Hey everybird! What's up!?
I hope you're ready for this chapter, because well it includes one of my most favorite moments from The Rise of Skywalker, but of course before we get to the chapter, the questions for the day!
Today's question is…
What are your plans for Valentine's Day?
Me: Of course I already told you all I have a new incoming story on that day, so look froward to that. And I'm also going to be rewatching one of my most favorite romantic movies, Lady and the Tramp and maybe some romantic MLP episodes, like The Perfect Pear.
Moving on to your questions…
From Nightfly123, he asks, "What do you think of Ahsoka Tano being the Star Wars version of Gandalf the White?"
Me: I approve very much of it, of course Ashoka being one of my top favorite Star Wars characters, I would say that. She does have the wisdom, strength, experience, etc, to be in this position, far more deserving than probably some other Jedi still around, even maybe more than Luke Skywalker.
Chapter 64: There are More of Us
(Tyler's POV)
As one by one, our fighters and bombers getting swarmed by TIEs, getting picked off and shot down, with me coming so much closer to becoming the next casualty. Everyone was frantically asking Poe what we were going to do and at first no response came from Poe, as I thought he got shot down as well, but luckily he answered, but not in the way I expected…
"My friends…" Poe spoke slowly. "I'm sorry, I thought we had a shot, but there's just too many of them…"
With Poe having given up, I knew his statement sealed our fate and failure, there was nothing to do anymore except die, only…
"But there are more of us Poe…" General Calrissian's voice entered through the frequency. "There are more of us…"
I really wondered what the former general was talking about, but before I could do anything else, Ashley began beeping excitedly about something. I was confused as to why she would be so happy about this situation until I looked back at her and saw her looking up. Following her gaze, my beak dropped wide open…
Up above, spanning the whole sky was a massive fleet of all kinds of ships, just as massive as the armada of star destroyers, maybe even more so, thousands of them all ready to fight, with still more coming out of hyperspace every second. It was like every free ship in the galaxy finally decided enough was enough of the darkness, it was time to finally stand up, stop hiding and come together to defeat the big evil in the universe.
Closing my mouth, a smile formed on my face as I temporarily ignored everything going on around me as I could only yell out…
"Hell yeah!" I raised a fist up as Ashley joined me in the celebration, but my mind did think of Arthur, if only this help arrived a few minutes ago… "If only you could see this brother…" But I couldn't ponder on that now, the tide has turned in our favor.
"Hit those underbelly cannons, every one we knock out is a world saved!" Poe told all of us with renewed strength as hundreds of all kinds of fighters and freighters charged froward, concentrating on the underbelly superlasers of the star destroyers, the firepower tearing through the exposed weaponry as the destruction of the superlasers caused chain reactiona, multiple explosions ripping apart any unlucky star destroyer, one by one.
"Just beautiful…" I commented at seeing the sight of star destroyers being, well destroyed, no longer could they hurt anyone ever again as I focused and joined one of the groups of fighters and freighters, putting the crosshairs over the barrel of the superlaser as I let leash with my quad laser cannons, watching as the shots impacted and took effect, causing the start of the chain reaction that would blow apart the whole ship.
As that star destroyer burst into flames, breaking apart, a very familiar voice entered through comms…
"Not so tough are you anymore!?" The voice spoke as the realization hit me…
"Uncle Kipo, you came!?" I asked happily.
"You think I would miss this fight kid?" Uncle Kipo answered back. "Where's your brother?" Uncle Kipo asked, of course not knowing what happened to him.
"He's gone Uncle Kipo, shot down…" I answered.
"Oh… Sorry kid…" Uncle Kipo replied back, a little awkwardly.
"Now's not the time for that, come on, I'm eager to finish this fight and win the day." I returned as I flew on, flying alongside our allies, going for the next star destroyer, which was helpless as the TIEs were now unable to counter all the opponents they were facing and to protect their star destroyers at the same time, huge numbers of TIEs going down as well, their flaming wrecks also hurling towards the ground, adding to the display of destroyed ships. "At this rate, we're going to win…"
It did look like we would end up taking the day, with the star destroyers' numbers going down, the once powerful armada in complete chaos and destruction. I shouldn't have come to those premature conclusions, because suddenly a storm of lightning appeared, but instead of coming from above as a normal storm would do, it came from the ground… A single huge column of lightning which spread out and began hitting our side and ignoring the star destroyers. Of course I wasn't an exception as lightning hit the old X-Wing, I could hear the engines die as I began to tumble out of the sky.
"Ashley, I lost power!" I shouted as I looked back at the droid, Ashley had lightning coursing through her metal body as she wailed out, unable to fight back against it. "Stay with me Ashley!" I urged the droid as I tried calling out for those I knew. "Grandpa Blu, Uncle Kipo, do you copy!?"
No answer came back as not even static came out, all the systems of the fighter was getting shut down as I saw the ground come closer and closer to me, soon enough I would crash on the surface and that would be the end of me… I closed my eyes and prepared to join my family wherever they are, but the sound of the fighter's systems restarting made me open my eyes as I heard the engines roar back to life.
"This is our last chance, got to hit those cannons now!" Poe's voice entered through comms as I saw the rest of the fighters and freighters fly upwards, regaining control as they flew back towards the remaining star destroyers.
"Uncle Kipo, you copy?" I spoke through comms while getting myself back into the fight.
"Copy kid, that was close." Uncle's Kipo's voice came back, giving me some relief, but when I called the next bird…
"Grandpa Blu, you okay?" I communicated to the Tantive IV, which was hopefully still in the fight at this point, but my hopes were dashed when only static greeted my ears… "Grandpa Blu, please respond…" I asked again as only static came out, yet another bird related to me perished in this final battle, but again I knew this wasn't the time for that now.
Getting back to the fight, I continued going after the exposed superlasers of the star destroyers, their strongest weapon being their downfall as more and more exploded every second it seemed. And it only got better with the next piece of news.
"Poe, the command ship!" One of the pilots notified Poe as I looked to see the First Order star destroyer's bridge burst into flames, beginning to bring down the ship and ending the fleet's leadership, leaving them more helpless than they already were.
"Their fleet is stuck here!" Poe said loudly through comms. "They're toast, come on!" Poe urged us for the last push as with now nothing but confidence, I flew on, eager to fight until every single star destroyer was gone.
Watching as the First Order command ship's bow hit Exegol's surface, sending shockwaves as the ship just crushed itself, I really hoped that both Arthur and Grandpa Blu were not underneath or any of the star destroyers we brought down. I began to look at the surface, but I couldn't tell, mom's old X-Wing or even the Tantive IV would be hard to make out along the more bigger wrecks.
With the final phase of the battle ending, the reminder of the once powerful Final Order fleet was in total ruins, their flaming wrecks scattering all over the surface. Of course we suffered losses too, but we still had a lot of ships, which dominated the skies now and as if destroying the fleet caused a natural change, the sky itself turned from a dark, stormy atmosphere, to a more bright, blue sky, the stars visible as they were twinkling.
As word got through that the galaxy was rising up against their First Order occupiers, we made sure to sweep the skies still, to finish off any stragglers that were still alive. As I did so, enjoying the most wonderful sight to my eyes, something came up as there was an incoming signal.
"Ashley, try and isolate that." I asked the droid as she did so, focusing on the signal coming through to dad's X-Wing as the transmission came clearly through, it was a weak beeping sound, but it was all too familiar to me… "That's Alex… Arthur… They're still alive Ashley! Locate the source of Alex's transmission!" I told the droid as I dived down towards the surface, keeping a watchful eye on the surface not covered up by the wrecks of star destroyers. "Hang in them brother, I'm coming…" I whispered as I refused to give up hope and that Arthur was still with us, I planned on celebrating our final victory with him.
And that's the end of the Battle of Exegol!
A bit shorter on this chapter, but hopefully you all don't mind, because next time is the celebrations for the good guys!
And with that…
See everybird later!