You know it's a bad day when Lando Calrissian comes crying wolf.
Still, I gave my career, my soul, and very nearly my life for something I believed in. Like hell I'd stop now.
So, I volunteered. Looked in my closet for something I hadn't worn in ages- an orange flight suit. Grabbed it, hailed Lando, hopped in the Falcon.
Here's something you should know about Exegol- all of us had either never served, or had retired/been retired when the F-O came knocking. We had pilots that were ages past their prime- Clone War era, some of them- and newbies that hadn't really seen too much combat in the same squadrons. We had Evaan Verlaine, the only Gold Wing survivor of the First Death Star, flying in an old Y-Wing (and she managed to shoot down two TIEs and a full destroyer in seconds, just with the guns on that thing!) and her grandson flying in the same flight. Norra Wexley and her son, Snap- joined up together halfway through, flew together like old friends.
And here's something else we haven't told you yet. We weren't all. If all the people that had responded to us came to Exegol, we'd have to wait hours for the full fleet- over twenty-five million people responded in the first five minutes of our broadcast alone. By the end of it, only machines could keep count- mine tracked almost six trillion. Lando's spiked up to seven trillion. Hera recorded five trillion. Keep in mind, we were all monitoring different frequencies- you have to add all of our counts together to be accurate, and even then there's about a billion people that you might miss.
The first twenty five thousand came with us to Exegol- mostly New Republic and old Rebellion forces. If I was to name names: Phoenix Cell showed up early. Alderaan had a big presence, what with Verlaine being there (trust me, the presence of your queen in an armada? Big motivator). Shriv and Zay, they showed up as well- lovely folk, and good friends of mine. The LDF and Mandalorians liked being there as well. Mon Calamari forces wanted vengeance for Ackbar's death. Juno Eclipse and Galen Marek, they brought a full Nebulon-B.
None of us were obligated to do this. None of us were officially military, even. None of us had to go fight, and possibly die, above a planet most of us had never heard of.
But we did.
With some damn good pilots too. Like I said, Lando had some nice flying. Reminded me of Endor.
Of course, back then, we were a military force. The Alliance to Restore the Republic. We flew in cutting edge craft, alongside mighty ships of the line.
Here, we just flew as people. A determined force of mothers and fathers and sons and daughters, all as one galaxy, regardless of species or past alliegance.
We flew together so we wouldn't have to fly alone tomorrow.
Then again, if you're fighting a tyrant, you're never really alone, are you?