Chapter 11: Until We Meet Again

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] Padawan Ben Solo has suffered an attack by a hostile security device guarding the abandoned Imperial lab on Jakku. Leia insists he return home to Hosnian Prime for medical treatment, but before he and Luke depart the planet, Ben has one last encounter with an intriguing little girl in the market of Niima Outpost.

“Mom, I’m ok!” Ben Solo rolled his eyes.

He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. He’d accidentally tripped a booby trap in the deserted lab and the device had given him quite a shock — or at least that’s what they’d told him. He really didn’t remember much about that day they explored the caves beneath Carbon Ridge.

Leia’s face in holo image said otherwise. “Sweetie, we don’t know exactly what that device did to you. We need to have our medical droids check you out.”

“But can’t you upload my records to the Falcon and have some droid here check me out?” Ben protested.

Heading back to Hosnian Prime was going to severely cut the time he and Luke could spend in the Mid Rim. The Millennium Falcon was at their disposal for a limited time, and Luke was a bit short of credits to hire transport this far out.

Shaking her head, Leia sighed. Ben was so much like Han when faced with a roadblock in his path. He’d try to talk his way out of anything unless she immediately put a stop to it. “There are no droids on Jakku to be trusted, no medical establishment to speak of. The Senate is working hard to change that, but….”

“Frag the Senate!” Ben launched himself out of the co-pilot’s chair and began to pace.

“Ben!” That colorful word he hadn’t learned from Han, or her, for that matter — although he’d certainly learned a lot of other choice words. Her son’s frustration level had just exploded. She’d have to let him vent.

“We won’t even be able to go to Jedha now!” Ben was fuming, arms flailing, pacing. “I got my lightsaber half-built and Luke promised we could hunt for kyber crystals.”

“I know, sweetie, but it’ll have to wait.”

He whirled back to face her. “You’re not a Jedi! You don’t understand!”

Leia closed her eyes in an effort to center herself. It was a technique she used to keep her temper more and more often these days. “Let me talk to your uncle. Is he still outside?”

“Mom,” Ben tried again, taking a deep breath, “Dr. Snoke’s checked me out.”

“Inasmuch as she can,” Leia cut in, “but there are still some tests you need that she can’t perform. She doesn’t have the equipment.” She gave him a stern but not unsympathetic look. “Now, go…get…Luke.”

With a grunt, Ben hit the button, opening the freighter doors with a hydraulic hiss, and stalked down the ramp and out into the heat of the Jakku desert. He found his uncle underneath the Falcon in the shade.

“I’ll do everything I can,” Lor San Tekka was saying, grasping Luke’s flesh-and-blood hand in his, “to keep an eye on the little one. Her parents are decent folk but have fallen on hard times.”

He turned to look at the little girl in question — just a wispy thing that would blow away in a strong wind. She stood in an awninged stall near the gates of the landing field, head cocked to one side, squinting at the passersby. Her mother, working for Unkar Plutt, sold what last-minute supplies and trinkets she could to departing spacers and worked her pottery wheel.

“They don’t know she’s Force-sensitive,” San Tekka commented ruefully. “Too many mouths to feed to notice.”

Ben edged his way in and gave Luke a doleful look. “Mom wants to talk to you.”

The Jedi Master inclined his head to San Tekka and gave the old family friend a warm farewell before disappearing up the ramp, leaving Ben one last chance to look around before their departure.

“Tell your mother, young prince,” San Tekka told the boy with a smile, “she may be a senator now, but she’ll always be royalty to me.”

Ben flashed him a lopsided grin. “I will.” And watched the man slip into the shade of the market stalls.

In truth, there wasn’t much to see on the outskirts of Niima Outpost — just a few foul-smelling happabores lustily drinking from murky troughs beyond the sand-blasted fences. His eyes came to rest on the last booth where the girl and mother were uncrating things. Amanda Snoke was there too, chatting with the potter woman and smiling down at the child. Ben shrugged and sauntered slowly in their direction. He hadn’t perused that booth and he still had a few credits. Maybe there was something interesting he could putter with on the long journey home.

“Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” Dr. Snoke was saying amiably but with some urgency. “Your daughter would get the finest education the New Republic can offer — at no expense to you — and rich opportunities she can only dream of now.”

The woman — scrawny, care-worn, and aged before her time — shook her head. “The girl will have plenty of opportunities here to help us keep a roof over our heads and the the Hutts off our backs.” Her face brightened as Ben Solo approached, bringing with him the prospect of a juicy sale. “Now here’s a young master who knows a thing or two,” she cooed.

“That’s right,” Snoke beamed. “He’s with the academy.” She draped an arm around Solo’s son and pulled him into a quick hug.

Ben ignored the women as they went on chatting, his eyes roaming over the junk, spare parts, and food packets for sale before coming to rest on the little girl. She looked back at him with big eyes, her hair done up in back into three buns.

“What’s your name?” he asked with a smirk.

She shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

She wrinkled her nose at the question, then after a moment said, “What’s it to you?” It was a mouthful for the three-year-old — something her parents had taught her to say to strangers.

Ben shrugged back. “Just asking. It’s polite to ask.” He would have said more but felt a familiar grip on his arm.

“Time to go,” Amanda Snoke announced with a grin. “Your uncle’s waving us over.” To the girl’s mother, she said flatly, “You’ll accept our offer.”

Again, the woman shook her head.

“Someday,” Dr. Snoke added after an imperial pause and a departing smirk. She gave the tiny girl a wink. “Such spunk.” Her sharp eyes narrowed. “Until we meet again.”

@MyKyloRen    4 May 2018

Chapter 10: Through Passion, I Gain Strength

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] In the abandoned Imperial lab on Jakku, thirteen-year-old Padawan Ben Solo longs to find traces of the dark lord he’s seen in holovids, as he helps his uncle track down confiscated Jedi artifacts. What he doesn’t bargain for is a Sith artifact finds him first.

It was a box of crystalline lattices, its matrices perfectly aligned, and it was rapidly spinning in Ben Solo’s hands. The central smoke-colored crystal pulsed with a blood-red light in intervals and patterns that had meaning to the initiated. The gatekeeper of the vessel was awake and speaking to the Padawan through the Force.

Those who serve the light are limited in what they accomplish. True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise. The dark side offers power for power’s sake. You must crave it. Covet it.

“No!” Luke, still several meters away, could feel the connection between the Sith entity and his nephew, even though he couldn’t make sense of the words that hissed from the fist-sized pyramid.

But Ben understood and echoed them back in Basic, mesmerized by the holocron rotating in his hands, more slowly now, like a startled bird settling on its master’s glove.

“Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory….”

The trance trailed off as the holocron was forcibly ripped from Ben’s grasp. The feat took all Luke’s strength, all his concentration.

“Do or do not,” Yoda had always said. “There is no try.” Well, he had. And now he held in his mechanical hand a Sith datacron — a box housing a thousand years or more of dark-side knowledge accessible only to another Force-user, its shape duplicating the angles of power in Sith culture. The Jedi Master felt a wave of nausea seize him and he wanted to drop it, but the strange hieroglyphs carved on its sleek sides drew him in.

Ben Solo was on the floor, eyes rolled back in his head. Amanda Snoke was cradling the boy, murmuring to him soothingly — a mother’s soft words of reassurance. But what the Padawan’s unconscious mind heard through the Force was a stroking of a different kind.

“Yes, yes,” a silky voice said, “you heard it — the gatekeeper, the creator of the holocron. Good. He found you worthy to receive its secrets, to know its spirit. Your powers are growing faster than I dared believe, my worthy pupil.”

She stroked his cheek with her thumb, feeling the life-pulse under it and the flutter within the young mind as Han Solo’s son struggled up through the levels of unconsciousness and opened unfocused eyes.

Luke didn’t see the satisfied smirk on Dr. Snoke’s face. He was too busy tearing his gaze from the glyphs that ensnared all his Force-attention. Gritting his teeth, he made one final effort and sat down hard as if he were shoved backward by an invisible hand. The onyx pyramid tumbled free and came to rest against the far wall of the corridor, its inner light slowly fading.

Amanda Snoke smiled down at the boy in her arms — dark, Force-sensitive, and lovely — as Ben’s eyes searched her face. “You’re safe now.” She cast a cursory glance at Luke and managed to muster some concern. “Are you all right, Master Jedi?”

Luke picked himself up, dusted himself off, and made his way to her, kneeling by his nephew’s side. The boy’s eyes closed again, but he was was breathing peacefully now. “We need to get him out of here tonight and back on Hosnian Prime.” Luke was kicking himself. “I should never have brought him to this place.”

“What was that?” She hid her knowing face well as she smoothed Ben’s hair.

Luke reached out too with his flesh-and-blood hand to feel his Padawan’s forehead. After a moment, he said, “Something Master Yoda never prepared me for.” He let go of a long breath, eyeing the evil thing where it lay down the corridor.  “A Sith holocron — something I’d only ever heard of in legends.” His gaze shifted to his nephew. “I don’t know what it did to him. Each one is different and depends on the gatekeeper inside it. We need to get him checked out.” His voice grew quiet. “And I need to talk to Leia.”

“Who did that device — the holocron — belong to?” Dr. Snoke asked, seeking to understand, although she already did.

The question caught Luke off guard — almost as if she could sense his thoughts. It was precisely what was in the forefront of his mind.

When he didn’t say anything, she guessed, “Darth Vader? I mean, it’s possible he was here, right?”

Luke was shaking his head and the words were coming out of his mouth before he knew what he was saying. “No, I would have sensed my father’s presence.” He quickly got to his feet and busied himself with their packs, hiding his doubts and fears.

She stared after the Jedi. “Darth Vader was your father?”

Ben stirred but did not come to. The voice inside his head was so soothing. All he wanted to do was curl up next to it and sleep.

As he strapped on his pack, Luke’s focus was entirely on his nephew. “Anakin Skywalker was,” he corrected her, taking Ben from her arms and lifting him into his. Before he made his way back down the corridor, he stopped and shot her a pleading look. “Please don’t tell Ben. It’s something Leia should explain…when he’s ready to hear it.”

“Of course.” Amanda Snoke gave the Jedi a smile and a nod and watched his retreating back before she strapped on her own pack.

And picked up the holocron.

 

@MyKyloRen   17 April 2018

 

Chapter 9: The Emperor’s New Lab

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] Padawan Ben Solo, Master Luke Skywalker, and Dr. Amanda Snoke explore the Imperial lab and observatory left behind on Jakku after the fall of the Empire. They maneuver past the Dead-Enders defending the place, but Ben soon finds the lab is guarded by something more lethal.

The cavern was enormous, lit only by one sickly arch lamp that buzzed and flickered, the draining power cells threatening to extinguish its feeble light. The troopers had long since fallen back to guard the entrance to the Imperial facility — a  place no one had maintained since the fall of the Empire, forgotten like the men left to defend it, crazed and unaware that the war had ended.

Even with the advanced academy courses Ben had taken in exobiology and chemistry, the lab was like none he’d ever seen. Stasis chambers containing a sampling of species from every sector of the galaxy lined the perimeter of the main room. Most chambers had lost their power supply long ago, the contents gruesomely desiccated and shriveled beyond recognition. But a few compartments here and there hummed away, maintaining solutions of bacta and whatever life-supporting fluids their specimens required.

“Clones, from the looks of it,” Ben heard Amanda Snoke say as he pressed his palms to the transparasteel tank to peer at a lonely Mon Calamari — just a small fry. Ten others moldered in their ruined chambers, one after another.

“Are there any alive?” she wondered.

“This one is,” Ben said excitedly. “I can sense him!” He beamed at Luke — a lesson mastered in the Living Force.

Luke returned his Padawan’s smile. “Yes, I think the ones in intact chambers are.” He was examining the clones himself now, striding slowly down their ranks, eyeing each one thoughtfully.

Amanda trailed behind him. “Then we must do what we can to save them.”

The Jedi Master said nothing at first, almost as if he hadn’t heard her. Then he turned and eyed her slantwise. “We don’t know what cruelty they’ve suffered at the Emperor’s hands, what perversion he’s twisted them into.”

There was a sudden intake of breath as Ben jumped and stepped back from the working chamber. The Mon Calamari’s huge bulbous eyes were open and fixed on the young human, its gills opening and closing rapidly.

Luke ignored his nephew’s shock. “We may be doing these poor souls a favor by pulling the plug and reuniting them with the Force.”

“Surely we have to try,” Amanda pressed. “We should find out who their families are. We owe that much to them.” She paused, running her finger down a functioning unit. “Are any of them…Force-sensitive?”

After a moment, Luke nodded — both in answer to her question and in agreement.

“I can have transports here within a standard rotation,” she suggested.

He reached out and gripped the counselor gently by the arm. “We shouldn’t attract attention to this place.” He eyed her intently. “There’s technology here that should not fall into the wrong hands.”

“What’s this?” The voice was bright with curiosity.

They’d forgotten all about Ben. Just off the stasis room lay an octagonal chamber containing a bank of computer systems — ancient yet still functioning. They turned to see the boy give a little start as a console fired up to emit a huge blue holographic display.

“Ben!” Luke hurried to his nephew’s side, concerned for the boy’s safety.

“What?” Ben shot back, annoyed. “I didn’t touch anything!”

Luke’s voice took on a tone of urgency as he laid a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “You know you have an energy that influences everything around you. You have to learn to control it, or you’ll  get yourself killed.”

Ben glared at him for spoiling the excitement he could hardly contain. “Look! It’s working.” He gestured at the slowly rotating hologram.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Luke sighed, glancing uneasily at the console. He turned to study the image.

A map…of the galaxy…but no part he recognized.

“What is it?” Amanda said, watching him closely.

She knew exactly what it was, for she knew every inch of those planets lazily orbiting their stars, along with the darkness between them. But she was testing him, testing the legend that was Luke Skywalker.

The legend walked slowly through the holo image, making sense of the celestial objects organized into various systems, along with a script he’d only seen in ancient texts.

“It’s a map of the Unknown Regions,” he told her absently, his gaze roving over the planetary systems and the spinning, spiraling black hole at the center. “The Emperor wanted to expand beyond known space. This lab must be just one of his observatories. There must be more with this level of detail.”

“Check this out!” Ben cried. Growing bored with the star map, he’d wandered into a corridor — pentagonal and composed of burnished metal and black glass. Something had pulled him there — something urgent, insisting, and desirable. Something obsidian and pyramidal.

He reached for it.

He had to have it.

It had to have him.

“Ben!”

 

@MyKyloRen  9 April 2018

 

Chapter 8: Vader’s Fist

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] Master Luke Skywalker, along with Padawan Ben Solo and Dr. Amanda Snoke, pay a visit to the canyons of Carbon Ridge on Jakku, guarded by crazed old men. Rumor has it these mad humans are aging stormtroopers clinging to life in an abandoned Imperial base, and Luke can’t pass up the opportunity to come to their aid — and, he hopes, to locate confiscated Jedi artifacts.

Luke ducked. Their aim was good, but it wasn’t anything a normal man couldn’t sidestep. If the old troopers remembered their training and fired their pathetic stone missiles, they’d overwhelm him, and he’d have to resort to using the Force. Plus, there was Ben and Amanda to worry about. He didn’t have to glance over his shoulder to know they were crouching behind the craggy outcropping, but he did anyway…and tried again.

“I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you.”

Another fist-sized rock whizzed past his ear.

“You’re here to rescue them?” Ben poked his head out to gape at his uncle. “I thought we were here to make them a deal?”

The Jedi Master smirked, remembering. “I got your mother to follow me with that line once.”

The humor, however, was lost on his nephew, and the crazy old men the Jakku natives called the Dead-Enders were not Alderannian princesses. Another barrage of stones rained down on him from the entrance to the cave in the cliff face above. There were five that he could see — all clasping blaster rifles at the ready and calling frantically to one another. As expected, they leveled their rifles as one at the Jedi Master–

“Get down!” Ben shrieked at Luke.

Luke waived him off, unperturbed.

–and fired.

Nothing happened. No zinging blast of fiery bolts.

“Their power cells are long dead,” Luke explained over his shoulder.

Almost at once, the old troopers broke wedge formation and took up new positions in the rocks above. The shouting continued.

“What are they saying?” Ben said, venturing out and coming to stand with Luke.

In the canyon below, the cries of the men — long strings of numbers and barked orders — echoed off the cliffs.

“Come about, FN-five-eight-seven-five! Tracking four-one-three-two-nine at two. Incoming five-three-one-eight-five point two-six-seven. Repeat five-three-one-eight-five point two-six-seven! Do you copy? Copy that, FN-nine-nine-six-two. It’s a one-six-niner coming in fast!”

A flurry of rocks, as fast as the old men could throw and as heavy as they could lift, pelted the Rebel forces below.

Luke raised his hands and effortlessly directed the stones aside.

“They’re reliving the Battle of Jakku,” Amanda Snoke suggested, stepping out. “They probably do that any time someone threatens them.”

Luke turned to look at her. “So, how do we not threaten them?”

They took refuge again behind the heap of boulders and put their heads together. The two adults were so intent on comparing what they knew of stormtrooper psychology, post traumatic stress disorder, and an array of precautions from survival manuals that they failed to notice Ben Solo emerge from the shelter to take a position in the center of the dry riverbed. Instantly, he was bombarded by stones, but not one touched him. Instead, they stopped midair, centimeters from his body, and hung there, suspended by an invisible force.

Ben called out, eyes closed, hand raised palm out, “I am a stormtrooper. My skin is my armor. My face is my helmet. My name is my number. I am fulfilled, for I am an agent of….”

“An agent of the Emperor,” the troopers joined in, standing at attention now, reciting the oath burned into their memories, their flesh, their souls. “I am Vader’s fist,” the troopers of the 501st finished as one.

“Ben!” Luke cried as the stone projectiles surrounding his nephew suddenly shifted, threatening to pummel the boy’s lithe body into the sands.

Ben Solo’s focus had strayed. Vader, he told himself, gritting his teeth. I must be Vader! The stones danced. All at once, his mind was on point. “Then prepare for the Emperor’s inspection!” he commanded the troopers.

Above, all five troupers saluted. “Yes, sir!”

And the rocks surrounding the padawan learner dropped harmlessly to the ground. Ben opened his eyes. “Come on!” he called over his shoulder, waving Luke and Amanda to follow. “I know the way in.”

Amanda Snoke was on Luke’s heels. “You taught him well!” she said with a laugh.

Luke returned the grin, although he knew without a doubt that he couldn’t take credit for teaching his young nephew any Jedi mind tricks or stormtrooper oaths. Skywalker had planned to handle the situation without using the Force, for he had the uneasy feeling that any time he did, something was watching. Something on Jakku was waiting to pounce.

In a short while, they’d climbed the steep path out of the canyon and stood face to face with the remnants of the 501st Legion. They could see at least ten troopers now, no longer hostile and all awaiting inspection at the entrance to the cave.

“You have to be the Emperor,” Ben muttered to Luke under his breath.

The Jedi Master raised an eyebrow. “Is that how this works?” He was amused but wary. But whatever Ben was doing, it was working, so he allowed himself to be pulled into the scenario.

“What am I?” Amanda asked with a smirk.

“An imperial guard,” Ben answered, and without hesitation, he stepped forward and advance purposefully down the ranks. As he walked, he cupped his hands to his mouth, inhaling and exhaling in a slow, hollow hiss.

Vader’s hiss.

If the hair wasn’t standing up on the back of Luke’s neck before, it was now.

 

@MyKyloRen   25 March 2018

 

Chapter 7: And You’ll Drop All Charges

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] Dr. Amanda Snoke arrives in the Jakku village of Tuanul to hear charges brought against Padawan Ben Solo by a young Twi’lek girl named Ukij’ruhay. Outraged by the disfigurement she’s suffered, Ukij nonetheless drops all charges, freeing Ben to join his Master on another mission.

“One at a time, please!” Dr. Amanda Snoke held up her hand to the crush of Tuanul villagers in the assembly hut.

“We respect the Force,” one woman was at pains to explain, “but this is a clear misuse of it!”

“All she did was touch him. I saw it!” another cried.

Again, Counselor Snoke held up her hand. “Padawan Ben Solo is not denying the accusations,” she confirmed, eyeing the skittish boy in question through the crowd. “He is under stricter guidance now from Luke Skywalker and myself. At present, the New Republic Center of Juvenile Detention believes this is sufficient for behavior modification. What we need to do now is determine Ukij’s needs and how we can fulfill them.” She glanced at the Twi’lek defendant. “This Council session is beginning to wear on her,” she said with sympathetic reassurance on the girl’s behalf. “Perhaps it would be best if I interviewed her alone.”

Ukij’ruhay met Dr. Snoke’s gaze with cold distrust for humans. After a moment, the Twi’lek nodded.

Ben Solo watched the two women exit the hut, biting his lower lip. “What now?”

Luke Skywalker folded his arms and glanced down at his nephew. “Now we hope she’ll drop the charge of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm.” He drew breath to say more, but Ben cut him off.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her!” Luke had since set him straight on Ukij’s amorous intentions. Ben’s cheeks still burned. He’d pulled up his hood to hide his embarrassment. “I just wanted her to leave me alone.”

“I know, Ben.” Luke laid a hand on his padawan’s shoulder. “But we need to sort out the legal mess. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

In the small hut not far from the communal fire pit where the evening meal was roasting, Amanda Snoke felt the same way. “I’m very sorry for your injuries, she told the Twi’lek. “The New Republic will compensate you and pay for all medical treatment.”

“I am shamed!” Ukij wailed on as if she hadn’t heard the offer. “I can’t show my face among my people with this!” She held up her limp lekku. “How will you pay for my shame?”

Snoke took both the Twi’lek’s hands in hers and leaned forward. “Shame is something only the weak feel,” she said soothingly. “You’re not weak, are you?”

It wasn’t a question.

Ukij gave an almost imperceptible jerk, then reflected Amanda’s confident smile. “No, I was always the….” She was about to say “the strong one,” when her face took on a blank expression.

“You’re so strong, in fact,” Amanda suggested in a low voice, “that you don’t need any compensation.”

Dully, Ukij parroted back, “I don’t need any compensation.”

Dr. Snoke smiled and squeezed the defendant’s hands. “And you’re dropping all charges against Ben Solo.”

“And I’m dropping all charges against Ben Solo,” Ukij intoned.

“Oh, bless you!” Amanda beamed, helping Ukij to her feet and embracing her. “It was all a silly misunderstanding.” She held the girl at arm’s length to steady her. “Thank you.”

She let Ukij go and watched her walk out of the hut, the girl blinking with surprise and contentment. At the door when the Twi’lek hesitated and turned to look back, Dr. Snoke gave her a little three-fingered wave of gratitude — or was it dismissal? — beaming brightly.

#   #   #

“So, tell me about these Dead-Enders,” Amanda Snoke said chewing thoughtfully as she sat with Luke and Ben around the fire at breakfast the next day. She’d brought some rockmelon and had shared it with the delighted villagers. Fruit was a luxury in Tuanul. “Sounds exotic.”

“We don’t know much about them yet,” Luke admitted after a swallow of thissermount milk. “They’ve rumored to be old stormtroopers and officers left behind when the Empire pulled out.” He toyed with the fried legumes on his plate. “Lor San Tekka thinks they might be guarding some sort of lab.”

“Ooh, that does sound exiting!” She gave Ben a special wink and a grin that wrinkled her nose. She took a sip of water. “Want me to come? Maybe I can be some help?”

Ben nodded vigorously.

“Sure,” Luke agreed amiably. “The more the merrier. We could use another voice of reason.”

Ben dropped his spoon in his bowl with a clang. “Before we go anywhere — anywhere dangerous, that is,” he added, wriggling with excitement, “you have to see what I made.”

He pulled them over to a workbench and held up what looked like the handle of an exotic torch. “I found these pieces in the wrecked AT-AT,” he went on with great enthusiasm, holding up a metal disc and slotting it into the heart of an open-faced contraption that was far from finished. “This is going to be the harmonic energizer conductive plate, and these pieces will become power cell braces.” He looked up at his mentor and grinned, ear to ear.

“That’s incredible, Ben.” Luke clapped his padawan on the back. “You’re halfway to building your own lightsaber! But I’ve never seen a design like that. It’ll require a lot of fine-tuning.”

Ben shrugged, unperturbed. “I know. It’s from the Great Scourge of Malachor.”

“Indeed.” Amanda Snoke was impressed. “You’ve really done your homework.”

She was also very proud.

 

@MyKyloRen   20 March 2018

 

Chapter 6: Don’t Use the Force, Ben

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] A Force-injured Twi’lek brings charges against Padawan Ben Solo and brings child psychologist Dr. Amanda Snoke rushing to the village of Tuanul on Jakku.

“Nothing’s broken, but she took a hard knock to the head. She’ll need to be monitored all night.” Luke removed his hand from the unconscious Twi’lek’s forehead. He could feel the Living Force flowing through her and knew she would awaken and recover. But the scream that had brought him and the Tuanul villagers running still had the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. Finding her crumpled at the foot of the well, they’d all feared the worst.

He could also sense the intense fear that clutched at his nephew’s heart. The boy had tried to run, but at a shout from the Jedi Master, Ben had come to a halt and remained watchful from the shadows while the Twi’lek girl was examined and carried inside to a pallet. Luke got to his feet and came to stand over his padawan, hands on hips. “What happened?” he said evenly.

Ben looked up and then dropped his gaze again. The night had taken on a chill and he’d taken off his his boots to feel the warm sand between his toes. It was somehow soothing. Hugging his arms close to his chest, he mumbled, “She was going to eat me.” It sounded absurd now. He’d never heard of Twi’leks eating people, not like the Ewoks did.

Luke blinked. “What?”

Ben bit is lower lip, recalling the hungry look in her eyes, how she’d touched his hair and then how her hand had dropped to his belt. His voice wavered and his ears turned red. “She wanted to eat me.”

A couple of the younger villagers heard the remark and snickered.

Elder Josira’s hand flew to her mouth. Taking a moment to decide how to respond to the delicate situation, she finally said, “The girl has not fully escaped her former life, I’m afraid. It will take time.”

Luke nodded, understanding, saddened for the exploitative life the girl had endured in the sex trade and sympathetic to his nephew’s innocence. Yet deep inside the Jedi Master, annoyance bubbled to the surface. Hadn’t Han taught his son anything about women? Han Solo — the biggest swaggering ladies’ man he knew. But in the past few years, Han Solo hadn’t been around enough to be a father.

“You and I are going to have to have a talk.” Luke told Ben, gently gripping the boy’s sleeve, pity welling up in his eyes. “And not just about using the Force to push people away.”

One of the villagers chuckled lightly as he headed with the others back into the assembly hut. He remembered all too well the awkward conversation he’d had with his own father about the happabores and bloggins at that age.

#   #   #

Luke rubbed sleepy eyes. He’d been up all night watching the Twi’lek girl Ukij’ruhay for signs of serious head injury and talking with her after she was awake. He looked at the holo image before him now in the quiet alcove where he and Ben had tried to get a little sleep. “Ukij’s pretty bruised and she’s lost the feeling in one of her lekku. She may lose the tip, and she’s pressing charges against Ben.” He glanced at his nephew, curled on his pallet, finally asleep and breathing softly.

“I’m coming,” the holo image of a tall blonde human female answered at once. “I can be on Jakku in twenty standard hours.”

Sighing, Luke nodded in thanks. In the corner, Ben Solo stirred as the image of Dr. Amanda Snoke winked out.

At the Galactic Institute of Behavioral Neuroscience on Hosnian Prime, Amanda rose from her desk and remarked to her assistant, Kotha Ranee, a Togruta female, “Well, it seems my little man has gotten himself into trouble again.”

“Never a dull moment with the Solos,” Kotha acknowledge with a smirk. She tapped on her datapad. “There’s a flight leaving for Jakku at oh-four-hundred hours.”

“Excellent. Put me on it.”

Amanda didn’t care that she wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night. Things were going just the way she’d planned. At thirteen, Ben was tapping into the Force almost as second nature, and, despite outward appearances, he was gaining more control of his powers, more focus.

And, what was equally exiting was that another Force-sensitive youngling had been discovered on Jakku. She’d done the right thing, she told herself, by allowing Luke Skywalker to live. Dark eyes — alien eyes — smoldered like embers in deep shadow as she considered her ambition and desire. Skywalker would never turn to the dark side, but he’d quickly lead her to Force-sensitives who would, like Ben. If they didn’t, well, that could be remedied.

Amanda Snoke smiled a satisfied smile as she stowed her datapad and commlink in her briefcase and closed the door to her office. Yes, everything is going swimmingly, she thought, except these infernal cycles human women have! Her high heels clicked on the marble floor as she headed for the refresher, screwing her eyes shut as a cramp wracked her abdomen.

No, what bothered Snoke the most was the frailty of the human body she occupied. Next time, she’d select another species…and something male.

 

@MyKyloRen  4 March 2018

 

Chapter 5: Raw Untamed Power

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] In their quest to find Jedi relics, Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo reach the Jakku village of Tuanul, where the Church of the Force welcomes them…but not for long.

Ben looked up at Luke and blinked. “What was that?…A Force-vision?” His tone was one of shock and barely suppressed excitement.

Luke’s eyes went wide, mirroring his nephew’s expression. “Force-vision?” Where had the kid learned the concept? “What do you know about Force-visions?”

Ben shrugged, casting around the dim interior of the wrecked AT-AT for the girl who’d made the scratch-marks. She’d seemed so real. “I read about them somewhere,” he offered vaguely.

“Like where?” Luke looked around too, but there was nothing to see — with his own eyes or through the Force.

“On the nets…somewhere.” Ben walked over to the wall again and ran a hand over its smooth surface. The marks had been right there. He saw them. He felt them!

The Jedi Master stepped closer. “There are Jedi teachings on the nets?” He didn’t believe it for a second. He’d searched the networks and archives culled from a hundred different systems and found nothing. Only the names of wanted “criminals” remained. The Empire had done a thorough job of erasing the Jedi’s legacy.

“Yeah,” Ben continued absently, now walking through the spot where he’d seen the girl on her hammock. “Master Sifo-Dyas, I think his name was. He was talking about it in a holovid.”

Luke had heard the name. “I saw that file, but it was corrupted beyond repair. How did you get it to play for you?”

Ben clearly didn’t want to talk about it. “I don’t know. It just opened.” He wanted answers, not questions. He wanted to find the mystery girl. How could she vanish like that? She was right there and she was crying. Why wouldn’t his master help him find her? Why was Luke concerned with stupid files?

“All right,” Luke said with a sigh. “You can show me later. What you saw could have been a Force-vision — an echo of the future, I’m guessing, because it doesn’t look like anyone’s ever lived here and there are no scratches on the wall…yet,” he pointed out. “But now that we’ve opened the hatch, maybe she’ll make a home here some day. Or not. We can’t know for sure. Always in motion the future is…and there are many futures. That’s what Master Yoda taught me.”

Ben scowled and pushed past him. “Yoda talked funny.”

With a sigh, Luke watched Han Solo’s kid pull open the heavy hatch and stride out into the deepening twilight. They’d spent way too much time here.

#   #   #

It was full dark when they reached the village of Tuanul, which huddled beyond a deep cavern. On the outskirts of the ramshackle huts, master and padawan were met by ascetics adorned in simple attire, their tunics belted with the Sash of the Balanced.

“Welcome, Master,” said one of them — matronly and human — stepping forward and extending both hands as Luke and Ben dismounted. “We’re very pleased you could join us for a few days.” Her discerning gaze took in Ben. “And this is your apprentice?”

Luke nodded. “Ben. My nephew.”

“I am Elder Jasira. We don’t have much, but what we have is yours, for we are one in the light.”

Luke knew these people called themselves The Church of the Force. Although they didn’t claim to be Force-users, they had, nonetheless, dedicated themselves to the ideals of the Jedi. They regarded their renowned guests with thoughtful eyes and ushered the Jedi into a communal hut, placing steaming bowls of mush into Luke’s and Ben’s hands. It was simple fare, but the taste was not unpleasant. The sweet water, on the other hand, was cool and delicious.

As Luke Skywalker, legend and hero, regaled an audience of a dozen councilors, Ben excused himself to study the stars. They were so bright in the desert. Maybe, he hoped, he’d see the girl again and could ask her things about the future.

“Don’t go far,” Luke warned.

Ben gave him a nod and found himself petting a baby antelope-like creature drinking from a watering trough.

“You’re a Jedi?” came a soft voice behind him. She was a fascinating shade of blue, Ben noticed as he turned to face her. She was young but older than him by a few years. “A padawan learner?” she mused, coming closer.

He could smell her now — a sweet almost honeyed scent, but sharp with exotic spice. “That’s right.” He didn’t like the way she looked at him from head to toe and slowly back again. “And you’re a Twi’lek, right?” he observed, trying to think of something to say.

She nodded, her eyelids half-closed. “They rescued me from the Hutts a while back.” She cocked her head to one side. “Maybe I could teach you a few things about Twi’leks.” She bit her full lower lip, considering him as she reached out to finger a strand of his dark hair. “And you could teach me things about being a Jedi.”

She was really close now. He could feel her breath on his cheek. He wanted to pull away but was afraid it would be rude. The blood surged hot in his veins and his breath quickened. As she licked her lips, he heard it — a voice in his head, female as well but older, mature and hissy. “She’ll eat you alive….She’ll eat you!”

In a blur, Ben pulled away. His hand was out, the Force surging through him like a bolt of otherworldly electricity. It thrust from his fingertips and sent the Twi’lek girl flying backwards. With a sickly thud, she hit the abutment of a well and lay still.

 

@MyKyloRen   22 February 2018

 

Chapter 4: They’ll Be Back…One Day

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] As a diversion and a way to escape the heat of the day, Padawan Ben Solo and Master Luke Skywalker explore a ruin from the Battle of Jakku — a downed Imperial walker. While they expect to find the AT-AT completely stripped, what Ben finds instead has far bigger implications.

Ben grinned from ear to ear as Luke banked the speeder bike to the left and slowed to make a curving pass over the downed AT-AT. The old Imperial walker was stretched out flat on its side like a prehistoric beast smothered in a sandstorm. As they set down near the auxiliary hatch in the vehicle’s belly, Ben jumped off, pulling up his goggles and gaping at the massive ruin of Imperial might.

“Whoa! This is even bigger than I thought!”

Luke came up behind him and removed his own goggles, squinting against the late afternoon glare. “I’ve always wanted to get a look inside one of these. She’s probably pretty well picked over and her computers are likely fried, but it’s worth a try.”

“There is no try, remember?” With a smirk, Ben gave a whoop of excitement and sped for the hatch as fast as he could through the heavy drifts of sand.

They really should be investigating the caves beneath Carbon Ridge, Luke thought — negotiating with the Dead-Enders, and speaking with the parents of the Force-sensitive child back in Niima Outpost — but the day was getting on and the wreck was on their way to Tuanul. There, Lor San Tekka’s people would put them up for the night. Haggling for supplies and foodstuffs (if one could call it food) had taken way too long, even with San Tekka’s insights and a little Jedi persuasion. Now Ben was like a wound-up spring. If the kid didn’t burn off some of that teenage wildness, there’d be no sleep for anyone that night.

Exploring the old crash site from the Battle of Jakku was just the diversion they needed. Luke could thank the Empire for today’s lesson — he planned to teach Ben more about Imperial order — and a place to escape the oppressive heat.

“Hold up, Ben,” he cautioned his exuberant padawan. “Lor said there was no one living here, but there might be scavengers who have staked a claim.”

He knew all about survival on an arid planet. It was desperate, territorial, and cut-throat. No quarter.

Ben dutifully waited at the hatch, hand absently dropping to his blaster hilt. He couldn’t wait for the day when Luke would show him how to build his own lightsaber. Then he’d be a true Jedi. “You brought down one of these things?” he asked, itching to scramble around inside the Imperial beast.

“I sure did.” Luke placed his hands on the rusting hatch and gave a little push. Nothing happened. He tried again. It still wouldn’t budge. He put all his strength behind it and Ben did too but to no avail.

“Stand back!” Ben drew his firearm. “I’ll blast it open!”

Luke’s hand shot out to stop him. “What do you think would happen if you fired that at durasteel plating — made to withstand laser cannons?” he added for emphasis, raising an eyebrow.

After a pause, Ben sighed and put up his blaster. “The bolt would ricochet off the hull,” he answered sullenly.

“And probably kill you,” Luke finished sternly. “Now, how about we try it the Jedi way?”

“Yeah!” Ben enthused, reaching towards the hatch with both hands, palms out.

Luke chuckled. His nephew’s energy would keep him young…if it didn’t kill him. He stretched out his own hands. “Now, close your eyes. Concentrate.”

They both did. Giving the hatch a small nudge with the Force, Luke allowed Ben to do the rest. The kid strained and groaned with the effort, but finally the door creaked open. The Jedi Master motioned for his padawan to get behind him while he poked his own head into the dark, dusty interior.

The air was not only stale but smelled of charred wiring and decay. Likely most of the troops had made it out alive and abandoned the wreck, but not all. Sand fleas and rats had made short work of the rest. No doubt a few rats got stuck in the tight places and met their end in conduits and tangles of blackened wiring.

“Do you think Vader was here?” Ben’s curiosity was palpable through the gloom as he darted ahead of Luke and around a corner.

At first, Luke thought the question arose from fear, but he didn’t sense any from his nephew — only wonder. “I doubt it,” he answered warily. “He had more important things to do.”

The AT-AT hadn’t been picked clean after all. Though heavily damaged when it toppled, the armored vehicle was still full of valuable stuff — fuel cells, filters, scanners, sensors, even E-11 rifles still racked. Master and padawan took it all in as they made their way from one section to the next. Finding the flexible tunnel to the command section crushed, they turned back as the evening light began to fade.

Ben stopped so suddenly and peered at one wall that Luke nearly stumbled into him. His nephew’s breathing increased. Ben blinked. Slowly, the boy reached out a hand and ran his fingers down the metal plating.

Scratches. Tick-marks. Thousand of them. He could feel them. All around him, a voice. A girl’s voice:

They’ll be back…one day.

He quickly moved his hand away as she — this young woman — scratched another hash mark right where his finger had been. After a moment, her shoulders slumped and she moved away to roll herself into a hammock that hadn’t been there half a standard hour before. Turning on her side, she drew up her knees and clutched the thin blanket to her chest, her lithe body shaking with silent sobs.

“We should help her,” Ben whispered, turning to the Jedi Master.

Luke stared where his nephew pointed but saw nothing. “Who?”

Dumbfounded, Ben turned back and the pretty girl was gone. So was the hammock. The durasteel wall, other than corrosion, was unmarked.

But Ben Solo’s soul was not.

@MyKyloRen   14 February 2018

Chapter 3: Lore of the Desert

SUMMARY: [ABY 18]  Brushing shoulders with the prickly Jakku natives, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Padawan Ben Solo meet with a trusted informant near the bazaar of Niima Outpost. The man doesn’t have what Luke seeks but may offer what the Jedi needs.

“Hey, kid, wanna buy some spice?”

Padawan Ben Solo wrinkled his nose at the scruffy Crolute. The alien smelled like rotting fish and pond scum. “No,” Ben told him flatly in Basic.

“Ben!”

For once, the kid was glad his uncle was calling him. It gave him an excuse to bolt from this particular specimen of galactic slime.

Luke reached out a hand as his nephew drew near — excited and breathless, trilling in the hustle of Niima Outpost — and drew him in. “This place is worse than Mos Eisley,” the Jedi Master warned. “Stay close, all right?”

The boy nodded solemnly, taking an interest in one of the washing stations as they elbowed their way through the cluttered market stalls. Was that a fuel injector from a Star Destroyer positional thruster?

Luke suddenly stopped and sighed. “I honestly thought it wouldn’t be this hard to find him. I thought he’d be waiting for us.” He took in a deep breath and let it out, scanning the throng for a familiar face. “I don’t sense anything’s happened to him. I guess he’s just late.”

“Doesn’t he have a commlink?” Ben asked helpfully.

Watching the alien passersby, Luke absently shook his head. “There’s a warrant out for him. He’s gathered a lot of intelligence some folks would just as soon let die in Imperial graveyards.”

Ben leaned against the side of a booth selling what looked like desiccated hands — some with two fingers, others with up to eight. He cringed and groaned, “Great. Why do we always have to hang out with bounty-fodder?”

“Some times they’re our only hope,” Luke reminded him with a resigned chuckle as he thumbed through images on the datapad he’d removed from his pack. “There aren’t even any recent holos of this guy. He’s really good at laying low.”

“What did he look like?” Ben craned his neck, peering at the old images as they scrolled by. He saw a young human male — a soldier, by the looks of him, but neither Imperial nor Rebel.

“Here.” Luke handed him the pad. “Keep your eyes peeled…although he’ll probably find us before we find him in this gundark nest.” Luke always felt he had a sign on his back: That’s right. I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you.

Ben watched his master walk up to the Crolute — known as Unkar Plutt — standing now behind a wire screen in a prominent trading stall.

“Have you seen any mercenary types here today?” Luke said casually. The junk dealer was an unpleasant sort, but so was most of the population on Jakku, no matter what the species. That didn’t deter him from pressing for information. “A human male…with greying hair,” Luke guessed.

The junkyard boss regarded the shorter human, pursing fish-like lips. “This ain’t no tourist welcome booth, human,” he growled, brushing sand off his apron made from salvaged hull plates as surely as he’d like to brush the offworlder away.

Luke tried again, sensing that the dealer knew something of value. “Yes, but you’re important here,” he coaxed, appealing to the Crolute’s ego. “You know things.”

Unkar Plutt snorted. “I know an idiot when I see one!”

The Jedi Master sighed. Weak-minded. That could be useful, but he wouldn’t resort to using the Force yet. “Can you at least tell me where we can get….” He broke off as Ben tugged at his sleeve.

“Over there!”

Luke’s gaze followed Ben’s pointing finger to a man standing at a washing table, chatting with one of the scavengers. He glanced about the throng for a moment and then his eyes met Luke’s He smiled — a knowing smile.

“Good job, kid.” Luke patted his padawan’s shoulder and led him through the crush of hustlers and dealers to where the veteran traveler stood. “I didn’t think we’d ever find you.”

Lor San Tekka took the Jedi’s outstretched hand. “I never doubted it for a moment,” he returned amiably. “A mind in need calls to its kin, as the saying goes.”

Luke grinned down at his young charge. “This is my nephew Ben.”

San Tekka’s gaze grew distant but warm. “You have your mother’s eyes,” he told the boy with an air of fondness, “and your father’s heart.”

Ben gave him an embarrassed smirk, his attention already averted to the man’s wardrobe. For a mercenary, it was odd that the man carried no weapon. Not even a crude knife. And he wore a strange amulet around his neck. Ben was about to ask what it was when Luke came right to the point.

“You have information for us?”

“Indeed.” San Tekka waved them out onto the baking sands. All three of them drew up their hoods against the blistering sun. “I apologize, bringing you out in the heat, but this place has more ears than a maelog. My own hut is not much better.” When he was certain they were out of earshot and beyond range of recording devices among the market stalls, he continued in a low tone. “I brought you here because we’ve identified a Force-sensitive girl. Her parents are still unaware of her powers.”

Luke let out a long breath. There had been no way he and San Tekka could communicate — even on secure channels — about anything related to the Jedi. The Purge was still happening in some areas of the galaxy, despite the Galactic Senate’s efforts to stop it. The information about the girl was important, but not the lead Luke had hoped for. “I can’t take on students without a safe place to teach them. Do you have any suggestions?”

The other man started to shake his head but stopped himself, considering. “There is a system of caves beneath Carbon Ridge, but it’s controlled by the Dead-Enders.”

Ben cocked his head. “Dead-Enders?” They sounded exciting.

“Old Imperials — abandoned and barely scraping by. Most people won’t go near them, say they’re crazy. Rumor has it what they’re guarding is an Imperial lab. But if you could reunite them with their people, they’d probably let you have the place.” San Tekka’s eyes darted to a booth on the edge of the bazaar. He nodded in its direction. “There’s the little one I was telling you about.”

A ragged and thin woman scolded the girl — Ben recognized the waif as the urchin who had picked up his journal — for grabbing at a piece of dried meat on a stick. The girl began to cry when it was pried from her tiny fingers.

“She can’t be getting enough to eat,” Luke said, unable to keep the sadness form his voice. He suddenly clutched San Tekka’s sleeve. “Can you keep an eye on her while we check out the caves?”

The Jedi-follower nodded.

Luke patted his arm with gratitude and turned to his nephew. “We’ve got work to do, Ben.”

As they parted company, the hungry little girl — Rey was her name — reached out a hand toward the meat-stick and summoned it into her grubby fist as if by magic.

No one noticed except Ben.

 

@MyKyloRen   29 January 2018

 

Chapter 2: You’re Nothing

SUMMARY: [ABY 18] Jedi Master Luke Skywalker embarks with his nephew Ben on an intelligence mission he hopes will lead them to the first Jedi temple. But what they discover on a remote desert planet in the Outer Rim is not what either of them expected.

“I’ll miss you,” Leia pulled back from the awkward hug to look her son in the eye. At thirteen, Ben was already ten centimeters taller than she was and she had to look up. “You know I always do,” she told him, giving him a firm but loving look before patting his chest and turning him loose.

The boy nodded once, solemnly. “I know.” And turned to follow his uncle up the ramp of the Millennium Falcon as his father called after him.

“Tell your uncle to stay out of the asteroid fields this time.”

Luke, the uncle in question, caught the remark where he fiddled with an adjustment to the exterior lighting controls. He gave Han a half-hearted wave of acknowledgment.

Han drawled, “I’m only letting you have her because I owe you one!”

“More like fifty-one,” Leia muttered at his side.

“Hey,” Han protested, “I get around to paying my debts…eventually,” he added when she folded her arms and gave him an I-know-you smirk. Han ignored her and raised his voice again to Luke, “I want her back in eight standard days without any scratches.” How he hated loaning out the Falcon. He’d sooner cut off his own arm.

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, finished his tinkering and gave his brother-in-law a two-fingered salute before turning to follow Ben inside. The boarding ramp of the Millennium Falcon closed with a hydraulic hiss. In the pilot’s chair, he wasted no time starting the departure sequence. R2-D2 cheerily rolled past and extended a data probe to plug into the ship’s nav system as Ben turned to make his way down an access corridor.

Luke broke off punching switches to call over his shoulder, “What, you’re going to let R2 copilot?” He’d expected his nephew to flop down in the copilot’s chair next to him in the cockpit. Han had taught the kid advanced nav skills at an early age and he was good at it. Piloting was the only thing father and son had in common.

“I thought I’d man the forward cannon,” Ben called back down the passage.

“Cannon?” Luke chuckled, turning back to his consoles. Why did kids always think every jump through hyperspace was going to involve a laser battle along the way? Holovids. They watched too many holovids. Luke smirked, remembering his own rampant imagination at that age. “We’re not going to need to blast our way out of here,” he yelled from the cockpit. “We won’t even need it to get us through small asteroids,” he said ruefully, more to himself. Where was the challenge in flying if you couldn’t zip and zag through an asteroid belt?

“Then why won’t you tell me where we’re going?”

Luke gave a start as Ben jumped into the copilot’s chair and spun around in it. I’m going to need to learn to connect with this kid through the Force sooner than I’d thought, he told himself. It was unnerving how Ben could creep up on him — almost as if he’d learned to hide his presence from the Force. “Because until now I wasn’t exactly sure where we were going. I just knew it was in the Western Reaches.” He thumbed a switch and fired up the sublight engines.

“But in order to file a flight plan,” Ben countered, lifting his chin, “you have to tell them what planet you’re going to.”

The Jedi Master sucked in a deep breath and let it out. This was going to be a very long trip. “That’s right,” he allowed. “Our contact is sending through the coordinates now.”

Ben lurched his attention to the nav computer. “Jakku.”

Luke’s eyebrows arched. “You know that from the coordinates?” He stared at the numbers on the readout. They meant nothing to him.

Between their chairs, R2-D2 emitted an impressed beep.

Ben shrugged as he strapped in and donned the copilot’s headset. “I didn’t have much to do in lockdown, so I spent it studying the galaxy.” Of course, he’d continued his schooling, but he didn’t consider that “much to do.”

Lockdown. The three years the boy was confined to wearing a precise movement tracker. He was able to stay out of a juvenile correction facility by being transferred to the custody of a court-appointed psychologist. After Ben had accidentally caused the death of a three-year-old through manipulating the Force, the tracker was deemed necessary to monitor his fine muscle movements. The device was so precise, it even reported when the kid had a bowel movement.

The court’s tracker was gone now and Ben was the Jedi Master’s responsibility. Luke hoped he was doing the right thing. Was he ready to match wits with his nephew? What about the kid’s incredible Force abilities? How would he control those?

“Why would anyone want to go to Jakku?” Ben was saying as Luke cleared their take-off and brought the ship into orbit.

“Your mother’s friend is there with information, I hope,” Luke revealed, “about the location of the first Jedi temple.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s not there.”

Luke almost snorted. “How would you know?” The arrogance of this kid.

“It’s not a place that’s strong with the Force,” Ben told him matter-of-factly, checking the readouts from the sensor array.

“I see.” Luke pursed his lips and prepared for the jump to hyperspace.

 

Niima Outpost was a hive of activity. They had been warned that collectors and salvage companies from all over the galaxy were converging to reap a profit from a new relic that had surfaced after a major sandstorm — a Imperial Stardestroyer. Luke and Ben pushed their way past stall after merchant stall, lingered for a moment to watch the auctioning off of parts, and pressed on again to the designated rendezvous site.

Ben gawped around him at the buzz of sights and sounds and was nearly knocked off his feet when his shoulder collided with a mean-looking Kyuzo.

“Watch where you’re going, brat!”

Glaring after the alien, Ben stumbled over another native — this one much, much smaller. A human girl-child, malnourished and dirty, held up a leather-bound notebook. He instantly recognized it as his own. The collision must have jarred it from the folds of his tunic. He reached down to take it, giving the girl a smirk, but when their fingers touched, something odd happened.

You come from nothing, a man’s voice echoed in his head. You’re nothing. But not to me.

The girl’s eyes went wide as if she heard it too. She dropped the journal at once and scampered off.

 

@MyKyloRen   22 January 2018

Author’s note: Contrary to popular opinion, Snoke did not create the bond between Kylo and Rey. The Force did.