For this list I would choose a defender over an interceptor every time. The punishers are gonna be slow and easy to kill with only one agility. I would try and take some variant of Ryad (or maybe a cheap Vessery) so that your squadron has more brawling power after the initial bomb-gauntlet thing happens. An interceptor is meant to be flown as a skirmisher, and one interceptor on its own would be the priority target leaving you in the late game with two generic munition-less tie punishers, Which would be terrible.

At the same time, the punishers shouldn't get 1 rounded and could pose a nice hammer/ anvil situation with a flanker rather than joust support.

Vader with title/ATC, adaptability, and EU

Since you will choke your opponent into a gauntlet, why not give the Punishers some homing missiles. You're already rocking EM. I would get somebody in there with a tech slot so you can use Targeting Synchronizer and set up their target locks.

Defender (Ryad) - TieX7, Juke (34)