Rey sits and blinks at him a few times, not really understanding what has just been said. Her reaction appears common to the rest of the room, because although there are a few whispers, the shouting has stopped.

'I'm a clone,' he explains, not breaking eye contact. 'I am the thirty-fourth clone of Kylo Ren to be created by Emperor Palpatine in his cloning lab on Exegol. I was created two years ago as part of an ongoing experiment to prepare a functioning replacement body for Palpatine, once projects to clone his own genetic material had repeatedly failed. I was designed as a vessel to host the consciousness of the Emperor, who would transfer into me after I had struck him in anger with a lightsaber. I was the only clone to survive the fall of Exegol, although four were still active before it, of the fifty originally created. I am not Kylo Ren. I am not Ben Solo, although I do contain the same genetic code. I am innocent of all the charges brought against me.'

He closes his speech and he stands there, looking at Rey and waiting for her response. And she is….pleased. This is a better plan than she was expecting. She'd thought he might make something of his treatment by Luke or how he was ensnared by Snoke as a reason for his past behaviour, before pleading for leniency with a heartfelt description of his loss of memory and redemption. But this is a far more compelling argument. With this, he can sidestep all charges much more easily. He simply has to call her as a witness to his death and he will be set free. So Rey nods at him, and offers an encouraging smile, and then she realises that she is not the only one. Much of the audience around her is also smiling, and then the smiles turn into laughter and the courtroom breaks into a chorus of jeers as people ridicule his claims in whatever manner they see fit.

Poe has to bang the gavel down so hard it sounds like he is trying to break the table. 'Court adjourned,' he yells, abandoning any attempt at judicial reserve. 'Court adjourned.'

But the voice of the third judge cuts across him. 'Do you have any evidence for these claims?' she asks.

Ben moves his attention upwards to focus on the panel above him. 'Of course I have evidence,' his voice is clear, and it booms across the packed chamber. 'General Dameron himself knows I'm telling the truth, that's why he's trying to stop the trial.'

Rey can't see anything because the judges are floating directly above her head but the necks of everyone else in the room crane up to check Poe's reaction.

Ben continues, 'He's seen a recording of the cloning chamber in which I was made, haven't you, General?'

Rey knows that this is true, but she also knows that Ben must have pulled this information from Poe's mind during the couple of days in which he has been incarcerated, and it will not count as evidence. Use of Jedi mind tricks may even weigh against him.

Poe takes a breath. 'Can you prove that?'

'Would you care to review the evidence, General?' Ben replies pleasantly. 'Or is it going to be the practice of the New Republic to condemn prisoners without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves?'

Poe doesn't say anything, it is the third judge who orders – 'You may summarise your defence.'

Ben twitches a single finger, and the mask which has been sitting on the edge of the podium all this time jumps into his hand. He reaches up with a certain amount of ceremony, and settles it onto his head. Many of the crowd around her shift and mutter, and it is obvious to Rey how the presence of a fully costumed Kylo Ren unsettles them. This may even be why Ben is still dressed as he was when he was captured, rather than having been provided with any other clothes. It may be that by making him wear this outfit the Republic believe he will appear more guilty. But almost as soon as the mask is on it is removed again and Ben's face smooths.

'This is the mask of Kylo Ren,' he announces. 'Amongst other things it records whatever the wearer sees, whatever he says, whatever he does. I used it to gather intelligence for the Republic when I was working undercover within the First Order, intelligence on the regime's secret base, weapons capability and troop levels, all of which I sent over to the Republic a few days ago. I've just taken the liberty of patching in this device to the public broadcast channel this trial is using and I've circulated all the recordings I made while pretending to lead the First Order so that the audience watching today can judge me for itself. The recordings I've just sent will show that I sabotaged the attack on Coruscant which I am accused of masterminding. But now I will address the substance of the charges against me…'

There are people all round the courtroom accessing communications devices. They are pretending not to, but Rey can see them withdrawing commlinks, tapping surreptitiously on datapads, pressing fingers to ears to activate embedded receivers. If Ben's recordings show that he is innocent, and she has no reason to think that they do not, given that he had plenty of time to edit them to the best possible advantage while still on the Obdurate, then he has already taken a significant step forward in managing his defence.

He flips the mask over and touches something on the rim. 'Some time after the death of the Emperor, I was discovered by Resistance troops on Exegol, fired at, and captured by their operatives. At that time I had, and continue to have, no memory of anything before I woke up on the floor outside the cloning chamber but it was apparent from news broadcasts shown to me that I bore more than a passing resemblance to the criminal known as Kylo Ren. Finding this suspicious, and knowing that the only source of the dead Supreme Leader's genetic profile was likely to be held by the First Order, I engineered safe passage to their fleet. Once on board, I had my blood compared to that of Ren, to find that the two samples were identical.'

The mask he is holding generates a holographic image, a genetic report that Rey vaguely remembers, set side by side with another which is clearly the same. She had bloodtests done before they were together the first time, and he had sent her back a matching, but far more comprehensive report very soon afterwards – she had thought at the time that he was just responding in kind, but now it appears that was not the case. Now she thinks this report was commissioned the minute he came on board the Obdurate, perhaps to reassure his new allies. He gestures and one of the reports expands large enough to fill the hall.

'At first, I thought this result meant that I must be Ren, and I proceeded accordingly –' his eyes flicker towards Rey and then dart away. 'But there was something odd about my report. There is no known illness to which I am not already immune. It is impossible for me to get sick, and this struck me as unusual. How many other people in the galaxy can say that they will never be vulnerable to some virus or other, even the most obscure? The more I considered this, the stranger it became. I already wished to return to Exegol to chase down the truth of my origins, but it was at this point I realised that the journey was imperative.'

Rey is not pleased with this revelation. He has mentioned none of these concerns to her, although perhaps this does explain why he would not let her read his mind when she suggested it after the first time they slept together – any concerns he had around his identity would have been revealed by such access. She can't help wondering what else he has kept hidden, but he continues too fast to give her any time to ponder this thought.

'Knowing that the Republic was waiting to arrest me, I landed on the planet and searched the ruins for anything that seemed familiar. This is what I found.'

Rey recognises the image now being projected into the air, a recording which must also be being fed live to the watching audience all across the galaxy. The atmosphere within the court is tense, hushed as the story unfolds on screen. The perspective is at waist height, and it looks like Ben was carrying the mask as he hunted through Exegol, stumbling across the cloning chambers in the same way that Rey had found them – but Ben had taken a different turning and the long hall he has filmed is one that Rey has seen before.

'This is tank thirty-four,' Ben narrates, as the camera narrows in on the transparisteel case and its metallic base. 'As you can see the datacore is still active. When I ran the diagnostic routine, this is what I found.'

In the recording, the apparatus controlling the tank projects a series of facts and figures, diagrams and graphs, each of which spins past almost too fast to understand, but Ben's calm voice explains it all.

'The growth programme the tank was running was terminated after twenty-six months of activity. The subject within the tank – me - was performing well in terms of physical and mental development, performance which had already outstripped that of all the other experiments in the batch of fifty grown from the same sample. Project thirty-four had a particularly high midichlorian count – that's a marker that means someone is strong with the Force – and for that reason had not been terminated along with most of the other clones with a lower count. Aptitude with the Force was a key attribute for Palpatine's replacement body, given his position in the Sith.'

He glances over at Rey but she frowns back. She doesn't think that this Force related defence is going to be very accessible to anyone else in the room, she only vaguely remembers these details from the Jedi texts and she guesses that no one else knows what a midichlorian is. She makes a circling motion for him to move on. She doesn't know what happened to the clone in the tank, and she doesn't care, as long as he is dead, but Ben's defence needs to be solid and it needs to be clear to the audience, since he is being tried by public opinion as much as anything else.

Ben waits for a minute, and when she doesn't do anything else he carries on. 'The datacore showed that project thirty-four had been inoculated against every disease in the Sith database, as I have. The clone was sufficiently advanced to have received the basics of an education programme, although no memories had been implanted, and no personality imprinted. The education programme included various different languages, not just Basic, along with a history component covering galactic events and key individuals which was out of date, having last been updated around a year ago. There was also a Force theory training course, which included both elementary Sith and Jedi teaching, which would allow the clone to defend himself before the practical training element had been delivered, should anything unexpected happen.' Here Ben glances up at Poe. 'As you know, when I was first found I was attacked by the Resistance, I was shot with blasters although I was unarmed and I managed to defend myself without even knowing how – because this course had already taught me the basics.'

He looks back at Rey and his eyes hold more emotion than she can possibly read. 'Project thirty-four had also received instruction in rudimentary galactic geography. Let's look at an entry at random shall we?' He reads out the words on the screen. 'Exegol,' he repeats. 'Location – Unknown Regions. Atmosphere – breathable. Points of interest – Hask desert, Hon Zduul plateau, Sadow escarpment, Sith Citadel.'

She knows those words. He has said those exact words to her, in that exact order. She'd thought he sounded like an encyclopaedia then, and now it seems he was, in fact, parroting a textbook. Something cold clenches tight around her. The whispering and shuffling in the court is blanked out as she locks onto Ben's eyes and focuses only on him. He needs to say something now, something reassuring, he needs to give her some hint that this is all part of his defence, and he is not saying what she thinks he is saying. Or he needs to get his memories back immediately and open the bond, she would settle for either course of action.

'The diagnostic programme also records the exact time that seismic activity on Exegol disrupted the normal functioning of the tank and, because the clone had reached an acceptable stage of development, the release programme rather than the termination programme was triggered. If you look at this figure, I think you will find that it corresponds with the time that Rey Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, was defeating the Emperor and destroying his throneroom. At that point I was ejected from the tank and I was found, as I am sure Resistance eyewitnesses can confirm, not long afterwards, wandering the corridors, not yet able to speak. All the evidence I have presented can be verified – the tank is still on Exegol, the datacore is intact – anyone watching this broadcast can go and check for themselves.'

He takes a deep breath. 'Kylo Ren is dead. He was killed fighting Palpatine. The only witness to his death is here, and can confirm that what I am saying is true.'

This is the cue she has been waiting for. She drops her disguise and stands, although something odd appears to be happening to her legs, because she feels shaky and her voice seems to come from a long way away. 'I'm Rey Skywalker,' she says. 'Kylo Ren is dead.'

Above her head the judges' panel levitates in place, and then it gradually begins to turn. The three people on the platform stare at her, and one is significantly more hostile than the others. Poe leans forward, and speaks into the expectant silence which has gripped the audience, as they wait to find out what will happen next.

'And what about Ben Solo, Rey?' It is a pointed question, with a barb behind it. 'Is he dead too?'

She stares at Ben, and Ben stares at her. All she has to do is nod. She can lie, and say that Ben is dead, and then the two of them can walk out of this room and start a new life together. But she is no longer so sure that this would be a lie. Despite herself, the evidence he has presented seems to be wriggling around in her brain, a worm devouring her thoughts. How many times has he repeated details of ships and weapons, listed points of interest planet by planet, retained pointless information that no one else would know? How likely is it that he would have all this theoretical knowledge, and yet have forgotten how to pilot a speeder or hold a lightsaber? How likely is it, in fact, that death has wiped his memories, when it left hers untouched?

'When you answer,' continues Poe. 'Bear in mind that you are not the only Force user in the room. Bear in mind that your friend Finn will know if you lie.'

Rey bites her lip. She has known since the start that she would have to face the consequences of Finn's Force sensitivity eventually, and here they are, looking at her from across the courtroom. She is not so sure, however. Finn is not trained, and she is not sure that even a trained Jedi could be certain that another was telling the truth. Besides, all she need do is tell a half truth, she can easily say that Ben Solo died, she doesn't need to say that she thinks he was resurrected again. The thought sounds ludicrous even inside her head. She thinks he was resurrected. Somehow, in some way, the mystical power of the Force, a power which has bound them together since the moment of her birth has preserved his life – how likely is it that this is what has actually happened? She has never found an adequate explanation for how it might have come to pass, the Jedi texts drop hints, but they do not provide a rational description, a step by step guide to rising from the dead.

Ben is looking at her again, looking through her, as if he sees the thoughts turning agonisingly in her head. He says, 'I'm not a thief, Rey. You know I don't like to take things that don't belong to me.' He spreads his arms. 'And this name, this identity isn't mine. I'm not Ben Solo. I never was. I'm a clone. And you know it, deep down, you know it.'

She shakes her head, rejecting the statement. She wouldn't have gone to bed with him if she had thought he was a clone. It was only when he said he thought he was Ben that she spread her legs.

There is a faint smile on his lips. 'How many times have you called me 'Ben'?' he asks. 'Do you know? Have you counted? I have. Once. You called me Ben once, when you'd been shot with a blaster and were hallucinating. You never call me by his name. I started noticing on the Obdurate, and once I noticed I couldn't let it go. You don't call me by his name because you know I'm not him. I'm not Ben. Isn't that right?'

She opens her mouth to object, and then she stops. In her head, she always calls him Ben, he has that name in her thoughts, but she can't actually remember the last time she called him that out loud, apart from the single occasion he has already referred to. Perhaps she never has.

He hasn't finished. 'And then there's the clothes. I've carried your luggage around enough to know what's in it – the things you never leave behind. The things that are so precious you were willing to carry them through garbage to make sure they were safe. Your books, your lightsaber, and Ben's old clothes. Why do you still have his old clothes with you, Rey? If I'm Ben, then why do you need something to remember me by? I didn't realise what they were until I joined the First Order and they gave me these.' He waves a hand at his outfit, which is identical to the garments she carries in her bag. 'You keep the clothes he died in with you because you're still holding on. You can't let him go. And because you know I'm not him.'

She has no answer to this. There is no rational reason for the mementoes she has stuffed in her bag, the burden she has carried from planet to planet, ship to ship. She couldn't leave these last reminders of him behind on Exegol when he died and she has kept them with her ever since. She doesn't have an explanation other than the one he has just provided. Her reaction to loss is to hold on, to keep on hoping – she waited for years for her parents to return and now she sees that she is doing the same with Ben. She is waiting for him to come back, still waiting, despite the man who is standing in front of her.

She swallows hard, hoping that this will give her the ability to speak, but her throat remains silent.

'And there's something else.' His voice has dropped now, into a low, rasping tone which is meant for her ears alone but probably echoes around the court. 'You've never told me you love me. You're in love with him. You've always been in love with him. I think you're settling for me because we look the same and that isn't what I want – for you or for me.'

She sees then, that this isn't what she thought. This isn't a public trial, or it isn't only a public trial. This is a test, a very private test and it is a decision point. Once again, he is showing her who he is. This man is intelligent, observant, good with people and he is also kind, but he isn't to be taken for granted. He isn't someone she can pick up and put down as she chooses. He deserves respect. He stands there staring at her and she knows he doesn't see anyone else. She knows he doesn't care who is listening, or what they think – she is all that matters to him.

'I'm a clone, Rey. I'm not your Ben. I wanted to be, I really did. I wanted it as much as you did. That's why you've done such a good job of convincing yourself this last week. You wanted him to have come back so badly you were willing to overlook all the evidence to the contrary. But I'm not a thief and I won't take what's not mine. You're not mine, you never were. A piece of your heart still belongs to someone else. So you have a choice to make – me or him. I need to ask you, one more time, the question I asked you when we first met. The first words I ever said to you. And when you answer, I want you to tell me the truth.

Rey, who am I?'