By the time the Rebels had begun their attack against the Imperial frigate
and its defenses, Baaka had finally reached the hangar on the ground below;
only after traversing the vast distance from his abode, across the charred
fields, all by himself. Despite his frailty, his age also brought with it
the experience needed to maintain stamina over long runs. Nevertheless, he
was irate when he saw his own crew preparing to flee the planet without
their captain.
"Captain Mal'lar!" a suited Grendu exclaimed. The Bothans were loading supplies onto their cruiser. "You're here!"
"No thanks to you!" Baaka growled. "I want these supplies loaded twofold! I'll ready the ship myself!" He turned quickly from the group and proceeded up the underside ramp into the Bothan cruiser. He entered the cockpit and sat in his captain's chair. Activating the preliminary flight systems, he slouched a bit and let out a deep sigh. He was worried about Terr. I was afraid this might happen, Baaka thought to himself. The boy takes after his heritage...what more can be said? I cannot fight the strength of blood; no one can. Yes, the Force flows in him. There is not much more I can teach him. Not now, at least. Perhaps if I were younger.
Soon, the loading had finished and Grendu was settling in his co-pilot chair while a handful of other furry humanoids took positions throughout the ship, including in the laser turrets. Baaka was still in a pensive state, and rather than making a suggestion that could potentially aggravate his already irritated captain, Grendu initiated the flight sequences himself. A Bothan sitting at a navigation panel to Grendu's right looked about the cockpit with a searching eye.
"Where's Fenn?" he asked.
This inquiry immediately jerked Baaka's head back up and his graying eyes spotted the empty post, near the door that led to the cargo bay. He searched his memory for an image of Fenn, as he hardly knew any of the SpyNet operatives on the ship personally. He soon recalled that the Bothan who sat near the cargo bay door was in fact the same one that had sneaked out of the meeting with General Amyrran earlier that day. Baaka turned around and looked through the front window of the craft, through which he was able to see the Imperial formation in the distance overhead.
"Fenn won't be joining us," he said with a strange smirk, finally solving the day's earlier mystery.
Grendu and the navigator looked at each other curiously, but then dismissed the matter in trust of Baaka's leadership and continued readying the cruiser for flight. With a few applications of pressure on his control panel, Baaka activated the repulsor-lifts and the ship began to hover above the hangar floor. Grendu pointed to a position in the sky slightly to the left, indicating that the Bothans were to pass by the zone of battle and head straight for the space outside of Bothawui's atmosphere.
The Bothan cruiser accelerated forward, gradually ascending in an arc-like formation towards its destination. A minute or so behind the ship was the Alderaan, a rather bulky but significantly downsized cruiser of Mon Calamari design, suited specifically for the transport of officers and miscellaneous supplies for a small fleet such as this one. It soon established a communications link with the other craft in the fleet, including Baaka's, and a male lieutenant issued commands from the starship to the fighters.
"The Alderaan is preparing to reach the Hyper Point," he began. "All fighters must reach the following nav coordinates as soon as possible." A reading of the nav coordinates appeared on the navigation screens of all the fighters, as well as the Bothan ship. Baaka studied them while the voice continued. "Your primary objective is to escort the Alderaan. All remaining fighters please report your status."
"This is Red leader," the X-Wing commander's voice broke in over the comlink with a dithering tone. "I'm hit, but I'll make it to the Alderaan."
"Red three reporting in; returning to the Alderaan."
"Red four here, I'm on my way."
"Red six-I'm-I'm h-!" the voice gave way to static.
"Green leader-I'm in a tight spot here. Ache can you get this tango off my back?"
"Roger that!" a voice replied. It was followed by the muffled sound of an explosion.
"Yeah! Thanks Ache."
"No problem cap; Green four ready to get out of this hellhole."
"This is Gray five; Gray leader's down. My shields are pretty bad but I think I can shake 'em long enough."
There was a brief silence over the comm. system. Baaka leaned forward nervously, hoping to hear Terr's voice cut in over the silence. Nothing.
"Green five and Gray two," the lieutenant began. "Our system indicates that your comlinks are set to direct link. Please return your comlinks to their normal setting so that we can hear your reply. Green five and Gray two. Adjust your comlinks immediately."
Baaka was slightly relieved. At least they're alive, he thought to himself. But he knew that neither Terr nor Sorcha, nor the two of them put together, had enough experience to fight their way out of a frontal Imperial assault.
"They're still in the cloud," Green four interrupted. "Their fighters may not be transmitting comlink back to you."
"We can't afford to lose any more men today. Somebody get them out of there!" the lieutenant ordered.
Baaka looked to the right out of the cockpit window, examining the hazy sky in the distance. Through the dense white particles he could make out refractions of glowing laser bolts, red and green, sparking the surrounding atoms and creating a wonderful illumination within the cloud. It was like lightning, he thought, and the thunder that followed came in the form of monstrous explosions that pierced the air itself. As he watched the flaming debris project for meters before plummeting to the earth far below, Baaka realized that his foster son, the one person whose duty was his to protect, could be among the charred, mangled shrapnel. I no longer have faith... he thought to himself. The will is my own, not that of the Force. Baaka suddenly grasped the controls of his cruiser and sent the ship shifting violently to the right.
"Captain!" Grendu shouted.
"Shut up!"
Baaka was intent on rescuing Terr and Sorcha even if it meant endangering his own life and the lives of his entire crew. His gaze was fixed on the huge white cloud about five kilometers away. He pushed the throttle to full power, and Grendu settled in his chair nervously as the craft sped at maximum velocity towards a mass of fighters zooming in their direction. X- wings, A-wings, and B-wings sped by, some missing the Bothan cruiser by mere meters.
A scattered squad of TIE Interceptors was next, firing green streams of destructive energy at the fleeing Rebel craft. The Bothan gunners instinctively began launching volleys of red laser at the passing enemy fighters, putting them to an abrupt end in a brilliant array of colorful sparks and sizzles. Grendu watched through the front window with awe as the cruiser dispatched Interceptors left and right, sending them spiraling down to the abandoned white city below. He noted the subtle irony of the Imperial pilots being interred in the same soil that their enemies had inhabited.
"Captain Mal'lar, where are you going?" a taut-sounding lieutenant asked over the ship's comlink.
"To save those fighters!" Baaka replied. He promptly terminated the craft's communications systems.
"C-Captain...our duty is to escort the Alderaan!" Grendu spoke up in sincere protest.
"I know what our duty is," Baaka said sternly. "The officers aboard the Alderaan, however, could care less whether or not the two people I care about most die in that cloud, there."
The Bothan cruiser zoomed into the white haze, now blasting away at squads of TIE Fighters as they screamed through the cloud on their way to the Alderaan. "See?" Baaka said with a smirk to Grendu. "We're doing our duty."
The craft's navigator studied the targeting radar. "Captain, two Rebel fighters .53km, straight ahead."
Baaka slowed the ship until he was able to make out two heavily damaged friendly craft, an A-wing and a B-wing, struggling to make their way out of a dogfight with three maneuverable TIEs. Baaka gritted his teeth and armed the front lasers of the cruiser. He fired in rapid succession, blasting away one of the Fighters while his crew finished off the others. Krrrsssshhh! The two TIEs spun out of the cloud, trailing dark smoke as they fell to terminal velocity.
Grendu turned the ship's comlink back on so that Baaka could speak to the two nearby Rebel craft.
"Terr! Sorcha! Are you injured?"
A great weight was lifted off of Baaka's conscience as his foster son's voice came over the comlink. "I'm fine," Terr said. "But my shields are out. Sorcha's communication system must be damaged. I haven't been able to talk to her since those TIEs first hit us."
The three craft were hovering slowly at low throttle in a triangular formation, the nose of each pointed towards the center of some region of the cloud. Terr could make out Sorcha's face through the windshield of her A-wing, and she seemed to be indicating that she was wounded. Terr mouthed the words 'hang in there,' and motioned for her to follow him out of the cloud.
"We'll take you back to the Alderaan," Baaka said. He turned the cruiser around slowly and proceeded at half-throttle back to the east, out of the cloud. The battered fighters trailed behind.
Suddenly, Baaka's attention was alerted to the targeting radar on his frontal control panel. "Captain!" the navigator exclaimed. "Enemy frigate at 6, moving full speed!"
The three slow-moving Rebel craft were now located directly in front of the Imperial battle frigate. The cloud had begun to shift to the south, revealing a stretch of open air between the sights of the Imperial commanders and the vulnerable Rebels.
Baaka immediately activated his comlink. "Terr, switch to full-throttle and get up alongside us!"
Terr motioned to Sorcha and the two fighters made their way to opposite sides of the Bothan cruiser.
"Arm the rear cannons," Captain Mal'lar ordered his crew.
The furry humanoids scurried about the ship, taking their positions in the rear of the craft to deliver as much punch to the pursuing frigate as they could. The searing green lasers came immediately, striking the rear of the Bothan craft. Grendu instinctively set the shield recharge energy to maximum in the aft quadrants.
"Terr," Baaka said over the comlink. "Get back to the Alderaan. Now."
Terr, knowing that neither he nor Sorcha would be able to survive a direct hit, nodded so that Baaka could see through his cockpit window. The B-wing slowly took its place in front of the Bothan cruiser, followed shortly by Sorcha's A-wing taking Terr's cue and speeding back to the Rebel command ship.
By this time, the Alderaan and most of the Rebel fighters were entering the highest level of Bothawui's atmosphere and preparing to enter into space. Both the Bothan cruiser and the Imperial frigate began to accelerate upwards towards their mutual target.
Zzzschooo! Baaka's craft continued to take on laser strikes as it returned red volleys at the menacing frigate. The shields were slowly wearing down.
"Redirect all energy to the engines!" Baaka ordered.
"But...captain...we won't survive without our shields!" Grendu protested.
"We won't survive either way if we can't outrun it! Now do as I say."
Grendu adjusted the gauge controls on his control panel, and the cruiser began to pick up speed. Soon, the Bothans were beyond the range of the frigate's lasers. Baaka let out a sigh of relief. We'll make it, he assured himself. But his assurance was short-lived. A flashing light on the frontal control panel indicated that a missile was locked on to the craft.
"Incoming warhead at 1.31km!" Grendu exclaimed.
Baaka waited a moment before giving his command. The other Bothans in the cockpit sat with extreme apprehension, waiting for their command. Missiles were difficult to outmaneuver, and there was not enough time for the rear gunners to intercept one. If they did not act soon, the Bothans would be incinerated.
"Release the countermeasures," Baaka commanded.
"All of them, sir?"
"Yes."
Grendu pushed down on a lever on his control panel, which opened a small scuttle in the bottom rear of the cruiser. A series of glowing flares was propelled outwards, the first one striking the incoming missile and creating a thunderous sound on impact. The Bothan craft accelerated to the highest level of the atmosphere, its hull enduring tremendous heat as it sped through the last traces of atmospheric gases. The Imperial frigate was left in the outer reaches of the Bothawui sky, accompanied by a decimated fleet of about four or five TIEs. The Imperial commanders cursed the Alderaan and the Alliance as a volley of glowing warheads charred the front of their frigate.
"Captain Mal'lar!" a suited Grendu exclaimed. The Bothans were loading supplies onto their cruiser. "You're here!"
"No thanks to you!" Baaka growled. "I want these supplies loaded twofold! I'll ready the ship myself!" He turned quickly from the group and proceeded up the underside ramp into the Bothan cruiser. He entered the cockpit and sat in his captain's chair. Activating the preliminary flight systems, he slouched a bit and let out a deep sigh. He was worried about Terr. I was afraid this might happen, Baaka thought to himself. The boy takes after his heritage...what more can be said? I cannot fight the strength of blood; no one can. Yes, the Force flows in him. There is not much more I can teach him. Not now, at least. Perhaps if I were younger.
Soon, the loading had finished and Grendu was settling in his co-pilot chair while a handful of other furry humanoids took positions throughout the ship, including in the laser turrets. Baaka was still in a pensive state, and rather than making a suggestion that could potentially aggravate his already irritated captain, Grendu initiated the flight sequences himself. A Bothan sitting at a navigation panel to Grendu's right looked about the cockpit with a searching eye.
"Where's Fenn?" he asked.
This inquiry immediately jerked Baaka's head back up and his graying eyes spotted the empty post, near the door that led to the cargo bay. He searched his memory for an image of Fenn, as he hardly knew any of the SpyNet operatives on the ship personally. He soon recalled that the Bothan who sat near the cargo bay door was in fact the same one that had sneaked out of the meeting with General Amyrran earlier that day. Baaka turned around and looked through the front window of the craft, through which he was able to see the Imperial formation in the distance overhead.
"Fenn won't be joining us," he said with a strange smirk, finally solving the day's earlier mystery.
Grendu and the navigator looked at each other curiously, but then dismissed the matter in trust of Baaka's leadership and continued readying the cruiser for flight. With a few applications of pressure on his control panel, Baaka activated the repulsor-lifts and the ship began to hover above the hangar floor. Grendu pointed to a position in the sky slightly to the left, indicating that the Bothans were to pass by the zone of battle and head straight for the space outside of Bothawui's atmosphere.
The Bothan cruiser accelerated forward, gradually ascending in an arc-like formation towards its destination. A minute or so behind the ship was the Alderaan, a rather bulky but significantly downsized cruiser of Mon Calamari design, suited specifically for the transport of officers and miscellaneous supplies for a small fleet such as this one. It soon established a communications link with the other craft in the fleet, including Baaka's, and a male lieutenant issued commands from the starship to the fighters.
"The Alderaan is preparing to reach the Hyper Point," he began. "All fighters must reach the following nav coordinates as soon as possible." A reading of the nav coordinates appeared on the navigation screens of all the fighters, as well as the Bothan ship. Baaka studied them while the voice continued. "Your primary objective is to escort the Alderaan. All remaining fighters please report your status."
"This is Red leader," the X-Wing commander's voice broke in over the comlink with a dithering tone. "I'm hit, but I'll make it to the Alderaan."
"Red three reporting in; returning to the Alderaan."
"Red four here, I'm on my way."
"Red six-I'm-I'm h-!" the voice gave way to static.
"Green leader-I'm in a tight spot here. Ache can you get this tango off my back?"
"Roger that!" a voice replied. It was followed by the muffled sound of an explosion.
"Yeah! Thanks Ache."
"No problem cap; Green four ready to get out of this hellhole."
"This is Gray five; Gray leader's down. My shields are pretty bad but I think I can shake 'em long enough."
There was a brief silence over the comm. system. Baaka leaned forward nervously, hoping to hear Terr's voice cut in over the silence. Nothing.
"Green five and Gray two," the lieutenant began. "Our system indicates that your comlinks are set to direct link. Please return your comlinks to their normal setting so that we can hear your reply. Green five and Gray two. Adjust your comlinks immediately."
Baaka was slightly relieved. At least they're alive, he thought to himself. But he knew that neither Terr nor Sorcha, nor the two of them put together, had enough experience to fight their way out of a frontal Imperial assault.
"They're still in the cloud," Green four interrupted. "Their fighters may not be transmitting comlink back to you."
"We can't afford to lose any more men today. Somebody get them out of there!" the lieutenant ordered.
Baaka looked to the right out of the cockpit window, examining the hazy sky in the distance. Through the dense white particles he could make out refractions of glowing laser bolts, red and green, sparking the surrounding atoms and creating a wonderful illumination within the cloud. It was like lightning, he thought, and the thunder that followed came in the form of monstrous explosions that pierced the air itself. As he watched the flaming debris project for meters before plummeting to the earth far below, Baaka realized that his foster son, the one person whose duty was his to protect, could be among the charred, mangled shrapnel. I no longer have faith... he thought to himself. The will is my own, not that of the Force. Baaka suddenly grasped the controls of his cruiser and sent the ship shifting violently to the right.
"Captain!" Grendu shouted.
"Shut up!"
Baaka was intent on rescuing Terr and Sorcha even if it meant endangering his own life and the lives of his entire crew. His gaze was fixed on the huge white cloud about five kilometers away. He pushed the throttle to full power, and Grendu settled in his chair nervously as the craft sped at maximum velocity towards a mass of fighters zooming in their direction. X- wings, A-wings, and B-wings sped by, some missing the Bothan cruiser by mere meters.
A scattered squad of TIE Interceptors was next, firing green streams of destructive energy at the fleeing Rebel craft. The Bothan gunners instinctively began launching volleys of red laser at the passing enemy fighters, putting them to an abrupt end in a brilliant array of colorful sparks and sizzles. Grendu watched through the front window with awe as the cruiser dispatched Interceptors left and right, sending them spiraling down to the abandoned white city below. He noted the subtle irony of the Imperial pilots being interred in the same soil that their enemies had inhabited.
"Captain Mal'lar, where are you going?" a taut-sounding lieutenant asked over the ship's comlink.
"To save those fighters!" Baaka replied. He promptly terminated the craft's communications systems.
"C-Captain...our duty is to escort the Alderaan!" Grendu spoke up in sincere protest.
"I know what our duty is," Baaka said sternly. "The officers aboard the Alderaan, however, could care less whether or not the two people I care about most die in that cloud, there."
The Bothan cruiser zoomed into the white haze, now blasting away at squads of TIE Fighters as they screamed through the cloud on their way to the Alderaan. "See?" Baaka said with a smirk to Grendu. "We're doing our duty."
The craft's navigator studied the targeting radar. "Captain, two Rebel fighters .53km, straight ahead."
Baaka slowed the ship until he was able to make out two heavily damaged friendly craft, an A-wing and a B-wing, struggling to make their way out of a dogfight with three maneuverable TIEs. Baaka gritted his teeth and armed the front lasers of the cruiser. He fired in rapid succession, blasting away one of the Fighters while his crew finished off the others. Krrrsssshhh! The two TIEs spun out of the cloud, trailing dark smoke as they fell to terminal velocity.
Grendu turned the ship's comlink back on so that Baaka could speak to the two nearby Rebel craft.
"Terr! Sorcha! Are you injured?"
A great weight was lifted off of Baaka's conscience as his foster son's voice came over the comlink. "I'm fine," Terr said. "But my shields are out. Sorcha's communication system must be damaged. I haven't been able to talk to her since those TIEs first hit us."
The three craft were hovering slowly at low throttle in a triangular formation, the nose of each pointed towards the center of some region of the cloud. Terr could make out Sorcha's face through the windshield of her A-wing, and she seemed to be indicating that she was wounded. Terr mouthed the words 'hang in there,' and motioned for her to follow him out of the cloud.
"We'll take you back to the Alderaan," Baaka said. He turned the cruiser around slowly and proceeded at half-throttle back to the east, out of the cloud. The battered fighters trailed behind.
Suddenly, Baaka's attention was alerted to the targeting radar on his frontal control panel. "Captain!" the navigator exclaimed. "Enemy frigate at 6, moving full speed!"
The three slow-moving Rebel craft were now located directly in front of the Imperial battle frigate. The cloud had begun to shift to the south, revealing a stretch of open air between the sights of the Imperial commanders and the vulnerable Rebels.
Baaka immediately activated his comlink. "Terr, switch to full-throttle and get up alongside us!"
Terr motioned to Sorcha and the two fighters made their way to opposite sides of the Bothan cruiser.
"Arm the rear cannons," Captain Mal'lar ordered his crew.
The furry humanoids scurried about the ship, taking their positions in the rear of the craft to deliver as much punch to the pursuing frigate as they could. The searing green lasers came immediately, striking the rear of the Bothan craft. Grendu instinctively set the shield recharge energy to maximum in the aft quadrants.
"Terr," Baaka said over the comlink. "Get back to the Alderaan. Now."
Terr, knowing that neither he nor Sorcha would be able to survive a direct hit, nodded so that Baaka could see through his cockpit window. The B-wing slowly took its place in front of the Bothan cruiser, followed shortly by Sorcha's A-wing taking Terr's cue and speeding back to the Rebel command ship.
By this time, the Alderaan and most of the Rebel fighters were entering the highest level of Bothawui's atmosphere and preparing to enter into space. Both the Bothan cruiser and the Imperial frigate began to accelerate upwards towards their mutual target.
Zzzschooo! Baaka's craft continued to take on laser strikes as it returned red volleys at the menacing frigate. The shields were slowly wearing down.
"Redirect all energy to the engines!" Baaka ordered.
"But...captain...we won't survive without our shields!" Grendu protested.
"We won't survive either way if we can't outrun it! Now do as I say."
Grendu adjusted the gauge controls on his control panel, and the cruiser began to pick up speed. Soon, the Bothans were beyond the range of the frigate's lasers. Baaka let out a sigh of relief. We'll make it, he assured himself. But his assurance was short-lived. A flashing light on the frontal control panel indicated that a missile was locked on to the craft.
"Incoming warhead at 1.31km!" Grendu exclaimed.
Baaka waited a moment before giving his command. The other Bothans in the cockpit sat with extreme apprehension, waiting for their command. Missiles were difficult to outmaneuver, and there was not enough time for the rear gunners to intercept one. If they did not act soon, the Bothans would be incinerated.
"Release the countermeasures," Baaka commanded.
"All of them, sir?"
"Yes."
Grendu pushed down on a lever on his control panel, which opened a small scuttle in the bottom rear of the cruiser. A series of glowing flares was propelled outwards, the first one striking the incoming missile and creating a thunderous sound on impact. The Bothan craft accelerated to the highest level of the atmosphere, its hull enduring tremendous heat as it sped through the last traces of atmospheric gases. The Imperial frigate was left in the outer reaches of the Bothawui sky, accompanied by a decimated fleet of about four or five TIEs. The Imperial commanders cursed the Alderaan and the Alliance as a volley of glowing warheads charred the front of their frigate.