Star Wars: The Ice Awakens
Summary: Three scavengers looking for a different lease on life. Two Resistance pilots dedicated to protecting the fragile New Republic. Two Stormtroopers that want more than to serve the First Order. Two droids, both holding a secret that all of them want. Elsa/Poe, Kristoff/Anna, and Finn/Rey.
Chapter 8: Resistance Rising
The Falcon, accompanied by the X-Wings, zoomed over the landscape of the planet holding the Resistance base in the Ileenium system. One by one, they landed in the yard outside, which held their fleet, mostly made up of ships dating back to Rebellion times. Elsa, Finn, Sven, and Kristoff climbed down from the Falcon, curiously glancing around at the commotion from the pilots and mechanics. Kristoff raced off one way to check on his X-Wing, Ol-0f and Elsa following along behind him. Finn and Sven slowed suddenly, spying the black and orange X-Wing and the pilot climbing down. BB-8 suddenly rushed past them, almost knocking them over. The pilot removed his helmet and turned at BB-8's chirp. His face spread into a grin.
"BB-8, my buddy!"
He raced over, kneeling down in front of the droid. As the two conversed, Finn and Sven looked over anxiously.
BB-8 chirped.
"Finn and Sven saved you? Where are they?"
BB-8 looked over at Finn and Sven as they started walking in shock.
"Poe?"
Poe smiled in disbelief, chuckling.
"Oh, no."
Sven and Finn broke into a run.
"Poe Dameron, you're alive?"
The three hugged each other tightly.
"My buddies! So are you!"
Finn looked at Poe.
"What happened to you?"
"I got thrown from the crash. I woke up at night. No you. No ship. Nothing. BB-8 says you two saved him."
Sven nodded.
"But it wasn't just us."
Poe sighed.
"You completed my mission, you two...and...hey...that's my jacket."
Finn looked down and started to pull it off, but Poe stopped him.
"No, no, no. Keep it. It suits you."
He patted the two former troopers on the shoulder.
"You're good men."
Finn took a deep breath before speaking up.
"Poe, we need your help."
Poe led Finn and Sven down into the control room. The former troopers followed, looking this way and that with uneasy glances. Poe approached Leia, who was talking with a couple of Resistance leaders.
"General Organa. I'm sorry to interrupt. This is Finn and Sven. They need to talk to you."
Leia turned to Finn and Sven.
"And I need to talk to them. That was incredibly brave, what you two did. Renouncing the First Order, saving Poe and Kristoff's lives…"
Finn interrupted.
"Thank you, ma'am. But two friends of ours were taken prisoner."
Leia nodded slightly.
"Han told me about the girls. I'm sorry."
Poe stepped forward slightly.
"Finn and Sven are familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian System. They worked on the base."
Leia quickly turned back to Finn and Sven.
"We're desperate for anything you can tell us."
Sven spoke up now.
"That's where our friends were taken. We need to get there fast."
"And I will do everything I can to help," Leia interjected, "but first you need to tell us all you know."
Meanwhile, Chewbacca was getting his arm properly looked over and telling the nurse all about what had happened. Unfortunately, the nurse didn't speak Wookiee, but she could understand his emotion behind the grunts and growls.
"That sounds very scary."
Chewie growled softly. The nurse smiled.
"You must be so brave."
Chewie grunted in agreement, almost sounding proud.
Meanwhile at a small holodesk, C-3PO took the map pieces from BB-8 and Ol-0f, putting them into a couple of slots.
"General, I regret to inform you that the map pieces recovered from BB-8 and Ol-0f are only partially complete. And, even worse, they match no charted system on record. We simply do not have enough information to locate Master Luke."
Leia sighed, muttering to herself.
"Can't believe I was so foolish to think I could find Luke and bring him home."
Han tried to be comforting.
"Leia…"
Leia pushed away from the desk with another sigh.
"Don't do that."
Han was confused.
"Do what?"
Leia started to walk away.
"Anything."
C-3PO looked over at Han and shrugged.
"Princessess."
He then turned back to the screen.
Han followed Leia.
"I'm trying to be helpful."
Leia scoffed.
"When did that ever help? And don't say the Death Star."
Han let out a sigh of exasperation.
Meanwhile, BB-8 and Ol-0f went over to a tarped object and pulled the tarp off revealing a blue and white R2 unit. It was a bit dirty and covered in dust.
BB-8 chirped inquisitively. When the R2 unit didn't respond, Ol-0f gently bumped his head against it. A voice caught their attention.
"BB-8, Ol-0f. You're wasting your time."
BB-8 beeped a question back to C-3PO.
"It is very doubtful that R2 would have the rest of the map in his backup data."
Ol-0f beeped another question.
"I am afraid not. R2-D2 has been in low power mode ever since Master Luke went away. Sadly, he may never be his old self again."
BB-8 and Ol-0f chirped sadly, lowering their heads.
Meanwhile in the mess hall, Sven sat eating what he would call the most delicious meal he ever had. In the First Order, it was always disgusting, healthy rations, but here it was homemade food and he was enjoying every bite. As he ate, a woman with dark black hair and pretty brown eyes came over.
"Hey, you're Sven, right? Kristoff wants to see you."
Sven looked up from his to-die-for meal and met the girl's eyes. His heart dropped down to his stomach, only to shoot straight up and lodge itself in his throat.
"Um… Right. Kristoff. Okay. I'll head over there in a second. Need to finish eating."
He paused for a moment, feeling very stupid.
"Uh… Well, you know my name. What's yours?"
"Jessika Pava. My friends call me Jess."
Jess… It sounded wonderful. His mind seemed to like it; it wouldn't let him forget that name anyways. She definitely looked like a Jess, anyways. Her hair framed her face perfectly and her eyes were so…
"Hey."
Sven snapped out of his daze as Jess watched him amusedly.
"You still need to meet with Kristoff."
Sven blinked owlishly before it registered. He quickly snarfed down the last couple of bites of food before almost racing out of the mess hall.
Kristoff was in the main hanger, checking on his ship when Sven arrived.
"Sven! Come here. I have a friend who can hack and he has hacked into the First Order's database multiple times. It's a hobby of his, but you never told me you had the skills and permission to fly fighters. You could have flown a TIE during the escape."
Sven rubbed the back of his head.
"I completed the training and passed, but I didn't want to fly. I opted to stay with Finn...and I'm glad I made that choice."
Kristoff nodded.
"I get what you're saying, but I have an offer for you. How would you like to be a part of my squadron?"
Sven blinked.
"Really?"
Kristoff nodded.
"Yeah, we could always use another pilot. I've already talked to the higher ups and they agree."
Sven smiled.
"Sure. I'm in."
Kristoff smiled and shook his hand.
"Welcome to Harvest Squadron."
In the meantime, Elsa had wandered away from Kristoff, opting to look at some of the other ships. Suddenly, her eye caught a black and orange one on the far side of the field. She quickly walked over to it, circling around the back to look at the engines.
"Ahem."
Elsa spun around, yanking her hand away from where it was barely hovering over a mess of wires. Behind her was a man with messy black curls and a fighter pilot suit. She bit her tongue as he spoke up.
"What are you doing with my ship?"
Elsa stepped back a little.
"Just looking."
Poe smirked.
"Well, Snap should be bringing in a report on that base soon. We'd better head in."
He motioned for Elsa to follow.
"Wait a second. You're one of those girls from Jakku that helped out Finn, Sven, and Kristoff, right? I'm Poe. Poe Dameron."
Elsa nodded back to him, her cheeks getting a little warm.
"Yes. I'm Elsa. Nice to meet you."
Poe's smirk changed into a kind smile.
"Nice to meet you too, Elsa."
The two headed inside just as Snap's ship landed.
Meanwhile on Starkiller Base, Rey, and Anna laid unconscious in restraints. Kylo watched them carefully before sending out a pulse of the Force, causing a loud clang that woke the girls up.
Rey was the first to speak.
"Where are we?"
Kylo was silent for a moment before he responded.
"You're my guests."
Anna now spoke up.
"Where are the others?"
"Do you mean the murderers...traitors and thieves you call friends? You'll be relieved to hear that I have no idea."
Kylo sat still for a moment as he felt anger from the girls.
"You still want to kill me…"
Rey bit her tongue.
"That happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask."
Kylo was silent for a moment before he placed his hands on his helmet, the helmet unlocking with a hiss and a snap as he stood up and pulled it off his head, revealing his face. Holding the helmet in his hand, he stared at Rey and Anna before slamming the helmet down into a tray of what appeared to be dirt. Dust from the tray flew away from it as the helmet made impact.
Rey cocked her head slightly. He was human, with light skin that seemed to have little color from wearing the mask. He had thick, shoulder-length, black hair that he let hang loose around his face like a frame. He had brown eyes and a birthmark that was a little to the right of his nose. Rey had to admit, he was fairly handsome.
Anna leaned over towards Rey as much as her chair would allow her to.
"Ooookay then. Definitely not a creature…"
Ignoring Anna's comment, Kylo spoke to Rey.
"Tell me about the droids."
Anna thought for a moment.
"They're BB units with selenium drives and thermal hyperscan vindicators…"
"They're carrying two sections of a navigational chart. We have the rest. Recovered from the archives of the Empire, but we need the last two pieces. And somehow you convinced the droids to show them to you two. You...Scavengers."
A moment of pause went between the three before Kylo continued.
"You know I can take whatever I want…"
Kylo stretched out his hand and began to probe Rey's mind. Rey began to visibly shudder.
"You're so lonely…so afraid to leave...At night, desperate to sleep. You imagine an ocean...I see it...I see the island….and Han Solo...You feel like he's the father you never had. He would have disappointed you."
Anna gasped to herself as Rey ground her teeth together.
"Get out of my head."
Kylo moved himself in front of Rey, keeping his hand stretched out.
"I've know you've seen both maps. It's in there. And now you'll give them to me…"
Kylo brought up his other hand and began to probe Anna's mind. Anna had to bite her tongue so she wouldn't scream. Rey struggled.
"We're not...giving you...anything."
Kylo smirked.
"We'll see."
As the two girls fought harder against the probing, Kylo continued to push back, but found himself unable to access their memories. Rey's eyes suddenly looked determined as did Anna's. Rey grunted.
"You..."
Anna seemed to growl, which was completely out of character for her.
"You're afraid..."
Rey sucked in a needed breath.
"That you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"
Kylo suddenly reeled back, gasping shaikly. Anna and Rey fought their hardest to breath.
A few minutes later, Kylo stood in front of Snoke in the Hall of Doom.
"The scavengers...resisted you?!"
"They are strong in the Force! Untrained but stronger than they know!"
"And the droids?!"
"Ren believed they were no longer valuable to us," said a voice. Kylo whirled around to see Hux and Hans walking up the pathway to him. "That the girls were all we needed. As a result, the droids have most likely been returned to the hands of the enemy. They may have the map already."
"Then the Resistance must be destroyed before they get to Skywalker."
"We have their location," replied Hans. "We tracked their reconnaissance ship to the Ileenium system."
Snoke nodded and brought up his left hand, closing it into a fist.
"Good...then we will crush them once and for all. Prepare the weapon."
Kylo looked up to his master.
"Supreme Leader, I can get the map pieces from the girls. I just need your guidance."
As Hux and Hans left, Snoke stared at his apprentice.
"If what you say about these girls are true...Bring. Them. To. Me."
Meanwhile, back in the cell, the two girls were trying to get free. A radio call from the trooper standing guard caught their attention. Rey sucked in a deep breath.
"You will remove our restraints and leave this cell with the door open."
The trooper turned to Rey.
"What did you say?"
Rey sucked in a shaky breath and repeated what she said, this time with a more unsure tone. The trooper came over her and stared at her coldly.
"I'll tighten those restraints, scavenger scum."
Meanwhile, Kylo was stalking back to the cell, his black helmet once more on his head. Rey sighed once more and closed her eyes once before opening them and replying in a determined, yet calm tone of voice.
"You will remove our restraints and leave this cell with the door open."
The trooper suddenly stood up straight and went motionless for a second before…
"I will remove your restraints and leave this cell with the door open."
He pressed a button on Rey and Anna's chairs and their restraints unlocked with a clang. Rey rubbed her wrists as the trooper began to leave and she quickly spoke up.
"And you'll drop your weapon?!"
"And I'll drop my weapon."
A loud thud was heard as the trooper dropped his blaster, forcing Rey and Anna out of their seats, Rey grabbing the blaster and running out the door, Anna following close behind.
A few seconds later, Kylo entered the cell, gasping at the empty chairs.
"No...No..."
He activated his red lightsaber and swung it at the chairs.
"GUARDS! GUARDS!"
Two troopers in the hall saw sparks flying out of the cell door and heard Kylo's screaming. They immediately turned around and went back the way they came.
Meanwhile in the command center for Starkiller Base, Hux and Hans stood staring at the sun above them.
"Began charging the weapon."
A voice shouted "Yes, Sir. Weapon charging."
Slowly, the sun's fire began to move down towards Starkiller Base, the energy entering the mouth of the weapon.
Meanwhile back at the Resistance Base, Poe was going over the data from Snap's reconnaissance flight.
"The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's report."
Snap, who stood nearby, continued.
"They've somehow created a hyper-lightspeed weapon built within the planet itself."
"A laser cannon?" someone asked.
"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale."
Major Ematt looked at the data.
"It's another Death Star."
Poe sighed.
"I wish that were the case, Major. This was the Death Star."
Poe pushed a button revealing a hologram of the original Death Star. It's design made Elsa curious. She had never seen anything relating to the Death Star on Jakku, so to learn that the Empire had built such a weapon and used it to harm the lives of the Galaxy made her shiver. She unconsciously leaned closer to Poe as he pushed another button, pulling up a holographic image of Starkiller Base, which made the Death Star look like a moon in comparison.
"...and this is Starkiller Base."
There were gasps and worried murmurs at seeing this. Han, however, didn't look all that phased.
"So, it's big."
Admiral Ackbar, a male Calamari, spoke up.
"How is it possible to power a weapon of that size?"
Finn looked over to him.
"It uses the power of the sun."
Sven nodded.
"As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears."
A lady came up to Leia.
"Ma'am."
Leia read what was on the holopad, taking a breath before announcing the bad news.
"The First Order, they're charging the weapon again now. Our system is the next target."
C-3PO gasped.
"Oh, my. Without the Republic fleet, we're doomed."
Han turned to the group.
"Okay, how do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that."
Leia nodded.
"Han's right."
Statura turned to the group.
"In order for that power to be contained that base has to have some kind of thermal oscillator."
Sven nodded.
"There is one. Precinct 47. Here."
He pointed at a spot on the hologram, showing the oscillator and how it extended into the core of the planet.
Statura's mind raced to a conclusion.
"If we can destroy that oscillator, it might destabilize the core and cripple the weapon."
"Maybe the planet," interjected Ematt.
Poe nodded.
"We'll go in there, we'll hit that oscillator with everything we got."
"They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate," Ackbar pointed out.
"We disable the shields," replied Han. "Sven and Finn, you two worked there. What do you got?"
Finn and Sven nodded.
"We can do it."
Han smirked.
"I like these guys."
"We can disable the shields but we have to be there. On the planet."
Han glanced at Chewie, then back to Finn and Sven.
"We'll get you there."
Leia sighed.
"Han, how?"
Han glanced at Leia.
"If I told you, you wouldn't like it."
Poe sighed.
"So we disable the shields, we take out the oscillator, and we blow up their big gun."
Chewie roared his approval loudly and Poe nodded.
"Alright, let's go."
The group broke up and went to prepare for the battle. Elsa followed Poe to help him with his fighter. Sven followed Jess with the somewhat valid excuse that he had no idea where his fighter was. Kristoff pulled him aside and into the hangar where his fighter was.
Out in the yard, everything was buzzing with tension. Pilots were making last-minute repairs to their fighters, checking that the engines and weapons were still fully functional. BB-8 was loaded into Poe's fighter as Finn passed by, Poe patting him on the shoulder for luck as he continued onto the Falcon. Han was there, refueling the old girl as Chewie carried a few parts.
"Chewie, check that donal capitator. Come on, let's go." He turned to Finn, who was picking up a few metal balls. "Finn, be careful with those! They're explosives."
Finn scoffed.
"Now you tell me?"
Leia's voice was heard as she walked up behind Han.
"You know, no matter how much we fought...I always hated watching you leave."
Han slowly turned around, walking back towards her.
"That's why I did it. So you'd miss me."
Leia nodded.
"I did miss you."
Han chuckled slightly.
"It wasn't all bad, was it? Huh? Some of it was...good."
Leia shrugged, nodding.
"Pretty good."
Han chuckled again, before he reached out for Leia.
"Some things never change."
"True," Leia replied. "You still drive me crazy."
A pause went between the two before Han pulled her close, hugging her tightly.
Leia accepted the hug, resting her head on Han's chest.
"If you see our son, bring him home."
Han gave a brief nod before letting Leia go and heading into the Falcon.
Meanwhile, Elsa was just finishing helping Poe with his repairs. She stepped back a little, absentmindedly playing with some of the fabric of her outfit.
"I'd...better get back to the Falcon."
Poe nodded and grabbed his helmet.
"I'll see you when we get back."
Poe began to climb up into his X-Wing.
"Wait!"
Poe stopped and jumped back down.
"What is it? Something wrong?"
Elsa took a deep breath before straightening up and giving Poe a small kiss on his left cheek. She pulled back almost worriedly.
"For luck."
She then headed over to the Falcon. As she climbed up the ramp into the ship, she turned back to where Poe stood and she smiled softly, her cheeks a bright rosy red before she hurried inside as the ramp folded up and closed behind her. With a loud roar of it's engines, the Falcon rose up and flew into orbit, launching into hyperspace, heading to where certain doom awaited.
And that's a wrap for chapter 8! Chapter 6 of A Magical Tail might be delayed. They'll be a note if it's not delayed, but assume it will be delayed for now. See you next time!
