Across The Stars // Star Wars (Sequels)

✰Chapter 10✰

"Mom, no. Luke gave me very clear instructions," I say, chasing after my mother through the main base. "I couldn't go looking for him."

"That's why you won't be looking for him. We are," she says stubbornly and I groan.

"Mom, listen to me," I say, standing in front of her to stop her. "He doesn't want to be found. He wants to live out the rest of his life on a deserted planet without anyone to bother him. Why won't you give that to him?"

"We need his help, Raven. Whether he likes it or not, if we want to stop the First Order, we need him on our side," she says.

"Rave, I think your mom is right," Poe speaks up and I hold up a hand to shush him.

"The First Order has been looking for him ever since I left him behind. What if they already found him?" I ask.

"I think we would've known if they had," she says. "To them, he's the last Jedi in the galaxy, but to us, he's family. We can find him. I know it." She pauses for a second, her eyes lingering on me. "Will you help us?"

I let out a frustrated breath. "I don't like that I'm breaking my promise to him, but yeah, I'll help," I say, leaning my palms on the edge of the table.

"Great," Poe says, grinning. "Is there anything you know that could help us find him?"

I pucker my lips for a second. "Before I left, he said he was going to a place where he would find peace. He made a map for himself that he would spread throughout the galaxy to prevent others from finding him," I tell them reluctantly.

"That's good. We can work with that," he says, nodding. He runs off to the centre hologram and presses a bunch of buttons. A map of the galaxy appears, but it's only partially complete. "A few weeks ago, someone found a map of the galaxy in the archives but as you can see, a couple of pieces are missing. We had no clue why we couldn't find them but now, we know why."

"And how are you planning to find those pieces? They're all over the galaxy," I say, crossing my arms.

"We contact our allies and the neutral systems to see if they can help us out," Mom speaks up, stepping forward.

"Okay, everyone. Let's get to work. Contact our allies and the neutral systems and ask them about the map to Luke Skywalker. Tell them it's urgent," Poe orders.

The people around us all go to work. "What do I do?" I ask Poe. He hands me a piece of paper.

"You're gonna write down all the places you visited with Luke. Maybe that'll give us a clue about where he'll send the pieces of the map or not," he says and my heart skips a beat.

"Yeah, okay," I say quickly and take the pen he offers me.

The beep of a newly received message distracts him and he turns to the hologram that appears. "What's this?" he asks the control guy.

"There was an attack on Ord Mantell a few hours ago. They sent us the footage," he answers, pressing play. I narrow my eyes at the figure that appears on the footage. He is wearing all black with a long shawl covering his head. A mask hides his face, but I don't need to see his face to know who that is. The figure has a red Lightsaber that he uses to strike down everyone in his path.

"Who's that?" Poe asks.

"Some First Order bigwig. He goes by the name of Kylo Ren," the control guy answers.

"Ben..." I whisper before I whip around and flee outside. My breaths are shallow and I feel myself getting lightheaded.

"Raven!" my mother's voice sounds and I look up.

"Mom, that's Ben. That's my brother!" I exclaim, tears building up in my eyes.

"Remember your training," Mom says and I look at her for a second before closing my eyes.

"Emotion, yet peace," I start whispering to myself. "Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force."

Slowly but surely, my breathing slows down and the tears dry up. Ben leaves my mind and I focus on the Force that flows through me. I open my eyes and find Mom looking at me with a proud yet saddened smile.

I nod. "I'm alright. Thank you," I say. "Mom, Poe wants me to write down all the places I visited with Luke but there's only one. I can't lie to him and give him incorrect clues."

She thinks about this for a second before she nods. "Okay, I have an idea. You're going to help me look in the archives," she says. I nod gratefully and we head back inside.

Poe instantly comes up to me. "Hey, you okay?" he asks.

I nod indifferently. "Yeah, fine," I say curtly.

"Raven, can you help me out over here?" Mom calls and I send Poe a quick smile before scurrying over to my mother's side to help her out. I find her with Dad standing over some ancient-looking scrolls and books.

"These are old Jedi texts. Maybe they'll give us a clue. You should have a look at them. Out of the three of us, you have the most knowledge," Mom says, pushing over the mount of books. I nod, picking them up but instantly sneezing at the amount of dust that comes free. Dad chuckles at me and I roll my eyes.

"I'll have a look at them outside. It's too crowded in here for me to focus," I say and they nod. I take the books on my arm and head outside where I find a grassy spot to settle down in. I place the books in front of me and close my eyes, resting my hands on the book that's on top of the pile. I inhale deeply and exhale slowly.

The sound around me is drowned out and a voice whispers in my mind, "Kashyyyk."

My eyes open again and I smile. "Thank you, Jaz," I say quietly. She was the one who taught me how to Force-Read. It was incredibly useful when Master Skywalker had us read the ancient Jedi texts. Jaz had picked up on the trick when she was young and her school teacher had her look up information as a punishment for when she hadn't done an assignment.

I pick up the forest green book with the cracked spine and flip it open. I look through the index and find Kashyyyk rather quickly. I flip to page 194 and look through it. "Planet of the Wookies," I mumble to myself when I read the opening paragraph. "Chewie. Of course," I say then before writing the planet down on a spare piece of paper. I label the page before closing the book and putting it to the side.