Obi-Wan stepped away from his former master in shock. "Master…" he stammered, "You're... alive?"

"Well no, not exactly," Qui-Gon examined his luminescent body in surprise, as though having forgotten that he existed as a shimmery ghost now. "It's a long story, and it'll take too much time to explain. Time," he remarked with a mysterious smile, "is of the essence at the moment, you know."

"Uh… no, we don't," Finn confessed, almost apologetically.

"We're all ears whenever you decide to explain things to us," Leia remarked sarcastically, placing her hands on her hips.

"Ah… wait just a second," Qui-Gon held up a hand, glancing around crossly. "They should be here any moment now…" Just as he said this, he was joined by two more shimmering images: the Force auras of respected Jedi masters Yoda and Mace Windu.

"Master Yoda!" Padmé exclaimed, recognizing the small, wrinkly green Jedi.

"And Master Windu!" Anakin added, indicating the tall, severe-looking man beside him. "What are you doing here?"

"A great disturbance in the Force have we felt," Yoda announced solemnly.

"A dangerous young Sith has obtained a knowledge that could threaten all of our very existences," Windu rumbled gravely.

"It could shake the foundations of the past and change everything as we know it," Qui-Gon clasped his hands together grimly.

"A simple 'hello' would have done just fine," Poe muttered under his breath.

"'Shake the foundations of the past'?" Anakin repeated. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Qui-Gon turned to him. "It means, young Skywalker, that even your destinies in the past are now vulnerable to this new weapon. Nothing is certain anymore, not even what has already come to pass."

"Wait— Skywalker?" Luke stepped forward impulsively. "You're a Skywalker?"

"Yeah…" Anakin eyed the other warily. "Anakin Skywalker."

"Anakin…" Luke tasted the word, rolling it over his tongue as he made the connection. "My father's name was Anakin. Don't tell me this guy is my father!"

"No, no— of course he isn't," Windu spluttered; it was quite obvious he was a terrible liar.

"I have a son?" Anakin burst out. "How?!"

"Qui-Gon! Given permission to reveal that information you were not!" Yoda jabbed up at the taller Jedi with his gnarled walking stick.

"They would have found out eventually," Qui-Gon waved a hand carelessly. "Better to get it over with now."

"I can't believe it," Luke continued, shaking his head. "This kid is my dad!"

"You got a problem with that?" Anakin bristled.

"No, I was just expecting you to be… older," Luke confessed reluctantly. "And more… uh… heroic-looking. Manly."

Anakin's face flushed a deep maroon color, and he seemed to swell as though ready to explode. "Manly, huh? Well, you're not exactly the picture of heroism yourself, now are you? By the looks of it, you could be fresh off of the moisture farms on Tatooine." Anakin knew plenty of farmers from his desert home planet, and none of them were anything close to warriors; this was one of the worst insults he could come up with at the moment.

It seemed to work, for Luke immediately reddened as well. "So what if I am?" he demanded, stammering a bit.

Anakin's eyes widened. "So… you actually are from Tatooine… Ha!" He laughed, his face splitting into a wide smirk.

Leia leaped forward. "So what if he is?" she repeated heatedly; she despised this arrogant young man already, and felt immensely sorry for Luke for having a jerky idiot like that for a dad. "It's none of your business where he's from!"

"Yeah, it is!" Anakin gestured wildly. He's my son! Ohhhh… this is just too weird to think about…" He smacked his face with his hand wearily.

"Now look what you've done," Windu turned to Qui-Gon crossly. "They'll be too caught up in family affairs to pay attention to the mission."

"We can focus on the mission!" Anakin protested, shooting Luke a glare, as though it were all his fault they were related. "What does it matter that he's my son, anyway?"

Luke flinched, looking hurt. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but then shut it quickly, staring down at his feet.

"I should certainly hope so," Windu replied. "For your sakes, as well as the sake of the entire galaxy."

Yoda nodded gravely. "Work together to complete this mission, you must. Imperative it is for you a team to be."

"So… what's the mission?" Rey queried. She was eager to begin, but also a bit nervous. A mission! With legendary heroes! That definitely wasn't something the average Jakkuian scavenger got the opportunity to do. Even Force-sensitive ones.

The three Force ghosts shared a look, as though silently urging the others to do the explaining; the group was reminded of a game children often played called 'Not It!'. Finally, Qui-Gon sighed, and turned back to the others. He took a deep breath, and began.

"In the far, uninhabited reaches of the galaxy, there is a small planet known simply as Time. Very few know of its existence, and even those few do not dare to venture there because of the dangers that it holds. Amidst the mist and depthless caverns of its desolate landscape, there is a single pool called the Pool of Time." He looked around at the gathered faces with narrowed eyes. "It is said that whoever enters this pool has the power to surpass the usual laws of physics and space… and travel through Time itself."

He paused with his chin in the air as though for dramatic effect.

Finn didn't know whether he was supposed to clap, or gasp, or… something, so he just shifted, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Whoa."

"For many years the secret was kept safe," Master Windu spoke up, "As only the wisest of the wise were ever given knowledge of it. It was only recently that we discovered that the planet was not quite as safe as we had thought."

"Know of this planet, the Sith do." Yoda rasped.

At this news, all of the Jedi looked grim. Even those who didn't quite understand what was happening fell silent, feeling the obvious tension in the atmosphere.

"How they discovered it is anyone's guess," Qui-Gon continued. "But now we are all in considerable danger, for the Sith master has directed his apprentice to the planet in order to make use of its time-traveling abilities."

"Know little of the nature of their plan, we do." Yoda shook his head. "But sure we are, nothing good come of it will."

Windu straightened, folding his arms across his chest. "That is why we have brought all of you here— because the ramifications of this single Sith apprentice could quite possible affect every single one of you."

"You want us to stop this Sith apprentice," Padmé said softly.

Windu nodded. "You are correct."

There was a long silence, in which the only noise was the crashing of the waves on the side of the island below them. Then Poe struck his hands together briskly. "Welp! All right, when do we get started?"

Qui-Gon beamed, and clapped the young man on the back. "That's the spirit, Dameron." He shot a smug look in the other two Force ghosts' direction. "See, I told you they'd take to the challenge easily enough. They're all hardy, impulsive young men and women; youths like that thrive on constant peril. I daresay they'll think of this as merely another exciting adventure."

"Oh boy, I can hardly wait," Han muttered.

"As for a launching of this enterprise…" Windu intoned with an equal amount of non-enthusiasm, "Uh...Preferably sooner than later."

"Well, we're all here, so we're about as ready as we'll ever be," Leia sighed.

Anakin punched the air. "Let's do this thing!" A smattering of half-hearted laughter indicated his companions' varying degrees of agreement.

Obi-Wan jumped forward desperately. "Wait, but why, Master, did you have to make me look younger?" he moaned. "I could complete the mission just as well ten year older! I'm not that old!"

Qui-Gon shrugged with a mysterious smile as Anakin sniggered. "I don't know. I thought it'd be funny." Anakin burst out laughing, and the corners of the former Jedi master's lips twitched. "See, your apprentice seems to find it humorous." At his old padawan's groan of protest, he added, "Don't worry, you will be be returned to your proper age once the mission is finished."

Obi-Wan groaned again, and rubbed his temples as though he had just developed a major headache.

"If you ever finish the mission," Windu muttered darkly. He had intended to keep the pessimistic comment to himself, but everyone heard him anyway.

"Caution, a word of," Yoda said, eyeing the multiple faces before him; some excited, eager to begin, others apprehensive. "As it seems, nothing is. Test every one of you, this mission will. Trust one another you must, or fail you will. On your shoulders the fate of the galaxy rests." His craggy green face scrunched into wrinkles as he narrowed his eyes at the group.

"Divided, you must not be."