Season's greetings everyone! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, it was a labor of love. It made me want to rip my hair out a couple of times writing it, but it was still a joy to publish.
I know everyone is thinking it, and yes I'll be keeping this going as long as I can into the newer movies. I've got some ideas of where to take the story after Return of the Jedi and into The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I'm also not going to be jumping right into each movie, I'll either make something up or pull something from a comic or whatever.
Also, apologies for the false email. I uploaded the wrong document in Chapter 10's place, but it's been corrected. A big s/o to smart grid for answering all my review requests and coming up with great critiques. Also a humungous s/o to my fiancee Kaylee, who has always been encouraging me to do the absolute best that I can. I love you Kaylee and I'm thankful for every day I have you in my life.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing created by LucasFilms or Bungie Studios. However, I do take credit for any and all characters created by myself.
The young Human Dania Ferani felt cramped and uncomfortable inside the belly of the U-wing support craft, call sign Thunder Three, as she and nine other Rebel soldiers took off from the surface of Yavin IV. She felt her stomach flip over several times and her knees buckle as the ship broke through the atmosphere of the tiny moon. She took several deep breaths, resisting the urge to vomit, as her nerves attempted to return to normal.
Dania had only joined the Rebellion two weeks ago after leaving her home world of Naboo, which had long been under the reign of the Empire. Long before her family's farm had been seized and shut down by the local Empire-friendly Naboo government, she had been raised on nothing but Empire propaganda and stories of all the good the Empire did for the galaxy by her father.
"Look at all the Empire has done for this galaxy," her foolish father once said over dinner. "The Clone Wars ended and now there's finally some damn peace in this part of the system. We can start rebuilding and become even greater than that corrupt Republic ever was!"
Little did he and anyone else know that only a few weeks later, two teams of Stormtroopers would be knocking on their front door to shut down their farm and imprison or kill everyone there, including her father. All because a few farmhands were caught distributing pro-Rebellion pamphlets. The only reason she was saved was because she had gone to the market earlier that fateful afternoon. Once she returned home and buried her family, she used what little money she had to hitch a ride off-world before eventually ending up on Yavin IV.
In less than a month, the teenage Ferani went from a simple eopie tamer to a poorly trained soldier embarking on her first real mission. Safe to say, as she was crowded in the launch bay of the troop transport, hugging her rifle tightly with sweat beading down her brow surrounded by veterans of various other engagements, she was absolutely terrified.
Ferani wondered what she had done wrong or who she'd angered when she was selected for the 30-man mission to attack the Arquitens-class command ship Deliverance and return long-range communication abilities back to the central command base. It was only a short time ago that she'd learned to fire a blaster, and now she was being sent into battle against the Empire. She knew they were low on experienced soldiers, but she couldn't come up with a rational explanation for being selected to go on the strike mission.
She wondered how she was going to make it back alive, what she would do if she survived. She couldn't return back to Naboo, and there was no other family anywhere else that would take her in when they learned of what she'd done. All she had left was the Rebellion.
She thought back to the mission briefing several hours ago led by General Jan Dodonna and a towering man completely encased in green armor save for his bald, tattooed head. To her and nearly everyone else's surprise, it was the man in the deep-green armor who gave the attack briefing and General Dodonna who merely observed. She was amazed and awed at his ability to clearly outline their attack pattern and path, right down to the one hallway where they would all end up combining to attack the reactor room.
"This is it troopers," said the commanding officer of their strike team. Dania snapped out of her memories as the ship felt more turbulence from the attack in space.
"Everything hinges on the success of this mission; our Rebellion and everything we believe it may very well die with us if we fail. Once we make it inside, we're going full sprint until we hit the reactor room and take out anything that stands in our way."
Dania couldn't hear anything through the walls of the U-wing, but she imagined the space battle outside in the vacuum of space was intense. The ship rocked back and forth as the firepower intensified and the pilots dodged incoming turbolaser fire and attacking TIE fighters.
"When the Republic fell, only fear and terror remained and took power, calling themselves peacekeepers." Ferani could taste the venom in her commanding officer's voice as he continued with his pep speech. "The Empire has taken everything from us; our old ways of life, our families, our friends, even our homes. And this here, right now, is where we strike back. For everyone who had ever lost someone or something to the Empire, this is where we strike back. For everyone who can't make a stand, here's where we make it for them!"
"For Alderaan," the CO said, with the rest of the crew cheering loudly. Ferani stayed silent, only focusing on keeping her breathing while feeling a rousing sense of duty for what she was doing.
"For Jedha!"
Another round of cheers from everyone inside the hangar bay, enough that Ferani could feel it vibrate off the walls of the troop bay. She felt her heart slow down and her hands shake less as she felt a surge of pride in what she was about to do.
"FOR THE REBELLION!"
This time, Ferani joined in with the cheering, feeling for the first time since she was picked for the mission that everything was going to be alright. Her spirits heightened and feeling invigorated, she felt unstoppable.
Suddenly, a large explosion violently rocked the entire ship, sending most of the soldiers inside the troop bay crashing to the deck. Ferani picked herself up, moved her auburn hair from obstructing her face, and straightened her helmet.
"We've lost Thunder Two! Repeat, Thunder Two is gone!"
Red Squadron leader Luke Skywalker looked out to the right of his cockpit and saw the glowing remains of Thunder Two and let out a frustrated exhale.
His portion of Operation SWORD SHIELD was not going anywhere close to as well as he or command wanted it to. As soon as their three wings of X-wings and A-wings made it to the space surrounding the Yavin IV moon, they ran into a brick wall of TIE fighters and Imperial Star Destroyer flak that took a toll on their fighter strength. And with the lack of speed all three troop transport ships possessed plus the amount of enemy strength present, it was only a matter of time until one lucky shot took out a transport ship.
Now, with only a dozen ships left in Green Squadron, Red Squadron nearing half-strength, and with the Correllian freighter Ghost as the only ship from Phoenix Squadron remaining, he was looking at a three-to-one disadvantage between his ships and those of the Empire.
"Red Squadron, Green Squadron," Skywalker said into the comlink. "Tighten up those fighter screens and escorts. We can't afford to lose any more transports!"
Skywalker forced his X-wing into a tight turn to the left and dove into what was the hodgepodge of Rebel and Imperial fighters duking it out, trying to divert most of the TIE fighters away from the transports. Skywalker accelerated to attack speed and unleashed a torrent of red laser bolts into a group of TIE fighters, taking out two of them before zooming away and diving away from the battle.
"Phoenix Leader, form up on Thunder One! She just lost her escort!"
"On it Red Leader," Hera Syndulla responded. Luke saw her light freighter peel off from attacking a number of TIEs and moved in tight next to Thunder One. "We'll make sure she lands in that hangar!"
Panicked beeps from R2 filled his headset, and Luke turned around to see a TIE fighter swoop in behind him and open fire. The green energy bolts missed wildly, but Luke knew he wouldn't get another break like that.
"Green Three, I've got one on my tail!" Luke flipped his X-wing into a barrel roll to evade a number of enemy fire. "Turn to point three-eight, you'll run right into him."
Skywalker started to bank left before taking a sharp turn to his right, bringing the TIE fighter with him. The TIE opened fire, but its shots were just high and off target.
"R2, try and boost the rear deflector shields." The blue-and-white droid beeped and booped and Luke saw on his display an increase to the aft shields. The TIE fired several more times, and each time Luke successfully dodged each incoming green laser bolt.
"I see you Red Leader," the voice of Green Three squawked through Luke's helmet. "I'm coming from two o'clock high, that Imp won't know what hit him!"
Luke evaded more enemy fire, hoping the Imperial pilot wouldn't make a lucky shot before Green Three swooped in for the kill. Another set of TIE fighter fire crossed over the top of his cockpit when Luke saw the glint of sunlight off the tip of an A-wing coming in hot to his right. Luke banked had to his left and looked behind him to see the TIE that had been following him blown to bits by Green Three's A-wing.
"Good shooting Green Three," Luke said over his comlink. Luke looked to his nine o'clock and saw a window had just opened for the strike team to enter the command ship. All fighters form up! We've got to make sure our transports reach that command ship!"
The combined might of the Rebel assault wing - thirteen X-wings and nine A-wings - all formed together into one cohesive wall of metal spaceships in front of the two remaining U-wing transport crafts and the Ghost still keeping close to her escort.
The two groups of starfighters clashed with one another, taking all attention away from the U-wings and the Ghost – still sticking tight to her ship – quickly approaching the Imperial command vessel Deliverance. Dodging heavy barrages of turbolaser fire from the surrounding Star Destroyers, the two remaining U-wings and the Ghost successfully entered the landing bay and offloaded their passengers.
Dania Ferani was in over her head. Somehow, either through luck or the Force or whatever mystical powers that be, she had survived landing and embarking inside the launch bay and advanced through the depths of the light cruiser Deliverance, keeping her head down and hanging around the back of the ten-man fireteam. After avoiding taking a blast from Imperial Stormtroopers and a blaster cannon, Ferani was ducking behind a supply crate as her charismatic CO was trying to organize what was left of their strike team to advance on the entrenched Imperials into the reactor room.
"You two," her CO said, pointing to a male human and a female Sullustan and then pointing to a blasted-out wall cover ahead of their current position. "Move up on my command, we'll give you plenty of covering fire."
Not sure of their goal or how much the covering fire would do against that blaster cannon, the two looked at each other before nodding to their commanding officer. The CO looked up from his position, ready to give the order for suppressive fire, when he took two blasts from Imperials. One hit to the arm and one in the face and their commanding officer hit the deck like a heavy sack of flour.
Dania saw all of this and shut her eyes tight; she wanted to go home. She wasn't ready for something like this. She wanted to get back at the Empire for what they did to her family more than anything, but she could barely hold a blaster let alone use it in battle against a ship full of Imperial Stormtroopers.
Ferani crouched as far down behind the supply crate as she could but still felt the blaster plasma zing over her and crash into the wall next to her, raining sparks and bits of wall on top of her. She wanted to scream as loud as she could while the Imperials advanced from their entrenched position.
Suddenly, from behind their position, Ferani heard a large concentrated grouping of blaster fire. To her surprise, it was the fire team from Thunder One, all ten of them. Leading the charge of the reinforcements was the same towering, heavily armed and armored Commander from before in the mission briefing, this time wearing a deep-green helmet with a reflective orange visor covering his head and face. Apparently not only had he put together the mission, he was spearheading it.
Following him close behind was a soldier wearing scuffed, faded clone trooper armor. 'Where in the galaxy did they dig him up,' Ferani wondered as another laser bolt passing close over her head forced her to duck down as far as she could behind a supply crate.
"Captain, Lassiter, Taand, Drakata, provide covering fire for retrieval of the wounded," the Commander ordered as he pointed to his team comprised of the clone, a human male, an Ithorian male and a Twi'lek female, respectively. "Everyone else, concentrate firepower on that turret. Make your shots count!"
The five men and women opened a suppressive fire on the Imperial position, while the remaining Rebels and the Commander poured their blaster fire on the turret position. The Stormtrooper manning the blaster cannon was lit up by the five other Rebel soldiers, and the remaining Imperials that weren't cut down by the overwhelming fire had retreated to cover.
With little time to waste, the giant quickly took over command and began issuing orders. "You three," he said, pointing to the male human, the female Sullustan, and a male Rodian of Thunder Three before motioning to a few Rebel soldiers writing in pain. "Bring those wounded back here for medical treatment! Double time it!"
While the three moved quickly to retrieve their wounded teammates, Ferani continued to cower behind her cover. Laser blasters fired off all around her, while the walls above her and the floor next to her exploded from the impact of blaster fire.
"On your feet, soldier," the Commander calmly, matter-of-factly said to the frightened young woman.
Both terrified of dying and awe-struck at the man standing before him, Ferani simply froze for several seconds before a chunk of the wall above the two of them exploded from blaster impact made her instinctively flinch.
"Get on your feet, Ferani! We need you in this fight."
Eyes wide, she saw two bars of red plasma strike him in the shoulder and the back, and a gold film materialized around him before he calmly returned fire back at the Imperials, scoring direct hits on a number of Stormtroopers.
Full of both fear and courage, Ferani slowly picked herself up and established herself into a firing position behind the supply crate.
"That's it, Ferani," the commander exclaimed, ignoring another hit from a Stormtrooper. "Now fire your weapon! Let them have it, Ferani!"
Ferani closed her eyes and squeezed down on the trigger. A bar of bright red plasma energy erupted from the barrel of the weapon, raced across the gap between the Rebel position and that of the Imperial forces, and slammed into the pristine-white bulkhead behind a group of Stormtroopers. The Imperial soldiers scrambled for cover behind supply crates as the rest of the Rebel forces increased fire on the Imperial position.
"Keep firing, Ferani," the Commander continued, taking two hits from Imperial blaster fire and not even flinching. "Don't let up! Move forward! Keep your head down and your legs moving forward!" He returned fire with his blaster rifle, hitting two Stormtroopers in the chest with his shots before he himself ducked behind cover ahead of her.
With her confidence renewed, Ferani advanced forward with her squadmates. Taking inaccurate shots at the Imperial position, she and the rest of the combined fire team poured it on the Stormtroopers. Before long, with only one unfortunate casualty, the Rebels eliminated the last of the Imperials.
Right as they reached the locked door to the reactor room, the Commander was quick to bark out orders. He ordered them all to establish a better defensive fortification, moving supply crates into more advantageous positions, along with repairing the damaged blaster turret and opening the locked door while tending to the wounded as best they could.
They all worked as hard and as fast as possible to fortify their defenses and unlock the door, fearing that an Imperial counterattack could come at any minute. While all of this was happening, the Commander turned to the three remaining soldiers of Thunder Three.
"Which of you is carrying the explosive charges?"
A last-minute addition to the mission was that one member of each fire team was tasked with carrying a number of explosive charges that would set the ship reactor to violently explode. That way, if the only person carrying the explosives was killed, the mission wouldn't need to be changed on the fly.
The Ithorian handed him all of his charges, while the man in Clone armor looked over in Dania's direction and saw the human make next to her was carrying the charges. The Commander approached them, the weight of his armor making deep clanking sounds against the deck, while moving as graceful and light as if he were wearing nothing at all. Amongst the deep green sheen of his armor, she saw burn marks spattered across it.
Attached to his back was a medium-sized rifle of sorts with a small ocular scope at the top before a long barrel, while each hip had attached small pistols of differing sizes and models. Pouches and pockets dotted his armor, and a loose green cloth was gently wrapped around his neck.
It took a clearing of the throat to snap Dania back to reality, and she saw that he was standing right in front of her, waiting to receive her demolitions pack. He had to have been over seven feet tall with how much he was towering over her.
How could someone so big and wearing such large armor move so quietly?
"When they come back," the man suddenly said, snapping Ferani back to the moment. The Commander was tapping commands into a keypad on one of the explosives. "Just remember to breathe." Ferani was confused by the advice, giving him a quizzical look as the rest of the Alliance strike team fortified their position.
"You're holding your breath and rushing your shots," he continued. "Just relax, take your aim, and remember to breathe."
The door leading to the reactor room opened with a calm woosh, and the Commander turned to the Sullustan engineer kneeling in front of the door controls. He took her by the arm, and whispered something into her ear, and soon the two entered inside the reactor room.
Ferani assumed the Sullustan was an overall engineer or maybe an explosive or systems expert, which is what she was brought into the reactor room with the Commander. The clone commander was a skilled leader and soldier, but their leader and best gun had left the battlefield.
"Alright troopers," the one in Clone armor said, holding two blaster pistols and aiming them down the hallway. "They need time to get those bombs armed, and that's exactly what we're gonna give them. Eyes forward, rifled charged, and above all, hold the line!"
A torrent of Stormtroopers came down the hallway and opened fire, forcing the Rebels into cover. The Ithorian manning the blaster cannon opened fire at the mass of Stormtroopers, scoring a number of kills as they poured out into the hallway like water from a burst dam.
Both sides traded blaster fire as the Stormtroopers were forced into cover just as the Rebels were earlier. When a random, lucky blaster struck and killed the Ithorian in its large neck, the blaster turret went dead and the Stormtroopers on the other side began to slowly advance on their fortification.
The clone ducked out of the way of a laser blast, sending two blue laser blasts of his own down the hallway, before looking around at the Rebel troops nearest him. He saw Dania bunkered down behind the wall, peeking out every now and then to fire off a misplaced shot downwind. He grabbed her by the collar and shook her, getting the young woman's attention.
"You're manning the turret," he said to the Nabooan. He saw a look a fear in her eyes as she glanced over at the empty turret. "Get over there and do you job, soldier."
The clone returned to the action, helping lay down more covering fire to allow a terrified Ferani to hurry over and man the turret.
'Just breathe,' she remembered the Commander say to her with a calming tone. So, she took a deep breath and, slowly, brought herself to her feet and sprinted over to the fixed turret position. She nearly stumbled over her feet along the way, but the young Human reached the position safely.
'Just breathe,' she remembered as she activated the turret and opened fire, angry red plasma spewing out of the barrel of the fixed-weapon at the Imperial soldiers in their pure-white armor. The heavy bolts devastated the Stormtroopers as their numbers quickly dwindled and they retreated from the ground they had gained.
Tears streaked down Ferani's face as she hammered down the triggers, continuing to spew red energy at the Imperial position even as the barrel of the turret started to smoke. Memories of the day she discovered her farm burned to the ground and her family slaughtered kept replaying over and over in her mind, and she fed on that anger to punish the Imperial soldiers for what they had done.
Were these the ones that killed her family? Did they know the ones who did the deed? Did they come from this very ship? She didn't care; in her mind, anyone who swore allegiance to this murdering, fascist regime deserved a slow and painful death.
"Ferani! That's enough!" The clone captain had to forcefully pull Dania away from the blaster turret to get her to stop firing. When Dania came to her senses, she saw that the barrel of the turret was glowing white-hot and some of the metal had even dripped onto the deck, and the nearby power generator was throwing off enough smoke and sparks to obscure the entire area. The Twi'lek was at the controls of the generator, doing everything she could to successfully prevent it from violently exploding and taking out everyone in the nearby vicinity.
Bodies of Stormtroopers covered in blaster marks littered the hallway, and deep black marks pocketed the pristine-white walls of the hallway.
"You know, I read your profile before signing off on you joining this mission," the clone continued, looking her dead in the eyes. Dania saw her reflection of anger looking right back at her in the clone's black visor. "I know you've got a grudge against the Empire, but don't let your emotions cloud your judgement in battle."
"Then why," she asked, picking herself up off the deck. "Why am I here? There had to have been better soldiers for you to pick for this, so why me?"
The door suddenly slid open and the towering Commander and the female Sullustan calmly exited the reactor room. The Commander and the Sullustan spoke to the clone commander, who calmly nodded his head and relayed the information received back to the ships that were still in the hangar.
"Charges primed, let's move out," the clone said as he rounded up the soldiers and fell in line directly behind the Commander.
The Commander and the clone led the way as they cleared the remaining enemy forces and booked it for the hangar bay. They winded around several corners and sprinted through an equal number of hallways, fighting through the depths of the Irrefutable and eliminating any and all Imperial forces that stood in their way with minimal casualties.
Arriving in the hangar bay, they saw the security detail left behind to protect the transport ships were barely holding off the onslaught of Imperial Stormtroopers, Sentry Droids, and even Droidekas. A small team of regular Rebel soldiers, coupled with a green-skinned Twi'lek and a Mandalorian in bright-colored armor, were valiantly holding off the large advancing force of Imperials in front of their position around the Ghost.
"Thunder One, focus fire on those troopers," the large commander barked out, directing the members of the first assault team over to a knocked over pile of supply crates. "Captain, Thunder Three, grenades at the droids!"
With the Thunder One contingent of the assault team pouring blaster fire on the Imperial troopers, Dania, the clone, the human and Sullustan primed thermal grenades. They threw in unison, and the explosions quickly eliminated the advancing Sentry Droids but left the shielded Droidekas unharmed as the Clone War-era droids shifted themselves and opened fire on their position.
Ducking behind cover, Ferani took several deep breaths and looked back to see the rest of her team. She accounted for everyone except for the hulking Commander. There was no way she could someone that large and someone that stood out that much.
"Where's the Commander?"
On cue, she heard the thundering sounds of metal on metal coming from the right of their position. She and the rest of the combined fireteam turned and saw the Commander charging at top speed right at the trio of shielded Droidekas. The old, refurbished droids turned too slow, and the Commander collided shoulder-first into the droid closest to him.
The Clone Wars-era droid shattered to pieces, and even before the other two could complete their slow turns, the Commander unsheathed a knife from his shoulder and sliced through a number of vital cables, shutting down the second droid for good.
The last droid completed its turn and fired its heavy dual cannons at the Commander, the rapid-fire lasers crashing against his armor and forcing him to step back behind cover.
Seeing the Droideka approaching his position and not ceasing firing, Ferani took two breaths and charged out from her position behind the crates. She sprinted to the left of her position, firing away at the old droid. Several lasers were blocked by the protective shield surrounding the droid, forcing it to confront the young Rebel soldier.
The droid fired as it rotated, with powerful laser bolts leaving deep divots and black scars in the pristine white deck of the vessel. Luckily, Ferani was fast enough to outrun the heavy bolts and skidded behind a support beam just in time.
With his small window of opportunity, the Commander pulled out a pistol and shouldered the Droideka in the back, easily toppling the old droid. The shield disappeared as the Droideka fell over, and the Commander finished it off with several shots from his slugthrower pistol to its head. The Droideka collapsed lifelessly to the deck, and the battle was quickly over.
"You want to know why we chose you," the Clone captain asked her, after seeing the area was completely clear of Imperials. "Because you've got the guts to do something like that."
The Commander, surveying the damage one last time, holstered his strange pistol to his hip and turned to all remaining Rebels in the hangar. He gave Dania a quick nod of approval before turning to the security detail.
"Fire-teams, head to the remaining transport ship." He then turned to the green-skinned Twi'lek and the female Mandalorian. "You two, you're taking me to the surface."
As she boarded the U-wing support ship with the rest of the strike team, she saw the Commander get into an argument with the clone, the Mandalorian, and the Twi'lek. He pointed fiercely to the clone and then Thunder Three, but the Twi'lek held her ground, saying something to the Commander before quickly walking up the platform with the Mandarlorian and the clone following behind. The engines started up on the old freighter, and the Commander looked over to Thunder Three and signaled for it to lift off before heading up the ramp of the Corellian freighter himself.
Ferani frantically approached every solider on board Thunder Three, questioning everyone as to where the other ship was going. No one could give her an answer, and before she knew it the transport ship had left the landing bay and escaped into Hyperspace.
Imperial Rear Admiral Tyron Vullen of the Imperial Star Destroyer Malice had a mess of things in front of him. As the commanding officer of the fleet until Lord Vader had arrived with the Executor and the rest of Death Squadron, he was tasked with the complete shutdown of the Yavin system until he arrived. However, being given only a tiny portion of the fleet – three Imperial I-class Star Destroyers and one Arquitens-class command vessel – plus a moderate allotment of TIE fighters at his disposal against a surprising, but miniscule amount of Rebel starfighters.
While seemingly throwing themselves at the wall of Imperial fighters and starships with no decipherable plan at first, the seasoned Rear Admiral finally discovered the Rebel's plan when he noticed three U-wing transport vessels amidst the swarm of X-wings and A-wings that dominated their arsenal of starfighters. Upon seeing that they were heading for the Deliverance, Vullen intensified firepower of his own Star Destroyer and ordered all Star Destroyers to do the same.
Unfortunately, the Rebel scum successfully infiltrated the Deliverance and unloaded whatever cargo was inside those transport crafts. He'd soon lost all contact with the bridge, but the conversation between himself and Deliverance Commander Jason Chennick was currently replaying itself over and over again in his mind:
"Deliverance to Malice, this is Commander Chennick of the Deliverance! We've been boarded and are reporting casualties! We request immediate assistance, over!"
"Deliverance, this is Malice. Please control yourself. We're preparing to send over two shuttles of reinforcements. Expect them within the hour."
"Two shuttles?! We need at least a platoon of Death Troopers, plus Imperial Commandos immediately! We've lost contact with engineering and the barracks!"
"You're just going to have to hold tight, Commander. I can assure you we're sending the very best this ship has to offer."
"If necessary, I'm giving you full authorization to terminate this vessel."
"Absolutely not, Commander. Your ship is imperative to the jamming of Rebel long-range communications. If we lose your ship, we lose everything until Lord Vader and the rest of Death Squadron's arrival. Rally your troops and do your job! Reinforcements are on their way."
Suddenly, there were explosions and sounds of weapons fire coming from far away. Vullen had heard shouting from the bridge security force in the background.
"Oh god, they're here!"
Vullen could perfectly identify the distinct sounds of Imperial blasters and weapons stolen and used by the Rebels, but there was another set of weapons fire that he couldn't recognize. It sounded deep and powerful, as the cries of what he assumed were Imperial officer and Stormtroopers
"Destroy this ship, Admiral! I'm begging-"
The Commander's plea was cut short as it sounded like a laser bolt caught him. His body fell to the deck before the fighting sounded like it stopped. There were various voices in the background of the still-functioning transmission, but the sounds of heavy boot steps dominated most of the sound coming from the transmission.
"Download everything you can from those terminals," the voice said, full of confidence and authority. "Disable the engines and navigation. Radio the surface, tell them we've got control of the ship."
As he could hear the Rebel soldiers moving in the background, Vullen wanted nothing more than to see whoever it was that was giving orders. He needed to know who was leading the Rebels on this assault of their command vessel and how he managed to successfully infiltrate the ship.
"Ensign," the grey-haired Rear Admiral thundered to a fresh-faced officer. "I want a live video feed from the bridge of the Deliverance."
The young officer frantically punched in commands to his keyboard while the old Rear Admiral looked out his viewport and continued to observe both the pitched battle between Rebel and Imperial fighters as well as the progress of the transport ships as they approached the Deliverance. The need to see exactly who stormed into the Deliverance bridge and so effectively and easily took it over ate at him.
Finally, the video signal came through and standing at the command bridge was a towering figure encased in powerful-looking armor. Pockets and pouches covered most of his armor, as did various burns and scuffs, while two long rifles and an emergency pack were strapped to his back. An orange-red visor prevented the Rear Admiral from getting an exact identification of the leader's face.
This man stood over Chennick, who had propped himself against the terminal. He couldn't see, but Vullen surmised he'd suffered a nasty but survivable wound to his chest.
"Just kill me, you Rebel filth!"
The rebel soldier had pointed his rifle at the fallen Commander and looked to be about to oblige his request when the armored man in charge took the man's weapon away from him in a swift, effortless stroke.
"No, we're taking him back to the ships." The commanding officer knelt down and administered first aid to the wounded Commander before picking him up, placing him in cuffs, and shoving him to one of the other Rebel soldiers. "I want him in one of those ships in one piece and breathing."
A few of the soldiers quickly turned and took their prisoner back to their transport ships, the commanding officer looked to the communications terminal and pulled out his pistol. He opened fire on the terminal and both video and audio went dark.
This was over an hour ago, and since then Vullen hadn't heard so much as a word from the reinforcements since they landed in the shuttle bay of the Deliverance. Perhaps they were experiencing equipment failures; the Rear Admiral had been saying for what felt like ages that the Stormtrooper Corps needed an upgrade in communications hardware. Or maybe even they had been defeated by the Rebel soldiers, as unlikely a scenario as that was.
Suddenly, out of the corner of the viewport, a large ball of light and fire erupted from the position of where the Deliverance once stood. Thousands of pieces of debris flung in every direction, striking against the shields of the adjacent Star Destroyer Righteous Justice and Vullen's own Malice. Vullen also saw a small grey dot, a Corellian light freighter, zooming away from the eroding ball of fire and towards the surface, with a swarm of TIE fighters trailing close behind.
"Sir, Lord Vader demands an update on the initial assault of the Rebel base. His assault force will be arriving out of Hyperspace shortly."
The old ship commander felt a deep pit form in his gut that only grew deeper and colder at the thought of confronting Lord Vader. He was well aware of the Sith Lord's temper and lack of patience from Imperial commanders who failed their objectives. He'd heard many stories of Admirals and Generals having their throats crushed after failure of any magnitude, and there was no doubt he'd suffer the same fate for failure to guarantee the success of the blockade and the failure to keep the planet-side communications for the Rebels blocked.
Vullen looked around the bridge, straightened the lines of his pristine uniform, and adjusted his cap to fit better on his silver-haired head.
"I shall discuss with Lord Vader our efforts in my personal quarters."
The Rear Admiral left the bridge of the Malice for the last time, knowing full well his fate for his failures.
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