Hera's Heroes
Hear stood on the bridge of one of the rebellion's newly acquired Venator cruiser. She had never stood on the bridge of one before and it had all been thanks to Rex. After the heavy losses sustained during the battle of Yavin and subsequent break out form the planet, Her didn't believe they had much chance of replacing even half of the fighters an rebels lost, However Rex had come to the rescue as he had kept information regarding a few space stations form the clone wars secret. Now thanks to him they had acquired 3 Venator cruisers, 2 Acclamator Class transport and seven blockade runners, all fully armed and supplied. Not only that he had managed to convince several cone soldiers to join the rebellion and made sure the new cruisers had imperial level weapons and shields.
She couldn't believe how much one single person could change the balance of power. Hera was pulled out of her thoughts by the very person she was talking about.
"Excuse me general the leaders have gathered to hear your plan" the newly promoted General Rex said.
"Great, let's go" she said as she started walking towards the holo-table
"Another 100 people have joined the rebellion, it seems the destruction of Onderon and the destruction of the death star has strengthened the resolve of the people to rebel against the empire. The pilots have also finally got to grips with the ARC-170s and the V-wings. They had no problem with the Y-wings or the Z-95 head-hunters. However many are bugging Anakin and Luke to have a go in their Jedi inceptors." Rex said finishing his report.
Rex's comment made Hera smile "Good, we will need those fighters soon enough I'm sure. Has Anakin told Luke yet?" she asked her face straightening
Rex shook his head "No, he said he will soon though" he answered; Hera just nodded and said no more.
After a few moments Hera reached the Holo-table and was greeted with the leaders of the rebellion either in holographic form or in person.
"Thank you for attending. I want to run my proposal to deal a crippling blow to the Nightsister council" Hera said earning raised eyebrows form those present. "Thanks to the information given to us by general Rex we know of a Nightsister temple on the planet leach. It also doubles as a training facility for Nightsisters, inquisitors and imperial security agents. As a result both High inquisitor Offee and high priestess Ventress make routine inspections. They are due to inspect the facility in a week's time. I propose we send in a bomber force to hit the base and destroy it. If we are successful we will have destroyed the base and killed two of the Nightsister council members in one blow. It would be a heavy blow to the empire." She said lining out her idea.
"How do you expect to get there? We cannot send any of our cruises the blockade is too strong." Bail Organa asked.
"The planet is often hit with meteor showers. One is expected in a weeks' time." Hera replied "I propose that a squad of bombers link up with the meteor shower and go down to the planet's surface with it, before flying low level, below radar straight to the base. We then hit the base pull up fast and jump to hyperspace between the blockade and the planet. It would require precise timing but I believe my pilots can do it, with a week's training." Hera said finishing her brief.
The room was silent for a few moments as the rebel leaders made their mind up after a few more minute each one nodded "Very well, general you are given the go ahead. May the force be with you." The hologram of Mon Mothma said before disappearing.
One week later.
Hera sat in the cockpit of her wing her tail gunner was a clone by the name of Swoop. Swoop was new the rebellion but he had joined after he was ordered to gun down innocent civilians in his tie fighter. "Knight leader to all knights sound off" Hera said over the com.
"Ready on two this is Mira, This is grey waiting for mother bird, this is Helen on four ready to rock and roll, this is Dara'mec checking in, this is wedge on six, trip on seven ready to send the empire to heaven, this is James on eight ready to go." Came the replies as the nine y-wings took off to undertake one of the most daring rebels raids so far.
After a few hours the squad came out of hyperspace on the tail of the meteor shower, they had met up with it just before it entered the leech system, far enough way that the imperials wouldn't pick them up on their sensors. "Alright blend in with the meteors gunners, keep your eye peeled if any meteors get to close blast them out of the way. Keep tight and stay vigilante, meteors are unpredictable" Hera ordered as the squad entered the meteor shower.
For the first two hours the plan was going well and although they had, had a couple of near misses they hadn't lost a single bomber. That was all about to change as the shower past the last planet befoe their target. As the bombers and meteors passed the planet, its gravity knocked several meteors into the centre and straight into the fighters. The Bombers managed to dodge the most of them but the last meteor crashed into another and sent the debris straight into knight seven killing trip and his gunner. Part of the wreckage crashed into Dara'mecs bomber and damaged his engine but he was ok for now. Hera couldn't do anything but watch as trip and his gunner were killed, she knew she would probably suffer losses but she hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
After the loss of knight seven had, had an effect on the squads moral but they didn't have much time to think about that now as they entered leaches atmosphere at the last moment all the bombers pulled up just at the right moment all except for Dara'mec whose damaged engine failed at the last minute sending him and his Bomber straight into the surface, exploding in impact, Killing all aboard. Hera sighed and with a heavy heart set her course for the base, she was hoping no one else would die but she knew that was a fool's hope. She just hoped she could do enough damage with the Bombers she had left.
Training centre planet leach
Ventress hated inspections they always seemed to take so long and she was never one to take her time with anything. However she was in a way happy to be hears as she could screen potential new body guards for Ahsoka seeing as her one bodyguard was going to have baby soon. She was also looking for an apprentice for herself she needed to find someone to carry on her work when she died. However I felt like she was the only one who thought of such things as the rest of the council except for Ahsoka in some respects, thought they would live for ever and were untouchable. Barriss was a key example of this the way she carried herself showed her confidence but Ventress knew things never worked out perfectly. The recent events were a clear indication of this.
Lost in her thought Ventress had fallen behind and she started to run to catch up, but then the force screamed out to her and she looked in the direction of Barriss as an explosion hit the area, sending Barris flying. Ventress looked to see what had happen and that was when she saw seven y-wings in attack formation, sore overhead.
She headed for the command centre but it had been hit, she stopped a trooper and ordered him to get the AA guns ready as the Bomber came round for another pass.
Skies above Leach
"Good solid hits knight, come round for another two passes and then we'll get gone" Hera ordered over the com, she was impressed with her result so far, she had destroyed the command centre, the Nightsister temple and heavily damaged the landing zone.
That was when her bomber was rocked with AA gin fire. "Watch the flack people" she said
"On it" came knight two, Mira's voice as she took her bomber into a dive and launched her attack obliterating the position.
"Nice shoot Knight two, Knight three watch the cross fire" Hera said but she was two late as knight three was hit with a barrage of gun fire before crashing into the AA Guns.
After their third and final assault, the training facility was in flames and many of it's inhabitants had been killed or wounded. Hera ordered her squad to climb and prep for the jump to hyper space. As the Bombers climbed through the clouds they came under fire from tie fighter that had been launched by the star destroyers in orbit. In the ensuing battle Hera's squad dealt out heavy damage to the attacking fighter but she also lost two more of her Bombers, knights 8 and 4. Knight 8 was hit first by an attacking tie fighter killing the pilot and wounding the gunner, it was finished off by the same fighter on the second pass. Knight four was hit by fire form the star destroyer as it was about to make its jump into hyper space. Once her remaining bombers where clear they jumped into hyperspace. Hera had started the attack with nine Y-wings including her own, now she only had three including her own. However their assault had been a success but at a heavy price. On their return the squad was dubbed Hera's heroes.
Surface of leach
Ventress was in bad way she had been wounded in a bomb strike. Her arm was bleeding and her leg had a piece of debris imbedded in it. Even with these injuries she went over to Barriss but she was too late the first bomb blast had killed her. Little did the rebellion know they had just wounded one and killed another member of the Nightsister council. When Ahsoka got the news she was furious and issued a new order, all rebel would be hunted down and executed no rebel was to be spared. She also put the biggest price on Rex's head, she knew that it must have been his information the rebellion used to launch their attack, oh she was going to make the pay, and pay dearly.
AN: so hear it is my next chapter. Sorry it took a little while I had computer issues. As always please read and review.
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