Chapter 3: Under False Flags

[Fel]

Tiberius Fel was eating his breakfast in silence in his quarters. As an early riser, he was awake before most people, and so he was already in uniform. He was taking some time to muse on the happenings of recent times. Here he sat, an undercover officer of His Majesty, pretending to be one of the Rebellion so that he could confront a threat about which he had not really been briefed.

The Rebel flight uniform bothered him, and he felt uncomfortable with the idea that he was officially considered a traitor to the Empire, though Imperial Intelligence continued to support him through the infiltration. He hoped this discomfort didn't blow his cover, but he remembered that this would be normal if some career officer had really defected, so he suspected that the Rebels wouldn't pay it much mind. They had been surprisingly accepting of the decision - if a Rebel decided to join the Empire, he would be treated with much more suspicion...

The last couple of days had been most disorienting... Though not without their funny moments, especially when Renzen learned that he'd be just a Flight Officer and he flipped out. It was better than "Ensign Renzen", he supposed, which probably got the poor guy teased mercilessly at whatever was his first assignment...

"Captain Fel, to the briefing room. Repeat, Captain Fel to the briefing room."

That new rank was going to take some getting used to. Ilven's voice came just as Fel was finishing his breakfast. He hit the panel on the wall. "On my way, captain."

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Captain Jennifer Ilven was in the briefing room and beside her was a young man with a commander's insignia on his chest.

Fel introduced himself to the man. "Captain Tiberius Fel."

The young man introduced himself in return "Commander Aramis Solvaan, leader of Aerial Squadron."

"I don't think my squadron has received a designation just yet..."

"We can save the pleasantries," Ilven said. "I've received a distress call from a local supply depot - they report themselves to be under attack by a group of pirates. Their local defences are not exactly top quality, so they have called on us to help. We are already underway to respond. We can drive off the pirates fairly easily."

Solvaan interrupted to ask a question. "What is the pirate strength?"

"The report suggested a fighter presence, though there could be additional ships underway or already in action. We'll find out when we get there... In the meantime, you shou-"

The Pike shuddered to a halt suddenly, in that distinctive way a ship does when it is pulled unexpectedly from hyperspace. Fel knew this could mean only one thing: An ambush with an Interdictor cruiser. He sat on the edge of his chair.

Ilven pounded the briefing room table's comm button. "Report!".

A voice filtered through the comm. "Captain, we've suffered some sort of failure in the engines and the hyperdrive has been shut down for safety reasons. I don't think we'll be going anywhere for at least a few minutes. Something is seriously wrong here..."

Well, so much for the interdictor theory.

"We can go on ahead, but we'd better get moving. Your squints do have hyperdrives, don't they?" Solvaan was already on his feet. Ilven nodded her assent to Solvaan's plan.

"Of course. Let's go." Fel headed for the exit. Ilven also headed for the exit, though presumably to the bridge.

As Solvaan and Fel were running through the halls the starfighter alarm was signalled, rallying their respective crews to the hangar. They took the turbolift down together, and exited out to the flight deck, where some of the squad members had already entered into the flight deck, but more were certainly on their way.

Fel ran to his fighter and jumped in, starting the pre-flight checklist in a hurry. As soon as everything was ready, Fel punched the throttle and sent his craft screaming out of the hangar well above recommended limits for use in the hangar, followed closely by the X-Wing squadron and his fellow TIE pilots. "Aye, Captain, TIE Interceptor Black is headed out..."

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Mission Assignments
TIE: ERS190-TIE
XvT: ERS191-XvT
XWA: ERS192-XWA
EaW: ERS193-EaW
GB: Fiction

[Fel]

Outer Sectors Chapter 3 Results

The following transmission comes from Rear Admiral Junon:

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Officers,

As you might imagine, communication going forward will be difficult to transmit – and thus brief. It appears that our enemies have no suspicion of your true intentions and your battlefield work has been strong as well. However, darker days lie before you. You will soon face opponents that are not merely repulsive pirates, but your former colleagues and friends who will come at you with the wrath of the Emperor for your perceived transgressions. It will be up to you to decide how these situations must be handled. Yet, I must remind you that the success of this mission supersedes all else, and I trust you will make the necessary sacrifices.

Dark Knight
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