Chapter 31
"This is Retriever, we've arrived at the coordinates. It's a mess out here..."
The Rebel CR90 corvette, named Retriever, searches the wreckage of several dozen ships and hundreds of fighters alongside its escorting fleet of light carriers and Artemis destroyers. T-65 X-wings and RZ-1 A-wing interceptors help with the search for any sign of survivors. They've managed to pick up a few lucky escape pods, but there's no such luck from the fighter pilots still trapped in their dead and frozen fighters. Ahead of the search and rescue fleet, sits enormous fragments of what's left of the Death Star. The space around it, which used to be full of life from the Imperial Navy, and the recent battle to destroy it, is now just a massive junkyard; the destroyed ships and fighters within this junkyard serving as tombs to countless officers, marines, and pilots on both sides.
"Keep searching... they've got to be here somewhere... They have to be!"
Retriever slowly pushes its way passed the remains of an Imperial-II class star destroyer. A piece of it's engine obscuring something from the crew's view. The corvette makes it's way around the engine and sees what's left of another star destroyer, though this one isn't Imperial. The ship itself is almost unrecognizable; most of the ship's structure is gone. The reactor is exposed and the engines are floating off freely several hundred meters from the ship. The structure that leads to the bridge, and the bridge itself, is mostly intact. There's still a name engraved on what's left of the hull. It's spotted and some pieces of paneling is missing, but it reads Resolute.
"We've found it! Proceed to emergency docking port 1."
It docks to the ship and boarding parties rush aboard, immediately swept up into zero gravity.
"No power... as expected but... it's still unreal..." a rebel marine says.
They're all equipped with the latest combat gear the Rebellion produced, with the help of the Terrans and Incom Corporation. Their armor still maintains its design from Sabine, but instead of just a visor, they have full face masks bolted to their helmets, with re-breathers fitted to the mask. The oxygen tubes snake down towards a small life support system built under their armor and jetpacks on their backs.
"Let's just find the bridge... at least that's still relatively intact," the squad leader says.
The search and rescue team finds their way to the bridge and find locked doors. One of the marines float to a panel on the side of the doors.
"It's all dead," he reports.
"Cut them open," the leader orders.
Two of his men pull out fusion cutters and start cutting open the doors. After several minutes of cutting, they finally manage to breach the door and get into the bridge. Immediately, air starts rushing out.
"Patch that hole!"
A marine slaps a device to the door and a shield covers the breach.
"We've got air... the atmosphere in here is minimal but technically we could remove our masks," the medic of the team states.
"Let's not. The air can't be recycled anymore so we have to continue using our rebreathers. Come on, let's get to work!"
The team searches the bridge for survivors. They don't expect any since the ship was reported to have given out an order to abandon it, except two people were missing.
"I've found them! Over here!" a marine calls out.
The team floats over to the corner of the bridge and see two figures, holding tight to each other, bracing themselves for the end.
"Are they...?" the leader begins to ask.
The medic scans them, expecting them to be cold, but his scanner lights up and beeps a positive tone. His eyes grow wide under his visor.
"Get me two life pods! Now!" he shouts as he starts fitting two rebreathers onto their faces.
...
The battle keeps repeating itself in my mind... but aren't I supposed to be dead right now?
No, I am dead. This is just what happens when we die, right?
A hint of warmth is felt on my face.
What is this?
Now my whole body is enveloped in warmth.
What's going on?
Beep!... Beep!... Beep!...
Oh don't tell me this happened again...
I sigh mentally. Well then... third time's a charm, right?
...
I open my eyes and I'm immediately blinded by bright lights. It disappears when I groan.
"The general's awake!" somebody calls out.
"General, can you hear me?"
"Yeah... what happened this time?"
"You are one lucky son of a gundark, sir," the man tells me.
I look at his uniform and see rebel patterns and markings. I also see the medical symbol on his shoulder and chest.
"Where am I?" I ask.
"You're on board the Retriever. We were tasked with finding any survivors after the Death Star-"
"Death Star...! It's still out there?!"
"What? No, sir, you misunderstand. Now please calm down, sir. You have to keep your heartbeat steady," the medic tells me.
I breathe slowly and relax.
"Good. Very good, sir. Now as I was saying, the Death Star exploded and the resulting shockwave destroyed everything nearby. The fleet is safe, though. They managed to jump right before the battlestation exploded," he explains.
"How many survived?" I ask.
"We found 7 escape pods with survivors, all of them fully packed with rebel personnel. Then we found the Resolute and found you and General Wren in the bridge."
"Sabine..."
Her words echo through my mind: "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum..."
"Where's Sabine? Is she okay?" I ask, starting to panic again.
"Sir, please remain calm, for your health's sake," the medic replies calmly, yet firmly. "She's fine. We found her right next to you. She's alive but not yet awake."
I sigh with relief. "Where is she?"
"She's in the other medical room, but I insist you stay here until you're fully recovered."
I ignore him and get up to see Sabine, but I instantly regret it as I black out and collapse to the floor.
The medic helps me up and sets me on the medical bed again.
"Sir, you've been floating in freezing temperatures and zero G for who knows how long. Your muscles aren't recovered fully," he tells me. "By rank you are in charge, but in medical emergencies any doctor or medic outranks even the Chancellor."
"How long has it been since the battle?" I ask him then.
"It's been several days. We started searching hours after the battle, but there were so many ships destroyed that it took days to find you. We had our orders to search every craft for survivors. Those seven pods were just from today. We had more the past few days."
"Good... So where are we headed?"
"We're going back to Epsilon. When we get there I'm ordering you and general Wren to your quarters until you're fully recovered. I've done all that I can medically here," he replies as he sits comfortably in a chair next to my bed. "By the time we get there you should be able to walk steadily again so you can look into exercises and physical training while you're there."
I nod and suddenly feel exhausted.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"Yeah... just tired now," I say.
"Alright. Get some rest. You need it," he smiles and gets up from his seat. He moves onto the next patient in need of attention and I drift off to sleep.
...
Location: Epsilon Station
System: Epsilon Solar System
Date: 4 ABY, Month 11, Day 25
...
The Retriever lands in one of the hangars of Epsilon Station and I'm escorted off the ship alongside Sabine and the rest of the crew and survivors. We're met by an honor guard and Hera, along with the rest of high command. Everyone salutes us and Hera smiles.
"Ezra, Sabine, it's good to see you two are okay," she says.
"Thanks. It's good to be able to see everyone else, too," I say.
"Indeed. Now, I've already received the report from your medic so I'm granting you and Sabine military leave."
"For how long?" I ask.
"I'm giving you thirty five days," she says. "Is that enough time or would you need more?"
"Thirty five sounds good," I say.
"It's settled then," she says. "If you think you're ready to return to duty at anytime before hand, you'll have to go check with medical first."
"Understood."
"You're dismissed," she says before she nods to Rex.
"Company! Dismissed!" he shouts.
Everyone cheers and claps not just for us, but for the crew of the Retriever and the other survivors from the battle. Sabine and I find the lift to the crew quarters deck and soon find ourselves in my room.
I collapse onto my bed, not having to worry about my uniform since it's pretty much wrecked right now. Which mean's I'll be getting a new one.
"Ezra, are you feeling okay?" Sabine asks me.
"Still tired, but yeah. What about you? You've been pretty drained, too."
"I'll be okay," she says. She sits next to me.
I look up at her and she locks eyes with me.
"Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum..."
"Sabine..."
"Yes?"
"Did you mean what you said on the Resolute?" I ask.
"I... what do you mean? Which part?"
"The last thing you said to me before..."
She looks away a little, but soon looks back at me.
"I meant every word, Ez... I love you," she says.
She's clearly nervous. I mean, she's never been one to share her feelings to anybody so this isn't unusual for her to be hesitant about it.
"I love you, too," I say, smiling softly.
"Now that we've made that clear, we can't let it get in the way of our job, you know," she tells me.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I laugh.
"And there's another thing..." she says.
"What is it?"
"Well... there's something I've been bothered with for a while now... I'm thinking of giving up my side of command," she says.
Okay I was not expecting that.
"What do you mean?" I ask her, sitting up.
"Well, I mean I could still be your XO," she states.
"But wouldn't that make you a commander?" I asked.
"It doesn't bother me if I get demoted, Ezra. It's just I don't really see myself as a general. You know I'm not good at leading people-"
"Bullshit you're not. You've led ground attacks and space battles like any great leader would," I say.
"Well, yeah... but I can still do that as a commander. Also, if something were to happen to both of us again, then the Rebellion wouldn't lose two generals at the same time," she says.
As much as I don't like it, she does have a point. It is too risky to have two generals in the same ship all the time. And for PR purposes that would seriously demoralize the rebellion. Just losing one general is hard enough on an army.
"Alright... I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. After all, it's ultimately up to you," I say with a sigh.
She just nods and wraps her arms around me and pulls me down to the mattress. I hold her close and soon fall to sleep.
...
Location: Epsilon Station; Officer's Club
System: Epsilon Solar System
Date: 5 ABY, Month 1, Day 3
...
The galaxy looks even brighter than before now. Or I just haven't gotten used to looking at it in over a month. I look over at Sabine and she's in the corner playing Sabacc with Rex. She's back in her Mandalorian armor and honestly it did seem weird that she hadn't shown it off in a long time.
She came to my room a few nights ago and told me she actually did it. She turned in her rank as a general and accepted the demotion to commander. That didn't sit well with a lot of people here until it was explained to them by Sabine that it was her choice for the good of the Rebellion. Knowing the Empire, if they caught wind that they were able to wipe out two top generals of the Rebellion in one battle they would hold that over our heads forever. It would be used as a major propaganda tool that would make us look bad.
She seems pretty happy though. She still has command over ground units and ships, but she isn't going to be able to have full command of an entire battle group; not that it bothers her anyway. Having that much command stressed her out too much. But it also took a load off of me, but you know what? XOs and commanders can still help with that.
The doors slid open and Hera enters.
"Attention on deck!" Rex calls and the whole room snaps to attention.
"At ease, everyone," Hera says.
She walks over to Rex and Sabine and whispers something to them before walking over to me. They follow her to my table. Hera sits across from me and Rex takes a seat next to her. Sabine sits next to me.
"Okay, anybody want to tell me why they decided to gather at my table?" I ask sarcastically.
"There's something you should know now that you both are back with us," Hera begins. "And I figured we could just have a chat like the family we used to be way back before Yavin."
"Pfft. Come on, Hera, just because we're more organized and bigger than the pre-Yavin rebellion doesn't mean you're not my family," I say.
Everyone smiles.
I know that makes them happy to hear that.
"Thank you, Ezra," Hera says. "Now then, this isn't any secret to the rest of the rebellion but Tenith had a new ship in mind to make up the backbone of the fleet. We found that the Avenger- class didn't really have much to do as a command ship so we're phasing it out as the main flagship of the fleet."
"Does this mean we're not getting a new star destroyer?" I ask.
"You are, just not one of that class. We'll still have them in production but they would be tasked with a more supportive role," Hera replies.
"Basically," Rex begins, "because of it's incredibly long firing range of the LRACs and BACs, the Avenger will be reserved for fleet artillery and siege platform."
"Oh, well that sounds nice," Sabine says.
"Most of our fleet still consists of fighters but the destruction of the Death Star gave us permanent funding from important systems. Incom has secretly started funding us again and are designing a new type of X-wing for us and we have also been contacted by the Mon Cala people."
"The Mon Calamari?" I ask surprised. "They're coming back?"
"In a sense, yes. They have found a suitable ocean world where they've been rebuilding their fleets and, more importantly, their species as a whole. It sits outside of the Imperial's influence. From there they are willing to supply valuable ship components to our cause. Unfortunately, they are unable to supply the ships they have as a whole so ship production is entirely up to us and the Terrans."
"Well, the parts would be nice," I say.
"Not only that but they are able to do some surveillance and hit and run tactics on Imperial supply lines alongside our fighters. We still have to use those tactics to get the supplies we need for our star destroyers and Arquitens cruisers so we can quickly rebuild the fleet," Hera explains.
"So what kind of ship am I going to be commanding?" I ask.
"They call it the Valiant- class star destroyer. It's more of a battleship than the Avenger is and because we don't have to stuff the ship with capacitors for superlasers we can hold more cargo, fighters, and ground equipment," Hera replies. She places a holodisk on the table and the specifications of the ship appear.
"Wow, okay. Looks really good, too," Sabine says.
"It's armed to the teeth, really," Rex says. "Tenith gave us a datastick for the new ships and fighters we should be expecting. Feel free to take a look when you can."
He slides the stick towards me and I take it, slipping it into a secure pocket on my shirt.
"Thanks, I will. Is there anything else we need to know?" I say.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Hera says. "Word of the Death Star's destruction has spread through the galaxy like a wild fire. Countless planets are starting to fight back. Anti Imperial protests have erupted in major cities on almost every planet under Imperial occupation, including Lothal."
"Not only that but we've been able to quickly establish an active recruitment campaign in several systems," Rex says. "We've got underground offices and ships in deep space looking into recruits and bringing them to some of our bases in deep space. And there's our special forces unit as well. The old team had better training than the standard rebel infantry we had before, but now we've got the supplies necessary for better training."
"Which means our ground forces will be more effective than before?" I ask.
"Exactly. The team that rescued you and Sabine were part of that unit. We're currently beginning to train an entire company for special forces," Rex explains.
"And that company will be stationed under your command, Ezra," Hera adds.
"Me? I don't think I'm able to command special forces."
"There's always high risk priority missions that the standard troops wouldn't be able to complete," Rex begins. "Wherever a more highly trained team is needed is where you'll be."
"Alright," I say. "So when should I expect these troops?"
"They've just started training today, but by the time you get your new command ship you should expect to see them then," Hera says. "It's going to take a while to get the ship constructed, especially since it'll be built in space so we can make room for the smaller ships in the hangars."
"Understood," I say.
"You've got time to spare until then. We'll take care of everything from here until you and Sabine return to duty," Hera says.
"Yes ma'am," Sabine says.
Rex and Hera stand up and leave after that. I look down at the datastick in my shirt pocket, then over to Sabine.
"What do you say we return to our quarters and take a look at these new ships?" I ask her.
Her eyes light up a bit and she smiles. "Sound's good."
URGENT NOTICE! PLEASE READ THIS!
In case you missed the update on the previous chapter, I'll explain this again. If you already read the update you can ignore this.
I was involved in a car accident around 11 pm Saturday, January 9th and have suffered a compression fracture on my L1 vertebrae. Though my back pain is nowhere near as painful as it was last week, it's still here when I sit or stand for too long. I'll try to add new chapters when I can and I thank you all for your patience and support.