[On the bridge of the Frigate Regis]

Klaxons sounded everywhere throughout the Regis. Every person aboard sensed the dire situation at hand and the tension level on the ship was the highest it had ever been. On the bridge, Captain Daly stared intently at the tactical display in front of him. The situation was worse than he thought. The two Star Destroyers had put four squadrons of TIEs into space and they were all converging on the Regis. Strangely though, no TIE Bombers had been launched. A half dozen Assault Gunboats had arrived out of hyperspace just recently, but they seemed to be on intercept vectors for Red Squadron. The Captain had ordered the entire fighter complement of the Regis into the battle. Half of Red Squadron would be kept back within three kilometers of home base, to act as a forward screen, while the remainder would try to destroy as many TIEs and GUNs as possible further out. He prayed that Spectre and his pilots could buy them enough time to escape before they were all overwhelmed and destroyed.

"Navigation, put the fastest route out of here on the tactical display please," the Captain ordered. After a short pause, a series of waypoints appeared. "Good. Helm, follow the course that has just been plotted, flank speed," the Captain said, returning to his chair. "Weapons, set the warhead launcher to autofire. All weapons free, engage at maximum range. Tactical, I want constant position updates on those Impstars. If either or both move so much as a micron in this direction I want to know about it. Communications, contact the Captain of the Eldar and tell him to follow us at his best possible speed." As he sat down, he glanced back at the tactical display and noted that Red Squadron had engaged the lead elements of the Imperial fighter swarm. He smiled with satisfaction as several of the TIE symbols disappeared off the map.

The scene outside the Regis could only be described as frenzied. Volleys of green and red laser fire were everywhere. The lead TIE formations had been engaged and ravaged by the Rebel fighters. Still, the situation seemed grim. Red Squadron was badly outnumbered.

In the cockpit of his X-Wing, Spectre quickly scanned his map display after vaping his second TIE Fighter. As he assessed the situation, he shook his head. He couldn't recall ever being in a fight quite as intense as this one was turning out to be. It was almost as if the Imperial fighters had a vendetta against Red Squadron. Keying his map further back, he was gratified to see that the Regis had turned and was heading away from the battle area.

"Rapier, you still there?" he called to his wingman.

"Right with ya boss," Rapier called back jovially.

"You're certainly in a good mood," Spectre answered.

"You bet sir, my kill ratio is going through the roof!" Rapier joked.

"No kidding. What's your status?" Spectre asked.

"Shields good, lasers supercharged, no hull damage, full warhead load. I'd say I'm in decent shape," Rapier responded, quickly checking his systems.

"Good, you've noticed that the Star Destroyers appear to be sitting pretty and not attacking?" Spectre asked.

"Yes sir, I noticed that. What have you got in mind?" Rapier said, knowing the answer.

"Feel up to bagging a Star Destroyer today?" Spectre asked.

"Lead the way boss," was the answer. The two fighters formed up and accelerated toward the closest Imperial capital ship.

Meanwhile, Kyp and Assassin were in an intense dogfight with several Assault Gunboats. They had carved through several waves and as a result had prevented them from getting within warhead range of the Regis, but the waves kept coming unceasingly.

"Assassin, what's your status?" Kyp called as he flew through the expanding debris field of the gunboat he had just killed.

"I'm here sir, 0.75 klicks behind you. I'm pretty busy right now. This guy on me is good," Assassin said as he turned and weaved, trying to shake the Imperial pilot who was attempting to get a missile lock.

"You're doing great kid, keep it up," Kyp answered, banking his fighter around and acquiring Assassin's target. "Let me soften him up for you," he said, switching his weapon system to missile mode. He lined up directly aft of the enemy pilot, who seemed totally oblivious to his presence. Kyp smiled as he got a red lock and solid tone. "Here's one up your ass my friend," he said, squeezing the trigger. His A-Wing shuddered briefly as a single concussion missile rocketed away from the launch tube. The warhead immediately acquired its quarry and slammed into the gunboat, vaporizing it's rear shields. The pilot threw his fighter into an evasive pattern. "He's all yours Assassin," Kyp said, banking left and seeking a new target.

"Thanks sir, consider him toast," Assassin replied.

On the other side of the Regis, near the second Star Destroyer, the battle raged as well. Zoom and Wildcat were racking up their share of kills. The two pilots had formed a symbiotic relationship during this fight. Zoom would pick a target and pursue it relentlessly until it was destroyed while Wildcat guarded his six. Then, they switched places and repeated the procedure. Together, they had eliminated the entire first wave of TIE Interceptors and were working on the second. They had gradually worked themselves closer to the second Star Destroyer, eliminating the TIEs before they could become a threat to the Regis.

Zoom sat in the cockpit of his A-Wing and quickly keyed on his map display. For the moment, the space in their immediate vicinity was clear of TIEs. He called to Wildcat.

"Red 4, I show us as all clear for the moment," he said.

"Copy Red 6, I concur. Wait, I've just shown another six T/Is on the way, 4.5 klicks."

"I see them, Wildcat. What say we take this battle to the mothership? I've got a full warhead load," Zoom suggested.

Let's do it Zoom. You take the lead. We'll engage T/I Alpha 1 on the way in, I'll cover you," Wildcat said, bringing up T/I Alpha 2 on his CMD. The two A-Wings accelerated towards the Star Destroyer and the incoming TIEs.

As the Regis steadily made its way out of the battle area and closer to its jump point, Corran and Redjed turned to engage another wave of Assault Gunboats that had just arrived. The two pilots were part of the fighter screen that had stayed close to their command ship.

"Redjed, this is Corran, I show three GUNs exiting hyperspace 2.75 klicks ahead. You take Mu 2, I'll take Mu 1," Corran ordered crisply as he banked over and acquired the lead gunboat.

"Roger Red 9, Red 7 moving to engage," Redjed responded, turning his fighter in the same direction. As he closed the distance between himself and the enemy ships, he switched his lasers over to dual fire and checked that they were supercharged. As soon as his targeting crosshairs went green, he snapped off several shots. The Imperial gunboat opened fire at exactly the same instant, causing Redjed to break into a corkscrew maneuver. The bulk of the laser fire missed him, but several bolts splashed on his forward shields. As the two groups of fighters passed each other, Redjed caught an explosion out of the corner of his eye. Gunboat Mu 3 had taken a concussion missile hit from the Regis. The enemy ship spun wildly out of control but managed to return to a steady course. He bored on past Corran and Redjed and resumed his attack run.

"Corran, Mu 3 has escaped, he's getting into warhead range," Redjed called.

"Copy Red 7. Stay on your target. The Regis will get him."

Captain Daly watched the tactical map intently from his command chair. They were nearing their last waypoint. Miraculously, none of the enemy fighters had survived long enough to get into a position to launch warheads.

"Navigation, are the jump calculations complete?" the Captain asked, turning to the navigator.

"Yes sir, we're all set," replied the young ensign at the navigation console.

"Good, transmit the calculations to the Eldar and to the fighters." Captain Daly added. The navigation officer nodded and pressed several additional buttons on his console. "Communications, open a channel to Red Leader."

"Aye, aye sir." After a short pause, the comm officer announced, "Channel open now."

"Red Leader, this is home plate," the Captain said.

"Go Regis," Spectre answered.

"Spectre, we've just transmitted jump coordinates to you and your pilots. Wait until we've left the area and then follow us out. Understood?"

"Copy Sir, Red Leader out," came the reply. Captain Daly looked back at the tactical map and noted they had reached their jump point.

"Helm, all stop. Let the Eldar pass us and go first," he ordered. Slowly but surely, the bulk freighter caught up with and passed the Regis. It slowed for a brief instant as its hyperdrive motivator came online. Then, it shot into infinity. "Ok then, it's our turn. Let's get out of here," the Captain said. With that, the big frigate leapt from a standstill and disappeared along the same path the freighter had taken.

Spectre noted the departure of the Regis as he finished engaging a TIE Interceptor that had been dogging him for the last few minutes. Neither he nor Rapier had been able to initiate their planned attack on the Star Destroyer. It just kept sending out wave after wave of TIEs and to make matters worse, fresh packs of Assault Gunboats kept arriving out of hyperspace. Briefly consulting his map to get an idea of where the rest of the squadron was at, he noticed that Zoom and Wildcat had the same idea he had and were attempting to attack the other Star Destroyer. Everyone else seemed locked in vicious furballs with multiple opponents.

Spectre decided that the time to leave was at hand. It was pretty clear that the Empire was attempting to utterly destroy his squadron. They had beaten the odds so far, but luck had a nasty habit of changing suddenly. As if to echo his thoughts, his threat warning indicator announced the arrival of new threats. Several TIE Advanced starfighters had just launched from the Star Destroyer ahead. It was most definitely time to leave.

"Attention Red Squadron, it's time to evacuate the area. Let's not continue to press our luck. Head home now. I repeat, disengage and break for the rendezvous point," he announced.

Spectre watched his map display and noted each ship as they attempted to disengage and enter hyperspace. It was difficult for them, and it took several additional minutes for his pilots to shake their attackers. Corran and Redjed were the first to go, followed by Rapier, who had been a short distance away from him. Zoom and Wildcat were the next out. Spectre continued to monitor the squadron's progress as he himself turned away from the battle. Kyp and Assassin were the last ones to leave. He did one final check for distress beacons and to his satisfaction, found none. Suddenly, he was alone. He accelerated away from the battle area with a cloud of angry Imperial pilots in pursuit.

Just as Spectre was going to pull his hyperspace lever, his missile lock warning went off. Spectre let out a curse as it changed to red. Two of the TIE Advanced had gotten within missile range and launched two missiles each. Spectre knew he was in serious trouble. He immediately dumped all power to the engines and began evasive maneuvers. He dumped out chaff just as the first pair of missiles impacted against his rear shields. The chaff helped, but the explosions had sufficient power left to severely weaken his rear shields.

The next pair of missiles arrived as Spectre dumped out more chaff and transferred the cannon power he had left to recharge his shields. This time, he was not as lucky. The missiles hit, causing him to enter a wild spin. The force of the twin explosions caused his shield generator to overload and also caused severe damage to his engines. Spectre managed to regain control of his fighter just as the TIEs entered cannon range.

Without another thought, Spectre pulled the hyperspace lever, praying to every known deity in the galaxy that it would still function. Behind him, the TIEs let loose a vicious volley of laser fire just as his fighter's hyperdrive reached full power. One of the bolts caught the X-Wing and sheared off the upper left s-foil. This caused his hyperdrive motivator to overload and subsequently explode. The last thing Spectre felt was the auto ejection system engage. He immediately went unconscious as he was flung out into space.

[Main hangar bay aboard the Regis]

The mood in the hangar bay aboard the Regis was extremely somber as the pilots of Red Squadron exited their fighters. It hadn't taken long for them to realize that their leader had not returned. They had all formed up at the rendezvous point near the Regis and the Solace, but Spectre's X-Wing was nowhere to be seen. Kyp, Rapier, Assassin, Redjed, Corran, Zoom, and Wildcat all stood staring out at the space beyond the open hangar, hoping to catch Spectre's X-Wing returning home.

"He must have gotten into trouble," Kyp said. Heads around him nodded. They all knew that Spectre always stayed behind until everyone else had left. Never once had he been the first into hyperspace when disengaging from a battle. "Well, there's nothing we can do from here if he did get into trouble. I'll go check in with the Captain. Debrief in 30 minutes people. Congratulations on some excellent flying out there," he said, trying to inject some positive feelings into the moment. The group reluctantly broke up and exited the hangar, not saying a word.

Captain Daly paced intently back and forth as he read the data report from the medical crew aboard the Eldar. The bacta they had captured had been poisoned with an ingredient that rendered the bacta toxic. It was therefore completely useless, which was not a good situation, as their current supply was down to less than a week's worth. As the Captain sat back in his chair and tried to decide how to proceed, Robert "Kyp" Cashman strode onto the main bridge.

"Captain, any news on Spectre?" Kyp asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"No Kyp, no word. He never returned with rest of you. All of Red Squadron is accounted for except for him," the Captain replied. "What happened back there anyway?"

"Well sir, after you left, we continued to fight for several more minutes. It was a furious engagement and we had difficulty disengaging safely. Spectre gave the order to leave, and we did, one by one. I think he stayed behind until the last, as he usually does, so none of us ever saw him leave," Kyp said.

"If he ejected, he's most likely been captured then," the Captain said. "That is not a good position to be in. I'm not sure how we're ever going to find him if that's the case. The Empire has a nasty reputation surrounding captured Rebel pilots, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Very aware sir. I would suggest we keep our ears open," Kyp replied, trying to force away the despair suddenly filling him. "There really isn't much else we can do without more information."

"Agreed. I'll contact Alliance command and ask for a reconnaissance sortie through the battle area. We'll look for debris fields. We will find him Kyp, if he's still alive," the Captain said, trying to sound as positive as possible.

"Yes sir. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a debriefing to run," Kyp said, turning to leave, trying to ignore the emotions swirling around inside him.

Rainman stared solemnly at his mug of ale. Word that Spectre had not returned had traveled quickly throughout the Regis. This news, coupled with the fact that their bacta raid had been an absolute failure, made for a very poor atmosphere on the ship. The silence in the 'Mug' was deafening.

Rainman looked up as he heard voices coming from outside the bar facility. The entry door slid open and several of his friends stepped through. Kyp's debriefing was obviously over. Rapier looked over in his direction and smiled, beckoning him over to a table near the rear of the bar. Rainman got up and strode over.

"Welcome back guys. I hear you were lucky to make it out in one piece," Rainman said, taking a seat.

"I've never seen a worse furball," Zoom responded. "The Imps really seemed to have it out for us this time."

"Yeah," Rapier added. "I've been in this war a long time, but that was some of the most intense flying I've experienced in a while." The group was quiet for a moment as the bar-bot rolled up to their table and took their orders. Conversation resumed as the droid rolled away.

"We've got to plan a rescue mission," Redjed announced, staring at the centre of the table.

"How?" Wildcat answered. "We don't even know where he is."

"I think it's a safe bet that he's been taken aboard one of the two Star Destroyers that were there. Temporarily anyway," Corran theorized. He took a swig of his ale. "Then probably to Star's End." Heads around the table nodded. Conversation ended abruptly as Kyp entered the room.

"Ten-hut!" Rapier shouted. All the pilots jumped to their feet and snapped to attention. Kyp smiled.

"As you were people. I'm here to relax too," Kyp said, motioning to the bar-bot.

The last pilot trailed in. Kyp looked at Red Squadron's assembled pilots and saw that morale was at an all time low. Many of the pilots had not been sleeping properly and the stress of the past few days showed on them all. Kyp stood up slowly, regretting that he was actually giving the briefing.

"Gentlemen, we are going on a reprisal raid. We will be attacking the supply base of the Imperial force that attacked us." He saw a glimmer of hope appear in Rainman's eyes, the look of hope quickly spread through all of the pilots. He felt a glimmer of regret at what he had to say next. "I'm sorry, but this is not a rescue mission. All though we are attacking this base Alliance Intelligence informs me that Spectre has been captured and is being shipped aboard the Corvette Dargo. They do not yet know what course it is taking, but as soon as they find out they will inform us immediately."

All of the pilots brightened and a quick cheer went up. Kyp waited until the noise had died down before he continued. "We will exit hyperspace near nav-buoy ZR-256. Red Squadron will be in two groups of 3 fighters, one Y-Wing group and one X-Wing group. I will lead the X-Wing group and will have Ranger and Rapier as my wingmen, we will provide cover for the Y-Wings as they take out the base, we will also take out any ships in the area. Rainman will lead the Y-Wing group."

Kyp had to stop as a groan came from Rainman's general direction. "I'm sorry Rainman, but you have recovered and you did want a flight assignment. You will have Redjed and Corran on your wing, you will launch shortly after the Regis arrives, you will destroy the base. The rest of you will stay in reserve and only launch if the Regis is attacked. We must destroy the base and all fighters in the area as quickly as we can. Any questions?"

Redjed raised his hand. "Sir, how much resistance can we expect?"

"We will probably face a few gunboats, as it is mainly used as a patrol base, but the force that attacked the Regis before is still in the area, so we must eliminate the base quickly."

"Do I really have to fly a Y-Wing?" Rainman asked

"Yes. The attack will begin in 1 hour. Good luck and may the Force be with you!"

Three X-Wings shot out of hyperspace near an Imperial base. They locked their s-foils and started towards the Gunboats that were swarming towards them. A few seconds later the massive form of a Nebulon B Frigate exited hyperspace, and launched 3 Y-Wings...