The main hangar was organized chaos as Solo and Chewie led Leia back to the Falcon. Mechanics hurried around, fueling fighters and loading supplies onto the larger cruisers. Pilots suited up, huddling in small groups for briefings from the squad commanders. Stepping nimbly around a pile of scrap that had once comprised a computer terminal, Solo punched in the lock codes to lower his ship's boarding ramp.
"After you," he said, with an exaggerated bow to the princess. "Make it quick."
She stepped on board and headed straight for the bunk room, opening a small cupboard that had survived her earlier rampage and pulling out a knapsack. She peeked inside and then pulled it shut, satisfied.
"Okay, captain, I'm good. Are you sure you don't want to take me to Alderaan?"
"No."
"Well, thanks anyway," she said thoughtfully, looking around the cabin. "For everything. I mean that."
"I'm glad I was able to help. You take care of yourself, okay?"
"Yeah." Her eyes narrowed as they walked together off the ship. "I'll be fine."
Remembering his promise to Rieekan, Solo insisted on escorting Leia over to Rebel One, leaving Chewbacca to begin pre-flight procedures in the cockpit. Realizing neither of them had any idea which of the large cruisers was their destination, Solo tapped on the shoulder of a pilot standing with his back to them, surveying the scene.
"Luke!" Leia exclaimed as he turned, giving him a tight hug around the bulky flight gear. Then her face darkened. "You told me you were going to come back and see me as soon as your mission was complete."
"I'm sorry, Leia," he responded defensively, surprised at her vehemence. "I wasn't expecting to shoot down an enemy probe."
"When are you leaving?" she asked, softening again.
"I'm in the essential group. I'm flying cover for the transports and then we stick around to assure anything sensitive has been destroyed."
"Do you have to wait that long? What if the Empire shows up before you get away?"
"I'll be okay," he reassured her. "I've dealt with the Empire before."
"Not without help."
"I've got help. Rogue Squadron is the best." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Leia, I promise I'll be okay. But it's nice to be worried about."
"You watch your back, Kid, you hear?" Solo added. "I'm taking this one to Rebel One. You know which ship that is?"
Luke pointed at one of the large cruisers, already rumbling as its engines warmed up. Solo gently began to guide Leia towards her transport, and then stopped as she broke free and dashed back to the pilot.
"What's your call sign?" she asked him.
"Rogue Five, why?"
"Good luck, Rogue Five." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Okay, sweetheart, time to go." Solo pointed at the line of Rebels, ranging from humans to Bothans and even another Wookiee, who were filing onto the ship. Looking down, it struck him that she was still wearing the long hospital gown and slippers. "Once you're on board, you should probably see if they have any real clothes for you to wear. You like an escapee from the psych ward." The words were out before he could catch himself. "Sorry."
To his relief, she merely chuckled. "I suppose that's mostly accurate." She stepped into the line behind a tall pair of Mon Calamaris. "I'll be okay. You should get out of here."
"Okay. Hang in there and stay safe, Princess."
"I will."
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Stopping to help load a set of crates into the cargo area of one of the light cruisers, Solo stiffened when he heard a voice behind him.
"Captain Solo! It's so good to see you again. Although the circumstances are less than ideal."
He searched his brain to try to remember a designation, and couldn't. He'd blocked it out. So, refusing to turn around, he muttered over his shoulder, "Hi, Goldenrod."
His passenger compartment had been full enough as they fled Alderaan that Solo was successfully able to convince Luke to stow his annoying droid in the back hold. After learning he'd originally belonged to the Organas, Solo unsuccessfully tried to convince them to take him along when they returned home. They insisted that the protocol droid would be of far more use to the Alliance. The droid was the first thing offloaded when they'd arrived to the Yavin base, and, having little use for droids generally, Solo hoped that would be the end of the budding relationship. No such luck.
"I was informed that you located the princess and that she is still fully functional," the droid continued. C-3P0, that was his designation, Solo remembered. "Their highnesses will be delighted! If they themselves are still alive of course….oh dear."
Solo was saved from further conversation when one of the deck officers bellowed for assistance from the gleaming droid. He slipped the last crate into the cavity under the ship and walked briskly back to the Falcon.
Chewie growled at him as Solo entered the cockpit.
"I wasn't ignoring you, I just got here, you big furball." Harrumphing, Chewie pointed at the controls. "Yes, I double checked the hyperdrive last night. We should be fine. Let's get out of here before things get ugly."
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Against his better judgment, Vader allowed Ozzel to plan the initial entry and possible assault on the Rebel base. The admiral was not known for his strategic skills, but Vader needed to devise a reason to personally join a ground assault. An aerial bombardment would certainly take out any base of operations that the Rebels concealed on Yavin IV, but would get Vader no closer to locating and capturing Luke Skywalker. Ironically, that meant that allowing Ozzel to make a mess of the attack was likely the ideal scenario…at least for Vader.
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Solo waited for Rebel One to clear the atmosphere, flanked by four X wings as it rose above the cloud layer and broke for the nearest safe hyperspace jump point. The Yavin-based fleet was splitting up, joining various counterparts around the galaxy until they identified a new main base. Since he was parting ways, Solo hadn't been given any of the details of the Rebels' destinations—both for their protection and for his.
"Rebel One is away." He heard the general announcement over the comm. Then there were three bleeps. Emergency transmission.
"This is Alpha One. Imperial ships have entered the Yavin system. Standby for report."
"Strap in" Solo said tersely to his partner. "We're getting out of here." He looked out the hangar door where Rebel One had just made its exit, glad that Leia had gotten out of the system before the Imperials arrived. That stress was the last thing she needed.
"This is Alpha One," the comm crackled again with Dodonna's voice. "We've got four Imperial II's, one Victory class, and one unidentified class of Star Destroyer."
Solo looked over at Chewie. "I guess they've been found." He lifted the Falcon and drifted towards the hangar door as pilots raced through the space, abandoning non-essential supplies as they hopped into their ships. As the Falcon passed through the massive door, Solo gave it a burst of speed, skimming the treetops as Chewie frantically activated their onboard scanner to give them the locations of the Imperial force.
As it turned out, they hardly needed the scanner. From the ground, the massive Star Destroyers loomed over them casting fang shaped shadows on the white clouds below. Further out in space, Solo could see an additional silhouette that he assumed was the unidentified class of Destroyer that Dodonna had mentioned. Even from this distance, he could tell it was enormous: bigger than any capital ship he'd ever seen. He let out a low whistle.
"Let's see if we can get the planet between us and them before we make our jump," he said, gently tilting the freighter as they avoided one of the few mountains poking out of Yavin's surface. "Set course for Merson, then on to Nar Shadda." Checking the scanner, he added, "And get back in the gun turret. Those things are deploying TIEs."
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"Rogues, form up." Wedge pulled upwards from the planet's surface, leading the squadron of X-wings to a point that blocked access to the main hangar entry. "We've got to assume those Star Destroyers are going to start a bombardment any minute here. Our job is to keep the TIEs back away from the transports so they can head to the far side of the planet and make a break for hyperspace. Green and Blue squadrons will escort. Got it?"
"Copy that," they each responded.
Luke looked over at Wes Janson, his wingmate. "You ready for this?"
"Hell yeah."
"Here they come!" shouted Wedge.
The first wave of TIEs headed straight for the hangar door, giving the Rogues ample opportunity to tail them and pick them off as they attempted to bomb the next departing transport. The armed transports were able to inflict casualties of their own, and held off two TIE bombers as the Rogues scattered for another defensive maneuver. The transport zoomed towards its original departure point, appearing to charge the Star Destroyers, before executing a 270 degree turn and speeding away to the safety of the far side of the planet.
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Vader had expected Ozzel to screw up, but this was ridiculous.
"You fool!" he shouted, striding up to the Admiral, "You're only covering one of their escape windows."
Ozzel smiled as if he knew a secret. "Shall we begin the bombardment? I think that will make the escape windows a moot point."
"And will destroy any information about the size of the Rebellion's presence here, as well as any clues we have to their leaders' whereabouts," Vader growled. And might kill my son, he added silently. He looked over at Piett, who was watching the exchange silently. "Tell General Veers to prepare for a surface attack."
"Milord," Ozzel began patronizingly, "You said you believe this to be the Rebel headquarters. It seems that the gains from bombing it to the ground outweigh any…" He stopped, his hands going to his throat.
"You have failed me for the last time." Transfixed by the image of the man being inexplicably strangled in front of him, Piett merely nodded as Vader stalked past him, saying, "Deploy the fleet so that nothing else gets off the system. You are in command now, Admiral Piett."
As the Dark Lord left the bridge, Piett recovered himself. "Set up an interdiction ring," he ordered. "Move the destroyers to sectors 2, 5, 6, 9, and 12. Executor will cover sector 1 above the Rebel base. Focus the fighter wings on taking out their fighter capabilities. I want them pinned down, now."
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Solo cursed aloud as the Falcon rose from under the cloud cover on the far side of the planet from the Yavin base to find that the Star Destroyers had figured out the Rebel's escape path and reconfigured their formation to block the ships from jumping. A large Rebel transport had discovered the same problem. From the Falcon, they could see the Y-wing escorts swarmed with TIEs as bombers swooped in to aim at the transport's engines. Smoke rose as the interior lights of the ship began to blink out.
"Chewie!" he called back to the gun turret. "Heads up. TIE fighters incoming." He tuned his communications system back to the Alliance frequency and punched in the descrambler code to listen in.
"Deploy Green Squadron to the south side of the base," he heard Rieekan shouting. "Rogue Squadron, report in!"
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Luke had sat through a lot of lectures on strategy since his successful attack on the Death Star, only some of which seemed marginally useful. As he zoomed through the air after a stray TIE bomber though, Janson shooting a fighter off his tail, he suddenly remembered one thing that had been repeated ad nauseum: defense is a lot harder than offense.
"Guess they were right about that," he muttered as he followed yet another TIE into the upper atmosphere. The constant swooping between planetside and space was starting to stress his hull, and he made a mental note to have Artoo run a post-flight diagnostic…if he survived. Each time he swept back towards the main base, he was disheartened to see that the Imperials had been successful in pinning the remaining transports inside the safety of the old Massassi temple. At this rate they'd never get out.
Spotting Wedge, he gave a quick thumbs up as he blasted another fighter. "I wonder why those Destroyers haven't opened fire?" he murmured.
"Cut the comm chatter, folks," Wedge interrupted. "Let's just take our luck where we can get it for now. Rogue Five, Rogue Seven, follow me. We're going to clear some space for that transport."
"Copy that, Rogue Leader!"
Switching to torpedoes, Luke blasted away two TIE bombers that were harassing the defenses in front of the hangar entrance. On cue, the transport burst out, following three Y-wings that kept up steady fire as they made for a clear spot in the space around the planet.
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General Veers had made his career as the designer and chief authority on the use of All Terrain Attack Transports, and so it was with some frustration that he opted to deploy only the smaller All Terrain Scout Transports during the initial ground assault on the Yavin base. In spite of their name, AT-ATs had some weaknesses, and an inability to operate efficiently in large forested areas was one of them. They certainly could take out the trees surrounding the base, but that would cost time. Lord Vader had insisted that they needed troops on the ground to capture any remaining rebels and valuable information, and Veers was not one to let ego get in the way of success. He ordered the troops onto landing crafts with enough of the smaller walkers to cover the perimeter of the base.
"I'll be joining you." As the stormtroopers filed onto the landers, Lord Vader walked up next to Veers. He stood with him for a moment, reviewing the troops, and then wordlessly stepped onto the shuttle and made his way to the cockpit. Veers' lieutenant looked at him, bewildered, but Veers merely shrugged. "I don't question those of higher rank," he said, with a touch of warning in his voice.
TIE Interceptors escorted the landing craft down towards the base, slowing to blast away trees and form a clearing for the troopers to disembark. A second craft landed on the temple grounds, blocking the south entrance as troopers poured out and began firing as they burst into the base.
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"Imperial troops have entered the base! Imperial troops have…." The voice was cut off midsentence, and Solo gulped. He didn't know how the Rebels were going to get out of this one. He hoped the Kid was all right….
"What's going on?"
Traditional Corellian theology recognizes one higher being with four demigods ruling the elements of creation. Thankfully for Han Solo, he was not religious and thus did not subscribe to the belief that shouting the names of the demigods in vain would damn him to the nine hells for all eternity.
"I swear if you do that again I really am going to shoot you. What is it with you and sneaking up on people?"
Leia plopped down into the copilot's chair. "You weren't going to let me come along. I had to sneak onboard."
"Your highness! Your highness!" His jaw dropping, Solo turned to see the golden droid tottering into the cockpit after her.
"You didn't…." he said reproachfully.
"He's my droid," Leia told him. "And he has all the codes I need for getting through the secure doors in the palace."
"What palace? What are you talking about? And let's get back to why you aren't on Rebel One?"
"Because I'm going to Alderaan," she hissed. "And this ship is the only one that can get me there right now." She reached around to hit Threepio's power switch. "There. Better?"
"Marginally." He couldn't take this right now. Outside there was a pitched battle, and he was on the losing side. Demanding princesses who couldn't do as they were told would have to wait. "You may have noticed we've got ourselves a bit of a situation out here."
Looking down at the scanner readout, Leia blanched. "I couldn't hear what was going on in the back," she said, "I didn't realize…"
"That Rieekan had a reason for getting you the hell out of here? Well, he did. Now, can you shoot?" She nodded. "Then get your butt in the right turret and see if you can help us get past these TIEs." The comm sputtered again, and he heard Rieekan's voice come through. "All units, head for sector eleven." A multi-toned signal chimed, his descrambler showing that it was the full evacuation code.
"Alpha Two, this is Rogue Leader. I'm pinned in with Rogue Five. Go ahead without us."
Heading for the gun turret, Leia stopped short. "Luke," she said, her mouth dry.
"Sweetheart, we don't know where he is. The Rogues will be okay."
"No!" Heading back to the cockpit, Leia traced her finger across the map of the planet's surface displayed on the console. "There." She pointed at a spot only a few klicks from the main base. "Please, we have to help him."
"We'll get pulverized….or captured." He knew it was cruel to tell her that, but logic clearly wasn't winning the day. "We might just be putting him in more danger."
"Han." Her eyes were wide, but he saw a hint of the look that he'd learned to fear in the last several days. "We can't leave him." Without waiting for a response, she dove at him, knocking his hands off the controls. The ship plummeted, and Chewie howled in protest from the back. Before Solo could right himself, Leia grabbed the controls and spun the Falcon around, zooming back towards the temple.
"Fine." Han got himself back into his seat and took the controls over the top of Leia's hands. "We'll go find Luke." Satisfied, she relinquished her position and settled back into the ridiculously outsized copilot seat. "But if anything happens, you're the one explaining to General Rieekan how you got here."
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From his X-wing, Luke could only watch in horror as more and more Imperial troops filed into the temple. He took a few potshots at the assembled stormtroopers, leaving piled of charred armor, before more TIE Interceptors arrived and pushed the remaining Rogues into a valley lined with the ubiquitous tall trees.
"I'm hit!" Wedge had a frantic edge to his voice as his ship shuddered and then righted itself. "Dammit!"
"Pull up!" called Luke, drawing two interceptors away from his friend. "I'll hold them off."
One of the interceptors saw Wedge maneuver upward and gave chase, forcing Luke to abandon his own defense and shoot down the pursuer. "Gotcha!" With a burst of power, Wedge's X-wing zipped away.
"Kriff!" Losing his focus for a moment, Luke cursed as Artoo squealed under the bombardment from the Interceptor. Another blast slammed directly into one of his engines, sending Luke into a tailspin. The Interceptor peeled away, presuming it had gotten its kill.
In an instant, Luke felt a peaceful wave wash over him, as if he were floating in a warm sea. Below, the river washing by slowed to a stop, and the sensation of life around him glowed. The starship, plummeting towards the ground, seemed no heavier than a feather as Luke felt the Force wrapping around him, gliding him down to the ground where he smashed hard enough to send up a single plume of smoke into the sky.
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The attempts to capture the remaining Rebels had not been successful. Vader strode purposefully into the base, leading a handpicked group of stormtroopers from the 501st legion. The main hangar was empty of sentient life; a few droids, bashed beyond all recognition, were scattered across the room. The Rebels had been thorough in their destruction of computer terminals, and Vader could hear Veers' order over the clanking of armor to spread out and find any clues to the Rebels' next destination.
In the next room over, the stormtroopers had startled a group of Rebel technicians who were hiding in a closet, disconnecting and destroying wiring. The resulting firefight had been one sided, though two stormtroopers were killed when the last remaining Rebel pulled out a grenade and ran into the middle of their ranks. Then they heard a shout over the comm.
Crossing the hangar again, Vader entered the flight control room. Most of the equipment was destroyed, but the troopers held two men in Rebel uniforms tightly, blasters to their heads. Vader recognized one of them immediately.
"Carlist Rieekan, yes? Of Alderaan if I remember correctly." Staring stonily at the Dark Lord, Rieekan said nothing. "And who is your assistant?"
"My name is Kellin Damar, you disgusting bastard," the young lieutenant shouted before Rieekan could warn him away from speaking. "You killed my family. I saw you…" Certain that the young man was not his missing son, Vader grew bored of the tirade and choked off the boy's words. The trooper holding him dropped Kellin as he fell lifeless to the stone floor.
"Take him to my ship," Vader ordered. "I'm sure he had additional information that the Emperor will find useful." Two stormtroopers hustled Rieekan away, leaving Kellin's body behind as they continued their search through the temple.
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Head aching from exertion and from the crash, Luke popped his fighter and climbed out. One wing had broken off, landing several yards behind him as he hit the ground. The engine, pulverized by the laser blasts from the TIE, smoked. Suddenly worried about a possible explosion, Luke hopped up to free Artoo, grateful that the little astromech had enough equipment to get himself the rest of the way down.
"Ugh," he said aloud, collapsing against a tree as they made their way away from the wreck. "I don't feel so hot, Artoo." Looking up, could see the lights of the Star Destroyers high above, but was grateful that the dogfight had broken up, though unfortunately because most of the Rebel craft had been destroyed or driven away.
Leaning back, he breathed in the hot, moist air. He wasn't far from the temple, but it was overrun with Imperial soldiers. Hopefully most of the personnel had escaped. Thinking of Leia, he wondered if it was now his turn to be stuck living on his own in the woods, evading Imperials. At least he had his droid.
"Luke!" The man's voice startled him, and he drew his blaster as he looked around the thick woods.
"Who's there?"
"Luke." The air in front of him shimmered, then became more opaque as a vision resolved itself in front of him.
"Ben!" It couldn't be. Ben was dead, his body obliterated when his ship crashed on Endor. But still…
"Luke, you must go to the Dagobah system. There you will find Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me."
"Ben? Ben!" Artoo squealed at Luke as he shouted towards the rapidly vanishing apparition. "Ben!"
A whoosh of air above him caught his attention, and he looked up to see a ship hovering above him. Not far in the distance, four TIE fighters had also spotted it and were racing to engage. The ship dipped down lower, and the bottom hatch opened.
"Luke!"
"Leia? What are you doing here?"
"There's no time. Grab on!" A flexible ladder dropped down, hovering about ten feet above his head. Leia poked her head back in. "Can you get any lower?" she called to Han.
The ship shifted, tipping one side towards the ground.
"Tell him to hurry up, sweetheart," Solo growled. "We've got company."
"Secure the ladder to something!" Luke called, grabbing a cable off his utility belt. He used the magnetic end to attach it to one of Artoo's arms, and then looped the other end around the ladder. Hopping up on the lower rung, he waved. "Go ahead and pull us in."
"There's no pulley!" Leia shouted at him. "You have to climb!" She screamed as a TIE fighter shrieked overhead, letting loose a volley of shots that burst against the Falcon's shields.
Luke raced up the ladder, glancing briefly back at where Artoo dangled in the lower branches. He pulled himself in through the hatch.
"Help me," he told the princess as he began to yank the rope up. She grabbed a side and pulled, grunting with exertion as Artoo inched upwards.
"Uh oh." Looking past Artoo into the forest, Luke noticed that a company of stormtroopers, augmented by two AT-STs, was headed straight for them. "Leia, pull harder!" There was no response. He saw that she had spotted the troopers as well, and her breathing quickened as she noticed the dark figure that accompanied them.
Suddenly she yanked the ladder with a jerk that sent Artoo flying through the hatch. Panting, she leaned down to close cover. At that moment, her eyes locked onto the mask below, her own reflection visible in the shining black metal.