The controls in the submersible we akin to cockpits in aircrafts Rey had flown. Once she'd powered the transport and dipped below the watery surface, she turned on the datapad that held the information from the command center. The screen showed a myriad of caverns in the aquatic world, each looking almost identical to the next.
"You'll want to go here," Ben pointed at one a little under two kilometers away. "That's the spot the Force doesn't allow me to visit,"
"So it's safe to assume once I'm in the cavern we'll lose contact?"
"Only until you re-emerge,"
Rey watched as schools of fish parted to let the submersible through. "You almost wouldn't know a battle is being fought above all this," Rey said. "There's a kind of…peace down here,"
"Almost like the skies could take a lesson from the ocean," Ben agreed.
Rey mused on the poetry in this as she maneuvered through the aquatic mountains, arriving at the destination a short time later.
"This is it," Ben confirmed, "I'm not able to-" Ben disappeared as quickly as a flip of a switch, leaving Rey alone with the task at hand.
"I can do this," Rey tried to encourage herself as she steered the vehicle into the darkened mouth of the cave. "I can do this,"
Aside from the pitch black where the submersible's light couldn't reach, nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the cavern. Winding through tunnels, she kept electronic documentation of where she was going in case she needed a quick escape.
In the end, Rey decided she needed to ascend through the tunnels as high as she could. If the caverns were large enough, perhaps she would come upon the surface of the water, yet still remain inside the cave.
After about thirty minutes of twists and turns, Rey's theory proved correct as she broke the surface. The moment the water disappeared from the viewport, Rey knew she'd found exactly what the Sith had been mining.
As specks of exterior light protruded from holes in the rocks, they illuminated a thousand sparking crystals in the cavern.
"Kyber crystals," Rey breathed as she exited the submersible and set foot on the slick cavern floor. Blue, green, and red winked at her in clusters from every direction. Rey ran her fingers along the ones growing out of the wall closest to her, enamored by the beauty in it's raw from. She'd never seen crystals this big, not to mention so many growing in one location.
"The soul of a lightsaber in it's true form," a voice commented inside Rey's head. Taking on the defensive, Rey ignited her lightsaber and scanned the room. The light from her saber and the holes in the walls didn't come close to illuminating the entirety of the cavern, but Rey knew she was not alone.
"Show yourself," Rey spoke aloud as she scanned the cavern, "I know you're there," There were so many spots hidden in darkness. For all she knew, there could be another room next to the one she was in.
"You're a Jedi," the voice inside her head replied. "Don't use your eyes; use the Force,"
There was a distinct sound of footsteps in the upper left corner. "This thing must be walking on a ridge," Rey decided.
"I do not wish to quarrel," Rey said, "I am only trying to learn why someone would have an interest in this cavern,"
"And who do you think would desire crystals such as these?"
"The Sith,"
"Can you blame them?" the voiceless creature asked. "A millennia of hiding, only to reappear in the last forty years," A red lightsaber ignited from thirty feet above Rey. "Our work has just begun,"
The person wielding the weapon leapt from the platform, forcing Rey to parry the blow aimed at her head. The cavern filled with sounds of sizzled strikes as the red and orange sabers clashed. The mysterious cloaked figure fought stealthily, as if he or she had been training for this moment it's whole life.
Jumping back to gain distance from the Jedi, the figure scaled the jutted rocks in the cavern walls, perching on the outcrop of an elevated rock to stare at Rey from above.
"What do you want?" Rey asked.
The fighter removed the cloak that shielded it's face in response, revealing itself as the tainted copy of Rey.
Rey stared, now at a loss for words. The other version of herself she'd faced on Death Star II had been an illusion; this one, on the other hand, was very much alive, fueled by anger and the dark side of the Force.
"The granddaughter of Palpatine," Dark Rey smiled as she continued to speak inside Rey's head. "For someone who once considered herself a nobody, you really are replaceable,"
"Replaceable?" Rey asked, trying to regain composure from the shock of seeing her clone, "Everyone in this universe is unique, from the decisions we make to what our hearts yearn for. And as far as I can tell, our hearts couldn't be set further apart,"
"Your desires…" Dark Rey mused as she strode back and forth, "…Your love for your friends…will be your downfall,"
"That's precisely what makes me human,"
"And what, exactly, do you consider human?" A mechanical voice asked as a towering figure emerged from the shadows.
"Vader," Rey said in recognition as the man stood next to Dark Rey. There had been stories that circulated the galaxy for decades regarding the original Vader, and in that moment Rey believed every one she'd heard.
"Kill her," Vader ordered.
Dark Rey leapt from the ledge, landing with both feet on the ground as she continued to slash at Rey. The Jedi was barely able to make any offensive attacks, constantly parrying and ducking the attacks made by her opponent.
"I can't win this alone," Rey decided. "If I can somehow end the fight, here and now…"
Dodging an attack, Rey sprinted to the edge of the cavern where she'd docked her submersible. She only needed a few seconds reprieve for her plan to work.
With a warrior's cry, Rey extended her hand and sent out the largest wave from the Force she could muster.
The cavern shook as the wave made impact, creating a fissure on the opposite end. The rock below the deep crack, unable to hold the upper half of the rock any longer, began to crumble beneath the weight.
"Whatever plans you had for these kyber crystals," Rey said telepathically to the others as she entered her submersible, "I will not allow you to carry out,"
Quickly inputting the reverse data for the turns she'd made going though the tunnels, Rey was vaguely aware of Vader being engulfed in a fire of electrical sparks while the dark clone slipped into the shadows.