A New Force (ON HOLD)

Chapter VIII: One, Big, Cosmic Puzzle

Finn finally joined the rest of the crew in the cockpit.  They were bickering about something, as Chewie inserted himself with a frustrated Wookie garble.  He had needed some time alone, and now he slipped silently into the conversation, much unlike himself.

"Listen, Rey, I'm sorry I can't just memorize coordinates,"  Poe waved his hands around in frustration.

"It's not just any coordinate.  Poe, do you remember what we went through to find Exegol?  And now you can't even remember how to get there?"

Chewie yelled, and they both shouted in unison, "We know, Chewie!"

"So much for the best pilot in the Resistance," Rey mocked, knowing it would get Poe frustrated.  They seemed to battle over the pilot's chair, one standing on each side with Chewie caught in the middle.

He glowered at her.  "Chewie, there's got to be a way to recover the Falcon's memory and bring the coordinates back!" 

Chewie raised up his furry arms and shook his head as if to say, "I don't know what to tell you."

Rey yelled, slamming the window of the cockpit.  "I'm a fool.  I left the second Sith wayfinder on Endor.  In Luke's X-Wing." 

Poe laughed, not in a mocking manner as much as it was nervous.  "It's okay.  We'll get back to Endor, grab the wayfinder, and we'll be on our way!" 

Rey nodded, silently beating herself up as she took a seat next to Chewie.  He quickly punched in the coordinates for Endor.  Those were numbers he remembered by heart.  Exegol, however, was a planet so distant and secret that its whereabouts could only be discovered through much more powerful means. 

She knew she wasn't mad at Poe.  Not really.  Rey was confident that he knew that, too.  They had been friends long enough that he understood her anger came from the nerves.  The whole crew knew that with each second, it would be harder to rescue Ben.  Their hearts beat with Rey's, in allegiance to the new cause that she had set in place.  If Rey failed, they all did. 

In minutes, the old ship had jumped into hyperdrive, hurtling the crew through space and back to its original destination.  Rey felt like an idiot for leaving such an important relic behind;  she never thought that the planet she last saw Ben on would be the key to getting him back.  Setting out on this new, galactic journey, she had hoped she would be leaving much of the past behind.

So far, she has had to delve deeper into the past than she ever desired.  Yet here she was, charting a course back to the same place she nearly lost her life. 

She could hear Palpatine's voice, the crack of thunder and flashes of lightning that emanated overhead from the planet's power.  It made her skin crawl.  In Exegol, she wandered through Sith temple ruins and felt the sheer power of Darkness envelop and entice her.  Rey had never wondered how Ben had fallen to Supreme Leader Snoke, who was actually the Emperor.  She had felt the greatness of its power, and was wooed to taste it more than once. 

Rey could not imagine being a young, broken Padawan, tempted and lured by the Darkness every day.  Ben had been abandoned by his parents, and put under the care of a man who feared the power within him. 

She shuddered at the thought of being in his shoes, and wished everyone could understand the weight of these temptations.  That maybe Ben Solo, the innocent young Padawan, was almost as much of a victim as the rest of the galaxy.  No one would ever understand what it felt like to have reality bent and manipulated before your own eyes.  How convincing the Darkness could be, when it could reach through the universe and breath down your neck. 

In the corner, Rey looked at her friend, Finn.  He looked conflicted, choking down emotions that were unfamiliar to her.  She loved her friend, and hoped that in the end, they could be successful so he would never have to go through what her or Ben Solo did.