Foreword
A/N: Well, what do you know? I'm writing a Star Wars story and one based on Rebels at that.
To tell you the truth, I didn't start watching Rebels at first until I heard that Darth Vader was going to be on it. Funnily enough, I remember a guy at school commenting that he liked it (of course, he liked some videogames I'd never play, but whatever). So, I ended up buying the first episode, then the first season and I was pretty well hooked on it. True, some episodes have their ups and downs, but it's a pretty good story. Plus, I just got this Star Wars tabletop RPG (Age of Rebellion, if you're interested) and I'm having fun with that. One of the characters in this story is someone I designed for that game.
This fic will be a bit different. After the prologue, the story will skip ahead thirty years to Hosnian Prime where… Well, you know what happens to that planet. The story's a bit of a next generation fic. I won't say much more than that and that a few Legends characters appear as well as a few OCs. Don't be surprised if some of it gets overwritten by canon later on. If it does, I apologize in advance.
Prologue
Ezra knew something was up when he came out of hyperspace with the rest of the fleet, expecting to find an unguarded Death Star and instead meeting up with a large chunk of the Empire's fleet. Almost immediately, he found himself performing barrel-rolls just to avoid getting blown to bits as soon as he dropped out of FTL. A number of his comrades weren't so lucky, disappearing in fiery explosions that were quickly snuffed out by the vacuum.
And they were still tens of thousands of kilometers from Endor.
And the second Death Star.
He continued dodging turbolasers and ship blasters, taking out as many enemy TIE Fighters and Interceptors as he possibly could. The battle seemed to go on forever and much of the news coming through his headset wasn't good.
"The shield is still up!" was one thing he heard through his headset. They were taking out as many enemy ships as possible, but Phoenix Squadron was still dwindling. That shield for the Death Star needed to come down, even if his squadron wasn't part of the group that destroyed it.
They continued fighting, causing TIEs to explode left and right. Ezra was at least glad his A-Wing had a speed advantage, though even he didn't know how long he could keep up. He was at least thankful that some of his Force training was useful for this, even if he could never be a Jedi.
Zeb was in another ship acting as an engineer and Hera was flying the capitol ship for the Admiral running Phoenix Squadron. The Twi'lek woman was more than a little on edge, especially since there was a chance that the Death Star could fire up any minute. She could see the Empire pulling off something like that, even if most intelligence reports indicated that it wasn't anywhere being operational yet.
She glanced over at the Alliance diplomat that was poring over controls. He was human, nearly two meters tall and had black hair including a full beard. In fact, only his neck was shaved.
"This isn't going as well as expected," Hera commented to him, jerking the ship to the right to avoid a rather nasty turbolaser battery coming from a nearby Star Destroyer.
"Oh, definitely not," the captain remarked. "We're getting slaughtered out there. I haven't seen a battle this bad since the Clone Wars."
"You were in the Clone Wars?" the Twi'lek asked, surprised especially since the man behind her didn't look a day over thirty. Of course, his beard and his weight both made him look a little older, but not by much.
Unfortunately, the man's reply was cut off when the worst happened: the Death Star fired on one of the other Capital ships, causing it to explode. "Ma ton kyna! It's operational!" the captain exclaimed, his face filling with dread.
"Still as bad as the Clone Wars?" Hera asked, frightened by the sight of the now-operational battle station.
"No, this is more Battle of Ruusan level," her commanding officer remarked.
The Twi'lek turned the ship to the side, avoiding another volley of cannon fire while the gunners shot at the nearby Star Destroyer, destroying incoming TIEs left and right as it did so and taking out a number of decks on the enemy starship.
"I'm not sure I've heard of that battle. Before the Clone Wars?" she inquired.
All the sudden, the man's eyes widened. "Swerve to the left!"
She did so, not knowing why before figuring it out when the Death Star's superlaser nearly missed them, instead hitting another ship behind them, albeit a much smaller vessel. "How did…"
"Just a hunch since that big hunk of metal was just about to fire," the man remarked. "Now, if you must know, I'm a bit of a historian. Got my PhD in it a long time ago and I was a professor at Republic University during the Clone Wars. The battle of Ruusan was the final battle in the New Sith Wars over a thousand years ago when the remains of the First Republic's military fought against the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness. Most of the Jedi Order was wiped out at that battle."
"Well, then, let's just hope that it doesn't turn out that way for us here," Hera told him, piloting the ship and launching a volley of missiles at another Star Destroyer.
"Sir, we have hull breaches on decks 12 and 13," Commander Arkhan, his hairy Bothan second-in-command informed him.
"Duly noted. Have repair crews working on it on the double!" the admiral ordered, heading back to his seat.
Dodge! was what went through Ezra's mind as he moved out of the way of yet another burst of turbolaser activity. He did so. He was becoming more and more reliant on the Force during that battle, something which could be good or bad.
He shouldn't use the Force, not after nearly falling to the dark side all those years ago. Still, he might as well take advantage of it since it was keeping him alive, which was more than he could say for a number of his comrades.
Minute after minute ticked by, seeming like hours in his mind, but he plugged away. He needed to get out of the Rebellion. Just a little bit longer. Remember who's waiting for you on Lothal.
He cleared his head and relied on the Force even more, careful not to let the Dark Side take over. He pushed that darkness out of his mind and shot down as many TIEs as he could.
He glanced at a picture of Sabine and their daughter and kept on going. He was doing this for them.
One more fighter down. Then another.
Then the Death Star exploded outward, but he refused to let that distraction keep him from the task at hand.
That was when he realized he was beginning to channel the Dark Side since he was starting to enjoy the rush of battle, feeling a desire to chase after whatever ships he came across. He pushed that out of his mind, trying his best not to give in. Still, it remained in the back of his mind as he continued fighting.
Then he realized that the enemy ships were beginning to retreat, something unexpected. Still, he wasn't going to let his guard down. The enemy ships were all in disarray and going every which way they could, jumping to hyperspace one by one. At least the ones that could. The remaining TIEs couldn't, lacking hyperdrives, but they were quickly mopped up by the Alliance forces. The ones that weren't surrendered, which was a large number of them.
So, after dealing with a couple of extra die-hards, Ezra made his way to the hangar of the Phoenix Squadron's capital ship.
Afterwards, he went to the celebrations on the surface of Endor. He wondered if the destruction of the Death Star was going to have any environmental repercussions, especially around the location of the shield emitter, but so far nothing had happened yet. The forest was just as lush as ever and the rebels were busy celebrating their latest and greatest victory.
"There you are," he heard Hera say, Zeb standing next to her.
"And here I thought you didn't make it," the Lasat joked, slapping Ezra on the back. The young man had grown up and was now muscular with short hair. He still had his large nose, but he was taller than most of the rest, including Sabine. The rest that survived, that is.
"So, what now?" he asked, curious.
"Well, the Alliance needs to start building its influence some more," Hera informed him. "With the Emperor and Darth Vader out of the way, that should be easier, at least."
"Of course, if you're like me, you probably want a vacation," Zeb commented. "Hey, it's a party! Let's worry about that political crap later!"
Ezra smiled. "Okay, I'll come with you guys in a few minutes."
"Okay, we'll try to save some of the local alcohol for you," Hera told him.
He heaved a sigh of relief as they walked away, joining the rest of the festivities. He wished Hera were there, but the young woman was taking care of their daughter. One of them had to stay behind, and since he was the better pilot, he wasn't it. Still, it made him feel bad and it made Sabine feel bad about not coming along with them.
"Much on your mind you have," Ezra's eyes opened wide as he looked to where the voice was coming from to spot a familiar green alien, though he wasn't very green anymore.
"Yoda…"
"Why yes, forgotten me you haven't," the diminutive alien commented.
"You're a… ghost," the young man remarked.
"Sure, I am," Yoda replied. "Conflicted you are, Ezra Bridger. You used the Force in the battle, but the Dark Side still tempted you."
"You knew about that," Ezra remarked, looking away in shame.
"One with the Force I am," Yoda informed him. "You must not let your fear cloud your judgement. Difficult days lie ahead for there are still dangers that this Galaxy poses, that the Empire poses."
"I realize that," Ezra told him.
"But still you fear," Yoda responded. "Set up the new Jedi order you can."
"Maybe, but I was touched by the Dark Side. What if I fall," the young man asked. "Plus, I have a family now."
"True true," the little alien remarked. "However, one of your children sensitive to the Force will be."
"One of them… my wife's pregnant?" he asked in shock.
"No, not yet," Yoda corrected. "Still, because you won't join the Jedi, dark times are ahead. Of course, they would probably be ahead even if you did. Always in motion the future is, especially when it has been altered."
"It has been altered? What do you mean?"
"That is not for you to know," Yoda informed him. "Still, let it be known that your son will prove powerful with the force and his teacher is here."
Just then the apparition vanished.
Teacher? Ezra thought. Yoda must have been talking about Luke. Still, there was no way he was going to have his son become a Jedi knight. Not when there was still that risk...
"Well, aren't you in a sour mood," he heard a voice say and he spotted the Admiral who was leading Phoenix Squadron standing in front of him. "We just destroyed the second Death Star. We should be celebrating!"
Ezra shrugged. "I guess."
The captain patted the young man on the back. "You did a good job up there today."
"Uh, thanks," Ezra replied, smiling back.
"I know we still have a lot up ahead, but don't let that get in the way of you having fun."
"Okay, Glaucon, I won't."
Glaucon smiled more widely and Ezra rejoined Zeb, Hera and Chopper along with another familiar face, that of Leia. He was going to enjoy that night whether he liked it or not.