Spark of Hope

Chapter XXI

At the vibrating boom, Rose's head snapped up. The sudden noise also scared Finn beside her, jumbling the bombs he held that they were placing around the Bridge.

"Careful!" she warned.

"I am, if things wouldn't blow up when I'm not expecting it." Regaining composure and balance over the bombs, he looked at the wide opening. "What was that?"

"Did someone crash into the ship?" Rose turned to the multiple windows, looking out at space and viewing of the chaotic dogfight still taking place outside. She didn't see any large explosion. A Resistance fighter hurried up to a window to look as well.

"I don't see anything," he said.

"It sounded like it came from the inside," Finn said as he continued to look the way they came, lost in some contemplation.

"Well, wherever it came from, we need to hurry," Rose suggested.

The group of eight—they had lost three in the blaster fight for the Bridge—put a rush on depositing the bombs on the Sovereign's controls. They had to step over the bodies of the First Order officers and Stormtroopers that were stationed here. Rose held the detonator; when the Resistance was far enough away, she would blow up the Mega-class Star Dreadnought, putting an end to the dictatorship that had risen from the ashes of the Empire, once and for all.

Moments later, they finished planting the bombs. After a glance around to check their handiwork, Rose nodded to Finn, and they headed back to the elevator.

When they reached the first floor again, a Resistance member stuck his head out to check for enemies; he signed an all-clear.

They hurried back to where the main hallway forked into two, and where Poe said their groups would meet after they were each done. Rose looked around—Poe, Rey, BB-8, or the six Resistance fighters that had gone with them weren't in sight.

It was nearing twenty minutes.

Another explosion shook the floor and walls of the Sovereign. Rose threw out her hands to maintain balance; a Resistance member fell. This explosion was much louder and echoed down the corridor that Rey and Poe went down.

"Alright, that definitely came from the Throne Room," Finn said. He shot off down the hallway.

Rose raced after him. Fear for Rey, Poe, BB-8, and the Resistance fighters drove her. What had Kylo Ren done now?

Their small group piled into the elevator; Rose tried not to imagine the worst, but prepared for what they might find.

Even before the doors opened, the acidic smell of smoke slipped through the crack and there were sounds of buzzing lightsabers. Everyone readied their blasters as the elevator doors opened onto a war-zone.

Fires raged everywhere. Pieces of the ceiling and large metal beams had fallen. Sparks rained down. Two red lightsabers striking the other glowed through the black smoke. Rose couldn't see Rey's purple lightsaber anywhere.

The body of a Resistance member lay crumpled in a heap to her right. Up on the left, another lay on her back, face and torso blackened from lightning.

A weak beep drew her attention to a pile of twisted metal beams. Recognizing the beep as BB-8's, Rose ran over to find the orange-and-white droid nearly black with soot, and badly battered—the round shape had deep dents and entire protective plates were missing, exposing wires. The brightness of his red light had dimmed.

Next to him lay the form of a cut-and-bleeding Poe Dameron, trapped under a beam.

"Twenty minutes sure did go by fast," he said.