STAR WARS: Flight of Phoenix

Chapter 1

Teri Skaan climbed the rungs of the ladder arriving on the top of his starfighter.

It was a blue A-wing starfighter, identical to the other ones stored in the belly of Phoenix Home. Four little starships featuring high manoeuvrability, elevated speed and lethal firepower. Four jewels in that arranged arsenal.

Teri took a couple of steps and jumped in the cockpit. He had already worn his helmet that covered entirely the head; Skaan had found it a bit uncomfortable since the first time he used it, but he didn't despise it.

After pushing a button the glass shell closed itself slowly, isolating the cockpit. The hatchback at the end of hangar tunnel should have been opened soon, and at that moment no one could stay out of a pressurised space. The fear of finding himself in vacuum was always in a pilot's mind.

Speakers in the hangar croaked loudly: "Phoenix Squadron ready for take-off".

Skaan felt adrenalin in his body. Fight was going to begin.

He started engines and activated instrumentation. The first noises spread across the little cockpit, making the A-wing appear as alive.

"Phoenix 1 ready" he pronounced at the microphone in the low part of helmet. One after the other all pilots declared the same thing.

When the last one spoke, the pilot with call sign Phoenix 4, Teri saw the door in front of him opening; technicians and support personnel had just disappeared few seconds before, leaving only the starfighters in hangar.

"Start procedures for take-off".

Phoenix 1 retired landing gear while lifting by a few meters the A-wing. The space was just ahead of him, and he was really excited.

"Take-off, take-off!"

Skaan pushed the cloche and his ship slid forward, gaining speed immediately. Phoenix Home's bow passed over him, becoming soon just the first pixels of its virtual representation. Since that moment, Teri's eyes would be fixed on his targets; and his targets were in front of him.

"What are we fighting?" Phoenix 3 asked.

"A Gozanti-class cruisers, standard support of four TIE Fighters" Phoenix 1 answered. Enemy ships were highlighted by red grids on his tactical screen, but also without it Skaan could see the Imperial cruiser surrounding a smaller ship.

That was the reason why Phoenix Squadron was there.

A freighter led by a rebel sympathizers crew had been stopped for an inspection. Before being boarded, merchants on the ship had succeeded in asking help to their only support, Phoenix cell. The anti-Imperial unit had immediately jumped in hyperspace to reach the planet over which the freighter had been caught, Tatooine, and now Teri Skaan was there, ready to kill some Imperials.

"Squadron, we need you to engage the cruiser while we'll approach it; so I want Phoenix 1 and 2 to take out TIE fighters and 3 and 4 to distract their daddy. All clear?" Commander Sato's words found the agreement of everyone.

"Good hunt, Squadron".

"Good hunt, Home" Skaan whispered between himself. Then he slightly changed route, aiming to the fighters docked under cruiser's wings.

Phoenix 2 opened a private channel with him. "They are still locked there. Isn't it strange?"

His suspects were right, but Teri didn't want to worry about it. "Imps are probably underestimating us" he tried to justify.

His companion remained silent for a while. "I'm not so sure".

"Hey, I know Imperials: they always believe themselves to be unbeatable, but we always demonstrate them the opposite. Don't we?"

"Yeah, we do. But they always like traps..."

Phoenix 2 was right about it: the squadron had met Imperial deceptions more than one time, and now everyone was suspicious when something wasn't right. And in that case something was wrong.

Time was passing, and TIEs were still under the wings. Also Skaan was no longer sure that it was just underestimation, and he was about to switch to general channel to warn Commander Sato when the fighter detached themselves.

"Now it's better, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Phoenix 1, let's hope that everything will be fine".

Teri acquired his first target, making it appear in targeting console. He slightly adjusted the aim and pulled both triggers.