It was night time on board the Corellian Corvette Defiance, with only the Tertiary crew shift awake and active.  They were the least competent of the ship’s personnel, but were still proud and professional members of the Vast Empire Navy.  Alas, even they tended to forget that sometimes, and often bemoaned their second class status on the ship.

Stood on the bridge, overseeing the activities of the four crewmen at the duty stations, Petty Officer 1st Class Farish Quinn was bored.  The ship’s Second Officer was slouching against one of the consoles, conflicted about the lack of chair for the bridge commander.  On one hand a seat would have been nice, but he feared that he might have fallen asleep were he sat down.

He yawned emphatically, and was just considering calling the mess hall for a cup of stim-caf (assuming their incompetent cooking droid could get even that right), when the door to the bridge opened.  The moment that he laid eyes on the man entering, Quinn’s sleepiness disappeared.

Replaced instead by dread.

-----

“Captain!” Said Quinn, snapping to attention as Pherik ‘Serpent’ Zail stepped onto the command deck, a note of panicked surprise in his tones.  The CO of the Defiance suppressed a smile to see his subordinate react so.  Indeed, as his frosty-blue eyes swept the bridge, he noticed everyone suddenly sit straighter in their chairs, stunned by his presence.

“At ease, Farish,” Said the Captain, trying to calm his Second Officer.  “I was just having trouble sleeping and thought I’d take a walk.  Really, I am not here to check on you or anything.”

“As you say, sir,” Said the Petty Officer, sounding suspicious.  Serpent saw the other man run his eyes over Zail’s clothing, noting that he was in uniform.  This only reinforced the idea that the Captain was here as part of some sort of surprise inspection, but such was not the intent.  Serpent had only dressed that way because he had no civilian clothes on board.

Realising how he was making everyone uncomfortable, Zail decided to depart.  “Well, I shall leave you good people to it.  I’m going to get something to eat and take a lap of the engine room...” He said, turning back towards the door.

He had barely taken a step when the woman at the Coms Station spoke up.  “Sir!” She said, though neither Serpent nor Quinn knew which of them she was addressing, “Incoming transmission!  Distress call!”

“Source?” Barked Serpent, taking charge instantly and stepping past Quinn.

“Private freighter, a BFF-1 bulk class, under attack by pirates just a minute’s jump away,” The woman replied quickly, checking the details as they spilled across her terminal.  “Hostiles are a half-dozen Uglies of varying abilities.”

“Plot an intercept course and jump to the location immediately,” Said Quinn, happy to yield command and serve simply as right hand to the Defiance’s real Captain.

“Yes, sir,” Said the young man at the helm, calculating a short jump.  As he ran the maths of astrophysics, alerts went on across the warship, waking the crew and readying them for battle.  Zail knew that the Primary shift would not be ready in time, and he wondered at how well his C-list bridge crew would handle the battle to come.

The moment the helmsman finished the calculations, they entered hyperspace with a blur of starlight....

...And then, just a minute later, emerged into a total fiasco!

The young helmsman had bungled, and brought them out of hyperspace right on top of the beleaguered freighter, laser and ion cannon fire crisscrossing space all around them.  They were far too close, and the Defiance was not yet ready for battle!

“Shields up!” Barked Serpent quickly, as the pirates swiftly noted their arrival and turned fire upon the CR-90 suddenly in their midst.  The Ugly starfighters, hybrids of rebel and Imperial tech, were a dangerous mix of vessels.  Four of the six were made for speed and hit-and-run, being mixes of TIE Interceptors, A-Wings and X-Wings in varying ratios.  However, two of them were dangerously heavy hitters, using parts from TIE Bombers and Y-Wings.  Zail could only guess at their armament.

Both of the heavy hitters reacted quickly and began attacking the Defiance.  As the corvette’s gunners were still rushing to their stations, the two Uglies launched a pair of missiles each, right at the bridge.

“Incoming!” Shouted Farish Quinn unnecessarily.  There was no way to shoot them down, and shields were just coming online.  Serpent hugged a nearby bulkhead, and prepared for the worst.

When the quartet of torpedoes hit, the whole of the CR-90 seemed to rock under Zail’s feet.  He staggered, narrowly avoiding smashing his head on the wall, as he tumbled to the deck.  Farish Quinn fared little better, sprawling upon the floor as systems short-circuited around them.  An overhead light blew even as a bridge terminal reacted badly to a power surge, erupting the in the face of one of the nearby crew.

“Damage report!” Snarled Serpent as he got quickly back to his feet.  Whoever that young helmsman was, he would suffer for this colossal mistake later!

“It’s bad sir!” Came the voice of the woman at the Com Station.  “Damage across several decks of the fore section.  Its just minor hull breaches but its caused chaos through the systems relays.  However, shields are still fully operational and are now powered up to eighty-four point seven percent.”

“Curses!” Spat Zail, his mood darkening.  “Return fire!  Bring us around to...” He stopped himself, and noticed that the helmsman was not moving.  Instead the young man was laid back in his chair, and it was only then that Serpent noticed the exploded monitor next to him.

“He’s out cold sir,” Said Farish Quinn, rushing to his side.  “The burns on his face look pretty bad.”

Pherik’s earlier wrathfulness regarding the kid was swiftly forgotten as concern for the life of one of his crew took over.  “Get Doctor Praan up here now!” He ordered.  “And get Petty Officer Samasl up here to replace him at the helm!”

The ship rocked again, as fire from the Uglies reminded them of the urgency of their situation.  “Return fire!” Ordered Quinn, “Target those two bombers!”

As the man at the weapons post relayed the order to the ship’s gunners, Serpent activated the tactical hologram.  The freighter was close by, but was now drifting.  Several of the Uglies had ion cannons, and had no doubt disabled the transport.  So how are they planning to take it?  He wondered, and then just moments later the answer was revealed.

“Sir!” Said the Com and Sensor officer.  “Another pirate ship has just emerged from hyperspace!  It’s a heavily modified Republic light cruiser.”

Serpent studied the ship in the hologram.  It had multiple turbolaser emplacements, but little else in the way of armament, so the ship was probably a troop carrier.  If it docked with the disabled freighter, they would overwhelm the small crew complement and steal whatever was inside.

It was his duty to prevent that.

“As soon as Samasl gets here,” He said, “I want us to move into position to block off that cruiser...” And so saying, the Captain heard the approach of hurried footsteps in the corridor outside the bridge.  Anticipating the arrival of his highly competent Primary shift helmsman, he turned to the door.

The footsteps ceased, and no-one entered.

After a moment’s pause, Zail heard Samasl’s distinctive tough talking Bakuran voice.  “Er... sir, can you open the door?” She asked.

Pherik cocked a surprised eyebrow.  “Should be open,” He said, crossing across the small bridge in just a few strides.  Checking the door control panel, he frowned.  “Try it again,” He said loudly for her to hear on the other side.

“I’m afraid it’s not responding, sir!” Came her reply, and this time he heard a distinct whining sound as she thumped the door release.  There was definitely a glitch in the system, no doubt a result of the pounding they received upon arrival.

“We’ve got to get this door open!” Bellowed Serpent, turning back to the rest of the bridge crew.  They needed their helmsman, and more than that, they needed to get their injured crewman to the med bay.

“Let me try!” Said Quinn, rushing to the door as the ship shook under yet more hostile fire.  With the disabling of the freighter, all of the Uglies were free to attack the Vast Empire warship that had appeared to ruin their day.  This was no time for the Defiance to be a sitting duck without someone at the helm!

“I can fix this,” Declared the Second Officer, tinkering with the wires of the door control, “But it will take a few minutes.”

Zail cursed.  “You see to that then, I’ll command...” He said, and then, making a decision, added, “And I’ll take the helm.”

He saw Farish throw him a worried glance, but the Petty Officer had more sense than to question his Captain.  Serpent moved over and lifted the unconscious former occupant of the helm post out of his chair, and then took his place.  Seated, Zail took in the myriad controls before him and felt a pang of fear as he did so.

Like any good CO, Pherik had made an effort to learn every aspect of his ship, and all of the bridge controls were quite familiar to him.  However, it had been a long time since he had actually sat at the helm of a ship, and not since his Academy days had he piloted something as large as a Corvette.  Worse, he had never taken the helm in a combat situation before, and though this was a minor skirmish compared to some of the battles he had been in, this was hardly the place to be learning on the job.

Zail began to activate the manoeuvring thrusters, setting the ship on a new course as he called out orders.  “Gunnery crews, continue to target those two bombers !  Put more power to the shields!  And send a message to that freighter telling them to hold on, we are coming to their assistance.”

The other bridge officers worked to comply, while in the background could be heard the curses of Farish Quinn as he wrestled with the door controls.

As the Defiance rocked under starfighter fire, Serpent completed the turn.  Forward port thrusters fired simultaneously with the rear starboard thrusters, swinging the massive CR-90 to the right.  Zail glanced about the controls, lost for a moment, then noticed the main engines.  Powering them up slowly but surely to 25% power, the warship then began to cruise forward through the fighters that buzzed about it like flies.

Watching the course to the freighter, he cursed under his breath as he realised that the ship was not travelling straight towards it, but was in fact dipping slightly as if to pass under.  He made a slight adjustment, a few quick bursts of thrusters pushing the Defiance back onto the correct heading.

“One bomber-Ugly down!” Called the Weapons Officer suddenly, and Serpent felt both joy and a little worry at the announcement.  Glancing to one side, Zail saw the hostile’s hologram wink out as it died, blown apart by turbolaster fire while passing above the ship.  He was worried, though, because he had failed to notice.  Pherik now knew why a Captain monitored but did not operate the ship, piloting was requiring too much of his attention.

“Drawing heavy fire on the starboard side!” Called the Sensor Officer, who was also watching the shields.  “All of the remaining Uglies are hammering the shields there and they are now down to forty-nine percent!”

That Serpent was aware of, for the ship was now rocking constantly under the barrage.  “Rotating the ship!” He called in response.  “Gunners on the port side stand by!”

It was not an easy trick to pull off with a capital ship, but Zail knew it was the right one in this situation.  Firing off a half-dozen thrusters, three ventral and three dorsal, he tried to put the corvette into a spin, flipping it upside down as it continued forwards towards the beleaguered freighter.  He got the timing just right, and within a moment the Defiance began to corkscrew forward, gently rolling clockwise.

“Gunners fire!” Called the Weapons Officer as the weapons on the port side (where the shields were far stronger) were brought to bear.

Pherik risked a glance to his side, taking his eyes off the helm and taking in the tactical hologram.  The freighter was still drifting away from them and the pirate troop carrier was closer to it than the Vast Imperials were.  On the plus side, the Uglies were now scattering, trying to get back around to the side of the corvette they had been focusing on before.

And the pirate boarding ship was still heading with single-minded determination towards its goal.

He was just musing what to do about that, when he heard another call from across the bridge.

“We are losing weapons’ tracking!” Exclaimed the Gunnery Chief.

Zail’s eyes went wide with horror and shock.  The ship was still rolling!  Refocusing on the helm, he cancelled the thrusters currently firing and activated their opposites to balance out the inertia and end the corkscrew.  Alas, he was too late, and the Defiance finished its manoeuvre not flipped one hundred and eighty degrees, but rotated about by almost two hundred and fifty degrees.

Enough to hamper his own gunners, and put their weakened side within striking distance of the enemy once more.

The Uglies rushed towards their goal, shooting past and unleashing another deadly volley of laser fire.  The remaining bomber also launched torpedoes as it flew past, and a split second later he heard the announcement that starboard shields were now down to thirty-three percent.

Cursing himself for a fool, Captain Zail fired up the thrusters again, this time to rotate the ship further, but the enemy were learning quickly and already moving around to where the vulnerable area would be.  Serpent did not care, though.  Trying to out-manoeuvre the smaller and swifter fighters in a capital ship was not going to happen now, but he just wanted to bring his gunners to bear again.

“Yes!” Called out the Weapons Officer after a fierce barrage issued forth from the Defiance’s gunners.  “The second bomber is gone!”

“Excellent work!” Congratulated the Captain.  Four Uglies were still a threat, but with the bombers gone their ability to seriously damage a capital ship was greatly diminished.

Hoping his gunners could deal with them, Zail ceased the rolling and pushed the engines up to fifty percent of full speed, closing the distance to the drifting freighter.  However, as the other ship grew large in the front viewport, he began to fear that it was too late.

“The pirate cruiser is docking with the freighter,” Said the Sensor Chief needlessly, “We are too late!”

“No we aren’t,” Said Serpent firmly.  “The crew will be fighting back.  All we need do is help them, and we have more than enough Stormtroopers on board to do that.  We need only get them on board.”

The Chief nodded in understanding, and began scanning the freighter.  “There are two main docking hatches on either side of the BFF-1.  The pirate cruiser is attached to one, but there is plenty of room for us at the opposite entrance, and the freighter itself will give us cover from the boarding ship’s weapons.”

“But not from their Ugly’s weapons,” Noted the Gunnery Chief.  “We dock with that thing we will be sitting ducks, Captain.”

“I know,” Said Serpent, “But we have no choice.  When docked we can throw all engine power into shields and weapons, and then hope our gunners can take out those last four fighters.”

And, added Zail silently, this is all assuming that I can successfully dock this thing in the middle of a fight!

As the Defiance continued to get peppered with Ugly fly-bys, he angled in towards the freighter.  Passing under it, the nearby pirate cruiser opened fire, but only a few turbolaser shots managed to hit the Vast Empire CR-90 before it passed beyond the lip of the freighter.

“Here I go...” Muttered Pherik to himself as he began the docking procedure.

He cut main engines and moved closer to the H-shaped vessel.  It was of a similar length to the Defiance, and while both craft were big, the docking hatches were not.  Serpent switched to cameras mounted along the edge of the ship, and got a perspective on just how closely aligned the two hatches were.

Zail watched as hisses of compressed gas fired into space, small bursts of thrusters making tiny changes as he gently pushed the corvette into alignment with the freighter.  He moved the ship closer... closer... tweaked the angle as he realised they were slightly off... and then moved ever closer.

Another shudder ran through the Defiance as the four remaining Uglies strafed the superstructure, ruining a solid minute of precise adjustments as the ship was shoved off course.  Focusing, Pherik hurried to compensate, knowing that every moment he wasted could be the death of some of the freighter’s crew at the hands of the pirates.

There!  The two docking hatches were perfectly aligned, and he pressed forward to join them.  Thrusters fired, shoving the two vessels together which such force that it sent a resounding clang ringing through the Defiance’s hull.

“Docking complete!” He announced.  “All Stormtroopers begin boarding!  Kill any pirates on sight and secure that freighter!”

He heard the enthusiastic replies of the crew through the com system, and ached to be with them.  Not that Zail was good with a blaster, but his time in VENI had taught him to command from the front in battles both in space and in person.

The docking port cameras gave him a view as he sat by, helpless, and watched the Defiance Stormtrooper complement charge through the docking tube into the freighter.  A handful of pirates stood in their way, but were swept aside by a tide of precision blaster rifle fire.

In a matter of moments, the white-armoured soldiers were lost from his vision as they completed their boarding and passed beyond the tube and its cameras.

“How is the door coming?” Asked Serpent, looking over to where Quinn was hard at work.

The Second Officer seemed to have pulled several meters of wiring from the door controls and was busily connecting and cross-connecting them all.  “Turning out to be a bit more difficult that I envisioned, sir,” He confessed.

“Keep on it,” Zail said, and then turned back to the tactical hologram.  As he watched, his gunners expertly obliterated another Ugly, leaving just three.  The Captain allowed a smile to cross his face, as he realised just how little those three were able to do.  With engines cut and extra power going into the shields, the gradual atrophy of their deflectors had now ended.  Victory was now assured.

“Best give up,” Pherik urged the hologram hostiles.  “You won’t beat us, so might as well go running home to your...”

He paused in mid-sentence.  They would go home to what?  That cruiser of theirs was not designed to carry fighters, and he had no idea if those Uglies had hyperdrives.  If they did not...

“Sensors!  Long range scan of the system!” He ordered immediately.

“Yes, sir,” Replied the somewhat puzzled woman.  “Checking now...” She said, and then, with alarm in her voice, exclaimed, “Sir!  Sensors show another ship at the edge of the system!  A starfighter carrier!  It has no identifiable transponder, so in all likelihood...”

“It is the pirate’s main ship,” Said Serpent as he saw the image of the new threat appear on the tactical hologram.  Unlike the troop transport docked at the other side of the freighter, this vessel was twice the size of the Defiance and heavily armed, and he suspected that it was only a matter of time before the pirates brought it into the skirmish.

“Contact Chief Engineer Fendar!” He ordered.  “Have her join the boarding party onto the freighter!  She is ordered to get that ship up and running again as soon as possible.  The moment the pirates have been driven from it I want that freighter able to jump out of here.  And that will be our cue to leave too!”

As the Com Officer relayed the orders, Zail returned to the helm.  He quickly called up the details of the nearest Vast Empire outposts and, choosing one, began the calculations for the jump to hyperspace.

He blocked out the sounds of the Uglies continuing to attack, and thoughts of the lives of his warriors fighting on the freighter, and painstakingly ran the numbers of a faster-than-light course.  Working as ever from a linear path, he made adjustments and allowances for variations in subspace, anomalies created by stars, planets, and even a black hole.  He knew he had to hurry, but Pherik was loathe to rush and made sure to double check everything.

“Sir!” Said the Sensor Chief after a few minutes.  “That pirate carrier has powered engines and is coming our way.”

“Understood,” Said Zail, having fully expected that and remaining focused on his task.

No sooner were his calculations complete than the Com Officer spoke.  “The Stormtroopers have secured the freighter!  The crew have suffered only minimal casualties and are now readying the ship to get underway.”

“Tell Fendar to take control of their repair operations!” Serpent ordered.  “Get their hyperdrive operative and use this course when they are ready to jump!” And so saying he sent them a copy of his completed jump calculations.  He then fed the same values into the main Astrogation Computer, and readied the ship to jump when the freighter did.

Meanwhile the remaining pirates must have regrouped on board their boarding craft, which was now detaching from the freighter and coming about to attack the Defiance as it sat motionless.

“Clear the docking port!” Ordered Zail, knowing that he could recover Fendar and his troopers from the freighter once they were all safely away from this mess.  “Let’s go!” And so saying, he uncoupled the docking tube and fired the main engines.  As he pulled the corvette away from the freighter, he rolled the ship slightly, bringing the turbolasers to bear on the boarding ship.  “Ignore the Uglies, fire on that cruiser!” He snapped.

“Yes, sir!” Replied the Gunnery Chief, who promptly relayed the order to his people.

A vicious exchange of fire erupted between the two ships, and soon the reports of weakening shields rolled in.  Serpent cursed, knowing that they were only just holding on.  As soon as that main pirate carrier arrived it would be all over.

He piloted as best he could, trying to draw fire away from the freighter, but there was little he could do.  Instead Pherik kept an eye on the tactical hologram, watching as their doom grew closer kilometre by kilometre.

The pirate's second ship was just two kilicks out, just shy of weapons range, when there was a sudden explosion along the main hull.  “Starboard shields have collapsed!” Called the Sensor Officer.  “Reading a hull breach on deck two!”

“Damage control teams respond!” Ordered Serpent, and once again tried rolling the ship to put the damaged area beyond the enemy’s line of fire.  This time he got the duration of the spin correct and managed to cease the rotation with the starboard side far from the enemy.  A minor victory, and he had no time to savour his success.

“The enemy carrier is now within weapons range,” Announced the Sensor Chief grimly, and they all felt the change, as a new level of shaking gripped the Defiance as a second hail of fire joined the existing barrage.

Zail winced, wondering just how much longer they could hold on.  He was just starting to worry when the Com Officer spoke.

“Sir!  Message from the freighter!  They are ready to jump!”

“Go then!” He told her, and as she relayed the message, he reached for his own hyperdrive controls.  Pherik waited just a second before watching the BFF-1 accelerate to beyond the speed of light, and then punched the jump command himself.

And just like that, they were gone.

-----

Serpent slumped back in the pilot’s chair, glad to see the swirling blue of hyperspace rather than the chaos of battle.

“Got it!” Came a voice from the back of the bridge, and he turned to see Farish Quinn hit the door release.  This time the whine of struggling servos was gone, and instead the door openly swiftly and cleanly.

“Great work,” Said Zail, rising and walking past the Second Officer.  “I think that little escapade had cursed my insomnia!  I’m going to return to bed.  The bridge is yours, Mr Quinn!”

And so saying, he left the command deck and returned to his quarters, leaving his faithful crew to deal with the mess of repairs and injuries.

It was good to be the Captain.

OOC:

4182 words.  This is my Certification for Bridge Officer Tier 2.  Hope it was okay!

After Action Report:  A door malfunction traps Serpent on the bridge during a pirate raid on a freighter.  With the pilot injured, Zail has no choice but to fill in for the fallen crewman and pilots the corvette in battle.  He executes manoeuvres, a docking, and a jump to hyperspace, and finally they escape with the freighter.