STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE LAST JEDI (with a better story)

Twelve - The Last Jedi

The AT-AT cannons fire. The ground around Luke explodes. With every blast, salt and red soil fills the air. Luke's form is shrouded by the red and white cloud. Burning laserfire continues to streak towards the spot he stood at.

After a full minute, Thrawn says: "That's enough."

The walkers ceasefire shortly thereafter. The rain of soil stops, and the salt dust begins to settle.

Hux snorts. "I think even a legendary Jedi cannot withstand-"

The salt cloud disappears, revealing Luke Skywalker. Unharmed. One hand is held before him freezing dozens of red laser-bolts. He closes the hand into a fists, and the laser bolts fracture into fading motes of light.

***

"Oh my..." Thrawn says, quietly.

***

Luke closes his eyes, and holds out both hands. A thud begins to sound through the ground, like a pulse. Salt begins to rise  into the air. The AT-ATs begin to tremble. Luke opens his eyes. The AT-ATs rise into the air.

The entire Resistance base watches, amazed.

***

"Have that XT-XT clamp its feet down!" Thrawn orders. "I want that beam to fire on Skywalker the moment it's charged up again!"

***

The AT-ATs continue to rise, metal chassis creaking. They push up into the air, until they are hovering up several times their own height.

Luke takes a breath, then he swings his arm down.

The AT-ATs plummet. They collide with the ground legs shattering into fragments of metal. The bodies of the walkers break into pieces, and explode.

Luke steps forward.

***

"That's...impossible..." Hux says with disbelief.

Thrawn only stares, speechless.

"This is going to get messy..." Kylo Ren sighs.

***

"R2!" Luke yells, reaching his hand back.

R2-D2, still embedded in the X-wing, ejects an silvery object from his body, into the air. The object spins through the air. Luke, catches the lightsaber. He holds it up, and activates it. A green blade extends out.

Luke charges. A hail of blaster bolts fly at him from the mass of stormtroopers now covering the land. Luke's lightsaber moves as a blur of green, deflecting every bolt shot at him. Stormtroopers fall by the dozens, as their own bolts are flung back at them. TIE fighters swoop down at Luke opening fire. Luke swings his free arm to the side and the TIEs crash into each other, exploding in the air.

One of the smaller walkers, an AT-ST, unleashes its cannons at Luke. The massive laserbolt races towards Luke. Luke swings his green blade in a shimmering arc, and knocks the laserbolt back at the walker. The AT-ST explodes. A squad of stormtroopers tries firing at Luke while his back is turned. He throws his hand out, blocking the bolts mid-air. Then he spins around, swinging his lightsaber along the bolts. They reflect back, slamming into the stormtroopers.

Luke turns back around, and narrows his eyes at the XT-XT. He dashes towards it, kicking up red dirt in his wake. A pair of TIEs swoop in firing their cannons, exploding the ground in front of him. Luke leaps into the air and throws his lightsaber. The lightsaber spins through the air at the TIEs. The green blade shears the wing off one, then spins back around to cut the cockpit of the other in half. Both explode before they hit the ground. The lightsabers flies back into Luke's hand as he lands. He continues his mad dash at the superwalker. A virtual army of stormtroopers stand in front of him. Luke throws his saber and it races between and around the stormtroopers. The trooper's blasters fall in half, sliced apart by the saber. Luke throws his arms apart and stormtroopers go flying in every direction.

Luke races across the now empty ground. As he nears the XT-XT two final AT-STs step in his way. Luke throws his lightsaber at one, shearing its leg in half. As that one drops to the ground, Luke leaps into the air at the other one. He throws his his hand, just barely touching the body of the walker. The entire body crumples inward, and the walker falls back, collapsing. Luke's lightsaber returns to his hand. He skids to a stop and gazes up at the XT-XT standing before him.

***

"Sir! The cannon has fully charged!" The officer says.

"Fire!" Thrawn commands.

***

The superwalker's head begins to glow.

Luke does not move.

The green light grows blindingly bright.

Luke takes his saber in both hands.

The walker's cannon fires.

The green laser, nearly as thick around as Luke is tall, slams into Luke's blade. Light fractures, breaking apart in all directions around Luke's saber. He struggles to resist the massive green beam with only his lightsaber. Luke is slowly pushed back, his feet dragging through the salt into the soil below. He grits his teeth, and digs his heels in. Luke pushes back against the fracturing beam. The laser begins to pulse.

***

"This is impossible..." Hux stammers.

"He's Luke Skywalker." Kylo Ren lets out a laugh that is devoid of any humor. "He doesn't care."

***

Yelling, Luke pushes back even harder. The fracturing streams of light start to turn back at the walker. The beam pulses again. Luke pushes the blade with all of his might. The streams all come together, and reflect. The green laser shoots back the way it came, through the walker. The XT-XT explodes. Shards of molten metal fly out across the battlefield, and Luke is left standing in front of the remains of the superwalker.

***

Thrawn, Kylo Ren, and Hux stare at the feed. Kylo turns around and walks away.

"Where are you going?" Thrawn asks.

"Luke Skywalker will be coming for us soon. I'd hate to disappoint him."

Kylo walks out of the bridge.

Thrawn sits down in his command chain and massages his temples. He sits there for several seconds unmoving. Finally he says:

"Someone find me some Jedi art."