Special Forces

In the midst of space a GR-75 medium transport was fleeing from several Imperial vessels in pursuit. Following close behind while firing their turbo lasers were an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate and three Imperial Gozanti-class cruisers, the latter of which carried four TIE fighters each. The Nebulon-B frigate led the chase, bombarding the fleeing ship that had thus far managed to defend itself with shields.

However, it had sustained some damage from several proton torpedoes but avoided critical damage due to the transport's armored hull. The ship fired back with its four twin laser cannons as it retreated. But they did little to slow its pursuers.

The ship belonged to the Rebel Alliance and had been found during a routine patrol. The opportunity to attack or capture the ship was too good to ignore and the captain in command, Griselda Grievus, ordered her forces on hand to pursue. The captain, an older woman garbed in standard Imperial uniform, smiled wickedly as the ship fled and fired back at them in futility.

She was eager to make this kill. Or perhaps capture the rebels occupying the ship for interrogation. Either would suit her as long as it served to further her career and status within the Empire.

"Open a communications channel with the ship," she ordered as she stood on the bridge. Her orders were obeyed as her frigate established communication. "Attention rebels. This is Captain Griselda Grievus. You are under arrest for conspiring against the Empire. Power down your systems and prepare to be boarded. This is the only mercy I'm willing to show you. If you do not comply, you will be destroyed," she warned darkly.

She waited a beat to receive their response. But none came. She scowled at the impudence of her enemy to not even bother with a response. "Very well then," she said with a smirk. "All batteries open fire," she commanded.

She watched in dark delight at the state of the ship. She assumed its hyperdrive must have been damaged as it'd yet to jump. So it was helpless and all it could do was run.

"Ma'am, the rebel transport is approaching the asteroid belt of that planet," one of the deck officers stated. Indeed, the transport turned to starboard to enter an approaching planet's belt.

"Follow them in. Tell the Gozanti cruisers to flank them and cut off their escape," she ordered. Her orders were relayed as the Gozanti cruisers following behind broke away to go around and cut off the transport's escape.

She watched as the transport entered the asteroid belt, knocking aside large asteroids as it went. "Power up the particle shields. Focus them forward," she ordered.

The frigate entered the asteroid belt in pursuit. Its shield guarded it against the asteroids, knocking them away. They attempted to keep firing on the transport. But the asteroids were interfering and getting in the way of their fire. She growled in annoyance.

"Send in a squadron of TIE fighters. Drop the particle shield along the port side hangar bay," she ordered.

"Acknowledged, lowering particle shield on the port side," an officer said in confirmation.

Griselda held her arrogant smile as she kept her eyes on the fleeing ship. Everything was going as it should.

Meanwhile, outside the asteroids were floating about endlessly. All around the moving ships they spun and drifted about listlessly, practically ignored by the occupants of the said ships.

All according to plan.

Attached to one asteroid drifting near the Imperial frigate was another small vessel. The vehicle was a YM-2800 limpet ship. Used primarily to mine asteroids like the one its four mechanical feet were clamping to. Inside were a group watching and waiting for the perfect moment to make their move.

"C'mon ye Imp, tak' th' bait," one of them whispered.

The group watched in near darkness, their ship in a low power state to avoid detection as they monitored the situation with their equipment. They waited with bated breaths before their hearts skipped with anticipation as they saw the hangar doors open and TIE waiting to fly out.

"We're oan," the leader of the group said. "Wait fur th' last one tae fly oot," she said to the pilot.

"Got it," she got in reply.

The group watched and listened as the TIEs flew out of the hangar in pursuit. The pilot waited until he saw the very last one leave. When it did he hit a few controls. "Unclamping," he warned. A moment later the ship unclamped from the asteroid and with a tiny thrust of its engines it floated to the side of the Nebulon frigate.

With expert maneuvering he managed to get the ships down onto the side of the larger ship feet first. It magnetized itself onto the hull, all feet clamping down before it lowered itself down and pressed against the ship's surface.

"We're in," the pilot said.

"Start the operation," the leader ordered.

From inside the inside of the ship in an empty corridor of the frigate the wall connected to the vacuum of space was being cut. A short hot beam from the outside was slicing a circle into the wall. The circle was just large enough for beings to pass through. When the circle was complete the beams stopped, and a push was given from the other side.

A slab of the wall gave away and clattered to the floor with a loud clang. It was silent for a moment and nothing happened. Then something leapt out of the hole and into the ship in a crouch. A short sentient being that looked like an anthropomorphic rabbit stayed in her position and swept her head back and forth on the lookout.

"We good Hopps?" she was asked by her comrade.

Hopps raised an ear in either direction, leaning her head both ways as she listened for any signs of the approaching enemy. "No alarms. No footsteps coming in this direction. I think we're good," she said before standing up.

A moment later her comrades followed her out. There were six people in total. One was a female Aruzan, a blue skinned humanoid. She was an expert slicer, or computer hacker, and had many cybernetic enhancements throughout her body. She had short black hair and wore a set of data goggles over eyes that fed her information on the environment in real time. On her back was a small power pack to power her slicing tools.

Another lumbered his way out after her. A tall humanoid with white fur. One might have mistaken him for a Wookie, but he was a Gigoran. He wore a vocoder over his mouth so he could communicate with his comrades and easily hefted up a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon as he looked around in search of the enemy.

Next out was Kristoff, Anna's boyfriend, who carried with him a DLT-20A blaster rifle. The young man was tall and brawny with sandy blonde hair. He wore a dark brown jacket with pants and boots of the same shade. He had a utility belt around his waist with a backup blaster holstered at his side.

Next out was Merida. Though normally overseeing operations and acting as a diplomat for the Rebellion, she would occasionally join on missions personally. Her belief was that she should be just as willing to put herself in danger on the front lines as anyone else. Her mission outfit consisted of a teal jacket, over which she wore a dark tactical vest with pockets. She had on dark fingerless gloves and boots along with light brown pants. She wore a dark belt alongside a tactical belt with her GL-77 blaster holstered at her right hip. On her back she had another weapon slung in waiting.

Finally, Eugene stepped out. He was dressed in stormtrooper armor, much to his displeasure, and had his helmet removed. Wearing the enemy armor with him were two clones from Red Regiment, Merida's personal force, and a Zabrak.

With everyone assembled and ready Merida looked to Hopps. Hopps was a Lepi. A lagomorphic humanoid with grey fur and purple eyes. She wore a black body glove under a tactical vest and belt where she had two Blurrg-1120 holdout blasters holstered. She was short, only standing at a little under five feet tall. But her stature and appearance belied her deadly aptitude.

Hopps, the Aruzan, the Gigoran, and the Zabrak were members of Alliance Special Forces. They were the most elite soldiers within the Alliance, given the most extensive and specialized training among their forces. Even being chosen as a potential recruit was a testament to one's skill and dedication to the rebel cause and actually becoming a member was even more so.

Hopps signaled the Aruzan who kneeled down and activated a holopad, showing them all a schematic of the frigate.

"Alright everyone, let's go over the plan one last time," Hopps began as they gathered around. "Team 1, consisting of Merida, Kristoff, Biggs, Blue, and myself will head to the bridge and take it. Team 2, consisting of everyone else will head to the aft section of the ship and take over the reactors," she said to reiterate the plan.

"Great, so we gotta take the long way and fight our way through swaths of stormtroopers," Eugene said sarcastically.

"Well that's what's th' armor is for," Merida pointed out.

"Yeah, don't even get me started on this armor," Eugene countered as he tugged at it. "This stuff is terrible. I can never see anything out of these helmets," he complained.

"Well you look good in it," Kristoff joked teasingly.

"How dare you," Eugene said in offense. Eugene then took a look at the map and the length of ship they'd have to travel without being caught. "You know Merida, we probably could have used a Jedi on this mission."

"They were needed elsewhere," Merida countered.

"But still-" Eugene started.

"Hey," Hopps cut in. Eugene looked at her as she stood up. "We may not be Jedi but that doesn't mean we're useless," she said sternly with her hands on her hips. "We're SpaceOps. This is what we do," she finished proudly.

"Well said Hopps," Merida added in agreement. She stood up and everyone stood as well. "We know the plan. Let's get tae it. And let's make it fast. We're on the clock people," she ordered.

With nods the group split and went their separate ways.

"I'm on point," Hopps said. "Merida, you stay behind me. Blue, you stay in the middle of the squad. Biggs and Kristoff, watch our six. Let's move people," Hopps ordered.

Then they were off, moving the corridors as silently as they could manage. They had to stay quiet for now and cover as much ground as they could for the time being.

Back in the vacuum of space the transport was still fleeing, but now it had to fend off multiple TIE fighters in the process. Its turbolasers shot at the swarming fighters. The TIEs fired back, trying to overwhelm the transport's shields whilst also avoiding the asteroids around them.

Inside the transport the rebel crew tried their best to stay calm, even as their vessel's alarms blared and the whole vessel rattled and shook as some blasts from the TIEs got through the shields. At the bridge everyone was white knuckling whatever they could hold onto.

"Sir, we can't take much more of this," one rebel shouted to the one in command.

"Agreed," he said. He activated the ship's comms systems. "Come in Commander!"

"Go ahead," came Merida's voice.

"We can't take much more of this ma'am. We need to execute the next phase," he said urgently.

"Acknowledged. Proceed with the next phase Captain," she responded.

"Thank you ma'am," the Captain said gratefully. He switched to another channel to contact another one of their allies lying in wait. "BT, WE NEED YOU NOW!" he shouted urgently.

"Acknowledged," came a response.

Floating just outside the planet's orbit was a small starfighter. It was a unique fighter, marked with the symbol of the Alliance and designed in the shape of a blade. The pilot inside began to quickly power up its systems and the cockpit came to life. She grabbed the controls as the engines fired and rocketed her to her allies in the transport.

As her ship approached she activated its S-foils in preparation to attack. All the while she wove and sailed between asteroids with expert skill. When she was within attack range she began to open fire. Two sets of laser cannons began to fire, immediately killing one TIE that she managed to catch unaware.

Her starfighter was known as a B-wing. It was normally meant to serve the role of a bomber and was considered a subpar dogfighter. But the pilot was well versed in her ship's capabilities and had experience flying through an asteroid belt, like the one surrounding her home planet.

A few of the TIEs broke away from their attack on the transport to engage her. She smiled as they came before immediately steering away and through the belt. She wove her way through, the main wing rotated around the cockpit as she went.

Behind her the TIEs did their best to follow and steer around the constantly moving maze of asteroids. As one attempted to roll out of the way of one she misjudged the path of an oncoming asteroid. It clipped his TIE's wing, sending him into a wild spin before colliding with a bigger one. His ship exploded as his comrades continued the chase.

On the bridge of the frigate Griselda took note of the additional fighter and growled in frustration at its sudden intervention.

"Tell the Gozanti cruisers to advance and scramble the remaining TIEs," she snapped.

Outside the B-wing pilot did a 180ยบ turn, managing to outmaneuver the TIEs and get behind them. Her multiple laser cannons ended two more whilst the others were struggling to get a lock onto her. Her ship was equipped with jammers that affected their targeting systems.

She glanced out of her cockpit to see the Gozantis preparing to attack. She opened her comm and contacted more allies waiting to be signaled to move in.

Meanwhile, inside the rebel group tasked with commandeering the bridge moved through the corridor at a slow but steady pace. They knew it was only a matter of time before they were discovered, but they wanted to get as far as they could as discreetly as possible.

Hopps led the way, her sensitive ears raised in search of the enemy. They came to a fork in the corridor and based on the schematics they needed to take a left. Hopps' ears detected movement ahead and she stopped at the corner of the wall and raised a closed fist, prompting her allies to come to a stop behind her.

She crouched down and peeked around the corner of the wall. She spotted two stormtroopers up ahead. Beyond them was a lift to take them down to the level they needed. She raised a hand up and lifted two fingers to signal how many of the enemy she saw.

She looked back at them and mouthed for them to wait here. They nodded in confirmation. Hopps closed her eyes and took a breath to mentally prepare herself. Then with an exhale she opened her eyes and sprang out from around the corner and sprinted down the hall and at the stormtroopers.

She moved quickly and almost silently. When she was within a few feet of the troopers she dropped down into a slide. She placed her hand against the ground to slow herself down and slid right between them. As they flinched and stopped in surprise as they noticed her she swept the legs out from under the one on the left.

He fell to the ground with yelp, and as the other raised his weapon she sprang to her feet before flipping backward and striking out with a kick. She caught him in the underside of the chin and knocked him off his feet. As she landed she could hear the other stormtrooper starting to recover.

She whirled around on him as he was picking himself up and threw a kick to his midsection. He went hurtling into the wall with a pained cry. Hopps' ear caught more movement from the other trooper who was beginning to get his bearings. She sprang at him and landed on her left foot, pivoting and letting her momentum carry her before delivering a harsh kick across the man's face that shattered the plastoid of his helmet and knocked him out cold.

Her ears detected something further down the corridor and she turned her head right as two stormtroopers rounded a corner further down. They spotted her and one immediately shouted loudly, "HEY!"

Before Hopps could react two blaster bolts flew above her head in quick succession, striking both troopers in the chest and killing them almost instantly. Hopps glanced back to see Merida standing out in the open with her blaster raised.

Merida approached Hopps with a smile as Hopps smiled back gratefully.

"Have I mentioned how much I love working with you, Hopps?" Merida told the Lepi with a light laugh.

"The pleasure is all mine ma'am," Hopps said back with mirth.

The squad all gathered to walk to the lift. They pressed the button on the control panel to call it and waited. All the while they kept a look out for any approaching troopers. The lift reached their level with a ding and opened.

Inside were two troopers. They let out startled yelps before being silenced as Biggs reached his hands into the lift and wrapped his large hand around their heads. He hefted them off the ground with a grunt before lifting them out of the lift and then slamming their heads together. Their bodies went limp and he dropped them.

"Good job Biggs," Hopps complimented. "Everybody in," she ordered.

Everyone piled in, somewhat compactly. They'd measured the dimensions of the lift beforehand. But the calculations were perhaps a bit off.

"Suck it in Biggs," Hopps said to her teammate as they all pushed against his bulk.

"HEY STOP!" came a shout. Everyone looked down the corridor to find two stormtroopers coming toward them with their blasters raised.

Kristoff immediately raised and leveled his rifle at them before opening fire. They fired back as he retreated into the lift, managing to down one of them before it closed.

Outside the trooper reached the close lift and banged a fist against it in frustration. He grabbed his comlink before contacting the bridge.

"Come in bridge. We have intruders. They're taking the lift down. I think they're headed your way," he alerted.

On the bridge Griselda shouted in outrage before ordering the alarm to be triggered. It went off and an alert went out to personnel to be on the lookout for intruders and for them to head to the bridge.

"Captain! We're detecting ships coming from the other side of the planet," one of the officers shouted.

"What?" she shouted. She looked out into space to see three new ships appearing from around the far side of the planet.

Three Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes revealed themselves as they rounded the planet and made straight for the Gozantis. They picked their targets and accelerated with the engines at full power. Meanwhile the Gozantis had detected them and were attempting to move out of the way while deploying their attachment of TIE fighters.

"Brace for impact!" shouted a member of the crew in one of the Hammerhead corvettes. Everyone in the corvettes grabbed hold of something as the angled bow of their ships were pointed right at the midsection of the Gozanti cruisers.

One by one the Gozantis were rammed by the corvettes. Their metal hulls screeched and bent and were ripped apart as the corvettes plowed through them. The Gozanti exploded in fiery messes with only two managing to deploy their TIEs attached to their underside.

Immediately the corvettes turned their cannons on the TIEs.

On the bridge Griselda stood frozen, stunned at the sight of her Gozanti escorts being destroyed. Her brain began catching up to her and she realized they'd been led into a trap. All these additional ships had been lying in wait for the right moment to strike.

"Ma'am. Your orders?" a deck officer called out, snapping her back to reality.

She gathered herself and narrowed her eyes in determination. "Lock down the bridge and get away from these asteroids," she shouted in response.

"Yes ma'am."

The blaster door to the bridge closed right as the lift containing the rebels opened. They filed out and ran for the door. They tried the control panel and were unsurprised to find it locked.

"Blue, get the door," Hopps told her teammate. With a thumbs up the Aruzan complied as she approached the control panel. She pulled at a data pad with a length of wire attached to it. Attached to the length of wire was a scomp link.

She kneeled down and plugged it into the wall socket underneath the panel. A series of code began filling her data pad as she got to work trying to override the door control.

"Any idea how long this is gonna take?" Merida inquired.

The Aruzan didn't respond. She simply raised a hand up and lifted two fingers.

"Two?" Merida asked for clarification. "Is that minutes or hours?"

The Aruzan didn't respond, she simply nodded.

"Blue doesn't talk much," Hopps explained with a sheepish smile. Her ears suddenly rose and turned. She leaned her head into it, picking up the faint sounds of footsteps and the lift in motion.

"Hopps?" Merida inquired.

"We got company," Hopps confirmed. "Get ready," she told everyone.

Everyone reached for their weapons, preparing to make their stand there.

Meanwhile, on the aft section of the ship, Eugene and his group were having a much easier time with their task. They'd gone basically unnoticed, with barely a few nods in acknowledgment. Stormtroopers were generally discouraged from making conversation or personal interactions anyway, which was perfect.

When the alarms started blaring and an announcement came over the communications systems to be on the lookout for intruders they froze on the spot, wondering if they'd been found out. But as people ran by them and even told them they should keep their eyes open it was obvious it wasn't their group that'd been discovered.

So they pressed on a brisk pace before getting in the lift and taking it down to the level of the reactor. After that it was a short walk and they were there. They peeked their heads in, finding the room bare, save for the handful of Imperial engineers.

"Only some engineers. Lightly armed. Not much of a fight," one of the clones said.

"Easy pickings," said the Zabrak.

"Hold on a sec fellas," Eugene chimed in. When they all looked at him in question he elaborated. "We may not need to fight at all. I mean, to them, we look like we're on their side," he reminded them as he gestured to his armor.

"All we need is a little creativity," he said as he grinned deviously beneath his helmet. If he wasn't wearing it they'd even see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

A few minutes later Eugene and the others ran into the room in mock panic, yelling and flailing their arms about wildly to emphasize the show. They ran up to the engineers, ranting about a squadron of rebels making their way to the reactor room.

"Oh man there was like...67 of them," Eugene shouted as he clung to the arm of an engineer. "They're on their way here as we speak. We need to make a stand and hold this room. No matter the costs. For the sake of our glorious Empire!" he shouted with fake resolve.

The engineers seemed to have bought it as they rallied to him and his compatriots with weapons drawn and attention fixed on the entrance. With their attention drawn the other discreetly maneuvered their way around them, placing themselves at their backs.

Which they proceeded to open fire on. But they'd set their blasters to stun. It felt wrong to just shoot them in the back like that.

The engineers fell to the ground unconscious and one of the clones went to the door to seal themselves in as another took watch of their immobile enemy

Eugene took off his helmet with no small amount of relief before making his way to the control panels for the reactor. He activated his comlink to contact Merida.

"Come in Red."

Back at the door to the bridge, Merida and her group were doing their best to hold out until their hacker got the door open. They'd disabled the lift but stormtroopers were still trying to rush them from two sides.

Biggs, with his rotary cannon, was single handedly guarding one side. His weapon's rapid fire unleashed a volley of lasers that was virtually impossible to get through alive, while the others held the opposite side.

A stormtrooper screamed in panic, blinded by Hopps clinging to his face and punching him repeatedly with dizzying blows. His comrades attempted to help but were hesitant to open fire and risk shooting their teammate in the process.

Hopps kept raining blows on the hapless trooper as he staggered around blindly. Then she gripped the underside of his helmet before firmly driving both feet into his chest and springing off him. He fell to the ground with a cry as Hopps flipped through the air to land on her feet.

With helmet in hand she leapt at another trooper with a yell, smacking his guarded face with her makeshift weapon and making him stagger with a pain grunt. She landed on her feet and pivoted to hurl her helmet at the head of another trooper. On guard he managed to swat it away before preparing to fire on her.

But with a quick dash she dropped to the floor and kicked his ankles apart. His legs spread and his body sank into a painful split that had him screaming in agony. Hopps flipped to her feet and threw her leg forward in a forceful front kick to his chest, sending him back to collide with the wall and knocking him out.

She turned to see more troopers rounding the corner. They fired on her. Acting quickly, she began to backflip and somersault away, their fire hitting the ground a moment after she'd moved from it. With one final spring she drew her twin blasters in midair and returned fire.

The troopers crouched and pressed against the corridor walls or retreated around the corner. Hopps stayed low to the ground, making herself as small a target as possible. Then with pained yells the troopers began to drop one after another.

Hopps glanced back to see Merida and Kristoff at her back. Kristoff was peeking around a corner, leveling his rifle and taking aim before firing off a shot from his powerful weapon. Merida meanwhile stood out in the open, her GL-77 blaster in one hand and an E-11 blaster she'd taken from a downed trooper in another.

Merida was absolutely deadly in a fire fight. Her eyesight and aim were extraordinary and unmatched, save for perhaps the greatest of sharpshooters. She rarely, if ever, missed a shot. The troopers could barely find time to raise their weapons at her before being gunned down.

"Blue, how we doing?" Kristoff called out over the sound of blaster discharge. The slicer raised a finger up in response. "What does that mean? One minute? One second?"

"She's almost done," Hopps explained.

Inside the bridge Griselda could hear the commotion going on outside the door. She gnashed her teeth angrily before grabbing her comlink to demand answers.

"Troopers! Status!" she snarled into her comlink.

"The intruders are holding their position outside the bridge! We can even get close to-AH!" the trooper began before getting cut off.

"Trooper! Trooper!" she demanded. But no response came. With a look out the window she could make out the corvettes coming toward them and in the distance she could see a fourth ship approaching. With her forces depleted and yet another enemy ship joining the fray she gave a new order.

"Get us out of here, full retreat!" she demanded.

The frigate had risen up and clear of the asteroid field before beginning to turn around to flee. The rebels saw and communicated the development. The corvettes and B-wing had destroyed the TIEs, allowing for their final and instrumental ship to the operation to advance into position.

The frigate's engines and hyperdrive powered up and prepared to jump. It was made to do so, accelerating to enter hyperspace.

But suddenly the ship rocked violently as its jump was halted. The crew on the bridge nearly toppled from their seats and everyone in the ship had to grab at something to stay upright.

On the bridge Griselda rose from her position slumped over a computer panel and looked around in bewilderment. They were in the same place. They should've been in hyperspace by now.

"What's happened!?" she demanded. "Why haven't we jumped?"

"It seems as if we were pulled from hyperspace ma'am!" an officer replied.

"What?! Impossible!"

Outside the newest ship had done its job. The ship was a CC-7700 frigate, and was equipped with a gravity well projector. This allowed it to serve as an interdictor, a ship capable of pulling other ships out of hyperspace.

The rebels smiled knowingly as they opened fire on the frigate, mainly aiming for its turbolasers to cause superficial damage.

Outside the bridge the rebels had recovered from the ruined lightspeed jump. They'd all nearly toppled over, only managing to catch themselves because they'd been expecting it. After quickly gaining their wits they proceeded to gun down the rest of the stormtroopers still trying to get themselves together.

With their enemy gone at the moment they were left in silence. Hopps raised her ears and turned them about in search of the enemy. But she heard no one approaching.

"We're good. For now at least," she said.

"Good," Merida said in relief. Her wrist comm suddenly started beeping and she dropped the E-11 blaster and answered it. "Go ahead."

"We got control of the reactor room, Red," Euegen informed her.

She smiled. "Good, wait for my signal," she ordered. She then looked to their slicer who was still at work. "Blue?" she asked.

The Aruzan looked back at them and smiled. She raised a hand up and with a bit of flourish pressed down on her datapad. A moment later the blast door to the bridge opened.

Griselda whirled around in surprise, meeting Merida's smug smirk before snarling and reaching down for her weapon. She grabbed it from its holster and raised it up to fire, but before she could even aim it was shot from her hand by the rebel leader.

It went flying and she clutched at her hand. She watched as the rebels entered the bridge, pausing to shut and seal the blast door behind them. With weapons at the ready they pointed them at the deck officers and ordered them to step away.

Some of them complied obediently but others went for their weapons in one last ditch attempt to defend the bridge. Given no choice, Hopps, Kristoff, and Merida fired on them before they could draw their blasters.

With their comrades falling to the ground the other officers raised their hands in surrender and stepped away from the bridge's controls.

"Blue," Hopps said as she looked to her comrade. She gave a nod of understanding as she went to the control's panels, connecting her datapad to take control of the ship.

"You won't win rebel scum," Griselda spat at them. "You may have taken the bridge but there are still hundreds of stormtroopers at my command, ready to eliminate you in the name of the Empire," she said triumphantly.

Merida and Hopps exchanged a look. Hopps nodded as she produced a small device from her vest pocket. She gave another nod, a silent signal she was ready for the final phase of their plan.

Merida met the captain's gaze and walked right up to her. She stopped before her and pointed her blaster right in her face. "We're taking this ship, Captain Grievus. You're going to order all your men to evacuate," she stated matter-of-factly.

Griselda flinched, eyes widening at the gall of the young woman before her. She recovered and glared into her eyes with venom. "Have you lost your mind, you rebel scum?" she asked incredulously.

"You really think I'll have all my men evacuate?" she asked with a sneer. "You may have seized the bridge but you are far too outnumbered. I'd sooner scuttle the ship than let it fall into your hands," she spat.

"Oh I think you'll reconsider considering what we've done to the reactor," Merida revealed with a confident grin.

The captain's eyes widened, but a moment later they narrowed in scrutiny. "You're bluffing," she hedged. "You just want me to think you've sabotaged the reactor."

Merida looked at Hopps and the Lepi smiled back with a nod before walking to her Aruzan comrade.

"No, you wouldn't blow up the ship. Not after all this effort to procure it. You have no cards to play. Your trick won't work on me," Griselda said, smiling in victory.

Merida held her gaze for a moment before chuckling and smiling in satisfaction. She removed her blaster from the captain's face and stepped away. "Thank you, Captain. You've given me what I needed," she said, pleased.

"I've given you nothing. As a matter of fact, as we speak my reinforcements are on their way. They'll destroy this small squadron of yours and leave nothing but fire and space debris once they're done. Your only hope will be to surrender, only then may I consider showing you any mercy."

"Oh we'll be gone long before then. Right after we get the men to evacuate," Merida countered.

"On whose authority?" Griselda demanded, tired of Merida's impertinence and smug demeanor.

"Yours actually," Hopps said as she stood by the control panel and her comrade.

The Imperial captain looked toward her, bemused. "What?"

"You're going to tell the men to evacuate the ship in your own words," Hopps elaborated. She suddenly held up a small device and pressed a button.

"All men, evacuate the ship. Rebel scum have sabotaged the reactor," came the captain's voice from the device.

She blanched in shock at hearing her own words giving the evacuation order. "But-no-that's not-" she stammered out.

"Oh it is," Hopps cut in with a smile. "It's called a hustle sweetheart," she added cheekily.

Merida activated her comlink. "Now Eugene," she said.

A split-second later alarms blared, and lights began to flash. Hopps handed the device to her teammate who connected it to the PA system running through the entire ship.

"All men, evacuate the ship. Rebel scum have sabotaged the reactor," came the warning on repeat.

Throughout the ship all personnel stopped what they were doing and began scrambling to escape pods and the shuttled in the hangar bay. Griselda turned to see the escape pods jettisoning into space alongside shuttles. All attempting to flee the blast zone for a reactor failure, even ignoring the other rebel ships.

Merida holstered her blaster as the captain stood on the spot with her jaw hanging open. Trying to comprehend how they'd managed to deceive her. She decided to twist the knife a little, "You should surrender with some dignity, Captain."

Griselda clenched her fists, anger surging through her like a fire as she slowly turned to face the red head. Merida held her brazen smirk as the captain's whole body began to tremble with rage.

"I assure you that you'll be treated fairly as a prisoner of war to await a future trial. Much better than how the Empire treats its captives," Merida continued.

Griselda snapped, crying out in fury as she charged the red head with balled fists. She caught her off guard and managed to land a punch across the face. Merida staggered to the side, but she raised a hand as her comrades were about to step forward to subdue the Imperial officer.

She looked at the captain with a satisfied smile, taking pride at making her lose her cool. She brushed off her cheek as she stared into her eyes. "That's the only shot you get for free, Captain," she said lowly.

Griselda snarled and raised her hands up into a battle stance. Merida narrowed her eyes and did the same. Griselda inched closer and Merida shuffled forward to meet her. The captain tensed and cocked back her arm to throw another punch.

But Merida saw it coming. Her opponent was far too angry, she was telegraphing her moves far too much. Merida bobbed and weaved under her blow, shifting her body to the left and throwing a left jab to the captain's midsection.

Griselda staggered from the blow while clutching her side. But with fire in her eyes she went on the attack again. She threw another big swing that was too easy to read. Merida intercepted it, catching her right hand by the wrist with her left and then grabbing her by the back of the head with her right. She pulled her closer and threw her knee up, driving it into her stomach repeatedly.

She released the captain who fell to her knees, clutching her stomach and gasping for air. Merida raised and hand up threw a punch of her own, striking Griselda across the jaw with a well-aimed blow that knocked her out cold.

The others stood there and smiled at the scene, never doubting how it was going to end. With her opponent lying before her and unconscious, Merida straightened herself out and stepped over her and up to the viewport of the frigate.

"Let's get back to base everyone. Hopps," she ordered.

"Yes ma'am," the Lepi said with a resounding reply.

Hopps contacted all their forces and signaled Eugene to shut off the reactor alarm. With the ship under their control, they plugged in new hyperspace coordinates while disabling the ship's locator beacon.

There was a crash, and an Arquitens-class light cruiser came out of hyperspace, having received the call for reinforcements.

But they did so a moment too late.

"Make the jump," Merida ordered.

At her command the stars started to stretch, and all ships shot away into the void.

Merida activated her comlink and contacted all her forces. "Congratulations everyone. The mission was a resounding success," she relayed to everyone.

"BT, you did especially well," she said, speaking to the B-wing pilot directly.

"Thank you very much ma'am. I'm glad I could be of help," came the pilot's response.

"If it's alright with you BT, I'd like to recommend you to Blizzard squadron," Merida added.

There was a pause from the pilot's side before she answered excitedly. "Oh that would be amazing Commander! It would be such an honor! You have-" the pilot stopped, coughing over the communication to compose herself.

"I mean, I'm very grateful for the commendation ma'am," she said in a more formal tone.

Merida chuckled in mirth before giving her reply. "Good lass. I'll speak with the Captain on your behalf once we get back."

She got an affirmative response in return and ended their communication.

Kristoff stepped up to stand beside her. "Nice work Merida."

"You too Kristoff," Merida said back.

Merida smiled to herself in pride. It was a tricky operation. One that'd been planned far in advance and had taken many factors and variables into account. But they'd pulled it off and added a new ship to the rebel fleet. All while proving Merida's opinion right.

They hadn't needed the Jedi for this.