Chapter 6

Tilyer's skin prickled into goose bumps as he gazed out of the cockpit of his TIE fighter, yet he knew the shiver running through his body wasn't from his environmental suit's inability to stave off the cold of space. No matter how dull the patrol route, he always felt that familiar tingle when he experienced the exhilaration of space flight. But then again, this particular patrol was boring, no matter how thrilling being behind the controls of a starfighter might be.

He sighed, looking down at the white ball of ice hanging in space below him. After a brief three-day journey through hyperspace, the Enforcer finally arrived in its main destination, Belsavis. The planet used to be a lush jungle world, but some kind of accelerated ice age had fallen upon the planet, turning it into a nearly uninhabitable frozen rock. In the later years of the Republic, the colonists on planet built a number of domed enclaves in order to save the native species that would inevitably be wiped out by the encroaching ice. Far from coincidentally, the colonists managed to turn quite a profit by setting up farms within the environmental domes to produce a rare type of silk plant that would only grow in its native soil.

When the Enforcer arrived in-system two days ago, Captain Ygra made contact with the planetary officials and informed them that the Enforcer would be making "random customs inspections" over the next few days. Of course, that was only a half-truth. The Corellian Corvette would be making inspections, but instead of cargo, passengers would be the objects of scrutiny.

So far, the only vessels to venture into the system were a pair of bulk freighters on their way to Duros and a pleasure yacht making a sight-seeing trip along the rim. Each had been boarded in turn, but no contraband or identifiable rebel operatives had been discovered, so they were allowed to continue on their way.

Tilyer and Lieutenant Del'Goren had occupied the past two days with long uneventful patrols through the empty space around Belsavis. Currently the TIEs were making scans of the planetary topography by following a predesignated grid pattern through the upper stratosphere while the Enforcer oversaw the operation from a low orbit.

Tilyer's flight computer suddenly beeped, indicating that it had located some kind of anomaly.

"Lieutenant," Tilyer said into the comm. "I think I found something."

"What is it?" came the reply.

"A metallic signature on the ice flows several clicks outside of the agricultural dome designated Green XII."

"Any idea what it is?"

"None sir. Whatever it is, it's not very big."

"Transmit the coordinates to my computer."

Tilyer did so.

"Hmm, yes. I'm picking it up too. Perhaps we should go down for a closer look."

Tilyer's computer suddenly began to shrill a warning, forestalling any reply. "Oh no. I'm painting five targets lifting off from those coordinates. Two medium transports and three fighters . . . X-wings! They must have detected our scans!"

"Damn!" Del'Goren swore. "Rendezvous with the Enforcer in orbit. They'll eat us alive in the atmosphere."

Tilyer clicked his acknowledgement and angled his fighter upward, racing for the relative safety of space.


"Alpha One reports ships launching from the planet surface," Linia Taulin shouted from her post on the bridge of the Enforcer. "Suspected to be hostile!"

"How many?" Commander Venka barked.

"Five—two transports and three X-wings," she answered.

"What are your orders, Captain?" Venka asked.

Captain Ygra smiled as he gazed out the view port, "Plot an intercept course and charge turbolaser batteries. Issue a demand for unconditional surrender over all channels. If you receive no reply, fire at will."


Tilyer almost breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the Enforcer's familiar shape looming overhead. The brief respite was shattered, however, as his flight computer squealed a warning that one of the enemy fighters was trying to obtain a missile lock.

"I've got one going for a lock!" he shouted over the tactical frequency.

"Hold steady Two, I'm coming about. When I give the signal, dive back planet-side."

No sooner had Del'Goren said that, than the flight computer again shrieked for Tilyer's attention. "Damn, he's got a lock! Torpedo away!"

"Steady."

"But, Lieutenant!"

"Steady."

"Three clicks and closing . . . two . . . one!"

"Now!"

Tilyer shoved the yoke down as far as he could. The small craft shuddered against the strain as Lieutenant Del'Goren's fighter howled overhead, lasers spewing a green curtain of energy through the area Tilyer had occupied just moments before. The emerald bolts scythed through space, interceding with the oncoming torpedo before it burst into a raging yellow fireball. Del'Goren's TIE whipped through the inferno unscathed as Tilyer brought his vessel around.

"Good shooting, One," he said breathlessly.

"You can thank me later. Now form up on my wing. They're almost on top of us!"


Lieutenant Urtis Dusat looked up from his sensor console, alarm evident upon his face. "Captain! One of the X-wings is engaging our fighters—the other two are lining up for an attack run on the Enforcer."

"And the transports?"

"They're making a run for deep space using the fighters as a screen."

"Full speed after them. A few snub fighters won't stop us. They cannot escape that easily."


Tilyer threw his fighter into a frantic barrel roll as the enemy fighter behind him spewed bolts of red energy all around his tiny craft. He ground his teeth together as he hauled back on the yoke, launching the TIE into a tight loop. The X-wing blazed underneath, matching Tilyer move-for-move.

"I can't shake him, Lead—need assistance!"

"Negative, Two. The other fighters are on an attack run against the Enforcer. I have to intercept them."

"He's going to vape me any second!" Tilyer screamed in protest as scintillating laser fire once more flashed beneath his cockpit.

"If they manage to launch torpedoes, everyone on the Enforcer is going to be vaporized. You're on your own. Sorry!"

Tilyer grunted a reluctant acknowledgement as he stomped on the right rudder pedal and dialed back his throttle. The enemy fighter whipped overhead and began a turn that would intersect Tilyer's own path. He made a quick redirection and punched the throttle full speed to bring his craft up behind the X-wing, but the other pilot had anticipated the move. He whirled his own vessel up into a trajectory that would take the two fighters into a head on pass.

Tilyer's common sense screamed at him that this was a very bad idea, but he didn't listen to it. If he didn't take a chance and end the dogfight right now, he was going to slip up sooner or later, and the other pilot would make sure he didn't live to tell the story. He gritted his teeth and pressed down on the trigger. As the X-wing's own fire reached him, he ducked low then right and back up, grinning to see his emerald shots splash off the craft's forward shield. The stream of red laser fire wound its way through space like a live serpent seeking out the rapidly closing TIE. Tilyer allowed himself a smile as the first few shots missed, but reality suddenly took icy hold as the inevitable happened.

Two bolts seared through one of his solar panels, doing no major damage, but a third lanced through the lower portion of the ball cockpit as it cored through the laser assembly and back into the engine housing. The resulting explosion shook the TIE so hard that Tilyer feared it would rip the whole thing apart. Fortunately for him, the engine shielding managed to contain most of the blast, but as the X-wing hurtled past, a cold fear settled into his stomach. Belsavis' icy face filled his entire view screen, and his inertial velocity was hurtling him right into its frigid grasp.


"I've lost contact with Alpha Two!" Linia called out.

"We've got bigger problems," Urtis exclaimed. "They've launched torpedoes—four of them five clicks out and closing!"

"Target all batteries on the incoming ordnance!" the captain shouted.

As ordered, the paired turbolaser batteries opened up, filling space with a wall of green laser fire. One torpedo exploded, then another. Two more were still rocketing toward the Enforcer.

"Three clicks out," Urtis said. "Two."

One of them detonated in a dazzling explosion, but the other blasted through the gauntlet of laser fire. Linia closed her eyes and braced herself at the console. The Enforcer shuddered as the missile struck the starboard side, but thankfully its shields absorbed the worst of the damage. Nonetheless, Linia's breath came in frantic pants as she opened her eyes once more.

"Are the fighters still closing?" Commander Venka asked.

Lieutenant Dusat nodded, "Yessir, three clicks out—almost in range of our batteries."

"Then shoot them!"

The turbolaser batteries fired again just as the enemy fighters began their attack run, but for all their power, the massive cannons couldn't track their quarry as well as the X-wings could avoid their fire. They wove their way through the curtain of emerald destruction, all the time pouring fire into the corvette's shields.

"Forward shields are down to thirty percent!" one of the bridge technicians shouted.

"Intensify turbolaser fire!" Ygra ordered.

"Output is already one hundred percent," another tech answered, but still the X-wings grew closer.

Suddenly a new voice spoke in the cosmic light show. Lieutenant Del'Goren's fighter rocketed after the X-wings, raining down a steady stream of fire on the lead craft.

The enemy vessels grew larger and larger through the forward view-screen until they seemed impossibly close. Linia's heart skipped a beat as she saw one fighter, the one Lieutenant Del'Goren had been targeting, suddenly explode into a fireball of blue gas as its engine ruptured. The other fighter looked as if it would shoot overhead, but at the last moment it spat another pair of torpedoes from its forward tubes.

The X-wing and missiles shot overhead, but as the fighter banked away, the torpedoes plowed into the Enforcer's spine.

The shields flashed as the first one hit, but failed to stop the second as it detonated alone the ship's communication array. The communication dish mounted on top practically disintegrated in the explosion, and the blast sheered away a portion of the ship's hull, opening part of the top deck to cold vacuum.

On the bridge, if felt as if the whole ship was about to break apart. Linia just barely managed to keep her head from going through her console as the rest of the technicians maintained similar death grips on various stationary objects. As the shaking stopped, Linia breathed a sigh of relief, thoroughly enjoying the fact that the Enforcer hadn't deatomized after all.

"Captain," Linia said urgently, "Shields are down, but it looks like the rebels are making a run for it. Shall we pursue them?"

Only silence answered her.

"Captain?"

Linia gasped in horror as she turned to see Captain Ygra's crumpled body sprawled across the floor. He laid unmoving, eyes closed, with a steady trickle of crimson dribbling from his nose and mouth. Linia stared in a moment of dumbstruck silence before her sense of duty broke free of the dread fermenting in her bowels. She frantically tapped into the ship's communication grid.

"Medical team to the bridge—the captain's been injured. Repeat, Captain Ygra is down!"