The comms center was dark except for a dim blue glow. Rose sat on a low stool next to BB-8, who projected a holovid. The image of the woman turned towards her and frowned, speaking to someone out of frame. Rose was fixated, taking in every grainy detail of the woman's face.

At the sound of footsteps, the hologram flickered away and Rose looked up, blinking the afterimage from her retinas. BB-8 beeped a cheery greeting at Finn, who was fumbling through the darkness towards them.

"Hey, Beebee. Hey, Rose."

"Hey," she said.

"You get Archex squared away?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for doing that."

"No problem. He seems like a good guy."

Finn sat in the chair at her workstation, setting an elbow on the documents stacked on the desk, and sighed. "If I have any good memories of the First Order, it probably involved Cardinal. He cared about his cadets as people, not just resources."

She nodded. "I can tell. His help with reaching the stormtroopers could be what wins us this thing."

"It could be." Finn paused. "Was that Paige? In the vid?"

She crossed her arms and pressed them into her stomach. "Yeah. Beebee-Ate has a few recordings of conversations he thought might be important... I like watching them."

"He records stuff?" He nudged the droid with his knee. "Hey, what else are you recording without consent?"

BB-8 whistled and bleeped. Finn's jaw dropped.

"Wow, rude, Beebee. I think you've been spending too much time with Artoo in Command."

Jerking his head aggressively, BB-8 chirped a threat.

He held up hands in surrender. "I'll be sure not to get on your bad side."

"Your Binary must be getting better," Rose observed.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to be in a spot where understanding Binary is what's standing between me and death."

"Smart."

"I thought so."

"Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think I'm not going to miss her?"

He relaxed into the seat, knees wide. "Is that what you want?"

"Not really." Her hands twisted in her lap. "I just want to stop expecting her to be there when I wake up, or thinking I should save her some of the dessert in the mess hall, or remembering a joke that she told me that doesn't make sense to anyone else. It hurts, and I just want it to stop."

He sighed, rubbing his temple. "I don't think you should forget her."

"I don't want to forget her – I just want to think about her without feeling so much pain and guilt."

"Guilt?"

"It should have been me," she mumbled.

"What should have been you?"

"I should have been the one who died."

BB-8 wobbled closer, letting out a whine.

"You can't say that, Rose."

"Why not?" She yanked off the necklace and cupped the pendant in her palm. "She was the only one of us who didn't want to go, and I made her go."

"Nobody made her go."

"Convinced her, then. It doesn't matter. If I had died, maybe she'd be here instead."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"It's all I can think about." She squeezed the pendant hard, the edges digging into her skin.

"Can I?" Finn extended a hand and Rose hesitated before giving the necklace over. "It's very beautiful."

"Paige had one just like it."

"Yeah, I remember." He inspected the etchings on the pendant before handing it back. "I don't know if I can relate to what you're dealing with. I never had family, and the closest thing I had was my squadmates. Most of them are dead, but even then, they trained us to expect their deaths at any time and to keep going like it was nothing, just another variable in the mission." He rubbed his forehead and met her eyes. "When Slip died, really died, right in front of me, it changed everything. I knew he would die first, but still, everything changed."

"I'm sorry."

Finn shook his head. "I'm not trying to make this about me, even though I kind of just did. I just – I can't imagine what that was like for you. It hurt me when she died, and I'd only known Paige for a little bit."

"I never imagined life without her." Rose wove her fingers together and rocked back on the stool. "Now I'm living it every day."

BB-8 warbled.

"Gotta agree with Beebee. We're here for you, Rose. You're not alone. Your friends are here for you."

"I don't know if it's enough."

"Someday it will be."

"I hope so," she whispered. BB-8 whined and Rose rubbed his dome. "How's Poe?"

"I was going to talk to you about that."

She lifted her eyebrows.

"There's a mission, and they're leaving tomorrow. Not sure how long. And - and I'm going to go along."

"Is this Poe's idea?"

"No, no, actually, it's not. It's more Ben's, but Leia and Kaydel signed off on it."

"Why are they sending you? We just got Archex. There's a lot that needs doing on the stormtrooper outreach."

"I know. I don't really like it either, but they're trying to keep the details secret and I was already involved."

"Involved?"

BB-8 swiveled his head towards Finn and bleeped.

"I'm not going to say anything, Beebee. Just... it may get us intel that'll help with the project."

"I still don't like it."

"I know."

"I swear, Finn, if you die –"

"We're being smarter this time, and I can tell you we're not infiltrating First Order territory."

She stood and went to the workstation. Stacks of paper rustled as she shifted them. "There are lots of other ways to die."

"Yeah."

"Fine, just, don't be stupid. You can promise me that much."

"Of course. I won't do anything you wouldn't do."

"Don't do anything Paige wouldn't do."

"Right."

When Finn left, Rose stared at the pendant in her hand. Her finger traced the intricate design engraved into the surface.

"Hey, Beebee?"

The droid peered around a corner.

"Could you show me the vid again?"

The next day came too quickly.

Even though they were leaving late morning, Poe was up before dawn preparing for the mission. Chewbacca agreed to take them on the Falcon, which saved the trouble of requisitioning a Resistance transport. After the supplies were stowed, he and Kaydel escorted Silyana from the container to the ship.

"Kriff, it's bright," Silyana hissed when they emerged from underground.

"That's because it's daytime. Did you have a late night?" Poe teased in an undertone.

"Switch off," she snapped. "It's too early for flirting."

That shut him up quickly. Kaydel didn't comment, likely attributing it to Silyana's typical banter. At least, that's what Poe hoped.

The rest of the walk was silent. Kaydel left them at the landing field with a distracted farewell and sympathy twinged behind Poe's sternum. Kaydel had too much on her plate, and their mission was not the biggest priority even if it involved potentially rendezvousing with the Kira Ren.

On board the Falcon, Chewbacca met them at the top of the ramp with arms crossed. Silyana halted mid stride and Poe almost crashed into her back.

Chewie growled, raising hair on the back of Poe's neck.

"I won't," she said. "I swear on my life. I just want her back."

With a huff, Chewbacca turned and disappeared into the ship.

"That was surprisingly nonviolent," Poe whispered.

"You don't want to piss off a Wookiee. Give them what they want, because they can tear your arms off."

"But the Force –"

"Poe, the Force is not a pass on real life." Silyana climbed the ramp. "I'm going to be travelling on his ship. If he wants to throw me out the airlock, he could."

Silyana didn't have belongings to stow except what the Resistance had supplied: a few changes of clothes, bathroom supplies, bedding. They returned to the Falcon's lounge. There wasn't anything to do; he was supposed to bring back Silyana, and Ben and Finn were getting their personal belongings from the bunkroom before takeoff. Silyana slouched in the seat by the dejarik board, somehow making slumping onto a bench effortless and sexy. Trying to be casual, Poe joined her.

"So, have you told Finn about us?" she asked.

"No, he doesn't know."

"Well, that's unfortunate. We'll have to be quiet if we get a second alone."

Poe groaned. "We're on a mission! We can't be sneaking off to have sex. And I thought Kira was your priority, not –"

"–getting laid? Well, while you and your friends were running around figuring out what to do, I had plenty of time in that glorified cell to be horny."

Poe's hand clapped over her mouth. "Kriff, woman. I thought it was too early for flirting."

She raised an eyebrow, eyes moving obviously toward his hand. He pulled back, but she followed, leaning into him. The side of their legs pressed together.

"It's not too early for propositioning."

Poe rested an arm on the back of the seat, knees spread wide, and gave her a smirk. "You forget what I told you, Silyana. This thing between us is mutual. And lucky for you, I've decided I'm interested in continuing."

"Oh, really? You've decided?"

He nodded seriously. "I have."

"Mhm." She placed a palm on his chest and slid it upward to curl around his neck. His eyes flicked to her lips. "And what changed your mind?"

"I talked to Ben."

"That's a real mood killer." Shifting half onto his lap, she twisted fingers in his hair. "Lucky for you, I'm interested anyway."

His hands clasped her waist as her mouth descended. Stifling a groan, his lips parted automatically, remembering the rhythm of give and take they'd discovered that night on Cantonica. He pulled her to straddle him, one hand tracing up her spine while the other descended to grip her ass. It wasn't comfortable, crammed between the seat and the dejarik table, but the growing heat between them overrode all other concerns. She tugged his head back with a fistful of curls, arching over him and grinding down firmly with a twist of her hips. Breaking away, her lips latched onto his neck below the ear. He almost whined, taken off guard by how quickly this had escalated, but his heart raced with excitement.

"Poe! Could you come out here?" Finn shouted, his voice echoing through the ship.

"Kriff." Returning hands to her hips, he gently pushed her back. "I've gotta see what he wants."

Her blue eyes glinted and she cupped his chin, pressing a thumb over bruised lips. "Let him come find you."

"He'll think you're attacking me."

"He wouldn't be wrong."

He set her on the seat and stood. "I'll be back."

"Yeah, with company," she grouched.

"So?" He leaned over her and kissed her roughly. "You didn't seem to care if they saw." He headed towards the boarding ramp, checking himself so he didn't look otherwise… distracted.

"Kriff you, Poe! Come back here and finish this!" she shouted after him. He waved a hand without looking back. Chewie, working on a mess of wires behind a panel, gave him a reproachful glare and warbled something under his breath as he passed. Poe continued blithely down the ramp, refusing to be shamed.

He was surprised that Rose came to see them off.

At the edge of the landing pad, Rose hunched into herself and looked like she hadn't slept in days. Almost on tiptoe to make eye contact, she conversed with Ben and BB-8 trundled into the clearing beyond her. The droid wobbled towards Poe, beeping quietly to himself. Poe turned to Finn.

"What's up?" he asked him.

Finn frowned. "You looked flushed. Was there a problem getting Silyana on board?"

"Nope. No problem."

"Oh. Good."

"She's not going to cause trouble for no reason. She wants to find Kira just as much as we do. Probably more."

"That's not as comforting as you think, but I know what you meant," Finn said with a lopsided smile.

"What did you need me for?"

"Rose said she wanted to see us off."

"Us, as in -"

"All of us, Poe. Don't be an ass," he snapped.

"What did I do?"

Running a hand over his hair, Finn shook his head. "Sorry. I just feel bad for leaving, and I can't tell her what we're doing."

"She wouldn't like it."

"No."

"It's different this time, though. I'm not going to do anything to deliberately endanger us," he defended.

"I know. But we could still die."

"We could die here on base."

"Yeah, don't say that. That's what an asshole would say."

"Right. Got it."

"You know your droid records conversations?" Finn tapped BB-8 with his boot and the droid bleeped indignantly.

"Oh, does he?"

"Mhm. I found out because he was with Rose last night. He'd saved some conversations with Paige in them."

"Oh." Poe frowned.

Across the clearing, Rose wrapped Ben in a hug and, after a brief hesitation, he leaned over and returned the embrace. She let go and approached Poe and Finn.

"Good luck," she said. Traces of tears glimmered in her eyes. "Try your best to come back in one piece."

"I will," Finn replied.

She turned and mirrored Poe's somber look. "Take care of them, please?"

"I will," he said.

She nodded once. "Thank you." BB-8 burbled at Poe's feet. Rose let a small smile cross her face. "You, too, Beebee. Stay safe."

BB-8 whistled in assurance.

"Actually," Poe started, "if you want, Beebee could stay here. Help out with your project."

"Oh, I don't know…"

"He'll just be underfoot on the Falcon."

BB-8 squawked.

"Seriously, if you want him, he's yours to use," Poe continued unhindered.

She hesitated, shifting her weight with arms wrapped tight around her middle. "I guess, if you're sure. We do have a lot to do."

"Definitely. He'll just take up space."

"Alright. Okay. Come on, Beebee."

BB-8 looked up at Poe with disbelief. "Go on," he said. "Rose needs you. Make yourself useful."

The droid rolled stiffly to Rose's side and she turned to leave.

"Bye, buddy! Be good!" Poe called. BB-8 whipped his head around to stare at him, but didn't stop following Rose.

"I think your droid is mad at you," Finn said.

"Eh. He'll get over it."

BB-8 stuck out a flaming welding implement in an unmistakable facsimile of a middle finger.

"Eventually," Poe added.

Ben joined them. "Everything set?"

"Yes, Captain!" Poe said.

"I'm not captain. Just the pilot."

"It was the sentiment, Solo. The supposedly infectious enthusiasm of the start of a harrowing mission against unknown odds."

Ben looked at Finn. "What's got Dameron all worked up?"

Finn shrugged. "Dunno."

"I am allowed to be a little excited."

"Save it for the afterparty."

Poe followed the other two aboard the Falcon, grumbling under his breath.

Kira prowled the forests of Endor's moon. Her clothing stood out against the vibrant autumn foliage, but she clung to the shadows. The last thing she needed was an encounter with the native Ewoks, who did not take kindly to trespassers. Despite her attempt at covertness, the woods around her were still and silent, the fauna keen enough to sense the interloper.

The trees were massive on this part of the moon, the diameter of the trunks as wide as the TIE, or wider. Suppressing memories of the wroshyr forest on Alaris Prime, she waded through leaf piles and clambered over giant roots. Her senses were open to anticipate the approach of any sentients, but also to stay her heading towards the Dark echo.

She'd left early, at the crack of dawn. Sleep had been elusive and the anticipation did not help her rest. She packed enough supplies for a day - all her supplies, really - and set off into the trees with an aimless prayer that the TIE would remain untouched till her return.

Her breathing was shallow, thighs burning as she tramped over the abrupt ups and downs in the forest floor. Sweat beaded her skin, soaking through her rank clothing. Maybe, if she didn't die soon, she could find somewhere to take a bath.

The idea was startling. She'd been ready to die only days ago, but now she was contemplating hygiene. She had hope; from where, she didn't know. Was it because Ben was coming, or was hope why she'd told him her location? It felt silly to think past the next step, the next breath. Losing sight of the present was what allowed Hux's coup. Now was for finding Vader.

Kira refocused. The source of the unnatural Darkness was closer, almost a tangible taste on the breeze or a shimmer in the air. On the periphery of her perception, sentient lifeforms - the Ewoks - clustered in their village. None were nearby and she relaxed fractionally, bending all her attention to the Dark.

It slumbered. Or perhaps it lingered, the inverse of a bright afterimage on the retina. It seemed safe to approach, nothing indicating an awareness of her presence. Sith artifacts and places were dangerous, often laden with traps and tests designed to weed out the unworthy. But Vader's resting place wasn't one of these, created for tradition and prestige. Luke hadn't had ulterior motives for his father's last resting place, but that didn't mean that others hadn't arisen.

Kira nearly walked past the pyre. When the Dark echo began to recede, she turned to scan the surroundings. Covered in dry moss and yellowed leaves and even a few bare saplings, the charred remnants had sunk to a nondescript, overgrown mound. Only on closer inspection did the black, burnt shards of charcoal become noticeable, a jumbled mess underneath the facade.

The pyre had settled enough over years of rain and rot so Kira could walk on it without fear of a boot plunging through. She stepped gingerly, searching for whatever gave off Dark energy. When eyes were unable to discern it, she knelt and closed them to let her feelings take over.

There.

Her fingers tore at the soft earth. It wasn't buried deep; the fire must have collapsed the platform beneath the body as it burned in a shallow grave. Her arms trembled, whether from excitement, exhaustion, anticipation, or fear was unclear. She scrabbled at the dirt, a detached part of her knowing she looked crazed, filthy and unwell.

Fingernails scratched against something hard. Frantically she brushed away the last layers of earth to unveil what lay hidden for decades.

Darth Vader's mask.

Even moldering and half-melted, she recognized it. The face guard was caved in, warped and fissured by heat. The surface, once gleaming like her own, was ashy and blistered. At first glance, the intimidation seemed diminished, shrunken, the resemblance to a hollow skull striking. It was like looking at a ghost, the echo of what had been, the same power diluted.

It was exactly what she had hoped for.

Kira reached with shaking hands to grasp Vader's mask. It was warm compared to the moist soil. She tugged it free with a faint crack and lifted it. Dark energy trickled down her arms along with crumbs of dirt. She exhaled. This was it.

Now that she was here, she was unsure how to proceed. It wasn't a holocron that could be accessed by meditation. Artifacts were much less structured, neither were they intended to pass on knowledge or channel the dead. The hope was Vader would come to her.

The mask warmed in her hands and she inhaled sharply. Gripping it harder, she probed with her perception, but the warmth became searing hot in an instant. The Darkness rushed towards her, pouring through the conduit of the mask. She screamed, skin fusing to its surface. It was too much, burning her up and hollowing her mind. The muscles in her arms and hands were rigid and unresponsive. She thrashed to break free, writhing on the remains of the pyre, the earthy scent of crushed moss and leaves overridden by the iron tang of panic in her mouth and nostrils.

Channel it, she ordered herself. Channel the fear, the anger, the pain.

She levered herself into a kneeling position and pushed against the onslaught of Darkness coursing through her, seeking to master it. And for a moment, her fingers loosened and the Dark receded, bending to her will, before it churned up in an undeniable torrent.

Shadows wrapped around her, consuming like tongues of flame. Her eyes rolled up in her head. She didn't scream again.

Come, child. Discover us.

A/N: Please leave a review and fav to share your thoughts! I love to hear from you all. Next update November 22 CST!