The thrusters roared on Abie's fighter as the engines powered up. The fighter was ready to go when Abie climbed up into the cockpit. "All wings check in," Abie said into her headset.
"Can I be Cloud Two now that Twitch's fighter is gone?" McCart asked. His request was quickly declined. "Fine." He started. "Cloud Three checking in."
"Cloud Four checking in!" Nina shouted into her headset. The others cringed at Nina's loud squeaky voice screeching over the comm channel.
"Do you have to be so chipper, Nina?" McCart shouted back.
Before Nina could defend herself, Abie cut in. "Shush, you two. We have a job to do. I have sent the coordinates to your fighter's navicomputers. Follow me and we will make the jump."
Both of her officers acknowledged the command as Abie's A-wing broke away from the flagship. As she flew away from the ship, two more A-wing fighters could be seen exiting the hangar of the ship. Abie led the way with the others flanking either side of her. Once clear of the Insurgent, the three fighters jumped to hyperspace.
Abie closed her eyes as she prepared for the mission. A mission that shouldn't have even been necessary. If she had just been on Onderon when the Empire attacked, she could have done something. Abie couldn't help but feel responsible for what had happened. Instead of being there for her people, she had to be off helping Rhodes on his own escapade. While his job was a success, it ended poorly for Abie. It kept her away from her camp at the worst time, Twitch lost an arm, and Abie herself was shot in the leg, a wound that she was still recovering from. As much as she wanted to blame Rhodes, he did his best to keep everyone on their crew safe, often putting most of the risk on himself.
Before Abie could get too deep into thought, BO-Z issued a few beeps indicating their arrival. Abie's eyes snapped open as she put a hand on a lever in front of her. "Alright everyone, dropping out of hyperspace in three, two, one."
The three fighters simultaneously exited hyperspace. In their viewports they could see a small green planet in the distance with a couple of ships sitting in orbit. "Alright team, it looks like we have a rinky-dink hammerhead corvette being escorted by a Gozanti-class freighter carrying four TIE fighters. We need to go in hot and try to take out as many of their fighters as we can before they launch. Only fire on Imperial targets, even if the fighters attached to the hammerhead engage. They will not hit you."
Nina and McCart acknowledged the order and prepared for battle. Abie hit the thruster and her A-wing took off toward the enemy ships. Nina and McCart's fighters followed closely behind.
Abie's transponder began to beep, indicating an incoming message. Abie, unable to help her curiosity, let the message through. "Approaching vessels, change your course immediately or we will open fire. This is a diplomatic escort commissioned by the Imperial Senate." The voice on the other end had a frantic tone to which Abie of course ignored.
She closed the channel without responding and remained on a collision course with the Gozanti freighter. "Let them have it!" Abie yelled as the ships approached their target.
The cannons of the three fighters engaged and sent a volley of blaster bolts toward the fighters docked on the underside of the freighter. The bolts ripped through the hulls of three of the four fighters, destroying them before they could launch.
Abie and her squadron dove under the freighter swerving to avoid the falling debris. The final fighter dropped from the Gozanti in pursuit of the group.
"Split off!" Abie yelled.
McCart swerved left toward open space and Nina swerved to the right toward the Hammerhead. By now, two Y-wing bombers had detached from the Hammerhead with one following Nina and the other heading toward McCart. The last TIE fighter remained in pursuit of Abie.
"What's the plan, boss?" McCart asked once he realized that he had a Y-wing following him.
"I will keep this last TIE busy. You two start making runs at the Gozanti. Its guns aren't fast enough to hit us, and its shield won't be able to hold up forever."
Nina and McCart acknowledged the order, and both turned toward the enemy.
Nina was in the process of targeting the Gozanti when her radar began to beep. "The Y-wing is priming torpedoes! Aren't they on our side?" Up until now the Y-wings had just been sending sprays of blaster bolts way off the mark.
Before anyone could respond to her, the Y-wing fired. The torpedoes seemed to be heading at Nina at first but soon dipped down, sailing under her fighter.
The explosives impacted on the bridge of the Gozanti freighter. The explosion disintegrated the bridge, proving too powerful for its shields. The rest of the ship soon exploded and Nina, McCart, and the two Y-wings pulled off.
Before anyone could help Abie with the TIE fighter that was still following her, a single shot from the hammerhead corvette pierced the wing of the fighter causing it to spin out of control and explode.
Now that the firefight was over, the Y-wings ceased fire and took positions flanking the hammerhead. Abie, Nina, and McCart docked with the cruiser.
The three pilots of Cloud Squadron disembarked and met up in the main corridor of the hammerhead. They were met by a trio of people including two guards and an older man. The man was bald with a long white beard. He wore elegant clothing clearly showing he was someone of status.
Before he could say anything, Abie spoke up to say, "May I present senatorial attaché, Lance Varden."
The man let out a hearty laugh before taking a bow. "Much obliged, Lady Edge. As much as I would love to chat, I have already sent out a call indicating that the crew and myself have abandoned this 'doomed' vessel. Imperial reinforcements should be arriving shortly. If you could drop me off on the planet down there, I would be most appreciative."
Abie bowed to the man and took command of the ship and piloted down to the planet's surface. After they dropped off Lance and his crew, the Y-wings reattached to the hammerhead, replacing Nina and McCart's A-wings, which they returned to pilot. Abie remained on the transport as the group made for space. Once in orbit, the ships jumped to hyperspace to rejoin the rest of the fleet.
Twitch paced around the bridge of the Insurgent, grumbling under his breath. He was growing more and more impatient, waiting for the others to return. He had been Abie's right hand man ever since they formed their rebellion on Onderon two years prior. Now, he was the only one of the three officers not chosen for the mission.
While it was true that he was still recovering and his fighter was destroyed, he couldn't help but feel left out. Before he could get in his own head too much, a sensor beeped, indicating that ships were arriving out of hyperspace.
"It's about time," Twitch muttered under his breath. In the viewport, Twitch could see a hammerhead corvette with two Y-wings and an A-wing attached to it. Shortly after, two more A-wings could be seen emerging from hyperspace.
Nina and McCart's fighters landed on the Insurgent and were soon joined by the two Y-wings remotely piloted by BO-Z. Abie's fighter returned to its spot on top of the Insurgent. Once the smaller ships were situated, the two transports locked together.
Twitch chose not to move, instead waiting in one of the pilot's chairs for Abie to arrive. A few minutes went by before Abie waltzed into the room, followed closely by Nina and McCart.
"The ships any good?" Twitch asked as he turned his chair toward Abie.
"The hammerhead is pretty old, but it will work. Lance said fighters but all he brought were two bombers. You are welcome to make one of them your own as a replacement for your destroyed A-wing."
It wasn't as good as the A-wing, yet Twitch was still happy to have a ship to call his own.
"Now to get to business," Abie continued. "We need to decide what to do next. Now that we have reinforcements, we must be cautious in how we proceed." She looked around the group, seemingly requesting suggestions.
Nina was the first to speak up. "We have to go back to Onderon!"
"Are you crazy?" McCart quickly shot back. "The Empire will be there in full force waiting for us. We need to figure out a different plan. Perhaps help another planet?"
Abie put a hand on her chin and brought up a map of the galaxy on the holoprojector. "Intriguing option, McCart. The Empire controls most of the Galaxy, giving us many options for planets suffering under Imperial rule. But where to start?"
"Serenno?" McCart offered.
Twitch could be heard laughing from the back of the room. "You can't be serious. You think that the same rebel group that fought alongside Saw Gerrera against the Separatists would go and help one of the core worlds of the very Separatist Alliance that helped bring about the rise of the Empire?" While he was saying this, Twitch had walked over to the holoprojector and was now standing eye to eye with McCart.
The two were locked in a stare down when Abie finally chimed in. "Enough, you two. Twitch, back down and let McCart explain his reasoning. McCart, while he may be out of line, Twitch has a good point. All of us are from Onderon. We saw what the Separatists did to our people. So why should we help them now?"
McCart was first to back down, walking to the other side of the holoprojector. "I actually wasn't born on Onderon. Serenno is my home planet. I left shortly before the war and came to Onderon because your king chose to stay out of the whole mess. Once the Separatists broke the peace, I figured that was reason enough to join Saw's rebel group. Despite what you all think about the citizens of the former Confederacy of Independent Systems, they are suffering under Imperial rule just as much as former Galactic Republic citizens. By now, I hope y'all can see that neither side won the war. Nowadays, the people of Serenno are just like the people of Onderon."
Twitch's face softened. McCart had made a good point. Before Twitch could say anything, Abie cut back in. "I am inclined to agree with McCart, especially if these are his people. McCart, is there anyone on Serenno that you are still in contact with?"
The man simply nodded in response.
"Alright then. Shall we take a vote?" Abie continued. "All in favor of bringing Cloud Squadron to Serenno, raise your hand."
McCart quickly raised his, followed soon after by Abie's own hand. Abie looked around the room at the other two. Nina had both arms folded in front of her chest, showing no signs of changing her mind. Twitch on the other hand, had his hand half up, still struggling with his own decision. The rest of the room watched anxiously waiting for him to decide. Finally, he hung his head and raised his hand high.
"We can do more good there," He muttered under her breath.
Abie smiled and turned off the holoprojector. "Very well. We shall make for Serenno. Assemble the rest of the crew for an immediate briefing."
The three officers all saluted before leaving the bridge. Abie took a seat and waited for the room to fill with what remained of her rebel group.
Once everyone was assembled, Abie walked to the center of the room. "I will spare everyone the details and get to the point. After consulting with the rest of Cloud Squadron's leadership, I have decided that the best course of action is to move our operation to another planet, namely the planet of Serenno."
The news caused the people in the room to look at each other, whispering similar sentiments that Twitch had discussed earlier.
Once the murmur died down, Abie was able to continue. "I know this may be difficult for some of you, so I am giving everyone here a choice. Stay as a part of this group and fight the Empire on Serenno or we can arrange public transport for you to return to Onderon."
At first, no one in the room said a word. Everyone was waiting for someone else to speak. Finally, the same man that was doubting Abie earlier, requested to return to Onderon. After he spoke up, others began doing the same until over half of the group had opted to leave. In addition to Abie and her three officers, only eleven people remained.
Abie was disappointed that so few decided to stay but she was able to hide it well. "Very well. Those of you who wish to return to Onderon, will be allowed to do so. Those of you remaining with us will be split amongst the two transports as we head for Serenno. Effective immediately, Twitch will command the hammerhead corvette and I will remain in command of the Insurgent."
Twitch stepped forward at the mention of his name to the envy of the other two officers.
"Choose your team, Twitch. Leave Oster and Piik with me," Abie said as she took the two she named aside.
Piik was a green-skinned, female Rodian while Oster was a tall Bothan. The two saluted Abie before she explained their job. "You two are the best scouts we have in this group and I need to know of a safe spot where we can land our fleet for now. Take one of the Y-wing bombers ahead to Serenno. We will follow and go to the location you two select. Contact me when you have coordinates."
Oster and Piik acknowledged the order and scurried out of the room. Abie returned to the center of the bridge to see that Twitch had selected his crew. "Prepare your ship for hyperspace. We will leave once you and your crew are ready."
Twitch saluted and took his crew to the new ship. About an hour went by before Twitch contacted Abie over the commlink. "The Hammerhead Corvette is ready for departure, Cloud One. I think I am going to call her the Iron Stump."
"Whatever you say Twitch," Abie said as she detached her transport from his. "All ships, prepare to make the jump to hyperspace. Once we are in Serenno's orbit, we should have coordinates to land the fleet. All ships, jump in three, two, one."
As Abie finished her countdown, both transports accelerated into hyperspace, bound for Serenno.