It was about eight months since the death of the Emperor at Endor. Eight months since the mighty Galactic Empire that had once ruled countless systems had it's heart ripped out and thrown into the sun. Eight months since the Empire had died.
But that was okay for the Bounty Hunter Grand Admiral Sith Lord Baron Reno and his powerful Sith Squadron, they had planned on replacing the Empire anyway. True, at it's pinnacle the Empire had once stood for order and discipline, but that had been years ago. The Empire that had existed eight months ago was full of nothing but hypocrites, liars and people who were just downright evil. Reno was only one of those three...the last one. Evil incarnate, that was what he was. Pure, pure, evil...
As was the rest of his squadron. Every one of them would kill their own mother if they could earn a credit for it. In fact, most of them already had. They were an unsavory bunch all right, but they were his unsavory bunch. They followed his orders. They were his to mold as he pleased. And he had, too. Using an ancient Sith device he had found on Korriban, ancient resting place of the Sith Lords of old, he had found people adept in the Force and made them into what they were today. After their training had been complete they had each changed their names to fit their new lives. Everyone of them, from Sith Leader, himself, down to Sith Eleven, JeniViolet.
Reno sighed. Their squadron had lost a pilot in their last battle with that thrice-damned Rogue Squadron. Sith Twelve, the enigmatic human now named EternalFlame, or should he say formerly named, was killed in a battle above Taloraan. Even that was okay though. Despite his name EternalFlame had been the weakest of them. His Dark Side powers were laughable, as were his piloting skills. The only reason that he had been allowed in the squadron in the first place was that the pool of available Jedi was hardly bottomless. There were fewer and fewer Force-sensitve people around every day. The Sith Lord Darth Vader had done a very good job exterminating the Jedi line.
But cursing at Vader's past deeds wasn't his problem right now. The Jedi weren't his problem right now. Even controlling the galaxy wasn't his problem now. The only thing, the only thing, he was thinking of was destroying Rogue Squadron. That squadron had caused more problems in the galaxy than any other squadron. From Yavin to Hoth to Endor those people had caused people more headaches than fifty thousand squabbling Yawwks. Or those damn Hanson brothers. They has been present in every major battle that took place between the Empire and Rebellion, and they came out on top the majority of the time. But that was all going to change soon. Very, very soon.
"So you will take the assignment?" the Director asked to him.
"Of course, Director. I would not pass up such a chance to kill Rogue Squadron and make money off of it. I think ten million will suffice."
"What!?" The Director erupted. "Not even the Rogues are worth ten million. Two million, no more."
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you that well and seem to be losing the picture, Director," Reno said, distorting the image on the screen to simulate transmission failure. "I said ten million credits. What did you say?"
The Director grumbled. "I said ten million credits. Payment upon delivery."
"Half up front, half on delivery," Reno negotiated.
"Fine, but be advised. If you fail me I will hunt you down myself and take that five million out of your hide. And then some."
"Of course, Director. We will not fail...we never do." Reno sighed as the image faded away. Now it was time to report to his squadron. He was sure they would be happy at the chance to extract some revenge against the Rogues.
The entirety of Sith Squadron was not present at the meeting, only his top two pilots, ThunderingSilence and JeniViolet. ThunderingSilence was the squadron Second-in-Command, while JeniViolet commanded Three Flight.
"You're late," JeniViolet bit at him. Yes, he was several minutes late. But that should not be for a junior officer to point out.
"Watch your tongue, Lieutenant" he shot back. "I do not answer to you, nor anyone else for that matter. If I choose to be late I will be late."
"Of course, I was merely making an observation. I'm still upset about being ambushed by Rogue Squadron out at Taloraan and losing EternalFlame." EternalFlame had been Sith Twelve, her wingman.
"We all are," Reno said. "But don't worry, we will get our revenge. I was just sent the coordinates for a convoy that Rogue Squadron will be escorting. This time we will ambush them and we will destroy them. All of them."
JeniViolet squirmed in her chair. "Do we have to destroy all of them?" she asked.
Reno sighed. She just never quit. For what seemed like forever she had been obsessed with Wes Janson, one the the Rogue Squadron pilots. It was sickening. "Oh would you get over Janson already. You're a future Dark Lord of Sith, not a twelve year old school girl with a crush on Garik Loran." The mention of that name brought a slight blush to her face. Reno sighed again. Not him too....
"Let's get back to the meeting at hand," ThunderingSilence said, butting into the conversation. ThunderingSilence, the squadrons Second-in-Command, was the opposite of JeniViolet. She absolutely despised Wes Janson, and was very vocal of her opinion. Her vendetta was well known by everybody. "Of course. This is not only a personal mission," Reno said. "We have a client."
"Who would want Rogue Squadron dead?" JeniViolet asked.
"Hmph. I should think the shorter list would be who doesn't want those damn people dead," ThunderingSilence said. "They are arguably the most hated people in the galaxy, at least on the Empire's side of things. Their deaths would greatly benefit the galaxy. So who is the client?"
Reno took a few seconds in answering. "Need to know, Captain Thunder, and you don't need to know" he said finally.
"If this person wants the Rogues dead I say let them do it themselves," JeniViolet muttered. "If I kill the Rogues I want it to be personal, not because someone is paying me to."
"Personal like Wes Janson turning you down for a date?"
"Oh shut up, Thunder!"
"Why don't you come over here and make me!" Thunder said, grabbing her lightsaber.
"Any time!"
That is about when Reno lost all patience with his pilots. "Stop this incessant squabbling, it's pointless. And as for your reason, JeniViolet, how about because it's your job. You are a bounty hunter fighter pilot and future Sith Lord. Act like it. And more importantly you'll do it because I say so. I am the Dark Lord of Sith, it is my order. It shall be carried out."
Both Sith pilots nodded.
"Good. Now assemble the pilots and meet in the hanger in thirty minutes. I'll do a final briefing there then we'll head out. And I expect you all to be drunk by the time I get there!"
After the briefing the eleven remaining pilots in Sith Squadron climbed in their fighters and started their preflight check ups. The squadron was mostly modified X-wings, though there were several TIE Interceptors and A-9 Vigilances mixed in. The Interceptors and Vigilances were both short range fighters and had to be modified with shields, concussion missile launchers and a hyperdrive motivater to make them effective against Republic and Imperial fighter squadrons. Unfortunately it also slowed them down a bit.
Reno himself flew a TIE Defender that he had stolen from a hidden Imperial base under the mountains on Fest. He and his squadron had returned to steal some more but when they returned to the hanger they found that the experimental fighters had been moved. So instead they stole some of the Interceptors from the local garrison. Not as good but better than nothing.
Reno took a sip from his helmet. One of the best things about his modified Defender was the built in liquor cabinet. Because the inside of his fighter was open to vacuum he couldn't drink straight from a bottle while flying, instead he had to fill up the tank behind the pilots seat and drink it from a straw that was filtered through his helmet. It wasn't the best way to drink but it was better than nothing.
"All right Siths, report in by numbers."
"Two, four lit and in the green," ThunderingSilence said.
"Three is up and running." Artoo said.
"Four has four starts and is go," Jace Sidrona muttered.
"Five is good to go." RS Schoone reported.
"Six has two in the green." Sir SL Mck said.
"Seven, lasers and engines are good to go," Seven Upper Room reported.
"Eight, engines at 95%, weapons good." PalinKD said.
"Nine, nothin' broken," Sharpedges mumbled.
"Ten, everything topped off. Weapons at full. Let's go bust some pointers!" said LifeFlame, the late EternalFlames brother.
"Eleven, topped off and ready to go." JeniViolet reported in.
That was it. Everyone had checked in and was up and running. It was time to go and kill the Rogues.
Reno didn't take his Super Star Destroyer with him on this mission, it wasn't needed. He just needed himself and his ten remaining Sith pilots. The Rogues wouldn't be that much trouble. They just needed to hype in, blow up a few pointers, and hype out. No problem.
But if that was the case then why did he have the nagging sensation in the back of his head that was telling him it wasn't going to be that easy. The Force, perhaps, warning him against a threat? Maybe...
"All right guys, fifteen seconds until reversion. Have your weapons hot when you jump out. We're going to catch the Rogues off guard but that doesn't mean they won't be ready. All right, here we go!"
The starlines quickly turned to stars and suddenly they were back in real space. Unfortunately there was a problem.
There was no convoy.
No convoy. No Rogue Squadron. No trap.
"Lead, where's Rogue Squadron? I thought you said they'd be here?" Seven Upper Room said, a touch of anger and disappointment in his voice.
"That's what I was told, Seven. I don't know, maybe they-"
A bright flash of light caught Reno's attention and he looked to starboard. A squadron of X-wings jumped out of hyperspace. Once again the ambushers had been ambushed by the ambushees. This was getting real old, real quick.
"Heads up, Siths! Twelve marks bearing oh-two-seven. Let's come about and meet them head on."
"Lead this is two," ThunderingSilence said. "Markings on the pointers identify them as Rogue Squadron."
"Alright, this is it. Remember, we've got ten million credits riding of this fight. All pointers and crosses lock your S-foils in attack position. Rogue Squadron isn't going to leave this system alive."
"Copy, Lead," JeniViolet grudgingly said.
Reno took another sip of his reserve of Whyren's Reserve and locked the first fighter he saw in his cross hairs. This was gonna be a piece of...
Then the Rogues split into to two, half breaking to port the other half to starboard.
"Watch it, Siths! Don't be distracted by that maneuver. Stay on your target and don't let him out of your sight. Remember, if you don't get at least one kill you don't get any Whyren's!"
That usually motivated them enough to kill. Lord Baron Reno dropped his Defender behind the X-wing closest to him and brought up his targeting cross hairs. He waited for the HUD to go green then fired, unfortunately the pointer was already banking and Reno's shots went wide to the right. Damn rebel, he muttered to himself.
In his ear Reno heard the usual comm chatter that you'd hear in any dogfight.
"This is Six, Ten you've got a pair on you!"
"I can't shake'em, I need some help!"
"You flying piece of scrap metal! I'll vape you you sorry bucket of mynock spit! C'mon, get in my cross hairs and I'll light you up! You and your crappy pointer!"
"Hey!" Sith Two yelled back. "Show a little respect, Nine. Some of us fly those 'Pointers'!"
"They're nothing compared to Interceptors. You should get one, Two."
"What!? An Interceptor-"
"Cut the chatter, Siths!" Reno admonished them. "This is a military line. I hear any more personal opinions and I'll vape you myself. Got it?"
"Copy, Lead."
"Roger that, Leader."
Reno sighed and tried to focus on the task at hand. The X-wing he was following had gained some ground, but not enough to ditch Reno. He was too a good a pilot for that, especially with Force as his ally. Of course it was the Dark Side, but that was what made it all the better. Too many rules on the Light Side. No killing for no reason...no using the Force to cheat in sabacc....no using your lightsaber to cut down street signs....and he was sure they had rules against using mind persuasion to fool people into thinking that you hadn't knocked them down and taken their wallets when you actually had. Just too many rules.
Reno pressed his finger on the trigger and let out a burst of green energy. They hit the X-wing in front of him but didn't burn past his sheilds. Well that just would do, he thought. He fired again and this time they penetrated. The inside of the cockpit quickly filled with smoke and sparks and the snubfighter erupted in a giant fireball. One down, eleven to go.
Reno checked his scanners for the nearest X-wing. The closest X-wing was about four klicks away, closely tailing one of the Vigilances in his squadron. There were only two Vigilances in the squadron, Siths Five and Six. Which means it was one of them. Reno put his trip in a tight turn and headed after the X-wing. He gritted his teeth as he put the snubbie in his cross hairs. No one kills a Sith. This was for EternalFlame! But at the last second the snubfighter dove down in a tight weave and escaped his line of fire. He's good, very good. Gotta be either Antilles or Celchu. Maybe Fel. But it didn't matter. They were all going to die.
Then without warning the X-wings regrouped and broke off into two pairs. Five of the X-wings headed one direction while the other remaining six went the opposite direction.
"Lead this is Two. What in the Sith are they doing? Running?"
"That doesn't sound like Rogue Squadron at all, does it?" he said back. "Doesn't matter what they're doing, we follow them. We'll split in two just like them."
"Lead, this is Seven. I picked up some comm chatter from Rogue Squadron after they split. Antilles seems to be leading the smaller group to what looks like Endor, at least that's what their vector and entry speed suggested. The other group is being led by Wes Janson. I'm pretty sure they're heading for a small planet in the Rim named Rudrig."
"Good job, Seven." Reno thought for a moment. Obviously they needed to split up too. He would take five pilots and head to Endor and let someone else lead the other six to Rudrig. "All right, here's how it's going. I'm taking Three, Four, Five and Six to Endor."
"What about me, Lead?" Two asked.
"I want you to lead everybody else to Rudrig."
"Wait a second Lead," JeniViolet butted in. "Why can't I command the squad at Rudrig? I'm perfectly capable-"
"Not with Wes Janson in charge of the Rogues there. I don't trust your judgment with him involved. Two, on the other hand, practically hates the man. I trust her to get the job done. Now calm down, drink a little Whyren's and shut up. Two is in charge. Don't defy her orders or you'll personally answer to me. Understood?"
"Of course, Leader. Calm down, drink, shut up, Two is in charge. Got it."
"Good. Now head out. I expect to meet you back at the SSD in no less than a week. May the Whyren's be with you."
"Always, Lead. Two out." Reno watched as Sith Two led the last half of his squadron out to Rudrig. Reno had never heard of Rudrig, but he wasn't going there so he really didn't care about it.
Endor, though, he had heard of.
The Second Death Star...Emperor Palpatines death...the Rebel Fleets victory over the much larger Imperial Fleet...and those damn annoying Ewoks and there little "yub yubs". No doubt Antilles thought he could hide among his furry little friends. But Reno was going to prove him wrong. There wasn't a place in the galaxy that he could hide from the mighty Bounty Hunter Grand Admiral Sith Lord Baron Reno!