Chapter 8

Bonadon

The realm of hyperspace stretched the stars all around Requiem's XJ5 X-wing. Wish me luck, Requiem thought as he kissed the old 2D picture of the family he had lost during the war. His R2, Gizmo, counted down the seconds until the reversion to realspace. Five, four, three, two, one...

And suddenly the starlines became little pinpricks of light, and much more colorful, deadly lines of light punched through space around Requiem. "All fighters, assume attack positions!" came Colonel Celchu's voice over the comm.

Jaina's voice was next. "All fighters, s-foils to attack position!"

"Three Flight, you heard the lady! Let's go!" Requiem let out a loud war cry as the Alliance and CSA fighters met. He let out a quad burst and imploded one TIE Interceptor as the formations passed each other. He spun his fighter around and said to Ferrel Myris, his rookie wingmate, "Ten, take my wing."

"Acknowledged Nine!" The youngster's voice was full of the mix of fear, excitement, and adrenaline that rookie pilots are running on during their first combat mission. Youngster, Requiem thought with a slight smile, he's older than I am.

Requiem surveyed the situation. Four ancient IRDs had ganged up on Eleven and Twelve, both rookies. The IRD pilots must have been raw recruits themselves, since they were paying no attention to their rear scopes. Requiem and Myris slipped in behind them and got two before they noticed. The remaining IRDs broke off and tried to run, but Requiem dropped a shadow bomb into one and Myris killed the other with a proton torpedo. Yeah, Requiem thought, Myris is good.

He had a good teacher, came Jaina's voice inside his head.

Sorry. Didn't realize I was broadcasting, Requiem replied sheepishly. "Yahoo!" he let out another war cry as he vaped a fourth fighter, this one a clutch.

Out of nowhere, his ship rocked. "Sithspawn!" a large group of CSA fighters were tailing him. "Rogue Wing, this is Twins Nine! I've got seven on my tail!"

"Acknowledged, Twins Nine," said Valin Horn. "They're eyeballs."

"Lead them into atmosphere, and vape 'em down there," said the cool, calm voice of Gavin Darklighter. "Twins Eleven, Twelve, and Ten are a bit behind you, but they're coming, and Rogue Nine and Ten are a few minutes behind. Hold on Requiem."

"I'm trying!" Requiem grunted as his shields took another blast.

He could see the nose of his ship lighting up as he punched through Bonadon's atmosphere, dropping altitude fast. Within seconds, he was hugging the ground, and the rest of Three Flight had taken two of the TIES off of his tail. The X-wing shook with another blast that shook Requiem's teeth. That one had taken a bite out of his engines. One more hit and Requiem's X-wing began to fall apart. One s-foil tore off and hit one of the TIEs, its trajectory influenced by Requiem's Force talents. This is it! "Sithspawn!" was the last transmission from Requiem's fighter.