Chapter Ten – Battle

Being in control of this small ship was so exhilarating for Luke, it was everything he had imagined it would be. However, he might have been able to enjoy it a lot more if they weren't about to fly into battle. But as he flew in formation with the other ships, Luke could feel his sense of purpose finally coming into the light. Of defending and saving the galaxy from the Empire who wanted to control it and everyone by using their fear.

As their ships flew round the planet Luke heard Red Leader's voice over his helmet comlink. "All wings report in."

The pilots all responded including Biggs who responded, "Red 3 standing by."

One of the other boys who Luke had met earlier called, "Wedge Antilles" responded, "Red 2 standing by."

After a few more voices of confirmation Luke finally responded himself, "Red 5 standing by."

As they all approached the Death Star Red Leader relayed instructions to them all as they all steered into attack formation.

He then heard Wedge's astounded voice again, "Look at the size of that thing!"

"Cut the chatter Red 2! Accelerate to attack speed," Red Leader ordered.

Luke felt his heart accelerate as the space station eclipsed his windscreen. He didn't blame Wedge's amazement. For he was amazed himself that he was flying towards the Death Star this time rather than trying to escape it.

He felt a sharp tug on his heart as something rekindled. A sharp, strong presence was within the station. He knew that that had to be Vader. His father. He still asked himself how that could be true, despite feeling the truth confirming itself true within himself.

Luke's heart started aching as another thought of doom dawned over him. If they were successful and managed to blow up the station. Could he allow his father to die? If he was really his father? His mind asked itself. Again that strange feeling seemed to scream inside him that it was true. It had to be the force rather than some mere conscience speaking to him. Nonetheless, Luke had so many unanswered questions still ringing in his mind. If his father, Anakin Skywalker was a good man as he had been told pretty much all his life, how could he possibly be Darth Vader? Why was he even involved with the evil Empire if he was supposed to be good? Why would he allow the Empire to do all this to innocent worlds and people? And why did he offer Luke to join him when he was never even there for him? Most of all, why had Ben lied to him? So many unanswered questions and Luke was now so confused. He didn't know what to think.

But one thing he did know for sure was that the Death Star had to be destroyed, but could he let his newfound father die? Luke shook his head, trillions of lives were depending on him and the rebellion, he couldn't allow them to be slaughtered by this monster of a space station. All he could hope was that if there was any good in his father, he would see sense and fly clear of the station before it exploded.

He glanced up to see Gold Leader and the Y-Wings heading for the trench on the station's surface. Luke followed Red Leader and the other X-Wings as they all dived into attack. Luke felt his stomach fly up into his throat as he dived the ship down and let loose a volley of laser blasts.


In the Death Star it was utter chaos. Stormtroopers and Imperial officers were running in all directions throughout the corridors. Vader himself was striding through one of the many corridors when he was met by an officer.

"We count thirty rebel ships, Lord Vader. But they're so small they're evading our turbo lasers."

The Dark Lord halted in his tracks to face the officer. "We have to destroy them ship to ship. Get the crews to their fighters."

The officer left and Vader continued on his way but suddenly halted again in the middle of the corridor. For he had sensed something which felt so familiar and yet still new to him. It was Luke's force presence, but it wasn't the same as before when he had felt him far away at the rebel base. His light was much closer now and moving near his location. Vader's heart clenched as he realized that his son must be flying up there among the rebels who were attacking the station in the small ships. In a way that was good because his son would not be in danger of being blown up with the rebel base when the weapon destroyed it. But it was equally bad because the boy could easily get himself killed flying up there in the battle.

It took the dark lord a second to decide what he was going to do. He turned and marched off in the direction of his private hanger. He would go out there and he would stop his son before he lost him all over again. One way or another, he would get him back.

A short while later he was behind the controls of his TIE Fighter and flying out from his hangar with two wing-men following. When the battle came into view, he made straight for the trench which led to the station's exhaust port. On his way to the hangar, he had received word that several rebel fighters had broken off from the original group. And the dark lord had a good idea what they were planning to do. He resolved that he would have to put "retrieving his son" on hold until he'd dealt with these meddling rebels.

Vader succeeded in disposing of the majority of the rebel Y-Wing fighters. He could not sense his son on board any of the Y-Wings in the trench so there was no risk to Luke's life when he attacked them. Even now, Vader could feel his presence out there still flying up with the remaining rebel ships fighting the TIE Fighters.

He didn't have a solid plan on how he was going to retrieve Luke. His thoughts on this were suddenly halted because the remaining four rebels who were flying in X-Wings had begun flying down towards the trench and Luke's force presence was one of them. Vader clenched the controls tighter as he waited for their next move. What if Luke would be the one to fly down next to take the shot?

But luckily it wasn't Luke who made the next run, so Vader sped his ship forward giving chase. This rebel got so close that he actually managed to fire a shot at the exhaust port, but it was in vain. Vader managed to shoot him down as they both flew out of the trench.

This just left his son and two others who now flew down into the trench again. Although Vader didn't want it to go this way, it did. The X-Wing his son was flying was the first to take the lead with the other two flanking him. Seeing no other option the dark lord re-entered the trench himself and gave chase to the three X-Wings. Luke's force presence was flaring with firm determination and Vader had to admire the strength of it.

As soon as the dark lord got close enough, he fired at one of the two X-Wings which wasn't his son's. However the ship was only slightly damaged and soon it flew out of the trench leaving the remaining flanking ship and Luke. Activating his comm on the dash to his wingmen he ordered, "Let him go, he won't get far." Not wanting there to be any mistakes with what was to come next, he commed to his wingmen, "Keep me covered, I will take them myself."

"Yes my lord," Both pilots responded obediently.

Vader deactivated the comm and focused on the last remaining X-Wing which was flanking Luke. Increasing the power, his TIE shot forward towards the X-Wing which was moving around and trying to be a tricky target. Vader lined up his target and fired at the ship and it exploded along with the pilot in a fireball. He froze for a second when he suddenly felt Luke's feelings overcome with shock and pained loss. Had the pilot and Luke been friends? Vader didn't know if he regretted his actions because the pilot had been a rebel, but his death had apparently deeply hurt Luke more than any of the others. He pushed these thoughts aside for later, because now there was nothing between them and proceeded on to catch up with his son.


Luke was frozen for a brief moment as he grasped the fact that Biggs's ship had been obliterated. His childhood best friend was gone. Dead. He had lost so many people today to death. Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, Ben and now Biggs. Could this get any worse? No! He was not going to let this get worse than it already was. He thought of Leia and the rest of the rebellion. He would not let them be next. He would die trying if that was what it took, if it meant they could be saved and freed from this mechanical terror the Empire had constructed. Luke set his mind on his target and threw all he had into his ultimate aim. To destroy the Death Star for good.

He activated his targeting computer and was just looking through it when he heard a familiar voice inside his head.

Use the force Luke.

He froze as he recalled hearing it in the Death Star hangar before he'd been thrown off his feet by the explosion. It was Ben Kenobi. And it was just like when Vader had spoken to him inside his head, but strangely Kenobi's voice didn't feel the same as when Vader had spoken in this way telepathically to him. It wasn't as deep or completely clear in a way that Luke could almost feel the man's emotions. He remembered clearly the emotions Vader had been radiating when he had spoken in Luke's mind when he'd escaped. He shook his head, he couldn't be distracted right now and went back to focusing on the targeting computer.

Let go, Luke.

There was Ben's voice again insisting. Use the force? But he was very unsure whether he could actually do it. He wasn't advanced enough in his training to use the force properly yet. And he had only one chance at this from the way things looked. Was it worth risking?

Luke, trust me.

That reassurance was all Luke needed and a second later, made up his mind. He pressed the button to deactivate his targeting computer.

"Luke, you switched off your targeting computer, what's wrong?" Rebel command asked, sounding puzzled.

"Nothing, I'm alright." He replied doing his best to sound confident. Then he cleared his mind and recalled as best he could, the brief Jedi training from earlier, he prepared himself to draw on the force. But suddenly a dark, yet vaguely familiar presence was reaching out to him. No! It could not be. Turning back he looked at the three TIE Fighters pursuing him.

Luke!

There was that dark voice in his head again. No, not now when he was almost there.

Fly out of the trench Luke! You do not realize the danger you are putting yourself in.

Quickly, Luke pressed the button on his console which would mute his communications with rebel command and other ships. He didn't want them to know who he was speaking to. Or to think he was speaking to himself.

"No! The entire galaxy will be in danger if this monstrosity of a station is left to destroy more planets like it did Alderaan. I have to stop it once and for all."

Luke, this act will put you on the empire's most wanted list. You will be putting your own life at risk.

He sighed in irritation. "My life is not what matters right now. There are millions of innocent people who will be at risk if I don't do this. But it's not as though you actually care, if you did, you would not have let any of this happen."

Vader's voice became more urgent. The rebellion are terrorists Luke. They are poisoning you against your birth right, against me. Your true place is at my side.

Luke was feeling the beginning of panic stir in his mind, the closer he was approaching the location of the exhaust port. If Vader kept distracting him with this mental communication, he would fail the mission. Father or not, he wished he knew how to block the voice and focus. But he knew too little about the force or if it were possible. He resolved to carry it out with what little concentration he had even if it got him killed. Gripping the controls hard, he kept his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Fly out Luke! Vader's voice was now a desperate shout. Do not do this! Don't die!

Luke gritted his teeth, sure that he almost felt the pain in the last two words Vader had shouted. "I will do it! Nothing you say will stop me, only by firing on my ship. But if what you say is true, would you kill me? How could it possibly be…"

His words were cut off by the sudden blast of laser fire behind him. For a moment he thought it was the end, but the shots were not fired at him. Glancing back he saw that now there were now only two ships pursuing him. Vader's confusion radiating through their connection and the next second there was another round of shots. Luke saw the TIE on the right get hit by the blast and at the same time it collided with the other TIE which was knocked off course and out of the trench into space. Luke knew it must be Vader's because he could still feel that odd connection. Looking up he saw the glorious sight of the Millennium Falcon soaring overhead. Han had come back!

"You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!" The smuggler cried in delight.

Straight ahead Luke caught sight of his destination. Drawing on the force and concentrating hard he willed the shot to aim true and he activated the trigger and to his astonishment and relief, the shots flew into the exhaust port. He quickly veered his ship upwards and opened the throttle to full speed to put as much distance as he could between him and what was to come.

The explosion came in a burst of fire and sparks. His cockpit was lit up, the vibration ran through him and the sound filled his ears. The sparking remains were left looking like a fabulous light show in the starry sky as they eventually started to slowly fade away.

He had done it. The Death Star was gone. The rebellion was saved. Luke was smiling all over his face and his joy increased when he heard Han's voice over his comm.

"Great shot, kid. That was one in a million!"

Still grinning Luke's attention was then caught by Ben's voice again.

Remember, the Force will be with you…always.

Turning his ship round he flew to join the Falcon and Wedge's ship as they headed back towards Yavin. Though Luke knew Vader had survived, he was sure that he would probably meet again sometime in the future. The destruction of the Death Star didn't mean the Empire itself was all together defeated. There was a long way to go before they could accomplish that. But no matter how long it took, Luke knew that his place was to stand with the rebels and defend the innocents that were threatened and fight back to save them.

He thought of Vader again and recalled that he had tried to convince him to fly out of the trench. He had feared for Luke's life, if he actually cared for him then maybe there was a chance that if...when they met again, Luke might just be able to save him too. It was a far away wish with probably a fifty percent chance of success. But there was a hint of hope and he would hold on to it no matter what came to pass in the future.

Keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead Luke flew with his head high and his heart full with pride from his triumph that day.


Not far away, Vader watched as the remaining rebel ships including his newfound son fly further and further away back to the rebel base.

He had failed in reclaiming his son. Despite the fact that he could probably fly in now and shoot to kill his companions and try again to convince Luke to join him. But he wasn't prepared for that at this precise moment. For it was just him alone with his TIE with no back up. The Death Star was no more and he knew he had to return to his master and report what had happened this very day.

Keeping his eyes fixed on his son, he watched them until their ships vanished from his line of sight. This wasn't the end though. One day in the future he would return to reclaim Luke and have him at his side where he belonged.

As much as he didn't want to, he steered his ship to turn round and fly away from Yavin and eventually he shot forward into hyperspace and was gone.


Author's Notes

Hello there my readers. This chapter took a long time because I'm not the best at writing battle scenes, hope you like it all the same.

So we've now reached the end of this fanfic and I'm very happy I have completed another one. I'm sure some of you might have thought there would be much more to come but I had never planned for this particular fanfic to be a long one like the other one which I completed. But there will be a lot more to come for my other two Star Wars fanfics which are still incomplete. So stay tuned for more to come this year because I promise I will get to writing more chapters when I can.

So please keep up your kind support and leave your reviews, for it really helps me continue on and makes me feel my writing is enjoyed.

Hope you guys also enjoyed the recent TV series "Book of Boba Fett." I really liked it and seeing loads of familiar faces. And I'm also very excited for the upcoming "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Series and the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen.

Thank you as always to my lovely Beta reader Carrie2sky

Kind regards to you all

And May The Force Be With You

LouisaJane007 xxx