Coren StarChaser dropped from the cockpit of his Z-95 Headhunter. The Warbirds just returned from a mission near Kashyyyk. The mission was an escort for a group of Imperial Slavers who were searching for a certain Wookiee. The New Republic was sloppy and had no defensive strike responding. The pilots were upset they had no action.
In the debriefing room, Hawk and Kite pilots were engaged in various conversations, that is, until Lieutenant General Lily Ardellian quieted them down.
"Now, Command is telling me that the mission was a victory. I agree, because our objectives were completed. However, I feel it was a waste of fuel and our time. I know that it didn't tire you pilots out, so I requested another mission for us. We leave tonight. Report to briefing at 1600 hours. Dismissed."
As the pilots got up, Coren waited for a second and then proceeded to his quarters. He pushed datapads and sheets of flimsiplast off to the sides and turned his chair to regard his desktop terminal. From his room, the adjacent door opened, he could hear the music he put on. It was light, acoustic and relaxing. Just as Coren powered up the terminal the door opened and in walked Lily Ardellian.
Coren stood at attention.
"At ease, Coren," Lily said as Coren relaxed into his chair. Lily sat on one of the chairs on the other side of the desk, facing Coren.
"How can I be of service?"
Lily smiled. At times like these she appreciated Coren's straightforwardness.
"We have a mission tonight. Its profile is still being kept confidential, but I feel you can be of help. We're going into the Ionus system. Its been used as a prison camp for the Republic. The Warbirds are going in to rescue a few prisoners. We've already got a few freighters. The problem is that the prison we're hitting is located in the heart of the capital city."
"Something like that's never stopped us before."
"I know, but Command has been getting reports from our recon teams that the Republic is massing around Ionus. We can slip through but on the surface we'll have trouble. The Republic has the city built like a fortress. Anything you can do?"
"I've got a few friends who can help. They can at least distract part of the city allowing us to get a team in."
"Can you make arrangements?"
"I'll get right on it."
"Thanks," Lily stood and left the office.
Within the hour Coren contacted six of his highly trained pirates. They agreed to meet them on the surface of Ionus at the designated point. After looking at his chrono Coren noticed it was 1530 and headed towards the briefing room.
In the briefing room, pilots from all of Warbird Wing's squadrons were seated. Based by the patches, Coren noticed Hawks, Vultures, Kites, Peregrines and the rest of the Wing. He took a seat next to Major Gahlo Nokvir as Lily Ardellian took to the podium, flanked by Lieutenant General Scall Mclean, the Wing Executive Officer.
"Okay. Lets get started," Lily said as she dimmed the lights in order to let a hologram of a blue green world show up. "This is Ionus. It is a Republic-controlled moon, orbiting Ord Mantell. Almanac data isn't important so we'll skip it. What we need to know about this planet is: the Rebels are using it as a prison colony. The capital city, Tanca, is where we'll be headed. In the center of this fortress is a camp holding many important Imperial prisoners. We'll be landing on the night side, making a rendezvous with some contacts compliments of Coren StarChaser and infiltrating the city. Our main objective is to find a way into the prison, neutralize the guards and turbolasers and allow our assault craft to land in order to rescue our men.
"Although this seems simple, getting onto the planet will be tough. Reconnaissance reports show that the planet is heavily guarded. A fleet of four Mon Calamari Cruisers with several support vessels is orbiting the planet. We'll be making the jump from Sluis Van in our own starfighters. An ImpStar Deuce and two Lancers will follow. Once we arrive, Hawk and Kite are to make it to the surface. Peregrine, Vulture and the rest of the Wing will distract the Rebels. Once Kite and Hawk land the ImpStar and company are to retreat to Sluis Van.
"Once on the planet Hawk and Kite will break into three strike teams, and meeting a fourth. The fourth team is a group of pirates Coren used to work with. They will be tasked with distracting Rebel forces and disabling or destroying turbolasers on the north part of the city. Team one will hit the western part of town, disabling or destroying turbolasers. Teams two and three will do the same with the southern and eastern parts."
The hologram showed, red lines showed the paths of the teams, green buildings showed the turbolaser locations. The lines turned to head toward the large blue building in the center of the city, which everyone knew, must have to be the prison.
"Once the three Imperial teams finish the turbolasers, direct assault will be made on the prison. Infiltration will be made and the prison will be secured. The assault shuttles will leave the rendezvous point, land, pick up the prisoners and evacuate. The ImpStar team will jump back into the system to pick up the shuttles. Warbird will need to make it out on their own," Lily said as the lights brightened.
Scall walked forward.
"This is a covert operation. We will be going in our regular fighters, save for those who have personal fighters they'd rather fly. Once we land pilots are expected to change into operations gear. Since nightlife in Tanca is high, we'll be wearing civilian dress. Weapons will need to be held in packs and rifles will be left behind. In order to confuse the Rebels we will not be using uniform weapons, so slug throwers are open for use." Scall looked to Coren and Lily. "We have the graces to use the Force, however."
Lily looked at her chrono. "It is now 1635. We are leaving by 1715. Gather your supplies and see you in the hanger."
The now excited pilots got up and hurried for the door. Coren got to his quarters and opened his wooden dresser. From it he pulled some clothes and put them in his pack. Also in his pack he placed his twin slug thrower pistols, silencers attached. He also packed his Power 5 along with enough power cells and slugs, just incase the team was going to be held up. He changed into his black flight suit and donned the helmet and life support system required for the Z-95. It was very similar to that of an X-Wing.
Sparks chirped and beeped. Coren took it as a wish of good luck.
"Thanks, Sparks. I'll be back," Coren replied as he left.
In the hanger crews were running around, loading fuel, missiles and power cells into fighters. Near the assault shuttles, crews were being given a final brief and boarding. The hanger was full of activity, which was underlined by the whine of repulsorlifts.
"Better get aboard, Colonel," Captain Dami Casan said. He gave Coren a smile and headed for his fighter.
Coren put his pack in the cargo hold that could be accessed from the bottom of the craft. He climbed the ladder and greeting his R4 unit.
He sat in the pilot seat, crews removed the ladder and fuel pumps as the cockpit viewport lowered and the Z-95 headed for the magcon shield. Outside the field, TIE Defenders, Preybirds, and several variants of TIE Experimentals were circling, waiting for their orders. Coren took his Z-95 in a turn and looked at the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer. The massive ship made the trip from Coruscant to Sluis Van. Once all mission craft were deployed the ship would return to Coruscant.
The last craft out was an X-Wing, Coren knew it was Lily Ardellian; she was being escorted by a TIE Defender, Scall Mclean. The shuttles were parked in a row as the ESD Leviathan's hyperdrive engines engaged and the ship was off the radar.
"Okay Warbirds, form up by squadrons. Kite has lead," Lily ordered as all fighters flew into formation. Squadron commanders reported as the lightspeed jump was initiated.
Coren knew the flight was going to be an hour. He quickly fell into a Force meditation. What seemed like five minutes later, Arfour woke him as the ship reverted to lightspeed.
On cue the ImpStar and accompanying Lancer Frigates entered the system and began firing on the Republic ships.
Coren switched his comm to call the leader of Zenith Group.
"Zenith One, this is Hornet. Do you copy?"
After a few seconds a reply came.
"Roger. We're on the ground."
"We'll be there soon. Hornet out."
"Okay Birds, Hawk and Kite, straight down. Use speed to dodge the other ships. Peregrine, cover us," Lily ordered as three squadrons headed toward the planet.
Rebel fighters gave up pursuit by the time Hawk and Kite landed. The beacons were set and Coren knew all the space forces were pulling out. He slid down from his fighter, placed the camouflage cover over the fighter and changed his clothes. He wore baggy, khaki shorts, and a white tee-shirt. On his feet he wore sneakers. Coren hated sneakers. Normally he was found bare-foot or in sandals, but missions required more stable footwear. On his left wrist he wore a dark green chrono, on his left index finger a silver band. Around his neck was a string of white beads. He wore dark glasses that worked to block UV rays, or when activated, to be used as rangefinders. He put the earpiece he would use to communicate with his team in place.
As he walked out from beneath the tarp Lily greeted him. She looked different in her civilian dress, but her facial features were still stern. Coren only recognized her, at first through the Force, her disguises begin very well made. Across her eyes she had a pair of the UV ray blocking glasses Coren was wearing.
"Where are your friends?"
Coren made a whistle and from behind the trees six pilots, three human males, one Twi'lek male and two human females, emerged. They were all wearing civilian style clothing, as was allowed when Coren ran the pirate group, but the colors were dark. The six had guns drawn. The rest of Hawk and Kite squadrons came to where Coren and Lily were; they were all dressed as civilians but Coren could sense their determination.
"The north side is closest to the sea. It's a beachhead," Anne-Marie, Coren's girlfriend stated.
"That works out better than I figured. The mission plan is for you six to take the North side, disable or destroy turbolasers and keep the local militia in line," Lily stated.
"We can handle that!" Kell Scotian replied, he was Zenith One.
"Okay. Now to break up the group, Kite Flight one with Hawk flight three, Kite two with Hawk two and Hawk one with Kite three," Lily explained.
"I'll go with the second group," Scall elected.
"Coren, you've now got the chance to show us how the west was won," Lily smiled. "Scall you've got the southern. My team will take the eastern. Let's move!"
The group of 30 commandos slipped into the area just near the city. They were on a high ledge and Coren pushed his range finder goggles down onto his eyes.
"We're on the eastern side. The north is to the left. It'll take some time to get to the west," Coren reported.
"True," Lily looked around.
"What about those?" Gahlo asked and pointed.
"Landspeeders," Dami noticed.
"That particular model can get really high speeds. Coren's team could be around the city in a few minutes," Damiel, the Bothan of the Wing stated.
Coren looked to Scall and pulled his silenced slug throwers from his pack. Scall nodded and pulled out a Bryar pistol. They slid down the embankment and Coren fired four shots, taking out the crew of one landspeeder without alerting the other crew. Scall walked up behind one of the live crewman of the second speeder and used the Force to kill him. A hit to the nose snaps the neck of a second, and two shots end the four-man crew. Coren motions up to the teams who come down the embankment.
Zeero Stryker was elected to pilot Coren's speeder and he got in. Over the comlink he contacted Lily, and his pirates.
"You'll feel it in the Force when I'm there," Coren whispered to Lily. "Kell, move to the beachhead. Wait for Lily's signal then move. Copy?"
"I copy."
Navigating the forest after the two landspeeders broke off was a relative breeze. They parked the landspeeder in the woods and Coren nullified one of his Ensign's desire's to detonate the landspeeder.
"Save it for the guns," he said. Quickly he fell into the Force and contacted Lily, and then he reached and found Scall. The three would keep a loose meld during the battle, in order to reduce the amount of cross-city comm chatter.
Coren's team slipped to the city wall, dodging searchlights from the anti-vehicle and anti-infantry cannons. Once inside the city these would be useless. Coren motioned for his ensign to get the charges set. Calling upon the Force he reached out to all the sentient beings in the immediate area. Luckily, since dimming their senses was still a reach for Coren to do, there were few people in the area. He began lowering their hearing as the blast tore down the door.
Through the smoke, Kite and Hawk pilots ran in, firing shots. Coren walked in as the smoke cleared and used the Force to push a group down. He went and hit the three of them with the butt of his gun, knocking them cold.
"One block to the turbolasers. There are two of them," Coren stated as the group got close to the walls. They walked casually, concealing their firearms. They stopped as an ensign peered around a corner.
"Four outside each gun. This particular style of cannon has the ammo cache on the ground floor."
"Okay. Kite go left, Hawk go right."
Coren turned the corner and unleashed a barrage of bullets, knocking down the guards. The Hawk team ran to the turbolaser. Once they were inside Coren could tell that Rebels were dying as parts of the Force were disappearing. Behind him, Kite was pulling off the same maneuver. Both teams came running out, Hawk first then Kite. They dove behind buildings, as the turbolasers became towers of flame.
Through the Force, Coren could tell Scall and Lily had destroyed the turbolasers on the East and Northern fronts. Over the comlink came Kell's voice.
"We're set here Warbirds. Move to the prison, we got the locals in line!"
Coren pulled his Power 5 up and motioned for his team to move. They found the prison with little trouble and walked up to the front door. Lily and Scall were waiting with their teams.
"What kept you?"
"I was sight-seeing," Coren smiled.
Lily sighed and shook her head.
"Time to get inside," she said and looked to Scall.
Using his purple-bladed lightsaber, Scall turned and cut a whole through the door. He took a step back and allowed for Lily and Coren to begin firing. As they stepped in Zeero and Scall followed. Coren worked for hitting the holocams and alarms. Scall and Zeero were firing at the group of Rebels as Lily began heading towards them.
"Coren, go find the computers. Slice whatever you can out of them. I know they have this building garrisoned so I wanna find them, before someone else gets the chance. Scall, Gahlo, you're with me. Zeero, you take the team ahead and find the prisoners," Lily ordered as the team split up.
Coren quickly found the terminals. He knelt next to one and began typing away. Getting into the records was easy. Coren put his custom computer chip, which he called the "data thief" into the mainframe and downloaded all the important files the Rebels had. He passed a screen that showed the holocam of the garrison. He saw laser shots being fired from Lily, Scall and Gahlo. Republic soldiers were falling quickly. Another shot showed fire, sprinkler systems and a few downed Rebels.
Coren quickly turned the mainframes off and removed his data thief. Turning to go out the hall he noticed dozens of Imperial officers running for the doors, followed by the strike team that rescued them. Lily and Scall were making a fighting retreat, firing at a group of Rebels while running for the door.
"Where's Gahlo?" Coren asked as he fired a shot from his Power 5.
"Setting the charges," Lily replied, firing a quick burst that stopped two Rebels.
"The shuttles are right outside," Coren replied.
At that a large explosion was heard, the seven Rebel soldiers that were firing at Lily and Scall were blown head over heels, some on fire, others missing limbs. Around the corner came Gahlo Nokvir, with a smile on his face. The four Warbirds walked outside as the shuttles carrying the prisoners started away, towards the rendezvous point. From the boarding ramp Zeero Stryker yelled for them to board.
Once on board Coren contacted his pirate friends.
"This is Hornet to Zenith One, do you copy?"
After a few seconds a transmission came in.
"Roger that. We're pinned down in the northeast section of the city. Request back up!"
"We hear you," Coren replied. He looked to Lily who nodded. "On our way."
The shuttle made good time as it came across the city. Proton bombs fell from the bottom, neutralizing the Rebel force and giving the pirates time to board.
Anne-Marie embraced Coren as the rest of the group thanked the Warbirds.
"The shuttle will get us to our fighters. From there we'll leave. Zenith Group, thanks for you're help. It was good working with you," Lily said. "Warbirds. We're headed straight up. With the ImpStar in position, the Rebel fleet will be pre-occupied hunting the shuttles that they'll never see us coming."
The shuttle landed and the Warbirds and pirates began to step out. Anne-Marie kissed Coren and turned to head for her fighter. Coren quickly changed into his flight gear and packed his gear safely in the cargo hold.
Kite and Hawk Squadrons quickly formed up on Lily's lead X-Wing. The group was heading straight up. Behind the Imperial Squadrons was the pirate group, three tri-fighters, two Z-95s and Kell Scotian's T-Wing. As the Imperial formation headed towards the battle, the pirates headed away.
Lily and Scall began firing. The rest of the Kites and Hawks followed suit. The large amount of laser fire pierced starfighters and flashed off the shielding of the ships. TIE Interceptors and TIE Bombers were flying around, attacking X-Wings and Y-Wings. A squadron of A-Wings turned to fly straight for the Hawk formation. Coren rolled to port and looped around two A-Wings found his tail. Red shots were going wide as Coren shook his ship laterally. He dove, dropped the throttle and rose. The A-Wings kept with him but Coren slowed more and the two over flew him. A dual shot from his triple-blasters caught the engines of one A-Wing, igniting it in flame.
"This is the Imperial Star Destroyer Sentry. Warbird pilots, you may head for your hyperspace buoy. We'll finish up here."
"Thanks ImpStar Sentry," Lily said. "Alright Birds, turn and burn! Time to leave."
Coren turned his ship as soon as Arfour announced that the Zenith Flight Group, all six of them, entered hyperspace. He formed up on Gahlo's wing and was soon greeted by the bleakness of hyperspace.