On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXXX

"Can't we just use Voidgazer's trick again?" Luna questioned as she stared at the holo of the Hand's base that was being overlaid with the terrain of the area. Everyone was in the Tantive's makeshift briefing room as it was the only part of the ship with a room big enough for both a renegade Sith Lord and a certain Rebel to be in the same space without immediately getting into an argument—not that there weren't additional buffers in the presences of Luke and Ahsoka and, in some aspects, Padmé.

"Do you have her droids?" Vader questioned.

"Do you?"

"Voidgazer's trick?" Ahsoka asked, sounding curious.

"A very efficient way of destroying buildings on this planet."

"However, I doubt it would work in this particular case. The base is likely shielded," Vader stated.

"Guess that makes sense, they use shields like most planets use water. But a full forward assault seems more risky than necessary. Wish we had the codes. Are you sure I can slip in the back? We don't have the equipment for it and we don't exactly have the time to steal it either."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"I don't believe it would be wise to brute force an entry considering the fact the Rebels are not used to people of our caliber being allies."

"As long as you find a way in I don't care about how you do it."

"Figured," Luna muttered, well used to such loose reign when it came to missions such as these. Vader created an outline, gave people parts to complete, being with a plan of their own or on the spot improvising, and as long as it was done, he didn't give a kriff how the objective was achieved.

And being she was the apprentice and expected to be as capable as the generals if not more so, Luna was always given the most space to sort things out.

But in this case, she wasn't so sure. Mining equipment would be preferable, but lacking that there were explosives. That said, she wasn't all that sure she wanted to trust run of the mill explosives. Perhaps a Force related shatterpoint? But Luna wasn't exactly adept at seeing such things if they did indeed exist—as far as she knew, only person who had ever  been good with shatterpoints was Mace Windu. Her lightsaber could perhaps make an entry point, but it would take time.

It would have to be regular explosives then.

"You can have Luke. Ahsoka will be on my team for obvious reasons. We will—" Luna cut herself off as an alarm drew everyone's attention to an incoming transmission. Vader wordlessly accepted, and Leia's familiar miniature appeared.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Mon's issued a mission for Luke and Ahsoka," the Princess stated.

"What? But we're doing the Shu-Tor—" Luke began, only for his sister to cut him off.

"Change of plans. She figured Vader and Eclipse know how to handle themselves. You're needed elsewhere to collect a Bothan. He has information that I am told will be vital."

"Like Death Star vital?" Luna questioned with a frown, recalling a quote from Return of the Jedi.

"Emperor vital. Nothing is certain, but we might have an opening to end things once and for all, and for that we need that Bothan."

"If that's the case, tell me we aren't the only ones hitting the bases of the Hands. If we don't hit them hard there will be an army of Force sensitives defending him, Bothans with intel or not."

"I don't know, I'm just passing on orders," Leia answered. "We'll be there soon. I'll be transmitting specifics to Fulcrum's number."

"Understood," Ahsoka answered, sharing a look with Luna, sending her a question through the Force, What do you think of it?

It may be a trap. Or the beginning of the end, the Rebel Warrior answered. It nears that time.

Nears indeed. But Vader hadn't successfully killed the Emperor according to canon. Luna would have to ensure the regicide was successful, else they would risk the First Order and Snoke coming about.

And she wasn't going to allow that.

But before she could plot the Emperor's demise, Luna needed to finish plotting the massacre of his numerous Hands. Take out the support, and anything on top will crumble.

And, simply based on the little they understood the Emperor's uses for his abominations, it was likely that he could drain power from each one, which would in turn make him exponentially stronger. Vader had "killed" Palpatine by catching him off guard while Rey had done the same in a straight fight with Ben Solo's assistance. That said, Luna still didn't know the specificities of how Rey or Ben matched up to Vader, Luke, or herself in each's prime. According to Apollo, Rey was (along with being a Mary Sue—again not Luna's words) much more powerful than the Emperor. Though whether that was saying anything considering the fact he was half dead at the time of that particular claim made her a slight bit unsure of what to make of it. It didn't help that Rey had the support of practically every Force ghost behind her when she used her last strength to kill the guy after her life force had been sucked from her. Luna doubted Kylo Ren or Ben Solo could ever truly match Darth Vader (given it was quite possible she was biased in that opinion), but there was the suit's weakness to lightning to contend with. Luke was also a powerhouse when properly trained, and after seeing him fight at the palace, she was feeling a bit better about his saber skills. But was he truly ready to take on the Emperor?

Luna wasn't all that sure. And even if he was, Leia couldn't be with so little time for her to train. It just didn't seem possible, even if it was Yoda teaching her.

The thing was, Luna was all but certain they'd need all four of them if they were to be successful. And, the crux of the matter was, she wasn't so certain she even wanted all four of them to be there. Yes, she was uncertain when it came to Luke, worried when it came to Leia, but....

But Palpatine was the one who killed Vader. Luke could resist the Emperor's temptations. Leia could do the same, and her weak link in the chain when it came to combat could be covered by the others.

But if the Emperor managed to hit Vader's suit with Force lighting? Even with the likelihood it wouldn't be a strong enough blast that lasted long enough to kill him, he would not be the only one out of the fight. The moment the suit started going, Luna would no longer be as capable. She would become the weakest link. The better option—best option, would be for Luna and the twins to take on Palpatine. Vader could fight through Luna if he wished, but at least then he'd be safe enough away and she wouldn't have to be so worried about how things might turn out.

That said, she was perfectly aware the reasoning wouldn't fly with a particular Sith Lord. It would most likely be a four person team up, regardless of her arguments. But swordplay could get plenty busy with four, she'd used such things against the Hands and did not doubt Palpatine could use it against them. In such a case, Leia would be better left as the odd one out.

But, again, Luna shouldn't be looking that far ahead. She had Hands to kill first.

Be in the moment, she told herself. Think on it when a path is open. You have a different road to go down right now.