"How's she fairing?" Jin asked over the radio.
It had been a while since Lee had gotten to fly on his own. He had been aboard transport freighters the last few years transferring prisoners and soldiers. He had almost forgotten the comfort the cockpit of a starfighter brought. He adjusted his gloves and checked the readings on the engines.
"For a piece of junk, surprisingly well," Lee confessed as he adjusted a few controls to reserve his fuel. He needed to conserve as much as possible if he got caught in a dogfight. As he prepared to focus on the task at hand, he knew he had one more thing to do before he fully dove into his rescue mission. "I hear you loud and clear. How far does the transmitter reach?"
"We can patch you out as far as the outer rim," Cruv said as he looked over at his wife and smiled.
"Not a great time for personal calls," Jin muttered to her husband. Cruv took her hand and gently squeezed it.
"I'd call you from a trash compactor if I could," Cruv joked and then turned his attention back to the computer.
"Seems like my lucky day," Lee smiled and dialed the call number for Lothal. "See if you can get me through."
"On it," Cruv confirmed as he connected the call. Lee anxiously stirred in the pilot seat hoping Rya would answer. He had a strange feeling. One he hadn't had since the war. The one that caused most soldiers to wear worry openly on their face just before a battle. He feared this time he might not make it home. But the fear in his heart dissipated at the thought of Rya. He remembered how vibrant she was, how fearless she had been, how lost she had become, and how lonely she must be. He had to make it home for her sake and Prisa's.
"No answer. You sure that's the number?" Jin asked.
"Try it again, would ya?" Lee requested as he loosened the chin strap of his helmet. As he waited for Jin to redial he began to think of Prisa. Her first years he had done right by her. He knew he had done his best to be the father he never had. But now that she was older did any of it matter? He loved his family dearly, but he knew there were so many things he would have done differently.
"Blast it, Rya, where are you?" Lee grumbled.
"Lee? Hello?" Rya's voice came through with spotty reception.
"Rya," Lee replied. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, barely," she answered. "Is everything alright?"
"Rya…." He said, trying not to lose his composure. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."
"Sorry for what? Where are you?" Rya asked suspiciously. She knew Lee too well to know this was no ordinary apology. "Or more importantly, what have you gotten into now?"
"It's Lenore…..she's alive," Lee confessed. "Jules has….well… I've gotta save her."
"What about the NRF? Aren't they helping? Are you by yourself?" Rya questioned, trying her best to keep her cool, but Lee could hear concern beneath her words.
"The NRF….. the New Republic…it's not what we thought it be." Lee admitted. Rya was silent but he knew she agreed with him. It was something neither of them wanted to admit out loud let alone to each other. "After everything we fought for, all we sacrificed, sometimes I wonder how much better we've done than the Empire…"
"I know," Rya agreed. She could hear the disheartened voice of the man she loved most of her life. She wished they had realized this truth sooner. Perhaps it would have change the outcome. But being raised by an Imperial Governor, Rya was never one to regret. She knew she needed to act as Lee's former Lieutenant and give him some courage even if the odds were stacked against him. "But we can't lose hope, right?"
"Right," Lee answered with a smile. He knew this small conversation wouldn't fix anything between them, but it was nice to finally agree on something after all this time.
"Now, Lee Tersu, where are you?" Rya repeated.
"In a UT-60D U-wing," Lee confessed. Rya's heart filled with anger. Frustrated, she took a seat and realized Lee was still the boy from Tarkintown who could not let a fight go. She knew it meant a great deal to him to finally find his sister. He was trying to piece together what was left of his childhood family at all cost. Only this time he would need to settle the debt which meant this would be the last time they spoke. She had prepared herself for this many times before during the rebellion, but now that the moment was upon here she felt the heaviness of the impending loss.
"Just like old times," she said softly, accepting his fate. The only thing she could do was what any wife of a soldier could do. She lied. "Do what you need to… and come home."
"Is that an order, Lieutenant?" Lee joked, surprised by Rya's calmness and felt a fleeting moment of hope that they could figure things out, but it vanished at the sight of a New Republic X-Wing pulling alongside his ship. He glanced over and saw it was traffic control. "I gotta run."
"Be careful," Rya replied as calmly as she could for the last time.
"Always," Lee said and cut the transmission, preparing to try his best to talk his way through the patrol.
"U-Wing, do you copy?" The officer asked as he glided his X-Wing next to Lee. "This is New Republic restricted area. All personal and commercial aircrafts need to fly through the Southside blockade lane for security checkpoint. Run your beacon for me."
"Hello, officer," Lee began as he realized the U-Wing had been modified. He probably could easily get off with a warning or at worse a ticket, but he needed this interaction to be quick. "Thanks I got a bit turned around here. I'm headed on-world to repair my transponder, so a no go on running that beacon for you I'm afraid."
"Still gotta go through the checkpoint. Where you getting it repaired?" the officer asked skeptically.
"Any recommendations? I'm not from around here." Lee said politely. He was never good at charming or persuading others. That was Rya's speciality and he left the majority of the negotiation to her. Now he hoped the years of observation would pay off.
"Transmitting coordinates," the officer said. "Get that transponder fixed and then have the mechanic file the work order under this ticket number and I'll waive the penalty."
"Yes Sir, thanks for your help," Lee shook his head in annoyance and then involuntarily saluted the officer. He clenched his hand with regret the moment he seized the gesture.
"Haven't been saluted like that since the war. You a veteran?" The officer asked as he respectfully returned the solute.
"Uh-," Lee pressed his lips. How could he have been so careless to give himself away? No point in lying now. "Yes…."
"Navy or Ground Force?" The officer continued to chat and glide closely beside him.
"A little of both," Lee admitted. "Navy during Scariff and Yavin, ground during Hoth and Endor."
"I see," The officer said. "What's your name, soldier?"
"Stobo," Lee said. He didn't want to give anymore away in case there had been a notice put out on him being AWOL.
"Teva, Carson Teva," the officer said. "I'm transferring to the Outer Rim soon. Perhaps I'll run into you with a working beacon, brother."
"Looking forward to it," Lee nodded and prepared to continue his course to meet the other ships from the Forgotten. But before he took off he noticed the X-Wing expand into its attack position. "Am I free to go, brother?"
"Afraid not, Captain Tersu. I thank you for your service but you need to follow me," Teva said. Lee turned his head realizing the pilot knew who he was. As the two stared at one another, Lee saluted Teva once more as he engaged his engines to full capacity and headed toward the North side of the planet. "Eyes on Tersu, in pursuit, requesting back up."
"Stand down, Teva!" the base operator yelled. "We're trailing those escaped Imps and moving the blockade to the North side of the planet. Head to the rendezvous point and await orders."
Teva looked out and watched Lee's U-Wing escape deeper into the restricted area. He sense Captain Tersu had something to do with the escape Imperial Unit, but like the good solider he was he turned his X-Wing in the direction toward his rendezvous. Good soldiers followed orders. Even when they could sense something else was coming. Teva smiled and said, "Good luck Tersu."
"Jin! Cruv!" Lee yelled as he flew recklessly through the New Republic restricted area hoping he wasn't being followed. "Where's the Revenant? And the backup you promised.?!"
"The Revenant?"
"The ship Unit 56 is in!" Lee said, knocking off an antenna from a small patrol post.
"They're approaching," Jin responded.
"Where?!" just as he asked he saw Kina Arde's old ship wavering with New Republic starfighters firing on them. "I see them. They're not gonna hold up much longer."
Lee pulled out into sight as he saw the ship plunge downward with no engines. Lee gasped in horror. Were they down? Was he too late? Suddenly the engines fired and the ship stabilized and turned sharply left and took down one of the New Republic ships. It was a risky trick, one only Lenore would take.
His relief was short lived as he saw one of the New Republic ships locking onto the Revenant. He adjusted his camera and zoomed in on the pilot. It was Jules ready to put an end to them. Lee quickly swerved and locked his target hesitating. This was the moment he had been dreading. He didn't want to kill Jules, but he knew there was no other way if he wanted Lenore to live. He took a deep breath, locked his target, and fired.
PEW PEW!
"Sorry old friend," Lee whispered as he flew through the explosion. Jules was gone. He knew the fight was just getting started and turned his attention to Unit-56 and Lenore, "Who taught you bucketheads how to fly?"
"Lee?" Lenore gasped in disbelief.
"You can thank me later," Lee said, and flipped his engine switches to increase maneuverability. "Follow me. Try to keep up."
As he navigated the restricted area he kept checking to see if Unit-56 was following. It looked like they were home free until they came across the blockade monitoring the exits and entries of the planet. Its location had changed. It had been scheduled to be on the Northside tomorrow but Lee knew that the command center must have relocated it once Unit-56 had been spotted. It was unlikely they wouldn't make it through.
"Jin," Lee called back. "Did you all name your network the forgotten 'cause you're forgetful? Where is everybody?"
"They're coming," Jin retorted.
"When? Next crop season?" Lee sassed in frustration.
"Give them time," Cruv said. "Some purrgil have been spotted in the hyperlanes. Probably the cause of the delay."
"We got none." Lee stated. "We're sitting in front of the New Republic Blockade awaiting arrest–"
"ARRRRRR," a Wookie battle roar sounded over the radio.
"Was that a wookie?" Lee asked.
"Here they come," Jin said with pride.
Lee looked up and saw ship after ship exited lightspeed. He could not believe his eyes. It was a full fleet of renegades there to help him and his sister.
"We've got you covered Lenore," a captain chimed in over the radio as they arrived.
"Alright you all, let's get the Deliverer and her squad out of here!" another pilot said and moved into the lead position. Unit-56 maneuvered their ship behind two other ships for protection from the additional gunfire coming from the blockade and newly dispatched X-Wings.
"Watch out for those towers!" Lee warned, as one ship after another was struck by the blaster fire. As many as they were, the forgotten was no match for the military trained New Republic Fleet.
"This can't go on," Lenore said over the transmitter. "We surrender. Please, stop shooting the others. It's us you want."
Lee heard the panic and concern in Lenore's voice. She was more frightened for the others than herself. Couldn't she see that they were all there for her? Lee watched as the forgotten continued to try and guide Unit -56 through the blockade with no success. Lee scanned the structure using his computer and located the control room. There was no way to hit it from the exterior. But he could hit it by flying through the portion of the blockade.
As he watched the numerous ships fight amongst each other he was filled with anger and disappointment. How could they have come to this? The forgotten truly was the personification of the New Republics failings. Instead of arresting them, they had no problem shooting these forgotten citizens down to try and gain prisoners for Imperial Information.
This is not what Rya and him had fought for. It was not what he signed up for. This was not the galaxy he wanted Prisa to grow up in. He needed to save his sister and her friends at all costs. He knew what he needed to do even if it meant sacrificing himself. He was ready. Ready to stop fighting, ready to stop following orders, and ready to finally do something for a cause in his heart.
"These have been hard years. We've lost comrades, friends, family...to the Empire. Dark times. And yet the fire still burns. Hope still burns. We are not lost yet. For the cause, Tersu."Saw Gerrera's voice sounded in Lee's memory.
"For the Cause," Lee said to himself and adjusted his controls prepared to make his final run. "Lenore?"
"Lee?" Lenore responded.
"Tell Rya I love her," He said, removing his gloves and twisting his wedding ring around his finger.
"What?" she asked.
"And make sure Prisa knows," he said with certainty and took a deep breath.
"Lee, what are you doing?!" Lenore yelled in a panic.
"Tersu's don't comply and they don't lose hope," Lee said, pointing his ship directly into the control room. He fired his engines and took off at full speed into the blockade.
"Lee no!" He heard Lenore scream as he felt the full impact of his ship tearing through the structure. The heat was excruciating and smoke filled the cockpit. He couldn't see or feel his legs. He began to cough and struggled to breathe. He tried his best to be brave but he was frightened. When would the terror and pain it end?
"Lee….Lee", Lee heard his father, Riv Tersu, calling him.
Lee looked up and could see Rev with his hand extended. He reached out with all his strength to take it. The moment he felt his father's hand grip his, the pain in his lungs disappeared and the heat surrounding him vanished. He felt light and free. As he exhaled all his fear gave away and for the first time in his life he felt a sense of peace and safety.
"Don't worry anymore, son. Now let's go home. "
