Star Wars- In another Life.

Chapter 25- One with the Force

Lando and Chewie made their way to where the oscillator was situated. Entering was not particularly easy; Chewie had to alter the mechanics of an instrumentation panel outside. The Wookie crouched to scrutinise the control panel's interior before getting to work, unsure exactly which connector it was to disconnect everything; finally, with the last cord removed, the closed blast doors opened. Lando crept within, holding his breath and wielding his blaster, ready to fire should they come across the enemy. Chewbacca followed his bowcaster held high as he peered down the shaft. The corridor beyond was empty with no sign of sentient life, biological or artificial life. The pair lowered their weapons; that was one less thing to worry about but unlikely to last long. They examined the internal structure of the building and agreed to attach the explosives to the support columns. They thought they'd had enough for every column, but the support structures' size had been greatly underestimated. If they targeted every column, the required damage wouldn't be done. Instead, they picked half the amount, attaching double the amount onto each vertical beam.

"You go top, I'll go below," Lando said, "we'll meet back here."

It took longer than either of them would've hoped. Setting the charges was relatively quick; however, despite trekking hastily between each of the columns, it was taking time due to the building's interior being so vast, time that they didn't have. If the plan had gone as intended, Rey and Luke would have found Han and Ben by now. Even if they hadn't received communication, the weapon was preparing to fire on D'Qar.

Back where they started, Lando and Chewbacca retreated to the exit hatch. There was still no sign of First Order troops back out in the snow-filled daylight, so they crept back to the Falcon. Once safely aboard, Chewie remotely detonated the charges. Even from the Falcon, they could see and feel the explosion. The ground rocked, and they could see the terrain crumble. The gamble paid off fast; the charges destabilised the columns. Lando prepared the ship for takeoff, engines thriving to life before quieting to a low humming as he hovered off the ground- he didn't want the Falcon sucked down by the internal combustion of the planet. Lando watched from the cockpit, scanning the trees, Chewbacca from the hatch, the boarding ramp lowered as they waited for the return of their friends.

-X-

It was the information Commander Poe Dameron had been waiting for inside Black One as BB8 relayed the digital communication; Chewie and Lando had been successful—time for their pilots to commence their run.
"Red squad, Blue squad, follow my lead," Poe commanded his flight teams.

"Copy that, Black Leader," Snap Wexley replied as he followed Poe's vector and jumped to lightspeed straight for StarKiller Base.

They jumped out of lightspeed in the white and grey space station's atmosphere. Orbiting the space station, the Resistance squadrons flew past the deadly red centre that was the focal point of the weapon, heading straight for the oscillator. This base needed to be destroyed, all or nothing.
"There's our entry point," Poe called as he swung past the containment centre, the interior a flame. "Hit it hard; give it everything you've got. It's gonna be tight in there."

"Poe!" Snap yelled, "we've got company."

Sure enough, even within his X- Wing, Poe could hear the scream of the TIE fighters joining the array in the sky.

"Cover each other, but don't get distracted; the oscillator is the goal. We've only got a small window."

"Copy that, Black leader," a chorus of calls replied.

Poe flew towards the interior of the oscillator. The structure was huge, hexagonal, with solid walls, but sections were burning. He aimed at each of the remaining structural columns. Behind him, accompanying pilots did the same. The building interior shook, and great sections broke away and fell. Below, the flames suddenly grew higher, rising around his ship. It was working, but it hadn't worked yet.