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Chapter 2: When Banthas Fly

The briefing room of the Vigilance was situated with a holoprojector at one end of the room, with a number of rows of seats looking down at the projector. Kossf, Sien, and Nalen Zur were already sitting in the second row, with their feet propped up on the first row of seats when Kal and Silda entered.

"Oh ho," Nalen called out. "They enter together. You get a piece of that farm boy, Princess?"

Silda gave an indignant scoff. "Please. If I had him he would be in SickBay."

"You take forever in the 'fresher." Kal grumbled.

"You should wake up earlier, newbie." Silda chided him as she walked down to the row of seats. She planted herself next to the pilots already seated, and in one fluid motion propped her legs up on the seat in front of her. Kal filed in and sat down, not putting up his own feet.

Xil and Tarth entered a minute later, both already wearing their flight suits. "All right, children, let's get to work." He said as he entered a datacard into the projector. "First flight today for our new kid. He'll head Besh flight. Silda, Kossf, keep on his wing and make sure he doesn't get himself shot."

Kossf and Silda both made rude gestures at Tarth. A little grin crossed his and Xil's faces. The Faleen spoke next in her low reptilian hisses. "Our target today is a convoy in deep space. We have found a point the Empire has been using as a staging point for their activities in this portion of the Rim.

"The Vigilance entered hyperspace last night while we were sleeping, and is currently enroute. We arrive in two hours. Once we enter the area, Banthas will exit. Our goal is to recon the convoy, and disable what ships we can."

"Support?" Nalen asked. "Is the Vig going to go rough and tumble, or is Captain Galia playing her cards close?"

Xil hesitated for a moment, and Tarth answered in her stead. "The Vigilance will be covering the most probably exit vectors for the Imperials." He said. "But the Mynock will still be in the air to coordinate, and assault transport Hurricane will be there to help with any priority targets."

"Expected resistance?" Silda asked as she stretched a little, bumping her elbow into Kal's head. The younger flight officer cursed.

Tarth shook his head. "Nothing too heavy, we expect." Tarth looked directly at Kal. "I hope Starfighter Command drilled it into your head that you're flying a Y-Wing, Korros. We do not dog fight. Even if we have a numerical advantage, a TIE will be able to ride your rear like you're a ten-cred hooker."

"Yes, Commander." Kal nodded. "And what if there are TIEs?"

"Eyeballs and squints, you coordinate with Hurricane and Mynock, see if you can draw them into their turrets. If you've got a clear shot, take it."

"How's our missile count looking, Commander?" Sien asked. "We still on rations?"

"Four torpedoes a boat." He said, which gave a serious curse from several of the pilots. "I'm not happy about it either. But use of our proton torpedoes are to be reserved for emergency use. Last shipment isn't getting here. Hopefully we can pull some torpedoes off the convoy. Now, suit up. Banthas, let's give hell to the Imps."

Two hours later, Kal was in his cockpit. The Vigilance exited hyperspace, and the rough voice of the flight controller came over his comm. "Bantha Squadron, launch!" As the ships started to lift off and file out of the hangar bay, the commander added. "Good hunting."

The reedy voice of Reeso, the Rodian Major who piloted the Hurricane and headed the commandos on board, signed on. "Hurricane, forming up."

The convoy consisted of about a dozen ships, all heading for the same exit vector. Three boxy Mobquets led them, with Galofree GR-75s spaced out amongst the Mobquets. Kal recognized the tactic. Though not heavily armed, the Mobs could at least shoot at the fighters.

"Mynock," said Xil. "I'm not picking up fighters."

"All right, then. Besh, designating groups one, two, three. Aurek will take one, Besh three, and we'll pincer on two." Tarth reeled off orders. "Ion cannons and engine hits. Let's give salvage a big haul."

Kal clicked his targeting computer to the new objective data, as it was being relayed in by the Mynock. Three group was the Mobquet and Galofrees to the starboard ahead of them. "Lead, Four. I kcopy. Besh flight moving in." He clicked his comm over to the flight channel. "Six, Five, let's go graze."

Kossf chuckled. "Forming up on you, Four. What's our first target?"

"Let's take the Mobquet. It's got teeth, so let's see about de-fanging it." Kal said after a moment's consideration. He did a quick calculation. At their present heading and speed, they'd be in range of the Mobquet in thirty seconds.

Caller started to chirp at Kal. "I know," The pilot said. "See what you can do about reinforcing the shields. We don't know what they've got on those haulers."

The ships closed in, and Kal kept a death grip on his flight stick. He waited until the first flashes of green lasers from the Mobquet streaked by him. They were at a far enough range that they couldn't get a good read on his sluggish Y-Wing. He chuckled, and he accelerated to top speed. He presented the Y-Wing on a dead on course, and he could see from a quick glance at his screens that Silda and Kossf were following the same maneuver, giving the slimmest profile of the Y-Wing.

Emerald blaster bolts flew past them. One of them skimmed his shields, and Caller yowled at him. "Shut it, you baby!" He called back to the droid and be unleashed his first barrage of ion bolts. The cannon on top of his flight's Y-Wings sent blue flashes of ionization across the shields of the Mobquet. A few shots got through, sending faux-electrical lines across the hull of the Mobquet.

The flight passed over the Mobquet, speeding past to try for another pass. Caller cried out, and the ship's computer sent out the quick beeping of an attempted missile lock. "Break!" Kal called. "She's got concussion missiles!"

He yanked on his stick, sending the Y-Wing into a roll that the ship strained to complete. Even outside of atmosphere, the ship was hardly cooperative. He listened as the indicator for the missile lock turned red. "Missile in the air!" He called, and he pulled off his attack. "Five, Six, can you get a read?"

"Four, it's homing on you. You're not outrunning it." Silda replied. "Break for the Hurricane and Mynock."

"I copy. Five, Six, disable that freighter before it can launch more of them!" Kal ordered before he started to roll his bomber. Hopefully that would confuse the missile for even half a second, buying him time.

The Mynock was in his view quickly, and its chin cannon rotated to face in Kal's direction. "Need some help, Four?" Xil's voice purred at him.

"Please and thank you!" He called as he started to roll his craft, trying to juke out the missile. However, that wasn't likely to happen. The tone of the lock still held.

"Follow my instructions, and we'll get you out of this." Xil kept her voice cool. "Keep on your present heading towards Mynock." She checked with her copilot for a moment. "When you get to a half-click, I want you to pull up as hard as you can in that thing."

"Copy." He said as he throttled up the Y-wing to its top speed and regained his heading. He saw the chin turret face his craft directly. He switched his radio to Caller. "I'm going to cut the engines. I want you to blast the maneuvering thrusters. On my mark, bring them back up full blast. All right?" Caller whistle his agreement, strained as it was.

He watched the distance counter track down and down. He then cut power to the engines, and he as jerked back into the seat as the force of the sudden shift cut through the grav-compensator. He blasted the engine back up, making him change directions, a straight ninety-degree turn.

He saw twin lances of scarlet flash right where his Y-Wing had just been, and the missile chasing after him blew up, flaring up against his shields. Caller screamed, and he felt himself jerk against his crash webbing for just a moment.

Kal righted his hip. "Thanks, Null. Five, Six, how's our target?"

"Launcher is down. We hunt the fish now." Kossf said, using the nickname amongst the fleet for unarmed transports like the Galofree. "Free to engage."

"Let's wrap it up quick, Besh, disable those last freighters so we can head to Two Group." Kal ordered. "Form up."

"Copy, Four." Silda said, and he saw the two Y-Wings of Besh Flight fly to let him take the lead. He shifted the Y-Wing, taking out then swinging it around. It would give them a long strafing run of all three transports. The Gallofree, fat and slow, was a perfect target.

"Hit the engines." Kal ordered. "Weapons free." Blue-white ion blasts flashed out, sizzling against the engines of the transport. He watched as the thrust started to die down. "Good work, move on!" He called.

They took two passes, but eventually all four ships of the Three Group were down. Kal turned his Y-Wing towards the middle group, and both Aurek and Besh started in on the Two Group. The Mobquet went down without letting off a missile, and the Galofrees went down faster than either lone group had gotten.

Tarth's voice came over the comm. "Squadron, Lead. Great work out there. Hurricane, they're all yours now."

"Thanks, Banthas. We'll board that lead Mobquet." Reeso said as the boxy assault transport started to close in.

"Heads up!" Xil called. "I've got incoming contacts. Looks like...fighters. Someone got off a distress signal."

"I thought you were jamming them, Null." Tarth said.

"It took a bit for me to get into range." Xil paused a moment. "Acquired. Sithspit, Lead, they're Star Wings. Four of them."

Assault Gunboats. Kal bit back a curse as he checked his sensor data being fed to him by the Mynock. He veered his craft, and he pressed the group comm. "Five, Six, let's go grab some Star Wings. You game?"

"Of course, Four." Kossf grinned. "More interesting prey. Scorekeeper watch our victory."

Kal smirked. He brought his Y-Wing up to maximum velocity. Each of the Star Wings was shielded, had ion cannons, and could hold enough concussion missiles to wipe out a squadron. They were also faster. However, they had the slight numerical advantage.

"Null, Lead. Mynock, can you spoof their missiles? Let's keep it to just a bright fight."

"Working, Commander. EmCee, get working on it!" He assumed that Xil was yelling at the droid copilot of the Mynock.

"Orders, Lead?" Kal asked.

"Designating targets one through four. One and two belong to Aurek. Three and four are all yours." He waited a moment. "Vigilance, this is Bantha Lead. Any chance we can get your help with the Star Wings."

The slightly garbled voice of a Mon Cal's voice came over the comm. "Negative, Bantha. We need to protect Hurricane and Reeso's commandos. Engage the Star Wings."

The acid in Tarth's voice wasn't subtle. "Acknowledged, Vigilance." He snarled, then he said. "Banthas, engage!"

Kal switched to his cannons. He licked his lips, and he checked his shields. They were still at sixty-seven percent. Kal redirected the shields fore. "How're we looking back there, Caller?" He checked the quickly descending distance. Firing range in fifteen.

Caller's response flashed on his screen. "Port stabilizer is loose. Estimate lessened efficiency." The readout said, translating his tweedles.

"All right, see if you can't lock it down. Hold on, Caller, this is gonna get rough."

Tarth's voice came over the comm next. "Null, start spoofing their missiles. We don't want them using those concussion missiles."

"Sir, if she's spoofing our missiles, our torpedoes won't be able to lock either." Sien objected, his voice raised.

"Would you rather face those concussion missiles?" Nalen chided him.

"Point." Sien sighed.

"Cut the chatter, Banthas. Tighten up, and let's go get them. Null, can you keep this to a bright fight?"

"Emcee says we can, for all this bucket of bolts is worth." Xil said, referencing her copilot. "I'll see if I can cover with the blaster cannon as well. Let's keep at it, Banthas."

Then the first shots were fired. The Y-Wing, for all its sluggish speed, packed a punch. The scarlet laser cannons struck first at the Star Wing he had targeted. He supposed the flash of the shields as he hit the Star Wing tossed off it's pilots aim. Kal banked, and he cut his speed, decelerating to swing around and take a shot at the other Star Wing Besh was going at. Silda and Xil had taken shots at it first.

Kal slowed his breathing as he lined up his shot. "Caller, get me a firing-wait, no, scratch that." He grinned, and he thought back on his training. He accelerated up, taking advantage of the Star Wing's slowed combat speed. He waited until he was in half a click, lined up the shot, and released. The torpedoes, no longer tracking, wouldn't alert the Star Wing as it tailed Silda's fighter. The red streak of the proton torpedo ended in a large explosion as it rammed straight up the engines of the Imp fighter.

"Got it!" He called. "Six, I think you owe me a drink."

"Nice shot," Silda conceded. "Five, how's that other fighter?"

The Trandoshan hissed. "Almost..." He hissed, and Kal saw a blue streak of ion cannons flash across his view port. "Curses." He hissed at the miss.

Kal accelerated the Y-Wing, and he brought his cannons to bear on the second Star Wing. He gritted his teeth, and he set his cannons to link both the ion cannons and his blasters. He fired, and let the scarlet and blue lights fly. The Star Wing exploded in a less impressive fire ball than the first, but it was down all the same.

The rest of the fight was clean. Nalen took a nasty hit to his engine from a dumb-fired concussion missile, but they destroyed the other two fighters handily. As they were flying back, Nalen with the help of the Mynock's hauler claw, they counted their totals.

"Hey, so, Four got two kills right?" Nalen asked. "You know what that means."

"What?" Kal asked, confused as he heard chuckles break out amongst the Banthas.

"It means, Four, that as grand hunter of the day, you buy drinks." He could practically hear Kossf licking his snouth through the comm.

Coming soon, Chapter 3, Celebrations.

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