Chapter 21
Calm, Solo, stay calm. Think of this as a ship, a disgusting plague ridden ship that needs to be cleaned up so that it can't infect anyone else. Think. Focus. Follow the force, go with the flow, follow it where it leads you.
With great reluctance, Han stopped trying to control his movements and allowed himself to follow the flow of the force, hoping it would lead him to the center of the force within Snoke's mind. If he could find the control center, perhaps he could destroy the connection, or at least cripple it enough to help the others.
He couldn't prevent a mental shudder as he continued along the path he was on; if he got out of this one he would have to take a three day shower of some sort just to try to wash away the darkness.
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Lightsabers ignited, Rey and Kylo's blades met in mid-air as they tested the strength of one another. Luke wasted no time and ignited his as he lunged at Snoke. With more alacrity than anyone would have expected, Snoke laughed and held up his hand, holding Luke frozen in place. It took only a moment for Luke to center himself and lift his hand, turning the power back against Snoke. The creature blinked at Luke in surprise. Then he laughed that evil cackle that made everyone's skin crawl.
"You are more powerful in the force than I thought you were, Skywalker. This may be a worthy fight after all."
Snoke and Luke threw their hands in the air at each other at the same time and the ground beneath them shook.
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Han had come to an abrupt stop, completely uncertain of where he was in the evil creature's mind, only aware that borrowing a word from his children's vernacular when they were young, he felt 'yucky!' He concentrated on what Luke had suggested to him. The force felt stronger here, kind of like the engine of the Falcon, he could feel the force pulsating from this place. He calmed himself and thought about this being the engine of the Falcon, about seeing the circuits and controls he was familiar with, and willed himself to see things this way so he could do his damnedest to disable this evil. When he opened his eyes he was in familiar territory, and he saw what he wanted to see.
"Now we're talking," he mumbled to himself. "Let's see how much of this I can rip out before I get caught."
He knew his time was short and he wasn't about to waste it. He pulled off the outer panels as the took the most direct path into the guts of the ship. The first thing he was going to disable was the hyperdrive; he knew from personal experience that would slow things down immensely.
He allowed himself a grateful smile for his brief memory of the trip to Bespin and how it had taken him and his Princess to the next level of their relationship.
Then he ripped off the next panel and reached for the first power coupling as he began to remove the power from the ship…
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Snoke paused for just a moment, as he and Luke reached a stalemate, and he felt a small nagging at the back of his mind, and knew something wasn't quite right. Before he had a chance to puzzle on it, Luke attacked, green light saber flashing as he tried to catch Snoke by surprise. Snoke engaged in battle once again momentarily forgetting about the small bubble of discomfort within his mind.
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Leia stood transfixed before the coffin. She should be more interested in the fighting going on around her, and she was, but she also knew that until something happened, she would only be in the way of Luke and Rey. So she stood by the glass coffin monitoring the situation, and staring at the body of her husband. His body was at rest, he looked so peaceful, as if he were really dead.
And if he was? If this fight destroyed the ghost he had become? If no trace of him was left, could she survive? He knew he would want her to because he always wanted the best for her, and Rey was with her now, their daughter that shone so brightly with the force, with the light from the force, the light of their love.
She turned and looked to the sight of their two children involved in a deadly fight, knowing that as a mother she should want them both to be well, but her heart had hardened towards Ben and nothing would please her more than to have Rey end his reign of darkness once and for all.
Placing a hand on the top of the coffin, she willed Rey to win, she willed her daughter to kill her son.
She looked down at Han and his still body and felt the rage building within her, and tired of controlling it, she let it go and embraced the rage. It ran through her body, and her mind, and enflamed her emotions. She turned cold eyes on her son. If need be she would kill him herself.
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The two lightsabers, one blue, one red, clashed and clashed again as the fight between brother and sister continued.
Rey continued to parry and attack when the opportunity presented itself, but was surprised by Kylo's halfhearted attempts, she knew that for some reason he was holding back. Tentatively, she reached out to his mind, and was allowed entry. What she felt almost made her drop her lightsaber. Kylo wasn't fighting with any passion, he was doing the bare minimum to fend her off, and that's all he planned on doing.
Rey felt there was a need to continue the pretense, but she didn't feel any real threat from him at the moment, and so the exercise continued, and she went through the motions.
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Han expelled a sigh of relief. He was almost done disconnecting the hyperdrive. Once that was done he could work on the power cells which sustained life support. He paused for just a moment as he felt an odd pull to an obscure circuit board. He concentrated, trying to determine why that particular board called to him and found out this small, insignificant appearing communication circuit connected Snoke to Ben. He destroyed the board by smashing it and felt Snoke's subconscious connection to Ben sever.
He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before he reminded himself he still had to disable the life support. He reached his hand into the small space to pull the wire from the circuit it was connected and yelped when an electrical charge jolted him across the room. He scrambled back to the circuit and with a hard yank, pulled out the wire. He was thrown across the room as the blue arc of electricity seared through his chest and then faded…
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The force jumped around them, there was no other way to explain it, Rey thought, as both she and Kylo paused and searched the air around them. He stopped, suspending his attack and staggered, and falling to his knees grabbed his head in pain.
Rey regarded him in surprise, but kept her lightsaber at the ready. Kylo looked at her and with great deliberation, turned off his lightsaber, the red glow retracted.
They looked around them as they felt a storm of immense power building around them. It was reflected in the weather, the clouds now building on the horizon, the lightning within the clouds. The earth again shook around them as they turned to watch Luke battle Snoke.
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AN: Writer's love reviews! Thanks for reading.