Star Wars: Rebellion and Betrayal

Chapter 38

Aurora's freighter touched down just outside the tree line near the refinery. Twitch was anxiously waiting at the cargo bay doors, unable to stay still. As soon as the doors opened just a crack, Twitch was through. He tumbled onto his face, forgetting to let the ramp lower. As he got up, the sight was something to behold.

People were everywhere. A stream of refinery workers was being escorted away from the volcano facility by a few Cloud Squadron soldiers. To his left, Twitch could see a couple dozen stormtroopers and Imperial officers in rows on their knees with their arms behind their white helmets. Walking in front and behind the rows were a few refinery workers armed with Imperial blaster rifles.

Twitch made his way to the first familiar face he saw. It was Rose tending to an injured Cloud Squadron soldier. "Rose, where is Lena?" Twitch asked in a frantic tone.

Rose took a few glances around her before saying, "I don't know. Last I heard, she defeated the Admiral and is on her way back. The refinery is also evacuated so Abie should be here any minute."

As soon as Rose finished her statement, commotion could be heard coming from the direction of the woods. Twitch pushed his way past the mass of people where he got a glimpse of a figure coming out of the forest.

Twitch ran over to see Lena dragging Timber's body. He quickly placed a hand on Lena's shoulder and urged her to stop. Lena let go of the clone before falling backwards into Twitch's arms. "Are you ok?" he asked.

Lena, who was panting, took a second to slow her breathing. "It's over," she muttered.

Twitch cradled her head against his chest, his gaze eventually falling onto Timber. "Is he?"

"Yes," Lena answered. "He saved me."

Twitch squeezed her tighter before motioning two Cloud Squadron soldiers over. "This man deserves a proper burial. There are some tools in the freighter," Twitch said once the two men reached him.

"Right away, Commander," one replied before they both ran back toward Aurora's ship.

Twitch turned his attention back to Lena. Before he could say anything, both his and Lena's commlinks were alive with Abie's voice. "Look to the skies Cloud Squadron!"

Just about everyone in the area heard the message from the dozen commlinks scattered amongst the Cloud Squadron soldiers. Everyone looked up to see ships piercing through the clouds.

Leading the charge was a trio of Y-wing bombers that dropped their payloads on the refinery. The proton bombs detonated against one of the main supports that kept the refinery suspended above the volcano. The sounds of scraping metal could be heard as the refinery began to shake. Despite losing one of its four main supports, the refinery remained in place.

That didn't last long as a swarm of vulture droids, A-wings and X-wings engulfed the refinery in a hail of blaster bolts. Small explosions could be seen triggering across the structure as it began to fall apart. After one more bombing run from the Y-wings, a second main support was taken out.

Everyone on the ground burst into cheers as they watched the rest of the refinery collapse into the lava below. As soon as the building collapsed, the swarm of ships pulled away and retreated to space.

"We did it," Twitch said softly to Lena.

"We really did," Lena replied.

The two smiled at each other before getting up. The two men that Twitch sent to retrieve tools soon returned and, with the help of some refinery workers, Timber was given a proper burial.

"A true soldier of the Republic, serving the Jedi until the end," Lena said as she looked at the makeshift headstone that Twitch hammered into the ground.