Threepio was aghast at the state of the Bestoon Legacy. Rust coated every bit of the hull and several generations of birds had built their nests in any available crevice. "We cannot possibly sail in this old wreck."

"Don't really have much other choice," Poe said with an undertone of bitterness. "We have to find someone that can translate that dagger." He put his foot on the metal gangplank and leaned in to see if it could still take his weight. "Y'know, a helpful automaton."

"I suggest we return to the Millennium Falcon at once," said Threepio.

Poe slowly ascended the gangplank. "They'll be waiting for us at the Falcon."

Finn nodded. "Yeah, they'll throw us in the Griq Maelstrom. If they're feeling merciful, they might even kill us first."

Poe looked back at Threepio over his shrugging shoulder. "They'll probably just use you for target practice."

Threepio balked. "You both make excellent points."

Rose suddenly noticed that Rey wasn't beside her anymore. She quickly found her some distance back staring in the direction from which they had come. "What is it?" Rose asked, jogging up to her friend.

Rey handed Rose her staff. "I'll be right behind you," she said without shifting her gaze.

Rose's brow furrowed and she struggled to think of something to say. "Okay," she said, finally settling on a response.

Finn shivered as he ascended the gangplank and looked back at Rey and Rose. Though the air was still, he could feel a bad wind blowing. The shriek of metal as Poe attempted to wrench the deck hatch open startled Finn, and he moved over to help.

It took Chewbacca's strength to finally get the hatch open. An overpowering musty smell washed over the three of them, making them cough. Poe ignited his mage lantern again and led the way down. "All right. Let's see what we've got."

Finn tapped a rune on the wall and two rows of dim putrescent yellow magelights on the ceiling sizzled to life. The hold was filled with a wide assortment of random junk, with some piles of it covered by rotting tarpaulins. Thick layers of dust covered everything and even the smallest movements stirred up clouds of it.

Poe coughed. "I'm going to check the engine. Here's hoping we get another miracle today. Hey, Bibi-Eit, come down here. I could use your help."

Bibi-Eit thudded down the steps with Threepio closely behind. The diplomatic automaton glanced around the hold. "Oh, what a filthy ship!"

Finn strolled through the haphazard aisles of junk. "You said it, Threepio." He was only half listening, most of his attention being focused on a feeling like the one from when he had found his crystal pendant. Threepio muttered something further about the bilge pumps that went completely unheard.

One of the covered piles stood out to Finn, but not for any reason he could put his finger on. He lifted the tarpaulin and hidden amongst the assortment of objects beneath sat an unassuming pine box. Finn pulled the box out and coughed as a cloud of dust came with it. The latch had no lock, allowing him to simply open the lid. Dozens of dismantled Lightblades filled the box, every single one of them missing the Kyber crystal, though this detail was lost on Finn.

"Jedi hunter," Finn mumbled, remembering General Calrissian's words.

Among the assorted pieces was an almost complete hilt that quickly drew Finn's attention. It was more ornate than Rey's and had a trio of High Aurebash letters engraved near the end.

"B-M-F," he read aloud, turning the hilt to read them. He wondered if they were perhaps the initials of the sword's creator.

Finn rummaged through the parts further, finding the rest of the hilt after a few seconds. He fitted the pieces together and looked the sword over, comparing it to Rey's. A frown crossed his face when he thumbed the ignition rune to no effect.

Rose popped her head over the edge of the hatch. "Anything I can do to help?"

Finn closed the box and pushed it back under the tarpaulin. As he stood, he tucked the hilt into a pouch on his belt. "Oh, uh, Chewie might need some help on the bridge."

"He's not on the bridge" Rose said, descending the steps. "I thought he was down here with you."

"What?" Finn's blood ran cold.

The ship shuddered as the steam engine started up. "Hey," Poe called out, voice slightly muffled. "Look at that! I'm starting to feel spoiled!"

Finn turned his head towards the aft of the hold. "Poe, is Chewie with you?"

"No, he's probably topside."

"He's not," Rose yelled.

Poe rushed into the hold. Without speaking a word, the three of them simultaneously rushed to the top deck.

Rey kept her eyes pinned to a single spot down the river. Her heart pounded. He was coming for her.

A black dot came around the bend, low and fast over the sand. The heat haze made it dance, but Rey knew it was flying true.

As soon as Finn was topside, his eyes were drawn to that same black dot, growing closer and closer by the second.

Poe squinted in the direction that Finn was looking. "What do you see? Is it Chewie?"

"It's Ren."

Rose gasped. "Oh, no!"

Poe and Finn looked where she was pointing and felt their stomachs drop. Six figures in black armor held a shackled Chewbacca at bladepoint, escorting him towards a pair of First Order transport airships.

The First Order officer removed the Wookiee's bandolier, to his vocal protest. One of the Knights of Ren hit Chewbacca in the back with the haft of his greataxe, knocking him to the ground. The officer rooted through the bandolier's satchel and examined the dagger before returning it. He gestured for Chewbacca to be loaded on board.

Rey took calming breaths as the details of the black dot started to form. By the time she could hear the Whisper's engine, the wings had already taken shape.

Kylo opened the throttle to full. His Knights had already taken the Wookiee captive. If everything went to plan, this would draw Rey out.

Rey shifted her feet apart, leaving furrows in the sand. The propeller drone grew louder and louder but Rey stood her ground. She would not run from him, not this time.

Kylo stared Rey down, watching her grow as he hurtled towards her until finally she vanished under his fuselage. The landing gear axle cleared the top of Rey's head with only a finger's width to spare, but she didn't so much as flinch. Sand and turbulent air whipped around her and tugged at her hair.

Rey turned and watched Kylo start to slow for landing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Finn running towards her and yelling something she couldn't quite hear at first.

"Rey! Rey, they got Chewie! They got him!" Finn pointed frantically towards something behind her.

Rey gasped and spun around. She immediately saw the two ascending transport airships and put out her hands. The tendons in Rey's arms, fingers, and neck pulled taut as harp strings. Gradually, the transports slowed to a stop then started moving back towards the ground.

Finn watched on, impressed but still feeling a sense of dread. Something wasn't quite right.

The transports suddenly lurched forward. Rey let out a cry of exertion and looked up the shoreline. There stood Kylo Ren, his arms held out in a mirror of Rey's.

Both airships jostled as though caught in a strong wind, but the two opposing wills kept them from gaining or losing altitude. The metal and wood frames groaned under the unnatural stresses they were subjected to.

Rose nervously chewed her lip, her eyes repeatedly darting between Rey, Kylo, and the airships. Finn meanwhile kept his eyes on Rey while holding his pendant.

The strain of trying to bring down both airships was becoming too much for Rey to keep up with. One of them had to be released otherwise she risked losing both. She couldn't tell which one carried Chewie but Kylo was focusing on the one to the right. That had to be it. Rey released the left one and poured her magics into stopping its twin.

Kylo's body shook as he redoubled his efforts. Rey had grown powerful indeed, but the Darkness inside him was stronger.

Rey turned her eyes toward Kylo and glared. Within herself, frustration simmered towards anger. Buried beyond the Darkness inside Kylo, Rey knew that every one of his choices ate at him. Despite that, he kept making them. She had given him every chance to turn to the Light and every time he had let her down. Kylo had already taken so much.

No more.

Rey would never allow him to win.

A single bolt of lightning arced from Rey's hand to the airship, existing only for a blink of an eye. It was enough though. The entire gas bladder erupted into a ball of fire that consumed the airship as it fell from the sky.

Rey blinked then screamed. She fell to her knees, unable to tear her eyes away from what she had done. Chewie was gone.

Kylo lowered his hands and watched as the burning wreck exploded against the ground. He tapped the comm crystal on his wrist.

Finn yelled Rey's name until she finally, shakily, looked back at him.

"Rey, we gotta go! Come on!"

"Come on," Poe yelled, pointing at the Knights of Ren now heading their way. "They're coming! Let's go!"

Rey turned back to the inferno of her own making. "Chewie..." She looked at her trembling hand then to Kylo. This hadn't surprised him at all, she could feel it. He knew something like this would happen.

Finn ran up to her and grabbed her arm. "Rey! We need to go!"

Rey gasped and nodded before rising to her feet. As she ran towards the ship with Finn, she stole one last look back at the burning wreckage.

Lando stood in the hatch of his treadable and watched helplessly while boarding chains dragged the Millennium Falcon into the Steadfast's starboard drydock. To see that storied ship in the hands of the First Order rekindled a flame inside him he thought had long burned out. More than just belonging to Han, it was a symbol of the Rebellion, of hope, and of defying impossible odds.

Lando took a deep breath. Just before he turned to head back inside, he noticed another ship beyond the Steadfast heading for the Great River. He couldn't help but let out an amused huff and wonder how those kids had gotten Ochi's ship sailing again.

Rey sat cross-legged on the ship's bow, staring out at the sunset over the ocean. Guilt lay heavy on her shoulders like a mantle of lead. Her hand still tingled though whether it was leftover from the healing or the lightning, she didn't know. She heard footsteps approaching and wiped her eyes.

"Rey," said Finn. There was concern in his voice.

"I lost control," Rey said, not making eye contact.

"It wasn't your fault."

"It was."

"No. It was Ren. He made you do this."

Rey snap turned around, rising to her feet. "Chewie's gone! He's dead! That power came from me! Finn, there are things you don't know."

"Then tell me," Finn said gently.

Rey was quiet for several seconds as she gathered her thoughts. "I... had a vision... of the Throne of the Sith... and who was on it."

"Ren?"

Fresh tears cut the accumulated sand dust on Rey's face. "And me."

General Hux marched his way onto the Steadfast's bridge and made a beeline for General Pryde. "We've captured the scavenger's ship, but she got away. Under the command of the Knights of Ren, we suffered losses. A transport airship with-"

"I've read the report," Pryde interrupted. "Is that all?"

"No, Allegiant General." Hux gave a smug smile. "The other transport on that mission returned with a valuable prisoner."

Pryde raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Prisoner?"

Hux led Pryde into the brig and up to one of the holding cells. Inside, held by the strongest chains and shackles sat a familiar Wookiee.

"The beast used to sail with Han Solo," Hux explained pridefully.

Inside the cell, Chewbacca roared and strained against his chains.

"Hm," Pryde said, almost impressed by his subordinate. "Have him taken to Interrogation Six. I'm sure the Supreme Leader will want to deal with this personally."

--

Poe pushed himself away from the helm and stood from the chair, brushing his backside to remove any disintegrated upholstery left behind. It might have been his imagination or the fact they had just left a desert, but the ocean breeze coming through the shattered windows of the covered bridge felt cooler than he expected. He walked towards the open deck hatch and descended the stairs.

Poe looked at his friends sitting on various crates. He took a seat on one next to Finn and Rey.

Poe nodded towards Rose a short distance away, sitting with her knees tucked under her chin. "How's she doing?"

Finn sighed. "Not... Not great."

Poe rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "We have just over twenty-four hours left. What's our next move?"

Finn frowned at him. "What can we do? We've gotta head back to base."

"No. We are not giving up. If we do that, Chewie died for nothing."

"Poe, Chewie had the dagger!"

"Well... Then we gotta find another way."

"There isn't one! That dagger was the only clue to the wayfinder thing, and it's gone!"

"So true," Threepio said mournfully. "The inscription lives only in my memory now."

Finn and Poe both looked to the automaton.

"Hold on," said Poe standing up. "The inscription on that dagger is in your memory?"

"Yes, Master Poe. But the translation from a forbidden language cannot be retrieved. That is short of a complete redacted memory bypass."

Finn frowned again. "A what?"

"It's a terribly dangerous and loathsome act performed on innocent automata by dregs and criminals."

"Let's do that!" Finn exclaimed.

Threepio balked.

Poe groaned. "I know a black market Animus smith..."

Threepio was aghast. "A black market Animus smith?!"

"...but he's in Kijimi."

"What's wrong with Kijimi?" Finn asked.

"I, uh... had a bit of bad luck in Kijimi."

Finn narrowed his eyes. "Shifty stuff?"

Poe ignored the question. "If this mission fails, it'll all have been for nothing. All we've done, all this time."

Finn stood. "We're all in this. Until the end."

Rey, content to merely listen until now stood, nodding. "For Chewie."

"For Chewie," Rose said hoarsely.

"For Chewie," Threepio added.

Finn held out his hands and prompted his friends to join theirs with his and form a circle. "To Kijimi."

Poe returned to the bridge and input the destination into the navigation box, unaware of the Night Buzzard lurking in the twilight behind them.

Rey sat down on the floor next to Rose and tentatively placed her hand on Rose's own. "I'm so sorry," Rey said. "I know how much he meant to you."

Rose sniffled. "He always looked out for me. I just... I can't believe he's gone... What the Hell happened?"

"I- I lost control, but... I don't know how I was able to do what I did. Nothing like that has ever happened before. I'm scared."

Rose shrunk a little. "I am too. That could have been any one of us."

"I know." Rey hung her head. "I thought I was doing everything right with my training. Now I see that I was just focusing on becoming stronger. I didn't learn the control I needed."

Rose put her hand on Rey's. "I don't hate you. I want you to know that."

"Thank you." There was a long pause before Rey spoke again. "Kylo Ren knows something about what happened, I could sense that. I think he might have set everything up to try and make it happen."

"But why? Just to kill one of us? To make you doubt yourself?"

"I don't know."

"All the more reason to stop him, I guess."

Bibi-Eit rolled through the hold examining the haphazard heaps of odds and ends. A few things had sparked a mild interest, but nothing had particularly grabbed his attention. At least not until he noticed a white and green truncated cone with a wheel lying in a forgotten corner. Immediately, he recognized it as an antiquated message courier automaton.

Bibi-Eit chirped and approached the diminutive automaton. He extended a probe and touched the activation rune on the base of the cone. A few seconds later, the courier automaton stirred back to life.

"Hello-hello," said the automaton after balancing himself on his squeaky wheel.

Bibi-Eit squealed happily and rolled away, leading his new friend. Rose and Rey watched the two small automata approaching with curiosity.

"Hello-hello."

"Hello," Rey said reaching over to touch the white and green courier automaton.

He backed away. "No-no thank you."

Rose pouted. "Looks like someone treated him badly."

"It's all right," Rey said gently. "You're with us now."

Bibi-Eit chirped more reassurances.

"Friends-friends. Dioh has... friends."

Rose smiled. "That's right."

Generals Hux and Pryde waited for Kylo's return to the Steadfast inside his personal hangar. The air between them was tense as ever, but Hux had a faint aura of smugness to him. The pair of them watched as the hangar's attraction field gently carried the Whisper in and set it down.

Kylo leapt from the cockpit. "What is so important that it has to be said in person?"

Hux straightened himself and grinned. "Supreme Leader, we have captured the beast Chewbacca."

Kylo was silent for several seconds, his black eye lenses fixed on Hux for just long enough to make the General uncomfortable. "General Hux. I am the one that ordered the Wookiee's capture. My Knights are the ones that apprehended him. What role do you believe you played in any of this?"

Pryde stifled a laugh as he watched Hux deflate. "Supreme Leader, I took the liberty of having the prisoner transferred to Interrogation Six. I assume you want to deal with him personally?"

"Indeed. Good work, Allegiant General."

Pryde side eyed the sulking Hux. "Thank you, Supreme Leader. And what of the freighter we captured?"

"...Scrap it," Kylo said, already heading for the door.

Kylo stormed into the detention block, heading directly for Interrogation Six. A pair of stormtroopers stood guard at the door and he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. After they were gone, he entered the cell and closed the door behind him.

Chewbacca stared at Kylo from the table to which he had been shackled but he didn't so much as growl at his captor despite his anger. Kylo raised a hand and Chewbacca felt his shackles unlock and fall away. Kylo then drew his Lightblade hilt from his belt and held it at arm's length. Suddenly, he dropped the sword and let it fall to the floor between them. Finally, Kylo removed his helmet and placed it on the interrogator's chair.

"Go on," Kylo said. "Kill me. I know you want to. I killed Han Solo."

Chewbacca merely glared at the sad scarred man in front of him.

"You can't do it, can you? In spite of everything, you still see me as Solo's son. That attachment to the past is why you're weak. That's why you can never win."

Chewbacca remained silent despite the anger simmering inside him.

"I haven't forgiven you for shooting me. If it wasn't for you, I would have won in Ilum. I could have killed Rey and control everything by now."

Kylo sensed a change in Chewbacca at the mention of Rey. It was an almost paternal love he felt for her.

"My parents never showed me that love. Only Snoke did. You don't know who she is, what she's capable of. I do. She will follow the same path I have."

Again, Chewbacca stayed silent. He knew Kylo was trying to manipulate him and he refused to let him win.

"Nobody's coming for you. They all think you're dead. The only reason you aren't is because you're going to tell me what I want to know, whether you want to or not." Kylo paused. "How does Rey plan on trying to stop me?"

No answer.

"Where is the Resistance base?"

Still no answer.

"If you insist on doing this the hard way, then I won't deny you." Kylo held out his hand and reached into the Wookiee's mind with the Force.

Kylo had hoped it would come to this. He wanted payback for the pain and humiliation Chewbacca had inflicted. He would not be gentle.

Chewbacca winced as Kylo dug through his memories, but the fallen Jedi did not find the satisfaction he sought. Tearing through the two and a half centuries of the Wookiee's life was exhausting and it took even more willpower to press onwards.

Kylo saw a young man in an old Imperial Army uniform covered in mud. This only stuck out because he recognized that young man as being Han. A chill ran up his spine as he continued to dig, watching the years of friendship and shared experiences roll by.

Kylo saw his parents' wedding and how happy they seemed to be together. He saw his mother with a rounded belly and a proud Han next to her. He saw himself as a newborn baby held in the Wookiee's big hairy arms.

Tears rolled down Kylo's face, but he had pushed too far and couldn't stop the flood of memories any more than he could stop a raging river. He saw his reintroduction to Chewbacca through the Wookiee's eyes and the promise to protect him. He saw himself playing on the Millennium Falcon and running to Chewbacca with a skinned knee.

Kylo tried to pull back, to escape, but he was in too deeply for his struggling to matter. He watched his parents drift apart and his father fall into a deep depression. He watched Han meeting Rey and saw the spark of happiness return. He saw himself and Han on that walkway in Ilum with his red blade piercing him.

Kylo managed to finally tear himself away. Sweat and tears soaked his face. Both he and Chewbacca were shaking and panting. Without saying anything, Kylo retrieved his helmet and Lightblade and ran out of the cell.