The otherworldly blue illuminated bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer Challenger and its crew had become increasingly familiar with it. Captain Setaro stood at the front of the walkway, trying to project the confidence that had been shattered by the rebels. She could practically feel her subordinates' eyes on her, seeking reassurance –especially the ones who had been reassigned to the bridge after their last engagement. Except for the occasional rustle of clothes, she could only hear the humming of the vents circulating the stale air. But they never really got rid of the stench of sweat.
Suddenly the monotonous, almost calming blue light around her vanished and was for a moment replaced by streaks of white light. The black vacuum welcomed her in a most comfortable embrace. The blue-green glowing orb right in front of them distracted more than it added –although many would probably disagree being afraid of the vacuum. She was born in space and there was where she thrived.
With more than two dozen moons and several planets spread over this system alone and several more entire systems in their sector, this was a mighty assignment for her small task force. One Captain Setaro was definitely looking forward to if it hadn't so much political crowd and the threat of ending all careers involved.
The massive trade station orbiting Kuuniru was surrounded by a swarm of ships and at least half of them probably had something illegal on board. As if they had read her thoughts, more and more ships left the docks, fleeing in every direction with blazing engines.
A new predator has arrived. And everyone runs screaming into the woods.
She took one long breath. As the air filled her lungs, the anticipation rose to an almost unbearable level and within the blink of an eye, the serenity of the moment was gone.
"Stations, report," she ordered in the calmest voice she could muster with the excitement now also catching up with her.
"Reactor, ready."
"Engines, ready."
"Shields, ready."
Silence.
"Weapons, status?" she asked, turning to the respective officer.
"Weapons reports a problem with two of the heavy turbo laser batteries," a nervous young voice whispered from the crew pit. In the silence even his small voice carried. "One always seems to lose power when the other-"
"I don't want a technical explanation. Why didn't weapons report this earlier?"
"They were confident they could fix it in time."
Captain Setaro resumed her position, looking out at the task at hand.
"Lieutenant, have the weapons chief reprimanded for his carelessness. I always want to be informed when there is a problem on my ship. I want a report of the problem once we have dealt with this situation."
"Yes, Ma'am. All other stations are ready. All ships have reported in."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Engines, full power. Bring us closer to that space station. Flight deck, launch all fighters."
A swarm of the distinctive TIE-Fighters flowed out of the lower hangar and formed up a mile away in a defensive formation.
"Alright, let's clear up this mess. Communications, I want a broadcast through the entire system."
"Yes, Ma'am. You're live."
Too quick. As if he would have known I would ask for it. Very commendable.
"This is Captain Setaro aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Challenger. I order all ships in the systems to immediately shut down their engines and prepare for boarding. Otherwise, you will be fired upon."
Once the broadcast had ended, –as expected– the situation didn't calm down. Now even more ships were trying to flee. One freighter was even so bold to fly in their direction on a course that would lead him past the task force within a mile.
"Lieutenant, assign half a squadron to each of our escorts and have them spread out. The remaining fighters will screen the Challenger. Prepare boarding parties, this will be a good training exercise. Oh and tell the Hydra, I want her to stop that freighter. Such boldness has to be punished. They can't just run my imperial blockade."
TIE-Fighters broke out of formation and formed up around the four Gozanti-Class escorts. The Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser Hydra and her sistership the Orion made up the far flanks of their formation.
When all the fighter escorts had left, a depressingly small fighter screen of just more than two dozen fighters remained to screen the Challenger. Damaged TIE-FIghters and loose parts cluttered the hangar decks in an attempt to keep as many running as possible but without a resupply from an Imperial shipyard, they would run out of fighters sooner rather than later. If they didn't run out of fuel or ammunition before that, that is.
With everything in place, began the boring part of her assignment. She would have to wait at least a few minutes before the first ships would make contact.
"Communications, connect me to Agent Flennic on the surface."
She walked back to the Clone Wars-era holo table in the back and waited for a minute before a miniature hologram of a young, lean man appeared.
"This is ISB-392. Captain, I'm glad you're here. This whole planet is a mess."
"Same up here, Agent. We have poked the hornet's nest. Hopefully, we frighten some of them and tempt them to irrational actions to blow their cover. Did you find the senator's children?"
The little hologram screwed his face comically and looked down at the ground.
"No. Even worse, the local security forces allowed the senator himself to fall into their hands as well."
In her head, she already played through a dozen very uncomfortable scenarios of what would happen if the influential senator were to be harmed in any way. None of them would leave her in command of this task force.
"Any idea where he might be now?"
"The senator is probably still somewhere in Kuuniru City. I doubt they had enough time to get him out. The children however could be anywhere by now. Maybe not even in the system anymore. It would be important to lock down all transports in orbit so we can at least confine his whereabouts to just one planet."
"We are working on it. Any other support you need?"
"A forensics team to sweep through the governor's mansion and some serious manpower to control this city. I don't trust the local garrison."
"I will send you the forensics team now. The rest will have to wait. I need all other shuttles and escorts for boarding duty. Once we have entered orbit, I will send you two companies of Army troopers including troop transports, maybe … two AT-ATs to deter anyone from doing something stupid and half a regiment of Stormtroopers under your personal command. But make sure to use them with care. Due to the rebel push our supply lines are cut and it is not clear when the fleet will push them back far enough to reach these out-of-the-way sectors and then it will take some more time before it is deemed safe enough for cargo ships even with an escort. Any trooper or any equipment is lost for good."
"I am well aware of that. I am always taking care of those under my command and your help is greatly appreciated, Captain."
"It's nothing personal. I'm just trying to save our careers here. We wouldn't want a promising ISB Officer like you to fail. What would your father say?"
The young officer didn't like to be reminded of who his father was although she didn't understand why. If she had a Moff who oversees one of the largest Imperial Shipyards as a father, she would be commanding a much larger task force and wouldn't have been assigned such a career-endangering mission.
From the corner of her eye, she saw three of her bridge officers leaning over one of the consoles and the discussion grew more heated by the second. One glance at the tactical screen was enough to confirm the target of their discussion. The rogue freighter.
"Agent Flennic, you will have to excuse me. We have a situation. Your reinforcements will arrive before the day is over."
With a few quick steps, she walked over to the comms console her officers were crowding and asked, "Why hasn't the Hydra opened fire yet?"
"The commanding officer tried to get them to stop."
"Well, they obviously didn't. It looks like the freighter is still accelerating faster."
She leaned and activated the microphone.
"Hydra, this is Captain Setaro. Open fire with all cannons."
She stepped back to the holo table where instead of the Agent, she accessed the Hydra's sensors. The image shook slightly as the turbolaser batteries opened fire. The barrage hit the rapidly approaching ship yet it only strained its shields.
To sustain that kind of fire, the freighter had to have military-grade shields.
Then a panel at the front of the freighter broke off despite the shields still being intact.
"Lieutenant, what do you see there?" she asked pointing at the apparent hull damage
The officer –still bowed over the console– walked over to her.
"We haven't hit them yet. Maybe the ship just falls apart?"
"A ship with shields as good as this. Unlikely."
Fear rushed through her as she suddenly realised, " They are not trying to escape, they are flying an attack run. Hydra, strengthen deflector shields now."
A second later a bright light appeared from the damaged part of the hull. It rushed toward the Hydra and all feeds went black.
She wanted to shout for what had happened. But that wouldn't be professional.
She wanted to run over to the window, trying to see the Hydra in the distance. But that wouldn't be professional.
She wanted to wheel the Challenger about and pick up the chase. But that wouldn't be professional.
Captain Setaro of the ISD Challenger squeezed her hands to fists and over the anxious murmurs of the bridge crew said, "Raise engagement level to active combat. Shoot at everything with activated reactors. Send the two Gozantis and their escort to intercept. Disable the ship if possible but don't take any risks. Comms, establish contact with the squadron commander escorting the Hydra and get their sensors on the holotable. Everyone else, back to your tasks. Some of the freighters are heading our direction as well."
Suddenly filled with a clear task, the communications officer awoke from his stupor and a moment later a holo of the freighter appeared, being chased by the TIE escort.
Reading the small numbers at the bottom of the projection, she asked, "TK-9231, this is Captain Setaro. Report."
The half-squadron of TIE-Fighters was chasing the rogue freighter, covering it in green bolts of energy.
"The ship fired some kind of concealed weapon that disabled the Hydra."
"Any other visible weapons?"
"No, but their shield seems quite strong."
"Is the Hydra damaged?"
"I'm not sure, Ma'am."
"Then that's our priority. Turn around with your squadron, so we can get some sensor readings."
"But what about the ship?"
"We have already sent other units to intercept, they should be there any moment. Don't worry, they won't get away. But right now it is more important to find out what happened to the Hydra and their crew and not leave them undefended."
"Yes, Ma'am," the man said hesitantly but turned around in what must have been a gut-wrenching manoeuvre.
When the camera steadied again, the Hydra was right in front of them.
"The engines are offline and my sensors only pick up a very faint electrical reading," the pilot said.
"But the hull is intact?"
"Yes, no air leakage anywhere and no debris."
"Good. Then it was most likely just an ion weapon disabling the ship's electronics, … TK-9231. Protect the Hydra until reinforcements arrive and inform the bridge if anything changes on board. Captain Setaro, out."
This system was much more dangerous than the reports managed if military-grade weapons and shields had found their way into the hands of the underworld.
"Lieutenant, status."
"The Gozantis have engaged the freighter and destroyed the hyperdrive. They are now trying to stop it without destroying the entire ship."
"Send a shuttle with a boarding party. I want to know who shot at my ship. Also, send a shuttle with technicians to help the Hydra."
Green lights illuminating the bridge for a moment startled her out of her concentration and she looked up. The main batteries of the Star Destroyer opened fire at long range against the group of seven incoming freighters who were foolish enough to try to run the blockade of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Her Star Destroyer. Three freighters immediately exploded in balls of bright yellow light while two more were hit and the crew vented out into space.
"This is Captain Setaro. Shut down your reactor and prepare for boarding or you will be fired upon."
A flood of messages reached the bridge as the captains all over the system finally lost hearts and disabled their ships.
"Should we send the forensics team for Agent Flennic now?" her Lieutenant asked. "With a TIE-escort, it should be safe enough."
"We need all shuttles crewed with boarding parties for now and send them to the damaged ships first. Maybe we can save some of the crew. Agent Flennic will have to wait a bit longer for his reinforcements."