Bay Wars

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, here we are with the final chapter and a big thank you to my fellow writers Miranda, pembie and JosieTash.It's been fun, people.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Xavier must make a run down the trench and try to hit the exhaust post, he’s our only hope,” General Elijah decided.

“I’m sure he’ll do it, General Johnsonna, sir,” Indigo assured him. “He is a blonde, after all.”

Charlie Buckton, one of the hangar’s ground staff, raised her hand. “Ah, General Elijah? I have another plan.”

“Really, Buckton?” Elijah asked eagerly. “What is that?”

“I think we should just let Grand Moff Braxtin go.” Everyone stared at her. “Because he’s hot,” she added.

“He blew up a planet and killed millions of people,” Princess Indigo reminded her.

“Yeah, but he only did it because he’s got a family to support.”

Elijah took a deep breath. “Buckton… get one of the adults to explain it to you. Commander Chambers, you’re free.”

**********

Darth Palmer led his two wingmen in pursuing the two remaining rebel ships. “Just these two to be crushed,” he declared, “and then there’s nothing between us and the rebel base.”

“You got it, Uncle Darth!” replied one of his wingmen.

Palmer paused, a cold fear striking him. The two TIE fighter pilots had been his most loyal followers, always staying at his side, yet he had never heard either of them speak. But now that he had, he realised he recognised the voice. “Hugo, my worthless stepson, is that you?”

“What? No, never heard of him,” Hugo answered.

“I thought you’d been in hiding since we found you running secret trips to Summer Bay.”

“Yeah. And what better way to hide than take a job that requires you to wear black armour and never show your face, working for someone who hates you?”

Palmer looked across at the other TIE pilot. “That’s not Martha, is it?”

“Lord Palmer, you remember me!” Martha exclaimed in delight.

“Of course I remember you. You stood against me in the Sith Lord elections.”

“Oh. That.”

“I’ll deal with you two later. First we’ve got some rebels to destroy.”

***********

Xavier spoke into his communicator. “Casey, I’m going to try and hit the exhaust port. I need you to cover my rear.”

“Right!” Casey agreed. He paused. “Hang on, does ‘cover your rear’ translate as ‘human shield’?”

“Just do the best you can!”

Obi-Miles’ ghost was suddenly floating next to Xavier in the cockpit. “Use the Force, Xavier!”

“What? Shouldn’t I, you know, be a bit scientific about it and use the computer to find the target?”

“Xavier, loads of rebel ships have tried to hit that exhaust port and they all got blown up for their troubles. So unless you’re the best pilot in the history of everything and a crack shot, you need to use every tool you’ve got.”

Xavier nodded. “I’ll use the Force.”

***********

Braxtin leaned over Officer Brodie’s shoulder. “How’s Palmer doing?”

“He’s just closing on the last two rebel ships.”

Heath spoke in a low voice. “Psst.”

Braxtin went over to him. “Yes, General Heath?”

“Just occurred to me. Palmer isn’t here and Alfatine isn’t here so we’re in charge of the most powerful weapon around. Couldn’t we use it to, you know, take over the Empire?”

“Took the words right out of my mind, General Heath. But first we’re going to get rid of the rebels. Then, I’ll proclaim myself Emperor Braxtin. Ah, with my trusty deputy Chancellor Heath.”

Chief Pee Wee suddenly came hurrying onto the bridge. “Grand Moff Braxtin, I’ve been examining the rebels’ attack and, well, there’s a good chance this space station’s about to get blown to smithereens. Should we evacuate?”

“Evacuate in the fact of victory?” Braxtin asked. “Never! There’s only a couple of ships.”

“Right, you are, Grand Moff. Sorry I suggested it. I’ll just go and make myself useful by inspecting the escape pod.” Pee Wee hurried back out again.

“Yeah, me too,” Brodie added, following him out.

“Do you think we should have listened to that?” asked Heath.

Braxtin thought for a moment. “Nah.”

***********

In his TIE fighter, Palmer opened fire. His blast hit Casey’s ship, damaging it and sending it catapulting out of the trench. “One left,”he declared as he targetted Xavier’s ship.

Then a hail of laser fire shot down into the trench. Hugo and Martha’s ships exploded and Palmer’s ship was caught up in the blast, leaving him tumbling wildly out of control, shooting out into deep space.

The Blaxlandium Falcon swooped down over the trench, Romeo and Liambacca at the controls. “Well, go on, kid, fire!” Romeo shouted.

“I thought you’d gone!” Xavier shouted back.

“Nah, I just thought you might need a last minute rescue from behind. Plus the doughnuts ran out.”

Xavier focused on the Force, feeling the spot he needed to hit, and fired. His torpedo shot through the exhaust port into the Death Star’s main reactor and set off a chain reaction.

***********

On the bridge of the Death Star, Braxtin and Heath looked at each other. Braxtin lowered his head. “Oh cr…”

The bridge exploded.

***********

Casey had managed to get his ship under control and came into formation alongside Xavier’s fighter and Romeo and Liambacca in the Blaxlandium Falcon. “I can’t believe we actually did it.”

“I never doubted we would,” Xavier replied. AprilD2 bleeped a response and the computer sent a translation onto Xavier’s screen. “What do you mean, I took my time?”

“It was a pretty near thing,” Casey insisted. “It looks like we’re the only survivors.”

“Well, us and that other fighter that’s just appeared out of nowhere alongside us,” Romeo added.

Xavier and Casey both looked to their left to see the other fighter. “Who are you?” Xavier asked.

“Lieutenant Georgina Watson, Gold Squadron. I survived the battle by being awesome.”

“Well, what exactly have you been doing while we were making all these trench runs?”

“Oh, I had a really important decoy mission going on. I’ll explain later.”

***********

The base’s hangar crew were all waiting as Xavier, Casey and Watson’s fighters, together with Romeo and Liambacca, came into land. As soon as Xavier got out of his cockpit, Princess Indigo ran over to him and hugged him enthusiastically. “You did it! You did it! You’re so my hero!” She noticed Romeo standing nearby. “Oh, yeah. You were quite good too.”

“Pleased to hear it, your princessness.”

Xavier heard a bleeping noise from AprilD2 and checked his cockpit readout. “Let her do more than hug you and you’ll regret it. And get me down from here!”

“Sorry, AprilD2,” Xavier apologised, helping her down from the fighter.

Dex3PO came over. “Well, I’m glad to see that you all made it out of the battle unscathed. I was very worried about you, AprilD2. Oh – and Master Xavier? I found another old friend of yours hanging around here.”

Xavier’s eyes widened as another droid came gliding up alongside Dex3PO. “RubyZ90! Have you met AprilD2? She’s my new droid.”

AprilD2 and RubyZ90 glided over to each other and began chatting in the bleeps of machine speak. After a while, the noise sounded oddly like laughter.

Xavier looked at Dex3PO. “What are they saying?” Dex3PO fidgeted awkwardly and Xavier suddenly had a horrible thought. “They’re not… comparing notes on me, are they?”

“There are some parts of droid culture you should not attempt to understand.”

************

Out in space, Darth Palmer had finally managed to get his ship back under control. His sensors told him the Death Star had been destroyed, meaning attempting to continue the attack on the rebel base would be suicide. His only option was to report back to Alfatine and hope he could blame the failure on the absent Braxtin.

“Next time, rebels,” he snarled. “Next time.” He paused, considering the words. “No, wait, I can do better than that. Er, I’ll be back! No. Next time it’s personal! No. Xavier, I AM your…”

His ship drifted on.

************

Xavier, Romeo, Liambacca, Casey and Watson were lined up in front of a group of rebel dignitaries led by General Elijah, Commander Chambers and Princess Indigo. “Thanks to you, the Death Star has been destroyed and Reefton Lakes 4 has been saved,” General Elijah told them. “Now the rebellion stands a chance of success. The Force be with you!”

“And also with you,” they chorused.

“And as a reward, I’m giving you all free haircuts at my hair salon!” Marilyn declared. “Especially the musician.”

No-one looked particularly enthusiastic.

Princess Indigo pinned a medal on Xavier’s chest. “Well done, Xavier.”

“My pleasure.”

She pinned a medal on Romeo. “Do I get a kiss with that?” he asked.

“Blow up another Death Star and maybe I’ll oblige.” She gave the next medal to Liambacca.

“Thank you for the drinks,” he told her.

“And thank you for not singing.” She pinned a medal on Casey. “Congratulations on not getting blown up.”

“It was a pleasure.”

She looked at Watson. “Who are you?”

“Lieutenant Georgina Watson, Gold Squadron.”

“Oh.” She gave Watson her medal. “Well done for… whatever you did.”

Romeo turned to Xavier. “So are you really a Jedi?”

“Well, I managed to hit that exhaust port. So either I’m a Jedi with a strong connection to the Force or I’m just a great pilot and excellent shot.”

“You’re a Jedi,” the others chorused.

AprilD2 bleeped a comment. “She says you’re going to be as great a Jedi as your father was,” Dex3PO translated. “Provided you don’t start wearing black.”

“You know what this means?” Xavier asked.

The others looked at him apprehensively. “What?” Romeo ventured.

“I get to organise the rebel surf carnival! Us Jedi know how to party.”

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