Spark of the Resistance Page 4

  “A single freighter managed to overwhelm four of your TIE fighters? Just what kind of operation are you running there, Spiftz?”

  He fought to keep the annoyance off his face and instead stared at the projection in front of him. “The ship is heavily damaged. I believe they are attempting to render aid to the rebels on Minfar,” Spiftz said. So what if he didn’t actually believe there was any real fighting presence on the jungle planet? Commander Hidreck didn’t need to know that.

  “Minfar is a planet without any kind of intelligent life, Spiftz. I’ve read the reports the same as you. In fact, I was the one who suggested the First Order conduct a reconnaissance mission to identify the possibility of lost technology on the planet, in case you’ve forgotten who got you where you are.”

  “And yet you mocked me when I decided to pursue a search for the lost laboratories.”

  “Because you wanted to launch a full-scale attack on the planet. The initial reports did not prove anything but that pursuing the possibility of a weapons lab on Minfar was a worthless waste of resources, which is why I abandoned my efforts to conduct a large-scale mission there.”

  “Funny, I thought you were asked to step aside so that I could lead the effort instead,” Spiftz said.

  Hidreck shrugged. “Remember it how you wish, Branwayne. It still seems as though you are creating this fantasy of it being a Resistance stronghold to justify your future failure.”

  Spiftz clenched his fists but did not respond. What a foolish woman Commander Hidreck was, to so blindly ignore what was right in front of her. She’d never abandoned her ambitions of visiting the planet; she’d just been thwarted because the command had decided to back Spiftz’s effort instead. And now it looked as though the planet was even more important than previously thought. Minfar might not be a Resistance base, but there had to be a reason the rebels were there. They couldn’t have just accidentally ended up in that remote part of the galaxy.

  “Janson, as much as I would love to waste more of my precious time arguing with you, I’m afraid I have a mission to oversee. I have possible Resistance activity, and that takes precedence.”

  “Yes, I know. That is why I contacted you. Due to this latest development, the leadership has decided that Minfar warrants more attention than just your half measures. My Destroyer will be there to lend assistance in two days, once we wrap up our pacification efforts here. I figured since we were old friends I would give you the courtesy of letting you know.”

  “You’re coming . . . here?” Commander Spiftz said, completely unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

  “Yes. So instead of finding the labs and pursuing the rebels on your own, your job is to establish a base of operations on Minfar. And when I arrive, we shall pursue the rebels and the lost laboratories together. Don’t look so startled, Branwayne. You only have to set up an expeditionary post. Even you should be able to do that in two days.”

  The hologram faded, and Commander Spiftz continued to stare at the space where it had been. He felt like he’d been punched right in the stomach. All his visions of glory and victory lay in ruins. Commander Hidreck and her stupid Star Destroyer would ride in and ruin everything. She would take credit for capturing the rebels, and probably for finding the legendary weapon, as well. Commander Spiftz would be left out in the cold, without even a shred of dignity, just another failure to his name.

  Not if he could help it.

  He exploded out of his chair and marched back toward the loading bay, ignoring the junior officers who dodged him as he went. When he took up his spot once more on the observation balcony, Glenna Kip gave him a long look.

  “Is something amiss, Branwayne?”

  “Prepare yourself for departure. Bring along whatever you need,” Commander Spiftz said. “We are going to be heading down to the planet’s surface, as well. I have decided to oversee this mission, personally.”

  A few technicians standing nearby overheard Commander Spiftz’s declaration, and they scrambled off, no doubt to spread the word. Glenna Kip said nothing, only watched him with her inscrutable eyes, her green-skinned countenance seemingly unbothered. That was fine. Commander Spiftz had enough annoyance for the both of them.

  He had two days to capture the rebels and find the lost laboratories. He would do it in one.

  REY GRABBED HER STAFF and her bag while Poe strapped his blasters to his hips. Rose waited at the

  foot of the boarding ramp, her face twisted with worry.

  “I hope they’ll be okay,” she said, gesturing to the porgs that had left the Falcon and begun to scratch at the red soil of the clearing.

  “I suppose the worst thing that could happen to them is they get eaten,” Poe said. At Rose’s horrified look he shrugged. “What? They look delicious.”

  “Ignore him, Na-Ne,” Rose said to a porg near her as it unearthed a bug and swallowed it whole. “He’s just grumpy because he hasn’t gotten to fly.”

  Rey smothered a grin and cleared her throat. “Are we ready?”

  “Sure! But . . . I don’t suppose either of you know which way we’re supposed to go,” Rose said, looking left and then right at the dense underbrush of the jungle.

  Poe jumped off the boarding ramp and looked up at Rey. “Maybe the Force could tell you how to find our friends with the distress call?”

  Rey pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. The Force isn’t just a comm unit I can turn off and on.”

  “Maybe you could try?” Rose asked with a small smile. “This jungle is really thick, and who knows what could be out there. A little help from the Force would go a long way.”

  Rey sighed and closed her eyes. She reached for that part of her that always felt connected to life, to the galaxy and everyone in it. The connection was there as usual, bright and strong, and it made her glad. She took a deep breath and let it out, and then she sent a question toward that connection.

  Where are the people we’re here to help? she thought.

  She waited a few long seconds before opening her eyes. Both Poe and Rose watched her expectantly, and Rey shrugged. “No luck,” she said.

  “Well, maybe we can try the secure channel again,” Poe said.

  “Don’t you think maybe the First Order is monitoring the channel now?” Rose asked. “That’s the last thing we want, the First Order knowing where we’re headed.”

  Poe nodded. “Good point.”

  “So, how are we going to find this Jem?” Poe asked.

  “Maybe Beebee-Ate has some ideas?” Rey said, looking down at the little droid.

  BB-8 beeped as though he’d just been waiting for someone to ask his opinion and whirled off through the underbrush.

  “Um, I guess that’s a yes?” Rose said, running after the little droid. Poe took off after them.

  Rey stopped just long enough to secure the boarding ramp before she dashed into the jungle behind Rose, Poe, and the merrily beeping BB-8.

  The jungle of Minfar was nothing like Rey had ever seen before. Plants with red- and green-striped leaves covered the ground. The air had a sweet smell, and small creatures chittered loudly, falling silent as the friends hurried past. Here and there black flowers peeked out from beneath the huge leaves, which were large enough to block Rey’s view of her friends if she didn’t keep up.

  “Hey, can we slow down?” Rey asked, using her staff to knock aside a particularly stubborn leaf. She wanted to take in the landscape a little more, but running through dense jungle also seemed like a terrible idea. After all, they’d fought a group of First Order TIE fighters to get there.

  “Rey’s right, Beebee. Maybe you should—WHOA!” Poe was cut off midsentence, and Rey slid to a stop as he and the others disappeared from sight.

  “Poe? Rose? Beebee-Ate? Where’d you go?” Rey walked forward cautiously, batting the giant leaves aside to find their trail. She was so busy looking up that she didn’t look down. One moment the ground was there, the next Rey was sliding down a very lon
g, dark tunnel. She clutched her staff to her chest as she fell, leaning back to keep from banging her head on the low ceiling. She tried to angle the weapon to the side to slow her descent, but the tunnel was made of hard, shiny rock. Spiky plants growing from the top of the tunnel gave off an eerie glow, and if she wasn’t so busy trying to slow herself down it might have been kind of neat.

  By the time she came to a stop at the bottom of the tunnel she had her staff up and was ready to defend herself.

  “Rey, it’s okay!” Rose said. Dirt smudged her cheeks and bits of leaves clung to her ponytail, but she grinned hugely. “I think we were supposed to find this tunnel. That’s why Beebee-Ate led us this way.”

  Rey planted the end of her staff on the ground and took in her surroundings. Now that she was a bit less worried about fighting, she could see that they were in some kind of chamber. More of the spiky plants grew down there, as well, casting the underground world in a soft blue glow.

  “It’s really pretty,” Rose said, head tilted as she took in the smooth rock walls and high ceiling.

  “Do you think someone built this?” Poe asked, and BB-8 beeped happily in response.

  “Beebee-Ate is right,” Rey said, reaching out to touch one of the walls. “The rock is so smooth. Only water could have done this naturally.”

  “And the tunnel is really dry,” Rose said. “But look at these plants. Bioluminescence, the ability of plants and animals to give off light. My sister, Paige, and I used to go exploring on D’Qar, and we found a cave full of plants like this once. She would have loved to see this.” Rose’s voice softened.

  “Yes, this is strange. But also very pretty,” Rey said, hefting her staff. “At least it looks like there’s only one way to go.” She pointed toward the far right edge of the cavern and the tunnel that led into the darkness.

  Poe drew his blaster. “Okay, let’s be careful. Not so fast this time, Beebee. We don’t know what else could be down here, and the last thing we want is any unwelcome surprises.”

  BB-8 beeped in agreement and rolled ahead, his searchlight a glowing beacon that everyone could easily follow. Poe walked right behind the droid, followed by Rose, with Rey not far behind. She kept her staff out, figuring it was her best weapon for the close quarters of the tunnel.

  As they walked the glowing plants changed color, going from blue to yellow. Rey wasn’t certain whether it was a way to mark the pathway or just a natural shift in the lighting, like the sun brightening the sky before setting for the night. The air underground was fresh and sweet, and as they turned a corner Rey got a whiff of something spicy and smoky that made her stomach growl.

  “Do you guys smell food?” Rey asked, and Rose nodded.

  “It smells really good, like pongol stew,” she said.

  “I really wish we’d eaten before leaving Fermic,” Poe said, his voice low.

  The farther they walked, the stronger the food smell got, until Rey’s mouth watered at the possibility of finding the source of the scent.

  Just when it felt as if they had been walking for a lifetime, even though it had only been a few minutes, the tunnel ended on a narrow ledge.

  “Whoa!” Poe said, waving Rose and Rey back. BB-8 beeped in annoyance, and Poe shook his head. “I think you might have a circuit crossed, buddy. There’s no bridge there. Just a bottomless pit.”

  Rey peered around Poe’s shoulder, and sure enough, there was no way forward. The rock continued a little way past the opening onto an outcropping with just enough room for Poe and BB-8. Beyond that, an inky blackness loomed. The hole in front of them looked deep and deadly, and Rey’s exposed skin prickled with fear. If they’d rushed instead of taking their time, one of them could’ve fallen to their death.

  Rose pressed her back into the wall of the tunnel and looked past Poe the same way Rey did, and her expression bore the same confusion Rey felt.

  “It seems like there should be some sort of pathway here,” Rose said, pointing to the soft green light emanating from an opening on the other side of the cavern.

  “Maybe there’s usually a drawbridge,” Rey said. Rose was right. The emptiness separated them from the puddle of green light on the other side. And the food smell was stronger than it had been the entire trip, almost as though it was coming from the lighted path on the other side of the seemingly bottomless abyss.

  BB-8 beeped again, something about humans and their lack of scanners, before rolling forward quickly. Poe yelled, and Rose cried out, her hand covering her mouth in fright.

  But BB-8 just floated in the air, rolling back and forth and chirping an encouragement for everyone to follow him.

  “Oh, it’s . . . invisible,” Rey said, using her staff to feel the walkway she couldn’t see. The metal clanked sharply against a bridge of the same black rock as the tunnel.

  Rose frowned and looked around the cavern. “It must be the way the lights from the plants are angled,” she said. “The cavern looks bottomless, but it’s really that the path is hidden.”

  “It’s a brilliant defense,” Poe said. “If we didn’t have Beebee-Ate, we would’ve turned back and gone another way.”

  “I wonder who these potential allies are,” Rey said, her gaze still on the emptiness a few centimeters in front of her toes. It was unnerving to stand on a path she couldn’t see. Even her use of the Force hadn’t prepared her for an invisible bridge. She still liked being able to see the things in front of her.

  “I don’t know, but if they’re half as smart as they seem, they might be able to help us take down the First Order,” Poe said.

  Rey began to walk. Poe and Rose fell into step behind her, and they made their way slowly across the invisible path. Rey experimented to see how far the walkway went on her left and right, poking at the ground with her staff. She was dismayed to realize that the path was no wider than the length of her staff. A misstep could send any of them careening into the dark.

  BB-8 waited in the entryway to the tunnel, his beeps excited as he urged them along. When everyone had crossed and entered the tunnel on the other side, Rey took a deep breath and let it out.

  “Okay, less of that, maybe,” she said.

  “Definitely less of that,” Poe said, still looking a little shaken.

  “Are you here to provide assistance?” someone chirped.

  Rey readied her staff, and both Rose and Poe drew their blasters. A small figure detached from the shadows and wobbled toward them. The figure reached Rey’s shoulder, even though a good bit of that height was from the tall ears. Short, dense green fur covered its body, and it wore a smart tunic of deepest purple and a bandolier weighed down with explosives, blasters, and other weapons. Long, black claws protruded from the paws, and the dark eyes were large and inquisitive, shining in the near dark of the tunnel.

  “You are Rey,” the being said, pointing at Rey.

  She nodded. “How did you know?”

  “The leaves sing your name,” the creature said, with an expression that looked almost like a smile but was really just a shifting of whiskers. “I am Lim. Are you hungry?”

  They stood in a small antechamber, a guardhouse from the look of it. There were small, squat chairs of the same rock as the walls and a fire pit that warmed the room, chasing away the slight chill that stalked the tunnels. Suspended over the fire on a spit was a pot. In it bubbled the source of the delicious aroma they’d been smelling, and Rey’s mouth watered as she looked at it.

  “You made us . . . food?” she asked, still unsure whether Lim was offering.

  “Yes! You are honored guests. You have come to help us defeat the First Order’s soldiers before they destroy Minfar. The least I can do is feed you before you risk your lives to save us.”

  Rey looked back at Poe and Rose, but Poe was already sinking down on a seat and sniffing at the food appreciatively. “That smells delicious. What is it?”

  “Blagaret soup,” Lim said, hurrying over to ladle food into bowls with oddly spaced rings around the outside. Rey holste
red her staff while Poe and Rose did the same with their blasters. As Rey watched she realized the rings on the cuplike dinnerware were for the claws on Lim’s paws, and as Rey took the steaming dish of food, she had to spread her fingers to insert them in the rings. It was awkward, but she eventually figured it out. She sniffed the concoction deeply before trying it. The food was thick and hot, with a deliciously heady spice that prickled her taste buds and made her nose water just a little.

  “It’s spicy!” she cried.

  “Here, have some juice.” Lim handed Rey another dish, taller and narrower but still with the attached rings, and Rey drank it gratefully. The juice was sweet and tangy, and made the soup taste even better.

  As Rey continued to eat she realized how hungry she was, and a quick glance at Rose and Poe reminded her how long it had been since they’d had a decent meal. The welcoming on Minfar was just what they needed. BB-8 rolled around and did a few tricks while they ate, and by the time they were done even Lim was making a snuffling sound Rey took for laughter. “Your droid is very funny,” Lim said solemnly.

  After they had drank and eaten their fill, Lim instructed them to drop their dishes into a shimmering pool nearby. They’d no sooner done that than Lim was heading toward a different tunnel than they’d initially come down, this one glowing in shades of blue. “Come, we have tarried long enough. Jem is expecting you.” Lim took off down the tunnel, not bothering to look back to see if everyone followed.

  Rey exchanged glances with Rose and Poe, shrugged, and then followed along, BB-8 beeping merrily as they headed deeper underground.

  GLENNA KIP STOOD near the entry door to the transport and watched with pursed lips as the First Order flametroopers used their flame packs to burn down the jungle. The fire shot out, hot and orange, and the burning plants clogged the air with thick black smoke. In just a few short minutes they’d already cleared a sizable piece of land, and the resulting landscape was a scorched wound compared with the lush foliage beyond.