A/N – A bit shorter chapter here, but 11 will be up soon. Thank you for all your wonderful helpful reviews. They're finally getting into the action part of the story

Katina Squadrons

Chapter 10 – Surprise Onslaught

Mya Tainer watched the laser glow move further and further from the base. Night had finally taken the daylight, and she could no longer see the fighters or the attackers, despite the faint glow from the lighted side of Fortuna.

Not that she could do anything useful.

The lynx had put on her flight suit, but it was unzipped to the waist and her helmet was in the locker room. Her Arwing sat in the corner, unprepared and quiet. Still, she hated to miss out on action, so there she was, watching the battle unfold from a half-empty fighter bay.

"Looks like a good fight, huh," Gregory Mitchell said as he approached the open hanger doors.

The dark-furred retriever polished the face shield on his helmet, "You're awful quiet."

"I don't have much to say."

"Something strange just happened," he said, looking at the battle, "All the short range scanners have been destroyed or something. Must have been stray shots from those guys."

"Are you kidding? There are fifteen out there and they're all in the trees," she said incredulously.

He gave her a goofy look as she left to find the radar center. A couple mechanics joined Greg to watch the battle.

"Don't you boys have something to fix," he joked.

"Not yet," one answered with a laugh.

Seeming to manifest from nowhere, a brilliant red laser struck just above the hanger door. The three were thrown to the floor and burning metal and beams collapsed onto the two mechanics. Greg groaned as he sat, but ducked for cover as more red bolts flew into the hanger, burning holes and blasting ships.

It was then that Greg noticed the outline of small crafts barreling towards the base. He crawled to the two trapped furs, but it was too late. Taking a chance, he ran for the relative safety of the ground level ops floor.

"There're small crafts approaching the open hanger bays," he shouted to the suddenly busy room.

No one acknowledged him until someone threw him a blaster rifle.

"Eight small troop carriers are surrounding the base," Mya said as she grabbed a rifle for herself and tossed more to others, "They've shot the blast doors open."

She glanced at the retriever, "And we still can't contact our fighters."

"Or anyone else for that matter," James Harvey added as he arrived, "As the highest commanding pilot here, I'm temporarily boosting you back to 1st Lieutenant, Tainer, take your flight and set up around the south and east hanger, we'll take the other two."

"Understood," she said and left with the three other pilots.

"Right, let's go," James took his flight and set up behind cargo crates and ruined ships.

"Red 6," Mya said, "Find a working com on one of those ships and see if you can hotwire it to contact the others."

Jenzalah ran off to the nearest ship. She hopped into the cockpit for cover and pulled out wires from the panel just as she caught the sound of blaster rifles returning fire.

"Hurry up in there, we're already loosing ground," Mya called.

"Almost got it," she said.

She tinkered with sensor positions and frequencies until at last she could hear the exchange of words between pilots in the air battle.

"Red Group, Bulldog Group, this is Red 6, we're under fire here, unable to contact anyone. Eight troop carriers have surrounded the base, we need air cover, I repeat-"

"Get out of there," Mya shouted.

"We're doing the best we can," Zale said as she climbed out, "But we need you- Auh!"

A blaster bolt slagged the ladder she had stepped on. With her support suddenly gone, she fell awkwardly to the cold metal floor, blacking out on impact.

"Sir, the hanger is secure," a soldier reported to Sgt Maj. Tomatz.

"Park four hover crafts in the bays and close the blast doors," he said.

"They're locked open."

The ape rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Very well. Use the wrecked ships as barriers to ground assaults, set two furs per door. The rest will secure the levels and capture the enemy."

The soldier saluted and ran off to distribute the orders. Tomatz remembered back to the initial fight to the hanger. Some of the Cornerians had organized and were firing back, but it was inadequate compared to the vying force. Most of the Arwings had been incapacitated with the opening fire, and they were now little more than scrap heaps. Each hull had been checked for surprises before the first level was declared secure.

He checked his data pad for the base map. The center turbo lift that connected with every level to the 9th floor, and incidentally the Commander's office, was most likely sabotaged. The lifts on opposite corners ran eight levels. Emergency stair shafts descended from the tenth and top floor and were situated in the empty corners. The second floor contained three large rooms, unspecified, and smaller rooms, designated for pilot housing. The base 'chow hall' was also located on the second floor.

Not that he was hungry.

The room was large with open doorways where prisoners could be easily watched. But they would have to take the second level first.

Tomatz charged his blaster rifle and set off for the emergency stairs, followed by six troopers.