They went out into the street to find ordered groups of people making their way toward the edge of town. Well, mostly ordered. Every explosion made them jump, and there was no shortage of screaming. But the farmers managed to hold themselves together, following the directions of their crew leads, who in turn were being directed by Vartan. He waved when he saw them, stark relief clear on his face. Ahsoka was glad to see he was all right.
The Imperial compound was in flames. Looking to the sky, Ahsoka could see six or eight A-wings, the advance fighters Bail had sent, diving and firing on the Imperials. A few of the Imperial fighters had managed to get into the air, and as Ahsoka watched, four A-wings broke off to deal with them. The others turned toward the fields, where they laid down row after row of fire. The fields burst into flames.
“I want to learn to do that!” Miara said, her face alight.
“I’m sure one of them will be happy to teach you,” Ahsoka told her, remembering her impressions about Bail’s success getting recruits. Then she remembered that she was talking to a fourteen-year-old. “In a couple of years, maybe.”
One A-wing took too much damage from the Imperial fighter it was chasing and spun out of the sky. Its engines were a mess of fire and smoke, but Ahsoka was sure she saw the bright orange of the pilot’s uniform ejecting, and a few seconds later, she saw a chute confirming it. A second A-wing wasn’t so lucky. It rammed into the Imperial compound before its pilot could eject, and the explosion rocked the ground as they ran.
Miara’s fervor dimmed a little bit as she took in the danger, but she still looked determined. Ahsoka didn’t imagine that Bail would have any trouble at all recruiting her, once she was old enough. Just because Ahsoka fought her first war at Miara’s age didn’t mean it was a good example.
More ships appeared in low orbit, and for a second Ahsoka’s heart was in her throat. Then she saw that they couldn’t be Imperial. It was Bail, or rebels he had sent, with enough transports and cargo ships to evacuate everyone on the moon. They set down in the grass between the edge of the settlement and the hills where Ahsoka’s friends had spent their time in hiding.
“Keep them moving!” Ahsoka shouted to Vartan. He nodded and passed the orders along.
Ahsoka led Kaeden, Selda, and Miara to the blockade runner she recognized as Captain Antilles’s Tantive IV. He was standing at the bottom of the ramp, waiting for her.
“We can’t stay on the ground for very long,” he said, shouting over the sound of so many engines. “We’re going to have Imperials on our tails too soon.”
“It’s okay!” Ahsoka shouted back. “The evacuation is already begun, and your A-wings took care of the Imperial fighters.”
That reminded her of something. She pointed in the direction she’d seen the chute.
“You had a pilot go down over there,” she said. “I’m sure they ejected in time. Can you pick them up?”
Antilles nodded to spare himself from shouting again and typed a command into the small datapad on his wrist.
“Let’s get your friends on board,” he said.
“I’ll wait until the end,” Ahsoka told him. “If I’m the only ground cover we have, then they’re going to need me.”
Kaeden couldn’t have heard the exchange, but she somehow realized what Ahsoka was going to do.
“No!” she said, grabbing Ahsoka’s arm with her good hand. “Come with us!”
“I have to stay for a bit longer,” Ahsoka said. “This is how it works sometimes, Kaeden. I’ll be okay. Go with your sister.”
She shook Kaeden off and went back down the ramp. She spared one look back to make sure that Selda had shepherded the girls on board and then turned her attention back to the evacuation.
All things considered, it was going pretty well. There was a lot of fire, and more than a few of the farmers were panicking, but Vartan had been able to make sure they weren’t carrying too many belongings, and the other crew leads moved up and down the lines, keeping everyone as calm as they could. As Ahsoka watched the rear, ship after ship filled, took off, and disappeared into the upper atmosphere.
There were only three ships, and fewer than a hundred people waiting to board them, when the Imperials made their final rally. Three tanks, all in pretty good condition, considering, rounded the corner and opened fire, dispersing the orderly lines of refugees.
Ahsoka didn’t have any charges, but she did have a pair of lightsabers, so she engaged the tanks without a second thought. She ran toward them, which always seemed to startle Imperials. It was like they thought themselves invulnerable and when you charged them, they started to have doubts. She jumped, flying over the leading tank in a graceful arc that let her reach out with a lightsaber and cut the tank’s gun clean off. This rendered the tank useless. She opened the hatch, hauled the driver out, and tossed him aside. Then she used her lightsaber to cut through the control panels, careful to leave the trigger for the main cannon operational. She wanted the tank to be as unsalvageable as possible. When she was sure she’d destroyed as much of it as she could in a hurry, she pressed the trigger from the safety of the hatch. Unable to properly discharge, the cannon overloaded as Ahsoka leapt clear.
As she hoped, the explosion was enough to destabilize another nearby tank, as well, causing the hover mechanism to malfunction. It listed sideways, and Ahsoka leapt on top of it, slicing off its gun, too. It crashed into one of the houses on the edge of town and stopped moving.
That left her with only one target. Vartan had managed to get the farmers moving again, and one of the last remaining ships had taken off. Whoever was driving the third tank was smarter than the others had been and targeted Vartan directly.
“No!” Ahsoka shouted as the ground where Vartan was standing erupted in a shower of dirt.
She brought her hands together, and metal screamed as the last remaining turret deformed, destroying the gun and bringing the tank to a halt. She jumped clear and raced to the spot where Vartan had been.
“Keep going!” she shouted as she passed people. “Get on board!”
They made it through the dust and debris. Vartan was alive, but he was badly injured. Ahsoka put both her lightsabers back on her belt and hoisted him over her shoulder. She staggered for a moment under his weight, then used the Force to stabilize herself. She joined the last line of farmers as they made their way toward Captain Antilles’s ship and then followed them up the ramp.
Antilles was waiting for her in the hangar. Kaeden and Miara both screamed when they saw Vartan, and Selda had to hold them back.
“Get a medical stretcher!” Antilles shouted. “And get us out of here.”
The buzz of people around her was overwhelming as Ahsoka lowered Vartan onto the medical stretcher and watched him be carried away. She felt the ship take off, fighting even the low gravity of the moon, until the engines kicked in fully and the ship broke free. She saw the fire and ruin of Raada below her and felt the wash of emotions from the farmers, now refugees, who crowded around her.
And she felt Kaeden. Her gratitude and relief at being rescued. Her joy to see her sister and her sadness to lose her home. Ahsoka put her arm around Kaeden’s shoulder, mindful of her injuries, and couldn’t help the smile that broke across her face. She had done it. It hadn’t been easy, and almost nothing had gone to plan, but they were free of the Empire, for a little while anyway, and they were safe.
“You know,” said Kaeden after a moment, “when you first got to Raada, I thought you’d fit right in. I hoped that you would stay.”
“I’ve never been able to stay anywhere for very long,” Ahsoka said. “Even…before, I moved around a lot.”