"Well, damn."
Lieutenant Penzee, who had his back to General Claveur as he passed instructions to the gunnery commander, turned at this uncharacteristically blunt statement from his superior. A blinding flash of light brought shouts from across the room before he could respond. Gripping the control panel in front of him, Penzee watched as an enormous blast ripped through the original Death Star, the hull shattering. Speechless, the crew froze as the enormity of the view in front of them sunk in.
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"All units retreat to rendezvous point!" Dodonna shouted into the comm. Then, he turned to Solo. "Can we make it?"
"Yeah," responded Solo tightly, "But I don't know how much we'll be able to do after that." He turned to Chewbacca. "I need you to double check our bearings manually until I can get some instruments back up."
Dodonna had already turned back to the communications array, which thankfully had survived the onslaught from the TIE Advanced that had attacked them. "Hudsol, how many pilots do you have left?"
"Green squadron has four, Blue has three, and Red has one; two if we can wrangle up a spare ship for Red Two."
"That doesn't give us much to work with to take out that other station," Dodonna mused. "What readings have you got from that thing?"
"Bigger," said Hudsol, "Not sure if any of the weapons are operational, but I'm going to venture a guess that at least some of the surface guns are working. It looked like they were trying to lure our fighters into range. The whole thing is shielded, but the generator is actually planet-based."
"Sir! Red Two here." Wedge's voice broke in, tinny.
"What is it, Red Two?"
"Well, sir, I've got a good view from up here and if we can just take out the shield generator quick, I think the rest will be taken care of."
Dodonna shrugged. "Hudsol, do you have the location of the generator?"
"Affirmative."
"Okay, transmit to all units. Let's hit it with ion cannons. Red Two, I hope you're right."
Looking out the viewport, Dodonna could see the tiny blips of light that were the heavy freighters and Y-wings dipping towards the green moon, disappearing behind the rapidly spreading cloud of debris from the destroyed space station. Grimacing, Dodonna pondered their next move if this didn't work. Unfortunately, retreat seemed like to be the best, and only, choice. At least they had taken out the fully functional weapon.
The rendezvous point they'd established was on the far side of the moon from the Death Star's orbit, but Solo stopped short, rotating the Falcon so they could observe the progress of their fellow Rebels. The cockpit had gone silent.
"Hawkbat, come in!" An excited voice over the radio startled them.
"Lu…I mean, Red Five! Are you okay, buddy?"
"Hell yeah!" Luke crowed.
"Don't get excited yet, Kid," Solo told him, chuckling. "Job's only half done."
"Where is everybody? My comms system went out when I put the targeting computer back on."
"Heading planetside. Trying to take out the shield on bogey number 2."
"What? I'll go…"
"No." Dodonna broke in firmly. "We need you to hold back in case we need another fighter assault after the shield goes down. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Clearly Luke wasn't happy, but he was done with disobeying orders. For the moment.
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Obi Wan strapped himself into a seat as his heavy freighter, the Calyon Nebula, suddenly dove towards the surface of the forested moon. He'd half listened in to the conversation between Hudsol and Dodonna as he fought to maintain composure in the face of the hundreds of thousands of screaming, dying voices that echoed through his mind. He was no stranger to death, even mass death, but the suddenness and violence that ripped apart the lives of those on the Death Star was beyond any experience he'd ever had during the Clone Wars. Focusing more deeply, he reached out, trying to find Luke's presence in the chaos.
"General Kenobi." Hudsol's voice startled him. "Can you join the gunners in the cockpit? Your skills could be useful."
Obi Wan nodded, unbuckling his crash webbing and walking unsteadily to the front of the ship. He sat down next to a young woman who quickly pointed out the targeting equipment before turning back to her own station.
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Claveur's attention had turned to preservation of his own station within seconds, as first the blast wave and then chunks of debris began hammering the shield protecting the fragile hull. "Have the shield team increase power in the left hemisphere! And get us some backup!"
Holding his breath, he watching the sparks as more and more pieces of the destroyed station smashed into the shield. Most of the pieces were undecipherable twisted hunks of metal, but occasionally a computer terminal or even a recognizable piece of a shuttle or TIE fighter appeared, burnt black.
"Sir!" Penzee looked up from the comm station where he was relaying orders down to the shield generator station. "Shield gen reports they are under rebel attack!"
"Deploy all fighter wings!" Sweat appeared on Claveur's bald head.
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"TIEs incoming!" In spite of himself, Obi Wan looked up, searching the skies for their pursuers. They were skimming the treetops en route to the shield generator, close enough to bend the tops of the tall conifers in their wake. He reached out with his senses, trying to find the shield generator among the muddle of life on the moon below.
"Target dead ahead," the pilot announced, "Fire on my mark."
Gripping the controls, Obi Wan took a calming breath. It had been so long since he'd been in combat…he shouldn't be here, he thought. He was supposed to be protecting Luke, nothing more. He'd promised Master Yoda, after the Jedi had, somewhat uncharacteristically, asked to reflect before accepting the order to take responsibility for the tiny baby boy. Bail had already left with little Leia, heading for Alderaan and home, and Yoda cuddled and shushed the boy as he wailed, little hands waving. He'd begun crying as soon as his sister was taken from the room, and Obi Wan found himself shaking as the cries increased in intensity. He could still hear Anakin's screams, burned into his mind by the brimstone of Mustafar. Almost unconsciously, he pressed his hands to his ears, trying to muffle the baby's shrieks as they echoed through the room.
"Strong he is," Yoda said calmly, bringing a gnarled finger to Luke's forehead, "Ready are you for this responsibility? Your only mission, his safety is."
"Yes, Master," Obi Wan said, embarrassed by his reaction to the baby. "I'm sorry, Master. I never realized a baby could be so loud."
Yoda chuckled as Luke finally began to calm, whimpering lightly and then snuffling around the old Jedi's robes. He began pecking his head up and down against Yoda's chest like a baby bird. "Find what you seek you will not, young Luke," Yoda told him as he beckoned a nurse droid over. "Hungry he is."
The droid took Luke, expertly slipping a bottle into his mouth, and Yoda gestured to Obi Wan to sit next to him.
"Time to heal you need."
"I know, Master."
"Seclude yourself, you will. To his family, take the boy. Watch him grow, you will. When the time is right, teach him what he needs to know."
"But when should I begin his training?" Obi Wan asked, his failure with Anakin once again looming fresh in his mind.
"Present itself to you, the right time will."
"But what if something happens to me, or to him?" Yoda glared at Obi Wan, annoyed at the hint of desperation edging into the younger Jedi's voice.
"Said you are able to protect him, you did." Yoda was firm. "Let the Force guide you, you must."
"Fire!" The order brought Obi Wan back to the present, and instinctively he pulled his trigger. A burst of ion blasts bounced off the thick metal of the building, the energy dissipating into the ground.
"Nothing," Hudsol reported, looking down at the sensor readouts. He looked up, watching as the second heavy freighter dove forward, raining blasts. They too had no success. "Let's make another run."
Three TIEs screamed in from above, their telltale wail audible in the thick atmosphere. The Nebula returned fire, hitting one of the ships directly and knocking another into one of the enormous trees. Another wing of TIEs swarmed the other freighter, which pulled away to try to draw them further from the rebels' target.
The Nebula rocked as the remaining TIE scored a direct hit on her engine. The interior lights flashed as the pilot struggled to keep her on course.
"Report?" Dodonna's voice echoed through the comms system. "Any progress? We don't have much longer before we'll have to abandon this strategy."
"We can't crack the building," Hudsol responded. "Taking anoth…" The comm cut out completely as the TIE hit them again.
"One more hit and we're done for!" the pilot called back urgently.
Hudsol joined him in the cockpit, looking up at the under construction Death Star visible in the distance. They were so close….the ship shook again.
"We've lost power in the primary engines!" the pilot yelled. "We're going down!" The crew began to scream as the ship suddenly descended into the trees.
Placing a warm hand on the sobbing gunner next to him, Obi Wan suddenly stood, closing his eyes. The Force was so strong here, surrounding the trees, the small beings that he could sense were watching the battle with trepidation from the canopy. Luke, he thought, reaching again for the boy. This time he found him, waiting far off planet and frantic with a mix of anticipation and pride and fear.
"Ben…." He heard the boy respond faintly in his mind.
"Be strong, Luke. The Force will be with you, always."
"Ben? Ben!"
Straining his abilities, Obi Wan let his whole consciousness drop into the Force. The ship was dropping quickly, relentlessly towards the ground. The Jedi envisioned the Force as a hand, steering them….
The ship shifted, and Hudsol looked up, catching Obi Wan's eye at the last second before the ship and its passengers were obliterated as they smashed into the structure housing the shield generator, smashing it into oblivion.