Extraction:
GJWXII Phase 1 Fiction

Battlelord Ric "Tater" Hunter (Sith) / Battle Team Tacitus Athanasius of House Excidium of Clan Scholae Palatinae
Pin# 3160

“This is the ISN Sidious calling all ships. We are in need of assistance. We have sustained heavy damage and are under heavy fire. Please respond.”
“Looks like you are going to get your excitement for the day, Mal,” Ric told his copilot as he set course for the beleaguered Victory Star Destroyer. Ric checked the tactical display and watched as another wave of suicide tugs swept in towards the Sidious. At this rate the ship wouldn't last long, he had to push his small ship to its limits to get there before it went up.
“Sidious, this is the Holdout. We are inbound to your position at this time, over,” Mal angled the deflectors and put as much power as he could towards the engines. Ric knew that his friend lived for times like these. His Chiss blood screamed for action, sometimes at the cost of common sense.
“What the....” Ric watched as the Iron Fleet moved off and disengaged from the battle. The Grandmaster had abandoned them to their fate, not that he expected anything different of course. Pravus had destroyed his former home while he had been asleep.
“Looks like they are pulling back to Arx,” Mal confirmed. “You want me to get on the guns?”
“Yeah, I can handle the ship, but we need to buy sometime to get as many as we can off that Ship,” Mal left his seat and went aft to the upper gun mount. It wasn't long before Ric could hear the thump of the dual laser cannons. He watched as a small number of the closer fighter escorts veered or just disappeared from the scopes. Malodin'Blade was a lot of things, but Ric knew that he was very good with blasters.
The Ghtroc 720 freighter jolted sideways from a hit. Ric glanced at the damage control board and watched as almost a third of the green lights turned to red. So far no essential system had been knocked out but if they kept taking damage like that, it was bound to happen.
“Mal, I am going to need you back down here. We are taking damage and I need a hand to deal with it,” Ric flipped the ship on its back to avoid a flaming Z-95 headhunter that had rocketed towards them. It passed by and flew on before exploding in a huge ball of fire.
“Send the droid! I am having too much fun up here,” Mal replied.
The Holdout approached the stricken capitol ship and was shocked at the large amount of damage that had been inflicted on it. Half of the upper decks and the bridge were a flaming, twisted wreck and the other half was just gone. The ship was beginning to spin on its axis from venting and escape pods were shooting out from all sides. Ric watched as enemy fighters chased them down to destroy as many as they could. With a flash of anger, he slammed to throttles to full and armed his small load of concussion missiles.
The Holdout shot forward towards a flight of Incom T70 fighters, moving in a way that a freighter really shouldn't. Ric was not just a man learned in the Force, he was also a former Elite Squadron pilot and commander. His skill in the cockpit was legendary in some parts of the galaxy. He brought the ship around and let loose a salvo of missiles, disrupting the attacking squadron. Malodin let loose with the laser cannons, further disrupting the attack.
“Hold on, I'm going to bring us around and see if we can board the Sidious,” Ric had found a suitable place to dock that was intact. “Sidious, I am preparing to dock at aft section of deck fourteen. I can take some survivors from there.”
As soon as the docking ring had sealed, Ric ran to the hatch to help load as many as he could. The scene that greeted him sent memories cascading through his mind. In an instant, he was back on board the Vigilance at Endor. He had just landed his damaged Interceptor in the hanger as the Death Star exploded. The crew had all paused, not believing that the station was gone and had been overcome by panic. That was the scene that greeted him here.
Men and women began to fill the hold of the small freighter until there was no more room. Ric returned to the controls of the ship and unlocked from the damaged destroyer. Another small rescue ship moved in to take his place as he guided the severely overloaded craft towards the ISN Thrawn.
As he pulled away, the ship that had just taken his place was hit by a kamikaze tug and exploded, destroying the airlock and creating a breach in the ship. Ric watched as crew members who had been waiting for rescue were sucked out into space. He pushed the engines as fast as he was able to, trying to evade the enemy fighters and tugs that lay between him and the Thrawn.
“Holdout, this is Rancor Five. We are coming up on your port side. We'll cover you as long as we are able to,” Ric looked at the tactical display and saw seven green IFF signals circling his ship.
“Copy that Five. Where's One?”
“He's gone sir.”
“Copy Five. You are now One. Form up and move out.”
As the small group of ships moved through the battlefield, Ric could see the damage wrought by the Collectives attacks. There was wreckage, death and destruction everywhere. His mind once again flashed back the final battle over Endor.
He vowed to himself that he would never again sit idle on the sidelines and do nothing. Now he would help take the fight to the Collective and then on the Grandmaster who had let it happen. Once his clan had been avenged, then he could rest.