8

8

The cave was dry and warm in the desert afternoon. Luke slowly awoke and looked around him. Mara was still asleep and the only sounds outside were those of wamprats and other desert scavengers that were searching for a meal. Luke’s own stomach told him that he should probably scavenge something for himself. He rummaged through the few supplies they possessed and found a ration bar. As he chewed on it, he thought about their situation.

The Imperials had not come past the area again, to his knowledge, and nothing else had stumbled upon their location. He thought about what he knew about the desert world. The area they were in now was a mountainous area that stretched for many miles. There were also flat deserts on either side of the mountains with scattered settlements and farms throughout the planet. But Luke knew that if they were anything like his Uncle Owen’s farm they wouldn’t have any equipment to get off of the planet or to call for help. So there was really nothing he could do except hope that some help arrived.

Luke sighed and reached out with the Force to scan the area. That was when he the ground shook slightly and Luke could sense that something was wrong. People were dying, everywhere were screams and blaster fire. It took Luke a few seconds to realize that Mos Eisley was under attack. He could feel the ground shake and huge metal feet crushing buildings and people. AT-ATs! There was no way that the civilians could stop the walkers. The half dozen Imperial machines crushed the city and then left the city with a path of corpses and rubble in their wake. The people were trying to hide and tend to the wounded, there was no time for mourning, and Luke could feel their pain.

What seemed like hours later, which was actually only minutes later, a much smaller rumbling rocked the city as a dozen AT-STs moved quickly through the city to hunt down the survivors. Like birds of prey they indiscriminately fired right and left as they sped through the remains of the port, tracking down and blasting any escaping citizens they could find. Speeder bikes followed and soldiers checked each body to make sure that it was dead. Luke’s eyes opened and he stood. As he did he realized that Mara was awake.

“Did you feel it?” Luke asked her.

“Yes...I did. All of those people! We’ve got to help them!” Mara’s hand went for her blaster and then she looked at him sadly. “But we wouldn’t get there in time, would we?”

“I doubt it. Even if we did there’s no guarantee that we wouldn’t end up just like them.” Luke sat back down and looked at the speeder bike. One bike against hundreds of Imperials. Luke remembered the walkers from Hoth and knew that there was no way that both of them could take them all out, or the dozens of smaller ones. If only they had some reinforcements.

Luke’s thoughts were interupted when something in the back of his head screamed that danger was nearby. Luke stood and walked to the edge of the cave and peered out for a look. The speeder bike patrol that had been hunting for them was closing in. Luke pulled himself back into the cave and looked over at Mara and the speeder bike.

“We’ve got to hide the bike,” he told her as the patrol approached. Mara nodded and they scrambled to pull the bike farther into the cave. Luke grunted as he tried to push the heavy bike while Mara tugged on the handlebars. They finally managed to get it back far enough so that it would be out of sight. Mara hurried and made sure that their light was off and then, panting and puffing, they sat down to rest. The whine from the speeder bikes approached and they waited in silence for a while. Finally the bikes were out of sight and they both heaved sighs of relief.

“We did it,” Luke said gravely, he could feel Mara’s mind relax as well as his own.

“We’ve got to find some way out of here. If I can get back to my ship I can take out some of those walkers,” Mara said, choking back her raw hatred for the Imperials. “We can’t stay here much longer though, we can’t just leave anyone left there to die.”

“I agree, but there’s not much we can do. Even if we could sneak back into Mos Eisley there’s no guarantee that we could get into the hangars and get back our ships. We’ve got to be patient and find a way to save the city and to keep ourselves alive,” Luke tried to look calm, but the words made him sick. He didn’t want to wait any more than she did. But if they rushed in now, then they would probably only wind up making things worse for the smugglers trapped there. Luke leaned against the wall of the cave, trying to relax and think of a way out of this problem. He stared up at the dark ceiling, wishing that they could turn the light back on so the cave wouldn’t seem so dark and foreboding. It was then that he felt that something was very wrong. Imperials were closing in on them!

“Get the bike!” Luke shouted. He ran to where they had driven the bike and started it up. Mara jumped on and Luke began to back it out of the cave. Just then a bolt sizzled past them and into the cave wall. Luke wished that the bike could move faster, knowing the the speeder bike patrol was closing in on them.

“They must have seen us and doubled back!” Mara shouted to him over the roar of the bike’s engine. They were finally into the air beyond the cave and Luke quickly spun the speeder bike around in a turn. He put the throttles to full and the bike sped across the desert with the full patrol on its heels. Mara managed to pull out her blaster and take a few poorly-aimed shots at the patrol. Luke banked sharply to the left, Mara’s fingernails digging into his back as he did. They were speeding through a maze of twisting canyons. Luke narrowly maneuvered the bike around a large rock and a blaster shot at the same time. But the patrol was still onto them, dogging their every turn.

Mara turned and looked behind her, seeing that the Imperial bikes were catching up. “Why are we slowing down?” She asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think something just broke down. The engine isn’t giving us as much power as it used to. We’re going to have to get some of them off of our tail!” Luke called back to her. Mara nodded grimly, determined to make her next shots count. She aimed over her shoulder at the lead bike and then squeezed the trigger. The shot went high and hit the driver of the bike in the face. The rider fell off and the bike plunged into the ground. “Hang on!” Luke put the bike in a climb, wishing that he had his X-wing, or even the A-wing he had flown, here. Mara held on, feeling her stomach rise and then fall as they completed the climb. They were now over open desert, with no where to hide.

“What do we do now?” Mara asked.

“Can you fly this thing?”

“I can handle it!”

“I’ll drop down low and jump to the ground, you take control of the bike and keep them busy. I’ll see if I can get rid of some of them!” Mara was going to protest, but a second later the bike dropped to only a few feet above the ground and then Luke dropped off of the bike. Mara grabbed the controls and pulled up. The enemy bikes continued after her as Luke hit the sand and grabbed for his lightsaber. He ignited it and heard its familiar snap-hiss as the green-white blade glowed brightly. He looked around him and then threw the lightsaber into the air just as two bikes came overhead. The blade spun through the air and slashed both bikes in the middle, causing them to crash into the ground. Mara took advantage of the situation and banked her bike to the left. She was not going straight at the Imperial patrol and quickly she jabbed the firing button for the bike’s guns.

Another of the speeder bikes went down in the barrage, with a second one being damaged. The damaged bike lost altitude and was quickly dispatched by Luke’s lightsaber. The enemy troops were beginning to understand their plight and the remaining bikes split up. Two headed towards Luke and the other tow sped towards Mara. Luke saw the bikes speeding at him and looked for somewhere to take cover. Finding nothing he held his lightsaber in front of him defensively. Both bikes opened fire at once and Luke let the Force guide his hand as he blocked the shots. Then he leapt into the air and landed on the protruding front of the bike. For a second the bike’s pilot was dazed, but Luke knew that he would soon reach for his pistol. Not giving him the opportunity, Luke brought his blade down on the pilot’s chest, ripping open his armor and sending him falling to his doom.

The second bike was coming around to attack Luke and Luke hurriedly grabbed the controls of the bike. He plotted in a course and then leapt back to the ground. Only a few seconds later a fireball blossomed in the air as the two bikes collided. Luke wiped the sweat from his face and took a few moments to breathe, and to see how Mara was doing.

Mara gripped the handlebars as she rolled the bike to the right, narrowly missing a high sand dune. The two bikes following her pulled up high and moved to sandwhich her. Mara saw the trap and waited until the bikes had closed before she aimed her blaster at the one bike and fired. The oncoming speeder bike tried to dodge, and in doing so plowed into the ground. The remaining bike started firing at her and Mara nimbly moved the bike to avoid the blasts, but finally one shot hit the rear of the speeder bike, sending Mara flying through the air. The bike smashed into the ground and Mara hit the ground hard. Being only a few feet from the ground, she only had the wind knocked out of her. Seconds later she shook her head to clear it and then reached for her blaster, not finding it she managed to grab her lightsaber as the speeder bike came closer. Mara stood defiantly, not sure if she could deflect shots like Luke. As the pilot of the bike smiled and pushed the firing button, a green light sped through the air and arced towards the pilot. It came down and neatly cut him into two pieces. The shots from the bike went wild and it flew over Mara before slamming into the sand dunes. Mara closed down the lightsaber and sighed with relief. The green lightsaber shut down and flew back into Luke’s hand.

“Thanks for the save,” she called to him.

“Anytime! We’ll have to walk now!” Luke came closer and then examined Mara and himself for injuries. Mara looked a little sad, and angry.

“I’m sorry about losing the bike.”

“It’s all right. If we get in the hills then we can walk.”

“Walk where?”

“Back to Mos Eisley.”

“Skywalker, are you crazy? In case you haven’t noticed there’s just the two of us, and we’ve only got our lightsabers! An entire division is waiting for us in Mos Eisley! You yourself said there wasn’t anything we could do!” Mara’s voice echoed across the desert plains, her face turning red as she let out her pent-up anger.

“I know I said that, but we can’t just run away from the problem. We’ve got to face it head-on. Besides, we might be able to sneak into the city and free our ships, or the smugglers. Let’s go.” Luke turned towards the rising hills that they had just flown through on the speeder bike.

“This is one of those crazy Jedi things, isn’t it?” Mara grumbled as she followed after him.

“We’ll have to move at night, we don’t want any other patrols to see us.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Well, it’s not going to be. We’re going to have to watch out for nocturnal predators, Sandpeople, and even Jawas.”

“Sounds like fun. Just like old times again.” They walked in silence, a long walk that finally took them to the base of the hills. Mara looked at the sheer faces of the hills, although they looked more to her like cliffs, and wished for the speeder bike. Luke examined the faces of the hills and soon began to scurry up them. Mara followed after him, barely finding the handholds that he was using. After many long minutes of climbing, Mara was covered in sweat. Luke didn’t look tired and she wished she knew how he kept cool in the dry heat of the desert planet.

Blous listened to the transmission again and then examined the holographic map in the AT-AT’s cockpit. He turned to the communications officer and pointed at a red dot on the map. “So, is this where we lost contact with the patrol?”

“Yes sir. The patrol failed to report in on schedule and we have lost contact with the homing devices on the lead bike.”

“This has to be those two who got away from us on the speeder bike. Pull every vehicle and man that we can and send them to that location. I want those two captured alive,” Blous commanded the younger man. He wanted the pleasure of killing both of the scum that had somehow managed to escape his men. The communications officer hurried away and Blous looked at the map again. He couldn’t wait for the moment when they were captured.

It took some time, but a force of five AT-STs, one AT-AT, and two speeder bike patrols was gathered. They all were hot on the trail of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. Blous watched them go and then ordered that the AT-AT be lowered so that he could disembark. A few minutes later Blous was on the ground with a stormtrooper escort. He stomped off to the hangar where the smugglers were being held. Behind the hangar was a small office that had once belonged to a foreman or freight company. It was now in use as a small command post for the stormtroopers spread out around the ruins of the city. The stormtrooper commander saluted as Blous entered.

“Any reports of activity in the city?” Blous inquired.

“No sir. All sectors are quiet.”

“Good.” Blous took a seat at the desk in the room. “Colonel, I want your men to begin to bring me the smugglers, one at a time, for interrogation. Also send a report to Captain Isel telling him that the city is secured and we are now gleaning any information from the prisoners. Be sure to tell him that we’ll send the prisoners to him on schedule for a formal interrogation.” Blous watched the commander go and waited for his bodyguards to fetch him his first victim.

Vnus had finished checking the cockpit wiring. Things didn’t look good. Most of the weapons circuits were fried. Jibuv had finished looking over the ships’ schematics. Starm, meanwhile, had located as many tools as he could and was now waiting by the hatch with his blaster at ready and his comlink on an open channel in case any Imperials showed up.

“Is there anything that we can do?” Jibuv asked.

“We might be able to hotwire the weapons to one of the other systems. What other systems can you see there?”

“It looks like we could tie it into anything we want. I think we’d be better off by tying it into the emergency back-up systems. That way we won’t drain power out of any important systems.”

“Except if we lose primary systems than we’re dead.”

“If we lose our primary systems we’ll be dead anyway. Unless you want to hotwire it to life support.” Vnus nodded wearily, knowing that they all needed some sleep. Things were getting very tense and on a small ship like the Phoenix, Vnus knew that it was better if everyone got along.

“Let’s tie every nonessential system into the backups. We’ll need as much power to the turbolasers as possible.” It was Jibuv’s turn to nod and he knelt down to open some access panels to help Vnus. Vnus looked at the mess of circuits and found the ones that he remembered belonged to the weapons systems. He had begun the slow process of hotwiring the entire ship when Starm shouted something over the comlink. Vnus rushed back to the hatch and found that it was open and that Starm was looking upwards. Vnus looked into the sky and then saw the faint streaks crisscrossing the blue exapnse of the horizion.

“Something big’s happening up there,” Vnus muttered.

“We’d better hurry up here,” Starm said with awe.

The frigate came in close to the Star Destroyer. Wedge Antilles was already closing the canopy on his X-wing and getting ready to launch. The rest of Rogue Squadron was behind him, ready for trouble. Trouble came only seconds later when the ship shuddered as turbolasers pounded the shields.

“Rogue and Blue Squadron pilots to your ships! Launch immediately! Repeat, all Rogue and Blue Squadron ships are cleared for launch!” The announcement rang across the hangar and less than a minute later Wedge was out into space. He could already see a mass of TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers heading for the frigate. Wedge booted the throttle to full power and saw that Rogue Squadron was behind him.

Blue Squadron, made up of A-Wings, began pouring forth from the frigate. Wedge wished that they had more fighters with them, but there was no time for worrying about that. Both squadrons formed up and cleared the frigate. They were instantly jumped by TIE Fighters. Wedge banked his fighter to the left and was able to quickly take out a Fighter. The A-Wings split up and went after the Bombers that were trying to launch torpedoes at the frigate. That left all eleven X-Wings to tangle with all of the TIE Fighters and Interceptors the Star Destroyer could throw at them.

Two Interceptors latched on to Wedge’s tail, sticking with him through several tight banks and rolls. Finally another X-Wing dropped in behind the TIEs and Wedge put the starfighter in the tightest roll he could. The X-Wing behind the Interceptors fired and sawed one of the wings off of one of the Interceptors. The TIEs collided and vaporized. “Thanks Rogue Two,” Wedge called out over the radio.

“No problem,” Rogue Two said and Wedge was quick to get back into the fight. He lined up a TIE Bomber trying to make a run on the frigate. He pulled the gun trigger and the TIE Bomber exploded as it was hit by four red laser beams.

Wedge could see that the frigate was pulling back to a safer distance from the Star Destroyer. His radio came to life and said, “All ships, you are ordered to stop any further attacks on the Ranger until it has reached its fall-back posistion.” Wedge didn’t recognize who was giving the order, but at this point it didn’t matter.

“You heard ‘em Rogue Squadron! Everyone form up on me,” Wedge commanded. It took a while for the X-Wings to get sorted out, but finally they were all together again. Wedge looked around and saw that a group of Assault Gunboats was closing in. Without hesitation he targeted the lead Gunboat with a torpedo and fired. Just as Wedge had hoped it would, the torpedo forced the Gunboats to stop their attack momentarily. That was just long enough for the X-Wings to pounce on Imperial craft. The New Republic starfighters doubleteamed each Gunboat and soon were looking for more targets.

On the bridge of the New Republic frigate, Captain Jez Ayhem looked worriedly at the status monitors. Already the frigate’s shields had taken a beating from the Star Destroyer’s turbolaser batteries and repeated torpedo attacks by Bombers that managed to get through the fighter screen or the frigate’s own guns.

Now the Ranger had settled into a new posistion safely away from the Star Destroyer. Ayhem could see that they were already getting some shield power back. All they had to do now was figure out how they could stop that Star Destroyer.

“Sir! Another ship is coming out of hyperspace. I believe it is Princess Leia Organa Solo’s transport,” a crewman shouted to Ayhem.

“Tell them to get into the hangar immediately,” Ayhem ordered. The Falcon kept on going, seemingly oblivious to the hail. Han and Chewie looked at each other and then back at Leia. Han could tell by the sensors that they would not have an easy time of getting down to the planet’s surface. Especially not without an escort.

“It’s your call, Leia,” Han said gently. Leia looked out the cockpit and saw the laser flashes. She didn’t want to stop now, not while she was so close to Luke.

“Keep going. If they give us any more trouble than put me on the line,” she responded. Han put the throttles to maximum and kept the freighter on its previous course.

“Sir, they’re not responding to our hail!” The crewman shouted. Ayhem strode over to the man’s station and opened the com channel again.

“New Republic freighter, you are ordered to dock in the hangar, now. If you don’t comply then we will fire upon you,” Ayhem said angrily.

“Ranger, this is Leia Organa Solo. My mission is of extreme importance. I am ordering you not to interfere with my mission.”

“I’m sorry, but there is some heavy fighting going on and I can’t provide an escort to insure your safety. Dock in the hangar or we will be forced to fire upon your vessel.” Ayhem clenched his fists and signaled the gunners to keep the freighter in their sights.

Leia angrily turned off the comchannel and Han crossed his fingers, hoping that the frigate’s captain was bluffing about firing on the ship. Chewie roared uncertainly as the freighter plowed on. Suddenly a bright red shot whizzed past the cockpit. Han looked helplessly back at Leia, wishing he didn’t have to say the words.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he turned the Falcon onto a course towards the frigate. Ayhem looked at his gunners.

“Good job,” he complimented and then walked off the bridge and to the docking bay. When he got there the battered freighter was just landing in the hangar. The freighter parked near the line of B-Wings and emergency shuttles. It wasn’t long before the main hatch opened and a very unhappy Leia Organa Solo stepped out.

“Captain, you had no right to interfere with my mission. I expect a thorough answer when we go somewhere to discuss this more privately,” Leia’s tone was pure acid, but Ayhem didn’t even flinch.

“We’ll discuss this in my office. Your crew may escort us,” Ayhem turned on his heel and marched towards the exit. Han’s cheeks turned red with anger and Chewie looked ready to rip the man’s arms off at the mention of `your crew’. Even the droids took offense at it, Threepio huffing and moaning about how unfairly he was treated and Artoo making the most ferocious noises he could. Equally angry, Leia followed the captain with the others in tow.

They were soon in the captain’s small office, which was many times smaller than Leia’s on Coruscant. The captain sat down and then looked impassively at Leia from across the desk. Han and the others stood nearby, ready for trouble.

“Princess, with all due respect we are in a war zone here. As commander of this ship and this operation, I had to order you not to go down to the planet until we could find an escort. I don’t want your ship to get chewed up by those TIEs,” Ayhem explained.

“Hey, my ship’s gotten out of worse scrapes!” Han called from his posistion against the wall. Only Chewie’s grip on his shoulder kept him from decking the frigate captain. Ayhem kept his composure, not even flinching at Han’s outburst.

“When I can assure your safety then I’ll let you go. Until then you must remain here. I’ll arrange quarters for you all.”

“That would be most gracious Captain,” Leia remarked with just a hint of malice. She turned on her heel and left the office. Han glowered at the captain for a minute and followed after his wife. Ayhem sighed and then left for the bridge to make the arrangements.

The TIE Interceptor exploded and Wedge gave a shout of satisfaction. His R2 unit beeped out a cheer and he smiled to himself. The Imperials were backing off now, retreating to the Star Destroyer. And not a moment too soon. The X-Wing was running out of fuel and was getting low on laser power. Wedge’s R2 was doing everything he could to make more power available, but it wasn’t working quickly enough.

Rogue Squadron formed up again, this time to head for home. The A-Wings were already landing in the frigate’s hangar bay, not having the advantages of an astromech droid like the X-Wings. As they neared the frigate, Rogue Six exploded in a fireball. Six had been at the tail of the formation, having taken some damage, and was easy prey for Imperial fighters. Wedge looked behind him and saw a dark gray shape rapidly bearing down on the X-Wings.

“Take evasives!” Wedge called. The X-Wings banked left and right out of the formation. Wedge himself looped his X-Wing up, hoping to catch the enemy fighter from behind. No such luck. The TIE mimicked his maneuver and was now on his tail. A glance over his shoulder told him that the TIE was one of the dreaded TIE Advanced fighters. Only a few had been distributed throughout the Imperial Fleet. Wedge remembered Darth Vader’s prototype Advanced, a little different in configuration then the one trying to blow him to bits. Wedge spun the X-Wing in a left bank, piling on the speed as he climbed up. The Advanced followed him every step of the way.

Cursing to himself, Wedge looked around for some help. The rest of Rogue Squadron was out of the fight, their evasives having put them too far away to do any good. Which meant that it was just him and the Advanced pilot. Several shots struck his shields and Wedge knew that he had to do something fast. He ordered his R2 droid to put his shields at maximum and then did as tight a turn as was possible in the X-Wing.

For only a few seconds the Advanced was in Wedge’s sights, but that was long enough. He squeezed the trigger and four bolts hit the Advanced’s shields. The Advanced fired back and his shots hit harmlessly against Wedge’s shields. Then both fighters flew past each other and Wedge saw that the Advanced was heading for home. Out of fuel, power, or maybe too shaken by Wedge’s near-kill the TIE pilot decided to go back to the Star Destroyer. Why he did it, Wedge would never know. Nevertheless, he was more than grateful to end the dogfight. Again Rogue Squadron formed up and landed in the hangar.

Isel paced the bridge, looking at the readouts from the battle. They had lost an inexcusable number of TIE Fighters, Interceptors, and Bombers. And the Advanced had taken a hit as well. Add to that the fact that the frigate was still in one piece and all of the Assault Gunboats were destroyed, and it made the battle a loss for the Ravage. Bysal stood a few feet away, knowing full well that Isel had not been pleased with the battle’s outcome.

“Have all starfighters fueled and readied. Are there any still alive that need rescued?” Isel asked coldly.

“No sir. All of the pilots are being debriefed at this time. What are your orders?” Bysal knew what Isel was thinking, he wanted the Rebels destroyed as quickly as possible.

“Mount a diversionary attack to draw the frigate’s fighters while we move into range to blast the frigate into dust.” Pounding his palm for emphasis, Isel sat in his command chair. “Also, tell General Blous that we will not be picking up the smugglers on our original timetable.” Bysal nodded and walked away. Isel looked blankly at the crew pits and then stood. He walked to the navigation pit and then the weapons pit to ready his plan.