Star Wars: The Rebirth Of The First Order

Chapter 47

Trigger Warning: bloody scene/ child death

Ben brought the Millennium Falcon down on the white, snow covered planet.

The door to the falcon opened and the small group exited the ship as the rest of the first alliance followed suit.

"The base isn't too far from here" Hux said pointing at a small hill. "It's just over that snow bank."

Rey nodded, then she and the others followed him and Ben through the snow towards the base.

But as they made it over the steep snow bank what meet them was a horrible sight, a thick musty cloud of smoke rose from the base whose wall were cracked and spotted with blaster burns. But the worst of all was the countless bodies that where scattered amongst the snow and the sea of crimson that lay between them.

Rey covered her mouth to hold back a gasp of terror.

"They were only children," Ben said sadly. "Who would do something so terrible?"

Hux collapsed to his knees amidst the corpses. "It's just like my vision," he spoke just above a whisper.

Ben put his hand on Hux's shoulder in attempt to calm him.

Hux looked up to his cousin his voice breaking as he spoke "you don't think all of those visions will come true do you?"

"I don't know..." Ben answered. "I hope not. But if this happened, we must assume that all of it will." He wrapped his arms around Rey protectively as he remembered the dream.

Rey placed her hand on Ben's arm to comfort him as she sensed his fear. "Don't be afraid," she whispered to him.

"What do you mean do us non force users get to know to or are you going to keep us in the dark about all this?" Poe asked.

"Yeah, I'm super confused," said Finn.

"Owen had a vision from the force. He saw this before it happened," Ben tried to explain.

"Wait Owen, who the heck is Owen," Poe said throwing his hands up.

"Hux," Ben said gesturing to Hux.

"But Hux is... well HUX" Poe said

Hux turned to look at him with disgust. "What you thought I didn't have a first name or did you think it was Hux HUX?"

"No," Poe said before he smirked. "I thought it was Hugs Hux."

Hux rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to reply but Phasma interrupted by slapping the two of them on the shoulder. "Can't you two pay some respect to the children?" she spoke looking across the littered field.

The two lowered there head in shame "of corse," Hux said solemnly.

"I think we should bury them," said Rose. "They shouldn't just be left like this."

"Jedi don't bury the dead, they burn them so that their spirits can be free to join the force," Ben said.

Hux nodded "if I'm not mistaken there is some wood in the base."

"I'll get some," Ben said. "They deserve a proper funeral."

"I'll help you," Rey offered.

"Me too," Rose agreed.

"We all will" Leia said placing her hand on her son's shoulder. All the members of the first alliance nodded.

****************

They all stood around a large bonfire with their heads bowed in respect. The embers rose high into the sky reminding them all that the children were with the force now.

The loud bang form the base pulled the group from their moment of silence. "What was that?" Hux asked his cousin.

"I don't know," Ben answered igniting his lightsaber and stepping between Rey and the base.

The rest of the first alliance also unsheathed their weapons.

Another bang sounded followed by the sound of feet beating against the bases hard floor the electric door opened but nothing came out. After a few minutes of waiting a young boy's head popped around the doorway followed by several more that stacked on top of each other.

"Some of them survived," Rose said happy that some of them had been spared.

Ben returned his lightsaber to his belt and knelt to seem less intimidating. "You can come out, we won't hurt you."

The oldest among them who seemed to be around sixteen stepped forward still clutching a younger boys hand. "Supreme Leader," he said falling to one knee in a bow "We have failed you."

Ben was still knelt on the snow and he gently lifted the boy's head so that their eyes met. "No you didn't. I failed you, I should have been here to protect you."

Tears streamed down the boys face as he tightened his grip on the small hand that rested in his.

The younger boy who's hand he held tugged on Ben's shirt. "But wu were biss-tee protactang wu'r wady" before pointing to Rey. (But you were busy protecting your lady)

Rey smiled at the cute little boy who was still too young to speak clearly.

"Yes... if I had known that this was going to happen, we both would have came to protect you," Ben replied.

Rey tenderly wiped the older boy's tears away. "Please tell us what happened," she spoke gently.

"We where just training just another normal day...then all the alarms started to go off we ran to our stations but we came to face the enemy..." the boy trailed off more tears falling from his eyes.

"...they were stormtroopers just like us," a girl finished as the rest of the group emerged from their hiding place there was only about a dozen left.

"We didn't know where to shoot, we didn't know who was our friends and who was our enemies," the oldest boy continued.

"The Empire," Leia whispered.

Ben nodded. "You did your best. I'm just glad that some of you made it out alive."

The children all nodded. "We lost our brothers and our sisters but we also lost our fathers' base. I wish I had died in the fight with them fight for you," the oldest boy spoke sadly.

"Don't say that. The force chose saved you for a reason, I believe it has a special purpose for you and remember your brothers and sisters are still with you. They are a part of the force now and the force is within you," Ben told him.

The boy let a smile spread across his face before he nodded.

The young boy beside him then tugged on Ben shirt again.

"Yes little one?" Ben asked gently.

"Cwan we go insiwde it cowled out hewre." (Can we go inside it's cold out here.)

Ben smiled at him. Then pulled his cloak off and wrapped it around the boy. He stood and picked the boy up, knowing that there was no way the small boy could walk without tripping with his cloak on.

"Yes, let's go," Ben replied.