The Hex Wing Series, Chapter Two

 

“Green Squadron, you need to run double duty, keep the bombers away from this ship and make attack runs on that left side frigate. Bridge crew, bring us around, keep the frigates between us and that Star Destroyer. If Karktiss wants to fire on us he’ll have to shoot through his own forces!”

Green 1, Commander Ari, sent a quick burst of static back through the comm channel to acknowledge EvilGrins orders. The Defiance was already starting to swing her nose round to cut a path that would keep both the frigates and the Star Destroyer on her port flank. He had to decide which of his 7 pilots would be best suited to each particular task.

“Twigs, Kidd, Troy, on me. We’ll take the bombers and keep them away from the Defiance. Cooter, Adalla and Jish, take the rest of Green and focus that frigate.”

The pilots of Green Squadron squawked back their affirmatives and immediately turned their ships to close on their respective targets.

“Galleon flight, who’s packing ions torps?” called Cooter, “I need shields down on that frigate before I can fire proton torpedos.”

“I have one.” Adalla answered.

“Me too,” called out AntiStellar, “Ship is almost in range, getting tone now.”

“Bandit on your six Green 5, break off AntiStellar. Closing behind him now.”

“Jish, I got tone, I’m firing.”

“No!” screamed Cooter.

The torpedo left AntiStellars X-Wing as he pulled the nose of his X-Wing up and away from its dive towards the Imperial frigate. Jishiqua was pouring concentrated bursts from his X-Wings linked quad cannons into the Tie Bomber, but the Imperial ship was soaking up the damage and barely even noticed the impacts. Cooter watched as it focused its fire on the ion torpedo lazily arcing its way towards the ship and scored a hit, saving the frigates shields from dissipating under the ion explosion. Its job done, the Tie bomber finally broke away from Jishiquas fire, forcing him to take evasive action before the frigates anti-Starfighter turrets could get a lock.

“No hit AntiStellar, you fired too far out. Adalla, it’s down to you.”

“Roger that Cooter. I need a peel, two Tie Bombers closing on me.”

Adalla pushed the throttle wide open and poured as much power to the engines as he could, trying to gain some distance between himself and the tie bombers. Two other X-Wings were now closing on the bombers but they weren’t going to get there in time, the lead ship was already spitting green lasers towards the X-Wing. With the engines power reserves now overcharged Adalla hit boost, while simultaneously diverting power out and pulling the throttle back. It was only the X-Wings momentum that kept it moving, he pulled hard on the flight stick forcing the ships nose round and on to the frigate. As soon as the ship filled his viewport he poured the power reserves back in to the engines, slamming the throttle against the stops and surging the X-Wing towards the bigger craft. It all happened in a split second, the Tie Bombers rotary fire finally caught up with Adallas position but his rapid reflexes meant that space was now empty.

He jinked left and right, rolled the wing tips and tried to keep the X-wing as mobile as he could without breaking lock. Behind him, the two Tie Bombers were also screaming on, both had now opened fire on the Alliance fighter as it dived towards the Imperial frigate. Space around Adalla was filled with green light as the concentrated laser fire from the frigate and bombers spat towards him and passed, red bolts from his fellow Green Squadron pilots broke through as well as they tried to stop the bombers getting a steady aim on his ship.

“900, 850..” Adalla called out the numbers from his targeting computer as he got closer to firing, the programme wouldn’t track below 500 clicks and would break lock a moment after he passed that threshold. If he could wait until the last second, the ion torpedo would break away from the X-Wing and speed towards the frigate before anything could shoot it down. He hoped.

Behind him, Cooter and Jish were spinning around one another, each trying to track one of the Tie Bombers shooting at Adalla. Harness straps dug in as they pulled round and over each other, a game of spatial awareness where you kept your eyes on one target and avoided the other at your side. They were so close now that even a small clip from the others S-Foils would cause catastrophic damage and leave Adalla at the mercy of the Tie Bombers devastating cannons. The Imperial craft were performing a similar dance, but were able to soak up much of the X-Wings laser fire due to their increased hull strength.

“750, 700…crap that was close!” Adalla flinched as one of the bombers finally managed to get its cannons aim to bear on Adallas ship. The laser fire beat a heavy staccato beat down the X-Wing’s canopy and across its nose before finding empty space again. His R2 Unit hooted behind him mournfully as the forward deflector indicator blinked and then went out. His ship was now dangerously close to the frigates anti-Starfighter turrets and without shields he felt very exposed. The R2 unit automatically adjusted the rear shields, spreading what was left to forward and aft.

“Thanks buddy. Cooter..” he cautioned the Galleon flight leader as the numbers on his computer continued to count down.

“Working..on ..it.” Cooter grunted back, the effort of maintaining the acrobatics was starting to wear on him.

“Splash one!” Jishiqua hollered over the comms as one of the Tie Bombers finally flashed bright orange and yellow, a series of red laser bolts burst through its twin ion engines and the cockpit, instantly vaporising the ship and occupant.

“500..ion out!” Adalla again used the overcharged engine power to force the X-Wing in one final boost towards the frigate as he passed the crucial point. The sudden surge from the X-Wing gave the usually slow ion torpedo an extra push and it sped towards the frigate uninterrupted. He kicked the ship away from its course with a touch on the rudder pedals and was relieved to see the incoming fire dissipate as he gained distance away from the frigate. The lone Tie Bomber continued to try and chase the torpedo but there was no time. The projectile splashed against the frigates shields and set off an instant electrical surge, causing the generators to shut down and leaving it exposed. Cooter and Jish were able to finish the bomber off as it too tried to change course.

“Galleon flight, begin your attack run!” Hollered Cooter, already firing on the frigate in front of him before turning for another strafe.

 

On the other side of the Defiance, Ari, Twigs, Kidd and Troy were tangling with the rest of the Tie Bombers. Every time one tried to make a run at the MC-75 it had quickly come under fire from the four X-Wings, and now the Imperial pilots had decided their best course of action was to deal with the fighters first, then make their runs. With the numerical advantage, it should be easy work for the bombers. One of the Tie bombers decided to try another solo effort and broke off towards the Defiance, Kidd spotted the danger and dove towards it.

“He’s mine!” He said, pinging the target so the others on the defence group would let him score this kill alone. The anti-Starfighter turrets on the Defiance had also spotted the incoming threat and were starting to fire in their direction. Kidd was now in a race with an MC-75 to get a confirmed Tie Bomber kill. He was determined to win and tightened his grip around the control stick, trigger finger taking up first pressure on the fire button.

“Kidd, break off, you’re entering the defence fire!” Ari could see the shots from the Defiance drawing closer to Kidds ship as the shots closed on the incoming Tie Bomber, there wasn’t much else he could do and he was already tangling with two of the other Imperials.

The Imperial pilot being chased by Kid had decided he wasn’t going to make it through the incoming fire and made one last gamble. He put all power to engines and made a quick boost in towards the Defiance then cut the throttle and shunted the power back in to his rotary cannon, the craft continuing in towards the increasing shots coming from the Defiance, even now making impact with his hull. As it drifted on in to the heavy fire, the pilot pulled the nose around to face Kidd, pulling on the fire button, the rotary cannon began whirling up, reaching full speed it began discharging the laser fire towards Kidds X-Wing, just as the Defiance’s gunners finally found their aim and concentrated fire in to the ship.

The bomber exploded, but the pilots last ditch manoeuvre had stripped Kidd’s shields, the exposed X-Wing soaked up some of the impact from the exploding bomber and disappeared in to the fire ball, at the same time taking up some stray fire from the Defiance.

“Kidd! Kidd!” Twigs had seen the X-Wing plough through the debris field but was too busy to go check on the pilot. He’d already scored two kills but couldn’t leave Ari and Troy on their own.

“Ari, I think we lost him.”

Ari cursed and glanced down at the sensor sweep, but caught up in the furball he couldn’t make sense of the various blips on the screen.

“I’m ok…but my ships taken damage, I’m heading back to the Defiance.” Kidd’s voice crackled over the comm channel. Even through the electronic static the three pilots could hear alarms ringing in the background, indicating some serious issues for Kidd’s ship.

“Defiance to Kidd, you’ve lost half your lower left S-Foil. We’ll keep a path clear for you to RTB, hangar deck is clear, just drop it on the pad. What’s your status?”

“Environmental down, Astromech blown, limited control in pitch and yaw. No sign of fire but there’s smoke in here.” Kidd coughed in return and his breathing sounded shallow.

“Understood, fire team and medics on standby. Ari, keep them busy. Cooter, your team has done great work over there, time to drop the shields on that last frigate.” EvilGrins orders were received and confirmed with a burst of static from the remaining functional X-Wings as Kidd nursed his own ship back to the cover of the MC-75, its heavy turbolasers now pouring fire on the remaining Imperial escort ship, their powerful blasts splashing harmlessly against its shields.

“Ari, one on your six, I’m lining up a shot.”

Ari pulled his fighter in to a rolling left turn and grunted against the pull of the inertial compensators. The Tie Bomber behind him had opened fire and some of the shots struck, depleting the last of his shields and striking his canons.

“Troy take the shot!”

“Trying…not easy when you keep moving and he follows!”

“Yeah well, I kinda like living.”

“Pull right on my mark, 3, 2, 1…”

Ari followed the instruction and pulled hard right just as Troy opened fire. The X-Wing barely made it past Troy’s aiming point before the vivid red lasers flashed by. The Tie bomber pilot realised what was happening too late and intersected with Troy’s shots. It was able to soak up the damage but as he tried to reverse direction he momentarily stalled and Troy used the moment to open up with some barrage rockets which were enough to finish the bomber off.

There were now five bombers left for the remaining X-Wing pilots, not enough to tackle the MC-75 alone and no longer able to give support to the remaining frigate, the Imperial pilots decided to turn back towards the Retaliator, but not before one got a missile lock on Twigs. His Artoo burbled a caution even as the X-Wings own defensive suite startled howling a warning at the incoming projectile. He nosed the ship down hard and poured power in to the engines to gain speed before stamping on the yaw peddles, causing the front to swing round violently as he cut the throttle for a drift maneuver. The countermeasure suite was getting brighter and brighter as the LED indicators lit up, showing the proximity of the incoming threat. He piled back on the power, feeling the ship surge forward and pushing him hard back against the seat.

“Twigs, it’s a Goliath.” Ari identified the missile for his wing mate. Slower than a concussion missile but smaller than a torpedo, the Goliath missile packed a heavy punch and was designed to detonate on contact, even if that was a countermeasure. Passing that information on to Twigs could just save his life. “Troy, pull back and re-join Galleon flight. We’re no good if we get caught in the blast radius.”

Ari and Troy left the bombers to retreat back to the Retaliator as they turned to re-join Cooter and Galleon flight. Ari glanced back anxiously as the engines on Twigs’ X-Wing lit up once more, he was trying to coax more speed from the X-Wing.

Inside the cockpit a constant bleep bleep tone added to Twigs frustration as he threw the X-Wing in to another G-Force inducing spin. The inertial compensators that were supposed to recreate the pull of gravity in space bit hard, and Twigs could feel it as he fought to keep his head upright against the tug. The LED indicators crept up again, the missile was now within 300 meters. With a blast radius of 200 he didn’t have much time to act. Chancing a look towards the incoming missile, he caught the reflection from a Tie bombers solar panel. 250 meters?  Maybe….

The engines were already having maximum power pushed in to them and displayed a healthy amount of reserve energy. He used that to boost the ship towards the Tie Bombers and closed some of the distance, even as the warning indicator lit up again, 200 meters. He was in the blast radius now. With all the fighters power reserves being pushed towards the engines his shields were rapidly draining. If it went off he wouldn’t have much left in them to protect the ship.

The Tie Bombers flew in a diamond formation with one at the centre. Twigs picked a hole between it and the forward bomber and pushed on, hand on the throttle he was forcing it hard against the bulkheard, willing it to move another millimetre in the hope of getting more speed from the engines. The warning indicators final LED lit up, 100 meters, now or never. As the nose of the X-Wing drew level with the bombers formation he hit his countermeasures, blinding the Tie Bomber pilots in a mix of high speed Rebel fighter as it flashed by and sparkling chaff. The Goliath met the countermeasure cloud and did what it was designed to do, exploding in a massive blast wave that rippled through space, creating sound waves as it passed through pressurised hulls and enveloping the bombers and Twigs in a momentary fireball.

Troy whistled. “You think he..”

“I don’t know.” Answered Ari. “But if anyone could do it…”

The explosion dissipated almost as suddenly as it appeared, revealing one Tie Bomber split in half and drifting in space. The others looked in bad shape and were reforming on one another back to the Retaliator. Then Troy spotted it, an X-Wing just out past the debris field, a faint glow from its engines.

“I see his ship!” he cried, pointing it out to Ari before remembering he wouldn’t see him from the other cockpit.

“Twigs?” Twigs!” Ari was already cycling through the squads comm channels. “You there? Defiance we need a support ship out here for a retrieval mission..”

“He’s moving!” Troys voice interrupted as the engines on Twigs ship flared up a little brighter and started to push the ship forward. It looked in bad shape, missing both canons on the left hand side and a large hole had been punched through the right hand S-foils. Both pilots turned to form up alongside Twigs and check his condition, calling out to him over the comms trying to get a response.

“Twigs what’s your status?” asked Ari, drawing level with the cockpit of the damaged ship. He looked over to see Twigs, hoping to spot some form of response. From the other cockpit Twigs turned his head and raised an arm in greeting then knocked on his helmet.

“No coms?”

Twigs shook his head, then raised his arm again, clenched a fist and then circled it around.

“What? AH! Controls out?” Twigs nodded an affirmative.

“Ok, buddy. Defiance, yeah we’re going to need that retrieval. Twigs is alive but can’t get back.”

“Negative Ari. We’re still clearing the deck after Kidd had to drop and dump his ship and we’re about to engage with the Retaliator. Regroup with the rest of Green Squadron, Twigs can wait until this is over.”

Ari cursed and looked back at his squad mate. “Sorry man. You holding pressure?” Twigs gave a thumbs up. “Alright. We’re done here Troy, I’ll get the first ale when we get back ok Twigs?” From the other cockpit Twigs grinned and reached under the cockpits bulkhead, retrieving a small flask he popped the lid, raised it towards Ari in salute and took a long drink.

“You sumabitch! Yeah you’ll be just peachy!” Ari laughed and began to turn the XWing away from Twigs, not before he saw the other pilot light a cigar and exhale a grey cloud of smoke.

“War’s a bitch Ari. Catch you later.”