Chapter 7
"Do you suppose we should contact them, give them a last warning to turn back? Just so we can say we tried, for our own peace of mind," Kenma suggested.
"Yeah," Radd half laughed, "I'm sure they'd be real threatened by us. Seriously though, better we don't draw unnecessary attention." He manoeuvred the Terrapin so that the pilots in the port docking bay could see the Quasar. He spoke now into the comm panel. "Have a good view of that, boys? That's what we're up against."
"And I thought the normal ones were big!" the voice of Flash exclaimed.
"To refer to me as a boy is inaccurate," Yibthub said.
"I see less than a blind Bith up the business end of a -" Andor began.
"I get the picture!" Radd interrupted, swooping in a half circle so Andor could see.
"Well paint me blue and tell me it's kriffin' snowing! I think I just wet myself."
Radd had to laugh. His old pal was unquestionably the best at spontaneously coming out with frequently vulgar, occasionally quite humourous, and always nonsensical expressions.
"Best hope not," Flash said "You think it's easy for them to make pants in your size?"
"Hey, watch it!" the Whiphid replied.
"Enough nonsense," said the voice of General Dano Randan, though her tone was not without amusement. "Mr. Carkadian, we expect that they will deploy their complement of TIE fighters first, not only to engage our fleet, but to clear a corridor for their dropships, which they will presumably deploy second. It is after this and before their vessels carrying mining equipment - if that is indeed their intent and not simply a ruse - are sent out that you should approach their hangar bay. If our troops board at that point, they will likely be of the most use while encountering the least resistance. Mr. C'Thrux, friend Nithab, Mr. Nadela, good luck to you."
"Thank you, ma'am," Yibthub said.
"Be ready, Radd. Here come their fighters. You might need to do some fancy flying," Kenma advised.
"I'll turn to face them so they don't hit the engines again," Radd said.
"They might turn around and hit us from behind."
"Let's stay put until they pass," Taelan suggested. "There's no reason they'd aim for the engines if we aren't moving."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Kenma agreed.
"Good thinking, Taelan," Radd said. "Random question, where's Gheri?"
"I suggested he take a nap, or even just rest. If he relaxes, maybe he'll be less of a nuisance."
"Good. So, I guess we just sit this out for now?" Radd looked back and forth between Taelan and Kenma to see if there were any objections. There were none.
Taelan's plan proved to be a good one. Recognizing it to be a civilian ship, most of the TIE fighters ignored it and flew past. A few Imperial pilots, bothered by the way the Terrapin was just sitting in the middle of a battle, not moving, not firing on them, nothing, did fire a few experimental shots, but when the hull held firm and fire was not returned, they too passed by. None thought to turn around and fire at the rear. Radd watched them, and saw that they were succeeding in clearing a corridor. The Imperial and Valoccaran forces were fairly evenly matched and equally skilled, but it mattered little, because it was plain to see that the Imperial pilots were not focusing on destroying enemy ships so much as luring them away. Radd only knew of one person who would've thought of that.
"Very clever, Rex," he muttered aloud. Now the dropships began to disembark, each carrying over a dozen stormtroopers. "General," he said into the comm panel, "you'd better tell your pilots to focus on taking out those troop carriers, or your ground forces are going to have quite a mess on their hands." He received no direct response, but many Valoccaran ships did redirect their attention and began to fire on the awkward, box-shaped vessels. His face fell when he saw that little if any damage was being done. "Those things are armoured!" He addressed the general once again. "Target the engines. That'll be their weak point. I repeat, target the engines!"
"Acknowledged," General Randan's voice said this time. Radd's suggestion seemed to work, as he was pleased to see many of the enemy ships beginning to explode. A few made it past the defensive line, but most were destroyed.
"I think it's time we make our approach," Kenma said after a pause. "There can't be many more."
"All right," Radd said nodding. "Take us in." The Terrapin flew at the Quasar from the port side, then swooped low to run along the dreadnaught's underbelly. The turbolasers began to fire. "Son of a Hutt!" he yelled. The mighty blasts shook the ship violently, actually pushing them off course, and the green flashes when they hit were blinding. "Hang on, I'm taking over navigation. We've got to dodge these or I'm afraid they're going to shake something loose." By swooping and weaving, he was able to avoid the blasts, but it was taking his full concentration to do so. He addressed the pilots in the docking bays. "I don't know what we're going to do. Unless someone takes out a couple of these turbolasers for us, I don't see any way we can get you guys on board. Uh, that's 'guys' in the unisex sense of the word."
Andor C'Thrux groaned. "I'll go. I'll take out however many I can."
"No offence Andor," Radd said, "but I have a way better reaction time than you, and I'm barely dodging these!"
"My Y-Wing's a smaller target, and it actually has weapons. Not to mention I'll have less to contend with if I can knock out a few."
Radd flipped a switch. "If you're sure, you can go when you're ready. Be careful out there, bud."
"Don't worry, I've got my lucky hat." The Y-Wing passed through the shield and out into space.
Radd was only periodically able to see what was going on as he continued to evade the turbolasers. He saw Andor's fighter skimming along as close to the underside of the Quasar as possible. Most of the turbolasers could not manage the necessary angle, or else they would have been at risk of blasting the Quasar's underbelly. On the bridge, Admiral Dakken was cursing this basic safety design feature. The relevant region of the hull was almost out of intact turbolasers by the time Andor ran out of proton torpedoes. Only two remained functioning. Andor now began to do fly-bys, zipping past at a shallow angle while firing rapidly, then turning about and repeating the process. Another turret exploded. He was making a pass of the last one when a lone TIE fighter came up on his tail.
"Behind you!" Radd yelled.
"Huh?" Andor grunted, twisting to look over his shoulder. The enemy fired, hitting the Y-Wing. "Hull's been breached!" Andor screamed. The panic in his gruff voice was plain. "I'm hit! I'm hit!" Radd said nothing, fearing there was nothing he could do. He turned to aim at the TIE fighter and accelerated. There was a loud creaking of metal as the small vessel was crunched against the bow of the Leporine Terrapin. Kenma thrust out his hand, using "the Source," as he called it, to heave the wrecked TIE fighter at the last turbolaser turret, where both were consumed in a ball of fire. "There's fire! Got to bail!" Andor yelled. He slammed his hairy fist on a button. The cockpit opened and he was sucked out into space, moments before his Y-Wing blew up.
