Tommy, the other rangers, and Hera stood on a dock jutting out onto the lake. The fishing skiff that would take them out toward the Imperial Facility. Much like the rest of the settlement, the skiff's paint was faded and worn. Several scratches and small dents dotted the hull of the long and somewhat narrow fishing ship. "Are Zeb and Sabine ready to make a hot exit?" he asked, looking over at Hera, who had insisted on coming with them.
"Yeah, they're ready," she replied without breaking her gaze on the Imperial Facility on the lake's far shore.
In the Command Center, the rangers' families had once again gathered, watching the viewing globe as it showed a real-time image of those gathered on the dock. Kat's cousin Rachel looked over at her aunt. "Aunt Heather, I still can't believe Kat is the pink ranger," she said quietly.
"Believe me, sweetie, I'm still getting used to it myself," Heather replied, giving her a worried smile.
Nearby, Jack Oliver looked over ten neatly piled collections of wetsuits and military grade diving equipment. Satisfied that everything his nephew and his friends would need was present, he turned to face Zordon. "Zordon, can you open a communications channel to the Rangers?"
"Of course, Captain Oliver," Zordon replied before opening a channel to Tommy's communicator.
When his communicator beeped, Tommy lifted his wrist near his mouth and pressed a button on the wristwatch-like device.
"I read you, Zordon."
"Tommy, it's Uncle Jack. I'm sending you guys wetsuits and military grade diving equipment. It's just like what you're used to using except for the small high-powered lights on one of the shoulder straps to help you see underwater."
"Thanks, Uncle Jack, I'm sure those will come in handy on this night dive."
"I thought it might, good luck, kid, get the job done and bring your team home."
"Yes, Sir," Tommy said with a confident nod. A moment later, the diving gear appeared at their feet in streaks of white light. Tommy glanced over at a small shack on the shore of the lake, just off the end of the dock. "Let's get changed he said as he picked up the diving gear that appeared in front of him. "Let's get changed."
One by one, the rangers and Hera entered the small shack and changed into their suits and slung the oxygen tanks onto their backs. Tommy clipped his lightsaber to the nylon strap over his right hip. Kat was the last to emerge from the shack. She tightened the straps to her tank with her right hand, and in her left hand she carried her flippers. Tommy took a deep breath and looked at the others with a smile on his face.
"Ready to go?" a slightly gravelly voice asked from the shore, just before the sound of boots thudding against the wooden dock. Everyone turned to see a stocky humanoid alien with orange skin that looked to be thick and bumpy, reminding Tommy of the character Ben Grimm, perhaps better known as The Thing from The Fantastic Four comics he would occasionally read when he was younger.
"You must be Dash," Hera said before anyone else could speak.
"That's me," he said with a smile as he stepped onto his skiff.
"We appreciate this," Jason said as the nine rangers and Hera began to board the skiff. Between Dash, his fishing equipment, and the assembled strike team, there wasn't much room on the small craft.
"After what the Empire did to my family, this is my pleasure," Dash said with a look of determination. After taking a few moments to look over his equipment to make sure he had everything he needed, and looking over the skiff to make sure it was in working order, Dash stepped back onto the dock, undid the mooring line, and jumped back on to the skiff before taking the helm.
A few minutes later, the skiff moved at a steady pace, its repulsors keeping it just above the glassy surface of the water, small waves rippling from under the small fishing craft. "Wow," Kat said, allowing herself a brief moment of ease and relaxation as she looked up at the night sky. "It is pretty out here."
"Yeah, it is," Tommy agreed. "Hopefully someday, we can come camping along this lake."
"Oh, that would be so much fun."
Just then, an Imperial Shuttle and its escort of four TIE fighters flew high overhead, headed for the Imperial Facility. As they passed, Tommy felt a dark presence in The Force. His gaze turned upward, and his eyes narrowed at the passing starships as his jaw clenched so tightly he heard his molars grind, and his fists clenched so tightly he left small half-moon scars on his palms. "It figures, this job just got a lot more complicated."
"Tommy? Tommy? Are you okay?" Kat asked. She reached over and gently squeezed his shoulder. "Tommy, what is it?" she asked, keeping her voice low so he would not alarm the others.
"Vader," he answered in a low tone, his eyes laser-focused on the shuttle.
"What?! Are you sure?"
"Hey, Kat, what's up?" Aisha asked. She made the short walk to Tommy and Kat with the others right behind her.
"Tommy, he…" Kat began. She stopped and looked at Tommy, not wanting to say anything more than he was willing to have out in the open.
"Tommy, what is it, bro?" Jason asked with a look of deep concern on his face.
"Vader, he's here, on that shuttle," Tommy said, still following the shuttle with his eyes.
"Are you sure?" Zack asked.
"I'm sure," Tommy said with a nod.
"Isn't that the guy you guys fought in front of Kat's place on New Year's Eve?" Rocky asked.
"I don't get it, Tommy, how can you be sure?" Adam asked.
"That night, I sensed him through The Force throughout the night, and I just felt his presence again when that shuttle flew overhead."
"So if you can sense him, does that mean…" Aisha began, but she feared the answer.
"He can sense me as well? Yes, he tracked me to Kat's place by sensing me through The Force."
"Then it would be a reasonable hypothesis that our assigned task has become much more difficult," Billy said with a heavy sigh.
"Billy, I have a feeling that unfortunately, you're right," Trini said as she rubbed her chin in thought.
"This is as far as I go," Dash said as he eased off the engines and brought the skiff to a stop. "Any closer, and we risk getting spotted by probe droids," He added as he picked up a log fishing pole and cast out his line.
"Thanks for the lift, Dash," Billy said on behalf of the group.
"Good luck, all of you," Dash said as he lifted a large fishing pole and cast out his line. He waited a few seconds before slowly reeling in the lure while gently twitching the rod.
"Alright, everyone, give your valves and gauges a final check and purge your tanks, it's time to get our feet wet," Tommy said as he looked at his diving watch and the Imperial Facility in the distance, getting a heading.
After doing one last safety check, the Rangers and Hera eased themselves into the water and allowed themselves to sink under the surface of the water. Tommy slowly moved in a circle until he found the heading he established and motioned for the rest of the team to follow him, before clicking on the small light on his right shoulder.
"Wow, Uncle Jack wasn't kidding, this light is bright. Good thing too, it's dark down here," Tommy thought as they began the long, slow swim to the facility. He reached out with The Force, sensing his team's presence, and making sure they all stayed together.
After nearly half an hour, they swam through the inlet and came to the heavy metal grate that covered the entrance of the cooling tunnel. They came to a stop, and each of them grabbed the grate as if to test how sturdy it was. Tommy's right hand moved to his lightsaber and unclipped it from the harness of his SCUBA tank. He looked at Jason and had a nod before igniting the blade. As it came to life, the vibrant green blade lit up the immediate area and caused the water to bubble wildly. He gripped the grate again with his left hand to steady himself and began to slice through the bars until he had created a large square opening as Jason and Zack held onto the section he had cut away.
Once Tommy cut through the last bar and deactivated his lightsaber, Jason looked over at Zack and gave him a thumbs up. When Zack returned the gesture, the two pulled the grate away. Once it was clear of the cooling tunnel's entrance, they let it fall gently to the lake bed below.
Tommy shut off his lightsaber, motioned for the others to follow him. The Tunnel was wide enough for them to swim side-by-side easily, and without being too close together. Tommy and Jason led the way with Kat and Trini behind them, then Billy and Zack, Rocky and Adam, finally, Hera and Aiesha brought up the rear.
The Rebel strike team swam at a steady pace up the cooling tunnel that had gone unused for the last twenty years. Tommy's eyes darted to a large turbine as he and Jason swam past it, one on either side of one of the large blades that looked to be completely rusted over from lack of use. "May The Force be with us," he thought as the gravity of their situation and their mission settled on his mind once again.
After passing three more rusted turbines, the cooling tunnel finally came to an end in a large chamber. Thanks to a flickering light high above them, they could see the glint of a metal ladder on the far side of the chamber. Tommy motioned to it, and Jason nodded as they swam to the ladder. Tommy lead the way up the ladder, slowly poking his head over the ladder as he reached the top. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the large room empty and pulled himself up before turning around and offering his hand to Jason.
"Thanks, man," Jason said after Tommy helped him up. Tommy gave a nod before reaching down and grabbing Kat's hand. The two worked together, taking turns helping their teammates. Once everyone had climbed the ladder, the team led by Tommy and Hera exited the cooling chamber. They looked down the hall, making sure no one was near.
A smile pulled at Hera's lips as her eyes settled on a door across the hall, only a few feet down from where they stood. The door was marked as an armory. "We're clear, let's move," Tommy said as he quickly made his way into the Armory. "Alright, those of us that can morph, let's do so, then everyone grab some weapons."
"Let's do this," Rocky said with a smile, eager to complete their mission.
"Tommy, are you sure morphing is a good idea? Won't that draw Vader's attention?" Kat asked, her slightly shaking voice giving away her concern about coming face-to-face with the Sith Lord again.
"If he wasn't here, I'd say a quiet approach would be best, but he already knows we're here, and he's probably preparing the base for a battle," Tommy said, shooting Kat a half smile.
"I believe Tommy is most likely correct in his assessment," Billy said with a nod. "Remember, before he became Darth Vader, Vader was Anakin Skywalker during The Clone Wars."
"And he was a respected general, known for bold but tactically brilliant plans," Trini added.
"Precisely, Trini," Billy said with a nod.
"Let's not waste any more time. It's morphin' time! Falcon Ranger Power!"
"Frog Ranger Power!"
"Crane Ranger Power!"
"Wolf Ranger Power!"
"Bear Ranger Power!"
"Ape Ranger Power!"
Once morphed into their new suits, everyone, except for Tommy, grabbed a standard-issue E11 blaster rifle and four thermal detonators. Tommy looked around the room, his eyes settling on a computer in the corner. "Billy, see if you can find anything useful. Rocky, Adam on the door. Everyone else, defensive positions."
Hera couldn't help but smile as she got behind a rack of blaster rifles and knelt behind it to keep a low profile. "This kid is a natural leader," she thought as she slightly tightened her grip on the E11 she held. "He'll be a general or admiral soon, I'm sure of it.
"I've got something," Billy said after a few minutes of working at the computer.
"Good job, Billy," Rocky said, looking back at the blue ranger and giving a nod.
"What have you got, Billy?" Jason asked.
"The base's control center isn't far from here. If I can get there, I can shut down the defense network, which would make it possible to get the stealth ship prototypes out of here."
"Excuse me, Billy, but did you just say 'prototypes?' As in plural?" Kat asked.
"Affirmative. It looks like The Empire has built not only a stealth frigate for long-term reconnaissance, but a new stealth star fighter."
"Do you have a location on General Parena?" Tommy asked.
"Affirmative, she's in the main hangar across the facility from here," Billy answered. "Hey, wait a minute, this is interesting."
"What is it, Billy?" Trini asked.
"The Empire has replaced the furnace from when this place was a functioning foundry with a new reactor core."
"Well, that might explain why they never drained and sealed off the cooling tunnel and holding chamber, or the main chimney," Tommy said as he paced in thought. He knew opening the holding chamber would only result in the water being pumped into the core; it would flood it, slowing whatever goals the Empire had. However, if the core could be attacked through the chimney, if it could be destroyed, then the facility would be destroyed as well. Realizing this, Tommy turned to Billy. "Billy, would the outpost be in danger if the reactor were destroyed?"
"Uhh…." Billy said as he looked at the data about the reactor core and ran a simulation. "No," Billy said after a long pause. "The outpost is sufficiently far away that it will not be endangered should the reactor core explode."
"Alright, Billy, Trini, Rocky, and Adam, head for the control center and disable the base's defenses. Teleport out immediately if you come across Vader. Everyone else, we're going to extract General Parena and get our hands on those stealth ships. General Syndulla and the rest of you will take the frigate, I'll take the star fighter.
"Hold on a second, Tommy," Billy said as his fingers danced across the computer's controls. "There, I've uploaded the facility's layout to the systems inside our suits. We should have no problem navigating to our assigned objectives."
"Nice thinking, Billy," Kat said, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks, Kat," Billy said with a nod.
"Alright, let's get moving," Rocky said as he opened the door, and the Rebel Strike Team exited the armory, formed up in an arrowhead formation with Tommy leading at the tip.
As they moved deeper into the facility, the age hallways made of a mixture of rusted metal and brightly hued stone had way too cold and reflective black dura-steel flooring and grey dura-steel walls and ceilings with lighting panels built-in to every other ceiling and wall panel bathing the halls in a welcome glow.
"Good luck, guys, and remember to teleport out if you run into Vader," Tommy said as Billy, Trini, Rocky, and Adam broke off and kept going straight as he and the others turned right where two hallways met in a four-way intersection.
"Why do I feel like this is too easy?" Hera asked as they neared a large open bulkhead. About ten feet beyond. Just before the team passed through the open bulkhead, the closed one hissed loudly and opened, revealing a patrol of about twenty stormtroopers.
"Intruders! Blast 'em!" one of the storm troopers called out.
"You were saying?" Tommy asked as he summoned his original lightsaber to his hand, the vibrant green blade coming to life nearly as soon as it hit his hand. The other rangers fired quick shots from their newly appropriated blaster rifles as they ran for what little cover the frame of the open bulkhead provided. Evan, as quickly as they fired, three storm troopers fell before any of the white armor-clad managed to get off a shot.
"Open fire, you fools!" the storm trooper who Tommy guessed was in charge yelled. He was the same one who had spoken before. The group of stormtroopers raised their weapons and began to fire. The rangers returned fire with Tommy remaining in the open, skillfully deflecting and reflecting the blaster fire at the stormtroopers.
In the control center, the commotion in the exterior hallway had been noticed. "Get reinforcements to…" the officer on duty started to say before the door to the control center slid open with a hiss, and a faint metallic clank was heard.
Another officer went to investigate and gasped in fright. "Therma," he began before a thermal detonator exploded, sending him and two other officers flying across the room. As the rest of the control center staff rose, intent on defending the room, the second group of rangers rushed through the door, taking careful aim with their rifles and firing.
"Billy, get this place's defenses shut down. We'll keep you covered," Rocky said as he fired and sent the last officer crashing to the floor.
"Affirmative, Rocky," Billy said with a nod as he moved to one of the computers and began to rapidly type at the keyboard.
Meanwhile, as Billy worked at a frantic pace to shut down the facility's external defenses, Tommy's group continued to make their way through the repurposed and now sterile-looking halls as they pushed through Imperial Troops. As they moved down the hall, Tommy slowed and held his straight up, elbow bent at ninety degrees as he slowed. He and the other rangers stopped as an Imperial Security Droid rounded the corner ahead of them.
"What is that?" Kat asked.
"Security droid," Tommy answered as he held his lightsaber up, ready to defend himself.
"Surrender, resistance is futile," the droid said, its voice sounding almost comically overly robotic. Not waiting for a reply, the droid pulled a large blaster pistol from its holster located at the droid's right hip. The droid began to fire, and Tommy reflected each shot at it, its hulking gray/black body shuddering slightly as each blaster bolt struck its body.
"Guys, what do we do?" Aiesha asked, her voice cracking slightly with nervousness.
"Nothing," she replied as she watched Tommy and the droid charge one another. "We can't risk hitting Tommy." The security droid tried to punch Tommy, but the young Jedi was too quick for the hulking droid. He slipped under the droid's fist and moved his lightsaber in a quick and elegant slash across the droid's knee joint. The smell of molten metal and burning oil briefly filled the air as the droid began to fall. What was left of the droid's leg scraped loudly against the black polished metal floor, and its left hand met the floor with a loud clank. It turned its head just in time for its visual receptors to see Tommy gracefully spin to face it and bring his lightsaber down in a heavy slash, decapitating the droid.
"Come on!" Tommy shouted as he began to run down the hall. Not much further down the hall, they came to an open area with no roof and several heavy crates scattered neatly around. A head of them was a bare wall, on top of which at a crane arm holding up a lift of rolls of alloys, waiting to be used. The cable holding up the lift ran up to the crane arm, through a pulley, and back down, where it was anchored to the floor. Below, and a few feet to the right of the crane, was a heavy bulkhead. To the left of the rangers was another heavy bulkhead identical to the one in the wall ahead of them, and the one they had come through. To their left, as a third bulkhead, along the wall to the left, wall, was an old stone balcony that overlooked the area.
"I think the hangar with the stealth ships is just ahead," Kat said, smiling under her helmet at the thought of completing their mission successfully.
As Tommy's group approached the main hanger, Rocky, Billy, Trini, and Adam made their way to the main hanger through a maintenance corridor. Being a little-used access way, they faced no resistance and moved much more quickly than Tommy and the others, despite it being a longer route.
When they finally came to a dead end with a grate beneath them, Rocky peered through the narrow slits. He could see a woman in the black uniform of an Imperial Officer. Even from above, he could tell she was tall and slender with long red hair that, while faded, had not yet truly grayed, was pulled up into a tight bun and tucked under the cap of her uniform. "Lieutenant, any word on the intruders?" she asked as she saluted another man in an officer's uniform, her voice cracking ever so slightly with nervousness.
If the lieutenant she had spoken to noticed her nervousness, his body language didn't betray it. "We're not sure how they got in yet, General, but we believe they're a rebel terrorist strike team, and being led by a Jedi." Rocky watched as the woman's body tightened at the mention of rebels and a Jedi. "Don't worry, General, we'll make sure your projects are safe."
"That seals it, time to move," Rocky thought. He glanced over his shoulder and gave a slight nod. Slowly, the others nodded back. Rocky made a fist and focused his energy. His fist began to glow red, and he struck the grate, sending it crashing down onto the man. "Look out below!"
"What the…" General Parena began as she watched a man in a red form-fitting suit with a primitive-looking sword on his back and a blaster pistol at his right hip drop from the ceiling and roll away. He was quickly followed by a man in black and another in blue, and finally a woman in yellow dressed similarly to him. Finally, a woman with long dark hair dressed in a light brown leather jacket, yellow shirt, dark blue pants with white plastoid knee pads, and black boots dropped from above. General Karissa Parena watched in amazement as the strangers used their pistols to take out her security detail with the speed and precision of even the most well-trained troops.
"General Parena! General Parena!" Karissa wasn't sure how many times the woman with long dark hair had said her name, but when she finally heard her voice, it sounded as if her voice was coming from underwater.
"Y-yes," she said, barely recognizing the sound of her voice.
"Lieutenant Trini Kwan, we're here to get you and these ships out of here."
"The base's defenses…."
"Have been shut down, Ma'am," Billy said as Rocky and Adam took care of the last Imperials in the room.
"Alright, we can get out on The Eclipse," she said as she motioned to a ship that looked comparable in length to The Millennium Falcon. However, it was far narrower with angled black armor plating. The shape of the ship reminded the rangers more of a small submarine than a supremely advanced starship. "But, it will take two more people to crew her, and then there's The Specter, she'll need a pilot and a weapons system officer."
"Wait, the pilot doesn't handle the weapons?" Adam asked.
"It's a shared responsibility. The pilot controls the ship and shoots, the weapons system officer selects the weapon to shoot," she answered as she pressed a button on a control console that opened the roof, providing the two ships with a takeoff path.
"Tommy, this is Billy. Do you read me?"
"I've got you, Billy, how are we looking?"
"The defenses are down, and the control room's locked down. We've got General Parena and the ships."
"Good job, guys, we'll see you soon." As soon as he and Billy stopped speaking, Tommy suddenly stopped and looked at the bulkhead to his left.
"Tommy, what is it?" Jason asked. Before Tommy could answer, the thick metal bulkhead began to slowly bubble out as if someone were using it as bubble gum and blowing a bubble. The metal began to scratch and groan in protest as it began to split open and twist.
"Go! Go now!" Tommy yelled. The others didn't question their leader's order. They ran ahead towards the bulkhead that would lead them into a short hallway, and then into the hangar where the others waited. Kat glanced back as she passed through the bulkhead, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Walking in a slow, methodical march from the now twisted bulkhead was Darth Vader, his red lightsaber already ignited.
"I admire your boldness, Jedi," Vader said as he continued his march toward Tommy. His grip tightened on the hilt of his lightsaber as Tommy activated his.
"Kat, come on!" Jason called from up ahead. Kat took one last look at Tommy and Vader, and it almost looked like something out of a storybook. Two warriors with supreme skill and knowledge of a power few possessed stared one another down. One dressed almost completely in white, the other tall, imposing, in black armor, his mechanical breathing filling the air, almost like the sound of a rattlesnake flicking its tail before the defensive strike.
"May The Force be with you, Tommy," she thought as she turned and ran down the hallway.
Tommy said nothing, did nothing; he stood in place in the opening stance of Soresu. He knew matching Vader's raw strength would be foolish thanks to his cybernetics. His best chance was to fight defensively, try and catch him off guard, then get away and meet his team.
Vader brought his blade down fast and hard in an almost vertical slash. Tommy shifted his weight and moved his blade up, angled it down, and across his body. The clash of the lightsaber meeting filled the air as Vader pushed down with all of his weight. As he did, Tommy slid to his left, bringing his blade up in a quick stab at the control panel on Vader's chest, being careful not to overextend. Vader rolled his shoulder, dodging Tommy's strike, then swung in a wide horizontal slash.
Tommy slid back, avoiding the slash, and took advantage of the opening by unleashing a Force Push powerful enough to force Vader to begin to fly backward, and he had to engage the magnets in his boots to anchor himself to the floor.
"You've grown far more powerful, young one," Vader said once he came to a stop. He raised his left hand and lifted one of the crates before hurling it at Tommy like a missile.
Tommy held up his hand, stopping the crate, then flicked his wrist to the left, sending the crate crashing into the wall. "Happy to disappoint."
"On the contrary, I relish a challenge!" Vader said as he charged in, the anger in his voice not at all hidden by the machine he spoke through. Lightsabers clashed, hummed with power, and clashed again as Vader hammered at Tommy's defenses, but he was unable to break through. Tommy continued to concede ground, always making sure he had at least two, if not three, directions to move in. "You are indeed powerful., Join me and I will complete your training. Together, we can destroy the Emperor and rule this galaxy and yours."
"You have nothing to teach me, Anakin," Tommy said, sending the fallen Jedi into a blinding rage. With renewed drive, Vader charged at Tommy like a raging bull, pushing Tommy back, forcing Tommy onto his back foot, and pushing the duel back toward one of the balcony supports.
"Now," Tommy thought as he ducked under Vader's blade and rolled past him as the crimson blade sliced through one of the ancient stone pillars, causing the balcony to shift, and clouds of dust to fly from the balcony above, as if desperate to avoid disaster.
As soon as Tommy came to his feet, he turned, reached up with both hands, willing The Force to grip the balcony. With a roar of effort, he moved his hands down, pulling a large section of the stone balcony away. Vader looked up, just in time to see the first large pieces of debris fall and hit his armored shoulder. By the time the debris stopped falling, Vader was buried in it. Tommy ran across the room, grabbed onto the cable, and sliced it, causing the platform to fall.
Tommy let the cable lift him into the air, and as he neared the top of the wall, let go of the cable and let his momentum carry him to the top. He turned and reached out with the Force and willed the pile of metal to move. The metal wretched and screamed as Tommy slid it in front of the bulkhead just as Vader burst free from the rubble, his suit heavily damaged. Tommy gave him a mock salute with his lightsaber before deactivating it and running to where the others waited.
"Where's Vader?" Zack asked as Tommy dropped from above to join them.
"Likely not far behind me, and mad as a hornet."
"What exactly did you do? We heard a couple of big crashes?" Adam asked.
"Dropped that stone balcony on him."
"That'd do it," Jason said after a long, low whistle.
Tommy's gaze went to the stealth fighter, and his eyes widened slightly. It reminded him of the SR-71 Blackbird he had seen at an airshow just before his dad had accepted the job offer that led to their move to Angel Grove. It was only about half as long, with variable sweep wings. Kat sat in the back seat, a woman he guessed to be General Paren, explaining the controls. "Hera, tell Zeb and Sabine to take off, I'll take that with Kat," he said, pointing to The Specter and the rest of you in that."
"Excuse me, but I don't believe you're qualified to…" General Parena began to protest.
"Trust him," nearly everyone said together. General Parena looked at Tommy as he moved toward the Specter with the confident swagger of an ace pilot. She let out a shaky breath she didn't realize she was holding, and jogged over to The Eclipse as Hera and the others boarded it. She looked over her shoulder as Tommy leapt into the air and landed gracefully in the pilot's seat. A brief moment later, the canopy hatch lowered and sealed them in.
"Are you sure you can fly this thing?" Kat asked as the engines of The Specter came to life, causing the craft to shudder slightly.
"The Force will guide me, man, this thing's engines seem a bit big for it," he said as he eased the power up on the repulsors and moved the craft through the opening in the ceiling. As soon as the craft cleared the opening, Tommy switched to the main engines and moved the throttle forward with his left hand as he eased back on the control yoke with his right.
"Whoa!" Kat said as the Specter shot forward without even the slightest lurch and threw her back in her seat. She looked back and saw The Eclipse beginning its skyward ascent. She looked across the lake and saw the Ghost closing fast. "We did it," she said just before a series of beeps sounded in the cockpit.
"Heads up back there, we've got incoming. Looks like a flight of four TIE fighters," Tommy said as he banked hard to starboard, angling The Specter to meet the oncoming TIEs head-on. Tommy let loose with a quick burst, shredding one of the oncoming TIEs. He then rolled the stealth fighter into an inverted position and through it into a dive, pulling G's that would have ripped any plane from Earth apart in seconds. As he righted the fighter, he got a look at the remaining TIEs, one had bent wings unlike the straight octagonal wings of the other TIEs. "Vader."
"What about him?"
"He's in that one," Tommy replied as one of the TIEs moved in behind him. Sensing the danger, Tommy pulled back hard on the throttle and the control yoke, sharply slowing the Specter and pitching it up into a vertical climb. He then slammed the throttle back to full power, throwing the nimble craft into a tight loop when the nose of the craft came level with the rear of the TIE, a quick volley was all it took.
"Warn me before you do that next time," Kat said, her stomach feeling as if it were still mid-loop.
"Sorry," he said as he turned and twisted and turned, causing the third TIE to overshoot. Another rake of bolts from The Specter's main guns turned it into a fireball. "Where's Vader?" he thought. A moment later, a tremor in The Force moved him to action. He pitched The Specter's portside and pulled hard on the yoke, narrowly dodging a stream of blaster fire from Vader's personal TIE fighter.
"That was too close," Kat said as she twisted in her seat, looking over her shoulders, desperately trying to find Vader. "He's still on us!" she shouted.
"I know! I know!" Tommy pitched The Specter on its Starboard side, then left again, right again, then into an inverted dive, but Vader stayed with him. The two began to twist and roll, each trying to gain a firing position. "Kat, what's this thing loaded with?"
"Uh, hang on, my stomach is still three rolls back," Kat replied as she fought off her nausea. "Four proton torpedoes, and one proton bomb."
"Alright, I've got an idea, mark the power reactor."
"Done, but what are you going to do?" Kat asked as Tommy cut the throttle and rolled, causing Vader to overshoot and pass just under their canopy mid-roll. Kat gasped as Tommy broke from the dogfight, andl of the fighter's spare power went to the engines. Kat looked back as Vader turned his fighter and moved to follow.
"I think we might be faster than him now."
"Good, can you select the proton bomb?"
"Yeah, what are you going to do? I have to aim the thing from back here," she said as a display screen near her lap lit up a bright green cross hair at the center of it, indicating where the bomb would land.
"Get ready," he said as they closed back in on the facility. "I'm going to dive bomb the facility, and you're going to drop that bomb, right down the vent shaft." Without further warning, Tommy pulled up and rolled back over into a power dive. He twisted again so that if he pulled back on the yoke, he would go back in the direction he had been flying before. "How are we looking?"
"The angle's good," she said, her hand moving to the vertical handle with the trigger to the bomb's release mechanism.
"Wait for it, wait for it," Tommy said, sensing her actions. "Just a little closer," he thought as he sensed Vader closing in, almost in firing range. "Now, Kat, now!" he said as he pulled back hard on the throttle, cutting as much speed as he could. Kat pressed the button, releasing the bomb directly over the center of the reactor core's vent shaft.
"Bombs away!" Kat yelled. Tommy pulled back hard on the yoke, pulling the Specter out of the dive, then pushed the throttle back to full. The explosion from the reactor filled the air debris from the blast collided with Vader's TIE fighter as he pulled out of his dive. Kat looked over her shoulder and saw the advanced TIE fighter pitch wildly, a plume of black smoke trailing it like a snake. "Looks like the blast damaged Vader's fighter, hopefully we've seen the last of him."
"I wouldn't count on it," Tommy said as The Specter climbed through the Skies of Krabreah 5. "Jason, Billy, do you read me?"
"We read you, Tommy, what's keeping you two?" Jason replied.
"We ran into an old friend, but managed to destroy that facility," Kat replied. "What's your status?"
"Morphinominal work, guys!" Billy replied excitedly. "We made the jump to hyperspace. What about yours?"
"Breaking Kabreah 5's atmosphere now, and calculating our jump. We'll see you back at the fleet," Tommy said as the nav computer finished its calculations. Tommy reached over to a smaller secondary throttle and pushed it forward, activating The Specter's hyperdrive engine, and sending the stars into streaks as they gave way to the waving, fluctuating blues of hyperspace.
