Rey hastily packed up her belongings before any of the female resistance fighters had awoken. Before she slipped out into the main hold she snuck a glance at Rose who was fast asleep on her bedroll. She eyed her with envy and then sighed sadly, closing the door to the cargo hold behind her.
The main hold was quiet, no men had awoken either. Rey thanked the stars for this. She hated saying goodbye. She knew Leia would explain everything to them later.
She moved towards the cockpit. Leia and Chewie sat there together in a comfortable silence.
As Rey approached she heard Leia voice from the co-pilot's chair, "Rey, are you ready?"
Rey swallowed the lump in her throat, "Yes."
Chewie shifted to look at her and made a low pitched wailing noise, followed by a few short grunts.
"I will be back soon Chewie, don't worry about me." Rey forced herself to smile.
The Wookie suddenly shot up from the pilot's chair and swept her up in a bone crushing embrace. Rey gasped from the pressure but welcomed it all the same. Leia walked past the pair towards the direction of the escape pod.
"Alright Chewie put her down. We need to enter light speed soon if we will get Rey to Jakku during nightfall."
Chewie roared in protest and spun Rey around once before setting her down. Rey checked to make sure she didn't have any broken bones before running to catch up with Leia.
They had planned to drop Rey off during the cover of night on Jakku for even more camouflage. Rey had directed them to coordinates near her old makeshift home in the abandoned AT-AT. She felt the ship lurch into light speed and grimaced.
Leia opened up the escape pod and Rey dropped her satchel and staff in before sliding herself in after. As she began to situate herself she heard hurried footsteps approaching.
"Rey!"
It was Finn. Rey glanced up at him and quickly looked away realizing he was in the same bed clothes that she had seen him in last. Her emotions flared again. This was not a good time.
"What is going on?" Finn yelled. He looked at Leia, extremely confused. "Where is she going!?"
Leia looked at him calmly, "Finn, quiet down. Rey is leaving on a very important mission for the Resistance. She will return in two weeks time."
Finn stepped closer to the escape pod and kneeled down to get a closer look at Rey inside. "Why alone?" Finn asked desperately, "I could go with her! She's not safe by herself!"
"I can take care of myself just fine, thank you," Rey said coldly.
She refused to look at him, knowing how much pain her words had caused him. She didn't care.
Leia stepped in between the two of them. "Finn, go back to the main hold, that's an order. I will explain more later. Right now I don't want anyone else involved with this. Rey has agreed to this mission and it is essential that she completes it alone."
The ship dropped out of hyperspace and Rey held her breath. It was time.
Leia reacted and opened the hatch below the escape pod. Rey closed her eyes and felt the pod drop out into space. She heard Leia's voice in her head as she sped towards the desolate planet.
May the force be with you always, Rey.
Rey trudged through the sand towards the AT-AT. Even at night the heat of the desert overwhelmed her. Space always felt cold and humid. She had forgotten about the blaze and dryness of her old home. She fell into her old routine after a long day of scavenging, stopping intermittently to gather stray sticks and debris to make a fire later.
She held her staff in front of her, ready to defend in case she met any squatters inside her shelter. As she drew closer, she noticed that it looked no different than it did months earlier. It felt like she never left.
She entered the AT-AT cautiously. She searched through the force for any life forms, and found none. She dropped her satchel and staff on the dusty ground and searched in the places she remembered leaving kindling. Once she found a bundle she gathered the sticks together that she had collected and made a small fire.
The light from the flames illuminated her old abode and she was instantly overcome with melancholy. Nothing had been touched since she left. The marks she had scratched into the metal of the ancient combat walker seemed to mock her. She looked away from the marks at her tables. The dead flower had completely disintegrated in the cracked vase and the bell had rolled off the table and onto the ground next to a few stray uncleaned mechanical parts. She must have found these on the same day that she met Finn and left on the Falcon.
She ignored her heartache and picked up one of the parts and a spare rag. She felt exhausted, but she knew there was no way she would be able to sleep. She sat down by the fire and began to clean.
Kylo Ren stalked down the hall towards the main command room. He passed several groups of storm troopers and lower command officers who stopped abruptly to salute him as he passed. He smirked to himself, feeling satisfied. It seemed as though he had generated a healthy amount of fear again among the First Order. Ever since he had destroyed his mask and bared his true face to his subordinates, he felt their inhibition towards him take a dramatic decline. He knew what Snoke had said to him was true. He was just a child in a mask. The mask had granted him even easier access to the barbaric parts of himself. But it had also sheltered him by giving him a new face to attach himself to. With the mask he could separate himself from Ben Solo and adopt the identity of the monster he strived to become. He played the role until it became reality.
He hated looking at his own face. Every time he saw his reflection he saw his parents, he saw his past life training as a Jedi, he saw his smooth cheeks and large lips. He looked like a child. This thought tormented him.
Kylo opened the doors to the main command room with a flick of his hand and strode through confidently. Without the mask he willed his cruelty to intensify and guarded himself against any emotion besides rage. He would enter the minds of any indifferent soldiers and if he happened to find any ill nature towards him he would choke them into submission without warning. Sometimes he did it from higher ground so the soldiers would not see where he stood. Other times he would simply confront them personally, his menacing dark stature towering over them was enough to make their white knees quake.
Strangely, the lack of a mask offered him unwarranted attention from female officers aboard. Apparently they found him quite attractive. When he probed their minds he could see what vile things they wanted him to do to them. It disgusted him beyond his comprehension. He soon found that he could convince them to do what he wanted much easier than before.
In the end, it didn't matter. Fear or attraction, he could take advantage of both.
There were only two people who seemed unfazed by his measures. Her. Always her. And the short tempered red headed man that currently faced away from him on the front deck. As he drew closer he noticed Hux stiffening.
"General Hux."
Kylo stood next to him now. He noticed Hux seemed to be biting back a sneer.
"Supreme Leader."
Kylo preferred not to interact with Hux as much as possible but every once in a while he had to check in with the army to keep up appearances.
"The Resistance still hasn't been located. Your men seem to be taking their sweet time."
Hux's nostrils flared and he turned to face him with a haughty swagger.
"Every soldier I have on base is searching the galaxy for that garbage ship!" Hux spat, "The other half of my men are busy sniffing out Resistance sympathizers, monitoring the main trade routes, and visiting any spare rock they find in hopes of discovering their new base! It is only a matter of time, the Resistance is running from us like a wounded animal with its tail between its legs."
Kylo let Hux's statements linger in the air for a moment before responding, "Did it ever occur to you that the Resistance is smart enough to avoid the popular trade routes? Also there's no way they would settle down into a base at this point. They are too fragile, they have no artillery, no ships. They will fly around and hide for as long as they have to. It is pointless for your men to search on this scale. You are wasting time and resources."
Hux blanched at his words before a white hot fury overtook him, "Then what do you propose we do? Just sit around and watch the time passing? If we have a chance to catch the Resistance while they are weakened like this we can destroy them with one shot! This ridiculous war will be over!"
Kylo shook his head, "You will not find them like this. You underestimate their abilities to conceal themselves." He turned to face Hux who was bristling with anger, nothing out of the ordinary. "It seems much more productive to me to put your men through additional rounds of training— both mental and physical."
"More training?!" Hux face had splotches of red covering it now. The veins in his neck popped out distastefully. "My men have been trained since birth, they are prepared for any and every combat situation!"
"Oh really? Then perhaps you can explain to me why your highly trained men were unable to stop a minuscule Resistance fleet from destroying The Supremacy and a significant amount of TIE fighters?"
Hux was unable to respond. Kylo thought he might faint from all of his pent up energy.
"Not to mention Captain Phasma's death by one of your own. Was he not trained from birth as well?"
Hux stepped closer to Kylo, leaning in so he could speak without being overheard.
"FN-2187 was an anomaly."
Kylo looked at him smugly. "Where there is one, there are bound to be others. Call your men back. Another round of training is in order. The Resistance will come out when the time is right."
He turned on his heel to leave Hux alone in his contempt. He wasn't just trying to push Hux's buttons, he sincerely thought his plan was terrible. Hux also acted completely of his own accord, which concerned Kylo greatly. He needed the army on his side if he ever wanted peace after the war. Only a thin line of trust existed between him and Hux. He could only choke him with the Force so many times to assert his dominance. Kylo felt certain that the army would sooner bow to Hux than they would to him if given the choice.
He ran a gloved hand through his hair and sighed. He was growing tired of being patient also. The Resistance lived. Small and insignificant, yes, but still alive. He knew that Luke's appearance on Crait most likely garnered even more support for his enemies that he wasn't aware of.
Kylo stepped onto the viewing deck over the main hangar and watched ships return one by one with his arms folded behind his lower back. He began to feel extremely irritated. This war was pointless. Each day that had passed since he made the offer to Rey in Snoke's burning throne room he had tried his best to forget about wanting balance. He chose darkness, he should desire the darkness above anything else. But he could not smother the nagging inside of him that eventually would turn into exasperation. Light and dark did not exist. It was foolish to believe that a being could fully embrace one over the other. The light in him prevented him from killing his mother, and the darkness in Rey granted her blind fits of rage and power to take down her adversaries.
It was because of this dissonance he hadn't fully thought through what action he would take when he finally found the Resistance. He refused to turn to the light, but he also refused to mercilessly destroy what remained of the light. It would just lead to yet another war.
His thoughts wandered to her again, their battle against the Praetorian guards had felt like a dance. They had fought without selfishness, their eyes always on each other. At some points it felt like they shared one body, he could feel her passion. Each enemy she destroyed strengthened her resolve and gave way to even greater ferocity. The foundation that supported her outrage, was their newfound rapport. Their partnership felt harmonious. It was a sigh of relief after so many years of isolation. Kylo had felt all of the same things.
He chewed his bottom lip nervously. He had to somehow convince her to join him. It was the only way.
The force seemed to hear him. The familiar feeling of stepping into a vacuum void of sound and sensation overtook him.
He turned and there she was. He had spent too much time thinking about how he would feel the next time the force connected them. He expected to feel resentment towards her most recent accusations. Anger at himself for wanting another connection with her. Embarrassment for how much he had revealed. Excitement to see her face again and maybe to see more understanding in her eyes. No single feeling stood out to him. He realized he was holding his breath.
She met his gaze steadily from the ground.
He saw the flicker of flame on her skin and narrowed his eyes, "You're not in the Falcon."
Rey blinked at him. It was not a question. He felt her willing herself to keep calm.
He took a step towards her. "Where are you?"
She smiled curtly, "None of your business."
Annoyance flashed across his face. He stepped closer, observing her. Seeing her in the firelight reminded him of their connection on Ahch-To, where they touched for the first time. His gaze traveled down her left arm to find the hand that touched his—only to see what looked like a mechanical ship part resting in her palm and in the other hand, a dirty rag.
He stopped himself from voicing his thoughts; the Force seemed to burn the answer in his brain. He had seen her memories that day when he interrogated her. He had felt her grief to be abandoned in such a hopeless place. He had felt her exhaustion from her lack of sleep. Her feelings mirrored what he saw in front of him now. He knew where she was. He couldn't let her know that. He tried to keep the surprise he felt at a minimum, his expression remained an even stony gaze.
He sat down across the fire from her. This felt too familiar. They really were on Ahch-To again, desperately trying to understand the other.
"Well if you have left that worthless ship that means the Resistance has found a new base," He said slowly.
"I'm not telling you anything."
He noticed that she had shimmied the part and rag somewhere else, because her hands were suddenly empty.
His eyes met hers again, "We'll see."
The connection broke suddenly and Kylo found himself sitting in the viewing deck.
Jakku.
