By CMDR/CM Andronicus/Ghost/Wing XI/ISD Immortal

"Go!" Callista yelled as she slapped the transport’s hatch controls. The shots from the Imperial Federation Stormtroopers bounced off the rapidly rising boarding ramp, scoring deep burn-marks on the durasteel ramp.

In the cockpit, Andronicus, the owner and pilot of the Karma Killer, eased the ship gently off the ground, leaving the Stormtroopers firing wildly at the Action Transport, their shots bouncing harmlessly from the sturdy transport’s shields.

The ship’s intercom crackled into life. "This is your Captain speaking," Andron said dryly, "Could Kircheis, Jarden and Mav make their way to the turbolaser turrets. Also, could Callista join me in the cockpit please? I require a co-pilot. That is all."

The intercom shut down with a ping, prompting Callista to quickly pace to the cockpit, passing Kircheis, Jarden and Mav on their way to the Karma Killer’s turbolaser turrets.

"Looks like the poodoo’s really hit the air conditioning this time, Scotty," Callista said, dropping into the Modified Action-IV Transport’s co-pilot chair.

"No kidding," replied the Scottish pilot as he wrestled the ungainly ship into the air. "Grand Admiral Strait’s went bananas, he’s declared war on us, Vice Admiral Daemon’s fleet in the Perona Sector, and any Rebs he can get his hands on, including the IW."

"I hear he managed to bag one of the other Sovereign-class Destroyers from the Byss shipyards." Callista said, boosting the gain on the active sensors. "Shit," she said. "Squadron of shielded TIE Interceptors coming in off to starboard."

"Right," Andron replied, activating the comlink again. "Attention, please," he said, trying to inject humour into a life-threatening situation, "This is your Captain speaking. If all gunners would note that we have incoming targets six klicks to starboard, could they prepare to attack at will. That is all."

"Where are the cavalry?" Callista exclaimed. "They should be here!"

"Patience, lass," Andron said calmly. "They’ll be here."

"You’d better freaking hope so," Callista said. "Otherwise we’ll never get past that Federation Deuce in orbit."

Dispensing with the ‘commercial space-liner captain’ act, Andron flicked the intercom on. "Kirch, Jarden, Mav, what’s happening with those TIEs?"

"Kirch here, Andron," Kircheis replied. "We took out four of them with our initial salvo. Could use that backup though."

"Ten-four, Kirch, bridge out."

"What now?" Callista said. Shots from the Interceptors were beginning to get past the screen of fire put up by the three Typhoon Squadron pilots in the turbolaser turrets, and the shields were being nibbled away.

"Now," A voice said over the comm, "We kick some ass."

From behind a ridge came four TIE Advanceds, lasers blazing, tearing the Federation Interceptors to shreds.

"Looks like the first cavalry charge has been launched, Colonel," Andron said, smiling at Callista. "Those Fed squints are getting hammered."

"I wouldn’t expect less from Brandon and his flight, but what about the ISD in orbit? Three Flight could make it past, but this ship? Nowhere near fast or manoeuvrable enough to escape without the rest of our backup."

"I wouldn’t say that, Commander dear," Brandon said over the comm, "Point your sensors skyward."

Callista flicked a control and saw the Federation Impstar, christened Protector, being engaged by the Emperor’s Hammer’s Victory-class Star Destroyers Rapier and Patriot.

"Nice," Andron said. "Looks like Fleet Command came through for us."

"Why couldn’t they just use an Intel team anyways?" Callista grumbled. "Even with you on our side, Andron."

The Scotsman shrugged. "The Bureau of Operations is in a bit of a state at the moment with all the command changes in Intel. But we got the job done," he said, smiling as he flicked a high-capacity datacard between his fingers. "I don’t know who’ll debrief us, but I’ll bet it won’t be Nighthawk or CoFo."

"Ric? Kessler?" Callista mused.

Andron shook his head. "More likely Rapier or Langer, considering the mission’s nature."

"Damn," Callista said as the Karma Killer shot past the crippled Federation Destroyer. "I hate being debriefed by Langer."

The twelve members of Typhoon Squadron sat in a semi-circle before the Supreme Director of the Intelligence Division.

"Good afternoon, officers," Admiral Langer said. "Before I start the often messy task of debriefing you, I would like to congratulate you on a job well done. The information you retrieved from Aliix IX will prove invaluable in our conflict with Grand Admiral Strait’s forces. Due to the shaky situation within the Bureau of Operations, we couldn’t send out an Infiltration team to do the job you did, but I’m sure Agent Andronicus’ assistance was valuable."

Langer walked towards the Commander of Typhoon Squadron. "Lieutenant Colonel Callista D’Omah. One of the most feared and respected Squadron Commanders in the TIE Corps, wife of the Tactical Officer, High Admiral Kawolski and a member in good standing of the Grand Order of the Emperor."

Langer paced around the room, stopping at each squad member and reading their citations, medals and achievements from a datapad.

The Supreme Director raised an eyebrow upon reaching one entry on his datapad. "Lieutenant Commander, Doctor Talin Andronicus. Flight Member of Typhoon Squadron Flight Two, Chief Medical Officer of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Challenge, Sector Enforcement Officer, and the official Intelligence liaison to this mission. An impressive record, Commander."

"Thank you, Admiral," Talin replied, smiling.

Langer moved around the rest of the squadron, reeling off their records.

"As you can see, the record of Typhoon Squadron is exemplary. In the case of Colonel Tyschen, he left a high-ranking Command position to join this illustrious fighter squadron." Langer looked at Callista. "Lieutenant Colonel, if you would like to recap the events leading up to this mission, for the record."

Callista stood up and cleared her throat. "Well," she began, "The Imperial Federation is an Imperial Faction based in a sector between the EH Territories and the Perona Sector. Their firepower is in question; rumours say they have a Sovereign-class Impstar, but I believe that to be false. What we do know, from what I hear from my superiors, is that their people are somewhat incompetent, especially their leader, the self-proclaimed Grand Admiral Strait."

"Thank you, Colonel," Langer said smoothly. "Now, if you would just like to recap the details of the operation you were involved in."

"Of course," Callista replied. "We were ordered by Fleet Admiral Kessler, under instructions from you, to infiltrate the Federation’s main computer centre on Aliix IX and dump as much data as we could. We were told that backup was on standby, but I made sure we had an ace in the hole in case of trouble."

"Ah, yes," Langer said. "The TIE Advanceds of Typhoon Flight Three. Tell me, how did you manage to get them onto Aliix IX?"

"It was quite simple really. Andr- ah, Lieutenant Commander Andronicus used his contacts in the Bounty Hunter’s Guild to have Three Flight’s TIEs and pilots transferred and stored until we were ready to extract ourselves. We gave the signal, and Lieutenant Commander Brandon’s Flight covered us while we made our escape in Lieutenant Commander Andronicus’ freighter."

"Thank you, Colonel," Langer said, moving to where Andronicus sat. "Lieutenant Commander Andronicus," he said. "I have several queries to make of you."

"Of course, Admiral," he said, rising.

"First of all, you were the Intelligence Division Liaison to this mission, which tied in nicely with your position in the squadron. Tell me, where did you acquire the Modified Action-IV Transport you used in your escape from Aliix IX?"

"Well, sir," Andronicus said, "As you should know, I am the Senator Prime of the Imperial Senate. I received the Karma Killer upon my election. I’ve since used my money and resources to modify the vessel."

"Including the weapon emplacements on the ship, which, of course you realise, are illegal on a civilian vessel without the proper permits." He looked at the datapad. "And I see none of these permits on your record, Commander."

Andronicus held eye contact with Langer. "Admiral," he said, "I have to inform you that the Karma Killer’s armaments have been fully authorised by the EH Bureau of Ships and Services, the Flight Office, and the Security Office. It’s been upgraded by technicians from Stalker Shipyards and by Engineering Corps officers. And as a trained fighter pilot, I know when and how to fire a laser cannon."

"Then, Commander," Langer countered, "why don’t the appropriate permits appear on your public record?"

"The details of the Killer’s armaments are not public knowledge, Admiral." Andronicus replied. "That way I always have the upper hand in a dangerous situation."

"I thought that most of the danger in being Senator Prime would be dealing with irate politicians."

"That’s true, sir, but as a well-known Imperial official, there are people out there who would like to put my head on a spike. Probably the same people who would like to do the same thing to you or Callista. I have to be careful."

"I assume that the mild paranoia you exhibit assists you in your career as a Bounty Hunter as well." Langer said disdainfully.

Andronicus smiled. "Yes, sir. I hear though my fringe contacts that you’re worth 500,000 ICs these days. Calli’s got 250K on her head too."

"And you?" Langer countered, wearing a slightly impatient look on his face.

"75K." Andronicus shrugged. "If I’m ever short for cash I can put myself up for bounty. Of course, that’s the price from non-aligned Guilds. The BHG is on our side."

"Of course," Langer replied. "Commander, from an Intelligence standpoint, how did you feel the mission went?"

Andronicus shrugged. "It went well. We, that is, One and Two Flights, entered the system aboard the Karma Killer under false IFF codes; we were tagged as the Rogue Spear. We were also equipped with standard Intel-supplied fake IDs. We posed as researchers and sifted through records for five days straight."

"I understand you had an astromech droid present for your work in the library facilities?"

"Yes," Talin replied. "R2-V2 is my astromech for my work in the Infiltrator Wing, although I’ve owned him since before I joined the EH. I decided to bring him along, as he was once assigned to Corellian Security before that organisation was reformed into the Public Security Service, and has useful programs for slicing and so forth. Veetoo’s help was invaluable."

"And how were you discovered?" Langer asked.

Andronicus sighed. Langer already knew all this; this was just for the record. "We set off datatraps when we tried to access secure files. We managed to fight off the library’s security whilst Veetoo finished dumping the encrypted data from the Secure Files section."

"And how complete was your dump?" Langer asked.

"We had a 97.6% data retention rate. We could have got more, but Veetoo’s RAM was full."

"Excellent, thank you." Langer said, gesturing for Andronicus to sit down.

He paced back to Callista. "Colonel Callista," he said. "Upon the completion of your data dump, how did you escape the Federation facility?"

"We used every trick in the book to get back to the hangar bay. Jedi tricks, a few Intel & Stormtrooper tricks from Andronicus, a few modified fighter-pilot tricks, and some straight out fighting, especially when we reached the ship."

"I understand it was the eight of you versus two platoons of Troopers?"

Callista nodded. "Yes sir, but it wasn’t enough. You know what these Federation types are like."

Langer nodded. "You had no trouble?"

"Commander Vexan got hit in the arm, and Lieutenant Redwing took a shot in the hip. They’re fully healed now, but the Fed Stormies got some lucky shots." Callista shuddered. "Andronicus has a skill for absorbing energy, more so than most. He just walked through the troopers, absorbing their shots and shooting them right back at them through his fingers."

"Chilling indeed," Langer said sceptically. "So, the mission posed no serious problems?"

Callista raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"

"You escaped relatively unscathed with a large amount of data. I would say that is a major success."

"Sir, we had to sneak onto an enemy-held world under assumed identities aboard a ship with fake transponder codes, tippy-toe around a hostile computer system, trying to slice into encrypted, high-security files, then we got chased by Stormtroopers, shot at by Stormtroopers, chased by TIEs, shot at by TIEs and we had to get past an enemy Star Destroyer on our way out. If you call that ‘no significant problems,’ I suggest you get back out into the field, sir."

Callista could see that Langer was visibly taken aback by the female pilot’s statement.

"I see," Langer said. "In that case, I believe this debriefing has fulfilled its purpose. Dismissed."

* * *

The twelve pilots exited the debriefing room and headed toward the Lichtor V’s hangar bay, passing a couple of Praetorian Squadron pilots on the way, who traded cheery insults with the Typhoon pilots as they passed. Praetorian had recently bested Typhoon in a competition, and the friendly rivalry between the two squads still existed.

Once back aboard the Karma Killer and heading back towards the Aurora system and the Challenge, the Typhoon pilots convened in the Transport’s rec lounge.

"Man," said Kircheis. "That was one intense debriefing. I could tell that Langer had no love for us TIE Corps types."

"He’s just doing his job," Callista said, shrugging. "And besides, Intel and the Fleet have never gotten along too well in the past."

Vexan nodded, sipping her rootbeer. "Bad Intel has blown more than one operation in military history, on both sides. Look at how the Rebs got done over on the first Blackmoon operation, for example."

The Imperial pilots nodded. They’d all wished they could have been there to give Rogue Squadron a good kicking, like every pilot in the Corps.

"Well, the Intel was okay on this job," Callista said. "We got in, we got the data, and we got out again. We didn’t take much damage, but like I said to Langer, it wasn’t easy."

"It never is when you’re the best in the Fleet," Andronicus said, smiling. "Ricaud must be felling lost without us watching his ass."

The rest of the squad laughed as the destination arrival warning sounded through the ship.

"I’d better get back to the cockpit," Andronicus said, "We’re coming up on Aurora."

Andronicus sat down in his plush pilot’s chair and reached for the hyperdrive levers, counting down the seconds to himself and to the intercom.

"Five, four, three, two, one, mark."

The blue tunnel of hyperspace dissolved into open space-

-And a running space battle around Aurora Prime, the capital of the Emperor’s Hammer. Featuring two Sovereign-class Super Star Destroyers battling each other; the Sovereign itself, and the Despot, its sister ship.

"Holy shit," Andronicus said. "Calli, Redwing, get up here! Kirch, Rich, Vexie, Mav, get to the lasers! Go!"

There was frantic scurrying around the Karma Killer as the pilots of Typhoon Squadron assumed various positions around the ship, either on the ship’s bridge manning stations or in the gunnery turrets. Three Flight’s TIE Advanceds had folded into a bent-diamond escort formation around the Action Transport.

"Typhoon Nine to Karma Killer," Brandon said through the comm, "We’ve got you covered."

"Acknowledged," Andronicus said. "Calli, hail the nearest Imperial capital ship. Let’s see if we can get some help."

"I’ve got the Relentless on audio, Andron." Calli replied.

"Great. Relentless, this is Lieutenant Commander Andronicus of Typhoon Squadron, Captain of the Karma Killer. We’re requesting some sort of escort to the Challenge or the Sovereign."

"Andron, this is Rear Admiral Maldon. We’re dispatching Dagger Squadron to provide escort. We can’t have the Battlegroups’ top Squadron dying in a tub like that, can we?"

Andron grimaced. He could almost imagine Jarak’s smug grin. "You still owe me a favour from that incident on Maludra V, remember?"

"Ah, yes, that."

"So don’t diss my ship, and I won’t diss yours."

"I wouldn’t dream of it, Commander." There were a few beeping sounds before Maldon spoke again. "Dagger is inbound on your position, Karma Killer. May the Emperor’s hands guide you."

"Thank you, Admiral. Karma Killer out." He turned to the Lieutenant at the sensor station. "Aries, what’s the deal with those enemy TIEs?"

"I’ve got two squadrons inbound, one Bomber, one Fighter, both shielded. Sensors tell me the Bombers are packing concussion missile launchers."

"Okay, bring up electromagnetic anti-warhead jamming system, arm flares and chaff. Guns, prepare to intercept incoming warheads."

A chorus of acknowledgements came from the turret intercoms.

"Brandon, get your TIEs out there engaging those enemy Eyeballs and dupes, targets of opportunity," Andron said coolly. "Dagger Squadron’s inbound on our vector, so hold the door open."

"Ten-four, Doc," Brandon replied. "We’ll make sure to leave ‘em some. Not too much, but we don’t want our Relentless friends to get bored."

"Everyone, strap in. Redwing, I want you to feed power from the grav systems into the engines and shields when everybody’s secure."

"I hope your droids will be okay, Andron," Callista said.

"They’ll be fine," Andron replied.

"TIEs in range," Redwing said from the sensor station. "Power feed initiated, artificial gravity is off-line."

"Three Flight; engage." Andron said coolly

There was a howl as the TIEs shot away from the freighter to engage the incoming Imperial Federation TIEs. The TIE Advanceds split into two two-ship elements and bracketed the incoming squadron, slashing into their ‘wolfpack’ formation in a classic pincer, destroying four in the initial attack. Coming about, they engaged the shielded TIEs again, their green laser bolts biting into their comparatively weak shields. Destroying another pair and crippling two more.

"Eleven, Twelve, stay on the rest of these eyeballs," Brandon said calmly, "Ten, you’re with me. Let’s slag some dupes."

"Right with you, Nine." Vader said. Forming up on Brandon’s wing.

Brandon was sure that the cock-sure Bomber pilots were thinking that twelve-to-two was easy odds.

Easy, yeah, Brandon mused. Easy for us.

The Bombers were so focused on targeting the Karma Killer that they never really realised what was going on until it was too late to react. The pair of TIE Advanceds fell upon the Bomber Squadron like vultures onto fresh carrion, decimating them ruthlessly and efficiently.

"Nine, Ten, need some help?" Talon Drear said over the Comm. "We’re finished with the Fed-balls, ready to take some Fed-dupes out."

"Come and join the party, Twelve," Brandon said, smiling inside his pressure helmet. There’s more than enough left for you to get some kills." He switched channels on his comm. "Typhoon Nine to Karma Killer. We’ve got the bombers wrapped up here. Head on to your rendezvous with Dagger."

"Acknowledged," Andronicus said from the pilot’s chair. "Catch up any time you like."

"Won’t be too hard, Scotty. Bransta out."

Andronicus turned to his Commander. "Calli, any luck getting through to the Challenge yet?"

"Not yet, Andron. That enemy Sov is blocking transmissions."

"Okay, gimmie a channel to Dagger."

"Got it." Calli said.

"Dagger Squadron, this is the Karma Killer. We’re going to climb above the plane of the system and try to make contact with the Challenge. We’ll fly over the enemy Sovstar if we have to."

"No need," A new voice said over the comm. "We’re just about to take care of it."

Andronicus recognised the voice. "Kessler? What are you doing worrying about us? You should have more important things to think about right now, like that Fed Sovstar."

"Don’t want to see friends of mine in danger. And like I said, we’re about to deal with it. Gunnery controls; fire."

A bright beam of light shot from the downward pointing protrusion at the bottom of the Sovereign’s hull, smashing into the superstructure of the Despot, breaking its back and blowing its massive engines out of the back of its hull, the huge thrusters smashing into several Federation warships.

"There, that’s that taken care of," Kessler said, a satisfied tone entering his voice. "Been wanting to fire that bad boy since I took command."

"Looks like the Fed fleet’s breaking up," Andronicus said.

"Of course," Kessler said. "They’ve lost their flagship and their leader. They’re running scared."

"What prompted them to attack Aurora anyway?" Callista asked.

"Beats me," Kessler replied. "Grand Admiral Strait is -sorry- was an idiot. He thought that his Sovstar and their supporting ships would be enough to take on the Sovereign, the Avenger, the Challenge, the Immortal and the Warrior, not to mention the rest of the Auroran Home Guard, and any other fighting ship in the area, including the Relentless. Several members of the Bounty Hunters Guild were also out there fighting like men and women possessed. I’m going to find out who they were and award them Silver Stars."

"Nice," Andronicus said. "I just hope they were Thunder Kabal members."

"Hah," Kessler said. "Go and land on the Challenge. I’ll wrap things up here and join my old Wing for a drink or twelve. It’s been a while since I was on the Challenge, It seems we have much to celebrate today."

"Of course, Kessler," Callista said. "We’re Wing X. We always celebrate because we always win."

FIN

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