"Kyp, you'd better get BB-8 to Bold Fortune and start warming her up. Take Finn and Rey with you," Kolman said. "Hopefully, we can get off before…"
The sound of TIE fighters cut Kolman off.
"Okay. We fight our way out," Kyp said.
"Fine by me," Kolman said. "Some First Order thugs want to get between us and taking BB-8 to the Resistance, it's their funeral."
"Kolman," Maz said. It was a gentle, yet firm tone.
"Yes, Maz?" the smuggler asked.
"Don't be so cavalier about taking life," the petite being said. "That leads to the Dark Side."
"I'm not, but I have no intention of losing mine, either," Kolman said with a smile. "Now, I'm willing to bet that we're gonna have visitors soon."
The castle shook with an explosion.
"Can't believe they are trashing this place," Kolman muttered on his way out.
"Come, to the basement," Maz said, motioning to Rey and Ben.
Down in the basement, Maz led them both to a curio box. Rey was drawn towards it, and finally stopped in front of it.
"Go ahead, open it," Maz said. Rey did so, and then pulled out a lightsaber. Soon, visions came to her. A battle, about a half-dozen Jedi versus some…Dark Jedi, for lack of a better term. Death, destruction.
"What's..." Rey was paralyzed as old memories of hers came back. Being left on Jakku…
"This lightsaber was Luke's. And his father's before him and now, it calls to you," Maz Kanata said.
"I have to get back to Jakku," Rey said.
"Han told me," Maz said. "Dear child. I see your eyes. You already know the truth. Whomever you're waiting for on Jakku, they're never coming back. But... there's someone who still could," Maz said, gently. It was a different tone than how she'd spoken to Kolman Tye. That had been stern, but still with a gentleness.
"Luke," Rey said.
"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it," Max said. "The light. It's always been there. It will guide you. The saber. Take it."
Rey shook her head.
"I am never touching that thing again. I want nothing to do with it," she said, racing away. Ben tried to stop her, then turned to Maz.
"I can…"
"No, young Solo. This one is yours," Maz said, handing Ben a different lightsaber.
Ben took it, holding it up. He pressed the button. A green blade lit up, crackling a little. He chuckled.
"Uncle Luke told me I could do better, but somehow… this feels right," Ben said, snapping off the blade.
Maz handed Luke's lightsaber to Finn.
"I've had this for ages… kept it locked away," she said.
"Where did you…" Han started to ask.
"A question for another time," she said. "Take it! Find your friend!" she told Finn.
The castle shook from a blast.
"Those beasts! They're here!" the pirate queen said.
Over Takodana, the First Order fleet had taken very heavy losses against the Tye Score. But the Sovereign-class super star destroyer had taken a lot of blows. It had never been a completed warship, but it still had plenty of firepower and lots of drone fighters. The Tye Score may have been ill-equipped for a fight, but she did not go down easily.
By the time the First Order disabled the nine-mile long vessel, the First Order had one destroyer, a Strike cruiser and two Carrack-class light cruisers left in any shape to fight. The rest were either destroyed or disabled themselves.
On Takodana, Han, Finn, Ben, Maz, and Chewie made their way out of the basement and into a firefight. Han shot two troopers, and shouted, "Come on, Chewie!"
"I need a weapon!" Finn shouted.
"You have one!" Maz responded, grabbing his wrist.
Kolman Tye and Kyp Durron were making their way towards the wreckage. Kyp using his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts back at stormtroopers or to just cut them down, while Kolman stick with a pair of blasters.
"Can I borrow that?" Han asked Chewie, motioning to the bowcaster. He then fired a shot at some troopers headed towards Kyp, sending them flying.
Kyp was headed towards two Dark Jedi – Lomi and Welk. Kyp soon found himself in one deadly duel with the two of them – at least until what looked like an ordinary spacer pulled a lightsaber as well, making the fight a more even one. Kolman had made his way to Han, who had just blasted a stormtrooper with a mace who was attacking Finn.
"Freeze!" That voice cut through as stormtroopers arrived.
"Don't move! TK-338, we have targets in custody!" the squad leader of the stormtroopers said.
Kyp Durron knew that Welk was a powerful Dark Sider, but he was also kind of a flunky. Still he had been the second-best student that the Shadow Academy produced, at least that was what Zekk had told him.
"Not much for words, are you?" Kyp asked during the fight. Yeah, this might be a time to fight dirty.
"Why talk to someone lesser than me?" Welk asked, trying to make his move. He lunged forward, forcing Kyp back towards the shadows. "You Jedi have killed my friends! My family in the Dark Side! I have no words for you, just a blade."
"The Shadow Academy gave us no choice," Kyp said.
"You could have surrendered. You could have died." Welk was furious.
"Not going to happen," Kyp said.
"I will make it happen!" Welk yelled, then lunched at him.
"That's your mistake," Kyp said, standing his ground.
The Dark Jedi skillfully dodged them, then struck at what he thought was Kyp…
Only to see a silver blade through his chest. He staggered forward, off the blade, turned to look, then saw the Jedi Master, who had a look of pity in his eyes.
"This didn't have to end this way," Kyp said.
"It must… for one of us or both of us," Welk said, and launched forward in a final attack. Kyp dodged, then took Welk's lightsaber arm, followed by a final stroke.
"Now, where's Lomi?" Kyp asked.
Tresina Lobi had been checking out various spaces to locate Han Solo – and to keep an eye on Kolman Tye. Now, she was in a fight against a very powerful Dark Jedi. Lomi was proving to be far more capable than she had imagined.
Lobi wasn't a fighter, she was, if anything, perhaps the best intelligence agent the New Jedi Order had. She somehow was easy to overlook – and in the initial stages of this fight, the element of surprise had thrown off the Nightsister.
Now, though, the Nightsister's superiority was beginning to tell. A couple of moves, and then Lobi felt herself shoved into a stack of cargo containers, leaving her stunned.
This was it. Just then, another Jedi jumped in, this time with a silver blade. Lomi's blow, intended to finish off the Chev, instead was blocked. Then, the Force-sensitive smuggler fired off a force push of his own – sending Lomi into the side of one of the freighters. It was far more unyielding than the cargo containers, and Tresina could hear some bones crack from the impact.
Yet Lomi wasn't quite done. The Nightsister had pulled herself up, and was making her way towards the downed Jedi.
Before Tresina Lobi slipped into unconsciousness, she heard a series of blaster shots.
Han and Chewie were moving as quickly as they could through the battle. When they'd seen the mysterious Jedi lose, and then saw Kyp and Kolman temporarily knock out that Nightsister, they'd opened up on the Dark Jedi.
Chewie caught her with a bolt from his bowcaster, while Han put no fewer than four shots into the disoriented Dark Jedi, who finally went down for good. As they moved on, Han's heart sank as he heard Finn shouting.
It was Krayt, holding Rey.
"You're not taking her anywhere," Han said, ignoring the last time he had tried to go up against a Dark Jedi who wasn't previously wounded. This time, he and Chewie fared little better than they had at Bespin. Han found himself frozen, while Chewie got hurled into a stack of cargo containers.
Han would then see Kolman Tye step in front of the Sith Lord. Kolman Tye had a lightsaber out – one that blazed gold. Then, Han's eye widened as a second blade emerged. The smuggler – who was obviously at least some sort of rogue Jedi, the Rebellion hero told himself – made a few very fancy moves.
I'd just pull my blaster and blast him, Han thought. What was Kolman thinking?
"What is all that?" he heard Krayt ask. "You think that will stop me?"
"Stop you?" Kolman asked, looking incredulous. "I'm not trying to stop you. I'm distracting you, you glit-biter."
"Distracting me?" Krayt couldn't believe this impudent smuggler. "Distracting me from…"
Han then saw the Dark Jedi jerk, and then drop like a sack of bantha fodder. Ben had managed to sneak up on Krayt and put him own for the count.
Ben Solo was, to put it in the vernacular from some backwater world, pissed off. The First Order had just wiped out some planet. Krayt was trying to take Rey. Now, he'd hurt his dad and Chewie.
Enough was enough. He began making his way towards Krayt, blasting a pair of stormtroopers who still showed any fight, just as he saw Kolman break out his lightsaber… two blades? No, time to put this kriffing glit-biter down for good.
He pulled out his blaster, made sure a stray bolt wouldn't hit Rey, then pulled the trigger. After Krayt went down, Ben fired one more round in the Sith's head.
"Damn, Ben, remind me never to piss you off," Kolman said.
"Cool lightsaber," Ben said.
"Just something I tinkered with," Kolman replied. "If you want, I'll show you the notes I found. Nice work, by the way."
"Some glit-biters just need to be blasted," Ben said.
By then, Resistance X-wings had arrived, and were cleaning out the remnants of the First Order task force. Han Solo made his way over to look at the dead Sith. Chewie was also there, holding his left arm… obviously broken.
"Well, the easy part's done," Han said. Chewie grunted in agreement.
"Easy? You call that easy?" Ben asked, incredulous at what his dad had just said. "What in the name of the Force could be the hard part?"
"Explaining this to your mother," Han said.