It was surreal. Rey found herself standing next to Ben overlooking a huge fleet of mixed vessels from the bridge of a star destroyer. She felt him slide his hand into hers, interlocking their fingers and giving a gentle squeeze, "Didn't think I'd ever stand on the bridge of one of these ever again…" His voice was quiet, only loud enough for her to hear. She could feel his discomfort through the force and by the way his hand twitched against hers.

Rey's eyes followed a Republic medical transport as it drifted past the viewport before them, silently considering the lives that were about to be sacrificed in the name of saving Lando. It caused a frown to pull at her lips, "Are we doing the right thing? Lando wouldn't want anyone to be hurt in order to save him…."

She felt the pressure of Ben's hand on hers increase once more as he gave it another squeeze, "He wouldn't want us to do this just for him, but he would know that this conflict was inevitable… Better now than when they've had more time to gather their strength." His gaze shifted to look down at her, "We have to stop whatever Parnadee is up to. Something feels… Off, about all of this."

Rey nodded and glanced up at him, "You felt it too? The way Parnadee spoke, the look on her face, she looked like…"

"Those children," he finished for her ominously.

"Do you think someone else is pulling the strings? That she has been chipped as well?" Rey said barely above a whisper, "Ben… If that is the case we have no idea what we're up against…"

Ben closed his eyes and sent his senses out, teasing at the edges of the force, feeling for any clue as to what they should do. There was a darkness, a foreboding cloud, draped over much of the Unknown Regions that he couldn't penetrate. He huffed in frustration, "Someone is blocking us. Someone powerful in the dark side of the force…"

"Voe?" Rey thought that was the only logical answer. Ben shook his head though.

"I don't think so. This feels different. This feels like… Like Snoke. Or Palpatine." Ben shivered at the thought.

Rey closed her eyes and felt as Ben had, finding much the same thing, "Like Exegol… Clouded, dark, I can't pinpoint anything."

"Exactly," Ben said, "There is something bigger happening here. They want more than the Wayfinder." Ben's gaze shifted over to R2 who was parked not far away, enduring 3P0's chatter.

"But Snoke and Palpatine are dead. We saw them die. We felt them die." Rey was certain of it, she knew there was no resurrection for either of them. There was no coming back from what the Jedi had done to Palpatine, and neither of them had felt anything of substance from Snoke when they'd defeated him.

"It could just be another Sith, another force user who remained hidden until opportunity presented itself…" Ben said, trying to ease both of their growing discomfort.

"Why does it feel so personal then?" Rey said with a shake of her head.

Their thoughts were interrupted as they sensed Finn's approach. Every time they encountered him his presence in the force seemed to change, he felt stronger but still uncertain this time. Rey had given him copies of the Jedi texts to study while we worked with Poe and often stayed up late on holo calls with him. Ben felt the odd pang of jealousy towards their relationship but he knew, deep down, Finn was not a threat. He was her family.

Rey's face lit up when she caught sight of what hung at Finn's hip, "You have a new saber! Did you build it yourself?"

She stepped forward into Finn's arms for a tight hug before stepping back, glancing at the lightsaber again.

Finn shook his head, "Actually I found it on Coruscant. It was like it was calling to me. I walked right to it. It was just lying behind a building in a pile of old parts." He unclipped it from his belt and activated it, revealing a blade of light blue, almost white.

"Do you know whose it once was?" Ben asked, wracking his brain for a force user he knew of who'd carried such a blade. Only Ashoka Tano came to mind.

Finn shrugged and disengaged the saber, attaching it to his belt once more, "I'm not sure. No visions. It just feels right. You know?"

Rey smiled warmly and nodded, "The force meant for you to find it."

Poe wandered up, arms akimbo, his gaze shifting between Rey, Ben, and Finn, "Well I never in a thousand years would have imagined this scene. All of us on a star destroyer playing nice with the former Supreme Leader, planning an attack on one of his old Generals."

"Do we even have a plan?" Ben asked doubtfully.

"Of course we do," Poe sighed, "I just haven't decided if it's a good plan yet or not."

"Then enlighten us?" Ben suggested.

Poe motioned for them to follow him back to a command room, waiting for the door to close behind them before he spoke, "We have a problem."

"Don't we always?" Rey said, only half joking.

"The scout droids I sent to Rakata have not returned. The information we received before they stopped communicating is… Worrying." Poe moved to the holoterminal on the table, flicking it on and bringing up an image of Rakata Prime. Around the planet sat ships, an entire fleet of them, but they were not First Order ships, only a single star destroyer flew amongst them, the Finalizer.

"What kind of ships are those?" Rey asked, leaning forward, squinting at the images floating before her.

"Chiss…" Ben answered, a foreboding tone to his voice as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I knew they were involved somehow…"

Poe nodded, "They've been gathering strength ever since the fall of the Empire. There are whispers that they may have also been involved with Exegol. Facilitating the materials and everything needed to help build that fleet we exploded before it could leave orbit…"

Finn assumed a position similar to Ben's, arms crossed, "So needless to say, they're pretty upset we blew up their favourite toys?"

"Most likely," Poe said with a nod.

"How do we even attack a fleet like that? This would be all out war, we could lose everything in one battle." Rey said forlornly, turning her gaze up to Ben.

Ben and Poe both said at the same time, "You don't."

Rey and Finn looked puzzled.

Poe continued, "This is going to require some old fashioned trickery and I estimate 7 of our largest ships…"

Rey's eyes went wide.

Ben smirked, "You're going to pull a Holdo maneuver…"

Poe nodded, "I'm going to pull a Holdo maneuver."

"We've figured out a way to trick any sensors into reading life signs on a droid driven vessel. We will scatter these vessels within our own fleet. Everyone will have orders to jump away at the same moment we jump those ships forward, right through their fleet. The tricky part is timing and making sure you all make it out of there with Lando before we signal everyone. That is the part I uh… Haven't quite figured out yet." Poe said the last bit with a grimace, "You won't be able to comm us as I am more than certain they will jam everything…"

"You need a way for us to signal you that doesn't require comms." Ben said, immediately understanding.

"Yeah, any ideas?" Poe said, turning to him.

"Actually, yes." Ben looked to Rey, "If one of us stays here we could speak through our Dyad. They would never be able to block that."

Rey immediately shut that idea down, "No! No way! I am not letting you leave me here!"

Finn chewed on his bottom lip, nodding to himself before piping up, "Would you be able to send me a message with the force? Even the smallest blip would work."

Ben considered this and shrugged, "Maybe, I've never tried it with anyone else. I do know that it is possible. I mean Luke managed to project an image of himself across the universe… We should be able to send you a single thought across a short distance… We would need practice."

Poe sighed, "Can you figure it out by tomorrow morning?"

"We can try," Ben said, "Do we know what ship they have Lando on?"

Poe nodded, "We are pretty sure he is on the Finalizer, at least that is where they've asked us to meet to make the exchange."

"Good, I know that ship from top to bottom," He dropped a hand, finding Rey's and giving it a squeeze, "This could work…"

Rey and Finn exchanged worried glances before Rey finally said, "Well then, may the Force be with us."