Saga - ST Star Wars Episode IX: The First Sky Walker [Contains SPOILERS for The Last Jedi!]

Darth_Drachonus, here's the next bit!


Luke and Maz search for Breha... meanwhile Breha and Kylo's relationship takes an unexpected turn...

TWENTY FOUR.​

The Mirrorbright travelled through hyperspace. It was currently being piloted by Luke Skywalker and carried a single other passenger, Maz Kanata. After Leia’s death, the ship was inherited by her daughter Breha. Breha as a result now had two ships she could call her own: the other being the Millennium Falcon, which she had inherited from her father. Not being one to hoard, Breha had given the ship to Luke Skywalker, her uncle. She felt that he needed a ship of his own to conduct his business. He was reluctant at first to accept the gift, but acknowledged Breha’s insistence that she saw it as a recognition of all he had done for her. She could think of no other being more deserving. Whilst accepting the gift, he was quick to provide Breha with the assurance that it was hers to use whenever she wanted, subject to availability. Right now, it was proving inestimable in its value to his primary goal. Nothing mattered more to him right now than finding Breha.

The interior of the ship was well appointed but not too ostentatious. Leia didn’t believe in needless decor preferring simple comforts when travelling. A small lounge area behind the main cockpit provided the main area for relaxation on long flights. For Luke it served the purpose of enabling him to plan his next move with the aid of his diminutive companion, Maz Kanata.

“Fascinating,” said Luke, “This device is like nothing I’ve ever seen before…”
Luke examined the instrument in his hand, turning it over and poring over every detail. He handled it with care; according to Maz it was more than four thousand years old.
“There are very few left in the galaxy,” Maz said, “This particular Hyperspace Sextant may be one of the oldest.”
Maz had rescued the sextant from the rubble of her former home on Takodana. It was one of her most treasured possessions. She marvelled at the fact that it had survived the visit of the First Order and that someone hadn’t stolen it already before her return.
“They were the only way to navigate the space lanes once of course,” she explained, “This particular one was left in storage by its previous owner who had no clue of its value!”
Indeed… thought Luke. Whilst modern navigation computer technology had rendered them obsolete, their value on the antiques market was inestimable, partly due to their rarity, but also partly due to the exquisite workmanship that went into their construction. This one had stood the test of time when many other ancient technologies had not.
“And you’re sure that it still works?” Luke asked, “Remarkable if so…”
“It certainly is!” said Maz, “I removed the memory core when I purchased it and stripped it down. Much of the data had corrupted; lost forever, but I was able to recover enough there for it to be of use. It stores selected star coordinates as you know and uses them to calculate others by triangulation, or at least that’s the basis of the idea.”
Luke nodded in appreciation of this process. Moving between the stars at one time was a painstaking procedure that had to be done through taking careful measurements.
“There is one pair of star coordinates on there that puzzled me at first…” Maz said, “They appeared to be pointing the way to a star system that doesn’t exist on modern charts, even taking into account galactic drift over the millennia. On the face of it that didn’t make sense.”
Luke remained silent, keen to hear the rest of the story.
“Well of course I was naturally curious as to what was there,” she said, “ And so using this sextant I went to find out. What I found was a completely unremarkable red dwarf star right on the edge of the galaxy. There were several planets orbiting it, but only one that appeared to be habitable upon further investigation, if one could call it that… and so I decided to take a closer look.”
Maz paused in her story to take a sip of water from the cup in front of her.
“As I took my ship into orbit of the planet I could feel something… a dark presence…” Maz said, “It frightened me… I turned my ship around and left immediately!”
Luke knew Maz was not easily spooked by anything.
“I didn’t experience that sensation again for many years…” she said, “Until now. Until the destruction of my home. His aura perfuses everything he touches…”
“Snoke…” confirmed Luke.
“Exactly! I think I can say with confidence Master Skywalker that I unwittingly found his secret base.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Luke.
Maz fixed Luke with a look, “What will you do if you meet your former student,” asked Maz, “The other one?”
“There is still light in him…” Luke said evasively, “Breha may hold the key to this. She will know if he can be saved.”
“Hmmf!” Maz snorted, “He destroyed everything I cared for; he destroyed everything you cared for Master Skywalker.”
Luke stared vacantly remembering…and nodded slowly in agreement.
“I watched the Academy burn…” he said, “There were bodies everywhere…”
Maz knew she had reopened an old wound and placed her hand gently on his forearm as she sat next to him.
Luke glanced briefly at her touch but his facial expression didn’t change.
“Anger seemed to be the emotion he understood best at that time. I found it so difficult to get him to open up, to channel his emotional energy into productive things. He was a difficult student even before he found out about his grandfather…”
“He took the loss of Breha badly…” Maz said knowingly.
Luke knew this to be true.
“He had assigned himself her protector, for better or for worse,” Luke said, “Despite their age difference, they were very close. Of course, Breha was a precocious child, and would tell him that she could take care of herself,” he said, with the edge of a smile.
“She has proven that already!” said Maz nodding enthusiastically.
“His sister went through terrible hardship on Jakku and yet… she survived the experience,” Luke said, “She is intuitively kind and compassionate… it always amazes me that such a person could come through that experience and become the kind of person that she did. Even despite her trauma…” Luke shook his head in wonder.
“She is an old soul,” Maz said definitively.
Luke turned his head to look at her frowning, “Is that part of your philosophy Maz, to determine the age of souls?”
“No…” she sighed, “Don’t mind me… It’s just the whittering of an old fool…”

TWENTY FIVE.​

Kylo brought the ship into orbit over Jakku. He busied himself making adjustments to the ship’s course that Breha noted with satisfaction she could have done much more quickly. She had reason to believe she was a better pilot than he was.
Breha was in an ugly mood as she sat sullenly staring forward; looking at Jakku out of the front viewport of the ship. She never wanted to return here, not once she knew the truth.
Suddenly Kylo spoke, “I know you’re not happy about being here… but it is essential that we visit the Observatory.”
Breha scoffed, “Then you can go down there yourself! I never want to set foot on this planet ever again!”
“You survived for years here… another day isn’t going to hurt…” he was careful to keep irritation out of his voice, even as he pressured her to change her mind, “I need you to help me in this task.”
You can’t fool me… Breha thought to herself. You know I’ll take off as soon as you leave the ship…
“Please?” he added.
She gave him a hard look; somehow these little pleasantries just annoyed her all the more. She faced forward again.
“Make it quick,” she said her jaw tight.
Kylo started to steer the ship towards the planet.

For the duration of the trip, Breha had thought about the somewhat bizarre circumstances she found herself in. Consorting with the enemy… cooperating with a murderer… she thought. She struggled with her conscience all the while; had half a mind to thwart his plans, and yet… they could deal with Snoke once and for all! He was surely the biggest threat right now, not her fool of a brother.
If only it didn’t involve coming back here…

Kylo brought the ship into land on the Plaintive Hand Plateau, shut the engines down and left the pilot’s seat. Breha came forward and immediately took the seat he had vacated. She sat staring out at the monotonous landscape; so familiar and yet now so alien… It felt different this time because she could sense it… the Dark Side. Her greater attunement to the Force saw to that. In all those years of living here she had been oblivious to its presence. Now the whole place felt like a dark invisible cloak had settled over it. It was as oppressive as the planet’s midday heat.

She could sense his eyes on her from behind… biting down on his irritation at her behaviour. She finally, reluctantly left the seat and headed aft. At least the weather outside appeared calm and it was still early in the day. Breha knew that the midday sun on Jakku was ferocious and she had no plans to be here long enough to experience it again without her protective desert garb.
Kylo pressed a lever and lowered the ramp and they both stepped outside.
As they walked Kylo spoke, “My research tells me that the Observatory is protected by gun emplacements and sentinel droids,” he remarked casually.
Breha glared at him, “Now you tell me? So we have to fight our way in! I don’t even have my lightsabre!”
“No… I don’t think so. We have this,” he said, and produced the holocron from a small bag hanging off his belt.
“And what’s that going to do exactly?” she asked, trying not to let her irritation show.
“Its twin lies within,” he said, “They call to each other. So long as we carry it, I believe we cannot be harmed.”
“How poetic…” she said rolling her eyes.
“I thought so…” Kylo replied.
Breha thought that at this rate Kylo was in danger of developing a sense of humour. Something was bugging her. Wait… she thought.
“Why haven’t you come here before?” she asked, “Especially if something so valuable can be found in this Observatory?”
“I couldn’t,” he said, “Snoke has only just acquired the holocron, and I’ve only recently learned of the existence of this one.”
“And where exactly did he acquire it?” she asked.
“I have no idea. He wouldn’t tell me,” Kylo replied, “Now if you’ve quite finished with the questions, we’re here.”
Kylo was pointing towards a long sand dune about a hundred metres away. It looked to Breha just like any other.
“The entrance will be buried in that dune somewhere,” He said, “Can you feel it?”
Breha concentrated. She tuned out the darker background energy… There was certainly a sensation in the Force… and it felt like it was coming from ahead.
“Yes…” she said, “Is that the other holocron?”
“I expect so,” he said.

They walked up to the dune. Breha could feel Kylo reach out and start shifting sand with the Force. She reached out to do the same. Sand sprayed off the side of the dune to either side of them and gradually something came into view. They both continued their efforts until they had completely exposed what looked like a wide metal door.
“It looks like the gun emplacements have been removed,” he said, “Your scavenger friends have clearly been busy.” he added.
“I doubt they managed to get into the bunker,” Breha said, “I didn’t live too far from here and I knew nothing about this place.”
On closer inspection of the door, it quickly became apparent that a gap had been forced. Someone had been here before …
“I think I know why you hadn’t heard of it,” Kylo said running his hand along the gap, “Someone has already helped themselves to whatever’s inside and left it to be buried by the desert.”
“So…” Breha said in realisation, “What is it we can feel then?”
“We’ve come this far…” Kylo said and he wrenched the door further open using the Force. Sand was piled high along one side of the corridor they entered. It had clearly accumulated near the doorway over a number of years. They moved past it and soon found themselves in an octagonal chamber.
The place had clearly been ransacked, as debris was strewn everywhere, including bits of machinery and what looked to Breha like droid parts. She wondered to herself why Kylo appeared so calm. This wouldn’t be the case if theirs was a wasted journey. Whatever they could sense was still here…
They instinctively turned towards the same connecting corridor; the direction in which the Force was leading them. Along it were the shattered remains of cases and plinths, except one, which was perfectly intact. And on it sat what was unmistakeably another holocron. This one however was black, in stark contrast to the one in Kylo’s hand.
“I don’t understand…” Breha said, “How come no-one took it?”
Kylo reached out a hand, and quickly withdrew it. There was an energy field protecting the holocron.
“Whatever this is… it seems to have kept it safe from scavengers,” he said, “I’m going to try something.”
He held out the other holocron and lifted it off his palm using the Force. He floated it towards the energy field and then made contact with it using the holocron. Nothing happened, and he gave it another nudge using the Force. The holocron passed straight through the field and came to rest on the plinth beside its twin. As soon as it did, the energy field dissipated.
No sooner did this happen then Breha felt a sudden change in the Force. It was a curious but familiar sensation and she felt it slowly seep into her senses. A feeling of serenity came over her and she started to smile. The last time she had felt this was at the wellspring on Ahch-to. She glanced at Kylo and saw that he was looking at her frowning. And then it hit her… he hadn’t felt it!
“Why are you looking so pleased?” he said, studying her face.
Breha masked the expression on her face, “Nothing… just pleased that we finally have what we came for!” she wiped the smile off her face and focussed on the holocrons.
Kylo gave her an odd look before returning his attention to the plinth. He reached out for both holocrons with the Force and they lifted off the plinth simultaneously. As he did this, they drifted apart slightly and instantly Breha’s sense of bliss vanished.
Now Breha knew what had caused that sensation… But why hadn’t Kylo felt it? She had no immediate answer, but her intuition in the Force told her this was something she could use…
“Let’s go,” Kylo said and headed back down the corridor, Breha keeping pace.

As they walked back towards the ship, Breha’s pace slowed. She had a curious sensation…
“I need to do one more thing before we leave,” she said, looking at his back. He stopped and turned around.
“What is it Breha? We don’t have much time…” his face betraying his irritation at being delayed.
“I want to see my home,” she said, “It isn’t far from here.”
Kylo was clearly exasperated.
“What is that going to achieve?” he said spreading his arms, “We need to go…”
“I agreed to come with you to the Holocron,” she began, “I need closure. Only for a few minutes!”
Kylo was about to object but she pressed on, “Please… just for a few minutes. We can fly there in the ship,” she paused, “Do this for me… and I won’t complain about anything else.”
Breha had been obstructive to Kylo every since she had been freed of the containment field. It was the least he deserved she knew… and she had actually been impressed with his restraint; knowing that he was struggling to contain his anger the whole time. He needs me… she told herself.
“Very well…” he said, “but only a few minutes!”
Breha smiled despite herself.


The AT-AT she once called home had been ransacked. Nothing that wasn’t guarded lasted long on Jakku and no doubt as soon as news had spread of her departure, others had helped themselves to her meagre possessions.
She stood in the entrance looking around. They took everything… she noted. She closed her eyes… why did she come here? Why did this feel… right? She opened them again and looked down. There were a few bits of metal debris on the floor. She bent down to lift up a large piece of metal plating. Underneath it was another lying at an angle and sticking out from underneath it was a tiny arm. She lifted the second piece up and there lay her doll. This was the last thing she expected to find… She thought she had lost it a long time ago. It was dirty and battered and its once elegant outfit was torn at one shoulder. The dress that still clothed it was white a long time ago but was now a muddy shade of grey. Breha stared at it before bending down and picking it up. No sooner did she do so then old emotions began to resurface. She thought she had dealt with this… and yet, despite all her fortitude in the face of past trauma, despite her old memories having returned, the doll stirred something deep within her. Tears began welling up in her eyes…
Kylo appeared at the entrance, “What are you doing?” he said, “We need to get going!”
He went to grab her arm.
“Don’t… touch me…” her words came out slowly as she gritted her teeth. They were words of steel.
Kylo drew back, his eyes moving to the doll.
“You came all this way for… this?!” he said with contempt.
Breha spun around and faced him. The old wounds that she thought had been healed for good had been reopened. The utter despair she had felt when this doll was her only comfort… All her discipline and her strength were being swept away.
“Why did you leave me?! On daddy’s ship?!” Breha spat.
Kylo’s face darkened… “Not now Breha… you’re being silly!”
“This was my home for years!” she gestured at the remains of the AT-AT, “This was all I knew! This and loneliness and despair! You’re the reason I ended up here! You’re the reason our family was destroyed!”
“Father was the reason you ended up here!” he yelled.
“No…” she said with pure venom, “This was your fault! This was all your fault.”
She could see fear on Kylo’s face for the first time as he regarded her sudden transformation. And she knew her words had hit home… the truth he had been denying all these years…
“You said you would… protect me…” she spoke thickly through her sobs, “You failed…”
He shook his head as he looked at her, but words didn’t come.
He tried to speak, “I…” he kept shaking his head.
“This was your fault…” she repeated. Her breathing was ragged and shallow.
Breha gathered the Force around her and tensed. She could see the abyss… it opened up in front of her. She didn’t care. It would be so easy…

Suddenly Kylo spoke, “You’re right…. I… I’m sorry…” his voice was soft, conciliatory; then it broke, “I’m so sorry…”
She looked up. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and something else… she felt it! The light. Impossible, and yet…
Kylo dropped onto the sand by the entrance. His shoulders were shaking as, head down, he sobbed silently.
Breha let the doll slip from her fingers as she stood there staring at him. The transformation in him was sudden and remarkable. She could feel her anger and despair ebbing away; she had stepped back from the edge… she couldn’t be angry any more because something incredible was happening… she came to the inescapable realisation that a very different person was now before her. The monster had gone… and her brother was back.

She had been pulled back from the abyss by her own brother, only for her to save him with the ultimate truth: The reason their family had been torn apart. It had destroyed him to lose her… He loved her… she knew this… and… she loved him.
Breha got down on her knees in front of him and he looked up; his eyes red, his face streaked with tears and uncertainty of what she was about to do. She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.
“Ben…” she said softly, “Welcome back…”

 

Ancient technologies, much revelations, great characters in great scenes (Luke & Maz, Breha/ Rey & Kylo) ending in this great scene:

She had been pulled back from the abyss by her own brother, only for her to save him with the ultimate truth: The reason their family had been torn apart. It had destroyed him to lose her… He loved her… she knew this… and… she loved him.
Breha got down on her knees in front of him and he looked up; his eyes red, his face streaked with tears and uncertainty of what she was about to do. She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.
“Ben…” she said softly, “Welcome back…”

Well then, welcome back, Ben Solo!

 

Oooh, so Ben is back for realz? Well, you've been building towards this in previous entries, but it was nice to actually see it happen on-screen, so to speak, and in Rey's old home. Snoke is in serious trouble now, unless he has an ace up his sleeve.

Several questions remain, though: where exactly are Luke and Maz headed? Is that the First Order base, or Snoke's homeworld? And how come the holocron is light side? And, of course, why could Breha feel it and not Ben? (Okay, I'm mostly thinking aloud here – don't spoil, I'm sure answers will come in due time!)

 

Thank you!

You may not believe it but I actually had no clear intent to redeem Ben even when I started writing this chapter. However, upon review of what I'd written (as Chyntuck alludes to), it sort of became inevitable and in fact I think in retrospect makes perfect sense seeing as the main reason for his fall (and therefore his redemption) has been right in front of him all this time.

I hope folks made the connection to Leia here. She told herself it 'felt right' to buy Breha her doll. By doing so she provided her with her only comfort in her trauma and indirectly was responsible for her son's redemption.

Yes he's back, though it goes without saying that things can't just go back to being as they were before...

As for Snoke... read on.

The purpose of the holocron is far bigger than I've alluded to as yet, but answers will be coming soon.

 

Darth_Drachonus here's your heads up.

Luke and Maz make a discovery.... Hux makes a rather different one...

TWENTY SIX.​

Luke and Maz had met no opposition as they came into land at the fortress. Clearly they weren’t expected. The huge door adjacent to the landing platform lifted out of the ground as they approached. The Dark Side was strong here as Maz stated and it hung over the fortress like a malign presence. Despite this, they were both quick to ascertain that neither Snoke nor Kylo were here. To their disappointment, it was equally clear that neither was Breha.

“Overconfidence,” said Maz, “Snoke had no idea we would find this place.”
Luke had to agree. After all… no-one visited a system that didn’t exist on any star charts, and in the incredibly unlikely event a lost traveller had ended up in the system, there was no rationale for seeking refuge on such an unpleasant looking world. Anyone in their right mind would have turned around and left.

“There is someone here though…” Luke said as he looked towards the next large door in front of them.
As he spoke, his eye caught movement down the corridor to the left. Luke ducked and rolled as a blaster bolt whizzed past him where his head had just been. As he did so, he ignited his lightsabre and deflected a second shot. The stormtrooper fell.
“Master Skywalker!” Maz yelled. More troopers were coming up the corridor to their right. Blaster fire erupted in their direction and Luke’s lightsabre was a blur as he deflected it back at them. They had swapped positions and now Maz was facing the left corridor. More troopers appeared down this one as well. Maz raised her hands. As she did so, cracks started to appear in the ceiling of the corridor. They travelled and multiplied rapidly and then in one smooth motion Maz brought her hands down. The ceiling gave way, and huge chunks of stone rained down on the stormtroopers.
As quickly as it had begun the fight was over.

Without stopping to survey the damage, they ran towards the next large door and it opened on their approach. They were quick to ascertain that no-one was within.
“Some sort of reception chamber perhaps?” said Maz.
Luke nodded. He opened his senses…
“There are others…” he said.
Maz could sense them too “We must deal with them too,” she said sighing.
Luke stretched his senses out further… “She was here…” he said.
“Are you sure?” Maz asked.
“Breha and I share a bond,” he said, “I’m not mistaken.”
He was about to speak again when he sensed another presence.
Luke didn’t need to warn Maz; she was already gathering the Force about her. They both turned to face the entrance.
A face appeared around the edge of the door. A face that showed fear and uncertainty. Two large orange eyes in a blue face spotted Luke and Maz in the chamber and the face quickly disappeared.
A thin, reedy voice spoke, “Come out! You’re surrounded!” it said tremulously.
Luke and Maz looked at each other with expressions of mild amusement. Luke reached out with the Force. The alien was pulled out of his hiding place into full view and fell sprawling onto the floor. The blaster he had been carrying sailed out of his hand and into Luke’s.
He looked up at their approach and covered his face with his long slender fingers.
“Don’t shoot!” he said.
They stood over him as he continued to cower under their gaze. Maz reached out a hand. He looked at her as his eyes bulged with fear.
“It’s OK,” she said, “We won’t hurt you, unless of course you plan to hurt us!” she added by way of warning.
He continued to stare and then slowly reached out his hand. She took it and helped him up. He was tiny and barely reached her shoulder with the top of his head.
“Who are you?” Luke asked.
The alien craned his neck up at the new voice and drew himself up to his full diminutive height.
“I am Tule Zalbaz,” he stated with a pretence of authority that he completely failed to convey, “I am the caretaker of this facility.”
There was obvious pride in his voice, “The master always entrusts me to keep the place for him in his absence.”
“How many more of you are there in this place?” Luke said, “And don’t lie,” he added, “I know the Force, just like your master.”
“So I see…” he said, “I saw what you did to the stormtrooper garrison. My Master will be angry…”
“Tell us,” Luke said and nudged Tule’s mind with the Force.
“Only two,” he said, “The guards at the entrance to the throne room. My master does not expect uninvited guests. The garrison were taken by surprise by your arrival.”
“You will take us to the throne room,” Luke said.
“I will take you to the throne room,” said Tule, and led the way.

The Praetorian Guards were outside the throne room as Tule came along the corridor towards the entrance followed by Luke and Maz. But instead of standing guard, they were standing shoulder to shoulder in the corridor ready to fight. Both had lances in their hands topped with long curved vibroblades and right now their weapons were trained on the new arrivals.
Luke knew they were expected and ignited his lightsabre. He took up a fight stance. They lunged forward.
They’re quick… thought Luke, as he parried one of the weapons. His lightsabre screeched along one of the lances just below the blade but did not sever it. Clearly the material they were made of prevented this.
Luke was quicker however… despite the speed and ferocity of the attack, he got under the defences of first one guard and then the other with his lightsabre and quickly dispatched them. In less than ten seconds it was all over and they lay in a heap on the floor. He deactivated the blade.
Tule looked on in dismay, “The master will be furious!” he wailed, “His best guards…”
“Oh do shut up…” said Maz, dismissively.
Tule looked at her in alarm, but fell silent. The throne room doors remained closed as they approached it. Luke once again reached out with the Force. After a few seconds, they parted in the middle and swung inwards.
They entered and looked around. It was dimly lit within. Nonetheless it was immediately evident that Snoke’s ostentatious tastes were everywhere. Ornate carvings decorated the walls, and what appeared to be antique ornaments stood on plinths to either side. As they walked forward they could see that the large chair ahead of them on a raised dais was similarly elaborately carved in gold and encrusted with precious gems.
“Stylish…” said Maz as she examined the throne, “I may have to get myself one.”
Luke could sense that Maz was only half joking.
Tule suddenly spoke up, “The Master knows you are here. He will come.”
“And why would that be?” said Luke turning to face the tiny alien standing in the middle of the room.
“You have entered his throne room!” he said, “The master always knows…”
Luke presumed that some sort of Dark Side sorcery alerted Snoke to the presence of anyone within. At least some security measures appeared to be in place he mused…
Luke gave the room one last look before turning once again towards Tule and fixing him with a stern look.
“Where is Breha?” Luke asked, nudging Tule’s mind once more.
“She has left,” Tule said, “With Master Kylo Ren.”
“Where did they go?” he asked.
“I do not know,” said Tule flatly.
His eyes came back into focus and he lifted his hands to his mouth.
“Stop doing that!” he cried, “The master will have me executed for telling you this!”
Maz turned to Luke, “What shall we do with him?”

As they exited the throne room, Tule slept soundly. Luke’s force suggestion ensured that he wouldn’t wake any time soon. Maz thought it rather amusing to leave him on the throne, slumped against one of its arms. Luke allowed her the indulgence; they needed to get moving and now was not the time to argue over such things.
Luke opened his senses as they walked hurriedly down a corridor.
“She has been this way…” he said as they descended a short flight of steps. After a few more minutes they came to a section of corridor like any other. Luke halted and looked around. He stepped forward and examined the stonework of the wall. Then he reached out his hand and touched it. A seam appeared in the wall. Luke and Maz looked at each other expectantly as the wall moved inwards and then slid to one side.
They entered the room and immediately set eyes on the holograms displayed in the middle of the room. They both walked over to the projection of the artefact and examined it with curious eyes.
“She has been here…” Luke stated with certainty, “And that is where she has gone,” he said, pointing at the artefact.
Luke frowned as he felt another presence… someone else had been here too recently.
“Kylo…” he said.
“Excuse me?” said Maz looking up at him.
“They’re together as Tule stated,” Luke said.
“Then she is still his prisoner!” Maz said.
“Perhaps…” Luke said, “There are other possibilities. Why would he bring her here after all?”
Maz knew what Luke was thinking, he could tell from her worried expression.
“She wouldn’t…” Maz was trying to sound reassuring.
Luke wished he could be so sure. For the first time, doubt crept into his mind as to her fate. He reached out… trying to find her… it took only a few moments before he felt her presence. Darkness was circling her… he pulled back in shock!
Luke had had the conviction that Breha had conquered her demons. Now he wasn’t so sure…
Maz spoke, snapping Luke back into the room. She was looking at the artefact. “What is it do you think?” she inquired.
“Let’s find out,” Luke said, trying to sound calm and activated a data display on the side of the projector.
He knew that Maz could sense that he was troubled. He focussed on the task at hand, employing tried and tested means to focus his mind. They had a job to do.

A few minutes later they exited the room with a datadisc.
“We need to find the armoury,” Luke said decisively.


The Mirrorbright climbed rapidly away from the planet. As it did so, a bright ball of light appeared through the clouds below them. Maz was studying a display on the cockpit console.
“Maybe we used too many explosives,” she said. Then she shook her head, “No… he destroyed my home, now we have destroyed his.”
She looked back into the main lounge where Tule was bound and gagged and still sleeping soundly.
“What do you plan to do with him?” she asked.
“We’ll drop him off at the nearest planet,” Luke replied, his voice devoid of emotion.
Luke could only think of one thing… Breha. Now it was more urgent than ever that they find her. It was not too late… he told himself.

TWENTY SEVEN.​

General Hux had been summoned to the Supreme Leader’s audience chamber much to his irritation. He had been busy with reports from the attack on the Var II moon and saw this as a needless interruption. He hoped that the Supreme Leader was brief with his time so that he could get back to his work.

Captain Phasma had not returned from the mission. He had to conclude that the little ‘accident’ he had arranged for her to have had been a success. At least that had gone to plan. It was a pity… but it was a necessary operation. He needed to cover his tracks after all.

His spy network had reported to him that the Resistance were gathering in the Calmus system. That system was on the edge of the Unknown Regions and was clearly serving as a jump off point to the artefact. Once the surveillance probe he had left near the artefact reported to him that it was destroyed by the Resistance, he would inform the Supreme Leader of the fleet at Calmus and their last known trajectory. Hux would claim total ignorance of why they were there but the Supreme Leader would work it out quickly enough. He would be obliged to send the fleet in to protect his precious artefact; too late of course… It was the perfect excuse to go there. The Resistance fleet would destroy the artefact, and the First Order fleet would have a chance to destroy the Resistance by trapping them in system. He just needed to delay their departure, and that’s where the probe came in.
The Supreme Leader would not only lose his ability to take control of this ‘Force weapon’, but there would be no suspicion that Hux knew anything about it before the Resistance arrived there as no First Order ship need fire on the artefact. And if any suspicion fell on Phasma’s activities at the fortress, she was no longer around to tell anyone.

Hux had numerous means at his disposal for getting information on his enemies. One of his most prized possessions was a unique spying device which to the casual observer looking just like an insect. It even had wings that flapped realistically as its tiny antigravity drive carried it wherever it needed to go. Primarily however it could travel through the conduits and vents of ships and buildings to eavesdrop on the inhabitants of any room. It had served its purpose many times in uncovering dissent and other forms of trouble. Hux had had the pleasure of revealing his discoveries to the unwitting fools he had spied on many times now. It was the perfect way to spread fear amongst lower officers as it reminded them that he quite literally could be a fly on the wall even in their most private moments. Simple bugging devices of course were more standard in these instances but Hux preferred his little toy. It resisted standard sweeps for bugs and he knew that many officers would regularly perform these sweeps to maintain their personal security. The device would go undetected every time.
He would need the device again he knew; he suspected one of his financial officers of embezzlement. He would take the device with him, safely hidden in an inside pocket, and once he had met with the Supreme Leader he would release it to do its job.
He went over to the equipment station next to his bed chamber to where there was a secure strong box and entered his clearance code. The door hissed open. He peered in and his blood ran cold… Of the several items that were kept there, one was missing.

Hux’s mind whirled. Only two other people other than the Supreme Leader had this level of clearance: Kylo Ren and Phasma, but neither had any business to enter his quarters, and yet… one of them had been here; it was the only explanation, and only one of them would ever need a surveillance device, the other used the Force.
Instead of using a standard spy remote to discover what was happening at the fortress Phasma had gone to the considerable trouble of taking his. There was only one reason she would have done this… to implicate him if the device were discovered. He realised in growing horror that he was expected in the throne room shortly and he was beginning to suspect he knew why this impromptu summons had occurred. He needed a plan and he needed it fast.

Hux was ushered into the throne room by two praetorian guards. It was dimly lit as usual. He noted with concern that there were more of them than usual and that two had resumed guard duty inside the door facing him as well as the usual two that stood outside. Hux could feel a trickle of sweat running down his back as he struggled to maintain his composure.
“General Hux…” Snoke began, “I expect you’re wondering why I summoned you here at such short notice?”
“Supreme Leader…” he began, “I am still in the process of preparing my report on the attack on the Var II moon, I believe I will have it ready…”
“I already know what happened there, General,” he said dismissively.
Hux noted with unease that his voice was lower than usual if that were possible. He observed that Snoke crouched on his throne like an animal ready to pounce. The sensation did nothing to calm Hux’s nerves. He fixed Hux with those cold, unblinking, blue eyes of his in a way that told him in no uncertain terms that Snoke knew.
“I… Supreme Leader…” he began.
“You have served me faithfully General…” Snoke began, “Until now…”
Hux tensed. He knew what was coming.
“It pitys me to do this…” Snoke began.
Before Snoke could say another word, Hux grabbed the flashlight from his pocket and shone it directly into Snoke’s eyes. Snoke screeched and recoiled in pain. In the second it bought him, Hux had produced his blaster, turned and ran, shooting the guard standing to the left of the door. As he levelled his blaster on the second guard, it was as if a giant invisible hand had grabbed him and he was hurled backwards away from the door. His blaster discharged into the ceiling of the chamber as he collided with the floor before it was whipped out of his hand.
Hux felt his body lifting into the air and his chest suddenly tightened. He could barely breathe, and then he couldn’t breathe at all as the invisible hand started to squeeze his chest. His head fell back and all he could see as he hovered in midair was the inverted image of Snoke, eyes closed, with his hands raised towards him. Hux realised too late that Snoke didn’t need his eyes to do this; to kill him.
Everything started to go black. The last thing he remembered was how much he hated Force users…

 

What an end for Hux. It took me totally by surprise, even though he had it coming.

 

Thank you!

I think it's fair to say that Hux will die in TLJ or IX by some means or other. He didn't have a role to play in the end game of this story so I just had to get rid of him!

 

Well, there goes Hux... and there certainly is a form of poetic justice in the way he found out the exact cause of his downfall just before it happened. You can't double-cross the champion of all double-crossers

Meanwhile, Luke and Maz are on Breha's trail (nice Force action by Maz there by the way!) and I'm curious to know why Luke senses darkness around Breha. But I really enjoyed that you depicted Snoke's taste in furnishings like an Arab dictator, and the little alien maître d' was a nice touch.

Is the idea that Snoke cannot stand direct light to his eyes your fanon, or is it mentioned somewhere in official lore?

 

Well, Phasma gets the last laugh after all! Excellent update!

 

Yeah I knew I wanted him to know by what means he was exposed just before he died.

What Luke senses will become clear later.

Snoke is a hoarder and has accumulated many things over the centuries. His less prized possessions are hidden away in the secret room. Someone else we know in this story is a hoarder as well.

I was reminded of all the jokes about Snoke being about the size of Yoda in real life as a sort of joke (he isn't of course), and so I wanted the caretaker to be a weedy little alien.

Apart from Maz, no-one has visited this system in millennia. Snoke was completely confident that the location of his fortress world would remain unknown to all.

It's non-canon. Snoke's kryptonite if you like.

Thank you!

 

Darth_Drachonus here's the next bit!

Two rather long chapters, so apologies in advance as there's a fair bit of reading involved, but I wanted to keep things moving along.

Plans are put in place by Luke and Holdo...

Meanwhile elsewhere, things come to a head...

TWENTY EIGHT.​

The Calmus system was located in the outer rim. It consisted of an orange sun orbited by seven planets, none of which were inhabited or indeed inhabitable. The system had few natural resources such as valuable minerals and its remoteness didn’t lend itself as a place for the casual visitor to drop by sightseeing. It rarely received visitors of any description in fact because no-one had any reason to come here… until now.

The first Resistance fleet vessels had dropped out of hyperspace several hours ago between the fourth and fifth planets. Other ships had joined them in stages and even now more ships were appearing as literally everyone fighting the First Order gradually converged here after the debacle at Arco and the evacuation of the Var II Moon.
General Holdo had called a conference on the Mon Cal ship Na’qal partly because of its promotion to flagship of the fleet after the destruction of the Starlight but also because it was the only ship to have large enough hangars for numerous smaller ships to dock with it. Holdo wanted as many personnel of the fleet there as possible including their now numerous allies. She had delayed the start of the conference due to the fact that ships were still arriving.

Her own transport ship had barely made it. They had come under heavy fire as they fled the Var Moon. If it hadn’t been for the bravery of the X-Wing pilots that protected the ship, she doubted they would have made it. As it was the ship was damaged and limped to the Calmus system well behind other ships of the fleet. The two X-Wing pilots protecting the vessel hadn’t made it…
We’ve lost so many personnel… just in the last few days even… She remembered Admiral Statura, a man she had admired from her time as a junior officer. Gone… there would be many memorials, she thought, so long as they survived the next mission. She wondered if one of those memorials would be for Poe…
She forced her mind back to the data readout in front of her: A reconnaisance X-Wing had jumped ahead to the spot in the unknown regions that currently had everyone’s interest. The telemetry that it sent back was disturbing. Not only was there something there, it was like nothing any of them had seen before. It was bigger than the second Death Star and to all intents and purposes it was a weapon of some sort. Holdo just had no idea what form it took. The most puzzling thing of all however was that the report also stated that there was no sign of any ships in the system, or indeed activity of any kind. In fact the images sent back suggested that this thing just hung in space. It was protected by an energy field however.
She needed more information… they needed to know what they were going up against.

“Sir…” Dex had cut into her train of thought, “The Mirrorbright has just entered the system,” he said, “Master Skywalker reports that he has valuable intel for the Resistance.”
It was as if her prayers had been answered!
“Tell them to dock in the main hangar,” Holdo asked, “It’s getting pretty crowded with ships down there, but there should be room.”


Hundreds of beings were gathered in the briefing room. Others were still filing in. There was a general air of expectancy. Lando entered the room with Chewbacca, Zeb Orrelios, See Threepio and Artoo Detoo.
Lando looked around at the gathering. He was reminded of the last time he had attended such a gathering when the Rebellion was priming itself for the attack on the second Death Star. This however was on a much bigger scale. Ever since the attacks on Naboo and Canto Bight, beings from all over the galaxy had rallied to the cause.
The general attitude amongst those present was, ‘never again’. Many of them were old enough to remember the Empire. They had fought hard ever since to restore a degree of normality and stability to the galaxy, as well as freedom. They would do whatever they could to stop those hard won changes being taken away once more. They had won a few battles, but had lost many more… and they were being gradually pushed back. Now it would seem, an even bigger threat presented itself. Lando had been briefed that it wasn’t another Death Star or even a Starkiller Base. It was altogether something different. Something unknown… He knew that Luke Skywalker had discovered something about this ‘artefact’ and, like everyone else in the room, he was more than a little keen to find out what it was.

The number of beings entering the room reduced to a trickle. A number of heads turned and Lando saw General Holdo entering followed by Commander Connix, Luke Skywalker and a diminutive figure that Lando knew to be Maz Kanata. He had known her from the past but had only recently learned of her impressive Force abilities that he had witnessed himself on Naboo. He felt then that he was getting to know a whole side of her he had not previous been privy to. He knew that Maz had accompanied Luke on his mission to find Breha. They failed in that task it would seem, but discovered something else entirely… Lando had not been expecting to see Luke again so soon, maybe not ever judging by the risks involved in their mission. He was relieved to see him apparently unharmed.

Holdo moved towards a lectern at one end of the room situated on a small dais. From where she stood, most beings had a clear view, but some still had to crane their necks to see over or around the heads of others. Luke stood to one side of the dais and Maz appeared to mingle with the crowd. Lando couldn’t tell as her stature hid her from view from where he was standing. Without further preliminaries she began to speak:
“Friends, allies…,” she began, “Thank you all for coming. We have urgent business to discuss, so I will get straight to the point.”
Every being in the room was silent apart from Holdo and as one they listened.
“As you know, we are here to plan our strategy to deal with a discovery we have made. A discovery in the Unknown Regions that at first we knew little about. We didn’t know if it even posed a threat to us… until now.” she paused.
Lando could feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.
“Master Skywalker has brought us invaluable information from his recent mission, a mission that culminated in the destruction of Supreme Leader Snoke’s hidden base.”
There was a sudden ripple of voices which grew rapidly into loud cheers. It took nearly half a minute for the clamour of voices to die down.
Lando knew all too well that they needed some good news right now. Holdo had chosen her moment perfectly.
Holdo was smiling at their reaction but it quickly faded as she continued, “We can celebrate this success of course, but neither Snoke nor Kylo Ren were present, so they remain at large. Now we face a far bigger challenge.”
She looked at Luke and gestured him to the dais before stepping down. Luke looked around the room. Lando could feel the air of authority he exuded. It was almost tangible. He commanded the room as effectively as any senior officer in the Resistance even though most beings in the room had never met him before or heard him speak.
“Thank you General,” he began.
Without saying another word, he turned to Commander Connix who stepped forward and activated the holoprojector situated in front of the dais. An object grew out of its base and appeared in the air above it. Connix then toggled the control so that it grew to an enormous size. She then set the emitter at an angle and the entire projection moved out over the heads of the crowd until it hovered over the middle of the room. No one could complain that they didn’t have a clear view, Lando mused.
“This is what we face,” Luke said, “It is situated at the point in the Unknown Regions for which you now all have the coordinates. We know it simply as ‘the Artefact,’ and it is huge… Bigger even than the second Death Star. If it has a name then that name has been lost over time, for it is ancient. It predates the Old Republic in fact.”
There was a low murmur of voices at this news. Lando could sense that some in the room were simply confused. He speculated that this was due to the fact that the artefact clearly wasn’t created by the First Order. So why should it concern them? Lando was wondering the same thing himself, but he knew Luke all too well, and knew they had every reason to be worried otherwise none of them would be here. Furthermore, someone in the First Order gave them the coordinates, but why?
Luke waited patiently for the voices to die down before continuing, “The artefact is powered by the Force,” he continued.
Lando was astonished. This was getting stranger by the minute!
“From what we can tell, only Snoke and his apprentice Kylo Ren knew of its existence until recently. Even senior command in the First Order were not privy to it.”
This was a big deal, Lando knew… A really big deal.
“To be absolutely clear,” Luke said, “This is a weapon, and its purpose from what we can deduce is to control the entire galaxy.”
What?! Lando’s jaw fell open. How could it do that?!
Beings all around the room looked stunned. Some shook their heads in disbelief and the chatter in the room began to rise once more. This time Luke didn’t wait for it to die down.
“I know many of you will be wondering how that is even possible. I know many of you are sceptical of the Force itself… but I know the Force.”
Lando could feel the effect in his mind… Luke was projecting the power of his words into everyone’s heads. It was an impressive effect, he thought.
“It can do things that no other power can,” he said, “It is more powerful even than the greatest technological weapon; more subtle; more refined.”
Everyone was listening, Lando knew. Luke could have told them that all planets were square now and they would have believed him.
“Whoever created this artefact intended to use it. Why they did not, we do not know, but we do know that Snoke does intend to use it… to enslave the galaxy.”
Lando knew the truth of these words now… Luke wasn’t controlling his mind, but he was opening his mind to the truth and letting it pour in. This was the biggest threat they had ever faced… and it chilled his blood at the thought of what it could do. He scanned the room briefly to see genuine fear on many faces.
“The artefact is surrounded by an energy field,” Luke said, “This appears to be its principle weapon for dealing with attacks. As a defensive shield, I have reason to believe it can deflect any bombardment, but it can also attack. Any ship that comes too close can be destroyed by it without even making contact. How it does this is unclear, but it would seem that even Supreme Leader Snoke was attacked by it once. He was lucky to survive.”
Too bad it didn’t succeed… Lando thought.
“Snoke it would appear cannot access the device,” Luke continued, “It requires two beings to access it simultaneously… two siblings strong in the Force.”
Uh oh… thought Lando. He knew where this was going…
“According to the log we have here, he originally intended for those Force siblings to be myself and my sadly departed sister, Leia.”
Many beings in the room were learning for the first time that Leia was Force sensitive. Most already knew that they were siblings. The news just kept on coming! Lando knew he wouldn’t forget this day in a hurry…
“He attempted to capture Leia on Naboo and by doing so lure me out into the open, but he failed, however…”
And it cost Leia her life… Lando knew all too well how this had affected Luke personally, and now the room were about to discover the biggest secret of them all…
“It doesn’t end there sadly… for he made a recent discovery which I’m about to share with you…. he now has at his disposal his apprentice Kylo Ren…” Luke paused briefly, “And his sister… my apprentice, Breha.”
Most beings in the room were frozen in shock. The news had leaked out to some of them of course that they were somehow related, but rumour had distorted the facts. Most of the room however had no idea at all, and worse… they were both under Snoke’s control it would seem.
Luke surveyed the reaction with a solemn expression, but also with the suggestion on his face that everyone knowing was for the best. It took a weight off his shoulders.

No more secrets… thought Lando. He knew that Luke wasn’t told of his dark heritage in order to try and protect him. Leia tried to do the same with her children and the galaxy at large and look what happened… it’s better this way, thought Lando. No-one should condemn someone for the iniquity of their parents… and the Skywalkers… what a tragic family. Will they ever know peace?

A voice spoke out from the crowd, “Master Skywalker, if I may… if your apprentice is one of those who could activate this device, does that mean that she is now working for the enemy?”
Holdo clearly didn’t expect to turn this into a question and answer session and looked like she was about to object, but Luke was quick to respond.
“It’s a fair question…” he said, “And the truth is… I don’t know”.
Mutterings spread as a ripple through the crowd. There were some angry faces, Lando noted.
“But I do know,” Luke began, “That if she is… I will do everything in my power to stop her. The artefact must not be activated, and we must work together to destroy it.”
Lando knew once against the power of Luke’s words. They needed to unite more than ever and Luke had said in no uncertain terms that between them they would do whatever it took to destroy Snoke’s plans. Even if it meant certain sacrifices had to be made…
Luke stepped down and once again Holdo took the dais.
“We are working on how to penetrate the defensive shield and Master Skywalker and I will come up with a plan as soon as we have it,” she said, “In the meantime, go and make whatever preparations you deem necessary. We may have to move out at short notice and hit it with whatever we have. For now… that is all.”
To Lando that seemed a somewhat anti-climactic end to the meeting. They knew what the artefact was and how it worked, but had no idea how to destroy it… clearly the Resistance leaders were thinking on their feet and at least apprising everyone of what they knew, but there was a way to go…

He started filing out with the crowd. Chewie, walking alongside him grunted something.
“I agree Chewie… Breha isn’t evil. Wherever she is… I hope she has a plan. More than ever, we need her on our side.”

TWENTY NINE.​

The Trickster sped through hyperspace. As ships went it was certainly fast; one of the fastest ships in the galaxy in fact. Tirrem Locke had to make quick getaways quite often it would seem, and they had just outrun the First Order. He had told them now that the price on his head would likely be astronomical. What the First Order didn’t know however was that his ship now carried one of their own…

Or at least she was… thought Finn. He sat in the main lounge of Locke’s ship with his blaster rifle pointed at Phasma. She had been stripped of her armour and now lay bound on the floor on the opposite side of the lounge staring back at him with a look that was unrelentingly hostile.
Poe had swapped places with him temporarily in order to reset the fracture in her arm and then Rose had gone to work. Finn marvelled at the almost miraculous abilities she had. The fracture was rapidly healing and the blaster wound in her shoulder had already almost closed over. She was the human equivalent of a bacta tank. One day he would repay her for healing him. Even his soreness had almost gone.
Finn couldn’t help feeling somewhat resentful of her helping Phasma however… he knew that his objections would be overruled, so he bit down on his tongue and kept quiet.
You think she’d be grateful… he thought. It hasn’t made her any more amenable, and that look she’s giving me says it all.
“How’s our prisoner doing Finn?” said Poe from the co-pilot’s seat.
“Still just as mean,” said Finn, not taking his eyes off Phasma for a second, “And just as ugly.”
Finn drew satisfaction from seeing Phasma’s pale complexion darken, and then he noticed Rose squirming in her seat. She clearly wasn’t comfortable with the casual gibes.
“You shouldn’t do that,” she said to him.
Finn looked at her in silent appeal; she was spoiling his fun…
Locke suddenly spoke, “You know… she isn’t gonna be too happy at her treatment on my ship by uninvited guests.”
Now it was Finn’s turn to get annoyed, “Oh, so you mean apart from fixing her arm and that blaster wound? Yeah… we’ve treated her real bad…” he said with all the sarcasm he could muster.
“She’s here as my guest,” Locke said, “And you’ve got her trussed up like a parcel in my lounge.”
“You know full well we can’t untie her,” said Poe, “She’d kill us the first chance she got.”
“Then how about you three and that animated dodgeball get off at the next planet?” Locke said, “I’m not exactly overjoyed at you being on my ship.”
“And how about I take over the piloting?” countered Poe.
“I can lock you out of my ship with a single tap of my finger,” he said, “Don’t even think about it.”
Finn knew that they were still alive by virtue of having effectively hijacked Locke’s ship. The only reason he was taking them anywhere was that he needed to put space between them and the First Order. He had insisted on travelling to Draza to collect his money. Even a blaster to the temple wasn’t going to dissuade him they found, and he was getting better at keeping Rose out of his head. None of them knew when they were going to be able to hook up with the rest of the Resistance or even how. They had reluctantly gone along with his plan to see if in the meantime they could come up with one of their own.
“Do you remember the first time we met?” said Poe, “You were one of the most frightened people I’d ever seen. You were practically jumping at your own shadow.”
Locke continued to stare ahead but Finn could see his jaw tightening.
“And they sent her,” Poe pointed behind him, “To kill you. She almost succeeded as well…”
Locke spoke, “Things are different now.”
“Really?” Poe asked, “If Phasma had contacted me saying, ‘Come and pick me up, I’m having a spot of trouble’, especially if she’d tried to kill me, then no amount of money waved in my face would have persuaded me that this was a good idea.”
“You don’t know how much money she waved in my face pal,” said Locke.
Finn never ceased to be amazed at how powerful greed was. He knew of individuals who had sold out their entire families for money, and he knew that Locke was a man motivated by little else. If things had gone according to plan on Canto Bight, then he would have met Locke much sooner. He was glad he hadn’t but remembered all too well that what happened to him instead was considerably less pleasant, courtesy of the woman lying across the lounge. Even Locke was a better alternative, despite his ugly personality.
“Does anybody care to hear my opinion on this?”
Phasma spoke so suddenly that Finn saw Rose actually jump. BB-8 swivelled his dome around to face her.
“No,” said Finn.
“Yes,” said Locke, “You deserve to be heard.”
Only because she’s paying you… thought Finn morosely.
“Alright, let’s hear you,” said Poe, “Besides… I’m curious as to why you’re even doing this.”
Finn glared in the direction of the co-pilot’s seat but bit down on a retort. He wanted to know why Phasma had put the microdot in his head, but he had difficulty suppressing the instinct to tell her to shut up… or push her out the nearest airlock. He couldn’t stand the sound of her voice.
“Very well,” she said, “I discovered something; something that could destroy us all.”
“I think that’s called the First Order,” said Finn, still maintaining his sarcasm.
The look on Rose’s face suggested that she was starting to get annoyed with him. She clearly wanted to hear the story too. Finn didn’t want to admit to her that so did he.
“I’d like to hear your story,” she said turning to Phasma.
Finn had the distinct impression that Rose was getting inside Phasma’s head. Phasma’s expression changed and her eyes became glassier.
“The microdot I put into FN-2187’s head has the coordinates to an artefact in the Unknown Regions,” she said.
It was all Finn could do not to yell at her for calling him by his designation again. He stopped himself because he could see that Rose was drawing information out of her. He pushed his anger down despite himself.
“The artefact was known only to the Supreme Leader and Kylo Ren as far as I know,” she continued, “It is powered by the Force, and if activated it will be used to enslave everyone in the galaxy.”
Everyone was now looking at Phasma. Even Poe and Locke had craned their heads around to listen.
“I had to get the info… I… what are you doing?”
Finn could see that the revelation about the artefact had affected Rose to the point where she had lost concentration.
“I… get out of my head!” She had raised her voice and was glaring at Rose.
“This is precisely what I mean!” said Phasma who was now getting angry, “This is enslavement!”
Rose was colouring… Finn could see that Phasma had a point about the mind control that Rose was trying to exert. It had been key to them seizing control of this ship, but it was incredibly invasive. He knew what it was like for Kylo to invade his mind as did Poe. It violated their privacy; took away their control. This of course didn’t alter the fact that Phasma knew all about enslavement of a different kind… but the hypocrisy of the First Order was nothing new to Finn…
“Perhaps if we allow Phasma to tell the story her way,” offered Poe, “Sorry Rose, I know you meant well.”
Rose was staring at the floor, and was pushing herself further into her seat.
“I’ll only continue if there’s no more mind tricks!” Phasma protested.
Rose looked at her awkwardly and nodded before resuming her study of the floor.
Phasma continued to glare at her for a few seconds longer before huffing loudly and continuing.
“I needed to get the information to someone and so after much deliberation I went to General Hux. He told me that neither The Supr… Snoke nor Kylo Ren must know of our discovery. I knew that of course… I had already heard them discuss killing us if we discovered the truth.”
She shook her head, “Everything was a lie… all a lie. They were using us for their own ends. They consider non-Force users as inferior.”
Finn glanced at Rose to see how she was taking this. She looked miserable.
“It quickly became apparent that the General could not be trusted. I should have known of course… he would have silenced me eventually to stop any possibility of his involvement being exposed. He was using me… and once the information got to the Resistance, then my usefulness was at an end,” she looked around at all the faces. Only Rose was avoiding her eyes, “So I returned the favour. Instead of spying on Snoke with a standard spy remote, I stole Hux’s own personal custom designed one. I suspected he kept it clean of incriminating evidence, so I also stole a tissue sample of his from our labs and made sure that there was just enough of his DNA on the device to not make it look suspicious. Once I’d found the evidence we needed, I powered the device down where it would be discovered.”
Phasma’s face suggested to Finn that she now took great satisfaction in turning the tables.
“Hux’s days are numbered…” there was the edge of a smile on her face.
Poe took the pause as an opportunity to speak, “So… giving the information to the Resistance ensures that there’s now a chance the artefact will be destroyed…”
Finn was thinking, “Wait… what about Hux? If Snoke finds out about him too soon then he’ll know his little secret is out! He’ll order every ship in the First Order fleet to the artefact if he has to!”
Poe looked at Finn with growing horror… “If the Resistance don’t destroy the artefact before his fleet arrives then no-one will be left to destroy the artefact!”
He looked back at Phasma, “You fool!”
The growing realisation of what she’d done began to spread across her face.
“Your desire for revenge against Hux may just have condemned all of our friends to die,” said Poe, his face darkening.
He got out of his seat and went into the lounge. He walked straight up to Phasma and pointed his blaster straight at her chest.
“You’re coming with us,” he said.
“I’ll do no such thing!” she spat.
“We have to stop Snoke!” Poe said, ignoring her refusal, “We need to go to his command ship and deal with him once and for all!”
Phasma looked at him in disbelief before her look became one of derision.
Finn had to admit, that she had a point with that look… but Poe was right. This could be their only chance to stop Snoke, however crazy a plan it sounded right now. He could see from the look on Rose’s face that she liked the plan about as much as the prospect of eating glass. He couldn’t blame her… the last time they had infiltrated a First Order ship they had been captured. He was reminded all too readily what Phasma did to him as a result.
Phasma looked down at the blaster in Poe’s hand before slowly raising her eyes at him.
“Going back to the First Order is a death sentence for all of us… do you understand?” she was enunciating every word slowly as if talking to a weak-minded child.
“Only if we get captured,” Finn said, and he glanced at Rose, who was now shaking.

Without warning the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Poe who was standing had to rapidly readjust his stance to avoid falling over. They all looked at Locke and could see that he was sitting with his arms folded facing forwards. The ship appeared to be in deep space, so this was clearly not their destination. Finn realised that Locke had used the opportunity of Poe’s absence from the co-pilot’s seat to once again lock up the ship. They were sitting dead in space.
“We are not going to the First Order,” he stated in a matter-of-fact way.
Poe was coming back to the cockpit, “We have to! If they…”
“We are not going to the First Order!” Locke yelled.
“You owe us one pal!” Poe yelled back, “Especially after what you did to Breha!”
Finn frowned, Who the hell’s Breha? he thought…
Finn looked across at Rose. She had stopped shaking; in fact the look on her face was almost serene. The change in her presentation was as sudden as it was unexpected. Finn watched in surprise as she got up slowly and walked towards the cockpit.
Locke’s face was contorted with anger as he turned to speak to Poe again. He didn’t see Rose’s approach from behind until it was too late.
She reached out her hands and tapped him on his temples. Immediately his eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped forward.
Both Finn and Poe looked at her in amazement.
“He’s asleep,” was her simple answer. She looked at them both, “I had to do something!” she explained, “All my life I’ve let anxiety and fear drive my decisions,” she said, “Never again… when I’m calm and focussed I can feel the Force. He had no way of stopping me.”
Finn was impressed… it was like looking at a different person.
Poe was the first to speak, “That’s great Rose… I hope you get to train one day under a wise Jedi Master, but there’s just one problem…” he gestured at the ship’s console, “We’re still locked out of the ship.”
“Leave that to me,” she said, and she reached into the large pouch she always carried on her hip.
Finn’s face lit up as he remembered the last time she had done this.
“Of course!” he said, “you’re a dab hand at this sort of thing!”
As she produced a small device from the pouch she proffered Finn with a smile and a wink. Poe was quick to react to this good news by helpfully hauling Locke out of his seat and dragging him towards the lounge. As soon as he was out of the way she immediately set to work.
“Hopefully this wont take long…” she said in concentration.
Poe had taken the seat she had just vacated and now sat opposite Finn. He was smiling.
“I’ll hand it to her… she’s good!” he said.
Finn nodded and smiled and then had a thought.
“Just a second ago you mentioned someone called Breha…”
Poe’s eyes widened in surprise and his hand went to his forehead as he stared at Finn.
“Of course! You don’t know!” he said.
“Know what?” Finn asked.
Poe chuckled, “I think it’s about time you caught up on the latest news pal!”

 

The general attitude amongst those present was, ‘never again’. Many of them were old enough to remember the Empire. They had fought hard ever since to restore a degree of normality and stability to the galaxy, as well as freedom. They would do whatever they could to stop those hard won changes being taken away once more. They had won a few battles, but had lost many more… and they were being gradually pushed back. Now it would seem, an even bigger threat presented itself.

Having watched through an old BBC series called "Robin of Sherwood" I can only use the fitting quote: "Nothing is forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten."

It seems that the threats for the galaxy never come to an end in the SW universe, but it is not due to alien races from the Outer Regions like in the EU stories. The thread is closer to home: a bad government. Our home planet Earth shows us these days how weird politicians can make the situation bad for everybody.

As for Luke´s speech: epic, simply epic and well written.

 

Thank you! And yes I wanted to portray the Alliance as drawing a line in the sand: enough is enough.

 

Darth_Drachonus here you go!

Just one chapter this time. It'a long one so i wanted it to stand by itself.

Breha and Ben struggle to readjust to their new reality. The holocrons reveal something unexpected...

THIRTY.​

As soon as Ben had made the jump to hyperspace, he left the cockpit of the command shuttle and went to join Breha who was sitting in the main hold. Or at least that was what it felt like to Breha; it was certainly no lounge. The furnishings consisted of hard seats arranged in two rows facing each other which Ben had explained were where the Knights of Ren typically sat when they went on missions. There was at least a table that rose out of the floor between the seats when needed. Ben had already apologised three times for the austere environment.

He sat down opposite her; his eyes downcast. Breha knew why he was avoiding eye contact; it was understandable. Though he had returned to the light, the cold, hard reality of his past was something that neither of them could deny. They cast up a range of emotions that threatened to drive a wedge between them once more. Despite the love she felt for him, she felt utter revulsion for the things he had done. Such cognitive dissonance had the potential to be destructive. She knew she had to somehow come to terms with it if she was to keep Ben from sliding backwards into darkness… Already Breha could see it working away at his mind. She couldn’t allow him to slip away again.

Breha had felt such fortitude in herself even when she was his captive. She had known anger and fear and yet her mental defences had held. All it took to break them down once more was an old, battered doll… how was that even possible she thought? The mind was a curious thing… And it had had the opposite effect on Ben, and that was even more remarkable.
She knew that he would open up in time, about his crimes… the horrors he had committed… the murder of their father…
No Breha… stop! Now is not the time! When all this is over, there will be time for that absolutely… right now you push that into a corner of your mind. You both have a job to do and you need to plan its execution with Ben. Dealing with Snoke is what matters right now.

Breha forced herself to remember the affectionate, kind brother of her early childhood. It didn’t take long before she felt the tension start to ebb away. Comforted by this, she went around the table to sit beside Ben.
He looked up at her approach, his eyes betraying a burden of guilt and despair. She needed to act.
“Ben…” she said as she wrapped an arm around him, “I know this is a very difficult time for you, but you need to stay with me. We need each other more than ever right now…”
“I…” his voice cracked, “I’ve done terrible things…”
Breha could feel his tension; and she opened her heart; allowing the light to flood into him. He tried to resist initially, Breha could feel his guilt, his sense of unworthiness, but she persisted… and the light gradually started to seep in, and some of the tension started to ebb away. For several minutes they stayed like this. Finally she felt ready to take the next step…
“We need to come up with a plan; to beat Snoke,” she said.
He looked up at her as if coming out of a daydream and his eyes slowly came into focus.
“Yes… forgive me Breha,” he said, “We need to focus on this one task.”
Finally… she thought. She wasted no time in moving things along.
“OK,” she said, “First we need to go over everything we know about the artefact.”

This they did and Ben furnished her with what he had yet to tell her and where the gaps in their knowledge lay, of which there were many.
“So… let me get this right,” she began, “Snoke believes that the energy field which nearly killed him will let us through?”
“Correct,” Ben said, “it appears to be the artefact’s only weapon, but it doesn’t need anything else as no weapon can penetrate it.
“Why do you think it attacked Snoke?” she asked.
“I believe that it is simply because he tried to enter alone, even a light-side user would have been attacked. He knew that if we were able to access it, then we could allow anyone else to enter once inside. Snoke believed that was how he would gain access to the artefact.”
“I have often wondered how Snoke thought he would gain my cooperation in this little matter of taking over the galaxy…” she said looking at Ben.
“He believed you could be turned as I was… he said the Skywalkers were unusually susceptible to the Dark Side.”
Breha nodded thoughtfully, “And how would we power it exactly? Is there a control room of some sort?”
“I… don’t know…” he said, but I would presume that once inside, the Force would guide us to wherever we needed to go. It may even show us what we need to do to activate it.”
“If so…” Breha began, “Then our task is straightforward, I just wish we knew what we’ll find when we get there,” she sighed.
“The power the artefact wields is capable of great good as well as great harm. It would enable you to do things beyond imagining. We would be able to control Snoke completely and deal with him as we see fit.” Ben said.
Breha had been thinking about this… unimaginable power. Would either of them be tempted to misuse it? She had no answer… but she knew she would find out if their plan to activate it worked.
She moved on to other things: “Tell me what you know about Snoke.”
Ben drew in a deep breath, “Well… I know that he is very old; ancient in fact. I believe he is one of the last of his species. He wields immense Force power as you know…”
Breha was reminded that he was Sidious’s apprentice. This puzzled her…
“Was Sidious ancient too? Snoke was his apprentice after all…”
“Not to my knowledge…” Ben said, “He lived an ordinary human life span, but in answer to your other point, he told me that Sidious ‘found’ him.”
“Do you know where?” Breha inquired.
“That I do not know…” Ben said, “But he said he had been trapped somewhere and Sidious freed him. It seems as though he had been there for a very long time.”
“Well whatever or whoever he is… his time is finally coming to an end!” she said looking at Ben and smiling.
Ben nodded and smiled back.
“I’ve always admired your inner strength Breha,” he said, studying her face, “Your inner light…”
“Thank you Ben,” she said, “And you can find that inner strength too! You and I… we’re not so different really…”
Breha knew that what happened to Ben could so easily have happened to her, and she had wondered on more than one occasion if she could have commited the same acts. She pushed the thought out of her head.
“Something else did occur to me,” Ben thought, “The holocrons… they’re repositories of knowledge. We should try to access them.”
“Of course!” she said, “We may find out more!”
“I don’t know how successful we’ll be though,” Ben said, “Neither myself nor Snoke were able to access the holocron at the fortress.”
Hmmm… thought Breha. She wondered if this was to do with the Dark Side. They would need to find out.

Breha went to fetch the small sack that Ben had brought with the express purpose of carrying the holocrons. They sat nestled within the soft material of the interior, designed to protect them from damage. She placed the sack carefully on the floor by her feet and extracted the holocrons: one in each hand, placing them slightly apart on the table.They both examined them momentarily.
“So… how do they work?” Breha asked, as much to herself as Ben.
“Draw on the Force…” Ben said.
“Makes sense…” Breha said colouring slightly, “OK here goes…”
Breha did as Ben instructed, all the while watching the holocrons. Nothing happened.
She frowned and sighed, feeling disappointment that the same thing that happened to Ben was apparently now happening to her. She tried again, this time delving deep into the Force, immersing herself in its glow. Still nothing. She pursed her lips, pondering what to do next.
“Ben…” she began, “Why do you think there are two of them?”
“Snoke always said they belonged together; that they would add to ‘our’ power.” Ben said, “He was very esoteric about them however, as if deeper truths awaited discovery only to those worthy. He knew they were somehow connected to the artefact, but if he knew what that connection was, he didn’t say.”
Breha considered this…
“I mean… they clearly belong together,” she said, “as one called to the other on Jakku. We both felt it, but now they’ve gone quiet and… oh!”
Breha suddenly had a thought. She reached out and gently pushed the two pyramids that were the holocrons together until they touched at their bases.
It was as if a floodlight had been switched on, and judging by Ben’s reaction she saw, he felt it too this time!
They were both smiling, they couldn’t help themselves. It felt like an elixir.
“How did you know?” Ben asked.
“On Jakku,” Breha said, “They touched briefly and I had the same sensation! But you didn’t feel it, and now you can!”
Ben’s smile faded and he became thoughtful.
“The Dark Side…” he said, “That must be the reason I couldn’t feel it then but can feel it now.”
“Curious…” Breha said, “One is black. I thought that maybe it represented the Dark Side, and the other one the Light.”
“There’s something we don’t fully understand here, so how about we ask?” Ben suggested smiling once more.
Breha grinned excitedly at Ben. Without a second thought, they both delved into the Force… and something happened.
Almost immediately wisps of light started emanating from the holocrons. They rose up as if they were smoke and then started to merge. A figure coalesced from the smoke in the air above the holocrons, and before them hovered an alien of a species Breha didn’t recognise. It reminded her of some sort of avian, but bipedal like a humanoid; and then it spoke…
“I am Master Kiffran Xal, how may I be of assistance?”
Breha suddenly felt breathless in her excitement. She drew in air and slowed her heartbeat using the Force. She glanced at Ben, who smiling urged her with his eyes to speak first.
“Erm… hello, my name is Breha, this is Ben” she said.
“Welcome Breha and Ben,” said Xal, looking at them in turn.
Breha’s grin was huge as she marvelled at the interactivity of the holocrons.
“Master Xal, why are there two holocrons?” Breha asked.
“There are many holocrons,” said Xal.
“Uh, no, I mean now… the ones projecting your image,” she clarified.
“There is only one holocron projecting my image,” said Xal.
Breha and Ben exchanged a puzzled look as they could clearly see a trail of wispy smoke emanating from both holocrons.
“Do you think they’re working properly?” Breha wondered.
Ben asked, “Are the memory crystals of these holocrons malfunctioning?”
Xal spoke, “The memory crystals for this holocron are in perfect working order.”
“It doesn’t seem to make sense does it?” said Ben, “Let me try something else… Master Xal, why do these holocrons not work when separated?”
“There is only one holocron,” Xal repeated, “and it is working fine.”
Ben twisted his lip. Neither of them seemed to be making much headway.
Breha spoke, “Master Xal do the holocrons…” she stopped herself, “does the holocron know both Light and Dark sides of the Force?”
“There are no light and dark sides of the Force. The Force is.” Xal said.
“The Force is?” she said, to herself as much as Ben or Xal, “Could you please elaborate?”
“Certainly,” said Xal, “The Force is one; indivisible. Life creates the Force; it surrounds and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together…” Xal began.
At least that matches what we know… thought Breha.
“It is a source of power, wisdom and knowledge,” he finished.
Ben spoke, “Master Xal, we have been taught that there are different aspects of the Force: we call them Light and Dark. Some speak of there being a necessary balance between the two. You say there is no Light or Dark, but is there a Balance?”
“The Force requires no Balance,” Xal began, “It cannot be unbalanced.”
Breha looked at Ben, “None of this makes sense! Was the Force somehow different in the past?”
Ben looked at her and shrugged. He was as confused as she was.
“Let’s try something different…” she said, and turned back to Xal, “Master Xal, We seek information on the Artefact.”
“There are many things referred to as artefacts,” said Xal, “Can you please be more specific?”
“Erm… it’s very large and floats in space. It looks like two pyramids joined together by their bases.”
Breha felt that her description was hopelessly inadequate.
“Define large by using comparisons please,” said Xal.
“It’s bigger than the second Death Star,” she said.
“I do not know the second Death Star,” said Xal.
“You don’t know…”
“The holocron is very old,” said Ben intervening, “It only has records on things known about at or before the time of Master Xal.”
Master Xal looked at Ben and nodded.
“Yes… yes of course, that makes sense,” she said, feeling foolish at her naivety.
“It is taller than the diameter of the third moon of Bonadan,” offered Ben.
“Curious comparison,” she said smiling at him.
“There is one match,” said Xal, “The artefact you describe is a Wellspring of the Force.”
Breha and Ben looked at each other again, this time in astonishment.
“I was under the impression that there was only one wellspring!” she said, looking at Ben. She turned back to Xal, “Master Xal, how many wellsprings are there in the galaxy?”
“Two,” he said, “The artefact you described is one, the other is at the First Temple.”
“Something is off…” Ben frowned, “Snoke told me there was only one wellspring… but then not much of what we’re being told right now is making a great deal of sense. So much just doesn’t match what we have been told!”
“You must unlearn what you have learned…” said Breha suddenly remembering something she had heard before.
“Master Luke once said that…” Ben remembered, “To both of us it would seem.”
“I think we need to consider the possibility that everything we have been taught about the Force is wrong,” Breha said fixing Ben with a look of concern.
Ben looked back at Breha with the same look. He had clearly come to the same conclusion.

The moment was broken by a chiming noise coming from the cockpit.
“We’re coming up on the artefact,” said Ben getting up, “or should I say Wellspring…”
Breha noticed that Xal was disappearing back into the holocrons. There was only one seat in the cockpit and so Breha stayed put.
No wonder Snoke wants it… she thought, remembering her time at the Wellspring of the First Temple. She knew of the immense power it had revealed to her as those lights orbited her; how the very Force itself sang a tune in harmony with the entire galaxy. She remembered how Luke had described her as its ‘conductor.’ Now she finally understood what he meant and the thought astonished her… At that very moment she had the opportunity to be in control of everything and everyone! Luke knew she would not seize that power even when it lay right before her. The Wellspring at the First Temple had laid itself bare as if the Force were newborn and helpless in her arms. The thought made her giddy…

She looked towards the cockpit.
He is not ready… she thought.
She reached out in the Force…

 

Which bit?

 

Though he had returned to the light, the cold, hard reality of his past was something that neither of them could deny. They cast up a range of emotions that threatened to drive a wedge between them once more. Despite the love she felt for him, she felt utter revulsion for the things he had done. Such cognitive dissonance had the potential to be destructive. She knew she had to somehow come to terms with it if she was to keep Ben from sliding backwards into darkness… Already Breha could see it working away at his mind. She couldn’t allow him to slip away again.


Thanks for pointing out that the journey back to the light is not an easy one! As Kylo our dear Ben committed an awful lot of crimes in the name of the 1st Order and in the name of the Knights of Ren.

But knowing Breha, she inherited diplomacy from her grandmother Padmé.

 

Thank you! Indeed, I am always reminded that Vader committed many horrors before being redeemed by his son.

Right now they have to stick together. Snoke is a far bigger threat and Breha knows that she must keep her brother in the Light. She is equally undergoing a huge internal struggle to do the right thing.

Right near the end of this story it will become completely apparent just how important this moment becomes to Breha's fate...

 

I have the proverbial bad feeling about this. Is the Resistance fleet going to turn up and attack the artifact while Ben and Breha are inside? Is Luke going to try to get inside on his own? What about Poe, Finn and Rose? And, ahem, the two pieces of scum in their tender care? Phasma blundered once already, I don't put it past her to blunder a second time, and now Snoke might go to the artifact as well... Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this.

And what is Breha up to in the last line of your latest entry? Methinks Ben is not going to enter the artifact in the way he believes he will...

 

Let's just say things are going to get a little 'awkward'...

Breha has a hunch at this moment. Clearly whatever happened at the First Temple Wellspring to Breha was unique and unprecedented. It got her thinking about Ben and the fact it didn't happen to him... I can't say any more at this stage.

 

Darth_Drachonus, it's that time again!

Holdo prepares the fleet... Luke heads for the Artefact... Finn, Rose and Poe have an insane plan... we get a first glimpse into the murky mind of Snoke... and Breha and Ben make sacrifices...

THIRTY ONE.​

Holdo watched from the bridge of the Na’qal as the Mirrorbright made the jump to hyperspace.
I hope you know what you’re doing… Holdo thought.
Luke had told her that he believed that he would find Breha at the artefact, and that Kylo was with her. He needed to find her: and when he did, he would either help her… or stop her. He sincerely hoped it wasn’t the latter.
Holdo had reluctantly agreed to this plan. She didn’t know how much time they had left before the First Order would find out what they were doing. Perhaps they already knew… perhaps right now they were also heading for the artefact.

Three standard hours… that was all the time he had before they would follow him in. Luke told her that he may need more time, but he readily acknowledged what was at stake.
I trust you Luke… she thought to herself. You are every bit as remarkable as your sister…


Snoke sat upon his throne brooding.
He had felt it… the destruction of his fortress. For the first time he felt doubt creeping into his mind. How quickly things had changed… and this coming so soon after being informed by his apprentice of the discovery of their plans by General Hux.
He was surprised at how the plan had escaped detection sooner. Even getting an eavesdropping device into the hidden chamber would have required split second timing when the door was opened, if only for it to not be noticed entering with either himself or Kylo Ren. This is how he knew Hux had help… someone at the fortress; and so he accessed Hux’s private communications and witnessed his conversations with Captain Phasma.

He wondered who else knew and so he had reached into the minds of the personnel on this very ship. Invaded their most private thoughts.
None of them suspect… he thought, but others will surely know…
Snoke regarded the thought of non-force users. He viewed them with pity as much as loathing. And now he hated them even more…
And now the Force had shifted once again… his apprentice had rejoined the light, and he suspected who was responsible. He had failed to turn his sister, and instead she had turned him.
Snoke had a contingency and soon he would act on it.

His thoughts were interrupted by one of his acolytes approaching him.
“What is it?” he said.
“Supreme Leader, General Mollen informs us that the weapon is fully charged. He wishes to be informed of our next target.”
So much had happened during the period of time it had taken the weapon to suck power from this system’s star, Snoke thought… If it had been physically possible to disengage the ship sooner, Snoke would have done so. The limitation of this technology was all too apparent to him.
Snoke was irritated at the interruption from the General, though he knew that at least the newly promoted Mollen was more malleable than Hux had been.
“Tell the General I will enter the coordinates of our new destination myself. He will take the flagship there immediately and await further instructions.”
Snoke knew he needed to be present personally sooner rather than later.
“Yes Supreme Leader.” The acolyte moved towards the side chamber from where he had just appeared.
As the acolyte disappeared from view, Snoke felt another shift in the Force.
The artefact… everyone is converging there, he thought. Snoke could sense that variables were rapidly shifting, and that his apprentice and his sister now had the means to destroy him; but then Snoke had his contingency… and he knew that Kylo Ren had unwittingly ensured that everything so far had played out according to that contingency. Snoke smiled at the thought…
Soon… he told himself.

THIRTY TWO.​

Finn sat in the co-pilot’s seat watching the swirling light show of hyperspace outside the forward viewport.
This is insane… he thought to himself.
He knew the plan they had come up with was crazy, but he couldn’t see any other way for them to gain access to the command ship. That they had seemingly persuaded Phasma was remarkable in itself, but then he knew her well enough to know that she would do what was in her best interests and she could see the logic of the situation all too well… she knew that they would go to the command ship no matter what. She also knew that Poe, Rose and himself were prepared to die if that was what it took to stop Snoke. If she played her part, then there was a better chance they would achieve their mission in a way that meant they may actually live. After that she was free to go. They didn’t care where and she knew it.
As a part of the deal they had untied her and brought her forward to the seat opposite Rose. Her ankles and wrists remained bound but at least she wasn’t trussed up on the floor any more.
Finn looked around to check on Rose. She smiled back at him from her seat where she had her blaster trained on Phasma.
Finn was delighted at what a different person she seemed now… She appeared confident, forthright and decisive and she held that blaster with authority. And she had the Force… Finn knew that if Phasma tried something then Rose would have it covered.
He could see the inert form of BB-8 further back in the lounge. He was performing a full self-diagnostic.
At the back of the lounge he could see Locke now trussed up where Phasma had been and he was sound asleep. Once they had tied him up and Rose had woken him, he had yelled constantly and used every form of invective to the point where Finn felt his ears ringing. Rose put him back to sleep and they had peace once more. It was so tempting to toss him out of the airlock…
He faced forward once more and his mind returned to the one person he cared about more than any…
Breha… he thought. So that was her name… But there were far more remarkable things he had learned… she was a Skywalker! That she was related not only to the legendary Luke Skywalker, but General Leia was her mother, Han Solo was her father and Kylo Ren was her brother.
That’s just as insane as anything we’ve discussed today… he thought.
And now she was gone…
Finn remembered his desperate appeal to her on the landing platform of the fortress. He figured out pretty quickly what she was doing: saving him from almost certain death. He had no idea whether she had now met death herself. Rose had insisted that she had no way of telling through the Force. That was a skill she didn’t possess, at least not yet…

Finn was brought back to the present by a chiming sound in the cockpit.
“We’re coming up on the command ship’s coordinates,” said Poe.
Finn was reminded that the only reason they knew where to go was that Phasma had them in one of her code cylinders. No need to try and extract them from her head using the Force with the potential of her First Order cascade programming shutting her brain down. That’s when she conceded to the inevitability of their mission.

Poe pulled a lever and as Finn watched, hyperspace reverted to a normal star field once more. Poe was checking long range sensors.
“It looks like we’ve missed them…” he said sounding deflated.
“Check for ion trails,” said Finn, “We might be able to work out their last trajectory.”
Poe concentrated on his readouts, “There’s something here and it’s pretty fresh… in fact I’d say that they only left the system a short while ago.”
“Which way do you think they might have gone?” asked Finn.
“That way,” said Poe encompassing half the galaxy by sweeping his hand across the viewport.
“They’ve gone to the Artefact,” said Rose.
Finn looked around at her, “How do you know? I mean I’m not doubting you or anything…”
Rose looked back at him, “It’s just a hunch,” she said.
“I never cease to be amazed with what you can do with the Force,” said Finn looking impressed.
“I’m not using the Force… I’m not quite that good Finn!” she said smiling, “It just makes sense if you think about it.”
“She’s right,” said Poe, “Snoke likely already knows the truth of what the Resistance are doing, he’ll want to protect this ‘Artefact’, whatever it is… and besides… the ion trail leads directly into the Unknown Regions.”
“Are you sure?” said Finn.
“Have you ever doubted me?” said Poe with a wry grin, “Take a look… I’ve narrowed it down to this area of space. He’d have no reason to go there with a ship that’s designed to boil planets. He’d simply move onto the next target, and it’s clear from the readings coming from the star in this system that he’s just recharged the weapon.”
“And the Artefact lies in that region of space…” said Finn, “Well at least I don’t have those numbers endlessly repeating in my head any more…” he added.
“The transmission was finite in design,” said Phasma, “Perhaps I should have ensured that it kept on transmitting indefinitely if I’d known how it affected you.”
Finn craned his head around to the seat where Phasma was sitting, “Who asked you for your input?” he said.
The look Phasma gave back to Finn suggested to him that she had put on her most disdainful look entirely for his benefit.
“There’s just one teensy little problem,” said Poe, “Our plan was to get on board the command ship with Phasma bluffing her way in so that we could land in their hangar. That isn’t going to work now.”
“It was never going to work in the first place,” said Phasma dismissively.
“Shut up,” said Rose.
Finn smirked, feeling suitably impressed with Rose’s new found assertiveness!
Finn turned his attention back to Poe, “Phasma isn’t supposed to know the coordinates of the artfact, right?”
“So… what’s the plan?” Poe said appealing to Finn and Rose.
Rose spoke, “Maybe we should head to the rendezvous?”
“There isn’t time,” said Poe, “We’ve been heading away from there for hours. Even in this ship we’d almost certainly miss them.”
“And they’ll be heading for the Artefact anyway,” said Finn.
“So I guess that’s where we’ll be heading too!” said Poe
“Agreed,” said Finn.
“Let’s do it!” said Rose.
Finn looked around just in time to see Phasma rolling her eyes.

THIRTY THREE.​

The artefact now known to Breha and Ben as a Wellspring hung in space in front of them. It was rather unsurprisingly exactly how they expected it to look. However, familiarity with its appearance did nothing to prepare them for seeing it for real. They were both, to say the least, in awe of what they were looking at.

“Well it’s certainly big…” said Breha.
Ben had given up the pilot’s seat to allow her a good look. He leaned over the pilot’s console beside her craning his neck to take in the immensity of the structure.
“It looks dead,” Ben said, “No signs of life whatsoever. Maybe it’s been like this for millennia.”
“The only sign of anything going on is the energy field,” she said, “And that’s giving off some very odd readings…” she was looking at a monitor in front of her.
“At least it hasn’t attacked us yet,” Ben said.
“Shall we bring the ship in closer?” Breha suggested.
“Yes I think so,” said Ben, “but before we do, let’s fetch the holocrons. They seem to be the key to this somehow.”
Ben went and picked them up from the table and brought them to the cockpit. He handed the white one to Breha.
“I don’t know whether it matters who gets which one,” he said, “Or even if we’re supposed to hold them!”
Breha was thinking, “I think we should ask!”
“Good thinking,” Ben agreed, and they held them together.
Xal reappeared on cue.
“Master Xal,” Breha began, “Does the holocron help us to access the Wellspring?”
“No it does not,” he said.
“Well that answers that I suppose!” Breha said raising her eyebrows.
“I have a question,” Ben said, “Master Xal, what is the holocron’s connection to the Wellspring?”
“The shape,” said Xal.
“Of course!” Breha said, “If we touch them at the bases…” she brought them together…
Without warning, the two holocrons fused together and formed a single structure.
Ben grinned excitedly at Breha, “Now it makes sense!” said Ben, “Breha, the two holocrons were merely two halves of a bigger one! No wonder they didn’t work when separated. They were effectively broken!”
Xal continued to hover above the newly fused holocron seemingly unmoved by this revelation. Breha looked down at the holocron and frowned.
“It’s moving…” she said.
Suddenly the holocron started to shake violently in her hand and with a brief flash of light from the centre, split in half once more. Xal disappeared.
Breha looked up at Ben with confusion, “Does it prefer to be broken I wonder?”
“Another mystery…” he said.
“And Xal said the connection with the Wellspring is its shape,” Breha said, “Which sort of implies that maybe we’ve been assigning it too much importance.”
Ben nodded, “Whatever its connection to the Wellspring, shape or otherwise, I think we need to press on. If they have any more significance as Snoke suggested, then maybe this will be revealed to us by the Wellspring itself.”
“We can’t put this off any longer, can we?” Breha said, looking once more at the Wellspring out of the forward viewport.
She vacated the pilot’s seat and Ben sat down and started to bring the engines back to life.
Breha resumed her seat and picked up the small shoulder bag she had been carrying ever since she had travelled to the fortress. Ben had returned it to her before they’d left there having emptied it of the rations she had carried within. Now all it contained was her doll. She lifted the flap and looked at it. She had a strange urge to hold it once more as if it were her protection whenever she was scared. She felt uneasy now and thought it might comfort her and so she reached in for it and pulled it out.
Without warning she felt a surge of emotion and started to well up. She could feel anger starting to grow rapidly within her. She gasped as a tear ran down her cheek and dropped the doll on the floor. The strong emotions she had been experiencing left her as suddenly as they’d come.
“Are you OK back there?” Ben said, not turning around.
“Something just happened…” she said, recovering her composure.
Ben killed the engines and looked around with concern. He saw the doll on the floor by her feet.
“What just happened?” he asked.
“The doll…” Breha said, staring down at the tiny prone figure at her feet, “I felt it again! All the emotions I had when I was taken to Jakku…”
Ben left his seat and came back to Breha, embracing her in a hug.
“You still haven’t recovered from that have you?” he said softly, “On Jakku… when you confronted me… I could feel your emotions laid bare… I had no defence. You knew exactly the right words to say… and you brought me back to the light.”
Breha knew this to be true, and then it occurred to her…
“Ben… it’s the doll!” she said, her voice rising.
“Yes, it reminded you of…” he began.
“No! It’s like the lightsabre!” she said, “This only happened when I touched it… I think it has a Force memory…”
Ben looked down at the doll, “Sometimes… at times of great emotional upheaval, the bearer can leave a Force impression on an inanimate object… you underwent great trauma…” he said, shaking his head.
“…and the doll… it was my only comfort in my despair…” Breha said.
Breha had a sudden thought. The doll had been her crutch for years. When she became whole, she felt less of a need to cling to the past. She had become a strong, independent woman and she knew that her journey to that point entailed making certain sacrifices; letting go…
She looked at Ben, “I need to do something.”

She sat in the pilot’s seat looking out of the viewport. As she did so, a tiny figure drifted past, tumbling slowly as it did. The doll with the torn filthy dress would never know a new outfit. Its battered body would never be repaired. It would spend eternity as a broken thing.
And Breha was finally fully healed.

Ben put his arm around her shoulders. She looked up with a warm smile at his touch.
“Ready?” he said.
“More than ever…” she said.


Ben brought the ship forward, and they slowly approached the energy field.
“Do you think it will accept us?” said Breha from her seat.
“I think we’re about to find out…” said Ben, “If not, I’ll have to get us out of here as soon…”
Without warning a beam of energy lanced out of the energy shield towards the ship. In a heartbeat it engulfed it. The ship began to shake violently.
“I can’t do anything!” Ben yelled, “I’ve lost control…”
A golden light seeped into the cabin. It appeared to Breha to be coming through the very walls of the ship. Breha felt the light enter her body; enter her mind… suddenly the shaking stopped.
She tried to steady her breathing and slow her racing heart. She looked towards the cockpit.
Ben looked around at her, “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine,” she said back.
“The ship is still moving forward,” he said, “and we’re through the energy field!”
Breha exhaled in relief… they were still alive and unharmed!

The Wellspring filled the viewport and Breha came forward to watch. As she did so, she could see that the ship was heading towards a rectangular opening somewhere above the equator of the Wellspring.
“Some sort of docking bay?” she speculated.
“I guess…” said Ben, “I have no control of the ship any more. It appears to be taking us there of its own accord.”
The rectangular opening grew as they approached until it dwarfed the ship.
“You could get a Star Destroyer in here…” Ben stated.
As the ship began to enter the opening, lights started to appear; lots of them.
“It’s as if it’s waking up,” Breha said.
Ben nodded slowly in agreement.
The ship passed through a containment field and Ben looked at the readings on the console.
“We’re in atmosphere, and these readings suggest that the air is perfectly breathable.”
“Just as well… we don’t have spacesuits,” said Breha.
The ship descended towards a landing platform. As it did so, concentric rows of lights appeared on its surface and the ship landed smoothly in the centre of the lights.
“I guess we’re here!” Ben said.
Breha felt excitement but also trepidation. she knew they had a task to perform and hoped that the Wellspring would guide them.
They both repaired to the main hold and gathered what little they had.
Breha was watching Ben.
“You’re not taking your lightsabre?” she said.
Ben looked down at the floor and then met her eyes, “No… I’m letting go of the past Breha… as you have done.” and he smiled at her.
She smiled back, “Let’s go big brother…”
Ben nodded almost imperceptibly and reached for the controls operating the boarding ramp.

 

They made it through! A yeah to that.

And they do not take their weapons with them, which is a good sign. (Especially when I recall the Luke tree incident on Dagobah!)

 

What are they gonna find in there?!

 

They are safe from the artefact itself, it has allowed them to enter, and in fact they can effectively take control of it now. However... as with anything in stories, it's never that simple...

Pretty much the last thing they expected.

 

Temptation.


I thought I'd write a bit on this subject.

I hope that readers have picked up that one of the common themes running through the story is this one. Various characters are tempted by things but none more so than Breha: our hero.

Breha was tempted at the Wellspring with absolute power; absolute control... and she resisted as Luke knew she would, such was his faith in her.

After her mental breakdown and the death of her mother she was tempted once more... this time by the Dark Side, and consequently she attempted to kill Locke. This was her moment of real weakness; she was overwhelmed with grief and it nearly destroyed her. This time Luke brought her back.

More recently Breha was tempted with food by her enemy. This time she gave in, but only to her benefit. Sometimes succumbing to temptation is necessary, and Breha knows this.

Breha was then tempted once more by the Dark Side when the Force memory of the doll threatened to overwhelm her once more. This time she was saved by her brother. The irony of this is not lost on Breha. Twice now she has nearly succumbed to darkness even though the narrative suggests this would not happen, that somehow she was different. We can forgive her first error to some degree because she had just lost her mother. She was at a low ebb and her emotions were laid raw, but the second time? She was a much stronger person this time around and yet it nearly happened again. Call it the Will of the Force, but this time it was necessary. It was necessary because her unleashing of pure rage on her brother ended up saving him, and then he saved her.

For years she had used her doll as a crutch. When it came back into her life, she had every intention of keeping it close, but it quickly became apparent that this was destructive, and not just because of its Force memory: she was clinging onto the past. This was an attempt to recapture her lost childhood. She came to the realisation that she had moved on, and that holding onto the doll was stalling her emotional evolution into a stronger, more mature person. She needed to let go... It may just have been a doll, and a rather battered one at that, but it symbolically represented everything that had harmed her emotionally; the distillation of her pain and suffering. She had to let go... and then she was finally fully healed.

And now she will face her biggest temptation yet...