The Hex Wing Series Chapter Three

 

As the Defiance and Green Squadron battled the Imperial frigates and bombers, the pilots of Grey and Blue Squadron were doing their best to clear a path for the Liberty through the squadrons of TIE Fighters and Interceptors that Karktiss had sent out from the Retaliators hangars. Although they packed less punch than the bombers, the TIE Fighters could still carry enough heavy ordnance to do some serious damage to the Liberty.

An Interceptor swept down to an empty spot in the huge furball and rolled left while pulling the nose up, closing in behind the A-Wing it had targeted. The pilot lightly touched on the throttle, adjusting speed to bring the nimble craft under tighter control as he steadied his aim, the targeting reticule lit up and he tightened his grip on the flight yoke, pulling on both triggers as he did so. The four heavy cannons at the tip of each triangular wing light up and spat a torrent of green hail towards the smaller A-Wing, stripping its shields and penetrating the canopy in a matter of seconds. He pulled up away from the debris and looked for his next target.

“Blue 6! Blue 6! Move!” Mitharan, Blue Squadrons Leader shouted the warning too late and cursed as he watched the interceptor score its kill. He banged his fist against the roof of the cockpit in frustration and locked the TIE’s ship ID in to his targeting computer, vowing to seek redemption for his fallen Comrade. The comms were full of chatter from the remaining pilots, all calling out targets or shouting for assistance. The space around him was a filled with the light of a thousand needles, red and green streaks of deadly light fired from a tornado of ships that whipped round each other again and again, all trying to gain the upper hand in a deadly game of tag.

On the Liberties bridge Scorer studied the tactical readout, wincing as Blue six’s indicator blinked off the readout. Their losses so far had been small, but each one had a deep impact on him. He’d risen through the ranks flying with many of the men and women out there and cared greatly for each of them.  The cruiser was continuing to try and get on the weaker side of the Retaliator, but it too was manoeuvring to try and keep its only working battery pointed towards the Alliance forces. Neither was in range of the other and Scorer could not risk opening fire through the dogfight outside for fear of hitting one his own pilots. He was almost in weapons range of the Starfighters melee though, putting his ship at risk of attack from the TIE’s.

“Gunners stand by, defensive fire only. Prioritize torpedo’s and watch out for our own.”

His orders went out and the Liberties gun crews jumped up, each turret on the ship swinging round and scanning for incoming threats. A trio of Tie Fighters peeled away from the furball and began their approach.

“Grey Leader, fighters heading for the Liberty.”

“Understood Mitharan, little busy here.” Sharper rolled his Y Wing hard right and flicked the boost barely missing the shots thrown in his direction. He activated the automated Ion Canon Turret behind him and levelled off briefly hoping to score some strikes. He was rewarded with the sight of an interceptor bowling past, as the cockpit spun round in his direction he could just make out the pilot frantically punching at buttons trying to restart the disabled craft. He reassigned the target to another of his pilots and checked the sensor screen in front of him.

“Rogue, take that trio of fighters. Mith I can’t spare anyone else.”

“Understood Sharper, Stardust help Blue 4 with those fighters.”

Each Squad Leader had committed a single A Wing to defend the Liberty from the three Fighters barrelling towards it. Fast and nimble, the A Wing would be able to close the distance quickly, but at the risk of overshooting the targets before it could get any real damage down. Its laser cannons lacked power compared to the other ship variants flown by the New Republics forces. If the two pilots inside were committing power to engines to close the distance, they would have even less in reserves to train on the Imperial ships.

“Stardust, what is your loadout?” Rogue asked the other A-Wing pilot as they broke out of the melee to hunt the TiES.

“I got 1 multilock left, no chaff and sensor jammer,” she replied, “you?”

“6 barrage rockets, 1 chaff and jammer also. Lets try to focus this one on the left.”

“Copy that Rogue, I have point, follow me in.” Stardust throttled up, the glow from her engines growing in intensity as powerful turbines spooled up and pushed her onwards. Rogue followed suit, tucking in behind her as the TIE Fighters drew closer. Up ahead, the fighter noted the A-Wings closing in on his own sensor screen and silently keyed for assistance. Two Interceptors received the call and peeled away from the main dogfight, shunting power from their lasers and in to the twin ion engines they began to gain distance on Rogue and Stardust.

“1200 meters, starting missile lock now, I’m going dark.” Said Stardust, activating her sensor jammer her ship disappeared from any sensor sweeps. Rogue did the same, the jammer would hide them for 3 seconds, enough time to close the gap on the Tie Fighters without giving them any idea which way to turn to avoid the fire about to be thrown at them. Stardust passed the 1000m barrier and opened up with her canons, getting only a short blast before they depleted their power reserves. Her last act before she pulled up was to launch a multilock missile at the craft, comprised of four smaller war heads there was a chance at least one would break through any counter measures launched by the Tie ships.

“I’m out, charging weapons.” She signalled Rogue. He grunted to himself and adjusted the power in his own A-Wing, slowing slightly but giving his weapon system a little more to try and get more shots on. “He has chaffed, no hit from the missiles. Firing now.” Rogue launched the last of his barrage rockets and poured lasers in to the fighter in front, the craft didn’t even register the hits and Rogue pulled up sharply as his own cannons reached the last of their energy reserves.

“Stardust, they have reinforced hulls.”

“Copy that Rogue. Liberty, heavy TIES in bound, we’ll do what we can.”

Scorer leaned over the tactical readout table in front of him and clenched his firsts tight, the cool surface under his hands doing little to cool the heat swelling inside of him. “Understood. Break off, the gunners will have to defend us now.”

Stardust and Rogue pulled away from the TIE Fighters as the Liberties anti-Starfighter batteries began to open up on the incoming trio. ‘Heavy TIES’ as the Alliance pilots called them were reinforced with specialised armour that allowed the Imperial craft to soak up more damage than a shielded X-Wing. They were tough but slow, although a capable pilot could make it dance as well as any stunt fighter. The two watched as the MC-75’s lasers reached out towards the TIE’s, who answered in return with a hail of blue shots.

“They’re running ions!” Stardust exclaimed.

“Shield strippers.” Rogue shook his head, “We should have followed them in.”

The Fighters followed up the ion laser shots with a rain of ion rockets and two ion missiles. One launched an ion Torpedo. Blinded by the dazzling blue splashes as the shots and ordnance reached their marks, the defending gunners didn’t see the torpedo until it was too late and the Liberties shields collapsed under the onslaught.

The two interceptors that had peeled off towards Rogue and Stardust reached weapons range and activated their own sensor jammers, at the same time pushing power reserves out of their engines and into the four laser cannons. Now overcharged, the weapons would deliver far more damage in a shorter amount of time and they both opened fire. The two A-Wings lost their shields and the two pilots reacted instinctively, throwing their ships in incredible manoeuvres trying to spot the threat.

“Stardust you have two!” Rogue keyed a warning to her as both interceptors decided to finish one target rather than split for a one vs one.

“I’m willing to share!” she answered, pulling hard on the stick trying to shake the two squints. A lock of hair slipped from under her helmet and across her face, She pursed her lips and tried blowing it out of her eyes rather than risk taking her hands off the controls. Rogue kicked his A-Wing round in a 180 degree drift and shot off towards the two enemy ships and Stardust’s defence.

The three heavy TIE’s that attacked the Liberty had soaked up a lot of damage but were still largely intact. Having launched their weapons they immediately split formation, forcing the gunners to separate their focus. Running with a full complement of ion weapons there wasn’t much they could do now to the MC-75 and so they turned tail and headed back towards the continuing dogfight. They could still deplete the shields from the Alliance fighters and give the rest of the Imperial forces the upper hand. Between them and the main melee lay Stardust and Rogue who were now focused on the two TIE Interceptors.

“Retaliator, Tu’Rus. Shields down on Priority target one. Now focusing fighters.”

On the Star Destroyers bridge, Karktiss heard the message and stared out of the transparisteel window towards the MC-75. “Range?” he asked.

“2500 meters to target one. 4000 to target two.” Came the answer from the pits that lined the central walkway along the ISD’s bridge.

“Fire main batteries.” Ordered Karktiss. The ISD immediately opened up with its four functional heavy turbolaser cannons. Packing eight barrels apiece, the weapons were designed for launching orbital strikes against planetary targets but were equally deadly in engagements against other ships. The massive shots tore through space and whipped through the tangling Republic and Imperial fighters, instantly vaporising 2 Y Wings and an Interceptor.

“God damn it!” Shouted Mitharan, “Who does that?!”

“Really? You need to ask that right now?” Asked Lando, pulling around to fire a snap shot towards a Tie Fighter that only moments earlier had dared launch a missile at him.

“Well, no, but they almost hit their own. I get wanting to kill us, but your own?”

“Snap out of it Blue Lead,” Sharper interrupted, “Rogue and Stardust need help.”

“Aye. Wait..Two more fighters heading for the Liberty!”

The three Fighters that had stripped the Liberties shields were now in weapons range of Rogue and Stardust and opened fire on the A-Wings with their ion lasers. At a further distance than the TIE interceptors it was much easier for them to get a shot off,  though it was difficult to track the fast little A-Wings and most missed their mark. Without shields, the ion lasers would disable the electronics and leave them drifting until they could restart. The Retaliators salvo blew past them as the three fighters split apart and joined the dance around Rogue and Stardust.

The Liberty rocked as the ISD’s battery fire finally landed and alarms immediately rang out accompanied by red warning lights. “Status!” called Scorer.

“No hull breaches, minor casualties only. Incoming fighters.”

“Thank you helmsman, get to sick bay. Jarakin, we’re getting lit up over here.”

“Scorer come about, I’ll put the Liberty between you and the Retaliator. Our shields can take the impacts.”

The Republics Fleet Admiral followed EvilGrins suggestion and gave orders to set the Liberty on a course towards the Defiance, the other MC-75 already coming about to close the distance between the ISD and Scorer. Mitharan and Lando were breaking off to try assist Rogue and Stardust who were doing their best to stay out of the path of stray shots as the Interceptors and Fighters around them jockeyed for position. Sharper was trying to catch the two Tie Fighters that had broken off towards the Liberty, but as the Alliance pilots broke off in to smaller skirmishes, the Imperial fighters edged closer and closer to the command ship. TIE Interceptors peeled back and forward chasing X’s and A’s away from Tie Fighters, trying to give them a chance to throw missiles and proton torpedoes towards the Mon Calamari Cruiser.

More shots from the ISD blew through the skirmishes and impacted on the Liberty, the portside shield generator buckled under the onslaught and the resulting explosion threw Scorer to the deck of the command bridge. “Jarakin!”

“Nearly there Admiral, hows the fighter screen?”

“Admiral incoming torpedos!”

“Gunners open fire!”

“Too close Sir, no target lock!”

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

Two proton torpedos slammed against the Liberties hull blowing shrapnel out to space but the armour plating held. The voice chatter around Scorer grew as departments reported in with damage and casualty reports. The comm crackled as the ongoing battle outside continued, screams as pilots finally succumbed to the Imperial onslaught. Scorer paled as he got to his feet and looked at the sensor sweep. Blue had lost two more pilots, grey three. The Imperials still held a two to 1 advantage, despite losing some to the Republic forces or Karktiss’s own foolish fire.

The dogfight had grown much closer now and every Imperial ship was within weapons range. The Alliance pilots were caught in a life or death choice between taking down fighters or attempting to shoot the ordnance now being fired towards the Liberty. Mitharan and Lando finally caught up with Rogue and Stardust. “Backups here, bring them towards us.” Mitharan pinged his position to the two A-Wing pilots, who were only too glad to turn on his position and boost in towards him and Lando.

“I got one, break now!” Lando shouted, the two A-Wings in front immediately peeled either side of him and Mitharan. Both of them opened fire on the pursuing Interceptors, each scoring direct hits, and causing the lagging TIE Fighters to break off their attack.

“Good to see you Lando!” Starduster called over the comm, “Took your time getting here!”

“Yeah, you’re looking a little slow there Mitharan, you need a push?” Added Rogue.

“Ah screw you,” laughed the Blue Squadron leader, “now cut the chat, we’re not out of this yet.” The four ships regrouped and switched back to help clear the Imperial ships from the Liberties perimeter.

The Defiance and Liberty finally gained distance on one another, the nose of the Liberty passing behind Defiance as the ISD Retaliator fired another salvo from the heavy turbolasers, the shots exploding against the Defiance’s shields but not passing through.

“Sir, shields at 85%.” Reported one of the crewman.

“Thank you. Ok Scorer, we’re taking the flak now. Can you get shields back up?”

“I’m told it will take another 20 seconds Jarakin, but we have lost one shield generator. We must do something about the Retaliator now!”

“Yes Admiral. Fighter group, take down the Retaliators shields.”

“Blue Leader to Blue Squadron, report weapon status.” Mitharan called out.

Sharper did the same “Grey Leader to Grey Squadron, report weapon status.”

Ari followed up with a check on Green Squadron, “Green Squadron this is Green Leader, who has Ion’s?”

Only three X-Wings on the rebel fighter screen had Ion torpedos left to throw out the ISD, the information was quickly relayed back to Scorer. “Pilots, make your run and take down the shields. Remaining fighters cover them, Y-Wing’s are to cover defence of Liberty and Defiance. Rebel and Imperial fighters swarmed around the MC-75’s like flies, but Kuki, Nomad and Be’efChiff were able to use the confusion to break away and head towards the Retaliator.

“Sir?” one of the Liberties helmsman tried to catch Scorers attention.

“What is it Ensign?”

“The Retaliator Sir, power is spiking. It’s spooling up its hyperdrive.”