Chapter summary:

The future is nigh. Galaxy is being restored in the democratic image. But what are the plans of the young, aspiring Jedi and the other half of her dyad?

Author's note:

So, here it is. The chapter I accidentally wrote because my fingers flew across the keyboard and I couldn't stop myself. Here is my vision of post-war Galaxy and the role of Ben and Rey in it. Hope you'll enjoy!

Episode IX: Victory of the Dyad

Chapter 16 – Future Plans

The battle they had fought that day was one of the many. The expectations of the Resistance and their firm belief that everyone preferred freedom over oppression and manipulation went to ruin the moment they encountered the reality. The amount of people loyal to the late Emperor as they zealously fought tooth and nail for the ridiculous notion that the Empire could be reborn was startling.

Not even the strenuous effort to liberate planets and stars systems, to imprison and trial the Sith cultists and the treacherous generals of the First Order was always met with ovation and gratitude. Reality was simply diverse. Yet, the major part of the Galaxy still supported them in their endeavour and shared their view of the world. And so, they pressed on because they made it all worth it.

The turbulent war had what any other star wars should – new and old allies coming together to destroy the adverse party of their enemies. New heroes rose amidst the unknown to stand up for their cause and unexpected traitors tended to appear from the most unexpected places, eventually falling as villains. Blaster bolts flew through the air together with the debris of destroyed starships and lightsabers glowed in the darkness as the beacon of hope they were.

To restore the peace in the Galaxy and her sense of duty had always come first but Rey also regarded Ben and his redemption as one of the most crucial things in the raging conflict. She firmly believed in his renewed path towards the Light, albeit he kept – carefully, but still – drawing on the Dark side to make use of his full potential. However, the accumulated power was always applied for the good and never for committing something malicious.

The importance of such a conduct was clear as it served as an example of the mitigating circumstances. Sooner or later, the war would be over and the Resistance would proceed with forging the future they all fought for. The difficult and complicated process included trials and punishments of those who had once stood on the other side as their enemies. Ben would naturally be one of the first defendants to answer for his crimes.

When the day of his trial came months later, Rey wondered what had changed since her assumptions proved to be wrong. Since the hunger for vengeance against the First Order had been sated during the victorious war, there was barely any thirst to extend that wrath on Ben, too. Contrarily, the time he had served during the war and his information that had always been valuable were more than highly appreciated.

So, instead of a trial, he had to go through its inferior version – a hearing in front of a neutral committee. They didn't intend to acquit, sentence or punish him, but they meant to find a viable way to reasonably control his free will. It was essential that he possessed the same rights as any other common citizen of the forming republic but in a restricted scope, nevertheless.

His crimes couldn't be entirely forgotten or wiped out of the existence. They still needed to make sure that he would be prevented from the recurrence of the vile deeds he had perpetrated. And so he could do whatever he wished as long as the vital decisions about his life – like his position in the future republic in which he would have a key, irreplaceable role, his whereabouts and the people he was allowed to interact with – were consulted with and supervised by the Resistance.

A list consisting of multiple points to which he was either supposed to say 'yes' or allowed to disagree with a 'no' was written down to determine his future within their organization. None of the points were negotiable as a simple approval or a dismissal were quite enough to know what his stance on the matter was and whether it was a waste of time to adjust it for the next hearing session or not.

Since she had forsaken all intentions to become a member of the committee due to the obvious conflict of interests, Leia operated as an ordinary onlooker of the proceedings. To support her son was important to her more than anything else as she generally preferred to spend more time with him and cherish each other than forcing her way to the front lines of the politics.

She still provided her priceless wisdom and shared her invaluable experience. But however revered, honoured and respected she was by the others, she knew that her time was up. She had done everything she could to secure free and democratic future of the Galaxy but its shape and form was a work for the young and promising ones. Such was her sentiment she didn't intend to abandon.

Besides, she was delighted to observe all the young blood she had seen to rise on the occasion multiple times and their diplomatic endeavours. Without her intervention, many of them had also become Ben's sympathizers because he simply gained their favour. During all the weeks they had all spent together holed up on the Falcon, Poe, Finn and Rose found a common ground with him that eventually led to a strong and unbreakable friendship.

While they understood the wrath and the atmosphere of distrust floating around Ben, they didn't wish to regulate his behaviour. Especially since it seemed that many used his crimes as a secondary ignition to express their displeasure with the decision of his mother to step down and leave the leadership to someone else. The thorn in their side was that she rather chose to be with her son instead than to directly participate on the renewal of the Galaxy to its peaceful state.

Ben was thankful for them and their invaluable contribution, albeit their voices weren't strong enough to grant him full freedom. He would actually accept any kind of control over his decisions, including the nonstop surveillance of his location, sending regular reports about what he had done in the previous month or whatever else the Resistance had in mind to implement in order to keep the tabs on him.

As long as he was with Rey and his mother, as long as he could see them every day and nurture the respective relationships with these two women, he was willing to endure whatever it took. They were the reason why he had humbly accepted most of the reasonable monitoring suggestions, albeit while gnashing his teeth, exhibiting his occasional indignation only where no one was around.

But there was one significant point he couldn't get behind. A point that became a cornerstone of his hearing and no matter how many times he had chosen to refuse it, the committee always introduced it again, unrelenting in their insistence. He wouldn't probably despite it as much if it was negotiable and if it wasn't foisted not only upon him, but also upon Rey.

The Resistance planned to restore the Jedi Order with him and Rey as its prominent figures.

In a way, he understood the sentiment and motivation behind the controversial decision. And although he knew – as a former leader himself – that it would be extremely difficult to conform to the majority while doing their best to keep the minority appeased, too, he actually kind of liked what the Resistance had in mind to do to re-establish the peace in the Galaxy, or at least in the greater part of it.

They acted rationally and most importantly, responsibly. They listened and they learned from the mistakes of the past. All recent models of government – from the Galactic Republic to the New Republic, from the Empire to the First Order – were an inspiration to consider. Through reasonable consensus and democratic decision-making, they strived to create a republic that would implement the best and dispose of the worst.

Jedi Order and its governing body, the High Council, were logically one of these elements they would like to revive. In their opinion, Jedi should again become what they had once been with certain modifications – they should be peacekeepers who raised their weapon and used their powers only to collectively defend, to protect and to guard all the nations united under the forming republic.

Since Ben and Rey were probably the most powerful users of the Force the Resistance had known, the management of the Order and the recruitment, as well as training of the new members rested squarely on their shoulders. Any other surviving Jedi scattered around the Galaxy either remained hidden and undisturbed by the war, or they simply lost their interest due to their age and trauma.

That is why they understood that to rebuild the Order would take some time as Rey had barely trained in comparison with the Jedi of the Republic era and Ben had abandoned his studies before he could even progress to the rank of the Jedi Knight. However, they demanded their commitment and loyalty to the cause right away. And Ben resented paying such a price for his absolution and freedom without having any influence on what rules would be adopted.

"As I've said many times before," Ben didn't even attempt to sound somewhat calm when the question had been raised again for an umpteenth time, "no, I do not agree to participate in restoring the Jedi Order."

The room began to vibrate as many attendees, including some of the members of the committee, collectively groaned and the others started to whisper something to their neighbours amongst themselves. The atmosphere reeked with frustration and exhaustion from all sides as it could be expected from getting the same answer all over again, week after a week.

"I do not agree to restore it under the proposed terms." He added for the first time he had been asked this question and the people in the room suddenly fell silent, surprised with the unexpected development. "But I am open to debate and suggest what can be changed to make me change my mind. Let's discuss this point and find a solution that would be to the contentment of all."

"You are in position to negotiate." A strong female voice boomed across the open space between them, piercing him with her fiery eyes. "We can still reverse our deals and trial you for your crimes instead."

Ben, steeled by experience, held her gaze and refused to back down. He had no intention to prove everyone that the committee had always been diverse in its opinions; he simply hated the whole "if you don't do what we want, you'll be brought to justice" treatment he was getting from some of the members. That and he hated to be pigeonholed based on the legacy of his family – again.

"And you know what? I might actually welcome the trial than to be forced to do the unacceptable. Or better, let's skip it and just execute me right here and now to save the trouble." He challenged the woman that who-knows-why, albeit her reasons were probably justified, hated his guts.

"None of you understands the Force. You can't control how I harness the Force. You can't control how I use the Force." He looked around and lingered a few seconds with his eyes on each member of the committee. "Unless you accept that and learn to trust me, then I'm afraid we're over."

He didn't yell and yet, his voice was loud. He didn't throw a tantrum and stormed out of the room and yet, his message was clear and his exit resolute. Once he turned on his heel and took his leave, the room fell into a deafening silence before it erupted in a lively discussion, bordering with heated arguments and futile attempts to resume the order. A casual onlooker got lost in the chaos pretty quickly.

Rey exchanged one meaningful look with Leia and once she received her confirming nod, she stood up and quietly left the room to follow Ben and talk to him. Her pace was unhurried because after all those weeks he spent on the base, he had already found his favourite spot to sulk so she knew where to find him. And he needed some time alone to cool off, anyway.

Besides, she was a partial source of his frustration. Night after night they discussed his hearing in the merest detail, but she refused to assume a definite attitude towards the idea of restoring the Jedi Order. He didn't push her to change her neutrality, but she knew that it irritated him and would rather prefer if she had taken a side. After all, he was also fighting for her free will.

Yet, his wish remained unheard and unanswered because she had always quickly changed the subject. During all those battles she had fought against their enemies, she realized that the Jedi – or whatever shape or form the peacekeepers should have – were indeed needed. As a respected fellowship, who else was better to guarantee and protect the hard-won peace than the legendary altruistic wielders of the Force?

Her renewed enthusiasm in the Jedi ways had also been extensively motivated thanks to Ben. After relentlessly fighting side by side, he was unable to come to terms with her insecurity to call herself a Jedi, so he had begun to share with her some of the Padawan training he still remembered to show her that her self-consciousness was misplaced. What he'd been taught, she'd already known and controlled.

On the other, perhaps a little bit selfish hand, she couldn't imagine herself without him by her side. She completely understood why he detested that the Resistance wanted to be the one to reform the Jedi Order and compile the set of rules that should be observed. Unfortunately, only a few members of the committee identified with her and Ben's opinion that the new code should be formed by the people who wielded the Force than by the bureaucrats.

Torn between what should and needed to be done for the greater good and what was best and tolerable for Ben and their relationship, she simply couldn't decide what or who to support. Sure, these two ways could coexist with each other and she could follow the path of the Jedi while Ben would contribute to the shaping future of the Galaxy in some other way determined for him, but she didn't want to do it alone.

He had just bent down to scoop up more pebbles into his hand so he could angrily continue in his endeavour to ruffle the smooth places in the already burbling streaming water when she found him. It was almost adorable to observe him doing something so... mild to let loose his frustration, as opposed to the usual and understandable displays of violence on whatever happened to cross his path.

Stilling for a moment before throwing another stone inside the river, he sighed deeply. "I'm not going back." He growled over his shoulder and threw forcefully another pebble into the depths of the wild stream. "Not right now at least."

She said nothing for a while and just watched the hypnotizing flow of the water. "I don't intend to force you to go back." She eventually responded in a calm tone. "If anything, I actually want to apologize."

The frown of confusion etched into his face so deeply that she could feel her own features contort into the same expression. He turned around to face her with an unspoken question mirroring in his eyes as she slowly approached him to provide him the answer. "When I persuaded you to come back home, all I wanted was to reunite you with your mother and to prove that you're not as bad as you seemed to be. To make people understand why I see you the way I do." She told him, toying nervously with her fingers but maintaining a direct eye contact with him self-confidently.

"I never... I didn't know that they would pressure you to rebuild the Jedi Order and demand so many guarantees to keep you in check." She admitted although she barely regretted making him to go with her.

Unable to keep looking at him without feeling an ounce of shame, she lowered her eyes. With a gentle touch on her jaw, though, he turned his gaze back to his. "I know." He assured her with such tenderness in his voice that she almost melted on the spot. "But I also recognize their right and need to subjugate me. I hurt so many of them."

"Ben, you aren't responsible for everything the First Order did." She disagreed with a resolute shake of her head.

He smiled because he'd always found her unrelenting urge to protect him adorable. "Maybe I'm not. But someone has to be hold responsible and that someone is me. I know that. They know that." He said dispassionately and placed his palms on her cheeks, gently massaging her jaw line with his thumbs.

She realized that he had internally made a decision that matured in him over the time. And because he had hidden it from her, she began to fear what he had in mind to do. "I'm so sorry it isn't working the way you imagined, Rey." He continued in a realistic tone and with sober eyes. "I tried to make it work. I gave it my best. And the Resistance did too but some of them will always see me for the man I was, not for the man I want to be."

Her attempt to speak up and cease his speech failed when a sob she instinctively suppressed jammed inside her throat. "And I want to be myself." He continued as he moved his thumbs upwards to caress her trembling lips. "The legacy of my family has never allowed me to find out what does it really mean. Now, when I finally have the chance... I think it'll be for the best if I leave."

To his surprise, she didn't oppose him but swallowed whatever words were forming inside her mouth and sent him a compassionate look instead. "I feel you." She sympathized with him because she could sense this desire burning inside him through their bond. Not to mention that she could relate to the dream to do what she wanted just because she could and because she felt like it.

He smiled and brushed his fingers over her lips once more to savour their dryness before he claimed them and moistened them with his own. He hadn't shared this idea with her not for the lack of trust but because he assumed that she would be angry for the sacrifices she had to make, hurt that he intended to leave without consulting it with her and accused him of not trying enough. And instead, it seemed that she agreed with his proposition.

"I know it won't be easy to reach such an agreement since I'm 'in no position to negotiate' but I believe they will be well-disposed to this idea more than to the stalemate we are in right now." He mused aloud and caressed her full cheeks as he watched her beautiful hazelnut eyes. "I will understand, though, if you choose to stay."

She identified well the invitation to join him and leave the Resistance behind hidden within his words. "The Force will always bring us together, no matter what happens." She repeated the words she had once said to him, taking his hands and clasping them between hers with considerable and surprising success. "But I'll go wherever you will."

"I don't want you to leave your family and your friends for me, Rey." He protested immediately because it felt as he was degrading her and pressuring her to conform to his views. "You've already sacrificed so much."

Kissing their joined hands, she smiled sweetly. "My friends are going to be just fine without me. They reap the harvest of their hard work and do their best to rebuild the Galaxy and their lives." She said calmly and ruffled his raven hair. "But that's not for me because I have no political ambitions. On the other hand, I don't want to be average, either."

His attempt to tell her that she was everything but average was halted when she pinched his lips together between her fingers. "I helped them win the war. And now it's time for me to become the Jedi they and I personally wish to be." She continued just as dispassionately as he had mere minutes ago. "For that, I need to gather as much knowledge as I can to understand what it truly means, and train both the combat and harnessing the Force to strengthen my connection. Since it's not something I can do at one place, I would have to leave one day, anyway."

Once she freed his lips from the prison of her fingers, he launched at her and kissed her passionately to express his joy and happiness. "But where we will go?" He asked her between the short breaks they had to make in order to inhale some fresh air into their lungs. "I don't have a home and you don't have one, either."

At first, she didn't responds and instead, took her time to slow down the kiss to gradually cease it and yet taste him to the fullest. "Do you remember what I told you on Falcon when you asked me what we would do if the Resistance didn't let us land but attacked us instead?" She whispered into his ear and untangled her hands from his hair so she could look into his eyes.

He gave her question a thought and once the realization dawned on him, his face began to twinkle with excitement. "That we would fly far away." He repeated the words she had said earlier and had to bite his tongue to prevent the squeal forming in his throat. His dreams were finally coming true.

"Then let's do just that. To understand the world, I need to see it first so let's fly far away and explore what the Galaxy has to offer." She suggested with an adventurous shade in her cheeks. "Let's suggest the Resistance that we will be the ambassadors of peace they want us to be but for now, in a different way. Let's promise that we will spread the goodwill and put in a good word for them on whatever planet we will be."

His smile had never been as wide as it was at the moment and his head was bobbing enthusiastically to accentuate and agree with every word she was saying. Her idea was actually a pretty good way how to alternate his negotiation strategy during the hearing. He could reason that they would search for Jedi knowledge first, honing their skills in the process and then they could sit down again and talk about re-establishing the Order once more. In the meantime, he would get more alone time with Rey while still welcomed among some of the Resistance members who appreciated his redemption.

"That might actually work." A familiar voice interrupted their endless affectionate stare that would certainly lead to another kiss if they weren't discreet enough in the display of their feelings in public.

Leia smiled at them in return when they turned around to face her, their arms linked so their bodies were in the closest contact possible. "Propose this motion and agree to some additional conditions and I'm sure they will let you both leave." She continued as she approached them with the help of her cane, watchful of the mud and slippery fallen leaves under her feet.

While those two probably had no idea that a similar proposition circled around among the members of the committee for a significant while, she didn't have to explain why she was so confident about what she'd said. They all knew very well that the Resistance had many other tasks on their hands and some of their members considered the hearings and the constant pushing to the commitment to re-establish the Jedi Order as a waste of precious time they could devote to doing something much more fruitful.

The thing was that whatever was left of the New Republic was incapable of regrouping to such a degree that the Resistance had to assume the responsibility for the upcoming future. Many wouldn't have it any other way, after all, since it had been mainly the merit of the Resistance and their resources that ended the shattering Galactic conflict. They hardly wished to be displaced so their years-lasting effort would go down to the drain.

But it meant a lot of hard, strenuous work that had to be done with a clear, unbiased mind. With the help of the remaining planets of the New Republic and their senators, ambassadors, diplomats and other politicians, they began to build a new senate through democratic elections organized by each planet so they could start implementing legal acts and make their decisions as legitimate as possible.

Those, whose planets had been destroyed, occupied and not yet liberated, or made uninhabitable, were also given the opportunity to be elected. The same went for the new allies the Resistance and their vision of the future were attracting. The governing body was elected to the agreement of all once the senate had had enough members to guarantee a just election system and its members rotated at the Chancellor seat every month.

Aside making agreements with the new and old allies, they also had to look for a new seat of their political operations. The base on the Ajan Kloss wasn't inflatable, let alone representative enough to receive delegations from other planets who wondered who exactly was in charge, who they should talk to about their problems and who to offer their help (or how to profit from such an alliance).

Allies and their home worlds played a key part in repatriation of the stormtroopers, surviving victims of the war, and people who had had lost their home in the raging conflict and desperately wished to have a new one. Some of them were also involved in the protection programme of those who had decided to betray the enemy and for that, they had been awarded with a new identity and peaceful life somewhere far away.

A credible and impartial judiciary system also had to be established to trial and sentence those who didn't show a single shred of remorse for their actions. Prisons with considerable security had to be built in order to lock away such criminals for eternity because the Resistance and the newly forming senate refused to implement the capital punishment, rather choosing to show their humanity than to thirst for exemplary gory executions.

Nevertheless, to maintain the order even by using the force, the military had to intervene to solve individual conflicts. Recruiting additional pilots, troops, guards, social and humanitarian workers and other required personnel, they did their best to keep the conquered planets away from disarray, provided humanitarian aid to war-afflicted planets and whatever else was needed from them.

To prevent as much as financial loss as possible and to balance out the desperate need for credits to fund their operations and its general existence, strict rules of trade were implemented. However, it meant that they had to uncompromisingly deal with opportunistic forces like pirates and smugglers who sought to take advantage of the situation to their own profit.

All that was just a fraction of the issues the Resistance had to do something about and fix. Leia knew better than anyone how intricate and exhausting process it was to rebuild something that had been broken for decades as she had been there once already. And perhaps she was the one who had slipped a certain idea into the minds of certain people to do the best for her son because she considered the need for his immediate commitment to this specific cause as unwarranted.

In the end, restoring the Jedi Order was barely an urgent priority. No matter how shabby it might sound, the military had to be the force that maintained the order and peace at the moment. They could be withdrawn and replaced by the legendary peacekeepers once the situation was stabilized enough. Rey and Ben could use that time in between to deepen their knowledge, refine their skills and decide whether what the Resistance asked of them was even in their powers. Both sides could eventually reverse their current opinions as the time went so why to uselessly wrestle right now?

"I wanted to make this work, Mum, I swear." Ben said apologetically with nothing but genuine sadness in his eyes. "You've given up so many things for me and I've never appreciated something more. I want to make up for the time we lost but—"

"—don't you dare to say how sorry you are." Leia dismissed his apology with a raise of her hand and calm smile on her lips. "It's your right to choose what you want to do. I'm not making the same mistake again and decide what's best for you, no. Instead, I will support you in whatever you need."

If he had been able to do so, he would have crushed her under the mighty hug he enveloped her in for being such an amazing and understanding mother she had grown to be. It saddened him that they wouldn't be able to keep a daily contact but he swore to himself that he would do his best to communicate with her across the galaxy as often as it was possible and visit her regularly to nurture their relationship.

As if she read his thoughts, she freed herself from his embrace and caressed his cheek. At the time, she had no idea that she would accompany them on their trips more frequently than she allowed herself to believe. "No need to worry about me, I will always find something to entertain myself. And I'm quite sure we will see each other just as often as if you stayed." She pointed out because the Resistance would surely employ him quite enough in the endeavour to rebuild the Jedi Order as soon as possible.

"Do you think that we will be allowed to keep the Millennium Falcon or we will have to purchase our own ship?" Rey peeped uncertainly when Leia turned to her and hugged her tightly, as well.

Their immediate future plans were clear to her as a blue sky on a sunny day so it was fairly obvious they were in the need of a comfortable, spacious ship and not just some transport shuttle. "It's yours." She assured them both and took their hands into hers to seal the deal.

When she caught an adventurous gleam in the eyes of her son, she smiled to herself and stepped back. Without any effort and without knowing, he could be so much like Han. "Why do I have the feeling that you've already chosen the first destination of your travels?" She asked him to the utter surprise of Rey who hadn't even had the chance to consider where she would want to go and what she would want to see.

"Yes, I do." Ben nodded in agreement, both excited and nervous as he looked over at Rey and then turned his head back. "And I need your help, mother, to find out where the destination is."

"Consider it done, Ben." She vowed in response and winked conspiratorially at him. "What do you need me to do?"

To make them aware of his intentions, he slowly reached for the hilt of his lightsaber that surprisingly remained unchanged. The lateral vents still created a notional crossguard because he simply didn't have the heart to get rid of them. For a couple of silent seconds, he rubbed the switch as if he pondered how exactly he should prove his point but then he ignited the blade resolutely.

"Long ago, I honoured the tradition of those who fell to the Dark side and bled the crystal inside this weapon to bend it to my will. I poured as much hatred and frustration I could muster for the legacy of my family that, in the end, the crystal cracked." He explained more to his mother than to Rey because she'd been familiar with the story. "As a result, the blade was unstable and unusually hued."

He twirled the hilt between his fingers out of playfulness and smiled. "The crystal healed on its own when I achieved my redemption, stabilizing the blade and above all, its colour. However, this tint no longer represents who I am or who I want to be." He continued and watched his mother to nod in understanding while she warily stared at the bright red plasma blade.

"As I don't want a new weapon or a new crystal since both are with me since my Padawan days, I have no other choice but to reverse the process of bleeding with the help of the Light side of the Force." He confessed firmly and Leia turned her gaze towards him because she sensed that he was about to reveal why did he need her help. Rey, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes because she had no idea what the hell did he have in mind.

After disengaging his weapon and clipping the hilt back to his belt, he made sure to look at both women in his company. "But since I have no idea how to do it, I need to find the Jedi Ahsoka Tano, the former apprentice of Anakin Skywalker." He declared in a serious tone as his mother parted her lips in awe because she recognized the name. "She's probably the only one I know of who managed to purify a kyber crystal and is likely still alive."

Rey smiled up at him and ruffled his hair to praise him for such a wonderful, self-knowledge idea that showed how much he had grown over the past few weeks. She sensed that he had reservations about his lightsaber – which had become evident during the battles they fought together side by side – but she attributed it to the loss of the crossguard he had been used to for years.

"Unlike my father, Bail, I have never had the honour the meet with her in person. But she did invaluable things for the Rebel Alliance and our cause." Leia mused aloud, biting her bottom lip in regret. The secretive, mysterious Togruta was nothing but a hologram in her aging memory because while they had interacted in the past, their exchanges were limited to holographic messages and transmissions. "I wish I knew where she was."

As Leia undoubtedly believed, she and Ahsoka had been mutually unaware of the connection tying them together. Bail would have never disclosed her ancestry to someone who had been once so close to her biological father but not for the lack of trust; her father had simply honoured the pledge of secrecy he had been asked to maintain. He had openly lied to his allies for years rather than breaking the promise and losing the trust of those he swore to protect.

The former Jedi Padawan surely knew this so if she had ever learned the truth, she wouldn't have held it against him. It still hadn't prevented her from disappearing out of the radar of the Rebels entirely, leaving nothing but rumours behind – rumours about her death while she supposedly battled with Darth Vader himself, rumours about her resurrection through some mysterious dimension called the World Between Worlds or rumours of her involvement in the search for the Jedi and Imperial admirals.

She had never gotten in touch since then, not even when Luke had made it clear that anyone, especially the surviving Jedi scattered across the Galaxy, could have come forward without the fear of being persecuted and helped him to renew the Jedi Order and its glory. Leia had been occupied with other duties and obligations to pursue any kind of official search while respecting the right of those who could have met her to be tight-lipped about their experiences.

But maybe, as Leia had just realized, the key to her location lied further in the past. Her source might have been a bit outdated but it was worth a shot. "Actually... I think I know where to look." She announced with a triumphant rub of her hands, glad that she could brighten up the face of the young couple in front of her and disperse their disillusion.

Half an hour later, the trio sat down to the table inside the personal quarters of the former princess so she could show Rey and Ben the results of her search. In front of her lay a perhaps obsolete, but still functional datapad into which she had just inserted one of the last remaining datacrons her father had given her. Considering all the things she had been through, it was a miracle that the storage device was still in her possession.

Bail was always careful when it came to storing data and entrusting them into someone's hands but it was a necessary thing to do if one wanted to keep a good track of their own activities. He also made sure that he had enough back-ups to pass on the people he trusted just in case one of the storage devices was lost and he needed an access to the required information.

Smart as he was, he didn't just encrypt the data to prevent their misuse if they fell into the wrong hands. The most important data were also specially coded so they would remain hidden if someone searched for them but didn't know where to exactly look. They would have to go through the folders file by file and hope that they did understand what was right in front of their eyes.

Leia was his daughter and a loyal ally, so she was privy to his methods for longer than she could even remember. Now, when she knew what to look for and where she should search for it, it took her but a few minutes to find the otherwise cleverly concealed data. "This is all I have." She informed them and turned the datapad on the table around so they could see what she meant.

F-Sigma-148.16-Sigma

Rey and Ben stared at the combination of letters and numbers in confusion, trying to decipher what exactly it could mean because the possibilities were manifold. "It's a subspace frequency specifically assigned to Ahsoka Tano." Leia satisfied their curiosity with a patient clarification. "Most of the secret operatives and spies had their own so they could contact the handful of us who knew about the existence of such frequencies."

Sitting back, she pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh and narrowed her eyes at them. "I know it's like looking for a safe passage through an asteroid field," she apologized sincerely with a phrase she used to hear from Han, "and I can't guarantee the frequency is still traceable since it's quite old. But maybe it can help you to narrow the search area and eventually pinpoint her probable location."

Since Ben obstinately gazed at the frequency with a glower as if he was trying to torture the letters and numbers to reveal their secrets, Rey was the one who broke the silence. "How old the frequency is?" She asked as she leaned forward with her head between her hands, chewing on the insides of her mouth pensively.

"Forty years, give or take." Leia responded with a sudden absent-minded look on her face as if she was momentarily sucked back into the past. "I don't know when her last contact with my father was or if they happened to change the frequency in the meantime."

Ben tilted his head quizzically and his eyes began the roam all over the device in front of his eyes. "Can you access the local systems of this base through this datapad?" He finally asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen to make an eye contact with his mother.

"Of course I do." She responded with a hint of feigned hurt in her tone but the smile on her face betrayed her. Since the local systems were password-protected, she had to reach across the table and snatch the device back into her hands. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"Whatever logs the Resistance obtained from the First Order." He stated his request confidently as he reached for Rey's hand to squeeze it and assure her that he believed to find more accurate information this way.

One of the major points of the peaceful coexistence of the Resistance and the remnants of the First Order was the crucial need to share true information. Both sides then exchanged most of the data they could and that they had in their disposal to increase the chance of smooth cooperation among officers, troopers, pilots and other members that had once stood on the opposite sides of the conflict while preventing any accusations of hiding something.

Ben had used to spend several hours a day looking through these logs to uncover even the subtlest hint of the location of Luke Skywalker. So when his mother handed him the datapad, he immediately knew what files to access and where to begin to search to get the right and accurate results. Still, it was a shot in the dark with uncertain outcome but he would be damned if he didn't try.

"To detect any insurgent tendencies, the First Order patrols used to scour whatever sector they were in – including monitoring foreign transmissions and detecting unusual signals." He explained briefly when he caught the questioning glances both women were sending in his direction. "If they had ever picked up Ahsoka's frequency, it should be registered in these logs."

Drumming his fingers on the table as he waited for the search to finish while Rey and Leia exchanged an appreciative look, he froze and held his breath when the desired results finally displayed. "Got it!" He exclaimed happily, his fist shooting triumphantly in the air as if he had just bested his archenemy in a battle. "The frequency was picked up in the Bakura sector five years ago."

"In the Wild Space?" Rey wondered with a frown, proving her enthusiasm in the geography of the Galaxy because she could name every sector and tell where exactly it was. "What would she be doing there?"

The Wild Space was a lawless, largely unmapped part of the space where dangerous worlds and species were believed to exist and reside. Rey didn't exactly believed everything she read or heard but she had no doubt that the truth was somewhere in between. In the best case, it probably meant dealing with pirates and smugglers and she had had enough dealings with those already.

"I suppose that's up to you find out." Leia suggested with a smile. She wasn't surprised with the location at all because from what she knew about the Togruta, she had never stayed in one place for far too long to avoid her capture. It was only a matter of time when the generally inhabited regions would become too small for her.

Ben did nothing but raised his eyebrow imploringly and even like this, he'd been more adorable than ever before. Rey didn't have the heart to deny him the self-improving wish he had come up on his own and actually began to see the exploration of the Wild Space as a challenge. With an approving nod, the first destination of their upcoming future had been chosen.

The agreement was negotiated in what seemed to be a blink of an eye. Those members of the committee who had previously insisted on Ben to implicitly commit to the cause of restoring the Jedi Order, excitedly agreed with whatever proposition he came up with. Once the word spread that the young Jedi and the redeemed son of their general intended to find the legendary Ahsoka Tano, they were much more responsive and understanding.

Ultimately, they were about to do what was asked of them – honing their skills, refining their knowledge and deepening their connection to the Force. If anything, their intended trip was a self-discovery attempt to reach understanding of themselves as a dyad and to find harmony and balance in their minds and souls. As far as the officers knew, such a journey was needed and essential for their plans.

And while Ahsoka might not be exactly interested in directly helping them to restore the Order – consider her past and her age – she was still regarded as a very resourceful and respected person. Her list of acquaintances and friends was endless. To point the young pair in the direction of those right people who would actually be interested in their cause was more than likely and worth the effort.

Outside of these requirements, Rey and Ben had to agree to several conditions that were perhaps hindering but understandable. Regular reports, to be available whenever the Resistance asked for their assistance and participate on the solution of any ad hoc tasks related to their mission and other, smaller and less significant demands that couldn't be omitted, however, were all part of the deal they struck.

Once these matters were settled, the pair started working on the essential preparations for their departure. Millennium Falcon wasn't only in dire need of repairs and general technical inspection, including a proper cleanup so they could store food and other supplies without constantly tripping over them, it also required certain modifications to suit their current needs.

And despite their vehement protests, their friends decided to throw a pompous farewell party on the eve of their takeoff to show their appreciation and affection they all had for both. Most of them were still fairly tipsy when they saw them out as they boarded the freighter after waving their goodbyes and giving a few hugs. It made their goodbyes unforgettable, touching and comical for which they were grateful.

However, it was the time to leave. These were their first steps together.

The End of Chapter 16

This one and the following chapter were written before and in the middle of the time Ahsoka appeared in The Book of Bobba Fett so it entirely disregards that part of her life. I rather chose to focus on what the rumours about the upcoming live-action show tell and what we know from the Season 2 of The Mandalorian.

By the way, the signal 'F-Sigma-148.16-Sigma' does have a purpose and it's a code name for something. I can't even give you a candy when you guess it right but I'll be honoured if you at least try.

See you next month!