Breaking Foundations: Strength of Unity

[Sarin Vorrann]

Peace??? There can be no peace in our time!



Many men throughout the course of Imperial history had sought to usurp the rightful power of the Emperor and his most loyal servants for their own personal gain. Some had merely sought power, others wealth and riches. Notable among them was Admiral Zaarin, the first of the original Twelve to fall victim to the vile propaganda of the New Republic. Next was High Admiral Zsinj, a billiant man more suited to be a Moff than an officer of the Fleet, who took several systems unto himself ro rule as he pleased. His mind too was corrupted by the Rebels.

There was as well Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, General Savaant, Moff Brathis, and most infamously Admiral Krennel and Sate Pestage.

The list of traitors and brigands, the disloyal droves of former Imperials moved at a rapid pace across the brain of Admiral Sarin Vorrann as he sat nearly alone on the bridge of the Draconian.. An aria sung in ancient Basic resounded about the depths of the Super Star Destroyer's bridge. The watch was small as the Admiral wanted every man and woman abaoard to get much sleep and rest, for the morrow would rbign valor, glory, and war to the much dormant Fleet of the Balmorran Empire.

The list continued on, the chemically enhanced brain of the Admiral trying in vain to match the profile of Commodore Tomar to another case of trachery during the glorious reign of the Empire. An oddity that there was not one present.

The Admiral knew he would have to stop mulling over the corruption of Commodore Tomar if he was to be an efficient officer. The Emperor assured him he would be handled. And so he would.

The Admiral's mind shifted to the coming assault, not secretive at all. at best, resistence would be mounted by a dozen fanatical corvette commanders in half as many vessels. Primary defenses centred around a resurrected Imeprial Golan IV battle station.

Bilbringi had little to offer former Imperial Line Captain Brattin. The portly officer has assumed the title of Lord Admiral, a rank or station never attained in his Service to the Empire. The shipyards could do little for a commander who had no resources with which to build. His every attempt to procure materials and mining equipment had come to naught, due to the efforts of disparate elements of the Imperiial Intelligence Service, reduced to watchkeeping vagabonds.

" Time?" Vorrann asked, softly as not to interrupt the low and soothing aria.

" Seventeen hundred, Admiral."

" Wake the crew in four hours. We jump in five."

" Yes sir."

" Captain Maelstrum, if our fighter commander is as well not asleep, would you send for him please?"

The Destroyer's direct commander nodded.

Vorrann looked out of the bridge to the other Destroyer accompanying the Draconian, an older Victory-class model. A dozen support vessels ringed the titannic warship, but it was not like the glory days of olde when any man with a falg had a dozen ships of the line at his fingertips.

Time to resurrect Glory

[Silus Xilarian]

Orders had been given. Squadrons were readied. Plans were set. It had been a busy day for General Xilarian. At thirteen hundred hours, all pilots under Xilarian's command had been dismissed back to their cabins. Included in this group was Shadow Squadron, who now had permanent residence on the Super Star Destroyer Draconian.

It was assumed that everyone had went to sleep, and for most this was true. Silus, however, didnt sleep. It was too close to the battle now for sleep. Already, scenarios played over in the General's mind. Manuevers, formations, every aspect of what was to happen when they arrived.

Silus was up and about in his room. In the corner, a punching bag was secured. For the past thirty minutes, this had been the object of Silus' concentration. He moved around the bag in a forty five degree angle. A quick left, a quick right, two steps to the right, followed by two more left hands, the second followed immediately by a hard right hook, which impacted with a loud thud against the heavy bag. Silus backed up two steps, and began to come in again when he heard the chime sound.

"Come in..."

"Sir, Admiral Vorrann has requested you on the Command Bridge."

"Im on my way. "

"Yes Sir"

Captain Maelstrum turned on his heel and left the room. After he left, Silus put on a t-shirt and draped a towel over his shoulder. He made his way out of his room and through the corridors of the ship until he came upon the Command Bridge...

"You needed to see me?"

[Sarin Vorrann]

Admiral Vorrann arched an eyebrow at the sight of the senior fighter officer aboard the Draconian. Clad in a t shirt, exercize shorts, and a towel, he was the physically a perfect human specimen. As an Imperial, his manner was greatly lacking and a dissappointment. The least he could have done was thrown on a regulation jumpsuit.

" General, you're out of uniform," Vorrann kept a smile from his face, but inside he was laughing uncontrolably.

" Never mind that. I want to inquire as to the status of your command. Are all twelve squadrons ready for battle? Walk with me."

Vorrann rose from the command dias and strode aft, his hands behind his white uniform tunic. Xilarian was bidden to follow, the bridge not a excellent place to speak.

[Morewind]

Morewind was waiting for the two as they entered Vorrann's office. He wasn't in Vorrann's chair though, choosing to stand in front of the Admiral's desk while he waited.

"Greetings gentlemen," he said, the ever present small smile on his face.

"I trust the fighter squadrons are prepared for launch? And the rest of the fleet as well?"

The Grand Inquisitor walked forward, pulling a folder from behind his back.

"I have all the information on Line Captain Brattin, right here."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Admiral Vorrann stood perplexed. He had no idea the Intelligence chief and Inquisitoriate commander had come aboard. And the Draconian had been underway for hours.

Many questions needed answers.

" Director, welcome to the Draconian." Vorrann moved around to his seat, bidding Xilarian to take s seat opposite him, a united front as it were against the always separate entity of Imperial Intelligence.

Taking a sip of brandy, the Admiral pursed his lips. " What is this matter you speak of?"

[Morewind]

"Your campaign against Bilbringi, Admiral," Morewind answered, keeping his small smile on his face.

"We have all the information on Brattin, his defenses, as well the men under his command. I thought I should deliver this to you personally, Admiral. As it is an important campaign."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Vorrann kept cordiality on his face, bemusement awash aft of the facade.

" Do tell, Director."

Vorrann hoped his General would say something soon, or the Admiral's opinion of his newest second in command would drop drastically.

[Silus Xilarian]

"Campaign? From what Ive been told, this will hardly be a battle, and our fighters are more or less here to sweep up the small stuff that the big boys cant target. Unless you've found some secret armada that consists of more than a few Corvettes and a weak TIE fighter force, then I dont see the point of this conversation, Director"

Silus narrowed his eyes slightly...

"My boys are ready for a fight, we arent taking this lightly, but If they've got some sort of death trap waiting, I'd just assume we go home and build a Death Star before we come back..."

Admiral Vorrann had been more than confident about this battle. Losing men due to poor strategizing wasnt something the General enjoyed, and Vorrann had another thing coming if he thought a few extra bars on his rank plate would impress Silus....

"Now, what do you have for us?"

Oddly enough, Morewind had refered to himself as an Inquisitor when he last spoke to Silus, not the Director of Intelligence. A private conversation was due with Admiral Vorrann after this one was over, that much was for sure.

[Sarin Vorrann]

Vorrann looked narrowly at Morewind, the Intelligence Director the complete paragon of mystery and secretism.

General Xilarian could be summed up similarly: arrogant and brash.

Vorrann thought of himself as calculating, perhaps fanatical, but he was not inept by any means.

" My first report on the enemy positions indicated one Golan I Defense Platform and no more than a disparate wing's worth of fighters. At best, they can field a dozen Customs' Corvettes. The Draconian will take half of the armada and jump into the system's fore, while the reserve formation around the Peremptory appraoches their rear.

" Has your initial report been flawed in some way?"

Vorrann turned.

" General, your formation has top of the line equipment and excellent personnel. Combined with the VSD, we will have fourteen squadrons afield. Do they outnumber us, Director? Is there something I should know?"

[Morewind]

"Yes," Morewind replied, "What we have learned is there is an Imperial Star Destroyer at Bilbringi. The commander is a Captain Cal Ghitimak. He and Line Captain Brattin are in collusion with the other to join the New Republic, giving the shipyards to them. We have some evidence which suggest there are several frigates from the New Republic there as well.

"They also secured a squadron of TIE Devils. And the Star Destroyer...is Mark III."

He handed the envelope to Vorrann.

"There is another matter I wish to discuss with the two of you, when the opportunity presents itself."

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus shot a sideways glance towards Vorrann. There should have been scouts at Bilbringi telling us this. A job that small shouldnt have been done by intelligence. Imperial Star Destroyers arent TIEs, you cant hide them that easily. This was sloppy, but didnt seem worth turning around for.

"Our standard TIEs are outclassed by Devils....How big of a Squadron are we looking at? And how many New Republic ships can we look forward to?"

[Morewind]

"Only a 24 size squadron. Something Shadow Squadron should be able to handle," Morewind said, mysterious smile present, "I have some contacts who can assist on this."

He looked down on his gloved hands, inspecting them.

"As for the ships...only 4 frigates."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Vorrann poured over in his mind the demand for adequate reconaissance, dismissed by the balmorran Emperor as needed elsewhere, thus he reliance on Imperial Intelligence.

Anger boiled.

" The attack plan does not change. The Peremptory and her group dropped out of formation bound for their flanking position, and the die is cast. We do outnumber them, and with our support vessels they will have chance to flee.

Vorrann stood slowly, then slammed a gloved fist on the surface of his desk. " How the frell did four frigates get into Imperial territory without our probes noticing? Morewind, I doubt your men very much. Two years ago, every microbe not of Imperial descent that entered that system would have been identified, tagged, and tracked. Your men delivered me the report on which I based my assault.

" No you will endure the fruits of this campaign. Or you will perish with it. General, you will command the assault personally from your fighter; your appearence on the field will bolster morale. Morewind! You will stand by my side. We shall die together if that is to be the case."

[Morewind]

"No Admiral," Morewind replied, "My men never gave you any intelligence whatsoever.

"Interesting...if you will excuse me. I have a report to file," he moved to exit.

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus looked over at Vorrann with an almost disgusted look. He was being overly dramatic, and seemed on the brink of seriously freaking out....

"So what you're saying is, you didnt even bother to send your own scouts? Having Imperial Intel gather information on this shouldnt have been necessary. If one of those asteroids was hollowed out, and they were building a Sun Crusher in it, then we would need Intel on this."

Silus turned completely towards Vorrann now...

"And I had every intention of being out their with my men, why the hell do you think ive been up all night? Now forgive me for being so honest, Admiral, but not sending your own personal scout was sloppy, and you know this as well as any of us. I dont see why you're so intent on dieing now. You're in a fracking Super Star Destroyer, have some damn backbone, Sir"

Silus glanced up to Morewind....

"This battle is still ours. If you have matters to attend to elsewhere, my personal shuttle is yours. I'll be in the main hangar doing some last minute checks on my TIE, if neither of you mind...."

[Sarin Vorrann]

There were times in history where a single word had started entire wars and annihilated entire civilizations, their every essence forever taken from the span of galactic conscience.

Here sat an Admiral of the Fleet, Supreme Commander of the Balmorran Military, being publicly derided by two subordinate officers.

Times have changed, the Admiral thought, anger and rage flashing over his azure eyes.

But not that much.

" Director, the report I received was labeled as coming from your Department. If it was not sent by them, and then not delivered by one of your couriers to this ship, and authenticated by your command, then I suggest you begin investigating something rather quickly."

" Be gone, Morewind. There is another matter that does not require your attention."

The Intelligence bowed almost derisively, and exited the room.

Vorrann's eyes now had on them a cold gaze, over them burning a fire of rage and vengeance.

" General, you are out of line. If you ever question my authority or competence in front of another officer again, I will shoot you myself for insubordination. I've reviewed your record; the only keeping you from being executed a thousand times over is your ability to outfly every pilot in the Fleet.

" Now hear this, Silus. I will not tolerate this any longer. Your brash attitude may wash in the wardroom, but if you ever cross me again, you will find the view of a Super Star Destroyer amazing from the outside.

" To address your concern, I was denied the useage of dedicated scouts. I did send out patrols, but the reports were intercepted and filtered through the Director's agency, and a compiled report given to me.

" You may be prepared to disagree with the Emperor, and so am I on military affairs, but I have no say over Intelligence. I rule the Fleet. Of which you are a part. I meticulously planned this assault from the informaton I had. Would you like a shot at this uniform, General?

" Tell me, you can order a squadron of fighters to their deaths, a dozen men at the most. Can you order a Destroyer to its fate? Can you bear the weight of forty thousand screaming voices at the end of the day? It is not a nice burden to bear, but command never is.

" If you want, I'll take out an assault shuttle and you can command the fleet. Would you like that, General?"

[Morewind]

Just before he exitted, Morewind made another comment.

"Admiral, let me remind you I am not your subordinate. I will inform my superiors of the lax."

He bowed and began to exit.

"And one more thing...check and make sure the report says 'Office of the Inquisitors' and not Imperial Intelligence. That could be the problem. Good day."

Then, he left.

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus stood there, intent on listening to the Admiral rant and rave about insubordination. Millard had done the same, but it was different then. When you threaten to punish a subordinate officer, you threaten in a way that affects him as an officer. Vorrann felt it necessary to threaten Silus as a man. One man telling another that if he, the subordinate, didnt do as he would told, he would be killed. Anger boiled in the back of the Dark J...no...General's mind. His eyes narrowed at his supreme commander. His shoulders tensed slightly. It was something he hadnt done in quite awhile. Something he swore he wouldnt do on this field. Something he wouldnt do now.....

"Admiral, you are out of line. No man threatens my life. Not you, not the Emperor. No one. You're right. Im a good pilot. A damn good pilot, but that doesnt mean im helpless outside of a cockpit...."

Silus paced slightly for a moment, obviously fighting back the urge to beat the hell out of Vorrann right then and there....

"No on second thought, you know what, Sir? I Dont give a damn about that rank plate you're wearing. You say if I get out of line again, you'll shoot me? Consider this me being out of line, you slimy, stuck up, no good son of a bitch.....Is that out of line enough? I WANT you to shoot me....go ahead, DO IT!"

Long held back anger was being brought to the surface. Actions and words that were supposed to be reserved til they could be let out in private were now being unleashed. Silus leaned over the desk, bring himself nearly nose to nose with the Admiral. His eyes were set, his nostrils flared slightly.

"Im waiting, Sir."

[Captain Desjardins]

The Victory Star Destroyer Odin's Eye

It's not the Cronus, the man thought as he sipped his tea.

But it would have to do.

Desjardins glanced out at the viewscreen, waiting for the signal from the Draconian to jump. While he was pleased with the eventual attack on Bilbringi, his mind was still racing a mile a minute.

Commodore Tomar asked me to keep my eyes open for anything. And that commander who secretly sneaked aboard is definately something odd. Whatever this, Morewind character wanted he got it.

"Comm, signal the Draconian. We're completely ready over here."

The Comm Officer nodded then pressed several buttons.

" Draconian on the comm."

Desjardins gave a nod, "Admiral Vorrann please."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Vorrann snarled, a youthful snarl. His eyes tightened and his gaze dropped in temperature to that which would space seem warm.

" If you think simple because I am an Admiral, I cannot hold my own against you, you are mistaken. And were you any other man, I might. Nay, I would. But you are an Imperial Officer, and so am I. I outrank you and I demand the deferance that comes with. You will understand my point, and you will make changes to your attitude.

" If you want to see who the bigger man is, then I welcome you to try; we shall set a date for a duel of honour when this operation is complete. But remember, our personal vendetta you have created, cannot and will not interfere with the successful execution of this operation. Do.."

A chime of the comm link interrupted the two verballing sparring officers.

" Commander of the Odin's Eye is requesting to speak with you, sir."

[Silus Xilarian]

As the comlink cut Vorrann off in midspeech. Before the admiral could reach it, Silus snatched it off his desk...

"Put him through..."

Silus glanced back across the desk and cut Vorrann a glance as he waited on Desjardins to speak.

It was more than appartant that Silus was being defiant, but at this point, it was required. Imperial officers had a nasty habit of trying to "break" their subordinates. A man with no free will was more likely to obey than a man who hated his commanding officer, and wasnt afraid to let it be known. Silus never took well to direct orders, and trying to bully him would make him even more unruly.

A slight smirk crossed Silus' face as he awaited Captain Desjardins to speak. With his free hand, he covered the reciever to the comlink.

"Go ahead and suit up, Admiral. Ive got things covered here..."

[Captain Desjardins]

Desjardins waited as he was told Admiral Vorrann was in a meeting. When he was put through it wasn't the Admiral who was greeting him, but Silus Xilarian- commander of the famed Shadow Squardon.

The devil?

"General Xilarian," Desjardins said, nodding in greeting, "I was hoping to speak with Admiral Vorrann. The Odin's Eye and Titan Group is ready for the jump to hyperspace. Is the Draconian and her group ready?"

[Sarin Vorrann]

Save his brashness, this man is a fine soldier. Unsuted for high command, but a solid warrior nonetheless. I pity the pilots that fall into his scopes.

Vorrann pushed the chair back and stood, placing one hand firmly at the small of his back and the other on his belt. He spoke loudly, the room's speaker able to pick up his voice. The commlink in Xilarian's hand irritated the Fleet Admiral, but it was expccted.

" Captain. Jump into hyperspace. The assigned attack time stands as it was. All is going according to plan. Be ready to engage the enemy's rear. We shall take the brunt of their defensive fire. We are more of a threat."

Vorrann looked down at Xilarian.

" Draconian out.

Vorrann looked away, avoiding whatever malignant gaze the General cared to toss about.

" You are dismissed, General. Prepare our men. In a matter of hours, their lives will be on the line. As will ours. Good luck to you, Silus."

[Silus Xilarian]

He likes to bluff. I'll remember that. Pity he wont pull a blaster, I was kinda looking forward to it. And hes using the battle as a scapegoat. Sad, he cant even keep eye contact. He and my punching bag should trade places, things would go more smoothly

"Its not about luck"

The door opened as Silus made his way to it. Gathering saliva, he spat on the floor before walking through.

"Sir"

The door shut as Silus walked on through. It was on to his living quarters now to get his flight suit. Business was about to pick up...

[Sarin Vorrann]

Xilarian was through the door, and Vorrann snarled, his lip curling into a nasty gesture which created great social discord on the Admiral's homeworld.

" Captain!"

Maelstrum rushed in from the bridge; when he arrived, the Admiral was close to the door and handing his executive officer a snifter of sherry.

" What do you think of General Xilarian?"

The Captain arched an eyebrow, and proceeded to a seat oppsite the Admiral's normal perch behind his desk. The two in the time the Admiral had moved his flag had become close, more friends than officers.

" Brash. Arrogant. Rude."

Vorrann snickered. " My sentiments exactly. He wishes to test my mettle with physical combat. It is a shame I do not have time. He must think me some sort of hardnosed Vaderist."

The Draconian's commander smiled, but dared not reply until the Admiral was finished.

" He is a good officer. But his temper needs controlling. And he should learn to respect his superiors. If he wishes to see me in action, then Bilbringi will certainly display my command ability. Perhaps I shall critque his. I want Shadow Squadron to be attached to the 1st Assault."

" Escort duty?"

" Exactly. If he refuses, have him sent to the brig and attach a monitor to the wall so he can watch his squadron win without him. Those assault shuttles will make quick work of the enemy frigates if they are free of fighter interference. Xilarian and his rogues would do well to learn discipline."

" I agree, sir...I-"

Maelstrum cut himself off, instead taking a sip of his alcohol.

" Go on."

" I would not want to be in ambush position with them, that's all."

Vorrann laughed. He nearly forgot that a leg wound had forced the robust officer's transfer from the Army to the Navy.

Bilbringi was only an hour away. Time to prepare the battlewagons had begun.

[Captain Desjardins]

Desjardins turned to his first officer, "Go into hyperspace."

I still wish we had the Cronus with us.

"Aye aye sir!" was the reply, "Prepare hyperspace jump!...Course calculated...Jumping now!"

The group of one Victory Star Destroyer and 12 dreadnaughts went into hyperspace, leaving the rest of the fleet behind.

[Wraith]

Bilbringi

The six fighters sat in their cloaked security, watching Brattin's faction as they attempted to prepare for the coming attack. The Imperial Stark Destroyer Mark III sat in the lead, various small ships going to and fro towards the space shipyards itself.

The Balmorran Forces have just entered hyperspace. Estimated time... the computer paused, One hour. That is enough time for us to attack and 'help' Vorrann's forces. Fyoran said we needed to become indispensable to the Balmorran Admiral for him to accept us.

Wraith nodded, "I agree...we're attacking."

He powered up his weapons systems and sensors, letting the cloaking device drop.

Signalling the rest of the Demons.

The six fighters decloaked, their weapons firing upon a transport as it passed by. The transport exploded in a ring of fire.

"Target the Imperial Star Destroyer. The Mark III one. We'll leave enough for Vorrann to be able to mop up. And yes...we'll watch."

Demon Squadron flew towards the Star Destroyer, heavy rockets coming from their warhead launchers as they attacked.

[Captain Desjardins]

"We're supposed to encounter minor resistance," Desjardins was saying as he stood in the briefing room. The commanders from Titan Fleet stood before him on holographic projectors.

"Mainly corvettes and some transports. We received a report there was an Imperial Star Destroyer there, but some of our information is unknown," Desjardins glared at the Inquisitor standing to the side of the room.

"Be prepared for anything, I think an Imperial Star Destroyer Mark III would be good for the fleet. Use Ion Cannons once the shields are down.

"Are there any questions?"

There weren't.

"Very well, man your stations, prepare for battle," Desjardins nodded to his fellow commanders and moved to the bridge.

"Return to normal space!"

"Aye sir!"

The Odin's Eye and the rest of Titan Fleet came out of hyperspace, where the fleet of Line Captain Brattin should've been.

"My Lord..." Desjardins gaped, "Launch all fighters!Signal Vorrann! Tell him the battle has all ready been joined.

"Do it NOW!"

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus cursed to himself as he sat in the open cockpit of his TIE, running a few last minute checks. He didnt like the attitude Vorrann had about this battle. It was true that we outnumbered them, but numbers didnt always mean everything. Our attack was well known, Bilbringi's forces have had as much time to prepare as us. The only difference was, they knew what was coming, we, on the other hand, didnt know about the New Republic assistance, the Mark III ISD, or the TIE Devils. Of all people, a battle hardened Admiral should know that numbers didnt always win battles. In the past, the Rebellion had wreaked havoc on unsuspecting imperial forces with small, extremely well organized strike teams. Silus wasnt even alive when all that had happened, but even he knew about it. It was a scary thought that the head of our military was too dim witted to even learn from the past mistakes of his peers, or possibly even himself. Either way, Silus wasnt gonna let his boys go in unprepared. With a heavy sigh, he removed his comlink and dialed into the intercom frequency....

"Attention all fighter squadrons, report to the briefing room immediately...."

Silus caught sight of Captain Maelstrum out of the corner of his eye as he got out of his TIE and started on his way towards the briefing room. Maelstrum was accompanied by two Stormtroopers, a tell tale sign that Silus could possibly be spending the night in the brig. Rather than stop and bicker, Silus smirked and kept walking. Now wasnt the time for petty crap like this....

[Ned Stark]

Stark was going through his own preflight check, but his mind wasn't on the mission ahead.

Frosty approached me with something. I was wondering when Taylor was gonna get off his <smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont> and do something. Now if I can just figure outta way t'help him outside of keepin' my eyes and ears open.

His thoughts were interupted by the call of Xilarian, telling everyone to go back to the briefing room.

Stark crossed his arms as he started walking back towards the briefing room.

He walked across the hangar, muttering, "What the hell's goin' on."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Captain Maelstrum strode towards the Commander of the Imperial fighter wings aboard the Draconian. Behind him followed a pair of Imperial stromtroopers, each one dwarfing the dimunitive Fleet captain as they walked. In their shadows, men felt one of two things: fear, or comfort.

" General Xilarian. Your orders."

The Captain handed him a a datapad and awaited a reaction.

General Xilarian. You have been assigned an important mission during the coming assault. Assault Squadron I requires a fighter escort, for it will be making runs on the Rebel frigates supporting the enemy ISD. Your squadron has been chosen to keep them free of enemy fighter interference, being the most elite unit in the formation.

Good hunting.

-Captain Mallirii, Chief of Staff, Admiral Vorrann

[Silus Xilarian]

IDIOT!!! FRELLING IDIOT!!! Was he not in the same room when Morewind spoke of the 24 TIE Devils. FRACKING STUPID. Silus looked back down at the datapad one more time, and cut Maestrum a sideways glance. His answer was a choked back growl, taking the form of words...

"Understood..."

Without waiting for Maelstrum to respond, Silus turned his back and headed on towards the briefing room. They had 20 minutes until the heat started, so the briefing would have to be brief. It was necessary however, to let the pilots know what was going on. If Silus was lucky, Vorrann would decide to bring his little lapdog Maelstrum during their little "Duel of Honour"....

The pilots were just making their way into the briefing room as Silus walked out front. In the back corner, leaning up against the wall, he could see Stark, who was flying with Shadow Squadron for the time being...

[Sarin Vorrann]

" Fifteen minutes to realspace reversion."

Admiral Vorrann entered the bridge through the aft control corridor and looked over the men he was to directly command in the coming engagement. From youthful to aged, to a man they looked battle hardened. The fire of the Empire burned in their eyes.

His hands clasped behind his back, he strode towards the command chair and spoke the one command every flag officer did before a fight: " Battle illumination."

The bridge lights dimmed so it was byt the amber and emerald glow of duty stations and computer consoles. The flashes of droids in the crew pits served a miniscule type of strobe.

Accompanying them was the bright light of hyperspace.

" 2nd Wing has reported battle readiness," called the fighter liaison officer from his port post atop the crew pit.

" And Xilarian's command?"

" The General is holding a breifing, sir. First wing is near ready for launch."

" I see," Vorrann replied, rubbing his chin in his hands as he perched himself on the chair.

" Admiral, all weapons report functional. Communications with the rest of the fleet is as well."

" Excellent. Prepare to raise the shields eimmediately upon reversion. All Draednaughts are to commence immediate fire on the enemy frigates. Two shall remain behind as escorts. "

" As ordered, sir."

" Ready all forward batteries; load all torpedo tubes. Rapid fire is ordered upon command."

The gunnery sergeant assigned to the bridge nodded and turned to his relay console.

" Helm: speed is to drop to one third station keeping upon reversion. Give us more time to pur on the barrage. Flight ops: change of orders for the assault squadron; run on the enemy defense platform. Shadow Squadron is to escort. Those devils will defend the station, as it is the least mobile and without defense. Attach a defender squadron from the First to assist."

" Aye sir."


Thirteen minutes later

" Time to realspace reversion?"

" Two minutes, sir."

Vorrann prused his lips and looked into the swirling spectacle of hyperspace.

" All stop! Commence reversion!!!"

Maelstrum, taken aback, was not remiss to do his duty. " All hands: brace for emergency stop."

The massive Draconian and her escorts dropped from hyperspace at the edge of the Bilbringi system, several minutes by sublight speeds from their destination.

The Captain leaned over the Admiral and whispered, " sir?"

Vorrann did not stray his gaze from fore, but replied so the bridge could hear.

" We were suprised by the presence of enemy frigates, and I will not be furhter surprised by a captured Abolisher ot Interdictor."

" Aye sir."

Barely noticeable off the bow in the midst of the system sat the rock mass of Bilbringi. Above it sat an Imperial III-class Star Destriyer, four Rebel frigates of varrying classes, the Golan I station, and one small fifty metre craft.

She was an Imperial Constrainer-class Interdiction picket.

" You were right, sir!"

Vorrann nodded but took no other notice.

" Take us in. Launch the fighters."

[Silus Xilarian]

"About 30 minutes ago, I was informed by Imperial Intelligence of more resistance at Bilbringi. Among the armada named in the earlier briefing, we can now look forward to 4 New Republic Frigates, and an Imperial Star Destroyer MK III. The big boys will handle these, but we can also be expecting more small fighters because of this. There are also a reports of a squadron of 24 TIE Devils. Remember, use extreme caution if engaging these, they're lightning quick....."

Silus was interupted early. A lurch went through the Draconian. "We're coming out of hyperspace already?" Silus thought, looking up at the chrono...."We're early".....

Silus knew what was coming next. Either Vorrann had ordered an early jump to realspace, or we had been yanked out of hyperspace by an interdictor. No reports had shown an interdictor, which made things more curious, as ships that size arent easy to hide. Either way, the following alarm signalling for the fighters to begin deploy wasnt a surprise.....

"EVERYONE TO YOUR SHIPS, PROCEED AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED, I'LL ISSUE FURTHER COMMANDS FROM THE FIELD!!"

With that, the room because a frenzy. Pilots shuffled out as quickly as possible, making their way to their ships. Silus jogged back the way he came, quickly finding himself back at his TIE. After a few quick steps, nearly jumps, Silus slid down into the cockpit, grabbing his helmet off the seat as he did. As he began strapping himself in, he frantically started checking left and right for the rest of Shadow Squadron....

[Elessar Stavit]

Escort duty?!?" Lieutenant Elessar 'Frosty' Stavit was incredulous as he walked towards his fighter.

"Begging your pardon, sir," he said to Xilarian, a scowl on his face, "But what the frack is Vorrann talking about? He knows we're the best or else we wouldn't be assigned here."

Grand Admiral Millard would never do this, without proper reason. What is he purposefully trying to lose.

"General this is nuts. If we keep gettin' assignments like this, I'm gonna hand in my resignation."

[Kam Dapp]

Sliding easily into his pilot's seat, Kam Dapp quickly strapped himself in, and did a vastly reduced checklist as fast as possible. Seeing that he was ready before the others, he rested his helmet on his lap, and leant back, looking out at the rest of the squadron. He watched as someone, Elessar he guessed, protested about something to Silus. Kam knew deep down that he ahd put little effort in to get to know lead. This is for two reasons. First, he wasnt exactly the outward type. Second, pilots die, so it's best to like as few as possible.

A short distance behind lead, the pilot could see Val calmly walking towards his craft. Of all of the members of Shadow Squadron, he was probably the one Kam respected the most. He didnt know why, but the pilot had always found himself go to when he wanted to talk to someone.

Turning his head slightly, he watched Bette as she slowly jogged in the same direction. He sighed slightly as she dissapeared from sight behind a supplies trolley. There was something about her that Kam found to be so special, but he could never work it out. Although since his drunken antics in Silus' personal craft, he hadn't been able to look her in the eyes without turning a shade of crimson.

I'm not nervous, I'm not nervous... he chanted to himself, trying to steady his nerves.

[Val Torre]

"And remember, boys and girls. The Shadows are taking those devils; happy hunting!" He called out, all-too-pleased to be fighting in his own arena. Political conspiracy theories had never been his forté. With a grin, he smacked Shooter's protruding rear as she scaled the ladder into her fighter. "Here we go, Bette, time to collect some scrap metal!"

Now at the base of the ladder which led to the ingress hatch, the commander began jumping on the spot shaking his arms and head. "Brrr! Come on!" He growled, now fired up Val was to the top of the ladder in a second and before disappearing inside he turned to face the rest of the Shadows and gave them the two thumbs up.

"Oh, there's nothing like slipping inside a Fat Lady!" His voice was heard next over the intercom. He laughed and started up his control panel and testing his foot yokes.

[Sarin Vorrann]

Maelstrum walked over to one of the comm units, signalling the bridge.

Vorrann answered it personally.

"Report."

"Sir," Maelstrum began, his eyes focussed on the Shadow Squadron Pilots as they ran to their ship, "I think these Shadow rogues might choose to disobey orders. Shall I have them arrested now?"

Vorrann paused, his steely eyes glaring at the Interdictor Cruiser off in the distance. Were he to keep Shadow Squadron on the flight deck it would signal a weakening in his command. And that might remind people of Tomar, the traitor who'd he replaced.

Something still nagged at him, though, about Tomar's defection. He'd had an honourable service career, without any reason to defect.

"Admiral your orders?" Maelstrum pulled him from his thoughts.

"Go get Xilarian. Put him in the brig. And any other Shadow members who plan on going after the Devils. Take Morewind with you."

Maelstrum nodded, "Aye sir," then he signed off.

Vorrann turned and stared at the enemy position, in time to see the Interdictor cruiser explode...

[Arik Illian]

Arik didn't know exactly what was going on--he barely ever did. He was a good follower--not a great leader. He trusted Silus, and with him shouting commands, Arik did not take the situation lightly. His senses heightened--this was when he worked best. Under pressure--the stakes high, the chances slim, the heat turned up.

He smiled.

Rushing to his fighter, he scaled the ladder with uncanny ease--he had always been very light and agile. Slipping into the cockpit, he began to hit the necessary switches to engage the engines. The ion engines began their slow hum to operation, like a waking animal that was stretching against the stiffness of sleep. The whine of other mechanical comings and goings grew louder as the Squadron's various vessels came to life. It was a symphony to Arik's ears.

Just as he was about to secure his helmet and airlock the cockpit, something caught his eye. Uniforms--three or four officers--accompanied by several stormtroopers rushed the hangar, quickly but in formation. Some of the troopers began to adjust their blasters--to stun, he imagined. This was not good. He glanced down the line--most pilots were either closing their cockpits or at least in the ships by now. He checked the faces around him--Val, Kam, Elessar. But the troopers weren't making their way to just any of the pilots--they had one particular ship in mind. He glanced over, seeing their trajectory aimed straight at Silus' fighter.

"SILUS, LOOK OUT! WE GOT COMPANY!" He poked his head out of the cockpit and yelled down to his leader before drawing it back in. He paused for a moment, wondering what to do--if he should get out or what. No, he knew exactly what to do. Silus would be fine--he could take care of himself. He would want Arik to be ready, and ready he would be.

Strapping his helmet on tightly and locking the airtight pot of a hat, he lowered the lid, sealing the cockpit and airlocking it. His engines whined loudly in anticipation as he awaited Silus's command.

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus glanced over as he heard Arik yell, sure enough, stormtroopers, accompanied by a few officers. The trip to the brig would have to wait though. The general looked over in time to see Arik and Val shut their hatches, everyone was ready and waiting on Silus. The stormtroopers were getting closer to Silus. With no further hesitation, Silus put on his helmet as the hatch shut and the cockpit was airlocked. The comlink in his helmet was automatically activated. The channel was set to the default, every fighter in each squadron could hear, Shadow Squadron included. Vorrann was also listening, or at least, Silus assumed he was...

"SHADOWS, GO!!"

Silus yelled the command and took off immediately, with each shadow following....

ALL SQUADRONS, DEPLOY!

Behind him, two stormtroopers in the hangar were just getting up after being knocked to the floor by the blast of exhaust let loose by the TIEs....

[Morewind]

Maelstrum cursed as the nearest TIE, the one belonging to Elessar Stavit, shot from the Draconian, headed out into the depths of space. The officer was thrown back, stumbled, then regained his footing.

"Blasted Pilots!" he cursed, his face incenzed.

Maelstrum grabbed a comlink, "Attention all gunners! Lock onto the escaping ships. Prepare to-"

"No."

Maelstrum looked at the man standing next to him. It was the Grand Inquisitor Morewind.

"Let Shadow Squadron have their day. They will be handled when they return. Dismissed Captain. Vorrann needs you on the bridge."

Silently, but still burning in rage, Maelstrum turned and headed towards the lift back to the bridge.

Morewind stared at Shadow Squadron and let out his small smile. Tamara had gone with them. She was indeed acquainting herself with the squadron.

We have a slight victory indeed, he smiled again, then turned and left.

Vorrann had a battle to run.

[Ned Stark]

Stark had been in his TIE waiting for the order to launch. When he saw the uniformed troopers walking down towards Silus' TIE, Stark began prepping his engines.

"Ya know for a loyalist," he said aloud, making sure his comm was off, "Silus sure don't act like it."

Stark was tired at being jacked around by the buerocracy of the Balmorran Military. Ever since Millard had left and Tomar gotten fired, the military had gone downhill.

It was still a top notch group, the flight commander believed, but it'd gotten restless. What was really bothering him was the non-action, given to the raids on the outer rim of the Empire.

These raiders're up t'something, he thought as he shot his TIE Advanced out into space.

Desjardins believes they're an outside element wantin' to cut into the Empire. Feh...let 'em. Millard'n I'll kick their asses back to where ever they came from.

"This is Shadow Six," he turned his comm on, "Checking in. Gimme Status Report everyone.

"Spaz...you 'n Frosty're with me," he smiled roughly, "Let's clear a path!"

It was then he saw the Interdictor Cruiser, in the distance, *wink* off his screen as the ship exploded.

"What th'frack! Shadow Leader did you see that?"

[Wraith]

Wraith smiled darkly, behind his black helmet, as he watched the Interdictor Cruiser explode. It'd been a perfect shot, but that was what he expected.

Shoot. Kill. Leave.

I take it we're going to cloak and get out of the firing range? his computer read out read.

"We are. But you and I have another mission."

Wraith turned his comm on, broadcasting to all members of Demon Squadron.

"We're finished here. The Devils can take it from here."

The squadron formed up and disappeared into the night.

[Silus Xilarian]

"I did...and whoever took out that interdictor musta been too close, I had four ships, on my sensors, they're all gone now."

Just then two fighters, standard TIEs came up behind.....

"Ok Shadows, we got company...Oddball, Maniac, follow me..."

Immediately after issueing the order, Silus put his TIE into a dive, followed by a hard roll to the right. Dapp and Maniac were following close behind. If he couldnt get himself behind the two snubs tailing him, Dapp and Marr would have to handle em. Either way, Silus wasnt about to stay still and get vaped...

Everyone else, keep an eye out for those Devils...

[Arik Illian]

"Aye, aye, Gramps," Arik replied in his comm to Commander Stark. He smiled in his flight helmet, wondering what the 'ole boy was thinking. No time now, though, as he began to notice several red specs pop onto his radar. The TIE squads had been deployed, and SS was their number one objective.

It was time to rock.

Arik fingered over a few switches unlocking his laser cannons and prepping his hud. He felt a twinge of something in his stomach--he was looking forward to this. It had been some time since he had been involved in dogfights, and now was a great time to get comfotable again--before the real pilots started showing up.

He stayed close to Stark and Stavit, but he chose his targets up ahead--a fresh wing of TIEs deployed from one of the cruisers. Resting his thumb over the large red button on his flightstick, he eyed his targets. Then, with a tense finger, he unleashed the first volley of fire.

Hot streaks of green zipped through the air as he let the quad cannons work their magic. Two TIEs were ripped apart--wings and cannopys tearing apart and exploding as his shots found thier targets.

"That felt good," he spoke through the comm, checking his radar. Two more red blips fell behind the green ones that represented his wing. "Hawk, Frosty! We got bogies on our six!"

[Ned Stark]

"Okay shooting, Spaz," Stark growled, "Here we go...Break and Attack!"

His TIE Advanced shot downwards, spinning as quick on a dime as it could, and headed back towards the rogue TIE Fighters.

"You're a real hotshot aren't you," he mummured to himself, "Thinking a TIE Fighter can take on an Advanced."

Stark opened the comm, broadcasting all over the combat zone, "I'm gonna rip off your helmet and crap down your neck!"

His targetting computers locked on the inferior fighter and a four shots later it was dust.

The computer then bleeped as 10 more ships showed up in the distance.

Computer detects a number of enemy fighters coming into view. They identify as TIE Fighters and Interceptors.

"Attention Shadows. We have contact with enemy fighters. They're going after the assault gunboats."

[Sarin Vorrann]

Maelstrum made it up to the bridge, his face red as a beet.

Vorrann had a look of amusement mixed with anger on his face.

"You failed Captain."

The Subordinate nodded, "Yes sir. They saw us coming. And...Morewind stopped me from having any sort of pursuit."

The amused expression turned into anger.

"That Inquisitor is coming into my business!" he exclaimed, "This is a my ship!"

The Admiral took a sip from the glass next to his chair, letting the earl gray tea fill his lips.

"But..." he said resignly, "I suppose we do need to see how good of a leader Xilarian is. Your analogy about the ambush may be correct Captain."

His eyes darkened, "If Xilarian fails, I want you to find a member from any squadron and have him replace the current commander. We'll break Silus if we have to."

The Weapons Officer's voice resonated throughout the bridge.

"Admiral...we have a lock on some of the Corellian Gunships and the frigates. They are trying to flank us. Also the TIE Devils are going after the assault gunboats we sent after the shipyards itself."

Vorrann spoke with confidence, "We have the better ships. Launch TIE bombers to deal with the Gunships.

"Send a squadron of TIE Advanced, not Shadow Squadron, to deal with the Devils. Also have Captain Desjardins, if you can find him, attack the Star Destroyer and disable her.

"I believe Emperor Kiterix would like an Imperial Mark III Star Destroyer added to the fleet.

"Do it!" he ordered, "Now!"

[Tod Marr]

"WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!"

The scream came through on all fighter frequencies as Maniac ripped through three fighters all at once.

"That's one three you owe me, 'Top!"

Maniac pulled back into the three-man element formation. It was a variation on elements that Silus decided on thanks to a few close encounters during the initial weeks of Shadow Squadron. He then switched to a closed channel with Shadow Squadron...

"Hey Val - my roster's catchin' up buddy! I'd be beatin' ya by now on;y you keep scorin' at home base!"

He fired a flare off towards Bette.

A red cluster of dots appeared on his radar.

"Heads up guys'n gals! UFO's on my screen - starboard!"

[Elessar Stavit]

Stavit smirked at Maniac's comment.

Man's a frelling wacko for certain.

His TIE Advanced got a lock on one of the approaching TIE Fighters and he let loose with blaster cannons.

TIE Fighter Hull Integrity at 32%

A few more shots later and the TIE broke apart.

Stavit's Advanced did a victory roll, then he targetted another fighter, this time an Interceptor. He switched to advanced missiles, waiting until he had a lock on the shieldless craft.

"You guys think you're so tough!" he called over the open frequency, then fired a missile. The rogue fighter disentigrated and Stavit flew through the column of flame.

As he passed through the flames, Stavit noticed a launch of TIE ADV Squadron Zeta from the Draconian's Hangar Bay. The Squadron was considered to be the 'back up' of Shadow Squadron...the second best of the fleet. Stavit knew personally...he and Val had been members of that squadron before SS had been formed.

"Hey General," Frosty said over the squadron comm, "Zeta Squadron's bein' launched. Better keep an eye on 'em.

"Hey Spaz!" he said to his wingman, "Cover me! It looks like we gotta few transports coming at us too. Let's take 'em."

The two TIE Advanced shot towards the enemy transports.

[Silus Xilarian]

As the fighters on Silus tail were cleared, three TIE Interceptors passed overhead. With a hard tug on his yolk, Silus' TIE turned straight up and back til he was upside down. A half roll later, he was flying hot on the interceptor's tails. They quickly cut right, with Silus following easily. He fired an Advanced concussion missile at the left interceptor while his laser cannons made short work of the middle one. Before he could lock on again, a volley of shots from Oddball's TIE took out the one on the right. Thats when he heard Frosty on the com...

"Zeta Squadron's bein' launched. Better keep an eye on 'em."

"Vorrann must be sending em to escort those gunboats......WHOA WAIT A MINUTE...Im wrong...."

As Silus spoke, a tight formation of fighters came on his radar...

"They're bypassing the gunboats...I think they may have found our Devils...We've got time to get down there, those Devils are ours, dammit......"

With that, Silus switched back to the main channel so that the rest of the fighters could hear him....

"Commander Jordan, this is General Xilarian, stand down and give those gunboats some help..We'll pick up that formation ahead of you...."

[Arik Illian]

"Shite!" Arik jerked left, rolling through a few scattered lines of cannon fire. His head cocked left, then right--searching for a visual on Frosty.

"Roger that, Frosty," he blurted over the comm, jerking the flight stick back, whipping the TIE straight up into vacuum. Frosty zipped by him, engaging the two TIE Interceptors--under the shiled of pure cannon fire from Arik's quadlasers as the TIE dived back from it's climb. Frosty ducked through the boggies as a few TIE standards exploded beside him. Arik continued the cover--clearing a path for Stavit to tail the two Advanced.

"Rollin' out the red carpet for ya, Frosty! Whooo-hooo!" Arik exclaimed excitedly as he ripped through several more TIE standards. They were no match for the TIE Advanced that Shadow Squadron flew, and it showed in the heavy casualites experienced by SS's opposition.

Arik heard Silus' indirect command, but he kept in formation as he had been told to do.

[Elessar Stavit]

"All right Spaz," Frosty said, "Let's take 'em! I'll go right...you go left."

The two TIE Advanced targetted two of the transports moving towards the Draconian and opened fire with cannons, spattering the transports' shields and lowering them.

Transport Shields at 45%

Stavit swooped around for another pass.

[Bette Davis]

Flight Commander "Shooter" Davis pulled on the yoke of the ManEater, her TIE Advanced, and stuck close to Val's wing. "If you ask me, which no one did, this whole deal is screwy."

She dove below the Fat Lady for a minute, and vaped an enemy TIE coming up underneath them. "Where are those Devils? And what the hell got that Interdictor?"

[Tod Marr]

"Me baby! I'd tell you how, but then I'd have to kill you! Kinda like the guy on your tail who's..."

BOOM!!!

"Spacedust!"

Tod was flying inverted to his element, with Silus and Oddball appearing upside-down to him.

"It's the only way to fly!"

A flurry of TIE's screamed towards him from the starboard, firing at him like there was no tomorrow. One shot singed his shields slightly.

"Oh, you do not shoot that green stuff at me!"

Quickly, Tod rolled back to join the more stable-minded of his element. He checked the readouts on the console in front of him. Shields were at 83%, guns operating at max, and the engine's were approaching overdrive. He was ready for a serious speedboost should the situation call for it. But he was getting restless and just itching to let it all out.

"C'mon Top, when did this battle turn into an oil painting? We gonna take out those Devil's or what? Man, the temptation must be killin' Val! Right buddy? Heh!"

[Silus Xilarian]

"Shadow's that formation over there, behind Zeta Squadron, the ones that are coincidentally, and totally accidentally are heading towards, those are the Devils, if you were wondering what they looked like...."

Silus smiled inside his helmet. His last transmission was made on the open channel. Every snub fighter, captain, and Full Admiral could hear it. Oops...

With his smile unfading, Silus switched over to Shadow Squadron's private channel...

"Do you guys really need an order..."

Silus' last comment may as well have been an audible wink, as he came up behind the tail end of the Devil Squadron. Marr and Dapp were right there with him, branching off on either side of Silus, staying close, but spreading out the impending barrage of their fire...

[Sarin Vorrann]

"Shadow's that formation over there, behind Zeta Squadron, the ones that are coincidentally, and totally accidentally are heading towards, those are the Devils, if you were wondering what they looked like...."

Vorrann listened to Xilarian as he gave the order to attack the TIE Devils.

Fools...all of them fools.

"Get me Xilarian! And begin attacking their picket forces, the frigates and the Corellian Gunships."

The Admiral looked over the battle display, marvelling in his genious.

"The battlefield is ours Captain. Now...do you have Xilarian?"

Maelstrum nodded, "We have his fighter hailed sir."

Vorrann stood on the holographic projector, "General Xilarian, you and your squadron will report back to the Draconian. You are hereby relieved of duty. If you commit any further action, I will be forced to have you arrested and charged with treason and insubordination."

Then we will see how good you really are with a gun.

[Ned Stark]

Stark smirked at the comments from Vorrann over the comm.

"Shut your trap Vorrann we gotta job t'do!" he answered for Xilarian (showing a little solidarity between the two members).

"Hey Frosty, Spaz...show some form!" he targetted one of the transports, destroying it with his blasters.

"We got some Devils t'take out!"

Hawk sent his TIE Advanced into a tight spiral, changing his direction to follow Zeta Squadron.

"Come on, kids...try 'n keep up!"

[Tod Marr]

It seems he spoke too soon, as Maniac raced ahead of the Squadron. It would probably cost him, but Maniac's always said...

"I'd rather die tomorrow in glory and beauty than wither with old age!"

An element of four TIE's crossed his view, but were quickly overcome by the volley of blaster fire from Tod's ship. The Devils were straight ahead to him now. His finger edged towards the release on the speed inhibitor - his boost just seconds away. He quickly made sure that the open channel was on...

"Hey Vorraan - suck on this! Yeeeeeee-HAW!!!!!!!!"

A mere press of the button launched the ship into the TIE Devils at a tremendous speed. He only wished he was flying his personal TIE Defender.

As he entered a furious dogfight with the Devils, the rest of his squadron were between a thirty seconds and a minute away - and Tod's shields malfunctioned at the most spectacularly unfair moment. His pilotting skills would be put to their limit for the next few minutes! And if they weren't up to the challenge...

"Uh-oh! Uh...guys! A little help never hurt anyone!"

[Bette Davis]

"Sheeez," Bette breathed out half a curse and saw the shield indicator flick out on Maniac's little green triangle on her scope. Without waiting for Val she flicked a switch that took power from her rear shield and poured it into the main drive.

With a burst of speed she caught up to Marr, and targeted a Devil, giving it a glancing blow, and sending it spinning away from the other Advanced. "Maniac, one of these days you are going to go out in a blaze of glory, and who will I have to mock then?" Bette made sure her rear shields were on full once more, and added, "Thanks for covering my butt, Torre." He had followed her into the fray, and within another two seconds the entire squadron was thrown into the battle.

[Tod Marr]

"Oh come on - it wouldn't be that bad. I'd still have a gravestone for you to hurl abuse at!"

His threat indication system was giving him one helluva headache. Red lights flashed, emitters buzzed and beeped to frell, scanners went into overdrive, and the monkeys were screaming in their cages. Not that there were monkeys screaming in cages, but it wouldn't have surprised Maniac one bit given the total chaos that ensued in his cockpit.

"Yeah! I know my shields are down! Stupid damn computer! RaaaAAAARGH!!!"

He slammed his fist into the panel resting behind the flight stick. Another readout burped at him.

"Screw this!"

Thinking quickly, Tod diverted all available power from the weapons systems to the shields. His ships would survive, but unfortunately his kill roster would be unaffected by this battle. He looked again at his radar information. The frigates were crawling towards them - probably more concerned with the Draconian.

[Val Torre]

"I think of it as insurance, Shooter." Val replied, smiling beneath his envirosuit. A volley of green bolts skimmed The Maneater, the laser fire connected with the wing brace on one of the Devils. It shuddered and quickly veered off course, flames dancing on it's hull. "It is after all a butt to die for!"

He laughed. His ship was nearing hers and slamming down upon the foot-yokes the engines roared and launched him into the mayhem with his teamates. It felt great to be back in business after all the out-of-cockpit hassle and transfers and politics. Several weeks ago he had the latest model of wing attatchment columns fitted, they were the new lightweight braces designed for TIE Defenders. But why should they have all the luxuries?

"The Fat Lady might've lost some weight but she's still hitting those high notes!" He declared and with that his ship screamed ahead of Bette as the trio fell back into formation. All about the elite pilots a swarm of two dozen quicker fighters buzzed furiously. So quickly did the exterminators go to work, first the three fighters ducked out of the chaos and as was expected were followed by a trio of Devils.

"They may be Devils but out here we are Gods. Triple Threat." After giving the order, Val broke off from his wingmen who carried on the current course, his ship pulled up and went into a full loop. The moment he was back on course some distance behind the other two, he opened fire and it took only one volley to the right ion engine and it blew apart in a ball of flame quickly reduced to nothing in the black vacuum. "Hang on a minute--"

Sure enough the moment he noticed that there was now only one fighter following his wingmen did a hail of green pour down from above from the fighter that had followed him. They were definately ambitious but without having to say anything, the two TIE Advanced fighters broke off in opposite directions, one followed by the devil on their tail. They would soon be back with Torre whose grip tightened on the hand-control yoke in order to evaid the ridiculously fast fire from the ship behind.

[Silus Xilarian]

"Hey Sarin, I cant play with you right now, us adults have work to do....."

It was hard to explain how Silus felt right now, to see his squadron working together like a well oiled machine. He could sit back and savor this moment forever, but he had a job to do.

A torpedo flew over Marr's TIE, followed closely by Silus. The torp arched slightly, aligning itself with the middle ship in a cluster of three that was heading towards Marr. The impact of the torpedo and resulting explosion incinerated the TIE Devil causing its two wingmates to split the formation, both bypassing Silus and Marr completely. Ahead, Silus could see a TIE Devil, which was being flanked by two others. The markings on the ship indicated that this was the squadron leader. The two ships that had just passed were immediately forgotten as Silus shot forward at full throttle, preparing a torpedo as he did...

[Arik Illian]

Explosions.

Debris.

Ion wake.

Different obstacles dotted Arik's viewscreen as he navigated what would appear to be a disoriented fireworks show. He had fallen back into formation at Hawk's command, blasting through several more TIE standards. They literally had no prayer--but these Devils were different. They felt faster than his TIE Advanced, even. It was strange, but Arik didn't have time to think it over. More green fire zipped around the different squads as they dipped and dived.

"Don't let me take your steam from you, old man!" Arik joked over the comm as he shook two more ties with multiple blasts of bright green. "Lemme show you how we--" Arik was cut off as cannon fire flooded over his ship. He jerked the yoke, pulling the Tie out of formation to lead the enemy away.

It was a Devil.

"Shite," he spoke under his breath, the comm off. He jerked left and right, but he could not shake the Devil. The bogie kept pumping out cannon fire as he tried to shake him. The Devil was quick, and Arik was having trouble getting out of his crosshairs. He felt a move and hit it--

KIIISSSSSHHHHHHHHH

"Frell!" He saw the sparks a nanosecond before he felt it, the clip of a cannon shot deflect of of his shields. Who was this punk? Arik had his pride, and this Devil was trying his patience. It was time to get him back.

Shield Integrity 96% his HUD flashed and read aloud. Ha. That was nothing. He would be fine.

"You are gonna wish you were never born, mutha--"

KIIISSSSSHHHHHHHHH

Another shot, bouncing off of his right wing. He would've been dead by now without his shielding! They were barely glancing blows, but he couldn't take much more of this.

Shield Integrity 89% the HUD was impartial as it presented the data.

"Dammit! I need some help here! This Devil just doesn't take a hint!" He spoke--half nervous--over his comm as he kept dodging any and all cannon fire sent his way.

[Elessar Stavit]

"You know," a voice came over Spaz's comm, "There's a reason why TIE Devils are good. They're fast...they have good weapons...but there's one problem."

Stavit's TIE Advanced slipped behind the TIE Devil, firing quad shots. He wouldn't switch to missiles, if he did...the Devil (if there was a smart pilot at the helm) would pull up and SS would lose another weapon.

So Stavit kept with his cannons, watching them *spak* off of the Devil's armor.

"Hey Devil," he called over the open frequency, "I think you forgot not having any shields!"

Then he switched to missiles and watched the TIE Devil shatter as it was struck with one.

"Ha hah! Gotcha!"

"The Devils might not have shields, Imperial! a new voice said over the open frequency, "But we do!"

It was then Stavit's HUD lit up with bright green.

Sensors reading A-Wings marked Green 1-5 coming out of hyperspace 0KM away.

Sensors reading X-Wings marked Red 1-6 coming out of hyperspace 9KM away.

Sensors reading E-Wings marked Gold 1-8 coming out of hyperspace 12 KM away.

Aww...frack!

"Shadow Leader," he said going into a tight spiral away from the red laser cannons of the A-Wings.

"We got company! It looks like the New R'public is working with these rogues!"

[Tod Marr]

"Hey 'Top!. I'm too fast to be hit by capital ship weapons, so I'm gonna try for a deeper reading on those frigates. A tingle in my left nipple tells me there's somethin' more to 'em! Back in a snap!"

And with that, Maniac broke off from the dogfight and headed towards the frigates. All four of them wer ein tight formation and plodding towards him. He was nothing more than an insignificant fly to them. But that didn't stop him from being a fly on the wall and seeing what was going on with them.

[Silus Xilarian]

"Alright Maniac, but watch yourself...If you get in trouble, cut bait and run. Everyone else, get rid of these Specks, we'll have even more company soon. I'll be there in a second, ive gotta bit of cleaning up to do here..."

The quad cannons of Silus' TIE rained green energy around the TIE Devil. The squadron leader bobbed and weaved, using his superior speed to keep himself clean. Silus' targetting computer was having trouble locking on, as the pilot moved rapidly and dodged near other ships that would draw the computers attention.

Where the frell is he going, hes getting vaped, no way around it.

Just then, Silus' targetting computer locked onto the Squadron leader. The concussion missile shot forward and was immediately detonated by a passing TIE standard...

FRACK!!

Silus jerked his fighter up and to the right to avoid the explosion. As he came over the debris he saw the devil squadron leader again. The computer quickly started locking on, as three standard TIEs flew towards Silus, coming to the aid of the Devil leader. The computer locked on and Silus fired. The missile winded around, impacting into the Devil's right engine. The three standard TIEs coming forth werent fast enough to avoid the explosion, so they attempted flying through. The middle TIE, completely blind from the blast, ended up veering into the right TIE, the ensueing explosion was enough to vape all three ships.

With all the commotiion, Silus had failed to see six red dots appear on his screen. Much to his surprise, flying straight at him was a formation of six X Wings...

Oh frell....

With a hard jerk right, followed by a hard thrust from his engines, Silus immediately beat a hasty retreat. The rest of his squadron was busy with the remaining Devils and the A-wings, so Silus kept away, opting to lead the X wings to the perimeter of the battle, toward the Draconian. Hopefully, the gunners would get a few shots at them, if Vorran didnt intervene.

I got company! The strikes musta made a circle before they came in, cause they're right behing me!

Just for a little insurance, Silus decided to bring in some reinforcements. A Squadron that he had personally oversaw the training of....

Omega Squadron, I got strikes on my tail, get over here and show em what I taught you!

To his right, he could see a formation of TIE Interceptors. The peculiar thing about them was that they were carrying shield generators, something that hadnt been seen since the days of Grand Admiral Thrawn...

[Captain Desjardins]

"Omega Squadron has been lauched successfully sir," the first officer reported to Desjardins as he stood on the damaged bridge of the VSD Odin's Eye.

"Excellent," Desjardins had a weary smile on his face from the battle which had taken place before the arrival of the rest of the fleet.

Titan Fleet had been able to hold their own, although the Odin's Eye was damaged, as well as several of the dreadnoughts under his command.

"Sir," his second officer slipped up to him (someone who Desjardins trusted), "Are you sure it's wise to be aiding Shadow Squadron even when Vorrann says otherwise."

The Imperial Captain smiled, "I'm certain we will catch some flak from Admiral Vorrann, but in this situation our best option is to support our best squadron."

"X-wings coming in on a bombing run, sir!" one of his officers yelled.

"Get us closer to those New Republic Frigates. And have the Dion and the Hyperion come with us."

"Aye sir!"

Desjardins allowed a tight smile. The battle was being won, but it would not be an easy fight.

I find it interesting, he thought as the Odin's Eye lurched forward, That the New Republic would just show up, along with some TIE Devils...something doesn't seem right with this.

He grabbed onto his chair, as the VSD was hit with a barrage of turbolasers from the Frigates.

"Target those frigates and fire!"

[Sarin Vorrann]

Vorrann was pleased. The battle, although hard fought, was going well. And if he could get the Imperial Star Destroyer Mark III into his possession too, it would be even more of a feather in his hat.

While he watched the battle take place, his mind began to drift again.

It still, to him atleast, made no sense for the traitor Tomar to be acting alone. One ship was one ship, but if he were the one (Palpatine Forbid!) to rebel- he would do it with more than just one Imperial Star Destroyer.

No..there's another pulling the strings behind it, he thought as he watched the New Republic fighters appears and start attacking Shadow Squadron, Tomar is a good officer, but he's not smart enough to pull this off by himself.

"Begin to move the Draconian forward," he ordered, "We need to cut the rogue forces in half. If we split their forces, they cannot mount a strong attack.

"Prepare to take the Star Destroyer out with Ion Cannons. It is a prize for the Balmorran Empire. The next target is the shipyards."

His eyes glowed with fury, "We will win this battle!"

[Sarin Vorrann]

"Move the fleet forward!" Vorrann ordered across the bridge, as the battle raged on.

The Draconian had done an excellent job picking off the weaker Corellian Gunships and picket forces Captain Brattin was sending after them.

The New Republic has finally shown its ugly, democratic head with the arrival of the frigates and the fighters. Vorrann was confident the Balmorran Empire would win.

It was time to go for the throat.

"Have you targetted the Golan Defense Platforms, Captain?" Vorrann asked, a smirk on his face.

"Yes sir! Targetted locked and ready to fire!" Maelstrum reported from the weapons station, where he'd relieved the Draconian's weapon's man.

"Fire!"

The turbolaser batteries from on the pristine grey hull of the Super Star Destroyer shot green rays of death and destruction towards the Golon Defense Platforms. Their barrage smacked against the shields of the Platforms.

Shields down to 66%

Vorran smiled again. They were going to win this battle.

"Get me Brattin!"

The communications officer responded, "Trying to open a message to the Bilbringi Command Center...No response."

Vorrann grimaced.

This is a very dedicated fool. And a very foolhardy one as well. To think he can go against the might of the Balmorran Military.

"Prepare another barrage, Captain," Vorrann ordered with a sinister look.

"It is time we showed them what a Super Star Destroyer can do."

His eyes gleamed rage.

"FIRE!"

[Ned Stark]

"Frosty! Spaz!" Stark's gruff voice came over the comm, "Omega Squadron can help with the Devils. We three Shadows are going to take on these New Republic fighters."

His TIE Adv. dove low, avoiding several blasts from one of the TIE Devils, and targetted one of the A-Wings.

Computer has a lock on the A-Wing

Stark switched to concussion missiles and fired.

"Put that in your pipe and smoke it!"

The A-Wing shattered in a cloud.

Stark smiled, "Spaz...Frosty...break...and attack!"

[Silus Xilarian]

Great. Just great. Apparantly Vorrann was paying attention to his gunners, since the Draconian wasnt offering any support fire, opting to focus all its turbolasers on the capital ships. Even better, Stark had summoned Omega Squadron away from their current path. Once again, Silus was alone with 6 X-Wings on his 6.

The compact fighter jerked and weaved erratically to avoid the hail of red energy coming from behind him. He was breaking away from them somewhat, and no single X Wing was able to hang with him as he randomly cut left and right, up and down. However the fact that there were six of them more than made up for their shortcomings.

With no other options left, Silus led them back into the thick of the massive dogfight.

As he cut in, two standard TIEs, belonging to the Balmorran military, cut on either side of Silus and fired on the X Wings. The green plasma hit but did minimal damage, meanwhile, a proton torpedo vaporized one of the TIEs. While the strikes had taken time to readjust their formation, Silus cut his TIE downward and let off the throttle completely.

"He just dove"

"I dont see him!"

Behind them, Silus fluidly brought his TIE back up, His targeting sensors immediately locked on number 6, and a torpedo flew forward toward the X-Wing. At the same time, Silus caught number 5 and started picking away at his shields with his laser cannons. The X-Wings split formation two strikes going left, two going right, with number 5 exploding in a silent fury....

[Bette Davis]

"Frelling -!" Bette didn't finish her curse as she watched Ned Stark peel away from the rest of the squadron, and then she had a scope full of strikes.

"Shadow three, your six!" Torre's voice came over the comm, and she automatically swiveled her TIE to face the threat, instead of evading. Double tap. She caught the strike on the S-foil and sent it spinning into Xilarian's crossfire. Bingo.

[Arik Illian]

"I owe you one!" Arik's comm crackled across Stavit's as he zipped past a few more bogies. Silus was handling himself fine--even in the path of a few sturdy X-Wings. Arik had shifted his attention to a group of TIEs that didn't belong on his side.

Too bad.

Without a second's notice, the TIEs tore apart as green blasts singed pieces of metal and TIE parts floated off into space. Arik kept his attention back towards his Wing Commander and tried to stay in formation, even through the intense dog fighting.

[Ned Stark]

"Good shooting, Spaz!" Stark said over the comm, "Maybe you're not as much of a slacker as you appear."

He smirked as his TIE Adv. circled around the transports, doing another run on them as they came towards the capital ships.

'Hawk' targetted an A-Wing, as it targetted Stavitt's TIE.

"Frosty, ya got one on your tail! Hold on!" his TIE slid up behind the NR fighter and began firing with blaster cannons.

The A-Wing pulled upwards, going into a barrel roll as it tried to escape the TIE Advanced.

"Aww, c'mon ya shard," Stark growled to himself as he followed the A-wing into its spiral. He was partially showing off, but Stark didn't care. The newbies needed to be shown the old guys could still 'move it'.

His HUD finally got a lock on the A-Wing, as it swung around to target him. Stark let loose with cannons, watching as the green laser bounced off the smaller craft's shields then pierce the armor.

The A-Wing's engines exploded and it shot off at an odd angle, exploding as the rest of it blew up.

"That's one down!" he yelled, "Don't forget about those Devils...they're still out there!"

[Captain Desjardins]

The dreadnoughts, along with the VSD Odin's Eye, fired on the frigates and watched as two shattered under the bombardment of the Balmorran Navy.

"Keep it up!" Vir Desjardins ordered as he gripped the railing of the bridge and watched the onslaught.

"Sir!" one of his junior officers yelled, "One of the X-Wings we hit is heading towards us! It looks like he's going to hit us!"

Desjardins' eyes widened, "All hands brace for impact!"

The X-Wing hurtled towards the bridge of the Odin's Eye the dying pilot, skillfully dodging the blasts from the turbolasers as they tried to stop what he was planning on doing.

It was then the pilot saw a flash and the world went dark as something, an A-Wing (the one Hawk had just destroyed), slammed into the stronger fighter sending it off course. The X-wing connected with the Odin's Eye but missed the bridge completely.

A few minutes later and the Victor Star Destroyer was racked with an explosion.

"Damage report!"

"Life support is fine...gravity is fine...Shields are flickering...now they're up! Tractor beams are down, but the reactor is fine. Hull breach on Deck 13, Section C," the second officer was reading as fast as he could.

"Damage is major down there, but no critical system was hit."

He looked at Desjardins with amusement, "We got lucky, sir."

Desjardins breathed a sigh of relief. Luck had everything to do with it.

"Good. Now...let's start cutting a path towards the main shipyards. Send a team to clean up the damage and report anything if they find it!

"Push forward...the battle will be ours!"

[Bette Davis]

"Holy frell!" Bette jinked starboard and spiraled out of the way of an exploding A-Wing, and found herself staring at a wing of TIE Devils. "Val you better be..." She caught sight of him forming up on her wing, and flipped the comm channel open. "Razor, do you see what I see?"

"Sure do...Right or left?" The pair swung around the Devils, picking up two courageous followers, the smaller Devils manuvering quickly behind the TIE Advanced.

"Um....right." Bette flipped to an open channel, and yelled, "THE DEVIL IS MINE!" and then flipped it off and shot right as Razor swung left. Her shields diminished as the Devil behind her scored a few hits, and then she flipped her TIE so she was now heading directly towards Razor. His TIE was giving him a little more trouble, but he soon was flying towards her as well, the Devils hot on their heels.

"I want to go left this time."

"No way, we always go left Shooter." Val sounded like he was having a great time.

"Left!"

"Never!"

"I - Frell there went my aft shields." Bette rerouted power from the forward shields to the aft ones, getting a pummeling from the ship behind her, and then looked up to see Val almost on top of her. "Okay right!" She yanked on the yoke and the two TIE's almost kissed as they split apart, the Devils not moving fast enough and getting caught in a respectable sized explosion.

Bette grinned, and then wondered how she was going to survive missing a shield.

[Silus Xilarian]

Three down, Three to go. Silus kept a silent count in his head as green energy flew from his quad laser cannons, tearing into the shields of the middle X-Wing in the formation of three in front of him. Its two wingmen broke off to either side as the X-Wing's shields disappeared, and the cannons ripped into the vulnerable fighter. Two seconds later, one of his engines exploded, reducing the fighter to particles.

As he flew under the explosion, red energy began flying around both sides of him, and a few hits rocked his fighter. The two X Wings that had broke formation and were now all over him.

One more solid hit came and alarms started going off

Shield Integrity: 48%

Shield Integrity: 42%

He was losing shields quickly to say the least, and he responded by jerking his fighter up and to the left,. As he began flying completely verticle, he hit his targeting sensors and locked on to the first passing ship.

A standard Balmorran TIE.

As his computer locked on, Silus cut his TIE upward again, sending himself nearly upside down. With his targeting computer locked on and visualizing a fighter going in the direction Silus wanted to go in, Silus now had two readouts to base his manuevering on.

He now concentrated on only his sensors, since the turning and twisting he was doing would give anyone motion sickness. He kept his radar on his peripheral and his horizon and targeting readouts in front of him. The his TIE brought itself on the same horizontal plane as the TIE on the targeting computer, and his horizon axis was quickly turning itself right side up as his TIE leveled out upon finishing the manuever. Much to his joy, in front of him was a New Republic A Wing who had decided to tail the TIE that Silus had been "following". With a squeeze of the trigger, Silus' laser cannons made quick work of the A Wing, whos pilot never saw the attack coming. A cocky grin passed over Silus face as the ship exploded. And the X Wings had been lost completely...

[Ned Stark]

Stark's camera had caught Silus' maneuver on the X-wing.

"Nice shooting Shadow Leader," he said as his own TIE Advanced slinked its way under some debris from one of the X-wings he'd destroyed earlier.

Suddenly his computer lit up with an alert

INCOMING MISSILE! Bearing Mark One-Three-Zero-Niner

Stark's TIE dove right, hoping to use the Odin's Eye as a screen as the advanced concussion missile shot towards him.

Great...just great.

It was one of the K-Wings, they were finally close enough to get a firing solution on Shadow Squadron.

"Shadows watch your six! There're K-Wings out there. And what the hell happened to those Devils?!?"

[Val Torre]

"Right! Ha! Ha! So there is a first time for everything, eh?" Val laughed audibly over the com, then added mischievously. "I'm gonna hold you to that tonight, Shooter!"

"Let's keep it tight ladies!" Bette and Tamara closed in on either side of him once again, and they cut into a sharp dive bringing them straight into the bowels of hell flanked by E-Wings. The three fighters unleashed heavy fire upon their targets; Bette going crazy hitting fighters like there was no tommorrow and the E-Wing beneath her shuddered with the force of her laser fire but before it could escape the cockpit was penetrated and two shots later the republic craft was torn to pieces, the pilot included. Once Farnsworth had her sights set on an E-Wing, that was it, the poor pilot was finished because it seemed she had a personal vendetta against those ships, moreso than thew rest. So Val sent her off to work. "Go get em, Stiletto!"

Razor on the other hand stuck to what he was best at, short bursts aimed with uncanny precision at specific points on a ship. Depending on which fighter he was up against and how he was approaching it, it was like his brain had a built-in targetting computer and he would exploit the weakness he saw immediatly. In this situation, it was more difficult considering the three shadows were descending upon their unknowing victims from above but Torre squeezed the trigger and a hail of green fire soared forward and started pounding the shields just behind the support strut on the right wing where one of his shots penetrated and took out the deflector-shield generator.

"You're mine!" He roared as he spiraled into a turn and tailed the fleeing ship. His pulse raced with excitement and he shouted over the com, "Hey Shooter! You know what the "E" stands for?"

Before there came an answer, he gave it, three final shots from the rear ruptured the power generator and the fighter was blown to pieces in a spectacular ball of fire. "Boom!"

"Where to next, Three?"

[Bette Davis]

Bette was tight lipped in her TIE, having used Tamara as cover for a slight break in her defense. Taking a few precious seconds she had pulled on the gloves and helmet for her vac suit, and sealed up all the seams. Then she powered down the new atmospheric unit, and shunted the power to the shields, getting back partial forward shielding.

She swiveled her TIE around and gunned down a K-Wing, regrouping with Razor as Stiletto took off after an E-Wing. "I want to find out what's going on with this attack. But, short of that, let's get those last Devils on your five."

[Tod Marr]

The fighter almost skimmed the outer hull of the frigate in the centre of the formation. How he'd gotten so close was anybody's guess!

"See this Val? Pure skill. No luck. Just skill! There's so much of it over here it should be illegal and only available on the Black Market!"

His sensors were working overtime as he tried everything he could to get a better reading on the corvette other than that it was a corvette. He hit the display in frustration. And as if by magic, a new readout appeared...

"Uh-oh..."

The ship instantly pulled up and away from the hull of the ship and began to doge its way through the intense turbolaser fire coming from all directions.

"Christ! Guys you've tzzzzssss.... tzzzzzsss... tztztz tztztz tzzz tztztststztztztzzzzzszzzzzszszszszszszszsszsz..... ........"

The fighters came from a concealed hanger. The doors slid apart and they poured out. A whole squadron for one fighter? Too bad Tod was too fast! Unfortunately they'd jammed his signal and his sensors were dead. He was flying with nothing but his eyes...

[Elessar Stavit]

Stavit was moving near the Odin's Eye, trying to avoid the blasts of both an A-Wing (one of two left) and a K-Wing.

"Frosty to Desjardins...Frosty to Desjardins. Gimme a status report."

"We're all right, Lieutenant," the second officer's voice came over the comm, "The Captain is checking out some damage below. One of the X-Wings collided with our hull. Captain Desjardins said he would inspect it himself."

"Understood, Eye," Frosty sent his TIE into a steep dive, hoping to avoid the NR Fighters. They followed single file, as the TIE Adv slid underneath the hull of the Victory Star Destroyer.

From the sounds behind him, Stavit, knew the gunners were now targetting both the A and K-wing, hoping to destroy them and take the stress off of the Shadow Squadron member.

"Nice to know..." he said to no one in particular, "Atleast part of the Empire respects us."

Stavit checked his scopes. The Odin's Eye gunners had gotten the K-Wing, but the A-wing was still on his tail.

And to make matter worse...one of the TIE Devils had joined him on Stavit's tail.

Shields down to 35%

"Ah...frack!" Stavit cursed as he tried to avoid the TIE Devil and A-wing.

As much as he hated doing this, he knew when he needed help.

"Frosty to any available pilot, I need some help here. Frosty to any available pilot please respond."

[Arik Illian]

"Hey--I owe you, don't I?" A voice came over Frosty's comm as the Devil behind him locked on to fire a homing missile. Arik shifted his burner and pulled in right behind the Devil. He locked on, his hud flashing a bright red cry of "FIRE! FIRE! YOU GOT 'IM!" Arik squeezed the trigger, unleashing a sharp cracking missile. It deployed into the dark space, sifting through the air, making it's way to its target.

Just as it reached the wake of the fighter, the pilot of the Devil also pulled his trigger, releasing a missle towards Stavit. The missile had not one second from it's thrust firing when the explosion shook the enemy fighter, the missile in turn exploding and rocking the Devil to pieces.

"Whew, that was pretty close." Arik spoke, tearing cannon fire into a squad of A-Wings. He wasn't sure how the NRSF could have gotten here so quick--it was as though they had expected an attack. No worry to Arik, he thought. He knew his targets, and he didn't plan on leaving any alive.

"I think we're even, Frosty," he said for all to hear.

[Elessar Stavit]

"Nah, I'll be ahead of ya again in another moment," Stavit joked as he spun his TIE Advanced back towards the Odin's Eye. He's taken some damage to the hull, but none of it was ship threatening. His targetting computer was down, but the computer system was beginning repairs.

"Spaz, my targetting computer's probably out for the next few minutes," Stavit said, keeping his eyes open for anymore NR Fighters.

"Care to hang around for a bit until the system gets back online?"

[Arik Illian]

"Sure thing Frosty, I can cover ya. Just admitt it, ok?" He smiled to himself as he roled his fighter up next to Stavit's. "I'm the better pilot here." The comment was completely smug and he was sure Stavit would be rolling his eyes at this exact moment. "I mean, I think now it's--"

A NR fighter veered by them, nearly clipping Arik's TIE. Even without a targetting system, Frosty unleashed a volley of fire, tearing the NR fighter apart and and sending the ship into a cloud of particles.

"--obvious that we're even." He adjusted his statement from his previous thoughts which were to throw in another smart-ace comment.

[Tod Marr]

The laser blasts whirred all around his fighter. His shields were on full, but he wanted to keep them as near to that as possible. He dodged and bobbed and looped and scooped in a circus of madness as he worked the flight stick overtime. The squadron were hot on his heels. They were good, but not good enough. They paled in comparison to the Shadows. But that didn't mean the Shadows were invincible!

"Guys! It's a damn missile frigate! It's loaded with MagPulses and V-T-Missiles and it's gonna kick our butts!"

Why was he shouting? They couldn't hear him - his communications were jammed -

PAH-JAM!

His communications were fried. He did a quick loop to see where the fighters were, and how far away he was from the frigate. The other three must be escorting the missile frigate. But why was it here. And why just the one? Why not three or four? If they were expecting an attack on a capital scale why not send a taskforce? Something didn't add up. He diverted the useless power from communications to the engines and accelerated back to the Shadows. Now all he had to do was figure out how the hell to tell them what was going on!

[Val Torre]

"Stiletto, Shooter, let's see if we can dust off the last of those E-Wings. They're the best the Republic has, let's get rid of 'em!" To emphasise their agreement, the trio of fighters fell into a barrel roll and headed to where the nearest assortment of E-Wings could be located. They were fast though and far more manouverable than any other Republic fighter.

"This one's gonna be tough, ladies. Looks like we're gonna have to anticipate their moves--" There was a tense moment of silence as they watched the three E-Wings in front, slowly gaining distance between themselves and the TIEs behind them. Val narrowed his eyes scrutinising their flight pattern. He tightened his grip on his control yoke and shouted over the com. "Right!"

"Frelling Hutt poodoo!" He cursed as they watched their targets veer off to the left as they went in the opposite direction. Razor slammed his glovced fist against the hull of his fighter and after a moment of grumbling something about stupid New Republic flight manouvers. "Okay ladies, that didn't go quite to plan. Any suggestions?"

[Silus Xilarian]

"We could call the NR and ask them to make their fighters slower..."

Silus brought his TIE up from underneath and settled into Val's formation, the four TIEs forming a diamond shape. The battle, though still intense, was winding down. The Mark III Imperial Star Destroyer had just been disabled by the Draconian. The Corvettes had just made a jump into hyperspace, along with Admiral Brattin's personal shuttle, that he had decided to escape in when his ISD was disabled.
Desjardins and his team were tearing into the four NR Frigates now, and the Draconain was now headed for the Golan Defense Platforms...

"Lets get this place cleaned up a little bit and go home....All Shadows, status report..."

[Bette Davis]

"Dammit, Razor!" Bette swiveled her TIE around a touch faster than the other two, and accelerated up, momentarily forgetting that her shields were a tad on the weak side. She squeezed off her last concussion missile, which managed to clip the side of one of the E-wings, sending it careening into its wingmate. Bette whooped, and then grinned as Razor's TIE shot past her, laser cannons gunning for the last TIE.

"All Shadows, status report..."

"Shadow Three, shields failed, and I'm being held together by the power from my atmosphere generator. ...What the frack!?"

Maniac flew in from nowhere and cut her off, and Bette pulled her TIE up abruptly. "Maniac you better cut that the hell out! You hear me? Maniac?"

[Val Torre]

"Shadow Two, all's well here apart from a poor sense of direction!" He called over the comm still mentally cursing himself. A trio of fighters soared by and angered and frustrated, Val shot after them. His ship was faster than most in the squadron as he never carried missiles or torpedoes, instead the only other weapons feature his ship carried was a rapid fire mode for his twin laser cannons.

"Shooter, Stiletto, I'll need you flanking me in a minute. I've got a feeling these cannons are going to overheat again." With that he tailed the three fighters, an E-Wing with two B-Wings for wingmen, an odd formation Torre noted. His fingers danced about the control console and then taking a tight hold of his flight yolk fell into a dive after his prey and squeezed the trigger.

"Let's see how much stress those flimsy wings can take!" He yelled and a shower of green laserfire bombarded the inner S-Foil Wing on one of the large B-Wings. He watched as it shuddered under the relentless assault and finally losing control, the ship collided with the E-Wing it had been flanking. The nearest exhaust ports blew apart in several flaming pieces, the damage from the collision plus the engine explosion then brought about an explosion from the engine drive, tearing the E-Wing in two.

"What are your ships held together with? Ewok dung! That's what! Come on!" For his final performance, Razor unleashed all he had on the last remaining B-Wing, pounding it's entire hull in a ruthless assault uncharacteristic of the usually precise and calculated fighter pilot. There was an intense glare in his eyes as he watched the ship in front break apart, piece by piece and then averted his fire to the cockpit. He cried out in sadistic joy as his hail of green started a fire and broke the section of the ship reserved for the pilot off and instead of watching it spin away and explode he was sure to finish it off. His ship dived and the last remaining bolts tore the adrift cockpit to firey pieces.

There was a silence onboard the Fat Lady, his laser fire had come to an end due to the cannons overheating, there was clicking sound. The raging pilot was yet to release his vice-like grip on the trigger, beads of sweat dripped from his face and he breathed heavily. Slowing his ship, Val finally took his trembling hands away from the flight yoke. He swallowed then spoke over the comm once again. "How many are left?"

[Silus Xilarian]

"Not much sign of New Republic fighters left, and the other squadrons seem to be handling themselves pretty well.

Even without seeing Val's face, it was apparent Val was getting WAY to into the battle, as he completely overheated his cannons on three fighters. Maniac had just came by, seemingly playing chicken with Bette. This was pretty characteristic for him, but not so much in the middle of a huge battle...

"Maniac, status report... and where the hell is Hawk, Frosty, and Spaz???