Chapter One: D'qar
There were too many TIE fighters. But then again there were always too many TIE fighters. They seemed to breed like boilswamp gnats. As deftly as she could, Tallissan "Tallie" Lintra toggled down her X-wing's shields, channeling the power straight into the engines and the blasters. Being used to her light, fast, A-Wing, the heavier starfighter felt to Tallie like more like bulk cargo freighter than something that could go toe-to-toe with TIEs. At least the X-Wing had good solid frame. Burning hard on one engine, she spun around in a tight circle and caught a TIE right in her crosshairs. With a quick squack of the cannon it disintegrated into a bright orange ball of plasma.
"Nice shot, Blue One," cracked Poe's voice over the comm. Mentally, Tallie added the TIE to her count. It was number forty one. Another one to paint on the side of her A-wing when she got back. It was dark out in deep space, far from any system. It was rare for battles to take place so far from a planet, but at least it made the scope readings crisp and clear. Fourteen more TIEs were swarming around and four X-wings each from Black and Blue Squadrons were in the midst of them.
"Thanks, Poe," Tallie replied and then added "Got the beast in my sights. Prize is docked to it." The target was dead center in the scope. An old Carrack class cruiser from the late days of the old Republic, the target was now the flagship of a nasty group of pirates who had been lucky enough to capture a freighter full of some highly valuable, and highly explosive, hyperfuel from under the nose of the First Order. The freighter's crew had sounded the alarm and soon after a Star Destroyer had blasted out to intercept. And because they had tapped the First Order chatter, the Resistance had sent in Black and Blue squadrons to cause a whole mess of chaos for both the pirates and the Order. It was what they were best at after all.
"I see it," Poe responded. "And the destroyer closing in on it from the far side. Blue Squadron, go hit the pirate ship before that destroyer can close. Black'll keep these TIEs off your back."
"Aye, Poe." came the chorus of responses from the Resistance pilots. Tallie was about to add her own, but a violent blast hit the fuselage behind the cockpit. The entire fighter shuddered with a shock that Tallie felt all through her spine. Instinctively, she went to run a system check only to find that the familiar readout wasn't there. It was an X-wing.
"Sixes, how're we doing?" she asked. On ships like this the system checks were done by the astromech droid. BB-66 was on loan for this mission. A series of annoyed squeaks and chirps followed and Tallie read it on the display. "Well," she said. "I also wish they weren't shooting at you."
"Waroooo bop."
"Glad that all checks out." They were slower than a tiller-droid, but thank the Force that X-wings could a take a beating.
"Wirrrrr."
"Sorry, Ello couldn't be here, Sixes. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. Just keep an eye on that stabilizer." The droid beeped its agreement.
"All right, Blue Squadron," Tallie said on the all-comm channel. "Let's show these womp rats what Resistance pilots are made of. Starck, stay on my wing. We'll head straight in and draw their fire. Bastian, you and Pava do a deep dive and come up at that cruiser's belly." An alarm annoyingly went off in the cockpit. There was a TIE bearing right in and it had her in lock. Jerking the controls hard, she spun around and blasted it into a billion pieces before completing the turn and accelerating back toward the pirate's cruiser. Forty two. TIEs were fast but they weren't maneuverable. It was a lesson you'd have thought the First Order would have learned back when it was still called the Empire.
Glancing at the controls, Tallie noted that the forward shields were nearly done. One more good hit and they could be done for. Poe'll manage the rest of the TIEs, Tallie thought to herself. If the pirates had any starfighters they'd be old Headhunters or even more ancient ARC's. It would better for everyone if they got this over with as quickly as possible. Why risk lives if you don't have to? Killing the power to the shields and cannons, she poured everything into the ion engines. Even if they fried, she'd only need the hyperdrive to get back to D'Qar. The little droid in the back didn't like what she was doing and expressed her disappointment.
"Hang on, Sixes. I know what I'm doing." There was a quick warning chirp as the engines started exceeding maximum capacity. Tallie dismissed it. What did engineers and designers know? With subtle agility, she slowly pushed the stick forward. Both engines roared and groaned until Tallie could feel the acceleration pushing her back into her seat. Her speed increasing, Tallie sped closer and closer to the cruiser until she had left the rest of Blue Squadron and the battle with the TIES far behind. The entire X-wing began to angrily shutter and shake. Still she pushed the stick forward. More and more alarms began to blare across the cockpit. The droid added her own beeps and whistles to the cacophony. One engine cowling burst off with a blast of smoke and sparks.
"Rrrrorrry?" The droid asked.
"Yes, I do," Tallie said. The target was almost in range. Her cannons were dead but the proton torpedoes were ready to go. Toggling the fire control, Tallie took a look at the targeting computer. She smiled. The star destroyer was bearing down on the cruiser and almost on top of it. Tallie smiled. Then she fired a barrage of torpedoes just as the second engine cowling burst off. As she watched the glowing blue streaks head toward the target, Tallie let herself ease off the stick. The right engine shuddered to a stop as it caught on fire. Quick as she could she shut down the other engine and let Sixes spray the fire down with suppressant. Tallie watched as the torpedoes found their mark and hit the freighter straight on. With a tap she flipped down the blast shield on her helmet, and just in time.
Even with the shield down and her eyes closed, Tallie could still see the flash. For a moment it illuminated her eyelids a dull orange before it faded. Flipping up the blast shield Tallie winced. The cloud of plasma was still bright enough to hurt her eyes a little. The First Order's hyperfuel freighter, the pirate cruiser, and the star destroyer were gone.
"Target destroyed," she said over the all-comm.
"Nice one, Tallie," Poe replied. "All units return to base."
"Sixes," Tallie directed the droid. "Set a course for D'Qar." The smile on Tallie's face was still there when the stars transformed themselves into streaks of blue as the X-wing blasted to hyperspace. One star destroyer gone and zero Resistance casualties. If only all the missions could go this well.
Tico had greeted her with nothing but an angry glare when she had finally set down in the dimly lit and always busy main hanger. It was a rare mission that didn't annoy Ground Logistics by giving them loads of extra work. Popping open the canopy, Tallie took off her helmet, happy to feel the cool, underground air on her face. Turning to Tico, Tallie mouthed a slightly embarrassed "sorry" before unhooking all her suit's feed tubes.
After undoing the harnesses, she hopped up, happy to feel the muscles in her legs finally stretch after a few hours in the cockpit. The soreness as they stretched out was comforting. Feeling that at the end of the mission meant you had made it. Not everyone got to feel those sore muscles and maybe one day she wouldn't get to either. A part of Tallie hoped that one day, after the First Order was gone, she'd make it back to Pip and live the quiet life. But another part of her knew she was probably going to buy it in the cockpit. It wasn't a bad way to go after all. One moment you're flying and the next you're a bright burst of plasma. It would happen so fast you'd barely be able to notice. No fear, no pain. Just white hot plasma.
After getting changed back into her comfies, Tallie did her best to duck out of the pilot's ready room as quickly and as quietly as possible. Most of the other pilots spent the time before their after mission briefing relaxing and socializing with kour, a liquor some of the troops had figured out how to make by fermenting the local D'Qar pittubers and sourfruit. While Tallie understood why they needed to unwind like that after a mission, she preferred to decompress in her quiet place; a rarely visited storage room in the back of the shield generator's machine room. It was small and cramped, but she could stretch out a little, rest her elbows on some cool pipes, close her eyes, and get lost in the gentle and persistent white noise of the machines. It seemed to be one of the only places in the Resistance base where one could go to be alone for a few moments. She let her breath out in a long, relaxing exhale.
"Lieutenant Lintra, report to the command center," came a sudden call over the base's loudspeakers. Were they really going to bust her chops over a couple overheated ion engines? Sure, it probably wasn't the smartest thing in the galaxy to do on a mission, but could they really nitpick over that when a pirate ship, a star destroyer, and a whole mess of the First Order's fuel was out of commission? Were they supposed to have captured the fuel? No, they wouldn't have sent in X-wings for that. General Organa had definitely said "neutralize" in the mission briefing. Neutralizing always meant vaporizing. Then the announcement repeated. "Lieutenant Lintra, report to the command center."
"Reporting," Tallie said with a sigh as she picked herself up and headed over to the command center.
"General Organa," Tallie said as she snapped to attention. It was unusual to see the command center, the nerve center of the base, so quiet. Normally there would have been technicians at every station, monitoring comm traffic, watching sensors, or checking the shields, the recyclers, or the main generator. Now General Organa stood alone in the center of the room. Wearing a delicate gown and sparkling jewelry that would have been more fitting at a Coruscant party than a war room, the General looked small and out of place amidst all the grime.
"Thank you for coming, Lieutenant Lintra," the General said. There was something about her voice and bearing that reminded Tallie of the best sabaac players. With no one else around, Tallie assumed the worst. Recklessness on a mission wasn't a reason for a court martial was it? Her fears faded when Poe Dameron came bounding into the room, his breath smelling strongly of kour. If the General noticed, she didn't react.
"Captain Dameron," the General greeted him. Then she dryly added "I see you've been celebrating a successful mission." So she had noticed. She would have had to. Dameron reeked.
"I spilled some on my uniform, General" he did his best to explain. The General gave a knowing look but let it slide.
"Tallie, Poe," she said informally. Both took the cue and let themselves relax a little. "You're the two best pilots in the Resistance. Poe, I remember that crazy stunt you pulled on OR-Kappa. And Tallie, congratulations, I think you're the first Resistance pilot to add a First Order Star Destroyer to your scorecard." Hearing it from the General, Tallie felt ten meters tall and she did her best to keep a smile from breaking out. Quickly, she glanced over at Poe who was an old pro at playing it cool. Organa continued. "I have a secret mission and I need two good pilots. I can't stress enough how delicate this mission is. There's a target we need to extract from a prison cell. The target is friendly to the Resistance and has information on a new First Order weapon, rumored to be a starfighter, that's under development."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Poe said in his usual brash manner.
"Oh," the General responded. "It will be. The target is on Hosnian Prime. Being held in the headquarters of the Republic Security Bureau. Liberate the target. They will lead you to the new First Order fighters. Retrieve the fighters and bring them here without the First Order tracking you. As you may have heard, the Republic is riddled with First Order sympathizers, so this mission has to be done off-data. If you're caught and identified as part of the Resistance it could lead the Republic withdrawing their support. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," Poe responded. "No problem." Tallie was surprised that he had agreed so calmly. There was a sinking feeling deep in Tallie's gut. A mission to go against the Republic, to break someone—most probably a Resistance spy—out of heavily guarded facility? This was all far outside Tallie's area of expertise. This wasn't jumping in a starfighter and blasting the First Order. This wasn't flying. Every bit of her wanted to say no. But that wasn't really how the Resistance worked. When the General asked you to go, you went.
"Yes, ma'am," Tallie reluctantly said, her voice suddenly feeling small and weak.
"We have already put the data you'll need in BB-8's computer system. Good luck. And may the Force be with you," Leia said. With that the little droid rolled up and gave a friendly whistle. Leia nodded, turned around, and strolled out of the command center. Tallie gave Poe a nervous look, not bothering to hide her hesitation. Finally letting his bravado down, Poe smiled worriedly.
"I know, right?" he said as he crouched down and gave his droid a playful pat on the dome.
"Yeah," Tallie said because she was unsure of what else to say. Outside, General Organa must have signaled to someone because the command personnel were beginning to filter back in, bringing the place back to life. "I guess I'll go get my gear."