A Second Chance, and New Life

Bridge of the Victory Star Destroyer Resilient

Commodore Don fidgeted while sitting in the command chair on the bridge. Something had gone wrong, he could feel it in his bones. He had felt it many times before, and listening to his feelings had helped him many times before, except for the last time, he didn't listen. The last time, it had led to the loss of his command, and of his rank. Now he commanded a lesser ship, but still powerful, in a second chance given to him by his superiors.

His vessel had dropped out of hyperspace after a problem had been detected with the slave rigging controls. They were escorting a batch of new vessels from the Corellian Drive Yards to Kuat Drive Yards for fitting out before their comission. Ten gunships and four escort frigates all told were rigged to the Resilient. The star destroyer herself was an older Mk II type, which upon arriving at KDY, would go into the dockyards for upgrading to Mk IV status.

The glitch had been solved almost as soon as the vessels had dropped out of hyperspace, which raised the hairs on Don's neck. Something was out of place...something.

"Sound general quarters," he spoke up loudly, interrupting the chatter on the bridge.

"Prepare to deploy starfighters. Order the Piett and Ozzel to likewise launch their TIE Scouts," said Marxus.

Alarms sounded throughout the vessel as shields powered up and weapons activated. The first of the TIE Fighters left the hangar bay and soared out into space. Likewise on the two carrack cruisers that formed the rest of the escort, their readiness also increased.

'I sincerely hope that this is just a false feeling. I can't afford to make any more mistakes...'

With the recent losses sustained by the Alliance fleet the over all mission of the fleet had switched from one of liberation of subjugated planets to that of commerce raiding and vessel acquisition. The forces of the Alliance had suffered a massive blow at the Hands of Grand admiral Desaria in the past five months. Now was the time for a bit of payback and subversion. The fleet had cut itself off from Alliance high command and was operating under its own leadership and direction. The leak in Intel had for all form and purposes been eliminated over all. There were still spies in the fleet, but the operations communications silence had taken any opportunity for the infiltrators to send information to anyone outside their own battlegroup. The fleet had become ghosts in the void and would now strike when and where they needed without fear of situations which have so brutally devastated the Alliance Fleet.

Today was such a day. Elements of the newly formed 112th Tactical Operations Force were now operational and taking the war to the Empire in a way much befitting the rebel alliance. The bulk of the fleet now protected the key worlds of the alliance. Only the 112th and its operation squadrons now operated offensively.

Out among the darkness between the dim pin points which were distant stars the 48th Tactical Squadron lay in wait. The alliance department of Intel had been cut off from the fleet now and a new fleet special operations network had been formed to work in conjunction with Alliance intelligence and report to the fleet. Only the fleet. When word of a convoy of newly built escort vessels had filtered in from a team of covert agents on the Destroyer Resilient. The 48th was assigned to intercept the group and capture or destroy the vessels.

Line Captain Morg Hanis Stood silent on the command Deck of the Warspite. The venerable old Vindicator Heavy Cruiser had served the republic and the new order well for over thirty years. After he capture she was quickly ushered to Calamari and refitted to meet the Alliance Fleets Needs. The Warspite was now more state of the art then any ship of her class and matched the Enforcers in speed while keeping her armament. The flight deck had been modified and reduced to make room for the newer reactors and engine mounts. Now her original compliments of seventy two fighters had been reduced to thirty six, while her marine compliment had gone from four hundred and eighty to one thousand. She was the perfect ship for the chore of Commerce raider and Her Commander has the best the Alliance had in Cruiser combat.

Beside her in the dimly lit space sat the Genevieve, an even older Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser. While the Warspite had been remodeled and retrofitted the Genevieve had retained her original configuration. Only minor repairs had been made to the aging cruiser before she was sent out to meet the 48th.

Flanking left and right of the two cruisers sat the Corpus Mundi and Fotissa. The two Nebulon B frigates had just been returned to active duty after being repaired at Calamari. They were relatively new vessels compared to the cruisers but each had begun their service as Imperial Escort Transports. Now they served the Alliance, the 48th tactical Squadron, and the 112th Tactical Operations Force.

Out in the distance the 72 odd fighters of the Squadron lay in wait for the signal from the forward scout group. The fighters and bombers of the 48th had drilled for eight days in preparation for this mission and now the time was soon at hand.

* * *

Captain Lest opened his eyes when the proximity alarm went off. He had been resting and waiting for over three hours and in his mind he had started to doubt that the targets were even going to show. The Y-wing recon Squadron had been a late entry in the 48th and were specially intended for this mission. If captain Lest and his squadron performed to the standard Captain Hanis was expecting they would be permanently assigned to the 48th and work as deep scout and electronic Elint com. craft for the group. Lest’s men were motivated and ready for the better post. They had been working as system patrol support since before Endor and they were looking for something with a little more action. Lest looked over the advanced sensor and communications panel and started the warm up procedure for his Y-wing.

“Ben wake up, we have seventeen contacts. One boomer and two escorts. The rest look to be the new ships. I can not get a positive reading on class but it looks from the mass signatures they are frigate size or smaller.”

Ben had already awoke and was preparing the com transceiver to broadcast a signal to the main group waiting ten million kilometers in the distance. The engines began to hum and he knew it was only moments before the Imperial Group would get a reading on there heat signature and send interceptors.

“Transmission away Captain. Weapons online and shield are at ninety percent.”

Lest looked over his panel one last time as the Y-wing powered up and readied for the run out of the combat area. His electronics officer had done well and he would see he bought Ben a drink when they got back to the Warspite.

“This is Ghost leader. The bird is in flight lets get out of here.”

Lest applied power to his engines and started to move. Immediately five more contacts lit up on his scanners. The six Y-wings of Ghost Squadron were now sitting ducks if they could not get enough distance between them and the Imperial group before the Main body of the 48th moved in.

* * *

Hanis had grown impatient. The Imperial group was over an hour late if they were even coming at all. He only hoped this was just a delay or a miscommunication as to the time frame of the Convoy and the operatives sabotage. HE was nearly ready to recall Ghost squadron when the transmission was received.

“Sir Ghost Squadron has sent us a transmission.”

“Very well Ensign enter one seven one one five in to authenticate the transmission”

The Communications attendant entered the code and the message decoded.

“Sir, the Bird is in flight.”

Captain Hanis smiled then stood.

“Send a message to the squadron to prepare to jump.”

An alarm sounded at the sensors station. The officer manning the console peered over his instruments, his eyes widening in suprise before looking up to the Commodore.

"Sir! Power signatures detected, signs of ships powering up. Starfighter class...sensors indicate possible Y-wing class. Six ships sounded out so far," the officer read off of the console.

"What? How did we not detect them sooner? Where are they, are they coming in for an attack?" Don asked as he came out of his seat, walking torwards the viewport, although the distance would be too great for his aging eyes to spot the tiny craft.

"Sir, transmission from the Y-wing craft. Encrypted code, on non-Imperial frequencies," spoke up the communications officer.

"Well, patch it through anyways," Don said with a snort.

"Sir, it's not directed to us. It's directed away from us," added the officer.

"I...crap," muttered Don as he brought a hand up to his chin, pondering over the actions of the starfighters. He had his answer less than a few moments later. His head came up, and his eyes shone with worry.

"Reconissance Y-wing detachment. Sent to scout us out, and are now informing their fleet of our movements, positions, and strength," speculated Don aloud, his eyes narrowing as he stared out of the viewport.

He wanted so much to send a starfighter squadron out to destroy the Y-wings, but they would be needed here, for defending the fleet.

But there were moves he could make on the chessboard, before the enemy appeared and the game of chess commenced.

"Send a message to Imperial center informing them of the predicament we are in, and prepare to send a second, comprising enemy fleet strength, after they appear and their strength is assessed," ordered Don, glancing torwards the communications officer, who nodded and went to work.

"Any starfighters not deployed should go ahead and do so. Order the carracks to deploy their starfigther squadrons. I want our two squadrons screening this vessel. Four TIE Scouts from each carrack will serve as a screen for that respective vessel. The remaining TIE Scout from each vessel will be deployed forward of our squadron as a reconissance screen of our own. Prepare to move a half squadron of starfighters forward to engage the enemy recon Y-wings if needed, and prepare all ships for combat," ordered Don, before settling back down into his commander's chair.

The commodore was winded from giving the orders, and wiped a hand across his now sweaty brow.

'I'm getting too old and fat for this...'

Captain Hanis sat quietly watching the clock count down to Hyperspace reversion. The message had been received and the 48th had jumped immediately. The trip was not a long one but the fourteen minutes it took to jump to the target area seemed like forever.

"Reversion in Twenty seconds!"

The Navigations Officer chimed up and began the countdown. The battle to come was not what ran through Morg’s Mind. He had confidence in his men and the tactical situation was highly on there side. Instead he thought about the aftermath. The men and women he would lose. Morg was never one for civility and the process of informing families had been the worst part of his new rank and responsibilities. From behind him he heard the count reach ten seconds.

"Drop us out of hyperspace Commander. Raise shields and move on the Destroyer."

The vortex of hyperspace disappeared and before him lay the vastness of space. In the distance the wedge shape of the lead Star Destroyer sat. Poised to strike. Immediately fighters swarmed off towards the Imperial group.

"Take us in Slow and concentrate fire on that Vic."

Line Captain Morg Hanis sat quietly as his orders were carried out and the ship lurched into motion. The Ships of the 48th began moving into Line formation and preparing to engage the ships of the Imperial Convoy.

"Sir, enemy vessels dropping out of hyperspace. I make the count sir, four captial class warships and seventy two starfighter class ships. They are powering up weapons and shields," sang out the sensors officer.

'Bantha Fodder. We're already outgunned from the sounds of it,'

"Classifications, I want classifications now dammit!" yelled Don.

"Classifications come in as one Vindicator class heavy cruiser, one Dreadnought heavy cruiser, and two Nebulon-B Frigates. Starfighters come in as an equal spread between X-wings and Y-wings sir," added the sensors officer.

"All right, time to engage. All turbolasers on all three vessels are to commence fire on the Dreadnought heavy cruiser. Have our ion cannons commence a saturation bombardement on their starfighters. We'll try to whittle them down some so our own screen will have little work to do. Commence firing," ordered Don.

The medium turbolaser batteries and cannons onboard the Resilient opened fire with a shudder running through the deck, caused by the recoiling of some forty odd cannons salvo firing at once. The green lances of fire in space were joined by the ten heavy turbolaser cannons on both of the carracks, converging on one point of space where the enemy dreadnought sat. The green light glowed then diffused against the shields of the enemy vessel.

In the meantime, the ten ion cannons onboard the vicstar duece, and the twenty ion cannons on each of the carracks sent out a navy blue cascade against the incoming starfighters, and there were a few flashes of diffused ion energy as the enemy starfighters were hit and disabled. The Imperial starfighter screen been jockeying for position, awaiting the incoming starfighter squadrons...

During which the second message was sent out, a call for help for anyone nearby to assist...

the green lances of energy slammed into the shields of the Genevieve. The old ships shields rippled blue with each impact like rocks being thrown into a pond. Her commander turned the ships broadside to the Imperial group and let loose a barrage of her own. The Turbolaser Cannons lit up the side of the ship like a fireworks display on a celebration day. The red lances of energy passed the incoming green lances like a dance of light. from behind and left of the Genevieve the Corpus Mundi moved into position and opened up on the Vic star. to the far flank of the incoming formation the Warspit sat side by side with the Fotissa. They had opened fire as well, and were now closing formation with the Genevieve and Corpus Mundi.

Like mad dogs charging prey the Fighters of the tactical squadron raced into close range to engage enemy fighters and confuse the gunners of the capital vessels. 12 X-wing lead the pack racing towards the enemy fighters releasing a full salvo of light torpedoes at the first line of TIEs.

"Have red, gold, and grey squadron intercept the ties, Yellow squadron will escort the bombers in."

Captain Hanis was issueing orders and watching the battle unfold before him. The Vic star was a formidable ship and the smaller carrack were notoriously tough to destroy and had the heaviest fire power on the fireld. He had to make decisions now and fast if he and his group were to come out victorioue here.

"Commander signal the bombers to concentrate on the lead Carrack. Disable her guns and drives."

They stocky XO nodded and began to give the communications officer orders. Hanis watched as the fighters fired their first torpedo salvo and moved in to engage the enemy fighters. The battle was pitched and if he could keep his cool and the alliance operatives aboard the Imperial ships do thier part then the Alliance will have victory this day.