Here’s the “C-3PO with Chewie’s bowcaster” scene I’ve written and inserted; it’s the first scene in the book I’ve had to invent completely from scratch. Surrounding sections for context:
Rey peeked around the hangar bay corner. The droids were being questioned outside the ship by a stormtrooper. For once, she was glad of C-3PO’s memory wipe. She trusted BB-8 to say nothing, but D-0 was an unknown factor.
“As a protocol droid, I am here as part of a group to negotiate the release of one ‘Chewbacca’, who I can only assume has been incorrectly imprisoned,” C-3PO was saying.
“What’s your operating number?” the stormtrooper asked, speaking over him.
The stormtrooper crumpled to the ground as Rey’s quarterstaff walloped him in the back of the head, swung as Rey sprinted for the freighter.
“Oh, my!” wailed C-3PO.
Rey was halfway up the on-ramp when she sensed a familiar presence. Kylo.
She spun back around.
“Where are the others?” she asked C-3PO.
“They haven’t come back.”
A TIE screamed into the other side of the hangar bay and landed hard. He was on that fighter, and he was looking for her.
She thrust everything she was carrying at C-3PO – her quarterstaff, Chewie’s bowcaster, bandolier, and satchel – and yelled to the droids, “Find them! Go!”
Better for them to take their chances inside the maze of a Star Destroyer than face Kylo Ren. C-3PO hurried out of the hangar with BB-8 and D-0 on his heels.
Rey took a deep breath and advanced on the TIE.
The hatch opened and Kylo emerged. His face was victorious, and his cloak whipped at his heels.
C-3PO tottered through the Star Destroyer corridor as fast as he could, BB-8 and D-0 in tow. Shuffling at top speed, wearing Chewbacca’s bandolier and carrying the Wookiee’s oversized bowcaster, he looked both ridiculous and terrified.
“Well, how should I know where your friends are!?” C-3PO said, answering BB-8’s warbling beeps as they came to a fork in the corridor ahead. “I’ve never been on a rescue mission before!”
D-0 zipped down one of the forks and around the corner. This was followed by the sound of a tiny wheel skidding to a halt and reversing. D-0 immediately reappeared, moving very rapidly in the opposite direction.
“Nope!” the tiny droid squeaked. “Nope!”
Five stormtroopers rounded the corner after him.
“Those are the droids everyone’s looking for!” said one of them. “Hey, you, stay where you are!”
Blaster bolts began streaking through the air as D-0 screeched in alarm.
“Lasers!” C-3PO cried. “Help!”
BB-8 beeped emphatically.
“What do you mean, ‘open fire’!?” C-3PO wailed. “Beeby-Ait, I could never –!”
BB-8 swung forwards and headbutted his friend’s elbow. The bowcaster went off, and sent three stormtroopers flying into the air.
“Oh my goodness!” screamed a startled C-3PO.
The droids hurried down the other fork of the corridor as the remaining two stormtroopers ran after them.
Hux had good news for Finn and Poe: the Millennium Falcon had been captured by the First Order and was right here on the Star Destroyer. Finn could hardly believe their luck.
But he also had bad news: It was scheduled to be incinerated, by order of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. They could save the ship and get away in it, but they’d have to be quick. And they’d have to leave the droids, and Rey, behind. They’d have to trust them to make their own escape, or bring the ship to them.
General Hux marched them along, walking behind with a blaster. They passed officers and stormtroopers, droids and maintenance crew, and although a giant hairy Wookiee occasionally made someone do a double take, Hux’s presence gave them unhindered passage through the ship’s corridors as prisoners. Thankfully, the corridor to the incineration hangar was empty, and Hux dropped his blaster to key some instructions into a terminal on the wall.
“Look!” came a familiar mechanical voice behind them. “There they are!”
Finn spun. It was C-3PO, carrying Chewie’s things. With him were BB-8 and the little cone-head droid.
“Friends!” said Cone-head.
Lasers followed them around the corner, and then a pair of stormtroopers.
C-3PO averted his photoreceptors, raised Chewie’s bowcaster, and blasted blindly down the corridor. Both stormtroopers were blown sideways into a computer bank.
“Nice shooting, Threepio,” said Poe.
The three droids reached them just Hux pressed a final button on the terminal. He hustled them toward the door.
“I shut down the impeders,” he said. “You’ve got seconds.”
The general opened the door revealing the Falcon, unscathed except for the entrance lock, which was a conspicuous mess of charred wires. No worries; Rose could have that working again in no time.
“There she is,” said Poe, eying the ship in relief. “She’s a survivor.”
They headed toward the freighter, but Finn felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait!” said Hux. “Blast me in the arm. Quick.”
“What?”
“Or they’ll know.”
Finn raised his blaster.
“I could just kill you,” Finn said, testing the thought, letting it roll around inside him.
He didn’t like killing. He didn’t want to kill anybody. He thought about his time spent in ‘conditioning’ as a child. Maybe he could make an exception for Hux.
“You need me,” Hux said.
Finn aimed at Hux’s forearm, then at the last second, pointed the blaster down and shot him through the kneecap. Hux collapsed, grunting as his head bounced against the hard floor, and sweat broke out on his suddenly red face.
A question suddenly dawned on Finn. It hadn’t even occurred to him during the madness of the escape. Hux hated the Resistance. Hated them all. Finn was certain of it.
“Why do you want us to win?” Finn asked.
“I don’t want you to win,” Hux spat out through his pain. “I want Kylo Ren to lose.”