Aboard the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium
"Command station, Shuttle Tyridium requesting deactivation of the reflector shield."
"Shuttle Tyridum, transmit clearance code."
Han Solo took a deep breath and transmitted the stolen code. "Here goes nothing." Leia, sitting on the co-pilot seat, squeezed his hand reassuringly.
"Shuttle Tyridium, shield has been deactivated. Continue on your present course."
"Understood." Han switched off the communicator and slumped
on his seat. "We're through. I really didn't think we'd make it."
Chewbacca growled at Han. "Sorry, Chewie. Getting pressed into a slab of
carbonite does things to a guy's outlook."
"We got you out, didn't we?" Leia said with a smile. "I'm going to let our passengers know we're free and clear." Leia rose from her seat and headed for the cargo area. Inside, checking their weapons and equipment, were the Eternity Agents. Xena and her friend Gabrielle were sitting closely together; the Warrior Princess looked relaxed, almost sleepy, the calm of a seasoned veteran before combat. A respectful distance away, Doc Savage finished reassembling his phaser rifle. Indiana Jones was cleaning his archaic pistol, although a phaser gun was on his belt. Lieutenant Worf looked up when Leia entered; he had been sharpening a wicked-looking dagger. Wade Wells and Quinn Mallory were sitting together; Quinn was checking the programming Artoo-Deetoo would use to break through the security systems at the shield generator that protected the Death Star. Five Rebel commandoes rounded up the strike team.
"We're through the shield," Leia announced. Everybody nodded appreciatively. This was the trickiest – if not necessarily the hardest – part of the mission. Sending a team of raiders to destroy the shield projector protecting the Death Star was an indispensable part of the mission. They had a stolen Imperial code to get through, but failure would get them shot out of the sky before anyone in the shuttle could do anything about it. "We should make landfall in less than an hour."
Wade froze suddenly. "I can sense them," she said softly. Quinn put a hand on her shoulder, but she seemed to be on a trance. "They are on the Death Star, watching, waiting for us… They are strong, very strong…" Wade shuddered.
"Take it easy," Quinn said gently. "We knew they'd be here. That's what the Second Team is for."
Wade nodded and looked at Quinn. "I'm worried about them more than about us."
Unmolested, the shuttle continued its descent towards the forest moon of Endor.
*****
Death Star Docking Station 17
The transport was unloaded quickly and efficiently. Some of the containers were taken to the construction sites where the Death Star remained unfinished. Others were put in storage, in one of the hundreds of warehouses that held the supplies for the teeming thousands workers and soldiers in the planetoid-sized vessel. It was business as usual.
At least, that is, until one of the containers opened from the inside and three Eternity agents emerged from it.
Obi-Wan Kenobi looked around apprehensively. "So far, so good." His voice did not hold a lot of conviction.
Qui-Gon Jin nodded distractedly. "The Emperor is here. And his two Sith warriors."
"Will they be able to detect our presence?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Eventually. But that is part of our mission, to distract them to allow the strike team to complete its task." He turned to the last team member. "And even if we are discovered, you will not be."
"Indeed. I have no detectable psionic aura," Data said calmly. "My positronic brain does not register on anything resembling a human scale, so I should be quite safe from your Jedi adversaries."
"Not Jedi. The total opposite of Jedi," Obi-Wan said. The long conversation with Yoda and Ben Kenobi – the name his older self had taken for himself – still echoed in his mind. Obi-Wan would never be able to look at Yoda – the Yoda in his universe – in the same way again. After hearing the tale, Obi-Wan could not help placing the blame on the old teacher. Had Yoda accepted Annakin Skywalker, would this tragedy have happened? Or would Palpatine's machinations have worked nonetheless? In his world, Qui-Gon had unmasked Senator Palpatine as the treacherous criminal he truly was. In this world, Qui-Gon had died, struck down by a Sith serving then Senator Palpatine – now the Emperor.
"It will not happen again," Obi-Wan muttered to himself.
*****
"Someone is here," Sith Luke said.
"You sense them as well?" Darth Vader replied. "You are learning quickly, my son. Two adepts in the Force have entered the Death Star." The Sith Lord considered for a moment. "Two Jedi, as a matter of fact. Very strong, and somehow -- familiar."
"I cannot find them," Luke said angrily. "I sense their presence, but they are hiding somehow."
"Yes. But there is something else. Another group is heading towards Endor." Vader reached out with the Force. "There is a Jedi among them, but not as strong as the ones here. Very cunning – I could have easily missed the lesser presence."
"Not good enough, though," Roden Fell said, entering the room where father and son had been meditating. Sith Luke scowled at the newcomer. Roden Fell had gained the favor of the Emperor quickly and inexplicably. That would have been troubling enough, but the stranger was disrespectful and there was something… disturbing about him. Roden Fell reminded Luke of a poisonous snake hiding within a flower arrangement, danger hiding behind a pleasant façade.
"Begone, little man," Darth Vader said. "You were not summoned, and you are not needed here."
Rode Fell laughed. "Touchy, aren't you?" He paused for a moment, that glowing smile still pasted on his face. The Sith Lord and the Walking Dude looked into each other's eyes, holding their stares steady.
Sith Luke sensed anger in his father, tinged with… uncertainty? Luke had thought Darth Vader was the epitome of evil… until he had met the Emperor. And now, Roden Fell seemed to provide him with yet another paragon of darkness, one more subtle and insidious.
"Look, we've got a couple of problems," Roden said, dropping his smile and becoming businesslike. "Three, to be exact. There is a whooping big Rebel Fleet poised to strike the Death Star. There's a team of saboteurs inside the Death Star. And there's another team heading to Endor to shut down the force field generator."
"How do you know all of this?" Luke blurted.
"The fleet? Imperial intelligence just informed the Emperor. The intruders aboard the Death Star? The same way you found them – I sniffed them. 'Fi Fa Foom, I smell the blood of an Englishman.'" Fell chuckled at his own nonsensical phrase. "The third team? Well, they want to take the Death Star. Wouldn't you send somebody to turn off the force field?"
"We have to do something!" Luke said.
"Give the boy a big cee-gar," Roden sneered. "We'll take care of them, don't sweat it."
Roden's smile became inhumanly wide, his good humor shining through like a radioactive pile about to become critical.
"We'll take real good care of them."
*****
Forest Moon of Endor
The verdant forests of Endor loomed over the small group like an emerald cathedral. Exotic animal noises echoed in the distance; the local fauna had fallen silent as the intruders approached.
Han Solo carefully peeked from behind one of the gigantic trees that dominated the landscape. There was little in the way of undergrowth, but the trees were so numerous that you could not see more than a hundred feet before the forest obscured everything. The team had reached a small clearing, and Han looked around for some moments before waving the group forward. The small commando unit fanned out, Eternity agents and Rebel soldiers, weapons ready.
The landing had proceeded without trouble. A small detachment of Imperial Stormtroopers had been waiting for the shuttle, and the team had taken them out in a few seconds. Now all they had to do was reach the generator complex.
"The field generator should be about three hundred meters that way." Han Solo said, looking back at the rest of the commando unit. Chewie sniffed the air and growled softly. "What is it, Chewie?"
"Something is near," Wade Wells whispered. "Something
wrong."
The fifteen members of the commando unit looked apprehensively around them. The
quiet, shadowy forest seemed to grow darker and more sinister.
Quinn looked at his tricorder. It had been clear, except for small lifeforms. Now the screen showed nothing but static. "Someone's jamming my sensors," he warned the team. Too late.
They seemed to come out of nowhere, small furry creatures that had until moments before been seamlessly camouflaged against the trees and bushes. Some were still armed with their traditional weapons – spears and bolos and nets – but many more wielded Imperial blaster carbines with lethal expertise.
The unit had been caught in the open ground between two forest giants, with little cover. The Rebel soldiers on the flanks were cut down before they could react. Solo knocked Leia to the ground, barely avoiding a deadly fusillade. Blaster bolts scorched the ground all around them, pinning them in place. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chewie make a prodigious leap to the nearest tree, which provided him some cover. The Wookie started firing his bolt caster with deadly efficiency.
Even taken by surprise, the Eternity Agents were no easy prey. Xena's chakram was in the air instants after the shooting started. Half a dozen Ewoks went down with concussions or cracked skulls by the time the weapon returned to her hand. Agents with phasers unleashed a firestorm of energy upon their attackers, some on stun, others set to full disrupt. The entire first wave of Ewoks went down. Unfortunately, there were too many of them. Return fire, wildly inaccurate but as heavy as a monsoon, fell upon the group.
"Xena!" Gabrielle screamed as the Warrior Princess fell, transfixed by a burst of blaster fire. Gabrielle knelt over her friend and returned fire with frantic intensity. She did not notice the three small figures charging her from behind until they clubbed her unconscious. Her personal force field barely saved her from a fractured skull as the Ewoks smashed her again and again, gibbering with malicious glee.
Worf vaporized a small knot of Ewoks with a series of phaser shots, before he was hit. He was still trying to fire when two more blasts slammed him to the ground.
Doc Savage reacted with inhuman speed. He leaped up and swung from a low-hanging branch, five yards above him. From his perch he fired several shots, but the return fire was too heavy. Climbing with the strength and agility of an ape, the Man of Bronze disappeared into the tree canopy. Blaster discharges following him all the way, gouging large chunks of the giant tree.
By chance, Indiana Jones, Quinn Mallory and Wade Wells had been closely together when the ambush went down. Wade covered her two companions with her light saber; she moved in a blur, deflecting blaster bolts, sometimes bouncing them right back at their attackers. Indiana and Quinn knelt and fired their personal weapons, guarding Wade's flanks. Between the three of them, they actually stalled the second wave for a few moments.
It couldn't last, however. "We have to break out of here!" Jones shouted. He emptied his revolver, knocking down three Ewoks on the left flank and creating a temporary opening. "Follow me!"
Indiana Jones rushed forward towards the cover of the forest. Quinn and Wade covered his retreat, and when he reached a tree, he started firing his phaser to cover them in turn. "Come on!" The Jedi Knight and the Slider dashed in Indiana Jones' direction. They barely made it.
"Now what?" Quinn said. The giant tree offered a temporary retrieve, but he could see the little humanoids swarming on both sides. There were almost surrounded. From their positions, they saw the Ewoks overrun the rest of the team. Han Solo and Leia managed to knock down a few of the creatures before they disappeared under thrown nets and a crowd of furiously clubbing figures. Chewie lasted a little longer, but he could not look in every direction and one and he, too, was overwhelmed.
"We can't stay here." Wade said. "Let's go!"
The last three members of the commando unit ran for it, firing at the rapidly-closing Ewoks. They didn't get far.
They reached a clearing and froze when an Imperial All Terrain Scout Transport, strode into view on its stork-like legs. Imperial Stormtroopers marched around it, headed towards the ambush site to finish what their Ewok servants had started.
"Oh, crap," Quinn whispered.
The AT-ST swiveled towards them. Its twin cannon spat blaster fire.
*****
Starship Enterpise
"No, Admiral Ackbar," Captain Picard said. "The raiding team
has not reported yet."
Admiral Ackbar was the supreme commander of the Rebel Fleet tasked to destroy
the Death Star. His features were still too alien for Picard to read them
accurately – Ackbar's species had never evolved to sentience in the
Federation's universe – but his agitation was evident.
"We cannot stay here much longer, Captain Picard," Ackbar asserted. "Every minute we tarry, we risk detection. We must choose between striking now or withdrawing."
Picard nodded in agreement. The fact that withdrawal would doom the Eternity agents in the two teams sent to Endor could not enter into the equation. "I believe we must strike, Admiral," he said finally. "If the Death Star is built, the Empire will destroy your forces eventually. The mere threat of planetary destruction will force most of your supporters to surrender."
"Yes. It is not a palatable choice, Captain, but it appears to be the only one available." Ackbar sighed, an eerily humanlike sound. "Perhaps your weapons will be able to pierce the force field, or your second team will succeed in damaging the Death Star on its own. In either case, our casualties will be heavy, but this is our best chance to end the war."
"We will take that chance right along with you, Admiral."
"Indeed. We leave immediately, then. Ackbar out."
Picard gave the order, and the Enterprise moved to take its place at the
vanguard of the Rebel Fleet. The lack of response from the raiding team was
worrisome, but they had planned for the possibility the force field protecting
the Death Star was still in place. Giordi had reconfigured five photon
torpedoes, increasing their yield a hundredfold. They might knock down the
shield – after studying the technology of the first Death Star, Giordi gave
them a 75% chance. Otherwise the team inside the Death Star would try to cause
its power reactors to overload. Data was charged with that mission, with the
understanding that escape would be difficult, if not impossible. The
transporters were still not fully operational; they would use them if there was
no other choice, but Giordi had warned that using the transporters would almost
certainly be just another form of death.
Picard's expression did not change, but Counselor Troy glanced at him with concern, sensing his inner turmoil.
*****
Death Star
The Imperial Stormtroopers' footsteps clattered down the corridor like a hard rain on a tile roof. The entire station was on highest alert, and the soldiers scanned the corridor with the utmost care, ready to stop anyone who did not seem to belong, and to open fire if any suspect did not surrender immediately.
The patrol walked past the two Jedi knights without seeing them. Their eyes slid past the pair as if they were not there, and the troopers marched on, blissfully unaware.
Qui-Gon exhaled the breath he had been holding. "That was too close for comfort, Obi-Wan."
"Do you think our use of the Force alerted our enemies?"
"It is very likely. It took a great deal of effort to manipulate so many minds at once. But that is part of the mission, of course, to gain our foes' attention."
"The Sith are still here," Obi-Wan said as the pair entered a small maintenance tunnel. "I sense their presence, and that of their master."
"Palpatine," Qui-Gon pronounced the name like a curse. "We
will deal with him in due time."
Obi-Wan nodded, although he felt a lot less confident than his teacher. In this
world, Palpatine had outsmarted and outmaneuvered the Republic and the Jedi
with amazing ease. His Sith minion had been trained by Obi-Wan himself – the
Obi-Wan of this timeline, older and wiser than Obi-Wan was now, and yet unable
to best his pupil in combat. Confusion, rage and turmoil made it hard for the
Jedi to find a balance. Obi-Wan felt fury growing in him. He struggled against
it, knowing that anger would doom him.
Qui-Gon put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "It's not easy, is it?"
"Not to hate the men who destroyed everything we hold sacred? Yes, master. It is not easy at all."
"Remind yourself that these men acted out of hatred themselves. Their fear and hatred drove them to use their skills to destroy rather than create. That is the road they chose for themselves. Will you follow them there?"
Obi-Wan shook his head violently. Qui-Gon smiled faintly. "I see you understand. Sometimes we must do violence unto others. But to surrender to hatred leads to replacing one evil with another." The Jedi master paused for a moment. "But I have to admit I will feel a measure of satisfaction when we are finished here. But for now, let us keep our enemies busy."
"We'll run in circles around them," Obi-Wan said. "Hopefully our friends will put the time we gain them to good use."
*****
Forest Moon of Endor
The heavy energy blasts shattered the ground and carved deep trenches into the forest floor. Dirt and burning leaves peppered Quinn Mallory's back. He blinked, shook his head and looked behind him. The smoldering hole where the walker's energy blasts had struck was a good thirty feet away. Indiana Jones had rolled away just in time, and Wade had also managed to dodge the attack.
Quinn had no idea how he had gotten to where he was. Maybe the blast had flung him there.
No time to think about it. The Imperial walker had not scored a kill, but it was moving forward. Quinn could see stormtroopers fanning out on both sides of the AT-ST, and two more walkers further back.
The ambush had been perfect. The native auxiliaries had sprung the trap, and the Imperial troops were slamming it shut.
Quinn looked frantically for a way out. A fusillade of blaster beams followed Wade as she ran for cover, her light saber describing a whirlwind of energy. Even a Jedi could not stop so many blasts at once, however. Quinn's eyes widened in horror as two blasts scored. The Legion's force field saved her from instant death, but she fell.
"No!" Quinn struggled to his feet, unmindful of the enemy fire probing for him. Wade, he had to reach Wade…
Space twisted around him. For a brief moment, Quinn felt the familiar falling sensation that accompanied a Slide. He landed with a thud right next to Wade.
The Imperials may have been surprised by Quinn's sudden arrival, but their reaction was dictated by training, not their state of mind. Before Quinn could do more than touch Wade, several blasts hit him. His personal force field reflected most of the energy away from him, but enough got through. The impacts felt like being hit by red-hot crowbars.
As the world dissolved into fiery darkness, Quinn had time for a last thought.
I guess I got some kewl powerz after al, for all the good they…*****
"I didn't know he could do that," Indiana Jones muttered. Quinn had… teleported to Wade's sight. Not that it had done any good for him.
Maybe some good – blue flash Quinn had generated when using his new trick had distracted the stormtroopers. Indy leaped for cover. "I think I'm the last one," he muttered.
Something flashed past him. A hoverbike, an Imperial trooper aboard. It was followed by others. A squadron of the fast-moving vehicles was moving in. They were apparently using them to make sure no stragglers escaped the ambush.
"Mind if I hitch a ride?" Indy said, holstering his gun and grabbing his whip.
When the next hoverbike flew past, Indy moved. The whip wrapped itself around a protuberance on the bike's rear. The sudden jolt when the bike yanked him off his feet nearly dislocated his shoulder, and then he was airborne. If the bike had been flying a few feet lower, he'd have been dragged on the ground instead of lifted up; he still might end up there, if he didn't hurry up.
Indy dragged himself closer to the bike. The pilot turned around, trying to see what had snagged his vehicle, and saw Indy clambering onto the back seat. He reached for his blaster. Indy's fist caught the side of his helmet before he could bring the energy gun to bear. With strength born of desperation, Jones flung the semi-conscious soldier aside and grabbed the handlebars just in time to veer away from a tree. The impact as the stormtrooper hit the ground was drowned by the hoverbike's engines.
Who the hell had thought using these vehicles made sense? Indy was flying through a maze of gigantic trees. His training in Imperial weapons and vehicles was enough to let him pilot the damn thing, barely. A burst of blaster fire burning the air right over his head him told him the other bikes had noticed him. Indy risked a quick glance behind him. Three Imperial hoverbikes were in hard pursuit, gaining on him.
"This is great," Indy hissed through clenched teeth. "Just great."