Book 3:

The Rise of SkyWalker

Chapter 5: Solo

Rey and Owen climb through the wreckage of the second Death Star to reach the Emperor's Throne Room.

They pass the helmets of Stormtroopers, and many pieces of broken machinery until they reach the room.

Inside the throne room, they see the cracked window and overturned throne.

They could practically hear the sounds that once bounced around the room. The cackling. The lightsaber strikes. The force lightning. The screaming. And the breath of Darth Vader.

They could practically hear all of those sounds as they took in the room around them.

Owen and Rey sense a dark presence calling them into an adjacent chamber.

They enter the dark chamber, and find the wayfinder sitting within.

But as they grab the item, they hear a lightsaber ignite!

They turn and see a bone-chilling sight!

A paler version of Rey, in a black cloak with a double-bladed red lightsaber!

Owen and Rey both activated their sabers.

The dark Rey speaks with sharp teeth, "don't be afraid of who you are."

The dark Rey lunges at Rey, who barely manages to block the blow with her sabers striking both blades.

Rey, "what the Hell are you?!"

Dark Rey, "don't you recognise yourself?"

The two continue dueling, red meeting blue and yellow in the dark room until the Dark Rey snarls at Rey, sending her out of the room, dropping the Wayfinder in the process.

Before the Dark Rey can attack again, Owen lunges at her, beginning a duel between the two.

Owen, "you aren't some vision. What are you?!"

Dark Rey, "I'm Rey."

Owen, "the Hell you are! The Rey I love would never wield a weapon of the Sith! What are you?!"

Dark Rey, "you know of Snoke and his creation. I too am a creation of our Master. I am what the girl should be!"

Owen screams as he uses the Force to send the Dark Rey through the wall.

Owen runs at the Dark Rey, standing in front of her as he sees Kylo Ren in front of them all.

Rey sees Kylo pick up the Wayfinder.

Kylo, "look at yourself. You wanted to prove to my mother that you were a Jedi like Kenobi... but you've proven something else. You can't go back to her now. Like I can't."

Rey, "give it to me."

Kylo shudders, "the dark side is in our nature. Surrender to it."

Rey, "give it... to me."

Owen continues to watch, but also keeps his eye on the Dark Rey.

Kylo, "the only way you're getting to Exegol is with me."

Kylo then destroys the wayfinder!

Rey, "no!"

Owen, "you bastard!"

Dark Rey gets up and begins dueling Owen while Rey and Ren begin a fierce battle!

The battle continues outside of the Throne room.

….

Leia senses Kylo, Owen and Rey.

R2-D2 begins beeping worriedly as Maz approaches him.

Maz, "Leia knows what must be done, Artoo. To reach her son now... will take all the strength she has left."

Ahsoka, Ezra, Cal and Fera give saddened looks as they know what Leia must do.

Ahsoka, "with her, another piece of our culture dies."

Cal, "no, not dead. Simply one with the Force."

Merrin hugs Cal sadly as Ezra says, "this day has come too soon."

The others nod.

….

Meanwhile, on Kef Bir, Rey and Kylo Ren continue their duel on the watery Death Star ruins as the waves crash around them. Owen is dueling the Dark Rey, but he is slowly gaining the upper hand.

Finn, Padme and Jannah all climb aboard where the others are dueling.

They hear the muffled clashing of sabers among the waves.

Finn, "Rey! Jace!"

Rey, "no!"

Rey sends Finn back towards Jannah as Padme is able to dodge the Force blast, and jumps to the others, going to help her brother first.

Jannag, "no, we can't follow them!"

Finn, "I can't leave them!"

Jannah, "we can't!"

Finn, "Rey! Jace! Jaina!"

Padme kicks Dark Rey to the ground as she and Owen point their blades at her.

Padme is shocked at first, and looks towards Owen.

Owen, "she's a clone. Like Snoke. She isn't our Rey!"

Rey, "oh, really? Are you going to kill me? No, you can't, not when I look like this!"

Owen and Padme noticed the ground they were on was beginning to crack.

Right between them and Dark Rey.

Padme, "we won't kill you."

Owen, "but we don't have to save you."

The two of them jump back as the platform falls, taking Dark Rey with it as she screams to her death!

The siblings turn their attention towards the other fight.

Rey and Kylo continue their vicious duel, with Ren slowly gaining the upper hand.

They were slowly making their way towards Ren's TIE Fighter, and another Fighter that presumably belonged to Dark Rey.

Rey begins feeling weak, as her rage made her put all of her effort in every strike, until she was sent to the ground by Ren.

As Kylo gets the upper hand in their duel and is about to strike Rey he suddenly hears Leia through the Force!

….

Leia, "Ben."

Leia exhales her breath….

….

Kylo drops his lightsaber, Rey catches it and impales him with it!

Owen and Padme become frozen as they see this!

….

And with that, Leia takes her final breath.

….

Rey yells, but then she senses Leia's death and stops.

Rey, "Leia."

Owen and Padme feel it too.

Owen, "Aunt Leia."

Padme, "no…."

….

As Mara stands with Rose, she suddenly feels the great loss.

Mara, "Leia…."

….

R2-D2 whines as the rebels around the droid begin to she's tears at the loss of their leader.

….

Rey sobs softly

Kylo Ren gasps in pain at the whole in his chest, breathing heavily.

Owen and Padme run over, tears pouring down their faces.

Rey Force kneels down to Kylo, and holds her hand over the wound.

She slowly begins healing the wound, saving the young man's life.

As she finishes, she exhales softly and sighs.

Ren breaths heavily after what just happened.

Rey, "I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand."

Rey runs to Ren's ship and flies in!

Owen is about to race after her, but it's Padme instead who jumps into the other TIE Fighter yelling, "stay with Ben! I'll go after Rey!"

And so, the two young Force fielders were left standing there.

….

Maz, "Goodbye, dear Princess."

Everyone around Leia, with a sheet over her, cries.

None of them noticed, however, several spirits far off.

We see Luke and Anakin there, with saddened looks.

Luke, "I prayed she would have lived a much longer life."

Anakin, "it saddens me, but I know she will soon be one with the Force. It's something she's earned…."

….

Later, Poe and the gang, minus Owen, Padme and Rey, get back to base.

Mara hadn't told them of Leia's fate yet, as she holds little Thumper. The creature had stayed behind.

D'acy, "Poe, something's happened."

Poe, "Finn."

Finn, "this can't wait."

Rose, "we've got news!"

Poe, "we've gotta see the General."

Larma, "she's gone."

The group looks on in disbelief.

Mara looks to an approaching Ahsoka, Ezra and Cal.

They nod, confirming what she felt.

Chewie groans in pain upon losing yet another old friend.

Rose, "s-she can't be!"

Finn holds Rise as she begins crying.

Finn, "Chewie..."

Chewie begins crying, banging his hands into the ground as the loss overtakes him.

….

Ren stands with Owen.

Both filled with loss.

Owen saw Rey run after doing such a dark act, nearly killing his cousin.

And Ren, for his mother's death.

"Hey, kid."

They turn, and see a shocking sight.

Han.

Owen, "Uncle Han?"

Kylo, "dad?"

Han, "I miss you, son. You and Owen."

Their breath begins trembling.

Kylo, "your son is dead."

Han chuckles quietly, "no. Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive."

Owen, "we saw you fall."

Kylo, "you're just a memory."

Han, "your memory. Come home."

Owen, "it's too late."

Kylo, "she's gone."

Han, "your mother's gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for... that's not gone."

Han sighs, "Ben. Owen."

Kylo, "I know what I have to do... but I don't know if I have the strength to do it."

Han touches Kylo's face and smiles.

Han, "you do."

Owen holds his cousin's shoulder.

Owen, "you've always had it. I was just afraid you couldn't find it."

Kylo, "dad..."

Owen and Kylo both sob as Han says, "I know."

Kylo turns and throws his red saber into the ocean, never to be seen again.

He turns, and Han is gone.

Kylo Ren is dead.

Ben Solo lives.

Owen turns to his cousin, and holds out Luke's green saber.

Ben looks at it in shock.

Owen, "who have earned this saber Ben. Turning away from the Darkside. You deserve this blade."

Ben cautiously takes the blade and ignites the green light from within.

Owen nods with a sad smile in his face.

He had his cousin back.

Now they had to find Rey and Padme.

And they had a good idea on where they were headed….

….

Aboard the Steadfast, Sidious communes with Pryde via hologram.

Palpatine, "the Princess of Alderaan has disrupted my plan... but her foolish act will be in vain. Come to me on Exegol, General Pryde."

Pryde, "as I served you in the old wars, I serve you now."

Palpatine, "send three ships to a world they know. Let it burn. The Final Order begins. She will come, her friends will follow. Especially the children of the SkyWalker family."

Pryde, "yes, my Lord."

….

Quonit, "levels holding steady at 85%."

Lenwith, "Captain. Kijimi is in range."

Sabrond, "Fire."

And with that, we see three if the Final Order Star Destroyers blast Kijimi into oblivion!

….

Poe, "Kijimi? How?"

D'acy, "blasts from three Star Destroyers. A ship from the new Sith fleet. Out of the Unknowns."

Beaumont, "the Emperor sent ships from Exegol. Does that mean every ship in the fleet..."

Poe, "has planet-killing weapons. Of course they do. All of them. This is how he finishes it. Enough of those things attack one planet, they blow everything up!"

DJ, "g-g-guys, we got s-something!"

Rose, "listen. It's on every frequency."

They hear indistinct radio chatter.

Beaumont, "the Resistance is dead. The Sith flame will burn. All worlds, surrender or die. The Final Order begins."

Rose, "Leia made you the acting General. What now?"

Poe sits by Leias body.

Poe sighs as he says, "I got to tell you, I don't really know... how to do this. What you did... I'm not ready."

Mara was about to say something, but then they heard, "neither were we."

They turn to see Lando approaching.

Lando, "Han, Luke, Leia, me... Who's ever ready?"

Poe, "how'd you do it? Defeat an empire with almost nothing."

Lando, "we had each other. That's how we won."

DJ, "p-poetic words."

….

Finn, "hey, don't touch that. That's my friend's."

D-O, "sorry. She is gone?"

Finn, "yeah, she's gone. So are Jace and Jaina. I don't know where."

D-O, "I miss them."

Finn, "I miss them, too. So, what's your name?"

Poe and Finn approach one another a few minutes later.

Poe, "I got to talk to you about something. I can't do this alone. I need you in command with me."

Finn, "this droid has... Thank you, I appreciate that."

Poe, "General."

Finn, "General. This droid has a ton of information about Exegol."

Poe, "wait, what? Cone face?"

D-O, "I am D-O."

Poe, "sorry. D-O."

Finn, "he was going to Exegol with Ochi of Bestoon."

Poe, "why was Ochi going there?"

Finn, "to bring the little girl he was supposed to take from Jakku to the Emperor. He wanted her alive!"

….

We find Rey and Padme back on the island.

Rey is wrecking her TIE Fighter with the Wayfiner inside as Padme keeps her from doing the same to hers.

Rey is about to throw Luke and her own lightsaber into the burning wreckage of Ben's ship, suddenly Luke's hand catches it!

Rey and Padme gasp at the sight.

Luke, "a Jedi's weapon deserves more respect. Especially if it's your own."

Padme, "dad!'

Rey, "Master Skywalker."

Luke, "what are you doing?"

We see Rey continue her conversation with Luke's Force spirit.

Rey, "I saw myself on the dark throne. I won't let it happen. I'm never leaving this place. I'm doing what you did."

Padme, "I tried to convince her otherwise."

Luke, "I was wrong. It was fear that kept me here. Fear and shame over my actions. What are you most afraid of?"

Rey, "myself. And what I'll do to the people I love."

Luke, "because you're a Palpatine."

Rey nods.

Luke, "Leia knew it, too."

Padme, "so did mom, I think."

Luke, "we all knew before it was revealed."

Rey, "they didn't tell me."

Luke sits next to Rey.

Rey, "they still trained me with Padme and Owen. They all did."

Luke, "because she saw your spirit. Your heart. The blood of a Jedi. Rey. Some things are stronger than blood. You have the blood of a Sith, and a Jedi. But you choose who YOU are. Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. Your destiny. If you don't face Palpatine... it will mean the end of the Jedi. And the world will be lost. There's something my sister would want you to have."

Rey grunts as we see her take out a lightsaber from its hiding place on the island.

Rey, "Leia's saber."

Padme, "so that's where she kept it!"

Luke, "it was the last night of her training."

/

We see flashback of young Luke and Leia training.

A dark night, with their green and blue sabers clashing together until Leia was able to knock her brother to the ground!

/

Luke, "Leia told me that she had sensed the death of her son at the end of her Jedi path. She surrendered her saber to me and said that one day... it would be picked up again... by someone who would finish her journey. 1,000 generations live in you now. Not just you. Owen, Padme, even Fera, maybe. They keep the Jedi alive, thanks to their teachers. But this is your fight. You'll take both sabers to Exegol. Start a new order. One better than mine. One better the my father's."

Rey, "I can't get there. I don't have the wayfinder. I destroyed Ren's ship."

Padme, "and I don't think we'll both fit into mine."

Luke, "you have everything you need."

Later, we see Rey standing before the destroyed fighter.

Padme stands right beside her.

They use the Force to pull the Wayfinder from the wreckage.

Rey, "two were made."

They hear rumbling and turn.

Luke holds his hand out, and the girls see the old X-Wing float high into the air, and land right next to the TIE Fighter Padme used.

….

Artoo chirps in joy upon seeing Threepio walking with Nine, with little Thumper sitting on his head, waiting for the return of Padme.

C-3PO, "oh, hello. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. And you are?"

Artoo chirps as he looks taken aback!

C-3PO, "what?"

Artoo chirps that he and Threepio are best friends!

C-3PO, "well, I am quite certain I would remember if I had a best friend."

R2-D2 chirps a reply.

C-3PO, "you want to put what in my head? Under no circumstances..."

A second later we see Artoo loading Threepio's memory back into his head.

C-3PO says in a robotic voice, "memory restoration complete", and then in his normal voice, "Artoo have you heard? I am going with Mistress Rey on her very first mission!"

R2-D2 chirps a reply.

C-3PO, "I already have?"

R2-D2 beeps.

C-3PO, "picking up a signal? From whom?"

...

We see the others together.

Finn, "all the information you need for an airstrike on Exegol."

Poe, "yeah, except how to get there. Are you seeing these atmo readings?"

Mara, "it's a mess out there. Magnetic crossfields."

Rose, "gravity wells, solar winds."

DJ, "all that's m-m-missing is a giant m-m-m-monster."

Poe, "how does a fleet even take off from there?"

C-3PO speaks to Poe and Finn, "I'm terribly sorry. I'm afraid Artoo's memory bank must be crossed with his logic receptors. He says he is receiving a transmission from Master Luke."

They all look at one another before looking at the signal.

They picked up two ships.

Poe, "that's an old craft ID. That's Luke Skywalker's X-wing."

Finn, "and the TIE Fighter must be Padme!"

C-3PO, "it's transmitting course marker signals on its way to the Unknown Regions."

Finn, "it's them."

BB-8 chirps

Finn, "they're going to Exegol."

….

We see Rey flying Luke's ship to go to Exegol.

Padme in her TIE trails right behind her.

….

Finn, "she's showing us. She's showing us how to get there."

Poe, "then we go together."

The grpup discusses their plan for getting to Exegol.

Finn, "as long as those Star Destroyers are on Exegol we can hit them."

Beaumont, "hit them how?"

Rose, "they can't activate their shields until they leave atmosphere."

Poe, "which isn't easy on Exegol. Ships that size need help taking off. Nav can't tell which way's up out there."

Tyce, "so, how do the ships take off?"

Poe, "they use a signal from a navigation tower, like this one."

They watch a hologram of the tower.

Finn, "while the fleet takes on the Fighters, we'll need a group to take down the tower."

Mara, "I think I have an idea."

Poe, "and what might that be?"

Mara, "if we can hijack one of those Star Destroyers, that'll give us enough fire power to destroy the tower!"

Beaumont, "who's gonna do that?"

Ahsoka stepped forward, "the Ghost Crew and I volunteer to help take a Destroyer."

Cal was the next to step forward, "I volunteer the Mantis Crew to help take a Destroyer."

Finn, "I'll take a transport with me to help with taking the Destroyer. I'll need my own crew for this."

Rose, "I'm in."

Mara, "me too."

BB-8 and Nine beeped their want to help.

Even little Thumper chirps his excitement.

Mara, "oh no, Thumper is gonna stay here with Threepio. Padme would kill me if I took him to Exagol."

Finn, "the way to take down those Destroyers is in their cannons. They must lead to their cores."

Nien Nunb, "there aren't enough of us!"

Connix, "he's right. We'd be no more than bugs to them."

Finn, "that's where Lando and Chewie come in."

Finn, "they'll take the Falcon to the Core Systems. Send out a call for help for anybody listening."

Poe, "we've got friends out there. They'll come if they know there's hope."

The group looks a bit skeptical.

Poe, "they will. The First Order wins by making us think we're alone. We're not alone. Good people will fight if we lead them. Luke Skywalker inspired them to fight back. If we do this, it'll be the nail in the coffin. The last inspiration for everyone to fight back!"

Mara, "as long as we take one of those Destroyers, and everyone's able to provide cover fire so the ground team can destroy the tower, we'll be able to stand a chance."

Finn, "Leia never gave up. And neither will we. We're gonna show them we're not afraid."

Poe, "what our mothers and fathers fought for... we will not let die. Not today. Today we make our last stand. For the galaxy. For Leia. For everyone we've lost."

Finn, "they've taken enough of us. Now we take the war to them."

Later, the Resistance pilots climb into their starfighters and starships including the CR90 corvette Tantive IV.

Mara uses the Jade Shadow, Poe uses his X-Wing, Finn and his team use a transport, with two others with soldiers volunteering.

Ahsoka and the Ghost Crew board their old ship as Cal and his crew board the Mantis.

Chewie and Lando board the Falcon to get help.

With all of that, the ships all raced off to take the fight to the First Order!

….

Reviews:

.31: oh, I will. We've still got a few more chapters left!

Amanny: glad you liked that stuff.

….

And thus, Ben Solo returns!

Was anyone expecting Padme to be the one chasing after Rey, and Owen staying behind with Ben?

Or that I actually did something with the Dark Rey, and had her attack Owen as Rey battles Ben, even if it was just a single fight?

And Ben gets the green saber!

I changed it to three powerful Star Destroyers that blow up Kajimi, since that seemed more believable than one single Destroyer.

I've changed quite a bit of the final space battle on Exegol.

It's mostly gonna be Finn, Mara, Ahsoka, Cal and their teams taking a Star Destroyer as Poe and the others take on the scattered fleet.