Star Wars Episode X: The Shroud of The Dark Side

Chapter 6: Rey Solo

Rey shot out of hyperspace and looked at the planet of Dathomir. The problem was that she had no idea where Finn and Alastor had landed. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and searched through the force. Rey felt Finn's presence got a general sense of where they were and flew down and landed. She stepped out of the starfighter and removed her lightsaber from the holster on her back. Rey must have gotten really lucky, because just a few meters away from her were Finn and Alastor's Jedi starfighters. The whole planet smelled like rotting animals, there was a gross red fog on the whole planet, and everything looked dead. Rey knew that the force would help guide her but for some reason she could barely feel the light. Trying to reach out to the force led to a dark and cold feeling. Rey remembered what she had learned about this planet. It was full of the darkside. This is where the nightsisters had lived and the sith, Darth Maul was born and raised. Rey had learned about his vicious reign of terror from texts and video logs she had found across the galaxy. After Obi-Wan Kenobi had cut him in half, he had held on to life using his hatred, used his brother to get new legs and ruled the planet of Mandalore with his own crime syndicate. That did not give Rey much hope about being on the planet and finding Finn and Alastor without a fight. She looked up to the mountain a ways ahead of her and decided that the mountain might be her best chance of finding the Black Sun and Finn.

After a bit of walking Rey realized that she was being followed. She spun around and ignited her lightsaber. Everything was quiet. The only thing that Rey could hear was the hum of her lightsaber blades. She looked into the forest and couldn't see anything. Starting to think that the dark side was playing tricks on her she slowly turned about and started walking again, but kept her lightsaber on. Rey must have walked for another hour before getting out of the forest. As she walked through the field, she noticed that the mountain was getting a lot closer and she was getting a lot more tired. The dark force from the planet must have been sapping her energy. It would be a perfect area for a dark side user to get stronger. Getting to the mountain she noticed a few guards at an entrance to a cave, and a flag above the cave that had the same mark that Finn had shown her for the Black Sun. That must be where the meeting was happening, and if something had happened to Finn and Alastor, they would probably be there. Rey thought for a minute on how she was going to get in and decided the best option was to try using some Jedi mind tricks. She deactivated her lightsaber and walked up to the guards very casually.

"Stop. Who are you and why are you here? This is a closed meeting." Guard #1 questioned her.

Rey focused and waved her hand nonchalantly "I'm supposed to be here. You'll let me in, it's ok."

Both guards looked like they had fallen into a trance and at the same time said "You're supposed to be here. We'll let you in, it's ok." Rey walked past them and couldn't resist a grin. That trick was easy, but never got old. Once inside, things were going to get a lot more complicated though. She couldn't trick everyone inside. She decided that the best option was to sneak around and see if she could find Finn and Alastor. Creeping around wasn't that hard, these people were not very smart, and it was dark which meant she had good cover. Eventually Rey entered a large room that had a table in the middle with 6 men at it. None of them fit the description of Caedus that Ben had given her. But there were several other ways to go from this room, so for now she decided to ignore the men and snuck through a few of them. Most of the rooms held nothing, but eventually she found where Finn and Alastor were being held. Alastor did not look like he was in good shape, and Finn had a black eye. Their lightsabers were sitting on a table across the room. They were both chained to the wall. A taller man was talking to them but Rey wasn't going to be able to get close enough to hear what he was saying without being seen. She realized that she was going to be able to knock him out without anyone noticing, he was the only one in the room and he didn't look like he could fight. The man looked more like a political business man instead of a fighter. Not wanting to kill him she used the force and pulled him to her, and then before he could make a sound knocked him out with the hilt of her lightsaber. Rey dumped him into a box and grabbed her friend's lightsabers. Undoing their chains, she checked on both of them. Alastor was very unconscious and looked like he had already lost a lot of blood. Finn groaned and rolled over. "He's here Rey.... Caedus. He did this."

"Finn, are you ok? Where is he? What happened?" Rey quickly asked , knowing they didn't have a lot of time. They needed to get out of here if that was true.

"He ambushed us in the forest. Cut off Alastor's hand with his lightsaber and then used the force to throw us around... I got knocked out on a tree and then I don't know what happened." Finn said as he stumbled onto his feet. He grabbed his lightsaber and picked up Alastor. Finn was right, Rey noticed his right hand was missing. They needed to get him back to the temple to get some medical help. Rey thought quickly and then came up with a short plan.

"I'll run out to the main room and distract the people at the table. While I'm throwing them around, you need to take your lightsaber and do what you can to get out of here. I'll meet you at the base of the mountain and we can get out of here and back to the temple."

Finn nodded and Rey ran out of the room and immediately flung all 6 people at the table in the air. She started to sort of juggle them around while they screamed in confusion and anger. Rey had to try really hard not to laugh because even though the whole situation wasn't great, this definitely was very funny to watch. Once she thought that she had given Finn enough time, she ran. At the entrance to the cave, Finn had already knocked both of the guards out, so getting down the mountain wasn't hard. They half carried half dragged Alastor to the ships and then set him down by his ship. Rey used a force healing technique she had learned from Ben and gave Alastor enough energy to sit up. She fell back exhausted from doing that and they all sat there taking deep breaths.

"I thought I'd find you back here. I was watching you earlier."

Finn and Rey shot up and ignited their lightsabers as Caedus walked through the bushes and stood by them, his hands behind his back. Ben was right on with the description of him. It was odd. He might have been a handsome man if it wasn't for the damage that the dark side had done to him. He was beautiful in an ugly and evil sort of way.

"Finn and Alastor, go back to the temple." Rey ordered.

"But-" Finn started to argue with her but was cut off quickly.

"Now!" Rey yelled it this time.

Finn and Alastor hesitated before climbing into their ships and leaving. Caedus watched all of this calmly and then took a step forward after they had left.

"I'm not here to fight you Mrs.Solo. I'm here to talk." Caedus addressed her calmly. His voice was ice cold but also had a nice warm lull to it.

"Why are you here? Why did you attack my friends and how do you know who I am?" Rey demanded.

He smiled. "I'm here because I'm working with the new Black Sun, as I'm sure you've figured out. I attacked your friends because they got in my way, and I know who you are because I'm familiar with you husband. You see, before I was Caedus and he was Kylo Ren we knew each other. Oh yes, I can see the shock on your face. Ben probably hasn't mentioned me because he believes me to be dead, and I looked very different than when he saw me on Onderon. I noticed him sneaking around. But he was of no trouble to me." Caedus sat down on a rock and looked at Rey, waiting for a response.

Rey slowly put her lightsaber away and looked at him for a bit. "So... were you a part of Luke's old academy?"

Caedus nodded. "Yes. I was there when your husband attacked the temple. Shocking how much damage one apprentice can do. You can find more information either from your husband, or the old Jedi academy. I must go, but Rey. If you ever cross me again. I will fight back." He gave her an evil smile and then disappeared into the trees.

Rey was confused about the whole conversation, but knew she needed to go back to check on her friends. She hopped back into the starfighter and flew back to the temple. After checking on Alastor who was being fitted with a new hand, Finn and Rey went back to her office. They sat there in silence for a bit. Rey told Finn everything that Caedus had told her.

Finn sat in silence for a minute and asked "Should we tell the chancellor about all of this?

"No. I've already told her about Caedus and the Tsavong guy. If we tell her about his relationship to Ben, it will be even harder to convince her to pardon him."

Finn sighed. "Good point, I'm gonna go check on Alastor with his hand and see what else I can find about the meeting on Dathomir."

Rey nodded. "Good idea. I need to go have a word with my husband about his friend."