Cairn Natayn clamped down the seals of his black flight helmet, twisting shut the gas hoses as he sat hard. Clipping his inertial restraints over his chest, he raced his fingers over the TIE’s diagnostic console.

"Prepare for launch."

"About time! We’re gonna’ lose those damn Rebs in the asteroids!"

His TIE shuddered, guided forward by the docking clamps of the Star Destroyer Fear. Through the eyeball viewport of the fighter, he watched the open bay stretch out into space. Vertigo tingled his toes. Cairn smiled. A zip of adrenalin rushed through him as he scanned the star field below. Snapping his head back, Cairn finished his diagnostic. Lasers. Engines. All green.

A jolt rocked his ship as the docking clamps released their hold. Watching the inside of the wide bay disappear, Cairn let the tractor beam guide his fighter away from the Fear’s thick hull. A fuzzy band of brown cut a swath through space far off to his left. The Koorlian Cluster.

"Asteroids." He sucked in a stale breath.

The tractor beam released.

He punched the throttle.

Eyeing his scope, Cairn raced through the signals it had picked up. Licking his lips against the stale recycled air, he smiled again, this time showing teeth.

A Rebel Nebulon-B Frigate. Two Corellian gunships. And a handful of X-wing fighters. Cairn scanned the widening asteroid field with his eyes. The fleeing Rebel force was trying to escape into the maze of spinning rock. If they managed to enter the Koorlian Cluster, no force of TIEs in the Empire would be able to dig them out. Even TIE pilots were not that expendable.

A glint of hull against the asteroid field caught his eye.

"There you are," he whispered to himself. Flicking open a channel to the Star Destroyer, Cairn cleared his throat.

"Fear this is Gamma One, visual on Alliance task force."

They were three clicks away from Fear. Only two clicks away from the asteroid field. And closing fast. This was going to be close.

"Copy Gamma One, ten seconds."

Cairn watched the Imperial signals multiply as the Fear disgorged its first squadron of TIEs. His squadron.

"Move it!"

Cairn fought the urge to rocket alone towards the fleeing Rebel force. He knew that one of the Corellian ships was more than enough to kill his unshielded fighter. Forget two of them, four X-wings, and a modified Nebulon-B frigate. Yet he fought the urge, his knees bouncing under the console as he watched the last of Gamma squadron take to space.

"Gamma form up double van!"

Cairn steered his whining TIE in a wide circle flanking the Fear. One of the Lancer class frigates blurred past his viewport as he pulled the hard turn. If the X-wings turned on the Fear, the four Imperial ships would be more than a match for the Alliance fighters. Rocketing up behind eleven other accelerating TIEs, he gripped the control yoke. One by one they reported in. Cairn checked his cannons one more time. All green.

"Gamma seven, eight, nine, take the port gunship! Ten, eleven, twelve vape the other one! Don’t worry about the needles," Cairn said, watching the X-wings’ signals on his scope. His headset crackled, static echoing inside the helmet.

"Here they come!" Cairn shuddered as adrenalin kicked into him. The X-wing’s signals were closing on his speeding group. Fast. Cairn wondered if one of them had fired the final torpedo that had taken out the Empire’s supply platform over Spiar. Not that it mattered.

Red bolts of laser energy leapt towards him, snapping his mind back. Cairn held his course for another split second. Veering up and away, he zipped through the targets on his scope, locking on the lead X-wing as it tried to match his course. The comm erupted in chatter as the X-wing fighters met Gamma squadron head on.

"Seven watch your flank!"

"Copy!"

Red bolts shot past Cairn’s viewport as he ripped the throttle. Faking a move to the left, he tore the yoke right, flipping his TIE and diving. Stars scrolled past his viewport as he righted the craft. The quad engines of the X-wing stared him in the face. He fired. His cannons shook the cockpit as green lances of energy leapt around the veering Rebel fighter. One hit scored, the glowing shields absorbing most of the assault. The glowing engines loomed closer. Cairn felt his eyes widen. Ripping the yoke up, he pulled back hard, trying to avoid the imminent collision.

"Crazy bastard," he breathed. An explosion outside his viewport forced him to veer wildly. The distant hull of the Fear blurred by as he tried to locate his attacker again. His prey.

"Where are you…where are you."

The Alliance Nebulon-B was one click from the asteroid field. One of the gunships had lagged behind the fleeing capital ship to assist the X-wings. It looked like one of the picket craft had gone ahead of the frigate into the asteroids. Most likely to clear a path through the deadly rock field.

One of the Imperial signals blinked out on his rear scope. Gamma three. It was followed into death by the first of the X-wings. Cairn redirected more energy to his cannons, catching a visual of his target as he wheeled around. The X-Wing was glued to another TIE’s tail, harrying it with a curtain of laser fire. Two clicks away.

"Hang on," he said, gritting his teeth. One point five clicks.

The X-wing pressed its attack. Ilin Harn would not last much longer.

"Get him offa’ me!" Cairn could hear the panic in his voice. One click.

Cairn pumped all energy to his cannons, feeling his craft slow. He realized the danger of making himself a sitting bantha, but right now his cannons needed power and reach. Cairn did not wait for the computer to lock on. He fired into the distant melee. The green laser bolts traced deadly streams of energy around the attacking X-wing. The Rebel craft did not veer, pressing its attack harder. His computer locked. Cannons charged full.

"Smoke this." Cairn fired, holding down the stud.

Three bolts hit the X-wing’s body dead center. It buckled, a final shot sliding out of its wingtip cannons. The X-wing erupted in a flaming cloud. Ilin Harn’s TIE exploded in front of it, a victim of the Rebel’s final attack.

"Frag it!" Cairn kneaded his palms against the control yoke. He had been a split second too late. Checking his scope, Cairn saw Alpha squadron clear the Fear’s belly bay. It’s about time. His headset crackled again as the Fear came over the comm.

"Gamma flight-let Alpha deal with the fighters. Get to those ships before they make the asteroid field!"

"Copy, Fear." Alpha’s signals had closed on their melee, increasing the pressure on the two remaining X-wings. And freeing the remainder of his squadron to go after the Nebulon-B.

"Form up, Gamma. Watch the gunship’s dorsal emplacements."

The stars wheeled again, sweeping the looming asteroid field across his viewport. The lagging gunship had already opened fire, its top turret spitting a hail of red laser fire towards them. The cylindrical body had started a slow turn towards them.

"Flank right!"

"Copy," his wingman barked. Diving hard, Cairn watched his wingman’s signal drop from his front scope. The remainder of the squadron split in two as the gunship tried to defeat their flanking maneuver. A red bolt shot by a meter from his viewport.

"Too close," Cairn said, blinking the burned-in image out of his retinas. Checking his scope, he smiled. Yanking the TIE’s control yoke, he pulled a tight arc, pumping all energy to his throttle. The turning gunship popped into his viewport. He fired, his cannons strafing the shielded body of the ship. The dorsal turret spun to face him. Cairn dove, catching the glow of the laser energy. Eyeing his scope, he saw the last X-wing blink out. Alpha squadron had started to close on their position.

"Gamma, step it up, we’re going after that frigate!"

"Copy boss."

Cairn jinked away from the Corellian gunship, flicking through his scope. Locking onto the fleeing Nebulon-B, he steered his craft in a wide flanking arc. His wingman rejoined him, following his maneuver. He could see the asteroids now; spinning chunks of cratered rock. Cairn scanned the Rebel capital ship in his scope.

"Gamma flight, watch the top turrets, this things been refitted!"

Cairn’s wingman sped ahead of him as the Nebulon-B loomed in his hexagonal viewport. Cannons charged. The capital ship opened fire with every weapon on its hull. A mosaic of red laser energy lanced out from the Rebel frigate as it cruised full speed into the outer fringes of the asteroid field. Cairn’s wingman fired at the communications tower, the green bolts lighting up small explosions on the protruding antenna. Veering off as the turbolaser fire began to track him, Gamma two disappeared from Cairn’s viewport. The Nebulon-B filled his entire field of vision. He fired.

Thick bolts of energy ignited surface explosions as Cairn sped over the upper surface of the ship, racing past the scarred conning tower. He held the firing stud down until his TIE cleared the back of the hull. The backwash of the Nebulon-B’s powerful engines rocked his TIE. He cranked his head around.

Cairn had caught a glimpse of a massive spinning turret on the back end of the frigate. Another Imperial signal blinked off his scope. And another. His helmet comm spurted the clipped yells of his squad.

"-cutting us to pieces!"

Cairn tightened his grip on the yoke; his black gloves wicked up his sweaty palms. The Fear was closing on the fleeing task force. The Rebel gunship that had lagged behind had disappeared from his scope. Cairn smiled. Locating his wingman again, he wheeled his craft around.

"Two cover me, I’m goin’ after that turret!"

"Copy boss."

The stars scrolled wildly, stabilizing as the Nebulon-B popped up again. Cairn saw another explosion as a TIE collided with the thick hull of the Rebel warship. Where was Alpha flight?

Visually locking onto the fleeing frigate, Cairn located the spinning turret. Closing on the Nebulon-B, he lit up his cannons, roaring past.