Saga of the Bridgers - A New Hope

Epilogue: A New Dawn

Since Luke's X-Wing was the least damaged of all, he landed for last, but a small crowd was ready to cheer him and greet him back once he stepped down the yellow ladder. Ezra and Jaral were among the first, patting him on the shoulders and smiling widely.

Much more enthusiastic was Leia's approach, who literally bumped against him to hug, so strongly that the two made a couple spins while laughing loudly.

Then Han arrived, carried by one of the coaches, and he, too made a much more festive greeting as the two hugged vigorously, with Chewie taking a moment to lift them both in his own hug.

R2 also was brought down from the X-Wing and reunited with his counterpart.

General Dodonna and most of the rebel officers instead walked toward the siblings and went to greet them.

"Grand Marshall, General," Dodonna said with a satisfied smile. "you two never cease to amaze us."

"You flatter us, General." Jaral replied with humility. "It's Luke who took the shot."

"And it was your plan that brought us to the destruction of the Death Star in the first place. Not to mention I rarely saw someone fly with such skill."

"Yeah, no kidding, boss." a familiar voice came from their right.

The siblings turned around and found themselves in front of Wedge and Hobbie.

"Good job up there, you two." Jaral complimented.

"It wasn't just us, boss." Hobbie said a bit grimly. "The rest of the squadron didn't make it." he added, making Wedge lower his head as well.

Jaral stepped in front of them and spoke in a reassuring tone. "Their sacrifice was not in vain, and we all knew that the chances of getting out were thin. We will honor them. You two have given everything you had, and thanks to you we destroyed that abomination. You can be proud of yourselves."

The two seemed a bit comforted. "Thanks, ma'am." Wedge said.

"That said, what will happen now?" Ezra asked. "From what we know, most of the imperial highest officers were aboard the Death Star. We might have hit them where it hurts, but we should expect some retaliation."

"I know." Jaral said. "For now, I want to hear what Dad has to say about Lianna. If they let him come all the way here, I hope it means the situation was under control."

"You mean Iulius?" her brother asked and Jaral made a nod.

"With the death of the highest members of the imperial hierarchy, it's safe to assume that he might receive more resources, which means we should make sure he is well distracted."

She then turned toward Dodonna. "General, contact Mon Mothma and tell her to get the Intelligence at work. The Empire will be in chaos, for a while, we should exploit it to stir up insurrections all over the Outer Rim and free the region once and for all."

The old general made a resolute nod. "I'll go right now." and walked away.

Wedge and Hobbie also walked away to join the celebrations for the victory with the rest of the personnel, who was gathering in the middle of the temple.

In that mess, Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie managed to make way from the crowd and walked all toward the siblings.

"Hey, what's with the long faces? We won!" Han exclaimed.

The siblings made a lopsided grin. "Yeah. We were just discussing the future prospects." Ezra said. "The war is far from over."

"Come on, guys." Leia encouraged. "Cheering for five minutes won't bring us the end of the world."