Chain Reaction

Chapter 19 - Charge

Ben

At first, he was not sure if Cailin had any plans to charge the Resistance, but she surprised him as she approved of his plan to fly to Crait and wipe out the remainder of them. Her ascension to power bothered him, when he'd look in her eyes, she was there, she was who she used to be, she remembered everything, but she still walked the path to darkness. He knew this should not have bothered him, it was what he wanted, he wanted her to succumb to the darkness, but now, seeing her like this. Seeing her eyes hold an unquenchable thirst for power, he was not so sure anymore. He had been conflicted before, he felt the pull to the light, now he wanted her to feel it too, for now, he had been feeling the pull again, and it seemed he wanted to follow it this time.

Someone had told her it was her destiny to rule the galaxy, maybe it was, since she was already almost finished with what Snoke had started for her. But, this time, he wondered if it all had to end here. The moment she sat on the throne, he felt something, something that told him... he had lost her.

They were now on their respective First Order vehicles, marching towards their final hideout which was located in a mountain at Crait. The white landscape reminded him of Starkiller base, where he had first taught her how to fight, he pursed his lips as they pushed on. The communications device lit up and Ben looked behind him, making eye contact with Hux, both their faces held expressions of uncertainty as the lieutenant accepted the message, and a hologram of Cailin, standing up, was now in the room.

The other officers had not taken her taking over the order lightly, before they set out to tail the Resistance, some voiced out their doubts regarding her, and her response to the nay-sayers was death by electrocution. The remaining officers that had kept quiet then resorted to offering their loyalty to her.

"What is taking so long, gentlemen?" She inquired, her voice was calm and cool, in comparison to their previous leader.

"They have barred the entrance, maam." An officer reported.

Cailin looked from Hux to Ben, her eyebrow raised, her eyes held more fire in them that Ben had seen before. He found it attractive, albeit terrifying at the same time.

"Prepare the siege canon." She ordered.

The officer nodded and carried out the order to the stormtroopers. Cailin then turned to the two most high ranking officers in the room.

"I expect this mission to be a success." She said, before they could speak, her hologram disappeared.

Ben turned to Hux, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You heard what Darth Cailin said." The general sneered at the knight.

Ben glared at Hux and Force choked him for a moment before slamming him against a wall, Hux coughed and stood, regaining his composure. The surrounding officers were smart not to look back at what was happening in the cockpit.

"Sir, they're charging at us."

Hux looked out the window and found that the Resistance had indeed chosen to attack back, and they were using obsolete speeders, he smirked, they would crush those old vehicles like ants along with the idiots that had chosen to pilot them.

"Fire at them, they're easy targets." Hux ordered.

The officers passed the order to the other vehicles, even to the pilots of the TIE fighters. Suddenly, a familiar ship appeared into view and Ben's blood boiled as he saw it. He marched towards the officers on the frontmost controls.

"Blow that piece of junk out of the sky!" He barked out the order, and Hux rolled his eyes.

The Falcon had drawn away the TIE fighters, leaving the speeders with higher chances of surviving, they were starting to draw nearer, and Ben ordered them to concentrate all fire on the speeders. Hux must have noticed it too, for he marched near the pilots as well and barked out the same order, Ben slowly turned his head to face him in irritation, internally he was feeling relieved that they had not said the order at the same time. They had the upper hand now, the speeders had started to crash, one by one.