Fragments in itallics are used to dive into specific characters' heads throughout the narrative.
Chapter 15: "Love in Times of War"
"And that time, I didn't get away without a scratch," Poe concludes his story, "But at least my head was still in place".
"Good story," Finn says, "I guess it's my turn… a Stormtrooper story…" he looks to the distance, searching inside his own memory, "Man, it's hard to think of one that isn't depressing…". Poe waits for his friend to talk, but his mind wanders off.
"Hey, so… you and Rose, huh?" he asks Finn, lifting his eyebrows seductively. Finn comes back to the present.
"Oh, yeah, uh," Finn stutters, "I don't know if there's even a place for love in this war… or any war".
"Well, I think Leia once said something like "With enough love, wars would never happen", but…" Poe drifts off, "Who knows?".
Rey suddenly emerges from behind them, looking much more energetic again.
"I think we should get moving soon" Rey says, laying her hands on her friends' shoulders. A few minutes later, Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Cade, Waldenhur, and Terr exit the ship in bulky clothing. BB-8 is inside Finn's backpack.
"It's so humid and cold in here," Terr says, "I think we'll stay to guard the ship".
"Oh, come on!" Finn utters, throwing his hands up in the air. Surely, he knew they would react like this.
"It can't be taken away," Poe tells them, "we blocked it". Rey senses something.
"I feel…" she says, only to be interrupted by a Stormtrooper.
"Hands up, Rebel scum!" the voice echoes. From the shadowy surrounding woods and fog, an army of Stormtroopers walks out.
"Oh, this has to be a twisted joke," Rey exclaims, preparing to grab the lightsaber on her waist, as she slowly takes a few steps back, making the whole group retreat back toward the Falcon's ramp.
"Rey…" Poe says, "What's the plan here? Can you take on all of them?"
"If only we'd kept on the armors!" Terr says.
What to do? Fight them? I don't want them to die, but it would be impossible to disarm all of them at the same time. What to do? What would Luke do? Come on, think! If I can't save a handful of Rebels, how could I save the whole galaxy?
"Uh…" Rey whispers, nervously, still backing away.
"Hands up, I said!" the high-rank Stormtrooper repeats, as the troops get closer to the Falcon.
If we fight, it will only result in either them or us dying… or both…
Maybe fighting isn't the way here.
"S-Stand down," Rey stutters to her friends. Then she turns to the troops in front of them, "We will not fight you. We don't want violence or death!"
"What are you saying?!" Finn asks, completely terrified by what Rey just said, "We're dead meat!"
"Are you messing with us?" the high-rank Stormtrooper asks, daringly.
"Look, we're here," Rey claims, no longer holding on to Leia's saber, "There's nothing we can do to help the Rebels if we stay here alive".
"But you could escape if you were alive," he responds, "If you're dead, you won't cause trouble".
"If you order your troops to fire, we will fight back, and many of them will die," Rey says, more confidently, "Those will be unnecessary deaths. If your troops do not fight, we won't either," she concludes to him. Then, she walks away from the Rebels and closer to the troopers; some of them walk back in fear, "Listen to me! You don't have to die today! Do not fight us!"
"Petty Rebel!" the high-rank trooper howls, "This is the cheapest of tricks!"
"The First Order controls you through fear!" Rey tells the troops.
"You speak of fear after threatening to kill them if they fire," the trooper adds, "Hypocrite!"
The Rebels and the former troopers only gaze at each other, anxiously.
This isn't gonna work… But there has to be another way, still.
"We will not kill you if you fight us," Rey yells, "The First Order may not care about your lives, but we do!" she continues, while looking back at her friends and nodding, nervously. She then clenches her fists.
I can do this.
"Fire!" the trooper orders.
"Run!" Rey yells at her friends. As she does, she concentrates as hard as possible on feeling every single Stormtrooper present. She feels their warm blood flowing. She feels their muscles moving. She feels their hands. Some feel fear. Others feel anger. And still others seem to feel shame in what they do. Regret, even. Finally, she feels their blasters. That's what she was looking for. Nothing else exists at that moment. Rey feels every single blaster on her hand, and with a quick and graceful swing, she pulls them out of the troopers' hands, leaving all of them unarmed. The blasters are thrown aggressively back into the woods. Most of the troopers are shocked. Some very quickly turn back and rush to find their weapons again. And, movingly, some are thankful that they've lost their weapon and the violence has been averted. Rey comes back to herself, and sees her friends running madly towards her.
"Come on!" Poe yells. Rey recovers her conscience and takes one last look at a Stormtrooper that's still in awe of what happened. She nods slightly. This was a trooper who was prepared to die trying to kill these Rebels, but whose life had now been saved by an act of rebellion. Rey then turns away and runs after her friends into the woods. The seven warriors run into the foggy forest and disappear.
