"Enter the B-Wing"

nova_wolf · November 28, 2000

Im ACTUALLY writting it - Ive actually got round to it, and so far, it's kinda good.....

Ive have yet to give names, need to carry out a continiuity check, but I have loads of ideas for the next parts.

Ive also decided to make it 3 parts,

"Problem", "Solution", and "'Redepmtion'"........

Teling you - looks good - anti-Mon Cal plot, the Imperial Guard closely involved, the intorduction of 'new' star ships on both sides of the war, Intelligence ops, rescues, and action packed space battles - man - Ill put up some of it soon - so watch this space....

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

nova_wolf · November 28, 2000

This is what Chapter 1 of 'Problem' looks like so far. Of course, there is alot of work needed, but I think taht considering how hard it is to write books, and a Star Wars fill-in-the-blanks book, It is kinda good.

Of course, it doesn't show the whole plot, just the style of writing as it is at the mo.

Opinions people - that what I need (not plot ideas - ive planned the whole thing out now)

Problem - Chapter 1

As the blue light show of hyperspace faded away, the small strike group came out barely tens of metres off the convoy, a little closer in the case of one starfighter, who came out straight in to one of the transports, taking it with it. The blast radius hit the sturdy shields of the main ship of the group - the ‘Endeavour’, a new class of Calamari ship, designed to take on larger craft, and this was to be it’s first real field test..

The captain of the new ship was a respected man, who also test flew the modified corvette into battle against Imperials. He looked highly concerned, which was noted by most as the norm for him, and what gave him his eye for details, that made him such a successful commander, but today there was a more tense air about him, as if he knew full well that his career was about to take a major down turn...

“Tell all fighters to scramble. As per orders - Ys take on the convoy, Xs run interference. I want to keep our two gunships here, just in case,” he ordered across to the comms officer, who then relayed the instructions to the rest of the group .

He looked round and out of the bridge’s window, to see the red glow of fighter engines moving towards the convoy, and the first signs of blaster and ion fire from the vanguard Y-wings as they started their run against one of the heavy cargo haulers. A little to the left, and he could just make out what appeared to be a swarm of Mynoks, which soon made themselves known as TIE Fighters, betrayed by the signature emerald coloured blaster fire, as they started their own attack run, against the Y-Wings.

He turned to the comms officer, and issued orders for Black group to cover the Y-Wings.

All was fairly peaceful at present, going as any hit-and-fade should, but he just felt that someting was a miss. Considering the outcome of the past few operations of this kind, he wasn’t about to take any chances. As such, he went asked the Flight Leaders to check in, but to no avail. They didn’t see anything out of th ordinary either. Comms officer wasn’t picking up anything beyond the starfighters and convoys chatter. What ever was goning to happen was going to hit hard. That left only other option to look in to.

“Sensor station - do we have any contacts in range we should know about ?” he continued.

“Sensors aren’t picking up any thing in terms of major escort at present. One escort carrier, two corvettes, one strike cruiser, four TIE Fighter squadrons and 1 TIE Interceptor squadron. Coast looks clear.”

“Excuse me, can you repeat that ensign......”

“One escort carrier, one strike cruiser, two corvettes, five TIE squadrons - four...,” was as far as he got before the captain burst in with, “five - how in Kessel can they field five TIE squadrons with only one escort carrier around ? It’s capacity is for two at most !”

He let the implications of this sink in for a few moments. What ever was waiting was about to happen. Instinct kicked in, and he was to issue orders for a withdrawal, when the Sensor Officer piped up with, “Err - captain, we have a large trace coming in, approximately four ships, and they’ll be here in two minutes.”

The captain muttered, “Well - its REALLY gonna hit the fan now.” In his mind, all he could see where the picture from the briefing of the last two assaults, and the ship that tore in to starfighters and corvettes a like. And as if to confirm his worst fears, the sensor officer then again spoke up, “And one of the traces matches that of the one uploaded before we left the fleet. It’s on it’s way, and will be the first to arrive.”

Out in the battle field, the X-Wings were coping well enough, having suffered minimal losses, and the Y-Wings had managed to disable 2 tranports already, although there were a good many more to go.

Red leader turned his X-Wing around, and was bracketting a TIE-Fighter in his sights, when a ship came out of Hyoperspace not far off the ‘Endeavour’. He promptely forgot the TIE. The flight group comm channel was suddenly alive with general panic over the new arrival. Unfortunately for some pilots, they paid a little too much attention to it for their own good.

“Wow - ‘Endeavour, you do know what just dropped in, right ?” cried out Black Leader

“Black Leader, we know, and we are re-thinking. But we are going to try to give you more time. This convoy is simply too large to let go.”

“But the ‘Endeavour’...”

“...was designed specifically to take on this threat. We’ll handle her - you just take care of those fighters.” stated captain.

This was not a good turn of events. They had to disable this convoy. It had been a while since the Alliance had had any success. They needed to disrupt the local Navy, not matter what...

“Red Leader, we have TIE Interceptors heading your way from the newly arrived escort carrier. You take your Xs out there, and fast - okay !” came booming through Red Leader’s headset.

“Aye sir,” replied Red Leader. He switched his comm channel to group, and then joked “You heard him Reds. We have to leave this party, and go crash someone else’s - you up for it.”

“Well - I was kinda looking forward to the present set of company....”

Very funny Red Three, we all know you don’t like Interceptors, Red Leader mused.

“That was more of an order than an invitation Red Three. Break by pairs, and stick to your wing.”

“And don’t forget to stay out of range of their frigates - the cross fire will have you in a moment,” came the voice of Green Leader.

“Cheers Green Leader - duly noted, but Granny already knows how to suck eggs,” replied Red Three, in his usual up-beat tone.

“Just make sure she don’t choke on them eggs Red Three...,” was Green Leader’s last comment before the two groups parted company.

And so, they turned tail, and twelve X-wings streaked their way across the star field, directly at the Interceptors, except one didn’t quite make it...

“This is Red Five, got twin eyeballs on me - need assistance. Red Six, where the hell are you ?”

“I’m here with you little bro - hold on... Damn it - where are you ?”

“Help me I can’t... hold...... it.................”

And then the sound dreaded by all flight group leaders broke out across the airways - a cry of pain, followed by static, punctuated only by a particularly large doom bloom to one side of his peripheral vision.

“BROTHER !!!!!!!!” screamed Red Six.

Red Leader knew the feeling - his brother died sixteen months back in an assault against an ‘obsolete and deactivated’ dreadnought fleet yard, which had half the Imperial Navy in wait behind it, and a newly refurbished defensive perimeter. He had to split and leave him behind, he had to warn the rest of the fleet, but his brother, of all people to leave alone....

“Red Six, break off and fly the coop - your no use in this condition.”

“Negative Red Leader - this is for my broth...”

“Do not disregard my orders - go home !” he thundered, adding in a more feeling tone, “Please. Warn the rest of the fleet - don’t let your brother’s memory die with you...”

After a quick shuffle of thoughts, Red Six's reply come across the air waves, “Ai sir. Co-ordinates input - see you guys later.....”

And so two of twelve were down, and the Interceptors were still out of range..

“This is Red Leader, Captain, any chance of some back up - some A-Wings may be ?”

“You know I can’t manage it - I explained this before we left.”

“You tell that to the rest of the fleet... wow - Red Two - split hi-lo, bracket him on the run...”

And so the two groups met, and Red Leader was the first lost. The Interceptors first barrage scored one kill, and heavy damage on three other ships, although the X-wings scored three kills, but then a second wave of Interceptors appeared behind the first - they had been hidden from sight, and thanks to some top notch flying, from sensors too. That wave then finished of the three damaged X-Wings, leaving but half the unit after the first ten seconds of engagement. Not good terms to start of on in any melee.

“The cross fire from those two ships is to much - their range is simply too good, and these Interceptors just retreat back the moment we go after them, but then we can only focus on one at a time - we need back-up....,” exclaimed Red Twelve to the Endeavour, but his statement fell on deaf ears, as the Endeavour’s first taste of battle was turning out to be sour...

“It’s got us broadside now sir - and she’s bringing all guns to bear !”

“Transfer all power to those shields. We have to at least try to survive long enough to run.”

“We have a new signal coming in of the port sir, but our IFF is down..”

“Well then - bring it up on my monitor, and we’ll take a look,” was all that the commander could say.

A simple ‘hit-and-fade’ which had suddenly gone disastrously wrong, as had so many such operations of late. In actual fact he didn’t really need to know what had just arrived. In the end, the only ship that mattered was the one currently pounding the hell out of his Lieutenant Calamari Cruiser, a ship designed to take on the very aggressor ripping her to shreds at this very moment.

“Sir, Red Nine says it’s a Victory Class Destroyer - but as the IFF is down, we don’t know whose command it is..”

And that was all the Comms Officer could say, for he was now dead. The last volley of ion fire from the ship at close quarters hit the comms array, and so the chain reaction hit the bridge - and took half of the consoles with it ! Yet in the back ground, you could still hear the voices of many of the fighter pilots, all of whom were screaming in pain, or calling out warnings that simple couldn’t be heeded in time.

“Fire crews to the Bridge - repeat....” was now the cry in the air. There were not enough ships in the task force, not enough star fighters for a screen and not enough crew left for this ship.. “Damn Imps. Some one patch into comms.....warn the fleet...... someone wanna......” Looking round, it was obvious that he was actually the last one left on the bridge besides the Star fighter Co-ordinator, who had enough to deal with.

“Never mind,” he muttered, “ you - tell the star fighters to run”.

The Fighter Co-Ord Officer looked up, and pleaded, “what - they’re the only back up we have left against that thing !”

“Don’t you think I know that - but we’ve already lost fifty percent of our units - they can live to fight another day...”

“But sir !”

“Do it - get them to get word to the rest of the fleet,” he said, feeling a distinct sense of lost pride and defeat weighing too heavily to handle.

“These Imps keep doing this, and we haven’t been able to take out ONE of those things. Well - I’m going to do it here and now,” he muttered, before adding aloud, “Tell all remaining personnel they have five minutes to evacuate - after which, if we’re still in one piece....”

He expected the officer to butt in, to retort again, but it’s almost as if he were reading his intentions, as all he said was “Ai sir - order issued. Force be with you,” and then sprinted across the demolished bridge to the door, and then sealed it.

“Come on then you kriffing swines - how about this for a thorn in your side......”

“Sir, they are severely crippled, and appear to be listing. It appears she has even given the order for her star fighter support to flee. Should we tell out scouts to follow, or...”

The tall character in the middle of the bridge looked down at the sensors station from his walkway above, and merely nodded, whilst adding, “We may as well. Those star fighters are only going to try to inform the main Rebel fleet. I’d rather this was a quick assignment”

And so the order was issued, and Tau group Gunboats went in pursuit of the fleeing Y- and X-wings, destroying two straight off who were a little slower on the up take.

“Close in, that ship may still be salvageable. I am sure that the intelligence division would love the chance to get their hands on one of those. Issue the order for our assault shuttles to launch.”

“Yes sir........ err, sir, there is an unusually large amount of activity coming from that Calamari Cruiser - it’s launching life boats and shuttles, and appears to be... turning...”

The destroyer captain looked down again, as peacefully as before, with a quizzical look on his face, “Well - which way is she turning ?”

“Well, she is turning towards us, and she appears to be.... her main engines are powering up !”

The captain suddenly went from cool, calm and collected to panic stricken. “I thought you told me Tau had sorted out her engines - they went off line - you told me so yourself - how can they have them online so fast ? We’re too close - REVERSE ENGINES !”

The ship tried to pull out of the way, but she was broadside on the Rebel ship, and at that moment, the ship’s proximity alarms went off, and as did the front half of the ship’s hull.

From it’s vantage point a few clicks off, the forgotten, recently arrived, Victory class destroyer saw the front, dagger shaped end of the Lieutenant Cruiser almost slice through the main pylon of the Imperial’s latest and greatest invention....

“I did tell command that he was not quite the command ability his exterior suggested. Shame really, it was such a nice ship..”

“What do we do about the survivors - Rebel and Imperial ?”, asked the Flight deck Officer, “Should I dispatch a recovery crew ?”

The admiral looked back out to space at the fleeing Imperial construction convoy, and thought for a moment.

“Sir ?”

“Yes, although if you come across Captain Afril, ensure he is incarcerated on return for gross negligence.”

And as he continued to stare out of the transpari-steel window, he saw the recovery procedure commence, and the convoy jump to hyperspace, on their way to the construction facility where a replacement would soon be complete for the recently dissected capitol ship, and then more besides.

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

nova_wolf · November 28, 2000

Oops - forgot to put in the indents for the paragraphs - sorry. Looks kinda long now.... - i'll fix later.

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

November 29, 2000

It's pretty good. It still needs some work though. I would add more detail to how these ships look, and a few lines more of fighter combat. One little thing to nitpick about... the fighter piolits usually don't say "Aye sir" that's more of a cap ship officer thing

------------------

You were expecting a creative sig?

ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn

Rogue 6

nova_wolf · November 29, 2000

I picked up on the Aye Sir bit as well - will change o something like "Your the boss !"

As for description of the mystery ship, I am trying to keep it secret, as it comes about at the very start of Chapter 2, during a debrief, although some of the more experinced people may now which star ship it is, if you think back to what my stories main tale is about - why the B-wing was invented.....

Keep it coming guys !

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

November 30, 2000

I figured you were keeping it hush hush, but I think you can give it a tiny bit more detail without ruining anything.

------------------

You were expecting a creative sig?

ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn

Rogue 6

Jem · December 1, 2000

This is good and I'm sure it can and will be better.

ok first thing's first: Captain is not the same thing than Commander, so you should only put captain, it's the correct term for this type of rank.

ok you should give us a description, details of the surrounding of the commander so we can picture him somewhere, tell us with who he is, where etc etc

ok that's it for now, I didn't read all of it yet, but I will.

[This message has been edited by Jem (edited December 03, 2000).]

nova_wolf · December 1, 2000

I know - my description needs huge work, was relying on speech too much, although I appear to have worked through that. Im not chapter 4 I think now.

Im starting the intelligence run, and also have a recovery misison to go...

I was thinking of putting it ALL up, but :

1) That will spoil it

2) I wouldn't be the most popular XWA member as loading this topic would take ages.

As such, may be one of you guys would like to host it on your site...... (puppy eyes over here )

PS - can anyone remember any of following :

1) In which book did the rebels liberate Ackbar from the shuttle via a Y-wing group (Was it the short story collection 'Tales from the Empire ?')

2) Who was the Imperial Officer on the shuttle that kept Ackbar as his slave

3)Why did they liberate Ackbar

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

[This message has been edited by Cmdr_DFMD (edited December 01, 2000).]

December 2, 2000

I have some extra server space if you want to host it off of me.

------------------

You were expecting a creative sig?

ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn

Rogue 6

Nute Gunray · December 2, 2000

Tarkin owned Ackbar. Some Y-Wings jumped the shuttle and Tarkin and Bevel Lemlisk (i think) escaped from it. Ackbar was "rescued" by the Y-Wings right before Admiral Motti showed up in a Star Destroyer.

------------------

I'm convinced solar energy is a Communist conspiracy

December 3, 2000

you plan on adressing that the development of the B-Wing was due to the development of the Nebulon-B Frigate?

Paraphrasing from most soucre material:

Then Rebel ships could chew up cargo fleets and the Imp Fleet was helpless to stop it. The Neb-B gave fire power and carried a few squads of TIEs. This started chewing up the Rebel raids. The B-Wing was made to take out a Neb-B then cover the raiders.

nova_wolf · December 3, 2000

Wow - cheers for the support !

Thrawn - you da man ! It won't be the prettiest page on your site, but if that is okay with you, then I may just take you up on that.

Nute - cheers for the info. Im carrying out a continuity check at mo, and what you've supplied suggest that Im on course.

As for Mr Barnard - wow ! Straight to the mark. I like the description you agve - I'll have to incorporate that in the final speech by Ackabr/Madine (haven't decided yet) at the end of 'Redemption' (part 3).

Again - thank you all for your support - and be assured, when (thats WHEN, not IF - Im nothing if not determined) I get this book done and published - you three are in the foreward dedication !

How about an Update as Im here :

Im half way through part 1 I reckon, third maybe.

I have started the recovery operation for Ackabr. Gold Squadron are the Y-Wings I chose (Ill post a bit of their briefing session with Madine later, possibly at Thrawn's place)

Infiltrator has been dropped in for a Imp mission in to facility where Endeavour was built, but I have a little surprise lined up for her.....

And I have figured what the next two parts are going to look like.

You may have noticed taht I haev greatly increased the scope of my original idea, from JUST the period of time when the B-Wing was developed, to before, and indeed, as will be seen, a while after. And the B-Wing is not the only introduction - The Lieutenant Class Calamari Frigate, the Nebulon B, and soon, a ship well known as the 'Redemption' (it's a good twist, and where Barnard's description will be used)

Cheers guys - and heres to a classic in the making !

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

December 4, 2000

no prob

i may even be able to make the page a little more attractive if i get some spare time

------------------

You were expecting a creative sig?

ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn,SOB_Thrawn

Rogue 6

nova_wolf · December 4, 2000

Well - Im definitely going to take you upon that.

How many pages can I do :

1 per 1 or 2 Chapters (to reduce loading times)

1 Main Menu Page

1 for general ideas that I have / am using

1 for the cast

and maybe a few more....

would that be alright ?

PS - what is you site address, and your e-mail....

------------------

Nova Squadron, the Elite B-Wing flight group stationed aboard the Nebulon B Frigate 'Oracle', home of the tech library.

'No capitol too large, no corvette too armed. NOVA squadron, for ALL your extermination needs. Our special at the moment - SSDs (See our work with the Iron Fist !) !'

Commander Jon 'DFMD' Adamson - leader of Nova Squadron (B-Wing ID = 'The White Witch')

nova_wolf · December 8, 2000

Below is the new improved Chap 1 of Problem, although, it does of course still require a lot of work.

As the blue light show of hyperspace faded away, the small strike group came out barely tens of metres off the convoy, a little closer in the case of one star fighter, who came out straight in to one of the transports, taking it with it. Slightly further on, the blast radius hit the sturdy shields of the main ship of the group - the ‘Endeavour’, a new class of Calamari ship, designed to take on larger craft, and this was to be it’s first real field test..

The captain of the new ship was a respected man, who also test flew the modified corvette into battle against Imperials. He looked highly concerned, which was noted by most as the norm for him, and what gave him his eye for details, that made him such a successful officer, but today there was a more tense air about him, as if he knew full well that his career was about to take a major down turn...

“Tell all fighters to scramble. As per orders - Ys take on the convoy, Xs run interference. I want to keep our two gun ships here, just in case,” he ordered across to the comms officer, who then relayed the instructions to the rest of the group .

He looked round and out of the bridge’s window, to see the red glow of fighter engines moving towards the convoy, and the first signs of blaster and ion fire from the vanguard Y-wings as they started their run against one of the heavy cargo haulers. A little to the left, and he could just make out what appeared to be a swarm of Mynoks, which soon made themselves known as TIE Fighters, betrayed by the signature emerald coloured blaster fire, as they started their own attack run, against the Y-Wings.

He turned to the comms officer, and issued orders for Black group to cover the Y-Wings.

All was fairly peaceful at present, going as any hit-and-fade should, but he just felt that something was a miss. Considering the outcome of the past few operations of this kind, he wasn’t about to take any chances. As such, he asked the Flight Leaders to check in and report, but to no avail. They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary either. Comms officer wasn’t picking up anything beyond the star fighters and convoy’s chatter. What ever was going to happen was going to hit hard. That left only one other option to look in to.

“Sensor station - do we have any contacts in range we should know about ?” he continued.

“Sensors aren’t picking up any thing in terms of major escort at present. One Escort Carrier, two Corvettes, one Strike Cruiser, four TIE Fighter squadrons and 1 TIE Interceptor squadron. Coast looks clear.”

“Excuse me, can you repeat that ensign......”

“One Escort Carrier, one Strike Cruiser, two Corvettes, five TIE squadrons - four...,” was as far as he got before the captain burst in with, “five - how in Kessel can they field five TIE squadrons with only one escort carrier around ? It’s capacity is two at most !”

He let the implications of this sink in for a few moments. What ever was waiting was about to rear it’s head. Instinct kicked in, and he was about to issue orders for a withdrawal, when the Sensor Officer piped up with, “Err - captain, we have a large trace coming in, approximately four ships, and they’ll be here in two minutes.”

The captain muttered, “Well - its really gonna hit the fan now.” In his mind, all he could see where the pictures from the briefing of the last two assaults, and the ship that tore in to star fighters and corvettes a like. And as if to confirm his worst fears, the sensor officer then again spoke up, “And one of the traces matches that of the one uploaded before we left the fleet. It’s on it’s way, and will be the first to arrive.”

Out in the battle field, the X-Wings were coping well enough, having suffered minimal losses, and the Y-Wings had managed to disable two transports already, although there were a good many more to go.

Red Leader turned his X-Wing around, and was bracketing a TIE-Fighter in his sights, when a ship came out of Hyperspace not far off the ‘Endeavour’. He promptly forgot the TIE. The flight group comm channel was suddenly alive with general panic over the new arrival. Unfortunately for some pilots, they paid a little too much attention to it for their own good. Black Three was among those pilots.

“Ouch - is that what I think it is ?” exclaimed Black Three in fear.

“That would be an affirmative. Pay attention to what your doing.” replied Black Leader.

Unfortunately, Black Three had not kept an eye on his quarry, which by then had taken advantage of those precious seconds of lack of concentration.

The TIE Interceptor had dived straight down, and continued on. He was far out of Black Three’s sight, right below him, and then kicked his engines hard in to a tight one-eighty turn.

Black Five threw out a warning, “Three, pay attention, you got two squints converging on your position....”

Three heard, but the damage had been done. The Interceptor came up from below, but Three only saw the one keeping in tight behind him. The second squint fired across his hull, causing nothing more than carbon scoring on the TIEs painted on Three’s fuselage. But his intent was never to score a kill. That pleasure was for the TIE that Three had let slip.

Expertly corralled in to position, the Interceptor below had a perfect lock on, and enjoyed the moment. Switching to Quad-Link, the Interceptor took his time, and fired one shot.

“Where the hell did he come from !” screamed Three. “Help me out - I’m being herded in here... help !”

He didn’t stand a chance. The quad shot burst through his weakened shields, and hit his torpedo payload. The Interceptor flew on, through the cloud of flame, only sustaining a blistered paint job. So another Rebel became a martyr to the cause.

Elsewhere, Black Leader was conversing with the Endeavour.

“Wow - ‘Endeavour, you do know what just dropped in, right ?” cried out Black Leader.

“Black Leader, we know, and we are re-thinking. But we are going to try to give you more time. This convoy is simply too large to let go.”

“But the ‘Endeavour’...”

“...was designed specifically to take on this threat. We’ll handle it - you just take care of those fighters. We’re going to get between it and you. That should give you enough time.” stated captain, not quite convinced of his own plan.

“We’re in too deep to turn and run now,” he murmured.

This was not a good turn of events. They had to disable this convoy. It had been a while since the Alliance had any success. They needed to disrupt the local Navy, no matter what...

“Red Leader, we have TIE Interceptors heading your way from the newly arrived escort carrier. You take your Xs out there, and fast - okay !” came booming through Red Leader’s headset.

“You’re the boss,” replied Red Leader. He switched his comm channel to group, and then joked “You heard him Reds. We have to leave this party, and go crash someone else’s - you up for it.”

“Well - I was kinda looking forward to the present set of company....”

Very funny Red Three, we all know you don’t like Interceptors, Red Leader mused.

“That was more of an order than an invitation Red Three. Break by pairs, and stick to your wing.”

“And don’t forget to stay out of range of their frigates - the cross fire will have you in a moment,” came the wise voice of Green Leader.

“Cheers Green Leader - duly noted, but Granny already knows how to suck eggs,” replied Red Three, in his usual up-beat tone.

“Just make sure she don’t choke on them eggs Red Three...,” was Green Leader’s last comment before the two groups parted company.

And so, they turned tail, twelve X-wings streaking their way across the star field, directly at the Interceptors, except one didn’t quite make it...

“This is Red Five, got twin eyeballs on me - need assistance. Red Six, where the hell are you ?”

“I’m here with you little bro - hold on... Damn it - where are you ?”

“Help me I can’t... hold...... it.................”

And then the sound dreaded by all flight group leaders broke out across the airways - a cry of pain, followed by static, punctuated only by a particularly large doom bloom to one side in his peripheral vision.

“BROTHER !!!!!!!!” screamed Red Six.

Red Leader knew the feeling - his brother died sixteen months back in a recon against an ‘obsolete and deactivated’ dreadnought fleet yard, which had half the Imperial Navy in wait behind it, and a newly refurbished defensive perimeter. He had to split and leave him behind, he had to warn the rest of the fleet, but his brother, of all people to leave behind....

“Red Six, break off and fly the coop - your no use in this condition.”

“Negative Red Leader - this is for my broth...”

“Do not disregard my orders - go home !” he thundered, adding in a more feeling tone, “Please. Warn the rest of the fleet - don’t let your brother’s memory die with you...”

After a quick shuffle of thoughts, Red Six's reply come across the air waves, “Fine. Co-ordinates input - see you guys later.....”

And so two of twelve were down, and the Interceptors were still out of range..

“This is Red Leader, Captain, any chance of some back up - some A-Wings may be ?”

“You know I can’t manage it - I explained this before we left.”

“You tell that to the rest of the fleet... wow - Red Two - split hi-lo, bracket him on the run...”

And so the two groups met, and Red Leader was the first lost. The Interceptors first barrage scored one kill, and heavy damage on three other ships, although the X-wings scored three kills, but then a second wave of Interceptors appeared behind the first - they had been hidden from sight, and thanks to some top notch flying, from sensors too. That wave then finished of the three damaged X-Wings, leaving but half the unit after the first ten seconds of engagement. Not good terms to start off on in any melee.

A focal point of many of the lances of red and blue turbo tower bolts was a one of the smaller Corellian ships, the ‘Ranger’. It was quite amazing that she had stood firm for so long, although her engines had failed, and she’d drifted into real trouble.

“Endeavour, the Ranger is getting pounded. We’ve gotten ourselves caught between the two Strike Cruisers. Can you hear us !” called out the Ranger’s Lieutenant.

He had immediately taken charge after the Captain hit his head, and been incapacitated.

Unfortunately for them, the larger, lead frigate of the whole assault decided to join in to improve the odds.

“This is a joke. They already have us pinned down - why bring that into the equation.”

All the staff knew what he was saying. The Corvette ‘Ranger’ was not going to see the other end of this mission.

“This is Y-wing Green, we have a lock on the Strike Cruiser, hold on.”

“Negative. Don’t approach. Extreme fire zone. We can’t risk..” Too late.

“Aaarghh - Green Four, aim for their bridge - ion it...”

The Corvette’s bridge was now silent, all officers watching as fighter after fighter mis-judged the crossfire, bar the voice of Green Leader urging his futile assault against the three ships. The Corvette’s Lieutenant looked out of his depth, and that was fair enough considering. He was still watching the ships firing out of the view screen when a bolt hit the bridge, and finished the Corvette off. It was now a funeral pyre, burning brightly yet quickly, smoke billowing from her wounds.

“The cross fire from those three ships is to much - their range is simply too good, and these Interceptors just retreat back the moment we go after them, but then we can only focus on one at a time - we need back-up....,” exclaimed Red Twelve to the Endeavour, watching the destruction of ‘Ranger’ from his X-wing cockpit.

His statement fell on deaf ears, as the Endeavour’s first taste of battle was turning out to be sour...

“It’s got us broadside now sir - and she’s bringing all guns to bear !”

The Endeavour was now caught in a cross fire herself, and was feeling beyond worse for wear because of it.

“Transfer all power to those shields. We have to at least try to survive long enough to run.”

“We have a new signal coming in off the port side, but our IFF is down..”

“Well then - bring it up on my monitor, and we’ll take a look,” was all that the captain could say.

A simple ‘hit-and-fade’ which had suddenly gone disastrously wrong, as had so many such operations of late. In actual fact he didn’t really need to know what had just arrived. In the end, the only ship that mattered was the one currently pounding the hell out of his Lieutenant Calamari Cruiser, a ship designed to take on the very aggressor ripping her to shreds at this very moment.

“Sir, Red Nine says it’s a Victory class Destroyer - but as the IFF is down, we don’t know whose command it is..”

And that was all the Comms Officer could say, for he was now dead. The majority of the ion fire from the last volley struck the Endeavour’s comm array, sending a massive feedback surge which blew out half the bridge’s consoles, killing the Comms Officer, showering sparks all over the bridge Yet in the back ground, you could still hear the voices of many of the fighter pilots, all of whom were screaming in pain, or calling out warnings that simple couldn’t be heeded in time.

“Fire crews to the Bridge - repeat....” was now the cry in the air. There were not enough ships in the task force, not enough star fighters for a screen and not enough crew left for this ship.. “Damn Imps. Some one patch into comms.....warn the fleet...... someone wanna......” Looking round, it was obvious that he was actually the last one left on the bridge besides the Star fighter Co-ordinator, who had enough to deal with.

“Never mind,” he muttered, “ you - tell the star fighters to run”.

The Fighter Co-Ord Officer looked up, and stammered, “What - they’re the only back up we have left against that thing !”

“Don’t you think I know that - but we’ve already lost fifty percent of our units - they can live to fight another day...”

“But sir ! What about the convoy ?”

“Do it. The convoy is no longer a viable target. Get the fighters to get word to the rest of the fleet,” he said, feeling a distinct sense of lost pride and defeat weighing too heavily to handle.

“These Imps keep doing this, and we haven’t been able to take out one of those things. Well - I’m going to do it here and now,” he muttered, before adding aloud, “Tell all remaining personnel they have five minutes to evacuate - after which, if we’re still in one piece....”

He expected the officer to butt in, to retort again, but it’s almost as if he were reading his intentions, as all he said was “Aye sir - order issued. Force be with you,” and then sprinted across the demolished bridge to the door, and sealing it.

“Come on then you kriffing swines - how about this for a thorn in your side......”

“Sir, they are severely crippled, and appear to be listing. It appears she has even given the order for her star fighter support to flee. Should we tell out units to follow, or...”