"Foils in attack position," Kenny ordered. He reached up and pulled on the activation string. From inside the cockpit came the sounds of dozens of servos and gears twisting and moving like a tiny factory inside the frame of the Crystal Star's version of the X-Wing, called the Omega Fighter, or O-Fighter. On both sides of the cockpit, in response to immense work by the gears and servos, the craft's two giant wings parted into three separate airfoils. The two larger ones opened up into a wide V formation, while the much smaller third part opened up ninety degrees horizontally, giving the final formation a W-like shape.
All around him, the other eleven O-Fighters followed suite, and a few seconds later, the entire squadron was ready for action.
But first thing was first. "Hailing Rebel Commander, this is Omega Leader, Kenny Ferdan of Crystal Star Freighter Dooliir speaking. Over."
"Copy you Commander Kenny Ferdan, this is Commander Duno Raedy of the Cruiser Urenstad," came a scratchy alien voice. "Nice to meet you. Those Omega Fighters you boys are flyin' over there?"
"Yes, sir," Kenny responded, somewhat cocky. "Primary grade."
"Nice," Raedy responded. "Always wanted one of those."
Kenny veered the joystick left towards the two dozen Rebel Fighters flanking the debris field. "Thank you. But, sir, I'm not a Commander anymore. I joined the Alliance an hour ago. Just happened to be on the Dooliir when these guys showed up."
"That's understandable Mr. Ferdan. However, until you start wearing our uniform, you're still Crystal Star to me. No offense."
Kenny hesitated. "None taken."
"Hey, Kenny," said a different voice, belonging to Tiley Jighthawk, Omega Two. "You're still not our Commander anymore, so I'm sorry but you're not in charge. Rax put me in charge now."
Damn it, Kenny thought, I resigned too soon.
"I didn't say that, Colonel Jighthawk," Rax snapped , surprising Kenny. "You heard the Rebel Commander. Until Kenny wears an Alliance uniform, he's still one of us, which means he's still your Commander. Nice try though."
Kenny smiled. Yeah, nice try. "Okay, Commander Raedy. Mind if we join your fighter screen."
"Go ahead Commander. Fall in right beside us. And good luck."
"Thank you, you too. Ferdan out." Kenny said, pulling alongside the lead X-Wing belonging to the man he was talking to. He looked across at him; and saw the features of a Pollasir male; short with a fat face and chunky hair. Raedy looked across at Kenny now, and the two exchanged nods. Then Kenny looked ahead, as the Imperial ships loomed on the horizon of his canopy. He opened the comlink again, this time to his squadron. "All right boys and girls. Here's what I expect. You treat these pilots like your own friends, 'cause as of right now they are. I expect you to cooperate with them, no matter what you think of the Rebel Alliance. I hope you guys get it." He paused for a moment. "Now let's get into formation."
The O-Fighters maneuvered into position around Kenny, forming a V, similar to what the Alliance was doing, only there's was much bigger considering they had more ships to work with.
"Tune into the Alliance channel for orders," Kenny ordered. He did so himself. Immediately, as soon as he had flipped the switch, the sound of another man's voice came over the com. As he did that, a horde of concussion missiles from the few A-Wings sped out towards the mass of TIE Fighters, and several explosions ensued, destroying a small amount of TIEs and damaging a few others.
"Fifteen seconds to intercept." A pause, then: "This is Captain Haulit to all pilots. This is where we make our stand for the Sloman Massacre. Make it count."
Kenny heard the words, and suddenly became filled with an immense pride. He couldn't explain it at all. It was just a good feeling. Like the time when he had asked Danielle to marry him, or the time right after that when she said "yes."
He looked up at the swarm of oncoming Imperial TIE Fighters, and he wasn't scared, wasn't tense, wasn't nervous; he was ready.
And the battle begun.
Kenny jammed back the firing button on the joystick, unleashing a barrage of green lasers into the mess of TIEs. He spun his craft ninety degrees–still pouring out lasers–and flew straight in. Matching green lasers shot back at him, as enemy TIEs rushed past the canopy . "Keep formation Crystal Star!" he ordered his pilots over the open comlink, leveling the O-fighter out again. "We have to make them break up! Not us!" An explosion suddenly flashed to his left, catching Kenny off guard. "What was that?" he asked as he blinked quickly.
"Crash!" Commander Raedy told him. "Split up!" His X-Wing dove to port as the TIE wave passed and split up themselves.
"Damn it..." came another voice, the same one that had said "Fifteen seconds to intercept" earlier. "All right, change of plan." A breath, then: "The Gatekeeper is blocking the Interdictor from us, so long range fire from the Urenstad is out of the question. Hang on, I gotta think about this."
Kenny, along with an A-Wing on his starboard side, ripped into a formation of TIEs, destroying all six of them on one pass because of very excellent marksmanship by both pilots. Tipping his wings in salute, Kenny then turned towards the scene enveloping to port, which was the battle slowly making its way towards the Urenstad and the rest of the task force, which consisted of a Light Cruiser, two corvettes, two gunships, one Medium Transport and a Bulk Cruiser. This battle wasn't going to last long. Wait a minute...
Just as he was about to say something, Rax spoke first. "Captain Haulit this is Captain Hollafer. Can you help get the uswithin torpedo range of the Interdictor? Over."
A pause. "What do you mean torpedo range?" Haulit responded.
Rax hesitated. "I have seventy-five proton torpedoes stocked in my missile bays Captain."
Kenny blasted the TIE he was chasing, then dodged as one streaked over his fighter.
"That's more than enough to handle an Interdictor Cruiser," Rax continued. "Now can you help get my ship into range?"
"Seventy-five proton torpedoes?" Haulit repeated. "So that's the Crystal Star's big secret. They arm their ships heavily." He chuckled.
Kenny veered to port, dodging another laser blast from the two TIEs now chasing him.
"Right, we'll help you," Haulit said.
"Okay," Rax confirmed. "We're going to take the debris field. Don't come with us, we're faster than your Cruiser. Send the two corvettes, and don't worry about fighter escort. My squad can handle that. Get into position Kenny."
Kenny veered to starboard now and, as he had hoped, the two TIEs on his tail collided straight into three more, unsuspecting, TIEs. Debris and rubble flew faster than anything away in result. "On the way," Kenny told Rax. "Omega group, form up into escort position. All wings report in now, in order."
"Two."
"Three."
A pause. Kenny felt a felt his blood boil.
"Five."
"Six."
"Seven."
"Eight."
"Nine."
Another pause.
And a long pause it was.
"Twelve," came the last call-in.
Damn, Kenny thought. "Omega Leader to Omega's Four, Ten, and Eleven. Do you copy? Sam, Kiler...Luce, you guys there?"
No response from any of them. Samuel Lawrence, Kiler Basjaskin, and Lucelia Gavers were gone. More victims of Vader. Again, Kenny's blood boiled.
"Okay," Kenny said, getting back to reality. His HUD was slowly filling with red spacial contacts—more TIEs. "Heads up everybody. TIEs comin' this way. I think they know somethin's up. My HUD's tellin' me about thirty-six, so get ready."
The Dooliir's limited turbolasers and laser cannons opened up in the direction of the TIEs as half of the Omega group charged head-on, Kenny and the other half lying in wait around the bigger ship.
The TIEs started breaking off into smaller formations of four, and then veered off in different directions. Kenny began to get alarmed, as the TIEs were spreading thin. However, the next second, his squad fighters out there each released one cluster missile package. He watched with excitement as the package unleashed its surprise—six small concussion missiles. They didn't track very well, but at this range that didn't matter much. A horde of enemy contacts disappeared off of the HUD, and the O-Fighters moved in to mop up.
Kenny jumped in his seat to release some of the energy he'd built up, as the Sloman debris field got closer and closer. "Be careful in here guys. Remember, its like an asteroid field. One wrong move and you're gone."
"This is the corvette Kalabaster. Us and the Charity, we'll clear the way."
Kenny nodded to no one. "Copy that. We'll help as best we can too. Ferdan to Rax. Concentrate on clearing the debris field. Let us worry about the fighters."
"Copy Kenny." The Dooliir's lasers turned onto the floating debris, as the two Alliance corvette's charged forward to help, guns blazing.
"Speaking of fighters," said Tiley Jighthawk, "I'm picking up a flight of Bombers coming this way; with a squad of Interceptors escorting."
"Shit!" Kenny said quietly. "Switch flights! Switch flights! Omega's change!" He maneuvered out to face the TIEs, as did the rest of the escort force, while the other O-Fighters came back to take up the spots Kenny's group had left behind. "Arm cluster missiles and fire at will."
His wing mates clicked once in acknowledgment.
Suddenly, several flashes emanated from the Bombers' positions.
"Wait, what the hell was that?" Jighthawk asked.
"Torpedoes!" said Halsopus Rades, Omega Nine.
"But they're not in range yet," Jighthawk said.
Kenny was confused as well, until he saw all the torpedoes; not evenly spaced, not curving or bending; they'd been dumb-fired—without a target lock. It was then that he realized why they had fired. "Those are meant for us! Evasive!" Kenny pulled back on the stick, raising his fighter then leveling it as the dangerous proton torpedoes flew by his canopy. One hit and he was dead. He inverted, spun, swerved, keeping his dizzy eyes looking around, watching as the torpedoes whizzed by.
"Hal!" Jighthawk cried over the comlink.
Though he was dizzy, Kenny saw the bright explosion as—he guessed—Rades fighter got hit by a torpedo and blew up. "Don't lose focus Tiley!" He cleared the torpedo wave and sighed in relief. "Check in second flight."
"Two."
"Five."
And of course, Nine was dead.
"Shit, they're converging on me!" said Omega Five, Gerth Pollister.
Kenny blinked away his dizziness and glanced out the right side of his cockpit, looking back ahead every split second to make sure he didn't crash into anything. In the distance, he saw Pollister's fighter angle right as two TIE Interceptor's flew at it, guns blazing. He wasn't fast enough, as his ship got pounded relentlessly. "Maneuver Gerth!" But it was no use, the fighter's shields dropped and it was reduced to rubble an instant later.
Again, Kenny's blood boiled. Only two of the four remained now.
"Don't lose focus Tiley!" Kenny repeated as he got his first glance at the two Interceptors about to converge on him. He turned to port so that he was going head-on at one of them. The Interceptor released a barrage of lasers that Kenny answered with one simple quadruple fire. The shield-less little gray ship flew straight into the lasers and was torn apart. Kenny accelerated, becoming too fast for the other Interceptor. After a few seconds of that, he lowered the throttle and spun his fighter back down, towards the Bombers; he was slightly behind them. He then moved the throttle up and jammed the laser trigger; he was too close for a cluster missile. The Bombers had already begun to split up, but they weren't fast enough. Kenny ripped into their numbers, picking off a small amount in one pass, and breaking the Bombers original formation. "Head up first flight, those Bombers are comin' your way." Blasting an unsuspecting second Interceptor, Kenny cut power to the throttle altogether, throwing him forward. He then yanked back on the stick, bringing the Bombers back into view and accelerating again. "How you doin' Tiley?"
"Got a little heat, but nothing I can't handle," Jighthawk responded.
"Good—"
"—Looks like you've got some problems too," Jighthawk added as his fighter shot above Kenny.
Kenny flashed a glance at his HUD, and saw the two fighters tailing him. Sighing, he thrust the stick back-and-forth and side-to-side, sending his fighter into pitches and rolls as the TIEs tried ceaselessly to destroy him; risky considering he was still dodging debris, as was the Interceptors. He was pressed for time, but too outnumbered to risk trying anything. If those Bombers got within range of the Dooliir...
"Kenny I'm coming in right above you," Jighthawk said. "And I still got those fighters on my back. You scratch mine, I'll scratch yours."
"You got it." He saw Jighthawk and turned in his direction. The two were only a few hundred meters apart and closing fast. They were about to attempt a risky maneuver, which Kenny was slightly nervous about using. But with no initial debris blocking their path and the need for time great, he was ready to do it. Licking his lips, his grip tightened on the joystick, anxious to fire. His shields on full rear and slowly being eaten away, Kenny passed under Jighthawk and opened fire, catching the TIEs off guard. One exploded, while the other spun out of control to port, eventually crashing into a hunk of debris. Meanwhile, behind him, Jighthawk made short work of the two fighters on him.
"Nice job man." Kenny didn't have time to celebrate though.
"You too."
Kenny accelerated as fast as the fighter would go towards the remaining Bombers. They were awfully close now. Once in range, Kenny fired away his cluster missile package, hoping it would reach the group he was targeting in time. And it did. Before any torpedoes were fired, the six small concussion missiles mangled the four TIEs, and erased their signatures from the HUD. Kenny angled to port, going around a large piece of debris, and searching for more Bomber contacts. It didn't take him long to find a few, and he started for them as the battle intensified around him. HUD said that that group of five Bombers was all that was left of them; and they had already turned around, heading for the Dooliir. "Tiley, get over here! Mark 233-340! Last of the Bombers!"
"All right! Coming!"
Kenny came down from above the Bombers, but slightly behind them too. Flying at full speed, the klicks slowly disappeared. Below three...below two...below one-and-a-half...he fired away as he swung around a piece of debris. Several shots later, two Bombers were leaving behind trails of debris and dust as they spiraled out of control away from the Dooliir. As he was hitting a third one, a cluster missile package flew in from behind him, over the upper-right portion of the canopy, and straight at the remaining Bombers. The missiles separated, several flashes ensued, and then the Bomber's contact points disappeared on the HUD. "Good job Tiley. Nice shot."
"Thank you sir, but we didn't do it in time. Look at the Dooliir."
Kenny did so, and didn't notice anything at first. Then he saw the flashes of the four proton torpedoes and they sailed towards the vulnerable Dooliir. The freighter fired off two countermeasures in response, blowing two of the torpedoes. However, the other two torpedoes impacted on the port side shield, the shock wave vibrating space all around. "You all right Rax?" Kenny asked after a second.
"No problem," Rax responded. "A little shaken up though, but nothing we can't handle."
"Good. You're almost there."
"Yeah. Just keep holdin' them off."
"You got it." Kenny switched channels. "Ferdan to Commander Raedy. How you boys holdin' up?"
"Better than I had hoped. Imperial training seems a bit lax. How about you guys?"
"Fine. We're almost to the Interdictor now."
"Roger that."
Kenny switched over to the other channel.
"—'re trying to leave the fight," he heard Rax finish. "
"Huh?" he asked.
"That Star Destroyer is moving to the other side of the debris field. I think they think we're trying to leave," he chuckled.
Kenny snickered. "Really?" He looked up and saw the alleged Star Destroyer. It was moving in front of the Dooliir's initial heading, like it was going to try and block it when it eventually came out of the debris field. It almost made him laugh out loud. "Wait 'til we get outta here..."
"Passing the Gatekeeper on the left," Rax said in a cocky voice. "Fark," he continued in a distant voice. "A little further to Mark 550-789, then turn to Mark 225-90 on my command."
The Gatekeeper's tip came and went, and the Interdictor Cruiser holding everything from entering hyperspace appeared, almost ten times as small as the Super Star Destroyer guarding it.
The Imperials didn't challenge them anymore as they all proceeded ahead, until the Dooliir reached coordinates Mark 550-789. Then, the freighter turned a sharp ninety-degrees and then let off exhaust as it accelerated towards the Interdictor, guns blazing at the debris in its path. The Rebel corvettes stayed behind, knowing they were useless against a Super Star Destroyer.
-
Rax gripped the armrests of his chair anxiously. Excitement flooded through his veiny system, and his breath was nice and easy, like an efficient machine. "Open the torpedoes bays. Powitt, get to the helm and help Fark."
Powitt Vinley Waseq, the only Bingin Rax knew of in the Crystal Star, ran over next to Fark's helm station. Fark scooted over in his chair as far as he could, letting Powitt sit on its edge. The two men shared Fark's control panel, getting ready to hold the Dooliir steady. "Ready!" Fark shouted.
"We in range yet, Herra?" Rax asked to his weapons officer.
"Almost, sir," Herra Jewd the Ponadin female responded. "Just ten more seconds."
Rax fidgeted in his seat, ready for the joy this attack was about to bring to him. He grinned in a sensed victory.
After a while: "Target locking...target lock!" Herra shouted.
"Target twenty torpedoes on the strongest power source. It should be the power core. Is it?"
A beat. "Yeah it is Rax."
"Fire!"
Herra complied and started firing torpedoes. Rax gripped the armrests even harder as the ship pitched and rocked from the sheer force of the torpedoes. That was Fark and Powitt's job: to keep the ship as steady as possible as Herra fired away. The protons ripped through space, drooling to hit their alleged target; or maybe that was Rax's own hunger for destruction. His blood boiled in want to see the Interdictor explode. And as the torpedoes neared the peaceful surface of the Interdictor, Rax knew he would get his wish.
The torpedoes finally hit, and a fireworks show ensued afterward. Every torpedo that impacted the shields and soon enough the polished surface of the Interdictor added to the show, a spectacular pattern of lights and vibrations. Then suddenly, in what could be compared to the grand finale of a fireworks show, the Interdictor Cruiser exploded in a huge flash of light and color. The explosion littered the general area with more debris, adding on the Sloman graveyard. The only piece big enough to be considered a flight hazard was the black and gray, sheared bow section, floating away from the Gatekeeper.
The bridge erupted in cheering and "whooping" as the gravity well created by the Interdictor went down. Now they could all escape into hyperspace.
-
Kenny let out a victorious breath of air. He felt like his revenge had been satisfied. Surprise you sons of a bitches! Weren't expecting that, were you? Kenny let himself laugh in delight.
"Okay," Rax said. "We're done here. Let's turn around. Same way we came."
Kenny rolled to starboard and was soon looking back at the debris field. Somehow or another, he felt good, like the debris field was applauding him now. As if Danielle had been watching this fight so far, and was cheering along with the rest of the Dooliir and the Alliance ships.
"Um, hang on. We got a problem," Jighthawk reported. "The other Destroyer's back."
Kenny checked his HUD, and the saw the huge contact that was the Star Destroyer—the one that had been waiting for them, having expected them to come out the other side of the debris field. It was coming towards them fast, looking to cut off their escape route.
"Fine then. Though I hate to waste more torpedoes, we'll just have to go through it."
"Copy that," Kenny responded. He fell into escort position alongside the Dooliir, and followed it towards the Star Destroyer. A minute later, as the Star Destroyer loomed on Kenny's canopy, the Dooliir started draining its torpedo bays again. Torpedo after torpedo rained down at the Star Destroyer. Kenny watched as the Dooliir rocked back and forth with each torpedo it fired. He watched at the general area around Rax's ship, watching for any more Bombers or fighters. The clash between the Imperial ships and the Rebel ships had now moved to above the Gatekeeper, but none of it was in his general area. So for now, they were safe. The Dooliir continued to pour on the torpedoes, one after the other, until the lights flashing down on the Destroyer got ferociously bright. Then the torpedoes stopped. Moments later, the Star Destroyer exploded, brighter than the Interdictor, and Kenny let our another breath of victory.
"Okay," Rax said over the com. "Let's get out of here. Back into the debris field—whoa!"
The Dooliir suddenly veered unexpectedly to port, its bow being dragged towards the Gatekeeper.
"We're caught in a tractor beam!" Rax said after a moment. "They're pulling us in!"
Kenny's mind raced for an idea, and he soon found one. The obvious one. "Don't rotate the shields yet! Wait until you get into torpedo range."
"We may not last that long," Rax answered. "They're launching more Bombers. We're rotating now! Herra!"
"No, wait Herra!" Kenny shouted. "Rax wait. We'll handle the Bombers. I promise you. Just don't rotate yet. When you do, rotate them, break the tractor lock, and then fire at will. Hang on though." He switched channels as he spotted the TIE Bombers and accelerated towards them. "Ferdan to Raedy. Can you spare some fighters? There are a lot of Bombers comin' our way."
"Consider it done Commander," Raedy's scratchy voice said.
"Good. Thank you." Kenny switched channels. He saw Omega group form around him as the Bombers neared again, this time without any Interceptors escorting them. Easy targets. As soon as he was in range, he and the rest of his group opened fire on the group, blasting the shieldless crafts into cinders and rubble. By the time the first pass was done, a good ninety percent of them were gone. They didn't need to make a second pass. Raedy's pilots took care of the rest of them. None of the Bombers even came close to getting into torpedo range. "Okay," Kenny said to Rax. "Rotate the shields and let them have it."
Moments later, the Dooliir rotated the shields and in the blink of an eye, broke the tractor beam lock, and then immediately opened fire with the torpedoes, rocking furiously. The Crystal Star freighter remained flying straight at the huge Super Star Destroyer, unloading the rest of its torpedoes at it, Kenny watched with excitement as the protons roared into the shields, and more flashes ensued, blinding Kenny for a few moments. To not let himself distracted, he maneuvered away from the Dooliir and started helping the Rebel forces take on the numerous Imperial fighters. He managed to score quite a couple kills before the Dooliir's torpedo bays were dry and the harmless looking freighter was heading away from the Gatekeeper, having scorched its surface; literally; the Gatekeeper's upper surface was ash black. Kenny could see inside to desecrated corridors of the ship. Torpedo craters dotted the destruction site, and sparks flashed from the all the damage. It looked like a giant monster had come and taken a bite out of the Super Star Destroyer. The ship had taken a mighty blow, and was starting to drift like a planet having been thrown off its axis.
Blasting across his vision, the Dooliir regained its composure and started for the exit vector, along with the already fleeing task force. It was still being fired on though, caught in a long-range crossfire from the other Star Destroyer and close-range shots from the Gatekeeper. But it was faster than both, and was slowly gaining ground away its chasers. The only problem now was that it was being dogged by fighters again.
Kenny accelerated towards the fighters at full speed, requesting back-up as he did. But that ended up being mainly his own squadron again. The Alliance fighters were too busy protecting their B-Wing and Y-Wing bombers as they attacked the vulnerable Gatekeeper, dropping torpedoes and bombs on the shieldless upper surface and destroying it bit by bit.
So Kenny and what remained of his squadron—Omega Twelve had been taken down while the Dooliir was caught in the Gatekeeper's tractor beam—entered into a dogfight with the TIEs. He blew up two with his first pass, taking them both by surprise apparently. As the fight for the Dooliir continued, the Gatekeeper finally regained its ground, and maneuvered it's bow towards the escaping ship, firing salvo after salvo at it in the hopes on knocking out its rear-facing engines and trapping it without the use of an Interdictor. But Kenny had confidence that the Dooliir was too far away now. Kenny dropped in behind a Fighter and an Interceptor and picked them off one at a time, quickly before they could react. He then rolled and veered as two Fighters came in behind him and started firing away. Not having to worry about hitting anymore debris, Kenny was became confident with his flying. His shields took a few hits, but soon after, the two Fighters were destroyed by Jighthawk.
"Going on twelve here," Jighthawk remarked boldly.
"I got seventeen," Kenny recounted from memory. "You better start workin' harder."
"Shut up," Jighthawk said after a moment.
Kenny grinned. It soon disappeared though, as he glanced over at the Dooliir and saw several of the Gatekeeper's long range shots hitting the rear shield. "Shit," he whispered. "How's the ship holdin' up Rax?"
Static, then: "Good for now but at the rate our shields are dropping, that won't last long," came the Renevan's response.
"Copy that." He switched channels and was about to speak when he glanced over and saw the Urenstad—and it caused him to do a double take. The giant Cruiser was rolling on its center, firing whatever small amount of working guns it had left, black and scorched worse than the top of the Gatekeeper. It had holes in almost every part of it, and looking pathetically dead.
The suddenly, Captain Haulit's medium-toned voice came onto the com channel. "This is Captain Kren Haulit of the Cruiser Urenstad to all the Crew of the Crystal Star who are flying and are on the Dooliir. Thank you for your help. I've already made sure that your help in this fight will never be forgotten by the Rebel Alliance. And to Commander Kenny Ferdan. I'm again sorry for your loss. You'll make a marvelous pilot in the Alliance. Thank you again Crystal Star. Its been an honor." The transmission ended. Then, almost directly after the message was done, the Urenstad turned to port, aiming its damaged hulk towards the scolded and still shieldless top surface of the Gatekeeper. It powered forward, and Kenny knew Haulit was going to ram the Destroyer. Kenny's heart skipped a beat as he saw it accelerate towards it target. He wanted to stop them but he somehow knew they wouldn't listen. Then, much to his surprise, the Urenstad fired up its engines, beyond safety precautions and heat toleration as indicated by the immense thermal energy readings Kenny was picking up. The engines overheated and exploded, blowing off the whole aft section of the Cruiser. The sudden force propelled the Cruiser forward at four times the speed it had been going before, not giving the Gatekeeper's guns a chance to repel it. At last, as the Urenstad was still picking up speed, the Cruiser smashed into the surface of the Super Star Destroyer. Metal pushed against metal, debris flew off the hulls of both as the titanic collision forced all eyes towards it; in shock by most who watched. At first, the crash did nothing to effect the Gatekeeper, and everything to effect the Urenstad. Its bow slowly disintegrated away against the rough surface, chipping away like paint. Then, out of no where, the Cruiser self-destructed, no doubt having been executed by Haulit. Since part of the bow had become lodged inside the Gatekeeper, it took out a huge oval portion of the already ruptured surface. The shock wave from the explosion and the force of the explosion took out even more surface, indirectly. The hull was flattened against itself, parts of it caving in. After the deadly detonation, the Gatekeeper no longer looked like the dreadful, soul-wrenching warship that was feared throughout the galaxy.
Kenny thought it rather looked helpless. Vader's ship; the symbol of the Empire, looked helpless, like the Rebel Alliance when it was first formed. What goes around comes around, he thought. He looked down at his HUD, and his felt his body temperature rise in excitement and anxiousness. What the HUD was telling him was miraculous. The force of the explosion, since it had been very close to the Gatekeeper, had caused a temporary overload in some systems. One of those systems had been the ship's shields; they were all now down for the time being, including the bridge shield. Kenny did a 180 degree turn and blasted back towards the Gatekeeper, aiming his ship for the command deck.
"Kenny where are you going!" Jighthawk shouted.
Part way there, he suddenly felt regretful at having making that decision without a second thought, so he turned around.
"Where are you going?" Jighthawk asked.
"I was going to attack the Gatekeeper's bridge," Kenny said blandly. "But then I remembered that that would be suicide." He paused. "Let's get out of here everybody." He looked out the side of his canopy, and saw the second biggest ship in the Alliance task force, the Light Cruiser Derra Fork, drifting silently in space, being destroyed slowly by the lone Imperial Star Destroyer, the only Imperial ship that hadn't been touched at all during the battle. For the umpteenth time, Kenny's blood boiled. But then he looked over at the Gatekeeper, and saw all the damage that had been inflicted on Vader's ship, and he felt a pride he hadn't felt in a long time. And it felt good. Very good. Serves you bastards right. Good bye. With that, Kenny escorted the remaining Rebel ships into hyperspace, and soon followed. He didn't feel revenged though. But it was good enough for now.