A short story based on the First Strike map, Escape from Hoth, written from the Imperial side

The pilots of Hammer squadron were relaxing on board the Star Destroyer Tyrant as it cruised above the ice planet Hoth. Although dressed and alert for combat, Hammer Squadron wasn’t expecting to take much of a role in the battle raging on the planets surface, confident that the Tyrants turbo lasers would quickly dispatch any Rebel transports hoping to make safe their escape. 

As the pilots talked and joked over mugs of caf, one sat silently in a corner of the room, listening intently to the ship’s com as news of the battle was broadcast. A data pad sat on the table in front of him, cycling through various ship readouts of rebel star fighters. Twigs never left anything to chance, he was always checking ship layouts, battle recordings and sensor readings for anything that could help him find a weakness on the Rebels shielded craft.

“You ever stop?” asked Talon, taking his seat across the table and placing a steaming cup of caf in front of Twigs.

“Well I could, but then I’d have to drink more of this stuff, and you make a real bad caf!” replied Twigs, smiling as he lifted the cup and gingerly sniffed the contents. “Think we’ll get to see any action?”

“Doubtful, there’s enough SD’s in orbit to take out a system let alone a planet. You know Vader himself has taken command of this one? I think we’re finally going to put a stop to this little uprising.”

As the two settled back to talk the ship suddenly lurched, electrical systems failed and the room plunged in to darkness. Silence descended just as quickly, as the crew tried to work out what had happened. A crash echoed around as one pilot fell, a muttered curse quickly followed. A klaxon sounded for general emergency and the crew waited anxiously for more news.

“Get ready everyone,” called Talon, “We might get a chance to vape some rebels after all.”

“Probably just a malfunction,” replied Twigs, “intel showed no rebel weapons capable of attacking the Tyrant.”

“Yeah, and we all know how reliable intel is.” Called another voice from across the room, Talon recognised Oddball’s voice even in the darkness.

“Well if anyone knows what the intel reports say it’ll be Twigs.” he called back, “Thought you were trying to get on the surface with the ground pounders?”

“I keep trying, believe me. Tired of hanging with you stick jockeys.” Lieutenant Oddball was the only one in the room who wasn’t a TIE pilot, he was the Ground Liaison Officer, a link between the pilots and any Storm Troopers on a planetary surface who might call them in for assistance. He’d earned his name after a quick stint on one of the ships simulators had shown that he might as well have been inside a bouncing ball.

The ships emergency lights flickered to life as the standby generators kicked in, the emergency klaxon replaced by the pilots scramble siren. The pilots ran for their ships, pulling on helmets and life support systems as they quickly filed in to the Tyrants main hangar and made their way over the TIE gantries.

Even through the helmet Twigs thought he could detect the familiar smell of lubricant and coolant, something he always found relaxing and comforting. He lowered himself into the TIEs cockpit, a crewman above him securing the hatch as he efficiently cycled through the small ship’s power up sequence.

“….planetary ion fire,” crackled the com, “launch all fighters, all Tyrant systems are down.”

“All of them?” keyed back Talon.

“Affirmative sir,” replied the tinny voice of the hangar launch officer, “once you’re out there you’ll be on your own, we have no external ship communication, but we’re working on getting sensors back up.”

The first of the TIE fighters howled out of the hangar followed by TIE bombers.

“Hey Talon,” said Twigs, flicking the com switch as he waited his turn to exit.

“What’s up? Malfunction?”

“No no, why are the bombers launching? Won’t this just be a fighter patrol mission?”

“With the systems down I doubt it, we’re supposed to be patrolling for transports, with the Tyrant out of action and the rest of the battle group on the other side of the planet….”

“Gotcha,” keyed back Twigs, cutting off his superior officer as the fighter in front peeled out and he quickly followed.

The planet filled the view as Twigs peeled out from the hangar, turning sharply towards the rear of the Tyrant. The massive ship conveyed a sense of ease to the crew who called it home, while to many others throughout the galaxy it was something to be feared. Able to rain death from orbit and obliterate a planets surface it was a dark symbol of the Emperors rule of terror.

“Twigs, where are you going, rejoin the main force.” Talons voice crackled inside his helmet as the Star Destroyers engines came into view.

“We need to defend the turbo laser batteries sir,” he replied, pulling back on the stick and heading towards the bridge, “Until those systems come back up we’re defenceless.”

Talon weighed up his options, the TIE Fighter was a nimble craft, but against the heavier rebel fighters it needed every advantage it could get. As for the bombers, well they could cause a lot of damage but were just as susceptible, more so in fact if the rebels had armed their larger transport ships.

“Hammer Squadron, set patrol routes around the Tyrant, defend against rebel fighters. Let’s giver her every chance we can to get those turbo laser batteries back online. Shout out if you see rebel ships and watch your six.”

Even as the final words left his mouth the Tyrant began relaying sensor data to the squadron, its surface guns began scanning for targets and the ship’s communication officer regained contact with the pack of small star fighters.

“We have regained short range scanners and all guns are now active though our engines, hyper drive and long range communication systems are still out of action. We are relying on you Hammer Squadron to protect the Tyrant from further attack and prevent any Rebel from escaping. Lord Vader will be MOST aggrieved should you fail.”

“You heard the bridge,” barked Jim Walker, Commander of the Hammer pilots and the officer who would ultimately answer to the Sith Lord should they fail in their duties, “Pair off and stay alert. Primary objective is to protect the Tyrant, secondary objective is to attack rebel transports. Fighters are to escort bombers, stay alert and keep the com channels clear of idle chatter.”

The pilots keyed back a quick acknowledgement of orders, and then began to form up in their attack pairs, Twigs peeled round to search out his wingman.

“On your six Sir” he called to Talon, as the superior officer wiggled his wings in acknowledgement, before throttling back and waiting for Twigs to take the lead.

“You take lead this time…” he started before being cut off by red laser fire darting past his cockpit and striking the turbo lasers below him, throttling back had probably just saved his life.

“Sith spawn!” He spat, “Where did that come from?” A blip echoed in his ear’s as the Tyrants sensors relayed a Y-Wings position to the squadron, then another and another. Twigs fighter screamed past Talon as he throttled back up to stay behind his wingman.

“I still got you Twigs, looks like he’s above us.” Talon kept pace with Twigs who by now was making his turn in behind the Y-Wing, trying to take the heavy bomber from its blind side and avoid the powerful laser cannons.

Twigs could feel the surge of adrenaline as the excitement of getting another kill to his name began to enter his mind, he pushed it away and cleared his thoughts. He knew that getting carried away would lead to a quick death and he wasn’t quite ready to give his life for the Emperor. Just as he pulled behind the ship he jinked down, just in time to avoid the deadly arc of fire from the Y-Wings rear gunner. The red flashes were close enough to illuminate the inside of his cockpit, barely missing the fragile solar panels.

Talon followed Twigs down, watching as the pilot in front kicked in his rudder, spun round and arced back up, green light emerging from his laser cannons and striking against the Y-Wing. One struck the front of the ship, exiting from the cockpit a moment before the fighter exploded. Talon ducked instinctively to avoid the flash before following Twigs back round.

“Those Y-Wings are two seater variants, stay clear of the rear gunner!” Jim Walkers voice cut through the fire fight going on around Twigs and Talon. Even as they heard the words they watched as a fellow pilot was caught out, a solar panel cleaved by a rebel laser sending the ship spinning into the hull of the Tyrant.

The pair jinked in and out of fire as another Y-Wing flashed past towards the heavy turbo laser battery, Twigs fired off a shot followed quickly by Talon who had the better view and whose shot claimed the kill.

Talon glanced down at the remaining gun as the Y-Wings last rocket streaked towards it, impacted and sent a cloud of debris into the void of space as the gun exploded.

“Guns are down” he called across the squadron’s channel.

“Roger that,” replied Jim, “I’ve spotted a transport leaving the planet, escort the bombers.”

Twigs and Talon swung back round and screamed low over the hull of the Star Destroyer, heading towards the nose as the fleet of TIE Bombers emerged from underneath it. The faster fighters soon caught up and the pair settled behind, one each side of the slow, lumbering craft as the rebel transport came into view.

Three other sets of ships in the same formation were ahead of them, and the lead bomber illuminated blue as it began sending it’s payload towards the rebel ship. Laser fire erupted from the surface of the transport as the first bombs struck its hull and the TIE Bomber erupted as the bolts struck. Its escorting fighters peeled off and ducked in and out of the laser fire, sending streaks of furious green light in reply.

A group of X-Wings appeared from behind the rebel transport, which switched targets from the irritating smaller TIE Fighters and began concentrating fire on the line of bombers heading its way. The two TIE’s were unaware of the rebel fighters and quickly fell to their quad laser banks. The X-Wings turned back to their escort duties and headed towards the imperial ships attacking the old but venerable Gallofree transport.

Twigs and Talon broke off as well, giving their bomber a little more room to avoid the Gallofree guns and allowing them to avoid going head to head with the more durable shielded fighters.

The Gallofree was now buzzing with fighters and bombers, sending bolt after bolt streaking towards the bombers as they vied for position behind its engines, hoping to take advantage of its inherent weakness. Twigs and Talon darted between bombers and Gallofree bolts as they tried to distract the gunners and give their fellow pilots every chance to destroy the craft. Another TIE fighter streaked past Talons cockpit followed quickly by an X-Wing which had gained position behind it. He sent a burst of static towards Twigs, letting him know he was breaking off before swinging round to help the other fighter.

As he completed his turn he found himself in perfect position behind the X-Wing and sent a burst of lasers into its engines, resulting in a short explosion. The X-Wings intended target pulled up in relief and howled past Talon, just as a red lance flashed past. He pulled left realising he’d made the almost fatal mistake of flying straight a little too long, berating himself and searching out his wingman. As the Gallofree came into sight it burst apart and he pulled up again, trying to avoid the cloud of debris, a solitary bomb passing harmlessly through it.

As the flash dissipated, he caught sight of Twigs gaining advantage of the remaining X-Wing in a whirling dogfight, his final burst of fire striking the ships R2 unit before seeking out the cockpit and catching its pilot, the ship left smoking in space.

“Well done Hammer Squadron,” came Jim Walkers voice, “We got another transport coming in, let’s show those rebel scum what we got left.”

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!