Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Location: Coruscant
Din banked his interceptor sharply as he tried to evade his pursuer. He kicked in his afterburners and swung his interceptor into a wide turn. I didn't' work. He looked at he planet's atmosphere and grimaced. After his crash, he detested atmospheric flying, but he knew he likely had more experience than his opponent.
Hi pitched his interceptor in a downward trajectory and kicked his boosters again. After he started to plummet into the atmosphere, he quickly saw his interceptor burning from reentry. He pushed his interceptor faster, knowing his attacker would likely be close behind him. His warning sensor told him that there was incoming fire from the rear, so he spun his fighter on its axis to avoid the blaster cannon fire.
After he burned through the upper portion of the atmosphere, Din saw a large storm system. He quickly pushed his fighter into the storm and used his guidance sensors to help him navigate. His interceptor was getting battered by the turbulence, he was flying at an otherwise stable trajectory.
Din quickly shut off his engines and used his thrusters to spin the interceptor around at one hundred and eighty degrees. He activated his engines and sped back to where he came from. He managed to identify his attacker and lined up his shot. He knew that he would only have one chance at this. He fired his laser cannons which peppered the enemy's craft head on.
He toggled his radio. "That wasn't bad, Luke. Now, let's head back up top."
Din could hear Luke sigh. "Yes, Commander."
"Don't beat yourself up Ensign, that was some good piloting on your part", Din said.
Luke didn't respond. They both flew their interceptors into the massive hanger of the Bravery. Luke and Mara had been assigned to the flagship of the Empire's main battle fleet. It was almost unheard of that two Ensigns fresh out of flight school would be assigned to the elite fighter wing aboard the flagship, but Luke was a good pilot.
Once the Corbin was completed, they along with two other wings would be transferred to the fleet's new dreadnought.
Din docked his interceptor and powered down his systems. After he climbed out, he saw Luke sullenly doing the same. He walked up to he young man.
"Why're you beating yourself up, kid?", he asked.
Luke shook his head and said, "I have the Force. I should've been able to beat you."
"Luke, I've been flying since I went to flight school. I have almost a decade of experience under my belt. You performed well", Din said.
Luke sighed and nodded. "If you say so."
The two men walked into the locker room and changed out of their flight suits. Luke put on his olive drab officer's uniform and Din put on his black fatigues. Din pulled out his flask and took a long pull.
"Aren't you going to offer me some?", Luke asked.
"Kid, you're on duty. Besides, I'm Special Forces, certain rules don't apply to us", Din said.
Luke looked disappointed.
Din studied at him for a moment and handed Luke his flask. "Just a sip."
Luke took a small drink from the flask and handed it back to Din. "I don't suppose you have any tips on what I should have done."
Din nodded. "I do. You followed me into the storm, which wasn't a wise move. You should've flown above the storm to wait for me to exit out of it. You would've been able to get the drop on me that way."
"That makes sense. Does the enemy do that?", he asked.
Din nodded. "That's how I adopted the technique."
"Okay, I'll remember that. Thanks", Luke said.
"Good. So, how're you and Mara doing?", Din asked. "Does she have you wrapped around her finger?"
"We're doing well and yes, she does. I'm pretty certain Leia has you wrapped around hers", Luke said.
Din grinned. "And then some. She's a good woman."
"Have you thought about asking her to marry you?", Luke asked.
Din paused for the longest moment. "Before I answer that, if you say anything to her, Force or not, you and I will have words."
Luke nodded.
Din took a deep breath. "In answer to your question, yes, I'm waiting for the right moment."
The younger man smiled. "That's great, Din. She'll say yes."
"You think so?", Din asked.
"Do you not?", Luke countered.
"I think she will. I'm just nervous. She's a rare person to be able to put up with me", Din replied honestly.
"With that attitude you have nothing to worry about. Seriously, I think the two of you were meant for each other", Luke said.
Din looked down at his feet. That was high praise from the young man.
"Thanks, Luke. That means a lot to me", Din said.
Luke nodded to the older man. They both exited the locker room.
"Well, I suppose I should report back to the briefing room. Thanks for flying with me today, Din", Luke said.
Din nodded. "You're welcome, Luke. I'll see you soon."
The two men shared a quick embrace and Din headed back to the hanger bay to catch a shuttle back groundside. He sat down in his seat and buckled his straps. The spacious Lambda-class shuttle could carry around twenty passengers, but there had been times Din had the seats removed from other shuttles to fit about twice the amount.
After the shuttle cleared the hanger, it shot towards the surface. Din was already worn out and he'd barely done anything that day. He remembered when a quick training flight would reenergize him instead of sapping the energy from him.
This is what getting older feels like, he thought to himself.
The shuttle landed and Din noticed the underground military complex was on high alert. He ran out of the shuttle and into the complex where he saw Wedge running towards the barracks area.
"Din, come on man we have to get kitted up", Wedge yelled.
Din ran towards the man. "Full kit on Coruscant, what the hell is going on?
"That corvette we knabbed was a warning. We're the target. The senatorial offices have been seized by terrorists"; Wedge responded.
Din felt like someone had slapped him across the face. He felt a cold wave of fear pass through him. Leia went to the offices earlier in the day to check on a few things amid her leave that Mothma had granted her.
He forced himself to move forward and into the barracks where he saw his squadron hurriedly done their armor.
Din threw open his locker door and stripped out of his fatigues and began to pull on his own armor. It normally took about ten minutes to get into the suit, but Din got it done in about half that. He strapped on his gun belt and donned his tactical vest. He quickly checked his weapons and various grenades.
"Okay, everyone up?", he yelled to his squadron.
After he heard an acknowledgement from each of the squadron members, he turned to walk out the door. As they jogged to the speeder pad, he noticed Tycho had the slightest of a limp.
"Tycho, your leg alright?", he asked.
"It's just tight, I'm good to go, sir", Tycho replied.
Din nodded. He needed everyone he could get.
Once they piled in a rapid response speeder, Din looked at Wedge who was busy adjusting the straps of his own tactical vest.
"What do we know so far, Wedge?", Din asked.
Wedge looked up at him. "Not a lot. We know most of the building evacuated once an estimated thirty terrorists breached security, but I saw some of the security footage. They have around two hundred hostages in the main entrance hall and a large explosive device. Before you ask, I don't know what kind of explosive it is, but we need to assume it's anti-matter based."
Din nodded. "Leia was going to be there today, she didn't try and call you while I was in the shuttle, did she?"
A brief flash of worry ran over Wedge's face. "No, I didn't hear anything from her. Best not to try and call her. If she's being held hostage, the last thing we need to have is for the terrorists to realize they have a high valued asset with them."
Din leaned forward and put his face in his hands.
"You alright, Commander?", Wedge asked. He couldn't imagine the panic his friend must have been in.
Din looked up at him. "I can't lose her, Wedge.
"I know, but you need to keep your head in the game. Don't go rogue on us either", Wedge said.
"I won't", he replied. He quickly shook his head to get his mind right.
"Do we know what kind of response team has deployed so far?", he asked.
"General Veers set up a command team and is in the process of deploying a brigade of Stormtroopers around the building and has requested two more brigades", Wedge said.
"Okay, I'm glad Veers is on station, he's one of the best ground tacticians I know", Din said. "Have they sent the schematics yet?"
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. Do you have a data pad in your kit?", Wedge asked.
"I do", Din said as he took the small pad out.
Wedge produced his own. "Transmitting them to your pad now."
After a moment, they flashed onto Din's screen and he breezed through them as quickly as he could. They'd be on station in a couple of minutes.
Location: Coruscant – Senatorial Offices
Leia was afraid. She was on her knees with her hands behind her head along with her fellow hostages. She ruefully wished that she understood Huttese since that's what the terrorists spoke, aside from when they gave commands to the hostages. Din had offered to give her a crash course in the language, but they didn't have very much time on their hands, so they had never got around to it.
She was able to pick up on how erratic they were behaving. They had executed two hostages that had tried to escape and their bodies along with the Stormtroopers that had been killed still littered the entrance hall.
Leia kicked herself for coming into the office. She hadn't been required to but felt compelled to see how her work was progressing during her absence. It wasn't that she was turned off by politics, she just no longer had the same seal for them after her experience with Pryde. Unfortunately, the lecherous man had escaped. There were only a handful of senators, including Mothma and their various staffers.
Din must be panicking right now, she thought.
Part of her hoped that Din would be part of the rescue team, but another part of her felt selfish for thinking so. She would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to him.
She had toyed with the notion of using the Force to help overcome her enemies, but she didn't have her lightsaber, nor was she confident enough in her abilities to be able to take on the thirty-two terrorists that she had counted. She would just have to wait.
Suddenly, she heard a shriek as a woman a terrorist drug her to her feet with a handful of her hair. Leia couldn't place her name but felt mortified for the girl. The terrorist forced her to the glass doors of the entrance and without saying a word, shot her in the back of the head.
Everyone screamed in horror, including Leia. As far as she could tell, the terrorists hadn't made any demands. They just executed an innocent woman on a whim. This filled her with
"Shut up", a Twi'lek roared in basic.
The screaming ceased. No one else wanted to be inflected wit the random violence. This was only going to get worse before it got better. If it got better.
Outside, Din's men rushed out of the speeder and jogged to the command post that was at the base of the steps that led up to the entrance hall doors.
General Maximillian Veers was shouting commands into his coms. He looked up and saw Commander Djarin approach.
"Din, thanks for jumping on this one so quickly. Your executive officer told me that you were up top piloting when this all started to unfold", Maximillian said.
"I wouldn't miss this one, Max", Din said. "Do you know if the Princess got out? She was going to be inside the offices today."
Maximillian shook his head. "When I was reviewing the security profile of people who worked here, I saw her name and checked for her amongst those who escaped. She wasn't in that group, so she still as to be inside."
Din breathed in heavily. He needed to get Leia out of there.
"Where's the Emperor?", Din asked. "He'll want to know."
Maximillian's face grew tight. "He's in the Empress Teta System renegotiating trade terms. I wish he was here, someone with his power would have been useful."
"Have you tried any of the Jedi at the Temple?", Din asked, party knowing what the General's response would be.
Maximillian nodded. "We put in a request but haven't received a response. It appears the Jedi are still against being soldiers in service to the Empire after they were nearly irradicated.
This angered Din. One of their own was in danger and they were still being agnostic against providing aid to the Empire even after Anakin went to great lengths to atone for his past atrocities.
"Fuck them", Din said. "We'll just have to figure this one out ourselves. Have you scanned the interior? If so, did you detect any anti-matter?"
"We did scan and yes, there is anti-matter inside but only a trace amount. It's still enough to demolish the building along with any structure within several miles of it", Maximillian said. "Enough to kill millions. Regardless, we have to move quickly. They executed a hostage only a few minutes before you arrived, and no, it wasn't the Princess."
"Okay, where do my guys fit into the plan?", Din asked. He needed to get to work.
The General brought up the building's schematics.
"We think your best entry point is on the roof. There's an access hatch that will allow your team to move in and slowly clear the upper floors."
He keyed in a command to bring up another section of the building.
"This is the entrance hall. You'll notice the tiered floors surrounding it. If you could get one or two of your men in position, you should be able to have sniper overwatch while your team deals with the terrorists on the ground level", Maximillian said.
"Any suggestions on how we should do that, Max?", Din asked.
Maximillian shook his head. "No, I'm going to leave that one to you. It will be entirely on you to be able to conduct that portion of the operation. As soon as your team has secured the bomb site, we'll enter with Stormtroopers to secure the hostages and an engineering team to secure the bomb. I don't think I have to tell you how critical this is, Din."
Din nodded and sighed. "You're right about that, Max. This one is going to be difficult all around."
He closed his eyes for a moment to see if he could feel Leia. There was a faint feeling of fear and anxiety. He focused his own emotions and tried to be calm. He hoped she was able to feel him.
Hang in there, Leia. He thought.
On the inside of the building, Leia quietly gasped. She felt Din's reassuring emotions. There was hope. She just had to hold on a little while longer.
She looked at her captures.
Din's going to kill every singly one of you, she thought with malice. She wanted them dead and didn't care how Din did it.
Her very life depended on Din's and she prayed that he'd be able to accomplish the task at hand.
