Chapter Ten

Showdown on Wavett

The nights were long on Wavett. Despite her nocturnal encounter with Kylo Ren, Rey felt almost too well rested when she awoke in the morning.

The camp seemed emptier than it had the previous night. Rose was monitoring the transmitter while C-3PO and BB-8 communed on subjects of interest only to droids. Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are the others?" Rey asked.

"They went out on a scouting mission. As if there's anything to scout," Rose snorted.

Rey stared at Rose awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?" Rose inquired.

"I—I don't know if I should even ask this," Rey said. "But…when your sister died, how did you…get over it?"

Rose looked at her and sighed.

"I—I'm sorry," Rey apologized. "I shouldn't have—"

"No, it's all right," Rose said, putting her hand on Rey's shoulder. "A loss like that—it's not really something you can just get over. It's more a matter of moving forward, not letting it get in your way. I cried a lot. I still cry sometimes. But my sister died fighting for what she believed in, and the best way for me to honor her is to carry on that fight. The important thing is to just keep going. But…give yourself time to grieve too."

"Thank you," Rey said. She stared at the sky for a moment before walking away.

As Rey fixed herself a scant breakfast of ration bars and veg-meat, she turned her thoughts from her grief over her parents to the immediate problem facing her. After last night, she was even less willing to sit around waiting to be rescued, but there seemed to be no other choice. The Millennium Falcon must have been at the bottom of Wavett's ocean by now. Could there be some way of recovering it?

Filing that thought away, Rey pulled her satchel of books from her bed-roll. She fished Geb's hand-drawn star map out of it and scrutinized the brown paper. Coruscant was clearly labeled at one end of the map. A line delineated a hyperspace pathway following the Namadii Corridor and the Entralla Route before trailing off near the edge of Wild Space just past Bastion. A small dot labelled Mortis was near the opposite end from Coruscant.

Rey set the map on a flat rock nearby, took a bite of her rations, and turned back to her bag. She hesitated briefly before picking up the book from the temple on Bonadan. It fell open to a place near the end. Rey frowned, preparing to turn back to where she had left off the previous night, but then gasped as she saw what was written at the top of the page.

Part the Twelfth: The Power of Sky-Walking

Excitedly flipping gritty, parchment-like pages, Rey quickly skimmed through the chapter. It described a method of using the Force to sense the fastest safe hyperspace routes to reach a destination. Nomi's words suddenly became clear to Rey. She would follow the map as far as it would lead her; from there the Force would be her guide. But first, she needed to get off this bloody planet.

With a determined cast to her face, Rey stuffed the book and the map back into her satchel, swung it over her shoulder, and grabbed the remains of her breakfast. Then she set off along the cliff.

As she walked, the sharp cliff flattened out, giving way to rounded bluffs covered in heavy layers of snow. Rey noticed that in the absence of the others, she was paying more attention to her environment, from the grey clouds hanging in the sky above to the sounds of snow crunching under her boots and winter wind whistling past. She wondered if the solitude also enabled her to more easily attune herself to the Force. She certainly found it easier to meditate when she was alone, but perhaps that was merely due to lack of distractions.

Soon, Rey found herself scrambling downhill onto the frozen surface of the ocean. As she crossed the thick ice sheet, she looked for the hole left by the Millennium Falcon when it crashed. She soon found it, a jagged tear in the ice that was already beginning to freeze over. She leaned over the hole, staring down into the water, but was unable to see the ship; the water quickly became impenetrably dark. It was like looking into a pit, reminding her uncomfortably of the slimy, vine-choked entrance to the cave on Ahch-To.

Shaking off her memories, Rey closed her eyes and reached out through the Force, her awareness skating over the ice. Rey forced herself to focus on the column of water directly beneath the hole. She felt a shock of arctic cold as her mind seemed to dive, her consciousness descending into the chill, murky depths. Deeper and deeper into the water she reached, until it threatened to crush her, the unbearable pressure compacting her into an infinitesimal point. She pushed on, going deeper, even as she became aware of the immensity of the ocean. It was so vast, and she so tiny, she was certain she would be engulfed, swept away by the rushing of huge undersea currents. Then she began to awaken to the presence of life, of tiny, glowing microorganisms and pale, eyeless fish that inhabited the cavernous depths, never imagining the world of the surface, or of travel between the stars. Yet they had been disturbed, their gloomy existence encroached upon by an object that fell from the heavens.

At last, Rey reached the bottom of the ocean. Mind touched metal. She had found the Millennium Falcon. Now she began to move it, shifting it carefully off the seabed before pulling it up, first slowly, then with increasing speed. As her sense of self ascended, following a narrow thread of thought, so did the ship. Soon they were both rushing upwards, parting the water behind them. Rey slowed the craft and turned it right-side up before it breached the surface. Her eyes snapped open.

Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca walked into the makeshift camp.

"Good morning," Rose said, looking over at them. "Nice of you guys to drop by!"

BB-8 whistled happily and unplugged from a portable charger.

"I missed you too, pal," Poe said fondly as the astromech rolled up to him and bobbled his dome.

Rose asked, "See anything interesting?"

Chewbacca roared.

"You said it, Chewie," Finn remarked. "Nothing but ice, snow, frost…and some more ice and snow."

"Also some rock," Poe put in. "Don't forget about all the nice rock." He looked around. "Say, where's Rey?"

"I think she decided to stretch her legs," said Rose, pointing towards the ocean. "Last I saw she was standing by the spot we crashed at, out on the ice sheet."

"We better take a look," said Poe. He clambered onto the lip of the cliff and looked out over the near-featureless white plane. Finn and BB-8 followed him.

Rey stood on the ice sheet, her arm outstretched. Hanging in the air before her was the Millennium Falcon, water pouring down its sides, the morning sun glinting on its cockpit.

"There she is," Poe breathed. "She's a survivor."

Finn didn't ask which one he meant.

Rey pivoted, her boots sliding on the ice. She gave the Falcon a push, sending it gliding slowly towards the cliff. The others watched in awe as it crept closer and closer to them before floating over the edge of the cliff and settling gently onto the thick snows.

"Let's get that ship fixed," Poe said.

Sparks flew in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as Poe, Chewbacca, and C-3PO attempted to repair its wiring.

"What a dreadful situation," C-3PO said as Poe zapped himself and bit back an oath. "Is every day like this for you people?"

Chewbacca warbled noncommittally.

"Madness," the protocol droid continued.

Finn leaned through the hatch. "How goes the wiring?"

"It would go better if we could ever find his volume control," Poe said, jerking a thumb towards C-3PO. "How goes patching the leak?"

"Rey and I have sealed up the outside," Finn reported. "Once we reinforce the interior, we should be airtight. Just try not to get us into any dogfights."

"That's not always my call," Poe groused.

Rose burst into the cockpit. "You need to see this," she gasped.

"Wait, what?" asked Finn. "What's—"

"A transmission," Rose breathed, "from the First Order. It's playing on every frequency."

She led them into the main crew compartment. Rey and BB-8 were already there, watching a hologram being displayed over the Dejarik table. A lined, withered face with a deep gash in its forehead stared out at them.

"Hear, O peoples of the galaxy, and mark my words well," the face said.

In a dimly-lit dive bar on the planet Kijimi, an aged, bearded man with a metal patch covering one eye looked up from the glass he was cleaning.

"For decades, I have bent the arc of history towards where we now stand. The fall of the Jedi; the creation of the Empire; the rise of the First Order; I engineered all these things, that I might bring about what is now to occur."

The old man shook his head sadly. He knew nothing good could come of this. In a dark corner, a helmeted spice runner slammed her cup down on the table and put her hand on her blaster.

"And now, at last, the work of generations is complete. The great error is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith."

In a First Order outpost on the planet Arkanis, a platoon of Stormtroopers stood at attention, a drizzle of rain running off their armor. As they watched their leader, they raised their fists in salute.

"The First Order is hereby reorganized into the Final Order, a régime which will last a thousand years. All worlds must submit to its command, and all who dare resist its might shall be utterly annihilated."

Resistance fighters on Ajan Kloss listened in silent shock to the message they were receiving. General Leia bent her head, horror washing over her, unwilling even to look upon the twisted face before her.

"And who should preside over this great new order but I? I, Supreme Leader Snoke, the Eternal Ruler of this, my galaxy."

As the transmission ended and began to repeat, Kylo Ren snapped off the portable holoprojector he held before him, his face stony. He stomped towards Tor Valum's fortress.

"Well, that was…disturbing," Poe said. "And what's worse, it lines up with what General Calrissian told us."

"Yeah," Finn agreed. He looked at Rey to gauge her reaction, only to find she had slipped out of the room.

Finn found Rey standing by the port side hull of the ship, screwing a metal panel in place with a hydrospanner. As he watched, she paused and lowered the tool, seeming to stare out beyond the ship at something very far away.

"He killed my mother," she whispered, so quietly Finn could hardly hear her. "And my father. I'm going to find Snoke…and destroy him."

Finn came up beside her. "Rey…that doesn't sound like you," he said. "Rey, I know you, I—"

"People keep telling me they know me." Rey shook her head. There was something terribly cold in her voice. "I'm afraid no-one does."

Finn tried to think up a good response, but before he could, the ship shook as the sound of an explosion boomed through it. They both looked up reflexively, startled, and then rushed into the main corridor.

As Rey and Finn reached the door out of the ship, Poe emerged from the cockpit. "It's those guys from Bonadan!" he yelled. "I thought you got rid of them!"

Another explosion rocked the Falcon. Rey punched a button on the door controls. She ran down the boarding ramp, Finn and Poe following her.

An obsidian assault craft sliced through the air above them, its angular form silhouetted against the white sky. Rey immediately recognized it as the same model as the ship that she had destroyed, the one that had carried the Knights of Ren.

Rey extended her arm, reaching out with the Force. The Knife 10 jerked back as it encountered unforeseen and powerful resistance. Black smoke belched from its engines.

In the Knife 10's cockpit, Jaedec Ren heaved on the throttle. The ship began to slowly pull away from the ground, slipping from Rey's grasp.

Rey pulled harder, the effort making her grit her teeth, her arm shaking with the strain. The Knights' ship lurched and wobbled, bits of metal flaking off as it began to be pulled apart by two almost evenly-matched forces.

"Land the ship!" Hattaska Ren ordered. "Let's take this fight to the ground."

Jaedec slowly released the throttle and brought the Knife 10 down, landing near the cliffside. Rey lowered her hand as Rose and Chewbacca emerged from the Falcon. The Knights of Ren emerged from their ship, weapons at the ready.

Rey stepped forward and activated her lightsaber. "Stand back," she said.

Rey and the Knights faced each other across the barren, icy plain. A tense silence stretched out between them. Hattaska pressed a button on his war club and a halo of crackling red energy surrounded its head. Jaedec shifted his weight, hefting his vibro-ax ominously. Poe tightened his grip on his blaster, taking aim at Kuruk.

As though at some unseen signal, Rey and Hattaska rushed towards each other. Jaedec sprinted towards the cliff, firing a pistol, while Kuruk kneeled by the Knife 10's boarding ramp, firing his rifle on full automatic. Rose ducked behind a boulder as a barrage of blaster bolts flew towards them. Poe and Finn got off a couple of shots, but were also forced to take cover as fire peppered the rocks. Chewbacca growled defiantly and jogged towards the Falcon.

Hattaska and Rey crashed together, their weapons throwing off sparks at the sheer force of the impact. Their momentum carried them past each other, sliding across the ice before whirling to face each other. They swung at each other again, lightsaber and war club locking.

Jaedec raced along the cliffside. Suddenly, the ice ahead of him burst upwards as it was struck by a metal quarrel enveloped in hot plasma. Jaedec looked up to see Chewbacca charging towards him. The Knight snapped off several pistol shots, but the Wookiee dodged aside.

Chewbacca swung at Jaedec with a furry fist, striking him on the helmet. Disoriented by the blow, Jaedec tried to lift his ax in defense, but felt a large hand close around his neck. Chewbacca picked Jaedec up and hurled him off the cliff, then raised his bowcaster and fired, hitting the Knight as he fell. Jaedec landed in a crumpled heap on the jagged stones at the foot of the cliff. Chewbacca roared in triumph.

Rey and Hattaska fought ferociously, Rey spinning away from the Knight's swings while striking out with her blades. Hattaska parried with his club and lunged. Rey sidestepped and Force-pushed him over the edge of the cliff.

Kuruk fired another salvo. A blaster bolt hit Chewbacca. The Wookiee howled in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Rey spun to see the hairy body lying motionless on the ice. "Chewie!" she shrieked, her voice reverberating across the frozen plain. She felt hot and cold at the same time. Rage coursed through her.

Rey raced towards Kuruk. He raised his rifle and fired at her, but she deflected every blast, sending them flying away. Poe, Finn, and Rose popped out from behind the rocks and shot at Kuruk. The Knight stumbled back as his armor absorbed the blasts, but he still stood. Rey reached out with the Force and pulled Kuruk onto her lightsaber, impaling him through his chest.

Hattaska Ren leapt straight upwards and landed at the top of the cliff, emitting a ghostly screech. He pulled a vibromachete from his belt and flew towards Rey, swinging wildly with both club and blade. Rey separated the two halves of her saber, blocking Hattaska's strikes with her left-hand blade while her right blade remained in Kuruk's chest. She shoved Hattaska back and withdrew her right blade, lashing out with it.

Hattaska's cudgel crashed down, cracking the ice, as Rey sidestepped and rejoined her lightsaber. She thrust at the Knight, but a quick swipe of his machete sliced into her left hand. Rey dropped her lightsaber and fell to the ground, unarmed.

Hattaska stood over her and raised his club for a killing blow. The sight was horribly familiar to Rey. She had seen a similar sight just last night; the ugly metal helmet before her was the last thing her mother had seen before her death.

Hattaska Ren brought his club down towards Rey's head, but she extended her good hand, teeth clenched and eyes burning. Energy built at her fingertips and leapt towards Hattaska. Hattaska Ren spasmed as blue Force lightning poured out of Rey and coursed through him. His body fell, smoking, and landed with a thud.

Rey rose slowly and looked down at her hand. Her friends watched her uneasily, their eyes wide. BB-8 appeared at the bottom of the Millennium Falcon's boarding ramp, his single photoreceptor silently questioning.

Rose hurried to Chewbacca. The Wookiee raised his head weakly and growled something.

"He'll be all right!" Rose called. "It was just a graze." There was something hollow in her voice. She and Finn helped Chewbacca stand up and led him towards the Falcon.

Rey walked up to the group. "I—I had no choice," she said.

"It's okay," said Poe. "Jedi do that, right?"

Rey couldn't meet his gaze. "I've seen that mask before. I've seen all of them."

Poe turned to follow the others. Rey didn't move.

"Rey, let's go," Poe said.

"No." The word fell from her lips like a lead weight. "I'm going down a path you can't follow."

"What are you talking about?" Poe asked, dumbfounded. "This was the plan."

"The Resistance needs you. Leia needs you. Finn, Rose, Chewbacca, Beebee-Ate…even See-Threepio. They all need you."

"Rey. Get on the ship," Poe coaxed. "Please."

Rey shook her head. "You have to leave this place. The Knights were tracking me. My presence endangers all of you."

She reached into her satchel, drew out the twin Kyber crystals, and placed them gently into Finn's hand. "Go to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Use the crystals to activate the beacon."

Poe insisted, "I'm not leaving you."

Rey took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she hated to do, but knew she had to. She raised her hand and waved it slightly. "You will leave this place and go back to help the Resistance."

"I'm not—don't do this…"

She leaned forward, delicately brushing a lock of hair up off his forehead. "You will leave this place and—and go back to help the Resistance." Her eyes began to water. She sniffed, fighting back the tears she knew she couldn't allow to fall.

Chewbacca, Rose, and Finn stood by the boarding ramp, looking back at Rey and Poe. The Wookiee howled once more, this time in sadness.

"No…." Poe said. "You can't…"

Something slotted into place in Rey's head. She waved her hand in just the right way, and said in a calm and controlled voice, "You will leave this place and go back to help the Resistance."

Poe felt his mind slipping away from him. He tried to fight it, tried to think of Rey, of how much he cared about her and wanted to stay with her, but her words imposed themselves upon him, robbing him of the will to resist their meaning. He said, "I…I have to leave this place. I have to help the Resistance."

Rey took Poe's face in her hands and kissed him gently. When she pulled away, he looked as though he had been stabbed. Rey turned him towards the Falcon, pushing him lightly away from her.

Poe walked past the others and up the ramp. Finn and Rose followed him, supporting Chewbacca. BB-8 looked up at Rey, then up the ramp at Poe, torn between them.

Rey was deliberately cold. "Go!" she commanded the droid, pointing.

BB-8 beeped mournfully and rolled up to the others. Rey watched as the ramp rose behind them. Poe held up a hand in farewell, his sentience breaking through the mind trick for a brief moment. Then the ramp shut completely, and Rey turned away.

Rey hurried to the Knife 10, wanting to be on her way before she could have second thoughts. She entered the dark craft and made her way from its shadowy interior to the cockpit. She placed the star map on the console and weighed it down with her lightsaber.

Rey examined the wound Hattaska had given her. It was a long, straight cut stretching across the back of her left hand. It was hard to tell in the crimson light filtering through the viewport, but it was bleeding. Rey fished the red ribbon she had cut on Ajan Kloss out of her satchel and bound it tightly around her hand.

Rey caught her red-tinged reflection in the viewport, her sole companion from now on. She quickly punched buttons and threw switches, readying the Knife 10 for takeoff. The ship rose into the air and streaked into the hazy sky, disappearing from view.