“Copy that control, Vindicator flight resuming patrol,” Kaz spoke through his helmet and into the open comm. All four TIE-Defenders careened through space at full throttle. The arrival of one of the few surviving Moffs had been more than adequate reason for mobilizing the Vindicators. There was to be some meeting between Saris and New Republic forces. Supposedly.
“Tighten up, Vindicator 3. Tuck in the wing,” Kaz issued with cold precision. The whole thing stank to high heaven of a trap, or treachery. Rebels couldn’t be trusted. But orders were orders. No harm was to come to their New Republic guests so long as things remained…cordial. The comm came that Moff Saris was entering the area. Kaz’ attention was split halfway between his flight path and the radar screen to sweep for enemy contacts. ”Hang on, lead, what’s this? Tramp freighter closing in fast at…point three-seven-two.” came the voice of his wingman. The veteran Captain checked his own screen, and targeted the freighter. Corellian, YT-2400 class.
“Move to intercept,” ordered Kaz as he wheeled his TIE around on a deci-cred, barreling straight for the freighter. It wasn’t long before all four Defenders had formed up on the freighter’s aft. Space had supposedly been swept in advance, but that wasn’t Captain Krael’s shift. Things happened. Smugglers and spies liked to take advantage of things like shift change. Matching throttle speed with the freighter, he opened a hailing frequency.
“Unknown freighter, you are in restricted space. Cut your engines immediately, and submit to a cargo scan.” It wasn’t a request. His men knew exactly what to do, box it in and wait for the order to open fire. The Freighter wasn’t responding to hails, instead giving power to the engines and setting a course for hyperspace. They had a rabbit. But outrunning four TIE-Defenders wasn’t going to happen; these were hyperspace-capable craft, fully loaded with rack-and-pinion reasoning. The cargo scan had been initiated anyway. Crates of small arms, spice, generally things a smugger would want to keep secret.
“Unknown freighter,” Kaz charged again, “Cut your engines immediately.” Still its speed climbed. Krael cut the hailing channel and switched over to the operations channel. Tightening his grip on the flight sticks, the laser canons were charged and ready. Poor smugglers picked the wrong route home, and happened in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Hold fire,” he issued to his team, though he would seem to contradict his own order by firing a pair of warning shots across the fore hull of the freighter. With all manner of Imperial Brass and Reb—Republic dignitaries present, it was necessary to show a proper escalation of effort before opening fire.
Still, even after the warning shots grazed the shields of the freighter, the smugglers piloting opted to keep running. “Vindicators, light ‘em up,” it was almost casual. Kaz never lost sleep over decisions made in the line of duty. It was the Imperial Way or no way at all. All four Defenders, in perfect synchronicity, opened fire upon the rabbiting freighter full of smugglers. Green laser fire was returned by red quad-lasers both ventral and dorsally from the freighter.
All four fighters banked and rolled to dodge, KAz himself switching to missiles. It took time and patience to acquire a lock, and all the freighter had to do was survive until it jumped to hyperspace—the Vindicators wouldn’t pursue very far with a Moff inbound. But this maneuver would come right down to the wire. Vindicators Two and Three moved to keep the turrets occupied while Four peppered the shields with lasers. Kaz had a solid lock as the freighter changed course, banking hard to avoid being boxed in by the Defenders again. With the flip of a switch, he linked both launchers, and pulled right into the ion trails of the freighter, increasing to maximum speed before firing the missiles. Once launched at maximum velocity, Krael cut his throttle and pulled up hard to avoid debris from the blast.
Two and Three pulled in, continuing the assault with lasers, now that the shield had been burned out. Four gunned the throttle, following up with the same maneuver Kaz had led with, while he flew underneath the freighter, releasing controlled bursts of laser fire into its belly guns while the second volley of missiles pummeled the hull into oblivion. Pulling free of the wreck, the Vindicators formed up and checked each other’s outer hull for anomalies.
“You’ve got a waver in your ion trails, One,” came the unmistakable voice of Three. Kaz looked over to Two, seeing nothing worth noting. “All clear, Two. Solid Copy, Three.” The others sounded off in turn, leaving Kazuhira with the only damage from sortie. His instruments read within parameters, though he throttled down and shifted power from the apparently wavering ion engine to shields instead. Once done, they made another large pass around the area before reporting back to control.
“Control, Vindicator Flight. Sector clear of bandits, over.”
