ThunderingSilence quickly glanced at the Combat Multiview Display, or CMD, on her X-wing and sighed. Still another two minutes until reversion to real space in the Merkanni system, the set rendezvous the Lord Baron Reno and their supplier.

On her wing for this critically import was Seven, a young Bakuran who had joined the squad only a month before. While the kid was only seventeen, he had a natural talent for flying and his Force-powers were fairly strong. Seven flew an A-wing that he had "acquired" sometime before he had joined the Siths. They had met Seven while on a stop over in Tatooine. The kid had out drunk one of the old Siths, a Togorian who apparently had a weak liver.

Also new in the quartet was another seventeen year old, Palin, who had joined only a week before Seven. The Siths had caught her trying to hijack a shipment of Whyrens Reserve that they themselves were trying to hijack. When Palin landed the B-wing that she had stolen from the Rebel Alliance she confronted Reno and the Sith Lord found out that she was Force strong.

The fourth member of their wing was Arnot Viraxo, one of the older, more established members of the squad. Viraxo was also the only son of K'Armyn Viraxo, a notorious smuggler and supplier, and the owner of the ship they were on their way to meet.

The last ship in their convoy was the Omicron II, a large bulk freighter that was going to ferry the supplies that the Siths desperately needed. When the countdown hit twenty seconds Thunder flipped the comm switch.

"All right, Siths, twenty seconds till reversion. Go in with your lasers hot and shields even. We're not expecting any trouble but that doesn't mean it isn't expecting us."

"Roger, Two."

"Copy that, Two."

"Compliance, Two."

"Alright, let's do it to it!" Throwing the lever to the left side of her control panel her X-wing lurched and the fighter reverted to real space. The first thing Thunder did was check her sensors for any traffic in the system, friendly or otherwise. She immediately saw four green dots behind her, another X-wing, and A-wing, a B-wing, and the bulk freighter Omicron II. No red dots showed up on her screen.

"I don't see anybody, Two," Seven commented.

"Well technically we're a minute early. I wanted to get here a little early because I don't like to be the last one to a party. There is a little it of advice for future-"

Her hyperspace sensors started to beep and Thunder prepared herself for anything.

"We've got incoming from hyperspace, Siths. Be ready."

About ten clicks in front of the Siths a large Corellian Action freighter, which her computer identified as the Shu Tup. It was escorted by four Razor-class fighters, two on either side.

"Two, freighter Shu Tup is hailing," Arnot casually said. "Patching through."

The voice that came over the comm was clear and precise, hardly a surprise give the short distance of the ships.

"This is Nell Yeorn, representative of K'Armyn Viraxo and Captain of the freighter Shu Tup. Who might I be addressing?"

"This is ThunderingSilence, representative of the Lord Baron Reno and Captain in Sith Squadron. You have our supplies, right?"

Yeorn let out a small laugh. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't, Captain Thunder."

"Good, you're free to dock with Omicron II and your discretion, Captain. And try to hurry it up, the squad is getting anxious back at home. If we don't get these supplies they might mutiny."

"I fully understand. I'll bring her alongside Omicron II right now. I'll tell you, I've been kind of anxious myself with this cargo. Kinda tempting for pirates, hence the fighter escort. Is Arnot with you?"

"Right here, Nell," Arnot responded. "How are you doing?"

"Not bad, kid, not bad," Yeorn said back. "But those damn Azzameen's keep hitting our shipping lines. We've lost two freighters in as many cycles. Your father has pulled out what little is left of his hair."

"Ha ha....I bet he has. Well when you see him next give him my regards. And if he ever needs me to fly a mission against them you all know where to find me."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it, kid, but there really isn't a need for me to relay any messages..."

"All right, Shu Tup, more docking and less talking," Thunder sternly said.

"Roger that, Captain. Plotting an intercept course."

Thunder was about to reply when her proximity warning started to beep again. Without warning nine new ships emerged from hyperspace six clicks behind Corellian Action freighter. Her computer identified the lead six as Toscan Security Force fighters, the other three weren't fighters at all. Two were Corellian freighters, a YT-1300 and a YT-2000. The last ship was a Firespray-class patrol ship, like the kind Boba Fett flew.

"Heads up, Siths!" she yelled. "Nine new contacts at eleven kicks. Telemetry suggests they're going for the Shu Tup. Arm your torps and get a lock, and don't let any of those ships near our freighter. If we lose this cargo the Lord Baron will have all of our hides."

Immediately she heard Captain Yeorn's voice. "Sithspawn!" he swore, temporarily forgetting who he was with. "Oh, sorry about that guys. It's just that those damn Azzameen's have been hitting our shipping lanes for a while now. It's getting tiresome."

"Don't worry, Captain Yeorn, they're not getting this shipment. Sith's go with your wings. Nine on me, Seven and Eight together. Let's hit the Toscans first, then the freighters."

"Wait a second, Two," Arnot, Sith Nine, said, putting his X-wing behind Thunders. To her starboard Siths Seven and Eight formed up. "The Toscans might not be the best ships to attack first."

"Nine, what do you know about those attacking ships?" Thunder casually asked.

"The YT-2000 is the Otana, most likely piloted by Ace Azzameen, a rebel pilot. The YT-1300 is the Sabra, probably piloted by Ace's sister Aeron. The Firespray is the Andrasta, piloted by their older brother Emon. All are great pilots. The Toscans are just some of their security fighters."

"Better than us?"

"Hey, nobody is better than us. Our main concern should be the freighters, though, they'll go for the Shu Tup. The fighters will just be the screen."

"Copy that, Nine. You heard the man. Seven, Eight, play with the fighters and keep them off of our backs. Nine, choose one of the freighters and go."

"Roger Two. I've got the Sabra, always did have a thing for Aeron. Maybe blasting her out of space will get her attention."

Thunder didn't bother responding. She just got her target lock on the YT-2000 freighter Otana and switched her torps to duel fire. Two torps wouldn't destroy the ship, but unless they broke off their attack vector if would krif up their forward shields and probably knock out a few sensors. The best place to take a torpedo hit, if there was one, was in the stern where the hull was the strongest.

When her HUD went red she thumbed the trigger and sent two proton torpedoes lancing out towards the Corellian freighter. Just as she predicted the Otana vectored off, exposing her hull to the projectiles. They crashed against the shields on her stern, weakening the protective sphere around the large ship. Another two torps would probably break through, but she only had four left and didn't want to waste them all. Switching back to lasers she
found the Otana and circled in behind her.

Thunder's torpedo attack had dropped the Otana's shields by half, but they were still fairly strong on the stern. Time to fix that...pressing and holding her finger down she sent out five duel bursts from her X-wing. The first few hit the shields, but the last two exploded off the backwater.

Suddenly the Otana dove into a tight spiral to avoid her fire, but it was one that Thunder could easily match in her much more agile X-wing. But right as she started her inverted drop her danger sense tingled and she pulled up. Out of nowhere came the Andrasta, it's pair of laser cannons targeted right at Thunder's X-wing. Had Thunder completed that dive the Andrasta most likely would've vaped her...or at the least seriously kriffed up her
ship. But luckily the Force was on her side.

ThunderingSilence straightened out her fighter and glanced at her rear sensors. Behind her, spitting yellow energy bursts, was Emon Azzameen's Andrasta. One of the yellow blasts impacted against her aft shields, weakening but not destroying them.

"Nine, I could use little help over here," Two said.

"Sorry, Two," Viraxo said back. "The Sabra is giving me more trouble than I anticipated. Give me a minute or two."

"Blast it, Nine!" she yelled. "I haven't got a minute or two! That Firespray is burning out my shields!"

Several more laser blasts exploded off her rear shields, weakening them almost to non-existence. Transferring all her shield energy to her aft she pressed her fighter forward. Behind her the Andrasta intensified it's attack. The laser blasts became more frequent and more powerful.

"Sith Two, drop on my mark!" she heard an unfamiliar voice command.

Not one to argue when the alternative is death, Thunder dropped her fighter. Glancing up she saw two Razor fighters zip by, their laser cannons active. The two Razor fighters poured energy blasts into the Andrasta, causing it to break of it's attack on ThunderingSilence.

"Your tail is clean, Sith Two," one of the Razor's, Blade Four, said.

"Thanks, Blade Four," Thunder said, using her targeting computer to locate Emon Azzameen's Andrasta. That bastard had more than taken her shields out...he was going to have to pay!

Her computer found the Firespray-class patrol ship about two clicks away from her, making a strafing run on the Shu Tup. Thunder flipped her fighter around and shunted some power from her lasers to her shields. With a flick of her thumb she switched back to proton torpedoes and put her targeting brackets on the Andrasta. This ought to teach him not to attack a Sith! When her targeting HUD went green she depressed the firing stud and sent two
proton torpedoes searing out towards the Andrasta.

The deadly projectiles shot through space at their designated target, but at the last second the Andrasta broke off it's attack and dove. Thunder's torpedoes tried their best to keep up with the Andrasta, but the fast moving ship was too agile and after several seconds the torps lost their lock and exploded. Damn those early warning systems, Thunder thought, a hint of anger creeping into her mind.

Not wanting to waste anymore proton torpedoes, Thunder switched back to lasers.

"Eight, watch your back!" she heard Seven yell. "You've got a bogey on your six!"

"Get him off me, Seven!"

As Thunder cut down the distance between her and the Andrasta she glanced at her sensors and saw one of the red dots that represents enemies vanish.

"Thanks, Seven," Palin said, a bit of relief in her voice.

"Anytime, Eight," Seven responded.

"Initiating docking procedure," Captain Yeorn said, panic evident in his voice. Thunder sympathized with him It was very nerve racking to try and switch cargo while being attacked. Many were the pilots who cracked up while doing it. Yeorn didn't seem to be among those numbers.

Putting her attention back on her target, Thunder narrowed her eyes and a grim look of determination spread across her face. Over to port she saw the Sabra start a strafing run on the Omicron II, but that wasn't her concern now. The Razors were in that vicinity, they would take care of it. Her goal, her ONLY goal, was to make sure that Emon Azzameen and his blasted Andrasta don't leave this system in one piece.

Although no doubt modified, Firespray-class patrol ships like the Andrasta weren't terribly quick. One directly out of the factory would only match a Y-wing for speed, so Emon's modified ship would probably be equal to an X-wing.

The Andrasta banked into a tight spiral as Thunder let out several duel shots. Jamming the yoke back and to port Thunder followed the Andrasta through it's maneuver. The Firespray might be a good ship for bounty hunting or patrolling, but it just wasn't properly suited for snubfighting. Not only did Azzameen fail to ditch Thunder, but the Adumari pilot actually gained half a click in the process. Pressing her finger down she sent multiple
scarlet laser blasts out towards the Andrasta. The initial blasts exploded off the Firespray's shields, but after a while the energy shields waned and the lasers hit the durasteel hull.

Almost casually the Andrasta made a turn to port, putting it on a course away from the converging freighters. Not wanting to let her prey get away from her, Thunder followed.

"Wahoo!" she heard a young male voice scream through her flight helmet. Seven, she realized in retrospect. "That's all the Toscans! Man those pieces of space junk were easy to vape. Hope the freighters are a little harder to pick o..."

"Keep you personal comments to yourself, Seven," Palin burst in, cutting the kid off before he could finish his sentence.

"Sorry, I was just..."

"Seven," Palin said sternly.

"Sorry, Eight. I'll tuck in behind you and let you pick our targets."

Thunder let a short bark of laughter and slightly shook her head. Palin was certainly establishing herself as just another one of the strong Sith chicks, while Seven was going down the path to the pathetic weak minded males. Typical...

"Two, the Sabra and Otana seem to be making a break for it!" Arnot said, stating the blindingly obvious.

"No shi..." Seven started to say, but Thunder cut him off.

"Save it for later, Seven," Two admonished. "What've you got, Nine?"

"Without their fighter cover to protect them, both freighters broke off their attack and are heading for a nav buoy about twelve klicks away."

"Can any of you guys catch them?" she asked back.

"No, they're too fast. And they got too much of a headstart."

Damn, she thought to herself. Thunder really didn't want to let any of those freighters get away, if they did they'd just prey on Viraxo shipping lines again. Damn pirates...

"All right, Nine, follow them out and make sure they jump to hyperspace before you return. Seven, Eight, stay and guard the freighters."

"What about you, Two?" Arnot asked.

"Emon Azzameen tried to blow me out of space. No one does that and lives. You guys follow your orders...I'll be extracting some revenge."

"Heh, I don't think so....look at your targeting computer, Two," Nine shot back. "Andrasta is on a outbound vector. He's heading for hyperspace too, just using a different buoy."

"What.....stang!" Thunder swore. Above the picture of the Firespray on her targeting computer, where it's current course was tracked, it read HYPERING OUT OF AREA IN 1.57 clicks...and getting lower each second. Once he got .5 klicks from the nav buoy he could hype out. And there was no way that Thunder could destroy his ship in such a short amount of time. Which meant that all of the Azzameen's would be escaping. Damn...

"This is Nine...both the Otana and Sabra have jumped to hyperspace. How about the Andrasta?"

Thunder looked out the front of her cockpit and saw the teardrop shaped patrol ship jump to hyperspace. Thunder sighed. "Andrasta is gone. Don't worry, Siths, we'll get them later. Let's just focus on getting our precious cargo secured and returned to the SSD. Captain Yeorn, is the cargo transfer complete?"

"Yes it is, Captain Thunder, but my business here isn't done."

Thunder narrowed her eyes, suspicion running through her mind. But through the Force she didn't sense any duplicity or treasonous thoughts coming from Yeorn. "What else do you have to do?"

"I have a message for Arnot. From his father."

"Holo message or just verbal?" Arnot asked.

"Nothing special, kid," Yeorn grunted. "K'Armyn just wanted to know if you could come home for a little while and help run the business. The Azzameen's aren't the only ones causing us problems. The Empire is breathing down his neck, and he's still having some problems getting the remnants of Black Sun off of his back. He could really use your help.."

Arnot wasted no time in answering. "Feed me the coordinates, Yeorn. Thunder, tell..."

"Don't worry, Arnot, I'll explain everything to Reno. Just be sure to send him a message once you get home."

"Thanks, Two. I'll probably be back in a few weeks."

"All right, good luck Nine. See you when you return," Thunder commented.

Thunder waited for several minutes while the Shu Tup, Arnot Viraxo's X-wing, and the two remaining Razor fighters jumped to hyperspace.

"All right, Siths, everyone form up around Omicron II. I'm feeding you the coordinates for the SSD. Jump to hyperspace when we hit .5 klicks."

"Roger that."

"Copy, Two."

With Thunder in the lead, Seven and Palin on either side of her, the Omicron II bringing up the rear, and their precious cargo safe, Thunder smiled. The mission had gone well, despite the escape of the Azzameen's. There would be another time...and next time she was going to kill Emon Azzameen. And his little Andrasta too.

When her hyperspace proximity warning started to go off, Thunder threw the lever forward and sent her snubfighter hurtling through hyperspace.

When ThunderingSilence descended down the ladder that Gimmer had attached to her X-wing the first person to greet her was the Lord Baron Reno. He was smiling, even though she caught subtle hints of worry and concern buried deep inside of him. Wondering where Arnot was, no doubt...

"Everything went well, I trust?"

"More of less," Thunder said back. "We ran into a little pirate trouble, but it wasn't anything that we couldn't handle."

"Good...good...Now...where is Arnot? He didn't get..."

"Vaped?" she finished. "No, not at all. His father, K'Armyn Viraxo, sent him a message and asked him if he could come home for a while to take care of some family business. I gave him the go ahead and told him to report to you once he got there."

Reno smiled. "Very good. And how did our new recruits work out?"

"Seven and Palin performed supremely. Both got several kills, though Seven needs to learn to calm down a bit."

"Too nervous?" Reno asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No, too eager. Too anxious...that kind of enthusiasm is good, but it can also get you killed. Don't worry, I'll go over it with him."

"All right. And our cargo?"

"It's being unloaded as we speak...all four hundred thousand gallons of Whyrens Reserve. But...I do have one question, sir..."

"What's that, Captain?"

"Why'd you only buy a week's supply of Whyrens?"

The End