Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 54.

Chirp.

Hermione instantly opened her eyes. "Shields up, CueSeven," she ordered. "Thanks for the warning." Some pilots didn't develop the habit of raising their shields before coming out of hyperspace. That struck Hermione as an incredibly stupid thing to do. That habit, and the fifteen-second warning had served her well on numerous occasions. She gripped the control yoke.

Hyperspace vanished, replaced by a starfield, with a shining blue planet off to the side. The Death Star was straight ahead of them.

Hermione scanned her surroundings, verified that all three members of her flight made it, as did the rest of the squadron.

"All wings, report in," Lando's voice came through.

"Red Leader, standing by." Hermione stirred at the sound of Wedge's voice. It was hardly unexpected, but at least she knew he was still all right.

"Gray leader, standing by," another commander reported.

"Green Leader, standing by."

"Lock S-foils in attack position," Pash ordered. Hermione did so.

"May the Force be with us!" Admiral Ackbar's voice thundered.

The fighters formed up and flew towards the Imperial battle station. Even Hermione, who'd seen the first Death Star, got a shock from its size. She glanced at her readouts. Nothing? What's going on...

"Break off the attack!" Lando ordered from the Falcon. "The shield is still up!"

Oh, no... Hermione thought.

"Pull up! All craft pull up!" Lando shouted frantically.

"Do it!" Hermione ordered, sensing her pilots' uncertainty. She broke off first.

As soon as they turned back towards the fleet, she scanned her surroundings. Blade Squadron remained intact... for now.

Hermione turned her fighter again. And nearly collided with Blade Ten. A fleet of at least forty Star Destroyers was coming out from behind the planet.

"Pash!" she yelled.

"I see them, Blade Nine."

"It's a trap!" Admiral Ackbar shouted.

"Power up your lasers," Hermione told her flight. "Fire on my command."

"Fighters, coming in," Lando announced.

Hermione realized that a good number of the Imperial craft were TIE Interceptors rather than standard TIE fighters. She remembered her unpleasant encounter with the fast craft at Suran Minor. We've got A-wings now, she reminded herself. They're faster.

"Fire!" she said. "Evade with S-split!"

The burst of laser fire from four fighters, in the same direction, took out the lead Interceptor of the closed formation, which was what Hermione was counting on. The flight then split, the two A-wings veering off to the right, the X-wings to the left.

"Accelerate to attack speed! Draw their fire away from the cruisers!"

Hermione already did so, but even the attack speed of the X-wing was no match for an Interceptor. "I've got one on my tail!" she yelled.

The interceptor was quickly eating up the distance between them. Hermione jinked, and most of the enemy's bolts flew wild. Nevertheless, her rear shields did drop a little.

Twisting around, Hermione found a TIE fighter ahead of her, and fired, knowing she had no time to lock on. She missed, but one of her A-wing pilots blasted the Imperial from the side.

"Good shot, Blade Ten," she congratulated the pilot.

Her fighter shook, and, glancing at her instruments, she saw her rear shields drop rapidly. There was another Imperial behind her.

Then the trailing Interceptor exploded. Hermione gave only a cursory glance. "Olch!" she heard Linra'sin exclaim. Hermione supposed that was some Twi'lek interjection, but she had other things to worry about now. "Good job, Twelve," she said. "Break left!"

The other pilot did so, and the second TIE fighter made a tight turn, hoping to intercept her. He ended up in Hermione's sights, and was blasted apart.

"I'm surrounded!" Pash shouted.

"Coming around!" Hermione twisted her fighter. "Ten, Twelve, on me."

Hermione fired two proton torpedoes. As soon as she did, the Imperials began their standard countermeasures. With that distraction, they were unprepared for the assault Hermione and her two pilots launched. Five fighters were destroyed in a matter of seconds.

"Pash, you all right?"

"A few hits, nothing to worry. Thanks, Nine."

"No problem. Uh-oh."

She didn't need to explain. A fresh interceptor squadron was heading towards them. Hermione didn't know what the red makings painted on the sides of these fighters meant, but she immediately realized that these pilots were better than those they faced before.

"Six, no!" Pash yelled as one of the A-wings sped up and attempted to attack the leader. The Imperial veered off, and one of his wingmen fired a stream of green bolts, taking out the attacker. Then the enemy leader swooped in and, before Hermione could say anything, blasted Blade Ten apart. She herself barely managed to evade the next next assault.

"Regroup," Pash said grimly. Hermione instinctively fired her lasers, scoring a hit on one of the Interceptors, but didn't manage to finish him off. She glanced at the instruments. The shield was still up. The battle wasn't going well.

XXXXXX

Harry didn't know why he did what he did next. He grabbed Mara's wrists, and leaped up, making the highest Force-jump he had yet made. Mara looked at him in shock, as the green bolt of the killing curse avoided her by mere inches. Harry flipped over and landed on the floor. Mara, unfortunately, didn't fare so well. When she yanked her lightsaber hand free and attempted to strike him, he let go. Mara fell from fifteen feet, hitting her head. When Harry landed, she was unconscious.

"Mara!" Harry rushed over to her.

"Mara!" Luke, who was standing before the Emperor, rushed down.

"Ah," Palpatine said. "My wayward Hand. Thank you for bringing her back, young Potter."

Harry felt sickened. Was this whole thing a plot?

Luke touched Mara's head. "She's alive," he said.

Harry suddenly realized that his lightsaber was gone. He had dropped it and his wand when he grabbed Mara. He looked up. Voldemort had them now.

"You want this, Potter? Very curious thing, these brother-wands," he commented.

He and Luke headed up the stairs, towards Vader and the Emperor. Voldemort followed. He had no idea why Voldemort didn't attempt to kill him again. He scanned his other two enemies, and struggled to suppress a grin. Ron's wand. He saw it hanging on Vader's belt.

Looking out the large window behind Palpatine's throne, he saw flashes of light in the distance. The battle must have begun, he thought.

"Come," Palpatine said, drawing their attention to the window, "see for yourselves."

"From here," he continued, "you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant Rebellion."

Harry watched Luke glare at the Emperor, who was holding his lightsaber.

"You want this, don't you?" Palpatine said to Luke. "The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment, you make yourself more my servant."

"And you young Potter. You want to join him. Anger burns strong in you. Only through the power of the dark side can you destroy your enemy."

"No!" Harry and Luke shouted at once.

"It is unavoidable. It is your destiny."