Chapter 1
The darkness of space glided by silently and quickly as the Imperial Star Destroyer Imperial Sovereign glided by on her sublight engines. Inside the massive warship a group of pilots were playing sabacc in one of the TIE fighter pilot ready rooms. The Imperial Sovereign while having the reputation as one of the Empire's best destroyers also carried a squadron of the famed 181st Imperial Fighter Group. "I win again." "Son of the Sith how do you do it Tie?" one of the pilots asked in wonder as Captain Taichi "Tie" Yamagi scooped up the pile of credits in the sabacc- pot. "What can I say, I'm just too good." The Corellian fighter pilot replied. "Too good at taking our credits is right." Tie's best friend Lieutenant Michael Dravis retorted and the pilots broke into laughter. Tie led a pretty good life, he was proud to serve in the best group of starfighter pilots in the Empire. After turning 16 he applied for the Imperial Academy and was accepted. He graduated with top marks as a pilot and was assigned to a frigate. Proving his abilities against pirates he was brought to the attention of Baron Soontir Fel, the Empire's greatest fighter pilot and was transferred to the 181st. However unrest began to brew in the back of Ties mind as rumors reached him of massacres, and other inhumane treatments facilitated by the Empire, but he pushed those aside for now. "We're supposed to get leave on Coruscant in a few days while the Sovereign has a minor refit.
-Bridge- "Captain, incoming transmission." The communications officer called out to the captain. "Who is it from Lieutenant?" The captain inquired. "It's not a military signal sir, but it's a priority one distress signal." The communications officer informed. The captain thought about that for a minute. Priority one distress signals only came from ships that carried important non-military dignitaries of the Empire. "Set course for them right away. Have the squadron of the 181st prepare for immediate deployment upon our arrival. Weapons make sure all systems are at maximum efficiency." The captain ordered. "Immediately, sir." Both the communications and weapons officers acknowledged. The massive warship lined up for the jump into hyperspace, and within seconds the stars elongated into long lines as the Imperial Sovereign made the jump.
In the ready room where Tie and his friends were, all the comlinks received the message for them to report to briefing room 4 immediately. "Another drill?" Dravis asked incredulously. "Yeah, looks like one." Tie replied. Drills were becoming more and more frequent after increased Rebel activities, and they were often quite tedious requiring that pilots stay out for longer durations. The pilots grabbed their helmets and life support units as they ran to the briefing room. Arriving they saw that the commander of their squadron was already there. Commander Kolaff was one of the best in the Empire having 15 years in the service and had a reputation of running a tight outfit. Soon enough the entire 4th squadron of the 181st was assembled in the briefing room. "Listen up you guys, three minutes ago we received a Priority one distress call. The captain wants our squadron on alert. Captain Yamagi you will take your flight out initially to investigate the disturbance, and then based on the situation you will call back to the Sovereign for reinforcements. Everyone else I want you in full gear and ready to launch within three minutes of Captain Yamagi's summons. That is all." The Commander informed his pilots. The pilots shuffled out of the room and towards the main hangar bay. Tie and the three pilots in his flight sprinted to their fighters. They stepped inside the hangar bay and walked down the catwalks to their fighters. A full wing of fighters, 72, was suspended from the roof brackets inside the Sovereign. Tie clambered into his TIE Interceptor and began the pre-flight checklist. "Report in." Tie ordered. "ISD-6-181, reporting in." Dravis who was Tie's wingman called in. "ISD-7-181, reporting in." the third pilot reported. "ISD-8-181, reporting in." Tie's last pilot called out. "Stand by for launch orders." Tie ordered. Then Tie switched over to a private channel between him and Dravis, "Hey Dravis, lets play a little Quadrant while we wait." "Sure but you're the rebels this time." Dravis replied with a laugh. The two often played Quadrant against each other during long patrols and other boring assignments using datapads especially re-wired for the game.
-Bridge- "Captain, we're reverting to realspace now." The helmsman reported. "Thank you, Ensign, Lieutenant Gorev get me an immediate sensor scan of what's out there, I want to know who sent the distress signal." "yes, sir" the sensors officer reported. "I've got something sir." He reported. "Put it on the main viewscreen," the captain ordered. Soon enough the viewscreen popped on and he saw a large space yacht with the markings of the Sienar Fleet Systems corporation painted onto the side being severely mauled by 6 Z-95 Headhunter fighters and a Corellian Corvette. The wreckage of four TIE fighters were scattered around the yacht evidently the yachts protective force. The weapons on the yacht were having no luck targeting the fighters attacking the yacht. "Incoming transmission from the yacht sir." The communications officer reported to the captain. "Patch it through" the captain ordered. "This is space yacht, Dragon's Pearl we're carrying a senior executive of Sienar Fleet Systems and we are under attack. We can't take much more of this." The transmission from the yacht said. "Inform them help is on the way." The captain ordered his communications officer. "Helm get us moving towards them immediately. Launch the fighters, and order all hands to battle stations." The captain ordered as he sat down into his command chair. Throughout the massive warship sirens wailed as crewmen rushed to their duty stations. In the hangar bay Tie's comm suddenly crackled to life. "Launch immediately." Control ordered. Tie acknowledged and eased his Interceptor free of the brackets and rocketed out the hangar bay opening and into open space. "Form up on me." Tie ordered. The three other Interceptors formed up on him as they headed towards the yacht in distress. Tie made sure his four laser cannons were ready. "All right break up into elements. I'll broadcast a warning first, and if they don't leave we open fire." He informed the rest of his flight. "Pirates, this is Captain Taichi Yamagi of Imperial Starfighter Command. You will cease firing on the yacht and leave the area immediately or we will be forced to destroy you." He transmitted in the open so that the pirates could hear. There was no response coming back over the comm. The yacht was now stripped of its weapons dead in space. A reply came when a Z- 95 dove and fired twice at Tie. Tie rolled and juked as the bursts missed him. "Engage!" Tie ordered his flight. "This is Captain Yamagi to Sovereign, we need reinforcements now!" Tie inverted and dived pulling onto the tail of a Z-95 who was about to make a strafing run on the yacht. He fired emerald green bursts of energy eating into the pirate fighter's shields. That was the one thing about the TIE series that Tie did not like. The fighters were fast and maneuverable but they didn't have shields and that put them at a disadvantage compared to Rebel and other fighters. The fighters blew up in a spectacular ball of flame.
-Bridge of Imperial Sovereign- "Sir Captain Yamagi, is requesting reinforcements." The communications officer reported. "Very well, launch the rest of his squadron." The captain ordered. The officer turned to relay the orders when a frown came across his face. "Sir, Control reports something is wrong with the brackets, the fighters can't launch." The communications officer reported. The captain swore hard.
Tie received the bad news as he was dodging the crimson laser bursts from a persistent Headhunter. "Shit, I've got one on me too." Dravis exclaimed. "Scratch my back, Ill scratch yours." Tie said to Dravis over the comm. The two interceptors angled towards each other and spat laserfire disintegrating the pursuing Headhunters. There were only 2 pirate fighters left, Tie had gotten two, Dravis one, and one of the other pilots another one. "I have new contacts coming from the pirate corvette. They've just launched three shuttles that are heading for the yacht. Shit they're gonna try to board it and take everyone hostage and then punch out." Dravis exclaimed. The two headhunters turned tail to escort the three inbound shuttles. "We've got to destroy the shuttles before they dock with the yacht." Tie ordered. The four Interceptors barreled in towards the inbound shuttles. Tie pushed his throttle to the maximum and zeroes in on the nearest shuttle. He fired repeatedly at it dodging the return fire that it spat back and eventually destroyed the shuttle. However the destruction of the shuttle had taken too long. The other shuttles had gotten much closer to the yacht and the escorting Headhunters now down to one were keeping two of his pilots. In a beautiful deflection shot Dravis managed to nail another shuttle just as Tie's other two pilots nailed the final Headhunter but it was too late, one of the shuttles had docked with the yacht and wa disgorging troops. "Damn, Dravis come with me. You two stay here and keep that Corvette distracted." Tie ordered. The other two pilots acknowledged and screamed toward the Corvette. "Oh no, Tie don't even think about that." Dravis said to Tie. "we have to it's the only way. The Sovereign is still out of range, by the time it gets here then it'll be too late." Tie argued. "All right, but you know the odds will be like 12 to 2." Dravis informed Tie. "Odds mean nothing." Tie said dismissively. "All you Corellians are all the same, shoot first and ask questions later." Dravis retorted. Tie grinned inside his helmet. The two angled their Interceptors into the belly hangar bay where the yacht's four protective TIE fighters had been kept. They passed through the magcon field and set down on their solar arrays in the hangar. Tie took off his flight helmet and pullet out his sidearm, and then he jumped out of his cockpit. Dravis did the same. The two crept out of the hangar bay, blasters in hand. They crept along a hallway. Suddenly a stream of red blaster bolts poured down from the other end of the hallway. Tie dove to the floor returning fire. Dravis managed to take down the assailants with aimed shots. "Those four must have been a rearguard, the rest have got to be somewhere nearby." Tie mused. The two crept forward every weary. They came to an intersection. Tie peered around the corner and saw eight men bunched around a thick blast door trying to force their way through, no doubt trying to take hostage those inside the door. Two men were using laser torches to melt a hole through the door while the other six stood with their weapons ready. Tie retracted his head back around the corner. "All right here's what we're going to do. Ill run across the hallway and snap off a couple of shots, and then while they're distracted you take em down." Tie told Dravis. "Alright, whenever you're ready then Tie." Dravis replied. Tie took a breath and with a yell ran across the hallway making sure to draw the attention of the pirates. Tie snapped off a couple of shots that didn't hit the pirates but drew their attention. Their blaster rifle came up to track him and began spitting crimson bolts of energy. Then Dravis popped out of the opposing corner and fired into the mass of pirates. He manages to down three. The three pirates not working on forcing the door kept up a stream of fire while the other two worked on the door. The door was on the verge of collapse. Suddenly the fire stopped. Dravis mouthed to Tie "Cover me". Tie leaned around the corner squeezing off shots as Dravis charge the hallway firing rapidly bringing down three before they could squeeze through the hole in the door. Tie managed to nail another one right through the hole but one had already made it inside. Tie swore to himself. "Alright we have to go in." Tie said, and Davis nodded his agreement. Tie leaped through the hole in the door and came down with his blaster ready in a crouch. A split second later Dravis came through. However the situation was not one that Tie would have liked. The one remaining pirate had his blaster pointed to the head of a middle aged man. The man was dressed richly and had a regal and dignified aura about him. Near him stood a woman who looked like his wife and a beautiful young woman who looked like his daughter. There were many other civilians also cowering in fear. "Alright come on, put the gun down, there's nothing else to be gained by you still resisting." Tie said trying to reason with the pirate. "No, put your weapons down or I splatter his brains all over this cabin." The pirate said desperation leaking into his voice. Tie began to slowly lower his blaster and Dravis looked at him quizzically but Tie made the barest fraction of a nod and Dravis slowly began to lower his blaster also. The pirate cracked a feral grin as he began to shift his blaster's aim from the man's head to Tie's chest. Tie and dove for the ground and his hand whipping around like a flash he drew his holdout blaster and fired twice. The pirate's blaster faltered however in his moments before death he reflexively tightened down on the trigger sending two blaster bolts in the direction of the young woman. Tie dove in front of the bolts and the last thing he remembered was two hard blows to his torso and his upper leg and then he blacked out.
The darkness of space glided by silently and quickly as the Imperial Star Destroyer Imperial Sovereign glided by on her sublight engines. Inside the massive warship a group of pilots were playing sabacc in one of the TIE fighter pilot ready rooms. The Imperial Sovereign while having the reputation as one of the Empire's best destroyers also carried a squadron of the famed 181st Imperial Fighter Group. "I win again." "Son of the Sith how do you do it Tie?" one of the pilots asked in wonder as Captain Taichi "Tie" Yamagi scooped up the pile of credits in the sabacc- pot. "What can I say, I'm just too good." The Corellian fighter pilot replied. "Too good at taking our credits is right." Tie's best friend Lieutenant Michael Dravis retorted and the pilots broke into laughter. Tie led a pretty good life, he was proud to serve in the best group of starfighter pilots in the Empire. After turning 16 he applied for the Imperial Academy and was accepted. He graduated with top marks as a pilot and was assigned to a frigate. Proving his abilities against pirates he was brought to the attention of Baron Soontir Fel, the Empire's greatest fighter pilot and was transferred to the 181st. However unrest began to brew in the back of Ties mind as rumors reached him of massacres, and other inhumane treatments facilitated by the Empire, but he pushed those aside for now. "We're supposed to get leave on Coruscant in a few days while the Sovereign has a minor refit.
-Bridge- "Captain, incoming transmission." The communications officer called out to the captain. "Who is it from Lieutenant?" The captain inquired. "It's not a military signal sir, but it's a priority one distress signal." The communications officer informed. The captain thought about that for a minute. Priority one distress signals only came from ships that carried important non-military dignitaries of the Empire. "Set course for them right away. Have the squadron of the 181st prepare for immediate deployment upon our arrival. Weapons make sure all systems are at maximum efficiency." The captain ordered. "Immediately, sir." Both the communications and weapons officers acknowledged. The massive warship lined up for the jump into hyperspace, and within seconds the stars elongated into long lines as the Imperial Sovereign made the jump.
In the ready room where Tie and his friends were, all the comlinks received the message for them to report to briefing room 4 immediately. "Another drill?" Dravis asked incredulously. "Yeah, looks like one." Tie replied. Drills were becoming more and more frequent after increased Rebel activities, and they were often quite tedious requiring that pilots stay out for longer durations. The pilots grabbed their helmets and life support units as they ran to the briefing room. Arriving they saw that the commander of their squadron was already there. Commander Kolaff was one of the best in the Empire having 15 years in the service and had a reputation of running a tight outfit. Soon enough the entire 4th squadron of the 181st was assembled in the briefing room. "Listen up you guys, three minutes ago we received a Priority one distress call. The captain wants our squadron on alert. Captain Yamagi you will take your flight out initially to investigate the disturbance, and then based on the situation you will call back to the Sovereign for reinforcements. Everyone else I want you in full gear and ready to launch within three minutes of Captain Yamagi's summons. That is all." The Commander informed his pilots. The pilots shuffled out of the room and towards the main hangar bay. Tie and the three pilots in his flight sprinted to their fighters. They stepped inside the hangar bay and walked down the catwalks to their fighters. A full wing of fighters, 72, was suspended from the roof brackets inside the Sovereign. Tie clambered into his TIE Interceptor and began the pre-flight checklist. "Report in." Tie ordered. "ISD-6-181, reporting in." Dravis who was Tie's wingman called in. "ISD-7-181, reporting in." the third pilot reported. "ISD-8-181, reporting in." Tie's last pilot called out. "Stand by for launch orders." Tie ordered. Then Tie switched over to a private channel between him and Dravis, "Hey Dravis, lets play a little Quadrant while we wait." "Sure but you're the rebels this time." Dravis replied with a laugh. The two often played Quadrant against each other during long patrols and other boring assignments using datapads especially re-wired for the game.
-Bridge- "Captain, we're reverting to realspace now." The helmsman reported. "Thank you, Ensign, Lieutenant Gorev get me an immediate sensor scan of what's out there, I want to know who sent the distress signal." "yes, sir" the sensors officer reported. "I've got something sir." He reported. "Put it on the main viewscreen," the captain ordered. Soon enough the viewscreen popped on and he saw a large space yacht with the markings of the Sienar Fleet Systems corporation painted onto the side being severely mauled by 6 Z-95 Headhunter fighters and a Corellian Corvette. The wreckage of four TIE fighters were scattered around the yacht evidently the yachts protective force. The weapons on the yacht were having no luck targeting the fighters attacking the yacht. "Incoming transmission from the yacht sir." The communications officer reported to the captain. "Patch it through" the captain ordered. "This is space yacht, Dragon's Pearl we're carrying a senior executive of Sienar Fleet Systems and we are under attack. We can't take much more of this." The transmission from the yacht said. "Inform them help is on the way." The captain ordered his communications officer. "Helm get us moving towards them immediately. Launch the fighters, and order all hands to battle stations." The captain ordered as he sat down into his command chair. Throughout the massive warship sirens wailed as crewmen rushed to their duty stations. In the hangar bay Tie's comm suddenly crackled to life. "Launch immediately." Control ordered. Tie acknowledged and eased his Interceptor free of the brackets and rocketed out the hangar bay opening and into open space. "Form up on me." Tie ordered. The three other Interceptors formed up on him as they headed towards the yacht in distress. Tie made sure his four laser cannons were ready. "All right break up into elements. I'll broadcast a warning first, and if they don't leave we open fire." He informed the rest of his flight. "Pirates, this is Captain Taichi Yamagi of Imperial Starfighter Command. You will cease firing on the yacht and leave the area immediately or we will be forced to destroy you." He transmitted in the open so that the pirates could hear. There was no response coming back over the comm. The yacht was now stripped of its weapons dead in space. A reply came when a Z- 95 dove and fired twice at Tie. Tie rolled and juked as the bursts missed him. "Engage!" Tie ordered his flight. "This is Captain Yamagi to Sovereign, we need reinforcements now!" Tie inverted and dived pulling onto the tail of a Z-95 who was about to make a strafing run on the yacht. He fired emerald green bursts of energy eating into the pirate fighter's shields. That was the one thing about the TIE series that Tie did not like. The fighters were fast and maneuverable but they didn't have shields and that put them at a disadvantage compared to Rebel and other fighters. The fighters blew up in a spectacular ball of flame.
-Bridge of Imperial Sovereign- "Sir Captain Yamagi, is requesting reinforcements." The communications officer reported. "Very well, launch the rest of his squadron." The captain ordered. The officer turned to relay the orders when a frown came across his face. "Sir, Control reports something is wrong with the brackets, the fighters can't launch." The communications officer reported. The captain swore hard.
Tie received the bad news as he was dodging the crimson laser bursts from a persistent Headhunter. "Shit, I've got one on me too." Dravis exclaimed. "Scratch my back, Ill scratch yours." Tie said to Dravis over the comm. The two interceptors angled towards each other and spat laserfire disintegrating the pursuing Headhunters. There were only 2 pirate fighters left, Tie had gotten two, Dravis one, and one of the other pilots another one. "I have new contacts coming from the pirate corvette. They've just launched three shuttles that are heading for the yacht. Shit they're gonna try to board it and take everyone hostage and then punch out." Dravis exclaimed. The two headhunters turned tail to escort the three inbound shuttles. "We've got to destroy the shuttles before they dock with the yacht." Tie ordered. The four Interceptors barreled in towards the inbound shuttles. Tie pushed his throttle to the maximum and zeroes in on the nearest shuttle. He fired repeatedly at it dodging the return fire that it spat back and eventually destroyed the shuttle. However the destruction of the shuttle had taken too long. The other shuttles had gotten much closer to the yacht and the escorting Headhunters now down to one were keeping two of his pilots. In a beautiful deflection shot Dravis managed to nail another shuttle just as Tie's other two pilots nailed the final Headhunter but it was too late, one of the shuttles had docked with the yacht and wa disgorging troops. "Damn, Dravis come with me. You two stay here and keep that Corvette distracted." Tie ordered. The other two pilots acknowledged and screamed toward the Corvette. "Oh no, Tie don't even think about that." Dravis said to Tie. "we have to it's the only way. The Sovereign is still out of range, by the time it gets here then it'll be too late." Tie argued. "All right, but you know the odds will be like 12 to 2." Dravis informed Tie. "Odds mean nothing." Tie said dismissively. "All you Corellians are all the same, shoot first and ask questions later." Dravis retorted. Tie grinned inside his helmet. The two angled their Interceptors into the belly hangar bay where the yacht's four protective TIE fighters had been kept. They passed through the magcon field and set down on their solar arrays in the hangar. Tie took off his flight helmet and pullet out his sidearm, and then he jumped out of his cockpit. Dravis did the same. The two crept out of the hangar bay, blasters in hand. They crept along a hallway. Suddenly a stream of red blaster bolts poured down from the other end of the hallway. Tie dove to the floor returning fire. Dravis managed to take down the assailants with aimed shots. "Those four must have been a rearguard, the rest have got to be somewhere nearby." Tie mused. The two crept forward every weary. They came to an intersection. Tie peered around the corner and saw eight men bunched around a thick blast door trying to force their way through, no doubt trying to take hostage those inside the door. Two men were using laser torches to melt a hole through the door while the other six stood with their weapons ready. Tie retracted his head back around the corner. "All right here's what we're going to do. Ill run across the hallway and snap off a couple of shots, and then while they're distracted you take em down." Tie told Dravis. "Alright, whenever you're ready then Tie." Dravis replied. Tie took a breath and with a yell ran across the hallway making sure to draw the attention of the pirates. Tie snapped off a couple of shots that didn't hit the pirates but drew their attention. Their blaster rifle came up to track him and began spitting crimson bolts of energy. Then Dravis popped out of the opposing corner and fired into the mass of pirates. He manages to down three. The three pirates not working on forcing the door kept up a stream of fire while the other two worked on the door. The door was on the verge of collapse. Suddenly the fire stopped. Dravis mouthed to Tie "Cover me". Tie leaned around the corner squeezing off shots as Dravis charge the hallway firing rapidly bringing down three before they could squeeze through the hole in the door. Tie managed to nail another one right through the hole but one had already made it inside. Tie swore to himself. "Alright we have to go in." Tie said, and Davis nodded his agreement. Tie leaped through the hole in the door and came down with his blaster ready in a crouch. A split second later Dravis came through. However the situation was not one that Tie would have liked. The one remaining pirate had his blaster pointed to the head of a middle aged man. The man was dressed richly and had a regal and dignified aura about him. Near him stood a woman who looked like his wife and a beautiful young woman who looked like his daughter. There were many other civilians also cowering in fear. "Alright come on, put the gun down, there's nothing else to be gained by you still resisting." Tie said trying to reason with the pirate. "No, put your weapons down or I splatter his brains all over this cabin." The pirate said desperation leaking into his voice. Tie began to slowly lower his blaster and Dravis looked at him quizzically but Tie made the barest fraction of a nod and Dravis slowly began to lower his blaster also. The pirate cracked a feral grin as he began to shift his blaster's aim from the man's head to Tie's chest. Tie and dove for the ground and his hand whipping around like a flash he drew his holdout blaster and fired twice. The pirate's blaster faltered however in his moments before death he reflexively tightened down on the trigger sending two blaster bolts in the direction of the young woman. Tie dove in front of the bolts and the last thing he remembered was two hard blows to his torso and his upper leg and then he blacked out.
