Simple missions are never simple. If they were, they would be assigned to someone else. I should have learned that a long time ago. Even in the academy, the recon missions always throw you a curve or two, so I guess it should have been no surprise that the pirate freighters coming in-system were going to need an attitude adjustment, not just the routine checkup we had scheduled for them.

Nevertheless, there I was, all by myself in the hanger, climbing into my X-Wing. It's still weird to call her mine. It's not like I built her myself, or paid for her out of my own pocket, but she was assigned to me, and we'll be together until one, the other, or both of us get ourselves destroyed. The black and violet detailing make her unmistakably mine, and is carried through to the R2 unit up top. That's even weirder. This little droid "belongs" to me, and he's got his own seat in "our" ship. I call the ship "Violet", and I call the R2 "Mike". I'm sure there's a reason, somewhere in the back of my mind.

I climbed into the cockpit, strapped in, and eased her out of the Echo-Hawk's hangar, and into the great wide nothing. Mike had the coordinates ready for me, and I closed my eyes for the jump. It's one of the oddest feelings, but I don't think people pay enough attention to it. I always take the time to feel the jump, and to practice "pushing" the ship in hyperspace. It's a useless skill, being able to over-accelerate a ship by a fraction of a percent, but maybe if I practice enough, I'll make it useful some day. Mike has learned by now to stop telling me my engines need checked, it's just one of those weird things that only happen when I'm around. I've actually tried pushing the Echo-Hawk on occasion, but have failed to produce a measurable result.

We dropped back to sub-light, and I opened my eyes again. A few beautiful blue nebulae spread before me, and I took them in while I waited for the pirates to arrive. I set Violet about the task of charging her systems, and dumped my lasers to the shields. I turned to the right to get a better look at some of the scenery, and before long three freighters appeared directly behind me. I had to duck the ship down a bit to avoid being over-run by the speeding freighters. About the time the initial three freighters had assumed a more conventional speed, another six were coming in. One stopped almost directly above me... weird.

I pulled up to go ID the cargo, which turned out to be rations. They were probably stolen, but not the sort of thing I was there to handle. I then identified the lead freighter of the "Blue Wisp" group, and as I approached the starboard member of the group, I could see behind it, that a freighter from the third group to arrive was performing some very un-freighter-like maneuvers. I proceeded past the final Blue Wisp and on toward what turned out to be the "Red Wisp" freighter group. Red Wisp #1 was carrying TIE parts, it was probably a safe bet that the other two were as well. I called for reinforcements to help me take down the freighters before they would have a chance to make another jump, and proceeded to the freighter group that had been awaiting my attention the longest. I targeted the outside freighter in an attempt to herd them together and began firing to drop it's shields.

It was about this time that the TIEs started coming. Two fighters and two interceptors were suddenly on me. I scrambled to take cover within the walls of the Freighter I'd been firing on. Just as I was nearing it to take up a position between the containers, it changed direction, and I had to pull away just to be safe. My range was close enough that I could ID that cargo, however, and it was bad news. "TIE Advanced" came up on the display. Not parts, whole ships. Well, I couldn't let this go, so I quickly turned to re-acquire the freighter, and blew it away. Two Y-Wings had arrived to take care of the Red Wisps, and I so I set about keeping the TIEs busy while they did their job. The radar was beginning to fill up by this point. A Corvette, a Star Destroyer, 3 Gunboats, and a single TIE Advanced had arrived.

I began weaving in and out of the freighters in an effort to break up the imperial attack, and it seemed to work pretty well. Coming around one of the Red Wisps, I saw the three gunboats still in formation. I targeted the closest and went after him. Black Wisp #1 blew without ever turning to attack. I had a bit of trouble deciding who to attack next since everyone seemed to be flying away from me at the same time. Eventually I spied an interceptor with nothing better to do than explode, and I helped it reach that goal. Another two interceptors, fell before I was interrupted by the sounds of laser hits on Violet's rear shields. I diverted power to compensate, and took out a TIE Fighter that was within range.

I now turned to the TIE Advanced, and decided to get rid of it before continuing with anyone else. It was a decent chase, the kind I've come to expect from a TA, but before long, the pilot made the grave mistake of flying in a straight line. It took only a few shots for him to find himself flying in several straight lines simultaneously. Another Interceptor, and another, and another. Finally, I could turn my attention back to the Gunboats. No sooner had I found a good position for taking down the Gunboat when I heard a missile lock on, and I had to break to shoot it down. I chased down the two remaining Gunboats unfettered by outside interference. Then, along came the remaining Fighter. I couldn't believe this little ship had survived flying in and out of the fire-lanes our melee had created. One cross-linked volley destroyed it, and I could go back to the interceptors and gunboats for a while. The missile of a few minutes back had come, not from the Gunboats, but from some bombers, recently arrived at the site of our battle.

One by one the Bombers, Interceptors, and Gunboats fell, until finally, there were none left at all. The Star-Destroyer was long since gone, but the Corvette was still present. I slammed all available power into the engines, and switched to dual torpedoes. Already the Corvette was maneuvering, probably to jump out. I came within range and let all my torpedoes fly. Then I began emptying my lasers into it. Before I was even very close, I saw the flames shooting out of her, and knew I was in for some victory fireworks. The Corvette gave me quite the show, and I did a victory roll.

While Mike got the coordinates ready for the jump out, I made one last scan, to make sure everything was clear. I looked down to hit the hyperdrive, and noticed that the coordinates were not those of the Echo-Hawk. I asked Mike if something was wrong because we seemed to be lining up in a different direction than we'd come from. "What do you mean 'New orders'... What are you talking about?", I asked him. Mike simply told me to close my eyes. I felt the battle slip away behind me. When I felt the ship drop out of hyperspace, I opened my eyes as usual, but instead of the great-wide nothing, I found myself staring at a great-wide SOMETHING. A great-wide cruiser to be precise.

"Mike, what do you know that you're not telling me? Where are we?" "Home, what are you talking about? Have I been reassigned?"

Mike said "Relocated" was a better choice. The ID came up on the display "CRS Engel". Having never heard of this particular cruiser before I decided to give it a fly-over before going inside. This thing was new, I mean really new. I flew over her surface, admiring the gleaming turrets. Through the windows I could see the unused lounges, and observation decks. This thing probably even SMELLED new. I just had to find out. I aligned myself into the tractor beam for the pull inside.

Proceeding into the hanger I noticed some familiar sights. I passed a full flight of X-Wings on my left, belonging to Sabre squadron, along with their Crimson counterparts on my right. When I came to the eighth space, it was open, just waiting for me to land Violet. On the wall, at the back of the space was my name, "Lt. Wraith K'Lan, Crimson 8". Violet swung around to back into position, and the cockpit started to open. I climbed down and took a whiff. I was right... It DID smell new. Fresh paint, fresh stripes, fresh everything. I decided to hit the bar for some fresh burnouts.

The Mission was a success
Promotion to Flight Officer
Score: 44336

Completed Mission Goals
Freighter Group Red Wisp was destroyed
Freighter Group Blue Wisp was identified
Freighter Group Green Wisp was destroyed

Spacecraft Kills 36 (33)
TIE Interceptor: 12 (12)
TIE Fighter: 2 (2)
TIE Advanced: 1 (1)
TIE Bomber: 7 (7)
Assault Gunboat: 9 (9)
Corvette: 1 (1)
Freighter: 4 (1)

Lasers Fired: 862
Spacecraft Hits: 466 (54%)

Homing Projectiles Fired: 6
Spacecraft Hits: 6 (100%)

Last updated 10/05/01 Site contents Copyright © 1999-2001 Mel Grubb II