Star Wars VIII: Stand of the Republic

28: Cornered

The last of the fighters swooped in to land in the hangar of the abandoned Rebel base, and the massive shield doors lowered with a thundering crash to seal the fortress from the outside world.

Poe jumped down from his fighter before calling back to BB-8. "Check the ship out and see if we need anything before we go out again." The droid beeped a series of notes in acknowledgment.

As Poe hurried over to a group of people crowding around Leia, he overheard the last of the conversation.

"Our scouts have checked all the passageways and exits," one of the Republic commanders was explaining. "All show evidence of explosive charges being used to collapse the tunnels. There's no way out."

Leia looked toward Holdo. "You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"

"Who, me?" Holdo asked in a mock innocent tone. "The only thing I know for certain is you're going to die today."

"You won't be around to see it!" one of the commanders yelled, reaching for his blaster.

Leia extended a hand, and the Force moved the weapon to her waiting grip.

"She wants you to kill her," Leia announced. She dropped the weapon with a loud thud on the briefing table in front of her. "She's been with us a long time, time enough to cultivate sympathizers and agents. We'll want to know those names. We'll also want to know what things she's sabotaged besides this place."

"You won't get anything out of me," Holdo promised.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Leia countered with a humorless smile. "You've never been interrogated by a Jedi. Now, you be absolutely quiet or I'll have you stunned and chained up in a back room somewhere with orders to shoot you again every time you regain consciousness."

Holdo kept her mouth shut, but she intensely watched the Republic officers planning their defensive strategy.

"Should she still be here?" Poe questioned with a nod toward the former Vice-Admiral.

"She won't be able to get the information to the enemy," Leia answered. "And, I prefer her where I can keep an eye on her."

Poe nodded. "What's the plan?"

"Your call for help was heard, yes?" Leia asked. Poe nodded. "Holding out would seem to be our best bet at this point. The shield door is nearly impossible to break through, and with the other exits blocked by Holdo, we're pretty well barricaded."

"Do we have a backup plan?" Poe queried.

"We'll want you and all the fighters we have left on standby," Leia replied. "If the situation should arise, we may need you to engage their forces. At the very least, hyperdrive equipped fighters might be able to either fight or slip through the lines and escape. We don't have enough for everyone, but it would be something."

"Anything else?" Poe prompted.

"Yes," Leia confirmed. "Anyone not on standby for defense should be working on clearing one of the escape tunnels."

"General," a young officer with scattered black hair and a hesitant manner approached and waited for Leia to acknowledge him. She waved him forward, and he gave his report. "We managed to get the base systems online. Sensors show a ground attack force heading this way."

"Any ideas as to number and type?" Leia inquired.

"Not as yet," the officer stated.

"Speculate based on current information," Leia pressed.

"The sensor images read similar to Imperial AT-ATs, but the signatures seem bigger," the officer explained. "One energy signature in the center of the advancing formation doesn't match. It's longer and more of a tube shape, but its power output is greater than anything the walkers are putting out."

"Boost the sensor resolution," Leia ordered. "I want to know what's coming."

"Yes General," the officer replied, hurrying back to carry out his task. He returned less than a minute later with his report, handing over the data pad to Leia.

"This isn't good," she muttered. "Enhanced scans are reading a laser artillery cannon being escorted by ten MegaCaliber-Six walkers. If the cannon gets in range, it will cut through our shield door in one shot."

"How long could we hold them if they did break through?" one of the ship captains asked.

"Not long," Leia told him. "With the number of soldiers the two First Order fleets could deploy, they'd flood the base in minutes. We wouldn't be able to take them down fast enough. I've got a single lightsaber, so there are only so many blasters I could block at once."

"It would seem our best option would be to take out the cannon," Poe suggested.

Leia's eyes locked onto him.

"You do realize how many TIE fighters are guarding that thing?" she questioned.

"Out there we might die," Poe admitted. "But it's a certainty if we wait in here."

"With the walkers advancing toward the doors, you'll be flying right through their firing arcs," one of the ship captains pointed out.

"No choice," Poe replied. "We can't go around. The fighters would tear us to pieces before we could get in position. The only thing we can do is a straight run at full throttle and hope to reach the cannon before the fighters get through with us."

"You're going to lose a lot of people," Leia warned.

"It will still be less than if we wait," Poe countered.

"You got the call for reinforcements out," Leia reminded. "Even if the First Order gets in here, we might hold them long enough for the Republic troops to arrive."

"If they don't arrive in time, we're dead," Poe argued. He stepped toward the table and pulled out the data pad from his pocket, holding it up in front of her. "You made me learn the names of the people who died under my command. I didn't protect them when I should have, and I won't make that mistake again."

Poe looked around as he raised his voice to be heard by everyone. "I'm not asking anyone to go with me, but this mission needs to be done."

"I'll go with you," Finn offered, stepping forward to join the group.

"Why not?" Rose shrugged as she moved over to stand beside Finn. "It's better than waiting here to die."

Other fighter pilots each nodded their acceptance of the suicidal mission as the number of volunteers increased.

"It looks like we have a squadron," Poe told Leia before focusing on his team. "Let's do this."