I had a lot of fun writing this section, since it’s a whole bundle of scenes full of Pirate Politics and Jawa Jedi. Enjoy!
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Connix relays this latest development from Coruscant to Poe and Maz. Poe muses that they have the ships to challenge Thrawn, but if Hux goes through with the broadcast their attack will be in vain since he will have gained a propaganda victory even Palpatine never had; the First Order will have a Dark Jedi Order. They need to take control of the broadcast and transmit their own message to the galaxy. He asks Ben if he could do this, since he is still technically the Supreme Leader by right. Ben refuses to be known by this title any longer, instead saying Rey should do it. He says that he would rather aid in the attack on Thrawn. Poe asks why and he says it’s personal. Connix says that they will need some sort of master codebreaker to hack into the holonet relay at the Jedi Temple, and Poe says that it sounds like a job for a certain pirate captain.
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From the bridge of the pirate vessel Maz announces the change of leadership. She is stepping down and promoting her first officer to captain so that she can accompany Rey on her mission. The crew loudly disagrees, saying that only trial by combat decides the leadership. Maz narrows her eyes, asking if anyone dares question her ability to deal death and they all shrink back. The first officer, a massive alien who looks like he has a skull for a head, takes the throne. Rey entreats the new captain to help them in their attack but the new captain glowers at them, saying that pirates do not fight for lost causes. He points to Ben, saying that they will take him as crew however. Ben merely turns away. Maz has already left for the hangar, and Ben and Rey follow.
In the lift with Rey and R2, Ben says that Rey should really tell Poe and the Resistance about their problem with the Force, but Rey says that she can’t, it’s all that is keeping the spark of hope alive in the galaxy. She tells R2 to keep an eye on Ben for her. Ben stares, saying that he’s with Rey to the end. She says that it’s too dangerous, especially with the danger of the Sith. She says for him to wait on the pirate ship until her return. R2 objects to being left behind, and Rey says that they don’t need a mechanic. R2 trills and Rey says that no, she doesn’t even need Jedi lessons from Yoda.
The lift opens onto the hangar and Rey rejoins Maz beside the rusty ship. Maz makes for it and Rey says that surely they aren’t going to take this marked ship to the Jedi Temple. Maz walks around it, saying that of course they aren’t taking it. She says that she has another ship which she captured and was holding for a friend, but now that the owner is no longer around she doesn’t feel too bad commandeering it. It’s Xindo’s ship, formerly stolen by DJ. Maz says that an upshot of this ship is that it’s already got code clearance for the First Order so they should have no problem infiltrating the planet.
Ben and R2 stand before the sea of stars watching the ship disappear into Hyperspace. Ben turns towards the rusted ship and opens the hatch. R2 follows, burbling a question. Ben sits in the pilot’s seat and says that he doesn’t speak droid. R2 plugs himself into the ship and scrolls some helpful text onto the screen. Ben says that he’s following Rey to Coruscant. R2 notes that the ship is marked, and furthermore doesn’t even know if this rust bucket can get them all the way to the core. Ben turns off the startup sequence and sits in silence. A voice seems to echo through the ship and Ben turns in his seat, asking who is there. R2 looks around confusedly. Ben searches the empty compartment with his eyes, seeing nothing. He storms out of the ship.
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On the bridge, the captain is discussing their next move with his mates. They note that this period of unrest has turned many worlds into ripe targets, with rebellious worlds in particular devastated and defenseless. Just as they decide to set course for one of them Ben storms in. He asks to be made a member of the crew, and after sizing him up the captain consents. He tells him that there’s a spare bunk in the crew galley and a weapons locker he can choose from. The captain turns back to his mates to give the order for hyperspace when Ben challenges the captain to single combat. The captain turns slowly in his chair and stands to his full height, at least a head taller than Ben. He smiles, mates bringing forth a chest containing two swords seemingly made of metal and bone. They both take up a sword and the battle commences.
They activate the blades of the swords, blue energy crackling down the side of the bones. They circle each other, then in a swift flurry of action Ben attacks. The large alien is faster than he looks, parrying each blow. Ben becomes winded as the captain goes on the offensive, driving him up to the throne. A sound like laughter in a vast room fills Ben’s ears. Ben explodes with anger and rage, driving the captain back. The sword flies from his hand and it lands in Ben’s own hand. He crosses the swords before the captain, who has his head bowed. He hears a voice. ‘Why do you hesitate? Finish it!’ He obeys, decapitating the alien. The searches the crowd for the source of the voice, but no face matches that elderly rasp. He collapses onto the throne.
Ben makes his first pronouncement as captain. He says they will capture a new vessel for the pirates, a First Order Star Destroyer. He asks if there are any who will oppose him on this, raising his sword in menace. The first mate doffs his cap, saying that he is the captain.
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Poe walks the hallways of the destroyer, officers handing him inventory lists and fuel calculations. Threepio reports that most of the guns are not functional and they lack the crew to man them anyway. Their fuel is almost gone, and supplies of any kind are running dangerously low since they haven’t had access to First Order supply lines.
A voice crackles on the radio, informing him of a transmission from Ben. He says to put it through down here. Ben reports on becoming captain of the pirates in exchange for a Star Destroyer. Poe says that they probably don’t want this one, since it’s about ready to fall apart. Poe says that they might be able to get a better one, and Ben says he has a bad feeling about their plan. Poe says that it’s almost like fate, these twelve fleets, and he says he has a good feeling about it. Ben says that this is why he mistrusts it. He says that whatever plan they have, Thrawn will have thought of it. The transmission ends.
Red leader joins them, saying that her squadron will be fighting exposed above Coruscant and won’t last long against Thrawn without cover. Poe looks out a window at the nebula, considering Ben’s misgivings. He sees the swirling gas beyond them and notes that it’s a shame they can’t bring some of it with them, since this is where they have trained. He stops and stares, as if an idea has just occurred to him. He snaps back into action, ordering everyone to main hangar for a new briefing, that there’s been a change of plan. Threepio and Red leader ask about the men making repairs and the flight crews but Poe just repeats ‘Everyone!’
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Maz asks Rey to go over the plan one final time. Rey explains that they will infiltrate the Jedi Temple and they will free the Knights, Finn, and Rose. Together they will all take the broadcast center and hold it while Poe’s destroyer engages with Thrawn’s ship and the fleets of the twelve systems battle Thrawn’s fleet across the galaxy. While Poe is engaged with Thrawn, the last of their ground soldiers will board Kylo’s vessels over Coruscant and liberate the captive fleet. The battle should turn quickly with the recapture of this fleet and they will win Coruscant. The proximity indicator beeps.
Xindo’s ship falls out of Hyperspace above the ecumenopolis, sliding into a line of traffic entering the planet’s atmosphere. The voice on the comm asks for their clearance and Maz transmits DJ’s code. She is all self-confidence while Rey stares out the window at the sight of the city planet, wondering at how many trillions of people must live there. Maz says that she remembers when Coruscant still had green places, and Rey can’t imagine that.
As they get closer to the administrative sector of the planet, Rey sees the fleet of Star Destroyers massed in space. She notes how small they look next to the vastness of the planet and Maz says that this is the true scope of the First Order’s power; they need only be stronger than any with the will to oppose them.
They move into another line of traffic cutting closer to the temple, but Maz notes that it is being diverted long before they get near. A perimeter of First Order support ships and local police craft surrounds the temple complex. Rey says that there’s no way to get near the Temple now. Maz counters that they merely need to use the old roads.
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Xindo’s mother stands in one of the temple spires overseeing the preparations down below. A flash of white catches her eye from the police perimeter, a familiar spaceship. She follows its progress as it descends beneath the building level on a beeline to the temple. She leaves the spire, suspicion etched on her features.
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Maz takes the ship down between two massive apartment complexes, descending hundreds of stories to the older sections of the city. Here there are still checkpoints for the local traffic and Maz dives again. The sun seems to dim as they pass more industrial building fronts and areas that seem only partially lit by artificial light. Maz continues her descent. The sun disappears almost entirely and they turn on the exterior lights.
Around them lie massive empty shells of buildings riven through with the durasteel supports necessary to support thousands of levels of habitation above. Rust and dirt surround them, vehicles and trash from all eras lie scattered in mountainous heaps around the durasteel supports and through the gaps in these trash piles Rey can see that the true street level lies beyond her sight in the darkness below. Maz says that it certainly doesn’t look like she remembers, but Rey says that it feels like home. Dark figures scurry in the shadows, avoiding the ship’s light.
They pass into a vast durasteel shell of a building and Maz brings the ship to rest, saying they should be directly under the temple but they will need to climb thousands of stories to the top or find some smaller vehicle. Rey says she has plenty of experience with this. Maz warns that there will be no quick way of escape if their complicated plan doesn’t work, and Rey says that it must work.
They exit the ship wielding searchlights, Rey looking around for a way up. A shape moves in the beam of light, causing a clatter of metal around them. The two shift into a battle-ready stance back to back and move back toward the hatch. Rey asks what that could be, Maz says that it could be one of a thousand species from across the galaxy. There are more rustlings and clatters of metal in the darkness. Suddenly a burst of blue light blinds them and knocks them both out cold.
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Rey comes to beside Maz. They are lying on the bed of a massive repulsorlift which also contains their ship. It is being pulled deeper into the vast structure. All around them are dim lights and flickers of movement, sparks and arc lights from welders glancing around the beams. A cloaked figure sits next to them, its ion blaster aimed menacingly at Rey’s heart. Maz gets up groggily, complaining about her head. ‘Jawas!’ She exclaims.
They reach a point where the industrial activity seems to stop. Before them is a set of steps made of scrap metal leading up to a doorway many stories high but clearly made by the creatures. The Jawa with the gun motions them off the repulsorlift and they follow it up the steps. As Rey looks back already they see the ship being stripped for parts. She shouts at them to knock it off but they ignore her. The gun-toting Jawa waves it menacingly at her again and she follows it into the great space.
Rey marvels at the space inside, for once appreciably illuminated. She says that the Jawas must be mimicking something, since they have never on Jakku shown a sense of architectural grandeur. Maz sees it first, and says ‘The Jedi Temple’. Indeed there are columns and buttresses and stained-glass windows made of plastic. The Jawas populating this temple also seem different, but she can’t at first identify why. Then she sees that below their ragged robes they are wearing what look like the cream-colored undergarments of the Jedi Knights, perhaps even the same ones only cut and ripped to size. Many also carry what look like lightsabers at their belts and in their hands, but crudely made of metal tubing.
They are taken up a turbolift into a tower within this structure, exiting out into a wide circular room in a rough imitation of the real Jedi council chambers. Sitting in plush vehicle seats and couch cushions are the most serene Jawas that Rey has ever seen. Their lightsabers look more convincing than the others, though Rey doubts that any of them actually work. Their leader, a Jawa even smaller than the rest, stands on his pillows and pronounces that there is a Jedi in their midst. Rey can understand enough Jawa to get by and plays along. She bows to the leader and thanks her fellow Jedi Masters for allowing them into their Temple. The Jawas seem to get a kick out of this, chittering screeching. Some even fall off their pillows. The leader says that she makes a good joke but they are clearly not Jedi. He shows her his cobbled-together lightsaber hilt, then throws it on the floor where it lands with a hollow clank. The others again roar with laughter. He says that a real Jedi doesn’t belong here, but rather belongs in the real Temple above. Rey replies that they must not get out much because there haven’t been Jedi in that temple for going on sixty years.
The demeanor of the Jawas becomes serious. The leader says that this is why Rey was brought before them. He says that for many power cycles the Jedi were the leaders of the big scrap heap, but now there are no Jedi. He says this is a problem for Jawas because without Jedi above to lead, the Jawdi below will not lead either. He says there’s talk that the Jedi are never coming back, especially now. This is a crisis for him. He asks if Rey is a Jedi, and if she will protect the Jawdi.
Rey takes the saber from her belt and breaks it, casting the pieces to the floor. The collected Jawdi stare. She says that she once believed that she was a Jedi, tasked with returning the galaxy to order, but now she is again nobody. She is merely a scavenger as they are. She has fallen, as have the Jedi. However, she says that the Jawdi might be able to help save the last of the Jedi Knights who are at this moment in the temple above. The Jawdi declare that they do not help, they merely replicate the existing order. Rey says in that case they had better redecorate down here. She says they can keep the saber, if they would but point them in the fastest way to the Jedi Temple basement.
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Rose and Finn sit in the makeshift cell in the Jedi Temple awaiting the ceremony. Rose asks if Finn is afraid, and Finn says that he isn’t afraid of death. Rose says that it isn’t death she’s afraid of either, but of never getting to see the ones she loves ever again. She looks meaningfully at Finn and Finn draws her into a close embrace. He says that it’s been an honor to fight with her and says she taught him the value of his own life, something he wouldn’t trade for anything. Rose says she hopes that somehow Finn sees Rey again. Finn looks at Rose as if to confess something, but Rose continues that she could never measure up to Rey’s greatness and speculates that Rey could surely break them out of this prison single-handed without breaking a sweat.
The ventilation duct behind them swings open and Rey’s head appears, motioning at them to follow her.
Inside the maintenance room off the ventilation ducts the group is reunited. Finn asks how she managed their escape and she says she had a little help. He then asks about Rey’s scar and she introduces Rose to Maz. Rose says that they’ve met, sort of. Rey says the scar is from Hux, and Finn snarls in anger at that bastard. The wizened alien looks at Rose and Finn and tells Finn that she sees in his eyes a man who is far braver than the one she met those months ago in her castle, but even so there’s still something he fears. Rey looks at Finn, questioning. Before he can answer Rose remembers Thrawn’s plan and tells Rey that the fleet above them presents deadly peril for Poe. Rey looks stricken and Finn says that he has to warn him. Rey says that the only way to do that is by way of the communication center, but she has to free the knights first, and Finn’s commando unit. Finn says he doesn’t know where they are, and could still be on Thrawn’s ship. Rose says that they should split up, that she can help Maz and Finn can help Rey. Finn asks why he can’t help Maz with Rose helping Rey, and Rose looks at him as if trying to solve a trigonometry problem in her head. Light dawns and she laughs. She says for Finn to trust her, they will contact his boyfriend in time. Maz says they need to hurry. She and Rose take off for the comm center.
Rey and Finn stand in the hallway for a moment at a loss for what to do. Rey asks if Finn was really going to desert her for Poe and Finn starts to answer, but Rey interrupts him saying that this is a very important mission. He snaps back to the moment and they take off in the opposite direction to free the knights. Above them, sitting on the decorative molding of the temple hallway, sits the furry creature. It scurries off in pursuit of Maz and Rose.