Recreational Area
Reading Room
POV: Something is happening in Yavin IV
By Dario Pozo
Two A-Wings were flying at low speed, keeping in formation with a Rebel Alliance's Nebulon B Frigate, not at a very large distance. There were no other ships in the proximity and only the navigation lights of the Frigate blinking against the blackness of space could give a sensation of movement, that time was not standing still. A beautiful winged horse painted on the Frigate's hull identified it as the Joan d'Arc, home of White Squadron.
The A-Wing pilots were White 4 and 11, Peter "Iceman" Kovessy and Owen "Granite" Stone.
"I hate escort and reconnaissance missions like this." Granite said using the intercom. "It's really boring!"
"Do you really?" Iceman questioned as he started to laugh. "I thought you loved it?"
"Why do you suppose that?"
"Because every time Shok'wave needs someone for one of those missions, everybody can hear you whispering that you hate escort and reconnaissance missions and immediately you are assigned for the next flight."
"Yes," Granite said laughing too, "You are probably right. I don't like those missions that much. But I'd prefer a real flight. Even the top of the boring flights rather than the best that the simulator could offer."
"But today it would have been funny. Moose is almost finishing the basic training with a group of recruits. Right now is when they are full of confidence, believing they are able to shoot down entire squadrons of TIE Fighters. Moose had wanted some of us to join them in the simulator without previous warning, but flying on the Imperial side."
"Ouch, I didn't know anything about that!" protested Granite. "It would be great just to see their faces when they get out of the simulator!"
"Too late, Granite! Foxfire, Vyper and Shok'wave are having all the fun right now!"
"I hate escort and reconnaissance missions!"
It took some moments before Iceman could stop laughing. Then he tried to comfort Granite.
"Don't worry, Granite. I'm sure that in some part of the galaxy, not far from here, something is happening, something that will end the boredom..."
[In some part of the galaxy, not far from there...]
"Where is the next jump carrying us?"
"Ummmm, let me see... Yavin system, it seems. Ah, yes, I remember. From there to Corellia there will only be two more jumps. It's far from the usual routes, but the alternatives had very high traffic and we would probably have to wait a while at one or two points for clearance. I've been working hard with the computer looking for a non-commercial path and I'm really proud of this shortcut."
The two young men were chatting in the cockpit of the tiny yacht Little Laura, while preparing for their hyperspace jump. They were in the beginning of a short holiday, a little tour across the three worlds of Corellia.
"Did you just say Yavin?" the co-pilot asked. "Isn't that the place where the Rebels beat the Imperials some time ago?"
"You and your Rebels" said the pilot. "The Empire has never recognized such a battle and the story could only be part of the Rebel's propaganda, trying to make a few dumbies like you join his cause."
Dario smiled, but he didn't really want to leave things like that between them.
"So are you saying that Imperial citizens are smart people because they believed all the Empire told them and that does't cause any problems?" Edu, the pilot, tried to reply, but Dario flying as the co-pilot didn't give him the chance. "The Empire has a propaganda department too. An entire ministry actually. If there had been a battle lost against the Rebels, do you think that they would have announced it like it was the weather news? "Good night, citizens of the Empire. Tomorrow it will rain over Imperial City in Coruscant. The Rebel scum has beaten the glorious Navy today. Sunny day in ..."
"Ok, ok, you win" Edu interrupted. "I admit that the Empire probably would hide news like that, but..."
"Probably?"
"... Surely, all right, but it doesn't mean that the rumor about that Rebel victory is true. And be quiet for just a minute or we'll miss the point to make the jump!"
Edu waited until the yellow light on the panel moved to green and then pushed the hyperspace motivator controls. Just when the stars became lines of light, Dario attacked again.
"So, what do you say about the Empire destroying Alderaan with it's Death Star?"
"The Death Star?" Edu laughed. "Do you believe that story about a giant space battle station, capable of destroying entire planets?"
"Well, if that is _Rebel propaganda_ too," Dario replied as he tried to imitate Edu's voice, "How do you explain such a disaster?"
"Didn't you look at the reports? The media was full of them for several months. They stated that Alderaan's core was not stable and it was a question of time that a chain of earthquakes started sooner or later blowing away the planet. The scientists had been warning them about that for years!"
"Are you sure about that? I can't remember any of those reports "before" the destruction of Alderaan."
"Well, I can't either" Edu said thoughtfully, "but nobody attends such reports when nothing has happened yet." Edu finished sarcastically.
Dario didn't answer. It was obvious that he was angry.
"Hey, don't misunderstand me." Edu said peacefully. "I don't like the Empire, you can believe that!" Edu added while he noticed the ironic expression in Dario's face. "I know it must be hard for you to go so long without seeing your wife."
The planet Iberya, the city of Lorance, where Dario and his wife Marife lived was guarded by Imperial troops and kept in almost complete isolation from the external world. The Empire believed that there was a Rebel group hidden there. The entrance into the city was seriously restricted and the exit was forbidden until the Rebels were found. Dario was out of the city when that had happened and he was not allowed to return. That was ten months ago and from then he had been living with his friend Edu and his family. Edu and Dario had been working together for several years as software engineers in an important telecommunications company and they had became great friends from that.
"It's not your fault, Edu." Dario said as his anger changed to sadness. "You know how much I appreciate all that you and your wife are doing for me."
"Bah, its nothing at all, you would do the same for me."
They travelled in silence until the alarm warned them that the ship was finishing the hyperspace jump. Edu turned the motivators off and they entered normal space.
"Two jumps more and we'll be on Corellia's beaches!" Edu announced with joy. "Check that our position is the correct one."
"Yes, this is the Yavin system" Dario answered as he looked at the chart on the monitor, "and that red ball is the planet Yavin, a gassy giant."
"Right, then. It will take the computer only two or three minutes to calculate the next jump. Do you think that...?"
Edu didn't complete his question. The proximity alarm had started to sound and the two men looked at the display at the same time.
"But what..."
Something hit the little ship with an impressive noise, making more alarms come to life. The entire ship was trembling.
"Turn those sirens off or we can't understand each other!" Dario screamed.
"Junk! The space is full of junk!" Edu said while disconnecting some of the alarms. "Is there anyone cleaning up around here?"
"Look at that!" Dario said pointing to something that was passing in front of them. "Isn't that a solar panel from a TIE fighter?"
"Yes, it seems so." Edu said while maneuvering the ship trying not to collide into anything else. Maybe there was a battle here after all."
Pieces of junk and debris filled the space around the Little Laura. Edu needed all his skill to evade all of the fragments and exit successfully out of the dangerous cloud of debris. If they had appeared closer to Yavin it would have been harder due to the fragments were greater there. Dario had asked the computer for a damage report.
"Fantastic. Several hull damages and the communications antenna has disappeared" Dario read. "The computer says that it's not secure to jump to hyperspace with the hull in that shape."
"You know what that means?" Edu asked nervously. "If we can't jump to hyperspace and we can't communicate to ask for help..."
"Don't loose your nerves, Edu. Let's try to find a place to land and we'll try to make some repairs." Dario didn't say what he was thinking: "Repairs, with what?"
"Repairs, with what?" Edu asked. I hate telepathy! Dario thought.
"One problem at a time, please! Look at this!" Dario said as he pointed to the monitor. "The Yavin IV moon has an acceptable atmosphere, temperature, vegetation and water. A real paradise in the tropics!"
"It will be better than space. Ok, Yavin IV then."
[Amongst the spacial junk near Yavin nearly all small objects were undetectable. A small Imperial satellite blended in with the rest of the debris orbiting the giant red planet. But something had caught its attention and its programming decided that it was important enough to send a message to certain unknown coordinates.]
On board the Victory Class Star Destroyer Gray Wolf, a communications officer saw the signal indicating a new message had just arrived and executed the decoder routine to obtain the real information from the unmeaningful sequence of characters. Within a matter of seconds he was reading the original report and calling his higher official over.
"Lieutenant Varis, you better take a look at this."
Some
minutes later, Commander Bail Guindamonn, the Captain of the Gray Wolf, received
the report from his second in command, Captain Zelia.
"A little ship landing in Yavin IV, just inside the ancient Rebel base. What do you think about this, Captain Zelia?"
"It would mean one of three things, sir." Zelia had his answer prepared. "First, it could be smugglers looking for something valuable amongst the debris of the Rebel base."
"Possible, but not a great chance. The Empire had kept all the data about that base as secret as possible. Even with the Rebel attempts to make the story public about the battle of Yavin, not a single smuggler has been detected in the zone in the last two years. They must think that if there were something interesting there, someone would had already removed it. Please continue."
"Second, someone has suffered an accident and have landed in Yavin IV just by luck. There is a great amount of junk floating there and a ship navigating across Yavin system could receive some damage from that."
"I'm not a man to believe in accidents, Captain. That is not a highly frequented system, I would accept it as chance. One very remote chance. Your last idea?"
"Third, the Rebels are interested in something that they left on that base." Captain Zelia said very satisfied with himself."
"No, Captain." The smile disappeared from Captain Zelia's face. "There is nothing in that base they could miss. Our troops investigated even under the stones. But they are Rebels, of course."
Captain Zelia said nothing. He was just looking at Commander Guindamonn trying not to seem too confounded. After almost a minute, Guindamonn continued talking.
"We have been chasing the Rebels without pause after the battle of Hoth and they must be crazy looking for a permanent base where we are unable to find them." he grinned and continued. "There is no such place. But they can think that we won't look in a location where they had been before. A place from where we had already thrown them out of. This is the reason because we have hidden satellites in Dantooine, Yavin and Hoth. Of course, they are not such fools to go to one of those places and bring all their forces there without a previous inspection. Before that, they would have to explore the site. Make certain that we had not left any traps behind and that there is not Imperial activity around it."
"And there are no traps?"
"No." Guindamonn smiled again. "Lord Vader ordered to analyze every piece of information we could obtain from the base. However, they were ordered not to destroy the facilities and to not leave any traps behind. The Rebels will think that we won't believe them so foolish to return to one of their old bases and that is precisely what Lord Vader expects them to do."
"Shall we prepare to go capture them Sir?"
"No, Captain, not yet. We must finish this mission first but it will take us only two or three weeks. We'll go then. Let's allow that their confidence grow. If we go now, we would obtain a little fish, but if we are patient, we can get the first prize."
"Then, we must inform the High Command of... "
"Wrong again, Captain!" Guindamonn said briskly "If there is something important there we don't want someone else taking the glory of discovery, do we?"
"No, sir. I agree with you." the Captain lied.
"We will inform, of course, but we must be the first arriving and the first to destroy some Rebel ships."
Captain Zelia saluted and left the room. Commander Guindamonn turned his chair towards the external visor, looking at the stars with a smile thinking of the Imperial Class Star Destroyer that he could be commanding very soon.
The rebel Corvette Curious Cat was flying silently in the deep space far from any star system with minimal use of its engines. It had no navigation lights, just a shadow with no external signs of life. But inside its hull, it was full of activity. The ship belonged to the Rebel Alliance's Intelligence Services, under the command of General Crix Madine. A bothan operator called his officer with a wave of his hand.
"Look at this, sir. The report came from an Imperial satellite in the Yavin system, secretly manipulated by a Rebel programmer infiltrated in the factory of Andrellia. The security department of the factory only ran a full test over ten percent of the finished satellites and the programmer was one of the team members who had made that test. He was very careful to alter only the ones that he was sure that nobody would check later. Even with those cautions he was suffering a high risk. So, he was not in that job for long. He accepted a change of destiny when he was suggested to. The Yavin's satellite was two years old and it was one of those reprogrammed by him. It sends all its messages twice, one to the Imperial receivers and the other to the Rebel ones."
The officer, a bothan too, looked seriously into the monitor.
"A little ship lands near our old base in Yavin," he said almost talking to himself "and nobody has gone to investigate it as of now. Ummmm... How old is this report?"
"We received it three hours ago. I've been expecting an Imperial ship to go take a look, but there has been no one."
"Keep an eye on that monitor and tell me if anybody arrives there within two hours or more." ordered the officer.
"Yes, sir. What do you think about this,sir? "
"The Empire used to be very careful with the reports from its spy satellites. Its very strange that they don't send a ship to investigate that landing. They have enough ships to spare with missions like that, unlike us. I can find only one explanation. That ship is Imperial, although it sends a neutral code. That makes me wonder why the Empire is interested again in our base in Yavin. Maybe they are so desperate looking for us that they are trying to find some clue that they could have missed after we evacuated the base. It will be better to be alert to anything that satellite could say."
[Entering the deserted Rebel base in the Yavin system]
"It was real luck that we found this place, don't you think so?" Dario said.
"Yes, there's no doubt." Edu answered, while the two men looked around. They were inside a great stone building, and it was evident that it had been a base for someone in the past, but it had been abandoned in a hurry. With the dim light that entered from the exterior, they could see some equipment and tools forgotten in several places.
"Land the ship here, Edu. At least it will be safe from the weather. With so much vegetation, it must rain very often here."
"You are right. While I do that, try to find something as a means of light or we won't be able to do too much here."
Edu began to exit the ship while Dario used the lantern he had found to inspect the huge hangar. There were stairs to climb into the ships, containers, rolls of cable, flexible pipes to refuel the ships, some machinery and many other items. On top of everything was a great amount of dust.
If this was an Imperial base we could be in a lot of trouble! Dario thought. The place was too big for a real inspection with just a lantern and Dario wondered if they could find a generator in some of those containers before the lantern batteries died. He saw a lateral exit that seemed to go to another container and decided try it. Soon he saw some light in front and turned the lantern off. If there was a place with natural light the best was to search there first. The corridor ended in another huge room with the walls and a good portion of the floor covered by vegetation. Dario looked around stunned. Now he knew who has been the last owner of this place. He heard an engine noise at his back and went back towards the hangar. The forward lights of Little Laura allowed him to see a bit better.
"Keep the lights on a few minutes, Edu!" Dario shouted while walking towards the ship. "It's our only chance to find something here!"
"Ok, but we better hurry. If we use the accumulated energy from the ship, then we will soon run out!" Edu replied.
"I already know who has been here, Edu." Dario said while they started to inspect the containers. They soon found out that most of them were empty.
"Shoot."
"The Rebels!" Dario said very excited. "I've found another container and it's full of decorations and the rest of the flags. The Rebel Alliance flags! They must have had some type of celebration just before abandoning this place."
Edu remembered the conversation on board the Little Laura and smiled.
"I must admit that it seems you were right. " Edu said, but before Dario could say anything, he continued. " But if we can't find an energy generator we are trapped here."
"Don't worry Edu, the next container will be the right one!"
Edu stopped and said nothing, something important was running through his mind.
"Come on Edu, help me open this one!"
"Wait a minute, Dario."
"What?"
"This place is really huge."
"Yes, I think so." Dario said impatiently.
"I had been looking out there and I haven't seen anything indicating the presence of a big energy generator some time in the past, but there must have been something to illuminate this place."
"Just because you haven't seen anything doesn't mean that much. With this vegetation things could be well covered." Dario argued.
"Yes, but...even with all the rain we suppose, this moon has a nice light and temperature."
"Are you talking of solar energy?" Dario asked.
"Yes! They could have installed thousands of solar cells all around and over this building and many of them could be working right now!"
"If that's true, there must be a place from where they would have controlled the conversion to electricity. If we can find it ..." Dario began with his voice full of hope.
Such a place actually existed, a cabin near the cell, accessible with stairs and now visible with the lights of Little Laura. They got up there and it took some minutes to guess how to use most of the controls. They had designed software for facilities like that in the past, so nothing was entirely strange for them.
"That button." Edu said.
"The one labelled power?"
"I see that you have not forgotten all I have taught you."
"Eh! You teaching me?"
"Could you close your mouth and push the button, please?" Edu demanded. He was trying to keep his sense of humor, but the truth was that he was too nervous to push the button himself.
"Here I go..." Dario said whispering.
With jumps of joy they saw how many lights started to illuminate the hangar and some of the instruments in the control cabin came to life. They discovered that a good portion of the equipment still worked.
"Look at that, Edu, in that corner!" Dario cried.
"It seems they forgot that one." Edu replied.
In one corner of the hangar was a lonely Y-Wing and from where they were standing it seemed to be intact. It was the old model, made for a crew of two men, the pilot and the weapons operator.
"Maybe we could obtain some pieces from it to repair Little Laura!" Edu said and the two men ran down the stairs towards the abandoned fighter.
They inspected the ship carefully, from the inside out. After some minutes, Edu had a diagnostic evaluation.
"It has the hyperspace motivator fried. That was probably the reason they left it here. But the rest seems ok."
"The comms probably works," Dario said from the cockpit "but we can't send a transmission with good chances of success from here."
"Well, we can remove the antenna from the fighter and try to install it on Little Laura, but the hull damages will require hard work. That is if we find some soldering equipment and instructions to operate it, of course!"
"Take a better look at Little Laura's damages." Dario said. "There could be something we haven't noticed yet. While you do that, I'll explore the facilities better, now that we have light and I'll try to find all we need."
Three hours later, Dario was back in the hangar and he joined Edu near Little Laura.
"I was starting to worry about you..." Edu said. "Have you found anything?"
"Nothing in the form of soldering equipment, I'm afraid."
"Then we are doomed." Edu said sadly. "I've performed a complete check with the computer and the cracks in the hull are severe. Some of them can be seen even with the naked eye.
"Well, then we'll have to use plan B."
"I didn't even know there _was_ a plan B."
"Well, there is now. I haven't found any soldering equipment, but there are many things that the Rebels didn't have time to take with them. Amongst them, complete manuals for the Y-Wing and a flight simulator. It works, I've checked it."
"Are you talking about flying with that Y-Wing? " Edu asked with his eyes widely opened.
"And what else? You have said that it has a damaged hyperspace motivator and we could try to adapt the one from Little Laura."
"Ok, suppose we are able to do that. The computer of that fighter can't do hyperspace calculations by itself. It needs an astromech, I believe. If you haven't found one, then we have nothing at all."
"We only need to make one jump from here to the next inhabited system."
"Ah, yes, I see what you are thinking about. We do the calculations with Little Laura's computer, download the results over the Y-Wing's computer and we jump to a place from where we can ask for help."
"You got it. And we have the flight simulator to learn how to pilot one of these." Dario said with a big smile. "I fear that we'll pass our holidays working."
"Not a problem at all. I don't like the beach that much anyways." Edu said with resignation and hope at the same time. "I'll begin to dismount that hyperspace motivator right now!"
"I'll look at what I can make of that simulator." Dario answered.
It was not premeditated, but that was the way of working for the next days. Edu took the hard part of repairing the Y-Wing with pieces from Little Laura, sometimes aided by Dario. Meanwhile, Dario filled his time with the flight simulator, showing Edu from time to time the things he was discovering. Edu's job was the toughest so far, but he didn't complain. He felt guilty for choosing a path away from the commercial routes and for not being able to avoid the accident. But he had a better reason. He was thinking every minute of his wife, Nuria and their daughter, Laura, only one year old. The only thought that was What if I can't see them again? and it made him sick. He remembered them just before starting their travels. Nuria standing with Laura in her arms, talking with him while Dario finished loading the ship.
"Are you sure about not coming with us?" Edu asked.
"Yes, dear. We better stay here." Nuria noticed his expression and decided to explain the reasoning behind her decision. "Have you observed Dario these last months? He is dying by sadness, Edu! Do you remember the last time he told you a joke? He was one of the funniest men I've ever met, and now he is only his shadow!" Edu turned his head to see Dario while loading the baggages and he said nothing.
"If Laura and I go with you," Nuria began "he won't be able to put out of his mind that Marife is not with him. Maybe if you two are alone, you could have some fun, and he could recover some."
Edu sighed and look towards Dario again.
"You are right. This is something we have to do. Have I told you how much I love you and how much I am going to miss you and Laura?"
"I hope you do. Call me from Corellia."
"That will be the first thing I'll do there! And I'll buy the biggest gift I can find for you!" Edu said while kissing Laura.
"Ooky, Dad, ooky!" Laura said at the best of her ability.
"Laura wants a wookie!" Nuria translated.
"A wookie it is then!" Edu said and kissed them again.
Dario came to say good bye, and the two friends parted towards the ship.
"I'll call you, I promise!" Edu cried before closing the external door.
Edu was remembering now how Laura was waving her little hand, and Nuria smiling at him. Now they would be waiting for a call that he could not make. He was going to repair that Y-Wing. Of course he would do it.
Dario was thinking too of his wife Marife. Ten months. Ten months not knowing even if she was alive. He didn't blame Edu for the accident. He understood what Edu was feeling better than anybody else. Dario was feeling some guilt too, because he knew this travel was for him, and furthermore, he was evading the hard work while he was enjoying the simulator. Yes, "enjoy" was the correct word. It was supposed to be that he only needed to learn how to fly a Y-Wing, but he was learning all he could about space combats as well. He was dreaming he was the hero who destroyed all the Imperial forces there in Iberya, and landing at last in front of his home, just to be embraced by Marife...
[Two weeks later, in the Gray Wolf's bridge, Commander Guindamonn was talking with his second at command.]
"Captain Zelia..."
"Yes, sir!"
"Anything new from our satellite in Yavin?"
"No, sir." Zelia replied. "Not a single ship has arrived or parted from the system."
"Strange, very strange indeed... If there are Rebels now in Yavin IV, I would expect more traffic in the system. Only a ship landing and it remains there, but what if...?" Guindamonn interrupted while an idea had touched his mind.
"Have you reached a conclusion, sir?" Zelia asked."
"...What if that ship had the mission to manipulate or disable our satellite?" Guindamonn continued like Zelia hadn't said anything.
"Our satellite is working, sir." Zelia said. "I ordered the communications officer to send it an interrogation message, and it has replied with normality."
"Then that satellite has been manipulated or there are no Rebels at all. Bring the Gray Wolf to the Yavin system, and when we arrive, send a transport to recover the satellite. Our technicians will say if we have something to worry about."
"At once, sir!"
[Onboard the Nebulon B Frigate Joan d'Arc]
The Joan d'Arc was flying escorted by two A-Wings, one of them piloted by Diana "Joker" Agar, who was one of the more advanced members of the training wing, and the other by Granite, who had complained again about the escort and reconnaissance missions. In the Rebel Frigate's bridge, a message was being received.
"Commander Krenzel," the Communications Officer began. "we are just receiving a classified transmission for you."
"All right, officer. Redirect it to my private room please."
"At once sir."
Shok'wave went to her room, and saw a red light blinking in her console, indicating the transmission was already waiting for her. She pushed the button to accept it, and immediately a hologram show her a blonde bearded man, with an uniform of General.
"Nice to see you, Sherry." General Crix Madine began. He was chief of the Rebel Alliance's Intelligence Services.
"Nice to see you too." Commander Krenzel said. General Madine and her had worked together in the past and considered each other as good friends. When they were in privacy they omitted the ranks. "Is it safe to assume that you are not sending a classified transmission just to talk about old times?"
"You always get directly to the point, my friend. But you are right, of course." Replied General Madine. "Two weeks ago, one of our ships received a message from an Imperial satellite that we had hacked in the Yavin system. A little ship identified as neutral landed on our old base in Yavin IV. The Imperials must have received the same message, but not a single ship was sent to investigate. Till now. Just one hour ago, the satellite informed that a Victory Class Star Destroyer, the Gray Wolf, has exited from hyperspace and launched an armored transport directly towards the satellite. We have lost the contact, so we don't know what is happening there, but obviously our manipulation over the satellite has been discovered. I've ordered the ship that was receiving information from it to abandon its actual position as a security measure. Now we need to know what the Imperials are doing there, and you are the nearest ship. But you must be cautious, and not to expose the Joan d'Arc if you can avoid it. Someone from White Squadron could do a recon without being detected. If there is a fleet there, I want to know it, so in that case you must contact me immediately."
"And what if the Star Destroyer is alone?"
"In that case White Squadron could do a raid and try to destroy it. Even if they fail, that could make the Imperials think that we are interested still in the Yavin system, and that would be an excellent distraction maneuver."
"We'll do our best, Crix."
"I know, my friend, I know." Madine said while the transmission was finalized.
[Inside the operations briefing room of the Joan d'Arc]
"And that's all General Madine said." In the Operations briefing room of the Joan d'Arc with Commander Krenzel were her husband Matt "Blackjack" Krenzel on holiday leave from Lightning Wing and her staff: the Executive Officer Avery "Foxfire " Schroeder, the Intelligence Officer Michael "Vyper" Stauber, the Tactical Officer Michael "Torpedo" Steinberg and the Training Officer Lewis "Moose" Gregory.
"What do you think about this, Michael?" Shok'wave asked.
"I agree with General Madine's conclusion about the first ship." Vyper said. "If it had not been Imperial, they would have sent a patrol to investigate. You can think that Imperials could know that they were smugglers or something like that and don't care about them, but now we have the Star Destroyer and the transport picking up the satellite, and that supports the first hypothesis. What they are doing there several years after the battle of Yavin, I don't know. That base was fully investigated then, and Imperials are very careful with that, so I don't think they could be searching for a missed clue about the Alliance."
"We'll have to send someone to take a look." Shok'wave said.
"But without the satellite you won't know if there are more ships now." Blackjack argued. "It could be dangerous, and probably you would discover that out too late."
"A fighter could exit from hyperspace far from Yavin," Foxfire proposed, "and do the rest of the travel in normal space. That would take more time, but it would be more uneasy for the Imperials to detect it. At great range and using the more powerful lents we have available, it could take some pictures and return."
"If you want to be sure that your exit from hyperspace is not detected, and considering the distance that a Star Destroyer's sensors can cover, it would be a travel of almost 36 hours in normal space," Moose said while consulting a datapad, "and 36 more for the return. Too much time for a fighter, we would need to equip it with supplementary oxygen depots."
"Even doing that..." Shok'wave said, "72 hours is too much time. Things could change completely even in the middle of that time. The reports obtained by the recon wouldn't be usable. "
"And what about a new satellite?" Torpedo asked. Before anyone could reply, he continued. "A B-Wing could exit from hyperspace at the opposite face of Yavin, where there is a better chance to do it without coming into contact with any Imperials, and hidden from the sensors by the planet, leave a satellite and return. We know that the Yavin's orbit is full of debris from the Death Star, so if we put a satellite there in stationary orbit, amongst the junk, after some hours it would pass in front of Yavin IV, and send us some pictures in just milliseconds. With a transmission so reduced, it probably wouldn't be detected."
"That has more risk." Vyper said. "You are assuming there will be no Imperial ships patrolling the opposite face of Yavin."
"But with some luck, it could work." Foxfire said. "I think it's our best chance."
"I can do it." Moose said. "It will be refreshing to leave the simulators and the recruits for some hours."
"All right then." Shok'wave said. "Go prepare yourself. Foxfire, inform everyone that we may have some action soon and to be on alert."
"It's about time..." Foxfire said while departing.
"I'll have my technicians begin working on the satellite right now. You'll have it after one hour or someone is going to have a bad time with me."
[Onbord the Star Destroyer Gray Wolf]
"You were right, sir." the technician said. He was showing a set of numbers. "The satellite has been manipulated. It has been sending its transmissions to to these coordinates."
"I knew it." Commander Guindamonn said. "Captain Zelia, send a message to the Fleet Command. Tell them that we think that there could be a spy ship there, but don't tell them any more. Not yet."
"At once, sir!"
"Ah, Captain," Guindamonn said. "I want images of the Rebel base immediately."
"Yes, sir. I've already ordered that."
"Well done, Captain."
[Moose was ending his short travel through hyperspace. The new satellite was in a small container under the B-Wing. In just a few minutes he will be at the mission objective...]
"There are no external signs of activity, sir, " the Imperial Lieutenant began, "but we are receiving some energy readings."
"Did the altered programming of the satellite allow it to hide some of the ships it detected?" Asked Guindamonn to the chief of the technicians, who had been ordered to stay on the bridge."
"We don't know yet, sir. The satellite program is big and very complicated. It will take some time to check it entirely."
"Umm, maybe there is only a small group." Guindamonn said. "Captain Zelia, I want TIE patrols covering the entire system. If there are no more of them around, we'll send some troops to that damned base."
The B-Wing piloted by Moose exited from hyperspace close to Yavin. Immediately entering into the cloud of debris that orbited the giant planet. He pushed the button that opened the container and left the satellite amongst the junk. Sixteen hours later, it will be in a position from where it could observe Yavin IV and the Imperial ships. He was starting to leave when the sensors detected ships approaching. Three TIE fighters. The metallic fragments floating all around the B-Wing would give him some more seconds before he could be detected by the Imperial fighters. Moose has only seconds to make a decision. His hands flew over the controls, disconnecting all the systems except the oxygen supply and the passive sensors. The B-Wing was now like any other piece of junk that was orbiting Yavin, very close to the satellite, but in a different orbit that was making the distance grow slowly between them., and it could only be detected visually. Please, don't look in this direction Moose thought.
[In the hangar of the deserted Yavin IV base.]
"I got it!" Dario cried. He pulled the stick and exited from the narrow trench. He directed all the energy to the engines and escaped from the Death Star with all the speed that its engines could give him. Looking over his shoulder he saw a huge explosion. The message "MISSION COMPLETE" filled the display. That was the last mission that the simulator had available, and surely it was used to train the pilots who attacked the Death Star. Dario had needed dozens of attempts before he succeeded, and he was aware that the real mission would have been more difficult. He wondered how the real pilot felt who looked over his shoulder to see the real Death Star explode.
"I got it!" Edu cried entering into the simulator room, interrupting Dario's thoughts. "I think that Y-Wing is ready to fly at last!"
"Are you sure?" Dario asked his excited friend, while opening the simulator's canopy.
"How could I be?" Edu replied. "We'll have to go up there and try. A specialized technician would have needed only some hours to do what has taken me two weeks, and be confident about the result, but I think it will work."
"We'll cross our fingers." Dario said as he smiled. "When do we take off?"
"Give me a couple of hours to transfer the fuel from the Little Laura to the Y-Wing and test the systems one more time. And one more thing...we probably won't have enough fuel to make many attempts. It _must_ work the first time."
[Onbord the Star Destroyer Gray Wolf]
"Sir, the patrols have been searching through the entire system," Captain Zelia informed, "but they haven't found anything yet. Some fighters have received damages because of all the spatial junk."
Commander Guindamonn was visibly angry. He beat on the nearest console, causing the young officer that was attending it to practically jump out of his skin.
"We are going to finish with that waste of time. Order Captain Werttens to send a squadron of his troops to the surface of Yavin IV. And I want them to bring our four AT-AT walkers."
"At once, sir," Zelia replied. He was glad to have a reason to leave the bridge.
[Onboard the Nebulon B Frigate Joan d'Arc]
"Fifteen hours." Shok'wave said nervously. "Moose should have been back fifteen hours ago!"
"There must be some reason, Sherry." Foxfire said, trying to transmit a hope that she had lost some hours ago.
The time passed slowly on the Joan d'Arc, while waiting for Moose to return. Everybody was tense, from the technicians to the rest of the pilots of White Squadron, including the ship's crew and Commander Matt Krenzel as well. Nobody had left the bridge during the last ten hours. You could tell that the Training Wing members were the most worried of all. They were looking at the external visors in a futile attempt to see Moose's B-Wing appear. Moose was the man that was teaching them how to be a pilot, but that was not the only thing they were learning from their instructor. Moose was showing them every day the meaning of being part of the Rebel Alliance, the objective that was behind the never ending sessions in the simulators, the reason to risk their own life piloting a dangerous starfighter against the fire from the Imperial ships, hoping to bring the freedom to the rest of the intelligent beings of the galaxy. All the cadets were in the Frigate's bay, looking to the space not far from the point where Shok'wave and Foxfire were talking. Close enough to hear Shok'wave's reply.
"No, Avery. The only answers I can find are that Moose has either been killed or has suffered a fatal accident between the junk orbiting Yavin. We must start to think that he is dead."
Lisa "Angelrose" Hull tried to hold back the tears when she heard that. Alex "Grizzly" Klingerman took her by the shoulders, fighting himself with his own emotions. Everybody raised their eyes to Shok'wave when her communicator beeped, indicating a message from communications.
"This is Commander Krenzel." Shok'wave didn't even let the communicator beep twice. "Any news about Captain Gregory?"
"No, I'm sorry, Sherry." the Communications Officer began, "but we have just received the transmission from the satellite. Moose managed to put it into position."
"Everyone to the briefing room. Order the patrol team to land and refuel their fighters. Angelrose, Grizzly, pick your helmets and take an A-Wing. You will make the next escort turn." The two trainees ran to their closets. "Bay officer, when the escort team has landed, send them immediately to the briefing room."
"All right, Commander!"
It had been fifteen hours from when Moose first disconnected almost all of the B-Wing's systems, including the heating system. The temperature was decreasing without pause. Every breath from Moose came out in a cloud of vapor when leaving his mouth. The frozen pilot was trying to make some heat frictioning his body with his hands, but inside the black gloves, he couldn't even feel his fingers. The red dots had been permanently walking between the left and the right display, but the Imperial fighters had never been far enough to allow him to reconnect the systems and fly away. I would love to see Iceman here right now Moose thought We could even probably change our callsigns around.... The B-Wing's chronometer, one of the few devices he had left working, signalled slowly the pass of the seconds. If the satellite is working, they must being receiving the pictures right now. I expect that no more ships have arrived, or nobody will come, and I'll become a nice ice statue.
The pictures sent by the satellite showed a lonely Victory Class Star Destroyer floating over Yavin IV, and some TIE fighters flying here and there.
"As all of you can see, there is only a Capital ship." Shok'wave was saying. "We don't know how long it will remain there, and if there are more ships coming. We must act right now. Torpedo, please..." Shok'wave said as she passed the pointer to her Tactical Officer.
"If the satellite was able to send these pictures, it means that it has not been discovered and we can count on the option of surprising the Imperials with our attack." Torpedo said. He was thinking that if Moose had been shot down, there would be no chance to surprise them, but it was better to omit that thought. "We'll launch an attack using six B-Wings to destroy the Star Destroyer, and six A-Wings to protect them from the three fighter squadrons that a ship like that can have available, probably all of them TIE Fighters and Interceptors. If there are TIE Advanced things could become tricky." None of the pilots said a word.
"The Escort Team" Shok'wave continued, "will be composed of Iceman, Tempest, Psycho, Granite, Vyper and Foxfire, who will be the team's leader. The Assault Team will be composed of Daolaris, Marauder, Joker, Zeppelin, Torpedo and myself as leader."
"The first target for the Assault Team will be these parabolic antennas, here and here." Torpedo signalled two points of the Star Destroyer's superstructure with his pointer. "Daolaris and Zeppelin, this will be your objective." The twi'lek woman and the human inclined their heads slightly.
"Those are the hyperspatial antennas. If you are fast enough, they should not have time to ask for reinforcements from out of the system. Before you have had a chance to reach the antennas, Shok'wave and myself will be attacking the shield generators, shooting two missiles against each tower. Speed is essential, so Joker and Marauder will shoot against the same target just after us, two missiles on each one. Three would be enough for each tower, you know, but it's better to be sure.
Next target for all of us will be the engines. Don't shoot your torpedoes against the engines until the shields have fallen. This way the effect will be bigger. The secondary objective will be the main bay. The A-Wing team will launch all their concussion missiles against the warhead launchers and the laser towers from medium range. I know this is not the normal use for the concussion missiles, but we need to leave that Star Destroyer with the minimum amount of weapons possible before all of us are in short range. All the fight will be very near of that ship, actually too near. When you have shot those missiles, don't even wait for the impact, instead automatically engage every enemy fighter you have in sight."
"Two last remarks." Shok'wave said. "If a new capital ship appears while we are there, don't engage, and be alert if I or whomever is at command..." all the pilots knew what that would mean, "give the order of retreat! Second, since the Captain is away from the Frigate, I am placing Blackjack at Command of the Joan d'Arc while we are on this mission. If he places any orders from the d'Arc you are to comply. Ok, pilots that will be all...board your fighters. May the Force be with you." Shok'wave said. "Joker..., please stay behind a second."
"Yes, Commander?" Joker questioned while the rest of her comrades were leaving the briefing room.
"I've included you in this mission because we need someone to cover Moose's place, and you are the more advanced amongst his trainees." Shok'wave smiled slightly. "Make Moose feel proud of you."
"I'll do my best, Commander!" Joker replied and began to run towards the bay. She was pale, with a storm of thoughts and feelings in her head, Moose probably dead, her first combat mission ...no time for that now. She would think about that _when_ she was back.
Shok'wave started to exit too, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Be careful out there, Sherry." Blackjack said.
"I always am. Don't forget to take care of the d'Arc while we're away!" Shok'wave replied with a forced smile as she kissed him on the cheek and then parted, leaving Blackjack looking at the door while it closed. He exited a few seconds later and took the bridge's path.
[Onboard the Star Destroyer Gray Wolf]
"Sir, I have a message from the Frigate Punisher." the Communications Officer began. "They had been performing a complete search on the coordinates we provided, but they haven't found any ship around. They want to know what is happening."
Commander Guindamonn cursed in silence.
"Reply that we are performing our own search, and we'll communicate with them when we have a positive contact."
"Yes, sir."
The time is finishing Guindamonn thought.
"Is there a report from Captain Werttens?" Guindamonn asked.
"Yes, sir. His armored transports are parting as we speak. He estimates twenty minutes to landing point on Yavin IV, and twenty more to deploy the troops and the AT-ATs, sir."
"Excellent. In forty minutes we'll know if there is something to hunt there."
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