A dark energy penetrates the darkness around him and Luke knows immediately that Snoke has returned; it is the first time the creature has reared his ugly head since before Evaan returned. He has a sinking feeling that he will not like the reason why Snoke is once again here.
"Grand Master," says Snoke, his voice like a hiss before he ignites Luke's lightsaber, casting them both into a bright green light. "It has come to my attention that you've reunited with your wife; how wonderful."
His tone suggests to Luke that all of this has gone according to his plan.
"Why is she here?" asks Luke, voicing a question he had been unable to ask Evaan, in case her answer was not one he wanted to hear.
"I've been keeping her here for the last twenty years," replies Snoke, his gnarled features looking even more distorted with the sinister grin on his thin lips.
Luke barely manages to contain his surprise. "How? She died twenty years ago."
Snoke shakes his head. "No, foolish Jedi, she was not dead but in a death-like state. You and your family were simply too stupid to realize. You should be relieved that you buried her above ground rather than under, as she would have certainly perished."
"How do you know what state she was in, Snoke?" asks Luke with a slight snarl.
"I was the one who sent your wife her illness," says Snoke and Luke feels as if the wind has been knocked out of his lungs. "It was designed to affect those with a low midichlorian count, lower than a Jedi's that is, and I had hoped to infect your daughter as well but that didn't happen, of course."
"How did you infect her?" demands Luke. "And why would you do anything to her? She wasn't a threat to you or the First Order."
Snoke lets out a murky, throaty chuckle. "She was infected during one of her final check ups with her doctor, medical droids are incredibly easy to hack." He levels a triumphant smirk at Luke. "As for why I decided to infect her, it's simple, really; I had hoped to have you join the First Order in its infancy by dangling the cure to her disease in front of you. I knew you loved your wife enough to do anything to save her, so I had assumed you would do just about anything to save her life. It would seem I was wrong, you trusted her judgment regarding her decisions about her health over your own desire to save her."
Luke will never admit it to anyone but himself that Snoke hit the nail on the head with that assessment. While she was ill, he had trusted her to make the right decision about her health, mostly because she knew her body better than anyone but a little because he was too busy to concern himself. He had contemplated searching for a cure, as he desperately wanted Evaan to be well again, yet since she had not asked him to, he had decided against it; Evaan is not the kind of person to immediately ask for help and when she does, it means the situation has gotten worse. Looking back, she might not have asked because she had not wanted him to worry or fear that she was going to die.
"After she succumbed to her illness, I had hoped the grief would be enough to send you down the path I wanted," continues Snoke. "But again, I was wrong. You managed to pull yourself together and live on even without your wife. I did find it fascinating that you refused to visit her grave inside your own temple or tell your daughter that she was buried there. My spies told me that when the anniversary of her death was close, you would journey to New Alderaan and remember her there. You are an interesting man, Luke Skywalker."
Evaan told him once that if she died, her spirit would be with the Alderaanian people, so he would go to the planet to honor her memory and be closer to her. He feels a little bad for not telling Rey where her mother was buried but he had done it to keep her from dwelling on death as much as he does.
"I cured her of her illness once her body had been retrieved," resumes Snoke, his soulless eyes boring right into Luke. "She was then placed in a coma like state, where machines kept her alive until I decided she had a purpose. I allowed her to age as you did and kept her safe from most of my order, even Kylo did not know she was here."
"How kind of you," spits Luke, his chest tight with rage. "Did you wake her up just to torture me further? To show me how stupid I was?"
"In a sense," replies Snoke and then more light joins the room, revealing a bound and gagged Evaan sitting on the floor with two of Snoke's stormtroopers standing beside her, large glowlamps in their hands that they then place at their feet. Luke takes in the sight of his wife's neatly plaited hair wrapped around her head and the clean white shirt and tan pants she is wearing. It reminds him of execution garb.
Luke feels all of the color drain from his face and his heart pounds rapidly in his chest, finally understanding why Snoke allowed him to see Evaan again. The sadistic leader of the First Order is going to have his wife tortured until he finally breaks down and joins them.
"You seem to understand the gravity of this situation," says Snoke as he reaches over and places a long hand on Evaan's cheek, the latter recoils from his touch as if he is on fire. "I have finally figured out how to break you and you gave me the answer yourself." He then hands Luke's lightsaber to one of the men. "You have my permission to use this, if necessary."
The stormtrooper nods and deactivates it before putting it on his belt, right beside the plasma whip Luke is all too familiar with.
"Remove her gag," says Snoke to the other stormtrooper and he quickly complies.
"Luke!" cries Evaan when she is able. "Don't give in to them. I've survived much worse than this."
"Evaan," whispers Luke, the pain worsening in his chest as he watches one of the stormtroopers pull out his whip and activate it, the low humming reminiscent of an angry wasp echoes in the seemingly vast room.
Snoke begins walking away, his voice becoming distant the more he descends into the darkness. "Continue until he breaks, then bring him to me. You may begin."
The yellow whip cuts through the air and strikes Evaan's back, slicing open the white shirt, the wound it leaves cauterizes immediately but the pain of it tears through her body and she bends at the waist, her face almost touching the ground. There is little time for a reprieve as moments later the stormtrooper with Luke's lightsaber uses his whip to strike Evaan's exposed back, a muffled scream is the only sound she makes. In quick succession the stormtroopers strike Evaan, cutting up her back in a brutal fashion, with each hit, Luke can feel his resolve weakening just a little. Once her back is covered in ugly, sealed marks one of the soldiers kicks her in the side, pushing her over before using his foot to roll her over onto her back.
Evaan's face is contorted in a soundless scream, her eyes drift to Luke's and he can see that she has not given in to the pain but he is quickly crumbling. He watches helplessly as they begin whipping her again, this time across her torso and legs, and every snap of the whip strikes him just as deeply as it does her. Suddenly a pained scream escapes Evaan's throat and fills the room, matching the cries of Luke's heart as he watches her brutal torture. As much as he wants to look away, he cannot, knowing the stormtroopers will take it as a sign he is breaking and only increase Evaan's pain.
"Use the lightsaber," says the stormtrooper without the lightsaber. "Cut something off of her."
'No,' thinks Luke as he watches in horror as the stormtrooper brings up his lightsaber and activates it. 'NO!' The Force then fills his being in a way he has never felt it before, it is almost tangible it is so powerful. In a place designed to prevent him from using the Force, one he can feel is immersed in the Dark side, he can feel it being overpowered by the power he is drawing. His love for Evaan and the desire to save her life seems to be the driving force behind this surge of power and he is only too happy to use it.
The stormtrooper brings the blade to Evaan's leg and raises the weapon, ready to strike but as he goes to bring it down he finds his hand held fast by an invisible force. Moments later he is screaming as the force holding his hand begins to crush the bones, the sound of a sickening crack resonates through the room and the soldier collapses, holding his arm gingerly. The other stormtrooper looks at Luke and raises his whip, when the plasma end suddenly wraps around his throat and effortlessly cuts off his head. The fallen lightsaber then rises and cuts off the head of the soldier clutching his arm, and then it flies to its master and slices the chains around his body and the bindings on his hands and feet. Luke collapses to the ground, his body aching and in pain from the endless torture and from staying in a constant position. Now that he can see properly, he uses the Force to heal his body to the point he can move without blinding agony. He then hears a groan and he scrambles to Evaan's side, gathering her into his arms and using his lightsaber to remove her bindings.
"Luke," she whispers, her voice weak. "You broke free."
"I'm so sorry, Evaan," he sobs, finding it difficult to control the welling of emotion that seems to be taking over. "I'm so sorry." He holds her gingerly, afraid of causing her more pain.
Evaan smiles gently. "What for?"
"Everything," says Luke, as he brings up his mechanical hand, caressing her cheek. "I should've looked for a cure when you were sick, I should've visited your grave, and I should've stopped them from hurting you."
"I forgive you," says Evaan leaning into his touch. "And I'm sorry for being so stubborn while I was sick. I shouldn't have gone that long without looking further into my disease. I feel like a total fool."
Luke gives her a watery smile. "I forgive you." He leans down and kisses her softly, using their connection as a way of transferring the Force to her, mending her burnt and torn flesh and easing her pain until he can no longer sense it. When they pull away, she looks up at him with clear eyes and a bright smile.
"Now that's a kiss," she says reaching up and running her fingers through his slightly matted hair. "If that's how Jedi normally heal people, then I see their clinics being a very popular place."
"It isn't, but I couldn't resist," he says lovingly as they ease themselves into a standing position, the two of them groaning slightly. "I think we're going to need a night in a bacta tank."
Evaan nods. "Absolutely, but first we need to get off this space station."
"We're on a space station?" asks Luke, a little incredulously and Evaan nods again. "I thought we might be on a planet."
"The space station is near something called a nexus," explains Evaan. "I heard some of the soldiers talking about how Snoke built this place where three nexus intersect, one said each planet was rooted in the Dark side."
Luke shakes his head. "That explains a great deal. Where did you hear all of this?"
Evaan grins wickedly. "In the hangar, when I was sneaking around trying to figure out the layout of the base. I was being kept in the medical bay and would be brought to you with some soldiers, so I knew some basics but that wasn't enough. I befriended one of the nurses looking after me, a woman whose boyfriend died during the civil war, and she helped me sneak in and out of my room and around the base. If someone caught us, she would just say I was going through physical therapy and needed to walk. She even managed to reprogram the head medical droid to say that was part of my recovery regimen."
"You always were good at making useful friends," says Luke as he looks at the soldiers at their feet. "I don't think your friend will save us this time, though. Snoke's expecting us brought to him in chains, ready to pledge our lives to the First Order."
Her eyes follow his and she sighs. "You know you're probably still too short to be a stormtrooper."
"Leia has such a big mouth," he mutters as he begins stripping one of the soldiers of his armor, Evaan does the same to the other soldier.
"Which way?" whispers Luke as they head down a long corridor. Luke had missed having Evaan's nearly flawless navigation skills at his disposal. Somehow they had managed to make it out of the brig where Luke had been held without raising any alarms and now they were en route to the hangar bay, where they hoped to find a shuttle or something that would aide in their escape.
"A left then two rights," replies Evaan just as quietly, neither wanting to draw attention to themselves as they pass another couple of stormtroopers, they nod at them and they nod back. "This is so bizarre."
Luke grins inside his helmet. "At least this time I can see through the visor. Last time I did this, I could barely see and relied on Han to guide me."
Evaan barely resists giggling. "I guess stormtroopers have gotten shorter over the past twenty years."
"You do remember that you're only an inch taller than me, right?" asks Luke a little indignantly.
"Yes, but what a difference an inch makes," retorts Evaan flatly and Luke is left sputtering with surprise.
They take a left when they reach the end of the hall, entering yet another corridor but this one has a few more stormtroopers and military personnel wandering around, a veritable minefield. Evaan and Luke walk calmly down the hall, their eyes trained straight ahead of them so as to blend in more seamlessly when suddenly a red-haired young man in a grey uniform flanked by two stormtroopers with black sashes running diagonally across their torsos comes up to them, a loathsome look on his already sour face.
"Where are you two headed?" he asks, his voice as tight and clipped as Tarkin's had been.
"Hangar bay," replies Luke, hoping it sounds convincing. "Assisting with shuttle maintenance."
The man regards Luke carefully before looking at Evaan, his cold blue eyes full of contempt before he nods at them both. "Fine, just make sure to be quick about it. We don't have time to deal with faulty shuttles."
He then storms through the gap between them, barely giving Evaan and Luke enough time to move before they are mowed down by his agitated stride. They watch his retreating back for a few moments before they turn back and start walking again.
"What was his problem?" asks Evaan softly.
"I'm not sure," replies Luke. "I couldn't read his thoughts, he's likely learned something from Snoke that prevents a Jedi from entering his mind. Probably to keep Kylo Ren from influencing or mentally breaking him."
Evaan glances at him. "I've heard about this 'Kylo Ren' from the nurse, who exactly is he?"
Luke is not entirely sure how to answer that question, it is not as cut and dry as it would seem to an outsider. "I'll explain about him later."
Evaan knows her husband is hiding something from her, something dark but she does not try to probe the issue further; she remembers the last time Luke hid a terrible truth from her, one that changed how she saw the most feared man in the galaxy, and she has a feeling this is similar. They reach the end of the hallway and take the first right, coming to a short area that ends abruptly so they take the next right and enter a space with a wall on one side and several large windows on the other. Glancing out of the windows they see the hangar bay, crawling with countless stormtroopers and regular soldiers as ships fly into and out of the large space.
"Our best bet is one of the troop carriers," says Evaan, pointing at a clunky looking grey ship, more like a box rather than a ship.
"At least it looks better than the Falcon did," sighs Luke as they continue walking. "Imagine my surprise when I saw that piece of junk in even worse disrepair than when Han sold it. And worse, our daughter was flying it."
Evaan's eyes widen at this revelation. "Please tell me she wasn't alone."
"No, Chewie was with her," replies Luke. "Don't worry, I'll tell you all that I can when we get off this station."
"I'm going to hold you to that," says Evaan before they reach the sliding doors for the hangar bay. It slides open and they step through, heading for the least occupied looking carrier they can find, to their relief the one they locate is close to the exit but they still have to weave through an entire sea of enemies. Steeling their resolve, they begin the last leg of their journey, treading carefully through the many stormtroopers and acknowledging the officers that they pass by. Finally they reach the carrier and discover that it is completely deserted.
"It's a trap," declares Evaan when she sees it.
"You're right," agrees Luke as they look inside the carrier, slowly going up the ramp. "Regardless, we're here and should use it."
"Fine," huffs Evaan as she throws her blaster down on a nearby empty seat and removes her helmet. "You keep a look out and I'm going to deactivate the tracking device."
"How do you know there's a tracking device?" asks Luke as she passes by him, headed for the cockpit.
"There's always a tracking device," she replies as she enters and then he heads back down the ramp, taking point.
Luke stands at the end of the ramp, blaster heavy in his hand as he keeps a look out for anything or anyone suspicious. He would have much preferred having his lightsaber but it would have been too much of a giveaway, so he had hidden it in one of the compartments in the armor, not easily accessible but at least it was there. His eyes scan the room carefully as he tentatively reaches out with the Force to see if anything sinister is headed in their direction; he tries to keep it contained to the hangar as he knows Snoke would find them instantly if he used any stronger variant. He feels a menacing presence marching towards the hangar and when he cannot breach the Force around it, he knows immediately who is coming.
Then the doors at the rear of the hangar bay open, revealing the red-haired officer from before, this time he has almost a dozen stormtroopers with him. He stands there for a moment, looking around the hangar, when his eyes rest on Luke they narrow and he signals at his men and they begin firing. Luke returns fire as he retreats backwards up the ramp, making sure not to trip on the way up.
"Evaan!" he says as he rushes into the cockpit, where he finds Evaan on her back under the console; most of her armor is scattered around the small area and she pushes herself out from under to glare up at him.
"What was that?" she asks, clearly annoyed. "Did your gun go off by accident?"
"That kid's on his way," says Luke and Evaan's eyes widen. "He's headed right for us."
"Kriff," she mutters as she stands up and glides easily into the pilot's seat. "Alright, I'm going to begin takeoff procedures, you need to man the rear cannon and get ready to fire."
"What about the tracking device?" asks Luke and when silence greets him, he gets understandably worried. "You couldn't find it?!"
"I was close!" says Evaan defensively, although her cheeks have turned pink, a sign she is completely mortified. "I did manage to put a block on all unnecessary functions, so that should buy us some time. We'll just have to make sure we don't head straight for our final destination once we get out of here."
Suddenly they hear a loud pounding of many footsteps and Luke turns around to see a shadow on the carrier's ramp. Neither one of them says a word, both sensing the danger.
"We know you're in there," says the man from before. "Come out and you'll be spared."
"Is this kid serious?" whispers Evaan, her voice so low that if Luke had not been standing right beside her, he would not have heard a thing. "He can't be any older than Ben and he's acting like a parent to a disobedient child."
Luke grins. "Perhaps we should show him what happens when disobedient Rebels get their hands on an enemy ship?"
Evaan smiles wickedly as she resumes her work at the console, preparing the ship for takeoff.
"If you don't come out then we're going to make you," says the man once again.
"Tell me son, what's your name?" calls Luke, his blaster pointed at the ramp as he eases his way to the cannon's containment area.
"General Armitage Hux," replies Hux, letting out a slightly amused lilt to his voice. "And I already know who you two are: Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker and Rebel Commander Evaan Verlaine."
"Skywalker!" shouts Evaan irritably and Luke chuckles.
"Rebel Commander Evaan Skywalker," amends Hux with a slight sneer. "Now, will you come voluntarily or will my soldiers have to bring you down?"
"I'm sorry, General Hux, but I'm afraid we can't do that," says Luke as he reaches out and puts a hand on the button that will open up the cannon's area.
"And why is that?" asks Hux, condescension dripping from every word.
Just then the carrier hums with life and the ramp begins to close as it lifts into the air, Luke uses the momentary confusion to slam the button and rush for the cannon, settling into it nicely before turning on the gun. He jerks the controls and is stunned when it handles so smoothly, unlike the cannons on the Falcon, and when he turns on the targeting computer he rolls his eyes; these controls are much simpler than he had been expecting. He looks through the windscreen and sees the previously occupied stormtroopers watching them and General Hux and his men moving backwards away from the rear drive units, although a few of them are blown down. Hux's face is bright red as he barks orders at his men, Luke cannot hear what he is saying but when the troopers raise their weapons, he has a general idea. Luke does the same, yet rather than aiming at the troopers he aims at the hangar itself, blasting at the walls, cargo, and other nearby ships causing those around to have to run for cover. Including Hux, who pushes down his soldiers in order to get behind a nearby metal crate.
Luke laughs as he continues to let loose the cannon's fire, aiming for whatever is in his sights before the ship begins to move towards the exit. Then he hears a change in the engines, a subtle switch that those untrained would miss but he knows it well.
"Don't even think about it, Evaan!" he calls. "You can't go into hyperspace in a hangar!"
"Only if you don't take out the tractor beam around this hangar," replies Evaan.
"Evaan, you can't be serious!" he exclaims as the ship then moves so the rear of the ship is facing the exit, he knows what she wants him to do but he still thinks she is absolutely insane for what she is about to attempt. When Rey told him how she, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn had escaped Han's ship he had then proceeded to tell her all of the terrible things that could have happened and now he is rehashing that list again inside his head.
"I am, now take out those projectors!" she orders and he rolls his eyes, praying to every deity he can think of as he aims for the first of two projectors. He hits the first one easily enough, despite all of the gunfire going on around them, as he goes to aim at the second one his gun locks and he cannot move it.
"My gun's locked!" he calls as he tries to move it again.
"Kriffing hell!" shouts Evaan, he cannot hear the main gun firing and he realizes that she had turned it off in order to conserve power for the jump to hyperspace. "Can't you use the Force or something to crush it?"
"I could try," replies Luke and just then the ship lurches. "What was that?"
"Nothing!" says Evaan, her voice a little too high for normal, so he knows something went wrong. "Take care of that projector, Luke, or we're not going to make it out of here."
Luke nods and looks out at the projector, he sees it close to the exit and then he extends his hand; using what little of the Force is present, he lifts up and the metal covering begins to tear. Increasing his power just slightly, he raises his hand and more of the projector comes away from the base until it is completely removed. With a slight smile he throws it on a nearby group of troopers firing at them, watching with satisfaction as Hux scurries into view only to duck down again.
"It's down!" he calls and then the ship swings around violently.
"Hold on!" shouts Evaan and suddenly they are flying forward, past the exit and into the void of space, seconds later she activates the hyperdrive.