A/N: This story is in no way connected to my Episode IX: The Heir Ascending. This is how I'd have written The Last Jedi. I don't hate it, but it's definitely closer to the bottom than the top of my list. Also, I realize that a lot of the technical information and details may be inaccurate, but I will do my best. Please read and review A/N
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Star WarsEpisode VIII: The Last Jedi
The galactic civil war between the Resistance and First Order continues. Rebel pilots led by the young Commander Poe Dameron have destroyed the deadly superweapon Starkiller Base, and the Resistance braced itself for the revenge of Kylo Ren and his minions.
The scavenger girl Rey, having been liberated from the desert world Jakku and swept into the Resistance cause, has traveled to the remote world of Ahch To to locate the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker and bring him back to aid the desparate rebels in the fight against the dark side.
Meanwhile, the vengeful General Hux has assembled the First Order fleet to launch a deadly attack on the Resistance base, intending to finish them off once and for all. Leia Organa leads the Resistance to arms against the attacking forces to maintain hope in the galaxy...
One after another, the training droids came out of the small sliding doorways. Carrying vibroblades, electrostaffs, they charged at Kylo Ren as he wielded his cross shaped lightsaber, glaring at them through his helmet.
He struck them down one by one as they approached him, slicing off their heads, their limbs, their torsos. He was a weapon of the dark side. The throne room of the Supremacy was dimly lit and secluded, where nobody could interrupt Ren's training. Only one red light shined down on the throne overlooking the scene.
Kylo yelled out in frustration as he struck droid after droid as they kept coming. Next came a wave of seeker droids, from holes in the ceiling. They fired at the figure below them, set to kill.
Unleashing the power of the dark side, Kylo waved his lightsaber to deflect the bolts, sending each shot at the seeker droids and creating a hailstorm of falling scrap metal that lit the dark room's metal floor on fire.
Amid the flames that illuminated the chamber, Kylo Ren at last deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He reached out in the Force for a brief moment, and sensed that no more droids were coming.
He stepped towards the throne, which was flanked by a total of eight red-robed, masked Praetorian Guards, who each brandished a deadly staff.
Ignoring them, Kylo knelt before the throne, on which sat his master, Supreme Leader Snoke, the head of the First Order and strong with the dark side of the Force.
Through his twisted, deformed features, Snoke peered down at his kneeling apprentice. His gray eyebrows furrowed.
"When I first found you, I sensed raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special. The potential for a new Vader."
Surrounded by the ring of fire, Kylo listened intently, awaiting further praise. He must have proven to be a worthy commander of the First Order's military by now, and a worthy successor to his grandfather, the Empire's own Darth Vader.
He was taken completely by surprise when a torrent of lightning struck him. He howled in pain from behind his mask as he flew backwards, his head landing an inch from the fire created by the scorched metal.
Snoke continued his monologue, allowing Kylo to stand. "Now I fear I was mistaken. You lost to a scavenger girl who had NEVER HELD A LIGHTSABER!" The Supreme Leader's face reflected nothing but utter rage now.
Kylo could not help himself now. He stepped forward boldly, saying, "I killed Han Solo. I didn't hesitate. I cut him down like you ordered."
Subconsciously, his hand drifted to the lightsaber on his belt. His rage was barely controlled. What more was expected of him?
"Take that ridiculous thing off," commanded the Supreme Leader. His enraged expression shined orange-yellow reflected against the flames
Kylo stopped on his tracks. Resentful and obedient, Kylo took each side of the helmet covering his face with both hands, and lifted it off to reveal a long, curved scar running down his right eye. The scar served as a reminder of the failure of Starkiller Base.
He bent down and set the helmet on the floor.
"The time will come where you will face your final test, one greater and more trying than the scavenger girl," Snoke told him, "The girl will be a key player in our quest to locate Skywalker. I have a plan that will allow us to locate and destroy the last of the Jedi."
Kylo was about to respond, but a beeping sound came from the arm of Snoke's throne.
Growling in annoyance, Snoke pressed the button next to him, and a twenty foot tall hologram of General Armitage Hux appeared in front of Kylo, facing away from him towards Snoke.
"What is it, Hux?"
"Supreme Leader," Hux spoke with caution, afraid of crossing the ruler of the First Order, "My fleet has surrounded the Resistance base on D'Qar. The Resistance is preparing to counterattack."
"No prisoners, no mercy, you know what to do." Snoke waved his hand dismissively, more important matters at hand.
"Yes, Supreme Leader, I won't fail you."
Kylo noticed Hux's tone and glared up at the large, imposing blue hologram as it fizzled out.
"For now, you will join General Hux and the fleet as they attack the Resistance," Snoke told him, "then I shall give you further orders."
Kylo was far more interested in finding both the girl Rey and Luke Skywalker, his uncle and former Jedi mentor, but he knew better than to disobey his master. "As you wish."
He bent down again to pick up his helmet, which now felt much lighter than before. Kylo turned and began to stride towards the elevator, walking through the towering flames and past the remains of the droids.
Once he entered the elevator and was descending towards the small,private hangar where his TIE Silencer was docked, Kylo fondled with the helmet in his hands, contemplating.
Once, the helmet had provided a mystery to his identity, and symbolized his position among the Knights of Ren. Now, looking at it, he felt cowardly hiding his face, as weak as he had proven himself on Starkiller Base. Yes, he had killed his father, but it had not strengthened his resolve as he'd hoped. Rather, it had made him even more drawn to the light.
The girl Rey had been no help either. As soon as he'd captured her, he'd sensed that he knew her, she was a key link to his past. A key to Ben Solo. He knew he needed to eliminate his worst foe that was Ben Solo, but at the same time, he didn't entirely want to. A part of him wanted to salvage his old self, and he had a deep, gut feeling that this girl would play a role in that.
By the time the elevator door opened, Kylo's helmet was severely dented and fractured, and Kylo left it to smolder as he headed towards his vehicle.
The First Order fleet surrounded the green, foggy world of D'Qar. The Finalizer headed the Dreadnoughts and Star Destroyers that slowly advanded, while the larger vessels were guarded by a swarm of thousands of TIE Fighters.
Shockingly, only one Resistance transport had risen from the planet surface to meet the armada that threatened the organizations' immediate existence, a single X Wing Fighter.
The round-headed white and Organa BB unit whistled anxiously as the fighter approached, but the uniformed pilot, Commander Poe Dameron, said, "Don't worry BB8, we got this. The General trusts us to get this done, and we're going to prove worthy of her trust."
Typing on the computer grid on his screen, Poe activated the fighter's external communication signal to dispatch to the Finalizer.
On the command bridge, General Hux paced the deck above the stationed officers. He listened as the communication came through the radio.
"General Hux? This is Commander Poe Dameron with a message for General Hux."
Hux smiled as he responded to the fruitless plea for mercy. "This is General Hux. Tell your General that there will be no terms, no surrender. You will all be decimated into nothing. It does not matter whether you fight back or do nothing."
Hux listened to the silence on the other end.
Poe steered his fighter to the left as he secretly prepared to launch his torpedoes, targeting the Finalizer's main engine from below as he kept them occupied.
From down below, the entire Resistance fleet was fully manned and ready to take off from the main hangar which lied within a mountaintop cave aiming straight upward.
The Raddus was commanded by General Leia Organa and her most trusted officers. Beside her stood her trusted protocol droid C3PO, his plates shining as golden as ever. Admiral Ackbar manned the internal cannon while Commander D'Acy and Vice Admiral Holdo stood at attention across from her in front of the holotable mapping out the battle scene.
Opposite Ackbar was Lieutenant Connix, who operated the computer readings detailing the escape route of the Resistance.
Surveying the rest of the personnel, Leia briefly reflected on the recent turn of events that had led them to this point in time.
Her son, Ben Solo, turned Kylo Ren, had nearly brought upon their destruction with the deadly weapon called Starkiller Base, which had been disabled by Poe and a team of elite pilots. A stormtrooper named Finn, who now rested in a coma in the medical bay of the Raddus, and a Force sensitive girl named Rey had joined them and fought on Starkiller Base.
And her estranged husband, Han, had come back to her after so many years, and attempted a last ditch effort to save the good in their son, ultimately failing and sacrificing his life.
Leia felt the tears coming, but brushed them aside as she proceeded with her duties.
"Any second now," she said as she watched the minihologram of Poe's fighter.
"I'm waiting," Poe said into the intercom, "General Hux. We don't have all day."
Hux grunted in annoyance. "This is Hux. Can you hear me, I can hear you."
Poe chuckled to himself as he aimed the torpedoes. "General Hux? Hello? Sorry, you must be breaking up?"
His face turning as red as his hair, Hux had had enough. "This is General Hux! I can hear you! Am I getting through?"
"Genera Hux? General Organa has a message to pass along to General Hux..."
As Hux gazed out the command bridge at the planet below them, the older, distinguished Captain Peavey stepped up behind Hux and whispered in his ear. "I believe he's tooling with you, sir." It had to be admitted that for all his military genius, Hux at times lacked basic common sense and social skills.
"About his mother," Poe concluded, pulling the trigger.
"FIRE!" Hux screamed as the torpedoes rocked the Finalizer, creating a heavy explosion beneath them.
The deck shifted as Hux felt his feet sliding below him.
"Now!" Leia yelled.
And at once, the Resistance fleet launched and a minute later, appeared in orbit to counter their opponents.
As the cruisers held back, the X Wing, Y Wing and B Wing fighters came forth to aid Commander Dameron.
As the fighters and heavy vessels began engaging in a concise, heavy exchange of fire, Hux patched in to Captain Canady of the Dreadnought Fulminatrix.
"Captain, open fire and destroy their capital ship," he ordered fiercely.
"They're too far out of range!" Canady said back from the Filminatrix, "at this rate, we'll be locked in a stalemate with their fleet."
"We need to gain an edge," Hux muttered to himself as he surveyed the scene. He hadn't expected the Resistance to be that well equipped, with a build up of weaponry over the decades to rival that of the First Order. "Captain Canady, I need you to take out the smaller fighters in between us and the command ship."
"But then it'll take hours to recharge our cannon!" Canady argued back as his Dreadnoughts took light hits from the fighters.
The Resistance was built up of daring pilots who came at their adversaries with everything they had. Brentin Wexley, Paige Tico, Nein Nunb, so many others, firing and firing against the swarms of TIE Fighters.
Grumbling, Canady relayed Hux's orders to the gunners of the Filminatrix.
This doesn't look good, General," Poe said into the intercom, "That Dreadnoughts's armed and ready to fire."
Leia scanned the battle from the viewport. She knew that the resources of the Resistance would be limited and eventually tire out. She sensed a disturbance in the Force, one that was far away but getting closer.
No Ben, don't come. Don't get involved.
You're doing your duty to your cause, Mother, I'm doing mine.
Commander Dameron, prepare a retreat," Leia ordered, "All transports know where to go and we have nothing to gain from staying out here."
In his heart, Poe knew she was wrong. They had a chance to deal a grave blow to the First Order, one that could very we affect the outcome of the next battle.
Extending the range of his communication, Poe spoke again into his headset, "All bombers, rise above the Dreadnought and prepare all ammunition."
"Commander Dameron," Leia said as BB8 let out another nervous squeak, "We can't afford such a risk. Retreat now! That's an order!" Her patience was running out as the disturbance became heavier.
"We won't get another shot at this!" Poe replied as he steered his craft upward, narrowly dodging a green streak of laserfire. "Paige, you know what to do."
Paige Tico nodded and stood from the cockpit of her bomber, the Colbat Hammer. Stroking the talisman around her neck, she hurried over to the control panel above the bombardier station. Paige took a deep breath, telling herself that she'd spent her whole life training from this. The Resistance had given her a cause, something bigger than herself to join, and now she was going to give back.
Once she activated the large,round hatch, it slid beneath her to allow access into the bombardier station.
Without further hesitation, Paige began to climb down the ladder into the chamber that contained shelf after shelf of thermal detonators ready to be aimed down at the Dreadnought that threatened them.
The lever to open the bottom hatch lied at the very end of the latter. Paige jumped down the last ten feet, praying to the stars as she pulled the lever.
In the command station of the Fulminatrix, Canady shouted into the comm channel, "We're swarmed by Resistance bombers. We have to get out of range to escape them."
"I don't care!" seethed Hux as his own crewmen struggled with the engines that Poe had disabled, "You will open fire at the price of your own lives."
"Prepare to move the Dreadnought away from the bombers," Canady said, ignoring Hux.
"Too late!"
The detonators came raining down on the Fulminatrix, engulfing it in a colorful explosion. Debris flew across the battlefront, forcing ships of all sizes to flee or be crushed.
Poe swore as he maneuvered the X Wing away from a flying pipe from the disintegrated Fulminatrix.
Back to the ship, BB8," he said exhaustedly.
Just then, a flying chunk of debris came just over the right wing where BB8 was positioned in his socket.
BB8 yelped and popped down as Poe steered the vessel downwards. "That was close."
"We've lost them!" a deck captain said, "and we're in no position to fire."
Hands behind his back as he contemplated the situation, Hux bared his teeth. "We're going to dismantle them ship by ship."
Just then, a swarm of seven fighters appeared in space behind the damaged First Order craft, a TIE Silencer and three Fighters on each side.
As she grimly watched ship after ship fall to the First Order, Leia sensed her son approaching, ready to give everything he had.
Ben, it's not too late.
In his cockpit, Ben responded. I killed Father. You should hate me.
I don't hate you, Ben. You didn't kill him, the monster that consumed you did. I know you're not dead.
You are.
Kylo Ren's finger slipped across the trigger, aimed directly at the Raddus' command station, but it did not push. He curses the light in him as his Silencer glided across the battle, stealthily avoiding the retreating Resistance craft as he approached.
He'd killed his father, why couldn't he kill his mother? Yet the Kylo inside him was screaming to finish the job.
A shadow bomber behind him advanced ahead of his vessel suspended in the vacuum of space, explosions and laser fire all around. The blast came from his underling's fighter and streaked straight at the command station.
"Incoming!" Ackbar shouted, flinching and, like the other officers present, knowing it was the end.
But Leia didn't have to think about what she did next, it was instinct. She raised her arm, closed her eyes in concentrations and caught the torpedo before it hit them, leaving it suspended in midair.
Gasps filled the command center as she held it in place, feeling the energy she was expending ebb, but her willpower allowed her to continue.
Poe looked on in amazement as his fighter returned to the hangar of the Raddus. The stars and black background flowed blue as in that brief moment in time, Leia used the Force, despite the little training she received, to save the Resistance government from instant doom.
"Now's our chance!" Ackbar declared, taking initiative right away, "All surviving craft, go into light speed."
As the Resistance fighters blasted away into hyperspace, Leia let go of the bolt and let it fly into oblivion. Losing consciousness quickly, she began to collapse, but D'Acy caught her in her arms.
"Get her to a medical bay immediately! She needs air!"
It appeared that for now, the Resistance was safe.