Chancellor Lanever Villecham sighed and slid the papers and tintypes to one side of his desk. "As concerning as this information is, I cannot authorize the use of military force against the First Order without an independent investigation."

"Can't, Chancellor? Or won't? General Organa has provided you and your predecessor evidence aplenty that would warrant investigation into First Order activity."

"The First Order has abided the terms of the Concordance-"

Korr pointed to the documentation. "They obviously have not. They have skirted the terms of the conscription ban by kidnapping children from lands they control and pressing them into service as stormtroopers. That alone is a violation that has been brought up many times."

"But they have stayed inside their territory in compliance with the Concordance. There are many threats in the Outer Rim that they would need to defend against."

"To the point where they would need a weapon like that?" Korr again pointed to the documentation. "No, Chancellor. Both parties have allowed the Neo-Imperial ideology to grow like a cancer to the point where it now presents a threat to their own continued existence."

Chancellor Villecham interlaced his fingers on the desk. "I cannot bring war back to this world. We will find a diplomatic solution to this."

"I fear that the time for diplomacy is long gone. The First Order holds all the cards now. The military power they hold makes any attempt at leverage moot. Any attack they launch would be disastrous for both the Republic's reputation and its people."

"So what is your solution?"

"General Organa's solution is to immediately have the Resistance incorporated into the New Republic Defense Force, under a new branch, if need be, and authorize use of military force to enforce the terms of the Concordance."

"And how does she think we can get the citizens of the Republic to accept this? Need I remind you that the reason she is not arguing this before the Senate herself is that the world knows whose child she is? Quite frankly, for all that she did to help build this Republic, there is a not insignificant proportion of the population and the senators that represent them that can't see past that."

"So you won't even try to have the Senate vote on it?"

The Chancellor shook his head. "I don't see the point." He drummed his fingers for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'll tell you what, though. At tomorrow's session, I'll let you have the floor to make your case. We'll let democracy do its job. You're still respected enough by both parties to not be outright dismissed."

Korr nodded. It would have to do. "Thank you, Chancellor." She stood and started to collect her documentation.

--

General Hux and the First Order High Command stood at the podium overlooking the parade ground of Starkiller Base. The colossal red and black standard of the First Order hung behind them, rippling in the icy breeze. The parade ground before them was filled to capacity with the ranks and files of thousands of stormtroopers, all waiting for Hux to deliver his speech.

"Today is the end of the Republic. The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder. At this very moment, in a land far from here, the New Republic lies to the world while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance."

Hux somehow straightened his back even further than his usual ramrod posture and his lip curled into an angry sneer. "This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand, will bring an end to the Senate and to their cherished fleet! Our flames will pierce the heavens and all nations will bow to the First Order! This world will remember this as the last day of the Republic!"

In unison, all present from the lowliest stormtrooper to Hux himself raised their left fist in a salute. Inside Starkiller's central command bunker, the gunnery crew awaited their signal.

Hux bared his teeth and looked to the summit of the volcano in the distance. "Fire!"

The stormtroopers about faced as one and waited.

The entire island of Ilum rumbled as the unholy union of Dark magic, machine, and nature in the volcano's magma chamber awakened. For just a second, the volcano's throat glowed, then disgorged a column of Dark energy as red as arterial blood. The snow blanketing the top half of the mountain flashed to steam and the trees on the slopes turned to cinders.

A deafening roar reached the observing First Order as the column pierced and scattered the clouds while the sky went blacker than night. Out at sea, Kylo Ren stood on the deck of the Finalizer and watched the red beam start to bend towards Hosnia.

Finn was halfway up his new employers' ship's gangplank when the sky went black. Screams erupted all around at both the sudden darkness and the bloody streak arcing across the sky.

Korr Sella was about to leave the Chancellor's office when it appeared as though the sun vanished. She and Chancellor Villecham rushed to the office's balcony and looked up. The sun was indeed nowhere to be seen, but there was instead a rapidly growing red light that made the whole of Hosnia City appear bathed in blood.

Korr's jaw dropped in horror. She was too late. On the streets below, hundreds of voices screamed first in confusion, then in terrified understanding.

The Dark magic hit Hosnia City directly before spreading out across the rest of the country. The ground split open, the ocean boiled, and everything that didn't burn turned to glass under the hottest heat the world has ever known.

Han and Chewbacca stared up at the black and red sky with the rest of Maz's patrons. The grey haired smuggler couldn't help but feel he bore at least partial responsibility for this.

Finn came running up, looking quite ill. "The Republic! The First Order, they've done it!" He looked around at the other patrons behind Han and Chewbacca. "Where's Rey?"

Rey kept running throughout the cataclysm, keeping her eyes clamped shut. It wasn't until the beam began to dissipate and the sky turned blue again that she reopened them. She fell to her knees in the middle of a mossy grove and broke down into sobs.

It felt to Rey as though her heart had been torn from her chest, though she only partly understood why. Part of it was the betrayal from Finn and part was the residual panic from her bizarre visions, but she had a totally alien feeling that whatever had turned the sky black had somehow made the world unsettlingly quieter.

As she tried to understand this feeling, another new sense gently pressed at the back of her mind. It was as though she could feel the very forest around her breathing. She tried to think back to what Maz had said. Maz had spoken of... the Force, was it?

She yelped at an inquisitive chirp behind her. Rey let out a half sigh, half laugh at finding the culprit to be only Bibi-Eit. "What are you doing here?"

Bibi-Eit warbled a response.

"You have to go back."

A blip.

"I'm leaving." Rey knelt in front of the micronaut. "Bibi-Eit..."

He gave a firm chirp.

"No, you can't. You have to go back. You're too important. They'll help you."

Rey suddenly heard a rapidly rising droning in the distance; one that was very similar to the one she had heard in Niima Outpost. Through the opening in the canopy above, Rey watched formations of TIE bombers, TIE fighters, and a few transport airships pass over. Abject horror and fear gripped her and she started to run again with Bibi-Eit at her heels.

Maz Kanata led Finn, Han, and Chewbacca down the hallway towards the room that Rey had been drawn towards. "I've had this for ages." She opened the chest and lifted the Lightblade hilt. "Kept it locked away."

Han's eyes nearly fell out of his head upon seeing the silver hilt again. "Where did you get that?"

Maz smiled. "A good question for another time." She held the Lightblade towards Finn. "Take it! Find your friend!"

Maz never did end up telling Han where she found the blade, but it is an interesting story. The Lightblade fell to the bottom of Bespin's central tibanna collection shaft where it remained until it was discovered by an Ugnaught maintenance crew several months later. The one who found it initially believed it to be little more than junk and sent it to the same smelter that Threepio almost ended up in.

The smelter foreman immediately recognized the object as the one described by a man with a metal hand who had shown up shortly after the Empire took control of Bespin. The foreman kept it in the hopes that the man would return until the foreman's death several years later. His son sold the Lightblade with a few heirlooms to pay off the family's debt and the sword floated around on an antiquity black market for several years.

It finally wound up in Maz Kanata's possession when one of the antiquity dealers who frequented her establishment used it as collateral to settle his bar tab. Maz happily accepted this and added the Lightblade to the collection of oddities she had acquired during her travels.

Finn stared at the silver hilt with curiosity. He reached out his hand. A chill went down his spine as he wrapped his fingers around the grip. The weapon felt heavy, but not in the physical sense.

The castle above them shook with the force of a large explosion.

Maz swore. "Those beasts! They're here!"

Rey was not aware she was running back towards the castle until she saw a section of rampart explode through the trees. People screamed and ran away from the castle as the top levels were blasted to gravel under the First Order's bombing run. Those fleeing who were not quick enough to escape the merciless bombs vanished under the force of the explosions.

A glossy black airship came low and slow over the water of the lake and set down on the rocky shoreline. Rey felt the hair on her arms stand on end and Bibi-Eit warbled nervously.

The voice of a stormtrooper from nearby alarmed her and she pulled her revolver from her belt. She took aim at the white armored soldier and pulled the trigger. The cock did not move.

"Oh, the safety." Rey thumbed the cock back and disengaged the dog on the lockplate.

The stormtrooper turned and saw Rey out of the corner of his eye. He fired at her on reflex, but the shot went wide and hit a tree.

Rey ducked and took aim again. When she pulled the trigger this time, the gun fired and hit the trooper in the neck. He dropped like a stone.

Rey looked at her gun in dismay. The full weight of the reality that she had just directly killed a man landed on her shoulders. She wasn't able to dwell on the thought for long before a bullet hit the ground at her feet, throwing up little clumps of moss.

Two troopers were running towards her, firing as they moved. While their aim was thrown off by their movement, Rey had no such issue. She fired again, striking one of the stormtroopers in his abdominal armor.

Rey didn't stay to find out if her shot had killed her target. She ran back into the forest with Bibi-Eit at her side.

Kylo Ren walked through the arch of the ruined castle's front door and into the main hall, now open to the sky. Burning rafters and furniture sat strewn amongst the broken stone. Ren felt the uncomfortable sense that Han Solo was nearby. There was also another vaguely familiar presence further away that caught his interest, but who it was eluded him.

A stormtrooper lieutenant walked over to him. "Sir, the automaton was spotted heading west with a girl."

Kylo snapped his head towards the forest.

Rey leaned out from behind a tree and fired off a shot at the stormtrooper chasing her. The bullet struck his knee plate and shattered the kneecap beneath. He fell to the ground screaming and Rey continued running.

Once she was fairly confident that she had no more pursuers for the moment, she turned to Bibi-Eit. "You have to keep going. Stay out of sight. I'll try to fight them off."

Bibi-Eit chirped nervously.

"I hope so, too." Rey took off in one direction, leaving the micronaut to make his own way.

Maz, Finn, Han, and Chewbacca ran back up the tunnel towards the staircase. An explosion from around the curve of the stairs brought them to a halt.

"Oh, no." Han looked to Maz. "Is there another way out of here?"

"No, there's not."

The sound of hurried footsteps and clanking armor echoed down the staircase and Finn raised his carbine. Han gently lowered the gun.

Finn looked to Han, deeply perplexed. "What are you doing?"

A squad of stormtroopers rounded the turn with their guns raised and took up positions at the bottom of the stairs. The squad leader took a step forward. "Put your weapons down! We're taking you into custody by order of Supreme Leader Snoke."

Han feigned confusion. "Uh... Smoke?" He turned back to his companions. "Do any of you know a Smoke?"

Chewbacca shook his head.

"Snoke," the squad leader corrected with audible annoyance. "Supreme Leader Snoke!"

"What makes him Supreme?"

"Put your weapons down!"

"What did he..." Han hooked a thumb towards Finn. "Is this something he did? This is..." He chuckled. "Is this about the stormtrooper boots?"

Finn looked at Han with surprise. "What? Oh, that's how you knew."

Han glared at him as though his conclusion was obvious.

"Weapons down," the squad leader ordered again.

Han grabbed the barrel of Finn's gun. "Here."

Finn didn't release his grip. "What are you doing? That's my gun. I'm not going to give you my gun. What if I need my gun?"

Han glared again and Finn released his hold. The old smuggler tossed the carbine at a trooper who caught it.

Finn shook his head. "That's smart. Real smart, Solo. What's wrong with you?"

"And the other one," the squad leader said. "The hairy one."

Chewbacca growled.

Han winced. "Ooh, don't call him that."

"I'll call it whatever I want."

Chewbacca placed his crossbow on the floor gently, keeping his eyes fixed on the squad leader.

"And your pistol." The squad leader twitched the muzzle of his gun towards the broomhandled revolver on Han's hip.

"My pistol?"

Finn leaned towards Han. "Give him the gun."

Han smiled with embarrassment. "It's, umm... It's broken."

The squad leader's comm crystal lit up. He reached over and tapped it.

"The automaton's been spotted in the forest to the west," relayed the crystal. "Unknown number of hostiles accompanying it. All available squads move to engage."

The squad leader seemed to debate for a moment whether or not his men were available before deciding they were. "Squad, move out."

The troopers turned to start back up the stairs. Chewbacca scooped up his crossbow and shot the squad leader in his back, making everyone flinch. Han drew his own pistol and together he and Chewbacca dispatched the rest of the squad before they could react.

Han shrugged at the dead squad leader. "Shouldn't have called him hairy." He turned back to his companions. "Come on."

As Finn followed Han, he collected his carbine from under one of the stormtroopers, though he discarded it on finding the barrel was bent.

Han reached the surface and was greeted by a stormtrooper sprinting across the collapsed hall towards him. The smuggler fired a round into the soldier's chest then followed up with a headshot to a stormtrooper on his left. Without even looking, Han landed a center mass shot on a third soldier taking aim at him from behind.

Han glanced around for any more enemies but did not see any that posed an immediate threat. "Come on, Chewie!"

While the two of them made a break in the direction of the Millennium Falcon, Maz pointed Finn towards the forest. "Rey and Bibi-Eit, they need you! Now! Go!"

"I need a weapon!"

Maz grabbed Finn's arm and pushed it upwards. "You have one!

Finn looked at the silver hilt in his hand with uncertainty. He pressed his thumb against the rune on the side and marvelled at the blue magic blade that shot out the end.

Han's and Chewbacca's attempt to reach the Falcon was thwarted almost as soon as it had begun. A squad of stormtroopers pinned the pair behind a broken pillar and a section of wall. Bullets cracked against the stone as Han fumbled to load a fresh cylinder into his pistol.

Han pointed to Chewbacca's crossbow. "Hey, can I borrow that?"

Chewbacca nodded.

Han leaned around the side of the pillar and loosed four quick magic bolts, each finding their mark. He grinned and turned back to Chewbacca. "I like this thing."

Han saw the last member of the stormtrooper squad come up behind Chewbacca and raise his gun. Just as Han was about to open his mouth, a blue blade came out the front of the soldier's chest. Finn moved on before Han could respond, heading for the forest.

Finn sprinted through the ruins and the cratered field that lay between him and the woodline. A stormtrooper with a counter-riot shield and carbine stepped into his path and Finn skidded to a stop.

"Traitor!" The trooper tossed his shield and carbine aside. He pulled a studded tonfa from a thigh holster and pressed the rune on the perpendicular handle's pommel. Blue lightning arced between the studs.

Finn tightened his grip on the Lightblade.

The stormtrooper thrust the end of the tonfa at Finn. Finn deflected the thrust, the magic lightning keeping the Lightblade from cutting the tonfa. He then blocked the trooper's overhead strikes, though a feint on the fourth swing made him stagger.

Finn recovered and brought the blade back up to stop another strike. Again and again, the trooper swung at Finn and the amateur swordman blocked, but each blow forced him back. A wide swing left the trooper open and Finn made his move.

The stormtrooper brought his tonfa up at the last second and blocked Finn's downward slash. Their weapons locked and each strained to overpower the other. Finn gritted his teeth and looked into the black glass eye lenses of his opponent.

The trooper forced their weapons to the side, cracking his tonfa's pommel into Finn's jaw. Finn staggered backwards then received a searing pain in his midsection as the trooper jabbed him with the electrified end of his weapon. The amateur swordman flew backwards as his muscles seized.

Finn groaned and tried to roll on his side to stand. He winced at the effort and found his muscles refused to cooperate. The stormtrooper stalked towards him and raised the tonfa. Finn watched the sparking truncheon start its arc towards his head and he raised his arm to block.

A green bolt struck the stormtrooper in the head and he flipped backwards, his lifeless body hitting the ground with a thump. Finn's muscles finally cooperated and he rolled over and looked up at who had saved him.

Han returned Chewbacca's crossbow as he jogged over to Finn. He helped him to his feet and looked him over. "You okay, Big Deal?"

Finn nodded and panted through the lingering muscle pain. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Don't move," ordered a stormtrooper squad leader. His men quickly encircled the two men and the Wookiee. The squad leader tapped his comm crystal. "TK-338, we have targets in custody."

Three squad members moved in and relieved Han and his comrades of their weaponry, drawing a sad roar from Chewbacca. The squad leader ordered his three prisoners to place their hands on their heads and marched them towards the transport airships at gunpoint.

A short distance away from the transport, the squad leader's comm crystal crackled to life. "We have incoming from the east! Scramble all squads, repeat, scramble all squads!"

The squad abandoned their escort of the captives and joined their comrades in taking up defensive positions in the ruins.

A wide line of flying machines came in low over the lake towards the castle ruins, their engines droning in harmony. Han, Finn, and Chewbacca lowered their hands and stared at the incoming crafts.

"It's the Resistance," Han said, surprised but not ungrateful.

The crosswing leading the formation was coal black with two parallel orange lines running the length of the fuselage. Orange roundels of the New Republic emblazoned the tops and bottoms of each wing. Any First Order pilot would have known at a glance that this was none other than the infamous Black Leader.

Poe Dameron tapped his comm crystal. "Go straight at them! Don't let these dogs scare you!"

"Copy that, Black Leader."

"We're with you, Poe," Snap Wexley said.

The TIE fighters that had been flying over the forest in search of Rey and Bibi-Eit formed up and moved to engage the crosswings of Black Squadron. The stormtroopers in the ruins opened fire with everything they had to support their airborne comrades.

Within the first three seconds of the TIE fighters moving into range of Black Squadron, five First Order flying machines went down in flames. Despite the maneuverability of the TIEs, this was largely the result of each dogfight. Burning fuel oil and wooden frames floated on the surface of the lake within minutes. Crashing TIEs exploded on impact with the ground, killing many stormtroopers in the process. Even more soldiers were caught by Resistance strafing runs.

The stormtroopers around Finn, Han, and Chewbacca fell to one such run. Han looked over the rim of the crater in which they had taken cover and glanced around. He stood and beckoned his companions to follow.

Their weapons lay among the First Order corpses and Han was the first to retrieve his. He put it to quick use, dropping an approaching stormtrooper.

Finn hit the ground to avoid the fire from another soldier and grabbed the Lightblade and the carbine of the trooper who had taken it. He dashed into cover behind a chest high wall and cracked off two shots at the soldier who had fired at him.

The loud whirr of a propeller overhead made Finn duck. He looked around to see the black crosswing fly over and shoot down eight TIEs in as many seconds. Finn cheered. "Woo! That's one Hell of a sky pilot!"

Rey clutched her pistol tightly as she dashed behind a fallen tree. There was a chill in the air and she had the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. She had been cold ever since she had left Jakku, but there was an unnaturalness to the cold that she now experienced.

She peered over the mossy log with her pistol held out in front of her. Rey gasped in startlement at leaves rustling nearby. Her already rapid breathing sped up at the sound of whirring and distant chatter. The same type of hiss she had heard at the beginning of her vision came through the trees.

Rey bolted away from the fallen tree and between several large lichen covered boulders. A crackling hum followed her and she backed deeper into the crevices with her pistol held shaking in front of her.

A figure clad in black robes came around one of the boulders in front of her. The black helmet and red bladed sword were the exact same ones she had seen in her vision. Rey pulled her trigger, partly to shoot at the figure and partly as a knee jerk response.

Kylo Ren whirled his Lightblade and deflected the shot into the ground. Rey recocked her gun and fired again, then again. With her shaky hands, most of the shots went wide, but the ones that went towards her target were effortlessly deflected.

Rey bared her teeth at the dark warrior advancing towards her. When her gun ran dry, she ran. Five strides was as far as she got before it felt as though someone had grabbed her arm. She wanted to scream and fight back against whatever held her but then realized to her horror that she couldn't move either her limbs or mouth.

Rey strained fruitlessly against the unseen force holding her. From behind, she heard the crackling hum and footsteps coming towards her. She closed her eyes - the only thing she could move - convinced that this was the end.

Kylo Ren walked past the immobilized young woman and stopped in front of her. He examined her tear streaked face carefully. There was no doubt that this was her.

"The girl I've heard so much about," Kylo said.

Rey gasped at how close the voice was and opened her eyes. The dark warrior's posture did not speak of someone about to kill, but of someone trying to solve a puzzle.

Kylo Ren slowly circled around Rey and leaned in closely to her ear. "The automaton..." He brought his crackling Lightblade up in front of Rey's face. "Where is it?"

"...Guh..."

"Hm?" Ren finished his circle around Rey and extended his off hand towards her face.

A not entirely unpleasant growling hum filled her mind. Unbidden, memories of Bibi-Eit were pulled to the forefront of her thoughts. Their meeting near her home, the day they had spent scavenging... Unkar Plutt's offer and the fight with his thugs... The escape from Jakku... The map...

"The map," Kylo said with an undertone of excitement. "You've seen it!"

The comm crystal on his wrist lit up. Ren stepped away and tapped it. "Sir, we are taking heavy losses from Resistance fighters. Requesting reinforcements."

"Pull the division out," Kylo replied. He looked back at the still immobilized Rey. "Forget the automaton. We have what we need."

Kylo Ren flicked his hand towards Rey. Her eyes fluttered closed and she went limp. Before she fell to the ground, Kylo caught her in his arms.

Han watched as what few stormtroopers remained pulled back to their transports. A faint chill tickled the back of his neck and he looked to his left. His breath hitched at the sight of his son carrying Rey towards his black airship. The sight broke the old smuggler's heart.

Finn ran up beside him in time to see Ren walk up the boarding ramp. He broke into a sprint. "No! No, Rey!" Finn wasn't even halfway to the airship before it was already off the ground. "Rey!"

The remaining TIEs regrouped around the airships and escorted them away from the battle. Bibi-Eit rolled out of the forest in time to see the First Order vessels move over a mountain and pass out of sight.

A middling sized iron hulled cargo ship flying New Republic colors sailed into the lake, eliciting mixed feeling from Han. He knew exactly who was on that ship and their last interaction hadn't been the most happy.

While Han kept his eyes pinned to the ship, Finn ran up to him. "He took her! Did you see that? He took her, she's gone!"

Han started to walk towards where the ship was pulling up to shore. "Yeah, I know."

Finn could hardly believe how little Rey's abduction seemed to bother Han.

Han watched the crew extend the gangplank. Several Resistance soldiers marched onto the rocky shore and chattered about securing the area. Han ignored them, instead keeping his eyes fixed on the top of the gangplank until he saw who he was waiting for.

General Leia Organa stopped at the top of the gangplank on seeing who awaited her onshore. She smiled sadly and walked to her husband. Han and Leia looked at one another wordlessly for several seconds, each trying to think of what to say to the other.

Before either of them could speak, a gold diplomatic automaton stepped between them. "Goodness me! Han Solo! It is I, See Threepio. You probably don't recognize me because of the red arm." He turned around to face Leia. "Look who it is! Did you see who..."

Leia's glare quickly silenced the automaton. Threepio looked between her and Han and realized his faux pas. "Excuse me, General. I'm terribly sorry."

Bibi-Eit joined Threepio as he walked away and chirped a question about the red arm.

"Yes, I must get my proper arm reinstalled."

Han and Leia both chuckled. As annoying as Threepio's interruption was, it reminded them of old times.

"You changed your hair," said Han, not wanting to lead their reunion with anything heavy.

Leia smirked. "Same coat."

Han frowned dramatically. "No, ." He tugged at the bottom to straighten it out.

They chuckled again. Chewbacca walked up to Leia and hugged her while growling about how much he had missed her.

"Such a softie," Leia said returning the hug. "It's good to see you, too."

Chewbacca released the hug and Leia looked back to Han, who wore an expression of pain.

"I saw him," Han said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "Leia, I saw our son. He was here."

"Han... None of this was your fault. You need to stop blaming yourself."

Han sighed. "I wish I could."