Chapter Seventeen
The Second Battle Of Coruscant
Ben Solo's TIE whisper was jerked roughly out of hyperspace, its rear whipping sideways as it slammed to a halt. Ahead of the starfighter was an Interdictor. A voice came through the comm system. "This is the Final Order Star Destroyer Immobilizer. State your ship's name, registration, cargo, and destination."
Ben flicked on his speaker. "This is Supreme Leader Kylo Ren of the First Order. Let me pass," he commanded. Then he shut off the comms. "Hang on, VX-20. This could get hairy."
He cruised slowly past the Star Destroyer, ready to take evasive action at the first hint of danger. After a drawn-out silence, the voice said, "You may proceed out of the gravity well and return to hyperspace."
Ben opened up his throttle and roared away from the Interdictor, then jumped to hyperspace before the crew could change their mind.
On the bridge of the Immobilizer, Captain Baston Holt stood before a hologram of Chancellor Hux. "Kylo Ren is en route to Coruscant, sir."
"Thank you for informing me, Captain," said Hux, a thin smile playing across his lips. "Your loyalty shall be rewarded."
The TIE whisper descended through the thick clouds, past hovering Star Destroyers that threw angular shadows over the city below. Ben steered towards the Federal District, passing over a large crowd gathered on Imperial Boulevard. A massive ziggurat, strikingly different from the skyscrapers that dominated the cityscape, came into view. Ben guided his fighter down, landing lightly on the Processional Way before the Jedi Temple.
Ben leapt out of the TIE, feeling slightly naked without a lightsaber on his belt and a cloak drawn about his shoulders. Instead, he wore on one hip a hold-out pistol that had long lain unused in a compartment of his TIE, and on the other, the Dagger of Mortis. He stepped warily towards the Jedi Temple. The noise of shouting and clanking walkers came from afar off, but the path towards the huge stone structure before him seemed clear of all obstacles, apart from some yellow mining machines parked to one side. Nevertheless, something felt wrong about the situation. If it was a trap, however, there was likely no better course of action than to spring it.
Ben drew closer to the broad stairs, unable to ignore the sensation that there was a target on his back. When he was midway between his ship and the temple, he heard a clatter of armored feet. Dozens of stormtroopers rushed across the plaza and encircled Ben, blasters pointed at him. Ben's hand twitched instinctively towards his belt, but he suppressed his urge to attack. If they had just wanted him dead, they would have shot him already. There was more at play here. He would wait, and see what they wanted, and who they were taking orders from.
A shadow fell over Ben and the stormtroopers as an Upsilon-class command shuttle flew over the temple and landed before it, its wings folding up like those of a carrion bird preparing to feast. The ramp descended, its hydraulics hissing and squirting steam. Out of the ship's belly stepped Chancellor Armitage Hux.
Hux walked up to Ben. "Kylo Ren," he said slowly, savoring every syllable. "I've been waiting a long time for this day."
Ben said flatly, "I need to see Snoke. Tell your troopers to stand down."
"Why don't you tell them yourself?" Hux smiled coldly. "I don't have to do a thing you command. You're not the Supreme Leader anymore…if you ever were. You're just a traitor. Like your parents."
"I can make you let me through," Ben blustered.
"Perhaps you could; perhaps not—you are massively outnumbered. But why are you, one man alone, even able to pose a threat to us? Why do you have such power, over minds and matter, while I lack it? Is it because of your vaunted lineage? You're the whelp of a criminal and a terrorist," said Hux, voice dripping with disdain. "My father served the Empire with loyalty and distinction."
"You always hated your father."
"I suppose that's the one thing we have in common," Hux sneered.
"No," said Ben. "It really isn't."
"No matter. What I want to know—what I need to know—is this: without your Force powers, are you really any better than me? Therefore…" Hux pulled off a fine black glove and threw it to the ground. "I, Chancellor Armitage Hux of the Final Order, challenge you, Kylo Ren…to a duel."
Ben asked, "Under what terms?"
"A fair fight, to first blood, with no usage of Force powers."
"Why should I agree to this?"
"We have much the same goals, currently," Hux said with false benevolence. "You wish to see Snoke, and I wish to take you to him. Therefore, if you win, my men and I shall let you pass."
"And if I lose?"
Hux's blue eyes were cold. "Then I drag you before the Supreme Leader in chains."
Ben considered the offer for a moment, then said, "I accept."
Hux motioned to the stormtroopers, who backed away from the two duelists, although they kept their blasters ready. Hux threw off his greatcoat and drew a polished lightsaber hilt from his belt. A purple-haloed blade of energy sprang forth from it. Hux adopted a formal fencing stance, putting one foot forward and pointing the saber at Ben, letting his left arm counterbalance him.
"I see you've been training," Ben complimented him. "Good posture."
Hux hissed through gritted teeth, "Draw."
"Sure. You really shouldn't be so tense," Ben advised, as he casually drew his pistol and shot Hux in the left leg.
Hux screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. The saber dropped from his hand and rolled away. "Shoot him," he shouted, holding his injured limb. "SHOOT HIM!"
Ben was already in motion. He threw his arms apart, pushing away everything around him with a powerful wave of Force energy. The stormtroopers surrounding him were flung away as though thrown by a concussion bomb, then landed hard on the ground, clearing a path of escape. Ben dashed towards the command shuttle, blaster bolts whizzing past him, fired by the few soldiers left standing.
The stormtroopers began to get up. Ben turned and opened up with his gun, while simultaneously freezing in place any enemy fire that would have hit him. A half-dozen stormtroopers went down, but the others kept shooting. Ben kept moving towards the shuttle, dodging and ducking under energy bolts.
Ben made it to the side of the shuttle just as a pair of troopers came out from behind it. He blasted one in the head, then Force-pulled the other's blaster away. He weaved behind the unarmed stormtrooper and grabbed his neck just as a bunch of his fellows rounded the corner and began firing. Ben's hapless human shield was soon riddled with smoking holes in the front of his armor. Ben dropped him and ran for the steps leading up to the temple.
Another squad of stormtroopers was stationed at the head of the stairs. They began to shoot at Ben as he pounded up towards them. The cohort chasing him reached the base and fired up at him. Ben dropped prone, under the crossfire, the hard stone steps digging into his ribs. Several stormtroopers fell to friendly fire. Then Ben was on his feet again, blasting the few troopers remaining above. He dove behind a pedestal supporting a towering bronzium statue of a Jedi Sage Master, its face deliberately marred by the Empire.
Ben felt as much as heard the blaster fire thudding into the block at his back. He popped his head and right arm out from behind it, dropping a couple of the handful of stormtroopers who were climbing towards him. The rest of the troopers had gathered in a crowd at the base of the stairs, ready to shoot him down. He ducked back behind the plinth as blood-red bolts chipped flecks of stone off it.
Ben sprung from his hiding place and ran for the imposing, ornately engraved blocks that marched away into the darkness of the main entrance hall. Several blaster shots narrowly missed him before he took cover behind one of the squat concave pillars that supported the massive, rectangular columns. He went left and sprinted across the smooth stone floor, heading for the main entrance.
A trooper standing in the grand entrance hall of the Jedi Temple spun to the ground, a smoking hole in his helmet, as Ben ran through, pistol at the ready. Another stormtrooper emerged out of a side passage. Ben shot this one without even looking at him. He left the hall, entering the temple proper.
"Sir, he's entered the Imperial Palace," a stormtrooper captain informed Hux, who was now lying on a gurney, a medic applying bacta to his leg. "Should we pursue him in?"
"No," Hux spat. "We'll let Snoke take care of him. Withdraw our troops and bring us back to the Capitol."
The captain, who had respected Kylo Ren and didn't like becoming involved in political infighting, said, "Very good, sir." He scooped Hux's lightsaber off the ground and handed it to the Chancellor, whom a pair of stormtroopers were carrying towards the command shuttle.
Rose lay motionless in an interrogation chair. Her clothes were ripped, thin slashes and pinpricks of blood peeking through the torn fabric.
A commotion from outside the interrogation chamber roused her from a stupor of dark, drug-laced visions. Someone was barking orders in a deep, booming voice. She wished he would stop. He was making her head hurt.
Rose pried open her eyes and looked at the door. It slid open, and two figures entered: a stormtrooper and the blue-uniformed man who had been with Hux. What was his name? Sellik, that was it.
"Transfer to cell block six," Sellik told the stormtrooper. "We want her in maximum security."
The trooper opened the restraints around Rose's wrists and ankles, then pulled her off the rack. She slumped forward in his arms, doing her best impression of unconsciousness. She was halfway there already, so it wasn't hard to pull off.
As the stormtrooper dragged her towards the door, Rose opened her eyes. The trooper's blaster was hanging just centimeters from her face. Did she dare grab it?
She dared. Her left hand shot out, finding the stock of the weapon and drawing it out of its holster.
"Hey!" The trooper shouted, grabbing for her arm. She swung it out of reach, awkwardly trying to simultaneously aim the blaster and break free of his grip on her other arm. The trooper, apparently giving up on subtlety, punched her in the face. Rose fell to the ground and everything went black.
Everything stayed black. Rose hadn't been knocked out; the lights had gone off. She heard a zapping sound and a grunt of pain, then the clunk of betaplast armor hitting the floor.
The lights came back on to reveal Sellik, standing in an attitude of relative composure, his left hand on the illumination control panel and his right holding an electro-shock prod. "Handy device, this," he said. "Compact, mostly nonlethal, but effective. Yours, I believe." He held it out to Rose.
Rose took it, almost as stunned as the stormtrooper at her feet. "Why are you helping me?"
"I'm the spy."
"You mean the mole who's been feeding information to Lando?"
"There are a few steps between us, but essentially, yes." The man looked out a small window set in the door. "We don't have much time." He pulled a code cylinder out of one of the pockets on the front of his uniform and handed it to Rose. "This will get you through any door in the Capitol. There are escape pods on the port and starboard ends of most levels. Lock the door on your way out."
"You mean lock you in? What are you going to do?"
"Take a sedative and lie on the floor until someone notices my absence and finds me here. Now go."
Rose turned to leave, but paused at the door. "What's your name?"
The man smiled slightly. "You can call me…Fulcrum."
"Thank you, Fulcrum," Rose said. She slid the door open, looked both ways down the hallway, and stepped out. As she shut the door behind her, she saw the spy sitting on the floor, placing a small pill on his tongue.
The AT-AT Walker's foot stomped down. It had almost reached the end of the boulevard, where the Final Order Capitol cast its shadow over the city. The Coruscanti Resistance army moved with the walker, thousands strong. Some carried blasters, while others were armed with nothing but clubs and passion. Finn marched in front with Jannah and the rest of the defectors.
Dade rode atop the AT-AT, his legs dangling through the top hatch of its head, preaching through the loudspeaker. "Rise up! Join the fight!"
Small bands of revolutionaries were constantly appearing in side alleys, joining the throng. They were like trickles of water, merging with others and building to a stream, that stream in turn building to a river, then a flood that would wash over the Capitol and bring it crashing down.
A hush fell over the crowd as they heard the distant sound of boots thudding against the ground, marching in lockstep. The Final Order had mostly stayed out of their way so far, but now they were gathering in force before the entrance to Monument Plaza.
The sun cut through the overcast sky, revealing the full extent of the Capitol's defenses. A thousand stormtroopers stood in neat rows, their helmets and armor, betaplast shields, riot control batons, and blasters gleaming in the sickly yellow light. Mechtroopers rose out of their ranks. Behind the soldiers were bulky assault tanks and broad, towering AT-MT walkers, twice as tall as AT-ATs and bristling with weapons.
Finn halted his advance. "Stand your ground!" he called, raising his hand. "We can turn the stormtroopers to our side."
An Ithorian handed Finn a loudhailer. "My name is Finn," he said into it. "I was once a stormtrooper called FN-2187. The First Order tried to make me into a weapon. But I realized that what they told me to do was wrong. I disobeyed their orders. So can you."
The line of stormtroopers stirred uneasily. A few lowered their weapons and took off their helmets.
"Don't listen to him!" shouted their silver-armored captain. "Open fire!"
The Final Order machines began to clank forward. Some of the stormtroopers began to fire. One of the defectors standing next to Finn cried out as he was hit on the shoulder.
"I don't think they want to listen!" yelled Jannah.
"They've been lied too, just like we were. Try to use only necessary force." Finn changed his blaster setting to stun. He pulled the trigger, sending blue rings of energized particles towards the white-helmeted troops.
The Resistance army surged forward, crashing into the stormtroopers' shield wall. The two forces exchanged blows from riot staffs, makeshift clubs, and fists, punctuated by stun shots and blaster bolts.
The crowd at his back carried Finn into the line of stormtroopers. One of them swung a riot baton at him, purple electricity crackling at its tip. Finn fired point blank. The trooper was enveloped by a cloud of cobalt charge and fell to the ground, unconscious. Finn took the trooper's baton.
Finn shouted, "Come on!" and ran forward, firing the blaster with one hand and laying about him with the baton in the other.
Admiral Poe Dameron stood before the viewports on the bridge of the Rebel Eclipse, looking out at the blue hyper-nebula swimming outside the glasteel. Behind him, Vice Admiral Aftab Ackbar sat in the swiveling command chair in the center of the bridge, flanked by Rey, BB-8, General Kaydel Ko Connix, and Commander Larma D'Acy. Dozens of Resistance naval personnel sat at the control panels to either side, their rough bush clothing contrasting sharply with the gleaming walls and spotless floors.
They had stopped briefly at Ord Mantell and dropped a probe droid in orbit, sending out a message that the Resistance had gone to Coruscant. Poe hoped Lando would pick up the signal and follow them.
"Estimated time of arrival fifteen minutes," the navigator reported.
"Good," said Poe, turning away from the windows. "Rey, Beebee-Ate, we should probably get to our fighters."
"Are you certain you should be running the risk of flying a lightly shielded snub, Admiral Dameron?" D'Acy asked.
Poe replied, "We need every pilot and ship we've got to win this. Besides, flying is what I'm best at. I'll be more useful out there than in here."
"And if you go down?"
"Then Ackbar or Connix will have to take over." He grinned sardonically. "You're fourth in the chain of command now, don't worry too much."
"Still—" D'Acy cut her sentence short as the ship shuddered. They all looked out the viewports as a flash of red light heralded a transition from blue to star-specked black.
"We've been pulled out of hyperspace," said a sensor tech. "Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, dead ahead!"
"We're being hailed," another announced.
Poe said, "Put it through."
"This is the Final Order Star Destroyer Immobilizer," a clipped voice addressed them. "State your ship's name, registration, cargo, and destination."
Poe stepped over to the communications console. "This is Admiral Poe Dameron of the Resistance. Our ship, the Rebel Eclipse, is bringing a cargo of freedom to Coruscant."
There was a long pause. Poe was about to say something more, when a hologram of a tall man appeared before the command chair. "This is Captain Baston Holt of the Final Order. Your dreadnought is the stolen property of our government, the only legitimate authority in this galaxy. Therefore, I order you and your crew of insurgents to surrender and prepare to be boarded."
"I have one word for you," Poe said. "Karabast!" He shut off the comms. "Give me the helm."
"Yessir."
As Poe sat down at the pilot's console, Connix looked at Rey. "Please don't tell me he's going to do what I think he's going to do."
"He's going to do what you think he's going to do," Rey responded truthfully.
"I told you not to tell me that."
"Force preserve us all," murmured D'Acy.
Poe was concentrating on the controls, pivoting the Star Destroyer until its bow was pointed at the Immobilizer. Then he gave the sublight engines full power, letting them push the dreadnought towards the other ship.
Aboard the bridge of the Immobilizer, Captain Holt realized with horror what the commandeered battleship was about to do. "Take evasive action!" he shouted.
The bottom tip of the Rebel Eclipse's prow caressed the top surface of the interdictor, its Beskar edge slicing through the durasteel hull like paper. Poe pushed the ship downwards, striking deeper into the enemy craft. The ram tore through the center of the ship, explosions blossoming in its wake, then crashed through the bridge and out the stern, cleaving the Immobilizer in twain.
Poe stood up, allowing the pilot to resume his seat. He turned towards Rey and Ackbar, who were calmly regarding the destruction, and Connix and D'Acy, who were cringing visibly. Poe grinned. "I think I finally figured out those controls."
The two burning halves of the Immobilizer drifted slowly apart as the Rebel Eclipse, its explosion-blackened bow's point trailing bent scraps of metal like a flag, turned to Coruscant and jumped away.
Chancellor Hux stepped into the Capitol control centre, using a black metal cane to support himself. A bandage was wrapped around his left leg, stained by a large red patch of blood.
Hux scanned the crowd of Final Order personnel. "Where's Commander Sellik?" He demanded.
"I…I don't know, sir," stammered a Lieutenant.
"Well, go find him."
"Yessir." The Lieutenant walked briskly away. Hux frowned at his retreating back. It wasn't like Sellik to leave his post, especially when he knew Hux was gone.
"Someone get me Admiral Griss!" Hux commanded.
Ben Solo had descended into the bowels of the Jedi Temple, passing through crumbling and broken interior walls. Now, he had reached a place where the floor had been broken apart and huge slabs of stone removed from it, leaving a black hole that gaped at him like the maw of a Sarlacc.
Ben crouched beside the broken opening, straining his eyes against the darkness. He could barely make out a vague form below and across from him. Ben backed away from the gap in the ground and took a running start, leaping into the void. He slammed into a hard, rough surface and clung to it tenaciously. "Ow," he groaned.
Ben looked down. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he realized he was holding onto a giant chain, each link as large as himself, slanting away into the darkness below, further than he could see. Slowly, carefully, he shimmied downwards. The air here was cold and clammy, but he soon grew warm from his effort. He found himself in a nervous sweat due to the imminent danger of falling, often having to pause in his climb to wipe his hands, one at a time, on his shirt and trousers. He could feel more sweat pooling in his boots. After a while, he forgot there was any existence outside of the continuous cycle of moving one arm, then the other, then his legs, as he inched ever lower.
Finally, after what almost seemed like an eternity in the darkness, Ben reached the bottom. He spent a few minutes recovering from his exertion, taking the opportunity to look around in the dim light filtering through the hole in the roof. He was at one end of a long, cavernous chamber, in which immense statues and thick columns marched away towards the shadowy far wall. That vast stone edifice had a narrow gap in it, a vertical line of even deeper darkness.
Ben walked slowly across the vast crypt towards the opening, passing the fallen head of one of the statues, its stone face seeming to stare impassively at the ceiling. He entered the crevice in the rock.
The Rebel Eclipse dropped out of lightspeed, the city-planet glowing beneath it in the noon light. An armada of Final Order craft hovered over the metropolis, suspended in neat rows above the Federal District, with the Capitol in their midst. Even more ships were visible afar off, while on the horizon lowered the dark clouds of a brewing storm.
Vice Admiral Ackbar spun around in the command chair in the bridge's center, as his father used to do in ships of a markedly different design. "Send the fleet to planetfall. Surprise is the only advantage we have."
Hux looked out the viewport of the command deck at Imperial Boulevard. Smoke rose between the buildings. Hux's gaze dropped to the disorderly scrum before the entrance to Monument Plaza, where a Final Order assault tank was crawling slowly forward like some sort of metal-armored arthropod.
"Chancellor, we've detected a ship in orbit," an officer notified him. "One of ours, but with unrecognized signature codes."
"It's the stolen Eclipse. Summon all Destroyers to the Capitol. We can end this uprising and eliminate the Resistance in one triumphant day."
Poe ran through the docking bay of the Rebel Eclipse. He leapt into his orange X-wing's cockpit and fired it up. "You good back there, Beebee-Ate?" An affirmative beep came from the droid socket.
Poe pulled on his helmet and spoke into the headset. "All wings report in."
"Alpha Flight standing by."
"Beta Squadron standing by."
"Tantive IV toonoonet en," Nien Nunb said in Sullustan.
"Delta Squadron standing by."
General Connix reported, "The Fortitude and all other transport haulers, landers, and dropships are ready."
"Chi Squadron standing by," said Snap Wexley.
Rey took a deep breath and stated, "Red Five standing by."
"Okay, let's kick the Final Order's ass. All ships launch," ordered Poe. "Go, go, go!"
The Resistance craft sped out of the hangar. The city opened out below them, dozens of Star Destroyers hanging above it. "Look at that fleet," Poe marveled.
Atop the Capitol, the Star Destroyers, and assorted skyscrapers, turbolasers and ion cannons rotated and locked into place. The batteries fired upwards, unleashing hell on the dreadnought and the cloud of tiny specks pouring out of it.
"Damn it!" Poe swore, dodging the anti-air fire.
The Resistance craft rocketed downwards, lasers zipping past them. One green bolt dinged a Y-wing. Another hit a B-wing, blowing off its cockpit; the first Resistance casualty of many this day.
"Welcome to Coruscant!" Poe shouted. He spun and zoomed downwards, trying to evade the barrage through sheer speed.
An A-wing jerked out of a turbolaser's path, peeling away from the rest of the fleet. Its pilot, a man named Vanik, warned, "Watch your starboard, Wexley!"
"Whoa!" gasped Snap as his X-wing and Vanik's fighter whizzed past each other, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.
Wrobie Tyce wove round flak in her A-wing. "We can't survive this. They'll pick us off one by one."
"Get to their altitude, they can't fire on us without hitting each other," advised Poe. "All wings, cover those landers. Don't give up! Help is coming!"
Aftab Ackbar's voice came through the comms. "Prime main gun!"
A panel on the bow of the Rebel Eclipse slid upwards to reveal a superlaser, twice the size of those on the Resurgent-class. The dreadnought unloaded the giant weapon on a Star Destroyer. The broad red beam pierced the ship, blowing it apart from the inside.
The Resistance starfighters flew into the teeth of the enemy, passing the side of one Destroyer and the aft of another, dwarfed by the huge ion engines. Squadrons of TIEs, standard fighters as well as Brutes, whispers, Daggers, Marauders and special forces models, launched from the capital ships' docking bays, their laser cannons spitting green fire.
"Incoming TIEs," Snap stated.
"I see 'em," said Poe as a trio of TIE Daggers zipped towards them, firing on the troop transports. He accelerated ahead of the landers, drawing away fire and taking focused, accurate shots. One TIE exploded and spun out as he whooshed past it, then the other two followed it down as Poe's aim proved true. BB-8 chirped. Despite the danger, both pilot and droid felt the exhilaration of being in their element.
The fighters and transports descended towards planetfall through billowing waves of emerald fire.
Rey had broken off from the rest of the Resistance attack force. She coasted over Processional Way, engaging the landing gear and touching down next to a TIE whisper. She took a deep breath, calming herself, then undid the old flight helmet's chinstrap and popped open the cockpit.
Rey looked out at the forms of fallen stormtroopers lying on the street and draped across the stairs. Clearly some sort of fight had taken place here. She reached out through the Force, seeking out a familiar presence—and finding it. Ben was in the Jedi Temple.
Rey ran up the path to the temple, taking the stairs two at a time. When she reached the top, she took a moment to stare up in awe at the grand architecture of this ancient place, home to generations of Jedi. Then she hurried on, into the darkness.
The battle on the ground had bogged down into a brutal melee, with both sides alternately striking and shoving at the other. As soon as someone on the front fell, the person behind would step in to hold the line.
A blocky assault tank ground through the Resistance lines, cannons on its front blasting. Jannah unhooked a grenade from a bandolier across her chest and threw it. It skipped on the ground, landing below the tank. The grenade exploded next to one of the tracks, the shockwave flipping the machine sideways. The tank landed upside down, but the railgun on its belly continued shooting.
R2-D2 and C-3PO walked through heavy laser fire. Nearby, a Final Order Astromech droid designated R8-O8 rolled to a scomp terminal on the side of the overturned tank and plugged in. R2 beeped urgently.
"He's sending a distress signal!" See-Threepio shouted. "Stop him!"
Nobody in the ragtag Resistance force was listening; they were all engaged in their own desperate struggles. Artoo beeped furiously at his companion.
"Me?" The protocol droid asked, taken aback. "But I'm not programmed for violence, Artoo."
"Beeeeep!" R2-D2 shrieked at him.
C-3PO steeled himself and hustled past blaster bolts. He pulled open the back panel of R8-O8. "I do apologize for this," he said as he reached into the droid's innards and ripped out circuitry. The astromech wailed in distress, adding to his horror.
"Please go quietly," Threepio begged. He gave one last yank. R8-O8 shot sparks, then tipped over and clanged to the ground.
Artoo waddled past the deactivated droid and plugged into the vacated scomp link, sending his own command. The railgun stopped, spun, and fired on the stormtroopers, peppering them with metal slugs.
Finn climbed onto the tank, breathing heavily. "Threepio," he gasped. "Artoo. Good to…see you."
C-3PO fretted over the inanimate shell of R8-O8. "I've done horrible things. I may never be the same," he moaned.
Shadows glided over the long boulevard towards the Capitol and the Rebel army, cast by a squadron of angular-winged TIE bombers. Geysers of plascrete spewed upwards as the TIEs carpeted the avenue with explosives. Finn turned and stared up at the bombers about to decimate them.
One of the TIEs exploded as X-wings, A-wings, and B-wings dove from the sky behind them, an orange X-wing at the forefront. The Resistance ships dropped into the trench between the buildings and eviscerated the bombers, which spun into each other and blew open, the explosives onboard igniting into red flowers of fire. Above the rest of the starfighters, The Y-wings of Delta Squadron fired proton torpedoes or dropped bombs on rooftop anti-air emplacements. Finn and Jannah cheered, joined by stormtrooper defectors and Coruscanti citizens alike, as the fighters swept overhead.
In the cockpit of the transport ship Fortitude, Connix looked through a pair of macro binoculars at the battle taking place below. "There he is," Connix said. "I've got a visual on the General. And…he does have an army. Take us down behind their lines."
Resistance transports landed on the boulevard. AT-ATs and AT-STs colorfully painted with starbirds, stripes, checkers, eyes and teeth, and numerous other patterns fell to the street from dropships. Speeder bikes zoomed out of cargo doors. Resistance troopers poured out of transports and landers.
General Kaydel Ko Connix and Captain Beaumont Kin, both of them carrying hefty blaster rifles, came up behind Finn.
"What's the plan, General?" Connix asked.
"We're trying to convince the stormtroopers to join us," Finn told them, pointing to where a defector named Rafe (formerly RK-514) was talking to a few groggy troopers shaking off the aftereffects of stun blasts. "We want to save them, not kill them."
"You heard the General," Kin shouted to a squad of Resistance commandos that had taken up positions around them. "Stun blasts, droid poppers and crippling shots when possible!" The troops ran forward, blue rings blazing from their blasters.
Hope swelled in Finn's breast. "You feel that? We are the Resistance! All of us!" He leapt off the tank, charging once more into the breach.
"They've landed troop carriers," Admiral Frantis Griss told Hux. He had left the Capitol after the Supreme Council meeting, but had rushed back as soon as he was notified of the Resistance attack.
Griss's chief aide, Commander Masir Trach, studied the read-out on a nearby console. "The Resistance has deployed multiple speeders and walkers. Scopes are registering AT-ATs and AT-STs." He looked up, a worried expression on his face. "They're using our equipment."
"Of course they are," Hux said sourly. "They're just common thieves, deep down."
The Lieutenant whom Hux had sent to find Sellik came up behind him. "Chancellor, we located the Commander."
Hux turned to face him. "Good."
"He was locked inside Interrogation Six, along with a stormtrooper," the Lieutenant said. "The prisoner is gone. The trooper said there was a scuffle; she grabbed his gun and then he blacked out."
"And Sellik?"
"He was unconscious when we first found him, sir. After we woke him up, we couldn't get anything sensible out of him. He kept babbling about…ah…dancing Hoojibs."
"Hoojibs?"
The Lieutenant looked uncomfortable. "Yes, sir. Hoojibs. Singing excerpts of Bith light operas, he said. We…thought it best to take him to infirmary."
Hux barely refrained from burying his face in his hands. "Put out a bulletin that the prisoner has escaped," he ordered.
Ben stepped out of the stone fissure into a colossal amphitheater lit by a dim blue glow with no clear source. The walls were lined with rows and rows of seats carved directly into the bedrock, upon which sat hundreds, perhaps thousands of robed figures. As they saw him, they began to chant in the ancient Sith tongue. In the infrequent gaps between the stands were spiny, curving columns that seemed as much like organic structures as ones shaped by intelligent life. In the center of the coliseum was a circular, raised platform, surrounded by a squad of long-caped Sovereign Protectors, their crimson armor a cross between those of the Sith troopers and Praetorian Guards.
Seemingly without being controlled by his thoughts, Ben's legs carried him towards the dais. He climbed onto it. In its center was a round altar with runes carved into its side. Across from Ben was a massive seat formed of dark stone, jagged spikes of rock sticking out from behind it; the Throne of the Sith, which had sat here under the Jedi Temple for millennia, like an evil canker hidden beneath the light.
The three remaining Knights of Ren stood around the throne. Upon it sat a hunched, gaunt form wearing a robe of red velvet, its teeth revealed in a smile like a knife-wound. It spread its arms in a gesture of welcome, and in a familiar mock-jovial rasp that sent chills down Ben's spine, proclaimed, "Ahhh, the wayward son has returned."
"You should be dead," said Ben.
"My boy, I have died before. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be…unnatural."
Ben drew closer to his old master, until he could see the sinews covered by the pale, wrinkled skin. "You could be a clone, a projection."
"Have you so little faith even now?" the thing inquired. It drew back a long sleeve, exposing its left forearm, which was ringed by an indentation above the wrist. "Behold! A mark of the wounds you inflicted upon me."
He had already believed it, but now Ben knew it to be true; this was Snoke. He felt fear twist in his gut, and suppressed it by taking refuge in anger. He drew his pistol and pointed it at Snoke's forehead. "I've killed you before. I can kill you once again."
Snoke's grin deepened. "Indeed, you can. But why should you, when I can give you so much?"
Ben's eyes narrowed. "What can you give me?"
"Everything."
"I no longer wish to rule," replied Ben.
"I know what you want: the girl. Her fierceness, her hatred of you just makes you desire her more. I can give her to you. All you have to do…is give me that." Snoke leaned forward and pointed his shriveled finger at the knife on Ben's belt.
"No deal," Ben said. He fired. A neat hole opened in Snoke's forehead like a third eye. His scarred, oversized head fell sideways against his shoulder as his upper body slumped back against the throne.
The cultists gave a great shout of dismay. Ben turned towards the exit, and saw that his way was blocked by the crimson-armored Protectors.
A noise from behind Ben made him look over his shoulder. The corpse of the Supreme Leader was moving, making feeble attempts to sit up. It finally managed it, the glazed dead eyes staring sightlessly forward. The skin around the hole in Snoke's broad forehead grew slowly towards its center, then knit together, leaving behind only a slight circular depression. Then intelligence returned to the eyes and the mouth grinned, and Snoke was alive once more.
"Do not fear that feeble attack, my faithful," Snoke shouted to the crowd. "Nothing shall stop my ascension to ultimate power." He lowered his voice, addressing Ben. "You see? What I told you was true. I can be neither beaten nor betrayed. You sought to betray me, as I knew you would, but failed, likewise. I even guided you towards the treachery, and would have been disappointed if you did not act upon your murderous impulses, for then you would not be worthy of the title…of Sith."
The storm was rolling in over the Federal District, casting a shadow over the city, while above the clouds, a decidedly less natural tumult was already unfolding.
A Mandator IV-class siege dreadnought came out of hyperspace with an audible WHOOM of displaced air. It fired its turbolasers on the Rebel Eclipse. The larger ship's deflector shields absorbed the energy.
"Engage starboard cannons!" Vice Admiral Ackbar gurgled. He swiveled in his chair, waving his webbed hands as though he were a conductor at the head of an orchestra playing a particularly violent piece: Symphony No. 9 in G Major—"Final Battle."
Gun ports on the side of the Eclipse slid open, pushing out twenty massive ion cannons. They fired in unison, shooting red bolts at the Final Order ship. As they impacted, they formed parti-colored electrical storms that danced across the metal surface. The bow of the dreadnought dipped as its systems failed and explosions bloomed across it.
Ackbar clenched his fist as the bridge erupted in cheers of victory. Their high spirits ebbed, however, as ten more enemy vessels appeared in realspace at once: a handful of Star Destroyers, three snub-nosed Maxima-A class heavy cruisers, and a pair of boxy, ungainly-looking Dissident-class light cruisers.
"Come about!" ordered Ackbar. The Eclipse turned towards the new arrivals and unleashed its superlaser and all its turbolasers on them. The Final Order battleships fired back as they rumbled forward to engage, the lasers lighting up the darkness of space. TIE fighters skimmed across the Eclipse, trying in vain to pierce the shields and thick armor and occasionally blowing apart as they were caught in the crossfire between the capital ships.
Three X-wings flew towards the Capitol, the gargantuan complex hanging over them like a ghastly metallic tree. Now that they were so close to it, the pilots could finally get a sense of its scale, its sheer immensity.
Poe was in the lead X-wing. "See any soft spots, Snap?"
"Just looks like a bunch of metal to me, boss."
"I don't see anything special," said C'ai Threnalli.
"Alright, arm proton torpedoes."
Six explosive charges enveloped in pink balls of particle energy streaked towards the Capitol. They hit its underside, bursting into an immense conflagration. Some of the projections hanging beneath the building fell as their support beams were ripped away, crashing to the ground like metal stalactites.
The floor of the Capitol control deck shook, throwing Hux off balance. He grabbed for an instrument panel, saving himself from a fall, as the lights flickered overhead and the dull boom of an explosion sounded somewhere far off.
Chancellor Hux regained his footing and returned to watching a holographic representation of the air battle. A tiny, translucent Star Destroyer exploded before his eyes, victim of one of the Rebel Eclipse's ion cannon broadsides. "How is this not over?" Hux demanded.
"It's the stolen dreadnought, sir," Admiral Griss explained. "Our fleet isn't equipped to engage a ship of that magnitude—"
Hux interrupted, "I mean all of it. We should be crushing them like the scum they are."
"General Engell is hailing us," a comms officer broke in.
Hux said resignedly, "Put her through."
A holographic image of General Engell's head appeared to one side of the miniature battle. "Chancellor," she addressed him, her face drawn with worry, "Our troops are in retreat. Every sector is besieged, not just the Federal District. The civilian population is in open revolt; they boil out of the ground, strike, and then hide before our troops can mobilize. And there have been reports of more defections, even insider attacks. One whole unit has gone dark."
Hux's mouth twisted, his voice brimming with barely restrained fury. "I want Sith troopers on the ground. Now."
The trio of X-wings continued their attack run, weaving through a grid of lasers and ion pulses fired by the cannons atop the Capitol. Poe strafed the structure, taking out several turrets in a continuous, dizzying display of aeronautic prowess.
"We've got eight—no, nine—evil eyes on us," said Snap Wexley, using a Rebel pilot nickname for TIEs.
"Tell me something I don't know," said Poe testily.
"Karé thinks she's pregnant."
"What?"
C'ai Threnalli called, "Poe, watch out!"
Poe narrowly dodged an emerald beam. "OK, no gossip during dogfights. We'll try to lose 'em in the streets."
On the eleventh floor of BlasTech Industries galactic headquarters, a team of accountants looked up from calculating the net revenue for the third quarter of 9 FO as a trio of X-wings sped by, chased by a squadron of TIE fighters with cannons screeching. The Resistance pilots wove between buildings and around corners, trying to shake their pursuers. As they emerged from an especially labyrinthine section, they saw a squadron of TIE Daggers buzzing towards them.
Poe spun his X-wing on its axis, firing wildly as sky and ground whirled about him. A few of the Daggers exploded. Poe dove and skimmed along the avenue, while his wingmen instead went into a climb.
The squadron of TIEs pursuing them met the one ahead. Some of the fighters collided with each other, sending stabilizer vanes twirling away like pinwheels. Others jerked sideways, only to crash into buildings, sending fire and glassteel raining down. Poe looped around and picked off the only survivor, a TIE Dagger. It burst into flames and crashed into the head office of Sienar Fleet System's Coruscant branch.
Rose snuck down a crisp white hallway to a window overlooking a vast architectonic abyss encircling the center column of the Capitol. Attached to the thick metal spine was a colossal cube-shaped machine—the communications jammer. It was completely encased in armor, with no catwalks or ladders leading to it. There was no way she could reach it.
Rose ducked into a recess as she heard approaching voices. A procession of officers and technicians rounded the corner and walked past her hiding place.
Admiral Griss, in the center of the group, ordered, "Ready the hyperdrive."
Rose held in a gasp. Hyperdrive? The Capitol is a ship!
"In the unlikely event our defenses are breached, we'll make the jump to lightspeed," Griss continued.
Rose watched a pair of Final Order techs break away from the rest. She crept after them, trying to keep at a distance without losing sight of them. They walked briskly down the corridors to a bank of turbolifts and got into one of them.
Rose dashed to the lift next to the one the technicians had entered. As the doors closed, she jabbed the button labeled "engineering deck", hoping that was where the technicians were going.
She must have been right, for when the doors slid open, she caught a brief glimpse of the techs' backs, disappearing into a side passage. Rose hurried after, catching up just as they scanned the ID badges on their uniforms before a door and disappeared through it.
Rose crept to the door and inserted the code cylinder Fulcrum had given her into a round slot beside it. The portal slid open, and she stepped through it.
Rose found herself in a dimly-lit control room, filled with navigation consoles. The technicians were standing at a control board at the far end of the room. Before them was a window looking out on the main engine core, a large room lined with complicated equipment and a crackling blue beam of energy blazing in its center. The energy stream reminded Rose of the powershaft on Kuat.
"Prepare for surface disengagement," said one of the technicians, who seemed to be the other's superior. "Ready engines for hyperspace."
The other nav tech frowned.
The head tech explained, "Purely precautionary."
Rose slipped behind the consoles and opened a panel in the floor. She crawled down into the subspace below the nav control room, a cramped half-room filled with stacks of computer towers and thick data cables.
The techs were still audible, their voices carrying through the floor. "Ready to set coordinates, sir."
"Plot a course for the Forve system," said the head tech.
Rose found one of the hyperdrive control computers. She opened its case and set to work on the motherboard.
Rey had made her way down to the lowest level of the Jedi temple, and found the hole in the floor. She leapt through it into the darkness, landing on the giant chain. Rey quickly clambered down it, using the skills and muscle memory she had developed through years of scavenging in broken Imperial ships.
When she reached the bottom, Rey dropped lightly to the ground. She looked up at the ancient statues looming out of the darkness as she passed between them, keeping her hand close to her lightsaber. Finally, she came to the fissure in the rock face and entered it.
"You still haven't told me how you're alive," Ben said.
Snoke seemed to ignore the inquiry. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Triumph of Darth Plagueis the Wise?" he asked.
"No," Ben responded.
"I thought not," said Snoke smugly. "Few know it in its uncorrupted form. It's an old Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith so powerful and so wise, he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians, and create life itself. But despite his power over life, he had not power over death.
"Plagueis became dreadfully afraid of dying, and in hopes of finding some way to prevent it, he devoted himself to studying arcane texts, penned by men gone mad with knowledge. Their scribblings led him to a barren world, where an ancient being revealed to him a method of cheating death, of returning from beyond; and more than this, the path to Mortis, and power beyond imagination.
"Plagueis returned to inhabited regions, and began to insinuate himself into the aristocracy of the Republic, with the aim of achieving not only esoteric wisdom, but also political power. He met a girl named Breta, a Princess of Alderaan, and courted her. In his attempts to win her, he showed her his experiments on using midichlorians and bioengineering to achieve immortality. She feigned awe and bedazzlement, yet secretly, the small-minded fool felt horror and disgust. She informed the Republic Judicial Forces, who destroyed Plagueis's lab and all his work, as well as the map he had made of the way to Mortis. Although he could have stopped them, he did not wish to reveal his true nature as a Sith, for the Jedi were many and powerful in those days.
"Instead, Plagueis bided his time, and set about the long, hard task of recreating his research from nothing, working in more carefully hidden and far-flung refuges. During this time, he took an apprentice, and showed him many of his secrets. However, he knew that someday, his apprentice would seek to supplant him, as was the Sith way, and Plagueis prepared himself for that eventuality.
"After years of learning, Plagueis's apprentice, believing his master had taught him all he knew, struck him down in his sleep. The apprentice left, glorying in his victory, and achieved great power. Yet he had become afraid, late in his life when his sight was clouded, and built observatories to scan the stars beyond the galaxy, looking for signs of Plagueis's return. Before he could make a more thorough search of the dark and strange places of the universe, however, his downfall came, courtesy of his own overweening arrogance. It was that same arrogance that had allowed him to believe, even for a moment, that his master Plagueis was truly dead, when he had merely shed his mortal frame like a serpent sheds its skin.
"For though Darth Plagueis had died, his spirit lived on. He sojourned long and far in the World Between Worlds and in the Spaces Beyond Space, learning much; and when the time was ripe, he returned to his body in this realm, and took charge of the remnants of his apprentice's once-great works, shaping them into a dagger in the heart of the hated Republic.
"Much like the apprentice in the story, you have done my bidding, even when you thought me dead."
"I did not," denied Ben.
"Was it not I who first whispered the name of Mortis in your ear?" He imitated the growl of Emperor Palpatine, "I have been every voice—YOU HAVE EVER HEARD"—he shouted in his own voice—"inside your head," he finished in Darth Vader's mechanical boom.
Snoke resumed his normal rasp. "Long have I sought Mortis, yet never have I been able to reach it. I sent proxies, trusted emissaries, but they also failed. With each frustration, I grew more convinced that the Ancients who ruled the place were deliberately barring my way.
"For a time, I gave up my search, and turned to other pursuits; but I heard a rumor that the 'Chosen One,' along with his master and apprentice, visited Mortis during the Clone Wars. This sparked my interest anew. And then I found you…descendant of Vader, last-born Skywalker; and furthermore, rightful heir to the throne of the dead world Alderaan! I speculated that you could reach Mortis, and bring back to me the key to its power. And now," Snoke chuckled, "you have played your part to perfection, as I knew you would."
The arrival of the Resistance had turned the tide of the ground battle. The stormtroopers were now in open retreat, the combined force of citizens, defectors, and Resistance troopers overwhelming them. The Final Order's AT-MTs stood alone, slugging it out with the Resistance's smaller walkers.
Finn and Jannah pelted forward, shoulder to shoulder, firing nonstop at the Final Order army. Just behind them ran General Connix and Captain Kin, leading the Resistance soldiers. "Keep going!" shouted Kin.
Atmospheric Assault Landers descended to the street, turrets atop them firing as the boarding ramps crashed down. Red-armored Sith troopers marched out of them, two by two, firing heavy blaster cannons. They slowly advanced, seemingly untroubled by the fire of the Rebel army.
Snap Wexley scanned the skies. "Still no Falcon or backup."
BB-8 beeped a query.
"I don't know, Beebee," Poe answered. "Maybe nobody else is coming."
"What do we do, Admiral?" asked C'ai Threnalli.
Poe adjusted his headset audio pickup. "We gotta hit 'em ourselves."
Wrobie Tyce said incredulously, "What can we do against these things?"
"Just stay alive!"
"That Destroyer's shields are down," reported Jessika Pava.
"So are that one's," said Snap. "The Eclipse is whittling away at all of them."
Poe swept up from below one of the Star Destroyers, other starfighters following in his wake. They concentrated their fire on the giant superlaser protruding from the battleship's hangar bay. The cannon exploded, then touched off a chain reaction leading back to the power core. The Star Destroyer's metal shell cracked open as a massive fireball blossomed out of the ship, tearing it apart from the inside.
Rey walked through the fissure in the rock. The gap was narrow enough that she could touch both of the rough walls at the same time. A faint blue lambency and the murmur of a rough voice came from ahead.
"Join me once more," Snoke coaxed. "I shall restore you to your former place, and give you the girl, the galaxy…whatever you wish. Surely you realize now that you cannot defeat me." Snoke's voice suddenly cracked like a whip, commanding, "Give me the Dagger of Mortis!"
"No."
"It was not a request," grated Snoke, waving a hand imperiously. "Knights!"
Rey stepped into the amphitheatre and looked out at the sea of Sith cultists, the squads of red-armored troopers, the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke, and, near the exact center of the chamber, Ben Solo.
The Knights of Ren surrounding Ben drew closer to him. Ben fired, but the blaster bolts ricocheted off their armor. Lorl struck out with his scythe's handle, knocking the pistol out of Ben's hand.
Ben whirled, using the Force to knock Lorl Ren to the ground. Ott retaliated, pushing Ben off balance as Solonny slashed at him. Ben ducked as the Darksaber whistled over his head, slicing through a few flyaway hairs.
Lorl sprang to his feet and swung his scythe at Ben. Ben dodged, but Ott hit him with the flat of his huge vibrocleaver, its edge splitting his lip. Solonny kicked him in the stomach, driving him to his knees. The hilt of Ott's cleaver slammed into the back of Ben's head.
A squad of Sith troopers surrounded Rey. She pulled her lightsaber from her belt and activated one of the blades.
Ben slowly rose, bruises already blossoming on his face, blood trickling down his chin. He stared at the Knights and their master as defiantly as he could, but then found himself looking instead at someone visible to him only in his mind; someone standing directly behind him.
Rey raised her saber into the ready position, the shining blade of energy limning her face with blue light. She was about to launch herself at the Sith troopers, but something made her hesitate.
Time seemed to slow for both Rey and Ben as they saw each other through the Force, their eyes meeting. In that moment they felt like one being, with one mind, one soul, and one purpose. Ben gave a minute nod, of both understanding and readiness. Rey drew back her saber until it was behind her, as though winding up for a strike, but then withdrew her empty hand.
Ben Solo reached behind him and pulled out the lightsaber, the fusion of Anakin's and Rey's weapons. The Knights stepped back involuntarily. Ben gave a nonchalant shrug. Then he swung the lightsaber in a broad arc, grazing Ott's shoulder and slicing through a Sovereign Protector's chest. A shower of sparks sprayed from each successful strike. Ben spun and parried Lorl's scythe, then twirled the lightsaber, preparing to attack again.
"It's the Jedi girl," Snoke shouted, pointing at Rey. "Kill her!"
Rey quickly drew Leia's lightsaber, igniting it, as the Sith troopers aimed their double-pronged rifles at her. They fired. Rey used the Force to redirect one plasma bolt into a trooper's chest, another harmlessly into the stone floor. She spun her saber, using it to deflect blasts into two more Protectors. One of them fell and moved no more, but the other was saved by his armor and kept shooting. Rey pushed one of his beams into the helmet of another trooper.
Solonny Ren stalked down from the platform, leaving Ott and Lorl to handle Kylo. She brandished the Darksaber at Rey. "So you're the chit that's given Kylo such trouble. You may be good against Sovereign Protectors—but how about this?" She swept forward, swinging the Darksaber.
Rey brought up her lightsaber, parrying the thin black blade of energy. Solonny slashed viciously at her. The knight seemed less like a woman wielding a weapon and more like a living sword with an attached body, her every movement focused on violence.
After giving ground steadily before the unrelenting assault, Rey saw her chance. She sliced at Solonny's head, cutting through her mask. The lower half of the gridded faceplate fell to the ground, neatly shorn away.
"You do have spirit," hissed Solonny. "I wonder, is your blood is as sweet as your father's was?" She drew a vibroknife from below her robes, lifted it to the now-exposed lower half of her face, and ran her long, pointed tongue up it.
Rey felt revulsion flush through her. She channeled it into a brutal assault, hammering at Solonny, but the knight slid nimbly away from every blow.
Ben parried Lorl's scythe and Ott's cleaver, then blocked the force pikes of two Sovereign Protectors, throwing their weapons upwards and forcing them off balance. Ott tried to stab him in the back, but Ben swung his lightsaber behind him. The cleaver glanced off the plasma beam. Ben spun and parried Lorl again, while simultaneously Force-pushing a Sith trooper off the platform. Then another Protector fell to him, a gaping gash in its chest armor.
Ott prepared to swing again, but Ben jabbed at him, impaling him in the chest. Ott Ren collapsed. Lorl leapt at Ben, enraged by his companion's death, only to fall to a swift slash across the neck. Ben rushed off the dais.
Solonny had regained the upper hand, forcing Rey to retreat.
"Rey! Switch!" Ben called, running towards them.
Rey spun away as Ben engaged Solonny's blade with his. The Sith troopers began to fire at her again. Rey used the Force to spin one Protector so that he shot another. She deflected the rest of the bolts with her lightsaber, felling three more troopers, before slamming another Protector to the ground and flinging him away, wrapping him up in his cape.
Ben and Solonny danced around each others swings, their long hours of sparring allowing each to predict the other's moves.
"Your girl's quite feisty, Kylo. I can see why she appeals to you," Solonny teased, locking her saber of darkness with his of light. "Do you like her more than you did me?"
Ben grunted and shoved Solonny away, freeing his weapon. He dodged the knight's next thrust, then leapt over her and ran her through from behind.
Ben put his mouth next to Solonny's ear, hidden under the remnants of her helmet, and whispered, "I never did like you, Solonny."
Solonny sagged. Ben pulled his lightsaber free and let her sink to the ground, where she curled into herself like a dying snake and then lay still.
Rey cut a trooper in half, then turned to see Ben fling the last Sovereign Protector away like a bloody rag. The man in black and the woman in white walked onto the dais and looked at each other, in the flesh this time. Then they turned as one to face the throne, raising their lightsabers to the ready.
Snoke stood up and clapped slowly, the sound of his applause echoing through the enormous space. "Bravo, both of you! Seldom have I seen swordplay of such skill. You are both worthy of being Jedi—or Sith. The choice of light or dark is yours, but one will bring you power beyond imagining, the other consign you to the abyss."
Rey said venomously, "I came to destroy the Sith, not join them."
Snoke laughed, his mirth trailing off into a high-pitched wheeze. "I shall warn any Lords of the Sith whom I encounter to be wary of you."
"Aren't you a Sith?"
"I have transcended such titles. They are far too…limiting."
"You're a tyrant just the same," said Rey.
"I see you are little changed from our last encounter. Perhaps you are too hasty with your words." Snoke stretched out his arms. A grinding and cracking came from above as the ceiling opened, four huge slabs of stone pushing upwards through the foundations of the Jedi Temple. Flecks of rock fell from above as Snoke blew a hole through the interior of the temple, sending stone fountaining upwards, and then threw aside the remnants of the temple's broken central spire to reveal the sky.
Rey looked up through the jagged-edged hole at the space battle high above, the tiny fighter craft looking like insects as they zipped between the rows of mammoth Star Destroyers. As she watched, a pair of TIE Daggers shot down a Y-wing, the bomber spinning and trailing flames before it blew open.
"They don't have long," the Supreme Leader intoned. "No-one is coming to help them. Only you have the power to save them; strike down Kylo Ren and take your place by my side, and I shall call off the fleet. Refuse, and your new family dies…just as your parents did."
"No. I will never turn to the dark side."
Snoke lowered his voice. "I know what you really want. You don't want your friends; you want your parents. I can bring them back to life."
Rey shook her head. "I don't believe you."
"Ah, but you do," said Snoke, seductively reasonable. "You have been to Mortis; you know of its power. You are unable to harness it, but I can. Help me, and you can have everything—everyone—you want…forever."
Rey knew it must be a trick, but she still felt tempted. Could he really bring her parents back? Could she finally get to know her mother and father?
It didn't matter. Even if he could resurrect her parents, she was too big a threat to him. He would destroy her as soon as she helped him achieve his goals. And she would never betray her friends, no matter the cost to herself. Rey spat, "No. I'll never bow to a murderer like you."
"Kylo Ren…surely you see reason? You cannot kill me, for I cannot be killed."
"Perhaps…perhaps not," Ben said thoughtfully. "What do you want?"
"Power," Snoke responded, greed burning brightly in his sunken eyes. "Power to rule the galaxy, not through the clumsy tools of servants and soldiers, ships and battle stations, but directly. Power enough to control anyone, to crush worlds with the twitch of a finger, to move stars even while sunk in the depths of dreams. Power enough to be rightfully called the Sith'ari—a living god."
Ben said slowly, as though the truth of his words was being revealed to him even as he spoke them, "Power is worth less than the uses you put it to once you have attained it."
"We stand together," said Rey. "And we stand against you."
Snoke frowned. "Stand together…die together."
Rey and Ben rushed forward. Snoke threw up a hand, knocking Ben to the ground. The Dagger of Mortis slipped out of Ben's belt and flew into Snoke's hand.
Rey swung at Snoke, but the Supreme Leader used the Force to jerk her arm sideways. Leia's lightsaber slipped out of her grasp and clattered to the ground. Snoke struck out with the dagger, blindingly fast, slashing across her eyes. Rey screamed, falling to her knees as a flash of red lit up her vision, and then saw no more.