When the Imperial Landing Forces arrived on the empty island, they unpacked the construction materials. From there, they began to establish a front on the planet.

"Hey, buddy," a Stormtrooper said, "do you think we will win?"

"I don't know, man. They seem too powerful." another replied.

"Hmm... it may seem so, but they only won in the skies. We will crush their land forces as easily like a knife through butter."

"Okay, but how do we suppose to attack them with?"

"We will use our tried-and-tested AT-AT's to demolish any opposition. Then, the AT-ST's will clean up the mess."

"That is a nice plan. The commander-in-chief will be pleased."

"The commander-in-chief made the plan."

"Oh."

"But anyway, enough talk. We have construction to do."

"Yep."

"And here we have the fighter with the best track record, the F-15C Eagle, with 100 kills to no losses."

"Wow," said Garvin, "I would love to have something so perfect. How did you do it?"

"Designed by McDonnell Douglas in the 1960's, the combination of a high thrust-to-weight ratio, advanced avionics, and superior training led the F-15 to be the top fighter jet in the world. Armed with 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders and 8 AIM-120C AMRAAM's with a 20mm M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannon, it can tear any aircraft to ribbons"

"Amazing... I would love to see them try to defeat us, though."

"Yeah, but the F-15 isn't the most capable fighter. The F-35 is."

"Is it the fighter we saw outside?"

"Yep. They are the ones. But don't try to ask about it, because we don't know everything about it.

"Oh, okay."

"Moving on, we have-"

"Commander! We have a problem!" called out a radio operator.

"What is it, Dallas?"

"The Imperials have staged an attack on Texas! Ground units there are calling for support. We need to act fast!"

"Texas? That is 520 miles from here! It'll take a long while to get there. but we will try. Get 8 F-22's on mixed-combat loadouts. They will fly there as fast as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"What is it, sir?" asked Garven.

"We are under attack again. We cannot risk losing a state from the homeland, so we sent 8 of our most advanced air-supremacy fighters to fly there. They are not our fastest though, but they're stealth."

"Why stealth, though?"

"It enables us to fly into denied airspace undetected. We hope to surprise any form of air support they have while attacking their ground units."

"Oh, that's cool. Can we bring our X-wings?"

"Not until we have modernized your flight and combat computers. But you can try fly our deadly F-16V's."

"That's fine."

In Texas, 19 pods landed in an open spot. The pods' walls fell off, revealing 1 large, 4-legged walker with 4 smaller biped walkers and 50 white-clad men. They wrecked havoc in the state, destroying anything that looked like a military facility. The local military tried to stop them, but the bipeds shredded them with their plasma. Because of this, the US Marine Corps, the US Army, and the US Air Force were alerted. After 24 minutes, almost half of Texas was obliterated when 8 F-22's appeared. They surveyed the area, checking for AAA's and enemy fighters, then dropping Mk 84 2000 lb JDAM's on the smaller bipeds to help reduce the workload of the American ground forces.

"Whoa, what are those things?" called an AT-ST pilot.

"It looks like... oh no..." another called just as he was destroyed by a bomb.

"Crap, crap, crap, keep moving!" the pilot called, hoping to increase the difficulty of hitting them. It didn't work.

16 AT-ST's were destroyed, two for each fighter. This sort of accuracy, they thought, can only be achieved by pilots who can track them from above, and precisely drop their payload exactly where they would be when it arrived. No amount of random movement can stop the bombs.

As the fighters flew off into the distance, they detected a formation of 133 vehicles. 35 of them had a large gun, while the rest kept their smaller arms.

"Commander," called a Stormtrooper, "what do we do now?"

"We destroy their land forces, then, we can assure us a spot in their 'nation'."

"Roger."

The AT-AT's opened fire at the vehicles. For them, victory is assured. Every single shot of their high-powered blaster cannon destroyed the vehicles in one shot. However, when the enemy opened fire, their shots ate through the tough durasteel armor much more easily than blasters of comparable strength. Eventually, realizing that they are outgunned, made a forced retreat.

35 M1A2 Abrams MBT's and 98 M2A3 Bradley IFV's of the US Army arrived to the scene as the USAF's F-22's flew away from the battlefield. Upon seeing the AT-AT's, they noticed a glaring design flaw; one that was very obvious, but usually unnoticed.

"Alright, gentlemen," said a tank commander. "Aim for the legs. Fire on my command."

"Affirmative," called 3 tankers almost in unison.

Just then, they saw red bolts of plasma hitting and destroying their tanks and IFV's. It reminded the commander of a part of their National Anthem: "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in the air,". The bolts were the same red the rockets had once burned. Their fellow tankers being destroyed did not demoralize them as he gave the next order.

"Everyone, load a HEAT round and fire one shot!"

Every remaining Abrams fired HEAT shells through their 120mm smoothbore cannon, aiming at the walkers' large legs. The HEAT rounds' explosive melted a thin tinfoil sheet lining the inside, making a hot burst of molten metal. It began to eat away at the durasteel, eventually reducing the structural integrity enough to buckle under the mass of the machine.

The tank commander was satisfied that HEAT shells work on the tough "composite structure" of the enemy. He is confident to continue firing.

"All M2's, fire at the bipeds. We will handle the larger ones. The rest of the M1's, fire at will!"

The Bradley IFV's fired their chainguns at the exposed cockpits of the bipedal AT-ST's, incapacitating, if not killing the pilots. The M1 crews fired more HEAT shells, until the Imperials were forced to retreat from the battlefield.

"Yeah, that's what we're talking about! Everyone, drinks on me."

During the engagement, 17 M1A2's and 54 M2A3's were destroyed. On the enemy's side, 13 AT-AT's and all of the AT-ST's disabled or destroyed. No F-22's were shot down.

Meanwhile, at AFB "Home Base", Garvin and the team are training with the other pilots.

"Very nice, but that is not how you effectively avoid a heat-seeker."

"Oh darn."

"Don't worry, I am here to help you adapt to our combat doctrines."

"Okay."

"That's the spirit! Now let's do that again."

Garvin and his wingmen are training in the F-16V's against aggressor F-16C's. So far, they have lost every scenario more than twice. Even with countermeasures, the trio gets shot down almost every time. This time, however, they are trying their best to win at least one dogfight in the fighters.

"Okay, so, how is the modernization going?"

"Going great, except we have no idea how to program a hyperdrive."

"Oh, really? Well then, I will call some engineers after this 'mission'."

"That'd work. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"UNACCEPTABLE! How can they be so effective in combat? They are thousands of years behind us in technology."

"I don't know, Admiral, but this is what we have observed thus far." The Co-Admiral shows the video sent by the AT-AT. It showed 8 arrow-shaped craft he identified as one of the three types that denied them of air superiority. Then they began to drop their bombs with accuracy so good that he swore that those were drone fighters.

"Not only that, but we got reports saying that the locals' land vehicles' slugs punched through durasteel. And we detected no signs of any type of material on the planet that had anything capable enough to do so."

"WHAT?! Now I am through. We need to bombard them from orbit. They will be helpless if that happens, as we will destroy everything that they care about, and they can't so anything about it."

"Admiral! We've got a problem." calls the Captain.

"What now? Can't you see we have bigger problems?"

"No sir, but I have spotted Rebel activity near the planet. 4 Corvettes have been detected in low orbit."

"HARGH! Get a Star Destroyer there to engage. Then, we will destroy the locals."

"Yes sir... oh no."

"What?!"

"Rebel fighters coming in fast! What to do?"

"Intercept them. We can't have them ruin our plan we have worked on for 4 months."

...

"NOW!"

"Yah-es sir!"

The Captain ordered the fleet to dispatch every single fighter they have to destroy the Rebel force. But then, even before they got to visual range, they got gunned down by invisible slugs. They assumed that it was the locals, since no one, not even the Imperials, have the capability to strike that far. But then, how do they have an advanced space fighter? They have yet to have proper drives for extended periods in space. 23% of their fighter force got destroyed by the time they got into visual range. Now, they will show the locals who they are dealing with.

Earlier...

"Mr. President, NASA has received a transmission from the 'Rebel Alliance' about an Imperial Fleet orbiting the Moon."

"What? And they have only been detected now?"

"No, NASA had discovered multiple objects in lunar orbit 4 months ago. They dismissed it, thinking that they are just a cluster of asteroids passing by."

"Oh my! What do we do now?"

Trump began thinking. How does one intercept an object in lunar orbit in a way that offers 0 separation from center of mass? That would take a lot of computing power to attempt that in such short notice. Then, he remembered his visit at Area 51. He remembered about the space fighter that he himself witnessed. Now, he thinks, would be the time to use them.

"Call Area 51. Tell them we desperately need their space fighters."

"Okay, getting them online now."

"But Mr. President! We only have 4, and the fourth hasn't finished testing yet."

"It doesn't matter, as long as its basic functions work."

"Yeah, about that, only the life-support, engine throttle control, weapons system, and orbital computers have been installed on the fourth. Not enough to bring to combat."

"That will do. Tell them to bring it to a translunar intercept orbit with the unknown objects."

"Ugh... fine."

The call cuts off and Trump is about to leave when he decides to call the Rebels. He knows that he is going to need help to be able to effectively fight the enemy.

Back to present...

4 XSF-01 experimental SpaceFires supported by 9 A-wings coast toward the Lunar Imperial Fleet. Their mission: Harass the opponent in a way that will demoralize them and reduce their combat effectiveness.

"Everyone, report," calls the SpaceFire leader, call-sign "Shooting Star".

"Copy," the three replied in succession.

"Copy that!" the A-wing pilots called as well.

The incomplete SpaceFire led the attack force. Lacking advanced shielding and long-range communication, he relied on his immediate wingman for protection. The A-wings were fast, and had gimballed guns, but lacked shields.

"Alright. You know the drill. Orient yourselves behind us, while we snipe any enemy opposition until visual range. If there are, and comes within visual range, you take over and shred them."

"Affirmative."

Then, the sensors detected a large cluster of TIE craft. They order the A-wings to fly behind them in order to protect them. Then, the SpaceFire's on-board systems got a firing solution.

"Alright everyone, guns, guns, guns!"

A flurry of invisible 30mm rounds zipped through the vacuum of space. The on-board electronics and computers accurately calculated not only the required gun lead on each craft, but the necessary burst mass needed in order to conserve ammo. When the bullets arrived to their targets, they bored through the tough transparisteel window, killing the pilots. It also wore down the shields extremely quickly, in which the TIE bombers and interceptors get shredded by the rounds.

When they arrived within visual range, the SpaceFires retreated, allowing the A-wings to take lead to shoot down the TIE craft with its insane maneuverability and acceleration. They managed to destroy more of the enemy attaining a high kill ratio. After a while of space combat maneuvering and dogfighting, the TIE's began to retreat. Here, the SpaceFire began to fire again their guns, killing of almost all of the remaining fighters. Now they continue on their main mission. They begin to perform an series of burns, setting an intercept course that will take them 40 miles behind the Imperial fleet.

"Alright, prepare for 'Operation: StarShot'."

"Affirmative, preparing for slow approach."

"Copy."