Chapter 20 - Battle for Takodana - Third Part (1/2)

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.