DISCLAIMER: While this story is my work and mostly my original characters, the Star Wars Universe and all contained within are not mine, therefore I have no right to profit monetarily or otherwise from it and with this story I am not. I have written this for you to enjoy free of charge, so enjoy. ---Bullfrog

SURVIVAL

BY: BULLFROG

CHAPTER 1

The sleek, long Corellian Engineering Corporation Corvette known by most as a Blockade Runner named Empire's End floated in space along with the rest of the Rebel Fleet that had amassed.

Inside Empire's End, its tall, powerfully built, brown and black haired Wookiee captain sat in his command chair thinking. It was a rare moment of complete silence on the ship's bridge. That's because everyone knew their orders, everyone knew what they would be doing and they knew what the odds against them where. The crew's nervous tension kept them silent and reflective on their own lives. Everyone knew that they would make the short hyperspace jump to the Endor System where the new Deathstar was in its final stages of construction. If all went according to plan, they would jump in just as the strike team, that had already landed on the forest moon, knocked out the Deathstar's shield generator. His ship along with the rest of the capital ships in the fleet would form a defensive perimeter around the starfighters and escort them, so they can get into the Deathstar's superstructure unmolested by the Empire's TIE fighters. Then, as soon as the fighters destroyed the Deathstar, they were all to run as fast as they could and jump back into hyperspace. There were very long odds against success against them indeed.

For his part, the Wookiee Captain Trebek was proud of his job. It was his crew that brought back the vital intelligence, which had been collected by now deceased Bothan spies, that Emperor Palpatine himself was overseeing the Deathstar's final stages of construction. He loved being with Rebel Alliance Intelligence, the sneaking into heavily fortified enemy areas, collecting intelligence that deep cover spies beam to his ship, turning TIEs and smaller Imperial capital ships that get too close into atoms floating in space and then beating the larger Star Destroyers in the race that ended in either Empire's End escaping to hyperspace or the destruction of the Empire's End and the death of all onboard.

He was also proud of his ship. Technically it belonged to the Rebel Alliance, but he considered Empire's End his Blockade Runner. The Blockade Runners were called that by the Rebels because of the ability that its model of Corellian Corvette gave the Alliance to elude capture by the Imperials. It had a very fast sublight drive which allowed it to move faster at sublight speeds then most capital class craft, and it had a very efficient hyperjump calculator, the combination of which allows for very quick escapes into hyperspace. While Corellian Corvettes were manufactured without weapon systems, Empire's End had been modified and boasted an impressive eight turbolasers; six laser cannons, and four ion cannons. His ship also had a standard shield generator which made it no match for a star destroyer but provided more then enough protection for the short skirmishes his crew tended to find themselves in with TIE fighters and smaller Imperial capital ships.

Trebek was also proud of himself. In more peaceful times, before the Empire, he had been the personal assistant to the Senator from Kashyyyk. When the Emperor dissolved the Galatic Senate he had escaped the arrest and execution of many of the Senators and their staffs by signing on with a Rodian smuggler. One run brought the smuggling team close to Kashyyyk and Trebek talked his partner into stopping on his home world so that he could visit the wife and children he hadn't seen in over two years. On this visit he had learned that his family, including his terminally ill mother, had been picked up on an imperial slaving raid and sold into bondage. The atrocities of the Empire having hit home, he parted ways with his partner on friendly terms, sought out the Rebellion and enlisted enthusiastically. The Rebellion's military commanders quickly saw leadership potential in Trebek and promoted him to Deputy Captain aboard one of its intelligence vessels called Empire's End. When it's human captain was promoted farther up the chain of command, Trebek himself was promoted to captain and now here he was in what he was sure would become one of the most historically significant battles of the Rebellion regardless of who won the day.

Trebek was brought back to reality when he heard the commander of the starfighters Lando Calrissian over the comm. saying, "Admiral we are in position. All fighters accounted for."

Admiral Ackbar, the Mon Calamari fleet commander answered over the comm. from his flagship Home One, answered, "Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates. All craft prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark."

Empire's End's group commander had previously ordered the group into attack coordinates so Trebek roared his orders and the 8D8 droid that had been modified to translate for him translated, "Pilots begin count down, astrogator feed jump coordinates to the navacomputer on the Admiral's mark."

Empire's End's two on duty pilots and on duty astrogator responded affirmatively and Trebek sat back in his command chair. Before he knew it, the stars began to appear longer, then even longer, and before he knew it they appeared to be in a black tunnel with bright streaks on it.

The jump was short, only about fifteen minutes, then the Rebel Fleet reverted back to realspace. The Imperial TIE fighters on patrol were fatally slow to respond due to the surprise nature of the rebels' appearance. Turbolasers and laser cannons from every capital ship in the rebel fleet open fired and within seconds not a single TIE remained. The Empire's End crew cheered at the smooth running of the first stage of the battle plan even if it was the easiest part.

It didn't take long for the Imperials' surprise to wear off and hundreds of TIE fighters began pouring from the assembled Star Destroyers and the real fighting began.

Trebek no longer sat in his command chair, but stood at the end of the bridge's command balcony, watching the starfighters fly past the capital ships and towards their target. For a brief moment he wished his communications system was patched into the frequency used by the fighter pilots. He would have loved to hear the conversations of men rushing into combat in small one man ships whose sole purpose was to get to the heart of the engagement where the heat really was. He loved his position, and Empire's End has seen more then its fair share of combat running intelligence that had been gathered by Rebel spies, but sitting in his command chair he felt removed from the real fighting. During his time with the Rebellion he had never even fired a gun. He often found himself envying his fellow Wookiee, Chewbacca, who had gained fame on the Millennium Falcon and was at this moment on the surface of Endor's forest moon engaged in the fighting, which the rest of this mission rested on.

Instead of stating these thoughts he looked to his Cerean Deputy Captain Ki-Am-Humli and roared, the 8D8 translator droid translated, "He says why is it that only the TIEs are attacking? What are those Star Destroyers waiting for?"

Ki-Am-Humli, who looked almost human except for his elongated cone shaped head, rubbed his black goatee unconsciously, as he always did when deep in thought, and answered, "I don't know, but I have a feeling we are not going to like the answer."

The fighting continued and Trebek noticed that the fighters trying to enter the Deathstar's superstructure were being destroyed. This time he growled and the 8D8 translated, "He says the shield is still up."

Ki-Am-Humli nodded his head but said nothing.

The fighting raged all around them. Empire's End's gunnery crew once again proved how good they were at burning TIE after TIE out of existence. The TIEs however scored their fair share of hits on Empire's End. With each noticeable hit, Captain Trebek roared and the 8D8 translated to the ship's engineering area, over the internal comm. system, inquiring as to the shield's status. Each time Lieutenant Eldet Kembes, the human chief engineer responded that the shields were holding steadily.

Then unexpectedly, the dynamics of the battle changed. A blindingly bright burst of laser fire erupted unexpectedly from the supposedly nonfunctional Death Star and a rebel capital ship, larger then Empire's End, just disappeared, no noticeable debris left at all.

Trebek roared again, more to himself then anyone else and the 8D8 faithfully translated, "He says that that blast came from the Deathstar."

Ki-Am-Humli gave the droid a nasty look and said sarcastically, "That much we didn't need a translation for. I think everyone in the fleet now knows that thing is operational."

Not even a second passed before Admiral Ackbar's voice came over the comm. saying, "All craft prepare to retreat."

Trebek growled and 8D8 relayed Ackbar's orders to the pilots and astrogator.

Lando's voice was once again on the comm. saying, "We won't get another chance at this admiral."

Ackbar responded by saying, "We have no choice General Calrissian. Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude."

Silently Trebek agreed and for the first time since taking command, he felt a hopeless fear.

General Calrissian argued on, "Han will have that shield down. We have to give him more time."

In his head, Trebek begged Admiral Ackbar to retreat. The battle plan never took into account a Deathstar with a functional laser that was able to destroy a planet with one shot. He wanted more then anything to join the argument but, as a lowly ship's captain, he would have been out of order if he had. If his group commander wanted to have input to this conversation she would have been within her rights, but not a ship's captain. It was obvious, however, that the strike team's mission to destroy the shield generator had failed.

In a voice that sounded like what he was saying when against his better judgment, Admiral Ackbar said, "All ships belay my last order."

In a loud moaning, roar Trebek rescinded his last order and ordered Empire's End back into the fight.

Just then, his ship shook so badly that it almost convulsed. Trebek roared viciously and his 8D8 translated, "Tactical! What was that?"

The five beings, all of differing species, that stood around the tactical table with a three dimensional holographic display of the battle unfolding around them all looked at their captain. A Bith answered, "When we were all distracted by the Deathstar firing, a Star Destroyer moved into firing range on our left flank. That sir, was what a full broadside from a Star Destroyer feels like."

A holographic display of Lt. Kembes appeared and Trebek turned to face it. The hologram said, "Sir, our shield generator is burned out from that last hit. We are sitting naked sir, completely vulnerable."

Trebek roared again and 8D8 translated, "Well, get it fixed now you hairless Ewok. Turbolasers, laser cannons and ion cannons concentrate all fire on that star destroyer. Pilots get us clear of it."

The translation took too long for the droid to get out. As soon as he finished, the ship convulsed again and Captain Trebek's vision went black.