Heirs of the Fallen {1} (Remastered)

Chapter 21

The woman pursed her lips, red eyes narrowed, as her oldest daughter approached her. "I'm sorry Mother, we... We failed."

The younger sister stood next to her, hiding her shaking hands behind her back. The older sister, however, was much better at hiding her fear and stood strong. Nevertheless, her stomach tied itself into a knot as her mother stood staring out past the bridge, still as stone.

The woman's brows furrowed slightly. "I taught you better than to fail."

"Yes, Mother."

"You know what the consequences are for failure, do you not?"

"Yes, Mother."

The woman turned to face them, and although she was angry she admired her oldest's bravery. She'd raised her well, while her youngest needed a bit more training. "Your punishment will be swift, but for now we have company."

The oldest frowned. "Mother?"

"I sense that danger is nearby." She pointed at the oldest. "Start preparing the fleet." Then at the youngest. "Sound the alarm that the New Republic is coming."

Both bowed and took off towards their stations.

Leia peered around the corner as stormtroopers passed by, scowling. Luke hadn't answered her and Han was still not here, so she didn't have much else to do but wait until the New Republic arrived and caused a bit of chaos for her to disappear into.

Her timing was impeccable, because the comm she'd stolen started beeping immediately. Leia frowned and pressed it, listening for a moment. "Han?"

"Hey Sweetheart, get ready to receive a warm welcome."

Alarms started wailing around her and she gripped the blaster and comm tight. "Well, I'm assuming you've arrived."

"You bet. Get ready for an evac, Luke's on the way."

"What do you mean by on the way?"

"I mean, your suicidal brother hopped into the Destroyer and is currently making his way in."

Leia gaped. "What?"

"Like I said, suicidal. Anyways, just hang tight and wait for him to contact you; I gave him the channel code so it should be any minute."

"Alright. Be careful."

"You too."

Leia ended the channel and started down the hall noticing in relief that it had cleared out because everyone was heading to the hangars to aid in the air battle. But after a moment her blaster suddenly hit her in the chest and she gasped, then looked at it with a frown before turning around to see the red eyed woman stretching her hand out with an angry frown.

The blaster started moving its barrel towards Leia quickly, and she barely had enough time to duck before it fired at her. As she ducked she noticed that the woman had her lightsaber attached to her belt, and Leia called it to her and ignited it, twirling the blue blade and remembering how good it felt to hold before the assassin took it from her.

"You may think you've all but escaped but you're wrong." The woman spat angrily, twirling her saber as well and then lunging at Leia.

Leia quickly blocked and heard her comm ringing, using a moment of space between clashes to answer while she kept the woman at bay with a Force push. "Luke!"

"Leia! Where are you?"

"About to be in the main hangar, hurry!"

Luke frowned as he heard a lightsaber whirring through the comm. "Leia?!"

"Hurry!" She exclaimed before the channel fizzled out. Luke jogged towards the main hangar and once he knew he was on top of it he took his saber and carved a hole, then another, and then another before he finally fell through.

The woman and Leia paused as Luke fell from the ceiling and landed in a crouch, igniting his green saber with a determined glare. The woman laughed. "Quite an entrance."

Luke saw her red eyes and made eye contact with Leia, and she nodded lightly to affirm that she was the woman they'd dreamed about. He slowly stood up and approached them while Leia slowly backed towards him until they stood side by side, blue lightsabers gleaming. "Thank you."

Luke and Leia had practiced fighting against each other because they'd never had an opponent to tag team, but now they did. It felt natural, the twins using their physical and spiritual bonds to anticipate the other's move and adjust for it. Alone Leia or Luke wouldn't have lasted long against the woman, but together through sheer force of Skywalker might they stood a chance against her far superior skill.

Meanwhile, outside the hangar the Falcon sped by. Leena winced against a bright flash of light as she hit a TIE fighter and it exploded, then turned to fire at another one. She eyed the Destroyer with a frown. "Han?!"

"What?!"

"I have an idea!"

"Now's not the time kid, just focus on keeping us alive!"

"But what if we crash the Destroyer?!"

"I'm sorry what?!"

Leena scrambled down the ladder and ran into the cockpit. "Do you have any explosives in here?"

Han stared at her. "Do I look like someone who has explosives in their ship?"

Leena cocked a brow and he grumbled and stood up. "Chewie, take over. They're over here."

Leena smiled in excitement and followed Han into the cargo hold where he pulled out a small backpack of sticky thermal detonators. She gaped. "Why do you have this?"

"Because I might need it one day." The man replied casually, tossing it to her and walking back into the cockpit. "You sure about this?"

"No, I'm just tired of feeling useless." Leena shrugged the pack on and stood over by the ramp. "Where's the best place to drop me?"

"Probably in one of the hangars; an empty one."

"Okay, go ahead and drop me in this one." Leena shielded her face as the ramp lowered, then saw lightsabers clashing in horror in the distance. "Scratch that, not this one! Not this one!"

"Alright, alright!" Han swerved and Leena had to grab into the side of the ship to avoid tumbling out of it. She blinked quickly and pulled herself back, gasping for air. "I'll drop you in the next one!"

"Okay!"

The Falcon slowly lowered itself into the Imperial hangar and Han quickly approached her again. "Wait, kid! You're gonna need this."

He handed her a blaster, a pistol type she'd seen before. "Whoa, a DL-44? And modified, too!"

Han frowned in surprise. "Uh, yeah, that's the one. Just get out of here and don't get killed because Luke won't be happy."

Leena scoffed and peered outside. "Okay." She breathed, wringing out her hands. "There are less people in there, right?"

"Yeah, definitely." Han didn't sound sure at all. Leena just sighed and bit her lip before sliding down the ramp and landing on the hangar floor with a yelp.

As soon as she landed she wondered what in blazes she'd gotten herself into, but it was too late to take it back now as Han started pulling out and reengaging in the battle around them. She sprinted to the nearest covered area and ducked as stormtroopers sprinted past her to their nearest vehicles, then tightened the straps on her bag and started shimmying down the hall.