Crait
After the transport Corran was onboard has landed, the elderly soldier who had shackled him after the failed mutiny approached him. The man frowned at the young Jedi while he unshackled him. "You're lucky that we need every hand to redecorate the old base. If it would come to me you would stay in cuffs, Rendar." Corran rubbed his wrists to stimulate the blood circulation and gave the soldier a crooked smile. "I bet," he uttered under his breath.
"You can help to dust the equipment." The soldier said to the young man, who cast a glance at the rank insignia he was sporting at his uniform. Corran sighed inwardly when he saw that a corporal was giving him orders. This meant that he was demoted. 'Great, just great,' he thought. But it could have been worse. He stood up and went for the hatch to leave the transport closely followed by the corporal. Both walked down the ramp. "This way, Rendar."
He led Corran to a room that must have been a command center. There were already others busy to dust and activate the comm units standing there. It must have been decades when they were used the last, probably even before the war between the Empire and the Alliance was in full swing. The war during his parents and the general had fought for freedom and justice. He remembered the stories they told him when he was older, but they never mentioned a base on Crait. The name of the planet was mentioned onboard the transport by someone as Corran recalled. 'So we make our last stand on Crait,' the words came in his mind again. The last stand…
The young Jedi shook his head in disbelieve. Should really everything end here? Would he die on this planet he hadn't heard of before?'
"Hey, there is no time for day dreaming, Rendar. The equipment doesn't dust itself." The corporal gave him a nudge. "Yes, Sir," Corran's response came and he begun to dust the comm unit he stood in front of. When he cast a sideways glance he saw Lieutenant Connix doing the same task. Since the corporal had left them he dared to wink at her. She came over to him pretending to help him with his task. "What happened to you?" She asked. Corran shrugged. "Stunned, shackled and demoted," he responded. "It seems I don't suit as a mutineer." Connix looked at him in disbelieve. "Demoted? Then you are the only one. I still hold my rank before the mutiny, even Poe as the mutiny's initiator." The young Jedi fumed. "So it's only me? Why? That's not fair!" He slammed his fist on the comm unit. The lieutenant smiled at him and took his hand. "It's not the comm unit's fault." He smiled back. "I know."
"When we're finished here we must go to the ski speeders they found." Rendar looked at
her: "Sky speeders? I doubt that they are still functional after all those years. I mean look at all the dust and…" He walked over to a dram standing nearby. "…salt," he ended his sentence. "No machine can stand this long without maintenance under those conditions and work properly."
The lieutenant shrugged. "We must rely on what we have, Lieutenant Rendar." The young man shook his head. "It seems it's only Rendar for me now, Lieutenant." Kaydel Ko Connix smiled at him. "We're all in the same boat, Corran." She put out her hand. "It's Kaydel for you." The young Jedi takes her hand with a grin. "Okay, Kaydel." He looks at the comm unit.
"It seems I'm finished dusting the equipment, let's see after the ski speeders. Let me guess, there will be more dust. Do you know where they are?" Kaydel nodded her head. "Corporal Brexon showed me already. Come with me, I show you."
They stood shortly after in front of the ski speeders. Corran gave a low whistle. "They are in even worse shape than I have expected." He walked around the next standing speeder and touched the rusty hull. "With those things we've no chance against the First Order, Kaydel."
"Then see to it that we have a chance. As a pilot you should be used to do maintenance."
She tossed him a hydrospanner. "Let's make those Civil War fossils battle ready." Corran caught the tool in midair and began to work on the battered speeder. Minutes later he slammed the hydrospanner against the hull. Lieutenant Connix looked up from her own work when she heard Corran swear in Huttese and the clank. "You are supposed to repair the speeder not to destroy it, Corran." The young Rendar looked at her fuming. "This piece of junk is beyond every repair. Look, the whole hull is corroded." He pointed at the hole the hydrospanner left. Kaydel shrugged. "Patch it up somehow. We need every single one of those 13 speeders." In the meantime others entered the hangar to work on the desperate needed vehicles. They worked under pressure knowing all too well that it won't take long until the remaining First Order forces would show up.
The work was nearly finished when Poe Dameron and some other pilots including Rose and Finn entered the hangar. "Are those things ready?" Dameron asked Corran, while already entering the speeder his friend had just finished work on. "The enemy is at the gate."
Poe quickly made himself familiar with the controls and started the engine after he strapped in and donned the headset. "Okay, let's go!"
The 13 speeders headed out of the hangar to engage the enemy against all odds.