Well I wrote this and thought you all might enjoy it. I know it needs some polish. I welcome constructive criticism.
Echoes
Imperial Star Cruiser Vigilant Eye
3 ABY
En route to the Horatis system
Ensign Tek paced nervously. The high grip treads of his flight suits boots squeaking in protest as he made yet another circuit around his flights berth. He was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Flight Operations Officer. As a newly commissioned Ensign he had been assigned as flight leader of his group of fresh faced TIE fighter pilots. They had just docked and boarded the Vigilant Eye, a modified Guardian-class light cruiser, less than an hour ago and the ship had nearly immediately jumped to hyperspace. And now the Flight Ops Officer was going to come and brief them on how they were going to crush rebel scum for the glory of the Empire! It was everything he had dreamed of and trained for the last two years.
Again another noisy squeak sounded from his boots as he pivoted again. His mind raced with possibilities, would they give him a strike mission against a secret rebel base? Or maybe attacking a rebel VIP transport? He was barely able to contain the beaming grin brought on by the adrenalin rushing through his veins. He looked over his men, HIS MEN! He thought, as they stood in formation in a relaxed posture. They too carried his excitement, but not the same giddy eagerness. Instead they were more nervous and apprehensive. But Ensign Tek's bravado had always overruled his fear, and to a lesser extent his better judgment. And it was this very zeal that had tapped him for command. And now he was in a position to show his superiors what he could do! Punctuating that thought like a blaster bolt the door opened with it's characteristic blink-and-you-miss-it suddenness. “AT-TEN-ION! OFFICER ON DECK!” bellowed Tek, trying and failing miserably to contain his near manic enthusiasm.
Lt. Ayers entered with what could be best described as accustomed resignation. She had been assigned as the Flight Operations officer 6 months ago. In that time she had gone through 5 flights of rookie pilots. Eighteen dead and two permanently disabled pilots. After the first group bought it she was crushed despite the Captain's attempts to console her. After the second flight was destroyed she attempted to resign her commission. It was then the Captain gave her a talk that utterly changed her outlook. He explained to her that the Empire believed in a succeed or die philosophy. TIE fighters were unforgiving craft. Those who survived went on to greater duties, those who failed were of no consequence. He had personally reviewed the mission planning of all her operations. The fault was not in the planning, it had been in the execution. Her job was not protect her pilots, it was to throw them into a crucible and see who came out harder and who didn't come out at all. And as far as he could see, she had been doing her job perfectly. She retracted her resignation the next morning.
So here she was again about to watch another group of cocksure young bucks get themselves killed. “Emperor's Fist Flight reporting for duty, Sir!” Tek half-bellowed, half-beamed. Ayer rolled her eyes, **** rookies. “Who assigned you that call-sign?” demanded Ayers. A sudden bout of doubt crept into Tek's voice and expression, “Uh, well...uh, I did...sir.” Ayer's voice was flat and without anger, possessing almost a casually dismissive note, “I assign flight call-signs aboard this vessel ensign. You will be designated as Dagger flight. If you wish to assign call-signs amongst yourselves that's fine, but when in contact with flight ops you will address yourself as Dagger-one, and your men will address themselves as Daggers two thru five. And I want those numbers assigned in order of command chain. In other words your second in command is Dagger-two, your third is Dagger-three, etcetera. Is that understood?” A now rather crestfallen Tek responded with a rather meek “Sir, yes sir.” “And in the unlikely event you ever advance to Flight Ops” Ayes continued ,“I recommend you keep call-signs down to two syllables or less. Keeps communications smooth and fluid. Leave the fancy stuff for the Royal Guard. They've got the time for it.” She laid a withering look at Tek who looked like he'd just been hit by a stun grenade.
Ayers had the barest hint of a smile cross her lips, good now that we're done with to the glory of the Emperor crap we can maybe get some work done, she thought. “In 16 hours we should be on station in the Horatis system. I don't expect you'll have heard of it, as it's little more than a mid rim backwater with very little of interest to anyone respectable. However, Imperial intelligence believes someone has setup an illegal pharmacological production facility there.” “Rebels?” asked Tek with a note of hope. “Possibly,” replied Ayers “but unlikely. More likely we're dealing with smugglers or some sort of criminal conglomerate. But that doesn’t mean you won't see action. They know they are facing execution if caught and that's a powerful motivator to fight.” She added a subtle encouraging note to her voice, ”And after all, they still are enemies to the Emperor.” Tek and his men perked up a bit. She had gotten almost too good at this she thought.
“Your mission is to support the field testing of a new vessel prototype. Once I designate mission start you will launch and begin a pre-programmed sweep of several possible locations of the target facility. During this time you will be receiving commands from the prototype’s pilot. I expect you to follow these orders without question. I will be in contact with the prototype and passing intel and commands along through it. The only time you will hear from me will be if you fail to follow the orders given.” A sudden harshness injected itself into her voice, “You do not wish to hear from me during this mission. Understood?”
“Sir, YES sir!” Tek responded with a smug grin. Good, Ayers thought, he's got his confidence back a bit, but the bluster is gone. Just what she wanted. “Any questions?” asked Ayers. “What sort of vessel is the prototype, Lieutenant?” asked Tek. “It's a stealth attack vessel,we'll let you into the hanger bay so you can get a quick look at it so we don't have a friendly fire accident.” a note of humor creeping into the end of her sentence. “I shouldn't have to remind you that what you see is highly classified and will not be discussed with anyone not expressly cleared to know about it.” “Of course, Lieutenant.” replied Tek. He gave an expectant glare to his men which was met with a bellowing “Sir, yes Sir!” Tek returned his gaze to the Lieutenant a self satisfied sneer on his lips. Lieutenant Ayers could only roll hers eyes “Very well Ensign, be prepared to launch in 16 hours.”
Three hours later
Ensign Tek lay in his bunk wrestling with whether he should pop a sleep capsule or not. His mind was still churning from the events of today and sleep was not finding him. After Lt. Ayers briefing Dagger flight had grabbed some chow on the messdeck and then strolled down to the hanger to see the prototype. After having their credentials rechecked by a pair of deadly serious stormtroopers they were granted access. With one look the squad was all smiles. Sitting in the middle of the hanger surrounded by techs, equipment, and diagnostic droids lay the elongated deadly claw that was what they called the prototype. It was clearly an evolution of the Sienar TIE series, sharing the signature large solar panels and octagonal frame cockpit. But that is where the similarities ended. Whereas the standard TIE/LNs that Dagger flight flew had a rather inelegant functionality over form appearance. This new vessel had a sleek and deadly looking styling to it. It's trio on long triangular solar arrays gave it the vague resemblance to a predatory fish. And it's array of 5 blasters were a testament to it being just as dangerous as the predators it's form mimicked. As they tried to get closer a group of stormtroopers made it clear they had seen all they were allowed to see.
After returning to their berth they had chatted a bit about what they had seen before heading to bed. Now an hour later Tek was still wide awake in his bunk. Tomorrow he would possibly lead his flight into battle. It was all that he had dreamed about. But now, now after seeing that deadly new ship sitting in the hanger, he had new dreams and aspirations. Finally though he broke a sleep capsule in half and swallowed it with a sip of water from his canteen. He would need rest if he was going to be able to do his duty tomorrow. Within moments the drug took hold and he was out cold.
Thirteen hours later
Tek was miserable. The sleep drug he had taken to get some rest the night before had some nasty side effects. Specifically severe constipation and grogginess. He had spent two hours in the head before finally being able to relive himself, and now he was finally shaking the last of the cobwebs from his head. He had just entered the cockpit of his TIE/LN thru the docking umbilical. He started the pre-flight start-up sequence and check lists after about a minute the engine thrummed to life and his various systems came on. He attached his flight suits life-support module to the ships power supply. That in turn connected his helmets microphone to the comm array.
Keying his mike he radioed Dagger Flight, “Dagger-One to Dagger flight , acknowledge flight ready status.” On his HUD he could see 5 symbols in the shape of a TIE fighter silhouette. Currently they were all amber, he thumbed the positive acknowledgment switch on his control yoke and the top symbol turned green. One by one the symbols all turned green except for Dagger-two. “Dagger-two acknowledge!” barked Tek. Dagger-two's indicator flashed red. Tek cursed and then keyed his mike “Dagger-two report! Why are you not ready?” “Dagger-one, please standby.” Dagger-two reported tersely. Tek was losing his patience, he waited 20 seconds and was about to key his mike to demand a status update when Dagger-two flashed green. “Sorry about the delay Dagger-one, the umbilical jammed in the hatch seal and it wouldn't cycle properly. I've corrected the issue and rechecked it and I'm satisfied it's fixed.” Radioed Dagger-two.
Tek breathed a sigh of relief, an umbilical jam was a common issue when boarding a TIE but it was an easy enough to fix. “Thanks for the update Dagger-two, Dagger flight re-acknowledge flight ready status.” he thumbed the status switch again and the symbols shifted to amber. Almost immediately they flashed back to green. Tek smiled beneath his helmet. “Dagger-one to Flight Ops, all preflight checks completed, Dagger flight is ready for launch!”
In the Combat Information Center Lt. Ayers could practically see Tek's grin through the radio speaker. She thumbed the mike “Acknowledged Dagger-one, standby for launch. Once you launch I want you to form up and enter a holding pattern. Acknowledge Dagger-one.” “Roger Flight Ops, Dagger flight will form up and enter a holding pattern after launch.” replied Tek. Ayers could hear he was focusing better now the excitement was being toned down by the task at hand, “Roger Dagger flight you are cleared for launch, LAUNCH!”
Dagger flights five TIE/LN fighters popped their umbilicals and docking brackets with a well orchestrated coordination. In unison their engines began that characteristic howl that had become the signature of TIE/LN. Tek could feel his stomach drop as his TIE broke away from the artificial gravity of the Vigilant Eye and his ships inertial dampeners took over. He scrolled thru the text command menu and selected V formation. Each ship in Dagger flight received the order on their HUD, they each in turn broadcast a green acknowledgment signal as they pulled into formation. He brought hie TIE around in a lazy bank that afforded him a view of the the Vigilant Eye's shuttle-bay. Within a few moments he glimpsed the claw like shape of the prototype slipping thru the shuttle-bay doors. And then it was gone. In a matter of moments the ship disappeared. When he heard stealth he figured it simply baffled sensors, but this ship was actually INVISIBLE! He centered his yoke and throttled back to a crawl worried that he might collide with the now invisible ship. Then he caught the barest shimmer to port. It looked almost like a mirage where the stars wavered slightly. I see you! He thought with a laugh.
A text message appeared in the middle of his HUD:
Echo to Dagger flight:
commence flight plan alpha
initiate way-point 1
maintain radio silence
weapons hold do not engage unless ordered
repeat
weapons hold do not engage unless ordered
acknowledge
Tek glared at the words. Do not engage? How dare they rob him of his opportunity for glory. His flight mates all hit the green acknowledge button rather quickly. Tek ground his teeth in disgust. With a deliberate slowness he pressed the acknowledge toggle.
The next two hours passed uneventfully other than an intermittent blip on his radar he assumed was the prototype he saw nothing on his screens. As they approached each way-point they'd receive another text message telling them to head to the next way-point, maintain radio silence, and maintain weapons hold. By the time they reached the 5th way-point Tek was positively bored. It looked like this mission was going to be a bust. Their flight path had taken them by a small moon and through an asteroid ring surrounding the 4th planet of the system. Other than dodging the occasional bit of space debris there was nothing to do. He was thinking he should have brought a book or some music when suddenly he saw a blip on the edge of his scanners. Then another, and another. He thumbed the acknowledge button twice in rapid succession which was the signal for an alert. Another message appeared on his HUD:
Echo to Dagger flight:
confirmed targets sighted
maintain course and speed
maintain radio silence
do not engage
repeat
do not engage
await further instructions
acknowledge
Tek was incensed, but he followed his orders and acknowledged the command. He watched his scanners as the targets were out of his field of view but the computer had identified the incoming ships as 3 Z-95 headhunter fighters, a HWK-290 Hawk courier, and a YT-1300 light freighter. All were lightly armed and no match for his flight. But he was forbidden from attacking them. He stared at the screen in disgust as they began to approach his aft starboard quarter.
Echo to Dagger flight:
maintain formation
maintain radio silence
come about and engage the freighter in formation
weapons free
Tek grinned. He flipped his TIE/ LN into a Koiogran turn then banked into a direct heading on the target freighter. He smiled as he saw his entire flight had matched his maneuver peferectly and they had remained in formation. With well practiced ease they began a series of evasive jinks as they entered weapon range. As they entered range the enemy targets opened up to compensate for their defensive maneuvers the enemy pilots had focused their fire on Dagger-four, the far starboard ship in their formation. Despite Dagger-four's best efforts his ship vanished under the onslaught. A red x appeared thru Dagger-four's indicator symbol. He roared and fired repeatedly. The death of their comrade had incensed Dagger flight and their fire seemed to intensify. They managed to strip the freighter of it's shields and inflict a few hits on the hull
disengage freighter
break and attack Hawk courier
acknowledge
Tek was now furious he was being denied a kill. But Dagger squadron acknowledged the order and switched targets as they brought their guns to bear they saw the prototype decloak and unleash a devastating fusillade on the freighter. It exploded in a blinding flash, after which the prototype was nowhere to be seen. But Tek had no time to dwell on this as the rest of the enemy craft had opened up on Dagger-flight. Daggers two and five took some glancing hits but the enemy Hawk and one headhunter lost it's shields.
break and engage fighters
do not allow them to escape
acknowledge
Tek acknowledged and Dagger flight switched targets yet again. Again the prototype decloaked and unleashed another barrage this time directed at the Hawk. And once more the ship disappeared in the wake of an exploding vessel. Now things devolved into a furball as the surviving TIEs engaged the Headhunters. Tek managed to isolate one headhunter and down it while another headhunter had gotten on Dagger-two's tail. Suddenly the prototype appeared and vaporized her pursuer. A few moments later the last enemy ship was downed between Daggers three and five.
Echo to Dagger flight:
form up and return to base
maintain radio silence
weapons hold do not engage
acknowledge
Tek was exhausted and the words return to base were some of the best he'd ever read. He thumbed the acknowledge button. His hands began to shake as the adrenalin wore off.
Echo to Dagger flight:
Good Job
Echo out
Vigilant Eye
Three hours later
Ensign Tek wiped a bit of vomit from the corner of his mouth, his face and head were drenched with sweat. He'd just spent 20 minutes vomiting what little was in his stomach into a toilet. His instructors told him this was a perfectly normal physiological reaction to stress. It didn't make him feel any better though to know this. As he left the head to return to his berth he saw two pilots walking up the corridor, he didn't recognize the unit patch and they were nearly on him when he realized they must be the crew of the prototype. He snapped to attention. Their faces concealed by their helmets prevented him from reading their expression, or even their gender for that matter. But they stopped, turned and returned his salute before proceeding down the hall. Tek began to whistle as he strolled to his berth.