POV Rio
I was in my Arwing and was flying with the other pilots. We were with the Rebel fleet and were making the last checks before we jumped to the Endor system. Once we were ready, I heard Lando go over the comms.
Lando: "Admiral, we're in position. All fighters accounted for."
Ackbar: "Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates."
We wait for the countdown.
Ackbar: "All craft, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark."
Lando: "All right. Stand by."
We all jump to the Endor system. As we arrive, we see the Death Star far ahead of us.
Lando: "All wings report in."
Wedge: "Red Leader, standing by."
Gray Leader: "Grey Leader, standing by."
Green Leader: "Green Leader standing by."
All the other leaders report in, and then it is my fighter's turn.
Bronze: "Bronze Leader, standing by."
Pearl Leader: "Pearl Leader, standing by."
Rio: "Blue Leader, standing by."
Wedge: "Lock S-foils in attack positions."
Ackbar: "May the Force be with us."
Lando: "Break off the attack! The shield is still up."
Wedge: "I get no reading. Are you sure?"
Lando: "Pull up! All craft pull up!"
Ackbar: "Take evasive action! Green Group, stick close to holding sector MV-7."
Bridge Member: "Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector 47."
Ackbar: "We are out of time! All ships prepare for enemy attack."
Lando: "Fighters coming in."
Rebel Pilot: "There's too many of them!"
Lando: "Accelerate to attack speed! Draw their fire away from the cruisers."
Wedge: "Copy, Gold Leader."
Rio: "Bronze Group, Pearl Group, you know what to do."
Pearl And Bronze: "Copy."
Rio: "Blue Group, continue to stall. I will deal with disabling the Death Star."
I bank right and start attacking the enemy groups. Then, I break out of the chaos and fly straight at the Death Star. I had special munitions just for this battle. Once I was certain I was in range, I released the missiles. My target was the focusing dish. The missiles hit and I was able to asses that the dish was inoperable.
Rio: "All groups, be aware I have disabled the Death Stars focusing dish. They won't be able to use for a time."
I get a call from Ackbar.
Ackbar: "Do we have a status report from the surface?"
Rio: "Yes, they said they are fighting their way to the shield generator now, but they are facing heavy resistance."
Ackbar: "When will the reinforcements arrive?"
Rio: "Momentarily."
POV Admiral Piett
I heard a Capt Harry talk to me.
Harry: "We're in attack position now, sir."
Piett: "Hold here."
Oliver: "We're not going to attack?"
Piett: "I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping."
Suddenly, alarms go off, and I look to the nearest staff member.
Piett: "What happened?"
Harry: "We have unknown ships in sector 29!"
Oliver: "It's a trap!"
Piett: "Get our ships prepared to attack the enemy behind us. We cannot let the Rebels escape."
I got a communication and answered it.
Palpatine: "Admiral Piett, use every resource to destroy the large vessel to your rear. I don't care what it costs; they must be destroyed. They were the ones who attacked Coruscant."
Piett: "As you command, my Emperor."
I looked around and saw everyone immediately get to work. Something washed over me, and I suddenly felt weaker.
POV Thrawn
I look over the reports of our ships. Our sneak attack caused a lot of damage to the Empire's forces, but they are starting to reorganize.
'It seems our Battle Meditation was not strong enough to break Palpatines for long.'
Our strategy was working well. The Grand Herald was our rearmost ship, and it was using its long-range kinetic artillery. It was not the most useful against large ships, but it destroyed most smaller vessels in one shot. This forced the Empire to try and slowly break through our other ships, which were mostly ships that we found or captured. With many being from the Clone Wars. These ships had all been upgraded to the standard of this era. While those of our actual fleet were placed at either the edges of our formation or at the rear. Such as my ship, the Chimaera, which was to the near the center of our rear line.
Victor: "Admiral, the enemy has just launched all of its bombers. Your orders?"
Thrawn: "Have the Vulture Droids deal with them. TIE Bombers are vastly inferior ships, and there should be no issue in ripping them apart. Has the enemy called back any starfighters?"
Victor: "Not yet, sir. They seem to be focused on keeping the Rebels at bay. Most of the smaller ships are being moved to engage with the Rebel Alliance while the larger vessels are moving on our fleet."
Thrawn: "They will soon send the TIE Defenders our way. When they do spring the trap."
Victor: "Yes, sir."
POV Palpatine
I was furious that all my plans were having issues. First, the ISB and Imperial Intelligence failed to find Valkorion, and then most of the Empire's territory was lost. I had sent agents to investigate planets like Zakuul and Dromund Kaas, but nothing was found. I even got ambushed on Korriban by Sith Assassins. I killed them, but I was injured in the process. But I thought it didn't matter as I had got exactly what I needed. I look at the Holocron with the spirit of a long-dead Sith Lord.
Flashback
I opened the Holocron and saw who was in it.
Dramath: "What do you want?"
Sidious: "I face Valkorion, and I need knowledge on how to defeat him."
Dramath: "Tenebrae... Vitiate... Valkorion... Emperor of the Sith... My low-born son has worn many masks. He is immortal but not invulnerable. But killing him will do nothing but delay the inevitable. I thought once that I had slain my son. But he always returns."
Palpatine: "There must be a way to stop him. No one is unstoppable."
Dramath: "Perhaps. But why should I help you?"
Palpatine: "I am the current Sith Emperor. I know of a way to revive after death. I can teach it to you if you help me."
Dramath: "Deal."
Flashback ends.
I sit in my throne thinking about the knowledge I gained. And the issues that have made my plan more difficult to pull off. The first issue was the ground attack on Endor. It was not expected as they came out of seemingly nowhere. And we don't have the spare time or manpower to send reinforcements. The first attack was from a powerful dark-side user and an army of creatures. I lost one of my few remaining dark side adepts to that battle, and I had to step in personally. Vader has gone missing. As have most of my Hands and Inquisitors. Only Mara Jade is still around, and she has been on an assignment to deliver the Holocron to Bastion.
'That foolish child is too weak to be an apprentice, but yet I still have to use what I can get.'
The second attack was what was currently happening. The ground forces were desperately holding on, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Now, suddenly, the trap I had set for the Rebels had turned into a trap for me. The Death Star has been made inoperable, so that plan failed, and now the majority of my fleets were caught between two fleets. And what's worse, I am the only Force Wielder on the Empire's side. The enemy has numerous Force Wielders, and I am struggling to maintain Battle Meditation. All I can do is merely improve the capabilites of my troops but not harm the foes.
'I just have to hold on. We out number them. And many of their ships are run by droids.'
I knew the odds of victory were not high. And that even if we won, the losses would be extreme. But I also knew that we needed to buy time for the reinforcements from Coruscant to arrive. I had ordered them to abandon Coruscant sometime earlier since I sensed the coming attack. I didn't care if that world was lost. Only the Lusankya was valuable, and I knew she received my orders and should be heading to Bastion to prepare for my possible resurrection. But I stopped my thoughts when I recieved a call from Coruscant.
I answer, and what I see worries me greatly.
Ysanne: "Forgive me, but the Lusankya is about to be captured by the enemy. I won't make it out alive, so I am sending this recorded message. Good luck, my love."
The message ends, and I have to try very hard not to break my concentration. I slip a bit, and I have to quickly fix the issue.
'To hell with all of this. Coruscant is lost. The Lusankya is lost. Endor is about to be lost. And Bastion may not hold out for too long. That damn relic! He should have stayed gone! Everything is his fault! I swear I will have my revenge!'
POV Rio
I could sense the fear, anger, and hatred from my ship many miles away from the Death Star.
'It seems Palpatine just got the message from Coruscant. Now all we need is for the Shield to be brought down.'
I was getting a bit worried, as without destroying the Death Star, Palpatine would continue to use Battle Meditation. His Battle Meditation was causing a lot of damage, and if it kept up, it was possible we would lose. But right as I was thinking that, I heard an alert that I was waiting to hear.
Ackbar: "The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor."
Lando: "We're on our way. Red Group, Gold Group, all fighters follow me."
They all fly towards the Death Star, and I continue to hold off the enemy fighters. I make sure none can follow Gold and Red Groups.
Wedge: "I'm going in."
Lando: "Now lock onto the strongest power source. It should be the power generator."
Wedge: "Form up. And stay alert. We could run out of space real fast."
POV Thrawn
I get the alert that the Death Star's Shield was brought down.
Thrawn: "Activate our trap. We need to give the fighters more time."
Victor: "Yes, Admiral!"
I watch as the virus is activated and the Executor starts to open fire on all nearby Imperial ships. This causes chaos amongst the Imperials, and I see their formation start to disintegrate. The Mandator-II started to open fire on the Executor, but it was already weakened a bit by our bombers attacks.
I hear over the comms Admiral Ackbar's orders.
Ackbar: "We've got to give those fighters more time. Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer."
I make sure they are targeting the right ship and then make sure our fleets are still in good enough condition.
'This battle might be quite close.'
POV Mandator-II
An explosion rocks the bridge, and a commander reports to the Admiral of the ship.
Commander: "Sir, we've lost our bridge deflector shield."
Admiral Chiraneau: "Intensify the forward batteries. I don't want anything to get through."
The Admiral looks out of the window where a damaged Rebel fighter is out of control and heading directly toward the bridge.
Admiral Chiraneau: "Intensify forward firepower!"
Sconston: "It's too late!"
POV Ackbar
I watch as one of our fighters crashes into the bridge of the Mandator and takes it out. I sit back in my chair and sigh. It was a victory, but we still had a ways to go. Then another alert is heard.
Controller: "Admiral, we have additional enemy ships coming out of hyperspace!"
Ackbar: "Warn all our ships and then get me their numbers and any other details we can learn."
Controller: "There are 112 ships. 98 Imperial-I Class and 14 Tector Class."
Ackbar: "Darn it. We need to hold out a little longer; the Death Star should be destroyed shortly."
Finally, we got the signal we were waiting for.
Ackbar: "Move the fleet away from the Death Star. And prepare to finish the Empire once and for all!"
POV Rio
I feel the absolute and incalculable amount of hatred coming from the Death Star just before it explodes. But I also vaguely sense Palpatine's spirit leave. I didn't care about that and instead focused on trying to defeat the Empire's forces. Now that Palpatine was dead, the fleets were a chaotic mess. Even with the reinforcements, they shouldn't be able to win.
'Especially now that they are being influenced by our Battle Meditation. But let's hope we can win with minimal losses from now on.'
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Authors Note:
The chapter ends here, but don't worry; you didn't miss anything too crazy. The next chapter will be about the aftermath of the battle and the preparations for the final battle at Bastion. Until next time Ciao.