Star Wars: First Order of Business, Part 10

10: THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES

 Mimban, 8005 C.R.C.

Kylo sat beside Ren as they huddled together in their makeshift hut, hidden deep in the jungles of Mimban. The other Knights were outside, scanning the perimeter to make sure they would not be disturbed by any of the native Mimbanese. Tomorrow, they would set out in search for the kyber crystals rumored to grow on the planet. According to historical records, there had been a particular crystal, known as the Kaiburr Crystal, that had been the subject of worship to the natives of Mimban, but it had since been removed and was last known to be in the possession of the Jedi Order. Still, there were known to be shards of the Kaiburr Crystal scattered across the galaxy, and Ren was working off the hunch that there still would be some on Mimban, twenty-six years after its removal from the Temple of Pomojema.

It had taken some time, but Kylo had finally managed to put down the mask of Darth Vader and it was secure aboard the Night Buzzard. He was still trying to process—or even recall—what it had shown him, and he had not spoken a word of it to Ren. For his part, Ren had not asked him about it, and Kylo secretly hoped it would stay that way.

“I’ve been at this for a long time, kid,” Ren said after several minutes of silence. He sat on his haunches, having removed his helmet to reveal his face. His face was still relatively youthful, which contrasted with his mop of white hair. Kylo had no idea how old he was, other than that he was old enough to remember the reign of the Empire and perhaps even the end of the Clone Wars, although how much of that was just regurgitation from second-hand accounts was anyone’s guess. “I was about your age when I took everything I have now—my name, my lightsaber—from my predecessor.”

Kylo glanced up at him. He had removed his mask as well, holding it in his lap. “There was a Ren before you?”

“Yup. In fact, there have been plenty. The Knights of Ren are a gang that have been around for a long time, yet not many people know about us. We stick to the fringes of galactic civilization, just out of reach of any galactic government that wants to ruin our fun.”

“Did you have a different name before you became Ren.”

“Sure I did.” Ren gave him a genuinely sheepish smile. “But it’s been so long that I’ve already forgotten it. Probably because it never really fit me, you know? Like, I was meant to be called Ren. Who I was destined to be. Whoever I was before that point is long dead, and deserves to be buried.”

“Isn’t that similar to how the Sith operate?” Kylo asked. “They abandon their old identities and adopt new ones, even changing their names.”

“A lot of them did, sure.”

“But you’ve told me we aren’t Sith.”

Ren snorted. “Kid, there’s a lot more to this galaxy than just Jedi and Sith. Sure, you’re gonna get similarities between groups and maybe even some overlap in beliefs, but we’re just as separate from the Sith as those Zeison Sha guys on Yanibar are separate from the Jedi. A lot of cultures share an origin point; we’re kind of like branches on a tree, if that makes sense.”

Kylo wasn’t sure if it did, but he supposed that answer would have to do. In all the years he had spent with the Knights of Ren, this had been the most Ren had ever felt like an actual teacher to him. He wasn’t going to ruin the moment by being a clueless student.

“I think Snoke said something similar once,” he mused aloud, watching Ren carefully to see if he would react to the namedrop. Since Kylo had joined the Knights of Ren, the subject of Snoke had seemed to be verboten, with Ren and the others always changing the subject whenever he brought up his first mentor.

But rather than shut down and clamp up as Kylo feared he would do, Ren instead smirked at him. “Hey, the old man may be crazy but he’s got a few nuggets of wisdom here and there.”

“What exactly is your connection to him?” Kylo asked, seizing the opportunity to finally get the answers he sought. “How did you come to meet him?”

Ren chewed on his lip and Kylo started to worry he was about to shut down on him again. His master then said, “He reached out to us. Said he needed an artifact that was hard to find. We got it for him and we’ve been his go-to guys ever since. Simple as that, really.”

Kylo frowned. He somehow found it unlikely that it was that simple; Ren’s brief tone suggested to him that there was more to the story that he wasn’t letting on. He was getting tired of having secrets being kept from him. Ren was just as guilty of it as Snoke had been, and he just about had enough of it.

Sighing heavily, Kylo asked, “What is all of this leading to? It’s been seven years and I still have no idea why Snoke sent me to you. It feels like all we’ve done is collect artifacts, but to what end? What is Snoke planning to do with all of this?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, kid,” Ren replied. “And I mean that. Sincerely. I get that you feel like I’m keeping you in the dark, but I honestly have no idea what any of this is about. I’m going with the flow, doing what we normally do. Maybe Snoke has other things in mind for you, but I’m not the person to ask about what those other things are or what his timetable is. You’d have to ask him yourself.”

Kylo scowled. “Then how do I? I have no means of contacting him.”

“Neither do I. You don’t call Snoke, kid. Snoke calls you. That’s how it works.” Ren picked up his mask and placed it over his head as he rose up to his full height. “I know that’s not the answer you’re looking for, but that’s the truth of it all. Fate never warns us when it’s gonna find us. All we can do is go about our lives and wait for that good death.”

Kylo stood up as well, placing his own mask back over his face. “What was with that business on Vjun, then? My memory of it is foggy….”

“We were supposed to trade the mask you found on Endor for a kyber crystal,” Ren explained. “Apparently the guy worships Darth Vader or something. Problem is, the crystal turned out to be a dud. And, well, you wouldn’t let go of the mask anyway. So now we’re here, looking for a crystal that actually works.”

“And the crystal is for the lightsaber we got on Naos?”

“Yup. Another artifact for Snoke’s collection. Of course, we still need to find the other one. He’s not gonna be happy with an incomplete set.” Ren then shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe when we deliver it to him, you’ll be able to ask him all your burning questions.”

Kylo doubted he would get that opportunity, seeing as how they rarely made direct contact with any of their clients. But he decided to let the matter rest. They had a long day ahead of them, and right now he couldn’t afford to be distracted by curiosity. He could only hope that this conversation with Ren marked some sort of progress in terms of their relationship as teacher and student.

At the back of his mind, Kylo thought about the mask of Darth Vader and what it had shown him, but he pushed such thoughts away. When the time was right, he would return to it. He knew it would still be there, waiting for him to plunge once more into the darkness. It had shown him the true power of the dark side… and he couldn’t wait to get another taste of it.

*  *  *

Hosnian Prime

Hali Pavan, the woman otherwise known as Lola, took a deep breath as she sat in a dark room. She had silenced her personal comlink after it had started to buzz incessantly, no doubt being bombarded with calls from her bandmates as they wondered why she had yet to join them at the theater.

She was ashamed to realize that she regretted putting them in this position. She hadn’t intended on growing attached to them, but spending so much time with them had caused her to become sympathetic to their upbringings and goals. It made her regret fabricating a story to make them think she was just like them, having gone through a similar plight.

The truth was, Lola had never been a slave who had revolted against her masters. Hali Pavan had been born and raised on Coruscant into a family of considerable wealth. Her father had worked for the HoloNet while her grandfather ran a popular if at-times controversial news site. By the time she was born, the Empire had collapsed and the Pavans had chosen to stay neutral in the ongoing conflict with the Rebel Alliance. While her grandfather had been a staunch supporter of Palpatine, he had little faith in the government of acting Emperor Sate Pestage and could not have cared less when the New Republic retook Coruscant from the control of Ysanne Isard. Life went on and Hali Pavan would have lived an otherwise ordinary life… until she enrolled at the University of New Alderaan.

It had been there that she had met Ingo Wavlud, who then introduced her and several of her peers to a new way of life. At first she had balked at the idea of worshiping a man that had already been dead a year before she was born, yet Wavlud had found a way to make her see the truth. It was on that fateful day that she and many others, including her boyfriend at the time, became Children of Vader. When they had attempted to spread their message, the University had caught wind of their activities and expelled them, forcing them to retreat to Vjun where Wavlud helped them continue their studies.

Determined to spread the word of Vader, she had decided to indulge in one of her side interests—that being music—and created the persona of Lola. It was through this identity that she attracted the likes of Jani, Ryara, and Sheela, pretending to share their experiences, and together they had formed a band that purported to spread such concepts as freedom and empowerment.

But it had all been a lie. Hali had initially hoped to use the persona of Lola to simply convert Jani and the others, bring them over to her side, but that changed when some of the Children decided to take a more… extremist route. Wavlud had introduced a new member to their fold and she had quickly assumed the role of leader, something which they had never had before. She convinced the others that the only way to spread the word of the Dark Father was through the means of violence; to destabilize the New Republic and expose its head of state for who she really was. Hali wasn’t sure if she liked the idea, but she was alone in her way of thinking and was forced to go with the plan.

It had been her hope to keep her lives as Lola and Hali separate, but the others had forced her hand. She was going to be a part of this whether she liked it or not. Four years ago, this wouldn’t have bothered her in the least. But now her devotion to the Dark Father had waned and she was no longer certain if this was the life she really wanted.

It didn’t matter, of course. It was too late to go back now. This was her future, whether she liked it or not.

An AZ-series surgical assistant droid hovered up to her and held up a mirror to her face. She held in a gasp as she stared at a face that was no longer her own.

“The facial transformation program was a success,” the droid said. “Are you satisfied with the results?”

Hali swallowed, her mouth dry. “Yes,” she managed to say.

“Excellent.” The droid floated away, leaving Hali alone once more. A few minutes later, a holoprojector hummed to life and the full-sized image of an armored figure materialized in front of her.

“Ah. I see you have already undergone the surgery. Very good. We’re going to need you to film the next broadcast.”

Hali nodded, suddenly starting to feel nauseous. “Who’s going to play the other role? With Mill dead….”

“We have already found a suitable substitute. Everything will proceed as planned.”

“Great.” She swallowed hard, hoping her anxiety wasn’t obvious to the other person. “The others aren’t going to be hurt, are they?”

“What others?”

“My… my bandmates. They won’t get caught in the crossfire, will they? You were able to avoid injuring them on New Alderaan….”

“Only because you were with them, and we needed you. But you are here now and not with them. What happens to them now is out of our control.” The figure shrugged dismissively. “Their lives are ultimately meaningless, as they are blind to His Darkness. Unfortunate, perhaps, but such is the way of things.”

Hali chewed on our lip, fighting back tears. “And the funds…?”

“Have already been transferred.” The other person sighed heavily. “I didn’t think compensation would be required for your service, seeing as how you are already of our faith. Your faith should be reimbursement enough.”

“Wavlud told me that I was being asked for a lot and promised I could have whatever I wanted in return. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him.”

“Whatever,” the other sniffed. “So long as you complete the tasks that are required of you. In thirty minutes, it all goes down. I’d make sure you’re far away from Republic City when it happens.”

“I’ve already booked a hotel in Darropolis. I’ll be fine.”

“Good. I will speak with you again soon.” With those words, the hologram dissolved away. As soon as it did, Hali buried her hands in her face and started to sob uncontrollably. She didn’t know if it was from nervousness or guilt (or both), but she just let the tears flow out. She needed to get it out of her system so she could focus on what she needed to do next.

When she had finally calmed down, she noticed that fifteen minutes had already elapsed. She would not have enough time to call for transportation to take her to Darropolis; by the time she got to the station, everything would be shut down because of what was about to happen.

So instead, she waited. She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and waited.

Another fifteen minutes crawled on by. Then, she heard the explosions.

She listened to them as she just lay there, her eyes dry with no tears left to shed. She stopped looking at the chronometer and did not know how much time had passed when they finally stopped. Then, she allowed sleep to finally claim her.