I was woken up early in the morning by a ring at the door. I was scheduled for the 0900 hour picket duty so I thought I overslept. A glance at the clock on the wall told me that I was not late at all. It was 0450. The beep was becoming constant now, and it seemed that someone wanted to come in very bad, as if their life depended on it. I opened the door and was greeted by the dull face of my flight instructor.
He wasted no time and debriefed me on the mission as I got dressed and ran toward the hangar. Apparently, I was to escort a convoy of freighters to a nearby platform PL/1 9046. As we parted I asked what is the cargo on those freighters. He shrugged and said that this mission was top priority, and as such he was not told the details.
As I entered the hangar I was stunned by the large amount of activity found therein. Pilots were running around, technicians inspecting the craft, robots loading up the warheads and finally ships being carried by the robotic arms to the launch site.
I ran to my wingmen and they pointed out a TIE Defender as mine and told me to hurry. I ran over to the ship, checked my flight suit and breathing apparatus and hopped inside the cockpit as the robotic arms carried me to the launch site.
Sooner than I thought I found myself drifting weightless just in front of the designated platform. I soon fired up the engines and formed up with my wingmen ready to escort the freighters when they arrive. Circling around waypoints we observed the platform as it got ready for the docking procedure.
Then the convoy arrived. It came out of hyperspace nearly 2 kilometers from the platform. Communication channels between the platform and the freighter were now busy as the cargo transfer was being arranged. Soon the comm channels went silent and one of the freighters designated Cypra 1 went toward the dock. I resumed the patrol as usual.
Suddenly, a rebel frigate hypered in about four kilometers out and immediately it sent out a group of starchasers and T-wings. Using my threat display I determined that the starchasers were sent to eliminate any starfighter opposition, while the T-wings were sent out to infiltrate the freighters. The Avenger then responded to this threat by dispatching flight groups of T/B to attack the frigate, T/F and T/I to stop the starfighters.
Then I heard a very loud explosion. My right wingman was gone in a ball of flames and I had two Advanced Concussion missiles on my tail. After I commanded my wingman to take evasive action I pulled my T/D in a tight loop and located the threat. The starchasers luckily started firing at us and they blew up the missiles. I targeted the closest one and after a few bursts of Quad laser fire I watched him go up in flames.
In all this confusion I did not notice that the frigate has sent out a whole mess of X/W, Y/W, T/W and an ATR. I rechecked the situation and noticed that I was drawn almost 12 klicks away from the platform. The situation was getting nasty. The avenger was 5 klicks away from the platform, and the rebel frigate was almost 1 klick away from the platform and was inflicting major damage. The T/B's were dead and the platform soon sent out its last squad of T/B's. The newly arriving bombers did their purpose and lowered the frigate to 56% hull. I was almost 6 klicks from the frigate and closing in. I did not have any heavy warheads but the Adv. Torps. had to do.
I was 2 klicks out now, and I got myself a secure lock. I fired four missiles and watch them strike the frigate. Their fire shifted to me and the tractor beam locked on. I couldn't move as the fire from the frigate was pounding on my shields. I turned around and targeted the source of the beam. I fired one quad shot of the lasers after another in a desperate attempt to kill the beam.
The beam failed. I turned around and noticed that my shield failed as well. Before I could transfer emergency power, another volley of laser fire hit me. With no shields, my T/D was defenseless. I heard the fighter crumple. In a last attempt to live I channeled all the power to the engines, away from the frigate.
When I came to a safe distance I sized up the situation. The platform was taking a beating. It was down to 13% hull and still taking much damage from the frigate which was at about 26% hull. The freighters did deliver the cargo but were destroyed. Help was over 2 minutes away. I had to do it myself.
I powered up my shields and headed toward the frigate. Switching to warhead launchers I noticed that all my weaponry was damaged during my last pass. Even the lasers were off line. Damage summary said it would take over 5 minutes to repair the damage.
The platform did not have 5 minutes. Its hull had dropped to 7% according to my sensors which were hopefully working. I had no other option. I redirected all the power to the engines and the shields. I was now going 220 MGLT toward the frigate. Seeing the threat the platform's fire turned to me once again. I switched the shields to full strength forward....
Distance to frigate .80 kilometers.
Shields 70%
Distance .42
Shields 25%
Distance .08
EJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I slammed the eject button down hard and immediately I was out of the T/D. Looking back at the frigate I saw it blow up. It worked!! The collision took out the frigate!! One more battle won for the empire. The platform took a beating but now that the major threat was gone and the Avenger coming closer it will survive. Long live the Emperor and his Empire.