"What do you want HK-47?" Rey asked.
"Statement: Master, we are nearing the planet Ossus. We should arrive there in approximately 1.12 hours if R2-D2's internal computer is accurate. Mocking Query: Would you like me to land the ship, or would you like to almost crash into another transport bus full of Rodians again?"
"Hey! It's not my fault they couldn't drive!"
"Amused Retort: Oh really?" The droid seemed to shift voices. It then began to play a recording. "Of course I can fly this thing? What? I don't care about the outbound traffic, I can make it. What? Wait- what AAAGH!"
"Why on bloody Malachor do you still have that recording?" Rey asked in shock.
"Response: Because it amuses me."
"Fine. You can fly the thing, just get out of my room, I need to meditate."
"Response: As you wish master," said the droid as it walked out the room.
Rey watched the droid leave before sitting down on the floor. She tried to find calm, find her inner peace, find the Force deep inside her just as Luke had taught her.
Author's Note: This is my first attempt writing anything set in the Disneyverse. I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while now and thought that it wouldn't hurt to write it down. It's, obviously, set in the Disney Canon, but I will be making heavy use of Expanded Universe elements. If you do not know anything about the Expanded Universe, just treat them as original characters and concepts. Also, I know very little about the Disneyverse in comparison to the Expanded Universe, so if I make any mistakes, you're welcome to point them out. Thanks for reading.