"What are you doing?" Han shouted after her when he caught up. "Can you even fly an X-Wing?"

"Of course, it's just been a while," she shouted back over her shoulder, irritated at his question. She didn't have time for his cross-examination. She had flown something similar while serving at the Alderaan Military Academy. It had been a while since she had been in a small combat craft, but she was just hoping it would come back to her once she got in the cockpit. "I might be a bit rusty but we're all they've got," she added.

Reaching the hanger, she grabbed a helmet and headed for one of the X-Wings.

"Rusty?" Han exclaimed, suddenly seriously doubting this was in any way a good idea. "Maybe I should go instead," he suggested. She stopped dead and turned to face him, waving her helmet in the direction of the Falcon.

"Oh yes." She was sarcastic. "You fly the X-Wing and I'll take the Falcon." She raised one eyebrow, calling his bluff.

"No, it's fine," he agreed. "I'll take the Falcon." Leia resumed her route towards the fighters.

"Luke," she shouted. "You're the better pilot. I'll follow your lead." Luke nodded and unhooked his long cloak, dropping it to the floor as he grabbed a helmet for himself.

"Chewie, fire her up!" Han yelled into his com-link as he ran for the outside landing platform. "We're going for a ride."

Leia shot him a look as she climbed into her fighter and hit the switch to seal the cockpit. Making quick systems checks, she and Luke fired up the engines and activated the map display screens. She was relieved to find that the X-Wing controls were more or less in the same position as her training craft.

"Ready?" Luke's voice came over her helmet comm.

"Ready," she confirmed. Both X-Wings lifted off and exited the hanger, engines roaring and the heat from the after-burn causing haze in the moist tropical air.

"Gold squadron." General Madine's voice broke in over the comms. Leia quietly snorted at the ridiculousness of the call sign. Hardly a squadron, just two fighters and a customised freighter. She hoped when it came to it they could do the job of a squadron. "The squad commander informs me that the guns seem to be protected by some sort of force field. Their counter attack is ineffective and they're also under fire from Imperial ground troops. You'll need to locate the shield generator as a matter of priority."

"Copy that," Luke replied as they headed eastward along the mountain range towards the pass together with the Falcon that had now fallen in behind them. "Delta Squad, this is Commander Skywalker," he announced. "We'll be at your position with air support shortly. Find as much cover as you can and we'll try to knock out those guns."

"Good to hear that, Skywalker. Don't take too long," came the troop commander's reply.

"We won't." Luke reassured him. He studied his map and an idea came to him. "Leia. I'm sending you co-ordinates of a route we should come up on much earlier. If we take it, we would come out right in front of the gun turrets, but it means going through a bit of a narrow ravine first. It's a bit tight and there's no room for the Falcon so Han and Chewie, you'll have to go over the top and come down into the pass from above. I think it might give us the element of surprise." He locked in co-ordinates and sent them to the display in Leia's fighter as he spoke. Leia switched on her tactical display.

"Got it," she confirmed.

"You alright with that ravine?" he enquired.

"Yes," she assured him.

"I don't know, kid," Han sounded dubious. "You're flying with Princess Rusty." He was being sarcastic for her benefit but inside he was concerned. Leia put her X-Wing into a full horizontal 360 degree spin and levelled off again as if giving him a metaphorical rude gesture.

"Shut up!" she ordered. He had to smile.

In her cockpit, Leia was concentrating hard. It had indeed been a while since she had flown a fighter like this but, now in the air, the X-Wing didn't seem all that different. She had seen how narrow the ravine was though and was calculating that they would have to traverse it sideways. She hoped she could hold her concentration long enough not to end up an unsightly decoration on the ravine wall. Luke must have sensed her nerves because she heard his voice.

Trust me. Just listen to me and do what I say.

"OK," she replied.

"Who are you talking to?" Han asked, confused. He hadn't heard anything and began to wonder whether she'd had so little sleep that she'd started talking to herself. Leia realised Luke hadn't used the comms. His voice was in her head.

"Myself," she answered Han.

"You, OK?" he sounded worried.

"Yes," she assured him.

Luke and Leia banked right, flying into a high walled canyon, and Han and Chewbacca followed, hanging back from the fighters. Their job was to take out the guns and the Falcon's was to be back up.

"We're coming up on the ravine," Luke informed them all and Leia pulled her X-Wing in behind him. They banked left and right, negotiating the canyon as the ravine got ever closer. She heard Luke's voice again. Concentrate on my voice, Leia. Breathe slowly. Try to remain calm. Leia had an involuntary urge to shut her eyes but resisted. She felt his calm. The roar of her engines seemed to dim into the distance. It felt peaceful.

From Han's cockpit view, the two fighters were flying in perfect synchronisation. The comms had gone quiet. Chewbacca growled an observation that the looming ravine was very narrow and perhaps too small even for the fighters. Han looked at his display screen beginning to think the same thing.

"Luke there's not much room in there. Are you sure about this?" He got no reply from either of them. Chewbacca gave a worried grumble just as both X-Wings closed their S-foils in unison, turned sideways and disappeared into the ravine like torpedoes being sucked into an exhaust port. Both Han and Chewbacca swore in their respective languages at the impressive flying, then had to pull the Falcon up quickly as a wall of rock, through which Luke and Leia had just disappeared, loomed in front of them. It eventually plateaued and they caught occasional glimpses of the X-Wings far below them, nimbly negotiating the ravine's twists and turns. Chewbacca growled that Luke and Leia were either born in a cockpit or were both insane. Han had pushed the Falcon into some tight spots in the past but was fairly sure he wouldn't have attempted this. He knew Luke's reputation as a pilot but was more concerned for Leia. He tried to shake images of her early demise from his head while he decided which one of Chewbacca's descriptions he agreed with more.

Leia gripped the controls of her fighter so hard, her knuckles had gone white. A burnt umber blur that was the rock face shot past above and below her, and in front, the brilliant white glare of Luke's engines. She focused intently on them as that was all she could see ahead, claustrophobia creeping in to her system, making her feel slightly sick. She was acutely aware that she was holding her breath.

"Get ready." Luke's voice came over the comms.

Han pulled the Falcon up into a steep climb so as to come down into the pass from height, evading as much gunfire as possible. Luke's fighter erupted into the light of the pass. Leia burst out of the ravine behind him, drawing in a large breath of air as the spacious feeling of the pass washed over her. She instinctively banked right as Luke banked left, opening her S-foils to attack position and targeting the gun turret built high into the mountainside. She began firing. The squad commander had been right. Her shots had no effect. She looked around quickly to see if she could spot the generator.

"Han, see of you can find the shield generator," she instructed. The gun turrets were swivelling round now to target the fighters and they began firing. At least it was drawing fire away from the ground troops. Her cockpit shook violently as she was dealt a glancing blow.

"Watch it," Han yelled. Chewbacca growled and flailed a furry paw at a spot higher up the mountainside. "We might have found it," Han confirmed and brought the Falcon round to approach an installation Chewbacca had spotted. They fired torpedoes, exploding rock and metal down into the pass below. "Sorry about that." Han spoke almost to himself as he realised it might have caused more trouble for the squad below.

"Come round for another pass, Leia," Luke ordered. The two fighters sped up either side of the pass, performed a loop and headed back in the direction of the gun turrets. Still in perfect formation, they increased power, firing cannons and torpedoes and obliterating both gun turrets at once. Cheers erupted from the Alliance squad below.

Han and Chewbacca dove into the pass from above and began firing on the Imperial ground troops, efficiently clearing a path, blasting them left and right.

"All clear, Commander," he announced.

"We should take out the outpost weapons and sensors too. Pave the way for a ground rescue," Leia suggested. She switched her tactical display to show the outpost. They had made their presence known now. They might as well take down as many defences as they could to assist the already too few troops. As they rounded a bend in the pass and came into view of the outpost, however, Leia's heart sank. A transport ship was taking off from the outpost and heading away from the mountain range. "We're too late," she said in alarm.

"We can go after them," Han suggested.

"No," Leia stopped him. "Don't fire on them, we'll hurt the passengers. Luke, do you have a tracking sensor on board? I'm out."

"Yes," Luke replied. "I'll try to get close enough to fire it." He sped after the transport vessel, coming up underneath and firing a magnetic tracker at the hull. It hit home and he returned to the outpost.

Han and Leia had disabled the sensors and wall defences between them, leaving the way free for the Alliance troops to move in and clear the building. They didn't have to be cautious now that the prisoners weren't in the building.

"We can't do any more. Let's go home," Leia sounded despondent.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Han reassured her. "You did an amazing job."

"Too little, too late, I'm afraid," she sighed.

"We'll trace that tracker and find out where they are going," Luke reminded her.

They turned and headed for the base as she mulled over the disappointment.