Star Wars VIII: Shadows of the Past (9)
#9 of Star Wars
The last chapter with Kylo Ren(until the next story).
The Resistance are dealt another loss, as the fight comes to their territory.
The outer edge of the display panel flashed a bright green, as Kylo Ren placed the holoprojector on a recess in the stone wall. He pressed a button, and a blue image of his master flickered into view.
"You bring news, I trust," Darth Plagueis inquired. He was sitting in his shuttle, returning to the Finalizer. The last few days, he had been with the Knights on Jed-Hai, teaching and training them.
"My lord, the Resistance have fled to a place they call 'the original planet of the Jedi' " Kylo replied. At this, Plagueis's eyes became wide with interest.
"So, Skywalker has led them to Tython," he said, lightly rubbing his hand against his chin.
"You know of this place?"
"Yes," Plagueis answered. "Thousands of years ago, the first Jedi masters sought the wisdom of the Force. So, they built a temple, the first Jedi temple, as a place to surround one's self in harmony and light. If Skywalker has brought this...girl there, then it will only be a matter of time before she realizes her true strength in the Force and...her identity." Each breath the Sith Lord made echoed loudly throughout the room Kylo Ren was in. His escape pod had crashed back on D'Qar, and he was in one of the meeting rooms in the Resistance base. "I am sending the Knights to bring her to me. A task you failed to do."
"Master, I should go with them. The Knights of Ren need their leader," Kylo said.
"And how would their leader fight? He has no weapon to use," Plagueis replied, sternly. "I freed you from your cell. Now, it is up to you to return to me." And with that, the holoprojector's display turned off.
The med-bay door slid open as Ray and Finn walk in. BB-8 rolled eagerly after them, beeping and whistling. They had been told by C3-P0 that "the General" wanted them to come to a medical ship above Tython. Chewy flew them up in the Falcon, and they headed for the Patient Recovery section. They came to stand next to Luke and Leia, who were both looking through a one-way mirror into a small white room. Inside, Poe Dameron was struggling against the straps that held him to his bed. His face was pale and dripping sweat.
"He's getting worse," Finn quietly said to Ray.
"Are there no medicines they can give him?" Even though she hardly knew him, Ray was still worried for Poe.
"It's not a matter of physical medicine to heal a brainwashed person," Luke told Ray. "Poe believes that he serves the First Order; that he serves Snoke."
"Can't you do something?" Leia asked her brother. She got her answer when Luke walked silently into the room. The door to the room slid shut behind him, and Poe turned to face the Jedi.
"Who are you?" Luke asked him.
"I'm...I'm Poe Dameron," he answered, painfully.
"And who do you serve?"
"I...serve the..the First Order." Poe's body twitched, and he groaned in pain. Ray, watching from outside, started tearing up.
"Finn, what's happening?" she asked. "It's almost like he's dying." She remembered, years ago, when many of her friends died from Polcrest, a disease that caused it's victims to have serious convulsions until they died. For four years, it was a major epidemic that killed nearly 1,000 people on Jakku.
"Whatever drug they used to brainwash him with, I wonder if the effects cause the user to die after a certain length of time," Finn replied. After that, everyone in the room went quiet. Even BB-8 refused to make a single beep. The only sounds to be heard were that of the tiny droid's engine, vibrating softly, and the sound of muffled groaning.
"What is your mission?" Luke continued. Poe was trying hard not to faint, as sweat poured down his flushed face.
"To fr...free Kylo...Ren from the Resistance," came the response. Leia thought she could hear soft wheezing coming from the white room.
"And now that you've completed your mission, what does Supreme Leader want you to do?"
"D...die." Suddenly, the Resistance pilot gasped loudly for air, but couldn't get any. The heart rate monitor attached to him beeped loudly, and he twitched slightly before slumping forward. Seeing this happen, Leia quickly pressed a button on the wall behind her. In moments, a Sullastonian doctor, along with a medical droid, hurried into the room. They made the table horizontal, and laid Poe's body down on it. Luke moved to the side as the droid pulled out a defibrillator connected to its chest.
"No pulse. Set charge to 400 volts," ordered the doctor. The droid obeyed, and the doctor quickly placed the defibrillator over Poe's chest. "Charging...and clear!" Poe's dead body made a sudden jolt upwards, but there was no luck in jumpstarting his heart. "Set charge to 700 volts." There was still no pulse.
"We're losing him, sir," the droid reported, expressionlessly.
"Set charge to 1,000 volts!" With each failed attempt, Ray stifled a cry, and Finn tried to comfort her. However, he too was trying to not show his emotion. Two times he had almost lost his friend to the First Order, and now, Poe's going to die believing he's a stormtrooper. Finn looked over at Leia and was surprised to see her hardly showing emotion. This was her best soldier's life at stake, and she treated it as if it were nothing.
"The patient is beyond revival," the medical droid said. Ray turned around to see Luke leave the observation hall. His brown robe disappeared behind the door, as the droid walked over to Leia and said,"We've lost him, General."
"Kain, we're decloaking," said one of the Knights. They were in a Y-class Mandalorian stealth ship. These ships were introduced around the beginning of the Clone Wars. Their cloaking improvements allowed them to appear invisible to the naked eye and to not be seen on almost any scanner. With three rotating wings, pulse beams, and thick armor, they were also agile and tough.
"Are we within the planet's atmosphere?" Kain asked. He and the other Knight were in the cockpit of the ship. Hours earlier, Darth Plagueis had told them about the Resistance being on Tython, and now the six Knights of Ren were arriving at their destination.
"Yes we are."
"Good," Kain replied. "As long as we stay close to the surface, the reflection panels will cover us." He stood up and walked down the narrow tube that made up most of the ship's interior. He came to the rear of the ship and found the other four Knights gathered around the docking ramp. They each wore the same dark cloak and body armor. The height difference between them was also so small, that it would be nearly impossible to tell who was who by just looking at them. Luckily, the helmets that they wore had built-in technology that enabled them to recognize each other. However, like the stormtroopers, the Knights were taught that they weren't individuals, with the exception of Kylo Ren, but rather a whole group that served Darth Plagueis as one. "Sir, what are your orders for when we land?" Immediately, Kain turned toward the speaker, a female Dathomirian by the name of Nejai.
"Master Plagueis said the central temple was near Tython's northern mountain range," he answered. "I have a feeling that the Resistance would most likely be there, it's also the closest structure to our position, so we're heading there first." As soon as he finished, the ship suddenly slowed down and shook. "Look's like we've landed." The co-pilot joined them as Kain pressed the button to lower the ramp. He was almost sent backwards by a powerful wind that blew into the ship.
"Watch yourself coming out!" yelled one of the other Knights. He was looking a few feet past the edge of the ramp at a sheer drop. Kain took the lead exiting the ship. In front of him lay a vast sea of thick, white clouds.
"We're high up in the mountains!" he yelled behind him. He quickly stepped to the side of the ramp onto secure ground, and one by one, the other Knights followed. They were standing on a snow-covered plateau. All around them, wind was blowing, snow was falling, and rocks fell hundreds of feet to the ground below.
"Ok," Nejai said. "Now, how do we get down?"