Imperial Mine Complex
Dash had moved into Nomi's quarters with bag and baggage. It would have been rather cramped with two humans and their droids, but Leebo agreed to stay onboard the Outrider.
Nomi was happy to have the man she loved around, but it wasn't all roses.
The former mercenary had developed an over protectiveness if it came to his fiancée. It began to go on her nerves.
She just crawled in her X-wing's service access, when Dash yelled at her.
"Nomi!"
The young woman was startled and hit her head on the ceiling. Slowly she crawled out of the confined space, wiped her greasy hands at her coverall and glared at Dash. The man was totally unimpressed by this and looked down at her.
"What are you doing here?" He asked with a worried undertone, which caused the pilot to roll her eyes.
She was well aware of the curious glances by her comrades and their chuckles. Nomi really hated to draw derision.
"Maintaining my fighter as every pilot does," she said and her annoyance was palpable. "I'm still able to fly in combat so I can do this as well. There is no need to pamper me. I'm pregnant, not sick."
She turned, grabbed a hydrospanner and crawled in the service access again.
Dash sighed and noticed then that everybody in the hangar was looking at him. He shrugged and went over to his newly assigned X-wing where his astromech was waiting for him. The droid whistled questioned, but the stare given by his master let it fall silent. The Rogue Squadron pilot was glad that the droid wasn't as insistent as Nomi's Fuzzy or his own faithful companion Leebo. He touched the starfighter's hull which he would fly in combat.
Nomi Darklighter had just finished her work, when Commander Antilles entered the hangar and climbed on a crate. He cleared his throat to have his squad members' attention, who gathered in front of him.
"It seems we will have a new assignment, Rogues. We are ordered to come into the briefing room at 1100."
There was a hubbub when he jumped down and left the hangar. Many of the pilots made assumptions about the upcoming assignment. Every single one of them was itching for action. Their downtime has been too long already.
When it was time, the pilots of Rogue Squadron made their way to the briefing room where Admiral Ackbar and General Madine were waiting for them already. After everybody had taken a seat, Admiral Ackbar activated the holoprojector and dimmed the light. The projection showed an asteroid field with red dots. From experience the pilots knew that the dots represented either enemy fighters or something else which would be unfriendly.
"Our Bothan spies were able to locate a secret Imperial mine complex. There they mine ore which is vital for the construction of weapons and other war materials. The complex itself isn't heavily fortified, so it will be easy to destroy."
There was a murmur amongst those gathered, until the admiral made a hand sign to silence them.
"But what will be difficult is the way in, since the asteroid field you see here is mined. It is very important that this mission is successful. This mine complex is the main source for the basic component of durasteel. If it is destroyed the Empire will have massive supply issues." The admiral sat down and General Madine took the word.
"We would have sent SpecOps, but they aren't such skilled pilots like you and your squad, Commander Antilles."
Wedge nodded his head thoughtfully. He knew that most of his pilots had experience with flights through an asteroid field back then from Hoth, but a mined one would be a challenge.
"Therefore I suggested Rogue Squadron to General Madine," the admiral said and inclined his head slightly to the man standing at his side.
"It's doable, Sirs, but it won't be easy and the odds are high that not everyone will come back. Because of this I want to exempt Lieutenant Darklighter from this mission. She is pregnant and unable to manage such a dangerous flight, in my opinion."
Nomi frowned upon hearing this and couldn't believe that Wedge wanted to leave her behind if it came to a mission. She raised her hand.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" Admiral Ackbar recognized her request to speak.
"With all due respect, Sirs, I don't want to be exempt from this mission. I didn't join the Alliance to be left behind. Yes, I'm pregnant, but I'm still able to do my duty in Rogue Squadron and I have experience if it comes to fly through an asteroid field," she said and cast a glance at Dash, being unsure if he would understand.
But her fiancé kept his mouth shut this time.
It took a while, but then Admiral Ackbar spoke again, after he had made up his mind.
"So be it. Lieutenant Darklighter will take part in this mission. You will leave in 1 standard hour. In the meantime the coordinates will be fed to your nav computers. May the Force be with you…dismissed."
The pilots stood up and left the briefing room to prepare for the upcoming mission.
Every pilot was there on time and made last preparations. Dash and Nomi entered the hangar hand in hand. Maybe it was the last time they could do this, but they did their best to avoid such thoughts.
The seasoned pilot bent down to the small red haired woman and gave her a kiss, after they had reached their X-wings which stood side by side.
"Good luck, Honey," he said and caressed her cheek, before she climbed up the ladder.
Nomi smiled at him after she had entered the cockpit and settled down in the seat.
"May the Force be with you, Darling," the young woman responded.
Then she closed the hatch, buckled up and donned her helmet and gloves.
Fuzzy was in his socket already and beeped excitedly, which caused his pilot to grin.
One by one the pilots started their fighters' engines and waited for their commander's order to launch. A quick glance on the display showed Nomi the coordinates fed to the nav computer. She gave a low whistle as she noticed their destination wasn't this far away from their current location.
Finally Wedge's command came and the X-wings launched, passing the hangar's magcon field and leaving the Home One behind. Shortly after they made the jump to hyperspace on their commander's mark.
It didn't take long until they had reached their destination and fell back in real space near the outskirts of the mined asteroid field.
"Ok, Rogues, we will now fly through the asteroids. When doing this, everybody will be on one's own. I know it's a difficult task and we don't know what is waiting for us after we have passed the belt. Watch out for mines drifting between the asteroids and be aware that your shields are useless if you get hit by a boulder. After we passed the asteroids we will attack the installation. There is a ventilation shaft which leads directly to the main energy source of the whole complex, according to the information given. The access to the energy core itself is protected by strong shields. In the shaft there is not much room to maneuver, but we had worse conditions already. We can do it and we will do it."
There wasn't the usual chatter before flying in combat, there was only silence. For Wedge their tension became almost palpable. He knew that the adrenaline was circulating in their bodies already, since it was the same with his.
"Let's go and may the Force be with us," he said, steered his fighter towards the asteroid belt and entered it shortly after.
His comrades followed suit.
Soon they learned that the flight was even more difficult than expected. Where Rogue 6 just went through, the way was only seconds later blocked and Rogue 8 had to find another passage.
"Rogue 10! Watch out! A mine is approaching at starboard!"
Nomi heard Rogue 9's warning and initiated evasive maneuvers immediately, but tried at the same time to get a lock at the mine. The same instant Fuzzy whistled and beeped frantically because of his pilot's actions. But Nomi was successful and destroyed the mine with a salvo of her X-wing's laser cannons. More and more mines and boulders were floating towards her, but she weaved her way through the boulders like a sleepwalker, being in a trance-like state and destroying the mines one by one.
The flight took approx. 20 standard minutes, but it seemed to everyone as if it would have been an eternity. In front of them they saw the gigantic Imperial mine complex.
To his relief Wedge noticed that they had made it through the asteroid field almost unscathed.
"Good job, Rogues," his comrades heard him in their headsets. "Rogue 10 and I will go in, while you cover us."
Nomi was taken by surprise hearing this, but she didn't object.
One by one they entered the ventilation shaft, wondering why there weren't any defensive measures by the Imperials stationed at the mine, when they approached. They couldn't be totally blind. Nomi got a nagging feeling that it might be a trap and they were just on the way to their doom.
Wedge was right if it came to the maneuverability of the shaft. It was cramped and it was impossible to fly straight through it. There were ducts in every angle possible, so they were forced to constantly change altitude. Sweat trickled Nomi's forehead and Fuzzy gave whistles which sounded somehow as if the droid would panic.
"Calm down, little fella," she muttered under her breath, as she went in a dive to avoid a crossbar.
Wedge was in the lead and fired at the shields, which were protecting the energy core. They gave way easily. Quickly they switched to proton torpedoes and fired at the energy core which triggered a chain reaction.
As fast as possible they made their way back through the shaft, the aftermath of the heavy explosions in their backs.
They made it just in time and headed back to the asteroid belt, followed by their comrades. Without the mines it wasn't a big deal to navigate through the drifting boulders.
But then there was a bad surprise waiting for them. The Imperial Super Star Destroyer Executor and the Interdictor Cruiser Revenge came out of hyperspace, just when the pilots of Rogue Squadron were about to make the jump. It would have been only seconds to engage the hyperdrive, but the Revenge's crew was faster in activating the gravity well projectors.
The squadron was trapped in the artificial gravity.
Wedge Antilles cursed loudly as he realized this and he saw the TIEs launched by the Executor.
It wasn't only the commander's swearing Nomi heard, she also heard another voice in her mind. It was the voice of Darth Vader.
"You can't escape me that easily, Lieutenant Darklighter. I told you that I will find you everywhere. It is useless to resist. If you hand yourself in, I will spare your comrades."
"Go out of my head," Nomi said silently and gripped the yoke firmly as she saw the TIEs' approach. "I'll never surrender."
"Then you and your comrades will die. You are outnumbered and stand no chance," Vader responded.
The young woman realized now that it was actually a trap. A trap to get her and the triplets.
"Nomi? What's going on?" She heard Antilles' voice in her headset.
"It's Vader…he's on the Destroyer, Wedge. He wants me. If I hand myself in he'll let all of you go," she answered her friend's question, knowing that the other Rogues would hear it as well.
"We will fight."
"There's too much at stake."
"Rogues don't let each other down."
"You hear the others, Nomi. We will fight and protect you at all costs," Wedge finally said and steered his X-wing to engage the enemy fighters.
Dash Rendar breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the commander's decision and made his fighter ready for combat as well.
As the TIE fighters advanced full throttle, the Rogues had only the option to resort to evasive maneuvers.
Rogue 8 was encircled by two TIEs and unable to shake them. It was impossible for any of the Rogues to assist him, since all of them were engaged in their own dogfights. The barrage of enemy fire weakened the X-wings shields and it exploded shortly after in a fireball.
Nomi finally got a lock on one of the enemy fighters and pushed the fire button. The laser beams pierced right through the cockpit and the TIE exploded. One down, but it didn't matter since Rogue Squadron was still facing superior numbers.
"Gotcha!"
She heard Gavin's voice and was relieved that he was still alive. A quick glance at the tactical display showed her that Dash was also still fighting along with her brother.
Vader stood on the Executor's bridge and watched the battle dispassionately. He knew that the odds of escape for the rebels were almost non-existent. The Sith Lord reached out with the Force to speak in Nomi's mind again.
"Surrender and your friends will survive, Lieutenant. If you don't surrender you will all die. I advise you to choose wisely."
The young woman shook her head, but there was no escape from the voice.
"Come to me. It is the only way," Vader said with an odd undertone. "I know that Dash Rendar, the man you love, is here. It's up to you if he will live or die. Come and the battle will be over."
Nomi hadn't realized that she was steering her X-wing towards the Executor, when Dash's scream pulled her out of her trance.
"NOOO! Peel off, Nomi! You have no chance against the Destroyer!"
His fiancée noticed in shock how close she was already. She was almost in range of the tractor beam, when she peeled off.
"I discovered where the artificial gravity well ends," Wedge Antilles' voice was heard. "The coordinates are 6,87."
The surviving pilots confirmed the coordinates and headed at full throttle towards them with the TIEs in hot pursuit.
It was a close call, but they managed to make it.
As Lord Vader saw the last X-wing make the jump to hyperspace he turned and left the bridge without a word.