Chapter 35 - *Title at the end of the chapter* (1/2)

Starkiller Planet - Orbit

- ”Multiple casualties!”

- ”Blue team asking for reinforcements”

- ”Are your watching this, General?”- said an officer showing Leia the last infrom they were receiving.

- ”Yes, I am”- said Leia not daring to believe what she was reading- ”how are the casualties in total?”

- ”Taking in consideration only the Resistance”- said an officer making the calculations- ”it's half of our fleet gone.”

- ”Send this communication to all units!”- ordered Leia with a new vigor in her voice- ”Mon Mothma did it! There is hope!”

- ”Yes, Ma'am!”

- ”How much time for the weapon to be ready?”- asked General Hux.

- ”Ten minutes”- informed an officer and Hux grinned with the confidence of someone who knows that he had already won- ”they are just their last ditch efforts... send the groups....”

- ”Hyperspace jumps detected in sector AC-251 and JK-853, General...”

However, in that moment Hux ordered the panels to show both places and not so long after, massive fleets appeared from both sector and approached the battle at maximum speed.

- ”Inform!”- asked Hux with a sour taste in his mouth- ”who are the newcomers?”

- ”The emblems are showing...”- the officer said but he had a doubtful expression in his face.

- ”Hurry up and tell me!”- ordered Hux.

- ”They..., they are the Populist Faction and the Centrist Faction fleets!”

Hux looked in disbelief the fleets approaching and he wonder how.... no who had managed to make these two factions who hated to the limit to work together in such a short time.

(...)

There was a lot of movement in the base of the Starkiller planet and the noisy alarm could be heard in all the place. The stormtroopers had been mobilized and they were looking everywhere in order to find the invaders that were lurking round.

- ”We're finally here!”- said Han smiling at the visage of his objective.

Han and company managed to enter the shield generator room with no problems thank to Luke unlocking all the defense systems. Rey knew the place should be big but her imagination had been short sighted and she was extremely shocked to see the size of it. Rey wondered if they had enough bombs to cover all the place.

- ”Ok, let's divide and place the bombs”- said Han who did not doubt for a second and started to walk- ”Big deal and Rey, you go to the upper floors, Chewee and me will do the middle and lower ones. And do it fast since we'll have company in any moment.”

Rey started to move along with Finn and both of them placed the bombs following a pattern that would ȧssure the maximum damage. Finn moved confidently since this had been part of his training and he could mentally calculate the most effective distribution. Rey could not help but feel happy to be with them once again.

- ”They really returned for me”- she thought and a smile formed on her face.

When she had been in the interrogation room she had felt only pain and desperation. She had to admit that she had lost all hope and she could only ask for everything to end as fast as possible. She did not show any of these feelings to her captors of course and she put a tough front everytime they tortured her. Kylo Ren seemed to be especially entertained by her and every time he visited her he fed her with negative comments and he tried to made her feel desperation. It was as if he knew what she was thinking.

- ”You know they will not come for you”- he whispered softly on her ear- ”you have been abandoned once again... they just used you and then discarded you once you were not useful anymore...”

- ”Tomorrow we will destroy the last bastion of the Resistance”- Kylo Ren had told her the previous day- ”once that happens... those who you believe in will vanish as it will be your hope.”

Rey could only grit her teeth and bear with the horrible feelings she was having in that moment. She had always been alone and the fear of abandonement was just too much for her. Every time she was tortured, her denials were weaker everytime and she could feel the darkness grasping her heart many times. She was at the limit both mentally and physically since the First Order had not stopped torturing her in both aspects with no rest all the previous day. She had not been permitted to sleep nor eat and she was only left alone due to the attack of the Resistance but she did not know what would happen. In the moment she was about to give up, as the light that appears after a long night, Han, Chewee and Finn had come to rescue her. She had not been abandoned nor left behind.

- ”Let's go to the next one”- said Finn and Rey could only nod in joy.

- ”Let's go!”- she said with the most radiant smile one could imagine

Anyone would see her with a strange look if they could see the happy smile she had while placing bombs that would cause massive destruction.

Patapatapatapatapata!

Han and the rest were working as fast as they could since knew that every second was vital for the fleet. After a while they started to hear sounds of footsteps coming.

- ”Cheh! They are coming!”- shouted Han looking at the place where the footsteps were coming from- ”take cover and keep placing the bombs.”

BOOM!

- ”Chewee! cover us!”- shouted Han who was still programming one bomb

- ”Rgggrrrrreeoooo”

- ”Stop complaining!”- shouted Han activating the bomb- ”Big deal! Cover Rey and let her place the bombs”

- ”Roger that!”- replied Finn who started to return fire to the stormtroopers while Rey placed the bombs with a speed that Finn found incredible.

- ”I should have let you do it from the beginning”- he said smiling.

- ”I just hope I can maintain this speed”- said Rey who did not stop working.

- ”Don't worry”- said Finn with a reassuring voice- ”I'll cover your back, just focus on what you're doing”

Rey kept working as fast as he could but she knew that soon they would be surrounded unless something happened.

(...)

BUZZ BUZZ SWISH!!!

CRACK!!!

PONG!!!

CRASH!!!

The sounds inside the containment cell were extremely terrifying and one could only imagine the level of brutality and violence that was ocurring inside. The two knights of Ren that had been left on watch by Kylo Ren stayed in front of the main door in constant alert since they knew that there was a possibility that Skywalker managed to escape.

- ”Since today you will have a different training”- Kylo Ren had told them when they had been selected from the rest of Knights of Ren- ”your objective will be only one and one only... to destroy Luke Skywalker...”

The knights of Ren had always heard about the legend of Luke Skywalker and all the incredible feats he had done through all the years. They had been trained especifically to fight him along with Kylo Ren and they had reached a level that was impossible to imagine for them before. They had been able to fight toe to toe with a legendary master and they had managed to make him fall into a trap.

It had not been easy of course, their group had started with 12 knights of Ren of the highest skill and experience, but the riguroruous training had been so harsh and deadly that by the end of the first part of the training, only the half of them had been able to survive.

- ”Good”- had said Kylo Ren looking at the first batch of survivors with a cold attitude- ”you are at the minimum level to have an opportunity in your mission”

- ”Many had died immediately”- thought one of the knights of Ren- ”but Skywalker had already been there for many minutes and the sounds indicated that he continued fighting against them- ”we could certainly witness his power today.”

There were four Yuuzhan Vong fighting against the Jedi and even though they were enemies, they could not help but admire the willpower of the old master. It had been already a while but the fight continued and the furious sounds had only increased in intensity. The knarls, shouts and things breaking combined in a gory way with the lightsaber buzzing along with the cracks and sounds of smashing that constantly came from the inside of the cell.

GRAAAAA!!

PANK!

A strong impact hit the cell door from the inside and managed to bend the metallic gate. One could only imagine the potency of the impact to make a reinforced containment cell like that one. The Knights of Ren looked at each other when they noticed that the sounds had stopped coming from the inside. They nervously got closer while paying attention.

KONNN CHHIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGG PLOOOONG

Instead of another impact, the cell door started to bend in a very violent and savage way. Both Sith warriors stepped back knowing that Skywalker was going to use the cell door as a bullet and took cover in the corners. However, there was no violent impact and the cell door opened like a can of tuna with sufficient space for a human to fit.

- ”No way!”- said a knight of Ren noticing the figure of kywalker walking out of the containment cell with no signs of the Yuuzhan vong- ”he defeated them in such a short time?”

Luke Skywalker's figure got out. His state was in extremely poor condition and his robes were in tatters. He had mixed red and black blood all over his body but the bleeding also gave more definition to his well-built muscles which were normally under his robes. He was definitely injured so the Knights of Ren knew that this was the best opportunity to attack, it was impossible to be unscathed after a fight with so many Yuuzhan Vong. The Knights of Ren jumped fiercely to attack him using all their hatred and passions just as they had been trained, but when they had been just a meter of distance from him, they knew something was extremely wrong.