Darth Tenebris's ship dropped out of hyperspace above Scarif. The Death Star loomed ahead and even from kilometres away Tenebris could sense Tarkin's triumph at the thought of having finally trapped one of the Organas into revealing their rebellious sympathies. Tenebris swept off the bridge and made his way to the hanger bay.
A small prison shuttle stood ready and he could feel the dim unconscious presence of Elena Organa aboard it, already secured in one of the cells. He boarded the shuttle and then they set off for the Death Star. Once on board Elena was carried off in cuffs, Tenebris watching her be removed, before he set off for the Control Centre of the Death Star. Tarkin was waiting for him before they travelled to the conference room.
As they neared the door they could hear Motti declaring "Dangerous to your star fleet, Commander, not to this battle station!"
Another voice retorted angrily, "The Rebellion will continue to gain support in the Imperial Senate as long as…"
Beside Tenebris, Tarkin's face twisted into an evil smile as he walked into the room, cutting off Tagge.
"The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away."
He sat down at the head of the table, Tenebris flanking him and smirked at the flabbergasted generals and Senators. Tagge was the only one who dared to contradict him out loud.
"That's impossible!" he declared. "How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"
"The regional governors now have direct control over territories," Tarkin responded. "Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."
Tagge raised his eyebrows for a moment, impressed, before he recalled the most recent report. "And what of the Rebellion?" he demanded. "If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it."
Tenebris quickly stepped in to correct the Commander. "The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands."
He rolled his eyes behind his mask as Motti offered his (unwanted) opinion.
"Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest," he paused before continuing arrogantly. "we use it."
"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed," Tenebris contradicted. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."
Motti foolishly decided to continue speaking. "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Tenebris. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion," the men around the table all winced internally, "has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fortress…"
Motti's voice cut off suddenly and all the men looked to where Tenebris loomed over Tarkin's shoulder. One of his black arms was extended and two fingers were slowly drawing together. Motti's hand went to his throat as he began to choke.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing," Tenebris boomed ominously.
At that moment Tarkin intervened. "Enough of this! Tenebris, release him!"
Tenebris maintained the choke for a moment longer and then relaxed his hand. "As you wish." He stepped away from the table.
"This bickering is pointless," Tarkin said sharply. "Lord Tenebris will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke."
The gathering dispersed without another word leaving Tarkin and Tenebris alone. "Interrogate the Princess," Tarkin ordered. "She's little more than a child. She'll break quickly."
Tenebris inclined his head and then left, heading straight for the detention area.
He entered Princess Elena's cell and the Princess looked up in defiance, her expression quickly shifting to fear as she caught sight of the torture droid behind him. The door slid closed.
"And, now, your Highness," Tenebris boomed. "We will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base."
He used the Force to hold her in place and the droid advanced.
On the Falcon Luke, Leia and Mara winced as Elena's screams echoed through the Force. On seeing their expressions Han's face drained of colour. "Elena?" he asked sombrely.
"She's hurt, she's in a lot of pain," Luke answered, sucking in a gasp of air.
"Torture," Mara said quietly from the corner where she was seated by R2, watching as he transmitted the plans to the Rebel Base.
Leia compressed her lips. "We need to get her out of there."
"They won't kill her yet though," Han said firmly. "Remember? They know she's a rebel. They probably want to know where the base is. Mara, has R2 finished the transmission yet?"
She looked at the datapad for a moment and then nodded.
"Good," Leia said with some relief. She and Luke exchanged a glance. The Rebellion should be analysing them now. Hopefully they can find a weakness."
"And in the meantime," Han said cheerfully. "There's plenty of jobs to be done on the Falcon. Kid, Jade, Chewie could use your help. Goldenrod you shut down for a bit. Sweetheart, you're with me."
The gathering dispersed to focus on preparing the Falcon for the upcoming battle.
On the Rebel base at Yavin IV Jinn Skywalker was carefully monitoring a comm station that had been adapted to link with the Falcon, heavily encryption on both ends. Suddenly he sucked in a breath and began fiddling with the station as a file began to download on a small datastick. It took time as the transmission was not the strongest but finally the file was all there and he tapped a code through to the other end of the link before cutting it and ejecting the precious datastick.
In High Command General Skywalker sensed his son's jubilation and looked up. Padme cast a glance at him from where she was examining possible strategies for a political and propaganda response to either result of a battle with the Death Star to see her husband grinning from ear to ear and nodding at her. A moment later the door slid open and Jinn charged in, something small enclosed in his hand. She let out a breath suddenly. They had it!
Anakin took two long steps to greet his son and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"This is it?" he asked intently.
He nodded fervently and handed the small card to his father. Anakin looked at it in silence for a moment and then turned to the room. His flesh hand clenched around the card and then he addressed the gathering.
"Launch all X-Wings. Prepare for battle."
The room launched into activity and Jinn rushed out of the room as the Jedi stood in the middle of the sudden organized chaos. Anakin raised an eyebrow at them, ordering curtly.
"Briefing room B in 10 minutes Master Jedi. I expect all the Jedi there."
Windu and Kenobi nodded and left the room hurriedly, Windu calling his comlink to his hand and giving the message out to all Jedi to assemble in the given location. By the time they were all there, seated around the small room, various younger Knights having yielded their seats for the members of the Council, the atmosphere was abuzz with anticipation as the Jedi prepared to engage in their first combat mission with the Alliance.
The door slid open silently. Anakin Skywalker swept into the room, his presence filling it as he strode to the front and then turned eyeing the ranks of Jedi before him. Very few of the Jedi present had met him in person, being younglings, Padawans, or newly qualified knights before the Jedi Purge, and so had not come across the 'Hero with No Fear'. As such his physical stature and severe features commanded great awe and respect, not least his achievements during the Clone Wars or in the years since the fall of the Republic, pulling together a Rebellion out of nothing.
"We will need your best pilots," he began. "Three squadrons. Two to engage with the Empire and one to cover the fleet. Five Knights deployed to each ship in the fleet to scan for danger using the Force. You remain under the command of the captain of that ship, but they have been advised of your unique abilities. You have 10 minutes once this briefing has ended to get to your transports up to the fleet. The Council has the assigned transport list. The target is this," he pressed a button and the display behind him hummed to life. "The Empire calls it the Death Star. It is capable of destroying entire systems. This is the technical readout, captured by Princess Elena and retrieved by our operatives. The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a fire-power greater than half the star fleet. It's defences are designed around a direct large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defence." Behind him the display began to zoom in on the plans.
"A one man fighter?" Plo Koon asked.
Anakin smirked. He'd always enjoyed it when his enemies were unprepared against his form of attack. "Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat, or they'd have a tighter defence. An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Elena has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station," Anakin explained. "The Jedi squadrons will not be going for the weakness, we have another battle group who are ordered to go for it, but it is important you know of the weakness nonetheless."
Various Jedi around the room looked confused at the idea of not going for the main target but Anakin rode over the confusion and continued to explain.
"The approach will not be easy. The pilots will be required to manoeuvre straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two metres 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. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction. The shaft is ray-shielded, so the pilots will be using proton torpedoes. Your fighters have been outfitted with proton torpedoes should you need to go for the target. We do not anticipate that however. Understood?"
The Jedi nodded. Anakin ran his gaze around the room and then nodded slightly. "Then man your ships. And may the Force be with you!"
He hurried out of the room and Master Windu rose to assign the Jedi to their transports. Then they streamed out of the room to leave the base.
In the main hanger of the base there was a scene of organized chaos as pilots climbed into their X-Wings to escort the transports up to the cruisers that loomed over the planet. Technicians launched their X-Wings and then rushed to their own transports to go up to the fleet. Above several ships were already moving into hyperspace position. Out of the corner of his eye Obi-Wan caught sight of a medium-sized sleek cruiser sitting in a shadowed corner of the hanger. A figure in Alliance uniform with dark hair stood by it, unhooking various cables and they looked round, catching Obi-Wan's eye. Light reflected off their hair, revealing blonde streaks. Hope Skywalker. She grinned at him, finishing her work and then boarding the ship. There was a sudden movement beside him and Anakin's presence brushed against his affectionately.
"You're with us Master," he said. "You and Master Windu. C'mon."
"Anakin. Wait," Obi-Wan caught him by the arm as he made to stride past. He drew him a little way away from the others and looked around. "The person gunning for the target. Luke?"
Anakin darted his eyes around and then nodded once, sharply, before hurrying to the ship. Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows and followed his former Padawan to the sleek cruiser.
Only moments later Obi-Wan found himself strapped into a seat in a large cockpit, Anakin and Padme at the controls as they lifted off and swept out of the atmosphere, gliding into the hanger bay of Home One, a Mon Calamari cruiser.
Almost as soon as they touched down in the hanger the Skywalkers were unstrapping and out of the cockpit, sweeping into the main part of the ship with ease. The Jedi followed them to see the elder Skywalkers already disappearing towards the bridge, the younger ones securing the ship. Obi-Wan and Mace exchanged glances and then followed them. By the time they made it onto the bridge Anakin was ordering the fleet into hyperspace. The stars shuddered and bent around them as the Rebel Fleet leapt into hyperspace to confront the Empire properly on the field of battle for the first time.
In the system of Scarif, several parsecs away and out of the sensor range of the Empire, the Millennium Falcon dropped out of hyperspace and darted behind a moon.
"Prepare to engage cloaking device," Han said, his eyes fixed on the control panel.
"Ready," Leia said from behind him.
"Engage."
She pressed down on a lever and the Falcon flickered out of view. Anakin Skywalker, with the help of Han, Chewbacca and his three eldest children, had installed a miniature version of his cloaking device in the Falcon, and boosted the Falcon's power so they could use it without shutting down other ship systems.
"We've vanished to all sensors," Luke said quietly.
"Alright then," Han said, reaching for the controls. "Here goes nothing."
The Falcon soared out from behind the moon and accelerated towards the Death Star.