Rey advanced swiftly toward Luke, the dark side empowering her. She raised her dark blade for a strike. Luke stood still, then closed his eyes and raised his arm to call a lightsaber. It came to him, but instead of Anakin's blue blade, Kylo Ren's red blade came and ignited to block Rey's attack.

Rey continued the undisciplined and unrelenting attack on Luke. Luke blocked repeatedly and side-stepped, having yet to mount any offensive move.

"I will not fight you," he said, saying the same words he had said to Kylo Ren. He blocked more attacks handily.

"Why not!" she yelled in her rage as she then tried to Force-push him off balance.

Luke caught her push with the Force and threw her back a few feet.

"Never again will I take the life of one of my Padawans," he replied.

That enraged her all the more, "Like you did with my father! Was he one of your Padawans!"

She rushed at him again.

Kylo Ren had grabbed for Anakin's lightsaber weakly, and attempted to stand. He was unstable on his feet. He lit the blue lightsaber and attempted to walk toward the fight, uncertain of what side he would take.

Luke saw him.

"No, Ben!" he called out, blocking more of Rey's attacks. "You will die!"

Luke knew Rey was unpredictable while in the grip of the dark side, and he feared for Kylo Ren.

At that moment, Chewbacca and Finn were seen in the door opening.

Finn stood, mouth open not knowing what to think. Kylo Ren was stumbling with a blue lightsaber. Luke was fighting with Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Rey was in a furious rage trying to kill Luke. A mummified woman in a large, black canister glowed behind them. Four of Kylo Ren's knights lay dead on the ground, and above them all was a huge holograph of a hideous robed figure.

"What the . . ." Finn began.

Luke pushed Rey back again with the Force, but she was only pushed back a few meters as her feet slid on the floor. She settled her footing and then returned, this time jumping to land a blow from above.

Luke raised his hand and caught her in mid air. She froze, unable to move a muscle. She floated motionless and stiff in the air, her arms poised to drop her lightsaber blade in a violent attack.

"You want to have the power to control your future, the power to seek revenge," Luke said. He raised his other hand toward the wall. The room began to creak, and the metal moaned under the tension. A booming crack erupted from the room around them. The walls started to warp inward. Snoke's image fizzled out in an electric spark.

"It will destroy you," Luke said. The room thundered under the pressure. Everything in the room began to rise slowly off the floor: the dead knights, the black canister, and even Kylo Ren.

….

The Resistance cruisers were almost spent, and ninety percent of the the snub fighters were either destroyed or had fled.

Leia knew this was the end.

"General Organa," Grand Admiral Ackbar hailed her.

"Yes, Admiral Ackbar," she said.

"Our shields are at twenty percent. We are not going to make it," he said.

"We are not doing much better here," Leia returned.

"If we stay here, we all die," Ackbar said. "But maybe you could escape."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"I can make a way for you to escape," he answered.

Leia knew what he was intending.

"I can't advise you to do that," her voice shook.

"General, the lives of your crew depend on this. It's the only chance they have," he said.

Leia wavered a moment, her cruiser quaking again and again under the onslaught.

Ackbar spoke up again, "If you don't order me to perform this action, General, then consider me defecting. Be ready to receive escape pods."

"Yes, Admiral." She could hardly speak the words. "Gial, may the Force be with you, my friend."

"It has been an honor to serve with you, Leia. Please speak of me to my people."

"I will." Leia held back her tears. Those would come at a later time.

Grand Admiral Ackbar ordered the HoloNet to be turned off.

"Give the order to abandon ship and flee to General Organa's cruiser," he commanded.

Then looking to his officers on the bridge he said, "We will be making a way for those who will continue this fight, but today I will make the ultimate sacrifice for the cause to go on. Whoever wishes to stay with me, may. Whoever would escape, may do so as well."

He waited a moment, but each officer stood steadfast at their post, loyal to the admiral and to the cause.

"I am proud to die among men and women such as you," he said. "Now head directly for a crash course with the Finalizer. Full speed."

….

General Hux was astounded by the actions of one of the Resistance cruisers as it lined up with the Finalizer and headed directly for it.

"What are they doing?" Hux asked himself, but shortly realized the answer to his own question. "All ion cannons and turbolasers on the approaching cruiser. Now!"

The bridge abruptly quaked with turbulent force and moaned under some unknown pressure.

Hux, who was standing lost his balance and stabilized himself by grabbing on to the communication console. Baffled, he looked around. "That was no laser blast," Hux said.

The command officer made the order to fire. However, the weapon's officer was unable to, the weapon system not responding.

"Sir," he said to General Hux. "It seems that we cannot fire our cannons."

"Which cannons," Hux barked.

"All of them sir."

Hux did not know what was happening, but he had no time to find out.

"Evasive action!" he called out.

The Finalizer did not move.

"What's the problem," Hux yelled. "Evasive action!"

"I'm sorry, General," the command officer replied. "But the ship is not responding."

General Hux bit his lip and clenched his fists as he watched the oncoming cruiser. He knew running diagnostics and fixing the problem was a luxury that time afforded. But he had no time.

….

Rey tried with impotent strength to fight Luke's Force-hold on her. Her anger was evident on her face. Luke kept his hands raised toward her and the ship. "Ultimate control," he said, "is not what you really want."

Rey wrenched her head as she tried to free herself. Luke sensed something and looked to the inside ship wall. He slowly crouched to his knees and lowered the hand he held the ship with. "Without letting go, Rey, this power will cause great suffering."

He pointed his index finger and gently touched it to the ground. The moment he did, a great tremor rippled through the whole room and outward into the corridors, then engine room, TIE storage, and beyond. "But by submitting to the Force, you may save many lives," he said.

Then the walls moaned. Luke closed his eyes. The ship quaked again and then jolted to port. Finn and the rest fell over at the shock. Kylo Ren, still floating inches above the ground, could not hide his surprise at what Luke was accomplishing.

….

The Finalizer veered awkwardly to port as Ackbar's cruiser ran toward it. No weapons were firing. Ackbar sighed at his good luck.

"Pass the Finalizer under its belly. Full speed," he commanded.

The cruiser barely missed contacting the Finalizer and sped past, followed by Leia's cruiser.

….

"Chewie," Luke called, "Get Ben!"

Chewbacca growled and shook his head.

"Chewie! This is what we talked about! Do it!"

Chewbacca wavered.

"For me and for Han!" Luke said.

Chewbacca reluctantly entered the room and went to Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren recognized that he could not stay, Snoke having betrayed him. Chewbacca placed Kylo Ren's arm over his shoulder, gently brought him to the ground and tried to quickly walk him out. Finn was still dumbfounded at what was occurring.

Luke then spoke to Rey. "The dark side has made you powerful. But there is also great strength in weakness."

He released his hold on her and the ship. She fell to the ground, along with everything else. Rey got up, still raging with the dark side and immediately started her attack again.

Luke allowed himself to be backed into the wall as furious sparks flew from Rey's hands again.

"The dark side will destroy you as it destroyed your father."

Finn watched as Chewbacca and Kylo Ren exited behind him.

"Someday, I hope you will understand what I must do now," Luke said.

Luke then cast Kylo Ren's lightsaber away. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and abdicated as he lowered his head.

Rey took one last swing with her blade. The black blade cut through the air with frenetic speed, but it met no figure or form. Luke's body had disappeared. His empty robes falling in a pile on the floor.

Finn could not believe what he saw; anything that he saw.

"Rey?" he called out.

Rey turned to look at him, the red fury in her eyes wavered a moment. Her brown eyes almost reemerged. Finn stumbled back from the door, fearful at what he had seen in Rey, and turned.

"Run," he said, "get back to the Falcon."