Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its properties.
It has been a month since the escape on Crait. With a handful of rebels, Finn, Poe, Rose and Rey are making use what few alliances they have left to build a network of new recruits. General Organa is in poor health, but clings onto the hope that she knows will bring justice to the galaxy. While the others are doing what they can, Rey is trekking through the snowy arctic scape of the planet Illum, in search of something….
Part I, Chapter I
Rey blinked away the snow in her eyelashes as she trudged through the dense white expanse. Each step took a tremendous bout of strength to overcome, and she had sharply staked her staff into the snowfield to pull herself forward each time.
She had never experienced such cold-the most she had felt was a desert night nip on Jakku. The novelty of snowflakes had worn off when she set foot on Illum and realized winter could be violent, harsh and unbearable. By now, the storm had picked up and the winds pushed mercilessly against her wrapped frame. Even with insulated garb and boots, the frigid air was piercing. But at last she arrived at her destination: it was just as the holotapes mentioned.
Before her was a complex of glacial caves, so large and unnerving it shadowed over her like an eclipse.
With her last bit of might, Rey made her way to the mouth of the cave which was situated at the base of the glacier.
When finally inside, it felt like she could breathe again. She pulled down her cowl and let out an exasperated sigh. The temperature had changed so drastically from the exterior to within the temple entrance that the hoarfrost on her brows and lashes had melted. She looked around once she caught her breath and almost had it taken away by her amazement. Before her stood massive Jedi structures: two hooded stone statues with their lightsabers drawn. They were surrounded by obelisks erected from stone in the rounded floor; capped in silver alloy to resemble crystals.
Rey looked up and nearly fell on her back: the ceiling was nearly as high as the glacier itself, and from the top to the base stood a frozen wall: a still waterfall. There were so many places to look, but Rey had to be meticulous with her time. The holotapes were very particular about using time as a tool to access the caves. She looked around carefully, and spotted a dangling cradle from the ceiling: and within it, a grand kyber crystal. There was so much to harvest within that ornament, but she knew it would be too difficult to reach.
The ancient Jedi were very erudite in their ways and would not make it so simple for padawans to get what they came for. She looked around once more, and at last it became clear. A small passage in the skylight allowed a sliver of sunlight to reflect off of the grand kyber crystal, and onto the waterfall. Rey spotted this weak point: where the radiance had melted the integrity of a spot of the waterfall. She climbed over stone and made her way to it, where a simple thud of her staff caused it to break open and reveal the entrance.
'Ah. That's clever. I suppose wit was mastered before the force was.'
She stepped in the dark chamber, where only the sound of dripping stalactites could be heard.
'Focus. Focus on what you need to find.'
She closed her eyes and let the force guide her. This was a sacred place for the Jedi, and she could feel it in every breath. She reached out, expecting to find a distinct path to what she needed. But there were echoes. Voices began to flood her mind, and anxiety ensued. The presence of the force was imminent here, but it was manifesting her fears as well.
"Darkness…."
"Let it call to you…."
Rey began to stagger, losing focus of herself as the dark engulfed her.
"...When the time comes, you'll be the one to turn. You''ll stand with me, Rey."
The distorted resonance of Kylo's voice overwhelmed her mind. Just like the force connected her to this place, it connected Kylo.
"Kylo-Ben. He's been here before. I can feel it." She said aloud, as her echo rumbled throughout the deep tenebrosity of the cave.
She strained her brows as she began to see visions...Ben as a padawan...and other young students…in the same place with….Luke Skywalker. She saw visions of him leading his pupils through the caves, each on their path to find their kyber crystal-which was solely something only they could see. A young Ben reached out and began to dig away at the walls of the cave to excavate a beautiful blue kyber crystal.
"Master!" his voice echoed in the memory.
"I found it! I found my crystal!"
Rey's head began to ring as the vision faded into a dissonance of colors and sounds.
'Their crystals called out to them...and so mine is here...a single crystal…'
She concentrated her energy as she let the force guide her. It took a variety of forms and revealed many meandering paths, but she directed it toward her intention: her crystal.
'Where are you?'
A single path began to call to her-and she began to follow it, walking deep within the darkness of the cave with only the sight of her force path to lead her. Finally, she had come to a halt at a wall covered in rock formation.
'This has to be it. I was led here, I just need to find a way.'
She kicked at the wall and slammed it with her staff, but the rock was unshaken.
'Focus…'
She stretched her arm out, inches away from the rock as it began to tremble. A tremor began to break the outer layer, and revealed beneath it was a glistening wall of crystal. Rey felt the pressure seize upon her fingertips as she finally relented and looked at the wonder before her.
She saw her crystal, and it moved through a gentle force pull into her palm as she enclosed it with her fingertips.
She smiled looking at the Adegan silver crystal in her hand, bemused at the idea of having her own lightsaber.
'At last,' she thought.
Finn awoke with an intense jolt. It was enough to rock the power and cleaning droids onto the floor. The two droids rattled angrily and pittered out of the room as Finn sat up and threw off his covers. "Sorry." he murmured.
"Finn, buddy? You doing ok? I saw two gonks storming outta the room and thought you did something to set them off."
Poe entered his room, sitting next to Finn and patting him hard on the back.
"I was kidding about the gonks. Move just a little and they get all pissed. Ain't it cute? I-" Poe stopped talking and looked at his friend, who stared into the distance with disturbance.
"I had a dream…" Finn began.
"A nightmare?"
"No...well, it didn't start off as one. But things got worse and Rey-" Finn trailed off. He didn't want to think about it.
"Hey, hey listen. Rey is fine. She's going to be back soon. She told us in her message she was going to be in Adrathorpe in a few days after Illum. And you know Rey...Rey is…"
"Resilient." Finn added confidently.
"Well, I was going to say difficult to tolerate at times, but that works." Poe nudged Finn and he allowed himself relax with a chuckle.
"Well, I think she's brave for going to Illum." Finn fiddled with his fingers as he thought of the brisk cold Rey would have to endure. "That place is completely deserted. Even the First Order don't touch that part of the sector, and it's loaded with the good stuff."
'But is risking your life alone just to get a crystal worth it?' Finn thought. He had tried to convince Rey to let him accompany her, but she told him it was something she had to do on her own.
"Well, this Jedi gig seems important to her and it also makes Leia happy. She just won't shut up about doting on Rey, I swear!"
"How is the general doing, Poe?"
Poe went quiet for a moment and swallowed.
"She...she's doing alright for now. I just got back from her at the med bay….she needs a delta wave inducer for sleep and is hooked up on the drip...but she's conscious and better than before."
"I can't imagine what she's going through."
"Neither can I." Poe sighed. "Losing a husband and a brother puts a big enough weight on the heart. I've told her she isn't going to do anything other than rest and get better before she puts a hand in this war again."
"Do you think she'll listen?"
Poe smiled. "Probably not. It's Leia we're talking about."
"Finn, what's wrong?" Rose said, as she awoke from her nap in the cockpit where she was supposed to be fixing the ventilator.
An array of buttons softly blinked in the background as the vent sporadically buzzed.
Finn looked around to make sure no one was close by before kneeling next to Rose in a low voice.
"I need you to set a course for Adrathorpe."
"Adra-?!"
Finn shushed Rose before she could finish.
"Yes! You heard me. But you can't tell anybody. I need you to do this. Please."
Rose had a look of confusion on her face.
"Finn, I don't understand. That's way off course; we have to be in Coruscant for-"
"I know I know! But I'm asking you to do this for me, and I trust you."
Rose wrinkled her nose.
"And what might be the reason?"
Finn sighed heavily. "Listen. You want me to be honest? I-"
"It's Rey, isn't it?"
"Yes-I mean-well yeah. But let me explain, don't you see? Adrathorpe is a dangerous place! So much can go wrong, there's pirates roaming and thugs and-"
"And you don't think Rey is going to be upset that you came to watch over her? Like a stand-in bodyguard?"
"She might be, but it's for the greater good. She doesn't understand it like I do, I've seen the treachery of the galaxy."
"But Maz said she had a good friend there who was going to help her out with her lightsaber. Finn….look. Call it a hunch but I think you want to go for your own assurance, not hers."
"So what if I do?"
Rose closed her eyes and exhaled, before pressing a series of buttons.
"I'm gonna regret this."
"Oh, thank you Rose! You're the best!" Finn said, as he placed an arm around her and gave her a quick embrace. Her cheeks reddened as he left through the corridor and she was almost caught off guard until the coms loudly erupted.
"Rose? What did you do to our ship's course? Poe said we were set for Coruscant." the lieutenant admiral said through the static channel.
"Sir? Uhh...we had to...detour. We need to pick something up."
"From where? And what?"
Rose hesitated. She looked at the map quickly, and thought of the first planet that came to mind on the same course.
"Jakku?"
"JAKKU?!"
"Yes, lieutenant admiral Rasi. Jakku."
"What could possibly be on Jakku?"
"Uhhh… that's classified, lieutenant admiral. Orders from admiral Poe himself."
Rasi scoffed.
"Rose, there are fifteen people on this ship including you and me. Nothing is classified. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
"With all due respect," Rose began, "admiral Poe is going through a turbulent time. He is very stressed about General Organa's conditions, and it might be...distasteful to be interrogating his intentions when he knows what's best for this crew. Wouldn't you agree?"
She crossed her fingers. There was no way this was going to work.
"Very well. You make a fair point, that would seem a tad selfish. Well, I trust the admiral if he knows what he's planning. But I will be back once he is in a better place. At ease."
'Wow. It actually worked.' Rose thought to herself, smirking. 'Maybe I really am a Jedi.'
As she leaned back into her chair, the vent blew off and a puff of dirty air sprayed.
'Or maybe not.'
