Rey awoke to find herself back on the Falcon. Her head pounded as though someone had beat her over. She took a steadying breath before she kicked the blanket off and swung her legs over the side of the bed. They felt shaky under her weight as she attempted to start for the door. The exhaustion truly settled in as she noted every muscle in her body crying out in pain with the movement.
The door whooshed open and she made her way to the main hold. The three occupants jumped when they saw her standing in front of them. "She's awake!" Theo called from the table. Doj eyed her silently and Rey moved her gaze to meet with Jarda who sat next to him. "Care to explain what the hell happened in there?" Rey said with an edge in her voice.
Jarda opened her mouth to speak but no words formed. Rey shook her head and made her way to the chair opposite her. She settled in and looked back to the woman. "Listen, I knew there were going to be Sith traps. I thought I could handle it, but I didn't realize it was going to be so powerful." she finished and shifted in her seat nervously sharing a glance with the men beside her. "Do you think you could tell us what the hell you did to get out of there?"
Rey bit her lip. Truthfully, she didn't have a clue. Her memory of the tomb wasn't quiet intact. She remembered the whispering, incessant whispering, that drove her mad. Then the words came back to her, sharp and hateful even in memory. She'd recognize them, and then… touched them?
Suddenly she was very aware of the shift around them. "Did I.." she trailed for a moment in thought. "Did I absorb it?" she breathed. Theo and Doj stared at her in confusion, but Jarda began to slowly nod her head. "I think you did. Right after you touched it the words swirled in a bright light that went into your hand. Then you passed out."
"Yeah we thought you were dead!" Theo almost laughed and exclaimed when he's met with a hard jab from Doj. Jarda shot him a deadly look before turning back to Rey. "You just passed out so we brought you back here. Whatever you did stopped the voices and brought the exit back. These two normies wouldn't know but I swear all of the darkness I'd felt in there disappeared too."
Rey nodded, still so unsure of how she did it, or how she knew what to do, but Jarda confirmed everything she's sensed so far. "How long have I been out?" she asked, resting her chin on her hand. Jarda gave a concerned look before clearing her throat. "A few days at least. Whatever you did put you out for a long time. How do you feel?"
Rey stopped, caught off guard by the sincerity in her voice. While they weren't quite enemies it was abundantly clear that they were not friends either. "Like somebody threw me into a trash compactor." she replied slowly with a smirk. Jarda pursed her lips and found something interesting to look at on the wall.
Suddenly Rey's breath hitches in her throat and her stomach drops. Ben! In all of the confusion she had forgotten to ask about the fact that neither of them were able to find what they were looking for. Jarda looked back at her, sensing the panic Rey had forgotten to mask. "It was empty, right? Nothing was in the tomb at the top and you guys didn't find anything, did you?"
Jarda shook her head bitterly. "No. It seems the whole thing was just a trap." She glanced over to her companions. "For all of us." she finishes. Rey can sense the conflict behind her words. Something has been off about them from the start. Why were they so insistent on coming along if they weren't able to do what they promised? "What are you hiding?" Her eyes narrow at the trio. "I think I've earned the right to find out what you're really here for." she says crossing her arms.
Theo and Doj share concerned looks with each other before turning to look at Jarda. She eyed them warily. "She's probably the only one that can help us now." she said with a shrug before turning back to Rey. "I will tell you everything if you promise to let me finish speaking before you say or do anything."
Rey felt her brows furrow down over her eyes. What in the world has she gotten herself into now? She sucked on her cheek for a moment before giving a curt nod. Jarda leaned back into her seat with a sigh. "Almost everything we've mentioned so far is true. We're First Order deserters who've been travelling the Outer Rim for the past three years." she begins slowly before taking another breath. "The reason why we knew how to get here is because.. We work for a secret Sith organization that was stationed on this planet. It was part of the same group associated with Darth Sidious, the Sith Eternal? They have many different secret bases on old Sith planets… including this one."
Rey felt her stomach drop. She had hoped that the Sith Eternal had all fallen back on Exegol. It seemed foolish now to think there wouldn't be more hidden factions. But why we're former First Order deserters working for them? She opened her mouth to speak before Jarda put her hand up. "Wait, there's more."
Jarda gave another look to her companions. "We have had very little contact with them. Mostly doing odd jobs here and there over the years. They've basically used us as added security. We've been monitoring search parameters like I mentioned before. Once we saw the Resistance was searching for a supposed secret Sith world, we made sure we were the ones who met you. The plan was to kill you there but once I saw who you were I figured you'd be better kept alive for them. When you left, I called my contact who ordered us to escort you here to trap you so you'd be taken into custody and tried for your crimes for the destruction against Sidious and the Sith Order. What we didn't anticipate was the fact that we're apparently just as expendable."
She stopped and eyed Rey cautiously. Rey only sits and lets the information sink in. "That was your bug in the system then? And the pursuit and jumps through hyperspace?"
"Yes. They have eyes everywhere and are immediately alerted when people start searching key names and phrases. The coincidence with Maz was just convenient for getting you to trust us, but we've worked off and on with her over the years on other business. If she suspected anything from us she never showed it. The jumps were to give them enough time to evacuate the planet here to make it look abandoned. Truthfully, there is a fortress on the eastern side of the continent that is one of their main bases."
Rey rubbed her face in her hands. Of course this was going to be much more complicated than she thought, but why was Jarda telling her all of this now? She looked up at the piercing green eyes across from her. "Why are you telling me this now, and why did you save me?"
Jarda's eyes steeled for a moment then softened. "Well first, we're obviously expendable, and to be honest, only were loyal to the Sith since they promised us the power and protection we couldn't get from the First Order anymore. Besides.." she trailed and eyed Rey with intrigue. "I was wrong about you. You're not the monster they said you'd be. Not a Jedi or a Sith, but more powerful than the two combined. I.." she stopped again and looked down. "Honestly, I'm embarrassed for the part we played. I should have been honest with you a long time ago. If you can manage to forgive me.. I'd like to become your apprentice."
Rey's mind wheeled at the words. Apprentice? She was no master. She didn't even have any training. She had no idea where to even begin. Not to mention the fact that she still needed to find a way to get the stone to get Ben back. What would he say about the idea? No, there was no way she could do that. She looked back up at the woman and saw for the first time how much fear emanated from her eyes. Rey's heart sank with pity, Jarda looked confused, hopeless, desperate even.
"Jarda I have no qualifications to train anyone. I've barely received training myself. Everything I've done has been.. instinct. I don't know how to teach that." she offered weakly and watched Jarda as she sat in thought. "And although I appreciate the honesty now, how am I ever supposed to trust you?"
"Well.. can we still go with you? I'd like to help if I can. I understand why you can't trust us, but, I feel like whatever we do with you will bring some good back into the galaxy. Maybe help us repay for some of the things we've done. If we ever do anything to betray your trust you have every right to kill us." she said, her two companions nodding beside her. Rey could feel the sincerity in her voice and sense the honesty in her words. Jarda was right. Rey had no reason to trust them, but looking at them now, she felt like she could see them in a new light. They had been broken with the same lies Ben had been, and he was able to redeem himself. Rey felt that pull again, so she took a breath and nodded her head. "Alright I suppose so."
Jarda's face turned into the first genuine smile Rey had seen. She wore it well, her green eyes sparkling. Rey felt her heart lighten at the sight and knew she had made the right choice, but she still needed to be cautious. She couldn't risk the information about Ben, but she wasn't sure where she had to go from here. This was the planet that Harmaa had told her, so it had to be here somewhere. "We have to get to that base." Rey said. The trio nodded grimly back at her. "How much do you know?"
The group sat for hours talking about everything they knew regarding the base. Jarda had only been there once and had limited information, but the fortress was large and ancient, they should be able to find schematics on it. "Leave that to me. I can bypass the security measures to make sure they don't know we're looking, but it's been a while since we've checked in and they're sure to be on guard. I'd expect less than 200 units in total. We should be able to sneak around most of them if we do this right, but we have to know where we're going." she looked at Rey expectantly.
"Wherever you think they'd store old artifacts. I'll know it when I see it." she responded and looked away to avoid the curious looks she knew she'd receive. She was exhausted, her eyelids threatening to droop down. "Alright." she said, pressing her palms to the table to help her stand. "Get whatever information you can. As soon as we've got a clear plan we'll go."
"Give me a day and we can plan on going tomorrow night. They won't be expecting anyone to try to sneak in and the night shift will give us a better chance. And Rey?" her voice faltered and the end. Rey met her gaze expectantly and saw a curious expression on the usually stern features. "Thanks." she said quietly, though Rey could sense the many unspoken things that the word encompassed. Rey gave a hopeful smile and nodded before heading back to her quarters.
She took a moment when the door slid closed behind her. Such a seemingly easy task had turned into something much larger than she could have ever imagined. Not just with Jarda, Theo and Doj, but with the strange things that had happened in the tomb. It was unexplainable, had she truly absorbed all of the Dark energy that had been left there? Where did it go? Most importantly, did it change her?
She moved herself into the small adjoining bathroom and carefully stripped her dirty clothing to enter into the refresher. The hot water poured over her aching muscles, giving her cool skin goosebumps. Her eyes closed and she thought back to her encounter with Harmaa. Was this the balance it spoke of? Perhaps this was the destiny awaiting her and Ben.
Ben her thoughts shifted back to him. She was surprised that she hadn't seen him during her time unconscious. Her knees buckled underneath her and she slipped to the floor. Every time she felt like she got closer to getting him back it seemed like something always got in the way to make it that much harder. She had been desperately holding out hope that she would see him soon, but it had been weeks now since she had really seen him last. Her time with him when she meditated had seemed like a cruel trick to briefly remind her of what she was missing.
Rey barely noticed the tears falling down her face with the trickling water. She was too exhausted to rationalize, look at the bright side, or remain hopeful as she had the past two months alone. The carefully curated dam of emotions she held back broke in her exhaustion and the pain of her loss felt as fresh as the moment he had disappeared before her.
She let herself sit there and sob until her eyes had almost swollen shut. Her arms had pulled her knees up to her chin and she let the water run down her back. She wasn't sure how long she sat there before the refresher turned itself off and prepared for the dry cycle. Rey remained there as the water droplets dispersed and her dry hair fell down around her shoulders. She willed herself to stand and get dressed numbly before she threw herself back down onto the bed and let her consciousness fade into the still, calm, black.