A green cannon blast whipped past the canopy. Luke reacted without thinking, breaking hard into the attack. The TIE fighter matched his turn, staying right on his tail. Artoo squealed from his socket atop the fuselage. Luke cut throttle to his two lower engines, sending his X-Wing into a forward flip. The TIE pilot froze for a second, which was much too long. Luke timed his shot perfectly, firing just as the guns came around on target. The fighter was blown to pieces. Luke took a moment to look around; he had shot down one TIE, but the sky was full of them. Below and to the right, the Millennium Falcon was twisting through the cloud of attacking fighters. Chewie and Rey were flying as unpredictably as they could, and Finn was blazing away with the one operational quad gun. As Luke watched, a pair of TIEs managed to get past the turret fire and attack the freighter's vulnerable belly. He banked and dove after them, lining up the trailing fighter in his gunsight.
"No! Skywalker, break hard!" Luke was caught by surprise as the TIE he was chasing fired backwards at him. He managed to pull away before taking a second burst; a sleek black-and-orange T-85 X-Wing swooped in and blasted both the fighters before they could hit the Falcon. Poe Dameron formed up on Luke as the First Order fighters regrouped for another attack. "Sir, the First Order flight leads have turrets. These aren't the TIEs you fought thirty years ago; you'll have to really watch it in that antique you're flying."
"Respect your elders, Commander." A white-and-red X-Wing dropped out of hyperspace, moving to engage the TIEs from behind. The formation scattered, and the new arrival turned to join Luke and Poe.
Luke's face lit up. "Wedge?"
"Good to see you again, Luke." Wedge Antilles dropped in on Luke's left wing, snapping a salute out the window. "Been a long time."
"Glad you made it, General," Poe called. "We damn sure could use the help."
"Right." Luke rolled his head side to side. "Commander Dameron, stay with the Falcon, cover their blind side. Wedge, with me."
Poe nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Right with you, boss," Wedge called.
Luke banked his fighter, turning towards the swarm of enemy fighters. Wedge followed his move, spreading out for mutual support. The pair of X-Wings went to full throttle and headed straight for the enemy, as they had done many times before.
Red 5 and Red 2.
Rogue Leader and Rogue 3.
Luke and Wedge.
One. More. Time.