The hyperspace jump back to Mandalore was done in silence. Even though Ishi and Desric had put a substantial amount of morphine in him after bandaging the scarred side of his face, Ben could tell Desric was trying not to cry. Ben didn't blame Desric one little bit for that. After all, Ben had just lost his fiancé, and he was struggling not to burst into tears. But for someone to lose their twin… it must have been like having a piece of yourself ripped from you. And Desric hadn't just lost Beti, he'd watched her blow herself up right in front of him. All Desric had left of Beti now was the burn-out helmet he had retrieved from Mustafar's surface. Ishi, meanwhile, had managed to retrieve of of Tyzen's gauntlets. But nothing remained of Kara. Ben hadn't seen her headless body lying anywhere when he'd lifted Kylo Ren by his throat, and he suspected that her body had been turned to ash along with the stormtroopers when Ben had screamed. Ben still recalled the raw power emanating from his throat when he had done so, and he was now very wary of what new power he may have gained from wearing Darth Nihilus' mask. If he hadn't ordered Ishi and Desric to get back to their ship beforehand, they could very well have been killed when Ben had screamed. He needed to get away. Far away from everyone, and figure out exactly what it was he was now capable of. Maybe if he went back over the books he'd read on Nihilus, he'd find a way to become more… stable.

On top of all this, Ben also had to deal with the fact that due to his new powers, he would surely be a much larger presence in the Force, and would therefore be much easier to track by his Force-sensitive enemies. Then he remembered he'd pocketed the Taozin amulet that had been wrapped around Nihilus' mask, and he pulled it out.

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To say that Snoke was shocked by his apprentice's report would be an understatement.

Ben Skywalker had, somehow, gained the mask, and with it, the power, of a Sith Lord. And not just any Sith Lord. Even though he'd been dead for four thousand years, Darth Nihilus was well-known amongst darksiders for his fanatical devotion to ruling over a galaxy of the dead. He'd also possessed powers that were rare amongst even the strongest Sith Lords. Ironically, Snoke probably had the Jedi Meetra Surik, who'd cut Nihilus down, to thank for being able to rule over anyone at all. And for even being alive. If Ben Skywalker was now capable of what Nihilus had been capable of, the First Order was in the worst danger it had even been in.

Then there was the matter of Ben Skywalker having Mandalorian warriors fighting with him. Ever since Commander Gillette's "episode" had caused the Trillia Massacre three years ago, all sorts of strange things had been happening to the First Order. Troop and cargo transports mysteriously blowing up mid-flight. Senators secretly loyal to Snoke being assassinated, or disappearing and turning up dead and mutilated on different planets altogether. Officers like Gillette suddenly turning on and slaughtering their comrades, then killing themselves before they could be apprehended. The work of rebels, no doubt. But this was not the work of rebels like Luke Skywalker and his comrades, who somehow found a way to both defeat the Empire and retain their morality. This was the work of rebels like Saw Gerrera and his band of lunatics, who tossed their morality (and their lives) aside like garbage in favour of slaughtering every Imperial they got their hands on. And now, finally, Snoke knew who was responsible. Ben Skywalker must have recruited mercenaries from his homeworld to help him against the First Order. Ever since Bo-Katan Kryze had refused Snoke's offer of an alliance between Mandalore and the First Order, Snoke had been sending his spies on a regular basis throughout the planet's bio-cube cities, and had received no reports that Ben Skywalker or any form of a Mandalorian military was on the planet. Snoke had even sent his spies to Concordia, the Mandalorian moon where Death Watch had trained in secret, but once again, they had met nobody there who seemed like any kind of soldier. Only those who were trying to restore the moon to the agricultural state it had been in before the wars that had ravaged it.

It was perfectly possible that Bo-Katan had authorised the training of a small militia to aid her grandson. In fact, Snoke saw it as what had most likely happened. But he had no proof, and he couldn't very well have Kylo Ren go to Mandalore and poke around inside the mind of Mandalore's Governess. Such a public attack on a Senate official would cause an uproar, and Snoke saw it as entirely likely that it may even cause the Republic to declare war on the First Order. The only option Snoke really had was to keep the spies running around Mandalore and wait to see if they found anything.

Snoke reached out with his mind, trying to locate Ben Skywalker, but came up with nothing. Not that he was surprised by that. The boy was probably in the Outer Rim by now. But finding and killing him had to be the priority for the First Order now. Luke Skywalker was still a threat, but now, Snoke saw it was his son who presented the real danger.

As Snoke mulled over his thoughts, he turned to Kylo Ren, who was kneeling in front of him, his right hand now made out of metal.

'Alert the First Order that as of now, Ben Skywalker is our most wanted man. More than his father, more than his aunt, more so that even that pitiful Resistance that tries to stand against us.'

'Yes, Supreme Leader. If I may suggest, why not put a reward on his head? Then we would have many more eyes out looking for Skywalker.'

Snoke considered this, and could not see a problem with it. 'Very well. What would make a common bounty hunter foolish enough to try killing Ben Skywalker?'

Snoke thought it very unlikely that Skywalker wouldn't kill every single person who came after him, but at least it would alert the First Order where he was.

'A million credits seems enough.'

'Make it five million.'

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For the first time in what felt like a long time, after he'd arrived back on Mandalore and given his report of what had happened, Ben did not go to sleep with Kara besides him. One of the many things that he'd loved about their relationship was that whenever one of them had nightmares about the simply atrocious things they had done as Ghosts, the other was always right next to them to hold them and give them comfort. Kara had often joked that they were two broken people who only fit together. That now seemed like more of a reality than a joke. Ben didn't even want to think about what Desric was going through.

About a week after Ben's return to Mandalore, the bandages had come off. The left side of Ben's face was now covered in scars which were shaped, strangely enough, like lightning bolts. Whenever he stood naked in front of the mirror in his room now, it was quite a shock to look at the marks he had gained on his body ever since beginning his training as a Grey Jedi. His chest, abdomen, legs and back was a mess of claw marks from the vornskrs he'd met on Tython, scorch marks from a mission where one of Seith's bombs had gone off prematurely, and even a couple of blaster bolt marks from another mission where stormtroopers had managed to get lucky shots through the gaps in his armour. With all this and the scars he now had on his face, Ben was now looking like a walking mass of scar tissue. Kara had never cared about Ben's scars, mostly because she had gained much of the same herself during their time as Ghosts. But Kara had never seen Ben the same way most people did. When he'd reported back to Leia of what had taken place on Mustafar, he'd seen the pity in her eyes as she looked at his facial scars.

In all honesty, Ben did not know what to do now. The Ghosts had had a great run over the course of their fifty-six successful missions. That much was certain. But it had to come to an end at some point, and with the loss of almost half their team, it seemed that the time had come. As the first few days back went by, Ben had used the mantra Ketu had taught him to calm himself, but right now, he knew that he needed to do something else other than wearing a suit of Mandalorian armour and blowing people up. When he'd told his grandmother that he was considering going back to Tython, Bo-Katan had simply shown Ben a photograph from one of the spies Leia had in the First Order, which showed a blockade of Star Destroyers positioned around Tython. No doubt Snoke had put them there recently in case Ben decided to go back. That option being a bust, Ben had thought about officially joining the Resistance. Leia had told him, in confidence, that her base was in the Illeenium system, on the planet D'Qar to be exact. Then Ben realised that Leia would simply have him and the other Ghosts run the same sort of missions that Bo-Katan and Boba had made him run. Maybe in time, Ben would gain back the will to fight, but right now the guilt at leading half his team to their deaths was overwhelming him. And the books he'd been re-reading on Nihilus weren't helping either. Apparently, the Dark Lord had seen the death of all life as the greatest thing he could accomplish. Nihilus had given Ben his power and lightsaber skills. Who was to say he hadn't also given Ben his twisted perspective?

The day after Ben's bandages came off, Bo-Katan summoned the surviving Ghosts to the briefing room. But there were no holographs of someone they needed to assassinate or things they needed to blow up.

'I understand this has been a difficult time for you', she began. Ben noticed Boba and Kalani were beside her. He'd talked to Boba previously about Kara's death, and while the old bounty hunter had been visibly holding back tears, he'd taken comfort in the fact that Kara had died fighting. Ben had been expecting Boba to blame him for Kara's death, so he was relived to find Boba held no grudges. At least, not to Ben's face.

'The loss you have experienced, especially as such a tightly-knit group that trained and fought together for years on end, must feel… overwhelming', Bo-Katan continued. 'But we must consider our options now. With the deaths of three of our seven Ghosts, I propose that, at least for now, this strikeforce be disbanded. The explosives within you will also have to be taken out.'

Nobody raised a voice in disagreement against either of Bo-Katan's suggestions. 'With all the experience you have gained in fighting the First Order for so long,' Bo-Katan said, 'I believe that now, your skills must be redirected towards training the army we said we would raise to help the Resistance, and fight the First Order. I have contacted many of my old comrades who survived the Galactic Civil War, and many of them have volunteered to put their children and grandchildren forward for training. Some have even volunteered to help you in training them.'

'I'm in', Ishi said immediately and with conviction.

'Me too', Seith followed shortly after.

Desric simply nodded.

They all turned to Ben. 'What about you, big brother?', Ishi asked.

'Ben has made the decision to leave Mandalore', Bo-Katan said.

The others looked incredulously at him. 'You're our leader! You're the one who's supposed to be leading our army! You can't just go!' Ishi cried out.

'It's too dangerous for me to stay here now', Ben said. 'By now, Kylo Ren will have reported back to Snoke that I was fighting alongside Mandalorian warriors at Mustafar. Who's to say the First Order isn't on its way here? Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't already arrived.'

Ishi looked like she was about to cry. 'I will come back', Ben soothed.

'Yeah? When?', his sister asked.

'I don't know. I just… I just can't stay here right now. But I will come back, I promise.' Ben said.

Ishi glared at him, then stormed out of the room.

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Once he had packed all his belongings into Blackjack, and once the explosive in his neck had been deactivated and removed, Ben visited Kalani first to say goodbye. The old Super-Tactical droid may have answered to Leia, but he also served Ben. Ben gave Kalani the order to stay on Concordia and help to raise Mandalore's army through giving lessons in tactics and strategy, the same way he'd trained Ben.

Next, he visited his family back on Mandalore. Mira cried at the news that her son was leaving again for parts unknown, but understanding. Lizzy and Mayli were understanding as well, but there were visible tears leaking out of their eyes as they hugged their older brother goodbye. Ben had heard that Lizzy, who was twenty now, would be amongst the first crop of recruits to join Mandalore's army, which both filled him with pride and saddened him. The only reason Mayli hadn't also joined up was because she was seventeen, though she swore she would be joining up on her eighteenth birthday.

Ben then travelled back to Concordia to first say goodbye to Bo-Katan and Boba, the latter of whom would be in charge of training Mandalore's army. Bo-Katan solemnly embraced her grandson goodbye, then made him promise he would come back soon to lead Mandalore's army.

'Once more and more people start arriving on Concordia, what makes you think both the Republic and the First Order won't take notice?' Ben asked his grandmother.

Bo-Katan smiled. 'Don't worry about that. There are… precautions I have taken.'

Ben pressed his grandmother for more, but got nothing.

After all that, it was time to say goodbye to his team. Ben knocked on Seith's room first. They talked for a bit about the times they'd shared, then Ben asked, jokingly, if Seith had by any chance invented a device to take the scars off his body. He was subsequently surprised when Seith said 'I thought you'd never ask', and started digging around in his desk.

Seith then pulled out what looked like a small, thin computer chip. 'With your permission, I will insert this into the side of your head, and to activate it, you need only press down where it is for your scars to be cloaked, so you will look how you used to. If you press on it a second time, your… natural form… will be revealed.'

One quick fifteen-minute surgery through the aid of a medical droid later, Ben had the chip inserted into the right side of his head. As he looked into a full-length mirror, Ben pressed the small, surgical scar which marked where the chip had been placed, and watched in awe as the scars on his face disappeared. Taking off his shirt, Ben saw the same applied to his upper body. Then he pressed it again, and the scars returned.

'What can't you invent, my friend?' he asked.

Seith grinned. 'I've yet to find out.'

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Ben visited Desric next. The surviving Durran twin was very understandable as to why Ben was leaving, and Ben felt like they parted on good terms as they hugged each other goodbye. Then it was time to say goodbye to Ishi. Ben had purposefully been saving this for last, as he wasn't at all sure what she would do. When he knocked on her door, he stepped inside, and was greeted by his sister throwing her arms around his neck, silently weeping. Ben felt tears prickle his eyes too.

'I know you must feel like I'm abandoning you-' he began.

'It doesn't feel like that', Ishi interrupted. She took a deep breath. 'I get why you're doing this, and I know you only want to protect us but please… please come back.'

'I will', Ben swore. 'I promise.'

'Before you go...' Ishi trailed off. She brought something out from her pocket, and offered it to Ben. Ben recognised it immediately. It was the seed of a Concordian peach plant. Concordian peaches were one of Ben's favourite things to eat, so he was grateful for the gift.

'I just wanted you to take this so... every time you looked at what grows from it, you would be reminded of where you come from,' Ishi whispered.

Ben hugged his sister and kissed her on the forehead. 'I would never forget that.'

His goodbyes finished with, Ben got into Blackjack, and set course for Takodana. Much as it pained him, it was probably time to give Maz her ship back. Besides, she was pretty much the only person Ben knew who might actually know a place for him to disappear until he'd pulled himself back together.

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As Bo-Katan watched her grandson take off in his U-Wing and jump to hyperspace, Kalani appeared beside her.

'Apologies if I am interrupting, Governess, but I just received word that the first recruits for the new Mandalorian army will be arriving in three days time. I understand that another of your granddaughters will be among them.'

'Thank you, Kalani.'

'Are we to raise the planetary shield now?'

'No. We wait until the first recruits arrive. I don't want to attract any attention until it's absolutely unavoidable.'

Kalani nodded, and left Bo-Katan be.

The truth that Mandalore's Governess had told Boba and Kalani, which she had refused to tell Ben, was that for the last few years, she'd had Mandalore's top technicians work to create a planetary-wide defensive shield for both Concordia and Mandalore, similar to the one's the Empire had used during the days of the Galactic Civil War. Naturally, it would raise eyebrows within the Senate, but Bo-Katan was thinking more along the lines of how the First Order would react. As Ben had already pointed out, there was no guarantee that the First Order wasn't on their way here right now to blow both Mandalore and its moon apart. Despite her old age, Bo-Katan felt a teenager's excitement at the idea of raising a Mandalorian army again. War was the lifeblood of the Mandalorian culture, and Bo-Katan felt a strong sense of pride that the tradition would continue after she was dead. Hell, if Ben did not return from where he was going, Bo-Katan would lead Mandalore's army herself. After all, she'd rather die on a battlefield than in a bed, though she would never tell anybody that. Such things were unbecoming of the Governess of Mandalore.

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Maz was closing up for the night, her customers returning to their ships, when she saw a U-Wing drop out of hyperspace and make a beeline for her castle. Not just any U-Wing, though. Maz's jaw dropped as she recognised Blackjack. It didn't look much like the ship she had given Ben Skywalker eight years ago. Its silver-and-blue appearance had been replaced by a black-and-red colouring, with the words War Machine printed on the side in a language Maz recognised as Mando'a. So, the younger Skywalker had returned to his homeworld. He had some explaining to do. For starters, why, after eight years, had he suddenly found a reason to come back. As the ship landed, Maz wondered if the man who'd recently reached No.1 on the First Order's "Most Wanted" list had somehow heard about the lightsaber she kept locked in the underground of her castle, and felt a small prickle of fear that he would be angry she had kept it from him. After all, he was in the right to claim it, and it was only recently that Maz had felt Ben surrounded by the power of the dark side. If he decided to take his family's lightsaber by force, Maz couldn't see herself being able to stop him. Maz reached out with the Force, trying to see into Skywalker's mind.

To her surprise, she found herself completely blocked off from it.

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Ben exited Blackjack, and approached Maz, who was standing outside her castle in the wake of the setting sun. As he drew closer, he saw she was looking at him closely, her forehead scrunched up, and realised what she was doing.

'Trying to read my mind, Maz?' he chuckled. 'Afraid that'll be quite impossible with this', he said, as he revealed the taozin amulet he was wearing around his neck.

'Taozin skin', Maz grumbled. 'I guess I'll have to ask you face-to-face then- what are you doing here? Because I'm willing to bet it's not to return the ship. And what the hell did you do to her, anyway?'

'It's a long story, Maz, so why don't we go inside and talk about it?'

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'So, let's just recap this. You found Tython, a living AND a dead Je'daii trained you, you faced your cousin in combat and beat him, went back to your people and led a strikeforce against the First Order for several years, before half of them got killed on Mustafar, where you not only defeated your cousin for a second time and cut off his hand, but gained the powers of a Sith Lord who has been dead for four thousand years?'

'That about sums it up, yeah', Ben replied. He leaned back in his chair, sipping the alcoholic drink Maz had kindly provided for him without charge.

Maz was shaking her head. 'I'm surprised you didn't get yourself killed along the way.'

'Well, it wasn't for lack of trying', Ben said. Pressing the side of his head, he revealed the scars on his face to Maz. 'And there's more on the parts you can't see', he added, pressing on the surgical scar and appearing normal again.

Maz looked like she was about to cry with pity. 'You Skywalkers are a cursed people', she said, sadly. Wiping away a solitary tear, she turned her attention back to Ben. 'And the ship?'

'One of my team gave it a new paintjob. Said he wanted it to look scarier to our enemies, to which I said there wasn't much point, considering they'd never see the ship coming anyway.'

'What?' Maz frowned.

'Let's just say a lot of adjustments have been made to Blackjack in the years you haven't seen her.' Ben finished his drink, and turned his attention back to Maz.

'Anyway, as to why I'm here… I'm looking for guidance.'

'Guidance?' Maz was confused.

'I don't know what to do next', Ben admitted. 'I may very well go back to the fight one day, but for now… I just need a break.'

'A break from what? The First Order placing you at the top of their Wanted list? Somehow I don't think that's going to happen.'

Although Ben hadn't previously heard about the First Order placing him at the top of their list, he wasn't surprised, either. After all, while his father had been hiding away, Ben had been actively fighting the First Order. He wouldn't be surprised either if they had realised by now he was behind the random attacks on them.

Maz pondered. 'I think you need to spend some time with your father's side of the family again.'

'What, Leia? Maz, I said I wanted a break from the war. What do you think will be the first thing Leia tells me to do-'

'Not Leia', Maz interrupted. 'Han.'

'I don't even know where he is.'

'I do', Maz said. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she said 'go back to your ship for the night. I have to make some calls.'

Ben wasn't sure he wanted to talk to Han again, considering the last time he'd seen them was when he'd ditched them in this very place, but he nodded. He cooked some of the food he'd brought from Mandalore for dinner. The advantage of having a genius for a team member was that besides the cloaking technology and the other, somewhat less-than-legal modifications he'd made to Blackjack, Seith had had the idea of implementing his own cooking stove in the ship. After finishing his nerf-meat, Ben turned in for the night. The next morning, he was woken up by the sound of a ship landing right outside. Ben could sense Han and Chewie's presence, and suddenly felt a lot more nervous. Sure enough, the first thing he saw when he looked outside was the Millennium Falcon. And Han and Chewie walking outside of it.

Well, here goes nothing, Ben thought, as he stepped outside and approached them.

The two un-retired smugglers regarded him for a moment.

Chewie tried to break the ice. Heard the First Order made you the most wanted man in the galaxy.

'Heard you went back to smuggling', Ben replied curtly.

Touché, the Wookiee replied, as he enveloped Ben in one of his rib-cracking embraces. Han hung back a bit. Ben could sense that he was feeling… guilty?

'I'm the one who ditched you guys. Why are you looking at me like…' Ben trailed off, then realised what it was.

'Did he do that to you?' Han asked quietly, pointing at Ben's face.

'Yes, he did', Ben replied. 'But I cut off his hand, so the way I see it, that makes us equal-' Ben stopped when he realised his attempt at a joke had fallen way short of the mark.

'Look', said Ben. 'We've both had to deal with a lot of shit in our past. You, probably much more than me. But Maz reckons we need to spend time together, and I reckon she's right. So what do you say?'

Han was silent, and Ben realised his hair had lost its last few remaining traces of brown, and was now completely white.

'Well', Han said, chewing on his lip, 'I have been thinking about adding some more crew.'

'Like a second mate?'

'Something like that. But are you sure? Maz told me you'd joined up with some Mandalorian death squad.'

'I didn't join up with them, I led them.'

Han's eyebrows shot up with surprise, and Ben sensed something that felt like a mixture of sadness and respect coming from Chewie.

'And one day, I may very well return to lead said death squad', Ben added. And a lot more along with them.

'But for now', he continued, 'I need some time away from it all. And now that I'm out of it, I realise I've may have been in the war too long. That doesn't mean I won't go back… it means I won't go back just yet.'

Han nodded. 'Okay then, second mate', the old smuggler said. 'But you are going to have to leave that ship here,' he added, pointing at Blackjack.

Ben understood. It was a gut-wrench, but he understood. He wasn't really intending to be a second mate to Han for long, anyway. He'd only be with these old hickory trees for a few weeks.

A month at most.