Alderaan – Mission Briefing:
"We have received word that the Death Star will be operational within a matter of days. If we are to destroy it, we must obtain the plans to the battle station. The data is considered too valuable by the Empire to be transmitted via the Holonet, so they are to be taken by ship to Coruscant. Our spies in the Imperial Command Centre on Utapau have learned that the plans will be taken in a small cargo ship. The data itself is stored in the ships central computer. Commander Draze, your strike team will intercept that ship when it arrives at Telos for supplies. While the ship will be alone to avoid arousing suspicion, the Empire maybe tracking it from long range, so you must be careful of incoming Star Destroyers. Admiral Ackbar will hold our fleet behind Telos' moon should you run into trouble. Once you have obtained the plans, you must rendezvous with my daughter on Dantooine…."
As Bail Organa finished his briefing, he knew that if the assault failed, it could mean the end of the rebellion. But he had hope. He knew that an old friend was waiting on the desert world of Tatooine. The light of the Jedi had faded, but it had not yet been extinguished.
Outer Rim Territories – Dantooine – 30 hours later:
"Another transport coming in." Lenar Xari noted as she scanned the system.
"Is it our target?" Seth Draze asked as he cleaned his rifle. The cargo ship was two hours late. If the Empire had gotten wind of the rebel plan, they could have changed the schedule or even sent the cargo ship to another system to refuel and stock up on supplies.
"No Commander, ships beacon reads as the Millennium Falcon, from the design I'd say it's a Corellian freighter." Lenar replied, struggling to overcome her sheer boredom.
"Falcon…I've heard of that ship. Ran into some trouble with an Imperial patrol a while back."
"A rebel?"
"No, smuggler."
"Figures," Lenar responded, "the Outer Rim is full of smugglers. The Empire doesn't seem to take much notice of them though. Rumour has it they made a deal with the Hutts, allowing smugglers to pass freely, with only the occasional search in exchange for keeping the outlying systems in line…and a 'donation' every once in a while to the treasury."
"Or a greedy Admiral's pocket," Eran Falis commented.
"Wait a second…another transport coming in…Nubian from the looks of it. Beacon says…it's the Cyan Flux…that's our ship Commander."
"Good, inform the Admiral that out target has jumped into the system and we are executing the assault." Commander Draze ordered as he went to the cargo hold to prepare his men.
"This is the Cyan Flux requesting permission to enter the atmosphere…" the Captain of the Flux spoke into communicator.
"Cyan Flux, this is Citadel Station we have you on approach, please turn to…..seven….begin…. again Citadel Station? This is Cyan Flux, please repeat your last transmission…Corporal what's the problem?"
"Our transmission has been jammed Captain…"
As if on cue, the Cyan Flux began to shake as it was struck by an unknown force. Two more strikes sent the cockpit crew falling backwards as a ship flew overhead.
"What the hell was that?" The Captain asked, confused.
"We're under attack, sir." The pilot answered as he tried to compensate and evade the laser fire aimed at his ship.
"Rebels…or worse, get us out of here." The Captain ordered as he went to strap himself in.
Another blast followed and suddenly, the ship was drifting in space, not responding to the pilots commands.
"They've knocked out the sublight engines…the hyperdrive is also damaged sir and we have decompression in the cargo hold…we're being boarded."
"Damn…alright men, arm yourselves and defend this ship." The Captain commanded as he took his blaster from its holster.
Alliance Ship – Liberty – Admiral Ackbar Commanding:
"Report…"
"The strike team has boarded the cargo ship sir," one of the junior officers reported as Ackbar sat back in his chair. So far, things were running smoothly and with any luck they would be out of there before the Empire even realised that something was wrong. Still, the Admiral knew that it could just be the calm before the storm.
"Keep those turrets armed. We have to be ready for anything…and scan the system again, the last thing we need is for the Empire to get the drop on us." Ackbar ordered, and as if on cue, alarms began to go off, lights started flashing and the bridge became a flurry activity.
"…Admiral, three Star Destroyers have jumped into the sector. They'll be in range of the cargo ship in 30 seconds." One of the bridge officers reported.
"Signal all ships to fly out from behind the moon and engage those Star Destroyers." Ackbar knew it was a risk. The rebels had engaged the Imperial Fleet on two occasions and both times they had been beaten badly. Since then, they had resorted to hit and run tactics, flying into a system, attacking and jumping away to Hyperspace before the Empire could mobilise a significant defence. But now, Acbar had no choice, he had to engage the Star Destroyers in open battle. The Empire would sooner destroy the cargo shop, rather than letting the valuable information it contained fall into the hands of the Rebels.
Blaster fire filled the hallways of the Cyan Flux as Draze and his strike team engaged a contingent of Imperial troops in a fierce fire fight. After just a couple of minutes of fighting, both sides had lost men, with Stormtroopers and Rebels lining the floor of the ship.
"How far to the bridge?"
"At the end of the corridor, one level up," Xari answered as she continued to fire at the Stormtroopers. Taking a grenade from her belt, she rolled it along the floor, ducking for cover as it exploded, taking out the remaining Stormtroopers.
"Well done Lenar," Draze praised, "but next time try not to forget where we are. If the hull breaches we'll all be sucked out into space."
"Yes, Commander, sorry sir."
Looking around to make sure that there were no more enemy forces in the area, Draze signalled for his team to move forward towards the elevator that led to the bridge.
"Target the bridge shields…."
"…Roger that…"
Four capital ships engaged the three Star Destroyers as a squadron of X-Wings tried to hold off incoming TIE's. The small fighters weaved their way between the larger ships, dodging and returning laser fire, spinning upwards and launching proton torpedoes at the nearest Star Destroyers main deflector array.
"Blue 7 to Blue Leader, bridge deflectors are down…"
"Copy that Blue 7…all fighters follow my position and at attack that Star Destroyer with everything you've got."
"Blue Leader this is Green Leader…we'll keep those fighters off your back…"
As 12 X-Wing fighters launched an vicious attack on the crippled Star Destroyer, 8 Y-Wings dropped in behind to provide cover picking off TIE Fighters one by one while the capital ships engaged the two remaining Star Destroyers.
The captain of the Cyan Flux turned to see the main elevator to the bridge open. Taken by surprise, the bridge crew found themselves staring at 6 rebel soldiers, each pointing blasters at them One of them approached the captain, a blaster in one hand and a blank datapad in the other.
"Captain, I am Commander Seth Draze of the Alliance to Restore the Republic…"
"Rebel scum…do you really think your traitorous actions have any meaning?" the Captain asked defiantly.
"The rebellion grows stronger everyday Captain and the Emperor's lack of moral and ethical conscience has served to create greater support for our cause in the Senate."
"You think I will listen to your lies and propaganda? You're nothing more than a terrorist."
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," Draze responded as he glanced down at the main computer access panel. "You may believe what you like Captain, but what do you think will happen when the Empire investigates your actions here? They will execute you. Now I have no wish to kill you or your crew, so if you will just enter your access code into the computer terminal here, I'll get what I came for and we'll be on our way."
Realising he had no choice, the Captain turned and entered his code into the terminal, allowing Draze, the gun still in his hand, to slide the datapad into the main drive and copy the information folder containing the blueprints for the Death Star.
Explosions rocked the heart of the Star Destroyer "Retribution" and before long it was engulfed in a massive fireball, breaking apart as debris fell and burned up in the atmosphere of the planet below.
"Admiral, the last Star Destroyer has just jumped into Hyperspace, they're running away."
The rebel crew applauded and cheered their first victory over the Empire as Ackbar sat back in his chair, breathing a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was possible to defeat the Empire and restore freedom and democracy to the galaxy, but the Admiral knew that if the Death Star wasn't destroyed, all their efforts would be for nothing.
Tantive IV – En Route to Dantooine – Captain Antilles Commanding:
Princess Leia Organa sat in her quarters, contemplating the days events. She had received word that the assault had been successful and the plans were now in Rebel hands. As an Imperial Senator, Leia had diplomatic immunity and could travel across the galaxy without raising suspicion, which was a great help to the Alliance. Still, in recent months, the Empire had been watching diplomats more closely, scrutinising even the most routine of journeys.
Dantooine had been chosen as a rendezvous point for that precise reason. It contained an old Rebel Base, hidden away in the mountains of the southern continent, but it had been abandoned. If the Empire did manage to track her there, they would find nothing more than ruins and rubble. It was too dangerous to go to Yavin IV and she couldn't endanger her father by returning to Alderaan with the stolen plans.
As Leia struggled to remember a time before the rebellion, her thoughts were interrupted as Captain Antilles entered the room.
"What is it Captain?"
"Your Highness, we've just received word that the ship carrying the Death Star plans has been intercepted by an Imperial Star Destroyer, apparently commanded by Darth Vader himself. They managed to transmit the plans to us in an encoded broadcast but it's only a matter of time before the Empire manages to track us."
"Where are we?" Leia asked as she tried to figure out what to do.
"We entered Hutt space about 20 minutes ago but we're still a few hours from Dantooine."
Standing up, Leia turned and walked to the wall terminal, activating the screen and bringing up a star map of the sector. As she searched for a suitable planet to hide on, she noticed a world that her father had talked about, Tatooine. She remembered stories about an old Jedi, someone who her father trusted. The Jedi had been wiped out by the Empire but apparently this, General Kenobi, had survived.
Leia knew that it was only a matter of time before her ship was intercepted and she couldn't afford to run and hide. The Alliance needed those plans, but if she couldn't bring them herself, perhaps this old friend of her fathers could. It was a risk and would certainly mean that the plans would need to be sent to Alderaan, which could put her father in danger, but Leia knew she had no choice.
"Captain, turn the ship around and set your course for Tatooine."
"As you wish Your Highness."