The Torros Dilemma by Tealkeeper

Grand Admiral WedgeantR2 sat in the briefing room of his personal flagship, the UPA Paradigm, with the pilots of his Eagle Wing. He had Grey and Rogue squadrons assembled before him. Outside in formation with his flagship were the fleet flagship UPA One, the Rogue Commander Farell’s Frigate UPA Saratoga, the Grey Commander VinmanX’s Frigate UPA Peacemaker and CorranHorn’s Gunship UPA Vengeance. They were all going to be accompanying him on the hit and run strike against the Shipyards at Torros, one of the planets in loyal Imperial space. He knew there was a chance of getting ambushed by some strong Imperial fleet, but it was a necessary risk to take. Having loyal pilots such as these made his job much, much easier. He cleared his throat, turned on the holoprojector, and started his mission briefing. "Greetings, pilots." He began. "As you know from when I called for this briefing, we are going to be assaulting the Imperial Shipyards at Torros. The Supreme Council has allowed us to use the UPA One and her squadrons for the mission. Which should tell you something, that it is going to be dangerous, and you all should keep with your wings to stay safe." There, he thought. I’m getting off to a good start. Seeing there were no questions as of yet, he continued. "The plan is basically to go in and have Grey Squadron launch all available warheads at any sentry defenses, while Rogue Squadron covers Grey and destroys any TIEs the Imps can throw at us. The UPA One and her flank ships will be providing general cover for the fighters, and there on hand to take out any capital ships that might be lingering around. The home squadrons in the UPA One will act as a screen in case they come in from behind. Any questions?" A couple pilots raised their hands. He acknowledged their questions. "OK Cal9098, your question?" "I was just wondering, what kind of TIEs might we be expecting to come up against?" Cal9098 said. WedgeantR2 pointed to his holoprojector, which he had forgot to mention, indicating they were expecting three squadrons of TIEs, two fighters and one advanced. "Oh, sorry about that." Cal sheepishly added. "I believe Tealkeeper had a question also?" Tealkeeper, having been acknowledged, stood up. "Is there an expected resistance from enemy capital ships? It’s always nice to know what additional TIEs or major stuff might be coming after us." WedgeantR2 realized he hadn’t covered that, and he actually didn’t know. Intelligence had never really mentioned anything about enemy ships. "Actually Tealkeeper, I haven’t heard anything about possible capital ships. I would personally expect a couple of Star Destroyers guarding the yard, but between Rogue, Grey, and our own capital ships, we can handle them." He saw Tealkeeper’s expression visually relax, which made Wedge himself feel better. "With that said, we are going to be leaving in 18 hours. I think you all need some sleep, so be at your stations at 0945. I’ll be out there flying with Grey, and the Commander’s will be flying also. Dismissed." The pilots of Grey and Rogue filed out, leaving Wedge alone with only the holoprojector still flickering. "Well, here’s hoping the Imperials aren’t expecting an attack, because if they are, may the Force be with us." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

The Rogues left on a shuttle towards the UPA Saratoga, and the Grey pilots to the UPA Peacemaker. Everyone got a needed ten hours sleep, and when they woke up, headed towards the resident tapcafs on their ships. The Rogues ended up assembled at a table, all except for Farell, who was going over contingency plans with the bridge crew. Callista14 was the one to break the silence. "So, Teal, you think Wedge isn’t telling us something?" Tealkeeper, who had until that time been staring blankly into a cup of caf, jerked his head up and replied. "Well, I think Wedge is telling us everything he knows, but I just think he probably doesn’t know everything we need to know. Only two Star Destroyers to guard such important shipyards? I don’t think so!" The Rogues echoed assents, but none of them knew what to do about it. Tealkeeper continued. "While I was in my quarters, I sent a message out to my good friend Blue Leader over at the Black Hawk Brigade fleet. If we find ourselves hopelessly outnumbered, they should be able to spare something to help us out." All present were satisfied with that, but the next announcement over the ship intercom made everyone nervous. "Attention all pilots, this is WedgeantR2 aboard the UPA Paradigm. We are going to be launching at 0345, 6 hours earlier than previously scheduled, because Intelligence has just informed me that they are expecting a convoy guarded by three Star Destroyers coming through at our previous ETA. Please report to your ships now." That shook up the Rogues, but Tealkeeper only nodded. He had a feeling something like this would happen. Polishing off their cafs, the Rogues headed towards the hanger bay, meeting up with Farell in the lift. The pilots strapped into their X-Wings with 5 minutes until launch, and most of them activated their comm gear so they could talk to their Grey squadron friends before launch. Cal and Stormcrow were the only ones strapped in, so not much went on. The time to enter hyperspace came, and the stars became starlines, and all the pilots could do was wait until their time to launch. The hyperspace jump was expected to last two hours, so most of them just took some short naps. CorranHorn was able to reach his staff on the UPA Vengeance, and he went over the battle plan with them.

* * *

The two hours quickly came and went. Ten minutes before the expected exit, all of the napping pilots woke, and could only sit and wait. Suddenly they were all jerked out of hyperspace early. WedgeantR2’s voice came through all of their headsets. "We’ve been brought out of hyperspace early by an Imperial Interdictor cruiser! It’s one hundred klicks past the station, so we can take out the yards and then worry about it. Be on the look out for incoming capital ships. May the force be with you. You may now commence launching." With that said, the Grey squadron pilots exited the hangar bay and began targeting the laser batteries, and the Rogues launched to dispatch the two TIE squadrons on their scopes. WedgeantR2 came out in his personal B-Wing and dropped into the Grey Squadron formation. "OK, Squad leaders report in." "Rogue Leader standing by." Farell came back quickly. "Grey Leader standing by." Came the reply from VinmanX. "OK, each Grey, acquire one target. Rogues, keep those TIEs off of us!" Wedge ordered. The Rogues quickly broke into their wingpairs and began targeting the TIEs. The TIEs completely ignored the Rogues, which was their fatal mistake. As they flew by the Rogues, the lethal line of Rogue laser fire lit up and destroyed 15 of the TIEs. They were just flying in a line, so strafing was all the Rogues needed to do to knock off the TIEs. Four of the remaining TIEs turned tail and ran, where they were blindsided and destroyed by CorranHorn’s oncoming Gunship, UPA Vengeance. The Greys, having just finished launching their advanced torpedoes at the laser batteries, were able to ionize the remaining five TIEs. "Grey Leader to UPA fighters, we have shocked five TIEs. They ought to be useful for missions or black market for cash." VinmanX wanted to make sure the precious TIEs were not destroyed. The fighters were now able to proceed towards the shipyards, with the laser battery and TIE defenses wiped out. The Greys emptied their torpedo loads at the shipyards, and the capital ships, itching for action, moved in to polish off the yards. Within ten minutes it had been destroyed, and the two personnel transports that attempted to escape were disabled and captured. The UPA pilots were now left to wonder what to do with the Interdictor Cruiser Cold Fire that sat now about 125 klicks away from them. WedgeantR2 ordered repair tugs to rearm and refuel all of the fighters. While that was occurring, the ships of the UPA Falcon Wing arrived. GoldLeader’s Dreadnaught UPA Virtue, and the Frigates UPA Golden Bear and UPA Moonstalker, belonging to BigMike and Firestorm respectively. This brought a great relief to all of the Greys and Rogues out in their ships, as they now had some extra firepower in case this was all an Imperial ambush. The pilots of Gold Squadron, in their A-Wings with GoldLeader in formation with them, and Vortex Squadron, in their Y-Wings, joined the fighter screen. WedgeantR2 and GoldLeader ordered all ships to move to a distance of 50 klicks with the Cold Fire. When they were at a distance of about 75 klicks, Tealkeeper’s souped-up sensors reported incoming ships. "Sirs, this is Rogue Six! I’m reporting additional incoming enemy ships! At least three of them, class unknown right now!" Firestorm responded to him. "Rogue Six, this is Vortex Leader, are you sure it’s not just a malfunction?" "I’m certain it’s for real sir! Incoming!" As the words rolled off of Tealkeeper’s tongue, the UPA pilots looked on in horror as three Imperial Star Destroyers and two Victory Star Destroyers appeared in front of the Cold Fire. Between them, there was a capability of launching thirteen squadrons of TIEs. While it was unlikely that the Imperials in their weakened state had that many, there was probably at least ten squadrons, meaning the UPA fighters were outnumbered about 1.5:1. While it was little relief that only eight squadrons of TIEs came out, four each of fighters and interceptors, the UPA fighters still had their work cut out for them. They knew they couldn’t even start to attack the capital ships until the Imps screen was wiped out, so GoldLeader ordered the four Frigates to attack the oncoming fighters with their own friendly fighters while the capital ships stood back and waited. As it had turned out the Imperials were using drone piloted fighters for half of their ships, and when the lead was taken out the others simply self-destructed. It was down to about even odds, with the Imperials still having a distinct advantage in capital ship firepower. With the escort squadrons from the UPA One handling the remaining TIEs, the UPA squadrons were able to target one of the Victory Star Destroyers, the VSD Merciless, and with all of their warheads were able to destroy it. By now the UPA One’s fighters had taken out the TIEs, and with their torpedoes and the combined efforts of all four Frigates were able to destroy the other VSD. However, the fighters were completely exhausted of warheads, and the UPA Moonstalker had lost shields, and the hyperdrive was out on the UPA Peacemaker. They wouldn’t be much more help. Repair tugs were dispatched but they wouldn’t be much good dealing with three Imperial Star Destroyers. Tealkeeper’s sensors indicated more incoming ships. One Imperial and one Victory were entering, from behind the ISDs. WedgeantR2 and GoldLeader were about to order an all out attack on the Cold Fire, when the new incoming ships dropped out of hyperspace. The UPA pilots were about to just give up, especially when the new arrivals were launching B-Wings and A-Wings. Captured of their own, they thought. It was to their surprise when the new fighters targeted and destroyed one of the ISDs! They were friendlies! The UPA still had a chance! Their saviors for the battle addressed them. "This is Colonel Blue Leader with the BHB Renegade and Excalibur Squadrons. You fellas need a hand? I’ve got my BHB Fire Fury and BHB Lancelot targeting that port ISD, can you guys finish off the starboard one?" BigMike spoke up to all UPA fighter pilots. "This is Gold One, let’s give those ISD’s something to shoot at!" Echoing his battle cry throughout the comm, the UPA and BHB fighter pilots skirted in and out from the surviving ISDs, taking out laser batteries, ion cannons, sensor towers, and whatever else they could find, while the friendly capital ships moved in. It wasn’t long before the one of the ISDs had been disabled and surrendered, and the other was completely destroyed. The Interdictor, with no more backup, turned tail and ran. All of the UPA and BHB began to celebrate, they had won a battle against nearly impossible odds! The only question was, who to get the captured Star Destroyer. Since the UPA already had it’s fleet established, they allowed the BHB to take it home. They knew it could save them in this way in another battle, so they didn’t mind parting with it that much. Blue Leader, Tealkeeper’s childhood friend Marco Bruenner, took his prize and headed back to the BHB Headquarters. WedgeantR2 and GoldLeader gathered all of their pilots for a victory celebration on board the UPA One. Nobody could quite find the right thing to say, until GoldLeader broke the silence. "Well, one thing is for sure." He said. "We’re going to be spending a lot of money on paint after this!" He began to chuckle, and then the other UPA pilots joined him. Soon their laughter could be heard echoing through the whole ship. They were victorious once again.