On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter XII

Vader was only marginally surprised when the person in Luna's starfighter began to pick off some of the TIEs that were shooting at him.

"Uh, any chance you can try to get the TIEs to focus on the other side of the base?" Han's voice asked. Vader rolled his eyes.

"I have a better idea," Vader said before speeding his TIE away from the base, in the opposite direction of where the Falcon would be coming from. The enemy fighters followed him with Luna's friend taking up the rear. Hopefully that would give Chewbacca the space he needed.

~*~

Luna was surprised when the sky suddenly became very quiet. That wasn't usually a good sign.

A quick check through the Force revealed that Vader was leading the entirety of the base's TIE force away from the base with Ahsoka right on his tail.

Luna mentally sighed. She should have seen that one coming. Of course Ahsoka would be helping Vader. They were both in ships after all.

The next time Luna heard a ship, it was the Millennium Falcon passing over her.

When Luna saw it leave, she pressed a button.

The reactor exploded in the base behind her.

~*~

"Good news! The base has officially blown!" Leia's voice said from over the ship wide comm. Luke smiled in triumph at the news just as he managed to shoot down another TIE.

"Great! Now we just need to get out of here!" Han yelled from the other gun turret as he continued to blast TIEs left and right. As soon as the Falcon had come into view, half the TIEs chasing Vader had spun off and headed towards them, managing to catch up just as they left the atmosphere. For now, they were making it out of the planet's gravity well and waiting for Vader to catch up so they could all leave.

"Do you see Vader's TIE anywhere?" Leia asked.

"No, but I sense him," Luke replied. "He's somewhere around here."

"How angry do you think he'd get if I accidentally shot at him?" Han asked.

"VERY SO DON'T!!!!" Luke and Leia shouted at the same time.

"How about just for old time's sake?"

"NO!!!"

"Just joking!"

"You had better be!" Luke shouted as he fired at another TIE, getting a good hit. For a microsecond, he thought he saw the darkness of space moving, only to realize it was the purple and black fighter from before that was chasing a TIE. It nearly blended into the darkness behind it when it came to visual scanning.

Luke was going to be shocked if Vader told him it wasn't Luna's ship. Disappearing into the darkness seemed to be her thing, and a fighter that could do the same without a cloaking device had to belong to her.

"Are we leaving or not?" a voice said over the comm. Luke jumped at hearing the deep baritone voice of his father, having not expected for Vader to contact them so directly.

"Whenever you are," Leia's voice replied.

"Then go. I will be right behind you."

"Whatever you say," Han replied. "Chewie! You heard the man, punch it!"

A handful of seconds later, the stars blurred into the blue of hyperspace.