A million thanks to all of you who have read and supported Epic Love. This sequel is a labor of ongoing love, and I'm hoping to post updates every other week. As you could probably tell from the title, this story focuses much more on Jaina and Rey, but some other favorites will figure prominently in the story as well.
Chapter 1 - Shining How We Want
The climb and the anticipation had Rey a bit winded by the time she reached the top. The hooded figure turned around, saying nothing, but one look into his blue eyes told her she'd found him. Luke Skywalker, at last.
He stared at her for a long moment, giving her an unreadable look.
The 'saber. Give him the 'saber. Rey reached into her bag, pulling out the lightsaber that had called to her from Maz's basement and holding it out to him expectantly.
After a pause that seemed endless, he took it from her with his metallic hand, took a moment to examine it, and…unceremoniously tossed it over his shoulder into the sea behind him.
Rey gasped, sitting up in the darkness. As usual when she dreamed of Ahch-To, it took her a few moments to regain her bearings. The touchstones around her otherwise spare quarters helped: the pressed flowers Leia had given her one afternoon after Rey had admired them, the junk metal Jaina and Luke had fashioned into a set of pilot's wings after her inaugural X-Wing flight, the gun belt she'd gotten from Han, the stones she'd collected with Finn during a walk outside the base.
She thought about settling back into her bed, but sleep was generally a losing proposition after one of these dreams. Or visions, or whatever they were. She was considering whether to just go for a nighttime walk around the base when she felt a familiar nudge at the edge of her mind.
Come on in, Rey sent back.
Jaina entered quietly, shutting the door behind her. She was still in the loose pants and Corellian Dreadnoughts t-shirt she typically wore to bed, her dark hair in a loose braid for sleeping. "Hey," she greeted. "Another Luke dream?"
"Yeah."
"What'd he do with it this time?"
Rey laughed softly. "Chucked it into the sea. Barely even looked at it."
Jaina snorted, sitting on the bed next to Rey. "He'll love hearing that. You okay?"
Rey nodded. "Fine. Just—probably done sleeping for a while."
"Yeah," Jaina nodded. They sat quietly for a minute.
"Too early to go meditate. Right?" Rey asked.
"Well…" Jaina made a face. "Uncle Luke would say it's never too early, but…it's not even 400 hours."
"Too early," Rey agreed.
"Could try to get on the sims before they pack 'em up," Jaina suggested.
Rey brightened a bit. "Yeah, let's do that." She grabbed her comm. "I'll leave Finn a message so he doesn't think we ditched him."
"Good thinking."
There were more people up at this hour than was usual on D'Qar, but that was likely due to preparations for the move to a new base. The victory at Starkiller Base had saved the Resistance and taken out enough of the First Order's power center to delay their advance, but it was only a matter of time before they regrouped and came back just as strong as before. And now they could do so openly, having crippled the Republic and eliminated the need to hide the extent of their military activity.
The flight simulators in the training center had not yet been shut down; even as they prepared the rest of the base to evacuate, new recruits to the Resistance were arriving daily. Three hundred thirty hours was not a particularly popular time to train, however, so Jaina and Rey easily found two sims available for use.
"Jaina Organa-Solo," Jaina said crisply to the sign-in kiosk. "Entry verified," it chirped back.
The kiosk always made Rey hesitate a bit. "Rey," she said, her voice faltering slightly even on that syllable.
"Entry verified."
Jaina must have noticed her hesitation. "You know," she said quietly as they sat down at their simulators, "You can use it."
Rey didn't look up. "I know."
"We all agreed—but only if you want," Jaina added hastily.
Rey smiled back at Jaina as she put on her headset. First Han, then Leia and Jaina had taken Rey into their family in the last few weeks. She was starting to think of Jaina as her sister already, even if she hadn't grown up with a concept of what that even felt like.
But she couldn't yet bring herself to take the Organa-Solo name, not officially. Taking it felt so—final, somehow. Like all those years, all those tally marks meant nothing, like she was burying all hope of her family's return to Jakku. Like she was burying them.
"I do want it," she said. "I think. I'm just—"
"Not ready?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Jaina smiled at her, then adjusted her headset and turned her attention to the simulator, her tone changing to a friendly challenge. "You ready for this?"
Rey grinned back. "Bring it on."
Wish this were as easy to master as those sims, Rey thought later, trying for the fifth time to clear her thoughts and focus, as Luke had coached her. Her eyes were closed, but she could see the 'saber quiver, as if it were about to spring toward her.
And then it stopped. It always stopped. Why can't I do this? Rey could see so clearly how the 'saber had flown to her hand on Starkiller Base, past Kylo Ren's astonished face, hitting her palm and igniting in one fluid motion. But she hadn't been able to replicate that; now, it was like she was some kind of a Force dud.
I am going to make this kriffing thing come to me if it's the last thing I do, she thought, grimacing in concentration.
She felt a hand on her wrist. "Rey. Stop." She opened her eyes to see Luke looking at her. She released her body, surprised to see how tense she had become.
Luke smiled gently. "I know. It's not easy. It took me a long time, too."
Rey furrowed her brow, but didn't say anything.
"More meditation will help," he continued. "You have to get out of your own way. It'll come," he assured her.
Rey wanted to throw something, but that was just her frustration with herself. Luke was such a kind, gentle teacher that it was hard to get mad at him. Although come to think of it, sometimes his seemingly infinite patience made her slow progress even more maddening.
She took a deep breath and moved to the other side of the room, where Jaina was guiding Finn to search for someone's presence in the Force. It was one of the first things Rey had learned to do.
"Did you find someone?" Jaina was asking him.
"General Organa," he said softly, his eyes closed.
"Leia," Leia corrected, her voice gentle. Rey could sense Leia's presence without much effort now. Warm, strong, deep, like the kaffe color of her eyes.
"Leia," Finn repeated, smiling, his eyes still closed. "Luke," he said.
Luke's presence was interesting. Gentle, warm, friendly, but also complex, threads woven together in a thousand designs. It was so different from Leia's, but at the same time you could sense how they were connected, how their presences mirrored and complemented each other. When Luke had shared that they were twins, it had made perfect sense.
"Rey," Finn said, and Rey suddenly felt suffused with warmth. Like she could take on the galaxy if she had to, like all her strength had been illuminated.
He sees me, she thought, and smiled.
Finn was a relatively new student to the Force, and hadn't quite decided how far he wanted to go in Jedi training. He hadn't even decided whether he was officially joining the Resistance, but Leia had assured him that he was welcome there indefinitely, whether he signed on or not.
"Where were you with this thirty-five years ago?" Han had asked her in mock outrage.
"Still learning the value of independent contractors," she'd said smoothly, with a little bit of a wink. She'd turned back to Finn. "I hope you'll stay, but it's your choice, always."
Finn had elected to stay on and to at least learn a little about his Force-sensitivity, even if he never became a full-fledged Jedi. Rey was relieved; she'd only known Finn for a matter of weeks, but he already felt so familiar, so important. Everyone was doing their best to make her feel welcome here, like she mattered, but Finn felt special. Like she mattered in a different way to him.
Maybe he'll agree to meditate with me later, she thought. It was just meditation, just spending time together, but somehow the thought made her feel a bit—giddy.
Oh, meditation? Is that what we're calling it? Jaina's teasing voice, in her head. Rey looked up to see Jaina watching her, a knowing smile on her face.
Shielding, her new sister said. I'll show you later.
The packed mess hall made Rey a bit antsy. She was still getting used to being with so many people, so much of the time. Sometimes she took her tray to the Falcon, to eat in relative quiet and to chat a little with Chewie. But Han and Chewie were here, waving them over to a table in the corner.
Poe was there, too, listening with interest as Wedge described a defensive maneuver they'd done a few times during the Rebellion.
"Luke's the one who came up with it," Wedge was saying as they approached. "You should ask him. Hello, love," he said fondly, greeting Luke with a quick kiss on the cheek.
Luke greeted his husband in kind, then turned to Poe. "I assume you're talking about that thing we did when we were leaving Horox III."
"That's the one," said Wedge, and the three men began discussing strategies the Rebels had used to throw off Imperial tracking systems during their evacuation. Jaina was following the conversation intently, stopping them periodically to ask questions.
"Question is, are the First Order systems close enough to the Imperial ones for that to work?" Poe asked, directing his inquiry toward Finn, who had been listening but not otherwise participating in the discussion.
"What kind of trackers were the Imperials using?" Finn asked, and Wedge had just finished explaining the main theory behind the Imperial tracking system when Han broke in.
"Hey. Enough shop talk. If I wanted a strategy session, I'd be eatin' with Her Worship and Ackbar right now," he said. "They've got briefing rooms for a damn reason, yeah?" He lightly jostled Wedge, who was seated next to him. "Expected better out of you."
Wedge laughed. "Yeah, yeah, all right." He pointed at Poe. "To be continued."
Poe grinned eagerly. "You got it."
They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, then Poe turned to Jaina and Rey. "Thought I was going to be first one on the sims this morning—but I guess I gotta get up before 0400 next time," he said.
"Guess so," Jaina replied with a smile.
"What were you doing up that early?" Han asked.
"Rey needed a distraction," Jaina said. "I woke up when she woke up."
"Another dream?" Wedge asked. At Rey's nod, he asked, "What'd he do with it this time?"
Rey had a mouth full of food, so Jaina broke in. "Tossed it into the sea. It's probably one with the X-Wing now," she joked to Luke, who laughed softly.
"What do you mean, one with the X-Wing?" Wedge asked with curiosity. Jaina's eyes widened, and Rey saw a look flash across her face, one that said Oops. Luke suddenly became very interested in his lunch.
When nobody answered him, Wedge turned to Luke. "Love," he said, "is there an X-Wing still on your lonely island somewhere?"
Luke nodded.
"Where is it?"
"It's parked," Luke replied calmly.
Han looked extraordinarily amused at that response. "Is it parked underwater?" he asked. Luke paused, then nodded again.
This was the first Rey had heard of this. She exchanged a look with Finn, then nearly laughed out loud at the expression on Poe's face, which was one of mild horror.
Wedge looked a bit horrified as well. "You left it in the water?"
Luke shrugged. "We had to leave in kind of a hurry. You know, Han? Starkiller Base, Force visions?"
"Why was it in the water in the first place?" Poe asked.
"To teach me a lesson," said Jaina, rolling her eyes. "I was supposed to use the Force to lift it out and back up the rock."
And you couldn't? thought Rey. Jaina's skills in the Force seemed light-years away from her own; there seemed to be very little that she couldn't do after her years of training with Luke. Rey exchanged another look with Finn, who was having a similar reaction.
"She could've done it," Luke assured them.
"I almost did do it," Jaina said. "Got it halfway up the cliff."
"Close only counts for thermal detonators," Luke said, teasing her with a fond smile. Jaina rolled her eyes again, shaking her head.
Wedge and Poe were still preoccupied with the fate of the ship. "The water's going to be hell on those electronics," muttered Poe, shaking his head.
"Not to mention the hull. What in nine hells were you thinking?" Wedge asked.
Luke was continuing to shrug it off. "I don't know, that we were going to be on the island for another year?"
"You were gonna leave it in the water for another year?" Wedge asked.
Sheepish was a look Rey had not seen before on Luke Skywalker, but he definitely had it now. "Not the whole year," he said. Han and Chewie were chuckling.
Wedge seemed to catch the change in Luke's demeanor and calmed his own. He took a drink of his water, shaking his head. "Wes is going to have a field day with this one, y'know," he said.
Luke perked up. "You heard back from him?"
Wedge nodded. "This morning. And he roped in Hobbie and Tycho, too. Tryin' to get them here before we head out."
"Right before the evacuation?" Han asked.
"First Order already knows where this base is. If this is just a reunion, no reason to put them in danger with info on the next one," Wedge pointed out.
Rey and Finn exchanged a look. Obviously Finn didn't know whom they were talking about, either, though Jaina and Poe clearly did, judging by their expressions.
Poe grinned at Finn. "Janson, Klivian, Celchu. You hear of 'em?"
"Rogue Squadron," Jaina added.
Finn's eyes widened. "Yeah, I've heard of them." Finn kept surprising everyone with his level of knowledge about the Rebellion against the Empire. Much of the information he'd been fed by the First Order was wrong, but he seemed to have been given enough truths that he could sift out the lies and put things together fairly quickly.
"You wanna know how to evacuate under the enemy's nose," Wedge told Poe, "they're your men."
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun…
- "Brighter Than the Sun," Cobie Caillat
