LEAVING Chewbacca to guard the Falcon, Han led Rey, Finn, and BB-8 up a flight of stone stairs to the fortress proper. It had been years since he’d been here and seen its owner. He hoped her good opinion of him hadn’t changed. Otherwise, they might have been better off with the rathtars.

“Why are we here again?” Finn asked.

“To get your droid on a clean ship. You think it was luck that Chewie and I found the Falcon? If we can find it on our scanners, the First Order’s not far behind. Want to get BB-8 to the Resistance? Maz Kanata is our best bet. She’s run this watering hole for a thousand years. Maz is an acquired taste,” Han told the youths, “so let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don’t stare.”

“At what?” Rey asked.

“Any of it,” Han said gruffly.

At the top of the stairs, they passed through the open gate, then went down a corridor that directed them into a great hall. The place was as rowdy and rough as any cantina Han had ever frequented. At the many tables sat blue-bearded Narquois, chortling Ubdurians, and puffy yellow Frigosians. A woman in a black-and-white baffleweave bodysuit sat in the lap of a heavyset Dowutin. Lurching about on a peg leg was a saggy Gabdorin. Three white-furred bipeds Han knew as the Hassk triplets snarled from a corner. Han snarled back. He never showed fear in holes like this. Walking through the throng with the kids, he hurled glares and vicious threats to ward off any would-be aggressors.

There was one whom Han did not insult. Short and slim, she had skin wrinkled like Han’s but with the color of spoiled citrus. The ends of a tightly tied bandana drooped from her bald head, though the rest of her apparel was loose fitting. Gadgets of all sorts dangled from an animal-hide belt around her waist, and rings and bracelets adorned her fingers and wrists. But the most striking features of her person were the scope-sized lenses around each eye—and the voice that shrieked from her tiny mouth.

“Haaaan Sooolo?”

The great hall became so quiet Han could’ve heard a worm move. “Hiya, Maz,” he said.

“Under the radar,” Finn whispered. “Perfect.”

“You still in business?” Han called out to Maz.

“Barely!” she shouted, heading toward them from across the hall. “Thanks to a certain mooch who still hasn’t paid me back after nearly twenty years.” She reached Han and looked up at him. “Can you imagine something so horrible?”

Han twitched. “I might be able to.”

“Where’s my boyfriend?” Maz asked.

“Chewie’s repairing the Falcon.”

“That’s one sweet Wookiee.” Maz looked over at Finn and Rey. “I’m sorry.”

“About what?” Finn asked.

“Whatever trouble he’s dragged you into.” Maz turned to Han again. “Come! Sit! I can’t wait to hear what you need from me this time.”

Finn ate his fill of the feast Maz served them, but Rey gorged. He watched the slender girl scarf down anything and everything served on the long tiled table, as if it might be taken away at a moment’s notice. Taste and appearance did not factor in to what she crammed in her mouth. Getting food into her stomach seemed to be her primary goal. What had she been eating on Jakku? Or perhaps more accurately, what hadn’t she been eating?

Han regaled Maz with his account of their escape from the Guavians and Kanjiklubbers, conspicuously omitting any mention of the rathtars. Maz grew excited when he spoke of what BB-8 carried. “A map leading to the first Jedi Temple! To Skywalker himself! I’ve never given up hope for him.”

“That’s good to hear, because I have a favor to ask,” Han said.

Maz cocked her head at Han. “You need a loan.” Han’s grin wavered. “Yes, I heard about the rathtars.” She looked over at Rey. “How’s the food?”

“Delicious!” Rey said between mouthfuls.

Han gestured at BB-8. “I need you to get this droid to the Resistance.”

“Me?” Maz asked.

“And the loan sounds good,” Han added.

Maz leaned closer to Han. “I’ll help you find passage and avoid Snoke’s hunter squads. But this journey to the Resistance isn’t mine to take, and you know it.”

“Leia doesn’t want to see me.”

“Who can blame her? But this fight is about more than you and that good woman. Han. Go home,” Maz said firmly.

“What fight?” Rey asked, totally lost.

“The only fight: against the dark side. Through the ages, I’ve seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy. We must fight them. All of us.”

“That’s crazy,” Finn said. “Look around. There’s no chance we haven’t been recognized already. I bet the First Order is on their way right—” He stopped talking when he noticed Maz adjusting her goggles, making her eyes appear even larger. “Solo, what’s she doing?”

“No idea,” Han said, “but it ain’t good.”

Maz climbed up onto the table and walked over to directly in front of Finn. “If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people. I’m looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run.”

“You don’t know a thing about me,” Finn snapped. “Where I’m from. What I’ve seen. You don’t know the First Order like I do. They’ll slaughter us. We all need to run.” He got to his feet. “I’m out.”

Rey’s brow furrowed in shock. “What?”

“I need to get to the Outer Rim, right now,” Finn said, ignoring her.

Maz gestured through the doorway to a table in the great hall. “Big head, red shirt, shiny gun. Bright red helmet with ear flares. They’re bound for the Outer Rim. Will trade transportation for work. Go,” she commanded.

Finn looked at Rey. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. He stood, unholstered his blaster, and handed it to Han. “It’s been nice knowing you. Really was.”

Han wouldn’t meet his gaze, either, or take the pistol. “Keep it.”

There were no more words exchanged. It seemed anticlimactic after all they had been through. But that was the life of a soldier. You got close to people during intense situations, then the next thing you knew, you were heading off in different directions.

Finn’s direction would be any civilized world far from the First Order and the Resistance.

Rey sat at Maz’s table, stung by Finn’s departure. She had saved his life multiple times, and yet he had dumped her like an empty blaster cartridge. She chided herself for thinking he would be different. If her short life had taught her anything, it was that those close to her would abandon her. That was the way of the galaxy. Best to live alone and look out only for number one. Then you wouldn’t get hurt. Then you would survive.

So why did she suddenly find herself going after him?

He was standing at a table in the great hall, asking for a lift from a person dressed in red, with a black cloak around his shoulders and a flared helmet. He must be the starship captain of whom Maz had spoken. The captain might have been human under the costume, for all Rey knew, but his plump, peg-legged lieutenant and the rest of the crew were definitely not.

Rey ignored the aliens’ stares and strode right up to Finn. “What are you doing?”

“Give me a second,” Finn said to the captain. He led Rey away from the table.

She did not allow him a chance to make excuses. “You heard what Maz said. You’re part of this fight. We both are.” As she looked at him up close, her anger abated. She saw a young man as confused and conflicted as she was. “You must feel something.”

He looked away from her. “I’m not who you think I am. I’m not…special. Not in any way.”

“Finn, what are you talking about? I’ve watched you. I’ve seen you in action—”

“I’m a stormtrooper,” Finn said.

His confession confounded her more. He was a stormtrooper? A soldier for the First Order? Was everything she knew about him—felt about him—a lie?

“I was taken from a family I’ll never know. I was raised and trained to do one thing. Kill my enemy. But my first battle, I made a choice. I wasn’t going to kill for them. So I ran. Right into you.” Finn’s voice broke, but he quickly recovered. “You asked me if I was Resistance, and looked at me like no one ever had. I was ashamed of what I was. But I’m done with the First Order. I’m never going back.” He paused. “Rey, come with me.”

“Don’t go,” Rey pleaded.

“Take care of yourself. Please,” Finn said sadly. Without another word, he rejoined the captain and his crew. Rey turned and walked away so she wouldn’t have to see him again.

Kylo Ren was angry.

Angry at General Hux and his crew for allowing the freighter to escape. Angry at himself for not trusting his feelings about a trooper he’d seen on Jakku. Angry that the Supreme Leader would even consider that he, Kylo Ren, could be turned to the light.

He knelt in his dark chambers aboard the Star Destroyer. Though he was alone, he spoke in a low and respectful tone. “Forgive me. I feel it again. The pull to the light. The Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again the power of the darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way. Show me, Grandfather, and I will finish what you started.”

The shrine’s centerpiece was a symbol that once was feared throughout the galaxy. Flames had warped and melted it into a shape even more monstrous than before. Though cool to the touch, evil emanated from it as if it continued to burn.

It was the relic of a dead man to whom Kylo Ren felt a dark kinship.

It was the burnt husk of the mask of Darth Vader.