N0tLogical: Glad to hear you liked the chapter and Kuvira's opinion of the Force. I usually read through the chapters and I have spell check on to check for mistakes in grammar and spelling. But I do sometimes miss some things before I upload the chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much.

BlackJay150: Thank you for your review. I always appreciate receiving them. I am glad that like me, you are eager for an Imperial/First Order viewpoint. I tend to support them anyway. Like you I feel that the Star Wars Universe needs to be less one sided and actually make the 'villains' more like actual people instead of just one-dimensional bad guys for the heroes to defeat with nothing more than plot armour.

I also agree that the Rebels have done some pretty messed up shit and I really enjoyed having the chance to take the annoyingly holier than thou Princess Leia to task for this. Especially since the rebels see Imperial actions as evil but it is ok when they do it. Because it is for the cause.

I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Stay Safe.

Denahidj: Thanks for the review. I am glad you liked the chapter.

Shade: Thanks for your review. I admit I took some inspiration from Kreia for the last chapter. I have always found her views on the Force quite compelling. I also felt it would make sense for someone as driven and determined as Kuvira to hate anything that seemed to control her fate for her.

Truth's Hierarch: Thanks for your review. I admit I took some inspiration from Kreia for the last chapter. I have always found her views on the Force quite compelling. I also felt it would make sense for someone as driven and determined as Kuvira to hate anything that seemed to control her fate for her.

I think it is pretty unarguable that the Force is causing and perpetuating the cycle of violence across the galaxy and across the ages. But the main problem for Kuvira is that the Force will not let one side rule forever. So, all the death and suffering does not mean anything or benefit anything. It is just the next round of slaughter in the endless cosmic game of balance.

I do not know if you follow Warhammer. But when thinking about the Force like this, it seemed hauntingly similar to the Chaos Gods.

I am glad you liked the chapter and Kuvira's little deception at the end. I have always admired the work of Sun Tzu. A fascinating man across history. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much.

Guest: Thanks for the review. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.

.2020: Thank you for the review. I am glad you found the interaction between Kuvira and Leia interesting.

Hunter Santana: Thank you for your review. I am considering things with Enric Pryde. He is a clear follower of Palpatine which puts him at odds with Kuvira. So, he has potential to make an interesting counter force within the First Order. I imagine he would respect or even admire Kuvira for her skill and resolve. But in the end Palpatine holds his loyalty and he will remove anyone who is not loyal to him. He might consider it a shame. But he will still do it. Also, I did see the trailer for Star Wars Squadrons. I am looking forward to it. I am hoping it can give me lots more characters and material to work with.

Kai: Glad to hear you are still enjoying the story. I am fine and I hope you are also staying safe during this pandemic.

Artemis Persephone Jackson: Thank you for your review. I am glad you liked the choice of words.

C.E.W: That is the thing. Kuvira doesn't believe she can defy the will of the Force. That is one reason why she hates it so much. She sees her chains but can do nothing to break them. It infuriates her and devalues everything she has or will ever achieve. But she still intends to live her life according her choice regardless of what the force may want from her.

I read 'To break a cycle' about Prince Zokar years ago. It was one of my favourite stories. I did not make the comparison when I was writing but I can see the similarity now you mention it.

Guest: Thanks for the review. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last. You just might get your wish.

Guest: Kuvira hates Palpatine for many reasons. She hates him for his uncaring attitude towards the Empire and its people. She hates him for his anti-alien policies that did nothing but hurt the Empire in the long run. She hates his unnecessary cruel laws that made no logical sense and only strengthened the rebellion. She hates his fixation on giant death stars against all military advice. Most of all she hates him for his megalomaniacal instructions for Operation Cinder which destroyed the Empire faster than the rebels ever could.

After Endor the Empire could still have won the war if they now took it seriously. Palpatine's orders ruined that by targeting loyal imperial worlds and damning them all in his insanity. That is why Kuvira hates Palpatine.

Chapter 33 – Across Time and Space

Supremacy - Throne Room

Snoke – POV

Supreme Leader Snoke sat upon his throne, His golden robes were wrapped around his gnarled and haggard body. As he sat with his guards around him, he remained as still as possible. He found that this helped him still his mind and allowed him to focus on the swirling currents of the Force with greater focus.

This allowed him to peer deeper into the future and to the constantly shifting destinies of countless beings and even entire worlds.

The dark side responded to his command, and he felt his power building as he projected his will and power into the currents of the force to pierce the veil of time and gain access to the future. This was one of the most difficult things to accomplish. Even for a master of the Force like himself.

The future was always in motion. And only glimpses of it could be perceived when one powerful enough in the force tried. This meant that everything that the master actually saw in their vision. Was simultaneously destined to happen and not to happen. It was set in stone and yet was also fluid like water. It could be brought about by action or could be the result of inaction.

In many ways. For all the Jedi and the Sith might command the power of the force. The truth was that the future was unknowable.

As a result, many force adepts had asked what was the point of peering into the future if you could only see a fragment of one of infinite possible futures?

But true master's like Snoke understood that any knowledge, even a fragment of it was precious. Knowledge is used properly brought about greater control. To see even a glimpse of one possible future was knowledge you could use to influence the future. It could give you an idea of what you must do to avoid a potential future or to bring about a more pleasing one.

If you wanted to command the future and more importantly to decide you own fate. You needed to understand the potential strings of destiny that surrounded you and by extension the universe.

That was Snoke's intension and understanding as he sank deeper and deeper into the Force.

He was no longer aware of his physical body. He could no longer feel the throne he was sitting in. Nor could he sense or perceive the massive chamber that he resided in at that moment. The material universe had fallen away as he projected his consciousness into the ethereal realm of the Force.

The Force instantly swirled around him and attempted to cloud his vision of the future. It was said that the Force lacked a true will of its own without a mortal being to act as a conduit of that will. But whatever the truth was it did not matter. The force sensed his intrusion into the future and it automatically tried to repeal the invader. To cast him out of its domain.

He was barely aware of its efforts as he called on the dark side and swept the pathetic attempts aside and returned his focus to the currents of the future. He opened himself up to the infinite possibilities that swirled through time and space.

After several moments he felt himself falling into a state of semi awareness. It was almost impossible for even a master of the force to perceive the future with full consciousness. The sheer immensity of infinite cosmic time was simply too much for a mortal mind to comprehend. At least not if he intended to retain any form of sanity.

So, in order to see anything with a form of clarity. He needed to let his mind become unfocused and see what it was able to see.

Snoke was standing in a room of darkness. The room itself was clearly enormous with a roof that could not be seen in all the darkness. It was clearly a temple of some kind. It was built out of monolith walls and pillars of black stone. The temple floor was rough-hewn and did not seem to have been made with any regard for artistic style or ascetics.

There was no obvious man-made illumination within the temple. Indeed, the only source of light seemed to originate from the blue flashes that were borne of clearly unnatural lightning. Snoke realised then that the world that this temple was built on was one ravaged by a titanic lightning storm. The cracks and holes that criss-crossed and dotted the structure of the building showed the cloud covered sky outside. Lightning was almost constantly flashing across the clouds as if the sky was somehow at war with itself.

But Snoke could tell that this storm was not borne of nature or the work of some primal god. The storm radiated with the power of the dark side.

Indeed, Snoke could sense that the Dark side was strong here. In fact, it was stronger here then he had possibly ever felt before. The sky, the temple, the entire planet was alive with the dark side in a way that Snoke had seldom experienced or even heard of.

It was clear that this strange world was a powerful dark side nexus. The equal, if not superior to those found at Korriban, Malachor, Nathema and Ziost.

Snoke did not recognise this world. At least he could not put a name to it even with all his knowledge and understanding of the dark side and the history of the ancient sith. But he could feel a sense of familiarity with this world. He did not recognise it by name, but somehow, he felt that he did have more than a simple past knowledge of this world.

He had visited this world before. That much he was certain of.

As he considered he saw movement within the darkness. Soon a figure stepped out of the shadows and stood before the Supreme Leader. Even before the vibrant green lightsaber blade ignited within the being's hand, Snoke knew who it was.

Luke Skywalker.

The Jedi Grandmaster had changed since Snoke had last encountered him all those years ago. His beard was no longer neatly trimmed, but was instead ragged and unkempt. His robes were no longer clean and pristine. They were worn and clearly had been subjected to rigours lifestyle. The difference could mostly be seen in his face. His face was creased with new lines that had not been there a few short years ago. Most of all were his eyes. They were now haunted and dimmed with the light of the force and youth having long since departed.

The Jedi stepped forward as he raised his lightsaber in a ready stance. As he did so Snoke realised there was someone advancing behind him.

Snoke turned and saw the form of his apprentice appearing from the dark mist.

Kylo Ren advanced with his iconic mask in place. His scarlet fiery lightsaber bursting from its hilt as he spun it in his hands. Snoke could feel the malice and the intent to slaughter in his apprentice as the dark side radiated from him. It was everything he could have hoped from his apprentice and still more.

It was in this image of Kylo Ren that Snoke saw the potential that Darth Vader had never been able to reach. Either by his physical imitations and cybernetics or by his own mental weakness.

Kylo Ren moved past his master and stood before his uncle and former teacher. His lightsaber rising into the unmistakable juyo ready stance. His anger and rage held in check as he prepared to unleash himself on his uncle.

Even as Snoke watched. He saw a third figure step from the darkness into the central chamber. The figure was of a woman he had never personally seen. But he knew who it was instantly. It was the Jakku desert scavenger that Kylo Ren and the Grand Admiral had captured on Takodana. It was the woman who had a strong connection to the Force and who had been instrumental in the crippling of Starkiller base.

Rey; he remembered was her name.

As he watched, the woman stepped forward and ignited a blue lightsaber. Snoke instantly recognised the lightsaber as the one that had once belonged to Luke Skywalker, and his father Anakin Skywalker before him.

Snoke watched as the three individuals stared at each other with clearly hostile intent. Too his surprise, even Skywalker and the Jakku scavenger were looking at each other with hostile eyes. Kylo Ren meanwhile was eyeing both of them through his mask.

For a moment all three of them simple stood there with their sabers raised and ready.

But before any of them could move. Snoke sensed a presence off to the side of the triangle that had formed between the three combatants.

He turned (as did the three others) to the side to see who had joined the small gathering. But there was nothing there.

At least nothing he could perceive. Yet there was defiantly was a presence just beyond his line of sight. He could not see them but he could sense them in the Force. But even in the Force, he could not confirm if the presence was that of a mortal being. It did not feel like the force signature of a mortal being. Instead it felt more like a singularity of power. A black hole in the depths of the Force itself. The dark side so potent and so powerful that reality itself seemed to bleed into its heart.

Snoke tried reach out with the Force to pierce the veil that concealed the identity of the person or being that was at the heart of the dark side vortex.

As he did so he continued to see the flashing forks of lightning and the crash of thunder in the background.

However, he soon realised that the sounds that accompanied the lightning was not thunder. But explosions. Turbo laser fire and the crash of hundreds of impacts of metal on metal. Clearly a battle was being waged over this world.

As his struggled to see the dark side source clearly. Snoke could just make out a throne within the dark abyss that he was trying to identify. The throne was not elaborate, gaudy or overly decorated like the thrones of many rulers across the galaxy.

Instead it was hewn directly from the rock just like the rest of the temple. The throne contained a number of spikes and angles that gave it a menacing aspect. But Snoke was aware that the throne itself was radiating with the dark side of the force. It felt similar to many dark side artifacts that he had studied and collected over the years.

But the throne seemed to be more then a simple dark side monument. Snoke could sense a presence within the throne.

It was something…sinister.

The vision broke as the figures of Luke, Kylo Ren and Rey leapt forward with lightsabers flashing. They charged towards the throne and towards each other.

Before Snoke could see any more, lightning flashed as a bolt struck the centre of the temple and the vision broke!

Snoke came back to his physical body.

He opened his cobalt blue eyes and once again found himself in his throne room aboard the Supremacy. His guards surrounded him along the walls of the room as they always did. If they had noticed their Supreme Leader's journey into the future. They did not give any indication of it.

They remained as always in stoic silence.

Snoke was glad for their quiet discipline. He needed to consider all that he had seen and what the meaning of his vision could be. As well as decide how it might affect his future plans for the galaxy.

Snoke considered all he had seen in that strange temple. He knew that he had been on the mysterious lightning ravaged world before. More then that he could say with certainty that he had been inside that very building before. But despite knowing that he could not say with certainty what world that was. He could not remember a distinct name.

It was not entirely surprising. Snoke had been around for a very long time. He had seen Empire's and Republic's rise and fall within his lifetime.

He had trained among the ancient Sith and had explored the mysteries of the Unknown Regions. Mysterious and forgotten secrets that most of the Jedi and Sith had forgotten. Or doubted ever actually existed.

It was entirely possible that after his long, long life and in his advanced age, that he had forgotten the name of one of the hundreds of Force infused worlds that he had visited over the centuries.

The identity of the planet he had seen was certainly and important. But he would meditate on that at a later date. The more pressing issue arose from the people had seen in his vision.

The presence of Luke Skywalker and his own apprentice was hardly surprising. No matter what happened. Snoke knew that the Force was pushing those two towards an inevitable confrontation. It was aided by the fact that both of them were determined to see the threat posed by the other neutralised.

But the presence of the Jakku scavenger Rey was much more unexpected.

While he had been interested in her unusually strong connection to the Force, he had not considered it much more then a simple aberration. After all force sensitive beings littered the galaxy. It was not impossible to find them on desolate and unremarkable worlds, like Jakku. He considered it likely that the Force had simply chosen her as an agent to use in the struggle for possession of the map.

Once Kylo Ren had ripped the map from her mind, her fate was a matter of supreme indifference to Snoke. He remembered that the Grand Admiral had expressed an interest in the girl as a potential recruit for the First Order.

He was willing to abide by his Grand Admiral's wishes in this matter. It was never wise to waste a potentially valuable resource after all.

His apprentice had informed him of how she had seemingly been able to gain access to his knowledge and training in the Force during his mind meld while trying to rip the map from her memories. He had been intrigued as such a thing was not common throughout the history of the Force sensitive orders. Still it was not completely unknown and so he had dismissed it as a minor aberration.

But her presence in his vision showed that she was clearly more integral to the future then he had originally believed.

Snoke leaned back in his throne as he considered the matter carefully. Previously Skywalker had presented the only credible danger to his plans. But now the situation had changed. True Skywalker was still the more dangerous opponent by far. But there was a chance, (however small) that this Rey girl could grow to be an equally powerful threat.

Previously he might have used the girl as a threat to his apprentice as many ancient Sith Master's had done in the past. Threat with replacement was a very efficient way to encourage apprentices to further increase their power and commitment to the Dark Side.

If the circumstances were right, he might have managed to acquire an even more powerful apprentice in the girl. Once she was properly broken and ready to be moulded into a being of dark power.

But the situation did not allow or require that.

Since Starkiller Base. Kylo Ren's power in the Dark Side of the Force had doubled or even tripled. He was a burning fusion torch of power when perceived through the Force. The bloodline of Darth Vader had fully awakened in his worthy successor.

But even more then that. His apprentice had achieved a sense of certainty and commitment that appeared unshakable. Where previously his feelings for his family and his former life had constantly swayed back and forth like a plant in the wind. Now his doubts and fears were gone. He was committed to the Dark Side completely.

His emotional ties and power had left his former family and had become firmly entranced in another individual. An individual that offered numerous possibilities for the Supreme Leader.

Snoke no longer had any doubt that in Kylo Ren, rested the future of the Sith.

The girl therefore would serve no purpose with him. She was also too much of a potential risk to be allowed to join the First Order. Even as a simple recruit. Whatever potential Grand Admiral Kuvira saw in her was not worth the risk.

She would need to be dealt with.

Snoke exhaled as he came to the conclusion.

But to eliminate her he needed to get to her. And therein lay the problem. After the battle at Starkiller, she had vanished into the dark of the galaxy. The Millennium Falcon had not been seen at the Battle of D'Qar or with the Resistance fleet at any point before its destruction.

Since then he had reviewed the battle reports and no mention of the iconic ship had been reported across the entire theatre of war across the galaxy.

The reason was not hard to deduce. She had taken the ship and the map to go and find Luke Skywalker. The last Jedi. No doubt she had some fanciful notions of becoming his padawan and learning the ways of the Light Side.

Snoke almost laughed as he considered her obvious pipedream.

What many in the Resistance failed to remember was that Skywalker could have returned to them at any time. The only reasons why he had not, were because he was dead; (unlikely given how his death would be sensed across the galaxy in the Force).

Or he had simply decided not to return.

The chances of him therefore taking on a sudden apprentice and racing back into the fray were virtually astronomical.

Still, there was a chance that he would return. And with that girl by his side, they would pose a serious threat to himself and his own apprentice. Not to mention they would serve as a rallying cry for all those across the galaxy that waited and hoped for the Jedi to return and the rebellion to rise again.

That was something he could not allow.

He needed to locate her and Skywalker. Once he knew their whereabouts, he could dispatch his apprentice and the Knights of Ren to kill his old master and his precious devotee. Or he could simply call a fleet in to demolish the planet he was hiding on to dust.

He would consider which was more called for when he had the location.

The question remained; how did he find them when they could be anywhere in the entire galaxy. That was something was beyond even his power to achieve.

He pondered the matter for a long period of time. He was not aware of the passage of time as he contemplated and called on the Force. He might have been sat in place for hours or even days. He had no way to know. And he knew his guards would not disturb him no matter what amount of time passed.

But then it came to him.

His apprentice had been forced to peer into the girl's mind when he had been trying to locate the map. The girl in turn had been forced to delve into his mind and had managed to forge a bond between them to gain knowledge of his training and a rough understanding of the Force.

Typically, bonds such as this were forged between master and apprentices between members of the Jedi and the Sith. They were often expressed in the sensations of one being shared with the other. If one experienced an injury then the pain would be felt just as deeply by the other.

In other cases, one member of the bond might experience dreams or visions of the others memories or would gain an understanding and attainment to the emotions of the other. There were even ancient stories of the members of the bond being able to transfer objects to each other through the Force.

Famous examples of these force bonds were found in the legends of the ancient Jedi. Such as the bond forged between Darth Revan and Bastila Shan. There were also the stories of the bond between Darth Traya and Meetra Surik (also known as the Jedi Exile)

Such a bond was not easy to make, but were far more difficult to break.

Even through Kylo Ren and the girl Rey had no regard for fondness for each other. The bond was likely still there.

Snoke smiled as much as his gnarled mouth allowed him too. And reached out with the Force.

He quickly located his apprentice on board the Supremacy. As he found his location, he raised his eyebrows in mild surprise and amusement. But he did not allow that to distract him. He had a task to complete.

He moved through the Force and focused on the eb and flow of Kylo Ren's signature in the Force. He quickly cloaked his presence within the Force. This would work best if his apprentice was unaware of what was going on or the fact that his master was behind it.

He quietly shifted through the miasma of Kylo Ren's aura. Its deep immersion in the dark side being more then enough to mask his own subtle presence.

Carefully he sifted through the tendrils of thought and awareness that made up the mind of Kylo Ren. Thankfully his apprentice was sufficiently distracted at the moment or he might have sensed his master's intrusion.

'Ah! There it was!' Snoke declared mentally in triumph as he found the weak, inactive, but still very real link to the Force bond that had been forged between Kylo Ren and the girl Rey.

The bond was hanging loosely in the ethereal world as it had not been active since Starkiller Base. But it was still very much intact.

Snoke carefully began to follow the line of connection through the Force to the other end of the bond. Unfortunately, he would not be able to perceive where the other end of the bond (and thereby the girl) actually was in the galaxy. That was most unfortunate. All he could do was follow the bond to the end and reactivate it in the minds of both his apprentice and the girl.

Still it would be enough to begin the process of uncovering the location of Skywalker.

Snoke followed the bond through the currents of the Force. The energy bonded and spread across the entire cosmos. It was so incomprehensibly vast that it was enough for even a master of the Force to risk insanity just to contemplate something that infinite.

However, despite the danger. This allowed him to reach out across the depths of space and time and quickly locate the other end of the bond.

The bond connecting the girl Rey to his apprentice was still intact.

But like with Kylo Ren it was hanging useless and inactive in her force signature. It made sense as neither of them were aware of the force bond. Much less have any active desire to activate it and connect to each other.

Snoke started to channel his own power into the force bond. He focused his power in the force and began to strengthen the bond. Slowly as he focused his power, he began to feel the bond beginning to strengthen and grow more active.

The bond in the ethereal plain began to grow tauter and tauter as the bond deepened the connection between the two individuals across the cosmos.

Soon, he began to feel thoughts and emotions starting to transfer across the bond. At first, they were so minor and small that they would only be perceived unconsciously by either member of the connection.

Snoke poured more of his power into the bond and he waited for the connection to set and for the thoughts and emotions of the two people it connected to become aware of the bond.

Ahch-to – Jedi Enclave Island

Rey - POV

Rey moved along the pathway of the island that she had strived to reach since the battle of Starkiller Base.

She quickly reached her destination. One of the circular stone huts that where constantly maintained by the native attendants that she had seen regularly moving between the village and the island pathways. Even as she moved, she saw a trio of the alien caretakers busying themselves by clearing the foliage nearby. They worked with dedicated focus and dedication in a way that would not have been out of place among ancient cultures maintaining the shrines of their gods.

Briefly she wondered if that was what the Jedi had become for these people. Literal deities.

That would certainly explain why they seemed content to spend the entirety of their existence maintaining a Jedi settlement that the Order had forgotten about Millenia ago.

Without even bothering to concern herself with the preservation of the ancient domicile. She strode inside and slammed the metal door so hard that it shook the stone house and knocked a few of the ancient brick work loose.

Rey ignored the annoyed muttering of the caretakers outside, at her rough treatment of the building. But in truth, right now she simply did not care.

She had fought and risked life and limb to find this planet hidden in the middle of the Unknown Regions.

Yet as she walked, she could not help but think of this place as just another Jakku. A world she would give anything to leave but found herself bound here by reasons that even she could not consider logical.

She had arrived here expecting…...something!

She had expected to find the great and legendary Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. That he would take up his lightsaber and would return with her to the Resistance.

That he would lead them into battle against the forces of evil and would maintain all that was true and good in the galaxy.

That he would help her understand this power, this thing that was now awake within her. That he would guide her in understanding it and would help her fulfil whatever purpose she had been expected to do with this strange power.

Even as she considered all the hopes and dreams, she had entertained when arriving on this world. She remembered Luke Skywalkers cynical denial and mockery of them. How he had asked if she expected him to pick up a 'laser sword' and face down the entire First Order?

He might have said that in sarcasm. But that was exactly what she had expected him to do! That was what the galaxy expected him to do!

Instead he had mocked their hopes and their desperation and had instead continued to hole himself up on this island. The fact that he could have left to help the Resistance at any time but had chosen to remain her sent a flash of anger and fury through Rey.

While countless beings died in fire and torment across the galaxy, with the name of Luke Skywalker on their lips. The man himself chose to ignore them and to remain on his island, fishing for his next meal!

The very thought of that. The sheer apathy that required made her blood boil with rage!

Her frustration boiling over, she kicked the bed that was connected to one side of the hut. Annoyed by the lack of destruction her attack had wrought. She kicked the bed again, and again and again as she vented all her pent-up emotion.

Finally, she stopped her assault. More to spare her foot then the ancient domicile, since her limb had suffered far more from the beating, she had dished out. Hopping slightly on her bludgeoned foot, she turned and sat down on the bed.

She wiped away the tears of rage and sadness that had gathered in her eyes during her emotional outburst. Her breathing slowly starting to ease back to normal and her heart rate slowing to normal as her system was flooded with endorphins to counter act the adrenaline that had been flowing through her only moments ago.

She was not sure how long she sat there staring into space. She found it hard to tell the passage of time on this strange world. On Jakku the time was easy to determine by the passage of the sun. But on Ahch-to with the clouds blocking the sky, the sea levels rising and falling and the seemingly constantly changing schedules of the natives. She could not figure out how long she spent in any one place.

It could have been hours, could have been minutes. In the end she supposed it did not matter.

What did she care if she wasted hours or even days sitting around doing nothing? Her whole reason for being here was to find Master Luke Skywalker. To get him to come back to the Resistance and to help her figure out what this power she had was.

Well he had flat out refused to help her on both points. So, what else was she supposed to do with her time?

Han and Chewie had spent the first few days trying to get Luke to come back with them as well. She had asked them how they got here once Luke left them the first time.

Han had got off the Raddus the second it left D'Qar. He had survived the initial attack that left the ship crippled and had made his way to the bridge. He had said a quick goodbye to Leia and had grabbed Chewie from the medical bay as soon as the medic cleared him to travel. The medic had fixed up most of his injuries. The internal bleeding and burns, the flesh wounds on his limbs and the cracked ribs were fixed after a few hours in bacta and some kolto injections.

But his eye was beyond fixing. The medic had only been able to ensure it would not get worse or develop an infection within the brain. The eye itself had been destroyed by the vibroblade that Kuvira had thrown into it. Chewie has now half blind with his destroyed and scared eye socket hidden behind a black patch that had been fixed in place.

Wookie seemed to have taken the loss in stride. He had displayed all of his usual strength, alertness and affectionate comradery that all his friends associated with him.

But Rey had noticed a change in his behaviour over the last few days. The Wookie was putting up a convincing front. Probably trying to convince his human companions that he was not affected by the loss of his eye. Rey wondered if a tribal warrior culture like the wookies. Considered such injuries in battle as nothing to lament over. But whatever the reason, Rey had seen that there was a noticeable darkness in his mood. His temper seemed just a bit shorter. And his silences seemed to be just a little bit longer and sullener.

Rey wanted to help him. But she had no idea what to say to comfort or help him through this difficult time. It was made harder by the fact that she had not really known the Wookie along time. So, it was hard for her to know what for him was truly worrying behaviour.

In the end, Rey had decided to leave the Wookie to his musings. She would be there for him if he asked for her help, and would respect his wish for privacy if that was what he wanted.

She was confident that Han would be able to help his best friend of decades better than she ever could. He had already clearly displayed that he had lost none of his drive after Starkiller Base. Once he had met up with Chewie. He had all but demanded a small escort ship and the known coordinates of the map to be uploaded to the navi computer.

Once he had that, he and Chewie had left the fleet and headed straight for Ahch-to, following her so closely that she had only arrived on the planet a few hours before they had.

Rey allowed a small smile. She should have known that Han Solo would have gone chasing after her like that.

He might claim that he was eager to see his friend and former brother-in-law again. But she was pretty sure that everyone knew he just did not want to let the Millennium Falcon out of his sight again

He had just got it back after all.

After the first failed attempt to coerce Luke onto the Millennium Falcon. Han and Chewie had tried numerous times to get Luke to go with them.

They had tried talking to him.

They had tried reasoning with him.

They had tried arguing with him.

At one point they had tried to fight him and to drag him onto the Falcon kicking and screaming if that was what it took.

But in each conversation, the pleads, and the insults, and the threats had been met with the stony silence that Rey was quickly coming to associate with Luke Skywalker.

In cases where the smuggler and Wookie had tried physical persuasion. Luke had simply used to the Force to immobilize or incapacitate the pair of them until they relented and walked off.

In fact, her earlier dark mood was directly linked to Han and Chewie's failure with Luke. She had been walking down the island pathways when she had seen Han and Chewie packing their belongings and prepping the Falcon for departure.

When Rey had asked what they were doing. Han had said with a tone as biting as the icy water of the ocean. That if Luke wanted to just sit on this island and let all his allies, his friends, his sister die while the galaxy burned. Then as far as Han was concerned, the Jedi could stay here and rot.

He and Chewie were not going to spend the rest of their lives begging the bastard to start giving a damn about everything they had ever loved or believed in.

He and Chewie were going to take the Falcon and get back to the Resistance to try and help however they could. If the Resistance did not need them. Then they would get back to their own life's in the criminal underworld. No doubt a few of their less savoury contacts would be more then happy to make life difficult for the First Order.

Han had said Rey was welcome to come with them when they left.

Rey had not answered. Instead she had walked away and had eventually found herself back in this small hut she had claimed for herself during her time on this world. That was why she found herself here now. Staring into space with all her hopes and dreams coming undone before her eyes.

Nothing had happened like it was supposed too!

And now she was facing the very real future of going back to the Resistance and telling all of the people who had believed in her. That the great and powerful Luke Skywalker, could not be bothered to come and help them!

What was she, what were they supposed to make of that?!

Rey signed deeply as she placed her head in her hands in the universal gesture of despair. She had no idea what to do.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye.

Rey looked up sharply. Expecting to see someone in the hut with her. Momentarily forgetting that she had not heard the door open.

Rey looked around, puzzled. For a moment, she could have sworn she had seen a figure in the room with her. But as she looked around the room, she could not see anyone or anything alive in the hut with her. It was like she had seen a phantom that had vanished as quickly as it appeared.

But it was not just her eyes that seemed to be trying to tell her that something was different about the hut.

Rey could not describe the sensation she was experiencing. But it was as if the air and gravity of the planet and the hut she was standing in. Was somehow, warping and changing as if it was constantly shifting between the normality of Ahch-to and a different planetary environment altogether.

Suddenly Rey felt as if the atmosphere within the hut seemed to stabilise. But the feeling still did not feel the same as it had moments ago. Now she was aware of a presence, it felt strange and distant but still unmistakably real.

Whatever the presence was. It was located behind her.

Slowly, Rey turned around, half expecting to come face to face with the solid stone wall of the hut. She would smile and laugh at herself for her foolishness and chalk the whole thing up to lack of sleep and frustration.

But when she turned around. Nothing could have prepared her for what was in front of her.

Kylo Ren!

The dark apprentice staring at her with an equally bewildered expression on his unmasked face. He was sitting in chair of metal while facing an equally metal table. The chair looked as real as if it was actually solid on Ahch-to. However only the rim of the table was visible to Rey. The rest of it seemed to phase out of existence as it extended further away from Kylo Ren. It was as if the whole thing was a holoprojector with a limited capture lens, unable to get the full image.

Before Rey even had time to wonder why or how the dark lord had appeared out of thin air before her. She had pulled out her blaster and fired directly into his head.

Kylo Ren raised hand, clearly intending to deflect the blaster bolt with the Force. But the plasma beam simply passed through his hand and out through his body as if he was a phantom.

Both Kylo Ren and Rey simply stared at each other for a moment. Neither seeming to have any idea what was going on or what was causing this strange hallucination.

Then after a moment. Kylo Ren signed in annoyance. "You are not doing this." He said simply. "The effort would kill you. And the idea that you, an untrained youngling would have this much control and focus his almost hilarious." He sneered as he regarded her with utter contempt.

Suddenly his eyes lit up with the light of understanding. "Ah of course, my master is behind this. To locate Skywalker, I assume?" He asked in what was clearly a rhetorical question. "No matter, I will discuss this with him later. But for now, I am otherwise occupied." He said as he seemed to lose what little interest, he had shown in her from the moment she appeared.

Rey's eyes blazed, fully confident that this was no illusion or trick of the mind.

She did not know how. But through some twisted means. Kylo Ren (or at least a projection of him) was sitting in front of her as clear as day.

Right now, all she wanted to do was hurt him. Like he had hurt her and her friends on Starkiller Base. But since she did not seem able to hurt him physically. She would try to do it verbally.

"You murdering monster!" She spat with venom.

If she had expected to draw Kylo Ren's ire, she was disappointed. The young sith simply looked at her with complete apathy. Then his interested seemed to pick up as he regarded her. "I cannot see all of your surroundings, just you and a stone wall." He pondered out loud. "Can you see my surroundings?" He asked curiously. It was as her words or the implication of then had literally no deeper effect on Kylo Ren. Did he truly feel no remorse at what he had done on Starkiller Base? When he had tried to kill his own father?

Rey was infuriated by his blaise attitude, so she tried to get under his skin with something she knew had wanted. "Your too late. I won. I found Luke Skywalker." She said while trying to keep her conflicted feelings of the man hidden from her face.

To her dismay. Kylo Ren only smirked. "So, tell me. How is the old fossil? Full of life and purpose I am sure." He sneered. "No doubt his is holed up in some clearing in the woods preaching peace and light to the galaxy, and the whispering of long dead Jedi fools."

Kylo Ren laughed and then turned away from her completely, his attention refocused to something in front of him on the table. "Well he is welcome to it. While he is meditating and waiting to die of old age. I have a galaxy to rule." He said with supreme confidence that set Rey's teeth to clench.

Kylo seemed to have lost interest in this strange conversation and had turned his attention away from Rey entirely. "No if you don't mind. I have better things to do then to exchange insults with a weak child like you." Kylo stated as he picked up what Rey realised was a knife and fork from the table. Clearly, she had appeared to him right as he was sitting down to a meal.

After a few moments of awkward silence. Kylo Ren turned back to her, a look of annoyance on his face now. "Do you mind?" He asked sarcastically. "I am in the middle of something important." He stated. Clearly, he assumed whatever this conversation was, she had some means to close it on her end. Or he simply could not be bothered to close the connection himself if he had the means.

Whatever his pressing issues where. Rey was not going to let this conversation end on his terms. Nor was she just going to let him dismiss her like was nothing.

'Just like Master Skywalker has been doing for the last few days'. The thought sprang unbidden into her mind before she could stop it form forming. And she did not like the way the resemblance between nephew and uncle were becoming more apparent each second.

"What, did you not kill enough people already? Are you really so busy planning more destruction and chaos that you cannot even bother to defend how you tried to kill your own father?!" She snarled

Kylo Ren looked at her with annoyance.

Then he signed. His face took on a look of concentration and Rey began to feel the atmosphere of the room once again beginning to shift and warp.

At first Rey believed that he was closing the connection between them. Maybe he was just truly sick of looking at her or conversing with her.

But then she realised that the vision was not fading away.

In fact, it was expanding. The room that Kylo Ren occupied was slowly coming into focus. The table he was sitting at now contained a half-eaten meal and utensils that Kylo Ren had put down when she had suddenly appeared before him.

The table continued to expand into Rey's field of vision and soon a pair of wine glasses appeared with some form of clearly alcoholic beverage contained within them.

Rey's confusion only grew as the other end of the table came into form and revealed another half-eaten meal sitting on the opposite side of Kylo Ren.

Was he eating with a guest? A knight of Ren or perhaps a trusted subordinate officer?

Then the other end of the table full materialised and the other chair and its occupant became visible to Rey's quickly widening eyes. The occupant of the other seat was staring blankly at her for a second. Before their eyes suddenly locked on to Rey's face and she assumed that she had become visible to the other person as well.

"Good evening, Rey." Grand Admiral Kuvira said cordially. As if people randomly materialised in front of her on a daily basis.

Rey stared at the other female in bewilderment.

Kuvira was seated at the table with a knife and fork still in her ungloved hands. She was wearing her typical black uniform, minus her great coat which was nowhere to be seen. Her hair was done up in its usual tight style but other then that she appeared just as she had the last time Rey had seen her.

Kuvira regarded her with her usual stern but unthreatening expression. And when she spoke it was with her usual cool directness.

"A pleasure to see you as always, Rey. But may I ask you leave. You are interrupting our date."

Authors Note

I know the update has taken a while. I decided I was not going to update until I had worked out what the full story line was going to be. Up until now I have been updating along the movie route while hoping the story would come to me. But that has been getting harder so I resolved to figure out what the actual ending was going to be. It took a while put I have finished my overall plan and will be following it in future chapters.

Please do not let this stop people from commenting on idea's they have for this story. If I hear an idea or plot that is better than mine, I am happy to listen.

In the meantime. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Stay Safe.