Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to our Sun and is located in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, making it the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres is the smallest of the bodies current classified as dwarf planets with a diameter of 950km.
The lightsaber thief had long since shrouded herself in black by the time her doings were found out. She heard them conversing, softly at first then loudly as they neared her and the thief felt her heart rate pick up. They would not hear the thrum of her blood, she had ensured that much when she had laced her armour with tutaminis energy, therefore the Force merely coalesced around her, never truly settling, meaning she had almost no energy signature. The thief glanced towards the group of men, watching in glee as they waved their arms, to no avail, she would not be found. The lightsaber hidden within her bag was cool to the touch, Maz had guarded it for as long as the thief could remember, but it had always called to her, even when she was only visiting with her mother as a child.
She remembered the familiar hiss of her name, just her name and in a voice that sounded familiar, as though she had known it all her life. The voice was almost definitely male and it made her feel odd, as though there was another presence in her vicinity. But she had never seen anyone there. Then, several nights ago, she had made her decision. The lightsaber was tempting, too tempting and though she was not as strong as the Jedi with the Force, her abilities fluctuated as she grew. It was not until she had been able to lift several heavy objects into the air that she had realised how Force-sensitive she was. She had hidden it for nearly 2 years, she had trained with one of the old monks and though she would probably not be capable of using said lightsaber, she was trained with a staff and twin blades.
They passed by her, unbeknownst to them the girl crouched in the shadows, and as she stood, slowly, her eyes flicking from side to side, before she slipped out of the temple. The wind caught at her cloak, dragging her hood back and tugging her dark waves free from their braid as she vanished into the darkness. The sound of mud and stones being disturbed underfoot was comforting to her, as long as it was isolated just to her, she was safe, but if she was being pursued, she would have to slip into the trees and that would take time, especially if she was going to have to wait them out. But when no other sound pierced the clear night, the thief slowed her pace a little, easing up and allowing herself to breathe.
Her ship, an old Gauntlet she'd found on the junkyard planet of Jakku a season ago, was hidden beneath the sparse branches she had found littering the ground and she had it on good authority that no one would be needing them urgently and had used them as a temporary cover for her dirt splattered ship. The engine hummed as she flicked the power on and grabbing the gear shift, the thief began to begin her get away. The planet she left behind she would not come back to in many seasons, but for now, she had to escape, the stolen lightsaber cold in her pack. She wondered if Luke Skywalker would miss it, but then again, he'd disappeared nearly 6 years ago. Hadn't done him much good had it? The ship roared into motion as she entered hyperspace, the planet glistening behind her.
Two weeks later ...
The water of the river Kytos was running red with blood. The water churned sluggishly over the rocks, dark with the blood of the villagers and where it lapped against the shore, a red film coated the smooth stones and licked up rusted trails on the shrubbery surrounding the river. The children had long since deserted the icy water, leaving scattered shoes and garments of clothing in their wake, their frantic energy almost tangible. The smoke filling the sky from the sparser clumping of trees, where the village of Lithren had been, smelled like the pines coating the hillside and like the flesh of the people that had once inhabited the small town.
The Devaronese' soft, elongated vowels and clear accents were all that could be heard earlier that morning, it had been a market day the previous day and the carts were beginning to trundle back into the square, filled to bursting with fruits and vegetables from other systems. Now they lay in the cracks between the stones of the square, rotting and turned to a slick mush, an array of colours and scents, almost as though it was an odd form of art. The Stormtroopers had come swiftly, they had been unexpected and so, no one was prepared for a fight. Their weapons of heavy steel had been no match for the blasters and now, as Kylo Ren stared out over the burning village, he knew they were no match for his lightsaber either.
Bodies lay strewn in piles, missing limbs and burning slowly as the fire the 'troopers had lit in the square licked over the dead. Mothers, fathers, children, it made no difference. They were all dead now. Kylo Ren noted a slight movement then, the Force somewhere in the trees above the villages had moved just slightly. Not a Force user, but the air had shifted, someone was moving. He clicked open his 'saber, the familiar red lighting up his peripheral and he strode forward, cloak lapping at his ankles as he ignored a Stormtrooper's call. He slunk into the shadows, using the Force to cloak him and then he saw her.
Where the river Kytos branched into a stream that clung close to the trees and arched around the village in a wide circle, with the water lapping over one hand, knelt a Devaron girl, clad in indigo garments that set off the dark waves curling down her back. She hadn't heard him, hadn't turned nor did she seemed startled by the occurrences in the village, they were a fair half mile from the burning heaps but the girl should have been alerted at least to the massacre of her village, let alone his presence.
She didn't move until he got within three feet of her and the fingers on the ground seemed to sense him, as they stopped racing in an unrepeatable tattoo against the moist earth. "You killed them all." She spoke Basic in an accent he was not familiar with, but he found he was quite partial to. She turned and he felt the mask on his face become suddenly tight as he took in a large swallow of air and her features. She was small but not skinny as many women were instead she had muscle rippling up her arms and legs. He could tell that her breasts were bound beneath the tunic and that the muscle cording her shoulders was put to good use, she had a weapon strapped to her back. He
"You killed them all." She spoke Basic in an accent he was not familiar with, but he found he was quite partial to. She turned and he felt the mask on his face become suddenly tight as he took in a large swallow of air and her features. She was small but not skinny as many women were instead she had muscle rippling up her arms and legs. He could tell that her breasts were bound beneath the tunic and that the muscle cording her shoulders was put to good use, she had a weapon strapped to her back. He
"You killed them all." She spoke Basic in an accent he was not familiar with, but he found he was quite partial to. She turned and he felt the mask on his face become suddenly tight as he took in a large swallow of air and her features. She was small but not skinny as many women were instead she had muscle rippling up her arms and legs. He could tell that her breasts were bound beneath the tunic and that the muscle cording her shoulders was put to good use, she had a weapon strapped to her back. He recognised the slight tension of her arms and the way her back had a certain stiffness at the curve of her spine.
He stepped towards her, watching as she was clearly intimidated, not by him as much as his presence, leaning back slightly to get away from him and he let his hands drift to her hips. The flicker of her eyes down sealed her fate, she was definitely in possession of a weapon. He grasped the holster of the gun and pulled it free from the folds of her tunic, watching as her eyes flashed furiously.
"You gave yourself away. Now, tell me. Why do you not flee, or at least help the villagers that I ordered to be killed. You would have died among them, but I am quite sure you would have been a fair fight, even for me. Why do you linger?" The girl raised her chin but said nothing and he was growing tired of the stoic nature to the small female. He raised his hand, startling her and began to use the Force.
At first, he was gentle, but by the look on her face and the way her features twisted in confusion and fear, he knew she had not come up against many who could use the Force, nor actually had it used on her. He began to pull at her mind, pushing through the threads of thought and then he began to trace the lengths of her very soul to find what exactly he was looking for. When he pulled out of her head, she sagged in his hold and he realised he had exhausted her with his efforts. But he now had a name, a birthplace and what she was doing here.
Gripping her tightly, not even because he was afraid she would take it upon herself to evade him, but because he reckoned that she was ready to sleep where she stood, he began to walk back towards his ship. The Stormtroopers raised their weapons when they spotted their leader striding towards them, leading the only survivor of the attack. The girl, Rhiannon, or as she was called, Rio, stumbled several times on the journey to the ship and nearly walked straight into Kylo Ren's back when he stopped in front of a Stormtrooper, handing her weapon to the 'trooper before he turned to her and held out a hand.
He didn't miss the way she flinched away from his fingers as he began to shut her brain down. She slipped into sleep remarkably easily and with a gentle sigh, alerting him to the very moment she crumpled to the ground. He caught her, folding the small body into his arms and with that, he strode aboard the ship. Captain Phasma, his favoured commanding officer, hurried over as dignified as she dared around Kylo Ren and saluted.
"Sir, you have orders from General Hux to report immediately to base, they have located a piece of the map to Skywalker." On a typical day, Kylo Ren would have dismissed any orders from the man he deemed his inferior, but this sparked his interest, finally, they were one step closer to the map than the Rebellion. Beneath the mask, Kylo Ren's face twisted into an ugly sneer at the thought of the Rebellion and his eyes flicked to the girl he had placed on the seats beside him, nowhere in her head said she had declared her stance, whether it be First Order or the Resistance.
He hesitated to look but before very long his curiosity took a firm grip and he began to dig further into the girl's head. Words, meaningless to him, flickered through her subconscious, something about light and then he found it, the reason she was on Devaron. He stared further into her mind, witnessing Rio dressed in the garb of a Jedi as she slipped from a temple, unseen and untraceable. She was no Jedi, but in her fingers she gripped something as familiar to Kylo as his own 'saber. Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
Kylo's eyes widened as he delved deeper and watched as Rio landed on Devaron, intent on finding the Jedi temple there, but an asteroid had clipped her ship, taking out the positioning device so she had landed several hundred miles from her intended point. He watched her fury and saw the way she ignited the lightsaber, staring down at it with a look of hatred and fury glinting in her gaze. There was something else. She hadn't found Luke Skywalker's saber on her own. There had been a voice, calling to her and as Kylo Ren pressed deeper, he discovered that she had been led to the 'saber. Either a powerful Jedi had left a soul trace for her or she had some sort of connection with the dead because Kylo Ren recognised his grandfather's voice from the weapon they were currently developing.
Anakin Skywalker had led her to Luke's 'saber, he had shown her the path. In the light of their current weapon development, this worried Kylo Ren more than he dared to admit to himself. They had been successful in transplanting the DNA to the humanoid creature one of the labs had created and slowly but surely, they were bringing Anakin Skywalker in his teen years back to life. It had been a difficult process, the transaction of DNA had not been clean and aligning so many of the genes had been time-consuming, but the project was nearly complete, they were for the moment still working on his motor skills and working on the neurological side, Kylo Ren avoided the labs like it was diseased after he had seen some of the things they produced.
They reached the First Order base and once the docking was complete, he picked up the girl and headed down to the control center, in search of General Hux. By the time he arrived, Rio had come to consciousness and when he set her on her feet, she stumbled once so when they arrived, he was still gripping her arm. "What's this? Ren found himself a new plaything?" There was no
"What's this? Ren found himself a new plaything?" There was no humor in the general's voice and Rio, who was preoccupied trying to free herself from his grasp, stilled immediately.
"I found her on Devaron. She knows the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber. She had it in her possession merely days ago." This time, Rio's eyes did not betray her, they remained glued to the red-haired general, staring at him in shock. Kylo Ren did not have enough patience to wonder why and dug slightly into her head, startling the girl who, to Kylo's surprise, slammed walls down on his probing, eyes filling with fury. "I'm not telling you where it is." She snapped, eyes darkening with a cold
"I'm not telling you where it is." She snapped, eyes darkening with a cold humor, he wondered in whose direction it was being aimed.
Hux stared at the girl for a long moment. "Rio, please. Where is the
"Rio, please. Where is the saber?" Rio and Kylo Ren stiffened at the same time. Kylo Ren did not remember telling Hux the girl's name and the way Rio stiffened, showed she had recognised that too. "No." She said, and there was a sharpness underlying her tone. Hux looked to want to question her further but her eyes danced with fury. "What do you intend to do with me here?" She asked, her tone bored but there was a worry in her aura. Kylo Ren and Hux exchanged a look. "If you tell us where the
"No." She said, and there was a sharpness underlying her tone. Hux looked to want to question her further but her eyes danced with fury.
"What do you intend to do with me here?" She asked, her tone bored but there was a worry in her aura. Kylo Ren and Hux exchanged a look.
"If you tell us where the saber is, we will let you go free." Kylo Ren lied easily and Hux shifted on his feet, clearly uncomfortable with the lie. Instead of a reply, the girl pressed long fingers to Kylo's mask, sending a flush of heat across it and making the energy levels soar.
He stiffened and then she pulled her fingers into a fist.
"You're lying." She stated coldly. Kylo Ren nodded. "Yes. I am. You will be killed." Rio rolled her eyes, "Then I'm not telling you." He wanted to groan, she was acting like a child, quite a beautiful, deadly child but like one no the less. She folded her arms then and he watched her face closely, she was scared, Kylo Ren could tell that and even Hux was able to perceive the frightened energy she was giving off. He motioned to two of the lingering Stormtroopers, "Take her to Interrogation Room 04 and guard the door. Do not open for anyone except myself or General Hux." The 'troopers grasped Rio's upper arms but she did not struggle as she was marched away, her head whipping to catch his eyes, a dangerous glint to the golden of hers and the beginning of a smirk before she vanished around the corner.
"Yes. I am. You will be killed." Rio rolled her eyes."Then I'm not telling you." He wanted to groan, she was acting like a child, quite a beautiful, deadly child but like one no the less. She folded her arms then and he watched her face closely, she was scared, Kylo Ren could tell that and even Hux was able to perceive the frightened energy she was giving off. He motioned to two of the lingering Stormtroopers, "Take her to Interrogation Room 04 and guard the door. Do not open for anyone except myself or General Hux." The 'troopers grasped Rio's upper arms but she did not struggle as she was marched away, her head whipping to catch his eyes, a dangerous glint to the golden of hers and the beginning of a smirk before she vanished around the corner.
"Then I'm not telling you." He wanted to groan, she was acting like a child, quite a beautiful, deadly child but like one no the less. She folded her arms then and he watched her face closely, she was scared, Kylo Ren could tell that and even Hux was able to perceive the frightened energy she was giving off. He motioned to two of the lingering Stormtroopers.
"Take her to Interrogation Room 04 and guard the door. Do not open for anyone except myself or General Hux." The 'troopers grasped Rio's upper arms but she did not struggle as she was marched away, her head whipping to catch his eyes, a dangerous glint to the golden of hers and the beginning of a smirk before she vanished around the corner.