So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (Hawk Lead) (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (Hawk Two)(human female from Alderaan)

New Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Hawk Seven)(Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (Hawk Nine)(human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (Hawk Five)(human female from Dantioone)

Lieutenant Lysa Skye (Hawk Three)(human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (Hawk Eight)(human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (Hawk Six)(human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons)

Phoenix, Thundercats, Falcon, Mjolnir, Firebird

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

Chapter 7

Renz entered Sand's office and took a chair. He pulled out his datapad. Sand looked up from something he was reading. "Ah, Major. It's good to have you stop by. I have read your report and of the others; I have come to the conclusion that the actions taken by you in regards as to what happened where appropriate and proper. The loss of 4 of your pilots is unfortunate and a sad thing, but they died in service to the New Republic in a way worthy of note. If you are agreeable, I have written up a report indicating that they should be commended for their actions. Do you have any problems with that?" Sand asked.

Renz shook his head. "No sir, I believe that both Nodirz and Peaks should receive a medal for attempting to stop the ships as well as fighting off the TIEs. Despite my orders to run, they chose to stay behind to help the rest of the squadron escape. I was proud to have known them and I am upset about their deaths. Did Command have anything to say about what happened?" He asked.

Sand nodded in reply. "Command was rather displeased about my report. They don't know how things could have happened but General Antilles indicated that he would call in on favors that he was owed by General Cracken of NRI to investigate how the current transponder for Lusankya was obtained as well as how they acquired the necessary materials to synthesize the general's voice. He is also pushing on General Cracken to find out where those ships came from. Since the flight logs from your ships indicate that they went into the Yamato Oversector, we can or must assume that location is their base of operations." He told Renz who grimaced.

Renz tapped his datapad. "Sir, given recent events, it appears unlikely that we have sufficient forces to make a push into the oversector. We can still claim this sector though. Given a few more days, my grounded pilots will be fit to fly. They are itching to go. I could use replacements for the losses taken." Renz commented.

Sand shook his head. "I'm sorry but I currently don't have replacements for you. You will need to make a request from Command to receive new pilots for your squadron. Raptor base doesn't have any fighters to replace those losses either. If I may make a suggestion, Major, perhaps you could examine some pilot data and have some pilot requisitions for me tomorrow afternoon for review. Dismissed, Major." Sand said. Renz stood and saluted the general before departing.

Renz went looking for Iwa and found her in the recreation room. He pulled a chair by her. "So, I am going to need to figure out some replacements for the pilots we lost. I was thinking you could help me with that since General Sand has grounded us for the time being. What do you say?" He asked her. Iwa nodded in reply and smiled.

She pulled out her datapad. "It shouldn't be too hard to find pilots that fit the criteria. There was a decent number of extra pilots to choose from. We may need to eliminate some candidates from consideration based on behavioral problems. When do we start?" She asked him.

Renz answered her. "Well, General Sand wants the pilot requisitions tomorrow afternoon, so we have to start now. I don't think it should take m…" A sudden klaxon sound cut him off. It repeated quickly a few more times before a voice came on.

"Alert, inbound ships detected at Mandarin moon base. Alert, inbound ships detected at Mandarin moon base. All available pilots to combat status. All available pilots to combat status."

Renz sighed. "I guess that means us. Let's go!" He said, rushing out the door. He quickly got dressed into his flight suit and was at his x-wing quick. He was joined by Iwa, Frisky, and Lysa. He smiled at them, said a few words, and then climbed into his x-wing. "Fine, bring everything up, we are launching now." He told his astromech. Renz brought the x-wing out of the hanger and directed it towards the sky. He then pushed the throttle and flew up through the atmosphere.

Renz brought his fighter to join the other squadrons that were scrambling. He keyed his comm. "Hawk squadron here. We have Lead, One, Three, and Seven here. Ready to follow orders." He transmitted.

He got a reply quickly. "Copy on that, Hawk. All squadrons have assembled and are waiting for the ships to approach. Scans from the moon base suggest that they are inbound here. We should have them on approach soon." Sand transmitted, his voice sounding like it was in a starfighter. He was flying an A-wing with a wingman.

Renz flew his x-wing along, marking points in a patrol as the assembled New Republic pilots waited for the detected ships to make their appearance. He checked his screen a few times and then he saw at the edges of his eyesight some shapes moving, getting closer to him. He tapped his screen then leaned back in stunned silence. Sand's voice came over the base's frequency. "Raptor base forces, we have contact. Scans indicate a battle fleet comprising a dozen or so of both Imperial class and Victory class star destroyers. There are also a pair of signals that suggest a larger class, perhaps Super star destroyers. They don't appear to be launching TIEs. Stand ready to pounce on them when I give the word." Sand ordered.

Renz watched the capital ships slowly close in, getting considerably larger. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to the starfighters nor had they launched any of their TIEs for support or defense. That fact confused Renz, since it made no sense to him who had served in the Imperial Navy for a while. The ships came on though, either unconcerned or ignoring of the fighters' presence. He watched them begin passing by him and the others when Sand called them to strike. Renz brought his x-wing around on a jinking course, moving port to starboard as he approached the SSD that was designated as target 1. It looked like the one that had showed up as a faux-Lusankya. He switched his torpedoes to fire dual-linked, picked a spot where other fighters had struck with their missiles, and added his own into the mix. Explosions rippled along the hull of the SSD where the missiles had struck. No TIEs moved to engage them, a fact that disturbed Renz. He commed the general. "Sir, the ships are not operating accordingly to standard Imperial tactics. The ships aren't bothering to open fire and are not launching TIEs for defense. They seem very intent on going past us." He informed the general.

Sand sighed, then spoke afterward on the comm. "The ships are moving towards the planet. The SSD we are hurting is slowly down but the other vessels are moving on. They are abandoning that ship to us. So let's take it out and see what other damages we can do to them." Sand ordered.

The pilots of Raptor base pounced heavily the slowing SSD, inflicting massive damage. Soon, the ship was drifting in chunks but its sacrifice had been well worth it. The other ships had made it to planetary orbit and were now firing on the planet. The ships hadn't scrambled their TIEs yet. Renz joined the other pilots in coming up on the other ships, approaching them from the rear. He kept with some other pilots and fired his last two dual-linked torpedoes into the ship as they did. The combined fire caused an explosion to ripple upon the impstar that had been shot at. The y-wings poured ion blasts into it and the a-wings fired their concussion missiles. The other remaining x-wings fired off their torpedoes at it. The impstar began to fragment apart as explosions ripped into it. The fighters moved on to another one and they stitched its hull with fire, both missile and laser blast. The Imperial star destroyer began exploding as missiles made it through the shields to detonate on the hull. Soon, it too was in pieces but the fleet of ships were now coming about.

Renz checked his screen. Apparently the ships had the objective of knocking out the shields and doing damage, since the shields were down but he had no idea what the damage was. The ships finished their maneuver around and then began moving forward, heading back the way they had came. At this point, the ships deployed TIEs, launching several squadrons each of fighters. Renz flew to engage them as the capital ships moved past, leaving their TIEs behind to engage the forces of Raptor base.

Renz brought his x-wing up on its left rudder and looped around to come up in the portside aft area of a TIE. It tried to shake him, but he kept with it before firing his lasers at it. He was rewarded with another kill to add to the dozen he had acquired so far in this fight. The TIEs were being flown like a fresh recruit would. A strange way to fight, to barely dodge our shots or only firing back half-heartedly. He thought. He took his x-wing around back to starboard checking for other enemies but there were none. He checked his screen and noted that the capital ships had left and there weren't any losses for the New Republic starfighters.

Sand ordered the pilots back to base. As he flew in, Renz looked across at the devastated cityscape. It left him chilled since apparently the New Republic forces had been ignored as unimportant enough to worry about. Clearly the base would need reinforcement of some kind.