The following story has been submitted by the Flight Officer/Lambda Commander, General Thunder (ChuckJoeS), and has been approved for further development by the Wing Commander. Although most submissions for plotlines will be posted in the Office of the Wing Commander, General Thunder's has been placed here due to its length and the fact that is a story. The reader is also directed to the Office of the Wing Commander section of the newsletter for a more detailed mission outline for the proposed Battle. In addition, submission of this plotline has earned General Thunder the Commendation of Service.

Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger during
redeployment to the Galvin System...
(photo: TREYNARD, 1/95)

"Launch all fighters!"

"Yes, sir, General Ronin!" replies the Flight Officer, General Thunder. This has not been a good day, he thinks to himself. First the sneak attack by the Mteghyi pirates, now a Mon Calamari cruiser. What next? "What's so special about Galvin? There's nothing there except an inhabitable planet and its dead moon. Why would a Mon Cal be here?" the commander queries his counterpart, General Shawshank. "Standard patrol, I guess. But whatever it's here for, we better stop it. What's taking so long, Thunder?" The Executive Officer had seen a lot of strange things in his career, but never an MC80 without being near Rebel or Imperial territory. After the destruction of their manufacturing facility, the Rebels couldn't afford to send one this far out! The nearest colony for either of the forces was two days away, even in hyperspace.

"Sorry, sir...the Rebels just hit the launch bay with half a dozen advanced torpedoes. We won't be sending out any more ships today. Gamma Squadron and half of Beta was able to be sent out, though," explained the rather upset Thunder. He hated it when the hangar was damaged. The entire Imperial starfighter force currently in space could have been destroyed, and the Avenger could do nothing about it. And then Lord Vader would get angry with Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Thrawn with Ronin, and.... He shuddered to think how far the chain would reach.

The entire bridge abruptly thrown everyone out of their seats. "That was no torpedo ...." General Shawshank said warily. Another jolt. Red lights began flashing all over the bridge. "Sir, comm systems are out now too!" exclaimed General Cli4ord, the Tactical Officer. This is humiliating...General Ronin thought. If we don't pull out of this, the Hammer will be through in more than one way...."All hands, alert code one! Thunder, Shawshank, get down to the hangar bays and see what you can do. Cli4ord, evasive maneuver pattern Blue-delta-nine! We aren't done yet..."

On board the CRS Independence, Admiral Yillen wondered, What is an Imperial Star Destroyer doing way out here? Maybe they're waiting for someone, too.... "Launch the X-Wings, have them intercept those missile boats! Get the B-Wings out too, maybe they can chase away that Star Destroyer." Yillen noticed several long blue streaks slam into the side of his ship, shaking every deck. "Send out the A-Wings, the Imperials are using advanced torps, and lots of them, too...."

Suddenly, a stray laser bolt almost hit a nearby navigational buoy. Immediately, every ship in the system began jumping into hyperspace!

On the flight deck of the Avenger, General Thunder hit the intercom. "General, what's going on up there? Did we just go to lightspeed!?" General Cli4ord's voice answered, "I don't know, Thunder. Everything's gone berserk. Another couple of rockets hit us, but I have no idea why that would activate the hyperdrive. General Ronin's gone to sickbay, he was hurt when one of the ceiling plates fell down. If you can, try to get to shield generators. They've been seriously damaged. Cli4ord out."

General Shawshank said to Thunder, "Well, we only lost a couple of ships out there now. We shouldn't need to send any out for awhile. Let's get the shield generators up."

Five days later, the Rebel and Imperial ships exited hyperspace. On board the Independence, the navigational officer nervously stammered out to his superior, "Sir...the star maps don't show any place like where we are now...We are in uncharted territory."

On the bridge of the Avenger, the same was being said. General Ronin, with a bandage on his forehead, looked carefully out at the map being displayed on the viewscreen. "Damage report, Tactical." "Every system has been fully repaired, except for the shield generators, which are giving us slight problems. We are currently at 97% of shield capacity," answered Cli4ord. Thunder quickly added, "Sir, one TIE Defender has not reported in. It must have been lost before we went to lightspeed."

A light began flashing on the Tactical Officer's computer. "Sir...the Rebels are requesting communications!" "Patch it through, General," was the Executive Officer's reply. The viewscreen was replaced by an alien wearing a Rebel admiral's insignia. "Greetings, Imperials. Since you seem to be having the same problem as we, perhaps you would like to consider a temporary alliance?"

The silence was deafening. A treaty between Imperial and Rebel forces had never been suggested without being in a situation such as Harkov's or Zaarin's. But then again, both had never been on the other side of the galaxy either. Shawshank looked over at his superior and said, "Sir, a temporary alliance could be useful, if there are hostile forces here." But then Thunder replied, "General, they're Rebels! It would be degrading to ask them for help!" Cli4ord, in a thinking pose, mentioned that they could always break the treaty if they returned to known space.

Ronin simply said, "Cli4ord, reopen communications. Admiral? Yes, we would consider a temporary alliance...there may be hostile forces at work." Yillen replied with, "Very good then. I'll notify my crew that you will be working with us." Ronin answered, "No, no Imperial or Rebel will transfer to either ship. And we cannot exchange pilots, ships, or supplies." Yillen simply raised one furry eyebrow and said, "All right, General, we'll do it your way. Just stay out of our way."

The screen went blank. Ronin mused, I just hope we haven't condemned ourselves...

Suddenly the radar screen lit up with blue blips. Neutral ships. Cli4ord shouted, "Sir! I read a modified frigate, along with five Z-95 Headhunters and four R-41 Starchasers coming out of hyperspace!"

"Alert code one! General Thunder, launch squadrons Alpha, Beta, Gamma! General Cli4ord, arm turbolaser batteries!" replied Shawshank. "Yes sir, Alpha I, launched, Beta I, launched, Gamma I, launched..." answered the Flight Officer. "Turbolaser batteries charged, sir," came the Tactical Officer's reply. "Sir! Incoming torpedoes!" he shouted a moment later. "All hands, brace for impact! Tactical, keep the shields up until Alpha and Beta can take out the frigate. Flight Officer, launch Epsilon squadron."

Green blips appeared on the radar. Cli4ord announced, "General Ronin, the Rebels have launched three X-Wings and three B-Wings." "Good," replied Ronin, "we could use the help. Notify our forces that they will not attack the Rebels....yet."

"Beta squadron, arm advanced torpedoes and fire within 3 klicks," General Papp, leader of Beta Squadron, ordered his TIE Defender and Missile Boat pilots. A short while later, a barrage of blue streaks streamed out of the ships and annihilated the frigate upon impact.

Seconds later, two modified frigates exited hyperspace near Beta squadron. Papp watched as one of the Missile Boats of Flight III only nearly missed crashing into the frigate. He asked the Avenger for reinforcements since they were nearly out of torpedoes. Thunder replied with, "General Papp, boost your shields and attack with lasers. Epsilon squadron is on its way, and we are launching a tug for your squadron to dock with."

Papp thought, Two modified frigates and no warheads, not even missiles. This is gonna be fun....A few seconds later, Epsilon Flight I's ships appeared on his scanners, then Flight II, and the tug. Almost immediately, an R-41 Starchaser flew behind the tug. All Beta squadron could do was watch as it fired all lasers, blowing it into space dust. Fortunately for them, the blast from all the torpedoes inside destroyed the R-41 as well. Shortly after, General Shawshank's angry voice boomed over the Defender's speakers, "Papp, do you know what's just happened? There were over sixty torpedoes in that tug! Where do you think we're going to get more if we run out? We can't exactly get resupplied on the far edge of the galaxy!"

General Thunder's voice seemed much more relaxing, but there still seemed a touch of annoyance it, "Imperial forces, return to the Avenger, we are going to lightspeed to plan our strategy."

Papp was about to head back, when on his scanners, a purple dot suddenly appeared. "Oh boy..." He targeted it and was amazed at what he saw. "A Corellian transport? Here?" The transport made a quick run around the area, and went off to lightspeed. He decided not to worry about it and get back to the Avenger.

Six hours later, General Cli4ord saw a purple dot on his screen. "General Ronin, ships are exiting hyperspace near us..." He showed the ship on the viewscreen. It was a Corellian transport. General Papp, on the bridge, said in surprise, "I saw that ship during the battle! It just went around the area and back into hyperspace." Cli4ord saw a green light blinking on his panel. "Sir....the ship requests communications..." Ronin told him to let it through. A three-armed being appeared on the screen. It said in a metallic voice, "Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger, I am Totl Htylic. I have studied the possibilities of trans-galaxy warping, and you have just proved it possible! I would like to go onto your ship and the other one, the Calamari Cruiser Independence."

Ronin asked, "Yes, but can you get us home?" Totl Htylic replied earnestly, "Yes, yes, I believe I can. First, though, I would like to learn more about you."

For once, the entire bridge crew agreed, though not all with the same degrees of acceptance. Ronin told Htylic, and he was very pleased with being able to study another culture. He began to move toward the Avenger, when two modified frigates jumped out of hyperspace near Htylic's ship. Shawshank immediately ordered Thunder to launch Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Lambda squadrons. In reply, the frigates launched five wings of Z-95s, R-41s, and transports. In reply to this, the Independence sent out A-Wings and Y-Wings.

The frigates immediately began firing at the Corellian transport. Ronin ordered him to fly evasive maneuvers, and Beta and Lambda squadrons to attack them. Shortly after, several orange flashes appeared, slamming into one of the frigates. The force of the blow sent it careening out of control, directly into the other frigate. Papp told his squadron, "That oughta make Shawshank happy, we saved some rockets. Let's get back to the Avenger."

They were about to do so, when two light Calamari cruisers suddenly appeared! The Avenger launched Delta and Epsilon squadrons in response, and the Independence launched X-Wings, B-Wings, and another Y-Wing group.

Then the light Cals launched six assault transports each! "Alpha, Gamma, and Delta, attack the transports and defend the Avenger. Beta, Epsilon, and Lambda, destroy those cruisers!" came Ronin's voice. Then the cruisers launched ten Z-95s and R-41s each!

The bridge of the Avenger rocked with torpedo and rocket hits. Panels had exploded, crewmen were dead, and every system was on the verge of collapsing. "Status of Totl Htylic's ship," were Ronin's only words. Cli4ord replied, "Sir, Htylic's ship has just completed docking. Htylic himself should be coming up to the bridge now. I recommend we collect the hyperspace-lacking fighters and go to lightspeed. The Rebels, TIE Defenders, TIE Advanced, and Missile Boats can follow us in case we run into an ambush." Ronin agreed that was a good idea, and told Thunder to notify the fighter squadrons and Rebels of the situation.

The Avenger reached its hyperspace point six minutes later. The assault transports had been destroyed, but now escort transports were after them. A barrage of torpedoes was just about to hit the Avenger and Independence before the entire Imperial/Rebel fleet went to lightspeed.

On the Avenger, Ronin ordered, "Cli4ord, oversee repair operations to the shield generators. Thunder, get on the engines. Shawshank, help fix the turbolasers. I'm going to the docking bay to greet Totl Htylic personally."

The next day, the forces exited hyperspace. The senior officers of the Avenger and Independence and Totl Htylic met on the Independence's bridge. Totl lectured on all of his transwarp gateway's systems, also telling them that a small navigational buoy could be used to set off the system. Once enough concentrated energy passed nearby, the buoy could launch all hyperspace-capable ships to a super-lightspeed. One had to be careful, though, as a direct blast would destroy it. He also mentioned how he was of the Byol, a paranoid society where all outsiders were sacrificed. "So that's it...", mused Admiral Yillen, "these Byol are fighting a holy war against us. But how do we survive and get back home?"

Htylic answered that quite easily. "You see, the gateway uses two nav buoys. There should have been one in a nearby system when you came out. Simply go to the nav buoy and fire one of your turbolasers at it. That should start the chain reaction. But you must be very careful. If you hit the buoy, you will be stranded here at the mercy of my people forever. Also, the nav buoy is currently being guarded by five space stations, with many smaller ships."

Cli4ord quickly replied, "Sir, even three space stations have enough firepower to take both of us out in no time. We'll have to destroy some of them."

Thunder, thinking carefully, asked, "But why don't they just destroy the buoy? Then no outsiders could get in." Htylic sighed, then said, "General, as I said, my people are very paranoid. They think that if the gateway is destroyed, all outsiders would simply appear in their space."

A red light began flashing on the wall. Yillen shouted, "The Byol! They must have known that you are here! It was fascinating, gentlemen, but you should get back to your ship."

Ronin replied, "Yes, good thing we came in Htylic's transport. Let's get going!"

"Thunder, launch squadrons Alpha and Epsilon!"

A frigate had come out of hyperspace near the Avenger. It began firing all its turbolasers in an effort to kill the scientist Htylic, and the outsiders. Epsilon Squadron launched two dozen advanced torpedoes at the frigate, which immediately became seriously damaged, even though they were successful in shooting down a few of them. The frigate turned to run, and launched several Z-95s and R-41s to cover it.

The last R-41 was about to be destroyed, when several more blue dots appeared on scanners. General Assassin, leader of Epsilon squadron, targeted one of them and startled all Imperials and Rebels when he said, "Wing Commander Ronin, General Assassin here. The Byol have copied our TIE Defenders and Missile Boats!!"

The Missile Boats immediately attacked the Avenger and Independence. On board the Avenger, Cli4ord was mumbling to himself, All our good work is going to waste again...Meanwhile, Ronin was ordering for squadrons to launch, repairs to be made, and shields to be recharged.

General Assassin was amazed. I can see the Z-95s and R-41s, but TIE Defenders? How did they copy those? "Epsilon squadron, arm tractor beams. They're the only way we'll beat these Defenders."

On the Independence bridge, Admiral Yillen was ordering the B-Wings out. "And remember, one of those TIE Defenders or Missile Boats would be very interesting for the High Command to study!" The tactical officer protested, "Sir, what about the treaty?" Yillen answered strictly, "Captain, all this treaty is a cease-fire. We never agreed not to steal the Byolian technology..."

"Blue one to Blue squadron, remember, we need to disable one of those Byolian fighters!" was heard over each B-Wing's intercom. "There's one now, let's go after it." The B-Wing's targeting computer read shields were down on this Missile Boat, but just as they were about to hit it with ion cannons, General Assassin's advanced concussion missile annihilated it. A curse could be heard from the mouth of Blue one. That was the last ship. All the other TIE Defenders and Missile Boats had been destroyed by the time they reached the battle.

"General Assassin to Star Destroyer Avenger, all Byolian craft destroyed or routed. We're coming home." "Excellent work, Beta Commander, we are planning our attack on the space stations now," was General Shawshank's reply.

Three hours later, the bridges of the Independence and Avenger were alive with communications, planning, and arguments. They were due to come out of hyperspace soon, and were deciding the best way to attack the Byolian platforms and escape to known space. Finally the moment came. Every available pilot was being readied for this moment. The navigational officer pulled the lever to return to normal space. Immediately after, the scanners lit up with the green and red blips representing Imperial and Rebel fighters.

An hour later, two of the five platforms had been destroyed, and one damaged. Both forces were out of space bombs and heavy rockets, and dangerously low on torpedoes. Three Calamari cruisers and half a dozen Victory-class Star Destroyers had entered the battle, and all were destroyed by Imperials or Rebels. The Independence's shields were very low, and the Avenger was taking hull damage. Fortunately for them, the Byolians were running low on available craft as well. There had not been any Z-95s launched in the last twenty minutes, and no capital ships were seen entering in the same amount of time. But, the Rebel forces lost almost their entire supply of X-Wings and Y-Wings, and the Avenger was down to half its TIE Defenders and less than a quarter of its Missile Boats. Parts were running low for both sides.

On the bridge of the Avenger, chaos was ensuing. General Ronin shouted, "Well why aren't there any more transports? And where are the shuttles?" "Sorry sir," replied General Thunder, "but they have all been destroyed. The only thing left besides starfighters are the escape pods."

Ronin thought for a minute. "Hmm...escape pods, you say? General Cli4ord, transfer all turbolaser power back to the shields. Proceed at maximum speed to the third platform."

Five minutes later, they reached the platform with shields at half capacity. "General Thunder, launch all escape pods into the platform!" Thunder replied, "But sir, what if the Avenger is destroyed?" Ronin answered, "We still won't be able to get back home in an escape pod! Launch!"

The escape pods slammed into the platform, one even destroying the station's power reactor. The platform erupted into a ball of fire. On the bridges of the Independence and Avenger, cheers were made as the ships could now go to hyperspace safely. The ships collected the hyperspace-lacking fighters and General Papp made the shot. He aimed slightly to the left of the nav buoy, and fired.

Five days later, the Imperials and Rebels exited hyperspace. Immediately after, the Avenger aimed all turbolasers on the Independence. "Fire," was the only words heard on the entire Imperial Star Destroyer.

The Galvin system was instantly ablaze with lasers, warheads, and explosions.

Admiral Yillen grew more and more nervous with the situation. The Independence was losing more and more ships. For every TIE Defender he saw explode, two A-Wings went with it.

Eventually, all they were down to was three X-Wings and Y-Wings, six A-Wings, and four B-Wings. They had to withdraw. "Lieutenant, set hyperspace course. We have to get out of here."

While the Avenger was taking care of any ships that came near them, the Independence managed to limp away with severe hull damage. Yillen was very upset that he didn't see this coming, but he was not about to let his anger get in his way. "Lieutenant, set course for the hidden Rebel base. Captain, begin repairs."

Meanwhile, the Avenger was about to send all the Rebel ships to Byolian space again. Ronin ordered, "General Cli4ord, aim turbolasers to a point .01 klicks away from the nav buoy, fire when ready."

Cli4ord was stunned by what he saw on his console. "Sir....the nav buoy.... it's.....gone...." Ronin stood up from his chair. "Then finish off the Independence!" Cli4ord looked over at him. "General, the Independence is gone, too. It must have gone to lightspeed before we could destroy it."

Shawshank looked at the scanners. "Sir, Lord Vader's shuttle has arrived from the secret project." Ronin sighed and said, "He's going to wonder why we have no shields. Get to work on repairs. I hope he's got time for a long story...."

General Cli4ord - Tactical Officer/Delta Commander

TIE Missile Boat of Gamma Squadron on patrol
during recent mission...
(photo: TREYNARD, 1/95)

Recently I had a chance to fly in one of the new Missile Boats. My personal opinion is that the starfighter is not as good as all of the reports indicate.

The Missile boat is designed after the Assault Gunboat and looks something like one, only with two containers on the top. The containers are the arsenal of the Missile Boat. They can hold up to 20 concussion missiles each.

However this is the craft’s only strong suit. Any idiot designing a craft knows that laser cannons go in pairs. But the designers of the Missile Boat decided to go against every little piece of sense in his head, and put only one laser cannon in. Even the Rebels know to design their craft with a PAIR of laser cannons. In battle, it can be crucial to have a good reserve of laser capacity to shunt to shields. In a craft like this, where speed is not a huge factor for running from missiles and other enemy craft.

The designers tried to make up for their incompetence by adding the overdrive into the starfighter. To operate the overdrive a pilot just presses the 'n' button and poof, all energy is redirected to the engines. In addition, energy already in reserve for the laser cannon is redirected to the engines. This works for a while, and the pilot could shunt shield energy to lasers to keep a high speed up for quite some time, (if shields were at max) but I do not think this craft will ever see any action in Delta Squadron. Our most recent mission into Calamari space could not have been made by the missile boat. Speed was of utmost importance.

General Cli4ord (Cliffy369) Delta 1

Wing Commander’s Note:

While what General Cli4ord stated above is true is some combat situations, the Missile Boat can be most effective in others. For example, the one laser on this craft can be fired in "rapid fire" by maintaining the trigger in a depressed position...thus compensating for not having a pair of lasers. In addition, the main strength of the Missile Boat lies in just that, its missiles...Stay at range and keep launching dual missile loads at your opponents. In this manner, you should be able to keep enemy fighters at bay. This fighter was not designed for dogfighting and this situation should be avoided by all Missile Boat pilots.