The Iron Duke maneuvered so the missile that had just been fired from an enemy craft would hit the Duke on the side, causing less damage. The missile nailed the Iron Duke and the Duke seemed to stop for a second as they took a damage assessment—they were fine, in all. The missile had been weak. The Iron Duke was accompanied by her 12 TIE Fighters and 12 more—the First Defence Squadron from the Lancelot. The new additions to the F.A.A.—the Fleet Air Arm—was 48 TIE Fighters and 12 C-73 Trackers, the trackers would help in later missions.

Currently the R.A.F. had 96 TIE Fighters, 12 V-Torrent Starfighters, 12 C-73 Starfighters, 6 Preybird-Class Starfighters, and 12 Zebra Starfighters with the F.A.A. The R.A.F.’s spearhead force was composed of four Bothan Assault Frigates—Devonshire, Iron Duke, Somerset, and Bedford—the Invincible (A Corellian Frigate), and the St. Albans—a CR90. With the spearhead force’s capital ships was accompanied by 28 support craft and ten shuttlecraft. The spearhead force had been composed after the Trafalgar—a transport—had disappeared around this area. The scout they had sent never did come back.

The enemy—now identified as the Coruscanti Crescents, a gang of smugglers—had 12 capital ships to their 6, and 17 support ships that were vastly outnumbered by the R.A.F.’s 28. Their starfighter complement was composed of merely 96 craft, something the F.A.A. could easily handle. But still, they had better shieldning, better weaponry, and better sensors. But they were in an uninhabited system, something that wouldn’t prove to their advantage, as the C.C. had a base of operations there. The R.A.F. had dispatched the Third Defence Squadron, the Dauntless, the Lancelot—the ship with all of the Ground Attack Squadrons.

One of the enemy’s capital ships—a Longhorn—exploded under the pressure that the Devonshire and Somerset had put on it. The other capital ships began to surround them in a circle-like formation, but there were many weak spots. Bacredi—who was in the bridge of the Invincible—walked out of the bridge and into his study. Entering the study, he flipped open his com-center, a bridge-like quality. He then began to type out a message.

Quote:To all ships in the area,

This if the R.A.F. Invincible, we are sending out a Distress Signal, marked “Urgent”. Along with the Invincible, we have four Bothan Assault Frigates and a CR90—along with close to thirty support craft. But we have been overwhelmed… please, any assistance would help.

All of the ships were able to make a clean break from the battle as both sides split off, each one still taking hits at each other. Each group was on separate sides of the system, and the R.A.F. was repairing her ships constantly—as were the Coruscanti Crescents. The R.A.F. already had a plan in motion, however, and their bombers were being heated up inside their hangars. Inside the hangar of the Bedford, Squadron Commander, Scimitar Squadron John Clerks, sat inside his Preybird-Class Assault Fighter / Bomber.

“All fighters, report in.” Clerks ordered his squadron. His squadron came back accordingly on that, as well as their pre-flight checks. Clerks then switched off his squadron channel and moved into the command channel. “This is Scimitar 1, are my escorts ready?” Clerks was referring to Banshee and the Fifth Defence Squadron—both squadrons of TIEs.

“Affirmative, Scimitar 1. Banshee Squadron is leaving the Invincible now, and the Fifth Defensive Squadron is already out. Good luck, one.” Some commander on the bridge spoke to him, Clerks then buckled himself in and flicked his com back on.

“Scimitar Squadron, this is Scimitar 1 – commence operations, move out in flights.” The squadron performed miraculously and the Preybirds all made it out quickly. The Fifth Defensive Squadron immediately met up with the squadron on the left, and Banshee on the right. “Anderson, give me an assessment on time.” Anderson was Clerks’ co-pilot. But he didn’t really need one, though, due to the fact that a blast that would kill Clerks would easily kill Anderson in the process.

“Three minutes from target, sir.”

“Copy, all squadrons, initiate radar jammers!” Clerks ordered as they moved within the enemy radar range. On the other side of the battlefield, Agile Squadron and Avenger Squadron were converging with the same range and radar blockers on as well, while from the east and west the Fourth and Third Defensive Squadrons were blocking and moving in on the same time-scale. All the squadrons barked affirmatives. The ships moved in with their ion engines, while the Aegis Fate and the Euphrates were moving in with a seven minute time scale.

“Initiate pre-flight checks,” Squadron Commander, Banshee Squadron said. All the squadrons barked their acknowledgements and move the ships closer and closer to the enemy, they were now a minute from the target. Clerks checked his timer, it was time.

“Remove radar jamming!” All the craft did so, it made the enemy look like they were surrounded, on the enemy’s radar at least. He then barked his next order, “Initiate radar jamming, once we are within 10 seconds from target remove radar jamming. I want two TIEs to every Preybird.”

The ships sped in, the enemy seemed to have seen them – as blasts were already heading their way. Scimitar 1 moved towards his desired target—a Bothan Assault Frigate—and then readied his salvo of missiles and bombs. Scimitar 1 closed in, and 1’s escort of TIE Fighters dissolved off. Shit, Clerks thought, There goes the escort… As they approached, Clerks launched a concussion missile and the ship turned to attempt to avoid. Clerks then maneuvered his fighter and went towards the bridge—the heart and soul of the ship. The bridge gave Clerks cover as he went around the ship again, dropping another salvo of ion bombs.

“Sweep up the stragglers,” the Euphrates’ commander said. ‘Sweep up the stragglers’ referred to the code word that meant ‘Get out’. All the ships sped off, a few of the TIEs were hit by enemy fire as they retreated.