IV
Chiss Expansionary Defense Force Headquarters, Naporar
Captain Wynssa Fel pulled her clawcraft into position, aligning it with the other fighters in the squadron.
The harsh voice of the squadron leader came through over the comm unit. "Form up behind me and remain close. Be alert for enemy fighters and cover one another."
The squadron obeyed instantaneously and their formation became more compact as they passed through a wide gorge. Wynssa's flight, comprised of three clawcraft, brought up the rear of the unit. She had the middle spot in her wing's configuration, with one wingmate on either side.
A swarm of red dots coming in from the west appeared on Wynssa's HUD, indicating unfriendly craft.
"Inbound fighters at your nine!" the squadron leader shouted. "Prepare to engage!"
As they adjusted the flight vector to meet their attackers head-on, a second group materialized on her scanner coming from the opposite direction. "Flights three and four break off and deal with the second squadron," she ordered.
"Affirmative," Wynssa responded and led her flight in the opposite direction. Flight three's leader did likewise.
As they came into visual range of the clawcraft, Wynssa saw that the enemies were a squadron of TIE interceptors.
Imperials, Wynssa realized. She felt her heart beat faster and the back of her neck moisten. It made her uneasy knowing that she was about to battle the Empire. Her father, Baron Soontir Fel, had been a legendary TIE fighter pilot during the Galactic Civil War and her brother Jagged Fel was the Empire's former Head of State. She felt torn inside, but her sense of military duty soon took control. She was a pilot of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, therefore it was her responsibility to keep the citizens of the Ascendancy protected from anyone who presented a threat to their security.
The lead interceptor opened fire. The laser bursts streaked toward the clawcraft to Wynssa's left, piloted by Nilp'ith'koruama, or Pithk as he preferred to be called. As most Chiss did, he used his core name to make it easier for non-Chiss like Wynssa. Her other wing mate Nepk'oro'hamua, or Koroh, responded with a hail of laser blasts as Pithk executed a quick snap-roll to avoid the enemy fire. The extremely agile TIE interceptors had no difficulty evading her salvo.
Suddenly Wynssa noticed another TIE fighter on her tail. She oriented her clawcraft at forty-five degrees starboard to the vertical and executed a loop maneuver. Seconds later she found herself approaching the enemy diagonally from the rear. She fired off a few short bursts of laser fire, with minimal success. As she passed the TIE interceptor she acknowledged her craft receiving a few hits as well. This is not going to be simple, she thought.
With the interceptors defeated, Wynssa and her flight rejoined the rest of the squadron and returned to base.
Wynssa pulled off her helmet and exited the simulator along with the other pilots. She gasped when she saw a tall, dark-haired man who was observing her. It was her father, Baron Soontir Fel. She felt extremely uneasy, hoping he wouldn't be too critical of her performance. As the daughter of one of the greatest fighter pilots in the galaxy's history, Wynssa had a lot to live up to. One thing she didn't understand was what her father was doing in the simulator room when he surely had much more pressing matters to be attending to.
The Baron responded as if he had heard her thoughts. "Pack your things, Captain. You are officially on leave now and we are departing for Bastion to attend Jag's party. Be ready in two hours." With that, he saluted, turned and strode from the room without awaiting a reply.
Jag's birthday! Wynssa had completely lost track of time during her squadron's recent training exercises and had not realized the party was so soon. Her brother would be celebrating his fortieth birthday in a few days, and the Empire's Head of State, Vitor Reige was secretly planning what was sure to be a very impressive gala to mark the occasion. Wynssa had not seen Jag in nearly a year. Between Wynssa's duty in the CEDF and her brother's responsibilities on Bastion, it was often difficult for the entire family to get together.