Encounter on Lothal (Kylo/OC)

Chapter 8

Kylo Ren was ready to find his next holocron, and The Force seemed ready to give it to him. Snoke had provided him the coordinates of the planet, but it was his own Force senses that had led him to the five-sided box that glowed an eerie green and called to him with its promise of power.

Ren returned with it to The Finalizer and brought it to his ready room where he had stored the first holocron. As he joined the two together, he experienced visions that spoke to him of his past, his present and his future. But it was telling him something else, as well. It was showing him visions of a dagger and a planet called Mortis where a family of Force Gods was ready to welcome him home.

Ren realized this was his next move but he had to locate the planet without tipping off Snoke to his plans. For now, Snoke was only interested in the intrinsic power of the holocrons, for the raw power they contained and which could be used to power any number of dark side objects. Kylo was willing to let Snoke have his way while he bided his time pursuing his own goals, and with Snoke half a galaxy away in the Mid-Rim, Kylo was out of his daily supervision.

The day finally came when he was ready for his own objectives to be met, and he would be taking only a select few people with him on the mission. He called together a dozen troopers, the Knights of Ren, two demolition specialists, a team of excavation experts, a navigator, and Tana as field medic.

He briefed them on the location and purpose of the mission, and assigned teams for the following day. They would be split in two teams, with the Knights taking half the demolition and excavation members and Ren taking the other half, as well as the navigator and Tana.

As she packed up the night before she was to leave with Ren, she gave Danvers and Catelle their orders to cover for her during her absence. She reassured them of her safety but made sure they had contingency plans should she not return.

"And don't forget to stock fresh bandages at every opportunity, I can't stress that enough. We always seem to run low!"

"It's okay, Captain," Catelle pacified her, "we'll be fine."

"And if Hux comes by, just placate him. He's neurotic about his health, but if you give him a nutrient injection, he'll go on his merry way."

The two young medics looked at each other and snickered, and the three of them smiled at each other.

"Thank you for holding down the fort while I'm gone," Tana expressed her gratitude to them and left the medbay in their capable hands.

~~~~~~

Kylo led the expedition back to the plains of Lothal where he had tracked down the location of the former Jedi temple by deeply researching some of the most obscure segments of the archives of the old Empire. Just after the clone wars, the Emperor had sent an excavation team to locate it. Now Kylo was going to come finish what the Emperor had started – to tap into the power of the Force at its very heart.

By the time they came within close proximity of the temple, it was approaching night, leaving them little time to set up their field site. Tana found herself camping in the medtent which was just fine with her. It was roomy and gave her instant access to the equipment she'd need should an emergency arise; a scanner, a portable bacta tank, various healing tools and a couple of cots. The navigator's tent was next to hers, full of equipment as well. At the center of the small base was Kylo's tent – rather meager in comparison to the others, but it was for him and him alone. He required solitude for meditation, aside from just simply not enjoying the company of others.

One person he didn't mind being with was Tana. He stopped by to see how she was doing, lifting the flap of the medtent to peek in on her.

"Captain Talurra," Ren called to her from the entrance, his cloak slung over his shoulders and his helmet tucked under his arm.