Chapter 7

Assault on Tuanul

It's in a small village lost in the middle of the desert that lies one of the galaxy's greatest secrets. And what a place to hide such information, no one could suspect. That's why Lor San Tekka chose a place like this to be safe from the First Order, to keep its precious secret out of their hands. But the poor old man has no idea of what awaits him.

Resistance pilot Poe Dameron had just arrived on Jakku, exhausted by his flight, but he had to overcome his fatigue in preparation for the mission he had been given. The coordinates he'd been given were correct, but when the village appeared below his ship, he couldn't believe it. His droid BB-8 beeped in dismay.

"I know, BB-8, I was seeing it bigger too, but these are the coordinates the General gave me."

Dameron begins landing his ship a few steps from the village behind a pile of rocks. As a result, his x-wing is fairly concealed, but positioned for a quick start. He exits the cockpit, leaving his helmet inside, while BB-8 emerges from beneath the ship as usual.

"I want you to stand guard and come find me if you spot anything suspicious." the pilot says, pointing at his droid.

Poe moves forward until he reaches the village, feeling watched by everyone but without seeing his contact. Then, barely illuminated by the light of a campfire, Lor San Tekka appeared and beckoned Poe to join him. The pilot's face brightened as he recognized the man. He follows him to his tent.

"It's a pleasure to be able to see you again and finally have the chance to speak with you under less- delicate circumstances." Poe says as he sits down.

"So do I, my friend, but I'm afraid we're running out of time."

The old man takes a small leather sack out of his jacket and places it in Poe's hand, closing it carefully.

"It is said that no one could have retrieved this map, how did you do it?"

Lor San Tekka smiles, wanting to keep the secret behind this mystery.

"It's nothing, I know when the time comes, you'll tell me."

The old man sighs heavily. The kind of sigh that says a lot about a person's life.

"I've seen so much in my life and I know that only a Jedi can bring balance back to the galaxy, and what's more, he's a friend who's been gone for far too long."

He'd known Luke for a long time; they'd traveled a lot when the Jedi still had his academy. His disappearance and the loss of young Ben Solo to the dark side had deeply affected Lor San Tekka.

At the same time, the little round droid was observing Jakku's night sky. Soon he sees four lights. They look like stars in the middle of a starry sky, but the lights are in motion. Shooting stars, perhaps? No, those are ship's lights in formation, descending rapidly towards the planet's surface. The droid quickly calculates their trajectory and the result points to its own position. It can't be a coincidence. Four ships... they're coming for something, and it's probably the same thing its owner is here for.

BB-8 quickly turns around and heads for the village, intent on finding Poe. Nothing seemed to stop it, the few baskets it knocked over didn't seem to bother it at all, but the other villagers lamented to the droid without knowing what was putting it in such a state. Looking around, the droid quickly spotted a tent in the distance, seemingly of better quality than the others. As if he had the instincts of a human, BB-8 rushes there, knowing that Poe is inside.

The two men continued to talk, but Poe knew it was time to leave.

"Thank you for everything, the General will be delighted." Poe says, heading for the tent entrance.

"General? For me, she's a royal highness."

Poe laughs lightly.

"That's for sure, but don't call her Princess to her face, she doesn't appreciate that anymore. And when I say really, you can believe me."

Just as Poe was about to join his faithful companion, it's the latter that comes to find him, almost rolling on his feet. The little white-and-orange droid makes a cacophony of beeps that even Poe can't understand, but even someone who doesn't understand droid language could have understood the droid's panic at that moment.

Dameron and Tekka exchange a quick glance which is enough in itself. Poe goes out first, pushing the wooden slats that serve as a 'door' to the tent. He is closely followed by the old man. The pilot grabs the quadnocs he was wearing around his neck all this time. He spots one, then two and finally four ships emerging from behind a dune at very low altitude.

"I don't want to be a downer, but you need to hide."

Lor San Tekka looks into the distance and immediately recognizes the First Order's landing craft without the use of any tools.

"And I don't want to argue about the obvious: you need to go."

Poe turns back to the old man. Despite his mission, he can't resist leaving the village to face the stormtroopers alone. He appreciates and admires Lor San Tekka too much for that.

"I must take you with me if- "

"No, Poe." the old man cuts him off. "Your mission is too important, complete it by returning to Leia."

Poe wouldn't give up.

"But what about you?"

"What matters is not what happens to me, but what happens afterwards. If you're going to care about something, make sure it's this. Now go away!" Lor San Tekka says waving his arm and walking to the defense line.

Inside the transport at the end of the convoy, the cadets prepared for the assault, feeling ready since the White Storm is on board with them. The two troopers at the front had taken out shields on the advice of Sergeant Dorvaas to avoid frontal fire. And then the transport touches down and the ramp deploys.

The battle had already begun. When the shield-equipped stormtroopers come out, the first shots ricochet off the shields, making them almost tremble under the power of the fire for these cadets. The first lines of the other three transports were not so lucky, given the number of corpses on and beside the ramps. Seeing this, FN-2187 feels almost glad to have had the chance to benefit from Dorvaas' advice as he takes cover behind the shields held by two of his comrades.

The villagers put up a fierce fight, killing stormtroopers one by one before they could use their weapons. But when the White Storm emerges last from the last convoy, it's over before it's almost begun. They slaughter the villagers one by one, and the First Order's losses stop immediately.

In the midst of the chaos, Poe Dameron has just joined his x-wing to leave the village at all costs. He jumps into his cockpit and activates his ship's repulsors. Out of the corner of his eye, he looks to his right and sees the villagers falling one by one. He can't help but grit his teeth.

Dorvaas continues to advance in the front line, boosting the morale of the troopers still alive. He kills a villager hiding behind a crate with a precise head shot before spotting the light emitted by the ship's engines.

"Concentrate your fire on that x-wing! It's the pilot!"

A group of three stormtroopers starts firing on the ship's reactors, which quickly burst into flames. They continue to approach and Poe seizes his chance, deploying a belly cannon under his ship. He was about to fire when the cannon starts to malfunction. Brains continues to tap the buttons on his forearm.

"Nice hacking partner!" Reaper tells him.

Poe emerges from his cockpit, realizing that the damage is irreversible and that he won't be able to leave Jakku aboard this ship. He has to act, and fast. He put his hand in his pocket, feeling the sack Lor San Tekka had given him. BB-8 emerges from its compartment and stands in front of its owner. He takes the piece of leather out of his pocket, and inside is a tiny object, the famous map.

"You'd better keep it; it'll be safer with you."

The droid responds with a short beep.

"Head for the desert, as far from the village as you can." the pilot continues.

BB-8 seems to resist this order, so Poe says one last thing to convince the droid.

"I'm going to shoot down as many as I can and escape with our contact. You, go! I'll find you."

Poe's voice is firm and leaves no room for further negotiation, so BB-8 reluctantly agrees to leave. The little droid rolls across the sands of Jakku, carrying one of the galaxy's most precious pieces of information. Looking back, it sees Poe heading for the village.

Lor San Tekka walks between the devastated tents of the village, watching people he has known die one by one. In addition, flametroopers arrive on the scene and start burning everything they can. And then, suddenly, there was this sound.

The noise paralyzes the last remaining fighters, who have not surrendered, suspicious of what the First Order is doing to their prisoners. But when they saw what appeared in the sky, their eyes changed expression in an instant. They show the eyes of men and women who are still alive, but understand that they are already dead.

The ship descending on Jakku is an Upsilon-class command shuttle, Kylo Ren's own. The ship is gigantic, and when its wings fold back to land, the village seems almost tiny as the ship takes up so much space on the ground. When the ramp lowers, Kylo Ren emerges, accompanied by Arya and a stormtrooper lieutenant whose red pauldron makes him easy to recognize.

FN-2187 and all the other stormtroopers who were still cadets a few weeks ago had never seen the master and his apprentice in real life. Each of their steps seems heavy and emanates an aura, an unknown and inconceivable power. Lor San Tekka sees the duo in the distance and instantly recognizes them, realizing that running away would be pointless. That's why, when a stormtrooper sergeant and another soldier apprehend him, he lets himself be dragged close to the two force users.

Kylo Ren watches the old man from head to toe. Lor San Tekka stares back at the faceless man, no hint of fear in his eyes. He then turns his gaze to young Arya, who stands aside and lets her master do his job. He turns his face towards the black-clad warrior, having known his face in the past. Now he's just a face of metal. Ren opens the conversation, having probably waited years for this.

"You've become an old man, and now my captive."

This distorted voice doesn't make Tekka flinch. As far as he was concerned, he could hear Ben Solo's voice in the background.

"What happened to you is far more tragic."

The words seemed to have no effect on Kylo Ren, as if they were bouncing off his helmet. Anger is not the reaction he adopts, only patience overwhelms him at the moment.

"You know why we're here. The map to Skywalker, did you give it to the pilot yet?"

"The only thing I know is that you two don't belong here, you don't belong to any of this." Lor San Tekka says, gesturing to all the stormtroopers around the village square with his head.

During this conversation, Poe discreetly infiltrates the village, taking advantage of the stormtroopers' attention to the prisoners. Nevertheless, he couldn't get as close as he'd like. He looked on from a distance, behind a tent, and saw Lor San Tekka and two unfamiliar figures.

"Your parents fought to the bitter end to bring down the Empire. Don't disrespect their work by remaining a servant of the dark side."

Lor San Tekka speaks with the utmost calm, wanting to help her friend Leia convince this man who is her son that he's made the wrong choice. That's why he expresses the sincerest of truths to this man living a lie, even if there's little hope of it working.

"Don't make things harder and make these people pay the price." Kylo Ren says pointing at the villagers. "You've already made most of them pay with their lives by staying here."

"These people and I live in peace with ourselves, which is not the case with you."

Losing patience, Kylo Ren emits a growl through his helmet.

"Enough talk, old man! The map, where did you put it?"

Seeing that the situation is getting out of hand, and wanting to save the man he considers a hero, Poe leaves his cover. Unfortunately for him, he is intercepted by Butcher and Reaper, who easily overpower him. The two White Storm troopers were waiting in ambush for the pilot.

"Threatening me won't get you anywhere, denying the truth about your family is not the way to go." the old man replies with defiance.

Rage finally prevails and Kylo Ren uses the force to grab the lightsaber at his belt, igniting it immediately.

"That's true, indeed."

The unstable red blade falls on Tekka, who is instantly decapitated. The old man's head rolls to Arya's feet, and she doesn't bother to look at him. Poe wanted to shout his anger but couldn't. Like Lor San Tekka before him, he was dragged before the sinister warrior. Seeing him standing still, Arya grins mischievously before pushing him down onto his knees with the force.

"Here's where you belong, worm." she says coldly.

Nevertheless, despite the situation, he can't help showing his bravado.

"So, I'm talking? Do you? Who's first?"

Kylo Ren doesn't stoop to the pilot's level, there's only one person he'd do that for and Dameron is far from it. He just looks down on him.

"The pilot... Poe Dameron, right? He's got what we're looking for. Search him."

Both troopers start searching the pilot. While Reaper performs a palpation, Butcher uses a device that he passes over every part of Poe's body. The search ends quickly.

"Nothing, sir." Reaper says to Kylo Ren.

Hearing this female voice, Poe winks at Reaper.

"Nice work, it's been a long time since a woman touched me with so much attention."

Behind her mask, she freezes but keeps her composure. This is not the case for Arya who, hearing such an inappropriate comment to a woman, clenches her fist.

"Shut your mouth or I will, and it will be painful." she stares at him.

Kylo Ren places an arm in front of Arya to signal her to control herself. She responds by rolling her eyes.

"He's no good to us, can't we kill him?"

"No, we're keeping him alive. Bring him on board and make sure he's in a suitable condition."

Butcher and Reaper nod and drag Poe inside the shuttle. At that moment, Kylo Ren turned to Arya, who didn't seem too happy about the decision.

"Just a filthy vermin with a big mouth. You should have killed him too."

"And how do you plan to interrogate a corpse? Only he knows where the map we're looking for is. That's why I'm the master and you're the apprentice."

The two were joined by Captain Phasma, who had stayed back, barely outside the landing craft. Despite the darkness of this dark night, her armor still shone brightly.

"What are your instructions, sir?"

Kylo Ren looks around him, he's already wasted too much time here and can't afford to think about decisions. He's already done it too much.

"Tell your men to kill all the remaining villagers. Then search every corner of the village to see if the map is hidden there. Even search the ground if you have to - I want it!"

She responds with the simplest of manners, a nod of her head. She then raises her arm as the stormtroopers take aim at the villagers, all but the White Storm members. This makes Harbinger wonder.

"Why don't we follow the order?"

"We may be soldiers and killers, but we're not murderers. The remaining villagers are unarmed, and we don't shoot prisoners." Dorvaas simply answers. "But if you want to follow the captain's order, I won't judge and you can still stay in the squad."

Harbinger looks at her fellows, who are ready to shoot.

"As my direct superior, I will follow your choices." she says, standing back.

In the face of death, that's when people show their true face, and it was the same for the villagers gathered in the center of Tuanul. Some stepped forward, defying death to the very end. Most of the others, on the contrary, got down on their knees, praying or crying, while others hugged each other. It didn't last.

"Fire!"

It was a massacre. The fight that happened previously had at least the honor of being minimally balanced, but this... was anything but something fair. Dorvaas couldn't help but look away, as did his companions. After that, the stormtroopers searched the village for the map, while Arya and Kylo Ren returned to the shuttle.