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StarWars FanFiction
POV: Flight of the Raiven (III)
By Michael Rovardi
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"The man turned grey beneath his beard. The younger man, Dayne, spoke next, in a quiet voice. 'You're lying. Why would the Empire attack the convoy?'

"'I wish I was' I replied, and took a datapad from my pocket containing a copy of the sensor logs of the attack. 'I was hoping that you could tell me why it happened'.

"The bearded man took the datapad and activated it, while Dayne watched over his shoulder. After a minute or so, Dayne turned away in disgust and anguish, while the older man watched to the end of the recording. His knuckles turned white where he gripped the datapad.

"'Why?' He whispered 'Why did they do this to us?' A thought seemed to occur to him 'and how did you find us?'

"I briefly explained the backtracking I did through the mercenary's records. The elder man grimaced. 'They decided that the convoy would prove to be a tempting target passing that close to the Hilnamm Drift for pirates to ignore, so they hired a couple of ships to help protect them.'

"'Let's start from the beginning. Why weren't you part of the convoy?' I asked.

"'Most of the colony decided to relocate and start a new mining colony. A few of us decided we'd had enough of mining and we were going to set up elsewhere in a different business. We used our share to buy the ships out there' - he gestured towards the hangar - 'and we're going to head for Mantooine when we're ready. I've had some experience with flying a freighter, so I've become the effective captain of our little fleet. Dayne here is a navigator, he's my second in command. My name is Prennay, by the way.' he added, almost as an afterthought.

"'What was the last thing you heard from the convoy?' I asked. Dayne frowned, then answered 'One of the transports had some engine trouble. Rather than delay the convoy, the passengers were transferred to the mercenary's corvette and the transport turned over to the mercenaries as part of their payment. They transmitted a message just before they jumped from Nar Shadaa, telling us they were on schedule and that they'd contact us on Mantooine in a month or so.'

"'Ah.' I said 'The corvette. As you can see, the Empire captured the corvette while it destroyed the rest of the convoy. Who were the passengers transferred from the transport?'

Dayne walked around to the office's desk and fired up the inbuilt computer. 'Let's see. The transport was the Voyager VI, crew of 4, 40 passengers.'

"'Were any of them Jedi?' I asked, quietly. Both men looked up, startled. 'Of course not. What makes you think that?' asked Dayne.

"'Because of this' I replied, leaning over and touching a button on the datapad. The display changed to show the sensor logs of the lightsaber detected aboard the Quick Cred .

"'Lightsaber - Just a second. Dyla used to have one. Apparently, a distant relative was a Jedi - they were killed in the clone wars - and she inherited it. It didn't actually work, the lens was broken.' Then it dawned on him. 'Just a second. To detect this you must have been pretty close. You were there, weren't you? You're an Imperial!'

"I hesitated for a fraction of a second. This seemed to confirm it for him, and he dived at me over the desk, yelling 'YOU BASTARD!'

"I sidestepped his dive and knocked him hard on the side of the head as he flew past. He landed in a heap, dazed. I turned to the bearded man as he drew his blaster once more. 'Hold your fire.' I said, and then told him what had happened, about the mission, the arrival of the Executor, the observation and the return to the site. He seemed to believe me when I told him that I was no longer with the Empire.

"'If you meant us harm, I don't think you would have just wandered in here the way you did, would you?' He holstered his blaster and helped Dayne onto his feet. 'Go and help finish the loading' He ordered, firmly. Dayne glowered at me as he stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

"'Look,' I said 'If I could find you, so could the Empire. When I left Nar Shadaa, an Imperial Frigate had just arrived. If they took a few hours to find out where you are, they could be on their way here right now. My fighter is faster in hyperspace than a frigate, and I assume they want to keep what happened to the convoy a secret, so they'll come themselves instead of contacting a closer ship. Still, I had to take a roundabout route to get here to avoid trouble, something they won't have to do. They could be here very soon. You need to leave here as soon as you can. And I suggest you don't go to Mantooine - they might be waiting for you there if they interrogated the passengers aboard the Quick Cred.'

"Prennay nodded thoughtfully and walked back out into the main hangar. 'Are we loaded yet?' He yelled. There was a chorus of affirmative replies. 'Then get your families aboard your assigned ships now. No arguments.' The rest of colonists did not argue, and most left the hangar, heading in the direction of the living quarters. Prennay turned to me. 'Thanks for the warning. What do you think happened to the passengers aboard the Quick Cred?'

"'I know the Empire' I replied 'They'll have interrogated them, then executed them. This Dyla and all her family will have been closely investigated to make sure they weren't Jedi or talented in the Force, and then killed as well. I really am sorry.'

"Prennay looked like he was about to throw up. 'What are you going to do now?' He asked.

"'I'm going back to my fighter. How long before you take off?'

"'Less than half an hour' replied Prennay, 'particularly if I start yelling at people'

"'I'll escort you out of the system' I told him. 'I want to see you safely away from here'

"By the time I returned to the TIE Advanced and got her started up, the lights had gone out in the living quarters, and a short while later the hangar doors slid ponderously open. The shuttle left first, followed by the modular conveyor and finally the YT-2000. The lights inside the hangar turned off and the doors slid shut. The sensors in the TIE showed the power reactor in the main building slowly shut down. I lifted off and followed the ships into space."

"I assume the Empire turned up and tried to ruin everyone's day?" Drake inquired.

Raiven nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty close for a while, too. We were halfway to their jump point - only about 15 minutes out - when the Malevolent jumped insystem, less than 15 clicks away. I contacted Prennay aboard the conveyor and told him to make best speed while I slowed down the Imperials.

"The Malevolent began launching fighters. First came a flight of 6 TIE fighters - Theta Group - apparently they had decided that was all that was required for the remaining colonists.

"I had spent the time escorting the colonist's ships charging my lasers and shields, so I was as ready as I could be considering the circumstances. Arming my two functional laser cannon and linking their fire, I dived in on the TIEs. Their sensors apparently had me tagged as a possible friendly, and I ignored the comm calls to identify myself. A couple of clicks out, they decided that I meant business and the formation broke and scattered. I selected the flight leader as my target and vaped him with two quick twin blasts. His wingman went the same way a few seconds later. I'm sure they definitely didn't tag me as a friendly after that. The other two elements had circled behind me but I broke hard to port and went evasive. They got a couple of hits on my forward shields as I came around for another pass. Theta 3 took a twin blast to the cockpit as I dived past, and his wingman suffered damage and turned to return to the frigate. I couldn't press my advantage, though, as by that time Thetas 5 and 6 had looped behind me once more and were starting to pound on my shields. I ran towards the convoy, outdistancing the TIE fighters and turned for a head to head pass. There was enough shield energy to form a double front shield with a little left over to protect my aft. As the TIE bored in, I threw the Advanced into a Corellian Carousel - a looping, corkscrew approach that made me difficult to hit. The TIEs tried anyway, but I only took a few hits before levelling out and nailing Theta 6. TIE Fighters are manoeuvrable, but not as manoeuvrable as Advanceds. I out-turned Theta 5 and destroyed him.

"By this time, the frigate realised they'd need some heavier hitters, so the next launch wave consisted of the remaining 6 fighters of Theta Squad and 6 Bombers, Phi Group. I evened out and recharged my shields, and attacked the bombers, still under the Malevolent's guns. The problem with the bombers were the stronger hulls - I needed to fly straight and level for a couple of firing/recharge cycles to be sure of killing each bomber, but the remainder of Theta flight weren't going to let me do that and live.

"I set the cannons for single fire and made a strafing pass across the formation hitting about half but not seriously, with Theta group in close pursuit. I suddenly cut my throttle and turned to the right, too quickly for Theta 9, who took four bolts through his portside solar panel. The braking caught the rest of the group by surprise as well, but that didn't stop them snapping off shots as they overshot, almost eliminating the remainder of my aft shields. I throttled back up and linked my lasers again, then took out Thetas 11 and 7 as the group split up and headed off in all directions.

"I turned my attention back to the bombers. They were almost 3 clicks away now, and far too close to the colonist's ships for my liking. I redirected some laser energy to the engines and chased after them. They must have thought that the fighters were keeping me busy because they weren't manoeuvring as I approached. Phi 5 took 3 twin blasts and disintegrated as I slowed down. Phi 4 went next, trying to break away, but too slowly. I fired a couple of blasts at Phi 1, forcing him to breakaway, and Phi 3, who ducked off to the side but kept up his run. Then the remaining fighters of Theta group caught up with us. They cleaved through my aft shields and took out the newly repaired generator with them, forcing me to break away. Their sensors must have told them that my shields had failed, as they got cocky. Theta 8 overshot me in a turn and paid the ultimate price. Thetas 10 and 12 stuck together as they tried to get behind me, but again, the Advanced's manoeuvrability showed and the fighters were damaged. That was enough, I simply needed them out of the way while I concentrated on the bombers. The remaining bombers were almost inside firing range of the conveyor. I activated my concussion missile launcher and tried for a lock on Phi 6. Locked. Fired. Five missiles left - I hadn't got any more on Nar Shadaa, since I thought they might bring too much attention with them. Phi 6 died in a fireball as I gained a lock on Phi 2. We fired at the same time, my missile and his torpedo. Before he could launch a second torp, my missile caught him and took him out. I was now under a click from the remaining bomber - Phi 3, who was hull damaged but still going - so I switched back to lasers and finished him off before he launched a second torpedo, after his first at the YT-2000 Freighter.

"I signalled Prennay to warn him about the torpedoes. 'We noticed' he replied, his voice tight. The conveyor and freighter opened up with their turret guns, and luckily the Corellian ship managed to shoot down their torpedo. The conveyor was not so lucky, and the torpedo struck the conveyor above the engines. 'Dammit!' came Prennay's yell over the intercom. 'We're hit but not bad. The shields will hold until hyperspace. 3 minutes!'

"I closed the gap with the ships as we ran to escape the planet's gravity well. I watched the sensors but only the blips of the damaged Imperials - plus the Malevolent - showed. I realised that the frigate had only launched 18 fighters in total, not the 24 that a Nebulon B normally carried. I was pondering this when 3 larger blips appeared from the Malevolent's hangar. Stormtrooper transports. I turned quickly to the nav computer and punched in a few numbers. My initial fears were unfounded - the transports could not reach the colonists before they jumped to hyperspace. Unless, I realised, the colonists were delayed by something AHEAD of them!

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