ITOD Home > Ghostly Happenings (X-Wing) > XWING - GH01

RS Intelligence had had an agent on the Kathol Sector planet of Charis for many years, a female Twi'lek named Quintar, who had successfully infiltrated the local criminal underworld. Her cover had been deep and a lack of contact was the usual, so it came as great surprise when Intelligence picked up on a message that she had discovered something so important that it had to be delivered in person. On attempting to leave the planet Quintar's cover had been blown and she was arrested by the local Imperial forces. She was now on her way to the Sector capital world under armed guard aboard the civilian CR90 Corvette Omicron. RS Intelligence had gone all out to get another agent aboard the Omicron with the skills and equipment needed to disable the ship; it was now adrift in space and busy deploying a dense minefield.

Mat sat in the briefing room of the MC80a Cruiser Windstorm along with the crew of the shuttle Rogue and a strike team from the Commando Division; Admiral Vandroth had the floor.

"We expect reinforcement will come in the form of the Imp Star Avenger, which is currently on patrol in the Sector. Time is of the essence. Mat - clear the minefield and then cover the Rogue while the strike team extract Quintar. The Rogue will arrive 210 seconds after you start your sweep; keep them safe. Rogue, Commandos - you know your tasks. Let's bring her home."

Mat's X-Wing exited hyperspace and he flicked the snubfighter's S-Foils open. "Compy," Mat instructed his astromec droid, "divert power from the drives and weapons to the shields. How many mines do you detect?" The message came back on the tactical screen: 60 and the Omicron was deploying more. Mat targeted the closest mine and dived into the field. The fire from the mines was intense; individually the laser fire was weak, but combined the mine's lasers were stripping the X-Wings shields faster than they could recharge. No matter how fast Mat took the mines out blasts were getting though the deflectors and hitting his hull. Mat toggled his defector shields to double aft and turned tail on the minefield. Round 1 was over and half the mines had been destroyed, but the X-Wing had taken a beating. Compy chirped from behind him, the strike team was inbound.

"Red Leader, this is the Rogue, we're still detecting mines, should we hold off?"

"Negative Rogue, begin your assault. I'll draw their fire." Mat shut off the comm link, "Compy, pump as much power into the shields as you can, it's time for Round 2."

Mat span the X-Wing around and targeted the mines closest to the assault shuttle, by working methodically and staying to the outside of the field his shields survived the laser onslaught until the last of the mines was destroyed. Rogue had docked with the Omicron and presumably Commando Division were inside, doing their thing. Mat waited patiently, flying loops of the conjoined craft while his shields and lasers recharged. An alert from the sensor suite announced a new arrival. "Uh oh," Mat said aloud, "here's the Avenger."

The Star Destroyer launched TIEs, Fighters and Interceptors and Mat sped off to meet them. The comm crackled to life, "Red Leader, this is Rogue, we have the agent and are heading to the nav buoy."

"Copy Rogue, I'll deal with our guests." Mat engaged the enemy fighters head on, but the concentration of their fire was too much and he had to bank away. While he was rebalancing his deflector shields the sensors squawked a new alert, a Nebulon-B Frigate had arrived and was launching X-Wings, none of them were transmitting an IFF code and it didn't look as if they were here to help.
The distraction would prove to be costly, while Mat had been scanning the unidentified craft a pair of TIE Interceptors had broken off from the skirmish and engaged the Rogue.

"Red Leader, Rogue, we're in trouble here! We're still 30 out from the jump, we're..."

A quad blast of green lasers pierced the shuttle's shields and through the transparisteel cockpit. The second Interceptor finished the job - the Rogue was destroyed.

"Sithspit!" Mat cursed. He slapped the S-Foil lever closed angrily. "Compy, plot us a jump out of here." Agent Quintar, the shuttle crew and an entire Commando squad were lost, along with the intelligence they carried.