Luke Skywalker has vanished, his dreams of building a new Jedi Order shattered by the betrayal of his apprentice, KYLO REN.
Now a leader in the evil FIRST ORDER, Kylo Ren leads a campaign of terror to overthrow the newly re-forged GALACTIC REPUBLIC. At the head of the forces opposing him stands General Leia Organa, desperately searching for her brother Luke even as she fends off the predations of the First Order.
One of Leia’s most trusted agents pursues a First Order ship, desperate to obtain the data it holds about a new superweapon the First Order is rumored to be developing, even as a clue to Luke’s whereabouts surfaces elsewhere….
Prelude
The First Order Infiltration Corvette Demeter dropped out of hyperspace, and Cardo turned his blind gaze upon his navigator, Ula Veren. The woman’s thermographic signature was a stressed, but controlled, orange. “Status?”
“Uncertain,” she said, fingers flying across the console. “Engaging cloak and ECM, three minutes to Gravlex Tert’s atmospheric shadow.”
“Hyperspace proximity!” called the sensor officer. “They’re practically on top of us!”
Ula began to swear softly under her breath. “How in space are they so good? I’ve pulled out every trick in the book.”
Cardo tilted his head and extended his senses. Just as before, he felt the thrum of another Force-user emanating from the ship that pursued them. “They have an Adept,” he said. “How long until the hyperdrive is charged again?”
The whole bridge flinched as a salvo of turbolaser fire raked their shields, triggering a few alarms.
“Not fast enough,” Ula said simply. She unholstered her pistol and placed it on her lap. “I’ll see what I can do. Best I’ll be able to get is a microjump, though.”
Cardo nodded approvingly. “Don’t bother, then. Prepare to execute Directive 19.”
She looked up at him. He couldn’t see her expression, but the sudden lessening of tension in her thermo told the tale. “It’s been an honor to serve with you, Lord Cardo.”
“Likewise.” He reached to his back and removed his plasma axe from its sheath. “We shall prepare to repel boarders. How much time do you need?”
The ship rocked. “They have tractor lock! Ion barrage imminent!”
Ula turned her attention back to the console. “Less than two minutes, my Lord. I’ll trigger the capsule just before the barrage hits.”
He turned and keyed his comm. “All hands, we are about to be boarded. Directive 19 is in effect. Assemble at the aft airlock.”
The thermal signature of the lights flickered and went dark as they were struck by the enemy’s ion batteries at full power, and the much dimmer emergency lighting came on. He strode down the hall, axe in one hand and blaster in the other.
“First Order vessel is immobilized, ma’am. Drawing it in for boarding action.”
Renara nodded shortly as she jogged down the corridor, her black dreadlocks swinging with the motion. “Good work, bridge. Keep your sensors peeled for enemy reinforcements. Joining the boarding party now.”
“Understood.”
She arrived in the docking bay of the Republic Star Defender Victorious, and the squad of thirty Marines snapped to attention. She returned their salutes, and they dropped to parade rest as she hastily assembled her armored vac suit. They could never be too careful when boarding First Order ships; previous squads had encountered unexpectedly clever traps such as vacuum pockets, gas mines, flechette bombs, gravity spikes, and electrical traps.
Upon completing the suit and attaching her lightsaber’s retention cable to the left sleeve, she stepped to the edge of the docking bay and glanced down at the ship they were drawing in. It only took a moment for her to assess its speed.
“Forty seconds,” she said to her Marines, as she unlimbered her rifle and checked its settings. “Remember, stun first. We need information, not martyrs.”
A chorus of affirmatives echoed over the comm. She drummed her fingers on her leg and waited.
Cardo hung back from the airlock, letting the men and women under his command take up defensive positions along the corridor. Under normal circumstances, he would have been fighting at their head; but he needed to draw the Adept in and ensure their destruction. He didn’t doubt they’d be leading the boarding action.
He grunted as the ship shuddered violently, and his comm clicked. “Directive 19 only partially successful,” Ula’s voice was resigned. “They hit the hyperdrive section with a mag-pulse torpedo volley. The capsule was successfully launched, though.”
“Very well,” said Cardo. “We will sell our lives all the more dearly.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
He shook his head in disappointment. Taking down a Star Defender would have been a truly momentous occasion, but such were the fortunes of war. He would have to settle for taking down an Adept. The loss of even one would hurt the Republic immensely.
The corridor shook a bit, and he turned his attention to the airlock. A series of breaching charges triggered around the door, and the airlock shot inward as if propelled by a giant hand. A barrage of stun bolts followed, as Republic Marines in their signature navy blue armored vac suits came charging through and spread out.
Both sides traded withering volleys of blaster fire, but as usual, the Republic’s advantage in materiel showed quickly. Most of his men were dropped by the less-than-lethal shots, and the Marines began cuff them and haul them to safety.
Despicable, honorless tactics.
He moved like a blur, vaulting one of the hastily assembled barricades and killing a surprised Marine with two point-blank shots, even as he levitated a concussion grenade from the belt of one of his downed troopers and hurled it at the airlock. The blast nearly deafened him, but it did far worse to the three Marines in its immediate area of effect, pulverizing their bodies inside their suits and dropping them.
He opened fire as another of his men threw his own concussion grenade. Brilliant weapons, those, but they had far too few on hand to turn the tide permanently. Especially against an Adept. He could feel her presence now, and sensed the crystalline blue glow as her blade sprang to life.
“Stand clear,” he felt her say. “I’ll deal with this.”
Cardo smiled and ignited his axe. “Well met, Adept.”
There was no response but a sudden rush of violent motion.
The last thing Renara had expected to face today was one of the Knights of Ren. She was surprised by how fast he was. He could anticipate her attacks in much the same way she was able to anticipate the movements of a normal sentient. Not fast enough to give him the edge, not with how unwieldy that ridiculous axe-thing was, but fast enough for them to be nearly equal.
A rushing stab was met with a downward stroke, which turned into a backhanded strike for her head. She had to flip her saber around in an ungainly fashion to block it, but countered with a hefty push to his ribs. He let out a whuff of air, but brought the strike back around and forced her to defend again.
Point and counterpoint, the duel progressed.
“You are quite competent,” he stated as he blocked one of her strikes and held the block in the face of increased pressure. “I am impressed.”
“Are you now?” she said, triggering her suit’s speakers with the motion of her mouth as she suddenly released her pressing attack and tried for a leg sweep. He was faster, and she had to defend against an attack that could have taken her hand off. “You should surrender while you still can.”
He laughed and suddenly shifted his grip on the axe, slamming its haft toward her faceplate. She grabbed it with her right hand, dropped to her back, and hurled him into the ceiling with a Force-augmented kick. He twisted in midair and landed on his feet, lunging at her in an overhand strike. She smiled and used the Force to propel herself under him, coming up with a rapid swing at his back. His reflexes were good – it turned into only a glancing blow across his shoulderblade as he tucked into a roll, spun, and came up facing her again.
“The Supreme Leader’s will must not be denied,” he said. “I will see you fall, or die trying.”
Renara chuckled. “So arrogant, just like your master.” She shifted stances, and attacked again.
Cardo felt as if the world had fallen out from under him, and barely managed to deflect her strike. That stance…. It was suddenly all he could do to defend against this form. He knew it – but he’d only seen one other Force-user fight with it before.
He had failed. He would die here. And with him, the knowledge that their Order had been betrayed. In desperation, he curled his left hand and focused, even as he barely deflected another blow. But he couldn’t muster the power he needed, and suddenly, he felt a burning agony as her saber pierced his chest and her voice echoed in his mind.
Such a waste.
The world faded from his mind, and he fell lifeless to the floor.
Renara shut off her saber as the Marines flowed around her, rushing to seize the ship and secure its contents. She picked up the plasma axe and deactivated it, then tossed it onto Cardo’s body.
She stood there in quiet contemplation for a few moments before the voice of her Marine captain broke into her thoughts. “Corvette secured, ma’am,” he stated. “Ops is beginning a deep scan of the databanks for anything regarding the weapon project, but it doesn’t look promising. We think they launched a hyperspace canister under cover of one of our barrages, with the data on board.”
She sighed. “Of course. Yet another dead end. Keep me apprised, Captain.” She switched channels. “Comms, inform General Leia that evidence of the results of this latest incursion have slipped through our fingers, but we have successfully slain one of the Knights of Ren.”
“Understood, ma’am. Unrelated orders just came down from the General’s office – Major Dameron is being reassigned and has already left the ship.”
Renara rolled her eyes. “Thank you, comms. I assume the General expects Major Dameron to take care of himself?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re to return to Kuat to drop off the captured corvette at our earliest convenience.”
“Prepare for hyperspace, then.” She shut off her comms. “Might be a delivery run, but it beats the hell out of babysitting that lunatic pilot,” she muttered.
She marched out of the corvette without giving the fallen Knight a second thought.