The Enemy Strikes Back:
Jaina dropped her targeting brackets over an enemy coralskipper. She sprayed it with quad-linked laser fire while dodging the plasma missiles and grutchins being fired around. The lump of coral exploded brilliantly, and fortunately, the new visor she had on her helmet darkened, preventing further damage to her eyes. She grinned, and pulled a spiral dive to port to get a lock on another skip. She didn't have time to look and see how everyone else was doing. She sent a proton torpedo after the rock ahead of her, and detonated it prematurely. The Yuuzhan Vong pilot veered to port, and just in time to smash into another coralskipper rocketing the other direction. The two ships exploded brilliantly. Jaina smiled when she saw who had been going after the other Vong pilot.
"Well, Colonel Fel, that makes me an ace twice now in this battle. How many do you have?" she inquired.
"And ace twice?" Jag repeated, shocked. "Well, I've only got one, but that was going to be my second, if you hadn't stepped in."
"Hah! Look who's the better pilot now, Spike Lead!" she crowed truimphantly. Jag didn't respond, just nosed his fighter up and towards the main battle. Jaina turned starboard, and did the same. She managed to nail another Vong before some one latched onto her tail. She zigzagged, trying to get out of the line of fire, but this was obviously a more experienced pilot. She tried to get a bearing on where she was, but because of the sensor anomaly produced by the Mists, she was totally lost and being pursued by the enemy.
"Rogue Twelve here! I need an assist!" she called into the comm. The coralskipper behind her fired careful plasma bursts, each one landing solidly on her aft shields.
"Sparky, even out the shields, please!" The droid did, and now total shielding was down to 73 percent due to the Vong attacking her.
"Shields down to 69 percent! I need help, now!" she cried into her comm. She had a huge feeling of déjà vu, and her stomach sank with each shot fired.
"I'm coming, Rogue Twelve, hang on." Jag said calmly.
Jaina continued to juke and jink, but still couldn't evade the Vong.
'Do I pull out of the Mists, and try to catch him in open space, or do I stay here and hope that help comes soon?' she wondered. 'Open space.' she decided, and aimed her ship towards the Hapes Cluster.
* * *
Jag felt an enormous surge of déjà vu after hearing Jaina's panicky cry that she was losing shields and needed help. 'Just like the sim!' he thought. He dove towards her spot, and saw an x-wing and a coralskipper headed out towards open space, in the Hapes Cluster. He followed, but couldn't get any shots at the coralskipper. 'No! I can't lose her, I just can't!" he thought.
"Spike Lead, I'll take it. Get back to the battle." A voice called over the comm. Another x-wing zoomed in behind the coralskipper, and Jag hoped whoever it was would finish off the alien. Jag turned back to the battle. He felt kind of guilty for not being the one to save Jaina, but she was in good hands, he thought.
* * *
Jaina was relieved to see Jag's clawcraft drop in behind the Yuuzhan Vong craft tailing her. And then, she was alarmed to see him pull off and head back, being replaced by…Colonel Darklighter's x-wing. She was in open space, and she gunned her accelerator, heading towards the green planet ahead.
"I'm hit!" cried Darklighter. "I'm sorry, Twelve, but you'll have to shake him on your own!" With that, Colonel Darklighter pulled his x-wing away, and Jaina saw the plasma burns on his snubfighter. 'My ship can't look too much better, however.' She thought grimly.
"Shields to 50 percent." She announced. The green planet was now filled her canopy completely, and the Vong was showing no signs of giving up. She gunned her engines again, and entered the planet's atmosphere. She brought her fighter lower, and lower, till it skimmed just above the treetops of the thickly forested planet.
"Hope it's hospitable…" she thought out loud. She suddenly decelerated, and the pursuing opponent had to go over to avoid a crash. Jaina accelerated again, and launched a set of proton torpedoes, finally nailing the pilot. The ship exploded brilliantly, but Jaina was too close and too fast to avoid going through the explosion. She went right through the heart of it, and immediately, alarms and sirens filled her cockpit, screeching a dozen different system failures.
/Crash Imminent. Punch out./ Sparky scrolled across the screen. Jaina pulled the ejection lever., and was pleased to see her droid eject similarly, just in time to watch the engines erupt into flames, and watch the ship crash into the trees.
'Ouch.' Jaina thought as she drifted down. The parachute snagged on treetops as she came down, and she swung there, suspended. "Great! Just great! I'm stuck up in a tree, on an unknown world, and my ship is scrap and my friends are fighting for our lives!" she hollered to no one in particular. She threw her helmet off, and tossed it into the trees angrily, and she removed her flight gloves and did the same thing. She unhooked her crash webbing, and used a Force-assisted leap to land on a sturdy tree branch. She started the long climb to the forest floor.
* * *
Jag was pleased to note that there were very, very few coralskippers around, and that number was shrinking very, very rapidly. The last of the Vong capital ships were retreating. The Yuuzhan Vong's second offensive had failed. Hapes was still free.
"All fighters report in by squadron." Gavin Darklighter's voice crackled through the comm unit.
"Rogue Squadron." he commanded.
"Rogue Nine's present!"
"Rogue Seven, fit to fly!" The rest of Rogue Squadron called in. All but Jaina, Jag noted with growing alarm.
"Rogue Twelve, are you there?" Gavin asked. Silence answered him. "Sithspit. Rogue Twelve, are you there?" he asked again, and got dead silence in return.
"Ok, Spike Squadron report in."
"Spike Lead, ready and waiting."
"Spike Eight, still here." Jag listened as the rest of his squadron reported in. He was pleased to find they lost no one this time. They headed back towards Hapes. Jag asked Colonel Darklighter for a private comm channel.
"What is it, Colonel Fel?" he inquired.
"I'm worried about Jaina. She didn't report in. You got that last skip off of her, didn't you?" Jag said.
"Not exactly…" said Gavin. Jag could hear him wincing, "But I knew she would take care of herself. She always has."
"Then please dispatch a team to find her. I don't want to lose her." Jag said quietly.
"Consider it done, Colonel Fel. Consider it done." By this time, Jag was already settling his ship down in a hangar bay. His thoughts were troubled as he thought about what may have happened to Jaina. 'And I never got to tell her how I felt about her…' he thought, sadly. 'And it's all my fault! I
"Colonel Darklighter!" Jag cried across the hangar. The Colonel stopped and waited for Jag as he jogged across the hangar.
"Colonel Fel. What can I do for you?" inquired Gavin.
"Colonel, I would greatly appreciate it if you would inform me the moment you have any word at all about Twelve, I mean, Jaina. Any word about Jaina."
"Of course, Jag. You have my word."
Jag smiled slightly towards Darklighter, and then said, "If you would excuse me, Colonel Darklighter." Then Jag trotted back to his squadron.
* * *
ok, well, how was this chapter? Thank you for all the really nice reviews so far! I'll try to hurry with the next chapter! :D
Jaina dropped her targeting brackets over an enemy coralskipper. She sprayed it with quad-linked laser fire while dodging the plasma missiles and grutchins being fired around. The lump of coral exploded brilliantly, and fortunately, the new visor she had on her helmet darkened, preventing further damage to her eyes. She grinned, and pulled a spiral dive to port to get a lock on another skip. She didn't have time to look and see how everyone else was doing. She sent a proton torpedo after the rock ahead of her, and detonated it prematurely. The Yuuzhan Vong pilot veered to port, and just in time to smash into another coralskipper rocketing the other direction. The two ships exploded brilliantly. Jaina smiled when she saw who had been going after the other Vong pilot.
"Well, Colonel Fel, that makes me an ace twice now in this battle. How many do you have?" she inquired.
"And ace twice?" Jag repeated, shocked. "Well, I've only got one, but that was going to be my second, if you hadn't stepped in."
"Hah! Look who's the better pilot now, Spike Lead!" she crowed truimphantly. Jag didn't respond, just nosed his fighter up and towards the main battle. Jaina turned starboard, and did the same. She managed to nail another Vong before some one latched onto her tail. She zigzagged, trying to get out of the line of fire, but this was obviously a more experienced pilot. She tried to get a bearing on where she was, but because of the sensor anomaly produced by the Mists, she was totally lost and being pursued by the enemy.
"Rogue Twelve here! I need an assist!" she called into the comm. The coralskipper behind her fired careful plasma bursts, each one landing solidly on her aft shields.
"Sparky, even out the shields, please!" The droid did, and now total shielding was down to 73 percent due to the Vong attacking her.
"Shields down to 69 percent! I need help, now!" she cried into her comm. She had a huge feeling of déjà vu, and her stomach sank with each shot fired.
"I'm coming, Rogue Twelve, hang on." Jag said calmly.
Jaina continued to juke and jink, but still couldn't evade the Vong.
'Do I pull out of the Mists, and try to catch him in open space, or do I stay here and hope that help comes soon?' she wondered. 'Open space.' she decided, and aimed her ship towards the Hapes Cluster.
* * *
Jag felt an enormous surge of déjà vu after hearing Jaina's panicky cry that she was losing shields and needed help. 'Just like the sim!' he thought. He dove towards her spot, and saw an x-wing and a coralskipper headed out towards open space, in the Hapes Cluster. He followed, but couldn't get any shots at the coralskipper. 'No! I can't lose her, I just can't!" he thought.
"Spike Lead, I'll take it. Get back to the battle." A voice called over the comm. Another x-wing zoomed in behind the coralskipper, and Jag hoped whoever it was would finish off the alien. Jag turned back to the battle. He felt kind of guilty for not being the one to save Jaina, but she was in good hands, he thought.
* * *
Jaina was relieved to see Jag's clawcraft drop in behind the Yuuzhan Vong craft tailing her. And then, she was alarmed to see him pull off and head back, being replaced by…Colonel Darklighter's x-wing. She was in open space, and she gunned her accelerator, heading towards the green planet ahead.
"I'm hit!" cried Darklighter. "I'm sorry, Twelve, but you'll have to shake him on your own!" With that, Colonel Darklighter pulled his x-wing away, and Jaina saw the plasma burns on his snubfighter. 'My ship can't look too much better, however.' She thought grimly.
"Shields to 50 percent." She announced. The green planet was now filled her canopy completely, and the Vong was showing no signs of giving up. She gunned her engines again, and entered the planet's atmosphere. She brought her fighter lower, and lower, till it skimmed just above the treetops of the thickly forested planet.
"Hope it's hospitable…" she thought out loud. She suddenly decelerated, and the pursuing opponent had to go over to avoid a crash. Jaina accelerated again, and launched a set of proton torpedoes, finally nailing the pilot. The ship exploded brilliantly, but Jaina was too close and too fast to avoid going through the explosion. She went right through the heart of it, and immediately, alarms and sirens filled her cockpit, screeching a dozen different system failures.
/Crash Imminent. Punch out./ Sparky scrolled across the screen. Jaina pulled the ejection lever., and was pleased to see her droid eject similarly, just in time to watch the engines erupt into flames, and watch the ship crash into the trees.
'Ouch.' Jaina thought as she drifted down. The parachute snagged on treetops as she came down, and she swung there, suspended. "Great! Just great! I'm stuck up in a tree, on an unknown world, and my ship is scrap and my friends are fighting for our lives!" she hollered to no one in particular. She threw her helmet off, and tossed it into the trees angrily, and she removed her flight gloves and did the same thing. She unhooked her crash webbing, and used a Force-assisted leap to land on a sturdy tree branch. She started the long climb to the forest floor.
* * *
Jag was pleased to note that there were very, very few coralskippers around, and that number was shrinking very, very rapidly. The last of the Vong capital ships were retreating. The Yuuzhan Vong's second offensive had failed. Hapes was still free.
"All fighters report in by squadron." Gavin Darklighter's voice crackled through the comm unit.
"Rogue Squadron." he commanded.
"Rogue Nine's present!"
"Rogue Seven, fit to fly!" The rest of Rogue Squadron called in. All but Jaina, Jag noted with growing alarm.
"Rogue Twelve, are you there?" Gavin asked. Silence answered him. "Sithspit. Rogue Twelve, are you there?" he asked again, and got dead silence in return.
"Ok, Spike Squadron report in."
"Spike Lead, ready and waiting."
"Spike Eight, still here." Jag listened as the rest of his squadron reported in. He was pleased to find they lost no one this time. They headed back towards Hapes. Jag asked Colonel Darklighter for a private comm channel.
"What is it, Colonel Fel?" he inquired.
"I'm worried about Jaina. She didn't report in. You got that last skip off of her, didn't you?" Jag said.
"Not exactly…" said Gavin. Jag could hear him wincing, "But I knew she would take care of herself. She always has."
"Then please dispatch a team to find her. I don't want to lose her." Jag said quietly.
"Consider it done, Colonel Fel. Consider it done." By this time, Jag was already settling his ship down in a hangar bay. His thoughts were troubled as he thought about what may have happened to Jaina. 'And I never got to tell her how I felt about her…' he thought, sadly. 'And it's all my fault! I
"Colonel Darklighter!" Jag cried across the hangar. The Colonel stopped and waited for Jag as he jogged across the hangar.
"Colonel Fel. What can I do for you?" inquired Gavin.
"Colonel, I would greatly appreciate it if you would inform me the moment you have any word at all about Twelve, I mean, Jaina. Any word about Jaina."
"Of course, Jag. You have my word."
Jag smiled slightly towards Darklighter, and then said, "If you would excuse me, Colonel Darklighter." Then Jag trotted back to his squadron.
* * *
ok, well, how was this chapter? Thank you for all the really nice reviews so far! I'll try to hurry with the next chapter! :D