Rey and Luke had gone through the transport to the officer's deck. Surprisingly, the hallways were largely empty. A stray officer would cross at an intersection but would always seem hurried. Rey continued to hear the voice calling her, and she pursued with no other thought. Her steps became more rushed the further they went.
"She's getting louder," Rey said.
"Calm yourself," Luke advised. "Do not let your emotions rule you."
Luke noticed the intersecting corridors had more personnel than the one they were traveling as if they were endeavoring to keep the path clear. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he muttered to himself.
"There! I saw her!" she exclaimed and began to run down the gray corridor.
Luke ran after her calling out for her to wait. She turned to her left and down another empty corridor with one large closed armored door.
"She went in here," Rey said as she went to the control panel.
Luke catching up said, "Wait, Rey. Something's wrong."
She heedlessly opened the door, not caring for his concern. An immense room opened before them, filled with darkness. She could see no walls and no ceiling in the dark. However, centered in the room was a large black container.
"I know that container," she said, recognizing it as the portable cell she had seen in the Jedi temple. She ran to it with excited and quick steps and punched in the command to open the door. The black doors cracked and gasped as air exited. They opened slowly, gliding to each side. Rey stood in desperate anticipation, her fingers gripping the fabric at the edge of her tan uniform. The doors opened. Rey's eyes widened and her mouth gaped. She took a step back and raised her hands to her mouth. The opened revealed, not an imprisoned mother, but a desiccated and gaunt woman encased in a transparent green capsule, her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her breast. She was lifeless. But Rey realized that it was the same woman that had led her here. It was her mother.
"NO! NO! NO!" she cried out and began pounding on the glass with the butt of her staff.
"I am glad that I get to witness this reunion," a voice interjected, cold and emotionless. "Amazing techniques that the Inquisitors of the Empire have used to lure Jedi. Effective, don't you think?"
Rey and Luke switched their gaze to the darkness at their right. Kylo Ren stepped out, followed by the four knights. Rey's countenance instantly morphed from despair to anger. "Do what you will with the apprentice," Kylo Ren said to the knights. "But leave Skywalker to me."
Luke ignited his father's blue lightsaber giving a bright glow in the darkness. Kylo Ren and the knights advanced, their own lightsabers ablaze with red.
"This is your end, Kylo Ren," said Rey, "and the end of anyone that gets in between me and you."
She held out her staff. A lightsaber blade erupted out of each end. The knights stopped short, and Kylo Ren stared in astonishment. Her lightsaber blades had no color at all. They were void of all light as if they were linear black holes drawing all light into them. Only the aura surrounding them could be seen. She had crafted a black-bladed lightsaber.
….
Finn struggled under the weight of the two packs of explosives. Chewbacca seemed to be a little slower as well. They were always cautious when moving from the cover of one TIE to the next, causing them to sprint, stop, sprint, and stop. The effort was exhausting them, even with Poe and Finn trading packs from time to time. However, their effort saved them many times from being noticed by patrolling guards and droids.
"We can't do this the whole way," he said and tried to come up with another solution. About ten meters ahead was a tool cart used for minor repairs that were too minute for a droid to be called in to fix.
"Alright, let's load all the packs into that," he pointed up ahead. Poe and Chewbacca agreed it was a good idea.
"That's great, but we still will have to sneak around. How about getting some uniforms?" Poe asked.
"Good idea, too," Finn said.
They paused at the end of a TIEs wing, then rushed across the opening as usual; Finn first with his two packs, then Chewbacca, then Poe. Across the way as if in a mirror, Boba Fett newly clad in Mandalorian armor, then Zeb, and then Sabine rushed out. Finn and Boba glanced over at the same time and stopped as they looked at each other. The rest bumped into them.
"What are they doing here?" Poe, the third in line asked.
"What are they doing here?" Sabine, the third in her line asked in unison.
Walking up the center of the TIE fighters were five guards heading toward Finn and his crew. Sabine could see them, but Finn could not.
Sabine raised her weapon and fired at the guards. She hit one. The remaining guards unholstered their sidearms and began pursuit, firing erratically. One pulled out his transceiver and reported intruders.
"What did you do that for?" Boba asked as they started to run.
Boba, Zeb, and Sabine ran for the closest door. Finn, Chewbacca, and Poe were left alone for the moment.
"Did she just help us out?" Poe asked.
"I think she did," Finn answered. They ran to the maintenance cart and emptied it.
"After this, we'll find some uniforms." Finn continued.
Boba, Zeb, and Sabine hurried down a corridor heading for the flight bay. Any stormtroopers they ran into, Boba quickly dispatched with his blaster. Zeb and Sabine tried as best they could to fire behind them at the pursuing guards.
"This is not looking good," Boba yelled.
In front of them, five stormtroopers filled the flight bay door, aimed and fired. Boba, Zeb, and Sabine dove to each side. The pursuing guards did not fare as well and were riddled with blaster fire from the stormtroopers.
A clanging sound bounced at the stormtroopers feet. One looked down to see the round metal ball, but it was too late. The explosion shook the corridor. Boba, Sabine, and Zeb rushed through the burning smoke into the flight bay, the whole place now alerted to their presence.
Boba ignited his jetpack and flew above the parked TIE fighters, spinning around to fire at any incoming stormtroopers, taking out a half dozen.
Sabine threw her two last explosive charges, blowing up the wings of a pair of opposing TIE fighters. They collapsed partially, closing the path behind them. The resulting narrow passage prevented more than three stormtroopers from advancing at a time. However, more stormtroopers were joining the fight every second. She tossed her four remaining smoke bombs and sprinted to the space exit. Eruptions of pink, yellow, and green smoke hid them for a brief moment, but blaster fire continued to light up the smoke, burning the chemical mist.
"We have to be at least two ports away from the Phantom," she called out. "Can we even make it?"
Zeb fired from behind a TIE wing. "I know my mask won't last that long in space."
The troopers began tossing their own thermal detonators now. One bounced within range of Zeb and Sabine. Zeb took cover, but the blast wave threw Sabine out the port into space, her body spinning wildly in the vacuum of space and out of view.
Boba continued to take out the stormtroopers at the narrowed path left by the exploded TIEs. The blaster fire was getting increasingly difficult for him to manage. As he turned to fly to the exit, a shot clipped his pack and sent him spinning into a side wall and to the ground. His pack would be useless in space now.
He held on to his shoulder, his left arm bruised from the crash, and stood up.
"Looking bleak," he called to Zeb.
"You're telling me!" Zeb returned.
The smoke was beginning to clear from Sabine's bombs as multiple squads of stormtroopers flooded forward. The enemy fire was so thick that Zeb could not even return fire at this point. Instead, he had to just take cover behind the TIE wing.
Boba bent to aim the rocket missile from his Z-6 jetpack and fired. As it hit one of the fallen TIEs, the explosion cracked the floor and removed nearly fifteen troopers from the battle. That bought them some time to breathe, but the alarms sent troopers from every nearby post to them. Within moments Boba and Zeb were again reduced to hiding from blaster fire, with no hope of firing back.
At that moment, laser blasts from outside the ship shot through the open space port, causing squads of the stormtroopers to be launched in multiple directions at the impact. The Phantom hovered into the bay. It lowered to the ground, as the rear door opened. It continued to fire ahead trying to reduce the trooper's blaster fire. Zeb and Boba dove behind it and boarded. The Phantom's door closed, as it spun around to enter space, receiving hits that were mostly harmless. The troopers threw thermal detonators, but it was too late. The Phantom was out of reach.
"Glad that's over," Boba said and removed his helmet.
"Don't rest just yet," Sabine yelled, "and strap in."
The asteroid field was just in front of them, but TIE fighters were beginning to pour out of the star destroyer. The star destroyer's turbolasers were not helping either.
"If only we can just make it to the asteroids, back to where we parked the Ghost," she hoped out loud. She dove and twisted erratically trying to dodge TIE fire and star destroyer fire.
"We can't out maneuver these guys," she said.
However, the TIEs, after chasing for only a few moments, redirected their course for the port side of the star destroyer, leaving the Phantom unpursued.
"What's going on," Zeb asked.
Sabine, trying to look behind her through the cockpit window, could just see one of the Resistance's cruisers surrounded by single pilot fighters.
"Looks like the Resistance just showed up," Sabine said.
An explosion erupted just to their starboard, shaking the Phantom.
"Oh sorry," she said. "I forgot about those turbolasers."
….
The Resistance had arrived with both Mon Calamari cruisers-the Recusant-class light destroyer, and multiple squadrons of B-Wings and Naboo fighters-although Sabine could not see them all.
General Organa was in one of the Mon Calamari cruisers and Grand Admiral Ackbar was in the other. General Organa had ordered immediate fire on the star destroyer by all ships. Upon exit from hyperspace, one turbolaser blast had connected before Finalizer's shields were up.
"The Finalizer appears to have gotten its shields up surprisingly fast," Leia commented.
"General," the commander approaching General Organa.
"Yes, Commander Kale," Leia said.
"Our communications are jammed, General."
Leia was surprised. "Jammed? Why would they be jamming us, unless . . ."
She turned to Kale, "Check to see if they are sending out any transmissions!"
Kale checked with his HoloNet officer. "No, General . . . this is strange. It appears as if their jamming signal is affecting them as well."
Leia did not know what to make of that at first. Then she thought of Finn.
"They must have known we were coming, but someone on the inside has given us some time. Commander, we won't be able to use the HoloNet to communicate right now, but see if you can hail Admiral Ackbar on the Courage and Commander Defal on the Valiance with Ping Code. We won't have a lot of time to get this mission done."
"Yes, General," Commander Kale replied.
"We've got to get that communications array destroyed before the jamming signal is gone." She did not want to say out loud what would happen if they failed.