"How's the engine doing, BB-8?" Poe asked.
BB-8 warbled mournfully.
"We're in trouble, Finn," Poe said.
"I don't want to die in space," Finn said, firmly closing his eyes and tightening his grip on the armrests.
"We're not dead yet. We can still make the rendezvous with the Falcon. I hope," Poe added under his breath. "But we're going to need to have intel ready for Luke Skywalker. Do you have any idea what that supership was they dropped on us?"
"The Supremacy," Finn said.
Poe looked at him sidelong. "So you've heard of it. How do we blow it up?"
Finn opened his eyes and sat up in his chair. "We can't."
"Why the hell not? It has to have an exhaust port or a power core or something. Anything can be blown up if you try hard enough. I know you just got out of their indoctrination, but the First Order can be beaten, Finn. You just have to believe."
"Save the speech. I mean, we shouldn't blow it up. The Supremacy isn't just a big ship, it's the First Order's capital. There are millions of people on that thing. Non-combatants. Kids. No way I'm telling you how to blow it up."
"You can't be serious, man. This is a war. As long as they have that thing backing them up there's no way we can win. We barely have a fleet left. I don't know if any of the ships that made it out are even battle ready. If we don't stop the First Order now, that ship's going to disappear back to wherever they've been hiding it all this time. And the next time we see it, it'll be bombarding an inhabited planet to dust."
"I'm not telling you how to kill a buncha innocent people. That's why I left the First Order. No way I'm helping the Resistance do the same thing."
"We're the good guys, Finn. Someone has to stop them. And right now that's us. Come on, we all need you."
"Sorry, Poe. I'm still with you, I owe you one. But... don't ask me about that again."
Poe shrugged with false ease. "That's fine, buddy. You'll come around. I know you will."
"I'm going to see if there's any food in this thing," Finn said, getting up. He kept one hand firmly pressed against the bulkhead as he walked out.
Poe looked out into the empty depths of space. The controls began to rattle beneath his hands.
"Just hold it together a little longer," Poe said.
The Supremacy
"We have done well, Kylo Ren," Snoke said. "The Resistance has been routed for the final time. They will not recover from the blow we have struck."
"They won't stop," Kylo said. "Not as long as any of them survive."
"So bloodthirsty. Sometimes I wonder if you have been trained too well. Other times I wonder if I have failed to train you at all. This is a concerning thought. Don't you think?" Snoke directed the last to the Zabrak woman occupying his throne today. She nodded. "I thought so, too. What do you suppose we should do about Kylo, here, my dear?"
She leaned up and whispered something into his ear.
Snoke chuckled, "You amuse me. Perhaps you have more uses than I assumed. Tell me, do you have any ideas how I might deal with the Republic?"
She spoke in carefully hushed tones. "Kill them? Thoroughly?"
"Now there's a thought. Kylo here wants to negotiate with them. I thought it was a silly idea too, but I chose to indulge him."
"I am preparing to open diplomatic channels," Kylo said stiffly. "It's not easy given the state of their leadership. Even they don't know who's in charge."
"Hush, Kylo. Adults are talking," Snoke said. "How would you like a planet, dear? I'm about to own quite a few of them, I'm sure I can spare one for a useful servant. I have precious few of those."
Kylo gestured and a table covered in half eaten plates of food and goblets crashed into the wall.
"I wasn't done with that," Snoke said imperturbably.
"If you spent as much time running this war as you do playing games we would have taken the Core by now," Kylo said.
"I'm the Supreme Leader. I have people for that. Now, I've already had my very large and important ship fly all the way to this Force forsaken sector of space to deal with those Resistance pests for you. I think I've earned a break."
"I'll go back to fighting the war, then."
"Please do."
Kylo stalked for the door.
"Oh, Kylo?" Snoke said after him, "Did you happen to sense if your mother died on one of those Resistance ships?"
Kylo stopped dead. "Why would I know that?"
"I assumed you would sense it."
"I have no connection to people from my former life."
"I see," Snoke said. "Well, if she did survive and you happen to come across her, kindly kill her. At length. I understand you let Solo die quick. None of that this time. And I would like a recording this time. I missed seeing Solo die. That is a tragedy I won't soon get over."
Kylo left.
Snoke settled back on this throne. When the Zabrak tried to lean into him, he pushed her away. "Begone. You've served your purpose."
She scampered away.
Snoke steepled his fingers and dipped his head, lost in schemes.
...
Kylo Ren returned to the Finalizer's bridge.
"Begin undocking procedures," he ordered. "Set a course for the Conqueror. We're not leaving our men behind."
"Orders from the Supreme Leader?" Hux said.
"Something like that," Kylo said, "Tell the crew to prepare weapons. We may not be alone when we arrive."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I just do." Kylo dropped into a chair and looked pointedly away.
Hux and Phasma exchanged glances.
Ahch-To
Rey woke up. Her head was resting against an interior wall of the temple. She wasn't in the place behind the door anymore.
The first thing she saw was Chewbacca. He was standing over her, pointing his bowcaster at Luke. Artoo was between them, warbling loudly. Chewbacca clamped one paw down on Artoo's dome, lifted him into the air, and set him down out of the way.
Luke took a step forward. Chewbacca barked warningly, hefting his bowcaster.
Rey's eyes lighted on her pack, lying among the fragments of shattered stone on the floor. She stretched her hand towards it. Her blaster shot out. It wobbled in her mental hand, fell to the floor in front of her. She lunged for it, came up aiming it at Luke.
"Stay away!" she said, voice shaking, "You're a..." she turned to Chewie,."He's a Sith."
"Never," Luke said. He took a step towards them. "Chewie, put that thing down and listen-"
Chewbacca roared. He fired the bowcaster. Luke didn't move a muscle. The shot hit the wall beside his head. Chewbacca barked warningly and aimed his bowcaster at Luke.
Luke made a minimal motion with two fingers.
Artoo had gone quiet beside them. He extended his electric pike slowly. Then he drove it into Chewbacca's leg. The Wookiee roared, his fur instantly fluffing up under the shock. He turned to Artoo. The droid warbled an apology. Chewie barked back. Then he kicked Artoo, sending the droid skidding across the floor. Luke held out his hand and Artoo halted. He raised his other hand and Chewie's bowcaster flew from his grip.
Chewbacca looked at Luke. He looked down at Rey. Specifically, he looked at the fresh bruises on her throat. His paws clenched.
"Chewie," Luke said. "Don't."
Chewbacca charged at him.
Luke held his ground as the Wookiee barreled at him.
He stepped smoothly aside at the last moment. Chewbacca's fist hit the wall, buckling the stone and throwing up a cloud of rock dust.
Rey held her gun trained on Luke. Her finger shook over the trigger. She fired.
Luke's hand shot up, catching the blaster bolt on his palm. Chewbacca wrenched his fist from the wall in another hail of shattered stone, whipped his arm at Luke in the same motion. Luke bent slightly at the waist, ducking under the blow and ending up behind the Wookiee. He took another step back and a shot from Rey whizzed past right where his head had been.
"Stop it, both of you," Luke said.
"Don't listen to him," Rey said.
Chewbacca swung a punch at Luke. Luke caught the blow in his mechanical hand with a clang. He made a patting motion with his other hand and Rey slammed face first into the ground. Her blaster flew from her grip. Artoo rolled over to it and hit it with a blast from his fusion cutter, reducing it to slag.
Chewbacca lashed out with his other fist, catching Luke square in the face. Luke stumbled back. He placed a hand on his nose. It came away bloody.
"Chewie!" Luke said, genuinely offended. "You hit me!"
Chewbacca growled levelly.
"You don't understand."
"No," Rey said, voice still rough and scratchy. "We don't."
Chewbacca went over to her and pulled her up. He barked at her.
"I'm fine."
He tugged on her arm.
"Not yet." Rey said, tugging away. "I'm not leaving until I know. Everyone back at the Resistance thinks you're the only one who can save them. Everybody in the galaxy thinks you're a hero. How can you be..." she gestured at Luke. "This? You're not even a Jedi. You kept telling me there was something wrong with me. You said there was too much darkness in me. And the whole time you were back there with the pit and the voices and the monsters. The only thing I hate right now is you."
"You need to leave," Luke said. "Now. It's not safe."
"No. Not until you tell me."
Luke grimaced and clenched his fists. "I kept telling you I couldn't help you. It's not my fault you didn't listen. I am a Jedi, Rey. The Jedi were the ones who built this place. Even that," Luke pointed at the door. "A very long time ago, before even the Old Republic, the Jedi believed that the dark side was as necessary for balance as the light side was. Any temple had to have places to commune with both. They abandoned those ideas a long time ago. Maybe rightly so. But here, now, it's finally going to end the war."
"How is any of this going to stop the First Order?"
"This isn't about the First Order. Or the Empire. Or the Sith. This is all about the dark side and the light. The opposing forces that are behind every conflict in the galaxy. As long as there are devotees of either side, they will fight as the Force strives for balance. But that balance can never exist. All it leads to is an endless cycle of war. Jedi wiping out Sith and Sith wiping out Jedi in pointless battles again and again, over thousands of years. I'm ending all of that here. There are no more Sith, and I am the last Jedi. I'll be the balance myself. Dark and light. And as long as I stay here, the cycle will stall. And once I die, I hope it will stop completely. All the old knowledge will be gone. And maybe everyone can finally be free to live their lives without war."
"You're insane," Rey murmured. "People are dying out there right now, and you're not doing anything about it."
"I have to look at the bigger picture. I'm thinking about the destiny of the entire galaxy. You can't just run off on some idealistic crusade and think you're going to change anything. One person, one small group of people, can't stop any of this."
"I don't care. I don't care about the Force or balance or destiny or any of that poodoo. I just want to help my friends. And... and I'm going to," Rey decided. "Come on, Chewie." she collected her pack. "We're leaving."
She grabbed Chewbacca by the arm and hauled him towards the exit. He looked back at Luke once. Then he followed her. Artoo looked between Rey and Luke for a moment. Then he rolled over to rest beside Luke.
"I'm not going to tell them what happened," Rey said. "I'm going to tell them you died. It'll be better that way."
Luke bowed his head.
"Rey," he said. He took her lightsaber off his belt and tossed it to her. "Keep it." he placed his hand on the other lightsaber on his belt. The red one. "I already have my father's lightsaber."
Rey caught the lightsaber. She looked back at Luke once. Then she left.
Luke stood watching at the cliff as the Millenium Falcon lifted off and shot into the sky.
"We did the right thing," he said to Artoo. "We saved her. That's all that matters."
He went back towards the temple.
Artoo chirped at him once, solemnly.
"That's not true," Luke said. "I'm nothing like my father."
Then he went inside.
...
As Chewbacca piloted, Rey rushed out of the cockpit. He barked after her.
"I'm fine," she snapped. She pushed into the first room that had a bed and flopped down on it without looking around. She buried her head in a pillow.
"What are you doing in my room?" Kylo Ren said.
"Not now," Rey moaned. She sat up and looked around. The walls were covered in vintage Clone Wars posters of long dead Jedi. The desk in the corner was lined with model starfighters and holopictures.
"It's not my fault. You're the last person I want to spend time with."
Rey stood. She walked over to the desk. "This stuff is yours?"
"It was."
"Right," Rey said. She picked up one of the models and threw it hard at the ground. It broke on the deck plating.
"Hey! That was a limited edition!" Kylo protested.
Rey picked up another one and dashed it against the wall.
"Stop that," Kylo said, rushing over to her. He grabbed her by the arm without thinking. To both of their surprise, it worked. Kylo's hand wrapped around her wrist. They looked at each other wordlessly for a moment. Then Rey pulled away. She slumped down on the bed.
"I hate the Force," she muttered. "I hate you. I hate him." she began punching a pillow repeatedly.
"Anger is not the Jedi way," Kylo said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not a Jedi. I'll never be a Jedi!" Rey threw the pillow at him. It passed through him and hit the wall. She was trembling with anger.
"What's the matter with you?" Kylo demanded. He sat down next to her.
"Leave me alone!" she snapped, punching him on the arm.
"Calm down." Kylo said. He reached for her. Rey smacked his hand away.
"I'm trying to help you," Kylo said. He placed his hand lightly over hers. He closed his eyes.
Rey's breathing instantly slowed. Her fists unclenched.
"Just breath," Kylo said. "Breath it all out. The anger doesn't belong to you. You don't have to try and keep it."
Rey shook her head halfheartedly. "I don't want your help. You don't really care. You're just trying to trick me."
"Why would I waste time trying to trick you? You're nothing to me."
Rey's breath hitched slightly.
Kylo leaned forward and regarded Rey intently. "Sorry," he said. "You didn't want to hear that, did you?"
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Kylo tapped his forehead with his free hand, "It goes both ways. You're not nothing to me. I think about you a lot. Y'know, about cutting you into little pieces or turning you to the dark side. If that's not caring I don't know what is."
Rey managed a chuckle, "You don't have to try to turn me. Apparently I'm already there."
"Now, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I've read your mind. You're nauseatingly moral. Honestly I find it offensive."
Rey let the rest of her breath out and fell back on the bed.
"I don't care about the dark side or the light side or whatever, anyway. I'm just me. I don't care what anyone says."
"Sounds like you care to me," Kylo observed.
Rey looked over at him. "Sounds like you care too. Why?"
He shrugged, "You... remind me of someone."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No. Want to talk about why Skywalker isn't with you?"
"No."
They sat in silence.
"Did you kill any of my friends while I was gone?" Rey said after a time.
"I'm not sure," Kylo said honestly. "Maybe."
"I want to help you," Rey said suddenly. "Will you let me?"
"You can't."
"I want to try."
"Why? Why would you do that? What's wrong with you?"
She shrugged, "It's the right thing to do. Why do I need another reason? You helped me, anyway. I owe you one now."
"Well, it was either this or let you hack up my room with a lightsaber or something. If you want to do that, get your own room. Didn't Skywalker teach you anything?"
"I said I don't want to talk about it."
"Right. Sorry."
Rey squeezed his hand. "I don't really hate you."
He looked away for a moment. He shrugged with one shoulder, "Of course you don't. Who could hate a face like this?"
Rey rolled her eyes, "Don't make me beat you up again."
"Are you ever going to stop bringing that up?"
"Nope."
Rey sat up suddenly. Her face lit up like it was Life Day morning. "Finn. He's close." she jumped up and ran for the door. She paused and turned back to Kylo. "How's my hair?"
"Rey," he said seriously. "When's the last time you took a shower?"
She thought about it, "One time a moisture vaporator blew up near me and a bunch of water fell on me."
Kylo pointed. "Second door on the right. And change your clothes. For all our sakes."
"Thanks," she said, running out. "Chewie! Scan for ships."
Kylo sat alone in the room. He got up and walked over to the desk. He looked over the model ships and pictures. In one of the images, Ben Solo stood with an arm around a girl's shoulders. Behind them stood a stone temple, while a gas giant hung low and red in the sky. Kylo reached out to touch it, his hand just as immaterial as the holo was. He clenched his fingers into fists.
He faded from the room.
...
... "Thank the Force," Finn said as he and Poe exited the docking bay into the Falcon. "I'm never getting in one of those things again. Say what you will about the First Order, I never worried their shuttles were gonna fall apart around me."
"Slave labor does wonders for quality, I guess," Poe said. "I don't know why we haven't caught on to that yet."
"Finn!" Rey shouted, barreling into him and throwing her arms around him before he even made it through the door. "You're okay."
"Of course I'm okay. It takes more than a few lightsaber hits to keep me down. The docs said they've never seen anyone recover so fast," Finn said.
"I don't even care you're a liar," she said.
"Hey, you're not covered in dust," Finn noted.
"I was never covered in dust," Rey said defensively.
Poe cleared his throat.
"Oh, hi," Rey said, letting Finn go. "You must be Poe."
Poe shook her hand, "I've heard a lot about you." he looked around. "I don't mean to be rude, but I need to talk to Luke Skywalker. The Resistance is in trouble. I need to get him up to date as soon as possible."
Rey looked down, "He's not here."
"What do you mean? Where is he?"
"He's... not coming. Ever." Rey said.
"He... he's not..." Poe trailed off. "Really?"
"Really." Rey said. "We're on our own."
The three of them looked at each other.
"So..." Finn said, "Now what?"
...
"The fleet's really gone?" Rey said as she helped haul supplies from the shuttle into the Falcon.
"We don't know." Poe said, "There hasn't been anything on any Resistance frequency. Now that we have a working ship we can go to the secondary rendezvous."
"I should never have left," Rey muttered.
"Listen, kid, I know you're supposed to be some kind of big deal, but you couldn't have changed anything. No one could have. We just got beat."
"I could have tried. And don't call me kid."
"Whatever you say." Poe watched as Rey hefted a crate of weapons bigger than she was over her shoulder and carried it back to the Falcon without any apparent effort. "Pretty handy, huh?"
"Hm?" Rey set the crate down.
"The Force."
"Sometimes," she said. "There has to be more we can do. We won't do them any good sitting around at a rendezvous."
"Can you take down the whole First Order with your Force stuff? Because otherwise we don't have a lot to work with."
"We have Finn." Rey said.
Poe looked over at Finn, who was lounging at the Dejarik table, eating something out of a nutripack. He waved at them. "Keep up the hard work."
"Right," Poe said to Rey.
BB-8 warbled from where he had taken up residence on Chewbacca's shoulder.
"You're right, BB-8." Poe said. "Cantonica."
"Where?" Rey said.
"Not really sure, but BB-8 says we have contacts there. We can contact the Republic. They can send the support we need. We're going to need a lot of fire power to take out the Supremacy."
"Take it out? If that thing's as big as you said it is, won't it have non-combatants on it? We can't just blow them all up," Rey said.
Poe sighed and closed his eyes briefly.
"What's the matter?" Rey said.
"Just realizing I'm the only member of the Resistance on this ship." Poe went for the cockpit.
"We are part of the Resistance," Rey went after him. She gestured at Finn. He got up to follow. He brought the nutripack. "We just don't want to commit mass murder. I thought the Resistance was built on ideals."
"It is. But I didn't hear anyone complaining about human rights when they blew up the Death Star. I don't expect you to get this, kid, but when you have a blaster on you, morals take a back seat." Poe sat at the pilot's seat.
"I've had lots of blasters pointed at me, thank you very much. And what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm... piloting the ship. To Cantonica. Like we just talked about."
"Then get out of my seat."
Poe snorted. "I appreciate the thought, but I'm the pilot here. How many flight hours do you have?"
Rey shrugged, "A few hundred in a sim. Two or three in a real ship."
"Two or three..." Poe echoed. He looked at Finn. "Is she serious?"
"She's serious," Finn said.
"I can use the Force," Rey said. "It makes me a better pilot."
"I've been flying since before I could walk. I don't care how much Force you have, you're not a better pilot than me."
"Finn, you've flown with us both. Who's the better pilot?" Rey said.
"Uh..." Finn replied, looking between them.
Chewbacca poked his head into the cockpit and growled.
"What did he say?" Poe asked.
"He said to shut up and fly or he's going to throw us all off his ship," Rey reported.
"Right, sorry," Poe said. "Chewbacca, sir."
"He also said not to get used to it," Rey said. "Come on Finn. Try not to crash us into anything," she called back to Poe.
"Uh-huh," he said, taking the controls.
"Rey," Finn said as soon as they were out of earshot. "What are we doing here?"
"I was going to ask you to spot me while I do some lightsaber practice. I -um- usually hit things. I don't want to cause a hull breach."
"I mean," Finn glanced back at the cockpit and lowered his voice. "I don't remember either of us signing up for the Resistance. Last time I checked you just wanted to go back to Jakku. Why don't we just get out of here?"
"We?" Rey said with a raised eyebrow. "What's this we?"
"I-uh... I mean... um..."
Rey snickered at his discomfort. "I'm here because it's the right thing to do. Just like you are."
"What? Rey, have you met me? I've been spending all my time trying to get out of a fanatical military organization. I don't want to get caught up in another one."
"You don't mean that." Rey took her lightsaber out of her pack and looked it over.
"Rey, I shot people I grew up with in the back to get out of the First Order. All I've been doing is running away from things. I'm not a good guy." Finn drew up short and frowned. He clearly had no idea why he was being so truthful.
"Finn, come on. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say. And that's a tough competition. You're the bravest person I know."
"What? Me? We're both talking about me here, right?"
"The Force is doing the talking. I'm just listening. You should stand back," she added as she activated the lightsaber.
Finn took a few steps back. "You know how to use that thing now?"
"Not really."
He took a few more steps back.
"Do you remember your parents?" Rey asked with suddenness.
"No." Finn shrugged, "Why?"
"And... you don't care?"
"Not really. They clearly gave me good genes, so I guess I'm thankful for that. Otherwise... Nope. I'm good."
"Huh," Rey said. "Don't you ever get lonely?"
"No way. I had good old FN battalion. Grew up with those guys."
"Did you have a lot of friends? I bet you did."
"Oh, yeah. Or... I used to, anyway."
"Tell me about them," Rey swung the lightsaber back and forth experimentally.
"Don't you need to pay attention to that?" Finn took another step away.
"Just keep talking," Rey said.
Finn shrugged. "I can do that. So, back in remedial hand to hand training, musta been like five then, I met 5467 and 3421. Best guys I know. One time I lost my helmet in a trash compactor and those guys spent all night crawling around in there trying to find it with me. Thing is, we weren't alone in there..."
Rey's eyes slid closed as he talked. She just listened, less to the words as to the sound of them. Then she began moving the lightsaber. She let the world fall away.
When she opened her eyes, she had no idea how much time had passed. Her breathing had increased slightly. She blinked and looked around.
Finn was staring at her, "Rey... that was..."
"Oh, no. Did I break something? Chewie's going to kill me."
"What? No. Rey, that was beautiful," Finn seemed at a loss for words for a moment. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me." Rey poked him on the shoulder. "That was all you."
Finn flushed and looked everywhere but her face.
"Hey! You two," Poe called from the cockpit. "We're coming up on Cantonica."
Rey and Finn went back to the cockpit.
The desert world was looming in the viewport. A vast section of it was stained green and blue, an artificial oasis on a grand scale.
The Millennium Falcon dipped into Cantonica's atmosphere.