CHAPTER FIVE

ON BOARD THE FALCON

Han returns to the Falcon. He finds Chewbacca and the two stormtroopers with their helmets off helping Chewie finishing up repairs on the Falcon. Chewbacca's head is out of view as the top half of his body is inside a maintenance area. Finn is absent.

The first stormtrooper is Sal. Sal is an olive skinned human male in his upper-fifties. His eyes are dark and his face looks like it was cut from stone. He's shaved his head bald.

The second stormtrooper is Pan. Pan is a humanoid goat like alien. His skin is almond, his fur is walnut, and his eyes are chestnut colored. His fur is covering most of his face. He has pointed ears and two sawed off horns on top of his head.

Sal's top ability is combat—though he is also a good pilot. He and Loreanna switch off who flies the Dark Millennial in order for her to master all aspects of the ship. Sal has been in the military since childhood. He joined special forces (like Navy Seals) at a record young age. He served in the forces up until he was asked to personally train Imperial Hands. Currently, he is on rotation with Loreanna. He is professional 96 percent of the time.

Pan walks with a barely noticeable goat like gait. His feet are actually hooves. Since stormtroopers are not supposed to be easily identified from their outward appearance, Pan has to wear false feet/shoes. To become a stormtrooper, Pan had to prove he could fully operate wearing false feet. He considers that successes one of his greatest life achievements. Pan's species talk in songs, chants, or rhymes. While he has learned to speak differently from his people while on duty, he reverts back to it in relaxed and non-combat situations. Pan is a professional weapons master and expert in various forms of hand to hand combat. Loreanna often trains with him.

Han; (to all) "The Star Destroyer Lucente will meet us at Maz's in five standard hours. How are repairs coming?"

Stormtrooper Sal: (like a military report) "Sir, most systems are operational or soon will be. We have been unable to repair long distance com calls due to missing critical parts, and you only have enough fuel for two short hyperspace jumps.

Chewbacca pulls his head out of the shaft and growls that they could make longer jumps if they dumped all their supplies and lightened the load.

Stormtrooper Sal: "Correction, you could make two medium jumps if the ship was lighter."

Chewbacca gestures for a tool, which Pan hands to him.

Han: (mostly to Chewbacca) "Meaning we don't have enough fuel to get back to Republic space or an advance Imperial world even if we dumped everything?"

Chewbacca grunts an affirmative before disappearing back into the maintenance area.

Han: (mostly to himself) "Good thing Maud's place isn't far." Han looks around: "Where's the kid?"

Stormtrooper Sal: (musical tone)

"He is not here or there.

His lack of ability forced us to send him elsewhere."

Chewbacca growls a comment about how cleaning seems to be the only thing Finn knows what to do without supervision.

Stormtrooper Pan: (musical tone)

"The wise Wookie is right

At first we let him help to be polite

Then when it was proven how little he knew

We sent him to clean which was something he could do.

Chewbacca grunts and growls that Finn reminds him of Luke

Han: "Luke wasn't that wide-eyed and green when we picked him up on Tatoonie, but you're right that it's odd that the kid doesn't know anything."

Stromtrooper Sal: "Captain Solo, regarding Finn's oddity, there is something I would like to test."

CARGO HOLD OF THE FALCON

Stormtrooper Pan is hiding behind a newly created wall built out of the crates. He is not wearing his helmet. Han is standing in the middle of the cargo hold looking intently at a spot on the ceiling. Finn walks through the door.

Finn: "You asked for me Captain Solo."

Han continues to stare at the ceiling for a moment before slowly turning around to look at Finn. He opens his mouth.

Stromtrooper Sal comes in quietly behind Finn. He has a pack hanging from a shoulder belt.

Stormtrooper Sal: (crisp military order) "Attention! Identification!"

Finn snaps to attention: "FN-218…"

He trails off as he realizes he's been caught.

Stormtrooper Sal: (to Stormtrooper Pan) "Hold him."

Stormtrooper Pan emerges like lightening and grabs Finn in an arm hold before Finn can react. Sal approaches holding what looks like a detachable shower head, but the head is a flat circle with a transparent microphone like mesh. The probe is connected by wire to an electronic device. He runs the probe over Finn's right arms with no results before going over the left arm. Near the shoulder, the device beeps. Sal attaches the probe onto the device and pulls out a small cone shaped tool from his utility belt. He puts the cone shaped device over the spot the probe beeped. A ring on the tip of the cone lights up, followed by a ring of light in the middle, and then one of the bottom.

Stormtrooper Sal: "This will hurt a bit."

Finn: "What will hurt? What are you..OW!"

Finn cries out as the three rings pulse. Then there is a small ping sound. Sal removes the cone from Finn's arm. Tiny claws on the bottom of the cone are wrapped around a tiny capsule. Pan lets go of Finn who rubs his arm. There is a thin line where the machine cut into his arm.

Finn: "What"

Stormtrooper Sal holds up the capsule. There is a tiny light blinking slowly on one side.

Stormtrooper Sal: "This is a poison capsule. If activated, it would release a highly corrosive poison into your bloodstream. You'd be dead before you hit the floor."

Finn: (mild stutter) "P-p-poison?"

Stromtrooper Pan: (sing song):

The First Order says its soldiers succeed or die

But there is another side to the story that they deny

In each solider, they place a guarantee

Of death if there is no chance of victory

Finn: (highly disturbed by the song) "They put that in everyone?"

Stormtrooper Pan:

Every captured ship the crew has meet their doom

Long before our troops stepped into the room

Finn is horrified beyond words.

Stormtrooper Sal: "We have a bigger problem than that."

Everyone—save Finn who is trying to wrap his head around the fact he had a death device inside him—looks at him with a questioning look.

Stormtrooper Sal: (holding up the capsule) "This is also a tracking device…and it's active.

The First Order puts poison capsules/tracking devices into almost all its crew members. Wardens are one possible exemption. The capsules and trackers remain inactive unless specifically activated (as the Warden's did to Finn's tracker or captains do to their entire crew's poison capsules when a ship is captured—the tracker can be activated without discharging the poison, but if the poison is discharged, it destroys the tracker) or the bearer goes out of range of the all clear transmission. Somewhere on each cruiser/ship is a transmission device that sends out an all clear signal. Generally, only ships or mission that leave the Unknown Regions have this security measure. Based on the mission, the range will either cover only the ship or well beyond to allow fighter pilots to perform their duties. Once one leaves the range of the all clear signal, a two minute countdown begins. If one is not back in range in time, the capsule releases the poison and the person dies. Other missions such as Jakku, the out of range feature is turned off completely. When crew members transfer from one cruiser to another or are assigned a mission like Jakku, their capsules needs to be reprogrammed. Since the existence of the capsules/trackers is a secret to most of the crews, reprogramming is done secretly. Crew members walk through a gray framed doorway that represents change. The doorway reprograms each capsule to its new settings.

The capsules are programed to release their poison under three circumstances. The first is the bearer gets too far from the all clear signal for too long, the second is the device is specifically activated by one high up in command, the third is a blanket activation for captured crews/ships.

ON THE BRIDGE OF THE SUN CRUISER IN HYPERSAPCE

Warden Exi and Exivy are on the bridge. Warden Exi is standing next to Commander Bearin while Warden Exivy is meditating off to the side.

Commander Bearin: "We are nearing the tracker's location."

Warden Exivy suddenly stands and walks over to the others: "Fire up the flare. I want it ready to fire the moment we exit hyperspace.

Commander Bearin: "At your command Warden."

IN THE COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Rey, Loreanna, and BB-8 are in the cockpit of the Dark Millennial. Loreanna is lifting the ship off the ground.

Ferguson: (voice over the comlink) "Ship exiting hyperspace in less than 15 seconds."

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: (into the comlink) "We'll deflect the first attack. Sal and Pan, assist Captain Solo."

Stormtrooper Sal and Pan: (over the comlink) "Yes Agent Solfel."

Ferguson: (voice over the comlink) "8 seconds."

Han: "May the force be with us."

OUTER SPACE ABOVE THE ASTROID

The Dark Millennial has cleared the asteroid. The Falcon is rising from the surface when the sun cruiser appears out of hyperspace. The prow of the cruiser is already aglow. The Millennial swings right to block any shot targeting the Falcon. The cruiser fires the flare. The sphere hits the Millennial. The Millennial absorbs the sphere like it did from the blaster bolts from earlier, though much slower.

COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

A light near four energy bars on the far left of the control panel with a label that reads power cell levels—the first one is full and the second is about one-fourth full—flashes to indicate incoming power. The bar that's already one-fourth full shoots full. The third quickly follows as does the fourth. A warning message and light flashes across the screen near the power cell level bars: 'Energy Directed to Engines.'

The Dark engines and all other systems such as gravity generators and life support are powered by the energy stored in four large power cells. These cells can be charged independently (and the crew always makes sure they have at least one cell at full power) or the cells store the energy absorbed via other energy sources such as lightening. The cells are connected to all the main ship systems as well as the engines.

When a flair hits a ship, it first overloads only the systems currently active. Then if those systems aren't enough to use the overload of energy, the flair can also power up systems that were off at the time. Now if a ship were dead or all systems were off, the flair would power up the systems and then depending on the size of the ship, still cause a few minor explosions or only power up a few systems. In either case, the flair wouldn't destroy a powered down ship.

OUTER SPACE

The Millennial's engines burn extremely bright. The ship shoots forward as the remaining power from the flair surges through them. Then the engines blow out from excessive energy.

COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Loreanna turns the helm, but the Millennial doesn't move.

Han: (voice over the comlink) (hint of worry) "Are you okay?"

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: (quickly surveys the control panel and notes the red lights indicating damaged hyperdrive and engines) (into the comlink) "Hyperdrive and engines are gone. Captain Solo, can we get a lift?"

COCKPIT OF THE FALCON

Only Chewbacca and Han are in the cockpit.

Chewbacca starts prepping the connection locks.

Han: (in good humor) "Of course. Though we might have to charge you."

Han looks at Chewbacca who nods that all is ready.

Han: (over the comlink) "Moving in to lock"

OUTER SPACE NEAR THE ASTROID

The Falcon quickly moves forward in order to approach the underside of the Dark Millennial. Right as it gets underneath it the Millennial shudders and starts moving towards the sun cruiser.

COCKPIT OF THE MILLENNIUM FALCON

Chewbacca growls in alarm about the tractor beam.

Han: "Don't worry about the tractor beam. Loreanna will take care of that. Focus on getting attached.

Han turns back to the nav-computer and starts to calculate the jump. Chewbacca takes over the controls.

COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: (into her comlink) "Ferguson, we're caught. Launch the shroud."

Rey: "What's a shroud?"

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: (eyes on the nearing sun cruiser) "You'll see.."

OUTER SPACE

The Falcon locks onto the Dark Millennial.

A cylinder capsule shoots out of the top of the Dark Millennial towards the sun cruiser. When it is about two ship lengths away, the capsule erupts. Colorful shards of reflective metal explode outward. The shards spread out until they form a colorful image of a grinning adorable puppy like face.

The image is Ferguson's logo. Ferguson is an inventor extraordinaire and artist.

COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: (into the comlink) "Now Captain Solo!"

OUTER SPACE

The Falcon with the Dark Millennial attached pulls away from the sun cruiser.

COCKPIT OF THE MILLENNIUM FALCON

Han reaches for the hyperdrive lever and pulls back. The hyperdrive activates.

OUTER SPACE

The Falcon disappears into hyperspace with the Millennial attached.

BRIDGE OF THE SUN CRUISER

Warden Exi: "Track it."

A crew member wearing a dark blue stripe at a terminal: "At you command Warden." He gets keys to pull up the information, but the terminal comes up blank: "Sir, the signal's gone."

Warden Exi: (forceful) "Impossible."

Warden Exivy: (very calm) "This should not be a surprise considering the presence of the Hand and Solo."

Warden Exi: "How salvage this then?"

Warden Exivy doesn't answer. She stares off out the viewport at the stars. Then she whirls around and walks straight out the door.

COCKPIT OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Hyperspace is visible in the background through the viewports. Ferguson is sitting in the pilot seat. Loreanna and Rey are standing behind him.

Ferguson is a small three foot child sized adorable puppy like creature. He is furry with floppy puppy like ears. When he smiles, his tongue hangs out slightly giving him an adorable and goofy appearance. He has a short curly tail that wags when he is very happy. He is dressed in a combat suit the same color as Loreanna's with a white lab coat over it with a belt at the waist. The sleeves and front of the white coat are covered in drawings of mathematic formulas and colorful pictures of new inventions. The coat also has two pockets: One small one for a pen and the second bigger one for a datapad. One picture on the white coat shows the shield-air generator used between the two ships earlier. Other images on the coat are of math formulas such as e=mc2.

Ferguson is holding a data pad that is connected to the main control panel. There's a moment of silence as Ferguson finishes his task.

Ferguson: (to Loreanna—trace of an Irish accent) "She's alright."

Loreanna lets out a sigh of relief.

Ferguson: (trace of an Irish accent-to Loreanna) "I'll do a deeper diagnostic in a bit to determine how functional are all the operational systems."

Loreanna nods in approval.

Ferguson disconnects the data pad from the main control panel and puts it in the larger pocket and closes a flap over it to secure the data pad.

Rey: (confused) "I don't understand. Why didn't your shields stop that blast?"

Ferguson: (to Rey—Scottish accent) "She doesn't have shields lass."

Rey: (taken a bit aback by Ferguson's voice change and the information) "That crazy!"

Ferguson (Scottish accent) "Not so lass. She's made of an ore that absorbed both blaster fire and energy attacks and reroutes the power for her own use."

He gestures to the full energy cells on the control panel.

Rey: "That's incredible."

BB-8 rolls into the room at that moment and stops directly behind the captain's chair.

Ferguson: (Scottish accent) "Aye lass. No other ship like her in the galaxy."

The hull of the Dark millennial is a rare and heavy ore found only on an imperial world that is able to absorb and scatter blaster fire energy without damage. Imperial technicians and scientist discovered a way to gather the absorbed energy and reroute it for the ships own purpose. That discovery made designing a ship fully covered by the ore possible since the weight of several systems like shield generators and power packs for the cannons could be minimized or left out completely. The Dark Millennial has no shield generators and only a small power pack for their cannons (which they only use if they need to fire first). However if they are attacked by a Star Destroyer for example, the hull absorbs the blaster fire and reroutes the energy to their own cannons, so that they can fire with the power of a Star Destroyer back at the Star Destroyer. The ore of the Dark Millennial can also absorb other types of energy. Energy different from blaster fire is routed into power cells that are used to power other systems on the ship. The one major downside to the Dark Millennial is its weight since the ore makes it so heavy that it's easily outstripped by most other ships and unless fired upon, it has a weaker attack power. However when it is fired upon, the Dark Millennial becomes the equal of any ship including a Star Destroyer. The ore is also brittle, so while it can easily absorb blaster fire, a powerful impact would shatter the hull.

He stands up in the chair.

Ferguson: (Scottishh accent—good humor) "That said, I advise against getting hit again. Another shot like that when our power cells are this full and boom"

He mimes an explosion with his furry hands.

Ferguson places his hands behind him on the top of the back of the chair. He kicks off with his feet and flips over the back of the chair to land right on top of BB-8. The droid squeals in alarm and rolls back. The uneven surface and sudden movement of BB-8 causes Ferguson to lose his balance. He falls to the floor in an undignified heap.

Rey: (moving over to help him and reaches out her hand) "Are you alright?"

Ferguson takes her hand and stands: (dramatically—Scottish accent suddenly gone—posh British accent) "No, I am not. I'm quite ashamed of myself. That was supposed to be an impressive exit after I've wowed you with my intelligence."

Rey is thrown off by the odd comment, Loreanna smiles, and BB-8 hoots in laughter.

Ferguson notices BB-8 for the first time and his eyes go wide in excitement. His tail starts wagging. He leaps to his feet and bounds over to BB-8. (delighted youthful voice) "A BB model! What's your unit number? Is your current programming code up to date? Are you able to directly interface with a Sierra-Alpha analytical system?"

BB-8 answers that of course he is compatible with a Sierra-Alpha system.

Ferguson: (no accent) "Marvelous! Would you be willing to assist me?"

BB-8 looks to Rey and asks if she'll be okay if he goes.

Rey: (surprised and touched) "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

Ferguson smiles and then he and BB-8 leave the room.

CABIN AREA OF THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Loreanna and Rey are in the cabin area of the Dark Millennial. There are six cabins total: three on each side. Loreanna and Rey are standing in front of the last one of the right. Loreanna punches to open the door. It slides open and Loreanna leads Rey inside.

Imperial Hand Loreanna Solfel: "This will be your room to rest. After all that has happened to you today, taking the time to rest and absorb all that has happened is crucial."

Rey: "Thank you."

Rey puts down her staff and sits down on the lower bunk. Loreanna watches for a moment and then leaves.

BRIDGE OF THE SUN CRUISER

Warden Exivy returns to the bridge. All eyes turn towards her. She crosses over to navigation and opens up a star map of Republic/imperial space.

Warden Exivy: (to a crew member) "Give me their hyperspace vector."

A hyperspace vector appears on the map.

Warden Exivy studies the map for the moment. There is complete silence on the bridge and all eyes focus even more on her: Some with anticipation and others with weariness.

Warden Exivy: (as she points to a planet) "They are going here."

Warden Exi: "You certain?"

Warden Exivy: "Reports from our fighters' scans indicate low fuel. With the added weight of the Dark Millennial, it could only make a short jump.

Warden Exi studies the map and vector: "Could land other planets." (gesturing towards at least two other planets along the vector) "You certain?" (pointing to the planet Warden Exivy pointed to earlier.

Warden Exivy: "The Force calls out. I am certain they will be there."

Warden Exi: (quietly to Warden Exivy) "Well done." (to the crew) "Move."

OUTERSPACE ABOVE THE ASTROID

The sun cruiser disappears into hyperspace.

REY'S ROOM ON THE DARK MILLENNIAL

Rey is lying on her bunk staring at the ceiling. The door opens and BB-8 rolls into the room. BB-8 rolls up to her chatting excitedly and then stops when the droid notices her mood. BB-8 chirps are you okay?

Rey: (sitting up) "I'm alright. Just thinking…a lot has happened today."

BB-8 beeps in understanding

Rey stands: "Are you finished helping Ferguson?"

BB-8 perks up as he twitters that they have a surprise for her.

Rey: "A surprise. Alright, let me see this surprise."

BB-8 gives a happy chirp. The droid rolls out the still open door. There's sound of movement. Rey moves away from the bunk to lean against a blank wall. BB-8 rolls back into the room with Ferguson standing firmly on his head thanks to a pair of magnetic boots with a solar wind motif holding a trey with an orange smoothie looking drink.

Ferguson: "Ta-Da!"

Rey: "Oh!"

Ferguson holds out the drink and Rey takes it. She takes a sip and delight fills her eyes as the delicious flavor courses over her tongue. She eagerly drains half the glass in one go.

Rey: "What is this?"

BB-8 chirps that it's called the rebel drink.

Rey: "The rebel drink?"

Ferguson: "It was a popular a drink with the rebels during the early days of the rebellion. After Palpatine formed the empire, rebel cells started to form. Food of course was a problem as were ships and fuel, so they experimented with a common fruit call a _"

Rey relaxes and she listens. As she relaxes, her right hand brushes against the wall behind her and she has a force vision.

Loreanna places her left hand on the wall and kicks three times with her foot. A small section of the wall opens to reveal a hidden keypad. Loreanna types in a code. A door slides open and…

The vision ends.

Ferguson: (background, but hearable) "The fruit originated on Corulag. That's a core world of the New Republic."

Rey stops listening and turns to find out what's behind the wall. She turns around and places her left hand in the same spot. Then she kicks the wall. A small panel slides away revealing the keypad. Rey types in the same code and a section of the wall slides open to expose a hidden storage closet filled with supplies including blasters, armor, explosives, slicer cards, disguises, false I.D. cards, a few of Ferguson's colorful smaller inventions, etc.

As the door opens, Ferguson stops talking.

BB-8 whistles in admiration at the contents of the storage room.

There's a gasp of shock.

Rey looks over her shoulder to see Loreanna in the doorway.