Star Wars: The Blockade Runner

by Barrobroadcaster


Chapter 1: The Odds

The Imperial cruisers seemed deceptively small from a distance. They didn't appear to move or give any indication that they had detected the Rebel starfighters. They hung in space facing out from Equestria, spaced equidistant from each other, as if held together by some invisible force. Between them were smaller grey ships and vessels that appeared only as flicks of color against the backdrop of the colorful world behind it. The entire collection of Imperial warships stood between them and Equestria, as if daring anyone bold enough to attack it.

Bretton Macer smiled at the blockade before him. He dared. Gunning the engines on his custom BTL-A4 Y-Wing, he accelerated right towards the array of steel and firepower.

"So... whaddya say, sixty-forty?"

"More like eighty-twenty," Gary Decker, Brett's gunner said from right behind him.

Brett's smile grew a little wider. "I like those odds."

The bigger Imperial cruisers didn't fire right away. A single squadron of Rebel fighters wasn't a threat to them, and didn't call for such an overwhelming show of force. Groups of TIE Fighters that had been patrolling between the larger warships started to bank towards the oncoming Rebel fighters. A full wing of TIEs, they formed into rows that maximized their firing coverage, a wave that even the some of the fastest ships wouldn't be able to avoid.

But the Rebels had no intention of avoiding them.

"Dice-two and three, break and come in from the sides."

"Ha! What are you planning on doing, Brett?"

Brett chuckled. "I'm blowing right past these guys. See you on the surface, Jana."

His wing mates broke away from him as he pushed straight at the squadron of TIEs. In the middle of them were a group of five flying at him like a big, black X. A few of them fired even though their lasers were easy to dodge at this range- a warning and a way of testing his mettle. Bretton wasn't planning on giving them a fair test in return.

He juked his Y-Wing to avoid their opening fire- an easy feat at that range. The oncoming TIEs didn't break formation or accelerate to pursue him; it was their goal to present just a massive wave that would eventually wipe him and his wing mates out. It was a typical Imperial strategy to display their full strength in numbers, display an insurmountable amount of ships and use them to utterly destroy any opposition and send a clear message to the rest of the galaxy. Nothing he hadn't seen before.

Bretton carefully lined up his Y-Wing's nose with the lower-starboard edge of the giant X of TIEs. He even pulled harder in the same direction, making it look like his ship was planning on running. Though eager, the TIEs remained in tight formation as he advanced, unwavering.

Just as the TIEs were almost upon him, he pulled up and blasted the lower-starboard TIE Fighter to pieces. Faster than the TIE pilots could react, he pulled up on the controls and blasted the top-starboard TIE, and then the top-port side one. He then quickly pushed down on the controls to blast the lead TIE Fighter right in the center of the formation, blasting it to dust. The final TIE broke from formation, desperately banking away. Bretton fired a final burst into the fifth TIE Fighter, destroying it.

By the time the other TIEs in the formation had closed in, Bretton and Gary were already past it. Now, directly in front of them were the Imperial cruisers, the last obstacle between their Y-Wings and the surface. Unprepared for the small fighter, the cannons on the larger ships desperately attempted to track them as they blazed towards them with the TIEs on their tail.

"So, our odds looking better yet?" Bretton asked jokingly.

"If this is too easy for you, I could always just ignore the pursuers to make it more of a challenge."

"Yeah, but then I'd go home with the most kills. And you don't want that, do you Gar-bear?"

Gary sighed. "Can't argue with that, Brett." His gunner activated both the top-side and underside laser turrets on the M9 Y-Wing. The TIEs following them had been too eager to give chase and had abandoned any semblance of formation. They now flew in even neater rows now, closer together to maximize their speed. They weren't prepared at all for return fire.

The turrets on the Y-Wing opened up and blasted one chasing TIE after the other. Lasers ripped through two and three TIEs each as the turret blasted one TIE and then the TIE behind it. Debris from the first TIEs obscured the vision of the next pilot, making them easy targets. Within moments, the entire wing of TIE Fighters was a cloud of space dust.

"I got five. How many did you get?"

Gary smirked. "The rest."

"Heh. And you said our odds were eighty to twenty."

"Well, maybe next time they will be. After all these blockades we've busted, the Empire's bound to learn something new sooner or later," Gary said.

But Brett shook off the notion. "You know these Imps, Gar. They never learn." He gunned his ship towards the line of Imperial cruisers. Just before they had a chance to blast him, his wing mates hit the larger ships from the sides, catching them completely off-guard. Dice-two and Dice-three, his wing mates, fired ion torpedoes at the enemy ships. At close range, they weren't able to evade or shoot down the torpedoes. The ordinance collided with the cruisers' hull, exploding in surges of lightning that paralyzed the ships.

The cruisers fired a couple poorly-aimed shots but nothing else. They fell out of formation as their engines failed and they lost power, helpless as the Y-Wings approached. Dice Squadron could have easily finished them off but they were no longer a threat. Besides, they prided themselves on a timely delivery.

"See? What'd I tell ya, Gar?"

"You said sixty to forty."

"I said those odds were nothing for the best blockade runners in the galaxy! Haha!"

The three Rebel ships pushed forward to Equestria's surface, three dots of light in the distance.