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chapter forty-eight: the supremacy
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WITH LEIA'S RETURN to the ranks of the Resistance, everything seems to fall back in order. All the chaos that had formerly surrounded the ship fades away in the presence of their fearless leader. If anyone seems to notice how pale General Organa is or how heavily she seems to be leaning on her cane, they don't mention it. They're all too damn happy to have her back with them to let it dampen their newly lifted spirits.

The transport shuttles are filled to the brim with the last of the Resistance's troopers. Indira watches from a distance as people board them one by one. Her focus is split between the ships and her aunt, who had pulled Vice Admiral Holdo aside for a few moments prior to have a private word with her before the ship's final evacuation was complete.

Their voices are too low for Indira to hear, but she does her best to not appear to be eavesdropping even though that is exactly what she is trying to do. When both of the women look her direction, she quickly turns her head the other way and pretends to be focused on something else. However, her appearance must be unconvincing. Leia waves her over with a knowing look and Indira ducks her head sheepishly, dragging her feet as she approaches.

"Indira," Leia says, "I think it's high past time that I properly introduced you to my good friend, Amilyn Holdo."

Indira looks at the vice admiral with a wary expression, watching as the older woman outstretches a hand. "Lieutenant Beren."

"Vice Admiral," she responds with a stiff nod of her head. She doesn't reach out to take the other woman's hand and instead chooses to shove her fists into her pockets.

Holdo drops her hand and clears her throat. "I owe you an apology," she begins. "And an explanation. I know I've been very hard on you these past couple of days."

Indira resists the urge to glare at her. "Understatement of the century."

"It's no excuse, but I wanted to see what you were made of," the woman continues, fixing Indira with her piercing blue-eyed stare. "War is hell. It pushes you to your breaking point over and over again. As a soldier, you either choose to get back up and continue the fight or you stay down when the get are hard. I needed to see if you would stand and fight and you did. Through it all, you kept fighting — a true soldier."

Indira frowns and folds her arms across her chest. "I thought that my family was in real danger because of you. You wanted to test me? That's fine. Hit me as hard as you want — I can take it. Hell, I could even forgive it. But threatening my family? Exploiting my fears? Manipulating me to work against my friends? That was unforgiveable."

"I know," Holdo replies, taking her bitter words in stride. "I'm not expecting forgiveness I did what I thought was necessary and now my role is done. I played my part; there's nothing left for me to do. But you, Miss Beren — you still have a great deal of war left to fight."

     Indira feels her resolve crumble. "I know that," she says, voice wavering slightly. "I didn't join the Resistance on a whim. I'm going to see this through to the very end — no matter how long it takes."

"That's good," Holdo tells her before glancing over at Leia, who had thus far remained silent throughout their entire exchange. "But I have seen firsthand how hard this fight has been on my friend over the years, simply because of the bloodline that she descends from," she explains, "and I know that this fight will be just as hard on you. You are your mother's daughter — a near spitting image of her — but you are still your father's daughter, too."

      Indira's heart sinks as she nods, knowing Holdo's words to be true. The life she was living now was largely due to the bloodline she descended from. If Jana Beren had never met Luke Skywalker, Indira wouldn't have ever been born. She wouldn't have grown up in the Hosnian System, her mother wouldn't have been taken prisoner by the First Order, and Indira wouldn't have ever met Leia Organa and joined her Resistance. The course of her life had been determined long before she took her first breath.

      "Nothing will change that," Holdo continues, her voice softer than Indira has ever heard it. "The things you've endured on this ship, as unpleasant as they might have been, will hopefully make you a little stronger than you were before. Take the lessons you've learned and keep them with you wherever life takes you next. That is the only way that you will survive."

Indira swallows thickly. "I'll be just fine," she vows, even though the words are more to convince herself than anyone else. "I've made it this far, haven't I?"

For some reason, that makes Holdo. "Keep that spirit," she advises. "And it will carry you through the fight."

      Indira offers her a curt nod before looking to her aunt. "If it's alright, I'd like to be dismissed now."

     Leia waves her off. "Go," she says. "I'll be with you in a minute."

     Indira turns on her heel and leaves, boarding the nearest transport. From the window, she sees Leia and Holdo clutch each other's hands before her aunt leaves the other woman behind. Indira doesn't have much time to think on it before someone beside her clears their throat. She turns to see Poe's hesitant, mopey figure next to her and offers him a quizzical look.

      "I didn't know the two of them were such close friends," he says to break the silence, gesturing towards the two women outside.

      Indira shakes her head. "Me neither."

      "You were right, by the way," Poe continues, his voice casual despite the seriousness of his words. "Our plan — well, my plan, I guess — was bad." He swallows thickly. "Really bad. Finn, Rose, and Stefan didn't make it. I don't know what happened to them — they could be dead, for all I know — but it's my fault."

      Indira had known all of this already, but hearing it again still hurts. She thinks of her friends and their wonderful, smiling faces and she wonders if she will ever get to see them again. Closing her eyes, Indira leans her forehead against the window and presses her skin against the cool glass. "Let's not play the blame game today," she requests. "Unless you, personally, killed them yourself, it's not your fault."

"I should have listened to you."

She exhales deeply. "I know."

"I'm sorry that I didn't."

She opens one eye to look at him, tilting her head slightly in his direction. "I know."

It feels like a truce — or at the very least, the beginnings of one. Silence falls over the two of them as they watch Leia board the transport before the doors shut behind her. The weary general makes her way to where the couple is standing, sliding into the spot between them. As the transports begin to take off, Indira frowns when she notices that Holdo is staying behind.

"Is she not coming with us?" She asks, looking to Leia. Holdo had mentioned something about her role being done during their brief conversation, but Indira hadn't thought she had meant it in such a literal sense.

"No," the general says with finality. The word seems to weigh heavily on her shoulders. "Someone has to stay behind in order for us to escape."

"She shouldn't have to be the one to stay," Poe mutters, sounding remorseful in spite of his antagonistic relationship with the vice admiral. "It should have been —"

Leia cuts his sentence off with a curt shake of her head. "For Amilyn, protecting the Light was more important than anything else. She wouldn't have let anyone else stay behind in her stead." Her eyes turn a misty as their transport exits the hangar, soaring into deep space while leaving the Raddus behind. "And besides, an admiral must go down with her ship."

ON A NEARBY STARSHIP, a young girl glares defiantly as she stares into the eyes of true evil. Rey feels nothing but rage as she is forced to kneel at the feet of Supreme Leader Snoke. Anger courses through her veins, filling her with hatred so strong that it almost makes her shake. Her head aches violently from Snoke violating her consciousness and tearing through her memories, but the intensity of her fury overpowers any of the pain.

A few mere feet away from the throne of the Supreme Leader is Finn — her dearest friend and closest companion. His hands are shackled and his mouth is gagged as he trembles. Blood drips from his temple and swollen bruises decorates his face, but it is him. Rey would recognize him anywhere.

"Let him go," she demands.

Her nightmare vision had looked just like this. Somehow, Rey had thought she could prevent this future, but she had only managed to make it come true. Now, Finn was suffering under an attack from Snoke's consciousness and she couldn't help him. The supreme leader was too powerful; Rey hadn't been able to stop him. Master Skywalker had been right all along.

"Let him go?" Snoke chuckles deeply, drawing himself out of Finn's consciousness to focus on Rey once more. In the background, Finn slumps to his knees before his eyes roll back into his head. "Your friend's mind was more useful to me than yours. You gave me Skywalker, but he gave me the rest of the Resistance."

      "What are you talking about?" Rey spits through gritted teeth.

     Snoke forces her body to stand before the window of his flagship. A magnified looking glass procures itself and, in its reflection, she can see several small transport ships in the distance. Her brow furrows with confusion as she tries to turn her head but an invisible grip keeps her frozen in place.

     "The entirety of the Resistance is on those transports," Snoke sneers. "Soon, they will all be dead. And once the rebels are gone, we will go to Skywalker and give him and the Jedi Order the death he desires when we visit his planet and obliterate the entire island."

      "You can't do this," Rey mutters in disbelief. "You can't —"

      "Ren," Snoke interrupts, calling to the apprentice who had been standing by and watching the whole time. "Tell General Hux that he may fire at will."

     "Yes, Supreme Leader," Kylo Ren replies emotionlessly.

       Rey feels hatred well up inside of her, but forces herself to keep it contained. "Ben," she pleads, hoping his old name will trigger anything that remains of his humanity. She struggles in Snoke's hold to look at him. "Your mother is onboard one of those transports. Don't do this. Don't kill her, too."

     Kylo Ren stares at her impassively, flinching slightly at the mention of his mother. Even so, he raises a hand to his ear to speak into a comm unit. "Hux," he says lowly. "Fire away."

      Seconds later, Rey sees the first transport explode in a shower of plasma and heat as the First Order fires upon it. "No!" She screams, unable to contain her rage.

       Rey summons the Force, reaching to call Kylo's saber into her hands. She ignites the blade and charges at Snoke with a yell. Before she can make it even two steps, she is thrown back violently onto the floor near Ren's feet and is forced to her knees once more. Faced with the inevitability defeat, Rey lets her eyes drift to Finn. She sees her friend lying unconscious on the ground and silently wills him to wake up. If she is about to die, she would like to see his eyes one last time.

       "My worthy apprentice," Snoke croons in the background. "Son of darkness, heir apparent to Lord Vader. Where there was conflict, I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength. Complete your training, and fulfill your destiny. The girl must die."

       "I know what I have to do," Kylo responds, his voice tinged with an odd note that Rey doesn't recognize. She lets her gaze flicker over to him briefly and finds him staring down at her with unblinking brown eyes — so similar yet different from her own.

      Something compels her to try again. "Ben," she says lowly, looking past the saber in her face to see him. "Don't do this."

       Snoke growls. "You dare —"

      His remarks are cut off by another voice. "BEN!" A woman shouts, interrupting the tense scene. "Put the saber down, right now!"

       All three heads turn to the doors of the elevator, where Raena Nhagy is standing alone. Rey's brow furrows at the sight of the other girl. The last time she'd seen Raena had been on Starkiller base, but she seemed different now — changed, somehow — and when she raises her blaster and trains it on Ren's head, Rey knows that she is definitely not the same person who helped kill Han Solo so many months ago.

       "Raena," Kylo mutters, face paling slightly. "What are you doing?"

      "Ah, Officer Nhagy," Snoke drawls before she can respond. "So good of you to join us. Don't worry; once the girl and her friends are dead, I'll deal with you next. Torture will have to suffice for your betrayal, since you cannot be killed. But for now —" he waves a hand, tossing Raena into the wall. She falls to the ground with a sickening thump a few feet away from Finn. In wake of the distraction, no one notices him stirring on the ground and slowly begins to return to consciousness.

       "Now, where were we?" Snoke asks before his gaze focuses on Rey and Kylo Ren. "Pathetic child, did you really think you could appeal to my apprentice's humanity? I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten. I see his mind and his every intent." He closes his eyes as he gloats, failing to notice the hidden lightsaber twisting towards him at his side. "Yes. I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true. And now, foolish child, he ignites it, and kills his true enemy!"

      The sound of a blade igniting makes Rey flinch before she realizes that Kylo has yet to turn his saber on. Her body goes limp as Snoke's hold on her falls away and she turns around to see her blue blade hovering in the air before Ren rips it through the body of the Supreme Leader and slices him in half.

      The saber stays aloft, unwavering in the air, before it moves sharply away from Rey and Kylo. Her brow furrows as she watches it curve in another direction until it abruptly stops. A hand reaches up to grab the blade and Rey gasps when she sees Finn standing, free of his restraints as he clutches the blue lightsaber in both hands.

      "Finn," she marvels, scrambling off the ground. "How did you —"

       "That's impossibile," Ren mutters beside her, sounding equally shocked.

      The momentary distraction gives Rey enough time to call Ren's blade to her before she ignites his red sword in her own hands. Surprise contorts his face before he lunges at her and she sidesteps quickly, using the Force to knock him to the ground. The impact sends him reeling backwards before his head connects with the floor and he falls into unconsciousness.

        Rey looks at Finn with wonder in her eyes, finding his expression just as shocked as her own. However, before they can speak or properly reunite, Snoke's red guards circle around them and ignite their weapons. Finn shoots Rey a worried look before she gives him an assuring nod. The duo position themselves to stand back to back with one another, holding their sabers high and ready, before diving into the oncoming fight.

IT HAD ALL BEEN too easy. This is the only thought that Poe Dameron has as he stands onboard one of the tiny transport shuttles, watching as the Raddus grows smaller and smaller in the distance. On the other side of the ship, the mineral planet Crait is slowly coming into view. The darkened orb is hardly visible against the blackness of space, but he can see a faint glow coming from its surface as the transports make their way towards it.

His leg jiggles restlessly as he resists the urge to pace. Everyone else seems perfectly content in comparison to his agitated state. Leia is sitting near one of the windows, calm and collected as she talks with Indira in hushed tones. As the two of them converse, heads tilted together, it makes Poe wonder how he'd been so blind to not see their obvious familial connection when it had been right there in front of him the whole time.

The daughter of Luke Skywalker, he thinks to himself before shaking his head. Still not over it.

At one point in his life, Poe Dameron had believed that it was his destiny to find Luke Skywalker and return him to the rebel front in their hour of greatest need. Instead, fate had led him directly to Skywalker's daughter and it had changed his life completely. The universe really did work in mysterious ways.

       Without meaning to, he finds himself watching Indira. He notices the dark circles beneath her eyes and the worry lines that have made her face to look worn and thin. Her hair is a tangled mess and her uniform is a wrinkled, grease covered disaster, but she's still most beautiful thing he's ever seen. If there wasn't such an awkward distance between them, he would tell her. But after what had happened on the Raddus, he wasn't quite sure where they stood with one another.

      As if sensing his thoughts, Indira turns her head in his direction sharply. Their eyes lock for a moment before her brow furrows and her gaze flits past him to the window behind him. Poe watches her expression change from one of confusion to alarm to pure, abject fear as she stands up.

      "Oh, gods," she breathes. "No!"

      He doesn't have time to ask what she means before a loud boom makes the ship shake, rattling the structure's walls as one of the transports ahead of them is instantly vaporized in an explosion of heat and light. Poe whirls around, looking out the window for the source of the fire. When he sees the guns of the Supremacy — the First Order's main flagship — directly locked on the transports, he swears loudly.

       Somehow, Holdo's plan hadn't worked. Somehow, the First Order had known how the Resistance would try and escape. Somehow, the rebels had been found out. The nightmare scenario that Poe had been afraid of all along had come true. He was trapped and defenseless, with zero promise of rescue, in the middle of deep space. One by one, the First Order would be able to pick off the shuttles like flies until the Resistance was extinct. Another transport goes up in flames and Poe flinches at the sound of the blast. Then, another. And another. And another.

      There's nothing he can do but stand and watch.

a/n: anyways. FINN IS A JEDI!

(but he didn't kill snoke ok that's still kylo)

EDITED ON:
11.11.19