His girl is pissed. He gets the epic silent treatment in response.

It's very Rey, actually. She's so emotionally stunted. She doesn't know how to handle her feelings and she's terrible at relationships. But he won't hold that against her. She grew up feral in the desert, after all. Plus, she is very young. When Rey is confused, she retreats. He saw it on Zakuul when she hid in the Falcon. He sees it now as she takes refuge is seething, frosty silence. Each time the bond opens, she resolutely ignores him. But their connection betrays just how distressed and confused she is beneath the veneer of indifference.

The Force gets what the Force wants, and so the bond keeps opening. Kylo is suddenly his own best spy as he listens in on Republic briefings and strategy discussions. He eavesdrops on all sorts of valuable information as Rey fumes in silence. That Tatooine mission he sabotages turns out to be just the beginning. He learns hard facts about troop movements and fleet positioning, which he puts to good use in his new 'hide and seek' battle posture. For like the Rebellion he emulates, Kylo keeps his military assets constantly on the move and his few base locations secret. His commanders are a bit flummoxed at their underdog posture, but it works. He's forcing the enemy to find him, which spreads their resources thin. The Republic wastes supplies and hyperfuel chasing phantom versions of his flagship all over the galaxy. And since the First Order has hyperspace tracking technology but the Republic still does not, he is safe so long as he is one jump to lightspeed away from the enemy.

Through the bond, he also learns standard Republic protocols for mundane tasks like hyperspace jumps, supply convoys, and fleet maneuvers. It gives him more advantage. For whenever you can get into your enemy's default mindset, you can anticipate their actions. It helps the First Order to hone their ambush skills. The surprise attack becomes his hallmark offensive move. His ships arrive and launch fighters in under a minute, swarming the enemy before they can react. Just as the Republic begins to muster its defenses, the First Order jumps away to safety. It's guerrilla warfare in space. A classic hit-and-run with the goal of crippling enemy ships rather than fully destroying them.

Occasionally, Kylo indulges in total annihilation. But most days, he focuses on inflicting just enough damage to take the enemy assets out of the field of combat. Frankly, he doesn't have sufficient ordinance stockpiles for gratuitous destruction. These days, everything from torpedoes to blaster plasma cartridges are in short supply. He has to maximize what he has and develop tactics to make do with less. His officers, who are used to Snoke's blank check approach to provisioning and tendency towards overkill, are forced to undergo an attitude adjustment. But they are coming around to his point of view. As the modest, but repeated victories add up, his commanders begin to understand the wisdom of becoming a nimble, ever-mobile adversary. Kylo quotes them Mon Mothma's old adage for the Alliance: 'we win by existing.' The goal for now is to live to fight another day. So long as the Republic cannot claim to control the galaxy unopposed, the First Order is winning.

His officers are amazed by their string of successes and his unexplained knowledge. Where did he get the intel to base the missions on? Kylo tells them the Force. It's technically true plus it bolsters his Dark Lord cred by upping his air of mystery. It's way too soon to conclude that the tide of the war has turned—basically all he's accomplished in these first few weeks is to stop the downward spiral into defeat. But there's no denying that his leadership has made a remarkable difference. It earns him and his ideas respect. But more importantly, it reveals that the Force is with him. Every time the Force opens the bond to give him strategic information, it's evidence that he is in favor with his deity. God is on his side in this conflict, at least currently.

Rey naturally begins to take every opportunity to excuse herself from discussions and to duck early out of meetings. She's attempting to cut short his surveillance through the bond. Sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn't. And it does not go unnoticed.

"Rey!"

The bond is open one afternoon when his despairing girl literally flees a planning meeting she's been auditing. Rey is tense as she turns to regard her friend, the odious traitor FN-2187. "Yes?"

"What's the rush?"

"I have some training to do."

The traitor frowns and crosses his arms. "You must be training hard. We missed you at this morning's status briefing . . . and yesterday's as well."

Rey owns up to her absences. "I don't have anything to add to those briefings."

"You're there to hear them, not to give them," the General responds. He's less upset than he is concerned, Kylo sees. "Rey, is something wrong?"

Her eyes shift to him briefly through the bond. Then, back to Finn the traitor who is oblivious to his presence in the Force. "Wrong? No. Why do you ask?"

"So coy, so coy," Kylo coos for her ears alone.

Rey ignores him like usual. But he can tell he just scored a hit.

The traitor persists. "You seem distracted and preoccupied during meetings a lot."

"You know I don't agree with our strategy decisions." Rey now holds up a hand to forestall the General's anticipated interruption. "Look, I will respect our goals and we don't need to rehash my objections again. I'm trying to be a team player, Finn."

"I understand."

"You have your work and I have mine. They overlap somewhat, but not completely," Rey continues.

"Yes, for killing Ren."

She nods. "He is my priority. I really don't think I should be in all these other meetings. It's a waste of my time."

The traitor's not buying her excuses. "I know what you're doing. You're pulling back from the military like you said you wanted—"

"Yes. A Jedi's role is not as a soldier."

"During wartime, it is," General Finn counters. "Rey, you can be a Force scholar or priestess or whatever during peacetime, but while we're at war with Darth Vader's grandson, we need our Jedi fully integrated into our senior command. Look, no one is going to call on you to settle any trade disputes or to enforce treaties for taxation to outlying systems. That's not Jedi stuff. But killing Sith lords? That's a job for a Jedi," FN-2187 decrees.

"I disagree," Rey digs in, adding, "And Kylo Ren is not a Sith Lord."

"Oh, come on! Snoke was Palpatine—Darth Sidious—all along, and Ren was his Apprentice. That makes Ren a Sith Lord."

His girl sticks to her view. "Kylo Ren is not a Sith Lord. He's Dark, but he's not a Sith."

"Is there a distinction? Because if it walks like an ewok and talks like an ewok, then it's an ewok."

Listening Kylo groans. "I am not an ewok." That bit about being called Vader's grandson was good though. He doesn't mind being known by that moniker.

"Kylo Ren is not a Sith. The Sith crave power," Rey contends.

"Precisely-Ren wants his short-lived empire back."

"It's more than that. He's a true believer in the First Order's mission. It's why he came back to join a lost cause."

Yep, his girl finally gets it. Kylo watches as the traitor sighs. "It's not as lost as it once was. They've de facto ousted us from another system as of last night."

"Onderon fell?"

"Yes, and you would have known that had you come to this morning's briefing," FN-2187 points out a bit peevishly.

Rey's eyes widen as she processes the news. "Onderon is important. That's Inner Rim."

"Yes, and it's at the junction of three major hyperspace lanes." The traitor is frustrated as he looks to Rey. "You know, the more strength and territory the First Order recovers, the more important it is to kill Ren. If this keeps going, it could get out of hand."

"He won't die easily."

"Damn, right I won't," Kylo chimes in for only Rey to hear. "I have died before, you know."

Her mind is an open sieve to him. He reads her thoughts: Stop bragging. I died too. You're not the only zombie in the galaxy, Ben.

General Finn is, of course, deaf to this exchange. "Ren needs to die before they string together enough victories to gain real momentum. There was more you missed this morning. You know all those random supply heists we've been blaming on pirates and spicers?"

"Yes?"

"It's the First Order."

Rey raises an eyebrow. "Those were smalltime thefts."

"Yes, but there have been a lot of them. We finally got a positive ID on one of their dead to prove it. He's a First Order corporal in plain clothes."

Rey considers. "Are you sure he's not a defector?"

"I'm sure. Poe says it's an old Rebellion tactic used back in the day to steal munitions from the Empire and make it look like regular theft."

Rey nods along as she reasons aloud, "Kylo Ren probably knows plenty about the Rebellion . . . "

"You think? I never heard the end of that shit from my family growing up. My mother told bedtime stories about the Death Star," Kylo complains through the bond. "They all ended like this: the moon that wasn't a moon blew up and they lived happily ever after in freedom . . . NOT."

FN-2187 now warns, "The first good intel we get on Ren, we're planning a mission and going in."

"I'll handle Ren," his girl huffs.

"You can have dibs on me any day, Rey," he snickers through the bond.

She ignores him as usual. She saves her bickering for the traitor general instead.

FN-2187 wants a piece of him apparently. He decides, "You'll handle Ren with plenty of backup this time."

"No. That's not how it's done. We have to duel," Rey contends.

"No, we don't. We have to capture him or kill him, preferably the latter. No one wants a trial to give that guy a platform."

"I'll handle Ren," Rey refuses to back down. "We will duel alone."

"Negative," the general shoots her down. "He's too important of a target not to have serious backup in place. And once you kill him, we have to get you safely away."

"How is the intel coming anyway?" Rey wants to know. Only he knows through the bond that she's afraid to know the answer.

"Slowly. But be ready."

"That's why I need to be training and not sitting in meetings," Rey points out, renewing their original argument.

Sensing her stubbornness, the traitor offers a compromise. "Just come to at least half of my meetings?"

"Alright," she relents.

"Good girl," Kylo approves from across the galaxy. He wants to keep up his covert surveillance through the bond.

He takes heart from conversations like this. Rey's many little betrayals to her friends and her cause are adding up. It tells him that she wants to protect him. It reinforces that she cares. And yes, maybe there's some self-preservation mixed in there as well. But he chooses to believe that there's still hope for them as a couple so long as she is invested in him. He will let Rey stew and work through things on her own time and in her own way. He trusts in the Force that things will work out in the end. They are destiny, after all.

Besides, his fledgling comeback needs his constant attention. He can't be distracted with girl trouble. There is no end to the list of tasks for him to do. But all manpower concerns aside, his biggest need is money. It's not like the First Order can go to the big banks on Coruscant or on Muunilinst for a line of credit. He can't write a prospectus and sell shares in his government to the public. Moreover, his scratch-and-dent Empire doesn't lend itself nicely to venture capital type investment. That just leaves private investors and organized crime to fund him. Well, he'll be damned if he gives a security interest in his three remaining star destroyers to some criminal Hutt in exchange for usurious loan terms. He's likely to end up encased in carbonite decorating the wall of some seedy palace if he goes that route.

So Kylo goes to a rich guy he knows who once paid over a hundred million credits for a small, lackluster orange painting. It's a two-day journey from the Outer Rim back to Zakuul that is time he would rather not spend, but he has no better options. He tells himself that Old Darth Plagueis is no stranger to meddling in civil wars since he claims to have bankrolled the Rebellion. Kylo arms himself with a sales pitch to help him oppose the Republic in order to further the cause of balance. But if all else fails, he's prepared to beg and stroke his host's ego.

Fortunately, the creepy, towering Muun with the ruined face greets him like a returning hero.

"All hail, Darth Ren." This time, there is no trace of mockery. "Come in, my boy, come in. Tell me news of the battlefront." Old Plagueis is practically beaming at this surprise visit. "When you stormed out of here, I knew it would make a difference. I won't say you're winning, but you're no longer losing."

Kylo takes that as a vote of confidence and reports on the state of the First Order, putting a positive spin whenever possible. Plagueis is astute about military matters and asks plenty of questions. As the architect of the Clone Wars, the exiled Sith is well versed in the Rim's political grievances that are a legacy of a century of galactic colonialism. But none of those concerns will sway this wily mastermind, Kylo judges. Plagueis could care less about the plight of exploited indigenous aliens and their human settler brethren. He cares about power. He cares about the Force.

So, Kylo frames the First Order's comeback in terms of balance. Without him and his cause, there can be no rough equivalence between Light and Dark. The Jedi and the Republic will dominate. The cycle of civil war will begin again, the schism between the two sides of the Force will persist, and nothing will have been achieved despite everyone's efforts. Kylo lays on the hard sell, suspecting that since Plagueis judged him important enough to the future to resurrect him, it's not a big leap for him to fund him as well.

The Muun nods slowly as he completes his sales pitch. "Thus far, the Force has been with you," the old Sith Master judges. "But what is the goal? To battle to a draw?"

Kylo admits what he cannot admit publicly or even privately behind closed doors. "I'd be fine to split the galaxy with the Republic."

Plagueis fixes him with a measuring look and calls into question his Dark manhood. "That's heresy for a true Sith."

"Good thing neither of us is one," Kylo replies. He's conflicted and always has been. Time to embrace his nature rather than hide from it. "Darkness is my means, not my cause." This is the credo he lives by now.

Plagueis approves. "It was a relief for me to see on the holonet that your eyes are no longer yellow. Take care, Lord Ren, lest too much Darkness consume you. Yellow eyes are a warning sign, not a mark of achievement."

Kylo dutifully nods assent to this chiding. He will agree to whatever the Muun says to get his money.

Fortunately, Lord Plagueis looks satisfied. He gets down to business. "Now then, I know you didn't come here to pay a social call. What do you need, my Lord?"

"Credits."

"How many?"

"All you can spare."

"What is my return on investment?"

"The goodwill of the Force."

Plagueis harrumphs. "You'll have to do better than that."

Kylo's eyes narrow. Is Plagueis looking for power? He balks. "I'm not calling you Master."

"Settle down, my boy. I'm not looking to be Emperor of the Rim. You can be king of the deplorables. I require two things."

"Name your terms."

"A reprieve from exile. I wish to move freely within your territorial borders."

"Done. What else?"

"If you catch my old Apprentice, I want you to hand him over to me. Darth Sidious is mine to punish."

This one Kylo mulls over. "You will make him pay?"

"I will make what Emperor Vitiate did to Revan look like child's play." Plagueis' eyes now flash feral golden yellow despite his earlier admonition. It gives Kylo a glimpse of the monster who still lurks within which is the reason this hoary iconoclast cannot balance the Force himself.

He's just given one of the most powerful Sith ever a free pass to wander his Empire. Could he also give him jailor status to Darth Sidious? Has he just agreed to win back at least half the galaxy so that in time Plagueis can resurrect his old pal Sidious, make peace with his upstart Apprentice, and then steal the First Order out from under him? Because that's just the sort of powerplay this guy would do. Darth Plagueis would then finally achieve what he began plotting a hundred years ago to do. Ugh. This is a bad deal that keeps getting worse, but who is he kidding? He desperately needs the money. There is basically nothing Plagueis could ask for that he wouldn't agree to.

So, feeling ruefully a bit like Han Solo making a shady deal that he knows might blow up in his face, Kylo commits, "We are agreed."

"We are agreed," Plagueis confirms in his solemn gravelly baritone. Then he summons his henchman Milo to handle the account transfers. Fortunately, the Muun delivers in a big way. The sum he hands over is eye-popping.

"It's been a while since I funded a war," the old Sith muses once the details are completed. "Years ago, I gave Mon Mothma a hefty bank balance and used the leverage to get Maul put in charge of building her an army."

"I still can't believe you kept that quiet." Two Sith manipulating the Rebels never made it into the

history books. How Kylo wishes his mother and uncle were alive to know the whole truth of the Rebel Alliance. He himself has a healthy respect for this mastermind Muun who somehow manages to pull the strings behind the scenes for the galaxy's biggest players. Is there anything Darth Plagueis the Wise can't or won't do? Kylo suspects not. It's why he cannot be trusted.

Plagueis reminisces, "Maul was the perfect choice. He was marvelously skilled, ruthless as can be, and he had all the requisite shady underworld contacts. For a time, we stored most of the rebel supplies at his spice warehouses." Plagueis flashes a devious smile at the memory. "Maul's competitors worried he was preparing to start a gang war, but the Empire was none the wiser. Crimson Dawn was good cover. The only time Maul ever got caught was when Vader snagged him smuggling a Jedi."

"Wait—Maul helped Jedi?" Kylo blinks at this unexpected reveal.

"Oh, yes. He hunted them for years during the Purge. Maul wanted information from Jedi survivors to locate Kenobi. Vader knew it, of course. His Inquisitors would follow Maul's agents hoping to get lucky."

Kylo frowns. "Why would Maul help Jedi?"

"Mostly to prove his Rebel bona fides. Vader busted him transporting a Jedi to Bail Organa on Alderaan," Plagueis recalls aloud.

"And?" Did Grandpa kick Maul's ass? Kylo is dying to know. And wait—strait-laced Senator Bail Organa knew crime lord Maul? Who knew?

The old Sith looks bored with the conversation just when it's getting interesting. Plagueis puts him off. "It's a good story for another time."

"The Hell, it is. What happened?"

"There was no momentous matchup. Maul died by Kenobi's hand, not Vader's."

"Yes, I know. But what happened when the old Apprentice and the new Apprentice met?" Kylo persists.

"There's not much to tell. Vader refused to fight him. He disrespected Maul and let him go."

"Oh." Kylo is disappointed there wasn't more drama.

Plagueis shrugs. "Maul had his girl with him. I'm sure that tempered his inclination to fight."

"Maul had a girl?"

"Oh, yes. His gangster moll was a sweet little thing with a scarred face nearly as bad as mine."

Say what?

Plagueis notes his surprise and continues, "They were a striking pair. Two broken souls who propped each other up. There was nothing that young girl wouldn't do for Maul. And in his own way, Maul was quite devoted."

That comment makes Kylo glum. Because he has a girl who won't even speak to him. Suddenly, he's jealous of dead, impotent Darth Maul who fell from grace into ignominious crime. But who had some freak faced girlfriend who loved him and who he loved in return.

Plagueis must sense where his thoughts have veered. "Be patient with my Daughter."

"She wants to rebuild the Jedi Order."

"Yes, I saw her at the Republic inauguration. I was half tempted to journey to Coruscant to fry her with my lightning until she relented," the Sith Master complains grumpily, sounding every bit like the harassed father of a headstrong daughter he cannot control.

For his part, Kylo is a bit alarmed. "You won't do that."

"Don't be so certain."

"You won't do that," Kylo insists. At least, he hopes not.

His host now withdraws the threat. "I will be patient with her youthful rebellion for now, as should you, Lord Ren. But my patience has limits."

Darth Plagueis now slants curious eyes his way. "Did the bond reassert itself now that you're both back alive?"

"No." It's not technically a lie. The bond didn't reappear of its own accord. He prompted the bond to reappear. It's a distinction he seizes upon.

If Plagueis detects he is being misled, he doesn't let on. "I'm surprised. That bond is powerful. But perhaps in time . . ."

The less said about the bond the better, in Kylo's opinion. He doesn't want Plagueis to know the dyad has re-formed, lest he take that opportunity to use it for his own purposes. This old cretin might be bankrolling him to further the cause of balance, but it's also a form of control and oversight, Kylo recognizes. If he doesn't produce results, this shady Sith might use the dyad just like Sidious did.

So, Kylo quickly changes the topic. "Rey came to kill me."

"I see you're still alive," the Muun responds dryly, "so I must conclude she failed."

"I let her go."

"Wise move. Play hard to get. She'll come running back."

"I don't think so," he confesses his fear that too much stands between him and Rey. They are star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of a war and the Force. It would be hopelessly romantic, utterly delicious melodrama were it someone else. But it's not, and that makes him miserable.

Plagueis is firm. "She'll come running back."

"Have you foreseen it?" he blurts out hopefully.

"No. But I know women," Plagueis counters sagely. "That one is far more fragile than she pretends."

"Rey is pretty tough," Kylo volunteers loyally, knowing his girl takes pride in her ability to take care of herself.

The exiled Sith disagrees. "Don't be fooled by her bluster. In my experience, women are far less tough than they pretend, but far more deadly. It's what makes them so beguiling," he confides man-to-man.

Er . . . whatever. Kylo can't decide if that's reassuring or not. He starts fishing for information now. "How is Darth Sidious these days?"

"Same old, same old," the Muun answers vaguely.

"But you're still thwarting him in the Force, right?"

"I bedevil him . . . he bedevils me . . . this is the way it's been for decades now," old Plagueis sighs. "But it passes the time and keeps my skills sharp."

"He won't stay hidden for long," Kylo grimly predicts.

"Just long enough for you to win his Empire back for him," the Muun responds archly.

"Thank you for the credits," Kylo feels compelled to tell his benefactor as he stands to take his leave.

Darth Plagueis the Wise smirks up at him. "Don't spend them all in one place."

Spending is actually his next order of business. Before he's back to his flagship, Kylo begins running through his new cash. He buys more munitions, supplies, and hyperfuel. He disburses backpay for his troops and officers, including bonuses for those showing exceptional valor. He ponies up for new TIEs and troop transports that the manufacturer had refused to deliver until he paid in full on delivery. Kylo then pays off every overdue balance he can find in order to keep the goodwill of his weapons dealers and supply chain wholesalers. The message is clear: the credit of the First Order is good. Keep feeding our war machine and we will keep paying.

But Kylo doesn't stop there. He sends emissaries to the governments of each of his remaining worlds to deliver credit transfers with great fanfare. It's an influx of cash to be used for humanitarian relief compliments of Supreme Leader Ren. He also sends emissaries behind enemy lines to former First Order worlds now in Republic hands. These covert operatives begin their own humanitarian relief efforts unofficially by word of mouth. Keep the faith, and Kylo Ren will keep faith with you, the cash recipients are told. The First Order will take care of those who are loyal.

While they're at it, his covert operatives also pass out guns and bombs. Behind closed doors in private homes in secret meetings, local people are told to organize themselves to resist. Rise up. Make trouble. Take to the streets. Don't make it easy for the Core elites to enslave and exploit you for cheap, dangerous labor. The Republic will charge you exorbitant taxes and do nothing in return. They care only about protecting rich multi-system corporations who are accountable to shareholders not local communities. We here in the Rim can take care of ourselves. Let's prove it by taking matters into our own hands.

This latest move is yet again a nod to the past. Kylo is attempting to recreate the model of the homegrown Rebel terror cells that spontaneously emerged in the late days of the Empire. It's his way of enlisting private citizens to be his army since he lacks the manpower and resources to dislodge the Republic from the occupied worlds. Instead of a siege from without, he will launch a siege from within, encouraging his people to rise up against their oppressors. He doesn't believe these smalltime efforts will actually make much difference in the outcome of the war, but it complicates things for the Republic and it makes for splashy headlines on the holonet. Nothing undercuts the Republic's cloying message of 'we're liberating the oppressed in the Rim' than the supposedly grateful locals affirmatively rejecting that narrative themselves.

Keeping with his approach of unconventional warfare, Kylo decides to take charge of his own manhunt. Because, like it or not, he's Sheev Palpatine's Apprentice. That means he knows a thing or two about luring his enemy. And since his enemy's most fervent wish is to kill him, Kylo decides to once again set the stage for them. He will control the time and place of his own assassination attempt. Yet again, Kylo leaks information to the Republic about his upcoming whereabouts. This time, it's through independent channels just to mix things up.

Will they again take the bait? They do. The bond is open when the traitor general interrupts Rey's afternoon training session. The guy is practically panting with excitement.

"Rey, there's news," FN-2187 bursts in. "We have intel. Good, confirmed intel on Ren."

She lowers her sword and stands from her lunge. "Where is he?"

"It's not where he is, it's where he will be. We have coordinates for a rendezvous point he'll be at next week."

"Next week?" Rey is dubious as she deactivates her sword and wipes sweat from her brow. "A lot can happen in a week . . . "

"This is good intel. Ren will be in deep space next week outside the fourth planet of the Telos system and we'll be there waiting with an ambush. This will be payback for Wobani," the ex-stormtrooper vows.

"It's a trap," Kylo volunteers across the bond just in case his girl is slow on the uptake.

Rey doesn't miss a beat. "Are you sure this isn't a trap?" she challenges.

"It's not a trap. Many Bothans died to bring us this information."

Kylo snorts. "That's a sure sign of a trap."

"It could be a trap," Rey reiterates.

"It's not a trap. This is the break we've been waiting for. Be in my office tomorrow morning at oh-eight hundred. We'll plan the attack together," the general orders before he rushes off to another meeting. "Keep up the training," he calls over his shoulder as he leaves.

"It's a trap," Kylo says again.

Rey ignores him. She just glares hard at the training remote she's been using. She levitates the remote, concentrates, and then implodes it with the Force. It's a puerile response that's something he would do.

Kylo lets a low whistle of appreciation at this surprisingly Dark move. Rey's angry and worried and looking to vent her emotions. Well, she'll get no judgement from him. And all in all, seeing Rey express emotions is a good thing. This silent treatment is getting old. What he and Rey really need is a knock down, drag out fight to clear the air, he decides. Maybe this assassination attempt will finally provide a venue for them to speak in person.

The next time the bond opens, he's lying in bed. Like all military vessels since the days of the Old Republic, his star destroyer keeps Coruscant central time. So does the Republic flagship Rey is on. And that means she's lying in bed as well. In the bond, it feels as if they are a couple, sharing the same bed side by side in everyday intimacy. Except, they aren't. The distance between them—physically and emotionally—is considerable.

Rey doesn't turn her head to look at him. She just stares at the ceiling. But she knows he's here.

"Hello, Rey."

Unexpectedly, she speaks. "I need BB8 back." It's the first time in almost three weeks that she's actually addressed him. He will count that as progress. And damn, if it doesn't make him grin.

"BB8's the droid on the Falcon. I need it back," she says tersely, still staring at the ceiling.

"Okay." They have picked that droid's memory apart by now. It has yielded everything it knows. So, he has no problem returning the droid.

"What did you do to it?" Rey asks, reading his thoughts and becoming alarmed. She's very fond of that droid, he senses.

He allays her fears. "The BB unit is intact. We copied its selenium memory drive. That's all."

"For intel?"

"Yes."

"Poe's been asking for it. It's his droid."

Yes, and that's what made it so valuable. But Dameron's metal pet has served its purpose. "You can have the droid back." He'll have the unit's main drive restored back to a date before Rey went to Zakuul and she can explain that it was powered down at that point.

Rey is satisfied with that unspoken plan, he senses through their connection. That's good. He wants to start rebuilding trust with her.

Now, she has another request. "And the Falcon? Can I have the Falcon back?"

"The Falcon is mine." She doesn't like that answer, but she doesn't fight it. He's curious. "How did you explain losing your ship?"

"I didn't. But everyone knew I planned to give it to Chewie. I think people just assumed I made good on that intention."

"Where is Chewbacca?"

"He retired. After your mother died and then we won at Exogol, he felt things had come to an end for him. His heart wasn't really in trying to build another Republic . . . not without Han and your parents anyway . . . We tried to get him to stay, but he wasn't interested."

Kylo is not surprised. "He and Han Solo did very little Republic building the last time around." They took off for adventures, leaving his uber responsible mother and annoyingly earnest uncle to manage things.

"Chewbacca was never the same after your father died," Rey volunteers and Kylo senses how much respect and admiration she has for the wookiee through the bond. It makes him a little jealous.

But it's a safe topic, so he continues, "Chewie had a life debt to my father. It was sort of like this bond."

She doesn't appreciate the analogy. "How do I get the droid?"

He seizes the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting alone. "Meet me on Jakku. Come to this ambush you're planning in an X-wing. Tell them you want to be ready to land on my ship if capture is an option. I'll be in a TIE. We'll let the big ships battle it out until my guys win. Then you can pretend to escape alive. But first, stop on Jakku to meet me for the droid."

"You want me to lead my people to certain death in an ambush?"

He doesn't see the problem. "They know what they are risking. You already raised the concern that it's a trap. But like a good Jedi, you're willing to take the risk to get a shot at killing me," he reasons. "Don't worry, they'll buy it. You're the noble self-sacrificing type." The type he's nothing like. Well . . . except for that brief lapse on Exogol when she died and he killed himself reviving her.

"Of course, they'll buy it—they trust me!" Rey wails, snarling, "I hate the position you have put me in."

Yes, he can feel her frustration. He shares it for different reasons. "I never wanted it to be like this."

"This how it is!" she hisses, still refusing to look at him. It's super childish, but he refrains from pointing that out. Hopefully, she'll get the message through the bond.

If she does, she doesn't care. She keeps staring at the ceiling like she hates it. Like she's about to make the ceiling explode just like she did the remote earlier. "This how it is, and you made it like this!"

He fights to remain calm in the face of her accusations. For when they are connected in the bond, he has a tendency to match and mirror her emotions. They are a combustible mix. Whether it's anger or attraction, they have a certain chemistry between them that escalates things fast. So, trying to remain cool, he puts his preferred spin on the situation. "The Force made the bond. Our circumstances are what makes it like this. The war context is what makes us opponents. Rey, we are not natural enemies and never have been."

She objects to that statement but doesn't voice it aloud. Instead, she complains, "Why do you even want the Falcon?" She really likes that ship.

"It could be useful."

"Oh, so you're going to fly it now?"

"I might. If I need to swoop into Coruscant or onto some Republic ship to rescue you, it has all the proper clearances."

"I don't need your help."

"You might if the traitor and Dameron ever learn about us." As she fumes, he promises half-seriously, half-mockingly, "Don't worry, my love. I will always come to save you."

"Don't call me that!"

"Get used to it, my love," he retorts unrepentant. He's feeling flippant in response to her resentment. "See you at the ambush. I'll bring the droid. You bring your friends for my assassination."

She's riled up enough now to actually look at him. Rey turns her head and it's almost as if they are mere inches apart. Close enough for a kiss if he leaned in far enough. But alas, the mood is anything but romantic. "Your overconfidence is your weakness," Rey hisses.

"No," he purrs into the bond, "my weakness is you, Rey of Jakku. Haven't you figured that out?"