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.

"Okay, people, report in."

"TW 2, ready," FC (Flight Cadet) Aaron 'Jackal' Wolff said into his commlink.

"TW 4 forming up, sir," FC John 'Eagle' Price reported.

"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."

"Are we going to be reloaded in flight, sir?" Aaron asked.

"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?"

The trainees double-clicked their mikes, transmitting the affirmative.

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."

"At least the Captain of that Impstar doesn't have to file any paperwork."

"Kyp, get out of here. You aren't helping one bit."

"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.

"Are you sure you never played Corellian Sabacc before?" Yves asked.

"I'm pretty sure of it. Maybe it's just beginner's luck."

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

"Going somewhere, Dragon?" Mario asked.

"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."

"Hey, I'm using your credits," Kiki countered.

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

"You three still up for another game? If so count me in," Kyp asked.

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

Zoom shook his head. "No, thanks. I'll just watch from the bar, Mario."

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.

"Hey, you... freeze or I'll shoot!"

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."

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Just go."

"Here, hold this for me." Yale thrust the rifle he was carrying at Leo.

"Won't you need this?"

"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 sure are a hard instructor."

"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."

"Thanks. Same time tomorrow?"

"I'll be here, and remember not to stretch."

"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.

"Hey, watch it. What are you doing?"

"Get off of me!"

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

"Vape! Redjed! Stop him!"

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.

"He beat up Leo and may be a spy. Come on!"

"Go! We're right behind you!" Redjed yelled back and started to run as well.

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."

"Backup won't help you, Lt. Sazril, just as it didn't help you on Chandrila."

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.

"Cut off his right arm! We need him alive!"

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.

"Somebody stun him, quick, before I lose my fingers!"

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."

"Don't worry, I'll see to it."

"Oh, and Leo is hurt on level 9. Send a med-team over."

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

"Control to Red Leader, Lt. Healey is already in the med bay."

"Thank you, Control. St. Clair out."

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 med-team will take care of them. Now, go."

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."

"Sorry… I'm just anxious."

"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."

"Stand by Kismet, processing your passcode and cargo manifest."

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.

"What is it, Commander?" the General on the other side asked.

"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"

"Any casualties?"

"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."

"Yes, sir."

"Good luck, commander. And may the Force be with you."

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."

"Copy, sir. Moving into position."

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."

"Yes, sir." The Imperial lieutenant moved away from his captain.

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.