Chapter 2 - Past Memories

The 'Annihilator', Kylo Ren's flagship, Meditation Room

Ren was in his Meditation Room. His eyes were closed and he was feeling the Force. He did not wear his mask. For a brief moment, his mind was in a state of peace. It was then when officer Maar knocked the door and asked, "May I come in?"

"If what you want to report to me is not important, you shall have the same fate as your predecessor!", Ren warned.

"It has to do with Rey, sir."

Ren's face brightened and for a moment a smile appeared on his face. "You may enter."

Officer Maar walked into the room, accompanied by a reptile bounty hunter: Hjark, the one that had attempted to kill Arthurn in Hangar 78. Ren looked with disdain at him: he distrusted bounty hunters.

"This…bounty hunter has confirmed that it was Rey the girl with the lightsaber on Jundar and has described her vessel to us," the officer said. "This shall be of great aid to our search efforts"

"Good… and now what?"

"I want a reward for my information!" Hjark interrupted.

Ren did not spoke. Instead, he ignited his lightsaber and before Hjark could react, he cut off his right arm.

The bounty hunter let out a cry. "What!? I've been promised a handsome reward and instead you attack me?" Hjark shouted.

Ren laughed. "I am your reward, you don't find me handsome?" he said and with a single move, he decapitated the bounty hunter.

"I dislike bounty hunters," Kylo Ren commented. "And I shall not pay for such scums. Officer Maar, use the information he brought to track down Rey."

"Yes, sir!"

"Now leave me alone!"

Maar rushed out of the room, leaving a lone Ren to relax and meditate.

'JJ-91', cockpit

Rey was lying on the co-pilot's seat with her eyes closed. Her body was relaxed and she was serene. She could feel the Force. Past memories were coming to her mind. She could see the vast ocean and the rocky island in the middle. The waves splashing on the rocks of the island. She could remember the fragrance of the island's wild flowers. She could see herself gazing along with Luke Skywalker, her Master, at the endless ocean during sunset, when the sea was had a rosy color. She remembered his teachings. Not only how he taught her to use the Force and wield the lightsaber, but how he explained to her the philosophy of the Jedi. 'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force,' he said. 'Through freeing oneself of emotion a Jedi becomes a being of peace. Emotions lead to the Dark Side. No one is ignorant, the path a Jedi follows is a path that brings forth knowledge. As to the Jedi, the Dark Side is a path of those unwilling to learn this knowledge. There is no passion as it is a form of attachment which leads to the Dark Side. There is only serenity and calm. Jedi do not create chaos or destroy, they seek balance in all things. Jedi become one with the force when they die, so they don't see it as death.'

During the one year she had been training with Luke, she not only learned the ways of the Force, but she also felt happy to have someone looking after her. Luke was like a father figure to her, one she had never had as her parents had abandoned her to Jakku when she was still quite young. Alas, she had to return to the Resistance and help them or the First Order would dominate the galaxy. If it wasn't for this mortal danger, she would have remained in the island.

It was then when she heard Arthurn's voice: "Hey, are you going to meditate during the whole journey?" At once, the amazing scenery she was dreaming of vanished. Luke vanished too. And she was back in the cold starship, back to reality. She opened her eyes and was now gazing not at the endless rosy sea but at the pitch black space.

"Have we reached Hoth?" Rey asked.

"Not yet, sweetheart," Arthurn replied. "I was just bored sitting alone and piloting the ship and wanted to talk to someone."

"I don't believe we have much to say."

Arthurn laughed. "You either are always in a bad mood or you are really socially awkward… none of which are much desirable traits for one to have."

"I just happen to not like you. That's all."

Arthurn chuckled. "Cute. So, where do you actually come from?"

Rey would have preferred to meditate and think of her training with Luke but seeing that Arthurn was persistent in talking to her, she decided to tell him about Jakku: "I come from Jakku. I don't suppose you heard of it before?"

"Yes. It is the middle of nowhere."

Rey was silent for a moment. Memories of her life back in Jakku were coming to her mind. The endless sand, the hot sun, the scavenging of old battleships. She was reminded of the times when she would sit on a sand dune and gaze at the night sky, looking at the bright stars and dreaming of one day visiting them. Although life on Jakku was harsh, she had grown up there and it was her home. She missed it from time to time.

"The entire planet is a giant desert," Rey replied. "There is not much to see, except for the burning hot sand and crushed Star Destroyers."

"That reminds me of Tatooine a bit…."

"On Jakku I earned my living by working as a scavenger," Rey continued. "It was an exhausting job, having to find out the best scrap metal from the crushed battleships and carry them all the way to Niima Outpost to give them to Unkar Plutt in exchange for rations. He always gave small rations."

Rey remained silent for a few seconds, bringing to her mind her hardships, until Arthurn asked, "So, how the hell did you manage to become from a scavenger to a Jedi?"

"That's a long story. Maybe I will tell you about it some other time. What about you?"

"Me?"Arthurn asked, pointing at himself with his finger. "What about me?"

"Where do you come from? Since I told you my story, you should tell me yours too."

As Arthurn was about to talk, a ringing sound was heard from the ship's panel. Arthurn let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't particularly fond of sharing his life story. He checked out the panel and said, "It seems that we've reached Hoth. I'm coming out of lightspeed."

Arthurn pulled a lever and the ship came out of lightspeed, only for the two passengers to discover to their horror that three Star Destroyers were waiting for them. On the Bridge of one of them, Admiral Karath contacted Ren with his hologram device.

"My Lord!" Karath said. "I am pleased to report to you that our Star Destroyers have encountered a starship that matches the description of the one that escaped from Juntar. How shall we proceed, sir?"

"Good. Very good," Ren. "I want Rey alive, so you should not destroy her ship. Activate the tractor beam so that her ship will be captured by your Star Destroyer. At the same time, send the other two Star Destroyers to block her ship from landing to Hoth. This way, she will not be able to escape the tractor beam. I will be coming soon to your location. Do not fail me, Admiral."

Meanwhile, on the cockpit of 'JJ-91'', Arthurn swept with his hand the cold sweat of his forehead and said, "Oh hell! How are we going to escape from those Star Destroyers? When you said that you had trouble with the First Order, I never thought you meant this kind of trouble."

Rey was silent for a moment but then began laughing.

"What is so funny?" Arthurn asked.

"I found how to escape from the Star Destroyers," Rey replied. "We should land to Hoth."

Arthurn pointed at the two Star Destroyers which, following Ren's orders, had taken position to block them from landing to Hoth. "Are you crazy? Those Star Destroyers will blast us from the face of the galaxy."

"Wrong. They will not dare to shot down our ship. Kylo Ren wants me alive, I know it, so we should be able to get past those Star Destroyers without being shot down."

"And what if this Kylo dude wants you dead?"

Rey sighed. "If he wants me dead, then there is no way your starship is going to escape from those Star Destroyers. So, let's take the risk and follow my plan."

Indeed, with the pulling of a lever, 'JJ-91'' lurched forward at the Star Destroyers blocking its path to Hoth. The two forward-facing double laser cannons of the starship began firing at the Star Destroyers.

"Are they crazy?" officer Tom, commander of one of the two Star Destroyers, commented. At once he activated his hologram device and called Admiral Karath. "Admiral, their ship is not heading towards yours but instead they make a suicide attack on our Star Destroyer. What shall we do?"

An enraged Karath clenched his fist and teeth. "Damn!" he shouted. "Do not shoot them down. Lord Kylo Ren wants the girl alive."

As the two Star Destroyers did not fire back, 'JJ-91' was able to get past them. It entered Hoth's atmosphere and headed towards the hangar of a large military base.

"Yeeehaaa!" an excited Arthurn shouted as the ship landed. "We've made it!"

"We've made it!" Rey too said and for a moment hugged Arthurn out of her excitement. But she quickly let him go and took a step backward.

Arthurn coughed and cleared his throat. He then changed the subject, in order to avoid looking awkward. "Well, it seems we've reached your destination."

"Indeed."

Hoth was probably one of the coldest planets in the entire galaxy. Its entire surface was covered by ice and snow. Its temperature was well below zero. There were no human settlements on this remote planet, except for some smuggler bases or this Resistance base on whose hangar the ''JJ-91'' had landed.

When the ramp was lowered and Arthurn and Rey walked out of the ship, they found the hangar abandoned. No one could be found. Not a single person.

"Weird," Rey commented. "The last time I communicated with the Resistance, they said to me that they were in Hoth and gave me the coordinates to come to this military base."

"I hope your friends are here because otherwise, this Kylo dude will have no trouble frying us," Arthurn replied.

As they walked deeper into the hangar, they found a door leading into the base. As soon as Arthurn pressed the button opening the door, blaster fire was fired from the other side. Arthurn was barely able to dodge the fire. The shooters were three battle droids. Rey ignited her lightsaber and deflected the fire before using the force to push back the droids; they hit the wall and broke into pieces.

"Nice friends you've got," Arthurn chuckled. "They are as friendly as the First Order."

Before Rey could reply, she noticed on the floor a dead body: that of a Resistance fighter. "A battle must have taken place here," she said. "We should try to find out what happened."

"Walk into a base full of deadly droids while the First Order is about to land troops to hunt us down? Now, that's my sort of fun."

Arthurn and Rey walked into the room which led to a long corridor. On their way, they found dead bodies and dismembered droids on the floor. Finally, they found a door. Arthurn tried to look for a button to press in order for it to open, but the door's control panel has been destroyed.

"It seems someone destroyed the door's control panel in order to lock the door," Arthurn said. "If we barge into the room, we better be prepared for we do not know what we shall face."

"You are right. Be ready to throw a grenade into the room if needed," Rey replied. She then ignited her lightsaber and used it to cut down the door. As soon as the door collapsed, Rey shouted: "Throw a grenade."

Arthurn threw at once a plasma grenade into the room which caused a huge explosion. Smoke concealed everything and the two of them could barely see anything for about a minute. When they did, they saw tens of destroyed droids on the floor.

"How did you knew it was droids waiting into the room?" Arthurn asked.

"I…sensed it in the Force."

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

The 'Annihilator' finally reached Hoth system. Admiral Karath boarded his personal starship and flew from his Star Destroyer to the 'Annihilator'. As soon as he docked in the hangar of the 'Annihilator', a company of Stormtroopers led him to the Bridge, where officer Maar and Kylo Ren were waiting for him.

When Admiral Karath walked on the Bridge, he tried to remain calm and forced a fake smile on his face. "My Lord, I'm pleased to meet you," he politely said.

"I am not!" Ren shouted. "I told you to prevent them from landing to Hoth and to use the tractor beam to capture their ship. But you failed in this simple mission!"

"Sir…I..I…" Karath was trembling. "I….I..am..sorry."

"Too late to be sorry!" Ren used Force lightning on the Admiral. Karath convulsed as the violent electrical current pulsed through him. The other officers watched in horror as his face was being disfigured while he was screaming in pain. Soon he collapsed on the floor, dead.

"That is a lesson to all of you!" Ren said. He then turned on his hologram device and contacted Officer Tom: "Officer Tom, you are promoted to Admiral."

"Thank you, sir…" a displeased Tom said. He surely did not want this promotion, knowing how many of his predecessors had died in the hands of Kylo Ren.

"Prepare your troops for land combat. We shall make a landing on Hoth!"