RISE OF SKYWALKER | FIXED

part v | a new mission

Rey walked slowly to the Falcon where Ben was wiping off his hands. She took him by the jaw and pulled him down for another kiss. "Can you believe it!" she asked.

He shook his head no. "All those Jedi archives saved? I don't think I do believe it. Surely Darth Vader would have found something like that. The emperor spoke of Ahsoka Tano. He said the Vader killed her."

Rey bowed her head in sadness. "His own padawan."

"We still have to look," Ben assured. We have to build our sabers first.

"Where are we going to find Kyber Crystals?" Rey asked surely the archives would have that.

"The Crystal Caves on Illum," Ben told her. "That's where I found mine. I won't have been destroyed. The Sith needed the kyber too. If they found it that is. I don't think they knew. They couldn't get in."

"So what do we do? Mine the crystal ourselves?"

Ben nodded, limping over to the crates of supplies provided for their trip. "Yes, that's it. It's harder than it sounds. You're not mining a crystal. You're mining your crystal. The force must guide you. The force with deceive us and test us. That's why you're not a Jedi until you've contrasted your own lightsaber." He used the force to guide four crates into the falcon. Rey decided to help.

"Can we fail?" Rey asked him as they boarded the Falcon. Ben shrugged as they stacked the crates in the number 2 hold. "Luke warned us that it could happen. Only one of the apprentices under Luke failed. She went crazy. She was afraid she'd fall to the Dark side after that. Killed herself. It won't happen to us though. We can't fail."

Rey sat down on one of the boxes, catching her breath. They hadn't moved in months. Her chest ached with every inhale and exhale. "Should we wait? Are we going to have to fight for these crystals?"

Ben took a deep breath, squinting through the pain Rey knew he had in his chest. "No, no. It's all mental."

"Good." He held her hand out to her.

"Let's go grab the pathfinder and Senator Organa's message."

Rey smiled and took his hand.

✺

The blue silhouette of a young Alderaanian man dressed in expensive clothing. His black hair was slicked back and he wore a neat goatee. He had deep smile lines, but his eyes conveyed the fact that he had seen terrible, terrible things.

"My daughter, Leia. If you are seeing this, then you know now that it is not exactly true, while I still love it as one. You know now that you are the daughter of my closest friend, Senator Padmé Amidala, the strongest, smartest woman I have ever known, and her husband, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. You are more and more like your true mother every day. You are fearless like your father. Your father, Anakin, was a man I held utmost expect for. Never once let it get to you that Vader Maybe a part of you. It was a tragedy, and you must not let it get to you..."

Ben speeded through Bail's message to Leia and stopped when he was addressing the Jedi. "During the fall of the Republic, with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's help, I salvaged nearly all of the Jedi archives and artifacts. In this chest, I have placed a Jedi Wayfinder built by Master Kenobi that will lead you to the hiding place of the archives. If you are watching this, the Empire has likely fallen. I don't know how long it is been. Perhaps this is Luke. Obi-Wan and Yoda spoke of your importance to your father's destiny, but they never spoke of the possibility that you may find these archives. I am no Jedi, but I have loved many. Jedi that I have had the pleasure of calling friends, family, and my heroes.

"You, the receiver of this message, shall rebuild the greatest order that ever existed, and hopefully will not repeat the same mistakes of the council before. I say that on behalf of the last Grand Master of the Jedi High Council, Yoda. When you find this place, you will find Anakin Skywalker's apprentice, now Jedi Master, Ahsoka Tano. She has been tasked with keeping these archives and updating them. I don't know how long it has been, or if this message is even in the right hands, but...