The Millennium Falcon's return to Ajan Kloss was a silent one. So much had happened that it was difficult for anyone to process everything. It was mid afternoon by the time the Falcon pulled into the floating harbor and precious few hours remained before the fleet's launch.

Commander D'Acy ran up to Poe as he and his fellow Rebels descended the gangplank. "Poe. Something's happened."

"This can't wait," Poe said, pushing past her. "I need to speak with the General."

"Poe... She's gone."

Everyone froze at her words. Poe's hard expression turned to one of shock. Finn's shoulders fell, his suspicions confirmed. Chewbacca quietly sobbed then began to wail after falling to his knees. Rose wrapped her arms around him and they wept into one another's shoulders.

Kylo stared out at the stormy sea beyond the broken window of the Emperor's tower. For so long, he had tried to be something he was not, all for the sake of those he hated. All it had done was leave him alone. That had all changed with Rey.

It was she who had interrupted the cycle of hate just enough to start its decay. It had taken her and his mother to nearly destroy it. They had believed in him despite everything and it had taken them together for him to realize how much that meant. There was no doubt that he had his father's stubbornness.

An agonizing pang of guilt shot through Kylo. Han had believed in him too and he had died for it by Kylo's own hands. He may not have been a perfect man or a perfect father, but he hadn't deserved what Kylo had done. He wished he could talk to him just one more time...

"Hey, kid."

Slowly, Kylo turned to face the speaker, knowing full well whose voice it was.

Before him stood his father, clear as life. Whether he was there because of a hallucination or some other means, Kylo did not care.

Han smiled sadly. "I miss you, son."

Kylo trembled, hardly able to contain the flood of emotions. He shook his head. "Your son is dead," he said, voice cracking.

Han chuckled softly and stepped forward. "No. Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive."

Tears fell from Kylo's eyes and mixed with the rain and seawater soaking his armor. "You're just a memory."

Han shrugged. "Your memory."

Kylo took a stuttering breath and quietly started to sob.

"Come home."

Kylo shook his hanging head. "It's too late. She's gone."

"Your mother's gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for... that's not gone."

Kylo sobbed louder, all emotional restraint having shattered.

Han sighed. "Ben."

Kylo inhaled sharply. "I know what I need to do... but I don't know if I have the strength to do it."

Han reached his hand up and cupped his son's damp cheek. He smiled and nodded. "You do."

Kylo took his Lightblade hilt from his belt. He and Han both looked to it, then back to one another.

"...Dad..." Kylo quietly sobbed.

"I know."

Kylo suddenly spun around and threw his Lightblade hilt out of the window as hard as he could. He watched it vanish over the curve of the Death Star and into the sea below.

Ben Solo turned back to face his father only to find he wasn't there. More tears fell as a realization came to him. Though he may have been physically alone, he no longer felt alone.

"Thank you..."

Maz looked up to see the sheet on Leia's bed slowly settle as the body of the Princess vanished. A smile crossed the old woman's face.

General Pryde held his blued steel pocket font engraved with the Imperial cogwheel. Rising from the silver surface within was the hooded head of the Emperor with his thin lips pulled back from his decaying teeth in a snarl.

"The Princess of Alderaan has disrupted my plan, but her foolish act will be in vain. Come to me in Exegol, General Pryde. Your unwavering devotion shall soon be rewarded."

Pryde bowed his head. "As before, so too now."

"Indeed," Palpatine crooned. "I am sending out a ship to test our might. I have a particular target in mind that is long overdue for retribution. She will come. Her friends will follow. The Final Order begins."

Zorii watched the First Order withdrawal from the roof of the Runners' Den. Something was terribly wrong. Protocol 13 could only mean one thing.

Less than half an hour after the last First Order ship left Kijimi, something else arrived. The citizens on the streets of Kijimi City marvelled at the enormous airship and wondered how something so large could stay in the air.

The Kyber cluster in the heart of the Xyston Star Destroyer Derriphan glowed brighter than bright as the built up magic within them prepared to discharge. A surge of energy erupted from the Star Destroyer's spinal cannon.

As with Alderaan, there was no great explosion when the beam of energy hit Kijimi. A blinding flash engulfed the island and a silent shockwave spread from the point of impact. When the shockwave finally dissipated, nothing remained but stone, glass, metal, and ash.

Inside the Derriphan, massive fans whirred to life, forcing cool air over the hot crystal cluster. The mission complete, it turned back north.

"Kijimi? How?" Poe collapsed into a chair. In all his years of serving under Leia he tried to understand the weight of losing one's homeland in an instant. It was not something he had ever expected to experience firsthand.

"A shot from some kind of airship," replied Commander D'Acy. "The description strongly resembles the Siegebreaker and matches what the Sith fleet is reported to be compromised of."

"This was their warning shot," Finn said bitterly. "Their message to the world."

Rose's dour look became even moreso.. "Does this mean that every ship in the fleet..."

"Has that kind of weapon?" Poe finished. "Yes. Of course they do. Every gods-damned one of them. This is how he finishes it."

Suddenly, as had happened nearly a year before, every single comm crystal, broadcast crystal, and communication font across the world simultaneously delivered the same message.

"The Resistance is dead," spoke the voice of the Emperor. "The Sith flame will burn. All nations of this world, submit or perish. The Final Order begins."

A long silence followed the broadcast, only broken by Commander D'Acy. "General Dameron?"

Poe stood up and walked away.

Rose gasped and moved to stop him, but Finn put his hand out. "Don't worry. He'll be back."

Finn thought for several minutes before taking a deep breath. "Rose, there's something I need your help with." Finn withdrew the scavenged Lightblade hilt from his belt pouch and pulled his pendant from around his neck.

Poe sat on a chair next to Leia's bed, hunched over with his elbows on his knees. He sighed deeply. "I gotta tell you, I don't really know how to do this... What you did... I'm not ready."

"Neither were we," someone said from behind him.

Poe whipped around with a gasp to see General Calrissian entering the grotto. "Luke, Han, Leia, me... Who's ever ready?"

Poe shook his head. "How'd you do it? Defeat an Empire with almost nothing?"

"We had each other. That's how we won."

Rose and Finn sat next to the former's tinker table, with Rose focused on Finn's Lightblade. His having one had been a surprise, but having a project to work on helped take her mind off of everything else. Dioh meanwhile rolled about, investigating Rose's other projects sitting nearby.

Finn idly glanced over to the little automaton and saw him taking a keen interest in the hinge that Rose had made for Rey. "Hey, don't touch that. It's my friend's."

Dioh rolled back. "Sorry-sorry. She is gone?"

Rose flinched.

"...Yeah," Finn answered. "She's gone. I don't know where."

"I-I miss her."

"We miss her, too." Finn sighed. "So, what's your story?"

Finn and Poe almost collided as each excitedly sought the other. "I've got to talk to you about something," they said in unison.

"I can't do this alone," Poe said. "I need you in command with me."

"This automaton has... Oh, thank you. I appreciate that."

Poe did a little salute. "General."

"General." Finn shook his head to refocus. "This automaton has an entire library's worth of information on Exegol."

Poe looked down and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what, Cone-face?"

"I-I am Dioh."

"Sorry. Dioh."

"He made a lot of trips to Exegol with Ochi," Finn explained.

"Why was Ochi going there?"

"He was part of the Sith cult there, but that's not the important part. Lando mentioned overhearing him talk about kidnapping a young girl, right? Turns out that the Emperor tasked Ochi with bringing him a little girl from Jakku. He wanted her alive."

Poe's eyebrows shot up.

The Whisper lay burning on the rocky shore of Ahch-To with a column of thick smoke pouring off of it. Rey stood nearby, watching the flames consume the wood and fabric from deep beneath her hood. There was no emotion written on her face, nor was there any particular one within her either. Complete numbness was preferable to anything else.

More chambers on the Moze gun's belt fired off, with one of the bullets impacting the stones close to Rey's feet. She didn't so much as flinch. If the powers that be wanted her dead at this point, who was she to stop them?

After some time, Rey pulled her Lightblade from her belt and looked at it. Such a hateful thing. She wound her arm back and threw it at the burning flying machine. The hilt tumbled end over end in a perfect arc, heading directly for the hottest part of the fire.

The Lightblade stopped in midair, much to Rey's surprise. A disembodied hand shrouded in an otherworldly blue glow materialized around the hilt, soon followed by the rest of the man to which the hand belonged. The spirit of Luke Skywalker strode forward out of the flames.

Rey stared on in shock. She knew that it was possible to hear the voices of lost Jedi, but to not only see one but have them interact with the world around them was awe inspiring.

"A Jedi's weapon deserves more respect," Luke said with a smile.

"M... Master Skywalker."

Luke rolled his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I-"

Luke handed Rey's Lightblade back to her. "Come on." He beckoned her to follow.

Rey followed Luke along the twisting trails of Ahch-To, explaining everything that had happened over the previous few days. Luke listened carefully to everything.

Rey sighed. "One of Leia's first lessons was that those who use the Dark Side fight because they hate what stands in front of them. A Jedi fights because they love what stands behind them. I failed. I refuse to end up on the Throne of the Sith. I'm never leaving Ahch-To. I'm doing what you did."

"And I was wrong to do it. It was fear that kept me here." Luke looked at her over his shoulder. "What are you most afraid of?"

"...Myself."

"Because you're a Palpatine?"

Rey's silence was enough of an answer.

"It never bothered Leia."

Rey stopped to stare at Luke in astonishment. "She knew? She never told me." Her jaw slowly dropped. "She knew and she still trained me."

Luke faced her with a smile. "Because she sensed your spirit. Your heart... Rey, who you come from has no bearing on who you can be. You alone shape that. Leia and I would know."

Rey slowly nodded.

"Rey, confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. Your destiny. If you don't face Palpatine, it will mean an end to the Jedi. And the war will be lost."

Luke let his words sink in for a moment before starting off again. "There's something Leia would want you to have."

Rey pried up the specified flagstone of the floor to Luke's hut. Amid the copious dust that had accumulated in the hole beneath lay something neatly wrapped in grey suede. She carefully lifted the bundle and untied the cord. What greeted Rey's eyes was a beautiful Lightblade hilt made from rose gold and silver.

"Leia's blade," Rey whispered.

Luke nodded wistfully. "The crystal inside once belonged to Obi-Wan, just as the crystal I used to forge my Lightblade once belonged to his master."

"Why did she give it up?"

Luke sighed. "It was the last night of training before we left Ajan Kloss. I had just returned to the ruined temple when she ran up and told me of a vision that had come to her during her meditation. If she continued down the path of the Jedi, a darkness would fall upon the world that we would be powerless to stop. She surrendered her sword to me and said one day it would be picked up again by the one that would finish her journey."

Rey ran her fingers over the polished metal.

"A thousand generations of Jedi have all led to you. This is your fight. Take both blades to Exegol."

Rey stood up. "I can't get there. I don't have the wayfinder. I destroyed the flying machine."

Luke chuckled. "You have everything you need."

Rey sifted through the smoking ash pile that was the Whisper until she found the still warm wayfinder. She brushed away the soot with her sleeve and let out an amused huff. "Two were made."

At the sound of footsteps behind her, Rey turned around and was surprised to see Luke, the Caretaker matron, and a second Lanai with a large saddle in a wheelbarrow. The matron held up a small red suede pouch for Rey and bowed her head.

"The Caretakers are sworn to care for any Jedi relics on the island," Luke said. "Including mine."

Rey opened the drawstring and pulled put a tarnished silver whistle resembling a bo'sun's pipe. "What's this?"

"Blow it and find out." Luke smiled and whistled a six note tune.

It took Rey a few tries to match the holes to the tones, but once she had it, she blew it as loudly as she could.

Something large flew over the island from the direction of the cliff where Rey had first met Luke. Rey gasped as the four winged dragon landed on the shoreline before her. She looked at Luke who smiled proudly at the old white, orange, and red arcwing.

Red Five walked over to Rey and tilted his head. Rey reached out and stroked his smooth scaled muzzle. The dragon flared his nostrils and licked her.

Luke laughed. "He likes you."

Artu chirped with excitement upon finally finding Threepio. He had thought it strange that the gold automaton hadn't immediately sought him out after his return but at least he was home.

"Oh, hello. I am See Threepio. Who might you be?"

Artu recoiled, completely taken aback. He beeped sadly.

"Well, I am quite certain I would remember having a best friend."

Artu moaned. Fifty years had passed since Threepio's memory had been wiped and they had been through so much. All that was gone now.

An idea came to Artu. He couldn't restore Threepio's memory, but he could tell him his own memory of their adventures. The nautomaton proposed his idea.

"If you insist, then I won't stop you, but I doubt your stories will have the effect you want."

Artu started at the very beginning, in a young slave boy's room in a far off desert land.

Artu had just finished telling of the secret wedding between a senator and a Jedi when he paused. He was receiving a one-way ping that he hadn't received for a very long time.

"I dare say, Master Anakin and Miss Padmé seem to be perfect together. What happened next? ...Artu?"

Artu beeped and chirped.

"From whom?"

Poe walked over to Finn and Dioh with a nervous look on his face. "How's it coming along?"

Finn tapped the bottom edges of his notes on the table to align them. "I think we've got everything we need to form our attack strategy." He passed the pages to Poe.

Poe flipped through them, brow furrowed with concentration. He shook his head. "Nothing on how to get there?"

Finn sighed. "Dioh wasn't designed for navigation."

Poe swore. His irritation was deepened by Threepio approaching calling out his name. "What, Threepio?"

"Forgive my interruption, but Artu says he is receiving a one-way navigational ping from a 'Master Luke.'"

Poe's eyes widened.

Seconds after Artu connected with one of the command center's interface sockets, the large main looking glass lit up with a map of the far north.

Rose carefully read the source serial. "That's an old Rebellion locational distress beacon."

"How old are we talking?" Poe asked.

"Pre Yavin. Easily."

"It's Rey," Finn said with excitement, sensing the rekindled Light within her. "She's going to Exegol! She's showing us the way!"

Poe chuckled with awe. "Then we'll all go together."

Chewbacca sat on the floating docks by himself, staring at the twilight sky outside. In less than a year, he had lost nearly every one of his oldest and closest friends. It seemed unfair to him that humans were so fragile and their lives so short, but it made the time shared with them so much more valuable.

The Wookiee's attentions drifted back to the moment and he immediately noticed that the harbor was suddenly quite active. He stood and saw Lando coming towards him.

"Chewie, old buddy, we're gonna need you on this one. You up for helping us stick it to the Emperor one more time?"

Chewbacca growled and nodded.

Finn waited until the last few stragglers had joined the crowd to begin explaining the strategy. "As long as those Star Destroyers are in Exegol, we can hit them."

"Hit them how?" One soldier asked.

Rose stepped forward. "Exegol can best be described as a pocket on the other side of the Edge. That means that with a fleet as big as the one they've built, they can't use shield wards without them interfering with one another."

"The lack of room also means that to be able to deploy that many ships, they need to use a navigational tower." Poe brought up an example of one on the main looking glass.

"Except they won't have one," Finn said. "Air team's gonna find the tower and ground team's gonna blast it."

"Ground team?" Another soldier asked.

"I've got an idea for that."

"Once that tower is down, they'll be stuck and need to manually coordinate deployment," Rose explained. "That gives us a lot more time to work with."

"These things are filled with tibanna gas," Poe said. "We hit them enough, they'll light right up. If we're lucky, they'll chain react."

Lando smiled. "I always love some fireworks."

"We may need to pull some Holdo maneuvers," a third soldier offered. "Do some real damage."

"No," Rose said immediately. "Hyperion crystals don't work beyond the Edge."

"Fighters and ships with high angle guns can take out their cannons if there are enough of us," Poe explained.

Nien Nunb shook his head skeptically. "We'd just be bugs to them."

Lieutenant Connix's shoulders fell. "He's right..."

"That's where Lando and Chewie come in," Finn said, pointing to the pair. "They'll take the Falcon to the Core Nations and send out a call for help to anyone listening."

Poe nodded. "We've got friends out there. They'll come if they know there's hope."

The Rebels started murmuring, remembering what had happened in Crait.

"They will," Poe insisted. "The First Order wins by making us think we're powerless and alone. We are not alone. And the fact that we have come this far proves we are not powerless. Good people will fight if we lead them. They've suffered long enough under the heel of the First Order and all they need is our spark. Leia never gave up and neither will we. We're gonna show them we're not afraid. What our mothers and fathers fought for, we will not let die. Not today. Today, we make our greatest stand. For the world. For Leia. For everyone we've lost."

"They've taken enough of us," Finn said. "Now we take the war to them."

"Now let's get going, get to Exegol, and kick the Emperor's sorry ass once and for all!"

Less than ten minutes later, the first of many ships and squadrons were on their way to the rendezvous point at the Edge of the world. The die had been cast. Now it was up to fate to decide how it would land.