Operation Diablo

Part II

Chapter 1

After what seemed like hours in lightspeed, the Pirate strike force was back over Verdun. An order came through for all fighters to dock aboard cruisers and a makeshift station in orbit. However, Commander ‘Diablo’ Helson received a unique order. He had to dock on the planet, at a small hangar, connected to a prison facility. As he slowly brought his ship into the atmosphere, he noticed another craft on his scope. It was a small shuttle, with an escort of two Harrowers. He let the auto-pilot take over as they approached the facility, and his Cutlass made a smooth landing inside the hangar, followed closely by the shuttle.
A few technicians were already waiting for him. Helson climbed down from the cockpit, and walked up to the nearest one. The guy seemed to be surveying the exterior of the ship, while making notes on his datapad. “Tell me,” Helson said, keeping an air of calmness as he approached him. “Are you in charge of maintaining this ship?”
The man looked up, apparently just realizing someone was talking to him.“Hm? Oh, I’m sorry; I don’t think we’ve met before,” he said, shoving his pen in his pocket and holding out his hand. “Peter Ference… I designed the modifications for this ship.” Helson hesitated before shaking his hand. Ference kept rambling on. “I’m pretty much the chief of technical operations around here. Anything the Admiral wants, I design. Walkers, speeders for navigating the forest, Security systems, both internal and external; I’ve actually—
He froze and backed against the side of the fighter. Helson had drawn his blaster and already had it pointed at his head. “All it takes is one shot,” he said sneering. He had always had fun threatening others’ lives, and watching this guy shake with fear only made it more enjoyable. “Here’s the deal. I spare your life, and you get to work fixing the secondary weapons on this fighter. Oh, and guess what happens if it doesn’t work next time.” Helson lazily fired a round at his feet. He laughed at the sight of Ference flinching and then pointed the barrel of the blaster at his head again. “Understand?”
Ference nodded.
“You’re not a pirate, are you?”
“No, not really…”
“So how did you end up here?”
“Well, you guys need engineers…”
Helson lowered the blaster. “So you weren’t captured?”
“Well, that too,” Ference answered shortly.
Helson chuckled. “This is a prison, kid. And you’re still a prisoner of war. You’re lucky you’re not dead… and if you screw up again, you will be.” With that, he turned his back and walked away, heading towards the exit. And there, just walking down the ramp from the shuttle was someone important looking. Dressed in what looked to be some kind of suit, with a cloak about his shoulders, he had a gray mustache, and a broken pair of glasses was still propped on his nose. He must’ve been about fifty, and it showed in his face. He was a businessman; that was for sure. “Well, well,” Helson said with a smug tone. “Welcome sir; I hope you enjoy your stay.” He gave a sarcastic bow as the prisoner was taken away, and then followed the escort down the hall.
Chapter 2

The I.C.G. Nova dropped out of hyperspace, a few squads of fighters following close behind. Jason shifted in his seat; he wasn’t used to being on the bridge. In fact, he felt a lot more comfortable in his fighter, but he had to lead this mission, and it was a routine one at that. They had come all the way out here to rendezvous with a Mammoth delivery caravan, and pick up the special cloaking device that would assure (he hoped) a safe arrival at the pirate prison facility. “It will make you invisible to all forms of detection, even sight,” the Mammoth representative told him. It all sounded good, but invisible or not, they wouldn’t be able to park a ship right next to the facility and get away with it.
All they had to do was wait now. They were early, since they promised Mammoth Inc. that they’d scope out the area first. “All clear captain,” the radar officer reported.
“Good,” Captain Schneider said, keeping a firm gaze out the viewports. Jason was leading the mission, and remotely commanding the fighter squadrons, but it was Schneider’s job to command the crew of the Nova. “Looks like this’ll be easy, Commander.” 
“I hope so,” Jason said. He wasn’t convinced. After a few minutes he decided to check on the fighters. All commanders radioed in, and Jason set them in a loose circling pattern.
After a few hours the Mammoth convoy came out of hyperspace. Everything was going according to plan. A Mammoth Cargo Ship was to carry the cloaking device, and as soon as it was deployed a few Vipers took a tight escort formation. Schneider was carrying on a conversation with the Mammoth captain. “Everything was clear when we arrived, Captain.”
 “Good,” the Mammoth Captain replied. “In that case, I don’t think there’s any need for these pre”— he broke off. Jason stood up to get a better look out the viewports. Just behind the Mammoth convoy, a new group of ships arrived, pirate ships. “Frap.”

Beckley brought his Skylon around to face the pirates and hit the throttle. The Viper squadrons followed to his left and right. The Mammoth shuttle put on a burst of speed, and was almost to the Nova’s hangar. They only needed to buy a little time, but again, they were outnumbered. Dave fired his first missile at the nearest Harrower, and made a quick corkscrew maneuver to avoid the explosion. A few shots narrowly missed his right engine, and explosions erupted around him as the opposing fighter squadrons met. Dave grinned as he looked at his radar; a lot of the Harrowers were taken out with that pass and the Skylons made it through okay. He pulled back a bit to let the others catch up, and then continued on past the Mammoth ships. After about five minutes of frantic dogfighting, the shuttle had docked in the Nova’s hangar and the cargo was being unloaded. In the meantime the massive ship was turning to make an escape route through the only clear section of space. The Mammoth cruisers were trying to make a parallel formation to give the shuttle a smaller distance to cover on its way back, and the pirate Farstrikes were already heading to cut off the escape route. Dave had already brought his squadron around to intercept when Jason’s orders came in. “Skylons, move to intercept those Farstrikes. We need about fifteen more minutes before we’re in the clear. Vipers, hold off the fighters and protect that shuttle!” The Mammoth ship was leaving the hangar and heading back to its carrier as fast as it could. Vipers shot past it to intercept the Harrowers that came swooping in. 
Dave led his squadron over the top of the Nova, weaving in between the mass of guns. Bright Blue laserfire streaked towards the squad of Farstrikes to the far right of the cruiser, but the ships were too far away, and were small enough to avoid most of the laserfire. Dave pulled back on the throttle a bit to make a tight dive over the starboard section of the Nova’s front. With a fresh burst of speed, his squadron rocketed towards the pirate ships. He targeted the first Farstrike and fired two concussion missiles. Cutting to the left, and then back to the right, he followed up with a barrage of laserfire. His wingman did the same and they looped around for another pass. The Farstrike was too slow to make its shots connect, and Dave had an easy time coming around to blindside it with another barrage of laserfire. His wingman fired a few well-placed shots at its engines, and the Farstrike finally exploded, sending huge chunks of debris flying in all directions. Dave skillfully weaved between them and continued on to the next ship. The Farstrike Missile Corvettes, while having tons of firepower, were too slow to stop the much faster Skylons, who were consistently pounding them from all directions. To make it worse, the Farstrikes were too close to each other, which limited their range of movement. 
Dave had a new idea as he patched in a channel to his squadron. “Attack around the outside of their formation; if we can pinch them together we can make some real fireworks.” Pilots acknowledged and headed to the outside of the pirate formation. Dave did the same, and looping around, he strafed the left side of the pirate ship. Sure enough, it started to make a slow turn inwards, further tightening the formation. Another Skylon fired off a few concussion missiles at the front of the ship, and a small explosion erupted. The front started breaking off, while the engines seemed to keep working, sending the ship on a wild crash course to its starboard side. Dave dove underneath the ship as it careened into the next Farstrike, destroying both ships in a massive ball of flame. 
It wasn’t much of a contest really. Dave was almost having fun when Jason’s voice came back over the comm. channel. “We’re through,” he said. He was trying to sound as serious as a commander should during a battle like that, but anyone could tell he was happy. “Sending coordinates now, all squadrons retreat.” The cruisers shot into lightspeed, followed by the Vipers, and then the Skylons, leaving the remaining pirate forces to count their losses in the deeps of space.

“You know how hard it was sitting on the bridge of that cruiser, watching you have all the fun?” Jason said irritably. He had met Beckley in the North Hangars after arriving on Palanthar
Dave laughed and shook his head. He decided to change the subject, and ask about the plans for the rescue mission. “What ship did you decide on anyway?”
“Well, I didn’t have a lot of choices,” Jason said. They were walking towards the west section of the hangar now. “I think they already started working on it. It’s right up here somewhere… Ah, here it is.”
An old shuttle came into view. Its side doors were wide open and technicians were walking up and down the ramp, carrying tools and datapads. “This is it?” Dave asked, stopping next to the ship and looking up at the scarred and pitted exterior. He couldn’t even tell whether it was a Guild model or not; it definitely didn’t have the signature gray, blue and brown color scheme. Well, it had gray, but the only accents were scorch marks and deep scratches. “Looks like it’s been through a meteor field,” Dave said, now surveying the nose.
“I didn’t pick it for its looks,” Jason replied confidently. “It’s got it where it counts… speed, shielding. Besides, it was the only small shuttle I could find with a working hyperdrive.”
Dave sighed. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Trust me,” Jason said, almost laughing. “It’ll be just like the old smuggling days. We’ll get in there quick, get the old president, and we’ll be gone in no time.”
“Yeah, easy…”
“We leave tomorrow. We’re meeting here at 0500, alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here.”
“Hey, just like the good ol’ days.” Jason grinned and turned to walk one way, Dave turning to go the other way. They both had a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow.

Chapter 3

	Jason looked up at the ship, and then at his watch again. 0430. Everything was ready to go. Weapons were packed on board, as well as full survival kits. Jason had done all the pre-flight checks himself, and everything was in working order. Last night he had personally tested the cloaking device in the most extreme conditions. He had flown right through ‘no fly zones’ and traffic zones, and no one had detected him… except maybe that rich guy in the convertible speeder. But there was nothing Jason could do about the massive amount of emissions the shuttle gave off. All that was important was the fact that the ship was invisible to sight and radar instruments.
	Silently he went over the plan again inside his head. They had the coordinates of the facility. As soon as they came out of lightspeed they would engage the cloaking device, weave their way through any pirate forces, and make their way through the atmosphere. They would have to touch down about a mile away from the prison and go the rest of the way on foot. And they’d have to go slowly too, so they could detect any sensors or traps. Finding their way into the facility and finding the Guild president’s cell would be the improvisation part of the mission, and by far the toughest part.
	Jason finished the preflight checklist and waited for his team to show up. Beckley was the first to show up, yawning as he tossed his stuff in the shuttle and stood there dosing by the boarding ramp. Four people had volunteered to come along, all people Jason trusted, all taking a major risk in the hopes of getting rich quick. For all he knew, they were all former smugglers who enjoyed a good challenge, but he never really asked them. The next guy to show up was Ryan Lannen, another long time Guild employee. At thirty-four, he was actually a few years older than Jason, but they had started at the I.C.G. the same year. Next to show up was Greg Hamel, a long time security guard for the Guild. Almost everyone had heard about the time he had single handedly gunned down six pirates at the spaceport because they were “attempting to steal a freighter.” And finally, Rob Whitney showed up right at 0500. Rob had only been a Guild pilot for a couple of years, but he was arguably one of the best Viper pilots around. No one really knew about his blaster skills, but he volunteered, and Jason would’ve liked to have a couple more men as it was. 
	“Well,” Jason said after everyone had arrived. “If anyone wants to back out, now’s your chance.” Nobody said anything. In fact, it looked like they were trying not to laugh. “Fine,” Jason said, grinning. “Just checking. Everyone ready?”
	“Ready,” was the response.
	“Good; let’s go.”
	They carried the rest of the gear into the shuttle, which was already warmed up and ready to go. Jason took the pilot’s seat, Beck sat down at the co-pilot’s seat, still looking half asleep. Jason eased on the throttle; subtle vibrations ran through the shuttle as the sublight engines revved and brought them out of the hangar. The sun was just rising as they left the atmosphere. Jason entered the coordinates and engaged the hyperdrive. The stars turned to silvery white streaks as they began their journey, straight into pirate controlled space.