ZEC: SECONDARY

By D. Maxwell

"Delta 5, pick up your lead!" he yelled out all too late as his wingman was engulfed by a barrage of laser fire from the pursuing X-Wing fighter, resulting in a huge fire ball as the ship ignited in brilliant flames. As he tried to take even a brief second to grieve for yet another lost comrade, someone from his group called in to report that a squad of A-Wings, the Rebels newest space fighters, were currently enroute to them and would be in the area within minutes.

This latest information presented him with a serious concern. The ambush on the Rebel convoy tankers had not gone to plan at all, what with the tankers' fighter escorts being fully prepared for a sneak Imperial offensive. It was now clear that they had been prepared for an attack all along and had seen fit to call for an additional squad of A-Wings to cruise just outside of sensor range in case of an emergency, giving the convoy the appearance of being poorly defended. If anything it was virtually daring someone to attack, however on the other hand he could see that maybe the Rebels didn't want to show off their latest acquisitions with too much eagerness just yet, less someone should attack them just to see what kind of ability they had.

He quickly ran through his targeting specs to get an overall picture of the situation, which included a summary of his remaining ships. Out of the original squad of nine TIE fighters under his command for this mission, only three remained, including himself. Normally his squad could have dealt with the X-Wings and still have had the time and resources to take out the convoy. But despite the X-Wing escort being severely depleted, the imminent approach of the A-Wings showed that there was very little they could do to win this operation now.

Inside his helmet he shook his head with a sigh. Yes, the Rebels have done well today, as he conceded that there was no way he was going to take victory here in this battle.

Weighing up the situation carefully he called to his two surviving wingmen "Delta wing, this is Delta Leader, break off the attack and commence return flight." He so hated leaving a mission incomplete. He checked his targeting screen again noting that the incoming force was now less than two minutes away, even the remaining X-Wings were beginning to hang back in anticipation of their arrival. He took one last look of what had been, for few minutes at least, an interstellar battlefield where many of his friends on this day had met their doom. How would they feel if they knew they died in a battle where we were defeated, how shameful. He quickly looked over into the distance to were the six unharmed and fully laden tankers continued slowly on their course, oblivious to the carnage that had taken place in the space around them only minutes before. Well they would just have to wait until next time.

Without another thought, he angled his fighter toward his home ship and hit the accelerator, watching dejected in his helmet rear view screen as the convoy of tankers grew smaller and smaller behind him "Damn, we were so close."

* * *

The room lay still. The walls of emaculate white gleamed brightly, marred only by the banks of view screens and control panels which in their deactivated state showed no colour. There were two doors that allowed access to this room, one at the back and the other along the side. The stillness of the room was enhanced by the lines of the light grey tables and chairs all neatly lined up facing in one direction, towards the front, with a large table at the front of the room where the bulk of the view screens lay. This room held no memories, nor thoughts of nostalgia, in fact this room was one of deliberate design. It didn't look attractive and it didn't feel comforting, but it was more than adequate for the purpose it served.

Three pilots abruptly shattered the stillness of the debriefing room as they marched in from the back of the room with their boots "click-clacking" on the highly polished floor. They had landed moments before in the docking bays of their "home base" Imperial Star Destroyer Deliberator, however theirs was not a time of recuperation. When a mission ended in failure, pilots were given no time to rest or relax, instead they all came directly up to this room to begin a summary of what went wrong, to work out who was at fault and what could be done about it so it wouldn't happen again. So it was for these three, each of them walked in stiffly with their helmets firmly grasped under their left arm as they proceeded to the front of the room, their black uniforms standing out in stark contrast to the white walls. They each positions next to each other facing the large view screen, which looked unusually dark and foreboding in its powered off state. Behind them sat a dozen empty chairs and tables, which only two hours ago were filled with fighter pilots eager to take on their next mission.

They remained there in morbid silence, not bothering to look around the room nor at each other. Each of them were captured by their thoughts as they played the recent exchange over in their minds as they considered where they could have improved their contribution to the mission. Maybe firing off that extra salvo could have helped, or perhaps a bank in a particular manoeuvre instead of a weave, or maybe a direct kill rather than just a hit would have turned the battle in their favour. They could play the scenario over in their minds for a thousand times and it still would not alter the fact that their mission was a failure.

Captain Illious, the ship's commander and the man who was ultimately responsible for the failed attack, briskly entered through the side door. He marched up to the first vacant pilots table near one of the wingmen, grabbed a seat and placed it hard on the floor behind the front table, the sound sending a shock wave through the room. There he slowly and deliberately sat down directly opposite the trio at the front.

He looked hard at each man in turn for a moment before finally speaking "So tell me what happened?"

The leader of the group who was sitting between his wingmen answered promptly and without hesitation. "They were ready for us sir. We approached the targets as ordered and proceeded to engage the fighter escort, however it was apparent that they were expecting some form of offensive and retaliated accordingly."

Illious nodded slightly not showing any signs of compassion or understanding "I see, and what happened next?"

"We were able to eliminate most of the escort, at a heavy cost, and were preparing to engage the tankers until we discovered that a squad of A-Wing Fighters was enroute to us, with an ETA of three minutes."

Illious simply looked at the man without saying a word, his expression totally unreadable. "So you took it upon yourself to abort the mission, without even so much as informing us of your intentions?"

"Yes Sir." the man answered showing no signs of discomfort.

Illious began to show the early signs of rage as he remembered all too well being on the bridge when the three fighters unexpectantly appeared in view requesting permission to dock. In a flustering stupor he almost denied it to them, but realised it'd be easier to get to the bottom of it all here in this room rather than leaving the three ships just sitting out in space forever. He had difficulty grasping the tenacity of the pilots breaking off their attack without even informing their commanding officers or at least Fighter Control, and worst of all, they didn't even hit their targets. "Didn't you even get one shot at the convoy?"

"No Sir."

Illious sighed heavily, how was he going to explain this to High Command? As captain of the ship, he was obligated to submit constant reports of the activities his ship undertook in its duties. In fact it was High Command who had briefed him about this mission in the first place, Illious did not know what the tankers carried and he didn't care. Now he would have to go back to them and say the mission, his mission, was a failure because the pilots flew back to the Deliberator of their own free will due to an increase in Rebel resistance. He was going to lose his head for this, he was certain, all because this man had apprehensions about attacking the damn Rebels. He couldn't believe they were now going to be death of him! He turned the sour attention of this thought to the man sitting before him "Why didn't you engage the A-Wings?"

Quietly the two wingmen shifted in their seats, making the all-to-obvious gesture that they were not comfortable with this questioning at all. They were fully aware that they were in breach of Imperial protocol by not informing Fighter Control of their current status, however at the time it seemed that all was lost and they had no alternative but to turn back. Now they weren't so sure. Their leader, on the other hand, made no motions or gestures to suggest he was faltering, he spoke clearly without hesitation or emotion. "We did not have the resources to warrant a successful engagement."

Illious' rage began to rise, all he could see was his mission listed as a total failure, and his head sitting on the chopping block. He needed someone to blame, and that someone didn't even seem all that perturbed by what fate lay in store for him. "Why should that stop you?"

"Because there is more to be gained by returning to base to report our findings, which could be beneficial in future missions, rather than wasting Imperial resources and manpower in a futile engagement that no one would learn anything from."

Illious was momentarily stunned, he hadn't been expecting an answer, especially one that sounded so ... pompous. "Really," he responded, getting up from his seat. He quietly walked up to the black view screen, with his hands clasped behind his back staring straight at it as his mind thought things through, 'a futile engagement that no one would learn anything from.' Now won't that look good on the report. Learn anything...'. Finally he turned to face the young man "and just what have we learnt?" he shouted.

Without giving the matter any thought the young man answered "That the Rebel Alliance has prepared itself well enough to expect hostile action whenever they transit through open space. We have also learnt that they are willing to establish backup squads, which maintain a discrete distance, to assist them if necessary rather than have them accompany the convoy. I say that this is a deliberate ploy for us to attack them. From our view, we have learnt that the deployment of two squads would be better suited to our goals, either by attacking both escorts simultaneously or by having unit one decimate as much of resistance as possible thereby allowing unit two to attack them when they are weary. Either of these methods should ensure a successful mission. Also the inclusion of bombers cannot be ruled out as they would be able to concentrate on the targets in question, sir."

Silence filled the room.

Illious just looked at the man as all his thoughts went into a spin. Who is this person? Despite the fact that he was angry about what happened in the mission, he did have to concede that this man did have a point. Experience had taught him many times that any captain worth his weight would always be willing to learn how the enemy conducts themselves so proper planning could be implemented to ensue successful engagements. No one could ever lead an attack without knowing what they were up against.

After a moment of contemplation, Illious slowly nodded his head in comprehension. He took a few steps towards the front table with his thoughts in a twirl. Suddenly he turned his attention to the two wingmen who were sitting bolt upright, looking straight ahead and showing all the signs of not wanting to be present. Illious knew that for them to hear a Star Destroyer Captain questioned by a TIE Fighter pilot was unheard of. But this was no ordinary TIE Fighter pilot, this was 2nd Lieutenant Caras Zec, a man who was fast getting a reputation as one of the best TIE Fighter aces in the fleet, and who was also a very accomplished strategist. Whatever Illious thought of Zec as a person was irrelevant, he knew enough to listen to what the man had to say when it came to fighter tactics. Supporting this notion was the reaction of his two pilots which demonstrated how confident Zec was of being right. Zec had answers to every question, whereas they just sat there and looked scared, not even willing to speak up to support their comrade. In short, he had leadership qualities, and they didn't.

Illious knew that this was a man who would go a very long way in the Imperial fleet, but for now he needed a way to address the most pressing of all issues, the destruction of the convoy. If this mission wasn't completed successfully, neither he nor Zec would live long enough to care about it any longer. "Well you've obviously got some opinions on this matter lieutenant, and I assume an idea of how to solve our current dilemma," referring to the fate both of them were facing if they were to fail. "So would you be prepared to address the Strategic Assembly on this?"

As expected, there was no visual reaction at least from Zec at this sudden change of attitude. "Yes Sir I would, I have formulated a plan which I think we can use to complete this mission sir."

Illious wasn't surprised, yes, he will go a long way. "Very well, let's get to it, dismissed."

Zec instantly got up out of the chair as the two wingmen just looked at each other dumbly.

* * *

Caras Zec spent a few moments quietly resting in his cubicle in the Pilots Ward. He was due to begin preparations for launch in an hour as the Deliberator made for the Birus Sector at hyperspeed to re-ambush the Rebel convoy before they could get reinforcements. Fortunately because of the slow speed of the tankers, the Rebels were forced to continue their voyage at below sublight speeds, which would make them an easy target to pick up again. But for the meantime, Zec sat back and relaxed, he needed some time alone, to gather his thoughts and strength as sometimes things went just a little too fast even for him to keep up.

He could not help but smile when he discovered that they were heading for the Birus Sector. Birus, the site of that leadership test he took two years ago on his first solo training mission. How far had he come since then? These days he had completed so many missions, both solo and otherwise, that he was running out of space in his locker to put all of his commendation medallions. Still despite all the successes, promotion had been gradual. Now at 26 he had still only risen as far as 2nd Lieutenant, even though he acted as a higher authority when engaging in missions. He remembered being told two years ago that he was destined for meteoric success. Well so far he had yet to see it, even still having to resort to 'living' in a cubicle in the Pilots Ward. He deserved more from the service and was not afraid to display it. Showing up Captain Illious was tactically a bad move which could have even be considered insubordination, resulting in his immediate execution, but there were times where he didn't really care. Flying TIE Fighters wasn't enough for him anymore, he always knew he had the ability to fly them better than anyone else, so his future success lay not in what he could do in the fighter but in the command chair. This time he hoped that with this new strategy he had devised for this mission that he might just be able to sway a few people around, enough to get him a promotion to Commander or even higher and thus a position of real responsibility.

Promotion to Commander, who would've ever thought? He laughed at the notion of what his life would have become had he stayed on his home world of Opranas, the gaseous planet which bred so many wonderful pilots. Looking back now he could see why the Empire had such a high interest in the place, even to go so far as establishing a permanent Recruitment Centre on Home City. The planet's prime industry was the construction of the floating cities which were dotted throughout many gas based planets in the galaxy, so Opranians were born naturals when it came to flying since it was their only mode of transport between these cities. Whenever a new Opranian candidate signed up at the Centre, Fighter Control would not hesitate to steal them away and quickly adopt them as one of their own for special training.

Thinking about it now, Zec never realised how much of his life had been pre-ordained even before he had signed himself over to the Empire.

Inside his cubicle a buzzer softly chimed, reminding him it was time to prepare for the assault where once again he would take on the best the Rebel Alliance had to offer. Zec had never been one for politics, but he still found it hard to believe that the Alliance went to such pains to upset the tranquillity of the Empire. He was the first to admit that the Empire did rule with a heavy hand, but he knew it was necessary to keep the peace whilst maintaining law and order throughout the galaxy - and quite a lot of cultures even benefited from the Empire's presence. Opranas was one such world which the Empire always treated well. Zec had heard propaganda from the Alliance promising to free the Galaxy from its oppressive rule, but that didn't buy with Zec, he felt that they were just trying to undermine the official government in an effort to set up their own. As far as he was concerned, they were just a bunch of terrorists, admittedly a well organised bunch, who really did more harm than good with their plotting and scheming, especially to those systems who profited well under the hand of the Empire. He had no desire to kill any Rebel, but he would be happy to see them put under restraint, if only to keep the body count of his fellow pilots down, which had grown remarkably high with the introduction of some of the new Rebel fighters.

With the thought of Rebel fighters in his mind, he got up and headed for the hanger bays.

* * *

"What's the latest report?" Zec asked the Strategy Commander as he entered the launch bay on the way to his ship.

"We're just about to come out of hyperspace, our reports seem to indicate that the Rebels are not expecting another attack, they are still sticking to their original flight plan, and we don't think they have received any backup either. They seem to think that one attack was enough for us to give up, or at least that’s the impression. So keep in mind that they could have reinforcements arriving unannounced at any time, it just looks a little too clean for me. Otherwise all fighters are prepped and are ready to go."

"Roger." Zec said as he climbed down the ramp to his seat. Being an officer had its advantages, and one of them was a personal TIE Fighter of his own, which had been slightly modified to give the occupant a better ship, also the seat was individually contoured to the his body shape.

Zec strapped himself into his seat and called up his comm system. "Fighter Control, this is Delta leader, request update on launch plan," he said as he ran through his pre-flight check.

"Launch in two minutes minus, targets are located at co-ordinates 33797 mark 474."

"Copy. All units stand by for launch." He called out to the TIE Bomber group, "Omega flight, update on preparations."

"Omega flight here, we are ready."

"Copy." With that Zec completed his checkout and waited. Now he would get the chance to try his strategy. It had taken a bit to convince the Strategic Assembly that it was the best method to use, but they eventually swung around. Zec had deduced that if the A-Wing squad was fully prepared to attack anyone attacking their convoy, what would happen if they themselves were attacked directly? Zec calculated that a full on assault against the A-Wing squad would draw the remaining X-Wing escort away from the convoy to assist their comrades. Once this occurred, a squad of TIE Bombers would launch from the Deliberator and aim directly for the tankers, If the X-wings refused to leave the convoy then he would have to revert to the backup strategy he had formulated.

Suddenly there was a loud announcment throughout the ship." Attention all personnel, dehyper in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We have a clean leap!"

Then a new voice began speaking from Fighter Control. "Launch bay doors open! Launch Control to all groups, begin launch countdown...3,2,1 launch 3,2,1, launch 3,2,1, launch."

Zec was the first ship out of the bay as the others dropped out of the hanger, within moments he was calling up his targets. Twelve A-Wing Fighters located in six minutes flight time, however once they knew they were spotted they would move to intercept the Imperials in anticipation that it was the convoy they were after.

"Delta leader to all units, line up targets and charge weapons, Alpha group move to position 336 behind us to take those who fly past."

"Copy."

"Gamma group D2 peel off and aim for the convoy."

"Copy." Zec knew that this would prompt a few of the Rebels to give chase, not realising that they instead were the targets."

"All units prepare for assault. We have 10 minutes to get the X-Wings away from the tankers before the bombers launch."

"Copy."

Zec checked his readouts, the first of the Rebels would be in range in moments. He checked his sights and waited.

The first of the A-Wing lasers reached the fighter group and then the opposing sides met.

For the first few moments it was total chaos as the various ships jostled among themselves for better positions, the biggest worry for Zec was the A-Wings, they were formidable fighters but he hoped that his team would be able to overpower them with shear numbers.

"Delta leader this is Gamma group D2."

"Receiving."

"We are in transit for the convoy, but have no pursuing ships. Request order clarification."

"Turn back and assist us here, if you go too far too soon the A-Wings will be forced to follow and that could effect the bombers."

On the Deliberator Illious watched the reports of the battle come in. A lot was resting on this plan of Zec's, if it failed, he would quietly retire to his quarters and finish it all off. He knew that it would be all over as far as his usefulness to the Empire was concerned. After all, how do you explain to your superiors that you failed the same mission twice? Illious was sweating a little under the collar with the thought of how much this attack had to succeed, he was taking a big risk with this venture. But how did he get in this position in the first place? Zec! This was all Zec's doing. Somehow, he would have to arrange it that it wouldn't happen again. His own career was too important to him to have it jeopardised by some 2nd grade lieutenant.

Illious started to head to his office to make some discreet enquires when an officer from Fighter Control called out to him.

"Captain, Delta Leader is asking to speak with you personally sir."

Illious looked confused. Asking to speak with me? He thought as he moved over to the communication bay.

"Delta Leader this is Captain Illious." The voice echoed in his helmet.

"Captain, we have successfully overcome all the Rebel resistance, however I thought it important to withhold the bomber attack on the tankers." There was a deafening silence on the other end of the line, suggesting Illious was about to explode. Anticipating this Zec quickly began to justify this new and unauthorised change of plan, "I think there is something we need to consider, sir."

From what was obviously said through gritted teeth, the reply came back "And what is that?"

"I have checked our Intel and found that the tankers are carrying a variety of technical components, mechanical parts and tools, but the bulk of the convoy is carrying oxyintadl fuel. Sir we do not need to destroy the convoy, we have the ability to capture all of it intact."

There was an angry pause, "why?"

With a sigh, Zec preceded to explain the obvious.

* * *

Zec stood quietly in front of the captain in the debriefing room as he read through the report of the events of the mission. Upon entering the room, Zec was surprised to find he was the only one present, usually debriefings involved all the pilots used in a mission.

Illious finished reading then quietly switched off the screen.

"Well Lieutenant, have you anything to add?" he asked still looking at the blank screen.

"No Sir." Zec said stoically.

Illious nodded his head. "Well because of your actions in this mission, I've decided to notify Fleet Commander Vissxse and send him a direct report of the event, hopefully he will not ask too many questions about why we undertook this mission twice." Illious looked steadily up at the young man. "However as far as I am concerned, you have served your time here with us well and I believe it could be better served elsewhere in a position of higher responsibility, Unfortunately there really isn't room for you here on the Deliberator for duties of this nature so I've requested a promotion for you pending a transfer to a more suitable location for your abilities." Zec looked down apon him in shock as Illious continued. "I have always admired your abilities as a leader and a pilot, but capturing those tanker loads of fuel was a stroke of good foresight. As Imperial officers of the Empire we have always been taught to destroy enemy munitions whenever possible to hinder the Rebel movement, so it hadn't occurred to me that oxyintadl is used as a weapon lubricant by both the Rebels as well as us," standing up to face Zec "Your abilities are wasted here, so with luck, we'll get you into a position where you can serve the Empire with greater benefits." He started toward the side door "Vissxse is due to report back to me shortly with an answer," he said without turning.

For one of the very few occasions in his life, Zec stood dumbfounded watching his captain leave.

"I don't know what to say sir," is all he could manage.

Illious stopped at the door and turned to the young man. "You don't have to say anything," Suddenly Illious started walking towards Zec unexpectedly raising his voice. "However I should point out that one reason why you are going is because you nearly got us both killed with your attitude in that first attack and your defiance of orders in the second!" He stared right into the young man's eyes. "I don't like having my junior officers making major decisions without clearing them through me first, no matter what the situation is." he was shouting now. "You're just lucky I worked out a way to get us both out of this mess, otherwise I would have had you killed here and now." He pointed a threatening finger at Zec. "You may be a top pilot with a lot of potential, but you're too much trouble for me! Let someone else worry about you."

For a second time Illious headed for the side exit, speaking as he went. "I suggest you get ready to leave, I imagine Vissxse will want you to depart for your new post immediately."

In a moment Zec was left standing all alone in the quiet room. Despite just being severely reprimanded by his captain, he was feeling elated.

Back in his cubicle, Zec packed his items in silence, His mind racing at hyperspeed at what lay ahead for him

"So you’re packing up eh?" a voice said from behind.

Zec turned to see his good friend and flight companion Ganche Dellney standing there in full flight uniform.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be around for much longer now, I'm just waiting for an idea of where I'm supposed to be going." He stopped packing for a moment to look at his friend. "This is all so sudden Ganche, I'm not sure what to think."

Ganche Dellney just smiled, "Well they'd better be happy thoughts." He walked up to Zec, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Caras, we've always known this was going to happen, it was just a matter of time."

"I suppose," Zec said with an air of hesitation, pondering his friend's words. After a moment he resumed his packing. He turned up to ask Dellney something when he noticed the uniform. "Where are you off to?"

"TIE testing."

"Oh." There was a pause as Zec thought of all the times he had been involved in that project. TIE Fighters were always undergoing improvements, new lateral thrusters, improved firepower, sharper scanners. In fact not that long ago, Zec was the foremost TIE testing pilot, it seemed funny now that his friend was doing his old job. "So whose going to be in charge now?"

"Lieutenant Zec!" the most recognised voice on the ship called out from behind. Both Zec and Dellney snapped to attention as Illious came into view.

"Sir." Zec replied.

"I've just received your new orders from Fleet Commander Vissxse," he handed him a portable screen. Zec took the screen from Illious, his hand shaking ever so slightly, he switched it on and watched the message scroll over the screen.

CONFIRMATION OF ORDERS

Lieutenant Caras Zec - 33847583939.446

Current posting - Imperial class Star Destroyer Deliberator.

Orders:

Effective immediately, Lieutenant Zec is to begin preparation for transfer to Imperial Super Star Destroyer Executor, and report to Fighter Commander Placeds for final placement and assignment of duty.

Zec's jaw almost hit the floor "Executor! That's Lord Vader's flagship."

"Executor!" Dellney echoed "Clear skies Zec!" He said with elation, forgetting who he was standing with.

Illious was not perplexed, "it seems that your efforts are sending you to the most enviable assignment in the fleet. You should feel honoured, only the best personnel ever get to serve on that ship."

Zec looked up bewildered "I'm going to the Executor!" he sat down softly on the bunk, his mind thousands of light years away.

"I don't think I need to remind you to be on your best behaviour," Illious said with deliberate emphasis, "Lord Vader doesn't take too well to poor performers."

"I've never even seen him," Zec muttered, his mind still spinning.

"Get prepped for departure," Illious continued, "we've been ordered to rendezvous with the Executor at the Bespin System and are currently enroute, so we should be there within the hour. I imagine that you'll be needed for duty as soon as you transfer, so take your fighter with you." He turned to Dellney who snapped back to attention. "Two of our fighters are being transferred to the Executor, I want you and Felleng to take them over, you may as well go along with Zec."

"Yes sir."

Illious began to leave then turned to face Zec."This is you one great opportunity, Lieutenant, don't ruin it." The two of them looked at each for the briefest of moments, the remnance of their last encounter seemingly forgotten, before Illious turned and left. Zec knew the captain had meant, he was now going to the Executor, if ever he was going to become a great leader, this would be his road there.

Zec sat quietly in his fighter. The Deliberator was due to arrive at the Bespin System in a matter of minutes, and in his helmet he could hear Dellney and Felleng discussing some last minute details with their ships. His bag was packed, his ship prepped, and inside his nerves were jumping. The Executor, Lord Vader, The Executor, who would ever have thought? Suddenly his mind turned to the planet below Bespin, that's a gaseous planet, no doubt a few of the cities here came from Opranas,

"Launch Control to Delta group, prepare to launch."

Suddenly all went silent over the radio, as Dellney and Felleng cut their conversation short. In a moment, a call came over all channels from the bridge "Attention all personnel, dehyper in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We have a clean leap!"

Then Fighter Control cut in "Launch bay doors open! Launch Control to Delta group, begin launch countdown...3, 2, 1, launch 3, 2, 1, launch 3, 2, 1, launch."

The three fighters launched within seconds of the Deliberator entering normal space. Immediately Zec put out a search for the Executor and found it on the far side of the planet. A quick scan of his system showed that he could make the trip in about ten minutes if he flew close to the atmosphere. He put out a call to his wingmen as he settled on a flight path "Delta units follow my lead."

"Copy," they both said in unison.

Zec looked at the yellow planet, despite Opranas being the only gasious world he had seen, he had to admit that this one was very pretty indeed. Now that he had launched, the nerves about where he was going began to gnaw at him again. In a few minutes he would begin a new life on the most feared of all Star Destroyers. Zec looked at his graphic of the ship on his screen when a voice broke through the silence in his helmet speaking with urgency.

"Delta group this is Fighter Control, we have a report from the Executor that there is an enemy freighter attempting to escape the planet, this is a priority one alert, intercept this ship and do not allow it to escape!"

"Copy." Zec replied. "All units receive that?"

"Affirmative," they both replied. It was always important to check the obvious, Zec thought, as he was able to recall a number of times when someone didn't get a group message from Fighter Control and continued on their original heading whilst the rest of the force went somewhere else.

"Locate vessel on screen and prepare intercept course."

"Copy."

Zec scanned his screens to locate the offending vessel, his apprehension about the Executor leaving him for a moment as he took on this latest development. He felt quite calm as he had done this sort of duty plenty of times before, and besides, it was a good distraction for him. He wasn't expecting this interruption to last long, intercepting ships was not difficult, especially when they were freighters. Within a moment he had the ship located heading toward the central city on Bespin, which Zec had guessed correctly was of similar design of the Opranian ones.

"Vessel located," he said, beginning his descent into the planet's atmosphere. It was lucky we were out here, he thought to himself, if the Executor had to send its own fighters to intercept this ship, it would be long gone by now.

Zec steered into the planet followed by his wingmen, within moments he had broken into the gaseous atmosphere and picked up his visual of the floating city in the distance, its centre shaft reaching way down into the clouds. He could not see the freighter but his reports said it was hovering under the city.

"You've left it too late, my friend," he said to the ship, "you won't get away now."

The three fighters approached the disk shaped city at high speed just in time to see the ship beginning to depart the scene.

Zec spoke to his wingmen on an open channel so Fighter Control could hear what was going on. "Delta unit, have located enemy vessel, fire at will to disable only. Do not destroy, repeat, do not destroy."

"Copy."

Within a moment, his two escorts opened fire on the ship which was bidding a hasty retreat.

It was then that Zec noticed it. The ship, he'd seen that ship before. His finger momentarily fell away from his firing control as he tried to place where he had seen this freighter, as he got closer it came to him.

Two years ago, on my first solo training mission, this ship had the opportunity to kill me but it held off, it all came back to Zec in a cold wash, yes that's right, it followed me right into the Death Star's tractor beam trying to break away, instead of finishing me off when I was a plumb target. Zec had transferred to the Interrogator shortly before the Death Star was destroyed, however surviving TIE Fighter pilots from the battle reported that the freighter they had recently captured had something to do with the station's destruction. Was this the same ship? Even then he didn't know who had been the pilot and now he still didn't. He looked at the ship closely confirming it was the same one.

Suddenly the battered freighter broke the planet's atmosphere heading for space, with the three TIE fighters following in hot pursuit.

"It's going to try and jump." Dellney said as he found that the ship's acceleration was making it difficult for him to keep up and get a good shot.

Who are you? For two years it had remained a mystery to him living in his sub conscience, he knew he would find out shortly but he couldn't get the image out of his mind of the events so long ago. What if I went up to them and said thank you for sparing my life, would they care? Realising there would be time for nostalgia later, Zec focused his mind back onto the task at hand.

The three TIE Fighter pilots watched as the freighter unexpectantly turned into the direction of the Executor. "So that's it," Zec said to himself "the biggest ship in the fleet," as it came into view.

Suddenly a new voice broke in on his channel.

"Delta Leader this is Executor Control. Move to mark 23848.969 to intercept escaping vessel, we need it herded in this direction for tractor beam lock."

"Copy," Zec said.

"Delta units, we need to stop this ship going hyper, before intercept, move to 2958393.579 and try and bring it around.

"Copy."

Things were starting to get tense now, the Executor was growing larger by the moment, and the escaping freighter was heading straight for it. As far as a simple interception of a freighter was concerned, this one was proving to be a problem. However he knew it wouldn't be long before they had it, and good too, it was getting harder to keep up with it.

The Executor was looming close now, the three pursuing fighters had ceased firing so as to not hit the ship, not that it would have done much damage to the behemoth. The freighter on the other hand kept heading straight for the side of the vessel, making Zec think it was going to ram it. "This tractor beam is taking a while," one of his wingmen said.

Within an instant the freighter changed direction to run alongside the Executor, heading for the bow. All the gun emplacements on the ship's side lay idle, unable to fire in case of hitting the pursuing fighters, or even worse, destroying the target ship itself.

"Delta units don't let it get away." Zec commanded, beginning to get frustrated.

"It's difficult sir, it's the fastest freighter I've ever encountered."

Within a moment they had cleared the front of the mammoth ship and entered open space. If they're going to use the T/Beam they had better do it soon, Zec thought. In fact he couldn't figure out why the ship had not gone into hyperspace earlier, once it had cleared Bespin it could've gotten away easily. Also the fact that Executor Control had gone quiet meant that something was going on.

"We're going to lose it." Dellney said, realising as well that clearance of the Executor meant that the ship could hyper without interference.

No you can't get away again! Zec thought with a touch of anxiety. "Maintain pursuit," he called out to his wingmen, "Executor Control this is Delta Leader, request that you engage Tractor Beam immediately."

"Received Alpha Control, stand by."

Good Zec thought, the ship was finally theirs, now he would finally be able to get the answers that had eluded him for so long.

Then the ship vanished within a blink.

"What!" Dellney yelled out through his microphone.

Damn, damn, damn! Zec thought, I knew they were taking too long. He looked at the space where the mysterious freighter had been, as all the life seemed to drain out of him. Who are you! Are you going to haunt me for the rest of my days, appearing and disappearing without ever telling me who you are? Will I ever know?

Suddenly the dejected voice of Executor Control broke through the silence. "Delta unit return to base."

"Well at least they’re not going to blame us for losing it," Dellney muttered on a channel that only the three of them could hear.

After a final look at where the ship once was, Zec angled his fighter back to the Executor, for a while not even slightly interested in what lay in store for him in his new assignment. The biggest mystery in his life had slipped away from him for the second time, and after two years he still had no idea of what the ship was or who it belonged to, or why it even meant so much to him to discover the answer. I’m sure one day we will meet again.

He quietly docked into the massive hanger of the Executor. His life was taking a new direction, and for the moment, he couldn't care less.