PART 4: PILOT

CHAPTER 16: Culmination

"He was the best starpilot in the galaxy...and a cunning warrior." —Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Anakin Skywalker, A New Hope

****

At Luke's signal, the three remaining Red Squadron X-wings came together and then dove in formation toward the Death Star.

"At that speed, Luke, do you think you'll be able to pull out in time?" Biggs wondered, sounding a little worried. Luke had given him and Wedge the understanding that he—Luke—would be the only one targeting the exhaust port.

"Don't worry about me," Luke said tersely. "Worry about that Death Star." Even if he died in front of the Death Star and failed to become a Jedi, at least he would have been part of the effort to bring down this monstrosity. That was all that really mattered. It was what he and his mother had been fighting for.

The Death Star's turbolasers flashed wildly in the trench, trying to track the three swift X-wing fighters.

"We'll do our best to cover you," Biggs said firmly.

"My scopes are showing the tower," Wedge commented, "but I can't see the exhaust port. That thing's awful small, Luke—are you sure the computer will be able to hit it?"

"I'm not using the computer," Luke said in a soft but determined voice.

"Luke—" Red Two began, sounding worried.

"Just trust me, Wedge."

"All right, Boss," the other man said after a few seconds.

"Now, increase speed full-throttle."

"But what about the tower?" Biggs asked.

"Worry about those fighters, you two—I'll worry about the tower."

Luke's finger kept triggering his lasers as he returned fire. One of his wings was grazed—maneuverability was difficult in the trench—and he said to Artoo, "That stabilizer's broken loose, Artoo. Try to lock it down!"

The droid whistled acknowledgement and did as he was told.

"TIEs are coming, Luke," Wedge said warningly.

Luke felt a tickle in the back of his mind as he looked at the fighters, and then he realized what it was—Vader was in that modified fighter. Vader.

The Sith Lord must have realized the Rebels were planning something and left Coruscant to deal with it. And if Luke knew that Vader was nearby, then Vader must surely feel him, too. "Ah, Sithspit," the young man muttered to himself ironically.

****

Vader's blood ran cold when he realized just who the current leader of the remaining X-wing fighters was.

How in the blazes had his son ended up here? Were the Jedi purposefully trying to mock him? Was this Fate trying to lure him into killing his son?

Trying to contain his rage, Vader sent through the Force, Luke.

After a few seconds, the boy—seeming a bit bewildered—returned, Father.

Cease this, Luke. Don't make me destroy you.

But he felt the boy's confused Force sense turn to determination. Luke didn't respond to Vader's command, somehow managing to close his mind, but Vader realized that Luke knew his father had no intention of actually destroying his son—at least not in a space battle.

"Jedi's bones," the Sith Lord growled to himself furiously.

****

Vader and his wingmen were fast approaching the remnants of Red Squadron, and Vader managed to score a crippling hit on Wedge.

"Blast!" The Corellian cursed. "I'm hit—I—I can't stay with you, Luke." His voice sounded strained.

"That's all right, Wedge," Luke said smoothly, feeling a strange calm determination coming over him. The words his father had sent him through the Force had thrown him off balance, but now he was starting to view matters with clarity. "Get clear. You're not going to do any good staying back there and getting yourself killed."

"Sorry," Wedge apologized as he pulled his X-wing away, the word feeling woefully inadequate.

"They're coming in fast, Luke. Try to hurry up—I can't hold them."

Luke swallowed. The TIEs were still on him and Biggs. He knew—somehow, deep down in his gut, he knew—Vader wouldn't kill him today. Biggs, however, was another matter. He made a sudden decision. "Biggs, break off!"

"What?" the other man returned, startled.

"Break away."

"Luke—"

"That's an order!" he shouted into his headset. His heart was pumping, and he was nervous. "Sorry, Biggs," he apologized. "But pull out. Just trust me. Please."

The X-wing fighter belonging to Red Three remained on course for a few more seconds before pulling away from the Death Star. "I don't know what you're doing, Luke, but if you fail—"

"I won't, Biggs." He couldn't. "Just go!"

And then Biggs was speeding away, and Luke was left alone in the trench. Inhaling deeply, the young pilot instructed, "Artoo, try to increase the power."

The little droid whistled and began working on his master's instruction.

But the TIEs were still getting closer. Vader had started shooting the occasional blast at him, but Luke knew the Sith Lord was being careful, going for a blow that would cripple his ship but not kill him. It was a mostly useless gesture, however—at the speed he was going, a hit that would cripple him in space would likely prove lethal in the narrow Death Star trench.

Luke closed his eyes briefly to touch the Force, and then he opened them. Recalling Obi-Wan's words, he used the Force to guide his hand. He wasn't close enough, it was telling him. He had to last a little longer.

Vader tried a few more blasts which missed. And then one of Vader's wingmen was destroyed by a volley of laserfire.

Luke frowned—who had destroyed that fighter?

"Wahoo!" a familiar voice said over his headset. Luke felt a great sense of relief as he realized it was the pilot who'd rescued him from Vader—Han Solo.

And then Vader's remaining wingman seemed to panic, veering over to the side and colliding with Vader's fighter. The wingman then crashed into the trench, his fighter exploding. Vader's ship spun out of the trench with a damaged wing.

Luke felt his face break into a smile.

"You're all clear, kid," the Millennium Falcon's pilot told him. "Now, blow this thing so we can get out of here."

"Thanks," Luke said with a grin.

And then he was shooting off a pair of proton torpedoes which disappeared into the exhaust port. He pulled his X-wing up and away from the Death Star. "It's a hit!" he exclaimed.

He and the other survivors of the battle rushed away from the Death Star—small explosions were lighting up on the surface, and it wasn't long before the whole battlestation burst into a supernova.

"Great shot, kid," Han complimented. "That was one in a million."

"Good job, Luke," Biggs said quietly over his headset.

Luke's eyes were closed in relief as he listened to the words of his comrades.

"I would've died if I'd stayed out there," the Tatooinian admitted reluctantly. "And you took that thing down."

"Don't worry about it, Biggs," Luke said softly. "I just had a hunch and acted on it." It wasn't exactly a lie.

He noted with uneasy relief that Vader had been able to escape the explosion.

****

When Luke returned to Yavin IV in his X-wing, he expected to get out, find Obi-Wan, and then leave for Dagobah. What he didn't expect was for a bunch of ecstatic Rebels to start cheering as he climbed down his ship's ladder. There were happy shouts, relief-filled laughter, and gleeful congratulations assailing him from all around. He was overwhelmed, faltering on the second-to-bottom rung before finally stepping down onto the ground with uncertain feet.

Several people came over and clapped him on his shoulders. Even Han Solo came over to vigorously tousle his hair (a move which somehow managed to both annoy and amuse him).

"You're the last person I expected to see at Despayre," Luke said with a small grin, glad to see the man had also come back to the Rebel base on Yavin IV. He knew the smuggler only liked to do things when he would be well paid for them, and his help at the Death Star run had been very unexpected but very welcome.

Han shrugged. "Yeah, well, my girlfriend wouldn't have forgiven me if I hadn't helped out, so I decided to come and crash the party."

"Well, I'm glad you did," the younger man said sincerely. He didn't know this Han Solo very well, but he suspected there was a very good man hidden beneath his mercenary exterior.

After a few more congratulations were given, the crowd began to disperse, and Luke finally found the person he was looking for. "Obi-Wan!" he exclaimed, jogging toward the older man.

The Jedi smiled at him as he approached. "You did very well, Luke."

"The Force helped a lot—" Luke admitted. "I don't think it would have been possible without it...Thanks for letting me do this, Obi-Wan." The boy spoke the last sentence quietly.

"I think you were meant to do it," Obi-Wan said. "The Force seemed to indicate it was necessary." He hesitated for a second before noting, "General Dodonna came to talk to me about you."

The Rebel hero frowned. "Really?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "He told me they were having a ceremony honoring the people involved in the Death Star's destruction at Despayre. He wants you to be there."

Luke Skywalker shuffled his feet, looking down at the ground. A ceremony? He didn't deserve to be honored in a ceremony—without the Force, he couldn't have ever made that shot. It wasn't fair that Force powers had given him the advantage. He opened his mouth to protest, but Obi-Wan spoke first.

"Force powers are a gift just like good piloting skills, Luke," the Jedi said gently. "We are expected to use our gifts, and no one here would think less of you for using the Force to destroy the Death Star."

The young man shifted again uncomfortably. "I don't feel like I should be honored for it."

"Luke," the Jedi said firmly, "you did something that no one else out there was able to do. You destroyed a machine that could wipe entire planets out of existence. That is something which you should be proud of. I know your mother would have been proud of you."

Luke didn't comment, though the words seemed to have affected him.

"The Rebels need someone to rally around, Luke. We can hold off on going to Dagobah for a little while longer. This ceremony will be good for morale—and if you don't go, they will be missing the person who made the blow that actually destroyed the Death Star."

"Yeah, but I didn't die for it." The youth turned away abruptly.

Obi-Wan was quiet, knowing that the young man was considering his words. This was a hard step for Luke, the Jedi knew. He seemed to have a very strong aversion to taking on the status of 'hero,' as if he didn't believe he could ever be worthy of the position. But Skywalkers were born heroes—their names were written in the stars. Even Anakin's mother had been a hero, giving up her son to people she barely knew so that he could have a better life.

"I will do it for them," Luke said at last, though he didn't look at Obi-Wan. "...But not for myself. I don't deserve a medal just because I had powers no one else had. That wouldn't be fair."

The Jedi held his tongue. There was no sense arguing any further. For the moment, he would let the issue slide.

****

Luke and the other survivors of the trench fight at what had been dubbed the Battle of Despayre—Han, Chewie, Wedge, Biggs, and a Y-wing pilot named Keyan Farlander—walked up to the giant pair of doors which would lead them into the Massassi main temple. The doors seemed somewhat foreboding in their dark enormity, and Luke found himself exchanging a nervous glance with Han, who seemed no more accustomed to receiving honors than he was.

"Get ready, kid," the smuggler mumbled under his breath, making it sound as if the awaiting ceremony would be ten times worse than the actual battle had been.

Luke inhaled deeply in anticipation, and the doors opened, revealing hundreds of uniformed Rebel troops lined up in rows that were so straight that he found himself wondering idly if someone had gone through and made sure they were all standing in the right places. The Rebels were all facing the center aisle...which the acclaimed Death Star heroes would soon be walking down.

The six pilots looked down at the Rebels for a moment before they started their descent. Luke found himself praying he wouldn't trip. He readied the Force, just in case anything should happen—

—and before he knew it, they were on level ground, moving down the long aisle toward the end of the temple where Princess Leia (wasn't she a senator by now? what was she doing here?) stood waiting for them, clad in purest white, her hair beautifully arranged at the back of her head. Surrounding Leia were various generals and Rebel dignitaries, all of them bedecked in their best dress uniforms and practically beaming with joy.

Midway down the aisle, Chewie let out a roar, and Luke found himself chuckling lightly at the sound with Han. The moment took away a little bit of his anxiety, and he was able to stop focusing so much on not tripping.

And then they were climbing the stairs at the end of the big room, the Rebels turning as one to face them. The Alderaanian princess gave each of them a solemnly significant gaze...which merely served to make Luke even more anxious. And then she brought her gaze back again to meet Luke's nervous eyes, and she smiled warmly.

The gesture was enough to alleviate a bit more of his anxiety, and he found himself grinning back at her. They'd been really good friends before he had alienated her and they had drifted apart. It was nice to see her again. He had missed talking to her.

General Dodonna moved forward and then turned around as an officer handed him a golden medal. The medal, Luke noted, was a shining engraved circle. The circle was suspended from a gold rectangle which was attached to an olive-green ceremonial ribbon. The six heroes had been informed that they were each receiving the highest honor the Rebel Alliance could award. It was given to them in honor of both their bravery and their ingenuity in the Death Star run. Luke found himself staring at it in apprehensive awe, his stomach full of furry moths at the thought of its being bestowed upon him.

The Alderaanian princess looked at Han and gave him a particularly warm smile—and Luke was suddenly hit by the certainty that she was the girlfriend Han had mentioned. He found himself furrowing his brow at that one, but then the princess had surprised him before, and he'd certainly seen stranger couples. After all, he thought wryly, it wasn't like a certain Imperial woman hadn't been featured in a few of his dreams.

The Rebel general gave the medal to Leia, who took it and held it out, the gold shining in the light.

As Luke had fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star, he was to receive his medal first. His breath caught in his throat, and he bent his head down as Leia draped the medal over him. It hit his chest with a light thunk, and he swallowed, a bit surprised at its weight. He resisted the urge to touch it, trying to keep himself composed. None of his speeches on Alderaan had ever made him this nervous.

Her lips barely moving, Leia whispered to Luke, "My father talked to me. You may have saved countless worlds. Thank you." And then she was moving away from him and being handed another medal by Dodonna.

As Luke's companions were given medals, he considered the young woman's words. They must mean she understood that his attempt for the Imperial Senate seat had not been an attempt to usurp her. His friend—who had been avoiding him despite the many chances they'd had on Alderaan to talk to each other—was his friend again. A smile came to his face at that thought. One could never have too many friends.

After the final member of their party had been given a medal, all six of the heroes bowed as one to the people on the platform before them, and then they turned around to face the awaiting crowd. The Rebels began clapping, cheering, and whistling, and Chewbacca growled proudly. The heroes couldn't help but smile at the joyous faces in front of them—even Luke found his face brightening.

Obi-Wan had been right—this was what the Rebels had needed for morale. Even if it was for just a handful of moments, all the beings in that great Massassi temple felt as if the whole galaxy were at peace.