CHAPTER 16
It's muscle memory at this point. Swing, slice, block. Check both sides for attack. Right next to Ben. Not back to back exactly but close enough that they can protect each other.
"Should we call for reinforcements?" Jannah calls out.
"Flight took half a day," Poe yells, "This'll be over by the time they get here."
In retrospect, it was utterly reckless for them to have made this trip with no backup, no plan b, and virtually no awareness of their surroundings. But retrospect means very little in the face of immediate danger.
Whoever's attacking them is doing an excellent job at staying hidden, aided in large part by the heavy fog still surrounding them. Rey swings her lightsaber in front of her and it slices through the mist, a ghostly shadow of its usual vibrancy.
They're in the open but they won't be for long. She wonders if she's the only one who's noticed that they're being herded towards some sort of steel barricade to their left. Soon they'll hit it. And then…
"They're backing us into a corner!" Rey shouts.
"So they are!" Poe shouts in reply after a quick look to the left. "Everyone split up!"
And he charges into the fog without looking back.
The rest of the group pauses for just a second, wordlessly acknowledging the possibility that, once again, they might be looking at each other for the last time. No one has to say a thing for Rey to know they're all thinking the same thing — yes, this is still happening and no, they really don't want to do this anymore. Then the moment passes, Rose takes a deep breath, Jannah nods, Finn adjusts his blaster, and they silently agree to do it anyways.
Jannah runs, energy bow raised, in one direction. Rose and Chewie take off the opposite way.
"I can hold it down here!" Finn says. "You two go."
The last thing Rey wants to do right now is separate from the rest of the group. But if there's anything basically every part of her life has taught her, it's that "want to" and "have to" rarely align.
We'll be more useful apart, Ben sends through the bond, confirming what she already knows.
Keep this open? she thinks back at him.
Always.
Rey rushes off in the same direction Jannah went, though she can only faintly make out her silhouette in the fog. She doesn't bother to look as Ben runs toward Rose and Chewie.
A torrent of laser blasts flies through the air, coming in far more rapid succession here than they were further back. Rey rarely feels useless in a battle, but as she continues to do nothing but deflect the blasts, she wishes she had a weapon that didn't require her to fight in such close range. She could use the Force to push the blasts back on their assailants, but visibility is still too low for her to risk aiming wrong and hitting one of her friends.
The air does seem to be clearing though — the fog is losing density with each second that passes, the literal heat of the battle forcing the air to clear.
She can see now that they're facing off against yet another battalion of First Order officers, Stormtroopers, and what Ben tells her through the bond are Vader loyalists.
Why anyone would cling to a blatantly evil cause, fight so hard in defense of something that's caused so much destruction—
She narrowly misses a laser blast. Getting distracted could be a deadly mistake. She takes a deep breath and re-centers herself, she'll have plenty of time to reflect on the philosophical implications of warfare once she's not in mortal danger.
All she has to do is push their assailants back, hold them off for long enough that someone else can get close enough to fight.
No one's calling for help — that's a good sign. A Stormtrooper fires directly at her. She takes the chance and deflects it right back to her anonymous attacker, trying desperately not to think about how that's a living, breathing person in that suit. A person who may not have been given any choice in any of this, who may have been told their part of the story and never had an opportunity to change it…
She shakes her head. Philosophy and ethics again. A luxury she can't afford.
The blasts slow to a stop. The noise dies down. There's the unmistakeable sound of a lightsaber's slice and then a heavy thud that resounds through the atmosphere.
The fog has finally cleared enough for Rey to see what's going on.
Nothing.
They're all still standing. Their attackers are not.
The metal structure they were up against before isn't the only one. Gnarled, half-melted remnants of what seem to have been barricades are scattered among the trees.
They're all a little out of breath, sweaty and looking more world-weary than they did this morning, as they slowly make their way toward each other, still keeping an eye out for danger, but finding none.
"Think that's all of them?" Rose calls out.
Chewie growls his disagreement.
Rey has to, reluctantly, agree with Chewie. It seems too easy for them to just be done, and yet… she looks around again. No one's coming, no one in the trees, no one still moving on the ground.
Ben is doing the same thing she is a little ways off — surveilling the area and sending a steady stream of updates through the bond.
Finn makes it to Rey and Jannah at the same time Rose and Chewie do. Poe's still farther ahead than the rest of them. He steps carefully through the fog that now only covers their ankles, passing through trees and barricade remnants with his blaster ready to fire.
Ben's relatively far away from him, but still closer than Rey is… which is perhaps why he notices it a second before she does.
A flash of movement from behind a barricade. A hand that raises and disappears again. Not one of their people.
It's that old cliche— everything goes into slow motion.
Ben's already running. Not that he'll make it in time. No one else seems to have noticed what's about to happen, which is how she realizes… she's seeing all of this through the bond. She calls out Poe's name, not sure what that would even accomplish, but it does get the attention of the others, who finally stop discussing amongst themselves and turn to look in the direction Ben's running.
One set of hands holding a blaster appears above a barricade — the barricade Poe just walked past — and aims at his back.
Finn takes off. He won't make it in time either.
He's yelling as he runs, all of them are yelling, and in retrospect maybe she'll decide that was a bad decision on their part. Maybe it distracted him more than if they'd just kept quiet or started shooting or did anything but stand there and watch as the laser makes contact with Poe's back.
Ben's about to close the bond. She can feel his decision to before he even warns her about it.
Sorry sweetheart.
I know.
I'll open it back up as soon as I can.
I know.
Her view of the scene through the bond shuts out.
Poe drops to the ground, hits his head, and stops moving. Hopefully just unconscious. The loyalist that fired at him slides back behind the barricade, but two others jump out from behind theirs. They're dangerously close, too close to stop, even though now everyone is racing to Poe's side. But no one will make it in time… no one but their enemies…
They advance… and then, suddenly, they fly through the air, away from Poe, and land with a thud a far distance away.
It's Ben. He's racing at full speed, almost at Poe's side, arm outstretched, using the Force to keep the attackers at bay.
"Is he okay?" Finn yells as Ben finally makes it to Poe's side.
"He's breathing," Ben shouts back.
Finn finally finally makes it to them and kneels down, checking for himself.
Rey, Rose, Chewie, and Jannah get there moments later. Rey skids to a halt next to Finn, who still has a hand pressed to Poe's pulse point. Chewie and Jannah take one look at the scene before moving to stand in front of the rest of the group, weapons poised for any threat that may appear. Rose stands behind, facing the direction they just came from and forming a triangle of protection around their wounded leader.
"We've gotta get him back to the ship," Finn says.
It's a good idea. The best in ideal circumstances, but nothing about this is ideal. Those certainly weren't the only assailants left, and if they turn and run now, the odds are they'll never see the attack coming.
As if they could read Rey's thoughts, a new wave of attackers appears, marching through the clearing fog. It's only one line of them — the last of them most likely. They're not quite in step, their armor seems to weigh heavy on their bodies. They start shooting immediately but their aim seems worse, less calculated, more frantic. Maybe that's why this feels like a last stand for the remnants of the First Order more than any other battle they've encountered. And a last stand means no one has anything left to lose.
Ben doesn't have time to say any of that to Finn, who surely knows it as well as he does.
He just shakes his head and says, "No time."
A laser from the advancing troop narrowly misses grazing their heads.
Ben looks from the troop to Poe to Finn. Then he picks his lightsaber off the ground, deactivates it, and holds the hilt out to Finn.
"Here," Ben says. "I'll stay with him."
Finn just looks at Ben.
"Take it," Ben urges. "It'll be put to better use with you than me."
"But you need it."
"No I don't. I can hold them off with the Force. No one will touch him, I promise."
Finn takes it, stands up… then hesitates. But Rey can tell it's not out of reluctance to use the weapon, and it's not out of doubt for Ben's words. It's because he doesn't want to leave Poe's side. She knows exactly how he feels.
"Finn, we have to go. He'll be fine here. He's safe, safer than any of the rest of us," she says.
Finn looks back down at Ben.
"You're sure you've got this." The way he says it, it's barely a question.
Ben nods, looking up at Finn with an unplaceable mix of fear and confidence.
"Trust me."
Finn looks between Ben and Rey, spares one final glance at Poe, then ignites the lightsaber and charges forward.
It goes against her instinct to leave them here, but Rey takes her own advice to trust that Ben has things covered and follows Finn into the fray, the rest of the group trailing behind them.
She gets back into the swing of things easily. Turns off the part of her brain that's terrified for both Poe and Ben and focuses solely on what she's able to do.
She feels different than she does when it's Ben with the other lightsaber. It's not bad, but it is different. Perhaps it's because she has no mental link to Finn or maybe it's because she's just not as used to his style, but everything feels more surprising. They move in tandem when she expects them to diverge. He swings where Ben would have stabbed, blocks where she would have ducked. He's not any less effective — not in the least. But, still, it's fascinating to see both her influence and Ben's mixed with Finn's own burgeoning individual style. She can't dwell on it for too long right now, but the knowledge that she was able to not only share something with someone, but to let it go and allow them down their own path fills her with a peculiar type of hope she's never felt before.
They cut through their attackers efficiently, keeping them from advancing on the rest of the group. Anyone she misses is quickly taken out by a blaster or crossbow fired by her friends.
She spares a glance behind her — Ben is crouched protectively in front of Poe. Almost no one is even making it to them, but the few who do are promptly thrown into the metal barricades.
He does look a little terrifying right now, the single-minded focus, the fire in his eyes, those giant hands outstretched and ready to do damage with a simple flick of the wrist.
It seems contradictory but he somehow manages to be both feral and controlled at the same time.
She turns her attention back to the task at hand. Rose and Chewie are back to back, making an impressive team despite their significant height difference. Jannah has her energy bow at the ready, eyes scanning the field for wherever she can be of most use. Finn is doing just fine without Rey, battling with a level of ferocity she's only seen in him a few times before. She can sense all of it rolling off of him — the determination, the anxiety. It's in stark contrast to the mild reluctance she sensed from earlier today.
They manage to overpower these last remnants of the First Order quickly, working the way they always have — as both a unit and individually, trusting each other's strengths and covering each other's weaknesses.
Silence falls on the battlefield again. It's a deeper silence this time, less electric. More final.
It would be foolish to assume they're entirely safe, but at least they're able to breathe for a moment.
"Everyone, back to the ship," Finn pants.
They all nod, a little exhausted, before turning and jogging back in the direction they came.
Finn leads them, so he reaches Ben and Poe first. Poe is still completely unconscious, but breathing, which is all that really matters. Ben is out of breath in a way he usually isn't.
His face has returned to the calm, neutral mask he usually maintains in group settings, but even without the bond being open, she can tell he's frantic underneath it.
"He's still alive," she hears Ben say as she reaches them.
They barely even slow down as Ben stands, pulling Poe up with him.
Rey pushes on the bond until he opens it back up, and for once, she almost wishes he didn't.
A surge of panic and exhaustion and stress flows through the bond as they run. It's almost enough to bring her to her knees. It's a wonder he's able to stand at all.
He's okay he's alive he's safe I kept him safe but what if I hadn't what if someone got through and I missed them their backs were turned they wouldn't have seen they might have thought I did something they might have thought I—
Ben, Rey cuts through the stream of anxiety and catastrophizing racing through Ben's head. Ben, Poe's okay. You did a good job. You're okay.
She can feel him calm down, just a little.
The Falcon comes into view. The fog is still dense in this area, but she can just make out the outline of the ship as they near it.
Almost there… just a few more breathless seconds and they'll be on the ship. Just a few more—
A man in a tattered First Order uniform jumps out from behind the only barricade separating them from the ship. He aims for the group.
It all happens in a second.
"I need to reload," Jannah yells.
Chewie roars a similar sentiment.
Rose aims for the man but misses.
Finn deflects a blast, tries to use the Force to stop him, but can't quite reach that far.
Ben has Poe and Poe is passed out.
Rey's the closest one. It only makes sense.
She reaches out, unsure of exactly what's going to happen, focused on nothing but saving her friends. From keeping this horrible day from ending in tragedy. She feels every emotion in her body — the love, the fear, the determination — and lets it flow through her, blocking nothing, acknowledging everything. The Force is buzzing around her, electric, kinetic energy in every direction. The last time she was in this position, the last time she tried to use the Force on an enemy like this… She can't think about it. She can't worry. She can only act.
She focuses, hand shaking, and the man starts to be pushed back… she feels a sparking in her fingertips, electricity… it's about to happen again but — no. She doesn't feel the panic she felt last time. It's as if she knows somewhere in her subconscious that even if it does happen, she knows who she is and she knows what she stands for and she knows that it has nothing to do with her lineage. But it doesn't have to happen. She gets to decide.
The lightning dies.
The man continues to be pushed back, almost into a barricade. Rey moves her arm and he slides to the side.
The man falls backward, landing in a softer area far away from the ship.
He'll be up again in a few minutes, but that's enough time for them to escape to the safety of the stars.
The path now clear, Rey and her friends race up the ramp of the Falcon, boarding before anyone can catch them.
Chewie runs to the cockpit, taking on the role of pilot today. Ben rushes Poe to the captain's quarters. Finn follows. Rose and Jannah sink into the booth at the dejarik table. Rey sinks to her knees right there on the floor.
She barely even feels it when the ship lifts off and makes the jump to hyperspeed.
