It was just like any other day in the port city of Luca. Citizens strolled about the city on their way to work or their favorite spots to hang out. Imperial stormtroopers marched around the city in squads between four and nine, ushering along people who didn't seem to have an apparent destination.

At the docks, one squad of four stormtroopers finally caught up with a cloaked figure they had been chasing for ten minutes. "Alright, freeze! Turn around slowly and put your hands up."

The cloaked figure turned, but made no move to remove the cloak or raise his or her hands. "Death awaits you," said a masculine voice from beneath the hood.

Before the stormtroopers could react, they heard a distinctive snap-hiss from behind them, then a loud hum. One of the stormtroopers let out a short, choked-off cry of pain or surprise, and moments later the sound of armor clattering to the ground echoed across the docks.

The hum repeated itself, and another stormtrooper screamed.

"Blast 'em!" called the other stormtrooper who was still alive. Seconds later, blaster fire rang out in the air.

The stormtrooper leader turned around to see a woman with mismatched blue and green eyes, short light brown hair, dressed in whites, pinks, and blues. She held a lightsaber in her hands, the blue-green blade humming as she spun the weapon effortlessly and deflected the blaster bolts of the other stormtrooper.

She stepped forward as she continued deflecting the bolts, forcing the stormtrooper to slowly shuffle backwards. As she reached him, an almost-gentle swing of the weapon bisected the stormtrooper's E-11, then she spun completely around once, lightsaber flashing directly at the armored man's neck.

The leader of the now-dead patrol looked down in horror at his fellow's helmet, with his head still inside, rolling across the concrete of the docks. A flash of movement brought his attention back up just in time to meet eyes with blue and green, as her brilliant blade whose color accented her eyes crashed down into his field of vision.

---

Yuna pulled her lightsaber from the head of the last stormtrooper, looking past the tumbling body to Shuyin, who was pulling off the hood of his cloak. "It's time," she said. "Give the signal."

Nodding, Shuyin withdrew a spiked red-and-black blitzball from his cloak and set it on the ground before him. Sliding his foot under it, he kicked it up into the air, then bounced it up higher with his knee. As he did so, he drew out his sword and stabbed it into the ground. The ball came down once more, and he ducked to slam it up into the air with his head.

He jumped up onto the hilt of his sword, then kicked off of it and into the air. Twisting in midair, he turned his momentum into a backward flip, watching the ball as it sailed down toward him. As it reached him, he kicked it as hard as he could, sending it flying high into the sky.

A hundred feet or so into the air, the ball burst into a blindingly-bright Flare, its light visible all over Luca and signaling the various forces in and around the city that the time was at hand.

Suddenly, the skies overhead were filled with LAAT/i gunships, each of them loaded down with Al Bhed soldiers. One of the LAAT/i's landed on the dock beside Yuna and Shuyin, disgorging its thirty troops, all of which immediately stormed past the two and charged toward the blitzball stadium. Moments later, they could hear blaster fire starting up around the far side of the stadium.

Pulling his sword out of the ground, Shuyin turned toward Yuna. "Lenne will help them take the stadium. I'll handle the exit to the Mi'ihen Highroad. You concentrate on the town itself."

"Right," she said, then turned and ran toward the bridge leading toward Luca itself.

As she turned onto the bridge, she saw that bodies littered the steps up to the stadium, mostly Imperials, but there were a few scattered Al Bhed as well. Turning her attention back ahead of her, she saw two mounted blaster turrets on either side of the bridge, pointed toward the city.

Increasing her speed, she dashed forward, holding her lightsaber back over her right shoulder in a position she had seen Auron use many times during her pilgrimage. She swung the lightsaber forward as she skidded to a halt behind the open back end of the turret, cleaving the man in half from right shoulder to left hip.

She turned toward the other turret as it turned in her direction, its operator having heard the anguished outcry of the stormtrooper she had just killed. Reaching deep into the Force, she leapt high into the air, nimbly dodging the heavy blasts of the turret. She spun her lightsaber as she came down, driving the blade of the weapon through the stormtrooper's helmet as she landed on the very edge of the turret, easily maintaining her balance on the thin piece of metal.

As she leapt off and turned to continue her run into the city, a LAAT/i landed on the bridge and disgorged four of the thirty troops it carried on-board. Once they had disembarked, the LAAT/i lifted into the air and turned back toward the docks. The four troops it had dropped all wore the heavier armor of commandos, and she recognized the insignia on their armor.

"Lady Yuna," the leader of the squad, known as Atin, said. "You're going to the city square?"

"Yes," Yuna replied, nodding.

Nodding as well, Atin turned to his men. "Vuns ib ynuiht Lady Yuna. Desa du bmyo mejehk shield vun y frema."

Her lightsaber humming vibrantly at her side, Yuna ran toward the city square, surrounded by the Al Bhed commandos. Across the bridge, she could see squads of stormtroopers patrolling the area, some of them gearing up to push toward the Spiran forces that were holding the only land-bound exit of the city. So far, the stormtroopers hadn't noticed their approach.

The Al Bhed around her did not fire. Every second they held their fire and approached without alerting the stormtroopers greatly improved their chances of shooting accurately.

A handful of meters from the end of the bridge, Darman and Niner, running in front of Yuna, each pulled a military-grade thermal detonator from their utility belts, arming the devices and hurling them toward the square. The grenades exploded just as the group stepped off the end of the bridge, sending the armored soldiers of the Empire flying.

Yuna immediately turned to the right, her lightsaber leaving a blue-green trail in the air as she slashed it through the barrel of the blaster turret at her side. She swiftly drew one of her pistols in her left hand and placed it against the man's forehead. At such close range, the plastoid helmet would not protect him. She pulled the trigger, the force of the heavy armor-piercing bullet kicking back her arm.

Holstering the pistol, she quickly spun around and pushed her left hand out toward the other turret. The turret shuddered once, then the entire thing was lifted from the ground and hurled out into the ocean below, stormtrooper and all.

The commandos spread out around the plaza, their blasters screaming endlessly as their blue bolts burned down stormtroopers as soon as they emerged from nearby buildings. Return fire sparked off the Protect shields surrounding the commandos, but despite this, the Al Bhed soldiers ducked partially under cover, still firing at the stormtroopers.

Fi set up the portable E-web blaster cannon near the ruined turret, positioning it so that the vast majority of the plaza could quickly be brought under its punishing fire arc. As Fi started firing the much heavier bolts of the E-web at any stormtroopers he saw, Atin stood nearby, using his DC-17m special operations blaster rifle to cover what little of the square that the heavy gunner couldn't.

Running across the square, Yuna moved directly toward the last two blaster turrets, knowing that they would mass their fire against Fi's E-web. She swung her glowing blade expertly, deflecting the heavy blaster bolts to the ground, into the air, and against nearby walls. Reaching deep into the Force, Yuna moved the lightsaber before her to intercept a blaster bolt, then turned her blade to the side the instant the bolt struck, guiding it into the head of the stormtrooper she was running past.

Just as she turned to attack the last stormtrooper, a blue bolt from Atin's DC-17 shot past her, crushing into the torso armor of the stormtrooper and knocking him backwards out of the turret. She turned, noticing the lack of fire coming or going from the commandos, and saw that the square was littered with the bodies of Imperial stormtroopers. Turning away, she turned up the gain on her comlink in time to hear Atin say, "We've captured the command post."

Almost immediately, another voice answered, "Imperial forces have lost the stadium."

---

As blaster bolts shot back and forth between the stands in the stadium, Lenne stood in the praetor's box, watching the battle unfold before her. Shuyin had unleashed dozens of fiends into the stadium, which were now assaulting the Imperials in packs. Despite the best efforts of the fiends, and the Al Bhed soldiers, the Imperials were still stubbornly refusing to give up the stadium.

She looked on closely as one stormtrooper stopped, cupping a hand to his helmet, then began signaling to the men nearby while presumably giving out orders to the others over his helmet comlink. Then, to her surprise, the stormtroopers stood up and began retreating out of the stadium. She quickly gestured with her hands and the stormtrooper leader burst into flames. Despite this, the rest of the group continued their orderly retreat.

The soldiers and fiends in the stadium pressed their advantage, taking down more Imperials in those few seconds of retreat than they had during the previous fighting. She dispassionately watched a pack of three wild wolves descend on a hapless stormtrooper, their razor-sharp teeth crushing the man's white armor as they quite literally tore him limb from limb. As she watched, an arm flew into the air, still clutched tightly to the E-11 carbine.

Within seconds, the Imperials had completely left the stadium, running for the bridge toward the city proper, unknowing that the city was already under Spira's control. Lenne made her way out of the praetor's box just in time to see the stormtroopers falling all over themselves in an attempt to check their forward momentum as Yuna planted herself in their path and activated her lightsaber.

Finally realizing that they were completely surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the stormtroopers simply placed their blaster carbines on the ground and raised their hands over their heads.

---

In orbit, aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor, Admiral Piett watched the world of Spira turn lazily on its axis below him. He would definitely lose sleep over the order to execute Base Delta Zero, but fortunately he had never gone down to the planet and met its populace. He would not be plagued by nightmares of the heavy bombardment turbolasers crushing down on countless human lives, the way he had been after massacres of other planets he had had the misfortune of setting foot on.

Like other Imperial officers, Admiral Piett was not fond of committing genocide. However, being captain of Lord Vader's personal Super Star Destroyer meant that one set aside their moral quandaries at the start of each work day, or they quickly found themselves on the receiving end of the Dark Lord's mysterious powers.

An aide appeared at the admiral's side. "Admiral Piett, the Emperor has issued a recall order to the fleet, effective immediately. All ships are to rendezvous in the Endor system within four days."

"At maximum speed, how long would it take us to reach the Endor system from our current location?" Piett already knew the answer to that question; he knew exactly how long it would take for the Super Star Destroyer to cross from one side of the galaxy to the other, at any speed. But it was protocol to ask the question.

"Approximately one day and seven hours, sir," the aide replied. "Give or take."

Piett nodded, recalling that the exact amount of time would be one day, six hours, and fifty-seven minutes. "Then we shall remain on station until two days before the deadline. That should be ample time for our forces on the ground to crush their little rebellion."

"But what of the reports of a Jedi fighting with the Rebels on the planet?"

"Nonsense," Piett replied, waving his hand. "Lord Vader dealt with that so-called Jedi before he left. The reports coming in now are obviously someone who found another lightsaber and is pretending to be a Jedi. Pay it no heed."

"Yes, Admiral."

"So, what new reports are there on the Rebels' activity?"

"They've recaptured the southern port city. The garrison left there was almost completely wiped out, save for a few that they took prisoner. The TIE squadron nearby was caught on the ground and destroyed before they could harass the Rebel transports. Aside from the capital city and the plains holding the shield generator, they now control the world."

Piett gazed down at the tops of the clouds covering the Zanarkand Ruins. The admiral much enjoyed staring down at nonindustrial worlds from orbit; the beauty of an unmarred natural world always appealed to him. "Don't you think it fascinating how they managed to quickly utilize the Old Republic weapons and vehicles so quickly?"

"Our information has indicated that one of the indigenous peoples are very technologically-inclined. It's no surprise that they would have learned how to operate the Republic technology, but their learning it so quickly was quite unexpected."

"Such a shame, then," Piett said, "that they have chosen to rebel against us. They could have made excellent technicians and instructors for the Empire."

"Some things cannot be helped, Admiral."

"No, indeed they cannot." Piett finally turned away from the viewport, facing his aide directly. "Well, if we are to rejoin the Imperial fleet and perhaps be visited by the Emperor himself, then we must make sure the ship is in top condition. I want all available hands cleaning up the ship and making sure all systems are in the prime form."

---

The fleet that the Spirans had assembled was an impressive one, indeed. Airship and Celsius, the two largest ships in their possession, were the flagships of the fleet. Other, smaller transport ships they had salvaged served as the troop and fighter transports. Down on the seas below were dozens of small, fast, blockade runner ships, set low to the water and sporting a heavy machine gun in a turret atop the ship toward the front. They were also surrounded by several destroyer-type ships, the survivors of the New Yevon navy.

A large group had gathered in the cabin of the Celsius as plans were being formed for the final assault against the Empire. When Yuna walked in, all of her friends as well as several commanders of task forces were all present. Tidus waved her over to the seat he had saved for her beside him. Smiling, she crossed the room and sat down, placing a hand on his leg.

As soon as she had sat down, Baralai stood up and moved toward the clear space in the center of the room. "The Empire has made a grave mistake, and the time for our attack has come. Thanks to our two Imperial defectors," his gesture took in the two stormtroopers, Jake and Stev, "we have learned that the Executor will be leaving our system soon. It has also come to our attention that the Empire is building some sort of planet-destroying weapon within the walls of Bevelle. It is crucial that we take the city before this weapon is completed. Nooj?"

Baralai stepped off to the side as the leader of the Youth League stood up and stiff-legged his way into the center of the room. "Although this weapon is not yet operational, that is not to say it is totally defenseless. As you may know, the shield generator built in the Thunder Plains is providing a protective shield to Bevelle that must be taken down if any attack is to be attempted. Once down, our transports will penetrate the perimeter of the city by sea and sky, and we will search and destroy this superweapon. Commander Vale has volunteered to lead this attack."

"Good luck!" Gippal called from across the room. At the Rebel's look, the Al Bhed man rolled his eyes. "You're gonna need it…"

"What about the shield?" Paine asked simply.

"With the help of Jake and Stev, we have stolen a small Imperial shuttle and a clearance code, which should get us into the Thunder Plains. A small strike team will go into the plains and destroy the shield bunker."

"I wonder who they got to lead that attack," Yuna said softly, leaning against Tidus.

"Uhh, yeah, well, about that…" he replied.

Nooj turned his gaze toward the blond blitzer. "Tidus, is your team ready?"

"Ah, I've got the team ready, but I haven't picked out a command crew for the shuttle yet," Tidus answered.

"Tidus," Yuna said, loud enough for the gathered crowd to hear. "Count me in."

"Oooh, me too, me too!" Rikku spoke up, jumping up and down excitedly.

"I guess I'm with you too," Paine said.

"Kimahri will also go," the blue-skinned Ronso said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. "Kimahri will help protect Yuna, help destroy shield gen-er-a-tor."

Scratching the back of his head, Tidus turned his gaze toward Nooj. "Well, there's my command crew."

The leader of the Youth League nodded, then looked back toward the assembled group. "Rest and prepare for now. There will be subsequent briefings where individual roles will be assigned. Until then, dismissed."

With that, the assembly broke up. Yuna and Tidus remained where they were sitting. Rikku, Gippal, and a bunch of Al Bhed technicians who had sat in on the briefing immediately made for the elevator and descended to the engineering level of the Celsius. Paine headed up toward the upper level where the beds were, while Baralai turned around on his barstool and ordered a meal from Barkeep.

Yuna and Tidus sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, until Rikku's voice burst over the ship's internal comm system. "Yunie! Get down to the engine room and see what we've got!"

Standing up, Yuna smiled and pulled Tidus to his feet, then linked her hand with his and walked toward the elevator. Once aboard, she pressed the button to take them down into the engineering section.

Once they reached it, the two stepped off into the mad workshop of the Al Bhed technicians. Various tools and equipment were scattered all over the place, and off along one wall sat a neat row of a double dozen vehicles of some kind that looked like motorcycles without any sort of propulsion. They all had what appeared to be rocket motors welded onto their aft ends.

"Yunie!" the cheery voice of Rikku called from near the row of vehicles as the blonde Al Bhed girl poked her head out, her face stained with grease. She pointed at the row of vehicles with a wrench. "Look at what we made!"

Yuna stepped up to one of the vehicles and looked at it oddly, then blinked up at her cousin. "What are they?"

"They're speeder bikes," Gippal's voice replied from the lower level as the one-eyed man walked up the stairway. "Salvaged them from the sunken ships. We came up with a few special plans for getting a lot of troops into Bevelle in a hurry. These here bikes are a part of it. We've got about a hundred of them stashed on our airship, with the same number on the other one."

"So…what are they for?" Tidus asked.

"Well, if you've been up to the deck recently, you'll notice we've grafted a series of ramps on the deck. We put these speeders on the ramps, and use the rocket engines we grafted onto them to give them extra propulsion, and we've got airmobile infantry in a hurry."

Rikku nodded excitedly and skipped over to a row of jetpacks hung along the opposite wall. "We took the rocket motors off of these and put them on the speeders. But we can use these jetpacks too! They have a recharging fuel cell, so we can use them to quickly move troops from the ships to the city. And once there, they'll even have the ability to use them in combat for quick controlled bursts of flight."

Yuna blinked. "Wow. That's quite the impressive arsenal you've managed to put together."

"Well, we need every advantage we can get, you know," Gippal said. "All their forces are holed up in Bevelle. The fighting is going to be extremely fierce."

"Tidus, it's time to move out with your team."

The blond blitzer looked up at the intercom, then turned back toward the two Al Bhed in front of him. "Well, looks like we gotta go. Gippal, take care of yourself."

Gippal nodded his head. "You, too. Don't let Cid's girl get herself blasted, okay?"

"You got it!" Tidus answered, laughing.

At the same time, Rikku stamped her feet and shook a fist at Gippal. "E ryja e name, oui ghuf!"

Without a word, Yuna grabbed her cousin by the arm and proceeded to drag the still-shrieking Al Bhed girl out of the engineering section, with Tidus in tow.

---

Fifteen minutes later, Tidus walked onto the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle wearing the nondescript grey uniform of an Imperial technician. Yuna and Rikku wore identical uniforms, while Paine, Jake, and Stev were all wearing stormtrooper uniforms. Kimahri, who had no way of disguising himself as Imperial, was simply wearing his normal attire. In the back section were fifty of the finest troops and demolitions specialists in Spira's arsenal.

"We ready?" the blitzer asked, dropping into the pilot's seat.

"Yeah, she's coming up," Rikku replied, manipulating dials and switches on the cockpit's ceiling.

"This cockpit too small," Kimahri said, strapping himself into the copilot's seat. "Kimahri not going to enjoy this ride."

Smiling, Yuna reached forward and laid a hand on the Ronso's shoulder. "I don't think the Empire had Ronsos in mind when they designed her, Kimahri," she said with a giggle.

"Thankfully, it'll be a short trip," Paine said, the stormtrooper helmet resting in her lap. She wasn't comfortable with being unable to use her sword in the stormtrooper armor, but she was proficient with firearms thanks to her occasional use of Yuna's Gunner dressphere.

"Everybody got some kind of lightning-nullifying item or armor on?" Tidus asked, looking around as he tapped the pulsing yellow ring he wore under the black Imperial gloves.

Yuna nodded her head, lifting her left hand to reveal the faint yellow glow through the glove. Rikku did likewise. Paine simply nodded, while Jake and Stev poked nervously at the location of the lightning-ward sigils on the inside of their armor. Kimahri merely patted the silver-and-purple bracers he wore on both arms.

"Alright," Tidus said with a nod. "Everybody ready?"

"All set," Yuna replied.

There was silence for a moment, then Paine said, "Here we go again."

Tidus manipulated the controls of the shuttle, and it gently rose from the floor on its repulsorlifts. With another touch to the controls, the shuttle slipped out of the landing bay of the Airship. As soon as he cleared the bay, he touched another button, but a shocked expression crossed his face as a pair of heavy green laser bolts shot out of the blaster cannons on either side of the wingmounts, barely missing a LAAT/i transport.

"Oops," Tidus said, blushing furiously. "That's not what I meant to do…"

Sighing, Rikku leaned forward and flipped a switch. A gentle thrum ran through the shuttle as the two raised wings to either side folded down into their flight position, in the shape of an inverted-y.

"Maybe I should fly," the Al Bhed girl said.

"I've got it now!" Tidus replied indignantly, then turned the shuttle on its course toward the Thunder Plains. "I'll get us there in no time flat!"


A/N: Much thanks to everyone who has encouraged me to go on with this. I've been on and off about it for a week or so now, and I finally decided to just cut out that entire scene in Luca and move on. So yeah, this is the shittiest chapter I've ever written. Sorry.

No shout-outs this chapter. I'm going right to work on the next one. You'll be able to tell by the title of that chapter "Into the Trap" that business is going to pick up.