Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 23

Every single part had been found and loaded onto the Millennium Falcon.

"Well, we won't keep you any longer," Lando said hugging Poe and Chewie, "Just remember if you're in need of some extra ships or firepower you contact me."

"That we will," Poe said.

"I have a very old friend who helped me blow up a Death Star once. I'm sure he'd love a reason to get back into an X-Wing and launch a few proton torpedoes at a First Order dreadnought."

"We'll bear that in mind."

Chewie let out a long grumbling cry.

Lando smiled, "Don't worry, I promise not to do anything stupid. Good luck out there."

Jannah hugged them each before they walked up the ramp.

"Hey!" Lando called

They all turned.

"May the force be with you."

A slow smile formed on their faces.

"Same to you," Finn said.

Jannah waved as the ramp pulled upwards and closed.

Tiredly, they sat down in the cockpit and the Falcon lifted up into the sky.

Once they were at lightspeed, Poe exhaled loudly, "I can manage on my own. Everyone else can go get some sleep."

"I slept before we left the cruiser," Rey said, "and the rest of you look ready to drop. Let me."

"You sure?" he asked.

"I'm sure."

Finn and Poe slowly stood as Rey took one of the pilot seats.

"If anything-" Poe began.

Rey interrupted him, "I promise to shout very loudly if anything worth shooting at appears."

"Good to know," he replied as they walked through to the crew quarters.

"What about you Chewie?" Rey asked.

He grunted.

"Then why not sleep here? Rest your head back and close your eyes, you'll feel better if you do."

Nodding the wookiee did as she said.

Poe and Finn took a bunk each, both choosing to lie on their sides and face the wall. BB-8 had followed them and was sat quietly watching their attempts at rest. Finn was asleep in less than a minute but Poe stared at the bulkhead, his mind refusing to rest.

Leia's face flashed into his mind. He bit his lip hard as a single tear trailed down his face from the corner of one eye, over the bridge of his nose and down his cheek where it hung for a moment before dashing to the bed. Poe took a snuffled breath and wiped his face but another tear fell again. Clenching his hand into a fist he tapped it against the wall, barely making a sound.

BB-8 let out a series of comforting beeps.

"I'm ok, buddy," Poe whispered through clenched teeth, "I'm ok."

He held his breath before he dried his face and forced his eyes closed.

His unruly thoughts meandered between the practical and the emotional until eventually exhaustion overtook him in empty dreams.

Rey raised her legs up onto the cockpit chair and rested her chin on her knees. She unclipped her new lightsaber and studied it. Running her hand down the repurposed section of her old quarterstaff, she smiled at the texture of the cloth hand grip that she hadn't changed since leaving Jakku.

She let her mind wonder through her memories of its construction.

Finding a new kyber crystal to power it had been difficult, given that the planet they were traditionally retrieved from was the one that the First Order had used for Starkiller base. After its destruction it was fair to say that kyber crystals became one of the most valuable commodities in the galaxy.

Recalling a story Luke had told her, Leia suggested a cave on Tatooine that might hold the answer; along with the locations of where Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi had stayed hidden all those years after the fall of the Jedi.

She'd scanned the cave for nearly an hour, finally finding the signature she'd been looking for. Carefully, she'd excavated until the edge of it pointed out towards her. The crystal glowed as if greeting her. She gently teased it out of the rock; surprised at how small and light it felt. Centring herself with the force she felt the crystal calling out to her as it gleamed more intensely, changing from a bluish white to a warm yellow.

Next she'd gone to Obi-Wan's home. It was nothing but a half destroyed shell, like so many other bones in the desert.

Last of all, Rey had gone to the moisture farm where Luke had been raised. She'd found an old metal sheet and slid down the sandbank into what was left of the main courtyard. The place was half buried in sand, the dark rooms empty. 

She stood in the place he had lived, now picked bare by years of neglect and scavengers. It had looked so ordinary, the echo of his simple life there; a semblance of his presence still etched into the quiet structure.

It was overcast as she'd sat at the centre with her eyes closed using the force to construct her saber. The many parts, pieces and components were spinning, aligning and combining in the air. Finally, she gestured her hand and it all came together in one movement. She'd reached up and held it for the first time and turned it on.

The luminous yellow blade shone in the half light of the two setting suns.

Rey came out from her memories to find the Falcon's cockpit in front of her. She rehooked the lightsaber onto her belt and sighed heavily.