An enemy within
A Short Story by LCM Mitth'raw'eana
"Watch out!" an Arkanian pilot Thelea yells at her wing mate, Corellian called Wellen Carlan, whose A-wing fighter was just attacked by a TIE Defender.
Thelea accelerates her A-wing, but due to another dogfight she is too far. Suddenly her wing mate's fighter blows up in to a ball of flames. "No!" she yells.
"Simulation over, Commander", her superior officer's voice states to her in-helmet comlink.
"You can't expect me to be in two places at the same time, Sir!" Thelea almost yells.
"It was just a simulation, Commander. You need more practise" Admiral Drayson of the New Republic states calmly.
Thelea is speechless due to anger and frustration, so she leaves the Admiral so she can speak with Wellen. She reaches him almost immediately. "Wellen! Wait!"
Wellen turns to face his wing mate and friend. "What happened in that simulation, ma'am?"
"Don't call me that when we're alone! And if you didn't notice, I was busy destroying that frigate! I tried my best to get to you, when I noticed your situation, but..."
"But what? You're an excellent pilot! You should now that you can transfer energy to engines from lasers and shields! You DID destroy that frigate, so it wasn't a threat anymore, was it?"
"You weren't the only one who was harassed by those Defenders! They attacked me, too! Without shields I couldn't have been much of an assist!" She can barely control herself.
Luckily, for them both, Admiral Drayson comes and demands Thelea to leave him to speak alone to her wing mate. Thelea salutes them both and decides to go to her quarters.
Thelea stands at one of her living room's large windows, looking at the Imperial City, the heart of Coruscant. She practically despises this concrete and durasteel jungle, but she loves this palace. This is so different from her home planet of Arkania.
She stays at the window for awhile before retiring to bed. After today she's very tired, so she tries to get some sleep.
Two hours later Thelea wakes up because of some loud noise, which sounds like alarm... Suddenly she's fully awake. Alarm? Coruscant must be under attack!
She puts her flight suit on, grabs her helmet and sidearm, and rushes to the hangars. In one of them her A-wing is being prepared for battle.
She climbs into her fighter and runs a system check, while waiting the flight control to give her "clear for take-off". After getting the clearance she takes of from the hangar and flies her A-wing towards her Command Craft, a Winged Mon Calamari Cruiser Independence.
By the time she reaches the Independence, she notices that the area around it is already swarming with fighters. She locates her wing mates and flies to them.
"What we're up against, Blue One?" someone asks the Flight Commander.
"We've got three Imperial class Star Destroyers, Death's Head, Vengeance and Thunderstorm, five Dreadnaughts, Firestorm, Vendetta, Raptor, Flare and Nemesis, and almost ten full TIE squadrons against us. A back up fleet is on it's way, but we need us to buy them some time to arrive."
"Sir, what are our tactics, or do we have any?" Thelea asks.
"Y-wings and B-wings are to confront the capital ships. That leaves the X-wings and the A-wings the important task to deal with the enemy fighters. And remember, especially Commander Thelea, to stay far enough those capitals ships!"
"What do you mean 'especially Commander Thelea'?"
"No offence, Commander, but you have a nasty habit to end up to near to any hostile capital ship. Admiral told about that simulation. You're too reckless to be an Arkanian..."
"Yes, Sir", Thelea sighs and picks her first target, a TIE Interceptor, and accelerates her fighter towards it. As soon as that TIE's pilot notices a new threat, he switches to his missile launchers and waits one pair of missiles to lock on this A-wing.
Thelea notices on her Heads Up Display that someone is trying to lock missiles on her ship. "That's rude, pal!" In the next moment her HUD warns about two incoming missiles. "Uh-oh." After her fighter's computer has calculated the missiles' velocity, she accelerates her fighter to velocity just above that. Then she begins to do evasive maneuvers to make sure that those missiles won't get to their target. One of her maneuvers takes her to Independence.
At this point one of the Independence's deck officers notices her distress, and when missiles get to too close to the Mon Cal Cruiser, it's massive turbolasers open fire towards the missiles, and they blow up without causing any harm.
"Thanks, Independence!" Thelea greets the capital ship. "I needed that."
"You're welcome, Commander. It was fun", one of the deck officers laughs.
Thelea pilots her fighter towards one of the ongoing dogfights, and, accidentally, destroys a TIE Bomber who flied to it's wing mate's missile when trying to avoid this new threat.
Next thing Thelea realizes, is that there are at least six TIE Interceptors on their way - towards her direction.
She flies better than ever to avoid any fights with those fighters, for she knows quite well that she can't defeat all of them on her own. She flies very fast, but then she sees another flight of TIE Interceptors. "Hey guys! I could use a little help over here!" she says to her wing mates.
Her flight leader notices that Thelea is attacked by twelve TIEs. "Hang on in there, Commander, we're coming as soon as we can!" he says to her.
Thelea flies away from all twelve TIEs. But then things go worse: she notices a flight of TIE Advanced fighters, and they're coming towards her direction.
"Great!" Dryly. "Now I have to deal all of those fighters with only...", she checks the amount of her missiles, "six missiles. If you wanted to play, then let's play. Mess with the best, die like the rest..."
Then she notices that she's being fired upon. She looks above her, seeing the belly of an Imperial Star Destroyer.
"Oops."
Suddenly someone contacts her via her comlink inside helmet. "Rebel pilot, this is Captain Harbid of Star Destroyer Death's Head. Surrender immediately, and your life will be spared!"
"In your dreams!" Thelea fires all of her six missiles towards the Destroyer's main hangar. She doesn't stick around to see the results of her action, but instead, noticing those fighters being too close for comfort, pilots her fighter towards the Independence.
Suddenly she sees the Imperials withdrawing from Coruscant. After checking her HUD, she realizes the reason; the back up just arrived.
Thirty minutes later Thelea sits with the other fighter pilots in the briefing room. They're waiting for Admiral Drayson to debrief them.
Then the Admiral arrives and begins debriefing. "We don't know yet, why they were here, but there might be a traitor among us." He looks at Thelea. "Commander, we managed to capture an Imperial pilot. I want you to interrogate him personally. Arkanians are known for their persuative abilities."
Thelea nods and stands up. Then a guardsman from the Palace Guard leads her to the cell blocks.
In there she goes to the one of the interrogation rooms, in where is a man in an Imperial pilot suit. She notifies the guards that she can handle this on her own.
When the guards have closed the door behind them, she speaks to the pilot, who have been chained to his chair. "Maybe I should take off your helmet." She walks behind his chair and takes off his helmet and puts it on the only table in the room.
She walks to the other side of that table an faces the pilot. "There's a traitor among us. Is that why you came?"
Pilot looks at her milky white eyes. "Why would I tell you, Rebel scum!"
She smiles. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which one you prefer?" Pilot says nothing, just stares at a point on the door. "All right then, let's do this the hard way."
She walks behind his chair again and touches both of his temples, right above his ears, with palms of her four-fingered, clawed hands. Then she uses her abilities in the Force, and reaches out with her thoughts to get in touch with his mind.
Thelea gets the information she needed and rushes back to the briefing room, where the others are still waiting. In there she speaks to the Admiral. "Sir, you were right. There is a traitor among us. That Imperial pilot told me his name. "She looks at Wellen Carlan. "I'm sorry, my friend, but he gave me your name."
Wellen looks stunned. "Thelea! You know I would never betray the New Republic!"
"Perhaps not. Okay, I know you wouldn't. But he told me that you're working for the Empire."
"That's not true! Yes, I did work for them, but no, not any more. I left when I found out about something they called the Infiltrator Wing. They use same ships we use!"
At this point there's very quiet in that room. No-one says a word.
After a few minutes Admiral Drayson breaks the silence. "That's impossible. We would know about something like that. I'll let you remain in your current Wing, but know this: make one mistake, just one, and you will be court-martialled. Understood? Good."
Two hours later Thelea walks around her quarters, thinking about the past events. No-one seemed to believe in the existence of the Infiltrator Wing. Excellent. She can continue her work to destroy the New Republic - from within...
To be continued (possibly)
A Short Story by LCM Mitth'raw'eana
"Watch out!" an Arkanian pilot Thelea yells at her wing mate, Corellian called Wellen Carlan, whose A-wing fighter was just attacked by a TIE Defender.
Thelea accelerates her A-wing, but due to another dogfight she is too far. Suddenly her wing mate's fighter blows up in to a ball of flames. "No!" she yells.
"Simulation over, Commander", her superior officer's voice states to her in-helmet comlink.
"You can't expect me to be in two places at the same time, Sir!" Thelea almost yells.
"It was just a simulation, Commander. You need more practise" Admiral Drayson of the New Republic states calmly.
Thelea is speechless due to anger and frustration, so she leaves the Admiral so she can speak with Wellen. She reaches him almost immediately. "Wellen! Wait!"
Wellen turns to face his wing mate and friend. "What happened in that simulation, ma'am?"
"Don't call me that when we're alone! And if you didn't notice, I was busy destroying that frigate! I tried my best to get to you, when I noticed your situation, but..."
"But what? You're an excellent pilot! You should now that you can transfer energy to engines from lasers and shields! You DID destroy that frigate, so it wasn't a threat anymore, was it?"
"You weren't the only one who was harassed by those Defenders! They attacked me, too! Without shields I couldn't have been much of an assist!" She can barely control herself.
Luckily, for them both, Admiral Drayson comes and demands Thelea to leave him to speak alone to her wing mate. Thelea salutes them both and decides to go to her quarters.
Thelea stands at one of her living room's large windows, looking at the Imperial City, the heart of Coruscant. She practically despises this concrete and durasteel jungle, but she loves this palace. This is so different from her home planet of Arkania.
She stays at the window for awhile before retiring to bed. After today she's very tired, so she tries to get some sleep.
Two hours later Thelea wakes up because of some loud noise, which sounds like alarm... Suddenly she's fully awake. Alarm? Coruscant must be under attack!
She puts her flight suit on, grabs her helmet and sidearm, and rushes to the hangars. In one of them her A-wing is being prepared for battle.
She climbs into her fighter and runs a system check, while waiting the flight control to give her "clear for take-off". After getting the clearance she takes of from the hangar and flies her A-wing towards her Command Craft, a Winged Mon Calamari Cruiser Independence.
By the time she reaches the Independence, she notices that the area around it is already swarming with fighters. She locates her wing mates and flies to them.
"What we're up against, Blue One?" someone asks the Flight Commander.
"We've got three Imperial class Star Destroyers, Death's Head, Vengeance and Thunderstorm, five Dreadnaughts, Firestorm, Vendetta, Raptor, Flare and Nemesis, and almost ten full TIE squadrons against us. A back up fleet is on it's way, but we need us to buy them some time to arrive."
"Sir, what are our tactics, or do we have any?" Thelea asks.
"Y-wings and B-wings are to confront the capital ships. That leaves the X-wings and the A-wings the important task to deal with the enemy fighters. And remember, especially Commander Thelea, to stay far enough those capitals ships!"
"What do you mean 'especially Commander Thelea'?"
"No offence, Commander, but you have a nasty habit to end up to near to any hostile capital ship. Admiral told about that simulation. You're too reckless to be an Arkanian..."
"Yes, Sir", Thelea sighs and picks her first target, a TIE Interceptor, and accelerates her fighter towards it. As soon as that TIE's pilot notices a new threat, he switches to his missile launchers and waits one pair of missiles to lock on this A-wing.
Thelea notices on her Heads Up Display that someone is trying to lock missiles on her ship. "That's rude, pal!" In the next moment her HUD warns about two incoming missiles. "Uh-oh." After her fighter's computer has calculated the missiles' velocity, she accelerates her fighter to velocity just above that. Then she begins to do evasive maneuvers to make sure that those missiles won't get to their target. One of her maneuvers takes her to Independence.
At this point one of the Independence's deck officers notices her distress, and when missiles get to too close to the Mon Cal Cruiser, it's massive turbolasers open fire towards the missiles, and they blow up without causing any harm.
"Thanks, Independence!" Thelea greets the capital ship. "I needed that."
"You're welcome, Commander. It was fun", one of the deck officers laughs.
Thelea pilots her fighter towards one of the ongoing dogfights, and, accidentally, destroys a TIE Bomber who flied to it's wing mate's missile when trying to avoid this new threat.
Next thing Thelea realizes, is that there are at least six TIE Interceptors on their way - towards her direction.
She flies better than ever to avoid any fights with those fighters, for she knows quite well that she can't defeat all of them on her own. She flies very fast, but then she sees another flight of TIE Interceptors. "Hey guys! I could use a little help over here!" she says to her wing mates.
Her flight leader notices that Thelea is attacked by twelve TIEs. "Hang on in there, Commander, we're coming as soon as we can!" he says to her.
Thelea flies away from all twelve TIEs. But then things go worse: she notices a flight of TIE Advanced fighters, and they're coming towards her direction.
"Great!" Dryly. "Now I have to deal all of those fighters with only...", she checks the amount of her missiles, "six missiles. If you wanted to play, then let's play. Mess with the best, die like the rest..."
Then she notices that she's being fired upon. She looks above her, seeing the belly of an Imperial Star Destroyer.
"Oops."
Suddenly someone contacts her via her comlink inside helmet. "Rebel pilot, this is Captain Harbid of Star Destroyer Death's Head. Surrender immediately, and your life will be spared!"
"In your dreams!" Thelea fires all of her six missiles towards the Destroyer's main hangar. She doesn't stick around to see the results of her action, but instead, noticing those fighters being too close for comfort, pilots her fighter towards the Independence.
Suddenly she sees the Imperials withdrawing from Coruscant. After checking her HUD, she realizes the reason; the back up just arrived.
Thirty minutes later Thelea sits with the other fighter pilots in the briefing room. They're waiting for Admiral Drayson to debrief them.
Then the Admiral arrives and begins debriefing. "We don't know yet, why they were here, but there might be a traitor among us." He looks at Thelea. "Commander, we managed to capture an Imperial pilot. I want you to interrogate him personally. Arkanians are known for their persuative abilities."
Thelea nods and stands up. Then a guardsman from the Palace Guard leads her to the cell blocks.
In there she goes to the one of the interrogation rooms, in where is a man in an Imperial pilot suit. She notifies the guards that she can handle this on her own.
When the guards have closed the door behind them, she speaks to the pilot, who have been chained to his chair. "Maybe I should take off your helmet." She walks behind his chair and takes off his helmet and puts it on the only table in the room.
She walks to the other side of that table an faces the pilot. "There's a traitor among us. Is that why you came?"
Pilot looks at her milky white eyes. "Why would I tell you, Rebel scum!"
She smiles. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which one you prefer?" Pilot says nothing, just stares at a point on the door. "All right then, let's do this the hard way."
She walks behind his chair again and touches both of his temples, right above his ears, with palms of her four-fingered, clawed hands. Then she uses her abilities in the Force, and reaches out with her thoughts to get in touch with his mind.
Thelea gets the information she needed and rushes back to the briefing room, where the others are still waiting. In there she speaks to the Admiral. "Sir, you were right. There is a traitor among us. That Imperial pilot told me his name. "She looks at Wellen Carlan. "I'm sorry, my friend, but he gave me your name."
Wellen looks stunned. "Thelea! You know I would never betray the New Republic!"
"Perhaps not. Okay, I know you wouldn't. But he told me that you're working for the Empire."
"That's not true! Yes, I did work for them, but no, not any more. I left when I found out about something they called the Infiltrator Wing. They use same ships we use!"
At this point there's very quiet in that room. No-one says a word.
After a few minutes Admiral Drayson breaks the silence. "That's impossible. We would know about something like that. I'll let you remain in your current Wing, but know this: make one mistake, just one, and you will be court-martialled. Understood? Good."
Two hours later Thelea walks around her quarters, thinking about the past events. No-one seemed to believe in the existence of the Infiltrator Wing. Excellent. She can continue her work to destroy the New Republic - from within...
To be continued (possibly)