Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars and this story is set sometime after my other fic "My Brother's Keeper."
I like to think this fic is also my little way of helping Uncle Ethan and the rest of the Fandom Menace fight back against all the soy based entertainment currently coming out of Lucasfilm. Enjoy.
A hail of red blaster fire lit up the battlefield as several X-wings of Black Squadron engaged in a vicious deep space melee against a flight of TIE fighters. The Resistance forces present had caught the First Order supply convoy by surprise and several shuttles full of commandos were already busy capturing some of the cargo transports. As the raid continued, Captain Poe Dameron rolled his fighter clear of some fire from an enemy escort frigate and gunned down another TIE with his cannons.
From the backseat, he heard his trusty friend and astromech droid BB-8 give a squawk. Poe maneuvered around to weave through the melee and chase off a few more enemies, "I know, I know BB-8. It's getting a little hot out here but we have to give our people more time to secure those cargo freighters."
At that moment, more intercepting fire from the escort ships came at them and the Resistance X-wings scrambled to avoid the barrage. Poe gritted his teeth as his X-wing took a glancing hit and his fighters shield's were rattled while one of his wingmates Jessika Pava angled over and took up a spot covering his right wing, "What's taking those commandos so long? If those escort frigates get any closer, we're going to get shredded by their fire."
"Keep up the fighter screens Black Squadron," came the voice of General Leia Organa from the bridge of her new Resistance cruiser named the Valor, "We have a flight of B-wing bombers on the way."
"You heard the General everyone, let's keep these TIE fighters off balance," Poe ordered as Black Squadron continued to battle their foes.
As the battle progressed, the oddly shaped B-wing fighter bombers came into range unloading several deadly volleys of proton torpedoes that smashed into some of the First Order frigates that were laying down suppressing fire. The familiar voice of a younger Twi'lek man came in over the comms. It was the leader of the B-wing flight and the son of one of the fleet captains, Lt. Kamori, "Thought you nice folks could use a hand out here Captain Dameron."
"Much obliged Lieutenant. Thank you," Poe smiled before BB-8 gave another alarmed yelp. Poe checked his sensors and gasped as an enemy star destroyer suddenly jumped into the sector and dropped a fresh wave of enemy TIE fighters.
"We've got company!" Jess called with an edge of alarm in her voice, "ETA is 2 minutes on those fighters."
"Cargo ships have been secured. Beginning hyperspace jump sequence," came another call over the Resistance comms as several of the large container vessels quickly changed course and began to head for their jump point.
Poe nodded and radioed into the Valor, "General? Transports are underway. Should we stay and cover them or return home?"
Leia was about to respond when a flight of faster TIE interceptors outpaced their comrades and came into range of the captured transports. They began firing a hail of blaster bolts and missiles at the slow moving and vulnerable targets. To everyone's surprise, three of the B-wings sped up and veered into the way of the oncoming fire.
"Oh no you don't!" came the voice of Lt. Kamori as he and his flight returned fire against the interceptors and took a pounding from their laser fire. With the bombers of his flight heavily damaged, they pushed just a little further and he took a pair of missiles that were meant for the transports causing his B-wing to erupt into a fiery cloud of shrapnel.
On the bridge of the cruiser, Leia witnessed the heroic sacrifice of the B-wing pilot and she froze with indecisiveness as Poe's voice called again, "General? What are your orders?"
There was a long pause with no response before Poe's other wingman Temmin Wexley radioed over, "Black Leader?"
Poe grimaced, "Okay Black Squadron, form up on me. We'll screen those transports as long as we can. All other Resistance ships pull out and head home!"
The Resistance strike group fell back and reorganized around the Valor before three of the captured transports jumped away into the safety of hyperspace. The rest of the Resistance task force joined suit before Black Squadron broke off their own battle with the TIEs as well. Jess sighed in relief, "I think that's our cue."
"Copy that. BB-8, let's get the hell out of here," Poe called back as the last of the X-wings folded their wings and rocketed away into light speed ceding the battlefield to the menacing First Order destroyer.
All things considered, this had been a successful supply raid against the First Order. They had disrupted the enemy fleet's operations in the sector and absconded with numerous tons of supplies, medicine, and munitions. But even as the raiders made their way back toward their rendezvous point, the mood had been dampened with the death of Lt. Kamori. He had been a well liked pilot and an asset to the recovering Resistance Fighter Corps. They had a feeling that his loss and the unusual behavior of General Organa did not bode well for the debriefing when they got back to the cruiser.
Elsewhere, a tall late middle aged man stood on the bridge of the Resurgent class star destroyer Eviscerator. The thin graying man with sallow features that made him look more like a vulture wore the dark uniform of a First Order fleet admiral. It was a look which had not seemed to change very much from his younger days serving as an officer in the Imperial Navy. He kept his eyes fixed forward on the ship's panoramic viewport as he contemplated in the darkness and the stars ahead of him. He heard footsteps behind him and he turned slowly to see one of his aides approaching with some data slates.
The younger commander marched forward and handed the first slate over with a dutiful nod, "Admiral Varrot, these are the new reports from our allies and the deployments of their forces. There's also a holo message coming in from General Hux himself sir. Shall I patch it through to your quarters?"
"No Commander. I will take it here. Now leave me," the admiral said waving his subordinate off the private section of the bridge. Varrot took the second tablet and activated the transmitter which projected the image of the younger red headed high commander of the First Order forces. The holo projection of Hux stood at rigid attention and crossed his hands behind his back, regarding Varrot with a grim countenance, "Admiral... I trust you have a status report for me?"
Varrot nodded calmly, "Yes sir. Final preparations are underway for the Cerberus Cannon. Testing should finish within the day and we'll be ready to begin our next move."
Hux's lip curled slightly, "Our new offensive on New Republic space has been successful, but the Mid Rim worlds and those of the Inner Core will have more time to organize a defense. If we are going to be able to breach their planetary shields, then we will need that new weapon to be fully operational."
"And you can rest assured we will be ready," Varrot replied, "If we can cut off the Republic in this section of the Mid Rim, we should be able to strike at the Core Worlds in a two pincer attack."
"And what of the Resistance?" Hux asked with a frown, "I've been receiving reports that they have been making several raids on your supply convoys in the region."
Varrot waved it off dismissively, "The Resistance are mere gadflies General and that material is nothing that can't be easily replaced either. The Resistance have become increasingly bold of late, but I doubt even their recovering forces have enough to strength to threaten our next push."
Hux nodded, "Very well Admiral. I expect your fleet to be underway soon and you must not fail me or the Supreme Leader either. I'm going to issue your new orders and the plan of attack for our next target... the planet of Naboo."
After reaching their safe rendezvous point and returning to the Valor, the X-wing pilots of Black Squadron took some time to rest and recover before attending an impromptu service for the fallen Lt. Kamori. After the Resistance's harrowing escape from Utapau and the aid of General Lando Calrissian from Bespin, they had begun rebuilding their strength. The First Order had already launched aggressive attacks on the galaxy and the meager Forces of the New Republic were still on the defensive, trying desperately to organize into some kind of cohesive and competent force again. With the news of two great heroes of the old Rebellion still at large and now carrying a hyperspace cloaking device, numerous volunteers had begun to filter in offering some soldiers, smaller escort ships, several starfighters, and even the salvaged Mon Calamari cruiser that they were currently stationed on.
Two such volunteers had been the Twi'leks Lt. Bril Kamori and his father Telos Kamori who captained an old Nebulon-B frigate in the new fleet. With the distraught captain now aboard, he was joined by several Resistance pilots and General Organa who came to offer their sympathy. After they gathered in one of the large spartan wardrooms of the cruiser, they stood and listened as a few pilots in the B-wing squadron offered a eulogy for Bril followed by some words from Leia. As the pilots of Black Squadron stood at attention and listened, Poe couldn't help but look off into the large viewport and think back to the fateful evacuation of D'Qar and how many brave pilots and bomber crews gave their lives to slow down the enemy there. It wasn't until those events and the following massacre around Crait that the weight of comrades lives and the responsibility for them had set in for Poe.
He had understood that some of his actions and command decisions had been considered a little reckless. While he had learned to accept that responsibility, he also accepted that with their war came the inevitable truth that no one could be fully protected from death either. Even if he still didn't agree with the flawed ideology of the late Vice Admiral Holdo, he had come to learn through experience that if lives had to be lost, then they might as well be meaningful, such as how Bril had died protecting those cargo ships.
As the eulogies ended and crewmen came forward to offer condolences to Captain Kamori, Poe was stirred from his thoughts when he felt a gentle elbow to the side. Jessika who had been standing beside him with Temmin tilted her head and spoke in a hushed voice, "Heads up Poe. General Organa at one o clock."
The three Black Squadron pilots all turned to face Leia and offer her respectful greetings as she approached. She gave a quick nod to Jessika and Temmin before glancing at Poe, "Pilots. Thank you... can I have a brief word with Captain Dameron?"
Temmin gave his flight leader a quick clap on the shoulder before Leia continued on to a far corner of the room with Poe close behind. He hesitated before offering a probing comment, "Uh... that was a nice little service you gave General. I'm sure Captain Kamori appreciated it."
Leia offered a thin smile and gave a tired glance over toward her fellow Resistance commander across the room being consoled by other pilots. She turned back to Poe, "Yes. I'm sure he did. Truth be told, you would think after all this time things like this would get easier, but it never does especially around family."
Poe nodded, "I'm sure. Lt. Kamori was a good pilot and I think his father can rest a little easier knowing that his son may have helped save lives out there."
"May have," Leia chimed in while raising a finger pointedly, "That's the problem... that's not good enough for me. We've got too many young headstrong pilots throwing themselves into enemy fire and getting themselves killed nowadays."
"He helped complete the mission," Poe pointed out quietly, "I don't like the fact we lost a pilot either, but the cargo we recovered will help us keep fighting and..."
"And it's just cargo," Leia argued back, "Food and weapons can always be replaced but people's lives can't. You of all people should understand that."
Poe fell silent while feeling a growing frustration with the General's odd temperament today, "I'm guessing this has something to do with why you pulled me aside here?"
"Yes," Leia said taking a deep breath, "I'd like you to do a full review of our fighter wings and go over this latest operation. See what could have been done differently so that we can prevent any more casualties."
Poe blinked, "General? That raid on the convoy was already carefully planned. With the intel we had, there's no way we could have known another star destroyer would have jumped into the sector and sent a new wing of TIE fighters at us."
"And you don't think Black Squadron could have done anything differently then?"
"General, we were waiting for your orders in that battle," Poe protested carefully, "I had to improvise out there and I made a command decision."
"A decision you should have run by me first," Leia snapped back.
Poe frowned in confusion. He had argued over strategies with General Organa before but never like this. She had never been this unreasonable in the past and made him wonder if something unusual was going on. "General..."
"We aren't going to get into that conversation Captain," she insisted firmly, "I want that review on my desk in two days. 1500 hours."
Knowing he was not going to win this fight, he gave a deflated sigh before a communications officer entered the room and headed toward them. The younger blonde female with short hair gave a salute and cleared her throat, "Captain Dameron. General Organa. I have an urgent message here for the both of you. I'm told it's from one of your friends who just docked with the Valor."
Leia and Poe exchanged a puzzled look before she spoke, "What is this about? Who sent the message Lieutenant?"
The younger woman answered, "Ma'am, General Lando Calrissian would like to meet with you. He said he has some important intel about the First Order and a new super weapon they're planning to field."