The End of the Beginning
By:Shadow
shadows_myst14@hotmail.com
What if the Rebellion lost at Endor? What would the glaxay be
like? Would the survivors keep fighting or just lay low and
hide? A what-if ending to ROTJ.
Disclaimer:
Okay, here we go with the routine. All the characters from
Star Wars contained in this story belong the George Lucas and
LucasFilm except of course the one's I made up. I'm not
getting any money whatsoever off this story, just the joy of
knowing that somewhere, another Star Wars fan is reliving the
excitement of the Star Wars universe. (c) 1999
Author's Note:
Well, this story's pretty self-explainatory. What if the
Rebellion lost at Endor? What would the world be like?
Would the survivors keep fighting or just lay low and hide?
There are a few characters from my other fanfic work, actually
one. Isari Antilles, is Wedge's younger sister by two years (if
you've read Childhood's End then you know this stuff). I
haven't gotten around to explaining how they met up at Yavin,
so let's just assume they did and leave it at that until I give
you something else to work with. Well, hope you like it.
Enjoy!
The End of the Beginning
Sari Antilles stood on the threshold of the
carrier's ready room designated to Red Squadron,
feeling the excitement and nervous anticipation fill the
room. She drank it in, feeling the familiar rush of fear
that came every time she entered her X-wing. Wearing
an easy smile that belied the fact that the Rebellion was
about to mount it's largest, and potentially deadliest,
attack on the Empire's death machine in only a few
hours, Sari headed for her locker to collect her gear.
"Antilles!" A familiar voice stooped her before
she got there. The grin on her face widened and she spun
around to greet the other pilot.
"Wes!" With a happy laugh she fell into the
baby-faced pilot's waiting arms and they hugged tightly.
Finally sari stepped back and noticed the rank on Wes'
flight suit. "Oh, Lieutenant Janson! When'd that happen,
uh, sir?" she saluted smartly and Wes burst out laughing.
"It's still just Wes to you," he grinned,
"Anyway, I got a commendation for bravery during or
fight against Black Sun and Admiral Ackbar decided
they needed another Lieutenant." He leaned closer as if
to confide in something secret," Besides, this is nothing
compared to Wedge's promotion." He smiled at the look
she gave him, "Oh no you don't. I'll let him tell you
himself, he should be around somewhere." He turned to
go prep his own fighter, "Oh, and Sari. It's good to have
you back, things were starting to get back to normal." He
winked and ran off.
Sari watched him go then went to her locked and
pulled out the holo-cube she carried with her
everywhere. She sat down on the bench staring at the
shimmering images, remembering times past, old
friends, and old victories. She smiled as she saw a holo
of Red Squadron, taken before the attack on the first
Death Star above Yavin IV. With any luck this mission
would have a better casualty toll.
"Old gang better be watching over us tonight."
A voice said over her shoulder, "I think we'll need it."
Sari turned to see her brother standing over her
look at the holo wistfully, a dull pain behind his brown
eyes. She stood and hugged him," Oh they'll be
watching us. Wherever they are they know what we're
up against and they'll be doing everything in their power
to help us through this. You know that Wedge."
He nodded slowly in response to her statement,
"Yeah, I guess." He shook his head and the haunted look
in his eyes vanished replaced by determination. Smiling
her swept her into a bear hug. "When'd you get back?"
"Just now actually, I was serving on the Oddessy
for the past three months. The crew shuttle dropped me
off here." She rolled her eyes," I have one tip for you. If
anyone ever asks you to crew aboard a capital ship,
refuse them. I almost died of boredom. Whereas you, on
the other hand, seem to have been rather busy, eh,
Captain?" she eyed his rank insignia smiling,
"Congragulations Wedge! I'm so proud of you."
Wedge blushed and tried to explain. He was cut
off by the arrival of Wes Janson who'd stepped between
them. He draped an arm over both their shoulders and
led the two of them towards the X-wing hangers.
"Well, while the two of you have been taking a
stroll down memory lane, the rest of us have been
planning a mission. You two in or did you have
something else in mind?" sari opened her mouth to
respond but Wes cut her off, "Never mind, don't answer
that. I don't even want to know what you could come up
with."
They'd reached Janson's X-wing and he
released them, suddenly turning serious. "Watch your
backs out there, guys. May the Force be with you." He
hugged Wedge quickly, then gave Sari a hurried kiss.
"See you on the other side!" he called out as he slide the
canopy closed.
Sari and Wedge looked at each other in shock at
the emotional goodbye Janson had offered, then the
hugged and ran to their respective fighters to begin
countdown.
Wedge ran through his checklist, plotted the
course the squadron would take to Endor and fed it to
the other X-wings he commanded. The repulsor lifts on
the bottom of his X-wing kicked on, bouncing the ship
five feet in the air.
Wedge keyed his comm, "Control, Red
Squadron is prepped and ready for launch."
The calm voice came back instantly, "Copy Red
Leader, you are go for launch. Rendezvous with the fleet
on the other side and await further orders. May the Force
be with you."
"Thanks Control, you too." He switched
frequencies to the squadron's private channel." Okay
guys, here we go. The numbers have been fed into your
X-wings' navcom. We'll be entering the system on the
opposite side of Endor than the Death Star. Good luck."
He'd reached deep space now; a portion of the
Alliance fleet had already made the jump and was on
their way to the rendezvous point. Now it was his turn,
he swallowed hard and checked his display once more,
"Engage hyperdrive on my mark.
Three Two One GO!" he pulled back on the
hyperspace lever and the stars blurred into lines. They
were on their way.
Light years away from the Alliance fleet
assembled in the Velnan system, on the small jungle
moon of Endor, the Rebel drop team was having
problems of their own securing the shield generators that
protected the Death Star from attack. They'd been
delayed when Princess Leia had disappeared and they
had been forced to look for her, only to be captured by
the furry native Ewoks and almost saut ed. But now,
they we back on schedule, sort of.
Han Solo swore under his breath as he crouched
in the tall grasses at the edge of the clearing. Arrayed in
front of him in the clearing were almost two full
battalions of stormtroopers. Sixty men! He'd known the
shield generator would be well guarded but he hadn't
expected this. To make matters worse he could see at
least a dozen AT-AV walkers moving around behind the
bunker.
"Well? How's it look?" Princess Leia asked,
crawling up next to him, shoving a long strand of her
chestnut hair behind her ear.
"Not too good, princess. They got that place
locked up tighter than a Hutt's bank account." He saw
her features cloud over with worry and cracked a grin,
trying to lighten the mood, "Hey, on the plus side we've
got them scared of us. That's something."
Leia frowned, "We have to get that shield down
before the fleet arrives or the battle's lost before it even
begins. There's got to be a way in. Come on, let's see
what the others think." They started to get up but were
interrupted by Threepio who was deep in conversation
with Teebo, one of the furry Ewoks who inhabited the
moon. "Oh dear." Threepio started to rise to look into
the clearing beside the bunker.
"Stay down!" Solo hissed at the droid.
"Threepio, what is it?" Leia demanded, not
taking her eyes off the ranks of stormtroopers.
"I'm afraid our furry companion has gone and
done something rather rash." Threepio said slowly.
"What? What are you talking about?" Leia
fought to keep her voice calm
Han's hand gripped her arm, "Look."
Paploo had scurried down the hill to where the
stromtroopers speeder bikes rested against the trees. The
little ball of fur mounted the bike nearest him and began
flipping switches at random. Suddenly the engine roared
to life, deafeningly loud in the silent air. Grinning madly
the little Ewok fiddled with the throttle control and the
speeder flew into the woods, a squadron of
stormtroopers shouting to each other hoped on their
speeders and gave chase.
Chewie growled from beside Han and Han
nodded "So much for a surprise attack." He started to
stand and charge into the fray but the princess stopped
him.
"Han. Are you crazy? Paploo may have thinned
them out slightly but there's still over fifty men down
there. What's your plan here? Walk up and ask for a
tour?"
"You know that's not a bad idea." He grinned
lopsidedly, "We have to get that shield down quickly,
Leia. You said so yourself. The fleet'll be here pretty
soon, unless you can think of a better way, we go in,
guns blazing, maybe someone'll get the shields down in
time. We're fresh out of options here."
Leia opened her mouth to object, but closed it
again immediately. He was right, of course, there was no
other way. She turned and signalled the group of twenty
odd commandos behind her, explaining the situation
carefully to them. Some looked a little apprehensive at
the odds they were facing, but all nodded to show they
were with her.
"Remember, take as many of them out as
possible from the cover of the trees, distract them as
much as possible. Han, Chewie and myself will try to
slip in and plant the charges. Got it? Okay, let's do this,
we've only got one shot at this so let's make it count!"
Simultaneously the twenty commandos opened
up on the stormtroopers below, taking full advantage of
their height and the cover provided to help them
slaughter the troopers and draw their attention from the
bunker and into the surrounding trees.
Han slipped a blaster into Leia's hand and
motioned towards the bunker, "They won't be distracted
for long. Come on princess, Let's get this done."
The two of them and Chewie moved towards the
bunker taking the occasional pot shots at the troopers
below. Finally they were within range of the door and as
it turned out, in prime position to see the first of the
walkers erupt in flames as the Ewoks smashed its head
in with two large tree trunks. Han raised his eyebrows at
the sight of the furry animals jumping around the
downed walker excitedly. "I guess the little furballs are
good for something. Let's hope they keep it up. Artoo,
can you get those doors open?"
The little droid twittered and rolled to the socket,
plugging himself into the database. A moment later he
hooted triumphantly and the doors slid open. Leia
grinned and ran the few feet to the door, taking up
position just inside to cover the others' entrances. When
they were all inside Artoo slid the door shut again, the
ominous clang magnified in the silent corridor.
"Oh my," Threepio said, sounding slightly
distressed," Perhaps I should have waited outside."
"Can it, Threepio. You're here now, so make
yourself useful." Han snapped at the droid, then turned
and continued further into the bunker. "Come on, we
have to find the command centre."
"Well there's no need to be rude." Threepio
sniffed, Artoo warbled at him,
"Oh don't you start, you miserable hunk of tin. You did
not ætell me so'" Artoo only twittered in response and
rolled away after Han and the others, leaving Threepio
alone to fume in the darkness, "Well I never "
Leia was the first one to reach the command
centre; she poked her head carefully around the corner
and checked out the situation. She brought her head back
around the corner and the group retreated a few feet.
"There's only five of them in there. Two look
like techs, but you never know. I guess they though
those guys outside would everyone out." She smiled
slightly, " The trick is to take them out before they can
call for help. Any ideas?"
Han thought about it for a minute, his brow
creased in concentration, "We could just set the charges
and run. They might not be found if we set the fuse short
enough."
Leia shook her head, "Too risky, the charges
still might be found and disarmed. We have to be sure
about this." She bit her lip, "Okay, here's what we'll do.
Chewie, you take one of the charges and place it
somewhere where it'll do a lot of damage, then get out
as fast as you can, give us a five minute fuse, that ought
to be enough time. Take the droids with you. Han and
I'll try and take the control room, and place the other
two charges in there." The Wookie growled unhappily
but took the charge Han offered him, then he and the two
droids moved off deeper into the heart of the bunker.
Leia and Han looked at each other, then the two
off them threw themselves around the corner blasters
spitting deadly energy. There were shouts of surprise
and pain from the troopers inside and Leia prayed that
non of them had been in the middle of a transmission at
that moment. One after another they fell victim to the
Rebels' laser fire and lay still.
Han pulled out the two high powered explosives
he'd had on his belt, working quickly to place them
evenly around the room.
Leia knelt by the fallen troopers relieving them
of their blasters and comlinks. The last comlink she
found, however, wasn't silent like the rest. Voices
squawked from it, when they got no answer they became
more distressed, eventually they cut off altogether. A
lump of ice filled Leia's stomach. "Han! We're about to
get company! Let's move it!" She pushed herself off the
ground and ran to cover the door they'd entered by,
"Han? Hurry up!" Where was he? He should have been
done setting the charges by now.
She heard a noise behind her and spun around,
blaster up and ready, and almost dropped it. Two full
squadrons of stormtroopers stood behind her, blasters
trained unwaveringly on her, and among them stood
Han, hands bound behind his back, a glum expression on
his face.
Leia locked eyes with Han and he nodded
slowly. Reluctantly she dropped her blaster and put her
hands on top of her head, getting killed wouldn't help
anything. Immediately, she was surrounded by troopers.
Her arms were yanked roughly behind her and bound
tightly. Then she and Han were led out of the bunker
into the clearing.
Leia's heart bottomed out and she saw the look
of defeat in Han's eyes as well as she took in the scene
in front of her. The survivors of the commando group
were kneeling on the ground in the middle of the
clearing, watched closely by three dozen white armoured
troopers. Beyond the clearing Leia could see a few more
white clad stormies searching the trees from more
surviving Rebels.
Solo and Leia were led to the middle of the
circle and forced to kneel. Leia desperately thought of
Chewie and the droids, could they finish the mission?
They had to, it was the Rebellion's only hope. She
looked around hopefully, but found no opportunities for
escape.
The stormtrooper in front of them laughed at the
defeated look in Leia's eyes, "Say good bye to your
pitiful Rebellion." He sneered, bringing his blaster up. A
bolt of energy flew at Leia and hit her in the chest. She
gasped and collapsed at Han's feet.
"Leia!" Han tried to run to her, but was held
down by two troopers. His gaze caught a flash of light
high above, then another as the fleet entered combat, and
he closed his eyes. It was over, they'd failed. Then the
world went black.
High above the peacefully floating moon, in the
bowels of the Emperor's newest toy, Luke Skywalker
was starting to realised just why it was that the Emperor
ruled the galaxy with fear. He was terrified.
He'd surrendered himself willingly to Darth
Vader in the hopes that he'd be able to turn his father
from the Dark Side. But now, after watching Vader in
his master's presence, Luke was no longer sure.
The Dark Lord of the Sith leaned over the youth,
taunting him as if echoing the Emperor's own words of
disdain. Luke stood tall and tried to release his anger and
fear, to let them rise above him into the vastness of space
and dissipate there. When he was in control once more
he spoke, evenly and defiantly, "I will never join you.
I'd rather died a thousand times before I give myself
over to the Dark Side."
The Emperor simply laughed, "Ah, young
Skywalker, you do not understand. Your destiny is
sealed, you will join me a rule by my side, I have seen
it."
Luke raised his chin defiantly and refused to
answer. Vader added in a mocking voice, "You cannot
win, son. You know it as well as I do. The Rebellion will
fail and your æfriends' will die. Open yourself to the
Force you know it to be true." Again Luke did not
answer but Vader could sense the boy's emotional
turmoil as his friends perished and their souls cried out
to him through the Force.
Vader allowed himself a smile beneath his mask,
his son would join him, of that he was certain and
together they could kill the Emperor, they could rule the
galaxy. All Luke needed was a push in the right
direction to push him over the brink.
Vader felt the disturbance in the Force at the
same time Luke did, Han and Leia crying out to him,
their minds full of despair and defeat. Then Leia cried
out with pain, a cry that sent an icy stab of pain into his
brain, leaving him trembling. Luke swayed noticeably
but managed not to cry out. Vader watched his son,
reaching into his mind and probing to find the weakness
that had affected Luke so strongly. At first he was a little
puzzled. Sister? Luke had a sister? He frowned; Obi-
Wan had out-smarted him again. No matter, this new
development could be used. He spoke again. "Obi-Wan
was wise to hide your sister from me, Skywalker. But
your feelings have betrayed her. If you will not join me,
perhaps she will."
Luke squeezed his eyes shut, trembling
uncontrollably from head to toe. "No " the moan
escaped past his gritted teeth and Vader move in for the
kill. "I suspect she would be easier to turn " he
muttered, half to himself, sending Skywalker images of
his sister by her father's side, ruling beside him,
Skywalker did not disappoint him.
"NO!!!!" The cry ripped from Luke's throat as
he flung out his hand and his lightsaber leaped into his
hand, igniting in mid-air. His attack came so suddenly
the Dark Lord was thrown off balance and was forced
back on the defensive. But Luke didn't let up; he
attacked the Dark Jedi again and again driving him back
further and further. Vader stumbled and went down
under Luke's attack, when he looked up he saw Luke
standing above, staring down at him, his face flat and
emotionless.
The Emperor clapped and egged Luke on, "Yes,
my boy! Finish him, then take his place at my side, we
will rule the universe forever!"
Luke hesitated and looked at the Emperor, yes,
he could do it, he could kill Vader, take his power and
step up to rule to galaxy Then he glanced at Vader,
lying at his feet, and somehow saw his father in the
hulking form below. He smiled, a cold, humourless
smile. He let his anger fill him, let it give him the power
and strength he needed. He knew exactly what to do.
Vader saw the smile creep across Luke's face,
saw the look of hatred in his eyes and knew Luke had
made his choice. With an effort the Dark Lord pulled
himself up and faced his son. Suddenly Luke thrust out a
hand at the Emperor and blue streaks of lightning curled
themselves around the Emperor's frail form. Vader too,
joined in Skywalker's efforts, repelling the retaliation
energy the Emperor sent back at them and pulsing more
Force energy into his ever-weakening body. The
Emperor shrieked as he writhed in pain on the floor,
slowly his convulsions becoming smaller and smaller,
until they stopped altogether. Grimly Vader picked up
his former master and dragged him to the ventilation
shaft. Without hesitation he hefted he frail body over the
railing and watched as it fell into the bottomless depths
below. Breathing hard he turned and regarded his son,
judging his reaction.
Luke stood, staring at the spot where the
Emperor had lain, feeling his body still filled with the
anger and rage he'd kept bottled up inside. He revelled
in the power he felt, the different kind of Force, he was
refreshed and thrilled. His blood sang in his ears and his
head felt light, awash in the power of the Dark Side.
After awhile the sensation passed and Luke
opened his eyes. He saw Darth Vader regarding him,
contemplating. Luke looked around with the new sense's
he'd picked up, feeling every thing so differently.
Vader stood and walked over to the youth, he
place a hand on the boy's shoulder and directed his gaze
towards the large viewport which offered a crystal clear
view of the battle raging outside. "You have done well,
Luke. Now join me in defeating this pathetic Rebellion
and we shall face of destinies together."
Luke smiled as he looked out at the chaos of
space battle, feeling the Dark Force fill him once more.
Yes, this was where he belonged.
Outside, the battle was not going well for the
Alliance, the Death Star's shields were still up despite
Lando's assurances that "Han'll come through, just give
him a little more time." and the once mighty Calamarian
cruisers had lost shield power and were dropping like
flies.
Wedge Antilles ducked instinctively as he flew
directly under the explosion that had once been a TIE
fighter on his tail. He wrenched his starfighter back
around to face the fleet and saw yet another cruiser fall
victim to the Imperial Star Destroyers' deadly turbolaser
fire. He grimaced and hoped that Han and Leia could get
that shield down, they couldn't take much more of this.
"Watch it, Leader! You've got one on your tail!"
Red Seven screamed in his ear. Immediately Wedge
threw his ship into and evasive spiral designed to bring
him below and behind the fighter on his tail. He glanced
at his sensors and spotted to blip immediately. The TIE
fighter had followed him doggedly through the
manoeuvre and was still solidly fixed on his tail.
"Tink! All shields aft." Green laser light
streaked past his canopy and Wedge juked his X-wing to
the left suddenly, again the TIE followed him, spewing
green death at him. A few bolts spattered harmlessly on
his shields but they were coming too close for comfort.
It was all Wedge could do to make the other pilot miss,
forget getting around him.
Something caught his eye outside the canopy
and he grinned suddenly, "Hold on, Tink." He shouted to
the astromech droid behind him. He threw the X-wing in
a spiral weave that he hoped would confuse the pilot
behind him a little. When he was exactly ninety degrees
from his initial position, Wedge straightened out his X-
wing, ignoring the G-forces that pulled at him and
opened the throttle all the way.
The TIE pilot, a little miffed by Wedge's tactics
gave chase, still spewing grey death at the slower craft
from behind. Suddenly the X-wing in front of him pulled
up and to the left, he got a glimpse of another X-wing
flying down and to the right before his TIE slammed into
the fighter who had, until recently, been tailing Red
Nine.
"Nice flying, Nine. Thanks for the assist."
Wedge called over his comm.
"Anytime, Lead. You're not too shabby
yourself." Janson's voice came back and Wedge could
almost see the grin in his voice.
"Don't let me keep you waiting, Wes. Go join
the fun." He switched frequencies, "Lando? Any reading
on that shield yet?"
The other man's voice came back strained,
accompanied by the wail of alarms. "Not yet Wedge, but
Han'll come through, he always does."
"What'd Ackbar say?"
"I dunno, we lost communications with Home
One over ten minutes ago. Listen, Wedge, we've just got
to give them more time."
"Time is the one thing we haven't got right now,
Lando. We can't keep this up much longer. Let me know
if anything changes."
"Will do. Watch yourself."
"Right." Wedge muttered to himself, he keyed
his comm, "Okay, Red Squadron, here's the deal, we
need to buy the fleet some more time, break into your
elements, pick a target, the bigger the better, and go after
it." He got a series of acknowledgements in response.
"One Flight you with me?"
"Red Two, all set to mop up whatever mess you
leave Wedge."
"Red Three, all systems up and running."
"Red Four, ready for anything, Lead."
Wedge smiled as Sari pulled up behind and
slightly starboard of his fighter. The other two fighters
took up the same relative positions to Wedge's left.
"Okay, we're going after that Super Star Destroyer
behind the Titan, it's been causing the most damage so I
figured we'd discipline it. Take out anything that gets in
your way and try and take out the bridge shield
generators with your torpedoes on your first pass. Let's
do some damage!"
Sari gave a loud Corellian battle cry over the
comm and followed Wedge's lead into the seething
battle. The yoke shook slightly in her hand and she
frowned, sparing some concentration to flick her eyes
over the display. Her frown deepened as she read the
data scrolling by. "Dusty, the stick's a little sluggish. See
what you can do with it would you?" Her astromech
trilled and extended a soldering arm to fix the offending
system.
Sari directed her attention once again to the
problem at hand, eyeing the SSD in front of her, looking
for sweet spots and pressure points.
"Fighters incoming! 8 o'clock!" Red Three
shouted, as he and Red Four broke away to engage.
Wedge's fight rolled around to port and Sari copied his
every move. "One Flight, set up for a head to head. Take
out as many of the first wave of eyeballs as you can and
engage the second wave. Keep an eye out for the ones
you missed coming up from behind." His calm voice
came over the speakers, buoying her like a life preserver
in high seas.
She watched as the numbers diminished rapidly
on her scope, four kilometres, three, two and a half. At
two kilometres she hit the firing stud on the control
stick, tracking towards the nearest TIE, the red ribbons
of light closing in on the weaving craft. Sari wondered
briefly at the lack of return fire, then she heard the pure
tone that indicated a target lock in her ear and the image
of the TIE went green in her firing bracket. She fired and
the energy beams came together to meet in the centre of
the enemy fighter, chewing through the starboard wing
pylon and sending the eyeball into a fatal spin towards to
Death Star. Then she was through the first wave and the
second one was upon them.
"Red Three, watch you're back!!"
"Where is he? I can't find him."
"Hold on, I'm coming, break right on my mark."
"I can't shake him!" there was a scream from
Red Three and on her display the blue blip that marked
him winked out of existence.
"We lost Red Three." Red Two reported
sombrely and Sari could hear his whispered goodbye to
his wingman through the static.
She blinked back the tears, Mylo, Red Three,
had been a good friend, he hadn't deserved to die, but
then no one really did. She shook her head, now was not
the time for emotion, there'd be time for grieving later, if
there was a later. Gritting her teeth she dove into the
fray, watching Wedge's X-wing spiral and juke
randomly, trying to shake a tail, but she had no time to
worry about him. A shrill alarm warned her that a
pursuing TIE had gotten a lock on her. She slammed her
foot down on the left rudder pedal and weaved the
fighter all the way through her tight turn.
Green laser light streaked past, centimetres away
from her canopy and again she juked right, boosting her
throttle and heading out towards the edge of the battle,
closer to the moon that filled her viewport. The TIE
behind her responded, giving chase and staying on her
tail. Sari smiled as she tossed her ship into a spiralling
plunge towards the green moon below her. The pilot
behind her took the bait, closing in for an easy kill. Sari
all but ignored the pursuing fighter, keeping her gaze
locked on her sensor display, "Dusty, on my mark pull
all energy from shields and transfer it to the rear repulsor
trusters." The droid beeped at her, alarmed. "Just do it
Dusty. Ready? Now!"
She jerked the stick straight up, using the extra
power in her trusters to bounce her ship off the planetary
shield instead of slamming into it. The belly of her X-
wing skimmed the invisible wall of energy sending
sparks into the air around her. Sari held her breath as she
boosted the repulsor lifts and the fighter was pushed out
of danger. She checked her scope ready to dodge another
hail of fire from her pursuer, and grinned. The TIE
behind her hadn't been as lucky as she had. His faster
craft lacked the manoeuvrability of her X-wing and he
had slammed into the shield while trying to pull up.
Scratch one untrained pilot, she thought smugly
to herself, pointing her ship back towards to dogfight in
the distance. Should've paid more attention to the
chapter on situational awareness. She double check the
damage report Dusty gave her, grimacing a little at the
state of her shield power supply and the damage her
stabilisers had taken. "Okay Dusty, even out the shields
for now, and try and fix that stabiliser if you can." The
droid chirped and got to work.
"I've got one on my tail! I can't shake him!"
"Where are you, Red Six? I can't see you?"
"Help!" Red Six shrieked, all semblance of calm
disappearing from the young pilot's voice. "He's getting
clo.." the transmission ended in static as Red Six
vanished in a flaming ball of expanding gas.
"Read Lead, you've picked one up!" someone
yelled at Wedge and Sari searched the melee for her
brother's X-wing. She spotted him immediately and
brought her own fighter around to point in that direction.
"Lead, bring her around to mark four oh nine
and be ready." She saw his X-wing weave away from the
fighter behind it as the green bolt flew on all sides of it.
Wedge rolled his fighter up onto his port side S-foil and
rotated on the X-wing's axis, pulling out and diving his
fighter below his original line of flight just as Sari dove
down, guns blazing, on the TIE behind him. The pilot
saw his own death flying at him before his fighter blew
apart in a spectacular explosion.
"You all right, Lead?"
"Got a little scorched back there, but I'll live,
Thanks Two."
She smiled, "Anytime." She was about to say
more when a brilliant flash caught her attention. Her
heart trip-hammered as she realised what had happened.
She stared at the expanding ball of flame that had, until
recently, been a fully shielded, fully equipped Mon Cal
Super Cruiser, one of the mightiest ships in the Alliance
fleet. The comm suddenly came alive with voices, most
of them distressed. Numbly, she switched to the private
channel she shared with Wedge. "Wedge, did you just
see ?"
"The Death Star fired on us." She could hear the
dread in his voice and knew how he felt, the Death Star's
laser was supposedly non operational, yet it had just
reduced one of the Rebel's most powerful capital ships
to scrap with a single burst.
She glanced at her monitor and swallowed. The
Shield around the Death Star was still up; protecting it
from any assault the Alliance could throw at it, while it
systematically blew apart their fleet. "What do we do
now?" she whispered, still staring at the remains of the
cruiser as it burnt itself out.
Down on the jungle moon, Chewie crouched in
the trees on the outskirts of the clearing trying to come
up with a plan that wouldn't leave them all dead. So far
he wasn't having any luck. He'd seen Han and Leia led
out of the bunker and watched the troopers stun them
and the rest of the commandos. The majority of the
Rebel's were now loaded into a ground transport, with
the remaining few soon to follow.
"Oh my. I do believe we are in quite a lot of
trouble, Artoo. I believe the Death Star has just fired on
the fleet."
The Wookie turned and growled at the droid to
be quiet, then checked his chrono for the hundredth time.
The charge he'd set with Artoo's help should have
blown almost a minute ago. Rumbling worriedly under
his breath he decided to give it another minute or so
before he went in with his bowcaster.
Then a thought struck him; he turned and
rumbled a question at Artoo, who answered with a semi-
triumphant beep. Chewie looked at Threepio for a
translation, growling impatiently while Threepio ignored
him.
"Oh? Oh! Artoo said that he believes he can set
the charges off without the timer however, he has to be
plugged into the interface to which the charge is
connected." He thought about what he'd just said and his
voice became distressed, "Oh dear, that's the bunker's
datafile. Master Chewbacca, I do hope you're not
intending to ask Atroo to try and activate the charge
from the bunker."
Chewie just growled and grinned, showing a
row of sharp fangs at the droid, "Oh, we're doomed!"
Threepio moaned.
Chewie motioned with his bowcaster and the
three of them made their way quietly, or as quietly as
two droids and a Wookie can travel in dense forest,
along the forest towards to blast door and the jack into
the computer. It was slow going, with Chewie flattening
himself to the ground every hundred yards or so and
shoving the droids into the foliage while stormtroopers
passed by. Eventually they made to the door and Chewie
barked at Artoo who, trilled quietly and rolled cautiously
out of cover and towards to computer jack. Chewbacca
watched nervously, raising the bowcaster slightly to
cover the little droid better.
Silently, Chewie and Threepio watched the little
droid work for an eternity, willing the stormtroopers not
to turn around and notice the little astromech. Then the
lights on Artoo's dome head went green and winked on
and off as his head spun around, his approximation of a
victory dance. Carefully, Artoo disconnected himself
from the computer and rolled back to where Chewie and
Threepio were waiting, whistling quietly.
"Artoo says he's given us a thirty second fuse
before the charges go off."
Chewie grumbled under his breath and urged the
two droids in front of him, away from the bunker. There
was a loud whump behind him and the ground shook
under his large feet. The clearing erupted in chaos as the
stormtroopers ran to examine the damage caused by the
blast. Chewie glanced at Threepio.
"My sensors are not picking up the shield
around the Death Star anymore. It is possible that it's
only a temporary condition of course. But, I believe we
might actually have done it."
Chewie barked happily and picked the golden
droid up in a jubilant hug then set him down and hefted
Artoo in the air and smacked the droid with a hairy kiss.
There was a shout from behind them and Chewie
instantly forgot their recent achievement. He picked up
both droids and plunged into the cover of the trees, back
towards to Ewok village and the relative sanctuary it
offered.
On the bridge of Home One, Admiral Ackbar's
flagship, the Admiral watched with ever mounting
despair as his fleet was reduced to shambles by the
Imperial forces. Already, thirty of the eighty odd capital
ships had been completely neutralised, with another
twenty or so severely damaged. His fighters were faring
slightly better with the squadron's losing sixteen of their
collective sixty pilots.
He sighed, "Comm? Do we have
communications back online yet?" he demanded in his
gravely voice. The young ensign below him at the
communications terminal looked up at him and shook
his head.
"Not yet, sir. That hit really damaged the
subspace antenna. It'll take another ten minutes at the
most."
"Is there any other possible way to get a
message out to the fleet?"
The ensign shook his head again, "Not when
they're so spread out Admiral. Perhaps we could get a
shuttle to the closest ship and they could alert the fleet."
The Admiral nodded, "Thank you. Get that
comm fixed as soon as possible. I need to speak with my
fleet." The ensign nodded quickly, "I'm on it Admiral,
sir."
Ackbar turned and was about to issue more
orders to his personal aide, when there was a blinding
flash outside the viewport. He gaped in shock as a
gigantic bolt of laser energy sizzled past and slammed
into the Rebel's Pride barely five kilometres away. The
Pride disappeared instantly in a cloud of debris and the
shock wave shook the bridge of Home One sending
Ackbar sprawling.
He pulled himself up and gazed at the remains of
the Rebel's Pride in shocked silence, aware that the
entire bridge had gone silent in the aftermath, officers
and ensigns alike looking at the Admiral for his reaction.
"Sir?" the young ensign at the communications
terminal inquired, "I think I have it back online."
Admiral Ackbar looked at him blankly, still
reeling from the shock of what he'd just seen. He
blinked his big fishlike eyes once and took a deep
breath. "Very good. Thank you, now give me an open
channel to the fleet. That Death Star just fired on us and
the shields are still up It's over.
"Attention all Alliance ships. Pull back and
prepare for retreat. Rendezvous at the appointed location
and await further orders."
The comm squawked with protests and some
relief, but one voice was louder and more insistent than
the rest. "Admiral! Admiral, listen to me, I know they'll
come through for us, I just know it. Give them a little
more time."
"I've given them all the time I could General
Calrissian, but with that Death Star operational my fleet
won't last more than ten minutes, it'll be a slaughter. I'm
sorry Lando, but Han didn't make it in time." He could
hear the other man begin to protest again and braced
himself, but the argument never came, on the other end
of the channel Lando had gone quiet. "General
Calrissian, are you alright?"
"Better than alright Admiral, check you're
displays and tell me I'm not dreaming." Lando's voice
suddenly became very excited, Ackbar nodded to the
officer below him who was almost bursting at the seams
himself.
"Admiral! Our readings on the Death Star
shields indicate that they went down approximately
thirty seconds ago, our team on the ground came
through!"
"All ships, abort retreat. The Death Star's
shields are down, repeat, the Death Star's shields are
down, regain battle formation. All fighter squadrons
report in."
"Green Leader standing by."
"Blue Leader, ready to go."
"Grey Leader standing by."
"Red Leader, all systems up and ready."
"Squadron Leaders you may begin your runs,
Green and Blue squadrons provide cover for the others
on their runs. May the Force be with us, this could our
only shot at this." He got a series of double clicks over
the comm that told him the others understood their
orders, "Lando, take the Falcon in with Red Leader and
Red Two on their run, use you extra fire power to punch
through that shaft."
"Right Admiral. May the Force be with you."
"Weapons, target that Super Star Destroyer to
our port, aim for the starboard dorsal engine! I want it
taken out now!"
"Red Squadron, bring her around, we're going
after the big fish now. Red Two, Red Four, you guys are
with me on the first run. We cover for the Falcon, let our
birds fly and hightail it out of there. Everyone else, help
Green and Blue Squadrons hold the door open for us. If
this works we'll be coming out of there in quite a hurry.
Everyone clear? Okay, let's do this." Wedge's voice
pulsed over the comm, calm and professional, and Sari
checked her display and monitors again. She blew out a
breath and fought down the nervous fear she felt in her
gut. She watched as Wedge's X-wing took position in
front of her and his thrusters ignited. She reached over
and boosted her own throttle to follow him into the
trench.
"Falcon, you still with us back there?"
"With you and ready, Wedge. Let's blow this
thing so we can go home."
Sari laughed, "I've heard more than one old
smuggler say that Lando, let's hope you're as good a
shot as they are."
"You doubt me?" Lando asked, mock hurt in his
voice.
"Okay, guys enough chatter. Two, Four, we're
going in after Lando, and going in fast. Try to keep the
TIEs off as long as possible. There won't be much room
in there and they'll be breathing down our necks so we
have to make it quick. Red Group is commencing
attack."
Sari boosted her ignition and took off after the
Falcon, diving towards the monotone grey surface below
her, trying to pick out the trench they we aiming for by
eye. The Falcon twisted in mid air and dropped straight
down, swallowed up by the metal expanse. Without a
second thought Sari followed, dropping gracefully into
the deep artificial trench and swooping in directly behind
the Falcon. She looked around above her, knowing that
the fighters would be coming soon.
"See them yet Red Four? Leader?"
"Nothing yet, Sari. Stick with it, we might get
lucky and they'll be out of position."
"I can't see anything from this angle, and my
sensors are practically useless. Green Leader, can you
keep an eye open for those fighters?"
"Copy that Red Four, you're clear for
now Wait, there they are, point eight seven oh nine.
Green Three, you're closest, move to intercept."
"Copy Green Leader, moving to intercept.
They're coming in fast, Red leader, be ready!"
In the trench Sari checked again over her
shoulder in the direction Green Leader had pointed out.
Squinting against the sun Sari managed to make out the
sunlight reflecting off the metallic hulls of the
approaching fighters. As she watched one of the slits of
light expanded outwards in a ball of superheated gas as
he fell victim to Green Three's deadly aim.
"I got one of them for you Red Group, the other
three slipped past me Sorry." Green Three's voice was
accompanied by the harsh wail of alarms in the
background, then the transmission cut off as his battered
fighter exploded.
"Here they come!" Red Four yelled in her ear as
the group of fighters passed under a low bridge and into
a narrower section of the trench.
"Hold position, guys."
Sari ignored the fighters drawing ever closer
behind her and focused on Wedge's X-wing in front of
her and the trench walls around her. Her scope had gone
completely blank due to the interference the Death Star's
electrical systems played on her X-wings sensor
systems. Dusty gave a terrified squeal from behind her
and she dove her X-wing quickly just as a flash of green
light whizzed past her canopy. "They're here!" She
shouted into her comlink hitting a switch as pushing all
shield power to her stern to give her minimal protection
they offered. Her X-wing began crossing with Red
Four's in an effort to throw off the targeting of the pilots
behind them, but Sari knew that within the confined
spaces, even the evasive manoeuvres and shields
wouldn't help them for long.
Beside her, Red Four's X-wing took a hit,
jerking wildly as Kyran tried to keep the craft level as
his droid repaired the damage. The TIEs behind them
seemed to sense that Kyran was in trouble and moved in
for the kill, concentrating all their combined firepower
on the shuddering X-wing. Sari watched the proceedings
helplessly as Kyran juked desperately up and down
trying to avoid the bolts, but the old saying held true.
The more that hit you, the more that will. The hit the X-
wing had suffered had slowed down its responses,
allowing the fighters behind to target with ease. Kyran's
X-wing blew apart in a brilliant explosion, raining bits of
scrap metal down on Sari's own fighter.
"We lost Kyran, Wedge. They're coming up
fast, better make this quick!"
The green energy bolts fizzled past with more
regularity now, playing colourful patterns on her shields
as they shrank with each hit. Sari tried every trick she
knew to make the pilots behind her miss, a task made
relatively difficult by the enclosed space, but she
managed fairly well.
"Sari, Red Nine and Red Ten on the way. We're
coming in to clear off your tail. Hold tight, we'll be there
in a second."
She grinned grimly and weaved her starfighter in
a series of tight S-turns that left her wings almost
scraping the metal walls, "Better make it quick, Wes. It's
getting kinda toasty down here." She pulled up hard and
swerved to the right she caught a glimpse of an
explosion against the wall as a TIE fighter overshot her
X-wing and slammed against the unforgiving metal and
she smiled, her smile faded however when there was a
loud whump from behind her. She winced as a panel
behind her head exploded, erupting into flame and filling
the small cockpit with smoke.
She dropped down to a few feet above the
surface and yanked at the flame-retardant lever beside
her, trying to control the flames. The X-wing bucked
suddenly beneath her and Dusty shrieked in terror, Sari
looked disbelieving outside at her starboard S-foil as her
upper wing utterly disintegrated. "Dusty, transfer as
much power as you can to shields and calibrate for flight
with three wings."
She wrestled with her suddenly unresponsive
fighter, fighting to juke it away from the heavy laser fire
behind her. There was a metallic spang as her shields
failed completely, Dusty screamed once and then went
silent.
"Sari? Hang on, I'm coming. I can see them up
ahead. Just hang on." Janson's voice seemed very far
away, almost dreamily Sari reached up and fingered the
starfighter charm she wore around her neck. Her vision
started to blur, her fuzzy eyesight catching and locking
onto the holo of her, Wedge and Janson smiling together
on Hoth. She smiled sadly to the holo and closed her
eyes. Her X-wing shuddered again, more violently this
time. Sari opened her eyes and keyed her comm,
"Wedge?"
The world exploded in light and pain, then, just
as suddenly went black.
Wedge twisted around as he heard Sari call out
to him and saw her fighter blow apart as if in slow
motion, heard her cry cut off as the expanding fireball
consumed her, and something inside his chest snapped.
He heard an anguished cry rip from his own throat and
he squeezed his eyes shut against the flood of pain that
washed over him.
Voices were shouting at him from very far away,
urgent, familiar voices, but he couldn't make out what
they were saying. He opened his eyes and tried to
concentrate on the words, eventually they began to make
sense.
"Wedge! Pay attention man! Those fighters are
still on our tails, snap out of it!" Lando yelled at him as
the two remaining ships of Red Group squeezed through
a narrow opening and into a smaller chamber.
"Wedge? Wedge, hang on up there, we've got
you covered. You okay?" Janson's voice came over the
comm, thick with emotion and strain. As if to attest to
his words of assurance one of the pursuing TIEs juked
too hard to port and slammed into the wall. The other
came on relentlessly as Wedge tried to pull himself
together, now was not the time to deal with his grief, he
needed to concentrate.
"Lando, we're running out of time back here!"
"We're running out of trench too, we should be
able to see it by now."
Wedge dodged a salvo of fire from behind and
decelerated rapidly, trying to confuse the pilot behind
him, he heard the harsh alarm of a target lock in his ears
and punched it, sending the X-wing rocketing forward
and rolling up on its starboard S-foil. The TIE pilot
wasn't fooled and he closed in on Wedge's weaving
craft, the green bolts coming ever closer to the canopy.
"Wes? You back there? I'd appreciate some help up
here."
"I'm trying Wedge, this guy's slippery."
Wedge cursed and rolled to the left as much as
he dared, wincing as a laser zinged off his shields. He
swooped down and levelled out as Lando read out the
distance to the end of the trench. Out of the corner of his
eye he saw the TIE careen off and hit the left wall, spin
around and explode against a protruding pipe. Wes'
victory cry followed on the comm.
"Got him for you, Wedge. You're all clear.
Jenkins and I are heading back out, unless you need us
anymore."
"Got any extra missles laying around?"
"Used them all on those Star Destroyers Sorry
Wedge."
"Doesn't matter, it would be to crowed anyway.
Go on Wes, get out of here. Lando, how we doing?"
"Four kilometres. Three, two and a half, two,
one and a half. Fire torpedoes!"
Wedge launched his concussion missiles
seconds after Lando loosed his and pulled a tight turn to
head back out the way he'd come. He winced inwardly
as the passed the spot where Sari had died; the remains
of her broken starfighter still smoking. Then he was out
of the trench into clear air and rocketing away from the
Death Star behind him. At a safe distance he spun the
fighter around to watch the display. A second passed,
then two. He frowned, the missiles should have
detonated by now, turning the Death Star into a flaming
inferno, yet it was still hanging there serenely, orbiting
the peaceful jungle moon below.
Wedge's heart froze up as he realised what the
lack of an explosion meant. "They didn't go in We
didn't do it." He whispered quietly to himself in the
silent cockpit, staring in dismay at the intact war
machine. "Lando, did you see them go in? Or did they
just hit the surface?"
"I don't know, Wedge. I was already turned
around before they hit the vent." His voice cracked with
strain as their ships hung in space.
"Is the shield still down? Can we get another run
in?"
"Even if it was we couldn't. I only had two
missiles on board, the ones you're hauling wouldn't
penetrate." He sounded resigned, defeated.
"So what now?" Wedge asked quietly, not really
wanting to hear the answer. But even as he watched the
Death Star's giant turbolaser streaked out and connected
with another Rebel ship, the third one in just five
minutes to be completely destroyed. And he knew
without question the only course of action the Alliance
had left. He heard a click on the comm as Lando
switched frequencies to speak with Admiral Ackbar and
turned back into the raging dogfight, determined to
cause as much damage to the Imperials as he could
before the order came for him to retreat.
He dove in from above, guns blazing, and a TIE
who'd been chasing Blue Nine fell victim to his deadly
lasers almost immediately. "Thanks for the assist
Wedge." Tycho Celchu said as he brought his fighter up
even with Wedge's. Wedge could see the other man in
his cockpit, looking over at him, he threw Tycho a half-
hearted thumbs up and swept his X-wing in a tight turn
that landed him on the tail of an enemy fighter. The pilot
juked crazily, trying to get away from Wedge's guns,
twisting, turning, accelerating, nothing worked. Wedge
set his jaw and came on mercilessly, the image of the
TIE chittered in his targeting brackets then went green,
he fired and the TIE exploded in a brilliant but brief
flash of light.
"Attention all Alliance ships, pull back from the
confrontation and proceed to the rendezvous point. We'll
regroup there and come up with further plans. Repeat "
Wedge turned off his comm and Ackbar's voice cut off
abruptly. He blinked once and turned his ship towards to
exit vector numbly. They'd lost, and the Emperor was
still on the loose with a giant war machine, he shuddered
at the thought. He ran the hyperspace co-ordinates
through the computer one more time and flicked up the
protective cover plate over the hyperdrive lever that
prevented it from being pulled in the chaos of battle by
accident. Tink beeped once at him, indicating the
computer had finished calculations. He took one last
look around, knowing that if he ever returned Endor
probably wouldn't be there anymore whispering a soft
good bye to fallen comrades Wedge gripped the lever in
his right hand and pulled up, watching as the stars
straightened into blurred lines and his ship entered the
realms of hyperspace, leaving behind it broken dreams
and gently floating debris.
* * * * * *
Well there you go. Hope you liked it.
Got a problem with the story? Or maybe you just want to let
me know how much of an impact I've made on your life...Right
Well if you have something you want to tell me, email me.
shadows_myst14@hotmail.com