Screams and explosions filled the air as buildings crumbled and the ground cracked under everyone's feet. People ran for their lives in every direction. Leia came out of her house unprepared and still in pajamas. "Auntie Leia!" Ben shouted as he ran to her, "It's the First Order!"

"Get underground, Ben," she commanded, "take everyone you can with you!"

"Where's Grandpa?" he asked.

"I haven't seen him or your father this morning, but they'll be fine," she insisted, bracing as a ship flew over, "they can take care of themselves!" She braced herself as an explosion went off less than a hundred feet away.

Han grabbed his children Jaina, Jace, and Anakin and headed underground. Anakin asked, "Can we fight back this time?"

"Of course I am!" he replied, "I'm grabbing our blasters. Stay here."

"But Dad-"

"Stay here!" he shouted as he ran back up the steps. The walls shook from more explosions. When he looked up at the sky more dirt was getting kicked up and blocking out the sun as lasers shot out around him. He aimed at a few ships and attemped to shoot them down as they got close.

Outside, Leia used the force to lift debris away from people as they ran for cover. Then, she saw a blue lightsaber through the dust clouds deflecting shots back at the First Order ships.

"Luke!" she shouted for him.

"Leia, where's our father?"

"I haven't seen him," she said, "but the kids are all underground!" She reached for her own yellow lightsaber and cut through a blast about to strike her.

The attack may have only lasted less than an hour, but it was enough to cause devastation across the capital and surrounding cities on Naboo. Dams holding back lakes were broken. Streets were flooded. Buildings were destroyed. People were missing and the dead were strune across walkways. Airships and runways were in pieces. But the dust eventually settled and showcased the devastation.

Once all the blasting stopped, Rey eventually came out of the temple with the other teenagers who had made it there. The building stood, but was broken and half of the roof had caved in. She crawled over the rubble to find Ben, distraught.

"They finally did it," Ben exclaimed, "they've been swarming us and making fun of us for months and now they finally swooped down and killed a bunch of people! I bet the senate won't even care!" He kicked at debris and used the force to launch it several hundred feet and huffed angrily.

Then, Anakin appeared behind the debris, using the force to make sure it didn't hit him as it came down hard.

"Grandpa," Ben said anxiously, "that wasn't supposed to hit you." He paused. "Where were you when the fighting started?"

Before he could answer, Luke ran over to the temple from behind him, "Is everyone alright? Ben? Rey? Is Annika with you?"

"We're fine, Dad," Ben said.

"I'm here," Annika said, dusting herself off.

Anakin asked, looking around confused, "What happened here?"

Ben shouted, "The First Order finally attacked us, Grandpa! Where were you? Aren't you supposed to be the strongest jedi ever or whatever? Why didn't you even try stop them!" He screamed and ran off, frustrated.

"Ben, wait!" Luke shouted, but it was to no avail. He turned to his father. "You didn't notice we were under attack?" He stopped and saw his father's hearing aids were off. "Your hearing aids!" He gestered to his head.

Anakin turned his hearing aids back on. "No wonder everything was so quiet," he said, "what happened?"

"The First Order attacked and blew everything to pieces," Luke said, "where were you?"

"Your mother's grave," he answered sadly, "the First Order did this?" His son nodded. "We need a proper plan."

Rey walked up to them and asked in horror, "Do you think they did this to Jakku?"

"No," Luke answered, "this was a stragetic attack. They want war."

Rey insisted, "They want him." She gestured to Anakin. "Remember what that guy said on that desert planet when you smashed his ship? He wanted your father arrested and because he didn't go with them, they destroyed this planet! I wish I was still on Jakku and neither of you showed up!"

"Rey," Luke said gently, "we found you on Jakku because we've both had visions of you alongside my mother, the late Senator of Naboo, who died a long time ago."

"Never heard of her," she said, "I hate it here." She turned and walked away from them in the rubble. She didn't care what they claimed. She didn't know anything about the First Order before the day Luke and Anakin showed up on her planet.

Anakin said, "Leave her be, son."

"Luke!" Leia called in the distance. She used the force to move debris out of her way. "Luke," she stopped when she saw her father, "We have a stormtrooper over here." She motioned for them to follow her.

A few of the senate guards congratulated each other for capturing a stormtrooper in the attack as Luke, Leia, and Anakin walked up behind them to see for themselves what this was about. A stormtrooper was among the rubble, white helmet off, still in uniform.

"Lord Vader!" the young man exclaimed excitedly, "It's really you! The big man himself!"

"What is your designated number, trooper?" Anakin demanded.

"FN-2187, sir."

Luke turned to the guards and said, "Great job capturing him, gentlemen."

"No," Anakin said hastily, "he surrendered himself willingly. Stormtroopers have protocals to enforce if they're ever captured by an enemy. He's a deserter. FN-2187, why did you desert the First Order?"

"Sir," he answered, "respectfully, I don't believe in the First Order's cause. Not anymore, and I didn't want to listen to Commander Hux's bizarre orders anymore."

Leia asked, "What were your orders?"

"Collect as many girl's DNA as possible," he answered, "between the ages of 15 and 18."

Luke asked, "Did that happen during the attack?"

One of the guards answered, "We've already gotten reports of teen girls who were attacked and got their blood's drawn and then were immediately left alone. As far as we can tell, none were truely injured in these assaults nor were any kidnapped."

Leia asked, "Why is the First Order collecting blood samples?"

"He doesn't know," Anakin said.

"I don't know," he answered quickly afterward, "the Commander never gives us specifics which is why I am done with him and the rest of them. I will be your prisoner." He put his hands up awkwardly.

Luke said, "We don't take prisoners." His eyes went wide in fear as Luke turned to his father and sister and asked, "Do you two sense that?"

"Yes."

Leia said, "Trooper, are you aware you're force sensitive?"

He asked, "What does that mean?"

"You're meant to be a jedi," Luke answered, "if that's the path you'd rather choose, or we could release you back into space and the First Order will likely hunt you down and punish you for deserting in the middle of battle."

"I'll stay!" he shouted.

Anakin asked, "Do you have a name?"

"No one has ever given me a name," he replied.

"Is Finn alright?" he asked, "It's easier than saying your number all the time."

"Yes sir!"

"Ben?" Rey asked outside the temple the next day.

He stepped outside, clearing out the fallen rocks and dirt. As he sat down beside her, he said, "Sorry for storming off so dramatically after all the fighting yesterday."

"Don't apologize," she said, "I had no idea what I was getting myself into when your father and grandfather found me on Jakku. All of a sudden I'm in the middle of a war." She paused. "We all are."

Ben said, "We should have known this was coming. We should have been prepared. I hate how little I'm doing to help." He glanced up and looked across the courtyard to see his father cleaning up.

"Who is that?" Rey asked, "Beside your father?" She looked at the glowing man in the distance.

"Master Kenobi," he answered, "he trained my grandpa before the clone wars, and he even trained my dad for a short time during the empire. You can see him now as a force ghost because you're force sensitive."

They watched as Anakin spoke with Luke for a moment and then turned off to the distance to clean up some more.

Ben added, "My grandpa can't see him."

"He can't?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No," he answered, "he's still too angry at him. I mean, I don't blame him. If someone cut off all my limbs and set me on fire I don't think I'd ever stop being angry at the person who did it."

Rey gasped in horror. "What? Is that why he looks like that?"

"Yeah," he said, "it's a long story." He stood up and said, "My Aunt Leia is hosting a meeting to address everyone on what happened and what the plan is moving forward. Would you like to come with me?" He extended his hand out to her.

She grabbed it as he pulled her upright.

The meetinghouse was in chaos. Rulers from across Naboo and even the galaxy itself were hologramed in and the citizens of Naboo were outraged. There was shouting, yelling, crying, and people generally upset. The entire thing was so overwhelming to Rey she had to cover her ears.

"I've never seen it this bad in here before," Ben said.

Annika sat on the other side of him and said, "Last I heard there are 33 people dead and hundreds more still missing. Everyone is angry nothing has been done about the First Order sooner."

"They should be," he replied, "we could have defended ourselves much better than we did if we were prepared."

From the row behind them, Han said, "Everyone be quiet."

His son Anakin said, "But we weren't talking, Dad."

"I know," he said quickly, "I was talking to your cousins, but thank you, son." He patted him on the head.

From the podium at the front of the audience, Leia stood behind it and commanded, "Everyone silence, please! I know everyone is upset at what has occurred. For those who don't know, yesterday Naboo sustained a devastating attack on its capital from the First Order." The other senators in the projections gasped in shock and horror.

Jaina whispered, "They didn't know?"

"No," Annika replied.

Leia continued, "Although this is upsetting news, I can assure everyone we have been working on a plan of proper retaliation to avoid war."

Jace whined, "That's no fun."

"I'll contact Commander Hux myself as he seems to be the one in charge of the entire operation within the First Order," she continued, "but without his knowledge we'll be sending in a spy to work alongside the First Order and collect intel."

Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'll do it!" he shouted, jumping upright.

Mara and Luke stared at him. Mara commanded, "Sit down, now, Ben." She pointed back to his seat.

He replied, "I can handle this, Mom."

"We're not looking for volunteers at this time," Leia said quickly, and motioned hastily for him to take a seat.

He reluctantly sat down.

Ben rushed back to his house, half disheveled half cleaned, before anyone could try to change his mind. He thought his aunt would come and talk to him, or maybe his own parents he was completely surprised to see his grandfather enter his home.

"No one around here takes me seriously, Grandpa," he said quickly, "I wouldn't expect you of all people to understand." He paused and added. "I didn't mean for that to sound so rude."

"People do take me seriously now," Anakin said, leaning against the doorframe, "you are correct, Ben, however that wasn't always the case. You're a week from turning 19 and when I was 19, I felt the same as you do now."

He said, "When you were 19 you were a general in the clone wars. You had an entire battalion at your ready-and you got a padawan to personally train from what I understand. What do I have?"

Anakin said, "A family and the chance to train a new order of jedi."

"That's what my dad is doing," he said, "and having an great family is swell and all but you didn't grow up hearing about how amazing your parents and aunt and grandfather were a long time ago. How they carved out the very galaxy we live in today, and then they had you and now they're boring old people who live mundain lives, never wanting to do anything exciting ever again."

"That's...certainly one perspective," Anakin said. A memory suddenly assaulted him.

He stood in Palpatine's office, lightsaber drawn, 22 years old, Palpatine said to him, "Ever since I've known you, you've been searching for a life greater than that of an ordinary jedi. A life of signifigance."

Anakin quickly shook it off. Why would he remember that moment specifically out of nowhere? He needed to stay in the moment with Ben. "You yearn for something more than being part of the first generation of the new jedi?" he remarked, moreso a question than a definitive statement.

"What's wrong with wanting to see some action?" he asked innocently.

"Your aunt witnessed death en mass when she was your age," he answered, "and your father was sent by my own former master to kill me. Neither one of them want to live through anything so terrible such as that ever again. Can you understand that perspective?"

Ben insisted, "All I'm doing is spying on the First Order and reporting back to Aunt Leia or whoever I'm supposed to. I'm not going to throw myself into danger, I promise."

"Regardless, spies are supposed to be clandestine," Anakin said, "and everyone knows you."

"Everyone here knows me," he said, "the First Order has no idea who I am because I've never left the system!"

No one could change Ben Skywalker's mind. Not his parents, nor his sister, and not his aunt or uncle.

At the end of Ben's last day in the temple as a jedi, Rey sat beside Ben on the steps on last time. "You're really going up there and going to be pretend to be one of them?" she asked.

"Someone has to," he said, "why not me?" He looked her over and asked, "What are you worried about?"

"I've never had other people in my life before," she said, "not really. The Jakkuians are nice and everything but it's always been just me. I had to learn new words from deep space pilots passing by because Jakkuians don't speak. I lived alone. Not long after I met your grandfather he told me he was afraid of losing people and that's what turned him to the dark side but I think I'm afraid of losing you."

He stroked her hair and said, "I'm not dying, Rey, I'll come back once I'm done."

She asked, "Do you have any idea how long this is going to take?"

He shook his head. "Sorry."

"You really think you don't get to 'be someone' here?" she asked.

"I'm only 'someone' here because of my parents and my grandpa," he explained, "without them I'm no one and I hate that feeling. Do you understand?"

Rey said, "I think so. Do you think my parents could be important people and that's why they got rid of me?"

He shrugged, "Maybe they wanted to hide you from someone or something, or maybe something happened to them, and they did what they could to save you."

"I don't know," she said, "my dad visited me every few weeks on Jakku for a while. I don't know for how long. He always told me how much my mom missed me and that he was trying to make sure we would all live together someday but one day he stopped coming."

"I'll come back," he insisted.

"Will you think about me?"

"Every day," he said, "here, to remember me by." He leaned in for a kiss. She panicked and leaned away at first, but something told her to lean forward.

Unbeknownst to them, around the corner, Anakin and Luke and listening in. Luke said, "Too bad having a girlfriend won't keep him here."

"Reminds me of when I left Padme right after getting married," Anakin said, "I promised her I wouldn't die on the battlefield and I asked her to stay safe in the senate." He smiled to himself.

"I think she'd be proud of you," Luke said.

"I know she wouldn't be."

Luke nudged him in his mechanical arm and said, "Let's go give him a proper send off."