(artwork by @grassprint, used with permission)

Rating

Explicit

Summary

The Original Trilogy re-imagined as young Tatooine farmgirl Leia Skywalker learns the ways of the Force from old Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and joins with smuggler Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon to rescue Prince Luke Organa of Alderaan from the clutches of the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader and the tyrannical Galactic Empire...

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 2: Title Crawl

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... STAR WARS: THE AGE OF REBELLION It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire on the planet of Scarif. During the battle, Rebel spies Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR-- a space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet-- from an Imperial Citadel run by Director Orson Krennic, relaying them to a Rebel cruiser in orbit. Determined not to let the rebels escape, the Death Star obliterated the Citadel, and the Empire's sinister enforcer Darth Vader arrived to the aftermath of the battle in pursuit of the cruiser...

Chapter 3: Tantine IV Darth Vader pursues the blockade runner Tantine IV to retrieve the plans to the Death Star stolen from Scarif...

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Rey and Ben Solo stand together at last against Emperor Palpatine and his Sith Eternal Cult on Exegol. Will the power of their Dyad be enough to defeat him? Meanwhile, the Battle of Coruscant rages on, with the odds falling ever out of the Resistance's favor. It's up to the unlikliest of heroes to complete a desperate mission at the First Order Capitol before it's too late!

Excerpt

"She will ignite the blade,” Palpatine boomed. Rey continued to approach. His power was hypnotic. She found herself igniting the top-most end of the saberstaff and raising it against her will. If not for the other presence in her mind, bright and shining with light, Rey would not have been able to resist him. “And with the stroke of her saber, the Sith are reborn! The Jedi are dead!” Rey lifted her saberstaff as if to strike— —and reached for the connection she shared with Ben. Showed him. He acknowledged her, and Rey’s lips parted in surprise at just how different their connection felt, like she was looking at him for the first time, with new eyes. The connection was… right. Good. Like coming home. Ben was similarly stunned, and together, they wasted a precious moment reveling in this new sharing. This is how it should have been all along. A true dyad. The Emperor and Snoke had robbed them of this. “Do it!” Palpatine screamed. “Make the sacrifice!” Rey lowered the saberstaff behind her back as if readying for a massive blow, all the while slowly twisting the weapon apart. She reached for the Force, the effort making tears sting in her eyes. Palpatine leaned forward with gleeful anticipation. Rey raised her right hand… which was now empty.  She had separated her saberstaff into two twin lightsabers and projected a lightsaber away. The other lightsaber-- still in her left hand in a reverse-grip-- she ignited with her pinky as she readied into a combat stance to face the surrounding guards. Rey watched the Emperor’s dawning horror as he finally realized his mistake, allowing Rey and Ben to come together. Their bond—refined in the fire of mutual searching, shared grief, rage and hate, but also of compassion and empathy—was the one thing he had not foreseen. Ben grinned as he raised his half of the saberstaff slowly, relishing the feel of the metal, still warm with Rey's touch. The guards startled backward a few steps. Surprise, he imagined his father saying as he took a half bow before attacking. The guards raised their blasters and fired at Rey. She deflected one blast with her hand, sent it careening into the abdomen of one of the guards, while whipping her lightsaber around to block the rest. She drew on Ben’s strength, and he drew on hers, and just like before, they were separate but also together as they battled the guards. Behind you, she warned, and he brought up his saber to block his back, whirled, impaled a guard, flipped over his falling body, spun, and did the same to another. Without sparing another glance at his kills, Ben sprinted for the throne room— —as Rey used the Force to collapse a guard under his own weight, and then throw him back into the darkness. She deflected another blaster bolt, dodged another. She spun to face the final guard, but Ben got there first and tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. They stood facing each other for the space of one breath, two… together at last. Ben was different. Relaxed. Unguarded. How had Rey not noticed before that he had the long face and posture of his father, the warm brown eyes of his mother? As one, they turned to face Palpatine, dropped into fighting stances and raised their lightsabers, two halves of the same one...

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Emperor Palpatine makes Rey an offer to join the Sith on Exegol. Meanwhile, the Skywalker arrives on Coruscant to help Finn’s army of Coruscant citizens and rebelling stormtroopers to begin their attack on the First Order Capitol...

Excerpt

Rey stepped beneath a massive monolith that seemed to hover in the air. She startled a bit when the section of floor she stood on detached from the rest, began to descend. She looked around, alert to any sight or sound, but all was as silent as death. Then a rumble sounded, too distant to identify. The lift settled, and Rey stepped off. She raised her weapon, and its blue light snagged on huge stone faces, sparking with electricity. She knew, without knowing how she knew, that the statues commemorated Sith Lords who had come before. This place of evil must have been here for centuries, maybe millennia, for the air was heavy with the weight of time and dark secrets. Rey was suddenly aware that she was not alone. Figures scurried in the shadows, but she sensed no immediate threat from them, so she continued on. A few more steps took her past a dizzying array of lab equipment—monitors, tubes, some kind of tank, all empty and abandoned. Just like the planet’s surface, the floor here contained fissures, and light flashed deep down—Rey couldn’t tell how deep—as though Exegol’s entire crust had formed around a core of electricity. She came to a narrow stone corridor, and her gaze was pulled forward. A chill pimpled the flesh of her arms, because resting upon a dais was the shape from her visions. A chair with spikes curving up and around it, like a halo of giant thorns. The throne of the Sith. Rey found herself inexorably drawn to the throne, and stepped toward the dais. The rumble grew louder. The corridor broke open into an an amphitheater as big as a hollowed-out mountain, brimming with robed figures. There were thousands of them, faceless in the dark distance, but pulsing with zealotry. Religious disciples, awaiting the return of the Sith. The Sith Eternal. As she approached, the rumbling shifted and became a hiss, like an oversized serpent ready to strike. "Welcome to Exegol, young Rey..." came a voice from her nightmares, deep, resonant, and slow, as though he had all the time in the galaxy. Rey turned toward the dark voice. A robed figure materialized, suspended from strange machinery. Rey's grip on the lightsaber tightened when she saw his face. He was a ghastly sight, with red-rimmed eyes, his skin barely clinging to his skeletal form, the flesh disintegrating into oozing sores. One of his hands had even half rotted away. It was the Emperor. Darth Sidious. Palpatine, his spirit trapped in an artificial form, his power too devastating to contain. "I have been watching your journey for my Wayfinder with great interest..." he continued, the weight of his voice thundering in Rey's skull. "Perhaps I was mistaken in attempting for your life..." The ghoul was repulsive, but Rey's feet twitched toward him. She could not look away. There was something terrifyingly compelling about him. "You... are drawn to the throne... aren't you, child?" asked Palpatine like a kindly grandfather, gesturing over to the Sith throne. "The Dark Side calls to you... a fine Sith you would make..." She forced herself to sound strong, to back away from the Emperor. “I haven’t come to join the Sith. I've come to end them." Several figures stepped forward, draped in crimson, similar to Snoke’s Praetorian Guard, which she and Kylo had defeated together. Rey had a feeling these guards would prove more formidable adversaries. “As a Jedi?” the Emperor said, his voice oozing contempt like the sores on his skin. Rey snarled defiantly at him. "Yes!" “I sense your hatred... your anger. Qualities of a Sith," Palpatine smiled. Rey tried to deny it, but he saw right through her. It was written all over her face. "You want to kill me. That is what I want! Kill me and my spirit will pass into you, as all the Sith live in me. We will be one!" The cultists roared their approval...

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Led by Finn, the oppressed citizens of Coruscant revolt against the First Order. In an effort to put an end to the rebellion before it spreads, Chancellor Hux deploys the fearsome bloodtroopers, his elite Red Army. Meanwhile, Poe, Chewie, and BB-8 return to the Skywalker— the Eclipse class Star Destroyer the Resistance stole from the Kuat Drive Yards— where Poe must convince a downtrodden Leia to set a course for Coruscant to help Finn and his People's Resistance fight...

Excerpt

We’re doing this, we’re really doing this, Finn thought as he crouched in an abandoned building. There were hundreds of the people from the underground with him here, placed all over the street, watching and waiting for the First Order to spring the trap they’d set for them. They from all over the galaxy, from every walk of life. Some humanoid and others decidedly not. They had come to Coruscant in hope of a better life and ended up living in the sewers. But they were all here for the same reason, the same cause. Everything he and Rose had talked about was coming true. This was the revolution, this "People's Resistance", and he was leading it. Well, maybe it wasn’t exactly what they’d talked about. Rose was supposed to be here with him. But there was no time for him to fall apart, not when he noticed movement down below. Two small figures emerged from a side street, swallowed up by the desolate urban landscape. As they got closer, Finn could make out a familiar golden protocol droid and a blue and silver astromech by his side. Finn sighed to himself. “Come on, Threepio. Not now.” On the ground, the two droids went on, completely unaware of the trap they were walking into.  Artoo beeped nervously. “I agree,” said Threepio, looking at the charred tank Finn and the rest of the People's Resistance members had placed at the far end, practically right in front of them. “This certainly isn’t the Coruscant I remember.” Just then, a shadow fell over them both. A towering AT-MT walker entered the from one end of the boulevard, dwarfing the droids as they watched it pass. Threepio’s photoreceptors glowed in the gloom. “Oh dear.” Finn held his breath. Everything hinged on this moment, and of course the exact moment when the First Order found their bait, Artoo and Threepio would somehow find their way directly into the thick of it. It was almost pathological. The walker paused directly beneath their hideout, and Finn exhaled. It was working. Even with the droids in the mix, they had it exactly where they wanted it. Now he just needed Threepio to stay quiet for once. The comm he’d stolen crackled to life, set to the same frequency as the walker pilots. <Any life forms?> asked the walker pilot. <Nope.> replied his co-pilot. Finn tensed. It was now or never.  “Now!” he shouted, his crew firing grappling guns into the building opposite. The lines criss-crossed over top the walker, the two pilots too busy focusing on the droids and the burned out tank to notice what was going on overhead. Maybe Leia had a point. You should never underestimate a droid. “On my mark.” Finn checked to make sure everyone was ready. “Three... two ... one… go!”

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Finn rallies the citizens of Coruscant's Underground; Luke Skywalker's spirit tries one last time to help Kylo Ren turn to the Light; Rey suffers a terrifying vision on her way to Exegol...

Excerpt

Kylo Ren stood on the wreck of the Second Death Star, gazing at the ocean, watching the tide gradually recede. The ocean was calm now, but Kylo’s mind was in turmoil. He dwelled on Rey, and the events of their latest encounter. He thought of how she had lost herself to the Dark Side in that dilapidated throne room, that he had given her the final push. She had become a feral animal, hellbent on killing him. He got what he wanted— or what he thought he wanted— and it almost cost him his life. No. It was his attachment to her that clouded his judgment and almost cost him his life. He had her beaten, and his hesitation in delivering the final blow allowed her to take advantage and defeat him with the lightning he was still too weak in the Dark Side to call upon. The truth was that he loved her, and that truth was holding him back from reaching his true potential in the darkness. He thought he had surpassed Darth Vader, but he was mistaken. Love. Sentiment. It was the same weakness that ultimately killed his grandfather.  It was that weakness that Rey took advantage of to get close enough to fool him with a kiss and steal the Wayfinder from him. She betrayed him again, just as she always did, and he didn't even stop her from leaving. Weakness. Weakness! Now she was on her way to Exegol to end the Sith or even join them-- the state of mind she was in. Either way, his plans were in serious jeopardy. If she managed to kill Palpatine, the secrets of the Sith would be lost. If she joined Palpatine, then Palpatine would most certainly use her to take over the First Order and the rule of the Empire that Kylo Ren had so ruthlessly restored to its former glory. Damn her! He should have killed her when he had the chance. He should have— "Hey, kid." A voice said suddenly from behind him. Luke Skywalker appeared, limned in ghostly light, almost transparent. He looked different than the way Kylo remembered him last—older, his dark goatee a full beard and his hair longer and grayer. He wore light-colored Jedi robes instead of the black he favored before. Immediately, Kylo roared and ignited his lightsaber to attack, intent on ridding himself of his uncle once and for all. Only when he swung the red beam, it was immediately caught in Luke’s gloved hand. Impossible! He was dead.  But Luke was very real in front of him, a strength his uncle shouldn’t have been capable of pushing the red beam of his saber back toward him. “No! You’re dead!" Kylo shouted. "The Jedi are nothing more than ghosts!” “The Dark Side has failed you, Ben, just like it failed my father,” Luke said in an infuriatingly calm voice. “Your father was weak!" snapped Kylo. “His love for his family saved him. If only you'd let it save you," countered Luke. "But you've chosen hate instead." "I chose power!" hissed Kylo. “I am more powerful than any Skywalker ever was!” "And where has that power left you?" countered Luke. "Look around! You've lost. Let Kylo Ren die, Ben." "NO!" Kylo tried to wrest his lightsaber free of Luke’s impossible grip. But Luke’s grip remained firm. "Can't you see? The Force has brought you to the same place Darth Vader fell and Anakin Skywalker rose. Join him in the Light." "It's too late," Kylo gritted out through his bared teeth. It was something Snoke had always said. It’s too late for you. They’ll never take you back. "It's not too late," assured Luke. "There's always another path. Follow that path home, Ben."

His uncle’s bright blue eyes bore into his very soul. Instead of finding the hatred and judgment he expected, Kylo instead found love in them. Acceptance. Just like his father. Kylo stared at his uncle, afraid to believe his words. Afraid of the truth of what he was now feeling...

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Rey must convince her friends to leave Kef Bir so she can get the Emperor’s Wayfinder from the Death Star wreckage before Kylo Ren arrives. When he does, the pair engage in a prophesized duel where the outcome will determine the very fate of the galaxy...

Excerpt

The Falcon gone, Rey swallowed her emotions and took in her surroundings, focusing on the task at hand. She had landed in a vast chamber. The floor was sloped upward, slippery with water, covered in seaweed, metal detritus, and even pieces of stormtrooper armor, blackened by fire. Wind whistled through gaping holes in the walls. There was a chill to the air, but that wasn't why a shiver ran through Rey's body. This place had been something once. Something important. Ahead of her, the sloped floor led to a huge viewport, half shattered, bayed out to the sky with the Kef Bir sun shining through. Before it was a dais of some sort, containing the ruined remains of a throne. This had been the Emperor’s throne room. Luke Skywalker had fought Darth Vader—his own father and Kylo's grandfather—here, and the energy, the memory of that battle still lingered, leaving a palpable imprint in the Force. Rey closed her eyes and opened herself to the energy, sensing a cataclysm of emotion, from terror, to pain, regret, and most of all… a determination to save someone who was deeply loved. Rey stepped toward the throne. One of the most powerful Dark Side users in history once sat on that throne, and now, over thirty years later, his would-be successor was looking to claim it. She was still wasting time looking around. She'd have to find the Wayfinder quickly, before Kylo came. That way when he did come, she could fight her way off the planet and fly to Exegol and finish this futile millenia-old battle between Jedi and Sith. The floor quivered beneath Rey's feet, and she leapt back just in time as a large panel dropped away. It clattered on its way down, the sounds growing ever fainter. She did not hear it land. Rey crept along the shadowy walls, where she hoped the floor was better supported, and came to a door. It had a complicated access mechanism that marked it as valuable and significant. This had to be the Emperor's Vault, where the Wayfinder surely was kept. She was so close! All she had to do was get through the lock, which was easier said than done. The Death Star had laid dormant for decades, and whatever access mechanism that existed likely was rendered ineffective after so much time, much less after the explosion that sent the wreck to Kef Bir in the first place. She drew her saberstaff and activated a single blade. With it, she pierced the grey metal wall until slag melted around the blue blade, and drew a large circle in the wall. Pushing with the Force, the circular slab gave way and slammed into the vault's floor with a sound that echoed throughout the empty chamber. Using the lit end of her saberstaff as a torch, Rey stepped through the wide hole that the saber had made, the ring still burning red hot. Rey stepped on and off the slab, careful to avoid the red hot rim as she entered into the vault. Shapes manifested around her, fragments of a person. It was her, she realized with dawning dismay. She was walking through a hall of shattered mirrors, seeing her own form reflected back at her over and over, like in the cave beneath Ahch-To. Except here, the shattered glass only gave her jagged funhouse pieces of herself—an arm here, a leather boot there, a lock of soaking brown hair, a bruised temple. The shards of endless reflection were a puzzle that Rey ached to solve, as though doing so might make a whole person finally appear. No, she thought with conviction. She would not allow herself to go through this again. The tease, the promise of knowledge and insight, only to come up with nothing in the end. The experience before had nearly shattered her spirit like the mirrors in this room. Rey closed her mind to the mirrors and continued forward, toward the thing that had been calling to her since she'd laid eyes on the wreck. The Emperor's Wayfinder hovered between black fittings, its pyramidal shape glowing soft red from within. With a second's trepidation, Rey reached for it and took it...

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Chapter Summary

The Millennium Falcon arrives on Kef Bir, the Ocean Moon of Endor; C-3P0 & R2-D2 witness the horrors of the bloodtroopers— Chancellor Hux’s Red Army— on Coruscant; Finn wanders Coruscant's sewers and encounters an unexpected ally...

Excerpt

The streets of Coruscant were quiet. Too quiet, if C-3PO had anything to say about it. Even his optimum auditory sensors struggled to pick anything up in the aftermath of the Jedi Temple explosion. An explosion! And at their ages! Why, they’d barely escaped with their lives as that old temple collapsed around them. And now, walking through this desolate wasteland, they were like sitting ducks. Ripe for the picking by whichever band of brigands and rogues came their way. Who knows what dreadful things could happen to a droid then? Would they be stripped for parts? Or sent to the pits of Griq and used for target practice? Threepio shuddered at the thought. Next to him, R2-D2 beeped.  “I agree, Artoo," replied Threepio. "We might not survive this time.” He looked up as a shadow fell, blocking out what little light filtered down this low. An entire battalion of First Order ships came into view. They were really doomed now. Together, they watched as the transports descended through the morning mist, touching down a block ahead of them.  Immediately, an entire army of troopers flooded the street, their crimson armor marking them as bloodtroopers. Bloodtroopers! On the streets of Coruscant. Honestly, what was this planet coming to? After Captain Phasma's death during the destruction of the Supremacy , General Hux established a new, elite core of stormtroopers to facilitate the First Order's plague-like expansion throughout the galaxy. Entire planets wiped clean of inhabitants, stolen from their homes in the dead of the night. Villages, towns, cities, all left empty, no sign of so much as a struggle. The bloodtroopers were animals, beasts, as evidenced by the way they set to work dragging beings from their homes, scared children separated from parents, any resistance dealt with swiftly. No mercy.  Their ruthless effectiveness of Hux's Red Army earned him his Chancellorship on Coruscant, and with General Parnadee's fanatical recruitment and conscription drive, there were even rumors they'd be phasing out the regulation stormtroopers within months. If the small group of white-armored stormtroopers that hovered on the edge of the scene looking at each other in horrified silence were any indication, there was some truth to those rumors. “I can’t watch. How horrible!” cried Threepio, covering his photoreceptors with one hand as they threatened a tiny Chadra-Fan girl with a blaster to the belly, her screams overwhelming his auditory sensors. “Tell me when it’s over, Artoo.” The citizens were herded into prison transports, wails echoing through the street as they reached through the bars, hands scrabbling for anything to hold on to. But there was no one left to help, the entire settlement having been cleared in mere minutes.  As quickly as they had arrived, they were gone again, the screams following their progress through the city. Threepio looked at the once again empty streets, no evidence remaining of what had happened here. How many neighborhoods had suffered the same fate, the rest of the galaxy none the wiser? Artoo gave a melancholy beep. “You’re right," murmured Threepio morosely. "We’ll never find Master Finn, now.”

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Chapter Summary

General Leia Organa asks old ally Lando Calrissian to use his connections to help the Resistance...

Excerpt:

On the bridge of the Skywalker, Leia Organa looked out into the black expanse of space.

So much had gone wrong in so little time.

The message had dropped. They’d lost contact with Finn and Rose. Not to mention Poe, Chewie, and Rey. As she searched the Force for answers, she sensed overwhelming sadness and anger there.

Distantly, she heard Connix’s voice breaking through the fog. “General?”

“General?” came Connix’s voice again, Leia finally turning to face her. “We’ve been at the rendezvous for hours. I think this is all that’s coming.”

Leia’s shoulders slumped and she let out a heavy sigh.

A few freighters and a handful of glorified pirates, that’s all General Leia Organa could command from the galaxy these days.

In the dark days since Crait, they’d learned that the First Order had been pursuing their sympathizers, restricting and blockading communications, cutting off supply lines, capturing or even assassinating allies. In short, no one had answered the call from Crait because very few had even heard it.

Leia had spent the past almost two years reestablishing contact with old allies, calling in favors, recruiting everyone sympathetic to their cause. She sent two of her best on a suicide mission in the heart of enemy territory to put out a message through a peice of ancient hardware that they didn’t even know would still work on the off-chance that the galaxy would finally hear them.

And once again, her pleas fell on deaf ears. All these years, all this time. All for nothing.

Leia felt herself go back to that dark day on Crait. She’d thought the spark of hope had died. She remembered sitting down in the old rebel outpost, exhausted, out of options, while the First Order deployed a siege cannon that would make short work of the armored hangar doors. They were all going to die, and the Resistance with them.

And then her brother had appeared. Luke had distracted the First Order long enough for them all to escape, and their small remnant had survived to carry on the fight.

And carry on the fight she still would.

She turned to Connix, her mind made up. “Prepare an Imperial shuttle. I’ll need valid code clearance.”

“But we’re lightyears from—” Seeing the look on Leia’s face, Connix cut off abruptly. “Yes, General.”

Leia watched her scurry away, chuckling to herself. Well, at least she could still scare the young ones.

But her good humor was short-lived, Leia sighing a second later as she removed the General’s bars from her vest. Maybe Rose would want them. She collected them, after all. That is, if she was still alive.

Leia had a long cloak draped over the back of a chair for the excursion ahead.

She put it on and pulled the hood up over her hair, hiding her distinctive Alderaanean braids from view.

"Leia,” came a familiar voice, that was neither inside her head nor without. The voice belonging to the man who inspired the name of the ship she was standing in.

"I was just thinking about you." Leia responded, like it was just a part of an ongoing conversation. Which, she supposed, it was. It just so happened that one of the parties was dead.

"He's in pain," Luke Skywalker said, voice grave. He was always so damn grave these days. Sometimes she missed the optimistic farm boy he’d once been.

“I feel it, too," Leia replied. Her son was always in pain, and it tore her apart inside.

Suddenly, she felt her brother’s presence next to her, as real and vibrant as when he’d been alive. She turned to face his slightly glowing form.

“If he succeeds in bringing back the Sith, he’ll become more powerful than our father,” warned Luke.

“So will she,” countered Leia. "She's gotten so much stronger already."

Luke waved her off. “She feels too much. Love. Anger."

“Don’t we all?” Leia shot back, her temper flaring. "Even the high and mighty Luke Skywalker himself was not immune to the base emotions that afflict us mere mortals."

Luke gave her a pointed look. “This is why the Jedi live in isolation. The pain of loss only leads to the Dark Side."

“I’ve lost everything and everyone," Leia declared, stone-faced. "And I’d still choose to love.”

She looked at her brother, his familiar face. Let herself miss him for the first time in ages. It was dangerous territory. Her grief was deep and thick and tangled, honed over years and losses and all too easy to lose herself in if she let it.

But today wouldn’t be that day. There was a war to win and a galaxy to save, and she wouldn’t rest until she’d done every last thing in her power to bring about a victory.

Luke was watching her, a look of sadness on his face that mirrored her own. Twins.

“Trust her instincts,” implored Leia. “She may not follow the path of the Jedi, but this time, she’s our only hope.”

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Chapter Summary

Rey, Poe, and Chewbacca face off against the Knights of Ren; Kylo reveals to Rey what he's discovered about their Force Bond...

Excerpt

Just across the way, the Knights of Ren stood, a wall of black armor, hate, and aggression staring her down. Even at the distance, she could feel the malevolence come off them in waves, a corruption so deep it felt like rot. Automatically, Rey reached for her saberstaff, hidden behind the folds of her sari. The outfit was impractical for this, but she’d make do. It dawned on her that this was why Jedi didn’t wear pretty things. She was going to end this, right here, right now. There was no way she was going to let herself be stalked across the galaxy by Kylo and his band of thugs. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you think you’re doing?” said Poe, stilling her hand before she had a chance to ignite the saberstaff. He took a pointed look around the crowded marketplace, children and other civilians all milling around in the line of fire. “Not here.” Too much collateral damage. Too many deaths. He was right. But that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. An anger rose unbidden, an anger born of pure frustration. Just once, Rey wanted to do things on her own terms, consequences be damned. Just once, she wanted to finish things. But this wasn’t the way. It was never the way. She had to buy them some time, so she did the only thing she could think of. Kneeling and pressing her fist to the ground, she lashed out in the Force, a concussive blast that pushed back everything within range, sending tents and people including Poe and the Knights of Ren alike sprawling back in a rather impressive radius. Rey didn’t wait around to see if the Knights had been stopped, jumping off the small retaining wall and onto one of the razorsails below. Poe swam over to her in brisk, easy strokes as she unhooked the boat. “A little warning would have been nice!” he shouted as he climbed up the boat's ladder. “Get on!” Rey extended a hand, hauling him the rest of the way onto the deck with a smooth motion. “Do you even know how to sail?” demanded Poe, his clothes dripping steadily onto the deck, his dark curls clinging to his furrowed forehead. By way of answer, she summoned the Force, a phantom wind that filled the sail and sent them flying across the water at speeds that shouldn’t have been possible. "Heh," chuckled Poe, and he crossed the deck to do something with the sails that gave them an extra burst of speed. A blast then rocked the boat, water exploding all around them. They looked up as one, finding the jagged ship of the Knights of Ren hot on their tail— without the Knights of Ren inside. Kylo Ren was inside. It hovered mere meters above the water, the exhaust leaving a massive wake behind it as it continued to gain on them with each passing second. “Get to the bow cannon!” shouted Poe over the whine of the engines. “I’ll take the helm.” Rey did as he requested, leaving the driving to Poe as she quickly took aim with the weapon. Through the transparisteel viewport of the Knife Nine's cockpit she sensed Kylo at the helm. She could feel his rage, his frustration, his single-minded purpose of the chase, just like when he chased her in the Korilev debris field. She could also feel his conflict. He wasn't sure what to do with her if he were to catch her. His thoughts were an overwhelming, confused cacophony of violence, pain, and even sexual urges. There was small part of him that she recognized as Ben Solo, but that side of him was lost in the noise of Kylo’s conflicted mind. What Rey sensed for certain was an overwhelming desire— no, need— for her possession. She had to be his and his alone. Rey didn't belong to anyone. And she wouldn't give him the chance to make up his mind...

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Chapter Summary

Finn, Rose, and the droids activate the Jedi Beacon, projecting Leia's call for help across the galaxy...

Excerpt

Sparks flew as Rose worked on the strange Jedi machinery, a halo of light illuminating the grim determination on her face, looking like an angel, suspended as she was above the floor. 

It had been a full ten minutes since their earlier false start, and Rose was trying every trick in the book to get the ancient machinery working.

He approached from below. “Do you think this thing will work with modern droids?”

Rose finished welding something before dropping back to the ground with a thud. “You’re asking me about the mechanics of a Force-powered antenna.”

“Out of your realm of expertise?” grinned Finn.

Rose laughed. “Out of anyone’s realm of expertise. At least, anyone living.”

She gave it a whack for good measure. “I fixed anything I could find in there, but who knows if I got what was actually wrong.”

At that, she walked over to the panel, flipping it closed before hitting the rusted lever.

“Come on,” she muttered, but was only met with silence from the machine. 

“So, is there like an ‘on’ button, or—” Finn began to ask. He was stopped mid-thought by the sound of the machine humming to life, the light igniting within a second later.

Rose’s eyes went wide, lit up by the ancient machine. “If this goes sideways, I just want to say I lo—”

She cut off as the beam of light shot deep into the temple with an ominous rumble, Finn catching her as the ground shook beneath their feet.

Below, C-3PO lurched, his photoreceptors taking in the spectacle as the beam of light connected the spire to the giant kyber crystal on their level.

“Well, in all my years I never…” he trailed off, uncharacteristically speechless.

Artoo rolled forward, projecting a holographic message from the General herself into the datastream.

Another rumble and the beam shot toward the Coruscant sky, bathing the inhabitants on every level in its warm light.

Beings of every species peeked out of their various hidey holes to see the display of light, rumblings of an attack quickly fading into excitement as a familiar figure appeared on every screen on the city planet.

From his spot in the lower levels, Dade looked up toward the sky, a smile on his face. It was happening. It was finally happening.

High above in his chambers in the Capitol, Chancellor Hux watched in disbelief as he followed the beam up from his window, where it where it disappeared into space and traveled lightyears across the galaxy...

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

The Resistance is fractured as Rey, Poe, Chewie, and BB-8 travel to Bonadan to find a Force Sensitive navigator to locate Exegol while Finn, Rose, C-3PO, and R2-D2 travel to Coruscant to activate the Jedi Beacon...

Excerpt

The circular room was large and dimly lit by colorful hanging lanterns not unlike that of the ones lighting the night market. A sweet-smelling haze rose as various aliens—devoted followers— dragged on vaporizers, pipes, and other strange smoking devices, their eyes heavy and faces blank. Scarves and silks draped overhead, giving Rey the impression that the ceiling was a lot closer than it was. Beneath their bare feet, the floor was made of small glass marbles set into duracrete niches. With every step, they rolled underfoot, leaving visitors slightly off balance.

And there, in the center, sat an Aki-Aki child, no older than five years. But even from this distance Rey could feel her presence in the Force, an age and wisdom many times that of Rey’s. 

Upon their entrance, the girl looked up from the crying couple on the brink of divorce who were touching foreheads in front of her, an eerie smile on her face.

“A Jedi,” she said in crystal-clear Basic, her voice soft and girlish. The hair on Rey’s arms raised. “The last.”

Every face in the room turned to them.

Poe sighed. “Or this. We can do it this way.”

The girl nodded at the couple before her, closing her eyes and touching their chests in some kind of blessing. “Go.”

The couple did as told, leaving two empty pillows in front of the navigator. 

She looked at Rey, her eyes a blue so bright Rey blinked in shock. “Come. Sit. The Jedi and the man.”

Rey and Poe exchanged a look. Poe gave her a slight nod, encouraging her to go forward.

She carefully picked her way across the strange marble floor, sitting on one of the pillows. Poe sat next to her a second later.

“I am Nomi,” said the navigator, not waiting or needing for them to introduce themselves, “and you seek a place.”

"A planet," confirmed Rey with an eager nod.

"Kef Bir is the place," deduced Nomi.

Rey nodded again and then shook her head. "Yes. Wait, no. I'm looking for Exe—"

Nomi cut her off abruptly with a tiny raised hand. "The Dark Side clouds the way to the Hidden Planet of the Sith."

"Then what're—" Poe began.

"The man will not speak," interrupted Nomi without taking her large eyes off Rey.

"That destination can only be found by arriving to another," advised Nomi. "There, you will find your way... or be led astray."

"Okay, then where—" Rey asked.

"The mouth on the Jedi stops and the mind makes the picture. The Force fills the Jedi and reveals the destination."

Rey stared at the diminutive alien. Nomi nodded encouragingly. Rey closed her eyes and breathed.

A soft gasp from Poe made Rey open her eyes.

She gazed in wonder at the scene around them, the marbles from the floor hovering mid-air, taking the three-dimensional shape of the galaxy all around them.

"Which one?" she breathed.

"The destination lies within," said Nomi.

"Look, we’re in a hurry—" Poe cut in impatiently.

"The man will not speak!" hissed Nomi.

The marbles swirled above Rey, a galaxy around her.

"The eyes close," guided Nomi. "Only the Jedi knows the path..."

Nomi’s voice grew distant as Rey fell deep into meditation.

FLASH!

Seething, frothing, churning oceans. A vast, mangled wreck.

"On the Ocean Moon of Endor lies the Wayfinder of the Emperor..." The voice was both Nomi’s and not, in her head and out loud, real and imagined.

FLASH!

The Wayfinder hovered between black fittings, its pyramidal shape glowing soft red from within.

She reached for it and took it.

"There the two will meet, the Dark side and the Light..."

FLASH! 

Kylo Ren loomed, his shoulders dimpled with drops of ocean.

"There she will make a choice that will determine the very balance of the Force..."

FLASH!

A flash of lightning, a rumble of thunder. A great stone structure, shaped like a giant claw, its bent fingers reaching ever upward, the throne of the Sith. A figure appeared, sitting on the throne. A woman. It was her...

FLASH!

There was another flash of lightning and Rey instantly snapped out of the vision...

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

The Resistance must evacuate planet Korilev as the First Order prepares to strike...

Excerpt

There was one more person Rey needed to see before she took off, and it wasn't look until she spotted General Leia just beyond the Phantom Hawk, overseeing the rebels readying transports for the evacuation.

Rey approached as the rebels dispersed to carry out their orders.

Sensing her presence, Leia turned toward Rey expectantly.

"Leia. I..." Rey began, not really sure where to begin.

She had so much to tell her. About why she stormed out of the briefing. About what she saw when she was training with Luke and her conflict about that.

Rey decided to be honest, to say what was in her heart.

Leia smiled. "You don’t have to say it."

"Right," Rey chuckled, reminded yet again that Leia strong in the Force, like her brother.

But she was wrong. Rey did need to say it, to make Leia understand.

"I can save your son."

It was the knowledge that had been growing ever since the vision and her conversation with Luke, perhaps even before that. Dark suffocates Light. Light extinguishes Dark. But maybe there was another way.

Leia took Rey's hands, a solemn expression on her aged face. "I know you can. But he has to want to save himself."

Rey swallowed, her jaw set. "There’s good in him."

"There’s good in all of us..." replied Leia, her voice trailing off. She looked away and smiled, as if recalling a distant memory. "Despite everything, I still believe my little boy is in there somewhere."

She sighed sadly and squeezed Rey’s hands. "Nevertheless... Rey... be careful."

"Master Luke trained me well," assured Rey.

"I know, but some things you can’t train for," Leia said wisely. "I know how you feel about him."

Rey panicked. “I don’t-- I mean-- not like--"

Leia fixed her with a look. “Come on, I, of all people, know how complicated this is. He is my son."

Rey’s eyes welled up with leftover tears from her emotional goodbye with Finn.

"I'm not sure I can bring myself to... stop him if it... it came to it," Rey shook her head and swallowed hard. "But I must in order to bring balance to the Force."

"My whole life, I heard one word. Balance. I never really understood what it meant. Until the first time I saw you. I heard that word again, like it was being whispered to me. Balance.”

She paused, finding she words.

“You’re not like my father. Or my brother. You’re new. Whatever else happens, the Force chose you, Rey. And your story isn’t written by anyone else.”

Leia reached for her and hugged her tight, like she never wanted to let go.

Rey closed her eyes, absorbing Leia’s strength and calm. They stood together a long moment before their embrace was interrupted by a deafening boom, the aftershocks nearly knocking them both off their feet. Stones fell. Dust choked the air. Klaxons went off at every station.

Somewhere among the gloom and falling rocks a tech looked up from the blips on her radar screen and called out, “Resurgent Class Star Destroyer detected! We’re taking fire!”

The First Order was here!

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

The Resistance plans to break through the transmission blockade on Coruscant with an ancient beacon at the Jedi Temple while Poe offers to help Rey find the hidden Sith planet Exegol...

Excerpt

Poe watched as Resistance leadership filed into the briefing room, his gut churning. He shouldn’t have been nervous, not when the faces were so familiar, all the people with whom he’d spent the last couple years rebuilding since Crait, earning back the trust and confidence he’d lost in those days after the evacuation of their old base on D'Qar. He knew all of their stories by heart, the families lost and homeworlds overrun by the First Order.

Not to mention that he’d been to thousands of these over the years. Only this time, it was his show to run, with Leia looking on from the back of the room.

Once everyone had gathered around, Poe took a deep breath. It was now or never.

He hit a button, and a hologram of the First Order Capitol sprang to life over the table.

“As you know,” he started, and the whole room sat up and paid attention. "The First Order has silenced all communication between neighboring systems. The source of the blockade is a transmission jammer located deep in the First Order capitol on Coruscant, here.”

Poe hit another button, and the hologram zoomed in on a cube in the heart of the Capitol. “So far, we’ve been unable to find a weakness. No thermal exhaust port, no oscillator. In other words, they’re on to us.”

He gave the room a wry smile, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught Leia smiling at him in response from the back of the room. A tip of her head urged him on.

“While our forces are still too depleted to mount a direct assault, we think we found an alternative," Poe keyed in a new code, and the Capitol was replaced by a rendering of a five-spired building.

“Here, in the Jedi Temple, lies an analog system back from the days of the Old Republic.” Another click brought them to a closeup of the machine, an ancient contraption powered by a kyber crystal-- like a lightsaber. “A small team will activate the beacon, and we’ll be able to summon the galaxy to war.”

The hologram lit up, a beam of light bursting through the center of the temple to link with hundreds of planets above, creating a web of connections spanning the entire known galaxy.

“And when they succeed, we’ll be ready," Poe concluded.

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

Rey struggles with her role as the last Jedi after the Resistance heroes return to planet Korilev with their stolen Eclipse dreadnought while Kylo returns to Coruscant to plan his next move...

Excerpt

Rey stood on the bridge, her gaze trained on the main viewport. Far beneath them, Resistance members gathered, small as insects, to see the stolen dreadnought. Little did they know their lives were about to be upended again, as Leia had already given the orders to pack up and move out. Rey was so lost in thought, she didn’t hear Finn coming until he was right next to her. “You okay?” he asked, voice full of concern. Rey jumped at the sound of his voice, recovering a second later to answer, “I failed.” She’d failed them. She’d failed everyone, from the migrants on Kuat to their fellow Resistance fighters below. “Hey, don’t say that,” Finn cooed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Rey felt frail, like she could break apart at any moment. “They know all our tricks. We’ve been fighting this war too long.” “Those people, the children. I saw the hope in their eyes.” Rey swallowed thickly. Hope. That's why Rey wore white. To be a beacon of light in the darkness. To be a Jedi. But those people were counting on her, and she left them there to die. What kind of a Jedi did that make her? “They believe in you. We all do.” Finn smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. All it did was pile on more weight to her already heavy shoulders. A person could collapse under the weight of those expectations. She jerked out from under his arm. “I can’t be who they need me to be. I don't know if I'm strong enough." "That’s not true," insisted Finn. "You know what Leia always says: 'You won’t know how strong you are until you know how strong you have to be'." She took a deep breath, releasing it through her nose. “Finn, the dreams are back. The visions." "Is it... him?" asked Finn, lowering his voice so Poe and Rose couldn't hear him. She had been seeing flashes of dark, disturbing visions, images of places and devices that she had never been or have seen before. All she knew was that Ben... Kylo Ren was involved, and that disturbed her even further. She swallowed, choosing her next words carefully. “There’s… something between us. I can’t explain it.” It had always been that way between her and Kylo Ren. Ben Solo. Something inexplicable and inexorable linked them, much more than just Snoke’s manipulation. They were two sides of the same coin. He had haunted her since their connection through the Force had turned them from bitter enemies to tenuous allies when she had seen a glimpse of the real Ben Solo underneath the mask of Kylo Ren. She had come to the Supremacy to turn him back to the Light, and when he killed his Master Snoke to save her, she thought he did. But he chose to take over the First Order instead as its new Supreme Leader, and they were enemies once again. They had remained connected since then, no matter how much Rey tried to shut him out. It was a connection that troubled her, a tether to the Dark Side that made her constantly question her worthiness as a Jedi. She wished to be free of the connection, but a part of her still believed that Ben Solo could be turned, no matter how much his tyrannical reign as Supreme Leader proved otherwise. Finn gripped the tops of her arms firmly, looking hard into her eyes. “You have to shut him out. He can’t change, it’s too late.” She looked at Finn’s face, so kind and caring despite the First Order’s programming and brutal training. Just like Ben’s face from across the fire after the cave on Ahch-To, came a memory unbidden, but for her was nonetheless sufficient proof for her next words. “It’s never too late to change. You taught me that."

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

The Knights of Ren visit the Kuat Drive Yards; young Dade navigates the decrepit streets of Coruscant under the First Order’s oppressive rule; Chancellor Hux and the Supreme Council meet with the Warlord Cabal...

Excerpt

From his cushy office in the Capitol, Chancellor Armitage Hux watched with some satisfaction as the crowds below dispersed. It would be a quiet few days thanks to their swift action on Kuat. An execution always the best means of control, for a fearful populace was a compliant populace-- something his father both knew and appreciated. If only Brendol Hux could see him now. Armitage had accomplished more in his life at just thirty-six years of age than his father ever did during his accursed lifetime. Hux caught a glimpse of himself in the transparisteel and scowled. Premature grey streaked his once flaming red hair at the temples, giving him a resemblance to his father that was both uncanny and unwelcome. Still, he refused to dye it and he even smoothed it back, making sure it was presentable. He considered himself the true leader of the First Order, and a good leader led by example. The pit of Hux’s stomach churned with hate for Kylo Ren. Ren’s hair was the furthest thing from regulation. A small detail, to be sure, but details mattered, and this one represented everything Hux hated about Ren. He was the exception to everything. Outside the rules. Disordered. While Ren and his mongrel Knights gallivanted across the galaxy in search of the Jedi and their assorted kin of conjurers and soothesayers-- wasting the First Order’s time and resources-- Hux remained on Coruscant, keeping order and administrating. Their rebirth as an Empire had been achieved according to his design, not that overgrown man-child with a laser sword! When Hux finally took his rightful place as Supreme Leader, the first thing he’d do was make Ren cut off his hair. Or simply remove his head with the hair still attached. Boot heels clicking against the polished floor alerted him that he was no longer alone. “Chancellor? The Cabal requests a word with the Supreme Council," came the voice of his second in military command, General Enric Pryde. Hux’s face crumpled in distaste. Still, he followed the general down the hall to the War Room. "I trust the mission to Mustafar went smoothly, General Pryde?" asked Hux with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Pryde's lip curled. The older man had arrogant blue eyes and a high hairline that seemed immune to perspiration. "Yes, Chancellor. Leader Ren had opted to take the last leg of the journey to Exegol alone, however." Hux scoffed. “He’s gone mad,” the Chancellor said, the contempt in his voice obvious even to his own ears. “Flames of rebellion burn across the galaxy, and Ren chases a ghost.”

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

The Resistance attempts to sabotage the Kuat Drive Yards to undermine the First Order...

Excerpt

“You said two days; I’ve been here two weeks,” said Rose accusingly.

Finn grinned at her and they shared a brief kiss. “This place doesn’t seem so bad.” "Good people, terrible food," Rose countered, sticking her tongue out in a "bleh!" All business now, she then unfurled a canvas map on the main worktable, the ends curling off the edge. It was the surface of the planet, the migrant colony they were currently standing in marked by a giant square, the surrounding landscape dotted with factories and settlements between large swaths of forest. “This is our access point,” Rose continued, pointing to a circle simply labeled SHAFT. She placed a small holochip over the mark. With the flick of a switch, the Orbital Ring flickered to life in holographic form, the massive powershaft that connected it to the planet lining up perfectly with the marking. “This powershaft delivers raw ore to the Orbital Ring," she explained. "A detonation directly into the energy stream, here, will cause a chain reaction-” She hit another button and a small red dot traveled up the shaft and triggered a series of explosions that decimated the entire ring. Poe blinked as holographic debris floated through the air. “--and take the whole thing down.” “Along with their new fleet,” added Finn, eyes trained on the hole in the ceiling and the Orbital Ring beyond, where a dozen Star Destroyers were fueling up. Poe was still uncertain. “How do we know they haven’t detected BB-8’s signature up there? The alien baby started to cry. Rose picked up a rattle and began to shake it to soothe the child. “I doubt you would have gotten this far if they were on to us," she said, as if attempting to soothe Poe too. "There’s just a lot we don’t know,” said Poe, crossing his arms and starting to pace in the cramped little room. "That’s why I voted for the other plan." There were too many variables, far too many ways for this to go wrong. If experience had taught him anything, it wasn't to go rushing headlong into anything. That's how people get killed. That's how fleets were lost: in irrelevant bombing runs on Dreadnoughts or misguided mutinies. Finn’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “This is when we second guess the plan? Right now?” Rose stuck a finger into the alien baby’s mouth. "We can take out the enemy’s fuel source and be lightyears away before they know what hit them." She looked to Poe, eyes determined in the light of the hologram. “But we have to move now.” Finn and Poe watched as the baby contentedly sucked Rose's finger. That's why they were fighting. So a baby like that one could have a future of freedom, a future free of fear and oppression. Poe looked skyward again, the sight of all those Star Destroyers and what their plan-- if successful-- could do to put them out of commission strengthening his otherwise shaky resolve. “Okay, let’s blow this thing and go home.”

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Rated Mature

Chapter Summary

Guided by Force visions sent by the burnt mask of Darth Vader, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren travels to Mustafar in search of a Sith artifact that promises the power to destroy any challenge to his reign...

Excerpt

Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order, couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation as the dropship carrying him and a squad of elite stormtroopers descended into the planet of Mustafar.

His journey to Mustafar felt to him like a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting the planet his grandfather, the great Sith Lord Darth Vader, once resided.

Yes, he was the Supreme Leader, the de-facto Emperor of the galaxy-- far surpassing anything his grandfather had accomplished in life-- but Kylo still sought his guidance, and his guidance was what led him here.

Kylo had accomplished so much since slaying his master Snoke and taking his place at the head of the First Order nearly a year and a half ago. He had taken the First Order from a nomadic military junta that still hid in the Unknown Regions to heights that rivaled the Empire at its peak. His Order occupied every single major inhabited planet. He re-conquered Coruscant and made his capitol, just as Emperor Palpatine did during his reign.

Yet despite his enormous success, Kylo was still as troubled as ever. The Resistance had gained little ground since he decimated them on Crait, yet they still remained persistent.

The Resistance... led by his mother. Leia. When the moment came before during the attack on the Resistance’s then flagship the Raddus... he couldn't press the trigger to finish her with his TIE Silencer's missiles. He wasn’t sure he'd be able to do it even if given another opportunity. He wasn’t sure he'd be able to murder her like he did his father. A deed that continued to haunt him nearly two years on.

The Resistance... joined by the scavenger. The last Jedi.

She had rejected him and betrayed him after he risked everything and offered her everything. He thought she was different, but she was just like everyone else. Just like Luke Skywalker. Betrayers. Liars. He was not bluffing when he promised his bastard of an uncle that he would destroy her and their precious Jedi Order. All of it.

He hated her. He hated that a part of him still felt everything but hate for her.

Rey...

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