They were now coming up on the coordinates for Starkiller Base. Due to any possible long range sensors they had to plot the vector to the planet as an arc. When they received word that the shields were disabled they would be able to head straight to the Base and the thermal oscillator.

'This is Black leader. Red squad, blue squad – follow my lead. Stay in formation and stay sharp.' The pilots quickly revised their vectors and began making their way into the atmosphere of the planet.

'Copy, Black Leader.' Snap replied.

Jysella could feel the shock of her comrades before she looked up on the planet herself. She sucked in a breath. It was grotesque. The planet seemed to be almost split in half, with tunnels through mountains and glaciers hacked down to look entirely unnatural.

Straight ahead Jysella could see the hexagonal structure that was the thermal oscillator. With their target clear as day the squadron of X-wings fell from the sky zooming towards the containment field and the oscillation control centre.

'Almost in range!' The squadron followed the steep dive of their leader. Jysella steeled herself, spurred on by the determination that she felt from Poe. 'Hit the target dead centre and many runs as we can get. Red squad. Blue squad get ready. Let's do this'

'Approaching target,' Snap said. Nien Nunb expressed a similar phrase in his own language. Jysella gritted her teeth as she felt a low rumble in the force. The Base was deploying their TIE fighters. Poe's called out his last order before the dogfight began.

'Let's light it up!'

The air around the squadron burst into a flash of red lights as the squadron descended into its first bombing run. Bursts of precise fire spread over the hexagonal structure. Jysella let out the full force of her ships arsenal. She easily glided through the cloud of black smoke trailing from the structure.

'Direct hit.' Iolo Arana declared with a laugh.

'But no damage,' Ello Atsy replied.

'We gotta' keep hitting it. Another bombing run.' Poe ordered. 'Remember when the Sun is gone that weapon will be ready to fire. As long as we still have light we've got a chance.'

With their first bombing run complete Jysella quickly opened a line to Poe.

'Poe were gonna' have company real soon.'

'Confirmed Wraith Four,' Poe mumbled 'Any idea what direction they'll be coming from?' Jysella closed her eyes and as she mentally searched the base.

'Northeast.'

'Thanks for the heads up.' Poe broadcasted the warning to the squadron as they entered their second bombing run. 'We've got some Eyes inbound from the Northeast keep your eyes peeled. Don't let them get on your six.'

Another flurry of lights erupted as the second bombing run was successfully completed. Jysella panted as she pulled up from her position. Drips of sweat splashed from her brow onto her visor. She licked her cracked lips. Her face twitched as she felt the growing presence of the TIE fighters

Rising from their position a flock of TIE fighters moved to engage the X-Wing squadrons. Their familiar roar echoed through the air. The strictly plotted formation of attacks dissolved into frenzied dogfights.

'Cover for each other out there! There's three of them for every one of us. But that just means more targets. Don't let these bucket-headed thugs scare you." Poe let out another series of blasts at a TIE fighter sending into careening into another. He flew through the blast with a whoop of glee.

One pilot after another was forced to break ranks to engage the TIE's. A hurricane of streaking laser blasts and explosions filled the space around them. Jysella quickly got on the tail of an assailant that was tailing Jessika Pava.

'Blue three,' Snap got her attention, 'got an eyeball on your tail! Pull up and give us a view. Wraith Four, nudge 'em in the right direction.'

'Roger that!' Jessika replied. Jerking back on the controls, Jessika took her X-Wing up abruptly. Jysella sent a few warning shots at the back of the TIE fighter causing them to overshoot into the path of Poe's fire. The attacker shrunk into burning shrapnel. 'I owe you one!' She thanked them breathily. 

'Yeah you owe me another bombing run!' Poe replied. 'Stay close together everyone! All teams, follow me in!'

In all of the chaos, a clutch of fighters managed to dodge the diving TIE fighters. They let loose another set of laser blasts on the containment structure. Smoke billowed in every possible direction and sparks flew around them. As they pulled out, they saw that nothing had changed. There seemed to be no damage at all, they hadn't even made a dent.

All X-Wing pilots looked to their external scanners. Jysella's eyes widened. Seekers. Hundreds of Seekers rose up from under the snow. Seekers are repulsor-driven, second-degree droids with basic order parameters. They're very small, around the size of an astromech droid. But they can pack a punch. They must have been buried beneath the snow.

'We've got Seekers coming in fast!' Poe notified his squadron. Jysella barely had a chance to take in the warning before having to take evasive action. The Seekers were like a swarm. Jysella spotted a line of Seekers a little too close to a TIE fighter. 

Struck with an idea she rerouted a little more power to her ion canon. With the help of the force her shots made their mark. The group of seekers all shorted out. They began sparking, a chain reaction began and each seeker exploded. The resulting particle shower from the ion blast shorted out one of the TIE fighters. It dropped from the sky into two other fighters resulting in a huge blast. There were cheers all around her. 'That's my girl.' Poe shined with praise.

'I got one behind me.' Snap interrupted the cheers.

'On it.' Jessika was cool and collected as she dispatched the TIE fighter. As Jessika dealt with the fighter Jysella and three other X-Wings successfully fired a sequence of blasts at the oscillator again. Only minor external damage was made. The structure seemed impenetrable.

The squadron of fighters all pulled up sharply as a cannon emplacement shot up from the edges of the oscillator. A missile was fired completely shredding an X-Wing.

'Furillo's been hit!' Jessika informed the rest of the fleet. Jysella clenched her jaw.

'Eyes open for ground fire!' Snap said.

The X-Wing's circled around the oscillator skirting around TIE fighters and missiles. They entered another run. Jysella broke into an unexpected dive as a missile roared above her X-Wing. Darkness was falling upon the planet.

'We just lost R-1' Niv Lek cut through the screeches of the TIE fighters.

'We're overwhelmed! What do we do? This isn't working.' Jessika was right. Jysella could feel the weapon still powering up. A member of blue squad scanned the damage. He spotted a particular section that was setting of a small series of other explosions. He checked his scanners.

'Black Leader, there's a brand new gap in the oscillator. Looks like our friends on the ground got in!' Yolo Ziff informed his superior.

'This is our chance.' Jysella voiced the thoughts of her comrades.

'All units, this is Black Leader,' Poe called out to all squads, 'Structural integrity of the target has been compromised. There's an opening. Let's use whatever we have left and finish this!

Led by Poe the remaining X-Wings broke off from the dogfight, dodging a group seekers he made his way straight for the opening in the hexagon. For the first time since the start of this mission they could see the interior of this seemingly impenetrable structure. A few targets hit their mark and carried into the bowels of the structure, most shots bounced off the edges of the hole. Poe made a choice.

'Red Four! Red Six! Follow me!' Ziff and Bastian followed their leader's path in the direction of the hole. 'As for everyone else give them everything you' got!' Poe and the other two fighters skilfully dodged the fighters in their way. They disappeared into the structure.

'Wraith Four, Blue three. Cover that entrance. Everyone else, rain fire down on these bastards.' Snap ordered the remaining pilots. Flares of red and green blinked through the skies once again.

The blackness around them grew rapidly. Jysella felt something brewing on the surface of the planet. Her skin was crawling. In shock Jysella pushed forward onto the controls. She almost couldn't believe it.

'Han,' she whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment. Tears ran down her burning cheeks. This moment of anguish diverted her attention from an incoming TIE fighter blast.

'Wraith Four on your six!' Iolo called out in desperation. The warning didn't come soon enough.

A blaring alarm cycled through the X-Wing. The blast had skimmed her fuel tanks causing a puncture. She looked at the rapidly dropping numbers with a grimace. The shrapnel had ricocheted into her reserves which were also dropping. She closed her eyes in defeat and opened her a channel to Poe.

'I'm losing-' her voice cut out as her comms began to malfunction. 'and altit-ude fast. I ne-ed to set her dow-.' The system fizzled out again. Jysella groaned as the X-Wing started shaking. She pulled harshly to centre the controls.

'Jysella-' Poe began. He stopped himself. There wasn't anything he could do to help, setting down her fighter on the planet would be suicide.

'-up with the Mille-nnium Falcon, they're still pla-net side.' The message cut in and out. Jysella was already making her way in the direction of the ship. '- to do this now Poe.'

'You'll be cutting it real close Sel,' Poe tensed, there was no other option. Time was running out. He sent another series of blasts from with the structure. Explosions erupted around him. 'Do what you need to do. I'll see you soon okay. I love you.' Poe's voice was firm.

'I love y-.'

--

As Jysella made her way onto the surface of the planet Poe, Ziff and Bastian unleashed a final series of shots upon the interior of the structure. The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Sections of the structure began going up in flames. Explosions erupted from below, rising from unseen chambers far underground. Rivulets of smoke trailed through the sky.

Poe let out a howl of victory. His shout of triumph would have been louder if Jysella was there to share it with him. He accelerated his black X-Wing out of the planets atmosphere along with the rest of the squadron.

'Red squad, blue squad, nice job.' Poe delivered his thanks to his fellow pilots.

'Good work out there.' The kind voice of General Organa carried over the roars of victory. 'Our analysts have told us that the planet will become unstable now that the oscillator is gone. Retreat immediately!' It took a few seconds for the General's message to be picked up by Poe. There was no hesitation from the Commander.

'If we leave now we're abandoning my friends and the love of my life. They might not make it off planet without our help. Ma'am with the utmost respect I can't follow that order.' Leia predicted such a response. She was prepared with her own retort.

'Out of what remains from our forces here, your group is all that's left of the Resistance that's capable of putting up an even fight. If you stay to help them, we'll lose you all. Believe me I know how you feel. But the risk is too great.' 

This was not an easy choice for Leia to suggest. The loss of life in this war always weighed heavily on her heart. But she couldn't afford to be sentimental right now.

'General. I'm sorry.' Poe said squarely. 'We don't abandon our people when they need our help. So, who's with me on this?' There was not even a hint of a delayed response from his fellow pilots. 

 A small part of Leia was glad that he ignored her orders. She didn't relish he thought of the Falcon crew and Jysella perishing on the unstable planet.

'We're all with you Poe. It isn't over 'till everyone's home.' Karé articulated what all members of the squadron were thinking. A sequence of concurring voices could be heard.

'Then let's go get our friends.'

--

Jysella forced her engines to breaking point. Every last drop of fuel was being used to push her closer and closer to the Millennium Falcon. It wasn't hard to sense the direction that the Falcon crew was in, their grief was heavily evident through the force. Chewie's grief took her breath away, she could barely comprehend the heartache coming from the Wookie.

Jysella met the ground before there was a chance to deploy the landing gear. She came in hard. A flurry of snow whirled around the vessel. She threw her hand out using the force to somewhat soften the crash. A large set of trees forced the X-Wing to a stop. Her back throbbed from where she was thrown back and forth during the crash.

Jysella rushed out of the cockpit her head spinning. She tore off her helmet. The air was cool against her face. She slid down the rails of the ladder. There was an almighty rumbling beneath her feet.

Jysella squinted in the darkness. She could see a clash of lights in the distance. Sparks flew as the two lights met. Red against blue. The red cross-guard lightsaber stood out to her. Kylo Ren. He was here. Jysella could feel the hatred and conflict swelling inside of him.

She took off a sprint towards the two figures locked in combat. Her boots sinking into the snow with each step. She could hear the planet breaking apart. The tunnelled mountains began to topple and the glaciers broke apart.

 As she got closer she felt an unknown presence reaching out to the force. Jysella reached the clearing and stopped. She couldn't believe the sight in front of her. Kylo Ren was on the ground shuffling backwards through the snow. A young woman standing over him, blue lightsabre in hand. The lightsabre had a familiar presence.

She took a moment to look at the woman holding the lightsabre. This must have been Rey. The woman was panting. Her shoulders hunched from exhaustion. She was walking slowly towards Ren. Eyes filled with malice. 

Jysella winced as she began to approach the two. She could hear a whispering voice around the girl. Taunting her. Trying to seduce her to the dark side. Jysella opened her mouth to intervene. But it wasn't needed. The young woman recoiled from the dark side. She stepped back clumsily from the form lying on the ground. 

Trees were now falling around them, uprooted from the planet's seismic activity.

It was then he noticed her. Every cell in her body tensed. Rey followed the eyes of Kylo Ren, confused. She held up the lightsabre in preparation for another fight. As she took in the insignia on the woman's orange jumpsuit, she lowered the weapon slightly Her eyes stayed vigilant. Jysella's gaze didn't move from Ren's as she spoke to Rey.

'Don't worry I'm from the Resistance.' As she spoke Ren's arm twitched towards his fallen lightsabre. His eyes narrowed as he took in the voice. In that next moment he finally realised who she was. Jysella took advantage of this moment of hesitation.

'You,' She tensed as he spoke. Jysella lifted her arm. It felt like fire was rushing through her veins. All the trepidation she had spoken to Leia about was gone. All that remained now was anger. She thrusted her arm forwards. Ren was thrown back thirty feet. His back hit a tree with a crack. The man cried out and clutched the lightsaber wound on his side. 

She felt the swirling anger grow inside of him. Jysella wanted to do more. Punish him for slaughtering her friends. But they didn't have much time left to escape. She'd have to finish this another day.

Before Ren could retaliate the world shook beneath them all. The ground split open. A large gap now lay between the three. Rey glared at Ren before running towards her fallen comrade. Jysella followed and gasped at the sight.

'Finn?' Rey quickly turned to her as she heard the name of her companion.

Finn was lying unconscious on the cold ground. He was on his back. Rey turned him over. She flinched from the wound that Kylo Ren had inflicted. There was a gash running down his spine. Jysella turned around as she sensed another ship landing. She squinted. General Hux and a number of troopers had arrived from across the gully. Rey called out to Jysella.

'Help me lift him.' Rey desperately wanted to question the woman who had arrived out of the blue through the snowy tundra, but Finn was her only priority. Together they both rolled him on his side. They each took an arm around their shoulders and formed a human crutch. Finn's feet dragged through the snow.

A bright glow enveloped the group. Jysella turned from the lights while Rey used a hand to block out the glow. It was ship that they instantly recognised. The Millenium Falcon.

The large ship managed to make a mostly smooth touchdown given the rocking planet. Rey looked like she wanted to jump into the arms of the Wookie. He immediately crouched down to the two women and took the limp body of Finn. He expressed his surprise at the sight of Jysella as they made their way in the ship and to the medbay.

Chewie set Finn down on the bed. He nodded to Jysella knowing that Finn would be in capable hands. He then rushed off in the direction of the cockpit. Rey hovered for a moment. She watched Jysella rip open a sterilising pack and coat her hands in a bright yellow substance. 

Jysella hadn't used her field medic skills in a long time. But she was confident in her ability to stabilise Finn. Jysella could feel the conflict within Rey.

She turned to the woman as she rubbed the Steri-Agent between her fingers.

'Go. He's in good hands. This thing will fly better with a co-pilot.' Jysella gave the woman a soft look. 'I'll take care of him.'

Rey didn't look fully convinced. But the quicker they got back to the Resistance base the quicker he could see a Doctor. She clumsily nodded as she made her way out of the med-bay. She touched her fingers to Finn's before she left.

With a deep breath of determination she got to work.