It's late afternoon on Takodano in the ramshackle half rebuilt stone castle in which Maz Kanata runs her cantina. Maz nods at Rose and Rey as they walk in and sit down. Then, under her guise as tavernkeeper, Maz saunters over to take their drink orders.
This is how information gets passed at Maz's. You buy a drink while she hooks you up with the smuggler, gun runner, spice dealer, code breaker, or mercenary you are seeking. People come to Maz's from all over for all sorts of reasons, including actual food and drink, so everyone watching is none the wiser about what may or may not be transpiring. It's all off the record, of course. The finder's fee commission credits that change hands for the favor appear from afar to be a legitimate business transaction. Lucky for Rey and Rose, business transactions involving the Resistance are 'on the house,' thanks to Maz's longtime Republic political sympathies.
The Dantooine base is up and running. It took four weeks instead of two, but the Resistance now has adequate living facilities, shielding, and power for the dozen or so recruits who have shown up thus far. Another twenty people are expected later this week. As they feared, only about half of the promised recruits are actually following through on their commitment. Those images of mass firing squads at Crait had the chilling effect the First Order intended.
With the base operational, the procurement focus has shifted away from basic supplies to amassing munitions, ships, and weaponry. That's why Rey and Rose are here today pursuing a lead on some crates of thermal detonators and blasters. This contact also supposedly has some stolen droids to sell as well. If the price is right, they will strike a deal.
"Over there on the right by the window." Maz nods discretely in the direction of the corner. "The Corellian spacer in blue next to the Twi'lek guy. They are your contacts. The Twi'lek is the boss so deal with him."
"Got it. Thanks, Maz," Rose says as she and Rey start to get up.
Maz stays Rey's efforts with a gentle hand and a firm look. "Just Rose. You and I need to have a talk." When Rose shoots Maz a questioning look, the wily tavernkeeper puts her at ease. "Just some Force stuff. You'd be bored," Maz assures her. "Now, go strike a deal. Those guys have been waiting two hours now." Mollified, Rose makes her way over to strike up a conversation with the men.
Maz now sits down with Rey. Everyone knows not to bother Maz if she sits down with a customer for a private chat. It earns them a few curious looks, Rey senses. It also pricks Rey's sense of danger. Whatever is coming next, it isn't good.
As usual, Maz is blunt and to the point. "I wasn't sure I'd see you alive again. When Finn and Rose were last in, they were looking for you. They said you escaped the Starkiller and went to Skywalker with the sword."
"Yes," Rey confirms.
"Luke is dead."
"Yes," Rey confirms this too.
"Were you there when he died? At Crait?" Maz asks.
"No."
"I didn't think so." Maz pulls out a datapad and adjusts her thick glasses before she pokes at it. Then she passes the datapad across the table to Rey. "Care to explain this?"
The datapad is open to the picture of Rey and unmasked Kylo Ren hand in hand fleeing his Coruscant victory celebration a couple of months ago. Rey is fully made up in her Old Republic hair buns wearing her ivory dress. Her head is partially turned, but her face is mostly visible. She's smiling. Kylo is looking back at her with that half-smirk of his that passes for a smile. Seeing the picture now, the expression reminds Rey very strongly of Han Solo. Kylo might have his Skywalker mother's Force and ambition, but he has his father's mannerisms and cool-guy smirk.
Rey stares at the picture the whole holonet has seen. Putting aside the context of who they are and where they are and how they both are dressed, this could be any young couple happy and in love. Except . . . it's not. Rey passes the datapad back to Maz and says nothing.
"I have seen your eyes. I know your eyes. I don't forget eyes," Maz announces quietly. "I also don't forget faces. I know that's you."
Rey meets Maz's steady gaze and tells the truth. "It is me."
"Is this you too?" Maz pokes at the datapad again and hands it back. The device now shows a picture of Kylo Ren standing before dying Leia Organa's bedside. The picture is taken from behind. Kylo is standing hand in hand with an unidentified dark-haired woman wearing a dress.
"Yes. That's me," Rey admits.
"Do Finn and Rose know about this? Have they seen these pictures?"
Rey looks away. "I assume so. Hasn't everyone?"
"They don't know that the girl is you, do they?"
"No. They don't," Rey confirms. Finn probably wouldn't believe it. Maz's suspicions would never even occur to Finn. That's how trusting and loyal Finn is. It's why Rey feels so guilty over her deception.
Maz sits back in the booth now. She has one hand under the table. Thanks to the Force, Rey can see in her mind's eye the old woman reach to put that covert hand on the small blaster she keeps strapped to her thigh. She's easing the safety off. Once again, Rey's sense of danger is pricked. But she keeps her own hands in plain sight. Rey of Jakku knows when not to escalate the situation. She also knows that Maz is preparing to defend herself, not attack.
Maz gives Rey a long measuring look before she asks, "How did Skywalker really die?"
Again, Rey tells the truth. "He projected himself too far and too long in the Force in an attempt to delay the First Order at Crait. He was hoping reinforcements would come or the Resistance would have time to escape. It didn't work. And it killed him."
"Hmmm." Maz grunts noncommittally. Everything about her expression projects suspicion. "And where were you during all of this?"
"I was an injured prisoner of the First Order. Lying unconscious in the infirmary."
"I see." Maz doesn't call her a liar. She just raises an eyebrow at Rey.
"I didn't betray Luke," Rey says defensively. "When Luke sent me away, I confronted Snoke and Kylo Ren. Snoke ended up dead but Kylo wouldn't turn. In the end, given the chance to return to the Light, Kylo still chose Darkness. It was . . ." Rey looks down, suddenly at a loss for words as she recalls that bitter disappointment. "It was not what I expected," she finishes awkwardly. Everything had gone like she had hoped until the moment Kylo veered wildly off-script at the end. Rey sighs with resignation and completes the tale. "Then Snoke's ship was hit by the Resistance cruiser and I was hurt. I woke up a prisoner. I was at the First Order a few weeks before I escaped."
"You don't look like a prisoner in the pictures," Maz challenges quietly.
"I was a prisoner." Rey firmly believes this. For had she been free to leave, then Kylo would never have responded to her departure with a sentence of exile. Despite the fancy dresses, the nightly dinners, and her own private quarters, Rey had been a prisoner all along. She sees that clearly now. All the soft trappings of her confinement were just a means to manipulate her. It had worked. Naïve, lonely Rey had unwittingly gotten far along in her Stockholm Syndrome romance before she wised up. And yet, still . . . Rey really wants to believe that some of that romance was true. That it wasn't all made up.
Rey starts blinking fast. This topic always brings tears to her eyes. Seeing this, Maz switches gears. "I know who Snoke was. Do you?" she asks. "Did Luke tell you?"
"No. Luke didn't talk about Snoke. But I met Snoke. He was a Master of the Dark Side."
"He was more than that. Snoke was the First Jedi," Maz reveals.
"Snoke was a Jedi?" Rey blinks. Has she heard right?
"Yes. He called himself the Prime Jedi. He claimed to be the original founder of the Jedi Order thousands of generations ago."
"How can that be?" Rey is confused.
"He fell from grace as the Order grew and changed over the years. He refused to change with it. Snoke clung fast to his ancient views. In the end, he was willing to kill others with opposing ideas to keep control of the Jedi religion. The story goes that they threw him out. Banished him forever. He had a vendetta ever since."
"Snoke was an ancient Jedi?" Rey is astounded at this news. "How do you know this?" she demands. And does Kylo know it too?
Maz shrugs. "I'm over a thousand years old myself. I've seen Snoke surface now and then. Over the years, I've seen a lot, kid. Including the rise of the Skywalkers." Rey's eyes find hers and Maz nods knowingly. "Yes . . . I knew Kylo Ren was Han and Leia's son. I knew long before it was common knowledge. And I knew whose grandson he is, too."
"Oh."
"I'm impressed that Kylo Ren was able to kill his Master. I would not have expected that of him." Maz clearly thinks quite lowly of Emperor Ren. "Whatever game you are playing, Rey, be careful," Maz now warns. "I'm onto you and if you bring the Resistance down, I will hold you to account."
"Finn and Rose are my friends," Rey counters staunchly.
"Is Ren your friend too?" Maz gestures at her datapad that still shows the picture of Rey and Kylo holding hands. "Did Leia know about you and Ren?"
"She did."
"Did she approve?"
"No."
"Neither do I," Maz says curtly. The tone of judgement is thick in her voice. "Beware the Dark Side. There are no happy endings on the Dark Side regardless of what Ren promises you."
"Kylo says he wants to find balance," Rey offers up.
Maz dismisses this. "I'll believe it when I see it. He murdered Han. His own father," Maz hisses out her contempt. "I guess it was progress when he let his mother live." The old tavern keeper shakes her head. "Han Solo had his faults, but he didn't deserve that death. The whole family is gone now, I guess. Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, too. I miss that wookiee," Maz bemoans. "Chewbacca and I went way back."
"You don't think people can change, do you?" Rey asks point blank. "You think Kylo is forever lost."
"People only change if they want to change. And even then, change is hard. And why should Ren change? He has everything he wants. Power . . . " Maz waves a nagging finger at Rey. "The Sith love power. Never forget that."
"He's not a Sith," Rey objects.
Maz raises an eyebrow at this. "If it looks like a bantha, walks like a bantha, and talks like a bantha—"
"He's not a Sith," Rey overrides her. The Kylo she knows doesn't crave power. He is a lonely man who wants company. A needy man who had begged her to stay with him. If anything, Kylo had craved love, not power. It's part of what made him so effective in his pitch. For lonely Rey of Jakku knows what it is to crave love. Yeah, sure, Kylo had other motivations too. But Rey thinks the loneliness she saw from Kylo was very real.
"Rey, beware the Dark Side," Maz warns again, this time more emphatically than the last. "It is seductive. Many a good person fell from grace believing the lies of the Sith."
"There is Darkness in all of us," Rey maintains. "And Light too."
Maz fixes her with a stern look. "That's outdated thinking from several millennia ago. From the time of Snoke. That sort of thinking is precarious. Walking the line between Light and Dark is harder than you think. Once you start down the Dark path, it usually consumes you in the end. Choose the Light and stick to it, Rey. For your sake and for the sake of the rest of us."
It's on the tip of Rey's tongue to ask Maz where she learned about the Force, but the tavernkeeper jumps up now to greet a newcomer. The moment is lost. Rey is left behind in her wake, uncertain what to make of that conversation. So she stares bleakly over at Rose who is deep in discussion with their contacts. Things must be going well, Rey judges, based on the body language of the group. Not wanting to interrupt a good thing, Rey just hangs back where she is. Five minutes later, Rose gets up to leave and starts shaking hands. And that's when a man walks by and jostles brooding Rey.
Rey looks up to glare at this clumsy treatment. The man meets her eyes and pauses briefly. "From your brother," he announces under his breath. Then he drops a datachip marked with the insignia of the First Order on Rey's table and quickly departs.
Wide eyed Rey pockets the datachip fast before Rose can notice. She's uncomfortably aware that it's yet another small deception. Rey's heart is pounding and her blood racing as she quickly processes what this datachip means: Kylo knows that she has fled her exile. Moreover, he knows where to find her. And if he can trace her here, then he can trace her back to Dantooine . . . to the Resistance.
Rey gulps. She, Finn, and Rose have been discovered.
From long habit, Rey dons her blank poker face that she used for confrontations on Jakku and bargaining with Unkar Plutt. She doesn't dare let her dismay show as Rose walks up. "Good news?" Rey asks. She makes an effort to sound nonchalant.
"Very good news," Rose confirms. "I'll fill you in on the way home. Let's go." Rey is only too happy to agree with this plan.
It turns out that the contact was good for the munitions he advertised and the price is right. The stolen droids are a sweetener for the deal that Rose wants to confer with Finn about. That's really the only open point before the transaction will be closed at a deep space rendezvous point to be agreed upon. All in all, today's mission is a success. Rose is feeling good about herself and about their overall prospects. She chats on and off all the way home while Rey tries to chime in with the appropriate enthusiastic responses.
It's hard because Rey is very spooked about the datachip. It feels like it is burning a hole in her pocket the whole ride back to Dantooine. It fills her with dread. Rey is dying to know what the message contains, worried that she should be watching the message right away, but scared to open it where Rose might overhear. As a result, a full six hours passes before Rey opens the message. She's alone and locked in a storage closet back at the base to ensure privacy.
After a brief moment of static, a hologram message begins to play. It's Kylo. He's unmasked and sitting in his private quarters on his couch. Rey's first impression is that Kylo looks terrible. Just terrible. Like he hasn't slept in a week. His hair is its usual wild mess but his face looks especially pale and his eyes are heavily shadowed. He looks very downtrodden and there is a sheen of sweat on his face. It makes Rey wonder whether he has just hacked his wall again.
The message opens without fanfare. Kylo stares bleakly into the camera for a long moment. When he speaks, his words are terse and to the point. "I know who you are with. I know what you are doing. I am putting a set of hyperspace coordinates in this datachip along with a date. Come alone and bring the Jedi books. We need to talk. Same rules as my ship—you are safe and free to leave at any time."
Kylo hesitates a moment and now his cadence is less command and more casual. More like the man who Rey remembers in private. "I don't want us to be enemies. I just want to talk. Come to me and let's talk. I was wrong to exile you and I miss you. So, let's talk . . . please." Then, the hologram fuzzes out.
Oh. Rey had not anticipated this overture. For a moment, all she can do is revel in the news that Kylo misses her . . . that he has admitted to a mistake . . . that even after their bitter exchange over the Force bond, he still wants to talk. This message is probably the closest Kylo Ren gets to an apology, Rey thinks. It's as unexpected as it is oddly touching. If it is sincere, that is. She's not quite sure. As usual, when it comes to Kylo, Rey doesn't know what to think. On the important stuff, she always gets him wrong.
After that quick moment of ego boost, reality descends. All her worst fears are now confirmed. Kylo knows where she is and who she is with. He must know all about the plans to rekindle the Resistance. That news has Rey and everyone else at the base in terrible jeopardy. They are all traitors to the Empire. Wanted criminals who face a firing squad if they are caught.
Kylo's request to meet is a no-win situation, Rey judges. If she goes, she is trusting Kylo to honor his word that she is safe and free to leave at any time. If she doesn't go, she risks an angry Kylo swooping in to arrest her and everyone else as payback. Suddenly, this message feels like an offer she can't refuse. It also feels like a trap. Like she might be voluntarily presenting herself for duplicitous Kylo take his revenge. After all, she left him, flouted his exile order, and ran off to join the Resistance.
She didn't trust this man enough to stay with him, and that was before their bitter argument and her exile. Why should she trust Kylo now? But does she even have a choice? Rey feels manipulated and that strikes her as very Kylo. Once again, she is being maneuvered to do what he asks.
Well, she reasons, if he can find her then she might as well go to him. For either way, she's in basically the same position. And if she goes, Rey reasons, at least it will give her an opportunity to try and talk Kylo out of cracking down hard on the Resistance. Maybe there is a deal to be made here? Rey is not about to rat out her friends, but she might earn some goodwill with Kylo just by showing up. Two can play at this manipulation game, Rey reasons. And who knows? Maybe she will have more bargaining power than she thinks. Kylo has shown forbearance so far . . .
Rey watches the message another time before she starts hatching an excuse for why she needs to take the shuttle on a mission by herself. The Resistance now has a fleet of four small starships—one commercial grade shuttle, two small smugglers' freighters bought on the cheap, and the original First Order shuttle 'borrowed' from Snoke's ship. It's not unusual for someone to take one of the ships for a quick mission on their own. So, there is precedent for this trip that won't raise suspicions. Rey thinks it through overnight and then pitches her idea to Rose in the morning. Clueless Rose agrees on the spot, no questions asked, for Rey to make a supply run four days from now.
Those four days pass ever so slowly. Rey is antsy and nervous and filled with a mixture of excitement and dread. For she knows anything can happen when she meets Kylo Ren. Once, she woke up in a torture chair with the Dark prince looming over her. Once, they crossed swords in the woods. The next time, she ended up on her knees for execution. After that, they had ended up in her bed. How will this meeting go? Rey is afraid to hazard a guess. She makes a conscious effort not to script it out in her head, for the man never meets her expectations. She'll have to play it by ear this time and hope for the best.
In an effort to get her mind off of it, Rey keeps busy with her hands. She does a lot of maintenance work around the base and on the small fleet. Some of it is probably a little premature, but mechanical work is very soothing to Rey. Tasks like this are concrete and doable. It feels like she has accomplished something when she's through.
She's doing some work on the repulsolifts for the stolen shuttle when Finn wanders over to see what she's fixing. "Hey, there," Finn smiles easily. "How come I always see you with a wrench in your hand these days?"
"I'm a mechanic," Rey answers. And it comes out wrong. Sort of gruff and churlish. She hadn't meant to take out her frustrations on poor Finn who is just trying to help.
"You okay?" her friend asks. He sounds concerned as he peers down at her.
"Yeah, sure. Just a little tired, that's all." Does Finn know that she has been avoiding him? Ever since the conversation with Maz and the message from Kylo, Rey has felt especially guilty about telling half-truths to Finn. Her solution has been to keep to herself.
"I thought you would come by when I got back." Finn pulls up a nearby supply crate and takes a seat to watch her work. "My meeting went well. That mogul guy in the Mid Rim really came through this time. We should be getting another big fund transfer from him next week. Plus, Incom-FreiTek is going to give us the squadron of T-85 X-wings the Republic ordered and paid for before Hosnia. Apparently, General Organa had already contacted them about delivering those ships to the Resistance before Crait. They are still willing to honor the deal for us."
"Incom has an interest in keeping the war going," cynical Rey gripes as she tightens a bolt. "Those arms dealers and ship manufacturers make a lot of credits off war."
"We need the ships."
"I know," Rey concedes. Then, she accidentally drops the wrench and swears vehemently under her breath. Her reaction is a little out of character and it provokes a frown from Finn.
"You sure you're okay?" he asks again.
"Yeah," Rey answers a little too quickly. She's jumpy of late. "I'm fine." She's always fine. Rey has stoicism down, no matter what happens. It's the legacy of Jakku.
"Tell you what," Finn flashes his friendly smile. "How about Rose and I go tear up Canto Bight again to get back at those war profiteers once we get the X-wings?"
Finn is trying to be upbeat. It's not a serious offer, but Rey takes it at face value. She gripes again, "That's Rose's solution to everything, isn't it? Fighting and violence?" Rose is very angry at the First Order, like Finn and so many of the others who have joined them at the Dantooine base. All are here to fight for freedom and justice, but there's a twinge of vengeance to their zeal too. "You didn't stop war profiteering by rampaging through Canto Bight. You just cost their insurance companies credits," Rey complains. "All anyone saw was two uniformed Resistance fighters creating indiscriminate mayhem. You didn't change anyone's mind about us by doing that."
Her words come out a bit harsh. Finn frowns again. "Rey, what's gotten into you? What's wrong? Talk to me."
Rey is finished with the shuttle's repulsolifts now. She stands from her crouch and strips off her work gloves. Then, she vents her concerns on Finn. It's misplaced stress and frustration intended for Kylo Ren. But Finn gets the brunt of it now. "What exactly are we trying to accomplish here? What is our goal?"
"We're liberating the galaxy. We're going to restore the Republic." Finn thinks the answer is self-evident.
"How exactly?" Rey presses. "What's our short-term plan once we get enough volunteers and supplies? What are we going to do with all those X-wings once we take delivery?"
Finn has an answer for this. "I want to strike the First Order stormtrooper camps in the Rim. I want to liberate those poor kids." Finn speaks from personal experience in this. "The First Order depends on troopers for free labor, so I want to disrupt their farm system."
It's a laudable goal. But it's easier said than done. "Yeah, okay," Rey agrees before pointing out, "But what do we do with the kids we liberate? We can barely feed and house our own fighters. We don't have the resources to return those kids to their parents."
"Yeah, we'll have to figure that out," Finn concedes. "I haven't worked through all the details. But if we don't dream big and act boldly, we won't accomplish anything. We are building a movement here. We need to inspire others with our success."
Rey nods. She agrees with this strategy, even if she has misgivings about whether it is achievable in the end.
"What we really need to do is take out Hux and Ren," Finn decides.
He's back to assassination plots again. Rey makes a face. She's on the record already for being reticent about this. "Let's say you succeed," Rey posits. "Then what? There are plenty of other First Order guys ready to take their place," she points out.
"It won't end the war," Finn agrees. But he thinks this is beside the point. "Look, we need a splashy win. Killing those guys would do it. It would really get peoples' attention."
"How are you going to get to them?" Rey asks this question even as she is uncomfortably aware that in her pocket are the coordinates to locate Kylo Ren.
"You got to Ren and Snoke before," Finn counters. "Could you do it again?"
Rey now lies outright. "I don't think Kylo Ren would fall for that again. You only get one chance at that surrender ploy," she shoots him down. Then, she feels obliged to remind Finn, "I went there to try to turn Kylo Ren back to the good side. Not to kill him, you know."
"Yeah, I know you went to do your Jedi thing. But that strategy failed. Ren had his chance and he turned you down. You said yourself that he won't be redeemed. That makes him worse than Darth Vader. And that leaves us only one other option left."
Rey doesn't like the sound of this. "So, if you're not with us, you're our enemy? Is that it? Join us or die?"
"This is war. And, yes, Kylo Ren is the enemy." Finn is troubled that she is even debating this point. "Rey, I realize that you prefer to do things differently. So would I. But after Crait, everything has changed."
Rey says nothing. She simply busies herself picking up her tools. She doesn't want to argue with Finn.
But still, he persists. "Could you get to Ren some other way? Would you do it?"
"I told you—he saved my life from Snoke." Rey has told Finn and Rose that Kylo was ordered to kill her but instead he killed Snoke. Rey omitted the offer to join the First Order that came afterwards. "There is good in him. I've seen it."
"Yeah? Well, it's not enough."
"No, it's not. But maybe in time—" she begins.
Finn overrides her. "You don't want to kill him. That's it, right? Just say it, Rey. Say it."
Rey takes a fortifying breath and states the truth. "No, I don't want to kill him."
Finn lets this news sink in. He doesn't look surprised. "Fine. You just get us to him, and we'll have someone else do it—"
"No. I don't like these tactics. Assassination is cowardly. And it's not very Jedi either." Rey rebukes Finn with a sideways, disapproving look.
"You got a better idea?" Finn argues back. He's getting frustrated with her intransigence. "Because we can't just vote Emperor Ren out of office. And he's not about to resign. There is no mechanism for a regime change without destroying his regime, Rey."
"I know," she concedes. "But I guess I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on him. Not yet, at least." Rey averts her face, for she can feel a blush rising fast. There is far more to her reluctance than just ideology, she knows. But she's not ready to admit that to herself, let alone to Finn.
Her friend is indignant now. "Seriously, Rey? Because we both watched him kill his father in cold blood. And we saw the killing spree at Crait. Ren might have spared his mother and spared you, but that doesn't make him a good guy. Don't be fooled!"
"Yeah, you're right." Rey backs down for now. There's no point in continuing this conversation. Plus, Rey worries this topic will only lead her to tell more lies. She's already dancing around the truth of her relationship with Kylo as is.
But this argument gets to the heart of the issue: when do you give up? When do you cut someone loose? When Kylo rejected the Light, did that condemn him forever to the Dark Side? Rey had faulted Luke Skywalker for believing that Kylo's choice was made forever, that Kylo could not change. Is she making the same mistake if she gives up on Kylo now? There is Light in him. A lot of Light. Rey knows, for she has seen the conflict. And that makes her reticent to give up on him just yet. Plus, Rey is the loyal type. She was loyal to her dead parents for years on Jakku. But how weird is it to feel loyal to someone who exiles you?
None of this makes sense. Not in a universe in which there are two choices, Light and Dark. But Kylo is seeking a different path, or so he says. It could all be a ploy. Is it even reasonable to believe that Kylo might find the balance he seeks? Maz Kanata didn't seem to think so. But part of Rey wants to believe it's possible. That there might be a way to bring harmony to the two opposing sides of the Force.
Should she have taken Kylo up on his offer? Rey worries over that. Fantasizes over that, too. That stupid hologram message has her daydreaming again about what might have been . . . Should she give Kylo's way a try? If it fails, is that when she gives up?
Finn and Rose didn't give up after Crait. They refused to admit that their cause was lost. They still have hope and they cling to it and nurture it and spread that hope to others too. Hope is infectious like that. It makes Rey want to have hope too. But more and more, Rey wonders whether she has been hoping for the wrong thing. Maybe she should hope for Kylo to find balance and govern well instead of hoping that the Resistance is reborn and the war begins again. War only brings death and suffering. Sure, Rey wants things to change for the better, but she worries war isn't the best way to accomplish that. It's not that she's afraid to fight for things she believes in—it's that she worries fighting isn't the answer this time. If history is any judge, these recurrent civil wars don't solve anything for long.
It's all so confusing and fraught with risk. Where are the Luke Skywalkers and the Leia Organas now when Rey needs them the most? And when did she, Finn, and Rose—or Kylo, for that matter—get old enough to be responsible for things? Where are the wise men and women to provide leadership? Where are the veteran voices of experience? Well . . . they're dead. Kylo Ren killed them all. And that fact, plus a long list of other reasons, are what keep holding Rey back from embracing his ideas.
"So, I hear you're doing the next big supply run?" Finn's question breaks Rey's reverie.
She's startled. "W-What?"
"I hear you volunteered to do the next supply run," Finn repeats.
"Yeah, that's right. I leave in a few days' time. It's why I'm finishing up this maintenance now," Rey explains.
"You want some company on that trip?" Finn asks hopefully.
She shoots him down. "You're needed here for when the new recruits arrive. Let me go do the run and fetch trip. You should be here to welcome everyone in person. You have such a great story. It's very powerful when you tell it in your own words." Truly, the former FN-2187 is an inspirational figure. He's a natural leader, too.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Finn teases.
"What makes you think that?" Rey counters stiffly.
"Easy," Finn reacts to her touchiness. "We're on the same side. Remember?" He smiles cajolingly at her.
Rey dutifully smiles back. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just out of sorts, that's all."