Star Wars Episode IX: A New Order (Rise of Skywalker rewrite)

Recap

For those who need a recap in case you haven't read my previous two rewrites:

30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the fall of the Empire has led to a new age of galactic peace and prosperity governed by the benevolent new republic, with the sheer might of the republic navy led by General Leia Organa banishing the remnants of the Empire to the unknown regions. But then the imperial loyalists returned as the sinister terrorist organization known as the First Order led by the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke, hell-bent on wiping out the New Republic and re-instating imperial rule committing small-scale terrorist attacks across all free worlds. While this is going on the galaxy's only hope, Jedi Grandmaster Luke Skywalker, has gone missing. In response to this, General Leia Organa sends her best X-wing pilot Poe Dameron and his faithful droid companion BB-8 to the Twi'lek home planet of Ryloth to meet up with retired X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles who has in his possession half of the map to Luke Skywalker (the first order has the other half). Wedge hands the map to Poe who gives it to BB-8 for safe keeping, However they are ambushed by a platoon of First Order Stormtroopers led by Captain Phasma and a quartet of black-armored Stormtroopers codenamed the FN corps, consisting of FN-2000 (Zeroes), FN-2199 (Nines), FN-2003 (Slip), and FN-2187 (Finn). When the FN corps go to apprehend Poe and Wedge, Poe shoots Slip through the chest mortally wounding him, Finn cradling Slip as he dies in his brother's arms. Poe, Wedge, and BB-8 are captured by the First Order and are forced to watch as the Twi'lek villagers are mercilessly executed and their village burned down making Finn question what he's really fighting for. Kylo Ren, the mask-wearing, force-wielding commander of the first order and Snoke's dark side apprentice, shows up on Ryloth and Kills wedge before Poe and BB-8 are taken captive aboard the First Order dreadnought the Supremacy. While Poe is thrown in a jail cell, BB-8 manages to escape capture and hacks into the Supremacy's computer terminal opening up Poe's cell allowing him to escape. Meanwhile Finn using his hacking skills uncovers the dark truth about the First Order: that the Stormtroopers were all abducted as babies and indoctrinated into growing up to be merciless killing machines for a terrorist group, along with a top-secret superweapon the First Order are working on known as the Starkiller. Finn tries to warn his two surviving brothers about the truth he had learned, but they don't believe him and remain loyal to the First Order leaving Finn to flee with Poe and BB-8 aboard a stolen TIE fighter. However they are shot down by the Supremacy's cannons, causing the two men and a droid to crash-land on the trash planet of Jakku. Poe is badly injured in the crash leaving Finn to send BB-8 into the planet's bustling junk city to go look for help. However the little droid is suddenly abducted by a Rey, a scavenger girl orphaned as a child with amnesia and attitude problems. Rey plans on selling the little droid to the blobfish, her fat greedy disgusting slob of a boss in exchange for food rations. However she ends up running into Finn carrying an injured Poe who begs for her to let the two of them stay for the night at her makeshift house made from a downed imperial AT-AT walker. There the three start to get to know each other, forming a strong bond with each other and becoming a dynamic trio of sorts. Finn and Rey start to develop a romance, however Poe argues with Rey over custody of the droid. Rey wants to sell the droid so that she won't starve to death, but Poe won't let her do that because of BB-8 containing the map to Luke Skywalker. The three eventually come up with a plan to steal the blobfish's ship and leave the planet, as Rey desperately wants to get off that garbage dump of a planet and explore the stars. The next day the three are attacked by a squadron of TIE fighters led by Phasma, Zeroes, and Nines as they take off with the blobfish's ship. After they escape they are abducted by the criminal organization the Guavian Death Gang, who have a bone to pick with the blobfish for swindling them years ago. However things go from bad to worse when the blobfish's pet Rancor breaks free from the stolen ship and starts to wreak havoc, forcing BB-8 to open the air lock to save our heroes however they end up accidentally getting sucked into space. All hope is lost until they are picked up by the millennium falcon where they meet Han Solo and Chewbacca who are on a mission for the New Republic Intelligence Service to find leads on the location of Luke Skywalker, where they caught wind of a missing X-wing pilot who found half the map which led to the two rescuing Rey, Finn, and Poe who show Han the map. The quest for Skywalker is even more urgent now, as Rey is force-sensitive and needs a teacher. Our heroes are then taken to the planet Takodana where we meet the former jedi turned pirate queen Maz Kanata along with a merry band of Outer rim space pirates led by the Crimson Corsair. Han tells our heroes the story of how the death of he and Leia's force-sensitive son Ben Solo died at the hands of Kylo Ren when he burned down Luke's jedi academy led to Han and Leia getting divorced having to deal with the heartbreak of losing their son. However Maz's castle is suddenly bombarded by the First Order. Maz offers Rey Anakin's lightsaber, whom she acquired after Luke passed it down to Leia when she gave up her Jedi training to become a politician and raise a family. The are is swarmed by TIE fighters and stormtroopers and huge battle ensues, with Finn being forced to confront Phasma and his former brothers. Zeroes and Nines are killed by Han Solo and Chewbacca, while Finn fights Captain Phasma one-on-one wielding Anakin's lightsaber. But Kylo Ren arrives on the scene and captures Rey, threatening to probe her mind for the other half of the map to Skywalker. However Finn in a moment of Self-sacrifice tells Kylo to take him instead, saying that he saw the map too. Finn is taken away for interrogation at the First Order's secret military base on Dantooine. Kylo also reveals his True Identity to our heroes: he is Ben Solo, Han and Leia's firstborn and former padawan of Luke Skywalker, whom his parents thought to have died when Luke's jedi temple was burned down but secretly survived and was turned to the dark side by Snoke. However Rey, Poe, BB-8, Han, and Chewie are rescued by General Leia and the New Republic Navy along with Poe's elite X-wing unit Black Squadron. Han and Leia have a heartfelt reunion with one another where Han confesses to Leia that their son is alive and is Kylo Ren. not only that, but Finn reveals to Poe that he uploaded information into BB-8 about the First Order's top-secret weapon The Starkiller. our heroes return to the New Republic base of operations on the planet D'Qar known as Sword base. here Han is reunited with Connie Solo, Han and Leia's daughter and Ben's younger sister who is just as shocked to learn that her brother was the traitor who burned down Luke's jedi temple. Leia reveals to Rey that the reason why Ben fell to the dark side is because when raising Ben and Connie as a mother she tried to keep the truth about their family heritage a secret from her children, not wanting them to know they are the grandchildren of Darth Vader. but when an old political rival of hers broadcasted a holographic message to the entire galaxy revealing to everyone that Leia and her brother Luke are the children of Darth Vader, the whole galaxy knew which led to Leia being kicked out of the senate and Ben feeling betrayed by his parents and uncle for keeping such a dark secret from him which pushed young Ben of the deep end and directly into Snoke's arms along with singlehandedly tearing the Solo family apart. Poe and BB-8 inform the Republic Navy of the Starkiller, an orbital satellite equipped with Death Star technology that the First Order plan on using to wipe out the New Republic. The Falcon's crew, the Crimson Corsair's crew, and Black Squadron then all head to Dantooine for an all-out assault on the First Order's military to stop the launch of the Starkiller, Rescue Finn, and recover the other half of the map to Luke Skywalker. Connie wanting to help her father and confront her big brother joins the Falcon's crew on the mission. Maz and the pirates hold off the Stormtroopers allowing our heroes to storm the base, Han and Chewie recover the other half of the map while Rey and Connie free Finn from captivity, Rey discovering the ability of Force Persuasion mind-tricking a pair of Stormtroopers into unlocking his restraints. meanwhile Poe leads Black Squadron as they open fire on the Starkiller before it can launch, however it's no use as the satellite is equipped with deflector shields allowing it to be successfully launched into space, General Hux delivering a hateful speech about how today will be the last day of the republic in front of the pirates and republic troops who have been captured by Stormtroopers. meanwhile Leia tries to contact Chancellor Villecham of the New Republic senate to warn him of the Starkiller and for the senate to take serious action against the First Order, however the Chancellor doesn't take her warnings seriously as he doesn't trust her due to being the daughter of one of the most infamous sith lords in the galaxy. that and the New Republic doesn't take the First Order as a serious threat period due to them being an underground movement with limited resources. however Chancellor Villecham's ignorance comes back to bite him in the butt when the Starkiller lays waste to Hosnian Prime (it doesn't outright destroy the planet like the Death Star, it just kills everyone and everything on the planet) leaving a guilty Chancellor Villecham to think about his actions upon evacuating the planet. meanwhile Han, Finn, Chewbacca, Rey, and Connie interrogate a random officer demanding him to hand over the access codes to the Starkiller's defense systems. once he does Chewie tosses him into the trash compactor while Finn uses his skills as a hacker to enter the access code "Supremacy" into the system de-activating the shields allowing Black Squadron and the rest of the X-wings to attack the Starkiller. however Hux activates the Starkiller's secondary defenses causing the satellite to disperse a barrage of missiles that takes out all the X-wings save for Poe, Nien Nunb, and the five members of Black Squadron with things going from bad to worse when Phasma leads a squadron of TIE fighters after them. meanwhile Finn, Rey, Chewbacca, Han, and Connie confront Ben in the base's boiler room where Han is killed by Kylo Ren leading to an enraged Chewbacca shooting him in the shoulder along with Luke feeling Han's death through the force. Connie confronts her brother about killing their father, shooting him in the same spot Chewbacca shot him. however their conversation is cut short when Poe and the rest of Black Squadron (with help from Luke Skywalker's X-wing) blow up the Starkiller causing the debris of the destroyed superweapon to fall to the planet below and hit the First Order's military base causing the building to collapse. our heroes however escape and make it back to the Falcon, only for them to be stopped in their tracks by Kylo Ren. Finn fights Kylo only for him to get his back split open by Kylo's lightsaber putting him in a coma, followed by Kylo confronting Rey a second time offering her his hand to join the dark side. however help is on the way when Anakin's lightsaber flies into the hand of Luke Skywalker who holds off Kylo Ren allowing our heroes to escape aboard the Falcon. after the day is saved, our heroes hold a funeral service hosted by Leia at Sword base back on D'qar. Finn is placed in a bacta tank to recover while Leia and Luke have a reunion with Leia persuading Luke into taking Rey under his wing as his padawan. our story ends with Luke taking Rey to Ach-To with Chewie and R2-D2 to begin her Jedi training. After the events of my Force Awakens rewrite, the Knights of Ren have been abducting force-sensitive children across the galaxy at the behest of Snoke, and no one knows why. Kylo Ren reunites with the knights of Ren after a successful raid on Lothal and orders them to come with him to the Sith Homeworld of Korriban to complete his training under Snoke. since the destruction of the Starkiller, the First Order has been reacting violently and resorting to aggressive guerilla tactics during their recent terrorist attacks against the Republic. not only that, but General Hux has kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Villecham along with the survivors of the destruction of Hosnian Prime and is holding them for ransom. Leia sends Poe Dameron along with the Tico sisters A-wing pilot Rose and Y-wing pilot Paige on a daring rescue mission to take out the Dreadnought and rescue the Chancellor. however things go horribly wrong when Poe's reckless actions result in the deaths of several pilots including Paige Tico leading to Rose hating Poe blaming him for the loss of her sister along with Hux assassinating Chancellor Villecham leading to Leia demoting Poe for his insubordination. meanwhile Finn has been having force visions of Rey and his fight with Kylo Ren that resulted in his spinal injuries. Finn after recovering in the bacta tank is outfitted with a Cybernetic spine that helps him to walk again. however a First Order spy transmits a signal to the First Order allowing them to discover the location of the New Republic's military base on D'Qar and destroys it, forcing our heroes to evacuate the base and escape aboard Leia's flagship MC85 star cruiser The Alderaan. meanwhile Rey is starting her first day of Jedi training with Luke, with Rey practicing her meditation with Luke sensing that she is incredibly powerful in the force, a power that she is afraid of and one that Luke has only seen once before. Rey has the same vision she had of the red-haired woman holding her newborn daughter and shouts the name "Kira" in front of Luke making him question where she heard that name. it is there we learn that Luke had a wife, Mara Jade, who was killed by Kylo Ren and had a daughter with Luke named Kira who was presumed to have died along with her mother. after that we get a training montage of Luke training Rey by making her do chores around the Jedi temple, much to Rey's frustration. however this was all an elaborate lesson by Luke to teach her that there is more to being a Jedi than the force and lightsabers, and Luke rewards Rey for her hard work by teaching her the different forms of Lightsaber combat. Meanwhile on Korriban Snoke trains Kylo by making him spar with the Knights of Ren who easily best Kylo with Snoke chastising Kylo for his obsession with emulating Vader revealing to him that his grandfather was a failure who turned his back on the dark side and murdered his master before revealing himself to be Darth Plagueis, immortal Sith Alchemist and former master to the late Darth Sidious. meanwhile aboard the Supremacy it is revealed that since FN-2187's defection mass-insubordination has spread throughout the Stormtrooper ranks with the First Order's troops questioning their allegiances. Phasma has been trying to weed out these defects by using the captured senators who survived Hosnian Prime's destruction as target practice. three Stormtroopers pass the test and are promoted to Elite forces Stormtroopers to replace the now-defunct FN corps: TZ-1719 (Jannah) armed with an energy bow, JL-3621 (Jayelle) armed with a resonator mace, and JL-4410 (Forten) armed with a vibrosword with the three being dubbed Elite Unit 77. the Supremacy ends up catching up to the Alderaan by tracking the ship through lightspeed and Kylo leads an attack on the vessel with the Knights of Ren in their own TIE fighters whom blast a hole in the ship leading to the death of General Leia Organa. A memorial service is held aboard the Alderaan while Luke and Rey have a traditional jedi funeral for her on Ach-to followed by Luke asking Rey if she has any family, however Rey tells him that she doesn't remember her family as she was abandoned by her parents as a child left to fend for herself on Jakku. Luke senses something familiar about her. After that, the Alderaan now badly damaged and running out of fuel docks into the shipyards of Mon Cala where they meet up with Admiral Ackbar and his Mon Calamari officers including his first lieutenant Bek. the crew of the Alderaan do not take kindly to Ackbar, as his leadership methods are rather strict and overbearing, all the while Ackbar continues to withhold information from the rest of the crew due to him suspecting there might be a spy in their ranks which would explain how the Supremacy is able to track them through lightspeed. also General Ematt sends Finn and Maz's merry band of pirates on a mission to the lower levels of Coruscant to rendezvous with DJ, an expert codebreaker and ex-boyfriend of Maz's who works at a sketchy nightclub run by Jabba's son Rotta, where we learn from DJ that the First Order has been targeting force-sensitive children so that Snoke can convert them into the next generation of dark-side users. however DJ ends up selling Finn and the pirates out to the First Order where they are captured by Phasma and the elite Stormtrooper unit 77 who take them aboard the Supremacy to be executed. meanwhile aboard the Alderaan Poe, Connie, Rose, Nien Nunb, and Black Squadron stage a mutiny against Ackbar interrogating his first lieutenant Bek who reveals to them that Ackbar is withholding information about the plan because he believes there is a spy in the First Order only for Rose to kill Bek before he can reveal the true identity of the spy. the mutineers then confront Ackbar only for them to get themselves thrown in prison. meanwhile on Ach-To while Rey is asleep Luke uses the force to peer into her memories and discovers that she is in fact Kira Skywalker, Luke's long-lost daughter. the next day Kylo blackmails Rey into entering the cave of mirrors, a forbidden cave located underneath the Jedi temple with strong connections to the dark side. upon entering the cave she learns that she is the daughter of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, a former imperial inquisitor hell-bent who hunted down Luke trying to avenge the Emperor's death only for Luke to convert her to the light side and fall in love with her leading to the two getting married and having Kira only for her to die at the hands of Kylo Ren which led to Luke leaving little Kira on Jakku and wiping her memory leading to her giving herself the name Rey. upon learning this Rey is in denial upon learning that she is Luke's daughter and cousin to Kylo Ren, and Kylo takes advantage of her dilemma and sows seeds of hatred for Luke into her head by telling her that Luke abandoned his only daughter because he couldn't live with his own failure to resurrect the Jedi order as a way of turning her over to the dark side along with revealing to her that the kids are being held captive on the Sith world of Korriban. Rey then confronts Luke for abandoning him as a child, however Luke reveals to her that he did it to protect her from Kylo Ren. however Rey doesn't listen and heads of with Chewie in the Falcon to go to Korriban to rescue the force-sensitive children along with redeeming her cousin's soul. however it ends up being a trap as she gets herself captured by Kylo and the Knights of Ren and brought before Supreme Leader Snoke who reveals that not only is he Darth Plagueis, but he was also the one who formed the first order after the imperial remnants found him sleeping in a sarcophagus on Korriban and awakened him from his 80-year slumber recovering from the injuries he sustained at the hands of his apprentice the late Darth Sidious. not only that, but he also was the one who used Sith Alchemy to impregnate Shmi Skywalker creating Anakin thus making Plagueis responsible for the creation of the Skywalker bloodline. Darth Plagueis electrocutes Rey with force lightning, however Kylo saves his cousin's life by murdering Snoke cutting him in half before proceeding to destroy all the Snoke clones being grown in tubes inside the alchemy lab to prevent his master from being reborn in another body followed by Rey and Kylo engaging in a one-on-one lightsaber duel. Luke then comes in as a force projection to distract Kylo allowing Rey to rescue the force-sensitive kids and escape, Luke giving Rey a betrothal necklace he made for her. meanwhile aboard the Supremacy Finn and the pirates are getting ready to be executed only for DJ to have a change of heart and shoots the executioner troopers freeing Finn and the pirates allowing them to rescue the force-sensitive children and escape. Finn then broadcasts a message to all the Stormtroopers aboard the ship revealing that they've all been lied to and brainwashed by the First Order causing Jannah, Jayelle, Forten, and the rest of Company 77 to turn on Phasma and side with Finn leading to a massive stormtrooper uprising culminating with Finn discovering his force-sensitivity. meanwhile aboard the Alderaan Poe and his band of mutineers are rescued by General Ematt and C-3PO followed by Ackbar revealing his plan to relocate the Republic fleet to an abandoned rebel base on the salt planet of Crait, the reason why he didn't tell anyone is because of there being a spy still at large and he didn't want to indirectly reveal the location of their new base to the First Order. our heroes all meet up at the abandoned rebel base on Crait where Luke sends a message through the force to other surviving jedi to inform them that the force-sensitive children need their help. our heroes fight against the walkers in ski speeders with help from Luke in his X-wing along with Poe in his X-wing, Rose in her A-wing, and Rey and Chewie in the falcon. Finn nearly sacrifices himself to destroy the battering ram cannon only for Jannah to sideswipe Finn stopping him from sacrificing himself because she wants him to be alive to be the beacon of hope to inspire their brothers and sisters to escape the first order so that one day they all can be free. Luke destroys the battering ram cannon with his X-wing, however he is too late as the battering ram cannon destroys the abandoned rebel base forcing our heroes to retreat into the crystal caves beneath Crait's surface. Finn uses his force sensitivity to guide our heroes to safety with help from the crystal foxes. our heroes reunite with Rey and Finn kissing, however our heroes are cornered by Kylo Ren and the walkers. Luke and Rey both fight Kylo together as both master and student AND father and daughter allowing the others to escape. the two clash sabers with Kylo ending with Rey slicing Kylo's arm off forcing him to retreat. once the battle is over, our heroes camp out on Ach-To to recover and watch the binary sunset together only for Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, and Cal Kestis to show up after getting Luke's force message with the three promising that they will keep the force-sensitive kids safe and train them as part of a new Jedi order. meanwhile Kylo Ren is christened as the new Supreme Leader of the first order with Grand Admiral Thrawn being brought into the fold to help bolster the ranks of the First Order and crush the New Republic once and for all.