Death Star II Tycho Celchu's Story

by Yoda

‘Red two is gone!’ Tycho reported into the comunit, ‘pull back to point twoninefour Red Leader, Green Three and Four will cover you,’ increasing his throttle Tycho shot around the Rebel cruisers, his wingman also speeding up to cover him...COMPLETE

Death Star II – Tycho Celchu's Story

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, unless there are mini-plots that are not apparent in any of George Lucas's films or Michael A. Stackpole's books.

Dedication: To those who know us and those who have enjoyed our work, from Chewbacca and Yoda.

Information: If you haven't read the X-Wing series, you should know a few definitions; eyeballs = TIE fighters, squints = TIE interceptors, dupes = TIE bombers, trips = TIE defenders, brights = TIE advanced deuce = two. If you find any I haven't explained, let me know in the review and I'll tell you about them later.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Tycho Celchu (Green Three, Male Human from Alderaan)

Arvel Crynyd (Green Leader, Male Human from Taanab)

Commander Wedge Antilles (Red Leader, Male Human from Corellia)

Admiral Ackbar (Home One, Male Mon Calamari from Mon Calamari)

Lando Calrissian (Gold Leader, Male Human from Bespin)

The controls in Tycho's hands felt unfamiliar to touch but were much as part of him as his very skin and bones, flying a TIE fighter at the academy had trained his reflexes, but the controls of this new craft were different from the yoke that he knew. 'Green Squadron report in,' Arvel Crynyd crackled in his ear, followed by the pilots of the newly formed A-wing squadron, 'how's it feel Celchu?' looking across the bay Tycho saw Crynyd, talking to him over the private loop on the ships com-unit.

'Odd, an X-wing I could handle, this…wish me luck.' A light chuckle hissed over the circuit before Crynyd cut the transmission, leaving Tycho in the private sanctity that the cockpit offered him, that was another thing, the security of his cockpit, no longer exposed to space he experienced a small yet unfamiliar sense of safety. Unconsciously he brushed the tab on his left shoulder, craning his neck round he could just read the legend; Hoth, where he had fought against his past.

A past that had troubled him, despite his Alderaanian heritage many did not trust him, after all who could you trust in times like this? A careless word in a tapcaf could bring the Empire down on top of the Rebel Alliance…but in this case the Empire had made the mistake. Somehow the Bothans had managed to 'acquire' the plans and location of the second Death Star, and now they were going to destroy it.

'All fighter wings, launch and form up on the Falcon.' Gold Leader was buzzing in his ear now, what was the General's name, Calrissian, yes that was it, a friend of General Solo's according to Wedge.

'This is Green Leader, all Green fighters, launch and regroup at arranged coordinates.' Swallowing nervously Tycho tuned up the throttle of his A-wing, the engines hummed to life as he engaged the thrusters and slowly slid out of the launch bay on his repulsors. Leaving the Magcon field behind Tycho slipped smoothly into space, feeling the push-off the repulsors gave him as he left the squadron's base ship, the Liberty, behind. 'Nicely done Celchu, we'll make an A-wing pilot of you yet, form up on Three.'

Falling behind the other three A-wings in his group Tycho switched his comm channel so that he could listen to the chatter as the fleet began to shift into its attack pattern, to his left he saw Red Squadron flying out of Home One, the Mon Calamari cruiser that was the home to the X-wings of the fleet. At their head was the battle scarred X-wing that belonged to Wedge, one of Tycho's closest friends, the X-wing pilot was one of the few men he trusted, and respected. Wedge had fought the Empire from what Tycho had deemed 'the start', flying an X-wing against the first Death Star and fighting in the Rogue Squadron unit of snowspeeders on Hoth.

'All craft prepare to enter hyperspace on my mark,' Calrissian's voice came over the com-unit's fighter channel, overriding the chatter he had been listening to, punching the buttons on his console Tycho took a last look around at the starfield of Sullust. 'Engage,' Gold Leader said calmly, and as one the fighters leapt forwards into the alternate dimension, engines disappearing in the distance at the speed of light, all he could do now was wait…

* * *

Hours passed while Tycho sat in his cockpit, the electric blue and white dimension of hyperspace crackling around his ship, even though it was impossible he fancied he could see the others, communication was out of the question but there were other ways to remain focused. Without meaning to he found the last message of his family, from a comm call he had made to them that was abruptly cut off when, pain leaked into his heart as he closed his eyes, when the first Death Star had murdered them, them and the rest of the innocents on Alderaan.

Unwilling to take it as a bad omen Tycho pushed in the data disk that brought up the frozen scene, his parents in the centre, sister smiling as she turned the screen on, his brothers and other relatives dotted about the room. With a push of a button the image jerked into grainy life, his sister laughed out loud as she moved back from the screen, waving at him from the past, his parents smiling as they saw his face, on the other side of his room his kid brother fell over the sofa again as he turned to see the screen.

There was no sound but he knew the conversation by heart, the sounds, even the smells of his home, all were easily recalled and remembered in his mind, and his heart. Then a change, the screen beginning to break up from the interference of the Death Star, the look of alarm crossing his father's face, then…nothing, the screen turned black and the holonet icon returned to the screen. Tears flowed silently down his face, nothing could bring his family back, the Empire had stolen all that mattered from him…well now he would do that to the gargantuan monster, by god he would destroy them.

Ejecting the disk he replaced it with the mission briefing, his orders were to bypass the Death Star's defences and then get inside the massive superstructure to help destroy the central reactor in the main shaft of the station. Easy enough, he just had to watch out for the 25,000 turbolaser turrets that littered the surface, then there were nigh on 1,000 tractor beams and who knew how many TIEs were stationed, and what types. Shaking his head to clear the panic that was threatening to well up Tycho sneaked a look at the chronometer and was stunned, it was counting down to re-entry, 'Sithspawn!' he spat and with a flick of a few switches he powered up his cockpit and loaded the weapon package that had been installed on all the A-wings, then the timer reached 0.

* * *

With a blurring of space and the hyperspace dimension Tycho emerged among the fleet at the same speed and in formation with the other A-wings, checking his instruments his jaw dropped as he looked straight ahead at the leviathan dominating the screen. The Death Star filled his vision, it was the like a small moon, returning to the sensors he found the screen overloading with information, as was his audio channel, switching modes he left up the channel the fighter squadrons were using. '…no reading, are you sure?' that was Wedge.

Looking into his heads-up display Tycho focused on the shield readings, nothing, were they being jammed or was it gone? 'Pull up! All craft pull up!' Gold Leader's voice rang through his ears as he followed the other starfighters towards the station. Engaging his evasive pattern Tycho followed Crynyd as he dove downward to avoid the shield, Greens Two and Four followed suit while the other two flights of A-wings shot upwards following the curvature of the shield. Several impacts on the shields indicated Rebel fighters that hadn't been so lucky.

'One Flight on me,' Crynyd's voice rang in Tycho's ear as he followed the vapour trails of the fighters in front, switching his display he brought up the starfield map and felt fear begin to take hold in his gut, it now displayed two fleets, his own and an Imperial fleet. 'It's a trap!' muttered Crynyd, his comment echoing that of Admiral Ackbar in Tycho's ears, 'Fighters coming in!' checking his display Tycho saw the different TIE fighters coming in, 'Here we go.'

'All wings report in.' Gold Leader's voice cut in on all channels.

'Red Leader standing by.' Wedge replied calmly, his voice settling Tycho a bit.

'Green Leader standing by.' Crynyd also sounded remarkably cool despite the moment.

'Blue Leader standing by.' He didn't know the B-wing commander.

'Gray Leader– ' the transmission from the Y-wing's squadron leader was cut short as laser fire cut overloaded his shields and that of the three fighters around him, in one short swoop Gray Flight One had been destroyed.

'Accelerate to attack speed, draw their fire away from the cruisers,' that was Gold Leader, already his orders were complied as the first wave of Imperial fighters engaged the Rebels, spinning his fighter along it's axis, Tycho made himself a difficult target as he and Green Four passed through, their rotational lasers cutting down two of the eyeballs that wove between them. Swinging around Tycho was amazed by what he saw, the starfield was littered with small explosions and pieces of craft that had been detonated by explosions from the Rebel capital ships and fighters. Pulling his stick straight to his chest Tycho executed a high climb that took him over the hull of the Liberty, following the flight of trips that could tear a smaller cruiser apart with their payload of concussion missiles.

'On me Four,' he said into their private channel, then using their speed as an advantage Tycho dodged between the mounted turbolasers on the star cruiser and pounced on the flight, his lasers blasted one of the triple-winged starfighters apart, another blast slagged the wings of the second lead fighter, sending it spiralling across the field. Over his head he saw the bolts from his wingman melt the third fighter in the flight, a large explosion signalled the end of the final Defender when the Liberty's gunners struck their target to leave nothing but debris.

Pulling out Tycho almost crashed into his wingman when he saw the sight ahead, a fleet of Star Destroyers was sitting on the other side of the Rebel Fleet, pulling an evasive loop he tracked back over the Liberty when Crynyd's voice crackled in his ears. 'No problem with them Celchu, they're not attacking, concentrate on the fighters,' as the transmission ended Tycho saw his leader's A-wing shoot past trailing a squad of three squints, presumably the fourth had already fallen victim to the gunnery skills of Crynyd.

'Three on us, coming in from above,' the voice of Wedge's wingman was suddenly loud in Tycho's ear, changing his craft's position he saw the two X-wings cut to the left, one squint moved in front of Wedge as the faster craft overshot the mark, it disappeared in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. His wingman was less lucky, only one of the other two squints overshot him, and before he could drill it apart the final squint sent a quad-burst of laser into his cockpit, killing him instantly.

'Red two is gone!' Tycho reported into the com-unit, 'pull back to point two-nine-four Red Leader, Green Three and Four will cover you,' increasing his throttle Tycho shot around the Rebel cruisers his wingman also speeding up to cover his pace. As Wedge's X-wing shot past the Nebulon-class cruiser that acted as the Medical Frigate the two A-wings shot underneath, lasers blasting away with the cruiser fire sending one squint flying to detonate against the frigate's shields, the other was melted away.

'Good shot Green Three,' Wedge's thanks came over the channel, with a grunt of acknowledgement Tycho and his wingman pulled flips that sent them diving under the next cruiser, pulling up Tycho found their next target when the world exploded in a flash of green light. Pulling down his blast shield against the further pyrotechnics he was dismayed to see that the Liberty had disappeared, in one shot the massive space station had destroyed a perfectly functioning cruiser. Lifting the shield from his face he prepared to talk into the com-unit when it came alive by itself.

'Liberty is gone, Liberty is gone!' one of the other A-wing pilots unnecessarily reported.

'That blast came from the Death Star! Home One this is Gold Leader,' Calrissian was cut off.

'All craft prepare to retreat,' Admiral Ackbar's voice cut through on all channels.

'You won't get another chance at this,' Gold Leader's voice replied.

'We have no choice General Calrissian, our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude.'

'Han will have that shield down – we've got to give him more time!' with that the starfighters' commander shot forward in their flagship, the Millennium Falcon, charging like a maniac towards the waiting Star Destroyers, 'Engage the capitals, we stand more of a chance against them.' With that he and Gold Group shot towards the looming Imperial fleet, flipping around Tycho shot one glance at the expanding cloud of dust that had been Green Group's cruiser, then he and his wingman shot towards the nearest Imperial ship.

As he dodged the first bursts of laserfire Tycho noticed the change that had suddenly begun the rapid assault of the Star Destroyers, the Rebel Fleet was moving forwards, engaging the Imperials at point-blank range. Not only did the fighters have to deal with the enemy turbolasers, now they had to avoid their own as the smaller Rebel cruisers began to open fire on the capital ships, flying around like small insects the fighters began a dance of death between the needle-like fire of the cruisers, one dupe moved to the left a meter to far and was split apart by a random blast. The starfield was now littered with debris, tracking another fighter Tycho found himself dodging around the wreck of a Y-wing that had been gutted by lasers and spun in the middle, emerging the other side he saw the eyeball burst into flame as an X-wing shot through it, launching two quad burst into the fragile machine.

'Three, I'm hit!' the voice was his wingman's, turning his head for a visual scan Tycho saw the flight of squints dancing on their tails, already Four had lost an engine, swinging his cannons around Tycho blanketed the rear of the two A-wings with random burst, not aiming to hit he concentrated instead on calling for help.

'This is Green Four, four on me and Three, need help.'

'Blue Seven has you, prepare to engage,' Blue, that was one of the new B-wings wasn't it? Tycho did not have more time to wonder as the squints began to split their fire between both A-wings, jinking about they made it difficult for the interceptors to get a lock, but their retaliation did not help. Suddenly two of the interceptors exploded as blue streaks cut into them, proton torpedoes, looking ahead Tycho saw a flaming B-wing shooting towards him, 'dive Greens, these guys are mine.' With a mad yell Blue Seven increased his throttle while loosing off blue ion cannon blasts, diving underneath Tycho and Four continued to pepper the squints ineffectually, but then in an explosion of colour the two craft disappeared as the long bomber collided with them.

Pulling up Tycho found himself between a ramming Rebel cruiser and a crippled Victory-class Star Destroyer, with a scream that was cut off suddenly Green Four was blown into oblivion by a desperate blast from the Imperial ship as it tried to deter the cruiser. Shooting up between the gap Tycho saw one of the rare brights on the field heading the other way, checking his sensor grid he felt the shockwave as it, the cruiser and Star Destroyer melded into one symbol that disappeared signalling the massive crash. 'Green Four is gone,' he reported into the squadron channel, remorse sounding in his voice as he wove a path through the engaging cruisers.

'Green Leader reads you Three, get in formation and head for that Imperial-class at point four-three, follow the General's lead,' listening to the report from Crynyd he turned to starboard and slipped in behind the remnants of Green Flight One joined the other remaining squadron leaders. 'Watch the fire from the main batteries,' Crynyd observed as they closed down the target, but too late a massive burst tore into Green Two, power failing his increased his throttle and overtook the attacking group, with a cry of attack he flew into the turbolasers that were firing on the group.

'He's opened up the reactors for us!' Wedge shouted into the channel, 'flip over and engage,' with a swift manoeuvre he sent his X-wing into a dive then inverted it to release a torpedo into the bay, following suit Tycho followed Crynyd as they shot their lasers in then dove down. An explosion tore out of the reactor, detonating the entire Star Destroyer, as it flew past the B-wing of Blue Leader was caught by the shockwave and sent flying through the command deck of a smaller Victory-class ship, it's nerve centre torn off the smaller Destroyer flew into the explosion and sent another massive shockwave over the starfield.

'…commence attack on the Death Star, the deflector shield is down!' Admiral Ackbar's voice rang out gruffly over the com-unit, spinning round with Green One Tycho saw the first X-wing pass through the gap where the shield had once been.

'Red group, Gold group, all fighters follow me!' Calrissian's voice rang out, 'Blue squad stay and defend the cruisers, everyone else head for the open superstructure.' Following Crynyd at high speeds Tycho checked the sensors, most of the Rebel starfighters were now massing towards the space stations while a bigger cloud of Imperial fighters followed, 'stay low and watch out for the turrets,' Lando warned as the first wave approached the surface. The mix of X-wings, Y-wings and A-wings shot through the towers jutting out of the surface at sharp angles, most shot off along the axis after the Falcon but others followed a different axis drawing some of the pursuing imperials after them.

'There's the opening,' Wedge reported, and sure enough the power-channel port loomed ahead, now overtaking the modified freighter, Tycho, Arvel and Wedge looped into the opening that entered the Death Star's reactor exhaust port. Taking a quick glance behind him Tycho saw the magnet-like front of the Falcon enter the port only metres behind him, looking forward he put his ship through a spin as the shaft went vertical, climbing, diving and jinking left and right he followed Crynyd's weaving path through the superstructure. In front of him he just saw the ion engines that belonged to Wedge's X-wing as he navigated a path through the ducts and valves of the Death Star's infrastructure, 'it gets real tight in here up ahead,' he warned as he put the starfighter through a right angle turn at high speed, copying the manoeuvre Tycho heard a gasp from Lando as the Falcon scraped the sides and a yell from another fighter as he crashed in flames.

'Green Leader, split up and see if you can get some fighters to follow you,' Lando ordered over the Green squadron comm channel.

'Roger Gold Leader,' Crynyd replied, 'with me Three, let's lead these boys a chase,' with that he flipped his craft through the fork that was approaching, following him smoothly Tycho caught a glimpse of Wedge's X-wing as he sought to find the reactor. Behind him his sensors registered two more X-wings and five squints as the two parties split, an orange coloured explosion signalled the destruction of another Rebel pilot as the Imperials closed the gap. 'Green Squadron report in,' Green Leader ordered as they neared the surface.

'Green Three here.' Tycho replied.

'Green Six is up and running.'

'Five here, I've got probl–' his transmission cut short amid static blasts.

'This is Nine, Ten is EV the others are gone.'

'All ships concentrate fire on that Super Star Destroyer,' Admiral Ackbar's voice came in over the channel while Tycho absorbed the data he had heard, over half of Green Squadron had been destroyed and one of the remaining five pilots was floating somewhere in space.

'You heard the Admiral,' Crynyd replied, 're-designate signals, Nine is my wing, begin attack runs on the shield generator,' with orders received the last remaining Green Flight began to speed towards the bridge of the Executor, 'Three, Six, concentrate your attacks on the left generator,' with this the group split and Tycho climbed towards one of the many sided spheres. Dodging laser fire on all sides from both the Rebel cruisers and the Super Star Destroyer he flipped and spun towards the enlarging object, with Six at his side the two began to launch all their missiles on an unspoken command, with multiple impacts the sphere began to break apart. Launching bursts of laserfire at the shield generator the two A-wings began to pull up as the sphere exploded, 'Deflector shields are gone,' Crynyd reported on the general channel, 'pull out Nine, this sucker is mine.'

Staring out of his port Tycho saw Green Leader's A-wing below him, flames discharging from his engines as he launched bursts of fire towards the bridge of the Executor, the turrets mounted on the small city of a ship had taken their toll on Crynyd. 'Max velocity Six,' Tycho said as he watched the unfolding scene with a sense of horror, with a yell of victory and fear Crynyd sent his A-wing flying into the bridge of the Imperial ship which exploded in a massive fireball that climbed towards them. With a yell of horror Green Nine was absorbed amongst the blast as were many other fighters, small cruisers and one smaller Star Destroyer to close to the enormous bridge of the Executor.

Racing against the expanding fireball Tycho felt his ship shaking under the encroaching shockwave, with a shudder Green Six was ripped apart as he lagged by a second on Tycho, fighting against the pull of the explosion he shot out of the fireball in time to hear a wild cheer come over the radio. Looking around he saw the Millennium Falcon cresting another wave of fire as it shot from the exhaust-port of the Death Star, dancing in front he saw a familiar X-wing that was steadily joining the retreating fleet, smoothly pulling into formation Tycho spun in beside Wedge as a massive shockwave hit the fleet, a burst of light silhouetted all of the ships in his vision.

A frenzied cheer sounded from every channel as the fleet moved away from the artificial supernova that signalled the end of the Death Star, and a new hope for the Rebel's future. 'You okay Tycho?' Wedge asked from his cockpit alongside.

'I don't know,' Tycho replied honestly, he really was confused emotionally, so many friends had been lost in the fierce battle, but finally he could put his family to rest, in his mind and in his heart. A buzzing over the comm made him dismiss his thoughts as he flashed an almost cheerful smile to Wedge in the opposite cockpit.

'This is Lambda Shuttle 3127, I need an escort, carrying precious cargo, request Rogue Leader.'

'Roger that, bringing Green Leader along as well,' Wedge replied over the fighter comm channel before switching to the private between him and Tycho, 'ready to escort Luke Skywalker?'

'After a Death Star, I'm ready for anything,' he replied candidly, switching his course to match the shuttle.

'Don't say that too often,' Wedge remarked, 'or you'll end up on some damn crazy mission like this one.' Engaging his thrusters he matched the A-wing for speed and the two starfighters headed towards the shuttle, wary of any remaining Imperial forces. They needn't have bothered.

A/N: Well there you are, a joint collaboration on Tycho's story of the attack on the second Death Star, and readers of the X-wing series will know he did go onto a much more dangerous mission, infiltrating Coruscant…but that's another story.