X-WING

　I had just completed the last of the A-wing historical training missions, and was climbing out of the cockpit of the simulator when Commander Dafid called me on the comm.
　"Farlander. Report to my office. Dafid out."
　Jan-lo was nearby. She had been going through the training with me, although I had the idea that she would be going into intelligence training before long. She gave me one of those looks. You know, like, "Uh-oh. What did you do now!" I just shrugged. I had no idea what "TIE-Die" wanted. Jan-lo offered me an encouraging thumbs-up as she entered the simulator.
　I walked along the row of simulator pods and turned left. Dafid's office was just down the hall from the simulator room; as I approached, I noticed someone standing in his doorway and facing into the office. I could see only the back of the man, but his bearing was very military, and from his shoulder insignia I could see that he was a lieutenant commander. I slowed my pace to see whether I could overhear what they were saying. Best to go in as prepared as possible.
　"... he seems to know his way around a blockade runner, commander," the man in the door was saying.
　I couldn't hear the reply.
　"I know he's green. But you said yourself that his simulator scores were nearly perfect. And General Dodonna himself..."
　The man's voice trailed off as a slightly louder, but still incomprehensible, reply emerged from within the room.
　"With all due respect," continued the first man, "we could use his help. There are so many operations in planning stages at this time. Well... We can't wait for every..."
　The man was interrupted as a voice bellowed from inside the room. "Farlander! Where are you? Get in here. Now!"
　By now only a few meters away, I spoke up. "I'm here, sir." As I walked up to the door, the man standing there turned. I didn't recognize him, but that was nothing to be surprised at - thousands of people were aboard the Independence.
　"You're Keyan Farlander!" asked the man, sounding a little dubious.
　"Sir!" I saluted crisply and stood at attention. Rebel officers were pretty lax about such things, generally, but I thought that this officer would appreciate the gesture.
　"At ease. lieutenant. Relax." The man smiled, seemingly at some private joke. He didn't look like a man who smiled often. "Commander Dafid tells me that you aren't ready for active duty yet. What do you think, lieutenant!"
　He was asking my opinion? "I think that whatever the commander says is probably true, sir."
　"Listen, Farlander..." The man hesitated a moment and then turned back to Dafid. "I'm just the envoy, anyway, Dafid," he said. "General Dodonna seems to want this pilot in service as soon as possible. Don't ask me why." Turning back to me and giving me a sort of skeptical look, he added, "Have you completed the historical simulator training!"
　"Yes, sir. But..."
　The man held up his hand to stop me. "No huts, lieutenant. If the general wants you, he gets you. You're to report to the duty officer for Red Squadron tomorrow at 0600 hours." He saluted to me and sort of tipped his head to commander Dafid, and then he spun around and left before I could answer. I stood there, stunned, watching him disappear down the hallway.
　"Farlander..."
　I faced Dafid, not really sure what to say. "Sir!" was all I managed.
　The commander stood up from his desk and put his hand on my shoulder. It dug in a little too hard. He sometimes had trouble gauging the strength of his mechanical hand. "Farlander, that was one of the general's staff officers. They want you. You're to be the sacrificial lamb. Just remember everything you've learned here, and don't take this hero business too seriously. Heroes who fly starfighters most often meet with a quick end."
　"Yes, sir," I said. I couldn't have agreed more. "But, sir!"
　"What is it, Keyan!"
　This was the first time - ever - that he had called me by my first name. It made me nervous.
　"I was just going to ask... Am I really not ready yet!"
　Dafid laughed so abruptly I almost jumped.
　"Ready? Who's ever ready? You'll be all right. Keep asking yourself whether or not you're ready yet, and when the answer is yes, that's when you might consider a nice desk job. The end is near." He was still chuckling, the scar on his face stretched white, but then his smile faded and he spoke more seriously. I had never seen the commander in such a mood before. "In answer to your question, lieutenant, you're a damn good fighter pilot. If you can stay alive through your first few missions, you've got a chance. Just watch your back... and don't try to take on a Star Destroyer in an X-wing." I smiled then, but later I was to remember the commander's caution, and it would not seem humorous at all.
　Reporting for Duty 　I reported for duty early the next morning, and was sent to Briefing Room 7, a small room dominated by a large 3-D holo projection map. I recognized a few of the pilots who had arrived before me, and some nodded in my direction, but there was little conversation. I looked for a spot as far in the back as possible, and settled nervously into the auto-contour scat.
　When Hamo arrived, he grinned and said, "Here we go," and then went off to talk to some other pilots I didn't know. Shortly thereafter, the briefing began.
　"We've had some success lately against the Empire forces, but that only means that we have to be more careful. Our hit-and-fade tactics are working well enough to provoke a response from the Emperor."
　Commander S'man began the briefing. I had seen him a few times before: He was hard to miss at nearly seven feet tall and close to 300 pounds. People said that he was a frustrated fighter pilot - too big to fly one - and that he had become a tactical genius and a mission planner just so that he could stay near the action. Whatever his story, people also said that he was tight with General Dodonna and Admiral Ackbar, and that S'man had planned many of the most successful Alliance missions.
　For a moment he stood before the large holo sphere, with nothing displayed.
　"A response from the Empire isn't exactly what we want, but our informants tell us that a response is what we're going to get. So, our first priority is to find out what what we can expect, and where it will take place. All we can know for sure is that the Empire will respond with a warhead to scratch an itch."
　"Fortunately, we have several advantages. First, we have good intelligence about the Empire's movements through our network of informants. It's hard for the Empire to keep secrets when everything they do is on such a large scale. Second, we are few and hard to find. Third, our starfighters can hyperspace into combat and back out again while theirs are not hyperspace-capable. Fourth, we have a dangerous new starfighter which all of you have trained on - the A-wing."
　Some shouts of agreement came from the assembled pilots and staff - the A-wing was popular with most pilots - but S'man put one of his great hands up and order was instantly restored.
　"Don't get too confident, men. This is a life-or-death struggle, and the Empire still has the upper hand. Now, the general and his staff have worked hard to set forth the following goals, and you men will be risking your lives to accomplish these goals, so we want you to hear them.
　"First, our informants are working hard to gain more information about the Imperial counterstrike, but we are also looking for ways to help ourselves. We hope to intercept some Imperial convoys, or perhaps capture some Imperial officers and find out what they know.
　"Second, we have decided to evacuate our current base at Briggia. Our security is very tight, but nothing will remain a secret forever. We will have to mount a rear-guard action to protect the evacuation in case the Empire discovers the operation.
　"Third, we must mount effective counterstrikes to delay the start of the Empire's response. In other words, we'll muck up the works."
　There was general laughter at this uncharacteristic comment. but it faded quickly, and the commander went on as though he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary.
　"Fourth, we expect to have several opportunities to capture military supplies as the Imperial operation begins to build up its ordnance.
　"Fifth, we must seek new allies in our fight against the Empire. Several worlds are learning, through first-hand experience, that the Empire brings oppression when it promises peace, and we must work to prove ourselves a worthy alternative. One such world is Sullust, and, like the Calamarians, the Sullustan are a strong spacefaring race. Their superior navigation skills would be a great help to us.
　"Sixth, well, sixth is to seize any target of opportunity. The High Command is studying several plans designed to hurt the Empire, and help our cause throughout the galaxy. We'll need your help to get it done.
　"All that said, 1et's get to your first mission...."

　OP 1: Destroy Imperial Convoy

　File Name: defect
　Mission Briefing
　You will fly an X-wing as wingman in a quick-strike mission against an Imperial convoy. The X-wings will fly cover, while Y-wings attempt to disable the lead ship. In addition, we plan to blow up the Emperor's supplies and get out before reinforcements can arrive.
　Farlander's After-Action Report
　I flew an X-wing in a hit-and-fade strike against an Imperial convoy. I was the wingman, and Hamo was my flight leader. During the mission, a corvette assigned to escort the convoy decided to defect to the Alliance, and a pair of Y-wings was ordered to disable the Imperial corvette so that one of our transports could capture it.
　I used my normal mission-start sequence with the following exception: After hyperspacing into the engagement area, I transferred all laser power to my shields. (In retrospect, since no one shot at me, I could have redirected all shield power to the engines and just worried about maintaining full lasers.)
　Anyway, I redirected all cannon power to the engines and got my speed up to 125. My map readout showed five enemy freighters in the area. The nearest two already had their shields down, and Hamo went after them. The next three formed a line stretching away toward their hyperspace jump point, and my job was to prevent the first two of them from escaping. I cycled through the targets until I located the third freighter. It was approximately eight clicks away. I headed toward it while Hamo began his run on the first two freighters. As soon as he destroyed them, he headed home.
　Now, although I needed to get only the next two, I figured that if I moved quickly enough I could get all three, so I switched to torpedoes and selected dual-fire mode. As soon as I got a red lock, I fired two salvoes of two torpedoes and then switched to cannons. When I was two clicks from the target, I reset the cannon and shield recharge rates to maximum and transferred shield power to the lasers until they were fully supercharged. I began firing as soon as the target box turned green (1.50 km).
　I like to aim fora side of the freighter; it's bigger than the middle and easier to hit. This way, I took out freighter Arreis on the first pass. To prevent closing on the target too rapidly, I reduced throttle to one-third. As soon as the Arreis was finished, I transferred cannon power to my shields. Then redirected cannon power to the engines and reset the shield recharge rate to normal.
　I cycled forward to target the next freighter (the Nigiro) in the CMD at approximately four clicks away. As soon as I had a lock, A fired my remaining pair of torpedoes and then switched back to lasers, repeating the tactics I used on the Arreis. With my mission objectives completed, I headed back toward the corvette Bixby, which was being captured, and waited for my Mission Complete orders.
　C.O.'s Analysis
　"A fair job, lieutenant, and your report is clear and complete. However, there is always room for improvement," said the debriefing officer, the same man I had met outside Dafid's office. His name was Commander Lagrane.
　"Here, read this report," he said. "Then go to the simulators, where you can try these new strategies." He handed me a holo, which I placed in my reader.
　Debriefing (Win Conditions)
　FRTs Orcim, Esorp, Arreis, and Nigiro must all be destroyed. The CRV Bixby must be recovered.
　Mission Note: If you attack the third freighter, Murtceps, an Imperial Frigate wilt arrive two minutes afterwards. You still have time to wipe out the convoy, however, before its TIE fighters become a threat. Also, it's best to use two torpedoes apiece for each freighter. To get maximum points (and challenge) from this mission, you can send your flight leader home as soon as the mission begins. If you do so, you have to destroy all five freighters, but the first two go easily because their shields are already down; you can simply use your lasers on them. After destroying the convoy, you can stick around to fight the Frigate and its TIEs, or, any time after the Mission Complete message appears, you can go home.

　Transcript of Interview with Captain Nogdra of the Imperial corvette Bixby

　Interrogator: So, captain, why have you decided to come over to us?
　Nogdra: It's... you don't know what I've seen. I can't... (pause)
　Interrogator: Go on.
　Nogdra: I can't condone their actions. Before I became captain of the Bixby, I was stationed on a Star Destroyer. I watched them destroy entire cities just to make a point. I watched them load intelligent beings into freighters with almost no life support and ship them off to who knows where... I held my tongue, but I'm not like that.
　Interrogator: Like what?
　Nogdra: I grew up on a Hub planet. I grew up with all kinds of beings. I can't accept the policies of hate and repression I've been ordered to uphold. I'm here to help you, if you'll have me.
　Interrogator: How can you help us?
　Nogdra: I'm a good captain. And I have some information. Not much, I'm afraid, but a little.
　Interrogator: Tell me what you can.
　Nogdra: Well, we were recently near Dellalt. The Imperials are using it as a staging point for supplies and equipment. I'd expect them to start operations in that sector. I'll give you the coordinates of the staging point....