The Death Star has been destroyed. While the Coalition celebrates, Ezra and Jaral return to Lothal, to spend some time with their family and introduce Luke to the ways of the Jedi. But the Empire is far from broken, as Grand Admiral Tanis and his fl...
"Very well." said Ezra after Riccardi finished explaining his plan, then took his comlink. "Han, I'm gonna need a transport soon. Keep the Falcon in the hangar."
"Oh...as you ask, General." Han replied a bit annoyed at the idea of waiting around.
"Captain, I'm leaving the command of the Task Force to you. I'll wait for your signal to launch."
"Good luck, sir." Riccardi said before making the salute, quickly imitated by Kherat and Belisarius.
Ezra returned the gesture and finally materialized his armor. As he started walking out of the bridge, he heard Riccardi ordering the entire squadron to get into the nebula's open trail, with the Amerigo leading the way.
Looking just outside of the shield ray of the hangar, the inside of the nebula showed all its menacing features: electric storms which bolts could be seen even if they were thousands of km away; stellar winds coming from brown dwarfs and other failing stars. There were asteroids being whirled around with incredible speed, though they were so small that even the frigates could take one without much damage to their barriers.
Pretty much, everybody in the hangar was tense because it was clear they were going to fight three Star Destroyers with their TIE contingents inside that treacherous environment. All pilots, both federal and republican, were inside their cockpits, waiting to lower the glasses and ignite the engines.
Then the alarm suddenly blared and the red lights started flashing.
"Attention. Three Star Destroyers in front of us. All hands to battle stations." the voice of Riccardi resonated through the speakers.
In the blink of an eye, the fighters started warming up, including Luke and Red Squadron. Meanwhile, three engineers approached Ezra with one of the aces up to Riccardi's sleeve: a small power generator turned into an EMP bomb, to be loaded upon the Falcon and dropped on the bridge of the Destroyer that the Captain would signal in due time.
"Hey, hold on a second, the Falcon is no bomber!" Han protested.
"A Pelican is the only thing that can carry it and it would be too vulnerable." Ezra patiently explained. "The Falcon is faster, has shields and two turrets that can turn in any direction, so we're using it. This is not up to debate, Commander Solo."
"You heard him, Han. Get aboard and stop complaining." Leia butted in.
Han realized that Ezra was right anyway, so he could only grunt as he walked up the access gangplank. Ezra was about to follow when a voice called up to him.
"General Bridger."
He turned around, spotting Master Gozo coming his way with her suit on.
"I need to follow you on this task."
"Why is that?"
"I have experience with this kind of device. Besides, to enact the plan of the Captain, you might need another Force user."
"Can't argue with that. Come on."
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