Chapter 20
The Millennium falcon came back into view, now heading for Crait. Luckily for Luke, Chewbacca and R2 came back for him. He still didn't know what to say to Rey, if she would accept him as her father, or completely reject him. Luke told Chewbacca to land far behind the base, so that they wouldn't be notice. They'd been here before, back during their youth. To fight a squadron of stormtroopers, who unwillingly discovered the Republic base when they crashed with the old gang. Luke wondered if all the equipment and starfighters were still in good condition. Luke sat a piles of rocks, and started to close his eyes…
Leia found Connix squinting out the viewport at the brightness around them. They were below the ionosphere now and able to discern surface features: vast white plains streaked with red and shot through with thin ribbons of blue, bordered by high, thin mountain ranges.
"We're not equipped for cold weather," Connix said anxiously.
"We don't need to be," Leia replied. "That isn't snow. It's salt."
Connix frowned, studying the planet below. She wasn't the first to be fooled by the broad expanses of Crait's salt pans.
"You've been here before," Connix said.
Leia nodded. "When I was young. Back before the rebellion was born ". That at least got her a smirk and a dismissive wave. She let her mind go back decades, to the first time she'd seen this lonely world. She'd been a teenager then, visiting this place as a study of the early history, thanks to her father.
"It was a Republic base once," Leia told Connix. "Abandoned because of a severe crystal storms. That was what caught my father's eye, back when he was putting the Rebellion together. His techs added a shield against orbital bombardment, but the real work had already been done."
"So there was a rebel base here?" Connix asked. "No," Leia said. "The Alliance didn't exist yet. By the time it did, the Empire had changed its patrols, and my father worried that ship traffic in the area would be detected. We considered Crait as a new principal base after Yavin—did a survey and even brought some equipment. But there were complications."
Connix raised her eyebrows inquiringly, but this wasn't the time for telling tales.
"The coordinates went in my files after the peace with the Empire," Leia said. "The files I kept just in case."
That made everyone near them nod. Most of the Alliance's military secrets had been turned over to the New Republic immediately after its formation, and had proven critical in the short, savage war against the remnants of the Empire. But Leia, Ackbar, and other rebel leaders had made sure to keep a few things back, as a safeguard against disaster. Their secret files contained navicomputer data for secret hyperspace routes, the location of rebel safeworlds, and any number of bolt-holes and equipment caches. Without them, the Resistance would have ceased to exist soon after its formation.
"Well, I suppose this qualifies as 'just in case,' " Connix said. "I suppose it does," Leia said gravely, extracting her comlink. "Now let's hope the codes for the blast door still work. Or we're going to look pretty silly camped out on the doorstep when the First Order arrives."
Fortunately, both Leia's codes and the blast door's huge drive mechanisms did still work. The transports flew low over a ridge and Connix spotted the grooves of trenches cutting across the salt plains, leading to a massive slab of a tower with a yawning portal set into it. The transports came in low across the plain and set down in the tower's gloomy interior. The last soldiers were coming down the ramp of the sixth and final transport when the first alarm was raised.
Leia hurried to the entrance and saw what she'd feared she'd see: the dots of new ships descending through the atmosphere. Ackbar's sacrifice had knocked the First Order back on its heels and given them time to reach the planet, but the victory had been temporary.
"They're coming," she said grimly. "Shut the door."
Kaydel Ko Connix relayed Leia's orders, shouting into the dim interior of the mine. The Resistance evacuees were busy doing any of a hundred things: unloading crates of equipment from the transports, trying to get consoles powered up, and passing out rifles and blast helmets.
"Get that shield door down and take cover!" Connix yelled. An eerie tinkling noise reached his ears and he spied pinpricks of light at the back of the cavernous interior, in the deep shadows beyond the transports. She looked more closely, wondering if she was seeing things.
But no, it wasn't her imagination. There really were animals back there—dozens of them. They were small—not much higher than a person's knee, with long, pointy ears and drooping whiskers framing their faces. Their bodies glittered in the transports' lights, and Connix realized what she'd thought was fur was actually a dense covering of crystal bristles. When the creatures moved, their fur made a sound that reminded her of the wind chimes of distant Pamarthe.
Whatever they were, they posed no threat—they weren't hostile, just baffled that the quiet of their den had been disrupted by strange, two- legged invaders. Nor did they fear the new arrivals—after a few moments of indecision they snuffled at the Resistance soldiers curiously. Connix shrugged. The galaxy was full of surprises. One day, maybe, she'd get to sample a few of them in peace.
One day, but not today.
The massive door was creeping downward. Connix silently urged it not to jam on its tracks or run out of power before it shut.
"Kaydel!"
That was Leia. She hurried across the base's interior, dodging Resistance crewers, and stood next to her, just outside the heavy door. Her boots crunched through loose bits of salt, and the air had a tang that was sharp in her nose. A bat-winged ship was racing across the plains, barreling directly for the base. Six TIE fighters were trailing it. Connix couldn't tell if they were escorts or pursuers, but the Resistance soldiers outside must have seen something she hadn't, because they opened fire. Connix expected the shuttle to veer off but saw at the last moment that the pilot was too desperate to do so. Connix backpedaled frantically and dived for cover as the shuttle's top wing struck the blast door with an earsplitting screech. The wing sheared away and the craft tumbled across the deck, scattering Resistance fighters, and skidded to a halt in a shower of sparks. Behind it, the door shut with a deep boom.
Everything went quite for a few seconds, until the shuttle started to open.
Leia picked up a rifle and started raking the door of the shuttle with blasterfire. Connix and several soldiers joined her, and they were met with a purple blade, returning the fire towards them. Taking cover, everyone started to throw more fire to the blade, until they heard someone yelled frantically and a familiar pair of hands emerged from behind the masked figure with the blade, raised in surrender.
"Don't shoot!" Finn and Rey cried out. "It's us!"
Once the firing stopped he popped his head out, next to a wide-eyed Rey, still shaken, tried to get her breath. Rey looked around the base's interior, shock and dismay on her face. Six transports, a hundred or so people.
"Is this all that's left?" she asked Finn. The group, then lowered, guns were still drawn on Artrius. Not knowing if he's friend or foe.
"It's alright. We can trust him, he's on our side", Rey assured them. Leia then walked up to Artrius, "If you truly are with us take off your mask, and give me your lightsaber". Artrius did just that, and handed his weapon and helmet to her. Leia accepted them and, with one free hand, touched his cheek. Looking into his blue eyes, Leia said, "You look just like your father", and with that Leia hugged him. With Artrius hugging her back. Leia had tears in her eyes, her nephew could be redeemed after years of torture, but Kylo could never be brought back.
"All right," Connix said, interrupting the moment, "Shields are up so they can't hit us from orbit. Use all our power to broadcast a signal to the Outer Rim."
"Use my signature code," Leia said. "This base has sat derelict for over 60 years—we meant this to be a hideout, not a fortress. Any allies of the Resistance, to meet up at Endor it's now or never."
Poe entered the control room, and Connix could see the exhaustion on his face. "What have we got?" Connix asked, though Poe's expression had already told her that she wouldn't like the answer.
"Only Clone War era stuff. Most of them in bad conditions to fly. A couple of Arc-170s, armored Y-wings, V-wings, three AT-TE, two AT-AP and two jedi-class fighters. With several broken down speeders," Poe said helplessly.
Connix scowled and Poe knew what his friend was thinking—that they'd traded being dead in space for being dead in a hole. After all, it was what they were all thinking. "Let's pray that big-ass door holds long enough for help to come," Poe said.
As if in answer, a boom rattled the room—deep, low, and resonant. A trickle of red dust fell from the ceiling. After a moment, another boom rolled through the caverns. Finn knew no barrier would keep the First Order out for long. Its leaders would crack the very planet in two to get at them. A number of exterior cams provided a view of the sodium plains surrounding the base, and a few of those cams had survived the long years of inactivity. Finn peered through a viewing apparatus in the control room, reporting on what he saw.
Leia had been called away to record the request for the call to action that would be beamed to the Outer Rim, and in her absence the tension in the room grew as soldiers and crewers pushed beyond their limits allowed their despair to show.
Cade and Rey, at least, were filling the anxious minutes trying to find something—anything—that might change their situation. The general's message might be heard, but Poe had sent the droids to find schematics of the base and ordered techs to get the decrepit artillery emplacements working as a last line of defense, while Connix was inventorying anything they might be able to repair and use in a fight.
Finn, for his part, was using the exterior cams to study what the First Order intended to throw at them in a ground battle. He was certain those were heavy walkers that the drop ships had landed—AT- ATs, and maybe also the heavy AT-M6s. Depending on the First Order's assessment of their defenses, there might also be AT-STs and speeder bikes, supporting troops as pickets.
And there would be TIE fighters providing air cover.
One thing puzzled Finn, however: A dozen huge First Order transports were descending in perfect formation. That didn't matchany procedure he was familiar with—and after a moment he saw that they were lowering a massive cylinder. It touched down and a moment later Finn could feel the ground shake. He cranked up the magnification on the scope and shook his head when he saw what they had delivered.
"A battering-ram cannon," he reported grimly. "Miniaturized Death Star tech. It'll crack this door open like an egg."
That was it, then—the instrument of their doom.
"There has to be a back way out of here, right?" Rey asked. BB-8 rolled up to them, beeping. C-3PO tottered along in the eager astromech's wake. All eyes turned to the droids with whatever hope could be mustered. Behind the two droids, Finn saw the glowing eyes of more crystal foxes. The creatures had gotten over their fear of the Resistance members and seemed curious about them, though they remained easily spooked.
"Beebee-Ate has analyzed the mine schematics," C-3PO said. "This is the only way in or out."
Another impact rattled the control room as the First Order continued testing the strength of the massive door. The faces around him were bleak with despair—even Poe's. Finn shook his head. He hadn't come this far just to let the First Order win. And he knew none of the rest of them had, either.
"No. There is a way out, we just have to create it", Cade said.
"Well how are we going to do that?"
"Rey and I are strong in the force, if we concentrate long enough, we can create a hole wide enough to escape. But we need time."
"Then we need to buy you some time", Poe addressed.
"Time for what?" a pilot asked in despair.
"To create an escape plan," Finn said. "For Leia to figure out a plan, for the First Order to mess up, for a miracle. What are we going to do, not fight? We have to take out that cannon."
Poe nodded, smiling at Finn. "Load up," Poe said. "Let's do it."
The hangar became an assembly line, with Connix and several other newly minted technicians directing astromechs to check each craft's systems and make a determination: ready to fly, needs repairs, cannibalize for parts.
No starfighter fell into the first category, but with a little creative thinking and hasty tinkering Connix and the techs were able to get fifteen ships primed and powered, even amid the rhythmic booms of impacts on the shield door and reports that the First Order had landed tug walkers and started dragging their siege cannon across the salt plains.
Poe was helping General Ematt prepare a last line of defense in Crait's warren of trenches. As she waited for him to arrive in the hangar, Connix tried to figure out how to tell him of her reservations. She'd only stammered through the beginning of her litany when he held up his hand.
"I know, I know," he said. "It's like someone knocked over a museum. But it's what we've got so we'll make the best of it. Anyway, fifteen birds is a lot more than I thought we could get flying. Great work."
Poe, Connix, Finn, and the rest all met in the counsel room. Preparing the plan. "Alright, Holdo will explain the plan", Leia declared.
"Right, so to start off we'll use the speeders as a distraction for the walkers. Then we'll use the starfighters to eliminate any ties, but also using the bombers to take out the At-Ats. We'll need the fighters to escort our walkers in order to destroy the battering ram. And with that, there will be enough time for Rey and Cade to create our escape...Finn will be leading the assualt".
"What?"
"I'm the guy who's most familiar with what they're going to throw at us. And the only one who's ever seen that big cannon of theirs."
"What about Cade he was a Knight of Ren".
Everyone looked at Cade. "It's true, but I was mostly the negotiator for the high luxurious worlds, not cleaning toilets and checking the weapons".
That got everyone smiling, with Finn having the urge to punch him. But also looking at Rey, remembering that she could beat him if he laid one hand on her brother.
"Our main objective is that cannon," Leia said. "It's the only thing that can crack our front door, so let's try not to let it get in range. It's being towed by tug walkers—squat, ugly, lots of legs. If we take the tugs out, the cannon stops. If we break the cables they're using to pull it, the cannon stops."
The pilots were listening intently now.
"We've transmitted our message," Leia said. " We're not alone in this fight—and every minute of time we can steal from the First Order increases our chances. Any questions?" There were none.
"Good luck," Leia said. "And may the Force be with you."
The pilots got to their feet and began donning helmets, checking headsets, and pulling on gloves. Meanwhile, techs and astromechs started firing up the ski speeders. The sound of their engines rose from a low thrum to a steady whine.
Poe and Connix were walking to the speeders. "Poe". Poe turned to Connix, she kissed him, "that's for good luck". Connix then walked back into her station, leaving a stunned Poe and a confused Finn.
"What was that about?", Finn asked.
"Hm, oh uh, I'm just a ladies man", Poe said with admiration, climbing into the open-air cockpit of the first speeder in line.
"Everything good, Finn?" he asked. Finn turned and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Your comlink works, you know," he replied. Another thumbs-up. Fair enough.
"Launching," Poe said. "Follow Finn's lead."
Well, here goes nothing.
A/N- Hello everyone. So you may be wondering why I focused on Connix more in this scene, it's that since the actress is Carrie Fisher's daughter, I wanted to create that bond since Carrie past away, and having her daughter play a huge role on Episode 9. So the battle of Crait will begin soon, Rey and Cade will find a way out, and the ultimate duel will occur. That's it for now, I hope you all enjoy and I'll see you very, very soon. Later.