Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

13| The Force

Aboard Maz's ship, the Resistance had prepared the Millennium Falcon. They had refueled the Falcon and put the supplies on board.

"What should we do?" asked Kaydel.

"Should we go out in the Falcon and fight with Rey and Poe?" Finn asked.

"Not yet," Maz answered. "The First Order doesn't know you're here, I'd like to keep it that way."

Leia nodded.

"Then what do we do?" Rose asked.

"We wait," Maz answered. "And when the moment is right, we call Rey and Poe back to the ship. Then we jump into light speed."

"Won't they track us?" Finn asked.

"Yes, But it's our only option." Leia answered.

Rey closed her eyes. She reached out with her feelings. She could feel the TIE fighters that surrounded her. She could feel the troopers that piloted them, she could feel the empty space between them.

Letting the Force guide her actions, she moved the X-wing.

Two TIE fighters came towards her. One came from the left, while the other came from the right. At the last moment, Rey moved the X-wing, causing the two TIE fighters to crash into each other.

Again she moved the X-wing, the Force as her guide. She dodged one TIE fighter and fired at a second one. She moved towards the Star Destroyer followed by five TIE fighters. She flew as close to the Star Destroyer as she could. The TIE fighters that trailed her crashed into it.

BB-8 had fixed Poe's X-wing and Poe flew over to join Rey. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"The Force," Rey answered, smiling.

Poe shot down three more of the TIE fighters.

Kylo Ren, Hux and Phasma watched the battle from a window on the Star Destroyer.

"How have we not beaten them?" Hux asked angrily. "They only have two X-wings. We have a whole fleet!"

Kylo didn't answer him. He decided that it was time that he joined the fight. He wouldn't allow these two X-wings to beat his fleet. "Prepare my ship!"

A group of stormtroopers hurried to prepare Ren's TIE silencer.

Soon Kylo and a large group of TIE fighters flew out to meet the two Resistance pilots.

Rey and Poe shot down as many of the First Order ships as they could. But as more and more TIE fighters continued to pour from the Star Destroyer, they were quickly becoming outnumbered.

Kylo moved his TIE silencer to face the nearest of the two X-wings. He watched as the X-wing shot down five TIE fighters. Then the X-wing moved to face him. The X-wing was soon face to face with his TIE silencer. He put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot the X-wing down, but stopped.

He could feel something in the Force, a connection between himself and whoever was piloting the X-wing. He shook his head to clear it. That's ridiculous, he thought silently. Why would I feel connected through the Force to an X-wing pilot?

He replaced his finger on the trigger, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fire on the ship before him. "What's wrong with me?" he asked himself silently. "Why can't I just fire?"

The feeling in the Force wouldn't go away. It grew stronger, too strong for him to ignore. It was a warm and bright feeling. It seemed familiar, he had felt it before. But when and where?

Ben closed his eyes. He reached out with his feelings as his uncle had once taught him. "Rey," he whispered, he could feel her in the X-wing.

He kept his finger on the trigger, but he could not make himself fire on the girl. He knew if he did it would lead to the end of the Resistance and he along with the First Order could rule the galaxy. But even though he knew this was his chance at victory, he couldn't make himself fire at her. He didn't want the bright warm feeling to leave him. And he knew Rey was the source of the feeling. Great. Now he was making foolish sentimental decisions.

To his surprise she too would not fire, she too could feel his presence. She knew it was her chance to end him. To end the First Order, to end this war. But somehow she couldn't do it, not if Ben Solo was still trapped within Kylo Ren.

She still held onto the hope that Ben might return. She knew that one day she would have to face him, and that when that time came she may even have to kill him. She didn't want to, but she knew that she may not have a choice. But as when she had the opportunity to kill him in the throne room, she felt that his life was not her's to take.

She felt that the Force needed him, that it wasn't done with him yet. She had seen a glimpse of the future, of more than one possible future. But she now knew that the future was always moving, always changing. It was not her's to know or to command. Rey would let the Force guide her. She felt like the Force was guiding her to give him a second chance, and she couldn't do that now because she couldn't speak to him.

Rey and Ben sat unmoving for a long moment. Both with their fighters on the trigger, but neither of them able to fire.