A Call for Help

~Part Five~

Ezra’s stomach dropped. Emperor Palpatine? Alive? How? Luke had assured them that he was dead. Killed in front of his own eyes. He gritted his teeth. Why did the Sith have to be so resilient?

“From your lack of response I assume you’re shocked to the core and are coming with us.” Lando said grimly. “We have a few more systems to stop at before we regroup. We’re gonna need every able fighter we can find. Is there anyone else on the surface with a ship who might be willing to join us?”

Sabine was the first one to recover from the news. “Yes,” she said, “There are a few new republic soldiers who’ll come along, and if we put out a message I’m sure there’ll be others too.”

“Alright,” Lando replied, “Make it quick.”

Sooner than expected, 4 ships emerged from the planets surface, and they all jumped away. Jacen had added a few more systems to Lando’s list, and their first stop was Ryloth. He hoped Numa and her rebels were still alive and putting up a fight.

As they jumped from system to system, Lando explained everything to them, and they explained why they couldn’t make it to Crait, and how terribly sorry they were about it. The situation was far worse than they’d feared and they finally understood Lando’s urgency.

By the time they were ready to jump to Exegol they had acquired pretty much the biggest fleet ever. It wasn’t a Navy, it wasn’t even a coordinated group of fighters. It was just…people. All of them fed up tyranny and oppression. All of them ready to die to be free.

They’d had no word from Exegol for far too long and knew the situation must have been dire. Lando signalled to all the ships to set their navi-computers, prime their hyperdrives, and make the jump on his mark.

3…2…1…

And just like that they were hovering over the most devastating battleground they had ever seen. Jacen’s eyes were wide. Ezra swore. Over the comm they heard Poe say, “I’m sorry…I thought we had a shot. There’s just too many of them…”

He sounded so dejected it broke Jacen’s heart. He wanted to scream “We’re here!” But Lando beat him to it.

“But there are more of us Poe,” He said. “There are more of us.”

That’s when Poe spotted them. The Falcon, and the Ghost right beside them, leading their new-found forces into the fray.

“Hey! Spectre 8!”Jacen shouted over the comm. Giddy with glee. “You miss me?”

Poe’s face lit up like a summers day, and then he just started to laugh. “Let’s show these guys how real rebels fly,” he replied. “Hit those underbelly cannons,” he announced to the whole fleet. “Every one we knock out is a world saved.”

And that was all it took. Soon, Star destroyers were going down in flames all around them. They heard cheers as well as painful cries over the comm, but the battle raged on.

On and on and on. Until they won.

~The End~

A Call for Help

~Part Three~

The shield was up in seconds and they all let out a small breath of relief, even though they still had too many TIE’s and an impossible number of storm troopers to deal with. Hopefully the First Order hadn’t brought tanks.

Chopper scanned through the city’s security feed to find the areas where the fighting was most concentrated and Ezra, Jacen, and Sabine grabbed speeders and headed there immediately. The New Republic Soldiers were fighting well but they were vastly outnumbered. Thankfully, 2 Jedi and a Mandalorian were enough to even the score. The three of them fought seamlessly, making their way through the ranks of Storm Troopers. They had significantly thinned out the herd when they heard an explosion right above them. It appeared chopper had commandeered the Phantom and had decided to act as air support. Jacen rolled his eyes and continued fighting.

Soon enough, the First Order’s forces had been routed. Most were either passed out or dead and the rest were fleeing. It didn’t seem like their re-enforcements were arriving anytime soon. Ezra sighed and made his way back to the command centre. He wanted to know what was going on.

The Governor informed them that all communications had been jammed and that their distress signal didn’t make it out. He also said that the First Order cruisers were maintaining position over the capital but had not yet fired. It seemed like they were setting up a blockade and just didn’t want anybody leaving. This was absurd, but maybe the message they’d received from the Resistance had something to do with it.

“Jacen,” Sabine said, “Play that message you got from the Rebel base.”

Jacen obliged, and a holo of General Organa bloomed to life.

“Rebels,” she started. “If this message has reached you, we need your help. Our fleet is lost, and the First Order is upon us. We have fought till our last breath and are hanging by a thread. We are hiding in an old Rebel base on the mineral planet Crait, but we won’t be able to hold out for much longer. If this resistance falls today, all our years of struggle will have been for nothing. All we’ve fought for, all our parents fought for, will be in vain. Remember why we fight. Remember all you’ve lost, and join us now so that we do not lose any more. This is our most desperate hour, you’re our only hope.”

It felt as though time had slowed down. None of them could believe what they were hearing. The First Oder must have known that the Resistance would call for help and sent their fleet to every system they knew they had allies to stop them from getting it. To make them feel abandoned…

Jacen was distraught. “We have to go,” he said desperately, “We have to go right now. We would take them by surprise. It could be just what they need to escape!”

“Is there any way we can get passed those cruisers?” Ezra asked.

“They’re blocking the hyperspace lanes,” Sabine said, “I don’t know.”

“We have to find another way.” Jacen insisted, “let’s work on getting our communications back up.”

Sabine nodded and without a word they got to work. They would find their way home.

To be continued…

Photo Credits: Star Wars The Last Jedi

A Call For Help

~Part Two~

Sure enough Ezra said, “Something’s coming,” right before a First Order fleet dropped out of Hyperspace right above them.

They all jumped up. “Chopper! Come on!”, Jacen yelled. The stupid droid wasn’t even paying attention. He was so old sometimes Jacen thought his circuits might be fried for good.

They took off immediately. “What the hell does the First Oder want with Lothal? They haven’t been back here in decades!” Ezra yelled over the comms.

“That is really irrelevant right now!” Sabine shouted back from the rear gun, “Help me get these ties off our tail first!”

“Both of you shush,” Jacen grumbled. “I’m not seeing any dreadnoughts so we’ve got something going for us.”

“Thank the Force,” Ezra muttered as he blasted a couple TIEs into oblivion.

“We’re receiving a transmission from…the Rebellion?” Jacen said suddenly.

“What!?” Sabine and Ezra replied in unison.

“Yeah. It’s probably from the Resistance. They must be at an old base,” Jacen said before nearly getting shot out of the sky. “It must be important. Should I- ah karabast!” They’d been hit.

Shields at 61%, chopper informed helpfully.

“Should I put it through?” Jacen asked.

“Not now!” Ezra shouted back. “We’re in the middle of an invasion!”

“And it could be a trap”, Sabine added. “The First Order has access to Imperial Intelligence records.”

Jacen ignored them both. His thinking had tunnelled. The only thing on his mind was Poe. He could sense that the resistance was in trouble. Big trouble. Something Terrible had happened.

“Ezra,” he pleaded, “We have to go. Somethings wrong. I can sense it.”

“Jacen, how? We have to deal with this first. We don’t even know what the Alliance, I mean Resistance wants.”

“We can’t leave now,” Sabine added sadly, “look around.”

They took Jacen’s silence as approval and continued fighting.

“Do you think we should get on the ground?” Ezra asked after a minute of silence. “The civilians down there won’t be able to protect themselves for long. Maybe we can get to the old republic building and raise the planetary shields.”

“Let’s head there,” Sabine agreed. “Then at least we’ll be safe from the cruisers”

Without another word they were on their way.

“We really need to get some more crew,” Jacen grumbled as he stretched all the way to the copilot’s side to boost the engines, remembering only after he settled back down that he could have used the force.

They landed their ship on a platform inside the old republic building, ran past Sabine’s lovely family portrait, and got to the command centre. The new governor of Lothal was there, looking frazzled as ever. He stepped aside immediately when he saw Sabine and let her do her thing. The shield was up in seconds and they all let out a small breath of relief, even though they still had too many TIE’s and an impossible number of storm troopers to deal with. They just had to hope that the First Order hadn’t brought tanks…

To be continued…

Star Wars Rebels: Legacy Review - Den of Geek

Photo Credits: Star Wars Rebels

Children of the Rebellion

Jacen and Syndulla and Poe Dameron grew up together. Their parents were Rebel leaders, and all they ever wanted to do was be just like them. As it turned out, they both grew up to be exactly the reckless flyboys they’d hoped.

Jacen taught Poe about the force and the Jedi, telling him amazing stories about his father and his adventures, and Poe had an absurd amount of smuggler stories to share with Jacen. They were both born to fly. “I’m gonna be the best pilot in the galaxy one day,” Jacen would say. “Better than Han Solo?”, Poe would tease. “Better than my mom”, Jacen would reply with conviction. Then Poe would smile, “We’ll be better than all of them.”

They decided that they would start fighting for the rebellion together as soon as they could and that Poe could join the crew of the Ghost as Spectre 8. Luckily or unluckily for them, the war ended before they were even old enough to fly. They joined the New Republic Fighter Academy instead, and became part of the Navy but then Poe went on a different path for a while…

When Poe joined The Resistance, Jacen was the first person he called. He told Jacen to join them as well and he obliged. They fought together on the ghost and i their X-wings. Sabine, Ezra and Chopper were still part of the crew and they sort of adopted Poe. But as time went by Poe was needed on more and more for spy and stealth missions, which he went on alone, and Jacen and the Ghost crew spent more and more time in the outer rim protecting the planets with no military from the rising First Order. General Organa had wanted them to regroup with The Resistance fleet at their new base in the Illenium system but the Ghost crew refused to leave the outer rim undefended.

When they saw the strike from Starkiller base they were devastated, but still they did not regroup. When they received the distress call from Crait they were in the middle of a battle on Lothal, the one place they wouldn’t leave for anything. Poe thought that even if only one person heard that call and came to help it would be Jacen, and when he didn’t show it broke his heart. Poe knew that wherever Jacen was he was saving lives, but it still hurt.

Finally, at the battle of Exegol, they were reunited. When Poe saw the Falcon emerge from hyperspace with the Ghost right behind, he was so overjoyed he nearly got shot out of the sky. “Hey! Spectre 8!” Jacen said, “You miss me?”. Poe just laughed, “Let’s show these guys how real rebels fly.”

Untitled_Artwork

Photo Credits: Artwork by me.