Ren's intrusion changed everything. Where the First Order had been distant before, looming on the horizon, they had become a far more immediate threat. A timebomb, and no one on Omunak knew how long they had on the clock.

The division and their new friends had worked feverishly through the night, fighting back fatigue, all nervously glancing up at the sky whenever they had a moment. The Vehement was being coaxed back into full life, but it was a slow, slow business.

Rey, Kaydel and Rose were in the city, helping to get people packed up and down to the Destroyer. There was still equipment here, personal gear and other supplies that they needed. The anti-air guns stayed in place – they'd remain until the very last minute. No one was taking any chances there.

Up at the landing zone, Poe and Finn were busy packing up their own campsite. Chewie lugged a crate aboard, shooing Gial into the cockpit for fear of the Porg being squashed. Gial hopped up onto a seat, squawking his discomfort to Poe.

For his part, Poe was busy with the radio. "Maz, I'm gonna need gunships down here quick as you can get 'em. Best we put some of our new friends aboard with you." Quite apart from his urge to keep them safe, he had to be seen honouring his word.

"It's going to be messy, Commander."

"Messy I can live with." Gial squawked again, and Poe silenced him with a sternly pointed finger. He continued. "We can't afford them thinking that we'll bail on them, not now. How soon can we have transports here?"

"If you can find space for them to land, it should be twenty-" She broke off as sirens blared over the channel. Poe knew before she even spoke. "Incoming fleet!"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Star Destroyers bulled into realspace. There were a dozen of them already, but Maz could already tell, with mounting horror, that these were only the outer part of a larger formation which would soon emerge.

She turned to her crew. "All ships, present broadsides!"

"Green and Violet Squadrons, we need you out there!"

"Shields lit, charging cannons!"

"What kriffing fleet is this big?" demanded one of the other captains.

But Maz shook her head. The proximity readings, still flickering on her console, only confirmed what she already knew. Despite her many years of experience, a shudder ran through her. "It's him."

The space at the centre of the enemy fleet contorted and the black blade of the Subjugator thundered into view. Kylo Ren had found them.

"Give them a broadside!" Maz cried, and the Resistance ships threw out a great volley of plasma. It doused the shields of the Star Destroyers, but already Ren's fleet were firing back.

Salvos beat against shields and hulls, and ships began to die.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Ren watched the growing carnage, feeling hundreds of deaths ripple through the Force. Pryde stood next to him, unable to keep a triumphant look from his face. The lights of the battle danced in his eyes.

"Finally," Pryde gloated. "This is where we pay the Jedi back for Endor and Jakku. Now we snuff them out once and for all, and strangle the Resistance's hope."

Ren flexed his fingers as Pryde spoke, savouring the turmoil in the Force around him. He could relish the carnage here, but the fight that really mattered was on the surface. She and him, just as it had been on the Starkiller.

"And I will attend to that myself. I leave the fleet to you." He turned away, locking his helmet into place. His soldiers were already embarked on their gunships, waiting in silent anticipation for the slaughter to come. "Enjoy your work, General."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The first Stormtroopers to make the surface paid dearly for their foothold. The anti-air defences in the city opened up, along with the Vehement's own surface cannons. Through his binoculars, Finn saw a transport pierced through by a beam and bursting into flames, while less direct hits ripped the retros or stabilisers away from others and sent them spiralling to earth across the forest. Explosions bloomed beyond the city.

"That won't be enough," he said grimly. For behind the first wave of transports there were more, TIE Bombers racing ahead to unleash their payloads not on the city, but the forest outside. With typical callous pragmatism, they were bombing swathes of the jungle flat, clearing landing grounds. Once that was done, they'd begin attacking the city and the grounded ship.

Next to Finn, and with just as grave an expression, Arron nodded. "We can't stop them all." He glanced at the defaced TIE Fighters rising into the air. "But we always knew that. Stall 'em, and get everyone we can back to the ship." He glanced at the remaining pallets. "Guess we'll have to find another use for these charges."

Jaicyn appeared with a squad of troopers. They'd pulled on their armour but had draped other items over it, both for relative camouflage and to distinguish themselves from the enemy. "Captain, outer units report contact, north-northwest. I can take a squad and flank them."

Arron looked even unhappier than before. "You won't be able to come back if they get past you." When they got past, he meant – that was obvious to all of them.

"I'll go with them," Finn said. Arron looked at him sharply, but he simply gestured to the Resistance soldiers with him. "I'll take my people too. That many of us, we can fight our way back to the airfield."

Jaicyn nodded fiercely at that. Arron's only response was a nod and a grave word: "Look after yourself, Captain – and my men."

Finn returned the nod. Then he was running, heading for the sound of small-arms fire which had become audible over the booming report of the cannons.

Smoke already hung over the city in thick banks, but they could see the flare of blasters ahead, lighting the outskirts of the city. Jaicyn led them down a side street, parallel to the main parade. They could hear the tramp of boots now, hundreds already, and urgent shouts.

"Here!" Jaicyn motioned them to an alley. They hugged the walls, tensing up. There were Stormtroopers a little way off, all focused on the barricades ahead of them.

Finn pulled his saber from his belt. "One," he began the countdown.

He saw the nervous look on Jaicyn's face, and gave him a smile he hoped was reassuring. His free hand went for a thermal detonator, and the others did the same. "Two."

He armed the detonator. "Three!" He hurled it and began running after the projectile, several more flying overhead.

The first the enemy knew about the attack was a sudden burst of explosions at head height. Stormtroopers were thrown into untidy heaps, the rest wheeling around to confront their ambushers only to be hit with a flurry of shots that dropped several more. Confused shouts echoed over the din.

Finn ignited his lightsaber, deflecting the first volley of blaster fire with a quick sweep of the blade. Then his momentum carried him into their midst, slashing and stabbing.

One of the troopers fired, aiming at Jaicyn. Finn interposed himself and sent the shot fizzing back – it blew the trooper off his feet. Losing no momentum, Finn closed the distance, flinging another Stormtrooper back into a stone wall and running another through. Jaicyn caught him up, slamming his maul into a faceplate. Behind them, the others lobbed more thermal detonators overarm to land further in among the Stormtroopers. The blasts took gouges out of the enemy formation and threw them into confusion.

On the main concourse, the attack on the barricades was suddenly robbed of momentum. Arron's troops made the most of their advantage, leaping out to douse the attackers with fire and driving them into retreat. The Stormtroopers who fell back, suddenly cut off, only found themselves caught between hammer and anvil, with Finn's squads falling on them from behind.

A Stormtrooper company down, and miraculously, no losses to themselves. Finn was tempted to press the attack, to try and drive the enemy right back. But he knew better than that, and the enemy were too sharp for such tactics to work. Quickly, the Stormtroopers regrouped and pressed them again.

"Withdraw!" Finn yelled. They beat a quick retreat, back toward the Falcon.

They'd inflicted some hurt, and Arron's men would have a welcome reprieve. But it couldn't last long, and soon Finn's eyes were drawn up by a series of thundercrack booms, far above. Large craft, entering the atmosphere at speed.

He felt a sudden chill. "We're in it now," he growled.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Rey didn't have her armour on. She'd left it on the Falcon for the entire day, and in their haste to finish stripping the encampment, she hadn't retrieved it. It made for a feeling of horrible exposure, and now there was no time.

Racing out into the open she, Kaydel and Jannah were greeted by the rumble of multiple large craft entering the atmosphere. They looked up, seeing only the lights of the battle above them at first, and the speed-smeared shapes of fighters. But then a cluster of lights caught the eye, growing steadily larger.

"No," Kaydel stammered. "No no no no."

The second wave of First Order craft dropped into view, the menacing outlines of Scythe gunships aglow with the heat of atmosphere entry while the smaller shapes of TIE fighters flocked around them. Already Black and Blue squadrons had taken wing, moving to intercept them.

"Fire!" Jannah screamed into her radio. "Fire already!"

Cannons in the city blazed up at the incoming squadrons as before and several of the gunships came crashing down in flames. Rey saw plumes of flame erupt where they hit, sparking fresh blazes. Fighters and interceptors converged on the Scythes as they swept in, one squadron after the next.

But the Scythes were brutally armed, and their guns opened up in response. Laser beams and missiles stabbed down, melting metal and pulverising stone where they hit. One of Blue Squadron's X-Wings was hit by a torpedo which sheared its wings away, leaving the body of the fighter to plummet and burst into flames on impact. A deserter's TIE Interceptor was pierced by a laser, dead centre, and atomised. The volume of ground fire was cut in half, the invaders drifting imperiously down to earth, the fighters little more than an irritant to them.

Nothing could stop the First Order elite from making planetfall. They weren't even a kilometre away.

"We need your ship in the air," Rey breathed. Jannah said nothing, and Rey realised the other woman was rooted to the spot with fear. Because here it came, the carrion-bird profile of Ren's shuttle, and Rey felt the chill take hold of her as well. Unlike Jannah, she could sense his presence – feel it already, malignant and oppressive.

But she couldn't let her fear rule her now. She spun round and grabbed Jannah's shoulders. "Go! Kaydel, Rose, stay with her!" Then she was on the move, racing to the Falcon.