by Sazril "Yale" Murshid

Chapter 1

The person who was getting no rest was Capt. Neill 'Ranger' Magill, Red Squadron's training officer. At the moment, he was conducting a live fire test with Red Squadron's trainees. Due to Ranger's combat status, he spent most of his time on the Regis as a Combat Wing pilot. But whenever he had the chance he would always try to train the cadets himself.

The temporary reassignment was what he needed to get himself reacquainted with the trainees. Besides, if he did not take them out today, the other temporary 'trainers' would try to get them in the starfighter sims again. The trainees must have spent more time in the sims these last two weeks than they had in their normal year long training schedule.

"TW 5, on your left and slightly low, sir," responded FC Andrew 'Cool Head' Raymond.

"TW 7 standing by, sir," FC Shamy 'Jaguar' Lukin answered as he formed up on the left side of Cool Head.

"I know most of you hate Y-wings but for this training mission you'll appreciate them. If you check, you'll find that you are fully armed and loaded with real torpedoes. So listen carefully to what I'm going to say. I chose the Y-wings because they can carry more torpedoes than the X-wing. It reduces the number of times we have to reload for this training run."

"No, we'll return to base for that. We'll be doing this by the numbers. Three klicks away you can see the shuttle 'Tow 1'. The shuttle is piloted by Capt. Steve Naylor. All of you know him by his callsign, Rapier. He is towing a drone at a distance of twenty meters behind the shuttle for the first round of this training session. That drone is your target. On my mark, move to a distance of 2.5 klicks from the target and try to acquire a target lock on the drone. If any of you even try to get a lock on the shuttle you will be personally dealt with by Rapier. Understood?"

Meanwhile, back on Red Base, Red Squadron's Commanding Officer and Executive Officer were busy writing reports about their last mission. Two weeks of doing paperwork was starting to get to them.

"You know, Kelly," Lt. Cmdr. Robert 'Kyp' Cashman began, "taking down that Impstar wasn't worth it compared to all the paperwork we have to do."

"Come on, Kyp," Cmdr. Kelly 'Zoom' St. Clair responded. "I mean compare this with the report that the Imperial Sector Command had to write up. The loss of one Impstar with its complement of fighters plus all of the reinforcements they sent to the Wisp. Not to mention explaining how we escaped an Imperial operation against us."

"As ordered, sir," Kyp stood up and gave a salute, grinned and quick marched out of Kelly's office.

"Oh, great… he was hoping for that," Kelly looked around his desk, saw all the datapads from the various Section Chiefs on the Regis and sighed. "Maybe I should take a break as well."

In Red Base's bar, the Crash Site, a game of sabacc was in progress. Flight Officer (FO) Mario 'Phoenix' Rodgers, Lt. James 'Dragon' Firebrand, FO Stjepan 'Kiki' Bedic and Lt. Yves 'Carcajou' Vermette were hard at work trying to relieve each other of their pay. At the moment, Stjepan was winning.

"The Lady sure is smiling at you today. This is my last hand. After this I'm out of here," James declared.

"Nowhere in particular, but there's this new documentary holo I wanted to watch."

"I see that you boys are having fun. Where are the rest of the pack?" Kyp asked as he leaned over Stjepan's shoulder. When he did not get any response he added, "Good hand you have there, Stjepan. Especially that…"

"Sir…" Stjepan looked very uncomfortable. "You sure know how to get people's attention." Covering his cardchips with his other hand, he cleared his throat. "I hear that Redjed is practicing his lightsaber skills with Vape. Seems that she knew something about swordplay and the Lieutenant has been dying for a sparring partner. Any of you know where the rest are?" Stjepan directed the last towards the others around the table.

"Ranger asked Rapier to monitor his training run with the cadets, Wire is taking a nap and Yale's running some SpecForce commando sim. I don't know where Leo or our esteemed leader is," Dragon answered, still thinking whether to throw in his hand or continue the round.

Kyp chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about our esteemed leader. When I left, he was neck deep in paperwork. That'll keep him off our backs for a few days."

"You'd like that wouldn't you, Rob?" Kelly said from behind him. "Just thought that I would give myself a break and come chat with you guys. And I can see that someone will be buying us drinks tonight."

"There goes your winnings, Stjepan," Dragon said with a big grin. "Sure glad it's not me."

"Touché. Anyway that's it, I'm off." With that Dragon pushed his chair in and made his exit.

"Sure thing, grab a chair, sir, and we'll get started. What about you, Commander?"

Lt. Sean 'Leo' Healey was trying to find his wingman, Lt. Sazril 'Yale' Murshid, who always managed to never be around whenever someone wanted to find him.

He said he was going to work out in the simulators, but he's nowhere near the starfighter sims. I guess he must be working out in the SpecForce sims. Fortunately, that's not far from here.

Still muttering to himself, Leo walked past an open access panel. He was just about to move on when something caught his eyes. Three of the wires were bare, their insulation neatly removed. He went closer to check and found that it was the access panel for hyper-comm transmission relays. Somebody had sliced into the line.

He activated his commlink and was about to call security when he felt a slight draft behind him. Instinctively he dropped to his knees and turned, just in time to duck a hard blow to his head. The figure swung the wrench around and Leo was not fast enough to fully evade it this time. He only managed to put his arms up to protect his face, and the wrench hit the side of his head. Leo started to see stars as he staggered up and away from the figure.

The figure in a mechanics' jump suit pressed the attack and managed to force Leo to the deck with his next onslaught. He stood over the pilot and raised the wrench over his head.

Yale turned the corner and saw someone about to put another dent in Leo's head. He raised the blaster rifle he was carrying and shouted.

The man turned and threw the wrench at Yale, who sidestepped the flying tool. Realizing that he was outgunned, he ran from the scene. Yale quickly called security and alerted them to a possible intruder. He then ran over to where Leo was lying and called for a medical team.

"Go get him. I'll be fine, just find him. I think he was transmitting through the hyper-comm relays. We have to know to who."

"It's just a rifle I used in the simulator. It won't even burn through his clothing," Yale called as he ran after the perpetrator.

"A sim gun," Leo said groggily, turning it over in his hands. "That's just dandy. I wonder what would have happened if that guy hadn't stopped? And why am I seeing so many stars inside the platform?"

Lt. Mark 'Redjed' Hagues was practicing with his lightsaber. A Jedi in training, he was still trying to fine-tune his force capability and saberplay. After so many years of going against a practice droid, fighting a human opponent opened him up to new possibilities and showed new weaknesses in his technique. Especially against someone trained to handle swords and sabers from a very young age. Since there was only one lightsaber on the station (the one Mark had made from spare parts found on the Regis), they decided to use normal carbon-steel practice sabers to approximate the weight and length of a lightsaber. These blunted practice swords were also much safer than an energy blade which could burn with a mere touch.

FO Chelsey 'Vape' Maxfield was a new addition to Red Squadron. Raised on a world where tradition was strong, she was trained in the use of the traditional edged weapons, from knives to swords. Looking at her no one would have believed that she could handle a blade the way she did. Tall and slender, with shoulder-length hair and pointy ears that made her look elfin, she was a striking figure.

Training with edged weapons hadn't just built up her strength, but also heightened her other senses. This had already proven vital in other combat situations, especially as a starfighter pilot. Situational awareness was drilled so much into her from a young age that it was now second nature. She could approximate the whereabouts of her attackers based on their attacks and their next moves as well.

Being someone who understood swordplay, she was trying to help Redjed improve his saber technique. Even though she was familiar with normal blades, the specific technique of using a lightsaber was beyond her. Training with a lightsaber was only given to those few of her people who were Force sensitive, and hardly at all since the Jedi Purge swept across the galaxy. But that did not stop her from thinking of techniques on how to use and counter such a weapon, and right now she was really pushing Redjed to the limit. He had the advantage of the Force and she had the training.

They continued attacking and parrying. Redjed saw an opening and delivered an under arm cut, but Vape easily parried with a sidestroke which left him wide open. She continued the out and upward movement and slashed downwards with her saber. Redjed rolled to his left and smoothly attacked Vape's exposed left side. Vape completed a quarter turn, blocked the attack and flipped Redjed's saber away from his grip.

"You did it again," Vape said as she picked up the discarded weapon. "You're not supposed to attack if the distance between you and your opponent will cause you to stretch to hit him. It weakens your grip, especially if you're using a one-handed stroke."

"The opportunity looked good to me," Redjed said as he accepted his saber from Vape.

"No matter how good the opportunity looked, it's not good if there is a chance that you'll lose your weapon. What you should have done is rolled slightly closer; then you would have been nearer to me and I would have had a harder time blocking your attack. Or just wait for another opening."

"You're the one who asked for my help," Vape reminded, smiling as she readied her weapon.

"Let's call it a day, shall we?" Redjed asked instead. "These foils are pretty light, but my arms are killing me."

"Try some weights next time. Put them around your forearm. It helps build up your muscle."

"Okay, okay. Here, store this one as well," Redjed said as he handed his saber over to Vape, who put it away with her own in one of the storage cabinets on the wall. Redjed retrieved his lightsaber from another storage unit and clipped it to his belt.

They both walked out of the practice area and immediately sensed trouble. But they were not quick enough to avoid the rushing man who slammed into them. They all fell down together in a heap.

Yale saw the man fall and rushed to apprehend him. But he sprang to his feet with surprising quickness and kept running.

The two on the floor tried to grab hold but he was too far away. Yale jumped over them and continued after him. He shouted over his shoulder at the two getting up.

Yale saw the man take a turn and followed him cautiously, which probably saved him as the man threw a metal pipe at him. Yale ducked, rolled behind the man and delivered a side thrust kick at the small of his back. The man just staggered a few steps and turned to face Yale. As soon as the agent turned, Yale identified him as an Imperial commando from the same unit he'd dealt with a few times during his stint as a SpecForce infiltrator.

"Lt. Sazril to Security. I have the suspect trapped on the mezzanine level. Please send backup."

The enemy agent hurled himself at Yale, who sidestepped and delivered a chop to the back of the agent's neck. He yelled out in pain as his hand connected not with flesh, but with synthskin-covered metal. The agent turned and delivered a solid punch to the side of Yale's head, throwing him to the ground.

Redjed and Vape reached the spot only to see Yale flying to the ground. They moved in for the attack.

"Watch it... guy 's a cyborg," Yale warned groggily. That hadn't been in the dossier he'd studied.

"Having cybernetic implants does have its advantages," the agent said. As a demonstration, he picked Yale up with his right hand and threw him against the wall. "Strength, for one."

Redjed attacked and was promptly smacked against the wall as well. Vape followed close behind and managed to deliver a kick to the Imperial's midsection. The agent just grunted, then used his right hand again to grab her leg and smash her into the floor.

"I'd love to stay and play with all of you - especially you, Lt. Sazril, since I missed the chance on Chandrila - but my transport is waiting."

"You're not going anywhere, yet," Yale said as he stood up. "I want to know all you know about Chandrila."

Yale studied his opponent. Being trained in unarmed combat and Teras Kasi, the Jedi's own version of unarmed combat, he was wary of his opponent's every move and discovered a weakness. The agent was attacking only with his right arm, suggesting that his left was non-cybernetic. Yale resolved to concentrate his attack on the left side of the agent. He had to play for time as well, until more reinforcements could come, or at least until his two squad-mates could recover.

The agent was impatient and attacked first, delivering a quick jab to Yale's face. Yale ducked, moving right and forward to deliver his own blow to the agent's left rib cage. He was rewarded with contact to human flesh, proving his theory. But he had no time to gloat as the agent launched a knee towards his ribcage. Crossing his arms, Yale absorbed the impact and turned to elbow the agent's jaw.

The commando staggered backwards. And Yale continued with a slap-kick to the left side. The Imperial agent blocked the kick and delivered one of his own. Yale crashed into the wall. He started to see stars and a big, ugly-looking fist coming right at him. He rolled to his right and heard a bang as the agent's fist contacted the with durasteel wall. Still trying to clear his head, he saw the agent moving away.

"Oh, no you don't," Yale said as he jumped and grabbed the Imperial. The agent turned and hugged Yale tightly, squeezing all the air out of him. Yale yelled out in pain as the vise-like grip broke his left arm. He then banged Yale against a doorway a few times. Through a haze of pain, Yale managed to bump the door control, causing both of them to fall sprawling into the Crash Site. The people inside were stunned.

Redjed followed them in and activated his lightsaber. The glowing blade sprang forth with a familiar snap-hiss. Yale shouted to him.

A quick stroke and the agent fell to the floor, his right arm next to him. Cleanly cut wires sparked at his shoulder and from the severed limb. But the infiltrator seemed undeterred by his injury. He actually laughed.

"Your mistake, Lieutenant! You should have killed me when you had the chance! Now you'll never leave here alive!"

Yale, who had battled this commando unit before, drove his right hand into the agent's mouth to disable the micro-thermal detonator located in his mouth. A weapon of last resort, agents would only use it if there was no chance of escape, to kill both themselves and their captors. The surprised commando tried to bite down.

Kyp drew his blaster and stunned the agent, who flopped to the floor. The others quickly raced to their side. Vape staggered in as well, her head still throbbing from being hurled to the floor.

"Cmdr. St. Clair to Control, send a med-team and security detail to the Crash Site on the double!" Zoom knelt next to Yale. "You look pretty bad. Just stay still."

Yale shook his head and gestured towards the unconscious Imperial agent. "Get this guy to the med-bay and run a scan for explosives and poison. We have to find out who he was transmitting to on the hyper-comm relays."

"Cmdr. St Clair to Control, have another med-team head over to level 9. Have them look for Lt. Healey."

Kelly turned to Rob, who looked very grim. "I don't like this at all. There's a chance Red Base's location has been compromised. I'll alert Starfighter Command ; you tell Capt. Harrison to be ready for immediate evacuation. Quietly!" Zoom added as Kyp started to leave. "We don't want anyone panicking, yet. Also get maintenance to conduct checks on all of our critical facilities, shield generators, power conduits etc. "

"Got it, Commander," Kyp said as he moved towards the turbolift that would take him directly to Red Base's command tower.

"Yves, Mario, Stjepan. I want you to get to the hangar and have the techs prep our X-wings for immediate combat. Also ask them to ready all the transports and shuttles we have for immediate departure. Find Dragon and Wire and drag them to the hangar as well. I'm afraid that we're going to have visitors."

"Yes, sir. Umm…. What about them?" Yves indicated the three Reds on the floor.

The three healthy Red pilots ran toward the turbolifts. The doors opened to admit the med-teams and security detail into the Crash Site before the pilots could slip past As soon as he explained the situation, Kelly hurried back to his office. It had a direct private line to Starfighter and Fleet Command.

Outside Red Base, a shuttle was arriving to deliver Red Squadron's latest trainee. FC Greg "Eggman" Miller was hovering behind the pilots, looking over their shoulders to get a glimpse of their destination. Eggman was already an accomplished pilot, and this training stint was just a formality before being assigned to a combat squadron.

"Look, hotshot," the co-pilot finally said, "we're trying to land a shuttle on a crowded platform. So make yourself scarce for a few minutes, or I'll have to put you on report."

"So sit down…" As Greg moved toward one of the crew seats, the pilot hastily added, "… in the passenger section."

Greg moved towards the rear of the shuttle and dropped himself into one of the seats.

"Rocket jocks!" the co-pilot muttered, glancing at his comrade as he activated the external transmitter. "Red Base Control, this is the shuttle Kismet, requesting landing clearance on pad 3."

Seconds went by as Red Base Control authenticated the passcode. The platform's location was a well-guarded secret; with only a few trainees to defend it, Red Base was quite vulnerable to attack. Thus, all new arrivals were carefully scrutinized.

"Passcode confirmed. Welcome back, Kismet. What do you have for us this time?"

"Nothing much, Control. Just one very anxious trainee and some supplies for the Crash Site."

"Good. We're running out of Corellian Ale and chocolate, especially with all the combat pilots onboard. One moment..." When the controller's voice came back, there was new urgency in it. "Kismet, be advised we have a security alert in progress. Possible intruder. Keep your craft buttoned up until you get the all-clear."

Again pilot and co-pilot shared a long look. "Roger that, Control, Kismet out."

The shuttle's wings folded up along its sides as it dropped gracefully toward the pad.

Zoom activated the comm terminal and keyed in his personal security codes for hyper-comm access. A few seconds went by as the connection was being established. Soon, he had Starfighter Command online.

"Sir, we have reason to believe that Red Base's location has been compromised. A few minutes ago, an enemy agent was discovered and captured alive. He was suspected to have tapped the hyper-comm relays to transmit a message out to the Imperials"

"None that I know of, sir. We are still conducting searches. But two of my pilots are in serious condition and another two are slightly injured. Request assistance to evacuate the base. We do not have enough transports and shuttles to evacuate all of our personnel and critical equipment."

"Very well, Commander. I'm in contact with Fleet Command as of right now and will send all available ships to Red Base. And Commander, you are to scuttle the base after all personnel have been evacuated, if time does not permit for us to evacuate all the critical equipment as well."

"I understand, sir." Zoom's comm-link suddenly beeped. "Excuse me, sir, my exec is reporting. How are things, Kyp?"

"Bad, very bad. Most of the primary generators, power and shields, have been rigged to explode. Maintenance is trying to repair the sabotage right now. Another thing is that the agent has disabled all of our self-destruct charges. There's no way for us to completely destroy the base. Either he was been doing this stuff for a very long time or he wasn't alone."

"Thanks, Kyp. Continue and keep me updated." He turned his attention back to the terminal. "Looks like I'm going to need a demolition team as well, sir."

"I heard. I'll see what I can do. If not, you will have to destroy the base yourself with whatever you have on hand."

The terminal went blank. He was still contemplating what to do next when Ranger's voice, part of a transmission to Red Base Control, came across his commlink.

"Too late for that now. An Interdictor cruiser and one frigate just entered the system. They're launching fighters."

"St. Clair to Control, initiate evacuation procedures! All pilots to your fighters! Prepare for combat!" Kelly shouted into his comm-link as he ran toward the turbolift that would take him to the hangar bay.

Ranger was watching Aaron taking out the drone with his first two torpedoes, when his channel crackled on.

"Captain Magill, get your squadron back here for immediate reloads. There might be visitors very soon."

As soon as the transmission was completed, his hyperspace alarms went off. His R2 unit identified the two ships as INT Sinkhole and FRG Heinous.

"Too late for that now. An Interdictor and one Frigate just entered the system and they are launching fighters."

"Red Leader to Red Four. Defend the base until we can get more fighters out. And try to drive off the Interdictor if you can. With the Interdictor here, our shuttles and transports can't hyper out."

"Understood, Red Leader," Ranger said, then switched channels to the trainees. "Okay, guys, defend the base until the rest can get out and give us a hand. Whenever you can, try to fire your torpedoes at the Interdictor. The capital ships can be locked on from six klicks away, so try not to get any closer than that and watch out for their torpedoes. No heroics. This is real combat, so watch yourselves. Two, Four, you're Element One. Five and Seven, you're Element Two."

The Red trainees moved into position, as two squadrons worth of starfighters and bombers launched from the frigate.

Explosions rocked Red Base causing most of its inhabitants to fall. Red Leader nearly twisted his ankle when he fell from the ladder on the side of his X-wing.

"What the hell was that?" Zoom asked as he scrambled to his feet. As if in answer, the hangar's speakers blared.

"Maintenance to Control. The primary shield generators are down, we only have the auxiliary generators. We'll do all we can to repair the main generators, but we can't promise anything."

Kelly climbed up the ladder again and saw a large conduit blocking the launch bay. He shouted at the techs to get rid of it and quickly went through his abbreviated start-up checklist.

Meanwhile, on the Interdictor Sinkhole, Captain Ung Chew looked at the base as one of his officers reported.

"Sir, our readings showed that the Rebel platform's shields are at 25%. Shall I order the Heinous to follow us in for the kill?"

"Hold here, Lieutenant," the captain replied, looking thoughtful. "Our priority is to ensure that none on that station is able to escape. Besides, the objective of this mission is to capture the base intact with most of its personnel and equipment."

"But, sir, our complement of fighters is not enough to handle all of Red Squadron's fighters if they are successfully launched."

"You worry too much, Lieutenant. Do not fear, an element of Assault Gunboats will arrive soon to help our fighters handle these inferior Rebel pilots. Now return to your post and allow me the pleasure of seeing these Rebels destroyed."

Capt. Ung Chew had graduated from the Academy just after the battle of Yavin. Unable to pursue an illustrious (though short lived, for some) career as one of Lord Vader's battle group commanders, he felt bitter, almost rebellious at times. He was by no means a stupid or foolish man. The things that triggered his rebellious tendencies always happened to be stupid orders - especially ones which asked him to risk his ship and men for other officers' personal gains. This mission, for example.

Luckily, he was given a free hand on how to deploy his fighters. Since he was not told to destroy the base, there was no need for his squadrons to be anywhere near the base. All they would have to do was engage the Rebel starfighters and make sure that the Interdictor survived the next 30 minutes, when the rest of the assault fleet would enter the system. That should be an easy enough task.

Outside Red Base, the battle was beginning to get serious. With the delay on the main launch pad, Red Squadron's Combat Wing pilots were taking too long to launch. The Red Squadron's trainees were good but outnumbered at nearly 4 to 1. Anyone would be hard pressed to stay alive for long in such a situation.

The T/Fs ganged up on one of the Y-wings separated from his wingman, boxing him in. Cool Head was trying to get a lock to fire the last of his two torpedoes at the Interdictor when he realized he'd been separated from Jaguar.

"I'm trying, Five, but these guys are pinning me down, I can't break through!" Jaguar answered, evading laser fire converging from several angles.

"Five, evasive manoeuvres. I'm enroute! Just hold on!" Ranger shouted into his comm.

Six TIE Bombers kept their distance and fired torpedoes whenever a chance presented itself. The Y-wings were hard pressed trying to drive away the Interdictor while dog-fighting the T/Fs and evading torpedoes fired from the T/Bs. Ranger had already taken two solid torpedo hits to his shields. His shields were down to a single layer and that was being eaten away, bit by bit, by the lasers fired by the T/Fs surrounding his fighter. He wished that he had taken the X-wings out on this exercise instead of the Y-wings.

So far two TIEs had fallen to his lasers and three more to the trainees. But whoever was in charge of this task force was good… good enough to see the best way to deploy his fighter screen against the Y-wings. By putting the bombers slightly outside of the battlefield, it gave the fighters heavy weapons support but kept the T/Bs safely out of reach of the Y-wings' lasers. And the Y-wings' torpedoes were too precious to waste on the bombers, even if they could fly straight long enough to get a lock.

Ranger had already expended his supply of torpedoes. Querying Cool Head's Y-wing showed him a grim situation. TW 5's shields were down in the red and no way Ranger could reach him before the shields failed.

Cool Head took out one more TIE before green lasers burnt through his shields and into his torpedo rack, igniting the two remaining torpedoes. The resulting explosion threw him out of the cockpit into space. His beacon, attached to a heart monitor, beeped weakly.

"Damn! TW Seven, report status!" With Cool Head out of the fight, Ranger's next concern was Jaguar.

Ranger kicked his thrusters to the max and headed towards Jaguar with two T/Fs in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Jackal and Falcon were not having an easy time either. But with the bulk of the Imperial fighters concentrating their attack on Ranger and Element Two, they had it a little better, going against only three eyeballs.

"You'd better be, you still owe me a drink!" Jackal stood on his left rudder and slid the targeting reticule onto the fighter in front of him. The T/F blew up nicely, the mostly-intact solar panels blowing outwards as Jackal went through the debris. "Four, you have lead! I'm at your seven high!"

Ranger took out another T/F on Jaguar's tail. His own shields were down to single again. He boosted them by transferring some of his laser energy, but the battering he was receiving from the TIEs was draining them faster than he could charge them up. At any moment he could be attacked by all of them in unison and… He just didn't want to think about that.

Jaguar ejected as a TIE got him with a shot straight through the cockpit, missing him by inches. The heat and shrapnel from the laser bolt passed through his personal magcon field as if it wasn't there, burning him terribly. He screamed and passed out, floating limp.

With Jaguar out of the picture the TIEs now concentrated their fire on Ranger. Seven T/Fs suddenly converged on him from every possible angle. His shields were going down fast. A shot went through his shields and hit the torpedo rack. Luckily there were no torpedoes still in it, but the hit caused panels in his cockpit to burst. His ELS and shields indicators were total wrecks. He frantically transferred all available energy to the shields. And started to weave through the fighters. The T/Fs continued their battering.

Suddenly four orange-scarlet laser bolts came lancing through the cluster of starfighters, taking out one eyeball and causing another to flinch into his wingman. All three TIEs exploded.

Miller, we don't have anyone called Miller… Sithspawn, he's the new cadet arriving today!

"Cadet Miller, this is Captain Magill. Who authorized you to take out a combat-ready fighter?"

"We'll discuss this later. Right now you're my wing and just try to stay alive, okay?"

While they were talking, three of the T/Fs lost interest and decided to go after Element One. Ranger noticed their departure and warned Jackal and Falcon. With three of the T/Fs gone, it left them with two Eyeballs to take care off not including the T/Bs. Eggman noticed new blips on his scope:

"Sir, my scope is registering two Gunboats exiting hyperspace three klicks from us."

"Hmmm… reroute all excess power to the shields. We'll stay on a bit longer. If any Rebel reinforcements arrive in system, we will withdraw."

"Yes, sir." The lieutenant moved away from his captain, who turned to another bridge officer.

"If Red Squadron is able to launch, we might not last that long. Have navigation prepare a course away from here."

"Retreat, sir?" The lieutenant looked at his commanding officer. If they retreat because Rebel reinforcements arrived, he would understand. But to retreat just because a single squadron of X-wings launched was incomprehensible.

"Yes, Lieutenant, we retreat. It will take a full squadron of X-wings less than five minutes to cripple us. Do you intend to be their prisoner, Lieutenant?" Captain Chew asked mildly.

Chew raised both eyebrows. "Hardly, lieutenant. Merely a prudent tactical move. Just get navigation to plot us an escape route for now. I'll think of how long we will be staying."

"What are you guys doing? Get the conduit out of the way, now!" Zoom yelled at one of the techs from his open cockpit.

"The explosion knocked out our lifters, sir. We'll have to wait for another one to send in from pad 2," the tech answered.

"Damn!" Zoom punched the console and instantly regretted it. He held his bruised hand and thought about the trainees trying to hold the invasion force at bay.

Redjed and Vape came running into the launch pad. The 2-1B had cleared them for combat and they were eager to get on with it.

"Vape, Redjed!" Zoom yelled at the Red pilots, trying to get their attention. "Get over to Pad 3 and use the X-wings there."

Phoenix jumped out of his X-wing and followed the two pilots. As he was going out, one of the female techs looked around and banged the bulkhead suddenly as a plan came to her.

"You three, suit up!" Deela Arvis, the chief starfighter tech, shouted to the three techs nearest to her. Grabbing a vacuum maintenance suit herself, she raised her voice to be heard. "Commander St.Clair, get your pilots to finish their start up procedure."

"Close your canopies. I'm going to deactivate the artificial gravity too, so we can try to shift the conduit into position first."

"Okay. Reds, secure your canopies," Zoom told the rest of the Reds, doing the same with his own. Something kept nagging him about Arvis's plan. Then, he remembered: the explosion here had also knocked down the communication link to the main control terminal. To deactivate the field, Deela would have to do it here in the hangar instead of in the safety of the control room.

Zoom quickly switched to a suit radio frequency. "Chief, Deela, wait. What if you're sucked out too?"

"Never mind about me! I'll brace myself before I shut down the field. You just be ready!"

"Hell yes… but what's my life against everyone else on this platform? Arvis out!"

Zoom's eyes darkened. Another one for the Empire. His expression turned even grimmer. He flipped his comm switch to the frequency he shared with the rest of the Red Squadron.

"Okay, guys, listen up. Deela is going to deactivate the magcon field. The conduit and most probably us will be sucked out as well. So, get ready to activate your engines. As soon as we are away, let go with all of your torpedoes. Got it? Let show them what happen if the mess around in our home turf."

Rapier was in the X-wing next to Zoom's. He'd had to leave the trainees out there so that he could reach the base and retrieve his X-wing. He noticed the edge in Zoom's voice and realized what his squadron leader was thinking. He knew better than to mention to the whole squad.

"Zoom, relax. You're letting you anger cloud your judgement, and you can't afford that right now."

"Yes, but being angry is not going to help her or you. Now, just relax and concentrate on what you are going to do out there. She has a job to do. Her job is to get us out there. And she's doing that. We also have a job to do. Let's get it done as quickly and economically as possible. Besides, she knows what she's doing. I don't think she wants to die, yet."

"Belay the last order. Once you're away, pair up with your wingmen. Wing leaders are designated missile platform. Wingmen protect your respective wing leaders. The shields on the Interdictor should be at least partially down. We are going to finish the job the trainees started, if they haven't finished it themselves."

"Primary objective is the Interdictor. We have to either destroy it or cripple it. Do not let it hyper away to recharge its shields and return to the fight. Secondary objective is to secure this area for safe evacuation. I'm going to get Control to launch a few reload crafts after the frigate and Interdictor are destroyed or driven away." Zoom took a deep breath, trying to flush tension from his body. "Just be careful out there. This is going to be an endurance battle and the Empire has time outs and substitutes – we don't."

Deela in the meantime was activating the tractor beam to hold the X-wings down. She already ordered the pad and hangar area to be vacated of all other personnel. Can't have people floating around and falling all over the place once the gravity's off.

She opened the secondary control panel and proceeded to disengage the safety for the magcon field, more by ripping out wires and components than anything else. Safety protocols normally ensured that the magcon field could not be deactivated if there were lifeforms inside. Once that was done she deactivated the gravity generator. Everything that was not bolted to the deck began to float.

"Quick, align the conduit as best you can so it'll fit through the bay opening," she ordered her three suited assistants. Bracing themselves against the floor and walls, they struggled to move the now weightless but still massive conduit without getting themselves crushed. In a minute or so, they had done all they could. "Okay. Now, clear out!"

"No buts. You guys don't have the authorization codes to deactivate the magcon field. I do. Go, I know what I'm doing."

The three techs jetted to the airlock on their small thruster packs. Deela flew back to the control panel.

Good thing they didn't know I had already disengaged the safety. And that there is no authorization code for this stunt. She smiled faintly as she watched the airlock close, then switched frequencies.

"Okay, pilots, listen up. Once I deactivate the field everything loose is going to get sucked out. The safety will cut back in after about five seconds. The deck tractors may be able to hold you in place that long, but don't bet on it. I've set the beams to disengage seven seconds after the field does. Good luck, pilots."

Deela found a pipe to hang onto and braced herself as best she could, stretching to reach the console. "Shutting down now. Field off in five… four… three… two… one…"

The glowing rectangle of the magcon field indicator went dark. The hangar was suddenly filled with shrieking wind as all the air in it attempted to flee through the opening into space. The conduit, still weightless, was caught by the gale-force winds and blown out almost immediately.

Deela struggled to hang on, but then the winds tore her free and slammed her against the wall. Her helmet's faceplate shattered. Her limp body skidded and rolled across the deck and finally flew out into the void, a dwindling speck.

The Red pilots were shocked at the scene. Caught unaware by the Chief's action, they were frozen. Seeing someone die in combat was one thing, but this... Even Zoom, who had been dreading the worst, found himself speechless.

The hangar fell silent as the magcon field snapped on again. There was only the faint throb of the air pumps and the slight creak of canopies as the pressure outside rose back toward normal. Two seconds later, just as the Chief had planned, the tractor beams cut off and the X-wings floated free.

Rapier reacted first, drawing on his past experience. "Red Squadron, launch. Let's get that Interdictor before any more Imperial reinforcement arrive."

First out was Rapier, followed by Zoom. The rest were moments behind them, each pairing up with his wingman as they emerged. Carcajou attached himself to Zoom and Rapier, since his wingman Redjed was not around. Kyp paired up with Wire. Dragon and Kiki brought up the rear. The seven X-wings went straight towards their primary target, the Interdictor cruiser Sinkhole.

"At fifty percent and rising, sir. But we can't stand a full torpedo barrage…"

Chew turned to the Interdictor's starfighter coordinator. "Are our Interceptor pilots ready?"

A squadron of TIE Interceptors burst out from underneath the Interdictor, launching two at a time and heading towards the incoming X-wings as ordered.

Chew looked on as the Interceptors hurtled themselves into battle, wishing he could join them. A former fighter pilot himself, he missed the exhilaration of close combat. Yet he also knew the importance of holding back part of your force in case anything went wrong. An Interdictor rarely carried more than one squadron, if any. His insistence of an extra squadron was now paying off. The Rebels were going to have problem in trying to get a lock on his ship.

"I know, Jo," Zoom said to his R2 unit. "Reds, heads up, a squadron of squints just launched from the Interdictor."

"Element Five, Element Six, engage the Interceptors. The rest of us will try to get a lock on the Interdictor."

"Yes, Lead. You could do us a big favor by taking out those bombers," Ranger said.

"Roger that, Eighteen. Eleven, join Eighteen. Three, let's take out the dupes. Reds, remember the primary objective. Whenever you can, fire some torps at the Interdictor," Zoom said, as he manoeuvred his X-wing towards the bombers.

"Two Flight, head-on attack on the first pass. After that engage the Interceptors at will, but keep track of your wingmen," Kyp said to his flight.

The flight of X-wings broke into two smaller units. The odds were presently three to one; not very encouraging, but typical. And shields gave the X-wings an advantage over the Interceptors.

"Idiots!" Rusgry, a recent transfer to Sinkhole's fighter squadrons, could do nothing but watch as the eager pilots flew right into the concentrated fire of the X-wings and died. Then there was no time for such judgments, as the remaining Interceptors maneuvred for shots.

Kyp did not wait for his targeting sensor to go to green. He squeezed the trigger, firing the lasers at where he thought the Interceptor would be, and was rewarded by an explosion. Then he thought of how the Interceptor formation had loosened up before contact.

"Seven, they have a good commander. He scattered most of the squadron before we could engage them."

The TIE bombers were doomed. Up against older fighters like Y-wings and Z-95s, they might have had a chance, but against X-wings they were outclassed. Two dupes exploded nearly simultaneously.

The shot sheared one of the bomber's solar panels off and crippled its engines, causing it to tumble uncontrollably towards the long and twisted loop of gates that made up the pilot training course – the Maze. Without an ejection system, the pilot of the bomber could only hope that someone would take notice of his tumbling craft and tractor it out before he hit something.

"Thirteen, who's with you?" Zoom asked when he saw that only two X-wings were incoming.

"Only two X-wings were on pad 3, Lead. Ranger's and Leo's. Ten had to go back and use his own X-wing," Phoenix explained.

"Cadet Miller, Lead," Ranger responded, dreading what the next question would be.

Zoom redirected his X-wing towards the Interdictor cruiser. Phoenix and Vape followed close behind their commander and his wingman, Rapier, in a combat spread formation.

"Sir, at the current closure rate the X-wings will be in torpedo range in three minutes," Lt. Argos informed his Captain.

"Contact the Heinous and tell them to retreat. If one of us can survive, we could return later to continue the fight."

The communications officer bent to his console. He looked up moments later. "Sir, the frigate is refusing to retreat."

Chew looked down at the arm of his command chair. A small grid began to glow, projecting a translucent hologram of another, younger officer.

"Begging your pardon, sir, I don't think you would survive long enough to let us reach our hyperspace point. I suggest another course of action."

"Our shields are still at full. I will try to interpose ourselves between you and the Rebels while we both retreat. That way, they could not launch any torpedoes at you. Our own shields would be able to withstand the hits longer than you could, sir. Besides, your ship is more valuable than mine."

After a long pause, the comm officer reported, "Heinous is not responding, sir."

Chew looked out his bridge windows at the frigate, which was currently turning and placing itself between the Interdictor and the incoming X-wings.

"Thank you, Ten. Element Seven, break off and use Ten's targeting telemetry. Fire when you have clear sight of the Interdictor."

"Here you go, Thirteen. Clear your sensors to 327.1," Redjed said, transmitting the necessary data to Vape and Phoenix.

The CMDs on the two X-wings of Element Seven flickered, then displayed the exact duplicate of Red Ten's.

"Go for the gravity well generators, repeat, go for the gravity well generators."

Two X-wings broke off from the main group and flew at a slight tangent in the hope of getting off a clear shot.

"Sir, two X-wings just broke off from the main group. They seem to be angling for a torpedo run on the Sinkhole," one of Jashikar's officers reported.

"Captain Chew, two X-wings have broken off from the main group and are making a run at you. We will try to keep ourselves in between the main group and the Sinkhole. Good luck, sir."

Jashikar made a cutting motion to his communications officer, and turned back to the battle.

"Damn that Jashikar! Lieutenant, keep trying to reestablish communications with the Heinous. Draw all available power to shields. We must not let the torpedoes penetrate the gravity well generators."

After the first transmission, the frigate maintained comm silence. Chew noticed that the frigate's speed had dropped and realised that the frigate would buy the time they needed by baiting the fighters to attack the nearest hostile target, the Heinous. He kept trying to raise the frigate's captain to talk him out of it but they were not answering the comm.

"I have a solid lock!" Redjed shouted, squeezing the trigger. "Proton torpedoes, dual mode, firing!"

"Go for it, Ten!" Vape said. "Thirteen and me should be on a good angle of attack in five seconds."

Two torpedoes jumped out through the launch tubes at the side of the X-wing, heading straight for the Interdictor cruiser. Redjed kept his finger on the trigger, even though his R2 unit was bleeping a missile launch warning. As soon as he exhausted his supply of torpedoes, a torpedo from the cruiser hit him dead on, reducing his shields to single thickness.

He broke his lock on the Interdictor and manoeuvred away from the target to recover his shields. But by that time, Red Twelve and Thirteen had already fired two more volleys of torpedoes towards the Interdictor.

"Helm, rotate starboard, quarter speed. Fire Control, give the torpedoes Priority One. All gunners fire at will!"

The cruiser's turbolasers began to fire at the volley of torpedoes coming towards them. The Interdictor's rotation exposed more batteries to the torpedoes and caused them to change course slightly, tracking its new profile. Two explosions flared amid the emerald web of point-defense fire.

Eight torpedoes slammed into the Interdictor's shields, knocking them down and peeling open the hull on top of two of the gravity well generators before destroying the generators themselves. From afar, Redjed could see the explosions within the Interdictor as secondary and tertiary explosions ravaged it.

"They shot down two of our torps, Lead!" Redjed reported to Zoom. "But sensors are showing hull damage!"

"I see it, Red Ten," Zoom responded. "Jo, give me a reading on the gravity well generators."

The little droid's response was immediate. TWO GENERATORS ARE DAMAGED AND TWO OTHERS ARE OFFLINE.

"Thanks," Zoom said. He looked to his port side where Rapier was, still following him closely. "Three, let's finish them off before they can escape."

Rapier was just about to acknowledge his Commander's orders when Kyp spoke up. "This is Red Two! We need some backup! Two more elements of Gunboats have just joined the fight!" His voice sounded strained.

"Let's get them out of there, Three. And hope that the Interdictor is too damaged to return for a second round."

Zoom gritted his teeth and pulled the X-wing through a tight turn towards Two Flight's location. Rapier followed close behind. The Interdictor, meanwhile, moved slowly towards its hyperspace point followed by the Nebulon B Frigate.

Capt. Chew pulled himself up, bracing his body against his command chair. Looking over to his left, he saw that his lieutenant had somehow managed to keep standing.

Lieutenant Urgas activated the screen next to him. "Still assessing, sir. Preliminary reports indicate that two of the gravity well generators are damaged and two more are offline due to power surges. The engine room reports no damage to our sublight and hyperdrive engines."

The intercom crackled. "This is Generator Two control. We have leakage in the sector. Request Radiation Troopers and maintenance to lock it down. Repeat, we have radiation leakage in Generator Two."

"Sir, we need to initiate the jump into hyperspace as soon as possible. We can not effect any repairs in a hostile situation."

"Three klicks, sir. At our current speed, we will be in position in about one minute."

"Very well. Initiate jump to lightspeed at your discretion, Lieutenant." The Captain looked out the view port at his fighter squadrons who were still fighting out there. "Inform the pilots that we are initiating the jump to lightspeed. Order them to return to the Heinous."

"At once, sir!" Urgas ordered the nearest communications officer to send the message to all flights.

"That is correct, Commander. We are leaving the combat zone to effect repairs on the Sinkhole. You are ordered to head for the Heinous for retrieval."

"Understood, control," Rusgry said as he switched back to the general frequency. "Zeta Leader to all Imperial starfighters. Prepare to break off and head for the Heinous for recovery. The Sinkhole is retreating into hyperspace."

"Then negative, Leader. You're welcome to follow the coward, but I'll die before I'll retreat."

"You are brave, Two, but rash. Those who want to stay alive, reform on me after the Sinkhole enters hyperspace. Those who wish to die, buy us time to get back to the Heinous." Angry both at the distraction and Zeta Two's attitude, Rusgry proceeded to take it out on the X-wing in front of him.

Interdictor duty was considered a punishment among Imperial pilots, because it offered few opportunities for personal glory. Those who were assigned to baby-sit an Interdictor were usually those with a bad history. This was especially true of those assigned to the Sinkhole, commanded by Capt. Ung Chew, an officer whose otherwise good command history was dotted with incidents of insubordination to his superiors.

Rusgry was a rarity, a decorated veteran who had actually asked for this post. He had served under Capt. Chew before and knew him quite well. If the captain had to run and leave his fighters to be picked up by another ship, the situation was really bad. He would never abandon his men willingly.

A quad laser blast passed in front of him; a clean miss, fortunately, due to his Interceptor's small target profile. He quickly snapped to the left, trying to find the fighter that was shooting at him. A TIE Interceptor was no match for an X-wing, unless the Interceptor could get on its tail and stay there. Which was exactly what Rusgry intended to do.

"Captain, Sinkhole is retreating. They're asking us to recover their fighters."

"Of course. Prepare the flight deck." Jashikar looked thoughtful. "But I know some of those pilots. They will not retreat. Sometimes I wonder about the Imperial indoctrination program."

Jashikar waved a hand dismissively. "Forget what I said, Lieutenant. Have navigation plot our course out of this system."

"Now receiving a jump solution from the Sinkhole... sir, it's a short hop, only a few light years."

"Interesting, very interesting. I wonder what he is up to. Lay in the same coordinates and prepare to jump as soon as all the fighters, except the Gunboats, are aboard."

Lt. Iddo "Wire" Geva wove in and out of the green lasers shot by the Interceptor behind him. A few of the laser hits were already reducing Wire's shields. Unbeknownst to him, the person in the squint was Rusgry, venting his frustration.

Kyp tried to sneak in a few shots at the Interceptor but it pulled to the left, slowed, and dropped in behind him. Without shields the Interceptor was no match for an X-wing in a head-to-head attack, but it won hands down if maneuverability came into play. In the hands of a capable pilot, it was a deadly craft. Such was the case here.

"I can't! Another squint has me latched!" Wire had thought the worst was over, but as soon as the first TIE turned to engage Kyp, another took its place. Sheer numbers were taking a toll on his fraying shields. A shot came through his shields and punched a hole clean through his upper port S-foil. A quick push of a button transferred some of his lasers over to the shields while his R2 began to do whatever it could to minimise the damage and keep the X-wing flying. "Can anyone help me out?"

"Relax, Seven, Lead here. I got him targeted. He'll be space dust in two seconds!"

Zoom laid his crosshairs on the projected flight path of the squint and squeezed the trigger. A crimson bolt blasted through the left solar panel into the ball cockpit, killing the pilot before igniting the fuel cell.

Rusgry saw the explosion out of the corner of his eye and wished sourly that it had been Zeta Two, as he fired again at the X-wing in front of him. His CMD registered it as Red Two, which was reported to be their second-in-command. Under his helmet, Rusgry smiled. It would do his reputation a lot of good if he could take this rebel down.

Kyp's irritation was growing as the Interceptor continued to take precise shots at his rear shields. He ruddered his X-wing to the right and cut his thrusters to one-third; it was the same maneuver that the TIE had used to get on his own tail, only reversed. But the Imp refused to go for it, reducing his own speed to stay with him. Kyp cursed and shoved his throttle to full, shunting more power to his failing shields.

Red Seven was trying to get on the Interceptor's six, but it was proving to be difficult. Rusgry had survived five years in a TIE by being devilishly hard to hit. His usual technique was simple: target whoever was attacking him until another fighter came after him, then switch. It reduced his kill scores, but was effective in keeping him alive. Unlike most TIE pilots, he preferred to stay alive and unknown, instead of dead and famous.

Now he broke off to engage Wire, feeling a twinge of regret that he hadn't been able to bag Red Two. To keep the other X-wings occupied, he called for reinforcements.

Two of the gunboats went for Zoom and his wingman, Rapier, firing missiles and green laser bolts at them. Zoom and Rapier immediately took evasive action.

Meanwhile, aboard Red Base, the evacuation was under way. Off-duty and non-combat personnel were moving towards their designated waiting areas. In the hustle and bustle of the evacuation, no one noticed the few that remained in their rooms.

One of them had just finished assembling his gear when the door suddenly hissed open. He picked up one item, keeping his back to the door. The new arrival was Ensign Chris Jarvis, Red Squadron's Sim Officer.

"Hey, Zikk, I thought you were off duty. Aren't you supposed to be at your evacuation..."

Zikk turned and the small object in his hand went phut. Jarvis stared, first at his roommate of the last three months, then at the red stain spreading over the belly of his uniform. He started to stagger backward out of the door. The silenced slugthrower fired again and Jarvis fell to the floor with a neat hole in his forehead.

Zikk locked the door, then returned to his work, ignoring the body. On his bed lay an array of equipment suitable for a commando instead of an engineer: a Special Forces blaster rifle, spare power packs, detonators and explosives, an encrypted comlink, a vibroblade and miscellaneous small items, all smuggled in over several months.

He put on black fatigues and covered them with his Rebel issue engineer overalls. Most of his gear went into the pockets or into the case of his tool kit. Then he left the room, locking the door again behind him.

He met up with another crewman and they continued on together, their steps sure and careful. They had dropped their "support staff" demeanor. Anyone who knew body language would have picked them out as dangerous men; Imperial Commandos, to be exact. However, most of the platform's crew were boarding shuttles and transports or busy dismantling equipment.

Throughout Red Base, commandos converged on vital locations. Four of them headed for the control tower.

The Interdictor accelerated, causing a slight distortion in the space fabric as it tore into the realm of hyperspace. From the view ports of the Interdictor, Chew looked on as the stars elongated and flowed together.

"Captain, the Sinkhole has entered hyperspace."

"Order the fighters to retreat. Give them all the cover fire we can spare," Jashikar ordered.

His communications officer immediately relayed the order. About three quarters of the remaining Imperial fighters disengaged and flew back towards the frigate, while the rest continued the fight.

Rusgry tried to persuade the remaining pilots to disengage and return to the frigate. A few were simply stubborn, and he did not give a thought to their fate. But a few were holding back for nobler motives, to buy the retreating fighters some time. Those he would have liked to spare.

He resisted the urge to join them, instead turning to follow the other retreating TIEs. Moments later, the blip that was Zeta Four faded from his screen.

"I see them, Two. Concentrate your attack on the remaining fighters. Engage the frigate after you have cleared your sector!"

Zoom quickly reassessed the combat zone, taking note what each of the Reds were doing. The Training Flight seemed to be doing all right, going after a fighter and a gunboat. Elements Five and Six, led by Kyp, were taking care of rest of the gunboats. They should be able to hold out until his own flight finished with these Interceptors.

"All retreating fighters recovered, sir. Permission to jump to lightspeed."

"Proceed, Lieutenant. And order the Interceptor commander to report to me personally in my ready room."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant nodded to one of the controllers in the sunken pit, who acknowledged the nod and engaged the Heinous's hyperdrive. The frigate accelerated into hyperspace, leaving a momentary distortion in its wake.

"The frigate is gone! Red Squadron, take out the remaining fighters. Disable them if you can!"

"Lead, Eighteen here. My flight needs some fighter cover if we are to disable anything."

A number of acknowledgements came over the comm system as Element Seven and Eight engaged the fighters so that the Y-wings could have clear shots at the fighters they wanted to disable.

Very soon all the remaining fighters were either destroyed or disabled. Zoom flew past the few disabled TIEs to inspect their condition as the other Reds ran checks on themselves. As soon as he was positive the area was clear of hostiles, he called the control tower.

"Red Leader to Control. Request one security SAR for ejected pilots, including Imperials; three tugs to carry the disabled TIEs back to Red Base for examination, and a reload craft... two if you can spare them."

"Thank you, Control," Zoom responded. Suddenly, his hyperspace alarm went off. "Control, I've got five more targets jumping in!"

"Stand down, Red Leader, they're friendlies. Frigates Knight's Errand and Salvation escorted by three Corvettes."

A few light years away, an Interdictor cruiser floated against a backdrop of stars and planets. Then, a small area of space distorted and a frigate coasted to a stop a few kilometers to starboard.

"Captain Jashikar, report!" Chew said as soon as the frigate came out of hyperspace. This time, the frigate's captain answered promptly.

"We did not suffer any damage, sir. We also managed to retrieve a squadron of mixed starfighters. Some refused to retreat, but they bought us enough time to retrieve those that did."

"Umm… there is, sir. Just before we left, we received a transmission from Red Base on an Imperial band. It's encrypted, but we don't have the key."

"Transmit the file to me," Chew looked over at his communications officer, who nodded in confirmation.

A few seconds went by as the file was transmitted and decrypted. A quick listen gave him all the info he needed. Smiling, he looked back at the communications screen.

"Better still, you may hear it yourself." Chew replayed it, turning up the volume. There was a rapid series of beeps, then a man's voice spoke.

"Crimson Dagger is go. We are ready to take control of the target as soon as the main assault force arrives in system."

Chew sat back in his command chair, smiling broadly. "Yes, Captain. This mission has been planned for a very long time. Captain Damerra of ISD Wisp was supposed to tie up Red Squadron's combat wing until Red Base had been taken over, but he failed. So, we must face them as well."

"There are other Rebel training squadrons, but none with Red Squadron's reputation. Their graduates now serve in the best starfighter squadrons the Rebellion has to offer. By destroying them, we will accomplish two goals: demoralising the Rebels and cutting off their supply of well trained pilots."

"I know. But my orders come from no less than a Grand Admiral. And it seems to have worked so far." Chew referred to the bridge chronometer. "Captain, you have about ten minutes before the main assault force arrives in system. I suggest you plot a new course back to the platform, following the Rebels' probable escape routes, and return to the fight. Take the fighters with you."

Chew frowned. "We have extensive damage to our gravity well generators, including radiation leaks. We'll have to head for the nearest repair yard."

The navigation consoles were a flurry of activity as the controllers calculated the jump back to Red Base. Once the jump solutions were completed and finalised, the frigate jumped into hyperspace.

"We are overseeing the evacuation. Why don't you Reds return to base and get some rest?"

Zoom glanced over at the X-wing flying parallel to his own. The stripe running down the fuselage was not a solid color, but a pattern of black and white checks with a Dejarik piece superimposed in blue. "Thanks for the offer, Bishop Leader, but we'll just hang out here for a while. There might be more Imps coming in. Besides, our reload craft are en route."

"Okay, Red Leader. We'll take combat patrol in sector 3. Rook Squadron is already on station in sector 2."

Zoom looked off to his other side and saw another group of motes in the distance, four of them in a diamond formation. A query to Jo brought the image of an A-wing up on his CMD, wearing colors similar to Bishop.

Meanwhile, the first three loads of personnel from the platform were transferred to Knight's Errand and Salvation. The extra shuttles and transports carried by the frigates meant the evacuation could proceed much faster.

Kyp was relaxing in his X-wing while the reload transport replenished his warhead load and topped off his fuel cells. The medical frigate Salvation and its escorts had been the closest Rebel starships at the time of the evacuation order. The Salvation carried no fighters of its own; thus, the presence of the Knight's Errand and its squadrons. He just hoped that if the Imperials attacked again, Rook and Bishop would be up to the fight. He'd never seen a medical-attached starfighter squadron in action, but it looked like he might get the chance now.

A loud clang was heard as the reload craft disengaged itself from Kyp's X-wing. "Reload complete, Red Two."

The whimsically-named transport moved on towards the next waiting X-wing, as Kyp kicked in his thrusters and cruised out toward his patrol point. He passed a few transports moving towards the corvettes. A quick scan showed that they were carrying critical equipment and personnel. They were moving as fast as they could, transferring their cargo to the waiting starships.

"Okay, next group!" the deck officer yelled as the shuttle landed on the pad, just beyond the magcon field of the hangar bay.

One person, a woman, was looking around in search of someone. She grabbed the deck officer's hand. "Have you seen Capt. Ames?" she asked, concern showing on her face.

"No, ma'am. But please get back in line. I need to get this shuttle loaded," the deck officer said. "Capt. Ames knows the procedure well. He'll be onboard one of the shuttles, I'm sure of it. Now, move along. Don't hold up the line."

The woman went up the ramp dejectedly. Trix happened to be right behind her, and gave the deck officer a dirty look; he just shrugged his shoulders and continued directing traffic. Being a civilian, she sometimes forgot that soldiers had to be a little cold-hearted to make things run smoothly.

Trix walked quickly up the ramp and into the shuttle, sitting down in the seat next to the woman. Trix soon learned that her name was Miki, and she was supposed to meet the flight instructor, her fiancé, here.

"Well, he's a pilot himself. Maybe he's flying one of these shuttles, or even a starfighter."

Trix encouraged Miki to keep talking. Soon she was smiling again as she talked about their wedding plans. Trix just listened, nodding now and then. She barely noticed the slight jolt as the shuttle lifted off.

During a break in the conversation, Trix looked around at some of the others in the shuttle. Some looked fine, but others were as depressed as Miki had been. She turned back to Miki and found her talking to another passenger. Trix excused herself and moved around the shuttle, talking and listening to the other passengers, doing whatever she could to lift their spirits a little.

Several minutes had passed, and some had begun to think that the evacuation might proceed without further incident. Others simply watched and waited.

Suddenly, alarms and astromechs shrilled a warning as three groups of Imperial starships dropped out of hyperspace, surrounding the platform: an Imperial-class Star Destroyer and its frigate escort, a Victory-class Star Destroyer and a second frigate, and another VSD accompanied by four corvettes.

"We need at least another fifteen minutes to evacuate all remaining personnel. Thirty if we want all the critical equipment as well," Capt. Harrison's voice replied.

An explosion came over the comlink. Zoom's brow knotted in concentration as he listened. The sound of blaster fire in the background was unmistakable. Then he heard Harrison again, speaking only half to him.

"Imperial Commandos! Get your heads down! We've... we've got reports coming in of other attacks all over the..."

Suddenly the comlink hissed static. Zoom's blood ran cold. He wanted to go down to the platform and check the situation -- but he had a job to do out here, since the Imperials were launching starfighters. His scopes began to fill with red blips, too many to count. He just hoped that the security forces on the platform could hold out against their own foes.

On the bridge of the ISD Inquisitor, flagship of this task force, Admiral Awlas turned to his executive officer. "Any sign of the Sinkhole or her escort?"

"No, sir. Captain Chew did not send any message to indicate whether he had been destroyed or forced to withdraw."

Awlas snorted. "Ung Chew, the most recalcitrant officer of the Imperial Navy. He'd better have a good reason not to be here."

"Follow the operation plan and do not bother me unless it is of the utmost importance."

Awlas looked at the fighters racing towards their targets. Soon this Rebel base would be overrun from within, by the commandos, and without, by the starfighters he had brought with him. It was just as well that Chew had apparently fled; it would add weight to the latest charge of insubordination that he intended to make against the Interdictor captain.

Unnoticed by anyone for the moment, an escort shuttle exited hyperspace on the outskirts of the battle. It moved cautiously toward the platform, running dark with its lights off and most of its electronics powered down.

"Looks like they had time to engage the security lockout, sir," the slicer of the team reported. "I'll need to cut through their defenses and hope nothing was erased."

"Do what you must," the leader said, prodding one of the fallen Rebels. Though she'd been hit in the gut and leg, her chest still moved. "Got a live one here."

"Another one over here," came a voice from the other side of the room. "It's Harrison. Should I finish him?"

The commando leader started to say yes, then reconsidered. "No, he could still be useful. Tie him up and put him over there, against the wall. Then tie this one to her chair and leave her in front of the door."

"Yes, sir." The other commando flicked his blaster over to the stun setting and shot Harrison and the other Rebel again, just to be sure, then began to wrap cord around the captain's wrists and ankles. The base commander was badly injured, with blaster burns on his shoulder and chest. A head wound, acquired when he fell against the edge of a table, bled profusely.

Having finished with their prisoners, the commandos went to work making sure that none of the control stations could be overridden from elsewhere on the base. In some cases they physically cut cables and ripped out wiring.

The computer expert spoke without looking up. "Problem, sir. I'm through the lockout, but I can't access shields or fire control, or the landing bays. Our boarding forces might have problems getting on board."

"Yes, sir. Downloading data now." The commando slotted a data cylinder into the console and entered a command. Suddenly the screen went red. "Sith! Emergency wipe activated!"

"You'd better have that data when the Grand Admiral arrives," the team leader warned from over the slicer's shoulder. "Otherwise..."

"I know, sir." The commando immediately went to work on the terminal again. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to shut down the defense program before it deleted all the data in the computer.

Elsewhere on Red Base, Rebel troops were trying to retake the captured areas. Even though the Imperial Commandos were few in number, they were better trained than the average security forces. For now, it was an even match.

Zikk and the three other members of Fox Team were being pushed back into the main reactor's control room. He decided a diversion was needed. "Six, timer thermal. Set for aerial detonation. Let's scare them a bit!"

Fox Six fished a silvery ball out of his pack, armed it, and lobbed it almost casually through the open door. The resulting explosion showered the Rebels with hot plasma, badly burning the ones closest to the door and forcing the others to retreat.

Zikk, the team leader, frowned. "I said scare them, not scar them. But good job anyway." He knew the Rebels would regroup and return, however, and then his team would be pinned down. He had to take advantage of this moment of reprieve. Zikk reached for his commlink "Fox Five to Dagger One."

"Dagger, go ahead." The operation leader's voice came through clear and calm; they must have taken the bridge.

"Acknowledge, Fox Five. Disappear and observe. Retake the area if there is a chance."

"Yes sir," Zikk responded. He switched off and gave the hand signal to fall back and disappear. The other commandos immediately scattered for the corners of the reactor room, looking for hiding places. Zikk fired another two shots to keep the Rebels' heads down and then did the same.

Cautiously, the Rebels advanced into the reactor room only to find it apparently deserted. They shifted their pistols and rifles nervously.

"Bartle here," the corporal in charge of this security team reported into his own commlink. "We've taken the main reactor. No sign of Imperials. We need more people to secure the room."

In between overseeing the evacuation and dogfighting the TIEs, all the pilots were listening to comm signals from the platform. They were disappointed to hear the capture of the control tower. Without the control tower, the Red pilots would have to rely on the Tactical Officer from Knight's Errand, who was already hard pressed directing his own two squadrons. Even worse were the ten squadrons of TIEs they faced.

"Red Squadron, concentrate your attack on the Star Destroyer! We'll try to draw fighters away from you!"

From the radio chatter, the scene was one of chaos and extreme pressure. Everyone was trying to keep themselves and their wingmen from becoming statistics.

In the midst of the battle, three transports launched from the Star Destroyer. Ranger, acting as Red Squadron's Tactical Officer, saw the new craft first. His own flight happened to be closest.

"Three transports just launched from the Star Destroyer. Training Flight, form up on me and arm your torps for dual fire!"

"Go ahead, Training Flight, Two Flight will take care of your bandits," Zoom said, approving his Tact Officer's decision.

The three Y-wings and lone X-wing of Training Flight joined up to go after the transports. They were typical Delta-class stormtrooper transports, flying without escorts. The Star Destroyer's commander had thought that the Rebel fighters would be too busy to engage the transports; he thought wrong. Rebel training always assigned priority targets to transports or other craft on boarding missions.

Ranger targeted Sigma 1 and assigned Sigma 2 to Jackal and Falcon. Eggman followed Ranger in. Ranger quickly bracketed Sigma 1 and fired his torps as soon as he heard the shoot cue. The torpedoes were spat out of the launch tubes on the side of the X-wing and hit the transport just behind the cockpit. The boxy craft split open as the fireball engulfed it.

Training Flight kept pounding the transports with lasers until they blew apart. Jackal and Falcon took care of their transports first before Ranger and Eggman destroyed theirs. Then, ganging up, they quickly made a meal of the remaining transport.

"Sir, a group of Y-wings have destroyed the transports!" Lt. Cmdr. Eton reported.

"Send in another wave. This time use the Assault Transports and detail half a squad of Interceptors as escorts," Awlas said to his first officer.

A moment later another wave of three transports launched from the belly of the Star Destroyer. But these were the larger and better-armed Gamma-class ships. As they moved towards their objective, Red Base, six Interceptors peeled off from the running dogfight towards the transports.

Ranger saw the Interceptors vectoring off and wondered why. Checking his scope, he saw the new threats. His trainees were good, but not good enough to take out three ATRs and their escorts. All of the starfighters nearby seemed to be engaged, so he decided to put out a call for help.

"This is Red Eighteen, I need someone to occupy the escorts of the Assault Transports in sector Three-Seven B. Can anybody respond?"

A female voice answered. "This is Rook Five, Six and I are on the way. Start your attack run. We'll play with the Interceptors while you slow pokes take out the transports."

Two A-wings targeted Interceptors and fired their concussion missiles at long range. The two Interceptors broke formation to evade the incoming missiles while the other four turned to engage the A-wings before they could launch any more..

Even without their escorts, the Assault Transports were formidable opponents. But with a wingman, the task became slightly easier. O