Star Wars Redemption #1: Across The Stars

Chapter 1: Visions

It was the same dream, nearly every night, that ripped Rey from her sleep. Her parents- their faces blurred as if separated by a sheet of ice- running away. Afraid, leaving her behind as fast as they could. She looked around, but there was nothing to frighten them away. With a start Rey realized they were afraid of her.
    Sitting on her bed, Rey wiped a few tears from her eyes. It was still early. A few rays of sunshine filtered through the window of her hut on Ach-To, but other than that her room was dark. She felt a familiar presence materialize across the room but didn't look up. She knew who it was.

"Rey," Ben said, his hair flattened on one side. He must have been asleep too, lightyears away.
"Sorry to have woken you up," she said, sniffing one last time. Silence descended on the hut as Ben waited for Rey to regain her composure.
"That nightmare again?"
Rey nodded, still not looking up. "They're afraid of me."
"I don't blame them." Rey looked up, hurt. He was staring back at her. "Look at you. You're a fighter- the strongest Jedi since Anakin himself. You could do whatever you want, and no one could stop you."
"It doesn't matter," Rey responded, jumping off the bed to talk to him face-to-face. Even when they were both standing, her head barely reached his shoulder. She tilted her head up to continue telling him off. "My parents left me because they were afraid. Afraid of me. Why? What did they see that was so bad?"
"The same thing Luke saw in me," Ben said. "Power. People are afraid of what they can't control, Rey."
"What about you?" she said. "What are you afraid of?"

Ben stepped forward until they were almost touching. "You." With that their bond was broken and Rey stood staring at the window where Ben had been standing seconds before. Across the galaxy, Ben still stood looking as Rey vanished before him.
He wasn't lying. Ben had seen the things she was capable of not just in person, but through the Force too. She possessed an extraordinary of raw, though clumsily wielded, power. She needed a teacher, especially now that Luke was dead. Ben got dressed and checked the holo-clock absentmindedly, his thoughts still on Rey.
He had seen it that time in the elevator, just a glimpse of the future, right before they'd defeated Snoke together. He had asked her to join him, but in the vision it was she who asked him. Rey ignited a red saber, flicking out the other end to reveal two blades, deadly and beautiful. Then they were in the desert, and in a fit of rage she shot lightning from her fingertips. They stood together before a throne, united as Emporer and Empress.

Yes, Ben decided, he would be her teacher, and she his apprentice, just like he'd offered their very first battle on Starkiller Base. They would rule together and become the first Sith duo in decades. They would be unstoppable.
So deep in thought was he that Ben nearly ran straight into General Hux.
"Oh Ren, are you on your way to the strategy meeting with your generals?" Hux asked in his usual nasally voice.
"That's Supreme Leader to you, General," Ben said, recalling that he was indeed supposed to be on his way to that meeting. He fell in step alongside Hux.
"My apologies Supreme Leader," Hux continued. "I have an idea for how we can locate that wretched scavenger."
Ben walked through the door of the conference room and purposely let the door run into Hux as it closed behind him. "And what would that be?"
Hux shoved the door with an irritated jerk of his shoulder and took his seat around the shiny black table. The other generals looked at him with dull interest.
"I know we don't like to take much stock in rumors," Hux began, "But I recently heard on my last mission that Skywalker's old hideout was the location of the last Jedi temple. I believe this is where his apprentice found him with the aid of the map and where she has returned.
"Where might that be?" Said General Jillun, a relatively new general who had previously been the top female Stormtrooper captain since Phasma died.

"I went to Coruscant to do some research." Hux pushed a button and a holograph model of the Rutath system floated above the table. "According to our records, the last Jedi temple was located somewhere in the Rutath system. I've compared it with what pieces we have on Skywalker's map and it checks out. I propose we send a squadron of troopers there right away."
"You're right General," Ben said. Hux looked up hopefully. "We don't take stock in rumors." Hux's pasty face soured. "Our resources are limited and valuable. We can't afford to waste them on rumors and myths. Someone else, please. General Jilluu, have our scouts on Jakku and Tatooine reported anything?"
"No, sir. No one has lived in the Lars residence in decades on Tatooine, and we are unsuccessful in locating either the Millenium Falcon or the desert home of the scavenger Rey."
"Useless," Ben muttered under his breath.
"Supreme Leader," said General Czen, "Perhaps it is time to refocus our efforts and concentrate on finding the Resis-" he choked. Ben held him with a vise-like grip while he explained the obvious.
"She is the key to finding the Resistance. She will inevitably lead us to them. Not only that, but the Jedi Apprentice, not the Resistance, is our greatest threat. The longer we take to find her the stronger she will become." He looked around the table, his generals refusing to make eye contact. General Czen continued to struggle. "Keep sending out scout droids. And put a bounty on her, an even larger one. But remember, she must be brought to me alive. No disintegrations." Ben released his grip on Czen. "Send a scout droid to Ach-To. I will go to Jakku myself."