#battleforbatuu5

[enkisstories]

At the end of their adventure, Rey speaks out loud what they all know. It helps the group get grounded in reality again after the surrealistic experience that was Exegol.

Rey: "Done. Ben Solo is no longer an unsurmountable super-human, but a regular force user. He'll also have to deal with a lot of emotional shit.”

Armitage: “But he still rules the First Order and we still have to defeat him.”

Rey: “We defeated Kylo Ren and at the same time put Ben Solo into a position to help us destroy the First Order. Let’s give him and us some time to reflect and then make contact.”

Rose: "I'm sorry, Hux. I wanted to free you, too, but we had only this one wish from Exegol."

Armitage: "Your wish was to bring back to life all victims of..."

Rose: "Yes, I know, but I've thought about that some more, and came to the conclusion that Finn's wish was more sensible. We've had time to mourn, to move on, whereas every single stormtrooper is a future death waiting to happen.

If we'd freed them from their conditioning with a second wish, we'd have prevented those deaths and deprieved the First Order of their army at the same time. And you being a victim of that brainwashing, too, it might just have cleared your mind. We could have been friends.”

Rey: “We already are!”

Armitage: "Hardly! I don’t befriend people who want to steal my army!”

Rose: “You don’t need that army anymore. Working together, and with Ben Solo, the First Order will soon be history!”

Armitage: “Yeah, dream on! As if that ever had been my intention! Let’s get a drop on Ren while he’s dazed, and afterwards I’ll find you all a nice place to retire to, before I will do away with the Resistance. 

Except... After everything we’ve been through together... If you wanted to join me, that wouldn’t be unwelcome.” (pause) “No, let’s say it as it is: I’d be happy to have you guys.”

Rose: “For the First Order High Command?”

Armitage: *nods* “We’d be unstoppable.”

Rose: “Okay, then. I was afraid I’d have to do this...” (cues the handbuzzer) "You're arrested in the name of the New Republic, Armitage Hux!"

Poe: "Wait, she's sorry for having lost a mind game against an eldritch horror, but not for electroshocking people?"

Finn: "Never."

(End of Round 5)

Round 6: start here

[enkisstories]

Savi: "There you are! A warm Welcome to Black Spire, Finn and company.”

Finn: “Warm would be nice.”

Savi: “Come inside and warm up, then!” (looking at each one in turn) “You would be Finn, coming for your first lightsaber... you’re Poe Dameron, correct? And...”

Finn: “Rose Tico, of the engineer corps.”

Savi (to Rose): “Nice to meet you!”

Savi (to Hux): “And you have taken great pains to look like General Hux! Coming fresh from an infiltration mission, I take it?”

Armitage: No. Not going to answer that. But, really, whyyyy do things keep going downhill?! Just when I thought to have acquired the most idiotic allies possible, their contacts turn out to be just as moronic as they are.

Poe: “You have no idea, Mr. Savi. It took him something like thirty years to achieve that look.”

One steaming can of apple tea and a pot of corned beef hash later...

...the world is looking nicer already. Their bellies full and their bodies having stopped shivering uncontrolled, the Resistance fighters start to relax and even exchange smiles with their unlikely ally.

General Hux calls himself “Supreme Leader of the First Order in Exile” and the others let him, because the pompous monicker conjures up less terrible images than what this man really is: The unrepentant commander of Starkiller base, a murderer of so many, that a sane mind can hardly fathom it. But he has saved the trio’s lives, for his own selfish reasons, and they have returned the favour within the same hour.

The General’s fate will be decided by Princess Rey, when they meet up again. Maybe then it will sink into Hux’ brain that he better should behave, if he doesn’t want his “shaky ally” status change into “prisoner locked up for life”.

---

Reminder that in this AU Rise of Skywalker didn’t happen and Last Jedi happened very mangled only. Basically the two attempted executions are merged.

[enkisstories]

One last foray into the cave...

Armitage: "What are you doing?"

Poe: "Drawing a smiling face in the snow, so that it is the first thing Finn will see when he comes out of that dreadful place!"

And waiting for the last time, before they’d break up their tents and climb even higher.

[enkisstories]

Battle for Batuu, Round 5

Planet Batuu, and there Black Spire, the current capital.

For days it's been snowing almost nonstop, but with all the technology, the buildings radiate enough heat to not let the snow accumulate on the streets.

Still, it is freezing cold, and Captain Fowler of the interim government has passed a degree that provides a free meal per day for every resident or traveller with a legit republic passport. Of the four who have just arrived in a hijacked First Order shutle, only three are in possession of such a document, so they pour their rations together and then split them into four bowls.

Poe: "Free colored popcorn... Why not free woolen hats? That would help more!"

Armitage: "Your lack of a formal education is showing once again, Captain Dameron. Know that as homoiotherm animals our bodies produce heat from food."

Poe: "At what point do they crap out the woolen hats? Maroon-colored, I assume?"

Armitage: Just my luck. I could have saved Senator Solo to get a foot in the rebellion, the vintage droid duo or the hairy thing. But what did I get the chance to rescue? Them.

Poe: “C’mon, we need to stay in motion! We didn’t save each others’ lifes to freeze to death first chance!”

Poe: "Cold, cold, cold!"

Finn: "Aw, c'mere, share body heat with me!"

Armitage: "Figures."

Poe: "Oh, shut up! Don't you have some fuzzy warm memories of the First Order?"

Finn: "He broke with them, though. - Hux, don't mind Poe here, try to think of something heartwarming instead. Like, hm, oh, right! Your family! Your mom and dad and.... got any siblings?"

Armitage: "I. HATE. YOU. FN-2187. AND. DAMERON. I hate you more than the weather and the Resistance and Kylo Ren and my fa... A lot."

[enkisstories]

Vol Tarem: "So, are you ready to make your wish, the wish Ixigul will make come true, and no strings attached?"

Rey: "A question first. In their ability to use the Force, how do Kylo Ren and Daniel O'Malley compare to Palpatine?"

Vol Tarem: "Their current state aside, they have VERY high skill- and power ceilings. Less than Kylo and you combined, of course. I'd say together they are your grandfather's equals."

Rey: "So since you offered us the power of Palpatine, my wish will encompass both Daniel and Kylo."

Vol Tarem: "Oh, well played, girl!"

Meanwhile in Kylo's and Daniel's palace the dark lords of Ren are pursuing evil plans, plans of great reach, formulated and announced to the galaxy with much gravitas.

Or so one would think.

Daniel: "Spilph it is!"

Kylo: "You wish! Ren it'll be!"

Daniel: "That's not a surname, but a generic term!"

Kylo: "Lol, hardly. Spilph is the 786th common surname in the galaxy, whereas there are only five Knights of Ren at the moment."

Daniel: "...nerd."

[enkisstories]

There was something to be said about rejoycing too early... Rose's test turned out to be about socializing, after all.

The moment she had completed the figurine set, she found herself in a landscape that strongly resembled her home planet, sometime after the First Order had taken over, but before the weapons testing had started.

Rose found herself running a fleamarket table and it scared her even more than the weapons.

Something told Rose that Master Vol Tarem must have been distracted, because her illusion wasn't anywhere near perfect:

The tower's gatekeeper strolled around the people of Hays minor undisguised and the woman walking with a stormtrooper's gait was not wearing the iconic white armour.

Rose was also confident that General Sonderan had never been involved with Hays minor, least of all while wearing a flower shirt.

Sonderan's presence gave Rose an idea, though. If she made believe that she wasn't selling her own work for pocket money here, but fundraising for the Resistance, that should give her the confidence to see this through and pass Tarem's test.

Journalist: "Oh, what nice figurines! A smile for Chandrila Today from a rising artist, please!"

Rose: "All proceeds go to fund the Resistance! - Sorry, but not sorry, General!"

Hank-phantasm: "In this case I'll buy those knives to kill rebel scum with!"

Rose: The dialogue is lacking, too. I wonder what Master Tarem is busy with to slack like this?

Shoot. Rose had been doing so well, selling the first batch of wares, but she still had two more figurines in the fleamarket table's inventory. By the time I noticed, the sales event was almost over already.

Tico, Rose, test results: - Crafted 5 excellent and 2 normal figurines - Succesfully sold five of those within the time limit

[enkisstories]

In the stories the Tico sisters had heard as children, the hero always had to face their greatest weakness when a mentor or enemy set them a test.

Reality was much kinder, it seemed, because when Rose went up the tower for her own task, she found a woodworking table. Nothing people-related at all.

As a mechanic, Rose had only ever repaired (or sabotaged) stuff. Creating something from scratch for a change would be fun!

One, two, three... seven figurines took shape under Rose's skilled hands, each one different from the other, but showing the same artistic style.

[enkisstories]

Rey: “They... are... my strength!”

Vol Tarem: "How vexing..."

Rey: "This is entirely on you. You didn't want to set up a real test for me, and resorted to a duel instead. Impulsiveness leads to the Dark Side... and to losing."

Rey: "But at the same time I have a hard time blocking out all the other potential outcomes of this battle. I see me win and lose this duel in different ways, and I even see me struggle in the test you could have set for me."

Vol Tarem: "As I told you, Ixigul is the planet of untapped potential. That includes glimpses of things that could have been. It's dangerous, easy to lose one's mind in. But also enticing. Losing my mind in Ixigul’s phantasms will be a pleasant way to spend my final days, when that time approaches.”