Chapter 8: The Will of the Force
Luke's P.O.V
"Red 5, you sure we'll be able to pull out of there in time?" Red Leader asked. Me, him, and Wedge were up as we prepared to head down there.
"It's just like back home." I answered. Me, him, and Wedge headed down the trench, the fate of the Rebellion resting in our hands.
"Red Squadron, this is Phoenix 7. We'll stay back far enough to cover you." I heard Alex say.
"My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port. You sure the computer can hit it?" Wedge asked, all of us avoiding turbo laser fire.
"Watch yourself, increase speed at full throttle!"
"What about that tower? I'm picking up one." Ezra chimed in.
"You worry about those fighters, I'll worry about the tower!" I ordered.
As we continued our run down the trench, green lasers still flying at us, I looked down at my systems, and saw that a stabilizer's loose. "R2, that-that stabilizer's broken loose again, see if you can lock it down." I told the astromech. He got right to it. As the droid was working on it, the turrets stopped firing at us. I had a bad feeling about this.
"We got fighters incoming!" Red Leader informed us.
"They're all over me!" Sabine cried out, me seeing her ship swivel past those blasts. "Dammit, I'm hit!"
"Sabine, get outta here now!" Ezra ordered.
"I'm not-I'm retreating." She retreated, her fighter flying out of the trench. It was now down to me, Ezra, Red Leader, Wedge, and Alex.
We kept on flying through the trench with the fighters in hot pursuit of all of us, the trench getting more and more narrower. As it narrowed, I was moving my control stick left and right rapidly, frantically trying to avoid losing my own life today. There was no way that I was gonna let that happen, not now.
"I'm hit! Ah..." Red Leader cried out before going down.
"Red Leader's down! Watch out for those fighters!" Alex ordered.
As those ties kept on blasting us, I pulled out my targeting computer, looking into it with my left eye while keeping an eye out on the path ahead with the other. As I zoomed in slightly on the source, continuing to avoid fire.
"I'm hit! I gotta get outta here before I join the others!" Alex said before he retreated.
"Gah! Me too!" Ezra retreated as well. It was now down to me and Wedge.
"Luke, you can do it, come on!" Wedge said. "I'm hit! I'm sorry Luke, but I gotta get go." Wedge retreated, joining the others. I felt the anxiety rush to me as I was the only one left who could end this, the fate of the Rebellion all in my hands at this moment.
I continued looking into the computer until I heard a familiar voice call to me.
"Use the force, Luke." Obi Wan? How? "Let go, Luke." Now? Was he seriously telling me to do what I thought it was? "Luke, trust me."
I took a deep breath and deactivated my targeting computer, trusting the force. "Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?" one of the rebels back on Yavin asked.
"Nothing. I'm all right." I answered. Just as I said that, one of the ties opened fire on me, but hit R2. Luckily, I was alive, but unluckily, R2 was down. "I lost R2." I continued down, frantically swiveling in case the tie got a lock on me. Something told me that it did and I thought that this was the end. Suddenly, red blasts came from out of nowhere, and one of the ties was down.
"Ghost reporting in." I heard the voice of Kanan on the intercom. He came up here just to save me. I looked above on the left and saw the Ghost as the other tie was taken out, the third one that was in the middle spinning out of control. I took the chance and prepared myself to fire the torpedoes. "You're all clear, now let's end it here and now."
I took another deep breathe and fired the torpedoes, gasping after I released them. This better work. Somehow, I knew that they went in, all we had to hope for was that they would hit the reactor in time. I flew out of the trench, joining the Ghost, Wedge, a Y-wing from Gold Squadron, and the four A-wings piloted by the other members of the Ghost crew. Suddenly, it happened.
A massive explosion occurred behind us, a large ring spawning from it. I actually did it!
"Awesome job, kid." Kanan said.
"Remember, the force will be with you. Always." the voice of Obi Wan said.
"Let's go home." I said.
Later on Yavin
We touched down at the base on Yavin, people sprinting into the hangar and cheering. The second I climbed out of the X-wing, people were cheering me on. Leia was the first one to bring me in, embracing me after our awesome victory.
"You did it!" Ezra exclaimed, laughing joylessly as he brought me in. I returned the gesture. Kanan and Zeb came sprinting down at that moment, the human and the lasat having huge smiles on their faces.
"Luke! You did it!" the lasat said, barely containing himself as he brought me in, giving me a hug that was powerful enough to have me squeezed to death. I joined in on the laughter and happiness.
"Ha ha! I did it! I really did!" I exclaimed happily, until I saw R2 being brought down, the droid burnt from the blast earlier. "Oh no, R2."
"You can repair him, can't you?" 3PO asked one of the guys who brought him down.
"We'll get to work on him." he answered.
"Don't worry, he'll be all right before you know it." Sabine assured the golden droid.
"You know what, how bout we celebrate? This one's on you, Luke." Ezra said.
"Ezra, no, please..." I said sarcastically.
"Luke, come on, you did saved our skins." Kanan replied.
"Well, all right then, let's go."
Me and the Ghost crew headed off to celebrate, going into a common area of the base, where other members were. As the celebration got started, it felt great to be here. Yesterday I was just another farm boy living on Tatooine, and now I'm learning the ways of the Jedi, went off world for the first time and look where it got me. Not only did I meet a princess, but I became the hero I never saw myself becoming. It's been my dream to be with the Alliance and get out there in the galaxy, and now that I'm here, it's great to be me at this moment. And I guess it's safe to say that this was all because of the will of the force.
Half an hour later
Ezra's P.O.V
As the celebration kept going on, me, Alex, Wedge, and Luke were sitting together and drinking. We kept on congratulating Luke for the awesome job he did as we drank, and we talked about other things; life in the Rebellion, Wedge telling us about the time when he was an imperial, Luke talking about Ben watching out for him for pretty much his life, and Alex and myself talking about all those other times when we were with the Phoenix Cell before joining up with the main Rebellion. I gotta say, tonight was awesome. As we continued talking, we saw Sabine nearby, now out of her pilot's outfit and back in her armor.
She gestured for me to come to her. I thought that this was important and I told the guys that I'd be back soon. I followed her outside the common area and we walked out into the hangar. I knew what she wanted to say, and I turned to her. Instead of me or her saying anything, we hugged. "I'm glad that you're okay." she said. I nodded against her shoulder.
"Me too. I was worried about you." I replied. "I thought you were gonna be done for."
"I thought the same thing. I'm just happy that I still have you, Ezra."
"I'm happy that you're still by me side, Sabine." We broke the hug and she cupped my cheeks.
"I love you."
"I love you too." She pulled me in and kissed me passionately on the lips. We kissed for about a minute before we broke apart, gazing into each other's eyes. I kissed her on the lips one last time before we started walking back to the Ghost for some shut eye. However, just when we were walking, Leia called us.
"Hey, guys." she said. We turned around. "We have a ceremony tomorrow you know, so you might wanna get some rest."
"We were going back anyway. Goodnight, Leia." I said.
"Night guys."
Sabine and I headed back to the Ghost, which was parked on the tarmac outside the base. We entered it and crawled into bed, falling asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning
Luke's P.O.V
"Hey, you okay?" Ezra asked as we walked over to the place where the ceremony was taking place. I was wearing brown pants, a black shirt, and a yellow jacket for the ceremony. Everybody else was wearing their usual outfits as we continued walking over.
"I am. I'm just nervous." I replied, adjusting my jacket's collar. "Do I look okay, Ez?"
"Good enough for the one to get honored for blowing up the Death Star, that's for sure." Hera answered for him.
"Luke, you look good, don't worry." Kanan said, patting me on the back.
"Or should you?" Zeb said, teasingly.
"Zeb, don't ruin the kid's moment." Sabine replied.
"I'm just kidding." he replied gruffly.
"He's lying, don't listen to him." Alex said teasingly.
"Alex, you too?" Hera asked.
"Come on, you know we're only kidding around."
"Guys, you know I'm nervous about this." I said.
"Luke, it's all good, don't worry about it." Kanan reassured me.
"Okay, this is it right here." Ezra said as we prepared to head in. The rebel honor guards saluted to us, turning to the side. "You ready for this?"
"Let's do it." I answered. The seven of us headed in, heading down the hallway until we came up on a door, two honor guards on guard. I assumed that this was where we'd be going in for the ceremony. The doors opened as ceremonial music blared throughout the area. We headed in, walking down the walkway.
As we walked, the area was packed with rebel pilots, foot soldiers, officers, and leaders. They were standing to our sides, their hands behind their backs. As we approached the stage, I saw Leia, and she looked stunning. She smiled all of us, and we returned the gesture. We also saw R2, 3PO, and Chopper up there. The rows of rebels turned towards the stage, their footsteps echoing a bit throughout the place. Alongside that, Dodonna, the same rebel leader who briefed us yesterday before the Death Star assault, was here also.
A rebel officer handed him some medals. Dodonna faced Leia and she took one of the medals, Ezra being the first recipient. He leaned forward as she slipped the medal through his head, landing around his neck. He leaned back upright, taking it in his hand and looking at it. Sabine was the next one to receive her medal, followed by Kanan, then Hera, Zeb, and Alex. I felt the excitement in me as the medal was coming over to me.
Leia took my medal and I leaned my head forward, the medal slipping through my head and ending up around my neck. I looked up at the princess, a large smile appearing on my face as I embraced the moment. She smiled back at me. I heard some beeps from R2 and grumbles from Chopper sounding off, the droids shaking around. We smiled at the both of them. They kept on doing this for a few seconds until 3PO got R2 to contain himself and Hera gestured the same thing at Chopper.
The seven of us faced the crowds, and they all cheered us on, the applause feeling multitudinous as it felt great to be honored in such a big way.
I have got to say, it felt good to be a rebel.