The time is two-and-a-half years after the Rebel Alliance's stunning victory over the Galactic Empire at Yavin.  The rebels - now viewed as a threat to the Empire - are forced to scatter, dividing fleets into taskforces and sending them on extended missions deep into Imperial space.  The Mon Calamari cruisers Freedom, Renegade, and Gloster with three Lorinar-class cruisers have consolidated into one taskforce, and have been sent off to the Litupados Sector, where the Renegade leaves to embark on its own mission, leaving the remaining ships to tackle their objective.  The Imperials are smart, and they will most likely throw in some surprises, but we will win, we must win, we are fighting to save worlds!

   It was a normal day on board the Alliance Mon Calamari cruiser Freedom.  Starfighter flights constantly coming and going, piloted by a strange mix of beings, some of which I had never seen before until I had joined the Rebel Alliance.  Commissioned four years after the forming of the Alliance, the Freedom was one of the later Calamari cruisers to be commissioned, due to the fact that the vessel was nearly three decades old at the time and required extensive modifications to make her battle worthy.  The Freedom was one of the largest cruisers in service with the Alliance, measuring three kilometers from stem to stern.  She was also one of the most heavily armed, her flanks bristled with weaponry, including more than fifty turbolasers and forty ion cannons.
  I knew that today, I would be joining those pilots flying off to some distant place to do battle against the evil Galactic Empire.  Now, striding into the briefing room, I saw that this was not going to be just any ordinary mission.  The mid-sized room was filled with pilots, all waiting for the briefing officer to arrive.  I recognized pilots from Red, Gold, Blue, and Green squadrons.  I spotted Flight Lieutenant Tyron Islos, a friend of mine, sitting in his seat with some other pilots from Red squadron.  I walked over to him and sat down in a vacant seat next to him.  He glanced at me and grinned
   "What's going on?" I whispered.
   "Not a clue."  he whispered back.
   Just then, three officers entered the room and walked up to the podium.  A hush went through the room as the officers exchanged a few whispers.  I recognized one of them as Commodore Stel Birlinn, commanding officer of the Freedom and and entire task force, the other two officers I didn't recognize.
   "Greetings,"  said Commodore Birlinn with a deep commanding voice.  He was a giant of a man, middle-aged and with a tint of gray in his hair.  "This next mission will decide the fate of the beautiful planet Juiyiaad.  I have known the inhabitants of this planet for years.  They are an intelligent and noble race of humans.  Unfortunately, they have been mistreated, abused, and misguided by the Emperor and his satanical following,"  he paused briefly.  "Consul Fuitas," gesturing towards the stately man on his right.  "and I have been meeting secretly with the Juiyiaadians to convince them that there is a better way to live than under the iron fist of the Emperor,"  I was now growing tired of all this talking, I wanted to hear the briefing and get going!  "The Empire however, is not aware of the rebellious attitude of the planet's inhabitants.  This is the perfect time for an attack to liberate the planet from the Imperials.  And now, Vice Marshal Volneb will explain the plan of attack, and give flight assignments."  Birlinn stepped back a few paces, and a small thin man stepped up in his place, who began the actual mission briefing.  When he was finished, all of the pilots stood up and began to disperse.  Tyron and I stood up to walk out to the hangar, we where going to be wingmates flying X-Wings.
   The cruiser's hangar was a buzz of activity.  Men ran here and there about the starfighters, some performing preflight checks, while others calibrated all the systems.  I walked over to X-Wing Red 2, climbed into the cockpit, lowered the canopy and started the ion engines.  Glancing in Red 3’s direction, Tyron Islos and I saluted eachother, grinning.  My flight leader was someone I had never met before, just transferred from another theater of operations.  I wished that my step-brother Ian was leading this flight, when we flew together, we flew as a team and knew exactly what the other was going to do, but he had been transferred to Green squadron stationed on some unknown outpost.  When Red Flight was ready, I concentrated on the Flight Launch Officer, who would signal for us when it was our turn to launch.  First Blue squadron's A-Wing launched, then we received the "clear to launch" signal.  I engaged my repulsor lifts and glided out of the hangar with my flight leader in front and Tyron behind me.  The Freedom, and the Calamari cruiser Gloster, along with three Lorinar-class strike cruisers were to enter hyperspace simultaneously with the starfighters, and we were going to arrive at less than three kilometers from the Imperial starships.  Now all the ‘fighters were spaceborn and ready for action.
  Commodore Birlinn gave the order "prepare to enter hyperspace on my mark."  Just a few seconds later, the signal lamp on my XWing's communications console lit and an alarm sounded simultaneously.  I immediately engaged my hyperdrive.  The entire task force leaped forward as one coherent mass, streaking forward incredibly fast, until the surrounding stars were blurred into nothing but unintelligible blue streaks.  As Birlinn had said, this mission would decide the fate of an entire planet. 

   "The Juiyiaadians are free!"  was the word heard aboard the Freedom.  After the mission, Tyron Islos and I joined other the pilots in the pilot's lounge.  We shared the excitement of the last mission, it was the one of the first successful attempts at routing the Imperials by a direct confrontation, not some hit-and-fade operation, but a real battle.  Neither the Gloster, nor the Freedom had been lost, and only the former had received light damage.  However, Talon 2 and 3 were lost to the Imperator-class Star Destroyers' turbolaser fire.  Talon 1 received severe damage, it withdrew to a Juiyiaadian orbital station for repairs.
   "You should have seen this kill I made," bragged Tyron.  "I was going after this one TIE fighter, got it in my sights and squeezed of a shot of dual lasers.  Just then…" he began using his hands as ‘fighters, "a TIE I hadn't seen came zooming right past my bow and got hit by one of my laser blasts which were aimed at that other TIE," some of the pilots were listening intently to him, while I noticed that one pilot from Blue squadron was watching from a distance leaning against the wall with a sneer on his face.  "but the funny thing is, I killed both of ‘em with one pull of my trigger!" the listening pilots emitted "ooh"s and "aah"s.  Now the Blue squadron pilot came striding over with a deeply serious look on his face.  I could sense that something was going to happen, so I suggested to Tyron that we go to our cabins and get some rest.  But before he could object (which I knew he would anyway), the oncoming pilot walked straight up to Tyron and punched him square in the jaw.  Tyron immediately fell to the floor and remained there with a dazed look on his face.
   "You think your a good pilot, huh?"  the man bellowed, "Then what do you think you were doing shooting up my A-Wing!"  surprised, I turned to look at Tyron.
   "Well what were you doing flying right past me while I was strafing a Star Destroyer?" Tyron responded while getting to his feet.  If someone didn't intervene soon, there was going to be fighting, and that would put both pilots in the brig.
   "That's a stupid excuse!"  the pilot retorted.  Tyron approached the pilot, who tightened his fists, anticipating the punch that would inevitably come from Tyron.
  One of the other pilots cut in, "How about if we all sit down and talk this over, okay?"  But his offer fell on deaf ears.  Tyron swung his right fist at the pilot who blocked with his right fist, then kicked Tyron in the shin and planted his fist right in the middle of Tyron’s face, who then fell back to the floor, groaning in pain.  He struggled back up again and landed his fist in the pilot's stomach, who promptly hunched over and fell to the floor.
  Right now would be the worst moment for a superior officer to walk in.  He would see both pilots in bad shape and would suspend them.  Of course at that moment a superior officer did walk in, my flight leader from the last sortie, who would only go by "Squadron Leader Gardor".  He quickly realized the situation, asked a minimal amount of questions, and called Security to escort the two pilots to separate detentionaries.
  Later that day, I went to visit Tyron Islos.  First thing I inquired of him, was why did he have to take a punch at the other pilot.  He simply shrugged his shoulders and said in a low sheepish tone "I don't know".  After talking to him for a while, I walked the windey paths to the simulators where I brushed up on my Y-Wing piloting, of which I was not quite up to par.

  Upon exiting the simulator, I was greeted by Squadron Leader Gardor who informed me that we were going to be flying a mission again in ten minutes.
  There was no official briefing, Gardor simply told me what we were supposed to do as we walked to the hangar.
   "The Freedom and Talon 1 are going to join up with another task force and then hyper out of the system," he informed me as we strode briskly down a hallway, "there will be three of us flying X-Wings.  We will patrol the area until the other task force arrives," as we entered the hangar, I spotted the third pilot waiting next to his X-Wing.  "We're not supposed to have any trouble, but if we do, the Juiyiaadians have volunteered to give us assistance."  No sooner had he spoken the last words than he directed me to my X-Wing, and jogged over to his.  We quickly left the safety of the Freedom's hangar and entered the harshness of space.  Just another patrol assignment, I thought.  Busy work, stuff to keep us pilots occupied so we don't start at each others’ throats. 

   I was shocked.  We were all shocked.  Everyone who heard of it was shocked.  The Empire had actually captured one of our Mon Calamari cruisers!  Filled with rebels for interrogating, and rebel starfighters for investigating.  This would reveal many of the Alliance's best kept secrets.  The Imperials would undoubtedly find out the locations of our bases.  They would also find out the secrets of the A-Wing's jamming system and J-77 engines.  The situation for the Alliance did not look very good right now.
  I kept thinking about Tyron being a prisoner of the Empire.  What would they do to him?  We pilots knew very little about the secrets of the Alliance, but that wouldn't stop the Imperial interrogators from torturing him just the same as anybody else.  Then I thought of Commodore Birlinn, he would know the location of our secret facilities and would most likely get the worst treatment of all the prisoners.  I sincerely hoped that there was some sort of rescue operation planned.  But I didn't see how we could find the Freedom.  The Imperials could have taken her just about anywhere.

  Red squadron was transferred to the Renegade, a brand new cruiser fresh from being converted from luxury liner to warship.  She was not as large or powerful as the Freedom, but she was still exceptionally equipped and was one of the most advanced cruisers in the fleet.
  I received a message from Ian the day that I arrived at the Renegade, he said that he couldn't tell me where he was, but that he was doing well, and had been awarded the Kalidor Crescent with Bronze Cluster and Silver Talons.  "It's lonely out here, even though there are other pilots here with me, they're not you, and I miss the coordination and bonding that we had when we would fly."  I missed him too, this was the first time that we had been separated since I was adopted into his family.
  Something peculiar was going on aboard the Renegade, whole flights of shuttles would arrive every once-in-a-while, which where carrying high ranking Alliance officials, at least according to scuttlebutt.  Once I did see a group of about fifteen officers and delegates enter the Renegade's conference room.  I recognized General Madine of the special forces, General Dodonna of Starfighter Command, and I thought I even saw Admiral Ackbar, although I could have been mistaken (most Mon Calamarians look the same to me).
  Now, four days after the capture of the Freedom, all of the pilots were called to the briefing room.  Standing at the podium was an officer who promptly began speaking to us as soon as all the pilots had arrived.
   "I am Vice Marshal Llancos," began the officer. "Undoubtedly you all know of our Calamari cruiser Freedom being seized by the Empire.  Well, we have come up with a plan to retake her before her crew are forced to reveal anything damaging the Alliance.  Two days ago, one of our scout teams discovered the wreckage of an Imperial Carrack Cruiser.  Some of its compartments were still airtight and held a few crew members.  We found out from them that after the Freedom had been captured, it was attacked by pirates and her hyperdrive had been severely damaged.  This gives us a chance of retaking her since she has not been able to travel very far without her hyperdrive,"  The Vice Marshal paused.  "While in the Juiyiaad system, the planet's inhabitants gave us a gift, the only known sample of eutolic gas.  This gas is an extremely rare gas that is almost impossible to reproduce.  But, if used in place of tibanna gas in our blasters, it would multiply the blaster's destructive capability by approximately one hundred times.  Why am I telling you this?  Because the Freedom is carrying that sample, and if the Imperials can experiment with it long enough, they might be able to find a way of reproducing it and use it against us!  So, that is another reason why the Freedom is so important."  I had never heard of this gas, but it sounded extremely important, I sure wouldn't like to face Imperial TIEs with lasers 100 times more powerful than mine!  "The first step we must take in retaking the Freedom is to locate her,"  Llancos continued.  "All available squadrons will conduct scouting, reconnaissance, and other information gathering missions,"  he turned to point at a holo map which popped up, and began explaining which squadrons will be assigned to which sectors and so on. "Hopefully we will be able to obtain information regarding her location before it's too late.  Thank you."  No sooner had he stepped down, than another officer stepped up to the podium.
   "Will the following pilots please report to their respective briefing rooms." he stated, then began reading names off of a datapad.  When I heard my name called, I immediately stood up and walked out of the room, followed by the other pilots who had had their names read too.  I reported to Red squadron's briefing room.  There, another pilot and I were given our orders.  We were to fly Y-Wings into a neutral system - the Aulanian system - which has been considering joining the Galactic Empire.  The Imperials are planning a shuttle-to-shuttle meeting with the Aulanian leaders.  The plan is to capture the Imperial officer that will be representing the Empire.  He should have information concerning the location of the Freedom.  I wasn't all too enthused about flying Y-Wings, but they were the only ‘fighters that could do the job.  The Aulanians were not to be harmed in any way, so that we could show that we are not the subversive, evil, rebels that the Empire would have us to be. 

   Squadron Leader Gardor was like a sandclam, wouldn't open for anybody.  I tried to be friendly towards him, but he would just grunt, and ignore me.  His face was like the face of a battle hardened veteran who had seen the worst of war.  While not exactly tall, Gardor was a powerfully built man with with a thick muscular neck, and powerful arms.  He spent most of his time in his cabin with the door locked.
  But, I had other things worry about besides Gardor, especially early one day on the Quarren deck.  I woke up with a funny feeling in my stomach, It didn't feel like anything I had felt before.  I stood up, got dressed and decided to go for a stroll.  As soon as I began to walk, the feeling began to go away, so I kept walking since I didn't have anything better to do and I wasn't sleepy.  I wandered down to the dimly lit Quarren deck.  As I turned a corner, I saw two eyes staring at me from a doorway, at first I was startled, but then I realized that it was probably nothing but a Quarren.  So I proceeded to walk past the doorway, when I strode directly in front of it I looked into the doorway to say "good morning," but the eyes weren't there anymore, so I walked on.  I didn't realize it, but I had wandered far deeper into the belly of the vessel than us pilots usually go, down here there was nothing but storage rooms.  Turning around to head back, I heard a noise come from one of the storage rooms.  There was no light on in the room, so it couldn't be someone taking care of the goods.  My curiosity told me to go check it out, but my good sense told me to go report it to my superior officer.  But my nasty curiosity finally won when I heard another sound come from the room, is sounded like the scraping of metal-on-metal.  So, I stealthily crept into the room.  It was so dark in the room, that I could just barely see the various sized storage containers that were stacked all about the room.  I knew that there must be a light switch somewhere in here, so I started feeling the walls around the door.  My hand brushed against something soft and cold, quickly I drew my hand back and tried to look at the wall to see what I had touched.  With my peripheral vision, I saw a slight movement to my left near two containers, I now was considering going back up to the lighted decks and leave these dark rooms for the Quarrens.  As I turned around to leave, my foot caught on something and I fell to the floor.  As I lied there I felt something start making its way up my left leg.  I jumped to my feet and ran in the direction that I had come, darting around corners and up stairs.  It seemed that I had been running for infinity before at last I reached the lighted levels.  But there was nothing on my leg, nothing unusual on me at all.  I tried to shake off the experience, but I couldn't forget the feeling of something that I couldn't see climbing up my leg.  My stomach was feeling strange again, and I was unusually thirsty, so I headed for the pilot's lounge where I drank five glassfuls of cool water.  I wasn't the only one there, five other pilots were having some glasses of water too.  I would have asked them if they were having stomach problems too, but Gardor came striding in, tapped me on the shoulder and told me that we were going to fly another mission and to report to the briefing room.
  The briefing officer informed Gardor, me, and another Red squadron pilot that the Alliance has information about the location of the Freedom, and that in order to make sure that she is not heavily defended, we will be executing spoiling attacks on Imperial rear areas.  Hopefully, this sector's Moff will distribute his forces to protect his platforms and convoys, and therefore limiting the amount of protection available to the Freedom.  We were going to fly A-Wings, I didn't get to fly them very much, so this was going to be a change of pace, but I didn't mind.  During the mission, my stomach didn't bother me, I guess I was to intent on shooting TIEs to notice any type of discomfort. 

  After landing in the Renegade's hangar bay, I suddenly felt very sick.  My mouth was dry, and I was very thirsty.  I struggled to get out of the cockpit, but I collapsed and fell back into my seat.  Everything started to get blurry, lights danced in front of my eyes, I couldn't hear anything.  Then, I was unconscience.
  When I woke up, I found myself lying in a hospital bed with a medical droid standing silently next to me in a small room.  There was a small tube going into my arm, and I could feel that the liquid coming through it was cool.
   "How do you feel?" asked the droid next to me in a metallic sounding voice.
   "Fine," I responded automatically, then I realized that my stomach didn't hurt anymore, and that I wasn't thirsty.  "what was wrong with me?"
   "You had a hexotarsalia remotus larvae in your stomach."
   "A what larvae?"
   "A hexotarsalia remotus larvae."
   "That's what I thought you said.  What is a hexo-whatever-you-said larvae?"  I had never thought that I would have some sort of worm in my stomach.
   "It is a soft bodied six legged organism similar to a squid."
   "That's right," said a feminine voice from behind me.  I turned around in my bed and saw a woman doctor coming in through the doorway.  "We traced the larvae to the drinking water.  It seems that somehow some h. remotus eggs got into the water containers."
   "Good evening Doctor Neelah." greeted the droid.
  Good evening, I thought, how long have I been in here?
   "Oh, and you've been here for approximately five-and-a-half hours." stated Neelah, who seemed to have read my mind.
   "Where am I?  Am I still on the Renegade?"
   "Yes," Neelah answered, "You were severely dehydrated because of the larvae consuming your fluids.  If the larvae had stayed a few more days in your stomach, you probably would have died."
  I wasn't very amused at the thought of being eaten from the inside-out by some slimy baby squid.  "How did you get the larvae out?"
   "We pumped your stomach," she responded, "he was about four inches long, and in very good health.  We still have him, we're hoping on being able to conduct some biological research on him.  You should be able to leave as soon as you get enough water in your system, and that should be about another hour or so, so you shouldn't be here much longer."
   "Was I the only one to be blessed with a larvae?" I asked, half joking.
   "No you weren't," Neelah began with a concerned look.  "We are getting more and more people with the same problem that you had, so we are going to dump all of the cruiser's drinking water and get refilled."
  I told Doctor Neelah about my experience down on the Quarren deck, she said that I was probably being attacked by six-leggers, as hexotarsalia remotuses are called.  She said that they were adults who had eaten their way through the water containers and began searching for prey.  Normally they don't eat anything larger than themselves, but they were most likely very hungry and would eat just about anything.  I shivered.

  About an hour later, I was released with what the medical droid termed, "nominal health."
  I was surprised to see Squadron Leader Gardor sitting in the pilot's lounge, he was hardly ever found relaxing with other pilots, not that he was relaxed now, he seemed worried.  I walked over to him and asked if I could sit down, he simply nodded.  I pulled out a chair ordered a drink from the waiter.  We sat in silence for a few minutes before Gardor finally spoke.
   "I hear you had some stomach problems." he said.
   "Yes I did, I had some sort of squid-like larvae inside.  Have you had any problems?"
   "No." it didn't surprise me, I don't think that he could ever get sick.  "The doctors probably explained how you got it, didn't they?"
   "Yes they did, said that there was some eggs in the drinking water containers."
   "That's what has me puzzled," I was surprised at how much talking he was doing, maybe there was a bit of human inside him after all, "there was no way that those eggs could get into the containers.  They are thoroughly tested before brought on board.  The eggs had to have been inserted into the containers after they were brought on board."
   "Inserted?  Are you saying that someone deliberately put eggs in the containers?"
   "It is quite possible." he stated bluntly.
  Ideas of Imperial spies sprouted up in my mind, Who were they?  How many of them were here?  What would they do next?  I then thought of the pair of eyes that I saw down on the Quarren deck before being attacked by the six-leggers.  Could that being have been a spy?  Quarren have been known to defect to the Empire.  I told Gardor about this, he agreed that it could have been a Quarren spy.  I asked him if he was going to tell somebody about this, he answered "yes".
  By this time my drink arrived Gardor decided to leave, so I was left alone to ponder the developments aboard the Renegade.

  The next mission was going to be a raid on an Imperial convoy carrying parts from a Cygnus Spaceworks manufacturing center, while the parts were not of great importance of being destroyed, it just might fool the Imperials that they needed to protect even their low priority convoys if they were destroyed.  Gardor, I, and another man who I had talked to shortly before the briefing were going to fly Y-Wings in this mission, escorted by T-Wings since most of our X-Wings and A-Wings were busy with other tasks, the less capable craft were given such hum-drum tasks as keeping me and my flight alive.  The briefing officer said that there were TIE Fighters known to be patrolling the area, and that TIE Bombers are aboard the escorting Nebulon-B frigate, so this sortie might get a little hairy. 

   "Watch it!  You've got a TIE on your tail!"
   "I see it.  Red 2, get it for me will ya?"
   "Right-o, I'm on my way!"
   "Great shot!"
   "I'm going after that furthest freighter, Red 3 take the furthest conveyor, and Red 2 keep an eye on both of our backs."
   "Gotcha!"
   "Woohoo!  One conveyor down!"
   "Blast!  That frigate is taking dead aim on me!  I can't hold it!"
   "Hang in there Red Leader, I'll try and distract them."
   "Red 2, don't bother, my hull won't hold up that long, I'm ejecting."
   "Okay….  Red 3 you keep on the conveyors and I'll take care of the freighters.  But watch that frigate!"
   "Red 2, I've got a fighter on me!"
   "I can't see you…"
   "He's got a missile lock!"
   "Break!"
   "Aaaaaaaah!"

   I was the only one of my flight to return to the Renegade.  Gardor ejected and was captured by the frigate, and I never saw anything of my wingmate after hearing him scream, I guessed that he was killed with a concussion missile.  I had a hard time giving my mission officer - Commander Pevler - my after-action report, I kept thinking of Gardor.  Just when he seemed to be coming into the open with me, I will never see him again.  And my wingmate, I can't even remember his name, I just remember talking with him and joking with him before the mission.  He said that he had a family back on his home-planet, and his wife didn't want him to leave because she thought she would never see him again, he joked about how after this was all over he would go back to her and say "Here I am, all your worries for nothing."

   "Did Squadron Leader Gardor ever speak to you about the possibility of there being a leak to the Imperials on this ship?" asked Pevler.
   "Yes he did."
   "Just what did he say?"
   "Oh, nothing really.  Just that there had to be an Imperial spy here because of the situation with the drinking water.  He said that there was no way that there could be eggs in our water because it is all tested before brought on board."
   "Are you sure he didn't say anything else?"
   I pondered for a moment or so.  "I remember now.  I told him about someone or something that I saw down in the Quarren deck." I then recounted with the commander about what had happened to me that morning.  Several minutes of silence ensued, then Pevler asked me a very surprising question:
   "How would you like to help in a little operation to rescue Squadron Leader Gardor?"
   "Sir?" I responded, quite surprised.
   "Yes, it would involve a very experienced pilot, and a handful of skilled soldiers."
   "I would be that very experience pilot, right?" I asked, dubious about the whole thing.
   "Yes you would be, we need a pilot who has flown such large craft as Dx-9 transports."
   "I've flown those many times, I used to fly one for a shipping company in Yalin Sector
about six years ago."
   "Yes I know, that is why I am asking you.  We will need you to pilot the transport and dock it with the Nebulon-B frigate Artemus."
   "Why are we going to try to get Gardor?" I asked.
   "He knew something about a spy on this ship, but didn't tell us all the information before leaving for the last mission.  It is imperative that we find this spy, which is most likely leaking information concerning our plans about retaking the Freedom.  This is strictly a volunteer mission, I will need to know your decision in three days at the most, until then there are more missions to fly.

   I flew several more strike and scout missions in everything from A-Wings to Cloakshape fighters.  I did not like flying the Cloakshapes at all, I nearly was fried one time when I had no wingmen and there were two gunboats hot on my tail.  Even though the Alliance's Cloakshape fighters were fitted with shields, they still were dangerous to fly, and I always returned to the Renegade with white knuckles.  While leaving the hangar after the last mission, I decided that I would fly the Dx-9 for the rescue operation.  I headed for Commander Pevler’s stateroom to tell him my decision, but when I arrived he wasn't there.  Then the loudspeaker announced that all pilots were to report to the main briefing room immediately.  There us pilots were informed that we finally have the Freedom trapped, she is reported to only be escorted by one Lorinar-class strike cruiser.  I was going to finally fly the X-Wing again, as wingman to a new flight leader, there would be three of us.  As the briefing continued I realized that all that I was seeing on the holo map was the direct result from many pilot's lives, including that wingmate with the family.  At least his family would know he did not die in vain. 

  The Imperials took us completely by surprise.  Surrounding us with four cruisers and outnumbering us with TIEs.  But by destroying the interdictor cruiser Vixxen, we eliminated a key vessel in the Empire's trap.  But the Renegade was still in danger, her shields were cut down by wave after wave of TIE Bombers.  Even now, as I listen to the briefing, I can hear the resonating thud of proton torpedoes impacting on the cruiser's hull.
   "The Renegade must escape into hyperspace," the briefing officer stated emphatically.  "her shields are down, and there are Imperial bombers everywhere.  The only hyper point that will lead us to a safe place is blocked by the Star Destroyer Ultima.  Green squadron was able to send a few X-Wings to help out, they will attempt to destroy the Ultima.  Meanwhile, you pilots in Red squadron must eliminate all TIE Bombers.  There will not be any reinforcements, so you'll have to perform this mission to the best of your abilities, and beyond if necessary!"  This mission didn't look to good for us, but we had to save our command ship, the Alliance cannot tolerate many losses.  There would be three of us to take care of all the bombers that the Imperials had left over, while being chased by TIE Fighters and who-knows-what else that might pop-up.  As I hurriedly walked into the hangar, I saw that our three ‘fighters were the only combat ships on board the cruiser, and the few transports and shuttles that were onboard were being readied in case of an evacuation.  My flight leader for this mission came running up to me and told me that three Lorinar-class cruisers had arrived just a few kilometers behind the Renegade, then he ran off to his ‘fighter.  I quickly reached mine, bounded up the ladder and skipped a few of the safety checks.  In no more than forty seconds, the three of us were outside the hangar and preparing to engage the Imperials. 

   Exhausted.  That was the only description that could accurately describe the entire state of every being on board the Renegade, including me.  We foiled the Empire's plan to destroy one of the Alliance's most powerful cruisers, but it came at a heavy cost:  Over 400 crew members had been killed during the battle, not to mention the extensive damage done to the Renegade.
 Our job was far from over however, we still needed to recover the Freedom, which could be orbiting Coruscant by now!  In the meanwhile, we pilots were kept plenty busy with reconnaissance and scouting missions, all of which were in vain.

  After another uneventful mission, I went to the pilot's lounge to relax.  Sitting down at one of the tables, I was able to overhear the conversation of two other pilots sitting a couple tables down.
  "Did you hear that one of our senior damage control officers was found dead in his cabin this morning?"  the first pilot asked.
  "Yep I did, hear he had a cracked skull."  answered the second pilot.
  "He sure did!  They say he passed-out for some reason hit his head on the desk."
  "Well that's not what I heard," this was getting interesting, "Lieutenant Hakkes said that he saw a Quarren acting real suspicious while the meds were examining the body.  Said that he asked if they found him dead - which they did - and wanted to know if anybody saw someone leave the DCO’s cabin anytime last night - which nobody did."
  "Hmm.  Does sound sort-of suspicious...."
  By this time I was positive that Gardor and I had the right idea about an Imperial spy, and that a Quarren was most likely that spy.  I just started to consider joining in on their conversation, when Lieutenant Hakkes walked in and shouted, "Hey!  You," he said pointing a finger at me, "and you come with me."  Hakkes was known for his uncouth manor, he was always shouting.  His flying style was similar, he was very uncautious, and took huge risks during combat.  He has a record of loosing more than ten starfighters, and since the Alliance can't take that many losses from one pilot, he doesn't get to fly very much, but when he does, you can be sure that whether we win the battle or not, it's going to cost the Imperials a lot of men and ships!
  Promptly I got to my feet and walked up to him, the other pilot wasn't so quick, and received a blunt derogatory statement from Hakkes, which speeded him up some.
  "We're going to fly a more exciting mission this time," Hakkes stated as we headed in the direction of the briefing room, "we are actually going to shoot at something this time.  Intell thinks they've come across something that will lead us to the Freedom, so we have to fly those blasted Y-Wings and disable a corvette."
  We reached the our assigned briefing room shortly, there we were instructed that a Corellian CR90 corvette must be disabled so that the Muurian transport Harle can board it and examine its navacomputers.  The corvette is escorting a convoy carrying foodstuffs and fresh water for the Freedom, which - according to one of our listening posts - has a defective hyperdrive.  Seems that the Imperial model that was installed to replace the damaged Mon Calamari model hyperdrive is incompatible with the other systems, so the Freedom cannot use its hyperdrive safely.  With the Freedom incapable of long-distance travel, it will make it much easier for us to locate her (or so the briefing officer told me).  Hopefully, by inspecting the corvette's navacomputers, we should be able to learn the location of the destination of the convoy.  Since the corvette is the only known escort, there should only be a few TIEs in the area, we should however be alert to Imperial reinforcements, and also to pirates - which seem to show an unusual interest in the Freedom - who might show up. 

   We finally know the location of the Freedom, which is being held "Top Secret" by the Alliance, and therefore only a few select officials know of her exact location.  All of us pilots knew that a showdown between the Alliance and the Empire was going to occur very soon.  However, the tactical officers insisted that we make sure we get the Freedom this time, and do so by laying a trap for her and her escorts.  Again, the details of all this were held "Top Secret", so none of us knew what exactly was going on.
  A few hours after the previous mission, I went to the observation room.  A large room on the forward area of the Renegade, it featured several tables with chairs, and benches along the walls, the room also was benefited with a spectacular view of space with it's gigantic transparisteel windows, from which I could see that the Renegade was being joined by more forces.  Assault transports were arriving from hyperspace, preparing to land in the Renegade's hangar.  As I watched, I noticed that I was the only one in here besides a Quarren.   Quarren  I thought, I wonder if…oh come on now, just because you think there might be a Quarren spy doesn't mean that every Quarren you see could be one  I watched him out of the corner of my eye anyway, and noticed that he was using a datapad, tapping a section of its touch-sensitive screen every-now-and-then.  I pondered approaching him, but I thought better of it when he deactivated his datapad and exited the room.  After about twenty minutes, I left the observation room and decided to go to the ever popular pilot's lounge.