Rey and Red Five emerged from the perfect darkness of the Edge and into the uncanniness of Exegol. Hovering high above the shattered ice sheets and lit by the incessant, screaming lightning sat the perfectly spaced Star Destroyers of the Sith fleet. The sight chilled Rey far worse than the frigid air around her ever could. There were hundreds of them, each more formidable than their seafaring namesake and capable of reaching anywhere in the world.

This was not why she had come, though. Rey took a deep breath of icy air and pointed Red towards the black mesa and the warped city sprawled across it.

Rey could feel the thousand eyes watching her from above. They expected not just her arrival, but her ascension to the throne. She tightened her grip on Red's reins. She would not give them satisfaction.

As Rey passed over the carved flanks of the mesa, she looked down at the sterile, ash choked city below. While the flanks had straight lines, the ruined buildings of the city lacked any as though they had been drawn by a child What few spires and pillars remained in defiance of entropy were bent or curled like skeletal fingers.

Rey hadn't read of anything like this in any of her readings on the Sith. What's more, these ruins were too old to have been built by even the first Sith. Something far older than either them or the Jedi had built this.

The city gave way to barren ground surrounding a monolithic black inverted pyramid. Another chill ran through Rey, this time from the sheer power of the Dark aura the citadel exuded. Rey brought Red in for a landing on the cracked ground and paused to steel herself before stepping down from the saddle.

Poe stared at the hole in the Edge as he and a handful of other sky pilots waited for more of their allies to arrive. "I don't know what to expect when we cross over, but no matter what, we can't turn back."

"We're with you, Poe," Snap said. "No matter what."

In the cradle behind Poe, Artu beeped his agreement.

Poe was the first to cross the threshold into the Edge, leading a stream of flying machines, creatures, and ships.

The chief scryer on the flagship Typhojem did a double take upon seeing the number of craft and creatures coming through the Edge. "Allegiant General, we have incoming hostiles."

Pryde scowled. "Signal all ships, fire at will."

Upon emerging on the other side, Poe was struck silent as the scale of what it was they were up against fully registered.

Snap was equally dumbstruck, though his lips pursed as though he had sucked a lemon.

Aboard the Tantive, Nien Nunb could only utter a flat "Oh."

Antiair and cannonfire erupted from the fleet a second later and steel rained down on the Resistance. All riders and sky pilots broke formation to avoid the incoming fire, though a few were not quick enough.

Below, ship shield wards shimmered under the withering fire. The Resistance ships equipped with high angle guns fired great volleys skywards only for most of the shots to be rendered ineffective by the Star Destroyers' armor.

Burning flying machines and mutilated mounts plummeted from the air to join the ships and ice. Acrid smoke from burning wood and oil mingled with gunsmoke, forming a fast growing haze with no wind to carry it away.

Poe weaved between the exploding shells while swearing to himself. "Welcome to Exegol..." He hit his comm crystal. "All air units! Get to their altitude! They can't fire on us without hitting each other! Don't give up! Help is coming!"

From the bridge of a heavily modified First Order cargo airship, Finn searched the ruined city in the distance for any sign of the navigational tower. So far, all he had seen was a plethora of misshapen buildings and towers. As he made another pass with his binoculars, one of the minarets caught his eye. It lacked any of the bizarre warping present in the surrounding architecture, but most importantly he saw the vanes that positively identified the tower as the one he sought.

Finn tapped his comm crystal. "Poe, I see it. Repeat, I have a visual on the tower."

Shadows flickered in the corners of Rey's vision as though she was seeing the silhouettes of people long dead and forgotten. Her eyes reflexively tried to focus on these shades, but they always vanished before she could get a better look.

Rey walked through the forest of pillars that supported the monolith, keeping her eyes pinned to the hexagonal seal and chains far off in the center. Her heart pounded while fear, doubt, and uncertainty licked at the back of her mind. She pushed through, knowing that for the sake of the world there was no other option.

Rey stepped onto the seal and felt it shift under her weight. The chains began to lower the her into the yawning blackness below. Arcs of cloudless lightning lit Rey's descent revealing a ring of giant statues.

The seal came to an abrupt stop upon reaching the bottom and Rey stepped off. More sourceless lightning illuminated her path forward. Towering statues lined the crumbling hall, with the two bearded ones at the far end seeming to stare directly at her.

Rey passed through the door they guarded into what she took to have once been a great ceremonial chamber. The ruination of the chamber spoke of a cataclysmic fight, with no surface left untouched. Shattered statues and gargoyles lay everywhere as though thrown by a petulant toddler.

Rey continued on without pausing, passing through a tall doorway into some sort of laboratory. Glass hexagonal cylinders sat along one of the walls, glowing a sickly yellow green. She froze in horror as she passed one, seeing a familiar face inside.

The eyes of Snoke focused on Rey. He had died, of this she was certain, but here he was very obviously still living. The intelligence behind those eyes was not the same as the one she had encountered on the Supremacy, though. Gone was the contemptuous spirit that had sought to pit her and Kylo against one another. These were the eyes of a broken prisoner.

Rey tore herself away from the pleading gaze of Snoke and followed the faint sounds of chanting. Another pair of the strange bearded statues stood guard to either side of a giant runed door wrought from the same red metal that she had seen on Kylo's helmet. Rey stared at the door for a moment and listened to the chanting from the other side.

She took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.

Snap was the first to see the new flying machines of the First Order as they launched in swarms from the Star Destroyers' hangars. They were black with a red stripe down their sides, but most surprising of all to Snap was that they only had a single set of wings.

"Watch out! We've got incoming fighters!"

"I see them," Poe said. "Finn, you've got some heading your way. I'm on them."

"I copy, Poe. We are on final approach." Finn stood from his seat and went to the cargo bay.

Jannah and Rose looked up.

"You ready back here?"

Jannah stroked her orbak's mane and gave a nod. "Never been readier."

Rose stood and handed Finn his completed Lightblade. "I am and now you should be, too, General." She smirked.

Finn looked at the ornate hilt and shivered. This was his destiny. "Mount up."

"Allegiant General, we have a craft heading for the navigational tower!"

General Pryde scoffed. "So that's their play, is it? Switch over fleet navigation telemetry to this ship's command spindle. A few minutes' delay will change nothing."

Finn had his foot in the stirrup of his orbak when his comm crystal chimed.

"General Finn, the tower's been deactivated!"

Finn removed his foot from the stirrup. "What?!"

Rose shook her head. "Those ships need a navigation signal. It's got to be coming from somewhere."

Finn furrowed his brow and rushed back to the bridge.

Poe swore again and hit his comm crystal. "They've figured out what we're doing. Call off the ground assault.

"No," Finn said, eyeing the Typhojem. "The signal is coming from their flagship. That's our drop zone."

"How can you know that?"

"A feeling."

Snap was incredulous. "You want to land on one of those things?!"

"I don't want to," Finn said, heading back to the hold, "but we can't take out that thing from the air. Give us cover. We've got to keep that fleet here until help arrives."

"We hope," Rose said.

"We hope," Finn repeated.

Poe blew out his cheeks. "You heard the General. All wings, move to cover that airship!"

Streams of antiair fire ripped from the recessed batteries atop the Typhojem. In spite of Resistance flyers dropping from the air in alarming numbers, more kept coming. Meanwhile, the cargo airship headed for the flagship's stern where the lower concentration of antiair batteries were being thinned further by covering fire.

Finn felt the cargo ship shudder as it landed. He looked to Rose and Jannah either side of him who gave him nods communicating their readiness.

"Allegiant General, they've landed a cargo ship topside aft."

"Mobilize troops," Pryde ordered. "Those fools will be stuck in the open and cut down before they reach midship."

The cargo bay doors fell open with a deafening clang. Finn raised his Lightblade hilt above his head and pressed the activation rune. A peridot green magic blade shot forth, bathing the former stormtrooper in its glow.

Finn inhaled deeply and yelled. "Charge!"

Cloven hooves thundered across the Star Destroyer's armor plating. Try as the antiair crews might, their guns couldn't aim low enough to fire on this cavalry charge. Some of the more zealous defenders crawled out of their batteries to engage the charge only to be trampled by the unstoppable wave.

Red transport airships rose over the sides of the Typhojem and opened fire on the cavaliers. A few horses and riders fell under the incoming volleys but the loose formation and the orbaks' agility prevented more casualties.

With the ineffectiveness of their aerial attack and the incoming fire from Resistance air forces, the transports set down near midship. Red armored Sith Eternal stormtroopers disembarked and opened fire on the cavalry.

More horsemen fell but their comrades returned fire, tearing a hole in the troopers' line. A bullet grazed Finn's cheek and ear, but he was too focused to do anything besides wince. Lightblade held high, he led the charge through the red armored stormtroopers.

Rey tread carefully as she entered the massive circular cavern beyond the red doors. Ash crunched softly beneath her feet and clung to the bottom of her grey robes. With each step she took, the chanting grew slightly louder. Her breath swirled in great clouds as she took in what little she could see from the lightning arcing across the ceiling.

Around the cavern, pillars carved to represent the great Sith Lords of times long past stood tall, supporting an immense rotunda. Between the pillars were row after row after row of hooded figures from whom the chanting arose. At the center of everything, directly under the sealed hole in the rotunda sat the same black throne that Rey had seen in her vision. The brazier atop it burned with a red edged black flame.

Rey couldn't take her eyes off the terrible throne as she strode towards it, moving around a deep hole. The vacant throne called to the Darkness within her, offering everything she could desire. She ignored its hollow promises. As though realizing the futility of continuing the efforts, the offers abruptly ceased leaving only the sounds of chanting and the shrieking thunder from high above.

Rey stopped in front of the throne and looked upon it with disdain. As abruptly as the offers had cut off, so too did the chanting. An unsettling stillness settled upon the chamber.

"Long have I waited," crooned an unseen Palpatine.

A robed corpse held aloft by some sort of machine moved in from above and behind the throne, at first only barely illuminated by the flashes of light from above. Its black lips split into a sinister gap-toothed grin. "For my grandchild to come home," it finished.

The machine lowered the Corpse Emperor onto the throne. His shrivelled hands with their exposed bones and missing fingers wrapped over the armrests. A raspy laugh escaped Palpatine's throat. "Are you not pleased to finally meet your true family?"

Rey was silent.

"I never truly sought your death. I merely wanted you here... Empress Palpatine." The Emperor laughed again. "I knew the fool Ren couldn't bring himself to kill you, but I expected him to bring you here himself. No matter, your actions have proven your worthiness. You will take the throne."

Rey's breathing turned rapid and shaky as Palpatine spoke. His aura oozed a malevolence that threatened to seep into her soul. She resisted, but already she could feel the taint searching for even the smallest crack.

"It is your birthright to rule here. It is in your blood... Our blood."

Rey centered herself. " I haven't come to lead the Sith. I've come to end them."

"As a Jedi?"

"Yes."

"No. Your hatred, your anger, you cannot escape them. You want to kill me." Palpatine smiled. "That, child, is what I want. Kill me and my spirit will pass into you. You will be Empress and we will be as one."

Just before reaching the final defensive line atop the Typhojem, a lucky shot struck Finn's horse and it collapsed beneath him. Finn himself was thrown forward and landed painfully on his shoulder. He scrambled to his feet and sprinted the remaining distance towards the faltering defenders.

Bullets ripped past Finn but he did not slow. He lunged forward, burying his Lightblade in the chest of a stormtrooper. In a smooth movement, he pulled the sword out and cleaved a second soldier in half. Blood and armored bodies quickly covered the top of the airship.

Between Finn's swordsmanship and Company 77's marksmanship, the Sith troopers guarding the final approach to the bridge died to a man. In a trench just a short distance ahead lay the silver plated command spindle. Finn, Jannah, and Rose regrouped while the rest of the cavalry turned about to face the incoming stormtroopers left from the lines through which they had broken. More yet climbed out of the antiair batteries around them.

Across the Sith fleet, all primary engines roared to life as one. Poe spat a curse and hit his comm crystal. "Their engines are warming up. How are we doing?"

Finn barely heard Poe over the gunfire and explosions. "We're at the signal source. We just need to get the charges on it."

"Just hurry it up. We're running out of time."

Jannah hopped into the trench and pulled the first charge from her satchel. She affixed it to the side of the spindle and pulled out another charge. Less than a minute later, Jannah climbed back out of the trench, detonator in hand. "This should do it," she yelled over the gunfire.

Finn, Rose, and Jannah scrambled away to a safe distance and Jannah pressed the detonator's activation rune. A deafening blast rocked the bow of the Typhojem, knocking both attacker and defender off balance.

Poe flew over the airship and watched the front half of the severed spindle slide out of its housing trench. "There it goes! Nice one, you three! The nav signal is down!"

"Allegiant General! We've lost the spindle!"

Pryde turned around just in time to miss the front half of the spindle falling past the bridge window. He gnashed his teeth. "How soon can we launch without it?"

"By our estimates, the first ship can leave in eleven minutes."

"Get them out in five!"

Rose nodded. "Acknowledged." She looked up to Finn. "The transport's ready to pick us up on your command."

"We're not done here. This is their flagship. If we cut off the head, it'll make it that much easier for when our allies come."

"There's an access hatch a little ways back," said Jannah. "But we don't have enough explosives to get it open."

Finn held out his Lightblade. "We don't need explosives!"

Rose loaded a fresh cylinder into her carbine. "We'll cover you!"

Finn plunged his green blade into the corner of the black metal hatch and started to cut. Just before he finished, Jannah moved beside him with a petard in each hand. The moment Finn opened the hatch, she threw the explosives inside. A pair of almost synchronized blasts sounded from below followed by screams of agony.

Finn was the first down the access shaft and into the corridor below with Rose and Jannah close behind. Dead and dying Sith troopers lay scattered on the floor, their bodies perforated by shrapnel.

Worry gripped Snap as he made another pass by the hole in the Edge. "Still no Falcon or backup."

Artu warbled his concern.

Poe sighed defeatedly. "I don't know. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe nobody else is coming..."

"What do we do, General?" One sky pilot asked.

Poe set his jaw. "We've gotta hit them ourselves."

"What can we do against these things?" Asked another sky pilot.

"Just stay alive!

"The time has come," Palpatine declared, spreading his arms.

The chanting restarted against in earnest. Rey gasped at the suddenness of it and looked around the chamber. She could feel the thousands of eyes on her.

"With your hatred, you will take my life. And you will ascend."

Rey subtly and unconsciously shook her head, then changed to doing so emphatically and purposely. "No. All you want is for me to hate, but I won't. Not even you."

The Emperor lowered his arms and turned his sightless eyes to Rey. "Weak. Like your parents."

"My parents were strong. They sacrificed themselves to save me from you."

Palpatine's lip curled. "Luke Skywalker was saved from death by his father. The only family you have here is me..."

The scraping sound of stone on stone filled the chamber. Rey looked up to see the hole at the center of the rotunda opening. Scores of flying machines and creatures swirled around one another among the Star Destroyers and the antiair fire coming from them. Smoke lazily poured through the hole, carrying with it the odors of char and sulfur.

Rey could sense the spirit of desperation in each of the Rebels above. There weren't enough of them as it was to take down even part of the fleet and more of them were dying by the minute. She watched an antiair shell send two crosswings down in flames. The terror and agony the pilots felt as they plummeted towards the icy water below struck Rey in her very core.

"They don't have long," taunted the Emperor. "No one is coming to help them."

Rey felt the panic in Poe. He was convinced that this was where he would die. He would be cold and alone. He wondered what would happen to Finn without him.

"You are the one who led them here."

Finn was leading Rose, Jannah and a small strike force through one of the Star Destroyers. Many of them were bleeding, with Finn having sustained several painful injuries.

"Strike me down. Take the throne. Reign over the New Empire and the fleet will be yours to command. Only you have the power to save them."

Rey flinched as she sensed Rose taking a bullet in her calf. Rose cried out and fell before being dragged into cover by a member of the strike force.

"Refuse and your new 'family' dies."

Tears streamed down Rey's face as she turned back to Palpatine. With a shaking hand, she took her Lightblade from her belt. The Emperor grinned.