Thunder crashed all around the sharp mountain spire that stood lonely in the great sea of Ahch-To. Rain was falling in great sheets. It was a small rocky island, alone in the tempestuous storm, firm and immovable. In the sunlight, it would show its green life, full of low grasses and moss; but now in the dark raging storm, it looked cold and dead. The downpour was as if great waves were crashing over the entire mountain, attempting to beat it into the sea and engulf it in darkness.

It was not completely lifeless, though. Flashes of lightning lit up two figures at the tallest peak. One perched on the very peak, firm and steady, arms out stretched upward. The other sitting on a lower rock nearby.

On the high peak, a young woman, her hair bound up in a loose band around her head, with stray hair stuck to her wet face. Rey, her eyes closed and trying to focus, stood motionless through the tempest, a multitude of rocks floating and orbiting around her. Her clothing, drenched, hung heavy on her. She was still, breathing rhythmically. Waiting. The stones, some the size of a fist, others twenty times that in size, hovered and became stationary. Waiting. Lightning flashed overhead but did not contact the ground. Another heavy wave of rain passed. She waited.

The man was sitting cross-legged with his hands in his lap. He was clothed in a hooded brown robe, with the hood pulled up over his head and eyes. This was not protection from the storm for him, though. The rain had soaked him as well, and rivers of water poured down his face. The sky erupted in light again.

Rey furrowed her brow. The rocks stirred. One small rock fell. The man, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, raised his eyes. The lightning flashed again. Rey opened her eyes and clenched her teeth. The small rock that fell rejoined the others. She had willed it to return. One small strand of her hair began to pull from her wet cheek and rise up. Rey jolted her head up in panic, her control wavering as she anticipated the impending strike. She dropped the rocks and leapt off the pinnacle, lightning bursting behind her and singeing her feet.

She let out a defeated growl, angered and frustrated, with her face lifting out of the muddy ground. "I'm going to die up here!"

"Master your feelings, Rey," Luke stated, still sitting motionless.

She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and mastered her fear. She climbed back to the top again. She resumed her statuesque stance and willed the stones to lift again, one at a time. The storm raged, but her body did not. The stones did not. The thunder roared at her. She stood silently. The rain fell, washing down.

For a moment there was nothing else but the Force. She waited patiently as the lightning flashed and threatened in the sky, but she took no notice of it-not the flash of light, not the crash of the thunder, not even the cold trails of water as they ran down her face. Then the time was right. She could sense the sudden strike. Again she tensed and wavered. The lighting with instantaneous finality fell on the mountain. Rey leapt away.

She hit the wet rocks and scraped her hands in the dive. Grunting even louder. "I can't do it!" she yelled.

"No," Luke replied, "you will not do it."

"What do you think? That I can control lightning?" she asked in desperation.

"What do you think?" he retorted. "Do you think you can control the lightning?"

She did not answer and looked away from Luke.

"It is not control that you need, Rey. You need to let go. To just be."

"But I could get killed up there!" she said.

"Perhaps you may," Luke stated. "Feel the Force. You must let it guide you."

"But don't I control the Force?" she asked.

"Yes, in a way. Now you need to learn to trust it."

"Could I learn to trust it somewhere dry . . . where I might not get cooked like a fried bloggin?"

Luke smiled. "You have survived many years by maintaining control. You must learn to survive by letting go." Luke climbed to the top of the pinnacle in the same stance as Rey, a monument in the storm, his ashen silhouette contrasting the contrasting the stygian sky. His face was peaceful. His eyes closed. Rocks, one by one, lifted in the air until at least twenty surrounded him. The lighting goaded him with its power, but he remained still; the storm would not tempt him to action. The hem of his robe blew in the wind violently. Then it happened. He lifted his arms and clasped them together. Lightning crashed down on top of Luke, broke into twenty arcs, and veered around him to strike the ground through the circle of hovering stones.

He dropped the stones.

"You don't need to brag," Rey quipped.

Luke patiently responded. "Did you see?"

"Yeah, you made the lightning move."

"No. I did not make anything move. The lightning moved around me." He pointed to a stream of water created by the downpour. One with a large rock in the middle parting the water.

"Look at that rock." He said. "What do you see?"

"It's a rock in a stream," she said sarcastically.

"Yes," Luke encouraged, ignoring the sarcasm. "Does the rock control the water?"

"No."

"That is what you must learn. Let the Force work around you. Stop trying to control the Force. Just be. Like the rock lets the water work around it."

"But it is just a rock. It can't do anything. I can." She responded.

"All the more reason for you to learn to be still. Those that learn the Force only to have power over their surroundings are led astray. For that is the way of the dark side. But let's discuss that inside, where it is dry and where we won't risk becoming fried bloggin." He smiled.

….

The black Upsilon-class shuttle slowly entered the docking bay of the star destroyer Finalizer stationed in orbit around Kamino. It's sharp edges and jagged wings complemented the stern and deadly man residing in it.

Waiting for its arrival were three officers dressed in the sleek black officer's uniform of the First Order Navy. The first, with the most fine-lined red ribbons, was Admiral Raph; a tall dark man with a stern face and hard edges. He lived and breathed confidence, evidenced by his tall stance and turned-up chin, even though Kylo Ren and his men approached.

The second, with only one fewer ribbons, was Vice Admiral Dentin; a woman, her blond hair tightly bound under a military cap, her face no less stern, but a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. The last was the intelligence officer, Major Winn; a shorter man than the other too, with very short blond hair. Major Winn was tense and the most nervous of the three. He knew he had to give an adverse report, and being the lowest ranked officer of the three, he felt suspicious that they would order him to attend- especially since he had never been asked to report to Kylo Ren before.

The shuttle landed and exhausted its steam vents. The door opened and the ramp lowered. Kylo Ren, still wearing his helmet exited first. Although the rest of the men and women on the ship were worthy of fear and therefore respect, the three officers were only watching Kylo Ren as he approached. He strode up squarely in front of Vice Admiral Dentin. "Admiral Dentin, please tell me the status of the CR-100 Corvette and the freighter."

Vice Admiral Dentin, recognizing the error in Kylo Ren's salutation, glanced quickly at Admiral Raph. Admiral Raph was obviously put out, but officers are known for taking advantage of any opportunity, and Vice Admiral Dentin was no different.

"Sir, the small Corellian freighter entered light speed only moments after becoming visible from the atmosphere. The corvette, although heavily damaged also escaped-"

"We successfully eliminated all but one of their A-Wings, Sir," Admiral Raph interrupted. "But Major Winn's analysis of-"

His voice cut short mid-sentence as his breath halted and he found that he suddenly could not talk. His hands grasped for his throat. The arteries pulsating on his neck. The sternness of his face melting away in panic. For moments that seemed to take hours his body seemed to hang, writhing, although his feet on were still on the floor. Dentin and Winn watched in silence trying to keep their composure. Winn had thought Admiral Raph was going to try to make him the scapegoat, and now it looked like he was right. However, Raph had not calculated for reporting to a sociopath either-to Winn's benefit. Finally, Raph crumpled to the floor.

"You were saying, Admiral Dentin," he resumed.

"Yes, Sir, because Kamino is in the neighboring galaxy, the analysis of trajectory only leads back to our own galaxy and cannot be reliably trusted. But it suggests that the corvette headed for the center of the galaxy, and the freighter for the outer rim, possibly the mid-rim. That's as narrow as we can estimate."

"That'll be hundreds of viable systems each at least. Useless! Set a course back to Coruscant. And remember, Admiral Dentin, learn from Raph's mistakes. Do not disturb me until we arrive."

"Yes, Sir." Dentin and Winn said in unison.

Kylo Ren pushed past them with his knights following in his train. Three medics rushed in to minister to the hopeless ex-admiral.

Kylo led his knights directly to his communication chamber and stopped outside the door.

"Tanut, Siciah, and Kiam, remain here until I am finished speaking with The Master. The rest of you, find General Hux and report to him the details the battle," he ordered.

The hooded knight, the lean armored woman with her short staff, and the cloaked man remained as the rest departed.

"Do not disturb me for any reason," Kylo Ren ordered before he entered the communication room. It was thick with darkness, swallowing its visitors. It was a massive room with high ceilings vaulting above and a deep back wall, neither of which were visible in the dark, giving the impression of infinite space and the infinitesimal smallness of any who entered. It was Snoke's design for personal communication with his subjects.

Kylo Ren knelt before the darkness and reached out with the dark side of the Force calling to Snoke. He waited patiently, meditating on his anger and hatred.

"I sense your anger," a heavy voice boomed. No holographic image yet appeared.

"Yes, Master." Kylo Ren stated.

"You have failed me."

"Yes, Master."

"I am concerned that you have been conflicted in this mission," the invisible Snoke said.

"I have not been conflicted. My only desire is to serve you, Master," Kylo Ren responded.

"Do not lie to me. I can sense your falseness." Snoke boomed.

"Forgive me, Master." Kylo Ren slouched further down. "I hate that I am tempted to the light, and I wish to be free of it."

"You cannot be free unless I guide you."

"Yes, Master. Guide me."

"Rise and look on me, My Apprentice." Snoke appeared, almost filling the room with his image; cloaked in gray robes. His face was hideous to look at with dark eyes and slitted nose. His furrowed brow added a sharpness to his expression like that of a rancor eying its prey.

Kylo Ren stood and looked up at his master.

"Now, tell me how you failed me," Snoke continued.

"I came out of light-speed too early, giving the Resistance a chance to respond."

"Yes, you did," Snoke waved his hand. "But there is more."

Kylo Ren continued, "I trusted the Kaminoans to be competent."

"Yes, you did," Snoke waved his hand again. "But there is more."

Kylo wavered, knowing what Snoke was getting at. "I felt the light side of the Force."

"That's it." Snoke squinted his eyes.

"And," Kylo paused a moment. "I saw something."

"What did you see?" Snoke leaned in.

"I saw Skywalker and his Apprentice." He felt his side where the old blaster wound had healed. "They came to me . . . to us."

"And then what?"

"I do not know. That is all I saw," he answered.

"Well, you have been tempted, but not beyond my ability to draw you back. It was well that you told me. Do you see how this vision has affected your judgment and made you weak?"

"Yes, Master."

"Your inclination to trust the feeble Kaminoans and your subconscious decision to exit light-speed was influenced by the light side. It has made you ineffective. You were not observant of your feelings- a grave error. But not all is lost." Snoke touched his chin and studied Kylo Ren a moment.

"The vision of Luke Skywalker and his apprentice that you saw was true. We must look into this." He sneered. "But this time, My Apprentice, let me guide you with visions from the dark side. Report to me as soon as you arrive at Coruscant."

"Yes, Master."

Snoke's image vanished and the darkness returned, leaving Kylo Ren prostrated on the jet black floor.