Star Wars Episode X: The Shroud of The Dark Side

Chapter 4:Rey Solo

Rey stared at a wall in her office. Her mind was running at a million miles per hour. There was a lot to unpack from the past day alone. Her suspicions of the Black Sun group being more than her and Finn thought was true, and on top of that there might be a new dark Jedi running around with an unknown alien species. That was the most frustrating part. She had spent hours looking through different alien species using the description that Ben gave her and found nothing. While Rey was at that she also looked up anyone with the name Caedus and couldn't find anyone with that name either. She did find out that Caedus meant slaughter. If Caedus was a dark Jedi or some sort of sith, it would make sense for him to have taken on this name instead of being born with it. Similar to Anakin Skywalker taking the name Darth Vader, or Ben Solo taking the name Kylo Ren. But that was all of the information she could find. Maybe with more information she could have found something better, like if she knew his real name. Until then she would keep up fight drug smuggling and human trafficking. If Caedus was there for people, maybe she would run into him somewhere else. She was lost in thought as Alastor and Finn walked in to see her.

"Grand master." Alastor bowed to Rey. "There is a rumor that the Black Sun is having an important meeting on the planet of Dathomir. Being that the planet is known for once housing the nightsisters and being filled with the dark side of the force I wondered if we might find your new friend there."

Finn nodded and leaned on her desk.

"On top of that the new republic requires your presence soon. They want you to meet with the new chancellor, I believe her name is Marie, and I think that Poe will be there too. The new chancellor is excited to meet you so I wouldn't keep her waiting. Maybe you can get some information out of her." Finn informed her, handing her an invitation to the chancellor's private quarters. "You're going to need this to get in."

"Thanks Finn. I'll leave right now. Alastor, can you and Finn go see what's going on on Dathomir? Take Jackson with you. If he does well enough we can have his Knighting ceremony soon." Rey asked as she packed some things up to leave.

Alastor smiled at her. "Sure, sounds good. Finn do you need a minute or are you ready?"

Finn looked at Rey like he had something to say but responded quickly "Uh, no. I mean yea, let's go." They both left her office to leave. Rey followed shortly behind them, only taking her lightsaber and the invitation with her. She decided that she would take her starfighter that the Republic was nice enough to make for them instead of Luke's old X-Wing. Showing off that the Jedi were making nice use of the Republic's money might be a nice way to woo the new Chancellor to give her some information. Plus that X-Wing was years of age. It might need to be retired soon, maybe put in the small museum she was building here with old jedi artifacts. Right now all that was there was some training droids, and Luke and Leia's lightsabers. While Rey flew she wondered about how odd it was that it took 2 years to find a new leader. She guessed it was better safe than sorry, considering twice now the republic had fallen to an evil force. It was probably to make sure that the new government was ruled fairly and equally and didn't have all of the corruption accusations like the last 2 did. When she arrived on Coruscant she noticed how beautiful everything was. She had only been here a few times and was still blown away by the senate building. Walking into the building she was escorted by a guard after showing her invitation. The chancellor quarters were huge. Marie sat at a huge table with Poe to her right. She smiled and waved Rey to sit down across from them.

"Please Rey, take a seat. We have much to discuss. Poe has told me a lot about you."

"Uh, thanks. Wait, I'm sorry much to discuss?" Rey asked, confused. "What has Poe told you?" She gave Poe a nervous look. Poe didn't say anything. He looked at his hands nervously.

This did not help Rey's anxiety about this meeting.

"I have a few questions for you. The first is about the escaped war criminal Kylo Ren. I did some digging with some of the First Order officers we had in jail and for a shorter sentence they told me that his real name is Ben Solo. Some of them even told me that you might know where he is. You see, there is a rumor that he's dead. I don't think so. The strongest force used around doesn't just die. I think he fled after the First Order fell on Coruscant. So I just have one question. Where is he?" Marie leaned forward and stared intensely at Rey.

"Uh Chancellor, I already told you I don't think Rey knows where he is. We talked about moving the search into the inner rim." Poe interrupted before Rey could answer. "I want to find him as much as you do. I hate the guy. He needs to be brought to justice." Poe said the last part looking Rey dead in the eyes.

"No. I don't know where he is. I'm sorry I can't help more. Rey responded sternly.

Marie smiled warmly at her "That's ok. If you hear anything please let me know. On a different note, I heard you are trying to find more students. I can spare some troops to come with you and help if you would like."

"Um, that would be great. Thank you. Did you need anything else?" Rey stuttered out.

Marie opened her mouth like she was going to say something and then closed it.

"No. No, nothing more."

Rey stood up to leave and then froze. "Oh, I have one question." Rey described Caedus and the strange alien species. Marie's face turned white at the description of the Alien.

"No. Nothing. I will let you know if we find anything." Marie forced a smile. "You two may leave."

Rey stood up and walked out of the room. She was so confused about Marie's reaction. Something was going on. She needed to find out what. Rey decided to contact Finn and Alastor and try to catch up with them on Dathomir if they were still there. Before she could make it out of the building Poe caught up to her.

"Rey, stop. Listen, I promise I didn't rat Ben out. I wanted to. But I wouldn't do that. For you and Finn. Something's off about Marie." Poe said breathlessly

Rey looked at him alarmed. "Like she's corrupt? Already?"

Poe shook his head "No. I think she's hiding something. She knows something about that alien you were talking about. I don't know what. Ask Ben if he can speak to the ghost guy thing. Blue Luke.. Or whatever you said. I gotta go. Following the rules to a T is getting annoying. I can't do any of the cool crap I used to." Poe sighed. "It's for the better of the army. I need to do this" He nodded and then walked off.

Rey got to her starship and tried to communicate with Alastor and Finn but couldn't get in contact with either of them. Starting to get concerned Rey decided to go to their last coordinates and see what was going on. She took off and went into hyperspeed.