Confidence. Confidence. Confidence. Leia repeated the word over and over to herself as she stepped into the lift, sending it to level 30. Briefly, she recalled her father's advice before her first Senate hearing. She was the most junior member on the committee, relegated to the far side of the dais and mistaken more than once for a young page before the chair gaveled the proceedings into order. "Confidence," her father had said, "Is unfortunately more important in these settings than knowledge. Though I know you'll bring both to bear, my dearest. You must have absolute faith in your words and actions." He had been right. While Leia prided herself on doing her research, she also had learned to bluff with the best. She could do this.

The lift opened directly into an anteroom outside the hangar. She'd used the short ride to fit the helmet over her head and then tuck the stray wisps of hair away, using the reflective metallic walls as a mirror. Catching a fuzzy glimpse of herself before hiding her face behind the enormous helmet and breathing apparatus, she winced. The swelling had gone done, but a circle of black the size of an apple stretched from her eyebrow down her cheek. The tendrils of the angry red burn that ran up her neck met the bruise at her ear, a hideous mockery of some ancient war paint. Fastening the mask, she looked up and nearly jumped through the ceiling as the black cyborg figure reflected back at her. She took a calming breath, steeling herself for her next move and vowing to get this thing off as quickly as possible.

The anteroom had a control desk manned by a pair of non-comms, who were both standing to get a better view out the open hangar door for an occasional glimpse of a TIE fighter whizzing by. Leia sucked in her breath and marched forward towards the door to the hangar.

"Where's the rest of your wing?" one of them called over to her, starting to look in her direction before he was distracted by the sight of two TIEs zipping straight up perpendicular to the equator of the station. Leia continued to walk forward, pointing a silent thumb back over her shoulder in hopes of suggesting that the rest of the pilots were just behind her. A hail of green blaster bolts and the blur of a small snub fighter stopped her in her tracks.

It was an X-wing.

Bursting through the door to the hangar, she ran to one of the waiting fighters, whispering a brief thanksgiving to every deity she'd ever heard of that it already powered up. One of the non-comms followed her out, shouting.

"Wait, we need to check you out. Wait for the rest of your wing!"

Leia was too close now to stop. She pulled herself up the ladder into the fighter, searching frantically for the door control as he grew closer. Cursing, she slapped a button, but all it did was adjust the pitch of the seat. Fine- she had some more crude options.

The non-com's head poked up through the door. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked. "We're under orders for no more launches."

"I guess I'm not very good at obeying orders," responded Leia, bringing up one of the blasters she'd taken off the dead pilot and aiming at his face. The man blanched.

"Who the…" The bolt hit him square between the eyes, and he fell backwards onto the hangar floor.

As his partner saw the flash of the blaster and shouted, reaching with one hand for his comlink and the other for the control that would close off the hangar, Leia finally remembered where the standard fighter door control was and slammed her hand against it. The cockpit sealed with a whoosh of air and the little fighter bounced into flight. Confidence, she told herself again, shoving the stick forward to race out of the rapidly closing hangar. With a roll that came within inches of knocking one of the wings against the door, she burst out into open space.

After the stress and uncertainty of the preceding week, Vader found that flying in a pitched and deadly battle was exactly the outlet he needed. The Rebels were putting up decent competition, using the trenches built into the outer hull of the Death Star for cover as they made glancing runs at the various tower cannons. In the distance, his display showed a few freighters hanging back, presumably to dash in and attempt boarding to rescue the princess. He marked them for the other TIE pilots on the display, calling for a general alert should they move closer to the Death Star.

The mass shadow of the Death Star was creating some havoc with his display, making it hard to monitor the action on the far side of the station. He saw a brief blip indicating the approach of an X wing, then another, then another. Within seconds a full squadron had appeared in formation heading towards the surface.

"Sir." Bast approached Tarkin quietly, "We've analyzed their attack, and there is some risk. Shall I prepare your shuttle?"

"Evacuate? No." Tarkin scoffed. He thought for a moment . "Let's give these rebel scum a bit of a surprise. Move us out of orbit towards DS-2. I'm sure they might be interested in testing some of their smaller long range weapons."

"Are you sure?" Bast was not one to fear questioning his superiors. "I don't know if we have enough time to do the necessary calculations to keep us from colliding."

"We will only stay in that orbit briefly," Tarkin reassured him. "Once they've cleared these pests off, we can return to our work."

Nodding, Bast gave the order.

"All units, heads up." Dodonna furrowed his brow in confusion as he activated the comm. "Target appears to be moving. Bearing point-oh-eight."

"What are they doing now?" Bail murmured, watching the image of the Death Star inching slowly across the display.

"Probably heading out of the system," Solo called over his shoulder as he gently maneuvered the Falcon to keep the Death Star in view. "Maybe you scared them." Chewbacca barked a sharp rebuke at him.

"They're headed in the direction of the second station," Obi Wan's voice came over the comm. "Perhaps they are trying to bolster their defenses."

"Which just might work for them," Dodonna added glumly. "We need to accelerate our attack run. Blue Leader, report on tower defenses!"

"Got fourteen of them with ion cannons near the target," Blue Leader responded tightly, "Heavy fire here. At least a squadron, maybe two of TIES."

"Pull back, Blue and Green Squadron. Red Squadron, you're on. Blue and Green, watch their backs and keep up the ion bombardment behind them in case we need a second run."

"You hear that, Reds," Dreis said. "Move 'em out! And don't forget the rendezvous after we blow this thing- we're not gonna be done yet."

As they had planned, the twelve X-wings formed up into an arrow shape with Dreis at the point. Luke glanced over to his right, where Biggs gave him a quick salute. Then, shoving down the throttle, they dove into the trench.

Leia finally got her TIE to stop rocking and carefully tried the throttle again. This time, she managed to move it away from the Death Star in a smooth line, catching a wide view of the space around her. Below, she saw an unfamiliar green planet with no indications of developments or civilizations. The stars beyond were arranged into formations she'd never seen, but the smeared line of white stars deep in the sky indicated they were somewhere on the outer rim. In the other direction, the Death Star still loomed. She turned her ship to see if she could find out where the X wing had gone, and was horrified to see an Alliance Y-wing burst into a flaming explosion only a few kilometers away from her. She looked down at the monitor embedded in the dashboard in front of her, and saw that dozens of ships marked "enemy" danced around the surface of the Death Star. Had they come for her? Or could she even dare to hope that they had attacked with knowledge of how to destroy the evil machine?

She nearly screamed aloud when Vader's voice suddenly echoed through her small cockpit. "All wings, follow me towards sector BB. We believe they may be targeting the exhaust port."

She saw the lines of TIES break off their dogfights and head screaming around to the other side of the station, following a bent wing TIE Advanced. Vader, she thought, shaking. Every instinct in her screamed to flee, to get away even if it killed her. But if they were targeting the exhaust port, did that mean they had found a way to damage or destroy the station?

So many had already died to bring the Alliance to this moment, Leia thought. The team on Toprawa, her crew from the Tantive. She owed it to them to see it through. Gripping the controls as though she was hanging on for her life, Leia followed the rest of the TIEs towards the battle.

Thankfully, Luke found that the Death Star was large enough that he was able to easily deal with its forward motion while also avoiding crashing into the trench walls. His display showed the distance to the target was dropping maddeningly slowly, as the X wings zoomed at full throttle towards the miniscule port. He, Biggs, Wedge Antilles, and Jek Porkins covered Dreis as the rest of the squadron hovered above, clearing out TIEs that screamed in at them from the opposite horizon.

Closer, closer. Luke felt a drop of sweat trickling down his nose. He heard Dreis's breathing over the comm.

"I have a visual! Stay on target!" Dreis shouted with glee. There was an audible click over the comm as Red Leader activated his torpedo. "Stay on target! And, away!" On the mark, the remaining rebel fighters pulled back into open space, with the TIEs in close pursuit.

"Report!" shouted Dodonna, as all but one of the occupants of the Falcon pressed up against the viewport to see if they could catch of glimpse of what was happening.

"Negative." Dreis allowed a hint of defeat into his voice. "Just scratched the surface. We'll have to…evasive!"

A squealing and crackling over the comm indicated the loss of another ship. "There's too many of them! Red Seven, behind you!" They could only listen in horror as Red Squadron fled the onslaught of Imperial fighters. "Red Six, pull up!"

"Red Leader, we have to make another run," Dodonna said.

Gritting his teeth, Dreis dove back towards the surface of the Death Star. "All wings report in!"

"Red Two!" Antilles called as he shot a TIE off Luke's tail.

"Red Three!" Biggs was already heading behind Dreis.

A pause. Nothing from Red Four.

"Red Five." Luke was somber.

A long silence.

"Red Eight….Red Twelve."

"We're down to six," Dreis told Dodonna. "All wings, form up and cover me." They dove down for another run. "How many bogies?"

"Looks like at least twelve," Dodonna told him. "And watch out for that TIE Advanced coming in at point-oh-three above you."

"What TIE Adva…." Crackle. Crackle.

"We've lost Red Leader and Red Twelve!" As Red Two, Wedge was now in command. "Red Five, think you can hit it?"

"Just like nailing womp rats back home," Luke responded. "Cover me!"

As Tarkin had suspected, the squadrons of TIE fighters were more than adequate to take out the small fleet of rebels. Still, he appreciated Bast's caution. "Once the fighter wings are fully destroyed, I'll send over orders for them to take out those freighters," he explained. "But let's wait…I want to see if they try to engage."

As they drew closer to the second Death Star, Tarkin admired the view into the interior of the engineering marvel. The second design was far more sophisticated than the weapon he currently commanded, taking advantage of advancements in material science, quantum physics, and high energy laser design in the past two decades. He imagined a galaxy where the Empire boasted enough of the superweapons to keep order from one side of the galaxy to the other.

Vader smiled as much as his scarred skin would allow as yet another X-wing exploded into shrapnel above the Death Star. Only three remained now, each deep in the trench taking them towards the exhaust port. His two wingmates clicked their comms to acknowledge him, awaiting commands.

"I'll go after the leader," Vader told them.

Deep in the trench, the adrenaline buzzed through Luke's body like electricity. Silently, he watched as the distance to the target shrank. He knew there were TIEs behind him, and could only trust Biggs and Wedge to keep him safe as he concentrated on the mission ahead.

Then, blasts shot out. He heard a cry from Wedge. "I'm hit!" Holding his breath, he glanced down and saw that Red Two's designation was still on his computer. His friend was disabled, but not destroyed. "Get out of here, Red Two. You can't do any more good." Wedge peeled up and away, not wanting to distract the other pilots. "Sorry!" he called, disappearing into the distance.

The TIE fighters kept their focus on Biggs and Luke. One of the TIEs fired, and Luke's ship shook violently. "Artoo?" he called tentatively, slowing slightly. Then, panicked, "I've lost Artoo!"

"Pull out!" ordered Dodonna.

"Negative," responded Luke, shocking himself slightly with his own assertiveness. "I've got it locked down." He shoved down the throttle again and sped towards his target.

"Luke." His teacher's voice suddenly echoed loud in the small cockpit. Luke clicked his comm to start to acknowledge before realizing that Kenobi wasn't talking to him through the comm system. "Use the Force, Luke."

Hardly even realizing he was doing so, Luke reached up and switched off the targeting computer that showed the location of the port. Suddenly, his awareness was all around him, no longer confined to the numbers and grids appearing on the small screen in front of him.

"Red Five, you've switched off your targeting computer," Hudsol said. "What's going on?"

Next to Hudsol, Obi Wan breathed a sigh of relief that Luke had listened to him. The boy had no chance in hitting such a small target unless he allowed the Force to take over.

"It's okay. Beginning final attack run now." Luke's voice was tinny over the comm.

Leia finally reached the site of the battle in time to see one X-wing limp away and two more dive back in for another run at their target. Vader's TIE Advance was closing in on them. In desperation, Leia shoved her throttle forward and followed.

Breha finally emerged from her hermitage in the far rear of the Falcon when she heard the shout of concern for Luke. "What's happening?" she asked her husband, still refusing to look directly at the monstrous space station looming in front of them.

"He's making an attack run."

She looked down at the display. "There's only one other fighter out there backing him up!"

Han turned around. "I'm sure he'll…." Chewbacca, Breha, and Bail all turned to glare at him.

"What I was going to say," he grumbled, as he shifted the Falcon's engines to full power, "Is that I'm sure he'll appreciate it if we give him a hand." Damn Kid.

Vader pulled closer to the two X-wings, waiting for the precise moment that he was close enough to strike. Then he frowned, noticing a something interesting about the pilot ahead.

"The Force is strong in this one," he murmured. Such a shame to shoot him down. Vader's thoughts wandered briefly back to the young princess lying comatose in the infirmary. When this was done, he decided he would go to her immediately and see if he could wake her.

Closer, closer. Shots rang out from the TIE to Vader's right, destroying the trailing X-wing.

"I have you now," Vader said aloud. He aimed for the rear engine compartment, intending instant death.

A flash of light briefly blanked out his instruments, and he pulled up just in time to avoid the debris field left as the TIE next to him exploded.

"Yeehaw!" called out Solo as he knocked off the first TIE fighter coming after Luke. Aiming the Falcon downwards, he plunged towards the trench, intending to rush the TIE Advanced and fire with the front laser turrets.

Unfortunately for Solo, Vader was not so easily defeated. His alarm wailed as it neared the surface of the Death Star.

"You will never take her away from me," he growled under his breath, aiming at the Falcon and depressing the missile launch. The freighter bucked under the assault and its navigation dish fell away, shattering as it slammed into the Death Star's hull. Pulling up, the freighter backed out of the fight as quickly as it had appeared.

"Now." Vader wheeled around, heading back towards the X-wing. He dove at a steep angle, intending to head the rebel off before he could get to the final target.

The Force swirled around Luke, looking like a whirlpool that drained right into the spot that captured his full focus. He just needed another second, he thought, as his mind registered the TIE fighter roaring down from above him.

Then, a hail of laser blasts. Were it not for his steep descent, Vader could have used his momentum to continue towards his target, but the gravity of the Death Star started him spinning out of control. Trying to identify the source of the attack as he whizzed out of control away from the station, Vader could see nothing but a lone TIE fighter dashing for open space.

Luke fired. His eyes closed, he envisioned the bolt of energy entering the port as he pulled up and away. Smashing atoms, sending more and more protons and electrons to heat the elements within the reactor core until finally…boom.