Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 03:02:53 -0400
From: Jmedinadk@aol.com
Subject: dfch1pt2.txt for Stories Dir
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This is a work of fan fiction.  But if you like what you read,
gimme a buzz at jmedinadk@aol.com and pass the text around.

This continues my account of the first adventure of my Second
Edition Star Wars RPG campaign, featuring characters created by
my players Frank Shaw, Marc Ford, Holly Jones, Alan Polcen, and
my wife Jamie Lawson.  Got your Star Wars music CDs ready?

                         STAR WARS:  DARK FALL
               Chapter 1--Stars Crossed At Ensakura, Part 2
                        Written by Joseph Medina


     As Telia Vand and her fellow pilots in Green Wing rode their
X-Wing fighters into the battle ahead, the two Nebulon-B frigates
faced each other like opposing chess pieces.  The Alliance ship
_Sunn-Childe_ surged its great mass forward, shielding its
smaller transport companion as the Imperial frigate _Muan_
continued its fiery attack.  Green laserbolts rained down on the
_Sunn-Childe_'s deflector shields.  Telia stole a glance at the
coarsely chiseled giants challenging each other as she waited to
get within range of the enemy fighters.

     Green Leader's voice crackled over her helmet commo.  "Okay,
Green Four, Five, and Six," he said, carefully enunciating each
callsign, "break formation and cover the rest of us.  Green Two
and Three, let's cut a path to the transport.  All wings confirm
and execute!"

     "Green Five breaking!"  Telia yanked her X-Wing into a high-
throttle weave toward the nearest TIE Fighter, opening her S-
foils.  "Let's cause some hell, Four and Six."

     Green Four and Five followed her example, but enemy fighters
had closed the distance and already opened fire on them.  They
all dove away, their dance through space for advantage taking
them far from her course.

     Her R2-unit whistled as it sent data on her target, a TIE
Interceptor, to one of her combat displays.  She fired orange
laserbolts into the TIE Interceptor as it shot past her.  Cutting
her throttle and turning to pursue, she swore.  It was closing on
one of Green Leader's wingmen, all four laser cannons ablaze.

     Telia shunted shield power to the engines, and heard Artoo
chirp in protest as the TIE Interceptor glided back and forth
across her targeting sights.  Her X-Wing lunged forward as she
punched the weapon configuration toggle.  "Will you knock it
off?!  I know what I'm doing!"

     The TIE Interceptor sprayed green bursts past Green Leader's
formation.  Crushing the trigger the moment the targeting sights
brightened, she tilted her X-Wing, slipping behind Green Leader's
group, and let loose a barrage of laserbolts.  A single golden
sunburst swallowed the ship whole.  Its dagger-shaped wing-panels
swam away with the shock wave.

     "_Yes_!"

     She thumbed a button on her joystick, tracking one of
several TIEs dogfighting with A-Wings around the transport.  As
Green Leader's formation broke into separate attack runs, she
rolled the ship around to join the fray.

                               *          *          *

     The captain of the _Sunn-Childe_ spoke into his comlink as
he watched the holo-projector plot the battle, transporter codes
and status summaries over each moving icon.  He let himself
breathe as an enemy fighter disappeared from the readout.  "Green
Leader, your status?"

     "Not bad, _Sunn-Childe_, we have a two-klick lane cleared. 
Tell the A-Wings to lay down more cover and we'll be ready for
the shuttle."

     Over his shoulder, he called, "Clear _Paddle_ for launch!"

     As Dorian nodded her greying head and spoke into her
comlink, the red-haired pirate beside her had already anticipated
the captain.  "Ay, Black Flight, cover them X-Wings s'more. 
We're bringin' out th' shuttle now, codenamed _Paddle._"

     "Okay, _Sunn-Childe_," his headset answered.  He smirked at
the pilot's chuckling.  "But we've got to end this soon.  My boys
have been at this for a while."

     "Hey!  It's not my idea of a real inspirin' name eith'r."

     Dorian heard the captain again.  "Sailbourne, keep
monitoring the _Paddle_!  Give the all-clear as soon as they're
ready for lightspeed jump!"

     "Shuttle launching, sir," Dorian answered.  She inhaled
deeply, slowly, and sent word elsewhere....

                            *          *          *

     Telia felt a familiar chill roll through her, leaving
unfamiliar knowledge in its wake.  "Green Six, Green Four,
rendezvous with me at 22 point 175!  _Paddle_ is coming through.
She'll need some cover."

     "Green Four here.  I can't reach you!"

     A whistle from Artoo directed Telia's attention to a threat
scanner, where she could see the other X-Wing kilometers away,
swerving back and forth and surrounded by three standard TIEs.

     "Green Six, go ahead without me!"  She pulled the nose of
her X-Wing up to loop around, selecting one of the TIEs
harrassing Green Four as she poured on speed.

     As she closed in, Green Leader's voice over the comlink
confirmed what a sideways glance to the dueling frigates already
told her.  A squadron of TIE Interceptors and Bombers, who
somehow managed to slip past the _Sunn-Childe_, were charging the
two stray X-Wings.  Green bolts rained down on her X-Wing,
sideswiping the shields until the bolts directly thumped its bare
hull.  Artoo squealed as Telia's CMD monitor transcribed in
Galactic Standard.

     "Shields down, generators offline, projectors offline!  I'm
re-routing power lines!"

     Breathing deeply to still her heart, she dove under the
incoming emerald fire, twisting away to dodge the inevitable
second wave of laserfire.  With her free hand she reached past
her joystick and stabbed buttons to toggle her power
configuration.

     "Artoo, give me a warning when the shields come back
online..._if_ the shields come back online.  I'm putting shield
power back into the engines."

     The 'droid behind her let out a half-hearted yelp as the
ship surged forward, dancing around laserbolts.

     A young male voice came over her comlink.  "Green Five, this
is Black Three.  I'm coming in to cover you on four-seven."

     "Sounds like a plan, Black Three!"

     She flipped through objects on her targeting computer,
catching a glimpse of the TIE Bomber and TIE Interceptor hounding
her, and set it to track Black Three's A-Wing.  Enemy lock-on
warning lights flashed.  Pitching and rolling, she charged the
Interceptor, taking random potshots before jinking to one side to
avoid the highly charged reprisal.  Her CMDs didn't find any
damage on the TIEs, but she could tell by the shockwave shaking
her X-Wing that she scored a hit.

     She tapped a button on her targeting computer, then another
for the threat display, to watch Black Three's A-Wing which was
blasting its way through over six kilometers of dogfights,
speeding past glowing clouds of debris and energy bolts on its
way to her location.

     Artoo sent another message to her translator screen.  "I'm
still working on deflector subsystems.  They must've gotten a
power surge from that hit, but only primary control...."

     "Yeah, yeah, okay, Artoo, but I'm kinda busy right now!"

     "Just trying to tell you I'm working on it!  You big [no
translation available]"

     She and the Interceptor pilot turned their ships around
nearly in unison.  She smiled with admiration, then jerked her X-
Wing to line the TIE Interceptor up in her sights.  As the
Interceptor swung to strike her on the right, a missle lock-on
warning flashed again.  She fired her laser cannons, not entirely
caring if they hit, sending the TIE Interceptor into a wild
spinning climb.  Catching the missle warning light in the corner
of her eye, she corkscrewed her X-Wing up past the approaching
TIE Bomber, again letting off random laserblasts.

     Both opponents raced away, only to turn back after gaining
enough breathing space and bearings to continue.  Telia swore
under her breath, but figured whatever it took to give Artoo a
chance to fix the shields...and only the Force knew how long
until someone could come to their aid.

     Then on her monitors:  "Telia!  Deflectors online!"

     Telia reached for the power management controls, poking
buttons over and over, diverting power from the laser cannons to
shields.  She swung in on the Interceptor, firing with what power
her laser cannons had left.  The targeting computer declared hull
damage, then went blank in time with the orange explosion ahead.

     "Nice job, Artoo!  Now keep the front deflectors--"

     Artoo's frantic beeping got her attention to the control
boards.  The word "LOCKED" glowed on the missle-lock warning.

     "Outta my way, 'cause heeeere I come!  EEEEEEEEEE-HAAA!"

     Telia started at Black Three's voice over the comlink and
rolled her X-Wing to one side.  His battle cry was underscored by
the telltale squawk of laser cannons.  Unable to resist looking
past Artoo behind her, she saw the A-Wing smash right into the
TIE Bomber like an axe blade, lasers firing.  Its velvet black
markings glistened in the explosive result as debris washed over
and away from the starfighter.  Without another word, Black Three
turned his ship on its side and cut past her.

     When she recharged her deflectors to full, Telia heard Artoo
mew to itself, a sound she recognized as the astrodroid's nearest
equivalent to "whew!"

     Then she increased speed toward the Nebulon-B frigates.  As
the frigates filled her view through the canopy, she cleared her
mind and let herself call to the Force, reaching for a moment she
alone couldn't create.  She toggled the weapon selector button,
then set her proton torpedo launcher for dual-linked fire, barely
aware of her hands guiding her X-Wing through the turbolaser
barrage between the two capital ships.  Only as she heard the
torpedo launcher's high-pitched groan, pulling her ship into a
weaving climb up and out of the chasm between the frigates _Sunn-
Childe_ and _Muan_, did she hear the voices on her helmet commo.

                                  *          *          *

     Wide-eyed Dorian held her headset tightly against her ears
with both hands.  "Telia, get out of there!  Stay in control!"

     One of the control deck personnel shouted over the thunder
and groans of turbolaser fire.  "Direct hit on all six torpedoes! 
_Muan_'s shields are going DOWN!"

     Cheers and applause rang out through the flight deck. 
Dorian couldn't help but smile, looking up to the ceiling in the
direction her student's X-Wing must have gone.

     Over the celebration, the captain shouted with all his
might.  "MAXIMUM FIRE, ALL WEAPONS!"

     The shrill reports of turbolasers vibrated through the deck. 
Triangular viewports showed only novae of emerald green and
orange-red at starboard, and minute ones in the distance to port.

     A thunderous white flash interrupted the fireworks display.
Many eyes of many shapes, sizes, and numbers turned away from
their readouts in terror, fearing their ship had been hit hard
until some unseen operator yelled across the flight deck. 
"Another direct hit...enemy hangar bay taken out by turbolaser
battery!  Completely caved in!"

     Dorian put a hand to her headset again.  "Shuttle mission
complete!  _Paddle_ is undocking, Captain!"

     The captain cupped his hand over his headset mike. "All
ships, disengage and hyper out to rendezvous point immediately!"

                                  *          *          *

     Lieutenant TiCable heard the orders through his helmet commo
as he tried to re-balance his deflectors and run a sensor sweep
on the enemy frigate with one gloved hand.  His grip on the A-
Wing's joystick tightened, strength unbidden, as he saw the
incoming data.

     "Look sharp, Black Three, you got hull damage!"

     He inhaled sharply before speaking to the comlink.  "I'm
okay, Black Leader, just a little scratched up.  I'm pulling
out."  He leaned on the joystick, frowning as he sent his A-Wing
into an evasive dive.

     "Good, now join up with Green Wing.  We'll all hyper out on
the same vector.  Watch for enemy fire."

     He leveled his fighter behind the formation of green-striped
X-Wings, checking the TIE fighters and the wounded Imperial
frigate on his threat scanners.  He tried to loosen his jaw
muscles.  He followed orders even when he wanted to follow that
ship where he knew it'd go.  He felt a lump in his throat when he
saw X-Wings close their S-foils in front of him.  "Watching for
enemy fire...I copy, Black Leader."

     The Rebel frigate slid forward, dragging itself away as the
two capital ships continued to exchange fire.  Starfighter craft
all huddled closely to their motherships.  Then the Rebel frigate
snapped forward, jumping into hyperspace.  Orders to hyper out
piled on top of each other on the comm channels.  The stars
stretched past each pilot's view, and as points of light swirled
about, acceleration slapped them hard into their seats.  At the
simultaneous triumphant announcements that all ships have cleared
the combat area, hundreds of cheers and hollers rolled through
every channel.

     Except from Black Three.

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