Date: 44:2:32 Time: 0700 Hours

Major General Chris Earthkeeper was still rubbing sleep from his eyes as he triggered his Y-Wing's hyperdrive. Despite his half-dead state, he could still recall what Gavin Phalon, Gold CO, had said in the briefing 3 hours ago.

"I'll keep this short and sweet, guys; There's a spy aboard the Windstorm. He managed to escape capture and has somehow disabled their hanger, so they can't launch any fighters. That's why we've been called on, we're the only ones that can patrol around the Windstorm in case they get attacked. Believe me, it's more than likely given how the WG Imps have been able to attack us with such precision. We have to do this until they are relieved by the Angelfire from Retribution Wing."

At this point there had been an almighty yawn from Gold 3, Gavin Starseeker.

Gavin continued without pause, regarding Starseeker with a raised eyebrow. "We're going out in Y-Wings this time, in pairs. We need to in order to disable any enemy ships that might be holding the spy. Seeks and myself will be in the first wave, Gold-Alpha. Gold-Beta will be Earthkeeper and Stalks. Gold-Gamma will follow up after that with Ace and Sav. Then me and seeks again and so on. Needless to say, we need to identify any unknown ships that arrive in the area and destroy any attacking forces."

The briefing finished, everyone rose and headed for the hanger bay, although not entirely quickly thanks to the unusual time. Gavin trooped after them with feigned cheerfulness, although he was as tired as the rest of them. "Let's do this, everyone; I promise I'll secure some stims for free when you get back!"

Chris was jolted out of his thoughts as the ship lurched out of hyperspace. Despite his training, the transition felt like his head had been smashed against a brick wall. He shook his head to clear it as he checked his screens. Nothing much seemed out of place as he watched; the Windstorm sat just a few kilometres ahead with a freighter, the Lorin, sat nearby. Lower down and to starboard, Gold-Alpha flight flew in his direction to head back to the McGrath.

"Control, this is Gold-Beta 1, have arrived successfully at the destination. Nothing new to report."

"Understood Beta 1. Proceed with patrol. Gold-Gamma will relieve you in 20 minutes."

Thank God for that, Chris thought, as his head gave a slight throb as the transmission terminated. He hailed the outbound Y-Wings.

"EK here, boss. Did we miss out on anything?"

It was Gavin who responded. "Not a thing, EK, although you might have something. I've been informed by PBF SO Macman that an aid convoy will arrive soon in response to the distress call they sent a few hours ago. You'll need to identify them so we don't have any surprises."

"Understood, Gav, I'll get in a few shots for you if something kicks off."

It was Seeks who responded next. "You better, Chris, 'cause believe me, I was a bit tired of hearing the Windstorm complain of me using their engines for target practise."

Chris smiled at this before terminating coms.

Turning his attention back to the controls, he aligned himself with the preset patrol route and accelerated to the correct velocity. Even in his modified Y-Wing, there was barely enough room to put his feet up for a quick nap. He'd have to see the crew chief back at the ship about that.

But barely a few minutes had passed before several red blips had appeared on his scope. Chris growled in annoyance as he scanned the screen. Assault Gunboats in bound, 6 ships.

"EK, we've got contacts. 6 gunboats. Estimated time to intercept, 3 minutes." Brigadier General Stalker's voice was tinged with excitement as the enemy ships rushed at the Y-Wings.

"Okay, Stalks, let's do this. You take one group, I'll take the other."

He pumped laser energy into the shields before turning towards the gunboats. Despite his lack of sleep, adrenaline instead took over as the two sides raced towards each other like charging Nerfs. As they flew, Chris noticed that only one group was making for the Y-Wings.

"Stalks, looks like some of them are heading for the cruiser. You go after them, I'll take on the gunboats that attack us."

"Roger, EK. Let's go for the Gold!!"

As the ships clashed, Chris had never felt better in his life. This was where he belonged.

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PBF CO Joshua Hawkins surveyed the bridge as the Y-Wings and Gunboats clashed on the cruiser's starboard side. He had no doubt of who would be the victors as the ships flew in their dance of death.

"All weapon batteries, enable counterfire procedures. Destroy any enemy ships that get nearby."

The gunnery officer repeated his words to the turrets in a clear voice as the battle continued. Every so often a gunboat or two would get within range, only to be smashed to pieces by the accurate fire of the cruiser's weapons. Josh watched the plot table with the look of a predator stalking his prey as the green and red dots swirled in mid air.

A call from the sensors officer jerked Josh out of his reverie.

"Sir, incoming contacts. 5 ships; one freighter and 4 transports. Transports answer as Mercy group, freighter Xpress. According to their cargo manifests, they carry supplies and medical equipment. But there are some anomalous readings from the transports."

"Understood, Major. Comm, give me a line to the convoy."

Seconds later, the comms officer turned to Josh and Macman. "On line 3."

Josh held up his comlink. "Aid convoy, this is the Windstorm. Glad to have you here. Transports Mercy, you can dock aboard here. Xpress, Freighter Lorin is ready to recieve your cargo."

"Understood, Windstorm. We'll be there ASAP."

Josh made a signal to the comms officer to mute the connection. "Give me the Y-Wings."

There was a slight pause. "Line 2 ready."

"Gold-Beta flight, this is CO Hawkins. The aid convoy has arrived, but we can't confirm their cargo. Identify them at all costs."

"Understood, Windstorm, though we're a bit busy over here..." The transmission was plagued by static as laser bolts seared through space around the small fighters.

"Just do the best you can, Gold. Hawkins out."

He motioned at the comms officer to restore the connection to the convoy. "Sorry for the delay, Xpress. YOu may proceed with your mission."

"Roger, Windstorm. We'll be in and out before you know it."

As comms terminated, Josh wiped his forehead of sweat. Had it suddenly gotten warmer in here?

Suddenly the sensors officer spoke up, his voice tense with excitement. "Sir! New contact. It's frigate sized and heading this way. Estimated contact in 4 minutes!"

Josh looked up at the viewports. Even without the aid of the sensor arrays, he could see what would happen. "That's not the Angelfire is it?"

"Negative, sir. It's not on a collision course, but they'll be in range soon."

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Chris threw the Y-Wing in a savage turn and pumped steady laser fire into the last gunboat attacking him. The hard light pierced the ship like a pin cushion, causing large plumes of fire to erupt from the tortured hull of the ship. Finally it exploded, flooding the Y-Wing's cockpit with harsh yellow light.

As he blinked to clear his vision, he turned towards the newly arrived convoy. He drained the lasers of energy as he increased the engine throttle. He cursed with annoyance as a replacement flight of gunboats materialized behind him. He was not terribly surprised as his astromech droid screeched a warning: missiles incoming.

He switched shields to double rear as the small projectiles homed in.

"Artoo, give me more power!"

There was a complaining beep as the droid worked overtime. But it was not enough as the pair of missiles smashed into the Y-Wing, penetrating the shields with ease. One engine broke entirely off as the ship was knocked askew. Despite the devastating strike, Chris was still conscious as several displays died and sparks were thrown about the cockpit. He managed a look out of the cockpit windows and saw that he was on a direct collision course with one of the transports.

With a resigned sigh, he reached for the ejection controls. He braced himself as the cockpit blew open and the sudden launch flung him out into open space. Flailing in zero gravity within his vacuum suit, Chris was able to shield his eyes just in time as the crippled Y-Wing smashed into the transport, consuming both in a fiery explosion.

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"Sir, one of the transports has been lost when the Y-Wing crashed into it. The others have docked safely. Freighter Xpress will dock with the Lorin in two minutes."

"Understood. Hanger bay, if you've got any transports ready, launch on a rescue and recovery mission. Locate Gold Pilot Chris Earthkeeper."

The answer was prompt but plagued with static. "Roger, command, but it will be a few minutes; we're still trying to clear debris and put out fires down here. There is still one transport undamaged, so don't worry, we'll save him."

Josh breathed a sigh of relief before turning his attention to the viewports again. The enemy frigate was just about in range. As he watched, a barrage of turbolaser fire was unleashed at the cruiser.

"All batteries, return fire! Defend the ship!"

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Agent Durvan Yar watched from his hiding place within the cavernous hangar bay. Although it was hours since he had destroyed the fuel tanks, the bay was still a scene of devastation. Fires still burned on several fighters while others had already been reduced to scorched and twisted metal. Smoke hung everywhere; the ventilation system must have been knocked out as he ducked low to avoid suffocation. He risked another glance at the bay, but was instead knocked flat on his back.

One of the X-wings exploded as a fire ignited its fuel lines, flinging debris about the bay as snow is thrown in a blizzard. Crewmembers fighting the fires were smashed down or set on fire as the space where the fighter was became engulfed in flames. This brought even more people into the bay as they dragged the injured and dying out, or began fighting the fires.

Picking himself up, Durvan stood up and tried to look for the transport he had seen, fueled and as yet undamaged by the fires. He instead snorted in exasperation as he failed to see the transport. But even as he prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible, he saw three transports move into the docking bay and touch down.

Masked men charged down the loading ramps and began assisting the crew in putting the fires out. One team however instead stood guard around their transport, seemingly oblivious to the events around them. Durvan barely had time to wonder what that meant when his personal comlink suddenly beeped.

"Agent Yar. We are here to extract you. Go for the third transport."

The no-nonsense voice Durvan recognised as a member of his organisation. With relief he gave one last glance at the hangar bay. Everyone was too busy to care what was happening.

Without another thought, Durvan charged across the bay for the transport.

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Stalker, flying Gold-Beta Two, was too busy fighting off the gunboats to care about the loss of Chris and his Y-Wing. He took down another enemy fighter before taking a breather from the fighting; no more gunboats were attacking him at the moment.

"Windstorm, this is Beta Two. How's Beta One?"

There was no response. Concerned, Stalks peered at his scope. He couldn't tell if the small blips around the big ones was debris, or a flee floating pilot. He shook his head clear; if he didn't keep fighting then more people might die. He turned the battered Y-wing towards the enemy frigate. It was still trading blows with the cruiser as it flew through space, passing just below the larger ship. He switched to torpedoes and began locking on, but then stopped as the frigate accelerated, before disappearing in a bright flash in the distance as it engaged its hyperdrive.

Annoyed, Stalks turned towards some more gunboats incoming. He was relieved to see a transport exit the hangar bay of the cruiser.

"Beta Two, this is Transport Sprint. We've spotted Major General Earthkeeper and are proceeding with recovery operation. He should be fine."

Relieved, Stalks flew at the gunboats with renewed vigour. Even as they began firing on him, he dodged and weaved through their barrage with ease. Returning fire, Stalks easily overwhelmed one gunboat, shearing off an engine to leave the remains drifting in space. As he turned towards the next target, he was puzzled to see another transport launch from the Windstorm. The comm system crackled into life as he watched the transport accelerated away from the cruiser.

"Beta Two, this is the Windstorm. That transport did not have authorization to launch, repeat no authorization. We believe it may be attempting to escape with the spy. Disable it at all costs; Transport Sprint will capture him."

"Understood Windstorm."

Turning to the transport, he armed his ion cannons as he dove toward it. The gunboats had renewed their attack, but he ignored them as he kept the Y-wing on a steady cause, ignoring the near-misses and impacts of lasers on his shields. Finally the transport was in range; Stalks hammered the firing studs. Ice blue bolts impacted the transport, overwhelming its shields to splash against the ship. The engines flickered and then died as power surges snaked their way around the ship.

"Windstorm, target is disabled. Repeat, target is dead in the water."

"Excellent work, Beta Two. Relieving forces should be arriving any moment now."

With that, Stalks rejoined battle with the gunboats.

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Durvan waited dispassionately as the transport shuddered under the ion attack, before the screens, controls, even the lights went dead. He knew what would be coming as the transport slowed to a stop as he turned to the ceiling hatch. There was a slight thud as another ship latched on from above.

"Surrender is betrayal"

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Aboard the Windstorm, the sensors officer turned to Josh.

"Incoming contacts, sir. One frigate and two Y-wings. Looks like our reinforcements."

"Excellent, Major. Signal the Angelfire and inform them that they will need to send repair teams over at the earliest opportunity. Also, inform Gold Beta Two that his relief has arrived; I bet he'll be happy about that."

"Aye, sir." came the snappy reply.

Josh then turned to Macman. "I think this calls for some sort of celebration, don't you, Mac?"

"Indeed, though perhaps later. We're not finished by a long shot. Whoever that spy works for, it's likely we're going to meet up with them again soon enough...."

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Master Buran Islan watched expressionless on his monitor. The monitor was connected to a powerful hyperspace relay beacon, linked to small cameras aboard every ship that his organisation owned. He watched as the aid convoy he had sent arrived, the destruction of "Mercy 2" by collision with a Y-wing, the rescue attempt and then the "Mercy 3", or Falchion, had been disabled and captured. He knew what this would mean for Agent Yar aboard the transport as it returned to the Rebel cruiser.

One of his men entered the room, concealed deep within the compound, planetside.

"Master, Agent Yar has been captured. Do you want the usual protocol to be carried out?"

Buran mused for a minute or two while the lackey waited. No agent must be left alive in the hands of the enemy; their secrecy must not be revealed.

"No. Instead, monitor the Rebel cruiser. Agent Yar is resourceful and loyal to the extreme. I have no doubt that we will be able to call upon him again."

"Apologies, Master, but is that wise? YOu remember what happened to..."

The lackey got no further as Buran drew his blaster and fired in one swift motion, hitting the man opposite him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground, groaning and clutching his wound as blood began to seep out.

"If he should break, then he will die. I have not forgotton our methods and protocols, though you seem to have forgotton them; never question your superiors again. I believe that Yar will be able to serve us again in the future."

With that, he hauled the man up roughly by his wounded shoulder, eliciting fresh moans of pain as Buran motioned for him to leave. The lackey staggered out, as Buran settled back into his plush chair and regarded the monitor, now blank as the last of the White Guard fighters were mopped up. The plan would go ahead as before, but with one slight change.

Stop Gold Squadron.

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