"It could be a trap," Admiral Ackbar warns.
"Possibly, but my informant's never let me down before," Maz replies.
"But this information would imply that they know the location of the temple," Leia points out.
Which they could only know if Rey gave it to them, Poe realizes. Everyone knows it, but no one will say it. Bastard. Snoke must have tortured her.
"Why exactly is this temple so important?" Lando queries, looking at Luke.
"It's the first temple," Luke explains, as if that should answer their questions. It doesn't.
Poe looks to Ben, to Leia, to Finn. None of them seem to have any more of a clue than he does, so Poe feels a bit better.
Maz smiles. She knows.
"It contains many secrets of Jedi history, of Force users," Luke adds. "Such as… whether the Force can be used only from the Light or the Dark, or whether it might be possible for someone to wield both, a unifying Force."
"Is there?" Finn inquires. Ben's face pales.
Leia turns to her son. "That was Snoke's plan for you, wasn't it?"
He nods. "But it didn't exactly work out. Once you start down the Dark Side, it—it's harder to harness the Light."
"Exactly," Luke confirms.
"So, we have to wipe out the Dark Side," Poe supplies. Maz and Luke both laugh.
"That's not possible. We need to recognize the Dark Side, accept that it exists, and give it that respect. Because it is powerful. It accomplishes much. But we choose not to use it," Luke says, studying the hologram map to Ahch-To. "That's how you achieve balance."
"So… why is Snoke taking Rey there?"
"He wants her to utilize both sides of the Force. And our child," Ben says.
"So how to we take on this Star Destroyer?" Poe asks, hands resting on his hips. "Because we're going to take her back."
"And hopefully kill Snoke while we're at it," Lando mutters. His mouth narrows into a thin line, and Poe knows he's thinking of Han, and Rey, and what Snoke did to Ben.
"That'd be the plan," Poe agrees.
"So, we blow up the Star Destroyer," Leia declares, pushing back in her chair. "That's how we always do it."
"They'll see us coming from a parsec away," Ben argues.
"That hasn't stopped any of us before," Poe points out.
Ben grips his side. "We've got to make sure Rey's off the ship first."
"We will," Poe promises. Finn claps Ben on the shoulder.
"My guess is that Snoke will want to visit the temple himself," Luke says, looking to Ben for a nod of confirmation. "When he does, we should send a team to rescue Rey and a team in to plant explosives."
"You're going to tell us where they're most vulnerable," Leia informs Ben, who nods.
"We wait until Snoke is back on the ship, and then detonate the devices," Luke finishes.
"When do we leave?" Ben asks.
"They leave," corrects Admiral Ackbar. "You're not going."
"I love her. That's my child," Ben pleads to his mother.
"I think it makes sense for you to be there as well," she agrees. "But the others won't hear of it. They think you can advise them just as well here in D'Qar via transmissions."
"I'll go crazy if I stay here."
Come back for me.
I'm trying, Rey.
Though inside he knows that if he helps the others, Rey will respect that. And he can't think of more capable people to rescue Rey than his mother, Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron, Finn, Chewie, and Lando Calrissian. Plus three droids that, despite the fact that they're droids, seem emotionally invested.
Mother shrugs.
Heaving a sigh, Ben sits on the cot in his cell. When Rey's back, will he be allowed to go free? If not, will she stay with him? He could never ask that of her.
And she'll have their child, and he'll be a father. Ben shudders. He wonders that Han would think. At least you know he liked Rey.
Mother takes a seat next to him, slipping her arm around his shoulder like she always did when he was young and disappointed.
Is it just that everyone you're close with will be gone, except Maz? Are you scared? he taunts himself.
Not for myself, he responds, shutting his dark side up.
Ben leans his head against her. "Make sure she's okay. No matter what else happens."
"I promise," she says.
"I love her."
"I know."
And he's afraid. When they get her back—because they have to—what does he know about being a father? He's still not sure he even knows how to be a son.
"Why didn't you tell us, Ben?" Mother asks, peering at him. "Why keep it in?"
"I was afraid of exactly what you're saying," Ben says. "That the child is important. Powerful. And I'm afraid for Rey. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's like… speaking it makes it more real, and…"
"You're still nervous," Mother states.
"Just about… the baby. I want the child, I'm so excited—and yet I'm so afraid."
She grasps his chin, turning his face to hers. "Oh yes," she says. "You're feeling just like your father felt, before we had you. You'll figure it out. Han wasn't perfect—but he tried, he did his best—"
"I know he did," Ben admits, pressing his forehead into her neck. They stay wrapped in each other's embrace, mother and son, for minutes.
"He'd be proud of you, you know," Mother whispers.
Ben doesn't know that. But he hopes so. Oh, how he hopes so.
Mother leaves and the door closes. The light never changes, but it still feels like shadows creep in. "Grandfather?"
He doesn't appear. Ben scowls.
The door slides back open, and his uncle strides in.
"This is unsanctioned," Luke warns him.
"What is?"
"R2 may have temporarily disabled the monitors via a distraction in the form of BB-8 playing with the cords," Poe chimes in, poking his head through the cell door.
"If you still want to come, move," Luke orders, grabbing his nephew by the shoulder.
"You're helping me?"
"We're helping you help Rey." Poe marches along the corridor.
"Coast is clear," Finn's voice travels through a radio in Luke's hand.
"Good." Luke slips a lightsaber into Ben's belt. "You can have this back now."
They slink up the stairway. Worry pounds at Ben. "Won't this undermine Mother's authority?"
"Nope. They'll all know it was my idea," Poe says with a grin. "Trust me."
And then they're outside, and Poe and Luke hurry him over to the Millennium Falcon.
"In here, kid." Lando shoves him down into a small compartment that presumably Lando, and then his father, once used for smuggling. "We'll let you out when we're in the air."
Ben's frame barely fits, and the metal door scrapes his back as Lando pulls the cover over it. It's okay, he tells himself, trying to find the best place to position his nose when his knees are shoved up against his face. You're doing this for Rey.
You'll see her soon.
A Wookiee moans, droids bleep, his mother barks out orders and shouts at C-3PO for calling her princess. Ben smiles to himself as he remembers his father, when Ben was about five years old, ordering the droid to always call her princess, despite what his mother said.
A clang echoes. The ramp's closed. And within moments, Ben hears the shudder of engines starting, and they're airborne.
It won't be long now.
"What are you talking about, Ackbar?" Mother's voice rings out. "He's gone?"
"Er, about that," Poe cuts in. "Give me the radio, General. Lando, do you mind?"
Lando pries open the compartment and helps Ben out. Mother's mouth drops as she struggles to decide whether to slap him, or Poe, or her brother.
"Sorry, Leia. I just didn't think it'd be right to leave him behind," Luke says.
"Good for you, Ben Solo!" cheers Maz from the radio.
Giving up is not in Rey's nature.
But, apparently Snoke believes it might be.
She wonders if this is how Ben felt, when he told his father he was being torn apart. She has no intention of actually going to the Dark Side, and yet a part of her thinks that if she does, she might be able to manipulate her way to freedom.
They're never coming back.
Maybe it's time she swallow that fact. Ben might be trying, but if it took the Resistance fifteen years to find Luke, I wouldn't hold out much hope.
He still might, Rey answers herself. And she would help him out. Now that she'd agreed—in theory—Hux has been acting differently, softer, more nervous. His mind wouldn't be easy for her to trick, but she might be able to do it, now that his nervous side is starting to crack through the shell.
Snoke will land on Ahch-To, she knows. If he takes her with him, she doesn't know what she'll do. But if he doesn't…
"You will hand me your blaster," she says to herself. "You will hand me your blaster."
The baby rolls around, and Rey places her hand over him or her. "I'm going to get us out of here," she promises. "For real this time."
Or else, she'll have no choice but to turn to the Dark Side.
"So who's rescuing Rey?" Finn asks. "And who's bombing things?"
"Chewie and I are staying on the Falcon," Lando says. "In case of the absolute certainty that we're going to need a quick getaway."
Chewie growls as if to say he'd rather be blowing things up.
"I'm bombing things," Poe says cheerfully. He grins at Finn, and Finn feels Ben staring pointedly at him.
"Luke, you should go with Ben to find the girl," Leia says. "She's your apprentice, after all."
"So you want to blow the Star Destroyer up?" Luke asks.
"Of course I do." She looks to Finn.
"You'll need a third person to help plant the explosives," Finn says grudgingly.
Luke digs into his belt. "Take this with you." In his palm lays Rey's lightsaber.
"No. That's Rey's. It called to her."
"Then you'll have to make sure you make it," Luke tells him. "So you can give it back to her."
"Right," Leia says. "Now that that's cleared up, here's where Ben says we need to plant the bombs…"
When the plans that include all of them splitting up are finalized, the group disperses, each to a different pocket of the Millennium Falcon. Finn watches as Ben catches Luke's arm and tenses, wondering if Ben's objecting to Finn borrowing Rey's lightsaber.
"Is she still your apprentice?" Ben asks softly. "Because of me?"
"So long as she wants to be," Luke confirms.
Ben throws his arms around his uncle. He pulls away looking flustered and embarrassed, but Luke just smiles.
Smiling to himself, Finn walks away, past a pacing Leia and towards Poe, who leans against his arm, which is braced against the wall.
"Nervous?" Finn asks.
Poe turns around, forcing a smile. "Nah. I've been on far more dangerous, deadly missions."
Finn snorts. "I, uh, thought you might want your jacket back. For luck, you know. Since you don't have the Force."
Poe casts him a withering look. "Mention that again and I'll deck you."
BB-8 whirs around them.
Finn fiddles the radio clipped to his jacket. If Poe dies, he'll hear it. He'll hear it if any of them die. He won't see it, though.
Finn wonders what kind of mark that will leave on him, if he hears his friends dying. It'll be far worse than a single bloody handprint, he knows. Because even though that stormtrooper was his friend, he knows these people so much more.
What if it drives him to the Dark Side?
Is the Dark Side something to be afraid of? he'd asked Luke weeks ago.
It's not to be underestimated, Luke answered. But afraid of it? Not once you acknowledge it inside of you, because it's inside everyone.
Is being willing to kill all his fellow stormtroopers the Dark Side? Finn suspects it is. It's there.
"Hey," Poe says softly, putting his hand on Finn's shoulder. "We'll be all right."
BB-8 purrs.
"What are you looking at, droid?" Finn demands. He glances back to Poe, to the way his eyes sparkle and the way he's biting his lip, and he realizes that the thought of Poe dying—if Poe were to die, Finn doesn't know if he could get through that and come out stronger. Poe's death would cripple him.
"Don't you worry," Poe says to him. "I'll be all right."
And all of Ben's insinuations suddenly make sense. Finn presses his lips against Poe's. He pulls back.
Poe's jaw hangs open, and his nostrils flare. "What'd you do that for?"
Finn shrugs. "Because I don't know whether we'll get another chance?" He meant it to come out sounding comical. Instead, his tone wavers.
"Okay," Poe breathes. "Okay." And he leans in, kissing Finn again, more deeply this time.
"We're going to make it," Finn says when they pull apart again. "We have to."
BB-8 chirps and rolls off.
"Hey!" Poe calls after the droid. "Hey, you can't—BB-8, really, don't tell 3PO—BB-8!"
"You will hand me your blaster, and return to your work and forget you gave it to me."
Her voice worms its way into Hux's brain, tying his own thoughts and echoing now, in his own voice. "I will hand you my blaster, and I will return to my work and forget I gave it to you," he repeats.
As his fingers close around the weapon, Hux's mind shakes free, and he realizes what he's about to do as his elbow unfurls. He should yank it back, shoot her, keep fighting—
What for?
What's left?
Hux hands over the blaster of his own volition. He'll get another, and he does, on his way to meet with Snoke.
For a moment, he wonders if Snoke will notice, sense somehow, what Hux has done, but the Supreme Leader—Hux scoffs internally at the title—simply tells him to get ready.
"What for?"
"We're going down to Ahch-To."
"Me?" For all of his talk, Hux has never been on a field mission before. It's a deserted planet. Surely it can't be very dangerous.
Coward, sneers his father's voice.
And, maybe this is a sign of Snoke's trust in him. Hux opens his mouth.
You will… forget I gave it to you.
"General?"
"I'll get a ship ready," Hux says.
"You need to revise your plans."
Finn screams. Poe leaps up on top of the seat, and even Luke gasps.
Anakin Skywalker stands in their midst.
"Father," Luke chokes out.
Mother stares at the translucent young man standing in front of the hologram table.
"Grandfather," Ben says. "What—"
"You need to—one of you—" He motions to Luke, to Ben, to Finn. "You need to trap him there. You cannot destroy him by exploding his ship. He'll be protected there. He draws his energy from his own temple, on board."
"There's a what?" Poe asks.
"I never heard of that," Finn says.
"He trained me there," Ben admits, his mind focused on that black, black room.
"So… we can bomb the temple," Poe suggests.
Anakin silences Poe with a glare.
"What are you suggesting?" Luke questions.
"Killing Snoke on Ahch-To."
"I'll do it," Luke volunteers. "Ben, you need to find Rey. She'll want to see you, and Finn—"
"Luke, you can't hold him off on your own," interrupts Mother. Ben watches his grandfather face his daughter, and a soft look comes into Anakin's eyes.
"He won't be alone, Leia. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and I will help him."
"Ghosts can't fight," Leia retorts.
"There are other ways to help," Anakin answers, fingers twitching towards his daughter, but he can't quite lift his hand.
"Are you telling me we're going to have to move faster than we even thought?" Finn demands.
"Yes, that's precisely what I am telling you," Anakin informs him.
"After we get Rey," Ben says, his mind galloping ahead. "And you plant the explosives, Finn, you and I have to head back down to Ahch-To. You know where the TIE-fighters are. We'll meet there. Poe, Mother, you'll have to get Rey aboard the Falcon."
A beat. "Sure thing," Poe says as he and Mother exchange a look Ben doesn't like very much.
"Good," says Anakin.
"Well, I think listening to a phantom is a terrible idea," declares C-3PO.
"Hey!" Lando shouts from the cockpit. "If all this craziness is really what I'm hearing, then we better get moving! Like now!"
Anakin reaches out to his daughter, his hand coming so close to her cheek but not quite touching. He runs it down the outline of her face.
Just like Father, Ben realizes.
"I'm sorry," Anakin says. "For all of it."
"Well," Mother says, lifting her shoulders and with the barest of trembles in her lips. "That's all I ever wanted."
As of now, there are three chapters remaining after this one. Thanks to everyone for reading!