Categories > Movies > Star Wars > Love and The Force Know No Bounds
The Upsilon-class command shuttle slices through the black tar that constitutes the ambience of space. The majority of the ship is self-sufficient as any repairs to the hyper drive or navigation system would automatically engage in restoration. Another keen advantage that comes along with the sleek serpent that flies by means of razor wings that cut the very air and pressure of the atmosphere to shreds in order for smooth flight is the black hue of the ship that allows for optimal stealth, and the mechanical apparatuses of the ship are forever updating themselves and evolving to the needs of the mission.
In a way the ship is a living and breathing cyborg or artificial intelligence. Ren leaves the trivial tasks to the ship, and devotes his own focus and and purpose by piloting the dragon of space with every subtle flex and tug of the controls within the recesses of the cockpit.
Ren would loathe to admit such frivolous notions, but the utter rush of power and pleasure that he feels with every turn and flip of the shuttle momentarily forces him back to the time before he was Kylo Ren, and he was just Ben Solo, a Jedi in extraordinaire, and Millennium Falcon captain in training. In the most vulnerable pockets of his reality he has shoved these memories into a warm compartment so that they can only be accessed in the most secure of circumstances as any indication of sentimentality or the cowardly cling to one's past would result in his immediate termination.
Ren had come this far, and he would be damned if these fragile parasites of the time before Kylo Ren take root in his brain. His conditioning and feats have cushioned him from such rememberings. But the recent falling out with Snoke has wrenched the shield of bone that kept his vulnerability captive, and he found himself no longer impervious to feeling.
A blue mass protruded from the holo pad, and Snoke's cloaked figure danced into realization before Kylo. "Yes master?" Ren refrained from any gestures of obedience and respect, which did not go unnoticed by his master.
"I sense that you near the planet of your ancestors before. A fine piece of art, and an even more invaluable stepping stone in our campaign to bring the galaxy to its knees. Your mission is twofold: gain the allegiance of the Nubian Ruling Council and of the current reigning queen. Their choice to remain neutral was a strategic move in the initial tremors of this war, but no longer can apathy be tolerated, their wealth, pragmatic and intellectual government, inherent knack at self-preservation, plasma stores, and the entire celestial body acting as a Force Nexus marks them as a servant that we cannot refuse. Also investigate the areas of the planet that call to you with the most potency, and meditate upon the soil, and collect the sensations and unique surges associated with every area. And report them back to me. We could make significant use of the preserves of Force energy, there may even be kyber crystals burrowed within the sediment embrace of the planet, so do not be adverse to any further digging my apprentice."
Snoke smirked at his jest.
"Oh and Kylo, I recommend you never attack me again, I may have been presented myself as unawares. But that was just a measurement of the extent of your powers and the damage they could wrought. My further analysis was satisfying, but you still have much to learn. May the force be with you, Ren. Or you may find yourself drowning in the pain of others."
"Of course master."
Snoke smirked once more, and Ren finally took note that the injuries Snoke had sustained were already healed. No echoes of his attack lingered in the song of Snoke.
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Ren directed his attention forward, but all he saw was Rey's figure, or more accurately her body contorting in impossible angles, every shift accompanied by the whining of cracking bones. Eventually a dark liquid erupted from her eye sockets, and curled its way around the newly refurbished residence that was Rey's mangled corpse. Ren screamed for the first time in a long time.
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Rey retreated to the cavernous quarters of the Millennium Falcon in order to give Luke as much time as he needed to tame his emotions. Rey was sure that Luke was working to expound upon the subject matter he was undoubtedly going to address prior to the Rey's discovery of his fatherhood. Most likely he just wanted to give her some meditation pointers, or even bequeath a long winded lecture upon the history of the Jedi order to her unwilling ears.
Rey was jolted from her contemplations by the harsh grumble of a hearty snore. That was quite odd, Rey thought to herself. As the snorts and huffs were coming from the gum men's post. She took it upon herself to investigate. It was certainly not R2 as his programming has a strict anti-snoring protocol. And Chewbacca was outside practicing his aim with his bow caster and from the frustrated and guttural grunts he would not return for a good while, as he was thoroughly disgusted with his current performance.
Rey continued until she arrived at the spherical compartment that housed a very uncomfortable looking seat that was flanked with a laser turret before the chair and a worn pair of a head piece lay discarded on the zenith of the gum men chair. And Luke Skywalker as legendary a figure as he was, was found by Rey to be snoring with reckless abandon. Rey almost didn't want to wake him, the serene glaze that had spread over his features was one that he never wore very often, and Luke deserved some rest, but then again where was the fun in rest?
"BOO!" Rey jumped forward and stomped to provide that extra jolt. Luke sprung up faster than a man of his age should have been able to and the hold of sleep melted away as soon as he opened his eyes. After a few haphazard glances around the chamber, he settled upon Rey's snickering figure.
"Something funny? Padawan."
Rey cleared her throat, "Of course not master, I was just inspecting the ship and came across you taking a rather deep nap."
"First of all, I do not nap, I am a Jedi Master, and we are above naps, second I resent the implication that I am old, and third you did not come across me, you startled me half to death into the waking world. You are truly evil."
Rey smiled brightly, "As evil as they come" she chuckled.
Luke offered a warm grin and stood up from his perch, joints cracking and huffing in slight annoyance.
Rey's jovial glimmer faded away as she remembered the past events, she had to ask Luke, at least she needed to try to alleviate some of the pain.
"Master, from what happened earlier, I am sorry to have upset you earlier. Would you like to talk about it?"
Rey lightly stepped forward and set a palm on his shoulder.
Luke remained still, but Rey blinked and Luke placed his hand upon Rey's and quirked his lips slightly.
"No need to apologize, Rey. You did nothing wrong. I was merely taken off guard, but you actually helped me realize something. Its time I completely stop running from my past. I am sure you have questions. Yes, I am a father, or at least was. I had a daughter, a beautiful and bright girl, just like her namesake actually. Her name was Padmé, and she and her cousin were stuck together like a food in a Hutt's belly."
Luke became a mere voice, every expression of the cheeks and swirl of the voice drifted away. He was obviously traveling back to a time when he still had his daughter near him.
Rey turned to leave but Luke immediately began speaking again.
"Don't worry, I am still here. Anyways, once Ben lost his way, he slaughtered every one of my students, every last one. I was overcome with fighting Ren's Knights, but when I found an opening I killed them all in a fell swoop, and once my eyes adjusted to the carnage Ren had incapacitated my daughter.
Kicked her knees out from underneath her as she struggled to direct as many children as possible to her ship. Her blond hair once restrained in a bun now slid down her back sleek with rain and a handful of the sopping straws of hair curled around the swollen lacerations speckling her face. Padmé changed the composition of the rain to acidic and the rivulets burrowed into Ben's helmet and armor, which then the injuries he sustained only increased his frustration, he reached out for Padmé and she flew to him and he grabbed her by the throat, she struggled, and before I knew it Ben had sliced her hand clean off.
I have never screamed my throat so raw in my life. I sprinted to her side, my baby girl lying before me nourishing her lungs with nothing but shallow breaths. Her hand lay adjacent to her body in a final show of surrender.
My daughter never gave up, but Ben was the first and last person to break her. And I blacked out before long. In my watery purgatory between sleep and wakefulness I heard a fleshy stab and a final groan. I woke up to nothing and no one. Another limb taken from us Skywalker's, poetic justice the Sith would say." Luke cleared his throat and trained his eyes on his own cybernetic extremity. His eyes shifted from vulnerable puddles to polar ice caps. Rey turn on her heel to give her master some time to grieve, when Luke's commanding tone drew her back, "Rey, what do you know about Naboo?"
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The Gungan Swamp area was not the ideal landing platform, but Ren was buried under layers of paralysis until the marshy throngs where lake and grass blurred padded the lowering and eventual landing of his cruiser. The squishy squelch of the exit ramp barely skimming the rug of soggy shrubbery and eventually diving in head first interrupted Ren's current dream. Kylo jolted forward and automatically scanned the viewing screens to take in his surroundings. The sensors remained tranquil only reporting the occasional fluctuation of passing wild life.
Kylo allowed himself to relax momentarily and do as his master commanded. He gave his Force signature permission to extend pass the physical and search for this so called Nexus. Instead of coming across a vortex buried so deep the hollow pockets contained microscopic bacteria that fed off of force energy, Ren was not beckoned by the echoes of the Nexus, instead he was confronted with two completely exotic sensations. The more muted one hummed a sweet little melody that soothed the dynamic and more potent sense of familiarity. Ren felt compelled to close his eyes and travel over the mounds of earth, the sediment of long repressed memories and standing on the grassy rise directly parallel to him was a woman with a striking resemblance to his mother, but before he could investigate any further she morphed into a regal and intimidating creature cloaked in robes of almost sentient colors and her face was shielded behind a powdered mask accented with red markings that only made her seem more severe.
The woman looked his way, and smiled, she began to speak but the atmosphere transfigured from one of serenity to a desolate clearing decorated with the almost frozen corpses of children, women, and men of countless species scattered in the most grotesque fashion. Ren's stomach jerked and he fell to all fours as he unloaded all of the contents weighing him down. Ren had not gotten sick since he was a child and he was beaten in a duel by… Don't say her name. It hurts to much. This was his doing. Innocent and bright young minds flocked to the Netherworld just to escape the wrath of a misguided youth. And for the first time he let himself feel sorrow. But the woman standing behind him wasn't having any of his self pity.
"Returning to old stomping grounds cousin? I cannot say I am surprised once a coward always a coward. Tell me what does it feel like to stand on a mountain of dead bodies devoid of life's best opportunities, do you revel in kicking over the limp figures, stamping your boot on the parasites and weaklings they are to you, do you relish in the frozen slumber that these carcasses will forever reside in, a casket of ice. But you didn't even have the decency to give them a proper burial, it was beneath you, but Cousin, nothing is lower than you. You are scum. It took losing my dominant hand to realize that you really are a fool. Is this what you wanted, to relive the glory of our grandfather as he sliced through younglings with reckless abandon, because you most definitely succeeded, but I will avenge all of them, and I will take pleasure in you begging under my boot this time. Good bye Cousin."
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Ren's eyes weren't afforded the luxury of witnessing the incoming missile that was unmistakably drawn towards his ship like opposite magnetic forces. The capsule impaled his ship at the crown and shrapnel sprang from their former cell and embedded themselves in any hard surfaces, looking forward to whatever damage they could inflict. The shrapnel was accompanied by an explosion of volatile gas and Ren was swept off of his feet, helpless in his almost inebriated state to defend himself against the ravenous rhombuses of metal. They dug into every available limb, and the putrid odor of blood wafted from his sliced stomach. Ren was pulled from the wreckage by the roots of his hair and was shoved rudely onto the muck of the swamps.
He looked up to study his assailant, and he caught his breath in his throat as Padmé stood before him with a callous sheen to her once kind eyes. Her blond tresses sheared off at odd angels, her face captured by the inky confines of tattoos running down her cheeks and the tip of her nose. But most disturbing was the electrical implant that replaced the once steady hand of a great warrior.
She ignited an orange lightsaber, nothing like Ren had ever seen before, and he found the biting end almost jammed into the flesh and bone of his throat. Flanking his cousin were several men and women, their identities concealed by their trademark Mandalorian armor. Ren knew exactly what had happened.
"You joined the Mandalorians." Padmé released a satisfied sigh at her cousin's sheer stupidity, "Thank you for that much needed exposition cousin. Unlike my biological family, they took me in and taught me what true strength is, that which I am anxious to demonstrate upon you." Her head swiveled as she took in every single one of her comrades in arms, "Well friends shall we let the fun begin?"
In a way the ship is a living and breathing cyborg or artificial intelligence. Ren leaves the trivial tasks to the ship, and devotes his own focus and and purpose by piloting the dragon of space with every subtle flex and tug of the controls within the recesses of the cockpit.
Ren would loathe to admit such frivolous notions, but the utter rush of power and pleasure that he feels with every turn and flip of the shuttle momentarily forces him back to the time before he was Kylo Ren, and he was just Ben Solo, a Jedi in extraordinaire, and Millennium Falcon captain in training. In the most vulnerable pockets of his reality he has shoved these memories into a warm compartment so that they can only be accessed in the most secure of circumstances as any indication of sentimentality or the cowardly cling to one's past would result in his immediate termination.
Ren had come this far, and he would be damned if these fragile parasites of the time before Kylo Ren take root in his brain. His conditioning and feats have cushioned him from such rememberings. But the recent falling out with Snoke has wrenched the shield of bone that kept his vulnerability captive, and he found himself no longer impervious to feeling.
A blue mass protruded from the holo pad, and Snoke's cloaked figure danced into realization before Kylo. "Yes master?" Ren refrained from any gestures of obedience and respect, which did not go unnoticed by his master.
"I sense that you near the planet of your ancestors before. A fine piece of art, and an even more invaluable stepping stone in our campaign to bring the galaxy to its knees. Your mission is twofold: gain the allegiance of the Nubian Ruling Council and of the current reigning queen. Their choice to remain neutral was a strategic move in the initial tremors of this war, but no longer can apathy be tolerated, their wealth, pragmatic and intellectual government, inherent knack at self-preservation, plasma stores, and the entire celestial body acting as a Force Nexus marks them as a servant that we cannot refuse. Also investigate the areas of the planet that call to you with the most potency, and meditate upon the soil, and collect the sensations and unique surges associated with every area. And report them back to me. We could make significant use of the preserves of Force energy, there may even be kyber crystals burrowed within the sediment embrace of the planet, so do not be adverse to any further digging my apprentice."
Snoke smirked at his jest.
"Oh and Kylo, I recommend you never attack me again, I may have been presented myself as unawares. But that was just a measurement of the extent of your powers and the damage they could wrought. My further analysis was satisfying, but you still have much to learn. May the force be with you, Ren. Or you may find yourself drowning in the pain of others."
"Of course master."
Snoke smirked once more, and Ren finally took note that the injuries Snoke had sustained were already healed. No echoes of his attack lingered in the song of Snoke.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ren directed his attention forward, but all he saw was Rey's figure, or more accurately her body contorting in impossible angles, every shift accompanied by the whining of cracking bones. Eventually a dark liquid erupted from her eye sockets, and curled its way around the newly refurbished residence that was Rey's mangled corpse. Ren screamed for the first time in a long time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rey retreated to the cavernous quarters of the Millennium Falcon in order to give Luke as much time as he needed to tame his emotions. Rey was sure that Luke was working to expound upon the subject matter he was undoubtedly going to address prior to the Rey's discovery of his fatherhood. Most likely he just wanted to give her some meditation pointers, or even bequeath a long winded lecture upon the history of the Jedi order to her unwilling ears.
Rey was jolted from her contemplations by the harsh grumble of a hearty snore. That was quite odd, Rey thought to herself. As the snorts and huffs were coming from the gum men's post. She took it upon herself to investigate. It was certainly not R2 as his programming has a strict anti-snoring protocol. And Chewbacca was outside practicing his aim with his bow caster and from the frustrated and guttural grunts he would not return for a good while, as he was thoroughly disgusted with his current performance.
Rey continued until she arrived at the spherical compartment that housed a very uncomfortable looking seat that was flanked with a laser turret before the chair and a worn pair of a head piece lay discarded on the zenith of the gum men chair. And Luke Skywalker as legendary a figure as he was, was found by Rey to be snoring with reckless abandon. Rey almost didn't want to wake him, the serene glaze that had spread over his features was one that he never wore very often, and Luke deserved some rest, but then again where was the fun in rest?
"BOO!" Rey jumped forward and stomped to provide that extra jolt. Luke sprung up faster than a man of his age should have been able to and the hold of sleep melted away as soon as he opened his eyes. After a few haphazard glances around the chamber, he settled upon Rey's snickering figure.
"Something funny? Padawan."
Rey cleared her throat, "Of course not master, I was just inspecting the ship and came across you taking a rather deep nap."
"First of all, I do not nap, I am a Jedi Master, and we are above naps, second I resent the implication that I am old, and third you did not come across me, you startled me half to death into the waking world. You are truly evil."
Rey smiled brightly, "As evil as they come" she chuckled.
Luke offered a warm grin and stood up from his perch, joints cracking and huffing in slight annoyance.
Rey's jovial glimmer faded away as she remembered the past events, she had to ask Luke, at least she needed to try to alleviate some of the pain.
"Master, from what happened earlier, I am sorry to have upset you earlier. Would you like to talk about it?"
Rey lightly stepped forward and set a palm on his shoulder.
Luke remained still, but Rey blinked and Luke placed his hand upon Rey's and quirked his lips slightly.
"No need to apologize, Rey. You did nothing wrong. I was merely taken off guard, but you actually helped me realize something. Its time I completely stop running from my past. I am sure you have questions. Yes, I am a father, or at least was. I had a daughter, a beautiful and bright girl, just like her namesake actually. Her name was Padmé, and she and her cousin were stuck together like a food in a Hutt's belly."
Luke became a mere voice, every expression of the cheeks and swirl of the voice drifted away. He was obviously traveling back to a time when he still had his daughter near him.
Rey turned to leave but Luke immediately began speaking again.
"Don't worry, I am still here. Anyways, once Ben lost his way, he slaughtered every one of my students, every last one. I was overcome with fighting Ren's Knights, but when I found an opening I killed them all in a fell swoop, and once my eyes adjusted to the carnage Ren had incapacitated my daughter.
Kicked her knees out from underneath her as she struggled to direct as many children as possible to her ship. Her blond hair once restrained in a bun now slid down her back sleek with rain and a handful of the sopping straws of hair curled around the swollen lacerations speckling her face. Padmé changed the composition of the rain to acidic and the rivulets burrowed into Ben's helmet and armor, which then the injuries he sustained only increased his frustration, he reached out for Padmé and she flew to him and he grabbed her by the throat, she struggled, and before I knew it Ben had sliced her hand clean off.
I have never screamed my throat so raw in my life. I sprinted to her side, my baby girl lying before me nourishing her lungs with nothing but shallow breaths. Her hand lay adjacent to her body in a final show of surrender.
My daughter never gave up, but Ben was the first and last person to break her. And I blacked out before long. In my watery purgatory between sleep and wakefulness I heard a fleshy stab and a final groan. I woke up to nothing and no one. Another limb taken from us Skywalker's, poetic justice the Sith would say." Luke cleared his throat and trained his eyes on his own cybernetic extremity. His eyes shifted from vulnerable puddles to polar ice caps. Rey turn on her heel to give her master some time to grieve, when Luke's commanding tone drew her back, "Rey, what do you know about Naboo?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gungan Swamp area was not the ideal landing platform, but Ren was buried under layers of paralysis until the marshy throngs where lake and grass blurred padded the lowering and eventual landing of his cruiser. The squishy squelch of the exit ramp barely skimming the rug of soggy shrubbery and eventually diving in head first interrupted Ren's current dream. Kylo jolted forward and automatically scanned the viewing screens to take in his surroundings. The sensors remained tranquil only reporting the occasional fluctuation of passing wild life.
Kylo allowed himself to relax momentarily and do as his master commanded. He gave his Force signature permission to extend pass the physical and search for this so called Nexus. Instead of coming across a vortex buried so deep the hollow pockets contained microscopic bacteria that fed off of force energy, Ren was not beckoned by the echoes of the Nexus, instead he was confronted with two completely exotic sensations. The more muted one hummed a sweet little melody that soothed the dynamic and more potent sense of familiarity. Ren felt compelled to close his eyes and travel over the mounds of earth, the sediment of long repressed memories and standing on the grassy rise directly parallel to him was a woman with a striking resemblance to his mother, but before he could investigate any further she morphed into a regal and intimidating creature cloaked in robes of almost sentient colors and her face was shielded behind a powdered mask accented with red markings that only made her seem more severe.
The woman looked his way, and smiled, she began to speak but the atmosphere transfigured from one of serenity to a desolate clearing decorated with the almost frozen corpses of children, women, and men of countless species scattered in the most grotesque fashion. Ren's stomach jerked and he fell to all fours as he unloaded all of the contents weighing him down. Ren had not gotten sick since he was a child and he was beaten in a duel by… Don't say her name. It hurts to much. This was his doing. Innocent and bright young minds flocked to the Netherworld just to escape the wrath of a misguided youth. And for the first time he let himself feel sorrow. But the woman standing behind him wasn't having any of his self pity.
"Returning to old stomping grounds cousin? I cannot say I am surprised once a coward always a coward. Tell me what does it feel like to stand on a mountain of dead bodies devoid of life's best opportunities, do you revel in kicking over the limp figures, stamping your boot on the parasites and weaklings they are to you, do you relish in the frozen slumber that these carcasses will forever reside in, a casket of ice. But you didn't even have the decency to give them a proper burial, it was beneath you, but Cousin, nothing is lower than you. You are scum. It took losing my dominant hand to realize that you really are a fool. Is this what you wanted, to relive the glory of our grandfather as he sliced through younglings with reckless abandon, because you most definitely succeeded, but I will avenge all of them, and I will take pleasure in you begging under my boot this time. Good bye Cousin."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ren's eyes weren't afforded the luxury of witnessing the incoming missile that was unmistakably drawn towards his ship like opposite magnetic forces. The capsule impaled his ship at the crown and shrapnel sprang from their former cell and embedded themselves in any hard surfaces, looking forward to whatever damage they could inflict. The shrapnel was accompanied by an explosion of volatile gas and Ren was swept off of his feet, helpless in his almost inebriated state to defend himself against the ravenous rhombuses of metal. They dug into every available limb, and the putrid odor of blood wafted from his sliced stomach. Ren was pulled from the wreckage by the roots of his hair and was shoved rudely onto the muck of the swamps.
He looked up to study his assailant, and he caught his breath in his throat as Padmé stood before him with a callous sheen to her once kind eyes. Her blond tresses sheared off at odd angels, her face captured by the inky confines of tattoos running down her cheeks and the tip of her nose. But most disturbing was the electrical implant that replaced the once steady hand of a great warrior.
She ignited an orange lightsaber, nothing like Ren had ever seen before, and he found the biting end almost jammed into the flesh and bone of his throat. Flanking his cousin were several men and women, their identities concealed by their trademark Mandalorian armor. Ren knew exactly what had happened.
"You joined the Mandalorians." Padmé released a satisfied sigh at her cousin's sheer stupidity, "Thank you for that much needed exposition cousin. Unlike my biological family, they took me in and taught me what true strength is, that which I am anxious to demonstrate upon you." Her head swiveled as she took in every single one of her comrades in arms, "Well friends shall we let the fun begin?"
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