Chapter 5: Negotiations on Nal Hutta

Tash glanced up at the flickering sign above the cantina. While the wiring seemed a bit dubious, judging on how few of the letters were lit up, this was the place; the "Open Invitation". Situated in one of Nal Hutta's chief starports, even a small dive bar like this one was bound to be busy. That could mean an Alliance officer like himself could just blend into the crowd, so long as his disguise held, but it also meant there were any number of eyes on the lookout for him; be they with the Empire, the Hutts, or otherwise. He was flanked by a pair of marines, also in-disguise and weilding a pair of DH-17 blaster pistols, holstered but at the ready.

Taking a breath, he slipped into dimly-lit, less-than-fragrant tavern. Just as he expected, the bar was packed and it wasn't easy to reach the counter without shoving your way in. After a couple of minutes, the tough-looking Nikto bartender finally walked over to them. "What'da ya want?" he grunted, voice rising just enough to be heard over the surrounding cacophony.

"Here to meet someone," Tash answered. "A few humans and a green Twi-lek, seen 'em?" The bartender dropped an open palm on the countertop, flexing the fingers expectantly. Reaching into his pocket, Tash produced a 50-spot credit chip and dropped it in the bartender's hand. Giving a small smirk, the Nikto jerked his head over his right shoulder.

"Booth in the far corner," he said before turning away again. Giving a small nod of thanks, Tash slipped away from the counter and headed for the mentioned back corner. As he approached, the female Twi-lek and two humans looked up. The humans eyed them suspiciously, but the Twi-lek held his gaze with a clear confidence that she knew who they were.

"Captain Meiloorun I presume?" Tash asked, his question immediately making the humans relax and the Twi-lek's smile widen.

"That's me," she said, nodding to the seat across from her. "And you must be Commander Firaxan."

Tash nodded, trying to keep the awkwardness from his face. He would have preferred a code name related to his own fleet, rather than his brother's, but after all that had happened, the Trident and her support ships were presently much higher-profile than Firaxan Group. "I trust our mutual acquaintance explained the situation to you?"

Meiloorun nodded and handed him a datapad. "Our pilots are all packed and ready to join you for the job. They'll be using a pair of GR75s to transport their equipment to your compound. I trust you have escort waiting nearby. Things have gotten rather hot lately, even here in Huttspace."

"I assure you, Captain," Tash said giving her a resolute nod. "Your pilots are in safe hands with our people. We'll cover them during the transit."

Giving him one last stare, Meiloorun nodded and stood, the other two humans following suit. "Well in that case, I'll take my leave and head back to the rest of my people. Clear-skies, Commander Firaxan… and may the Force be with you." Tash watched her and her entourage go, making sure to leave them a good chunk of minutes before leaving the bar himself. He wanted to look at the datapad now, to confirm what he'd been hoping for… but that was dangerous here. Even if the Empire wasn't watching, showing too much interest in the pad might end up attracting the attention of some petty crook or something worse. No, until he was back to their U-Wing, he'd keep it literally close to his chest on the inside of his cloak.

As he and the marines' left the bar, Tash felt eyes on him and gave a cautious glance about. There were a few street toughs staring them down from a nearby alley, but a quick flash of the A-180 blaster on his belt persuaded them to look away. Even so, there was still a feeling in the back of his mind. Motioning with his head, he turned the three of them toward the city's starport. In the weirdest of ways, Tash was actually missing the usual cat-and-mouse of dodging stormtrooper patrols planetside. When they were on an Imperial planet, then they at least would see stormtroopers marching about, clear as day. Here though, anyone could be an informant or looking to shoot them in the back… maybe both. That was why his hand was still near his hip, ready to draw the pistol at a moment's notice.

Turning a corner, Tash had the starport in-sight. He was making sure to keep a brisk pace; brisk, but not desperate brisk. This last street was relatively well-travelled… but an unusual lack of foot traffic was putting him on edge. The starport was only a good couple dozen meters ahead now. Slowly the tension was lifting in the back of Tash's mind. "Commander, get down!" Muscle-memory kicked in. Tash hit the dirt and a couple of laser blasts rang out above him. Hazarding a look up, he caught sight of a man collapsing from an elevated walkway, falling to the ground just a few meters away, a blaster carbine with a scope clattering to the ground next to him. Turning to the marines, Tash winced as he saw a clear blaster burn in the man's shoulder. Reaching for his belt, he pulled out an emergency stim and offered it to the trooper. Thankfully, the trooper didn't deny the first-aid; now was not the time to be heroic. Meanwhile the other marine was over checking the body.

"Sir… we've got a problem," he said, producing a small handheld device with a blinking light.

Tash recognized it almost immediately. "Back to the U-wing. Now!" Drawing his pistol, he took point with the wounded trooper in the center and the last marine watching their backs. His other hand fished into his belt and pulled out his comm-link. "Major, warm up the engines and raise the fleet. Let them know we're gonna have company soon!"

By the time Tash was back to the Trident's bridge, he could see the outline of two Gladiator-class Star Destroyers approaching from just behind the asteroid field that the Task Force had concealed themselves in. "Looks like I was right," he said, voice just loud enough for the officers around him to hear. "Battle stations everyone, Commander Golrin Korr has found us!" As officers began to fill the comms, sending orders to the various stations aboard the Trident, Tash studied the display, intently. As usual, Korr had their squadrons outnumbered four to three. On paper, this wasn't much issue, but the fact that those four were specially geared toward space superiority, it was worrisome to say the least. All the same, he watched as the fleet's X and Y-wings advanced to intercept. At that moment, he felt fortunate that the GR-75s that they'd be protecting at least had some basic point-defense guns, but even so this was going to be a hell of a blockade run. While the last one against Korr had ended well… Tash had long-since learned not to take prior victories as a guarantee. "Gunners, focus fire on the starboard Gladiator. We don't want to be flanked today." As the helm angled the Neb-B for optimum targeting, the Morning Star boosted its way into attack position on the far side of the Asteroid field. "Flight controllers, make sure that the X-wings and Gold stick close, I don't want them being picked off."

"Sir," the flight controller said with a nod. "The Defender squadron is approaching, should we angle point-defense in their direction?"

"Indeed," Tash said with a nod. "Give Cardinal and Cobalt all the cover they need."

Cora eyed the incoming blips on her radar with plenty of concern. Those Defenders were deadly and the last thing she wanted to do was face them head-on. This entire trip to Huttspace was meant to grant them some backup regarding their squadron numbers. For now though, it was still just the three of them, which meant Cobalt was dead in the crosshairs. "Cobalt Squadron, hold position behind that debris field, I don't want to give those mutant TIEs any easy shots," she instructed, settling her X-wing in behind some chunks of space junk and cutting her engines, her squadmates doing the same. "Cardinal, you should take cover as well, we both know how hard those things hit." However, there was only interference that replied back. "Cardinal? Cardinal come in!" Still no answer and the red dots on her radar display continued their rapid advance. The X-wings were still in-range of the Trident's point-defense guns, but with the speed and ferocity of the Defenders, there was no guarantee that they would be able to handle the initial slash. What was wrong with the comms? How were they being jammed?

Before Cora could piece together the reason, the heavy-interceptors screamed above them, angled directly at Cardinal. "Huttspit, Cobalt spring the trap! Lock S-foils in the attack position!" Firing her thrusters to full, she barrelled after the Defenders. Checking her targeting system, she had lock, but they were just out of range. "Swap to homing torpedoes, the second we catch up, let them have it!" Already, Cora saw the telltale green laser blasts as Cardinal broke formation and desperately jinked to avoid the incoming fire. Several of the red nosed X-wings caught fire as the heavy lasercannon blasts connected. The Trident attempted to connect some shots, but with Cardinal still in the fray they had to take careful aim and the tri-wings easily avoided the shots. It took all of a few seconds, but soon Cardinal Squadron was down several fighters and the remainder were making the jump to hyperspace. Cora gritted her teeth as the enemy squadron finally turned, allowing Cobalt to catch up. "Time for some payback," she said to herself, just as the lock-on chime began to ring in her ears. Pulling the trigger, she let loose the blazing-pink warheads, the duo catching one of the Defenders right in one of its solar-panel wings, vaporizing it instantly. Three more of Cobalt's pilots were just as fortunate, cutting the enemy squadron down by a third.

"Excellent shots everyone," Cora said into her headset. Once again, however, she was met with static. "Cobalt 2… 3, anyone copy? R3, can you boost the signal? We're running deaf." The astromech whistled a response, saying it was on it; however, Cora didn't have time to worry about it as she quickly receive a fresh lock warning as the remaining Defenders finished circling back around, hungry for blood. "Keep on it and the second we get through, tell everyone break for the Trident!" she called before banking hard to the right to avoid a wash of green laserfire. How were the Imps jamming her like this and so far away from the enemy ships? Whatever the reason, she had to break through the static, otherwise Cobalt was going to share in Cardinal's fate, with or without close-range support from the Trident.

Tash eyed the incoming gladiator star destroyers with caution. Normally, a good strategy for countering these ships in-particular would be to space out the fleet and rush past them as they came into range. With the neb-Bs' superior firepower at range, they could do much more damage as the GSDs approached and then slip by to avoid the destroyer's heavy ordnance… but this time Tash couldn't just cut and run. Those transports needed an escort if they were to escape into hyperspace and make it back to Mon Cala in one piece. That was what made this tricky, since gladiators thrived in target-rich environments. The good news, of course, was that they were still partially in cover, the patches of asteroids and space debris that littered the Nal Hutta system giving Task Force Trident plenty to hide behind while they awaited the freighters. Problem was, if they didn't power the engines to full at the right time, all that cover would effectively trap them.

"Sir," the comm officer reported, gesturing out the starboard side of the main viewport. "Morning Star is moving into engagement range. Should I tell them to hold back?" Thinking for a moment, Tash shook his head. Right now, only one of the gladiators was coming into the hammerhead's range, which meant the corvette would have more than enough chance to launch a defensive salvo at the other warship and then speed away. If they could soften the destroyer up, it would be that much easier for the Trident to eliminate it once it was in the neb-B's main attack range. Meanwhile, the Ramora was sitting just to the port of the Trident, setting up for a shot at the other approaching destroyer. Between the two of them, they provided a formidable firing line as well as support net for the squadrons. Speaking of, it was now that Tash noticed the enemy's defender squadron was making their advance now… along with a single lambda-class shuttle. Cobalt squadron had settled themselves into a nearby debris field for cover, but Cardinal was holding position.

"Flight controller," Tash said, nodding to the red X-wings. "Tell Cardinal to follow Cobalt's lead, they're sitting porgs out in the open like that." The officer nodded and tapped into the comm channel, making an attempt to establish contact.

"Sir… I'm getting static. Something's blocking the signal and we can't get through to them," she said bringing up her display, showing the signal waves were sporadic. "I'll try and pinpoint the source."

Tash shook his head and gritted his teeth, nodding to the tactical display. "The GSDs are too far out of range to jam them. The only other ship that could host electronic warfare suites like that has to be that lambda," he said before turning to the main gunnery officer. "Intensify the point-defense screen. Even if the shuttle keeps its distance, I want to make it as difficult as possible for those defenders!" Affirmations followed, and to his relief Cobalt Squadron was moving to engage as well, but Tash had seen those experimental TIEs rip through Alliance squadrons like a Hutt through a buffet. This was going to hurt… and then Tash saw the explosions off to starboard.

The view was blocked by another small cropping of asteroids, but the comms were already alight with panicked signals. "Commander, the Morning Star is requesting permission for an emergency jump!"

With her R3 unit once again screaming a warning behind her, Cora forced her X-wing into a sharp climb as another trio of laser blasts flew past, too close for comfort. The lock-warning just wouldn't shut up and she was getting tired. "You worry about those comms, I'll handle the fragging tail!" she cursed. Still no contact with either her own squadron or the Trident. On top of that, Gold Squadron was doing its own screening as far as protecting the fleet, so there wasn't any way that she was getting any extra friendly support right now. "At the very least, find out where in the galaxy it's coming from, yeah?" There came another pair of laser blasts and Cora felt her teeth chatter as the snubfighter tremmored. Warning lights were filling her console, and she knew there were only a handful of tricks left. "R3, cut the thrusters and fire the repulsors, full reverse!" Cora ordered before unlocking the S-foils. Her world lurched and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her vision from going fuzzy, but almost immediately the Defender screamed past, what would have been a killing blow firing a hair too late. Yanking the controls to correct the targeting, she pulled the trigger. Four red blasts fired in unison, converging on the TIE and nailing it in not one, but two of the solar-panel wings. The enemy fighter went into a death spiral before detonating moments later.

Powering the thrusters back to full, Cora finally had a breather to check on the situation. Her X-wing's shield generator had taken a hit with that last attack and the fighter wasn't able to recharge what of the barrier it had lost. The comms were still dead, but the radar showed the defenders' numbers had finally dwindled. It was then that she noticed another blip on the radar, sitting all alone at the edge of the combat area. "Okay, R3 can I get a scan on the signal out at these coordinates?" Some affirmative beeps and whistles replied back as she turned the fighter's nose in its direction. After just a couple of seconds, the HUD in her helmet named the unknown vessel; a lambda-class shuttle. Even without having the astromech scan the imperial support craft, Cora knew it wasn't just there to enjoy the view. "Lock onto its main sensor suite, R3. We'll show them what happens when they mess with our comms!" Punching up to full throttle, Cora reopened the S-foils as the tactical info began to stream into her HUD. The shuttle was definitely combat-rated, though more defensively than offensively. Built for electronic warfare rather than head-to-head fighting. Perfect. Aiming the crosshairs of her targeting system at the main body of the craft, she feathered the trigger four times. Each individual laserblast struck home, pelting the same portion of the shield. The third and fourth consecutive blasts punched through and something visibly detonated on the exterior hull, prompting the shuttle to make a desperate evasive maneuver. Immediately after, the R3 whistled happily as the comms came back to life.

"Cobalt lead, come in! Commander Sunrider do you copy?" it was the Trident's flight controller.

"Copy Trident, this is Cobalt One. So glad to hear your voice again," she said with a smirk banking back toward the main battle.

"Agreed, though right now, we have some issues. While you did knock out the enemy's electronic warfare capabilities, those defenders had run riot against the rest of Cobalt Squadron. With your channel blocked we weren't able to give as effective fire-support. Most of your pilots have made emergency jumps… the fortunate ones at least," Cora felt her heart sink, but she packed the feeling away for after the battle was over. "Gold Squadron is holding steady, but they're in dire-straights as well. What is your status?"

Giving another look at the X-wing system readings, she tightened her grip on the controls. "Shield generator systems are hit and not recharging, rear shields down to zero, front shields at 73% and holding. All other systems are green."

There was a pause on the other end, no doubt the flight controller asking the Commander if she should be ordered to retreat. "Cobalt leader, form up with Gold and try to give them some extra cover. We need all the pilots we can spare to make sure the transports make it through."

Breathing a sigh of relief she didn't realize she was holding, Cora nodded. "Copy, forming element with Gold now."

"Concentrate fire on the incoming GSD!" Tash yelled, the frontal turbolasers screaming their response. The enemy ship was readily aflame, the front ordnance racks having exploded from the last volley. Unfortunately the ship was still on a collision course. "Brace for impact!" Mercifully, a rogue asteroid slammed into the GSD, knocking the disabled vessel off course. Some sizable chunks of ship still hit the Trident, but the majority of the damage was negligible. "Comms, make sure the crew have rebreathers handy. If any of the life-support systems go, I want everyone to be ready."

"Sir, we have contacts. Four GR75 transports arriving at the rendezvous coordinates," the sensor officer reported. Glancing at the sensor map, Tash did count two pairs of GR75s dropping out of hyperspace. The bad news was they were directly in the path of the remaining GSD, but the good news was the Ramora was keeping the gladiator plenty busy. While the GR75s weren't known for their combat ability, they did possess competent maneuverability, something that put them at an advantage when dealing with a high-damage/low accuracy warship like the GSD. That meant the remaining imperial ship wasn't half as intimidating as the remaining enemy squadrons. The defenders had retreated out of point-defense range, leaving a decimator gunship and another aggressor starfighter to attack the fleet. Fortunately, this aggressor didn't seem to have as much speed or power as the one that worked with the other imperial fleet and the Ramora was scoring several hits against it as well.

"Gunnery, keep them covered from the enemy squadron attacks," Tash instructed. "Comms, tell the Ramora to do the same." Steadily, the battle's tide seemed to be turning in their favor. Gold, with assistance from Cobalt leader, was keeping the still-engaged enemies busy and the Ramora had successfully boosted its way around the remaining GSD. Now all that was left was to get the Trident out of the line of fire too. "Helm, get the engines to full-power. Aim for the hyperlane." The roar of the Trident's engines vibrated through the ship as he clutched the arm rests of his command chair. While the enemy gladiator made an attempt to get in the way, it was still too just out of any true threat range. Just one more debris field to clear and they would be out of this trap.

"Sir, we have incoming, it's the Defenders!" The sensor officer exclaimed.

Tash's eyes widened, his attention being drawn to the debris just ahead. The remaining few of the tri-winged TIEs filtered out from between the space junk like Geonosians from a hive. "What's the status of Cobalt Leader and Gold Squadron?"

"They're tied down by the other enemy squadrons. We're wide open!"

Tash gritted his teeth. "Engineering all power to the weakest shields, don't let them though!" There came a tremor from the starboard side, some warning lights filling the bridge. "Report!"

"We have venting along the dorsal strut. Locking down the blast doors now," Engineering said. "The comms are getting shaky with the aft section of the ship. We might lose contact soon sir. Orders?"

Tash took another glance at the charts. The Ramora was just now breaking away from the other enemy squadrons, and the transports had just cleared the GSD. There was a time to stick around and keep up the fight… but with the Trident's hull already breached, he also had his own crew to worry about. "Tell them to make an emergency jump, aim for the rally-point." An affirmation followed and moments later, as the missile-warning returned, the front viewport saw the stars lengthen to white lines.

Leaving hyperspace, Tash noted how shaky the Trident felt as the sublight drives sputtered back to life. This was the first time since this campaign began that the Task Force's flag ship had had to retreat before the end of the battle. "Status report on the Morning Star, Cobalt and Cardinal Squadrons?" he asked, nodding to the comm officer.

After a quick couple of moments of speaking with the various parties, she turned back to him. "Morning Star is pretty heavily damaged, their main hull on the starboard side is completely exposed to vacuum. Cobalt and Cardinal have settled in together. Between both, they number about 11." Tash groaned at that, not even enough pilots for a full squadron. Between that and the significant damage suffered by both ships, he could easily categorize this simple exchange of resources between rebel cells a significant bloodbath.

"Sir," The sensor technician turned from his station. "We have incoming signatures from hyperspace… the direction suggests its from Nal-Hutta." Turning back toward the radar, Tash held his breath, hoping that the new contacts confirmed as Alliance. It took a couple of seconds, but the blips on the holo display soon turned from grey to blue, three of the signals solidifying into the telltale shapes of two egg-shaped transports, and one nebulon-B frigate, surrounded by at least seven smaller dots.

The comms station soon lit up with an incoming signal and Tash nodded for the comms officer to put it on the bridge's speaker. "Go ahead Ramora, what's your status?" he said.

"Green, sir," the Ramora's captain answered, his voice sounding certainly tired, but content. "We were very lucky on our way out. We disabled the enemy aggressor and the GR75s were able to force the decimator to retreat into hyperspace. The defenders made an attempt, but the moment that they came into range, we were able to focus enough fire to keep them off of us and Gold." Tash slowly felt his shoulders relax. It still was a costly victory, but a victory none-the-less. "Captain Syndula's transports are in pristine condition and are ready to follow us back to Mon Cala. On your order, Commander."

Giving a nod to the comm officer, Tash made his way back to his captain's chair and settled in. "All ships, fall into formation and set course for Mon Cala. We'll have a lot of work to do these next couple rotations, getting back to full combat readiness and orienting our new siblings-in-arms, but the Empire didn't break us today and we'll definitely give them hell tomorrow!"