Hurtling through hyperspace, the remaining four B-wings of Kadaarn Squadron travelled in what could be considered formation, even though hyperspace prohibited such an action. When a craft went into hyperspace, it went by itself until it came out the other end.

The flight should have reached their home base of the Star Destroyer Happy Jack already. The ships, however, were operating in a sorry state. All of the B-wings had broken rotating cockpits at various angles. More than one was missing an S-foil. B-wing Kadaarn Four was operating well below its standard hyperspace speed, due to damage it had sustained. As a result, all four ships were at equal hyperspace speeds, hoping to arive together.

They had arrived at their mission objective all together--two flights of four ships. It took a failed torpedo run for the CO to see it was a trap, and that the mission should be scrapped.

The mission was not a total failure--at least not for the Imperial repair dock they had attacked. B-wing Kadaarn Three could not run a full diagnostic on its lower S-foil. An Imperial Holonet tracker had lodged itself in there in a concussion missile attack moments before the Alliance ships took off into hyperspace. The moment the flight arrived back in real space, the tracker would transmit.

The B-wing flight hurtled toward their destination.

The modified Carrack-class cruiser made its journey through hyperspace towards the Happy Jack. Its complement of Pirate crew members were ready at their stations. In moments, they would arrive at their destination, launch their attack and be gone. By this time tomorrow, they would be rich, drunk and satisfied men.

The chronometres counted down. Pilots went to their stations. Power was diverted to the Carrack's shields and lasers. The ship was an old design, but its qualities won itself a place in personal armada's all over the galaxy, as well as with the Empire. The combination of shields, speed and turbolasers it carried were devastatingly effective against ships twice the Carrack's size.

Or even an unprepared Alliance Star Destroyer.

[The ASD Happy Jack...]

"Blue Flight is up and away."

The formation of five dipped under the side of the Star Destroyer and cruised away, wings swinging into position. Four X-wings remained at close quarters with the Lambda-class shuttle Tandur, although moments after reaching a kilometer away from the Happy Jack, the first element of Blue Flight accelerated away.

"Blue flight, stay alert and ready, we should be meeting the B-wing's any moment," commed Andrew 'Wedge' Dobson. "In fact, we're late--they should be here already."

All eyes in the flight turned towards the Shuttle Tandur, and the pilot of the shuttle knew it. "Hey, don't blame me," commed Haemon 'Edgie' Les'cu. "The medic droids went to the wrong shuttle, not me."

An unidentified voice called. "I don't blame them!"

A unanimous chuckle went through the flight, helping to ease some tension. The pilots kept to their formations--but in the quiet before the storm, minds wandered - to the past, present and future.

Wedge had to stop himself from grinding his teeth--a hunters instinct rose through him telling him to stay alert. He instructed his artoo unit to waste no time in informing him of new arrivals--but he doubted he would miss them. He checked lasers, shields and engine diagnostics for the tenth time, and continued scanning.

Xtreeme's mind drifted to his past--or at least, what he could remember of it. The image of him in a ship, at an unnatural angle to everything around him, a smell of blood wafting on his nostrils...Was it his own? Had someone else around him died?

Somebody? Somebodies? Who were they exactly? His head jerked back into the present. He thought back, and realised he'd been practically out unconcious, so lax was his attention. He refocused his attention and concentrated hard on his real surroundings.

Con 'Firefox' Haltan let his mind drift. To his past--in CorSec, to his adolescence, right back to his parents, to the memories he held of them. There was some sense of irony, the son of a Corellian freight runner goes off with CorSec to hunt smugglers. His mind then contemplated the other irony--Imperials killing his parents, and being told that it was the Alliance who murdered them. Flying for them now, he considered if what he was doing was enough to avenge his parents. Or the right way to do so. Or if it was too much? No - he was comfortable with the Alliance, and in Blue Squadron. Probably moreso than with CorSec.

Squadron XO Luciano 'Luky' Lopez thought back over his past few years at where he had come to. Often, he thought about his mother--was she still back on Sullust, alive and well? And what of Guiterres, his mentor aboard the Corvette Last Revenge? . Shaking the past from his mind, he looked toward the future--Beyond the mission--and contented himself with the knowledge it would be bright. His own war to bring justice to the galaxy was suceeding bit by bit. Luky saw and appreciated it.

Haemon 'Edgie' Les'cu was, like the other members, equally retrospective. His hands, guided the controls of the shuttle, but his attention was elsewhere. He thought back to his home on Corellia, to his family, his girlfriend, Iella Tequlo. She, like him, had entered an apprenticeship with CorGalactic shipping when they were 17, although the women apprentices tended to be assigned to core world runs, the men being used for the wild frontier worlds. Whilst it was sexist, he admitted that the core world runs were always infinitely better than the dumps Haemon had visited in his time. The last time he'd heard from her, she was captain's mate, in a permanent job with CorGalactic. Edgie sighed, thinking of the last...

"You see that?"

Edgie snapped back to attention. "See what?"

Edgie's co-pilot, a smaller man with an angular face, pointed out the flight of ships which had appeared to their fore-starboard. Edgie had trouble identifying them immediately--looked to be a modified Corellian Freighter with modified TIE ships. Element One, composed of Wedge and Xtreeme, banked away to meet the flight of ships.

"Whoa, lads--I can't read them on my sensors." Firefox reported.

"Must be using some sort of jamming." Wedge answered. "They're close to the hyperspace exit point, don't let them come any further--Element two, make sure you're ready to receive our invited visitors."

"Understood, lead. "

The Freighter began making a long banking circle around where it had come from, whilst it's escorts--TIE Interceptors with some heavy modifications - came out to meet Wedge and Xtreeme's X-wings.

The range between ships narrowed down, and laser bolts were exchanged as they came into range. The TIE's had been modified with X-wing standard lasers where normal Interceptor cannons would be located, as well as a bulky missile launcher beneath the cockpit ball. Both the TIE's and X-wings were equipped with shields--keeping them all alive on the first run. The Happy Jack shifted it's course towards the freighter, although it would take some time before they would be able to exchange fire.

Wedge looked behind his Upper Port s-foil--the damn Interceptor had lodged itself 100 metres off his wing, blasting away. Wedge was able to easily dodge the fire, although turning the tables would be much harder. He'd expected the Interceptor to not have as much of its manueverability, and was paying for the misjudgement. He managed to catch a glimpse of the Interceptor, and grinned. In a few more seconds, he should be able to break the attack. The laser bursts drew closer and harder, and Wedge gritted his teeth.

The TIE Interceptor stopped firing.

Wedge restrained the urge to cheer as he pulled clear across the TIE's line of fire, making it out un-hit. The TIE pilot had realised his own mistake too late, and by then, Wedge was already settling into firing position. The TIE's modified lasers were powerful, yet vastly inneficient. The pilot was so focused on getting the right shot that all power drained from the lasers at a fast rate. Whilst he rectified this, Wedge lined up the fighter in his sights and fired. The four lances of laser energy hit the TIE right as the pilot made his second mistake. Draining shield power straight into the lasers.

The Modified TIE Interceptor made an explosion more spectacular than usual, given the extra components it carried.

Xtreeme held his own problems. Two remaining TIE Interceptors kept cutting him off and putting him into their laser sights. Xtreeme's anger slowly built, until he could take it no longer. Ignoring the TIE behind him, he pursued the target cutting across his nose in a sharp break that surprised everyone. He held a few seconds to get in some shots from his four lasers before he himself was the target. The time was all that was recquired--the TIE he'd chosen had poor weldings and was in need of an overhaul. The ship came apart before disintergrating in flames.

The other pilot attacked more ferociously, and nearly collided with Xtreeme. In return, Xtreeme throttled back and took advantage of the emotive attack of his counterpart, getting in a shot that hit the TIE squarely on the bottom of it's cockpit ball. Then, Xtreeme himself overshot, presenting a quick target for the TIE.

Tired of getting no where, the TIE pilot had armed his concussion missile launchers and attempted to hit Xtreeme as he shot past. It failed. His launch tube had crumpled under Xtreeme's attack, and failed to register with the pilot. Pulling the trigger, the TIE pilot was destroyed in a spiralling explosion.

The two X-wings reformated with each other, and saw what was goin on behind them--a Carrack-class cruiser has emerged out of Hyperspace and was making its run the Happy Jack's hanger bay.

[Onboard the Carrack-class cruiser Virus...]

"Dammit!"

The pirate captain on the Carrack cruiser Virus was furious--his attack had been too good. They made a microjump attack on the Happy Jack, being relayed location data of the Star Destroyer by the Corellian Freighter Agbala. The data was too accurate. The captain had wanted a position roughly 800 metres off the Star Destroyers deflector shields. The Virus arrived 250 metres from the Happy Jack's hanger, with the hanger's in a blind spot for the Carrack, no less.

They made the best of the bad situation. They rolled and fired shots which damaged the Happy Jack's hanger entrances, and they were about to loop up and hit the Star Destroyers topside. Before that, the launched off their modified Assault Gunboats from the Carracks starfighter racks. Immediately, the Assault Gunboats strafed along the surface of the Star Destroyer before heading off to meet the Blue Squadron defence.

Just as B-wings of Kadaarn Squadron arrived.

[Outside in Space...]

"Kadaarn Three is Extra-vehicular! Get to him, Edgie!"

Edgie reponded to Luky's call by throwing all power to engines. B-wing Kadaarn Three had immediately, and was still, spiralling out of control, it's pilot now floating in space. Time to intercept--one minute.

Firefox and Luky hung back from the shuttle. They had seen the Carrack come out, although their priority was shuttle and B-wing protection, but they were now waiting for a sign to turn back and tackle the four Assault Gunboats streaming after them.

Edgie slowed the shuttle, and the co-pilot took over tractor beam controls that would bring the pilot inside. The bright orange suited pilot drifted towards the shuttle, and Edgie opened the docking station. The greenlight came on - and Edgie hit full speed on the shuttle. Pilot safely inside.

"Sir, pilot is safely on board. Any further instructions?"

Wedge grimaced. The Star Destroyer was being massacred by the Carrack, it's hanger bays already a mess--why wasn't it fighting back hard? And the Assault Gunboats were headed directly for the B-wings and their cover. The Gunboats were modified by the looks of it - their full capabilities not apparent.

"Blue boys, we're fighting alone for the moment. Edgie, fly close cover for the B-wings. Use any methods necessary to cover them. Firefox, Luky, provide extra cover. Kadaarn flight, do you receive me?"

No answer. Great.

Wedge looked over at his wingman. " Xtreeme, can you take out that Freighter?"

"Easy, but he's headed away--looks like he's baiting us."

"I know, but he's a liability--he might call in some back up, and the sooner we take him out of this equation, the better. Hit him and tell me when you do."

Luky commed. "Sir, what about you?"

Wedge pulled towards the Carrack cruiser. "I'm going to take a hold on all of this."

"Incoming, watch out!"

The Assault Gunboats shots impacted heavily on the shuttle Tandur, and Edgie struggled to keep his ship as a cover for the three B-wings, all in a tight formation. Luky and Firefox kept together and pursued the attackers, focused on the lead gunboat.

Luky was intense. "Firefox, try get a laser shot in, I want to lock him up with torps."

"Roger."

Edgie himself was trying not to panic. The shuttle was well armed, but it was useless given he had to cover the three B-wings, flying and excruciatingly slow speeds. The shuttle rocked under another attack. Well, his shields were holding up--given the speed they were going at, there was plenty of power left.

Firefox's shots on Gunboat leader chewed away it's shields, and eventually Luky got his lock. His fingers hovered over the trigger - and the target disappeared from his sights.

"What?!"

"Manuevering jets, Luky!" Firefox broke away from his leaders wing and took evasive action. "Looks like he's got damn TIE fighter engines sticking off those s-foils!"

Luky caught a glimpse of a Gunboat, and saw the red glow from one of the apendages stuck on the craft. Luky could have cried at the sight. Two Gunboats were coming in from behind now, splitting Luky and Firefox further apart.

[Elsewhere in the Battle...]

Xtreeme watched the distance from the Happy Jack and the rest of the Blues increase rapidly, and watched the freighter ahead of him. His Proton Torpedo lock was glowing yellow , and would eventually go red. The Freighter then looped back straight after him, and the distance between the two scrolled down rapidly. Charging towards each other, Xtreeme hit the triggers and sent two unguided torpedoes straight into the freighters shields. The freighter broke away, displaying a surprising amount of agility.

Their fight was on.

The Commander's Part...

Wedge closed in on the two Capital Ships quickly, and launched his load of Proton Torpedoes into the rear compartments of the Carrack, into its vulnerble points. He hoped for a lucky shot that might even take her out--but only weakened the its shields. Wedge switched to lasers and strafed.

Wedge was fortunate. Ordinarily, the Carrack, with its high speed and large complement of lasers, was a brilliant anti-starfighter ship. This example had been modified, taking out most of the lasers and putting in heavier Turbolasers, being put to use on the Happy Jack. Despite the fewer lasers, it was quite a feat for Wedge to make it past the Carrack.

He circled back around and made another attack on the Carrack--and saw another Capital ship arriving, between the Happy Jack and the B-wings.

An Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. His Artoo informed him the ships graviy well projectors were warming up.

Wedge finished another strafe of the Carrack.

Saving the Tandur...

"Brace Youselves everybody!"

The crew aboard the Shuttle Tandur held on as Edgie made a snap roll for the cumbersome Shuttle, hoping to put himself right behind an Assault Gunboat on an attacking run. The measure worked not to the way Edgie had hoped.

The Assault Gunboat pilot had intended to narrowly dodge the shuttle, but had taken to the port side, not the starboard as Edgie was expecting. The Port wing of the shuttle then slapped like a giant hand into the comparatively fragile Gunboat, sending the modified ship out of control and on fire. Firefox, in the right place at the right time, finished off the kill.

"Good work, milad," Edge commed from his shuttle, wich was rocking violently.

Firefox replied, "For stealing my phrase, I'll just have to steal your piece of that kill."

Edgie nodded, and checked damage from the hit they'd taken. It was a worthwile price in Edgie's mind, but he could see exposed components within the Shuttles wing. The co-pilot cut back the power, accomadating for the loss.

Luky fired an unlocked proton torpedo at a gunboat, and anticipated the manuever the ship would make to dodge the torpedoes path. He switched to lasers and hit square on the ship, and Luky let himself cheer--it was his first clean shot.

His artoo whistled, and Luky affirmed the order. Relay data to the torpedo, try to make it gain a proper lock whilst in flight. The measure worked--Luky had the gunboat where he wanted it.

He fired his lasers again, and hit the gunboat. The shuttle rocked, on the verge of going out of control. The torpedo caught up again, and the roll that would have ordinarily taken the gunboat out of harms way tore it apart, the stress too much for the ships framework. Pieces of the Gunboat were sent scattering.

Luky cheered over the comm, and thus sent a wave of reassurance through the Blues.

Wedge's Turn...

Wedge pulled himself up in a climb away from the battle and looked over his shoulder to survey his damage. Not good enough--the Carrack was still hammering away, relatively unscathed.

It was then that he saw the Carrack's strategy, and the feeling he got from the burst of intuition nearly made him cry out loud. The Happy Jack's main Turbolaser turrets were the focus of the Carracks belly guns, although the Star Destroyer was not using all its weapons. There were heavy turrets that were functional but not firing, pointed away and not moving.

Almost not moving. The tractor beams from the Carrack were locked squarely on the heavy turrets, not allowing them to move. The Happy Jack was still firing its free guns, only they were not the ones which would cause most damage. The Happy Jack"s crew must be tearing their hair out.

Wedge turned sharply, intensifying his forward shields, and lined up against the Carrack. At maximum range, he began his fire--single shots that would wear away the shields of the enemy, until the point where they dissappeared long enough to get a quad shot in. The Carrack was not bothering him too much--its prime focus being to hurt the Star Destroyer.

Wedge was surprised when at a kilometres distance, the shield weakened significantly enough for him to get multiple bursts of all four lasers. On the third shot, the gunners on the Carrack cracked onto him, heavy laser fire driving him away. Wedge pulled out and intended to do it all again.

He needn't have bothered. The Star Destroyer took advantage of his run, and followed up with a barrage from its free guns on where Wedge had centred his fire. Flashes appeared along the side of the Carrack, at random points where the tractor beams were located, As if breaking from vices, the main turrets on the Star Destroyer swung around to face their target.

It took five seconds of fire on the Carrack cruiser's vulnerble power generators for the ship to be totally disabled, the well designed hull system prevented a nova-like explosion. The Carrack was dead.

Wedge rolled his X-wing, and looked at the Interdictor, still hanging between the Happy Jack and the B-wing flight. Wedge's artoo unit informed him there was heavy holonet transmitting coming from the Interdictor, now projecting an gravity well stopping the Happy Jack from going into hyperspace.

Extreme Measures...

The quad lasers of the Freighter caused Xtreeme to swear and drive another attack against the spinning foe. He had previously hit one of the quad batteries, taking it out in a proton torpedo blast, but given up real hope of getting the lower turret. He fired on the engines, although he was given too little time to do damage before the freighter returned fire. Xtreeme would dodge, then see the freighter had turned away from him, and press in his attack. The Xtreeme was then met by quad laser blasts from the turret as it came into range.

Xtreeme saw the trick--the freighter was rotating and alternating between its shields--If his lower ones get low on power, he flips over. With the power supply the freighter had available, the trick would work for too long than Xtreeme cared for, although with the extra comm and jamming gear Xtreeme assumed it was carrying, he knew he could find its weakness. He tried to put the freighter to the test.

Xtreeme decreased his speed, and began a slow turn towards the main battles. Checking his targeting computer, he offered himself as a lingering target for the freighter. The shield energy Xtreeme had accumulated during his own attacks protected him from coming to harm, although he pulled up out of harms way before his shields gave out entirely. By now, he was pursued by the freighter, who had taken the first fully offensive position in the dogfight.

Xtreeme kept his X-wing just above the freighter's lower turret firing arc, offering a tantalising target. They looped for three consecutive times, and were about to begin a fourth when the freighter pilot cracked, and Xtreeme's plan worked.

The two ships were capable of much tighter loops than they were performing - and the freighter pilot proved this by wrenching with all his ship's agility, to finally give his lower gunner a kill shot. Xtreeme had anticipated the manuever since before they started the pursuit, and immediately tore his own ship out of the path of the laser blasts. When the gunner was finished, he saw that the target had disappeared.

The freighter pilot held little choice but to continue his tight loop, at least until he got a bearing on where exactly the X-wing was. Xtreeme's next manuever was not the most sensible, but certainly effective. He appeared from the freighter's blind spot, from above the engines and behind the blasted top turret. He slid right through the engine exhaust and beneath the freighter, keeping with the ship's careful turns.

Xtreeme's made his first burst against the lower turrets and destroyed them in a flast of matter. The freighter reacted by turning away, but only succeeded in lessening the chance of Xtreeme being hit by debris. His X-wing held a long, sustained burst of laser fire on the bottom rear shields, tearing into the hull. Gases and fuels seeped away from the ship, and created a flaring explosion which left a trail of flaming debris, before disappearing in a flash of white.

"Freighter is out!" he commed. Like his Leader, Xtreeme made a long victory roll, and returned to the main battle.

Distance--Fourteen Kilometres. And closing.

The Edge is Back...

"Luky, watch out! Firefox, snap roll and jink now!"

The two X-wings performed the manuevers, guided by Edgie's perspective in the shuttle. Firefox was being pulled away from his wingleader by the Gunboats attacks, but he still attempted to keep his position. The worst for them was yet to come.

Edgie looked down at his targeting computer, and saw the Interdictor growing in size in the viewport. Green lances shot out and flew through the B-wing formation, bouncing off Kadaarn Two.

"Look out! Go full evasive, Interdictor is in range!" Edgie exclaimed, pulling the shuttle in an accelerating turn that might cover the B-wings. Kadaarn Two had already taken too much damage--the ship wobbled out of formation and was ripped apart in a terrifying explosion. The Alliance pilots saw the pilot go with his ship.

Edgie provided cover enough for the B-wings, although the shuttle was beginning to rock more violently than he liked, and he commed, "Pull back out of range!"

B-wing Kadaarn Three followed the Shuttle Tandur out of danger, although Kadaarn One pressed on. Concerned, Edgie looked back--was his flight contol system hit? Kadaarn Three was now out of range--Edgie pulled the shuttle back in after the B-wing leader.

The B-wing pilot, a weathered, well built man, had spent all twenty years of his career in the Alliance. Kadaarn Squadron was a unit created especially for this mission--its members pulled from units as they were the best, and most trusted. They all held security passes with Alliance Intelligence, such was the nature of their work. The mission they had undertaken was of utmost secracy--the use of a relatively 'low security' ship like the Happy Jack as a home base had caused some disturbance in intelligence.

The secracy of the mission was focused on the weapon they carried--two pairs of energy reasonating missiles, designed to penetrate shields, the hull, all to lodge itself in a starship and set off an explosion that would create waves through the superstructure and rip the ship apart.The use of these weapons in the current situation could be classified as treasonous, and the battle hardened mind of the pilot wondered if this was the correct decision. To use the weapon, here and now? There were other options--His body was tired, his mind screaming to just escape, to find a way out.

He continued onwards.

The Blue Returns...

What the hell is he doing? the Blues thought. The ship had made no communications with any of them - what its plans were was anybodies guess. Everyone - Alliance and Pirate amd Imperial alike--thought it was making a close range torpedo attack. A suicidal one at that.

Edgie was already in pursuit, but was being beaten by an over-reacting Gunboat pilot, streaking in ahead of the shuttle Tandur. After having been so involved with the fight against the X-wings, the pilot failed to notice he was flying right through Edgie's sights. The Shuttle's lasers streaked out and ripped apart the Gunboat in a flaming mess.

The two X-wings versus the remaining super-manueverable Gunboat were much more even odds, and it was moments before the Gunboats flips and turns became less eratic and much slower. Firefox assumed that the gravity generators on the ship must have been failing to keep up with the manuevers. The pilot was continually blacking out, becoming fatigued.

Eventually, his ship made a half hearted turn, right from Firefox's sights into Luky's. Luky fired, and stopped the ship in its tracks. Firefox caught up and helped finished it off.

Now, all attention was on the B-wing making its run.

Death of Imperials...

The captain of the Interdictor gave the cease fire order. The B-wing coming at them was being fired upon by another B-wing! Assuming it was attempting to surrender, The Interdictor fired against the other ships.

The Blues caught on to Kadaarn Three firing at its wing leader, although the shots were poorly aimed and under powered. They held little idea over why he was doing such a thing.

Kadaarn Leader knew why. That damn pilot was trying to stop him--stop him from off loading his missiles into the Interdictor. The pilot grimaced against the priorities that Kadaarn Three was holding--secracy over survival. It was a matter of common sense, regardless of the secracy. He almost chuckled at the Interdictor - they stopped firing! Did they think he was surrendering? Maybe Kadaarn Three's firing was a good idea after all.

He kept with that charade. He brought his ship towards the hangers, but at the last moment, brought himself up over the ship's topside and took aim. Three Missiles came from his ship, one specifically to create a gap and the shields, allowing the other two to continue and hit precisely against the Interdictor's bridge. The penetrating heads alone blew out all atmosphere in the command levels, but before auxilary controls could be taken, the missiles had lodged themselves in the framework of the Capital ship. There was a moment before the bridge section began to twist and contort, before finally ripping free from its attachments. The shockwaves took mere seconds to devastate the rest of the ship--the engine housings seemed to be ripped from their restraints, the globe shaped gravity well projectors shattered like eggs. The trianglar shape of the ship began to bend, causes mass tears and flames to lick out along the hull. Finally, the Interdictor was replaced by a mass explosion, sending a shockwave of metal that threatened to overtake Kadaarn Leader.

The pilots of Blue Squadron regarded the scene with a sombre admiration. There was relief at finally being able to escape, although the death of the Interdictor's crew was still shocking. Judging by the way that the ship went down, most of the men had been deprived of oxygen before the explosion. A degree of sympathy was still felt. Regardless for whose side they fought.

Wedge was the first to say anything. "Any survivors?"

Edgie scanned through the wreckage and reported back. "I read one, maybe two escape pods--although I don't like their chances after that shock wave. Multiple bodies in extra-vehicular."

"Alive?"

Edgie replied. "No, sir."

Wedge realised they'd better take the oppurtunity to escape. Imperial or more pirates could be bearing down any second. "Edgie, scan closely, pick up any survivors. B-wings, do you receive me?"

Kadaarn leader spoke to the Blues for the first time. "I read you Blue Leader."

"Get back to the auxilary hanger bay on the Jack right away, Firefox, follow them in closely. Luky, Xtreeme, come in on my wing, we're giving Edgie close cover."

"What about the Carrack?"

Wedge answered. "Carrack should be fine - those things have a protection system, if any section loses atmosphere then the rest of the ship compensates. Life readings show they're still active on board--they'll be fine."

The shuttle approached the wreckage, and managed to approach a single escape pod. It was a grim procession that the flight made their way through the debris--bodies floated past, stormtroopers, floating like ghosts.

They approached the escape pod, but as they approached, it used boosters to drive itself away. Edgie asked if they should tractor beam it in. Wedge declined.

"Forget it. If he wants to stay out here, then he knows something we don't..." Wedge thought a minute. Oh, no...

"Everyone, back to the Happy Jack! Happy Jack, this is Blue Leader, prepare for hyperspace, do you receive?"

"We read you, Blue Leader. Happy Jack is making hyperspace calculations."

Edgie began to lead the flight out of the debris field. "Sir, is there anything wrong?"

"Just thought we'd better get the hell out of here." Wedge closed the s-foils on his X-wing, and the others did the same on theirs as they came to the Happy Jack. "Cause I have the sneaking suspicion..."

A fleet of Imperial medium Capital Ships appeared at that moment, in precise formation, bearing down on the Happy Jack.

Wedge continued. "...That we wont be alone for long. Firefox, you landed in yet?"

"Roger lead, just popping the hatch open with the B-wings now."

Good. "Happy Jack, you ready to jump?"

"Roger--Blue flight, hurry, they are intruding on our exit vector, they will be in our path in twelve seconds."

"We'll make it. Inform the tractor beams to track us - our artoo units we'll relay flight information, understood?"

The order was carried out.

Still a few hundred metres out, Wedge pulled the landing gear mechanism, and upon seeing this, Luky and Xtreeme did the same.

"Blue flight, Seven seconds remaining."

"Go Happy Jack, just GO!" Blue flight skimmed along the bottom of the Star Destroyer, which then began to accelerate forward for the hyperspace jump. The tractor beams just began to hold the ships as they pulled up into the auxilary hanger bay. Immediately, they deployed breaking thrusters, and with the force from the tractor beam holds, they felt some degree of gravity pulling at them. As they entered into the landing bay, they were still moving forward as they contacted and slid along the ground some metres, sending some crewmen running. Edgie was the last in--he held the shuttle in the air of the landing bay for a few seconds before putting the Tandur down and looking out the veiw port. He could just see outside the hanger bay, the stars elongating.

The Imperial warships fired off a few shots at point blank range, but the Star Destroyer was too quick a target, and had jumped before they had time to re-aim. They were safely away.

[Onboard the Happy Jack]

Hours later, the squadron had debriefed. All those who had witnessed the power of the Structural Resonance Missile had agreed not to reveal its existence, instead accounting the Interdictors destruction as a 'surprise attack', from a B-wing it presumed was 'surrendering'--hence Kadaarn Three firing on its leader. The Kadaarn pilots were quickly wisked away to a secure area of the Happy Jack--but not before telling the Blue Squadron pilots 'drinks were on them'. They were told to be held to their word.

Essentially, Wedge deemed the mission as a great success. Each section of the flying unit had been forced to split up, either by order or against their will. Although common tactics held that ships fly in groups, the solo performances displayed earned the pilots high commendations, especially given the irregular circumstances.

"I feel for the Pirates," Luky commented. "A job like that must have been hell to co-ordinate."

"Would have had to work fast, though." Andrew Dobson replied. "The Happy Jack was scheduled to be in that area for a day."

They stood around the Shuttle Tandur, undergoing repairs and examinations. Haemon Les'cu surveyed what was going on, and walked back to his peers. "We're going to have to take the deflector shields and sell them for scrap, after what I put them through."

Xtreeme shrugged. "Send the bill to Kadaarn Squadron--or whoever they are. They should be more than willing to pay."

Dobson nodded. "I still just can't get over their plan, though. The Pirates--Any ordinary attack they could have used might have gone differently."

Firefox agreed. "But you must admit--we did our fair share in counter-attack."

The five pilots watched for a moment the welding droids on scaffolding, repairing the damaged upturned wing of the Shuttle Tandur.

"She held up well, though--the Tandur," Haemon said. "Maybe I should keep that as my personal ship." He gave a sly glance to the Blues.

The wing creaked, cracked, then there was a groan of bending metal. The scaffolding toppeled, sending equipment scattering. The Blue pilots, as well as other hanger crew, went running. The Tandur's port undercarraige collapsed as the port wing swung down under gravity, clammering against the ground and sending panels across the floor.

Haemon emerged first, then Dobson, then the rest. Dobson slapped his hand on Haemon's shoulder. Haemon looked bewildered. Dobson reassured him amidst the light chuckles of the other Blues.

"Things fall apart, you know."

The End