Chapter 55: Return of the Avatar

Lying on his back in Home One's sickbay, Aang watched as a medical droid inspected his new hand.

The operation had been entirely painless, thanks to the ton of anesthetics that left his whole arm numb for an hour. The doctors had wanted to put him under instead, but Aang had insisted on staying conscious the entire time. He wanted to see every step of the operation, from the removal of his obviously mechanical hand to the grafting of one that looked natural. Some of the stump of his arm had to be removed with the old hand, resulting in most of his forearm being artificial, though no one would know just from looking at it.

It looked like a perfectly normal hand, with skin that matched his own and fingernails at the short length he liked. He was told that it would expand over the next few years, so that it would match his real hand and look like it was growing with him. It could even feel pain, as the medical droid demonstrated by poking his palm with needles. There was an open panel on his wrist, letting Aang see the parts that replaced his tendons, moving in sync with his fingers as they twitched from the controlled pain. The droid finished the inspection and closed the wrist panel, and there wasn't even a seam in the false skin.

The only thing missing was the arrow tattoo.

Aang flexed his new fingers, surprised by how natural it felt compared to the piece of junk he had been using all this time. "Thank you."

"Be sure to get used to it before attempting any delicate work," the droid advised.

There were many ways to interpret the advice, but Aang put the inappropriate ones out of his mind. "I'm sure it will be fine."

He got up and left sickbay, feeling better about himself for the first time in many months. Aang walked through the corridors of Home One, looking for his friend and mutual associates. Along the way he flexed his new fingers, as if expecting a flame to appear in his palm, only to remember that he was still in hyperspace and couldn't firebend here. Everyone Aang saw along the way was busy going to one part of the ship or another, making last minute preparations for combat. He didn't particularly care, since they were going to some planet he hadn't known about before this mission started.

Aang had just entered the mess hall and saw Toph when the floor suddenly shook beneath him, and everyone lost their balance for a brief moment. "What was that?"

Halfway across the mess hall, her full course meal interrupted, Toph got up and ran toward Aang. "We need to move Twinkletoes! Something just changed!"

Turning around and matching Toph's pace as she ran past, Aang neglected to show off his new appendage. "I've never felt this ship shake so hard."

"Must have made a very sharp turn," Toph figured. "And there's only one person who could order this ship to do that."

They hurried as quickly as they could to Leia's office, wanting to know what changed her mind and where they were going now. They didn't dare speculate on that, not wanting to get their hopes up and have them dashed away. They were not the first ones to get there, as when they arrived they found Azula and her friends entering the office ahead of them. There were guards standing outside, but they let the guests through, apparently on orders to do so. They also let Aang and Toph in as well, just in time to get in on the conversation.

"So why did you change your mind?" Azula demanded.

"This," Leia said. She was sitting behind a desk and turned a computer monitor toward the group. "Just arrived an hour ago."

Standing in the back of the group, Toph raised her hand. "Could one of you guys speak up for the visually challenged."

"It's a set of transmissions sent from Earth," Leia answered. "Luke, Han, and Chewbacca went through a lot of trouble to get signal us. And this is the first reliable piece of intel we've been able to get about Earth in a long time."

"And you're certain it's not faked?" Mai pointed out. "This could just be an elaborate trap."

"With the Empire scrambling over that mess on Coruscant, this is the worst time for them to set a trap," Leia said. "If its real and we ignore it, we'll guarantee that Luke and everyone else down there will die."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Ty Lee said. "I can't wait to get back home and see everyone."

"Trust me on this, you'll all be on the front line," Leia promised. "We need every edge we can get."

Aang looked at his new hand, and his fist clenched in anticipation. "I have a few ideas."

Usually, when ships approached Earth discreetly, they would emerge from hyperspace at the edge of the system and coast in from there.

This time was different.

The rebel fleet emerged as close as possible to the Sun, any closer and the gravity well of the star would have pulled them out of hyperspace anyway. Lost within the glare of the Sun's light, the fleet remained hidden while individual ships gained their bearings. Once every ship was present they moved outward through the solar system, quickly passing the barren ball of iron that was the innermost planet. In a quirk of cosmic coincidence the second and third planets were close together in their respective orbits, allowing the haze enveloped world to further conceal their approach to Earth.

Once beyond that planet the fleet accelerated to maximum subluminal velocity, since they would be detected anyway. Several capital ships, dozens of carriers and support ships, and hundreds of fighters were brought to bear, as if coming out of the stellar light. They opened fire on every imperial ship that appeared on scanners, even as they decelerated on approach to the planet. Every X-Wing and Y-Wing they had was deployed, and they flew toward the imperial fleet like a swarm. The space between was filled with blaster bolts, many hitting their targets, many missing only to hit the planet instead.

In orbit around Earth was the absolute minimum number of Star Destroyers to maintain operations there. A dozen of them were in geostationary orbit above ground facilities, and another dozen on patrol in various orbital patterns. No Super Star Destroyers whatsoever, the few that had graced this planet had been redeployed elsewhere. The stationary Star Destroyers were targeted first in the surprise attack, and several sustained severe damage before they could get their shields raised. They deployed their complements of TIE Fighters, sending them out to counter the incoming rebellion fighters.

Home One's long-range weapons were firing nonstop, inflicting plenty of damage to enemy vessels. With those weapons providing cover fire, several troop transports were launched and flew toward Earth. Although these transports were shielded and heavily armored, they would not survive sustained fire for more than a few minutes. So they took an alternate route, avoiding the crossfire between fleets altogether. Instead they took advantage of a local planetary feature, namely the large moon that some considered a minor planet in its own right.

The transports flew as close to the moon as possible and as fast as possible, gaining further speed from the moon's gravity to slingshot around it. The maneuver sent them around the primary battlefield, unnoticed by the majority of imperial ships fighting there. Star Destroyers on approach from patrol duty detected them and opened fire, but the shields held under the long-range shots. Once they hit atmosphere the transports glowed red from the heat of reentry, and most of the Star Destroyers continued to the battle instead of giving pursuit.

That task was given to one Star Destroyer, which had been in the best position to give chase. It followed the transports into atmosphere, with its ventral hull taking the brunt of reentry, shielding the command tower from the heat. Its ventral blaster turrets continued to fire, ignoring the difficulties of acquiring target lock in these conditions. The officers at the controls opted for sheer volume of shots, raining blaster bolts everywhere in the vicinity to ensure some would not miss. The transports were pummeled by the barrage, and their shields were quickly being whittled away.

Aboard one transport, his head freshly shaved and showing off his arrow tattoo, Aang was prepared to deal with that Star Destroyer. "Hang on! There's going to be a lot of turbulence!"

Aang's eyes and tattoos glowed with the power of the Avatar State, as well as the circuitry in his artificial hand. He stood at the back of the transport, and he spun his staff round and round, summoning the winds outside the hull. A tornado formed behind the transport and grew with the descent, with the funnel becoming wide enough to snare the Star Destroyer. That ship began to spin with the wind, despite the use of thrusters to correct its flight path, further throwing off the aim of the blaster bolts still raining down.

The transports made sharp turns when they reached the lower atmosphere, shifting from vertical to horizontal in the span of a minute. The manmade tornado followed suit, and it pulled on the Star Destroyer coming down with it. Abruptly tilted ninety degrees onto its side, the thrusters were no longer supporting the ship correctly, and it suddenly fell from the sky. The crew tried to adapt and make corrections, but it was far too late to reorient the ship in time. The Star Destroyer crashed into the Si Wong Desert, with the kind of eruption only possible from high velocity impacts.

The end result was a patch of blackened glass hundreds of miles wide in Earth's largest desert.

From the desert the transports flew into the northeastern portion of the continent, heading straight toward Ba Sing Se as fast as atmosphere allowed. They were flying at barely a hundred feet above the ground, staying just above the highest treetops and the lowest hills. It was the usual blind spot in ground-based sensor networks, that hazy region where detection of airborne vessels became uncertain, at least for imperial systems anyway. The transports remained on this course until the massive outer wall of Ba Sing Se came into view, where they would need to ascend to get over it.

The imperials had renovated the outer wall considerably since Aang last saw it, having a view provided for everyone inside the transport. Much of the wall was coated in steel, with various defensive installations placed along the wall, to defend against threats both from above and below. The anti-orbital blasters were in use and firing up into space, assisting the Star Destroyers in the fight with the Rebellion. Smaller armaments were still pointing down, and they were turning towards the incoming transports as they ascended to clear the wall.

The transport with Aang inside drifted to one end of the formation, and another carrying Toph drifted to the opposite end. While antiair blasters were firing at them, both earthbenders go to work, targeting their respective sections of wall. They didn't need to see the rock beneath the metal to bend it, and as their transports passed they tore apart the sections they passed. Aang's destruction was much larger, given the Avatar State, taking out some of the wall beneath five turrets to Toph's two. The debris fell with the path of the transports, raining down in the city's Agrarian Zone.

By now the transports had taken a beating, many having lost shields and taking damage to their armor. But they didn't have much farther to go, only needing to clear the next wall and reach the lower ring. That wall was less fortified, its turrets aimed into the city for suppression of the populace, and the transports opened fire on them to soften up the target. Once they cleared the wall the transports came down, flying straight into the crowded streets for a hard landing, ignoring anything that happened to be in their path.

Once her transport had come to a stop, Toph was the first one outside and set foot on solid ground. "Finally! If I ever have to go back into one of those tin cans again, it will be too soon!"

Coming out of his transport, Aang let the Avatar State subside. "Alright, we're here, let's get to work."

Scattered across the other transports, just in case any one of them got shot down, the other returning earthlings disembarked. Azula strode forth like some conquering warlord, taking a bit of pride in getting to assault this city again, even if it wasn't in the name of conquest. Mai immediately got to work with a pair of brand new blasters, having landed in a street near an imperial patrol. Ty Lee practically leapt into another firefight, nimbly avoiding and distracting the enemy while others fought back. They all had three dozen rebellion fighters with them, armed to the teeth and prepared to dig in for the long haul.

At first the ground fighting was easy, for the imperial patrols were few and far between. The majority of their forces had been deployed elsewhere in the city, though it was only a matter of time before they arrived in force. Aang was hoping it meant they were still dealing with Kori's resistance, and that there was still time to extract them alive. They couldn't know for certain, so they fought and pressed forward as hard as they could. They had to take as much ground and inflict as much damage as they could right away, before the imperial forces came bearing down on them.

While electrocuting several stormtroopers as one with a bolt of lightning, Azula spotted something up ahead in the electrifying light. "Something's going on over there. Can you have someone check it out?"

Her request was radioed to another set of rebel fighters, where Mai was shooting at a group of stormtroopers firing in multiple directions. "These guys are fighting someone else as well as us. We're trying to finish them off and see who's here."

While alternating between shooting and ducking behind cover, Mai tried to observe the unknown group on the other side. Whoever they were, they had an earthbender and a firebender among them, the latter in a custom painted set of stormtrooper armor. For a moment she thought she saw the design, but the speck of blue was hard to make out from afar. With no time to get a better look, Mai focused on the fight to end it as quickly as possible, and with the thirty-something blasters behind her they whittled down the stormtrooper position until all of them were gone.

However, when that fight ended, another nearly began when the other group pointed blasters at them, and Mai was quick to defuse the situation. "Hold your fire! We are not here to fight you!"

"Mai?"

Hearing her name from the young man in the painted armor, Mai recognized the voice within. "Zuko?"

Removing his helmet as he walked across the fallen bodies, Zuko let the rebels see his scarred face and messy hair. "I didn't think you were ever coming back."

"For a while I wasn't sure about that," Mai admitted. She looked at the helmet Zuko carried under one arm, finally recognizing the design painted on it. "I see you've gone back to your old tricks. Did ruling as a puppet Fire Lord get too boring?"

Zuko put his dao swords together and sheathed them behind his back. "The Fire Nation is gone. I took what was left of the loyal firebenders and left. I imagine everyone else is scattered across the world."

"Pity, we could have used more firepower," Mai noted.

"Hello! We're here too!" came the voice of Han Solo, standing with Kori and what was left of her earthbenders. "Good you see you guys got the message!"

By then Azula's group had fought their way over here, having dealt with the last patrol standing between them. "Ah, Zuzu, I was wondering if they'd put you down yet."

Zuko's good eyebrow went up as he glanced at his sister. "And it was too much to hope that your attitude got you killed out there. Where have you been all this time anyway?"

"Out doing what Dad and Grandpa and even Sozin never could," Azula gloated. She crossed her arms and smirked. "I conquered an entire planet."

"First of all, impressive if true," Han interrupted. "Second of all, this is not the time for catchup. Third of all, we need to move!"

He pointed down a nearby street, where another imperial patrol was approaching from. This patrol was bringing in several hovering tanks, intended to blast open any hole the resistance might have crawled into. They were just about ready to fire, only to abruptly fly into the air when stone pillars rose up beneath them. Chunks of those pillars broke off and flew with the tanks, latching onto them before being yanked back down by earthbending. The collisions crushed the tanks and left them as smoldering wrecks, much to the surprise of everyone watching.

"That wasn't me," Kori admitted.

Casually walking into view, with the Avatar State leaving him, Aang waved at the assembled group. "They were in my way."

"Still we need to get out of here," Han said.

"There's a passage to the catacombs about a mile that way," Kori said, pointing down the street that patrol had come from. "Problem is there's a checkpoint in the way that we couldn't get through."

"Well now you can," Azula said, already walking in that direction. "Let's go."

As the growing group headed off in that direction, Han made his way over to Aang. "I hope Leia's the one leading the charge up there."

"She is," Aang said. He glanced upward, where debris was falling and burning up in atmosphere. "And I'm sure she has her hands full."

As Home One shook around her, Leia remained calm as she coordinated her side of the battle.

She stood in the center of the bridge, eyes fixed on the viewscreen in front of her, hearing tactical reports from all around her. Leia saw one of her carriers break apart from overwhelming damage, and her heart pinged for all the souls lost under her command. Five Star Destroyers had been destroyed already, and she regretted the waste of life they represented. Many X-Wings and TIE Fighters had been destroyed so far, their numbers impossible to count in the fast pace of battle, their debris littering the space between opposing fleets.

The surprise attack had destroyed or disabled half of the imperial fleet around Earth, and at the moment another third had been damaged but remained in the fight. The patrol ships had since joined the fight, and they reinforced the imperial formation. Leia processed the reports on current status of enemy ships, gave orders to concentrate fire on specific targets when needed, as well as let damaged ships leave if pursuit would break formation. There was a delicate balance to maintain in fleet to fleet battles, needing to take advantage of every opportunity presented but not if it left any of her ships vulnerable.

Yet her ships were being destroyed anyway, just at a slower pace than the enemy. Another carrier was destroyed, and several of her capital ships had taken damage. The enemy fleet had outnumbered hers from the beginning, but the sacrifices of her fellow rebels were leveling that playing field. It helped that the imperials had to fight the planet's gravity for every maneuver, while the rebellion fleet was far enough away that only the nearby moon was a factor. Leia was ordering damaged ships there if they could survive long enough, so they could use that planetary body for temporary protection.

Home One shook as a volley impacted the shields, though Leia remained in place. "Send Red and Blue Squads in crossmatch maneuver, vectors zero-three-nine and eight-five-one. Hold down the starboard damaged Star Destroyer and take Home One in to finish it off."

It was risky, using her flagship to finish off an enemy vessel, but all her other capital ships were occupied with other ships. Ordering them to do this would leave them exposed, as Home One would be in a position to get in and finish it quickly before pulling back. The engines flared and the flagship shot forward, getting around other ships and debris to line up for an assault. Two squadrons of X-Wings were already carrying out her orders, shooting at the damaged Star Destroyer from different angles, keeping its attention on them until it was too late.

Suddenly, there was a pit in Leia's stomach, and she quickly amended her orders. "Pull back! Divert all shields forward. That ship's about to-"

The Star Destroyer's engines flared, and it pushed through the crossfire with no regard for crew safety or structural integrity. That ship's main reactor was damaged and overloaded, and it exploded in a brilliant fireball. With the surge in momentum the debris from the explosion was launched forward, in an apparent last act of a captain that knew his ship was doomed. The X-Wing squadrons scattered to avoid hitting any of that debris, while Home One's shields were shifted forward at the last second, barely holding up as much of the Star Destroyer's mass pummeled against them.

Leia let out a deep sigh, relieved to have survived but concerned with what she wanted to assume was intuition. "That was too close."

Standing behind her, nearly unnoticed by everyone else on the bridge, Yoda nodded. "Your instincts serve you well. It is good that you trust them."

Leia ignored the remark and kept her attention on the battle. "Return shields to normal configuration and take us back into formation."

Although the destruction of that Star Destroyer had left a hole in the imperial fleet, charging through right now would have been foolhardy. The rest of the rebel fleet was still occupied, and sending Home One through while its shields were weakened would have gotten it destroyed for sure. Home One returned to its former position within the fleet, firing upon the other imperial ships at every step of the way. The imperial fleet was reorganizing to fill in the hole, though it was becoming difficult for them as their numbers dwindled.

As reports came in with progress on the shields recharge rate, Leia glanced down at Yoda and whispered so quietly only he could hear her. "Can you tell how Luke is doing down there?"

Yoda looked back and folded his hands over his cane. "You don't need me to tell you that."

She didn't want to admit it out loud, but she knew he was right. Leia had a gut feeling that Luke was alive, but fighting for his life with every waking moment. He was going to survive all of this, but only if she got him the help he desperately needed. If she failed he was going to die, and she needed to do everything she could to avoid that fate. Leia wanted to believe that this feeling was nothing more than intuition, not some spiritual connection that tethered her to some ancient religion. She didn't want to believe that this was through the Force, though her doubts were starting to waver.

Raising her voice back to authoritative tone, Leia went back to giving orders. "The top starboard ship is vulnerable on its port side. Focus our fire on that until it maneuvers that side away."

After running for what felt like days, Luke and the Water Tribe siblings finally lost pursuit.

Of all the places they had wound up in the upper ring, Sokka and Katara had never thought they would end up here again. It was the small house they resided in the first time they visited Ba Sing Se, back when Aang had wanted to persuade the Earth King to assist in fighting the Fire Nation. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and now they were back here again but without Aang or Toph. The few earthbenders that had survived this long with them had gone elsewhere to lead away pursuers, just to give them a chance to slip away.

"This will have to do for a hot minute," Sokka said, closing the door and locking it behind them. "They'll spot us if we try to go anywhere else."

Katara collapsed into a dust-covered couch, her whole body weary after fighting for days. "I don't think I can get back up again…"

Luke was weary as well, and it was only through the Force that he could still keep going as normal. "I'll see what I can find for food."

There wasn't much to be found, since this place had not been occupied in a long time. The surrounding lands had been built over with imperial architecture, and the people who lived nearby preferred the modern buildings to this rustic dwelling. He did find canned goods in the kitchen, which suggested that some imperial officer had taken a liking to this place and used it as a getaway cabin. That imperial hadn't been here in months, and with all the chaos outside it was unlikely anyone would be discovering them here by accident.

By the time Luke came back with the food he discovered Katara sound asleep, with Sokka not far behind her. He left some of the cans next to each of them, keeping one for himself and opening it as walked to a shuttered window. This one had a slab of unidentifiable meat inside, but it was better than nothing. He briefly considered heating it with his lightsaber, but the glow would get through the windows and alert anyone passing by the house. He simply ate it cold instead, and peeked through the shutters to look at what was going on outside.

It looked like Armageddon, with the sky on fire from orbital debris burning up in atmosphere. Green lights from distant blaster bolts were flickering in the burning heavens, aimed at something trying to assault this world from space. Luke took it as a sign that Leia and the rebellion fleet had arrived, though it was too early for him to feel relief. So he stood watch while the others slept, one hand on his lightsaber in case imperials found them. He finished his small meal and tossed the can away, littering being the last thing on his mind.

Luke let out a long sigh and lowered his head. "I sure could use your help here Ben…"

"You know that I am always with you."

Hearing the ethereal voice of his old mentor, Luke turned toward the shimmering blue image of Obi Wan Kenobi. "Could have fooled me the last year."

"Even when we could not speak, I was still with you." Kenobi appeared next to Luke, with the shimmering blue veil that accompanied him since death. "And you have come a long way since the last time we spoke."

"I've made mistakes, big ones," Luke admitted. "I'm still not sure if I am doing the right thing."

"We all stumble and fall, from time to time," Kenobi said, recollecting his own failures in life. "But we must persevere, and we must learn from our mistakes. So tell me Luke, what have you learned?"

"I need more training," Luke answered. "I need to go back to Dagobah."

"There is nothing left for you there," Kenobi said. He saw Luke's surprised and horrified look, but quickly reassured him with a calming gesture. "Yoda has not passed on. He has simply left Dagobah."

"Where would he go?" Luke asked.

"He believed you were beyond his reach, and so he went to train another," Kenobi answered.

Luke nodded, and then looked up at the sky, where he sensed that familiar presence in the Force. "He's with Leia, isn't he? That's who he meant when he said there was another."

"Your insight serves you well," Kenobi praised. "Leia is you twin sister. You were separated to keep you hidden from Vader and the Emperor."

"Somehow, I don't see her making much progress in the Force," Luke admitted.

Kenobi simply nodded in agreement, not needing to say anymore. They looked out at the world outside this small house, set ablaze by the falling debris impacting the ground time and again. The battle was still raging out there, both on the ground and in space. It was starting to get hot in here, with the ambient temperature steadily climbing, no doubt from all the burning debris that cast the heavens ablaze. It had Luke thinking about a cosmic event this planet experienced a few years back, one that Aang had told him about during their time together, when a previous war for Earth had ended.

"Wait a minute…" Luke muttered, realizing something as he turned toward Kenobi. "Can you still contact Aang?"

Kenobi nodded, but he did not leave. "I would, but he is currently occupied."

With the skies set ablaze by burning debris, just like on the day of Sozin's Comet, Aang and every other firebender in Ba Sing Se felt a rush of power coursing through them. Giant plumes of flame erupted from fists and feet, incinerating everything caught in the blaze, with feats of fire that should only be seen once every century. However, this newfound power was constantly in flux, rising and falling in tandem with the number of ships currently plummeting to their demise. It would only last as long as the battle in space, until there was no more debris to burn and heat up the city.

Entire battalions of stormtroopers were overwhelmed in seconds, not only cooked within their armor but with that armor melting into their flesh. Stormtroopers operating tanks and other armored vehicles only lasted slightly longer, and they fired blindly into the inferno during their last few moments. Even the AT-ST walkers fell to the flames, when a firebender enveloped them in columns of fire. Granted, there were firebenders on the side of the imperials, but they were few and far between, and many deserted their posts when they believed they were witnessing the liberation of Earth.

The return of Princess Azula certainly helped convince enemy firebenders to switch sides, with her distinct blue flames being unmistakable. She was burning through enemy positions with brutal glee, leaving a trail of blackened destruction in her wake. The plan to go through the underground had long since been abandoned, now that she had the power she took for granted back on Tatooine. There was no need for stealth or caution now that she could wipe out enemy forces by the score, especially since this surge of power would not last forever.

Her only complaint was having to witness Aang outdo her pyrotechnics, since the Avatar State made him even more powerful than her, with his flames reaching greater size and greater intensity. Aang was trying to limit his attacks to military targets only, but with the fluctuating power it was difficult to keep the flames in check. Entire districts of the lower ring were set ablaze, and the rebellion forces could not stop to limit collateral damage. They had to keep moving forward, before the burning debris ran out and their firebending fuel ran out with it.

The largest obstacle in their way was the wall between lower and middle rings, so it was up to Aang to clear the way. With the Avatar State empowering him, Aang slammed his feet on the ground, sending a massive tremor into the foundations at a gateway. He thrust both fists forward, unleashing a plume of fire thicker than the wall itself, while the tremor was still shaking the gate. The combined might of the tremor and the flames shattered the gate, launching the remains into the middle ring, while sections of the wall on both sides collapsed.

As the rubble was still falling, Aang left the Avatar State and patted the back of his head. "I think I overdid it a little."

Everyone heard the surprised howl of a wookie up ahead, as if it heard and agreed with him.

"Chewie!" Han yelled, rushing through the collapsed gate despite the face it wasn't secured yet. "Speak to me! Where are you?!"

Rising out from a dust cloud created by the collapse, Chewbacca emerged while waving dust away from his face, roaring something at Han. The two smugglers were reunited, and Han translated the gist of what Chewbacca told him. The wookie's group of resistance fighters had been trying to reach that gate to get out of the middle ring, since all their other avenues of escape had been cut off. They had only made it this far thanks to Iroh's firebending, and it had been Haru's experience with earthbending that tipped them off to the pending demolition and prevented them from getting caught in it.

Last to come out from the dust cloud was Suki, and she was overjoyed to see Aang again. "You're back! Oh thank Kyoshi herself you're back!"

"No time to catch up," Aang warned, gesturing to the battle ahead of them. "We've got to move!"

"Yeah, moving is good," Suki said.

By then Azula and Zuko had gotten through the collapsed gate, and they spotted Iroh at the same time. "Uncle!"

What was left of their dysfunctional family was back together again, all of them certain that the source of their collective misery would never return. There was an uncomfortable silence at first, until Iroh spoke up. "I see you are doing well, Azula."

"You have no idea," Azula said. Sure she didn't like her uncle, but this was not the time for old grudges. "I'll tell you about it later."

A dark shadow passed by overhead, and Zuko was looking up already. "We might not have a later."

A single Star Destroyer was passing over the city, the only one to not participate in the orbital battle. It positioned itself to shield the most vital facilities of the imperial occupation, with impacting debris hitting its shields instead of the buildings beneath it. Its ventral turrets were taking aim at the insurgents as well, and they opened fire into the middle ring. Earthbenders immediately threw up rock walls to protect everyone, but they quickly collapsed under the massive firepower. Everyone had to take shelter behind other buildings instead, but even those would not last for more than a few minutes.

Aang found himself pinned down next to the misfit family. "I don't think firebending is going to cut it against that thing."

"We'll just have to kick it up a notch or two," Azula said. She held out a pair of fingers, have some sparks appear from her fingertips. "I don't suppose you two ever figured out how to make lightning."

"Did it once, didn't like it," Aang admitted. A corner of the building blew apart near his head. "But I think it'll work better here than it did there."

Zuko put his swords away. "If there is ever a time for me to get it right, it's now."

Iroh nodded to all of them in turn. "Azula, if you wouldn't mind leading us off."

With a wide smirk Azula nodded back. "It will be my pleasure."

All four of them took several steps away from the building, staying behind its cover while putting safe distance between them and everyone else. Azula started first, moving her arms in the circular motions to generate lightning, and with the enhanced power her arcs of electricity were already massive. Iroh went second, adding to the electricity that made everyone's hair stand on end. Zuko followed suit, for once having the proper motivator to perform this technique correctly. Aang was last, taking extreme care to avoid damaging his new hand, and adding the power of the Avatar State.

When they were ready Azula leapt out from behind the building. "Now!"

She unleashed her lightning at the Star Destroyer, followed by Iroh and Zuko, their trio of massive lightning bolts soaring into the air. Aang appeared behind them, firing another bolt that was several times larger, and it quickly caught up with the other three. They joined together and became a single bolt of lightning, nearly as wide as the Star Destroyer's command tower. It was so bright that everyone looking directly at it found themselves blinded, and any exposed skin was instantly seared with a very painful tan.

The massive lightning bolt struck the bottom of the Star Destroyer, impacting its shields with a brilliant flare. All that electricity flowed through the shields into their generators, overloading them before continuing into the ship's power grid. The overload spread from one part of the ship to the next, cascading out of control and rupturing power conduits wherever it went. Lights shined brightly before exploding, going dark as the power systems failed. Even the main reactor could not handle the sudden surge of electricity, instantly setting off the failsafe to shut it down and avoid permanent damage.

With main power offline and the backups severely damaged by the overload, the engines failed and the Star Destroyer fell.

It came down right on top of the part of the city it was meant to protect, where imperial central command coordinated all activity in Ba Sing Se. Entire buildings were crushed under the weight of the Star Destroyer, and the ship itself collapsed under itself on impact. Part of the ship struck the wall between middle and upper rings, breaking it apart as well while the ship broke apart. The bow of the ship ended up in pieces scattered in the middle ring, while the rest lay in the upper ring as a collapsed ruin, with all lives aboard and below lost.

All four firebenders responsible were exhausted, and Aang let the Avatar State subside. "Okay… if that doesn't convince them to leave us alone, I don't know what will."

A bright flare showed up on sensors aimed at Earth, which had everyone's attention.

"What the hell was that?" Leia demanded.

"Some kind of electrical outburst," one sensor officer reported. "Whatever caused it was not natural, this planet can't generate thunderstorms of that magnitude."

"It disabled a Star Destroyer!" another officer reported, who was monitoring the positions of enemy vessel. "It… um… It was forced to land."

Fighting the urge to laugh at that ship's misfortune, Leia kept her attention on the battle. "It seems that our friends on the ground can take care of themselves. We need to finish the job up here."

One way or another, the orbital battle was nearly finished. Every ship involved had taken damage to some extent, including several hull breaches on the starboard side of Home One. Fortunately, Leia had two-thirds of her fleet still in the fight, while the imperials were reduced to mere quarter of their former numbers. The rest were in pieces and falling into Earth's gravity well, burning up on reentry mostly above the main continent. Leia's fleet was focusing their fire on the most heavily damaged ships now, wanting to take them out of the fight before surrounding the ones that were mostly intact.

But then a Star Destroyer suddenly disappeared, having made the jump to hyperspace.

"They're retreating!" Leia announced, watching as one Star Destroyer after another made the same maneuver. "Mop up the rest before they try to make the jump!"

Try as they might to finish off the enemy before they could escape, the few remaining Star Destroyers capable of lightspeed escaped the system. A couple of severely damaged ships tried to flee, only to be destroyed when their damaged hyperdrives overloaded and exploded. The TIE Fighters still in battle were simply abandoned, lacking their own hyperdrives and left at the mercy of the Rebellion. Those tiny ships were quickly eliminated, and the giant husks of bombed out Star Destroyers were blasted into smaller chunks, so that the damage they might inflict falling to Earth would be minimized.

Still, despite the battle being over there was still work Leia needed to carry out. "Get the fleet into orbit and begin repairs. I want this planet secured as quickly as possible."