The Heart of the Galaxy: A Star Wars Story (with Legends)

Chapter 34 - Victory and Defeat

Whie lifted his hands, gathering the pulsing, luminous energy. A blast rocked the Hill, striking dangerously close to the now unshielded band and shaking the rock where Grogu perched. "Daddy Mando!" he wailed piteously. "Help!"

"Trust the Force, Grogu," Ezra reached out with one hand to pat Grogu's head, while his other hand grasped the light.

Another droid ship banked close to the Hill, its cannon glowing red as it targeted Grogu's rock. A flash lit the sky as the droid disintegrated and a Mandalorian fighter swept through the debris.

Grogu whooped in delight, clapping his hands and hopping up and down. "He come! Always come."

Ezra smiled at the little green toddler, then joined the other Jedi as they lifted their hands in imitation of Whie. Grogu paused in his wild dancing to help. Closing their eyes and spreading their fingers, the Jedi gathered the warm radiance and sent it flowing.

The light swept upward in gently undulating waves, washing over them as it spread.

Namah watched his years of patient planning finally coming to fulfillment. Everything was working out perfectly, in spite of a few setbacks. Very soon his enemies would no longer be a problem. It was time to finish.

He keyed in a command and the rear ships broke off, leaving the Mandalorians to his S-fighters. The rest of his assembled forces swarmed the Hill. The Ysalamiri ships drew up in a tight formation.

An alarm bleated on his command console. His Factory Transport had been destroyed. He scowled, then reminded himself that it was only a minor inconvenience. He had more than enough ships for his task.

A second bleat closely followed the first. Lion Rampant dead in space, the message read. That was more to his liking. Down below he could see that the powerful shield held aloft by two remarkable droids had at last fallen.

His victory has come at last.

Namah launched the powerful, targeted missile from his command ship. After the missile eliminated the Jedi, the crystal would be unguarded and vulnerable. While the Force echoed with the deaths of the Jedi, his ship's massive kyber harvesting unit would break through the surface and extract the planet-sized crystal. And then....

But first, the missile had to finish its work. It flew straight on it course and ran headlong into a swirling mass of color. Namah blinked. The color glided on, surrounding his droid ships. On his control panel, lights winked out faster than he could count.

It wasn't possible! His ships could not be defeated by a colorful light. He had defeated the Force. Hadn't he?

The wave rolled on and his viewport was suffused with color. It slipped into his ship, enfolding him in its brilliant hues. He heard a Voice, soft but strong.

At last, Namah Agati understood. He was a creature, not the Creator. He could never be greater than the One who made him.

Nek Bwua'tu knew his fighter's tractor beam could not hold his flagship indefinitely. Around him, the battle was grim. He had given his men a fighting chance when he destroyed the floating factory, but it was little more.

"Admiral," Lando Calrissian's voice crackled over his comm, "you've got to get out of there. We'll find another way to plug that hole."

"There's no time," Nek replied, picking off an S-fighter just before it launched itself at him. "And I need the Alderaan out there fighting, not hanging on to the Rampant."

"I'm sure we could spare a cruiser," Lando reasoned.

"General, you have your duty and I have mine. Let's both attend to them."

Before Lando could voice another protest, tendrils of color seeped around the edges of the Rampant, wrenching the ship from Nek's tractor beam. A flood of light poured through, refracted into every color imaginable. It stretched and spread, flowing out and surrounding the battling vessels.

Lasers vanished in mid-flight and the light wrapped around the droid ships, immobilizing them. The ships went dark and the hostile red lights on Nek's console began to disappear. The color curled around the three star destroyers still following Agati.

Nek's comm beeped.

"Grand Admiral, this is Captain Lorric of the New Day. Please accept our immediate surrender of our star destroyers and cease this attack!"

"I'll accept your surrender, but I am not the source of the color wave that has overcome you. Turn yourself over to Captain Doren of the Ewok Princess and perhaps you will be spared."

Switching frequencies, Nek hailed his fighters. "The battle is ours. Well done, lads. Report to your ships. Squadrons of the Rampant and the Braveheart are temporarily reassigned. General Calrissian will handle the reassignments. I will need the Kenobi to tow the cruiser Braveheart back to port. We will rendezvous at Ruwelyn in five days. Bwua'tu out."

"Hold on, Admiral," Wedge interrupted before Nek could turn off his comm. "Rogue Squadron is not running off and leaving you dead in space.

"Captain Antilles, that was an order, not a suggestion." Nek maneuvered his fighter back towards the listing Rampant.

"Sorry, sir. We're called 'Rogue Squadron' for a reason, sir." Lieutenant Hobbie Klivian joined the conversation without bothering to wait for an invitation.

Nek aimed his bow at a hangar and glided in. "If Rogue Squadron chooses to flaunt my orders, I will be within my rights to have all of you whipped, thrown in the brig and dishonorably discharged."

He switched off his comm as he brought his ship to a landing, wondering if the Rogues knew how long it had been since any Republic serviceman, Old or New, had been whipped for disobeying orders. Regardless, their response would be an interesting study.

Popping his hatch, Nek climbed out of the Warrior. His first mate was waiting for him, dressed in full life-support gear, including magnetic boots.

"How does she look, Fionn?"

"Not good, sir."

"Can we get her flying? Enough to collect my family and make it home?"

"We can try."

"Then let's get to it."

Nek bent to double check the magnetic clamps that held his fighter to the deck. As he straightened, twelve X-wings dove through the hangar door. The small ships settled down, engaging their own magnetic clamps.

The Rogues popped out of their X-wings and clattered silently to the floor, all sound swallowed by the void of space. Wedge approached the Admiral and saluted.

"Well, sir, you'd better get your cat-o-nine-tails ready. But first we're going to fix this ship."