A/N: Well, this is going to be… neat. For those who don't know, Accuser was the Star Destroyer assigned to one Captain Firmus Piett before his reassignment to Executor and later promotion to Fleet Admiral of Death Squadron. To me, and many others, that reassignment was owing to the fact that Vader saw Piett as a worthwhile commander, but Piett was not assigned to Executor until only a short while before Hoth, and so here he is on the Accuser, seeing as the Rebels haven't even conceived of settling on that frigid planet yet. Anyway, enough with the lore dump, on we go!


2 ABY, several months before Echo Base's establishment, Uninhabited System, approximate grid quadrant J18…

"Rogue 3 to Rogue Lead, system's clear," said Wedge Antilles, reporting in on the Rogues' latest assignment, "But I took a cursory look at the ground and I feel like any base we made would start sinking."

"Copy Rogue 3, strike another one off the list," replied Luke Skywalker, though he couldn't shake the feeling that something was… off, in the Force, "Anyone else find anything useful?"

"Rogue 4 here, I got nothing," said Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, then he added, quietly, "Unless you count that mudhole."

"What, the one you nearly crashed your ship into?" added Wes Janson, ever one to snipe at Hobbie, "Would've been perfect, really…"

"Cut the chatter, Rogue 4, what've you actually got for me?" Luke cut in.

"Uh, sorry sir, nothing on my scopes either," sighed Janson. "Rogue 6, you see anything?"

Samoc Farr, a veteran Chandrilan pilot, replied, "Not yet, no…" Suddenly an alarm blared. "Wait a second, something big just showed up…"

"Rogue 5 here," confirmed Tycho Celchu, "I'm getting the same…"

Luke was about to give a response when the familiar dagger silhouette of an Imperial Star Destroyer appeared, escorted by a Carrack and a Lancer, and, more distressingly, an Immobilizer 418, but before he could properly process it he pulled away from the looming threat and shouted, "Rogues, full retreat!"

Rogue Squadron obeyed, swinging wide as the Imperials began pouring fire at the X-Wings, and the ISD and Immobilizer both began deploying their fighters. As the Rogues dipped behind a small moon, Luke took stock of the situation. "Anyone get a signal out?"

"Negative, Commander," was the reply.

"Kriff," Luke groaned. "Well, anyway, Rogues 2 and 3, stick with me, we'll start taking out that ISD, Rogue 4, take Rogues 5 and 6 and see about taking out that Dragger, Rogues 7 through 9, keep the smaller capital ships busy, Rogues 10 through 12, you're on TIE patrol. Everyone clear?"

"We're ready, sir," acknowledged the squadron.

"Alright, Rogues, move out!"


Aboard the Accuser…

"Captain, scanners have cross-referenced the Rebel ships, and we've located a priority target," said a comms officer as he inspected the latest data.

Captain Firmus Piett nodded, glancing down at the officer in question. "And the identity of this target, lieutenant?"

"Luke Skywalker, sir," said the officer.

"Priority target indeed," Piett sighed. "Lieutenant Venka, thank you for this information. To all ships, move to disable, not destroy. Lord Vader wants Skywalker alive."

The commanders of the Accuser's escorts acknowledged, and when the familiar crosses of X-Wings began bearing down on them, the laser batteries of the various vessels began, very subtly, to bracket the squadron. With nearly 100 TIEs also bearing down on them, the severely outnumbered Rogues should've been easy pickings… but they were the Rogues, and thus no mere encirclement would be enough to take them down.

As Piett noticed this, he recognized there was likely only one way to ensure the Rogues would be forced into an untenable position… though he very much disliked this particular option. Too much like the Death Star, he'd always thought, a device he, along with many others, had tolerated, but disdained. "Ready the proton beam cannon," he stated firmly, and his chief weapons officer nodded.

Out in space…

Moments later, a brilliant orange beam of clustered protons and other heavily ionized particles streamed out of the prow of the Accuser, slicing a brilliant line between the fighters of Rogue Squadron: None had been critically damaged, having seen the beam approaching, but a few of them had gotten a bit winged. As they attempted to dart back out, a sudden ion barrage streaked towards the upper half of the split squadron: With no time to react to it and nowhere to go, seeing as the beam was still beneath them and it was as wide as they were, and then some… suddenly they were down 4 or 5 ships.

The remaining Rogues, who'd been forced below, had had an easier time: ISDs were infamous for having very poor ventral defenses, so they weren't in much danger of an ion barrage, but unfortunately, the escort vessels had been well-positioned: Immediately as they dived beneath the firing arc of much of the Accuser's weaponry, they let loose a concentrated volley of their weapons, aiming for key components like weapons and S-foils.

Janson grimaced as he pulled away from his stricken wingmates; he had been the only one to properly dodge the ion barrage the Imperials had launched, with Farr having also almost made it, but now with partial engine loss, meaning she was running at only 2/3 of max speed. Swinging back around, he fired off several blasts at the 3 TIEs currently bearing down on her position, nailing one in the cockpit, another on a wing strut, and the third on the panel itself, causing it to spiral wildly out of control and take out another group of 5 in a cascading series of explosions.

"Rogue 6, get to the others, I'll cover you!" he shouted.

"What about you, Rogue 4?" asked Farr.

"Rogue Lead, 2, 3, and 5 are all down and X-Wings don't come with tractor beams," Janson groaned. "I'll keep them off the guys as long as I can but I'm not Skywalker."

Farr nodded solemnly. "Acknowledged, Rogue 4. Rogue 6 to all Rogues, give me some cover!" With that she banked sharply down, diving past the octuple batteries of the destroyer ahead of them, while Janson began bobbing and weaving past several TIEs in a vain attempt to get them to miss him entirely or, even better, crash into each other.


On the other side, Nala Hetsime, Rogue 7, realized he'd very likely have to take on full command of the Rogues once this engagement was over… assuming he made it out, that was. Still, the TIE presence was admittedly sparse beneath the ISD, and while the two smaller capital ships were presenting an issue, they didn't seem to be trying to actively hit the Rogues. "Alright, Rogue 8, Rogue 9, let's see what we can do about that drag ship; Rogue 10, take 11 and 12 and see if you can't sweep around that ISD, take out its engines."

"What about the guys up top, Rogue 7?" asked Cinda Tarheel, Rogue 8. "Should we go back for them?"

"And risk getting the entire squadron captured, Rogue 8?" replied Hetsime. "No offense to the guys up there, but we need to get out of here. Now come on!"

With that the Rogues broke off once more, but unfortunate side effect of attempting to take refuge beneath a Star Destroyer: you became easy pickings for its tractor beams. Out of nowhere Rogues 7, 9, 10, and 12 found themselves yanked upward, dragged toward the ventral hangar, leaving only Tarheel and Tenk Lenso, Rogue 11, behind as free members of the Rogues: Farr was approaching, yes, but she knew it was only a matter of time before one of her engines gave out and she'd be stuck, dead in space, and Janson… well he was still caught in the mess of fighters above the vessel.

Still, Lenso did manage to break far enough away to attempt a desperate strike on the destroyer's bridge, unloading a volley of torpedoes as he passed over, but residual ion damage and a poor angle meant he didn't do much other than busting up its sensor array, and in a moment of fast thinking, he immediately swung toward the Carrack, which had been slowly turning up to meet him; he used that to dive down at it and unload on its engine block, taking down the uppermost engine bay and leaving it swinging even further upward, on a direct course for the ISD's superstructure. However, in one last act of defiance, the Carrack unleashed a salvo, tearing off two of Lenso's S-foils; it wasn't long before the ISD got a bead on him and fired off another ion blast.

Tarheel had a bit more luck with the Lancer; some poor maneuvering on its part meant it had left its prow wide open for a concentrated assault, and pouring basically everything her fighter had into the frigate, she annihilated its bridge and left it swinging starboard on a course that would lead directly into the Destroyer's hangar bay if they weren't careful. 'Score one for the Rogues,' she thought, even as she attempted a dive toward the Immobilizer waiting patiently at the rear; unfortunately by this point the fighter screen, which at this point had at least been dwindled down to about half, had broken off a squadron or two: after the Destroyer's tractor beam had thrown off her inertial compensators, her maneuverability had tanked, and so despite managing take down another 3 or 4, eventually one got her on the top left wing: the sudden loss of an engine meant she had to drastically slow down or risk being splattered against her own canopy, which played right into the Imperial's hands; a few seconds later, she suddenly found herself locked down, not by a tractor beam, but by a gravity well. Sighing to herself, she made the call to the rest of the Rogues. "Rogue 8 to Rogue Squadron, looks like we lost this one."


Bridge of the Accuser

Piett sighed as he watched the tug ships deploy to drag in the various fighters of Rogue Squadron. On the one hand, he had beaten the famed Rogue Squadron. On the other hand, it had come at the cost of an entirely lost frigate and a crippled cruiser no longer able to enter hyperspace. Still, the Immobilizer behind him had suffered essentially no meaningful damage, meaning it could easily remain and patrol this small subsector with little issue, particularly if aided by another cruiser.

Still, as Captain of this vessel, and with an extremely valuable prisoner aboard, he knew he must head down to the hangar. "Lieutenant, I am leaving for the hangar to confirm Skywalker's presence among these… Rogues, I believe. You have the bridge."

Piett's XO nodded, and replied in turn, "I have the bridge, Captain."

With that, Piett turned on his heel and left.

He was soon in the hangar, and not a moment too soon: the last tug ship had just pulled in the remaining Rogues, and soon all 12 X-Wings were locked in the main hangar. Technicians opened up the canopies, and the stormtrooper commander currently overseeing the operation ordered all pilots out with their hands up, and with all weapons handed over. The Rogues complied, and the commander acknowledged Piett's presence with a booming, "CAPTAIN ON DECK!"

All Imperial personnel turned and saluted the captain, before Piett stepped forward to more closely identify the Rogues. After retrieving the Wanted holo, he soon recognized which of these was Luke Skywalker. Turning to the young man in question, barely more than a boy, he noted as he got a closer look, he stated, "Luke Skywalker, for acts of resisting arrest, extraction of Imperial prisoners, and gross destruction of Imperial hardware, you, and your fellow pilots, are under arrest." Turning to the stormtrooper commander he gave the order. "Escort them to priority Cell Block A138; I will inform Lord Vader of this development." The trooper nodded, and collected a squad to take the pilots, still in their utterly garish orange flight suits to the requisite cell block.

As Piett watched them leave, he made the call to the bridge, informing them that he would be delayed momentarily in order to speak with Lord Vader about his successful capture.


Cell Block A138, Accuser

Luke sighed as he sat in his holding cell, one of the 12 set aside for the Rogues. He realized, belatedly, that the layout of his cell was rather similar to the ones on the Death Star, and wondered if this was just the Imperial standard. Still, he could feel the Force around him, and while he may not have had his lightsaber, he realized he still might have a way out of the situation. Reaching out with the Force, he thought about what it was he needed to do: escape. And to do that, first he had to open the door. Closing his eyes and outstretching his hand, he smiled to himself as he heard the light hiss of the door sliding open. Realizing he'd have very little time before the patrolling troopers came to investigate, he almost made for the other doors, before realizing there was a much simpler solution. Quietly sidling up to the pair standing outside, he waved his hand in front of them, and said, quietly, "You will open the cell doors immediately and return to your posts."

The two troopers responded, "We will open the cell doors immediately and return to our posts," and Luke sighed with relief. His trick had worked. Sure enough, the remaining cell doors opened up, and after knocking out the troopers, Luke quietly ordered his squadmates to keep it down and not alert anyone else.

"What's the plan then, boss?" asked Wedge. "Can't exactly walk around in these things."

Luke gave a cheeky grin. "I've got experience escaping Imperial prison blocks; I'll take one, someone else take another, and we'll fabricate some kind of emergency up here."

"Emergency? Like what?" asked Hobbie.

"Well…" suddenly there was a quiet *BANG* echoing throughout, and Luke shrugged. "That. Alright now someone hand me an armor set, I'll get on the comms."

After Luke and Janson, who'd opted to be the other trooper put on the armor, Luke switched on the comm, and an officer's voice came through on the other end. "TK-6375, your scheduled report was due 10 minutes ago. What is happening up there?"

"Apologies, sir," Luke said in a deep voice, "Some kind of minor gas leak occurred and I and my squadmate opted to investigate. Requesting a squad and some maintenance crews."

The dejected groan from the other end earned a few quiet snickers. "Acknowledged, TK-6375, your request shall be granted shortly." With that the call disconnected, and Luke motioned everyone to fan out within the room save himself and Janson, who'd approach the spot of the leak.

5 minutes later, a full 10 man squad walked in, and the maintenance crew followed behind them. Luke, still masquerading as a trooper, directed them to the leak, and as the crew set to work, he said, quickly, "NOW!" behind him.

In seconds the Rogues dove forward, surprising the squad who attempted to get on the comms, but before the sergeant could turn on their comm, Luke shoved them all to the ground with the Force. The maintenance crew started to freak out, but Janson quickly shouted, "Get back to work, we'll handle this!" They nodded, still confused, but by that point they rest of the Rogues now had weapons and armor. A few stun blasts later, and a change in uniform, and soon they were walking away from the prison block, otherwise completely fine.

Luke ordered the Rogues to all set to a particular frequency, and then told them to fan out toward the hangar bay, but to not be too obvious about it. "We'll split into teams of 4; I'll take Wedge, Janson, and Tycho and get all our droids back, Hobbie, take Farr, Nala, and Dak; see what sort of ships you can find; Cinda, you're with Zev, Datch, and Lenso, try and make a distraction. Take your pick as to what."

"Copy that, Commander," acknowledged Hobbie and Cinda. Hobbie then added, "Wait, why can't I be the distraction?"

Janson concurred. "Yeah, isn't Hobbie good at that sort of thing?"

Luke, seeing the opportunity, grinned. "Alright then, Hobbie, Cinda, swap roles. Hobbie's team, go nuts, Cinda, find us a ship out of here. We'll need to blast past that Immobilizer, but if we keep it casual we should be able to leave this system no problem."

With that, the rest of the squadron nodded, and the three teams fanned out.


Executor, in orbit over Eriadu…

Darth Vader felt the quivering comms officer before he saw him, and turned around to demand what it was that required his attention at this very moment. "Do not trifle me with minor disputes. What do you have for me?"

The officer nodded, and after steadying himself, said, "Captain Piett of the Accuser confirms capture of Luke Skywalker and the rest of Rogue Squadron, my lord."

Vader froze for a moment. "He has direct confirmation?"

"Yes, my lord," nodded the officer. "He saw the pilot himself."

Vader considered for a moment. "And where is the Accuser now?"

"En route to Eriadu, my lord," stated the officer. "Returning from the unspecified reconnaissance mission you sent it on approximately 3 days ago."

Vader nodded once more, then glanced down at the lowly comms man. "This is exceedingly useful information, ensign, and I will write my report later. For now, you are dismissed." The man nodded, before almost scurrying away in terror. And Lord Darth Vader, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military, glanced out at the stars, remembering back to the day the bounty hunter Boba Fett informed him of the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star: Luke Skywalker.

Musing to himself, he grinned almost fondly under his mask. Soon, my son. Soon you will be at my side, and together we shall rule the galaxy as father and son.


A/N: So it begins… When will the Alliance receive news of the capture of their best pilots, and what, exactly, will happen to the Rogues once they witness Executor? After all, any hope of escaping will absolutely fail in the presence of that mighty vessel, unless you pull something very unorthodox. And, true, the Rogues are good at the unorthodox, but Vader knows every damn trick in the piloting book. No amount of accomplished flying will get them out of this debacle.