Zeshaun was in the hangar tuning up his newly purchased Besu'liik Hunter-Killer starfighter he had already renamed her the Sea Devil painting her a nice shade of black with bright florescent red highlights along the cockpit and on his two laser cannons. He had bought it for himself as a congratulations present for making it as the Squadron Leader of the YFS. He had three squadrons of fighters under his control and was very glad at what he saw. After flying it back from the shop, he was having a nice conversation with the technicians on duty on what would be the best modifications to add to his fighter to make it faster and make it more dexterous. As he was finishing the last few adjustments to the screws and wires he saw the hangar doors open and two men in very nice business uniforms entered the hangar and stood by the four ships that were in the YFS designated area.

Zeshaun recognized them as Joamer and Anival, two of the leaders of the organization. He put the tools back in their box, wiped his hands on a rag and started to walk over. He felt very under dressed because he was only wearing a dirty T-shirt and a flight suit unzipped from the waist down.

"Glad to see you're here Zeshaun." Anival said turning to greet him.

"Thanks,  I don't think I've seen this ship around here before is it knew?" Zeshaun asked pointing at the ship that was directly in front of them.

"I was just telling Joamer that I just got her, the Olympian" Anival said with a sense of pride.

Zeshaun nodded, looking over the ship. wouldn't mind getting myself one of those too he thought as he observed the ship.

"I just got a new fighter as well," Zeshaun said pointing toward his fighter. "the Sea Devil, but I have to go finish up some last minute adjustments so I'll see you all soon." Zeshaun said saying goodbye and heading back toward his ship.

He started putting the covers back over the wires and bolting them down, tightening all the screws and polishing a few spots that seemed dull. He was very glad that he had gotten this job, and was able to wear his Akodo flight suit again. It had been a while since he was the leader of any sort of flght squadron so he had no reason to wear the gray flight suit that had been hanging in his closet since he had arrived at the Vast Empire.

"Hey Zeshaun." Anival shouted from across the hangar. "You can store your fighter in my ship if you want, I got some extra space and you'll get to ride with the P-38's."

Zeshaun smiled, he had taken a liking to those ships but hadn't gotten to connect very well with their pilots, so this would be a perfect oppurtunity for him. "Thanks Anival, that'd be great." Zeshaun replied giving Anival a thumbs up.

Zeshuan opened up the cockpit and hopped in and started up the engines. Over the roar of the engines he shouted out to both Anival and Joamer.

"I'm gonna take her for another test flight, call me on my comlink if you need something."

Anival and Joamer nodded and threw a loose salute his way. Zeshaun saluted back and then closed the cockpit. He went through all the checks, he liked what he saw. His engines were working at over 100 percent and the control stick felt lighter in his hands. This should be fun He eased out of the hangar and then shot straight up and up into the sky. He avoided going into space for the moment, not wanting to be too far away when Anival or Joamer called.

Joamer paced the length of the bridge while he waited for the signal from Anival to jump in system. His Bothan Frigate was not extremely old, but it was not new either. Probably why he could afford it, even running on a skeleton crew with a lot of the systems automated it cost a lot. Luckily the two companies he worked for paid him enough to keep her running.

Walking over to one of the weapons stations he kneeled down and said "What's the status of those ion cannons we installed?" Weeks ago they had removed several of the turbolasers so the ion cannons could be installed. He had access to some of the best builders from the solar system, so it was not a patch job. Instead it looked like they had always belonged on the ship. Her beauty was untarnished by patched on weaponry.

"Power flow looks stable and clean. No outside interference, or noticeable power loss." The weapons officer said after checking his boards. "Sir, if I may say something. I've served on ships before. But, this ship it a true beauty. There is just something about her."

Joamer nodded as he walked away, he agreed fully with the young man. She might be old, she might be a bit slower or less powerful then some of the other new ships. He thought, though, she would get the job done regardless.

"Sir, long range sensors picking up massive energy discharge. Scanners suggest it's weapons fire, directly at our rendezvous point." The sensor officer shouted a few seconds later.

"All hands battle stations, bring the weapons and shields online. Raven wing, launch the second we drop out of hyperspace. Stay close though, sensors are picking up a lot of enemy fighters." Joamer said as he keyed off shipwide.

"Quick jump in, try to bring us out as close as you can." Joamer felt the ship lurch forward into the quick hyperspace jump. A few seconds later she dropped out a few hundred yards from the ensuing battle.

"Hard to port, bring the starboard ion cannons in position to fire on that frigates engines. Stay out of there firing solution though." Joamer ordered as the ship began to turn to port.

He watched the small freighters taking ion blasts and some small turbolaser fire. Luckily any of the really big ships were holding back, apparently no one wanted the cargo, or the ships destroyed.

"Slavers then, since they are not just punching holes to vent atmo." Someone cursed next to him, Joamer nodded in agreement.

"No quarter then. All weapons fire. Take out their engines and shields." Joamer ordered a second later. "Give me a secure channel to the Olympian."

"Done sir." The comms officer said as he broke through the jamming signal. Old Army tricks still came in handy.

"Olympian, fine day for a stroll in the park. I suggest you get any ship still capable of hyperspace out of here. I'm not sure how long I can hold them off." Joamer said, he did not wait for a reply as he keyed off the comm link.

"Bring us up over that frigate, hit their bridge a few times. That should keep them out of the game for awhile, and give me all open frequencies, time to ask for their surrender."

He heard a few chuckles and nods as the comms officer nodded at him, a second later he said "This is Captain Reistlin of the frigate Hunter Gratzner. We are the flagship of the Tiger Claw merchant fleet. You are out gunned and out flanked."

He waited a few long moments as the sensor station grinned and hit a few keys. He knew the ghost signatures would not last long, but they might do the trick.

"No doubt by now you have seen the sensor data confirming more ships closing in on the system. Surrender now, and you will not be harmed." Joamer waited for the reply, after a minute he said "Bring us up over the top of the merchant ships, get us in line for a broadside on that cruiser."

He felt the impacts of the turbo laser cannons hitting the shields, he swore as he waited till the ship was in range. A second later his comm link buzzed "Joamer... you are no captain." A familiar voice echoed throughout the bridge. A few seconds later the attacking ships ceased fire and begin moving off.

"All ships stand down." Joamer said, keying for the open freq he said "Bacredi, you old dog. Took you long enough to get here. Did you really have to attack my fleet though?"

Zeshaun wove in and out of the dogfights, trying to help out any of his mates as best as he could, flying back and forth across the field, they were vastly outnumbered and he was trying to save as many of his fighters as he could as he watched his friends stopped in their tracks by tractor beams and ion cannons. This isn't looking too good for us Zeshaun thought as he blasted through the shell of a TIE fighter.

"Sir, we're losing fighters left and right, if we don't do something soon, we'll all be dead." One of his flight leaders voice broke through the silence.

"I know, just hold on for a couple more minutes." Zeshaun said through gritted teeth as he pulled up hard to avoid a volley of proton torpedo's headed his direction.

Just don't want to leave Anival and Joamer alone without any fighter support Zeshaun thought to himself. The situation only got worse, he had managed to get the remaining P-38's back into formation but it only made sure that he didn't lose many more fighters. The battle didn't look like it would be turning in their favor anytime soon. As he was thinking about pulling out of the fight and jumping to a safe spot before calling for back up a familiar voice crackled over the intercom, chopped up but still understandable.

“Zeshaun. . . hear me. . . try to make a light jump. . .get back to you, . . . then rendezvous with Joamer, it’s your last hope.”

Perfect "Here we go men, lets jump, sending coordinates, 3..2..1.."

Zeshaun and the reamins of the P-38's and hornets quickly left, the stars bending for a moment in front of them and then disappearing from the  fight. Zeshaun didn't set a coordinate too far from the fight, he wanted to return and hopefully be back in time to save Anival and Joamer, although by the sound of the message Joamer somehow managed to escape.

"Keep your engines hot, we're going back as soon as we can." Zeshaun reminded his squadron mates.

"Sir, this is one hell of a mission." One of his fighters commented.

"Just keep a cool head," Zeshaun advised although he was finding it hard to keep a cool head himself.

They waited in space, Zeshaun as waiting for the arrival of Joamer's ship but it didn't seem to come, making him very uncomfortable Hope he hasn't been blown up he thought as he nervously shifted his ship around in circles looking for any signs of an incoming ship.

"We should call for help." The P-38's remaining wing leader said, breaking an uneasy silence.

"Let's just head back to see what's happened, everyone prepare your torpedos and missiles, this could get rough ." Zeshaun ordered flicking a few buttons and switches as he started his hyperdrive. "Jumping in 3 2 1"

The two squadrons jumped for a second time, dropping in right at the edge of the fight, but Zeshaun could now see that it was much quieter Don't like the looks of this he thought as he slowly lead his group of fighters closer, getting a lock on to the enemy ship.

A sudden repeating message crackled over the intercomm “Order all fighters to postpone their attack, and all the others on board, tell them to go back to their regular stations, there has been a huge mis-understanding.”

Zeshaun suddenly relaxed, he hadn't realized he had been so tense this whole time he also heard sighs of relief come from all his fighters as they unarmed their torpedo's and slowly flew toward Anivlal's ship to dock. They better have a good explanation for this Zeshaun thought as he just realized that he had unnecessarily lost his fighters.

Anival snarled, he had taken a loss, it would take hundreds of thousands of credits to buy back the fighters they had lost, and not to mention the damages to the custom cruiser.

“Sir, Zeshaun ahs returned, he is in the hangar as we speak.”

“Alright, send the order to get my personal fighter ready, and tell Zeshaun to get ready for another flight.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bacredi, can you here me?”

A bit of rough static came through the comm.

“Yes, Bacredi here.”

“Mind meeting us at the Hunter Gratzner?” Anival asked sarcastically.

“Will be there.” he answered.

Anival walked to his fighter, a Nimbus V-wing.

Upon arriving Anival met with Zeshaun, he was leaning against a slightly scorched Besu'liik fighter.

“Zeshaun, are you ready?”

“Yes.” was his simple reply.

“Lets get going then.”

Anival climbed into the cockpit, he started the take-off sequence, and raised his fighter. Flying stright out of the hangar Anival opend a channel to Joamer.

“Joamer, permission to come aboard?” Anival smiled

“Permission granted, just don't blow anything up, or you're paying for it.”

Anival laughed, the tense moment had passed.

Not even five minutes after they had launched from the temporarily disabled cruiser, they arrived at Joamer ship, they eased into the hangar, and got out.

Anival stripped of a flight suit, and he stood in his crisp business suit. He took something from underneath his seat, he tossed a package to Zeshaun.

“A uniform of sorts, you can wear that while not in flight suit, or for meetings.”

Zeshaun turned red, and nodded.

“Thanks.”

“Well lets get going.”

Anival looked around to see if Bacredi's ship had gotten there yet, by what he saw it hadn't, so they made there way to the briefing room.


“Oh by the way, Zeshaun, you're replacement fighters are on their way.”

Blue Squadron—12 Y-Wings—led the arrow-formation of starfighters. Coral Squadron broke off of the formation and got to the Special Air 1—Bacredi’s shuttle. On the right of Blue Squadron was Cyan Squadron, to the left was Green Squadron, Teal and White Knight squadron were directly behind Blue Squadron. Red, Gray, Yellow, Gold, Royal, Opaque, Steel, Omega, Keithec, and Cobalt Squadrons were leading another arrow formation. Directly behind the first arrow led by Blue Wing was the Invincible and the Devonshire and the Iron Duke, along with fifteen support ships. The Cobalt-lead wing had the St. Albans, the Bedford, and the Somerset, fifteen support ships to them as well.

Lieutenant Furor—Blue 1—was in the cockpit of his Y-Wing, leading his sluggish fighter towards three unknown Bothan Assault Frigates, two CR-90s, and one Corellian Frigates. They had close to three squadrons and four support ships. They would be bested easily. “Blue Squadron form on me...Cyan Squadron—speed up to 96 MGLT and do a firing pass and come back around after you go to two thousand feet from the first target. Teal Squadron get on our backs—Blue Squadron open bomb bays.” Lieutenant Furor told his entire squadron as he flipped a switch, opening his bomb bay. He had twenty proton bombs ready to fire at the first Bothan Assault Frigate.

“Copy, Blue 1, Cyan Squadron on me.” The Raven Squadrons moved lightning fast, they went to the centerline of the Bothan Assault Frigate, firing blasts at the frigate and popping back up over the frigate, without resistance. The frigate was obviously readying itself for the oncoming bomber attack.

“This is Special Air 1, we are safely landed inside the Invincible, you’re free to go Coral.”

“Copy,” Coral 1 responded stoutly, gladly returning to the battle. “Gunboat Starry Citadel and Gunboat Cruising Speed we are escorting you to Blue Squadron for second wave, over.”

“Why are they not having any resistance…” Blue 1 asked himself as he flew over the Bothan Assault Frigate, flipping three switches and dropping 15 bombs over the course of 3 seconds (5 per second).

“Squadrons this is the Invincible, we are detecting boarding craft and lots of ‘em! Second Echelon, redirect to those boarding craft now!” All of the TIE-class starfighters turned around immediately, going towards the boarding craft.

Invincible

Zhar Bacredi ran towards the hangar exit, his S-5 in hand. Fifteen hangar personnel were readying themselves with their S-5s as well, and they began to briskly walk towards the door as well. In the hallway all Bacredi saw was seven or so guards with S-5s and repeating blasts lining the hallway (as it was connected to the airlock). “Do they think they’re going to make it?”

One of the lead guards walked up, “They’re eta for us is fifty seconds, so…yes. We’re trying to get some more guards up here but we probably won’t get them.”

"All departments report battle stations, sir." A young woman said as Joamer strode onto the bridge. His XO commander Travis Lyiutm nodded to the young woman. He looked back as Joamer walked up next to him, he turned back around and watched the fighters from the other fleet begin to engage a few of the frigates.

"Launch the Ravens." Joamer said a few seconds later. "Hold fire till we are closer to the ship directly in front of us. When we are almost on top of him turn ninety degrees counter clockwise, increase power to artificial gravity. Then give them a broadside from ontop of them."

Joamer was known for odd tactics such as these. By increasing power to the gravity generators they could nearly turn the ship upside down. Some ship captains lessened the armor on top of their ships to keep the weight down. By using this weakness they were able to stay out of the ships firing arc and inflict massive damage with little to no risk. Problem was, sometimes the enemy knew this trick. Broadside to broadside always ended badly.

"Ravens away." His XO said a few moments later.

"Give me secure comms to our ships." Joamer turned to his comm officer, after a second he saw the man nod. "Transports, if your hyperdrives are functioning get out of here. Rendezvous at the beta point, we will meet up with you soon. Authorization code, black four red."

The comms officer shut down the link without waiting for confirmation from the other ships. Joamer watched as the three freighters jumped into hyperspace a few moments later.

Flipping a switch on a small board standing in the middle of the bridge Joamer waited for the green light and said "Olympian, Flachette this is the Hunter Gratzner take positions behind us. We will open the door for you, don't miss otherwise this is going to be a real bad day."

Flipping the comms switch off he watched as his Bothan Frigate made her starboard roll. A second later he felt the faint tremble throughout the ship as the starboard batteries opened fire.

"Ion control, target their bridge when we are within range." His XO said a second later, Joamer long ago learned to share command. His XO was more skilled in space combat then he was, and you had to trust your second in commands decisions. Otherwise why even have him in the position in the first place.

"Sensors report, internal explosions, sir." His sensor chief said suddenly.

"Hard to starboard, rotate to midships. Bring us in line with the next frigate." Joamer said a moment later.

"Too late!" His XO shouted suddenly. Joamer looked up to the see the second frigate move to broadside them, his ship was not even close to being in position. Hitting a button for ship wide he said "All hands, brace for impact."

He watched as the batteries opened fire. He waited for the impact, and the alarm klaxons to sound.

Ten years ago, Rain would never have guessed that she would end up doing exactly what she'd promised herself she would not be doing. Of course, had Tracen not died she wouldn't be doing this. It was only by chance as she was looking through contracts that she received the call from an old colleague.

====Flashback====

"Good to see you again, Sergeant." Of course it had to be the man she had known only as General Rizzit.

Rain tilted her head and smiled at the man. He hadn't changed so far as she could see. A few more wrinkles and a new scar or two but other than that he remained the same old Rizzit. "It's just Rain now, General. And somehow I get the feeling that this isn't a social call."

The man on the screen laughed a hearty laugh. "Same old Brightstar. Right down to business then." He sobered a bit and squared his shoulders. "The long and short of it. As the Army's XO, I made a business deal, and I would like you to keep an eye or two on it. Make sure....no harm comes to it, if you know what I mean."

Rain nodded her understanding. "Any details that you can give me that would not compromise your position or their's?" She asked, the tone of her voice changing as his did. However, Rain did not straighten. Instead she leaned against her desk and folded her arms.

The XO nodded and began a narrative that Rain was sure was being run through encrypted channels. He was taking risks, and Rain was now determined to help him.

====End Flashback====

Rain was ready to bring her ship into real space when alarms started going off and she reverted sooner than she thought.

"D'Jonoc, that is a battle." Her copilot stated almost matter of factly. "What the hell did you get us into?" Sira asked with wide green eyes.

Rain reacted on instinct. She didn't come to be known as one of the best pilots of the Tracen Alliance by just sitting in a seat issuing orders. She juked to port just as shrapnel from an exploding fighter blasted in her direction. "Well I had hoped he had gotten out of this sort of mess." She said through gritted teeth. "Comms, All channels broadcast," Bright called to her comm's officer. The woman dialed all channels and nodded. "Olympian or Hunter Gratzner, This is Captain Rain D'Jonoc of the Shatterpoint. I don't want to fire on the wrong ships here. Give me a sign."

Waiting for a reply Rain, became increasingly glad that she had chosen to fly the Shatterpoint on this particular contract. "Rizzit, I swear if I get killed I am going to haunt you to your very last breath." She muttered dodging fire from what seemed like all sides. It wasn't that she was worried about the shields, it was more the conservative in her that said 'waste not.' She juked again to port and found she had picked up a few tailers.

"Captain do we fire?" Her Aft gunner asked.

"Do not fire. Repeat do not fire till we have Friend-Foe designation." Rain told her gunners.

"Rain, dive!" Sira called as another three fighters came in at her from the front.

"Shikalis di kavie." Rain cursed using a language she had picked up in the outer rim five years back, and dived spinning in a corkscrew pattern. She hoped she got an answer soon. Even she couldn't stop a frightened gunner from shooting back.