“This is the door to the Forbidden Lands. I will go with you, but they will remain here.”
“This looks like a research facility of some kind,” Rose said, wrinkling her nose in confusion.
“Maybe it’s the labs,” Poe said, eyes widening. “It could be that the place the Zixon call the Forbidden Lands is the research labs the First Order is looking for.”
Rey watched as a few of the Zixon turned their backs on the metal door, their chattering language sounding more and more concerned. “I think you’re right, Poe. The Forbidden Lands are the lost laboratories.”
“They’re afraid? Is there a reason? Like, are there more grobel on the other side of this door?” Rose asked, looking a bit uncertain herself.
“My warriors are uneasy because they remember the days before. This is a place of sadness and loss for us,” Lim said, her whiskers drooping slightly. “But you will find what you are looking for inside. There is a place our friend called a hangar in there. It is a place for flying machines, yes?”
“Yes,” Rose said. “A hangar should have the piece we need.”
Lim’s whiskers perked up a bit. “I am not so afraid of this place, and I brought our friend here before so that they could get equipment.” Lim hesitated. “But I will not leave my warriors alone this time. I will remain with them.”
Rey nodded. “We understand and appreciate you helping us get this far.”
Poe and BB-8 stood near the door, studying it. “How do we get this thing open?”
“Look,” Rose said, going to stand next to Poe. “There’s some kind of keypad here.”
“Lim, do you know how to open the door?” Rey asked.
“I do not, friends, I am sorry,” the Zixon replied before turning back to her very nervous warriors.
“Beebee, can you give us a hand?” Poe asked.
The droid rolled left and right before the door, giving it a good once-over. There was a socket just a little way below the pad, and BB-8 connected to it. A short while later, the door began to move, rolling back with a scream of metal and a groan of gears.
The light streaming from inside the room beyond made the rebels shield their eyes and blink. Rey wiped away tears caused by the sudden brightness, but she could see that what lay beyond was a stark contrast to the tunnels. White tile floor stretched into a room that was like nothing else on Minfar. The lights were daytime bright, and beyond the first room Rey caught sight of a stairwell, a giant lift, and more space beyond.
The Forbidden Lands were indeed an old laboratory.
Rose’s eyes went wide, and she walked inside. “Look at all of this! I haven’t seen anything like this since I left home.” Wires spilled off of workbenches, and various bits of debris here and there gave the impression of great works unfinished, machines abandoned before completion. Glass walls divided the space into multiple work areas. One space was overrun with dead plants, their experiment long since ended, and another contained blasters of varying sizes, all half assembled. There were a handful of stormtrooper helmets tossed into one corner, blackened and charred like someone had spent a lot of time pointing a blaster at them.
“Do you think this was an Imperial laboratory?” Rey asked.
Rose pointed to a sign, which advised all members of the lab to update their process logs often. “That looks like the Empire’s official seal right there.”
“Rose, do you want to see if you can find a compressor housing upstairs?” Poe said. “It seems like the hangar would be closer to the surface, especially if this place was built according to Imperial plans. Rey and I will check out the rest.”
Rose nodded and ran off toward the lift, BB-8 following.
Rey walked behind Poe as they began to explore, taking more time to linger over the leftover equipment. There was a salty-soo, the nickname for a desalinization pump, and over on another table was an ion booster. Rey couldn’t help calculating how many portions all the labs’ leftovers would fetch back on Jakku.
The Forbidden Lands were a veritable goldmine.
The place was large enough to house all of the Resistance, but that wasn’t saying much. Still, the Empire had managed to build an enormous laboratory on a far-off planet that few people had heard about. Rey had already understood why the First Order must be stopped before she saw this place, but realizing just how powerful the Empire had been only strengthened her resolve.
“Lim,” Poe called, turning back to the door where the Zixon were clustered nervously, still mostly in the doorway but creeping closer in tiny increments. “Do you know where the weapon you told us about was kept?”
“It was right here, but we’ve gotten it already,” someone said.
A line of stormtroopers and a First Order officer stepped from the shadows, blasters pointed at the rebels. Poe and Rey exchanged glances before raising their hands in surrender.
“Well, what a delightful surprise. Rey, I believe it is? Supreme Leader Kylo Ren will be very happy to see that I’ve claimed you as a prize.” Before Rey could comment, the man dismissed her and turned to her companion. “And the famed Poe Dameron.” He stalked toward the pilot. Rey didn’t recognize the man, but there was no mistaking the First Order uniform.
Poe frowned, hands still raised. “Yeah, that’s me. Do I know you?”
“I am Commander Branwayne Spiftz of the Ladara Vex,” the man said, preening as he talked. “And now I am also the man who captured two of the heroes of the Resistance.”
“Not quite!” came a shout from the back of the lab. The ground shook, rattling lights and causing a few of the stormtroopers to drop to their knees. At first Rey was afraid the grobel had returned, but then she saw what was causing the commotion.
The lift in the rear of the lab lowered and suddenly dropped a massive machine, shaking the building and sending Rey into a crouch. A pod hung suspended between two huge metal legs, like some kind of hunched creature. Inside of the pod sat Rose, each of her hands gripping a control stick. On either side of the pod, like arms, were blaster cannons. Rose grinned as she turned the cannons on the stormtroopers.
“Surprise!” she said, launching a barrage of cannon fire at the troopers.
The First Order scattered, and Rey ran along the opposite wall toward Rose and her machine as the stormtroopers returned fire. Poe ran alongside her, his expression jubilant.
“Is there another one of those?” he asked, ducking a piece of flying debris.
“Let’s hope so!” Rey said. She ran in the direction Rose had come from, but she wasn’t the only one. A couple of stormtroopers were on her tail, and Rey slid to a stop and drew her staff while Poe pulled out his blaster.
A stormtrooper tried to climb the leg of the walking cannon Rose piloted, and Rey made quick work of him with her staff, hitting him upside the head so he fell to the ground in a heap. Most of the First Order were fleeing, heading back the way they’d come, and the cannons Rose fired after them filled the lab with smoke so it became harder and harder to see.
“We have to get that weapon!” Poe called.
Rey ducked through the smoke, trying to fight her way to the First Order officer they’d seen. But even though the stormtroopers were no match for her staff, Rey couldn’t get close enough. She watched as Commander Spiftz had an animated conversation with a tall, willowy woman dressed in flashing gold and silver. Whatever they were arguing about was soon concluded, and they both spun on their heels and left.
The stormtrooper in front of Rey suddenly turned and ran, and Poe poked his head up over the desk he’d taken cover behind. “Why are they leaving?”
“They still have the weapon,” Rey said. “They’re probably trying to escape with it.”
The door of the walking cannon opened, and Rose jumped down. Black smoke billowed from the pod, and she held a bag that Rey didn’t recognize. “Well, that thing is done. Experimental, but seriously fun. Anyway, I found a ship I could scavenge for the Falcon, and a whole bunch of other equipment besides. With this I should be abl
e to fix the engines,” she said, pointing to the bag. “But first we have to stop the First Order. You saw what this thing can do! That weapon they have, who knows what they’ll do with it.”
Rey nodded. She couldn’t imagine the weapon in the hands of someone like Kylo Ren. “Let’s get back to the Falcon first. Trying to go after them now could be risky. Hopefully, once we patch up the engines and repair the satellite we can send a message. I think we need some help.”
“Well, then, let’s get out of here!” Poe said.
Poe, Rose, Rey, and BB-8 all sprinted toward the door they’d entered through. But when they got there, all the Zixon were gone.
“Where are they?” Rose wondered aloud.
“Look!” Rey said, pointing to where the First Order was retreating down a side hallway. Lim and her warriors were right with them, running along in between a couple of stormtroopers. At first Rey thought the stormtroopers were kidnapping the Zixon, but then she realized that the stormtroopers weren’t even pointing their blasters at Lim or her warriors. And there was no way the Zixon would have gone along quietly, either. They would’ve fought as much as possible, especially against stormtroopers.
Rey tried to run after Lim, but the stormtroopers turned their blasters on them, firing at Rey so she had to duck behind a large metal crate. When she poked her head up over the top of the crate, the First Order was gone.
And so were the Zixon.
“Why did they do that?” Rey asked as Rose and Poe ran up. “They were our friends.”
“Did you see their ears and whiskers?” Rose asked, her eyes wide. “They looked sad.”
“The weapon,” Poe said. “That commander must have turned it on during the fight. He must’ve summoned them to his side. That’s why they weren’t fighting.”
Poe was right. Perhaps that was what the commander and the tall woman had been talking about. Who was she? She hadn’t looked very happy about what was happening.
Rey holstered her staff and looked toward the other end of the lab in the direction the First Order had gone.
“We have to save Lim and her warriors. And stop the First Order here. And we have to do it before they can escape with that weapon.”
“Well, let’s see what else could be useful here besides this walker,” Rose said, going back to the great metal beast and climbing back in. “If we’re resourceful, we can figure out a way to maximize our assets.”
Rey nodded, putting her sadness aside. She stood taller. “Luckily, scavenging is one thing I know how to do,” she said with a wry grin.
They were going to save the Zixon. Rey could feel it.
The First Order would be sorry they ever came to Minfar.
GLENNA KIP LOOKED AT the assembled Zixon in dismay. They followed Commander Spiftz as
he marched through the jungle. Their whiskers were slack; their eyes stared straight ahead without any kind of real acknowledgment of what was going on around them. It was just like the last time, but also worse.
Because this time it was Glenna’s fault.
When she’d first met the Zixon so long ago, she’d found the small creatures odd. They’d been curious about the lab, funded by the Empire and full of so many humans. Glenna and her team had been researching how sound could be used to subdue unruly populations. It had been awful work, but she’d been young and alone, her planet destroyed long before she’d hatched.
She’d somehow thought that by working for the Empire she could stop them from doing anything too terrible or creating weapons that hurt too many people.
She had been wrong.
When the Empire fell she’d been the first to free the Zixon from the power of the Echo Horn, even though she knew she’d waited longer than she should have. It was a shame she’d carried with her for a very long time, but she was not the same person she’d been back then. This time she wouldn’t hesitate.
There was nothing she could do for Lim and her warriors at the moment, though, so Glenna fell back into the group of stormtroopers, waiting until they were no longer paying attention to her before slipping into the cool shadows of the jungle.
Glenna had an excellent sense of direction, and her kind had once hunted their prey on the open prairies of a planet that no longer had a name. So it was with little effort that Glenna ran through the jungle, heading back toward the labs. She was faster than any human, and very soon an entrance to the labs arose from the jungle.
This was a different door than the one she’d tried to enter the night before, but just like the other door to the laboratory, this one rose up out of the ground, a strange, seamless black wall of shiny rock with no discernible entryway.
If she was lucky the Resistance would still be there, and she could follow them back to their ship. Somehow, she would have to convince them that she was there to help, not hurt.
She’d nearly made it to the door when a droid came speeding out of the entrance, beeping directions to the people who followed. Glenna scaled a nearby tree, leaping from branch to branch until she could peer down.
“It looks like we’re the only ones here,” said a male human with dark curly hair. Poe Dameron, Branwayne had called him. His companions appeared by his side, and the three conferred in low voices, too quiet for Glenna to hear.
Below her, the astromech droid buzzed up to the tree she perched in, sensing her presence. She froze, waiting for the droid to give her away, but it just rolled off, bumping along the ground.
“Great, it’s decided then,” said one of the other humans, this one with pale skin and straight black hair. “There are entirely too many stormtroopers to stage a rescue with just the four of us. We at least need the Falcon up and running. Let’s get the ship flying first, and then we’ll rescue our friends.”
The droid beeped in acknowledgment and rolled off through the jungle, the people following it cautiously. Glenna waited for them to get farther ahead, and then she began to follow, leaping from tree to tree so the rebels wouldn’t know they were being tailed. When the time was right, she would reveal her presence. But first she needed to figure out a way to convince them that she was on their side.
And then they could crush the First Order together.
ROSE CROUCHED IN THE UNDERBRUSH and swatted away a particularly annoying bug. A little way away, crowded around the Millennium Falcon, were several stormtroopers. They blocked the entrance to the ship and were generally doing what all stormtroopers did, which was ruin her day.
She really, really wished she’d been able to bring the mechanized walker with her from the labs. Those blaster cannons had been very effective, and it was pretty fun to operate. Maybe if there was time later she could sneak back to the labs and take the machine for another spin.
But they had to take care of the stormtroopers first.
“Do we have any ideas?” Rey whispered, gesturing in the direction of the ship.
“We could shoot them,” Poe said.
“There’s too many,” Rose said, panic starting to rise. She firmly pushed the feeling aside. She could panic after they’d found a way back on board the Falcon. Until then, she was going to focus. There had to be a way for them to get rid of the stormtroopers. “Maybe the porgs could help? I bet they’re inside.”
“Or those stormtroopers ate them,” Poe murmured to himself, but Rose heard.
“They better not have,” she began, but never got to finish her threat.
From nowhere, a silver blur appeared. Three of the stormtroopers fell, and the rest shouted.
“Hey! What was that?”
“No idea. Be ready.”
“It’s over there!”
The stormtroopers turned and fired, pointing away from Rose and her friends.
“That’s our chance!” Rose said, leveling her blaster at the stormtroopers.
“But what happened to those first three?” Poe wondered aloud.
“We’ll figure it out later,” Rey said, pulling out her blaster, as well.
The rebels fired stun blasts
at the stormtroopers. The First Order soldiers were thoroughly confused, and they fired at both the jungle and each other without quite understanding just what they were shooting at. It was all over very quickly, leaving the stormtroopers splayed out on the ground.
Rose, Poe, and Rey quickly disarmed the stormtroopers. Poe ran inside the Falcon to find some rope to secure the enemy soldiers, and while he was gone a woman slipped out of the jungle in a metallic suit, her hands held high.
“Please do not shoot,” she said.
Rose grinned. “You knocked out the stormtroopers!”
The woman nodded. “Yes, I am here because I need your help. I figured if I helped you first you’d be more likely to help me.”
“Help you do what?” Rey asked, her posture defensive. “You were with the First Order back at the labs. I saw you.”
The woman nodded, and Rose’s happy feelings melted away. This woman was working with the First Order, and nothing good came of anyone who would work with them. For a moment Rose remembered DJ, the thief she and Finn had met on Canto Bight. She’d thought he could help them, but it turned out he was only interested in helping himself. There was no use trusting anyone who didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, because eventually they’d end up selling you out to some stormtroopers. Rose was still mad about that.
“I agreed to help them find the Echo Horn because I wanted to destroy it, but I was unable to get to it before they did. And I was not counting on the labs being full of the Zixon. I didn’t want them to get hurt.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have helped the First Order at all. Because your plan apparently stunk.”
Poe walked down the boarding ramp, his blaster pointed at the woman. “Rose is right. If you’re here to help the Zixon, why were you working with the First Order?”
The woman’s shoulders sagged a little. “They came to my lab after the destruction of Hosnian Prime a few months ago and offered jobs to everyone there. Those who refused were killed. I didn’t have much choice. When another First Order officer began to talk about the labs here I knew it would only be a matter of time before they discovered Minfar’s secrets. I decided I would use the First Order to find and destroy the Echo Horn and Minfar could take care of the rest.” Something close to a smile altered her expression, even though it was more a hint than an actual grin. Her lips were so thin that they were nearly nonexistent.
Spark of the Resistance Page 9
