„Silent Predators” by CPT Daar Skeloria

 

            Subjugator was on her way to the shipyards in the Minos Cluster. Our ship had been damaged during a recent ride on a rebel-controlled platform and it seemed that we would spend the next few weeks just doing nothing. Well, at least I’ll earn some FCHG points…

            But now I’m going to just lay in my cabin, reading a very interesting piece of fiction from the newest newsletter…

            Silent knocking sounded behind the door.

            “Daar, may I enter?” It was commander Darklighter. The door opened with a silent whoosh as soon as I replied. Nemesis leader saluted, and sat behind the table.

            “Sit down.” She said and resumed when I was on the chair.

            “I received a mail from the wing commander a few hours ago. According to it, our intel has finally managed to locate a propable position of a new rebel shipyard. Since Subjugator, Immortal and Grey Wolf are here with undergoing repairs and the rest of the fleet is engaged far from the facility’s location, the Command Staff has decided to modernize three Strike Cruisers and assign them to destroy the shipyard.”

            “That’s very good, a good rebel is a dead rebel, but why are you telling me this?” - I asked.

            “Simply allow me to finish. There is going to be one ship from the ATF, the newly commissioned Strike Cruiser Corellia. As I said before, all pilots from Avenger are on a mission. Colonel TK-7764 was given a task of choosing twelve pilots from our ship. Nemesis, Kraken and Raptor, considered three best squadrons onboard, are to send them. They will then form a new squad, which will station onboard Corellia during the mission.”

            “And let me guess…” - I smiled. “Who has been chosen from Nemesis?”

            “Carry on…” - Kylie replied, not without a grin.

            “Commander Shikie, me, lieutenant commander  Harr-Arr, and you.”

            “You have gained three points. I am going to stay here. Captain Iceman will go instead of me, because there’s still plenty of work to be done here… All right then.” Darky stood up and glanced at her watch. “I’d like you to report tomorrow at 0930 in the hangar bay with you backpack packed for journey.” - She saluted and exited after seeing my reply.

 

            We were sitting in shuttle’s cargo hold, ready to leave Subjugator in any minute. Everyone onboard was discussing about our mission.

            “I think it’ll be just like that.” - A pilot from Raptor, lieutenant Hesto, cracked his fingers. “Fast in, fast out.”

            „Maybe.“ - I entered the debate. - “I hope we’ll find everything out as soon as we arrive at Corellia.”

            “By the way, why aren’t we departing?” - commander Shikie asked the transport’s second pilot, who was standing near the door separating passenger hold from the cockpit.

            “Don’t worry pilot, the colonel will arrive here very soon.”

            “The colonel? You mean the wing-“

            “All right pilot, we can depart now.” - TK-7764 entered the hold. Young officer saluted and went straight to the control room. The engines roared and after a few minutes we were on our way.

 

“OK lads, maybe some of you are surprised to see me here, but I must say you something. I just can’t stand missing some good action. Apart from that, somebody has to look after you when you are away from home.” - He added after a second of pause.

“So, you will take the cruiser over, sir?” - I asked

“Yup… oh, thanks for reminding me.” - He said unpinning his wing commander badge and replacing it with commodore’s one. Meanwhile I felt that I knew everything I wanted and I may finally end reading the story from the newest newsletter.

 

After about a half an hour we arrived at our destination. I turned off my datapad and looked through the illuminator. The cruiser looked quite like an ordinary one, except for its strange nose. It looked just like destroyer’s shield generator hanging under it.

Any further observations were interrupted by a bump produced when the shuttle landed in the hangar. A ramp’s mechanisms hissed and we exited the transporter.

“Fine. You have fifteen minutes to leave your things in your quarters and then report at the bridge.” - TK-7764 rushed to the nearest turbolift.

 

Fifteen minutes later we were all in the command side center. The commodore stood in front of us, looking through the window into the darkness of space.

“Course is set. We are ready to engage.” - The chief engineer reported.

TK nodded and after a second the stars turned into a hyperspace vortex. The colonel turned round and faced us.

“All right pilots. There are some things to be settled before we reach our target. First of all, we have to form a squadron and choose its commander. Since our operation will take, at most, a month I don’t consider this choice an important one, but a formal chain of command has to be maintained.

So, the Prien leader will be…” - It looked as he had hesitated for a while. - “Commander Skeloria. I have just received a confirmation of your promotion and since we are no longer a part of the Avenger Task Force, a Dark Brotherhood membership criteria is no longer necessary. Good luck at your new position Darr.”

Well, I wouldn’t expect such a thing to happen. The other three Nemesis pilots were looking at me with total happiness, while guys from Kraken and Raptor just congratulated me. I couldn’t help seeing a bit of disappointment in their eyes.

“Now, You’d propably want to see your toys. The turbolift to the hangar is there. Now excuse me, there’s work to be done in here. I expect all of you to report tomorrow at 0815.” - Corelia’s commander saluted and started speaking to one of crew members.

 

Not wasting any time we rushed into the elevator. The doors closed and we went down to the hangar bay. After a few minutes we were at our destination. I ran out of the lift first and stood, frozen by the view.

“Excuse me, sir? Would you mind, if we saw our new toys?” - A Raptor pilot asked impatiently. I allowed him and the rest to pass.

“Blast it!” Shouted Iceman.“ - Having a possibility to give us any fighter the Empire has, they have chosen this flying coffin!”

“Hey, don’t offend my favorite machine! When correctly used, the Assault Gunboat can do much more than a TIE Advanced! I was once jumped by two A-Wings and scratched both of them!” -Said lieutenant commander MacDonald, a leader of Kraken flight.

“Yeah, but it’s still safer to fly a T/A. At least you can get out if something screws up…” - Neither I, nor Iceman were convinced.

Our further argument was ended by a group of people who exited another turbolift. One of them, wearing a chief technician’s uniform approached us, saluted and said:

“Chief technician Dax Baatar reporting in, sir. We are to maintain your fighters in-“

“Dax? So they’ve taken you on this mission too?” - I asked. The technician, who turned out to be the one responsible for maintaining my TIE Advanced on Subjugator, took his helmet off and replied:

“Yes sir. Since your of your fighters will spent the next few weeks without being used, our commodore has decided that we will be needed here.”

“Okay, keep those things flyable. If someone needs me, I’ll be in my cabin.” - I said and exited the hangar.

 

We reported on the bridge at 0800 the next day. The holoprojector in the middle was presenting a small part of galactic map. According to the scale it was about 30 light years wide.

“Greetings.” – TK-7764 started speaking - “You already know what do we have to do. Now it’s time you knew how to have our job done.” - Colonel began his briefing. - “There are three cruisers in the sector: Chandrilla, Bortas and our ship, Corellia. Each one is equipped with a gravity well projector, just like the one installed on an interdictor cruiser. This consumes a lot of reactors power, so our shields are weakened and our engines are not working as well as they could, but since we are expected to fight only lightly armed convoy craft, this shouldn’t be a problem. As I have already said, we will hunt down supply convoys, which will be trying to deliver things like fighter components and fuel to the station. You are to scramble as soon as a convoy is detected in hyperspace, interdict it and destroy it, but be warned, that some ships have to escape if we want to locate the factory. Their hyperspace vectors will be saved in our navigational computer…” – He paused and pressed a button on the holoprojector. The picture filled with about a dozen of lines. - “…and using this data, we will attempt to find out where is their base. We only need to lines to cross each other. Then such coordinates will be checked out and if there’s a shipyard it won’t be any more after we visit. Any questions?” – He made longer pause. – “All right then. May the Force be with you, and be ready to be scrambled anytime. Dismiss!”

 

The next day passed without any action. We have received an information that Bortas surprised three cargo ferries and a modular convoyer. One of them was allowed to escape. We got our first lead…

On the second day we were returning from the bridge when a wall-mounted speaker started broadcasting:

“Prien squadron, to your fighters! Multiple signatures detected in hyperspace, ETA 7 minutes, 15 seconds!”

We rushed to the hangar bay. I jumped into my fighter’s cockpit and steered it into the space. I turned my commlink on and started speaking:

“Form the wedge formation. All pilots, report in.”

We waited with our torpedoes armed. ETA 10 seconds… 5… 2…

“Here they are!” – Lieutenant commander Fallas, codenamed Prien 8 shouted. - “Let’s get them!”

“Lock on your torpedoes, but allow one of them to escape.” – I reminded my pilots.

Twenty-four missiles filled the space with blue glow.  The enemy convoy, consisting of six bulk freighters, was about three clicks from the Corellia. After a few seconds a serie of explosions evaporated four freighters. The fourth one managed to power her engines up, but relentless laser fire from our gunboats slowly made her shield weaker and weaker…

“YAHOO!!! Another bandit down!” – Prien 8 burst with happiness when the cargo ferry united itself with the eternity.

“All right, now you have to pretend you want to finish the job, but allow the last one to make a jump.” – The commodore ordered. - “We are disengaging our gravity well projector now.”

The freighter entered hyperspace two minutes later.

 

Prien squadron was ready for debriefing few minutes after landing. The colonel looked like he won the first prize in ATF’s sabbacc contest.

“Superb, just excellent. The whole convoy was destroyed within four minutes! Freighters hyperspace vector has been sent to the other two cruisers. Now it’s time for us to summarize our efforts…” – He said turning the holoprojector on. The same piece of galactic map as before appeared, but there were two lines on it. Sadly, they didn’t cross each other.

“As you can see, we still cannot locate the facility, but remember, each vector acquired allows us to get closer and closer to victory. Report here tomorrow as usual. Dismiss!”

 

“I said it will be just like that!” – said Lieutenant Hesto back in our quarters – The Rebels are completely unprepared to face even a bantha, so they don’t stand a chance against us!”

“I once again repeat: don’t be so sure.” – I replied – You know, I was once an optimist too…”

“And?”

“I discovered that you avoid disappointment when you are pessimistic. No matter, what you predict, it always turns out to be better than that. And, besides, I can’t help having bad feelings…”

“We’ll see… I’m going to cantina to celebrate this victory. Does anyone want to go with me?”

The room deserted within seconds. Not having anything better to do, I followed my pilots.

 

As I expected, we didn’t have much luck on the next day. Both Bortas and Chandrilla had won a small skirmish, but we weren’t so lucky. A roar of alarm woke us in the middle of the following night. We rushed to our cockpits and within minutes we were cruising around Corellia.

“OK pilots, this time it seems we will catch the greatest fish so far. Mass detectors indicate a huge thing coming through hyperspace. A fleet of freighters or a squadron of corvettes… Whatever they are, we do not expect them to be too dangerous. May the Force be with you, Corellia over and out.”

Minutes passed. Finally the countdown clock reached zero. I rose my head to check what did we catch. But there was no convoy.

“Oh, sithspit! Nothing too dangerous they said, did they?” – Irritation sounded in Harr-Arr’s voice.

“I’m afraid they did…”

A Mon Calamari cruiser was hanging in front of our mothership. Its turbolasers hadn’t fired yet, but after a few seconds red beams appeared and started hitting Corellia’s shields.

“Prien squadron, we need time to power our engines up. You have to buy us at least three minutes, if we want to escape!” – TK-7764 ordered, while several fighters launched from CRS’s hangar bay. Although he spoke much louder than usual, I was not sure if I would speak so calmly under such circumstances.

“Roger that sir, we will do our best.” – I said and switched to squadron’s frequency. – “All right lads, you are free to engage enemy fighters, but do not attack the cruiser.”

“Sir, five more contacts! Y-Wings!” - Lieutenant commander Fallas shouted.

“Gregor, take your flight and try to keep them away from Corellia. Other fighters attack the X-Wings!” – I ordered. McDonalds gunboats fell like a sledgehammer on surprised bombers, crushing them within few moments.

The battle raged on. We were outnumbered, but we, miraculously, managed not to loose anybody, although some gunboats lost their shields. I launched a pair of rockets at an enemy when, suddenly, an explosion appeared on Corellia’s rear.

“We are transmitting coordinates to your navigational computers. Don’t worry with this blast, it’s only a minor damage. See you soon.” – Corellia’s engines switched to lightspeed mode and the whole ship turned into a tiny spot between stars. I pulled the lever on my left and hoped that rebels won’t follow us as stars stretched to form a vortex…

 

Fifteen minutes later, back in the normal space, I steered my craft into cruiser’s hangar. Fortunately, the Corellia was relatively undamaged. I placed my gunboat on hangar’s floor and jumped out of the cockpit. The rest of Prien squadron assembled within few minutes after my descending. Then we went straight to the bridge for debriefing.

“What’s up with you Shikie?” – I asked when I noticed one of pilots squeezing his hand.

“Nothing. These damn rebels melted my radio when I was trying to change frequency…”

“Better check this out. If there’s an infection, you won’t be able to have a revenge tomorrow.” – Harr-Arr advised.

 

It was certain that bridge suffered from a number of hits. Several consoles were crushed, when crew members fell on them after explosions quaked the ship. TK-7764 observed, as technicians tried to repair the holoprojector before facing us.

“As you might have already discovered, we were lucky to escape from this meeting. We survived mostly because the rebels were surprised and lost few crucial seconds to prepare to open fire. Although the explosion you observed shortly before we made a hyperjump was quite powerful, it only screwed a single engine, not the whole drive system. We are still able to fly – and we will do so.”

“We are not going to retreat to Minos?” – A lieutenant from Kraken flight asked.

“Retreat?” – TK was most surprised with this idea. – “We only lost one engine. We are still able to cruise and to hunt enemy convoys. Escape is not an option. Remember that, solider!” – TK ended, making a most displeased face.

“And now, return to your quarters.” – He added after a minute of silence. – “As you may have expected, we do not plan any further strikes this day. Dismiss.”

 

We, luckily, didn’t meet our new rebel friend during the following week. Four convoys have been scraped, with no casualties on our side. On the tenth day the commodore called us to the briefing room shortly after noon.

“Pilots, I have good news.” – TK said with in the happiest voice I have ever heard. – “After our victories three propable locations of our main target appeared.” – He turned on the holoprojector. Three spots, named Alpha, Beta and Gamma appeared on the map.

“Scouting probes have determined that locations Gamma and Alpha are empty, while position Beta turned out to hold some kind of an installation.” – The map zoomed, showing a model of a shipyard. – “No large ships were detected, but it is possible that several laser batteries will be guarding the station. Coordinates have been transferred to Bortas and Chandrila, we will begin the assault as soon as possible. How much time do we need?” - The colonel asked the second officer.

“Two hours sir. Then the hyperjump, which will take about… Twelve minutes and we are there.”

“You’ve heard him? Report here at 1500. Dismiss!” – TK ended.

 

Ten minutes after 1500 we in the hangar. Mechanics swarmed around our fighters, making sure nothing screws up during the flight. Suddenly, stars visible outside the hangar stretched. We were underway.

“All right lads! To your machines!” – I shouted. Everybody rushed to their cockpits. Minutes flowed slowly, as Corellia was getting closer and closer to our target… Finally, we were back in the normal space.

“Fighters, you are cleared to launch. May the Force be with you!” – Communications officer said.

Twelve gunboats flew out of Corellia’s bay. Other cruisers launched their machines, too. The station was dead ahead…

“You know your objectives. Prien squadron will attack any fighter resistance, Lorh concentrates on shipyards shield generators, Hoth helps Prien in maintaining space superiority.”

“Roger that!” – Confirmation was repeated by two other squadron commanders.

“Command, several gun platforms sighted!” – Hoth 3 shouted

“Hoth, take care of them! Prien, keep you eyes peeled for any fighters!”

“Several fighters have just launched.” – Shikie reported a minute later. – “IDed as Z-95s.” – He added.

“Prien squadron, engage!” – I ordered.

Platforms’ lasers burst with beams. Hoth squadron launched their torpedoes. After a minute space turned into gates of hell.

“He’s on my six, Daar, take him out!” – Nir Fallas shouted. I fired my missiles. After a second there was only scrap between me and Fallas.

“Thanks…”

“You’re welcome.” – I said, observing as someone from Hoth squadron wastes a gun platform.

 

We took the upper hand. Headhunters were, of course, no match to our gunboats. Defensive platforms we destroyed one after another. Suddenly a voice sounded in our speakers:

“Sithspit, double sithspit! Anyone, help me, he took me from be…” – Only radio static followed this message.

“Hoth 7 is down, repeat, Hoth 7 is down…” – Hoth leader reported. – “He couldn’t have survived the explosion…”

Apart from this event it seemed that nothing will stop us. All  three cruisers flied towards the platform, with its shields going weaker and weaker all the time…

 

“Pilots, we have a new contact coming in from hyperspace… It’s CRS Montgomery!” – Communications officer started panicking.

“Calm down, lieutenant. We still have a chance…” – TK-7764 spoke with a cold, emotionless voice. – “Pilots, carry on with your missions, Lohr squadron, attack the cruiser as soon as you finish with the generators, Hoth, engage fighters after you deal with those laser batteries. I think this cruiser will soon have something more important to do than trying to kill us…”

The rebel cruiser launched its fighters. X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings… Every type of their fighter was flying out of CRSes hangar bays.

“Gregor, I’d appreciate if you told me your secret…” – I said on our squadron’s specific frequency.

“What secret?”

“How to take on an A-Wing in this box!” – My reply was, at best, impatient.

“OK, switch as much power as possible to engines. Redirect it from beam system and shields. Power your shields using energy from laser generators and pray they won’t dodge your missiles.”

“Thanks a lot, we’ll see if it works.”

I distributed power just like McDonald said. Engines roared and I felt almost as I was back in my TIE Advanced. Suddenly, an A-Wing crossed my field of view. I turned my fighter and faced the rebel. He was gaining distance, but far too slowly to get out of my range in time. Two missiles were fired when my crosshair changed its color to deep red. A cloud of plasma appeared in A-Wing’s place.

“Scratch one A-Wing, five more to go!” – I reported.

Other Priens got engaged into dogfight. I noticed that one X-Wing got on Iceman’s six. I set full throttle, but before my missiles locked on, Ice’s shields collapsed. A burst of laser beams ripped his wing off. Luckily, he managed to bail out. I shot his opponent down before he could finish my former commander off.

“Thanks Daar, I owe you a big one.”

“This is Corellia to all imperial craft. We have received an information from ISD Subjugator. They will exit hyperspace within three minutes, so stay sharp.”

“Subjugator? Why we weren’t told that she’ll arrive?” – Lieutenant Hesto asked.

“Pilot, cut the chatter and concentrate on your objectives. You don’t have to…” – Everything went silent. I took a quick glance on Corellia’s hull and everything became obvious – the rebel cruiser started firing on our mothership and destroyed her communications array with the first barrage.

 

I turned on the map. We have lost six fighters so far, shooting down a dozen or more rebels. Lohr gunships were about seven clicks from Montgomery, while Hoth ones relentlessly hammered enemy Y-Wings. The shipyard itself has been damaged and her shields were down. I turned the display off and engaged the closest fighter. It dodged my rockets, but it didn’t stand a chance in point-blanc range combat. Suddenly a new object appeared behind the shipyard.

            “This is vice admiral TK-2107 from ISD Subjugator. We are launching all available fighters to aid you.”

Subjugator’s turbolasers opened fire. Montgomery stopped attacking the Corellia and it seemed that it was preparing to enter hyperspace. The Corellia itself was looking very bad. Several holes in her hull were visible and half of turbolasers weren’t moving.

“This is Lohr leader. Our torpedoes are locked, we are firing. You’ll soon reunite with your friends, you rebel scum!”

Nemesis fighters joined the battle. I managed to score another A-Wing before the battle finished. Then we all turned towards Montgomery, so that she couldn’t escape our revenge. After Lohr squadron’s barrage she lost all her shields and was an easy prey. My lasers pierced one of her engine’s planting when a huge explosion appeared few hundred meters in front of me. And then there was another one. I set full throttle and started escaping, when the blast quaked my ship. CRS Montgomery was no more.

“Good job, lads.” – I congratulated. – “Now let’s finish the platform!”

It took no more than five minutes.

 

Twenty minutes later we were all back onboard the Corellia. TK-7764’s got a bandage on his head – perhaps he hit some piece of equipment when our ship was attacked. Nevertheless, he looked most proud of our achievement.

“Well guys… Once again, superb work. The platform has been destroyed and we screwed convoys carrying enough cargo to built a quarter of a super star destroyer. Admiral TK-2107 has sent his personal commendations and said that you are the first to be recommended for promotion. And now…” – He paused, turning to his second officer and nodding his head. The ship entered hyperspace when the nod was transferred to chief engineer.   – “We are going back home. Correlia took some serious damage during this battle and it needs to spend some time in a shipyard. And, besides, I think you’ll be most happy to leave this tin can… All right, that’s all I wanted to say. Dismiss.”

 

* * *

 

ISD Subjugator exited hyperspace at the Minos shipyards. After a few seconds three cruisers emerged from the lightspeed. Each one launched two shuttles. Four of them entered hyperspace, heading to concentration points of Aggressor Task Force and TIE Corps Battlegroups . Two other, named Polonium and Radium, headed towards Subjugator. Within few minutes they landed onboard. Ramps hissed and passengers walked onto star destroyer’s deck. Vice admiral, along with two stormtrooper teams awaited them.

“Greetings colonel, welcome pilots.” – He greeted us after saluting. – “I have just spoken with Anthol. He is most pleased with your performance and agreed with my recommendations. You should receive your rewards within a number of days. And now… Do you have anything against going to cantina and having a drink? I pay for it this time, of course.”

Guess how many of us rejected that offer?

 

As TK-2107 said, our rewards arrived soon. Davi stepped from battlegroups commander position, with our former commodore taking his place. TK-7764 became Sub’s commodore and I returned to flight leader spot with a new, shining Palpatine’s Crescent.. But experience gained as Prien leader was the most valuable reward for me and I think Darky shouldn’t be worried about who will be ready to work new Nemesis leader if he decides to leave us…