Lucia sat and listened to the Rebel general explain the strategy for their attack on the Imperial battlestation that had followed them here. Tracked them here, despite Captain Solo's insistence that they couldn't.
"The approach will not be easy," General Dodonna said. "You are required to maneuver straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point." He indicated a spot on the monitor. "The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station."
Lucia nodded, but there were murmurs of shock and disbelief from the other pilots in the briefing room.
"Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction," the general warned them. "The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."
"That's impossible," said the pilot next to Lucia, who had introduced himself earlier as Wedge Antilles.
"No, it's not." Every eye in the room turned to look at Lucia, who tried not to fidget under their scrutiny. "I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-sixteen back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."
General Dodonna nodded to her. "Man your ships! And may the Force be with you."
In the Alliance hangar, Lucia spotted Captain Solo and Chewbacca preparing the Falcon for departure. She sighed, disappointed. Even though Solo had said she was only in it for the money, somehow Lucia had thought there was a heart under that prickly exterior. She used to be good at reading people. "So, you got your reward and you're just leaving?" she asked, hating the way her voice almost broke.
"That's right!" Solo replied, picking up a crate and walking toward her ship. "I've got some old debts I've got to pay off. Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here, do you?" She stopped and turned around, pushing her hair out of her face and biting her lip. "Why don't you come with us? You're pretty good in a fight. I could use you."
Lucia shook her head, momentarily speechless. Then she strode forward until she was toe to toe with Solo, tilting her head back to look the other woman in the eye. "Look around!" She waved a hand at the activity, the chaos all around them. "You know what's about to happen, what they're up against. They could use a good pilot like you. You're turning your back on them!"
Hanna glared right back, her brown eyes filling with fire. "What good's a reward if you ain't around to use it?" she demanded. She threw a hand out, pointing at the sky outside the hangar doors. "Attacking that battle station ain't my idea of courage. It's more like suicide!"
Lucia stepped back, lowering her eyes and shaking her head. "Well, take care of yourself, Hanna. I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?" She turned away, disgusted.
"Hey, Lucia," Hanna called after her.
She stopped and turned back. What now?
"May the Force be with you." Hanna lifted a hand, then dropped it and walked up the landing ramp into the Falcon.
Lucia stared after her. What was that all about? She turned away again. She was expected at the X-wings. When General Dodonna had learned that Lucia was a pilot, he had immediately recruited her to join their corps. All he had needed was Alaric's word that she was trustworthy.
She ducked under and around ships and people, crossing the hangar. As she neared the small fighter ships, someone grabbed her arm, and she turned to face Biggs Darklighter's huge grin. Her heart leapt.
"Lucia! I don't believe it! How'd you get here? Are you going up with us?!"
She laughed, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him tight. "Biggs!" She pulled back just enough to see his face. "Yes, of course I'll be up there with you."
"Are you Lucia Skywalker? Daughter of Anneke Skywalker?" someone asked from behind her.
She reluctantly released Biggs and turned to see a man in the uniform of a squad leader. "Yes, I am."
He smiled. "Garven Dreis; Red Leader. I met your mother once. She was a great pilot. If you've got half her skill, you'll do all right."
"Thank you, sir." Lucia swallowed against the lump that had appeared in her throat at the mention of her mother.
"Sir, Lucia is the best bushpilot in the outer rim territories," Biggs said, grinning proudly at her.
Dreis smiled again, and turned away toward his ship. "You're on Red Squadron, right? Time to go."
Lucia grinned and punched Biggs lightly on the upper arm. "I told you I'd make it someday, Biggs."
"You did, all right." Biggs headed for his ship, calling back over his shoulder, "It's going to be like old times, skygirl. We're a couple of shooting stars that'll never be stopped!"
The X-wing responded to the merest touch of Lucia's fingers. She grinned, elated as their squad approached the battlestation. She had never felt so alive. Diving toward the surface of the station, she fired at a gun emplacement, scoring a direct hit. Whooping in sheer delight, she pulled up, but the explosion created a huge fireball that grew at an incredible speed, reaching out with fiery fingers to draw her in.
Biggs' voice crackled over her headset. "Lucia! Pull up!"
"I'm trying!" she shot back, her hands shaking on the controls.
Use the Force, Lucia, Ben's voice echoed in her ear, and she just stopped herself from twisting her head around to see if he was crouched behind her in the tiny cockpit. This was just like before, when Hanna and Alaric had been dragging her up the Falcon's ramp. Ben was dead, but somehow, he spoke to her from beyond the grave.
She closed her eyes, and reached out like he had taught her, flying the fighter on instinct. The little ship surged forward, just barely escaping the fireball.
"Are you all right?" Biggs asked over her direct channel.
She opened her eyes, and checked her instruments. Everything was working within normal parameters. "I got a little cooked, but I'm okay."
Her headset crackled again, and another voice came through. "All squads, we've picked up a new group of signals. Enemy fighters coming your way."
She peered at her scope, but it was picking up nothing. "I don't see anything."
Red Leader replied, "With all this jamming, they'll be on top of you before your scope can pick them up. Use visual scanning." His voice sharpened. "Biggs, watch it! You've picked one up!"
"I can't see it!" Biggs shouted. "Where is he?"
Lucia spun her X-wing around, searching for his ship. She spotted him diving toward the surface of the battlestation, followed closely by a TIE fighter. He pulled up just in time, and the TIE managed to follow.
"He's on me tight," Biggs said frantically. "I can't shake him!"
"Hang on, Biggs." Lucia sent her ship darting toward him. "I'm coming in."
Biggs' fighter turned toward Lucia, on a seeming collision course, and she grinned. This was a maneuver they had practiced many times back on Tatooine. She held her X-wing steady, her finger poised on the trigger. At the last moment, Biggs peeled off to the side, leaving the TIE behind him wide open, and she fired. The enemy ship burst into flames, and she immediately pulled away, avoiding the backwash.
The other Rebel fighters, Gold Squadron, announced their attack run, and Red Squadron moved in to provide cover fire. Gold Leader's voice crackled over the comm: "The exhaust port is marked and locked in!"
Lucia followed her squad, taking out the guns along the trench that led to the exhaust port. Gold Squadron dove into the trench and screamed down the length of it. A sudden rush of vertigo gripped her, and she closed her eyes, shaking her head to dispel it. Lucia! Ben's voice cried, and she opened her eyes and realized she had overshot the trench and was heading out into open space.
As she turned around, she felt a dark satisfaction that was not her own and she spotted three TIE fighters diving into the trench after the Gold Squadron. She started toward them, but then reeled at the dark delight that washed over her.
"We've lost Gold Two!" a frantic voice crackled over her headset. "I can't maneuver!"
"Stay on target!" another voice replied.
Another voice said, "We've lost Gold Leader! I'm going in!"
Yet another burst of vicious delight, and then Red Leader's voice: "Rendezvous at mark six point one. We've lost Gold Squadron. We're up."
Lucia took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. This was a lot different from flying T-16s back on Tatooine. So many people dead. She sent her X-wing after Red Leader, who took the squadron down toward the trench. It was their turn.
Red Leader entered the trench with two X-wings flanking his fighter. Lucia and the others crisscrossed above, watching for Imperials. Lucia spotted the three TIEs again. "Imperials coming in!"
"I see them," one of the pilots replied.
"I'm in range," Red Leader announced. "Target's coming up. Just hold them off for a few seconds."
The same feeling of dark satisfaction from before made Lucia's blood run cold, and she realized: there was a dark Force user here, and she was feeling his pleasure every time he killed one of the pilots. That meant there were only two left in the trench… but then another jolt meant they were down to one.
Red Leader's voice in her headset rejoiced, "It's away!" Then, "Negative! It didn't go in. It just impacted on the surface."
His X-wing appeared rising out of the trench, followed closely by the three TIE fighters. One of those was piloted by the dark presence Lucia had felt. "I just lost my starboard engine. Red Five, get ready to make an attack run."
She swallowed hard. That was her. "Red Five standing by." This could be it. This could be the end.
"We've got your back, skygirl." She could hear the grin in Biggs's voice. "Wedge and I will be right behind you."
"We're going in full throttle," she warned. Speed was their only hope now.
"Right with you, boss," Wedge replied.
"Lucia, at that speed will you be able to pull out in time?" Biggs asked.
She could hear the concern in his voice, and she smiled. "It's just like Beggar's Canyon back home."
Wedge's voice crackled in. "My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port! Are you sure the computer can hit it?"
"You worry about those fighters!" she replied. "I'll worry about the tower."
Dropping into the trench, she held the fighter steady. One false move, and she could hit one of the walls, shearing off a wing, or worse. She set the targeting computer, marking off the distance to the exhaust port.
"I'm hit!" Wedge called. "I can't stay with you. Sorry!"
"Hurry, Lucia." Biggs sounded tense. "They're coming in much faster this time. I can't hold them!"
A dark sense of foreboding pressed in from behind her, and Lucia squinted through the targeter. Just a little closer… An explosion behind coupled with the now familiar sense of pleasure rocked her. Biggs' X-wing vanished from the scope. Her insides turned to ice, and tears sprang to her eyes. She gritted her teeth; there would be time to grieve later. Right now, she had a job to do, and she was the only one left to do it.
As she lined up the targeting computer, she jumped when Ben's voice sounded in her ear. Use the Force, Lucia. She frowned, confused. Let go, Lucia. Trust me. She turned off the targeting computer and peace flowed in, filling her. She could do this.
Her headset crackled. "Red Five, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she replied. "I'm all right." And she was. This felt right. Now if she could just shake the TIEs on her tail… And one of them exploded. What? How? There was no one else out there!
The familiar shape of the Millenium Falcon appeared to port, diving at the remaining two TIEs, guns blazing. The enemy fighters darted up out of the trench, fleeing the pirate ship, and Hanna's voice came over the comm: "You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home!"
Lucia smiled, blinking away the tears that threatened. She had been right about Hanna after all. She pressed the trigger, and two torpedoes soared out from her X-wing, dropping into the exhaust port smoothly, like threading a needle.
"Great shot, kid." She could hear the respect bordering on awe in Hanna's voice. "That was one in a million."
She nodded—though Hanna couldn't see—and pulled up out of the trench, turning back toward Yavin, and the Alliance base. Behind her, the Imperial battlestation trembled as the explosions began to tear it apart. Remember, Ben's voice murmured. The Force will be with you… always.