Onoam:
The beautiful grassy Naboolian moon was covered with a night sky when the Millennium Falcon landed not far from the base. It was easily consumed in the darkness from immediate view as a result of the rolling hills and the tall grass that covered the natural landscape of Onoam. Han, Luke, Leia and Obi-Wan ventured off with Chewbacca in tow "Should we have considered taking R2?" Luke asked Ben.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "We need firepower and a quick escape tonight. R2 has the comlink and he can get the Falcon over here for us to take off as soon as we have her. I guarantee you that they will have tie fighters and everything else at their disposal as soon as they know that we have taken the Queen from here."
"What are the odds that they will have most of the resources in this system dedicated to the planet itself? We got off pretty fast after we made our move but I guarantee you that they are searching for perpetrators if they have discovered our handiwork," said Leia.
"I don't think that our mom's mausoleum is enough of a reason for them to lock down the system," said Luke.
"No but finding her body is. They are planning to exhume it in a few weeks according to our intel," replied Ben.
"And if they opened the casket, they would know that she is not dead," Leia said.
Ben nodded his head as he gestured towards the map of the compound that they were planning to attack. He sighed as he thought back to the time that Bail had told him of how he had begged Ruwee and Jobal to sanction cremation of Padmé's supposed remains for the sake of hiding the truth. The couple had been against it and they had wanted to keep her body intact which now led to them attempting to take drastic measures to conceal her survival.
"We have about five hours of nighttime left on this moon so the move has to be quick and decisive," Ben said as he returned his thoughts to the mission.
Han held up a large sniper blaster rifle that he handed to Leia. He also handed her a dart gun with several toxic darts. He handed Luke and Chewbacca similar weapons.
Ben pointed to the location of the small prison that was in a grassy field. The prison was in the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains where there were four guard towers forming a perfect square of surveillance over the grassy valley.
"Fortunately, the grass is rather tall so we will be able to crawl without being spotted by the lookouts from the facility itself," Han whispered
"It looks like a basic base on the surface level," replied Leia.
"That is what it is meant to appear as. But it serves as a small maximum-security prison. There are four sentries in each of these towers. They keep constant watch over the entire field for escaping prisoners," Ben said before he paused and pointed back at the towers before he turned to Luke.
"Their spotlights and scanners will easily detect us when we move towards the facility if we do not eliminate the sentries at all four locations we will be spotted before we breach the compound. Help Leia eliminate the sentries here then start making your way towards the pond where you will meet us. Leia, you will also jam the signals for the coms and the base itself as soon as you have eliminated your sentries."
"This operation would be impossible to do in the sunlight," Han added.
Obi-Wan nodded in agreement as he pointed to the nearby pond that was less than a hundred meters from the base.
"They are less likely to suspect or watch where the pond is. It is not overly deep and nothing in the water will be a threat to us. We will swim across it and then scale the wall. Once we are over the wall, we will secure the command tower if possible, we will avoid being discovered. Once we have eliminated the officers in the command center, Han will confirm her location while Luke, and Chewie monitor things for us and provide cover fire if necessary."
Ben could see anger in Leia's eyes because it was obvious that she felt excluded from the plan.
He looked back at her brother who seemed satisfied with his role in the rescue.
"While the boys retrieve the Queen, I will place charges on the two AT-ST walkers that are within the base and rig most of the troop transports with charges. We will take one with the Queen."
"Where am I in all of this?" Leia demanded.
"I was just getting to that," Ben replied.
He gestured to her blaster rifle before pointing to the tower on the map that had the highest point of surveillance over the valley.
"You will break away from us after we eliminate guards at this tower. You will finish off the sentries at this tower yourself and then position yourself on the mountain below the tower once the shooting starts. The mountain has enough height that you should have protection and the ability to make clean shots. Make your way to the ship once we have breached the detention center."
He pointed to the blaster that Leia carried with a smile.
"You are as good of a shot as your mom was at your age that is why you were chosen for this task. Even though they are still uncivilized."
"Very well Master," Leia replied.
"One more thing padawans, the goal is to keep the Empire from knowing that there were Jedi involved in this. Avoid using your lightsabers unless you have no other choice."
"Understood Master," Luke replied.
"That is not an issue for me. I have to build a new one Master," Leia said.
"You are your father's daughter," Ben replied with a wry grin.
Luke made sure that the blaster on his hip had a new power cell. He clipped his lightsaber to his belt as he looked at the toxic dart gun that Han had given him.
"It has a range of about fifty meters. We want to be close when we start picking them off anyways," Han said
"Agreed," Luke replied.
Two stormtroopers stood guard outside of the sentry tower while two others sat inside of the tower. Below them, Luke and Leia crawled closer and closer to the tower. The twins soon found themselves at the edge of the grass thicket. They each had toxic darts ready and aimed at the necks of the stormtroopers just below their helmets.
"Use the Force to guide the darts to them," Leia whispered.
Luke nodded in agreement and reached out with Leia. They coordinated their targets and fired the darts. One stormtrooper fell back with a cry as the other stormtrooper fell forward over the railing. The door opened and the other two stormtroopers came out with blasters drawn. One still had his helmet off. The other had his helmet off. Luke fired at the stormtrooper without the helmet. The stormtrooper with the helmet spotted Luke and was about to fire but Leia's dart hit his head.
He fell down over the railing. Leia rushed forward with her brother as the stormtrooper dropped to the ground.
A voice was heard in the comlink of the trooper's helmet as the twins approached th bottom of the tower.
"SK 312 is everything ok over there? What was it that the outside sentries detected?"
Luke reached for the helmet and put it on as he spoke, "It was just one of the local animals sir! Nothing to worry about."
"Dammit, if only we were paid a credit for every single time that a false alarm was raised over a dammed animal."
"Agreed sir," Luke replied.
"SK 300 out!"
Luke put the helmet over the corpse and dragged it towards the lift. The twins got onto the elevator and quickly headed up the elevator to finish the next phase of the mission.
Luke and Leia sat two stormtroopers down inside of the tower at the counsel. "Ben said that we will jam coms when all sentries are eliminated," said Luke.
Leia took a comlink off of the counter and clipped it to her belt.
On the other side of the perimeter, Han and Obi-Wan had an almost identical experience at their assigned tower. Chewbacca had proceeded to hit one tower on his own. Luke had separated with Leia while she proceeded to the tower on the mountain that was most critical for her to secure.
Leia looked at the last remaining sentry tower as she approached it. She drew her dart gun and fired the two-toxic darts. One penetrated the stormtrooper's helmet entering his eye.
"I guess I can't use that one as a dead sentry," Leia muttered.
As his comrade turned to raise the alarm, he was struck and dropped to the ground.
Leia crept to the elevator and entered. She drew a toxic dart and a vibroblade. She exited the lift and was greeted with an unmasked stormtrooper. She quickly stabbed his throat with the toxic dart as he cried out.
The second stormtrooper who also had no helmet stood up with his blaster drawn as he dropped his cup of caf. Leia threw the Vibroblade using the Force to increase the velocity. The blade pierced the trooper's forehead and he fell forward. Blood ran down on the durasteel floor as Leia stepped forward. She activated her own comlink as she prepared to report her progress.
"Guys, I am all finished up here."
"Good work Leia, begin jamming their coms," Han said.
"Want me to see if I can access a prisoner roster from up here? It could save time."
"Do that," Ben said.
Leia jammed the Imperial signals as she proceeded to check the computers.
Apailana sat in her prison cell as the door opened. A stormtrooper stepped in with a tray of food. He set it down as the door closed behind them. He removed his helmet to show the face of an all too familiar handsome younger man with blonde hair and green eyes. Davin Felth knew that he was risking his life as he stepped forward and kissed the former Queen. He had been assigned to the base on the Naboolian moon just two months earlier. The young man had joined the stormtrooper corps believing in the Empire and the greater good that he had served. He had learned after a stint on Tatooine and time on Lothal that the Empire was not what he had thought. On Onoam, he had discovered that they were secretly holding the former Naboolian Queen, a woman who was around ten years older than him as a captive. She was scheduled to be terminated in just a few days. He was consistently hoping that he could find a way to get her off of the moon. He hated the thought of her being executed. She had become love of his short young life.
Davin slowly moved to reveal a small holoprojector, "I think it is now or never. They just transferred the Queen of Alderaan here. They are planning to execute her because she has been of no use to them."
"I thought she was dead. I heard some of the troops whispering about that a couple of months ago."
"The official report was that all aboard were killed when her ship was caught in a mining disaster but she was captured and tortured for information pertaining to the rebellion. She had pretty minimal intel and resisted the torture. She did not have the location of the rebel base which was Yavin IV at the time of her capture."
"And no one has executed her?" Apailana asked.
"I think she was almost forgotten, but our garrison commander told me that some special mystic agent is coming to probe her mind for information."
"Why not Lord Vader?"
"I don't know," Davin replied.
"When is that agent supposed to be here?"
"Tomorrow," Davin replied.
"If you are going to risk it to get me out of here you need to get her too. Which cell is she in?"
"The one next to you," Davin replied.
"How many troops are there outside?" Apailana asked. Davin looked past the dark cell door before looking back at her.
"One other in the hallway. There are five others out in the control room."
"Can you take them on your own?" Apailana asked.
"No, but do you know how to use a blaster?"
"I am good enough but I am not as good as Queen Amidala."
"Better than nothing, I doubt that I am as good as the legendary queen was."
"Presiding over her funeral was such an honor," Apailana said.
Davin stood up with a sigh.
"You have been confined for years. All I am asking is that you attempt to get to that airspeeder outside with me. There is a supply shuttle on a landing pad a few miles away that will be unloading in a half hour."
"Ben, I found something interesting on the inmate roster."
"Go ahead Leia," Ben replied to his padawan.
"There is a Breha Organa that was just transferred here from a Star Destroyer. She was confirmed dead just a week before Yavin but it looks like it is her. It says she is scheduled for interrogation with an Inquisitor tomorrow and that she is scheduled for termination with the Queen."
Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed as Luke whispered to him.
"That means that he is hoping she has information about us. He is onto you and to us."
"Breha is strong willed and my guess is that the ordinary Imps couldn't break her with the torture."
"Why not our dad?" Leia asked.
"He suspects you survived your mother's birth. Thank the Force we are here. We need to rescue her," Ben said.
"She is in the cell next to the Queen's." Leia said.
"We are rescuing two queens," Han said. Obi-Wan looked at the younger man with a grin. He found himself relieved to know that his friend's wife was still alive. She would be devastated to learn that Bail was dead if she did not already know that he was. At least she still had Winter and her friends who would ensure her safety as they worked to restore peace and liberty to the Galaxy.
"Leia are the coms jammed?"
"Yes, and Breha is in cell 20 and Apailana is in cell 21."
"Very well, get in position. We are about to go swimming," Ben whispered.
"Acknowledged," Leia said.
Using breathing devices, Luke, Ben, Han and Chewie successfully swam through the pond at the edge of the base towards the durasteel walls that circled the base. As they made their way to the edge of the facility undetected no Imperials within the large base suspected that they would soon be under attack. Obi-Wan hated the feeling of the cold water on his body. "I like hot weather and sunlight when I am swimming," Obi-Wan whispered to himself through the Force. "You have always said that sometimes we have to do the job in unpleasant conditions Master," Luke Force whispered back.
Obi-Wan couldn't help but find amusement in the padawan's snide remark. The twins truly had shown that they were like their father on numerous occasions. Since the day he had promised Qui-Gon to train the boy it had been one remarkable ride since his duel on Naboo against Maul alongside his old master all of those years ago. What I would give to still have the energy that I had thirty years ago, Obi-Wan thought to himself.
A hardened Imperial Captain heard a voice on his comlink. "Sir two of the prisoners are escaped. There is a traitor in the detention center. I am the only one…."
He frowned as heard a final blaster shot. Someone had just betrayed all of the honorable soldiers and freed two prisoners. There were two important high ranking political prisoners were in his custody and if they were lost under his watch his career was over.
"Sound the alarm lockdown! Order all squads to the detention center. Secure the detention center bring me the traitor!"
Luke had just killed a fifth stormtrooper after his team had scaled the wall.
"Have we been spotted?"
Ben shook his head from where he was crouched behind a large supply container. He pointed to the position where the troops were assembling. Two entire squads were assembling in front of the detention center. A yelled, "There is a traitor down there who has freed two of our prisoners and killed your comrades. Whoever he is, I want him alive. Kill him if necessary and recapture any escaped prisoners. Our priority is the two Queens in our custody."
Ben held out two thermal detonators as he looked at Han who was alongside Luke. He gestured towards the assembled squad of twenty stormtroopers. Ben spoke to Leia over comlink, "Do you have a shot on that officer?"
"I can drop him now," Leia said.
"Do it," Ben said.
A shot pierced the chest of the officer and he fell down the catwalk in front of the assembled squad. Two additional stormtroopers fell as Leia distributed follow up shots. Ben threw one thermal detonator forward as the stormtroopers took cover.
"Boys remain high, pick them off and move towards the command center. I will blow up their walkers before pilots get to them."
Davin narrowed his eyes, there were intruders in the facility. He looked back at Apailana who was holding her arms around an injured Breha Organa.
"It looks like we have help," Davin said.
"Someone is trying to rescue one of us," Apailana said.
Imperial stormtroopers were emerging from their barracks. Some rushed out without their helmets and armor. It was clear that they were rushing to reinforce their comrades. Some were in standard black officer uniforms. Leia steadily inflicted casualties from the scope of her rifle. As one officer held up a thermal detonator that he had activated, a shot from her rifle pierced his chest. The detonator in his hand exploded killing several stormtroopers in his approximate vicinity. Leia saw Han, Luke and Chewbacca making their way towards the detention center. She saw Han tossing a thermal detonator into the command center. Han dove off of the durasteel wall as she saw Chewie and Luke continuing to move towards the detention center. There was little left in their path towards the detention center to oppose them. The doors opened and she saw a stormtrooper without his helmet leading two women in her scope. She recognized one woman as her mother's friend Breha Organa. She could only assume that the other was Apailana. The stormtrooper shot several fellow stormtroopers as Leia realized that he was an obvious defector.
Luke glanced at Han who was now crouched close to him, "They are trying to move towards the transport that we are using."
"I guess we might want to introduce ourselves," Han said.
He saw Chewbacca tossing a stormtrooper several feet before he ran back towards them. Ben stood nearby with a control for the detonator. Shots rained down from Leia's sniping as she spoke into the comlink, "I am moving back towards the Falcon. I stole a speeder bike that was at the tower," Leia said
Han gestured towards two additional speeder bikes.
"Ben and Chewie can operate the transport. You and I can take the bikes kid and get to the Falcon a lot faster."
"Agreed," Luke said.
Luke and Han raised their blasters and dropped three additional stormtroopers.
"Cover me!"
Luke yelled.
He dashed towards the stormtrooper with Han continuing to fire his blaster.
Upon reaching the trio Breha broke down as she recognized one of her rescuers, "Luke!"
Luke looked at the Queen who instantly recognized him as the son of his mother's friend. She hugged him in tears as the stormtrooper questioned her, "Queen Breha do you know him?""He is the son of one of mine and my husband's most faithful friends."
Luke locked eyes on the stormtrooper, "I am Luke. Who might you be?"
"Davin Felth, I was an Imperial stormtrooper until today. You picked the best day to rescue them. I was making my move too when you got here."
"Glad we can help. Get them into that transport. I will cover you while the rest of us get over there. There are four of us down here. Another one is in the hills," Luke said.
"Got it," Davin said.
Luke started to provide cover fire as Davin and the two women rushed for the troop transport. He saw Chewbacca covering Han as the older man dashed to his side.
"Cover Chewie and I'll cover Ben," Luke said.
Ben Kenobi ran into the troop transport where he was greeted with the sight of the defecting stormtrooper and two women. The stormtrooper looked at him and spoke, "I can man the gun if you want to drove towards where you are going.
Chewbacca entered the transport as he growled.
"They are taking speeder bikes, very well."
"Take the gun as you offered kid."
He turned to Chewbacca and handed him the detonator and spoke, "As soon as we are out of the base light it up."
Han and Luke fired at the stormtroopers as they flew on the speeder bikes that they had stolen. The troop transport started to move towards the opened durasteel doors of the Imperial base. Luke saw an AT-ST pilot climbing up the AT-ST as they got out of the base.
"Ben needs to set those charges off now!"
Eight stormtroopers and one officer climbed onto one of the rigged transports as Luke laughed and yelled, "Han they are about to be as roasted as a Bantha roast."
Han laughed as he heard an explosion. They looked behind them to see the moving AT-ST falling forward as the moving troop transport exploded. They saw explosions from the entire outside of the base.
"Why didn't you free the other prisoners Davin?" Apailana asked.
"Apart from you two ladies, all of the inmates housed there were there for a good reason."
"That is what Leia said when she accessed the roster," Ben said as he entered the room.
His comlink buzzed and he answered it immediately.
"Yes Leia?" Ben asked.
"I am in the Falcon and on the way to intercept you. Slow your transport down and be ready to disembark. There is a regiment of stormtroopers heading towards us and I am picking up three enemy fighters."
Han heard the sound of tie fighters as the Millennium Falcon came into view. He slowed down his speeder bike and noticed Luke doing the same. The troop transport slowed as the Falcon came to a slow pace and lowered its ramp just above the transport. Han jumped first feeling an unseen force moving him onto the top of the transport. He knew that it was Luke. He looked up to see Leia on the boarding ramp. She reached out with the Force and called him to the ramp.
"Take the top gun we got company coming."
"I am on it. You and your brother get them all onboard."
Chewbacca ran up the boarding ramp towards the cockpit as Leia, Ben and Luke got Breha, Apailana and Davin onto the ship.
"I'll take the belly gun," Leia yelled.
Luke ran into the cockpit knowing that he had no time to lose.
"Chewie angle the deflector shields towards the top of the ship. Get us moving, I will get hyperspace coordinates into the nav computer. Let's go!"
Leia had just blasted her third tie fighter. Han yelled, "I got four now kid!"
She looked at her monitor as a fourth tie fighter came into range and fired.
"We are tied!" Leia yelled back.
"Let's break the tie!" Han yelled.
"Only I can get ahead," Leia yelled.
"No using the Force allowed!" Han jokingly yelled back.
"Using the force?" Davin asked from his seat at the round table in the lounge with Breha and Apailana.
"She's a Jedi," Breha said.
Davin's eyes narrowed as the ship lurched into hyperspace. He looked at Breha in disbelief.
"I thought that the Empire killed them all."
"Not all of us," said Ben as he walked into the lounge.
Davin looked at the aged man with interest as he noticed the tattered brown cloak that the man wore.
"You can call me Ben but my birth name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was a Jedi Master and a general during the Clone Wars."
Luke entered the lounge as Han and Leia came out of the turrets. Ben gestured towards Luke and Leia as he looked at the shocked young ex-imperial that was in their company.
"They are both my apprentices, we chose to use no lightsabers so that there would be no indication of Jedi involvement."
Ben raised his hand as Davin watched the blue astromech droid levitate. After the droid had risen by around four feet, he lowered the droid back to the ground and looked back at the young man.
"That was a brave thing you did today young man," Breha said as she pointed to the former stormtrooper.
"I-I was stupid when I enlisted. I really believed that the Empire was the force for good. I was a toddler when the Clone Wars happened. I saw stormtroopers clear out pirates on my homeworld and their presence for a time made my home planet a better place."
Davin closed his eyes as a more horrifying memory surfaced in his mind. It was a memory that was more recent in his mind than the memories of his childhood.
"When my squad was ordered to execute civilians that is when I started to question what I believed. When I got stationed here, and found out that a woman who was supposed to be dead had spent half of her life incarcerated. The only way that I can make this right is to do my part. Will the Rebellion take me?"
"I got news for you kid. They don't tell you this at the academy and your commanding officer would never tell you this but there are a lot of us ex imps that experienced what you did," Han said.
"I had heard of the traitor named Crix Madine who betrayed us years ago."
Luke laughed as he looked at Leia.
"You will probably be meeting him for your debrief and assignments. He is a high-ranking officer now," Leia said.
"I would like my mom to know that I am not dead because I am sure they will declare me dead in that explosion preliminarily."
"Most likely they will assume you are dead. I don't know if anyone survived our assault to tell them that you betrayed them. If you contact her you should do it right when we come out of hyperspace before we make the next jump to rejoin the fleet," Han said.
"I will do that," Davin said.
That is it for now. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I chose to do one chapter focusing on the endeavors of The Skywalker twins free of their parents. We will see more Padmé/Vader in the next chapter.
-Fallen Jedi 79