ONE – Local Trouble

"Rise and shine, Pathfinders," Trapper called over his headset as his scanner lit up from the ping of a nearby TIE fighter squadron. "Looks like we got their attention." With the flicks of a few switches, the engines on his worn Y-wing fought to ignite. As they sputtered, he thumped the top of his console. "C'mon you second-rate pile of spare parts," he chastised the machine, "Don't do this to me now."

"I read a group of three TIEs incoming," Mystic called out as he powered up his own X-wing and sped ahead of Trapper over the slowly rolling mass of rock. "There's two other flights sweeping the far edge of this tube rooter's field."

"I'll be just a moment," Tugboat called out as he began edging his battered Y-wing from behind the asteroid, "I'm spinning up the jammers so they can't call home."

"That's going to alert the other squadrons," Mystic warned, "If we strike fast and hard enough-"

"Let them come," laughed Kathhound, throttling his X-wing forward. Unlike the other three worn ships, the paint on his X-wing was almost new; the only scratches it had received had been from the space dust abrasing the hull as they had initially settled down to hide in the field.

Despite throttling up last, Kathhound was the first to sweep into the approaching TIEs. Without regard for his own safety, he flew straight through the trio of approaching TIEs, his lasers turning one into a fiery orange blossom as Tugboat struggled to keep up behind him.

To the left, Mystic's X-wing pulled ahead of Trapper's Y-wing. Mystic caught one of the remaining TIEs on the wing, pushing it off course but not destroying it. However, the statacco of laser fire from Trapper's Y-wing gunner caught the unbalanced TIE, spinning it back towards him so the second pulse from the Y-wing's turret caught the TIE in the cockpit, exploding it in green flames and vapor. "Nice shooting, Twofer," Trapper praised his gunner.

The lone remaining TIE flipped high as it shot past the Rebel squadron. Kathhound had already pulled on the stick of his own X-Wing and as the TIE returned to joust with the approaching X-Wing, Kathhound turned it into a fiery explosion with an alternating pulse from his four laser guns. "That got him!" he exclaimed over the comm.

"Just as I feared," Mystic cautioned, "The other wing has detected us – they're pulling around."

Kathhound was turning his X-Wing towards the approaching TIEs, but both Mystic's X-Wing and Trapper's Y-Wing was bearing down on the approaching trio.

As the TIE swarm roared in, Mystic's guns opened up first. Lasers careened off the leading TIE, throwing it out of formation. It attempted to avoid a nearby asteroid, but its spin instead threw it face-first into the unyielding rock.

"Oh, that had to hurt!" Kathhound called out.

The TIEs were returning Mystic's fire, and several of the green lasers ended with blue flashes as they clipped Mystic's and Trapper's shields. As Trapper rocked slightly from the grazing impacts, he called aloud to Mystic, "Break, now!"

Mystic's X-Wing suddenly pulled high and left as Trapper's Y-Wing slowly rolled downward. The TIEs ignored the more maneuverable X-Wing as it pulled away to concentrate their fire on the slower moving Y-wing that approached them. Twofer's turret spat red lasers at the TIE, succeeding in knocking off their aim, but seemed unable to catch the nimble fighters.

Trapper's Y-Wing slowly rolled underneath the swooping TIEs, causing them to overshoot. Too late, the TIE pilots noticed the flashing cylindrical devices Trapper had released on his approach. As the two TIEs attempted to split and pull away, the bombs detonated. The TIEs shook as part of the wing of one TIE was sheered off; the other was thrown off course as electrical arcs coursed over the remaining TIE's cockpit.

Kathhound was about to draw the TIE into his sights when his attention was caught by a metallic glitter off to his port side. "Guys," he called out as Mystic finished off the last sparking and wounded TIE fighter, "We've got an interceptor inbound!"

"What? Where?" Mystic called out as he passed the billowing fireball that had been the last remaining TIE fighter, his own ship dodging and weaving as he attempted to catch sight of the mentioned interceptor.

"I've got nothing on my scopes," Trapper called back as he brought his Y-Wing about, back towards Kathhound's position.

"Must be stealthed," Tugboat mused from his trailing position. "I've got him on visual, but he isn't showing on my scopes. He's too far out to shoot."

"And he just …exploded," Kathhound observed from his cockpit as he watched a billowing cloud of flame erupt from a distant asteroid. "What happened?"

"I think he was hugging the asteroids to close," Tugboat replied. "Must have been trying to mask his approach by skirting one asteroid to the next – and miscalculated."

"Rookie," Kathhound sneered, as he slowed his ship. "Well," he remarked as the four ships slowly regrouped. "That's all of them. I got three – how many did you guys get?"

"Hey, I hate to break up the celebration," Mystic called out, "But we're not done yet." He nosed his X-wing to the far edge of the asteroid cluster and stated, "Looks like we've drawn another patrol."

"Tugboat, cut the jammers," Trapper ordered as he followed Mystic's turn. "We don't need to attract any more attention."

"Gotcha," Tugboat called out as he followed his companions. Already, Kathhound was pouring on the throttle again, racing to catch up to Mystic.

"Let's blast them," Kathhound called out, as both Mystic's X-Wing and his own ship opened fire on the screaming TIE's approach. Their shots exploded one of the approaching TIEs but the other two raced past, one of them raking Mystic's shields as it zoomed by.

"My shields are down," Mystic called out as he broke away from the TIE's raking lasers.

"I think we made them mad," Kathhound replied as he broke in the opposite direction.

The two TIEs hurled past the X-Wings, bearing down on the trailing Y-wings. Twofer's turret on Trapper's Y-wing opened fire, but the gunfire failed to squarely connect with the tiny craft.

As the TIEs zoomed closer with lasers blazing, Tugboat's Y-Wing suddenly unloaded. The affixed turret and nose lasers from the ship quickly found their mark, detonating one of the approaching TIEs in a shower of flame. The second TIE attempted to pull off as twofer's unrelenting fire followed the TIE, but its dodging arc brought it right up into Tugboat's turn. A withering hail of fire lanced out from Tugboat's hazard-striped Y-Wing, catching the TIE along its wing. The TIE collapsed in on itself and impacted on a nearby asteroid, shatter both the imperial ship and the small asteroid.

"Nice shot," Kathhound observed.

"Alright boys," Trapper chastised as he pulled his Y-Wing about and the other Rebel ships fell into formation, "I think that does it for now. We don't need to stick around anymore waiting for the Songbird," he shook his head, "She's three hours overdue."

"We can't just abandon her," Kathhound frowned.

"We're no good to her if we get captured or blown up by an imperial patrol," Mystic countered, which drew a derisive snort from Kathhound.

"Mystic's right," Tugboat observed. "We should return to the Bright Wind to see if they've made contact with HQ. They may have had to alter their plans for some reason."

"Bear," Trapper called to his R2-B3 unit, "punch us up a Hyperspace route back to the Bright Wind," he ordered. Behind him, B3 whistled his acknowledgement and began the calculations.

As soon as the squadron cleared the field of undulating rocks, Trapper smiled. Although they hadn't met up with the Rebel scouting ship, the Songbird, they'd made it through their first mission together alive. That was a good sign.

"Pathfinders," Trapper announced as he reached to engage his hyperdrive, "Welcome to Aturi Cluster." Moments later, the four ships vanished in long streaks into the hyperspace they had arrived from, returning towards the distant Bright Wind cruiser.