Into the Trap
Thanks to tamarayann97 for favouriting and following this story.
A new day was dawning on Endor. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, R2 and 3PO were being led by two Ewoks: Wicket, who was the Ewok that Leia had befriended, and Paploo. The two Ewoks showed the Rebels a landing platform where they saw shuttle Revan taking off and leaving the moon. Beyond the platform was a huge satellite dish, denoting the location of the shield generator. "The main entrance to the control bunker is on the far side of that landing platform." Leia said, having being in touch with the rest of the strike team on her comlink. "This isn't gonna be easy."
"Hey, don't worry. Chewie and me got into a lot of places more heavily guarded than this." Han replied.
Wicket and Paploo were chatting to each other in Ewokese.
"What's he saying?" Leia asked 3PO.
"He says there's a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge." 3PO replied.
~8~
The Rebel fleet was ready to begin the attack. The Millennium Falcon led an armada of X-wings, Y-wings, A/SF-01 B-wing fighters and RZ-1 A-wing interceptors past the cruisers. "Admiral, we're in position." Lando said into the radio. "All fighters accounted for."
"Proceed with the countdown." Admiral Ackbar ordered from the bridge of Home One. "All groups assume attack co-ordinates."
Lando turned to his co-pilot, the Sullustian Nien Nunb. "Don't worry, my friend's down there. He'll have that shield down on time." he reassured him, and Nunb acknowledged him in Sullstian. "Or this'll be the shortest offence of all time." Lando muttered to himself.
"All craft prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark." Ackbar ordered.
"All right. Stand by." Lando said, engaging the Falcon's hyperdrive, and the entire fleet made the jump to lightspeed. Next stop: Endor.
~8~
Han, Leia, Chewbacca, the droids and their two Ewok guides had reunited with the Rebel strike team and the entire group was spread through the thick undergrowth. Ahead of them was a bunker that led to the shield generator. Four Scout troopers stood on guard outside the entrance, their speeder bikes parked nearby. Chewbacca growled an observation and Paploo chattered away to Han in Ewokese.
"Back door, huh? Good idea." Han praised, then he and Leia crept closer for a better look, while Wicket and Paploo chatted amongst themselves. "There's only a few guards. This shouldn't be too much trouble." Han told the rest of the team.
Wicket meanwhile approached 3PO and said something to the droid in Ewokese.
"It only takes one to sound the alarm." Leia said grimly.
"Then we'll do it real quite-like." Han replied flippantly.
3PO meanwhile had finished his conversation with Wicket. "Oh, my!" he exclaimed. "Princess Le..." Leia swiftly silenced him by putting her hand over his speech vocoder. "I'm afraid our furry companion has gone and done something rather rash." 3PO said much quieter.
The Rebels all looked to see Paploo sneaking through the underbrush towards the Imperials on guard. "Oh, no." Leia groaned.
"There goes our surprise attack." Han grumbled.
Paploo climbed onto one of the parked speeder bikes and began messing with the controls until he was able to get it started. The Scouts soon saw him. "Look! Over there! Stop him!" one of them hollered, and he and the others all rushed forward as Paploo rode off on his bike. Three of the Scouts jumped onto the remaining bikes and set off in pursuit of the Ewok. This left just one Scout on guard.
"Not bad for a little fur ball. There's only one left." an impressed Han remarked. "You stay here. We'll take care of this." he told the droids, then he, Leia, Chewbacca and the rest of the strike team headed off towards the bunker.
"I have decided that we shall stay here." 3PO declared to Wicket.
~8~
Paploo sailed through the foliage on his stolen speeder bike, more lucky than in control, but he was enjoying himself. When the pursuing Scouts came within sight behind him and began firing at him with their bikes' blaster, Paploo decided he'd had enough fun and as he rounded a tree, out of his pursuers' sight, he grabbed hold of a vine and swung up into the trees. Moments later, the three Scouts tore underneath him in pursuit of the still-flying and now unmanned bike.
~8~
Han crept up behind the remaining Scout on guard outside the bunker and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey!" the Scout shouted, chasing after Han.
Han let the Scout chase him behind the bunker to where the rest of the Rebels were waiting. The strike team soon overpowered the lone Scout and Han returned to the front of the bunker and tapped a pattern on the door's control panel. Everyone stood out of sight as the doors slid open. Han and Leia peeked inside to see no sign of life. With the coast clear, the Rebels entered the bunker silently, leaving one lookout behind. So far so good.
~8~
Aboard the Death Star, the lift arrived at the top of Emperor's Tower and Luke, Kali and Vader disembarked to find themselves in the throne room. At the top of the stairs was Palpatine's throne, where the Emperor was sitting with his back to the newcomers. As Luke, Kali and Vader reached the top of the stairs, Palpatine turned round to face them. "Welcome, young Skywalker. I have been expecting you. And Miss Marek. This is an unexpected pleasure." he smirked.
"Your Highness." Kali said with distaste. She'd seen the Emperor a few times during her time as Leia's aide in the Imperial Senate and was repulsed by him each and every time.
"You no longer need those." Palpatine waved his hand and the two Rebels' wrist binders came undone all by themselves, leaving their hands free. Kali didn't get much of a chance to enjoy it, though, as the Emperor's two royal guards came forward from where they'd been standing near the lift and roughly escorted her onto a circular pad in one corner of the throne room, then one guard pressed a control and ray shields sprang to life all around Kali, imprisoning her. "Now leave us." Palpatine ordered the guards, who both bowed and left the room.
Luke, Vader, Palpatine and the imprisoned Kali were left alone by themselves. Luke looked at the Emperor carefully. If Luke was to describe Palpatine in one word, then the word he would use was 'hideous'. Although most of Palpatine's face was obscured by his hood, what was visible was horribly scarred and wrinkled by decades of abusing Dark Side energies, while his eyes blazed bright yellow; a sign of a pure Sith.
"I'm looking forward to completing your training." Palpatine smirked. "In time, you will call me... 'Master.'"
Luke wasn't ready to give up easily. "You're gravely mistaken." he said confidently. "You won't convert me as you did my father."
"Oh, no, my young Jedi." Palpatine retorted, getting up from his throne and walking up very close to Luke. "You find that it is you who are mistaken... about a great many things."
"His lightsabre." Vader said, handing Luke's confiscated lightsabre to his master.
"Ah, yes. A Jedi's weapon." Palpatine said knowingly. "Much like your father's." he said to Luke. "By now you must know your father can never be turned from the Dark Side. So will it be with you."
Luke still wasn't intimidated. "You're wrong." he said coolly.
"In just a little while, this new toy of yours will be destroyed, and you with it." Kali added.
Palpatine laughed evilly. "Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet." Luke and Kali looked at each other sharply, wandering how Palpatine knew about it. "Yes. I assure you... we are quite safe from your friends here." Palpatine finished nastily
Luke recovered. "Your overconfidence is your weakness." he sniped, making Kali laugh.
"Your faith in your friends is yours." Palpatine shot back, turning around and walking back to his throne.
"It is pointless to resist, my son." Vader told Luke.
"Don't listen to them, Luke." Kali advised her friend. "The Emperor's just trying to bait you. He's bluffing."
"I never bluff, Miss Marek." Palpatine said as he sat back down on his throne. "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends up there on the sentry moon are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet."
Luke felt his blood run cold as he sensed the truth in the Emperor's words.
"It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator." Palpatine continued. "It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops await them. Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive." he finished in a mocking voice.
~8~
Han, Leia, Chewbacca and the Rebel strike team stormed through a door and entered the main control room of the shield generator, taking all of the personnel prisoner. "Alright, up!" Han demanded, aiming his blaster pistol at the Imperials. "Move! Come on! Quickly, quickly!" The Rebels herded the generator controllers away from their controls and into a corner out of the way. "Chewie." he called, and the Wookie came forward to keep the prisoners under guard.
"Han, hurry. The fleet will here any moment." Leia urged
"Charges." Han called to a Rebel solider, who tossed him a satchel of explosive charges.
Outside the bunker, 3PO, R2 and Wicket could only watch in horror as a group of Imperial officers came out of hiding and ran into the bunker. "Oh, my! They'll be captured!" 3PO hollered.
Wicket chattered in Ewokese, and then took off full steam into the forest.
"Wait! Wait, come back!" 3PO hollered, but it was too late. "R2, you stay with me!"
Inside the bunker, Han looked up from setting the charges to see an Imperial rush in with his blaster pistol drawn. "Freeze!" the officer demanded. Han responded by throwing a storage container at him, knocking him out cold.
Suddenly, a platoon of Stormtroopers charged into the room from all sides and surrounded the Rebels. "You Rebel scum!" the officer commanding the platoon snarled
"Scum?!" Han glowered, putting his hands on his hips.
Chewbacca howled in fury as several Stormtroopers wrestled his bowcaster away from him.
~8~
The Rebel fleet dropped out of lightspeed and entered the Endor system. The forest moon loomed ahead, with the Death Star in orbit. "All wings report in." Lando ordered the fighter squadrons.
"Red Leader standing by." Wedge Antilles responded first.
"Grey Leader standing by." Horton Salm chimed in.
"Green Leader standing by." Arvel Crynyd finished the roll call.
"Lock S-foils in attack positions." Wedge ordered, and all X-wings and B-wings complied.
"May the Force be with us." Ackbar murmured, knowing that the moment of truth had arrived.
As Juno readied her X-wing's weapons, her droid whistled that it was unable to get any reading on the status of the shield generator. "You've gotta be able to get some reading on that shield, up or down." Juno reasoned. The droid responded that all scopes were being jammed. "Well, how can they jamming us if they don't know if we're coming." Juno frowned, then she shot a concerned look out at the approaching Death Star as the implications of what she'd just said sunk in. "Karabast!" she cursed as the penny dropped. "Red Three to Gold Leader. Lando, we've gotta break off the attack. The shield is still up!"
"We're gettin' no reading, Juno. Are you sure?" Lando asked her.
"Watch." Juno fired a shot from her laser cannons, which was stopped by an invisible wall just ahead of the Rebel fleet.
Lando didn't need any more convincing. "Pull up! All craft pull up!" he hollered, banking the Falcon hard to the left, and all fighters broke formation and scattered to avoid crashing into the shield.
"Take evasive action." Ackbar ordered. "Green group, stick to holding sector MV-7."
As the cruisers followed the fighters, a Mon Calamari officer had more bad news, "Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector 37!"
"It's a trap!" Ackbar realised.
As several of the fighters attempted to regroup, they suddenly saw a fleet of Star Destroyers emerge from hiding behind Endor, and the Destroyers weren't alone either. "Fighters coming in!" Lando hollered, and absolutely millions of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors charged at the Rebel ship and swarmed them. The sky erupted into a fierce dogfight in and around the Rebel cruisers.
"There's too many of them!" Grey Two cried as he tried his best to avoid the onslaught.
"Accelerate to attack speed. Draw their fire away from the cruisers." Lando ordered.
"Copy, Gold Leader." Wedge acknowledged.
"I should've known it sounded too good to be true." Juno muttered as she destroyed a TIE Fighter that had made a beeline towards Home One.
And so, the Battle of Endor had begun.
~8~
Through the round window in Palpatine's throne room could be seen the distant flashes of the space battle in progress. "Come. boy, see for yourself." Palpatine told Luke smugly. "From here you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance... and the end of your insignificant rebellion."
Luke felt so powerless to help his friends, but he was determined not to let Palpatine get to him. "You haven't won yet." he said. "Juno's out there. You won't stop her easily."
"Ah, yes, your other Jedi friend." Palpatine smirked. "Your faith in her is misplaced. That stupid girl is useless, just like her mentor, your precious Obi-Wan Kenobi. She will be blasted out of the stars and her remains will be displayed in the streets of Coruscant as a warning to others of the futility of resistance."
"This isn't over, Palpatine!" Kali said defiantly. "You'll pay for everything you've done, mark my words!"
Luke was in torment. He glanced at his lightsabre sitting on the armrest of the throne. Palpatine watched him and smiled cruelly, tapping the lightsabre hilt. "You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment, you make yourself more my servant."
Luke looked out of the window with his fists balled. He wanted so much to grab his lightsabre and silence this evil old fossil, but then he remembered Yoda's teachings. He knew that if he gave into his anger, he would start on the path to the Dark Side. He looked at Kali, who's presence seemed to calm him and he turned round to face Palpatine. "No." he said defiantly.
Palpatine was unconcerned. "It is unavoidable. It is your destiny." he crowed. "You, like your father, are now mine."
"In your dreams!" Kali snarked. She'd tried to get free of her prison, but the ray shields were impregnable.
Author's notes: And so we begin the Battle of Endor. Kali will be stuck in a forcefield for much of the Death Star scenes, so I'm afraid she can only advise Luke for the time being. Juno meanwhile is getting hands on in the battle and will be showcasing her piloting skills. Juno's position as Red Three is a homage to Biggs Darklighter in A New Hope. I thought it was appropriate that another friend of Luke's hold that position for this battle. As for whether Juno will fair better than Biggs did, you'll just have to wait and see! So, hope you like this chapter and goodbye for now!