—Part 3—Chapter 16: Into the Fray—

The following morning, the base was alight with the anticipation of an impending battle. This was their first military engagement in months, and the Resistance buzzed with nervous energy. X-wings were fueled up, blasters were charged, and adrenaline was high. Poe and Finn were trying to force down a breakfast in the canteen, struggling to find their appetites in the shadow of impending chaos.

"Did you hear from her last night?" Poe asked, trying to act casual.

Finn shook his head. "No, did you?"

"No. Do I need to call her, or do you think she'll be hurrying her ass over here any minute now?" Poe was frustrated. "I know they had weird Jedi shit to do, but I'm really anxious to get moving."

Finn nodded. "Me too—we all are. I'm sure they'll get here soon."

Almost as if on cue, Poe's communicator buzzed. Looking at it incredulously, he spread his hands out in mock surprise as he interpreted its indicators. "Holy shit, it's her. I didn't think she even knew how to make calls with that thing…" He pressed the button to open the channel. "Well, good morning, sunshine! Are you all lightsabered up and ready for action?" He masked his irritation with a light sarcasm.

"Yeah, we're in the speeder, heading there now. Where are you guys?"

"In the canteen, trying to cram in a meal before piling into the X-wings. Have you eaten?"

"We scarfed some field rations, so yes, sort of," she replied lamely.

"Okay then. We'll finish up here and meet you in the hangar."

"See you there," said Rey, and the connection crackled to an end.

Poe looked at Finn. "Well, the waiting's over. Let's do this!" And he clapped his hands and stood from his seat, ignoring what was left on his tray. He took a last sip of water before he and Finn left, anxious to get on with the events of the day.

The hangar was abuzz with activity when Rey and Ben pulled in. Snap had organized enough ships and pilots to fill an entire Nebulon-C Escort frigate, seventy-two X-wings in all. Poe would be flying as leader of the Gold Squadron, and mission captain. By the time they got there, he was already too preoccupied with getting everything organized before takeoff to be able to talk to them directly. It was Finn who greeted them as they hopped out of the speeder.

"So, let's see your laser sword," he said, smiling at Rey.

She punched him playfully in the shoulder. "It's a staff, not a sword," she said, flicking it on and giving it a quick twirl before reattaching it to the belt around her waist.

"Aw, that's awesome! I can't wait to see it in action," he said happily, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Rey could tell he had other things on his mind.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Well, it's just… You know how much we value you, right?"

Rey's brows knitted together in perplexity, and Ben stepped up beside her. "Yeah, sure… and?"

"And it's just, well… They want me to lead Red Squadron."

"You don't think it should be Ben? He knows the facility better than any of us."

"It shouldn't be me," interjected Ben. "These people don't trust me, and frankly, I don't care enough. What should irritate you is that it isn't you leading our squadron."

Rey turned toward Ben, pondering what he'd said.

Feeling awkward, Finn cut in, "Look, I'm a crappy pilot, and I have way too much personal baggage about this whole thing to be able to do this with a cool head. If you want me to talk to D'Acy and get her to agree that you should lead, I will—"

"No, no, don't be ridiculous. You have a terrific rapport with all the other pilots, great instincts, and a talent for organizing others. You'll make a fabulous Red Leader." She smiled nervously at him. "I'd be honored to fly under you."

"Are you sure?"

Rey thought for a moment, but nodded confidently. "Absolutely. Yes."

Finn sighed. "Okay, if you say so. But don't think I don't need you. I'll expect the both of you to be there with strategic advice, and to save my ass if it gets real up there, so, you know, stick close."

Rey hugged him affectionately. "I can do that."

After they broke apart, Finn stole a glance at Ben, who had been quietly observing from just behind Rey. Finn sent a single nod in his direction, then headed off toward his X-wing.

Rey turned to Ben. "You really don't care?"

Ben shook his head. "I'm just here for you. Without you, I would be… rudderless. I need to make sure you come back."

At this, something inside Rey melted. There were no words, no actions, that could convey what she was feeling. Although disappointed that upholding the moral high ground wasn't reason enough for him to want to come along, she was deeply moved to have him so unequivocally on her side. She hoped he could feel even a small taste of what he'd stirred in her, so he could know what it meant. Failing that, she could only stare at him adoringly.

"If you care so little, and you're so worried about me, why haven't you tried to stop me going?" she asked.

"'Stubbornness is an asset', isn't that what you said? If I've learned nothing else, I've learned that trying to get you to change your mind once you've made it up is an exercise in futility."

"Smart man."

The corner of Ben's mouth quirked up in a subtle smile. "Now where's my X-wing? I'm used to TIE Silencers—I hope you appreciate what it means that I'm willing to pilot such a mediocre starfighter in order to come along."

"Gah, I've never heard such privileged talk… toughen up, will you?" she teased, shaking her head dismissively. "Would you prefer to take the Millennium Falcon?"

"Junk."

"That isn't a 'no'."

Ben sighed, and together, they walked over to the fleet of X-wings. The other pilots were boarding their starfighters and preparing to rendezvous with the frigate in orbit around Dendrokaan. It had been a while since the Resistance had undertaken any direct action against the First Order, and many were giddy with nervous energy, excited to get in there and cause some trouble, including Finn. His excitement stood in stark contrast to Ben, who was positively stoic once he was in the pilot's seat.

Scores of orange-clad individuals were sealing their hatches and testing their comms. Ben had refused to don one of the orange flight suits of the Resistance, and was instead hunkered down in his X-wing in his repaired black garb, without his cloak, but with his lightsaber modestly displayed on his belt—he was proud to have it back, but understood what his having it might mean to the Resistance fighters, even though he would be using it in their interests. Rey opted for a simple flight jacket over her tunic, but had absolutely no reservations about showing off her shiny new saberstaff.

Rey spotted each of her companions at their respective ships and made her way to her own, where she readied for takeoff. Once she was all strapped in and tethered to her comms system, she secured the hatch and prepared to roll out. The remaining Resistance fighters hurriedly loaded into their X-wings once they were cleared.

Finn, from the privacy of his own X-wing, looked dolefully out into the wide space of the hangar. He was excited to be leading a squadron into a battle against the First Order, but also a little down that Rose wasn't there to see him off. Once they were finished at Kamino, there would be all the Lothal children to see to. The situation on Lothal was still a mess, stormtroopers everywhere and half the planet enslaved. Winn's team was working on that, but in the meantime they would need to safely house the kids, so it had been decided that they should set up an orphanage on Dendrokaan for that purpose. Rose had a million things to do to help Jess's team get all of that ready, so she couldn't spare the time this morning even to come to the hangar. They'd had to say their goodbyes earlier.

Poe came in over the headset. "Alright everybody, let's rendezvous with the frigate. Kamino is galactic-east-southeast of here, in Wild Space, so when we get there, be sure to watch out for space bandits." There was a general chuckle over the open comm. Poe continued, "Once we're in the frigate, it's about a four-hour trip. We'll meet in the ready room to get status updates and answer any last logistical questions. Move out!"

One after another, seventy-two starfighters found the air and left Dendrokaan. It was Ben's first actual look at the planet from above, and the first time he was able to discern where in the galaxy he had been for the last couple weeks. This part of the Expansion Region not being terrifically dense, it was nowhere near anything else, and the vegetation and other surface details of the planet itself actually made spying buildings from the air rather challenging. Their outgoing signals were encrypted and cloaked against unfriendly scanners, so it was no wonder the base had stayed hidden for as long as it had. Ben actually felt a little naïve that they had eluded him so successfully for so long.

Rey, sensing his feelings, projected to him, somewhat facetiously, Don't feel bad, knowing where I was would've only caused you more conflict.

It was intentional ignorance, to be sure.

Now that you know, remember, you can't tell anyone, she teased.

I wouldn't dream of it…

The frigate dropped out of hyperspace in the Kamino system, a safe distance from the planet itself. From behind the relative cover of Kamino's star, they confirmed that the transport was nowhere in sight, and therefore must be on the surface, if it was here at all.

Ben had given them a good idea where on the surface the transport would have docked, so preparations were made to release the X-wing squadrons and make haste for the surface. Several teams had been established to land in different areas, others assigned to provide cover from the air. Ben, Rey, Finn and the rest of Red Squadron were assigned to land in the area closest to where the children would be. Blue Squadron would descend upon the docking bay and find the recruitment ship.

Other squadrons were given targets of lesser importance and instructed to cause as much distraction and disruption to Kamino's facilities as possible. On top of that, there was so much about this mission that couldn't be planned in advance that they brought extra squadrons just in case things started to go south. Gold Squadron, led by Poe, would remain in the air to provide necessary cover for the ground teams and the eventual theft of the transport ship.

The frigate's scanners assessed the situation quickly, and the final orders were given as the X-wing squadrons burst from the launch bay and prepared to blitz their targets. The element of surprise wouldn't last long, but they were determined to make the most of what they had.

The blinking lights on the radar panel always looked the same. Lieutenant Ambrosi had been watching those telltales day in and day out ever since he was assigned to Kamino six months ago, and the pattern of colors and flashes was so consistent it might as well have been choreographed. So when the blinks broke from their characteristic sequence, he couldn't deny that he felt a twinge of excitement. Eyes widening, he activated his comlink.

"Lieutenant General Tonkin, we're picking up an anomaly in neighboring space. Just a moment… Sensors now indicate several squadrons of fighters on an attack trajectory," reported Ambrosi, trying to sound as staid and professional as possible.

Tonkin had been observing operations in the containment facility where the children had been transferred: Rows upon rows of containment units lined the wide expanse, muted light reflecting off of their pristine white surfaces. Children of various ages were contained within the units, connected by complex arrays of wiring to instruments designed to gather and deliver different types of information; vital signs and equivalent ages of development were collected and analyzed, and mental conditioning was transmitted. The operation had been going according to schedule, with no indication that there was anything on the horizon likely to disrupt it. Ambrosi's alert had come as a surprise, and Tonkin felt his abdomen clench as he considered what he could be facing.

Tonkin fumbled with the comlink before returning the call, "Say again, Lieutenant?"

The lieutenant subtly cleared his throat. "Sir, sensors indicate several attacking starfighters are incoming." Ambrosi waited, watching as the ships got closer. "Your orders, sir?"

Tonkin felt empty. He had never been called on to provide military strategy—he was simply a bureaucrat, through and through. He'd applied for this assignment because he thought this would be an easy way to finish out his career with the First Order before retiring to someplace quiet. This entire facility was absolutely top secret—babysitting a bunch of clones and zombie children was all he thought he'd come here to do.

Ambrosi cleared his throat. "What are your orders, sir?" he asked again, interrupting Tonkin's thoughts.

"Mobilize the TIE fighters! Get our troops in position!" barked Tonkin. "Priorities are to protect the facility, and destroy the intruders." He turned on his heel and hurriedly strode toward the command center. Once his mind had had time to catch up to what was happening, he did his best to examine his situation analytically. "Are they Resistance?" he asked.

"Most likely, sir. We don't quite have eyes on them yet, but the signatures we're getting are consistent with the type of craft they like to use." Ambrosi continued to marvel at the dancing lights on his relay panel. "Shall I alert General Hux?"

Tonkin's pale face reddened—it embarrassed him that he needed strategic advice from his inferiors. Covering for his insecurity, Tonkin spat out, "Yes, obviously, do so immediately, of course!" Privately chiding himself, he made a mental note to review standard operating procedures at his earliest convenience—he hoped he'd be allowed the opportunity to do so.

In its hubris, the First Order clearly had not anticipated a frontal assault on the cloning facility at Kamino. Red Squadron encountered absolutely no response from the air or the ground as they raced toward the island where the facility had been constructed, landing on the strip outside the main building. Red Squadron landed their X-wings just outside the facility and popped their hatches, hastily exiting the craft and picking off the few guards who had been left on duty. Rey yanked off her flight jacket as she climbed out of the cockpit, tossing it inside before climbing down. Reflexively, her hand went to the hilt of her saber.

It was during their approach to the main doors that the First Order finally put up something of a defense. Stormtroopers flooded from the doors, blasters trained on the intruders, and a contingent of rooftop snipers emerged to pepper the ground with a flurry of bolts.

Igniting their lightsabers, Ben and Rey deflected the blaster bolts back at their attackers as they advanced upon the facility. Rey was practically dancing as she twirled her saberstaff around her, sending blasts of energy back with devastating effect. Finn and other Resistance fighters fired back at the troopers, driving snipers back from the ledges above and forcing ground troops to take shelter behind cover. With the first real line of defense broken, the twelve pilots descended upon the main doors, Rey and Ben leading the charge. Stabbing his lightsaber into the sealed doors, Ben ripped through the metal, creating a red-rimmed portal through which the intruders entered the facility.

The entry hall was enormous. The surface-level portion of the facility sat three stories tall, each floor laid out with a balcony lounge overlooking the main entrance. The balconies curved around them in a half circle, creating convenient sniping positions for the First Order on all sides. The chambers housing the children were below the surface. The rescuers would need to find a way to penetrate deeper into the main floor in order to access the lower levels. They knew from Ben's memories that there was a long, wide staircase leading down into the heart of the incubation facility, with large service elevators on either side. Knowing how exposed they would be on the stairs, Ben wasn't crazy about heading down that way, but it was the quickest way to where they were going. This would have to be a smash and grab operation.

As they crossed the large entrance toward the cover of the balcony above, stormtroopers began firing down on them from the balconies. Coordinating their actions, Ben sent Rey floating up to the second floor, spinning her saberstaff and slicing away at the snipers and their weapons. The group on the main floor continued to advance, crossing the foyer into the relative cover under the balcony in the middle of the curving promenade. An expansive hallway extended for about a hundred feet in front of them, smaller hallways veering out to the left and right. They were unmolested as they charged down the main hallway, until they came to the staircase before them, which stretched from wall to wall. Rey rejoined them, having descended a side staircase from the second story back. Together again, they contemplated the impending plunge.

The white staircase descended for several stories, the view down both impressive and intimidating—certainly by design. A knot twisted in Rey's gut as she considered penetrating deeper below. Steeling herself against this sudden wave of claustrophobia, the rescuers ran down the gleaming, featureless staircase. The alabaster walls punctuated only occasionally by built-in light fixtures at regular intervals, they felt as though they were descending into an infinite loop, having lost sight of the top of the staircase, and the bottom not yet visible under the dropping ceiling. Rey had the sensation that she had fallen into a möbius strip of smooth, white hell.

The First Order's delayed response to their invasion made entry ridiculously easy, but they knew it would not be as simple trying to get out. Once they found the children, all of them, they would somehow need to get them transported out of the facility and toward the docking bay where Blue Squadron would have secured the recruitment vessel.

There was no sign of pursuit behind them, but as they neared the bottom of the long staircase, troopers appeared behind a set of mobile barricades that had been set up. Red Squadron had no such cover, but as the shots came at them, Rey and Ben redirected them and immobilized troopers, leaving the other Resistance fighters free to return fire upon their enemies. Ben used the Force to send the barricades hurtling backwards, stunning several stormtroopers.

Having finally come to the end of the staircase, the incubation chamber opened up before them. The chamber was longer than it was wide, housing row after row of individual incubation units, each one cramped and eerily lit. The chambers were equipped with windows revealing their brightly illuminated insides. A quick look at the faces of the children stored inside ensured that these were not clones—they had found the children stolen from Lothal.

"This isn't all of them," called Pim, a short, red-headed Resistance pilot.

"No," replied Rey, "but it's most of them. How do we get them out of here?"

On one wall was a blinking control panel. Ben approached the console, and with a flurry of commands, the lighting dimmed in the chambers, and the lights on the control panel turned from green to red.

"I'm terminating their incubation. Through that corridor should be some trucks that we can use to transport the children to the docking bay." Ben gestured to a hallway off to their left.

Pim and four other fighters ran towards the hallway, but were met with another salvo of blaster fire as a group of stormtroopers emerged to greet them. Before anyone could react, Pim had taken a shot to the chest and was knocked off her feet, dead before she hit the floor.

"Watch out!" shrieked Rey, throwing out her hand to immobilize the stormtroopers who had appeared in the hall. The Resistance fighters blasted the unmoving targets. Had Pim not been laying there, eyes vacant and chest smoldering, Finn might have felt more guilt about how easy it was to take them all out as they stood frozen in place.

The fighters ran up to the incubation chambers and began flipping release valves, sending hatches open with a hiss and a spurt of vapor. Ben worked feverishly at the controls, deactivating units and releasing the children from their shackles. Several Resistance fighters descended upon the units, assisting the children who were too young to disengage themselves.

Finn joined the fighters who had followed Pim into the hallway, and moments later Rey could make out the whine of electric motors as trucks began pulling into the facility.

Desch Crowel, another member of Red Squadron, led the caravan of trucks. As he tore around a corner and parked in front of the first row of incubation units, he shouted, "There are more troopers coming! Get ready!"

Ben looked to Rey, concern lining his features. "This is going to get ugly fast. The rest of the squad knows what to do from here. You and I should look for an officer and get him to lock down all access points that aren't directly en route to the docking bay. Finn!" shouted Ben. Finn had parked his truck along the second row of chambers and was helping bleary-eyed children into the restraints of his vehicle. Ben continued shouting to him, "Rey and I need to secure an escape route! Can you handle things from here if we take off?"

"Yeah, go! We got this!" yelled Finn, a two year-old child in his arms. Ben and Rey took off down the hall away from the children and the rest of Red Squadron.

Growing up on Arkanis, Armitage Hux had not been a happy child. His father, Brendol Hux, while a military and technological genius in his own right, was an unhinged, uncaring, and abusive father. Armitage was a bastard, literally. His mother was a kitchen maid in one of the military barracks there. His father had taken him away from his mother at an early age, and he spent the better part of his youth trying unsuccessfully to earn his father's approval. Brendol Hux had founded the stormtrooper conditioning program on Arkanis when Armitage was just a boy. When his father offered him the opportunity to take charge of that program, Armitage jumped at the chance to prove his worth. Hux had demonstrated an almost preternatural ability to create conditioned soldiers from children taken by the Order.

However, in spite of his extraordinary talents, Brendol Hux continued to deride him, keeping him desperate for fatherly approval—until one day Armitage finally grew tired of being his father's dancing bear. With Captain Phasma's help, Armitage Hux had seen his father murdered.

Hux had not been back to Arkanis since. He had promised himself that he would never return unless it was to see it burn. Now, with the Liska and the Taiga in tow, he was prepared to do just that, bringing Arkanis to its knees by stealing its children. Arkanis had turned to the New Republic when Hux was still a teenager, though some small parts of it had always remained loyal to the Galactic Empire. Arkanis was a large, well-populated planet, and in spite of these pockets of First Order sympathizers, most of the populace had resisted First Order rule. There was little Hux looked forward to with more relish and anticipation than taming Arkanis's rebellious holdouts.

The raids on Lothal had been a success, and now Hux was poised to double down on that success by bringing back another throng of soon-to-be stormtroopers. A disorganized rabble brought to glorious heel—and not from some backwater like Lothal this time, but from a civilized planet. A New Republic planet.

Since the Arkanis Academy had been a major part of the First Order's initial rise to military prominence, the arrival of the Finalizer would bring no alarm to the people of Arkanis—even today, the Academy still supplied many new troops each year. The two tremendous recruitment vessels pulling into orbit around its equator would be noticed, but not given more than a second glance. Hux had all the time in the world to prepare his assault on the resisting settlements.

Coming to rest in the desk chair in his quarters, Hux prepared to contact the surface operatives on Arkanis with whom he would discuss which settlements were the best targets for swift and efficient raiding. However, before he could activate the appropriate channels, an alert came to him from the bridge of the Finalizer.

Lieutenant Durvas spoke calmly into the microphone at her comm station, reporting, "General, we're receiving distress calls from the facility on Kamino. Lieutenant General Tonkin reports a Resistance assault on the facility."

Hux stared blankly at his comms screen. Incensed, he screamed at his First Lieutenant, "What!? Did I just hear you right, Lieutenant? The Resistance, at our top secret cloning facility. Don't tell me that's really what you just said," he gritted out, staring critically in her direction.

The lieutenant swallowed before proceeding. "Sir, several squadrons of Resistance starfighters have landed on Kamino and are storming the cloning facility there. Initial reports indicate they're attempting to rescue the children taken from Lothal."

Hux was positively red-faced. His thoughts immediately landed on Kylo Ren. It was illogical, but something inside Hux told him that Ren was involved in this interference. Hux cursed himself for his failures, and vowed that if he ever saw Kylo Ren again, he would make him regret that he hadn't allowed himself die sooner, a captive on that moon.

"Set course for Kamino. Make haste, Lieutenant," Hux seethed, shivering in his barely contained rage.

"Sir? What are your orders regarding the Liska and the Taiga?"

"Just get us to Kamino! Now!" Hux screamed. Without another word, the lieutenant disconnected, and moments later the stars outside Hux's window were nothing more than a beautiful blue smear.