Dozens of ships hovered in empty space, far distant from any planet or star, and waited in darkness.
Then, in front of them, a larger collection of ships rained out of hyperspace like bullets slamming to a dead stop.
The Minister of State was the first to unbuckle herself from her seat and stepped across the bridge to the forward window. At this distance, she could already make out the shape of the head freighter closing in to face them down. She opened a channel with a smile. "Good to see you again, Lady Luck."
A friendly voice crooned through the speakers. "Welcome to the middle of nowhere!"
As the little ship inched forward to bring them face to face, the Mon Calamari cruiser loomed like a giant slug over his little dot. Lando greeted over the comms with a happy announcement. "Allow me to introduce you to some old friends. . . ."
In the Mon Icarus ready room, Luke unstrapped from the leather chair as soon as hyperspace screeched to a halt. Dozens of bodies jumped out of their seats and peered through the nearest window to catch a glimpse of the other half-sized fleet waiting to join them. Voices identified friendly ships they recognized. Some questioned where the hell they were.
Luke didn't try to get a peak. He knew enough about what was out there. He shoved through the tightening crowd to get out of the ready room and rushed to the hangar decks com station. Wedge beat him to it but was already ending his comm. He punched the release button and stood quickly from the chair. "You've got two minutes."
Luke sat down as soon as Wedge's ass was out of the seat. "What's our ETD?"
"Fleet, four hours," Wedge told as he turned to get to business, "Us, one."
Luke nodded and typed fast. The Falcon picked up in a flash, no doubt anticipating the comm. But the Falcon didn't have a vid comm; this call was audio only. Luke settled his elbows on the desk top and murmured closer to the mike. "Millennium Falcon, Skywalker."
He heard the shuffling of bodies and her voice came through, quiet and reserved. "Hey." More shuffling. He heard Han order Vanech out of the main bay.
"Hey. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. I'm worried about Vanech though."
"What happened?"
"Details later. I trust his drawings, his intent to help us. But he's got his own agenda. Vanech is going to be a loose cannon down there."
"Anything you can do about it?"
"I don't think so."
Luke sighed but accepted it. "As long as he's not killing civilians, stay out of his way."
"Copy that."
He sighed again, struggling for the right thing to say. All this would be overheard by the internal security monitoring every com in case of saboteurs and spies, not to mention any nearby ship who happened upon the channel. He closed his mouth.
"I love you," she said, calm and quiet, fearful and hopeful.
A smile spread as he dropped his face to the desk. But he lifted it back up. "I love you, too."
"See you on the other side," she said.
"Be safe." He whispered back and paused before making himself hang up. It wasn't even a full two minutes, but any more conversation would only distract them both. Luke shoved his mind to work and trotted back to the ready room where the other pilots were already getting dressed. The first thing he did was to pull the half-carved locket out of his pocket and tuck it safely in his sock.
On the bridge of the Mon Odelbom, Mon Mothma stood like a tall glass of cool water, watching and listening as several Admirals arranged the two fleets until they sifted together in a tidy formation. This part was expected to take some time, leaving them vulnerable to nearby witnesses that happened to be in the area, but proper formation was crucial for mission success.
"Chief Commander?"
Mon Mothma turned to the communications officer and stepped over. The young Wookiee pointed at her screen. It was a message from Leia, coded and over coded, with only enough information to pass the necessary word.
Five of Six confirmed. ZV assistance unsuccessful.
It didn't matter if Zach Vanech failed to bring in the Kein system, or if he just refused to try. The Chief Commander focused her mind on planning around it. The Kein system was the closest of the Serra Arm to Coruscant itself. Without local distraction, any Imperial Forces near Kein would skip over in fast hyperspace and join the fight within minutes. Plan Cresh was at risk of total failure.
She thumbed to open a channel and spread the word to the Admirals. It was difficult to discuss it without revealing any proper nouns, but they managed. She suspected one or more of the Admirals wanted to cancel or delay the attack on this risk. Thankfully, no one openly challenged it enough to make her tell them it was too late to call it off. By now, the Empire knew they'd left the Yavin System days ago. So the Empire was likely preparing for the onslaught. There were only two things she felt confident the Empire was unaware; which system, and how many.
Kess peeked out of the Falcon's cockpit window and looked around. All the stars seemed too distant and dim to be close to the Inner Rim. "Where the hell are we?"
"At a friend's house," Han said quietly.
A transmission cut through every conversation with a wide-sprayed, open com. "Woooo hooo!" Crooned the wild voice. "Cinnamon Buns, you sure know how to crash a party!"
Leia looked out Intrepid's big window and rolled her eyes at the squirrely little hopper threading through the organized reticulating of the two fleets, getting sufficiently underfoot. She stepped over to the thumb the open com. "Cinnamon Buns strongly recommends you get out of the way."
"Well, I would," Petra warned across the waves. "But I felt it prudent to inform you that separate festivities have commenced."
These words crackling through Rogue Group's hangar deck intercom made a dozen pilots and two-dozen repair crew pause mid-task. Wedge and Luke exchanged eyes of concern.
"The coronation of our new Emperor is underway. The invitation list is extensive." Petra told them all. "Prepare for a crowded venue."
Thousands of hearts skipped a beat.
Leia's voice came through the same speaker for all to hear, hard and cold. "When?"
"Now." Petra reported tightly. "The ceremony started two hours ago."
Kess put a palm over her mouth. She could feel the Force sizzle with the rush of activity as All Hands hurried to their fighters and strapped into their drop transports.
"Thank you for letting us know," Leia said over the com with a casual tone. Without further conversation, Petra's tiny ship squiggled away from the fleet and disappeared into hyperspace.
Few people heard that last part because they were already rushing faster into action. And fewer were peering through windows to watch fighters flood out of carriers as if the big machines were bleeding. Kayla hooked up Wedge's life support as he shouted orders into his helmet. Ashten gave Luke a hard nod and slid down the ladder with both feet. Kess raced to the gun turret and ran into Vanech as he raced to climb down to the other. Admiral Ackbar croaked orders to form up double-time. Mon Mothma closed her eyes and prayed in silence. Leia walked back to her chair and strapped herself in as she typed in a sub-space comm channel.
Wubak's proud blue face flickered onto Leia's screen. The moment she recognized her, Wubak began to grin at the Minister of State.
"Transmit," Leia ordered.
Wubak nodded and hung up.
Mon Mothma turned her face to General Dodonna. He eyed back with a nod. "Ten minutes. Maximum twenty."
The fleet spread vertical into the shape of a wide-spaced, five-pointed star, with the larger cruisers knotted in the center, surrounded by a thick layer of battleships and fleet aides, tipped at the points with dozens of X-Wings, A-Wings, Y-Wings, B-Wings, and more. Many still drifted in the inertia of moving into the arrangement, tapping thrusters only to maintain relative position. Luke glanced up and over to where the Millennium Falcon hovered at his ten-o'clock. It was too distant to tell who was in the lower turret, but he sensed her up there, as busy and tense as everyone else in this immense vicinity.
He found he could also sense Vanech. The man was thirsty for blood.
Dammit, Luke thought, and turned his sights forward to the task at hand. All wings reported in to the Rogue-Only channel and snapped open the All Comm in each ship. They listened as all Groups reported in and snapped open the All Comm to each attack pattern. . . Then all fleet aides. . . . Then all battleships . . . then all Cruisers. . . . and then. . . .
Then Admiral Ackbar's gravelly voice cut through every speaker in every helmet and cockpit.
"Three. . . two . . . one . . . Jump—