Last On: Hux is on his way to Akiva. Snap was almost caught in an explosion. The party goers were taken hostage. Klive found his girlfriend, and she's rescued an infant child of another party guest.
Chapter 38: The Power to End War
Standing up, Rey walked to the second archway. She tested it out by holding her hand up and attempted to push it through, only it was like she hit a transparisteel wall. She pushed, though no matter how much energy she put into it, the wall did not budge. Then she backed up a few steps and took a running start towards the archway. Bang, she flew back. As Ben reached down to help her she shook her head. Her vision was still dizzy.
"I don't get it," Ben said above her. "The trap doesn't allow the light side or the dark side to go through. Who would set a trap like that?" Ben paused for a moment, waiting for a reply, "But then how did that little man get through? The force goes through all living beings."
Rey looked up at the wall of their little room, as her head stopped spinning. She wanted to understand this all as much as Ben did, though she couldn't help his arguments now. On the walls there were many carvings. There was a large figure of a humanoid life form in the middle of one wall. Right over the location of the heart for most species there were two smaller images. A crescent moon and half a sun. 'Day and Night, in the heart. No that doesn't make any sense.' Rey pondered the images.
Below this, in the image's belly there was a flame, she thought it was. This reminded her of the flames she had just extinguished inside herself. To quell the dark side. 'But that didn't work. Neither did Ben's dark side.'
"The legends!" Rey shouted when she hit a realization. "There were two of them. One Sith, the other Jedi. Each side said the other built a trap here."
"Yes, but clearly it was neither." Ben sighed, becoming frustrated that he couldn't figure it out.
Rey thought about that last flame she extinguished, the one fueled by their kiss, as she looked again at the moon and sun over the heart of the image. She remembered one of the lessons she read in Luke's old books. Hate, and anger it said were paths to the dark side, but what confused her most then was that so was love. Yet her love produced a flame inside her that didn't feel like it was the dark side. It wasn't exactly light either, but then, nothing Snoke, or the Emperor ever did was with love.
Ben looked at her when the first whispers of love came across her mind. They were still mentally connected. Though he quickly refocused on the archway.
Ben had been only half listening to the thoughts bouncing around in her head. They didn't make a lot of sense to him. He did think he heard some thoughts about him, and then love, and he got hopeful. But then he saw the image of the moon and sun over the heart of the image Rey had been obsessing over and he stopped hoping.
His mind then began adding to that images from his own memory. His parents hugging and kissing. The way they'd go out of their way to surprise the other. And also some of the arguments they had.
Then Another memory, after Ben had stolen and crashed a speeder with his friends. His dad got so mad and yelled at him. But later his mom tried to explain he only got so mad because he loved Ben.
Lastly was the memory of Han's hand, as it passed over Ben's cheek when he killed him. Love, pure and complete, is the one emotion that causes both joy and pain. Light and dark, but mixed together to create something else.
"I need you to kiss me again!" Ben looked up startled at Rey's sudden demand. "Kiss me." she whispers.
Ben reached down and pulled Rey in to him. When he kissed her he let his emotions run rampant. Both hands of Rey's went behind Ben's head as she pulled herself up to him. His hands quickly moved behind her back to take up a portion of her weight. As the kiss progressed his hands slid down, farther than they had gone when dancing earlier that night. Their kiss was long and heated. When they were forced to stop, both were breathing hard.
Taking his hand, Rey turned towards the archway again. This time there was no transparisteel wall blocking them. Their hands both passed through the wall at the same time.
The tunnel on the other side turned left and led to an open chamber underground. When they entered it they were holding hands. The chamber was filled with Uugteen, and when they saw Ben and Rey they lifted their heads and their throats produced a long call that sounded like a mix between a shriek and a howl. One of them, an old man, turned and stepped towards Ben and Rey. The light in the chamber was dim, and Ben and Rey didn't see him till he came close.
"Long have we waited. You have finally come." He reached up to beckon Ben and Rey to follow him. "Long ago, the Sith and the Jedi went to war. They each tried to create their super-weapon. Genetic manipulations, meant to make a being respond to only the dark side or the light side of the Force. The fruits of their efforts are here. My people. The force doesn't bend for us at all. Not the light, nor the dark. Yet their war continues. On the surface your armies are fighting the local ones for power, yet neither will win. Hux has already sent his army to the surface. He will kill all disloyal to him."
"We set the trap, for the only type of power that can end the war. We were designed to be weapons, and thus we will be, but only for the ones who have demonstrated this power." As the old man continued, the yelping voices in the cavern faded. The Uugteen were leaving.
On the surface Poe was attempting to rally his remaining troopers. "Here, Here. Jim, Mike, Bob." He had since named all of his men. "Fight for your names! Fight for Larry and Sue." Two troopers who had already fallen. "And fight for justice!"
"Yahaa!" The other stormtroopers cheered.
They had closed in on the kitchen, prepared to take them out or force them to surrender. Inside the kitchens, Boche's men were threatening to shoot Dilly, supposedly Kylo Ren's right hand man. Poe had negotiated to have more time to bring Kylo Ren here, even though they had no such intention. He had two other teams going around to surround the kitchen and force them to give up. Only an invading army of troopers arrived from outside, and was closing round Poe's team now.
One of Poe's men, named Bob, got in a shot on an enemy stormtrooper. The trooper dropped. Another stepped up behind him to take his place. That trooper got in a lucky shot and Bob went down. Jim went down next. Mike only lasted a few seconds longer. Poe never saw the trooper closing in behind him. He was hit with a different type of stunner weapon.
When Poe regained consciousness he was in the same location, surrounded by troopers, and a familiar redhead was speaking with one of the troopers.
"I don't recognize your designation. Lets see who Ren has gotten for his army." Hux said when he saw Poe moving his head. Hux motioned and the trooper near him pulled off Poe's helmet. "Dameron, why I am shocked."
"Hugs," spat Poe.
Hux didn't react. Instead he wiped a gloved finger over a decorative statue, then looked disgusted at the residue on his finger. The statue looked like an old droid. "How tacky." He turned back to Poe. "I didn't expect the resistance to be involved in this. Tell me. Did Ren go home crying to his mommy when I took over his little empire."
Both men were shocked to silence when they heard a strange sound coming from a distance away.
On the other side of the kitchen, Finn and his men had been able to join up with Snap's men before the new troopers arrived. One of their men was trying to break down the door to the kitchen.
Snap went to the breakfast area to make sure the windows in that room were locked. In the breakfast area there was an old droid, which Snap thought odd. 'Who would decorate a breakfast area with an old droid?' Then before he left, he saw movement behind the droid. Snap aimed his Blaster, and a young boy backed away from the droid, looking afraid.
"It was you." Snap said perplexed. "You were up on the balcony right before the bomb exploded."
"Please." The boy lifted his arms.
Snap recognized the look of fear on the boy's face. "Gotten yourself associated with the wrong people. Someone really could've gotten hurt, kid. Wait, you were headed to the kitchen before we showed up. How were you gonna get in there?" Snap asked.
The boy was silent. He looked down to avoid Snap's gaze.
"I know what it's like to get involved with the wrong people, the wrong kind of stuff. It isn't over yet. If you have my back, kid, I'll have yours," Snap promised.
The boy looked up hopeful. "There's a password," he said.
"Come with me." Snap motioned with his blaster. When the boy started walking, Snap could see he was shaking. He put away the blaster and put his hand behind the boy's back to guide him.
Finn was surprised when Snap brought in the boy.
"Move away from the door." he ordered the trooper who was trying to open the kitchen door. When he moved away from the door, Snap shouted "We're not gonna get in here! Let's move out!"
Finn seemed to understand. He began to march in place, loudly stomping his feet, and some of the troopers near him did the same. Snap then motioned for the boy to step up to the kitchen door.
"The Clever-birds of Akar fly." He said the password and the door opened a crack. Snap stepped aside just in time. When the figure inside opened the door more Finn stepped in and pushed the door the rest of the way open. Their men aimed their blasters at Commander Boche and his men inside aimed theirs back.
"Don't come a step closer," hissed Boche. He backed up and pointed his blaster at the head of one of the hostages.
Snap motioned to his men to stop. They were at a draw. Both sides waited for their backup to reach them from outside. Then they heard a noise.
Klive and Kelly, he named his fellow trooper, sat with the infant in one of the out of the way rooms of the Palace. They had been trying to get in touch with anyone for a while now, but were unable to get any replies.
"It is strange," Kelly said. "Either our men are gone, or…"
"Or there is a suppression device somewhere close," Klive continued. Klive knew from his experience such a device would need to be carried by several men. It would need to be placed into a wide, open room really close by to work. Yet Kelly's radio signal did reach him outside. And the other guys signals did reach Kelly a while ago, but not him. The lightbulb went on suddenly. "I know where it is!" Klive jumped up. "They are keeping the suppression device in the Dance Hall."
Klive jumped up and prepared to run there. Kelly didn't move. "We can't just leave him. And we can't bring a baby to a battlefront."
Klive stopped. She was right, and he knew it. Alone, he likely wouldn't come back, especially if the suppression device was guarded, as it probably was. But then one clever aimed blaster shot would be enough to stop the device. "I still have to go," he said.
Kelly turned to him with tears in her eyes. "Don't, come with us. We'll get out of here. We'll run."
Klive desperately wanted to. "If Hux wins, there will be no running from the First Order. Go, take Withrafisp Road. Take him with you and keep him safe." Klive leaned down and kissed Kelly. His hand stroked the infant's face. "Good bye, little one," he said to the baby.
Klive found the Dance Hall easily and he crept to one of the arched doorways. From his location he could see the device standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by three stormtroopers. He took in a breath, and prepared for what he had to do. In another second he would run into the room, shooting for the weak point in the device as best he could. Those guards would surely shoot back at him. One of their shots would reach his shoulders or his legs, and his final moments would be filled with pain. Klive let out his breath and ran. He didn't hear the noise as it slowly started to fill the room.
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