11:59 A.M. En Route to the K'territ system

Flashing a quick glance at the clock, Bryan answered. "I dunno Puck, maybe. I'm really not trying to think about it that much. If it's a trap, then we'll fight our way out. We're good people."

WHAT IF THEY HAVE AN INTERDICTOR? Puck asked.

"Then we'll fight our way out," Bryan repeated more slowly.

OKAY. IF YOU SAY SO.

"Don't worry Puck, it'll be fine." He took a long breath and then sat up a little further to let some of the blood back into his cramped legs. "All right," he said in relief, flashing another glance at his LCD. "ETA forty-six seconds, Puck. You ready?"

YES, FOR THE THIRD TIME.

"Shut up."

The next forty-six seconds passed without a word, except for Puck making fun of Bryan's attempt to stretch in the cramped cockpit. When it came time, he brought the X-Wing out of hyperspace and held his breath. The stars returned to their normal twinkle, and Bryan instinctively searched for any sign of Imperial ships. When he didn't sight anything besides K'territ Seven, he checked the HUD to confirm it. The system was empty.

"Phew," Bryan said in relief. "All right." He flipped on the comlink. "Hailing Cruiser Liberty, this is Red Leader. K'territ system is clear. You're clear for entry."

"Copy that, Commander. We're on our way. Liberty out."

Bryan breathed again. "There you go Puck. So far so good."

SO FAR...

"Oh, be quiet." He plotted a new course and headed for it. It wouldn't be long before shift one of the fleet got here.

A minute and-a-half later, the Liberty's bow broke into realspace, on the spot where Bryan had been only a minute ago.

Slowly but surely, shift one followed. Several more Cruisers came next, along with numerous other Alliance starships; in less ten seconds, the area went from empty to full: fifty-one Cruisers; twenty-seven Frigates, forty-three gunships, nineteen corvettes, eleven transports, and two bulk cruisers.

"Nice to ya Liberty," Bryan said.

"You too Commander. Hurry back to the Faith though. We'll be making the final jump in another ten minutes here."

"Copy that. On my way back." He searched with the HUD and soon found the Faith's position; luckily it was close to the front of the fleet. He set the appropriate course, and then switched to the Faith's pilot channel. "Heads up Faith, I'mmm coming back."

"Roger that Commander."

He arrived with six minutes left until jump, and immediately headed for the Lounge. The fleet wouldn't be arriving at Deil Nine for at least half-an-hour. After he got his usual Fedrellon Glazer, he went back to the hangar to enjoy it with the giddy and anxious pilots that were always hanging out in the corner section where all the cargo crates were stacked. It was there favorite spot to be in in the time before an attack. When he got there, he was surprised to find only a few people, playing cards and drinking their own(nonalcoholic)drinks. Maxie, Yurnold Camikai, and Danny Jefferies.

"Hey guys. Got room for a forth?"

"Yeah, sure—"

"'Eah—"

"Sure—"

"Sweet," Bryan said blandly. He pulled a crate over and sat on Yurnold's left. "Whaddaya playin'?"

"Cressenda," Maxie responded. She threw down a gold Cressenda card, which caused Jefferies to sit back in frustration.

"Dammit." He groaned and threw down a purple Cressenda card.

"You can play after we're done with this game," Maxie told Bryan.

"Fine by me."

The turn now over, Maxie reached out and scooped up all three cards. She put them into her hand, then picked out one card and slapped it down on the crate top. It was another gold card.

Jefferies hesitated a moment, then put down a blue.

Yurnold dropped a second gold. "Cards?"

"Bastard," Maxie said after shaking her head. She wouldn't be able to beat him with a second gold because she didn't have one.

Yurnold picked up the trick and put it into his pile.

From what Bryan saw, Yurnold was leading. He had won about four out of the eight tricks. Maxie was catching up though, with three. Jefferies had absolutely none. He wasn't a very good card player. Bryan couldn't blame him though, He himself wasn't much better.

Yurnold slid a purple card onto the top, his last card.

Maxie threw her black in.

All eyes turned to Jefferies, anxious and tense.

Jefferies looked at both Yurnold and Maxie, then grabbed the upper-right corner of his last card. "Sorry Maxie," he apologized, and threw down a gold.

Maxie smacked her lips and sat back hard against another crate. "Thanks a lot Danny."

Jefferies just shrugged.

Yurnold stretched for a moment, then took up all the cards and started stacking them back up into a deck. He turned to Bryan. "What you wanna play?"

Bryan shrugged. "Let's just play Cressenda again."

"Okay." He scooted over to let Bryan get closer to the crate top, then proceeding to shuffle and deal the cards again, six to a person this time.

Bryan fanned out his six. Two golds, three blues—three damn blues—and a black. He quickly organized the cards from strongest to weakest, which didn't take much effort since the blues were already next to each other.

Yurnold started with a purple.

Bryan immediately dropped the first of his blues.

Maxie put down a second purple. She looked at Yurnold. "Cards?"

Yurnold shook his head calmly.

Jefferies put down a gold, and then scooped up the trick. He began next with a blue.

Yurnold slid in a black.

Bryan thought for a moment, then put down his black. "Cards?" he said to Yurnold as he gazed at him.

Yurnold nodded and put down a second black, which automatically made his card superior in this hand.

Bryan only sighed and turned his attention to Maxie.

She put down a purple again.

Yurnold took the trick, then started the next hand with a purple.

Bryan thought for a moment, then put down another blue.

Maxie looked over her cards for a minute, then promptly put down a gold.

Jefferies bit his lip, then decided to throw down a blue. "Cards?" he said to Bryan.

Bryan nodded and brought out his last blue.

The trick went to Maxie. She began next with a black.

Jefferies went with a gold.

Yurnold also went with a gold. "Cards?"

Jefferies shook his head. "Naw."

Bryan surprised Yurnold by putting down his own gold. "Cards?" he chirped.

Yurnold shook his head, and Bryan took the trick.

He put down his last gold and his last card.

Maxie threw out a blue.

Jefferies slapped down a gold. "Cards?"

Bryan just snickered and shook his head.

Yurnold put down a black.

Jefferies took the trick, and slid out a purple.

Yunold was out of cards now.

So was Bryan.

Maxie tossed out a black and took the trick.

Jefferies, now the only one with cards left, simply flew out his last card, a purple, and took the one-card trick. The entire game went to him with him winning his third trick.

Maybe he isn't as bad as I thought, Bryan thought to himself.

-

"Launch!"

Bryan flipped on the repulsorlifts, and instantly felt as they lifted his X-Wing into the air. Lifting the landing gear, he didn't hesitate in jamming in the throttle and blasting out of the hangar, leading the way for the starfighters behind him. As soon as he had moved past the shield line, he curved his fighter towards the close Imperial fleet. From all directions and all ships, the Alliance bore down on the surprised Star Destroyers. They had gotten the upper hand, just like Emilie had said they would. The gunners on the Star Destroyers would certainly take a few minutes to get to their guns, giving the Alliance time to bombard them repeatedly without a return shot.

The energy flowing throughout him, Bryan targeted the nearest patrolling TIE Fighter, only one klick away. An instant later, the Fighter and its pilot were dead. He grinned at his kill. But now his urge to see the Punisher in the real life was overbearing. So he looked up.

And frowned in dread and shock. The Punisher was there, but it was...it was...round. The hull was like ball now. That wasn't what it had looked like in the briefing, or on the surveillance photos Alliance Intelligence had managed to get. It was complete. Bryan gulped. And probably operational too. He opened a channel to the Liberty's bridge. "Liberty this is Commander Rawling. Emilie, is the Punisher supposed to look like that? You know. Done?"

No answer immediately. Apparently they had seen it too. "No," Emilie then answered herself. "Stand by for further orders." She cut the channel.

Bryan realized what this meant; the Punisher being finished. He felt his chest flood with a terrified warmth, and a noose tighten around his heart.

-

Emilie didn't know what to do. At the moment, all she could do was just stare out at the massive Punisher with distant and scared eyes. Her body was frozen almost, spine locked it its hunched curve.

Her mind raced at lightspeed—questions, options, shouts of terror, orders, explanations: it was starting to drive her crazy.

But she couldn't let herself get carried away. As an Admiral—the Admiral who was in charge of this attack—she had a job to do. Even though, in the back of her mind, she secretly knew it wouldn't make a difference. In a few minutes, hundreds would be killed. She hesitated, then opened a channel to the whole fleet. "We were mislead. All ships this is Admiral Rodenski. Retreat, retreat! I repeat, retreat! Abort mission!"

Out the center window, the numerous Star Destroyers around the fleet suddenly looked three times more dangerous than they had a minute ago. All across the window, starfighters battled each other in numerous dogfights.

The Liberty finally started to turn as Emilie saw space outside bend and angle. The Punisher crept off the upper-right hand corner slowly but surely.

"Liberty and Chalsoc wings," Emilie ordered. "Stick close to sector HA-10. Hold off those Star Destroyers for as long as you can. Fighters help, they're going to need you." She glanced over to Ilan Sarker, the bridge tactician. "Ilan, how long is the space between us and the Punisher?"

Ilan checked then answered, "Fifty-one klicks.

"Damn!" Emilie cursed. "Is the superlaser ready to fire!" She called out to Tilleper, the ops officer. Please, God, don't let it be operational!

"Thirty seconds, ma'am," Tilleper answered, like a judge reading a death sentence. "All ten are operational."

Emilie wanted to cry. She wanted to believe that this wasn't happening. The intelligence had been verified yesterday, for goodness sake! It was supposed to be right. And now...the tears could be felt beading up in her eyes.

The thirty seconds ticked away, the clock counting down to Emilie's execution.

A sharp and alarm-sounding tone blared from the sensor console.

"Here it comes," Tilleper muttered.

"No..." Emilie squeaked. "No..."

-

The Punisher sat, undisturbed, even though a battle raged on a distance away. But it was not out of the battle at all.

The four front-facing superlaser barrels lit up with a gradually growing, fiery red light. Then, faster than anyone could blink, the lasers fired at the battling fleets.

The red beams shot past the aft's of Star Destroyers; cut through the dogfighting starfighters, and at last struck the hulls of four targeted Rebel Cruisers.

Then, all was silent once again.

-

Nothing happened, and for a moment Emilie thought her prayer had come true. But then, in the back of her mind, her knowledge of how the Punisher's superlasers' worked came forward in a hurry, and she remembered why there was a delay...

"No..."

At the center of the window, the Arieun, one of the Cruiser's hit, tumbled ever so slightly from the force of the beam. Then suddenly, a long explosion blossomed from—Emilie knew—the energy conduits. The explosion followed the maze of conduits, cascading across the Arieun's hull. This happened for only a few seconds, up until the Cruiser's power core overloaded and blew up, taking the rest of the ship with it.

That was finally when the screaming stopped coming over the comlink.

In the time it took to breath one breathe, the Arieun, the Hallower,the Maria, and the Aurora were all destroyed.

-

Bryan couldn't believe his eyes. Hundreds of live were gone. More victims for Afgalan. The Punisher did it faster than anyone could take it in. And it was supposed to be off-line. Empire fooled us again. Bastards. Bryan felt the blood burn to lava in his heart; felt it shoot its way into his muscles and body. His temperature rose higher and higher, and his eyes lit up with a fire ten times as powerful as the Punsiher ever would be. If he could hit something, he would have. Hard too. He let his anger fuel his drive for survival, and continued to fight on...

...As the Imperial fleet moved to block the Alliance's escape vector.