Epilogue: Last Chance at Scarif
December 20.
The time had come. Aboard the Tantive IV, the personal corellian corvette of the Alderaanian royal family, Ezra and Jaral were waiting for a hint to know that Rogue One had started the incursion.
Aboard the Profundity, the ship that was hosting the Tantive in her hangar, Darvos was using the Silver Bullet's equipment to monitor imperial transmission in the nearby sector.
Not even when it was the time to start the invasion of Lothal had Jaral felt such fear of failing. Arriving in a nearby system with a pretty impressive naval squadron meant that the Rebel Alliance was employing a lot of resources. There were dozens of Gallofree transports following the warships to refill them with fuel and food for the crews.
Furthermore, she had no other choice but to grant the fleet very few hours to rest, because this was a race against time: the Joint Fleet had indeed launched a counter-attack on Columex, to try and free the garrison trapped on the ground, but Iulius had managed to inflict them heavy casualties and put the battle in orbit in a bloody stall, but at the very least, he was distracted. The most fearsome commander of the Imperial Navy would not interfere with the attack on Scarif, as he was too far away.
Still, there were no complaints in the fleet. Everybody knew what they were fighting for and how important this mission was.
However, Jaral knew that this was gonna be a bloodbath. She didn't need the Force to predict it, and the chances of capturing the planes were still short.
The air was tense even aboard the Tantive. Nobody was talking as everybody was focused on trying to figure what was going to happen in the next minutes.
Jaral, on the other hand, was in the command room of the ship, observing a hologram of Scarif.
According to the transmissions intercepted by Darvos, Rogue One had managed to get into the shield gate, as he reported a conversation between the gate control and shuttle SW-0608, the one used by the strike team.
Since the main base hadn't reported a rebel incursion, yet, it was safe to assume that the first phase of the plan had been successful.
Ezra quietly approached her side and put a hand around her shoulders, using their bond to encourage her. Jaral gave him a grateful smile and gently squeezed that hand.
After around two hours of waiting, Darvos finally called in.
"Marshall, this is Darvos, do you copy?"
"I read you, Captain." Jaral promptly replied and every gaze turned toward her.
"Intercepted imperial transmission. Rebels on Scarif, I repeat, rebels on Scarif."
That was signal. Jaral nodded to the comms officer, who promptly opened a channel with the rest of the fleet.
"Blue Nova to all squads. The Phoenix has risen. The Phoenix has risen. May the Force be with You all."
Though faintly, they heard the ship entering hyperspace as the Profundity carried the Tantive and Raddus assumed command of the battle.
It took only a few minutes to leave hyperspace. The Profundity was among the last to do that, but quickly moved to take the lead as she was the most powerful ship the rebels had brought with them.
"This is Admiral Raddus of the Rebel Alliance, all Squadron Leaders report in." the voice of the Admiral said, and the three main squadrons answered.
"Admiral, this is Blue Leader, standing by." the voice of Merrick replied.
"This is Gold Leader, standing by."
"This is Red Leader, standing by."
"All right." Jaral mumbled, closing her eyes and starting to meditate to reach the concentration needed for Battle Meditation.
Ezra kept his hand on her shoulder, boosting her connection with the Force.
Usually, Ezra always managed to dedicate two hours a day to meditate and train his Force abilities, something that had become almost a public show at the base. He would usually train at the edge of the forest, but never entering it, in case he was needed at a moment's notice. The last few days, he also had the opportunity to train with Chirrut and Baze watching with great interest, while also discussing some aspects of the Force.
Jaral, on the other hand, had always so much work at hand, that she only managed to train really hard once a week, usually trying to improve her connection to the Force by meditating when there was a hard choice to take, trying to find a lead that could help her take the best path for the Rebellion.
That meant that Ezra was growing in power much more quickly than her. Not that Jaral's ability was meager, but with her brother boosting her powers, her Battle Meditation could improve by a significant margin.
By the time she managed to reach the necessary degree of focus, Raddus had already ordered Blue Squadron to enter the shield gate before the Imperials closed it, as originally planned, while Red and Gold Squadron prepared to defend the fleet.
The imperial defenses consisted of only two Star Destroyers and the many fighters inside the shield gate, who were most likely still getting prepared, as the Empire wasn't expecting an attack so deep into its territory.
As Jaral could finally use the Meditation to get a look at the space battle, she noticed that most of Blue Squadron, including General Merrick, had managed to get in, but two or three X-Wings would end up crashing on the gate that was closing fast, so she used her powers to convince the pilots to pull up early enough so they wouldn't crash and continue the battle in orbit.
She tried to reach the surface, but it was too far for her level of ability, so she focused on the orbit, while her ears could also hear the radio traffic being transmitted into the room.
"Red 8 to 10, engage the shield gate."
"We're going in."
"This is Transport 5, we're taking fire."
"This is Admiral Raddus, all ships engage the Star Destroyers."
With the shield up, all rebel frequencies to the surface were blocked, though the squad already knew that they could only communicate by plugging into the comms tower of the Citadel, so all Jaral could do was wait and hope that they could make it against the overwhelming numbers of stormtroopers defending the structure. At least, Blue Squadron's U-Wing should have already been able to deploy some of the Army troopers to reinforce the militiamen who were with Baze and Chirrut, giving them much more firepower.
All the while, Gold Squadron executed a bombing run on the shield gate, but it had little effect. Instead, at that point, the TIE Fighters started to swarm out of the gate's hangars, heading half against the fighters and half right against the Profundity and the major warships.
She could perceive that the Ghost and the Silver Bullet were scoring like mad, which was incredible given Hera's conditions, but then again...she was Hera.
The Constantinople was keeping at a safe distance. Jaral didn't want the frigate to expose herself, since that ship was the fastest of the coalition and it was necessary to evacuate the ground personnel as fast as possible.
Since attacking the shield didn't seem to get much effect, and with the rebel starfighters suffering increasing losses, Jaral decided to change strategy. She used the Meditation to suggest the fleet to concentrate fire on the closest Star Destroyer and then aim at their shield generators, so that Gold Squadron could use their ion torpedoes to disable it.
Jaral really used all of her mental strength to coordinate the attack, but the plan eventually worked. After the warships had taken down the ISD's deflectors, the X-Wings managed to destroy the generators while also drawing the TIEs away to leave an opening for the Y-Wings, which eventually hit the Destroyer repeatedly with their ion torpedoes and the colossal ship went offline.
Her strength completely sapped, Jaral put down the extended arm she had and exhaled forcefully. She was sweating slightly, and Ezra quickly took a handkerchief to wipe that away.
"Ok, that's enough, for now. You did great." he encouraged her with a caring tone.
To reinforce the positive attitude, Bodhi's voice suddenly broke on all rebel frequencies.
"Is anybody out there?" He asked with an accelerated tone. "This is Rogue One, come in, over."
It was Raddus who replied. "This is Admiral Raddus, Rogue One, we hear you."
After probably making a sigh of relief, Bodhi continued. "We have the plans…" he stopped to reformulate the request. "They found the Death Star's plans, they have to transmit them from the communications tower. You have to take down that shield, it's the only way they're gonna get them through."
Jaral was still partially connected to Raddus' thoughts, so she sensed that the old Calamari had an idea to take down the shield.
Then, somehow, she had the horrible feeling that Bodhi was suddenly gone.
Around the orbit of Columex, Iulius' battle group was waiting next to the second moon, staring at the fleet of the Coalition that was evacuating the ground personnel on the other side of the planet.
At least, what was left of the ground personnel after Cody had besieged and conquered the main stronghold on the planet and scattered the forces of the Federation and the Rebellion among various outposts.
"Grand Admiral, may I ask a question?" Ciena asked rather timidly.
"Permission granted." Iulius replied in a calm tone.
"We could've easily wiped out the enemy and this fleet. Why are we letting them go?"
"Those who are pushed into a corner tend to fight ten times harder than usual, Lieutenant." the Grand Admiral calmly explained. "It won't be here where we will crush our enemies decisively, so there's no reason to risk the lives of our comrades just for an insignificant victory.
"So far, we've already destroyed 20 of their cruisers and a battleship, and shown them that the Empire is very much capable of defeating them both in space and on land. We will let them go and spread news of what the One-Oh-First is capable of doing."
"Pardon me, sir," Krybos intervened humbly from the other side of Iulius' back. "but don't you think Imperial Command might accuse you of cowardice, for this? You know how the politicians are."
"This war will be long and difficult, Commander." Iulius patiently replied. "We have to choose wisely when we want to push for a total, and costly, victory. Besides, I don't care about glory or politics. Me, and all of you, only have to get results for the Emperor."
"Understood, sir." Ciena concluded.
The three all watched for a while the sensors showing Rebel and Federal transport ships leaving the planet, and their warships were starting to do the same when an operator talked from the pit.
"Grand Admiral."
Iulius turned to look at the guy, who had Qathora looking at his terminal as well.
"Yes?"
"There is an encrypted message for you, sir."
"From whom?" Iulius asked, implicating that Qathora could proceed and reveal the name of the sender.
"It's...Grand Moff Tarkin." she said, quite surprised.
Iulius was surprised as well. Why would Tarkin call him in the middle of an operation?
"Decrypt it." the Grand Admiral ordered.
Qathora inserted a cylinder code that Iulius gave her as his personal Agent and the text quickly became visible. The Togruta leaned forward and read it as she went.
"Rebel incursion on Scarif. The Admonitor is requested for assistance. Head back to Coruscant and await further instructions."
"Scarif?" Iulius asked to nobody in particular. His head wandered around as he thought.
Why would the rebels attack Scarif? The Citadel hosted a great archive, sure, but what...the Death Star plans!
Ok, but how bad could it be? Scarif was too far away from the Coalition's territory to send a fleet strong enough to force its defenses, even the shield gate could be destroyed only with a large amount of firepower or by throwing a pretty big asteroid at it.
Something was not right. Iulius went down into the pit and checked the message again. After a routine check assured him that the message indeed came from Tarkin, he took the necessary steps.
"Lieutenant Windrider, set the course for Coruscant. Commander Krybos, inform Admiral Versio and tell him he'll command in my absence. Lieutenant Ree, get me the Gran Moff Tarkin, right here and now."
"On the bridge, sir?" Ciena asked stunned, since that was against the protocol.
"If it's that important, then he can tell it to my bridge as well so we can waste less time. Do it." Iulius replied firmly.
Ciena nodded and went to her post, quickly starting the call.
A few moments later, Tarkin's hologram appeared on the bridge.
"Grand Admiral Tanis." he said normally.
"Grand Moff Tarkin, what's happening?" Iulius cut immediately to the chase.
"I suppose you received my message, it should be quite clear."
"Yes, sir, I just don't understand why you're asking me to abandon my campaign and head to Coruscant, what would be the benefit in stopping the Rebel incursion?"
"It's not about stopping the incursion, Grand Admiral. Considering Director Krennic's fallacies and given that he is commanding the Citadel at the moment, I'm afraid the danger for the Death Star's plans might be real."
"So you want me to hunt the rebels down if they manage to steal them?" Iulius asked, still thinking that he was being recalled to do a job that wasn't his own and wasting valuable time by traveling great distances.
"Yes. Your experience in tracking rebels is unique, and these plans are the of the utmost priority." Tarkin dryly replied.
Iulius turned his head toward Nash. "Lieutenant Windrider?"
The young man pushed a button on his terminal, which made a beep. "Course set, sir."
Iulius turned back toward the hologram. "I'm departing now."
"Good. I'll inform you if there will be any significant development." the Gran Moff replied before closing the hologram.
Iulius sighed with his nose.
"Are we really going to leave right now?" Krybos asked.
"You heard the orders, Commander. Hopefully, this won't last long." Iulius replied. "Colmas, take us to Coruscant."
The helmsman complied with the orders and turned the Star Destroyer around, bringing it to the edge of the system until the ship could finally enter hyperspace.
Raddus' expedient of using a Hammerhead corvette to push the disabled Star Destroyer and crush the other one and the shield gate together had been really impressive. A satisfied smile appeared on Jaral's face as the battle in orbit could be considered won, and her spirit rose even higher when the bridge of the Profundity called her.
"Grand Marshall, we have the plans."
The young woman immediately called her father.
"Constantinople, head to the surface and evacuate the survivors."
"Copy that, Blue Nova, we're going in." Jordan replied.
She could see the frigate nosediving toward the surface, now that the shield was gone and toward the top of the Citadel's tower, where the transponders of Jyn and Cassian were.
"Constantinople to Blue Nova. Captain Andor and Jyn are on board, but we can't detect any other ally signal." Jordan said with a hint of discouragement.
Jaral's spirit suffered a bit of a hit.
"Nobody else?" she asked.
After giving them the time to make another scan, the answer was the same.
"Negative. There are no answers, and the remaining TIEs are coming toward us."
"Ma'am!" one of the operators in the room abruptly said. "We're detecting a massive object emerging from hyperspace."
And exactly at that moment, Ezra and Jaral felt the Force screaming a warning to them. They didn't take long to guess what that was about, and their suspicions were made clear when the unmistakable shape of the Death Star appeared on the scanners, towering over the rebel fleet.
However, it wasn't aiming at them, but toward the planet.
"Dad, get out of there, now!" Ezra warned into the comlink.
Luckily, the Constantinople didn't waste a moment more and immediately veered away. When the Death Star's laser shot and decapitated the tower, with the laser landing many km away from the base but still releasing the cataclysmic explosion, the frigate was already in orbit.
"Admiral," Jaral said in the comlink. "all survivors recovered, bring the fleet away."
Raddus immediately relayed the order. "All ships, prepare for jump to hyperspace."
Then the Marshall turned toward one of the officers. "Get ready to detach the ship and set a course…"
She was interrupted by a violent shake-up of the ship, followed by many others and by the alarm blaring.
"What's happening?" Ezra asked.
"A Star Destroyer came out from the main lane, it's targeting the Profundity." one of the operators responded urgently.
The MC75 was clearly suffering heavy damage if the vibrations were enough to shake even the Tantive IV.
Jaral tried to contact the bridge. "Profundity. Admiral Raddus, do you copy?" but only statics followed.
"We can't raise them, ma'am. The bridge has suffered heavy damage...I'm afraid they might be dead." the operator added with a hint of fear.
That shook Jaral to the core. As if the hundreds of people they lost that day weren't enough, now the Rebel Fleet had lost its Chief, and the burden of so many lives was stacking on her.
However, there was no time to be sad, because both her and Ezra were suddenly chilled by a familiar feeling of cold.
They both looked at each other, hoping to find a denial to their fears, but there was no mistake: Darth Vader was on that Destroyer, and he was coming for the plans.
Yet, the siblings didn't falter. Despite the fear, they managed to keep it under control and calmly assessed the situation.
"Status of the Profundity?" Ezra demanded.
"The ship has been disabled, sir. I've managed to contact a small squad trapped in the comm section." the operator answered.
"Tell them to recover the plans immediately. Be ready to detach the Tantive as soon as we get back." Jaral said to the Captain of the ship, Raymund Antilles.
"Yes, ma'am."
The siblings then materialized their armors and ran toward the access shaft, entering the hallways of the Profundity, now left in the darkness.
"Wait, I've go an idea." Jaral said and used the bond to explain it quickly.
"All right, I'll go get our men." Ezra said after the exchange, and dashed toward the signal given by Jinx on his visor while Jaral stayed behind.
Ezra quickly found them. They were only a small group of the security team armed with blaster pistols and led by a Sergeant.
"General Bridger, thank the Force." the NCO said with a sigh of relief.
"Do you have the plans?" Ezra asked.
"We're downloading them on a data disc right now, sir." he replied by indicating two of his men who were working at a terminal.
Ezra waited with them for a couple of minutes, when the download was finally completed and one of the soldiers took out the disc.
"Got them!"
"Everybody to the ship, quick!" Ezra ordered with an arm pointed in the right direction, and the soldiers didn't need to hear it twice as they sprinted away.
Meanwhile, the cold was getting more intense. Ezra could feel that Vader had already boarded the ship and was coming toward them. For now, he waited until the rebels were into the hallway so he could cover their backs, then they all reached the access shaft. Jaral was motioning them to move, but the access door was now blocked because of the lack of energy.
The Grand Marshall used the Force to force it open, but then they all heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the dark hallway behind them.
"Sergeant, get everybody aboard." Ezra calmly ordered as he and Jaral took out their lightsabers.
A few moments of silence followed.
The dark hallway was now suddenly revealed by a crimson light and the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber being ignited.
A figure clad in a dark armor stood in the middle of the room, breathing mechanically and staring at the two Jedi.
There was no denying it: the gap in power between Vader and the siblings was still too great, but after all, they weren't trying to beat him. Using the bond to gain strength in each other, they stayed calm and ignited their sabers, preparing to fight.
Jaral quickly notified Ezra that the vises of the hangar were blocked and the engineers were trying to restart them so they could finally leave, so all the siblings had to do was to hold back Vader for just a few minutes.
Some of the rebel soldiers were waiting for them just a few meters back, into the Tantive's side of the shaft. They were pointing their pistols at Vader, though they weren't going to have any effect, for sure.
Vader took a moment to analyze them and recognized Ezra's armor.
"The apprentice on Malachor." he said with his mechanical tone.
"Glad you remember me." Ezra quipped, then he and Jaral both assumed their fighting stance.
"You have no chances to win, Padawans. Surrender now, and I'll help you to become more powerful than you can ever imagine."
"You talk a lot for a guy that I shot down with a starfighter." Jaral taunted him with a reminder of their first duel two years before.
Vader seemed confused for a moment, then he probably realized that as well...and lost all of his patience.
He stepped forward and raised his lightsaber. In the span of a second he swung it downward, but the siblings split in two directions and easily evaded it.
Jaral replied by throwing a stun shot of her omni-tool at him, making him step back from the shockwave while Ezra attacked him with the saber and they exchanged a few blows before the Jedi stepped aside to evade another powerful swing and his sister took his place.
The young woman might not have had much time to dedicate herself to the delicate art of communicating with the Force, but what she surely never neglected was her combat training with any weapons, including her lightsaber.
In fact, one of the most awaited moments of the day at Yavin would be the siblings sparring quite seriously with their armors and their lightsabers in the training setting, and no Force powers allowed. People even bet on those duels, because the siblings were evenly matched in that field.
Thus, if Vader thought that Jaral would be less proficient, he was caught off guard by her precise and relentless assault. The Bridger sister favored speed in her fighting style, barraging the opponent and wearing them out while her brother prepared a more powerful strike.
Vader recovered quickly from the surprise, though and managed to counter-attack. Jaral's enhanced reflexes still allowed her to jump back before that could become dangerous.
The three kept going for at least three minutes. Vader almost pushed them toward the shaft, but the siblings found an opening and both used Force push to send him back several meters.
"Back to square one." Ezra quipped.
Vader stood back on his feet without faltering.
"Impressive." he said. "Perhaps I underestimated you. But you cannot hope to defeat the power of the Dark Side."
Jaral made an amused huff. "We didn't need to beat you. Just to waste your time."
Then she raised her left wrist and clicked on it with one of her right fingers.
The corridor was suddenly rocked by a set of charges set in a circular manner on the floor, walls and roof of the hallway, right between the siblings and Vader.
The already weakened structure easily collapsed and the siblings immediately engaged their magnetic boots while a breach in the hull started to suck away everything, forcing Vader to hold on.
Ezra and Jaral used that opportunity to walk back toward the door, walked past the amazed soldiers. Then Jaral turned toward them and calmly said. "Shall we go, boys?"
One of the soldiers went into the hallway and shut to another one "Launch!"
That rebel pulled a lever and the vise let the blockade runner finally go free. The siblings could clearly feel the frustration emitted by Vader, who was probably still very busy trying to get away from the breach.
Captain Antilles walked up to the siblings, still wearing their armors.
"Jedi...my men and I are really in your debt." he said with a profound gratitude, just as the soldiers standing nearby made the salute to them, showing all the respect the siblings had gained in their eyes.
"We just did our job, Captain." Ezra reassured him. "Do you have the plans?"
Antilles showed the data disc in his left hand.
"Good. Let's bring it to the Princess, for now." Jaral instructed.
"Yes, ma'am." the officer said.
The siblings walked past him and he followed, while instructing one of the rebels to prepare the escape pods.
They all entered the cockpit, where the pilots were completing the calculations for the jump to hyperspace and Leia was waiting, standing in the middle of the room with a long, white veil covering her body and dress, showing only her face and her donuts-shaped braids.
"Your Highness," Antilles said, extending the disc to her. "The transmission we received."
Leia graciously took it. "Thanks, Captain." then turned toward the siblings. "And good job, you two. I see the stories about you were not an exaggeration."
"We only did what we could...like many others, today." Jaral said in a grim tone.
Leia gently grabbed a hand of her friend and spoke in a reassuring tone. "We will honor them."
Jaral nodded, then the three turned toward the viewport, right when the pilots pushed the levers and the Tantive IV entered into hyperspace, heading for Tatooine.
Hello there.
Here we are at the end of this volume. As I already stated a few times, the events of 'A New Hope' will be the subject of the next book, since there are many things that I want to expand on and the introduction to the beloved protagonists of the Original Trilogy with our Rebel heroes definitely deserve much more space.
I'm really excited to present you the future relation between Luke and the Bridger siblings, and I hope you, too, are looking forward to it.
As always, I thank all those who read this stuff and have followed this story from the beginning, it's really satisfying to see some of you read a chapter the moment it comes out. It really encourages me to go. And if you ever feel like it, don't hesitate to leave a comment or even a vote to show that you appreciate my work.
See you on the next book. May the Force be with you.
Ganel750.