Doomed To Repeat

Chapter 3


Rey began concentrating in the Force to focus on Ben Solo. She did so, not knowing if it would work. With her previous connections to Ben there was no need for concentration. He was just there in the Force. The link between the two had been created by the Supreme Leader Snoke. And now Snoke was gone.

She remembered the last time she saw Ben through the link. Immediately after Luke revealed his presence was projected from Ahch-To, the remaining members of the Resistance were able to escape on the Millennium Falcon. Once she boarded, she could see Ben in the distance. He wordlessly pleaded for her to accept his offer to join him to rule the galaxy. Rey physically and figuratively closed their link by shutting the ramp between them.

She had not seen Ben Solo through the Force since that moment. Up to this point, she had no reason to. Now that she needed Ben's input, she could only guess that concentrating in the Force would regenerate the link. She tried for several minutes and no result. She soon gave up and started to prep the shuttle for takeoff. She left the cockpit to check on the repulsor charge batteries. Once she entered the main area of the shuttle, there he was.

Ben Solo was standing several meters away. It was like before. He wore his usual black tunic with cape. She felt a small bout of relief that he was fully dressed this time. He looked like he was in a daze until he spotted her. As with her image of him, his image of her did not reveal her location.

He gave no sense of emotion upon seeing her suddenly. It was as if he were expecting to see her. He stated, "Rey. It's been a long time. You made the connection on your own."

"I wasn't sure if it would work. You know, without Snoke."

"Apparently, it did. Impressive. Have you finally come to your senses to accept my offer? It still stands, of course."

"As does my refusal. That's not why I'm here."

"Why are we here? Not that I can tell where here is."

She hesitated because of the nature of her request. "I...I need to ask you something."

"About your parents?"

She tried to hide her surprise and failed. "How did you know?"

"Logic. I'm the only one left to ask. Both Skywalkers are gone. There are no more Jedi. Though, I hear you are finding those in the galaxy who have Force potential but haven't realized it yet. Much like yourself not long ago. That's good. I'm afraid it won't be enough. As you may or may not know, I'm the new Supreme Leader. I'm gaining more momentum by the day."

She interrupted. "My, you really love to hear yourself talk. Just like Han. Not so much Leia. You have a different aspect of her personality."

"You can no longer make me angry."

"I'd like to place a wager on that."

He ignored her remark and asked, "What did you get from Unkar Plutt?"

She knew he asked to force a reaction from her. The same way she did to him. This was their game against each other from the beginning. She was tired of the games. She replied with a straight face, "Many things. Things that contradict what you told me about them."

"So you take the word of a low life on Jakku but you believe I'm the one lying?"

"Unkar may be a con man and swindler, but he isn't trying to get me to join him to take over the galaxy."

"Fair enough. What did his version tell you?"

"My mother was alone when she traded me to Unkar. And it wasn't just for drinking money like you said. There was a case involved that included a new identification. My father left my mother long before the trade. If they went their separate ways, and with the amount of money that could be in that case, how could they both have been buried in a pauper's grave?"

"Details. Luke used to tell us in the beginning of our training that the future is always in motion. Nothing there is concrete. That means the past is static. Unmoving. It never changes but it does fade away from memory over time. The images I saw through our connection about your parents had to be sifted first. I put them together like a puzzle in order to form my conclusion. There could be small differences like you saw from Unkar's memories. But you came to the same conclusion as I did. Your parents were still nobodies."

"And I went directly to the source without relying on mere images." She sighed and said, "Look, we could stand here and argue what you told me about my parents all day. That wasn't what I needed to know." She started to walk around the shuttle bay while always keeping an eye on him. "Unkar told me that he overheard my mother say something to my father. She said that I was 'nobody's child'."

"An appropriate title."

"No, Ben. He said that neither of my parents claimed me as their own."

"What are you saying?"

She swallowed before she asked, "Could I have been born the same way as your grandfather?"

He cracked a grin, which might have been the first time she saw him do so. He asked her, "Wherever did you get an idea like that?"

She made a mental note before she connected to not focus on the Jedi journals taken from Ahch-To. She couldn't take the chance that Ben may want them for his own purposes. It was in the journals where she learned of the prophecy that Anakin Skywalker was to fulfill. Instead, she told him, "I formed my own conclusions. I just want to know if it was possible."

"You think that the Force itself created you inside your mother's womb without the help of your father?"

Rey grinned awkwardly. "Sounds a bit far fetched when you put it like that."

"As well it should. It's preposterous."

Rey was confused. "Didn't your parents or even Luke tell you that Anakin Skywalker did not have a father? His mother just became pregnant."

"If that story was true, the Skywalkers or Solos would never tell me or confirm it. You have to understand that my family never had time to tell me stories. Least of all, one that involved my grandfather."

Rey understood something and said, "Yet there were several warnings about Darth Vader. Warnings about using powers that lead to the Dark Side. What were the ways down that path? Fear, anger, suffering." She shrugged. "Emotions that people of all species experience. But Jedi were told that if they experience too much of any one of those emotions that they will somehow automatically enter the Dark Side. Seems a bit childish to me."

Ben nodded. "Trust me, I agree."

"Is that why you joined the Knights Of Ren? Is that your generation's version of the Sith?"

Ben snapped, "I am not Sith! The Sith are no more. I am in the Dark Side because I want to be. I am a part of the darkness."

"No, Ben. You and I are both part of the same Force. There are no sides. You chose to use powers that are considered dark. Powers that only benefit the user and harm others, not help them. And I chose to use powers that assist others in need. It is our choices that determine what powers we use."

"Choices? Let's talk about choices. I'm sure you assisted Unkar in taking his memories that he wouldn't have given willingly. It would take great power in the Force to pull them from him and he would be in pain. I know. I've used that power before. I've used it on you. And you chose to use it on Unkar. How did that help him?"

The thought hit her like a permacrete brick. She had no answer for him. He had just rendered her argument null and void. Even Unkar recognized the dark power she used.

Ben used her silence to his advantage. "Before you start making claims that dark and light powers are part of one Force, you should first decide if using one over the other is more convenient for you. And for what? To find out about your parents? It must mean so much to you that you would resort to using a dark power to gain information about them. It almost borders on obsession."

Finally, she spoke out. "That's easy for you to say, Ben. You had your family. You lived with them. Yet, you threw them away. And that was way before you killed Han and drove Leia away. I never knew my family. I waited for them for almost two decades. They are a mystery to me." She chuckled first before adding, "I mean, I don't even have a surname like Skywalker or Solo. I'm just Rey. I'm not even sure if that's the name my parents gave me. It's just what they called me on Jakku."

She used his silence against him this time and continued. "They may have been nobodies to the galaxy. But not to me. And then there's you with parents who have the most popular names in the galaxy. They loved you and supported you. But no, you had to complain that mommy and daddy didn't give you the amount of attention that you wanted."

"You may want to be careful now. You know nothing about my life with my parents."

"Oh, I don't? Because that would be terrible if someone ever came close. You would have to use a dark power on them if they got too close to the truth." She paused and admitted, "I know I extracted memories from Unkar. I stopped because I knew he couldn't take anymore pain. But I was desperate." She hung her head down. "Maybe it was an obsession." She raised it back up at him. "But you don't use the Force because you're desperate. You use dark powers because you want to."

"I told you to be careful."

She ignored his veiled threat. "You have an obsession, too, Ben. You are obsessed with power. You tried to involve me with your plans to rule the galaxy, not so we can work together but for you to control me. Can't you see that your lust for power is why I refused you? I thought I felt a conflict within you once. I don't anymore. The only future I saw when we linked had to do with you defeating Snoke. Well, that certainly came true. Maybe he felt the same conflict in you as I did? Or maybe the same weakness. Compassion."

"Shut up!"

"You couldn't have your mentor know that you have compassion. So you killed him. Now you're alone in the galaxy. You can wallow in your misery all by yourself. You may still have that compassion, Ben. The same compassion you inherited from Han and Leia. Instead, you focus on wanting the same power that your grandfather once had. Ironically, Darth Vader sacrificed his power and his life to save his son."

"I said, shut up!"

Rey kept on. "When it comes to our families, Ben, we're similar. Although, where you are trying to run away from them, I'm trying to run to them. You told me to kill the past. Funny that neither of us are doing so."

Despite the unknown distance between them, she could still feel the rage inside of him building. He was visibly panting. Seemed that what she said to him was what he needed to hear. They both did. Now she was watching him and anticipating a strong reaction. He couldn't reach her wherever he was. Could he?

"Ben? Ben, are you all right?"

He suddenly lurched forward with his arm outstretched and shouted, "My name is Kylo Ren!"

The extreme thrust he projected through the Force crossed through space and hit Rey head on. She was pushed backwards in the air and hit hard against the opposite shuttle bay wall. She landed on the floor feeling weak. Once she regained her strength, she eased herself up. She looked over at the area where Kylo Ren was standing moments ago. He was gone.

She muttered to herself, "Guess I won that bet. Can't make you mad, Ben? You sure about that?" She limped into the cockpit and flopped in the pilot's chair.

She thought of her latest visit with Kylo Ren. That rage. It was too intense to just be about his family. He was so insecure, mostly about Darth Vader. It was the part of his family that he was drawn to. It made her wonder what she was drawn to. Was she obsessed with a family that abandoned her? The fact that they left her alone on Jakku for eighteen years became the constant fact beneath every new truth she discovered. What would be gained by knowing more truths? Did she need the full truth that badly?

She had friends now in the Resistance. And now there was a growing collection of new Force users whom she and Leia found across the galaxy. They would eventually need a teacher. Leia would have been that teacher. That didn't happen. It was up to herself now. She was the new teacher. Her new students were her future. Her family was her past. She did not want that much rage to build up inside of her over them. Like it did Kylo Ren.

That's when she decided. It was time to kill her past.

She began the ignition sequence and plotted her next hyperdrive jump back to the Resistance. She noticed that there had been a call on the HoloNet that she missed. She glanced at the identification code. Finn.

She smiled as she entered the code. Soon, a small blue-white image of Finn, the former First Order stormtrooper appeared.

"Hello Finn."

"Hey Rey. I was trying to reach you earlier."

Since she knew she would receive nothing but scolding from him, she decided to skip the fact that she just spoke with Kylo Ren. "Sorry, I was away."

"Still on your quest? How's that going?"

She sighed. Seemed she may get a reprimand anyway. "I just spoke to Unkar Plutt. It pretty much went nowhere."

He shook his head. "Of course it went nowhere. You're back on Jakku. Will you ever be over that place?"

"I think I am now. In fact, I believe I'm done with my little quest, too."

"Good. That means you can come back."

"Sure. I was about to make the jump to the Osarian system. You still there?"

"No, but we're still in the Expansion Region. We moved on to the Vinth system. I can send you the coordinates. Is your encrypt on your computer up to code?"

"Should be. BB-8 and I worked on it briefly to upgrade it on this junk shuttle."

"Serves you right for not taking the Falcon and Chewbacca."

"I didn't want to attract attention." She had the urge to ask him something that could have waited until she saw him in person. She couldn't wait. "Finn...before you were recruited as a stormtrooper, did you know your parents?"

"Why did I know this question would be coming soon?"

"Just indulge me and answer. Please."

He considered for a moment and then explained, "When you're called for duty as a stormtrooper in the First Order, we have no identification. Only our ID numbers. We're trained at a young age. None of us ever knew who are parents were."

"Did that bother you?"

"Not really. We were too battle trained to think about it." He hesitated and smiled. "Now, after I escaped and met you, Poe, General Solo, and Rose, it felt more like a true family than ever. I don't even think about my parents anymore." He gave a loud exaggerated clearing of his throat. "Until some friend of mine brings them back up. See, now you made me sad."

"Oh, hush, Finn."

"I'm scarred for life now," he said through fake cries. "Thank you so much for sharing your misery."

"Hey, do we have to duel again to make you stop?"

His face turned serious and he said, almost in fear, "Oh, so you can beat me again with your fancy new yellow lightsaber? No, thanks. Oh, hey, the reason I called before was to tell you that we found more Force users in the Vinth system. Feel like a little recruiting trip when you get back?"

"I guess."

"Boy, I can feel your lack of excitement all the way from here."

"It's just that Leia was the one who usually led those trips."

"Now it'll be you."

"Don't know if I can. What do I say to them?"

"Rey, I've seen you read all those Jedi books. I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"Maybe I'll find something new, not in those journals. For a thousand years the Jedi followed those books loyally. Maybe it's time for a change."

"What is that old saying? Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

She smiled. "Yes. Thank you, Finn. It's what I needed to hear now."

He took a moment to watch her gaze into space and asked, "Hey, are you really all right? You sure you're ready to come back yet?"

"Yes, I'm ready. After what Kylo Ren first told me about my parents, I thought I needed more. That by knowing I'd be complete. People would be able to call me something other than just Rey."

"Rey, haven't you figured out by now? It doesn't matter. You have family here now. And we would never abandon you."

A sudden burst of emotion hit her hard enough that her eyes began to water. She said, "It doesn't matter. You are so right, Finn. What would I do without you?"

"Well, first off you would still be on that forsaken Jakku. And even if you did find the Resistance somehow, you would have to challenge Poe to a duel. Or Chewbacca. And you're on your own there."

She made a fake sneer and said, "I could take him."

"I'm sure you could. You've come a long way, Rey."

"We both have, Finn." She dried her eyes with her hands and breathed out hard before noting, "Speaking of long way, I have your coordinates and I'm ready for the jump. Let me get off this rock for the last time."

"Now, you're sure it will be the last time?"

"Yes."

"Positive? I don't want you to be homesick."

She chuckled. "That's the point, Finn. I'm too sick of this home."

"Good answer. See ya when I see ya, Rey."

"See you then, Finn." She shut off the Holo. She started the repulsors and pushed the throttle forward. Yet, she glanced back in the corner of viewscreen that still showed Jakku.

"Goodbye, Jakku. Goodbye, mum and dad. I have a future to attend to."

The shuttle broke atmo and she was in space. The navi-computer beeped to indicate that the hyperspace jump was ready. Before she squeezed the hyperspace gear, she uttered, "One past. Dead and buried."

THE END