"GGrraaagghhhhh!"

Chewie let out a blood curdling howl. Some of the Porgs were still nesting in the Falcon and he knew they would have been killed. So many memories were tied up in that ship and there was no way that he would be able to put out the flames in time to save it. Chewie turned to look at Rey, who had tears in her eyes. 

Rey watched the flames, anger starting to boil up in the pit of her stomach. She lifted a hand and shot a shower of blue lightning at the three approaching ships, hitting the front one. Her lightning had obviously shorted out some of the electronics onboard as the ship became very hard to control. It plunged towards the ground and made a very heavy landing in the trees to the right of the Base. It smacked into the ground with an almighty roaring noise, snapping branches and trunks as it dug a groove in the earth.  

The other two ships kept coming. Poe ran towards the canons at the end of the launch pads, skidding to a halt and firing at the ships. They were sleek and black and obviously had very good shields as the cannons were not making any impact. Finn, Rose, Kaydel and Chewie ran the other way to take cover behind a wall. Rey and Ben stood their ground, sabers drawn, deflecting the fire coming from the ships guns. They were both gritting their teeth and concentrating with all their might. One of the ships fired a much bigger blast, speeding towards them flaming and smoking. Ben grabbed Rey's hand and created a force shield around the two of them, strong enough only because they were combining powers.  

The two ships were going to land imminently and Rey and Ben ran backwards and behind another wall. As soon as the ships touched down the ramps were lowering and fighters flooded out, at least fifty and carrying  hundreds of different weapons. Through the middle of them came a tall, elegant blond man wearing an immaculate set of black robes. He looked about mid-thirties and was sleek and polished with a pointed face. 

"Come out little Jedi," he called in a sing song voice, "no point hiding. Aren't you curious as to who I am?"

"Not especially," Rey called from behind her wall. She looked at Ben who squeezed her hand but said nothing. "You can't even come and fight me yourself, you just send other people."

"What's the point of having all these credits if I can't pay people to do things for me?"

"Don't have the skill for a proper fight?" Rey taunted him. 

"My talents lie in other areas. As I believe is traditional in these circumstances I will tell you a little something about myself."

Rey shut her eyes and sunk into the Force. She could see him in her mind's eye pacing among the assorted fighters, robes fluttering in the breeze. 

"As I have mentioned I am incredibly wealthy. I made all these credits by dealing in Arms, specifically to the First Order." 

"So that's it? We cut off your supply of credits so now you're after me?" she called back. 

"Good guess but no. My wife also helped me in the business, kind of a family thing you might say. "

Ben was listening intently, struggling to retrieve something from his memory. He knew the name was familiar, had he seen it in the First Order administration documents somewhere? Suddenly it came to him.

'Rey, I've got it. I think his wife was killed on the Dreadnought that went down,'  he told her. 'There was an Arms supplier meeting going on at the time.'

Rey nodded. "You're married?" she asked Dakodar, stalling for time. 

"No." Dakodar's voice turned bitter. "No I'm widowed, thanks to your friends." 

"What do you mean?" Rey replied, still stalling. 'Any ideas?' she asked Ben. 

Ben replied, 'I don't think there's way out that doesn't involve a lot of fighting.' 

"My wife went to the Dreadnought to discuss the next shipment. She wasn't a soldier, she was just there for a meeting but got caught up in the stupid fucking fighting between you and the First Order!" his voice had risen until he was shouting by the end. 

"I'm sorry about that, I really am, but why does that mean I have to die?" 

"Because it's all your fucking fault!" Dakodar screamed.  "You and the Force users like you have been destroying the Galaxy with your pointless battles for decades. And what for? The Light wins, the Dark rises, the Dark wins, the Light rises. What's the fucking point? It's an endless cycle of destruction that pulls in the rest of us." He took a deep, steadying breath, trying to regain his composure. His voice became unnaturally calm. "Force Users have to die. It's the only way to stop this," he said plainly. 

"But there will always be more. Killing me won't stop it." Rey replied. 

"But without you who will train them? How strong can they get? And then I get here to find not one but two Force users, which is a pleasant surprise. Don't think I didn't notice that other lightsaber as we landed." 

"There are books, artefacts-"

"No, there aren't actually. I have collected most of them already. One of the advantages of lots of credits in your account is that you can get people to go and look for things and pay for plenty of gadgets that prevent Force energy. Not that you would understand of course, weren't you a scavenger?" Dakodar said dismissively. 

'Rey,' said Ben warningly, 'keep it in check.'  He could feel her rising emotions and she didn't have the same experience he did of keeping control. 

"How about coming out and dying like a warrior rather than being pulled kicking and screaming like a rat from behind that wall?" There was venom in Dakodar's voice, months of grief hardened into hatred. 

"No? Ok then, let's kill your friends instead. Sad that you would put them in harm's way. FIRE ON THAT WALL!" He yelled and the air cracked with assorted blaster fire. But the shots were not aimed at Rey and Ben they were aimed at the other wall where Finn and the others were hiding. 

Chewie ducked round the other side of the wall and fired off his Bowcaster, felling two fighters at the same time. Part of the wall crumbled away under the onslaught of shots, leaving Finn exposed. Ben noticed just in time and froze two bolts heading straight for him. 

"Duck!" he yelled.

Finn turned, noticed the bolts and dove to the ground. Ben let them go and they exploded on the building behind him. He and Rey left the cover of their wall and started fighting in earnest, deflecting fire and Force pushing and pulling everyone they could. They aimed at legs and arms, not wanting to kill if they did not have to. One of the deflected bolts went off course and hit a fuel tank. There was a huge explosion and an orange mushroom shaped cloud rolling into the sky, adding to the smoke from the still burning Falcon. Many of the fighters turned to look, distracted by the light and noise and while they did Ben and Rey ran forwards, attacking some of them before they even turned back round. 

Dakodar had backed away when the proper fighting started and Ben could see him fading into the background, leaving everyone else to do the dirty work. He was determined to get to him. Nobody was going to threaten Rey and get away with it.