Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this is going to be a short chapter, and will be a bit more of a filler chapter. However, it will play a part in the next couple chapters.
Chapter 63- Loss of a Master
(June 24, 2017)
In the CIC of the Indefatigable, Admiral Dhowan watches a display counting down the distance left until they're target.
As Calvin and Kelly were leading the rescue mission alongside Luke on Tatooine, Thrawn had dispatched Dhowan on a special mission. The Alliance was preparing for a massive invasion, their largest invasion of the war. However, Thrawn and the Joint Command wanted the way cleared. So, Thrawn had dispatched a task force to attack the planet Botajef.
The task force was relatively small. Led by the Indefatigable, it also included the battleship Dreadnought, a dozen London class Star Destroyers, and four Jutland class heavy cruisers, as well as a dozen transports carrying two French divisions and a Chinese regiment, for a total of 50,000 troops.
"Signal the fleet. Order all fighters to start warming up their engines. I want them ready for takeoff on 60 second notice," Dhowan orders.
"Yes, Admiral," one of his aides says as he moves to send the order to the other ships of the fleet.
Dhowan makes his way to the bridge. Moments after arriving on the bridge, he hears one of the navigation officers call out, "Admiral, coming out of hyperspace in three. Two. One."
Right on cue, the blue of hyperspace lengthens out, and the ship drops out of hyperspace. Within moments, the rest of the task force also drops out of hyperspace.
Dhowan scans the space ahead of them. To his delight, he sees only three Star Destroyer in orbit above the planet.
"Scramble fighter from this ship and the Dreadnought. Order remaining ships to wait on launching their fighters. Open fire with an initial volley from ion cannons and then switch to turbolasers," Dhowan orders.
The ships of the task force move in as the Indefatigable and Dreadnought launch their fighters. As the fighters streak towards the Imperial ships, the Terran ships open fire with a volley of blasts from their ion cannons. Many of the blasts miss, but a number strike home, weakening the ships' shield and disabling some of their systems and weapons.
The Terran ships then shift over to their turbolasers and begin firing as the starfighters begin streaking in to make their attack runs. As they do, the Dreadnought gets a firing angle on one of the Star Destroyers and fires its two forward bombardment cannons. The blasts strike the ship, tearing the already damaged ship apart.
The Terran ships continue pressing forward, firing relentlessly on the remaining two Star Destroyers. The Star Destroyers desperately return fire, but are hopelessly outmatched. Before long, the two ships begin to explode under the relentless turbolaser fire, eventually blowing apart.
Dhowan smiles as he watches the Star Destroyers explode. "Prepare for landings. Move our warships into bombardment positions and order the transports to prepare to begin landing their troops," he orders.
The fleet begins moving into bombardment position in low orbit over the planet. A reconnaissance run over the planet a day earlier had confirmed that most of the Empire's forces were concentrated around the capitol city.
Dhowan watches carefully as the fleet maneuvers into position. Finally, seeing that the fleet is in position, he orders, "Begin the bombardment."
A short distance away, the Dreadnought fires its bombardment cannons at the main Imperial camp outside the capitol. The blasts tear through the camp, killing thousands of stormtroopers.
As the Imperial forces try to recover from the shock of the massive blasts hitting their camp, the rest of the Terran ships open fire with their turbolasers. Hundreds of turbolaser bolts streak down through Botajef's atmosphere and begin striking among Imperial forces.
The bombardment lasts for about 20 minutes. During the bombardment, fighters and bombers are scrambled from the other ships of the task force and make attack runs on the Imperial forces.
Finally, after 20 minutes, Dhowan orders the ships of the task force to cease fire. A minute later, photographs are beamed back to the Indefatigable from an Su-36 operating as a reconnaissance aircraft.
Dhowan examines the photographs, comparing them to photos of the area around the capitol before the attack. He smiles as he sees that the Imperial forces have been dealt heavy blows.
"Signal the transports. Begin the landing operations," Dhowan orders.
The transport ships begin their descent into the atmosphere. Nine of the transports move to set down to the north of the city, where the bulk of the Imperial force are located, while the remaining three move to set down to the south-east. As they descend, a number of TIE fighters and bombers attempt to attack them, but are fended off by Su-36s and SF-23s.
Setting down, the transports let out their ground forces. The two French divisions form up, and about two hours after the landings begin, start their charge towards the capitol, led by 60 Leclerc tanks and 10 AW-1 Leviathans. At the same time, the Chinese regiment begins its attack from the south-east, led by 8 more AW-1s.
The Imperial forces quickly find themselves trapped between the two forces. They try desperately to fight back, but quickly begin to realize that they are outnumbered, and their efforts are only delaying the inevitable.
Aboard the Indefatigable, Admiral Dhowan is watching feeds of the battle beamed back to the battlecruiser by drones in the skies over the battlefield. He can see that with every passing moment, the odds are getting worse and worse for the Imperials.
"Signal Grand Admiral Thrawn. Let him know our forces have landed on Botajef and are engaging Imperial forces. Tell him we expect the Imperial forces to be destroyed or surrender in a matter of hours," Dhowan orders.
(Dagobah)
In the hutt of the great Jedi Master Yoda, Luke watches as Yoda walks slowly over to the fireplace. Yoda seems to be frailer than usual.
"That face you make. Look I so old to young eyes?" Yoda asks.
"No, of course not," Luke says quickly.
"I do," Yoda says with a chuckle. He turns to Luke and says, "Yes, I do. Sick have I become. Old and weak." He looks down for a moment, then looks at Luke as he says, "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not, hmm."
Yoda chuckles as he walks over to his bed. "Soon, I will rest. Yes. Forever sleep. Earned it, I have," Yoda says.
"Master Yoda, you can't die," Luke says, feeling he hasn't yet learned everything he can from the old Jedi.
"Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong. Twilight is upon me, and soon, night must fall," Yoda says as he climbs into his bed. Luke helps pull his blanket over him as Yoda says, "That is the way of things. The way of the Force."
"But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training," Luke says.
"No more training from me do you require. Know you that which you need. The Terran Jedi, complete your training, they will," Yoda says.
"Then I am a Jedi," Luke says, staring off into the distance, feeling that he has indeed finally earned that title.
Yoda groans then chuckles a bit. "Not yet. One thing remains. Vader. You must confront Vader. Only then a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will," Yoda says before settling back into his bed.
"Master Yoda. Is Darth Vader my father?" Luke asks.
"Rest, I need. Yes, rest," Yoda says, turning over so his back is to Luke.
"Yoda, I must know," Luke says.
Yoda lies still for several seconds before sighing ever so slightly and saying, "Your father he is."
Luke sits there, knowing beyond a doubt know that Vader was telling the truth. While he already pretty much knew after his discussion with Ahsoka and Adams, hearing it from Yoda banishes any remaining doubt he did.
"Told you did he?" Yoda asks.
"Yes. And Ahsoka Tano and Samuel Adams confirmed it to me," Luke says.
"Unfortunate, this is," Yoda says.
"Unfortunate that I know the truth?" Luke asks a little incredulously.
"No," Yoda says as he turns back to Luke, "Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete was your training. That not ready for the burden were you."
"I'm sorry," Luke says, feeling that this is an apology long overdue.
"Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware, anger, fear, aggression, the dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny," Yoda says. He pauses for a moment, then says more weakly, "Luke. Luke, do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate you will."
Yoda pauses again, then says, "Luke, when gone am I, the last Jedi of this galaxy will you be. When gone am I, you must turn to the Terrans. Help you rebuild the Jedi, they can. Luke, the Force runs storng in your family. Pass on what you have learned." He pauses again, then manages to say, "Luke…there is…another…..Sky..walker…" He then bows his head and closes his eyes, and a moment later, Luke feels the life slip from the old Jedi Master as Yoda finally dies.
Luke stares down at the body of the old Jedi. As he does, just moments later, Yoda's body seems to vanish into thin air.
Luke stays there for a moment, just not knowing what to do. Finally, he slowly stand up a bit and makes his way out of the hut. He then slowly makes his way back over to his X-Wing, where R2 is working on some small repairs.
Luke looks back at the hut as the fire inside fades, and rests his hand on R2. "I don't know if I can do this, R2," he says.
"Yoda will always be with you."
Luke's head raises as he hears that voice. He turns and sees the source of the voice. "Obi-Wan."
The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi is slowly walking through the trees towards Luke. Luke takes a few steps away from his X-Wing as he says, "Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father."
"Your father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So, what I told you was true, from a certain point of view," Obi-Wan says.
"A certain point of view?" Luke asks.
"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend. When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot, but I was amazed at how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong," Obi-Wan says.
"There is still good in him," Luke says.
"He's more machine now than man. Twisted and evil. Even General Hall, who was like a brother to him, has given up on him," Obi-Wan says.
"I can't do it, Ben," Luke says.
"You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again," Obi-Wan says.
"I can't kill my own father," Luke says.
"Then the emperor has already won, and even the Terrans will never be able to achieve complete victory over the Empire. You were our only hope to defeat the Emperor," Obi-Wan says.
"Yoda spoke of another," Luke says in response to point out a flaw in Obi-Wan's argument.
"The other Yoda spoke of is your twin sister," Obi-Wan says.
"But I have no sister," Luke says.
"To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is why your sister remains safely anonymous," Obi-Wan says.
As Obi-Wan finishes saying this, Luke suddenly realizes the truth. Deep down, he feels like he's known for a while. He looks at Obi-Wan and says, "Leia. Leia is my sister."
Luke is hoping Obi-Wan will confirm or deny whether that is true. Sure enough, Obi-Wan looks at him and says, "Your insight serves you well."
Luke feels shocked by this realization. Obi-Wan looks at him for a moment before he says, "Beware your feelings Luke. They do you credit and can give you strength, but like your father, they could be twisted to serve the Emperor."
"What do I do, Obi-Wan?" Luke asks.
"Trust in the Force, Luke, and trust in those around you. I may not once have thought this way, but if you believe in your wife, and rely on her strength and support, I believe you can do everything. After all, she is an Adams. Great strength runs in her family," Obi-Wan says with a bit of a smile.
Luke smiles too, then looks off into the trees, wondering what the future holds for him.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked it.
So, the attack on Botajef will set up the next major Terran operation, which will be happening at the same time as the Battle of Endor.
I also hope you like the few additions I made to the scene on Dagobah.
Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned.