9 Standard days earlier
Hyperspace, Perlemian Trade Route
Star of Naboo – New Republic Victory Class Star Destroyer
Luke Skywalker awoke with a start in his small bunk.
Something had woken him. An uneasiness.
For a second he was wary and unsure of where he was.
Then he remembered he was travelling with a small New Republic convoy to aid in negotiations with the leaders of the Tion Cluster. There were hopes to sign a peace treaty with several New Republic systems that neighbored the fiercely independent System. Then perhaps they work together to bring peace to the volatile region of space between the Cluster and the Corporate Sector. It was harassed by both privateers and the Imperial Remnant.
He'd been somewhat surprised by the High Council's request that he accompany their representatives.
Whilst his sister Leia, and the other senators and politicians who'd been leaders of the Rebel Alliance before the fall of the Empire respected the Jedi, most other New Republic governors treated him with something akin to mistrust. Still, the force had seemed to say that accompanying the convoy was the right thing to do, so here he was.
The chilled recycled air of the Star of Naboo was still around him.
He wondered idly what had woken him up. Something did not seem right. His uneasiness remained.
Artoo Detoo beeped in query from where he was plugged into a droid station.
"I'm fine Artoo, something woke me…" Frowning slightly he stretched out with the force to the crew around him.
He sensed nervousness, surprise and shock amongst the few hundred crew members awake during the great warship's sleep cycle.
Artoo whistled something about the Star's hyperdive reverting.
Standing Luke walked across his small Officer's cabin to viewscreen over looking space. With a flick of his hand the reinforced tranperisteel lightened from it's blackout setting to transparent. The young Jedi frowned. Where the eerie swirl of Hyperspace should have greeted him, the white pin points of real space glowed.
Artoo was right, they had come out of Hyperspace early. "Where are we Artoo?"
The droid responded with a co-ordinates far outside their supposed route, they'd been dragged out of Hyperspace towards Ithor and Dathomir, /towards the remnant. Great. Either there's a mechanical fault with the Star's Hyperdrive, which is unlikely, or someone's pulled us out…/
In answer to his unspoken query, the ship's alarms sounded.
Swiftly Luke was dressed in his usual Jedi blacks, his lightsaber at his hip. He turned back to his window.
From the restricted view it afforded him, he could make out at least two Victory Class Star Destroyers, and from the looks of the mass of ships he could make out from the corner of the window, a much larger Imperial Class Star Destroyer.
TIE fighters were already beginning to spew forth from the battleships.
Artoo was squeaking in alarm at whatever data he was getting from the Star's sensor arrays.
Luke cursed quietly to himself. "Sithspit! I'd been looking forward to a nice boring diplomatic mission... now this… I wonder who peeved off the Moffs this time?"
He thought back to his own rather restrained activities over the last few monthsand grinned /Well, at least it wasn't me for a change/
Artoo gave a particularly loud toot and Luke focused back on the present, "Come on Artoo, let's see what's going on."
The droid ejected from the system and quickly followed Luke out of the cabin and towards the bridge of the Star Destroyer. It would be a few minutes 'brisk' walk from their cabin.
As Luke Skywalker headed down the twisting corridors of the ship with Artoo trailing him, some of the hurrying half-dressed personnel around him stared a little longer than others, a few offered him salutes, most were too distracted by the unexpected Remnant attack to notice the Jedi in their midst. Luke picked up on the loudly projected thoughts of one particularly disgruntled looking B-Wing pilot as he rushed past him, ./…quiet mission they said! a nice break, a chance to sleep a full 5 hours in a row they said! …Ooh! Is that Luke Skywalker? ...whatever.. A reward for the men they said…I should have stayed on the farm…Tometeos can't kill you at least…/
Luke smirked, /apparently my presence was less interesting that tometeo farming…/
He was half-way to the bridge when a hand grabbed him by the arm.
He turned to see a grinning man dressed in the orange flight suit of an X-Wing pilot, "Boss! You're heading in the wrong direction!"
Luke smiled in surprise, instantly recognising his former Rogue Squadron comrade "Wedge! I didn't know the Rogues were on board!"
Wedge smirked, "We're not, 'officially'. We've been chasing a certain Pirate-Smuggler chief, he's due to make an appearance in these parts, so we jumped ship at Commenor…" He tapped the side of his nose conspiratorially , "So we've been keeping a low profile. Too low obviously! I didn't know the Great Luke Skywalker was on the Star…"
Luke shook his head and laughed, "Well, I don't know if The Great Luke Skywalker is on board, But the ordinary Skywalker is," He pointed over his shoulder, "and he's pretty sure that the bridge is that way…"
The Rogue Squadron Colonel just grinned, "Yep, sure is." he pointed over his shoulder, "But the X-Wings… They, are this way..."
Luke paused, considering his options, /do I really want to be on the bridge?… Would I be more help in an X-wing/
Quickly coming to a decision, he turned to face the same way as his old friend, "Colonel! I do believe you are correct. The X-Wings are indeed this way…Do you think the Rogues could lend an old retired has-been with a no sense of direction something capable of taking out a few TIE's?"
"Well Commander, I think we could rustle something up for you…"
Luke shook his head and smiled, "I'm not a commander anymore Wedge, but if you're looking for a wingman…"
Wedge just laughed, "Sure thing boss…"and they both joined the flow of pilots and mechanics heading towards the docking bays.
Luke smiled, enjoying being just another X-wing pilot, not the 'last of the Jedi', for a change.
Present Day
Hyperspace, somewhere in the Meridian Sector
The Lucky Karrde – Republic Class Dreadnought
Mara Jade could see his face. It was as clear to her as the holo's she had poured over years ago, when the Emperor had given her last mission. The mission she had failed. Her nightmare had bought it all back.
She had thought the dreams were fading with time, but over the last few months they had become more and more frequent. It was her punishment for failing her Master, that much she knew. He was haunting her, he would not be satisfied until his last command had been fulfilled. Until Luke Skywalker was dead by her hand. His death avenged.
To Talon Karrde's crew on the bridge of the Lucky Karrde she seemed completely alert, focused on the instruments before her, the crew manning them and the swirling lines of hyperspace visible in the forward viewscreen. But she was distracted by memories bought up by her dream, Mara let her thoughts drift back. To her past, to her true life, her true identity. /The Emperors Hand, his most trusted agent and assassin.
She had been trained from childhood to serve her Master with deadly perfection. And she had. She'd spent her teenage years jumping from mission to mission, eliminating countless warlords and traitorous rebels for her Master. In return he had given her everything she desired. A fine ship, droids, beautiful clothes, access to a near limitless credit account, an astonishing array of weapons and, best of all, while Lord Vader had taught her how to wield a lightsaber, he himself had shown her how to use the Force. He had shared his gift, his power with her. Her master had been her life, she had been but an extension of his will. It had brought her purpose and pride, to serve the Empire and its citizens, helping to maintain the Imperial Peace. To be, save perhaps Lord Vader, the Emperor's most trusted servant.
Her last target has been a young rebel hero.
She sneered inwardly at the thought. /him! …A hero/
/Luke Skywalker./
/Blonde hair. Tanned complexion. Short./
Completely unremarkable save perhaps his eyes. They were Blue. In the emperor's files the holo's had made them seem almost black. At Jabba's palace she'd noted that they were in fact a very bright sky blue. It had distracted her momentary, as much as the boldness of his rescue had. She had briefly wondered if this was really the murderer she was targeting, if there had been some sort of intelligence error. Her hesitation had cost her a chance to finish him with a blaster shot… She had almost found him attractive… Mara pushed aside this traitorous thought about her sworn enemy almost as quickly as it occurred to her, and thought back to the facts.
/Luke Skywalker./
/Son of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Nuberrie./
/A Jedi and a corrupt senator. Pathetic./
/Raised on a moisture farm in the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine.
/On his father's home planet…/
She noticed that her left hand, still tender, was throbbing, Mara relaxed her fist and took a long breath, taking notice for a few seconds of the atmosphere on the Lucky Karrde's Bridge. Seeing everything running smoothly, she let her concentration waver again, thinking again back to the information she had memorised about her former quarry.
/Luke Skywalker./
/Rebel pilot. Considered of equal skill to Baron Soontir Fel./
/Rank – Commander - X-Wing Rogue Squadron./
/Half-trained Jedi/.
/Skilled with a blaster and passable with a lightsaber. Basic hand to hand combat skills only./
Of course, he was a fully fledged Jedi now. And Mara knew first hand from the force-vision her master had sent to her that he was far above 'passable' with a lightsaber. He had been Vader's equal. She doubted that even the traitor Vader would have been able to throw a fight without her Master knowing.
/Wanted for crimes against the Empire:
Destruction of Imperial property including the first Death Star and murder of 2 million imperial personnel.
Acts of terrorism against citizens of the Galactic Empire resulting in the deaths of 3540 civilians in air strikes across the imperial systems.
Unlawful operation of a unsanctioned fighter.
Treason against the Empire.
Resisting arrest. (5 counts)
Possession of a prohibited weapon Class A – Lightsaber..
Illegally practicing Jedi.
Member of the Rebel Alliance/.
The full list was much longer, listing in detail every single crime he had committed against the Empire from the age of nineteen. Every TIE he had self-righteously shot down, every colony he has cowardly bombed with Rogue Squadron, every single citizen, military and civilian alike, of the Empire that he had murdered.
The former Emperor's Hand reflected that this list would be much much longer now, and that no one save Skywalker himself would ever have any hope to bring it up to date. She doubted the imperial remnant had… Although she had heard rumors about Grand Admiral Thrawn of late. /and Sith knows he was always pedantic about gathering as much information on his enemies as possible./ She recalled the collections of alien art he's collected to study and she smirked, /perhaps he has some of Skywalker's finger paintings from his school days/
She quickly banished her would-be mirth, feeling ashamed. This was the man who'd murdered her Master. Anger surged once more within her.
/One day, one day soon, once I have the resources, I will seek out the Jedi and complete my mission. I may have failed my Master, but he will still have his vengeance if nothing else./
Mara Jade smiled a tiny cold smile.
Yes, she'd kill Luke Skywalker one day. The Visions would cease plaguing her sleep and the Emperor, her Master, would be avenged.
She found herself imagining his face, that handsome, evil face, promising herself that soon she would find him. Then it struck her.
The Force.
Captain Karrde listened to the intercepted Comm in disbelief.
The Comm was forwarded intelligence to the Chief of State from one of her Admirals. Apparently the Imperial Remnant had attacked a Victory Class star Destroyer on a peace-making trip to the Tion Cluster a little over a week ago.
Luke Skywalker, hero of the rebellion, had been involved.
He'd been flying with Rogue Squadron when his X-wing had malfunctioned, most of its instruments dying in the midst of a dog fight.
Skywalker's fighter had apparently taken a beating then vanished on an uncharted hyperspace jump.
The Admiral had been updating Organa Solo on his absence.
Apparently no trace of him or his ship had been found. The admiral had been requesting permission from the Chief of State to make an announcement that he was missing presumed dead.
What really struck Karrde though was that the Admiral referred to Skywalker several time in the transmission as her brother.
/I go out of contact for one krififng week and I miss something this huge!.. unless.. perhaps it's not common knowledge. Perhaps the real relationship between Organa-Solo and Skywalker is a State Secret./ A feral grin split the Pirate Captain's face, /oh, this could be wonderfull…beautiful black-mailing material! And against the Chief of State and Luke Skywalker of all people/
Still, happy as Karrde was at the prospect of holding such valuable information, learning of the young Jedi's death had saddened Talon Karrde. Not that he would never have admitted it, he was a Pirate. He didn't cry over dead Jedi.
Still, like many other fringe dwellers, the Captain had suffered under the Empire's harsh rule, and the more liberal New Republic had bought many welcome changes to his life. He stroked the smooth wall of her personal quarters, his beloved flagship has been purchased with the spoils of the fall of the Empire.
He had reason to be thankful to the Hero of the Rebellion.
Slowly suffocating or freezing to death in a disabled X-Wing was not a death he would have wished on anyone… /Well, maybe not anyone…/
9 Standard days earlier
Hyperspace, Perlemian Trade Route
T65 X-Wing Starfighter – 'Rogue Five'
Luke and Wedge were the last of the Rogues up.
They shot from adjacent launch tubes through the transparent magnetic containment bubbles and out into the edge of a vicious dog fight.
Luke was flying as Rogue Five for the first time since the Rebellion.
Years seemed to slip away from him as he instinctively raised his right arm to a switch near the canopy that locked his S-foils in attack position, his eyes flicking over his instrument display, checking his shields, quad lasers, proton torpedoes and targeting systems.
"Artoo, shields at 100, sensors at full."
The astromech tooted affirmatively.
Luke smiled at the odd nostalgia of it all, then abruptly flipped into a barrel roll to avoid a stream of laser fire. He cringed, muttering to himself, "Probably not the best time to reminisce…"
Wedge's voice cut through his thoughts on the squadron tactical frequency, "Rogue Leader here. You'll be glad to hear we've got the Imp Class Destroyer. Flight one, you're with me, Flight two, Shape up on Lieutenant Darklighter."
Luke unconsciously slipped into wing position behind Wedge, focusing all his energies on the battle raging around them.
The TIE's they were up against weren't of the same caliber of those he'd faced at the height of the Rebellion. The Remnant pilots were much younger and less experienced then those he faced years earlier.
Three lined up in attack formation on Wedge and Luke. The colonel flipped effortlessly into a portside roll and took out the first, and Luke almost felt guilty as he easily picked off the remaining two with a few quick bursts of his quad lasers.
Luke followed Wedge through the thick of the dogfight, picking off TIE's as they went, but focusing on their objective looming ominously above The Star of Naboo.
The Star had already taken heavy fire from the Imperial battleships. Although the rogues and the star's own squadron of starfighters, a mix of B-Wing and X-wings, had succeeded in evening up the odds against the TIE's which had originally outnumbered them 3 to 1, the punishing bombardment from the Imperial Capital ships had almost taken out the Star's forward shields.
If they couldn't do some damage to the Remnant's Star Destroyers, the Star of Naboo was done for.
"Okay Rogues, the Star's sensors report the Imp. Class has sustained significant damage to the aft shields. Apparently a few TIE's came to grief on their own tractor beams. Flight two, take a run over the main aft ion batteries and keep them occupied. Flight one, we'll see how the shields are holding."
Luke double clicked his comm in recognition and kept on Wedge's port wing as they headed in tight over the monolithic grey battleship.
It had been a few years since luke had a legitimate reason to do a flyby of the control tower of a Star Destroyer and he couldn't hold back a smile as he followed Wedge around and over the ship. When they shot past the control tower, he was flying so close that the Destroyer's shields cracked with streaks of blue energy as they brushed against the shields of his X-wing and he saw figure jump back from the forward viewing windows.
Artoo whistled depreciatively, informing him that his shields were already down to 70 and that he should behave himself.
Luke sighed, "Artoo, you always were one to worry…"
It appeared Wedge agreed, although his smile was evident through his voice, "Five, behave yourself."
Luke grinned, "Copy that sir!"
The Jedi had no desire to prove his abilities or show off so he settled into playing the responsible wingman, supporting Wedge, picking of TIE's and forewarning him of unexpected laser bolts as they made their run over the area of supposedly weakened shields.
Artoo tootled over his comm, informing Luke that he had a shield malfunction and they were now holding at just 40, despite the fact that they had not taken any direct hits.
Luke frowned, but he hadn't been hit directly since his very first missions flying with the rogues, so he felt he was safe enough with 40.
"Okay artoo, let me know if they look like they're gonna slip anymore."
The doid gave a long suffering beep.
There was a flash of brilliant white-blue light as Flight two successfully took out the main aft ion batteries, and a flickering of the shield energy through the force let Luke know that the aft shields had failed.
"Aft shields are down leader."
Wedge's proton torpedoes were away even as he replied, "Copy that five. You're quicker than my sensors. Take your shot and let's get clear."
Luke double clicked, then let two of his torpedoes go, using the force to guide his aim rather than his automated targeting system to get them to a particularly weak spot.
He peeled off behind Wedge awaiting the explosion that his and Wedge's torpedoes were going to cause.
Artoo beeped loudly, and Luke's X-wing's sublight engines stalled for a second. He glanced at Artoo's display screen. They had no shields. The sublight engines were rapidly loosing power. Even the Hyperdive seemed to be malfunctioning. "Sith!"
Anxiously Luke flicked on his comm, but his voice came out Jedi-calm, just. "This is Rogue Five. I've got some major malfunctions. Shields are at zero. Sublights are 40 op., quad laser's aren't responding. Hyperdrive's fluctuating."
He coaxed his X-wing away from the Imperial Class Destroyer, very much aware that it was due to go nova any second now and he had exactly zero shielding.
Wedge flipped his X-wing around in a tight loop and attached himself to Luke's wing, "Okay Five, I'll take you in. Try not to hit anything on the way." His voice was devoid of humor, despite the vain attempt to joke.
Luke was well aware of the stats for fighters in the midst of battle that had lost their shields, let alone the rest of the malfunctions his apparently possessed X-wing was now suffering from.
He sensed Wedge raising his shields to help protect luke from the energy wash out as behind them the aft portion of the massive Imperial Class Destroyer imploded in a brilliant fire ball.
Suddenly a trio of TIE's swooped down in front of him. Luke swiftly cut up to dodge their streams of laser bolts, but the wash out from the Detonating Destroyer behind Wedge shoved his fighter violently into the path of a short blast of red laser fire.
Luke's danger sense flared and he lifted his left hand, unthinkingly using the force to flick the laser bolts away.
He'd never attempted to deflect such powerful laser fire by hand before though, and it didn't quite go off course enough.
Part of beam caught the front aft side of his defenseless X-Wing, burning a molten blackened path up and over the reinforced transperisteel canopy which was burnt black as it melted into the fighter's body. Effectively blinding Luke. The rest of the laser beam caught the wings full on, ripping them clear from his ship. The concussion of the unshielded hit shoved Luke forward and down. His harness half gave way letting his face smash into the flashing instrument panel, and his feet were crushed against the molten metal of the ships etheric rudder pedals. Pain arced through his body.
The X-wing flipped into a dizzying spin trailing thick black smoke, Artoo tootling desperately behind luke as he tried to get the life systems operational again.
Luke heard Wedge yelling out over his comm "Luke! Luke! Acknowledge!"
The young Jedi glanced at his controls, swiftly assessing the situation.
/Sith./
He dimly noticed his blood was streaming out before his face in zero G, little spheres and bubbles of it forming a trail across the cockpit.
He tried to use his right arm to engage his oxygen mask only to find his artificial arm crushed and useless. His left arm slowly reached up, only to find the mask and helmet had been ripped from his head during the explosion. His head was numb and ringing, he wasn't surprised he hadn't felt the mask go. It was now somewhere behind him, unreachable.
/I should be dead…/
The lights on his instrument panel flickered on, then off, then on again.
Artoo's display screen flashed a warning, the impact of the laser hit had activated the malfunctioning Hyperdrive.
His brain foggy with pain and confusion, luke decided his best plan of action.
He double clicked his comm, letting the Rogues know he was alive, then as the air in his X-wing started grow stale as the basic life support systems failed, he put himself into a hibernation trance.
"Artoo, disengage.. Hyperdrive.."
/here's hoping this ship doesn't explode before they can come fish me out…/
He didn't notice his droids silence.
Wedge watched in dismay as his friend's ship was torn into pieces by the combination of energy wash-out from the dying Imperial Class Star Destroyer and the TIE's laser fire.
Luke had somehow used his Jedi powers to deflect the laser beams away from him, but one had still caught the side of his unshielded ship.
The Rogue Squadron Colonel could only watch as Luke's cockpit was scorched and burnt black as his aft wing was torn clean off and his remaining sublight engine died.
Wedge followed Luke's ship as it entered a dizzying uncontrolled spin, spitting fuel and debris into the vacuum of space, along with the tell-tale white frozen mist of escaping oxygen.
/No. no. no! Not Luke/
Wedge was only half aware of his near hysterical voice screaming out Luke's name over the comm.
He'd seen enough battles to know a doomed pilot when he saw a ship go down.
And Luke Skywalker was as good as dead.
He glanced around his forward viewscreen. Noting that most of Rogue squadron were either beside him, watching helplessly as Luke's ship died, or picking off TIE's that thought to make a cowardly kill out of the doomed X-wing.
It was obvious that the Rogues had figured out who was piloting Five. Even though Luke had been flying anonymously, and far more sedately then usual, (apart from the little incident with the control tower on the Imp. Class Destroyer), compared to your average X-wing pilot, his sense of timing and uncanny skill in the cockpit made him stand out. Even when he was trying to play the respectable wingman. It helped that most of Rogue Squadron had flown with him before of course. He'd even trained a few of them. They would have recognised him and Artoo the moment they'd joined the fray. Waiting until the last possible second to perform a seemingly impossibly fast barrel roll to avoid a stream of laser he shouldn't have been able to see coming was pure Skywalker. He'd probably done it daydreaming.
But it looked like even Luke Skywalker's luck ran out eventually. There was no way he'd survived that explosion.
Quite unexpectedly Wedge heard a double click over his comm. He glanced down at his lower comm display screen. It was Rogue Five.
Luke was alive. Somehow. ./ha! Jedi Luck! I'd forgotten about that.../
Wedge remembered all the times he'd grilled Luke about just being lucky, Luke had always smiled slyly and replied, "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck.."
Wedge was pulled from his recollections by a suddenly burst of light. Luke's X-wing seemingly exploded and jumped into Hyperspace and the same impossible instant.
Wedge belatedly remembered Luke's run down of malfunctions, "…Hyperdrive's fluctuating…"
"Oh no."
/'in my experience there's no such thing as luck..' Maybe Luke was right all along…He's injured, stuck in a starfighter that's leaking oxygen and probably not in the least operational, and making uncharted hyperspace jumps. He's a goner. Not even a Jedi could survive those odds./
Wedge blinked slowly then forced himself to return his focus to the battle at hand. But it was apparently already ending in the NR's favour. The Imperial Class Destroyer was slowly and spectacularly exploding behind him, one of the Victory class Destroyers had already been reduced to a black burning hulk, spinning slowly in space and spewing debris and corpses into the vacuum, and the remaining ships were collecting their TIE's and running. Directly in front of him The Star of Naboo was looking a battle scarred and singed around the edges but mostly intact, sending blasts of laser fire at the retreating ships.
Wedge didn't care.
Lieutenant Gavin Darklighter's young voice came over the comm, "That was Skywalker in Five wasn't it Colonel?"
Wedge felt tears prick behind his tears but his voice when he responded was steady, "Affirmative Lieutenant. Commander Skywalker was piloting Rogue Five. Now, let's round up the last of those TIE's."