On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXLVI

"Yoda is dead."

Vader silently applauded Luna for holding herself together even as surprise swept through him at the news. He could still see the residue of shock evident in her eyes, obvious to the Sith even over the holo. But behind that shock, he could see confusion, hopelessness, and fear.

Understandable considering what was supposed to occur after this particular milestone had become, for all intents and purposes, an impossible path. Luna had never done well without a distinct path, even if that path were simple bullet points of impossible things to complete in order to reach an end goal. In fact, the lack of such bullet points often sent her down panicked spirals early in her apprenticeship. The girl had gotten better at it over the years, but it appeared she was reverting to several old habits at this particular incident occurring without a general outline to the near impossible task of overthrowing the Emperor. Thankfully, the two of them had come up with what Vader considered a rather elegant way of dealing with the issue when it did occur—he found a midpoint for her to aim for, and ninety percent of the time, the girl could improvise the rest of the way to the selected destination. Problem was he couldn't give her a midpoint if she was holding information back, and it was clear from her expression there was more to this update then Yoda's death.

"I see," Vader stated, remaining calm in an effort to make her feel calmer though it rarely worked in these sorts of situations. The words appeared to be the final push to a tipping point, because she almost instantly continued, this time without pause.

"Also the Death Star II project has been moved to Exegol, I would anticipate that it is still on schedule and not behind like it's supposed to be, Palaptine has also moved from Coruscant to Exegol because of the Sith stronghold that isn't supposed to be a problem in this time period, and the Rebellion has also managed to steal the waypoints to locate the planet and thus wants to launch both a spatial and ground assault, and—"

"Apprentice, breath."

Luna shut her mouth and paused to collect herself even as her holo began pacing. The movement was evidence of how uncomfortable she was with the news as was the fact she was being completely open and decidedly pleasant in his presence for the first time in ages, not to mention she didn't correct the use of the term apprentice. "Why is there a sixth and ninth crossover happening?! It's supposed to be Endor! Not Exegol! And if it's a blasted crossover, where's Rey and Kylo?!"

Considering how very Earthen the complaints were, Vader elected to ignore those particular statements and remind her of the matter at hand: "The Rebellion wishes to assault an unknown Sith stronghold in Sith space?"

"Basically. It's not going to go well. Or at least it wouldn't if we were three decades in the future! I was planning on hijacking the second Death Star to blow it up and circumvent the entire blasted trilogy, not to assault the kriffing place!"

"....You were planning to blow up a planet?" Vader repeated, those words in that particular order coming from Luna of all people not computing properly. He must have missed something.

"It was an idea...." she answered, waving him off before pausing: "Actually, if we hijacked it now it probably would be operational enough to blow Exegal into the next universe and then we can self destruct the station or have someone blow it up. And if Palpatine is planetside when it blows, all the better!"

"....While I agree it would be an elegant solution, I don't think the Rebellion would support such an endeavor," Vader pointed out, even as he questioned if the girl was thinking straight. Luna had certainly surprised him with violent solutions to problems before, but he had never expected a half thought out idea of blowing up a planet, even a Sith one, to be one of them.

"So we don't tell them?"

"We would need them if we hijacked the station. Even the two of us can't take over a whole Death Star alone, and that's assuming none of the Emperor's Hands are aboard or could board in the time it takes for us to bring it under our control. Plus we'll need people to operate the weapon. Now does the Rebellion have a plan for the assault?"

"They're working on it. I sent Apollo to Earth to see if he could get anything detailed on the stronghold's abilities, and I was thinking of volunteering the Illusion for a couple spy missions to get the general layout."

"We won't have time for a couple spy missions. We need to strike before Palpatine can prepare."

"Assuming he hasn't already. Endor was a blasted trap. Exegol too, from my understanding. And we don't have plot armor!"

"Then we will simply spring it carefully," Vader stated, once again ignoring the Earthen complaint as he allowed ideas to run through his mind, constructing his own blueprint of possibilities. "Send me the waypoints. Padmé and I will take the Shadow and Illusion for recon. Between the two of us, we should get a decent idea of what is there. You will begin getting the 501st ready for both ground and spacial assault, battle plans and strategies as well as ways to differentiate our troops and ships from the Empire's. Continue talking to the Rebellion and make sure their battle plans are sound."

"Right," she agreed, the tension in her body relaxing slightly from the placement of a solid path forward. "I'll make the preparations."

"Keep me apprised of the situation."

"Of course," Luna agreed. Vader closed the channel and shared a look with Padmé who had been watching the update from the side.

"I guess research is going to have to wait," the woman said. "What do you know about Exegol?"

"That it is a hidden Sith planet."

"And?"

"And I wouldn't even know that if Apollo hadn't mentioned it in passing."

"Lovely," Padmé muttered, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Forget scouting the base, we need to figure out what the planet itself is like. If the atmosphere is hazardous, a ground assault would be almost impossible, especially on such short notice."

"For the Rebellion perhaps, the 501st would have the proper equipment," Vader explained. "But you are right, hazards need to be assessed first, preferably before the Rebellion starts planning something that cannot be done."