Finn's Story Page 5

  Han, Finn, and Chewie were free!

  “Quick!” Han instructed as they gathered their weapons once more and fought their way through the battle.

  Finn looked back at the sky, where the black-and-orange X-wing was taking out TIE after TIE. It was almost a one-man show up there. Finn had never seen that kind of flying before.

  As he ran through the battle, he saw something that stopped his heart. It was Kylo Ren. And he was carrying Rey! He was taking her aboard his shuttle!

  “No!” Finn yelled as he darted across the battlefield. He needed to get to Rey before that shuttle took off!

  But he was too late.

  “Rey!” Finn shouted as the shuttle rose off the ground and headed into the sky.

  Finn ran back to where Han and Chewie were standing.

  “He took her!” Finn gasped. “Did you see that? He took her. She’s gone.”

  But Han’s mind seemed a million parsecs away. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said, pushing his way past Finn to walk toward the door of a Resistance shuttle that had just landed.

  Finn looked at Chewie for answers, but Chewie just gave him a roar as he followed Han. Both Han and Chewie were clearly eager to see whoever was inside that ship.

  THE PERSON IN THE SHIP turned out to be another famous war hero, General Leia Organa. Finn learned that she also happened to be Han’s wife—whom he hadn’t seen in some time—as well as Luke Skywalker’s sister.

  Once they reached the Resistance base, Finn left the Millennium Falcon and walked about in a haze.

  He didn’t belong there.

  And where was Rey?

  He needed to get to Rey!

  BB-8 distracted Finn from his thoughts when he eagerly rolled by, beeping and chirping wildly as he charged down a row of X-wings.

  The ace pilot of the black-and-orange X-wing was climbing out of his ship and seemed to be just as thrilled to see the little droid as BB-8 was to see him.

  Finn couldn’t believe his eyes. The pilot was Poe Dameron!

  Finn and Poe charged at each other and hugged, each equally shocked to see the other standing in front of him.

  “Poe Dameron!” Finn shouted. “You’re alive?”

  “Buddy! So are you!” Poe replied.

  Finn was still confused. “What happened to you?”

  Poe punched him in the arm. “What happened? I got thrown from the crash. I woke up at night, no you, no ship, no nothing!”

  BB-8 rolled up alongside them.

  “Beebee-Ate said you saved him,” Poe continued.

  “No no no, it wasn’t just me.” Finn tried to explain. But Poe wasn’t listening.

  “You completed my mission, Finn, I—” Poe was distracted. “That’s my jacket.”

  Finn started to take it off, but Poe wouldn’t let him. “Keep it, it suits you,” said Poe. “You’re a good man, Finn.”

  No, Finn thought. He was not a good man. He had let Kylo Ren take Rey.

  Then Finn had another thought.

  “Poe,” Finn said, grabbing his friend’s shoulder, “I need your help.”

  Finn followed Poe as they ran down stone steps to the heart of the Resistance base. Various machines and diagrams filled the space, and fighters and leaders buzzed this way and that.

  Finn worried what all those fearless, noble people would do when they found out who he really was—or who he had been, Finn thought, correcting himself.

  Poe ran right up to General Leia Organa. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said. “This is Finn. He needs to talk to you.”

  “And I need to talk to him,” the general replied, turning to Finn. “That was incredibly brave what you did. Renouncing the First Order? Saving this man’s life?”

  Finn was undoubtedly surprised by her warm words, but it wasn’t a time for compliments. “Thank you, ma’am, but a friend of mine was taken prisoner.”

  “Han told me about the girl,” said General Organa with sadness in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  Poe interjected. “Finn’s familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system. He worked on the base.”

  “We’re desperate for anything you can tell us,” the general pleaded.

  “That’s where my friend was taken,” said Finn. “I’ve got to get there fast.”

  “And I will do everything I can to help,” General Organa promised. “But first you need to tell us all you know.”

  The Resistance’s high command had gathered to discuss the plan. One of the X-wing pilots had finished a reconnaissance flight, and the data he had collected confirmed what Finn had told them.

  As Poe displayed the acquired images, gasps could be heard from the veterans around the room. The weapon was massive, built into a planet, easily dwarfing the famed Death Star the Empire had created years before. While Finn had never seen it used, his time on the Starkiller base had helped him understand exactly how it worked.

  “It uses the power of the sun,” Finn explained. “As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears.”

  “The First Order…” Leia interrupted, reading a report an anxious officer had just pressed into her hands. “They’re charging the weapon again. Now.” She hesitated, as if she didn’t want to read further. “Our system is the next target,” she added quietly.

  That news froze almost everyone in the room—except for Han, of course.

  “So,” he drawled, “how do we blow it up?”

  He smirked at the gaping looks he was getting from the Resistance admirals and generals. “There’s always a way to do that,” he reminded them.

  “Han’s right,” General Organa agreed.

  It took a second for them to process Han’s challenge, and then one of the admirals spoke up. “In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base has to have some kind of thermal oscillator….”

  Finn knew exactly what the man was talking about and, more important, where it was. If the Resistance pilots could destroy the thermal oscillator using their X-wings, they could at least destabilize the weapon and maybe even destroy the planet!

  But first, Admiral Ackbar reminded them, the base’s shields had to be taken care of. Han turned to Finn. “Kid, you worked there. What do you got?”

  Finn almost told the truth: that he had no idea how to disable the shields. But then he realized that might be his only chance to rescue Rey.

  “I can disable the shields,” Finn said confidently. “But I have to be there, on the planet.”

  Poe ran through the plan. “So we disable the shields. We take out the oscillator, and we blow up their big gun.”

  And rescue Rey, Finn thought.

  FINN, HAN, AND CHEWIE trudged across a snowy plain on the Starkiller base. Han had gotten them on the First Order base undetected, but his high-speed approach had crash-landed the Falcon in the snow.

  Chewie carried a backpack full of explosives, but they would only work from inside the walls. Overhead, the sun was flickering as a giant blinding beam of energy poured into a chasm in the base. Finn knew they didn’t have much time. “The flooding tunnel is over that ridge. We’ll get in that way.”

  Han looked incredulously at Finn. “What was your job when you were based here?” he asked suspiciously.

  Finn looked back at him sheepishly. “Sanitation.”

  “Sanitation?” Han repeated. He shoved Finn against a cold metal wall. “Then how do you know how to disable the shields?”

  Finn looked earnestly at Han. “I don’t. I’m just here to get Rey.”

  “People are counting on us,” Han scolded. “The galaxy is counting on us!”

  “Solo, we’ll figure it out!” Finn replied. “We’ll use the Force!”

  “That’s not how the Force works!” Han groaned.

  Chewie let out a groan of his own.

  “Oh, really?” Han replied. “You’re cold?”

  Finn turned and walked toward the base. “Come on.”

  It turned out sanitation wasn’t anything to scoff at. Finn
quickly led them inside the base undetected. But Han knew their good fortune wasn’t going to last.

  “The shields?” He looked at Finn.

  “I have an idea about that,” Finn replied as he ran down the corridor.

  A few minutes later, the three Resistance fighters had concealed themselves in the shadows and were waiting to ambush Captain Phasma. Chewie leaped out, grabbed Phasma, and pulled her into the narrow corridor.

  Finn had dreamed about that moment.

  “Do you remember me?” he asked.

  “Eff-Enn-Two-One-Eight-Seven,” she said. Finn could hear the hatred in her voice.

  “Not anymore,” he replied. “The name’s Finn, and I’m in charge.” Finn continued to taunt her. “I’m in charge now, Phasma. I’m in charge!”

  “Bring it down,” Han whispered in his ear. “Bring it down.”

  “Follow me,” Finn ordered.

  “You want me to blast that bucket off your head?” Finn sounded deadly serious.

  They had found a workstation and now they just needed Phasma to do their work for them.

  “Lower the shields,” Finn ordered.

  “You’re making a big mistake,” Phasma replied.

  “Do it!” Finn commanded.

  Chewie backed him up with a roar.

  As Phasma pushed a few buttons, Finn looked at Han. “Solo, if this works, we’re not going to have a lot of time to find Rey.”

  “Don’t worry, kid.” Han reassured him with a half smile. “We won’t leave here without her.”

  A few moments later, Phasma stood up from the workstation. The deed was done. The shields were down. But she wasn’t going to go without a fight.

  “You can’t be so stupid as to think this will be easy,” she snarled. “My troops will storm this block and kill you all.”

  “I disagree,” said Finn plainly, turning to Han. “What do we do with her?”

  Han had been in that situation before. “Is there a garbage chute? A trash compactor?”

  Finn smiled. “Yeah, there is.”

  Sanitation for the win.

  After they dropped Phasma in the trash, Finn, Chewie, and Han continued their search through the base.

  “We’ll use the charges to blow that blast door,” Finn instructed. “I’ll go in and draw fire, but I’m gonna need cover.”

  “Sure you’re up for this?” Han asked.

  Finn made it clear that, no, in fact he was not up for it, but it was his only choice.

  “I’ll go in and try to find Rey,” continued Finn. “The troopers will be on our tail. We have to be ready for that.”

  But it didn’t seem like Han was listening to him anymore; he was just nodding along and looking over Finn’s shoulder.

  Finn was frustrated and asked what Han was doing. “I’m trying to come up with a plan,” Finn reminded him.

  Han used his blaster to motion behind Finn.

  When Finn turned around, he understood why Han no longer cared about his plan.

  Rey was climbing right outside the window!

  “You all right?” Han asked Rey after they had reunited.

  “Yeah,” Rey replied, still shocked to see them there.

  “Good,” said Han.

  “What happened to you, did he hurt you?” Finn was worried. He knew how evil Kylo Ren could be. He knew she had been in grave danger. Then again, he had also learned how tough Rey was. Maybe it had been an even match after all?

  “Finn, what are you doing here?” Rey asked.

  “We came back for you,” Finn explained.

  Chewie chimed in, but as usual, Finn couldn’t understand him.

  “What’d he say?” Finn asked Rey.

  “That it was your idea,” Rey answered, pulling Finn close for a hug. “Thank you.”

  Finn was happy to be with her again, but something still troubled him.

  “How did you get away?” he asked her.

  “I can’t explain it,” she whispered in his ear. “And you wouldn’t believe it!”

  Han rudely pushed in on them. “Escape now,” he ordered. “Hug later.”

  Han, Chewie, Rey, and Finn ran across the snowy base, with X-wings and TIE fighters battling above them and the sun growing dimmer and dimmer by the moment. The Resistance was running out of time.

  “They’re in trouble,” Han said. “We can’t leave.” He turned to Chewie. “My friend’s got a bag full of explosives. Let’s use ’em.”

  Finn’s knowledge of the base and Rey’s mechanical prowess got Han and Chewie inside the oscillator chamber with the explosives. But when Finn and Rey saw how close the sun was to extinction, they knew they needed to go into the chamber themselves to help.

  Finn and Rey reached an upper door to the oscillator chamber, but something wasn’t right.

  Han was on a catwalk far below, walking toward Kylo Ren!

  Why was he walking toward the dark warrior?

  Finn and Rey watched as Kylo and Han spoke to each other. They couldn’t hear what the men were saying, but the conversation seemed to last a lifetime. Kylo even took off his helmet.

  And that was when Finn saw it: the resemblance between the two men.

  It all became clear, though it made zero sense. Han was Kylo’s father.

  Han and Kylo were now just a few centimeters from each other.

  From high above the catwalk, Finn saw Kylo drop his helmet, then offer his weapon to his father just as the last ray of sunshine disappeared from the sky outside.

  But instead of letting Han take the weapon, Kylo ignited the blade.

  “No!” Finn and Rey shrieked. Chewie, who’d been watching from another part of the chamber, let out a moan of sadness.

  The smuggler fell, lifeless, from the catwalk into the darkness below.

  FINN AIMED HIS BLASTER AT KYLO, intending to send him falling right behind Han. But Chewie beat him to the punch. With an anguished roar, Chewie used his bowcaster to send a blast right to Kylo’s side. The warrior was hurt, but not fatally.

  Chewie released shot after shot, taking out Kylo’s stormtroopers, before detonating the explosives he had set with Han. The oscillator chamber filled with flames!

  Kylo looked up from where he was on the catwalk, making eye contact with Finn.

  Finn and Rey needed to run.

  They scrambled out of the chamber and ran across the darkened planet’s snowy surface, fleeing toward nearby woods. Finn’s only thought was to get back to the Falcon. If the Resistance’s plans went as designed, they had just a few minutes to make it off the planet and escape its destruction.

  But the angry hiss of a lightsaber stopped Finn and Rey in their tracks. Kylo Ren limped out from behind some trees ahead of them. His red lightsaber threw evil shadows across his face. He glared darkly at the two of them, dragging his lightsaber blade on the ground next to him.

  “We’re not done yet,” Kylo snarled.

  Despite Kylo’s obvious injuries, Finn knew they would never outrun the warrior and his dark powers. Looking at Rey, he saw her hand tighten around the handle of a stormtrooper blaster she had picked up along the way.

  “You’re a monster,” she spat.

  “It’s just us now. Han Solo can’t save you now,” Kylo sneered, working himself into a fury by pounding on the wound Chewie had given him.

  Without warning, Rey snapped up her blaster and aimed, but using only his mind, Kylo managed to rip the blaster from Rey’s grasp and fling her into a nearby tree like a rag doll.

  “Rey!” Finn yelled, tossing his own blaster to the ground as he ran to where she had fallen.

  He cradled her head. She was still breathing, but he couldn’t tell how badly she was hurt.

  Finn’s mind went dark with anger.

  “Traitor!” Kylo screamed at Finn, swinging his red blade back and forth.

  In reply, Finn reached down to his waist, unclipped his own lightsaber, and watched the blue blade ignite.

  Kylo froze in shock at the sight of the weapon. “T
hat lightsaber”—he pointed his red blade at Finn—“it belongs to me!”

  “Come get it,” said Finn before charging at Kylo with an angry guttural yell.

  Kylo turned and slashed, but Finn was able to deflect and then counterattack, pushing the injured man back. Kylo lunged at him again, pinning him up against a tree and slowly touching the blade to Finn’s chest, burning through Poe’s jacket.

  Finn yelled out in pain.

  From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Rey stir. Was she all right?

  Finn managed to push Kylo off and regain control of the duel. He cut and parried, some of his First Order training allowing him to gain a slight advantage, and he was even able to tag Kylo on the shoulder with a minor strike.

  Then Kylo charged, began slashing with animal ferocity, and managed to knock Finn’s lightsaber out of his hands. The precious weapon flew across the snow. Finn tried to run for the weapon, but Kylo punched him, and when Finn stumbled on his feet, Kylo dragged his lightsaber across Finn’s back, sending him to the ground in agony.

  The pain was like a fire in Finn’s mind as he felt his muscles grow weak and limp. The heat from his body melted the snow that was collecting around him. He thought he could hear the sound of lightsabers igniting once more.

  But the pain was all consuming, and more and more of his body was getting numb. A darkness was falling over him; he couldn’t fight it anymore.

  Rey, he thought before his mind went blank.

  Rey was his only hope.