Legacy of the Red Sun: The Complete Trilogy Chapter 10: The Battle of Yavin, a Star Wars + Smallville Crossover fanfic

Chapter Ten: The Battle of Yavin

Kale screamed in agony.

Green energy poured into his body from the six heavy e-web emplacements. He curled up into a fetal position within the bubble of null gravity and screamed again as the blaster bolts struck his body again and again.

Beside Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin himself joined the spectacle. "Quite remarkable," the moff said. "Do we know what this creature is?"

"I believe the Emperor knows," Vader said. "His ability to survive the barrage is impressive."

"I received a communication from the Emperor's Hand. She says she caught two rebels attempting to free the princess from your quarters."

Vader nodded. "As I suspected."

"One is a pilot I personally awarded the Imperial Medal of Honor to, believing him dead."

Vader took a moment to look at Tarkin's outraged expression. "Indeed. The rebels are of no use to either my master or myself. I leave it to you to find a suitable punishment for the traitor."

"I'm sure I will," Tarkin said. "Tell me, Lord Vader. What will you do if this creature does not die here?"

"He will die," Vader promised.

"Very well, then. I will return to the command deck to oversee the final destruction of the rebel base. Let me know if you need any assistance."

"Thank you, Moff Tarkin," Vader said, his voice barely audible over Kale's screams. "I will indeed."

Tarkin nodded and walked to the nearest turbolift. Using his command override, the lift took him directly to the command deck in the northern hemisphere of the station, traveling through a vacuum tube at a thousand klicks an hour. It took nearly five minutes to arrive. When the door opened, though, it did so directly on the command deck. Admiral Motti smiled in greeting. "Moff Tarkin, we will be in range in twenty minutes!"

"Excellent, Admiral," Tarkin said.

"We have detected approximately 30 star fighters en route from the rebel base," Motti said.

Tarkin turned and stared. "Thirty ships? That's all the vaunted Rebel Alliance could throw at us? Do we even need bother sending fighters to meet them?"

Motti cleared his throat. "It may be difficult to send them in any event, Grand Moff. That pet of Vader's managed to destroy over 3,000 fighters. We have other fighters, but those were not in active rotation and more than a few are not even assembled. I'm not sure we could assemble a single squadron."

Tarkin frowned and rested a finger on his thin lips. "It is of no importance," he said at last. "They are gnats swarming a giant. We'll swat them away and destroy their base. If this station cannot withstand 30 small fighters for twenty minutes, we deserve our fates."

~~Legacy~~

Kale stopped screaming. The pain washed over him so steadily now, there was nothing left for him to scream over. His skin glowed red, his clothes were burned to tatters, and still the guns fired.

Had he been able to open his eyes, he would have seen how Vader oversaw six more e-webs set up to replace the original six which were overheating. Now, with twelve heavy blasters, the guns could alternate to ensure continuous fire.

All the time, Vader stood watching with growing amazement. Around each e-web, a squad of stormtroopers and gray-uniformed soldiers stood watching, also stunned, as the Empire tried with everything it had to kill this one teen-aged boy.

In his mind, Kale retreated deep inside to a quiet place. It was a place of pure white, of delicate beauty that spoke to him in a way he couldn't believe. It felt like someplace he truly belonged. The hum of the blasters assaulting his body fell away to a muted buzz.

The whiteness took on shape, forming into a horizon of white, and a sky of increasing dark. The dark then turned red, and he suddenly found himself standing on a pillar of white crystal, looking up at the boiling surface of a red giant star. As he watched, the star collapsed in on itself, until finally it exploded into a nova. He stood watching as the shockwave of the nova approached him. Around him, the crystals began shattering and he heard people screaming. His people, he knew.

The shockwave struck and his planet burned.

~~Legacy~~

Kale opened his mouth. Vader stood nearby expecting a scream. What he actually heard was a roar of overwhelming loss and rage. The boy, now almost aglow, pushed his arms and legs away from his body, opened his eyes, and unleashed a thick beam of energy directly from his eyes. The beam cut through the e-webs and troopers alike, moving with the boy's vision around all his tormentors.

Vader's saber easily deflected the beam, but no one else was so lucky. In the end, the glow left Kale's body and every man and machine around him, save Vader, was destroyed.

His eyes still glowing with a deadly red light, Kale pulled himself vertical within the bubble of null gravity, and then drifted through some unknown means of propulsion outside the field. Vader stepped back when he realized Kale continued to float even after entering normal gravity.

"You are indeed powerful," Vader said. "The Emperor has determined you cannot live."

Kale set his bare feet down on the floor. "Then kill me."

Vader attacked. His sword flashed, and just like on Naboo Kale deflected each blow with his arms. The blade singed his skin, but did not penetrate.

Suddenly, bodies and pieces of machinery lifted from the floor and slammed into Kale from all around, only to bounce off harmlessly. "I am beyond the Force," Kale said, growling angrily. "And I don't fear you anymore."

He brushed aside a quick strike of the lightsaber and struck Vader in the stomach. The Dark Lord of the Sith knelt to his knees, his respirator whining.

Kale struck his helmet. The Dark Lord of the Sith slammed against a far wall, his armored Sith helmet cracked.

Kale caught the wrist of Vader's sword hand and squeezed. The fingers spasmed as wiring was crushed beyond repair and the lightsaber fell to the floor. Kale caught the Dark Lord by the throat and lifted him high in the air.

"I'm going to kill you now, Darth Vader," Kale said. "For everything you did to me, I'm going to kill you."

"I cannot stop you," Vader acknowledged, gasping. "You deserve your vengeance."

Kale stared up at the Dark Lord of the Sith, and for the very first time realized he was fighting a man. A broken man, he saw, as the shattered wrist sparked. "What made youfall, Darth Vader?" Kale whispered. "What turned you into a monster?"

"Vengeance," Vader said. "I deserved my vengeance as well."

Suddenly the whole station shook violently, and alarm bells went off. "I should kill you, Darth Vader. But then I would be like you." He let the Dark Lord fall to the floor. "I won't kill you, Darth Vader. Not today."

"Then you are a foolish boy," Vader said.

"That's what Mara tells me," Kale said. Then, in a flash, Kale disappeared.

After a very brief stop in the quarters assigned to him for new clothes, Kale ran down several levels until he reached the doors of Darth Vader's chamber. A dozen stormtroopers stood at attention. Two seconds later, Kale alone was on his feet when he opened the door.

He found five troopers and Mara Jade inside, with Han, Leia and Winter on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs. Mara was the first to see him and stood. "By the Force, we just can't beat you, can we?" she asked.

The stormtroopers lifted their weapons, but Mara stepped in front of them. "Don't bother. You can't hurt him." She turned to Kale. "Did you kill Lord Vader?"

He walked up to her. "I'm not a murderer. And I'm not a boy anymore."

She had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes, but doing so, she saw something there she had not seen before. It was a confidence he didn't have last time she saw him. "I see that," she admitted. "You could kill me if you wanted to. If Lord Vader couldn't stop you, neither could I. But you're not going to, are you?" She put a hand on his cheek. "That isn't your way."

"Please untie them," Kale said.

Mara nodded to a nearby trooper who did as asked and untied the three prisoners. "We're going to destroy this station," Kale said. "We know how to do it. And if we can't do it with ships, I'll do it myself. You'd better leave."

She shook her head. "My master will kill me for failing. I might as well stay."

"I'd prefer not." He hit her on her head and she dropped like a rock. The troopers raised their guns and fired, then stared at the scorch marks on Kale's shirt. "That stung a little," he admitted. "Want me to take a turn now?"

The soldiers ran.

"Well, that was fun. Now let's get out of here," Han said.

Kale held out a hand. "Cousin."

Leia ignored the hand and instead wrapped Kale in a hug and kissed his cheek. "And what a cousin you are," she said. "I wish I could have known the Naberrie side of the family. But I'm so happy I at least have you."

Kale's eyes began to water a little. "Me too." He bent over and easily lifted Jade over his shoulder. "We'd better get out of here."

"Why are you saving her, Kale?" Winter asked. "She hurt you so much."

Kale shrugged. "I don't know." He could not tell them of that vision of Jade that clicked into his mind at the fountain on Naboo. "I just want to, I guess."

"Good enough for me," Han said abruptly. "Now, I think we should be leaving!"

~~Legacy~~

"We've analyzed their attack pattern, sir, and there is a danger. Should I prepare your shuttle?"

"Evacuate?" Tarkin said in genuine disgust. "In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances!"

Tarkin returned his attention to the tactical display showing Yavin IV was less than two minutes away from targeting.

~~Legacy~~

Darth Vader stumbled into the hangar where his TIE Advanced x1 waited. His respirator worked hard to keep him breathing despite the broken ribs delivered by the Naberrie boy's blow. His right hand hung at a useless angle from his arm, but Vader was nothing if not a skilled pilot, and knew he could fly one-handed.

Once he was settled, he piloted his fighter out of the bay and into open space. "Control, this is Lord Vader. Where are the rebel ships?"

The garbled response came back. "Proceed to the north control trench, Lord Vader. We are attempting to launch additional fighters as escort."

Vader said nothing as his fighter soared toward the enemy.

~~Legacy~~

Since everyone there except Leia was clad in Imperial clothing, they moved through the panicked crowds in the halls with ease. The whole station rocked abruptly, and everyone there knew the Rebels were getting very close to achieving their ends.

They finally found an armored assault shuttle in a hangar Kale hadn't completely destroyed and climbed aboard. Han ran to the cockpit with Leia a step behind, while Kale and Winter put the still unconscious Mara on a bench.

"Kale, you have to realize she won't stop being an Imperial just because you saved her," Winter said gently. "I know you cared about her once, but she is the enemy."

Kale nodded. "I know."

Winter looked into the young man's face for the longest time. "You still love her."

Kale's cheeks reddened, but only a little. "Like everyone says, I'm just a foolish boy."

Winter took his hand. "Not so foolish, Kale. And you're not a boy any more. Even Mara saw that in the end."

~~Legacy~~

"The Death Star is in firing range," Dodonna said. He looked at Yoda, who sat impassive.

"Always in motion is the future," Yoda said. "The end this may not be."

~~Legacy~~

"Yavin IV is in range," Admiral Motti noted exultantly.

"At last!" Tarkin declared. "Fire when ready."

~~Legacy~~

"Red Two, what are you doing?" Captain Vander shouted.

"The trench run isn't working, Red Leader," Red Two declared. "We need a direct line of attack if we're ever going to take this thing out!"

"Red Two, break off and return to formation!" Vander said.

"Court martial me after we blow this thing!" Wedge Antilles responded.

He pulled sharply out of the trench, toward the angry red of Yavin before leveling out. Bolts of turbolasers flashed around him, but he ignored them as his targeting computer located the exhaust port. He pushed his thrusters to maximum and did a hard burn across the surface of the Death Star, until he finally flipped his X-wing and dove straight at the surface.

His targeting computer locked on, and he fired two proton torpedoes. He waited five seconds before firing two more just to make sure. Realizing he was not going to have time to pull up, Wedge flipped the fighter again, hit reverse thrusters, and dove into the trench they were supposed to use as cover for the attack to begin with. As he began to pull up out of the trench, his sensors began to read massive energy spikes.

"You did it, you Corellian dog!" Vander shouted. "All ships retreat! She's going to blow. All ships retreat!"

~~Legacy~~

Vader's sensors warned him of the impending explosion. He reached out with his feelings and felt a familiar presence not in the station, but on a shuttle that was rocketing away. "Leia," he whispered. He turned his fighter and went after her.

~~Legacy~~

Eighty kilometers inside the Death Star burned a hypermatter reactor many times more powerful than a star. The overwhelming heat energy of such a reactor was funneled into space through a specially designed tunnel that ran all the way to the surface of the station. Suddenly, the main heat exchanger that allowed this to happen exploded under four proton torpedoes just under the surface of the station.

The reactor, which during the current build-up to fire was producing 1.2 x 10 to the 37th power joules of energy, equivalent to the total energy output of a yellow star over a thousand years, suddenly had no means of dissipating the massive heat energy from the reaction. Cascades of superheated plasma began melting the surrounding superstructure. The reactor collapsed in on itself, unleashing its energy in an uncontrolled reaction everywhere at once.

The outer shell of the station did not just crack. It vaporized with the same speed as a planet struck by the beam. In one blink of an eye, the Death Star and the million souls on board ceased to exist.

In his fighter, Darth Vader knew he was still too close to the explosion. Desperately, he pulled up a pre-programmed navcomp destination and activated the hyperdrive on his advanced TIE just as the initial shock-wave of the explosion singed the rear of his elongated solar panels.

The heavily armored shuttle was able to escape the worst of the shockwave and continued toward Yavin IV.

~~Legacy~~

The awards ceremony was a hastily assembled affair, since everyone recognized the need to evacuate the exposed base. However, enough personnel were gathered to make for a very large audience when Colonel Han Solo, newly promoted Captain Wedge Antilles, Winter, and Kale Naberrie were each awarded the Alliance Medal of Honor for their individual roles in the destruction of the Death Star.

As Leia turned to fetch Han's medal, she heard him whispering quietly to himself: "Don't look down the dress. Don't look down the dress." She honestly didn't know whether to be offended that he would even consider such rude behavior, or flattered that he was trying as hard as he was not to be rude. And he was trying, she saw. When she bent over to place the medal over his head, he kept his eyes steadily on her face and even managed not to make a snide comment.

"You helped save my life, Colonel," Leia said softly. "I suppose I shouldn't be too offended by a peek."

He blushed, only then realizing he'd been muttering aloud. But then something strange happened. Rather than a roguish grin or a rascally smirk, he smiled like a true gentleman and said: "Your face is enough, my lady."

Leia felt her cheeks redden, but couldn't help smile a little. "You're learning, Colonel."

~~Legacy~~

Two hours after the ceremony, Mara woke up not in a cell, or even in a bed. She felt hard stone under her back and bright light on her face, and opened her eyes to not just a sun in the sky, but the massive red glow of Yavin.

She sat up and had to suppress a wave of dizziness as she realized she was at the very pinnacle of one of the Massassi temples. She gasped, pulled her legs under her, and looked around for the rebel ships. There were none. The temple rose solitarily from the forests of the moon. It looked nothing like the temples the rebels used for their base.

"Hello, Mara."

She turned her head and gasped. Kale was next to her, perhaps four meters away. He was floating unaided in the air, twenty meters or so above the next step of the massive pyramid. "Kale, how…"

"Something happened when Vader tried killing me," he said. "I had a vision of my real home, and a vision of just a little of what I could do. I'm not very good yet at flying, but then, it doesn't really matter if I fall."

She carefully pushed herself to her feet despite the single square meter that comprised her platform. "You should have let me die, Kale. I'm a danger to you, I have to be. My master commands it."

"And you do everything he says."

She closed her eyes. "You don't understand, Kale. His voice is in my head. I have to do what he commands."

"Did he command you to make me fall in love with you?"

She studied his face. Though it looked the same as when she first saw him, the set of his jaw and the angle of his eyes were different, somehow. He was a boy no longer. "He assigned me to find Obi-Wan for Lord Vader. I selected the means to do that."

"Why did you choose me?"

She shrugged. "I researched and discovered a possible link between Obi-Wan and the Naberrie family. Something with Queen Amidala. You were adopted, but a part of her family. And…it doesn't matter why I chose you, Kale. I just did."

He nodded. "The Alliance is abandoning this base," he said. "By the time the Imperials arrive, we should be gone."

"You're going to leave me here." It was not a question, nor even an accusation. She could get down if she needed, and the alternative was still a distant but visible fireball in the sky.

"Your master can have you picked up when the Imperials arrive."

Mara nodded and noticed he had drifted closer.

"Please don't try and follow us," Kale finally said. "You can't hurt me now. Not like…not with guns."

She laughed. "You know the funniest thing about this whole affair, Kale? I really did enjoy going to your aunt's memorial with you. It was foolish, I know. I should know better than to behave like a nineteen-year-old girl. I've never been just a girl at any age." She sobered. "For one day, I felt like a real teenager on a real date." She sighed at the memory. "I can't apologize for doing my duty, Kale. But I hope you can believe me that I am sorry you had to be hurt in the process. You are extraordinary, and I just wish…" She stopped herself. "Good bye, Kale. I hope you find happiness."

He drifted even closer, and she saw with a start a single tear in his eye as he gently touched her cheek. "I did find it, but only for a day," he whispered.

Mara Jade, servant of the empire, Emperor's Hand and trained assassin, stared at this beautiful fifteen-year-old boy and leaned forward until she was able to wrap her arms around his broad chest. She put her lips to his, closed her eyes, and kissed him the way she had wanted to since she set eyes on him.

Finally, she broke off and stepped back. "The next time I see you, Kale, I will do as my emperor commands and attempt to kill you and your friends. You'll have no choice but to kill me. I'm sorry."

He nodded and wiped his eyes. "Then I hope I never see you again, Mara Jade. Because I don't want that to ever happen. I love you too much." He drifted away from her in the open air, lifted a hand, and suddenly zoomed into the sky faster than the most powerful swoop, leaving Mara alone atop the world.

There she stood for the longest time before she sat abruptly, put her face in her hands, and rocked back and forth in silence.

End Part I