The enveloping swirl of light narrowed quickly in to pin point stars as A Little Luck dropped out of hyperspace. The remainder of the trip had been uneventful. Pax Gerrig even managed to get enough sleep to synch with the local-night day cycle of Abridon. From this distance the emerald forests and swirls of clouds on the cerulean planet spoke words of peace into the void of space.
“Looks like a nice place to visit,” he said to himself, but the astromech tootled a happy whistle. Pax rolled his eyes at the droid. “What do you think they have down there for food? I was hoping for some-“ Pax trailed off when he saw the Dreadnaught class cruiser pouring gouts of energy into Republic ships. Bright green and red lances of plasma lanced between the vessels as both sides scrambled to launch their starfighters into the fray. A savage smile burned its way from between Officer Gerrig’s lips.
“Astro droid, what is your designation?” Pax shouted over the adrenaline dumping into his veins. The letters T5-R4 flashed to the screen with a questioning chirp. “Well, Tee-five, todays the day you became a warrior.” He flipped the switch to activate his deflector shields. “I want you take control of the tail gun and blast any Sith fighter that starts tailing us. Also, start the arming process for the fusion torpedoes. I want two ready within the next thirty seconds and the remaining four ready to follow them.” The integrated droid sounded baleful in its new responsibilities but the words <Yes, master,> made their way to the display terminal. “None of this master bantha poodoo. Unlink the blaster cannons. I’m going to need rapid shots with those fighters.” <Yes, sir.>
He thumbed a button on the control stick and activated his helmet mounted mic. “Attention, Republic blockade cruiser, this is Investigator Gerrig. Requesting the remnants of your fighters to form up on me. I have an idea that just might save some of us.”
“Gerrig, this is… well I guess Captain Dalton now. Form up on Nexu Squadron over the remains of blockade cruiser Bastion while we jettison the pods.” Pax could hear the fear in Dalton’s voice even through the garbled comlink. “Transmitting the frequencies and transponder codes, Investigator.”
As his approach vector brought him closer to the cruiser, great gobs of what had been molten armor plating formed a cloud of debris. The broken spine of the cruiser erupted under another volley from the Sith Star Dreadnaught. A gout of flame and pulverized cots burst from what must have been the barracks. Almost instantly the fire died away and cots lazily flew past A Little Luck to be collected in some distant gravity well. Two of the original four Republic fighters fought desperately to contain the Sith and prevent them from blasting the jettisoned escape pods. As soon as Pax piloted his shuttle within range, T5 painted five targets on screen.
“Tee-five, select the two Sith starships closest to planet side and lock the torpedoes onto their signature. Nexu Squadron,” he rocked as a Sith cannon bolt grazed his forward shield, “engage the targets planet side. Keep a distance but light ‘em up with blaster fire.” A clicked acknowledgement keyed over the comlink as T5 began a 2.3 second countdown to weapons lock. The droid droned a low pitched hum, indicating that A Little Luck’s targeting sensors had locked on a split second before Pax trigger the torpedoes. Bright pink comets of energy traced their way toward the Sith fighters as they juked away from Nexu’s blaster cannons.
Pax Gerrig settled into the hunt and turned his attention to the next pair of fighters just moments before the torpedoes found their quarry. He bellowed predatorily as he settled into the hunt. “Nice shooting Nexu!” he keyed over the mic. More debris and energy pummeled his craft. “Just three more fighters to go before we can take the fight to that Dreadnaught.”
An immediate hush fell over the battlefield and the Sith Starfighters disengaged. A curtain of energy tore into one of the Republic Starfighters on his starboard flank. The second disintegrated in a vapor cloud with his port side stabilizer under fire from the Dreadnaught’s battlements. A cold lump filled his stomach as he became the prey. He pulled a tight turn and spun back to the planet. “Tee-five, shunt all energy to aft shields. Randomize a two percent adjustment to my evasive maneuvers until we get within two seconds of the atmosphere.” The same baleful moan from the droid filled the speakers in his helmet. “Contact Dalton, Rorwoor, or anyone else with the taskforce and find me a rendezvous. Things are about to get bumpy.”