Prologue [CRS Morning Star; Anaxes System]

First Lieutenant Chris "Pip" Layne stood up after hours of cleaning Fate.

The black R2 unit hadn't exactly been very happy with Chris's sudden need to clean him, arguing with the pilot that black wasn't a colour that easy got dirty. Of course, Chris didn't exactly understand why Fate didn't want to be cleaned up. It'd been almost two months since he'd cleaned the astromech up and he was positively filthy… and Fate was always a neat freak.

This of course made the Red pilot think and wonder as to what Fate was hiding.

"Now, you manufactured ewok-sized little devil, tell me why you don't want to get clean." He demanded of the R2.

Fate responded with a few negative hoots and whistles that didn't exactly amuse Chris.

"Come on, Fate." Chris said, starting to get annoyed by the astromech. He didn't exactly like the fact that the droid was hiding something from him. "I know your hiding something!"

Once more, Fate repeated his negative sequence of hoots.

"I can get a mech to violate your systems, you know!"

The black droid gave him a defiant response.

"Damn you, you little fiend! Tell me or I'll let Wire play with your insides!" The threat seemed to work and Fate reluctantly started up his holoprojector. An image of Chris's sister, Denef Layne, appeared.

"Hi, Chris." The hologram said. The girl's face was sorrowed and it looked as if she had been crying. The blonde pilot knelt down to be level with the image not even half of his size. "I hate to be breaking this news to you, but a week ago, the Wisdom of the Emperor returned to the Yar'Plath Sector."

Chris' green eyes widened. The Wisdom? Returning to the Yar'Plath Sector…?

"Your guys' victory at the Second Battle of Endor brought hope back to the people of Crolles and the planets in the rest of the Sector and we openly opposed them. Esoj Ranza was imprisoned… Perhaps that was one of the reason's for West's return here." She looked down and continued. "We sent out what little fleet we had, combining them with those of Sabas and the rest of the near by systems but it just wasn't enough."

There was a pause before she continued again. "The battle was difficult and… and… Mynock Squadron was in the front line—as real heroes. But the Wisdom just pressed on and on, cutting through the entire fleet along with the rest of its battle group until reaching our homeworld."

Chris closed his eyes, wishing that what he was hearing wasn't true… if the Wisdom had reached Crolles then there would be no… No, it couldn't be. The holoprojector continued speaking.

"The aerial bombardment didn't stop until the entire planet was razed. What few of us could escape did—I managed to get out with our youngest brother, Alex, just in time. Sadly… our mother and our sister Marta were among the casualties." Denef took in a deep breath. "As was our father…"

Chapter One: A Night to Remember—Or Not?

[CRS Morning Star; Anaxes System]

He's gone. They're all gone…

His mind kept going over the holoprojection that Fate had shown him. He'd turned it off seconds after his sister had notified him of the deaths of nearly his entire family. It was like when Byrd died all over again…

But this time they're all gone. All except Denef and Alex…

Chris brought the mug of ale back up to his lips again, attempting to forget about it with alcohol. He'd been sitting on the same stool for nearly three hours, at times accompanied and at times alone. Now, the entire Fishtank was alone. Even Dargon had gone off to sleep, leaving the automatic bartender able to serve Chris incase he needed a refill.

And boy was he going to need refills tonight.

Chris didn't hear anyone enter, not even realizing that someone was in the Fishtank until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright?" a soft voice asked.

Turning around, Chris looked into a pair of amber-gold eyes that seemed to draw him into a trance. Of course, maybe that was because he was on his fourth Ale today.

He recognized the woman… with turquoise-coloured skin, the rutian twi'lek helms officer and he had spoken plenty of times. She'd been posted here about a month ago, but she'd become a frequent visitor to the Fishtank in her time off. Her name was Sheva Zolos, and as almost all Twi'lek coming from the planet Ryloth—and as with many female twi'leks sold to Hutts as a Slave Dancer.

She'd been a dancer until four years ago when Imperials raided her Hutt-Master's den and took her prisoner. Sheva had been freed from the claws of a mighty Hutt crime lord only to be put into service of an abusive and womanizing Moff in the outer rims.

When the Rebellion took that Moff's territory she was liberated once more.

Seeing that the Rebel Alliance weren't slave drivers but instead exactly the opposite, she decided to join their cause. First as a nurse, and then when discovered her talent in a cockpit she became a Search and Rescue pilot. After a few missions she discovered that it wasn't something she liked doing—losing a pilot she was supposed to be rescuing… She'd told Chris that it was the worse feeling she ever thought could arise.

After leaving that, she entered the Navy as a helmsman. First, aboard the frigate Redemption and then a few other unimportant cruisers stationed in backwater worlds… until a standard month or so ago when she was stationed aboard the Morning Star.

She and Chris had met about a week after her appointment, here, in the Fishtank. He'd been fooling around with Wild Cat when he accidentally bumped into her… they started talking and a sort of friendship arose between them…. Forming into the friendship they actually had now.

"Hi, Sheva," he said. He wasn't exactly in the mood for chit chatting. "I'm fine, I guess. Could be better though…. But I think this serving droid is helping me."

"You know, the thing that we most hated doing back when I was a nurse was taking care of sick and drunk pilots." She said with a giggle, then flashed Chris a bright smile that he couldn't help but smile back at. Sheva was fairly good looking and it was hard to resist a smile from an ex-twi'lek dancer.

"I guess that it wasn't fun… knowing that they were drunk and you weren't."

"Oh, hush!" She pushed him a bit, laughing. Such a clear and beautiful laugh… Chris mentally shook his head, willing himself to drop the subject. Meanwhile, Sheva continued talking. "If it wasn't for us nurses, plenty of you pilots wouldn't be around to actually still get drunk."

Chris decided not to respond to that and instead brought the mug back to his lips, draining what little of it was left. Sheva left his side to go and grab a stool and sat down next to him

"So, Pip. What's up with that sour face?"

"The Ale sucks."

"Then why do you drink it?"

"Because…" Chris was at a loss of how to respond to that. In a low voice he said, "Because I want to forget."

"Forget what, Pip?" She replied quickly. She obviously knew that there was something wrong with him. The usually happy, go-lucky pilot was down… and when he was down everyone knew. Only that this was one of the few times he'd been down in public. When Chris didn't reply she continued speaking. "Pip… you know that you can count on me. For anything… I'm your friend, and if you don't want to tell me that's fine. Just that you should know that if you worry I worry… only that I just wish I knew what I was worrying about…"

"Barman… another Ale." Chris said and looked at Sheva. "What will you be wanting?"

"I'll be wanting you to get better." She said. "Oh… and a caf laced with some whiskey would do me good."

"You heard the woman," he told the serving droid.

"I should say the same for you," came out the robotic bartender's voice. Chris only rolled his eyes and handed him the empty mug before turning to Sheva.

"Ahh… I don't know. I think… I think that everything's finally coming down. Zoom's death, everyone's MIA…" Chris shook his head and sighed. "West's attack on Crolles…"

"What? Whose attack on Crolles?" Sheva asked, surprised.

"Yeah…"

The serving droid returned with their drinks and Chris started to tell Sheva about the holoprojector… and about everything that was within him. Everything from the heart. Everything. Two hours later and various mugs more of Ale Chris and Sheva had moved to the more comfortable seating… the padded couches in the far corner. The natural darkness and eeriness of Mon Calamari ships gave their talk just the right tone of light.

"So…" Sheva said after a moment of silence from both of them. "I guess it's hard, huh? It sort of reminds me why I left the Search and Rescue branch of the military and why I refused to join Starfighter Command as a pilot. I wouldn't be able to live on the front lines. You and your squadron are really brave… much braver than I…"

"Oh, your brave too, Sheva." Chris said, offering her a light smile. "You're drinking with a pilot. Remember what they say about pilots ... how we're trained to attack on sight ...."

"Oh?" Sheva said, a glint in her eye. She returned his smile with a mischievous grin. One that stirred plenty of emotions within Chris. "Perhaps I wanted to be alone with you?"

Oh. Oh. Chris gave her an uneasy smile… Could she? With him? No… I wish. I wish real bad… His thoughts were pretty incoherent at the moment, he realized. Perhaps the Ale was starting to take effect…

"Uh…" He was at a loss for words. "You know…. Your not half bad yourself, Sheva."

"Really? I used to be a Twi'lek dancing girl. I'm supposed to seduce…" She said, leaning across the table and kissing him on the cheek. Another peck followed closer to his lips and them a peck on the lips. She pulled back for a second and smiled at Chris, who was just staring at her.

Plenty of thoughts raised through the pilots' mind just then… and the first was his primal instinct as a male. Now, he'd gone through lots of Ale and he wasn't exactly in control of himself. Before he knew it he'd leaned over himself and engaged in a passionate kiss with Sheva, rolling his tongue in her mouth… playing with it and enjoying the moment.

The moment passed and something seemed to flare up between them. Chris's hands went to her sides and he tried to bring her closer to him, but the table stopped that. He reluctantly parted.

"Let's get out of here," she said before he could say anything else.

"I… uh… have my own room." Chris offered. Sheva responded with a seductive smile.

"What are we waiting for then?"

They both rushed to get up but Chris discovered that his legs didn't exactly respond, or his arms. Sitting, he'd not really felt these effects, but now that he stood up the world seemed to swirl around him and he had to hold onto the table to stand. He looked over to Sheva, who was walking a bit wobbly too but still managed to stand up. He flashed her a goofy smile and she winked back at him.

"Let's get going, shall we?" She asked, helping stand up straight. She wrapped his arm around hers and they made their way out of the Fishtank.

Chris had to pause every once in a while and lean on the wall every few moments… Sheva some of those times leaned towards him for a kiss and allowed Chris's hands to explore her curves… his hands sliding down for a grip on her buttocks. Each time they reluctantly broke contact and would continue their way, laughing and flirting the entire way.

By the time they reached Chris's cabin-the one that he used to share with Redjed before the Jedi pilot went MIA-the various liters of Ale had hit Chris full force… drooping his eyes and making it really tough to even speak a full sentence without slurring into something less understandable than drunken Wookiee.

Chris chuckled at the thought.

"Mmm… I think that we may have to leave this for… another time." Sheva said, kissing him at the door. Chris put in the access code and it slid open and both nearly fell in. Sheva helped him to his bedside and laid him down in it. They began to kiss once more but Chris was finding it really hard… he really needed sleep…

"Uh, Pip?"

"Yeah?"

"I really think that we should leave this for another moment. You're too drunk to even… aim straight." She said with a wicked grin. Chris had a few select words to say to her about the capacity of his aiming.

She finally managed to convince him and helped him take his boots off and then tucked him into bed.

"You know… I thought that I'd left behind caring for drunken pilots when I went into SAR Service. I see that it'll follow me everywhere." She gave him a peck on the forehead and made her way for the door. "Sweet dreams, Flyboy."

The next morning Chris woke up with a groan.

His head was throbbing, and his stomach was… rolling over on itself, doing a 360 degree flip on itself and making Chris feel real sick. Struggling to open his eyes, he threw himself from his cot onto the hard, cold floor, which forced him to push himself up until he reached a standing position.

Somehow, the pilot entered the bathroom that he used to share with Redjed, one of the many pilots that had died in that tragic mission on Esseles. Biggs' first mission as Red Leader and Chris's last as Red's Tactical Officer.

He sloshed some water onto his face from the sink, trying to clear himself up before forcing himself to look into the mirror. Chris groaned and threw off his violet flight suit—he must've been really sloshed if he had gone into bed with his flight suit on—and got into the shower.

Fifteen minutes later, he didn't feel dirty any more, but the feeling in his stomach was still there… But at least he was ready to face the world.

He made his way down to the flight deck and saw that Vape and Kulgon's X-wings were missing. They were probably on patrol. Chris still had a few hours to go before he went out with Fist. Today, the patrol was going to be like a walk through Corellia's nine Hells.

Chris started cleaning Fate as soon as he reached the droid, who had spent nearly the entire night by the X-wing.

"Yes, I know I'm late." Chris said as the reached Fate. The black R2 unit hooted a few times angrily and then spun around. Chris sighed. "I'll clean you up in a moment, just let me go and get a few things first."

Fate started another sequence of hoots and whistles that Chris chose to ignore. He grabbed some cleaning solution for droids and a few other materials that Fate liked. While the Red Squadron pilot could've easily gotten a mechanic to do it, Chris preferred to do it himself. He preferred that people not mess with his droid… Fate, even if it didn't seem so, was very precious to Chris.

"Lieutenant Layne?"

"Yeah, that's me." He said turning around to look at the speaker… then he realized who it was! "Oh! Sheva! Uh… How're you?"

"I'm fine, Pip." She said, flashing him a dazzling smile which Chris couldn't help smiling back at. Stepping closer to him, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "The question really is…. How're you?"

At first, Chris didn't understand the question but soon enough the memories of last night—though still a bit hazy—started to float back into his mind, making him blush slightly. "Oh…" he began. "I'm fine, I suppose…. Sorry about last night."

Sheva offered him a warm smile that comforted Chris somewhat… he felt somewhat perky. Sheva seemed to notice this, too and bent over to kiss the Red pilot on the lips… a warm passionate kiss that made Chris's bones vibrate. Putting his hands on her hips he drew the twi'lek closer to his body, feeling the warmth almost shine off of her and onto him.

Just as his hand was starting to lower…

"FLIGHT TWO OF RED SQUADRON, REPORT TO BREIFING ROOM A IMMEDIATELY." It was the Colonel's voice.

They parted lips for a second, Sheva's frown made Chris' heart almost drop to his knees. "I'm sorry, Sheva… I've got to get going." He tried to smile, but it definitely looked forced. "Duty calls…"

"Yeah… I know."

He gave her a soft peck on the lips and dashed to the briefing room. Sheva watched him go in silence.

Chapter Two: The Call of Family

[CRV Crollan Sapphire ;Tan'iira System, 0.25 parsecs from Anaxes]

Denef Layne was no Captain; she was no leader. She wasn't much of anything other than the daughter of a hero from the Clone Wars and the sister of a pilot in one of the best squadrons in the quadrant. And that was why everybody looked up to her… And she was only seventeen standard years old.

The three adults that had been on the Sapphire were injured… they were resting in the bacta tanks that the Corellian Corvette provided while the rest of the refugees… children, mostly, and babies. Denef glanced down to Alex, her three year old little brother… one of the last family members she had left in the Galaxy.

The other? 0.25 parsecs away… and at the moment unaccessable.

The Sapphire had received critical damaged on her escape from Crolles, a pretty big beating that had made the ship's hyperspace reactors die when they had almost arrived. But that wasn't the worse of their problems.

They were being followed.

Her eyes followed the lone gunboat that had just entered the system… she had seen this same gunboat at various sites that they had stopped at.

"Lorik, keep an eye on our friend." She said, motioning to the young man next to her. He was slightly taller and blonde… she knew him very little but was coming to trust him as a good Crollan, loyal to his homeworld and very capable from his years in the Crollan Academy… Denef frowned.

The Crollan Academy was probably smoking debris by now… Crolles, beautiful Crolles, was under Imperial Rule and knowing West he would probably bombard everything that was symbolic to the Crollan people. Sithspawn, they would probably hit her own home as well.

"Copy that," Lorik said, bringing Denef from her thoughts. "Though there's not much to look at… the Gunboat has entered hyperspace."

"Well, I don't think that he came by just to look at the scenery. Get Anaxes on the comm—tell them that we might be having company if they don't get here fast!"

[ISD Wisdom of the Emperor; Crolles System; Yar'Plath Sector]

Vice Admiral Orlando West grinned as he stared down through the viewport at the now-docile planet, Crolles… the gem in the center of the Yar'Plath Sector. It served almost as a capital for this whole sector, a world rich in mining and right on an important trade route.

It meant lots of income for the Empire, and with the Empire richer, it would be happier—and if West could even possibly make Iceheart happy he would. After his failure at the Second Battle of Endor he was very surprised to be alive and in command of the Wisdom. Perhaps, Iceheart had seen in him the same way that the Emperor had.

Well, it wasn't his problem.

He had decided not to say anything it either, simply being glad to still have his head on his shoulders. Orders had been passed onto West and he'd carried them out thoroughly, ruthlessly, and what would seem record time. His assault on the planet Crolles had lasted a scant twelve hours. As soon as it had started he had trapped the Crollan flagship, the Tarot, in a pincer movement that had included two Imperial Star Destroyers.

Both the Wisdom and the Infinite had launched wave after wave of turret/fire or, in the Wisdom's case, torpedoes. Admiral Tesar, leader of the Crollan Defense Forces, had called for a retreat, and then for a truce. But, West's memory of Endor was still fresh.

Suddenly, his comm beeped.

West frowned and grabbed it. "Yes?"

"S-Sir?" the familiar voice of his second in command on the bridge was shaky, as if fearful. That could not be good. "Uh… You have an incoming message from Madam Isard herself."

Immediately, West's face changed and he quickly went to the holoprojector. "Pass her though, and I want a secure channel."

"Yessir," the voice of the man disappeared and now an image of an elegantly beautiful woman appeared before West, almost smiling. This wasn't the first time he'd spoken to her.

"Well, well, Admiral, I see that your operation at Crolles was a success," she said. "A good sign, I was beginning to doubt you after the incident at Endor…" she let her voice trailed off, almost seductively. West remained still, watching Isard. "Anyways, that is good indeed because now I have another mission for you."

Another mission? West had thought that he was to stay here at Crolles… this was definitely a good sign in his favour… especially if it was favour under Iceheart's eyes. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Yes," she paused and smiled once more. "You must have heard of Anaxes, right….?"

[CRS Morning Star; Anaxes System]

When Flight Officer Chris "Fist" Hart arrived in the Briefing room, he was surprised to see that everyone was already there. Pip usually came in late, and Wild Cat almost always with him. Wire's being early was typical… but Biggs and Vape not having arrived yet? That wasn't typical at all!

Making his way over to his wingmate, Fist sat down next to Pip. "Yo, Pip."

"Hey, wassup?"

"You look like you had a rough night last night."

"You could say it that way." Pip said, shrugging. "Bad news and good news—all in one, in a way that doesn't really seem normal at all."

Fist frowned, not really understanding what Pip had said. "Uhh… sure." He turned to Wire and Wild Cat. "What about you two?"

Neither had a chance to reply because Lieutenant Colonel Rob "Biggs" Baden chose that moment to make his entrance, followed closely by Major Chelsey "Vape" Maxfield and Second Lieutenant Jamie "Shadow" Wetherill. It was Shadow's first operation as Operations Officer… although to tell the truth there hadn't been a need to even plan a mission since he'd returned.

The four pilots of Two Flight stood up and saluted them, and it was returned by the other three. "At rest," Biggs said as he made his way over to the podium. "You four have got a mission. We're the closest ship to the Crollan ship Crollan Sapphire, and you're the only full flight available right now as Angel and Kulgon are on patrol and won't get off for another three hours."

While they didn't really need reasoning as to why they had to do a mission it was always nice to know that they were sending you because there wasn't anyone else to send, Fist thought to himself.

"What's so important about the Sapphire?" Wire asked, raising his hand.

"Well, I was just about to get to that." Biggs said, frowning. He turned on the Holoprojector and it showed a corellian corvette floating in space. "This is the Crollan Sapphire. If any of you have been following the holo news this past week you would have known that the Yar'Plath Sector has been under heavy siege. Recently there was a break through and very few refugee ships escaped the blockade."

Fist turned to look at his wingmate, Pip. Pip seemed perfectly normal, as if there was nothing going on… at least on the exterior. Now Fist understood Pip's strange response earlier. He had probably known about this. And Fist knew just how important this mission would be the Crollan pilot.

"The Sapphire, loaded with refugees, is stranded in the Tan'iira System. They have managed to contact with us, and they're only just a short microjump away. What makes this mission urgent is the fact that they've had signs of being followed, as well as visual capture of a lone gunboat tailing them from various locations." The imagery came up almost as Biggs spoke the words and played. Fist watched very closely. "You will accompany the Regis in X-wings and will provide cover as they extract the refugees. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir." Replied Pip, the flight's leader. "I suppose that we're launching immediately?"

"Correct." Biggs gave Pip a hard look before nodding as if he'd just made a decision. "You are all dismissed. Lieutenant Layne, I would like to have a word in private with you."

Fist stood up and looked over at Pip, then turned towards the door, making his way down to the Hangar along with Wire and Wild Cat.

Rob "Biggs" Baden waited until everyone had left the room before speaking up to Pip. "I assume that you are well aware of who is in command of that ship, correct?"

It took Pip a few seconds to respond before simply nodding. Biggs sighed.

"Look, if you would rather have me or Major Maxfield fly the mission go ahead and tell us." Rob said, rather expecting Pip to refuse the offer. Since Rob had met the younger pilot he was yet to see him step down from any mission. In fact, sometimes he seemed over eager… but he was a decent enough pilot for Rob to over look that asset.

"No need, Sir." Pip said as started to stand up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a mission."

Red's Commanding Officer watched, with a smile, as Pip made his way out the door and to the hangar.

On the other side of the door awaited Chris "Fist" Hart. Wild Cat and Wire had already gone down towards the Hangar—though by the time Pip exited Fist was sure that they had probably not even reach the turbo-lift. "Heya, Pip!"

Pip looked at Fist, as if surprised to see him there. "My, my. Are you going to carry me to the Hangar?"

"Fat chance!" Fist said cocking an eyebrow. They stood a few moments looking at each other and Fist asked "So, what do you think about the mission?"

"Oh, it's easy enough." They started walking towards the turbolift. "It's a milk run… and if anything comes up we've got the Regis there to give us some cover." Pip shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh… well, since they're Crollan refugees and you're a Crollan…" Fist scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "I just thought that maybe you might not be as effective, you know. You think you can handle it?"

"Of course I can!" Pip said, starting to get nervous. "When have you seen that I can't handle something?"

"Well, I guess that you might have a point… but I'm still worried about you." Fist said, knowing when to not push any more at a pilot's ego.

In response, Pip only shook his head. They rode the turbolift in silence, then quietly made their way to the hangar and their fighters.

Chapter Three: Refugee Ship [First Lieutenant Layne's X-wing;Tan'iira System, 0.25 parsecs from Anaxes]

Four X-wings returned to normal space about a kilometer and a half away from the drifting corvette. Chris Layne immediately recognized the markings of battle and the Crollan cross, the symbol of the Crollan Homeworld, on the bulk of the ship. Yes, this had to be it… there could be no doubt. But he would double check anyways. Who knew what had happened in the hour it had taken them to prep and get here.

"Two, form on me. I'm going to get a nice, good reading on that ship. Seventeen, you and Eight go and hold the door open just in case things don't get pretty." Even as he spoke he was maneuvering his X-wing to the ship, nearing it as quickly as he could. He changed comm frequencies. "Crollan Sapphire, this is Red Squadron, do you receive?"

"We're here, Red," said a familiar voice over the comm. "We're pretty busted—how're you four going to help us?"

"We're here to make sure it's you and clear the area before help arrives which should be any minute now." He said, coming very close and getting a thorough scan. It showed that there were four hundred people onboard, much more than this small ship was meant to handle. In fact, he wondered if the Regis would be able to handle with all of them. "Please start preparing. We want to get out of here before any Imperials show up."

"Copy, Red. We've been ready for a while now, actually."

"Good." He said and cut off the transmission. He had Fist follow him in a loop around, not distancing themselves too much from the Sapphire but close enough for Fate to get some reading from the other entry points. Five minutes later the Regis arrived. Right on schedule.

"Regis, this is Red Six. Sapphire informs us that they're all set for transfer. I've picked up some four-hundred individuals." He reported to the frigate.

There was a pause from McCall and then her voice came up again. "Copy, contacting with Sapphire now. Give us cover just in case."

"Of course, Regis."

Truth was that Two Flight had already moved into position patrolling. If anything came in system, Chris was positive that they could stop it and give it a good size punch and then high tail it out of here with the Regis and the refugees. Plus, Chris wouldn't leave without them. Of that, he was determined.

An hour slowly passed, as refugees were loaded onto the Regis. The frigate had docked with the corvette but at the same time troop transports and shuttles made flight to and from each ships, transporting as many as possible as quickly as possible. There were very few refugees left and the mission had seemed to turn itself into a clear milk run.

Or so Chris thought.

Just as he was yawning for the fourth time since the start of the patrol his HUD started beeping. He looked to the board and saw that an Imperial Frigate had entered the system and was deploying fighters. "Regis, this is Red Six. We've got Imps in the system. Two Flight is moving to cover. Hurry up with those refugees."

Quickly, he switched over to the flight comm channel. "Eight, stay back and pick off any missiles and bombers that get past us. Two and Seventeen, form up on me. We'll take the Eyeballs. If we pick up any dupes whatsoever, Seventeen I want you to go after them. Everyone, save all of your missiles for just in case."

"Copy Six, cutting back throttle." Said David "Wild Cat" Fate's voice as he moved to cover the Regis. Chris watched as Wild Cat slowed to a near halt and Wire made his way over to Chris and Fist.

"Sir, I'm reading fighters launching from the frigate." Wire said.

Chris looked at his tactical display. The frigate was called the Brigadier, or so Fate informed him. He saw twelve TIEs launch from its hangar, a full squadron. Luckily, the X-wings had shields so they could still put up quite a fight if they had to. Eight TIE Fighters raced in front of four TIE Bombers. "Everyone knows what to do."

Wire broke off from the trio formation to set a new trajectory, which would take him directly into the middle of the four dupes. If they were lucky, Wire would be able to take them out without difficulty and quickly so he could then aid them in taking on the Eyeballs.

When they came to a distance of two kilometers from the TIEs Chris targeted the nearest one and switched his firing mode to quad. He began to center the target in his HUD and fired as soon as the light went green. Four red bolts smashed into the cockpit of the TIE Fighter, throwing it off course and spinning dead into space. He targeted the next one and moved the stick to point the fighter at it. He could see red bolts from Fist's X-wing slamming into another TIE and blowing it up.

Soon enough, his HUD started beeping, followed by screeched from Fate. A fighter had just opened fire against Chris. "Fate! Where's the Imp?"

Fate hooted worriedly.

"Behind me? Already?" Chris instinctively looked behind him to find the back padding of the ejection seat. He immediately jerked his head back to look at the sensor board and saw that a few of the TIEs had looped around them and had started firing. Only two of the TIE Fighters had gone ahead to try and do something about the stranded corvette. They probably saw it as an easy target. He hit the comm button. "Head's up, Eight. Two Eyeballs have made it past and are going your way."

"Copy, Six. Thanks for the warning." Replied the pilot.

Chris didn't bother replying, he had his own problems right now. Slamming his stick to the left, he juked right and started weaving as best as he could, not letting the TIE get a lock on him. He cut the throttle a little down, hoping that the TIE would be fooled and would pass him over.

The Imperial fell perfectly into Chris's trap. As soon as the TIE flew past him, Chris was on his tail like a mad krayt on the tail of a puny jawa. He set his laser to dual-fire and hit the trigger a few times, sending a few bolts at the TIE. A few of the shots hit, weakening the Fighter but not taking him out like Chris wished had happened.

Growling to himself he shot a few more times, but the more nimble TIE continued to evade him.

Chris was starting to get annoyed.

"Get ready for them… get ready…"

Though battle was like an everyday thing for Flight Officer David "Wild Cat" Fate, he was still as nervous as sithspawn under the glow of a jedi's lightsaber at the beginning. Afterwards, he simply flew. He believed it was something every other pilot did. When the battle started, you had no time to be scared.

Unless, you were David Fate in that exact moment.

Two TIE Fighters were converging on his position and all he was doing was waiting. Up ahead, Pip and Fist had already engaged TIEs and Wire, David's wingmate, was converging on a pack of TIE Bombers. Every second that passed, David was a little closer and the closer they got the more agitated—and scared—he felt. In part, it was a good sign that he could wait. Eyeballs didn't have missiles on them, and that meant that David didn't have to worry about a rocket in his rear.

Beetoo, his R2 unit, gave a warning hoot that disturbed him from his thoughts. He immediately brought up his throttle and targeted the nearest TIE Fighter. Moving his fighter's nose towards the objective he thought to try and get a lucky shot out.

He fired the first time, only getting a glancing hit on the port wing of the TIE Fighter. Both broke off before he could fire another. Groaning, David followed the one he had just hit on a long loop. The TIE pilot was clearly only evading him, letting David follow him in a wild goose chase. From the looks of it, the other TIE was either going to the Sapphire or for David's fighter.

"Let's put an end to this, shall we, Beetoo?"

Beetoo hooted an affirmative as David swung his fighter around, cutting down his throttle down and pulling on his stick and then hitting the throttle once again as soon as his fighter had turned around completely. Meanwhile, Beetoo had already targeted the other TIE for David. It had gone for the Sapphire thinking that his wingmate would be distracting me. He thought. "Well, he thought wrong."

David got a green light on his HUD and fired. The first shot hit the TIE dead on, probably scaring the TIE pilot badly. David didn't waste time and shot more bolts at the TIE, which soon exploded. "One TIE down! One more to go."

"Copy, Eight. We're almost done here, too."

"Copy, Six." David targeted the second TIE and made his way towards him.

"Scratch a bomber," reported Second Lieutenant Iddo "Wire" Geva as he turned his fighter to target another one of the three bombers. While TIE Bombers were easy prey for an X-wing, they were decidedly tougher to kill than a TIE Fighter. In a way. at least that was the case when there were four—three now—of them and you kept passing them up. Iddo didn't dare go slower, in case the Fighters decided to go and aid the bombers. For now, none had decided to do so since they were rather busy with Pip, Fist, and Wild Cat.

Iddo swung past the bombers ahead, trying to turn around and do a pass over them and letting his ruby red lasers loose on the bombers. But he still had to do a few things before that was even remotely possible. He swung the fighter around again and lined himself up with the TIE Bombers. His R2 unit gave him a lock on the second bomber and Iddo quickly switched to torpedoes—firing them the moment the HUD clicked to red.

He watched as the blue streak crossed the short distance between Iddo and the Bomber, slamming into its unshielded side and taking it down in a flashy explosion. "Two Bombers remaining!"

"Seventeen! I thought I had said to save the torps!" Chris Layne said over the comm.

Iddo cursed—he had remembered. "Sorry, sir, forgot. Going for the other two… with lasers."

The finally two TIE bombers had separated themselves, probably to protect themselves more than anything. Right now, Iddo could only chase off after one. He quickly made his choice. "Eight, heads up, you've got a bomber going your way. I'm on the other one."

"Copy that Seventeen!" replied Wild Cat's voice. Determined, Iddo targeted the remaining dupe, hoping that Wild Cat could get to the other one in time.

The TIE Fighters were dropping like flies before the X-wings and Pip's voice came over the comm. "Good job on those bombers, we're pretty much done with the TIEs here," he said in response to Wild Cat and Wire's confirmation on the destroyed Bombers. "Deuce and I can deal with these last two—why don't you start a run on that Frigate?"

Flight Officer Chris "Fist" Hart could tell that his wingmate was much more relaxed now, and his typical laid back personality had returned. Fist was relaxing as well, and it was because the TIEs were pretty much dealt with—apart from the one he was chasing and the one that his wingmate was dealing with.

"Copy that, Six. Seventeen making a run on the Frigate." Wire's voice said, coming from the comm. As Fist slammed his stick to one side to follow up the TIE he took a moment to glance at Wire and smiled as he saw his X-Wing speeding off towards the Frigate.

The TIE Fighter then did a snap roll to the left and between maneuvering he missed Wild Cat's response. He managed to get the TIE in his sights for a second and reflexively fired at the TIE Fighter who received a mere glance. Cursing, Fist let off a few more which were off completely.

He was led into a wide loop, which only frustrated him more. In one-on-one duels it was usually very difficult to get the upper hand on your enemy, usually it was a long bout of endless circles around each other. But that didn't mean that both of them were determined to do the impossible. Fist could probably consider this TIE pilot more dangerous than the usual—he was cornered with no possible chance at survival, after all. Even if he did get Fist, the TIE would still have to deal with the other three Fighters.

That thought in mind, he snapped in the opposite position, trying to catch him head on. He flicked all his shields forward and linked his cannons just at the TIE came into view. He fired, hitting the fighter on the top part of its ball cockpit. The pilot seemed to panic as the fighter started rolling left… not exactly the best place he could've rolled.

Fist had been prepared to follow the fighter in case it unexpectedly to one side and he professionally followed it, firing with certainty at his prey. The next four bolts hit the TIE on the side, but because of the other damage that Fist had inflicted on the fragile craft it exploded into various shards and pieces. "Whoo! TIE down, Six!"

"Copy, Two. Get on that Frigate!"

"Copy that, Six." He replied, turning towards the frigate. Celebration was short in battles… he would have time to celebrate it later.

He flew forwards, following his squadmates against the enemy ship.

Having already dealt with his own TIE, Chris moved up against the Frigate that had lost it's star fighter screen. He had seen Wire dumbfire his torps into the frigate, causing considerable damage to the shields, followed then by Wild Cat's barrage of missiles that brought the shields below fifty percent.

"Two, proceed to dumbfire missiles at the frigate's shields." He told Fist who was much closer than he to the frigate. "Eight and Seventeen, start trenching that ship. I want its shields down!"

He received confirmation from the three pilots.

Fist launched his missiles; six in all, at the Frigate and four of them hit their target. Gunners who were really starting to worry Chris picked off the other two. They had stopped a good number of torps already. "Be careful on your passes, those gunners look good."

The two X-wings fell upon the frigate, firing their red lasers towards the canons of the ship. Good thinking! Chris thought to himself and smiled proudly. Maybe I should dumbfire my torps at the cannons directly when I'm close enough?

He decided that it was a good idea. It would be like killing two mynocks with one shot.

Chris started to prepare for the run and communicated his idea to the rest of the flight. "I'm gonna go for a pass with torps and I'll try to knock out the bigger turrets with them. I'll need you three to give me some cover fire, copy?"

"Copy, Six. Moving to cover you." Came Wire's voice from the Comm unit. Chris waited until both Wild Cat and Fist confirmed before rolling his X-wing towards the Frigate. He made sure that his lasers were quaded up and then switched to missiles and started his run.

Putting all of his concentration on the frigate before him, the pilot aimed the nose of his fighter to one of the larger turrets on the left side, close to the hangar. Chris fired, then not having time to watch as the blue streak slammed into the turret—making it explode—he turned to the next one. He fired once again before turning upwards. Fate confirmed both hits for him.

Ginning wickedly, Chris rolled once more, this time over the top of the Frigate and over to the right side. He located the other two turrets and fired once more at them. The first proton torpedo slammed right on target but the second one was off target, hitting just under the turret, simply grazing it.

Mumbling his typical profanity he switched to laser quickly and fired a few times at it before it exploded. He turned once more and flew away from it.

"Red Six, this is Captain Daly." The voice of the Captain of the Regis came over the comm. "Stand by, we're going to give the Imps a chance to abandon the fight and surrender to us."

"Copy that, Regis. Standing by." He replied. "You heard him boys. Let's form up."

Four X-wings formed up in a diamond pattern at nearly a kilometer from the Frigate, the typical patrol pattern.

"Imperial Frigate Brigadier, this is Captain Gideon Daly of the New Republic Frigate Regis. Stand down and surrender or we'll be forced to continue with the destruction of your ship." Chris grinned at Daly's words, amused somewhat by the way that the Captain of the Regis had spoken to the Imperials. In truth, the Red pilot didn't really believe that the Imps would surrender.

A few minutes passed before the Imperials replied. "Regis, this is Captain Oir Dask. We accept the surrender."

"Copy, Brigadier. Stand by for boarding." Daly said. Behind the scenes he was probably rushing the marines to their transports, readying to capture the Frigate. With a grin, Chris knew that the battle was over…. And not a single casualty.

Yes, these were the battles that Chris loved most!

Epilogue: Strike Three

[CRS Morning Star; Anaxes System]

Three days had passed since the skirmish in the Tan'iira System, and Chris Layne had had enough time to spend with his sister and his younger brother, as well as a few friends who had arrived as well. The reunion hadn't exactly been a very happy one… they had had a lot of mourning to do.

Their father, their mother, and one of their sisters had been killed at Crolles less than a week ago… and then Denef and Alex had to leave for the refugee planet that the New Republic had for them. The location was classified, so he didn't think that he'd be seeing his family in a very long time.

But, Chris had always learned to see the bright side of things… and the bright side came with a shiny new pip—pardoning the pun. Because of the way he'd dealt with the battle and other actions in the past he'd been promoted to the rank of Captain… and that meant a pay raise. He was able to pay off his tab with Dargon but been forced to open a new one the moment Wild Cat and Fist entered the bar mere minutes after paying it off and noticing the three pips on his uniform.

Who he hadn't seen in the past three days—and wanted to see most—was Sheva. Between being drunk, patrol duty, lunch and sleep plus her own duties and schedule it was nearly impossible to actually meet up with her.

Currently he was once again in the hangar, watching as a tech changed "First Lieutenant" to "Captain." Chris was the typical fighter jock with more ego than Hoth had snow… and that was probably the reason he was to be found there by anyone who would be searching him out.

He was standing, hands on his hips and grinning as he watched, his attention fully on the rank change, so he didn't notice that someone had come up behind him before a pair of turquoise arms slipped around his shoulders and he felt the peck on his cheek. His grin switching over from proud to… a different type of happiness, he turned around to kiss the twi'lek.

"Hello, Sheva." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him. "Long time no see…" He kissed her again. "A lot has happened recently."

"I've heard… I thought that I'd come by and… congratulate you…" her voice was a purr, and to Chris's ears it was a very meaningful purr that simply aroused him. She cocked her head and pouted, as if to pull him away from his watching the mechanic writing his rank on his X-wing.

"You know, I know a maintenance closet that's pretty good for congratulating you know…" he said.

"Oh? And who will watch over your X-wing?" She looked over him, teasing before turning her beautiful amber-gold eyes to him again.

Chris grinned and, while still holding onto her, started sidestepping towards the closet. "I'm sure that Fate can deal with that…" he kissed her again, this time more passionately as his body started realizing what was coming and if he could define what his body thought about it…. Well, there were ways to tell that your body was happy, and he was pretty sure that Sheva was feeling it too—especially by the way her experienced hands caressed the flight suit's cloth and the way she pressed her body closer to his.

There wasn't much talking as they made their way to the closet as the only thing they did when their mouths parted was breathe.

As soon as they entered they closed it from the inside and started ripping at each other's clothing…. But before they went too far the klaxons started to ring. The two stared at each other for a second, as if they weren't too sure of what to do. Chris, technically was in the hangar and every cell in his body was telling him to finish what they had started but he knew that he couldn't…

"Sithspawn!" he cursed as he pulled himself upright and started zipping up his flight suit. "I'm sorry, Sheva… when I get back…"

"Don't worry about it, Chris." She said as she pulled her own clothing back on. "When we enlisted we knew that things like this would happen… well, we probably didn't but that doesn't matter. I'll be right here when you get back."

He gave her a goofy grin. "Whoa, that makes me really want to come back…"

She winked at him. "You ready?"

"Yeah." The two opened the door and made their way to Chris's A-Wing fighter—the rest of the squadron were making their way there at least. He gave Sheva a long kiss and a hug before getting in. "You can wait for me in my quarters if you like…"

"Will do…" Sheva winked at him.

With one last smile Chris closed the canopy and started the start up sequence. Minutes later he was waving back to her as she watched him leave the hanger.

"All right, Reds," Rob Baden's voice came over the intercomm. "Make sure you don't play this hand too much. We want at least one of those ‘boats to make it back to their base, so remember, shoot like you mean it, but don't follow through too hard if you see the number of red dots dwindle on your sensors."

Chris nodded to himself, reminding himself to remember. "Lead, what about Blue?"

"Blue's flying CAP for the Star in X-wings, just in case any of those ‘boats break through and attempt to make a run on the cruiser. If Intel is correct, this is just a recon mission to see how much in the way of firepower Third Fleet has positioned here, so the chances of the ‘boats being armed with torps or rockets are low, but the universe has a way of changing the rules on us."

"Understood, Lead." Chris said as he prepared himself for the upcoming dogfight... intent on returning home to Sheva…

The End...Or Not?