Chapter II

Rey sat cross legged on the wooden floor of the main training room at the new Jedi academy, together with a dozen other Padawan learners. She was watching the final test of Jamie Kenobi's trials with rapt attention.

The young Padawan was duelling master Skywalker in a glorious lightsaber confrontation. Despite her apparent calm, Rey's heart was beating madly. It was the first time she had watched such a close fight. Master Skywalker was having serious difficulty against Jamie, and that had never happened before. The other two young Jedis who had succeeded the trials had barely come to a draw against their master.

Just one year older than Rey herself, young Kenobi had proven to be a prodigy among them since the first time his aunt had brought him in to train under Luke Skywalker at the academy.

He was like a continuous explosion of light and energy, always focused on the present, always mindful of the others, always positive and wearing a cheerful smile on his bright and open features. Like a miniature supernova, he could hardly be contained.

Just like now, when he attacked Luke with all his might, cornering his master as if he knew what his next move would be. He seemed like he had been one step ahead of Luke from the moment the duel started. He deployed so much energy, jumping around and preventing all of Luke's attacks that the duel was a show in itself. Finally, he managed to push Luke toward one of the walls, their lightsabers locking, each of them fighting to gain dominance through the Force. Luke seemed to make a desperate effort to push him off, but Jamie could not be forced to yield in the slightest.

A chill went down Rey's spine as she watched this familiar battle of wills. She had been through one, in the most gruesome moment of her existence. She instinctively replayed that exact scene in her mind, and she could still see Kylo Ren's smouldering midnight stare boring into her frightened, panic-filled eyes. Although he had had more than one chance to kill her, he had stood there looking at her, waiting for an answer.

Rey was shaken from her reverie by the cries of joy that suddenly surrounded her. Unlike Kylo Ren, Jamie Kenobi had not hesitated before his opponent. He had swiftly and unexpectedly unlocked his saber and slashed Luke' s gloved hand, making him drop his weapon.

Master Skywalker had yelped in surprise looking at his mechanical hand, now destroyed beyond repair.

"Damn it, Jamie, this will be hell to be put back in order," he said. "Well done though!" he added with a smile. "You are officially a Jedi Knight."

Jamie did not have time to reply, for he was suddenly surrounded by the other padawans and hoisted up. Their joy was contagious: it was the first time that one of them had truly defeated Master Skywalker.

Rey stood and joined them. A slight feeling of envy washed over her as she watched Jamie laughing loudly and enjoying the attention bestowed upon him by his colleagues. Although she had done well in the life and death confrontation against a real enemy three years before, she was still very far from achieving Jamie's level, at least on a technical level. Sometimes she feared that she would never reach that level and that her progress with discovering the Force was too slow; and fear, Master Luke had said it many times, was the path leading to the Dark Side.

The Dark Side seemed to be the least of Jamie's concerns as he was finally released and walked towards her, putting a friendly arm around her shoulders.

"So, what did you think?" he asked, flashing her a crooked smile, as he led her outside the Jedi temple. Rey took in his cheerful expression, his deep blue eyes, his flawless skin, slightly flushed from the effort before and his strict padawan style haircut. Jamie was the only one among their colleagues to have cut his blond hair that short, leaving just one braid, the way his great uncle Obi-wan used to wear his hair back in his padawan days.

"You know you did an amazing job, Jamie, and you are just fishing for compliments," she replied, the feeling of envy disappearing instantly as he grinned again.

"No I'm not, I actually need your help if I am to survive the anger of our master," he said pointedly. "You know I don't have the skills to repair his mechanical hand. Or to repair anything else, for that matter."

"All right, I'll help," she said, amused, but Jamie was already running in the direction of two older ladies carrying what seemed like heavy luggage between them.

"Many thanks!" he cried from afar, already carrying their bags to their transport.

Rey shook her head, looking after him, wondering how someone so confident, fearless and carefree could even exist. She wished she could be like him, if only for one day.


Luke tried in vain to flex the fingers of his artificial hand as he walked back from the Jedi temple to his private chambers.

"Satisfied of your apprentice, you are," Yoda's shadow noted at his side.

"I was, until he destroyed this piece of art," Luke commented. "He did extremely well though. Even beyond my own expectations. He has so much of Obi-wan in him."

He heard Yoda chuckle quietly. "No, no, toward the past or future Obi-wan always looked. Never aware of his surroundings he was. Superior skills your apprentice has. Focused he is."

"I meant that he's not only strong with the Force, master Yoda, he's also showing the dedication that Obi-wan showed to the Jedi order. He's so...so selfless. It's a very rare trait in our times."

"Indeed. A message you have received," Yoda acquiesced, quietly disappearing.

Why does he always do that? Luke wondered, annoyed. Nice of Yoda to come and go as he pleased. He entered his private quarters and approached his desk, pressing a button.

His sister Leia, commander of the Resistance, had indeed left a message for him. "Luke, we have spotted Ben's ship close to Valeant just a few minutes ago. We need to send someone to check out whether or not he's really on board."

Luke sighed in resignation. Leia had not yet given up on finding her son, even after the three years during which it had been impossible to find any trace of him throughout the galaxy. Due to the Force, they both knew he was alive, but unlike Leia, Luke had given up on Ben Solo a long time ago. The man who had killed all his padawan fellows except one, and who had even committed patricide, could not come back to the light. Ben Solo had destroyed an entire generation of Jedi ,and it had taken Luke another ten years to put things back on track.

If Luke was honest with himself, many times he had doubted Ben Solo's capacity to become a Jedi. He had a great command of the Force and huge potential, but, just like his grandfather Anakin, little restraint. But Luke desperately wanted to believe that someone in his family would continue the Jedi tradition. The price he had to pay in the end for trusting Ben Solo had proved to be far too high.

He had no choice now, unfortunately. Leia wanted to send someone along with Poe Dameron in a recognizance mission to Valeant, even if it was a false lead. How could he deny a mother's wish?

He thought for a second who would be the right person for the mission and it occurred to him that Rey knew Kylo Ren best among the new recruits. She could easily feel his presence through the Force, if he was on board that ship or on the planet. Her skills had been steadily improving, and Luke was happy with the way Rey was evolving. He just wished she had more confidence when it came to her powers. Only when someone pushed her to the limit she truly showed what she was made of. Her link to the Force still intimidated her. Her own powers frightened her. A lot of things would have been much easier if he just told her the truth about her past, but at the moment he did not think it appropriate to burden her further.

However, he could not let her go alone. It was time for Jamie Kenobi to be assigned on his first real mission.


"You seem awfully tense, Rey," Jamie said, interrupting her unpleasant train of thoughts. They were on board of the Millenium Falcon. Poe Dameron was piloting the ship, while Jamie relaxed in one of the chairs, his feet comfortably plopped up on the table in front of him and eating candy from a bag in his hand.

Of course Rey was tense. Soon they'd be out of hyperspace, close enough to Valeant and not far from the Finalizer. Even Poe was tense; she could feel it through the Force.

"Give me my lightsaber will you?" she gestured to the small table where he rested his feet. "We'll be there any time now."

"Why? You plan to start a fight immediately?" he asked with amusement, levitating her saber towards her without even lifting a finger.

Rey gave him a disapproving look, surprised to see that Poe on the other hand was watching him with admiration. "Are you going to use your powers for any little thing from now on?"

He shrugged. "That's why it's there for, isn't it?"

"Master Luke would be angry."

"But he's not here now, is he? A dime for your thoughts though, Rey."

He extended a hand in her direction, pretending to read her mind and Rey recoiled and protected her thoughts so gingerly that Jamie frowned. "Now I'm really worried," he said. "I was not really planning to invade your mind you know. I was joking."

She did not have time to reply, because Poe draw their attention: "We're here," he said, as they came out of hyperspace. The two Jedi knights approached the control panel to see the small green planet before them.

"Valeant is there all right. But no trace of the Finaliser though," Poe said. "Do you sense Kylo Ren around?"

The question was addressed to Rey, but it was Jamie who answered instantly: "I don't know whether it's Kylo Ren, but I can feel more than one...presence on the planet. And..." he added looking confused, "I feel like...like I need to go there." Rey did not reply, although she knew that one of the persons was indeed her archenemy. She could feel it through the Force, as clear as if he was nearby.

"If Snoke and Kylo Ren are there we are not going anywhere near that planet, Jamie," Poe Dameron said. "We need to get out of here and fast. Their ship cannot be far."

It was too late though. Suddenly their ship was under attack by another one, twenty times larger: the Finalizer was right behind them.