“Bloody hell,” one of Jegora’s bridge officers shouted. “That wasn’t in the intelligence!”

“Obviously,” Jegora muttered wryly under his breath, just loud enough to draw a nervous laugh from those closest to him.

“Details, anyone?” Jegora inquired. If he was going to alter the plan now, he had to know what he was dealing with.

There was a slight pause as everyone on the bridge refocused and went to work. “The two biggest threats appear to be a Dreadnought of some sort and an older-style carrier ship. The carrier is launching fighters as we speak,” Jegora’s sensors and comm. officer responded curtly. Jegora only nodded in response, but he felt like cursing underneath his breath. If that carrier was carrying a full complement of fighters and bombers they could very well be swarmed and overwhelmed, not to mention the fact that the Dreadnaught could tear the Charlotte and every other ship Jegora had brought with him apart with relatively little effort.

Damnit, Jegora swore to himself, I’m getting bloody tired of bad intelligence. If we get out of this alive, Kami and I are going to have a little chat about anonymous tips.

“How many enemy snubfighters have launched?” Jegora asked no one in particular.

Again, there was another slight pause while someone on the bridge dug up the appropriate sensor scans and went to work. “Approximately two squadrons, give or take. Maybe twenty ships total,” one of the junior officers announced only a few seconds later.

Running a hand through his hair, Jegora’s stunningly efficient mind went to work, analyzing, calculating odds, planning. The enemy commander was obviously conservative in nature, not wanting to risk his full complement of fighters and bombers against an unknown enemy. He was keeping the majority of his forces in reserve to defend his own ship and the convoy. It was a smart move, but it also gave the Osk ships a chance to fight back without getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers in the first few minutes of the battle.

In short, the enemy commander had given Jegora an opening.

“Right,” Jegora said aloud. “Set up a fighter screen with our snubfighters and the smaller transports. For Sith’s sake, keep those bombers away from the gunships. We need to—”

Jegora was cut off by a shout somewhere else on the bridge. “Incoming!” some young officer shouted, seconds before a rather large charge flashed past the Charlotte, just brushing her shields and setting the ship rocking. Jegora set his feet and road the turbulence out, but almost everyone else on the bridge had to grab on to something in order to keep from falling.

“What was that?” Jegora demanded after the ship had stopped quivering.

“Some kind of heavy turbolaser,” a new voice responded from close behind him, a voice Jegora recognized. He turned, and came face to face with exactly who he had expected to see.

“’Bout time you got up here, Em. What took you so long?”

Jegora’s executive officer snorted and absently brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I got…held up,” the beautiful young women replied, her tone leaving no doubts about what exactly had ‘held her up’. All of a sudden Jegora felt an unfamiliar tightening deep in his chest, and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was jealously.

Get a grip man, that road won’t end well. Keep it professional. PROFESSIONAL, damnit!

Mentally chastising himself for his lapse in concentration, Jegora cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, right then. Don’t let it happen again,” he scolded, only to see Em roll her eyes at him. “And I realize it was a turbolaser blast, thanks. If we get hit by one of those full-on, will the ship hold?”

Em tapped a button on her datapad, glanced at it for a moment, and then shook her held. “The shields will absorb one hit, the armor might diffuse another. After that, we’ll be torn apart.”

Jegora swore under his breath again before arriving at a rather simple solution. “Alright, here’s the plan. Fighter screen, as I said before. I want the rest of the fleet in motion in five minutes ago. Make a beeline for that carrier. We’ll worry about the dreadnought later.”

He turned to Em as his orders went out to the various ships in the Osk fleet. “Get me weapons control,” he whispered, and Em nodded before tapping the screen of her datapad yet again.

“Patched through,” she said after a quick second. Jegora nodded his thanks, once again marveling at his XOs efficiency. And her beauty.

Careful, that little voice inside his head warned again, and Jegora cringed inwardly. He had to get his mind right, or shit was going to hit the proverbial fan. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the task at hand and began to issue orders yet again, this time directly to his weapons control officers located in the bowels of the ship.

“Gents, it’s time to test out those new jamming devices. Set them on low, I don’t want too much power drain. Also, I want a salvo of torpedoes on my mark. Target the carrier.”

There was a chorus of affirmatives over the comm system, but Jegora wasn’t listening. This wasn’t the first time he had been in combat with the crew of the Charlotte and he knew what to expect from his crew, just like his crew knew what to expect from their captain.

Em was still standing next to him, entirely too close for comfort. “Why the jamming devices,” she inquired.

Jegora grinned, for once the smile reaching his cold eyes and warming them slightly. “You mean you don’t know?” he teased his XO. He was being unprofessional, but months with a pirate organization had finally managed to drum some of the discipline out of him and he didn’t quite care anymore. The prospect of battle always made him feel giddy, and as sick and twisted as it sounded, Jegora was happiest in life or death situations. Like this one.

Em scowled, but Jegora saw her thinking through the possibilities. The Charlotte’s XO was as smart as she was stunningly beautiful, but sometimes she got too wrapped up in the specifics and forgot to see the big picture.

“That cannon,” she mumbled after a moment. “You think it’s slow to fire and aim. If we keep moving, and if we run the jammers on low, it might not be able to track us. Right?”

Jegora nodded, flashing another smile at his XO. He was smiling more and more recently, and most of the time his smiles had to do with Em. Not that he had noticed, of course. In fact, he was quite oblivious to the changes in his personality over the last few weeks. His crew, however, had noticed, but if they thought anything particular about the obvious chemistry between their two bosses they kept it to themselves. They knew better than to get involved in the goings on of the Powers-That-Be, and truth be told they liked the changes in their captain. He wasn’t such a hard ass all of the time anymore.

“Right, now I think it’s time we return the favor. Contact the Marauder corvettes, on my mark I want them to let loose with those heavy turbolasers they carry. One salvo only, mind, and this is no warning shot. Try and target the bridge or something; I want them to bleed.”

As his orders were relayed, Jegora felt a feral grin, quite different from the one he had given Em only minutes before, stretch across his face. He loved this. It wasn’t quite the same as personal, hand to hand combat, wasn’t quite as visceral, but it still got the blood flowing.

“Right, turbolaser and torpedo salvo on my mark,” Jegora said after all the orders had been relayed to the appropriate commands. He wanted this first strike to be perfectly coordinated. Right now, the only thing he had going for him was the fear factor that all pirates possessed, and he had to play that to the maximum. Hopefully, this carefully timed and executed salvo would be destructive enough to keep the enemy ships in place for a few minutes, long enough for Jegora to close with the carrier. If he could get in close, the Charlotte’s heavy turbolaser and quadlaser cannons would wreak havoc on the carrier. If he could get in close.

Everything went silent on the bridge, and Jegora knew it was time to start this game in earnest. “Mark,” he said, his voice suddenly as cold as ice and as hard as iron. Instantly upon his command the Marauders opened fire with their heavy turbolasers, and the Charlotte’s proton torpedo batteries let loose their deadly payload. Jegora watched as the ordnance streaked towards the enemy carrier, not even realizing that he was holding his breath along with everyone else on the bridge. The next few minutes could very well determine the entire course of the upcoming battle, and if Jegora was being honest with himself he had no idea how it was all going to turn out.

The game was underway. Jegora just hoped he wasn’t outmatched.

“Tactical analysis?” Hague shouted out as his eyes scanned the sensor information that had been analysed and disseminated to his console. A frigate, two marauders, a handful of light freighters and a squadron of fighters. If he had a full crew of pilots he had enough ships in the hangar to sweep the pirate crew arrayed before them away. As it was this would be a significant test.

“Strategic analysis suggests they will attempt to disable us and then move onto the dreadnought,”

Hague was already shaking his head as he started replying. “No no, the computer isn't working this from a financial angle. If they had adequate finances they'd have seen us and gone. The fact that they're still here suggests they're on the desperate side here. Have the computer factor in the cost of their repairs versus the gain from the convoy as the most important prior before running the calculations again – and while you're at it have someone look at the fleet manifest and see what they're after!”

The tactical officer started relaying his orders to a junior officer elsewhere who would start the computers churning again. Todd stayed quiet, a look of panic beginning to show.

“Operations, fleet manifest?”

“Sorry sir!” Todd replied and started sending orders down the chain of command.

“Grow some balls Todd and fast, until you are relieved of operations we need you to fucking think or we're all dead!”

“Sir,” Hague wasn't sure if frank berating would make his junior officer focus, but at least he seemed to be working with more vigour. Inside he hoped that the senior ops officer would get to the bridge before things turned nasty, he didn't want another moment of weakness and an ill decision to end up causing 

“They'll try and hit us hard whilst the freighters try and slip through to steal some cargo?” Leftcourt forming his advice as a question.

“That's the only way I can see them working it and expect to make any gains.”

“Shall we ask the Instigator to move forwards?”

“Odan, I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire and I bet the feeling is mutual!”

“Sir, analysis agrees with you on their stratagem,”

“Good job we have all these computers and software to tell us we're correct! Does that frigate pose a huge threat to us?”

“On it's own, not really. Looks to be heavily armed for it's size, but it's just too small to take us – but with those two marauders there's some serious risk. Excluding fighters we'd need to get between them to bring starboard and port batteries to bear.” Tactical informed the bridge.

“Those ships have a small forward profile and plenty of fire-power to the prow, I can't see us outmanoeuvring them and getting into a position to out gun them,” Leftcourt advised.

“Threat rating on their fighters?” Hague asked, accepting the information his thought pattern moved on to other ideas.

“Low, there aren't enough of them to get through our batteries,” Tactical replied.

“Incoming Ordnance!”

“Defense grids full spread! Brace!” Turbo laser fire lanced across the shields of the Despoiler, flashes of light briefly illuminated the hull. The Despoiler's starboard batteries opening fire, smaller flashes of fire spread out from her light lasers as the gunners attempted to bring down the incoming missiles. Bright detonations in the space between the fleets signalled each destroyed torpedo but it was not enough. The bridge shook violently as the arsenal smashed into the Despoiler's side, warning klaxons flared and then the lights went out.

“Report!”

“The starboard shields lost power, a missile got through, but I rerouted power from the port shields and auxiliary systems,” Todd relayed. Hague turned to him with some surprise.

“Good work lad! These old power conduits with be the death of us all - damage?”

“The hull is holding, but some heavy damage around the hit at the base of the observation tower. Repair crews are on it, we're still battle ready.”

“Send them a message. 'One last opportunity to retreat or we launch all fighters' Hold position, we need to cover the convoy long enough for them to get clear.” The hud flickered back into action on the viewports, highlighting the position and distance of enemy vessels as well as providing a magnified view of the main ships and tactical information. The three main ships were now accelerating towards them behind a fighter screen, their small profiles were just visible in the magnified views and tactical information relayed that weapons lock was not confirmed.

“Message returned: 'Launch them then'”

“That's it?”

“That's it,”

“Ok then, all hands prepare for full combat, relay my orders,” Hague sat straight in his chair and starred out at the approaching ships. He was a relatively limited tactician in some ways – never having served in any major conflicts, but he was more than capable of analysing the current situation. It was going to be a close run thing, the damage the Despoiler received today could well be the final nail in the coffin that would see him lose control of her. After fifty four years of life he wasn't about to change his habits, no quarter would be given. “Hold all fire until the fighter screen approaches, I want a full defence grid spread from the weapons batteries targeting their fighters. Heavy prow cannons only, trained on that frigate, firing at five kilometres. When they close have the fighters descend on one of those marauders, the skiprays are our ace in the hole.”

“It's the best we've got I think,” Leftcourt spoke quietly to him. “We can't be too bold here, we can hold off those fighters, but we're gambling on our squads holding up one of those marauders.” he warned, before leaning over to whisper his concerns privately. “If those cruisers close on us we might not lose, but we might not be able to afford the repairs. We may have to decide between protecting the convoy and our assets Jo,”

“I know,” Hague turned to his XO and his stern gaze softened for a moment. “I won't leave us in the shit over my pride,”

“Eight kilometres sir,” Some heavier fire started being exchanged between the two groups. Turbo laser blasts arced across the gap from the three pirate vessels and in return the Despoiler's array of laser cannons unleashed a hail of fire towards their fighter screen.

“Sir, we've got an anomaly on the fleet manifest. I'm not seeing anything in particular to warrant this level of desperation from the pirate fleet, but” Todd paused. “based on engine output and other readings I'm seeing two of those ships appear much, much heavier than their manifest suggests,” Hague turned to look at the young officer with some astonishment, just possibly he had a brain that matched his looks.

“Get me,” Hague was grunted through gritted teeth. “The Captain of the Instigator” In a moment his face appeared on the view screen.

“Yes Captain?”

“Can you explain why there is information missing from the manifest, the sixth and seventh transports?” Hague realised they were also the ships stationed closest to the Instigator

“I don't know what you're talking about, I suggest you get on with what you're paid to do,” The first glimmer of an expression that passed across the Captains face for an instant revealed everything to Hague. Todd had come across something and that meant he was being lied to and more importantly – underpaid.

“Why don't you bring up the Instigator for support Captain, we're going to be under heavy fire here?”

“You said we should hold back in case they get through and I agree. We will be holding position.”

“Next to the sixth and seventh transports?”

“As it happens yes, at the rear of the column, now . . .”

“Ooooh, this is good!” A voice interrupted the video conversation. “You don't know about the warheads!” Hague immediately reached forwards and switched off the cameras and microphones and turned to Todd.

“Get analysis working on this now, I want to know how they broke into a secure channel. Make sure systems have not been compromised!” Hague then switched his audio receiver back on manually.

“How did you break into this channel? Who is this?” The Captain of the Instigator shouted. Having left his video link active Hague – and he assumed the pirates too - could see his incredulous expression and his embarrassed looking bridge crew scurrying between stations. 

“I assume this is one of our pirate friends, good trick, you're interested in talking now?” Hague replied, attempting to come across far more confidently that his counterpart on the Instigator

“Not really no, I was listening in and couldn't help myself. I just couldn't believe they hadn't told you there was a shipment of illegal weapons in your convoy, the whole thing is a cover . . .”

“Outright lies! Someone work out how to get them off the line!”

“. . . for Mr Treager to move some illegal goods at a huge premium!”

“Aha! Got you! Hague move to the frequency being sent now. We've managed to block them for now, but it would be best to shift encryption keys.” Hague turned to his comm officer and drew his hand across his neck to signal an end to the link.

“Sir the Instigator is trying to open another link.” His comm officer replied immediately.

“Shut them out, but maintain our readiness to open communications with the pirate fleet.”

The pirate fleet reached five kilometres and the super dorsal cannons opened fire tentatively. There were bursts of fire as pirate ships succumbed to the Despoiler's barrage of anti-fighter lasers. Hague watched closely as the pirate fighter screen dispersed as he had expected, their freighters rushed out from behind the frigate and made a beeline for the convoy. His own fighters went into action, coming in at a vector that kept them above the Despoiler's firing solution they accelerated towards the nearest marauder. Things weren't really looking good for anyone except for the convoy. They could disperse the pirate fighters and go toe-to-toe with their big guns, and if he had the pilots we could launch waves of bombers to finish them off – but he didn't. Instead his Y-wings sat motionless and unless either side had something up their sleeves both sides were about the blow chunks out of each other whilst the convoy stayed relatively safe. A thought at the back of his mind stayed relatively ignored, something about the price illegal weapons would fetch on the black market.