Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

36|Unmasked

Kylo Ren woke up to a knock on the door.

"Yes?" he called.

"Supreme Leader, we've arrived on Ganeron," said the voice of the youngest of his knights, Ryle. He was only fifteen years old, and could be a bit reckless at times. But he had only been nine years old when he joined Ren after he destroyed the Jedi academy. And Kylo had always felt responsible for him. He treated him like a big brother and of all of his knights it was Ryle that he cared about.

He got up and went to the door. He opened the door to see a masked figure who was clothed in black and much shorter than himself. He wore a terrifying mask, but Kylo knew what was under it. The face of a boy, a boy who he had to protect. "Thank you Ryle," he said. Then he grabbed his new helmet and placed it on his head.

He made his way to the bridge with Ryle following close behind him.

"We don't know what we will have to face on this planet," he told his knights. "But I do know that the Dark Side is strong on this planet, use it here and the Light Side will not be able to stand against you."

His knights cheered.

"We will stop the Resistance once and for all. But no harm is to come to the girl ...Rey. With her on our side, we will be truly unstoppable," he continued.

The knights nodded, they had heard of her power. They had heard that she had faced Snoke, his guards and Ren, all alone. If that were true, then not only was she powerful, she was the most powerful force user any of them had ever seen. They would be honored to have such a person join them.

Even though some of his knights felt that she should be punished for killing their Supreme Leader. But they were too grateful to have their master as the new Supreme Leader to be too cross with her. In fact some of them wished they could thank the scavenger girl for making Kylo the leader of the First Order.

Beyond his knights he also had an elite group of troopers, death troopers. They were remnants of the troops from the Death Star. Some had actually served Vader himself. While others were young, raised since birth by the death troopers. They were not as obedient as the original death troopers who were clones. But they were twice as dangerous.

Kylo led his knights and a group of death troopers down the ramp of the ship. He led them onto the dark, hard planet Ganeron. It took only moments for them to be soaked by the pouring rain.

They walked several yards, but it felt like miles in the pouring rain. Finally they came to a small village.

"Gather the villagers. But don't hurt them," Kylo ordered.

The death troopers went through the village rounding up the people who lived there.

Soon the death troopers had brought a group of thirty people before him. Kylo looked at the group. They were all adults in their forties and fifties. He saw no children. He thought that was strange. Perhaps this was some sort of mining town.

"Have you seen a girl?" Ren asked them all.

They stared at him blankly.

"She would have come in a freighter and been accompanied by a Wookiee. She is a Jedi, the last of her kind," he continued.

This time a look of recognition crossed many of their faces. By now they had all heard of the girl who had brought Luke Skywalker out of hiding. Who had faced Kylo Ren alone more than once. And rumors claimed that she had even defeated Snoke and a whole army of his guards alone. The farther the rumors spread, the farther they went from the truth. And the more exaggerated they became. Some rumors said that she had defeated whole armies of the First Order alone.

Of course there were only two people who knew the whole truth and that was Rey and Kylo Ren. And neither of them would share the truth with others.

Kylo noticed the change of expression on their faces. But they could not see his. His mask hid the hopeful look that covered his face. They have seen her, he thought. Then she must be close by.

"You've seen her?" he asked.

"No, but we've heard stories about her," said a man.

"Everyone has," added a woman.

Kylo Ren looked at them, trying to judge rather or not they were telling the truth. "And you have never seen her?" he asked, trying to make sure.

"Even if we had, what makes you think we would tell you where she is?" asked an old man. He was undoubtedly the leader of the group and was much older than the others. "We have no allegiance to the First Order, nor to you Kylo Ren. We stand with the Resistance!"

A cheer rang through the village.

"The Resistance? The Resistance will fall, and it will do so very soon," said Kylo. "Where will your allegiance stand then?"

"Anywhere but with you!" the old man yelled.

Kylo went over to him. The old man was knelt down on the ground and he towered over him. He lifted the man by the collar of his shirt. "Tell. Me. Where. She. Is," he demanded.

"I haven't seen her and even if I had, why would I turn the Resistance's last hope over to the Supreme Leader of the First Order? Why would I hand a girl over to a monster? I will not tell you where she is, so that you can kill her," said the man.

Kylo released his grip on the man's shirt. He knew that the man was only trying to protect Rey. His eyes moistened and his voice softened. "I'm not going to hurt her," he said softly, meaning the words with all of his heart.

But all the man saw was the of his eyes was the dark visor of his helmet. And the sorrow in his voice was filtered out, all the man could hear was a muffled metallic voice.

Ben could see that the man did not believe him. Reluctantly, he removed his helmet. Now the man could see him for who he truly was, a boy who's heart had been broken so many times that he felt it could never be pieced back together again. His face was wet from the rain, but the man almost thought that he spotted a few tears in his eyes.
The man was surprised, he did not expect the masked figure to be a boy, he had expected a terrifying disfigured man. But what surprised him most was the pain in his eyes. The man couldn't bear to look at him any longer. He looked down at the hard, wet ground.

"I promise I will never hurt her," Ben whispered sincerely.

"I'll take you to her," the old man replied. "But you must come alone, and unarmed."

"Of course," Ben answered. He gave his helmet to Ryle. Then he removed his lightsaber from his belt and handed it to the young knight. Why he was doing what the old man asked, when he was the one with the upper hand, he couldn't say. And he wasn't even sure if he cared, all he cared about in that moment was getting to see Rey face to face again. He wanted to talk to her without their force bond ending before he had time to finish what he wanted to say.

The old man looked at him for a long moment. "Maybe you can help her."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

The man hesitated a moment. "She's dying," he said softly. Now he was sure that he spotted tears in the boy's eyes.

"Take me to her..." said Ben. "...please."