All right time for some Action. The first Contact nightmare. Let know if my writing of this battle turned out ok. I worked hard on it. Also point out errors if you notice them.

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Chapter 7

"What the Hell!!" blasted Captain Abahn, "Where is my Fleet!"

The Yvarra had just exited hyperspace upon reaching the Leistat system. Everything seemed to be fine, until they looked at their scanners. That's when they discovered that the rest of the Jenrai Alliance fleet had disappeared…

"This is impossible," said the frantic Junior Lt. Faye, the bridge's navigation officer. She checked over her displays for perhaps the fifth time in as many minutes. " We........the calculations were not flawed. Even despite our non-synchronized hyperspace jump the rest of the fleet should have shown up by now. They should definitely be within visual range. It doesn't make sense..."

"Perhaps there was a flaw in our jump calculations," said Lt. Lesli, the comm. officer. She was also more than a little panicked as well, though she tried to hide it.

"Can't be." Said Faye, she was getting more disheveled with each passing moments. "We put too much work into those calculations to....."

"Dn," said a suddenly very weary Abahn. "Our forces could be spread all over the place."

"Or worse," said an equally weary Hesska Jysl. "What the Hell happened. This thought made the crew eerily silent.

Captain Abahn sat back in his seat and let out a long sigh. This is turning into a full scale fiasco, thought Abahn. With each passing second things could escalate. Better hold the crew together, give them something. Decided, he got up and walked to the lower sections of the deck. "Ok. Lets try and salvage the situation," barked Abahn. "Lt. Faye I want you to work with Omwan. You two will go over the hyperspace coordinates and the hyperdrive. We need to figure out what in the Sith happened to us and the fleet.

"Yes sir!"

"Lt. Lesli I want you scanning all frequencies. I know that it's not much hope with the jamming, but perhaps it will turn up something useful."

"Yes sir!"

"Lt. Mirindi. I want you to try to discern anything using our scanners. Then I want you to use the ships optical scanners. Put an eye out, perhaps some of our ships are scattered all over this system and they are with in visual range."

"Yes sir!" said the bridge's Verillu sensor officer. She immediately began working at her station.

As Abahn began issuing orders to the rest of the bridge crew, Ambassador Kiish entered the bridge looking for an update on their situation. Hesska Jysl had just finish bringing him up to speed as the Captain walked over. "Quite the mess we are in Mr. Abahn."

"I'm praying that it is not as bad as it seems. Ambassador Kiish do you have any information about this area. Any help would be most useful."

"Well Captain, I've been though Leistat before. This is a prime hyperspace crossroad for much of Sanc. I'm sure there might be some ships around, probably disoriented like us. With the comm. signals jammed up."

Abahn nodded his agreement. "LC see about getting our fighters out on recon. Hopefully something will turn up."

"Captain!!" yelled the musical voice of Lt. Mirindi. " I have something sir. You have to see this!" Abahn didn't like the sound of this. "Bring it up the main viewer."

The screen resolved itself into view, the image was a little spotty, perhaps because of the level of magnification. But the sight itself was more than understandable. It was a battle. It seemed that there were a large number of random ships under attack, unarmed transports from the look of them. Around the ships could be seen unknown objects buzzing about in combat. Energy fire flashed back and forth. Occasionally there was an explosion.

"Sir, it must be a Sanc convoy from the looks of it. Could these be the unknown alien aggressors sir."

"Perhaps, either way we have to help them. I want those Ships intact. LC take us to active alert, and get the crew ready for battle! Mirindi clean up this data and send it to the tactical officer. I want a clear idea of what we are dealing with."

Alarm Sirens began to sound as Captain Abahn returned to his command seat on the upper bridge. He patched into the ships comm. system. and his voice echoed over ship. "All crew alert! Enemy has been sited, report to your designated positions. We are about to engage unknown hostiles! I want all fighters out of my bay now!!" Abahn was sweating, uncertainty was eating at him. The prospect of an unexpected battle did not sit well with most commanders. He considered the variables of the situation, trying to determine what to do. Of all the time this could happen, especially without his fleet. "Tactical what have we got!"

"Tac. Com. has cleaned up the image a bit, hold on sir. We have about 34 ships, mostly transports. There seems to be 36 unknown enemy contacts identified. There were other starfighter contacts, they seem to have been destroyed. Also we have identified a large unknown contact. Probably a small capital ship of some sort. Its fast Sir!"

"Relay that to the fighter squadrons and have them head for the battle immediately. ETA?"

"I estimate ETA to battle 20 to 25 minutes for the Yvarra. 5 to 8 minutes for all 5 of our squadrons."

"Sir!," said Mirindi, "We have another contact. This one's bigger. It seems to be en route to the battle. Its probably a Cruiser sized capital ship. Potential fire power unknown. Given current speed its ETA is 10 to 20 minutes until it arrives at the battle."

"Frag! Get me a comm. patch to Tanem Vekk! Faye set an intercept course for that thing, we have to shield that convoy!"

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Urgency forced Tanem to perform a hurried preflight check. Secretly he hated to go out under such circumstances. He liked to go at things as he willed it, under his own pace, not that he would ever tell anyone this though. A blurt of noise from his astromech droid, Navi, told him that his starfighter was ready for launch. He switched off his repulsor-lift thrusters as he brought his fighter to the edge of the containment shield, and slipped out of the Yvarra's ventral bay. The rest of the Yavins followed him out perfectly in tight formation, and a little smiled played on his lips at the display. They were the first out and already throttling towards their designated targets. The rest of the ships squadrons would also soon be deployed and following the Yavins into the battle. Their Varia fighters still in "highspeed" configuration, the Yavins would probably reach the battle fastest providing a greater chance to the Convoy under attack.

Ailera's VF-12 Varia starfighter was one of the newer and most versatile fighters in the Jenrai Defense Force arsenal. It was a fighter possessed of angular lines and a triangular fuselage that housed the cockpit and the astromech. It featured strong shields, and 2 high-powered lasers. Beams strong enough to provide a sufficient punch yet still allowed for an incredible rate of fire. It held a magazine of 8 proton torpedoes with two launchers. The Varia is a marvel, a variable wing design, a starfighter capable of incredibly agile maneuverability or blinding speed depending on the wing configuration. With its wings "swept back" it provided more energy to be transferred to the engines, greatly increasing speed. With the wings extended it directs energy to help with maneuvering and vernier thrust, increasing agility. There wasn't much the Varia couldn't do in the hands of truly talented pilots.

Tanem opened a comm. channel to the pilots racing towards the melee in the distance, "OK people listen up, looks like we are up first. Our fastest ships will try and hit the vanguard attacking the transport. No time to arrive by squadrons or groups, every fighter that can get to the battle is one more chance for the convoy."

Squawking from Navi interrupted him. It was a message from Captain Abahn. "Yes Captain, Vekk here."

Abahn began speaking but already it was a bit distorted, Navi did what it could. "Tanem I need the Yavins to engage a large enemy contact approaching the fleet. It looks like it could reach the convoy before we can. It could spell disaster. I need your team to try to slow whatever it is down and if possible destroy it. LaSorta can handle the convoy. Data being sent to you now."

How much more complicated could things get.

He opened a com to the other pilots, "OK Yavins listen up. We have a new objective. We're to attack the larger ship. Designated Cruiser. Vila?"

"ETA 7 minutes at first estimation," the Verillu responded.

The Yavins switched course ever so slightly, drawing themselves away from the rest of the fighter vanguard. The large enemy ship was visible now even from here, so was the convoy and the enemies that were swarming it. Tanem checked his data display. It looked like the other squadrons would get to the convoy before the Yavins reached the larger ship. The first engagement between two rival forces, forces that didn't even know each other's capabilities. A horrid first contact nightmare. Tanem shook his head to clear it, he just couldn't shake the frustration in his emotions, there were too many unknown variables.

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"Dn," said Captain Abahn for the fifth time in as many minutes. "Those few minutes until we join the battle could be the determining factor for thousands."

Hesska Jysl checked over the captain out of the corner of her eye. He looked like a man being tortured by Thalassian slave breakers. The enemy was before him, attacking innocents instead of him, and he could do nothing about it. Perhaps he was being tortured... "Sir, hopefully our fighter's can make the difference. And let's not count out the Yavins." Even as the Bothan spoke another large explosion could be seen emanating from the convoy. Another thousand lives.....

Ambassador Kiish stood at the front of the bridge, eyes fixed on the spectacle of the battle. He was just as disturbed by the transpiring events, though he tried to maintain a strong front. "Those people, we'll probably never know their names....." He said keeping his voice even. "Hopefully we will manage to save the others. We could certainly use any information they have to help us fight these....cursed Jetats. he spit.

"Uh sir shouldn't you be in a safer place?" said Lt. Faye.

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"Sir I have multiple contacts!" screamed Kasseopia. "4 groups of 4 unknowns, probable fighters."

Vila chimed in "I concur with that. 16 unknowns approaching from the Cruiser." Her species eyes providing her with an excellent grasp on the situation.

Things just got more complicated.........

"Frag it's an escort," said Tanem Vekk as he quickly surveyed the situation. "They look a little loose for a squad formation," he said as the enemy came into view. The heads up display painting each target in a glow of bright red. The 16 targets came at them in groups of four. Maybe their unit formation type? he asked himself. "Ok Yavins lets break by threes, see if we can't even the odds some."

"ETA 1 Minute," Vila broadcast.

The Varias broke into three pilot formation, as they had been trained, as easily as if by their normal two person units. Nejim checked his display, Yavin 4 and Yavin 6 were tucked in tight formation behind him, Kak'besi and Giani Jin. They formed a roughly triangular formation with Nejim in the lead. He brought his fighter up and towards the nearest enemy group, the distance closing quickly. "Wings forward," he commanded. The Varia's wings swept forward, locking the fighter into high maneuver configuration.

His HUD highlighted the enemies. Nejim could see them now. Odd shaped craft, smaller than he thought. They looked like reversed triangular wings, with nacelles on the end. He could see the engine block on the back of the wingshaped craft because of the glow of the propulsion unit. It pulsed with odd white and light blue energy. The ship was gold and brass colored, with white trim.

"Little mingan yims are fast!" Nejim heard Elajul say over the comm. Fire from starboard caught his attention, Giani had opened fire. The enemies nimbly dodged it. They closed to effective firing range. Both sides trading a volley of fire as they quickly passed each other. The enemies energy shots were very strange, not what Nejim expected. The enemy ships fired small white and light blue bursts of energy, ovoid in shape, swiring like balls of electricity. The shots came fast and furious. Nejim hauled back on his stick, maneuvering out of their path. He brought his fighter up in a long loop hoping to gain superior advantage on the opponents. He quickly checked his scanner, two were on his tail. That was fast! We just passed them! Still he preferred having them following him instead of his men, it would give them a chance to deal with there opponents evenly.

"Fraggers are little aren't they! Must be some small aliens." said Giani over the comm.

"They are very nimble as well," cackled the insectiod voice of Kak'besi. "Very nimble."

The enemies behind Nejim opened fire, sending shots flashing past him. A few glanced off of his shields setting off alarm klaxon in his cockpit. Then expectantly came Tier's shrieks of protest. "Dammit I am maneuvering, these things are pretty sticky. Tier keep power to those rear shields!" Nejim jacked the stick hard to starboard trying to lose his tail, the enemy fighters weren't budging from his tail. Two of the energy bursts struck his rear shields badly draining energy and rattling Nejim's Varia. Shit those things pack a punch. Tier's protests became shrieks of panic as it surveyed the situation. "No you do not need to take over I.............shut the hell up, and stop distracting me! Hold on tight." It was time to get these pests off of his tail. Nejim threw the fighter into a sharp roll to port and into a dive, holding it for as long as he could. He killed the dive, simultaneously cutting back speed, then throwing the Varia into a roll to starboard. Even with his inertial compensator dialed down to 95 percent, the G forces acting on him were brutal, spots appeared before his eyes. He checked his scanner the trick worked. One of the fighters had been thrown off of his tail completely; the other still hung behind him, but loosely. Time to even this out a bit.

"Firing torp!" called Giani. "What the F......"

Nejim had no time to inquire as to what happened. He brought his fighter around in a quick loop setting his sights on one of the curious craft. The designator locked quickly as he switched to use his own proton torpedoes. The ships targeting computer relying on optical scanners for a lock instead of electronic signals. The fighter in front of Nejim tried to throw him off as if he fired a few simple shots to box it in, he stayed on it though. One of the advantages of an optical lock. No electronic warning to the enemy. He squeezed the trigger sending the torpedo sailing out to meet its target in a flash of light. It closed the distance incredibly quickly, but as it approached the small fighter something odd happened. In a move Nejim would have though not mortally possible, it flung itself to starboard, dodging the missile. It tore off at an almost insane angle, even for a fighter with inertial compensators. "What the F!!....."That was near point-black range! Impossible! "Nothing alive could have done something like that and still live," he said mostly to himself. Now he understood Giani's yell of frustration. He opened a comm. to the others Yavins. "Y5 here, make sure to set torpedoes to proximity burst. I don't know how, but these thing can dodge them at close range!"

"Copy that," replied Tanem over the comm., "I just found out myself." That was the problem with proton torpedoes. They did pack an enormous amount of destructive power and possessed blinding speed, but it was this same speed that made then unreliable in tracking fast moving targets. If one was fast enough they could dodge the deadly projectile and have it overshoot its target. These enemy starfighters were fast enough, but even Nejim didn't believe they could be dodged at that range, not when the torps speed was an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

Nejim again found his target and again managed to place a lock on the ship. Tier beeped alerting him to the enemy still on his tail. His ship shook as another burst hit his shields. Nejim gritted then fired again sending a torpedo towards his foe. The projectile closed the distance and it looked as if the fighter might dodge again. At the last moment the torpedo exploded in a torrent of flame engulfing the enemy fighter. It hurtled out of the fireball in an out of control spin. Must have been its shields, impressive. Nejim flared his teeth as he locked on and fired with his lasers. Healthy beams of green energy lanced out to his enemy, hitting it squarely, and destroying it. But it took a few more shots than expected. Nejim nodded, satisfied.

Shots passed his cockpit again reminding him of the enemy on his tail. His ship rocked from another hit. Tier screeched and alarms when off in the cockpit. His shields were down! Panicking he looked on his display, and saw Kak'besi dancing with an opponent near his position. Good..... "Tier see if you can divert power from somewhere and get the rear shields back up!" He flew towards Kak' his opponent trailing behind. He hoped this worked. "Kak',"he yelled, "Scratch your Back!"

Kak'besi and Nejim closed the distance between each other, their oponents following respectively. They then broke off in a long roll, seemingly away from each other. Suddenly they veered off course, both now facing each other. A tone sounded as the computer locked on. Nejim fired. Apparently at Kak', and Kak' fired at him. Quickly Nejim pulled up on his stick as he saw Kak' dive "downwards." The torpedoes crossed paths in flash; flying through where the Varias had been and towards the chasing enemy fighters. Each torpedo struck their targets, in a brilliant display. Nejim heard the strange crackle that was the sound of a Mir'bishi laughing. "OK lets go help Giani......"

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Tanem gritted his teeth as he fired one more round of shots. This time the enemy fighter exploded in a fierce ball of blue fire. His unit was clear of enemies. The Varias of Yavin 2 and Yavin 3, Hanik Seese and Elajul, formed up on his wing. "Lets go help the others."

"AAAhhh!!!" came the odd scream over the comm.

"Kawar! Punchout!" screamed Kasseopia R'hea. Tanem tensed as he heard an explosion and static came over his comm. There was silence for a long while.

"Colonel, Kas' here. Kawar's EV!" rasped a relieved Kasheopia. "Nataru you scared the holy hell out of me!" Tanem heard her yell. Tanem checked over his scanner, there were only a few enemies left, those dueling with Vila's wing. He saw that Nejim's unit rushed to help her. "Sorry Kass' we'll have to leave him for now. Besides even if I wanted to I can't contact the Yvarra. Not at this range."

"Understood," came her reply, almost calmly.

"Yavin 10 here," said Esel Palv over the comm. "We're all clear Tanem."

The intact Yavins returned to a closer formation as they raced towards the large cruiser. The convoy was visible to the right as Tanem looked out his cockpit window. A flurry of lights could be seen, the raging of a fierce battle. But Tanem had other worries right now, the monster before him. It was now a large object in all of their cockpits, a beautiful ovoid ship with a few bubble like protrusions doting its hull. Much like on a Mon Calamarian warship, but fewer. Its hull was a dazzling golden and bronze, with white trim just like the small fighters the Yavins had just engaged. It would have been a breathtaking sight, but Tanem knew better. Knew what its intent was. He had to stop it.

"Sir!" rasped the harsh reptilian voice of Raska Hara. "I am detecting more enemies coming from the darkside of the Crusier analog." Tanem checked his own optical scanners.

"I confirm that Yavin 8, looks like four of them. Must be more of those strange little fighters. Navi's says he is not sure though. OK, Vila, your wing is with me. We'll engage the fighters. Kasseopia take Nejim's wing and make a run on the cruiser. We will handle these new contacts or at the least keep them off of your back."

"Copy" came the replies. "Break." The Varias broke formation Six starfighters racing towards the incoming four enemies. The other five staying the course and heading for the large enemy cruiser.

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Sir, seems the Yavins have finally reached the Cruiser. They had a little trouble with enemy fighters." Reported the cool voice of Lieutenant Mirindi.

"Thank you," replied Abahn, a little distracted. The Yvarra had gained impressive distance and was now with in range of the battlefield. At least enough to gain rudimentary data on the battle. The alien interference was terribly taxing on his ability to command this battle. He had been out of contact with his forces for too long. And it was too soon to determine the situation in the battle. Of the 48 fighters he sent to defend the convoy 16 were destroyed. Many by that fast moving gunship analog. At least they had occupied the enemies attention, and allowed the convoy time to try and escape. 15 of the strange enemy fighters had been destroyed relatively quickly, largely thanks to superior numbers. "Now if only they could slow it down," Abahn said out loud.