Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 14.

"Here we go again," Harry joked as they were getting into their flight suits.

Ron weakly chuckled, since it was true. Evacuating bases under Imperial attack has become almost routine for them. The euphoria following the destruction of the Death Star nearly evaporated. A good number of people who stayed with the Alliance did so simply because they had nowhere else to go. Harry sometimes wondered if he, Ron, and Hermione were among these.

"You know what's the most annoying thing?" Ron asked his friend.

"No."

"I've just finished repairing that snowspeeder, and now, we have to live it behind for the Empire."

"Ouch," Harry agreed.

"It's easier for you and Hermione," Ron half-complained. "You didn't learn, growing up, to see magic as a solution to everything."

"If it's easier, that's your own fault," Harry told Ron as they headed to the hangar for the briefing. "You're the one who volunteered to take undercover missions for Intelligence."

"That's totally different! I'm talking about this world... I just wasn't used to so much technology. Besides, I'm not in Intelligence now, just an ordinary fighter pilot."

"Come on, Ron. Technology isn't that hard to learn to use. And it was magic that got us here, and if we ever get back, it'll be by magic."

"How do you know that?" Hermione approached them at the hangar entrance.

"I don't," Harry replied. "Not for sure. But it's just a feeling I have."

"You spend too much time with Luke," said Ron.

"Quiet down," Wes Janson, one of their fellow pilots, told them.

"Sorry."

"All troop carriers will assemble at the North entrance," Princess Leia began the briefing.

"The heavy transport ships will leave as soon as they're ready. Only two fighter escorts per ship. The energy shield can only be opened for a short time, so you'll have to stay very close to your transports."

"Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" Hobbie Klivian asked skeptically.

"The ion cannon will fire several shots to make sure any enemy ships will be out of your flight path. When you've gotten past the energy shield, proceed directly to the rendezvous point. Understood?" This brought about nods from the group of pilots. "Good luck." The pilots dispersed.

XXX

Harry was getting ready, having his astromech, R5-Q7, loaded into the back of his X-wing, when the announcement blared out. "Attention, Rogue Squadron! Imperial ground forces are approaching the base. Get to your speeders!"

Harry rushed away. "Take care of the ship, CueSeven," he told the droid.

At the speeder hangar, other Rogue Squadron pilots were getting ready. Unlike X-wings, snowspeeders required a crew of two, a pilot and a gunner. Harry's gunner was Keyan Farlander, the only Y-wing pilot to survive the attack on the Death Star.

"You ready, Keyan?" he asked the older man.

"Yeah," the gunner replied. "We always end up in the thick of things, don't we?"

"Hey, cheer up." Harry smiled, although the other man was already behind him and couldn't see it. "The odds against the Death Star were longer."

"That's not saying much," Keyan said sarcastically. "Let's get this over with."

"Rogue Four, you are clear," the flight controller announced.

"Check, Echo Base," Harry replied, lifting his vehicle off the ground and flying out of the hangar to join the other speeders.

"Echo station five-seven, we're on our way," Luke announced from the lead speeder. "Rogues, follow me."

"Check, Rogue Leader," Wedge replied. "I see them!"

Harry did two. He remembered that these machines were called AT-ATs, or All Terrain Armored Transports. Most people just called them walkers. They walked on huge mechanical legs carrying bodies loaded with weapons. Despite their initial lumbering appearance, they could move incredibly fast. Ground soldiers Harry met told him that walkers were what they feared the most.

Suddenly, one of the snowspeeders was blown apart by a walker. Harry nearly met the same fate, but he managed to evade the bolts aimed at him.

"Keyan, get ready," he told his gunner and dove at the imperial machines. He fired the forward guns. The fire had no effect except to make the walker notice him and send a stream of its own bolts at his speeder. Keyan, firing the rear guns after Harry flew under the walker, did no better.

Another speeder was hit and crashed into the snow, exploding. Luke swore over the intercom as he pulled out of his own attack, with no more success than Harry.

"That armor is too strong for blasters," he said. "Rogue group, use your harpoons and tow cables. Go for the legs, it may be our only chance of stopping them."

Harry realized what Luke was thinking. "Keyan, can you make the shot?"

"I think so. Just get us in position," his gunner assured him.

"Hermione, cover me," Luke ordered.

"Affirmative, Rogue Leader," she answered. "Ron, if they miss, you'll have to do it."

Luke dove, flying through heavy fire. The imperials tried to create an impenetrable barrier and it looked like they were succeeding. Luke was hit, and nearly crashed, but managed to stabilize his craft. Hermione escaped unscathed, but had to get back to altitude to do so.

"I've lost my gunner," Luke told his pilots. "Wedge, you'll have to make this shot."

"Coming around, Rogue Leader." Wedge Antilles and his gunner, Wes, headed for the AT-AT. Choosing the machine on the other side of the battlefield, he called in. "Hermione, can you cover me?"

"I got it," she responded.

Taking a deep breath and trying to relax, Harry lowered his speeder almost to ground level and flew towards the mechanical monster. As he sped underneath it, Keyan fired the harpoon, which attached to the rear right leg. "Got him!" the gunner exclaimed.

Harry began to fly around the walker, entangling its legs in the cable. He was momentarily distracted when cheers erupted at the huge explosion from the AT-AT that Wedge and Wes brought down by the same method.

"I can't det--" Keyan shouted, and then Harry's speeder shook so violently that he crashed into the controls of the craft. The craft spiraled out of control and fell to the ground.

"Keyan?" Harry asked his gunner.

The other man moaned in pain. Then a shadow passed over them. Harry looked up and gasped. The cable did entangle the walker, and it was now crashing... over them.

Being near its legs saved them. The body of the machine passed over them and fell several feet away. When it hit, it felt like an earthquake.

Harry opened the cockpit and got out. Feeling the pulse of his gunner, he made a sigh of relief. Keyan was alive, and still conscious. "Narcosio!" he said, and then, "Alohomora!" The straps were opened and Harry pulled the wounded man out.

A blaster bolt nearly killed him. Harry looked around and saw another type of walker, two-legged, like a chicken, heading for him. It was still some distance away. "Protego!" he said, absorbing its next few bolts into the shield. The barrier held, but Harry knew that even one shot at point-blank range would blast through. He closed his eyes, stretched his feelings... and then he remembered.

"Accio Firebolt!" he yelled, raising his wand towards the base. Then he aimed at Keyan. "Ferula!" he bound his wounded leg. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, lifting the man above the snow.

His broomstick landed next to Harry. He got on, took it in one hand and his wounded, hovering gunner with the other. Then, flying over the battlefield, he headed back to the base.

Despite three downed walkers, the Rebels weren't doing too well. Wrecked snowspeeders and dead bodies were lying around, smoke was rising from the burning wrecks, a giant crater was where the shield generator used to be, and only sparse blaster fire came at the imperials from the trenches set up in front of the main compound. Echo base was about to fall.

Harry didn't land, didn't even stop. He just slowed down. "Did all the transports leave?" he asked the first person he saw inside the base.

"No, there's one more," she replied. "Third hangar."

"Thanks." Harry flew off. The transport was about to close the bay when Harry rushed in and shouted, "Stop! I've got a wounded man!"

The loadmaster looked at Harry, then at Keyan.

"He's still alive," Harry nearly begged.

The man made his decision. He picked up two large boxes at the edge of the hatch and threw them out.

"Hey, that's--" someone inside the transport tried to complain.

"Shut up," the loadmaster cut him off. "Medic!" he yelled.

"Thanks," Harry told him.

"May the Force be with you," the soldier replied as the hatch was closing. Harry got back on his broom and headed south, where Rogue Squadron's X-wings were assembled.

"Harry!" Hermione rushed up to him. "Are you all right? Where's Keyan?"

"I got him onto the transport," Harry said. "He was wounded."

"Guys," Wedge announced to the pilots, "a number of our X-wings had been destroyed when the shield fell and the ceilings started to collapse. We have seven pilots and six fighters. I see no choice except to draw straws."

"Wait one moment," said Ron. "Maybe we don't have to. Got a comlink?"

"Here," Luke handed his over. Ron took it and punched in the code. "Han," he said, "are you still here?"

"About to take off, kid," the Corellian replied. "What is it?"

"Do you have room for me?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, sure, but we can't wait. They're already shooting at us."

"It's okay," Ron told him. "Just keep the hatch open when you fly out."

"Sure, no problem," Han cut the connection.

"Ron! What's the meaning of this?" Hermione demanded.

"Harry," he asked, "can I borrow your Firebolt?"

"Okay." Harry saw what Ron wanted to do. "What about your broomstick?"

"It's just a Cleansweep Eleven," Ron said, but Harry knew how hard that must have been. "There's no time, even by summoning. Maybe we'll come back sometime and find it. Don't worry; I'll take good care of it."

"Good luck," Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

"I'll see you later," he assured them, in a tone so casual that one might have thought he was simply going to the store.

Then the Falcon flew out of the base, and Ron took off. Harry followed him with his eyes, until he disappeared behind the ship, which soon turned up to escape into space.

Hermione hugged him. "Good luck," she said. "Stay safe."

"You too."

They got into their fighters and took off.

XXX

The orbit, like the ground before the base, was littered with wrecks of Rebel vehicles, but also of imperial TIE fighters and even several Star Destroyers knocked out by the ion cannon. They had no trouble, at least in this region, getting through the "blockade." Having done so, Luke veered off, and Harry, decided to follow him.

"Harry," Luke asked, "what're you doing?"

"What does it look like? Going with you."

"Why?"

"It's just a feeling I have."

"Well... all right."

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're leaving us?"

"Don't worry. We'll come back if you're in trouble--won't we, Luke?"

"Of course. Wedge," Luke said. "You're in command until I get back."

"Right, boss," the other pilot acknowledged. "I'll try not to steal too much of your glory."

Luke laughed softly. "Sure, Wedge."

"May the Force be with you," Hermione said.

"Thank you," Luke answered. Then the rest of the squadron vanished into hyperspace. Luke and Harry were left alone.

"You got the coordinates, Harry?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. What's the place called?"

"Dagobah system. I've never heard of it, so I can't tell you what it's like. We'll find out soon enough."

"Right. See you there." He saw Luke's ship vanish and then took his own fighters into hyperspace.