The Apprentice
Luke followed Sabine down the Falcon's ramp and onto the Rebels landing field, a small crowd awaited them.
"Hera!" Sabine broke into a run when she saw a green Twi'lek, Luke was taken aback and glanced at Han, it was the first time either have them had heard any warmth in the Mandalorians voice. Hera seemed just as surprised as them as the Sabine threw her arms around her.
"Hey." The Twi'lek smiled as she pulled Sabine closer, "it's alright, your home now." Hera frowned over Sabines shoulder. "Where's Leia?"
"Ezra got her." Hera sighed as they broke apart, "we feared the worst when we heard about Alderaan, the Galaxy takes far more than it gives."
"I have the plans." There was a collective gasp of relief from the Rebels, "but we have to be quick, they tracked us here." Hera grinned.
"That means we know exactly where it's going to be and when, if we can find Erso's weakness we might just have a chance at destroying that thing." Hera frowned as she glanced over Sabines shoulder. "Who are your friends?" Sabine glanced over her shoulder, Luke waved nervously back as Han sighed exasperatedly, Chewie growled a greeting.
"The kid is Luke Skywalker, the other two are a couple of mercenaries he and Obi-Wan hired to help get the plans to the Rebels."
"Mercenaries who want to be paid." Han muttered sarcastically, Hera rolled her eyes.
"We'll see to that." The Twi'leks gaze lingered on Luke, then she glanced at the tall man who was stood next to her, Luke glanced at his belt, his eyes widened when he saw the lightsaber attached to it. "I think you two should have a word." The Twi'lek turned to Sabine. "Come on, we have to analyse the data." Sabine nodded.
"Right, come on Artoo." The astromech whistled merrily as he pushed passed Han and rolled after Sabine and Hera, Threepio hurried to keep up.
"Exciting is hardly the word I would have used." The droids followed the Twi'lek and the Mandalorian into the base.
"How's the fleet?" Hera shook her head.
"We have about thirty fighters that are in fit state to fight, we're still waiting for reinforcements from the Inner Core so we can't evacuate." The Twi'lek glanced over at Sabine, "Anything else happen?"
"Galen's alive." Hera froze in her tracks and turned to face Sabine.
"How did you know?" Sabine frowned.
"He attacked Leia's ship, how did you know?" Hera shook her head.
"He's locked up here." Sabine looked confused.
"Seriously? How did you catch him? Did Ezra send him to attack the base?" Hera shook her head.
"He arrived with Raddus and Juno after the battle and willingly surrendered himself." Hera raised an eyebrow. "He might actually have been telling the truth."
"The truth about what?" Hera gave Sabine a sideways look, then sighed tiredly.
"He claims Remnous cloned him, Kanan said he felt a disturbance in the Force at Scarif and Galen can't have been in two places at once, Raddus and his crew swear he's been with them since they abandoned the Profundity." Sabine frowned and rubbed the spot on her arm where Li had drawn blood.
"Do you think we can trust him?"
"Admiral Raddus certainly seems to think so, and he's doing a good job of convincing the council."
"But what do you think?" Hera pursed her lips as she thought.
"I don't know, I believe that he's changed, maybe I can learn to trust him, but I'll never forgive him."
##
The Death Star came out of hyperspace next to the Yavin system. In the conference room, Tarkin kept a wary eye on Starkiller as he felt the deck-plates shudder slightly, signifying they'd dropped out of hyperspace. The Assassin hadn't said a word or removed his helmet, he'd simply stood quietly to one side, Tarkin far preferred his company to Remnous's. The intercom on the conference table beeped, Tarkin pressed a button to answer it.
"We have arrived at the planet Yavin, the Rebel base is on a moon on the far side, we are preparing to orbit the planet."
##
The pilots the Rebels planned to send against the Death Star had been hand picked by the Rebel leadership and included some of the finest pilots to serve in the Alliance, including Dutch Vander, Wedge Antilles, Garven Dreis and Keyan Farlander. Blue Squadron had been annihilated at Scarif, so the burden would have to fall on Red Squadron and Gold Squadron.
General Hera Syndulla lead the briefing, Luke squirmed uncomfortably in the front row, he felt more than a little out of place. Kanan had insisted to Hera that he be assigned to the attack, the Jedi and the Twi'lek had had a quiet conversation to one side and to Luke's surprise, Hera had agreed to let him join the mission.
"The battle station is heavily shielded and carries more firepower than half the Star fleet." Behind Hera, a screen came to life, showing a three-dimensional projection of the Death Stars schematics. "The Empire designed this things defences with a direct large-scale assault in mind, meaning a one-man fighter can get through the flak field of its turbo lasers." In the corner Chewie glanced at Han, the smuggler knew what the look meant, the Falcons hyperdrive gave it speed comparable to an X-Wing, they could get through too. Han shook his head and nodded at the screen.
"Ugh, pardon me for asking General." One of the pilots raised a tentative hand.
"You don't have to raise your hand Wedge." A quiet chuckle rippled around the briefing room, Wedge put his hand down.
"What good's a snub fighter going to do against that thing?" Hera smiled.
"I'm glad you asked that, we analysed the data Commander Wren brought us and found the weakness Galen Erso built into the Death Star." The screen zoomed in on a section of the stations hull. "According to the schematics, there's a thermal exhaust port at the end of this trench that is linked directly to the main reactor." The screen showed a reconstruction of the trench. "The target area is only two meters wide and ray shielded, so only proton torpedoes will be able to get through." The pilot next to Luke shook his head.
"That's impossible, even for a computer." Luke nudged him on the arm with his elbow.
"It's not impossible, I used to bullseye wamp rats with my tee-sixteen back home and they're not much more than two meters across."
"If there are no other questions?" Hera glanced questioningly around the room, after a moment of silence the Twi'lek nodded. "Then man your ships, and may the Force be with you."
##
Tarkin strode onto the Death Stars command deck, Starkiller followed a few steps behind me. Admiral Motti glanced up from his console and raised an eyebrow.
"Am I correct in assuming the venerable 'Lord' Remnous has taken his leave?" Tarkin smirked and nodded.
"Indeed, his Assassin is far better mannered than his Master." The Grand Moff frowned and glanced around the command deck. "Where is General Tagge?"
"I assumed he was with you Sir." Tarkin stroked his chin.
"No matter, this is a Naval matter, best left in the hands of the Admiralty, how goes our progress?" Motti gestured to one of the terminals.
"We are orbiting the planet at maximum velocity, the moon with the Rebel Base will be in range in thirty minutes." Tarkin smirked.
"This shall be a historic day for the Empire."
##
"All pilots to your stations. All pilots to your stations." Luke jogged down a small flight of steps into the fighter hanger, the padawan grinned as he took in the rows of X-Wings and Y-Wings. The smile slipped as he saw Han and Chewie loading metal boxes onto a speeder, the boxes were full of precious metals. Han had insisted on a payment equal to what Luke and Obi-Wan had promised despite the pleas from the Rebel leadership, they were desperately short on funds and materials as it was.
"So, you got your reward and you're just leaving then?" Han set a box on the speeder before turning to Luke.
"Yeah, that's right." The smuggler picked up another box. "I've got some old debts I've got to pay off with this stuff." Hand set the box down on the speeder and picked up another one. "Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be foolish enough to stick around here do ya?" Luke rolled his eyes as Han set down the box. "Why don't you come with us? You're pretty good in a fight, we could use ya."
"Come on. Why don't you take a look around?" Luke gestured around the hanger, "you know what's going to happen, what they're up against." Han scowled and picked up another box. "They could use a good pilot like you, you're turning your back on them."
"What good's a reward if you ain't around to use it? Besides, attacking that battle station ain't my idea of courage, more like." Han made a face as he thought for a moment, stupid wasn't the right word. "Suicide." Luke nodded.
"Alright. Well, take care of yourself Han." The Jedi turned on his heels, "I guess that's what you're best at." Han looked up as Luke was walking away.
"Hey Luke." The Jedi paused and looked back. "May the Force be with you." Luke took one last look at the smuggler before walking away, Chewie growled lowly. "What are you looking at? I know what I'm doing."
Kanan was waiting for him next to his X-Wing, the Jedi Master was having a spirited chat with Artoo as the astromech was fitted into the fighter.
"Master Jarrus?"
"Kanan's fine." The Jedi examined Luke curiously.
"I wanted to thank you again for getting me onto this mission." Luke glanced up at the X-Wing, "it means a lot." Kanan shook his head.
"If you're half the pilot your father was, they'll need you up there."
"You knew my father?"
"Only by reputation." Kanan rubbed the back of his head, "listen, Luke, there's something you need to know about you father…" Luke frowned curiously.
"What?" Kanan sighed and shook his head.
"I'll tell you when you get back, you'll need a clear head up there."
"Alright…" Luke shrugged as Kanan patted his shoulder.
"May the Force be with you." One of the technicians fitting Artoo glanced down at Luke as Kanan left.
"Hey, this Artoo unit is pretty banged up, you want a new one?" Luke shook his head.
"Not on your life, that little droid and I have been through a lot together, you alright Artoo?" The astromech beeped merrily in response. Luke was starting to climb the first few rungs of his loading ladder when a voice behind him called out.
"Luke!" Luke glanced around for the source of the call, he grinned when he saw who it came from.
"Biggs!" He jumped off the ladder as Biggs ran to greet him
"I don't believe it, how are ya? You coming up?"
"I'll be right up there with you and do I have stories for you!" Biggs grinned.
"I bet, how you got your uncle to let you off that dust bowl must be quite the tale." Luke's smile slipped.
"Actually, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were…" Biggs's smile vanished in an instant.
"I'm so sorry to hear that." Luke shrugged. "Hey, we'll hear all your stories when we get back." Biggs slapped Luke on the arm. "It'll be just like old time Luke, they'll never stop us."
##
Red and Gold Squadrons flew through space towards the Death Star. Garven Dreis opened his comm line to the squadron.
"All wings report in."
"Red Ten, standing by."
"Red Seven, standing by." Biggs adjusted a few instruments on his dash board.
"Red Three, standing by." Porkins grimaced as a readout appeared on one of his computer screens.
"Red Six, Standing by."
"Red Nine, standing by." Wedge gulped nervously as the Death Star filled his cockpit's view port, this time in the Imperial flight academy had taught him the cold truth about the Empire's tyranny, but he'd never imagined they'd be cruel enough to build something like this.
"Red Two, standing by."
"Red Eleven, standing by."
"Here we go Artoo," Luke readjusted some of his instrumentation and readjusted himself in his seat. "Red Five, standing by."
"Lock s foils in attack position." The upper and lower wings of the X-Wings separated, locking the fighters into their namesake position. "We're passing through the magnetic field, hold tight!" The fighters rocked violently as their pilots struggled to hold them steady. "Switch your deflectors on, double front!"
"Look at the size of that thing!"
"Cut the chatter Red Two." Dreis's voice was stern. "Accelerate to attack speed, this is it boys!" The fighters banked downwards towards the Death Star.
"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader." A squadron of Y-Wings flew alongside Dreis's X-Wing.
"I hear you Gold Leader."
"We're starting for the target shaft now."
"We're in position, alright Red Squadron, you're on me, let's keep those batteries busy." The X-Wings and the Y-Wings broke off from each other as each squad went about their task. The lighter, more manoeuvrable X-Wings banked downwards, drawing the fire of the turbo laser batteries as the slower Y-Wings approached the trench.
"Heavy fire boss, twenty-three degrees."
"I see it Red Two, stay low."
##
"What is the meaning of this!" Tarkin roared at the command deck, "what is the point of all of this," Tarkin gestured around the room, "if we can't crush thirty tiny fighters?!" Motti shook his head.
"They're small and fast enough to evade our turbo lasers." Tarkin scowled.
"Well what do you propose we do about it?" Motti thought for a moment, it looked like a lot of effort.
"We'll have to destroy them ship to ship, I'll order the pilots to their fighters."
##
"Cover me Porkins." Biggs banked sharply to the starboard side, Porkins in close pursuit.
"I'm with you Red Three!" The two X-Wings banked towards one of the turbo-laser towers, both let off a volley of canon fire. The shots struck the base of the tower, which smoked profusely for a few seconds before exploding. Porkins frowned as he felt his fighter shudder. "Hey, I've got a problem here." Biggs glanced over at Porkins X-Wing.
"Eject!"
"I can hold it."
"Pull up!"
"No, I'm alright-" The words were barely out of Porkins mouth before his cockpit was filled with sparks. Biggs pulled away as his X-Wing exploded. Luke and Biggs fell into formation together as they descended on the battle station to make another attack run on the gun batteries.
"Luke, trust your feelings." The Jedi frowned and glanced around his cockpit, Obi-Wan?
"Squad leaders?" Hera's voice filled the Rebels headsets. "We're picking up incoming signals, enemy fighters." Luke frowned at his instrumentation.
"My scopes negative, I don't see anything." Dreis adjusted his scanners.
"Pick up your visual scanning." Biggs adjusted his own scanner and glanced around nervously. "Here they come!" Dozens of TIE fighters descended on the Rebel Squadron, Red Nine was quickly caught in the cross fire and destroyed. Luke swung his fighter around.
"Biggs you got one on you!"
"I can't see him!" Biggs broke away from the formation and weaved through the gun batteries, the TIE fighter followed closely behind him. "He's on me too tight, I can't shake him!"
"I'll be right there!" Luke banked sharply downwards and dived towards Biggs and his pursuer, drawing up on their level, the Jedi opened fire.
##
"Grand Moff Tarkin." Motti frowned as he looked up from his instrumentation. "Several fighters have broken off from the main group."
"I'll deal with them." The crew of the command deck turned to stare at Starkiller, it was the first time he'd said anything. The Sith Assassin, unfazed by their stares, swept off the command deck.
##
"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader, we're beginning our attack run." Three Y-Wings rolled over gracefully in space down into the trench. "The exhaust port is marked and locked in." Turrets up and down the trench swivelled into attack position and began to fire on the three old fighters. "Switch all power to front deflectors, how many guns are would you say Gold Three?"
"I'd say about twenty, some on the surface some on the towers." The Y-wings flew up, their speed and size allowing them to avoid the laser fire.
"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader, I'm switching to targeting computer."
"Computer's locked, getting a signal." Gold Three peered at his instrumentation, then frowned and looked up, all at once the gun turrets had stopped firing. "The guns, they've stopped."
"Stabilize your rear deflectors and watch out for enemy fighters." Gold Leader glanced down at one of his consoles as he aimed with his targeting computer.
"They're coming in. Three marks at two-ten!" Three advanced TIE fights were advancing up the trench towards them. "Hold formation boys."
"It's no good, I can't maneuverer." The head TIE fighter opened fire, Gold Three was quickly picked off.
"Stay on target!" Gold Leader shook his head
"We're too close."
"Stay on target!" Gold Five glanced over at Gold Leader just in time to see his Y-Wing explode.
"Gold Five to Red Leader, lost Tiree and Hutch." Dreis grimaced, Red Squadron had taken a beating too, they were down to six fighters.
"I copy Gold Leader."
"They came from behind!" The newly anointed Gold Leaders signal was cut off as his Y-Wing exploded
##
Aboard the Death Star, Moradmin Bast hurried onto the command deck. Grand Moff Tarkin stood calmly in the centre of the room, his gaze fixed pointedly at Yavin IV. Bast discretely made his way to Tarkins shoulder.
"We've analysed their attack sir, and there is a danger." Tarkin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Should I have your ship standing by sir?"
"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?" Tarkin shook his head. "I think you overestimate their chances."
"Rebel Base three minutes and closing."
##
Dreis sighed heavily as he thought through his options, Gold Squadron had been entirely destroyed or routed, that left the mission up to Red Squad. He'd have to divide the six fighters he had left into two wings, that way they'd get two shots at the exhaust port.
"Red boys, this is Red Leader. Rendezvous at mark six point one."
"This is Red Two flying towards you."
"Red three standing by."
"Luke, Red Two and Three are with you, hold up out of range and wait for my signal to start your run." Red Leader descended into the trench, followed closely by Reds Ten and Twelve. "This is it!" The lighter X-Wings had an easier time dealing with the turrets than the cumbersome Y-Wings had, but as they had before, the guns shut off. "Keep your eyes open for those fighters." Red Ten glanced down at his scanners.
"There's too much interference, Red Five, can you see them?" Luke and his squad hovered over the battlefield, surveying the trench from above. Luke craned his neck to get a better look.
"No sign of any, wait, coming in point three, five." Red Twelve glanced upwards.
"I see them."
"Activating targeting computer." Dreis squinted through his computer as the three advanced TIE fighters came in behind them. "Almost there." The centre TIE fighter opened fire with its cannons, Red Ten was caught in one of the engines and spun off into the trench wall, exploding in a shower of debris. Red Twelve swerved into the centre of the trench to protect Dreis. "Almost there!"
"I can't hold them!" The TIE fighter on the right-hand side managed to clip his fuel line in a volley of laser fire, the tanks ignited and the fighter went up in flames just as Dreis let off his proton torpedoes.
"It's away!" Red Leader pulled up in time to narrowly miss crashing into the trench wall, Biggs grinned.
"It's a hit." Dreis shook his head.
"Negative, it didn't go in, just impacted on the surface." Dreis gritted his teeth as the lead advanced TIE fighter bore down on him.
"Hang on Red Leader, we'll cover you!" Luke flipped a few switches and prepared to swing his fighter around.
"Negative, prepare for your attack run, I just lost my-" The signal cut off, static filled the comm line, Luke took a deep breath.
"Biggs, Wedge, let's close it up. If we're going in, we're going in full throttle, that should keep those fighters off out back."
"Right with you boss." Wedge sunk his fighter around and matched Luke's speed.
"Luke, at that speed will we be able to pull out in time?" Biggs glanced over at Luke as he pulled up alongside him.
"It'll be just like Beggars Canyon back home." Biggs chuckled as the three pilots pitched over and down into the trench.
"We'll stay far back enough to cover you." Wedge frowned down at his controls.
"My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port. Are you sure the computer can hit it?"
"Just worry about those fighters, I'll worry about the unreliable technology." The three X-Wings barrelled along the trench, like before the towers cut off as the TIE Fighters approached. The leader of the pact instantly let off a gale of cannon fire, but something was different; the shots weren't connecting. At best they'd graze the X-Wings, but they wouldn't come close to finding a kill shot, Biggs frowned.
"Something's up, he had no issue picking us apart before, what's going on?"
"Are you really looking a gift Wookie in the mouth right now?" Wedge glanced over at Biggs incredulously. "Just focus on staying alive." Oblivious to the background chatter, Luke activated his targeting computer and peered through the screen.
"Use the Force Luke." The Padawan glanced around his cockpit, then he looked back to his computer. "Let go." Luke gritted his teeth, then deactivated his targeting computer.
"Luke, you've switched off your computer, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm fine Biggs." Luke reached out with his mind, his breathing slowed and the fear of the moment left him. It was just him and the ship, their speed was irrelevant, all that mattered was the port in front of him Luke closed his eyes. Behind him, Wedge's X-Wing buckled as its engines were struck.
"I'm hit, I can't keep up."
"Get out of here Wedge, you're not going to do any good back here." Biggs gripped his controls tightly.
"Sorry," Wedge pulled out of the trench leaving Luke and Biggs alone.
"Hurry Luke, I don't know how long I can hold them." There was a beeping sound in the cockpit as he was locked onto. "Hurry Luke! Hurry!" Buggs clenched his teeth as he tried to break the block, but he was to boxed in, he didn't have the space to move!
The right-hand TIE fighter exploded.
"What?" Biggs looked up just in time to see the Millennium Falcon swooped in from above, its cannons letting loose a hailstorm of fire on the TIE Fighters. The lead fighters' pilots must have seen the freighter coming because he'd already pulled back, leaving the left-hand TIE to be shredded.
"You're all clear kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!"
Luke took a deep breath and opened his eyes; the port was right ahead of him.
He fired.
##
Across the Galaxy aboard the Loth Wolf Remnous staggered slightly and reached out for a wall to steady himself. Tandi blinked a few times and leaned heavily against the opposite wall, the Sith grinned at the Sniper.
"Did you feel that?" Breathlessly, Tandi nodded.
"What was that?" Remnous smirked.
"The plan."
Authors note: And that's episode IV. Biggs lives! Now the Death Star is out of the way, the rise of the New Regime is soon to come.
So, until we meet again
Regards
Nighttrek
