Tycho watched system traffic for a while before deciding on Tralus, a large brown/green planet in the Corellian System. Tycho aimed the shuttle at the glinting world. Ugh, Tycho's little Yellow and White R2 Unit, beeped an a question.

"Well, We need supplies for the next leg of our trip. Besides, there is just something about this place.... I don't quite know where I'm getting this feeling from."

Ugh beeped in a mournful tone.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I have a bad feeling about this too."

Tycho began a slow orbit of Tralus looking for a good spot, when a twinkling in the distance of space just beyond the dark side of the planet caught his eye. He maneuvered towards the area.

"Ugh, get me some sensor and communications data."

Elsewhere, nearby...

Corran Horn flew the outwardly shabby looking Z-95 Headhunter in a low orbit around the back side of Tralus. Mirax had shown him the odd sensor ghosts that danced in and out of sensor range as the Rogues exited Hyperspace and landed on Tralus. Corran had decided to investigate. Whistler sat tucked behind Corran in the makeshift droid socket upgrade that had been added to the outdated snub fighter. He beeped every so often to himself as he used his CORSEC software to scan the area. Corran had figured that it would most likely be smugglers if anything as they usually could be found close to the Corellian System this time of year.

There is something out here, I can feel it. Corran thought to himself.

Suddenly, a cargo hauler dropped out of Hyperspace right in front of Corran. So close in fact that he had to break right to avoid a collision. Corran was about to fire up the com system and give the Hauler Captain a piece of his mind when Whistler began screaming. Corran looked quickly at his threat display. Six TIE Interceptors came rolling out of the far side of the Hauler. They swarmed over the top of the ship and began filling space with verdant beams of death.

"Sithspit!!" Corran swore aloud as he juked and jinked his fighter. He quickly brought the shields up and the weapons grew to full charge. Corran rolled hard out as three of the squints came hard on his aft, lighting up his rear shields with a volley of laser fire. Three more squints passed underneath and Corran took his chance. He vectored down and bore all of his weight on the etheric rudder sliding the Z-95 behind the trio of squints.

The tailing trio of Interceptors kept up with the pot shots trying to keep Corran from lining up any decent shots on the three in front of him. Corran bit at his lip as the Headhunter shuddered from a solid hit on the aft shields. Whistler began complaining as Corran executed a full thruster spiral that sent him head long into the fighter formation ahead of him. He held down the trigger and the Z-95's guns spat bolt after bolt of crimson energy in a swirling pattern that tagged one squint in the wing. The damaged fighter veered off and the other two pulled in behind it.

Not so fast! I'm not through with you yet! Corran thought as he switched over to missiles. Whistler signaled a good tone on one of the rear squints. Corran let loose two shots. The Concussion Missiles streaked in at the trio of squints. Both the rear guards broke opposite directions. The wounded squint received the full blast from the two shots and grew into a cloud of debris and flame. One of the other squints was caught in the conflagration and exploded as well.

Corran was about to congratulate himself on his good shooting when a sudden scream form Whistler and huge shudder in the ship caught his attention. Corran looked down as a few more shots peppered his rear shields. His targeting system went down along with his lateral shields. A motivator burn out in the targeting system overloaded the port side shield generator. Aft shields would only take another hit at the most.

Corran pumped power into the forward shields and pulled back on the stick hard. He traded tail for nose and was now headed dead on with the three squints that had been dogging his tail. He switched for guns and held the trigger down. One squint evaporated in the steady hail of fire from Corran's guns. The other perusers veered off as Corran barrel rolled through the cloud of gas that was once his opponent.

The lone squint he had pursued before did not allow him much of a victory. Several green bolts pierced his aft shield and scraped his port engine. Corran was thrown hard against the side of the cockpit as his fighter entered a flat spin. Whistler stopped the remaining engine but Corran was a sitting Hutt.

"By the Force! If I only had another Rogue with me, I wouldn't be in this poodoo!" Corran yelled as he slammed the thruster controls to starboard to try and slow his spin. Whistler screamed again and Corran looked up as two squints began to come in hot and heavy on him. Just as Corran was about to resign himself to oblivion, one of the squints juked into the path of a laser bolt. The cockpit exploded outwards as the engines of the squint sheared through the ship and exploded. Another blast tore the wing from the second squint and sent it spinning off into deep space.

The Lambda Class Shuttle flew right by the tattered Z-95 and took a direct hit from the remaining squint that would have vaped the Headhunter had it hit. The Shuttle rocked and banked away. Corran saw his chance as the last squint flew carelessly in front of his field of fire. Corran gripped the trigger and two bolts lanced fourth turning the remaining interceptor into a ball of incandescent gas and liquefied metal. Corran sat back and keyed up his com system.

"Hey, thanks for the save. Who do I owe a drink to?"

No answer came as the Shuttle vectored off and headed planet side. Corran could only watch it retreat as he sat there waiting for Whistler to repair the port engine.

Tycho slumped back in his seat and wiped at the sweat that formed on his brow. Ugh was busy with damage control and complaining the whole time. Tycho looked at the little droid.

"Hey, I couldn't let that little hot shot get vaped. I had to help." Tycho smiled and then thought to himself. That style of flying looked awfully familiar. Not to mention but that sounded an awfully lot like Corran. Oh well, com system is too damaged to be sure.

Corran sat in the cockpit and steamed for a bit as Whistler told him off for beating up the fighter. He tried to use the calming techniques that Luke had taught him. He began to feel the Force coming back to him then a thought hit him. You know Horn, only Tycho would have pulled a hair brained maneuver like that in that damn shuttle.

"Nah!" Corran answered himself aloud.

-----END------