Chapter 2
The team left as the sun was rising over the mountains. Rey looked up as the metal in the rocks glittered and danced through the valley. She looked back over her shoulder and saw Rose and Chewbacca standing at the bottom of the loading dock, watching them leave. The crew was led single file through the mountain pass by Lieutenant Connix. Finn and Poe were in the rear of the squad, carrying blaster rifles and wearing leather jackets similar to those of the Resistance, but without any insignia. Rey adjusted the straps of the backpack Kaydel had given her to carry, and heard some heavy, metal objects shift around inside. She was reminded of her training with Master Luke, who had her carry rocks in a sling for the Lanais back on Ach-To. Rey was filled with warmth remembering the old Jedi who had given her so much. Rey was wearing a light, fleece jacket and black leggings; she watched her breath rise into the cold air, touching her face which was numb from the cold. Rose and Chewbacca watched as the crew disappeared into the distance before heading back into the Millennium Falcon to wait for their signal.
Kaydel Connix staggered down the uneven land, clutching her holoreader with her blaster pistol on her side. "The mountains of Vandor are covered in iron, which will shield you from the First Order," General Leia Organa had told Kaydel, her voice shaking in her old age. "Beneath the mountains are rich deposits of Coaxium, that's what brought the Empire to the system decades ago. You won't be able to rely on holo-imaging to navigate the area." General Organa had leaned forward to Kaydel and tapped her on her forehead, "You'll need to do things the old-fashioned way."
Kaydel looked down at the terrestrial map of Vandor she had downloaded before the mission. During the flight down to the planet, she had captured aerial electronic images to better navigate the team to the magna-rails. Orientating herself to face East, she led the team further from the Falcon. The team was quiet for a long time, but Finn finally broke the silence after two hours. "Why can't we just take the Falcon to get us closer, that way we don't have to hike through this mess?" He asked the Lieutenant. Rey and Kaydel looked down as Finn struggled to climb over a shining boulder. The former stormtrooper was sweating, and his rifle was slung loosely over his shoulder. Rey offered a hand down to him, but Finn was too preoccupied to notice and clumsily lifted himself to their level with his forearms, "Because we don't want there to be any chance that the First Order to scan the planet and lock onto the Falcon. Besides, weren't you a soldier? Shouldn't you be trained to navigate this kind of terrain?" Finn looked up to her, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "They were more into formations and marching than preparing us for any harsh terrain."
While they talked, Kaydel knelt on the ridge of the mountain and scanned the next valley with her macrobinoculars. Referencing her holoreader, she frowned. "They don't match up." Lieutenant Connix said flatly, "We must have made a wrong turn." Finn sat down, thankful for some respite. Poe Dameron knelt next to Kaydel, examining the holoreader. "Even if we're off course, we must be close to the rail," the pilot said as he looked up to Rey, "Can you sense the trains using the Force?" Rey closed her eyes and reached out her senses, but to no avail. "No," She admitted, "but she might be able to." Kaydel stood up and walked over to Rey, "I'm not Force-sensitive, Rey. I can't do those things."
Rey took Kaydel's hands in her own. "Close your eyes, Kaydel. Let the force flow through you." Kaydel close her eyes and took a breath. She had seen the miracles in which the Force had manifested itself, but was unsure about her own abilities with it. Kaydel took a deep breath, mimicking what she had seen Rey do during her meditation on the Falcon. She felt the sun on her skin, the weather was warm and pleasant now. Kaydel felt her aching feet and the tight muscles in her legs. Then she felt a wave of warmth erupt from Rey's hands, leaving a tingling sensation running up and down her body. The pain and discomfort of their trek disappeared, and her mind was suddenly clear. Her mind raced as she remembered the paths they had taken, and the territory she had in her mind. An epiphany struck her, and she released Rey's hands to take the holoreader back from Poe. She realigned the map, and pointed North over a small, grey mountain.
Kaydel turned back to Rey, "I felt the Force through you, Rey. That's the direction we need to go. Is this how you feel all of the time?" Rey smiled, "A lot of the time, but I always keep up with my training and meditation." Kaydel's face was aglow, a warm pink replacing her previously pale skin, and she was still smiling as she continued towards the magna-rail. Poe followed after her, giving Rey a nod of approval. Finn lifted himself up, this time accepting a hand from Rey, "Do you use the Force to stay fit enough to make this hike so easily?" Rey allowed Finn to take the lead before responding, "Nope, I just work on physical conditioning every once in a while." Finn was turned from her, but Rey heard a dramatic groan in response.
Finn struggled through the last leg of the journey, but with Rey's help, eventually caught up with Connix and Dameron. The officers were laying prone at the ridge of the mountain, and Rey and Finn copied their stance. Kaydel was scanning the valley with her macrobinoculars and Poe was looking through the scope of his blaster rifle. "What's happening?" Rey asked. "Stormtroopers." Kaydel whispered, handing Rey the macrobinoculars. Rey looked down into the valley, and quickly locked on to a light Crane-class shuttlecraft. A handful of stormtroopers were standing guard while an officer oversaw two engineers unloading large black crates from the shuttle. Above the shuttle was the magna-rail. A dozen train cars silently whipped past the First Order troops, and Rey watched it disappear over the mountains. She took the binoculars away from her face, finding them with her naked eyes. "500 meters," said Kaydel, "They must be looking for us, it's not like our plan was the least obvious one."
Finn was looking through his own rifle, "Looks like subterranean imagers, they might be trying to use seismic mapping to locate Coaxium for the war effort." Poe crawled down from the ridge, "Well, if they aren't looking for us, we should let them be. We can move further down the rail and catch a train somewhere else." Finn and Rey looked to Lieutenant Connix, who took a moment. "I think we should take them out," She said, "The First Order is here to establish a foothold on the planet, and I'd rather not give them one more reason to devote more resources to taking over Vandor." Finn nodded, and Poe looked to Rey acquiescing to Kaydel.
A few minutes later, Rey and Kaydel slinked over the ridge and down the mountainside, taking cover behind a small, rocky outcrop. Rey had shed her encumbering backpack, and Kaydel had her blaster pistol drawn. In Rey's hands was her deactivated lightsaber. Kaydel watched as Rey craned her neck around the boulder then followed her as she scurried forward to another outcrop of rocks. The two women laid flat, looking at the shuttle. It was close now, only a hundred yards away, but there was no more cover for them to advance under. Kaydel looked to her right, scanning the mountain ridge for a sign of Poe or Finn.
Suddenly, two blasts of laser fire came from the mountain side and struck the First Order Officer and one of the stormtroopers. Further fire struck the sides of the shuttle and about the landing site. The remaining soldiers took cover behind the ship or black crates, and the two engineers threw themselves to the ground. "We need weapons!" Kaydel heard one cry out. Even with the intermittent blaster fire, the mountain range was eerily quiet. Echoes bounced around them, and Rey shed her jacket. Rey and Kaydel gave each other a reassuring grasp of the hand before springing to their feet and running into the frey.
Neither Rey or Kaydel yelled out, lest they reveal their approach. Kaudel was eighty yards away and Rey was already pulling ahead from her. Sparks flew as lasers from Finn and Poe struck the shuttle. She was sixty yards away and Rey was getting close, one of the engineers was running to the rifle of the fallen stormtrooper. Rey counted five remaining stormtroopers, two of which had noticed her. Kaydel was forty yards away when she took a knee and lined up a shot on one of the stormtroopers behind the shuttle who was taking aim at Rey. She squeezed the trigger and a red beam struck the soldier in his chest, sending him to the ground as an eruption of red flame burst into the air. Rey was charging an unaware stormtrooper and the now-armed engineer, who tapped the trooper to look at the incoming Jedi. The pair raised their weapons and took aim at her.
Rey's lightsaber illuminated with a brilliant purple glow as she slid forward. The first blaster bolt flew harmlessly into the dirt, but the second deflected from her lightsaber back towards the engineer. It caught him square in the chest, and the stormtrooper watched in shock as he fell, only to be slashed across the chest by Rey less than a second later.
Two years ago, after the retreat from Crait, Rey and Chewbacca had taken a leave of absence from the Resistance to create a new lightsaber. The fragments of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber were left with Leia as a reminder of her brother. Rey and Chewbacca returned to Ach-To, where there were no ghosts to advise her on how to build a lightsaber, despite Chewbacca's insistence that Jedi could provide assistance from beyond the grave. Frustrated, she asked Chewbacca how Luke constructed his own lightsaber. Chewbacca brought Rey to the home of an ancient Jedi on the desert planet Tatooine. There, he guided her through what he remembered of the construction of a lightsaber. Rey spent weeks tinkering with the lightsaber based on how she had seen the lightsabers of Kylo Ren and Anakin Skywalker function. Finally, she managed to coax out a solid purple beam to emerge from the hilt...
Another precise laser blast flew from her unseen allies and struck another stormtrooper in front of Rey, knocking him off his feet. Kaydel was advancing to Rey's side, firing a steady volley at two stormtroopers still taking cover behind the shuttle. The second engineer sprinted up the loading dock of the shuttle, and another stormtrooper turned his attention to Rey. Rey advanced quickly, spinning her saber in front of her as she did with her quarterstaff back on Jakku. Blaster bolts were sent into the ground and air before she finally got in range of the trooper, and slashed him horizontally across the throat. The stormtrooper dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, clawing helplessly at his wound before collapsing. Behind her, Kaydel and two stormtroopers were exchanging fire, with neither side making much progress. In the distance, Rey could see Poe and Finn sprinting toward them. Poe and Finn were moving at the same speed, despite the fact that Finn was carrying Rey's heavy pack.
Rey turned back to the shuttle just as the engineer appeared at the mouth of the cargo bay, except now he was holding a large, cylindrical weapon. His black helmet was pulled back awkwardly, revealing a white face covered in stubble with burn marks across its forehead. "Hold your fire, or I'll blow you to smithereens." Lieutenant Connix didn't hesitate, but immediately took a shot at the engineer. The blast went wide, and the engineer staggered back and pulled the trigger while pointing the weapon at Rey.
Rey threw her hand out in a moment of instinct just as a small, black and red sphere emerged from the barrel. It only traveled a few feet before freezing in mid-air. Kaydel threw herself to the ground, covering her neck with her hands, but the engineer stood in place, dumbfounded. Seconds later, the sphere exploded in a massive fireball, igniting the interior of the shuttle as well as it's fuel cells. The spacecraft exploded in a mushroom cloud of scarlet flame. Pieces of the shuttle flew everywhere, but Rey was able to shield both her Kaydel from the debris. When the noise subsided, Rey and Kaydel stood up and examined the aftermath of the chaos. The ground was scarred and black, and the remaining stormtroopers were nowhere to be seen.
Poe and Finn arrived on the scene, and Finn immediately began to open Rey's backpack, pulling out two metal cones with wires sticking from the tip. "We need to get out of here, that almost certainly registered on the Vulture's scanners," Poe said as he lifted Connix to her feet. Finn dropped the bag and tossed one of the cones to Kaydel, "Are you both okay?" he asked as Rey deactivated her lightsaber.
"I'm fine, Finn. Good work," she said as she raised her hand again, and watched as her coat flew across the valley toward her. Rey caught the coat deftly, then proceeded after Poe and Kaydel, who were jogging toward the magna-rail. Finn threw the now empty backpack to the side and ran alongside her, "Do you think this will work?" "It has to work!" Rey yelled back between breaths. When they were below the rail, Kaydel checked her holoreader display, "We should see another one within thirty seconds. We can't afford to miss it, in case a TIE fighter spots us from the air. We'd be sitting ducks." Lieutenant Connix pulled two cords from the metal cone Finn had provided, fastening one around her waist and handing the other to Poe so he could do the same. Rey felt a firm grasp on her wrist as Finn handed her a cord from his own cone.
Rey tied it around her thin waist before looking up to see a dozen metal train cars barreling towards them on the magna-rail. All four of them braced themselves and looked skyward, waiting for the train to be above them. Kaydel was swinging the cone in her hand, building momentum. As soon as the first car was above them, she tossed it skyward, and it magnetically attached itself to the side of the second car. Poe and Kaydel were yanked away from Rey and Finn, who had hesitated a moment. Finn awkwardly threw his own cone straight up, and it passed through two cars before becoming latched to the final car.
Rey only had a moment before they were yanked backwards, and her heels skipped on the rocky ground before the grappling device began to reel them in. Rey looked up, and used her hands to guide herself between the cars, and unwrapped the cord from her waist as she rolled onto the train car. Finn was not so agile, banging his head and shoulder as he was pulled up. Rey caught him by the collar and unwrapped his cord, letting him sit up on the edge of the train car.
Ahead of them, Rey saw Lieutenant Connix's tiny head stick out, and then an arm shoot up with a closed fist except for the thumb that shot straight up. They were clear, and Rey responded with her own thumbs-up. Rey dropped down between the two cars, trying the door of the caboose, but it was locked. Rey drew her lightsaber and slashed the door at the locking mechanism. The door slid open, and Rey entered an empty room. Finn lifted himself down clumsily, and fell down as he entered. "Are you okay?" Rey asked desperately, running her hand across Finn's head. Bright red blood covered her hand, and Finn answered her with slurred words, "I'm fine, just banged my head is all."
Rey reached inside Finn's jacket, pulling out a tiny vial of blue liquid. She popped the cap open on the wound topping Finn's head, and a gel spilled out on top of it. Rey rubbed it across the light gash, slapping Finn lightly to keep him awake. Rey leaned back against the wall, placing Finn's head in her lap.
Rey took a deep breath, listening to the wind as it whistled past the train as she cradled her friend's head.