Sorry for the delay. Life was hectic and this chapter was surprisingly hard to write. Next chapter will focus on the battle at Takodana

Chapter 10 – First blood drawn

Takodana – Maz's castle

Rey - POV

Rey sat on her chair by the table with Finn and Han that the small orange creature that Han had called Maz, had set aside for them when they had entered her castle. She did not know much about the galaxy outside of Jakku or what the few traders and off-worlders that visited Jakku had told her. But she could clearly see that Maz was a 'woman' of means. Which probably made her a good friend to have when you were being chased by a very powerful galactic force like the First Order.

Maz is putting together some food as she says "A map to Skywalker himself? You're right back in the mess." She directed at Han in a clearly pleased tone of voice. Han in turn, only gave a slight grimace before he responded.

"Maz, I need you to get this droid to Leia." He said while he rapped BB-8 on his dome for emphasis causing the droid to chirp indignantly.

Maz shook her head and seemed to sign with impatience in her strangely jovial way. "Hmm. No. You've been running away from this fight for too long. Han, nyakee nago wadda. Go home!" She said with a defiant note of exasperation. Rey was still trying to figure out what she had said in that strange language. Whatever it was it sounded like a mild insult.

"Leia doesn't want to see me." Han said with a tone that conveyed finality, but Rey was not so naïve that she could not detect a definite note of regret. She wondered what the story was behind the conversation these two were having. Although she had guessed that it had something to do with an old flame of Han's, this Leia person.

She had heard the stories, or more like legends of Han Solo and the rest of the heroes of the rebellion. She had heard that Han had married his fellow hero Leia Organa, who was supposedly a princess and now a general in the Resistance. It sounded so fantastical that it was had to separate what was fact and what was embellished story telling. But she guessed this was prove enough that the relationship part of the story was true. But from what she was hearing it had not had the fairy tale happy ending that many such stories were supposed to have.

But it seemed Finn cared less about Han's romantic past. "Please, we came here for your help." He said desperately. But Rey had other questions. "What fight?" She asked.

Maz turned to face her and adjusted the eye glass headgear that she wore so her enlarged eyes focused on Rey with a level of study that made Rey feel like she was naked.

"The only fight" Maz whispered with a conspiratorial tone of voice. "Against the dark side. Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy quickly, behind the impetus of that Admiral of theirs. We must face them. Fight them. All of us."

Rey was startled and a little bit in awe of Maz's brief speech. But it was clear that Finn was much less impressed. "There is no fight against the First Order! Not one we can win. Admiral Kuvira has never been defeated in battle or in war and Kylo Ren can take down an army by himself. They have millions of soldiers and unmatched resources. The First Order fleet is massive, and its spy network, the FOSB is everywhere. Look around. There's no chance we haven't been recognized already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right—"

Finn stops and Rey who at the time was wondering why a Resistance fighter like Finn would be so reluctant to fight the First Order (I mean was that not the entire point of the Resistance?) turned to see what has stopped him cold. Rey saw Maz adjusting her goggles yet again, scrutinizing Finn with her eyes that grew to even larger sizes.

Finn quickly seemed to grow uncomfortable under her piercing stare. Rey understood the feeling having just been under it herself. "What's this? What are you doing?" He demanded in a defensive voice.

Maz adjusts the goggles again. Her eyes get impossibly bigger. She grunts in recognition as she hoists herself on the table top, knocking over food and plates, crawling towards Finn. Completely unconcerned with the mess she was making of her dining area.

Finn backed away as much as he was able to before turning to Han for some kind of support. "Solo, what is she doing?" He squeaked. Han just shrugged with a look that said he intended to keep his distance from this situation. "I don't know, but it ain't good." He muttered.

Maz finally came to a stop right in front of Finn and set her eyes directly on level with his. To Finn it was as if the world had turned entirely black with him only able to see the rest of it at the edge of his vision. "If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people. I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run." Maz said with the kind of certainty that you could say it will be hot on Jakku tomorrow.

Finn was taken aback by her blunt accusation. But it quickly gave way to defensive anger. He leaned in closer to Maz so he could try and give her an uncomfortable stare "You don't know a thing about me. Where I'm from. What I've seen. You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. They have millions of soldiers and billions of credits at their disposal. Trying to fight them is like trying to fight a hurricane. We all need to run."

Rey is stunned at Finn's words but Maz, not so much. She crawls back to her chair where she points to some pirates in the corner. "You see those two? They'll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear."

Finn looks at her incredulously. "The Outer Rim?! The First Order rules almost the entire Outer Rim. I want to get away from them and you send me right into the jaws of death?!" He hissed in anger.

Maz just shrugged. "It is the only choice you have. No one else will make room for you on their ship and you have no money to pay for passage. It is them, or you stay her and join the struggle." She said in a completely unconcerned manner.

At that piece of reality Finn turns back to study the pirates, considering.

"Finn!" Rey hissed trying to snap him out of whatever emotional breakdown has caused him to consider abandoning his friends in the Resistance. And he does snap him out of it as he turns to face her. But it does not gain the change that she had been hoping for.

"Come with me." He said with a desperation that bordered on manic. She was starting to think he had had lost his mind along with his priorities. But she tried again to make him remember where his duties lay.

"What about BB-8? We're not done yet. We have to get him back to your base." She insists

But Finn is already rising to his feet when he responds. "I can't." He mutter's as he turns away from the table before he pauses and turns back. He pulls out his gun and offers it back to Han. But the smuggler waves it off and pushes the weapon back to him.

"Keep it, kid." He says softly.

Finn nods his thanks and heads off. Rey gets up to follow while Maz dials her lenses back to normal and turns to Han. "Who's the girl?" She asks as Han simply shrugs before he begins to explain

Finn - POV

Meanwhile Finn had arrived at the pirate's table and wasted no time in getting to the heart of the matter he wanted to discuss. "I was told you could get me to the Outer Rim." But before he could get any further Rey bust into the conversation and pulled his attention away from the two pirates who would hopefully be his unlikely life line.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, and he turned back to the pirate that had a head the size of BB-8'S body. "Don't leave without me." He stated flatly. And he got up from the table to speak to Rey in a part of the cantina that might give them some form of privacy. He did not need to wait long before she immediately asked her question.

"You can't just go. I won't let you." She said with a level of finality that almost hid the desperation and confusion beneath it. Almost.

But Fin was tired of playing this game and he no longer needed the cover in order to stay alive. Well Rey or Han might shoot him upon discovering his true origins. But he felt that he could be reasonably sure that they would not do that. At least not within a crowded cantina full of weapon happy pirates and smugglers. If he was wrong. Well, he would be dead before he realised.

"I'm not who you think I am." He said simply and left Rey to gain a confused expression on her face. Before she asked the question he knew was coming. "Finn, what are you talking about?" She asked and before he knew it the flood gates were open, and he was revealing everything.

"I'm not Resistance. I'm not a hero. I'm a Stormtrooper. Like all of them, I was taken from a family I'll never know. And raised to do one thing..." He said and as he spoke emotions and long buried thoughts that he had never consciously acknowledged. "But in my first battle, I made a choice. I wasn't going to kill for them. So, I ran."

As he spoke Rey's face turned from confused to surprised, to anguished and finally to a stony resolve. But he kept pressing on his abrupt confession. "Right into you. And you looked at me like no one ever had. I was ashamed of what I was. But I'm done with the First Order. I'm never going back. Rey, come with me." He pleaded. He was very aware of how desperate he sounded but he didn't care.

He had already lost every friend he had ever known due to his betrayal of the First Order. He did not want to be alone all over again. If he could somehow persuade Rey to join him in the Outer Rim, at least he would have that. He might not have known her very long, but they had been in more life and death situations then most people had been in their entire lives. That forged a bond between people that was formed at a speed that superseded logic and time.

He wanted her to say yes so desperately. But as he looks int other resolute face he knows that the answer she is about to give is not going to be the one that he wants to hear.

"Don't go." Rey whispers. And Fin feels his shoulders sag in disappointment.

He does not want to let her down and he does want to keep her safe like she had kept him safe. Or at least as safe as she could in these screwed up situation they found themselves in. But in the end she wants to finish Poe's mission for him. He doesn't understand why. As far as he knew she had never left Jakku. The Resistance and New Republic. The First Order and the Empire. The Jedi and the Sith. They should all just be random words to her, without meaning or ties.

But since he as met her she has been determined to fight and quite possibly die for the Resistance. Even though she has never met a real member of the Resistance. In fact, he is not even sure she really knows what they are fight for or what the First Order fights for. He supposes it boils down to BB-8 is her friend and in the Resistance. And the First Order was the one shooting at her in Jakku. Which he supposes makes as good a reason as any to get involved in a galactic war.

He is not entirely sure what her motivations are. But he knows that whatever they are they will not hold up against the might of the First Order. Even less so if Kuvira, Kylo Ren or Phasma get their hands on her. And however much he likes her. Staying with the droid and the Resistance is suicide. And he doesn't like anyone that much.

"Take care of yourself. Please." He says to her as a parting gesture. Then he turns back round to the pair of pirates who will hopefully get in the hell out of here.

Rey looks at him go with her hopes crushed and then with quiet resignation and she watches Finn return to the aliens. And then watch as all three head off to the front door and walk through it.

She begins to head back to Han's table. When she stops dead and turns to a doorway across the room. The sign on the door reads as 'lower level'. It should be completely uninteresting.

But for reasons Rey cannot even begin to explain. She begins to move across the room and down the stairs that she finds go down into the depths of the castle. She was only aware that she was being drawn irresistibly along by some unknown force.

Starkiller Base

Kuvira – POV

A thousand or so stormtroopers and their officers stand fronted and assembled, with amassed TIE fighters and other machines of war or maintenance positioned in formation all around them. All around them rose the massive constructs of Starkiller base. The sheer size of the edifice of many made construction made even more apparent by the knowledge that it was just a tiny piece of the planet spanning super construct.

Admiral Kuvira stood on the officer's podium overlooking the assembled ranks the planet into the horizon. She stood in pride of place with the other senior officers and their most high-ranking subordinates. Behind them was a massive red and black banner fluttering gently in the mild breeze. The symbol of the First Order emblazoned proudly on the material as it boasted its power and pride across the assembled masses.

She was dressed in her full black uniform and black greatcoat, hat and gloves. She was in her standard posture. Feet set apart and her left hand hanging by her side (by her side arm pistol) and her right arm behind her back resting along the curve of her spine. He black uniform shined in the sun light and the fabric was cleaned and ordered to perfection. While she sneered at the preening habits of vain people. She admitted that some occasions were worth just that extra bit of effort to impress. And this situation certainly qualified.

Today would see the death of the corrupt and dying Republic. And the restoration of what the rebels had almost destroyed. The dream of a united and properly ordered galaxy would now become a reality. And they were standing on the very threshold of that moment. With the greatest weapon the galaxy had ever seen at their command.

Even though it could not be seen beyond the tree line. She knew that the firing chamber for the weapon, roughly the size of a decent continent, was directly ahead of her. Ready to unleash its unfathomable power into the galaxy.

All around the bases layout and constructs were the white snow-capped peaks of the planet that shield the assembled force from the biting arctic winds that whipped around them and blew the frigid snows across the forests and plans.

Of course, Kuvira mused. If the troops had been required to stand at parade formation for hours in the snow while the winds slowly buried them in it, they would do so. And she would have been right their beside them until the snow covered her head. She was a firm believer in the philosophy that a true leader does not ask their troops to do what she was unwilling to do. It was a hanger on from her own days as a simple private.

But such drastic measures were not requiring today. However, as she was forced to listen to General Hux's incessant rambling. She was starting to wonder if it might have been more of a mercy then having her soldiers listen to the narcissistic maniac.

And even though she was recognised as the highest-ranking officer on this entire planet. She was standing to the side while her companion continued to perform to her exact specification like a trained monkey-lizard.

Still she had to admit that everyone had their uses. And one of Hux's very limited uses was the delivery of fiery rhetoric. Even as she listened to the man and continued to loath his very existence in her otherwise perfect military. She had to admit that he was able to inflame the passions of her people and even herself for the war effort.

Such a skill could have made Hux a truly dangerous opponent to her within the First Order. However, thanks to his complete lack of military skill or social conduct with his fellow officers. He never realised that a man with allies or friends (though she preferred the latter as friendships complicated things) could never seize, much less hold power. His fellow officers despised Hux and they recognised him for what he was. He remained a mentally unstable man-child with no real power beyond what Kuvira and the Supreme Leader granted him.

The officers of the old guard saw him the way they used to see Kuvira. As an underserving upstart who did not deserve his rank. However, while Kuvira have proven them wrong and earned their loyalty, or at least their obedience. Hux had never made the attempt. And now when the time came to get rid of him. He would have almost no supporters to worry about.

She shelved her personal recriminations an came back to the speech as Hux started to come to the point of this assembly. However, she kept her eye on the krono display on her wrist as the time for the ultimatum started to reach complete zero.

Her remaining informants in the senate. Mostly droids and Delta source itself had confirmed that the Resistance was stonewalling the New Republic senate as much as possible. In a desperate attempt to prevent the Republic from making the smart move and surrendering the Resistance. They were calling out and referencing every scrap of legal; loopholes and bureaucratic law that they could get their hands on to delay the senate.

She knew that it was part of a strategy to minimise opinion reaction when the war broke out. Still it disgusted her how easy it was for them to ham string a galactic government into not making an obvious decision through bureaucrats and their ilk. So, the New Republic doomed itself, just like its predecessor.

Still, it made no difference to the overall result. The Resistance could try and play for deniability all they wanted but it would not matter. When the war started when the ultimatum ran out in less than 15 galactic minutes. The galaxy would have no doubt who was the match that lit the tibanna gas. And when the dust settled, they would have a galaxy that either had willingly fought against them or blamed them for their recent woes and loses to the war.

After all no war, however short it was, came without casualties. And she intended to make sure that despite the Resistance' desperate hopes to the contrary. That there was plenty of blame to go around.

She pulled herself out of her musings to listen to Hux's megalomaniacal drivel that continued to be inflicted on the troops. Enhanced by artfully concealed amplification equipment, his voice boomed out across the throng of military personnel and well into the horizon of the planet.

Today is the end of the Republic. The end of a government incapacitated by corruption. The end of an illegitimate regime that acquiesces to disorder! At this very moment, in a system far from here the New Republic lives and wheezes. Staggering onward. Depraved and ineffectual. And unable in anyway to support the citizenry it claims to serve. Meanwhile, a host of systems are left to wither and die. Without aid, without care, without hope. Drowning in its own decadence the New Republic ignores them and in so doing lies to the galaxy while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance. All the while, they remain unaware that these are its final moments.

He swept his hand sharply downward. It might seem an unimportant gesture but Kuvira saw (as Hux did) the strength on physical action to further emphasise powerful words. And Hux was in his element. Mentioning all the flaws of the Republic that Kuvira so despised. By the law of averages. Hux had to eventually say something that she agreed with.

This fierce machine which you have built, to which you have dedicated your lives and labour. And upon which we now stand, will bring a final end to the worthless Senate! To its dithering members and to their cherished fleet! When this day is done! All remaining systems will bow to the First Order! And all will remember this... as the last day of the last Republic!

As voice carried away the final shout of his speech. As one all the soldiers of the assembly raised their arms and fists in a universal salute. Kuvira actually felt herself tear up a little at the sight, though she quickly blinked it away. The sheer discipline and perfection of that one movement was enough to make her so proud of her soldiers and their entire Order.

She even gave a small nod in Hux's direction as he turned to briefly face her. She and Hux may hate each other, but that speech was masterfully done. And she was not so petty that she could not acknowledge a good job when she saw it.

She reached into her coat pocket and subtly pressed the small device she had in the pocket. The device was no bigger then a simple commlink. But it was of vital importance. It was even now sending of the signal directly to Hosnian Prime. The signal would beam directly to the embassy of the First Order to the New Republic. From there the signal would be bounced through relays set up by the FOSB across the planet and the holonet. It would also be made to forcibly appear within the senate chamber and across the local news feed.

The feed would play a pre-recorded holo of her and her announcement that the deadline for the ultimatum had been expired and that war was now official. Some of her comrades had critiqued this part of the plan. They claimed that even if it was timed right to the point when the weapon fired it was an unnecessary gesture that could allow some of the New Republic infrastructure to escape the planet. Some even assumed she as issuing a formal declaration of war out of a sense of 'fairness'.

She would laugh at the idea if it wasn't borderline insulting.

She had no interest in conducting a fair war. Truly the whole concept of 'rules of engagement' were ludicrous to her thinking. Rules were for children's games. She was interested in winning the war. And she would do everything and anything she deemed necessary to accomplish that goal. Be it pre-emptive strikes, biological warfare, torture of prisoners, killing civilians and the destruction of planets.

Naturally she would rather not resort to such measures. She preferred being reasonable whenever possible. But if she deemed it necessary she would do it with no question. Afterall she was fighting to conquer the galaxy, not destroy it. That was something Palpatine had never valued. And it was why she would succeed where he failed.

She was giving the New Republic a head's up so that with an official declaration of war the almost instantaneous strike on Hosnian Prime would be an official act of war rather then be classified as a pre-emptive strike. Also, it would give her one final chance to lay the blame at the Resistance's feet.

Once again it was hearts and minds that would win this fight. In truth the act of star ships and soldiers blasting away at each other with blasters and turbo lasers was a side show in this conflict. But so often did the flashy aspects blind people to the subtle ones.

She turned her mind back to the events in front of her as she felt the planet begin to rumble and shake ever so slightly as the weapon firing sequence reached its end. Ironically, just like the life of the New Republic

"FIRE!"

And Hux turns to give the signal, while as one all the assembled troops turn away to face the horizon. The rally ground was completely silent.

For a moment, nothing. Then during an eerily silent moment, an impossible blast of fire light. Similar to nuclear fire erupts from the surface of the planet and shot into the sky. The light was so bright that Kuvira and the rest of the officers had to look away and shield their eyes. Even the stormtroopers with their protective helmets were forced to raise their hands to ward of the glare.

Seconds later, a terrible explosive roar bursts out of the flame embroiled horizon that forced the Admiral and her fellows back a few steps. Nephitina who had been standing just to the left and behind her was actually thrown from her feet to land in a pile, with her lekku draped over her head. And she was hardly alone in that regard.

Having been gathered and held within the power of the superstructure and aided by the magnetic field of the planet the unfathomable amount of dark energy, known as 'quintessence', was suddenly unleashed into the galaxy.

There was nothing like it. Nothing natural like it in the entire known galaxy. Directed through the continent sized firing barrel. At incredible force and speed, the quintessence punching through the barrier of regular and hyperspace and entering the state known as phantom energy.

Based on the data from hundreds of schematics and data analyse. The unequalled blast of energy would continue to travel along a linier path until it left the galactic disk and entered the dark void between galaxies.

Or…..until it met something in its path. That was of sufficient mass, to intercept it.

Kuvira, turned away and keyed her commlink.

"Order all fleets to proceed as planned. And prepare the Reclaimer to head to Takodana. Have my starfighter ready for deployment." She said stiffly.

"At once, Admiral"

Hosnian Prime

Korr Sella - POV

Kory sat with her head in her hands as she listened to the senate continue to argue and shout and insult and threaten each other as they had been doing for hours on end. In the past she might have been worried about projecting such obvious despair and weakness to the senate as the Resistance representative.

But lately she felt that she simply did not care anymore.

The Supreme Chancellor was helpless to bring order to the Chaos. And even muting the senate podium speakers did nothing as the senators just yelled even harder. This senate wasn't worth the dirt on her boots and it had been made abundantly clear that they would never stand up to the First Order with the Resistance. Since that was her whole purpose for being here she felt that she should simply leave them to their petty arguments.

It was moments like this when she thought that maybe the First Order's plan to spike every senator in the galaxy, was not half bad.

She would have asked Leia for permission to leave the planet and return to D'Qar. At least then she might be able to do some good in this fight. But she knew she could not leave just yet. The plan to stall the senate until the ultimatum ran out was not her favourite plan. It struck her as dishonourable and a betrayal of their peaceful ideals. But it was one that she had carried out well. Not that she needed much effort, to make the senate as disorganised as possible. They pretty much do that themselves.

The ultimatum was going to expire any minute. Hell, it might have already expired for all she knew. And once that was done and all the games of pretending ended. She could head back to D'Qar and see where she would be sent to for the war. She was not a fighter, but she could still help them rally allies to their cause.

Although she admitted that after this whole political mess, it would be a lot harder.

Just as she was about to start massaging her temples to relieve some of the tension headache. She heard the distinctive sound of the senate main holoprojector activating. She looked up at the control console, but it was empty.

Somehow the projector had activated itself.

She turned to the section where the First Order's Ambassador Tann would normally be sitting with her armed white goons. But the Ambassador had been recalled a few hours after the ultimatum had been delivered. Still Korr could not shake the feeling that this was because of them.

Her suspicion proved true when the projection came into focus, and Admiral Kuvira once again stood before the senate in larger than life size.

The entire senate fell universally silent and for a brief moment Korr was glad for the Admiral's appearance for that if nothing else.

But she had a feeling that she and the entire senate knew the reason for this call. And she saw a large number for senators beginning to turn pale. (Or whatever colour their species equivalent was)

Kuvira's hologram remained silent for what felt like an agonisingly long time. Then she inhaled audible and the entire senate tensed. Once again Korr both admired and cursed Kuvira's ability to play to a crowd. Then she began to speak.

And the tone and the words.

Were damning.

"48 hours. I with the benevolent understanding of Supreme Leader Snoke. Gave you 48 hours to make a single, simple and rational decision. A decision that I would trust a child to make. Turn over those among your government and territories that have proven to be violent terrorists. Those who have pushed our peoples to this point through their actions. Or face the prospect of a galaxy wide war."

The Admiral paused, and her eyes were almost burning with contempt.

"And what do you do with this precious time? You squabble and picker. And hurl insults at each other in a manner fit only for infants. You descend upon each other like a pack of firaxan sharks. All the while leaving the issue unresolved and putting the lives of all you claim to represent at the greatest of risk."

"48 hours we gave you. While we waited and prayed and hoped you would see reason. And while we prepared in case you refused to do so. And now, the time allotted to you is done. And so, our hand is forced."

"You had your chance." Kuvira finished as her hologram faded away.

For a moment the senate was in complete silence as they realised that they were now officially at war. Then the Chaos returned greater then ever. Korr saw with additional hopelessness, that not even a confirmed common enemy could unite the fractious senate together.

Korr stood up and began to make her way to the senate entrance way. Her job was done. And the war was about to begin. Now she needed to get to then place where she could prove the most useful.

It was as she was about to pass through the archway that she noticed that the light pollution generated by Hosnian Prime's capital city against the night sky, seemed to be increasing. Frowning she turned and looked out of the window at the night sky.

She along with a rabidly growing number of other people gazed at the strange phenomenon. Some asking question about what it was caused by.

Quickly. Far to quickly for anything even remotely ordinary. The sky began to not only grow lighter. But to actually glow intensely. It was as if a small sun had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. And that sun was heading right for the world that she happened to be standing on.

In the next instant, just as her face began to gain a look of horrified realisation. The 'thing; struck the planet with enough force that the crust was penetrated, and the mantle was ruptured. It was as if a comet had struck the planet. But Korr had a sense that what they were experiencing was even worse.

In the next instant…. the core ignited, and the planet was turned into (what could be scientifically described as) a pocket Nova.

Korr Sella never knew what had happened and what exactly was going to happen. But she knew enough to understands that this was it. That there was no hope for her or any other lifeform that had the horrible fate to be on this planet at this moment.

She knew in that moment that the First Order had played them. They had never been preparing for a conventional war to begin. They had used their ultimatum to ensure that the senate and the New Republic fleet was amassed at the capital. And the sudden en masse departure of the centralists suddenly made so much more sense.

If Korr had the time for such reactions, she would have cried.

Every man, woman and child on Hosnian Prime was going to die. The senate was going to be destroyed. The government would be decapitated. The New Republic Home Fleet would be wiped out in one shot. The centralists would hand half the galaxy over to the First Order. The other half would be too paralysed with fear to even consider resisting. And the Resistance would now be standing alone against the Titan that was the First Order.

But even as she felt the fear and rage and sorrow and despair all well up inside her. She took a small amount of comfort in the knowledge that though her life had been short. She had done something with it. She had been handed a small insignificant life and she had used it in the service of her idol General Leia Organa and the cause of the Resistance.

Kory felt no small amount of pride in that knowledge. And while it was not enough to push away the overwhelming horror of what she was experiencing and the terror of what she was going to experience any millisecond. It offered her a small amount of comfort in her final moment.

Then, the crust shattered into pieces and Korr Sella, Resistance member and ambassador to Leia Organa in the New Republic senate, knew nothing more.

The explosion continued to expand outward and tore through the fleet that had been gathered over the doomed planet. The heat, and debris and sheer force, cut through the shield and armour plating as if they were not even there. Before the crews could even realise what was happening. Their ships, their fleet and their mortal bodies became dust in the solar winds.

All the world of the entire Hosnian system were instantly scorched clean of life and any remaining evidence that any form of civilisation had ever existed in this part of the galaxy. In its place was a blazing mass of energy and matter. Before finally, that too faded away.

Leaving nothing, but a black empty void.