THERE WAS A WEAPON more powerful than Death Stars or Dreadnoughts—more powerful than even the Starkiller. It didn’t have a trigger. It didn’t shoot a blast. It couldn’t even kill. Yet it could cause the most courageous of soldiers to quake in their boots and could compel masses of beings to do one’s bidding.

That weapon was fear.

Kylo Ren strode down the corridors of the Star Destroyer Steadfast, which served as his flagship after the Resistance had damaged the Finalizer at the Battle of Batuu. The Knights of Ren stomped behind him. Along the corridor, First Order officers snapped to attention. Stormtroopers raised their hands in salute. Ren commanded their respect not only because he was their Supreme Leader but because they feared him. Fear kept them in line. Fear made them serve him.

The flagship’s commander, Admiral Griss, waited for Ren with his staff near the detention area. Ren halted, as did the Knights.

“Supreme Leader.” Griss saluted Ren and then motioned to a group of stormtroopers. They pushed forward a roughed-up Ovissian. Green blood dripped from still fresh wounds on his chin and arms. Three of his four horns were cracked.

“This is the one called Boolio,” Griss said. “Captured at the Sinta Glacier Colony, sir—a traitor.”

Ren knew they expected him to interrogate this prisoner, as he had done with so many others. But the time for questions was over. He lit his saber.

Boolio looked Ren straight in the mask, without a hint of fear. One swift downward arc put an end to his defiance.

The troopers moved in to take the body. Ren grabbed the decapitated head. He gestured for the Knights to remain with the admiral while he strode toward a lift.

A meeting of the Supreme Council was in progress when Ren marched into the conference room and planted the Ovissian’s head on the table. “We have a spy in our ranks who just sent a message to the Resistance,” Ren said, his mask’s vocoder clipping his voice.

The men and women at the table sat up with a start. Ren circled the table, taking note of each council member. One of them had leaked information about his discoveries on Exegol. Only Allegiant General Pryde’s loyalty did he not question. Having served in the Imperial military, Pryde had spent his career championing the Empire’s authoritarian methods of domination and oppression. He believed in the First Order’s supremacy with a religious zeal.

Ren was less sure about the others. General Quinn was a hot-tempered cynic whose vocal distrust of Ren made him a suspect. Also in attendance were chief strategist General Parnadee, intelligence officer Kandia, Commander Trach, and General Engell, whom Ren had put in charge of the stormtrooper legions after Captain Phasma’s demise.

And of course there was General Armitage Hux, an arrogant man with an arrogant face. Hux had believed that Supreme Leader Snoke was grooming him to take over the First Order, until Ren had disposed of Snoke and assumed the mantle of command for himself. But Hux had been born and bred into the First Order and was as firm a supporter of it as Pryde was. He’d die before betraying it.

“Whoever this traitor is, it won’t stop us.” Ren went to the viewport and looked out at the universe he would control. “With what I’ve seen on Exegol, the First Order is about to become a true empire.”

He turned to consider the youngest of the generals. “I sense unease about my appearance, General Hux.”

Most members of the council shifted to look at Hux. “About the mask?” Hux asked, doing his best to project confidence. “No, sir. Well done.”

Seated next to Hux, General Engell made sure to offer a compliment of her own. “I like it.”

“Forgive me, sir,” said General Quinn. “But these allies on Exegol sound like a cult. Conjurers and soothsayers.”

“They’ve conjured legions of Star Destroyers,” Pryde said. “The Sith fleet will increase our resources ten thousandfold. Such range and power will correct the error of Starkiller Base.” He looked at Hux, making it clear where he thought the blame for the destruction of Starkiller Base lay.

General Parnadee went right into logistics. “We’ll need to increase recruitments, harvest more of the galaxy’s young—”

“First,” Ren said, “I need the scavenger.”

“Respectfully, sir, but your preoccupation with the girl is maddening,” General Quinn said. “We have more pressing issues. This fleet, what is it, a gift? What is he asking for in return? Does that mean—”

Ren stretched out a hand. The general flew out of his chair and slammed into the ceiling. Hovering there, he gasped as his body shook back and forth. The others frowned, yet no one spoke up in defense of Quinn. They just watched him being throttled.

“Prepare to crush any worlds that defy us,” Ren said. “My Knights and I are going hunting for the scavenger.”

He lowered his hand. General Quinn dropped onto the table, dead. Whether he had been the one to contact the rebels or not, Ren doubted there would be any more leaks.

Though Rey wasn’t going on the search for Exegol, she wanted to provide the Resistance with all the information she could. She enlisted the help of Beaumont Kin, and the two read through Luke’s notes and the corresponding text in the Rammahgon. BB-8 joined them in her workshop for moral support. The droid looked as good as new, having had all his dents banged out and his panel replaced.

“My conclusion is you cannot go to Exegol unless you have one of these,” Kin said. He flipped to a page in the book and showed them illustrations of objects shaped like pyramids. “Sith wayfinders. Ancient things. There were always two. One for the Sith master, one for the apprentice.”

Rey stared at the drawings. She had seen them before in her studies. She had assumed they had something to do with the Force and the Jedi, not the Sith.

“Luke was on the hunt for the Emperor’s wayfinder.” Kin pointed at the largest of the pyramidal sketches. “But his trail went cold on a desert world called Pasaana.”

“In the Middian system?”

“You been? Can’t get a decent meal there,” Kin said.

“So Leia will start the search on Pasaana,” Rey said.

“You will start the search on Pasaana,” said Maz Kanata, sauntering into Rey’s workshop.

Beaumont Kin let out a yawn that Rey knew was fake and excused himself. Maz shuffled closer to Rey’s chair. “Leia will stay behind to plan the attack on the fleet,” Maz said. “But there can be no attack until you’ve completed Luke’s mission to find Exegol.”

“Maz, if Leia sends me, I’ll be a danger to the mission—to everyone. Someone else has to go.”

“There is no one else. The search for Exegol is a task for the Jedi.”

Rey slid off her chair. “I’m not a Jedi. Not yet—I’m not ready. I’m not as strong as Leia thinks.”

“You won’t know how strong you are until you know how strong you have to be.” Maz could be so baffling with her riddles.

“The dark side has plans for me,” Rey said. “If I go, Kylo Ren will find me.”

“You have faced him before,” Maz said.

“It’s not him I’m afraid of,” Rey said.

Maz plopped her goggles over her eyes, as if trying to see more of Rey. After a long look, she offered up another riddle. “To find the darkest place in the galaxy, you will need to face the darkest part of yourself,” she said. “You must go. The Force has led you here. You must trust in it. Always.”

Rey pondered what the pirate-philosopher said long after Maz had left. She knew she would regret it if she didn’t search for the wayfinder. But she would do it by herself.

She gathered a few belongings from her workshop and walked out of the cave into the clearing where the Millennium Falcon was parked. The freighter might have sustained some damage from Poe’s reckless flying, but Rey wouldn’t take any other ship. A few quick patches to the compressors would make it spaceworthy again.

Rey was disconnecting a hose on the ignition line when Poe Dameron approached. “You were right before,” she said. “I can’t stay here to train while others do all the fighting. I’m going to pick up Luke’s search for Exegol. I’m going to start where the trail went cold, on the desert world of—”

“We know,” Poe interrupted. “We’re going with you.”

He didn’t even let her argue otherwise. He ducked under the Falcon’s forward mandible while Finn walked over.

Rey shook her head. “I need to do this alone.”

“Alone with your friends,” Finn said.

“No,” she said, “it’s too dangerous.”

But Finn would not back down. “That’s why we go together,” he said.

Poe returned with Chewbacca and BB-8. The Wookiee ruffed that she wasn’t flying the Falcon without him—Han wouldn’t have allowed it.

Rey smiled at his joke. It was good to have friends.

Leia was in pain.

By all accounts, she should be dead. The First Order’s attack on the cruiser Raddus should’ve killed her, as it had Admiral Ackbar and many other Resistance commanders on the ship’s bridge. But when Leia had been floating among the debris in the cold of space, she’d realized that her duties were not done. So she sank into the Force to cocoon her body and sustain her life until she had drifted back into an undamaged section of the Raddus. Resistance medics did the rest, and she was able to recover in a matter of days. One of the droids, a 2-1B model who had served Leia since the Alliance, proclaimed that her survival defied all logic. It was, in words surprising for a droid, a miracle.

Leia’s entire life felt like a miracle, she readily admitted. Perseverance and luck played a big part in her survival, but she would never discount the impact of the Force. Whether she was conscious of it or not, the Force had guided her in times of crisis. It had also helped her heal her body.

But it had not healed her heart.

Alone in her quarters in a corner of the cave, she retrieved a memento from a flight case. Flower petals representing the Old Republic were engraved on a gold medal with a rising sun symbolizing the Rebel Alliance at its center. It was the Alliance’s Medal of Bravery, awarded to a select few for acts of courage. Her husband, Han Solo, had earned it during the Battle of Yavin.

Though it had been decades, she remembered the day she had decorated him with the medal. After she had given it to him, he had winked at her, as if he knew their story had just begun. She, on the other hand, had pursed her lips and kept her poise. A military ceremony was no place to flirt. And who did he think he was? A scoundrel like Han Solo would never get a princess like her, not in a million years.

And yet he had. And they’d had a son. And that son had made her a widow.

“When you gave Han that medal, how could you know where your life would take you?” croaked a voice. Leia turned to see Maz Kanata in the entrance to her quarters. The pirate shared Leia’s sensitivity to the Force, so Leia was not surprised that Maz could discern her feelings.

“I know you fear Rey’s pull to the dark side,” Maz said, “that you had visions of her death. But as you have often reminded me, the future is uncertain. The girl must find her true path.”

“True path,” Leia murmured. She had told Maz about the nightmares she had, in which she saw this brilliant girl she had taken under her wing follow her son’s path into the darkness. And the darkness would be too much. It would suffocate Rey. It would destroy her, as it had Ben.

Yet Rey was not Ben.

Leia thought about the time when she herself was young and impetuous, a teenager elected to represent Alderaan in the Imperial Senate. She had risked her own life, and those of the crew of the Tantive IV, to transport stolen datatapes containing the readouts to the Death Star. She had looked into the face of darkness itself—the mask of Darth Vader—and endured the agony of his torture, yet had not surrendered the location of the rebel base.

Was what Rey planned to do any more foolish? Feisty, headstrong, and stubborn to the bone—the girl from Jakku reminded Leia of herself.

Maz stepped closer to Leia. “Your spirit is strong, my friend. But you are not well. Your body grows weaker. Give her your blessing. Give her Luke’s saber.” The lightsaber hilt lay on Leia’s desk, where she had placed it after Rey had handed it to her. Maz picked it up and presented it to Leia. “While you still can. While there is still hope.”

Leia peered at the pirate and the saber she held. Maz had seen many things over her long life, and the fact that she had joined the Resistance meant that she thought its fight against the First Order was of utmost necessity.

When Leia went to the mouth of the cave, she overheard C-3PO saying farewell to R2-D2. “In the event I do not return, I want you to know you have been a real friend, Artoo. My best one, in fact.”

Leia smiled. Never underestimate a droid’s capacity for tenderness. She had authorized C-3PO to go with Rey, knowing they could use his services as an interpreter and a diplomat. But he was more than his programming, as was R2-D2. The fight for freedom she had waged her entire life had not just been for organic beings but all those who could be caring and compassionate, including droids.

Her student stood near the Falcon, talking to Poe. “Rey?” Leia called.

Their eyes met. Rey walked up to her, appearing apologetic. “There’s so much I want to tell you,” she said.

“Tell me when you get back,” Leia said, and held out Luke’s lightsaber.

Rey stared at the hilt, as if unsure whether to take it. Leia continued to offer it with a gentle smile. After a moment, Rey took the lightsaber from her and then embraced Leia.

Leia whispered into the girl’s ear. “Never be afraid of who you are.”

Rey looked at Leia and nodded.

As the Millennium Falcon’s engines warmed for launch, Maz came to stand next to Leia. “If she finds Exegol, she may just survive. But if she doesn’t”—Maz, who was always sure of herself, hesitated—“the galaxy surely will not.”

Leia watched the Falcon soar above the treetops. Despite giving Rey the saber, she worried about the girl like she still worried about her son. A mother’s worries.