Welcome. Super excited for this idea. I got some big ideas, non of them are guaranteed to be canonically accurate. Sorry. Just want to have some fun with the Star Wars universe. Let me know what you think in the reviews. Critics are welcome. Just, you know, don't be a dick. Thanks. :)

Danyar Shoats

Despite the explosions blooming like coral flowers in spring on Felucia, the darkened night was asphyxiating. The jet streams from anti-air missiles crisscrossed across the sky like smoking tentacles from an angry leviathan, eagerly seeking to entangle unwary prey. The red and green light from turbo lasers enlightened the cockpit of my X-wing as if I was flying through a Reformation Day fireworks celebration on Coruscant. I would say it was chaotic as hell, but I'd imagine even eternal damnation had a more sensible concept of order.

"Form up and lock X-foils in attack position. We're gonna hit 'em hard and fast. I want everyone at full throttle when we open up on these guys." My squadron commander's voice broke through the coms, full of confidence and unfazed by the disorder in the sky. Since the destruction of the Death Star, Commander Wedge Antilles had been given the utmost respect and highest honors by the rebellion. New pilots like myself had looked to him and followed his example both inside the cockpit and out. Wedge was a living testament to how much one could accomplish with the right attitude and enough courage.

We followed his orders, opening up our X-foils and spreading out our formation in an effort to thin the anti-air flak plaguing the skies. Our target, a heavily armored power generator to the defenses of an Imperial factory, came into view through the pillars of smoke that towered from the battle taking place on the ground. Intel identified a structural weakness that, with enough focused fire, could cause a total collapse to the generator, effectively neutralizing the defense turbo lasers of the main building. Red group of Rogue Squadron was to deliver the focused fire.

This kind of job was more suited for a Y-Wing squadron, but due to the high density of Turbo Laser towers and the pitiful speed of the aircraft, General Madine saw fit to use X-Wings armed with Proton Torpedoes instead. When Commander Antilles briefed Red group on the mission objective, the War Room was filled with restless and excited chatter. After the Battle of Yavin, Red group had been restocked with novice pilots in order to fill the void left from all the pilots lost on the Death Star. Unfortunately, they were plagued with a high turnover rate due to inexperienced pilots not making it back from their missions. In order to rectify this, Admiral Ackbar pulled Red from the mission roster in order to invest more time in training in an effort to prevent the need of replacing veteran pilots.

For most of Red group, including myself, this was to be our first big mission. We felt more than ready as we made the jump to lightspeed. But once we came out of hyperspace and descended into the atmosphere, we realized that even a lifetime in the simulator could never prepare you for real combat. We were in deep, and it was too late to back out now.

Cackling on the comms brought the battle back into focus. "Good to see ya' Red Group. How about we get those turrets off line like we were promised?" I immediately recognized the voice of Lieutenant-Commander Randis Darr, my mentor and senior pilot that cleared me for flight duty. Once an X-wing pilot himself, Darr was pulled from his ship and shoved, kicking and screaming, into the cockpit of the new "A-Wing" prototype. Fast, agile, and smaller than a tick on a nexu's back, these ships were deemed the future of spacecraft fighters. They were also a bitch to keep maintained and in fighting shape, which was the chief source of trouble for Darr and biggest reason why he hated the new fighter and often voiced his lamentations for his X-Wing.

"Focused fire incoming Fossil Leader. Keep the fighters busy for another minute and we will be glad to properly join the battle." Commander Antilles responded to Darr's request. Once again his confidence smothered the tint of fear and timidness in my gut and a smile began to carve its way onto my face. This was everything I trained for, time to get to work.

As Wedge led Red group low to the surface of the planet, Arist I think was its name, I fell into position in the staggered line of aircraft skimming above the battlefield. The scenery blurred on both sides of my cockpit. Rocky, snow kissed mountains raced by as my X-Wing politely excused itself between them. In an effort to maintain our numbers and avoid any unnecessary contact with enemy fighters, we were taking the long way to the generator. We were attempting to use the topography as a source of cover while also keep any kind of visual contact to a minimal, using the mountains to the east of the facility as our veil. Never the less I kept my eyes peeled on the skies for any TIE's looking to join our high speed appreciation of the local scenery. Right on cue I saw a squad of 4 TIE fighters form up and dive on an intersection course with Red group.

"TIE's incoming, fifty degrees at two o'clock-" I was cut off by green bursts raining down on my wingmen, turning 2 of them into balls of flame as the wreckage was pasted across the landscape. "No! They got Krisste and Mikka!" I heard my best friend, Zemmy Marik, cry out, her voice breaking at the loss of her friends.

"Stay focused Red-12!" Wedge instructed. "Everybody stay in formation and punch the throttle! Fossil leader, where is that cover!?"

"Getting shot at. Is that inconvenient for you?" Darr responded with annoyance noticeably present in his words. I glanced up and saw his A-Wing alone in the sky being pursued by a pair of TIE's, their cannons angrily spitting green blasts at the small fighter. After a brief silence on the comms Darr's voice returned. "I got an idea. Red leader, have Red-10 break from formation. Shoats, I'm going to need you buddy."

"Break off and do as Fossil Leader says, Red-10." Commander Antilles ordered me. With a "Yes sir," I complied, banking to my right and pulling back on the stick, ascending into the fray of the aerial battle above. "The rest of Red group, tighten up formation and stay on target. 30 seconds Fossil Leader!"

I caught sight of Darr's A-wing right as he swooped into a split-S turn that would have torn my X-wing in half before transitioning to a dive heading straight for me. With the noses of our craft pointed at one another, I prepped myself for the pair of TIE's to come around and pursue Darr again.

"Shoats, that squad of TIE's is gaining fast on Red Group. I can cover them but you need to keep my ass clear."

"Yes sir." I responded as our crafts shot past each other, so close that my hull shuddered. As soon as his two pursuers were in range I opened fire, the cannons of my X-wing viciously screaming red blasts into the hulls of the Imperial craft. Looking back I suppose I should have felt a sense of pride or accomplishment at my first kills as a pilot. Pump my fist in my cockpit and howl a victorious cheer.

I did none of that.

I felt nothing but a sense of urgency as I pulled back on the stick, bringing the ground into view through the top of my canopy and continuing to rotate until the nose of my X-wing was pointed towards it in a steep dive. I felt the G-forces tug at me as my craft encouraged me to fall faster than what the gravity of Arist preferred. At any other time the sensations would bring an uncontainable smile to my face. But for now, I had work to do.

I fell behind Darr as he opened fire on the squad of TIE's pursuing Red Squadron, turning one of the craft into a screaming ball of flame before it smashed into the planet's surface. Two of the remaining ships broke formation while one stayed in pursuit of the tail of Red Squadron. Through the flashes of light offered by the engines of our craft and the lasers in the sky I could make out the the ship's logo of a Sabacc card, identifying the ship as Red-13, or as we liked to call her, Lucky. Any concerns of the TIE's shooting down another one of my wingmen were promptly ejected out of my head. Nobody could shoot down Lucky. She was our best.

The pair of TIE's that broke off were coming around to continue pursuit on Darr. I hit the throttle to get in range and cover him. "Fossil-1, incoming," I warned over the comms.

"I see them. Shit!" he acknowledge the incoming danger. I could see his hesitation in how his shipped moved. He knew he had to take evasive action and shake the TIE's, however he would never leave a wingman.

Lucky seemed to sense it as well because her voice came over the comms, calm and smooth as ever. "Break away Fossil-1, I can handle this."

Darr gave a chuckle as he broke from pursuit and rose into the air, the pair of TIE's following him. Well, it was a pair before my blasts caused one to combust in midair and transformed it into falling, fiery remains of twisted metal. "Give them hell Lucky," Darr wished her luck, "Shoats, stay with her. I got it from here."

"Yes sir." I acknowledged as I stayed in my elevated position fell behind the TIE coming after my friend. Knowing how Lucky liked to fly and familiar with her style, I granted her some distance. She said she had this and I would rather box a hormonal rancor before I got in Lucky's way.

She didn't break from formation. I doubt the TIE would follow her if she did. It would most likely try to take out or scare away the next ship in our staggered formation. It was trying to disrupt our attack run, not take us out of the sky. Lucky must have figured the same. She followed Red Group in between the mountains slowly falling behind.

I was only able to notice the growing distance between her and the squadron due to my elevated position. The chasing TIE wouldn't notice that his prey was slowing down and falling away from her flock. Before I could question her motives her X-wing's nose abruptly shot into the sky as her air brakes expanded from her hull, causing an exponential decrease in air speed for her craft and the TIE to go screaming past, only precious inches from colliding into Lucky. In a split second she recovered and her nose leveled out. I saw her engines exhale a powerful burst to regain the speed she lost from her maneuver, allowing her to fall into perfect firing range on the TIE. Lucky didn't waste any time and her cannons happily let loose a volley of blasts on the craft that was only moments before attempting to do the same to her.

"Damn," was all I offered as the TIE was smeared across the mountain side. Lucky offered no response, but I could practically hear the smug grin on her lips through the comms.

The remaining ships of Red group came into view of the generator, breaking from the cover offered by the mountains and becoming easy targets for anti-air turbo lasers. "Open up Red group." Wedge commanded as he let his pair of Proton Torpedoes loose, sending them to collide to the main support for the generator. The rest of Red didn't have as good of aim. Some hit the target that was a large support beam to the generator but most were off center, still causing significant damage, but not enough to make the generator buckle and collapse in on itself. As Red pulled out from its attack run a few ships fell victim to the lasers, reducing our already too few numbers. I prepared to descend and contribute my pair of torpedoes to the salvo when the sight of Lucky's attack stopped me. Her aim was dead on, as always, and I watched in awe as the explosion ripped through the generator and the entire structure began to collapse.

The anti-air weapons immediately ceased and the only enemy presence in the sky were the TIE fighters. While they could still be a significant threat, the skies were now a hell of a lot safer in the and we could focus on dog fighting instead of multitasking between enemy fighters and incoming fire saturating the playing field.

"Good shot Lucky!" I heard Darr yell into the comms, breaking through the cheers of Fossil and Red group that were currently congesting the line.

"Red group, find a wingman and thin out the skies. Let's plow the road for the landing craft to get boots on the ground." Wedge commanded, bringing us all down from our temporary high. The surviving members of Red fell into formation. As lucky formed up with her younger brother, Trestra, I fell behind Zemmy ready to cover her from any unfriendlies and anxious to add a few more tallies to my kill count.

Darr's voice came through on all channels to fuel our already raging fire of battle fury. "Let's have some fun."