CHAPTER IX

That night, Rey, Finn, and Udo snuck through the Senate building, found a small freighter and took off. It was nowhere near the size of the Falcon. But it was large enough for three passengers, more than any of the X-wings available were.

As they passed over the cityscape of Coruscant, Rey looked nostalgically down at the citizens below.

"Coruscant seems like a nice place. I wish we could have seen more of it."

"I feel bad about leaving Han and Chewie behind," Finn said, and Udo roared in approval.

"I think they'll be happier with Leia," Rey said, "And if choose to come after us, they have the Falcon."

She liked Han and Leia a lot, but she could tell they had fought enough battles for one lifetime. They needed rest.

Soon the freighter was leaving orbit, once more looking out at the black of space. Finn entered a course for the Hosnian system, though was hesitant.

"Still not sure if this is right," he said, "We-er-I-"

"Still having trouble thinking as an individual?" Rey said with a smile, "It's okay to say 'I.' If you disagree with me, I won't take it personally."

"I just-have a bad feeling about this."

Finn activated the hyperdrive, knowing it would be several hours of travel, and Rey was starting to get sleepy. Slowly, she nodded off.

Far away, on the Finalizer, Kylo Ren felt her pull again. And slowly, he began to call to her.

Rey saw herself as a child, reliving her last remaining memory of her parents before they had left her on Naragna. Her father was a kindhearted blonde man who looked very ashamed of himself for what he was doing, as he did every single time Rey had ever recalled this memory. Her mother had dark hair was crying. He called out her name: "Cala, it's time to go." She agreed-

And then a masked figure was standing next to her. Rey had never seen him before, but suddenly she had two dawning realizations: that she was dreaming, and that this was Kylo Ren.

"The girl I've heard so much about," he spoke in his distorted voice.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're still sleeping," Ren said calmly, "I even sense you are resting comfortably in some ship, somewhere in hyperspace. Everything around us is a dream-except you and me"

"Get out of my dreams!"

"So this is the only memory you have of your parents before they abandoned you, eh? You've lived this moment over and over again, seeing him say 'Cala, it's time to go.' You know that your mother was named Cala, and you have no memory of what your father's name was."

Rey felt the pain of this memory, the knowledge of her parentings having abandoned her.

"This feels wrong, like a-"

"Like a violation? Relax, I won't look any further, and I don't really care what you dream about. I'm here to talk to you."

"How are you even doing this?"

"You're strong with the Force. I could sense you all the way from space. Learning to enter dreams is something only the Sith could teach me."

"I know your parents. You turned away from them, broke their hearts-"

"If you think they were such great parents, you'd be in for a surprise. I could show you some of my memories sometime."

"Whatever they may have done, they're still people! They don't deserve to be in pain! And you and that senator are planning to destroy your mother's career!"

"If only you were one of us. You could do so much for the Sith Imperialists."

"Please-get out of my head and just let me wake up!"

"You're strong, but you need to train your Force powers. I could help you."

"Why would I want to be part of the Sith Imperialists?"

"I'm offering you a home: a new way to rule the galaxy. Don't you want this power, to enter the dreams of others? To stop blasts in mid-air?"

"I don't have enemies like you do."

"You will soon. Someone as strong with the Force as you will make them quick, just by entering a room."

Rey shook. She tried with all her energy to wake up. Slowly, the visions around her were starting to break up, she caught a slight glimpse of Finn flying the freighter, only a few feet away from her, then she was back in the dream-state.

"Impressive," Ren said, "You can almost wake yourself up. Right now you're drifting in and out of sleep. You know that after you wake up, we're going to meet again, and it's not going to be in a nice dream state? Next time, it may be your life."

Rey fought against him with all she could, and eventually, he let her go.

She jumped forward in her seat. She was awake.

"What happened?" Finn asked, startled, "Bad dreams?"

"He knows me," Rey said, "Somehow, he knows all about me!"

She described the figure she had seen, and Finn looked alarmed.

"Yep, that's Kylo Ren. Which means he's onto us."

"How long was I out?"

"A while. For a while, I was starting to wonder if you'd turned into Sleeping Beauty. I knew you were still alive though; you were snoring louder than a Wookiee."

Udo laughed at this and Rey processed, realized Finn had made a joke for the first time. While she didn't like being compared to a Wookiee, she had to admit it was probably a fair joke. She realized she was scared to ever go to sleep again.

"Are we still in hyperspace?"

"Yes, just disenganging now."

The freighter came out of hyperspace and soon the planets of the Hosnian system all came into view.

"Well, no weapon here," Finn said, "Where do we land? And wherever it is, I hope it's a place where I can get some sleep.

"Let's land on Hosnian Prime," Rey said, "I need some time to think and figure things out."

And so the freighter landed, unaware of the Finalizer coming out of hyperspace right behind it, and setting its sights on Hosnian Prime.