Orbit over Dubrillion

Wedge dropped out of hyperspace and the sight before him cause his stomach to clench. One of the MC80 Star Cruisers looked like it had been sliced up by a giant lightsaber. It was still flying but it most likely couldn't take another hit. The other two cruisers had placed themselves between the planet below and the damaged cruiser, hoping that their overlapping shields would protect it and over a dozen heavy transports were hiding behind them as well, clustered together. As Wedge angled towards the convoy, his comms unit chimed. "This is Rogue Leader."

"Rogue Leader, this is the Ultima - we have a one man Y-wing ready for you. Please hurry;" came the reply.

Wedge blazed forward and boarded, hopping out of the A-wing and immediately climbing into the Y-wing, yelling as he did to one of the intelligence agents who had run up to brief him. "Give me the gist of the situation, Agent."

The agent pulled a hand held holo projector from his pocket and activated it. An image of a large facility and cannon, possibly a meter in diameter, appeared and as the agent explained, certain components were highlighted. "They have a down-scaled superlaser cannon down there - maybe twice the size of a v-150 planetary defender ion cannon like we had at Hoth. It has a series of relay dishes around the main component. Destroying them would drastically reduce the power of the blasts, hopefully enough so that our shield will be able to repel them for a little longer. After that, the main components of the superlaser will need to be taken out. Do so however you can."

"Got it;" said Wedge as he began powering up the fighter.

The Intel agent backed up as he took off.

Wedge looked around and joined one of the Y-wing squadrons. "Rogue Leader to Y-wing Squadrons, who am I flying with?"

"This is Champion Leader to your port side;" came the growling reply of one of the reptilian species, perhaps a Barabel.

"This is Alderaan Squadron to your right;" came another, a cultured human voice that reminded Wedge of his friend and executive officer Tycho Celchu.

Clearing his throat, Wedge said, "I've been read in to our mission. Who should I fall in under?"

"Actually sir, given your reputation and experience, we were planning on falling in under you, Rogue Leader;" replied Alderaan Leader and Champion Leader agreed.

Wedge nodded. "Alright, here's the plan: Champion Squadron will lead the way with precision bombing runs, targeting turbo laser emplacements and missile boats. Alderaan squadron will follow in a sweep with ion cannons. You'll be aiming for the ray shields that are protecting the relay dishes. Champion Squadron will then switch to cover fire, taking on enemy fighters and any other emplacements that are left - and also any ground vehicles that may be on the platforms and walkways while Alderaan Squadron expends the rest of their ordnance on the main cannon components. Once they run out, the squadrons will switch, with Alderaan Squadron providing cover for Champion Squadron."

"Sound plan, Rogue Leader;" said Alderaan Leader.

"You speak shrewdly, Rogue Leader;" agreed Champion Leader.

Wedge grinned. "Right; let's go. We don't have a lot of time."

The planet below was oddly beautiful - all but the massive superlaser emplacement facility. The oceans were a rich green-blue with white crested waves crashing on distant gray sandy beaches. All of this was lost on Wedge as he and the other Y-wings dove for the facility. Turbolaser fire blazed and hissed around them. "Going for our first run, Rogue Leader;" commed Alderaan Leader.

One of the Y-wing squadrons, painted with bright colors of gold and blue, the colors of the Alderaan Royal family when the planet had died, broke off and swept over the facility, their ion cannons spitting blue energy bolts.

"Engaging, Rogue Leader;" hissed Champion leader and his Y-wings, painted with Red insignia and stripes, began dropping protons bombs along emplacements and Imperial ground vehicle formations.

Wedge acknowledged, electing to follow behind Alderaan Squadron and drop proton bombs on the relay dishes after their ray shields fell to the ion barrages. "Rogue Leader, the dishes are cleared. Moving to engage the main gun."

Wedge watched as the Y-wings expended their proton bomb magazines. It barely seemed to do anything to the weapon and Wedge could already tell that adding what remained of Champion Squadron's ordnance wouldn't do much more. Thinking quickly, he commed all of them. "No effect. Change of plans - I'm going to land and steal a ground vehicle. Once I do, I'll alert you so that you know not to blow me up and then head in. I'm going to try and do what damage I can inside the cannon facility."

"Uh..." said Alderaan Leader, "ack-acknowledged, Rogue Leader. We'll keep you covered."

"Once you mark your ground vehicle, we'll be sure to clear the platforms ahead of you but once you're inside the facility, you'll be on your own;" said Champion Leader.

Wedge gave a tight smile. "Acknowledged and don't worry; this is no different than other Rogue Squadron missions."

He landed on an outer pad and hopped out, quickly rifling through the interior cargo hold. There were a couple of det-charges, tool belt and a basic med-pack. The charges and med pack, he grabbed before hopping out. Hurrying around, he went to the Y-wing's primary hold and yanked it open. There was another belt with four more charges, a compact DC-17 Blaster Rifle and extra powerpacks and a far more comprehensive medpack, not to mention a survival pack. He gathered everything he could carry and climbed up the vehicle way ramp. Right ahead of him was a large building with a pair of scout walkers inside. "Well what do you know?" muttered Wedge. "They just left them for little old me."

Looking ahead, he noticed that such structures were spaced along the ramps and platforms - AT-ST's and AT-AR's housed inside of them. Most had already been deployed and destroyed but a pair in the structure ahead of Wedge seemed to have either been abandoned or perhaps the crew were killed before they reached them. With his blaster rifle ready, he hurried forward and climbed onto the boarding deck. They were both empty and Wedge was about to drop into one when he paused. If an Imperial were to drop into the walker he didn't take, he would be attacked from behind and while the cockpits were armored against small arms, the weapons of another scout walker or turbo laser would shred it. With a shrug, he took a detonator charge and dropped it into one of the walkers before dropping into the other itself. The charge had a timer of five minutes set which would be plenty of time for him to figure out the controls.

Luke Skywalker had once taken an Imperial scout walker on one of his missions and had given a quick thirty minute class on their controls. Hopefully Wedge could remember how to use them. First, he switched all controls to the walker's driver's station. Second he he began to work the hydraulic legs. With a series of clangs and thuds, he moved forward. "Alright, so far so good;" murmured Wedge nervously.

Carefully, he took the vehicle out of its storage building. Just as he cleared the door, the walker behind him blew. "Alright, and we're off."

He began to clank down the vehicle ways. They were lined much like highways for landspeeders and such, not that Wedge was paying much attention. Grabbing a flair, the popped the hatch and set it off, using the walker's comms system as he did. "All rebel fighters, this is Rogue Leader. Identify the scout walker with a red flare on top of it as mine. Please don't destroy me."

Several amused acknowledgements followed and Alderaan Leader said, "Stang, Rogue Leader! Are all of you Rogues crazy?"

"You aught to have met our previous commander. He redefined crazy."

Ahead were a trio of AT-ST's but before he could target them, three Y-wings obliterated them with their laser cannons. Wedge chuckled and continued on, making for the main facility. Suddenly, his comms system crackled. "Rogue Leader, this is Champion Leader - we have AT-AT's being deployed. I repeat, we have AT-AT's being deployed. We're out of heavy ordnance. Please advise."

Wedge chewed his lower lip for a moment before coming back. "Use ion cannons in strafing runs and aim for the cockpits. The armor is thick but it will hopefully slow them or disrupt there systems."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader."

Wedge continued forward in his walker. His heart nearly stopped when a pair of the massive AT-AT's appeared ahead of him. They were firing upwards at the Y-wings with their medium weapons. The heavy laser cannons would have probably obliterated the fighters but they took time to charge and required the entire cockpit to swivel. The medium cannons mounted on the side could swivel much more freely. However, they mostly splashed off the Y-wings shields when they hit them. They completely ignored Wedge's AT-ST as it lumbered between them. Either the commanders, drivers and gunners thought he was retreating into the facility or they didn't even see him due the limited visibility and the cockpit's upward facing angle. Behind them was a massive lift, large enough to bare the two AT-AT's. Wedge wondered how he was going to get it to descend when his comlink chimed. "AT-ST thirteen, going down;"

There was a pause before Wedge answered, "Confirmed - AT-ST thirteen going down."

It was apparently the right thing to say because, with a jolt, the massive list began to descend. It was a good five minuted before the lift stopped and Wedge began to trundle forward. He cursed at the sight before him. It was the level where the inner machinery of the superlaser were housed. There were scout walkers in guard position so opening fire would be suicide. Suddenly, his comms crackled again. "AT-ST thirteen, what is your current assignment?"

Wedge's heart thudded as he cleared his throat and answered, "We were ordered to retreat. Most of the other units were destroyed by those cursed rebel bombers."

There was a long pause before the Imperial on the other in asked, "Thirteen, transmit the clearance code."

Well, that was that. It looked like he was going to have to fight his way through. "Standby;" he murmured as he checked his weapons. The walker had a dozen seeker concussion missiles, powerful enough to destroy any scout walker. As he activated his targeting systems, he was pleased to see that he could target up to four enemies at once. Instead of targeting the nearest enemies, he aimed further on. "Walker thirteen - we know that you're a rebel infiltrator. Stand down and surrender or be destroyed."

Wedge's only reply was a series of concussion missiles. Before they had even his their targets, Wedge had used the scout walker's 'chin' mounted blaster cannons to blast a pair of walkers along the walls. From other locations, nearly ten more walkers were appearing and moving in his direction. Wedge quickly expended his missiles and blazed away with his blaster cannons. He was able to destroy most of them before they could bring their own targeting systems to bare. The others, he managed to get his shots off first. The walkers sensors showed where every one of his opponents as green dots. They were everywhere too. Desperately, Wedge looked around and determined that he would be much better off running through the machinery where no vehicle could fit.

Quickly, he pulled up beside a pylon, opened the hatch and dropped onto it. From there he dropped to the floor. Looking around, he tried to see anything that looked like a meaningful component of the superlaser cannon. Nothing stuck out to him so he began to move through. Suddenly, his personal comlink chimed. "Rogue Leader - this is Champion leader, what's your status?"

"I'm inside the facility. Do you have any idea as to what a meaningful target would be?"

There was a pause before a new voice came over. "Rogue Leader, this is Captain Kazar of the Star Cruiser Ultima - the best bet would be to target the inner power nodes. Doing that will at least shut down the cannon. If we're lucky, it will cause the weapon to misfire and blow completely the next time they attempt to fire it."

"Great;" said Wedge. "Thank you, Captain Kazar."

He hurried forward, wondering it his charges would be enough to destroy the facility. With his blaster rifle ready, he slipped forward quickly between machines and consoles and terminals. He could barely here the hiss-clank over the roaring machines as the walkers searched for him. It was easy going until he made it to another massive lift. On that lift was a single AT-AT walker. "You have got to be kidding me;" said Wedge, looking around for another way.

There wasn't one. The AT-AT's cockpit was searching back and forth, for all the world like a huge beast searching for its pray. Undoubtedly, it was waiting for an AT-ST walker and not a single rebel on foot. As the AT-AT's 'head' tracked to one side, Wedge sprinted forward and to its feet, hoping that it had missed him. Remembering what many of the pilots had seen Luke Skywalker do at Hoth, Wedge slung his blaster rifle and grabbed his harpoon gun and primed it. "I don't have a lightsaber but maybe a cutting torch will work."

There was an emergency exit hatch in the walker's lower haul and, aiming carefully, fired his ascension harpoon. The harpoon thudded into the walker centimeters away from the hatch. With a satisfied grunt, Wedge used used the harpoon gun to recoil the ascension line, pulling himself off the ground. Just before his helmet thudded into the underside of the walker, he cinched the line, stopping where he was almost directly under the exit hatch. Carefully, he examined the hatch before powering up his cutting torch and pausing. The noise would attract the attention of Imperials inside. Still, there was much that he could do about that. Most emergency hatches like this had activators that, if the door was damaged, it would open automatically. Examining the door again, he took a guess and used the torch to burn into the durasteel.

Apparently, he had guessed correctly because the hatch suddenly hissed open. Yanking his blaster pistol, Wedge aimed upwards just in time for a walker driver or gunner to appear. Wedge squeezed the trigger and the blast took the Imperial in the chest. As quickly as possible, Wedge began to try to scramble in to the walker. "Alright, Rebel, nice and easy;" said the other member of the crew.

Wedge nodded, carefully holstering his weapon and climbed inside. The Imperial took both his blasters and said, "Bold, but stupid, rebel - just like your entire rebellion."

Wedge grinned. "Oh I've been bold and stupid since way before I joined up. Hell! There was one time..." and he lunged, knocking the Imperials blaster pistol to the side just before it barked. Remembering his training with Paige's commandos, something that Luke had mandated whenever possible, Wedge jammed his fists into the driver's throat where the duraplast armor have way to the black body glove that TIE pilots, Stormtroopers and walker AT-AT drivers wore beneath.

The Imperial gurgled and tried to bring his blaster back to bare but, finding that to no longer be an option, dropped it and tried to resist Wedge unarmed. With one quick move, Wedge grabbed him and slammed his helmet against the inner wall before throwing him towards the hatch and diving for one of the discarded, whipping around and firing, killing his opponent.

With a deep breath, Wedge climbed to his feet and ran to the cockpit. It was empty of course.

Relieved that he had taken the AT-AT, Wedge eased into the driver's seat and ran an eye over the controls. They were pretty similar to the AT-ST's, albeit, far more extensive. One thing he noticed on the wall was an activator for the lift. "Well isn't that convenient;" he muttered.

He slapped it and took the ride to try to familiarize himself with the controls. They were extensive but not too terribly complicated. As soon as the lift stopped, he began to advance. The walker was surprising smooth if ponderously slow. Way ahead, he could see the internal workings of the lasercannon - three power nodes. Unlike the AT-ST, he couldn't switch over all controls to the driver's station so he stood up and switched seats. Powering up the laser cannons, Wedge targeted the nodes and waited for a ping that indicated the optimal time to fire. When it pinged, he opened fire, blasting one of them.

Wedge grinned. "One down."

Within a few minutes, he had managed to destroy the others. "Great now to get out of here. I wonder if..."

He looked at a holo-map of the facility stored in the walker's memory banks and found that there was a maintenance lift that went to a platform at the top. Wedge grinned more broadly and jammed the AT-AT into forward movement ran to the emergency hatch. From the wall, he grabbed descension line and dropped again. The line dropped him to the ground at a safe pace and he landed at a run, hoping fervently that he didn't blow up with the facility. Keying his comlink, he contacted the astro droid socketed in his Y-wing. "Are-three, I need you to track this comlink and pick me up. Can you do that?"

The droid whistled a cheerful affirmative. "And please make it quick, little buddy. I don't know when this thing is going to blow."

He smacked the activation lever and began to rise.

Atop the maintenance pad, Wedge saw in the distance, his Y-wing approaching. Suddenly, his comlink chimed again. "Rogue Leader, this is Alderaan Leader - the weapon is powering up again!"

Wedge cursed and mentally urged the fighter to hurry up. It seemed like forever before it was close enough for him to jump in and take control. Turning skyward and at an angle away from the cannon. Behind him, audible rumbles were heard and fire began to burst from the systems. Whoops of excitement came over the comms and Captain Kazar said, "Well done, Rogue Leader. We have your A-wing fueled and ready to return you home. Thanks again for the assist. I'm sending a recommendation to command for commendations."

Wedge replied, "Thank you, Captain."