1The battle of Kef Bir was over.
Rose has pinpointed Rey's location as she is going to Exegol.
Finn wanted to do something else first.
"Jannah, do you see this?"
"What is it, Finn?"
"This is our true key to saving the Galaxy, Jannah. As much as I trust Rey... I still want to help. And I see people who truly need it, yet she didn't bat an eye.
I feel something is wrong with her. Rey used to be a kind woman. But... I can feel a lot of hate and malice surrounding her. And her thoughts, for some reason, are around Kylo, the asshole. And otherwise, they are all about destroying Palpatine and fullfilling the will of the Force.
She is getting through a lot and I just want to help... but why does she want me away?"
"Instead of thinking about her, tell me your plan."
"General Hux was a spy for us. I have no signal from him, it must be that either he is watched or dead. Probably dead. I made sure to shoot his leg instead of the arm to make sure he pays for all the children he has taken from families.
If he wasn't a spy, I would shoot him between the legs. The Galaxy doesn't need more Huxes. One good deed will not excuse everything a war criminal has done.
Hux gave me this disc. He said it's vital and something for me to gain his trust. For him to right his wrongs and spite the Supreme Leader.
I think it has the way to save the true victims of the war. Those who are what Kylo pretended to be."
"Our brothers and sisters. The Troopers."
Finn turns to Rose. "Rose! As new General of the Resistance, I give my first order. Can you hack the mainframe of the First Order?"
"Yes, yes I can. Our spy gave us codes for their systems."
"Of course Hux knew them."
Finn connects the disk to the computer.
Suddenly, in every First Order base, in every occupied planet, in every Star Destroyer except the planet-busters of the Final Order, Finn's hologram appears.
"Hello there, my brothers and sisters!"
The Stormtroopers and the officers all turn to see the holograms. Even in Coruscant, the Imperial remnants stop what they are doing, including the officers who just got a transmission from the enemy.
Finn starts talking. He is anxious, as he knows the fate of the Galaxy depends on his speech.
"You might all know me, fighters of the First Order. I am one of you. I was ripped from my family when I was two. I don't remember a lot of things. Only that I want to know my family. Where I come from.
I was then raised in the Order, just like you. Hearing lie after lie, that I am as expendable as a sensor in a droid. Sometimes, I even got hated for caring about some of you. Once, I saw another Stormtrooper falling behind in a simulation. I did my best to help him, even if it would put me in danger. Now, a lot of you would call me an idiot, but imagine yourselves not in my own shoes. Imagine yourselves as the other Stormtrooper.
Do you think it's right? For your superiors to act like saving your lives is wrong?"
Some Stormtroopers get visibly angry.
Some want to mutter "No", but can't find the strength to do it. They are afraid of getting shot.
One officer orders the technicians to shut the hologram in front of him down. But they can't.
"Then came my first mission. I saw my best friend die in my arms, my fellow soldiers. I feared that if I showed I cared, I would be reconditioned. Do you know what reconditioning is? They brainwash you. They treat you like utter garbage. They believe you exist only to kill and be killed. Do you think it's right?"
Some "No" come as little more than a whisper... but people start saying it.
"Then I was ordered by Kylo to murder civilians. While he killed in cold blood, having the choice not to, I refused to help him in his murders. While I had no choice and I risked a lot. But saving lives is worth disobeying orders for.
Now, the same Kylo who makes you kill people, who treats you like expendable machines, pretends he is not at fault and blames others for what he did, while he left and betrayed his family. While you? You were manipulated since you were little kids. You don't even know your families, yet you are killed with no remorse.
Do you think it's right? For your slaver to pretend to be what all of you are?"
Many Stormtroopers yell "NO!"
Finn's expression turns solemn. "I am one of you. I used to be FN-2187, until I chose another name. The name is Finn. I chose to be a person and not a killing machine.
I want to apologize to you. As your masters hunted me down for my "treachery", I had to kill a lot of you in self-defense. Do you think I sleep well, knowing you could have a chance like me? One of you even almost killed me, since I knew him. And I couldn't bring myself to wound him. Meanwhile, that supposed loyalist, Captain Phasma? She lowered down the shields of Starkiller. When I called her out, she shot the Stormtroopers who were witnesses to cover up her hide. I saved you from a traitor far worse than me.
But I didn't completely redeem myself until I got this file. Phasma's demise wasn't full compensation. But I hope this will be."
And the tape Finn got appears as a hologram. It has names. Lots of names, numbers, planets. Some Stormtroopers couldn't believe they saw themselves with true names and their homes. Most thought they had only numbers, and that their only home was the First Order. Then they saw they had a choice. Even some of the officers remembered when they themselves were troopers and now saw their true families in front of them.
Finn speaks one last time. "You can all choose to stay in the Order, or to get to your homes. We in the Resistance would also welcome you with open arms. Just know that you now have a choice. You don't have to be in the Resistance to go to your homes, though we will help you. All we will give you is the chance to get revenge for everything the First Order took from you.
And you, people of the occupied planets. Aren't you sick of getting your rights kicked into the curb? Of not being able to voice your own opinion without getting shot? You and the Stormtroopers are the same. You don't stand up not because you don't want to, but because you are forced not to. Do you think it's right?"
As one person, all Stormtroopers, all oppressed people and even some officers respond. "NO!"
Some abusive officers try to stop the Stormtroopers. One of them, known as Crasso, yells at them.
"You will be silent! Don't listen to the Traitor! I am your only family! You will be lost without me!"
Crasso gets shot dead from multiple directions.
Poe Dameron adds something else.
"I am Poe Dameron, Finn's best friend. The one who gave Finn a choice.
And have to say something. The Final Order, the one Snoke was serving, it is planning to destroy the Galaxy, planet after planet. Every planet they destroy, they kill your potnetial families and devastate your own homes with no coming back and no remorse at all. Who knows how many of you had families in the Hosnian System and lost them due to Starkiller."
A Stormtrooper Commander drops on his knees and cries. "What have we done?"
"They will destroy even your outposts. Palpatine shows his true colors. He is a child, who wants nobody to have the Galaxy if he can't have it. He will kill all of you and feel no remorse if his precious Kylo doesn't stay with him. Stop taking their abuse. Will you stand up to them?"
"YES!"
Finn could feel something. As if something vile that plagued the Galaxy was lifted from the shoulders of billions in an instant. As if souls were saved. He had the feeling since Starkiller destroyed Hosnian Prime. But now he knows what it is.
A disturbance in the Force.
Ten minutes later, Poe leads the Resistance Fleet to Exegol. "I hope the former Troopers listened to our message, Finn."
"Somehow, I feel they did. I can also feel Rey. She is leading us there."
"Remember, it's Do or Die!"
Meanwhile, Pryde just received Palpatine's message.
He agrees with everything Palpatine said out of principle.
However, he gets another message, from a Captain.
"General! We lost contact with all the First Order bases! I don't know why, but they all shut down simultaneously with no reports!"
Pryde did not get Finn's message.
If the Final Order did, the Resistance would have just exposed themselves, as the Sith Troopers were not like the actual Stormtroopers.
Pryde responds immediately.
"Palpatine says the First Order is no longer useful to him and are worthless after Kylo's treachery. He does not need them... But this is too suspicious. Either the Resistance managed so many successful hits at once, or we will face mass mutiny. I got no orders to shut the First Order down. Investigate now, this is not good."
"Affirmative."
Then Pryde makes his own speech.
"In two days, it's the end of this Galaxy. In the ashes of the Jedi and the New Republic, the Sith are going to be reborn! And so will the Galaxy, under our wise Emperor's guidance. Then, we will not stop in this Galaxy. There are so many galaxies to save and enlighten!
We will succeed with blood and honor, for the Emperor!"
"WITH BLOOD AND HONOR, FOR THE EMPEROR!"
Then Rey's X-Wing comes to Exegol. Pryde is about to order to shoot her down...
But he hears Palpatine's voice. "No. Let her pass. I need her for my rebirth. However, I also sense a fleet coming behind her. These are useless to me. Kill'em all."
"Yes, my Emperor."
Rey arrives on Exegol, ready to avenge the death of her parents. To destroy Palpatine. For a moment, she is scared she led her friends to her deaths. But a voice inside her head tells her to not think about them and focus on killing the Emperor. She listens to it.
She has the lightsabers of both Luke and Leia. Ready to continue their legacy.
Meanwhile, the Resistance Fleet arrives.
"Welcome to Exegol."
Thunderbolts roar behind the hundreds of planet-busters.
Jannah finds out their navigator. "This tower is their weakness. If we blow it up, the ships will be trapped there. They will be sitting ducks."
Finn orders his forces to land on the planet and destroy the navigator, and is about to lead the army himself.
Poe sees they have turrets to defend their tower. Snap and Kare's go ahead and destroy them before they can do damage. They try to approach the tower, but suddenly it closes.
"They deactivated the tower! But why?"
Pryde changed the location of the navigator to the flagship, where he himself and his best troops were.
His ship looked just like the others, but in practice was a bit more powerful for a reason few in the crew knew.
And then he sends a thousand TIE Interceptors to crush the Resistance.
"It's a trap!" Aftab Ackbar exclaims.
"They changed the location of the navigator. Everyone, get away from the planet!"
As they do so, the TIEs surround them.
Inside Palpatine's base, Kylo, now Ben Solo sneaks in. With a blaster. As he does, he senses a sneaky Sith Acolyte spotting him and raising his blaster. The Solo shoots first. Then he uses the Force to pinpoint two more Acolytes and they do the same. They are about to shoot, but Ben is much faster.
Meanwhile, Rey is forced by Palpatine to kill him, while hundreds of Sith Acolytes and Spirits chant behind her.
"The Sith will be reborn. The Jedi are dead!"
Rey hesitates. The Acolytes aim at her.
Rey can hear the voice in her head tell her to avoid this. "Not yet. He will win if you do so now."
Meanwhile, Finn manages to sense the new location of the navigator. "It's on that ship. It's also the command ship, and has strange energy flowing in it."
"How do you know?" Jannah asks.
"A feeling, Jannah."
Jannah remembers all the talk about the Force.
So does Poe. "It's indeed on that ship! Go get them!"
The TIE Interceptors block the way, firing at the Resistance fleet and blowing up many X-Wings, Y-Wings and B-Wings. Snap tries to make two of them shoot each other, as he made it work once against the First Order. But they simply turn on him at the last second and graze his ship. Jessika Pava and Poe Dameron shoot the two TIEs.
A TIE Interceptor is chased by an A-Wing which fails to land a hit. They get on top of one of the planet-busters and the Final Order pilot dodges some more shots. The A-Wing gets shot down by a turbolaser immediately after.
Kare' shoots down a TIE, but another locks her and is about to fire. Snap gets that Interceptor and saves his wife. Meanwhile, Jessika blasts the surface of a Star Destroyer and destroys a few cannons with ease. They are wrapped in flames.
A cannon barely misses her.
As Ben managed to get a saber through the Dyad and fight off the men he himself had corrupted and led, Finn's transport gets close to the capital ship.
"I can see the navigator now. It resonates with a great power. This is our goal. If we take this ship down, they are helpless. The fate of the Galaxy depends on this. I hope they listen to us. As long as people stand up for themselves, we still have hope. We can still stop Palpatine's madness!"
Pryde leaves a loud chuckle.
"They managed to get here. But they will not stop the best fleet of the Galaxy. Use an EMP. Block their speeders and ships."
"Sir... they are not using ships or speeders."
"Then what are they using?"
And Finn deploys with an army of renegade Stormtroopers, all riding horses and shooting at the front row of the enemy forces.
Behind them, Rose Tico leads a force of Resistance Troopers.
The Sith Troopers prove to be more fanatical and tough than the Stormtroopers. With steady aim, never moving from their positions, they never stop firing their blasters. Horses and riders drop dead or are injured.
Jannah uses her bow and shoots a Trooper in the neck, killing him instantly. The second one gets an arrow in the chest and doesn't die. He retaliates and grazes Jannah's right arm.
"Their chestplates are too tough! Try to aim for the head and neck instead!" Jannah orders.
Finn senses a cloaked Sith Trooper coming from his left and with one hand manages to shoot him in the head twice. The Trooper drops dead.
"Finn, tell me, are these children ripped from their families too?"
Finn sees a Resistance Trooper being in a chokehold by a Sith Trooper and another punching him in the gut, seemingly enjoying this.
The General rides there and shoots the Sith Trooper holding his ally. Then he runs over the other foe.
"These are either droids or very zealous volunteers. The Stormtroopers sometimes hesitate. They want to scare or arrest. These seem to murder with no remorse."
The Sith Trooper he ran over gets up like he was merely pushed to the ground and aims at Finn, but Jannah shoots him dead with a well-placed arrow to the shoulder.
The foe dies but doesn't shout.
A Sith Trooper guns down three Resistance Troopers, but Rose shoots him in the leg. The Trooper keeps walking and emotionlessly fires at her. She rolls away, remembering how Captain Phasma nearly killed her. BB-8 is too close to Finn to help her, electrocuting a Sith Trooper and stunning him for two seconds. Finn shoots the Trooper dead before he can recover.
Poe Dameron watches in horror as one of the Resistance Cruisers is struck by the main cannon of one of the planet killers, instantly getting blown up.
He retaliates by single-handedly destroying all TIEs defending that particular ship and then firing proton torpedoes at the bridge. But the bridge has shields and the generator is inside. "No, this is not their weak point. They must have some weakness. Giving such firepower to a mere Star Destroyer has to come with a price. They must trade offense for defense. Maybe these cannons are the weakness."
Then he orders the ships to mingle with the planet killers. "Get between the Star Destroyers, quick! They will not be able to use their cannons without hitting each other!"
Snap is the underbelly of another ship, one in the front lines. The cannon does not fire for it would miss and risk hitting an ally, but an experienced TIE pilot gets hot on Snap's tail. Kare' goes to help, but a TIE Interceptor blocks her way.
Snap can't lose the enemy ship.
"Snap! We are coming!"
"I can't lose them!"
A second pilot shoots Snap's X-Wing and the shots of both zealots rip it apart.
"Snap! SNAP!" Poe yells in horror.
Kare' takes out her own foe, but it's too late.
Her husband is... is...
"No. It was another ship. It must have been another ship. Snap? Please hear me! Please!"
But nobody responds to her.
"No... no... this is not fair... I wanted us to have a happy life, to see the war's end... this isn't happening."
"Karé? Are you alright?"
"No, General Poe. I am not. Snap... Snap..."
"Jessika! Protect her! She is in imminent danger!"
Kare' pauses for a moment and the two TIE Interceptors come to kill her too. Her sadness turns to unstoppable rage and she fires Proton Torpedoes at both. They struggle to dodge and she manages to shoot them both. She keeps shooting like a maniac and does to them what they did to Snap.
But her desire for revenge is not satisfied. She no longer has anything to lose. "I am going to meet my husband, and take a lot of you with me!"
She is no longer cautious and attacks at a heavily protected ship, attempting to kill all the guards and then die ramming the planet killer itself. They outnumber her thirty to one. She knows she will die, but no longer cares.
The first one goes down, but the second destroys the blasters of her right wings. She still refuses to retreat. "Come on! Kill me!"
But Jessika is not going to let Karé commit suicide. She ambushes the TIEs and drives them off, even destroying one in the proccess.
"What are you doing, Jessika?"
"I am saving you, dummy! Do you think Snap died for you to kill yourself? We value everyone in the Resistance. Please, as a friend... stop. You avenged his death. I am sure he wanted you to live happily. Do not get yourself killed."
"Thank you, Jessika..." Karé responds tearfully. "I will live. Or try to."
Meawnhile, Palpatine has managed to also turn Ben's arrival in his favor. He absorbs all the power of the Force Dyad. "This Dyad had a lot of years to happen. I tried with Vader, but never could manage it!"
And the one true Emperor restores himself.
He feels the power of all the Sith in his hands, something that he truly wanted. Even the power of Darth Plagueis the Wise, which he always wanted. Now he could restore useful minions with far more ease. And the fearsome Nihilius, who could eat a planet. And Bane, the one behind the Rule of Two. And... something else. It's not related to the Sith, but it is Dark. And it's what is behind this Force Dyad.
He feels like he got a fraction of a power of a god.
Which, combined with the power of all the Sith, makes him beyond mere mortals.
On the flagship, Rose is shot in the shoulder by the Sith Troopers. The Sith Trooper who landed the shot would then blow her brains off if not for the intervention of Suralinda Javos, who spits acid from her mouth and melts the enemy. Then she takes two shots from the Sith Troopers and falls down. But since she is an alien vampire, she gets up and shoots them both with her blaster.
Connix, now a Colonel, manages to duck a punch and knee a Sith Trooper in the stomach. Then she strikes him with her gun butt and finishes him off with a shot. "We will not give up!" she tells her men. "For Leia Organa!"
"FOR LEIA ORGANA!"
Koo Milam is shot in the leg. She frantically shoots at one of the Sith Troopers, but only grazes his armor once. Finn focuses and manages to shoot the Trooper dead before he retaliates. Then a blaster bolt wounds his steed and forces him to fight on foot, while a former Stormtrooper besides him is gunned down.
Poe sees another one of his pilots getting blown up by a TIE Defender. "We can't hold on! There are too many of them!"
Then he hears Lando's voice. "There are more of us."
And he arrives on the Falcon, Chewbacca by his side, gunning down a TIE Defender.
Behind him, an armada even bigger than the Final Order. Freighters, frigates, transports, small fighters. Even some Star Destroyers... which, to the horror of the Final Order, are shooting the Sith Fleet!
Pryde growls, seemingly losing his cool for the first time. "I knew there was something wrong!"
Finn sees the massive reinforcements. "Whoo! They responded! Hope is coming back!"
With his morale raised, he wants to celebrate on the spot... but senses a Sith Trooper about to shoot him from behind. He turns and with an invisible power he throws the Sith Trooper away. Then has a feeling someone is going to attack from seven o'clock. He turns and shoots him, striking home while barely looking.
If he had a lightsaber, it would be better... but he knows that he, so far, is far better with the blaster. He also knows exactly what his feelings are. With terrifying accuracy, he manages to shoot dead another foe who was about to shoot Kaydel in the head.
Transports arrive in the flagship, filled with armed people, former Stormtroopers, who have their white armor but no helemets, and Mandalorians. They manage to flank the Sith Troopers and kill over ten of them before they can fight back. If it was a regular army, they would try to retreat.
But no. The Sith Troopers stand their ground and are willing to die for their beloved Emperor. The Mandalorians prove to be even stronger due to their jetpacks and Beskar, which saves their lives at least once since the Sith Order has accurate infantry.
The former Stormtroopers, now fighting for what they believe in, have equal determination to the Sith Troopers. While they lose three to one after the initial ambush, they still bravely hold off the enemies of the Galaxy. One even grabs an enemy detonator and lunges at a Sith Trooper, blowing up both of them.
Ewoks come with their spears, ready to repeat Endor and fight for Leia, whom they loved, and also C-3PO. A Sith Trooper breaks a woman's neck with no remorse. But he gets impaled by many spears. Most Ewoks gang up on two Sith Troopers who were about to shoot Kaydel, because she resembled Leia and they wanted to save her.
The first Mandalorian drops dead, shot in the throat by a Sith Trooper. However, a powerful mercenary, the fabled Cara Dune, opens fire with her automatic rifle and takes down three Sith Troopers with ease. A fourth one fires at her, but she dodges with ease and manages to shoot him three times.
Then she sees one more Sith Trooper, heavier than the others, shooting one of Jannah's men and his steed. Then the heavy stomps on the steed's head. Cara shoots the thug in the arm and then lunges at him, putting him in a chokehold. Another enemy aims at her back, but Suralinda spits on him. Cara proceeds to break the heavy's neck with all of her might.
BB-8 zaps a Sith Trooper close to Koo Milam, who finishes the enemy off. As a Mandalorian blows up two at once with a rocket, Finn is fighting a Sith Trooper hand to hand. The Sith throws many strong and fast punches, which would knock out even trained fighters. But Finn can sense all of them and they look very slow in his eyes. He dodges them all easily and punches the Sith Trooper in the gut. Then he kicks him in the sides and lands two punches in his face. He tries to remove the man's helmet to see what's inside, but the Sith Trooper recovers and manages to push the General away. Then he throws a hard cross, which Finn barely manages to catch, only because he sensed it. Then he twists the enemy's arm and breaks it. He senses another foe firing his blaster at him, accurately and with one hand.
The Force user throws the enemy he is already fighting at the other Sith Trooper and draws his blaster. As the first Sith Trooper is shot dead by his own ally, the second one gets shot by Finn. A third one is about to fire, but Jannah gets him first with her bow. Chief Chirpa of the Ewoks is beating up an enemy with his staff.
Meanwhile, the Falcon blows up a main cannon, which causes a chain reaction and destroys one of the planet killers. Poe orders everyone to go for the cannons. "With each cannon you blow up, a planet is saved! Even if the ground forces fail, we are going to make a lot of planets live another day!"
And Poe blows up a planet killer by going for the cannon. His blasters alone are enough to get the job done. In the next one, he uses Proton Torpedoes. A TIE Defender is behind him and locks him, but Jessika takes down the TIE.
Mandalorian ships destroy the TIE Interceptors with relative ease, allowing the X-Wings and Y-Wings to destroy the massive underbelly cannons and the Star Destroyers with them. The Razor Crest II, the personal ship of the Mand'Alor, attacks one of the planet killers and effortlessly blows up the main cannon.
"They gave too much emphasis on offense. Their defense is weaker than an ordinary Star Destroyer!"
Indeed, an ordinary Star Destroyer rams a Sith Fleet one. Due to the superior durability and the fact that it was T-Boning its target, only the former still manages to stand.
Din Djarin goes for a second planet killer. He easily recognizes which are the hostile Star Destroyers, as the planet-busting main cannons are not subtle. He fires proton torpedoes and blows up four enemy ships at once before firing a second round and taking down one more, as well as the cannon he was after.
"That was for what happened to Grogu!"
Indeed, Din never heard of Grogu since Kylo slaughtered his classmates. This made Din have a deep hatred of the First Order and Kylo. Now, if he got paid for saving the Galaxy, since Lando has a load of cash... that would be also a satisfying bonus.
Finally, he knew that Mandalore was not safe from the Sith Fleet. Thinking about these made the Mand'Alor for the first time thank the Force he was king and declare war on the Final Order. As he took down three more hostile fighters, he felt no remorse.
He wants to go help Cara and the Mandalorians in the flagship, but he sees a lone A-Wing charging... and getting neutralized by an EMP. The flagship has to be defeated on foot.
Zorii Bliss appears, as well as a lot of mercenaries, to avenge the destruction of her planet, to Poe's pleasant surprise. She even blows up a cannon.
"Are you impressed, Hotshot?"
"You still have a long way to go, Zorii!"
Lando takes out one more planet killer and two TIE Interceptors. Then the long-suffering shields of the Falcon get weakened by another TIE, but Poe's timely interference saves the legendary freighter. Then Poe and Din face off against ten TIE Interceptors and take all of them out.
In another planet buster, Ewoks ambush the Sith Troopers. In charge of them is Paploo, who hijacks a cannon and takes down the rest before blowing a hole in the surface of the Star Destroyer. He dives down, ready to sabotage the main cannon and save a planet, which might even be Endor. No matter what it takes.
However, the Sith Fleet is not done for. In the flagship, BB-8 encounters BB-9E. A black, Imperial clone of himself, he is the one who informed Phasma as well as DJ of the admittedly pathetic undercover mission. The two ram each other. Finn wants to help BB-8, but a Sith Trooper draws his attention when he is about to shoot Jannah.
The Sith Troopers struggle against the wide variety of adversaries, so Pryde wants to go all-out.
"Release the Death Droids and Dark Troopers. Sith Rocketeers, stop these reinforcements!"
And a line of very muscular Sith Troopers emerge, all with rocket launchers. From the sides, black Imperial droids appear, which shrug off blaster bolts.
Finn loses some confidence. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Yet the worst was yet to come.
Rey and Kylo never stood a chance. Palpatine had the power of all the Sith and more, and had knocked the last Skywalker in a chasm. Rey could barely get up and watch what was coming next.
"This fleet is indeed massive. They are all determined, they give the Sith Fleet more trouble than they should. Now it's time... for everyone to witness the true power of the Sith!"
And Palpatine shoots his most powerful stream of lightning upwards, his feared Force Storm, which can scorch the surface of an entire planet!
The lightning storm strikes all the enemy ships. They all have trouble with functioning. Poe was a bit relieved, since BB-8 could have a short circuit, but he felt immense horror as Palpatine made his ship spin out of control just as he was about to strike yet another cannon and save a planet early. The Falcon loses its shields entirely, which have lasted just enough for a planet killer to have its hull breached.
Palpatine's laugh echoes in the entire planet.
Rey realized the Dyad could get rid of Palpatine's minions, but the Emperor himself needed something more powerful. "Be with me... be with me..."
As she sees the ships getting out of control, with some A-Wings and renegade TIE Fighters even getting blown up, she sheds a tear. Palpatine had absorbed most of the Force Dyad, which made her think about her friends. They were suffering because of that monster. She could feel Poe in severe trouble.
She needs all the Jedi to stop this. To save them. To avenge her parents.
Din has the same trouble as everyone else. His systems are down, he can barely land on one of the planet killers. He knows he has to fight on foot and not use the jetpack, that's the only way he will avoid that lightning.
The moment he steps out of the new Crest, he is shot by a Sith Trooper, but luckily the Beskar stops the blaster bolt and allows Din to retaliate. The first Sith Trooper goes down fast. Then come two more and are also shot dead. One charges with two Riot Batons, but Din draws his Darksaber.
"For what you did to Grogu, to Mandalore and the entire Galaxy, I am taking on all of you!"
And Din parries the first strike easily. The second baton nearly hits him, but Din blocks it and then forces the foe in the defensive. He gets shot again, from the side, but Beskar saves him once more. Din is distracted for a second, which allows the melee specialist to strike him with his baton. Din gets up, parries a double strike and with a riposte pierces the stomach of the Sith Trooper, dropping him dead.
"Gideon was tougher," Din boasts.
A Final Order officer comes with even more Sith Troopers.
"Surrender, Mandalorian. You are one, and we are many and elite!"
"I like these odds."
Meanwhile, in the flagship, Pryde orders his forces to attack from the sides to allow the Sith Rocketeers a clear shot.
Cara Dune fires her laser rifle and manages to shoot dead one of the Rocketeers with five shots, then she punches out a regular enemy. A Death Droid approaches, shrugging off Ewok spears and even ordinary blaster bolts. Kaydel shoots its neck, but it shrugs it off and grabs her by the throat. Connix would be choked to death if not for Cara Dune, who shoots the droid's arm off and then guns it down with suppressing fire.
A second droid punches Cara so hard she is knocked down, but she grabs the machine's arm at the next swing and with both hands, gritting her teeth, she rips it off. Then she clobbers the droid with its severed hand. She would have been shot in the back by a Sith Trooper if not for Jannah, who fires an arrow in the back of the trooper's neck.
A Dark Trooper guns down five former Stormtroopers, but Cara Dune fires at its neck and destroys it, taking it down. A second Dark Trooper takes down a Resistance Officer, but a former Stormtrooper fires a heavy rocket and blows up the head of the killing machine.
Pryde orders the Sith Rocketeers to fire all at once.
Finn uses the Force and throws three on the ground, breaking the close formation, but those unaffected still fire their rockets and gib a lot of Resistance Troopers, including Ewoks, former Stormtroopers and even Mandalorians.
The General orders the soldiers to fight in close quarters so the Rocketeers can't fire. If he just had a lightsaber, he would be unstoppable against these foes. But now, as he beats up a Sith Trooper, he spots one of the droids... and so far, he can only feel and push with the Force! He fires his blaster, but deals no damage.
Cara is shot in the ribs, while Suralinda is too weakened and tries to retreat. She spits acid and melts a droid, but a Sith Trooper aims for her head. Her durability has limits. If Rose didn't shoot the Sith Trooper in the back first, the blue-skinned journalist would be dead. Jannah proceeds to be the one who saves Rose when a Sith Trooper charges at her and starts punching her. Two well-placed arrows save Tico from certain death. A horse kicks a Sith Trooper towards an Ewok, who is waiting with her spear.
The storm around them keeps raging. A Mandalorian who uses her jetpack to bombard the Rocketeers and droids gets in a too high altitude. Palaptine's lightning strikes her, burning her armor and disabling her jetback. A Sith Trooper manages to shoot her dead as she falls.
Vi Moradi, a Resistance spy, fights among the people she used to spy on. She throws a detonator at one of the Death Droids and blows it up. Then she fires her blaster and takes out three Sith Troopers, saving a former Stormtrooper, and advances towards the cannons to sabotage them. However, a rocket explodes to her right and kills many former Stormtroopers, and even obliterates her right arm.
Finn's reflexes are better than ever before and he dodges all blows coming towards him, but he can't deal any damage to the droid. Then he also senses a Rocketeer aiming at him.
His instinct kicks in, and he grabs the killing machine with both hands. Then he throws it at the Rocketeer, using the Force to throw it faster. The bazooker blows the droid up and saves himself... momentarily, as Connix guns him down.
Pryde notices what Finn hoped he didn't.
"Their General has the Force. Kill him at all costs!"
Meawnhile, the turrets of the Sith Fleet shoot down helpless X-Wings and some Sith Troopers start trying to board the attacking ships. Fortunately for the Galaxy, the boarding attempts are foiled fast.
Around Din are so many corpses of Sith Troopers he has lost count halfway through. Most of their shots were either dodged or blocked by the Beskar and the Darksaber. But two are not. The Mandalorian armor is still sturdy, and these shots wound but fail to kill Din. Even the officer manages a flesh wound in Din's shin, but gets stabbed by the Darksaber.
Poe manages for a second to take control of his ship and barely avoids cannon fire. Then he manages to blow up another planet killer before the storm makes him lose control once more.
Cara punches out one of the Sith Troopers and then throws him at two more. She uses her rifle to dismantle a droid and spots Finn struggling against five Sith Troopers at once. Finn dodges a kick and punches the first in the gut, then he knocks him out with a karate chop in the throat. But another one grabs his arms from behind, leaving him open to a gut punch. The punch is fast and Finn feels it. The Sith Trooper lands three more and then draws his blaster for the finishing blow. But Finn kicks the blaster out of his hands and then starts kicking backwards to release himself.
The two remaining Sith Troopers are about to shoot, but Cara shoots them both dead first. Then she charges at the Sith Trooper who tries to raise his blaster and knocks him out with a few melee strikes. Finn manages to free himself and break the last Sith Trooper's neck.
Then he senses a rocket coming from four o' clock. He turns and shoots it in mid-air, allowing Cara to use her rifle and shoot the Sith Trooper dead. Jannah uses her bow and shoots a Death Droid in the eye, where it has a sensor. It has a short circuit and is exposed to the Mandalorians before it recovers. Then Jannah and the Ewoks fire a hail of arrows and kill twenty three enemies simultaneously. Jannah uses her bow once more, to shoot dead an officer who was about to order the rocketeers to blast her.
Cara uses the severed droid arm to beat down another Sith Trooper and manages to shoot one more Rocketeer. However, she sees another foe aiming at Jannah. She rushes between them, seeing she can't prevent the shot, and takes the hit. Then she retaliates and fires her rifle like a maniac.
"For Din Djarin! For us bounty hunters! Remember, money are worth nothing if there is no place for us to live!"
Pryde listens to that speech.
"The Fetts served the Empire well for the money. If Boba didn't die from old age, he would disagree with you! Soldiers! Make sure she meets Boba Fett!"
The Sith Troopers try their best, but Cara keeps firing like crazy and kills over ten of them. Then the laser rifle overheats. And she gets shot in the left shoulder and right elbow.
Jannah hits a Rocketeer with her arrows and rushes to save Cara, but only manages to hit one of the Sith Troopers aiming at her. There are two more. And they keep shooting at Dune. The woman who had matched Din draws a hand blaster and shoots back, injuring one of the two, but the second one grazes her head. Jannah prepares another arrow, but another Sith Trooper fires at her and forces her to take cover.
Finn charges at the two, wanting to save Cara. "I am coming!"
But he is too late. The only shot that mattered, the first one, missed, and Finn had to watch as the two Sith Troopers finally shot Cara in the head and heart and then kept shooting her body.
Pryde smirks. "One of our enemies is down. And now the General will realize that, even with the Force, he can still fail."
"CARA!" Finn yells, earning the attention of both Sith Troopers. He uses the Force to push them away and shoots both of them dead before they recover.
Then he feels five former Stormtroopers, who were one step away from finally finding their families and a happy life, screaming in agony and dying at once. This causes him a headache and makes him fire at the Rocketeers. There are only a few left, and Finn gets too close for them to use their launchers. They, however, can still use their fists.
"FINN!" Rose yells and charges at the Rocketeers, but she misses her shots and gets a Rocketeer's attention. She finally manages to shoot him and knock him down, but he gets back up, towering over her.
BB-8 gets electrocuted by BB-9E and then rammed almost out of the ship and into the storm. However, he escapes the charge and fires small bolts of electricity BB-9E dodges. Then they ram each other and are equals, trying their best to overpower each other. A Sith Trooper aims for BB-8, who immediately changes position to shield himself. The Sith Trooper also changes postion, but Wicket the Ewok stabs him in the back. BB-8 goes for another ramming, and BB-9E does the same. This time, BB-9E seems to be winning.
Until BB-8 torches him. The First Order droid gets damaged, but retaliates by electrocuting BB-8.
Din falls on his knees, having been shot several times. His armor has holes. A Mandalorian reports they lost Cara. Din can't believe it. She was a trusted bounty hunter and helped him a lot with his child. Because Grogu was exactly that for him. He wants to fight more... but can't.
Suddenly, the storm stops and the Resistance pilots who survived regain control!
Because Rey has got up, with the power of all the Jedi. Palpatine attacks her with his Force Lightning, but she parries with one saber. However, it's hard for her to do so and she is being pushed back. She nearly gets disarmed.
"You will not beat me! I am all the Sith!"
"And I... am all the Jedi."
She realizes Ben is alive. She can feel him. And part of the Dyad still exists, since she manages to get the second saber from him and push the Emperor's lightning back. Palpatine starts losing confidence.
BB-8 gives BB-9E a hard shove and manages to push him into the flaming debris of a cannon Vi Morandi and Koo Milam had destroyed, burning the hostile droid.
The Rocketeer who was going to punch Rose was already shot dead by Jannah, and the former Stormtroopers manage to shoot at the rest of the Rocketeers. Finn senses their punches with the Force and dodges with ease. Then he grabs the arm of one and twists it. He knees him in the stomach, draws his blaster and smacks him in the helmet with it. Then he shoots three of the foes in point blank range.
The last Rocketeer lands a hard elbow in his chest, but Finn Force Pushes him backwards and shoots him in mid-air. Then he orders a retreat for the troopers, not wanting to lose more.
"Go back, all of you! Except Jannah and BB-8!"
Rose wants to stay and fight. But Finn tells her it's better to go back and be safe. He remembers the last major battle Rose saved him, and he isn't so grateful for that. Not unless he manages to defeat the superweapon this time.
"Please. I want to stay."
Finn looks her straight in the eyes.
"Go. Do not try to save me."
The Rocketeers are all defeated, but a Sith Trooper recovers a rocket launcher. BB-8 tazes him quickly.
On their retreat, the former Stormtroopers fire one last barrage and the Sith Troopers chasing them either die or have to focus on Finn.
Pryde is confused. "Is his heart bigger than his brain? I understand he wants to save troops, but what he is doing is suicide! And if we kill him and win, this will be meaningless!
Unless he is too close to victory and is sure the three of them can handle my remaining forces. I lost my Rocketeers, it's time to seize my opportunity. All units, let the retreating troops live and focus on these three. They must not take a single step!"
Finn senses power. A lot of power from underneath. He uses one of his detonators to blow up a hole, while Jannah covers him with her arrows. And the Force user gets inside the corridors.
Din has lost all hope. But an X-Wing saves him just as he was going to be executed by a firing squad. The X-Wing uses its blasters and incinderates the firing squad of Sith Troopers. This allows Din to retreat to the Razor Crest II.
The pilot is Poe Dameron, and he covers Din's escape.
"Even the best need saving!"
A TIE Interceptor is about to shoot Poe down. However, Zorii saves him, while the Falcon is chasing three TIE Interceptors.
Zorii chuckles. "Are you eating your words now, Flyboy?"
"No, you are just confirming me!"
Jessika Pava is fighting two TIE Defenders and manages to take both out. Then she uses her blasters to scorch the surface of a planet killer and destroy its turrets. She even kills a Rocketeer who was aiming at an Y-Wing, allowing the allied pilot to fire proton torpedoes and further weaken the ship. But a TIE Interceptor destroys the Y-Wing and Jessika is next...
Then Karé tails the Interceptor and destroys it, saving Pava.
"Thank you!"
"No need to! I am just repaying a favor!"
A TIE Fighter manages to destroy a TIE Interceptor and then goes for a cannon. The rebellious pilot blows the cannon up, but one shot from a TIE Defender brings it down easily.
Pryde is losing it. "Traitors! Cowards! How dare they attack their own evolution? How can they?"
Jannah has taken a rocket launcher and starts blowing turrets, enemies and the ship in general up. A blaster bolt grazes her, but BB-8 simply puts another detonator and the ship is now shaking. Jannah recovers and empties the rocket launcher, taking out a lot of the surrounding troops.
Then she hijacks one of the cannons and keeps wreaking havok, even saving a couple of her riders from heavy artillery.
"Sir... she is a former Stormtrooper."
"This is treachery."
All the while, the alarms are ringing and causing Pryde a headache. "The Force user is inside the ship! Stop him! Stop him now! I will have shot anyone who retreats from him!"
Finn is in corridor after corridor. The Force helps his reflexes and he manages to shoot the Sith Troopers on the way before they return fire. They are coming from both sides, and he would have been shot in the back three times if not for the Force. Now he throws one of them into a wall and then shoots. He turns and sees two Sith Troopers aiming. He quickly shoots them both first. "Han, I hope you are proud of me!"
The next enemy comes rushing in, but Finn is close and manages to disarm him with his bare hands. Then he twists his left arm and starts kicking his right side of the torso. A Sith Trooper slides and fires, narrowly missing. Finn returns fire, landing two out of three hits.
The blaster starts overheating and a Sith Trooper aims at him from behind. Finn turns and uses the Force to send him flying, then he takes another turn. He can feel a strange power getting stronger and stronger.
He senses an enemy waiting on the other side. He jumps and sees what he is facing, while shooting. His shot misses and he encounters an executioner with a giant electric halberd. His chestplate has an extra layer of Beskar, able to easily deflect blaster bolts.
Finn can't risk shooting now, he fears his blaster will overheat and he can't risk hitting the Beskar and waste his shot. He uses the Force to push the Executioner down and retreats. "Come on, cool, cool down!"
The Executioner starts getting up. The blaster is cooling down.
Outside, Poe takes out a few more TIE Fighters. "Lando, stay close to the enemy flagship! We still have allies there! Attack the cannons of the other ships around it."
"Of course, Poe! Of course!"
Poe sees three TIE Fighters about to blow up the Falcon. He takes the two out, while Chewbacca rotates the back turret and shoots the third one down.
Palpatine is desperate. The lightning goes too close to him! Way too close! And the Sith Emperor gets blown up, disintegrated by his own hate and malice!
Rey falls on her knees. "I... I did it..."
And she feels her life force fading.
Finn's blaster has cooled down. When the Executioner emerges, Finn is ready and kills him with a direct headshot.
He finally reaches his destination. And what he sees scares him. Kyber. Loads of Kyber. Blue Kyber in massive doses. And red in the opposite side. A man clad in red is bleeding the blue crystals. They are slowly turning red.
Finn's POV
So this is how the command ship was more powerful. I knew something was wrong here. This must also power the navigator. If I can stop this, the battle is as good as won.
I just have to shoot this guy.
I take careful and fast aim, and fire.
However, he raises a hand and makes the blaster bolt change direction, harming nobody.
Oh great. Another Force user. This is my destiny. Not to be in Rey's shadow anymore. I want to win this fight. To save the Galaxy. If I do this, we will not have another Hosnian System.
He stops bleeding the crystals and returns fire. I have to take cover. One of the shots was a very close shave and he will not stop the cover fire. I can't get out of the cover. I can feel him, his signal is even stronger than that of everyone else.
Come on, this angle is juuuust right... 110°...
I manage to fire and my calculations are correct! I got his shoulder... but he does not die! I quickly fire two shots in his direction, but he deflects both of them with the Force. He is not in Kylo's level, I would say he is weaker than a Knight... otherwise he would control his Force powers better, not as badly as I do.
I duck a shot but lose the ground beneath my feet! Damn it!
Third Person POV
The man in red is an actual Sith Acolyte, like those Rey and Kylo faced. His Force Push has disarmed Finn and he quickly shoots the space between him and his blaster.
"I can feel the Force in you. When I show Palpatine your head, I will get a promotion." He fires again, but Finn dodges and Force Pushes him to the Kyber crystals he himself had bled. The impact cracks his back, he struggles to get up.
Finn's POV
This will give me some time. Now come on, blaster, move, move... I can feel it. I can feel it moving. Quickly, before he recovers...
It's coming towards me! I did it!
I grab my blaster at the exact same moment he recovers and shoot first! He deflects the bolt with the Force, but a second shot, where I pretended to aim for the legs, passes through his brain.
The battle is as good as won. I rush forward and am about to blow up this ship. But I can't yet. The Sith Fleet gathered too many blue Kyber crystals for their nefarious purposes. I am going to get a little souvenir.
I rip part of a Kyber crystal, just enough to make my own lightsaber. Who knows? I might need it in the future.
Now that I got it, let's save the Galaxy.
Third Person POV
Finn places all of his detonators and makes sure they are set off in one minute. Then he makes his escape. No Sith Troopers in his path, except a few survivors from his initial assault. They are dispatched easily.
Pryde gets reports. "What do you mean 'he is unstoppable'? He can't have beaten our own Force user! Do something!"
Even while outmatched, the Sith Troopers refuse to run away. The last one shoots at Finn, but misses because he is shaking. Finn is not and takes him out fast.
The General reaches the hole he made and Jannah offers him her hand. "Take it! Let's get out of here!"
The explosions destroy the cannon and the navigator, as well as a now panicked Pryde.
"General, do you want to escape?"
"No! I shall die with the Final Order! For the Emperor!"
Lando sees them in the command ship and quickly makes a manuever to save Finn, Jannah and BB-8.
"Do you think I would let you die, kids? I am so proud of you!" Lando remarks.
However, as Finn is saved, he feels someone else die.
His heart breaks.
"No. Rey!"
However, Ben has survived his fall. He knows this action will not excuse everything he has done. He knows he treated Rey too harshly. He knows the woman he abused is worth more than him.
He knows that, for Rey to live, he has to die.
The Dyad is fading. Kylo now starts realizing his actions could never be excused.
He gives all his life force to Rey.
And Rey wakes up. She wants to thank Ben for his sacrifice. He repaid some of his debt with that selfless death.
She hears a deep voice inside her head. "He did this because he is your soulmate. Show him how much more he matters than your friends. Kiss him."
With her eyes open, moving like a puppet, she gives a passionless kiss in Ben's lips.
Then he fades and the Dyad shatters. And there is no way to come back.
The last things Rey feels from it is Kylo burning and a weak "no".
But it's too late. Finn saw everything through the Force. And wonders why Rey did that.
Rey wonders why herself.