The flight in hyperspace hadn't taken too long, but to Ahsoka it felt like an eternity.
Trepidation was boiling in her veins for the upcoming mission. She had been on dangerous missions before, but nothing quite like this. This could quite possibly become a defining moment in galactic history. She and the team would either be remembered as a team that did the impossible, or they would be remembered as failures.
Ahsoka hoped that it was the former.
Taking a glimpse out of the cockpit window, Ahsoka allowed herself to be absorbed in the bright blue spinning lights of hyperspace. This could be the last time she ever saw it, so she wanted to remember it.
Hera was still piloting the ship, and Kallus remained by his station with Chopper.
Kanan and Yoda however had retreated from the cockpit, with Rex and Obi-Wan taking their place.
"We're coming out of hyperspace in a minute or so. Kallus? Is the IFF working?" Hera called back, clearly anticipating what was to come also.
Ahsoka didn't blame her. This was a suicide mission after all.
"Working fine Captain. We should just be able to bypass any defences the station has, assuming they don't look out a window and see us coming." Kallus responded.
"Or they don't recognize the IFF signature. If they work out it belonged to the Defender we captured…" Rex continued, throwing a concerned glimpse at Ahsoka.
Ahsoka had taken that into consideration. If the officer on duty knew the IFF signal belonged to the captured Defender then it would be a lot harder to infiltrate the station.
"Exiting hyperspace in 10, 9, 8…" Hera began the countdown.
Ahsoka found herself gripping the edge of her seat tightly.
This was it.
"May the force be with us!" Ahsoka said aloud for those on the bridge.
Behind her, Obi-Wan repeated the mantra, determination in his voice.
Seconds later, the blue vortex of hyperspace faded, and the Ghost dropped out into normal space.
The Ghost remained motionless for a few seconds, the crew in the bridge staring in both horror and awe.
They were a safe distance away from the object before them, but even still…
It was menacing.
"It looks like a moon!" Rex whispered from behind Ahsoka. She agreed. It was massive, much bigger than she had anticipated.
Though she should have expected the size really. It was after all designed to be a planet killer.
"That's no moon!" Obi-Wan responded to Rex's earlier statement, a grim edge to his voice.
Glancing at battle station before her, Ahsoka noted several smaller shapes floating around it.
"Looks like security is fairly tight." Kallus then spoke from behind. "I'm reading multiple Star Destroyers in orbit around the station."
"Any significant ones we should know about?" Hera enquired, slowly pushing the joystick forwards and edging to Ghost slowly towards the station to avoid any suspicious activity.
Ahsoka turned to look at Kallus, who was flicking through various panels with his hands.
"According to the scanner, pretty much the entirety of the imperial high command vessels are here. Makes sense, considering the 'Meeting of the Moffs' and all." Kallus replied, continuing to flick through various screens.
Ahsoka turned to look out the cockpit window again. The sheer amount of Star Destroyers present, as well as their supplement fighter squadrons, would make it virtually impossible to muscle their way on board the station. They had to play this slowly.
Ahsoka could only hope that the IFF would pay off, and no one was looking for any anomalies.
Kallus then began to list off the various names of identified Star Destroyers.
"So, Devastator is here, along with the Eviscerator. Then there is the Dauntless, the Avenger, and the Executrix and the…" Kallus stopped suddenly, his face going white.
Ahsoka threw a worried look at Kallus. What had caused him to stop?
"Kallus, what is it?" The Togruta inquired.
Kallus visibly gulped, before turning his gaze to Ahsoka, locking eyes with his fellow Fulcrum agent.
"And the Chimaera. Thrawn is here!"
Grand Admiral Thrawn stood by the holographic table in the back of the bridge of his Star Destroyer. Opposite the table to him was his friend, Governor Pryce.
After dealing with a clearly distraught and disturbed Galen Erso, Thrawn had retreated to his personal ship, meeting up with Pryce to discuss what to do in regards to the Death Star.
Like Thrawn, Pryce was gravely concerned about the weapon, and what is would be used to do. Normally the human woman was quite brutal in her actions, but even she had standards.
And blowing up planets was not something she abided by.
The two had wanted to get Yularen involved in the discussion, but he had seemingly disappeared shortly after the meeting. That concerned Thrawn. Someone like Yularen didn't just disappear for no reason. Either he was up to something…
Or he had been captured by the Emperor. Thrawn didn't know which outcome was worse.
Still, they had to come up with a plan.
"Are you suggesting that we defect to the rebellion Grand Admiral?" Pryce inquired, mortified by what Thrawn had been saying.
"No Governor. We cannot be seen to have openly betrayed the empire, but if we discreetly leak the plans regarding this station…"
"Then the rebellion will attack it. I like it."
Thrawn allowed a rare smile to come to his face. Screw loyalty. Screw his mission. This was about the survival of the galaxy. If Palpatine was allowed the use this weapon, then practically all life would be screwed.
However, it was not as simple as that, as Thrawn had said to Pryce. He couldn't outright betray the empire, not when he still needed their resources.
So he would have to find a new way to inadvertently help the rebels.
Leaking the plans would be one thing. But when they attacked he would have to find a way to guarantee they managed to get past the fleet.
"Grand Admiral, Governor. We've got something you need to see." A voice called out from the bridge. Glancing up at Pryce with confusion, Thrawn began to make is way to the head of the bridge. He had to maintain his image at the moment. He couldn't be seen to be covertly working against the empire.
"What is it officer?" Thrawn spoke as he neared the terminal the officer had directed him to.
The bridge officer highlighted a signal that had emerged from nowhere.
"A new ship bearing an Imperial IFF just dropped out from hyperspace a short distance away. I was unaware that we were expecting any more ships to arrive."
Thrawn narrowed his eyes at the signal, taking a closer look. Behind him, Pryce moved up to see what the commotion was about.
Thrawn's crimson eyes flickered through the data being sent by the IFF. It was clearly imperial in origin, but it seemed to bear a familiar code.
Taking another look at the code itself, Thrawn felt a rush of surprise at his discovery.
"That is the IFF code of the Defender Prototype captured by the rebels. They appear to have moved it aboard a new vessel."
The officer seemed to grow worried at the mention of rebels.
"Are we under attack then Sir?"
Standing to his full height, Thrawn looked out the window of the bridge.
It appeared the rebels had arrived much sooner than he had anticipated. This would be useful.
Now all he had to do was play the part of loyal Grand Admiral.
"Hail the ship."
"We had to expect that Thrawn would be here. Let's hope he isn't listening for us." Ahsoka spoke in a commanding tone, not betraying any fear. Thrawn would not be able to stop her today.
Beside the Togruta, Hera continued to pilot the Ghost forward at a steady speed. If it came to a fight, then the Twi-lek was ready.
Then, the dashboard lit up.
"Too late. We're being hailed." Hera spoke grimly.
Sighing in frustration, Ahsoka reached across to allow the communication through.
"Commander Tano, Captain Syndulla, how, unexpected to see you here in this region of space." Thrawn wasted no time when he materialized in hologram form. The Chiss always got straight to the point, without the needless messing around that all other imperials seemed to do.
That was made him so deadly and unpredictable.
"Grand Admiral. Been a while. Guess you figured out it was us huh?" Ahsoka spoke, a snippy tone in her voice. She knew from experience that Thrawn disliked that, and judging from his slight sneer, his opinion of her hadn't changed.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you on board this station Commander. It must be protected at all costs. It was futile to come here today."
If Ahsoka was not mistaken, she was sure there was a slight edge to Thrawn's tone, as if he didn't exactly like the battle station.
She could use that.
"Look Grand Admiral. I respect what you are capable of, but this station is an abomination. It cannot be allowed to be used, especially not by the Emperor. You of all people should be worried about what he will do with it. So you can either get out of our way, or stay and fight. It's your choice Thrawn." Ahsoka spoke with compassion, showing that she didn't really want to harm Thrawn if she didn't have to. Surely he was smart enough to understand the severity of the situation.
But when she looked at Thrawn's hologram, his face betrayed no further emotion. He didn't show any hesitance, nor remorse.
Only a steely look of determination. He was too loyal, that much was clear.
Thrawn then spoke one more time. "May the best Commander win the day Ahsoka Tano."
The communication then cut off, and cockpit of the Ghost grew silent again.
No one moved a muscle, no one dared breathe.
After all the preparation to sneak in undetected, they now had to fight their way past Thrawn. That was easier said than done. No doubt he was already informing the other fleet commanders about their presence in the system. A coordinated assault led by Thrawn would be impossible to beat. It might be best to retreat.
Then Kallus spoke up, confusion and worry in his voice.
"Um, we've got a problem. The Chimaera just broke out of the defensive perimeter and is heading straight for us!"
Ahsoka span her head to look out of the cockpit window. It was true, one of the larger ships was moving towards them, creating a hole in the defence line.
'What was Thrawn doing?'
Thrawn watched as the officers around the bridge went about his orders. Usually, Thrawn would opt for a more subtle approach. Allow the rebels to come to him instead of charging right at them, in a Star Destroyer none the less.
But if he did that, then there was no hope that they would be able to get past the blockade, and Thrawn needed them to get on board the station.
So he had purposefully broken the defensive line, giving the rebels a chance to succeed, whilst maintaining the image that he was defending the station at the same time.
"This is crazy!" Pryce muttered beside Thrawn, staring straight out of the Chimaera's window.
Thrawn agreed, but right now, they needed crazy.
The distance between the Ghost and Chimaera was closing, and soon the two ships would be head to head.
No doubt Captain Syndulla would put on one hell of a show. Thrawn was almost excited to see it.
Smirking to himself, Thrawn thought of another idea, one that would inadvertently give the rebels a helping hand.
Turning to the officer in charge of navigation, Thrawn spoke, solidarity in his voice.
"Times are desperate officer. Initiate the Marg Sabl manoeuvre. Let us see the rebels anticipate this!"
Hera Syndulla had to say that this mission had certainly started off suicidal. Going toe to toe with a Star Destroyer, let alone the Chimaera, was suicide in itself. She only hoped that the newest upgrades to her freighter would give them a fighting chance. There was no way Thrawn wasn't going to go down without a fighter.
Pushing the Ghost forward, directly for the Chimaera, which was also approaching at an alarming speed, Hera reached over and began to power up the weapons. The Defender weapons would prove useful in breaching the hull of the Chimaera, maybe even knock out a few vital systems in the process. They didn't need to necessarily destroy the Chimaera, just render it inoperable.
The captured TIE Defender weapons, in conjunction with the mounted laser from the prototype B-wing should do the trick.
As the weapons began to heat up, Hera looked back at the Chimaera and noticed it doing something completely unexpected. The entire ship was tilting to one side. The underneath of the ship came upwards, whilst the bridge seemed to disappear over the horizon of the capital ship.
It was an unorthodox manoeuvre, Hera had to say. It would allow Thrawn to protect the bridge, whilst simultaneously forcing the strongest armour on the Chimaera to take the brunt of the attack.
Hera would have said that she was impressed, except that it left no real method for Thrawn to attack her with. What was the Chiss doing?
From behind her, Rex leaded forwards, his eyes shocked at what was happening. But it seemed to be a different type of shock.
"Hang on a minute! Is he doing what I think he is doing?"
Hera didn't have time to reply, focusing on the fight to come.
The Twi-lek barely heard Ahsoka's voice reply, equal surprise in the Togruta's tone.
"I don't believe it!"
"He's stolen your move Commander! The one you did at Ryloth!"
"Yes Rex I can see that! But surely he had to know I would recognize it!"
"This isn't like Thrawn at all. He's playing completely into our hands."
"I think that might be the point Captain."
The ongoing discussion faded out for Hera, who was now completely in pilot mode.
The Chimaera halted its position and waited for the Ghost.
Whilst the main cannons were no longer pointing at the Ghost, several smaller ones on the underside of the capital ship were, and they promptly opened fire.
Hera gripped the joystick tightly, swinging the Ghost from side to side to evade the cannon fire.
Despite the upgrades, the Ghost would not be able to withstand the firepower of an Imperial Star Destroyer for long.
Grand Admiral Thrawn retreated to the holotable in the back of the Chimaera's bridge as he was now unable to see the battle out of the central window.
That was fine with him. If all went to plan then he wanted the bridge as protected as possible from any damage.
Glancing up at the other side of the map he saw Pryce throw him a tenacious look. The governor of Lothal was clearly concerned with what she believed was about to happen.
Thrawn shifted his gaze back down to the holotable, his crimson eyes focusing on the approaching target.
"Your move, Captain Syndulla."
The endless cannon fire was a nightmare to dodge, and so far a few shots had hit the Ghost. Nothing detrimental however, thanks to the upgraded shields.
Still, if this kept up…
Looking upwards at the underside of the Chimaera, Hera formed a plan.
She had to ensure that Thrawn was not able to warn the rest of the imperials about what was coming. That meant she had to cripple the communications array somehow.
However, the dish and antennae that served as the communication node were on the other side of the Chimaera, protected by the manoeuvre Thrawn had pulled.
However, in doing so he had left other vital components of the ship vulnerable, including both the engines and the life support system.
Hera was above targeting the life support controls. She didn't want to suffocate out her enemies if she didn't have to.
But the engines…
If she crippled the engines, did enough damage to overload their power cells…
The resulting explosion and shockwave might just be enough to disable the capital ship's key systems, knocking it out of the fight before it could call for support.
It was strange that Thrawn had left such a weakness available. Usually he covered every corner of the battlefield with elaborate traps and schemes. So why hadn't he this time?
Unless he had, and it was something so obscure that not even the Emperor could figure it out.
Still, she couldn't dwell on that now. She had to get past Thrawn and onto the station. The whole mission depended on it.
Steeling herself, Hera reached out for the weapons control, and opened fire.
"Grand Admiral, we are detecting an energy spike from the rebel craft!" The officer from before called out in alarm.
Thrawn didn't shift his gaze from the holotable. He was too absorbed with how fast the target was approaching.
Tightening his grip on the edge of the holotable, Thrawn spoke aloud in response.
"Brace for impact!"
The first volley from the Ghost came from the mounted Defender cannons, the ones that were designed to punch through shields and armour in seconds. Hera watched as lances of green energy erupted from her freighter towards the Chimaera, the shots landing on their target.
The Chimaera's shields flickered under the impact, evidently taking damage.
A smirk came to Hera's face as she fired another volley of shots, this time aimed at the engines.
Again, the shields flickered dramatically, before suddenly collapsing under the might of the Defender weapons.
Pulling the Ghost to one side to evade another barrage of cannon fire, Hera keyed the systems for the weapons again.
This time, the shots were not absorbed by any shields, instead impacting on the hull of the Chimaera.
Hera could see the damage caused instantly. Parts of the ship seemed to peel away from the hull, as if ionised by the laser fire.
"Holy kriff! Look at that!" Rex called from somewhere behind Hera, evidently shocked by how much damage they were doing to Chimaera.
Hera knew that Thrawn would not be happy with the damage, but she was not done yet.
Keying the secondary weapon systems, Hera unleased a blast from the B-wing laser.
A bright red beam of light emerged from the Ghost, heading directly towards the underside of the Chimaera.
The beam impacted and cut a neat line upwards, scorching over the unique mural Thrawn had on his personal Star Destroyer.
Small explosions rocked the capital ship, clear evidence of decompression inside the vessel.
Pulling the Ghost to the side, Hera refocused on the engines. Firing another blast from the B-wing laser, Hera watched as the beam pierced one of the engines, causing a large explosion and shearing off part of the engine.
Hera pushed the Ghost forwards, now intending on flying right past the Chimaera and towards the station. Hopefully she had done enough damage to Chimaera to render in out of the fight.
However, as the Ghost passed by the now flaming engines of the Chimaera, a secondary explosion rocked the massive capital ship.
Pulse of some kind seemingly erupted from the engines, catching the Ghost in its radius.
The consoles in the cockpit flashed a blaring red, indicating that something was wrong.
Seconds later, Kallus confirmed it.
"Chimaera's hyperdrive just overloaded. We've been hit by the resulting EMP!"
"Karabast!" Hera muttered under her breath. She usually wasn't one for such language, but in this case…
Glancing to the side Hera saw the power readings on the Ghost dipping dramatically. The steering had locked up on her, yet they remained going at full speed.
Looking out of the window, Hera saw they were heading towards the station, specifically what looked like a shuttle bay of some kind.
It was clear they were in for a crash landing.
"EVERYONE BRACE YOURSELVES!" Hera yelled over the internal comm.
Seconds later, the impact came.
The Ghost crashed into the shuttle bay, skidding across the ground and knocking several supply crates over. The various consoles and terminals in the cockpit sparked and fizzed, and Kallus lost his balance in the impact, falling to the floor besides Chopper, who had been sent into a temporary offline state thanks to the EMP.
Slowly, the Ghost began to halt its crash landing, and Hera was able to take stock of the situation.
The majority of the systems were offline, and the damage to the Ghost would need repairs if they wanted to get back out alive, which they did.
But they had gotten to the station. That much Hera was proud of.
Then Kanan's voice came across the intercom, humour and teasing evident.
"Really Hera, trying to upstage us all already by crash-landing?"
Hera didn't reply, instead she got to work analysing the systems.
An orange hand came down on her shoulder, squeezing it in support. Hera looked over the see Ahsoka, a smile on her face.
"Good work captain. You've done your part. Now it's our turn."
Hera smiled in response. The Twi-lek was no fighter. She preferred to be in the skies.
She would leave the rest of the mission to Ahsoka and the others, whilst she handled repairs. After all, without Hera and the Ghost they had no way of escaping the station.
Hera turned back to her job, only briefly overhearing Ahsoka speaking to Rex.
"Gather everyone in the common room. We need a plan."
Grand Admiral Thrawn opened his eyes, his vision blurry from where he had hit his head.
The second the engines had been hit, the Chimaera had been rocked by a massive explosion of some kind. Judging by the way everything, save for emergency lighting seemed to be offline, the Chiss assumed it was an EMP from his own ships hardware.
Allowing a small smirk to come to his face, Thrawn began to rise to his feet. Hera Syndulla had once again played directly into his hands, gaining him a victory hidden as a defeat.
He could only assume that the rebels had made it onto the station. Judging by their past victories, it seemed likely. And this time round, Thrawn was more than happy to let them win.
The Death Star was an abomination. It had to be destroyed.
He couldn't outright do it.
So he would let the rebels do it for him.
Author's thoughts
So, massive space battle chapter. I hope you liked it, and that it was better than the last one.
Now I'm sure some of you will be confused by Thrawn's antics in this chapter. I also know that a lot of you wanted him to defect, but i felt that that would not suit his character best. Thrawn has his own mission, and has no desire to defect. However, he has a common goal with the rebels in this story, the destruction of the Death Star.
By faking a defence of the station, and effectively allowing the rebels to get past him, he maintains his cover, but also succeeds in his goals, pulling victory from an apparent defeat, which is very Thrawn in my eyes.
Still, at least he's not dead, right?
Also, in regards to the named Star Destroyers, suffice to say many more are present, including Tiber Saxon's unnamed Star Destroyer, but I only wanted to name a few. The ones that are named are all canon capital ships that appear somewhere in canon. For those that are interested:
Devastator- Vader's flagship before ESB.
Executrix- Tarkin's flagship
Avenger- Star Destroyer that took part in the Battle of Hoth in canon
Dauntless- Star Destroyer that hovers above Jedha in Rogue One (there are actually 2 Dauntless', but this is the Rogue One version)
Evicerator- Garrick Versio's flagship
So yeah, I hope that keeps you all happy.
Next time round Ahsoka and the team plan the first part of the mission, and Ahsoka is forced to make some difficult decisions that might cost people their lives.
As normal, comment and speculate at will. Who do you think will be the next to die?
Speaking of comments:
ItsJustABook: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter despite it's flaws. Glad you got my PM. Weird how I don't seem to be recieving yours though.
Mogor: Sato to the rescue was one of my favourite things to write. He is such an underappreciated character and I get the feeling people only really begun liking him seconds before his heroic sacrifice, which is a shame.
Cranky Paws: Oh no, I'm sorry that you have begun to worry. I can't reveal what will happen here, as that will spoil it, but I hope you like it regardless. But the talk between Ahsoka and Kaeden happened that way for a reason.
Also, thanks for the vote of confidence regarding last chapter. It was a hard one to write, as I have said previously.
Mysterious Guest number one: Yeah it is sad to see the internal conflict within the rebellion, but I wanted it to happen. Glad you enjoyed the chapter.
Maliwan: The rebel on rebel fight was originally a lot more brutal, with rebel ships destroying each other, but I felt that I couldn't go that far. Glad you liked the more tame version though.
LukeDude: No need to worry. I'm sure Zeb won't hold it against you. He's mostly forgotten by the writers anyway.
Now you know what Thrawn does, I hope you find it satisfactory. And yeah, Krennic, man. I felt so bad for doing that to him, but someone had to die first. Poor guy, he deserved better.
As for more imperials, I can confirm that Jerjerrod is aboard the station, as I have just written some stuff for him. Just because they don't appear, doens't mean they aren't present. (Like Zeb for you :D)
Also, belated Happy Bday. The rebel internal conflict was fun to write, and it will be explored a bit more in a one shot.
Now for your questions:
1. Iden is not aboard the Death Star. She is elsewhere at the moment, probably Fondor.
2. I'd assume some rebel cells have large capital ships somewhere that we have not seen yet. No doubt Mon Calamari cruisers.
3. Thrawn is unaware what Operation Cinder is, and what his information is being used for. And I doubt he is going to get the time to find out considering what just happened.
4. Eclipse is back at Coruscant, 'keeping the peace'. Palpy arrived in Chimaera instead. Eclipse would be a bit too much for the Ghost to handle, even with the new upgrades.
Travis Middleton: I know the chapter wasn't as good, but I'm glad you liked the brief cameos by Wedge and Iron Squadron.
Ahsoka's taunt was so her, I loved writing it down. Don't mess with a Togruta, much less a force user.
By the time the alliance hears the truth about the Death Star, and have debated what to do, it would no doubt be too late for them to help.
FossilQueen1984: To be fair, Raddus didn't want to do it, and he proved that in the end. Mothma is just trying to play politics still. It's Draven that needs to pay. (Hey Maul, come over here a second, I got a job for you, muahahahahaha!)
And yes, Ackbar is awesome.
Chiara Polairix Edelstein: I'm glad you enjoyed all the aspects of the chapter, as well as the last minute rescue from Sato. Now let's hope nothing bad happens to the team.
SLE's fave guest: No, I could not help myself. Someone requested that I do it a while back, so I did. (along with "I have a bad feeling about this")
I'm glad you liked the chapter, despite the flaws. Still, hope these next few action packed ones make up for it.
Of course the other Jedi (and Maul) can sense Ahsoka's darker thoughts, but they trust her enough to let her deal with it.
And Raddus is awesome, yes. :)
SWGoji2001: Glad you enjoyed the chapter despite the flaws. Suffice to say Yularen will be encountering someone from his past. Whoever it is could lead to different fates for him.
You will learn what Maul saw in the cave in a one shot after this story concludes. Hang in there, it will be coming. :)
You will have to wait and see what Raddus does next.
WolveHulk: Yeah Mothma and Draven better pray that Maul doesn't get back from this mission alive, or they are doomed. Maul will not be happy.
jamese765: Good old Raddus, ever the loyalist. He's proven his worth now.