Beyond - Legends Before - Legends Saga - Legends Whiskers' One-Shots - Updated 8/25 w/ Chasing Ghosts (Late 2016 OC Challenge Response)

Oops, I'm late reading this again, and I missed not one but two entries!

Han Solo and the Ash Beast of C1360

Nice to see pre-OT Han and Chewie in their pre-Falcon days! And they're already dealing with a ship that has some... pieces falling off, so I guess it counts as training for what is to come

I loved the contrast between Han's and Chewie's reactions to the predator -- of course Chewbacca would hunt it, and of course he'd complain that "a certain smuggler was keeping him awake", and of course he'd want it for a trophy for Malla!

And jeez, poor Han always made business with Jabba types, didn't he? And then, it's Chewie paying the price. That Wookiee is just too good to be true

Young Jedi Knights: Training Flight

Nice portrayal of Jaina's youthful enthusiasm about flying here, and her unspoken competition with Wurth Skidder Plus, I just re-read the X-Wing novels, and it was nice to read a good Stackpole-style Force-enhanced dogfight.

If I were Jaina I would feel triumphant right now, having beaten my personal best for the circuit and come on top in the test between her and Wurth, but somehow I suspect that things aren't quite that simple. And I also suspect that Jacen's walk in the forest has something to do with it

So I'll just be sitting over here, waiting for what comes next...

 

Wonderful characterizations! Your Jaina is pure Solo! Looking forward to Jacen's adventures being revealed.

 

Memories and Thoughts of the Future completed.
Very nice one. This semi-dialogue between Artoo and Obi-Wan was refreshing and could have been a deleted scene from A New Hope ^^
I almost heard Alec McGuiness' voice (RIP).
Keep going!

 

The Bria was somehow even more temperamental than the Falcon, and was certainly great practice for the notoriously stubborn Falcon.

I wanted that contrast to show, both to show the differences in their personalities, but also the difference between humans and Wookiees. The hunting and skinning it to make a gift for his beloved was also a bit of the more Wookiee culture showing through.

It wouldn't be Han if he wasn't getting into trouble. For such a good smuggler he always seemed to rub the other underworld people the wrong way. At least Han can be thankful that the Vigo he had to cross wasn't Xizor...

Stackpole and the X-Wing novels/games were an obvious influence for this, even down to having Corran from the novels and Keyan from the game being the instructors. It also occurred to me that while I had written an X-wing short before, it was missing the actual X-wings!

Beating a personal record is always a good feeling, as is besting an older and quite a braggart of a fellow Jedi pilot. As for Jacen's walk... Well, that's a story for another time.

I'm not one to post sequels so close to the original short, but I did write a couple of them while participating in NaNoWriMo. I'll have to stagger them somewhat.

Jaina was always the one that took after her father, her brother's copying of his grin notwithstanding. I loved writing her in the seat of an X-wing, shooting down drones and evading "enemy" fighters, so I'm glad that others loved reading it.

Ever since I saw The Phantom Menace, I had it in my mind that Kenobi had to have recognized Artoo back on Tatooine and kept it hidden from Luke. With that said, why not have them talking with each other on board the Falcon when everyone else has turned in; especially Threepio?

Thanks for reading, all of you!

 

Title: Rebirth: An ANH Infinities Tale
Characters: Admiral Gial Ackbar, Garm Bel Iblis
Summary: After the execution of Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar has some very difficult decisions to make.

***

Gial Ackbar could only stand and watch as his long time ally died. The Mon Calamari admiral stood in front of the HoloNet receiver as the Emperor announced the sentence and remained silent as he watched the dark-armored demon that was Darth Vader approach Mon Mothma. A collective gasp reverberated through the room as the red-bladed lightsaber sliced through her neck and the gathered crowd at the Coruscanti execution site cheered.

His offset eyes never left the screen even as Darth Vader held the severed head aloft for the assembled crowd and the entire galaxy to see. The Emperor cackled on, boasting to the crowd once again that this was the only result of resistance. When the broadcast ended, Ackbar finally allowed himself to turn around.

Mon Mothma had been a force in the Rebellion, one of the three main drivers that unified the various resistance groups into a central Alliance to Restore the Republic. It was her starfighters that had freed him from a life of slavery under the heels of Grand Moff Tarkin. And now she had joined Bail Organa in whatever lay beyond the other shore.

Ackbar turned to his crew. They wore outward the same emotions and feelings that he was doing his best to hide. Slumped down into their chairs, head facing the floor, they appeared as if their entire spawn pool had been wiped out. He walked over to his communications officer, the young Mon Cal that had never known life before the Empire had taken over but had joined their cause anyway. He laid a flippered hand across the lad's shoulder.

"Contact the captains in the fleet," Ackbar ordered. His own gravelly voice was low with grief. "Tell them to meet with me tomorrow aboard Home One."

The officer wordlessly nodded and complied. "And get me the other admirals: Drayson, Burke, Krane, Wentlas and Toka." Ackbar paused for the briefest of moments, another name edging from his brain to his thick tongue. The man had left the Alliance just recently, suspicious of the way that he felt that Mon Mothma was leading them. Ackbar cleared his throat. "And get me Bel Iblis..."

The fleet's seven captains sat in the main briefing room of Home One, each of the over half dozen Mon Calamari deep into their own grief and show. They sat silently in the front row of the semi-circular amphitheater, barely even looking at each other.

Ackbar walked into the briefing room, ignoring the common naval tradition of having his arrival announced. His captains straightened as he entered, sitting at attention. Ackbar could name every single one of the captains and had known the majority of them since the Clone Wars, when the Quarren Isolation League had attempted their coup upon the two species' mutual home planet. Already he could estimate where each of them stood on the matter: Ackyos would recommend caution bordering on non-commitment while Seekara already had his small, winged MC80 ready for all out war.

"Captains, I know that all of you have seen the latest developments on the HoloNews, but I will reiterate. Operation Skyhook, though successful in retrieving the plans for the Death Star has failed in its secondary objective: destruction of the base itself. In battle over our base on the fourth moon of Yavin, our starfighters failed to exploit the weakness found. The base was destroyed by the Death Star and numerous Alliance personnel captured, including Mon Mothma and Princess Leia Organa."

The looks on the faces of the assembled captains showed him that they had all heard and seen this information before. The best that he could do, however, was to finish and squash any scuttlebutt that had no doubt been spreading like Siacarp aboard all of their ships. "Organa appears to be a political prisoner of the Emperor and Darth Vader, judging by the HoloNet footage. Mon Mothma has been executed, along with Jan Dodonna, Vanden Willard and others." Ackbar paused and surveyed his captains. "Are there any questions?"

Kalback stood. "What are we going to do about the Empire?"

Ackbar nodded at the captain, the spines on his chin jiggling with the movement. "I have contacted the other admirals in the Alliance to gauge their own feelings. By the end of this week, I'll be able to see what kind of resistance we will be able to put up."

"You mean to keep fighting?" Ackyos asked.

Ackbar stood resolute. "I mean to never have the yoke of slavery around the neck of any of our kind again. The people of Dac have already earned their freedom from the Empire, paid in their blood, and I would die before the Empire ever takes our world back." Even the most cynical of Ackbar's captains couldn't help but cheer. "Nor would I allow any other sentient being to suffer under such a cruel fate." He turned to his captains. "I want to know if you and your ships are with me. We may have to go back to just hitting supply convoys and small fleets before fading away, but we will keep fighting."

Ackbar paced around the blank holoemitter. "I won't lie and say that this won't be far more dangerous than what we've been doing. No being aboard any of the ships in my fleet will be forced to fight with us. Go to your crews and tell them what I mean to do. All those that wish to step away will be allowed to leave and transportation will be provided to the nearest inhabitable planet."

The hot springs inspired aquarium inside of Ackbar's quarters provided the stressed admiral only a modicum of relief. He reclined in the water, neck just above the top as his submerged lower body undulated just enough to keep his head above water. The captains in the meeting had all looked up to him, thinking that his renowned tactical genius would allow him to pull the struggling Alliance back together and achieve the righteous victory that they all knew he was capable of. Ackbar allowed his head to go under the waterline and breathed deeply into the oxygen rich water. The truth was that he was the commander in name only of a group of demoralized and near breaking beings that stood against an Empire that had just achieved a major victory both militarily and publicly.

Most of his own fleet's crew had elected to stay and fight, each of them knowing the full evils of the Empire during their subjugation and enslavement of their kind, but Ackbar had no idea what the others would say. Wentlas' fleet was the one that worried him the most. Made up mostly of Alderaanians, the majority of his captains and crew had been struck by tragedy twice in the span of a month. The destruction of their homeworld combined with Mothma's death would galvanize some, but would cause others to simply give up. The next few days, as each of the admirals that he contacted would poll their own crew, would be the most critical.

"Admiral, we've gotten word from Senator Bel Iblis." The words sounded from his personal com, forcing Ackbar's head above the water.

"Let the Senator know that I am on my way!" The admiral pulled himself out of his aquarium and dressed in his water resistant uniform before leaving for the communications room.

Former Republic and Imperial Senator Garm Bel Iblis stood in holographic form as Ackbar arrived. The Corellian human was tall, with graying hair that went past his shoulders. "Admiral Ackbar, it's good to be able to speak with you again," Bel Iblis said. "Especially in such trying times."

"I know how you felt about Mon Mothma, Senator, but allow me to express my condolences at the death of another member of the triumvirate."

Bel Iblis gave a weary smile and nodded. "I was worried that Mon Mothma would overthrow the Empire only to set herself up as Empress when it was all over, but I still mourn her loss. No one should have to die that way."

"I got in contact with the rest of our fleet, Senator. The admirals are willing to fight, but it's up to their captains and crews."

Bel Iblis's legs moved as if he were pacing wherever the human was. "And you're here to ask me to lend my support?"

Ackbar straightened. "Yes. The corvettes and frigates you have would make an excellent addition to our forces."

A sigh escaped from Garm's lips. "Gial, you've been a friend to all of us in the Alliance ever since you joined us." The senator shook his head strongly. "The time for centralizing our forces is over. You've seen Princess Organa at the side of the Empire, who knows what secrets she's divulged to them."

"I cannot believe that the Princess would turn traitor."

"Believe it or not, but take precautions against it. She's still alive while Mon Mothma and several of our generals aren't and I can't fathom why."

Ackbar lowered his head, the truth of the words a dagger inside of his heart. "We'll have to change our rendezvous points, then. The Princess knows them."

"It's time to go back to hit and run attacks, Gial. We'll get another shot at this, I can feel it in my gut. Until then, it's time to lay low. May the Force be with, admiral."

***

"I have spoken with Senator Garm Bel Iblis, admirals, and he has advised us to lay low." The gathered holographic images of the admirals murmured around the central dais where Ackbar stood.

"What are we going to do?" Toka said from his Mon Calarami cruiser in orbit above Talay.

"Go back to the hit and run attacks like you said?" Admiral Drayson said, the balding Chandrillian had a surprised look upon his face.

"As the closest thing that the Alliance has to a leader," Ackbar said. He slumped slightly and rubbed at his sloped forehead. "I am hereby disbanding the Alliance to Restore the Republic." The murmurs graduated to outright pandemonium as every admiral took the bad news their own way.

"You will go back to your home systems if you wish, and wait until the time is right."

"And what about us, Admiral?" Galen Wentlas's Coruscanti-accent was tinged from decades of living on Alderaan. "I've got 5,000 people in my fleet that don't have homes to go to, thanks to the Empire."

"You may go to your home systems or you may continue the fight in your own way," Ackbar continued. "My own fleet will keep fighting, and it's your own decision to do so or not." He looked over the other admirals. "The Empire is powerful, far more than we were able to predict, but it will fall and we will one day return the Republic to power, but it's not today."

The meeting ended an hour later, each of the admirals predictably deciding to remain fighting on their own terms. Ackbar fell into his command chair as the last holographic image faded. He had been in the galaxy for four decades, middle-aged for his species, but he suddenly felt twice that age.

"Admiral, are you all right?" Captain Seldoon was beside him, followed closely by an aide.

"I'm just tired, captain, that's all." Ackbar stood up and walked out of the office and onto the bridge of his flagship. "Take us to the Dac system," he told the helmsman, who immediately began running the fleet's navicomputer to calculate the jump. "Captain, I want you to find beings who know Imperial shipping routes near Jabiim, we'll strike there first."


"Aye, admiral!" Seldoon walked off of the bridge as Ackbar gazed out the viewport. One by one, the ships in his fleet accelerated to lightspeed before the stars elongated in front of him.

***

Spoiler: Notes

* This story is a sequel to Dignity, the very first story in this compilation thread.
* Most of the other admirals are from various other Legends continuity sources with the exception of Galen Wentlas, who is an OC of mine that's shown up a lot.
* Though it was supposed to happen a bit later, I sped up the departure of Garm Bel Iblis to provide a bit more drama. Consider that the first actual divergence point in the timeline.
* The idea for Ackbar having a large aquarium in his quarters for him to bathe in comes from Cha Niathal's character in the Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi novels.
* Siacarp is a reference to a local pest/invasive species in the Asian carp.
* And, yes, I am just as surprised as anyone that the ANH Infinities comic said absolutely nothing about anyone other than Luke, Han and Leia on the rebels side. I'm not even sure that it was confirmed on page that Wedge and Keyan were killed or managed to escape.

 

whiskers - that was a terrific sequel to the vignette about Mothma. Ackbar's characterization was brilliantly handled: combining resolve with almost resignation or at the very least a holding pattern or small assaults versus an all-out one. It is a very plausible scenario when both tactical and psychological leaders at the forefront have been removed, one way or another.

It was a very good strategy re-involving Bel Iblis. Also in allowing the other captains/admirals to make their own decisions without reprisals.

 

I'll do full replies later, but there is something that I've noticed lately:

This has been happening to me over the past month, usually only on stories passing the 10k character mark. I do my editing on my Word document, so they often slip through, and for that, I'm sorry. I don't know if it has anything to do with my Word program or something inherent to the boards themselves, but I'll try to remain more vigilant towards them in the future.

 

There's a lot of resolve and resignation going on at various rebel bases and ships and each and every rebel has to make their decisions about what they're going to do. Ackbar chose to fight and he chose to go back to the hit and run attacks of earlier days. Of course there will be Rebels who decide on suicidal attacks and they obviously won't last long.

It was well worth the attempt, especially since he has a third of the entire rebellion's forces at his disposal and he's already gone off to do his own thing, thus being completely unscathed from the debacle that was Yavin in this timeline. As for disbanding the Alliance and letting the other admirals conduct their missions at their own discretion is good for several other reasons: one, the more centralized Alliance is now going to be a very big target for the Empire to find rather than several small fleets. There's also the fact that the logistics of having a large fleet at such a time would be a nightmare.

He has a lot of lives depending upon him, and not just the ones in his immediate fleet. Fun fact is, this was originally planned out to be from Admiral Galen Wentlas' point of view, before I decided that Ackbar would be a much better story.

Part of the reasons why I wrote this was because they were never even mentioned in the comic series, so I thought that there were a lot of stories to be told. The rebellion being demoralized is certainly a given, considering that the Empire found and killed two of their leaders in the span of a week (well, Mothma was killed later, but her fate had been sealed the second that the Empire captured her). It's fun to imagine what they'd be going through, the emotion and whatnot.

In a way it was. It's certainly what Ackbar is going to do, but he can't support such a centralized rebellion at the moment. It's not hard to imagine that Ackbar would have been trying to subtly convince the other admirals that this was the wisest thing to do.

This is the only sequel to the AU that's been published, but I am finishing up writing another one. It might be a little while before it's published, however. I'd also love to do a Crix Madine fic in this universe, especially since he's still technically in the Empire despite already providing intel (and meeting up with Rebellion leaders while on leave).

Thank you both for reading, I certainly appreciate it!

 

Very interesting story! I don't think I've ever read one from Ackbar's pov. You can really see the despair and demoralization brought about by Mon Mothma's execution, so public and so brutal. But then, that kind of an execution is specifically done to invoke demoralization.

This is a very different, very dark rebellion and I wonder how close to TFA this will be.

 

Palpatine wanted this very thing to happen, to cause what survivors of the rebellion that there were to lay down their weapons and stop. The problem is not as many beings actually did that, he's taken far too much away from some to make them able to give up.

As for Ackbar, he was really interesting to write, but fun!

It is a very dark rebellion, and it may only get darker. Leia may be close to turning to the dark side and what exactly does she know?

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

 

I've just read "X-Wing: The Three Who Lived".
Nice scene mixing joy of being alive and sadness of lost friends.
The atmosphere is well rendered. We can feel the camaraderie between the three survivors.
Very enjoyable

 

Thank you. It certainly was a fun story to write, with four very similar yet different characters to get into the heads of, even though only Luke's the only POV. The atmosphere of that so very thin line of being happy about surviving while realizing that several people you knew (or didn't get the chance to know, in Luke's case) was certainly something that I wanted to get across.

Thanks for reading!

 

Title: The Rain-Soaked Reign
Characters: Lumiya, Flint, Anakin Skywalker
Timeframe: Beyond the Saga, Weeks after Return of the Jedi
Summary: Upon learning of the death of her master, Darth Vader, Lumiya returns to his castle on Vjun and encounters Vader's other apprentice.

***

Darth Vader's castle rose upward from the rocks of Vjun, a round durasteel shell with a large spire extending nearly 100 meters into the air. Kilometers away, the windows of her shuttlecraft constantly peppered by the acidic rain, Lumiya could feel the strength of the dark side around the fortress. On the huge landing pad in front of the keep, another Imperial shuttle sat docked. Flint had already arrived.

"You won't find what you really need here, Shira." The light voice echoed behind her, cloaked in an accent that was angrily familiar.

She closed her green eyes and focused on her anger and rage. No spirit would dissuade her. "I've told you to leave me."

The spectral blue figure moved beside her, clad in a light tan tunic and wrapped in a brown robe. Light brown hair fell across his strong jaw, the spiritual remains of a scar above his right eye. "Not until I've made amends. I steered you down the wrong path, Shira, but it's not too late to come back. Look at me."

"You named me Lumiya," she said with a growl. "You named me and you trained me and there is nothing to 'amend', Vader!" She turned around and directed a blast of Force energy towards the ghost. The shuttle rocked as the wave passed straight through him.

"You can't kill me, Shira," Anakin said. "I'm already dead."

"Then be a good corpse and shut up."

The consistency of the spirit began fading away. "We all have to make our own decisions, Shira. I made mine, and you have to make yours."

Her attention returned to the controls of her shuttle as Vader's spirit left her alone. He had appeared once before, on the first night after she left Ziost, begging and pleading with her like a weakling to return to the light. She had ignored him them, tossing and turning in her cot while pretending the whole while to not hear his words. Eventually he must have bored himself and left.

The shuttle sat down next to the other landing craft on the pad. Lumiya walked down the ramp of the vessel, pulling the Force within her to provide a bubble of protection against the rain that fell in puddles around her. The large durasteel double doors of the palace rose above her, all five meters of the height filled with intricate carvings of Sith runes.

She focused upon the seams of the doors, the Force substituting for her metallic fingers as it locked against both sides of the entrance. With a rending gesture and far more effort through the Force that she would have liked to admit, the two doors separated enough for her to enter.

Metal boots echoed down the long hallways of the abandoned palace as Lumiya headed to the central room of the castle. Her eyes were closed, focusing on the Force and the other life that she felt.

The final door opened into a large chamber several meters long and at least two stories tall. A transparisteel window spanned the length and height of the opposite wall, the setting Vjun sun shining through. A large statue of Darth Vader himself stood larger than the Sith Lord had ever stood in life, or death. A black fabric cape fluttered in the small breeze of the environmental controls, covering the dark material that made the statue itself.

A cloaked figure stood in front of the stature, gazing up at the perfect likeness. "I expected you to come here, Shira." The man never moved and continued his vigil. "Were you called here as I was? It was like a beacon of the dark side itself that brought me here."

"Shira is dead,Flint." Lumiya undid the fabric veil across her face, exposing the red scars on her jaw. "I am called Lumiya now." She expected Flint to correct her, telling her to call him by some other title and renouncing his birth name just as she had just done. He was the whelp of a Jedi who had sired him upon some wench grateful for the liberation of her planet. By the time that Flint was born, the Jedi was long gone, having left and did what Jedi did best during the Clone Wars: be killed.

"They're both gone," was the only thing thatFlintsaid. "Vader, the Emperor. Both dead."

"We're the only ones left, then," Lumiya said. " 'Only two shall there be. One to embody power and the other to crave it.'"

Flint pulled the cloak's hood off of his head, freeing his short black hair and turned to face Lumiya. A gasp nearly escaped her lips as she saw the glint of gray metal armor underneath his robe. Flint was young, barely out of his teens. His blue eyes drilled through her defenses as he shrugged the robe off of himself.

"Who do you have in mind being the one embodying power, then?" With one hand, he gestured towards the base of the statue, calling an old-styled helmet to his hands. It was a sleek oval with a large visor divided by a metal beam crossing over the nose. Two horns pointed downwards on both sides. Flint pulled the helmet over his head, sealing it to the rest of his armor with a hissing click.

Lumiya secured the veil back to her large headdress and removed the lightwhip from her belt. With a flip of a wrist, the lengths of Mandalorian iron and studded leather straps uncoiled themselves on the floor. "Me," she said. She swung her arm around, gathering momentum for the whip as she thumbed the ignition switch. A separate strand of energy sprang from the emitter, just as flexible as the other components of the whip.

Flint dodged her first attack, any surprised on his face well concealed by his helm. A red beam of energy emerged from the hilt of his own blade. He stood well outside of her reach, dodging back with every single shuffle forward that she made. The statue of their mutual master stood over the fight,Flint maneuvering around to use the large legs and base to limit the lightwhip.

A snarl escaped from Lumiya's lips as Flint ducked a shortened crack of the whip, the strand of iron carving a scar into the statue's legs. She closed some of the distance, flexing her wrist and sending a wave of momentum through the whip's length. The studded end of one of the several leather strands snapped upwards, catching Flint's cape and shredding it off of him.

The male dark Jedi made his move, the Force screaming as he jumped at a height that no normal human could muster and land on the base. He rebounded off of the stone, bringing his blade down towards Lumiya in an overheard arc. She sidestepped the maneuver, bringing a hand up and shoving towards his back. The Force added to Flint's own momentum, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Lumiya didn't relent and brought her whip up and around her head and then out. The serpentine energy blade lashed away from her and coiled around her opponent's armored calf. The armor groaned in resistance to the energy beam wrapped around it, hissing and burning. With a tug, Flint was thrown back onto his stomach, the energy snake loosening. Lumiya snarled in anger. Phrik. If it would have been made of plain durasteel, the armor would have given way and the flesh and bone underneath it along with it. Like her own armor, it had been made of a lightsaber resistant alloy that only served to prolong the fight.

"Give up, Flint, I'm already more powerful that you ever will be!" She swung the lightwhip down, the metal cable slamming forcefully down onto the floor where Flint had been just a second previously.

The dark Jedi kipped up, throwing his legs up and using that momentum to regain his footing. He raced towards his opponent, leaping over a weak side arc and closing fast. Lumiya raced her empty palm towards him and could feel the Force begin to gather around his free hand as he moved to counter the push. Lumiya focused upon the Force, calling it not to slam into Flint, but to move the hidden switch deep inside of her prosthetic hand. An orange beam of energy fired from the concealed blaster in her palm, slamming into and through the armor's breastplate.

Flint slammed to the ground hard, lightsaber deactivating as it rolled away to the base of the statue of Darth Vader. Lumiya dropped her own lightwhip, and pointed both palms towards her injured opponent. "There's two of them, now yield!" The helmed head nodded in agreement.

Lumiya stood, her tired body radiating with satisfaction. Flint rose to his knees and raised the helmet from his head. Sweat dripped down his brow and further still, dripping to the durasteel floor below him. "I pledge myself to your teachings," he panted.

The Dark Lady of the Sith removed her veil and headdress, the still original portions of her face flushed red from exertion. "I shall teach and you shall learn," she said. The words mimicked what Adas' holocron had said to her during her learning expedition to the Sith world of Ziost. Her footsteps took her to the large window overlooking a gigantic canyon. Flint followed her, retrieving his lightsaber and placing it upon his belt. Lumiya sensed the movement and allowed him to approach. He wouldn't betray her yet, not when he had just been so thoroughly humiliated.

"The rebels believe that they have won," she said. "They must continue under that illusion until we're ready."

"Yes, Master,"Flint replied. His tone was even, accepting of her authority.

The sun had completely set beyond the dark clouds on the horizon, casting the darkness of night throughout the valley below. "I will head to Coruscant and acquire the ships that we'll need." She turned to her apprentice. "As for you, stay here and train until I return. Vader had a Holocron here when I was training, it should still be here."


Flint walked away, headed for the living quarters of the fortress. Lumiya walked back to the large statue of the former owner of the fortress, gazing towards his mask. "You have regrets, do you, Master?" She laughed, adding to her already mocking tone. "I have them, too, and unlike you I will rectify them. Your precious son will die by my hand." Her artificial arms clutched at her replaced legs, metal jaw clenching tightly. "And I will pay him back in full for what he did to me."

***

Spoiler: Author's Notes

* Bast Castle first appeared in the comic book Dark Empire II and later appeared in the video game Jedi Academy and the children's book Junior Jedi Knights. The layout is primarily based off of the Jedi Academy levels, being the most recent work that I have that features it.

* Having the Force spirit of Anakin appear and try to dissuade one of his pupils from the path he led them on is somewhat based off of the appearances of the ghosts of Luke, Mara and Anakin in the Legacy comic book series.

* Both Flint and Lumiya are from the original Marvel comics series.

* Flint's father (also named Flint) was only mentioned in an Insider article as one of the many Jedi victims of Grievous when the cyborg general opened fire on refugee ships fleeing Belderon, as shown in Labyrinth of Evil.

* The hidden blasters in Lumiya's hands came from her first post-cyborg appearance. They hardly ever came up again.

* Lumiya's gathering of a fleet from Ysanne Isard is mentioned in Dark Star of the Empire, an article in Star Wars Galaxy magazine.

 

What a compelling title and riveting contest for dominance.

 

I thought that a somewhat alliterative name would be catchy, and the action taking place on Vjun and involving the ascension of a Dark Lady of the Sith just led to it. I was actually kind of worried about the fight scene and how it'd be received. It was the first relatively competitive "lightsaber" fight that I've written in a long while and it involved a non-standard weapon in Lumiya's lightwhip. So, I'm glad that you liked it. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Everyone, I also updated the table of contents up front. Please leave any comments for improving it, if you wish.

 

Title: Rogue Squadron: Ground Support
Characters: Luke Skywalker
Timeline: 1 ABY, approximately 1 month following the N64/PC Rogue Squadron video game.
Summary: While on duty on a desert planet, the Rogues are assigned to protect Rebel ground troops during an Imperial attack!

*

Twelve Y-wings skimmed the barren surface, the bulky assault fighters dodging sand dunes and throwing clouds of the desert behind them. The twin engine craft formed a wedge behind the two leads, five each of the other pilots in a diagonal line.

Luke Skywalker eased back on the flight stick as R2-D2 warbled a warning from the astromech slot behind him, the translation of the droid's binary language appearing on the screen in front of the young pilot. TEN KILOMETERS TO TARGET.

Rogue Leader relayed the information to the rest of the elite squadron as the group began to climb steadily. Up ahead, a large ridge rose from the desert sands, red rocks cut over millions of years into a sight that trillions of beings in the galaxy would find beautiful. Luke could only be reminded of his home world, the desert planet of Tatooine.

"Copy that, Rogue Leader," Kasan Moor's voice reported in. She was a relatively recent addition to the squadron, an Imperial ace from Alderaan that had defected after the Empire's dreaded Death Star had destroyed the world. Luke looked behind him to the first Y-wing that was trailing Wedge's, where Tycho Celchu followed. Moor's and Celchu's tales were becoming increasingly common throughout the Alliance.

Their assignment on Javecob had been a boring one until a week previously, when the Empire finally launched a massive counterattack on Alliance fortifications that had been hard one in the first place. Now a day hadn't passed without Rogue Squadron being sent out for some sort of mission.

"Break into your flights," Luke said. Four groups of three fighters each separated from the triangle, led by Luke, Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu and Kasan Moor. The twelve fighters spread out over the area, over five meters separating one ion jet engine from another.

"Rogues Three and Seven, keep an eye out for fighters." Wedge Antilles acknowledged his orders, followed shortly by Kasan. "Rogue Five, your flight is with mine. Let the troops deal with the infantry, focus on the hovertanks and walkers." Tycho's fighters followed Luke's as they continued to skim the ground as Wedge and Kasan sent their flights in a steep climb.

Their objective was visible on the horizon, the shimmering half circle of a defensive shield three kilometers away. Red flashes of blaster fire shot from one end of the battle and were answered in kind. Two legged scout walkers exchanged fire with blaster cannon emplacements while Imperial hovertanks encroached upon Alliance trenches.

"Rogue Leader, did the boys on the ground prioritize targets?" Tarrin Datch pulled his fighter closer to Luke's, the young pilot looking through his transparisteel cockpit at him.

"Negative, Rogue Ten." Luke surveyed the battle ahead. "Pick your own targets, but watch them. Don't let any of them get too close to that shield."

"Copy, Rogue Leader." The Y-wings broke their formation, each heading for their own targets. Luke maintained his straight ahead course, adjusting the triangular cockpit of the Y-wing towards the boxy head cabin of an AT-ST. The scout walker never noticed Skywalker, the two crewmembers too preoccupied with the rebels in front of them.

Luke pulled the trigger on the flight stick and again, released two bursts of fire-linked laser cannon bolts. The two shots exploded as they impacted upon the side of the walker, chewing deep holes into the hull and igniting the stored concussion missiles on the starboard side. As Luke pulled up and away from his attack run, he watched as the resulting explosions blew the hatch and the transparisteel viewports out, a torrent of sparking fire pouring out of the openings.

Rolling his fighter around and climbing, Luke switched the firing mode on his control yoke to the more powerful proton torpedoes. Of the twelve Y-wings in Rogue Squadron, only Tycho's flight had been outfitted for bombing, something the pilot was making great use of, Luke could hear. Skywalker scanned the horizon and saw a small cluster of Rothana-constructed hovertanks near the first level of Alliance dugouts. The thin-bodied tank was supported on both sides by two wing shaped outcroppings. Beam cannons situated at the top of the craft fired long laser lances at the trenches, kicking up dirt and smoke.

He closed his eyes as he dived towards them, finger resting gently on the trigger, reaching out with the Force to judge the exact right time to fire. Now. The thought was clear inside of his brain, finger squeezing the controls delicately. He opened his eyes and watched as the two proton torpedoes sped towards their target, the light and smoke from their rockets leaving afterimages in his eyes. The missiles slammed into the middle of the formation, the explosion of dirt quickly replaced by an eruption of flame that decommissioned the hovertanks. The survivors poured out of their damaged tank and took shelter behind the crashed hulls, no threat to anyone anymore.

"Looks like we've got their attention!" Barlon Hightower's voice was accentuated by several of the scout walkers turning their massive frames towards the newcomers.

"Copy, Rogue Nine," several voices said at once.

"Watch yourselves, Rogues," Luke said. The Force sent his arm rolling to the left, snapping his Y-wing onto its axis as a walker in front of him fired off a shot in his direction. "Lock onto him, Artoo," he said. The droid beeped in an affirmative and the targeting reticule shifted from yellow to red. Luke fired the missile and banked his craft away from his attack run, not needing any visual verification that his target would be hit.

"Sithspit, I'm hit!" a female voice with a Twi'lek accent cried out. Luke turned his fighter around and watched as Ardana Cinn's Y-wing spun out of control, the pilot inside fighting with the craft to keep it steady long enough to eject. There was no time for anything other than the quick glance as Luke steadied his fighter for another strafing run on a squadron of hovertanks.

"Rogue Six is clear!" Hobbie's usually dour voice lowered quickly. "It's not looking good for her, though... She's got a whole platoon of bucketheads coming her way."

Luke gritted his teeth and aborted his strafing run, soaring his Y-wing higher into the sky until he could get a good look at the battlefield. Cinn's fighter was a smoking crater on the ground half a click away from the nearest Imperial presence: the large rolling slab of durasteel that was a Juggernaut turbo tank. Inside his mind he could already see the vehicles complement of stormtroopers rolling out from their hatches to take his fellow Rogue prisoner.

"Rogue Five, get in touch with that base and have them get a rescue team ready. Clear the way for them. Rogues Ten and Twelve, you're with me. We're going to take out that Roller." Luke rolled his assault fighter and bemoaned the fact that he'd have to destroy the Juggernaut, for several Alliance bases had managed to salvage several of the armored fighting vehicles and turned them against the very Empire that had constructed them. A Rogue in danger, however, superseded any technological need that the Alliance had.

"Go lasers only," Luke ordered. "I don't want a jammed torpedo hitting Six."

Blaster fire poured from the laser cannons on the nose of Luke's Y-wing, strafing the back of the large wheeled tank. The shots chipped holes into the tough armor, only leaving small smoking craters. Within seconds, the other members of Luke's flight reported the same results. They could eventually whittle away at the top armor, chewing it to holes to enable them at killing the crew inside, but it would take far too long to save Cinn.

"Leader, this is Ten, cover me, I have an idea."

Alarm bells sounded in Luke's head. Datch was always the one to try something that a normal pilot would consider foolish. "What are you planning, Ten?"

"I'm going to try a head on attack and shoot through the viewports."

Luke could only sit in his chair, mouth agape. "You're going to what?" Before Luke could even order Tarrin to stop, the young pilot was already soaring high above the battlefield, getting to a distance to be able to loop around and begin his attack run.

With an amazed shake of his head, Luke turned his fighter to join Datch. "Artoo, set engine power to 25% and put them into the shields. When we go to make our attack run, turn them double front." The astromech droid beeped indignantly and Luke could faintly make out the sound of a metallic claw banging on the hull of his fighter through the astromech's comlink. "I think it's crazy, too, but it just might work."

Luke steered his fighter behind Tarrin's, letting the cocky pilot see if his plan would work or not, and ready at the same time to make an attempt himself if Datch failed. He could see the clear-domed R3-B4 work in the astromech slot, adjusting the shield levels from the look of it.

The enclosed turret of the Juggernaut's main laser cannon opened up, joined in a staccato of green fire that filled the sky. The two assault craft juked and jinked their way in a vague resemblance of a straight line to avoid the blaster fire, Luke's fighter aided by Force-tuned instinct and Tarrin's by blind luck. Tarrin's fighter opened fire, red lasers converging upon the armored transparisteel viewports and blasting clean through them and into the craft. Luke followed the likely crippling shots with a proton torpedo coup de grace that exploded somewhere near the middle of the craft, splaying metal like a musa fruit.

The Juggernaut stopped firing and halted in its tracks, surviving crew members leaping out of open hatches and racing away from the burning vehicle. "I'm not giving half of that to you, Rogue Leader," Datch said with a laugh.

Luke smiled and flew his Y-wing towards a nearing armored personnel carrier. "We got Rogue Six out of danger, that's the important thing." The Empire slowly began to retreat moments later, ground troops that failed to return to their transports in time raising their hands in surrender.


The eleven Rogues still flying circled over the battlefield, Wedge and Kasan Moor telling stories about how they had joined Blue Squadron's B-wings in preventing a squad of TIE bombers from reaching the battlefield. As they protected Cinn's crashed Y-wing, they watched as a small landspeeder raced from the rebel base to pick the uninjured pilot up. Their comrade safe in Alliance hands, the Rogues turned their craft towards the mid-afternoon sun and towards their airbase.

***

Spoiler: Author's Notes

* Coming up with the roster was certainly interesting in trying to blend two eras together somewhat seamlessly. With the board's help, this is what I ended up coming up with:

Spoiler

Rogue Leader: Luke Skywalker
Rogue Two: Zev Senesca
Rogue Three: WedgeAntilles
Rogue Four: Derek "Hobbie" Klivian
Rogue Five: Tycho Celchu
Rogue Six: Ardana Cinn?
Rogue Seven: Kasan Moor
Rogue Eight: Wes Janson
Rogue Nine: Barlon Hightower
Rogue Ten: Tarrin Datch
Rogue Eleven: Dak Ralter
Rogue Twelve:???

Some were obviously not mentioned.

* I wanted a whole North African theater of WWII feeling to this, especially with the flying over the desert.

* The name of the planet is, of course, a portmanteau of the Mojave and Gobi deserts.

* Kasan Moor first appeared in the Rogue Squadron video game and that was primarily her only appearance. My trend of giving love to obscure characters continues!

* Tarrin Datch was played by an extra in Empire Strikes Back and given more life by the author of the ESB radio drama, the great Brian Daley, and in the West End Games sourcebook for Empire Strikes Back.

* The exact balance between how powerful a starfighter's laser cannons would be against walkers was something that initially eluded me. I wanted to verge on them being more powerful than the snowspeeders we see in Empire.

* The Rothana-made hovertanks are TX-130T fighter tanks.

* Luke gets to be awesome using the Force while destroying said hovertanks!

* Barlon Hightower is from the original Marvel comic series.

* The Twi'lek Ardana Sinn is from the Brian Wood Star Wars series.

* The Juggernaut was originally supposed to be an AT-AT, but the above issues with the power level of the blasters led me to switching it up to the smaller vehicle.

* Tarrin Datch gets the bright idea to attack the viewport of Juggernaut as a call forward to his attack in Empire Strikes Back. It didn't work as well in the movie as it did here.

* Fitting for a tale set in the desert, Rogue Squadron does indeed ride off into the sunset.

 

Terrific I really enjoy pilot!Luke fics as much as Jedi!style.

 

Okay, I'm only halfway caught up but here's reviews for some of the things I've read so far:

Dignity

Mon Mothma was a bit of a cipher in the films, and I get the impression that Zahn's subsequent attempts to give her some depth (the whole Bel Iblis feud thing) started the EU on a path of not-very-sympathetic interpretations. So it's neat to see her get her due here, in a way that jibes with what little we know of her public persona. There's an unyielding edge to this Mothma, but as is shown here there are situations where that is an invaluable trait. Liked that even at the last she sees the cracks in the facade -- birds doing what birds will do on the carefully calculated public tributes, the fact that she's sharing a means of execution with others who are heroes to the Rebels, her confidence that her own people will continue the best they can, all of that.

Heroes of a Different Sort

It's interesting to see how the battle droid interprets the occurrences around him; there's little that is emotional in his reactions and it's basically all business right up until the end.

And then there is this revelation, and we begin to wonder exactly how uncomplicated our droid commander's motivations are in the end. It's clear from other examples that droids in the SW universe develop a personality of sorts (whether that is significant or makes them alive is whole 'nother debate that I have seen rage in the Lit Forum, but enough of that ), so now it makes one wonder how much of that thought is programmed. It could be, and could be something else.

 

Playing catch-up AGAIN!

Rebirth

I think that this is the first time I read anything from Ackbar's POV, and since he's one of my favourite minor characters I pounced on the fic as soon as it was up (but of course I failed to review because DRL and all that ).

This is going to sound weird but I loved the imagery of Vader holding out Mon Mothma's head for everyone to see. It reminded me of a bunch of paintings about the French Revolution.

I also loved how Galen Wentlas made an appearance here, because, well, I love that character

Great follow-up to Dignity and great characterisation of Ackbar. I really enjoyed how you went through his thought process but also how you described his alien-ness. You really need to turn this storyline into a long-form story!

The Rain-Soaked Reign

Hurrah, another mini-sequel! I loved The Rising Threat and I loved this one too.

Great description of how sinister Vjun is, and nice contrast with ghost-Anakin. We don't see enough of him.

I like how you portray Lumiya's intrinsic weaknesses in the small details (e.g. the difficulty in getting the doors open) but also her rage-fueled strength. She's just irredeemable

That's another series that could evolve into a full-fledged story *hint hint*

Rogue Squadron: Ground Support

Can I say that this is a misleading title? In a good way -- I was expecting something taking place in a docking bay, not a full-fledged battle, and it was a pleasant surprise.

I really enjoyed seeing Luke and Rogue Squadron piloting Y-wings. They're almost always shown in X-wings, and while I do love those stories, I also want them to multitask.

You conveyed really well the whole Egypt-Libya campaign feeling here. I was wondering if I was making things up until I saw it in your notes.

And, well, great but sad foreshadowing of what will happen to Datch in TESB...

 

I love pilot!Luke as well, and it's not something that you see a whole lot of, at least not regularly. I have to say that I was inspired after playing a lot of the original Rogue Squadron game recently. So, that makes this the third(?) story in this collection inspired by a game.

Mon Mothma is an interesting character that really depends on the perspective of the main character. In some works she comes off as paranoid, some as a kind and pragmatic ruler, another as someone days away from becoming another Emperor. Personally, I just chalk all of that up to how the characters perceive her strong personality.

The cracks in the facade of the Empire was certainly something that I wanted to show. Palpatine is practically cackling like the madman that he is while she remains calm. The great statues of Imperial heroes are soiled by nature, as if the entire galaxy is fighting the cancer of the dark side. And then she dies, publicly and stoically, like so many of her colleagues, defiant to the very end.

I wanted to at least hint at the very question that you and others are asking: how much of 0110's thoughts are programmed into him by his artificial intelligence or is some basic form of sentience at work? We've seen how Artoo and Threepio react and they both are regarded as major characters and I even hint at it in the Jaina Solo fic I have later in the thread when FourKay gets indignant when he's mistaken for Artoo.

With that final line, I personally believe that, despite not having any full emotions as we might understand them, 0110 cares about the droids under his command and not in a tactical way. Your interpretation, of course, may vary.

Ackbar was extremely fun and interesting to write, as I've written before. He provided a unique challenge due to his alien biology and thought process, but I think I was able to do him justice.

The imagery of several post-execution paintings was my inspiration for Vader presenting Mon Mothma's head to the crowd and the galaxy. It presents both an image of brutality and near callousness to the scene, while at the same time showing the people in-universe that she's truly dead, providing finality.

As for Galen, I can only imagine how bad it really is for him, Anya and Alexis at this time. If he thought the destruction of the Resurgence was bad...

Right now, I'm thinking about keeping it a series of short stories, especially since if I were to turn it into a long form story, I'd have to retread on published events, something I'm loathe to do. I'll certainly do missing scenes and the like, but I'm just uncomfortable at the moment with that concept.

If there was one thing the last desperate two weeks of NaNoWriMo was good for, it was for writing sequels to stuff I'd already written. I'd always intended to explore Lumiya some more, though, especially in the eras of her life that never really got explored.

I've been a fan of Vjun ever since Dark Empire II and writing it was an interesting exercise. As for Ghost-Anakin, I kind of see him doing the "Grand Tour" at the moment. He'd probably just been chewed out by Leia as seen in Truce at Bakura and decided on trying to bring one of his many mistakes back to the Light. As you can see (and as a forgone conclusion) he wasn't successful here.

She isn't as strong as she could be and that only fuels her rage. She'll have to rely on that rage in the coming years, as well as learn to use her brain. She's becoming the chessmaster that she was in the Marvel Comics and even more so in Legacy of the Force, but she's still not there.

Once again, on the full-fledged story: this is getting very close to the Marvel comics in which she appears. I may do some vignettes in that timeframe, but I'm certainly going to do at least something with Carnor Jax from Crimson Empire and her.

While there's plenty of room in Rogue Squadron stories for docking bay intrigue and banter, this wasn't the time for one of them!

I love Y-wings, they're slow but the heavy workhouse of the Rebellion. I also agree that Rogues in X-wings have been done many times before, so I wanted to show them in something different for a change. Not to mention that Y-wings are the ideal craft for ground attacks, at least in my opinion.

So much of Star Wars was inspired by WWII films, and the North African theater has generally been neglected, so I thought "why not?"

I think you're thinking about Dak Ralter who died in ESB, not Tarrin Datch who survived.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

 

Title: ANH Infinities: Routine Mission
Characters: Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors
Timeline: Roughly a year after Dignity.
Summary: While on a simple mission for what's left of the rebellion, Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors realize that things aren't as they seem.

***

The Thirsty Turtle flew low through the canyon, its round and flat shape combining with flipper-like engines jutting diagonally from the front of the craft looking very much like the hard shelled creature that lent the craft its name.

"I don't get why we couldn't have used the Crow for this..." Kyle Katarn sat in the copilot's seat in the large cockpit, a beaten and dusty nerf leather coat draped over his shoulders.

"Because the Crow couldn't fit all the supplies we're carrying now." Jan Ors was at the pilot's console, the khaki Alliance field vest that she still wore replaced for the moment with a dark jacket with orange-red ribs along the sleeves.

Kyle turned his attention to the sensor screen, adjusting the power to nearly its full strength. "It's faster than this thing, though. If a TIE squadron were to pick us up..."

"You're just worried about your baby," Jan laughed. "She's as fine as any ship docked at Nar Shaddaa can be."

Kyle shifted in his seat and then scooted again. The small Corellian-made freighter was practically the only thing that he had left since the destruction of the Rebel Alliance. Now the craft was impounded on a less than stellar spaceport on the city-covered moon, days away from them.

She steered the craft along a steep bend in the canyon's walls, the passageway narrowing so much that the 33 meter width of the craft was close to scraping the edges. "I'll give the Crow credit for something on this mission, though." Jan gritted her teeth as she lowered the throttle. "She's skinnier."

"About another three kilometers until we reach the valley," Kyle reported. He looked at the screen with the map of the canyon's edge printed upon it. The last tight turn would be the last major challenge in their trek. Alongside the marked twists and turns, thick circles indicated the Imperial sensor dishes that prevented them from taking the much easier route of heading over the long canyon.

"That's the best news I've heard in a while." Kyle looked at his friend and partner in the pilot's seat, her outward expression betraying none of the turmoil that he could nearly feel rolling off from her. The mission was bothering her. No, Kyle thought, that wasn't quite right. Smuggling supplies to a rebel base wasn't the reason, but what had happened just over a year previously. Every single menial mission that wasn't directly fighting the Empire was a reminder of everything that she had lost when the Death Star destroyed the fourth moon of Yavin.

"Here we are." The canyon opened into a green valley, the deep azure river that had cut the canyon over millions of years widened into a lake surrounded by a thick layer of coniferous trees. Cut into the side of the canyon, camouflaged metal door partially opened for their arrival, was the rebel base.

Jan touched the class 720 freighter down upon the stone hangar floor. The base's meager ground crew, around five humans, raced from their postings and headed their way. through the bubble cockpit viewport, Kyle watched as the dark-haired commander walked down to greet them as well. He looked slightly older than Kyle and wore his black hair down to his shoulders. A black beard traced his jaw line before expanding to a well trimmed goatee.

"Maco Dela, commander of this base," he said with a large grin as Kyle and Jan rode the two freight lifts down. "I see you've brought my supplies!"

"Straight from the Smuggler's Moon," Jan said. She patted at the large cargo crate with her hand. The numerous crates continued a multitude of items that a rebel base in the middle of Imperial occupied territory could need: mundane items such as toiletries and ration packs up to a small container filled with energy cells for the station's blasters.

The back of Kyle's head itched as he watched Jan negotiate the finalities of the deal with the commander. Around him, three of the five workers were navigating power lifts around the crates and carrying them out. The other two were nowhere to be seen. Kyle slowly undid the safety on his blaster and walked closer to his partner.

"Jan, should I ask him about the damage to A-Cee?" She straightened her stance almost unnoticed to Kyle's eyes. A-Cee had existed once, a protocol droid from Kyle's home moon of Sulon that had the particular bad habit of wanting to detonate the bomb embedded in his chest whenever he spotted an Imperial uniform.

"Yes," she said. "Our droid suffered a blown motivator on the trip here. We were wondering if you could provide a spare?"

The itch at the back of Kyle's head shifted quickly to a pulse. Whatever it was that was going to happen, it was too late now to stop it. He turned his head and saw the two extra grounds crew heading towards them, hands beginning to move downwards towards their blasters.

The former Imperial sprang into action, closing the distance between himself and Maco in a second. The leader of the base struggled against his grasp but was soon pinned. Jan had pulled her blaster from its holster and moving behind the two.

"Let me go!" Mako cried out. He struggled but couldn't break free of the rebel's hold. Kyle risked pulling his own blaster pistol from its holster, pressing the sawed off barrel to the other man's head.

"Drop your weapons and your leader doesn't get a blaster bolt to the brain," Kyle called out. The base's crew hesitated, hands on their own weapons as Kyle slowly led Mako towards the grounded freighter. He looked behind him and saw Jan taking cover behind him, blaster drawn and pointed towards the far wall.

"For the Emperor's sake, let them go!" Mako cried out. The captive ceased any pretense he had at struggling. "It's not like you two are going to leave this planet alive, anyway. The second you leave, someone's going to call for the TIEs."

"Best not to leave anyone, then." Kyle shoved Mako towards the first two guards hard. The Imperial screamed in fear and surprise as he toppled over his two subordinates and brought them to the hard stone floor with him. Kyle turned in place and shot the Imperial agent operating the power lift while Jan killed the second one.

"Get to the ship, Kyle!" Jan screamed out as she poured blaster fire into the Imperials. Kyle raced past her, turning around and noticing that she was making no move to head back with him. He crossed the space between them quickly, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards the ship. She took the hint and raced into the open boarding ramp, Kyle covering her retreat as blaster shots hit the hull behind them.

Kyle took cover behind the ramp's support struts and fired a few quick shots at the Imperials heading their way. The ship rocked under his feet as Jan fired the repulsors and thrusters, lifting the craft off of the ground and out.

Alarms sounded throughout the craft as the internal sensors protested the still open freight lifts. "I'm headed to the guns," Kyle called to his copilot as he punched the boarding ramp closed behind him. He climbed the ladder in front of the boarding ramp and into the re-purposed LoungePort starwindow that held a quad laser cannon.

The alarms ceased by the time that Kyle had secured himself into the quad's seat. He powered up the interface and took the firing yoke in his hands. "Ready."

"You better be, because I'm making for space. 'Hell with the canyon, they know we're here anyway."

The Ghtroc freighter climbed steeply out of the canyon, banking towards the sky at a steep angle that strained the inertial compensator before leveling out minutes later. "Goodbye party is on the way. 0900 mid."

Kyle rotated the guns to port and scanned the horizon. Four TIE fighters were silhouetted against the midday sky, the ball cockpit between the twin solar panels a steel bubble in the cyan sky. He looked at the targeting computer and saw that they were still kilometers out of effective firing range and waited, breath coming into his lungs at a slow and steady rate that belied the frantic beating of his heart.

"Don't you wish we had the Crow right now?"

"We still wouldn't be able to outrun those fighters, but yes."

The target indicator on the screen in front of him shifted from white to yellow as the TIEs closed. The fighters unleashed their torrent of laser cannon fire at the ship, some of the green energy bouncing off the strong shields with a bright flash of light. Kyle pressed the firing studs on the controls, targeting the front fighter and exploding it in midflight.

Twin ion engines roared past the freighter as the remaining three fighters ignored the loss of their compatriots. The Turtle rocked under the withering fire of the fighters as Kyle tracked the rear fighter and squeezed off a series of shots that hit only sky.

Jan maneuvered the ship lower, avoiding the keel blind spot and keeping the fighters squarely where Kyle could continue firing at them. The TIEs circled around in the distance and made fro another pass.

Another burst of fire from the Turtle wrecked another TIE even as the large freighter was pelted again and again by the survivors. Alarms sounded in his ears even as Jan screamed at him that the rear deflector shields had collapsed.

"Calm yourself." The voice was inside of his head, as soothing as the slow irrigation rivers he had known as a child. "Trust your feelings." Kyle tapped the earpiece violently, trying to correct percussively the short in his headset that must have patched in some stray audio signal. Whatever caused the voice, he knew it was good advice; the hunches and stray feelings that he'd had throughout his life had never let him down before.

Kyle closed his eyes and took in a relaxing breath. Feet automatically pushed the pedals and rotated the turret around, thumbs instinctively pressing the firing controls as time seemed to slow down. He opened his eyes and watched as the entire galaxy seemed to move in half speed like some strange holo glitch. The first blind shots slammed into the middle TIE fighter and sent it into the ground hundreds of meters below.

He moved the turret towards the next one. It was hanging in the air as sluggish as a Hutt on a high gravity world. Another burst of quad laser fire disintegrated it and the final fighter. Time sped up to its normal speed as the fireball that was the last TIE spun towards the ground. "That's all of them, Jan, get us out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she said. The power indicators upon his quad lasers slowly bled out as all available weapons power was redirected into the engines to make their escape. "Nice shooting up there."

Kyle removed the headset and sat it straddling the control yoke before heading down the ladder. Jan was piloting the freighter out of the upper atmosphere as he arrived back in the cockpit, a determined look still on her face. "That was a close one," she said as he took his seat.

"We've been in worse scrapes." Kyle shrugged.

Jan shook her head as the Thirsty Turtle broke through the planet's atmosphere. "We've been in worse, but we've never walked right into a trap."

The thought hadn't had time to register into his mind in their frantic escape from the compromised rebel base. "You think we were set up? It explains a lot."

His answer was a shrug of her shoulders. "That or the Empire took over the base and set up an ambush. We were just the first ones that fell into it." She engaged the hyperdrive, elongating the stars around the cockpit's viewports and sending them into the alternate dimension of interstellar travel.

"Either way, we're going to have to tell the others about it," Kyle said.

Jan removed the large flight goggles from her head and tossed them in a rage against the console. They clanged as they fell to the floor, rattling as they settled. "That's the third kriffing base this year!"

Kyle could only watch as his long-time copilot and friend broke down in front of him. She didn't cry, not outwardly at least, only buried her face deep into her hands. "Jan, are you..." He trailed off, already knowing the answer to his question. Neither of them were alright and they hadn't been since the Disaster at Yavin and the dissolution of the Rebel Alliance shortly afterwards. He softly placed a hand on her shoulder.

The pair sat there for a while, the only sound in the cockpit the soft hum of the hyperdrive. "You don't think..." Her voice, muffled by the sleeves of her jacket, finally broke the silence. "Of all the people to defect, it'd be her."

They had both seen the footage of Mon Mothma's execution; watched as Princess Leia Organa stood next to the Emperor, seemingly of her own will. The concept, as initially absurd as it sounded, made sense no matter how much either of them wanted it not to. Leia had been a high ranking official in the Rebel Alliance even before the death of her father. She'd know the location of several hidden rebel fortresses and rendezvous points.

Jan sighed at his silence and stood from her seat, fears confirmed. A frown crossed over her weary face. "I'm going to go lie down," she said. "If I'm lucky, I'll wake up from this nightmare." She squeezed his shoulder as she passed him on the way to the ladder leading down to the rest of the ship. "Wake me up if they've followed us to the next waypoint."


Kyle at his console, watched as hyperspace rolled outside the viewport. The timer on the navicomputer slowly counted down the hour to go before their first course correction. He sighed in frustration as he leaned back in his chair. "Boy, did I pick the wrong time to leave the Empire..."

***

Spoiler: Author's Notes

* The Thirsty Turtle is named after a local bar and grill that is at an intersection that I pass by all of the time. Due to the Class 720's turtle-like appearance and the naming convention of the main ships in the Dark Forces Saga, I considered it appropriate.

* It was interesting to really flip the dynamics between Kyle and Jan in this story, mainly to show just how bad things have gotten in the universe. When Jan's the one taking risks and Kyle's the one being the relative voice of reason, things have gotten rough.

* Maco Dela is Leco Daam from another story of mine and using an alias. I left his fate relatively vague just in case I want to use him in this AU again. So, as of this moment, is he alive or dead? Yes.

* A-Cee was a character in Dietz's Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire. Pretty much every Dark Forces story I've written owes a lot to that trilogy.

* Was it really Leia that provided the information? If you've read the ANH Infinities comics that this series is based on, you probably already know, but confirmation for or against will come in the next installment.

 

Whew, another fascinating glimpse into the AU where we lose Mothma and the Alliance disperses. It certainly seems a plausible theory indeed, a very strong one, that Leia is subverting things. Jan and Kyle work well together; you can sense their genuine friendship towards each other. It is a testament to their characters that they are so competent and quick-thinking; it would be all too easy to be demoralized by all that's happened.

 

I love doing these things and I can't imagine that Dignity was originally a "Eh, this seems like a cool opener."

It was brought up as a vague speculation that she could be doing that in Rebirth and now that rebel safehouses are being taken over, it's come up again. As said in the work itself, everyone saw her standing on that platform with the Emperor...

Have I mentioned before that they are an absolute ball to write? The banter between them (lessened than normal, due to the circumstances. Compare this story to the other Dark Forces story in this thread, it takes place in the same year.), the UST and how well they work together when the going gets tough.

When one half of the pair is Force-sensitive, that certainly helps. The demoralization of rebel forces has certainly been a major theme in all of the stories so far, but there will be changes in the future for certain... One doesn't keep some rebels down for long!

Thank you for reading, Nyota.