The Rise of the Final Order - A Star Wars Story

Chapter 19

Kelsa Antilles

Less than twenty-four hours after Darth Caedaris' speech, the entire New Republic was in a panic. They had just gotten out of a war, and now they were being dragged back into one. The holonews networks weren't doing anything to calm anyone's fears either-if anything, they were probably making them worse.

An emergency meeting of the Senate was being held back on Coruscant, and they had already been in session for several hours when news came of the first Final Order attack.

"All Blue and Gold Squadron pilots, please report to the hangar for launch to Yavin 4," a female voice over the intercom of the New Republic Military Operations building announced. The speaker repeated the message several more times, although Kelsa didn't need the reminder, as she was already jogging down to the hangar, BB-11 at her side.

Upon returning to Coruscant, Ersela had put her in charge of Blue Squadron, knowing that an attack could come at any moment, and sure enough, it wasn't long before one did.

Kelsa hadn't changed out of her flight gear since putting it on before leaving for Vandor, knowing she would need it in case of an attack, and so all she had to do was don her helmet after she had climbed the ladder into her cockpit and sat down, closing the hatch over her head. BB-11 was secured into his slot in front of her by one of the hangar's technicians, and then she was powering up her drives and opening up her comm channel to the squadron's frequency.

"This is Blue Leader to Blue Squadron," she said, still flipping switches and finishing up her preflight checks. "Everyone ready for launch?"

In rapid succession, the five other members of Blue Squadron answered an affirmative, and the hangar doors opened to allow them to fly out, Kelsa taking the lead.

There was no time to waste, and as soon as they had left the atmosphere and everyone in both her squad and Gold Squadron reported that they were ready to make the jump to Yavin 4, they were on their way to the now well-known moon under attack from the Final Order.

When they completed the jump and emerged from hyperspace, they were met with several squadrons of TIE fighters, and Kelsa could see a Star Destroyer looming on the other side of the forest moon. She cursed under her breath. This was going to get ugly.

"Alright, Blue Squadron," she said over the comms. "We need to stop those TIEs, and if we can, that Star Destroyer. Blue One and Two with me. Blue Three, Four, and Five, you're together. Take out as many TIEs as you can."

"Copy that, Blue Leader," Blue Three replied. "Splitting off now."

Kelsa glanced over her shoulder to see Blue Three, Four, and Five separate from the group and go off to the right, shooting past her and making their way over to engage an enemy squadron.

"Alright you two," she addressed the two remaining fighters. "Form up on me. We can't let these guys reach Yavin 4's atmosphere."

"Forming up on you now, Blue Leader," Blue One responded, and on Kelsa's radar she could see them doing just that.

"We're approaching an enemy squadron," she announced as she saw the Final Order TIEs appear both on her radar and in the cockpit viewport. "Get ready to open fire."

She pushed forward on the control yoke of her fighter, speeding up as she approached the enemy squadron and let loose a volley of laser fire. The TIEs managed to duck out of the way in time, except for one who didn't act fast enough, but that didn't save them from the rest of Kelsa's squadron.

They made quick work of the rest of the TIEs, but were soon swarmed by another squadron as they made their way towards the Star Destroyer.

"These guys just keep coming," Blue Two grumbled. "I can see more behind 'em."