Reading Room  The Battle of Endor  (cont.) By  Dario "Ibero" Pozo  Pictures by Dario "Ibero" Pozo

[Battle in Endor's Moon's orbit]

The anguished cry from Green leader distracted him momentarily. He risked a quick look, and that was enough: The A-Wing was falling... spinning towards the Super Star Destroyer's bridge. Rolan wondered why Green Leader did not use his ejectable seat to abandon his deadly wounded fighter. Perhaps he was badly injured, too, but then Rolan understood. His R2 unit informed him that the Imperial ship's shields were down, the last tower destroyed by the fire from two A-Wings. Commander Arvel Crynyd wanted to be sure that his ship would crash exactly against the command section of the Executor.

Rolan couldn't keep looking. The last laser blast from the TIE Advanced had collapsed his X-Wing's rear shields and caused also hull damage. The astromech whistled terrified beeps and some of the cockpit instruments exploded, the fried components producing a rain of sparks over him. Rolan disengaged the other TIE and maneuvered like a crazy to evade his pursuer before he finished him off, while the fire extinction mechanism started up. Rolan was very surprised when the Imperial pilot made a bad move that put himself just in the middle of his sight. Rolan shot without a doubt, weakening the TIE Advanced's shields and then saw what probably had made its pilot's distraction.

The Super Star Destroyer, with her bridge in flames, was falling directly over the Death Star like an arrow of fire. The giant battle ship's forward section penetrated deeply into the space station's structure, hull plates twisting and melting as they were made of paper instead of layers of titanium and the best durasteel, and finally the Executor exploded and burned from bow to stern like an eight kilometers long torch.

"Uauuuu, I never thought I would see something like that!" Gray 15 exclaimed. She had finally shot down her TIE Advanced. "All right, you follow after that TIE, and I'll catch up with his partner!"

"Roger, Fifteen!" Rolan answered while continuing shooting against the Imperial fighter, decided to take the best use from the other pilot's fail.

Around them, both fleets keep maneuvering the one around the other, their laser batteries and warhead launchers looking for the enemy ships' weakest spots. The Imperials were advancing to cover the position that the Executor had left, in an attempt to prevent any Rebel ship from escaping. The three Calamarian Cruisers still in combat penetrated into Death squadron's formation, trying to keep at least one of the Star Destroyers between them and the Death Star, and forcing them to be extremely cautious: every missed shot would probably hit one of their ships. The smaller ships, like Frigates and Corvettes, helped the Cruisers as best as they could, but even with the loss of their flagship, the Imperial fleet was superior. Some minutes more, and everything would be over, but there were no news from the Millennium Falcon and the fighters that were trying to find and destroy the Death Star's core reactor. Once more, the giant battle station was turning around its axis, looking for a new target.

"They can't shoot now without blowing out their own ships!" A Captain commented, his tone suggesting he didn't discard that the Imperials could sacrifice one or more of their Destroyers in order to finish with the Alliance ships. The dreadful super-laser was now in fire position.

"We are not their target." Someone else answered. "It keeps moving..."

"Endor's Moon!" Other voice exclaimed. "It's Endor's Moon what they are about to destroy!"

Rolan felt a shiver. After loosing the shield generator, they had decided to shoot at the moon and kill the commandos, along with the troops that had failed protecting the installations and all other presence of life. He felt terribly impotent. There was nothing they could do to avoid one more world was destroyed by the Empire in a blow, without a second thought. How could anybody serve this kind of evilness? His R2 unit sent a warning. New fighters were coming to help the TIE Advanced he was chasing, but he ignored them. If he was going to die, at least this pilot would be gone with him. No, this one was not going to celebrate Endor's Moon's destruction nor anything else. His last blast took pieces of hull away near its port ion engine, and the TIE Advanced reduced noticeably its speed.

He had no time to finish the job, though. An urgent order interrupted any other consideration.

"All ships, this is Home One" A Calamarian voice came through. "Move away from the Death Star! Right now!"

Rolan felt his heart jump. That could only mean that Red and Gold groups had reached their objective. The Second Death Star was about to explode, and everything in several kilometers around it would be disintegrated. He grinned. 

"R2, direct all the energy you can find to the engines!" The X-Wing skipped at front and raced towards the escaping cruisers. Probably the TIEs Advanced's pilots interpreted correctly the meaning behind the Rebel fighters retreat as they didn't try to pursue them. Instead, they broke towards the core of the Imperial fleet. Only a handful of fighters, Rebels and Imperials, had exited the Death Star so far, but it seemed that part of the group was still inside. If they had succeeded, Home One's powerful sensors must have detected the beginning of the destruction of the battle station's main reactor, that was the only explanation for the order. Nevertheless, the Death Star kept its rotation and nothing happened. Soon Endor's Moon would be at fire range.

And then he saw them. Two green signals were there had been no one. The ships piloted by Gold and Red Leaders, General Calrissian and Commander Antilles, were caught briefly by his rear sensors. As he was looking the screen went black and there was no time to think any more.

At his back, the Death Star exploded like a supernova, taking with her all the ships that were not far enough, including the Star Destroyer Valient, which was probably waiting to detect the Emperor's shuttle between the last ships escaping. When the expansive wave ceased, the X-Wing's rear sensors started to work again. For Rolan's relief, only the same two green signals remained. Under them, Endor's Moon blue sphere continued undisturbed its slow orbit around its mother planet.

"Yeeeeeehaaaaahhhh!!!" The intercom was saturated with similar victory shouts. No matter what happened now. Even if the Rebel fleet was destroyed to the last ship, they had won. Others would follow the fight, and if it was confirmed that the Emperor was on board its creature, the Empire was facing the beginning of its end.

That thought had reached the enemy, too, and its effect was terrible on their morale. The surviving Imperial ships seemed to doubt whether to continue the fight or not, but evidently there was nobody at command of the fleet and each captain was deciding what to do with his vessel. The Rebel forces were too weakened at that moment, but Admiral Ackbar noticed the confusion on the Imperial side and made his decision.

"All ships..." he ordered using the general frequency, "launch a last attack against the Star Destroyer's engines where the shields are the weakest. Every ship we destroy today won't be back against us the next time!"

Gold Leader acknowledged the order and took the lead of the remaining fighters. His ship had lost its sensor plate and its hull was completely scorched, but General Calrissian insisted that the Millennium Falcon would resist. Commander Antilles and the other three survivors of Rogue Squadron formed with the Corellian freighter.

"All right, people, we're going for the last round." Calrissian's retaliating voice was heard. "Those of you with any warhead in store have a last chance to give them a good use. Then help to keep the enemy fighters away from our cruisers as best as you can!"

Rolan's X-Wing was in really bad shape, but he had four proton torpedoes left to use. He joined the group heading to the Illustrious, which lectures indicated it was already seriously damaged. He decided to contribute with his torpedoes, but being careful not to get in range of the powerful Star Destroyer's guns. He obtained a lock on the central thruster and launched the warheads at medium range. He watched the blue streaks flying away towards its target and dedicated a second to ask his astromech for a damage report. He was not comforted with what he saw. His R2 unit said that there was no way to repair the shields generator, so he couldn't do anything more against the Star Destroyer without committing suicide.

Instead, he thought he could help attacking some of the TIE fighters that were approaching, and have yet a chance to survive. He chose a group of three and fired with quad lasers, destroying one and managing to evade the fire from the other two just by luck. Surely they had orders to defend the threatened Star Destroyer, because none of them engaged him and continued the route towards the big ship. But they were too late. The Illustrious broke in two parts at the middle of her hull, erupting in a chain of explosions.

The combined fire from the Rebel capital ships and the remaining fighters destroyed two more Star Destroyers, the Accuser and the Aggressor, in less than a minute. The new Imperial flagship after the destruction of the Executor was the Chimaera. Although showing important damage on the main superstructure, it was offering the highest opposition, along with the Judicator and the Relentless. Unknown by the Rebels, the second in command, Captain Gilad Pellaeon, had taken the command when his captain died, but his attempts of leading Death Squadron's counterattack were not receiving the needed support. The destruction of the Accuser and the Aggressor had made the final decision from other captains. Ignoring Pellaeon's orders as those given by a subordinate, they had their ships moving away from Endor and racing towards the closest exit point from the system. That caused a commotion amongst the Imperial fighter squadrons. Only the TIE Advanced had hyperspace capabilities. Without their home ships, those pilots on board a standard TIE Fighter or an Interceptor would be trapped in the system. Dozens of fighters abandoned the combat and directed towards their Star Destroyers, disobeying as well the orders of continuing the battle. Some of them were killed in the attempt, but most managed to reach their destination: there were no enough Rebel fighters to pursue them all.

Realizing that the battle was definitely lost, Captain Pellaeon ordered the Chimaera to retreat, and followed the escaping Destroyers along with the last survivors of their fleet. Admiral Ackbar understood that there was no need to force their luck, with the Rebel fleet as reduced as it was. That last attack had granted the destruction of three Star Destroyers, a great reward, but a Rebel Calamarian Cruiser had fallen in the fight and the two surviving Cruisers, the Home One and the Independence, had received severe punishment, without even mentioning the lost fighters.

"All ships, interrupt the prosecution of the Imperial forces." Admiral Ackbar ordered. "This is enough for today."

Rolan greeted this order in silence and closed his eyes, in a pray to whoever was hearing. His X-Wing was flying yet almost by a miracle.

Everybody on board the Rebel flagship was celebrating. Only Admiral Ackbar stayed far from the crowds of excited officers and technicians. He leaned back on his command chair, looking through the viewscreen with his eyes humid, even for a Calamarian. Although they had obtained a great victory, probably the greatest one the Alliance had ever known, he couldn't help but think of all the people that had been lost under his command. Only on board the Liberty and the Rebel Hope they had been several thousands... Nevertheless, now it was time to do all that was possible for those who were still alive.

"Launch all available shuttles. Look for ejected pilots and make prisoners of the Imperial's. All fighters, identify all the ships that have escaped from the Death Star but have not jumped to hyperspace. We can't discard that the Emperor is in one of them..."

"You heard the orders R2!" Rolan said. His astromech beeped in answer.

The few B-Wings and Y-Wings that had survived the battle were having an easier job disabling transports carrying Imperial troops and workers. Several freighters and utility vehicles were being piloted for prisoners that had managed to evade in the confusion of the Death Star's last moments. Cheerings were heard in the intercom every time a new pilot was found alive. A couple of A-Wings inspected the remainings of the Imperial vessels, looking for all that could be salvaged. They soon had good news to report. The Star Destroyer Adjudicator, which had been disabled and abandoned by its crew, could be repaired and put back into service. Furthermore, one of the last fallen, the Accuser, although badly damaged, might be recoverable if they were able to tow it to Mon Calamari's shipyards along with some pieces from the other three Destroyers that the Imperials had lost. The Calamarian engineers were crossing bets with the Sullustans about whether they would be able or not to make a complete Star Destroyer from what remained from four of them.

Rolan flew carefully between the wreckage, looking for small ships that could be hidden behind the bigger pieces. Ten kilometers away from Home One's position, he spotted a Corellian Corvette receiving assistance. He opened his mouth in surprise. He didn't need to look at his screen to identify it. The absence of most of the forward section made him know beyond any doubt that the Tannia had managed to survive to the battle. Rolan smiled. More than a miracle had been made today.

His thoughts were interrupted by his R2 unit's excited whistles. He headed to the coordinates where the droid had detected an Imperial ship, and soon he saw a lonely Lambda Class shuttle directing towards the Rebel cruisers. He took an interception course and used the fighter's sensors to investigate her. It seemed that it was occupied by only the pilot. Rolan put his X-Wing on the shuttle's tail and made a call through a standard frequency.

"Imperial shuttle, stop your engines and identify yourself at once, or you will be destroyed!"

"Take it easy, pilot..." the answer came while the shuttle reduced her speed. "This is Commander Skywalker."

This was a surprise for Rolan. Just before taking off, he had been told that Commander Skywalker would not fly with Rogue Squadron. He had decided instead to go with General Solo and his group down to Endor's Moon. He might have stolen the shuttle there, but judging by the route he had been following, it seemed more probable that he had parted from the Death Star. There was no way to be sure, unless...

"Wait a minute while I check that out, sir." Rolan said with caution, thinking as fast as he could.  "R2, can you take a reading of his vital parameters at this distance?"

He almost smiled when the translation of his droid's indignant answer appeared on the screen. Of course I can.

"All right, just do so and check them with Redemption's database." A voice could be easily reproduced, having a reference of the original, and Rolan would have bet six months of salary that the Imps had everything to be had about the man who destroyed their first Death Star. Brain activity pattern, though, was a lot harder to mask. Rolan knew that Skywalker had been treated on board the Redemption more or less a year ago, so they had to keep a record. After a few seconds, the droid had a positive confirmation.

He relaxed and move his finger out of the trigger. "My apologies, Commander Skywalker." Rolan said with evident joy and only a hint of embarrassment. "This is Lieutenant Rolan Kazanna, Gray 21. I will escort you to the Home One, sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Skywalker replied. Exhaustion could be heard in his voice.

Rolan transmitted to the Home One his position and who the pilot of the shuttle he was escorting was. Everybody on board the flagship was glad to hear the good news. General Solo had contacted the Home One some minutes earlier and reported that Commander Skywalker was not with them. At that time nobody had really known if he was still alive. Admiral Ackbar asked to speak with him personally. Rolan decided not to miss a single word of that conversation.

"Commander Skywalker, this is Admiral Ackbar. It seems that you are coming from the Death Star. Is this correct?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"That I thought. Do you have any news about the Emperor?" Rolan had not talked too much with Calamarian people, but he easily detected the anxiety in the Admiral's voice. Anxiety he plainly shared while he waited for the answer.

"Yes, Admiral." Rolan kept his breath. "The Emperor is dead. Darth Vader killed him prior to his own death."

Nobody said a word during the next few seconds. That was incredible from all points of view, but who was going to doubt Commander Skywalker's words?

"I suppose you have many things to tell, Commander Skywalker..." Admiral Ackbar said at last, "but we can wait to hear it until you are on board. After that, I'll provide you with transportation to Endor's Moon. I celebrate to inform you that Princess Leia Organa and Captain Solo are all right."

"I know. Thank you, Admiral." Skywalker said.

Rolan was tempted to ask him what he had meant with that "I know", but he did not. He must have contacted with Solo's group just before being detected by his X-Wing's sensors. They made the rest of the short travel to the Home One in silence. He saw some of the rescue shuttles boarding the cruiser, and thought of Den, his lost friend and wingman, in this order. There was no way for Den to be amongst the rescued ones. He and his X-Wing had been vaped in front of his eyes. The rest of Gray Group, six X-Wings from the 48 that left the Home One what seemed an eternity ago, joined with him before reaching the Calamari Cruiser's bay. The pilot on his right saluted him. Rolan recognized Gray 15, the only other survivor from their squadron. Now he had a chance to know her better, he thought bitterly. How many losses in one day, although it was probably a little price for what they had gotten. Some hours later, and all the pilots would join at the ship's lounge, to mourn their comrades in the only way they knew. They would remember the anecdotes, the places where they had been, old combats, and many of them would finish sinking pain and sadness under a good measure of their favorite beverage, or whatever they could find behind the lounge's bar. They had done that before, and unavoidably they would do it again. They were fighter pilots.

Rolan thought of what he had just heard. The rumor would spread throughout the fleet long before any official news were offered. He had been there, so people would make him repeat every word dozens of times every five minutes. That was good. The death of so many comrades and friends had not been for nothing. The Emperor was dead with his Death Star, and a new horizon of hope stretched in front of the tired warriors. Could it be that the Rebel Alliance becomes some day, not too far in the future, the New Republic?

 

     THE END

 

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