Bizz.

A familiar feeling of dread rose up Kylo's chest as he cast his gaze over the chaotic remnants of the battle. The Dark Side within him reveled at the victory. At the number of white-armored Stormtroopers his lightsaber had cut through. But he did not love battles. The sheer loss of life weighed at his stomach; the Force let him know of each life that passed. He preferred one-on-one combat where only two people would vie for strength. Where only two could get killed. And the smell of battles. At least his old mask had filtered most of that out.

Zap.

Kylo watched Sonzy push a pile of debris off a motionless prison guard with the Force. The Dark whispered that he could lift everything away and pull people to safety in minutes. But the Senators and emergency personnel did not want his Dark Side tainting more of the field as they worked. Several cast him wary glances. He was not sure how they even found out about the Dark within him, but at least he could still watch over the Padawans. Or most of them.

Snap.

Kylo extended his arm and closed his hand into a fist. The sparking dead droid near him crumpled into pile of useless metal. He stared at it, knowing that Rey would see all the parts that could be salvaged. Turning away from the droid's crunched body, he looked up at Coruscant's night sky. The stars formed the outline of a cross like his lightsaber. Rey's favorite constellation.

His hand raked through his hair as his stomach twisted again. Their bond did not feel right. In any combat situation, they worked as one, augmenting each other's strengths and covering weaknesses. Their control of the Force was stronger than Snoke's when combined, but trying to stop Eeth had been… strenuous. As if the Dark Side was unwilling to ally with the Light to stop another user of the Dark.

"Hey. We've gotten everyone out and in emergency vehicles." Poe's weary voice broke Kylo's thoughts. "The death toll is… not pretty." The pilot plopped a hand on Kylo's shoulder, and he sensed the three Padawans approach. "Can you feel Rey?"

Kylo gave a slight shake of his head and glanced at Poe's X-Wings. Smoke rose from the engine of one. "The longer we wait, the further they'll get away from us." Kylo crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the Dark feed on his frustration. "Snoke was based in the outer reaches. It will be impossible to find them if their base is there."

Poe chewed on his lower lip and picked at his singed general's uniform. "The Senate has to approve a mission of that order, requisition supplies, get ships ready. And they're kind of in chaos right now. Kilnetel was well respected, and they're having a hard time believing that Coruscant could've been attacked so easily, even if it was just the prison."

Sonzy snorted next to Kylo and rubbed the tip of his right head tail nervously. "We already knew something was wrong with Kilnetel. And the Senate for that matter."

"Can't we just go? The Jedi Order isn't part of the Reformed Republic military," Teela said softly. "We don't need prior approval to go on missions."

Kylo raked a hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. His head throbbed with the remains of whatever Kilnetel had used to knock him out. "Officially, we need approval for offensive missions. We are first and foremost peacekeepers."

The Dark whispered about the lie of peace. The people of the galaxy would always conflict because of their passions. The Jedi should not even try to resist the inevitable. Kylo curled his gloved hands into fists. Only two hours without Rey nearby, and he could feel the Dark poisoning his thoughts further. His fear for his wife and Padawan did not help.

A grin pulled at Finn's lips, and his hands moved to his hips to swipe back his faded brown jacket. "Then we'll go make peace with the First Order."

Rey kept her eyes closed, enjoying the welcome heat that touched her skin. The temperature was not as severe as Jakku's, but she usually needed four or five blankets, for Kylo got too warm. She wondered what the occasion was that made her husband raise the temperature.

A low hum reached her ears, and the ache in her shoulders pulled her out of the half-sleep stupor. Her eyes snapped open.

A blue field encircled her body in a cylinder, giving her only about a meter of room to move. That was, if she could move with her wrists chained together above her head. She pulled at the glowing cuffs and gritted her teeth as she pulled on the Force to open them. Rey let out a string of curses in various languages when they did not budge.

She reached out with the Force to sense anyone nearby and kicked the field around her in frustration as she felt nothing beyond the meter around her. Her foot bounced back, and she felt a string run up her leg as the field hissed. A flash of a memory she had once seen from Kylo reminded her of his imprisonment after the defeat of Snoke. At least her ankles were free.

"Okay, calm down." Rey took a deep breath and ignored the shudder that came with it. Jessika was likely in the same situation; she needed to get herself and the Padawan out before the First Order got any ideas. They almost took Kylo, which meant they probably wanted another Dark Side user. She could not let them do anything to the innocent Jessika, who had only gotten in the mess because Rey had not been paying close enough attention to her surroundings.

Rey gripped the chains holding her wrists up and lifted her feet off the floor, wrenching down as hard with all her strength. "Come on." She dropped her feet and shoved off the floor to propel herself into the air. She threw her weight hard toward the floor as she began to fall back dwon and heard the chains strain slightly with her pressure.

She sucked in a long breath and repeated the movement. The chains groaned softly, but she cursed. If she were built like the mountain Kylo was, breaking the chains with her body weight would be a snap. She almost laughed at the pun if not for the desperation that threatened to consume her mind.

Except Kylo likely would not try something so physical right away without his lightsaber. His extreme sensitivity to the Force made him more likely to use it first. It was why being blocked from the Force had affected him so much.

She compressed the Force around the chains and willed the pressure to increase around a single link. She held her breath and watched the chain imprison her arms unyieldingly over her head. She was about reevaluate her options when the link snapped, and she dropped to her knees. Her shoulders screamed in protest at the sudden movement, but she took several breaths and examined the humming field in front of her.

She opened her hand and picked up the broken chain with the Force to move it close to the field. The field hissed and sputtered as the first link touched it, but she continued to push against it with the Force. The metal began burning red, and Rey gave a shove with her hand. The first link burst open, but the following chain slipped through the field unharmed. She stopped threading the chain through and cursed as the link left within the field began glowing red-hot.

"Need some help, Master?"

Rey immediately dropped the chain in shock and turned to see Jessika standing in the open doorway. "How did you…?"

Jessika shrugged and walked along the wall, looking for the field's deactivation button. "Apparently they don't think I'm as dangerous as you." Her auburn hair fell loose out of its usual tight bun, although Rey could still see a small portion still clinging to the tie. One of her long sleeves had somehow gotten ripped off just past her elbow. "You know, being a lowly Padawan. They didn't chain me, but I see you're making quick work of that anyway."

She found the button hidden in the corner, and Rey stepped down from the short pedestal as the field disappeared. "But how'd you escape the field?"

A slight smile quirked at Jessika's lips, reminding Rey of Poe's cocky smirk. "I asked myself what Master Ren would do. So I gathered the Force around my hand like armor and managed to stick it through the field and press the button with the Force."

An angry red burn encircled Jessika's arm where her shortened sleeve ended, and her hand looked worse. Rey's heart skipped a beat, and she started toward it. Jessika shook her head and waved her good hand at Rey's cuffs. They fell with a heavy thunk to the floor, and Jessika beckoned to the door. "C'mon. There was some commotion going on earlier. Pretty much everyone was too distracted to notice a little mind trick to let me pass."

"Eeth will notice us soon if he hasn't already." Rey followed Jessika into the hallway and reached out with the Force to sense nearby enemies. "Did you find the ship bay?"

Jessika shook her head, and Rey noticed the Padawan holding her burned arm close to her side. "I only found you. There were some guards here, but I made them think that I was escaping down a different hallway."

Rey grabbed Jessika's upper arm and pulled her against the wall as she sensed two people walking down an adjoining hallway.

"Hux wants security as tight as possible. They'll be here in a few hours."

The two officers appeared at the junction of the two halls. Both tapped on datapads as they walked in step. "Can't believe how quickly Ren gave up. He's not even trying to sneak in here."

Rey took a slow breath and willed the officers not to seem them pressed against the wall. The first officer shrugged and glanced at his companion. "He is married. You don't know what ends you would go to for your wife, Jenkins. Besides, Hux doesn't believe what they said. Didn't you see the footage of those other Padawans fighting? And Skywalker is still around, no matter how hard he tries to stay out of the news."

The other officer, Jenkins, shook his head in disbelief. "Shame they're all blinded by the Republic. I'll get the Stormtroopers in position."

The officers parted, and Rey felt Jessika tense next to her as Jenkins turned straight toward them. He looked up from his datapad and stopped mid-step, his eyes widening at an almost comical rate. His jaw opened and shut like he had forgotten how to speak, and Rey reacted without thinking.

She jumped forward, grabbed Jenkin's datapad, and slammed the thin man against the wall with her forearm over his throat and her hand over his mouth. Rey lowered her voice and focused on the Force as she spoke. "I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, and you're going to tell me what you were just talking about."

The officer stared at Rey and gave as much of a nod as he could. Rey carefully peeled her hand away, and the officer sucked in a gulp of air before he screamed, "JEDI!"

Kylo ran his fingers over his lightsaber, feeling a small tracker in his belt press against his abdomen. The navigational system blipped, and Kylo pulled the Millennium Falcon out of hyperspace. The nagging feeling of dread pulled at stomach again. He tightened his grip on the familiar, worn lever as a dusty red planet appeared in the viewport.

Finn whistled from the co-pilot's seat and tapped the communicator on his wrist. "Of course the First Order is on Geonosis."

"Rey was right." Kylo let out a slow breath and squeezed the pilot's controls. He was starting to regret flying the Falcon; too many painful memories of his parents came with the ship. The time he had run aboard with his toy X-Wing and stuffed Ewok and heard Han arguing with Leia over the powers their son had begun to exhibit. Han teaching him to fly and castigating him when he tried using the Force to make things easier.

But the Falcon had the fastest hyperdrive thanks to his father's not-so-legal modifications. And Rey and Jessika's wellbeing rested on speed.

The Falcon shot into the atmosphere of Geonosis, and Kylo avoided a jutting spire of rock as the ship rapidly dropped toward the planet's surface. Finn pointed to what looked like the formation of a mountain. "There."

The pulse of energy that vibrated through the Force hit Kylo in waves, and he struggled not to let it overwhelm him. He had not felt anything so dark since –

"Ren!"

Kylo's eyes snapped open, and he jerked the Falcon into a spin to avoid another rock formation. He clutched tightly to the controls as he landed the ship. Finn shot him a wild look, his eyes wide. "What the kriff was that, Ren?"

Kylo shook his head and kept his gaze trained on the outline of a large ship bay door etched into the red-orange colored mountain. "It's just… Something doesn't feel right."

"It's the First Order. Nothing is ever right with them." Finn snatched his blaster and strode out of the cockpit. Kylo pretended he did not hear the former Stormtrooper's deep breath before they both exited the Falcon. Kylo listened to their footsteps scrape against the dirt, and he wrapped his gloved hand around the lightsaber hilt at his belt as the ship bay doors lurched to the side.

Hux's familiar ramrod straight form marched from the doors flanked by two officers and four white armored Stormtroopers. Kylo stopped in his tracks and held his hand out to stop Finn. "He doesn't have them with him."

Finn gave a barely imperceptible nod. "I know."

It took several minutes for Hux to cross the distance, and his light brown eyes cast over Kylo carefully. "You're early. I'm surprised your Jedi entourage is not with you."

Kylo crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the Dark swirling wildly inside him with the energy of the planet. "You did say you'd only trade if no other Jedi showed up."

The corner of Hux's thin lips quirked up. "I didn't exactly expect you to keep your word, Ren. After all, you do have a record of betrayal." His head tipped to the side, and the two officers moved forward. "Take him."

Kylo took a step back and held up his gloved hand. The Dark seemed to hum within him at the prospect of a fight. "We agreed on a trade, Hux. I don't even see Rey and Jessika."

"You know, I was more than willing to give up the little youngling." Hux's hand brushed over the blaster pistol at his belt as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Until she managed to break out within an hour. I think the Supreme Leader would be more than happy to visit with her."

Finn made several unintelligible noises while Kylo's heart nearly stopped. He felt the officers' hands close around his upper arms, and the Dark shoved out to throw them back. The Stormtroopers each fired, and he barely needed to concentrate to freeze the bolts mid shot. He advanced on Hux, whose face twitched to betray his fear. "Let them go."

Hux's eyes darted to the hovering bolts, and Kylo could see the retort rising in the general's throat before the two X-Wings roared behind the redhead. The Starfighters' laser cannons unleashed a barrage of fire through the open ship bay doors. The blaster cannon of the Millennium Falcon whirred to life before joining the onslaught.

Hux's face contorted in rage, and he snatched his blaster pistol. "You went against your word."

"So did you." Kylo knocked the pistol away from the general with a twitch of his hand. "But like you said, I do have a record of betrayal."

Hux ducked under the purple blade as it activated in Kylo's hand, and he darted behind one of the Stormtroopers for cover. Kylo deflected the trooper's fire and ripped his lightsaber through the white armor without a second thought. He raised the saber toward Hux, prepared to freeze the thin man to finish him off when Finn's voice rang over the chaotic sounds of battle. "Rey! Jessika!"

Kylo stopped to see the outlines of his wife and Padawan moving slowly through the rising red dust of Geonosis. Teela's blue blade announced her presence as she raced from the Falcon toward Rey and Jessika. Kylo took a step to join her but fell to the ground as a sharp pain rose in his healing side.

He caught himself from hitting his chin against the ground with the Force and looked up to see Hux holding his blaster at his head. "I should have killed your whore like I did your mother."

The Dark flared hot within Kylo, and he hardly registered his hand closing around his fallen lightsaber. But he fully registered the immense satisfaction he got as he threw Hux to the ground with the Force and drove his blade through the general's chest.

"Now, that wasn't very Jedi-like, Master Ren."

An all-too familiar touch lingered on his back for a moment, and Kylo turned with his saber poised to kill again. He froze as Kilnetel smiled at him from behind a squirming Jessika. A metal arm clamped over the Padawan's mouth, and blood dripped from a blaster wound on Jessika's leg. The Twi'lek's free green hand raised. "Ah, ah. Don't want the little youngling hurt, do you?"

Kylo's arm slowly lowered, and Jessika's head shook rapidly. The Dark Side pushed against Kilnetel's hold on the Padawan, but she seemed to repel him with pulsing energy. He saw Sonzy move toward them, and Teela pulled a limping Rey onto the Falcon. Kylo set his lightsaber back at his belt. "Release her, and I'll go with you without a fight."

Kilnetel glanced at Sonzy's approaching form. The metal hand closed around his arm tightly to allow Jessika to drop to the ground. Sonzy darted forward and helped Jessika to her feet. He felt Kilnetel jerk him toward the mountainous base, and Sonzy moved toward him with his hand on his lightsaber. Kylo shook his head, watching Finn retreat toward the Falcon. "Get out of here. I'll be fine."

Sonzy hesitated and looked back at Jessika, who wobbled as she stood on her own. "Now, Sonzy. That's an order."

The Togruta grabbed Jessika before she began to fall and pulled her to the Millennium Falcon.

Kylo watched the X-Wings and the Falcon rise into Geonosis's atmosphere as Kilnetel pulled him into the First Order's base with her intact hand on his lower back.