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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2915068" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 365The small, A-Wing sized coralskippers came at the New Republic as one. They were shaped like craggy teardrops, coming to a rounded point where some kind of canon seemed to be...and, from the reports, could maneuver faster and better than anything the New Republic could throw against them. It was a matter of learning the fight...and the problem with that was that lives had to be lost to learn the fight.    And despite the simple fact that no one wanted that to happen, the charge through the line of starfighters had taken four A-Wings and two of the Zephyr’s X-Wings. Thankfully, three of the pilots had managed to eject, and that meant the Zephyrs hadn’t lost any pilots. Yet.    “Two Flight, form up on me!” Jyren yelled into the comm as he banked around to bring the wave of coralskippers into his sights. He hadn’t lost any of his four yet, and they were doing a damn good job at keeping with him, “Just like in training! Overlap our shields together and maneuver as one!”    “Its not that easy,” that was the watery voice of Zephyr Eight, the Mon Calamari named Obrack, if Jyren remember correctly.    Jyren couldn’t help a quick nod, “Just keep with me.”    Through the quick turn, flashes could be seen all throughout the area around them. The main comm channel was filled with a thousand sounds, many of which were impossible to distinguish. And then they saw the coralskippers. There was a reason that the pilots all talked of the Vong starfighters as if they were just one large ship...they moved like one. Maneuvering perfectly and reacting as one giant organism with terrifying efficiency. And, as one, at least ten of them turned on the four X-Wings of Two Flight.    “Shields double front!” Jyren grinded out as he quickly switched the settings, “Everyone on the center first, then follow my fire.”    Only two of the acknowledgments could be heard over the comm system before they were overwhelmed. At first, it was only a wall of red orange fire coming straight for the X-Wings, but a second later, banking to the side in the process, the quad laser cannons returned fire. Alarms went off in Jyren’s cockpit, and immediately, he reacted by pulling up. The Force told him that the others were still with him...but it told him little else. The utter emptiness of the space where the Vong were was all too obvious and like black holes in the Force.    Jyren silenced the alarms and then cursed. Shields were at half . One more hit would have taken them out...    And then Rea’s voice cut in over the comm, “My stabilizer’s been hit!”    Damn. He should have expected that had been too easy. Quickly, he eased up the maneuver, “Get your astromech on it!”    By now, the coralskippers were coming around again, moving faster and in ways that the X-Wings could never hope to match. It also meant that they were coming up right behind the four of them. Jyren wanted to check what was going on in the rest of the nearby area, but it was definitely one of those moments where staying alive was more important than...well...anything else.     But, as Jyren was attempting to lead the other’s out of the fire that was spraying their way while not losing Rea in the process, the voice of Rulae Nok came over his comm, “Jyren, the Admiral’s just confirmed that there’s a Yammosk out there.”    “A what?!” this was not the time to test Jyren’s knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong. And, for his trouble, there was a yelp in the comm from the Duros pilot, Zephyr Seven, who had taken a hit to his rear shields...they held, barely, but the violent shake he was given caused a slight panic, and meant he felt of the formation.    “War coordinator,” the Commodore went on, sounding a bit distracted but not nearly as much as Jyren was.    “I’m a little busy right now, Rulae!” Jyren growled a little too angrily just as Rea sent a quick confirmation that her astromech had done its best. Immediately, he tipped the X-Wing as a signal to the others before banking as hard as he could force the X-Wing to go, while at the same time putting as much into the engines as he could manage, to hopefully wrap around their attackers. Again, the others stayed with him, though a second or two behind thanks to his sudden boost in speed...but they stay nonetheless, and it was a wonderful thing to see.    And, of course, Rulae’s voice returned, “We all are, Two, but you need to break off and cover the gunships and the Y-Wings as they head for the Vong cruisers.”    This time, Jyren switched to a direct line with the Commodore as his flight managed to get one of the coralskippers into their sights. Immediately, all four of them opened first just as they were taught. Though it was a bit odd, the first shots seemed to disappear to one side of the ship before the others on the opposite end sent pieces flying and, a second later, breaking apart the entire ship like a miniature asteroid.    Breaking away to throw off the Vong, Jyren finally said, “We’re barely holding our own against these skips, Rulae, we can’t get anywhere.”    After a pause in which two red-orange shots went by a little too close, Rulae responded, “Its an order, Captain. Get close enough to the gunships and they’ll take out the skips.”    The direct line cut, and immediately Jyren said to the rest of Two Flight, “Someone figure out where our damned gunships are!”    Thankfully, no one asked why. Instead, as they trained their cannons on another skip that quickly pulled away as a group of two others slipped in behind the X-Wings, the Zephyr Seven spoke up, “Just two clicks out from the Araddon.”    Jyren did not ask ‘where the hell are we?’, though he definitely thought it. Instead, he let the Force tell him where he was while his eyes and instincts guided the X-Wing. And then he found it.    “We’re going to pull the skips to the gunships and then keep the Y-Wings in one piece while they hit those cruisers,” Jyren said, immediately turning and starting a haphazard path through the violent melee ensuing around the New Republic ships.    The tension from the other three pilots was obvious....especially when they saw just how far away the two fairly small looking Corellian Gunships were from their position. It sounded so small of a distance, yet the gap between their X-Wings and the gunships was filled with not only a Star Destroyer, but masses of flashes that could only be fighters.    “Keep with me and we’ll make it,” the words escaped Jyren before he knew he’d even said them. The kids needed some kind of reassurance, and it was the best he could give. By now, all of them had been hurt to the point where another would likely kill them. The chaos was so great that none of them expected to be able to react fast enough to eject anymore.    To his surprise, though, as the vicious firing of the Vong behind them began to light up their viewports, Jyren heard the watery voice of Zephyr Eight again, “We’re with you to the end, sir.”</blockquote>

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