Gu Long and TheBlackPriest, thanks for the reviews.

Chapter 7 – The twin suns of Tatooine

Rey and Char walked out of the escape pod. Before them was the vast and seemingly endless desert of Tatooine. Looking at the trackless desert, both of them sighed. The twin suns of the planet beat down and there was not even a wisp of cloud to soften the harsh rays. Each of their steps sunk into the searing sand and the air was thick and hazy. Their clothing was overwhelmingly hot and sticky. The stiff, dry desert breeze blew sand into their eyes. They were able to keep moving and endure all those hardships only because they had grown up in another desert world, Jakku. Nevertheless, the Tatooine desert was far harsher than the one in Jakku and as time went on the hardship took its toll on the two travelers.

"How long is it before we reach a settlement?", Rey asked.

"Don't know.", Char admitted. "I have never been to Tatooine before. I do not even know on which part of the planet we are."

"I do not know how long we can keep going. We have no water with us. This desert will be our graveyard."

Char smiled. "I am optimistic. You always were lucky, even back in Jakku. After all, you are a Jedi. So you have the Force to help you."

Rey laughed. "Don't think that's the way the Force works."

She paused for a moment and then asked, "Do you regret it?"

"What?"

"Saving me. If you did not help me escape, you would still be Admiral and you would not be in this barren desert."

"Well, I do regret not having thought of a better plan of getting you out."

Rey, hearing this, sighed and looked sullen but Char added, "But no, I do not regret saving you."

This immediately lifted her spirits. "So, what changed your mind and you decided to save me?"

Char showed her the talisman Rey had given to him back in Jakku. "This. And all the memories of our life back in Jakku. You were, and still are, my only friend. I could not let you be taken to Snoke."

"To be honest, I had given up on you.", Rey admitted. "I shouldn't have. I should have believed in you. Thankfully, you proved me wrong and you were there when I needed you the most."

Rey and Char kept walking across the endless wave of sand dunes. Heat rained down on them like the breath of hell. The arid heat burnt at their lungs. They were sweating and exhausted. After about an hour, the twin suns began to set. The desert at twilight was a vast undulating sea and the sand dunes looked like waves. Heat gave its way to chilling coldness. The temperature was below freezing because once the suns were down, the sand began releasing heat. Their blood ran cold through their veins and their bones were chilled. Their teeth chattered. They were barely able to walk when they finally reached a stone well.

"Water!", Char shouted.

They rushed to the well and drew a wooden bucket that was inside. It was full of water and they rushed to drink it. The water was cold and they could feel it's chillness but they did not care. After drinking enough water, they lied on the cold sand to rest.

"I do not believe that there is a settlement nearby.", Char said. "So let's spend the night here."

"Alright.", Rey replied, trembling due to the chilling cold. "I remember back in Jakku you were always kind and considerate of others. You were never looking for glory. Why did this change?"

"I have already left behind the First Order, so why do you need to know?"

"If we are friends, we can share our troubles with one another."

Char sighed. "Alright... I did not tell you the complete truth back in the ship. I had first applied for the Officers' Military Academy of the Republic in Coruscant. I was…rejected. That's when I got to the First Order. Most of the cadets there were sons of former Imperial officers and thus looked down on me. I realized that only by gaining glory and proving myself would others respect me."

He paused for a moment. "So, how did you become a Jedi?"

Rey smiled. "It's a long story."

She then began telling him how she found BB-8 and met Finn, how the three of them escaped Jakku with the Millennium Falcon and encountered Han Solo and Chewbacca. She explained how she got her lightsaber, how she was captured by Kylo Ren and how Finn and Han saved her. She detailed her battle with Kylo Ren. She could clearly remember it. The chilling coldness, her anger mixed with sadness, her will to get vengeance for Han. Their lightsabers clashed repeatedly and Kylo Ren was gaining the upper hand. Then, suddenly and most surprisingly, she somehow mustered enough strength to not only push him back, but to utterly defeat him and scar him. Shen then told him how she had found Luke and how she trained under him. All that time, Char was listening with the utmost attention.

"Never knew you were such a good story teller.", he said.

"Neither did I.", she replied, smiling. "Not that it will matter if we do not find a settlement tomorrow."

"If you could survive through all those setbacks and even beat Kylo Ren, then I am sure that you will be able to survive this hardship too."

Rey, being very tired, soon fell asleep. Char could not sleep however. While he indeed did not regret saving Rey and would have saved her even if he knew beforehand the outcome of their escape, he still missed his fleet, his officers and soldiers, the power he had. No more would he plan military operations, command thousands of men, feel the joy of victory, of having defeated an adversary. He had no idea what he would do thereafter, if they managed to leave this planet. He looked at Rey and thought, 'at least she has a purpose in her life. What purpose do I have?'. He felt an emptiness inside him. 'Once I commanded thousands and decided the fate of worlds. Now I am just a man, with no power, no purpose, with nothing to drive me.'


Max was also contemplating about what he did and what he would do next. He was on the bridge of the 'Conqueror' and gazing the emptiness of space. It had not taken him long to realize that he missed Char. Although when he first met him the two of them clashed again and again, they had eventually become friends and had come to respect one another. Max sighed. 'Too bad that this friendship had to come to an end', he thought and clenched his fist. 'But I've got to get revenge for my family. If I do not get close to Snoke, I will never be able to kill him and avenge my father's death.'

An officer walked towards Max and saluted him. "Admiral, our search parties have not been able to locate Char and the Jedi yet."

"Order them to extend their search. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. General Hux wishes to speak with you."

"Good. You may be dismissed now."

Max rushed to the communications room and activated the hologram projector. Hux appeared before and said, "Officer Max, I've learned that you've become temporary Admiral of the 18th fleet since Char betrayed us."

"Indeed sir", Max replied, "I took command of the fleet."

"You are now officially appointed Admiral of the 18th fleet. Your mission is to find and capture Char and the Jedi."

"I have already send search teams to look for them."

"Good. It is of vital importance that you capture them. Char is a military genius while this Jedi Rey is a very gifted warrior and can be of danger to the First Order. I hope that you will not fail me and betray my trust in you."

"Yes sir!", Max said. "I will do my utmost to apprehend them and bring them to you. Rest assured. I will not fail you."


The next morning, as soon as the twin suns rose on the clear blue sky of Tatooine, Char and Rey woke up.

"Did you sleep well?", Char asked.

"I did. I was too tired to be bothered by anything. How about you?"

"Me too.", Char lied. In fact, he had barely gotten any sleep as he was thinking about his purpose in life almost the entire night.

Having woken up, the two of them began travelling once more. For hours they were marching across the sand dunes of Tatooine and could find no evidence of life. There was utter silence. The whole desert was one huge graveyard. Suddenly, about five or six figures appeared on the horizon. They were too far away for Char and Rey to see them clearly but they immediately shouted for help and waved their hands. As those figures came closer, Char and Rey saw that they were wearing a mask that covered their face and sand-shrouds. They were armed with some kind of laser muskets and upon seeing Char and Rey they opened fire. Rey ignited her lightsaber and deflected enemy fire. She then used the Force to push them away; it was as if a gust of wind hit them and they fell on the ground. But they immediately got up and began firing again. While they were busy with their enemy, Char and Rey had not realized that another figure was approaching them from the west.

Soon, that figure arrived. It was a man in his late twenties, with black and untidy beard and hair but a handsome face nonetheless, wearing a long brown Jedi robe. He was armed with a green lightsaber which glowed. The man charged at the raiders and made short work of them. Rey could see that the man was an excellent swordsman and that he combined agility with overwhelming force. She also noticed that his swordsmanship resembled that which Luke had taught her.

"Are you all right?", the man asked.

"Yes.", Rey replied. "Thank you for saving our lives."

"What were those creatures?", Char asked.

"You must not be natives, eh?", the man said. "Those are Tusken Raiders. Everyone who lives here is aware of them. They are nomadic people and are warlike. No one dares to come to this area due to them."

"So, what were you doing here?", Rey said.

The man noticed that she was holding a lightsaber and asked, "Were you trained by Master Luke?"

"Indeed. How did you know?"

He smiled. "Well, there aren't many Jedi masters left, are they? I am Jonathan Maek. I was once an apprentice to Master Luke. I was one of the few who managed to escape the massacre by Kylo Ren and his knights. I hid in this desert, hoping to avoid people. After a few vicious encounters with the Tusken Raiders, I was left alone by them as they were too afraid to attack me. I came here because I sensed a disturbance in the Force. Now I know why I felt this; you are a fellow Jedi."

Rey was overjoyed that they found Jonathan, and not only because he would help them get off the planet. For long, she felt a bit lonely. She was, along with Luke, the only Jedi and so she felt that other people could not fully understand what she was being through, what she felt in the Force, how she practiced her swordplay, how difficult was it to balance her emotions and sometimes avoid them in order to prevent falling to the dark side. Most people saw Jedi as awesome warriors with unimaginable powers and could not understand all the difficulties they had to face. Exactly because of their powers they had to be more disciplined and more careful of their emotions than most people. Now, she had found someone else who knew how it was to be a Force user.

"And who are you?", Jonathan asked Char.

"I am Char Bright and I am…"

Char was going to say that he was Admiral of the 18th fleet. But he then remembered that he was no longer an Admiral. He was not exactly sure what he was anymore and so he just said, "I am a friend of Rey."

Jonathan smiled. "Care to follow me to my home? I am sure that more Tusken Raiders will come this way so it will be better if we leave."

Char and Rey followed the Jedi to his home; a small building which was crude and simple to the extreme, with earthen walls and mud floors. As they walked inside Jonathan said, "I found it abandoned when I first came here. Since then, I have been living in this place. It is not much, but it is a home."

He then pointed them at a crude wooden table and said, "Please seat."

Rey and Char sat on two wooden chairs and Jonathan brought them two cups of wine. "Trust me, this is the best wine in the area.", he said.

"Where did you buy this?", Rey asked.

"There is a settlement about an hour's walk from here. It is a small and underpopulated village with only one market store. I buy what I need from there. Otherwise, how could I survive in this environment?"

He then proceeded to bring them two dishes, one was a roasted beef and the other was rice with vegetables. "I guess you must be hungry.", Jonathan said. "Please eat."

Char and Rey tasted the dishes and they were delicious. "You are an excellent cook.", Char admitted. He then sipped the wine and said, "And the wine too is excellent. I am surprised that there is such a good wine in a remote place like this."

"I too was surprised when I first came here.", a smiling Jonathan said.

"I have to agree with Char.", Rey said. "Your cooking is great."

After eating, Char asked, "So, how far is the nearest spaceport?"

"The nearest spaceport is Mos Eisley. If you rent a speeder in Toch Station, the settlement I told you about, you can reach it in a few hours. I can get you there if you want to."

"Thanks", Rey said, "but why don't you come with us? You can be of much more help if you join the Resistance than if you hide here on this desolate desert."

Jonathan sighed. "I… I have nothing to fight for. All those who I cared about died."

"There is still Master Luke.", she said.

"He will most likely see me as a disappointment, being a Jedi and deciding to hide here instead of fighting the First Order."

"I do not believe that. He will understand why you had to hide."

"Thing is, I am tired of fighting, of seeing friends dying. At nights I have dreams of that day when Kylo Ren massacred all of my friends and I had to flee, defeated, ashamed that I had to abandon my friends and ran away from my enemies in order to save my life."

Rey sighed. "I too watched a person close to me dying before my very own eyes."

She was of course referring to Han. She could still remember in every detail the moment when Kylo Ren suddenly ignited his lightsaber and stabbed his own father. "I understand how you must feel. You must feel guilty that you were not able to save the ones you cared about. But running away is not going to change what happened nor can it make you forget your past and erase that moment from your memory. You have to aid us in our fight against the First Order, if only to not let down those friends of yours who were killed by Kylo Ren."

Jonathan was silent for a moment. For once, he felt as someone knew what he had been through and could understand him. Her words indeed did make sense; he had to fight back against the First Order. Living like a hermit was pointless. "I…I shall come along with you."

Rey smiled. "It's good to hear that."

"But we should go tomorrow. It is already late and it will be late at night by the time we reach Toch Station. You may rest here."

Jonathan pointed at a crude bed and said, "I have only one bed unfortunately, so one of you will have to sleep on the floor."

"I will sleep on the floor.", Char said.

"Where will you sleep?", Rey asked Jonathan.

"I shall also sleep on the floor."

An hour later, Char was asleep on the floor and Rey lying on her bed when she heard a sound. She woke up and saw Jonathan heading out the house. She got up from the bed and also walked out. She saw that he was staring at the stars and silently thinking.

"It is a beautiful night, isn't it?", she said.

Jonathan was surprised to see Rey awake. "I am sorry to have wakened you up."

"No need to apologize. So, what are you doing here? Having a nightmare again?"

"Indeed.", Jonathan said. "That's the reason I am here. Gazing at the stars helps me relax."

"I too sometimes see the person I told you about in my dreams. I relive his death and feel powerless."

Jonathan smiled. "It is good to have someone who understands how I feel."

He paused for a moment and then said, "Regarding your friend, Char, be careful about him. I feel that there is a murderous aura in him."

"I can assure you that he is the nicest person I know.", Rey replied. "He… he just lost his way for a while."

"I see. But I can feel the Light and Darkness struggling inside him. He has not yet found his way. You must push him to the right direction and not let him lose his way again."

"I will."