The timestamp read six o'clock sharp.

Groaning, Ben draped a heavy arm across the side table and punched a finger into the touch screen. The alarm stopped trilling at once, and he collapsed back into bed, his face squishing into the flat pillow.

Another day in paradise. As it were.

He pushed himself off the sagging mattress and rubbed his large hands over his face, then staggered across the short distance to the fresher. He sleepily went about his morning ablutions, only starting to wake up properly after he'd showered and shaved. He finger-combed through his damp shoulder-length hair, then went in search of his clothes.

After he'd passed his Trials and officially been granted the title of Jedi Knight, he'd exchanged his rough-hewn tunic and tawny outer robe for garments in shades of charcoal and dark-stained leather. It was satisfying, in a poetic sort of way. His appearance was a mixture of who he was and who he could have become. In addition to the scowl he normally wore, it had the added benefit of making people give him a wide berth, much to his pleasure.

He clipped his lightsaber—the one he'd crafted at the end of his Trials, not the hand-me-down training blade Luke had given him for practice—to his belt and left the little room that had become his home in pursuit of the mess hall. He was in dire need of caf. The constant commitment to calming his mind and blocking the voices had become such a habit as to be nearly effortless, requiring hardly any concentration at all, but he still felt the drain on his energy. It was slight, but relentless. He knew it angered Snoke, and therefore Palpatine, that the voices could no longer get to him. After the first couple years, their attempts to speak to him had grown fewer and farther between, but they had never completely stopped.

In the years since he and Luke had come to D'Qar, the Resistance had lain low, quietly preparing for the coming battles. They'd worked to gain allies and support, build up their reserves, and train their small, steady stream of new recruits. Among those new recruits, Ben had discovered, was one Poe Dameron. The pilot had arrived three years after Ben, fresh out of the New Republic Academy and eager to serve. From his vision, Ben had remembered Poe as a sarcastic, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of guy who was occasionally quite funny. He'd had high hopes for the pilot joining the Resistance, but now, after having gotten to know the man, Ben thought Poe was rather arrogant and cocksure, and had been promoted too quickly. The haughty commander strutted around the base with his chest puffed out and his smirk firmly in place, and all it took was one nod of his curly dark head to make the young female recruits swoon.

Rey would've never fallen for such antics.

But there was no love lost between the two men. Poe had made his equally-dismal opinion of Ben widely known throughout the Resistance, citing the Jedi's dark, disdainful demeanor and solitary, secretive ways as reasons to dislike him. Ben had heard it plenty of times, being shared around corners or whispered in the mess hall during mealtimes. He knew too much about the Dark Side. He was ill-tempered and distant, with no interest in trying to fit in with the rest of them. His glare could cut through durasteel, and he was always lurking eerily in the corridors, suspiciously quiet. Poe didn't trust that Ben was really an agent of the Light, and wasn't shy about sharing his sentiments with any sympathetic ear. And there was a sizable contingent of officers and recruits who agreed with him. Leia didn't approve of it, but she never reprimanded the rogue pilot other than giving him an occasional light slap on the wrist. Ben suspected Poe reminded her too much of her beloved Han for her to treat him like any other insubordinate officer.

But at this point, after so many years of being treated like a villain among the Resistance, Ben held no hope of being regarded otherwise, and simply tried to distance himself from them all. It didn't help, but it also didn't matter. He was here to work, and save the lives of innocents; other than that, he didn't care to be around these people any more than they cared to be around him. Their small minds and baseless skepticism meant nothing to him.

The only one who did matter was still missing.

It had been six long years since the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker had visited Ben and bestowed upon him the vision of the future. Six long years since he'd last seen Rey. Since he'd gone to her, fought alongside her, held her, kissed her, and smiled with her in that final fleeting moment on Exegol. He'd realized long ago that he loved her, had loved her almost from the moment he'd met her. All the moments they'd shared through their bond across the galaxy were stored among his most precious memories, and he thought about them often. To have no idea where she was or how she was… was difficult. He longed for her, and it ate him up inside. Luke had forbidden him from searching for her, and so he had remained on D'Qar, prowling about the base like a caged animal as he went about his daily tasks.

Frowning as his thoughts once again turned down that dark, lonely path, Ben arrived in the mess hall and silently went about procuring caf and breakfast. He ensconced himself at a table in the corner of the empty room, his back to the wall and scowl firmly in place, and took a long draught from the dented tin mug.

Most of the base was still asleep at this hour, which meant the place was peacefully quiet. He preferred it that way. It allowed him time to wake up slowly, to let his mind wander before having to face the harsh reality of the day.

A couple of the older pilots came in for caf and a quick nutritional bar, but they didn't stay long, departing soon after for the hangar to run systems checks. The younger of the two spared Ben a glance, but quickly turned away and followed his flight partner out.

Paige and Rose Tico entered a little while later, and wound up claiming a spot several tables away from him. They had joined the Resistance shortly after Poe, after the First Order had attacked their homeworld. Ben didn't mind the Tico sisters so much, even if he never directly spoke to them. Of all the people on the base, they were among the few who treated him like a fellow human being—or at least didn't seem to actively dislike him. When he finished his breakfast and passed by their table on his way out, Rose even waved at him. He acknowledged her with a curt nod.

He ventured outside the awakening base and into the surrounding trees with a surety born of daily practice. The farther from those grimy, rust-pocked buildings he got, the easier his breath came. Leaves and twigs crackled under his feet as he picked his way along a trail only he knew, making his way through the trees to a little clearing that wasn't visible from the edge of the forest.

It was his favorite spot on D'Qar, a quiet, protected place where he could meditate and train undisturbed. He came out here almost every day. He'd long since cleared away the underbrush, conserving it to the circle of trees lining the space. The soil in the middle was packed hard, and several rocks and small boulders sat along the treeline.

He climbed onto his favorite boulder and folded his tall frame into a cross-legged position. He'd always liked being out in nature. It set his mind at ease in a way being surrounded by people always failed to do. It was quieter here, and far less judgmental.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and slowly released it, letting his mind drift as it pleased. He reflected on the cool hardness of the rock upon which he sat. The sounds of the forest surrounding him, the feel of the gentle breeze rustling through the trees. The loamy smell of the earth beneath him. He could sense the countless living creatures all around him, all connected by that one true Force. He focused on the Force, contemplating it, feeling it swell within him, ebbing and flowing along with his slow, even breath.

He was one with the Force, and the Force was with him.*

He could feel the presence of his grandfather, keeping an eye on him from a distance, and he smiled faintly. He could feel his mother and uncle back at the base, just beginning to stir. He could sense a distant spark, glimmering small and bright, and wondered if it was Rey. Settling deeper into the familiar sensation, he allowed himself to float along in the currents of the Force.

His focus was abruptly disturbed as an odd sensation broke over him, like the tingling pins and needles of a sleeping limb. His mentation shifted, like his view had been tilted on its axis, and then it ripped away as his connection to the Force suddenly severed.

Alarmed, Ben opened his eyes and shot to his feet, quickly taking in his surroundings. His breath had deepened, and his heart was battering away in his chest. What the kriff had just happened?

He raked his hand through his hair then patted down his chest as he took stock of himself. Nothing seemed to be amiss, but even so, he couldn't help the eerie feeling that something was very, very wrong.

He had to find Luke.

Ben leaped down from the boulder and left the clearing at a flat-out run, racing back down the trail to the base. He dashed through the buildings and into the officer barracks, searching through the Force to locate his uncle. Where was the old man? He would know if something had happened—

Ben rounded a corner and nearly flattened Poe.

The pilot jumped back just in time to avoid being clobbered. "What the hell?" he cried, glaring up at Ben. "Watch where you're going!"

"What are you doing up so early?" Ben demanded reflexively, equally caught off guard. Poe was hardly ever out of his bed before eight. Then another thought occurred to Ben, and he sneered down at the pilot. "Or are you just out late? I thought Leia asked you to stop making your rounds through the new recruits."

"I'm surprised you know anything about the walk of shame, seeing as you've never had the chance to do it yourself," Poe shot back, tanned cheeks flushing pink. "And it's 'early,' actually. Leia's called me for a mission." With nimble ease, he sidestepped the Jedi and continued on his way.

Frowning, Ben turned and strode after him. "What mission?"

"What business is it of yours?"

"Jedi, remember? I need to know what's going on."

"That doesn't give you a free pass to any meeting you want to attend!"

Not dignifying him with a response, Ben tailed Poe all the way to the meeting room, where Leia and a few other senior officers waited. Luke was also there.

"Oh good, Ben, you're here too," Leia said, briefly taking him in before turning back to the gathered officers. Ben shot Poe a satisfied look; the pilot rolled his eyes. "We've just received word from Lor San Tekka from his cover on Jakku."

All thoughts of the irritating pilot left Ben's mind.

Jakku.

Rey's homeworld.

Ben remembered Lor San Tekka, both from his youth and from his vision. Tekka had worked closely with Luke in the past, tracking down ancient Jedi artifacts the Empire had tried to destroy. The two men had taken a young Ben along on one of their missions to a Jedi outpost, where they'd fought the Knights of Ren together.

And then in the vision… well.

"He says that in his explorations of the galaxy, he's come across something that may be of interest to us," Leia continued. "Upon hearing of the formation of the First Order, Tekka reports that he revisited the planet Pillio and returned to Darth Sidious's old observatory in search of anything that could help the cause. He narrowly avoided getting captured by the Jinata security forces there, but he learned of something called Project Resurrection." Leia swept her gaze around the room. "The project documents detailed the First Order's plans to conscript children into the Stormtrooper force. They also contained information on a naval fleet being built in the Unknown Regions, complete with blueprints for a supposed 'Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought.'"

Leia met Ben's eyes across the holotable. It was just as he'd told them, all those years ago. Palpatine was building his fleet, and it would only be a matter of time until he deployed it. A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Time was ticking.

"Tekka put this information on a chip and escaped to hide on Jakku, a relatively uninhabited and out-of-the-way desert planet in the Inner Rim," Leia said to the gathered officers. "But he's afraid he's being followed. We need to send a pilot to him to retrieve this chip and offer assistance."

"I'll go," Ben offered swiftly. He had a creeping feeling that this news was related to his earlier Force disturbance. Something bad was going to happen on Jakku, and he needed to be there. And if Rey was there, as she'd been before, then perhaps he could find her too, Luke's decree be damned. It was nearly time.

But Leia apparently had someone else in mind. "Ben, we need you here on the base to assist Luke," she declined.

"But—"

"No, Ben." In full general mode, Leia turned to Poe. "Commander Dameron, I'll need you fueled and ready to leave for Jakku as soon as possible."

Poe snapped to attention. "Yes, General." He turned and strode out of the meeting room, shooting Ben a private smirk as he passed by.

No. No, no, no.

Ben fisted his hands by his sides, squeezing them until the knuckles turned white as a slew of thoughts barraged his mind. Fleetingly, he wanted to demand of his mother how Poe was better qualified than him. He already knew where Tekka's outpost was. He knew what he was up against, should the First Order arrive before they could escape. He was better equipped to fight them off, if it came to that. The last time, when Poe went to Jakku, Tekka had ended up dead and Poe was captured by the First Order—by Kylo Ren himself. The whole point of the vision had been to save lives, but now they were going to do the same thing again? Throw Tekka's life away and endanger one of their best pilots? It didn't make sense.

And besides, Ben knew by now that Rey was somewhere on that dustball of a planet, waiting to be found. He knew it. Poe didn't. Poe wouldn't know where to look. He wouldn't know who to look for. He didn't know anything. Ben had half a mind to run after the pilot, to tell him, to beg him—beg him for what, Ben didn't know. Let him go in Poe's place? Ask Poe to go to Niima Outpost and look for a skinny slip of a girl with three buns and a big stick? But it was pointless; the pilot would never acquiesce, not when Leia had specifically requested his service. After the unsettling Force episode that morning and now this, Ben felt caught, snagged in place, useless and frustrated.

As the rest of the officers began to disperse, he stalked around the holotable to his mother, where she stood quietly talking with Luke. She paused in her conversation at his approach.

"You know I'm the best pilot on this base," he argued in a low voice. "Why not send—"

"Because I need you here," Leia replied, cutting him off. "Poe is a registered pilot with the Resistance; you are not. Your role within the Resistance is that of a Jedi. You are needed here as an advisor and protector of the base."

He stared down at her, jaw working. "So I'm just a glorified body guard. Is that it?"

Leia rolled her eyes. "This rivalry between you and Poe needs to stop," she intoned, her exasperation evident.

"This isn't about a rivalry. I'm better equipped to handle any opposition—"

"—which is why I need you to stay here at the base," Leia interrupted.

"Luke's here," Ben said, flinging a hand at his uncle. "Surely he's capable of defending the base if the First Order shows up." Another thought occurred to him, and a flicker of hurt shot through his chest. "Unless you just don't trust me with the First Order," he said flatly.

"I need Poe to go, and you to stay here, and that's final." With one last look, she left him standing by the holotable, going over to speak to a group of officers.

His chest tightened as he watched her walk away. That was it, or at least part of it; otherwise she could have easily denied it. She didn't trust him. It stung.

"Yes, General," he hissed after her. He wasn't sure if she'd heard him, but he refused to let her have the last word.

Glowering, Ben spun back and pointed a finger at Luke, who still stood by the holotable. "I need to talk to you."

Luke wordlessly raised a single bushy eyebrow.

Still scowling, Ben glanced around, ensuring no one was within earshot. It wouldn't do to alarm anyone until he actually understood what had happened. He took a shuddering breath in an effort to calm his emotions, and began to explain.

"I was meditating earlier when this—this feeling suddenly came over me," he described the episode disjointedly. Anger still coursed through him, and he was still shaken by what he had experienced. "It was like… like the tingling sensation when your foot falls asleep, or radio static, or-or some sort of interruption in the Force. Like something shifted." He looked at his master. "Have you ever heard of something like that?"

Luke pursed his lips and slowly shook his head. "Can't say that I have," he replied.

"Did you sense anything this morning?" Ben persisted. "Anything unusual?"

"No…"

Ben sighed in frustration. "I have a bad feeling about this,"* he told Luke. "Something bad is going to happen on Jakku." He swept a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. "I should be there."

"Well, you'll just have to wait until Dameron gets back to find out what happened," Luke said. "And why don't you cut your hair, if it annoys you so much? You're always messing with it." He reached up a weathered hand to tug at a dark lock.

"Leave it alone," Ben gritted out, swatting Luke's hand away.

With his uncle determined to be unhelpful, Ben had little choice other than to find something constructive to do until the golden-boy pilot returned from his mission with word on Tekka's discovery. The very thought made him sick.

…

What should have taken several days—a week at most—ended up taking over a fortnight. In that time, there was no word from Tekka or Poe, just radio silence. The uneasy feeling in Ben's chest had grown with every passing hour. It didn't help that he'd had another strange Force episode in the interim, and was still no closer to understanding what they were or why they were happening. Luke seemed to be worried, too, if his perpetual frown and increasingly snappy attitude were anything to judge by. Leia managed to keep a composed demeanor and stiff upper lip in the presence of other Resistance personnel, but when he saw her in passing, Ben could see the strain around her eyes. It made him uncomfortable.

Finally, after almost three standard weeks with no updates or even confirmation they were still alive, a garbled communication came through the main receiver. Luke and Ben had been in the meeting room with Leia and the other high-ranking officers, debriefing on what they should do based on their current intel and Ben's vision if Poe's mission were to fail, when the radio receiver pinged with an incoming communication.

"Black Le—… D'Qar Base. …Leader to D—… —you copy? Hel—… Come in—"

Several people hastened to accept the call. Leia got there first. "Poe? Poe, can you hear me?"

"Yea—… Wait a m— Ah, there we go. Good-for-nothin' blob of flesh had a dampener on the comm. Can you hear me now?"

"Loud and clear," Leia said, flashing a relieved grin at the room. "Good to know you're alive," she added dryly.

"Yeah, about that… we had a few complications," Poe reported. There was a pause. "Tekka's dead. I'm sorry, General."

Ben's chest tightened. He'd tried to warn them. Who had killed Tekka—Hux? Phasma? Damn it, he'd told them something bad was going to happen!

Leia's head drooped for a moment before she squared her jaw and looked back at the receiver. "I'm sorry, too. Are you all right, Commander?"

"I'm good," the pilot replied. "We should be back in a couple days, barring anything else." Another pause. "I think you'll be interested to see what I found."

"Right. Travel safely, Commander. No more issues before you get back."

"Yes, General."

A/N: Starred (*) phrases were borrowed from Star Wars!