章 18: Star Wars : Chapter 18 : Rendezvous
"It means that they'd have a back-up plan." Kit Fisto grumbled.
"For his many faults, Tarkin was not unintelligent." Obi-Wan said, "All his plans had contingencies, and I fear he has something hidden in his sleeve."
Han and Leia sat in the cockpit of the Falcon as it flew through hyperspace.
"Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh?" Han said with a cocky smirk, "You know, sometimes, I amaze even myself."
...
The men in the audience coughed at the comment while the females rolled their eyes.
"That doesn't sound too hard." Leia drawled, "They let us go, it's the only way to explain such an easy escape."
"Easy? Ya call that back there easy?"
"They're tracking us."
"Not this ship, sister."
Leia sighed, knowing a lost cause when she saw it. "I'm just glad the information in R2 is still intact."
"So, what is he carrying that's so important?"
"The complete technical readout of that battle station. I only hope that by analyzing the data a weakness can be found. It's not over yet."
"It is for me, sister. Let's get something straight: I ain't in this for your revolution and I ain't in it for you. I expect to be well-paid when this is over. I'm in it for the money."
"Speaking about cold-blooded." Shaak Ti said.
"You're telling me." Luminara frowned at the man, "I thought this man would be better than the first time we saw him."
"He is a smuggler and has a need to pay back Jabba. He has business with him.", Obi-Wan clarified.
"Don't worry. If money is all you care about, then money is what you'll get." Leia left in a huff, running into Luke on the way out. "Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he actually cares about anything. Or anybody."
"I care!" Luke said, trying to make her feel better. He took a seat next to Han, "So, what do you think of her?"
"Trying not to, kid." Han replied, checking the most recently updated galactic maps to make sure their destination was still there in the first place.
"Good." Luke said before looking down with a little grin.
"Although," Han said, looking at where Leia had left, "She does have a lot of spirit." Luke's eyes widened in worry. "I don't know. What do you think? A princess and a smuggler like me- "
"No./NO!" Luke and Anakin said quickly while Han smiled at this jealousy. The audience present were taken back by the Jedi Knight's sudden change of tone whenever the thought of the Princess and the Smuggler being together was brought up.
However, Obi-Wan and Padmé felt disgusted at Luke's look of jealousy for some reason.
They by-passed the actual planet in favor of a moon on the far side, landing near one of a series of large stone structures jutting up from the canopy.
Willard, the commander of the Rebel forces, rushes up to the group and gives Leia a big hug. Every one is pleased to see her.
"You're safe! We had feared the worst". Commander Willard said as he composed himself, steps back and bows formally.
"When we heard about Alderaan, we were afraid that you were… lost along with your father."
Padmé and the rest of the Jedi lowered their heads, knowing that Senator Bail Organa, one of the chief supporters of the Jedi Order, was among the dead.
"We don't have time for our sorrows, Commander. The battle station has surely tracked us here", Leia told him before she turned to Han. "It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape. You must use the information in this R2 unit to plan the attack. It is our only hope."
Upon closer inspection, the large structures were temples of some kind, and the Rebellion had taken up residence in one. The ground floor was used as a docking bay for individual starships, all of them gunmetal grey with patches of red or yellow paint on them. Artoo was turned over to a group of scientists who analyzed the data within him.
Leia and Threepio were taken to the top brass to tell them the situation and what they potentially faced. Luke was led to the military captains and given permission to take part in the impending attack. Han and Chewie went with Leia to get their reward.
"The Rebellion, so this is?", Yoda mused.
"Not as well-equipped like the Republic or the Empire but in terms of weaponry, they have a chance.", Rex calculated the odds.
"The drive to free the galaxy from the Empire is what gives them strenght.", Padmé said in support for the rebels. The others likewise agreed with her.
A few hours later, the Death Star entered orbit over the red planet of Yavin.
"Yes?" Tarkin said into his desktop communicator.
"We are approaching the planet Yavin. The Rebel base is on a moon on the far side. We are preparing to orbit the planet."
"This is it...", Ki-Adi said in anticipation.
"The hope for the galaxy depends on them.", Mace agreed with him.
At the same time, the Rebel strike force was gathered in a briefing room.
"The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the Star Fleet." Dodonna said as a technical readout of the Death Star appeared on a screen behind him. "Its defenses are designed around a direct, large-scale assault. A small, one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defense."
"Pardon me, sir," one of the pilots said, Gold Leader, raising his hand, "But what use are snub fighters going to be against that?"
"Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat, or they'd have a tighter defense." Dodonna explained. "An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station. But the approach will not be easy."
The image on screen zoomed in to an outline of a small corridor and began moving down it. "You're required to maneuver straight down this trench, and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide." This sent murmurs throughout the assembled pilots.
"It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction. The target shaft is ray shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."
"This plan is very risky for a bombing run." Saesee said. "The Battlestation is already a mobile army base equipped with the single most powerful weapon I've ever seen, and they're banking all their hopes on a near-suicidal bombing run?"
"And then there's the problem of getting the torpedo into a vertical target when you're coming at it from a perpendicular angle." Plo Koon agreed.
"Maybe the torpedoes are computer guided?" Caleb guessed.
"Perhaps…"
"That's impossible, even for a computer.", a pilot sitting next to Luke said.
"No, it's not impossible." Luke said, "I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."
"Any questions?" Dodonna asked. Nobody had any questions. "Then man your ships. And may the Force be with you."
"Wait, how come the Empire allowed a small thermal exhaust port to be exposed?", Ahsoka questioned. Suicidal as it may be, it still had a chance to destroy the entire battle station if it was landed by a lucky shot.
"They should have known at least that it can be exploited at whatever means possible.", Mace stated before he an idea came out of his head. "Unless..."
"Two words, I can think off. Dissent and arrogance.", Yoda stated as the others thought about it for a while and they agreed with him.
Someone must have been against designing the superweapon that had killed billions. And he or she deliberately designed it that way for one day, someone would be able to exploiot this.
And someone was too overconfident that a small weakness was not enough to destroy this battle station. As Jedi, they all knew that arrogance was the downfall of every opponent.
...
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