“These orders came from Adrenaline, damn it!”

a Wing XI story

by LCM Gunman

I

There are several types of days inside an Imperial Star Destroyer, they can be good days, hot days, cold days, ill days, etc... Right now, the ISD Immortal was having a bad day!

The TAC boys decided to dispatch the Immortal from it’s usual guard duty on Aurora Prime, to the Denius system; it’s mission: to assist the VSD Monitor on bombarding a planet on that system, whose habitants decided do become independent from Imperial rule; all the Monitor has to do is to get close to the planet’s atmosphere and launch a precise turbo laser barrage on the planet’s main military command centers, rendering their army inoperable; the only problem is that the Army of Denius has dispatched two Calamari Cruisers to deal with the Monitor, and the Immortal has to finish them off! So far, the Immortal’s Ghost and Falcon squadrons are on the job, but the captain of the cruisers thinks it’s better if they finish the Immortal first instead of the Monitor...

- Damn it! - Adrenaline, or Adren for friends, complained - Why are they only shooting at us and not at the Monitor?

- Well... - LC Mell, the Wing commander tried to explain - They must think that if they destroy the Monitor escorts first, that’s us, the Monitor should be easier to defeat.

The bridge was shaken by another rocket blast near it.

- How is Ghost and Falcon doing?

- They’re doing their best, but the cruisers launched X and A-Wings against them, so they’re having trouble destroying the cruisers.

- OK, if that’s the way they want to play... - Adren whispered to herself - Scramble all our other squadrons, they’re orders are to engage all enemy fighters, and once that’s done, engage the cruisers!

- Roger.

I was reading a book in the mess hall when the alarm ringed, LC Badlands, or BL, opened the door shortly after:

- Scramble, you maggots! - he shouted - Our ship is under attack, engage all enemy fighters and then destroy the cruisers!

- Yes sir. - we all replied. We hadn’t had any work for weeks, so we were all a bit lazy.

- Come on, ladies. Get up, let’s go dance.

We all quickly run into the hangar, our Tie Phantoms were ready, so we got into them and took off.

- The Immortal’s shields are at 10%, kill that comes near it! - Mell ordered from the Comm.

I went right into the A-Wings, shooting one every 10 seconds. My squad mates were also acting good against the A-Wings; Demon squadron were attacking the X-Wings; and Ranger was assisting Ghost and Falcon on destroying the Cruisers.

- Hum... - Spearhawk started thinking loud - the strike squadrons are having a hard task. The cruisers are launching missiles against them every 4 seconds and... Dang! Ghost 1-3 and 3-2 were shot down!

- Leave that to me, Spear. - LCM Turbo answered.

Turbo left the fight, quickly went near the Cruisers and shot some missiles at close range to the Cruiser’s two warhead launchers, destroying them.

- Thanks, Turbo. - CPT Sanj showed his gratitude - that we’ll make our job easier.

And so it did, 4 minutes later, one cruiser was destroyed. The other one made one last desperate attempt to win the battle, going Kamikaze against the Immortal, but all of Wing XI fighters united and destroyed it.

- ISD Immortal and Wing XI pilots, this is the VSD Monitor, our path is cleared and we’re starting our bombing run. Thanks for the help, folks!

- Yes! - Adren couldn’t hide her joy - Mission accomplished! Pilots, report to the bar at once, all drinks on me.

At the bar, everyone was celebrating this outstanding victory. Some pilots were thanking Turbo for his skill handling the warhead launchers. Adren gave his complements to Turbo too.

- Turbo, you have the entire ship gratitude.- and gave him a quick kiss in the face

I said to Spear and Darkhill the first thing that came to my mind:

- Humprh. I never got that treatment.

Adren was good at listening these things.

- That “treatment”, Lieutenant Commander, is reserved to active and dedicated pilots, which is not your case, Gunman.

A “torpedo” hit me along with that statement, and Spear and Darkhill couldn’t avoid laughing.

II

The next day started like an ordinary day. The ISD Immortal was once again back to the Aurora Home Guard Battlegroup, patrolling all the systems near Aurora Prime. Adren woke up and went to the bridge a little later than usually, everyone presumed she was simply tired from all the action that happened yesterday. She sit on the Commander’s chair while Mell was looking around everyone’s monitors. The sensor’s officer finally interrupted the silence.

- Sir, 12 X-Wings have just entered the area at 10 kilometers. They’re ID seems to be from the Denius Freedom Army.

- Indeed. - Mell said - They must be the few remnants from their fleet, wanting revenge from the destruction of their cruisers. Your orders, Adren?

- We need to protect the Immortal. Scramble... Phantom Squadron.

Everyone paused on the bridge, thinking about that last order, including Mell.

- Any problem, Colonel?

- Ma’am... er, Phantom is an Assassination Squadron. We should...

- Assassination? Great, then tell them to assassinate those guys immediately.

- Has you wish.

It was another scramble for Phantom squadron. While we were running to our ships, BL briefed us:

- Alright, pilots, your orders are to engage and destroy all fighters attacking the Immortal.

- Sir? - CM Kast asked - Are you sure those are our orders?

- Yes. I know they aren’t our usual orders, but they came from Adren.

Once again we quickly entered our ships, and away we go!

- This is Phantom 1-1. Everyone lock up a bandit and engage.

- Oh man! This doesn’t look good.

- Looks like they’re gonna want to finish us one by one, they’re all targeting Turbo.

- Turbo, break!

- Damn it! Command, this is Phantom 2-3, requesting reinforcements.

In the bridge:

- Roger that! - Mell replied - Reinforcements are underway.

- Negative. - Adren interrupted - Phantom squadron, finish those geeks... or die trying!

Few seconds later...

- Holy shit! - I shouted - Turbo’s ship was destroyed... and they keep hitting his ejection pod!

- Turbo, this is BL, status report! Please respond.

- I was hit pretty hard. I need some medical assistance, I’m bleeding, man.

- I’m going to pick him up. - said Jodo Kast, Turbo’s flight leader - Everyone cover me, I’ll be back with you all in a minute.

All pilots made a desperate effort to protect Kast while he rescued Turbo. We actually were successful and after Kast dropped Turbo in the Immortal’s hangar, he joined with us and helped us finish the rest of the fighters.

But no Tie Phantom came back to the ISD without taking some hull damage, I guess we were lucky that only one of our fighters was destroyed. Once we arrived at the Immortal, we went to the sick bay to see how Turbo was doing.

- How do you feel? - asked BL.

- Well, it could be worse. - answered Turbo - I’m lucky to be alive, but the doctors say I won’t be able to pilot anything for 5 days.

- That’s too bad - said Mell.

Adren entered the sick bay, and we all saluted her.

- Lieutenant Commander Turbo - she started - I’m sorry for your injuries. I hope you recover quickly, and then report to the training simulator on deck 5.

- What? Excuse me? - Turbo seemed surprised.

- You proved not to be ready in case many fighters engage you all at the same time. That cannot happen again, we lost a very expensive T/P, I want you to go for an intensive training as soon as you recover. Dismiss.

Adren stepped out of the sick bay. BL seemed quite mad:

- Never in 20 years of service have I seen such...

- Calm down. - ordered Mell - I’ll talk to her. This battle was far too risky, we were lucky to lose only one starfighter.

Mell followed Adren:

- Adren, I don’t get it. You know that wasn’t...

- Mell, a squadron was assigned to a simple mission, to defend their command ship. We lost one expensive fighter, and all squadrons should be ready for whatever comes against them. Turbo showed that he was not ready for such cases, but that will be fixed. Dismiss.

Mell was stunned with such attitude, but he would use every power in his hands to prevent this from happening again.

III

- All pilots report to the briefing room.

Good. No scramble this afternoon. Let’s see what’s our mission now. Adren and Mell were already there waiting for us.

- Good afternoon pilots. - Mell saluted us - We are currently orbiting the Oprah system, controlled by ... well, lets say that one half of the planet wants Imperial rule, the other half wants to remain independent. We’re gonna make them come all to our side. The Hammer’s Fist Stormtroopers Divisions and the Skye Rangers Battlemechs have already landed on the planet. While the Stormtroopers are taking key tactical positions, such as spaceports, in the entire planet, the Skye Rangers are attacking the main Independent Army, stationed in the Mantev desert. All squadrons are to establish a siege around the planet and destroy any enemy shuttles or transports trying to leave the planet, all but Ranger Squadron. Adren?

- Good afternoon, pilots - Adren saluted - While everyone is making a siege around the planet, Ranger squadron is going to help the Skye Rangers down there in the desert.

- What? - CPT Toran shouted - This is a joke, right?

- No, it’s not. You have Assault Gunboats, it wouldn’t be the first time they would make a terrestrial assault.

- Yes, but we are a recon squadron, we can’t do that.

- Yes you can, and you WILL! Mell?

- Pilots, I know you have second thoughts about this, but you’re gonna be equipped with Advance Torpedoes. Just go down there, shoot two torpedoes to each enemy mech, and then bug out. Easy enough.

Phantom squadron secured the north pole of the planet, unfortunately no ship actually tried to leave the planet, so it was a boring task. However, Ranger Squadron was having plenty of action.

By the time they crossed the atmosphere, they began to see the enemy troops. There were some infantry squads on the ground running with the Skye Rangers fighting the enemy mechs. The Skye Rangers had just lost two Bushwackers.

- Damn it! Ranger squadron, this is the Skye Rangers commander, we could sure use some assistance down here.

- Roger that. - Captain Toran answered - Ranger squadron, everyone lock a bandit, then switch to torpedoes, dual fire mode, fire and then bug out.

Ranger squadron complied, everyone shot two torpedoes, and shortly after 4 Madcats and 2 Lokis were destroyed. Unfortunately, the enemy had also one Daishi, a very powerful Battlemech weighting 100 tons, which in response to the attack fire two waves of missiles against one of the Gunboats.

- This is Skye commander. Ranger 3-1, you have incoming missiles, break left, break left!

- Countermeasures applied. - the pilot was Commander Banger - My flares destroyed two missiles but the rest... (an explosion was heard).

- Banger was shot down, but he ejected, call the rescue team immediately!

Banger’s ejection pod landed safely on the ground and opened, revealing Banger to be safe and sound.

- Hey. - he said to himself - I’m alive! Another daring escape from Banger, if I can say so myself.

- Freeze! - he was interrupted by 4 soldiers.

“Oh great!”, he thought, “ the welcome company has arrived”.

- You! You speak americanese?

- I speak “English”, yes I do. Commander Banger, number...

- Corporal, do we have any English interrogators?

- Oh yes, sergeant. - he made a smile - yes indeed.

- Excellent. Follow us, pilot, we’re going to get you some “medical assistance”.

Really this was not Banger’s day.

IV

- Hey Banger, have a beer.

- No, Shadow, he is not in a condition to drink those kinds of things.

- Doctor, I’m feeling great. Thank you, Shadow.

Actually, he wasn’t. The interrogators were not easy on him, if the rescue company had arrived 5 minutes later, he wouldn’t be alive right now, but the beer tasted good anyway. Mell entered the sick bay.

- Feeling better, Banger - he asked.

- Yes, sir. Say... Is Adren gonna send me to intensive training or anything?

- No, she is not. But just because I intervened on your behalf.

- You got to be kidding. - interrupted Gord - Sir, I was there, there was nothing he could have done it, and besides, that was almost a suicide mission, sending gunboats against such heavy firepower.

- I know that, and I won’t tolerate this knid of behavior from Adren anymore. I’m going to have a serious talk with her, and if she continues with this odd behavior, I promise that I shall ask for resignation and present a complaint to the Flight Office.

Mell headed for Adren’s room, “she’s in there, so I’ll talk to her right now”. Mell pressed the ring button, ten seconds later he ringed again; “that’s strange”, the small monitor below the ring button indicated that Adren was inside; he ringed again and was starting to get worried, so he pressed a special code on the door’s keypad, that granted instant access to him. He entered, and there was nobody in the entrance hall.

- Adren. - he shouted - I know you’re in here. We need to talk, so stop this nonsense and come here.

Still no response, except for some noise coming from the bedroom. He knocked at the door.

- Adren, if you’re in there, please respond, just don’t let me here searching for you.

Still no response. Mell hated when someone tried to make him look like a fool, so he took out his blaster and made a few holes on the keypad, making the door open, only to find that the bedroom was also empty. “Something fishy is going on in here”, he thought. But he found from where the noise was coming from, from the closet! It was like something was hitting the doors, trying to get out.

- Well, there is only one thing to do - Mell thought to himself.

Mell opened the closet, only to reveal... Adren! She fell on the ground, she was all tied up with ropes and had tape on her mouth, she was trying to get loose. Mell removed the tape, and Adren started talking.

- Mell, untie me, quick! It’s not me who’s in the bridge, it’s Kusanagi. She somehow infiltrated the ship and caught me after the battle on Denius. Let’s go get her!

Mell and Adren quickly left the room, heading for the bridge, not knowing that a disguised Kusanagi was watching them on security cameras from the bridge...

- Computer, Admiral Adren here, low the temperature on all rooms and corridors except the one leading to the Hangar and the Hangar itself, to -100 ºC. Engage.

She left the Commander’s chair - Tactical officer, you have the bridge.

Mell started to note something.

- Adren, is it me or is it getting cold in here.

- Yes it is... oh no! Kusanagi is handling the air conditioning, from the commander’s chair she can use it to low or raise the temperature any way she likes. Prrrr, she must be trying to freeze us. If I can get to a terminal, I can stop the freezing. You go and get Kusanagi on the bridge, I’ll go to the hangar, that’s where the closest terminal is.

Mell went to the bridge, but as you know, Kusanagi wasn’t there anymore. Adren arrived at the hangar, but before getting to the terminal, she saw someone moving into a shuttle. “It must be Kusanagi”, she thought, so she sneaked to near the shuttle, and when Kusanagi was about to enter it, Adren confronted “herself”.

- Stop right there!

- Adren? Well, I don’t know how the hell did you got free, but that doesn’t matter anymore. Short time ago, I sent all the squadron leaders along with their flight leaders, to make a special squadron management course at a secret base, but they don’t know that the coordinates I gave them will lead them to a place where my entire fleet is stationed, waiting to kill them all. As you might have noticed too, I programmed the air conditioner to freeze this ship. Hah, by the time this is all frozen, I’ll come back here and retrieve the ship for me! Indeed, an Imperial Star Destroyer will be a welcome addition to my fleet.

- Not if I can...

- Don’t move! - Kusanagi pulled out her blaster - I’m not going to kill you. You’re going to give me all the secret codes of the Immortal now.

- I prefer to die.

- That can be done... later. Don’t worry, dear, I people on my fleet that have ways of making you talk.

Suddenly, a door opened, and I entered the hangar.

- Hey, any of you know why isn’t this corridor freez... - I was surprised to see two Adrens!

Adren took this chance and kicked the blaster out of Kusanagi’s hand, attacking her after and pushing her to the ground, but Kusanagi managed to put one of her feet on Adren’s chest and with it pushed Adren away, making her fall too. While they were fighting, I picked the blaster and set it on stun, only find the two Adrens on the ground, one on the left and one on the right. I didn’t knew which one to shoot at.

- OK, I got the blaster, now which one is the real one?

- Shoot her, quick! - ordered the left Adren.

- No! She is Kusanagi, kill her! - shouted the right Adren.

- She is lying, Gunman, kill the bitch! It’s her!

Now which one to choose? Hell, these are the kind of decisions that decide a war.

- Kill her, Gunman. You’re my best pilot, I know you’ll take the right decision - said the left Adren.

That’s easy to say, I like to think that, but then when sh... Wait a minute! Me, the best pilot? I don’t think so!

I shot the left Adren, and she got stunned.

- Nice shot. - thanked the real Adren - but there is no time to loose! Go to the comm and send the squadron leaders back, I’ll go to the terminal and stop the freezing of the ship.

- Yes, ma’am, good to have you back.

10 minutes later, all was over.

V

Astatine was in the Immortal to personally apprehend Kusanagi.

- Kusanagi! - Astatine started - For treason, I’ll should execute you right now. But for your past services to the Emperor’s Hammer, you shall go to trial and maybe go to prison for the rest of your life. So much the better.

- Astatine. Honey? I escaped from that prison which was your Training office, how long do you think I will stay in whatever prison you put me?

- I don’t know. I can only have faith that you will stay in that prison long enough to regret all the trouble you caused to me. Guards! Take her away.

After Kusanagi was gone, Astatine directed his attention to Adren.

- Admiral, I’m very sorry for all that has happened here due to Kusanagi. I’ll make sure that the next time the Immortal goes out on a mission, it will get some extra escort. I promise.

- Thank you, Astatine, but I believe my pilots were more harmed than I was.

- I trust that you’ll know how to handle them as usual. Good bye. - they both saluted each other.

At the debriefing room, everyone was waiting for Adren.

- I’m back, pilots. Astatine has promised us some extra escort the next time we go on a mission, although I think that will be sufficient to avoid situations like this in the future. And let me make something clear, I’m always aware of your mission profiles, and I would never send you on something too risky for your own good or specialty. LC Mell, anytime you think I’m not doing something right, you may question me, is that understood?

- Yes. It’s good to have you back aboard, Adren.

- I never left, but thank you. Dismiss.

And that was the end of this adventure, I was sure glad it was over. And hey, this day started normally, then became bad, but ended very well.

The End

FM/LCM Gunman/Phantom 3-3/Wing XI/ISD Immortal