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Pilot Names, Callsigns, Ship Names, and Squadrons
Poe Dameron - Callsign: Black Leader - Ship - Black One - Squadron Black
Rey - Callsign: Grey Wolf - Ship - Grey Wolf - Squadron Black
Ben Solo - Callsign: Black Knight - Ship - Black Wolf - Squadron Black
Jessika Pava - Callsign: Blue Three - Ship - Blue Three - Squadron Blue
Temmin "Snap" Wexley - Callsign: Blue Leader - Ship - Blue One - Squadron Blue
Nien Nunb - Callsign: Red Leader - Ship - Red One - Squadron Red
Lieutenant Bastian - Callsign: Red Four - Ship - Red Four - Squadron Red
According to my researching on Wookapedia, I couldn't find ship names for Jessika, Snap, Nien Nunb, or Bastian, so for the sake of the story, I'll name their ships the same as their Callsigns.
For Snap he's a Captain and he's in blue squadron, but other than that I couldn't find much about him so for the sake of the story he'll just be Blue Leader, piloting Blue One.
Red Squadron hasn't come up much in this story so far, and I haven't previously named any of the Red Squadron pilots directly, but I know of Lieutenant Bastian whose callsign is Red Four, and Nien Nunb who is also currently a pilot for red squadron in the resistance, you might remember him as Lando's co-pilot friend from ROTJ. Considering how long he's been around I felt he deserved to be Red Leader.
And there will be other unnamed pilots ::coughredshirtscough::
Everyone was gathered in the War Room to hear Admiral Ackbar's final stratagem debriefing. The Forest Moon of Endor would be a very different situation than the one they faced on Jakku. The First Order's reclamation facility operated on a much larger base of operation than they had on Jakku. The facility would be far too large and too heavily occupied to go in with a small band of liberators to free any slaves. They would have no choice but to shut down the entire First Order operation, starting with the outside opposition. The most threatening, of course, being one of their Resurgent-class Star Destroyers, the Regent, which was currently patrolling the orbit around Endor. They would have to take out the Star Destroyer before they could send in ground forces.
"If Blue Squadron can focus torpedo fire towards the stern of the star destroyer for long enough we should be able to temporarily disable their shields. Finn, what intelligence can you offer us on this destroyer?" asked Admiral Ackbar.
Finn had been in many meetings lately about the Regent's vulnerabilities and was certain he had the information they needed. He hobbled on his cane to the front of the War Room. Poe flashed him an encouraging smile, knowing Finn was nervous to be put in such a position of authority.
"Like the Finalizer, the Regent is powered by eleven engines, which require a subsidiary reactor, which is the primary hypermatter-annihilation reactor, seen here," he said, using his cane to point at the projection that Admiral Ackbar brought up, showing a dome-shaped reactor containment vessel located on the ships underbelly. "Now, naturally this is protected by a reinforced reactor superstructure and hull chassis, but," he added, as the Admiral zoomed in the image. "If you observe this area here, the hull is surprisingly thin compared to the rest of the chassis. A direct hit with a Proton Torpedo would rend the hull and expose the reactor. A second hit, fired directly into the breach of the hull should make easy contact with the exposed reactor, causing a cataclysmic reaction that would disable all eleven of the ships engine, and, if we're lucky, the reaction will spread to the ships shield generators, permanently disabling them before they have time to reactivate them, allowing our pilots free access to finish taking out the ship from the outside."
He looked around the room for nervous approval as he finished his presentation. Poe jumped to his feet and started clapping, and eventually everyone was excited and onboard with the plan.
Do you think it'll work?
Rey asked Ben through the bond.
I hate to admit it, but, yes. If the reactor can be exposed, taking it out could disable the whole ship.
But do you think we can do it?
Trust the force.
Was all he would say.
Next Luke Skywalker took control of the room, and managed to silence the excited onlookers. "Taking out the Regent, is only half the battle. Once we can clear the air to allow our transport shuttles in, ground forces will have their hands full taking out all stormtrooper opposition, and they will be heavily armed and using newer models of old imperial AT-STs. Our ground forces will be lead by Finn, Lando, and Rando Calrissian. Forces will spread out here, and here," he said, pointing to the projection that the Admiral brought up. "Foot soldiers will surround the reclamation facility from the south and west sides where it is most vulnerable. We have many new recruits with us, thanks to our success on Jakku, and most of our new soldiers will be taking control of the parameter while mounted on 75-Z speeders, let's just hope they don't blow up on contact as easily as the older 74s did," he said with a laugh that seemed to make a few of the attendees nervous.
Wow, I'd like to get my hands on one of those!
She commented through the bond.
Those things are death traps.
He argued.
And I like to live dangerously, or else I wouldn't be with you.
She replied and gave him one of her brilliant smiles, which instantly softened him up.
"Remember, the Ewoks are our allies. The more we free, the more forces we will have on our side. Don't underestimate an Ewok," added General Organa. "C3PO will be joining ground forces to offer interpretation with the natives when needed."
"What? Oh, my! I didn't expect to be pulled into the thick of things!" cried C3PO, who apparently had not been told of his mandatory inclusion amongst the ground forces. "Perhaps Master Ben would be of better assistance!" he offered.
All eyes turned to Ben, which instantly made him uncomfortable as he sat next to Rey.
Wow, you speak Ewokese. Why didn't you tell me?
She asked.
Only a little. I don't know why, but my parents had a soft-spot for those weird creatures, so we visited Endor on occasion when I was growing up. I haven't spoken it in ages though, I'm probably rusty, and besides we'll mostly be in the air. And remind me to dismantle that damn droid!
Thankfully the General understood her son was needed elsewhere and interjected. "Ben will be accompanying Black Squadron…"
"What?" cried Poe, who hadn't yet agreed to make Ben an official member of his squadron; even though Ben had shown up for every formation practice they had had since he got his new T-90 X-Wing. Ben Solo had been intimidatingly good, but he had refused to admit it, only stating that it was because he had a fancy new star fighter to make up for whatever he undoubtedly lacked as a pilot. In truth, Poe was more than a little jealous.
"Don't worry 3PO, you'll be with Luke and Chewie, they've always kept you safe before," added the general, trying to be somewhat considerate of the beleaguered protocol droid.
R2 merely beeped in binary that he would be in the battle too, flying with Rey.
"I don't see how that's supposed to make me feel any better!" argued C3PO.
"This is Blue Leader, to Black Leader; we are approaching enemy air-space."
Black Leader listened as Red Leader announced, in his usual Sullustan dialect, that Red Squadron was in position.
Blue Squadron and Red Squadron would go in first and eliminate as many tie-fighters as possible, clearing the way for Black Squadron to make their move against the Regent's reactor. If the Blue Squadron could tax the strength of the energy shields enough the destroyer would have to temporarily disable them until it could reroute the ships power to its vulnerable points, giving them a small window of opportunity.
It didn't take long for swarms of enemy tie-fighters to emerge from the Regent and begin overwhelming the resistance fleet.
"I have two bogies at four and six o'clock, I can't shake them," called Blue Nine.
"Blue Nine, this is Blue Three, I have your six o'clock locked on," she called as she fired her energy cannon and destroyed the pursuing tie. Blue Nine tried outmaneuvering the remaining ties. Blue three tried to lock on and fire again, but missed.
They all heard Blue Nine's shouts as his X-Wing was shot down by his pursuer, but it didn't get much further as Black Knight managed to blast it out of space.
"Nice shot Black Knight," called Black Leader, not wanting to be stingy with praise in their current situation.
Blue Squadron and Red Squadron managed to gradually take out the swooping ties, occasionally receiving backup from Black Squadron which was entering attack formation for their assault upon the Regent. The two squadrons, between launching cannon fire into the ties, managed to make several successful torpedo hits into the stern of the destroyer. With each hit their artillery was making its way closer and closer to the hull of the destroyer.
"Shields are weakening," called Blue Three, who continued to pelt the ship with more torpedoes.
"Red Squadron, we're going in, give us all the cover we can get!" called Black Leader.
"Clearing the way!" called Red Four as he managed to shoot down two more ties that moved to intercept the Black Squadron and fight back the persistent Blue Squadron.
"Direct Hit!" cried Blue Leader as they finally managed to break through the Regents defenses.
"Nice work, Blue Leader! Time to send in the wolves, go for it you two!" called Black Leader as he spread the formation just as it dove beneath the Regent.
Grey Wolf went into a furious spiral dodging enemy fire from the Regent's onboard cannons that were becoming more frantic the closer the resistance starfighters got. As she pulled out of the spiral, another tie was obliterated as it moved in to attack her from a shot fired from behind.
"Thanks for the cover, Black Knight," she called, and she could sense through the bond that he was frustrated by the danger she had narrowly avoided.
"They're getting too close, where is Blue Squadron?" barked Black Knight.
"Right behind you!" called Blue Leader as he mowed down three more ties.
"I have the reactor hull in sight," called Grey Wolf.
"Are you locked on?" asked Black Leader.
"I don't need to be," she replied as she felt the force flow through her, guiding her as she launched her torpedo straight into the hull, all while dodging more enemy fire. "Direct hit!" she called.
"The hull is breached, I'm going in!" called Black Knight, as he swooped in and fired his torpedo straight into the now exposed reactor of the Regent. "Got it!" he shouted!
Everyone shouted for joy over their com-links.
"Pull back and hold fire, we need to make sure they don't get those shields back up!" called Black Leader as he moved the squadron away from the star destroyer which immediately began having a chain reaction from within. They could see internal explosions disabling all of the ships engines.
"I'm testing shields, cover me!" ordered Black Leader as he looped and pivoted to avoid the remaining ties that were making one last stand against the oncoming X-Wings.
Black Leader fired one torpedo into the side of the destroyer, and held his breath as he waited to see if it would successfully make impact.
With a furious burst the photon torpedo made unhindered contact with the foundering star destroyer and the ship lurched. "Shields are permanently disabled, fire at will!" commanded Black Leader to the rest of the Black Squadron who all moved in perfect formation and launched every torpedo they had into the hulking ship which lurched forward. Blue and Red Squadrons managed to take out the remainder of the tie fighters.
"Ben, Rey, we need you down here. It's the Knights of Ren!" they heard Luke call over the com-link.
Once the resistance pilots had the First Order tie fighters on the defense, the transport shuttles began dropping troops on the surface of the forest planet. The forest floor provided excellent ground cover for the foot soldiers, who began storming the heavily guarded reclamation facility.
Finn was doing his best to drive the speeder bike he had been given, but piloting anything was not his strong point, and being that he still needed a cane, he could not walk into the battle with the other ground troops, and had to move with the mounted soldiers. Poe had not wanted him entering battle before he had completely recovered from his spinal injury, but once again, Finn had refused to be left behind. He was armed with a blaster and a Z6 Riot Baton, and was in charge of a sizable platoon of the new Jakku recruits, who were all much better speeder bike riders than him. He marveled as they fired blasters from moving speeders with expert precision and managed to take out several AT-STs.
Luke and Chewie landed the Falcon near the company of resistance soldiers lead by Lando Calrissian.
"Have we breached the facility yet?" asked Luke, as soon as he came down the ramp and found Lando. C3PO waddled closely behind.
"Not yet. We've freed a few Ewoks that we found being held prisoner around the parameter. They don't seem to entirely trust us; can you get 3PO to tell them we're the good guys?"
Luke passed the request onto C3PO and sent Chewie with him to convince the Ewoks that they were freed, and if they were physically up for it, for any assistance they could offer in this battle.
"Where is Rando?" asked Luke.
"Up there," pointed Lando to the high ground. They were currently on a slope and making their way forward and up.
Just then Luke heard Finn over the com-link. "Luke, help! There's a Knight of Ren here!"
Luke wasted no time "Help is on the way," he called back to Finn, then patched through the com-link to Rey and Ben. "Ben, Rey, we need you down here. It's the Knights of Ren!"
Rando was wearing a resistance uniform and ground soldier helmet with a low-hanging visor. He cradled his blaster as he waved his fellow platoon to follow him through the dense forest brush. They were trying to maintain an element of surprise as they ascended the south slope and made their way towards the newly constructed reclamation facility. Rando suspected the natives were probably furious about the forest devastation that that building project must have caused, that and the fact that they had probably been the ones forced to build it.
Then he saw a Knight of Ren. It appeared to be a tall female clad in flowing black robes and an ominous black helmet. In her hands she wielded a humming double-bladed weapon. He made it up the slope first, aimed his blaster, and fired, but somehow she had sensed him and dodged his fire. When she turned to look at him he felt something familiar.
Suddenly many of Finn's fellow riders were being shot down. They had accidentally fallen into some sort of ambush and it appeared that they were surrounded. He watched in horror as a Knight of Ren sprang out of nowhere and hacked through the front of his speeder with a vibro-sword, sending him careening into the brush, and his speeder which had skidded out from under him, smashed into a tree and burst into flames.
Finn knew who the Knights of Ren were. They had been Kylo Ren's lackeys, and the most merciless of all the First Order's followers. He doubted he would be able to take on one alone, as he found himself having been separated from the rest of his platoon.
"Luke, help! There's a Knight of Ren here!" he called over the com-link, and he wished that Rey was on the ground to help him.
"Help is on the way," he heard Luke Skywalker call through the com-link.
He hoped that Luke Skywalker would find him in time. All of the speeder riders had tracking devices in case they got dismounted from their bikes and got lost in the forest. He crouched near a tree holding his blaster at the ready. If this knight was anything like how Kylo Ren had been, he was terrified.
Suddenly he heard the thrum of a vibro-weapon as it blazed through the air and he ducked, narrowly missing getting his head taken off as the Knight of Ren swung at him. This Knight was not as tall as Kylo Ren, and he appeared to be very broad, and Finn wasted no time rolling out of the way.
He raised his blaster to fire at the terrible wraith, but with another swing of the enemy's vibro-sword he stared in shock as his blaster was cut clean in two.
He reached for his baton just in time to block a killing blow from the mysterious Knight. The two weapons crackled erratically as they collided. Finn was no swordsman, but he could defend himself if he had too. He had done it once before against a Knight of Ren, and he would not go down without a fight.
The knight and the ex-stormtrooper battled back and forth, singeing plants and scarring trees with the swings of their weapons as they raged against each other, but Finn was not light on his feet without his cane, and he was no match against a force-user. The knight used the force to launch a fallen log that Finn was not able to avoid, and he buckled as he was struck. Everything swirled around him and went black as he fell to the forest floor.
The knight rushed forward to stab the fallen resistance soldier with his vibro-sword and end him, when suddenly he heard high pitch war cries all around him, and he was forced to duck and block several primitive projectiles. Numerous small and furry creatures with creepy dead eyes stormed into the clearing where he had been fighting and charged towards the dark knight with spears in such multitude that he was forced to abandon his prey and make his way back to his waiting speeder.
"Halt, First Order scum!" called Rando, who held his blaster at the ready and refused to be intimidated by the dark force-user.
The female wraith regarded him, and Rando thought he sensed her emotions on a level deeper than he experienced with anyone else. She was confused, curious, and terrified.
"Who are you, boy?" he heard a harsh voice ask through an eerie mechanical filter.
"I'm Major Rando Calrissian, surrender or die!" he said with his best air of bravado. Any Knight of Ren was a culprit in his mother's death. He hoped she didn't surrender, he knew he wanted to destroy her.
"Rando?" the eerie voice questioned, almost so low he could barely hear it. "Show me your face," she demanded.
"You are a Knight of Ren; I owe you nothing, murderer!" he barked.
He watched as the knight stabbed her weapon upright into the ground. Slowly she reached up and pressed a release on her helmet, which let out a hiss as it opened. He stared in shock, into the eyes of his mother.
Ben and Rey had difficulty finding a safe place to land their X-Wings as there were so many thick trees it was hard to find a clearing close enough to the rest of the resistance troops, who were still battling against the First Order ground forces.
"Master Luke, where are you?" called Rey through the com-link.
"Rey, good. Finn has been hurt, but don't worry he'll be all right." Luke replied through the com-link. "I'm with him now, but you must track down his assailant, it was a Knight of Ren, Finn says it was the one with the vibro-long sword. The Ewoks are pointing back to the reclamation facility; I think they mean to tell me he ran that way. Rando is in danger."
"Where is Rando?" asked Rey.
"He was storming the south slope to the reclamation facility."
"Go find Rando and make sure that he's okay. Aldo Ren will try to regroup with the rest of the troopers, I'm going to see if there's still time to cut him off before he gets away."
"Ben, we should do this together!" she argued.
He gently grabbed her face and locked her in a passionate kiss. "We are always together. I'll be okay," he said, trying to comfort her as he felt her worry permeate through their bond. He knew she feared him falling into the same trap that he had the last time he had been ambushed by the Knights of Ren. "I won't let that happen again, I'm stronger now because of you."
She watched as he jumped onto a speeder bike that seemed to be discarded near a large tree and zoomed off.
"Hey, that's my speeder!" cried a resistance soldier, who tried to pull up his pants as he had only parked his speeder long enough to relieve himself.
"Mother?" exclaimed Rando. Before him stood his mother, Ashani Calrissian, the same familiar sharp green eyes, her skin as dark as his own, her hair woven into many braids and tied behind her head, her face as proud, beautiful, and fierce as he last saw her, but more aged. He could see fine lines around the edges of her eyes and her mouth, once so quick to smile and laugh, had grown serious around the edges, but it was still her. He pulled off his helmet and dropped it to the forest floor along with his blaster.
"Rando? My baby," she cried as tears spilled down her cheeks. With no further preamble they leapt into each other's arms and wept.
As Ben sped through the forest he reached out with the force, hoping to sense the location of his enemy. He had a score to settle with Aldo Ren, and he couldn't help but feel the satisfied grin of a predator creep across his face as he recognized the force-signature of his target.
Aldo Ren must have sensed his approach as well, because he stood on a ridge waiting as Ben approached and slammed his speeder to a halt.
"Traitor!" called Aldo Ren.
"Your taunts mean nothing to me now!" replied Ben as he ignited his red cross-guarded saber and charged the older Knight of Ren.
Aldo Ren stood his ground and attacked with all his might. Since having his arm pulled out by the female Jedi he had had a robotic arm installed as replacement. He was not yet comfortable with the new appendage and it gave him a distinct disadvantage against his furious and stronger opponent.
In an underhanded move, as they faced off with their weapons locked, Aldo Ren reached inside his cloak and pulled out a smaller dagger and tried to stab it into Ben's stomach with his free hand, but Ben was able to grapple him with both hands and stop the blade. Aldo Ren headbutted Ben with all his strength, but as he was shorter than Ben by several inches he managed to make painful bloody contact with his nose. The attack threw Ben off his guard for just a moment but it allowed Aldo Ren to slash with his vibro-sword and disarm him. Ben watched through painful watering eyes as his light saber powered off midair and rolled down the ridge, colliding heavily on the rocks below.
In his fury Ben used the force to shove Aldo Ren with all his might and nearly knocked the knight off the ledge. Aldo Ren grabbed onto the rocks and stopped himself from falling, but in the process he caused a terrible rockslide that cascaded down the ridge.
Ben feared the falling rocks would destroy his saber, and he believed he would need it to defeat his enemy so he slid down the ridge after his weapon. Aldo Ren, in his desperation, tried to use the force to reign more rocks down upon his opponent, but Ben was too strong in the force, and too angry, and easily levitated every rock that followed him down the ridge and even managed to throw several back towards Aldo Ren, who turned and disappeared.
Ben began frantically digging through the ruble, but it was too late. His saber had been smashed beyond repair.
By the time he made his way back up the ridge, Aldo Ren was gone.
It had taken Rey some time to locate Lando in all the confusion of the battle, but when she did she asked him when he last saw Rando.
"I haven't seen him since he went up the south slope. What's wrong?"
"The Knights of Ren are here, he may be in danger. We have to find him!" she cried.
Rey made her way up the slope as quickly as possible, Lando followed not too far behind, but he could not keep up with the young.
When she reached the top she was startled to find Rando standing and embracing a tall dark skinned woman. They both appeared to have been crying, and it took Rey a moment to realize by the way the woman was dressed, that she was Nezgul Ren, the Knight of Ren that had lost her leg to Kylo Ren on Dantooin.
"Rando?" she called.
Rando looked up to see Rey observing them in confusion. "Rey, this is my mother. This is Ashani Calrissian, she's alive," he explained.
"The female Jedi, I remember you," spoke the female Knight of Ren. "I understand that you must strike me down, but I don't care. I can die happy today, now that I have seen my son again."
"Wow…this is…strange," commented Rey, being completely caught off guard by the entire situation. She didn't have long to think about it when she heard Lando come up behind her, followed by his gasp of astonishment at what awaited him when he reached the top.
"Ashani?" he cried, and Rey turned to see his dark eyes well over with tears.
"Lando!" she cried, but just as she moved to step past Rey to reunite with her long estranged husband, Lando let out a sharp inhalation, as a virbo-sword pierced his chest from behind.
Suddenly Rey felt as if all time seemed to slow before her eyes.
"Father!" cried Rando, as he tried to run to reach out for him.
She could hear the piercing screams of Ashani ringing through the air. Such terrible pain from both her and Rando.
She watched as Aldo Ren pulled out his sword with a jerk. She watched as Lando collapsed upon the slope. And suddenly darkness took her.
"Damn you!" she shouted and summoned all the force that she could on the murderer as she threw him with such ferocity through the forest that she could hear trees breaking and crashing in the wake of the flying Knight of Ren. Then she charged down the slope. She would find his body, and she would finish him.
Ashani and Rando tried to wake the fallen head of their shattered family, but Lando Calrissian was no more.
She raced down the slope with incredible speed, a beast on the hunt, and she would taste blood yet.
Rey, what's wrong? What happened?
She heard Ben call through the bond. He could sense a terrible darkness had gripped her.
She paid him no heed as she flew down into the forest, but when she reached the bottom, Aldo Ren was gone.
Rey, speak to me. Remember, I love you. Don't do this!
He pleaded, fearing for her soul.
Suddenly she collapsed to her knees on the forest floor and cried bitter tears.
Ben. Help me.
A note from your humble author: Phew, that was a busy chapter to write. And I'm a horrible monster who decided not to give poor Rando a break. What's going to happen to Ashani? What's going to happen to Rey? Is Finn okay? And what about the dead-eyed Ewoks? Ben doesn't have a light saber anymore, uh oh! What will our heroes do? Maybe a little lemon is in order? Find out this and more! Same bat-time. Same bat-channel!
Thank you to all my readers, followers, favoriters and reviewers. I love love love reviews and as you know I need love to live so please loooooooooooove meeeeeee!