At the vibrating boom, Rose's head snapped up. The sudden noise also scared Finn beside her, jumbling the bombs he held that they were placing around the Bridge.

"Careful!" she warned.

"I am, if things wouldn't blow up when I'm not expecting it." Regaining composure and balance over the bombs, he looked at the wide opening. "What was that?"

"Did someone crash into the ship?" Rose turned to the multiple windows, looking out at space and viewing of the chaotic dogfight still taking place outside. She didn't see any large explosion. A Resistance fighter hurried up to a window to look as well.

"I don't see anything," he said.

"It sounded like it came from the inside," Finn said as he continued to look the way they came, lost in some contemplation.

"Well, wherever it came from, we need to hurry," Rose suggested.

The group of eight—they had lost three in the blaster fight for the Bridge—put a rush on depositing the bombs on the Sovereign's controls. They had to step over the bodies of the First Order officers and Stormtroopers that were stationed here. Rose held the detonator; when the Resistance was far enough away, she would blow up the Mega-class Star Dreadnought, putting an end to the dictatorship that had risen from the ashes of the Empire, once and for all.

Moments later, they finished planting the bombs. After a glance around to check their handiwork, Rose nodded to Finn, and they headed back to the elevator.

When they reached the first floor again, a Resistance member stuck his head out to check for enemies; he signed an all-clear.

They hurried back to where the main hallway forked into two, and where Poe said their groups would meet after they were each done. Rose looked around—Poe, Rey, BB-8, or the six Resistance fighters that had gone with them weren't in sight.

It was nearing twenty minutes.

Another explosion shook the floor and walls of the Sovereign. Rose threw out her hands to maintain balance; a Resistance member fell. This explosion was much louder and echoed down the corridor that Rey and Poe went down.

"Alright, that definitely came from the Throne Room," Finn said. He shot off down the hallway.

Rose raced after him. Fear for Rey, Poe, BB-8, and the Resistance fighters drove her. What had Kylo Ren done now?

Their small group piled into the elevator; Rose tried not to imagine the worst, but prepared for what they might find.

Even before the doors opened, the acidic smell of smoke slipped through the crack and there were sounds of buzzing lightsabers. Everyone readied their blasters as the elevator doors opened onto a war-zone.

Fires raged everywhere. Pieces of the ceiling and large metal beams had fallen. Sparks rained down. Two red lightsabers striking the other glowed through the black smoke. Rose couldn't see Rey's purple lightsaber anywhere.

The body of a Resistance member lay crumpled in a heap to her right. Up on the left, another lay on her back, face and torso blackened from lightning.

A weak beep drew her attention to a pile of twisted metal beams. Recognizing the beep as BB-8's, Rose ran over to find the orange-and-white droid nearly black with soot, and badly battered—the round shape had deep dents and entire protective plates were missing, exposing wires. The brightness of his red light had dimmed.

Next to him lay the form of a cut-and-bleeding Poe Dameron, trapped under a beam.

"Twenty minutes sure did go by fast," he said.

Rose dropped down beside him. "The second explosion made us come earlier."

Finn and the Resistance fighters with them strained to lift the heavy beam off the pilot. He gritted his teeth when the weight was removed, allowing blood to run through his body and the pain to hit him. His left leg was bent at an odd angle and a bone stuck out of his right elbow. Rose bet he had some internal bleeding, too.

"Looks like you'll be in the Bacta suit this time, Poe," Finn said as he looked him over.

Poe's face twisted in a grimace. "Joy."

Finn looked back at where the throne used to be, now destroyed. "Where's Rey?"

"Last I saw, she was fighting one of the Knights of Ren before they sent the Force and lightning after us. Then the second explosion blew up the room."

Rose picked up BB-8, stood, and looked as well.

The smoke cleared enough to see Kylo Ren and another black-clad form wearing a mask locked in a lightsaber duel. Around them lay two other black figures. Just behind Kylo lay the immobile Rey.

"Rey!" Finn screamed; he raised his blaster as he hurried toward her.

"No!" Poe yelled. "Don't shoot Ben!"

The order stopped Finn; he looked back at the pilot. "What?"

"It's too much to explain right now, but he's not the enemy anymore—who he's fighting and General Hux are."

The ex-Stormtrooper glanced at her with confusion all over his face. "Listen to Poe," she said. Intuition told her Kylo—or Ben—was the one Rey was in love with.

Ben suddenly ducked under the Knight's swing, spun, and ran his saber through the man's stomach. When he pulled his saber out and the dead Knight collapsed, Ben turned to check on Rey. He moved toward her when a blaster fired and a laser soared through the smoke, hitting him in the shoulder; Ben dropped.

Just as they all turned toward where the shot came from, a figure materialized through the haze. The red hair and pale skin glowed even with the soot and ash covering General Hux. With a blaster in one hand, he held his bleeding left shoulder closer to his body—it looked like a slash from a lightsaber.

He had his eyes on where Ben had been standing as he hurried for the exit, so he didn't see them at first. When General Hux finally lifted his eyes, he faced Finn's blaster. Finn shot him between the eyes before he could open his mouth or raise his blaster.

"Coward," Finn spat.

More pieces of the ceiling fell, reminding them of the danger.

"This place is falling apart!" Finn yelled; he ordered a Resistance fighter to pick up Poe and for all of them to retreat to the elevator. The big man put Poe over his shoulder and hurried after the fleeing others.

Rose looked back toward the throne to find that Ben had crawled over to Rey and had her head in his lap.

"Ben, come on!" Rose yelled.

Her call brought his head up. Exhaustion, pain, and devastation reflected in his eyes. Tears had streaked his dirty face. Rose's heart dropped.

"No..."

A loud, ominous groan sounded from above. The noise caught his attention; Ben looked up as Rose did to see an enormous part of the ceiling breaking free and falling.

She looked back at Ben as he shot out a hand, sending the Force into her. Rose flew back into the open elevator—along with Finn landing beside her—just as a loud metallic boom shook the floor. The elevator doors closed before the blast of air and ash hit them, and the lift lowered.

Finn screamed in denial as he jumped up and tried to pry the doors open. When that didn't work, he banged against them, yelling Rey's name. The doors wouldn't budge.

Rose couldn't react—shock had her frozen. Ben Solo had saved them while letting himself be crushed.

Rey was dead.

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo was dead.

General Hux was dead.

Many Resistance and First Order members were dead.

The tears came out of nowhere.

When the elevator opened, Rose had to hand a hurt BB-8 to another so she could tug a hysterical Finn out and back to the hangar bay. Chewbacca and the Resistance fighters they had left were still there guarding the ships; they had to maneuver around the dead Stormtrooper reinforcements.

One of the fighters went to pilot Poe's X-wing since he couldn't. The Resistance member carrying Poe followed Chewie up the boarding ramp, with Rose and Finn behind them; the rest piled into the Nu-class shuttle. She deposited BB-8 in the Main Hold beside his master and went to help co-pilot.

With her help, the Millennium Falcon soared out of the hangar bay with no problem—the other two ships exited, too. Not that big to begin with, the Resistance fleet outside was smaller.

"Let's go home, everybody," she said through the headset.

Whoops and hollers echoed through the comlink. Chewie, in the pilot's chair, gave a few sad warbles—she hadn't told him what had happened, but he knew what it meant when Rey didn't come back with them.

After hesitating, she reached into a pocket and pulled out the detonator. She didn't want to blow up the Sovereign—Rey was back there!

Finn grabbed her shoulder for comfort and support.

Choking back a sob, Rose pressed the button on the detonator. A bright flash lit up the Falcon from behind. View out the windows turned white-and-blue as they jumped into hyperspace.

The First Order was finished.