KYLO REN knelt before his shadowy master in the command chamber of Starkiller Base and reported his failure.

“This scavenger, this girl, resisted you?” Supreme Leader Snoke’s hologram, large and imposing on the dais, glared down at Ren.

“That’s all she is, yes. A scavenger from Jakku. Completely untrained, but strong with the Force. Stronger than she knows,” Ren said, rising.

“You have compassion for her.”

“Compassion? For an enemy of the Order? No, never,” Ren insisted.

“It isn’t her strength that is making you fail. It’s your weakness,” Snoke said. “Where is the droid?”

The echo of boots on the chamber floor preceded the voice of General Hux. “Ren believed it was no longer of value to us. He believed that he could obtain everything that was necessary from the girl. As a result, it is likely that the droid has been returned to the hands of the enemy.”

Ren felt his master’s anger, though Snoke’s voice betrayed none of it. “Have we located the main Resistance base?”

The general halted before the dais and bowed. “We were able to track their reconnaissance ship back to the Ileenium system. We are coordinating with our own spy vessels to lock down the specific location of their base.”

“We do not need it. Prepare the weapon. Destroy their system,” the Supreme Leader said.

Hux lost his composure. “The system? Supreme Leader, we will have the location of the base within a matter of hours and—”

“We cannot wait. The more time we give them, the more likely the chance that they will find Skywalker and convince him to return to challenge our power.”

Ren summoned confidence. “Supreme Leader, I can get the map from the girl, and that will be the end of it. I just need your guidance.”

The Supreme Leader’s hologram roiled like storm clouds at dusk. “And you promised me when it came to destroying the Resistance, you wouldn’t fail me.”

Ren trembled, his confidence snuffed out.

“General, prepare the weapon.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Hux saluted and marched out of the command room.

“Kylo Ren,” the Supreme Leader said, “it appears that a reminder is in order. I must show you the power of the dark side. Bring the girl to me.”

Finn peered at a three-dimensional representation of the icy world on which he’d trained. Around him in the vine-covered situation room stood the highest-ranking commanders of the Resistance. Among those whom Finn recognized were Admiral Statura, General Organa, and Admiral Ackbar, the legendary Mon Calamari commander of the Rebel Alliance’s historic victory at Endor. All grim and grave, they examined the planetary map that projected from a central circular table.

Poe Dameron and Captain Snap Wexley, a dark-haired pilot, stepped forth to inform the staff of what Finn had told them. The planet, only known to Finn as Starkiller Base, contained a weapon that lived up to the name. Harnessing the planetary core as a dynamo and using the system’s sun as a lens, the Starkiller weapon could shoot a blast of energy—dark energy, to be precise—through hyperspace at other stars or planets. The strike would trigger the target’s core to implode into the stellar dust from which it was formed.

“It’s another Death Star,” said a bearded veteran with long white hair, referring to the Empire’s planet-killing battle station from three decades before.

“I wish that were the case, Major Ematt.” Poe loaded up another spherical hologram. “This was the Death Star.” Metal, rather than snowy forests and frozen mountains, covered the orb, and a crater that was its superlaser focusing lens carved out its northern hemisphere. The Death Star was but a small moon next to the hologram of the icy planet. “This is Starkiller Base.”

Finn spoke up. “General Hux told us it’s the most powerful weapon ever built. He said that it can reach halfway across the galaxy.”

The officers’ attentive silence devolved into nervous chatter. An irritated Han Solo broke in. “I don’t care how big it is. How do we blow it up?”

Silence returned.

Though slim and short in stature, Admiral Statura instantly had all eyes fixed on him when he stepped forward. “The weapon would be at its most vulnerable when it is fully loaded. If the containment field oscillator were somehow destroyed, it would release the accumulated energy not in a line of fire, but throughout the planetary core. If it did not result in the complete destruction of the base, at the very least it would permanently cripple the weapon.”

Admiral Ackbar shook his salmon-colored head. His guttural voice sounded as if he were speaking underwater, which was the native habitat of his species. “None of this is possible. The instant we move forces out of hiding, the First Order will realize we know the location of the weapon. They will mobilize their own ships to protect it. Their fleet is too large for us to fight our way through.”

General Organa showed everyone the datapad she had been reading during the briefing. “According to this, we don’t have time to study the situation. They’re loading the weapon again. I think we can all take a good guess as to what their next target will be.”

Finn’s heart fell. His new friends stood no chance against the Starkiller. He almost suggested they should run—but to where?

Poe blunted the flagging spirits by proposing an idea. “They may raise their shields, but if we can find a way past them, we can and will hit that oscillator with everything we’ve got.”

“Any plan is pointless as long as their shields are in place,” Ackbar countered.

Han wasn’t dismayed. “Okay, so first we disable the shields. Kid, you worked there. What’cha got?”

He was looking at Finn. In a matter of seconds, so was everyone in the room. They were relying on him. So was someone else. Someone he might be able to save if he could sneak onto Starkiller Base.

“I can shut down their shields. I know where their relevant controls are located,” Finn said. “But I need to be there. On the planet, with access to the location.”

“I’ll get you there,” Han said, without hesitation.

General Organa turned to her husband. “Han, how?”

Han gave her the same crooked grin Finn had seen him give Rey. “If I told you, you wouldn’t like it.”

With the plan set, everyone left to make preparations. For the first time since he’d deserted the First Order, Finn felt that his training would be of good use.

Han yelled at the techs working on the Falcon to scram and began doing the needed maintenance himself. Mostly, that involved giving orders. “Chewie, check the horizontal booster. Finn, careful with those dentons—they’re explosives.”

Finn looked down in worry at the crate he was hauling. “They are? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t want to make you nervous,” Han said. “When you’ve finished loading those, go talk to some of those X-wing techs and see if you can scare us up a backup thermal regulator.”

A voice turned Han away from the Falcon. “No matter how much we fought, I always hated watching you leave,” Leia said, walking toward him.

“That’s why I left,” he said with a smirk. “To make you miss me.”

Leia chuckled. “Well, thank you for that, anyway.”

“Some things never change,” he said.

“Yep. You still drive me crazy.”

He touched her shoulders and became serious. “Leia, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for a long time.”

She reached up and touched her finger to his lips. “Tell me when you get back.”

He embraced his wife.

“If you see our son, bring him home,” she said.

Han held Leia tight, determined to do just as she said.