Kalon - Han Solo [1]

Chapter 18 : Red Eight Standing By

"All squadrons report in," came the red squadron leader over the radio.

"Red two standing by,"

"Red four standing by,"

"Red eleven standing by,"

"Red four standing by,"

"Red ten standing by,"

"Red five standing by," came Luke's far too calm voice. that kid had no idea what was coming.

"Red eight standing by," said Tasha, her voice still rather shaky in contrast with Luke's. The large body of the death star loomed in front of them, whilst it was still not much bigger than a pinprick from this distance; Tasha knew how huge the thing was really.

"Lock s-foils in attack positions."

"We're passing through the magnetic field. Hold tight."

"Put your deflectors on double front," Tasha commanded, flicking the switch above her head as her ship began to shake violently, the field around the death star trying to deter their intrusion.

Tasha took a deep breath, trying to calm the excited nerves that buzzed through the back of her mind.

"Look at the size of that thing," said wedge, and Tasha scoffed.

"Thanks for that, captain obvious!" she hollered back, although she thought her amusement with her own joke was probably to do with the adrenalin surging through her.

"Cut the chatter everyone," said the squad leader, and Tasha just laughed again. The ship she was in rocked around as they pushed through the tractor beam. She could tell they were talking over the radio, but she zoned out slightly, her mind flicking back to what had just happened down on the base, what she had consented to, Han leaving, just everything.

"Accelerate to attack speed." Tasha gulped slightly, hitting the accelerator, and hoping her last minute modification wouldn't blow and leave her scattered in pieces before the fighting even started. They ships turned in formation, skimming along the side of the battle station.

"This is it, boys!" said the commander, and Tasha made a noise of indignation.

"What am I?" she said, "a Wookiee,"

"Sorry red eight," he said, what seemed like rather sheepishly.

"Red leader this is gold leader," the noise interrupted Tasha's concentration.

"I copy, gold leader."

"We're starting for the target shaft now,"

"Roger that," came the reply from Tasha's squadron commander, "we're in position. I'm gonna cut across the axis and try to draw their fire."

Tasha swerved her ship to follow the squad leader, firing a few shots at the station. Not enough to do any damage, just enough to let them know yes, they were there, and no, they weren't afraid.

Apparently, neither was the empire. Tasha swerved near a gun tower, which probably wasn't her wisest idea ever, and it fired at her nearly taking a chunk out of her tail. She breathed a sigh of relief as she got out unscathed.

"Heavy fire," she shouted into the radio as another blast flew beside her, "23 degrees."

"I see it," replied the commander, "stay low," Tasha nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She spun out of the way of the fire, pulling up to stop herself from crashing into the station.

"This is red five," said a voice over the radio that Tasha recognised as Luke's, "I'm going in." she watched on her scanner with bated breath as the young, soon-to-be Jedi dove down towards the station's surface. He fired a round of shots in quick succession, tearing up the surface of the station. Nice hits, but he was still flying down.

"Luke, pull up!" Tasha half shrieked into the radio transmitter as he sailed towards the flaming debris. She watched as his ship skimmed through the fiery cloud, coming up in a smooth arc into the midnight of space.

"Are you alright?" asked biggs, another pilot, and as it turned out, one of Luke's childhood friends.

"I got a little cooked, but I'm okay," the blonde boy replied, and Tasha blew out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god," she whispered to herself, but it was not over yet.