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I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason

He felt her fear flare, and then watched, disbelieving, as the ship disappeared into hyperspace. No… no no no – she had been right there, just out of reach. Always just out of reach. His eyes closed for a moment in despair.

"Sir?"

The officer sounded terrified, and he was vaguely aware of the small group of people watching him tensely. His lightsaber was in his hand and he ignited it, opening his eyes to glare at the one who had spoken. Then he drove his weapon into the offending machinery as the technicians fled. Once it was thoroughly destroyed, he moved onto those around it. Until his anger was spent and he dropped unceremoniously to the floor, pulling his knees up against his chest and leaning back dejectedly.

He was supposed to be getting stronger. Supposed to have proven his loyalty by killing his – by killing Han Solo. That and a thousand other things he'd done to show Snoke he had nothing to fear from his apprentice. And still he was kept at a distance and not given the guidance he needed. Snoke had said they would find the girl. But he wasn't ready yet – he couldn't face her again so soon.

She thought he was a monster. And he didn't disagree – he was doing necessary evil. But that wasn't… there was more to him than that. After he'd seen into her mind, seen her loneliness and isolation, he'd thought – well, it didn't matter.

Climbing to his feet, he surveyed the control room resignedly. There was no way they could track the ship she'd been on now. But another thought occurred to him, and he searched quickly for an undamaged machine that could show him what he wanted to see. His fingers hovered above the controls as conflicting thoughts rushed through him. Glancing around, he reasoned that he was alone, and could do whatever he wished with the information he found. There… there wouldn't be any danger in checking.

The Millennium Falcon was a famous ship. It had been a very long time since it had been used for successful smuggling missions. What it had been doing, where it had been, all these years was a mystery – one he wasn't particularly interested in solving. But it left a trail that was easy to follow, if you knew what to look for. And he'd spent a lot of time tracking its progress through space when he was younger. Now… it was easy to remember how and he pushed aside the way his heart pounded at the thought of what he might find.

There. It was on a planet that was not strategically important in terms of location, or particularly populated. But he knew, as soon as he saw it, that the leader of the Resistance would pick it for a new base. It was much like the one she'd once called home. Clenching his teeth, he considered that her emotions – the loss of her husband – might finally be blinding her. She might finally make a mistake that the First Order could exploit.

Another destroyed machine in the room would hardly be noticed, and the act did settle his nerves a little. Stalking back to his quarters, he was relieved to see no one on the way, and to have no messages waiting to debrief his mission. Or insist he train more. He needed time. Time before he saw Snoke and had to face what had happened.

They were compromised. The girl had been here, and he didn't think she'd been alone. So the Resistance had found their base. After all the years of careful planning, Snoke's secret base had been found by an untrained child. It was impressive, and Kylo Ren couldn't resist a grim smile at the thought. They had other bases, and destroying this one would not be the blow that destroying Starkiller had been. Unless, of course, Snoke was killed as well. Without him, the Order would not last.

If Snoke did fall, what would he do? Would he vie for power against Hux? Work with Hux? Leave?

His loyalty to the leader was not in question. But to the Order? That was a different thing to consider. Certainly it was better to be ruled by an effective government than an inefficient and bloated bureaucracy. He'd seen enough of the damage the Republic had caused as a result of its stubborn and divisive senate. Snoke would bring an end to all of that. But, while General Hux might hope to someday replace their current leader, the prospect did not interest Kylo Ren. He was here to serve someone who wasn't afraid of what he could do, who encouraged him to use his abilities to save the galaxy from itself.

Han Solo had told him that Snoke was just using him. But he didn't know what it was like – he'd never known – what it was like to have directionless power building up and threatening to break you. He needed someone to guide him, to give him something to do, and Snoke had done that far more effectively than Skywalker ever had. So, if something happened to him… He expected to have much bigger things to worry about than who would take over.

Except… What about the girl? She was like him, as powerful as him, tormented like him… It was understandable that she'd run away when he'd left her alone. That she'd attacked him after watching him kill his – Han Solo. And wound her friend. But if he could find her, talk to her, surely she would understand? It would… No one else would understand what she was going through, and he really could help her. If she would let him.

"What should I do, Grandfather?" he murmured as he sat down heavily, wishing he was on his own ship. Instead of here, in this unfamiliar base, separated from Snoke.

If he told him about the girl, then they would relocate as much of their resources as possible, hurriedly mining what they could before destroying the rest. There would be a more feverish search for her, and for the Resistance base. He would be sent out more frequently to question and follow any rumors. And any failure on his part to find reliable leads would cause a rift between him and Snoke as his loyalty was called into question, as it had been during all those discussions about the weapon that was Starkiller.

But if he told him about the Falcon… Then all of their forces would be mobilized to take the planet as quickly as possible. The Resistance was spread thin without the Republic, though the destruction thereof had caused more systems to pick a side. Perhaps they weren't as weakened as Snoke had hoped. But they were weaker, and such a surprise attack would have great effect. Particularly if key officials could be taken or killed.

Would General Organa allow herself to be taken? Unlikely – she'd regularly escaped one regime in her youth. And she was Force-sensitive – not in the same vein as her brother, but there was power there that could not be underestimated. So he knew that dealing with her was a high priority for Snoke. It's why he'd been so insistent on keeping the map from falling into her hands – destroying the planets around the Resistance had been worth the risk if it meant keeping her from the one hope she still had.

Now… Skywalker had almost certainly returned to his sister. And maybe that was what kept Snoke so busy since Kylo Ren had arrived here. But was it possible that he didn't know? His premonitions were no longer shared as readily as they had been at the beginning. Was he unable to sense his enemies regrouping?

He hadn't told Snoke about the visions, about the island or the Falcon. Would he be reprimanded for keeping it to himself? Perhaps. But not if he came with news that Snoke would want to hear. Not if he had something to offer to restore the trust.

Slowly, he got to his feet, and made his way toward the audience chamber.


Poe's brow furrowed at Rey's comment, but he focused on getting them to safety as soon as possible. He had no idea what being Force-sensitive was like, but if it meant you and your enemy could feel each other's presence, then that hardly seemed worth it. Especially from the way Rey was now curled up in her chair and looking terrified. It would not be pleasant to know what was going on in Kylo Ren's head, he thought darkly. Having the enemy in his own head once had been bad enough.

Finally they dropped out of hyperspace near the new base. Not very close, though – just in case. He took some detours to make sure no one was following them, as well as checking for any kind of tracking. Nothing. That was strange, but perhaps they'd gotten away before the First Order could act on their presence. What was more important was the fact that they now knew where one of their bases was – and it was one worth finding, if Kylo Ren's presence were any indication. Telling the General the news was something to look forward to, and Rey looked like she needed that.

"Hey, we're okay," he told her soothingly. She glanced up at him, wide-eyed. "No one's coming after us, and we did good today."

"We did?" she asked, sounding far away.

"Yeah. We found our enemy's base. The General will be very pleased."

Rey sat up a little bit to fix her gaze on the planet they were approaching. "Why?"

That was an unexpected question. "Because it gives us a target. If we can take out part of their infrastructure, it should weaken them. Maybe even get their leader while we're at it. Then this will all be over soon," he explained a little more confidently than he felt.

She was shaking her head before he finished. "He knew I was there. They'll relocate before we can get to them. Might leave a trap," she added dejectedly. "I'm sorry, Poe. I shouldn't have come."

"Hey, if you hadn't, I probably wouldn't have escaped so easily. Then I'd really have something to worry about. At least this way, we know they'll be running scared."

With a slight frown, Rey considered this. If the First Order was forced to flee the system, they might make mistakes. They might get sloppy and the Resistance could use that. Somehow. But it seemed that Luke's training so far had not been very effective. Her Force-induced nightmares had diminished, and that was much appreciated (though nightmares of another sort still troubled her). But how useful could she be if their enemy could feel her whenever she was near? Sure, she could do the same in return, but that just brought on more questions.

On Starkiller base, she'd managed to avoid him. If she could feel where he was at the time, she didn't know – the feelings were too new and strange to place properly. She'd just followed a mysterious sense of what felt like a good place to go. That could have been her powers manifesting to keep away from a presence she could sense. But how had he not found her? Was she able to shield herself then and couldn't now? That he had been searching for her was an assumption, she supposed. She had no idea what he had done until she'd seen him out on the bridge and Han –

"Still with me over there?" Poe asked, concerned.

"Sorry, yes. I was just… thinking."

He pursed his lips briefly. "So, you built a flight simulator? What kinds of ships could you fly on it?"

Blinking, she looked at her lap, grateful for the distraction. "I had to find training files. I don't have the expertise to program it myself. But one of the star destroyers had a pretty extensive library onboard and was only somewhat damaged."

"You salvaged a star destroyer?"

A laugh escaped her at his startled expression. "No, just bits and pieces. I'm afraid nothing could be done with it – too buried in sand. Not to mention shot down."

"I see," he said with a smile. "But you took it apart and fixed up the pieces to sell?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Do you know about the battle of Jakku?"

She brightened at the question. "Only a few stories I overheard. What was it like?"

His smiled broadened. "I wasn't there, Rey. I was only a couple years old at the time. But my parents were part of the Rebellion. It was the last large-scale battle the Empire attempted. Their navy was pretty run-down by then, but they were overconfident of their power. They thought it would be the turning point of the war. Well, it was that," he mused. Seeing the way Rey was looking at him, he launched into as grand and operatic description of the battle as he could, and was amused by how delighted she was by it. He'd certainly succeeded in distracting her from her current troubles.

They landed as he was finishing the story, and she grinned at him. "I had no idea! Mostly folks just complained about it, even if it was how we were all surviving. Thank you, Poe," she added, more seriously and a little shyly.

"You're very welcome, Rey. Let's go find the General, shall we?"

Nodding, she got up and followed him out of the ship. To his surprise, Finn was waiting for them just outside. He looked like he was in some pain standing there, but delighted to see the two of them.

"You're back!" he said, happily.

Poe smiled at the way Rey hurried over and then stopped short, as though uncertain of her reception, despite Finn's obvious regard. "We are, with some good news, at least."

Finn pulled his attention away from Rey to look at Poe seriously. "And some bad?"

"That's not important right now, Finn," Rey put in quickly. "We need to talk to the General right away."

Giving them a nod, the ex-Stormtrooper began limping back inside with a sense of determination. They made their way after him, and he led them to the control room where General Organa was poring over something.

"Success?" she asked, looking up with a fondness Poe was always honored to see.

He looked encouragingly at Rey, who was hanging back. "We found one of their bases," she offered, a little shy still.

"Did you? That's wonderful news," the General told her with an unexpected gentleness. Poe hadn't seen the two of them together before, but supposed he shouldn't be surprised. The girl had, after all, done the impossible and brought Luke Skywalker back. "What did you see there?" she continued, searching Rey's face.

"I…" Rey faltered, glancing almost frantically at Poe.

"We saw a star destroyer come into orbit, as well as a large structure on the ground. It was somewhat hidden and threw off a few of the scanners, but was definitely too big to be a regular settlement. And the shuttle that came off the star destroyer was definitely Kylo Ren's," he added, something he could confirm without Rey having to divulge anything.

The General's expression tightened and she gave a nod. "I see. So it's likely an important outpost?"

"It looks that way, ma'am," he reported.

"Show me."

He moved over to the console and brought up a star map on which the planet appeared. "There."

Her brow furrowed as she studied it, thinking. "We will have to decide what to do with this information," she stated slowly.

Rey cleared her throat and everyone turned to look at her. Well, the General and Poe did – Finn may not have stopped, which made Poe smile slightly before directing a reassuring look Rey's way.

"I, uh, I don't think we have a lot of time," she told the General, hands clenched at her sides.

"You were spotted?" the General asked, a little sharply, looking at him and then at Rey again.

"Not exactly," Rey continued, staring at her feet.

The General moved closer, voice gentle when she spoke again. "What happened, Rey?"

Pursing her lips, Rey slowly raised her eyes to look at the General. "He was there, I could feel it. And he… he could tell it was me, too," she whispered.

Finn looked angry and moved protectively toward Rey, while the General took her hand. "It's not your fault, Rey," she said firmly. "Now, Poe, please go fetch the others. Finn, Rey, you're welcome to stay for the council. But if you'd prefer to go talk to my brother, that might be a good idea," she added, softening.

"Thank you," Rey said as Poe left the room, contemplating what the next day would bring.