Blindsided

From TFC Galactopedia

3 AU from Ord Padron

Three weeks of planning, communication, and preparation came down to this. Just fifteen minutes prior, an Imperial Strike-class Medium Cruiser had deployed a squadron of TIE “Avengers” just inside of sensor range of the area. The fighters had powered down to reduce their signatures to nothing, as was part of the plan. Then these twelve fateful craft would wait, knowing they would soon have their chance to enter combat.

Meanwhile, on the other edge of the system, a small flight of rebel X-wings, markings indicating that they were from the local anti-Imperial militia, entered hyperspace for that same vary area. Intelligence had promised them a chance they could not allow to slide by: an Imperial cargo convoy. However, that information had been planted as part of the Imperial plan. There never was a convoy of cargo vessels making course corrections at the sector.

Flying the third of the three X-wings was a feline by the name of Corbin Gojira. He was in his younger twenties and had recently learned to fly an X-wing. The second of the three pilots was a mouse named Melinda Williams. She had seen more than her fair share of action since the Massacre at Endor, both against Imperial forces and other factions of rebels. The lead pilot, a vulpine, was the subject of all those weeks of planning. Born to the name of Dana Hogan, she was both a flight Lieutenant and a cleverly disguised spy. She was responsible for planting the false information, and she knew that now was her chance to get back to report.

Arriving at the exit point, Dana reached forward and placed her paw firmly on the hyperdrive actuator. Pulling it back, she decelerated from faster-than-light speeds just meters away from where the flight was supposed to have dropped. Within seconds, the other two X-wings had also decelerated and formed up. Activating the comlink, Dana gave the best advice she could: “Stay sharp, you two…”

The response was almost immediate, coming from the second ship before the third.

“Copy, Lead.”

“Yeah, yeah… Sure thing… I’m right with you two…” Corbin was a little anxious, constantly checking through the transparasteel canopy of his cockpit.

Dana nodded to the responses and sighed. She knew that their presence would not be long unnoticed. And she knew that the twelve TIE “Avengers” would surely make easy work of her two wingmen. Still, she did regret not being able to bring her wingmen with her. Dana never did like senseless death, but she would accept it for the greater good. Recalling a little bit more, she would jump back onto their open channel with a little news. “Intel said the Imperials might have dropped a few squints into the area.”

Melinda looked down at her scanner display and adjusted her seat, relaxing a little. The rodent still kept watching, though, in case any Imperials did show up. She tried to relax the tension a little, but Corbin had cut her off.

Corbin shook his head slightly, his tone coming over as dry and heavy with the sarcasm. “Great… Just what we need… More eyeballs.” He scowled a bit and likewise stole a glance to his sensor display.

“Copy THAT,” was Melinda’s reply.

Dana just shirked and shook her head, having decided to let the two pilots have a little fun in what would prove to be their last time out of action.

Again, Melinda tried to loosen up with a bit of idle chatter, preferring to use the old style of call-by-number flying. “Hey, Three…” She paused, stealing another glance at her sensor display. “Did ya lose to one of those elite brats to get stuck on this mission?”

However, before Corbin could reply, Dana was bringing them back to the mission. She released the death-grip she had on the control rod and looked down at her navigation display. Dana then realized she needed to keep in the area just a bit longer, so she barked out a few orders. “There isn’t anything out here… Come about to one-three-zero by eight-six. Oh, and Two, get on active scanners for a cycle. Let’s see if anything is out there but just powered down.” Dana then pulled around to that course herself, wondering where in the Force the TIEs could be.

“Copy, Lead. Going active scan now.” Melinda also brought her X-wing around to the ordered course, pressing down the switch to set her scanners into the proper mode for an active ping.

Corbin, wishing he were elsewhere, was a little slow to act. He made the turn late and moved a little behind in the formation. Although it was not anything too severe, it would not help him when the TIEs came in.

“Two to Lead, nothing on scanners,” Melinda reported after a pause, trailing off slightly at the end. Corbin only managed to reassure Melinda of the peaceful area with his own report.

Exasperated at the unusual lateness of the Empire, Dana sighed into the com. “Copy that, Two and Three.” It was not like the Empire to be running late on a mission, and she just hoped that she had not been set up. However, the next few moments would ease Dana’s anxiety entirely.

Having forgotten to turn her scanner back to passive mode, Melinda took one more glance at the screen. She gasped when she saw the readout. And Melinda had good reason to be scared.

From the depths of hyperspace came twelve TIE “Avengers” flying under an Imperial identify friend/foe signal. Short bursts of communication between the Imperial pilots were made as they designated targets and reported in to the squadron Commander. During this time, the pilots fed power to their fighters’ Novaldex shield generator and to their fighters’ quad-linked L-s9.3 laser cannons. Accelerating to a good speed of one hundred twenty MGLAT units, the squadron would bear down on the small flight of X-wings.

“Sithspawn!” yelled Melinda into her com, bringing up her shields and setting them to double aft as the first emerald bolts of plasma were sent into the X-wing flight’s direction. Having been a few meters behind where he should have been, Corbin met the enemy fire sooner, not having had the time to set his shielding properly. The panel to his right emitted a few sparks as an emerald bolt collided with the hull, damaging his avionics and control systems. Fortunately, Corbin was able to raise his shields before the real damage began.

“Two, Three… Our jump point’s back behind us… Break and engage, but head for that jump point as soon as you can… Your astromechs all have the proper coordinates,” commanded Dana, setting her shields online as well. She knew she was not going to engage or jump, but she could not afford to let her two wingmen know that. With a final though, she quietly added, “and be careful.”

Dana watched out the sides of the transparasteel canopy as Corbin and Melinda broke off in opposite directions. She pulled her own flight stick back and then faked taking a hit. Cutting her power, Dana would let the momentum of her fighter carry her away from the battle and out of the danger area.

The Avengers, noticing the break up of the X-wings’ formation, likewise split. With half of the squadron for each of the two expendable X-wings, the Imperial pilots thought the mission would be just like target practice in the simulators. For the most part, the pilots would be right.

The suddenness of the attack did not phase Melinda at all. Switching to her proton torpedoes, she lined the targeting recticle over the closest Avenger and fired off one of her lethal warheads. Only glancing once to watch the fiery explosion, Melinda disregarded the fact that her shields were sustaining multiple hits. She lined up on the next Avenger and fired off another torpedo, scoring another hit and kill.

Corbin, however, was not as fortunate. The shock of the attack had been too rude an awakening from which he had to recover. Squeezing down the trigger on his stick, Corbin blindly let the crimson-colored bolts of plasma fly towards the flight of Avengers bearing for him. Corbin only scored grazing hits on one Avenger’s shields before his own gave out. Within a matter of seconds after the shields fell, TIE Avengers reduced the already damaged X-wing to free-floating atoms.

Melinda could only watch as the other X-wing was vaporized under laser fire from the Avengers attacking it. A warning light inside her cockpit warned her that her own shields were likewise failing under the brutal attack. In a daring attempt to get out of the swarming Avengers, Melinda tried to break from the group long enough to make the jump to light speed. Pulling a near perfect Corellian Slip, Melinda managed to break out of the Avengers long enough to get one last glimpse at the drifting X-wing before the Avengers managed to catch back up with her.

Melinda shunted energy from her lasers into her shields to try to get enough time to jump, but it was to no avail. The number of emerald bolts striking her shields caused them to collapse mere seconds later. Without any impediment, the plasma soon melted away the casing on one of the X-wing’s Incom 4j.4 engines, the force from the tearing off the wing and a large portion of the fuselage.

Without Melinda or Corbin alive to report back, Dana powered up her X-wing once more. Pulling out the coordinates she had put into her own astromech, Dana formed up with the remaining Avengers. She waited for the order to jump into hyperspace before taking hold of the actuator and pushing it forward. Within the blink of an eye, the eleven craft accelerated to faster-than-light speeds for a ship waiting within the sector.

The usual blue-tinted swirl of hyperspace just outside her canopy, Dana reached into a pocket of her flight suit. Pulling out a small data recorder, she sighed. “I just hope this was worth the two pilots I lost back there.”