Chapter 4

The Millennium Falcon had made a hard entrance onto Starkiller Base, using lightspeed to skip past the shield, and had quickly crashed after that. Much to the complaints of everyone on board. The small team had made their way into the base then, Han had decided to keep Chewbacca behind to watch the ship, as leaving it completely unguarded was unwise. They had snuck in, knocked out a few guards, and stole their armor. As was tradition. They had been listening to comm chatter all the while.

"So," Kyle said with a muffled voice. "I have a suggestion."

"What is it?" Finn asked.

"Well, you heard the order from General Hux, everyone's to report to the main assembly area to watch the superweapon, yeah? Let's sabotage it instead of the shields."

Han shrugged at the idea. "Doesn't matter to me, as long as we blow up one or the other, it won't matter."

Finn was concerned though. "Isn't it massive though? We have a decent amount of explosives, sure, but the gun is the size of a country!" He said, surprised.

Corran then cut in. "Sure, it's big. But we don't need to blow it up. We only need to mess with the controls to disable it. We'll take over for the firing team, and make it misfire."

"That sounds like it could very easily misfire on us, and implode the planet." Finn said warily.

"There's always that risk," Kyle stated, "But it's worth it. Don't worry, the force is with us." He said tapping the lightsaber hilt on his belt. Finn squinted as he looked at it. "Where'd you get that?"

"Built it myself, of course. When I trained with Luke for a while."

"You actually trained under him?" Finn asked excitedly.

Kyle opened his mouth to answer, but Han beat him to it. "Luke took all comers for a while. There's plenty of Jedi around the galaxy, but once Luke gave up, a lot of them lost direction and have been trying to do their best on their own. I've only been able to get in touch with Kyle and another by the name of Kyp so far. Luke had more family that were Jedi, the Solo twins, but I haven't heard much of them in years. "

Finn shook his head in wonder at that. It made sense, but they must really be undercover if he'd never heard of any of these Jedi. There were two more Solos? He wondered what happened to them. He gently padded his own lightsaber that he'd received from Maz, when they'd briefly stopped at her castle. He'd kept it secret, unsure about how to feel about it. Apparently it'd been Luke's and his father's before him. She'd said he'd be able to learn how to use it one day, but it held such a legacy. Would he be able to?

—-

Thea sat comfortably. Swirling a glass of Corellian brandy in a glass, as Gilad Pellaeon sat across from her, he was anything but at ease. She could feel the waves of his anxiety rolling off of him. It was only the two of them in his plush state room, the rest of the Imperial leadership couldn't be here on account of all being assassinated simultaneously. She had considered bringing Rey, but had decided to leave her to maintain the stand off between her forces and the Imperials. It wasn't terribly demanding, and she wanted her to get a feel for leadership. Just a week earlier HK-47 had finished his assignment, and Thea had made her way to Imperial space. Since his assignment, Thea had assigned HK to leading battle groups of droids to fight the First Order wherever he could find them on various worlds. They would be confused and surprised by legions of ancient droids (of which she had many still) come to do battle against them, and it'd buy her valuable time while eating away at her enemies forces in the meantime. She'd been in talks with Pelleaon over the past few days now after arriving in a display of force.

She would've killed Pelleaon too, but it'd be difficult to assume absolute control over the entire sector without his aid. That was fine, he was a competent and loyal man, and she could use that.

"You will maintain your role and responsibilities as Supreme Commander of Imperial forces, you're experienced, and I have no time for the minutiae of it. You'll simply take orders from me, and of course support me when you announce me as the new Empress. As a start." Thea said sweetly, lifting her glass with a toast to him.

Pellaeon only grimaced and sat silently for a moment. "What's your ultimate goal here? I don't have the strongest feelings towards force users after Palaptine, especially Sith, and his megamania. Are you of the same sort as he?"

Thea only grinned wider. "Darling, I'm anything but another Palpatine. He was content with utter rule and control, no matter who he stepped on. Yes, as a Sith I'm rather selfish and incredibly motivated in gaining power, but I don't see why I couldn't make the galaxy a tad better in the process." She took a sip of her drink and sat it on the fine table. "I lived during the days of the Sith Wars, when the galaxy was constantly being ruined by endless war. I can see the signs of something I simply want to stop before it begins. It will be a simple matter. Once we combine forces and retake Coruscant."

Pellaeon looked aghast at the thought. "Coruscant? No one bothers with that planet anymore, not even the Republic. It's overrun by crime cartels and gangs."

Thea waved her hand, unconcerned. "It's always been the center of the galaxy, and deserves to be restored to its former glory. It won't be difficult to grind these crime organizations under our heel and back below the surface where they belong. Then, we can branch out and reclaim the entire inner rim at our leisure. The New Republic and these First Order upstarts will be irrelevant in due course. The Empire will be the reigning power once more."

She felt a strong unease in Pellaeon. She understood, of course. She had read up on her history and how many issues they'd had since Palpatine's death. The Imperial Warlords, other Dark Jedi trying to rise to the top. It made sense why he'd be hesitant, but she had something no one else before her had. The Star Forge. Churning out an armada even now.

He was lucky she had decided to bring him in on this rather than steamrolling over him and the rest of the factions out there. But she didn't want to rule by brute force. Historically speaking, it never worked. She'd rather the multitudes of the universe actually liked her. It worked better for everyone that way, and since she'd be ruling for eternity, she didn't want to have to fight off rebellions forever.

Soon enough she'd be searching for worthy students to swell her ranks. Rey was only the first, and most important to her. The Rule of Two was an utter failure, she'd do things her way. In the meantime, she'd get Rey up to speed. "You're certainly ambitious, but do you really think it'll go as smoothly as you hope? Pellaeon asked.

"Of course. I'm not going to be waging war on everyone else, I'm hoping they'll see what good I've done, and can do. And we'll simply join us of their own free will."

"The Republic will never do that, even as weak and ineffectual as they are."

"They will when they see they have no choice. The First Order is going to be throwing everything it has at them. I'm surprised they haven't tried anything against you here yet, but it's no matter. Once they see only we have the power to stop them, they'll join."

"What power are you talking about? Have you some sort of ace up your sleeve?"

"Just so!" Thea said with an enthusiastic clap of her hands, and she let him in on the secret, but made no mention of its location.

"I sense something equally terrible brewing as the Sith Wars of old. Rogue factions, a weak and dithering Republic with problematic senators. A tale as old as time for our sad galaxy. I intend to cut the head off the snake before it grows worse." She came to her feet and leaned over the table towards him. Putting the weight of the force in her words. "I will make an end to war, a permanent one. Not through death and bloodshed, but unity."

Pellaeon sighed and nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing in uncertainty. "You have grand plans, that much is clear. And if you're correct about this Star Forge, we could easily supplement my forces with legions of droids, which would be very helpful. But, I'll aid you in your plans. Many of my Imperial Citizens would absolutely support you, anything that makes the Empire great again would go a long way towards public opinion turning in your favor. What will be your opening move? The Republic largely ignores us, and the First Order hasn't bothered us quite yet. The element of surprise is in our favor."

"Indeed it is. For now, let us build up our forces and consolidate our power."

Leia and Luke crossed blades, their lightsabers on their lowest settings. They twirled and whirled this way and that. To an outside viewer, of which there were many at the moment, it'd appear as if the two of them were encased in a bright sphere of blue and green. They had arrived back at the base on D'Qar to much applause and excitement a number of days prior. There wasn't much to do as they awaited the return of the strike team on Starkiller, but many of their members were growing concerned by how long it was taking. So Leia and Luke trained together.

A silent fear was eating away at Luke; however, it was one he had been avoiding since his exile. The matter of Exegol, and the dark power he sensed there. He hadn't a clue as to how to get there, but he knew it was important, and his traveling with Lando years before had nearly found its location, but alas, it wasn't to be. Now, it was paramount that he begin the search again. He had confided in Leia about it, and she had similar feelings about a growing darkness. It even felt like two different ones recently, great powers indeed, but they had no idea where it was emanating from, but they were sure it'd reveal itself in time.

As they dueled, they spoke. "There were many others I trained before I exiled myself, we need to locate them, and centralize the Jedi Order in the temple on Tython."

Leia nodded as she blocked a strike, and returned three quick slices in quick succession. "Won't it take years to train dozens of students from birth?"

"Normally, yes." Luke explained patiently, he realized he had never spoken to her much of his ideas for the Jedi and Leia had been busy back then. "But I've trained adults that seek me out as well. Taking children from their parents never sat right with me, so I stuck with older students at first. It was successful, for the most part. Many of them are fully trained, but they're all wandering separately, doing things on their own. There needs to be structure, if we're to be truly useful against the threats to come. The First Order is a grave threat."

Leia split away with him, and circled him, keeping her blade high. "Then, that's what we'll do. Of course, I don't have the funds to support your Order from the ground up, but perhaps the Republic might pitch in." Then she sighed, and her blade wavered. "Well, if they weren't too busy being useless. Too much arguing between the two parties, and no action."

—-

Thea returned to Rey on the bridge of the ancient battleship she had been aboard and waiting on. Rey was deep in study, as Thea had asked her to, going over all the information she could find on the Holonet. History, science, technology, most of all. Rey had absolutely no form of education growing up in Jakku, and she intended to fix that error. She was naturally intelligent, after all. She'd soak up all this information and use it for their betterment in short order.

"Rey," Thea called out softly, looking over her shoulder. "We have a few things to discuss."

Rey put down the datapad and stood up with a smile. "What is it?"

Thea pressed a lightsaber hilt into her hands and backed up a step. "What do you know about the force?" She asked.

"It's a power the Jedi use, isn't it? I remembered hearing all the crazy stuff Luke Skywalker could do growing up." Rey said, inspecting the hilt closely.

"It's an energy that holds the galaxy together, every living thing is a part of it, but only the special among us can bind it to their will, like myself. You can too." She said simply.

"Me?!" Rey exclaimed, "It's sweet of you to think so, but I'm just a scavenger. I'm no one." She shrugged sadly.

Thea stepped forward and pressed a finger into Rey's chest. "You're who you chose to be. So you had a humble start, that doesn't define you. You're bound for greatness, that's why I brought you along with me. All you must do is choose."

Rey smiled and looked down, her hands falling by her side as she seemed to struggle with her thoughts and feelings. "Choose, huh?" Rey nodded curtly, and met Thea's eyes. "Then I chose to be someone."

"That's more like it." Thea said with a smile as she saw the fire in the woman now. "Now, what I handed you is a spare lightsaber. In time, you'll craft your own, but it'll suit you for now. Fire it up."

Rey held it out awkwardly before her and pressed the activation button. A brilliant, but dimmed purple blade appeared in the air, and she gave it a few test swings, almost mesmerized by the sound of it.

Thea let her have the moment before continuing. "It's on a reduced power setting, better for training and lessens the chance of maiming yourself, it'll still hurt though." She took out one of her own lightsabers and turned it on, and lessened its power as well and held it in the opening stance of Soresu. "Now, come at me. Don't hold back."

Rey didn't, she was quick, and clearly had some practice with a melee weapon, but she was still clumsy and awkward without the guiding hand of the force to add grace to her movements. Thea was enjoying herself though, and stayed on the defense. "Let yourself feel, put your emotions behind your attacks. Remember what it felt like to be alone for so long." Thea urged her, once she properly felt the force, she'd be able to harness it fully in no time. Then she went on the attack in turn, pushing Rey backwards and into a corner easily.

Then something clicked, and Thea could feel Rey drawing on the force, and her own frustrations. She fought with pure instinct, and pushed back against Thea, controlling the flow of the duel. She used powerful hammer blows, but Thea dodged or redirected instead of meeting her strength to strength. Rey's frustration turned to anger, and without thinking, she thrust out a hand and a powerful wave of the force rocketed out from her and pushed Thea off her feet, but she flipped backwards and landed gently on her feet, impressed.

Thea threw out her own hand and froze Rey with the force, she chose this moment to make it clear who the master was here, she lifted her into the air, and three her back into thr bulkhead wall. Enough to rattle her, but leave no lasting damage. She'd considered a multiple of other abilities she could use in a helpless opponent, but she wanted Rey to like her and respect her power, not hate and fear her. Torturing her simply wouldn't do. That way lay only future betrayal.

Rey got back to her feet, shakily, and turned her lightsaber back on which she'd manage to keep hold off. Thea raised a hand to halt her. "Enough for now. You've done well, you took that first step far quicker and easier then I would've expected. Close your eyes, and feel it. Can you feel the force singing to you now?"

Rey did so, and a beautiful smile spread across her face. "Yes, I can feel it. It's like standing in a storm, even though I've never felt one in my life before."

Thea slowly stepped closer and took her free hand, "That's it, you're feeling it now," She spoke in a whisper. "That's your power, and with it, there's nothing you can't do. Let your emotions guide you deeper into that swirling storm."

Thea closed her own eyes and felt for Rey in the force, and was shocked at her strength in it. She'd only just touched it for the first time and yet she was so strong. She let herself join her mind with hers, and she felt the rushing wave of emotions. She'd never quite felt anything like it before. It was a different kind of intimacy. She'd be an excellent ally, and perhaps more, she hoped.

Thea opened her eyes and saw that Rey had opened hers as well and was staring into hers. Thea had never noticed how nice her eyes were from so close. The force quieted down inside them, and just left them in that quiet room, with the droids walking around them going about their tasks as neither of the two women moved, breathing heavily. Thea pulled her along out of the bridge. "I have more to show you," she said.

Just a short chapter I wrote awhile ago and forgot to post.