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Half an Hour earlier.

3 ½ ABY

Imperial Base of Operations

On surface of Imperial controlled planet Doldur in Mid Rim.

"Nrin," Tycho whispered though his comlink "I just saw three imps headed your way."

"Acknowledged." said the Quarren

"He'll deal with them" Tycho said shutting off his comlink. He then pulled out a handheld holographic map of the empire's base. It was a complex place with many wires and plumbing running through the oddest places. There were building stacked upon other building and people on all different levels, all hidden under a thick dome, but for their purposes they divided the complex into several different sections, three-fourths of the rogues on the surface would set up their thermal charges around their sector and work their way to the core building where they would all set the final charges while the other fourth of the squadron would finish setting charges on the outside of the dome, all being done with as little notice to the empire as problem. So far, it was not working well. All the charges on the outside had been set up, but some of the charges on the inside were still not able to be set up due to the imperials discovering the rebels. Now, it was an all out war; all security was on alert for rebels and finding the charges. Rogue squadron was fighting for their lives.

"There you are, rebel scum, blast him!" shouted a stormtrooper to two of his colleagues.

Tycho ducked and with superior accuracy shot two stormtroopers with his dual DH-17 blasters. He jumped into a short sprint towards the location where he would set his last charge.

"Die!" screamed the last stormtrooper as he fired his weapon at Tycho.

"Augh!" groaned Tycho as the weapon hit his left shoulder blade. He knew that with after running for the last hour and an injury, it would not be long until he would slow down and be killed by the stormtrooper. Then, Tycho had an idea. He sped up, coming closer to his target site and as he sped, so did the stormtrooper. Then, at the last moment, Tycho purposely fell giving the stormtrooper no time to slow down.

"Wha- ahh!" yelled the stormtrooper as he fell over Tycho.

"No," Tycho corrected the stormtrooper "you die." And then he shot the trooper in the face. He then got up and walked to set the charge.

"Tycho?' said Nrin over the comlink "all the charges are set and we are all at the rendezvous point, where are you?"

"Oh, sorry, those stormtroopers I saw going towards you came my way instead and one shot my shoulder blade." Explained Tycho

"Are you alright?" asked Nrin.

"I'll be okay; I just set my last charge. I'll try to meet up with you all, but if I am not there within ten fifteen minutes, send the signal to Wedge telling him it's time and get out of here." said Tycho weakly.

"We can't" said Nrin

"I appreciate the devotion, but we need to put the mission first, everyone on Rogue Squadron does" smiled Tycho

"No, I mean you are the only one who can send the signal." Replied Nrin.

Of course, Wedge had given Tycho certain identification on his datapad so he knew once he sent it that it was him, just for security.

"Okay, here's what we'll do, if I am not back in fifteen minutes, I want you to all leave the base and get as far away as possible in the following five minutes when I will send the signal." explained Tycho.

"Alright, agreed. And, Tycho?" asked Nrin

"Yes?"

"Please be back by fifteen minutes."

Tycho smiled "Make it ten." and he shut his comlink.

Tycho ran. He ran as fast as he could but he could tell he would never make it in time. Especially when he heard, once again the sound of stormtroopers coming towards him. He didn't think he would be able to fight them so he kept running, faster and faster; his legs were aching, his heart was pumping, there was sweat coming down his face.

"He's getting away, call for speeder bikes!" Tycho heard a stormtrooper shout for a long distance.

'Speeder bikes!' thought Tycho as he puffed his way towards the core building. 'If I can get my hands on one, I can probably just make it to everyone else and get out of here.' But this was easier said than done. Tycho slowed down and looked for something to help him. After a minute he spotted to his far left the remains of a scout trooper that one of the Rogues must have killed earlier and crawled towards it. Then it happened. Over the sound of his heart pumping furiously Tycho heard a roar in the distance, that of a speeder bike. Tycho started crawling faster as the bike drew nearer. He finally reached the scout trooper and found what he was looking for: a sniper rifle. He picked it up and mounted it on his uninjured shoulder. The bike was getting closer and Tycho tried to stand up but found that he was unable to. The bike came into his view and it's rider, scout trooper, and Tycho started to, from the ground, aim his rifle towards the rider of the speeder.

'And…now!' though Tycho as the bike close in and he fired. The shot missed it targets but instead hit the bike itself. The blast itself did little damage to its hull but it did throw the biker off his original course and set him on a new one; a collision course with Tycho, but Tycho though quickly and just as the bike was about to hit him, he ducked and drew out his blasters and shot the scout trooper. It was a clean shot that killed him immediately.

"I never was any good with these anyways." said Tycho, tossing the sniper rifle on the ground.

Checking his chrono and realizing how little time he had left, he hopped on the barely damaged speeder bike and sped towards the core building. The core building of the complex was equipped with escape pods which were what they were about to use themselves to leave. The last few rouge were bording when Tycho arrived.

"Wait!" called Tycho.

The last person left to have not boarded, Nrin, turned and smiled. "It wasn't ten minutes, but it'll have to do."

"Great, now quickly, before we leave a quick few questions." said Tycho.

"Alright, but hurry." said Nrin tensely

"Are all entrances sealed?"

"Per instructions."

"Are all imperial guards on the outside of the dome dealt with?"

"Every one."

"Charges all set?"

"As long as yours are."

"All extra escape pods launched?"

"Yes."

Tycho bit his lip a bit before asking the next one, "Any deaths?"

Nrin smiled, "Nothing more than a couple of injuries."

"Great, let's go, I'll send the message once we are in the air." said Tycho.

Nrin and Tycho took their seats and within a few minutes they all launched into the air.

"Sending message now."

"Hey, Tycho" said a female voice "what's that?"

Everyone's head turned towards the imperial base. A purple energy shield had risen over it.

"Tycho" said a Rodian voice said "we have an incoming transmission."

"Put it through." said Tycho.

"Hello" said a drawling voice "My name is Moff Eisen Kerioth."

"We are quite aware of who you are" Tycho said though gritted teeth. If the Moff was contacting him, it couldn't be good.

"Oh? Than perhaps you know of my studies and advancements of energy shields. What you are currently looking at is the newest version of my energy shields. This is what will stop you're whole operation." sneered Eisen.

"Oh, really?" asked Tycho.

"Really." he responded "You see, we figured out your whole plan. And one of the things we know is that the charges you set are triggered by proton torpedoes you have being fired from ships above the planet. But, with this energy shield up, the proton torpedoes will not get through, that is, if they survive."

"If they survive?" asked the worried Tycho.

"We currently have twenty five fighters on their way to destroy them." said Eisen "And should they escape which I know you have all been capable of in the past, I have adjusted the shield to exactly the number of ships you have and torpedoes they carry so if they survive, all their torpedoes will be repelled."

"And let me guess, I can't contact them?" asked Tycho.

"No!" Eisen gleefully squealed. "All communication off-world from any device within the pods are cut off, and the controls are locked, and the doors are sealed."

"So after the proton torpedoes are fired and do no damage, what become of us?" Tycho wondered aloud.

"Well, when you don't meet up with them above the planet they will come looking for you and find you here, stuck in the pods and then I will activate from in here the self destruct on all your pods, killing both you and the other members of Rogue Squadron." Eisen finished.

Tycho sat for a minute but could not think of a way out of this. He knew that if he could not contact them and he had already sent him the go for the destruction of the base, there was no way they could avoid what would happen.

"I'll leave you alone to think about it." Eisen sneered once again.

"Now what? And how did they find out about our operations" Nrin asked. It was then Tycho realized they could at least still talk to each other, "unless somehow they don't all have their torpedoes like Eisen said, what can we do?"

"I hate to say it, but I guess we will do what Luke always says to do and just 'trust in the Force'" Tycho said grimly.

"Hey," said a male voice "I am starting to manage to patch through to off-world communications, I am picking up some comm chatter.

Tycho froze as he heard the unmistakable voice of wedge Antilles say: "Brzzt Tycho, Brzzt sent Brzzt signal, the only problem Brzzt we don't Brzzt enough Brzzt torpedoes. Magold, Brzzt put us before the mission and Brzzt so you Brzzt doomed the Brzzt mission."