Chapter 15: A family divided
The last two weeks were intense. The search for a safe location was now in full swing. Darvos in particular seemed hell-bent more than the other officers to find the right place. Sabine had even put them in contact with Ketsu, who had given them a list of systems where there was no Imperial presence and they could find a planet to settle.
For now, though, the fleet still had to mount incursions against imperial convoys to get the supplies they needed, as all the major spaceports in the sector were heavily guarded by the Empire.
As if it wasn't enough, Ezra and Kanan ran into the two Inquisitors a couple of times while they were scouting possible locations, though they always managed to shake them off.
Fearing that there might be a possibility of her running into the dark-siders, Jaral started to train with her batons with Kanan and Ezra, and as for everything else, she proved to be a quick learner. While she would always end up defeated by the more trained Jedi, her improvements could be seen after every fight.
Jordan started to take basic flight lessons. Back in the Milky Way, he could fly any fighter or small transport, but since he arrived in this galaxy he had left Lothal only a handful of times and with public transports before he was imprisoned. He never had the opportunity to familiarize with the mechanics and the commands of the ships that surrounded him now, but since he was covering an increasingly major role in the fleet, he thought that he should at least learn how to fly shuttles and fighters. Jaral was of course more than happy to train him, as compensation for all the various tricks that the father kept teaching to his children.
Furthermore, the Legionnaire started to participate in multiple missions aboard the Ghost, to the point that he was awarded the call-sign 'Spirit'. He also took the lead in small raids organized by his daughter and the commanding officers. More than one time he was offered the rank of Lieutenant, but Jordan felt like he wanted to stay a Sergeant for a little longer, a move that gained him the respect of the soldiers around him.
Mira was now renowned as the fleet's skilled head doctor. Other 9 volunteers from various species and genders had joined the fleet recently and opted to become medics under her training. The woman also decided that everybody on the fleet should learn at least first aid procedures, something to which Sato agreed completely. That meant that now there were regular lessons for everybody two times a week, to which the siblings had to participate too, while Jordan only needed to learn the difference between the medical supplies of the Milky Way and those of this galaxy.
Now the young Captain of the Phoenix Fleet was aboard her X-Wing, assisting the Ghost in another raid. Right now, their naval squad was composed of one Hammerhead corvette, the CR 90 'Peacebringer' and two other fighters, one of which was piloted by Ezra, the other was Phoenix-2.
Though the squad did manage to steal the container of supplies, the Ghost now had to give it to the Hammerhead, while a Star Destroyer and a light cruiser were on their tail.
"Sis, there's another squadron taking off from the mother ship." Ezra announced urgently on the comlink.
"Acknowledged. Specter-6, Phoenix-2, stay back and protect the transports, I'll deal with them." Jaral replied.
As the two A-Wings behind her took defensive formation against the stragglers of a group that had already been obliterated by the siblings, Jaral thrust forward her ship and literally slammed into the squadron of 6 fighters coming against her, taking two of them out before passing between the gap created in their formation. Then she made a quick and large turnabout, attracting the remaining ones away from the rebel squadron. The imperial pilots engaged her in group of two, trying to catch her in the crossfire, but Jaral managed to elude them and destroy a squad after three moves.
Finally, her sensors indicated that the Hammerhead had jumped into hyperspace with the cargo onboard.
"Ghost to Blue Nova, mission accomplished." Hera told her.
However, the last two TIEs were on her tail, flying at distance from one another in order to reduce Jaral's possibilities of movement. Luckily, before they could do any serious damage, Ezra barged in and destroyed one of them, then getting on the last starfighter's tail and putting an end to it too after a short chase.
"Thanks, lil bro." Jaral said gratefully.
"Anytime." the boy replied.
The rest of the squadron was already making the jump to hyperspace, so the siblings quickly docked with the Peacebringer, along with Phoenix-2, and the corvette brought them into the blue tunnel.
Jaral made a bittersweet sigh of relief. The mission was a success, but it came at a cost. There were actually a total of 5 starfighters at the beginning, but in the battle they lost Phoenix 3 and 5.
She came out of the lateral hatch, and saw that on the opposite end of the corvette's width, Ezra was already there, and he too wasn't satisfied with the outcome.
They stepped into the bridge, where Darvos was in command and was already talking at the holotable with Hera and Sato.
"Our squadron's strength has been all but cut in half." Hera said despondently. "Not only we're losing fighters, we're losing pilots faster than we can replace them." she covered her face with her hands.
"This battle only remembered us that our fighters are too exposed out there." Darvos said. "Until we can find a base, we need a place where we can land and rearm them fast."
After pondering for a moment, Sato intervened. "Perhaps we can solve two problems at once. A rebel cell has reported an Imperial carrier over their world. If we can steal that ship, we can use it to house all our fighters. The cell is located in the Ryloth system."
"Ryloth?" Hera asked in surprise. "I know the cell you're talking about. I'll contact them." then she closed the transmission abruptly.
"She didn't seem very happy." Ezra commented.
"So it seems. I wonder why." Jaral shrugged.
"Isn't Ryloth the Twi'lek Homeworld?" Darvos asked. "I thought she would be happy to go back home."
"Not everyone has fond memories of home…" Ezra grimly sentenced.
Darvos sighed. "You're right. I should know."
Jaral tried to raise the spirits by nudging his elbow and making a half-grin. "Come on, you're telling me that meeting us on Lothal was a bad memory?" she actually meant me.
Darvos was caught off-guard but he quickly regained composure and smiled. "Of course not. But still, I had to leave you after a few weeks, so it's just a bittersweet memory in an ocean of horrible memories."
"Nice save." Ezra mumbled with a smirk.
The three spent a few minutes watching the recording of the battle that just ended. It was a way that Jaral recently came up to study what they did good and what they got wrong. Ezra took this small lessons very seriously, while Jaral was using them not only as a way to improve their tactics, but to better understand the imperials' as well.
Around twenty minutes later, they received a call from the Ghost, which was also contacting Commander Sato on the Liberator. The communication officer put on the transmission and the holograms of Hera and Sato reappeared.
"Good news." Hera said. "The Free Ryloth Movement has agreed to a joint operation. We're scheduled to meet at this set of coordinates in five hours."
"Good." Sato said simply, then turned to Darvos. "Lieutenant, your squadron is the nearest to the Ryloth System, do you have the supplies necessary to take on the mission?"
"Helmsman," Darvos said in the intercom of the ship. "Do we have enough fuel to reach Ryloth?"
"Affirmative, sir. We have plenty."
"Great. Then set a course." he ordered.
"Captain Syndulla, do we have any intel on the Imperial forces stationed over Ryloth?" Sato asked.
"Our allies told us that, as of now, the Empire has only deployed the light carrier we want and an escort Arquitens light cruiser. Chopper has made a model…" she tapped something on her control panel and a hologram of Ryloth with the two imperial ships over it appeared on the holotable of the Peacebringer.
"They're also sending us the timetables of the bomber squadron stationed on the carrier, but we'll discuss the plan once we meet them."
"Copy that, Captain. I suggest you dock with us at the first stop we make." Darvos suggested.
"We'll do, Lieutenant, see you later." the Twi'lek said before closing the transmission, along with Sato.
The journey was quiet, the "first stop" Darvos talked about included reuniting with the fleet to allow Phoenix-2 (whose fighter had been damaged) to dock with another ship and sit-out this mission. Jaral asked to keep her and Ezra's starfighters docked with the Peacebringer as it was part of her suggestion to take the carrier.
While she herself spent the rest of the trip with Darvos either on the bridge or in the cabin the lieutenant was given for this mission, Ezra went back to the Ghost to spend some time with his own partner.
"You and Jaral are becoming quite amazing at flying together." Sabine commented.
They were both in their cabin, each making a check-up of its own armor.
"She and Hera are great teachers. Besides, when we do things together we're always amazing." he said with a bit of jokingly smug tone.
"That's true." she said with the same tone. "But I think that she does most of the amazing things." the girl teased.
Ezra didn't let that get him. "Liar. I know you keep recordings of my best feats in your holodisc."
They were sitting back to back, but the Force quickly let him see that she was blushing furiously and he smirked, trying not to laugh.
"H-How do you know?" she asked, turning her torso to look at him.
Ezra leaned back and twisted his neck a bit to let his smug face in full view of her still stunned expression.
"Please. I can't hide anything from Jaral, but she can't with me either. And I know you asked her to use her helmet-cam on me when she could." and he suddenly pushed his lips on her cheek, giving her a pretty loud kiss before turning back and focusing on repairing his wrist-plate.
Sabine put her palm on her face and smiled, though still embarrassed at the thought that he knew. "Karabast. I should've known. Telling her a secret is pretty much like telling it to you."
"Well, if it was important, she wouldn't tell me and I wouldn't pry, but this was easy, considering that she is our most ardent shipper."
"Our what?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's a term our father taught us. Apparently, in his native language is a word to indicate when someone is affectionate to a couple of characters in a fictional work, like a holo-movie or the like…but it can also be applied to real people."
"Oh…yeah, that definitely fits her." she found it amusing.
Ezra finished the repairs and recalled the pieces of his armor into the omni-tool. Then he turned 90° with his bottom still on the floor, grabbed Sabine from the back and she yelped as he pulled her down gently but still abruptly. Ezra put his legs so the knees pointed upwards, effectively closing Sabine with his thighs on one side and his upper body on the other and letting her lay on his belt.
"What are you doing?" she asked laughing.
"Well, I haven't had enough time to admire my warrior goddess, recently, so I took the chance." he said while holding the back of her head with one hand and tracing the other down her right arm.
Since her armor plates were all on the floor, she was wearing only her undersuit, which pretty much hid nothing of her curves and pretty much made her most interesting places stand out.
Sabine was well aware of that and counter-attacked by arching her back and arms as if she was supposed to pose for a pin-up calendar.
"You like what you're seeing, then?" she asked, ogling at him.
Ezra was surprised by her boldness and didn't know how to respond at first. But his body did it for him as the girl could feel that, where her back was lying, it was becoming very solid.
"Knew it…" she whispered without breaking eye contact.
"Can't hide anything from you neither, uh?" he said with a chuckle.
"Nope. My Jedi has no secrets for me." she said, grabbing the hand that was trailing on her arm and guiding it to her rear end.
Ezra inhaled with his nose in bliss. "You know I can't resist when you use possessives."
"I know." she smirked.
The boy gave in to his desires and lowered his upper body so he could plant his lips on hers, hugging her tightly with his hands where they were, especially the one on her bottom. She answered in kind and it wasn't long before the intention was clear to each other.
Ezra used a moment where he could use his eyes to look at the clock on his omni-tool and saw that they were supposed to get to destination in more than two hours.
"Good. We got plenty of time." he whispered.
"Then let's not waste any of it." she replied, now pushing his upper body back and straddling him.
The small naval squad arrived at the meeting with the Twi'lek rebels as scheduled. They arrived with an old Nu-class transport, used by the Grand Army of the Republic, with various paintings denoting its new owners and carrying a stolen TIE bomber. Jaral and Darvos led the Ghost crew into the small docking bay of the corvette. The crew was led by Hera, right behind her were Kanan and Ezra, then Zeb, Sabine and Jordan.
Kanan was putting incredible attention into trying to tidy up his usual green attire.
"How do I look?" he asked a bit absentmindedly to Ezra.
"Like usual…?" Ezra wasn't sure what it was supposed to be different. "Why?"
"Nothing." Kanan feinted.
As they all took place in front of the door of the airlock, waiting for their allies to come aboard, Kanan gave an elbow on Ezra's armor.
"Straighten up a little bit, you're making me look bad!" he said holding his breath and stiffening like a broom had replaced his spine.
"What's wrong with you?" Ezra whispered pestered.
"Nothing. Just calm down." Kanan insisted.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answer from him, Ezra turned to Zeb and Sabine. "What's wrong with him?"
Sabine shrugged in confusion, while Zeb chuckled and said "You'll see."
A few seconds later, the door opened, letting three Twi'lek enter.
The leader of the group had orange skin and eyes, the forehead's bones were particularly pronounced. His lekkus went all the way to his belt. He wore a dark-blue jumpsuit, two shoulder-pads that resembled old Republic armor and a utility belt with his blaster pistol.
Behind him, a Rutian Twi'lek male with purple eyes and a teal-skin, pink-eyed female, both with various pieces of old but still reliable armor and tactical outfits.
The group stopped in front of Hera, who was left in front by Jaral and Darvos.
"It's been a long time, Father." Hera said respectfully bowing her head.
Ezra muttered an 'oh', finally understanding that Kanan was so anxious because he was about to meet his romantic interest's father.
Cham seemed conflicted about what to say to his daughter, so he was quick to notice Kanan.
"Ah. You must be the Jedi I've heard about." he said with a hint of sincere respect.
Kanan stepped forward. "Jarrus. Kanan Jarrus, I've…" he bowed two times already. Then cleared his throat. "heard a lot about you too, sir." he bowed again, making Hera roll her eyes in embarrassment. The orange Twi'lek wasn't sure if look at him with amusement or bewilderment.
Jaral gave a quick look at her own father first and Darvos then. The two young adults managed to avoid laughing as it reminded them of the first time Darvos was introduced to Jordan and Mira. The woman had accepted him right away, while Jordan deliberately tried to sound unimpressed of him just to tease the poor boy. Nonetheless, Darvos had handled it very well, quickly understanding that Jordan was joking and that he already had accepted him since Darvos was Jaral's choice and he had clearly did his best to take care of her as a loyal partner.
Kanan noticed that he was not going great and so straightened back up and introduced his crew.
"This is the rest of our crew. Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb." except that he said that without even checking if he was pointing at the right people, so instead he pointed at Sabine, Zeb and Ezra. The three rolled their eyes, feeling bad for him.
Jaral decided to salvage the situation and pull Kanan out of his misery.
"I'm Captain Jaral Bridger of Phoenix Cell." she said martially. "This is my colleague, Lieutenant Darvos Tanis. And over there is mine and Ezra's Father, Jordan Bridger."
"The Bridgers…" the Twi'lek said with sincere admiration. "Definitely a fine group of fighters here. Cham Syndulla, at your service." he added, respectfully bowing his head.
Sabine thought about the name for a moment. "The Liberator of Ryloth." she finally remembered with a bit of enthusiasm. "I studied your Clone War tactics at the Academy."
Cham chuckled. "Yes. The Empire is still trying to figure out how to beat me." Then he widened his arms to introduce his companions behind him. "These are two of my finest warriors. Numa and Gobi."
Respectively the woman and the man made a quick bow with their heads.
"Well, we should get to the briefing." Hera cut it short and turned around toward the hallway. "There is a lot to do."
That immediately killed the friendly mood so Jaral and Darvos simply led everyone back to the command bridge and around the holotable, where the model of the two Imperial ships over Ryloth was waiting for them.
When everyone was ready, Hera started.
"The Empire has a light carrier in orbit over Ryloth they use to bomb the Twi'lek rebels. The ship is well defended but we can get aboard using the stolen bomber while the squadron is away." she changed the hologram to picture the Nu transport with the bomber. "One team secures the hangar, the other storms the bridge. Then we jump out before they figure out what hit them."
Cham shook his head.
"No, this monstrosity has rained destruction and death on the citizens of Ryloth. It is not enough that it simply disappears. My people need to see it fall from the sky in flames as a symbol of our strength. So I recommend a change in plans. Using my bomber, schematics and timetables we can destroy the carrier when it's most vulnerable."
"If you could have destroyed it you would've already done it." Hera retorted coldly, which made Cham frown. "You need us, and we need the carrier."
"We need each other." Kanan tried to mediate. "Cham's intel, Hera's plan. This works, we all win."
"Yes," intervened Jaral. "but if you still want your ball of fire, General, I think I got you covered."
Those words attracted the attention of everybody and Cham in particular. With a nod from her, Darvos changed the focus of the hologram on the Arquitens cruiser.
"Now, the original plan involves me and Ezra simulating an attack on the bomber that you stole, so the carrier will allow you to land. However it won't take long until the captain figures out that we're there to take the ship, while the cruiser will notice that as well as soon as we block their communications. So when our part of the show is done, me and Ezra will attack the cruiser."
Someone made a small gasp of disbelief.
"A bold move," Cham commented, though still skeptical. "but can you actually bring it down with only two fighters?"
"Oh my sister already did this," Ezra commented faithfully. "and she's right. Even if we steal the carrier, that cruiser might pose a threat to our escape, so it's better if we take it out as well."
"This way, we get the carrier and you get the fireworks for your people." Jaral concluded confidently.
Cham actually considered it. "Are you absolutely sure that you can bring it down?"
"With respect, General," Darvos said with a bold voice. "if you still don't believe in the Captain's ability as a pilot, I can show you the recordings of the battle of Ibaar. I'm sure they'll change your mind immediately."
"If you are so adamant, lieutenant, I guess I'll give you a chance."
"Uh, wouldn't it be better if you guys help us boarding the carrier filled with stormtroopers?" Zeb asked.
"Oh, Dad got you covered, Zeb." Ezra said with a smile.
Zeb turned to look puzzled at the human beside him.
"What?" Jordan asked jokingly. "Just because I'm not as big as you, you don't think I can take on that carrier alone?"
Zeb chuckled. "We'll see about that, old man." he nudged him and Jordan nudged him back harder.
"Then it's settled, I guess." Cham concluded.
The crew was getting ready for the attack aboard the Twi'lek transport, except for Jaral and Ezra, who were studying how they would take on the cruiser and the possible fighter escort that would come out of it.
Jordan was sitting in one of the seats of the cargo bay, checking on his weapon and armor along with Darvos, Zeb, Sabine and Kanan. Hera was in a nearby storage room, running some routine maintenance on Chopper.
The Legionnaire was inspecting his helmet. His clone commando armor had now been customized by Sabine with various big stains of blue on the face of the helmet, the feet and shin-guards, the forearms and on the chest, while golden arrows adorned the middle line of the helmet. She avoided to paint all the white because of Jordan's specific request, though her artistic side had seriously hated that.
In front of him, Darvos was wearing his tactical outfit. Very light protection, but as an officer, he was supposed to move around easily and have a clear view of the battlefield. In the upcoming mission, he was tasked with leading the team defending the hangar.
"Hey, can I take a look, sir?" he asked to the young man, pointing at his S-5 pistol.
Darvos was taken a bit by surprise when Jordan called him 'sir' out of respect for the hierarchy.
"Yes, sir. Sure." he said eagerly.
Jordan took the pistol he was being handed with a chuckle. "You know you are the superior officer? You don't have to call me 'sir'."
He inspected the pistol, that he never saw before.
"I know, but still, you're older than me…" Darvos tried to say with a smile.
"Kid, you don't have to try and impress me like our Jedi there tried miserably." he whispered. "In my opinion, you're a smart, upstanding young man and I'm happy that my daughter found a guy that loves her unconditionally."
Darvos blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck.
"So just call me Jordan, will ya?" the older incited the younger.
"I'll try it, s...Jordan."
"Good." Jordan gave him back the pistol and stood up. "I'm gonna use the refresher since we still have time." he announced the Lieutenant.
Jordan headed to the upper level, where the refresher was, but it was also where Hera was. The Legionnaire heard quarreling voices coming from the storage room, speaking Basic with a Twi'lek accent.
"The Rebellion is fighting to free everyone!" Hera exclaimed angrily.
"Everyone?" Cham spat back. "I don't care about everyone. I only care about Ryloth."
The door to the storage room opened. Cham and Hera were a bit surprised when Jordan stepped in front of them right after, but they tried to ignore him and Cham walked away.
"Is there a problem?" the sergeant asked calmly.
Hera leaned against the threshold exhausted.
"Just some...disagreement." she tried to shove it off.
Jordan didn't need to be a Force-sensitive or an expert psychologist to understand that the 'disagreement' was something that rifted them apart.
"Look," he said. "I know this is not my business, but sooner or later he'll realize that he's making an error at pushing away his own daughter."
He wasn't sure why he said that. For all he knew, Hera might have actually be the one in the wrong. Yet Jordan had looked at Cham and he could tell that he was a man deeply scarred, and who was coping with the pain by entrenching in extremist ideals. Somehow, he felt like the reason of the fight came from Cham's side.
"I hope you're right." Hera attempted a smile.
Jordan simply nodded and went on his way to the refresher.
The transport was in hyperspace. The strike team was already on the second cabin of the bomber, while Hera was waiting at the commands. Ezra and Jaral were on their starfighters, waiting just outside the system.
Jordan was slumping in one of the few backseats behind the pilot's post.
From the other compartment came the voice of Kanan talking to Cham.
"Master Windu spoke highly about your exploits at the battle of Lessu." the Jedi said in a flattering tone.
"Ah, Mace Windu." Cham remembered fondly, then started narrating. "Outnumbered 100 to 1, we charged across Lessu's energy bridge to certain doom. We would not be stopped. They named that attack in songs 'The Hammer of Ryloth'." as he laughed, Hera closed the door with an annoyed scowl.
"Cham seems to have finally taken a shine on your boyfriend." Jordan joked.
"More of the other way around." Hera retorted, still looking in front of her.
The door reopened a few moments later, with Kanan passing it.
"General Syndulla, I could listen to your stories all day." he said chuckling.
"And I could tell them all day." Cham answered in kind.
Hera closed the door again.
"Your father is not such a bad guy." Kanan told her. "I see a lot of him in you."
Hera looked at him as if he had gone seriously crazy.
"What?" he asked. "You're both great leaders trying to help people."
Hera scoffed. "You don't know him like I do."
A few minutes later, the transport came out of hyperspace. Ryloth was standing right in front of them. Hera disengaged the magnetic seal tying the bomber to the transport and started to slowly approach the planet. Soon they spotted on the sensors the Arquitens cruiser and the carrier, a Quasar Fire-class cruiser with four hangars capable of hosting a total of 24 small vessels.
Cham stepped into the compartment as well.
"If they're on schedule the bombers should leave in about a minute." he explained.
"They're always on schedule." Hera dryly commented.
Indeed, the Empire loved efficiency, and the bombers left exactly when they were supposed to, aiming straight to the planetary surface. There were 8 bombers hosted on the carrier and they all departed, leaving the hangars clean for landing.
"There they go." Hera commented. "I'm signaling the kids. Let's hope this works."
A few moments later, the X-Wing and the A-Wing came out of hyperspace and gave chase to the TIE bomber. The siblings started to shot controlled bursts and using Jinx's improved telemetry to make sure that the shots missed but not too much, so it wouldn't appear suspect to the Empire.
"Feels weird to be shot at by my own children." Jordan couldn't help but say it with a chuckle.
"Ezra shot me once, so I think I know what you mean." Kanan joked.
"What?" Jordan asked, stunned.
"Focus, people!" Hera intimated.
Kanan grabbed the ship's mic and made a hoarse and almost funny voice.
"Bomber pilot to carrier. We are under attack by rebel fighters! Request permission for emergency landing!"
"Incoming bomber, transmit your clearance code." the officer on the deck answered. His tone indicated that he was eager to let them in, however.
"Code is 7-2-5...ah!" he simulated a wound.
"Proceed to bay two. We'll cover you." the officer replied.
The siblings were listening as well, so now Jaral made sure that a single blaster bolt hit the right compartment (the one where the pilot sits and thus it wouldn't risk hitting the passengers in the other room) which began to leave a trail of fire and smoke, though the bomber was still flying.
Ezra and Jaral gave chase until the frontal turrets of the Quasar started shooting at them. Of course they evaded the bolts easily and feinted a retreat.
"The rebel fighters are fleeing." the captain announced.
"We've been hit!" Kanan exclaimed with the simulated voice. "Coming in hot!"
Hera headed for the hangar on the far-right of the carrier, still keeping an elevated speed.
"Might consider slowing down." Kanan commented after closing the comlink.
"This has to look good. Hang on!" Hera declared.
"I hate when she says that." Zeb growled from the other compartment.
Jordan looked down and groaned. "What does the Empire have against seat belts?" so he just put on his helmet, clenched his hands around his seat and prepared for impact.
Hera touched down at high speed, but managed not to crash the bomber, which instead started to grind toward the hangar's wall, smashing into various pile of crates. Hera pulled the command grips desperately while everybody around her shook around and barely avoided a concussion. Until the bomber finally stopped.
Jordan had also hit his head, but at least he wore the helmet and didn't pass out.
"Always wear your helmet…" he mumbled, repeating one of the of the main rules of a Legionnaire (this in particular was more like a commandment) and stood up. Seeing that everybody was groaning but trying to stand up he went to encourage them.
"Come on, people. They'll send a squad very quickly." he exhorted them, successfully. Then he put a hand on the comlink of his helmet.
"Spirit to Specter-6 and 7. Do you copy?"
"Read you loud and clear, Spirit." the voice of Ezra came through. "Did you land?"
"Affirmative. We're preparing to move. How's your situation?"
"We've already engaged the cruiser. Jinx is jamming their transmissions but you better move."
"Copy that. Good hunting, kids."
"You too. Out."
Finally the rest of the squad was alive and kicking, but by now a squad of six stormtroopers, plus three engineers and an officer had surrounded the bomber while an astromech was putting out the fire.
Jordan took the initiative and opened the hatch over their heads.
"Pilot?" the voice of a stormtrooper came from below.
Jordan took out a cluster stun-grenade and threw it out. A few moments later, a series of loud bangs reverberated along with the screams of pain of the Imperials.
The Legionnaire quickly climbed on the roof of the bomber with his weapon in assault rifle version and started to gun down the Imperials with incredible speed and precision. When Cham, the second one to get out, was finally out of the ship, Jordan was on the floor of the hangar and had finished the cleanup.
One by one, the strike team came out of the bomber. They quickly split into the designated squads: Cham, Hera, Kanan, Jordan and Chopper went for the bridge, while Sabine, Zeb, Numa, Gobi and Darvos prepared to repel any attack that could be coming from the adjacent hangar or from the hallways.
Jordan was at the head of his team together with Kanan, who could cover him from the blaster bolts with his lightsaber. Jordan had two of Jinx's processors with him and the AI was doing a good job in disturbing even the internal communications of the imperial vessel. While the guards had figured that something was definitely wrong, the strike team came down on them when they were off-guard.
When Ezra closed the transmission with his father, the two starfighters from the Arquitens had started to leave the hangar and fly against them. In order to give Jaral the time to damage the cruiser, Ezra successfully made sure to attract their attention on him. Both him and Jaral had only two of Jinx's processors, since now they had to split them with their father, but it was enough. While the boy focused on keeping the fighters away, Jaral was showing the Arquitens why the Imperial Navy bothered to give her a nickname.
Using the tactics that Jaral taught him, Ezra dispatched the two TIEs in under three minutes while in the meantime his sister had managed to target and destroy the two shield generators sitting on the command bridge of the cruiser.
That wasn't the end of it, though, as Jinx signaled that there were other TIEs incoming.
"Sis, enemy fighters taking off from the carrier. I'm moving to intercept." he said loud and clear.
"Copy that, bro, just warn me if any of them slips away from you."
"Affirmative." and he veered off to intercept the starfighters.
Since one hangar was under the rebels' control, only the TIEs in the other three bays could take off, but there was still 12 of them, hanging from the roofs.
"This is where the fun begins." Ezra muttered confidently before reaching out to the Force to give himself complete focus on the battle. As the TIEs split into three pairs, one went to confront him head-on while the other two veered left or right.
Ezra skillfully dodged the first volley of bolts by basically flying in between them and placing two perfect hits on the hatch of a TIE, making it explode immediately while veering down in a half-spiral to evade the second TIE.
"MR-8, converge with MR-3 and 4. We'll catch that rebel in the crossfire." one of the pilots Jinx intercepted spoke, allowing Ezra to understand that the squad that was flanking him on the right wing was trying to connect with the one TIE that survived the initial engagement.
"This is MR-1, keep that interceptor away while me and MR-2 deal with that X-Wing."
"Sis, you have two fighters coming your way."
"Copy that."
Ezra kept flying and noticed that two fighters (presumably MR-3 and 4) took position behind him, but it seemed more like they were flying right off his wings, creating a triangle formation. He tested them, trying to bank left, and was immediately greeted by a volley of green bolts. The A-Wing's shields took the hit but he wouldn't be able to get another one.
Meanwhile, MR-8 was clearly descending on him from above. Basically, the other two were boxing him so that their gregarious could finish the job.
To counter it, Ezra suddenly reversed the engines, suddenly making a vertical loop in the exact opposite direction he was flying toward. Any other human would suffer a severe whiplash with the speed Ezra used for that maneuver, but the boy barely felt an itch on the back of his neck. This daring move let the two TIEs on his wings pass in front of him while allowing Ezra to be in an advantageous position when MR-8 came down to his level. The boy finished the fighter with a clean shot, mostly thanks to the reflexes improved temporarily by the Force and the adrenaline.
"What the kriff was that?!"
"Focus MR-4, let's regroup and give chase."
Ezra couldn't help but mentally complimenting the pilot for his nerves of steel. Nonetheless, the boy went after the fighter on his left, quickly bringing himself on his tail.
"He's right behind me!"
"Hold on, MR-4, I'm tailing him."
Indeed, Ezra could feel the Force warning him that the other TIE was behind him and avoided the first burst.
MR-4 was trying to make narrow turns to shake Ezra off, but the boy was not giving in. After all, his task was to keep those fighters away from his sister first and foremost.
The back and forth went on for two stressing minutes, but in the end, Ezra found an opening to let MR-3 fly past him and finish it. MR-4 fate was sealed a few seconds later.
"Sis, all fighters eliminated. What's your status?" Ezra said.
"Took you long enough. I'm already back to the demolition job." Jaral joked.
"Of course." Ezra chuckled as he watched toward the Arquitens. The cruiser had multiple fires. The viewport of the command bridge had been hit by torpedoes and had been obliterated, meaning that the ship was without proper control. Of the four heavy batteries, two had been destroyed and one put out of service. There were several small breaches in the hull.
Ezra enjoyed the last part of the show as Jaral went for a last attack run on the engines, giving the fatal blow to the ship. With fires raging uncontrollably, and with its engines dead, the cruiser was now grabbed by Ryloth's gravity field and its bow started to incline toward the planet.
Ezra and Jaral exchanged an excited cheer before Ezra looked at the sensors again.
"Hey, seems like there are multiple escape pods and shuttles leaving the carrier…"
"Yeah!" Jordan was euphoric as he watched the imperial cruiser burning down. "Those are my kids!"
He and the rest of the strike team had already took possession of the bridge. Thanks to Jinx, most of the crew was still unaware that they were being boarded. The captain had tried to contact the Arquitens for reinforcements, but after seeing that it too was under attack, he had scrambled the remaining fighters on the carrier, only to watch in horror as the two rebel fighters wiped them out.
Right then, Jordan and the rest of the assault team breached the door and hijacked it.
Kanan had used a Jedi mind trick to force the Captain into ordering an evacuation, making the crew go for the escape pods, though they were told that the fire in the hangar where the bomber crashed was just out of control.
While Chopper was taking control of the commands, Kanan, Hera, Cham and Jordan were watching the cruiser being demolished.
"I must say," Cham said with admiration. "your children are impressive warriors."
"You have one as well." Jordan said in a not-so-subtle way to force a discussion between the Twi'leks.
Hera and Cham looked at each other with a bit of difficulty.
Meanwhile, the bomber squadron was getting back from its mission on the surface, but Ezra and Jaral quickly dispatched them without their companions noticing.
Jordan headed out of the bridge and back into the hangar where the bomber landed and where the rest of the squad was waiting. The siblings landed and jumped out of their fighters and their father went to hug them with joy. Then the younglings were hugged by their respective partners and everybody watched out of the hangar as the shields were lifted and the carrier finally entered hyperspace.
The ship reached the rest of the fleet in a couple of hours and not long after, the hangars were already filled with the various fighters. Sato had elected to rename the carrier Phoenix Nest and make it the new command ship, meaning that Jaral was to transfer on board of it. Mira and Jordan would have to do that as well, but the new ship was definitely a massive improvement for the quality of life of the fleet: the hangars were large enough to even house the Ghost, meaning that Ezra could visit his family at any moment even more easily than before.
For Cham and the Twi'leks it was time to go back home. Jordan didn't know what happened on the bridge, but he noticed that Cham and Hera seemed to have made finally peace with each other.
As the Nu transport landed in the hangar, Cham informed the Specters.
"I'm getting reports from all over Ryloth. Our people are rallying against the Empire. Every hour, more join our ranks."
"Glad to hear that, sir." Kanan said.
Cham nodded and turned to the siblings. "Ezra, Jaral, your actions today were nothing less than heroic. I feel that songs will be made about how you two destroyed that ship on your own." he said with a sincere and admired smile.
"We're just glad we could help you, sir." Ezra said with a small bow.
Cham smiled at him, then turned to Hera.
"Daughter, may we speak?"
Hera was surprised a bit, but followed him away from the others.
"When you left, I was heartbroken." Cham said with a sincerity that made Hera feel guilty for a moment.
"But now I understand." her father continued. Hera turned to look at him. "You're like your mother. She was once a dreamer, too." he said with a fond expression.
"But I learned to be a leader by watching you." Hera said gently, before giving her father a heartfelt hug over his shoulders.
When she broke the hug, Cham was smiling and he grabbed her shoulders in his version of a hug.
"I'm proud of you, Captain Syndulla."
The words ringed like a melody in Hera and left her speechless as her father walked into the transport and left the hangar, leaving her and her second family to look in satisfaction to the stars.