The Rebel Faction

Daren and the others came in bound, the squadron moving in perfect unison with each other, peering down at the civilian banquet hall. It was an awful devastation, with flames, rubble, and bodies discarded and sorted in an awful manner.

"That is an awful appearance there...Rogues spread out and begin searching for any signs of Chimeran craft and get ready for an ambush," Daren insisted, inverting his X-Wing and moving in for the docking bay. There were hundreds of transports now trying to flee Taloraan in fear of another Chimeran attack.

"Taly you ok over there?"

"Sure boss," she responded immediately. Daren simply nodded and pivoted his X-Wing in a downward spiral toward the docking bay.

"Ok Roguse, I'm gonna' check via ground, you guys give air cover," he ordered. Moments later, the X-Wing Rogue Leader, was docked.







Rogue Seven was taking a cocky lead to the front, trailing the Interceptors and Bomber not at all cautiously. He was trying to win over Rogue Three was the problem.

"Hey Taly, check this out," he gloated, doing a quickly barrel roll then a loop de loop.

"Shut up and maintain radio silence Rogue Seven," she scolded, trying to hover around the moon's ever growing shadow. There was a large asteroid that seemed to be moving at an ever increasing speed inbound for the planet.

Warmaster Zhin Dwamor had orchestrated everything perfectly, and now the Republic had sent one of their more elite squadrons of star fighters to investigate the issue, all was going nearly too well. According to the villip and radio messages, Rogues Seven and Three were being hit very hard by the TIE Interceptors the criminal Chimeran Syndicate had provided him. Did they reailze he was transmitting their own IFF codes?

However, his grinning was forced to be cut short as the horrendous roar of an X-Wing's quad engines as Rogue Leader - indicated by the lack of stripes on its s-foils - drooped into the snug chamber of the docking bay. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> What is HE doing here?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Zhin hissed mentally, but trying to keep his face cool.

Zhin walked back to the bay, hand slung over his belt and holding the long vibro blade tentatively. "Who are you and what brings you here in that star fighter?" he demanded, trying to play dumb. Daren, now throwing his helmet into the hands of one of the eager crewmen trying to set up for his landing, looked up to see the Warmaster and quirked an eyebrow.

"The name's Cdr. Trevelan, can I help you?" Rogue Leader scoffed, throwing his hands up innocently.

"So......" Zhin began, slightly trailing off into thought. "You were sent by the Republic I'm assuming?" Daren merely nodded and began to turn.

"Is that a problem?" he requested, brushing himself off.

Zhin narrowed his eyes. "No....I just wnat to see to it that these terrorist bastards are caught."

"I see...do you have any information on the situation...or do you know who I can talk to to get more info?" Daren asked trying to make sure he got every aspect of the investigation under way.

"Of course...I am the new chancellor, I was there for the bombing!" Zhin exclaimed as if shocked and apalled, this rewarded him with a tragicly shocked face from the pilot. He knew he'd stepped over his boundaries now and the guilt was spread all over his face.

"I apologize, please, tell me all that you know Chancellor Zhin," he quickly said back trying to recouperate for his "emotional damage" he'd caused.

"Come with me, we shall drink on it," Zhin requested, positioning himself next to the pilota nd leading him inbound to the bar area, all the while the Yuuzhan Vong playing Chancellor explained the details of what had happened...with a few adjustments of course, like that a Chimeran soldier had been with an Imperial official in the banquet hall moments before the chancellor's choking. Daren was so absorbed in the entire conversation he did not realize what was happening.

Atalya breathes a shorth sigh of relief as the hail of laser fire surrounding her ceases for the moment. She closes her eyes and hopes that her heatbeat might soon return to normal. Atalya then switches on her comm link to her astromech droid and prepares for the bad news.

"R2. Give me the damage report."

Atalya groans in dismay as the redout prints onto her display. Every system on her X-Wing being either damaged or destroyed save for her sublight engines and her auto-ejection system.

"R2. How long will it take to repair the shields?"

With several beeps and clicks, the R2 unit reports it will take over a quarter of an hour to get the shields back online. With a glance at her RADAR, Atalya remembers that her sensors are destroyed, the panel itself even being blown out. She sighs and estimates that the TIEs will catch up to her long before her shields are back online. She slows her X-Wing down, trying to decide what to do next, knowing that she hasn't long to decide before the Interceptors overtake her.

Atalya hits her console in frustration at her damaged craft and gives the photo of Daren a sorrowful glance. She reaches out and gently touches the picture, wondering if she will ever see her commander again.

"I'm sorry, Daren. I failed you."

Atalya then hears her comm system flar into life. However, all that omes out is static, the circuits far too damaged to transmit Daren's signal properly to her vessel. She hasn't time to wonder what has happened when she can hear the distinctive roar of the TIEs' engines bearing down on her.

However, the roar immediately becomes far less noticable, and Atalya turns her head to see almost all of the TIEs have turned and begun a retreat.

"What? Where are they going?"

Atalya's momentary celebration is cut short as she sees that a scarce few of the interceptors are sill closing in on her. She returns to facing forward and enters into some sluggish evasive manouvers, her engines far too damaged to operate at peak efficiency. Suddenly, Atalya can hear laser fire, and she winces, preparing for a jolt that never comes. Explosions are heard and Atalya hears the roar of several X-Wings coming alongside her vessel. A voice crackles over her commlink, barely audible and filled with static, only working as well as it is due to the proximity of the source.

"Rogue 3! This is Rogue 5! You okay over there?"

"Ye...yes. Thank you. I thought I was dome for."

Atalya sighs and places a hand over her heart, giving Daren's picture another look. She silently thanks whatever higher powers were watching over her and had the rest of Rogue Squadron come to her rescue.