Thorn in My Side

Ten meters from the ramp of his command shuttle, Kylo Ren paused as the black smoke curled up from the ruins of Maz Kanata’s castle and the last desperate skirmishes played out. He turned his black-hooded head slowly, his heightened senses honing in on a presence. He was here, of course – Han Solo – with the droid and the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca…and the…traitor. The First Order had received the transmission from Bazine Netal as to their whereabouts. The Resistance fighters were alive and warranted capture, interrogation, and execution as war criminals, but Kylo Ren cared nothing about galactic politics. The Force – and all its power – was so far beyond the comprehension and puny lives of most beings. Let them wage their pointless wars. The strong would survive.

 

He dismissed Han Solo without further thought and strode up the ramp with the girl in his arms. He gave the orders for his second-in-command to take the helm, and as the bat-like craft took to the skies and spread its wings, he laid the girl’s limp body in an empty seat and strapped her in. But instead of taking the co-pilot’s chair, he lingered there looking down on her tender young face, his gloved hand resting on her wrist. She was lovely, yes, and behind the closed eyes he’d glimpsed a rare intelligence and fortitude, but those desirable traits weren’t what had drawn his attention. She’d seen the map, there was no doubt of that, and he was certain he could extract its contents, but he’d seen something else in the dark recesses of her unconscious – memories of a man he’d slain in a fit of rage just days before.

Lor San Tekka.

“How do you know him?” he asked the sleeping girl, the words barely loud enough to get picked up by the microsensors in his helmet.

What Ren had seen was a curious string of images from the viewpoint of a small child perhaps, judging from the angle of perspective. And he’d heard that child’s voice – a girl, frightened and desperate. San Tekka, a renowned explorer and Church of the Force leader, was perhaps a decade or more younger in the memory, his hair just starting to go grey, his face less sun-worn and lined.

Ren gripped the arm of the chair as the shuttle lurched.

“Best strap in, sir,” the pilot called back to him. “There are a few stragglers out there taking pot-shots at us.”

Ren ignored him and crouched beside the girl’s seat in complete fascination. Slowly, he reached a hand out to her face, probing gently with the Force, sifting through the layers of her unconscious until he found what he was looking for. Yes, the map was there, well-formed and intact, for she had a photographic memory, but he brushed the image aside. There were far more interesting things to dredge up. Ren closed his own eyes as an image unraveled and played like a flickering old holovid.

“I’ve tried to get a message through to Skywalker,” San Tekka informed two women who wore the insignia of the Church on their simple robes. “He’s out of communication range again and no one knows  when he’ll be back. It seems his search has taken him deeper into the Outer Rim.”

“What’ll we do now?” the older of the two women said in a weary undertone. “We need guidance. And you need to follow that lead.”

San Tekka nodded. “We cannot let that artifact fall into the wrong hands.”

“We’ve never encountered a Force-sensitive like her before. Is there no one else who can help?”

“She’s already destroyed the programming of three droids,” the younger woman put in. “You should see what the power of her mind did to their circuitry. If she turns that power on the other children…or us….” She winced as her voice trailed off, leaving the unpleasant thought unspoken.

San Tekka was quick to hold up a hand. “She’s shown no ill-will towards the other children,” he reassured them. “She is defiant and strong-willed,” he allowed, “but Skywalker assured us the mind rub would erase the memories of her Dark side origins. It has done that. I sense no bitterness in her – only the normal frustrations of a young child.”

“A child with devastating powers,” the first woman corrected. “That mind rub was performed by a padawan learner – a boy who wasn’t up to the task perhaps. We need Skywalker to touch her mind again and remove all understanding of the Force in her.”

San Tekka sighed. “That would be best for all concerned, but I must leave on the morrow to meet with this dealer on Dantooine.” He rose and made to push aside the beaded curtain that separated the two rooms of the hovel.

“Lor,” the older woman said in a low voice. “The girl will not forget how to access the Force when she has us to remind her – all our daily meditation rituals. We will not stop them for her sake.”

“Nor would I ask you to,” San Tekka answered, turning, one hand curled around a strand of beads.

The woman eyed him intently. “When you return, the girl may no longer be here.”

San Tekka returned her gaze, unblinking. “We swore an oath to protect her.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt the droids,” a high-pitched voice whimpered from out of the shadows. The next sentence was choked with sobs. “I won’t do it again.”

“Sir.”

Kylo Ren was vaguely aware of another voice behind him. A stormtrooper. The dark lord backed himself out of the girl’s head faster than he’d wanted.

“Sir, I can take the prisoner to the interrogation room, if you wish.”

Ren stood up slowly. “I’ll take her myself.”

 

@MyKyloRen     20 September 2016

Remember Me, My Friend

“We can’t leave here without a look through the Graveyard of Ships.” Ben Solo shoved a hand through his hair and looked intently at the woman he escorted through the ramshackle bazaar of Niima Outpost, his Jedi patience wearing thin. “Have you seen what they’re scavenging here?” He gestured expansively at the washing tables a few meters away from where they stood in a long line with other offworlders. “Datapads, droids, intact astromech memory cores, shield generators, sensor domes, hyperdrives, proton bombs, and tons of Imperial regalia – helmets, badges, blasters. It’s amazing!” He could hardly contain his excitement but lowered his voice to just above a whisper as they moved up a few paces in the queue. “There might even be something of my grandfather’s on that star destroyer we passed.”

Amanda Snoke mopped her forehead with the end of her head scarf. “Look at you,” she exhaled sharply. “You’re not even sweating. “How can you stand this heat?” What little breeze there was under the awnings wafted in off the superheated sands. “Don’t answer that question,” she said, heaving another sigh and giving the sixteen-year-old padawan’s cheek a pat. “I’m sure it’s got something to do with that mysterious Jedi endurance of yours.”

Ben ignored her. “You haven’t answered my question.”

She glanced about at the milling crowd and at the dealer whose booth they stood in front of – Bobbajo the Crittermonger, he was called – the only dealer sanctioned to sell food to spacers. She dreaded what they’d find once they reached the window. She’d seen a lot of unsavory-looking scraps carried off by customers ahead of them, but she and Ben couldn’t leave Jakku without restocking their water or food supplies.

She leaned in close to Ben and said quietly, “In case you hadn’t noticed, this place is full of unpleasant types who undoubtedly multiply after dark, as do the predators that crawl out of the sand the moment the sun goes down.” The padawan opened his mouth to protest but shut it when she held up a hand. “Not even the scavengers are out hunting treasures in this heat.”

Ben lifted his chin. “I can handle myself. The heat doesn’t bother me.” He tried again to infect her with his excitement. “But this is where the Empire staged its last stand. Rumors are that the Imperial ships went down protecting a secret base or treasure that the Emperor looted from ancient civilizations. Some say he had a throne room here. He’d planned to explore and conquer the rest of the galaxy from here.”

He fell sullenly silent as their turn came and they stepped up to the window. He watched as Amanda haggled with the creature named Bobbajo over packages of old Imperial or New Republic rations – all scavenged from downed ships – along with several kilos of water to get their recyclers started again, and baskets of fresh spinebarrel cactus. The water, such as it was – unfiltered and muddy-looking –  was the most costly, but with a subtle wave of his hand, Ben got the foodmonger to cut his price in half.

Amanda Snoke chuckled as they made their way back to the ship, followed by a luggabeast carrying their crates. “Remind me to take you every time I go shopping.” She gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder.

Ben was determined to make the most of her good humor. “So, can we stay one more night so I can have a look around that destroyer? If I can find anything that my grandfather touched, I can learn the truth. I’ll know it through the Force. I just need a….” His voice trailed off at the sound of a high-pitched familiar voice – a cry of desperation and despair.

“No! Come back!”

The young Jedi spun about to peer around the plodding luggabeast. He stopped cold when he saw little Rey straining against the grip of the rotund junk dealer known as Unkar Plutt.

“Quiet, girl!” Plutt growled, gripping her scrawny arm.

“Come back!” Rey wailed again, reaching out towards Ben.

Amanda Snoke turned.

“It’s Rey!” Ben cried. “What’s she doing with him?” It took the boy a second to put together the most plausible explanation. They’d left the child only nine nights ago with Lor San Tekka in the Village of Tuanul. “He sold her!” Ben shrieked. “That bastard sold her into slavery!” The anger boiled within him. “I’ll kill him!”

“Ben!” Amanda grabbed his arm and jerked him back as he made to rescue the girl. She quickly gripped him by both arms with all her might and looked him in the eye. “Listen to me.”

He didn’t want to, but he owed his friend and long-time guardian that much. She held up a hand. “I know it looks that way.” Her fingers curled slightly towards his face. “But you’ll do no such thing,” she intoned in a voice low and dangerous.

Within seconds, Ben gave a sharp cry, clutching at his head. A moment later, his knees buckled and he went down.

“San Tekka may be clueless, but he’s far too good at finding me Force-sensitives to be wasted.” She knelt beside him as he lay unconscious and stroked his dark hair. “And that will be the end of that, Ben Organa Solo,” she told him. “You’ll remember the girl no more.” She glanced up as a couple bystanders came running to offer assistance. “Heatstroke,” she announced. “He’ll be alright in a minute.”

 

@MyKyloRen    10 September 2016

The Way We Were

“Look, Ben,” Luke Skywalker sighed, “I understand how you feel, but this is how it’s got to be.” When the sullen teenage padawan looked away, the Jedi master went on, choosing his words with care. “She’ll feel no pain, I promise, and she won’t have any knowledge that her memories have been altered. If we leave the memory of her parents intact, she’ll find the dark path they started her down.”

Ben Solo wrapped his long arms around his equally long legs and rested his chin on his knees. Luke watched his nephew for a moment. The boy had sprawled one step below him on the stairs of the academy, leaning back on his elbows while they talked of the coming trip to Jakku and some amusements they might show Rey along the way. He knew Ben was dreading the separation from his little friend – the bright, seemingly normal, six-year-old who followed him everywhere – but he seemed to have finally shaken off the attachment and accepted the alternative future the Force had in store for her. That is, until Luke had mentioned that it was time for her to undergo a memory rub. The padawan had physically and emotionally drawn into himself again.

“Even if that didn’t happen,” Luke tried gently, “she’s been traumatized by witnessing the death of her parents. Instead of simply erasing that memory, I want to give her a brighter one.”

Ben lifted his chin. “But she still won’t understand why we’re leaving her there.” He gave his uncle a sideways glare. “You haven’t told her that yet.”

Luke shook his head and looked out across the busy square. “It’ll require another memory rub when we part ways with her. She,” he hesitated, “won’t remember us. She’ll think she’s the descendants of Rebel fighters who were stranded after the Battle of Jakku. I want to work Lor San Tekka into her family memory some way, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet.” When Ben turned away again, Luke sought to reassure him. “Look, I know this Force technique works. I used it successfully on Brenger Par – the boy who survived the terrorist attack on the capital last season. He hasn’t had any nightmares since.”

“Neither has Padawan Devlan,” Ben muttered, his chin settled again on his elbows.

“Yes, that’s wonderful,” Luke exclaimed. “I’ve noticed the change in him. He’s turned a corner.”

“Because of me.”

“What?”

Ben turned to gaze up at his master, a gleam of defiance in his eyes. “I pulled the memory of the fire out of his mind.”

Luke stared, dumbfounded. “You did what?” It wasn’t a question but a panicked request for confirmation. “How did you do this, Ben?” Luke laid a hand on his nephew’s shoulder.

Han Solo’s son shrugged him off. “I learned the way you did. From the Sith Book of Alteration.”

“What?” Luke got to his feet and came around to face his padawan. “That text was sealed! How did you….”

“It obviously wasn’t sealed very well,” Ben countered, rising to stand, arms folded, looking down on his uncle from the step above.

Luke gaped up at the insolent teenager. “Why would you attempt such a dangerous procedure without any guidance?” His jaw dropped again. “You could have seriously harmed or killed Devlan.”

Ben stared down his long nose. “But I didn’t and I could give the same peace to Rey.”

Luke suppressed an explosive laugh. “No, Ben. That’s totally out of the question.”

“So, it’s ok for you to have the power, but not me?” Ben shot back.

The Jedi master lifted his gaze to the cloudless sky before fixing it again on his padawan. “I didn’t say that, Ben. But you’re not ready for this kind of knowledge. There’s a lot I need to teach you about power. A lot more you need to….” His voice trailed off as the comm device in his pocket signaled an incoming message. He fished it out of his robes, activated the display, and pressed the decryption button. “It’s your mother,” he groaned. “Her ship is down with a malfunctioning hyperdrive. The delegation can’t send another for three weeks. I’m going to have to pick her up.” He shoved the device back into his robes with a sigh. “One can’t deny family.”

#   #   #

Kylo Ren stared down at the lifeless form of Lor San Tekka. He tried to blink back the memory of when he last saw the man – a leader in the Church of the Force – but the images came on strong, unbidden.

San Tekka had hovered in the doorway of the hovel he called home, watching with fatherly concern as Ben Solo crouched before little Rey.

The girl looked stunned as the young Jedi held his hand near her face. While he concentrated on altering her memories, behind him, unbeknownst to him, Dr. Amanda Snoke spoke directly into the girl’s mind.

“Rey, I want you to search the ruins and caves of this place for me. I want you to look for a large and powerful red crystal. If you find it and bring it to me, you shall be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.” She stepped back, certain the girl had understood her directive, as Ben broke his trance.

He had planted a vague impression of a family in Rey’s head, but he did not trust San Tekka. Ben had not done as Luke, his master and uncle, had bidden. He’d left Rey’s memories of himself intact but locked up in a dream state – water-colored and scattered.

Kylo Ren gazed past the frightened villagers into the darkness beyond, wondering why he saw himself crouching before the little girl in his mind.

 

@MyKyloRen     8 September 2016

Darkside Spawn

“Sir, the droid was spotted heading west with a girl.”

Kylo Ren whipped around and marched towards the forest. Under the dark leafy canopy, he paused for a moment. It had been a long time since he’d been among trees, and he found himself longing to strip of his helmet so he could smell the green, hear the rustle, feel the cool upon his skin. But now was not the time for foolish indulgence. He had a job to do. Yet, the last time he was in a forest, it was because of…a girl.

The Little One.

His fifteen-year-old self had taken her hand and led her into the cottage perched on a wooded slope overlooking a clearing. Inside the Jedi retreat, he’d taken her to a play area for younglings and settled her amongst an array of toys and entertaining holo games.

“No levitation,” Ben Solo told the five-year-old, holding up a finger, “without supervision.”

He made sure she gave him her promise before joining his uncle and the other occupant of the house in the great room.

“Well, here we are,” Dr. Amanda Snoke said, flashing them a bright smile as she set a tray of drinks and small refreshments on a low table before them. “Now that she’s comfortable, tell me how I can help you with this little one.”

Luke Skywalker absently reached for a glass and let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know how much Ben has told you about Rey, but we need to find a secure home for her.”

“You do not wish to train this Force-sensitive? As I understand it, she’s advanced for her age and has some remarkable abilities.” She took a bite of the honeyed seedcake and chewed thoughtfully, watching the Jedi master’s expression with great interest.

“She can already levitate objects five times her weight and she’s Force-shoved me flat on my ass,” Ben enthusiastically put in after a swallow of tart berry juice.

The woman gave him a good-natured smirk. “Really? What’s become of her parents?” She turned back to Luke.

“Dead,” Ben blurted before his uncle could get a more guarded word in edgewise.

Luke sighed again, giving his padawan a stern look. “Thank you, Ben. I’ll take it from here.” It was a moment before he went on. “Yes, they were both killed in a skirmish, and we….”

“By you?” Dr. Snoke guessed.

Luke looked up sharply. His eyes flicked briefly to his nephew.

“I didn’t say anything, I swear,” the teen protested.

Skywalker’s eyes narrowed at the woman. “What have you heard?”

She raised an eyebrow and met his gaze. “Nothing, but since you don’t want the girl to reside or train at the academy, I assume she comes from undesirable circumstances.” She shrugged. “Perhaps her parents are criminals – members of an organized crime syndicate or enemies of the New Republic? So, the Jedi took them out?”

Luke set down his mug. “I’m not sure I care for your directness, but yes, it was under such circumstances that she lost her parents.”

Ben could hardly contain himself. “They were….”

The Jedi master held up a black robotic hand. The gesture swiftly silenced his padawan. “They were Sith,” he revealed in an undertone.

Almost as one, the three turned to look in the direction of the playroom.

“She’s not listening,” Ben quietly assured them. “She’s playing dejarik. I can feel her thoughts through the Force.”

“But surely with the death of Palpatine – Darth Sidious – the Sith are no more,” Amanda Snoke ventured.

Skywalker kept his voice low. “As long as Sith knowledge exists, there will always be Sith lords. Her father was one and her mother was his apprentice. We’re on a mission to track down and destroy any remaining Sith holocrons.”

The woman gave a small gasp. “Then this little one was truly born of the Dark side.”

Luke reached for a decanter and poured himself something a little stronger. “You understand our dilemma.”

“But why come to me?” Dr. Snoke held out her hands. “I counsel at-risk and abused children. Surely as a Jedi, you’re better equipped to counsel her and see to her special needs.”

“You were able to help Ben when nobody else could.” He gave his nephew a sad smile. “It was his idea to come to you. He’s established a special bond with Rey and has been able to comfort and control her, but we don’t know for how long. She’s growing so fast.”

Ben looked at Amanda hopefully. “You said you had friends in a remote corner of the galaxy who take in orphans with special abilities.”

“Yes, that’s true. She’d be quite safe there – safe from herself and her past.” She hesitated. “But are you sure that’s what you want? You’d have to wipe her memories.”

“No!” Ben looked horrified.

Luke shot him a fierce look then quickly turned back to Dr. Snoke. “Yes.” The look on his face was frozen with determination…and something else.

Fear.

Just as the girl’s was now….The girl he’d heard so much about.

“Sir, Resistance fighters,” said one of the stormtroopers who’d located the Co-Commander in the forest. “We need more troops.”

Ren turned away from his victim. “Pull the division out. Forget the droid. We have what we need.”

 

@MyKyloRen    15 August 2016