Chapter 2

General Hux gritted his teeth as a holo of Snoke and Kylo Ren rippled to life before him. Who were present in the room happened to be WR-27 and Kara Caspian.

The redheaded man locked the snarl behind his teeth but Snoke spoke, "Bah, get all of your anger out now, General. No need to hide your frustrations."

The general almost ignited the weapon; his trophy , a blade of purple plasma spat from the emitter, "They got away, sir. We had the supply ship but those accursed X-Wings popped out of nowhere! They-!"

Kylo Ren crossed his arms, "They attempted the Antilles Intercept when you foolishly tried bombarding the planet to ferrett them out. Looks like they succeeded."

General Hux glared at the Knight. That jab made him bristle, "Sir, if I may, they had another Squadron lying in wait. I wasn't expecting a bounty hunter to show up as well. I thought we hired them and the Resistance ran from them like the cowardly Rebels like before?"

Snoke flattened his chapped lips, "It seems money can buy them to their side or perhaps something more. Which Bounty Hunter was it?"

A holo of the Heretic and its owner popped upon WR-27's gauntlet, "The Heretic is the name of this Infiltrator. The Bounty Hunter is Kilarou. Homeworld: Kamino. Though it's rumored he's one of the old Fett Clones."

Kara looked up with derision on her face, "A clone? He'd have to be deteriorating by now. There's none of them left. Who'd let Kamino run such a thing; Palpatine shut the clones down nearly twenty years ago."

WR-27 shot the Director a cold look, "Which is why I said it was rumored. We don't know a thing until we have him in our hands."

She turned and faced the Supreme Leader, "Next course of action, sir?"

The Dark Sider looked at Kylo Ren who said, "The feline Jedi We must ensure she doesn't fall into the Resistance's hands."

WR-27 straightened, "We have her held up where, sir?"

Kylo Ren's grating voice declared, "The Hoth system. I believe you have first hand experience of anyone being there long since the days of the Old Empire."

The trooper gripped her F-11D rifle tightly, anger unleashed even under the vocoder, "I thought I said under no circumstances should I return there? The snow; it's freezing; hard to walk in and it soaks your clothes. That's just the planet itself-!"

Kylo Ren pointed out, "My dear, yes, you made it clear you would not go there. It appears though, we have no choice but to have you there. A legion of snow troopers aboard the Destroyer known as the Finalizer needs someone who knows the terrain and you, Major, are our best bet."

At that moment, Kara cleared her throat, "Sir, if she doesn't want to go, don't try to force her. Doesn't matter if you ignite your saber or try to choke her with your space magic or whatever. Just let her have this choice."

Kylo Ren crooked his head. Ah. Her again. What was it about her spirit that openly defied him so? The young brunette stared him down, compact datapad in hand. The staredown went on for what seemed like a stretch of several minutes. Snoke chortled.

Kara gulped, "Something the matter, sir?"

The Supreme Leader's laugh echoed throughout the chambers. "I like the fire in this one, keeps the troops in line and it's a freshness to see someone keep Kylo Ren on his toes." He then eyed the crimson stormtrooper. "Ordinarily, defying your wishes is not something one would wish, but… the choice is yours, Major."

A holo of Garrett Antilles appeared as did a briefing of what happened at Hoth, "You can either stay back and allow the youth into the Resistance, or… Bring him to us and hold him. We should at least have enough sway over the Senator to provoke a war with the New Republic at last and dominate their precious peace."

WR-27 gave an impassive stare. Her superior did have a point. She bristled at old memories bubbling to the surface; memories she had long wanted to forget. What rankled her more was the thought of having him achieve yet another victory. Anger, betrayal, old feelings of friendship were rising forward. Snoke was reveling in the nearly unmistakable signs of anger in her body language. He pressed the right buttons, and he knew what to tell her. The wrinkled giant beckoned for her to speak.

WR-27 turned to two of her more scarlet colored guards, "MN-5653, QT-7992, ready my snow trooper armor if need be, and my TIE. Most of all, prepare the Brigade for battle. Get the Reaper moving." The trooper went about face and stormed out of the room.

General Hux cleared his throat, "Do not forget, Major. I am your superior officer. I give orders for you to deploy aboard this-!" He felt a sudden tightness in his throat, his weapon deactivated upon dropping to the floor.

He fell to the floor, realizing why. He looked up, realizing he may have stepped out of line as he rose a few feet above the floor, "Su-preme Leader.. I…"

Kylo Ren had reached out with the Force, making a slight pinching move as Snoke's silky voice boomed, "Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, General."

He then eyed the crimson guards, "She may be a major, but her rank is considered as high as Captain Phasma's; she can override orders she deems unfit to the situation."

He then nodded, Ren released Hux from his chokehold. The man fell to his knees, clutching his neck. Of course, he had read on Vader's legendary Force Chokes and anger. Even though it was not Lord Vader he was dealing with, but to actually feel it was intimidating nonetheless. Down right frightening.

Snoke then replied, "But I will see to it that she follows your orders as long as they meet her standards, of course. Now, go. Crush the Resistance."

Ky inhaled, and bowed his head as he rose, "As you wish, Supreme Leader. But she also needs to know who runs this Destroyer."

After gathering his weapon, he motioned for the Director to follow, and with a turn of the heel and bowed to the Supreme Leader and Kylo Ren, the two marched from the chambers. The holograms faded. Once more the drums of war would be heard, growing louder by the day. Sooner or later… the galaxy as a whole would be waiting with bated breath to see which side would strike first.

Aboard the Heretic, Kilarou hesitantly approached Garrett. What was about to utter from his faceplate covered lips he knew would either send Garrett into a panic attack or have Garrett lost in memory lane. He spotted his friend looking at the picture of someone, clearly lost in thought as he marched into the briefing room. Oh wait, someone else was there. Max. He gave a curious stare, wondering what she was gonna say. Poe had the same thoughts and waited patiently with Kilarou, waiting to see what would happen, and hopefully intervene if things ever got hectic.

Garrett turned off the holo as Max asked, "If you wanna sit this out, it's okay. We could handle Hoth without-!"

The Commander gave a curt, "No."

He shook his head, "I know the terrain and possibly where they're holding that kid. You'll need me for a firefight."

On the table was a custom jetpack that contained… Wait… Was that white armor? The forehead of what was a helmet had the red Resistance starbird on it. G7 looked to be modifying the armor controls for cold weather. That drew her eye. Garrett shut the jetpack and handed it to G7 who wheeled away to a workstation in another room.

The Corellian eyed Max evenly, "I've had a bad experience down there the last time I was there. This time, I intend to make sure we all go home."

The young woman held her staff on her shoulder as her concern grew. " I know what happened down there. Garrett. Come on. It's not gonna be like last time you do know that right?"

Garrett's fist pounded the table,making the holo fizzle with static and he eyed the girl with a cold glare. Kilarou flinched, waiting for the rage and tears to come from Garrett. Ooh, the rookie was so close to the truth and boy that would shatter her. The Kamino native marched in, ready to dress down the Captain but Garrett held a closed fist up, motioning him to stop.

The Ace snapped, "How about we get good and ready, Max, and stop stalling? This Mission isn't the time for a therapy session."

Ignoring the wince Max had just sported, he spotted Kilarou, "Go on. You got something to say?"

The Bounty Hunter harrumphed, "We're about to drop out of Hyperspace soon. Hoth is within our sights. We should suit up in cold weather gear now."

Garrett started forward but Max caught him by the arm, and gave him a hug, "If you need to talk about it when you're ready… Come find me."

Her worried emerald eyes scanned any sign of a smile in her friend's eyes. Garrett responded in kind by patting her back, "Same to you if you need to unload any baggage."

Kilarou's brows popped up as Max went to retrieve snow gear, "Was snapping at her necessary?

The Corellian replied as he adjusted his lucky Glie-44's settings, "I don't want to drag her down with it anymore than I have to.."

Kilarou put his hands on his hips, "Commander, you got to start trusting people more with what happened; so we can avoid those mistakes and get out alive."

Garrett eyed his best friend with a cocked brow, "New mistakes still happen regardless of what happens. We have to cover all the bases."

Kilarou clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Garrett, that woman isn't that stupid.. She's your childhood friend after all. It's best to do it sooner or later. Shutting people out won't do you anything. You told me when you decided to let me in. You should do the same. Trust me. Max's got your back already."

The Commander holstered his pistol, giving the Kamino native a hard glare, "And how long will it be until I lose you or her like I did Wenna?"

Kilarou eyed Garrett with a smile, "Remember what you told Tallie? If you got hurt doing something reckless trying to save our asses, I'll be devastated. You die, and I'll lose my mind. Or something to that effect, I had too many drinks to even remember."

He patted him on the shoulder, "Come on, it won't get to that point. We won't lose each other. Not this time."

Garrett inhaled and then eyed the planet in the viewport. The distant sounds of speeders, walkers, lasers erupted in his ears. He showed no visible signs of shaking but his knuckles turned white as the sounds of his old friend's screams echoed in his head. He turned away, walking to the work station.

Moments later, the Heretic landed softly. Engaging its retroreflection panels, it proceeded to blend it with the icy tundra. The ramp hissed as it swiveled down. One by one, all three humans had made their way to what looked to be a giant junkyard of sorts. There were a few metal pillars, laser cannons. One down giant walker. There were frozen DH-17 rifles and old E-11s strewn everywhere. Up ahead lay wreckage of a shield generator, surprisingly the ion cannon still looked to function.

Max whispered as she drew up her hoodie, "Echo Base… still abandoned even after we won this place back."

Kilarou donned his goggles, "Yeah, look, more scorch marks have littered the place; heck, there're more crashed speeders out here than I remember. What-!"

His eyes grew wide as he saw about three feet away the remains of a blue, white and green T-85 X-Wing that had a number one on the side. What laid before him was what looked to be a snowtrooper body; but the weapon made him tense up. That wasn't an E-11 the deceased trooper had beside him; it was an FD-11. The First Order had been here. He stopped to see what was up ahead of him; a New Republic pilot uniform.

The commander saw the body too and uttered a name, "Starkstreak Squadron…"

Max and the two droids were the last ones out, though, BB-8 and BB-7 opted to stay behind and operate the ship. She saw Echo Base and inhaled sharply. "So not how I pictured a day in the snow."

CR-0W replied in a chipper tone, "Ah, it's not that bad, you should see it on a blizzard's day, oho now that is a snowball fight waiting to happen."

G7 scolded as she smacked the bird protocol droid with her datajack arm. She beeped and whistled sternly as CR-0W replied, "Don't call me a tactless bird twit, you little tin can of bantha meat! What do you mean I'm not helping? I'm trying to make light of a situation."

G7 gave a snarky remark in which the bird droid's beak went agape, "My word, the mouth on you! Didn't your Maker teach you any manners?"

Max giggled as she shook her head, "Boy, those two remind me of Gold Butler and Little Droid Blue."

Garrett stepped out off the ramp as did Kilarou who wore custom snow trooper gear. Poe smirked as CR-0W asked, "Sir, you're not going to wear cold weather gear? It's freezing out here."

Garrett pressed a button the jetpack opened up, revealing plates of white armor, the boot and knee pieces ejected from it and latched onto his lower legs, the shoulder and arm pieces snapped into place on his arms. The chest and back pieces clicked on, the seal and heat controls kicking on at once. The helmet landed in his hands and as the jetpack's hidden compartments sealed themselves up. The vibroblade and the flamethrower/whipcord launcher slid over his armored vambraces and locked into place. Once the helmet was on, and the scarf was around his neck, Max grinned.

Garrett wore a helmet, arm plates, belt, and knee and boot armor plates of a Stormtrooper officer over his green long sleeved shirt and brown pants. The helmet had the Resistance Starbird sigil on the forehead, and depicted more of a classic clone trooper Phase 1 "T"-visor and a red "A" on the chest. On the back, he wore a JT-12 jetpack that had a small bore missile. He wore a cape-like command kama with red piping around his waist, connected to the belt. As usual, at his neck was his white and red scarf. The armor's right forearm had a special foldable vibroblade that could generate heat up to 1000 Celsius, his left forearm had an underslung flamethrower/whipcord launcher. He had his pistol holstered on his right thigh as usual.

The White Pegasus had taken to the field, "Let's move, people. We can have the history tour later. We got a Victory Kid to find."

The three of them trudged on the snow, Garrett made a stop at the X-Wing and patted the hull affectionately. The way he traced over the number, the way he lovingly looked at the fighter. He even opened the canopy, it was all signs that this used to be his X-Wing. He found the activator fob and snatched it, stowing it in his belt. He spotted the helmet and laid it in the cockpit seat. He then closed the canopy, sealing the fighter shut once more.

The armored Resistance Commander then knelt to the body and whispered, "Good to see you, Alben. I made sure to see your wife and kids every chance I get. They still miss you."

He rose to salute the body, "Leading the stars to a better future, always, Starstreak Eight."

With that, he opened a compartment in his uniform and brought out a tracker, "From the data Leia's sent us, the kid's got a beacon on her. Let's hustle."

The three of them marched into the trenches, most of them wearing white snow gear to blend in with the terrain. Their weapons had lights on them, shining through the blizzard night sky. Garrett held up a fist, indicating for the group to stop. There it was. The unmistakable sound of a Lambda-class shuttle. It flew overhead and landed on the far side of the base. Garrett's HUD zoomed in on the base and began scanning in infrared.

He ran through the snow, the group wasn't far behind, and immediately, they were in the hangar, blasters at the ready. Scorch marks from a long time ago were now faded scars of battle, some marks looked to be more recent. Tools, load lifters still were in their places, although haphazardly knocked over. Skeletons wearing either snowtrooper or Rebel Trooper uniforms were in tunnels, and open pathways.

Behind the helmet, Garrett was a storm of emotions; sad, angry, hurt. Why had he agreed to come here again? Right, a rescue mission. He just hoped this mission wouldn't turn out like last time. At least this time, he was better prepared for everything. The glowrod brightened as they entered the narrow tunnel, moving past the broken down door that led to a room that had been full of Wampas once upon a time.

Kilarou checked his own internal map on his H.U.D., "Definitely got a legion of them in here and an IFF reading UNKNOWN. That's the kid alright. She's in the center of Echo Base, in a cell; she must've crashed the ship she was hiding on and hid in here. I got a bad feeling about this..."

Garrett took command, "Alright, in and out we secure the kid. If we do go up against the snowies, shoot 'em up. Let's take as many as we can and get back to the Heretic with the kid."

Max then pointed out , "Do we have a name for this kid? We can't just keep calling her kid."

Garrett's vocoder flattened any sense of humanity in his voice. "Tin Angera of Zygerria; from what I heard, she stopped her Jedi training to study under Mon Mothma in the political arena some time before Luke vanished. My guess is to avoid capture; she fought off her captors and crashed her way down here. Looks like the First Order deemed her high priority capture. They didn't bother with bounty hunters and just went straight for her."

Using a hand signal system he taught the Rogues and the others, he signaled for Kilarou to take the left, Max went to the right while the droids remained out of sight and he took to the center. A classic sweeping maneuver and a possible feint move to lure in patrols.

Throughout the base, Garrett kept himself quiet, using only hand signals to talk. Max grew worried as did Kilarou. What was running through that man's head was a question for all three X-Wing pilots. Kilarou responded with hand signals of his own, knowing what Garrett was thinking.

Max then made a bold move and grabbed the White Pegasus by the shoulder as they crept up on a First Order patrol or at least at the heels of one. She then hissed, "Alright alright, enough of the whole silent armored man bit; that's usually a Mandalorian's job. Can you just start talking?, You're acting like a stormtrooper. I'm worried about you; we all are! Just… don't shut us out."

Garrett fought the urge to yell at the Lieutenant for insubordination and inhaled, calming himself. He then eyed the girl behind his T-visor. "There's a lot of bad memories here for me. It's a lot to deal with here; I lost good friends in this icy hell..."

A sadness and an angered edge rang in his voice, "...in more ways than one. Look, I'll talk about it when this is done or when I'm ready."

Max arched a brow, "And when would that be, four years from now? Or when Kylo Ren freezes over in carbonite? Can you just drop the attitude? Come on, it's making a lot of people nervous!"

Garrett gave a soft smile, "Ah you're right, I guess, bad memories are just really getting to me. Okay, I think it's best we all relax at a sauna. Right now," he drew his Glie-44 pistol.

He ordered, "Get ready. It's about to get hot."

Once the First Order patrol got within sight, he fired two shots. The first bolt of plasma knocked the first Snowtrooper on the shoulder, the other caught the other by the neck. The two others of the patrol turned their blasters upon the group, the five fired blue plasma right back, ensuring all three of the trooper patrol were down and out.

Kilarou picked up a First Order tracking beacon and crushed it with his armored gauntlet, "Which way is her beacon?"

Garrett eyed the H.U.D. and strafed into a left corridor. "This way."

The group made sure to stay quiet, ambushing patrols left and right.

WR-27 eyed her own H.U.D. A few signals read "UNKNOWN" in Aurabesh; her patrols were vanishing one by one and she growled, "Double up on patrols. The Resistance is here."

She quickened her pace, priming her blaster. If she was right on who it was taking out her patrols, then she was ready for a fight. Upon reaching the middle room, the group opened the blast door and were greeted by blaster fire.

The woman who fired the shaky shots wore simple yet elegant robes and simple flight boots. Her orange and white fur bristled out of the way and sighed in relief, "Thank the stars, you made it! They captured me while I was heading home and I caught them off guard when I was in hyperspace."

Kilarou patted the feline on the back, "Easy, Mis Angera. At least you're with us. Come on, we gotta get you to safety. Stop shedding on me, Cover the rear, and front. Eyes on the corridors."

Max warned, "Make sure to keep clear when the fighting starts."

All of the group nodded at her as they took up positions. G7 plugged into a nearby droid socket, activating what power to light up the control room. One by one, the lights powered up, as did the old computers, The old screens barely winked to life. Garrett strode forward taking aim, as he opened the next blast door, and a patrol came in, guns blazing. The group fired back, blue and red plasma fire flew around the room. Max leapt. Dodging a shot, and she fired back with a swing of her staff, hitting one in the shoulder and chest. A snowtrooper fell, kneeling as the controls of his suit broke and Kilarou blasted him down. Tina knelt, snapping off a few bursts, taking a few stormies down. The group advanced, making their way back towards the hangar bay.

What stopped them cold was her. WR-27 had shown up. She aimed, then declared boldly, "We have to stop meeting like this, White Pegasus."

Garrett straightened, activating his arm sword, "It is getting to be a bad habit." His left hand signaled for the group to break off and get to the Heretic.

Kilarou activated his beacon, alerting the droids to activate the ship. BB-7 and BB-8 plugged in, activating the engines, hoping to get the ship to them in time as the battle in the hangar began.

WR-27 held aloft a baton that ended in two conductor vanes, activating it, the thing sparked to life. She strode forward, pride and a cold fury in her step. Malice started and coiled at the base of her spine. She had been looking forward to meeting him again. Garrett matched her stride, reluctance and a stoic sense of duty echoing in his steps. Meeting in the middle of the hangar, the two struck blows, their weapons clashing. The sound initiated the battle.

G7's radar dish went up as the battle began, uh oh. They had a lot of incoming trouble. The team took up firing positions, Max paired up with Kilarou as they took turns blasting down Snowtroopers.

Max gritted her teeth, "They got Megablasters incoming!"

Garrett drew out a disk, and primed it, "These old droid poppers from the Clone Wars should knock these guys for a loop."

He threw it, and it sent an EMP pulse, shocking not only the troopers behind the two dueling, but their weapons. Kilarou activated his mini wrist rocket launcher and fired two missiles at the Megablasters that dropped to the floor. Mini explosions rocketed the weapons; destroying them.

Max muttered as more swarmed inside, "Just another day with the three of us. Seriously, they swarm like Hrelan bees all over us,try the sword and shield move!" She rolled away from a spray of stutter fire as she loaded a fresh Tibanna cartridge in her Glie-44.

Tina eyed the girl with an arched brow as her hand dove for the metal weapon at her hip, "One of us blocks, we fire?"

Kilarou nodded as he picked up a riot shield, "I'll block, fire those poppers or detonators. Keep at them. No need to reveal that we got a possible Jedi among us anyway even though they suspect it."

CR-0W drew his cane at the ready, boldy smacking Snowtroopers as they inched near, "Oh, poppycock. Mate, I am not some helpless little protocol droid! Have at you!"

G7 agreed as she brought out a special datajack arm, hers had a small blaster at the end, and she snapped off a few up close shots to some troopers who got too close. She simply shocked a few of them with her electrostatic arm. CR-0W then swung his cane, knocking a few off their feet as he backed his counterpart up.

Droid Popper disks and thermal detonators flew in the air, hitting their targets. Snowtroopers either went down or their armor systems crashed. Either way, both the Resistance and the First Order were crack shots at each other. WR-27 swung her baton aggressively, countered by Garrett's blade. He parried high, low, and towards his middle. He got in close, kneeing his foe in the stomach. She elbowed him back and jabbed forward, once more, the blade parried her shot. One vane though, shocked him on the exposed part of his arm. He knocked her across the helmet with his fist.

WR-27 grunted, "I thought men wouldn't strike a woman across the face?"

Garrett turned, going into a reverse ankle sweep, "You don't count as a lady. Not in my book."

The young man slashed downwards, cutting his foe at the arm as she landed on her back. White fire greeted the White Pegasus, recovering from the boot to the helmet. WR-27 rose, baton still at the ready. The two collided in a weapon lock, trying to push against each other like opposing magnets. WR-27 knocked him down and slammed him to the floor. Max pole vaulted and hit the armored warrior with a flying sidekick to the face.

Garrett felt Max haul him to his feet and he patted her shoulder, "Not bad, rookie. Now, let's get back into the fight. After this, we need to spar."

Max half-joked, "I'll hold you to it."

The girl jumpkicked a Megablaster trooper and blasted it at the unprotected section of his neck. Garrett called, "Kilarou, where's the Heretic?"

The bounty hunter fired a missile from the missile launcher he hefted, "Coming in hot. We just need a clear path!"

Garrett ordered, "Set a few trip mines. That should do it. After that, we head to the ships."

The new Rogue eyed a snowspeeder which Garrett and WR-27 happened to be several feet away in the distance. She threw down the trip mines within the waves, and shot for the speeder, "Cover me."

Garrett blocked a well placed punch, and dished out one of his own. WR-27 responded with firing a burst from her F-11D, he responded with blue plasma from his Glie-44, the two of them firing at each other. Garrett backflipped and lanced a kick at WR-27. He straightened but WR-27 tackled him to the floor. He grabbed her by the arm, and flung her off.

He was about to stab her with his blade and heard, "Commander, move!"

The soldier gave a confused look and saw what Max was trying to do. Oh No. She wasn't…oh. She was. He activated his jetpack, and flew upwards just as the hot-wired speeder neared him at the last second. WR-27 was hit by the speeder and was sent towards her troopers.

Garrett landed on the platform, glaring at Xion, "You could have gotten me killed!"

Max shot back, "But I didn't! At least, I saved your white armored skin."

Garrett growled, "I had it handled thank you!" he then huffed, "Did you at least set the charges?"

Max held up the trigger, "I did!"

The Corellian put his hands on his hips, "Then what are you waiting for?!"

The brunette pilot pressed the button, activating the mines.

The waves of snowtroopers pressed on just as the mines beeped. As their white boots passed. They burst into bright sparks of flame, leaving a wide path for the Resistance to follow. Garrett flew up, activating his left gauntlet's underslung flamethrower. Flames not only threw up a barrier it hit a pillar of snow, melting it, causing water to splash onto the troopers.

Garrett ordered, "Move, now!"

The Heretic swooped in, lowering its ramp. All three humans plus Tine scampered up the ramp. The Heretic turned, firing warning shots at the troopers as both ships took to the air.

Garrett closed up the ramp, as he looked at the readouts, "We got a Destroyer ahead. It's the Pulverizer. Anyone got in contact with Gunner Lead yet?"

Max typed away commands, "Our droids are on it. Fueled up. Let's fly."

Kilarou then nodded, "I got the ramp lowered. Go get 'em, flyboys and flygirls!"

The ship's cannons took aim, as the four fighters flew out of the Heretic. The two snubfighters snapped their S-Foils into attack positions.

Garrett took a cursory survey of the situation and grinned. Relishing the situation he was in right now, "Swarming tactics. Even in this day and age, the old tactics are what they cling to."

CR-0W balked, "Commander, the odds of surviving this fight are twenty three thousand four hundred and fifty three to one!"

Garrett gave a classic Corellian smirk, "I like those , we got a huge set of eyeballs coming at us. What's the Squadrons' ETA?"

Garrett replied, "Ten minutes by Hyperjump. We better stall just in case."

Max didn't reply cheerfully as she normally would. Apparently, she thought of her stunt and what happened with her Commander, "I guess drummed out is what's happening after all."

She glanced at the White Pegasus X-Wing and gave a long sigh. The brunette thought of the long hours at training, her final exam. She thought of how now looks like her hopes were dashed…

Meanwhile at D'Qar…

Marory Lorenaden adjusted his flight suit and donned his helmet, "Alright, Gunner Squadron, Rogue Squadron, Blue Squadron, all flights ready and green. Control, we're ready for a jump to lightspeed. Space all clear?"

High above the planet, three Squadrons were high above D'Qar, aiming their noses towards their destinations. Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix spoke into her mike, "Gunner Leader, all clear. Ready for Hyperspace."

Leia looked at the readout of what looked to be an intense battle at Hoth's upper atmosphere, "Just get them home safe; the last thing I need is a repeat of Hoth."

Gunner Leader nodded, "I'll see about them getting back here in one piece. What about Angera?"

The General responded, "If we could persuade her to enlist with us or at least persuade Mon Mothma to do something about a fleet then maybe we have a chance."

Poe chimed in, "If we lose that kid, we may not have another voice in the Senate to speak up for us. The more we risk talking about him the less time the Force Sensitive has to live."

La'via nodded, "We better start flying. Let's get this underway. I'm itching for some action!"

Leia had a spark to her eyes. "Spoken like true Rebels. Get flying and May the Force be with you!"

Marory saluted crisply then hit his switches engaging his coordinates, "Hang on, Aces, we're coming to clean up your messes. As usual. We make the jump on my Mark. Three…two…one!"

The stars then elongated into points of light then spun into a swirl of blue-white light energy, swallowing the ships into it, propelling them to their destination.

Lieutenant Connix pursed her lips, "They always make it home, ma'am. they win every time."

Leia countered softly, "Usually, there's a cost every time they win."

Aboard the Finalizer..

General Hux via holocomm was eyeing the already intense battle that was being fought in front of them, "Well, we have them now. Cornered like a caged cat; close in on them and see to it, we crush them, Captain Gilsten."

Gilsten nodded, "I'll launch a bigger swarm. I'll be sure to keep them within distance of my guns. The TIEs will lure them to the turbolaser."

The Coruscanti-accented native shut off the holo, "Surround them… all sides. Don't let them room to wiggle. Make them feel hopeless. Trapped."

The pilots nodded, "Sir, yes sir."

Captain Gilsten roared, "BRING ME VICTORY!"

A resounding roar shook the ship as the troopers and navy personnel aimed their arms in the air. Kara hesitated in saluting but then she stood firmly and matched the salute. She was loyal to the end.

Kara then sighed, "I am surrounded by testosterone fueled, blood thirsty boys." She waltzed away as she typed away on her datapad. "This is why I refuse to date."

Outside, the battle raged on, the three X-Wings were cleaning house, sweeping out TIE Fighters left and right. The third X-Wing swept under the battle then went high. She dove downward, belly pointing to the sky, She spun, all four cannons firing, taking out fighter after fight.

She sped past, tiring torps as Max switched off her targeting computer. She preferred to aim with just her sight alone. Goosing the brake, she whipped past Kilarou, taking aim at a cannon. Her missiles struck true. The white and red X-Wing thundered overhead, blazing its lasers right at the four TIEs coming at him. The two TIEs veered left as Garrett tore after them. He pressed the trigger, quad fire on full. Boom. He dove under the second TIE, the lasers pinpoint hit the Ion Engines.

Garrett then called over the comms, "Rogue Five, you're with me. Stick tight. All four of us need to stand as one."

The pilot replied, "But sir…" She rolled away from an attack from behind.

Garrett gave a somber order, "We can talk about it later. Let's fly!"

Max then nodded and soared after her Commander and the Aces. BlackLeader took the lead this time, quad fire hitting TIEs, left and right. Black Leader went into a corkscrew spin, spraying down blaster fire, scorching TIEs in his wake.

The Heretic locked its cannons forward, erupting plasma fire, scattering swarms that attempted to come in close. The White Pegasus soared overhead, parrying any blows to the engines, scything a path away from the battle scarred ship.

Garrett heard G7 send a readout on fuel reserves and he swore, "Pilots, we need to get out of here, fast. We've been suckered into this; they're tiring us fuel reserves alright, G7?"

The translator screen spilled out Basic wording and the numbers looked bad, "Fuel reserves are heading into the tens, guys!"

Max closed her S-Foils as the Heretic opened up her ramp for the ships to dock. G-7 prayed for the fuel to hold long enough to get aboard. White Pegasus snaked away from a barrage of green plasma, he activated the guns, firing back at the TIEs behind him. A low pulse emitted in his ears, warning Garrett of his fuel cells. He swore a string of curses as he dashed back towards Kilarou's ship. TheA barrage of missiles erupted from both ships scattering the TIEs as the two starfighters redocked. Garrett's heart was racing hundreds of minutes. He slowed his breathing as he was being hailed.

He pressed the comm., praying that it was a friendly in the area and not her. A voice came through. Just not the one he expected.

"Antilles! On your Left! Gunners Three and Eight, arm the concussion missiles to ward these guys off."

Poe's voice could be heard, "Next time, I'm in charge!"

The three Squadrons flew in formation behind the ship then climbed high and dive bombed the TIES, breaking apart the swarms with lasers and missiles. Gunner Leader dove in, dodging green laser, while dishing back several of his own.

The Colonel eyed teh stitu, "Come on, Q5, we got this!"

The black and gold droid warbled in agreement. The modified bomber fighter returned fire as it jinked left and right, but barely matching the speeds of the TIE Fighters. Lucky, the X-Wings made up for that.

Bastian brought his fighter about, covering the fighters the TIE missed, "Watch it, Rogue Nine! You got one on your six!"

He soared left firing a spray of dual fire upon the TIEs as they cut into the Squadron's line of fire. Proton torps burst from his missile launchers, crashing into the TIES. Brilliant fireworks of orange flame popped into view near his fighter. Nien's X-Wing shot back, firing his lasers right at the TIE.

The Y-Wing soared in, Gunner Leader fired his missiles to counter the homing missiles, "All craft, break off! We need to get away from this battle! The more we fight, the more we tire ourselves out!"

Poe fired several missiles as his fighter rolled away from turbolaser fire, "Hux's already tired us out, let's pull back. Back to base, now!"

The two bigger ships opened fire upon the blaze of TIEs. the ships formed a line behind the big ships and jumped towards a hyperlane before the ships could recover.

Garrett sighed as he leaned against the seat of his cockpit, "Finally away from that place."

Garrett took a moment to breathe, "How you feelin' kid?"

Max gave a glum tone, "Bad, Garrett. I'm guessing I get drummed out?"

The Corellian shook his head as he smiled, "Hey, you never would have made it in Blue or Gunner Squadron..."

The girl hitched her breath. So she was out after all. This Mission she pulled definitely was going to get her kicked out after all she went through to get into the fight.

Max winced then smiled right back as she heard, "You might make it in mine."