Star Wars - Series Fan Fiction ❯ X-Wing Knight Squadron: The Battle of Endor ❯ One ( Chapter 1 )

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

 

 

STAR

WARS

 

The Galactic Civil War between the REBEL ALLIANCE and the GALACTIC EMPIRE has reached a critical breaking point, as the Knight Squadron receives orders to rendezvous with the Alliance fleet at Sullust.

 

Little do they know that the Empire has secretly been constructing a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star.

 

When completed, this ultimate weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Space was filled with explosions and laser blasts as a green and black-striped X-Wing dove over the hull of bulk freighter. Inside the cockpit, pilot Aidan Hunter grimaced as he watched the battle raging around the convoy that Knight Squadron and Y-Wing White Squadron had been escorting to Sullust to rendezvous with the Rebel Fleet. To their annoyance, they had been jumped by an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. Looking something akin to Star Destroyers, Interdictors were smaller and were distinguished by the quartet of gravity well generators spaced along its triangular hull. Thankfully, this particular cruiser only carried two squadrons of TIE fighters that were now harassing the fighters and convoy ships.

“This is ridiculous! Knight Squadron, sound off and form up! Start flying like you were trained!” Aidan yelled over the comm.

“This is Knight Two off your starboard,” answered a familiar voice. Aidan turned to the right and noticed the Blue and red-striped X-Wing of his XO Ru Murleen pulling up alongside.

“This is Knight Three flying toward you,” answered Cmdr. Merrick Sims.

“Knight Four off your port stern,” answered Ixgil, a new pilot in the squadron.

“Knight Five standing by,” said Halin Yuy.

“Knight Six above you,” announced Triton Doran.

“Knight Seven standing by,” said Duo Maxwell.

“Knight Eight standing by,” said Kellis Wessiri.

“Knight Nine standing by,” said Chang.

“Knight Ten, standing by,” said Lara Petothel

“Rargh!” roared Sovach from his cockpit, which the other pilots' computers translated as, Knight Eleven standing by.

“Knight Twelve standing by,” said a sultry female voice that belonged to Xandris, another new pilot.

 

Taking a moment to make sure that his squadron was all there, Aidan looked out across the convoy at the TIE fighters dogfighting with the Y-Wings.

“Hang on White Squadron we're coming in!” he said. As one the X-Wings dove toward the TIEs. The Knights tore into the melee, lasers shredding eyeballs. There was a cheer over the comm. from the beleaguered Y-Wing pilots as the Knights scattered the remaining eyeballs like billiards.

“Knight Leader, this is White Leader. If you can handle the remaining TIEs, we'll try and drive off the Interdictor Warden.” However, as soon as White Leader said this, another White Squadron pilot broke in.

“Contact! Large contact coming out of hyperspace! Bearing 227 mark six!”

Soaring over a Blockade Runner, Aidan and his flight looked towards the direction that the pilot had indicated as a vast, dagger-shaped hull burst out of hyperspace. As the shape resolved itself, the blood that had been roaring through Aidan's veins froze into ice.

“Oh stang…” he whispered, “A Super Star Destroyer.”

All of 12,800 meters in length and possessing enough weaponry to annihilate an entire planet's surface by itself, the SSD terrified planets beyond the capability for resistance. This also happened to include Rebel combat units. The lead ship of the class, the Executor turned a Rebel outpost into black glass and slag on its first mission without having to launch its fighters. It then arrived at Yavin to harray the evacuating rebels. Well did Aidan remember that as he had been there, flying with the surviving pilots of Yavin Base. And now a Super Star Destroyer had arrived here of all places. For a moment, Aidan just stared at the impossibly huge dagger-shaped ship hanging 500 kilometers from the convoy. Then his brain went back into combat mode and he began to formulate a plan. If they didn't take out that Interdictor, the SSD could chew them up at its leisure.

“Executor-class Star Destroyer Aggressor identified,” announced a tremulous voice.

“Detecting fighter launch!” came the voice of another White Squadron pilot, “Reading six eyeball squads, two squint squads, two bright squads, and two dupe squads.” Said another pilot.

One hundred forty-four fighters. More than enough to chew the convoy to pieces without the Aggressor even firing a shot. Aidan swung his X-Wing around to face the Interdictor.

“White Leader, Golden Way, listen up! If we want to get out of here with our lives, we need to take out the Warden. Knights, we'll torp the cruiser first and soften up the remaining fighters. Whites, you finish what we start with torps and ion cannons. All convoy ships, you can take some shots at the warden if you want, but other than that ignore it and head out! Everyone understand?” A chorus of acknowledgments flashed across his screen as Aidan led the twelve X-Wings of Knight Squadron on a run towards the Warden. As they approached, the cruiser began firing its turbolasers at the fighters in an effort to destroy them before they could fire their proton torpedoes.

“Shields double-front! Transfer laser power to shields,” said Aidan as he juked and jinked his fighter to dodge the turbolaser blasts. His R2 astromech, R2-X2 or Ecks, squealed in protest.

“Hey if you didn't want to come you could've stayed behind,” he remonstrated.

The Knights drew closer to the Interdictor, its turbolasers, meant for capital ship battles, not able to accurately target the oncoming X-Wings.

“Ecks, link the others targeting computers to mine,” said Aidan.

Ecks tootled an acknowledgement and Aidan's targeting screen lit up, indicating the links with the eleven other fighters.

“Knights spread out and prepare to fire!”

The other starfighters moved away from Aidan, making it even harder for the cruiser's gunners to target them. Centering his HUD on a spot between the four gravity well domes, Aidan waited as the targeting computer beeped, locking onto the target. As soon as it turned red and the tone became steady, he pushed the thumb trigger for his torpedoes. At the same time he said, “Fire!”

The comm. came alive with fire reports as 24 torpedoes streaked out across space and slammed into he Warden's shields. The shields flared bright and then collapsed the reactor unable to stand up to the strain of powering the gravity wells and the impact of the torpedoes. The Knights skimmed over the surface of the Warden peppering its guns with laser blasts, however the real crushing blow was yet to come. The Warden's gunners had been so busy aiming at the Knights, they had forgotten the Y-Wings. The Y-Wings may have been old and slow, but they could still pack a punch. Two-dozen more torpedoes flew out from White Squadron and impacted on the domes, stitching them with bright explosions. Another advantage of being slower than the Knights was that the Whites were able to launch a second salvo and follow it up with their ion cannons. As if that weren't enough, some of the freighters, mostly the Corellian YT transports, launched concussion missiles at the Warden.

Aidan rolled over at stared up through his canopy at the blackened top hull of the Warden. Smirking he swung his fighter around and joined up with the other Knights.

“Gravity wells are down Captain. We can go to hyperspace as soon as the convoy is clear,” said Ru Murleen.

“Waiting on your orders Captain Tang,” said Aidan to the captain of the freighter Golden Way, lead ship of the convoy. Taking a moment to gaze back at the imposing form of the Aggressor, Aidan smiled to himself.

“Too little too late Aggressor.”

“All craft, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark,” came Captain Tang's voice, “3, 2, 1, jump!” Aidan pulled back on the lever on the top-left of his console and the stars lengthened into white hot lines and then the swirling tunnel of hyperspace swallowed him, the Knights, the Y-Wings, and the convoy just as the TIE fighters from the Aggressor reached them.