The Star Destroyer Xiphos:
Grand Admiral Armitage and a few other officers are studying a hologram. We see a planet with three moons ( Holqawa'weyu ), a group of green dots closely together in orbit with another group, three times as many, of yellow dots arranged a bit away from the planet. As they study the hologram, more groups of green dots appear around the yellow ones, soon surrounding the yellow altogether. Kylo Ren enters the room and Armitage and the officers look up from the hologram.
"Supreme Leader" Armitage says. "Everything is ready. All we can do now is wait."
"Good work, grand admiral" Kylo says as he joins the others by the hologram. "The holqawan monarch has assured me that they will be building ships for our fleet by the end of the month. And rebellious officers in their army are being executed and replaced. Their clone-army will be available in a couple of days."
"Very good, sir" Armitage says. "As soon as we are done here, we will bring the war to the heart of the Republic."
"Just remember, grand admiral" Kylo says. "The girl is mine. You will not touch her. As soon as she is located, your forces will not go after her."
"Understood, my lord" Armitage says and bows, a show of false respect.
Kylo turns and leaves the room. When they are alone, a First Order admiral, Harloff, walks up to Armitage.
"Sir, it could be done today" the admiral says. "The Supreme Leader is known to become, eager shall we say, in combat. He could easily end up on his own on the field of battle."
"The thought has occurred to me, Admiral Harloff" Armitage says. "We will have to wait and see if the opportunity presents itself. If it does" Armitage turns to Harloff, "we will make sure that the Supreme Leader, and the girl, dies."
Harloff smiles and nods. "All hail the Supreme Leader."
The Raddus:
Maz walks across the hangar towards the six large transports. The transports are guarded by Republic troops. A colonel steps up to Maz as she comes closer.
"I am sorry, general" the colonel says. "These vessels are off limits, by order of Sky Marshal Yorrick."
"So I'm told, colonel" Maz says. "But we are going into battle, and I don't like secrets on the ship I rely upon to keep me alive."
"I'm sorry, general. But you will have to ask the sky marshal."
"What do you think is on them?" Maz asks.
The colonel chuckles. "I have no idea, ma'am. The boys are guessing that they're transporting a new bomb of some kind. A cloaking device perhaps? All I know is that I'm not allowed to let anyone tamper with these transports."
Maz nods. "Keep up the good work, colonel."
Maz turns and walks away and finds Rose waiting. Joining Rose, they both take a look at the transports and the guards.
"I don't like surprises" Rose says.
"Me neither" Maz says. "I have a bad feeling about all of this."
Holqawa'weyu:
A First Order shuttle leaves the planet and heads for the small fleet in orbit. The shuttle flies towards a Shield-Ship, similar to the one that protected the Starkiller in Episode 7. As the shuttle approaches to dock, the airlock opens and Zorii exits, wearing a spacesuit; using thrusters she flies along the hull of the ship. The shuttle enters the Shield-Ship and lands; leaving it are Lando and Jannah, disguised as First Order officers/pilots, together with D-0. Lando, Jannah and D-0 find an out of the way area where they help hook up D-0 to the ships systems. Jannah helps the droid while Lando keeps watch.
"There" Jannah says. "We're hooked into their communication-systems. Once the shooting starts, we should be able to pick up every order and command given and relay it to the Republic fleet."
"Nicely done" Lando says with a smile.
Outside the ship, Zorii makes her way to the main big shield-dish and places several explosives on it at various places.
Republic Fleet, Holqawa'weyu:
The Republic fleet exits hyperspace en-masse. On the bridge, Sky Marshal Yorrick looks out the viewport at the planet and its three moons.
"Alert all craft" Yorrick says. "Engage the enemy."
The fleet moves to attack and all fighters speed up and take point.
Poe addresses his squadron from his cockpit. "Alright guys. Stay alert, watch out for cross-fire and pick up your visual scanning. Stay in our designated attack-zone and stay in formation. There's gonna be thousands of fighters once the shooting starts. But don't worry, we can pull this off. No biggie at all."
Rey shakes her head. "Great speech, Black Leader. Really inspiring."
"Cut the chatter, Black Six" Poe replies over the radio.
The Republic fleet closes in on the planet at speed.
The Star Destroyer Xiphos:
On the bridge, Admiral Harloff walks up to Grand Admiral Armitage who is sitting in his command-chair.
"Sir" Harloff says, "the enemy armada has left hyperspace and is closing in on our position."
Armitage slowly gets out of his chair, walks up to the viewports and studies the stars as if he can see the incoming fleet. "Prepare the fleet for battle" he says calmly. "Launch all fighters."
"Yes, sir."
The Raddus:
The captain of the flagship looks at a screen and then turns to Yorrick. "Sky Marshal, sir. The enemy fleet is re-arranging into battle-formation."
Maz, who is on the bridge, turns and listens. Yorrick doesn't seem impressed.
"They are hopelessly outnumbered" Yorrick says. "We continue as planned."
"Sir" the captain says, not assured at all. "Grand Admiral Armitage knows he can't win this. There's no reason for him to fight us. Unless he thinks he can win."
Yorrick frowns at the captain. "I will not be deterred by that mans hubris, captain. Attack!"
Maz turns from the conversation and looks at the fleet spreading out before them.
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
The two fleets engage, fighters clashing and warships firing turbo-lasers at each other. Poe and Rey are fighter-aces and it shows. The Falcon does what it does best and Finn fires his turret. We all know what we like; the best sequences of the Battle at Scarif and Battle for Endor!
Kylo Rens Star Destroyer:
At the rear of the First Order fleet, Kylo Rens Star Destroyer is safe, the battle taking place at the other end of the formation. An officer walks up to Kylo.
"Your highness. Your fighter is fueled and ready. You may launch at your pleasure, my lord."
"Not this time, captain" Kylo says. "Should I join this battle, Grand Admiral Armitage will conspire to see me killed."
"Sir?"
"I have foreseen it" Kylo says. "As bright as day. We will deal with him at a later time."
"Yes, sir" the captain says and leaves.
A black-plated protocol-droid, C-3H8, walks up to Kylo. "Master, I believe I have found the pilot you are looking for. I have studied the flight-patterns of the Republic fighters and one stands out from the rest. The pilot follows few standard maneuvers, barely stays in formation and has so far during this engagement an impressive number of killed enemies."
Kylo turns to the droid. "Show me."
The Shield-Ship:
Jannah listens to the enemy communications and becomes terrified as she turns to Lando. "The Republic fleet! Its about to get surrounded!"
"What?!" Lando growls.
The Xiphos:
Grand Admiral Armitage watches the battle unfold through the viewports when Admiral Harloff walks up to him.
"Sir, our reinforcements have arrived."
Armitage smiles. "Excellent."
The Raddus:
The captain of the ship turns to Yorrick. "Sir! Enemy ships have exited hyperspace at mark nine, ten, six!"
Yorrick and Maz walks over to a hologram depicting the battle, Republic ships are blue dots and First Order are red. They see the newly arrived group of ships outflanking the Republic fleet.
A Republic officer turns in his chair to his superiors. "More contacts leaving hyperspace!"
Yorrick and Maz watches the hologram as more and more red dots appear, soon having surrounded the Republic fleet!
The captain studies his readings. "Sir, over two hundred enemy ships have entered the system! Including four dreadnoughts!"
Another officer conveys the data from his station. "The enemy has established a gravity-well around the battle!"
The captain turns pale as he looks at his screen. "They have two interdictors! We're trapped!"
Maz turns to Yorrick. "An ambush. They knew we were coming. We've been betrayed."
Yorrick turns to his captain. "Call back all fighters! Protect the fleet!"
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
The Republic fleet is totally surrounded, taking fire from every angle. Enemy fighters are swarming the Republic ships. One by one, the Republic warships are destroyed. In the middle of this, Poe and Rey have to rely on their superior flying-skills to stay alive. The Falcon struggles to avoid incoming fire, its guns firing, Finn sitting in a turret and trying to fight off incoming TIE Fighters.
The Shield-Ship:
Lando and Jannah, with D-0, hurry back to their shuttle.
Lando picks up a communicator. "Zorii, get ready to get picked up. We're getting out of here. The fleet has walked into a god damn ambush."
Zorii flies along the hull of thee ship. "So what's the plan?"
"Get down to the surface, find a ship that can shoot and get into the fight" Lando explains.
"Brilliant plan, Lando" Zorii says with sarcasm. "What could possibly go wrong."
Lando, Jannah and D-0 enter their shuttle and shortly after leaves the Shield-Ship, stopping shortly outside to allow Zorii to climb onboard via the airlock. Once she is inside and free from the spacesuit, she picks up a detonator and hits it; blowing up the main dish on the Shield-Ship.
The Xiphos:
Admiral Harloff turns to Armitage, "Sir! The shield-ship just took a direct hit to its main array. We now have to rely on our own shields for protection."
The Raddus:
In the hangar-bay, damaged fighters come in for a landing. Crew rush up to help the pilots and to repair the fighters. Rose is one of them and she hurries over to a fighter and join other crew that help pull out the wounded pilot from the cockpit.
Kylo & Rey:
Kylo Ren watches the battle from the bridge of his personal Star Destroyer.
"Leanna" he says.
Rey reacts to the voice, ignores it and returns her focus to the battle, gunning down two more TIE Fighters.
"I know you can hear me" Kylo says.
"Get out of my head!" Rey growls and then guns down another TIE Fighter.
"You can't ignore me. Come to me. Please, Leanna. There's no escape."
"Sorry, but not interested!"
The Raddus:
Rose helps the wounded pilot up on a stretcher and medical personnel then rush off with him. Rose turns as more damaged fighters comes in for a landing. She sighs, horrified at the sight of the chaos. Then, something draws her attention. The mysterious transports open and lower their boarding-ramps. The guards protecting the transports turn around, unsure what is going on. Then the guards get killed by blaster-fire! Hundreds and hundreds of Stormtroopers charge out of the transports, shooting at everyone in the hangar. Rose runs for cover while everyone around her get gunned down. First Order Battle-droids leave the transports as well, joining in on the fighting, walking on four legs and armed with two twin-blasters mounted on an arm each. Rose dares to take a peek from her hiding-spot, and as she does, she sees who steps out of one of the transports. It is Captain Phasma! But instead of a helmet, she now has a facemask ( just like Darth Malgus ) and her head has no hair and her skin is covered with horrific burns and scars. Phasma is followed by four Stormtroopers in red armor as a personal escort.
( I actually had no plans to include Phasma in Ep9, letting her be dead. But then I toyed with this idea of the stormtroopers infiltrating the Republic flagship, and I just couldn't help but liking the idea that Phasma should make a return at this point )
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
The Republic fleet keeps getting pounded by the First Order, one ship after the other being shot to pieces. The Falcon chases a squadron of TIE Fighters, both turrets gunning down four to six TIE's each and the main blasters gunning down another three. Rey and Poe do some fancy flying, killing another six TIE Fighters. Republic fighters gets shot down one after the other, pilots call out targets, scream as they crash to their deaths, try to coordinate attacks. It is chaos, death and destruction everywhere!
The Xiphos:
Admiral Harloff walks up to Grand Admiral Armitage who is drinking tea in his command-chair; Armitage doesn't appear the slightest worried about the ongoing battle.
"Sir, we have reports from the other sixteen systems the Republic have attacked. Our forces are in control in fourteen of the systems. Reinforcements have been redirected to help in the two systems where the Republic is having the upper-hand."
"Which two?" Armitage asks.
"Giankara and Farbelluch" Harloff says. "Farbelluch is the major hyperspace-junction in the Dash sector. Giankara has three extremely mineral-rich planets that are important for our shield-generator production."
"Focus our reinforcements at Farbelluch" Armitage says. "We can afford to lose one of these engagements. If we lose Farbelluch, it will slow down our troop-movements. Giankara we can reclaim whenever we have the ships to do so."
"As you wish, sir."
The Raddus:
Rose and several other crewmembers run down a corridor, chased by stormtroopers shooting at them, fleeing for their lives!
In the hangar, four First Order BB-droids hook up to droid-sockets. A lieutenant turns to Captain Phasma.
"Captain, we have sliced their systems and network. We are in control."
"Good work, lieutenant" Phasma says and walks away, followed by her escort and a dozen stormtroopers.
Elsewhere, Rose ducks into cover as the last crewmembers around her get shot down. She crawls up into a ball with blaster-rounds detonating around her. Suddenly, the blaster-fire intensifies and as suddenly dies out. Rose crawls out of cover and finds Maz and two dozen Republic troops running up to her.
"Rose!" Maz says.
"Maz!" Rose replies and they hug. "Maz, the transports. The Sky Marshalls transports. That's how they got onboard."
"That snake" Maz hiss with contempt.
A Republic soldiers walks up to Maz. "General, the Sky Marshall has ordered the bridge to be sealed off from the ship. All shields and blast-doors have been activated to protect the bridge."
Rose realize what that means. "Nothing will get in" she says. "Yorrick has sealed himself off from the rest of the ship. There is no way we can get to him."
Maz frowns. "Our only chance to stop him is to throw the boarding-party into space." She cocks her blaster. "Come on."
They all run down the corridor.
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
Rey guns down two enemy fighters. "This is insane! Chewie, do you read me? Rogue Leader, please respond!"
The Falcon guns down a heavy bomber. In the cockpit, Chewie growls a reply to Rey.
"I need you to cover me" Rey says. "I'm going after one of the cruisers and need someone to keep the fighters off my back."
Chewie growls in agreement. The Falcon does a sharp turn and soon finds itself trailing Black Six. Together, they blast their way through the TIE Fighters. Another Pike fighter shows up and helps the Falcon gunning down some TIE's in pursuit.
"Where the hell are you going?!" Poe asks, coming up next to the Falcon and Rey.
Rey looks out from her cockpit at Black Leader. "We're getting shot to pieces out here. If we keep protecting our ships, we wont achieve anything. We have to fight back."
"I like the way your think" Poe says. "So what's the plan?"
"There is no plan" Rey admits. "But right now, that carrier looks like a good target."
Poe looks ahead and spots a First Order carrier very similar to the old imperial Impellor-class Fleet Carriers.
"Sure, why not" Poe says.
Chewie growls and Rey adjusts her fighters systems. "Don't worry, Chewie. You just follow us in and deal with the fighters. I'll worry about the carrier."
Finn swings his turret around and looks at Black Six. "Rey, you be careful. May the Force be with you."
"I'll see you when all of this is over, Finn" Rey replies.
"Alright" Poe cuts in. "Enough small talk. Let's give 'em hell."
Black Leader and Black Six throttle up and the Falcon follows. Their guns paving a path through the swarms of TIE Fighters. The two Pike fighters line up and Poe follows Rey towards the carrier, with the Falcon behind. Finn and Froff swinging their turrets back and forth, firing at TIE Fighters getting too close.
The Raddus:
Republic troops are holding a junction, stormtroopers pressing the assault. Maz is in the middle of it, firing at the stormtroopers. People are dying on both sides. Rose opens a panel in the wall and starts doing her magic; a blast-door closes between the Republic soldiers and the stormtroopers.
Maz turns around and spots Rose. "Rose?! What are you doing? If we allow them to fortify that hallway, we will never retake the hangar!"
On the other side of the blast-doors, stormtroopers are moving up, weapons ready. Captain Phasma is with them, watching as her troops close in on the closed blast-doors.
Rose offers Maz a glance. "They wont be fortifying anything, general." And she rips out a computer-card.
An airlock opens and sucks out dozens and dozens of stormtroopers! Phasma grabs hold of some pipes and holds on for all her worth. A black BB-unit hooks up to a droid-socket and manages to close the airlock. The decompression ends. And the blast-doors open; the Republic soldiers charge, guns blazing! Phasma and her troops are forced to conduct a fighting retreat.
Maz turns to Rose. "Not bad for a mechanic."
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
"Ready, Poe?" Rey asks.
"I'm ready" Poe says. "Not sure for what, but I'm ready."
"Follow the damaged fighters" Rey says. "Their shields will lower to allow them to dock."
Poe is suddenly not as eager to follow the plan. "If you're thinking on doing what I think you're thinking…"
"Feel free to bail on us, Poe. That is if you consider yourself a lesser pilot than I" Rey says.
Poe frowns. "I'll show you who's the lesser pilot."
They fly towards the carrier, racing past damaged TIE Fighters that are lined up to dock, blasting several of them as they fly past. The Falcon veers off at the last moment and Rey and Poe fly into the main hangar via one of two main entrances, guns blazing, make a tight turn, Poe is even touching the ceiling with his wing-tips, they both launch missiles inside the hangar before they dive down the other hangar-opening. The four missiles detonate inside the hangar and the entire main hangar blows up, great explosions erupting out of the hangar-openings. Poe howls with excitement!
Finn grins wide. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
The Xiphos:
Admiral Harloff and Grand Admiral Armitage both watch as the carrier suffers internal explosions, seeing the vessel clearly from the bridge of their Star Destroyer.
Kylo Rens Star Destroyer:
Kylo Ren sees the carrier burning as well from the bridge of his ship. Without saying anything, he turns and leaves with determined strides. Moments later, his personal fighter-craft leaves the Star Destroyer and heads for the carrier at maximum speed.
The Xiphos:
Harloff recieves a datapad with a report from the ships captain. "Sir, the Supreme Leader has joined the fight, flying his starfighter."
Armitage turns to Harloff and considers his options.
Harloff looks up from the report. "Do we do it? It is now or never."
Armitage nods. "Do it. Inform the holqawans... Get it done."
The Raddus:
The battle rages in the corridors, the stormtroopers slowly being pushed back. Rose follows the main fighting, helping wounded being dragged back to medical-staff. Rose then spots a wall-plating being slightly off. She gets curious, moves over and moves the panel to the side and spots an explosive.
"Take Cover!" she calls out and runs away.
The explosive detonates, along with five other explosives hidden in the walls. A huge number of Republic troops gets caught in the blast. Rose wakes up, covered in debris, thick smoke filling the corridor, dead bodies around her. Out of nowhere, Maz shows up and pulls Rose on her feet.
"Move, Rose!" Maz tells her. "Move!"
They run away from the blast-area. Behind them, two battle-droids emerge out of the smoke, behind them a huge unit of stormtroopers follow. Eventually, Captain Phasma emerges out of the smoke, stepping over the dead bodies.
Battle of Holqawa'weyu:
Rey, Poe and the Falcon race back towards the Republic fleet, chased by TIE Fighters. Finn and Froff cover their rear with their turrets. Out of nowhere, Poe takes several hits and he is forced to leave the others to avoid incoming fire. Kylo Ren races after Poe, pushing Poe to his limits just to stay alive as Kylo keeps firing at Black Leader.
BB-8 screams and Poe is lit up by flashing red lights in his cockpit. "I've lost shields!"
Kylo locks on to Black Leader and opens fire. Poe's FT-6 explodes! Rey is disheartened, a piece of her world falling apart. Finn sees from his turret the remains of Poe's fighter and he too feels empty inside. Rey frowns and pulls her controls, her fighter making a tight turn, heading back.
Chewie growls at Rey and Finn is frustrated that he can't do anything. "Rey! No, damn it! Come back! It's no use, it's too dangerous!"
Rey flies in towards Kylos fighter and opens fire. Kylo looks over his shoulder and then turns his attention back to flying. Kylo leads Rey through the battle, past warships and burning wrecks. Rey is determined, filled with rage, to gun him down!
The Raddus:
Maz and Rose hurry down the corridors. They duck into cover as they come across a unit of stormtroopers. Maz returns fire and then they flee down another corridor. Stormtroopers cut them off. They are trapped in a junction with two units of enemy soldiers firing at them. Maz can hardly shoot back due to the incoming fire. A grenade ends up close to Maz and Rose. Maz quickly opens a door and pushes Rose inside. Then, the grenade detonates. Rose looks up and as the smoke clears, she sees Maz on the floor, dead.
Stormtroopers secure the junction and one kicks Maz's body.
"She's dead" the trooper says.
Other stormtroopers enter the room where Rose found cover. They search it and find nothing. What they fail to detect is the one floor-plating that is slightly off and that slowly falls into place again. Rose is crawling through a tight space, barely able to fit between pipes, cables and wires; she is crying, desperate and afraid, covered in sot.
On the bridge, Sky Marshall Yorrick watches as Republic soldiers aim their guns at the closed blast-doors. Plasma-cutters work their way through the blast-doors, slowly cutting them open. In the end, the blast-doors gets blown open and a shoot-out begins between stormtroopers and Republic troops. It does not take long before the Republic forces are overwhelmed and gunned down. Yorrick is left on the bridge, with two guards protecting him, their blasters aimed at the enemy. Phasma steps inside, followed by the red Stormtroopers, aims and fires two shots, killing the two guards.
"Captain Phasma" Yorrick says.
Phasma walks up to Yorrick. "Sir. On behalf of Grand Admiral Armitage, I hereby welcome you to the ranks of the First Order, Sky Marshall Yorrick."
"The ship is yours, captain" Yorrick says.
At that point, dozens of First Order officers and crew enter the bridge and take over, manning each station on the bridge.
Battle for Holqawa'weyu:
The Raddus powers up its engines and begins to slowly leave formation, heading straight for the First Order fleet. Then, it begins to open fire on all nearby Republic vessels.
The Spirit of Alderaan:
The cruiser that saved the troops on Crait Six in Episode 8 takes part in the battle. On its bridge, Admiral Hera Syndulla is still in command, and she can't believe what she is seeing from the viewports; The Raddus leaving formation and firing at nearby friendly ships.
"Raddus, please respond" Syndulla says over the communicator. "Captain Ellis, what are you doing?! Sky Marshall Yorrick, what are your orders?!"
"No response, admiral" the captain of the Spirit of Alderaan says.
Syndulla can only look on as the massive flagship leaves formation. "She's lost."
Rey versus Kylo:
Rey follows Kylo, firing her guns time and time again, but Kylo is too skilled a pilot and avoids most of the incoming fire. Kylo flies in close along a destroyed cruiser and Rey loses him among the debris. She checks her scanners, looks around her from the cockpit, desperately trying to locate Kylo. Then, out of nowhere, he attacks her and pursues her; the roles are reversed. Only Rey is not as good a pilot as Kylo. She loses shields, her engines get hit and her wings gets blasted. She loses control. The, the incoming fire stops. Rey is unsure what has taken place, and then spots Kylos fighter leaving. In his fighter, Kylo flips some switches, turns a dial and calmly heads back to his own Star Destroyer. That is when he recieves word from his Star Destroyer.
"Supreme Leader, six holqawan fighters are heading your way. They refuse to respond to our hails."
"As expected" Kylo says. "I will deal with them."
Kylo veers off and heads straight for the hostile ships and engages them head on; the holqawan fighters looking like the Porsche Star Wars fighter.
The Raddus:
A panel in the ceiling opens and Rose climbs down. She finds herself close to the escape-pods. She hurries over, climbs inside and launches herself into space. The mighty warship that is the flagship is seen from her pod as it quickly increases distance. Rose pulls her legs up to her chest, hugs them and cries heavily.
Battle for Holqawa'weyu:
One by one, the Republic ships get destroyed by incoming fire. It is a massacre. The Republic doesn't stand a chance.
Kylo guns down a couple of the holqawan fighters.
A K-52 Strongarm vessel cuts through the battle, gunning down First Order fighters; Lando and Jannah at the helm with Zorii manning a turret.
"Told you didnt, I?" Lando grins.
Zorii is still not impressed. "I still say this is a piece of rusted garbage!"
"Don't say that" Lando grins. "All she needs is a bit of love."
Jannah is not amused. "Unfortunately, this is a bad place looking for love!"
Lando looks around the battle. "Whatta hell is the Republic doing? They have to punch through the enemy fleet, take them on at point blank range. Right now they're all sitting ducks."
"This is why I stay away from fleets and battles!" Zorii growls and fires her turret.
The Spirit of Alderaan:
Admiral Syndulla, having lost all hope, slowly walk up to the viewports and witness the destruction of the fleet.
A wing of First Order TIE Bombers fly in towards the ship and drop their payload, causing great explosions along the hull of the cruiser.
Syndulla sees a pair of bombs coming towards her. The bridge gets utterly destroyed by the blast.
The Xiphos:
Grand Admiral Armitage places his cup of tea to the side and gently wipes his mouth with a napkin, watching the burning ships in the distance. A fierce smile grows on his lips at the moment of victory.
Harloff walks up to Armitage. "Grand Admiral... The Supreme Leader has returned to his ship... unharmed. He survived the battle."
Armitage gives it a moments thought. "Erase all links between us and the holqawan squadron. Make sure it looks like rebellious officers acting on their own. Loyalists to the former government."
"Off course, sir" Harloff says. "I have already given the order."
"Good."
Holqawa'weyu Aftermath:
Wrecks of ships, burning, some merely skeletons of their former glory, fill the void. Debris is everywhere, filling up space. A First Order probe-droid finds a FT-6 Pike cockpit ejected from the fighter, the pilot alive inside. The probe-droid moves on, but shortly afterwards a First Order shuttle appears and blasts the ejected cockpit. Another probe-droid discovers an escape-pod and inside are eight Republic crewmembers. As the probe-droid watches, a shuttle destroys the pod. Ejected cockpits and escape-pods are destroyed by the hundreds across the battlefield.
Inside the wreck of a cruiser, an FT-6 cockpit is floating. In it, Poe is still alive and BB-8 is still operational behind him. They watch as pods gets destroyed in the distance.
"Don't worry, little guy" Poe says. "They wont find us in here. I think. Let me worry about the search-teams and you just figure out a way to get us out of here."
The Xiphos:
Admiral Harloff enters a lounge where Armitage and Yorrick are enjoying a exquisite dinner together, spared no expense. From the viewports of the lounge, we can see the devastated remains of the Republic fleet.
"Sir" Harloff says. "The fleet has moved on and will engage the shipyards at Megaya in four days. Reports from the other engagements indicate a total success, apart from Giankara. But our victories elsewhere has forced the Republic to abandon the system, so Giankara is once more in our control."
"Excellent, admiral" Armitage grins. "Oversee the details of the invasion, will you? I think I will enjoy this victory a moment longer."
Harloff bows, turns and leaves. Yorrick watches as the door closes behind the admiral and then he turns his attention back at Armitage.
"Have you informed the holqawan monarch that he is to be replaced by me as governor over his territories?" Yorrick asks.
"Not yet" Armitage admits. "All in due time. First, we need some level of stability in this region before we move on. But fear not, Governor Yorrick, soon enough you will be given all that was promised."
Yorrick raises his glass in a toast and Armitage mirrors him and they both smile viciously.
Rey versus Kylo:
Attached to a large piece of floating debris is Rey's heavily damaged fighter. In the cockpit, Rey receives an update from R2D2.
"There's got to be something you can do?" Rey says, earning a response from the droid. "No, I can't hold my breath for that long." R2 beeps again. "Alright, I get it. Calm down, will you."
"Leanna."
Rey reacts to Kylos voice. "What do you want, you monster?"
Kylo is standing in his personal lounge, looking out at the devastation. "Come to me. Let us talk, face to face. It does not have to be this way. It does not have to end like this."
"If you think I will surrender to you, you are a damned fool" Rey snarls. "Your men are attacking defenseless escape-pods! Attacking defenseless pilots that have ejected! You are a monster and a fiend! A tyrant and a murderer!"
"I'll stop the killing" Kylo says. "I'll order my men to take prisoners instead. If you will come to me. You can save all your comrades, Leanna. If you will only come to me."
Rey is surprised by the offer. She has no choice but to consider it. "How can I trust you to keep your word?"
Kylo moves his eyes across the ruined ships. "I told you before. I will always be loyal to you. I will never lie to you. You have my word."
Rey takes a deep breath. "Alright" she says. "I'll come to you. Tell your men to hold their fire."
Rey's fighter detaches itself from the large piece of floating hull and ignites one engine to give her momentum, slowly making her way towards the small squadron of First Order ships still in orbit over the planet.
Poe's Fighter:
BB-8 beeps frantically and Poe soon realizes why. A probe-droid is climbing around inside the wrecked cruiser. Poe is sweating, breathing heavily as he watches the droid and its search-lights and scanning-beams. Then, it spots them, moves quickly to get a better view and aims lights and scanners straight at Poe's face. Poe fears the worse and braces himself for the incoming fire. A First Order craft appears and turns to face the cockpit. The cockpit shakes and gets pulled out of the wreck. Poe doesn't know what to make of it and then his cockpit is secured by a pair of grappling-claws underneath the craft. Poe can only watch and follow along as the craft moves towards a larger cruiser. Poe spots several other craft, similar to the one having caught him, moving to the cruiser as well.
POW Barge:
A pair of mag-clamps lifts Poe's cockpit up through an opening in the belly of the ship and into a large hangar. A dozen stormtroopers stand ready with weapons as the cockpit gets settled on the floor and a droid cuts open the canopy. With the canopy removed, Poe gets on his feet, hands in the air.
"If it wasn't obvious, I surrender" Poe says.
Two stormtroopers grab him and pull Poe violently out of the cockpit. An officer steps up to Poe and give him a demeaning look over.
"Secure him, and deliver the droid to the slicers and have it prepared for data-extraction" the officer says.
Poe gets dragged away and escorted by four stormtroopers. BB-8 worriedly looks on as a cruel-looking droid closes in on him.
The Strongarm:
Landos ship is hidden deep inside a wreckage. Zorii enters the cockpit and is not pleased.
"Great, just great, Lando. What a brilliant idea to get a bucket of bolts and join in on the fighting. Instead of just leaving and saving our skins."
"We're not dead yet" Lando points out.
"But for how long?" Jannah wonders, looking out the viewports of the cockpit.
Zorii shakes head head. "Not long enough."
To be continued…