Attack Run

Venom Squadron

Shock was far too mild a word for what the rebel fleet experienced as it realized the partially completed Death Star’s shields were up. But even more alarming was the fact that they were effectively cut off by the largest flotilla of Star Destroyers ever assembled�"a mass of ships stretching across the sky. They were trapped. Fox let out a low curse as his A-wing’s comm filled with the urgent voices of the other wing commanders asking for instructions. He took in the situation; the main rebel strike force led by General Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Falcon had broken off its attack on the battle station and was slugging it out with swarms of TIE fighters dispatched from the Imperial fleet. Behind them, Star Destroyers were moving in for the kill. Fox’s tactical display looked like a multi-layered spider web of electromagnetic interference. He wasn’t surprised at all when he got orders cancelling the rearguard mission and reassigning his wing pronto.

“About time,” said Asha.

“Stow that talk, Venom Six,” snapped Strom. Asha shut up as Fox spat out the new orders. There was no time to tell them the why of the situation. It wasn’t their job to think�"in fact, the less thinking they did at this point, the better. But on the off-chance that the rebel commandos who had landed on the moon somehow brought the shield down, the fleet was going to need to pivot quickly and vector onto the Death Star. They were going to have to make every second count. And they weren’t going to have time to fight their way through still more Star Destroyers. One in particular was deploying right in the middle of the optimum approach vector to the Death Star’s uncompleted superstructure

Fox recognized it as the Devastator.

The ship that Vader had once commanded. The ship that had killed his family. He gritted his teeth and keyed his mike.

“Venom Leader to Venom Squadron. Follow me in on heading one-seven-zero-delta.”

Venom Squadron broke apart, then reformed like a flock of birds streaking towards the huge ship in an arrowhead formation. Fox felt his craft swivel seamlessly around him as he lined up on the Devastator. But any hope he had for a quick strike against the massive ship disappeared as two dozen TIE interceptors swept in from the ship’s aft and came at them head to head. Fox watched them rush in on the screens with a sinking feeling. He knew in his heart of hearts that most of his pilots had just barely grasped the techniques needed to make attack runs on a capital ship. And now they were going to have to dogfight for their lives with seasoned TIE fighters. Yet the situation here was the same as everywhere else in the fleet. They were surrounded. It was over.

But it wasn’t.

Fox cracked a smile. They might not be able to win, but at the least they would give the Imperials a fight they would never forget.

“Venom Squadron…. start your attack run!”