Defender of the Empire/Prologue

=Prologue=

2 ABY Star Destroyer Warlord Argoon system

Zanthe Mavron was staring out into space from TIE Hanger 18. The Warlord was approaching the main planet of the Argoon system, Argoon. Zanthe had graduated the Imperial Academy just days earlier. Though he was considered a good pilot at the Academy, he had heard of the stories of Rebel pilots getting very high kill counts against Imperials. Zanthe did not know what made TIE pilots so much worse, but whatever it was, he was sure he had it. This upcoming attack against a Rebel Corellian battleship, which was among the first of the many targets that the Warlord was sent to eliminate throughout the Outer Rim.

"All pilots, get to your fighters!" a voice yelled through the ship's intercom.

Zanthe was waiting in a small room with the rest of his squadron, the pilots of Knight Squadron. They ran down the catwalks suspended near the ceiling of the hangar bay, to which the TIE fighters were attached. Zanthe quickly climbed into the cockpit of his TIE, and closed the hatch above him. As he strapped himself into the seat, he listened for the orders to take off. Several of his squad mates were talking on the communications, until their wing commander, General Adonar Dellox, came on.

"Alright, Intelligence says that there will be about thirty or forty enemy X-wings coming at us. The bombers will go on a run against the battleship. Just rush in, attack the fighters, and hope your deaths bring you eternal glory!" Dellox said.

Nobody said anything after hearing that last part. Their confidence was alright very shaky, and that bit certainly did not help. Some began talking after a long pause.

"Try to stay alive, Knights, get as many kills as you can. I want as many of you to remain alive as possible for the next battle," said Commander Vestin Axlon, the squadron leader. "May this battle will be remembered in the records as the first battle of the elite Knight Squadron!"

"Right, we'll see," replied Garek Kabor, another pilot. Kabor was a Coruscanti, and a graduated of the Coruscanti Pilot Institute. If anyone is surviving today, it would be him.

Zanthe turned on the twin ion engines, and began to fly out of the hangar as the fighter in front of him did so. As the TIE screamed out of the hangar, he could only imagine how annoying it must be for the mechanics working there. The squadron formed up and flew in an arrow formation as they approached the distant Corellian battleship.

"Steady, steady," said the squad leader.

A few minutes past as they approached the enemy vessel, without anything happening, until he finally heard a blip on the radar screen of his TIE. Several enemy fighters had exited the warship and were approaching them, fast. Zanthe activated his Ts-8 targeting computer as the fighter's torpedoes leveled into the launch racks.

"Engage!"

Zanthe barely heard the commander's voice as he pulled up to avoid an attacking X-wing. The two squadrons quickly started splitting up, and began targeting each other. Zanthe pulled up behind one X-wing that was nearby, and began pursuing it. The enemy seemed to not know he was onto him, and Zanthe fired one of the fighter's lock on torpedoes.

The X-wing exploded with a ball of fire! Zanthe was surprised he actually got one kill. A new dot on his radar told him that an enemy was now tailing him. Maneuvering around another two TIE fighters pursuing several X-wings, Zanthe flew downwards, hoping that the pursuer would crash into another ship.

But he didn't. Damn it! he thought. Leveling out his TIE, Zanthe prepared the two laser cannons. As they got clear of the other fighters, Zanthe could hear the laser fire coming from the X-wing towards him. It was off considerably, and Zanthe took the moment to pull up and go back, flying over the confused X-wing pilot.

Coming up behind him, Zanthe sprayed with the laser cannons until the enemy fighter was caught in the line of fire and destroyed. Another kill! However, as he tried to turn around to return to the battle, a laser hit the corner of one of his TIE panels, briefly destabilizing his craft. He managed to regain control, and flew to the right to avoid more laser fire.

"This is Knight Seven, I need some help here!" Zanthe said nervously into the mike.

After a short moment of silence, he got a response. "Copy that, Knight Seven. I'm on my way," replied a voice, who Zanthe guessed was David Reynolds, Knight 3.

Zanthe continued trying to avoid the pursuing X-wing, though took another hit on one of the panels. As he stabilized his TIE, Zanthe then heard an explosion behind him. The laser fire stopped, and Zanthe gave out a breath of relief.

"Thanks, Knight Three."

"Anytime, comrade!"

Zanthe engaged another X-wing, using the torpedoes to destroy it after getting a clear shot at the enemy fighter. That was his third kill. Two more would make him an ace! Going around the battle area, he noticed that most of the X-wings that were there earlier were now gone. There were also large piles of burnt metal drifting around.

"Looks like we're almost done here," he could hear Garek Kabor saying.

"Focus, Knight Six!" said the commander.

He didn't reply. Zanthe continued flying around the area as the last X-wing was destroyed. At the same time, he saw that the Corellian battleship was heavily damaged and burning.

"Looks like the bombers did their job," he said.

"Indeed," replied Garek.

"Alright, we've gotten orders to return to the Warlord," announced Commander Axlon. "Well done gentlemen, the day is ours!"

Zanthe felt proud as he flew the TIE back to the Star Destroyed, a feeling of accomplishment. The Empire had triumphed over the Rebels here. Only one battleship and one squadron of fighters were destroyed, but to the Rebels, that was a lot.