Their trip to Endor was surprisingly smooth. Abnormally smooth, given this group's history, but Ben was too preoccupied to reflect on it.
There'd been no sign from Kira. The bond was as uncooperative as ever, ignoring his prods and tugs and pleadings. Sometimes the bond was a tangible thing, just beyond his physical senses like a lingering taste on his tongue or the impression of a touch over his heart. Now it was dissolute in the Force, leaving him with only the strange certainty that it existed, that she was on the other end.
He and Chewbacca shared what piloting duties there were, which were not many after the navcomp took over. Silyana made herself scarce, while Poe half-heartedly attempted to teach Finn sabacc, their conversation muted and sporadic. Despite the earlier anticipation, the gravity of their mission had settled in.
The planned refueling stop on Hoth went without incident. Poe, who was currently the least recognizable of their team and had the lowest active bounty, much to his chagrin, was nominated to handle the transaction with the port boss.
"I've been causing grief in the Galaxy longer than any of you," Poe grumbled, pulling on his insulated jacket. Chewbacca turned around in his chair and made a reproachful growl. "Okay, except you."
Chewie shook his head and went back to checking the ship.
Everyone else stayed on board to avoid recognition.
Ben impatiently monitored the fuel gauges from the cockpit as the indicators ticked upwards. He had told Poe very specifically what needed to be done to soothe the finicky old ship - the Falcon was particular about the rate and level of fuel added to its tanks - but it seemed Poe had listened, even if it took him almost an hour.
He accosted Poe as soon as he boarded. "What took you so long?"
Poe shrugged, shivering slightly, face ruddy with cold. "There's only one fuel supply and three other ships arrived before us. I couldn't cut in line."
"Did anyone see you?"
"You mean beside the janky pit droid, the half-frozen guy I bought the fuel from, and all three crews of the other ships docked in this bay? No, not a single soul."
"I don't like it. It's too busy."
"Well, we're already here so it's too late now."
"Very astute, Dameron."
"Astute? Damn, Ben, there's no need to quote the dictionary at me."
"Your humor is misplaced. Save it for a mission where the entire First Order isn't trying to beat us to our target."
"It's called wit," Poe said, "and I know you're more than familiar with using it yourself."
"Stow it," he snarled.
"Switch off, Ben." Silyana emerged from the captain's quarters, her sock-clad feet silencing her step, both men attempting to keep their expressions level at her abrupt appearance.
"It wouldn't hurt to remind your boyfriend here of how serious what we're trying to do here is," Ben snapped.
"What, so a man can't make a joke anymore? Ever heard of morale? Because you're doing you're damndest to kill it," she retorted.
"I'm trying to keep us focused."
"If you hold on too tight, you'll lose control." She cocked her head. "Or did you learn nothing from the Jedi and the Sith?"
He clamped his jaw shut. With a snort, she glanced at Poe, who was gingerly peeling off his frozen outer layers and shivering. "You have something of mine."
"Yeah?" Poe winced as he flexed stiff fingers.
"Yeah."
He looked up. "You want it back?" She extended a hand. He cut his eyes at Ben, who remained scowling. "Right now?"
"Give me my damn lightsaber."
"Alright, fine." He unzipped the final jacket and unclipped the saber at his belt. "You could've asked nicely."
"As if." She took it from him and hooked it to her waistband. "What are you looking at, Kylo?" She glanced at the lightsaber at his side with a raised eyebrow.
Ben lifted his hands in retreat. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Ah, there's that sarcastic menace." She grinned.
"Could I get some caf?" Poe asked Silyana through chattering teeth. "I'm so cold I'm not entirely sure all my limbs are still attached. Damn ice planet."
She eyed him. "Fine. But only if you find a way to warm me up after."
"You're just saying that to make him uncomfortable." He jerked his head towards Ben.
"Is it working?"
They peered at Ben, assessing, and he glowered.
"I think so," Poe stage-whispered.
"Excellent." Silyana smirked and sauntered towards the galley.
"Hey, we're on your side, you know? We've got your back," Poe said to him.
"I know."
"Good. Now get us off this overgrown snowball. We've got a Supreme Leader to find."
No one noticed the man who slipped away from the junker's crew and under the Millennium Falcon's bow before tossing the tracking beacon onto a panel near the aft. It stuck with a soft thunk, dormant and undetectable.
Silyana was in the cockpit, peering out the forward viewport, when the Falcon dropped from hyperspace. Tuning out Chewbacca and Ben's murmuring as they adjusted their heading, Silyana gazed at the Endor system. The forest moon was a swirl of emerald and amber hues, a testament to the varying seasons across its globe. The other moons hung suspended in more distant orbits, blue, white, and gray marbles overshadowed by Endor.
"What is the plan now, Solo?" she said. "We don't have time to search the whole planet."
"Chewie said Wicket's village is in this quadrant. Vader's pyre should be in the near vicinity."
"We don't know that's where she will be. We should look for her starship."
"We don't know that she'll be by the ship either. We'll look for both. Chewie will take care of the physical scans to locate the ship -"
"And we'll take care of the metaphysical scans," she finished.
"If that's what we're calling it," Ben said. "Once we get close enough, I'll begin a search pattern over the forest. I want you to keep your perception open."
"Sure thing, boss," she replied, the tension in her voice betraying the jaunty words. She settled into a seat behind Ben and braced for the turbulence of entering atmo. Finn and Poe wandered into the cockpit as they dropped into the blue. After several minutes of silent descent, the Falcon leveled out over muted green trees, the cedar needles creating a soft, furred effect.
"We're nearing the area," Ben said.
"Right." Silyana straightened her spine and closed her eyes. Her lips pursed in a slow exhale. Meditative exercises weren't her forte, but when she had a purpose, something to focus, something to hunt, then she thrived.
The Dark was familiar to her, almost comforting. It had always been a part of her experience with the Force, before Luke's Academy. The Jedi's wholesale objection to any aspect of the Dark had rankled and chafed, until Kira set her free. She touched the Force on her own terms, and the Jedi restrictions did not suit. It was like being denied the use of one eye, vision limited, perception compromised.
Silyana dove in the fabric of the Force, rubbing against the impossibly intricate weave of Light and Dark and feeling it ripple under her touch. After allowing herself a moment to settle, she tugged on the threads of Darknes,s seeking where they knotted together. Some knots were a natural pattern, but one was anomalous, an oddity in the design.
"Southeast," she ordered abruptly, eyes still shut. The ship's course curved in the proper direction and she continued to call out micro adjustments. Chewbacca rumbled about a find on the scans.
"Keep going; she's just ahead," Silyana said. The Darkness in her mind's eye grew stronger, thickening.
Chewbacca growled, saying the forest before them was too dense to land the Falcon.
"If you have a chute I'll drop in."
"How about no," Poe interjected.
"We're going in on foot," Ben said with finality.
Her eyes snapped open. "If something happens before we get there -"
"Now who's anxious?" Ben snarled. "Calm the kriff down."
Poe's eyes were fixed on her, fascinated. "I can't believe you can just do that."
"Believe it, flyboy."
The Falcon took a sharp turn, spiraling until it found a clearing where a lone TIE fighter sat in the grass.
Silyana was first off the ship and tore off to the makeshift campsite sheltered under the TIE. She touched the coals covered in crackling leaves that had drifted over the fire bed.
"It's cold. She hasn't been here this morning."
"There's tracks here," Finn called, kneeling next to a tiny stream curling around gigantic gnarled roots. "They're not fresh, but we should be able to follow her trail."
"You know how to track?" Poe asked at his side.
"Enough. I wasn't a scout trooper, though."
The Dark anomaly released a rush of energy. Ben and Silyana jerked toward the source like hounds catching a scent. Silyana took an unconscious step towards it and halted herself.
"What was that?" Poe exclaimed. "What is it? You both are freaking me out."
"Maybe we don't need a tracker," Finn observed.
"I didn't expect it to be so strong," Silyana said.
Ben grimaced. "She's already there."
Chewbacca barked, hefting his bowcaster.
"He's right," Ben said. "We need to move swiftly. Don't take more than you need. We travel light."
Trekking through the forest was a tense journey. Silyana and Ben took turns leading them forward; when one faltered, uncertain, the other pressed on. The others trailed behind, Chewie scanning the ground for traps laid by the Ewoks, Poe and Finn watching their flanks.
The pulse took her by surprise and she staggered, landing hard on a knee.
"What the hell is that?" Silyana growled at Ben, who looked winded and pale. "If your dearly departed grandfather hurts her, I'll resurrect him to kill myself."
"It may not be Vader," Ben said.
"Kriff, kriff, kriff," she muttered. Poe appeared at her elbow.
"Are you alright?"
"Karking Siths. I'm fine." She straightened, dusting fallen needles and dirt off her pants, and caught Ben's eye. "We shouldn't take them with us."
"Excuse me?" Poe said.
"We don't know what's up there. They'd be walking in blind."
Finn spoke up. "I think we should all continue. As I see it, we're not being affected by whatever you're sensing."
She kept her eyes on Ben. "Not yet you haven't."
"Who'll drag you out if whatever this is incapacitates you?"
Silyana finally looked at Finn. "You don't know what you could be walking into."
"And you do?"
She shrugged. "A fair idea."
"We'll take it a step at a time," Ben interrupted. "If something changes or we learn something new, we'll reevaluate."
Their steps grew slower, more calculated. The closer they got, the more tangible the Dark became. It was cold, like walking into a snowstorm, the tips of her extremities growing numb and her eyes watering. Finn and Poe were unaffected except for an unconscious shiver, but to the Force users, each step nearer felt like pushing into a growing blizzard gale.
Everyone halted when they entered the clearing.
Shadow flames leapt dense and smokeless from the center of the glade. The burning area was in the shape of a ghostly pyre, obscured with leaping shadows. The fire didn't seem to spread or consume, but she felt its aura as an icy blast.
"Karking Sith," she muttered. Ben stood beside her, breath caught in his chest, as the rest of their crew gaped behind them.
He made a desperate noise in the back of his throat. "I have to reach her."
"Ben," she cautioned, her hand twitching as if to grab him.
"She's in there. I can sense her." He looked at her earnestly. "Don't you?"
All Silyana sensed was the roiling Darkness, but, indulging him, she concentrated anyway.
He lunged forward before she could stop him. The shadow flames leapt up as he charged into the inferno, tongues of dark fire wrapping around him until he was lost to sight. She shrieked in outrage, cursing herself for falling for his simple trick. Finn cried out and Chewie wailed.
"Silyana." Poe had a hold on her arm. "What is that?"
She ground her teeth. "I don't know."
"What - what just happened to Kylo?" Finn demanded.
"I don't know." She shook off Poe's grip. "Stay back."
"Wait!"
Feeling the lightsaber at her hip, she strode after Ben, braced against whatever was ahead.
She gasped at the shock of cold that wrapped her legs and climbed her torso. It burned, setting nerve endings on fire. The flames drew on the Dark within her and seeped under her skin. Indistinct voices chittered and murmured in her head. She shoved them away but it was like an icicle was driven through her skull. She screamed and collapsed, vision fading to black.
"Silyana? Silyana!"
When she blinked awake, her body was still freezing cold. Disoriented, she struggled to right herself but was held fast by strong arms.
"Thank the stars," Poe sighed in her ear, then promptly yelped as she thrashed free and whirled away from him.
"What happened?" she demanded. Staggering, she caught herself on a thick sapling and squinted to take in the unfamiliar forest.
Poe stood, while Chewbacca and Finn watched warily. "You ran into that thing like a reckless idiot."
"Ben did it first." She shivered violently and her temples throbbed.
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Where is Ben?" she asked.
"You could have been killed." Poe's tone was low, and her head hurt too much to determine if he was angry or frightened.
"Where's Ben?" she repeated.
"He hasn't come out, and whatever that is... it's still going," Finn said.
"You're going to get hypothermia," Poe interjected. "That thing froze you half to death. You need to get warm."
"No, where is he? Where are they? Where did you take me?"
"Away," Poe snapped. He was definitely turning angry now.
"I'm going -"
"No. You're not. Come here."
Ignoring him, she tried to reach out to find the shadow fire again and nearly blacked out from pain. Poe reached out to steady her but she jerked away. "Don't order me around, Dameron."
"I won't let you get yourself killed."
"So you've told me. I can take care of myself, thanks."
"I don't care," he snarled. "I'm not losing another person on a mission."
Finn stiffened. Silyana stared, anger and frustration blazing in her eyes. She had stumbled on some history, and not for the first time, she realized. Finn wouldn't meet her look, and Poe seemed to be glaring right through her.
"Not again," he gritted out
"You've just lost Ben and Kira! The Dark Side has taken them, so we have to take them back."
"You can't if you get yourself killed!"
"Poe is right, Ren," Finn agreed firmly.
Silyana whirled. "Don't call me that. In fact, don't address me at all, trooper. You know nothing of this."
Chewbacca growled a warning and stepped towards her. Ignoring them, she turned and focused again, pushing through the shattering headache. The Dark flare was near; they hadn't taken her far when she fainted. Another painful throb turned the edges of her vision black. She choked back a surge of bile and started back the way they'd taken her.
The feeling of an icy wind assaulted her when she stepped into the clearing. The shadow flames continued unabated. With every step she took, the chittering voices grew louder but no more coherent, drowning her numb thoughts. It was too much. She snarled, hating the tears that pooled in her eyes.
After several minutes of fighting her unwilling legs to take another step forward, Silyana caved. With a cry of frustration, she staggered away to find Poe at the tree line, watching and waiting. He offered his jacket, and when she didn't move to accept, he draped it around her shoulders and pulled her into his arms.
"Will you come away?"
She just shivered, eyes fixed on Vader's pyre, and refused to relax into his embrace.
Poe sighed. "Okay, then. Just stay with me."
Hux narrowed his eyes, noticing Tirian Ren watching Captain Sytnnix.
It could be just coincidence, because Stynnix was in Hux's presence more often due to her elevated status. Hux hadn't told Tirian the extent of her duties because it was none of his concern. Even with Tirian and Ymiré alternating their bodyguard duties, Tirian was privy to a good portion of his schedule and Stynnix was at Hux's side. Thus, the watching.
Walking from a meeting on supply lines to another on trooper cadet training, Hux ignored the impulse to rub his forehead and settled for a grimace that did nothing for his headache. Odds were it was dehydration, but when did he have time to drink water? Hux was beginning to doubt Snoke was mortal, despite his postmortem status. Stynnix trailed half a step behind while Tirian ghosted in the rear. He still hadn't replaced the two remaining Knights with his choice for guards, but it was one of many personal tasks that had to be neglected.
"Leader Hux?" Stynnix's voice had a tinge of urgency that he was learning to dread.
"Yes, Captain?" he said. Her sharp, light footsteps had stopped and he turned to face her. She looked up at him from her datapad, casting a glance at Tirian. Hux waited.
"The team you sent out found a lead. More than a lead, sir."
"Team?" he blurted. He'd become disgustingly comfortable in her presence, his restraint lowered, enough to blurt things out like a plebian.
She straightened, ignoring the Knight hovering at her back. "Tirian Ren hasn't yet been cleared to hear this information."
Tirian was wearing his mask, hiding his reaction, but Hux imagined his interest piqued. The Knights' presence aboard the Finalizer, once necessary, had long since become the hand squeezing his throat. But how to get rid of them without a lightsaber in his back? He couldn't, not while Kira Ren and Silyana were still at large.
Stynnix waited expectantly, leaning forward, a contrast to Tirian's relaxed height.
Hux held out a hand. "Show me."
She gave over the data pad. The intelligence report, dated an hour ago, was from the scout team he'd ordered to follow up on Hoth.
They'd sighted the Millennium Falcon.
It took a moment for Hux to place the freighter's name. Once he did, the repressed excitement in Stynnix's voice made sense. The ship was associated with Ben Solo, also known as the bounty hunter Kylo. He read on. The scouts hadn't seen Solo, but the coincidence of the two sightings was highly improbable.
Stynnix said only a week ago: "Find Ben Solo, and you'll find Kira Ren."
The only person seen disembarking the ship was a man, well-bundled against the cold. But the image taken when he unwound his scarf to speak to the manager had been run through facial recognition. The match was Poe Dameron, Resistance member and associate of Leia Organa, mother of Ben Solo. Three coincidences was all but a sure confirmation.
The scouts had tagged the Millennium Falcon with a tracker. It was a specialized type, dormant until triggered, siphoning minimal amounts of energy from the ship's external systems. It would be activated by the dimension-warping of a hyperspace jump, when it would send out a low power signal, easily camouflaged as the ship's environment sensors. It wasn't specific enough to provide exact coordinates, but the First Order would be able to surmise the sector where the Millennium Falcon traveled to.
The data pad binged with another report received, an update to the previous one.
The tracker had been activated. The Millennium Falcon was in the Endor system.
"Take the fleet to Endor," Hux commanded.
Stynnix blinked. "The entire fleet, Supreme Leader?"
Hux scowled. Obviously not. The entire fleet was dispersed, maintaining order, gathering supplies, engaging enemies. He'd meant this division. Well, if she was able to read his mind, he would be obsolete, he supposed. But when did she decide she had the right to question his orders? "This fleet, Captain. See to it that we leave within the hour."
"Yes, Leader Hux." She snapped a salute and trotted towards the bridge. Tirian and Hux watched her go.
Hux turned to Tirian. "How do you feel about capturing Ben Solo?"
Tirian's bare hands flexed. "Excellent, Supreme Leader."
A/N: Things are starting to accelerate a bit - what are your theories/predictions? Leave me a review and fav! Thanks for reading...
Next update December 6 CST