Star Wars VIII: Stand of the Republic

15: Ambushed

"What would you have us do with the Imperial prisoners?" asked the Senator from Abregado Rae. "We can't leave them to be freed and recruited by the First Order."

"No," Leia agreed. "We can't do that. We'll either reinforce planetary garrisons where the prisons are located or transfer the prisoners to more heavily defended worlds. We need to make it so that whatever numbers the First Order gains by freeing the prisoners will be trivial compared to the losses they'd take breaking through our lines."

Many of the Senators silently nodded their approval, so Leia continued.

"Additionally, we'll want to reinforce the planets where former Imperials are stationed," she informed them. "We can't arrest all the former Imperials as some are truly loyal to the Republic, but we can't ignore the potential threat. By adding additional loyalist troops, we can ensure the protection of those who remain true as well as making certain if there is an uprising, those who betray us will be fewer than those willing to defend the Republic. Having so many Republic forces present may make those with wavering devotion reconsider their plans of defection altogether."

"The reinforcement fleet under my command is resupplying as we speak," Han volunteered. "We'll be ready within the hour to move on to the next location."

"The evacuation fleet is similarly rearming," Leia added. "The First Order may have gotten an early lead with their unexpected attacks; they may be pushing us hard, but we are the Republic! We've had years to build fleets, armies, and solid defenses. Don't anyone forget, we beat the Empire with less."

A resounding cheer went up from the assembled Senators. Leia gave Han a smile before sending her repulsorpod back to its place, ending her speech. The vote came next. The more aggressive measures of locking away former Imperials before they did anything and eliminating prisoners before they could be rescued were voted on first; both were defeated soundly. Leia's ideas for reinforcing worlds and protecting the Republic from betrayal were quickly put into form for voting. If anyone disagreed, they kept silent and didn't dare cast their vote openly against her. Leia's proposals passed unanimously.

***

Leia and Han had a private meeting to say their farewells before going in different directions. Her evacuation fleet was headed toward Byss to move Imperial prisoners to a more secure location on Bothawui while Han was taking the reinforcement fleet to bolster the already considerable defenses on the manufacturing planet of Kuat.

"I'm glad I got to say goodbye," Leia whispered to her husband.

"Yeah," Han answered, tightening his arms around her slightly. "One of these days, when we're not fighting for the fate of the galaxy, we're going to have to find some time to ourselves."

"Sounds good to me," she agreed.

Han placed a kiss upon her lips before releasing her from his embrace. They headed for the door together but parted as their transports to their respective fleets were on different landing pads. Their fingers remained entwined until the last possible moment.

"Take care," Leia bid to him.

"You too," Han returned the sentiment.

***

Leia watched through the front viewport of her heavy cruiser as the last of the transport ships migrated up from the surface of Byss. It had taken nearly a day to evacuate all the prisoners and their accompanying guards to the fleet. Maintaining security during the transfer had slowed down their progress. The operation was nearly complete, but something was wrong. Before her Jedi training, she would've attributed it to nerves, but since Luke had introduced her to the Force, she realized she was sensing a disturbance in its energy.

"Put the fleet on alert," Leia ordered.

Captain Varnel looked at her for only a moment before sending the order to all ships. Alarms began sounding, and the crew not at their stations raced to get in position for possible attack. Only when Varnel had finished did he swivel his chair back around to face the computer console where she sat.

"What's the reason for the alarm?" he asked, raking a hand through his sandy hair. Having served with her during the Rebellion, he was used to her unexpected orders. "Getting a bad feeling?"

"You could say that," Leia confirmed. "I sense something in the Force."

Before she could explain further, a group of twelve Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace over the planet. Combat ready, the enemy vessels unloaded their TIE fighters almost immediately.

Because the Republic fleet had been put on alert, their shields were up and weapons were charged. When Leia gave the order to fire, a hail of brightly colored red lasers tore into the leading ships. The first six ships took tremendous damage with four of them either blowing up in expanding fireballs or suffering enough hits to knock out primary systems and render them powerless. Broken and with pieces of hull floating around them, the crippled Star Destroyers presented no further threat to the Republic ships.

The remaining six ships were still combat ready and returned fire. Two Republic cruisers were strafed from nose to stern with green turbolasers, ripping through deflector shields and quickly destroying the vessels. The First Order focused their fire on one Republic craft at a time to maximize the damage inflicted and quickly overwhelm the defenders.

"Get us out of here," Leia ordered.

Before the instructions could be carried out, another ship entered the system. Similar to a Star Destroyer in its triangular wedge shape, the ship had four large spheres built into its hull, and the command tower near the stern was much more flat and narrow. Leia recognized it as an Interdictor cruiser.

"The cruiser activated its gravity-well generators," Captain Varnel informed her. "We can't go to lightspeed until we're out of range."

"Maximum sublight speed," Leia instructed, but the order came too late as the TIE fighters screamed in to attack.

Green lasers tore into the outer hull of Leia's command ship, burning through exterior armor plate and damaging vital components underneath. Leading the assault was an enhanced TIE fighter with the upper and lower panels of its wings angled inward. Similar to an Interceptor but longer and narrower in design, the leading fighter was piloted by Kylo Ren with a dozen First Order fighters following in his wake.

Through the Force, he sensed Leia on the bridge of her ship as his targeting crosshair locked on to the command center. With no hesitation, he pressed his thumb onto the top of his control stick to fire.