Rey told Leia after all—at least part of it—and she was so glad she did. The general thought her vision might be connected to the First Order, which made it important enough to send her out for confirmation once the Falcon returned. Leia was considering it, anyway. Even though they both knew Rey wasn't ready to leave her training. So Rey knelt on the ground near her workbench to do some aspirational packing. Leia and BB-8 watched as she shoved rations and supplies into her bag. Okay, mostly rations. Her Resistance friends were always complaining about the food, saying it was tasteless and unsatisfying, but Rey had no idea what they were talking about. She'd never eaten so well in her life, or so often. She always kept a few nutrient packs stuffed under her cot, though. Just in case.
"Do you know where the vision came from?" Leia asked as Rey crammed one more ration bar into her pack.
"I wish I knew…but I can't tell what the vision was. It…" Words failed her. How to describe something so intense? So strangely personal?
Rey hefted her bag and stepped toward Leia, carefully avoiding a power line snaking across the bare ground. Their base on Ajan Kloss was barely cobbled together. Consoles sat outside, exposed to the elements. A massive cave provided some shelter for sleeping, and an old rebel blockade runner called the Tantive IV—currently grounded while awaiting replacement parts—served as command quarters for Leia as well as a communications center. Rey, like many Resistance fighters, had chosen to sleep on a cot tucked against a wall of green jungle near the entrance. A footlocker, a workbench, and a lot of mud completed her personal "quarters." Still, it was better than sand. Besides, she liked sleeping out in the open, her subconscious constantly monitoring the comings and goings around her. It was a reminder that she was part of something. That she wasn't alone anymore.
"I'm listening," Leia prompted.
"I didn't finish the training course. I let the visions distract me. I'm just not feeling myself. I know it looks…it looks like I'm making excuses."
Leia's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me what things look like. Tell me what they are."
Maybe trying to tell Leia about her vision had been a mistake after all. "I think I'm just tired. That's all."
Leia gave her an arch look that made her feel like the worst liar who had ever been caught lying.
Rey was relieved to be interrupted by Lieutenant Connix's voice. "General?"
Leia looked over. Kaydel Connix wore her hair in braids now, wrapped around her head like a crown—just like Leia. A lot of the young woman were doing that, but Rey was willing to bet Leia hadn't noticed that her Alderaanian hairstyle had started a trend.
"The Falcon still hasn't arrived," Connix said. "Commander's asking for guidance."
The general would have to go deal with that.
"I will complete my training," Rey told her. "One day."
BB-8 beeped a question, which coaxed a smile out of Rey.
"No, you can't do it for me."
"Never underestimate a droid," Leia said with a hint of a smile. Then she headed off after Connix.
"Yes, Master," Rey murmurred at her back.
BB-8 whirred at Rey, and she knelt before him.
"I tried," she said in a near-whisper. "But…I couldn't tell her the whole truth. Who knows what she'd think if I did?" Rey had tried. Truly. She'd opened her mouth, but the words had caught in her throat. How do you say something so horrible aloud?
BB-8 beeped again, a little more demanding.
"No, I tell you everything. Let's get you fixed."
Rey headed through the base toward the mechanic's station. She'd look for Rose first. If Rose wasn't available, she'd fix BB-8 herself, so long as she could get her hands on the right parts.
BB-8 rolled after her, chirping sadly.
"Oh, don't worry about them. They're just picking up parts. I'm sure our friends are fine."
—
They were not fine. Poe braced himself for the next hit. They were losing, their soldiers crushed by the onslaught, their enemy gloating in their faces. He loved to see them suffer. He gave them a sly look as he started to make a move…then changed his mind.
"Are you ever going to go?" Poe said to Chewbacca, as the Wookiee studied the holochess board. They sat around the table, Chewie on one side, Poe and Finn on the other. It was a long ride in the Falcon to Sinta Glacier Colony, and they had to pass the time somehow. This was their third game. On the last mission, they'd played two games. Before that…well, Poe had lost track.
"He can't beat us every time," Finn said.
"And yet, he seems to," Poe grumbled.
Finn's eyes narrowed. "How does he do it?"
"He does it because he cheats," Poe said.
Chewie roared.
"I'm kidding!" Poe said, hands up in surrender. "You're two hundred fifty years old. Of course you're better than us."
"Just make a move already," Finn said.
The Falcon beeped, indicating that they were nearing their destination.
Chewbacca rose from the holochess table, moaning with insistence.
"Of course we're not going to turn it off," Poe said, trying to appear affronted.
"Don't worry," Finn assured the Wookiee.
Chewie left and headed toward the cockpit.
Once he was out of earshot, Poe murmured, "He's cheating."
"Definitely," Finn agreed.
They both reached at the same time and turned the board off.
Poe followed Chewie, passing R2-D2 and Klaud on his way to the cockpit. "Klaud, I hope you got that surged fixed," Poe hollered.
They were trying to fix a pesky short that had been working its way through the Falcon's electronics ever since their last mission. Poe had no idea what species Klaud was or where he came from, and he'd thought General Leia was losing her mind when she'd assigned him to Rose's mechanic team. For one, he had no arms; in fact, Poe thought he looked like a giant slug on flippers. For two, he spoke a language only the droids understood. But it turned out to be a good decision because Klaud could occasionally manipulate objects with his prehensile antennae, and his keen mind made short work of mechanical problems. He and R2-D2 worked well together.
Poe reached the cockpit as the Millennium Falcon came out of lightspeed in front of a massive, mountainous asteroid made of ice. With a nod to Chewie, he dropped into the pilot's chair. From the viewport window, he could see its comet origins in its uneven surface, the way gas lifted off it like fog. It seemed small, its chasms merely cracks on a glowing white space lump. Just as he hoped, the Falcon detected no sign of pursuit. Poe aimed the freighter toward the rendezvous point and plunged toward the mining colony.
—
Finn passed the entrance to the cockpit and headed toward the top hatch to get ready for their pick-up. Based on the sparks flying out of the panel that Klaud was repairing, they'd been lucky on their last assignment. If the Falcon had suffered one more hit, they would have been a pile of flaming debris. Well, maybe it wasn't really luck. He and Poe and Chewie made a good team. A great team, on those rare occasions when Rey accompanied them. But Rey had more important things to worry about now. "Force" things that Finn was doing his best to understand. He'd seen what Rey could do, sensed how important she was to their cause. But he had to admit, when he was out here, and she was back on Ajan Kloss, he missed her.
Poe had taken the Falcon into the Sinta ice tunnels, where water vapor and mining processes created a bit of atmosphere. The ship felt wobbly beneath Finn's feet, as though it was fishtailing. Not Poe's fault, he was certain. These asteroids were tricky.
The Falcon lurched to a stop.
"I'm opening the portal!" Finn called out to Poe.
Finn hit the release, and the round hatch above him revealed a dim icy corridor, a wash of cold, moist air, and the greenish-yellow face of an Ovissian with a wide, horn-to-horn grin.
"Boolio!" Finn said. Boolio was a mine overseer who'd been siphoning surplus minerals to Resistance-friendly transports for months. Finn himself had picked up shipments twice. "What's so important? You got the regulator?"
Leia needed the regulator desperately to get the Tantive IV in top flying shape once again, but these old-model parts were hard to come by, and this was one of the few they'd been able to track down. It was also the cheapest.
Boolio shook his head. "No part." he said. "We have a new ally. A spy in the First Order!"
Finn's mouth dropped open. "Who?"
"No idea, but the news is bad. Transfer the spy's message to your droid!" Boolio said, the regulator already forgotten.
Boolio tossed down a data cable.
Finn grabbed it. "Any idea at all who—"
"They wouldn't say. But someone left a datafile in my office after the last First Order inspection." He looked back over his shoulder nervously.
Finn gestured at R2-D2, who rolled toward him. He inserted the cable into the droid's dataport. All the while, his mind was racing. This was why Boolio had insisted they come all the way across the galaxy for the regulator. This was why he'd told them the part was critical, that it wouldn't last long. It was a rare piece, sure, practically an antique. But Boolio's urgency had seemed excessive, especially in relation to the rock-bottom price he was offering. Now it all made sense. Somehow he'd gotten a message from a First Order spy. And as a mere mine overseer, he didn't have access to a secure frequency. His only choice was to draw them here in person by promising a part that didn't really exist.
"Please hurry," Boolio said. "If they knew to leave the message with me, then someone in the First Order knows I've been in contact with the Resistance."
Which meant the First Order could return at any moment. Finn found himself tapping the side of his thigh, as if to hurry the transfer along. Old tech, low temps…who knew what kind of shape that data cable was in? They could be here for hours…
—
Poe slouched in the pilot's seat. He didn't understand what was taking Finn so long. They had to retrieve a part, pay Boolio, get the hell out of here. That was it. The Falcon's sensor beeped aggressively, startling Poe from his slouch. He gaped at the console. Was he reading this right? Twenty-something objects approaching from all directions. TIEs, based on the size and speed.
"Finn, we're about to be cooked!" He started flicking switches, getting the Falcon ready for a hot exit.
"We're almost there!" Finn called back.
Get there faster, Poe thought as he looked for ways out of this trap. Options were limited and growing fewer by the second.
Exactly how hard was it to grab a single replacement part?
—
R2-D2 beeped that the transfer was complete. Finn yanked the cable from the droid's dataport.
Boolio pulled it up fast, hand over hand, saying, "They found me. Go, now!"
"How can we repay you?" Finn asked. They'd brought untraceable currency, on Leia's insistence. The Resistance had a reputation for paying fair, and she would never jeopardize it. But it wouldn't be nearly enough to trade for First Order intel.
"Win the war!" Boolio said, and then he slammed the hatch shut—
—just as Finn heard the familiar scream of approaching TIE fighters.
He dashed past R2-D2 and Klaud and burst into the cockpit. "I've got bad news!" he told Poe.
"I've got worse," Poe said. "Get to the turret!"
Finn scrambled for the guns.
—
Poe maneuvered the Falcon through the vast chasms of Sinta Glacier Colony. Blue-black ice streamed past in a blur, interrupted occasionally by massive machinery. The chasms were testing his skills to their limits, but they also provided an opportunity. The TIEs chasing them were keeping up so far, but he was the better pilot. He and Chewie just had to hang on long enough for the TIEs to make a mistake and hit a wall, or better yet, for Finn to pick them off with the turret.
A blast tore at the Falcon, nearly throwing him from his seat. Chewbacca moaned.
"Finn!" Poe yelled. "You're supposed to be getting rid of those TIEs!"
A TIE jerked out of its flight path and spun into the wall of ice, where it became an exploding fireball. Chewie roared.
"I got one," Finn retorted.
"What do you mean both rear shields?" Poe said.
An alarm in the cockpit began screaming. Poe reached to flick it off. Chewie growled something at him.
"What?" Poe said.
Chewie pointed ahead and slightly to the side, where an enormous mining structure jutted from the ice wall. They were seconds away. This was the opportunity Poe had been hoping for.
"Chewie, good thinking." Poe said, diverting all remaining shield power to the top, because for this to work, they'd have to cut it very close. "Finn, we can boulder these TIEs!" he hollered toward the turret station.
"I was just thinking that," Finn hollered back.
This kind of maneuver was tough to pull off in the light grav of a small celestial body, but he was Poe Dameron, renowned Resistance pilot. He flipped the Falcon neatly, lining up the shot. Finn spun the lower turret to shoot straight ahead. Not quite yet, buddy…you have to time it just right…
"Now!" Poe yelled.
Finn fired. Metal groaned against metal as the machinery broke away from the wall. The Falcon roared under it just as it tumbled, crashing into the three TIEs. Explosions lit up the chasm on all sides, turning the ice walls to fire.
Finn whooped. "Now get us back to base!"
But their celebration was short-lived. More TIEs appeared in the cockpit viewport. Too many. Ahead was a sheer wall of ice, dirty with machinery and slag. There was nowhere to go. No way to…
Poe got a terrible idea.
"How thick do you think that ice wall is?" Poe said.
Chewie roared, leaving no doubt what he thought of Poe's plan.
—
Finn braced himself as best he could in the turret seat as Poe engaged the throttle. The TIEs were nearly on them. The ice wall loomed straight ahead; where did Poe think they could go? They were definitely going to die.
The Falcon's engines roared, and Finn squeezed his eyes shut. His last thought before they hit the wall of ice was that at least he wouldn't die a stormtrooper.
The impact wrenched his neck. Metal screeched, Klaud screeched, and the freighter shook like a leaf in a hurricane. Suddenly they burst into open space. Finn didn't even have time to take a breath of relief before Poe engaged the hyperdrive. Sinta Glacier Colony disappeared into a stream of light.
The TIEs would follow; they had the technological capability now. There was no getting away.
Chewie roared so fast it was hard for Finn to understand.
"Poe's about to what?" Finn yelled toward the cockpit.
Chewie moaned that the pilot was about to do nothing good.
"Don't worry, buddy," Poe said, and Finn wasn't sure if he was talking to him or the Wookiee. "We have the fuel for it. Besides, Rose installed gravimetric compensators to make these quick jumps safe."
"Safer," Finn clarified. "The compensators make jumping slightly safer."
"That's what I said. Hold on!"
The Falcon jumped to lightspeed. Finn climbed out of the turret and entered the cockpit.
Moments later, the ship popped out of lightspeed into a massive cavern-like structure dripping with sparkling, ship-killing stalagmites. A bright star reflected daggers of light from the crystal columns into Finn's eyes, but Poe maneuvered through them neatly. The TIEs that popped into view around them weren't so lucky. Several exploded before Poe jumped right back to lightspeed. Finn felt a little sick to his stomach.
The Falcon entered a bright space filled with shining white towers—the readout screen identified the Mirror Spires of Ivexia—and their reflective surfaces made it hard for Finn to tell which ones were real or how many TIEs were still in pursuit. Poe barely avoided collision as more TIEs crashed around them. Another jump, this time landing them in the middle of the Typhonic Nebula. The giant, tooth-rimmed maw of a massive space creature loomed before them.
"How do you know how to do this?" Finn asked.
Chewie roared disapproval.
"Yeah, well Rey's not here, is she?" Poe shot back. "Okay, last jump, maybe forever!"
Klaud screamed. The Falcon lurched into hyperspace, as the last of the TIEs rammed itself down the creature's gullet. Finn was definitely going to be sick.
—
Kylo Ren and his Knights charged down a corridor of the Steadfast, a phalanx of sweeping black robes and black masks. Stormtroopers and officers flinched away as Ap'Lek, Kuruk, Trudgen, Ushar, Cardo and Vicrul passed by. Kylo Ren barely paid them any mind. He'd gotten word that a spy had been captured. He knew exactly how to deal with spies. They came to a halt before Admiral Griss, a dark-skinned man who always kept his uniform in perfect condition. His eyes flicked to the mud Kylo and his Knights were tracking through the ship, but he wisely said nothing.
Behind Admiral Griss, stormtroopers approached, dragging something between them: an alien with yellow-green skin and four horns—two large horns wide against his skull, and two smaller ones hooking under his mandible. He wore an orange mining thermal suit and a defiant expression.
"Supreme Leader," Admiral Griss acknowledged. "Captured at the glacier colony, sir. A traitor."
Kylo did not hesitate. He ignited his lightsaber and brought it down in a single fluid motion. The traitor's head fell. One of its horns smacked the corridor floor with a resounding thunk.
—
All his officers were already seated around the table of the High Command conference room—Quinn, Pryde, Hux, Parnadee, Engell, and a handful of others—when Supreme Leader Kylo Ren strode inside. He slammed the traitor's head down onto the table. They all flinched, he noted with satisfaction, even Pryde. Kylo turned his back to them and walked toward the viewport.
"He should find it more difficult now," he said, gazing out at the stars, "to deliver messages to the Resistance."
Kylo waited for all his officers to take a good, long look at the severed head before he added, "General Pryde has reported to you the details of my journey to Exegol." Well, not all the details, of course. Little about Rey. But they'd been briefed about the fleet they'd discovered there, that Kylo Ren had made a deal with the Sith Eternal, to commandeer everything for the First Order. "The First Order is about to become a true Empire."
Silence around the table. Green liquid oozed from the alien's head and pooled on the surface. Hux refused to look at it, instead staring fixedly at Kylo.
To Hux, he added, "I sense unease, General Hux."
Hux blinked. "About Exegol? No, sir."
"These allies on Exegol," came General Quinn's voice. "They sound like a cult. Conjurers and soothsayers…" His voice dripped with contempt. Quinn was old enough to have been a junior officer in the Empire, and he had little patience for anything that even hinted at religion or mysticism. He'd have to get over that if he wanted to keep his position.
Kylo studied his officers. Quinn's words seemed to have made the rest uncomfortable, especially Hux, whose expression had gone completely taut.
"They built legions of Star Destroyers," General Pryde pointed out. "The Sith fleet will increase our resources a thousand fold." He turned to General Hux. "Such range and power will correct the error of Starkiller Base," he said to Hux, leaving no doubt as to whom he thought responsible for that debacle.
Pryde was one of the few officers who never seemed afraid of Kylo Ren, which didn't sit well. Kylo would have gotten rid of him if he weren't so competent. Also, it fed General Hux's insecurity to keep the vastly smarter, wiser, and higher-ranking general around. Petty of Kylo, perhaps, but keeping his officers at odds kept them from uniting against him.
"We'll need to increase recruitments," General Parnadee pointed out to General Engell. "Harvest more of the galaxy's young."
Engell nodded. She'd doubled recruitment already after the death of Phasma had left a void in that area of responsibility.
"This fleet," General Quinn said. "What is it…a gift?"
This was the exact question Kylo did not want to answer.
"What are they asking for in return?" Quinn pressed. "Do the—"
Kylo thrust out his arm, calling on all his anger, all his impatience. General Quinn flew high, slammed into the ceiling. Something in his body fractured loudly, but it didn't matter if the internal wound was mortal or not because Kylo kept him stuffed against the ceiling, gasping like a fish out of water, gradually choking to death.
Kylo stared his officers down. Hux was visibly shaken. Good. "Prepare to crush any worlds that defy us," he spat out. "In the meantime, my Knights and I are going hunting for the girl."
Abeloth wanted Rey dead. But Kylo had other plans. He wanted to kill the past, yes. Rule supreme over the galaxy, certainly. And the massive fleet on Exegol would help him do it. But the ambition that cut into his being was the thought of reigning side by side with her.
They were connected. They had defeated Snoke. Together they would be invincible.