"I'm on him, Commander Skywalker," Hobbie Klivian said as he struggled to get the TIE fighter chasing Rogue Flight's commander into his sights. A quick shot from his X-wing went wide and into the jungle, causing a tree to explode seconds before a Juggernaut rolled over it. "C'mon, c'mon," Hobbie whispered to the TIE pilot as he took aim at the Imperial starfighter again.
The TIE fighter fired two pairs of shots from its laser cannons towards Luke Skywalker's X-wing, one of which impacted with the shields. Luke felt the ship vibrate with the hit as he continued to attempt to avoid the fire of the TIE as well as provided a clear shot for Hobbie. Ten meters below him were the tops of the trees that would spell certain doom to pilot that got too close, and this gave Luke an idea. Angling his shields to double-back, Luke dove towards trees. The TIE pilot hesitated for a second on whether or not to follow the seemingly suicidal pilot, and that gave Hobbie the perfect shot. The two red laser shots hit the right wing support of the craft, tearing the wing off and sending the now non-aerodynamic fighter into the trees.
"How far are we from the transports, Artoo?" Luke asked as he regained his lost altitude.
FIFTEEN KILOMETERS, MASTER LUKE, the astromech droid reported. SENSORS REPORT A SQUADRON OF TIE FIGHTERS AND AN ADDITIONAL SQUADRON OF BOMBERS HEADED IN THEIR DIRECTION. ACCORDING TO CALCULATIONS, WE SHOULD ARRIVE THERE BEFORE THE ENEMY DOES.
"Head towards the transports, Rogues," Luke ordered as he slightly adjusted his course. "We need to make sure they leave the moon safely."
The crew of the Juggernaut flinched as the X-wing's stray laser blast nearly incinerated them, all but Renna Vicines that is. Despite knowing that the shot could have easily punctured through the hull of the military vehicle she rode in, she knew that the shot wouldn't have hit her vehicle even before it had been fired, a result of her training in the Force. The sound of a crashing TIE fighter was also of no concern to her. Her primary attention was on the AT-AT that carried Lord Vader, an AT-AT that was at least five kilometers away from her current position.
So, he's on the move, Mara thought as she continued to spy on her target. He's headed towards the Temple base, more than likely. Luckily that's the same place we're headed to…
"Sir!" one of the pilots broke her attention. "We've come under enemy fire!"
As Mara looked out of the viewport of her vessel, she could see the yellowish bolts of the laser emplacements headed towards the vehicles under her command. While low-powered, enough good hits could eventually destroy her vehicle. "Take them out," she calmly ordered.
A few seconds later, several missiles emerged from the Juggernaut. Missiles that wreaked havoc on the emplacements, causing the rebels manning the emplacements to fall back. The blaster aboard the vehicle soon cut down some of the fleeing rebels.
The explosion underneath him scorched the bottom of Keyan Farlander's X-wing as a well-placed turbolaser shot from New Hope breached a portion of the Victory-class Star Destroyer's hull. The green fire from the point-defense guns blazed around him, but never actually found their target. Despite all of the activity going on around him, Keyan had little idea of what was actually happening. The Force was now almost completely controlling his actions. His ship dodged the automatic blaster fire that surged around him, headed towards the bridge of the Star Destroyer, which was still 100 meters away.
The sound of his astromech screaming out a warning broke Keyan's concentration, forcing him back into the reality of the battle. After such usage of the Force, he felt exhausted. It was almost as if he had been flying for over two days, instead of the hour that had really happened. He had heard Obi-Wan warn of the dangers of an inexperienced student drawing upon the Force too much, and had even heard of a few Jedi that had actually died as a result. The elongated bridge section of the Star Destroyer loomed in front of him, prompting Keyan to activate his targeting computer.
"Lock onto the bridge, ForKay," he ordered his astromech. The R3 astromech droid whistled a response, which was soon followed by the image of the droid attempting to achieve a missile lock.
The TIE fighter that had managed to break away from the other fighters of Blue Squadron carefully lined itself behind the single fighter that was headed towards the capital ship that the pilot had called home for the past eight months. The pilot squeezed the triggers on his craft, sending two pair of green laser shots towards the offending craft. The first pair struck the rear shields of the craft, more than likely disabling them. The second pair hit the ship itself, a glancing blow that did little but throw the craft off balance.
"I know shields are down, just try and get them back!" Keyan exclaimed as he sluggishly attempted to dodge the still incoming shots of the TIE fighter behind him. ForKay whistled another warning as another TIE fighter joined the fray. I've got to get back to the Independence,Keyan thought as he was forced to break off his attack run, the two Imperial fighters still following him closely.
Admiral Ackbar continued to watch as Home One and the rest of his small fleet continued to exchange fire with the Imperials that had ambushed them. In the distance he could see the two Imperial-class Destroyers, three other Victory's and eight other Dreadnaughts; it was almost as if the commander of the Imperial fleet were taunting him. Two of the Corvettes had already been destroyed or heavily damaged, and the Independence was taking heavy damage at the moment. At least those Dreadnaughts have been destroyed as well, Ackbar thought. That and the Star I've got up my sleeve, he added with the Mon Calamari equivalent of a grin.
Two Corellian Corvettes sped towards the Victory, the two turbolasers and four laser cannons on each craft blazing. The Victory opened fire on the Corvettes, looking as if it were trying to swap at two very annoying flies. The turbolasers of both Independence and Home One fired upon the Star Destroyer, the shots that hit opening up huge holes in the now battered hull. The killing blow was struck by Home One, a round of turbolaser blasts that slammed into the bridge of the ship, instantly killing every officer in that section. Deprived of control, the Victory-class Star Destroyer began to drift aimlessly in space before a final volley resulted in the explosion of the craft.
"Send out a shuttle to pick up any of our pilots that were forced to eject," Ackbar ordered. "And prepare a microjump towards that fleet. Ackbar to Captain Ferricost, begin our plan in ten minutes…"
The clanking sound of an AT-ST walking combined with the sound of its double blaster cannons to make the jungle of Yavin 4 a hellish environment for the defending troops. The white armor wearing Imperial Stormtroopers continued firing upon the rebel soldiers as they fled towards the nearest piece of cover. ST-486's vision dimmed as an explosion caused by the scout walker exploded nearby, causing his helmet's visor to darken to protect him. His squad slowly advanced towards the fleeing troops, continuously shooting at them. It was then that he saw what he believed to be a peculiar site; an unarmed rebel soldier actually running towards them!
"Stupid suicidal reb," ST-486 remarked as he pivoted to aim his E-11 at the rebel soldier. "Get him, men!" he ordered his squad. The rebel soldier was now halfway to the Stormtrooper squad. That's funny, ST-486 thought. They don't usually run that fast…
It was then that a blue light emitted from the rebel's right hand, giving the Stormtroopers a little more than a second to realize their fate. This was no suicidal rebel soldier, it was a Jedi… ST-486 attempted a three-round burst upon the Jedi that was now extremely close to him, but all three of his shots were quickly deflected. He heard the death scream of two of his compatriots, more than likely killed by the shots he had fired. A blur of blue light caused a several centimeter deep slash in another Stormtrooper's armor, and he was quickly followed in death by a soldier to ST-486's right. An extension of the Jedi's left arm sent another flying into a nearby tree, the barely audible crack of that soldier's neck breaking reached 486's ears through the audio amplifier in his helmet. He raised his blaster rifle towards the Jedi, only for the blue blur to come his way again. A slight sensation of pain ran down his left arm as it was severed by the blade before his finger could pull the trigger, and then the blue blur was headed directly towards his neck…
Kyle Katarn deactivated his borrowed lightsaber after killing the shorthanded squad of Stormtroopers, eyes darting around the battlefield. There were no more immediate threats besides the AT-ST that was headed towards him. He watched the AT-ST turn towards him, and Katarn suddenly felt the need to dive to his right. As he did so, the explosion caused by a launched concussion grenade threw him an additional meter. As he picked himself off of the ground, Kyle Katarn began thinking of ways to bring that AT-ST down.
"I've got bombers on my scope," Wedge Antilles reported as the two transports began to lift off.
"I copy Two," Luke replied as he too checked his sensor scopes. Rogues Two through Six, we've got the bombers. Seven through Twelve, cover us." The sounds of several double clicks confirmed that his flight had received their orders.
As he turned his X-wing to face the enemy squadrons, Luke could see the bombers. They looked eerily like the fighter that Darth Vader had been using above the Death Star; the tips of the normally straight solar panels of the TIE fighter had been angled towards the middle of the craft, and what seemed like an extra cockpit attached to the hull of the ship. The identity of the "extra cockpit" was well known to Luke, however. That section of the craft was the bomb bay…
The two groups of fighters flew towards each other head on, an extremely dangerous situation for both sides. Green and red fire flew between the starfighters, some finding their targets while others went wild. Luke heard the death scream of Rogue Four as one of the TIE bomber's laser cannons found their mark. Luke's own shot found its way to one of the bomber's bomb bay, the resulting explosion decimated one other bomber and three of the escorting fighters. "Rogue Leader to Rogue Flight," Luke reported to the other pilots, eager to report on the weaknesses he had discovered. "Aim for there bomb bays, we can take out more of them that way."
"I copy, Rogue Leader," Wedge replied as he looped around to get behind the enemy fighters. "Try to lock onto that section of the bombers," he ordered has astromech droid as he switched to his proton torpedoes. "Well do the best you can!" he yelled at the droid after receiving some bad news.
Luke waited patiently as the TIE fighter in front of him did his best to shield the bomber that was the rebel pilot's true target. Closing his eyes, Luke drew in on the Force, asking for its help to shoot the bomber down before it could deliver its payload on the rebel transport that was currently five meters off of its landing pad. What seemed like an internal voice ordered Luke to fire, causing him to almost immediately squeeze the trigger. A quad blast emerged from his laser cannons and shot past the guarding fighter and into the back of the bomber's cockpit. The destroyed bomber fell to the ground only meters from the Gallofree transport. There were now four bombers left.
Two of those remaining bombers had much more luck than their predecessor as they made their attack runs on the transports. Four bombs dropped onto the oval-like ships, the explosions causing severe damage to the hull of one. As soon as the first attack run was over, the other two ships attempted to capitalize on their success.
Rogue Three was right behind the two bombers, followed by Wes Janson. The Bothan pilot fired two shots at the bomber closest to him, unfortunately missing the craft. A third shot merely grazed the craft, not even doing enough damage to significantly alter the craft's trajectory. "I need a little help here," Moresk Lim'nef said over his intercom.
"I'm on your back, Three," Janson replied. "Pull back and cover me." Wes Janson switched his lasers to fire a quad blast and took aim at the bomber that Moresk had missed. The resulting shot hit the bomber on the support for its right wing, dislodging the wing and causing the bomber to begin its short fall to the ground below. It never hit the ground however… The momentum of its flight continued to guide the falling craft into the white hull of the transport. The bomber exploded once it hit the hull of the craft, causing a major breach to occur. The power began to fail, and the wrecked transport fell the ten meters to the ground, where it landed with a sickening crash.
Luke closed his eyes once again as the other bomber began the process of dropping a bomb upon the remaining transport. Once again, as they had in the Death Star trench, he felt his hands being guided by something else entirely. Seemingly on its own, the X-wing was positioned towards the bomber. Guided by the Force, Luke fired towards the TIE. A shot from each of the X-wing's four laser cannons raced towards the ship, the top two blasts passed over Janson and Lim'nef's X-wings by a little over 60 centimeters and converged with the bottom two less than a meter below the bomber. The shots converged upon the bomb itself…
The resulting explosion wreaked havoc upon the TIE bomber's underside, throwing it into the air before it began its death spiral towards the ground below. Thanks to the additional upward thrust from the explosion, the crashing bomber missed the second transport entirely. For a few seconds complete intercom silence occurred before the realization of what happened dawned upon the other pilots.
Darth Vader was now seven kilometers away from the Great Temple and was disturbed from his thoughts of revenge by a giant surge in the Force. It had come from the same general direction as the AT-ATs target, but a little farther away. And it felt familiar to something he had experienced before. Disturbingly familiar. It was no doubt that same rebel who had destroyed the Death Star; the very same rebel that had made him a laughing stock in front of the Imperial Court. Anger began to surge through him as he remembered the painful lightning bolts that sprung from his master's fingertips, the price of his failure.
The anger began creeping up through his body again; his failure here before, the nearly fatal wound he received at the hands of Kenobi… And then it stopped as Vader realized one important thing. Anger was good, and it was powerful. Yet it was anger that led him to his failures before. There was a time and place for unleashing that anger, and in the middle of a large scale battle was not the place. Barring any major resistance on the way, the trip to the Great Temple would take a little over twenty minutes. Darth Vader knew that a lot could go wrong in twenty minutes in a battle; but he also knew that several things could change for the better.
Obi-Wan looked concerned as he watched over the holographic representation of the battle that was unfolding outside. It seemed as if even the command was losing hope at a victory; General Dodonna himself had disappeared several minutes ago and his whereabouts could not be discerned. Also of concern was the lone AT-AT that was slowly lumbering its way through the jungle. Obi-Wan knew who was commanding that particular vehicle; it was Vader himself. He also knew that short of calling down an air strike on that walker, which would divert much needed protection away from the transport, there would be no stopping him.
"He's on that walker, isn't he?" Leia Organa asked Obi-Wan, who could sense the anger in the young woman rising.
"He is," Obi-Wan simply replied. "Don't do anything foolish," he calmly warned. "If you do remember, you have recognized my rank as general in the Clone Wars as valid in the Alliance as well. I don't want any innocent people to die because of a vendetta that would no doubt lead to the Dark Side. Leia, you must let go of your hatred of Vader. It will only consume you in the end."
"I know," Leia conceded. "It's so hard to let it go, though."
"You must try to remember that what happened in the past is the past; nothing can change it. Besides, the Dark Side controls a person. It twists them into something vile and evil. Darth Vader was once a very good man, before his fall."
"It's hard to imagine," Leia replied. "After all of the evil I've heard that Vader has done."
"Things were different then," Obi-Wan said. "The Clone Wars hadn't turned all of us into something were never meant to be. Jedi were supposed to be defenders of peace, not instruments of warfare." Obi-Wan had figured it out in the past two decades that that was what the Clone Wars were all about. They were supposed to kill as many Jedi in the field as possible as well as turn as many of them to the Dark Side as possible. He pushed the thoughts of the past out of his head and focused on the present. "It is about time for us to get to our transport, Princess."
"About five minutes," Leia replied as she began to think about what the transport was, and who was flying it. There was the Wookiee copilot, who by all accounts was a pretty nice being, but it was the ship itself. To put the condition of the ship in polite terms, the ship was a piece of junk that had nearly fallen apart from the assault of a few sentries. And the pilot was a man who seemingly cared mostly about money, although in the past few days he had been invaluable to the Rebel cause. And he seemed to hit on her every chance he could get. "I can hardly wait," she added in a low, sarcastic voice.