Shadow of the Force

Chapter 17

-Harry-

"Alright, this is Gold Leader checking in." Harry called out over the coms, the force using pilots all having their own squadron to keep fighters off them while they made their shots into the exhaust ports.

"Blue leader, standing by." Luke reported in as more of their pilots linked into the communication channel.

"Red leader, ready to blow this shit." Galen grinned widely, the pilots cheering eagerly, at least those from the Citadel. The Rebels were much more nervous, less trusting in the squadron leaders they'd been assigned to.

"Alright everyone, stay in contact and be ready." Harry ordered seriously, eyes focused as the massive space station grew closer "Red Leader, Blue Leader, you both have your port targets?"

"Rear Port locked on Gold Leader." Galen confirmed, the Red Squadron already starting to peel off to get to their target.

"And We have the left side one." Luke acknowledged, the kid managing a damn good job at keeping any trepidation out of his voice.

"That leaves the right one for us Gold Squadron." Harry ordered the pilots behind him as he began his descent, the Death Star's trench coming into focus, "Keep 'em off me and do your best to stay alive. I swear if any of you pointlessly throw your lives away then I'm going to find your ghost and kick its ass!"

"Sir yes sir!" the unified voices of the men under his command shouted, all those who have served with him on the Citadel aware of his disdain for pointless Martyrdom for the sake of dying a heroic death. Seeing the Death Star defense systems start to come online, Harry pitched his fighter down as he shot into the trench, dodging blaster fire as they went.

"Red Leader, Blue Leader, have you entered the trench?!" Harry shouted over the comms as he narrowly missed a blast from a defense turret.

"I'm in!" Luke confirmed.

"Almost, got heavy resistance over here!" Galen's voice was irritable as he called up.

"Then time to play the last card Blackbriar Protocol gave us then." Harry grinned as he sent the signal to Jarvis to begin. The final Blackbriar virus had been a rather devious bit of sabotage if he said so himself. It entered the Death Star systems and replaced one of the programs, copying it to blend in and remain undetected until he gave the order to activate, the perfect trojan horse.

"Wait what?!" Luke shouted in confusion as the turrets suddenly started changing targets.

"A rewrite of Friend or Foe Protocols." Harry laughed as he sped up, trying to find the exhaust port as the turrets began shooting the Imperial fighters "But hurry! We probably only have a few minutes before they replace targeting AI's with actual gunners."

"I thought it was just a bunch of storm troopers showing their usual aim." Galen snarked over the radio.

"Even I can't program aim that bad Galen." Harry gave a mock sigh as the pilots in their squadron started to snicker here and there, the sudden change in tides given a surge of confidence to the nervous resistance pilots.

"In the trench Gold Leader." Galen confirmed as Harry and his squad began to fly faster, blasting apart every ship that got in their way.

"I have a shot." Luke called out, "Aiming…" he heard the detonation through the coms but that was all "Damnit! Sorry everyone, I missed, it just impacted on the surface."

"Pull out to try another run if we miss as well." Harry ordered.

"The trench is on fire at the moment and it looks like the vent is being closed up over here." Luke protested, "While my shot didn't blow the core it clearly caused some damage to the station itself."

"Then pull out of the trench and regroup with Galen, help take out any fighters on that end to keep things clear for him. I have my own shot coming up." Harry nodded, changing plans as his targeting computer alerted him that his exhaust port was coming closer. "Gold Squadron, clear the road!" Harry shouted, the pilots under his command rushing ahead in an arrowhead formation, blasters firing in a bright wall of death to give him the opening he needed. Putting away his targeting computer, Harry focused in the force, finding his missile as he fired it, guiding it with his power and infusing the explosives with the force, trying to will it to hit true and hit hard. "It's in! Everyone get clear!" Harry shouted, gritting his teeth as he pulled up sharply, Gold squad peeling away while Galen and Luke made sure their own pilots obeyed.

-Vader-

His fighter had barely landed in the hangar bay of his ship before the crew were closing the hatch, the pilots on the bridge already bringing his ship to hyper speed. The officers and soldiers under his command began having the pilots he'd brought in fighters with him taken out to be checked, the fighters maintained and chained down, and a million other tasks he wanted done, all of them knowing what to do without his direct command. Getting to the bridge of his ship, Vader saw the new Captain he'd moved to his ship standing there as Tarkin was hailing his ship, the old fool's face red as he screamed angrily.

"You traitor! You'll be killed for this! All of you!" Tarkin raved, "You dare flee my battle station during this moment of triumph?! You dare ignore my commands?!"

"Tarkin," Vader's cold synthetic voice cut through the room as he entered, letting the fool see him "I see you are as presumptuous as ever. That station was not yours, it was the Emperor's. Due to your negligence though, it shall fall." Feeling the upcoming sensation in the force he chuckled darkly "Goodbye Tarkin, you won't be missed." The Grand Moff's reply was cut off by the explosion that consumed the moon sized battle station.

"Your orders Lord Vader?" his new Captain asked, the man feeling shock, horror, and unease at the destruction of the Death Star but showing none before his superior officer.

"Contact the Emperor, I shall report Tarkin's failure myself. As well as…another matter, for which you all shall exit the bridge." Vader ordered, his eyes narrowed behind his mask. One of those Rebel pilots, he'd sensed their connection to the force, one so similar to his own. Either his children had survived when the Emperor said Padme had died, or someone took his DNA to attempt to clone him as he had been doing to Galen on Kamino. Either way, this was a dangerous development.

-Obi-Wan-

Sighing, Obi-Wan took a deep pull from his cup as he sat with Kota at the bridge with the pilot droids, the evacuation ship they were in charge of somewhere in the middle of dark space and waiting for word that may never come. "Master Kenobi, where have you been all this time?" Kota asked, finally breaching the topic Obi-Wan knew for some time would come up.

"I've been on Tatooine, looking after the boy you saw with me and Galen, Luke." Obi-Wan refilled their cups, deciding to share more of the situation to get the opinion on another member of the Order.

"The blond boy, right? What's so important about him?" Kota frowned, the blind man taking a drink.

"He's Anakin's son." Obi-Wan's answer had Kota choking and sputtering.

"W-what?!" Kota gaped slack jawed "You're serious?"

"Yes, I was there when he was born. I took him to his family on Tatooine and stayed nearby just in case. Honestly, I thought there was nobody left of the order besides myself and Master Yoda who said he was going away to mediate at a force nexus. I had no idea you were still alive."

"Not just me from what I've heard." Kota gave a wry grin, "I haven't been able to find them, but I've heard rumors of Skywalkers old apprentice Ashoka still out there somewhere. There was also a rumor several years ago about Jaro Tapal's apprentice meeting up with Seeker Junda for some sort of mission. They took out two of the Inquisitors but went off the grid after that. Then there's Galen, and those boys Luke and Harry…we might not be as alone as you think."

"You…you may be right." Obi-Wan sighed as he set aside his drink, looking into Master Kota's dead white eyes, "Kota, there's something I need to talk to you about. Harry, and Galen too…they don't follow the Jedi code and…I'm not sure I can blame them."

"Do they have a different code they follow?" Kota's question was direct enough that Obi-Wan knew what he meant.

"They follow the old Sith code." Obi-Wan read out the code and how they interpreted it, what they told him.

"And you're worried about betraying everything the Jedi stood for." Kota summed up easily.

"I lost Qui-Gon so long ago." Obi-Wan sighed, feeling every year that weight on his body like an iron cloak "And then Anakin…the other masters…the republic. The memory of the order, the hope of seeing it return, that was all I had left."

"Kenobi…they might not be wrong." Kota shook his head, "We need to face facts, we're old men but the Order was stagnating even when we were Younglings. We were blind, we didn't see this betrayal coming, and we drove away so many of our own just because they didn't believe what the council of masters told them to. Not to mention the obscene arrogance the council showed when it came to Anakin and the Prophecy."

"What are you talking about?" Obi-Wan focused on Kota at that, "The Prophecy had to be nurtured if we were to destroy the Sith for good."

"But that's not what the prophecy said." Kota's gaze was locked with his own despite the man's eyes having long since died "The Prophecy said that the Chosen one would bring Balance to the Force."

"What's your point?" Obi-Wan frowned confused, not sure what Kota was getting at.

"Destroying the Light would tip the scales to the Dark. Destroying the Dark would tip the scales to the Light. Neither is balance, for true balance then the Jedi and Sith would need to be equal in strength or the leading faction of the force would likely need to follow something like the Potentium view of the force…or perhaps what this 'Citadel' teaches."

"Do you really think that?" Obi-Wan's voice was so faint he wasn't even sure if he spoke aloud at first. Before Kota could respond though, the signal came in that the Death Star was destroyed and the Resistance was moving out, a rendezvous location being sent with it.

"I think that at the very least, those boys seem to be achieving more than we have." Kota grunted as he got up to go alert the other officers in the evacuation fleet "Some new blood and new thinking might be just what this galaxy needs."