Invisible Light

Chapter Thirteen

General Organa picked up a stack of reports to clear a few inches of space on her desk. She half-turned to set them somewhere more organized, but she was met with more walls of reports. Resigning herself to the chaos her tiny office offered, General Organa set the pile down on top of another and sighed heavily. Her office was a tiny cupboard of a space, but if offered her the solitude necessary to plan Resistance objectives, and to cry.

Lately she seemed to be doing a lot of the latter.

She cleared her throat, steeling her resolve, and turned back to the holo-projector on her desk. A black and grey flickering image of her brother was watching her patiently.

"Do you really think it will work?" Organa asked with trepidation.

"Rey and Ben have to discover it for themselves. And Rey would never have sought him out unless she believed she had to."

"She might never forgive you for lying, you know."

Luke sighed. "I can live with that. A small price to pay, all things considered."

Leia shook her head. "I never imagined this—any of this—" She let out a steady breath, a familiar sting working its way into the corners of her eyes. That was how her days went—plan and cry, plan and cry… She brushed at her cheek swiftly.

"Ben was Chosen," Luke told her, his tone imploring. "There was never anything we could have done—the only way to defeat the Darkness is to understand it. He had to fall."

"I thought you didn't believe in destiny."

Luke hesitated. "I don't," he finally admitted. "But this is different—I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it for myself. The two are connected on a level beyond our understanding of the Force."

Leia took a deep breath—a steadying one, she had hoped, but her shoulders still shook with the effort.

"Ben was never destined for Light or Dark because he has both—he's where he's at because Snoke has manipulated both sides to work against him—Snoke envies his power and he fears it at the same time. And now that Ben's escaped Snoke's control..."

"Ben will never forgive himself for what he's done," the General whispered.

Luke let out a heavy sigh. The hologram flickered in its poor connection. "There is still hope… He has compassion for Rey, and if she accepts him, he might be persuaded to come back."

"Do you think that likely?"

"They have a bond unlike any I have ever heard—not two pieces of a whole, but rather they are one soul in two bodies. Rey will bring out the Light in him, I know it…"

The General's face hardened with worry. "But there's a darkness in her, too."

Luke didn't reply.

"I know you sensed it, just as I did," Leia continued. "Snoke's been searching the galaxy for her, and for Ben—he believes he can regain control of Ben through Rey. He isn't done with them—and if he exploits the Darkness in Rey—"

"I don't believe it's anything to do with the strength of the pull between Light and Dark—look at our own father," Luke explained. "I think it's more complicated than that. Our ability to allow or disallow fear to dictate our choices determines our destiny. People will do anything to avoid fear. In his mind, Ben's worst fears came true, so Snoke has nothing to manipulate. And—yes-Rey's fears are still very real and have a deep hold on her, but Ben can protect her. Ben cannot destroy Snoke without Rey's compassion, and Rey will never be able to defend herself against Snoke without Ben's protection. They need each other."

Leia gave her brother a dubious look. "You have a lot of faith in them."

"He offered to teach her once before," Luke said. "They will be curious about one another—each time they're repelled by the other, the Force bond draws them back in, stronger than ever. They will have a deeper understanding of each other than anyone else could hope to have. They will understand in each other what no one else could—and in understanding is forgiveness—"

"And in forgiveness is love," Leia finished for him. She sighed. "Do you have a connection to her? Has she found Ben?"

There was a pause.

"I'm not sure," Luke said slowly, his voice heavy with hesitation. "She's almost as difficult to sense as Ben."

"Perhaps that's for the best," General Organa replied, shrugging. "The First Order is sending representatives to the Galactic Trade Summit in the Republic," she added darkly. "Grand Admiral Baric, Viceroys Velos and Korr, and a few others. Puppets for the First Order."

"Is the Republic at risk?"

"It's unlikely—we think this is just a propaganda move for the First Order—Baric has no real power. Snoke would send someone like General Hux if he really wanted to strong-arm the Republic. Our intelligence indicates that Snoke has actually been quite absent among the First Order. Most of the commands are coming directly from General Hux."

"You think he's looking for Rey and Ben?"

"I have no doubt of it—Snoke is extremely risk-averse. He could crush us where we sit, but his energy is focused elsewhere—he won't make a move as bold as Starkiller again without being secure in the knowledge that he controls Ben once more."

There was a long silence. "You said you told Rey that she needed to bring Ben to the first Jedi Temple," Leia finally said. "What are you going to do if she succeeds?"

On the other side of the holorecorder, Luke sighed again. "I honestly have no idea," he admitted. "It was just the most believable story I could come up with."

"But you did tell her about the Origin Story—"

"Maz Kanata did—I had plans to discuss it with Rey myself, but—"

"But you needed to use it to your advantage," the General finished for him. She sighed. "She might not trust you again if she discovers you lied to her."

"Rey's destiny is far greater than anything I could tell her," Luke said. "She might not be the Chosen One, but she will become the most important thing to the one who is. In many ways, the fate of the galaxy lies in her hands more than those of anyone else."

It had been nearly twenty years since Ren last stepped foot on Coruscant, and the impending reunion with his home planet was unnerving.

While the Knights and stowaways slept, Ren sat in the silent cockpit. Though the ship had full shields against radar, the latest technology in scanners, and was capable of flying on autopilot, Ren justified his lack of sleep with a need to monitor their status. He didn't trust that Snoke wasn't searching the galaxy desperately for them, especially after their little stunt at SoroSuub.

Ren could block Snoke out easily enough—pure, white-hot rage made sure of that—but his thoughts kept returning to the Scavenger.

Rey. That was her name.

She had haunted him for months, a heavy weight more present in his mind than Snoke had ever been. Her thoughts raced through his mind, her emotions nagging at the edge of his consciousness. Instinct told Ren to push her out, but some twisted part of him clung to her presence. It had been so long since he had met anyone like himself, and a secret part of him gripped to the memory of her face during their meeting on Starkiller, holding on desperately to the way she had first looked at him. Not as a monster or a weapon, but as a human being.

It was insane to allow her to be on his ship, but Ren didn't know what else to do with her. He could lose her easily, but if she didn't return to the safety of Luke—and Ren doubted it very much—then she was an open target for Snoke. He was stuck with her, at least for the moment.

"Reaching destination," the computer piped up, causing Ren to jump. "Dropping out of hyperspeed in ten…nine…"

Ren switched the controls back to manual, more for something to do to distract himself than for anything else.

"…two…one…"

The ship lurched as it dropped to cruising speed. Instantly light exploded all around the cockpit, illuminated by Coruscant's fiery sun. Ren navigated their stealth vessel around the various satellites, dropping low into Coruscant's atmosphere. His heart was in his throat, and an overwhelming sense of dread was threatening to choke him.

The Sivulliq was protected against radar, but it still showed up against a stark blue sky. Ren kept the shuttle squarely in the middle of the cloud bank, relying completely on the ship's navigation system to avoid flying into any buildings. Occasionally the clouds thinned out and Ren could see glimpses the city surface several hundred feet below. Train lines wound above the roads, twisting between towers and criss-crossing over each other like a web. It was nearing dawn on Coruscant, but the city lights were already out.

Footsteps approached the cockpit, and Darin stepped next to Ren. He peered out the windshield, frowning. "What is that?" he suddenly said, pointing.

Ren dropped the ship a few dozen feet to give them a clear view. They were over CoCo Town, or at least the remnants of it: entire buildings had been blasted away by rocketfire, empty shells still smoking from the occasional fire. Debris littered the streets in heaps, burying entire neighborhoods.

A cold chill went up Ren's spine. Darin swore under his breath.

They flew deeper into the city. Tattered X-Wing fighters lay scattered across the city like discarded toys. Two mobile gunneries had been blasted into oblivion, burning brightly against the otherwise grey and gloomy landscape. Flags hung from the windows of buildings that still stood, an identical symbol emblazoned in spray-paint to mark who had conquered the city.

"I might be mistaken," Darin finally spoke, his voice low and full of trepidation. "But I thought summits were peace talks."

Ren swallowed the lump in his throat. "Go wake the others."

In the distance, the towers of the Capitol still stood, though they appeared far more careworn than Ren remembered. The heavy weight of dread that had sat dormant in his chest since the uprising on Anthan Prime suddenly pressed down on Ren's heart. If he had never betrayed Snoke, would this have been his mission? To blow up the Imperial City on his home planet and lay waste to anything that stood in his way?

If he hadn't been torn apart by his father's death, would Ren have gone through with it?

A sudden rush of footsteps and voices brought Ren back to reality. The others were awake, alerted to their situation by Darin. Ren could sense them peering out the ship's windows in the gunnery, shocked by the landscape before them. Their horror only amplified Ren's, and he had to focus to shut them all out.

There was an industrial park near the foothills of Coruscant's only remaining mountain range, nestled on the edge of CoCo Town and separated by a wide gully from the Imperial City. Ren landed the ship here, hiding between rows of abandoned freighters and commercial transport ships. He hesitated in the cockpit after turning off the computers and shutting down the ship's engines. He had tried reaching through the Force for the presence of the other Knights of Ren, but all he could feel was death. Hundreds of voices rose deep inside of Ren, twisting and fighting to scream out but unable to find a voice.

Ren got to his feet shakily and was met with the crew and stowaways in the narrow corridor, silently waiting for instruction. Ren felt himself falter for a split second before he pulled on his military training.

"We need to gather intelligence before we do anything else," he said authoritatively. "Canvass the parts of CoCo Town that are still standing and try to find out what's going on in the Imperial City. We'll gather more data if we split up."

"We'll take the Imperial City," Samden spoke up, gesturing to Darin. "The rest of you can split CoCo Town—east of the bridge and here—"

"I'll take the east side," Nomi said. "It's full of criminals—I'm sure I could find someone I know."

Ren, Rey, and Finn all looked at each other.

"Rey, you go with Nomi," Finn said before anyone else could speak.

The girl turned to her friend with a look of apprehension. "Are you sure?"

Ren tried not to roll his eyes. He stepped past them toward the galley, where the weapons containers were already laid out. Ren strongly preferred to fight with a lightsaber, but that involved close combat and he needed to keep as much distance as possible between himself and the First Order until they could plan an attack.

The crew split up into teams, darting through the damaged streets with blasters hugged close against their chests and sticky bombs bulging out of their pockets. The Knights cut through the wild gully toward the Imperial City while Nomi and Rey crossed the empty bridge toward the east side of CoCo Town. Ren was apprehensive about Rey creeping into enemy territory unprotected, but if she was clever enough to escape from her interrogation chamber on Starkiller, then she might be clever enough to evade the First Order.

Finn and Ren made their way through the most heavily damaged sections of CoCo Town, climbing over rubble and trying to ignore the sight of death that lay everywhere. The scent of iron and smoke hung heavily in the air, suffocating them. In the distance, transporters rumbled down a main road.

The two men, both former soldiers for the First Order, immediately fell back onto their training. They scurried down the roads, crouched low and taking shelter behind buildings as they moved closer to the First Order. They would need to get good visibility on the platoon's movements, but they ran the risk of being caught at ground-level. Ren signaled for Finn to wait, scouring the buildings above them for one that looked relatively stable above the third-story level.

Ren pointed at his choice—the top floor of a former apartment building—and signaled for Finn to follow. The First Order was incredibly close at only three blocks away.

The entrance to the building was a blown-out laundromat. A civilian and two Republic police lay dead in the doorway, forcing Ren and Finn to step over them gingerly before darting upstairs. They settled themselves in the corner, each taking a separate window inside the bedroom. They scoured the neighborhood for the First Order, watching them through their blaster scopes, but for over an hour all the First Order did was argue about which roads to clear of rubble. There was no sign of the local population, or of the Republic army.

So they waited, neither man speaking to the other, moving only to readjust their positions when legs and backs became cramped and numb.

"You can quiet your thoughts," Ren finally told Finn without looking away from his blaster's scope. It was well into midday, and there had been minimal movement. "They're distracting."

Next to him, the other man bristled. "Then stay out of my head."

"There's nothing of interest in there," Ren replied coolly. He rested the barrel of his blaster against the window sill, rubbing at a headache forming behind his eyes. His neck was stiff, his back aching from holding their prone position for so long. "But I can't focus on blocking you out when we have more pressing matters to focus on."

Finn pulled his gaze away from his scope, adjusting his weight to a slightly less painful position. He let out a sigh of irritation, and Ren felt the other man sort through half a dozen retorts before deciding against any of them. "I'm only here because of Rey," he said coolly. "And I only agreed to this," he said, gesturing to the tiny space between them. "so that Nomi and Rey didn't have to deal with you."

"How brave of you," Ren observed flatly.

"I don't trust you," he continued in a low voice, full of warning. "You didn't just decide to walk away from the First Order."

"That's an interesting observation," Ren replied with barely concealed sarcasm. "Isn't that exactly what you did?"

"I decided I wasn't going to kill for the First Order," Finn replied waspishly. He was glaring at Ren over his shoulder.

Ren sat down on the floor to relieve the tension in his legs and straighten out his spine, just for a moment. He considered retorting, but arguing with the ex-Stormtrooper would just make the mission more miserable than necessary.

"Who's that?" Finn suddenly asked, all hostility gone from his voice.

Ren looked up, squinting through his scope as he turned his blaster in the direction Finn was pointing.

"Looks like they're finally done cleaning," Finn continued. "Is that…Phasma?"

The Stormtroopers who had been assigned rubble clean-up were now neatly lined up on either side of the road, saluting a convoy of First Order vehicles that rumbled through. The leading vehicle had stopped while a few nameless First Order officers exchanged words. Among them was a familiar chrome figure, standing at attention. Ren tried to focus on what they were saying, but a wave of fear suddenly rolled through his mind, breaking his focus. Ren shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, but his ears were filled with the distant sound of screaming.

A high whistle, then an explosion. All around the buildings blew out with a single breath, shattering to the ground below. Darkness, screaming, the acrid smell of smoke and burning dust.

No, Ren thought sharply. It wasn't his reality. His blaster slipped from the window and Ren slumped forward, thumping his broken hand against the floor and trying to use the sharp pain to re-orient himself. The darkness withdrew, the heat of the bombing withdrawing instantly.

"What—what're you-?"

He ran a shaking hand through his hair before pushing himself back up. "There's an air raid," Ren told Finn breathlessly, ignoring the affronted look on the other man's face. He got to his feet stiffly, picking up his blaster and slinging the strap back over his shoulder. "Let's go—"

Before he could quite finish his sentence, a low rumbling overhead drowned out the silence, growing louder as it approached.

"Get down!" Ren shouted, dropping to the floor as a group of X-Wing fighters soared low in the sky above them, firing at some target not too far away. The building trembled at the impact, dust raining down from the ceiling. Once the X-Wing fighters passed, they only had a few minutes before they circled back around for round two.

Finn and Ren darted over furniture in their haste to get downstairs and out of the building. They reached the street just as the X-Wing fighters passed once more, shooting at a target that felt too close for comfort.

"We need to find the others!" Finn shouted over the explosion.

Ren was acutely aware of Rey and Nomi's location, but Darin and Samden were lost to him. He pulled out his data pad and checked their trackers. Sure enough, Nomi and Rey were still on the east side. Darin and Samden had made it into the Capitol.

"They aren't far from here," Ren said breathlessly, shoving his data pad back into his vest pocket. "Just across the river."

He and Finn ran through the city streets toward the bridge, neither man paying much attention to the fact that they were an open target for any sniper fire. In the distance behind them, the X-Wing fighters dropped a third round of rocket fire.

The two men rounded a corner—situated on the bridge was a convoy of First Order vehicles, a recently-erected checkpoint. Ren and Finn stumbled against their own momentum as they stopped dead in their tracks, ducking behind a blackened frame of some blown-up vehicle.

"What do we do?" Finn asked breathlessly, eyeing the First Order checkpoint.

Ren looked around them for anything they might use as a diversion. Several meters away was a single transporter vehicle, miraculously untouched by the destruction all around.

"How many sticky bombs do you have?" Ren asked.

Finn felt around in his pockets. "Six."

Ren pointed toward the transport vehicle. "We attach them underneath that—I'll send it over the bridge and blow it up—"

"We're trying to cross the bridge," Finn pointed out sharply. "Not blow it up!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Finn groaned, but Ren could feel him relenting. "At least cover me if they shoot!" he snapped before scurrying down the road. Ren watched as he took cover behind the vehicle, attaching his explosives to the suspension system underneath. Finn crawled back out, checking his surroundings before running back to the place where Ren waited.

Ren set his blaster aside as he reached out with his good hand toward the vehicle. He would have to be careful—the Stormtroopers needed to believe someone was actually driving the thing from the inside. The vehicle creaked as Ren moved it with the Force, gently gliding down the empty street toward the checkpoint.

"Get your blaster ready," Ren instructed Finn. "Once they approach the vehicle we open fire—"

Next to him, Finn adjusted his position and held his rifle at the ready.

The Stormtroopers hailed the driverless vehicle, and Ren stopped. He and Finn waited with baited breath as the Stormtoopers pulled their weapons, shouting orders as they approached the vehicle. One Stormtrooper yanked the driver's side door open, faltering with obvious surprise to find the seat empty. Half a block away, Ren and Finn straightened up from behind their cover and opened fire.

The Stormtroopers, caught unaware, were unable to return fire before the transporter exploded. Ren and Finn ducked, flinging their arms over their heads as debris rained down around them. Shrapnel hit the burnt up transporter they were hiding behind, imbedding itself deep inside.

Ren's ears were ringing—he couldn't hear anything. He chanced a glance at the bridge and saw their opportunity to run. He grabbed Finn, who was still crouched low to the ground. He shouted something at the other man, but Ren couldn't hear his own voice. His signaled that they should run.

They darted between burning debris, cloaked by the black smoke of the explosion. They made it across the bridge and ran flat-out down the main road. It was entirely against either of their military training to run in such an open space with no cover fire, but Ren was confident he would feel it in the Force if the First Order happened upon them. They ran between abandoned transporters and even stopped trains—while the destruction was far less on this side of CoCo Town, it held the same eerie appearance of being suddenly abandoned.

Ren could feel Rey's presence nearby—he tried to focus on it, to pinpoint her exact location, praying that she wasn't dumb enough to block him out now.

Finn and Ren turned toward the far side of east CoCo town when scattered blaster fire erupted. A few shots were fired at them in warning. Ren glanced over his shoulder as they ran, catching sight of a row of armored assault tanks, all neatly lined up on an adjacent road. The gunnery of one swiveled toward them before firing off a single mortar onto the far side of the city, where the First Order was located. In the distance, a siren blared to warn against rocket fire.

Ren felt her before they saw each other. Nestled against a downed X-Wing, the two women looked entirely out of place in their smuggler's garb. Nomi was firing at some unseen target in a distant window.

"Rey!" Finn shouted, rushing forward.

Ren could sense the sniper easily enough. He took aim with his blaster, his trajectory more precise than Nomi's, and fired a single shot. The incoming fire ceased immediately.

"We have to get out of here!" Nomi shouted.

"Where are the others?" Rey asked as they hurried away from the X-Wing and made their way toward the direction of the Imperial City.

Overhead, the First Order returned rocket fire. The missile whistled before crashing into the ground half a dozen blocks from where they stood. Ren and the others ducked into the cover of an underground train tunnel. The lights flickered ominously as the ground shook around them.

Ren brushed his hair from his eyes, trying to focus. In the city streets above them, rocket fire continued to bombard opposing sides of CoCo Town. His head was still spinning. "The tunnel will take us underneath the armored tanks," he said breathlessly, indicating that the others should follow him down the empty tracks. "We need to get out of the red zone—"

"Did you know about this?" Rey demanded, her anger piercing and red-hot.

Ren was pulled from his train of thought. He turned to look at her sharply, not quite understanding her rage. "What?"

"The First Order!" she hissed, gesturing to the empty space around them. "They're trying to take over Coruscant—a Republic planet!"

Ren was torn between confusion and anger at the insinuation. "I had nothing to do with this!" he shouted back at her.

"We can talk about this later!" Nomi interrupted, stepping between them. "Right now let's focus on not dying!"

Overhead, a rocket landed dangerously close to where they stood. The entire tunnel shook, the vague threat of collapse omnipresent as dust rained from the ceiling and the lights struggled to stay on.

The four of them ran down the dark subway tracks, eager to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the battle waging overhead. Eventually exhaustion won out, even over sheer terror and adrenaline, and the four of them slowed their pace to a crawl.

"We need reinforcements," Finn said.

Ren felt his feet come to a halt. He turned to look at the others, frowning. They were full of hesitation, of fear for what lay on the surface above. It clouded their judgment.

"The Resistance," Finn continued sharply, bolstered by the knowledge that he had their attention. "They can help—"

"No."

They all turned to stare at Ren.

"This is not the battle we're fighting," Ren continued sharply. "This isn't about the Republic and the First Order—we're here to find the Knights of Ren—"

"Are you insane?" Finn exploded. "Look at what's happening! How can you justify what the First Order is doing?"

"That isn't the point!" Ren retorted, his irritation spilling over. He knew better than to argue with the ex-Stormtrooper, but his patience was nonexistent and stress was clouding his better judgment. "That up there—" he added, pointing toward the ceiling. "—is exactly why we have to stay focused and not waste time and resources on meaningless battles! Our only advantage is secrecy and we're going to ruin our only chance if we waste it to save one city on one planet—"

"It's the Imperial City," Finn interrupted. "The Capitol of the Galactic Republic, the—"

"And it's another casualty in another war," Ren overrode him. "This isn't the first time the capitol's been under siege—"

"Are you even sure the Knights are here? Because I was under the impression we were spying on a summit, not walking right into an invasion—"

"If you want to leave, no one's stopping you," Ren snapped.

"I won't leave without Rey—"

Ren found himself turning to look at the girl, whose face was full of apprehension. He was about to tell her she ought to leave too, to go back to Luke, but a twisted part of him was curious what she would say. Did she still want to keep their bargain? Was all of this worth bringing Ren to Luke?

Rey set her jaw. Though her voice was steady, Ren could sense the effort it took to keep it that way. She shot Ren a cold look before turning, more softly, to face Finn. "He's right—we have to defeat the Knights if there's any hope of taking out Snoke. The Resistance would never be able to get as close to them as we are now. I hate it just as much as you do," she added, shooting Ren another withering look as she talked about him like he wasn't there. "But there's no other way. We need him."

"We're wasting time arguing about this—" It was Nomi who spoke up. "We kill the Knights of Ren, and when that's all said and done, we can alert the Resistance afterwards."

Finn stepped forward, a look of disgust crossing his face. "Are you serious right now?"

"Of course I am," she bit back.

"You talk about it like it's a bargain—"

"If we get side-tracked, a whole lot more will die later on," Nomi overrode before Ren could speak. "Aren't you the soldier? Shouldn't you be thinking objectively?"

"This is not a mission!" Finn exploded. "This is just revenge!"

"Who cares what you call it—it has to be done!"

"Since when did you start caring about the fate of the galaxy?" Finn demanded. "Just yesterday you were ready to abandon your promise to the Resistance to get revenge—"

"That's enough!"

It was Rey who spoke. Her friends turned to look at her.

"The mission was to bring B—Ren to Luke, and that's what we're doing. If this—" she added bitterly, gesturing around them. "is the price, then we find the Knights of Ren." She shot Ren a withering look, her silent accusation heavy with the weight of condemnation. She blamed him for her friends' argument, for their fast-dissolving alliance.

Ren returned the gaze with silent acceptance. Let her blame him… he was a scapegoat for many things, and a petty argument between two fragile-tempered beings hardly fazed him. What Ren really cared about was Rey's silent opinion of him: by blaming Ren, she was following in the footsteps of all who came before—Ren was the sacrificial lamb up for slaughter. They could use him, blame him, cast him away without a second glance… Despite their connection, the Scavenger girl saw him only for his utility.

A cold weight settled in his chest. He knew better, but Ren couldn't force himself not to care. To avoid disappointment.

"Let's get going," he said, his voice clipped. He turned away and continued down the dark tunnel, using all of his mental energy to block out the thoughts of those around him.