Assault on L-22 (Trix)

[Travis North]

The Imperial Strike-class Cruiser Black Fang emerged from hyperspace thousands of kilometres away from the edge of an ancient asteroid mining field, one which last saw use before the rise of the Galactic Empire. It was now a haven for pirates preying upon deep space supply convoys and liners. The Black Fang was tasked with hunting down and destroying these deadly raiders.

"No activity on sensors."

"Launch all fighters and have gunnery cut us a path to the miner's station. We're going in after those bastards."

----
"All pilots prep for launch. This is a seek and destroy operation within an asteroid field. Expect an ambush from multiple vectors inside the field. The Black Fang will be cutting a channel through it and covering with turbolasers."

The short breifing was all the pilots recieved before they were to gear up and launch their fighters.

[Vince]

The black of space was not unknown to him. While he did not actively enjoy it, he was familiar with it, and when his squadron sortied outside the Cruiser, he was in his element.

"Call in," he commanded over the imperial radio frequency.

"Jan, ready."

"Geor, ready."

"Junta, ready."

Each of his lieutenants replied for their respective commands. "Very well," he said. "Keep scanners running. We're covering the cruiser as we reach the target. A standard space-superiority mission."

"Yeah, standard alright. In the middle of a frakking asteroid field!"

Trix smirked beneath his mask. "We've trained for this, and we're ready. Understood? Stay together, and don't make any stupid moves. Report when activity is shown on scanners, but do not make contact until I give the order, understood?"

"Yeah, we got ya, Boss."

Trix grinned in anticipation. This was what he had signed up for, after all.

[Travis North]

Asteroids rolled and collided throughout the field, it seemed as though the only things living within it were the ghosts of the mines. An eerie sense came from the natural peace; it was far too serene for a pirate’s haven.

Nestled within the deep gash of a tremendous asteroid was the miners' command center for the field. It was a facility partially built above the surface that had tunnels and rooms snaking all the way to the rock's core. Two hangers could be seen below the communications array, one for work crews, and the other for cargo vessels. They appeared dark and empty.

"{Shall we strike?}" A voice whispered across a short wave frequency, "{I believe we shall.}"

As the Imperial ships neared the massive asteroid several smaller rocks began to gravitate toward the capital cruiser. Small jets from thrusters could be observed along their sides. Each one of the rocks shared the similar feature of a cylinder bored into their core. They each housed a proton launcher, and before someone noticed them, several blue streaks darted toward the Black Fang.

The initial strike commenced and various uglies and old Headhunters power up from their roosts in the craters of tumbling rocks.

"{How long before the ion cannon is charged?}"

"Five minutes."

"{All fighters engage and eliminate their defense wing.}"

[Vince]

"Proton Torpedoes! Coming from vectors 35, 42, 55, 34... everywhere!"

Trix's scanners had come alive as well. "Headhunters! Wings, cover the snubs; priority on the those torpedo launchers! Jan, your with me."

"Gotcha! What're we doing?"

Trix grinned. "We've got target practice. Black Fang, report, Black Fang, this is Squadron commander. We've got torpedoes homing in."

Without listening to the response, he immediately banked his Interceptor, and began to fire at the incoming torpedoes. He knew he couldn't hit them all, or even more than a few if he was insanely lucky, but one less was one less. And the Interceptor's lasers were good for this sort of blind firing.

"You're going after the Torpedoes?!" Jan screamed.

"Got one! Junta, one's on me!"

"Hold on, don't die, I'll get him!"

Trix pulled the trigger on his flight-stick, and lances of light flew from his fighter towards the screaming torpedoes. The first of the torpedoes were already about to impact the shields.

His eyes widened as one exploded when a stray shot impacted it. "I frakking got it!" he cried.

"Copy that, but you've got company Trix!" Jan's voice came through the radio. Trix grinned, and bank hard again, turning almost 180 degrees and skimming back along the hull of the Cruiser, flying below and past the two Z-95s that flew past. Another fancy turn later, and he was behind them.

"They're splitting!" he called.

"Got you, Commander," Geor's voice sounded through the helmet's speakers. Trix all but ignored him, knowing that if he had it it wouldn't matter. More lances of plasma shot from his cannons, exploding through the cockpit of the pirate's fighter, and splitting it in half to float dead in space until they impacted against another asteroid. Ignoring where the other Headhunter had gone, he locked in on a torpedo launcher, blasting it to pieces, and diving out of the way of the defenses on the main asteroid.

"Get any bombers on the main defences!" he ordered, spinning into another roll and skimming an asteroid. Despite the climate control of the suit, he was starting to sweat from the intensity of the fighting. Even so, the advanced training of the Imperial Pilots was paying off; despite the relative frailty of their fighters, they had only lost five of their number so far.

Another Z-95 exploded, a spinning wing catching a comrade's fighter right on the nose and causing it to break apart. He could see the body of the pirate floating just before the fighter exploded.

"Trix! We've got an ion cannon powering up! Sensors are spiking!"

Trix cursed. "Alright! We'll pummel them. Don't give them a chance to fire!"

He accelerated, as did the other formations around the Cruiser toward the Asteroid.

[Vince]

This, thought Trix, was where the rebel fighters were much better off. The Imperial machine relied on the larger ships for bombardment, save for the exception of the TIE Bomber, and thus the Interceptor and the TIE Fighter were not equipped to deal with situations like this, and didn't have weaponry to assault asteroids and cause major damage.

"Form up," Trix called into his radio. "Switch as much power into your cannons as possible."

"I think we got all the bogeys Commander," Junta said. Trix grinned; so she had survived.

"We're going to provide a cover screen for the Fang. Hit everything we can, and leave nothing behind. Focus fire, I want at least two fighters hitting a target at a time. Copy?"

"Roger that, Commander."

"Yes sir."

"Ready!"

Trix fixed his eyes on the asteroid. "We've got a job to do. Prepare for attack runs. All wings attack on my mark... now!"

[Travis North]

"{Ion cannons are charged and ready. Targeting data is being computed. Rotation partern brings us a lock in three minutes.}

"{Excellent. How soon before our outer flights enter the field to engage the enemy?} The base commander said.

"ETA: Five minutes." replied a sensor operator.

No lights limited all sight within the command centre except for the glow from the terminal monitors. The characters could not be defined at all in the darkness.

Torpedo systems continued to batter the shield of the Imperial ship, soon the ion cannon would disable the ship and boarding parties would be dispatched.