Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I apologize this update took so long.
Let's get to it.
Rico: Eh, we'll see
fb111A: Well, that's kind of the role the Mustang II fulfills, as they have an air-to-ground ordnance capacity of 22,000 pounds, plus 8 proton torpedoes.
tristian5: I actually don't think I'm going to have the First Order attack Earth in this story. Now, the Grysk, maybe, but not the First Order
MR11: No, in this universe, the Taliban has been defeated and is reduced to a minor insurgent group.
Chapter 30- Urgent Errand
(October 15, 2049)
At the back of the flag bridge of the Rebel Dream, the blast doors open and Leia comes walking onto the bridge. She is wearing a dress today, but still with her general's insignia on the collar.
Leia makes her way to the holotable where Finn and Poe are standing. Finn had really begun to come out of his shell and gain more confidence since he regained consciousness. He had been climbing pretty quickly through the ranks of the Resistance, with Leia having promoted him to Commander only a few days ago. His knowledge of the First Order was also invaluable, and had already proven a great tool for the Resistance.
"How much further?" Leia asks.
"Just a few more minutes," Poe responds.
"Any response from the Toydarians?" Leia asks.
"They are expecting us and waiting eagerly for our arrival," Poe responds.
Leia is currently leading a Resistance mission to the planet of Toydaria. The Toydarians had been supportive of the Resistance so far, trying to provide assistance to the Resistance as they could. Recently, the Toydarians had contacted Leia to inform her they had finished a communications device they believed could bypass the scramblers the First Order was using inside their territory to keep planets from contacting each other.
The Resistance has been struggling to keep up with the First Order's advance. They had established a new secret base on a forest planet in the outer parts of the Outer Rim, and had focused most of their action on encouraging the galaxy's citizens to rise up against the First Order while the Terrans bore the brunt of heavy combat. However, the First Order's communications scramblers were inhibiting that task.
Leia was now on a mission to Toydaria to retrieve the device. However, the First Order had begun launching attacks far beyond their established advance. For that reason, Leia was taking the Rebel Dream to Toydaria in case the First Order showed up.
A few moments later, one of the officers on the bridge calls out, "General, coming out of hyperspace."
A moment later, the Rebel Dream drops out of hyperspace, Toydaria coming into view up ahead. Leia smiles as she says, "Finn, come on down with me to the hangar. Poe, you have command." She then turns to leave the bridge, Finn following behind her.
It doesn't take too long for the pair to reach the hangar. Sitting in the hangar is a Terran Pegasus shuttle, one of the primary personnel transports used by the Alliance. The Resistance had received four of the transports from the Alliance to serve as VIP, cross-galaxy transports.
Leia and Finn board the transport along with a handful of Resistance troopers meant to serve as Leia's guards while down on the planet. After they board the Pegasus and close the hatches, the pilot powers up the engines and flies out of the Star Destroyer's hangar.
Leia holds onto the handles on the side of her seat as the Pegasus enters Toydaria's atmosphere. However, the turbulence passes rather quickly as they descend further into the atmosphere.
After about a 20 minute flight through the atmosphere, the pilot sets the shuttle down on a landing pad outside the palace of Toydaria. Leia stands up with Finn and her guards and wait for the back to open up. As soon as it does, Leia and the others make their way out of the transport.
The Toydarian king and two of his guards are waiting for Leia. "General Organa. A great pleasure," the king says, inclining his head respectfully.
"King Katoro. It is good to meet you at last," Leia says.
"I am glad that you answered our summons," Katoro responds. He pauses, then says, "As my father, Katuunko, aided the Republic, it is my pleasure to aid the Resistance."
"You know this will likely bring you the ire of the First Order if they learn what you are doing," Leis says. Although she knows his help is critical, she also wants Katoro to understand what he is risking by doing what he is.
"I am well aware of the risk, General. But freedom is always worth the risk," Katoro says.
"Then we owe you a great debt of gratitude," Leia says. She pauses for a moment, then says, "We do not want to stay here for too long. If you can take us straight to the laboratory, then we can get going quickly."
"Of course," Katoro answers. He turns and begins flapping away. Leia and the others follow him closely.
Katoro leads them to a speeder not far away. The group all piles aboard the speeder. It's a little cramped, but everyone manages to fit. Once they're all in position, the driver speeds off. The driver takes a direct route to the lab, which lies in the lower city not too far from the palace. It only takes a minute before the speeder is pulling up in front of the laboratory.
Everyone disembarks from the speeder and follows King Katoro into the laboratory. As they enter the lab, they can hear the soft flapping of wings from the Toydarian scientists as they are working on their various projects. Katoro flaps his way to the middle of the lab, where two scientists are waiting for them.
"Your Majesty," one of the scientists greets the party, bowing his head to King Katoro. The scientist then inclines his head to Leia and says, "The great General Organa. It's an honor to meet you at last."
"It is our pleasure to be here," Leia says. She walks forward, looking at the rather large device sitting on the table before them. She looks at it for a moment before she says, "So this is it. The device you spoke of."
"Yes, general. It is able to find the gaps in the scrambling frequencies being used by the First Order and craft desired messages to pass through those gaps. We do not guarantee that it is one hundred percent effective…but close to it," the scientist says.
"I see," Leia says, giving it a lookover. After a few moments, she asks, "What do you want from us in return for handing it over to us?"
"A guarantee that you will free the galaxy from the First Order," Katoro answers the question.
"You can count on it, Your Majesty," Leia responds.
Suddenly, there's a sound of a distant explosion. Everyone's heads swivel around before Leia's commlink begins to buzz. Leia reaches down and pulls it out, pressing the button to activate it. As the image comes up, it shows the pilot of the Pegasus transport that brought Leia and her group to the surface.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Leia asks.
"General, the First Order has arrived and they're attacking the city! They just destroyed the Pegasus. I'm trying to escape through the city, but TIE bombers are bombing the city. I think a First Order ship is engaging the Rebel Dream in orbit!" the pilot shouts.
Everyone looks around at each other, eyes wide. Leia then quickly answers and says, "Lieutenant, make your way to a hiding place and wait for the attack to pass." She then turns to King Katoro and asks, "Your Highness, is there another way to get us off this planet?"
"My speeder driver outside will take you to one of our restricted airfields in the outer city. There will be a transport there that you can take off world. We will hide your pilot until such a time as he can escape safely. You must take the device with you," King Katoro says urgently.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Leia says before motioning two of her guards forward. The guards move forward and pick up the device, while the other guards ready their weapons.
"Now go, General. No matter what happens, Toydaria stands with you," Katoro says.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Leia responds before leading Finn and her guards out of the lab.
The speeder is still waiting exactly where it was before. The driver quickly waves them over, and the group hurries aboard the speeder. As soon as all of them are aboard the speeder, the driver takes off, heading for the airfield the king had talked about.
As the speeder takes off, Leia looks up. TIE bombers and fighters are streaking through the skies over the capitol, firing their weapons into the city and causing heavy damage. They can hear the screams of terrified Toydarians as the First Order carries out their attack on the city.
"How far is it to the star port?" Leia asks aloud.
"Just a few minutes," the driver calls back.
Suddenly, they can hear explosions. Finn whips around and calls out, "TIE!" Everyone looks behind them, and sees a TIE fighter coming up behind them, strafing with its laser cannons. Before the driver can do anything, a laser blast hit right behind the speeder, and the explosion upends the speeder, sending everyone in it tumbling to the ground.
Leia manages to recover her senses after a few moments. Pushing herself up, she glances around at her surroundings as the TIE fighter flies past. Taking a quick stock of her surroundings, she is able to quickly confirm that Finn and all of her guards are alive, and the device is miraculously still intact.
Despite feeling the effects of such a tumbling a bit more from her older age, Leia forces herself to her feet. "Everyone, up! We can't afford to give up any time!" she calls out.
Everyone scrambles to get to their feet, reaching for their weapons and trying to regain their senses. However, Finn is on his feet in a second. "Come on! We gotta move. We have to get to that starport before the First Order blows up the transports. Let's move!"
Finn moves quickly among the troopers, helping them to their feet. It only takes moments before everyone is back on their feet and ready to move. Leia turns to the Toydarian who had been driving the speeder. "How far is the starport?"
"Just a few minutes on foot," the Toydarian answers.
"Good. Lead us there. We must move quickly," Leia says urgently.
The Toydarian nods and begins flying away, heading into a mass of buildings. Leia and her escorts hurry after him.
As they move through the streets, Leia pulls out a commlink and places a call up to Poe. After a few moments, Poe appears. However, he's wearing his pilot helmet.
"Poe, what's going on?" Leia demands.
"Several First Order heavy cruisers and a Star Destroyer showed up. The ship is trying to fight off the Star Destroyer, and we're trying to deal with the cruisers! The sooner you can get up here, the sooner we can get out of here!" Poe all but shouts in response.
"We are trying, Poe. Just hold on as best you can," Leia says before she cuts off the transmission.
The group hurries through the streets towards the starport, occasionally having to duck into a building to avoid an explosion from a proton bomb or exploding laser blast. In just a few minutes, they can see the starport.
However, almost immediately, the excitement of seeing the starport is drowned by despair as they see dozens of stormtroopers disembarking from several landing ships.
Finn quietly curses under his breath before firing a shot from his blaster rifle. The shot hits a trooper in the face, who falls dead immediately. The rest of the troopers begin firing, forcing everyone to take cover.
"They know we're here. If we don't hurry and take care of them, they'll call for reinforcements and we'll never get off this planet," Finn mutters.
Leia sighs a bit before she says, "Follow my lead. I'll give you the cover you need. Take out those troopers as I'm covering you."
"But, General…!" Finn exclaims.
Leia looks at Finn with a calm expression on her face. "Trust me, Finn," she says.
Finn stares at her, very concerned. He had really come to look up to her and was rather protective of her. However, the calm look on Leia's face convinces him after a moment that things will be okay. He sighs and mutters, "Okay."
Leia stands up straight and then moves out into the open. At first, she stands there out in the open. Then, everyone sees something slide out of the right sleeve of Leia's hand and into her hand. Finn and the guards are just beginning to recognize it when they hear a snapping hiss, and a blue blade of energy springs to life from what she's holding.
Finn stares in shock before he mutters, "A lightsaber?"
Before anyone can see anything else, Leia spins the saber in hand, blocking a blaster bolt heading for her chest. Leia begins to advance towards the troopers, easily blocking every blaster bolt coming towards her with her saber. As she does, she sees multiple pieces of rubble left behind by an exploding laser bolt. She extends one of her hands, grabs hold of them with the Force, and flings the rubble towards the troopers. One is killed directly, and several others are knocked down.
"Light 'em up!" Finn orders, having overcome the shock of seeing Leia wielding both a lightsaber and the Force. He and the other troopers begin firing their blaster rifles at the stormtroopers. A number of troopers are killed within seconds. The others cannot get a clear shot, or are too focused on trying to shoot Leia, who is still advancing towards them. Leia manages to deflect two blaster shots back to their sources. The rest of the stormtroopers are soon killed by Finn and the guards.
Leia turns back to look at her entourage. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up!" she calls out to them.
Finn and the others hurry after Leia until they finally get to the starport. As they enter, they find the transport that Katoro promised waiting for them. The Toydarians waiting next to them motion furiously for them to board the transport. Leia and the others hurry aboard, and the transport immediately takes off and flies out of the starport and up into the atmosphere.
In a matter of minutes, the transport leaves the atmosphere and up into orbit. As they enter orbit, Leia looks out of the viewport. She can Poe's fighters engaging the heavy cruisers and TIE fighters as the Rebel Dream is engaging another Imperial class Star Destroyer painted in First Order markings.
Leia activates her commlink again. "This is General Organa, we are inbound on a Toydarian vessel. All fighters, return to the flagship immediately. Rebel Dream, prepare to make the jump to hyperspace."
Only a minute later, the transport flies into the hangar bay of the Rebel Dream. The fighters begin returning within two more minutes, coming in and landing one by one. As soon as the last one enters the hangar and touches down on the floor of the hangar, the Rebel Dream jumps to hyperspace.
As the Toydarian transport shuts down, Leia breathes a sigh of relief before looking back out of the hangar bay. As she sees the blue energy of hyperspace just visible out of the hangar, she feels a pang of sadness. She feels a sense of guilt for having to leave the Toydarians behind, especially knowing an actual invasion is likely to come soon. However, she knows she has to focus on the overall goal, and that getting this transmitter to safety will be crucial in helping to turn the tide against the First Order.
"I promise you, King Katoro. We will return," Leia mutters softly.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this one.
So, I decided to actually show Leia using her Jedi training a bit in this story. I didn't like that we didn't see much of it during the sequel trilogy. While Leia didn't actually complete her Jedi training in this universe either, she didn't totally abandon the way of the Jedi, and still has her saber. We'll see her use it and her Force powers on occasion through this story.
Next chapter will be up soon. However, I'm entering the last few weeks of school, so I'll be spending a lot of time studying, finishing assignments, and prepping for finals. So, it might be more than a few days before the next chapter gets posted. Until it is, though, please leave a review, and stay tuned for the next chapter!