By Alan B. Pechman

WedgeAntilles@worldnet.att.net

Chapter Four

Captain Thane Jernwidden inspected the datapad handed to him by his executive

officer. It appeared the transfer of the stolen cargo of proton torpedoes was

nearing completion. He glanced out of the bridge's main viewport at the box like

cargo freighter hanging in the blackness of space above his ship.

He stepped forward so as to get a better view of the operation. His ship, the

Imperial Carrack cruiser Rendili Eel sat directly above the wreck of the Rebel's

Anoat Pride like the predator it was named for. Imperial demolition crews

shuttled the stolen warheads between the dead Blockade Runner and the freighter

using Tug-pulled sleds.

Earlier, the freighter had offloaded a new complement of five TIE fighters to

replace the five destroyed over the last few weeks. It still rankled him that

one was destroyed due to clumsy flying and four taken out by one extremely lucky

X-wing pilot.

His report to Fleet Command met with pleasant results. He was authorized to

leave the Graza belt to track the X-wing to its source. He knew it was badly

damaged and couldn't have followed the maddening path that most Rebel pilots

took to return to their base. No switchbacks, double jumps nor anything else, in

this case. And to insure all of the glory went to him Jernwidden did not

disclose where the suspected path would lead. Instead his report used vagaries

to hide his true intentions.

"Captain Jernwidden, the crew of the Freighter Olnus reports docking operation

complete and is awaiting escort out of the belt."

Jernwidden nodded to his communications officer. He then turned to his Executive

Officer and barked his orders. "Lieutenant Zillin, bring us about. Set a course

that expeditiously takes us clear of the asteroid field. Have the TIE crews

launch and provide a flanking screen for us and the freighter."

"As ordered, sir." Zillin issued the orders to the applicable crews and with

hardly any sensation, the Rendili Eel began to move out of the asteroid field.

The amorphic realm of hyperspace exploded into realspace. Garven Dreis, Red

Leader, surveyed the situation. His scanners showed his wingman Wedge tucked

tightly in behind his starboard wing with two more three-ship flights of X-wings

from Red Squadron spaced behind him. Further to starboard a whole squadron of

Y-wings shot out of hyperspace a little above his position. Almost immediately

his comm channel exploded into noise as pilots from both squadrons swore at what

was arrayed in front of them.

Emerging from the asteroid belt directly ahead was the Imperial Carrack cruiser

flanked by a large box-like freighter. Five other radar images separated

themselves from the freighter's shadow and streaked forward. Garven knew

instinctively without a glance at his scanners that they were TIE fighters.

"Cut the chatter, Red Squadron. Lock S-foils into attack position." Garven

reached up and with practiced ease found the actuator for his wings and engaged

the lever. "Two flight, you're with us. We take out the TIE's. Three flight, on

that Carrack. Execute!"

Over his headset he heard long-time friend Dutch issue orders to Gold Squadron's

Y-wings. "One flight and Two flight; we engage the Carrack, full weapons

expenditure. Three and Four flight disable that freighter. Then join up and help

out with the cruiser. Red Squadron, we're right behind you. You open 'em up and

we'll nail that cruiser."

"Sure thing Gold Leader." Accelerating to attack speed, Garven knew the

engagement should be over quickly. Normally the Rebel pilots were the ones

outnumbered and Garven figured they had caught a lucky break this time. With the

amount of firepower they had between the two squadrons the Carrack wouldn't last

too long. Before he could ponder any further, he closed with the TIE fighters in

a classic head-on confrontation.

Twin beams of green laser energy splashed over his front shields as the lead

Imperial fighter opened up on him. Garven return fire with a quad burst of his

laser cannons, scarlet beams cored the ball of the TIE fighter as it blew to

pieces under a direct hit. His wingman suffered a similar fate as Wedge's

cannons blew the port solar array off sending the doomed fighter careening into

a small asteroid. And just like that they were through the enemy. He noticed

that where there once was five enemy fighters there was only floating debris.

"I'm hit!" Red Five exclaimed. Garven didn't have much time to react to his

newest pilot's dilemma as the Carrack cruiser opened up suppressing fire on the

incoming X-wings. "Peel away boys and we'll regroup. Red Five are you okay?" He

felt the full weight of his turn as he pulled up hard away from the enemy ship.

"I will be Red Leader, but my weapons are down and shields are damaged." Janson

said. Garven could see the young pilot heading out to deep space as he pulled

away from the Carrack.

"Get clear, Red Five and wait at the rendezvous point. Two flight circle around

with us and form up with me and Wedge as One flight. Arm your torpedoes and

we'll get set up for our run on the cruiser if it still lives."

Garven looked over his shoulder as six streaking blue torpedoes homed in on the

Imperial cruiser. He could see Three flight pulling up from their run and the

Y-wings were just releasing their payload of torpedoes. All told the six Y-wings

of Gold flight One and Two launched twelve more torpedoes.

The Carrack's Captain must have given an order to turn about to minimize the

concentration of damage the torpedoes would have done to her bow but in doing so

the Imperial vessel exposed itself to a larger area for the incoming torpedoes

to home in on. As a result the X-wing's torpedoes exploded against her port

shields, knocking them down. Two torpedoes did make it through and detonated

against her hull, peeling back layers of armored hull. That left an opening that

the remaining twelve torpedoes exploited with fatal effect.

The Carrack seemed to writhe in pain as a dozen warheads ripped her in half,

sending the drive section off on a fiery tangent, only to detonate against a

largish asteroid. The front half of the cruiser continued to vent atmosphere

until it drifted along like another dead asteroid in the Graza belt.

"Woah, that got him!" Wedge exclaimed. "Red Leader, what do we do now?"

Garven didn't take long to reply. "Three flight form up and orbit the freighter

now that Gold squadron's got her under control. One flight, we fly patrol and

wait for Renderra to come in."

Garven widened his distance from the slowly drifting freighter. He could see

four of Gold Squadron's Y-wings escort the large box-like ship firing at stray

asteroids that ventured too close to their prize. Four others were going deeper

into the asteroid belt to see if the Empire had left anything else hidden there.

The remaining four Y-wings were flying in tandem with Garven's X-wings.

"Gold Leader, this is Gold Two. I'm picking up some energy readings coming from

that freighter." That was Tiree, thought Garven. He was a sensor and navigation

expert who Garven was trying to get into his squadron for the last six months.

"I'm on it, Gold Leader." Gold Four dropped back from the starboard flank of the

freighter and came up behind the cargo vessel's aft clamshell cargo doors just

above the sublight engines. "Gold Two are you sure you're not picking up some

reactor readings from those engines or one of us?"

"Negative, Gold Four. It seems intermittent though."

A warble on Garven's own sensor board from his R2 unit indicated that the

Renderra had entered the system. She was still five kilometers out and not

visible except for her faint drive trail. Garven wished the slow moving shuttle

could get in quicker so they could leave. He thought their victory was a little

too simple. He chalked it up to nerves and the fact that they were usually the

ones beaten in a fight.

"Gold Leader, this is Four. I think these cargo bay doors are giving off some

kind of light."

It was the last thing anyone ever heard from Gold Four. The Y-wing was engulfed

in an expanding fireball that blew out the aft cargo bay doors of the disabled

freighter. Other than the explosion, the freighter didn't give off any other

energy readings. But what emerged from the ship's now open cargo bay sent a

chill down Garven's spine.

A sleek, tri-winged spacecraft not too dissimilar than a standard Imperial

shuttle burst out of the smoldering hold at full power, guns blazing. She was

slightly smaller than a shuttle, but appeared more heavily armed. Just as it

emerged a red streak of a missile shot out from it's chin mounted launcher. The

enemy ship climbed hard and inverted while heading out of the asteroid belt.

Another Y-wing, which had been moving into position to assist Gold Four was

vaporized by the enemy's missile. "Red Group, I don't know what that is, but

take it out, now!" Garven boosted full power to his drives but the tri-winged

craft was already streaking out of range.

Biggs watched in horror as the explosion vaporized the Y-wing. He instantly

powered up his drives and began a dive in towards the freighter. It had been in

the back of his mind that the freighter might be transporting other ships since

the Carrack they had destroyed had had another complement of TIE fighters.

What emerged from the freighter was nothing like he had seen before. As he

watched Gold Eight's Y-wing blow to pieces he knew he had to stop whatever type

of new Imperial craft this was.

He watched as the X-wing's of Red Squadron scrambled to catch the fleeing ship,

which dodged and wove past asteroids spoiling the few shots fired at it. He,

however, was already at full speed and had not raised his shields. The extra

energy he would have used for those shields was now pumped along with his laser

cannon and ion cannon reserves into thrust. As slow and cumbersome as a fully

powered Y-wing was under ordinary circumstances did not apply to how Biggs

handled the aging fighter. Instead, the Y-wing rocketed along at a speed that

neared the heralded X-wing.

Biggs reached over to the control panel and selected the inertial gravitic

compensators to just below standard in order to give him the sensation that the

bulky craft was more nimble than it was. He enabled the proton torpedo system

and tried to get a lock on the fleeing Imperial.

The R5 unit nestled in the socket behind Biggs warbled something that translated

immediately on Biggs' cockpit display. It said that there was an X-wing six

kilometers distant trudging along at reduced power. It had to be the new pilot

Janson who had gotten shot up earlier. Biggs thought quickly and prayed he could

make up the two-kilometer lead the Imperial vessel had because it was headed

directly for the Janson.

Wedge watched the fleeing Imperial tri-wing with helplessness. Gold Leader was

barking orders to his fighters to stand-by and guard the freighter. He watched

as a lone Y-wing rocketed past his position in hot pursuit of the escaping enemy

ship.

"Gold Seven, break off pursuit! Repeat, break off pursuit. Let Red Squadron go

after that ship!"

A familiar voice filled Wedge's headset. "I can't do that Gold Leader. Red Five

is out there and that Imperial bastard is bearing down on him!"

It was Biggs! Wedge grinned and wondered how the wounded pilot had gotten

himself into that Y-wing! "Biggs, this is Red Leader. Son, I don't know how you

got there but you're the only one that has a jump on that Imp. Do you think you

can get there in time?"

Janson began to sweat profusely. He heard the radio exchange and wished his

dying fighter would respond to his astromech droid's attempts to fix her. Since

he had limped away from the battle his fire control and sensor system had failed

leaving him blind as well as defenseless. He craned his neck around to try and

spot the incoming Imperial but couldn't make anything out because of the last

few remaining asteroids he had passed. He was clear of the asteroid belt and in

the open. He was also an easy target with no where to hide.

Biggs would get a temporary lock but the juking Imperial pilot wove past

asteroids and broke them easily. He switched over to single fire and let a

torpedo fly as he achieved a split second lock. A moment later he achieved

another lock and let another torpedo fly. He figured both would never reach

their target but at least it would keep the fleeing pilot thinking.

His only hope was to be able to get a clear lock before the Imperial got one of

his own on Janson.

Wedge finished his course plot and fed it into the navicomputer. He realized

what he was about to do was probably the dumbest, most reckless thing he could

possibly do and that was why he didn't tell anyone about it. He thought briefly

of his dead parents as he engaged his hyperdrive, wondering if he would be

joining them.

Garven watched helplessly as he slowly caught up to Biggs and the fleeing

Imperial. By his calculations, the Imperial would be clear of the asteroid belt

in ten more seconds. In that time he knew they would be too late to help Red

Five. He slammed his fist on his knee in frustration.

He caught movement off to his starboard wing and gaped as Wedge's X-wing

accelerated to light speed in the middle of the Graza asteroid belt.

Time slowed for Wes Janson. A young pilot from Tanaab, he was regarded by many

as a great young talent especially having achieved True Gunner status at such a

young age. But none of that mattered to him as he spotted the tri-winged

Imperial craft bearing down on him. It was less than a kilometer away now and he

could see the glow of the Imperial's guns as they prepared to fire. Try as he

might, he could not pull his eyes from his doom.

From behind the Imperial, two proton torpedoes broke free of the asteroid field.

One detonated against a stray asteroid, but the other impacted the Imperial

craft. Although it detonated, the Imperial ship only bucked somewhat under the

impact. It occurred to Janson that it had shields and would be a tough foe.

Two green bolts of coherent energy leapt from the Imperial ship's guns, but

streaked wide of Janson because of the impact caused by the torpedo's explosion

to its aft shields. The tri-winged ship screamed just over his cockpit and began

a large looping turn to finish him off.

A Y-wing raced out of the asteroid belt and headed straight for the Imperial but

did not fire. Janson had gotten checked out originally on such a fighter and

knew that at the high rate of speed this Y-wing was flying at meant that it had

all available energy shunted to propulsion. He also knew it would be terribly

difficult for the Rebel pilot to get another targeting solution for torpedoes at

this close of a range.

The Imperial pilot must have known that as well and opened up on the Y-wing with

its guns. Both shots scored hits on the port engine of the aging Rebel fighter

but because of its heavy armor it merely peeled layers of it back instead of

detonating it. Janson watched as the Rebel pilot threw the Y-wing into an

impossibly brutal negative gee twisting dive, the Imperial hot on his tail.

Four crimson darts of laser energy sizzled past Janson and struck the weakened

aft shields of the pursuing Imperial. The shields must have collapsed as he saw

one of the Imperial's engines flame out. An X-wing screamed by over head in hot

pursuit of the Imperial craft. Janson had no idea where it came from because he

had only seen one lone Y-wing emerge in pursuit. The markings on the top wings

of the X-wing bore two parallel red stripes that ran the latter part of the wing

indicating it was Red Two. That was Wedge Antilles.

Janson watched as Wedge surgically shot out the Imperial's port engine as it

tried to disengage from the combat. It carried a good bit of momentum and was

heading on a straight outbound course.

A blue streaking torpedo slammed through the cockpit of the Imperial tri-wing

and detonated. The ship disintegrated into a rapidly expanding cloud of gas.

"Stang!" Janson heard the Y-wing pilot exclaim. "Sorry Wedge, I had already

launched at that Imp just before you took her other engine out. I thought she

was going to get away and jump out of here. But thanks for the save."

"Biggs! How in all the stars did you get here?" Wedge asked.

The rest of Red Squadron streaked by Janson and he was grateful they had tried

to make it to his rescue. "I don't know how he or you made it here, but thanks

guys, I really owe you one."

"No problem, Janson. Hello Red Squadron, what took you so long." Wedge's voice

sounded a bit smug.

"Blast it, Wedge!" Garven exclaimed. "Besides being the most dangerous stunt

I've ever seen pulled, that was also one of the most heroic saves I've ever

seen. Pull another stunt like that again, though, and I'll have you flying Nerf

poodoo for the rest of your career!"

"Yessir." Wedge replied meekly.

"And Darklighter?" Garven smiled. "Son, I also want to hear how in the stars you

got here but you can be sure I'm gonna be pinning a big ol' medal on your chest,

son. Good save." Garven checked his sensors and noted that the Renderra was

docked with the freighter. "Okay, folks, form up on me and let's head on back to

that freighter. Red Two, you and Gold Seven here stay and watch over Janson."