Chapter 9: Rock Versus Laser

All things considered, it could have been worse.

Darth Vader had personally escorted the remaining prisoners to the brig, however few of them that had survived the battle. Of the few dozen locals that had come aboard the Stalker only Zuko, Qin, and some unremarkable waterbender that Darth Vader never caught the name of, remained alive. It had taken the gradual slaughter of all their brethren to bring the three into submission, and they were now of very little threat to the ship and its crew. Determined to salvage something from this mess, Darth Vader ordered that these prisoners be kept alive.

After leaving the prisoners in cells, and ordering the crew to drain all nearby pipes, Darth Vader went back to the site of battle to inspect the damage to the Stalker. It was actually quite impressive for a pre-industrial people, the way they had ripped water from the pipes to tear the walls and floors asunder. The casualty rate on the imperial side was also remarkable, further proving that the supernatural abilities of the locals could be quite useful in unconventional circumstances, especially if turned on those that did not fully understand it.

But it was clear that considerable work would be required to exploit those abilities, this little incident being proof of that. The entire population would have to be ground under the Empire's heel first, just to stamp out the defiant nature that led to a hole in a perfectly good mess hall. A couple million dead ought to do the job, targeting those most likely to resist imperial rule and fight when there was no hope of victory. With that thought and others like it going through his mind Darth Vader left the damaged part of the ship and headed for the bridge.

Along the way Darth Vader spotted an officer approaching him, and when they intercepted they started walking side by side. "Yes, what is it?"

"Priority transmission for you," the officer answered. "The maximum security clearance codes have been confirmed."

"Send it to my personal chamber," Darth Vader said, and he walked off in a different direction while the officer left to carry out the order.

Deep within every Star Destroyer was a special room, reserved for Darth Vader's use should be happen to be aboard, and inaccessible to anyone else if he was not present. This room served as his living quarters for his often short stays, containing all the specialized equipment needed for maintenance of his suit's systems, the only thing keeping Darth Vader alive. It also contained a holographic protector with a direct hyperwave link to Coruscant, which Darth Vader used for sensitive communications with Emperor Palpatine.

Once there Darth Vader kneeled on a circular pad, and a large hologram of the Emperor's face and cloak appeared. "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

The Emperor's wrinkled face frowned down upon Darth Vader. "There has been a disturbance in the Force."

"I have felt it." Darth Vader looked up at the Emperor's hologram. "It is an opportunity that we cannot afford let pass. I have already taken steps to exploit it."

"Without my permission." The Emperor breathed in deeply before continuing. "I know what you've been doing out there. The risk is too great to be acting alone."

"The situation is under control, as I'm sure your agents have told you."

"For now." Although the Emperor conceded that, he still looked displeased. "Still, this diversion has consumed too much of your time already. It is distracting you from your primary tasks."

"The menace remains beyond our reach." Darth Vader knew that wouldn't be enough to satisfy his master. "And the rebels are inconsequential in light of recent events."

"They remain a potential threat if the worst comes to pass. I need you to find and eliminate them. They have been allowed to exist too long already."

"I am still needed here," Darth Vader said, and was about to continue before the Emperor cut him off.

"I have already dispatched someone more suited for a prolonged campaign." The Emperor laughed a little. "He will relieve you of duty here, and you will return to the task of eliminating the rebels."

There was no arguing with his master on this matter, Darth Vader knew that was futile all too well. "As you wish, my Master."

The hologram disappeared and Darth Vader stood up, having his orders and thinking of his own way to fulfill them. He left his personal chamber and headed for the bridge, and by the time he got there he had a plan ready. On the bridge he found the officers there coordinating the repair effort, seeing Captain Zed overseeing yet keeping the micromanaging to a minimum. Darth Vader looked over the bridge officers doing their jobs, and then walked up to the front windows where Captain Zed was standing.

Zed looked at Vader as he approached, and when they stood side by side he went back to looking at the crew. "Yes my Lord. Is there something you require?"

"Yes," Darth Vader answered. He looked out the windows at the planet before them. "It's time we stopped holding back."

Avatar Aang was running through the streets of Ba Sing Se as fast as he could.

He had tried to fly across the city with his glider, thinking that just a small target wouldn't be seen, and had been promptly shot at by all the stormtroopers marching through the streets. A couple of blaster bolts had made glancing blows to his arms and legs, just barely deep enough to burn and hurt but not deep enough to cripple a limb. His glider on the other hand, had been punctured several times and was no longer fit for flight. Aang could still use it as a staff, but if he wanted to get somewhere he would have to do it on the ground.

Along the way Aang came across battle lines drawn between the invading stormtroopers and the citizens of Ba Sing Se. Earthbenders had raised stone walls to protect themselves from blaster fire, though sustained firing would break down those walls in under a minute. In the time they had the earthbenders would hurl stone blocks over their walls, impacting stormtroopers with enough force to break bones beneath their armor. Here it was clear that the earthbenders had the advantage, thanks to having their element present all around them.

With the wind literally at his back Aang blew through the battles, often throwing up gales in his wake that startled stormtroopers and made openings for earthbenders to attack. Aang was in and out of harm's way before he could get shot, and was making record time running through the city, though this was not the time to be keeping track of that. Despite having the speed of the wind it still took forever to get anywhere in Ba Sing Se, or at least it felt that way by the time Aang reached the middle ring and passed through that part of the city.

"Uh-Oh…" Aang muttered, coming to a stop just short of the cleared part of the ring, staring at something new out there. "That's not good."

Here Aang could see for miles ahead of him, and much of that land was being taken by the invaders. In the distance were machines best described as walking tanks, easily over twenty-five feet tall with a head slightly larger than a Fire Nation tank. Dozens of them were being deployed from larger landing crafts near the sinkhole that spanned the middle and lower rings, and these walking tanks moved through the ruins with the grace of giant turkey-chickens. Attached to the underside of their heads was a pair of blasters, much larger than the handheld variety and promising far more destruction.

"That's definitely not good," Aang muttered. He could see the walking tanks heading out from the clearing, bringing their larger mounted blasters to bear. "This is going to suck."

The walking tanks hadn't even reached the clearing's edge when they opened fire. Larger red blaster bolts shot through the air down middle rind streets, the first volley hitting their targets before anyone could react. Buildings were punctured, earthen barriers were demolished, people were obliterated, all in just a few shots from stronger weapons of war. By the time the walking tanks reached urban landscape, there was no resistance left for them to walk over there, and they kept on walking to target the next battle they could find.

Aang had retreated from the cleared area to the closest group of earthbenders, or rather the closest group not being shot at by the walking tanks. "We need to take those things out!"

A few blocks away blaster bolts exploded and killed half a dozen men, prompting an earthbender in front of Aang to shake his head. "We aren't getting anywhere near that kind of firepower."

Dying screams reached the group, and another earthbender shook his head. "We'll be dead long before we get close enough to do anything."

"Up here we will," Aang said. He punched towards the ground and part of it sank far below them. "But they can't hit us if they don't see us."

This small group of earthbenders followed Aang underground, working together to create a tunnel and lengthen it as they went along. Immediately they encountered the expected problem of not having any light underground, which significantly slowed their progress underneath the battlefield. Fortunately Aang had learned enough of Toph's vibration sight to do it himself, though nowhere near as well as she could and having little grasp of the finer details. With Aang's help the earthbenders got into position, and struck at the walking tanks from below.

The roof of their tunnel was collapsed on purpose, with none of the earthbenders in that part, and the left leg of a walking tank plunged into the tunnel. It also got jammed in the narrow shaft of rock it found itself in, and the other leg struggled to lift the entire machine out of the hole. For good measure the earthbenders made the rock close in around the snared leg, binding it even further and ensuring that it could not get out. And then the earthbenders were back on the move, Aang guiding their tunneling towards the next walking tank.

"I think we've got their weakness figured out," Aang commented.

"Command, we need ground penetrating radar, stat."

The AT-STs were steadily marching into the urban landscape, laying down heavy blaster fire on the locals from well beyond the range of their telekinetic abilities. But then one AT-ST had stepped on a sinkhole and got its leg trapped in the ground, and it was unable to get itself free from the hole. The timing was too much of a coincidence given the locals' control over rock, implying a role of enemy action at work. It was obvious that the locals had taken the battle underground, where the gunners of the AT-STs couldn't see and shoot them.

The sergeant piloting the lead AT-ST had just called up his command, speaking to a little blue hologram of an officer aboard the Stalker. "The enemy is setting traps underground."

"Acknowledged." The officer did something with a terminal on his end. "Bombers are on route to your position. Please stand by."

Aboard the Stalker fighter pilots were sent to their ships, specifically the TIE Bombers that supplemented the contingent of TIE Fighters. All twelve of them were launched from the shuttle bay and deployed planet side, diving into the atmosphere toward the continent. Their double-sphere hulls and curved wings were covered in fire on reentry, and when the burning faded they were none the worse for wear while flying toward the walled city. This was the kind of thing they were meant for, laying siege on underground fortifications.

The TIE Bombers flew over the city in a wide formation, turning their targeting sensors on the ground passing below them, searching for targets to bomb into oblivion. The bombers found all sorts of things hidden beneath the surface, though only in broad shapes and no deeper than fifty meters. The first pass over the city was solely for scanning the underground, to find the locals targeting the AT-STs. Over one of the large walls the bombers turned around for another pass, and their sensors found the tunnels and achieved target lock.

"Starting our run now, brace for shockwaves."

In preparation for the imminent bombardment the AT-STs halted their advance and planted their feet in the ground, save for the three already snared in the local sinkholes. The TIE Bombers passed overhead and deployed their ordinance, dropping several bombs down on the land around the AT-STs. They exploded on impact and left blast craters behind, some of them too close for comfort for the AT-STs and the imperials inside. Shockwaves from the explosions rattled the AT-STs, deafening some of the pilots and gunners inside them.

The sergeant in particular had a ringing in his ears, bad enough to make it nearly impossible to hear the voice of his superior officer. "Repeat Command, I couldn't hear during the bombing."

Interference from the explosions garbled the transmission, parts of it cutting out while the hologram flickered with static. "-standing on primary- -had to compensate- -glancing blow on target."

"Are we clear to resume our advance?" the sergeant asked.

The hologram was already beginning to clear, though the voice still had static in it. "You are clear to proceed. Follow the path the bombers will lay out ahead of you."

"Acknowledged," the sergeant said, and at his command the pilot got the AT-ST moving again. He could see the TIE Bombers on another bombing run ahead, clearing some of the urban landscape and discouraging the locals from going underground. "This ought to flush them out."

Aang literally did not know what hit him.

He had been at the front of the latest stretch of tunnel, just about ready to tell the earthbenders where to make the rock collapse and snare another walking tank in the ground. Then behind him something exploded, Aang was hurled forward into a wall of rock, and the entire tunnel collapsed. Before he knew what was going on Aang was buried in rubble, bruised and bleeding all over. Aang couldn't even hear the drying screams of people crushed in the rubble, not with the intense ringing in his ears that deafened his hearing.

Blind in the dark, deafened by the blast, and buried in the rubble, Aang could only groan while wondering what in the world just happened here. His part of the tunnel had only mostly collapsed, having been near the very end at the time, leaving a small pocket of air at the end and relatively small chunks of rock pinning Aang to the floor. Still he was stuck there and quickly running out of air, the worst possible way to go out for an Air Nomad. As he lay there in the rubble, Aang was all but certain that he would die here.

Fortunately, this was the kind of time the Avatar State was meant for.

Summoned by the instinctive need for self-preservation, a surge of power flowed through the Avatar so that he may be able to protect his own life. Aang's eyes and tattoos glowed bright blue and filled the collapsed tunnel with light, the shadows stirring as the rubble quickly fell off the slowly rising Avatar. More rock collapsed around the Avatar as he stood up, this time falling around him instead of falling on him. Soon the ceiling collapsed around the Avatar, letting in the light of day, and clearing the way for swift retribution.

Wind rushed in through the hole and completely enveloped the Avatar, creating the sphere of wind that usually accompanied the Avatar State. Water surged upward from a buried aquifer, bursting out of the floor and flowing into a ring around the Avatar. Rock quickly followed and formed a ring of boulder sized chunks, but at the Avatar's clenching fists those chunks compacted into smaller and denser pieces. Fire was blown out from the Avatar's mouth, forming the third and final elemental ring that burned alongside the others.

The Avatar rose out of the collapsed tunnel like some figure of legend, enveloped in the elements and ready to unleash them on the world. The walking tanks had moved on from the area so the Avatar was now behind them, and quickly exploited the position to attack. He reached for the closest walking tank with both arms, spread his clenched fists apart, and the ground split in two. A new ravine swallowed that walking tank whole, and as the Avatar brought his fists back together the ground closed in to bind the machine.

The reaction was instantaneous.

All of the walking tanks turned towards the Avatar, their operators wondering what they were looking at but were certain that it was a problem. The big blasters were turned on the Avatar and they opened fire, but the large blaster bolts never reached the target. For the Avatar quickly raised large slabs of rock from the ground, which he positioned between himself and the walking tanks to block all of their shots. Sure each slab was quickly destroyed by blaster fire, but there was plenty more available to weather the counterattack.

Then the Avatar rose up higher, and flew towards the enemy at faster speed. "Get Off My Planet!"

The ring of rock came to a halt with one denser stone stopped in front of the Avatar's hand, aimed for one walking tank ahead and below him. The dense stone fragmented into finger size pieces that were propelled faster than the eye could follow, making impact with more than enough kinetic force to puncture metal and pierce the fleshy bits behind it. Numerous high velocity projectiles shredded the walking tank's head, crippling the mechanisms and personnel inside to leave the vehicle a tattered and immobile wreck.

Blaster fire intensified in response to the increasing threat, far beyond the Avatar's ability to block with shields of stone. Instead the Avatar beckoned to the wind and rode on streams of air, blowing back and forth in an erratic pattern difficult to track. He kept ahead of the incoming blaster bolts and out of enemy crosshairs, always making sudden turns when the bolts started to catch up. The Avatar closed in on the enemy formation and descended to head level, and flew in between the middle two, with predictable results.

Firing lines crossed, gunners found each other in their crosshairs, too late to stop shooting. The middle two shot each other, scored direct hits on the wrong target, and blew each other to pieces. Walking tanks further away made the same mistake, though the greater distance between each of them allowed for glancing blows instead of direct hits, sparing each other from complete destruction. The crossfire damaged the sides or legs of nearly every other walking tank, hindering their ability to continue the campaign.

The Avatar ascended high above the battlefield, turning back to see the results and act accordingly. The walking tanks had stopped firing altogether, some of their occupants exiting the vehicles to make emergency field repairs. It would take time for them to get the walking tanks functional again, time that Aang had just bought for Ba Sing Se. In any case the threat from the walking tanks had been negated for the moment, at least until more of them show up. That wouldn't be for a while yet, as there weren't any more walking tanks within the Avatar's sight.

So the Avatar slowly descended back down to earth, the immediate danger to his life over and the need for the Avatar State along with it. The blue glow in his eyes and tattoos faded away and the elemental rings collapsed around him, and all was still when his feet touched the ground. Aang's consciousness returned to full control of his body, a body that immediately collapsed from the exhaustion. Between the injuries sustained in that tunnel and prolonged use of the Avatar State, Aang felt like he could sleep for a month.

But there was still work to be done, despite Aang's weariness. "Have to keep moving…"

"Excuse me, what?"

Captain Zed just heard the latest report aboard the Stalker, one that he was certain to have been greatly embellished. Apparently an entire squad of AT-STs had been crippled or destroyed, and if the report was accurate this had been achieved by a single individual. Given the technological inferiority of the locals, combined with what had been observed regarding their abilities, this feat did not appear to be possible. And yet according to the report, it had happened. Zed was still on the comm with the sergeant down there, the hologram communication on that end not functional at the moment.

"One person wiped out half the squad and crippled the rest of it." The sergeant reporting muttered something to someone on his end. "Better bring down the AT-ATs soon, they'd fare a lot better than these AT-STs against that elemental pinball."

An officer that commanded the squad keyed something into his console. "Acknowledged, expect reinforcements soon. Stalker out."

While thinking about this development Captain Zed stroked his chin. "You know, these locals are more formidable than I had expected."

As the tactical officer, Commander Reed made a suggestion for how to proceed. "Do you want the AT-ATs deployed immediately?"

"Negative," Zed ordered, waving a hand dismissively. While he believed escalation was called for, he had a much bigger idea. "Commander, ready the ventral turbolasers. Warm up the forward ion cannons." He waited a moment to see a shocked expression from the commander. "And bring atmospheric thrusters online."

The look on her face alone was worth it, and while shocked Commander Reed still carried out the order. "Understood sir."

Captain Zed walked to the rear end of the bridge, and he put in his codes to make a ship-wide announcement. "Attention all hands, this is the captain. Prepare for atmospheric entry. Lock down all volatile materials immediately. All nonessential personnel are to equip safety gear. This is going to be a rough ride people."

After a few minutes of preparations made to the ship, hastily made by the crew after the order had been given out, the Stalker turned and moved toward the planet. The Star Destroyer descended with its underbelly first, raising shields just before making contact with atmosphere. Thrusters controlled the speed of descent, though it was still fast enough for air to burn around the shields. The flames burning against the shields made the ship look like a comet in the night sky, moving across the sky toward the daylight side.

At the stratosphere the Stalker slowed enough for the flames to cease, and on atmospheric thrusters the Star Destroyer flew across the divide between night and day. The planet's main continent was up ahead, currently in the local midafternoon. The Star Destroyer could be seen from the ground at this relatively low altitude, though only as a dull gray triangle moving across the sky. On most worlds that was enough to make the populace panic, often enough to make them surrender instead of trying to fight such a massive ship.

Captain Zed expected it to be especially effective here, considering the nature of the city his ship would be flying over momentarily. Massive walls were utterly meaningless against a foe in the air, the local's greatest defense negated in an instant. Sure the ship was shaking in the turbulence of atmospheric flight, but the locals couldn't see the strain it put on a Star Destroyer. Down there the Stalker would be a floating fortress far beyond their reach, and it would crush whatever resistance remained simply by being there.

Once the massive walls were in sight the Stalker descended even further, though Captain Zed made a hand gesture for the pilot to ease off a bit. "Keep us above five kilometers. Let them see us before we shoot them."

"I just can't catch a break."

Aang had finally crossed the middle ring to reach part of it south of the cleared area, where many earthbenders had gathered to fight together. Among their numbers were Dai Li agents, the best earthbenders this city had to offer. A hundred men and women in total were here, and they all saw the spaceship on its way to Ba Sing Se. Soon it would be here to unleash its firepower, in the literal sense of death from above. Yet seeing it here gave Aang an idea, and this gathering of earthbenders was exactly what he needed to do it.

"Alright everyone, listen up," Aang said, facing all the earthbenders. "I'm going to need all of you to take that thing down."

A Dai Li agent looked at Aang, fear written all over his face. "That thing is going to kill us all. How could we possibly stop it?"

"Well its closer," Aang said. He paused to focus and hide his exhaustion a little bit better, and then addressed the group of earthbenders as a whole. "Alright people, this is it. We've only got one chance to get this right. So let's make it count."

Aang quickly told the earthbenders his idea, insane though it may seem at first. Everyone got a part in this endeavor, each doing a small portion of the work, and nodded in confirmation before getting to it. They started by dispersing in every direction, until they were standing in wide circle a hundred feet wide. Each earthbender was several feet away from the next in the circle, and all of them faced the center where Aang was still standing. The spaceship was over the far side of the lower ring now, and the earthbenders began their work.

All of the earthbenders thrust their right fist to the sky, and the ground in front of them rose upward. Their combined efforts had made a large hill rise up beneath Aang's feet, and then the earthbenders repeated the bending move to make the hill rise higher and higher. Again and again the earthbenders made more of the ground rise up, their combined bending reaching the bedrock and raising that too. The ground around the hill moved inward to add to its growing mass, quickly turning the large hill into a small mountain.

Aang soon found himself over a hundred feet higher, and saw the earthbenders spreading out even further. "It's actually working…"

Displacement of so much earth created a valley around the growing mountain, and the valley was growing as well while the earthbenders continued to move more rock. Buildings and streets that had been on the affected land were destroyed, the foundations utterly annihilated in the moving rock. The remains were buried in the rock and added to the mountain's mass, now over four hundred feet high and growing even bigger. Aang stood at the peak of this still growing mountain, the view changing drastically as he rose even higher.

At the five hundred foot mark Aang raised a hand for all to see, then raised his voice so that all could hear him. "Alright, on three. One… Two… Three!"

All of the earthbenders thrust both of their fists into the sky at the same time, focusing all of their earthbending might on one central point deep within the base of the manmade mountain. Alone none of the earthbenders could possibly hope to move so much rock, but together their earthbending amplified one another far beyond the sum of their parts. The combined earthbending power separated the mountain from the Earth, launching the mountain upward like it was fired from the world's largest catapult.

And Aang was launched up with it. "Whoa!"

Repetition of the simultaneous earthbending pushed the mountain again, adding more speed as it hurtled further upward. Aang let himself fall from the peak of the mountain, riding the wind down the slope on the higher side. The peak was starting to tip over, and the mountain would soon follow in an arch leading back down to Earth. The incoming space ship was nearby, but still just too far out of reach without some more speed. That was why Aang rode the moving mountain in the sky, to give it one more big push.

Aang entered the Avatar State, willingly this time, and made that big push. He put all the power of the Avatar State into the most basic of earthbending moves, moving a rock straight up. It just happened to be a really big rock, with a really powerful earthbender moving it. Although in giving the moving mountain one last push up, Aang accidently hurled himself down at the same time. This gave him a good view of the mountain moving away, now heading straight for the spaceship over the city, just as he had envisioned.

Glowing eyes watched the ensuing destruction unfold. "Take That!"

From the Stalker's bridge an officer saw something alarming through the windows, however unbelievable it was. "Is that a mountain?"

Captain Zed looked out the windows and saw it too, his eyes getting wider by the second. "That's a damn mountain!"

The moving mountain in the sky slammed into the front end of the Stalker, penetrating its shields with sheer kinetic energy. Tons of rock ground against the hull, grinding the stone into dust while peeling away the metal one sheet at a time. The starboard side of the Star Destroyer took the brunt of the impact, and in moments the outer hull there was stripped away by the grinding of rock against metal. The levels within crumpled during impact, compacting a significant portion of the ship and crushing people trapped inside.

Half of the mountain had ground to dust in the impact, while the rest of it lay jammed in the damaged part of the Stalker. The extra weight made the starboard side dip down, as well as crush another level of the ship under the weight a Star Destroyer was never meant to bear. Inside everyone was pulled to the right as the apparent gravity shifted around them, the floor they stood on becoming tilted while the ship leaned to one side. It took a moment for the artificial gravity to compensate, but that was the least of the ship's problems.

Extensive damage to the Star Destroyer triggered power surges across the board, affecting every single system on board and inflicting further damage. Electrical conduits exploded in the hallways, consoles ruptured and blew apart, lights blew out and showered people in glass, and fires ignited all over the place. One by one ship systems began shutting down automatically, to protect them from further damage. The last thing to shut down was the engines, meant to let the ship be adrift in space while awaiting repairs.

But the Stalker wasn't in space, and gravity took over with extreme prejudice.

Captain Zed quickly made a ship wide alert. "All hands, prepare for landing."

Without power to the thrusters the ship began to fall out of the sky, right on top of the helpless city below it. Momentum from the Stalker's arrival kept the ship moving forward, sparing the city center as it went by overhead. But with each passing second the forward motion tipped down, and the Stalker fell while tipped toward its starboard side. The front tip just barely missed the wall between western middle and lower rings, but the following rear bottom struck the wall and demolished the top third of it, further damaging the hull there.

Immediately after clipping the wall the Stalker impacted the lower ring, the front tip plunging into the ground and the bottom hull grinding against rock and dirt. The bottom levels of the ship were stripped away quickly, leaving behind a trail of debris in the long gash left in the ship's wake. The Stalker crossed half of the western lower ring by the time it came to a stop, its front tip buried in the ground at the end of a straight gash in the ground several miles long. Rubble continued to fall as the ship continued to deteriorate, the worst of the damaged parts simply broke off.

When everything finally stopped shaking, Captain Zed let go of the station he had been bracing himself with. And then he punched the console hard enough to hurt his fist. "Damn it all!"

It only got worse for Zed when the bridge doors opened, revealing the presence of Darth Vader. His only sound was the breathing mechanism within, but his meaning tone was all too clear.

Captain Zed faced him anyway. "My lord, I can ex-agh-"

Darth Vader held a hand toward the captain, choking him through the Force. "This failure is inexcusable."

Usually this was over quick, but for the loss of a Star Destroyer Darth Vader stretched it out. It took several minutes for Captain Zed to die, each one in excruciating agony. Everyone on the bridge watched, until the captain was nothing more than a corpse.

Darth Vader then turned toward the tactical officer, the highest ranked officer to survive the crash. "You are in command now, Captain Reed."