Chapter Three

Ajan Kloss

The Nirauan system was in Wild Space, just beyond the Outer Rim. It was close enough to the Resistance's base on Ajan Kloss to be useful as a rendezvous point, but still far enough away to not endanger the freedom fighters.

The Eclipse Dreadnought floated in orbit around the third planet out from the system's red star. X-Wing starfighters and light cruisers surrounded the vessel. Poe stood in the middle of the ship's bridge, now empty of the First Order crew, who had been mind-tricked by twos and threes and locked in their barracks. Rose and Finn were seated at consoles nearby.

The door opened behind them. Poe turned to see Kaydel Ko Connix step onto the bridge, accompanied by a bevy of Resistance personnel. Poe saluted her.

"Colonel Connix," he said.

She nodded. "Commander Dameron. Mission accomplished?"

"Not exactly," Poe said. "We damaged the orbital ring, but we were unable to destroy it. On the other hand, we stole a Star Destroyer."

"Thank you," Connix said, waving at the ship around them. "I hadn't noticed. Didn't you think that was rather risky?"

Rose looked up from a console. "I disabled their homing beacon," she said. "We're free and clear."

"Would you bet your life on that?" Connix responded.

Rose pursed her lips.

Connix addressed a short blond Resistance trooper next to her. "Captain Kin, have your company scan the ship. This thing could be crawling with enemy troops." She turned back to Poe and raised her voice. "But our team didn't consider that, did they?"

"Come on, tell me you haven't always wanted one of these," Poe said.

Connix rolled her eyes. Pilots, she thought. "Oh well, at least you had enough sense to not come straight back to Ajan Kloss."

"Actually, that was Rey's idea," Rose said.

Colonel Connix threw up her hands as she left the bridge.

The Eclipse descended to planetfall over the jungles of Ajan Kloss, the ship's escort of Resistance craft seeming like insects in comparison to the hulking mass of the dreadnought. When the Star Destroyer had landed on a scrubby mesa a few hundred meters from the Resistance base, Poe, Rose, Finn, and various Resistance members who had stayed onboard to run the ship headed for the bridge door.

Finn stopped when he saw Rey standing alone in a corridor off the bridge. He approached her tentatively.

Finn asked, "You okay?"

"I failed," Rey said.

"Don't say that," Finn said. "They know our tactics. We've been fighting this war too long."

Rey shook her head. That wasn't what she meant. "Those people, the children. I saw hope in their eyes."

"They believe in you. We all do," Finn said.

Rey whispered, "I can't be who they need me to be. I'm not strong enough."

"That's not true," Finn said. He patted her shoulder reassuringly and headed for the exit. Rey sighed and trailed after him.

The Kuat infiltration team descended the slope and trekked through the underbrush, accompanied by Colonel Connix, the Resistance bridge crew, and a couple squads of Resistance soldiers leading the handcuffed First Order prisoners. They eventually walked into a broad clearing outside the Resistance base. Starfighters and freighters were arranged haphazardly on the edges of the forest.

General Leia Organa approached the group. The Deck Officer of the Eclipse, who had spent most of the journey in sulky silence, realized that he was in the presence of leadership.

"You are in strict violation of the Corellian Accords!" he shouted.

"Yeah, put it on my tab," Poe retorted.

Rose ripped his cuff title off the sleeve of his uniform. "You mind?" she asked. "I collect these."

Colonel Connix stopped in front of Leia and motioned to the First Order crewmembers. "What should we do with them, General?"

"Cook them dinner. They look thin," Leia replied.

The Deck Officer was still yelling as he was led into a bunker cut in the side of a rock face. "The punishment for your act of rebellion will be swift and—" he got out before the doors slammed in his face.

Rey watched Poe walk away towards a Mon Calamari Resistance officer.

"Junior. Get Beebee-Ate scrubbed down," he ordered.

"Yes, Commander," the officer said in a slightly wet voice.

Rey turned to Leia. "I'm sorry for rushing off, General. I had to get away from here for awhile. I'm just—not feeling myself," Rey said. "I know it looks li—it looks like I'm making excuses."

"Don't tell me what things look like, tell me what they are," Leia responded.

Rey paused for a moment, then took a deep breath. "There's something between us. I can't explain it."

"Ben," Leia said, her face radiating understanding.

"Yes," Rey admitted. "Every night I wake up screaming. Every night, another bad dream. I've tried to reach him, but inside his mind. . . it's horrible. I'm starting to think it isn't possible to turn him back to the light."

Leia shook her head. "Nothing's impossible."

Rey smiled. "Yes, Master."

Finn was tightening a bolt on a grappling cannon when a loud clank from behind startled him. He closed his eyes as memories flooded back.

The noise of the blaster falling to the floor was deafening. A slim child lay curled next to it, weeping. He had broken down when he had been ordered to fire on enemy troops in a holographic combat simulator.

"Off to reconditioning with you!" a stormtrooper yelled, heaving the boy off the ground and dragging him towards the exit of the simulation chamber. The child didn't bother to resist. His silently pleading green eyes were the last thing Finn saw before the door slammed shut.

Finn tried to keep his left hand from shaking.

"Hey. It's okay," a voice said.

Finn opened his eyes to see Rose beside him.

"One of the stormtroopers on Kuat," Finn said. "I knew him. I don't remember much about him, but. . . we trained together, when we were kids. He looked so scared. I remember that feeling."

Rose responded, "I don't think that feeling ever goes away."

Finn stared into the forest, his eyes far away. "I can't let more people end up like him, like me. It has to stop."

Rose put a hand on his. Finn's breathing eased.

"That's what we're fighting for," Rose said.

Rey hung in the air, eyes closed and legs crossed. BB-8, his familiar white-and-orange paint job restored, warily watched the large rocks floating lazily about her.

Rey was trying to meditate, but thoughts of her bad dreams kept intruding. They had been growing worse of late. She pushed them out of her mind, but a dark, ominous feeling replaced them. She felt as though some huge evil was closing in on her, unseen, preparing to strike.

Rey finally gave up. Inner peace would not come today. "Uchhh," she groaned as she turned heels-over-head in the air and sank gently to the ground.

"Rey," Leia said as she turned to face her apprentice, "Be patient."

"I'm doing my best to be, Master," Rey sighed as she walked past. "I'm going to run the training course."

A trio of TIE Fighters flew towards the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast, in orbit around the volcanic world of Mustafar.

In a grove of unhealthy irontrees on the planet's surface, a brutal battle raged. Stormtroopers fired into the midst of masked, Sith-worshipping Alazmec colonists. In the center of the maelstrom, a dark-cloaked figure cut down the Sith cultists.

The black-robed figure had answered to many names in his life. He had once been called Ben Solo. Some addressed him as Supreme Leader. The name he preferred, however, was the one he had taken for himself: Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren blocked one of the cultist's spears and slashed at its torso. He parried his enemies' yellow blaster bolts as he waded through smoke and flames into their midst. Kylo impaled a robe-shrouded cultist with one of the quillons of his unstable red lightsaber before slamming him into the ground. He reversed his grip on the blade, savagely stabbing another Alazmec before pulling a third through his sword with the Force. Kylo stabbed his downed foe with its own spear and cut off the arm of another.

The last cultist fell. Kylo Ren sucked in deep breaths, his face caked in dirt and sweat, straggly dark hair falling untidily over his face. He looked around him. The burning forest was littered with fallen stormtroopers and Alazmec cultists. A couple of stormtroopers far from the Supreme Leader looked around as if in disbelief that the fighting had stopped.

Kylo looked up at the dark, abandoned edifice of a ruined castle. Its two pointed black spires, though crumbling, still towered menacingly over the Mustafarian landscape. The entrance gaped open like the mouth of a dead man. Kylo Ren stalked forward into it and entered Fortress Vader.

Rey ran through the misty jungles of Ajan Kloss, dodging trees and bushes. She grabbed a helmet off of a pole set next to a gorge, glancing behind her at a training remote whizzing down the path after her. Rey put the helmet over her head and pulled the blast shield down. Balancing precariously on a single rope stretched taut over the ravine, she deflected the bolts of the remote using one of her dual lightsaber's blades. BB-8, who had been following her at a distance, watched her inquisitively.

Rey dropped the helmet on the far side of the gap and sped deeper into the forest, continuing to deflect the ball-shaped remote's attacks. She bounded onto a large rock, pushed off it, and sprung into a tree, grabbing hold of a sturdy branch. Rey cut a section from a red ribbon that was hanging from a higher branch and then let go. She landed gracefully on the ground, catching the cloth strip around her left wrist. She then headed back in the direction she had come.

Rey ran atop a fallen trunk sticking partway into the chasm, jumped over the vertiginous drop, and rolled to her feet. BB-8 had been waiting for her by the gorge. He followed her as she disappeared into the woods, the training remote pursuing them.

Kylo Ren descended into a dark chamber buried deep under Fortress Vader. He raised his crossguard lightsaber, illuminating the decrepit room with red light. Tiny creatures scurried away from him and hid in crumbling masonry. A chill wind blew against his cheek.

Kylo sensed a presence. "Leave me alone," he said.

The voice of his uncle and erstwhile master Luke Skywalker cut through the silence. "This is where the dark path leads," it said. "An empty tomb."

"And where did your path lead?" Kylo questioned. "You're a ghost."

"I know what you're searching for, Ben," Luke said. "Your master promised you strength, but you feel hollow."

Kylo responded, "Soon I will be more powerful than any Jedi. Even you."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked.

Kylo snapped. He spun, swinging his lightsaber at empty space.

As though from a great distance, Luke whispered, "Go home, Ben. . . go home to Leia. . . ."

Luke's spirit had fled, but Kylo was still shaken. Nevertheless, he turned and continued into the crypt. Before him was an altar. A trigonal pyramid cunningly crafted of metal rested upon the stone slab. A red energy glowed inside the artifact. Kylo recognized it as a Sith holocron. He knelt before it, held out his palm, and drew on the dark side of the Force. The four sharp corners of the holocron pulled away from it as it rose into the air. It projected a blurry blue hologram of Emperor Palpatine.

"Lord Vader," the hologram said. "Young Skywalker will soon be ours, as I have foreseen. However, the unforeseen is worthy of preparation. Should Skywalker strike me down, you will take him to the Remnicore System. There you will find Tor Valum, master of the Sith Lord who instructed me."

The holocron emitted a laser that scanned up and down Kylo's body.

"Here the son of Skywalker will acquire a great ability—beyond what you could hope to command in your damaged state," Palpatine continued. "With it, you will harness the untapped power of Mortis. At last we will realize—"

The holocron detected that Kylo Ren was not Darth Vader. The energy inside it grew brighter. Palpatine's image stuttered.

"—the d-destiny. . . po-potential—" the hologram said as it broke up.

The energy in the holocron continued to build. A blast of red lightning shot from the artifact into Kylo's eyes. The energy spread over his face, raw, purple veins breaking out through his skin. Kylo Ren screamed as a vision flashed before him.

Rey lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. She winced.

Luke Skywalker's voice spoke in her head. "Your pain is an illusion."

"It isn't actually," Rey said tartly.

Rey scrambled to her feet, earth staining her white clothing. She still held the red ribbon in her left hand. As the training remote buzzed around her, she activated her lightsaber. The remote fired a stinging red bolt of energy, striking her on the shoulder.

BB-8 rolled into the clearing in time to see Rey swing wildly at the remote. Rey regained some of her composure and watched the hovering remote carefully, searching for an opening. Finally, she lunged. The remote dodged upwards and shot her again. Rey's temper flared. She slashed recklessly at the remote. As the training droid evaded her, her lightsaber chopped through two thick trees. She threw it at the remote. Her weapon whirled across the clearing, felling another tree.

Rey pulled a thin stick from the forest floor into her right hand and spun. There was a crunch as the wood impaled the little training droid against a tree. Rey reached out and caught the blue lightsaber in her left hand as it returned to her.

Rey halted, sensing a sharp but distant pain. Suddenly, she was wracked by a vision, the same vision that plagued Kylo on the opposite side of the galaxy.

A mountain. Snow on the jagged peaks. A temple older than time. Inside, an ancient chamber. A well of light, pulsing from deep below. Two massive thrones built into the rock. Kylo Ren faces Rey before the two thrones. They fight fiercely. Kylo Ren holding out his hand in Snoke's throne room. He says, "Join me." His voice blends with Darth Vader's. Vader's helmet stands on a pedestal in Kylo's chambers. Rey's face, lit by twin red lightsabers. Luke Skywalker turns to face Rey on Ahch-To. Kylo on Mustafar, mere moments ago, looks upon his grisly handiwork. Luke, long years ago, yells "You killed—" Han Solo approaches Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base. Han shouts "Ben." Kylo plunges his lightsaber into his father's chest. Han touches his son's cheek. Han falls towards a white light while Kylo, bathed in red, looks down at him. Rey, as a young girl, screams as Unkar Plutt pulls her away from a transport ship leaving Jakku. Rey being held by her mother. Rey's voice, from the Ahch-To Mirror Cave, says "—my parents." The Knights of Ren stand in the rain. A woman's scream. A stormy sky over a city. Another mountain, another temple, both darker. An overpoweringly evil presence.

The vision slipped away. Kylo fell into unconsciousness.

Rey came back to herself, gasping for breath. She focused inwards. Slowly, she became calm.

A beep to Rey's right caught her attention. She turned to see BB-8 trapped under a fallen tree. A round panel on his side had popped off, exposing metal and wiring. He warbled plaintively.

"Beebee-Ate, I'm so sorry," Rey said as she dropped the stick and the red cloth to the ground beside the shattered remnants of the remote. She ran to him and heaved the thick trunk off the droid.

Rey gathered up BB-8's missing panel and the crimson ribbon. The Jedi-in-training and the astromech moved towards the edge of a cliff overlooking the Resistance base.

"What did you see?" asked a voice from behind them. Rey turned to see Luke step into the light. He was dressed in tan robes, his graying hair and beard framing his lined face. A slight aura of blue shimmered around him.

"Han. Kylo. My parents. . . . A mountain, two thrones in the rock. Kylo Ren fought me before them. And something else, something darker. . ." Rey struggled to put into words what she had seen, but the images defied speech, slipping away from her like oil from water.

"You saw the future," Luke said.

"Kylo saw it too," Rey said as she settled onto a fallen tree trunk. "I could feel him. Like he was. . . there with me."

"Where?" asked Luke.

Rey said, "Mortis."

Luke looked at Rey gravely. He sat down beside her on the log.

"What do you know of Mortis?" he inquired.

"It's an ancient place. From a time before the Jedi, before the Sith. Two thrones, two powerful beings. One of darkness, the other of light. Together, they brought balance." Rey shook her head. "But it's a myth."

"So was I, if you remember," Luke said. He seemed more tangible than before, almost all traces of blue light gone. The Jedi Master settled back and took a deep breath. Rey briefly wondered if he actually needed to, or if it was just a familiar affectation.

"Beneath the Temple of Mortis lies a power beyond anything the Jedi have ever known," Luke said. "If Kylo reaches the temple, all we've fought for will be lost. You have to confront him."

Rey met his gaze. "You want me to. . . kill Leia's son?"

Luke sighed. "The future is always in motion. What will happen if you face him, I know not."

"There's good in him," Rey said.

"There's good in all of us," Luke replied. "But the boy I knew is gone."

Rey stared at the ground, crestfallen.

The Jedi Master spoke again. "You tried to save him, Rey; you can't blame yourself for not succeeding. Only his mother can save him, if he will allow himself to be saved. But the balance of the Force must be preserved."

Rey scoffed. "'Balance.' Dark suffocates the light. Light extinguishes the dark. Over and over. How is that balance?"

"I never really understood it, either," said Luke. "Perhaps it means something different from what the Jedi of old believed."

Rey looked down at the Resistance base. She could see Chewbacca at the near end of the encampment, working on the Millennium Falcon. Poe was fine-tuning the thrusters of his X-Wing starfighter. Further away, Finn and Rose calibrated a grappling cannon.

"I spent my whole life wanting a family," Rey said. "Now I've got one. I won't abandon them."

"The Force is speaking to you, Rey."

"Maybe I'm not who it thinks I am," Rey spat.

"Who are you?" asked Luke.

"I'm no one."

Luke stood. "If that's what you believe, then the last Jedi is truly dead."

Rey rose to face him. "Maybe he is," she said quietly.

Rey trudged dejectedly back to the Resistance base, BB-8 trailing behind. Poe was still working on his X-Wing. When he spotted Rey, he dropped his tools and walked towards her, a grin on his face. It disappeared when he saw the astromech behind her.

Poe asked accusingly, "What did you do to the droid?"

"I'm sorry. It was an accident," said Rey sheepishly as Poe dropped into a crouch to examine BB-8.

"Buddy. Look at you. You're a mess," the pilot said. BB-8 beeped at him.

Poe stood up. "You dropped a tree on him?!"

"I said it was an accident," Rey responded brittlely.

"Right, you accidentally drop lumber on people now? What's next, you gonna drop a tree on me? Drop one on Finn maybe?"

His words were infuriating, but Rey couldn't keep the corner of her mouth from curling up. "You know what you are?" she asked. "You're difficult. Really difficult. You're a difficult man."

"You—You are. . . mmh," Poe said, shaking his head.

They were starting to attract stares from various Resistance members. Rey decided to attempt to make peace. "I promise I'll fix him," she said, holding out a round, orange panel.

Poe waved it away. "What exactly happened out there?"

"I got distracted. I think I'm just tired. That's all," she said. The explanation didn't convince either of them.

"What's wrong?" asked Poe.

Rey hesitated. "I—I can't tell you."

"Why? Is it a secret?" His voice dropped into a mock-conspiratorial whisper. "A Jedi secret?"

"Please stop."

Dameron shed his jocular manner. He took the round piece of metal from Rey. "All right. We'll fix him together."

Rey was suddenly aware that Poe was standing closer to her than he ever had before.

"I can't," Rey said, stepping back. "There are rules. Jedi rules."

"Hey, I get it," Poe said gently, holding his hands up. "No attachments, Jedi path, I've read that story too. But. . ." He caught himself, holding back words. "I'm just saying you don't have to do this alone."

Rey smiled wanly.

Through a crowd of pilots, Leia noticed Rey and Poe together. She recognized the tension under their argument; it reminded her of Han and herself, so long ago. . . . Leia considered intervening, but decided against it. Sometimes, you just had to let the young figure things out for themselves. Nevertheless, she thought, Be careful, Rey.

Rey and Poe looked up from their repairs on BB-8 as Finn ran by. "Poe, Rey, you need to see this!" he called. "Chewie found something amazing!"

Poe and Rey looked at each other bemusedly and followed him. Rose joined them as Finn led the way out of the Resistance base. They scrambled through the forest and up a steep rock face to the Eclipse Star Destroyer. After wandering around inside the vessel for a while, they finally spotted Chewbacca.

The Wookiee was standing next to a large blast door, looking into the hull of the ship through a small rectangular porthole. When he saw the group, he brayed excitedly and motioned them over. As the other Resistance members gathered around him, Chewie opened the door.

Beyond the blast door was a two kilometer-long expanse of decommissioned Imperial weaponry. Ships, walkers, speeders, assault tanks, and mobile heavy artillery vehicles sat next to rows of blasters, mounds of thermal detonators, and piles of more esoteric weaponry.

"This is enough firepower to take the Capitol," Finn said, his eyes lighting up.

"See? When have I ever come back empty handed?" Poe slapped Finn's back. "This. This was the plan."

"Was it?" Rose asked doubtfully.

Finn walked into the arsenal, looking about in awe. "We have ships. Weapons. All we need is an army."

"How?" Poe wondered. "Nobody can hear us. We're alone in the dark."

As the others started to explore the arsenal, Rey stood in the door and thought. Poe's words had called something to mind, if she could just remember what. . . .

Finally, Rey spoke. "You said we were alone. . . but we don't have to be."

Rey opened an ancient, brown-covered Jedi text and lay it on the Millennium Falcon's Dejarik table. Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewie gathered around her.

"The Jedi had a communications system in the days of the Old Republic," Rey said excitedly. "A Force beacon, engineered to call the outlying systems to war. It was powered by a nexus beneath the temple."

Rey pointed at a sketch of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The drawing depicted light flowing from the spire of the temple into space.

"No way it still works," Finn said.

Poe cut in, "Old Republic tech is better than the junk we have today."

"That signal pre-dates the Empire by thousands of years," Rose mused. "The First Order's blockade couldn't possibly disrupt its frequency."

"I guess it's worth a shot," said Finn.

All eyes turned to Poe. He shrugged. "Anything's worth a shot."

Chewie roared optimistically.

"Yeah, I hope so too. Rey?"

Rey hesitated. In her excitement, she had briefly forgotten the dark feeling from her meditations, but now the unexplained dread had returned, stronger than before.

"Rey," Poe said loudly.

She snapped out of her thoughts. "Hope is all we have left," she said.

Poe and Chewbacca were doing maintenance work on the Falcon. A short distance away, Rey sat on a crate, perusing the Jedi texts in the fading light.

"You like him, don't you?"

Rey spun to see Maz Kanata standing beside her.

"I don't—what?"

Maz waved in Poe's general direction. He was staring at Rey. Chewbacca tossed him a wrench, which he barely caught.

"The pilot," Maz said. "You are fond of him, and he of you."

"Is it that obvious?" Rey asked, mortified.

Maz smiled reassuringly. "Leia told me. But she did not wish to interfere. I have fewer compunctions."

"I can't be in love with him, or with anyone. It's against the Jedi code," Rey said.

"My child," Maz said, adjusting her goggles, "I am no Jedi, but I can give you one piece of advice. Don't let some old man who died a thousand years before you were born dictate how you live your life."

Rey protested, "But Jedi are supposed to be free of attachments."

"Nonsense. The Force attaches everything to everything else. What the Jedi mean is that you must not be selfish and possessive. You must not be jealous. You must not attempt to save the ones you love when it is their time to pass on. If you can avoid these things, then it does not matter if you love."

Rey digested this. Finally, she said, "Thank you for your advice."

"You're welcome, child," the pirate queen replied warmly. "At my age, minding other people's business is one of the great pleasures. Besides, talking to you gave me a good opportunity to watch Chewbacca."

Rey laughed. It was the first time she could remember laughing in a long while. She relaxed and turned back to her reading.

Darkness fell over Ajan Kloss. In the briefing room of the Resistance base, a crowd of Resistance personnel gathered around a holotable. Poe stood across from Leia. He fiddled with the table's controls, and a hologram of the First Order Capitol lit up above it.

"As you know, the First Order has silenced communication between all neighboring systems," Poe said. "The source of the blockade is a transmission jammer deep in the First Order Capitol on Coruscant, here."

The hologram blinked and zoomed in on a cube within the Capitol.

"So far, we've been unable to find a weakness," Poe continued. "No thermal exhaust port, no oscillator."

Leia smiled proudly. He was a born leader.

"In other words, they're onto us," Snap Wexley grumbled. "No shortcuts."

"Exactly. Our forces are too depleted to mount a direct assault, but we've found an alternative to attacking the jammer," Poe said. He pressed a button. The hologram of the Capitol dissipated and was replaced by an image of the five-spired Jedi Temple.

"There's a beacon under the Jedi Temple on Coruscant," Rey said as Poe displayed schematics of an ancient machine. "It needs two Kyber crystals in order to be activated. We think there are some on Bonadan."

"It's an analog system from the days of the Old Republic, so the First Order's jamming can't block it," Rose piped up.

Poe took charge again. "A small team will activate the beacon and summon the galaxy to war."

The hologram showed a light shooting from the central spire of the temple. The image zoomed out to a star map. The light traveled from Coruscant and connected fifty other planets.

"When they succeed. . . the rest of us will be ready," Poe finished.

Finn stepped forward. "I'll lead the team, General."

"I'll lead the team, General," Rose said. "But I'll let him think he's doing it."

Leia looked at Rey, sensing the conflict within her. "Rey?" she asked.

"They're looking for me, it's dangerous enough as it is." She paused and then said quietly, "I can't go with you."

Poe's smile faded.

Leia didn't press the issue. "Finn, Rose, prepare for your mission," she ordered. "Everyone else, dismissed."

The Resistance members began to file out of the room.

On the edge of the room, R2-D2 beeped.

"Coruscant?" said C-3PO. "Finally a good idea from those scrambled circuits of yours. Coruscant will be quite pleasant this time of year."

Artoo blatted and rolled into a narrow corridor leading out of the base. Threepio followed him. The golden droid said, "Yes, a properly refined city will be welcome after hoveling down here like a Gundark."

Rey left the briefing room by the same corridor the droids had taken. Poe followed her.

"Hey," he said. "What was that about?"

Rey responded bleakly, "I have to bring an end to all this. I have to confront him."

"Mmmhmm. You're just gonna 'confront him'? Who talks like that?"

"Jedi do. I'm new to this."

"Okay, I'm going with you."

"No. I have to go alone," Rey said, walking down the corridor.

Poe followed her determinedly. "Hey. Look, I know you think I'm wasted air, Master Jedi—"

"Please stop calling me that—"

"—but tell me, where is this confrontation going to happen?"

"Mortis," said Rey. "In the Unknown Regions."

"Mortis is a myth," said Poe.

"It isn't. I saw it."

"Oh, you saw it. And how do you plan on finding it?"

"I'll. . . figure it out."

"Hey, Threepio!" Poe called.

C-3PO and R2-D2 turned to face them.

"Do you know where Mortis is?" Poe asked.

Artoo beeped.

"Mortis does not appear on any star chart," Threepio said. "The last known sighting was more than half a century ago."

Poe turned back to Rey. "Does your book have any star maps? The location of a wayfinder maybe?"

"No."

"See?" Poe said. "It's a fool's errand rushing off to a legendary planet when you don't even know where it is."

Rey's head drooped. "I need to think," she said.

Poe watched Rey walk away. He sighed.

Poe climbed to the second level of the Resistance base. Here, there were no plascrete walls; instead, rough stone corridors led to a natural cave with a wide opening looking out over the encampment outside. In the center of the space stood the Resistance's flagship, the long-thought-destroyed Tantive IV. The Corellian CR90 corvette housed the quarters and offices of many in the Resistance command staff.

Poe climbed aboard the brightly lit cruiser and took the elevator up to the third deck. He knocked on a door.

"Come in," said a slightly muffled voice.

Poe touched a button next to the door, which slid open to reveal a well-furnished, but not ostentatious, office. At an antique desk in the center of the room sat General Leia. She looked up at him expectantly.

"You wanted to see me, General?" Poe said.

The next morning dawned bright and clear. There seemed to be less fog than usual, even at sunrise when Poe and Chewbacca began loading the Falcon.

"Because I'm not sending her out there alone, that's why," Poe said.

"Braaggghh!" said Chewbacca.

"Will you trust me?"

The sun had risen over the tops of the trees when Poe pulled the fuel hose out of the Falcon. Rey walked up to him.

"You were right before," Rey said. "I'm going to get the Kyber Crystals from the Forbidden Desert of Bonadan."

"I know. We're going with you," Poe said, tapping her arm as he walked past towards the Falcon's boarding ramp. Chewie, Finn, Rose, C-3PO and BB-8 followed him.

"What?"

"I've got new orders from the General. There's a Resistance informant on Bonadan with a message for her. She has personally tasked me with making contact with the informant and relaying it to her." Poe waved at the others. "I have chosen these other Resistance members as my team for this mission. And, since we're going to the same place, it only makes sense for us to travel with you."

"I need to go alone," Rey said.

"Yeah," said Finn. "Alone with friends."

"It's too dangerous, Finn."

The others gathered behind Finn.

"We go together," the ex-stormtrooper said.

Chewie roared his agreement.

Rey looked from one face to the next. All held firm.

BB-8 beeped.

"I wholeheartedly agree," Threepio said.

Rey shook her head at her friends, but a smile played across her lips. She gave in.

A small crowd of Resistance fighters gathered to see the team off.

Connix and Dameron saluted each other.

"Colonel," Poe said, "hold the fort while we're away."

"Don't worry, Commander," the Resistance officer said sweetly. "I'm sure we can keep the base in perfectly good condition without you."

Poe smirked and walked up to Rey, who was staring out at the verdant jungle. Sunlight streamed through the fog and dappled the ground with shadows of leaves.

"Hey, we should get goin'," Poe said.

Rey looked at him and then turned back to the forest.

"What is it?" Poe asked.

"Nothing," said Rey. The feeling of doom had dissipated, and a calm had descended upon her. She did not know where her path would lead, but she would trust in the Force, and in her friends. What else could she do?

See-Threepio stood next to Artoo-Detoo.

"In the event that I do not return, I want you to know that you have been a—a real friend, Artoo," the golden droid said. "My best one in fact."

R2-D2 beeped a farewell as his companion walked towards the Millennium Falcon.

Rey walked up to Leia.

"I suppose this is goodbye," Rey said.

The General shook her head. "No."

"You're right," Rey said. "It's not. I will return and complete my training. I promise."

BB-8 beeped.

Rey looked down at him. "No, you can't do it for me."

"Never underestimate a droid," Leia remarked.

Rey looked back to Leia. "There's so much I want to tell you," she said, voice quavering.

"Tell me when you get back," said Leia. She hugged Rey like the daughter she never had. "Rey. . . never be afraid of who you are."

A tear rolled down Rey's cheek onto Leia's shoulder.

The Millennium Falcon lifted off from the Resistance base. The freighter flew over the jungle canopies and past the grounded Eclipse into the skies of Ajan Kloss. Inside, Rey and Chewbacca occupied the pilot's and copilot's chairs, respectively. Finn and Poe took the rear seats, Rose leaning against the back of Finn's. C-3PO crowded into the cabin as BB-8 beeped to himself just outside.

Chewie growled a question.

Rey smiled at him. "It is," she said.

The cloudy atmosphere of Ajan Kloss receded behind the Falcon as it soared into space.