Chapter 1

Marc "Prowler" Desrosiers walked down the hall of the ASD Happy Jack. He was studying the map of the ship, it had only been a week since he was accepted in Blue Squadron and he hadn't had time to explore the Jack yet, they had had a busy week. His second day aboard the Happy Jack had been quite entertaining, if you could call it that. The ISD Death Hand, flagship of the fleet of Warlord Lamarik, had ambushed the Jack while they were gathering data on Lamarik's patrols. The Death Hand had dropped out of hyperspace with the Archimedes, an Interdictor, an ImpStar II, and an Escort Carrier that they hadn't identified.

Groznik, their commanding officer had made them scramble into their respective starfighters and told them to clear the path for the Happy Jack. They had been lucky, among those 3 capital ships, only 1 squadron of TIE Bombers had been launched, with 2 squadrons of TIE fighters as escorts. "Lamarik probably thought that he could take us out in a whiff!", but he had found out that was unlikely too occur. During that battle, the Archimedes shield's had succumbed to the Heavy rockets fired by Groznik and AtrueJedi. They had then proceeded to disable the port side of the ship and after that they swung to the other side to do the same. But by then the Archimedes had jumped into hyperspace. The TIE Bombers had succeeded in firing a few Torpedoes, and had managed to damage the Happy Jack. But before it's shields gave way, it escaped into hyperspace. Prowler had let go of his retained breath as he saw his home escape. He had taken out 3 TIE Bombers and 2 TIE Fighters. After a few minutes of dog fighting, the enemy fighters retreated to their mother ships and no reinforcements came out. The Blues emptied their missiles at the Death Hand and it's reinforcement, the unknown Escort Carrier. The missiles and Heavy Rockets had crippled the Escort Carrier, but it, too, escaped into hyperspace before they could finish it off. Then, the growl of Groznik`s voice broke over the commlink, he simply sent their escape vectors and told the Blues to get out as fast as possible. In a matter of seconds, X-wings, A-wings and B-wings with the markings of Blue Squadron made their way back towards their home base, all in the safety of hyperspace.

"Damn," said Marc, as he thought over every single instant of that engagement. "We should have known that Lamarik would come for us, we were wide open. One more squad of TIE Bombers and the Jack would probably be space debris by now." As he finished that phrase, Weston, his flight leader, came walking down the hall, grinning at him.

"Talking to yourself Marc, that's usually a sign that someone needs a drink."

Marc just looked up at him and said, "Hmmm, as I recall, you owe me a drink, don't you now, Wes?"

"Uhh, forget what I just said, ok?"

"Sure thing, sir," he said, trying to restrain his smile.

But he couldn't, so he chuckled a little and said, "ok, come on, I'll get you a Sullustan Brandy, I think we can find something to get drunk about."

And so they walked towards the Bar, all while talking about what they thought was going to happen in the next few days. A minute later, they entered the Bar and they sat at the table closest to the counter, Prowler ordered two glasses and a bottle of Brandy. The hours went by, and Wolf and Wes just kept talking about anything that came through their heads, and slowly, as they kept talking, the glasses of brandy piled up on the table in between them.

[Six hours later...]

When Prowler woke up in his bunk, he sat up strait and glanced around, wondering what had happened last night. But then, his head started to pound, but pound. He got of the bunk and walked to the washing cubicle, he threw some cold water on his face and rummaged through the cupboards in the small room, then he found what he wanted, Anti-migraine Bacta pills, he swallowed 2 of them and almost spit them out as he recalled why he almost never had any, they just tasted absolutely awful, so he took a glass of water, drank it and swallowed the bitter pills. He then went back to his room, he slipped on a clean flight suit and he exited his quarters and headed towards the mess hall.

Everybody in Blue squad laughed aloud when Marc entered the mess hall, they all got up and slapped him on the back, when it came Groz`s turn however, Prowler was thrown a good 3 meters across the floor.

Groz growled an apology, but the laughter simply doubled. Marc then got up to his feet, waved off the apology of Groznik and said, "What the HELL is going on around here?" The laughter died a little, but not very much, then Dobber stepped forward and explained, "last night when you went to the Bar, you got drunk after 8 glasses of Brandy, and do I mean drunk, you couldn't stand up. It's just that you're the first person to get drunk so fast by drinking Brandy in all of Blue Squadron."

"So, what's the big deal, I got drunk, that's it."

"Ok so we laughed a little at you, but you're the new guy, so you're credited to a little ridicule."

"Fine, now please let me eat my breakfast, I've got a splitting headache and I NEAD caf."

They all laughed a little at that and then they all went back to eating their breakfast.

After he was done his breakfast, he walked out to the simulator, for some well-needed practice.

Little did he know that he was going to need it very soon.

Chapter 2

[Aboard the ISD Death Hand...]

Lamarik paced the bridge of his flagship, Those damned Rebels he thought, they have unbelievable luck, every way I try to outsmart them, and I do just that, but they just don't succumb to all my traps. He continued mumbling, trying to think of a new plan to crush Blue Squadron and the rest of the Alliance fleet.

A few meters to the side of Lamarik, was the first officer of the Death Hand, Captain Tarkh. He stared silently at his commanding officer, wondering if he might say anything interesting. Lamarik shifted his head toward him and Tarkh tried to look away but he thought better of it, it might look suspicious.

"Is there something amiss, Tarkh?" said Lamarik.

"No, sir," he replied hastily, trying not to seem nervous. He didn't like Lamarik, he made his skin crawl above his muscles. Lamarik had apparently been a pupil of a Grand Admiral named Thrawn, apparently one of the best. He always tried to act as thoughtfully as Thrawn had been, but none surpassed the master, or so it was said.

When Thrawn disappeared--no, not disappeared, exiled was more so the case. When the Emperor exiled him, Lamarik had taken it hard, very hard. He started to depress and he seemed like he was never going to come out of it, and then, one day, he simply walked out of his quarters with a full-scale attack strategy to completely annihilate the convoy routes of the Rebellion's supplies. This was only the first phase of his Battle Plan; the second was to attack the bases of the Rebellion.

They were still building forces for this attack and by the Dark Sith, it seemed like nothing was going to stop them. But the preliminary step of this battle plan was to destroy the power of the Rebellion, their starfighter squadrons. They had launched attacks on Blue, Red, Gold, Green, Crimson and even Rogue Squadron. They had succeeded in damaging Crimson Squadron, crippling it's mother ship, the Dreadnaught Silve Dagger and blowing half of it's pilots to space dust. But nothing more. The other Squadrons simply damaged Lamarik's capital ships and then made their way into hyperspace. Oh well, we'll eventually get them in a head-on engagement he thought, but he wished that it was already done.

Just then, Lamarik stopped pacing and turned slowly towards his first officer, "Tarkh, please inform the navigations officer that we will be taking a new heading," he said. He blinked and paused, and then spoke again. "Oh, and Tarkh, inform the Archimedes, the Dead Lock and the Harasser to go to these coordinates, tell them to get there as quickly as possible and to wait for further orders."

"Aye, Sir," he responded. He turned to his task and he dispatched the messages as quickly as he could. After a moment, he turned back towards Lamarik. "All done, sir," he said in a loud voice.

"Excellent, now it is certain, the Rebel's final hour is at hand. Take us to those jump coordinates and engage hyperspace drive."

"Aye sir," said Tarkh. "May I ask something Sir?" he asked, after having complied to his superior's orders.

"That depends on what your question is, Tarkh."

"I was wondering where we might be going, the coordinates indicate somewhere in the Outer Rim, at a good 2 months drive."

"You're right, of course, we are heading to the Outer Rim, but where exactly and why, I choose not to tell you. You see, what we are probably going to find there, will definitely help us vanquish the Rebels, and I do not wish the word to spread. So I'll keep my idea to myself, and you will not speak of this again until I say so myself, in person, is that clear Captain?"

"Yes sir, absolutely," and then he waved to the Flight Officer, signaling him to engage the hyperdrive, and from the view port, the stars became star lines and the void that is called hyperspace engulfed them once more as they headed to the Outer Rim.

Chapter 3

[Aboard the Happy Jack...]

Groz turned towards the pilots that composed Blue Squadron. They were all seated in the Briefing room and he was waiting for the chatter to die down before he began to speak.

A few seconds later, all the eyes in the room were looking a Groz, waiting for him to start.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen" he began, "orders from High Command have been sent to us concerning our next assignment, they have transferred us to the post that Crimson Squadron had, he paused, we are now the escorters of the New Republic's convoy routes. Among these orders are different tasks; I will enumerate them so that no unnecessary questions will be asked. We will, of course, be assigned to escort ships to transfer points and such, but we will also be given carte blanche on another style of mission. We are given the authority, by the council of the New Republic, to intercept any Imperial convoys, to disable and board them. Part of the equipment and supplies that we gather from such missions will be given to us, and the rest to the Republic, for their own use."

“You mean we get to go supply stealing!" said Luky, with a great deal of excitement in his voice.

"I wouldn't have put it that way, but yes." A cheer went up from the group of pilots and the chatter began again. Groz patiently waited for the talking to die down once more.

"Good, I see that many of you are in agreement with our assignment. That is always good. But, there are rumors, rather strong rumors that many capital ships from Lamarik's fleet are escorting the most important convoys."

"Of course, that only makes sense, he's protecting what's most important to him, but that won't discourage us, will it, we'll just have more chances of having a few more capital ship silhouettes on our fighters” said Saberwolf, grinning openly. He obviously liked the idea of going against Lamarik.

"What ships did Lamarik send against us?" asked Saberwolf.

"There have been alleged sightings of the Archimedes, and the Harasser and one other VSD, most likely the Dead Lock."

Everybody in the room whistled at what Groz had said, finally Dobber spoke up, " it seems that Lamarik puts great importance in his convoys, to put out so many of his rare Star Destroyers into such action."

"Yes, but big activity like this can mean that he's preparing an attack on one of our convoys too, you know," explained Weston.

"Both of your statements are true, but we can't just choose one option and let the other hang in empty space, we've got to cover every possibility of what Lamarik has up his sleeve. We are going to have to be spread pretty thin for a while, quite a few convoys are coming in during the next few days and we have to cover every one of them. So the priority for the next 2 days is to think up a plan about how to destroy or to discourage Lamarik's forces,” said Groz. He turned around and said: " Go on, you're all dismissed."

[Two Days Later...]

Once again, the whole Blue Squadron entered the briefing room. And all sat, talking in low voices. They were all waiting for Commander Groz to get here.

He came in a few moments later, carrying a datapad. “All right, you've all had time to think over what to do. May I have all your ideas, one by one?”

”Sir, here's mine” said Biggs.

”Ok, it reads, [to cover most possibilities, we must obviously deploy our forces to cover maximal space areas. To do so, I suggest that we take the Solar Breeze, our recently captured FRG, and separate our Squadron in two groups. One should be commanded by our, already in command officer, Groz. The other should be commanded by the Squadron's Executive Officer, Weatherman. One group would patrol the Convoy Lanes; the other would intercept any Imperial Convoys going through any near space areas. This way, we could maximize our efforts to find Lamarik's forces and stand a better chance to make a hole in his Fleet. We could also save quite a few of our convoys and we might just gain enough supplies and spare parts to buy or make extra one or two Fighters. Which would help our efforts immensely.] Very good, Biggs, I like it a lot, but before we accept it, we've got to hear at least one or two other ideas.”

In the next 5 minutes, two other ideas were proposed by Joda and Vagabond, but in the end, everybody voted for Biggs idea.

”All right, since we've decided what our plan efforts are going to be, I think everybody needs a little drink. Except for Wolf, Weston and Rogue, you're all on patrol duty in 20 minutes, so get rolling.”

”Yes sir” they replied, all with disappointed looks on their faces. They walked out at a speedy march and headed for the Hangar Bay.

[5 minutes later…]

Saberwolf slid into the cockpit of his X-wing, adjusting his seat straps and his helmet's comm system. He then pressed the SHUT CANOPY switch, and with a hiss, the transparisteel canopy slid down to close up the cockpit. He turned his head to the right, gave a thumbs up to the mechanic on the outside, he then looked at Weston who waved towards the dashboard. Wolf understood, and turned on his commlink, Wes spoke: “Ok Blues, call `em out.”

”Blue 14, four in the green and ready to roll” said Wolf.

”Blue 12, all's cool and rolling!” exclaimed Rogue, in an enthusiastic voice.

”Ok, take `em out slowly, we aunt in a rush.” said Wes, in his calm voice.

”Aye Sir, I'm going out.” as he said, Wolf took his X-wing out of the hangar in a smooth gesture, indicating that he had many hours of flight time. As soon as Wolf cleared the energy field, Rogue swung his X-wing around with a clean smooth pressure on the left etheric rudder, and with a slight pressure on the throttle, his X-wing glided smoothly through the field and he accelerated into space to catch up with Wolf. Then, Weston cleared the field as well, and called through the commlink: “head towards waypoint 1, and chop speed to 2/3.”

”Gotcha Wes, are we expecting any trouble?”

”Not for the moment, but lately, I've come to believe that Lamarik can be quite a devil, and worse, so I'm always expecting trouble” said Wes, in a calm voice that meant that he was dead serious.

Rogue grunted an approval on his side of the commlink. “Too true Wes, that guy is a real nut, a dangerous one though.”

After 3 minutes of patrol flying towards Nav 1, they veered to starboard, to Nav 2, it hanged 50 klicks away.

”Geez, this a long patrol” complained Wolf. “I haven't done a long one like this since Yavin.”

”Yeah well, you know that the Captain of the Jack has been pretty nervous lately, with all the VSDs going around here” added Wes.

"Well, he doesn't have to worry while I'm out here" exclaimed Wolf, with a broad grin on his face

Their patrol done, the three pilots headed back for the Jack, hoping that they could grab a Correlian Ale in the pilots lounge before they had any other duties.

[10 minutes later…]

[On the bridge of the Jack, 3 hours later...]

Captain Mainer turned towards Groz, the man he trusted with most of his important decisions, when it came time to do battle. As it was, battle was in the air. The Jack was expected in sector 315 67, where an Alliance convoy was to refuel at a space station. Attacks were always possible. And for this convoy, not only Lamarik, but pirates too could be expected to attack. Two out of six ships carried weapons (missiles, torpedoes, and rockets); two others carried spare parts for X-wings, A-wings, and Y-wings. The fifth had 6 B-wings and parts for them, and the sixth had fresh bacta from Thyferra, and the Republic needed it, many soldiers were wounded during an attack on one of the bases of Warlord Zsinj. But at least, the Freighters were armed, not very much, but still, they each had two single laser turrets, and 3 of them had a warhead launcher. "If Lamarik attacked, he would lose at least one boarding party" thought Mainer. At the moment, the Jack was headed at maximum velocity in hyperspace.

Still, they would be late, the convoy was expected 15 minutes before they could exit hyperspace. He turned to Groznik, "Why don't you get your pilots ready, I've got a feeling that they're going to earn their pay today." Groz growled a "yes" and headed for the pilots lounge. Groz thought about how to defend the convoy if they had to, "I'll go with AtrueJedi, and we'll launch our rockets at the mother ship, Weston and his group will engage the Bombers and Transports, and Weatherman will take the A-wings for a spin with the squints. That ought to buy enough time for the convoy to get out."

After a minute of walk in the many corridors of the Happy Jack, he entered the pilots lounge, and as usual, quite a few of his pilots were there. "Let's go people, he growled, in your fighters and get ready to safeguard our convoy."

The pilots all got up, downed the rest of their drinks and food, and then they all hurried off towards the hangar bay. 6 minutes later. They all came out of the turbo lift and walked to their crafts.

Groz looked around as he looked at his pilots getting ready. Wes and his group were all getting in their X-wings and he was obviously briefing his pilots on their tasks. On the other side of the hangar bay, Luky, Biggs and Corran were getting in their A-wings and doing their pre-flight checklists. He walked over to his B-wing, and sat in the adjusted seat (the previous one didn't fit a Wookiee). He initiated the checklist and switched on the commlink,

"All right Blues, names and status."

"Blue 2, 4 lasers at full and shields charging."

"Blue 3, 4 engines roaring."

As all the pilots called their favorite phrases to signal that they were ready, Wolf was still checking his weapons status, 2 of his lasers were glitching, and he didn't like that just before possible fighting.

When it came his turn however, he turned on his commlink and sighed: "Blue 14, let's kick it!!"

Then the voice of Groz came over the link, "get out in reversed entry order."

That made Wolf first, he slid the repulsorlifts on in a slow, almost liquid-style move, and slowly edged the X-wing towards the magcon field that retained the atmosphere inside the hangar bay. Once he was clear, he waited for his flight leader, Wes, and followed him as they flew at full speed towards the convoy, that was 9 km away.

The comm crackled on and the order to inspect all the freighters came. The 5^th TSW swirled to the left as they sped away. But the A-wings of 11^th TSW were there first, there sensors confirmed the official cargo and they were authorized to proceed to the refueling station. The Freighter LENGA 1 was the first to dock, and 2 minutes later it took off towards the hyperspace vector.

Wolf glanced every 10 seconds at his sensors, checking if any new craft entered the area or came out of the asteroid field that was 30 km away. Just as LENGA 2 was about to dock, a transport came out of hyperspace and headed towards the station.

"5, 8, get me a sensor report on that freighter." snarled Groz, surprise evident in his powerful voice.

"2, get me an open channel to that Transport and tell it to identify itself."

Just then, over the comm, a static-filled channel opened: "This is the K`Terronian Transport K`tera, we have no fuel left and we are requesting authorization from the station to be allowed to dock and refuel."

Wolf swore under his breath, the K`terronians were a people whom the Alliance had been trying to convince to join them. "If it's a cover, it's a damn good one, he muttered." As the Transport approached the station, Luky and Corran reported in: "It's a boarding party, it's filled with storm troopers" yelled Luky. As Luky finished his sentence the Transport fired at LENGA 6. Sithspawn was the gentlest curse that came out of the commlink, the ones that Groznik referred to however, were only understandable in the Wookiee native language. "Open fire on the Transport, but don't kill it, I want it disabled" Groz. The A-wings did one pass over and under the Transport, they each fired 3 dual shots at it and that lowered the shields to 50%, when Groz and AtrueJedi hit it though, they opened with ion cannons spitting burst after burst towards the Transport. It was disabled, but n the few seconds that pilot of the Transport had left of control, he fired endlessly at the Freighter LENGA 6 and he succeeded in bringing it's shields down to 25%, but there was no hull damage. Groznik ordered LENGA 6 to refuel next so that it could escape to hyperspace. 10 minutes later, the whole convoy was gone into hyperspace, and the Blues stayed and patrolled the area. A few minutes later, the Happy Jack sent a commando squad in an armored shuttle to take the transport prisoner. As it was heading back to the Happy Jack, the triangular silhouette of a Star Destroyer came out of Hyperspace at 2 km distance from the shuttle, it opened up it's laser barrage and in less than 6 seconds, all that was left of the shuttle and the Transport was debris. As all of the Blues turned to face the oncoming threat, the now identified VSD Silencer, launched 2 squadrons of Tie Bombers and 2 squadrons of Tie Interceptors. The Bombers headed strait for the Jack and they fired a full volley of torpedoes at the mother ship of Blue Squad. Groz ordered the X-wings to intercept as many Bombers as possible and to shoot down torpedoes as well. Wolf swung his X-wing to the left, all while following Wes; he switched his weapons to torpedoes and targeted the nearest Bomber. The sight reticule in the middle of his view screen went to yellow to red and he fired one torpedo. The blue dart of energy sped away towards it `s target. Wes had picked a Bomber too, for he launched a torpedo as well. Wolf's targeted Bomber swerved to the right, trying to make the torpedo overshoot. It did, but Wolf made it self-destruct and as it blew up, the ball of explosive energy enclosed the unshielded Bomber and shredded it to pieces. Wes's torpedo struck home, the Bomber apparently didn't notice the torpedo. It crashed through the rear of the cockpit and exploded inside, making the quandanium wings blow off and hurtle into space. Wolf then picked a new target and switched to lasers, he fired in quad shots, but they weren't enough to kill it. He overshot it and fired at the torpedoes that they had just fired, he caught two with his first shot and a second with another shot. But then, he heard lasers sizzling his rear shield, so he dove to the left, hoping to shake the bomber behind him. He continued his dive until the Bombers came back into view, he fired at them. His shot hit the Bomber to the left, it ripped the right wing joint and the bomber went into a spin that caused it to collide with its wingman. The 2 bombers both exploded slowly as the atmosphere on the inside combusted, and then, with a yellow-blue flash, they melted into globs of boiling durasteel. Wolf pressed the right rudder and his X-wing complied, it shifted so slightly to the right, but just enough to make the targeting sight go green as it passed over the third bomber. He squeezed off a shot, but he turned as they reached the bomber, so he didn't see the result. "No losses on our side, but the Imps have lost 1 squad of Bombers and almost a full one of squints,” he thought, as he looked at the sensors. Then a screech pierced the silence in the cockpit of Wolf's X-wing,

"What is it, you stupid droid?" he yelled at his R5 unit. A missile had been fired at him. He targeted it, and saw that it was half a km away, he sent all energy to the shields, and in two seconds it collided with the side of his fighter. It caused him to spin out of control, and he struggled to regain control of his craft. "Damn!!" he yelled.

The targeting computer was out, so was the right upper engine. He shut down the engine, and checked how long it would take for his R5 droid to reroute the targeting system elsewhere. "45 seconds!!, my previous droid could do it in 25, what the bloody hell is wrong with you??" The droid sent back a self-pitying sound of complaint: "Oh, shut up, just do it as fast as you can. And I'm sorry, too." He thought better to complain with his droid in the middle of combat. He headed back towards the dogfight. He saw a squint circling around for a rear shot at one of the A-wings in his group, since he couldn't target it, it would be a luck shot. He fired two quad bursts just ahead of the TIE. The first one missed, but the pilot apparently saw it pass a mere few meters in front of him, so when he turned to go evasive, he flew right into the second shot that reduced him and his craft to chunks of durasteel.

"Geez, talk about luck" exclaimed Wolf, still amazed at the shot.

"Nice shooting there, Wolf, and thanks for getting him off my tail, he was chewing my shields away!” said Biggs.

Wolf recovered from the amazement and replied "No problem man, but you owe me a drink" and he shut off the commlink before Biggs could reply. There were no squints left and only 2 Bombers that were being chased by the B-wings of AtrueJedi and Groz. One of the B-wings fired and caught it in the left engine, it blew up and combusted for a few seconds on the ionized plasma inside the still intact engine.

"Blues, engage in pairs and fire projectiles at the Silencer" said the voice of Groznik, as he turned his B-wing towards their new target. He flicked on the rockets and fired a dual shot at the shielded engines of the Silencer. They drove right in between the gigantic engines and blew up, sending ripples of yellow-white destructive energy all over the rear of the VSD.

Wolf, Wes, Rogue and Zoz all dove under the VSD and fired dual shots of proton torpedoes at the lightly defended underside of the ship. They exploded on contact with the field of energy that protected the durasteel armor. As the eight first torpedoes of their group collided with the VSD, the lower port side shields of the ship buckled for an instant, but it was just enough for the torpedoes of Zoz to get through. The two blue jets of energy collided with the reinforced plates of durasteel, ripping off the upper layers of the hull.

Yes!!" cried Zoz as he watched his torpedoes take a bite out of the ship.

"Nice shot!" said Rogue.

"Enough compliments for now ladies, we've got do a little more damage than that if you want a VSD silhouette on your X-wings" said Weston

"Aye sir!!" said the other 3 pilots of the group.

[On board the Silencer…]

Captain Katrane got up from the floor and he wipe his hand on his sweat-covered forehead, he felt a thick liquid touch his hand. He lowered it and stared for a few seconds at it as blood flipped off his fingers, he ripped off part of his sleeve and applied it to the wound on his forehead.

"REPORT" he roared.

An ensign cleared his throat. "Lower shields are down to 45, no… 25 %, sir, upper shields are at 85%, two of the four warhead launchers are destroyed and only 9 out of 21 lasers are still functional, the sensors…”

"Shut up, that's all I needed to know" he ran to the sensors station and grabbed the body of the officer seated at the bench; he threw him off it and sat down.

14 starfighters + an Imperial Star Destroyer firing at us"

The whole ship rocked again as a torpedo volley exploded on the front of the ship. Laser shots emerged from dark specs in the distance and they grew to form 4 X-wings, as they swooped by the bridge tower. They kept firing at the bridge window and a few of their shots pierced. The scarlet bolts of energy pounded into the floor on the port side of the bridge. Katrane threw himself on the floor, avoiding a crewmember being sucked out into space by the vacuum. The integrity field activated, cutting off the arm of the man. The body continued to float into space. Katrane lifted himself off the floor once more and turned his head toward the moans of the dying crews. Half of the bridges crew was dead, the rest injured gravelly. He limped to his chair and took control of the Silencer from his station.

He programmed a 3 light-year jump towards the nearest vector. The ship rocked again, but it didn't explode. He punched the last number of the coordinate and engaged the engines.

"Damn you Rebels, but you haven't seen the last of me."

[In the space around the Silencer…]

Blue Squad formed up into groups, the X-wings to the left, the A-wings to the right, and the 2 B-wings in the center.

They all fired one volley of projectiles. Concussion missiles, torpedoes and rockets sped away towards the giant ship in front of them. The missiles collided first, then the torpedoes and finally the rockets. They all pressured the shield into giving up and with the last 3 rockets, the shield did.

"Shields down," cried Dobber.

A great hurray erupted over the commlink at the news. But when they got to laser range, the VSD stretched and then disappeared into hyperspace. A handful of swears came through, but overall relief was evident, "All right Blues, our convoy is safe, let's go home" came the soothing calm voice of their commander, Groznik.

And with the knowledge that had done something good, Blue Squadron went back towards the Happy Jack, the ship that they had all come to call home.

Chapter 4

3 days after their encounter with Lamarik, the pilots of Blue Squadron gathered in Briefing Room A after a message over the intercom from Groznik. They all proceeded to the room and all pilots met in hallways and turbo lifts on the way down. As the pilots all came through the door, Groznik was holding a datapad and he seemed very focused on what was displayed on it. "What have you got there Groz?” said Luky.

"It `s our next assignment" he growled.

"Doesn't seem too happy about it! " whispered Luky to nobody in particular. There was a wave of general agreement. Then Groznik got up from his chair, he went to the holoprojector and switched it on. The image of a planet appeared in front of all the pilots. "Gentlemen, as you can all see, this is a planet, MORYE IV to be exact. It is a Class-L planet, quite similar to Hoth actually, but approximately 10 degrees warmer during the daytime around the equator. It is situated on the fringes of the galaxy, exactly 123.54 light-years away from the outer-rim planet system, Obroa-Skai" he turned his face so that he could see that questioning looks coming from his audience. "You must be all wondering what exactly is going on. Don't worry, you'll know in a few minutes" he smiled, for all that a Wookiee could.

"As I've said, this planet is extremely beyond the limits of Alliance Space, or the Old Republic's borders for that matter, even the Empire has never gone this far out, or so we thought." He grabbed a datapad and punched a few commands into it. "This report is 27 hours old, it was sent by a Alliance scout-ship on a routine patrol of the Outer-Rim. While it was out of hyperspace, the starship, a Carrack-class Cruiser, was hit by a sub light speed shockwave. After running diagnostics on the sensor systems, they confirmed that the wave was composed neuron energy. For those of you who have never heard about neuron energy, it is a type of radiation emitted by certain minerals found on planets in the Outer Rim. In concentrated bursts it is extremely destructive. It can burn through Capital Ship shields in a matter of minutes, and then it decomposes the hull. The patrol ship was lucky, the shock wave lasted for only a few seconds and they had their shields up. Our assignment is to send the Solar Breeze and half of our squadron with to investigate this phenomenon. If there is Imperial activity, we are to remain and record what they do without being detected. If detected, we are to evacuate and to head back to Coruscant for our report. There is the possibility that the Imperials are trying to control this energy to form a weapon, if we find any such research, we are to eliminate the facility with all necessary means " he paused. Then lifted his head, "As you know people, there is going to be a need for commando skills, so already part of the squadron is eliminated. Those who wish to be part of the team, sign up now, you are under no obligation." At that, he dismissed them. It's a suicide run, I hope Ackbar and Mothma know their information, he thought. He waited for a few minutes until everybody had gone out. He lifted his head and saw that Wolf was still there. "What do you want, Marc?" he said.

"What I want to know is not important, what I am going to suggest is. Lamarik is behind all this, isn't he?"

Groznik waited for a few seconds, trying to formulate a good answer, "yes, Intelligence believes that he is behind all this, but there is still a possibility that it's Zinsj. Why?"

"I just think that all this information just dropping into our laps is kind of suspicious, that's all."

Groznik blinked, surprised at what Wolf had said, "Yes, well, Intelligence tries hard to filter all the fake info from the real stuff. But I guess that there is still a possibility that it is a trap."

Wolf just sat there, looking at him with those eyes that changed color every second, "thanks" he said finally.

Groznik replied with silent eyes, "You're on the team, I gather."

"Yup, count me in,” said Wolf, and with a slick move he flipped over the chair and walked out the door. Groznik sat there for a while, just thinking about how it was easy to underestimate Wolf and many other pilots in the Squadron, they were all so young, and yet being in a war had aged their minds so rapidly. They hadn't had time for youth; they simply had gone strait to maturity, without any other choice. "Damn" mouthed Groz, "the universe is just so unfair sometimes" He got up, turned to the holoprojector and reached out to turn it off but stared for an instant at the image of the planet MORYE, revolving on itself. I hope your not another death trap, he thought. He switched off the image and then headed out to the hangar. A minute later, flying in space, he was relaxing inside the cockpit of his old friend, the Y-wing that had saved his life so many times.

[2 days later, in the docking bay of the Solar Breeze...]

Half of Blue Squadron was dressed in formal suits, the other half in flight suits. Groz, Dobber, Luky, CorranBoat, Biggs, Weston and Wolf stood in a row facing the others pilots of Blue Squad. "I now lend the command of Blue Squadron to Weatherman" said Groz, in a very formal manner, "take care of `em while I'm gone" he added, in a not quite so formal way. "Aye Sir" replied Weatherman, "Atten... hut!!" he barked. They all saluted with smiles on their faces. Then, they all went to talk a little as the commando group got into their X-wings and A-wings. 10 minutes later, the commando group was out in space, waggling their s-foils in respect to their peers, and after they engaged their hyperdrive and were headed to the Outer Rim. The rest of Blue Squad ran up the ramp of their shuttle and went back to the Happy Jack. The Solar Breeze continued with the Happy Jack for 2 hours and then took off after the starfighters that gone to scout ahead. On one of the many levels of the Happy Jack, Weatherman stood in front of the view port, watching the Solar Breeze take off. He then went up to the bridge of the Happy Jack and signaled the captain that they could head back for refueling.

Chapter 5

Wolf looked at his chronometer, 1 hour and 20 minutes to go he thought. He switched on the commlink, "hey guys, anybody want to play a game of Quadrant?"

"Nah, I'm running diagnostic checks on my R5 droid, he's got glitches" said Luky with a disappointed tone.

"I can't either, I'm checking through my stuff" replied Biggs. Wolf looked around the sensors, Dobber, Corran and Weston were all sleeping, so that left Groznik, but he knew that the Commander wasn't the Quadrant game type, so with a little boredom and disappointment, he switched off the commlink and turned on some Lytry-style music. He then settled into a more comfortable position, not easily done in a X-wing, and fell asleep.

[One hour and fifteen minutes later...]

The beep from his R5 unit, Emtoo (M2), awoke him in a startle, "Huh, what the ….!!, Oh, sorry Emtoo" he fumbled around, trying to get back up strait on his seat and looked at his chronometer, "5 minutes left, better turn on my shields." Just as he did that, a crackle came over the comm and Groznik spoke up, "Blues, turn on your shields and lasers, be ready for anything." There was a mumble of agreement as most of the pilots woke too and 5 minutes later the 4 X-wings and 3 A-wings came out of hyperspace in the twin system of MORYE, they all scanned their areas, and 30 seconds later, they all reported,

"Nothing on my side" said Weston. Everybody else reported the same and then they waited for the Solar Breeze to arrive. After 30 minutes of waiting, Corran finally spoke up," Where are they, god damn it!"

"Don't worry, they probably just took their time on getting here" replied Groz, although worry was in his voice. But as he finished his sentence, a gray spear-like craft came out of hyperspace 6 km out of their position, it was the Solar Breeze. Groz hailed them," Solar Breeze, the area is clear; get ready to receive coordinates for the landing on Mynos IV. Acknowledge. "They waited anxiously for a few seconds and then,

"Solar Breeze copies, Blue Leader, cut the path for us please."

"Gladly!" came the translated response from Groznik`s side. And at that, the A-wings took up the lead as they headed towards the uninhabited planet of Mynos IV.

[On board the Solar Breeze...4 hours later]

Groz was pacing the bridge. His gigantic furred feet made shuffling noise as they slid over the duranium floor. He was thinking on how the training for his commando group would go once they were on the surface of Mynos IV. Just then, the Captain of the Solar Breeze came in, " Hello Commander, are you ready to depart? " he asked.

"Yes, we are. Once you are docked on the asteroid, we will head with the transport to Mynos IV. How long do you think it will take us to get there and to rig everything?" said Groznik, with a slightly impatient tone.

"Approximately 12 hours." As Groznik was about to protest he raised his hand and said, "Now Now Commander, I know it's rather slow, but increased speed would also augment the density of our ion trail, and we don't want to announce our arrival to everybody in this sector, now do we?" he said, in a most sarcastic tone of voice.

"We will arrive in plenty of time and then you can launch your transport and continue your mission. Is that clear, COMMANDER?"

The Wookiee cringed a little, he could certainly overpower the man in a fistfight, but he was the commanding officer of the Solar Breeze, so he kept in his annoyance and saluted, "YES Sir!" came the response through his translator. At that, he walked out of the bridge, onto the turbo lift and headed for the Cup of Starlight, the onboard lounge. It took the turbo lift 15 seconds to get to deck 12, the habitat deck, once there, he headed out of the turbo lift and turned right down the hall and 100 meters later, he walked through the open door of the pub and sat down at a stool in front of the bar. He didn't even look around him at the other people. He simply signaled the barman for a Dik`ata wine. The barman nodded and headed into the supply room. A few instants later, he walked out with a dusty bottle and popped off the cork, he picked up a cup from the rack and poured a generous glass of wine, he handed to Groznik, who handed over a few chips in exchange. Groz stirred the wine, and then took a long, lasting sip and smacked his furry lips together as he swallowed the wine. He then realized that he wasn't alone in the Bar, a few crewmembers of the Solar Breeze were in, but his gaze went strait past them. In the corner of the Bar, were seated the commando pilots of his Squadron. He took another sip and headed for them. He growled something at them, but they just stared at him in confusion. He realized that he hadn't turned on his translator, he flicked the switch, and said : " What are you all doing here? I thought that you were all working on your fighters!" They all prompted small grins and Dobber answered, " Nah, we've just finished working on them, we all thought that we could find something else to do to spend the time, and this is what we all agreed on doing."

Before Groznik could answer, Wolf spoke up, "You got any idea when the Solar Breeze is going to dock in the asteroid field?"

"It's going to take a while, the Captain is trying to minimize the ion radiation of the engines, so it's going to take 12 hours instead of 7."

All of the pilots moaned a wave of complaint. "Cool it guys, like the Captain said, we don't want to announce our arrival to everyone here. So the extra hours give us more time to get some rest and to gather up our stuff." said Groznik. They all agreed and then headed out of the bar, either going to rest or to continue gathering stuff.

[7 hours later... in the Denorios Asteroid belt]

The FRG Solar Breeze edged its way towards the 600 km- radius asteroid, named Denorios Prime, that lied on the edge of the belt. It launched two Transports, which headed at full speed towards the target; they circled it and reduced speed. As they caught the orbit of the massive chunk of rock, they fired magnetic pulsar-holders towards it, and they stuck with a great THHUUNK. The Transports then opened and slid together, forming a temporary station on which the Solar Breeze would dock. After 35 minutes of preparations, the FRG arrived and docked with the Station. The magnetic holders held the FRG close enough to make it seem like a point sticking out of the asteroid.

The pilots stood at one of the many view ports, watching the work going on outside. "It'll be good enough, temporarily at least" thought Groznik, as he stared at the complicated apparatus being constructed outside. His comm beeped, indicating that they could launch for Mynos IV anytime. "Let's go men, time to roll."

The seven starfighters launched from the docking bay with 3 shuttles behind them. The A-wings took up the lead with X-wings in formation around the shuttles. As the group cleared the gravity well of Denorios Prime, the shuttles engaged their hyperdrives with the fighters following them.

Groznik drew his hyperspace throttle to 53%, and ordered the rest of his fighters to do so. This would permit the fighter group to arrive just before the shuttles did. They could then scout the area for any signs of danger and : either signal the shuttles to keep on going or eliminate the threat.

He sighed, thinking over the news he'd gotten from Kashyy'k (his home world). His wife had given birth to a young railr'art (Wookiee infant, male) and he felt obligated to be there when his son would rraw'wa met rorrtalou'nn (best translated as : to climb the trees for the first time. It is considered like a baptism among Wookiees). He would then raise his son among the wroshyy'r trees, as his father had done for him. He would have no choice but to step down from Blue Squadron's command. "One more time, I'll beat the Imps just one more time, and then I'll resign from command."

After 16 hours and 15 minutes of hyperspace travelling, the group of fighters dropped out of hyperspace and initiated their patrol of the area. The A-wings, with their superior speed, initiated a patrol loop that would carry them around the system. The X-wings would complete atmospheric patrols around the 6 planets of the system and make sure no Imperial ground bases were present.

SaberWolf followed his wingman and flight leader, CPT. Weston, as they swooped low into the atmosphere of MORYE II, the second nearest planet of the system. His X-wing bumped and shook a little as they flew through the troposphere of the planet. The land below was beautiful, a land of blue and white, a land made of ice and snow. "Very similar to Hoth." He shook his head at the painful memory. "So many friends were killed that day. I hope that I won't loose some more on this ice-planet." He pulled back on the stick as they cleared they 4000 feet hard-deck. He switched on his radar and began a 360° sweep over the landscape. "Snow, snow and more snow. Is that all there is here!!?" Minimal life signs showed up on the sensor-display, and it was only animals. "No chances of human life here, especially with a day temperature of -79° and a much lower one during the night." He reached for the comm switch and flicked it on : "-14 reporting, no signs of construction or human presence detected. The only metal here is in its solid state, under 2.43 km of ice and snow. I don't think they would have made a base here Wes. -Yeah, even if there was a base in this system, the most likely spot are on MORYE IV, our base location.

"You're probably right, I guess we're done here, let's get back to main camp, I'm famished."

"Is that all you can think about?"

"Well, that and staying alive while flying are pretty much all my brain can handle at the same time, HA, just kidding!!"

"Wolf, you're a crack case!! Ok, let's go home then, I'm pretty hungry too."

The 2 starfighters lifted up under the power of their repulsor-lifts and headed for fourth planet of the system. After one hour of flight at maximum speed, they finally got into the orbit of Mynos IV, they both dropped their craft slowly and edged their way towards the ground. As they landed, 4 figures came out of behind a snow bank. They were all dressed in durra-cloth survival clothes. One of them stood out of the group, he had a good foot and half taller than all the others.

"Watch Groz, said Weston to Saber, he's got to be hating the weather, he absolutely hates snow, especially since he's used to warm weather on Kashyyyk."

"Har, Har, Wes… Get inside, it's -36°, you'll freeze." They followed the four and walked past the snow bank. Two white duraplast buildings were covered with snow with only the doors and a few windows showing. Wolf let Wes pass and followed him in. " Ahh! " he murmured. The heat in the camp was considerably more tolerable than the climate outside. Biggs handed them two cups of caf and grabbed one for himself. All the others got one two and then they sat down at the wood table. Groznik gestured for silence and asked :" Ok, what's your report Guys??" Wes hesitated and turned to look at Wolf who cleared his throat and glared at Wes for a moment. Then Wolf spoke, " Morye II is clear, we passed twice around at full speed with active scanners, the only life on that planet is in bacteriological form and primitive life, animals and germs in other words. Not presence of any past or present habitation. The metal on that planet is in solid state, and it's under more that 2 km of snow and ice. Really, don't worry about a base there, It ‘s too cold, way to cold. End of report." Groznik nodded, thinking over the news, " Well, it seems that Lamarik has sent us on a wild goose chase again. But I think we should remain here for at least another week. If there was an ImpStar or a base in this system in the last month, we'll find it. Okay, finish your caf and meal and hit the bunk, we're going to train tomorrow and you need some rest, that's an order for all, including myself. Dismissed." All the pilots got up except Wes and Wolf, who finished their supper rapidly. Shortly after, they both exited the kitchen and went to bed.

Wolf flopped on his bunk and closed his eyes, he didn't open them for a good 9 hours.

Chapter 6

By the time the commandos got up, the temperature had increased by 15°, so it was at -26° when they got out to their fighters.

One by one, they got into the chilly seats and strapped in their cockpits. Luky was the first up and flying with CorranBoat and Biggs as his wingmen. Their A-wings lifted swiftly and then they were off, heading for the hyperspace vector towards the last planet of the system, Morye XI, the only planet that no one had checked out. Right after, Wolf and Weston brought their X-wings to flying altitude and then they were off, trying to catch up with the A-wings. The last two were Groznik and Dobber, who weren't in a hurry at all.

As the 7 fighters came to the hyperspace vector, the X-wings came in front with the A-wings behind them. For an instant the fighters blurred and then disappeared as they caught up with the fastest natural phenomena, light.

[After 8 minutes of hyperspace travel]

The X-wings reverted to real space with A-wings close behind. " Break up into flight groups, group 2, check the debris field, 3 check the southern hemisphere " announced Groznik. The seven pilots complied and broke to form three groups that all headed in different directions.

Weston and SaberWolf swooped low as Hawk-Bats onto a prey through the atmosphere, " Definitely nothing here!" complained SaberWolf as they passed over a 6 km mountain-line. They dropped to follow the terrain, " Yes, we won't get anything, I'm afraid " answered Weston. And how right they were, after 10 minutes, Groznik announced nothing on their side, Weston answered the same as well, but when it came time for Luky to report in, only static came through, " Full speed for the debris field!! It may be causing interference!" commanded Groznik.

Wolf pulled back on his yoke and brought the nose of the X-wing towards the sky. He put extra power to the engines to try to get there first.

" Thi… s Luk…, reportin.. n, ..believe we hav…… found th.. ase, …ut it is em…ting massi…. interferen……" came a garbled voice over the comm.

Wolf surged over the top of the planet with Weston hot on his tail. " Is that better?" came the voice of Luky.

" Yes, I got you 5 on 5 now, Luky, what's going on?" answered Wolf

"We've found what I think is the remains of a base, although not a research one. It looks like a smugglers base, but that was probably part of the Imps plan. To disguise their research base as a smuggler home and destroy it when they're done, to make it look like a smuggler shoot-out " said Luky, in a most sarcastic voice.

" Ok, we're coming, ahh……., Groz, you there??" he asked.

A short growl came over the comm, " Yes, I'm here, go."

" Can you get the base on the hypercomm, I think were going to need a shuttle to board that thing, plus there is no breathable atmosphere left inside, so we're going to need spacetroop gear, ……did you get that?"

" Yes SaberWolf, I got it " said Groznik in a metallic voice. And 30 seconds later, a faint hypercomm headed back to Morye IV, signaling the shuttle crew to head for them as soon as possible.

[On Morye IV]

Lt. Com. Neyton, seated at the comm console, received the message instantly and ran out for the Captain, telling him about the message.

" Captain, Commander Groznik is requesting you get the main shuttle ready and head for their current position. He also informed me that they will need spacetroop gear " he exclaimed in his juvenile voice.

"Got it, …the captain turned and put his hand to his commlink…, get your gear ready troopers, we're going' out " he yelled into the small metal object. He saluted to the junior officer and headed out for the door. 2 minutes later, 10 troopers were seated in two shuttles and were taking off. The shuttles lifted easily, but without the grace of a starfighter, and headed for the hyperspace vector point. The 2 shuttles then blackened and shot off towards the fighter group. But mere seconds after the jump was initiated, they were pulled back to real space and fired upon.

" Bloody Siths " mouthed the captain. It was the last words he ever said, as turbo laser fire destroyed the shuttle. The second shuttle, shielded by its twin, was able to dodge the first deadly volley and bring up its shields. The pilot signaled the comm : " This is Shuttle Jack II, we are under fire by an…… Interdictor Cruiser, in desperate need of help, hurry Blue Squadron."

[Around Morye XI]

The message from the shuttle crackled on the comm of all the pilots, and startled them all.

" What the…..!" was the general comment, although a few were a bit more colorful.

Groz recovered quickly and snapped into the comm : " Blues, on my mark, full hyperspeed on this vector, we should pulled out of hyperspace by a gravity well. Ready……….Mark ." he pulled back hard on the throttle, but the craft went strait ahead. In 15 seconds, they were on the combat scene, " S-foils to attack position, take out enemy fighters and keep the last two torps, GOGOGO!!!" he yelled. He viewed his scanners, One Interdictor and 4 corvettes, +plus 2 squadrons of TIE/F and one of TIE/I, " Boy, are we going to get our pay today!!", and in moments, he was in the fight. Two TIEs came at him with dual shots blazing, he rolled to port, creating a smaller window of fire, and triggered 3 shots at them. The first one went wide, but made the lead TIE break, the second shot crushed the cockpit of the second TIE, blowing it to pieces. He pulled to 1/3 throttle and followed the lead TIE, it passed right in front of him, so he fired instinctively, and was rewarded with a red flash.

Luky and CB dove their A-wings into the waves of TIEs, disrupting the rows of enemy craft by triggering a few shots at them. The TIEs then broke up, trying to get on the tail of the maneuverable A-wings, and to protect themselves. Luky drove his craft in a corkscrew dive, doing the opposite of what the TIE on his tail did. He came back up in behind of the TIE and scorched it with a dual-shot. A voice came over the comm, " Blue's, pick your squints coming up and blast ‘em, after that, fire until 2 torps are left at the INT " said Groznik.

Wolf heard his commander and blew the last TIE/F around him to space dust. He formed up with Weston, and they both headed for the first wave of squints, which was 4 km away. " I got squint 1, you go for 2, then we burn 3, got it Saber !?" said Wes. " Yup, let's shoot and burn " he replied. The squints came up fast at the two X-wings, they both opened up at maximum distance, killing each their first prey. Both nudging their craft a little to the side, they triggered one shot each at the squint, who erupted into flames a second later. "Nice shooting', 14" yelled Wes.

"Same for you, 13" replied Wolf. Checking his sensors, Wolf noticed that they had a clear path for the INT.

"Um, Wes, do you feel like having an Interdictor silhouette on your X-wing ?" said Wolf, as he switched his weapons to torpedoes, anticipating what his wingman was going to say.

"You got it , my friend, let's kill that triangle. Standard Skywalker tactic good enough for ya?" he answered.

"Sure thing, let's get those engines!!! Yee Hawwwwww!" They swerved past the bridge of the INT, all while jinking to avoid the green turbo laser fire of the capital ship. They passed the engines and kept going for 2 km. Then, they looped back at their prey. " Torps on, ……good tone, …..SWEAT LOCK, …TORPS AWAY!!!!!!" yelled SaberWolf in his comm, as he triggered a dual torpedo shot at the gigantic engines. Wes fired a dual shot as well, and the 4 jets of blue fire streamed away at the INT. A few seconds later, four bursts of bright light lit up the space around the rear of the INT, grinding its shields down to 53%.

" To all Blues, kill the bridge or the engines, they are the main target!! " roared Groznik over the commlink.

" 3 copies, Blue Leader " responded Dobber. He came out in front of the INT with Groznik to his right, and they both fired a dual torp shot right at the bridge tower. The projectiles shot out of the launchers and sped to their target, which was less than 1 km away. The 4 torps rammed the tower, blowing through the shields and crunching the armor protecting the interior of the ship. Half of the tower was blown off, and it was leaking atmosphere. Another dual torp shot from Groz and Dobber blew off the remaining support, ripping the bridge from the triangular ship. It floated away amidst the debris of the ship. Groznik decided that it was a good time to propose surrender for the Imps. He flicked on the comm and cleared his throat, " This is Commander Groznik, of the New Republic forces, to whoever is commanding officer of the Interdictor, I suggest you surrender now, you have no chances of survival if you remain here. " There was a short delay of static and then the channel cleared, " Go to hell, rebel scum, if you think we will surrender to you. Remain here, and YOU will be destroyed."

Just then, the rear of the INT flashed red-yellow flames and exploded, engulfing the rest of the ship into secondary explosions. " OH YEAH BABY " yelled Wolf and Wes as their X-wings flew around the explosion. " Scratch one INT!!" exclaimed Wolf.

Groznik sighed, the INT was dead. But he had forgotten about the lead corvette, which was less than a km away. His X-wing jolted twice and then something in the rear of the craft exploded. Groz survived thanks to his auto-ejection seat, which propelled him into space, mere instants before his craft blew to shrapnel.

"Blue 1 is extravehicular!!!…….. 5, 8 & 10, watch over him………..13 & 14, kill that corvette!! " yelled Dobber into the comm, with fear in his voice. " SHU Jack II, get Commander Groznik out of here, FAST!!!!!" he added.

Biggs swerved around the lead corvette, firing dual missile shots at it. But when a turbo laser shot caught his left Novaldex engine, he cried into the comm, " This is 10, my left engine is out, and shields to 35%, I can't keep this up!!!" Dobber replied instantly, " 10, get out of laser range and keep firing missiles at the corvettes."

"10 copies." Biggs inverted his A-wing and got out of range in 10 secs.

Wes and Wolf both spiraled constantly to avoid laser fire, " Fire one torp at it, then quad shots, just kill the turbo laser " said Wes. Wolf tapped twice his comm, acknowledging the command. He spiraled again, as turbo laser fire passed under his X-wing. Flicking the torpedoes on, he squeezed the trigger, letting the blue dart take flight. It shot out and homed in on the corvette. It came flying in on the turbo laser, blasting through the shield and plowing through the transparisteel window. The secondary explosions rocked the ship, and Wes's torpedo finished it. The corvette spiraled around its axis, venting atmosphere and flames.

The three other corvettes were headed away from the combat scene, obviously trying to escape, " 5 & 8, empty those missile launchers of yours on the corvettes, kill their engines, and inspect them, they might have the neuron emitters in them " said Dobber, as he triggered his last two torpedoes at one of the corvettes.

Luky and CB copied and pushed their A-wings to maximum speed. 4 red darts spit out from the A-wings and crashed into the nearest corvette, bringing its shields to 35%. CB bought his A-wing to bear on the engines and fired four more missiles into the rear of the corvette. The first two burned the shield down to 0% and the last two blasted the engines to nothingness. He then executed a break turn over the top of the corvette and then inverted and brought the nose of his craft towards the top laser turret…… He fired, …..the scarlet bolts of energy burned the cannon to liquid durasteel, along with the crewmember who was manning the cannon. he pulled up on the stick and leveled out. He passed in the scanning range and was rewarded with exactly what he wanted, " Hidden Cargo found!!!, neuron emitters on board!!! " he said triumphantly. " Good Job 8, let it there, it can't escape, try to get the other corvettes before………………." Luky was interrupted as the two other corvettes shot to hyperspace. " Damn " he muttered.

Dobber's voice came over the comm," Groznik is safe onboard the Jack II,….. the shuttle is going to dock with the corvette. " But before it even got close, another shuttle shot out of the corvette, it turned towards Dobber's X-wing and fired. " Holy Jedi…….!" he yelled. The lasers burned his shields to 47%, but he maneuvered around the corvette, letting it shield him from the lasers. The shuttle pilot was surely a rookie, he didn't even try to avoid the Corvette as he rammed it, cutting through the durasteel plates and igniting the fuel lines all around him. The corvette snapped into two pieces, which melted and exploded, burning the shuttle with them.

All of the pilots swore as the corvette burned, " We won't even know what the emitter LOOKED like, for the Force's sake " said Wolf.

Groznik then spoke up, " good job Blues. It's time to head back for the Happy Jack now."

"But what about the base?" asked CorranBoat.

"The corvettes destroyed it just after the shuttles left, so their nothing to recuperate. We might as well go home now " answered Groz.

The Blues complied and in 10 minutes, the group of craft, minus one shuttle and one X-wing, headed back for the Happy Jack.