Sitting in the cockpit of the bright, Bethan waited silently in space, 
engines down in standby for the transports to arrive.  They'd been 
waiting 
for an hour now, and the transports were running a little behind 
schedule.

"Then again", he thought, "they didn't know that they were going to be 
making this stop, that's what the Senate is for."  Indeed it was not 
usual 
for the Retribution Fleet to deploy one of its two Interdictor 
cruisers, but 
it had this time, and now he just had to...

The waiting was over now as his sensors picked up three silhouttes 
falling 
drastically out of hyperspace.  The transports had arrived.  Activating 
his 
engines, he took off at full speed towards them, his wingman trying to 
match.  As he got within two klicks, he activated his comm and stated, 
"This 
is Colonel Bethan Leitbur of the Retribution Fleet.  Please hold your 
position and we will be done shortly.  This is merely a routine sweep 
for 
pirate activity that has been appearing in this area.  Please do not be 
alarmed."

Even as he said the words, he flipped his weapon systems over to single 
fire, scanning the ships for any sign of panic or for a weapons lock.  
That 
would be the most obvious move by the spies they were hunting for, to 
activate a weapons lock, blow his fighter to pieces, then take off at 
full 
speed to get outside the Senate's gravity well.  No such movement came.

"Huttspit!" he thought to himself, "don't let this be another convoy 
without 
any return."  Then again, the Imps weren't stupid, and it was possible 
that 
word had gotten back that they were doing these sweeps and had altered 
course.  Oh well.

Sweeping by the transports now, Bethan ran his sensors all along the 
first 
one, transmitting the data back to the Senate and then switching to the 
next 
transport and only getting a partial scan before he shot passed and out 
of 
effective range.  He wasn't going to come in slow for an easy shot if 
there 
were Imp spies with any kind of hidden weapons, that was for sure.  As 
he 
began his slow arch back around for another scan, Qi came on over the 
private frequency.  "Hey boss, I think I got something here.  I got a 
scan 
of that second transport, and its got a fuzzy area on it where my 
sensors 
couldn't penetrate."

"How big an area?"

"About four meters by six meters by two meters."

"Um Qi, you do realize that this type of transport is one of the most 
heavily modified in the galaxy right?"

"Yes sir, but what I did get through on it was even weirder, take a 
look."

Sensor data came through to his console, and Bethan glanced over it 
again 
briefly as his own sensors flashed by the second transport for its own 
data. 
  The data was definitely strange, and almost seemed to indicate a 
localized 
jammer.  Flipping his comm over to the main frequency he said, 
"Transport 
Two, please state your crew compliment and cargo."

"Crew compliment is four sir, with two passengers, along with some 
mining 
equipment on its way to Dia Pas.  Is there a problem sir?"

"Not currently, just being thorough."

"Understood sir.  If I may ask, how long will this take?"

"Depends on if there's any danger sir, but shouldn't take too long, 
don't 
worry.  Wraith Leader out."

Switching back to the fleet frequency, Bethan hailed the Senate and 
said, 
"General, I think we got something here.  We're detecting at least 
three 
more people aboard the second transport than their captain indicates, 
along 
with some weird jamming equipment, or at least it appears to be 
something 
like that.  Orders?"

"Finish the scans, we're sending out Hydra to bring in that ship for a 
search."

"Understood."

"COLONEL, I got enemy brights coming in at three klicks."

"Thank you Wraith Two, I see them.  Take my wing, and try to 
concentrate 
your fire on their lead fighter."

"Copy that."

Bethan switched over to dual fire as he came up on his left solar panel 
and 
corkscrew dove into a head-to-head run on the incoming brights.  As 
they 
entered two klicks, he saw that no missile locks were evident.  Heh, 
fools.  
As they entered range, Bethan shot his shields to full forward and 
opened 
fire as his targeting reticle went green, lancing bolts of green energy 
into 
the lead fighters shields.  As they entered one klick, he pulled up and 
away 
as Qi's fire put the lead bright into nothing but so much expanding 
gas.

Killing speed as he pulled a sharp turn, he was soon behind the brights 
and 
back up to full throttle, following them through their twists and 
turns.  
They were good, but not that good, and as long as they stayed near the 
Senate they'd have to engage him.

That was when the corvette showed up.  "Sir, we got multiple eyeballs 
coming 
in from that corvette, they're after the Assault transport."

"I see that."  During the attack the Hydra's had come in and, upon the 
second transport's attempt to flee, disabled it.  Now they were sending 
out 
an assualt transport to board her and find what was on board.  The 
eyeballs 
obviously knew that too.  "All right, Wraith two, continue to engage 
the 
brights, keep them off my back, I'm going in after those eyeballs, give 
Hydra there a hand."

"Copy that, good luck."

Bethan forwned slightly and dove into the action.  Eight eyeballs had 
launched from the corvette, and already the ATR had taken down one, but 
it 
was taking a beating.  Sweeping in at full throttle, Bethan switched 
over to 
missiles, and locked onto the lead fighter.  As his bracket went read 
with a 
steady lock, he squeezed the trigger and let out a bright yellow 
torrent of 
death, which soon shot in and smashed through the cockpit of the first 
TIE 
Fighter.

Switching back to lasers, he shot in at a grouped flight, and let out a 
wave 
of laser fire into it, destroying two, badly damaging the other two.  
Luckily the panicked pilot of one slammed over into his wingman, 
killing 
them both.

Hooking around, he saw the ATR reaching the transport, its shields 
weakened 
but alive.  Good, now to finish sweeping the last few...

More eyeballs coming in on his sensors.  Great, just great.  Moving in 
to 
intercept, he entered the frey viciously, zipping in and out, blasting 
eyeball after eyeball one by one with quad bursts, slow to recharge, 
but 
packed quite the punch.  His shields were beginning to light up some, 
but 
were still holding, and their numbers were dwindling fast.  An 
explosion 
rocked his side as the last bright blew apart from Qi's missile hit, 
and 
Bethan grinned as Qi now joined the battle.  Now it was time for that 
corvette.

Streaking passed its bridge, letting loose laser fire as he did so, he 
began 
to wear down at the shields on the bridge.  That's when the Senate 
opened 
fire as well.  Swinging around, he switched to missiles again, and 
lining up 
for the bridge, put a pair of missiles straight into it, blowing it to 
pieces; the fire soon spreading throughout the ship.

A "Whoop" came over the comm unit, and Bethan smiled slightly.  At 
least 
some of them still enjoyed all this.  Now it was time to mop up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Stepping down from the ladder and nodding to the officer in front of 
him 
waiting, he said, "So General, we get what we wanted this time?"