Let It Burn

A Lesson Never Learned, Only Violence

"What's wrong, Luke?" Leia asked her brother. He was sitting near the window, looking out at the stars. It had been a long day and she was surprised to find him still awake.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he looked up at her, expression clearly troubled. "Leia... I'm doing you no good here."

She sat down next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're doing plenty," she told him firmly.

His gaze turned from her to focus on the floor. "She doesn't need me."

"Who? Rey? Of course she does. She's been getting stronger and more in control of her abilities under your guidance."

He pressed his lips together for a moment. "We saw one of them today. She defeated him – easily. He's been training for longer than she's been alive, and it took her only one attempt to incapacitate him. It's ... I couldn't have done it. No one has that much power."

"What are you saying?"

Finally, he looked up at his sister. "I think... I think there's more going on with her than she's been willing to share."

Kylo Ren was not in the castle. When the message came that Beid Byehtho had been taken, it was something of a relief to General Hux that he didn't have to deliver it right away. Well, not to his leader, at any rate. Instead, he contacted his father.

"What?! That fool... His cult following couldn't even protect one of us?"

"It looks that way, Father. His men reported that they took both Byehtho and the Knight. They were... not clear on how the Force-users interacted," the younger Hux said delicately.

His father snorted derisively. "Perhaps the Jedi Killer needs to live up to his name," he growled.

"Perhaps."

"Call a council meeting. We must discuss how to get Byehtho back before he tells them something he shouldn't."

"Yes, Father."

The holo disappeared just as one of Hux's lieutenants came into the room. "Sir," the man said, coming to a stop a respectful distance away.

"Yes?"

"Our leader's ship has returned."

"Thank you. Dismissed." Taking a deep breath, Hux considered how to approach the situation.

Sinking into the chair that served as a throne, Kylo Ren raised an eyebrow at General Hux, who seemed uncomfortable. "What is it?" he asked levelly.

"It seems, sir, that Beid Byehtho has been captured." To Hux's surprise, this garnered no reaction. "They've taken Lyek Ren as well."

With a slight frown, Kylo Ren leaned forward to get a better look at the General. "What's being done to retrieve them?"

"We have called the Council to discuss it."

The expression on his face gave away how much he thought of that idea, and he sat back against the throne again, thoughtful. "Was Skywalker there?"

"It seems so, sir."

"Has it been determined how the Resistance came to know that one of ours was in Coruscant?"

Hux clenched his jaw at the implication. "No, sir."

"Find out," he ordered and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Yes, sir," Hux replied and took his leave.

Iton Ren's mission was proving more successful than she had expected. Finding information from the days before the Empire was a challenge, but there were enough breadcrumbs for her to be optimistic. She wouldn't report in yet, not until she had something definite. But her movements through the Core were paying off, and she headed out of the neutral zone and into Resistance space.