The hyperspace jump to Fresia wasn't too memorable. Luke and Wedge took time at the controls, taking time back in the crew compartment with the rest of the team. Luke had spent some of the time meditating in one of the uncomfortable passenger seats, trying to reflect back to the duel on Mustafar.
Whatever had turned on him, what he had felt as they escaped the station, had stuck with him since. He remembered the heated ire of whatever in the Force he had caught the attention of. It was the one thing he hadn't told Ahsoka about. The presence was so powerful, so hateful that Luke could only piece together one conclusion from his reflection.
Something he had done had been a beacon to the Emperor in the Force. Something in him knew it was so. But what was it? Had the Emperor felt the Inquisitor's death in the Force, and turned his gaze on Luke?
Until Luke was sure, he would keep it to himself. For now, they had a mission to complete.
Artoo's whistling signaled Luke that they were due to drop out of hyperspace. Luke hurried up to the cockpit, taking his place in the pilot's chair. He checked the readings as the astromech brought them out of lightspeed into realspace.
Fresia was a world of islands and archipelagos, humid and mild everywhere except the polar caps. It was a blue world with an innumerable amount of green and brown specks all over it. The planet had a number of orbital stations. Some were defense platforms for common approach vectors, and others were hangars for Incom's various testbeds.
As they approached a standard orbital approach, they were received by two old ARC-170 Starfighters. Luke noticed that they didn't have any of the black, blue, and gray markings of the Imperial navy, but instead the red-gold trim of the corporation.
He thumbed the comm panel. "Fresian fighter, this is shuttle Aleph, carrying Commander Antilles and Lieutenant Darklighter for an inspection of the new fighter project." Luke said, using the cover identities that had been crafted for them. Antilles was a particularly common surname throughout the Galaxy, but Organa was much more suspicious. So they'd picked a bland-enough Outer Rim name, and Luke could affect a decent enough Imperial military accent.
One of the pilots waggled his wings. "Copy that, Aleph. Follow us on a descent vector." Luke smiled and cut the commline as he started the shuttle on the course the snubfighters had set.
Luke smiled over at Wedge. "I think that went pretty well." He remarked.
"Don't get cocky, Lieutenant Darklighter." Wedge laughed. "So, what's the plan for extraction?"
"Design team takes the shuttle. We stuff as many pilots as we can into their new fighters that we can steal, blow the rest, and blast our way off the planet."
Wedge smiled in a winner's grin. "I like it. Simple. Destructive. Who flies the shuttle back?"
"Piggy. He's the best astrogater that we've got on the team, and we're going to need everyone we can getting out of here."
They landed on one of the corporate landing pads, where there was already a small delegation waiting for them. He walked to the crew compartment, then pressed the button for the hatch. "Hang back here until we give the signal," Luke said, and he and Wedge walked out onto the landing pad.
Doctor Vohoorian wasn't a particularly impressive man. A human male in his fifties, he had a slim build that seemed to make him appear shorter than he actually was. He was flanked by two other scientists, a Sullustan woman and a dour Devaronian man.
"Doctor," Luke put on his most genial smile. "Lieutenant Darklighter. My associate, Commander Antilles. We're here to take a look at your work." He hoped that he wasn't looking too much like an Imperial at this point. He wanted to make sure he could get the Doctor at ease enough to get them talking privately.
"Lieutenant, ah, we have been expecting you." Vohoorian inclined his head towards Luke. "We've been making preparations for your arrival."
"Shall we adjourn to our hangar, where we can show you the new fighter?"
Luke smiled. "I believe that would be satisfactory."
They started through the facility. Unlike Imperial stations Luke had visited, it had a number of open windows to give sights of the bay that the Incom facility was situated in. As they walked, Luke shared a momentary glance with Wedge. All was looking to be going as Winter had planned.
"We may speak openly, Your Highness." Vohoorian said after a moment. "We have disabled the surveillance for your visit. We are ready to launch our evacuation at a moment's notice."
"Then tell me about what our obstacles will be, Doctor." Luke said. "How many Imperial loyalists on staff?"
"Only one or two. They have been isolated out of the regular work flow the past few weeks. The real problem will be the Imperial security troops. As this is an Imperial project in name, the hangar has a number of ISB troopers on watch at all times."
Luke considered that a moment. "My strike team can handle a few troopers, if we can get the drop. They're mostly the pilots we could scrounge up. How many prototypes do you have for the T-65?"
"Six." Vohoorian looked over to Luke. "This is our finest work since the ARC-170. The X-Wing is the finest balance between speed, durability, and firepower. After Rath Sienar took every contract the Empire put on the market, I wanted to create the finest thing I could to put Incom back on the map."
Wedge spoke up. "How'd you come up with X-Wing?" He asked.
"When you see one in flight, it's easy enough to spot how we came up with the nickname." Vohoorian explained. "The X-Wing, on a pilot to pilot match, can match a group of 4 TIEs in single combat."
That drew a snort from both Wedge and Luke. "That's overselling it. How did you manage that?"
Vohoorian led them to a turbolift, and his aides departed. Luke presumed it was to gather the rest of the team for the evac. "The Clone Wars are over. With the Empire's ban on combat droid research, droid pilots aren't a problem outside of Hutt space. When we had clone pilots, we have them the fastest craft we could, light interceptors with standard Republic pilots taking the helm at bombers. But we no longer have to have perfect precision. We could create a rugged, durable fighter that wouldn't even need a carrier. The T-65 is hyperdrive-capable, not even needing a hyperspace ring to travel."
"How do you manage that?" Luke asked. "Especially on a fighter."
"The T-65 requires a partner astromech to fully operate." Vohoorian explained as the lift descended. After a minute or so, they came into the hangar bay of the Incom facility. It opened out onto the ocean, where Luke could see the sun hitting the sapphire-blue water. Luke started for formulate his plan further, only momentarily distracted when he saw the fighters.
The X-Wing obviously held inspiration from its ARC and Headhunter forebears. It was presently painted in an off-white color, with black and red markings. It had four engines, each one extending into a wing with a laser cannon on the end.
Wedge said it better than Luke. "Now that is one hell of a war bird." The three of them walked towards the fighter closest to them. He spotted a few troopers on duty, situated against the further wall, looking rather bored with their duty.
"So, I think I've got a plan." Luke said. "Doctor, what anti-theft do you have for the hangar?"
"Beyond the troopers? A navigational deflector, and several tractor beam generators that we use to catch any ships that might have a rough landing."
Luke nodded. "Anything to stop a ship from entering the hangar?"
Wedge took a moment, then smiled. "I like where this is going."
Mara Jade had spent the last few days in wait for Organa. It was a long process, where Mara had to work with Imperial Intelligence to create a response team. She had created a group of fighters from the best-trained Imperial loyalists on the planet, who had a specific mission, to bring down any rescue attempt and retrieve any Rebels.
So far, it was twenty pilots. It was a mix of craft too, which Mara was even less thrilled about. Eight pilots were flying the ARC-170 fighter, and another eight were flying Z-95s. The remaining four, the best that Mara had found, had been given the new TIE X/1 model, which was blandly being called the Advanced. Mara was flying her own Advanced, which she had modified to her heart's desire. She wouldn't allow any standard TIEs on this. She needed ordnance. Specifically, she needed ion torpedoes and missiles to disable any ships that tried to break atmosphere.
She sat in the cockpit of her TIE, fastidiously checking her pre-flight again and again. It wasn't often she flew, even if she was a good pilot. Mara preferred to face her opponent. The recoil of the blaster or the hum of her saber gave the close intimacy of personal combat she preferred.
Then one of the ISB agents at Fresia tripped the alarm. "All flights," Mara said as she pulled on her helmed. "Burn up your engines. You know the drill. Report in." She punched the TIE's engines, the scream of the ion thrust filling her head even if she knew she couldn't actually hear them.
The ARCs, Headhunters, and TIEs all reported in. "Black Group, deploy the sensor net in high orbit. We want to know the exact exit vector of the fighters."
Mara grinned as she started to fly her own pattern, waiting. Soon, she would have Organa in her grasp.
The Aleph came into the hangar bay like a white demon, barging in. Luke and Wedge had taken cover behind a stack of crates, taking cover from the heavy laser cannons at the shuttle's fore. It was just a distraction, he knew, but it was a good one. Luke saw the shuttle switch to repulsor lifts, and its ramp opened to disgorge the pilots. Five troopers, two of them hanging back to cover Artoo as the little droid descended the ramp, hurrying towards Luke at the other end of the hangar.
Wedge and Luke rose up, shooting at the ISB troopers to provide covering fire for their fellow pilots. "Artoo!" Luke shouted. "Come on, over here!"
The little blue droid whistled an affirmative, and wheeled over.
The ISB troopers had erected a hasty barricade, including setting up a portable E-Web gun. While the shuttle could block the bolts from it, the troopers knew what they were doing.
Luke, Wedge, and the rest of the strike team were effectively pinned. Luke hissed as he thumbed his comm. "Red Group, we need to take out that gun. If we don't, this is going to be a real short heist!"
Silda replied back. "Organa, we can draw their fire. Can you circle around?"
"Copy that. Wedge and I can do that." Luke said, and looked over to Wedge. The two of them nodded, and waited for the astromech to draw closer. Once Artoo was safe behind the crates, Luke smiled and patted the droid. "All right there, Artoo?"
Artoo gave a reply in binary that made Luke wonder where he had learned that language. The little droid opened up a socket, though, presenting Luke with the lightsaber he had stowed there.
"Alright, Hapes, go for it." He said into his comms.
The five commando pilots all opened up, their blasters on full auto. A hail of red bolts showered on the ISB position, drawing the attention of the E-Web blaster cannon. Luke and Wedge moved ahead, to the edge of the crates. Wedge opened up, peppering the position as Luke activated his lightsaber.
"JEDI!" One of the troopers screamed as the white blade ignited with the familiar snap-hiss. Luke summoned his strength through the Force, and started to rush the emplacement, his speed making everything else slow down around him.
Two of the troopers swung their blasters on him, starting to pepper him with fire. Luke brought his blade up into a guarding position, only blocking where he would be, not where he was. It turned out to be an effective tactic, and he summoned his strength for an acrobatic leap over the barricade.
He jumped, and brought his saber down on the E-Web's barrel. The end of the barrel fell off, an orange heat still on it. The gunner received a quick thrust, and the troopers quickly fell to the blaster fire of Silda's team as they fell into disarray.
The hangar was secure, at least for the moment. "Artoo, slice into the hangar's security system. Deactivate the deflectors and the tractor beams, or this is going to be an awful escape."
The astromech chiped an affirmative, and found a terminal socket to get to work in.
Luke rejoined Wedge and the team, deactivating his saber. "For a Prince, that was some nice work," Silda remarked. "So, what's the plan?"
The research team had started to board the shuttle. Vohoorian's tea had wiped all technical data from the facility's computers. So long as they escaped, the project files for the X-Wing would be entirely in Rebel hands.
"Six pilots for six fighters. We use the hangar astros for navigational aide. Three pairs of wingmates, we punch a hole and make a jump out of system. We just clear the gravity well, and we should be fine." Luke considered this a moment. "And I want Wedge to lead the squadron." Before the Corellian could object, he said. "I'm not the best pilot here. I'll follow your lead."
"Alright, then, Red Two." Wedge smiled. "Let's run pre-flight on these fighters.
The next fifteen minutes was a blur of activity, with the pilots prepping the fighters for takeoff as Artoo finished up deactivating the hangar defenses. Luke kept his cool, running through every possible system on his own. The only thing that the fighter lacked at the moment was a complement of proton torpedoes. Everything else was green across the board. The last thing they did was load Artoo up into the astromech emplacement on the fighter.
"Ever done this before?" Luke asked the droid, looking down at the screens.
MANY TIMES. The astromech's readout said.
"Well, that's one of us." Luke pulled on his helmet and brought up the HUD on his screens. It displayed a readout of all the ship systems. Cannons charge, deflectors up. He switched over to the squadron comm. "Red Two, ready for launch."
"Red Leader checking in." Wedge paused for a moment. "After Bandit Squadron, Red Group doesn't click. I'll take suggestions for new names once we're all sipping on appropriately potent drinks."
"Copy that, Lead. Red 3, all systems go. Aleph, what's your status?"
Piggy's tinny voice came back over the comm. "Ready to depart."
The shuttle launched first, then each fighter launched, screaming ahead of the shuttle. Luke was the next to last, with Wedge bringing up the lead. It was only a minute or two of flight over the oceans before Luke's screens lit up.
"I've got incoming. Eight ARC-170 fighters."
Luke saw them, their s-foils locked to protrude from their single wings in an archaic version of the ship Luke was flying. Wedge's voice filled his ear. "Let's see what these can do. Lock s-foils in attack position. We'll have the edge in maneuverability, but be careful. Those old birds can take a beating.
The group acknowledge, and Luke hit the thrusters. All six X-Wings of Red Group formed up in a spear point formation, Wedge and Luke taking the tip.
Artoo made his own excited chirps, which Luke recognized as missile locks. "Red group, they're locking on to us. Artoo, can you spoof their missiles?" An affirmative chirp brought a grin to his face. "Excellent."
Wedge picked up on it quickly. "Aleph, start jamming their missiles. Make it so they've got to dumb-fire them. We want a straight up light-fight here."
"Copy, Red Leader." Piggy said. "Starting jamming procedures."
Luke watched as the distance counter continuing rolling less and less. Luke took all safeties off, set his deflector shields to full fore, and watched as the first blue streak of an ion torpedo shot towards him.
Luke broke hard right, dodging the streak and rolling the ship, trusting his instincts. The ARC's twin laser cannons chased after him, but Luke knew he was out of range. He climbed for a half-second, then brought his ship to bear, angling down at the ARC.
It was slow to react, and Luke took full advantage. He thumbed his lasers to quad-fire, and brought it down on the top shields of the ARC. Four scarlet bursts of laser fire crashed into the older fighter, and one of its engines caught fire. Wedge's craft caught one on the first pass, and he saw two more ion torpedoes miss on the water.
"Let's mop this up quick, Reds. We can't stay here long. Every minute that passes, the Empire gets closer.
Luke acquired a new target, one of the Arcs that was chasing after Red Four. He used the X-Wing's superior speed, barreling down in a quick strike. He let another volley loose, this one catching on one of the ARC's wings, scorching it but not enough for the kill.
The engagement was quick, over in a few passes. The X-Wing was fast, responsive, and even in atmosphere, handled like a dream. Luke had taken a few hits on the deflectors, but nothing had passed. The older fighters couldn't pack the punch. But they had done their job, delaying them enough before they could start to climb out of the atmosphere.
The fight in the atmosphere was much worse. Luke counted a dozen fighters, all newer Headhunters and newer TIE models. He formed up on one side of the shuttle, taking a defensive posture. "What's the plan, Lead?"
Wedge responded immediately. "We only have to break the gravity well to make a microjump. If your ship gets damaged, jump out as soon as you can. We're going to run straight through them. Aleph's cannons will clear the way, and we can take apart any stragglers. Stay close to the shuttle, and keep on this vector."
Luke pushed the throttle up, checking his shields. They had mostly recharged to full, and angled forward. He watched as the spearhead of the fighters, the TIEs, started to unleash their fire. Green bolts of lasers lanced forward, and Luke responded with his own hail of red. Some of the bolts landed on his shields, but most passed by or were taken by the shuttle.
Piggy returned in kind, scoring one of the Headhunters with a well-placed shot, the heavier cannons on the shuttle taking down the fighter in one volley.
Luke locked on to one fighter, closing on the TIE as it tried to make a run at the shuttle. Then, at the last moment, it spun on Luke, and only a stab of danger sense had him trying to juke away. The TIE battered his shields, and he watched as the shields flared with the impact of laser fire. He tried rolling from the fire, angling his deflectors back. "I've picked one up. Requesting support."
Then, a female voice cut in over his comms. "Oh, come now, Prince, don't take away from the fun."
Luke immediately knew who it was. The Inquisitor. Jade. His shields continued to take a hammering. Luke hissed as Artoo let out a howl of indignant rage.
Luke let himself trust his senses, and then steeled himself. He flipped his thrusters off, leaving only maneuvering as he spun the X-Wing around. He felt the pressure of the inertia slam against his entire body, like a freighter was sitting on him. Once Artoo signaled the Koirogan turn was at its completion. He kicked the engines back in, firing blindly ahead of him.
The Inquisitor might have been good, but Luke didn't care. The TIE's shields collapsed under the pounding volleys of his cannons, and one of the solar panels took a hit. Mara veered off, and Luke moved to pursue.
"Luke, don't stray too far!" Wedge warned. Luke checked his sensors quickly. Two X-Wings had already jumped out, disengaging before they could take more hits. One of the ion torpedoes had winged the shuttle, slowing it down significantly. Two of the Headhunters were picking on it. Luke hissed, and he brought his fighter back to bear.
He switched his engine power to cannons, needing more power to recharge. He needed to make the run count. He saw Wedge moving in from the other side, both of them blazing a path for the shuttle to move through. Two TIEs who had been coming in on that vector veered away, giving Piggy enough time to start prepping the jump.
Silda had to jump out next, followed by Red Four, but by the time Piggy jumped out, only Mara's TIE and three of the Headhunters remained.
"Artoo, prepare jump course Besh. We'll take a quick jump before our rendezvous with the fleet." The astromech started to calculate the jump, and as the calculations started, Luke saw Mara bearing down on him. He increased his speed, diverting power from his cannons to shields and engines. He didn't need to beat her, just run away faster.
"Leaving so soon?" Mara taunted. She settled behind him, peppering his rear shields.
"As much as I'd love to stay…" Luke grunted as he tried to juke, keeping his ship moving. Then the missile tone lock started flashing on his HUD. Without the Aleph to act as support, Artoo couldn't scramble the targeting well enough.
Mara's blasts continued to rock the ship through its shields. "Come on, Prince Organa. I want at least one more dance."
Luke pushed on his stick, sending the craft into a dive, trying to break the lock. "This wasn't enough? My, Coruscanti women, never know how to take it slow."
Even as he dove, he could see the Advanced gaining on him. He watched as Artoo's calculations continued. He was going to get torn to shreds before he could jump. The ringing on his helmet changed. Mara's missile was in the water. Luke changed his course abruptly, but then he saw that Mara had already anticipated it. Another missile, this one fired without a lock, slammed into him, passing right through his shields. However, there wasn't any explosion.
Luke wasn't dead. That was a positive. "Artoo, was that a dud?" He couldn't believe his luck. The second missile's ion pulse didn't seem to have activated. "Are we locked in?"
Artoo whistled an affirmative. Luke hit the hyperdrive ignition, launching the quick jump that would take them to one of the closer systems. He felt a cool wash of relief hit him as he sank into the pilot's couch, swallowed up by hyperspace and the lucky escape.