That new trailer for the Last Jedi, huh? Really gives you something to think about.
This chapter, as evidenced by the name, mostly focuses on the near-inconcievable (if I may quote an irritating character from The Princess Bride) assault on a star destroyer with only a handful of Y-Wings and a small, decade-old Gozanti cruiser. The rebels manage to up the ante a bit, though. We also see Ferb face off with Darthensmirtz again.
Our major point of view characters for this chapter are: Ferb, Candace, Isabella, and Commander Garavle. Lieutenant Yaami and Admiral Ozzel also have one each, I believe. There's a little snippet from Dr. Tanmi's POV, and a few snapshots from his clone agent's perspective as well.
Enjoy the chapter.
When Darthensmirtz's men would enter Kan Be's hideout, Ferb would be ready. A quick hack into the security cams revealed that the Sith Lord's men had surrounded the location, and were converging on it from all sides, ruling out any escape the normal way.
The ducts were ruled off too; Darthensmirtz would possibly have put in place extra security measures to track his heat signature through there. Only AZI would pass undetected in this scenario. It was paranoid, Ferb was aware, but better to stay and face off with Darthensmirtz and his goons than risk some sort of death by poison gas in the bowels of Tipoca City.
The security cameras had shown he was facing an army of roughly half-a-hundred troopers and combat droids. Darthensmirtz, his Death Troopers , and Yaami were also present. And they weren't alone. Another quartet of mysterious figures seemed to have inserted themselves among the Imperial forces.
One, a darkly armored Stormtrooper, seemed to be always just a step behind a short, robed figure with glasses. The tiny man seemed to lord over the rest despite his stature, and even through the datapad screen, Ferb could feel the sense of menace this figure projected.
The third and fourth beings among the newcomers were armored warriors not unlike the ones from his vision.
He gulped, remembering the image of Darthensmirtz, flanked by the figures, leering at him in the hallway.
Was that about to come to pass? He had barely survived fighting Darthensmirtz when neither had a lightsaber. Ferb doubted he could take on three Dark Side Adepts at once.
It was too late though, now. His plans were already in place, the traps set, the criminals moved into harm's way to serve as obstacles (hey-they are mobsters, after all). AZI was well on his way to wherever that freighter was, and Ferb would be joining him soon. He hoped.
Another pile of scrap was blasted to pieces by imperial blasters, and Candace tucked and rolled again.
She fumbled as she switched her rifle's power packs, barely managing to reload the weapon. Behind her, Han, Leia, K2, Isabella, and other rebels each scrambled for cover.
Candace paused behind a stack of crates. Leia ducked behind them a second later.
"Sergeant."
"Your Highness."
"Ready to light them up?"
Candace grinned. "Do you have to ask?"
The two-the Princess and her bodyguard-leapt into the fray, blasters alight. They managed to trim the herd of several Stormtroopers, but the Dark Troopers remained. Their metal bodies were not even scorched.
A Navy Trooper came up behind Candace. With a blast, a hole opened in the man's forehead, and he crumpled to the ground.
Not even slowing, she whipped around and fired another volley towards the Stormtroopers. Several fell. Most did not. The Dark Troopers still remained.
"Fall back!" Leia shouted. "Fall back!" The rebels complied. Many retreated towards the direction of their pseudo-stockade around S8-8117. Most others just scrambled for any cover on the back side of the hangar.
Candace shot again and again. She wasn't even bothering to target the Phase II's, simply aiming at any Stormtrooper that dared stray too close to
Leia, Candace, and many others ducked behind bulkheads in a hallway leading out of the hangar. Candace switched powerpacks again.
"You were a-urg-Stormtrooper!" Han grunted, diving into the doorway. "What the hell are these things, and how do we stop them?"
"They're Phase II Dark Troopers!" she responded, taking care not to lose focus on the firefight around her. "Experimental combat droids manufactured by Imperial Intelligence in secret foundries across the Galaxy. I only heard whispers about them when I was a buckethead."
"Any way to stop them?"
Candace shook her head. "Not that I know of. I heard tales of turrets firing at these things and only slowing them. Unless that Star Destroyer over there decides to do anything, we're screwed."
"What about the freighter?" Han asked, gesturing to S8-8117 across the hangar, even as he shot wildly towards the ever advancing crowd of Stormtroopers. The marched from their TIE Lander towards the rebel's tightening semicircle around the doorway they were in. "It has turbolasers."
"Someone get me that cargo pilot." Leia snapped.
Bohdi was trying to take a nap when the com in S8-8117's bridge buzzed. Chopper grunted in annoyance.
"You have a message." AP-5 droned. Bohdi groaned in irritation as he sat up and switched it on.
"Uh, yes?" he said.
"Rook!" a voice shouted. "Are you seeing this?"
Bohdi looked out the viewport. Smoke was covering the majority of the hangar. This was nothing new-the smoke had been there for the past hour, after all-but it was now supplemented by a TIE Lander. Squinting, he could make out rebel and imperial figures fighting. Squinting further, he also made out taller, darker figures fighting alongside the Stormtroopers.
He frowned."I see fighting on the hangar. What are those...large things?"
"According to Sergeant Flynn, they're armored combat droids. Can you target them with the ship's turbolaser?"
Bohdi looked with a questioning expression at AP-5.
"The primary turbolaser on this cruiser is operational." the droid replied.
Chopper switched on the targeting systems, and Bohdi aimed at the advancing Imperial troops and war droids. Pressing down on the trigger, he fired.
The Phase II's and Stormtroopers had almost surrounded the rebels when several thundering green blasts slammed into the center of the horde of Imperials. A series of explosions ruptured a gas tank under the floor, and sent several Stormtroopers flying. The outward-rushing fireball consumed the Phase II Dark Troopers, melting and twisting their bodies into barely recognizable pieces of metal and bent weapons poking out of pools of liquid slag.
Candace grinned, and began firing at those who were such outliers that the explosion didn't even touch them. The remaining troopers fell, their screams drowned out by the cheers of the rebels.
Soon enough, it was over. Any remaining Imperials had been disarmed and cuffed. The TIE Lander itself had been destroyed with a well-placed shot from Bohdi's cruiser.
Candace and Leia found themselves standing at the edge of the hangar, just inside the force field. They didn't say anything, choosing to just stare at the Star Destroyer. Han and K2 came up behind them.
"We got a message from Luke. He's established a rapport with the ex-slaves, and they're ready to take our lead and fly as many ships as we can take out of the cluster." Han said.
"Though there are some doubts as to whether or not those ships will fly.." K2-SO added. "Being that half of them are partly-dismantled, decades-old warships, and the other half are mostly disassembled Imperial light cruisers and freighters. But what do I know? My specialty is just strategic analysis.."
Liea gritted her teeth. "They'll fly. Candace, go help Han here to round up our pilots for the bombing run against the destroyer. K2, you're with me. I could use someone good at assessing ships' strategic value."
Leia's companions responded with varying degrees of respect and faith in her plan:
"Yes ma'am."
"Of course. I live to serve, your worshipfulness. My existence is but a series of never ending experiences that require your validation."
"I'm flattered that you find my ability useful, but I'm telling you, there's no point. Those ships are practically useless with-"
"Great. Love the enthusiasm. It's go time."
"It's go time!" Darthensmirtz shouted. His voice, echoing from whichever hall he was planning to enter from, echoed through Kan Be's hideout. Past the criminals, now waking up. Past the bound and gagged Kan Be, with an expression of pure rage in his face. To Ferb. Who was perched on a hanging gantry waiting for the battle to begin.
A duo of scout troopers rushed in from one corridor, taking cover just in front of the doorway. In surprise, exactly as Ferb hoped would happen, one of Kan Be's thugs accidentally shot an Imperial.
"We have hostiles, armed, not Fletcher!" the remaining trooper screamed into his com. He began firing towards Kan Be's gang. "Backup needed! Repeat, req-AHH!"
More troopers entered. Shock Troopers, Stormtroopers, and...Death Troopers. Ferb gulped. He had escaped them just five hours earlier in the hangar, but still, they meant business.
And then Darthensmirtz stormed in. The Sith Lord's mouth was twisted in a violent sneer. And he was looking right at Ferb.
"Hey-hey! Whoa!" he shouted. "Forget those guys. Bring me Fletcher!"
The Death Troopers obeyed. They targeted the supports holding Ferb's gantry and fired. They did not miss. The thing shook and tilted downwards. Ferb grabbed a Death Troopers fired again. The catwalk shook again.
Ferb's grip began to loosen. He gulped.
A silence punctuated only occasionally by com static descended on the bridge of the Avenger.
In the space of ten minutes, they had launched their shuttlecraft into the communications dead zone around the station, witnessed the station itself target and destroy the light cruiser, and received telemetry from a series of probes confirming their transport had been destroyed.
"How many more readily available transport ships do we have?" Garavle asked coldly. He could feel his throat tightening.
"Two Imperial Dropship Transports." a Logistics officer read off from his position in the starboard pit. "Four Sentinel-class troop carriers. One of our Lambda-class shuttles is being repaired, and the Captain took the other one to Imperial Center. We have several Patrol Gunships on hand, but those are not intended for deep space use, and re-equipping one of them with exo-atmospheric seals would take time. We also have two TIE/br Boarding shuttles available, however, Sir, I wouldn't recommend those. They are outfitted to dock with airlocks only, and the rebels might possibly anticipate where they will dock and wait for them there. We also have a single Zeta-class cargo shuttle, but those are not designated for combat and troop carrying."
"How soon can the Sentinel-class shuttles be ready?"
"Proper maintenance and fuel checks will take an estimated five-"
"Sir!" another crewman shouted. "We're scanning another Light Cruiser exiting the corridor! There's a…a Firespray-class patrol ship docked with it."
Garavle raised an eyebrow. "What are they doing here?"
"No idea sir. No clearance transponder or anything." the crewman responded.
"Sir!" M'Kae, the com officer, cut in. "We're receiving a transmission."
"Put it through." Garavle said calmly. He turned to a holoprojector in one of the bridge module's side areas. An azure figure, dressed like an Imperial Officer, appeared. He was young, and his rank badge identified him as a Lieutenant.
"Sir." the officer said.
Garavle responded in kind. "Lieutenant Commander. What is the nature of your presence here?"
The officer sighed. "I'm as much along for the ride here as you are, sir. We were ordered by Lord Vader to escort the bounty hunter Boba Fett wherever he needed."
"Sir." an officer reported. Garavle barely noticed, his attention focused on the words Lord Vader. "The Firespray-class has undocked, and is headed towards the
station. They-they just cloaked sir."
Garavle cleared his throat. "Very good, Ensign."
"Ah, looks like he's gone." the Lieutenant Commander muttered. "If I'm lucky that droid went with him."
Garavle could feel himself perspiring. "What droid?"
"An assassin droid designated IG-88. Fett hired him to help bring in Luke Skywalker."
Garavle paused to let that sink in. However, in that moment the station fired on the light cruiser. The transmission on the screen flickered and died as the escort craft exploded. Several Junior officers paused and gaped in awe and horror as the Light Cruiser was consumed in flame.
"Why me..?" Garavle moaned. "Of all the officers, of all the ships, of all the shipyards….why?
"Yellow Flight, check in!" Luke said over the com.
"Yellow Two, standing by." Han replied.
"Yellow Three, standing by." Cassian chimed in.
"Yellow Four, standing by...I guess." Isabella finished, a bit lamely.
"Copy that, Yellow Flight." Candace said into her headset. She was seated at a console in the station's control room. Behind her stood Leia and K2. They all knew the plan. If this failed, they were all truly up the hyperspace tunnel without a thruster.
Making the whole debacle more worrying was the other light cruiser that had entered the empty space in the middle of the cluster just recently. The station's sensors were for the most part inoperable, due to the reactor shutdown, and so the ship had sat there unnoticed for three minutes in a dead zone. When finally noticed, the rebels were fortunate in that the ship's shields were down, and a couple well-placed blasts were enough to destroy the thing. However, it could have launched a shuttle or escape pods containing troopers and munitions to reinforce the few holdouts that were left. Candace sighed. No time to worry about that now. She had to focus on the task at hand.
Beside her sat Phineas and a freed Caamasi slave who had introduced himself as Ergel. Both were helping coordinate the launch of several Vulture droid starfighters as an escort.
"Vulture Flight one," Candace said. "You are clear for takeoff."
"Copy that." Phineas replied. He flipped a switch, and the display he was seated at flashed green.
"Fighters are launching." Ergel informed them. Out the viewport, Candace could see several dozen Vulture Droids fly towards the Star Destroyer. In the distance, she could make out tiny dots that she assumed were TIE Fighters appear from the destroyer's underbelly. Tiny pinpricks of light, likely explosions, began bursting into existence near the warship.
"Begin firing." Leia ordered.
"Targeting enemy fighters." Baljeet responded, seated at a turbolaser control station. He pressed a button and the several dozen turbolasers on the station fired at the ongoing space battle.
"Two-thirds of our initial force have been destroyed." Ergel relayed. "However, the Imperials also sustained heavy losses as well.
"Vulture Flight Two, you are clear for takeoff."
"Wave two, launching." Ergel said. Several more vulture droids flew from the hangar and joined the fray.
"Escort frigate, you are cleared." Candace said.
"Copy..that, control." Bohdi said. "Beginning takeoff."
"I calculate a 23.03 percent chance of failure…" AP-5 droned in the background. Chopper grunted some sort of binary agreement to that effect.
"And I calculate a 47.52 percent chance." K2-SO retorted, knowing full well that the other droid could not hear him,
Out the viewport, Candace and the others watched as S8-8117 sped out of a hangar and joined the fray. Several TIES flew towards it as it began firing into the swarm of Imperial fighters.
"Our shields are holding!" Bohdi said, "But we can't last too much longer!"
"Go now, Luke!" Leia shouted.
"Yellow Flight, you are cleared for takeoff!" Candace shouted.
"Copy that, control!" Luke replied. The four Y-Wings shot out of their hangar, on a direct path to the Star Destroyer.
"May the force be with us." Leia said solemnly. Her tone mirrored the sentiment of the entire group.
"Oh boy, Brittho has taste!" Buford shouted, entering the control room suddenly. Behind him came the recent Imperial defector, holding several pies and bottles of Corellian Wine. "Like seriously, I thought she was just an-"
"Buford." Candace interrupted. "Shut up."
Ferb's hold on the railing slipped. He fell.
He fell a good twenty meters through a crisscross of Imperial and pirate fire, landing on top of another catwalk. He rubbed his head as he got up.
A stormtrooper appeared out of a nearby doorway on the other end of the walkway, and began firing at Ferb. The boy leapt up and stabbed him through the chest with his lightsaber. Pulling the blade out, he let the trooper fall another thirty meters to the
melee below.
The corpse fell on top of Darthensmirtz, who had assumed the Death Troopers would take care of Ferb, and was now busy indulging his ego by playing the 'bad cop' with the bound and gagged Kan Be.
"Oh you think-AAUGHH!" the Sith Lord screeched as the body fell on top of him. "What is this, the cadaver corridor now?"
"Sir!" Yaami said, dropping his vibroblade and holstering his pistol. He dragged Darthensmirtz out from under the trooper's body. "Are you alright?"
"What...was that?" Darthensmirtz asked. "Where…?"
"From above, sir. A… 'gift' from Fletcher."
Darthensmirtz glowered. "He's up there, then? Keep him occupied. I'm going to mobilize the Inquisitors. And someone drag this crime lord into a closet or something. He's no fun."
Yaami saluted in response, and two of the KX-Series security droids shoved Kan Be into a nearby storage unit. Yaami unslung his rifle, pointing it directly at Ferb.
And above both the battle, and the you Jedi's catwalk, the Clone Stormtrooper working for Tanmi unslung his rifle, and pointed it at Yaami.
Isabella's Y-Wing handled surprisingly smoothly, for a decades-old, Clone Wars era bomber. She ducked and weaved through space, thoroughly enjoying the sensation of flying a starfighter.
Any time one of the TIEs came up behind her, a Vulture droid just blasted it to bits.
"Hey, Solo!" Isabella shouted. "Betcha you can't beat me to the destroyer!"
"Oh, is that a challenge?" the smuggler shot back. "Because if so, you better be ready to lose!"
"Oh, I have to be ready to lose? Because-"
"Cut the chatter, Yellow Two, Yellow Four." interrupted Candace. "Your objective is the destroyer, not each other!"
Isabella gritted her teeth, and fought back the urge to retort.
A TIE Bomber headed for the station crossed her path. Isabella grinned and fired. The Imperial craft exploded in a satisfying display of color.
S8-8117 flew ahead of them, using its turbolaser to cut a path through the TIE fighters. A TIE Interceptor flew towards the cruiser. The ship fired at the tiny fighter, but it nimbly dodged the blasts. It fired on S8-8117, and hit the cruiser every time.
The Gozanti-class cruiser shuddered.
"We need assistance!" Bohdi shouted. "Our shields are almost depleted!"
As if on cue, three of the droid starfighters races out of nowhere, and began firing at the TIE Interceptor, which was coming in for another attack run. The Imperial starfighter managed to dodge the first few blasts, but the fifth clipped one of its wings, and it slowed enough for Bohdi to target and destroy it.
"Control, this is Yellow Leader. We are beginning our attack run." Luke said.
"Copy that, Yellow Leader." Candace replied. "Vulture Flight will cover you. Yellow Flight….good luck."
We're gonna need it. Isabella thought grimly.
Slave I docked with the Armengoltiax Cluster Dismantling Facility less than gracefully. The cloaked patrol ship scraped against the side of one of the three large, blocky modules attached to the Core Ship, and knocked off a sensor dish before finally connecting with an emergency airlock.
Boba Fett and IG-88 entered into a dimly lit sub-corridor filled with liquid up to Fett's knees. A consistent drip-drip could be heard.
"Looks like the station's water reserves burst during the initial battle." Fett remarked, switching on an illuminator attached to his helmet.
"Indeed." the droid said.
And with that, they set off.
General Dodonna stood on the Freedom's bridge. The small flotilla that escorted the Star Destroyer to and from combat zones was currently hiding in a remote star system on the edge of the Iktari Circle, and many officers aboard the Freedom were using the time off to relax. Dodonna himself was using the time to supervise a test of the backup power generators installed a month prior.
The bridge doors opened. In stepped General Draven, followed by Major Hologram, the Wookie Chewbacca and the golden protocol droid C-3P0.
"We have a situation." Draven announced. "My team recently intercepted a transmission between Imperial warships and outposts. Apparently the Star Destroyer Avenger was assigned to protect the Armengoltiax Dismantling Facility."
"That's where the Princess is." Dodonna said.
"Indeed'" Draven agreed. "I recommend we begin moving our fleet. I would caution launching an all-out attack immediately, rather I think we should send probes to confirm that this is not a net intended to catch more rebel ships."
"Sir, if I may suggest, I believe we should contact High Command and request orders." Major Hologram suggested,
Chewbacca growled.
"Chewbacca says.." C-3P0 began. "Well, my programming prevents me from repeating such negative terms, but if I were to translate only for meaning, then I suppose he said-roughly, I must remind you-'You will not stop me from rescuing Captain Solo.'"
"The Wookie is right." Dodonna said. "We have several of our people there, and a major objective of ours is threatened. General Draven, launch your probes and dispatch your scout ships. The fleet will be ready to leave in half an hour."
The Y-Wings dropped more explosives on the hull of the Avenger. The massive capital ship shuddered and groaned. On the bridge, Garavle struggled to maintain order, all while trying not to slip into a flashback back to the battle above Naboo, seven months prior. Technicians and crewmen each called out for his attention.
"Sir, hull is venting atmosphere on Deck Fourteen!"
"Shields are down to twenty percent in Sector Four."
"Twenty-nine crewmen are missing after a bomb struck-"
"Our TIE forces are almost depleted. We need to-"
"Begin moving us out of the fray. Order all available TIEs to stop those bombers!" Garavle barked. "I want us at the mouth of that corridor in ten minutes, and call for support from the flotilla at the entrance!"
"Yessir!"
"Yes sir."
"Yes sir!"
Ferb sliced his way through the Stormtroopers. A potshot from below shook the platform again. He gritted his teeth and charged again into the melee.
Above Ferb, Tanmi's clone stormtrooper cocked his rifle.
More Stormtroopers raced out of a doorway onto a catwalk opposite Ferb's. Ferb deflected as many of their blaster bolts as he could, but they just kept firing.
The clone pulled back on the trigger.
Ferb realized he was going to have to do something desperate. Saying a silent prayer to the god of dangerous stunts, he threw his lightsaber across the gap.
The clone fired at Yaami. Suddenly, a lightsaber raced across his field of vision. The bolt deflected off of the Jedi weapon and back toward him. The rogue trooper barely even had time to scream.
Ferb's lightsaber arched across the chamber towards the Stormtroopers. It deflected several blasts back towards the assailants and began slicing into them.
He summoned it back with the force just before it sliced into the wall behind the now cranium-less Stormtroopers. Taking a last look around him, Ferb leapt off the catwalk and into the battle below.
Yaami lowered his rifle. What the hell was the kid thinking? Jumping down here would only increase the likelihood that he would be killed. Unless…
"Get back!" Yaami shouted. "All of you, get down! He has a-"
Suddenly, though yet as slowly as if someone had hit some sort of universal slow motion button, Ferb drew from his cloak a pair of thermal detonators. One was the standard silver ball used by many, no doubt snagged from one of the thugs, and the other was a small white cylinder-a thermal explosive fastened to the backside of the Stormtrooper Utility Belt, no doubt nabbed form some fallen trooper.
As the explosives fell, Ferb rolled in mid-air and fired a grappling hook up at the catwalk he had fallen from. He was already up there and out the door by the time the fireball consumed most of the Stormtroopers and criminals.
Yaami, a single Stormtrooper, and two of the Death Troopers (the rest having accompanied Darthensmirtz) saved themselves only by ducking into a closet. The same closet, incidentally, Darthensmirtz had ordered Kan Be shoved in.
"Um, hello…?" Yaami said awkwardly to the glowering Kaminoan. "How about housing prices these days, heh heh?"
From an isolated, small control room, Tanmi watched the proceedings in Kan Be's hideout with extreme displeasure. His agent was deployed to kill that aide, who would in time present a threat. Kan Be was supposed to be killed, as he was probably already a threat. And the boy should have been either killed or recaptured, because he was definitely an imminent threat.
"Irritating, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yes sir." an old Separatist BX-Series droid Commando replied, one of two behind Tanmi. It and its companion-guards for Tanmi's private little sanctuary-were of the same make and model as the droids Lieutenant Yaami was using to train the platypus commandos.
"Three massive threats in one place, and none were removed. I should have gone with a bomb. Less subtle than a series of 'accidental' kills in the middle of a battle, but more effective."
"Yes sir."
Tanmi stood up and grabbed his cane. "Ah, well. That's the way the Jogon fruit splits sometimes. You win some, you lose some, you know?"
"No, sir."
"I suppose you don't." Tanmi agreed. "I'll be going now. Hold down the fort and alert me if anything changes."
"Yes sir."
"We're tracking another ship entering." Ergel announced. "A smaller corvette."
Candace glanced at the screen.
"Raider-class." she decided, looking at the shape of the outline on the radar. "Built specially to combat starfighters. Likely summoned from the task force at the corridor's entrance. Divert some of the Vulture droids. That should take care of it."
"On it." Phineas said. "I'm gonna warn you that diverting too many of the escort starfighters would expose our-"
"It's a risk we'll have to take." Leia said.
"But-"
"Farmboy!" Isabella cut in. "Shut up!"
Phineas opened his mouth to try and protest a third time, but thought better of it and resigned himself to re-deploying the Vulture droids.
"Their TIE force is nearly depleted." Ergel informed them. "I estimate another two minutes before the Star Destroyer's turbolasers are the only threat your pilots face."
Fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel had never gotten used to walking in on Darth Vader's meditations. Each time, with more certainty than the last, he feared the Dark Lord would end him for little to no reason.
He gulped. The chamber opened, and the Sith Lord swirled around to face him.
"You have something to report, Admiral Ozzel." It was not a question, just a fact stated.
"Yes, Lord Vader. We have received reports that there has been a rebel incursion at the Armengoltiax Cluster Facility."
" The pilot who destroyed the Death Star is there. I have felt it through the Force." Vader said. "You shall begin moving the fleet."
"Of course Lord Vader. We shall be there within two hours." Ozzel turned and exited. The audience was over.
Isabella launched another bomb at the star destroyer. The capital ship shuddered as a moderately-sized explosion ripped through its hull.
A TIE tried to intercept her. She simply shot it down. The small fighter exploded in a strangely poetic whitewashed explosion.
She pulled her bomber up to launch another missile at the destroyer, and was surprised to see the warship was moving away from the station, towards the mouth of the corridor. Almost as though it was trying to flee.
A Raider-class corvette and a wing of TIE Fighters-no more than a dozen fighters total-were also at the corridor's entrance/exit, depending on your direction. It was engaged with the Vulture droids, who were inflicting heavy damage. Smoke was rising from the starboard side, and only half of its turbolasers were still firing.
Some of the TIEs launched from the Avenger were also still in the fray, mostly focusing their attack on the Gozanti-class cruiser piloted by Bohdi. Occasionally, one would fly too close to an ion storm, get zapped by a stray charge, and explode.
"Yellow flight, adjust course to match the destroyer's heading." Luke said over the com. "Intercept that destroyer!"
"Copy that, Yellow Leader." the other three pilots said.
Ferb felt….cold.
After detonating the bombs, he had leapt back up onto the catwalk, and slipped into the same door the Stormtroopers came through.
He was sure now it was a mistake. The power strip providing light was barely functioning, and certain sections of the corridor were bathed in darkness. The environmental unit was turned off too, hence the chill.
Wait...he knew that cold. He turned to run. back out, but the door slammed shut! Cold turned to fear, fear to panic!
Ferb moved into a defensive crouch, his lightsaber hissing on.
A light flickered link front of him. Darthensmirtz was standing there. Sneering, the Sith Lord ignited his red blade. Two other armored figures, with the Imperial cog symbol on their shoulder pads, were standing behind Darthensmirtz. They ignited red lightsabers with circular hilts
"Hello, Fletcher." Darthensmirtz said. "You know, I really must thank you for this lightsaber. You built it for me, you know, while under my machine's influence."
Ferb did not reply. Darthensmirtz continued.
"I planned to come down to the cell block and gloat about it while you were my prisoner, but over these past seven months I've been so busy with Perry the Platypus' clones and all." For the first time, he noticed that Ferb had his own weapon. "I see you've constructed your own lightsaber-wait a second. That doesn't make any-Oh." With a small gasp, Darthensmirtz recognized the weapon. "The lightsaber of Shaak-Ti." he breathed. "Missing since Order 66."
"Don't know what that means, and frankly, don't care." Ferb replied. He reached out with the Force and shoved the armored figures back.
"Hey, my Inquisitors!" Darthensmirtz protested. "Well, they're Diminutive's actually, but-Oof!"
Once again, while distracted by his own ramblings, Darthensmirtz had left himself vulnerable to an attack from Ferb. The boy had used the force to hurl a bent pipe into the man's abdomen. He stumbled backwards, and tripped over the Thirteenth Brother.
The Twentieth Sister choked Ferb, but the boy hurled his lightsaber at her, forcing her to duck. He summoned his weapon back, and swung at Darthensmirtz, who was barely able to bring his own blade up to meet the blow.
The two clashed. Darthensmirtz swung his lightsaber at Ferb's leg. The boy blocked the move, and parried up, pressing Darthensmirtz's blade towards his shoulder. The Sith growled, and shoved his blade towards Ferb, before darting backwards. The two figures-Inquisitors, Darthensmirtz called them?-moved forwards. They began dueling Ferb.
One came at him with their blade, and Ferb ducked. He reached out with the force, and threw the other one backwards, knocking them unconscious against the wall. Ferb then slipped underneath the first one, and sliced his lightsaber through their dueling arm. The Inquisitor gave a roar of pain as their arm and weapon fell to the floor, and Ferb slipped the cyclical-hinted lightsaber into his pocket.
The one-armed figure now raced towards Ferb, preparing to jam their head into Ferb's rib cage. Ferb gave a foolish theatrical yawn, and pushed the Inquisitor against the wall with the same force as its fellow.
Then, it was Darthensmirtz's turn again. The Sith Lord sprinted down the corridor back towards Ferb, a duo of previously-unnoticed Stormtroopers following him, blasters alight.
Ferb used the Force to summon the blaster of one, and deflected the bolts back at the other, incapacitating him.
The crimson and dark blue of the lightsabers clashed again. While dueling, Ferb took the stolen blaster and shot Darthensmirtz in the foot. It clipped his ankle, and the Sith Lord gave a howl of pain. Darthensmirtz sliced through the blaster with his blade, and slammed it against Ferb's yet again.
Ferb ducked under him and ran down the corridor, pausing only to stab one of the Inquisitors in the chest as they tried to come at him again.
He felt a twinge of regret at the brutal method, but did not let it slow him down. He ran. A door appeared ahead, and he ran through it.
Immediately, Ferb regretted this course of action. The room was much brighter, so it took his eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did he swore loudly. He would've been safer fighting Darthensmirtz.
Standing in a small semi-circle were four of the Death Troopers. Pressing a blaster rifle into the side of his head from the left was that dark-armored stormtrooper. Which likely meant….
A red blade flashed into existence beneath Ferb's neck. Holding the lightsaber was the small glasses man in dark robes.
"I did something Heinz!" the man shouted back into the hallway. "I finally did something! I caught the boy!"
Darthensmirtz's reply was unsurprisingly witless. "What are you asking for with my approval? Aren't I like, your subordinate or something?" The small man flashed a deep crimson, realizing Darthensmirtz was right. Ferb took the opportunity to ask a question that had been nagging at him for some time
"Are you Krampus' version of the Elf-on-a-Shelf?"
The deep crimson turned to a deep purple.
"Now you listen to me, boy-" Diminutive began, preparing to physically strangle Ferb.
"Hold it." Darthensmirtz said, walking up behind them. "We need to find out what he knows, and besides, killing him creates another question I'll have to answer for Krennic."
Diminutive growled, but complied. He gave a jerk of his head, the darkly-armored Stormtrooper fracked his rifle against the side of Ferb's head, and everything went dark.
Isabella had long ago made a conscious choice to not believe in the Force, let alone it being a sentient being that had an agenda.
But when the small group of appropriated ships and droid starfighters actually managed to not only punch their way through the TIEs and get several bombs launched against the hull of the Avenger, but actually force the destroyer back into the corridor, she had to admit something was guiding the day's events.
The corvette dispatched from the sentry flotilla had been obliterated, as had most of the TIEs. Only a few were still in the pitched battle, and they were mostly doing their best to avoid the remaining Vulture droids. The Y-Wings had clear shots at the retreating warship's engines and the backside of the bridge tower.
Isabella was enjoying this. She had not felt so free in a long time, not since signing up with the Rebellion. But then again, she hadn't exactly signed up. She had just followed her dumb boyfriend, made a snap decision, helped capture a Star Destroyer, and by that point, it had been too late to back out.
A TIE crossed her path. She fired at it. It evaded the blasts, but fell when S8-8117 targeted it
And besides, what was this but just a 'greater cause'? And Isabella knew she detested those, a bunch of people fighting together for no obvious personal gain.
And that wasn't her! She was a tough-talking, street smart, self-serving smuggler, who cared for nothing and no one.
Right?
The Avenger was at the mouth of the corridor now. The ship was all but lost, and survived only now because the Victory-class star destroyer had launched another wing of TIE Fighters at the rebel ships.
"They knew everywhere they needed to hit us." Lieutenant Vassir, Chief Engineer, said. He and Garavle were standing over the holographic display table, where a revolving model of the Avenger was present. "They knew the weak points of each section, and knew just how many times they needed to hit them." The commander considered this.
"Likely because they have access to a Star Destroyer of their own." Garavle commented.
"Indeed." the Engineer responded. They both neglected to mention that the ship in question was captured under Garavle's command. Vassir continued. "There was also this." The hologram of the Avenger disappeared, and was replaced by a frozen image of an explosion. Crewmen, crates, droids, and Navy Troopers were being thrown "This is the secondary cargo bay on the starboard side of Deck Twelve. Under normal circumstances, it would not have broken under the bombs, but analysis from probe droids suggests-"
They were interrupted when the ship shook again.
"Aft shields failing!" someone shouted.
Garavle gulped. "Reposition the ship do the aft decks are facing out of the corridor. I want-"
Suddenly, several ships flashed out of hyperspace and into existence off the port bow.
"Sir!" an officer shouted. "Those are rebel ships!"
They were indeed. First and foremost was Garavle's old star destroyer, albeit a little banged up and modified, but still his ship. There were also two CR90 corvettes, commonly known blockade runners, a DP20 frigate, a Nebulon B frigate, and a few light freighters that had clearly been upgraded for military use.
Another CR90 detached from the stolen destroyer's hangar bay, and positioned itself among the fleet. As though it had been some sort of plug keeping the water in, the moment the blockade runner was out of the way, several dozen starfighters spilled out of the hangar on the destroyer's massive underbelly.
The Avenger shook again. Garavle barely noticed it. He hardly was aware of the orders he was giving either-Reposition the corvettes!-Scramble all TIEs! He lost himself in the direction of combat, knowing full well that his badly damaged ship might not make it. For whatever reason
"Commander Garavle." a voice said. Garavle suddenly felt very, very cold. He turned back to the display table and found himself facing a hologram of….Lord Vader.
Sweet Malachor, just how much worse could his job get today? The last time he saw..that..that thing was seven months ago at Naboo, right before Captain Refinartok was captured, and his old ship was lost.
"L-Lord Vader." Garavle sputtered. "Sir." The Avenger shook again.
"Commander, I am aware that a rebel fleet has recently dropped out of hyperspace at your position." Garavle dared not wonder, let alone ask, how the Empire's chief enforcer knew of the rebel fleet's recent arrival. Like many officers, he had long ago accepted the fact that Vader was...something else.
"It has, Lord Vader." The hologram stared at him. For a second, Garavle thought he was about to be choked. Lieutenant Vassir's eyes darted nervously between the two.
"Pull out your ships. Fall back to our naval bases at Fondor." Garavle's chest sagged in relief. The hologram winked out. The Commander chose not to think about what might be waiting for him at Fondor-Vader was sometimes known to let officers believe they were in the clear, before telepathically strangling them for failures that were not their fault.
"The hyperdrive is working, correct?" Garavle asked Vassir.
"Yes sir." the Engineer said.
"Good." the officer walked towards the viewports, onto the catwalk between the two data pits. Begin setting a course for Fondor. M'Kae!" The com officer looked up. "Recall all TIEs. And contact the commanders of the Victory-class destroyer and any remaining corvettes. Inform them of the retreat. We're done here."
We're moving nicely towards the grand climax of this chapter arc soon. I anticipate one or two more.
Also, I haven't been getting any reviews lately. The story stats still show roughly 20-30 people reading every time, but the last review from one of my usual reviewers was on Chapter 14. I enjoy the writing, but due to computer issues posting is sometimes more of a hassle than it should be. If I'm not sure anyone's enjoying, I might put off posting chapters as soon as I finish writing and editing them.
My condolences to the victims of Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and the victims and families of victims of the horrific Las Vegas shooting. That was truly evil.
See you guys next