+++

Ora Gades, Captain of the Corvette 'Bright Hope' realised nearly too late she'd urged her ship in too close to the Star Destroyer Tyrannic. "Hard Starboard! Put us into the engine wash!"

The bridge shook violently as a turbolaser barrage burned one side of the corvette's hammerhead bow. Other shots hit the Corvette's underside turbolaser turret and a few of the sublight drives. Before any more hits could strike them the ship entered the Destroyer's blind spot.

"All engines full stop!" screamed Gades over the damage alarms.
The red of emergency lighting cut in as the operations officer shunted any available power to shields. In the few seconds that they'd been in the Destroyer's engine wash hull temperature had shot up to dangerous levels. As the sensors came back online the bridge crew saw that their last chance turn had worked.

"We're falling behind. Tyrranic's gunners are concentrating on the other Destroyers."

Ora wiped the sweat off her brow. "Good news. Weapons what did we lose?"

The Rodian at weapons shook his head. "[Half of our turbolasers took damage. I think we lost everyone in turret two."

"Then we'll have to tag-team with Dereliction. Helm bring as around the edges of the fighting. We'll see if we can stay out of the way of the big ships most of the battle."

Tie starfighters streaked past strafing the ship as they changed course again.
"I hope the Commander doesn't do anything stupid out there."
said Gades, mainly to herself.
"Just think Captain, if he does get killed you'd be the one left in charge." commented one of the few other humans aboard.

The woman laughed at that. "We're not that lucky Zebv."

+++

Out in space the Battle for control of Bothawui and the entire sector raged. The Rebels that had been waiting for two long years to resume their fight against the Empire showed no mercy.
The Rebel fleet waiting in ambush at the edge of the system swept through the Imperial Destroyer lines holding the flank in minutes. Still, the Rebels were outnumbered and things seemed to be turning back in Imperial favour until the Rebel elite squadrons rushed one of the Command ships scattering Tie formations in the process.

The Mon Cal Heavy Cruisers Defiance and Galactic Voyager engaged the 8km long Command Class Super Star Destroyer that formed the backbone of the Imperial taskforce. the Command ship took heavy damage in the ensuing torpedo exchange and began it's withdrawal, using it's escorts to ward off attackers and hold the exit vector long enough for the rest of the Imperial fleet to escape.

When all was ended close to a dozen Star Destroyers drifted in orbit of the Rebel world. Most of them were the smaller Victory class ships but that wouldn't make any difference to the Rebels. They now had enough ship hulls to rebuild their fleet and thanks to their victory, time enough to do it. Still, more than a hundred smaller ships burned in space, their crews killed either by laser fire or the vacuum of space.

A week had passed since the end of the battle for Bothawui but the planet's main space port still bustled with activity. Salvage ships took off or landed every couple of seconds hauling the smaller sections of debris out of orbit before they could burn up in the atmosphere. The whine of repulsor lift drives filled the air making any conversation outside difficult.

Talon Karrde leaned against one of the spaceport walls as he watched crew boarding Bright Hope. "We could still use your ships here. The Imperials have already started raids into the sector using Assault Gunboats and the like."

Alek 'Def' Valen slung a bag with Tie pilot gear over his shoulder then looked to Karrde. "No, I'm taking my ships out of here for repairs. It's our job to keep harassing the slavers headed to Hutt space and they'll start to notice if we stay away."

"Well good luck to you." Karrde offered his hand to the younger man and Alek shook with his one free hand. "We returned your surviving EZ-95, and we'll be sending a couple of Tie Clutch pilots with you."

"Already spoke to them. We have a couple fighters in reserve back at base but we didn't have the room on our ships to bring them."

Before the pilot could turn towards the waiting ship Karrde pulled out a data pad. "Here's an intel report we received. It's supposed to be about a base roughly along your return route so I was hoping you could check it out."

Alek took the pad in his free hand and stuffed it into a flight suit pocket. "My crew will be annoyed with the detour but that's nothing new. See you in a few months Karrde, and tell Booster sorry that I couldn't stay longer."

Karrde followed a short distance behind as the pilot made his way toward the landing ramp. "You know Booster still wants you to head up his fighter squadrons."

"I can make more money fighting slavers though, and the company I keep don't mind the local venue." The pilot tossed loose salute as the landing ramp began to raise.

001

AUTHOR'S NOTE: See Part 68 of 'Tales of the New Sith Order' for the Bright Hope's minor appearance in the Battle of Bothawui.

This story was originally to be entitled, 'Privateer' but that failed to fit with the the intended direction it is to later take.