Star Wars: 30 Years Later The Real Story - Chapter 20

While the battle in Takodana turned more chaotic in many fronts, Rey was now hiding under a hole in a dried tree while letting many dozens of stormtroopers pass and being as silent as possible to not be discovered. She had been so bewildered by the visions that she had just started to run with not specific destination trying to calm down. The voice of Maz still ringing in her head.

– “You know the truth, dont you?”- she had said with tender eyes which contained a lot of pity.

She knew… but she was trying to convince herself that she was wrong. She did not want to admit what she knew it was true since that would mean that all those years had been for nothing and she would be lost and hopeless. She just wanted to run and return to Jakku to wait for her parents even knowing that maybe they would never return since at least she would have something worth of living. If that was lost… then… what was she supposed to do?

– “There is someone…”

– “Luke”- she remembered her own voice saying that name and like the first time, a little fire of hope rekindled in her heart. She felt that the name of the legendary Jedi master gave her peace and support even though she did not even know how he looked like.

What did Luke Skywalker have to do with her? She did not know but she felt that many answers lied on him. Her logic was saying that it was impossible since she had never met Luke Skywalker so why would he know something about her? Her instincts, however, were telling her that no matter what, she had to find the Jedi Master. Still, she did not know where he was or what she should do now. It was no surprise she needed time and space to deal with all these emotions.

– “Advance in formation!”- she heard in the distance.

Just moments after her head was finally cooling down, she had met with an army of stormtroopers which was going in direction of Maz’s castle. They were coming from many directions in the forest and she immediately hid. She started to sweat but she still made a great effort in order to be very quiet and not to move a muscle. If she were to be discovered by this quantity of enemies, the results would be obvious.

– “Team 67 on route and about to initiate mission”- she heard one of the stormtropers saying- “awaiting signal to proceed.”

After a while they had dissapeared and Rey started to hear the sounds of battle in the direction they had gone. Rey knew she had to escape the area so she started to go deeper into the forest, but then she remembered Han, Chewee and Finn.

– “They must be there fighting right now…”- she thought but then she got angry- “I just know Han and Chewee for some days… and Finn didn’t care and abandoned us… I should just escape and be done with it…”

Even though, she sadi this, she knew she would never forgive herself if she were to just abandon them. She did not have her quarterstaff but then she put a hand on the holster she had received from Han and took out the pistol that seemed so unnatural in her hands.

– “Let’s do this…”- she said trying to cheer herself and started to walk in direction of the Maz Castle trying to surround the forces she had seen before.

After some minutes walking, she saw a stormtrooper, she ducked for cover and then she realized that the soldier had not noticed her. She immediately aimed at him and pressed the trigger but there was only a click without energy.

– “Cheh! Safety!”- she said but the sound had alerted the stormtrooper who immediately returned fire.

Rey felt her hair stand on end when she felt the impacts near her, but fortunately the trees had covered her. Once the safety was lifted she got around the tree for the other side and shot three times. The first blast failed but the other two found their target and the stormtrooper fell dead to the ground. Rey felt the adrenaline drowning her system and needed a moment to control herself but then she heard more people coming her way. The shots must have alerted the enemies so Rey started to run into the forest while paying attention to her surroundings and wishing to find a familiar face soon.

(…)

A few seconds after Rey entered deeper into the forest, two figures in dark armor and robes appeared in the area. They were Kylo Ren and one of his knights who looked in the direction where Rey had dissapeared as if they could still see her. The knight of Ren just stayed at a certain distance from Kylo Ren and stayed in silence waiting for his leader to talk. However, he received a message that needed to be delivered.

– “Lord Ren! Teams 67, 68, and 69 inform that they have found a very strong resistance in the sector K87 due to mortar attacks” – said Black three using a direct and efficient speech just as he had been trained to do- “they ask for immediate aerial reinforcements.”

– “Impressive!”- said Kylo Ren and then he focused and felt another presence to the South of their position- “There they are! Tell the teams in the area to retreat and prepare a counterattack as soon as the aerial attack ocurrs!”

– “Yes, Milord!”- said Black three using a very polite tone and he started to tell the orders to the team leaders.

Immediately Kylo Ren focused and tried to commune with the will of the Force. He knew that Han Solo was in that direction along with the traitor FN-2187. His master had ordered him to hunt down Han Solo since he was the key to increase his power with the dark side but his instincts were screaming that the girl was more important than anything else. He did not know who or what was that girl but he only knew that he needed to capture her and that mistakes should not be permitted so he would have to do it himself. He did not use to ignore his instincts so he took a decision.

– “Black Four!”- said Kylo using his intercomm- “go to the sector K87 and make a cleanup!”

– “It will be done, milord!”

Afterwards he turned to the knight of Ren next to him who had already finished informing the teams of Kylo Ren’s orders and was already waiting for the next instructions. However, he seemed confused by his orders to Black Four.

– “With all due respect Lord Ren”- he said choosing his words very carefully- “what if the targets die during the attack?”

– “Then that means they were not fated to face me”- said Kylo Ren with a cold voice- “but I’m sure they will not let themselves die so easily. So do not question me.”

– “This subordinate lacks your foresight”- said Black Three kneeling and lowering his head in fear- “please give me your orders.”

– “Go and get the traitor and Han Solo after Black Four finishes the attack”- said Kylo Ren using an indiferent voice- “we want them alive but you can disable them as much as you want as long as you don’t cross the line.”

– “As you wish, Lord Ren”- said the knight of Ren and he moved at a very fast speed in direction of the battle where Han and Finn were fighting.

Kylo Ren did not give a look at his subordinate and it seemed as if he had forgotten about him, but he started to walk in the direction where Rey was running taking all the time in the world since he knew that no matter how fast she was, it was impossible to escape from him.

(…)

– “BD-7”- said Finn to one of the members of his team- “lower your back more before they discover us! BD-4 do not fall behind!”

Many would think that this was a very dangerous and stressful situation but Finn felt very relaxed and focused at the moment. After all, this was his thing. He felt like fish in the water in this kind of situations since he had been trained for this since his childhood. He smiled wondering what would Phasma think if she knew he was using her training against the First Order.

– “Hey, Kid!”- said Han by the intercomm- “if you could hurry up, we would be very grateful. We’re about to be out of ammo.”

– “I do what I can, Sir!”- said Finn in a very annoyed tone- “faster than this and we will be discovered!”

– “Then so be it!”- said Han using and even more annoyed voice than Finn- “get there faster!”

Finn used a small mirror to see his surroundings before getting out from cover. There were enemies between their position and their objective. He analized the situation, he could surround the area but it would take time and by then Han’s position could already be compromised. On the other hand if they attacked directly, they would reach the objectivefaster but they would definitely be discovered in no time and maybe they would not be able to pass the enemy since they were more than the small team he had under his command. Apart from that, he still felt a little conflict by killing stormtroopers.

– “Maybe some of them could still be saved and even switch sides like him…”- he had thought about that a lot in the last days. After all, if he could see the light, why couldn’t others?

Finn sighed and shook his head. This was not the time for that and that kind of mentality would only get him killed in the present situation. He inhalated and got rid of useless thoughts while focusing on the moment.

– “No choice”- he said and then he called the members with thermal detonators. However there were only four detonators so Finn gave three of them to the leitenients that had come with him- “get one each one and throw them at the place I will tell you to cover as much space as possible. The rest will start shooting at will. Get as many as you can before running to the objective.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions were extremely effective and the area was cleared out of many of the forces. However, Finn knew that the majority were still able to fight.

– “Fire at will!”- ordered Finn and he started to shoot to the stunned stormtroopers who had been caught off guard- “run to the position… move!”

The team started to run while shooting. Many of the remaining forces started to react and look for cover while returning fire, so Finn threw a smoke bomb to hide their positions. They arrived to the objective and the person with the code immediately opened the stash and Finn saw a great number of mortars with the symbol of the New Republic. Finn wondered how had Maz gotten her hands on those but he knew she would not tell even if he asked so eh would not bother.

– “Set them and prepare to shoot”- ordered Finn while ordering the rest to keep shooting. He then activated his intercomm- “Objective reached and preparing to fire, General”

– “I never doubted, Kid!”- said Han and Finn rolled his eyes remembering his previous desperation- “try to shoot a test round but make sure not to hit us by mistake!”

After some minutes eight mortars were ready to launch. Finn tried to remember the battlefield mentally and ordered the team members to adjust the angle.

– “Mortars 1 – 3 prepare to fire”- ordered Finn with decisive instructions that anyone with previous experience using a mortar would understand- “Mortar 1, 30º NW. Elevation 1-1-8-7. Mortar 2, 50º NW, elevation 1-1-6-5. Mortar 3, 70º, elevation 1-1-3-4.”

The team members adjusted the mortars and prepared the bombs. They lifted the safeties and waited for orders.

– “Ready to fire!”- announced the lieutenient and all the team prepared.

– “Fire!”- ordered Finn after making sure all was ready.

– “Fire!”- repeated the Lieutenient and almost immediately three deafening explosions announced the shooting of the three bombs which flew like meteors through the sky.

A few moments later, three huge explosions resounded in the battlefield but Finn could not see the effects of the attacks due to the smoke screen he had previously used.

– “Great job Kid”- said Han through the intercomm after watching clearly the attack from his position- “the first went too far to the forest but maybe you hit some of them. The other two went much better and caused a lot of damage. Adjust the mortars to the settings of the second and third but keep two of them firing at the coordinates of the first one to keep pressure on the forest area.”

– “Yes, Sir”- said Finn and immediately divided the team to handle the mortars and adjusted the fire at the coordinates given by Han.

Soon, the sky was filled with bombs falling as hell got loose for the First Order. The soldiers were blown away and many were just breaking lines and running around trying to get cover.

– “They are in disarray”- said Han using binoculars to study the battlefield- “Kid, adjust the settings to these coordinates…”

With the new calculations of Han, the damage in the First Order multiplied and they started to dwindle. Han took advantage of the momentum and ordered his forces to advance. The frontline of the First Order was cut from the rest by the mortar so they were being dealt with very quickly. The rearguard was in panic due to the mortars and the attack had been halted. What was more important, the First Order Forces were retreating.

– “Pressure them and make them go to the forest”- ordered Han who kept shooting along with chewee- “pick up their weapons if you have no more ammo. Big Deal! keep firing!”

– “General Solo!”- shouted the Lieutenent passing him a intercomm.

– “What happened Maz?” – asked Han not stopping for a second to shoot- “not in the best position now but about to repel the forces in the rearguard.”

– “Get out of there you too!”- shouted Maz- “one of the black TIE fighters is going to your position with a group of TIE fighters. I’m sure you know what’s coming!”

– “Damn!”- shouted Han and then opened his intercomm- “all units take cover, aerial bombing incoming! Finn! Get the hell out of there!”

Immediately the forces started to ran in dfferent directions trying to find a good place to hide and started to pray to survive the bombing. Finn received the message but he ordered a last attack with the mortars.

– “Fire and retreat!”

– “Fire!”

The ten mortars roared a final time and then the team started to run in direction to the hangars but a few seconds later they could hear the menacing sound of the TIE fighters flying to them. Not long later the bombs started to fall the multiple explosions started to bring hell in the area. Finn felt a strong push in his back before going black.

– “Damn!”

– “No!”

– “Not here!!”

The enemy fighters passed only once before they were met by Takodana forces in the air but the damage was already done and the First Order forces that had retreated to the forest returned to finish the job.

– “Cough! cough! All units… cough… damn!”- said Han who was completely covered by dust and ash- “return fire and retreat to the main force using the dust screen! We did what we could here!”

He turned off the intercomm and then he grabbed his blaster rifle while touching Chewee who was shouting at him.

– “There’s nothing we can do!”- answered Han trying to get rid of the terrible headache he was having now- “can you walk? We have to get out of here before they route us… hey kid, still alive?”

However, the radio only returned silence. Han started to worry and called Finn more times but he did not respond.

– “Damn it, kid!”- he said and used his binoculars to peek at the position where he was supposed to be and he felt his blood go cold when he saw the dark figure going to the position where Finn was supposed to be- “this can’t get worse! Let’s go Chewee!”

– “Grrreewwww!”

Finn could hear the voice of Han as he recovered his conscience. He wonder why he was waking him up. It was much more comfortable when he was sleeping and now that he was awake again he felt only terrible pain in his whole body. He ġrȯȧnėd but then he choked with the dust in his mouth. He spitted and coughed with desperation until he was able to breathe again. He was injured but nothing enough to disable him, just some small lacerations and burns but nothing mortal. He picked up the radio.

– “Here BD leader”- he said as much as he could since he felt his mouth had some blood- my team was scattered and don’t know their situation!”

– “Forget about that!”- said Han whose voice transmitted great worry- “you have a terrible company coming your way so get the hell out of there and fast!”

Finn started to see around and saw a group of soldiers coming his way and in the front he saw the nightmare of any stormtrooper… A knight of Ren and it looked as if he was looking in his direction as if the smoke and dust around were inexistant. Finn knew that if he did not run now he would be dead since none could fight a knight of Ren. However, he also doubted his ability to outrun such warrior. In that moment he saw one of the mortars that had been blown way very ear to him and one bomb next to it.

– “I’ll try to bomb him”- said Finn using his adrenaline to force his body to move.

– “Don’t do anything stupid and get out of there!”- shouted Han but Finn had already moved using all the energy he had left.

– “This will at least distract him!”- said Finn making the mortar stand up but then he noticed the support was damaged and was impossible to support it- “this has to be the craziest idea ever!”

Finn clenched his teeth and dragged the mortar and placed the base agaisnt the wall and used his legs and body to support the mortar in a very strange way while calibrating the strenght and angle by instinct. He then managed to unlock the safety of the bomb and placed it in the mortar.

– Fire!- he said and then the bomb was launched in a very powerful way but insted of using angle, Finn had used it as a kind of bazooka.

Finn was not left unscathed and the recoil hit him so hard that he felt he would faint again, but he forced himself to stay conscious and watch the result of his attack.

SWISH! BOOM!!!

The knight of Ren reacted with superhuman speed and evaded the bomb which passed so close that one could say that it had rubbed his armor. The bomb followed its course and it exploded directly in the middle of the stormtrooper army with devastating consequences for the First Order forces.

– “Ok, It didn’t kill him”- said Finn using his intercomm- “and he’s coming here… I won’t be able to outrun him.”

– “Just resist until we arrive there”- said Han who was having trouble catching his breathe- “seriously… I’m too old for this!”.

– “I can’t fight”- said Finn looking around and trying to fight the overwhelming dėsɨrė to just faint in that place- “I need a weapon…”

– “You have one!”- said Han with an impatient voice- “use what Maz gave you… just put the lense side up and press the buŧŧon. We’ll be there in a minute, resist!”

Finn remembered that Maz had given him a strange looking lantern and he started to look for it in his belt. He did not imagine it was a weapon so he just grabbed it and put it in front of him while looking for the buŧŧon. Once he found it, he pressed it and the lightsaber activated letting a powerful buzzing sound which caught Finn by surprise and he almost let it go by accident. It had been a very strong jolt in his hand and even now he found the electric trembling in his hand fascinating.

– Isn’t this a lightsaber?- Finn said with gleaming eyes when he realized he was holding a relic of the Clone Wars or maybe even older than that.

He could literally feel the energy coursing his hand and even his body. For some reason he felt more powerful and focused. All the pain he had felt was washed away by the extreme sense of excitement he was feeling right now. He had never felt that way but he knew it was not time to think in that. He breathed and controlled his emotions. His enemy was approaching taking all the time in the world.

– “Again the training will help”- thought Finn remembering that part of his training in the FN corps had included many kinds of melee weapons like knives, swords, batons and even lances. He had always wondered why Phasma had insisted so much in this kind of training in an epoch of blasters but he supposed that at least he could use it now. Even so, he was not confident at all against the enemy that was approaching.

Finn moved the lightsaber around to accostumed to the weight and distance. It was differnt from the training he had previously. The balance, weight, distance, reach and angles were different and he was worried to cut himself for a bad movement so he started to practice in situ. The knight of Ren stopped at a certain distance and observed him with a curious attitude.

– “FN-2187”- said the knight of Ren using the modulator of his helmet- “the once genius warrior who betrayed his brothers and joined the Resistance.”

– “Do I know you?”- said Finn trying to make conversation to gain time.

– “No!”- said the Knight of Ren and Finn lost sight of him as if he had vanished in the air.

Finn’s instincts screamed in danger and he just swung the lightsaber in his hand to his right and it was blocked by the knight of Ren who had activated his own lightsaber that had a red color.

– “Hoh!”- said the knight of Ren with a tone that indicated surprise- “you were able to counter me?”

The knight of Ren pressed his lightsaber and attacked Finn with some basic swings. Finn managed to parry the attacks with some difficulty. He was getting desperate since he knew that the enemy in front of him was just toying with him. Suddenly, the knight of Ren slashed Finn with a powerful upper swing which was so strong that made Finn lose his equilibrium and fall to the ground. Finn managed to recover his footing and kept his stance while kneeling.

– “I see”- said the Knight of Ren walking slowly around Finn like a lion examining his prey- “I understand why Lord Ren is interested in you… is this the first time you use a lightsaber?”

– “What if it is?”- asked Finn who was trying to calm down the trembling he was having in his arm after the last attack- “why would Kylo Ren be interested in a nobody like me.”

Immediately after that comment Finn saw the knight of Ren wave his hand at him and he felt his body move by itself and he found himself rolling on the floor. His senses were completely shaking in panic. What was that? Any kind of magic? How could someone make him move without touching him? He had a flashback of the time when Kylo Ren had stopped a blaster bolt in midair.

– “You will show more respect when you talk about Lord Ren”- said the knight who seemed a little angry- “your skills are mediocre and at best basic… but since you are able to use a lightsaber without killing yourself even after swing it a few times… I say you are passable.”

– What do you mean?- asked Finn trying to control his emotions- “Passable for what?”

– “To join us”- said the knight of Ren using a tone that gave the impression he was saying the most obvious thing.

– “Join you?”- asked Finn with a shocked expression.

– “It is time for you to return to the flock, FN-8127”- said the knight of Ren offering his hand- “come with me so you can take your place with the Knights of Ren.”