The battle for D'Qar was already underway.

Finn watched with amazement from the control center on Reth-hem, First Order personnel scattered at his feet and around the room. On the monitors, the progress of the battle was encouraging. The rebels were holding their own – even disabling a Star Destroyer before it had fully reached D'Qar's airspace. So greatly outnumbered, the Rebellion would never have done as well without Poe's advanced warning. Outmaneuvered TIE-Fighter pilots were reporting heavy losses, their mechanical squawking filling the small command chamber.

But Finn couldn't relax. He looked away from the communications module to rescan the base's security feed. There was still no sign of Rey. She'd disappeared into the catacombs beneath the hangar armed with nothing but her staff, and as far as he could tell, hadn't returned. He longed to grab a few weapons and go after her, but without any cameras in the vast tunnels, it would be anyone's guess where she'd gone.

BB-8 whistled and Finn looked up. "What did you find?"

The droid squeaked and beeped excitedly, but Finn had no idea what he'd discovered with his scans. Something about clones? Or maybe he'd said drones? "I don't know droidspeak!" Finn cried in exaggeration.

"Forget the ball," Phasma ordered from her place by the door. "Get on the comms and direct the fleet to return to base."

Finn stared for a moment. "You think that'll work?"

"If you follow the proper protocols it might." Phasma checked the charge on her rifle before returning her gaze to the catwalk stairs just outside. "At the least it'll confuse them. At best it will save lives."

Finn returned to the communications module, hands hovering over the myriad buttons. Sweat broke out on his forehead. Could he do this? Every second he waited, Resistance lives were lost. Listening to the fighting, the inevitable destruction of X-wings and base personnel, Finn had never felt more overwhelmed. He couldn't help D'Qar, he couldn't find R2D2, he couldn't even find Rey!

"Droidspeak is more complicated than our command codes," Phasma snapped. "Surely even you can manage it."

Finn spun around. "Why do you continue to challenge me, Phasma?"

"Why do you continue to need challenging?" she retorted. Pushing him roughly aside, she slapped a button. "Reth-hem base to flight command ordering all fighters back to their ships. Reth-hem base to Star Destroyer command ordering immediate withdrawal and return."

She released the button and instantly the comms were filled with a confused crackle of competing messages – commanders challenging the order, and fighters demanding clarification. "It's time you started helping others, Effen-Two-One-Eight-Seven, not just yourself."

Finn sputtered with offense as Phasma returned to her place at the door. "I haven't helped others?"

"Not unless it helped you too," she replied coldly, eyes on the stairs. "Would you have even saved Poe on the Finalizer if you hadn't needed a pilot?"

The comms continued to squawk with requests, but both ignored them. "I've helped a lot of people!" Finn declared. "You killed for the First Order! You tortured for them!"

"But I also saved as many as I could," Phasma replied. "Who have you saved?"

"I'll have you know," Finn retorted, "on Domandari, I tried convincing a friend to escape with me." But even to his ears this sounded pathetically hollow. One friend to escape? There were two dozen soldiers in his squadron, hundreds of men in his FN class, thousands of stormtroopers just like him. With families they'd never gotten to see, living lives they never chose. Just like him.

What about them?

A slight vibration in the metal floor caught Phasma's attention. She crouched silently, taking aim out the door with her blaster. "Incoming."

Finn quickly took position. For a moment, it was quiet, then gradually footsteps could be heard, bounding up the metal stairs. BB-8 rolled beneath the command module with a soft whimper.

Phasma called, "Clear!" a moment before Poe ran in, hands up and out of breath. "It's a clone army," he gasped, gesturing back down the stairs. "In the factory. They've built a clone army."

Phasma stood and scoffed. "That's nothing new."

"These are no ordinary clones," Poe insisted, clutching at his side.

Before Finn could ask him to clarify, Phasma was shrugging her indifference. "We'll destroy them before they can get off this planet."

Poe shook his head. "You don't understand!" He pointed toward the hangar. "Half of them already did!"


The mood in Resistance Central Command was mixed. While the battle was going better than could be reasonably expected, the rebels were still grossly outmatched. A quarter of their fleet was already grounded or destroyed. The First Order was close to getting a lander through their defenses, and when they did it would be a battle on two fronts; air and land.

Something had to give soon.

Major Ematt looked up from his station. "Nonessential personnel are safely away."

"At last," Leia sighed. Finally, good news. Those civilians, mechanical and technical experts with their service droids, would be well received at the small Resistance compound on nearby Malastare. And, if D'Qar was still standing when they arrived, Malastare could even send reinforcements, such as they were. Whatever else happened here today, the Resistance would not be completely eliminated.

"General!" Major Brance shouted in alarm. "We're receiving a communication from First Order base on Reth-hem."

"Poe," Leia said to herself. Stepping forward, she commanded, "Let it through."

Static burst through the comms speakers. "-ander Poe Dameron-" the message began. "-not be defeated- -cannot land on- -in the air-"

"Commander Dameron!" Major Brance sent back. "Please clarify. Repeat your last."

"-must engage the enemy in the air-" Poe responded. "-is absolutely vital-"

"A small ship has just landed," Admiral Statura reported, watching over a tech's shoulder. But he clearly wasn't overly concerned. It was a small transporter, and the Rebels on the ground were well trained and knew what to do.

"Can you repeat that, Commander?" Major Brance was saying.

"What's this?" Admiral Ackbar said. He was staring at the strategy board with evident confusion. The others immediately crowded around the table, where a holographic image of D'Qar's forested grounds could be seen. At one end stood the small First Order lander, from which a dozen figures had just emerged. But the rebel fighters surrounding it were not attacking. In fact, everyone in the field appeared to have frozen in place.

Poe's message came through clearly this time, as did his panic. "-thousands of them! It is a clone army that cannot be defeated! You cannot let them land!"

"Clones," Admiral Statura breathed with stunned recognition. The masked holograms stood with hands raised toward the Resistance soldiers, long robes swirling around their lean frames.

Clones of Kylo Ren.