Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 17- Family Duel
Outside the thermal oscillator, Ben Skywalker is scrambling through the forests surrounding the oscillator. Ben had managed to escape the oscillator without being noticed by Kylo Ren, but had also lost track of where Rey and Finn were. Now, he's trying to find his new friends.
Ben stops next to a tall tree and rests a hand against the trunk while he again spreads out with his feelings, trying to feel for Rey's Force presence, knowing Finn will also be with her. He spends a few seconds just standing there before he finally feels her presence. However, he immediately senses something else and his heart freezes. He immediately starts running through the forest, determined to protect his new friends.
As Ben is rushing through the trees, a little ways ahead of him, Rey and Finn had run right into Kylo Ren. Kylo had knocked out Rey with a Force wave, and then engaged in a lightsaber duel with Finn. However, Finn, despite his training as a riot control stormtrooper, had proven to be no match for Kylo Ren, especially as Kylo was intentionally causing himself more pain to increase his power in the dark side.
Kylo had quickly bested Finn by disarming him with a simple move and then slashed open his back. Now, as he is trying to summon the lightsaber once owned by his grandfather Anakin Skywalker, Kylo feels confused as the lightsaber seems to be resisting his pull. He tries harder, and after a moment, the saber finally lifts out of the snow and flies towards him. Then, to his shock, the saber curves away from him and goes right past him, flying right into Rey's hand.
Kylo stares at Rey, wondering who this girl is to be able to overcome his strength in the Force without training. Rey looks hesitant, but quickly shifts into more of a combat stance, holding the saber in both hands before igniting it, it's blue blade shining brightly. Kylo then ignites his saber, the blade and crossguards springing to life as he twirls it in his hand.
Rey stands there for a moment, gathering her courage, before she draws the saber back and stabs it right towards Kylo's chest.
Kylo easily deflects the blow and knocks the blade aside. Rey follows it up with a slash towards his neck, but Kylo blocks it with ease.
Rey is putting all of her strength into the strikes, but it's beginning to become clear that Kylo is toying with her. Kylo doesn't want to kill her quite yet, wanting to try and and see if he can sway someone so powerful in the Force to the dark side.
Rey stabs her saber towards Kylo's chest again, but Kylo easily deflects the blow. She stumbles back to get a better footing, but Kylo presses the attack, striking hard towards her head and knocking Rey stumbling back. He presses further, knocking her stumbling back into a tree.
Rey tries to get into a position to better counter Kylo, but it's clear that Kylo is quickly overcoming her.
Then, as Kylo steps forward, out of nowhere, a large branch comes flying out nowhere and nearly hits Kylo in the head. Kylo manages to spot it just in time and halt in midair with the Force. As he then drops it to the ground, Kylo looks in the direction that the branch came from. And sure enough, standing a few yards away is Ben.
"Cousin," Ben says with an slight undertone of anger.
"Ben," Kylo responds simply, turning to face his cousin. Rey just stands back, knowing she can't stand against Kylo yet without training.
"You think I'm gonna let you get away with what you did?" Ben growls.
"I will let nothing stand in the way of order. I will finish what our grandfather started," Kylo responds, gripping his lightsaber tightly.
"You know nothing about our grandfather," Ben growls. He then removes his saber from his belt again. He stands there for a moment before he says, "You killed your father, killed your friends when you destroyed the Temple, and you've been Snoke's lapdog. You may have been my cousin once, but you're not family anymore."
Ben then ignites his lightsaber, its brilliant purple blade shining brightly as he settles into a stance typical of Djem So users. "And now, I will do what I have to," he says.
Kylo narrows his eyes a bit as he settles into his own fighting stance and says, "You were never my equal Ben. Now, I guess I have to show you again." He then takes several charging steps forward and jumps up to bring his saber down on Ben.
Ben easily blocks Kylo's blow and pushes Kylo back. He then twirls his lightsaber in hand and feints at Kylo's knee before striking at his waist. Kylo manages to block it and moves back to better prepare for the next blow. Ben follows up with a strike towards his shoulder, forcing Kylo back further onto the defensive.
Ben firms his face, removing any hints of emotion from his face, before lunging at his cousin again, determined to finish Kylo Ren's reign of terror.
(Airspace)
In the skies high above the surface of Ilum, the air battle between the TIEs and the strike force has moved to a much higher altitude. It was clear to them that they could not focus on bombing the oscillator while under attack by TIE fighters, and they were forced to continue engaging the TIE fighters.
This move to higher altitudes gave the fighters slightly better protection, especially from ground fire, but it also gives them less obstacles to try and use as cover. The two sides are now embroiled in a fierce free-for-all.
In the midst of the sprawling dogfight, Daniel noses his Mustang over to avoid a TIE flying at him head on. He then snaps the stick into his gut, turning hard to his right while descending a bit towards the surface.
Two TIEs flash past his nose. Daniel quickly slides in behind them and centers the trailing TIE in his gunsight. It takes him only a second, and he squeezes the trigger. The TIE is quickly blown apart by a quick burst of laser fire. Daniel then shifts his gunsight to the other TIE and vaporizes it with a burst of laser fire. Now, he has scored 25 kills just today. However, the TIE fighters just seem to keep coming.
Daniel swivels his head and spots a pair of TIEs pursuing Hammer 7 about 2,500 feet above him. Daniel quickly reverses his turn, cutting speed slightly and pulling his nose up. He circles around until he manages to get a firing angle on the trailing TIE. Daniel squeezes the trigger, and one of his laser bolts hits the mount for the right wing. The hexagonal wing comes off immediately, and the TIE goes spinning out of control.
The lead TIE realizes that Daniel is there and turns away from Hammer 7. However, without realizing, the TIE pilot has now made things much easier for Daniel as it turns almost right in front of him. All it takes is a slight tap of the rudder, and Daniel squeezes the trigger. Two laser bolts hit the cockpit and blow the TIE to pieces.
Daniel again swivels his head while turning his Mustang hard to avoid getting caught too easily by any TIEs. As he does, he glances up and sees one of the Resistance's X-Wings get hit by laser fire and explode.
"We just lost R-1," one of the other Resistance pilots calls over the radio.
"We're overwhelmed. What do we do? It isn't working," one of the other pilots calls.
Daniel runs through ideas of what to do. At this point, he's wondering if they just need to focus on the oscillator and just essentially start suicide runs. They don't really have much of a choice at this point.
Right then, a third Resistance pilot calls out over the radio, "Black Leader, there's a brand new hole in that oscillator. Looks like our friends got in."
In the cockpit of his X-Wing, Poe looks down and indeed sees the flames coming from the oscillator from the explosions Chewie had set off. Thinking quickly, Poe calls out on the radio, "Hammer Squadron, clear the way of ground defenses covering the fuel lines leading into the oscillator. Red Squad, Blue Squad, cover me and keep those TIEs off of me!"
"Let's do this!" Daniel shouts over the radio as he wings over and dives towards the oscillator.
The seventeen remaining Mustangs of the Hammer Squadron dives down a slight trench containing the fuel lines leading into the oscillator, which lead right to the gap that Chewie had blown in the wall of the oscillator, while the other Resistance fighters follow Poe, trying to keep TIE fighters off his tail.
Daniel begins scanning the ground as he gets close. Although he had jettisoned his remaining bombs onto the top of the oscillator when the dogfight first began to free up his fighter from the excess weight, he still has has proton torpedoes and his Maverick missiles
Daniel quickly spots a pair of heavy laser cannon turrets along the sides of the trench. Daniel quickly locks his Maverick missiles onto the turrets and ripple fires a pair of Mavericks at each turret. Leveling off, he quickly spots a small missile launcher above the trench. Daniel quickly switches back to his laser cannons and fires. His 4 laser cannons punish the missile launcher, and the launcher soon explodes.
As the Hammer Squadron pilots are attacking every defensive weapon they can see in the vicinity of the fuel lines, Poe dives towards the lines to make a run on the gap in the oscillator's wall. As he dives, the other Resistance pilots level off at about a thousand feet to keep the TIEs off of Poe's tail.
"Alright! I'm going in! Keep me covered!" Poe says as he flies right towards the oscillator, virtually unopposed with the Hammers having destroyed the defensive weapons emplacements and the Resistance pilots keeping the TIEs off his tail.
Poe takes a deep breath as he banks his X-Wing 90 degrees right and closes his S-foils. With flames all around him, Poe flies through the gap in the oscillator's wall, the wrecked sides of the gap coming within inches of his fighter. As soon as he makes it through the gap, Poe levels his X-Wing and re-extends his S-foils.
Poe snaps the stick in tight to bring his X-Wing into a tight turn. As he turns, he begins firing his remaining proton torpedoes. Firing just one torpedo at a time while accompanying each one with a burst of laser fire, Poe blasts various machines, power couplings, fuel cells, and generators. After expending the rest of his torpedoes, Poe turns back towards the gap, closes his S-foils again, and streaks out through the gap as explosions begin tearing apart the inside of the oscillator. Poe streaks out of the gap, extending his S-foils once more and pulling up into a steep climb.
As the Resistance and Terran fighters streak away from the oscillator, a massive explosion bursts through the top of the oscillator. Several more explosions tear through the top and sides of the oscillator, confirming its destruction. Then, as the fireballs from the explosion expand, the ground around the oscillator begins to buckle and crack as the stored gas and energy from the drained star are no longer contained and begin to escape their confinement.
"We got the oscillator!" one of the Resistance pilots cheers.
"But where's the Millenium Falcon?" Hammer 12 calls over the radio.
"All pilots, search for the Millenium Falcon!" Poe calls over the radio, not wanting to leave until the planet is either ready to blow up or they've found the Falcon.
(The surface)
Ben backpedals a bit in the small crevice his duel with Kylo has carried him into and digs his feet in as he switches to Soresu. Kylo tries a flurry of strikes around Ben's head and shoulders, but Ben blocks them with parries almost faster than Kylo can follow.
Ben forces Kylo back with a strong push and then Force jumps up out of the crevice after Ben. Ben is waiting for him, saber held in front of him at the ready. As he lands, Kylo sees Ben shifting into a Niman stance.
"You'll never beat me, Ben," Kylo growls as he advances on his cousin.
"Oh, we'll see about that," Ben says firmly before spinning his saber once in hand and lunging at Kylo.
Kylo blocks Ben's blow, but quickly finds himself on the defensive again. The real surprise comes when Ben makes an upward slash, which Kylo just manages to block before he is surprised by a slight Force push from Ben, forcing him back just an inch. However, Ben follows this up with another fierce strike.
Kylo is quickly being forced back by Ben's persistence. He feels quietly shocked at Ben's ferocity, especially given he is using Niman. However, what Kylo didn't know was that during the years since his father's disappearance, Ben had studied the feats of the great lightsaber duelists of the past. One that he studied in particular was the ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun. Although he was not allowed yet to read many records of Exar Kun, the ones he did was were about his skill with a lightsaber.
Ben had taken inspiration from the records of Exar Kun in his personal study of Niman. Although he used standard Niman, he also had begun adopting a more aggressive style of Niman reminiscent of Exar Kun's fighting style. And now, he's unleashing all his studies on Kylo Ren.
Kylo is forced back and back as Ben presses back. Kylo is surprised at the aggressiveness and saber skill of his cousin, and also feels that Ben may actually be winning. Drawing on lessons both from Snoke and Luke, Kylo begins shifting into a fighting style similar to Vaapad.
The two sabers flash around the two duelists, clashing every second with a loud crackling sound. Kylo tries a feint at Ben's head before going for his waist, but Ben reaches down and grabs Kylo's saber. Then, without hesitation, he brings his saber down and slashes across Kylo's wrist, badly wounding him and forcing him to drop his saber. Then, without hesitation, he slashes his saber upwards, slicing across the side of Kylo's face. Kylo screams out in pain as he falls to the ground.
Ben stand over his fallen cousin, lightsaber held at his side as it hums. Kylo manages to prop himself up slightly on his arms, looking up at Ben. The side of his face is badly damaged from Ben's blade.
Ben stares down at his cousin, wondering what he should do. Wondering if he should kill his cousin, or if he should try and bring him home.
However, the choice is soon taken from him. The ground begins shaking beneath Ben's feet. Ben stumbles back a bit, and a moment later, a fissure begins to open in the ground between Ben and Kylo. The fissure spreads, separating the two cousins as they stare at each other across the gap.
Ben finally decides that at this point, he can do nothing more. He finally deactivates his saber before he turns and begins running back through the forest, back in the direction where he left Rey and Finn.
However, behind him, as Kylo struggles to even hold himself up on an elbow, he is not ready to give up. He carefully reaches into a pocket and grabs hold of an emergency transponder, pushing the button to activate before collapsing back into the snow to try and recover his strength enough to get up.
Ben races through the trees, calling out over and over, "Rey! Rey!"
Finally, he hears Rey's voice call back, "I'm here!" Ben immediately turns to the sound of her voice and starts running in that direction. It's not long before Ben spots her, crouched over the body of Finn.
Ben comes running up to them and drops to his knees next to Finn. Having received medical training, he's instantly in what he calls EMT-mode. Ben carefully turns him on his side to inspect the wound. "This is bad. Kylo cut through a lot of muscles and skin, but I think that if we can get him medical attention quickly, he might live," Ben mutters.
Then, both of them notice that light is shining around them. They both look up and are surprised to see the Millenium Falcon hovering just on the other side of the trees. A second later, Chewie comes running through the trees to help them.
Ben and Rey feel a sense of relief as Chewie approaches them. Chewie bends down and picks Finn up. Ben and Rey then run with Chewie back to the Falcon. As soon as they are aboard, the ramp raises.
Chewie carries Finn back into the main bay and lays him down in the medical bed. Rey and Ben hurry to try and get Finn stabilized with the medical supplies available while Chewie heads back to the cockpit.
When Chewie gets back to the cockpit, he finds Lieutenant Gallo is already guiding the Falcon up and away from the surface. After Gallo had finally landed after ejecting from his Mustang, he had made his way towards the Falcon and met up with Chewie.
"Alright, Chewbacca. Let's go home," Gallo says as he flips a switch and pulls the Falcon into a slightly steeper climb.
As the Falcon climbs away from the buckling and burning surface of Ilum, Poe pulls in behind the Falcon in his X-Wing. "Everybody, I got eyes on 'em!"
Cheers come from the other pilots. They already knew that Lieutenant Gallo was alive and aboard the Falcon. Now, they know everyone got off the planet. The Falcon and all the surviving starfighters streak away from the planet as the gas and energy from the star begin breaking through Ilum's surface, until the planet finally bursts apart, a new star in its place. Within moments of this, the Falcon and the rest of the starfighters make the jump to hyperspace, heading back to D'Qar.
In the back of the Millenium Falcon, Ben is sitting in silence, his mind trying to digest everything that has happened. It feels almost surreal, as if everything is a dream he's waking up from. However, he knows things are not over, and he feels a little afraid of the moment he sees his aunt again on D'Qar.
And, I'll end the chapter there. I hope you liked this one.
So, I obviously decided to have Ben be the one to mainly duel and defeat Kylo. I did this because, although I do like the duel between Kylo and Rey in the film, it didn't make sense that Rey suddenly beat him by tapping into the Force and hammering away at him with how well Kylo is trained. So, I decided to fix that by making the Kylo/Rey duel more believable and then having Ben duel him.
So, next chapter will cover the entire end of The Force Awakens movie. It'll hopefully be up tomorrow. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!