He's winning.
Finally, someone has the guts to say it aloud in an open meeting: Kylo Ren and the First Order are winning.
A little more than six months after Ben's unexplained dramatic return to power, the tide of war has shifted. The Republic leadership will never admit it publicly, of course. But muttered comments off the record between colleagues in hallways and over lunch finally are spoken behind closed doors in an open meeting setting. There is a moment as every looks around at one another warily. Then, the room erupts in voices speaking simultaneously. Everyone has a different explanation for why it has occurred and how to fix it. But everyone agrees that Kylo Ren is winning, and it's terrifying.
He lacks Snoke's Starkiller Base and Darth Sidious' Final Order armada. But the damage from those weapons has already been inflicted. Hosnia is gone along with the Republic fleet, and the remaining Resistance and Republic military assets are limited. It's why the Battle of Exogol had to be fought with a mostly volunteer civilian force that has since disbanded. Under the leadership of Kylo Ren, what's left of the First Order has turned out to be a formidable opponent against the diminished Republic military.
It seems hard to recall, but just six months ago victory appeared to be merely a cleanup operation. Planning for elections within a year seemed doable. But now, Kylo Ren is ambushing Republic convoys weekly to devastating results. The individual raids are small and quick, but the results add up. The small Republic fleet is down by a third in four months despite the absence of any big battle. Efforts to cut off the First Order supply lines and hyperspace routes have been a miserable failure. The enemy is simply too nimble—it adapts immediately to the change in circumstances and finds alternatives. Thus far, the Republic has only succeeded in locating one of their hidden base locations, and it was already abandoned. Again and again, the Republic's missions fail. What few victories they achieve have no lasting consequences. Most importantly, no one seems to be able to catch Kylo Ren. Already, he has easily evaded two assassination attempts. Once a week, he's on the holonet rallying his supporters and throwing shade at the Republic. It's galling.
Meanwhile, the Rim worlds are plagued with civil unrest and the entrenched First Order seems more popular than ever. No one thinks there's any real possibility of a stormtrooper revolt now that the fighting men and women of the First Order are heralded as local heroes. Selfies with stormtrooper friends and relatives are a perpetually trending topic on the holonet, despite attempts to suppress those images. For the populist First Order loves to crow that they are fighting the war for the everyman Rim citizens. That Kylo Ren uses troopers as cannon fodder seems to get lost in the narrative. Memorials for dead soldiers killed in action become local rallying cries for dissidents. People take to the streets for massive funeral processions honoring the fallen as First Order firebrands whip the crowd into an aggrieved frenzy. Riots tend to follow.
As Rey feared, the Republic's strategy to dismantle the First Order's local civic infrastructure has been a disaster. If anything, the First Order's thrall for local communities seems more robust than ever. Because when the Republic moves in to shut down health clinics, community centers, and food banks, it radicalizes even heretofore apolitical citizens who depend on those resources. They might have paid mere lip service to the First Order rhetoric before, but they hate the Republic now, and that matters. And still . . . in back alleys, out of family garages, from the trunks of speeders, and from behind closed doors . . . communicated by word of mouth, by comlink text blasts, and on temporary apps using messages that quickly disappear . . . First Order humanitarian relief, medical treatment, and credits keep flowing. For like all mafias, cults, and cartels, the Rim fascists zealously tend to their own. They offer protection and win loyalty even as they also demand devotion to their us-versus-them cause. Some of us are family, their underground social welfare says silently; the rest are infidels. Take this food/credits/assistance and go do your part to topple the Republic.
General Finn is very frustrated about the situation. He is losing ship after ship and ceding control of strategic systems and cross-galaxy hyperspace lanes at an alarming rate. Even worse, there is a lot of unconfirmed enemy chatter about the First Order taking the war to the Core. Is it a bluff? No one is sure. A lot of the First Order military strategy involves deliberate misdirection. But still . . . that risk has everyone spooked. The Core systems are fine to fight a war lightyears away to protect their access to raw materials and cheap labor. But no one wants the war close to home where their own systems are at risk. The example of Hosnia is still very fresh in everyone's minds. No one doubts that Kylo Ren and the First Order will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Back on Coruscant, Poe is worried. His relationship with the new temporary Chancellor is testy at best. But the only way to get rid of her is to hold elections, convene a new Senate, and elect her replacement. That seems a far-off prospect now with many Rim systems in semi-open revolt. The Republic was supposed to be liberating those planets, but somehow they have been miscast in the role of invaders. How did this happen? Poe is flabbergasted at how the Rim continues to fall prey to fascist charlatans generation after generation. Why don't these people want freedom? What's not to like about democracy? Poe doesn't get it and he never will, Rey fears. Someone shows him the First Order's latest trending holonet hashtag #Rimlivesmatter and he swears.
Naturally, all the growing concern prompts a lot of soul searching and frank conversations. And that puts Rey on the hot seat since as a Jedi, she's viewed as the Republic's best chance to bring Kylo Ren to justice. She enthusiastically does her part eavesdropping on Ben's mind. She pulls all sorts of information that she relays to her colleagues. How does she know? The Force told her, Rey answers. But it's not enough. Ben knows what she's doing and he begins to employ strategies to deter and mislead her. His habit of indulging in sexual fantasies is especially irksome. In the end, not all of what Rey tells the Republic turns out to be correct. She is embarrassed on occasion as a result. For she too falls prey to the First Order's misinformation campaign.
But since the Force bond is a reciprocal connection, Ben is in her mind every bit as much as she is in his. Unfortunately, he's got a lot more experience than she does messing with people's minds. That makes him particularly hard to resist. Ben keeps plucking important mission details and rendezvous points from her subconsciousness. It means Rey continues to act as his unwilling embedded spy. Many lives are lost as a consequence. It piles on more guilt. Rey cries about it behind closed doors where no one can see.
Poe and Finn separately take her aside to demand that she help plan another assassination attempt. She refuses, and both times it gets heated. What will killing Ren achieve, she challenges. The problems in the Rim are more than mere rhetoric. Killing Ren won't solve them. Finn tells her she's being foolish and selfish. Poe outright accuses her of being disloyal. And truthfully, she is being disloyal to the Republic's cause by failing to disclose the depth of her personal involvement with the enemy.
But Rey continues to see killing Ben as a disastrous outcome. He'll be a political martyr and the Rim will be a mess for yet another generation. Worse still, the Force will be displeased. That means it will send another Dark disciple to take up the cause of pushing for balance against the Republic and the Light it represents. Who's poised to step into Ben's place? Rey fears it will be Darth Sidious.
And so, miserable Rey persists. She feels trapped in her web of lies. She feels trapped in the dyad with Ben. She feels trapped in the role of Jedi Master she is ill prepared to serve in. But what is the solution? Should she confess? If so, what might the consequences be? Rather than mess with all that, Rey decides to go straight to the remedy. What would Finn and Poe demand if they knew the whole truth? They would kick her off Team Republic in a heartbeat. She's a huge security breach.
That's not what she wants, but it seems like the best solution. Earlier, Poe had told her to take some time on her own to do some soul searching about her priorities. She never took him up on that offer. In fact, she resented him for it at the time. But now, she goes to Poe and tells him she's taking his advice. He's fine with her absence, telling her to come back ready to kill Ren.
Whatever. Frustrated with her situation, enraged at Ben's ongoing manipulation, and increasingly disenchanted with Finn and Poe's leadership decisions, Rey leaves the Republic for an unspecified time and an undisclosed location.
In other words, Jakku.
Perhaps some would think it strange that she chooses the harsh wasteland world as a refuge. For she suffered there for years in lonely, violent poverty. But now that hardship is behind her, Rey also sees that Jakku taught her strength, resilience, and resolve. Awful as it was, all that pain empowered her in a fashion. Perhaps there is some truth in the what-doesn't-kill-me-makes-me-stronger Sith teaching, she ponders.
But this homecoming isn't an act of masochism. It is not an expression of self-loathing or an act of self-destruction. She's not like the drunk who compulsively reaches for another drink in a time of crisis or the junkie who will do anything for more spice to forget his problems. The truth is far more psychologically simple: Jakku is full of familiar problems Rey knows how to solve, unlike the rest of the galaxy. Because back on Jakku, if you have food, water, and some scrap, you are winning.
Still, this time returning to Jakku feels like defeat. Rey had expected to move on to greater things. She helped to win a war and was poised to do bring peace, justice, and freedom to the galaxy. But all that is over, at least for now. She has been very effectively sidelined by the Force bond. She hates Ben for it even as she recognizes the Force's role in it. The Force is with Ben and it is aiding and abetting his discord. Perhaps knowing how she strongly feels, the Force has quieted the bond between them lately.
Rey has been back to Jakku before, but this is the first time she intends to stay. As she begins the landing cycle on her X-wing, Rey feels old anxieties rise up. Is this a mistake? Doubts and fears creep into her mind. Rey pushes them aside.
She lands her X-wing adjacent to the toppled AT-AT walker she used to call home. There's another scavenger squatting in it now. She chases them away. This is the law of the desert in action: finder's keepers . . . if you can keep it. For on Jakku, ownership is a matter of offense and defense. You only own what you can take and hold onto. There are no law courts out here to deliver justice.
The interior of the walker has changed very little since she left on the Falcon. But glum Rey still senses how different things are now. For it's true what they say: you can't go home again. That's not a statement on where you are, but a statement of who you are. Because you can return to a place where little has changed, but you cannot go back to being the person you were when you left. Too much has happened. So when Rey returns home now, she looks on home with fresh eyes as a changed person.
She has grown enormously from the scavenger waif who rambled wrecks day in, day out. For starters, she now knows she has the Force. That means Rey has little to fear from rival scavengers, opportunistic slavers, and Unkar Plutt's thugs. It also means she no longer fears starvation and thirst if she cannot find sufficient scrap. She has alternative means to obtain what she needs now. Moreover, she lives here now because she chooses. Not because of any self-delusion that her family will appear to claim her. She's not a child in need of saving or a damsel in distress. She's a Jedi Knight who can take care of herself.
But she also wants to take care of others. Maybe she won't be doing that in the Republic until the war is over. But Rey is still determined to make a positive contribution, even here on Jakku. For what is the point of having her power if she doesn't use it to help others?
Improving Jakku starts with removing the influence of one man-Unkar Plutt. Plutt controls the food portions, which means he controls everything. Jakku remains a barter economy where credits have no meaning. The proxy currency around here is food, with hydration tablets a close second.
Unfortunately, the Crolute is notorious for his fickle favoritism and casual cruelty. The man is indifferent to suffering. He only cares about himself.
Sure enough, when Rey wanders over to the Niima Outpost, she sees that not much has changed. Looking around, Rey quickly categorizes the populace into the powerful and the powerless. There are the loitering spacers, smugglers, and slavers who come and go to lie low on Jakku, hiding out from pursuing bounty hunters, off-world law enforcement officers, and spice dealers they have double crossed. Those people can leave this forsaken place. Then, there are the local thugs who work for Unkar Plutt as his enforcers. They have relative status and security, so long as they remain on the scrap boss' good side. And then, there's the long line of dirty, hungry scavengers waiting at the trading kiosk for their turn to bargain. These people are marooned on Jakku with no possibility of escape short of striking a deal with a spacer, smuggler, or slaver who may or may not honor it. They toil in the hot sun dismantling old ships in exchange for subsistence. There is no social safety net to help them and no ladder up to a better life. This is all there will ever be for them, and it's awful.
Watching from off to the side as Plutt strikes some deals and refuses others, Rey aches for the plight of her fellow scavengers. With the war very much on her mind, she sees depicted here the cause of the galaxy's current conflict. For like it or not, this poverty is the reality of the Rim, and it is why first the Separatists, then the Empire, and most recently the First Order have found a foothold. Because out here is where the empty promises of the Republic cut deep. Here is where general lawlessness has citizens poised to welcome a harsh message of law and order. For what good are individual rights and democratic freedoms if there is no one around to enforce them? That slavery persists more than a hundred years after its abolition is evidence of the Republic's complete ineffectiveness. The bitter truth is that galactic democracies have come and gone, and nothing ever changes.
That's why for generations now, impoverished forgotten Rim worlds keep joining up with the outlying industrial systems and the many marginalized non-human worlds to form a persistent coalition. Once they were the Confederacy, but now they are the First Order. But through the years, they have remained a populist reform movement with an anti-Establishment, anti-Core message. Kylo Ren did not create the Rim's problems nor is he the first to lead their insurrection. He's just the latest in a long line of Dark warlords to champion their cause of revolution.
No matter how the war ends, things are likely to remain the way they are on Jakku, Rey knows. Her world is a sparsely inhabited haven for criminals that's off the main hyperspace lanes. Neither the Republic nor the First Order will ever bother to spend the resources necessary to clean up and develop Jakku. It's a rational decision. Both governments set priorities to maximize their return on investment. They focus their efforts where they can do the most good for the most people. That means Jakku loses.
But she can still do good here.
"Unkar Plutt!" Rey bellows the name of the hated scrap boss.
It gets his attention. Plutt nods to an underling and then emerges from behind the kiosk. The big, bloated Crolute is slow and ponderous as always. But still, he has plenty of menace. He looks her over silently before he croaks out, "Well, if it isn't the girl who owes me a ship. Where's my freighter?"
It's not lost on any of their onlookers that this is going to be a confrontation. The line of scavengers waiting to trade for portions disperses fast as people keep their distance. Most fights on Jakku are physical, but Plutt and his men are known to use blasters. No one wants to get caught in the line of fire or hit by ricochet bolts.
Plutts' men also sense the brewing fight. One slams down the window of the kiosk, indicating it is closed for business. Others come to stand behind their boss with weapons drawn.
Rey is one woman against six men, but she has a lightsaber and the Force. She likes those odds.
"You stole that freighter," she accuses. Unkar Plutt stole the Falcon from the Irving Boys who stole it from Ducain who stole it from Han Solo. The Crolute was just the latest thief in a dubious chain of custody.
Plutt shrugs. "I scavenged it. We salvage everything around here. You know that."
Rey now fesses up. "I don't have the freighter."
"Where is it?"
"With the First Order . . . who you betrayed me to for credits when they were looking for a droid," she snarls. Because for Plutt to claim that he is the victim here is pretty bold given the totality of the circumstances.
The Crolute doesn't bother with a denial. "You should have sold me that BB unit. I offered you plenty."
"It wasn't for sale."
"Everything is for sale. Everyone has a price," he answers.
"Not me," Rey hisses. She steps closer to the Crolute as she boldly denounces him in a voice that carries. "Unkar Plutt, you are cheat! You don't bargain fairly. You don't treat people the same. You take advantage of your leverage and you victimize others with it. You have many, many lives on your conscience."
Plutt is unconcerned and impatient. "What's this about?"
"I'm here to make you answer for your crimes."
The statement makes him scoff. "There is no law on Jakku."
"There is me."
Plutt steps forward now. They are at most four paces apart. "Careful what you threaten, girl," he growls, as his men move to surround her. "I'm in no mood for this today."
Neither is she. Rey's sword leaps to her hand and ignites. The distinctive snap—hiss—hum makes everyone within earshot flinch.
Does anyone recognize who she is now? Rey has been all over the holonet in Republic news reports as a Jedi. But if that impresses Plutt and his gang, they don't let on. The Crolute's eyes flick over her blue blade. "Ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side."
The comment prompts Plutt's men to raise their blasters and take aim. She's standing in the midst of what is a circular firing squad in the making.
Rey keeps her cool. She focuses her mind on her anger at Plutt's reign of corruption and casual injustice. It ends today, she vows silently. But only Plutt needs to die, she decides. Feeling magnanimous, she warns his brutes, "Stand down, or else you will all die with him."
Plutt sniffs at this bravado and orders, "Kill her."
The Crolute's men open fire from all angles, but Rey anticipates them. She leaps high with the help of the Force and the men end up firing shots at nothing. One shot even downs one of their own. Rey quickly dispatches the rest as she lands on her feet swinging. In the blink of an eye, her attackers all lay in the sand in bloody, dismembered pieces.
Seeing what he's up against, Plutt caves fast. Feeling powerless for perhaps the first time, the bully is suddenly contrite. "I have been wrong . . . I see that now."
Rey doesn't care. She is lusting to kill.
As she raises her sword to strike, Plutt actually sinks to his knees in the sand. He begs, "Have mercy, Jedi," in dramatic fashion.
The words stop her. Suddenly, Rey is unsure of herself. Should she let Plutt go so long as he abandons Jakku? If she does, how will she ever be certain he won't return to reclaim his position? And will he just move on to victimize others on another system? Rey stares hard at the ugly, bloated alien, thinking of all the dead souls that he is responsible for. It girds her resolve, for Rey remembers all too keenly the feeling of hunger.
"Have mercy, Jedi," Plutt begs again.
But her mind is made up. She will do what must be done. Plutt will be punished and his example will be a warning to others.
"Have mercy!" Plutt is still groveling in the dirt, his arms outstretched to beseech her. The Crolute's humiliation is very satisfying, but it does nothing to move her.
Rey speaks loudly and clearly for all to hear. "I do not absolve the guilty. Unkar Plutt, you should die slowly. You should suffer for the years of pain you have caused. But today I will give you a quick, clean death. That is my mercy."
Then, with one stroke, she strikes off the Crolute's head. It rolls to join the scattered pieces of his dead henchmen.
Rey has killed before in combat. She knows the feel of death in the Force. She experiences it now. In fact, she relishes the Crolute's comeuppance. This is justice . . . served with a tinge of revenge. Rey refuses to feel bad about that. For this man and his followers do not deserve her compassion.
What is the difference between revenge and justice? Does it matter if you kill in anger or with resignation? Darth Sidious thought it did, but Rey is not so sure. Dead is dead, no matter why or how it occurs. And like for zombie Sith Lords on Dark worlds in cheering arenas, Rey will give no pretext of due process for the Crolute's sentence. She is satisfied that Plutt is guilty from her own experience, and that's enough. Is this punishment vigilantism? Maybe. But she's fine with it. Plutt had it coming.
"You there!" Rey singles out a local she recognizes as a decent enough guy. She appoints him Plutt's successor. "You run the kiosk now. Run it fairly or you will answer to me as well."
The stunned man nods mutely.
Others in the small crowd of onlookers nod mutely as well.
Her work here is done. Satisfied, Rey walks off alone into the desert.
The next day, she's on her way back to the outpost to check to see how the trading kiosk is operating under new management when Rey comes upon four men on speeder bikes approaching a woman with her child. From the looks of the ambush, they are slavers. Do they want the woman? Or the child? Maybe both.
Well, not on her watch, Rey decides. Normally, she would turn and run the other way for self-preservation. But she's a Jedi now, and she has nothing to fear from slavers. Time for some more desert justice.
Rey throws up a hand and freezes the scene with the Force. The woman is caught struggling against an attacker. Her boy is frozen in the act of being thrown over some man's shoulder. Rey rushes to intervene. She grabs back the child and disentangles the woman. "Run!" Rey orders as she loosens her grip on their two bodies with the Force.
The pair don't have to be told twice.
Once they are safely away, Rey lights her sword and unfreezes the four slavers. "What do you want with those people?" she demands.
"We'll take you instead," one of the men answers as he draws a blaster.
That's all Rey needs to hear. Before any of the four men can pump off even one blaster round, she has finished them with her sword. The desert is strewn with blood and limbs. It's a gory sight. Unbothered Rey decides it is self-defense. She claims one of the deadmen's speeder bikes as the victor's spoils and leaves the rest for other scavengers. Then, she heads for the Niima Outpost.
Those first two incidents make Rey feel better about returning. For Jakku has a deep emotional meaning for her and already some of that is welling back up despite her efforts. It's good things—like pride in her self-reliance and stubborn determination to survive. But it's bad things as well. Like a creeping sense of futility that feeds an even more insidious undercurrent of desperation. Rey balms over it all with affirmations about her power. No one on Jakku can make her feel small, insignificant, or victimized any longer. She has been set free by her power. And now, she is using her power to make things better for everyone, like a Jedi should.
That sets her off on a mission to rid her homeworld of criminals. She starts hanging around the Niima Outpost to watch for arriving ships. She mostly ignores the smugglers and spice runners. Often times, they hire locals for odd jobs like ship repairs, cleaning, and maintenance. That benefits everyone. But Rey makes it a habit to stalk and kill the slavers. She wants to end the idea that Jakku is a source for women and children to be stolen and trafficked across the galaxy.
It gives Rey a purpose and it sharpens her skills. In fact, in just a few short days, she can sense that her power has grown. She feels stronger, so she must be doing something right. Maybe she didn't need Luke's books after all. She's been self-taught for everything else—why not also the Force? Encouraged, Rey starts thinking big. She lifts a few small wrecks with the Force to practice her control. She's working her way up to the challenge of lifting a star destroyer when the bond opens.
Rey starts out ignoring Ben like always. Then, it becomes an argument and she's stuck defending Republic decisions she doesn't agree with. Finally, just to shut Ben up she tries lifting that star destroyer she's been eyeing. It works. He freaks out and yells that he's coming for her.
Great . . . just great.
The next morning, Rey vents her frustrations on a scavenger she sees jump another scavenger without provocation. But that good deed doesn't take the edge off her frustrations. Luckily, another slave ship soon lands to lay low on Jakku. Rey is slicing through the crew when the distinctive howl of a TIE fighter sounds overhead. The dual wings that make a TIE so maneuverable in space also produce the telltale noise of its approach. It's not a sound heard often in the Jakku skies. It gets Rey's attention.
Ben is here.
Rey lowers her sword and looks up to see an entire squadron of TIEs flying escort to a familiar black shuttle. With tall wings that fold up like a bird of prey come home to roost, the heavily armored craft begins its landing cycle. Even at this distance, Rey knows who's aboard. The bond signals the advent of Kylo Ren, the unlikely soulmate the Force has chosen for her, like it or not.
He said he would come, and come he did. As deceptive as Ben is, he never lies to her.
Rey stows her weapon and throws a leg over her speeder bike, gunning the engine as she leaves behind five bodies in the dust. She heads for where the shuttle and its TIE escorts are landing. Unless she's mistaken, it's directly adjacent to her old AT-AT.
Sure enough, as she pulls up to her recently reclaimed homestead, she meets her visitor. Ben didn't come alone. He has a small army of troopers with him. They wait in the heat, sweating in white armor, while their leader is in his usual Prince of Darkness regalia. Even in the extreme heat, Ben looks disconcertingly dashing. He is such a distinctive presence to her mind and to her eyes like always.
Rey decides to play it cool. She pulls up, hops off her bike, and puts her hands on her hips.
"Well . . . if it isn't the most dangerous man in the galaxy," she calls as she saunters up. This is her turf and she refuses to be intimidated. Stormtroopers do not concern her. She has the Force.
Ben eyes her closely. He purses his lips with displeasure. "You're the dangerous one. You were killing someone when we landed," he accuses. "Don't deny it. I felt it."
Rey shrugs as she comes to a halt. She is proud of what she is doing here. "It was just some slavers. They come looking for people to steal and sell. Mostly women and girls, but sometimes young boys too. You don't want to know what people buy them for."
"I don't care who you kill," Ben informs her bluntly. "I care that you enjoyed killing."
What double standard is this? She huffs, "Oh, you are one to talk—"
"This isn't you!" Ben cuts her off. His voice is concerned and his manner agitated. She's picking up uncomfortable emotions in the bond now. Ben is afraid . . . but afraid for her, not of her.
Has she just stepped off her Force princess pedestal and disappointed him? Well, tough. "You don't get to decide who I am—"
"This isn't you! Something is wrong. What has got you upset?" He looks around in disgust and gestures to her humble AT-AT. "Why are you here? Why are you living like this? Rey, what is going on?"
She scowls across at him, mentally tallying the troopers he brought and calculating just how much Force push it will take to toss them all over the nearest sandbank. Ben meets her eyes and she knows he knows what she's thinking. He frowns some more because he disapproves of her aggression.
Again, she's annoyed at his double standard. Rey snarls, "Did you bring your whole army? Is there a capital ship in orbit as well?"
"Yes. This might have been a trap. Your friends are panting to kill me."
Oh. "Oh." She's hurt by the assumption that she might betray him. She came here specifically to avoid that outcome. Rey is stung. "You don't trust me?"
His lip twists. "You've been in my head for months trolling for military secrets—"
"Like you've been in mine!"
"Rey, what's wrong?" he demands again. "Forget the troopers—tell me what's wrong."
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" she screeches, her voice rising in pitch and volume. "You actually have the gall to ask me what's wrong?" That came out shrill, but she's angry.
Ben takes a step forward. "I never thought I'd see you with yellow eyes."
What? "Yellow eyes? Oh, please . . . "
"Yellow eyes, Rey." He's serious. "When I saw you in the bond lifting that ship, you had yellow eyes."
"I did not!"
"You did."
Did she? Could she? No, of course not. "That's not true! That's a lie!"
Ben's reply is slow and quiet. "You don't even realize it, do you?"
"Realize what?"
"That you're using the Dark Side."
"I am not!"
"Rey, I can help you—"
Not a chance. "Stop judging me by your own example! You're the one whose eyes turned yellow when you marched back to the First Order! This is because I shot you with lightning the last time I saw you, isn't it? Get over it!" Ben deserved that lightning after how he has treated her. Rey refuses to regret it.
He starts talking slowly and softly. It's in sharp contrast to her defensive hollering. "I'm not judging you. I want to help you. I know how those eyes feel."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine."
"I'm FINE! And my eyes are fine!" Even in that scary vision on Endor, she didn't have yellow eyes. Whatever Ben thinks he saw through the bond, he is wrong. Absolutely wrong. And there was no need for him to come running across the galaxy to save her.
Ben starts talking in a slow cadence now. Like she's an out-of-control junkie high on spice with a blaster in her hand or some suicidal person teetering on a high ledge. He's acting like if he makes one false move or says one wrong word, there could be terrible consequences. Ben is very serious as he holds out his hand and invites, "Come back with me. Let me teach you how to control your aggressive feelings. This is dangerous, Rey."
Really, that's unnecessary. "I AM FINE!" She shoots him a resentful look. Could he be gaslighting her? Because that's something he might do. Ben would definitely lie to her to convince her that she needs him.
Ben's in her thoughts. He warns, "I know that paranoia well. There will be obsessions soon too, if not already."
Rey fumes, "Is this your version of an intervention?"
"Is it working?"
"No! I can handle myself. I know Jakku."
He nods to placate her. "It's not Jakku I'm worried about. Rey, I just want to help. I know you don't want this. And I know how much you don't want to be here." He's in her thoughts and he sees how defeated she feels being back home. How she felt she had no better options.
Well, that may be true, but it's not all bad. Rey lifts her chin. "I am doing good things here."
"Killing people?"
"Bad people. Look, you are no one to judge! You don't know how things are here." No one knows just how violent and hopeless this place is. But at least she can do some good here. Indignant Rey staunchly proclaims, "I will bring peace, justice, freedom, and security to my old homeworld."
Ben blinks, gulps, and repeats his earlier lines in that same slow voice. "I don't care who you kill. I care that you enjoy killing."
She cringes at the suggestion. Moreover, she's offended. "I am not Dark! I will never be Dark! I am a Jedi trained by Luke Skywalker—"
"Who was Dark at times despite all his efforts!" exasperated Ben thunders over her. She sees in his mind a flash of the memory of Luke's saber lit at his bedside. She feels the rush of betrayal that memories of his uncle always trigger. "Luke was a Chosen One, like you! He was equally capable of being Dark and Light—like you! Rey, whatever is wrong, I can help. I know what it means to be conflicted. I know how hard Darkness can be to control."
Yes, she is conflicted, but conflicted about politics, not the Force. And Ben is mostly to blame for her conflict. He is the one who restarted the war and put them in the awful position of being enemies who are bonded. And now, she's torn between her loyalty to the Republic's cause, her desire for balance, and the undeniably alluring, always persuasive, and lately surprisingly charismatic Kylo Ren. It's a terrible predicament that Rey does not know how to resolve.
"You are the problem! You are why I'm here! I'm failing everyone now—"
"No! You have not failed!" He won't hear of it. "By leaving the Republic, you are choosing balance."
"It feels like I am choosing nothing," Rey wails. "And now you're here to pretend to rescue me when this is what you wanted all along—for me to join you."
Ben frowns. "I have never wanted you on the Dark Side. You know that."
"I'll never join you!" How many times must she say it until the message gets through?
"You're pushing me away again."
"Yes! Exactly! I want to be left alone! I came here to be alone!"
"You're not alone."
Whatever. She sighs, "This war keeps raging on and there is no end in sight . . . "
"We're winning."
"I know! And I don't know what that means . . . "
"I hope it means peace and order and balance." Ben takes another step forward. "I hope it means us together."
Not a chance. Did he not hear her just tell him she'll never join him? Rey lashes out. "I think I hate you! I hate you for the bond . . . for restarting the war . . . for winning the war . . . " And for killing Han Solo and for destroying Hosnia and for being such an amazing kisser and for how he acted in Snoke's throne room and for so much more. She could go on and on with all the ways this man confounds and disappoints her.
Ben holds up his hands to forestall her litany of complaints, telling her sagely, "Don't give in to hate. That leads—"
"To the Dark Side?" she jeers. "Here! Feel some Dark Side." She lets loose some Force lightning.
Ben dodges it. Barely. But now all the troopers behind him aim their weapons at her.
"Stand down!" Ben waves them off. Then, he shoots her a reproving look. "That was a cheap shot."
"Next time, I won't miss," she retorts.
He ignores her. "Two days. That's all I ask. Give me two days and then you can come back here and play queen of the desert and rearrange the star destroyers if you want."
Does he think she's stupid? "I can't be seen with you! One of your guys is going to accidentally on purpose snap a picture of me on your ship per your orders and then I'll never be able to go back to my friends." She doesn't have the cover of a supposed assassination attempt this time.
"I wouldn't do that."
"Of course, you would!" This is a man who forced the dyad bond on her. Ben is capable of anything. Rey cocks her head and informs him, "You know, part of me really wants to kill you like they want me to do."
He shakes his head. "Search your feelings. You can't do that."
"Don't press me, because I might," she threatens, adding, "Do not underestimate my power!" for good measure.
Ben's not impressed or intimidated. If anything, he seems to pity her. "Is it that bad?" he asks softly.
She answers with more Force lighting. She's just so angry and disappointed with how things have turned out. "We should have run away together . . . we should have left it all behind and let the galaxy sort itself out without us . . . " They might have been so happy together.
"I know." Ben wisely refrains from saying 'I told you so.' Instead, he sighs, "It's too late for that now," as he climbs to his feet.
Heedless of their audience of aiming stormtroopers, Rey wails, "Can't we find some portal to the World Between Worlds and go back and fix it?"
"You know about that?"
She nods. "It was in Luke's books."
"I wish we could do that . . . really, I do." She sees in Ben's mind now how many important decisions he would do over again with the benefit of hindsight. "But that's not how the Force works. We have to live with our mistakes and their consequences. Other people have to live with our mistakes and consequences as well."
"Like all the lives lost since you went back to war?" she sneers. It's a low blow, but it feels good.
"Like those six slavers you just killed," he answers.
"Five," she corrects him. "Five today and four yesterday."
"Do you feel better?" It's a serious question.
"Yeah, I guess . . . a little. Why?"
"Maybe you need to just get it out of your system."
"I regret nothing!" she hollers indignantly, stamping her boot in the sand for emphasis.
"Yes, I know . . . " Ben answers glumly. "That's the problem." He motions to an officer now. "Unload the supplies. Stack them where she wants them."
The officer begins barking orders and the troopers start to retrieve boxes.
"What is this?"
"Supplies," Ben answers. "This should be enough food and water to hold you for a week. Since you won't come back with me, I'll be back to check on you. Here." He tosses her a comlink. "Find me if you need me."
Rey looks down at the personal comlink to Supreme Leader Ren. If the Republic had this, they could reverse engineer a call and locate his precise location. This is an assassination attempt in the making, and a good one.
Ben knows it, too. "I'm trusting you with that," he warns, wagging a gloved finger her direction. "Don't let me down."
He has a lot of nerve making that remark after all the times he's let her down. And whoops—that thought just leaked across the bond.
Still, staring at the comlink, Rey commits. "I won't give this to the Republic. I'm here to avoid all that."
"Good."
But just so she's not coming across too demurely, Rey adds tartly, "I won't help them kill you. Instead, I'll come kill you myself."
"Is that a promise?" Ben smirks. "Because I have died before . . . "
"Oh, don't start! You're not the only one who's been dead, you know—"
"So true, so true. You're welcome, Rey. You're welcome for the gift of life."
She hates to be reminded that he saved her on Exogol. "Go away! Don't you have a war to fight?"
"You know, in some cultures, if you save someone's life, they are indebted to you—"
"It's worse for us," she snaps back, "since we are bonded. I'm stuck forever with you!"
"Yes, and that makes me feel responsible for you." Ben drops the mockery now and worries, "I don't want to come back next week and find you with Sith eyes and your saber out."
"I am a Jedi!" she screeches. "I bring justice!" To prove the point, she lights her blue blade and brandishes it.
Ben all but rolls his eyes as he motions his men back on board. "So be it, Jedi. Try not to kill everyone on the planet with your benevolence."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I want better for you than this." Suddenly, Ben is very much the Force philosopher who taught her on Zakuul. Gone is the posturing, provoking Dark warlord, replaced with the resigned young man who struggles under the weight of his family's legacy. This is the man few but her get to see. It's also the authentic self who explains the riddle of Kylo Ren. For all this man does—whether he is acting or reacting—is with his personal purpose of balance in mind. But no one save her and Darth Plagueis actually knows that.
And so, while his listening men are confused, Ben announces solemnly, "I will trust in the Force that this is your destiny in action. That your path, like mine, will meander but still move forward."
She hotly rejects the comparison. "I'm nothing like you!"
"We are the same!" he hisses. "Pushing to the middle from opposite extremes. One day," he predicts, "you will meet me in the middle. Neither Dark nor Light, but something in between."
"I'll never join you!" She rejects him again. Rebuking this Dark devil prince like a good Jedi should.
He sees things differently. "If you don't meet me in the middle, then we both will have failed. This—this—" Through the bond, Rey knows he's searching for right words to describe her current state. "This—this Dark detour of yours must be for a reason. Because while the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends towards balance. And so, I hope, in time will you."
"Go away! I don't need saving! You're the lost soul!" Rey sneers above her humming sword.
Ben doesn't holler back. His words are disarming kind, but firm. "I can help you, I can protect you, I can even revive you from death, but I can't save you . . . just like you can't save me."
"I know . . . oh, how I know . . . " She tried . . . she really tried at Crait. She gave him the perfect setup and he refused.
Ben knows what she's thinking. He nods. "Ultimately, we save ourselves or damn ourselves. The Force gives us free will to choose. Follow the will of the Force and be a hero, or stand against the Force in vain defeat. Rey, I'm leaving now. I'm leaving you in Darkness. I'm telling you to seek balance for both our sakes. I can be patient, but the Force will only give you so many chances. Heed the example of Luke Skywalker."
With that emphatic speech, Ben leaves.
Don't be Luke Skywalker. That's what everyone tells her for different reasons. It's frustrating.
But at least Ben is gone, for now. Dejected Rey ducks into her AT-AT to escape the sun. Inside she retrieves her hidden datapad to watch the newsfeeds with today's war reports. Next, she reads the hardline Chancellor's latest polemic is against the First Order. Everything the Chancellor says is factually correct: the First Order is an existential threat to freedom and democracy that must be stopped. The problem is the means to stop them. For as the Chancellor proclaims publicly, all options are on the table because the Republic must remain intact at all costs. There will be no compromise with the evil, untrustworthy First Order.
From her vantage point, wary Rey sees the Republic slowly sliding down the slippery slope into its own version of repression. It's stamping out legitimate dissent under the guise of sedition. It's openly considering whether to ban First Order candidates from the upcoming elections. If so, it will continue to govern the Rim under martial law. That's not freedom and democracy for all. That's freedom and democracy for the Core. Ben is right that nothing will change for the Rim under this newest Republic. His people know it too, and that means they have nothing to lose by continuing to fight. Even if the Republic eventually prevails, Rey fears it may cost them their ideals.
It's discouraging to see righteous Republic lawmakers adopt an 'ends justify the means' political approach that is excused by the ruthlessness of the enemy. Admittedly, a little paranoia is appropriate where the First Order is concerned. Because remember Hosnia? But still . . . where do you draw the line? How far can you bend the rules before you break them?
Will the Republic betray its values and lose itself in the process of saving the galaxy from Kylo Ren? Poe and Finn wouldn't be the first well intentioned people to make the wrong decisions. Can they see that? Maybe not. Sometimes we are too close to a situation to view our actions objectively. We see what we intend to do, not what we actually do, Rey laments.
But if the Republic is headed down the wrong path—maybe even a Dark path—what does that mean? And whose side is she on? Rey's beginning to think that there is good and bad on both sides of the war . . . that there are villains and heroes amid both the First Order and the Republic. Moreover, it is increasingly worrisome for her to know that the Force is mostly with Ben lately. He's winning, and that matters.
Her comlink rings to interrupt her brooding. It's Finn. Should she pick up? She does. Mostly, it's to hear a familiar voice that's not Ben. One week on Jakku and she's achingly lonely again.
"Rey, how are you?"
Drat. She screwed up and answered with full hologram video and not just audio like she planned. Oh well. She flashes a fake smile. "I'm fine."
"Back on Jakku?"
"Yeah."
"I wish it were anywhere but there."
She puts a good spin on it. "I'm doing good things here."
"Yeah? Tell me."
"I've been chasing away slavers and improving the trading post. Making it more fair."
"That all sounds good. I need to hear good news."
"Did something happen?"
"Nah, it's just more of the same. A lot of people died today . . . like every day. It gets me down. And the longer this goes on—"
"The longer it will continue," she finishes.
Her friend nods. "Things are getting entrenched. I'm beginning to fear this war won't be over any time soon." General Finn sighs heavily and ventures hopefully, "You ready to come back yet?"
Finn sure doesn't make it look appealing. "No."
"I can accept that you won't kill Ren."
"Can Poe accept that?"
"I'm working on him. He'll come around in time."
"He has a very different concept of the Jedi than I do."
"That's true. I'll be honest," Finn admits, "I don't understand why you won't kill him."
She borrows Ben's earlier words. "In some cultures, when someone saves your life, you owe them a life debt."
"Don't fall for that. Rey, the way I see it, Ren has manipulated you very effectively. He's taken the one person in the galaxy who is his peer who can stop him and set you on the sidelines."
"That's true." Looking at the concerned face of her first ever friend, Rey wishes the Force had bonded her with Finn instead of Ben. Why did she have to get stuck with the provoking Ben Solo whose truths are as seductive as his person? Why couldn't she be bonded to safe, earnest, good Finn?
The former stormtrooper now worries, "Do you really think Ren's going to let you live long-term? You're an existential threat to him like Skywalker was to Snoke."
"I know."
"Are you getting this? Rey, you have a target on your back! Get off Jakku-it's the first place he'll look for you."
Rey takes a deep breath and reveals, "He doesn't want to kill me."
"Not yet, but he will. He's busy with the war, but he'll turn his attention to you at some point. That guy is nothing if not strategic. Ren's always two steps ahead of us . . . that's the problem."
"I'm safe here."
"Have you heard anything I've said? Because unless Ren's hoping to recruit you to Team Sith, a Jedi—any Jedi—is his enemy."
She comes clean. "He does want to recruit me."
"Wait—he's tried?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"At the Starkiller and then again at Crait." And on Zakuul and most recently here on Jakku today.
"Oh." Finn's soft brown eyes narrow. "You said no, right?"
"Of course, I said no!"
"Whew. I mean, for a minute there I thought maybe . . . "
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe you were thinking about it and that's why you left us," Finn answers, watching her closely.
Uh oh. She's busted. Rey covers her chagrin with bluster. "Not wanting to kill Ren and wanting to join him are two completely different things!"
"Are they? I mean, if you aren't with us—"
"You're against us? Is that it?"
"Well, yes, since you're our Jedi. Rey, you are not some ordinary person living an ordinary life who can sit out the war on the sidelines without there being consequences."
She makes a face. "Are you about to tell me not to be Luke Skywalker?"
"Yes. Exactly."
Ugh. She's heard that too many times before. "Look, Finn, if I wanted to have this conversation over and over again, I wouldn't have come here." She hiding on Jakku to end the browbeating by her friends and the treasonous manipulation by Ben. She desperately needs a break from all that.
Finn relents. "Alright, I get it. Sorry. It's just that it's been a bad day and I can only see bad days ahead and I keep wondering how we got in this situation and I keep coming back to—"
"Ren." Ben is the disruptor to all the Republic's plans and the Force is with him.
"Yes. Someone has to stop him. That gets me to my next idea."
"What's that?"
"You train me. You teach me the Force and I kill Ren."
Rey gulps. "Finn, that's suicide."
"Not if you train me."
"I'm not training you so Ren can kill you." Ben will have no issues slaughtering Finn and bragging to the whole galaxy about the execution of the traitor stormtrooper turned Republic general.
Finn looks stung by her lack of confidence in him. He shoots her a resentful look. "Poe's onboard with the idea."
"Yeah? Well, I'm not."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know enough to teach you. I barely know anything myself."
"Fine. Give me Skywalker's books and I'll teach myself."
"No! Finn, you're our lead general. We need you in command!"
"Yes, well, since our Jedi won't kill Ren, I'm stepping up to do it. I'm not afraid to die, Rey."
"I know that." Finn has plenty of courage. "It's just . . ." It's just that Plagueis burned Luke's books and most of what she knows she learned from Kylo Ren. She'll never be able to explain that in a way Finn will understand. So, she stalls, "Let me think it over some more."
Clearly, Finn is hurt by that answer. He is peevish as she signs off to end the conversation.
Rey is truly beleaguered now. Maybe, she thinks, the problem is that there are two Chosen Ones and that's one too many. Maybe the problem is that either Ben or her should not have been resurrected. Because then, there would be a last man standing to make decisions and influence the future without the need to compromise. It would be one person's vision of the future and one person's quest for balance. There would be no civil war of competing ideals with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance.
But Ben himself deserves a lot of blame. He restarted the war and then amped up the pressure on her personally by rekindling the bond. It's put her in an impossible position. She refuses to drag Finn into the mess of her relationship with Ben Solo. There has been enough collateral damage already.
She sent Ben away today, and he left. But even so, Rey fears their conflicts are coming to an inevitable flashpoint. Ben was the sacrifice that her Jedi life and Republic ideals required of her. Still, in the back of her mind, Rey has always hoped that even though she and Ben cannot be together, they can somehow coexist as equals on opposite sides of the war and the Force. Because despite all Ben has done, she respects him and cares for him. It's . . . complicated and always has been.
But that goal of coexistence is a mistake, floundering Rey sees now. The status quo is unacceptable for everyone. She hates it, Finn and Poe keep pushing for her to do more, and insidious Ben keeps trying to recruit her. Hiding on Jakku hasn't dampened the situation and it won't solve anything. It just postpones the confrontation she wants to avoid. And that pretty much makes her Luke Skywalker, Rey realizes. He didn't want to kill Ben Solo either.