"Mission Briefing in five minutes, in the Ready Room. Five minutes.", an announcement came from overhead.
People filled the hallways going in various places, in both directions. Some moved faster than others. Most of the people were dressed in black uniforms, a few were in a greenish-tan looking uniform and carried large rifles slung over their shoulders. (The view slowly focuses in on one man in particular, traveling down the hallway from behind, dressed in black, wearing a matching back back pack.) As he enters a large room filled with concert seating and a large hologram projection system in the front of the room, he is greeted by his peers.
"Tashika! Hey man, I heard you just got back from one of those Level A missions. Tell me...is the rumor true?", a bald dark colored man said as he did a quick slap-hand shake with Tashika. He gave a nervous laugh in response, "Yeah, I was captured....", he paused for a moment as a flashback played through his mind, and quickly finished the dialog, "but at least I made it back here in one piece.", Tashika said in a rushed manor.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be granted Leave or som'thin'?", the bald man persisted.
"Yeah, but I declined it. If ya haven't noticed, we're a little short staffed around here, and .. well, you know me -- I can't stand to miss a good fight!", he finished with a chuckle taking his seat.
"Oh, yeah, can't forget that, old dog -- listen I've gotta take my seat up in back, so I'll catch ya around, alright?"
"Yeah, no problem. See ya out there .", Tashika responded.
He took a few seconds to organize his things. He pulled out a small data computer out of his back pack that he always carried, flipped it on and configured it so that he attached to the internal network of the facility. Now he could record the entire mission briefing and organize it's content into a searchable database for later. Usually when the C.O (commanding officer) calls these meetings, there's something big that's going to happen, with lots of little subtleties.)
"TENCH HUT!", and order barked from the door entrance. With a quick movement, the entire room stood up, snapped their heels together and stood perfectly straight up, facing straight ahead, arms pinned to their sides. A man silver haired man dressed in all black, with several medals of sparkling silver entered the room with slow stride. As he took the front podium he commented not looking upwards, "At ease.". The entire room of combat hardened soldiers took their seats quietly.
A hologram map of the galaxy formed in the front of the room, in full three-dimensions. It slowly zoomed into a specific part of the galaxy, causing stars to whiz by many of the pilots in the room. As it was finishing, it began to print text with reference arrows pointing to key things of interest. The commander began the briefing.
"Gentlemen. I am pleased to report that after your last research Op, we've discovered that Admiral Yeen has made several critical errors while positioning his fleet of Imperial war birds. He's left himself completely exposed from this flank over here (the map coordinated with the timing of the C.O's speech, and rotated the map to left side of the fleet of vessels. On one end there was a Nav-buoy marked "N7-DC-45", and at the other end (the direction the fleet was moving towards) was another buoy marked "M2-29-394". There was one other Nav-buoy displayed and highlighted on the screen marked, "N7-39-A8", and a path line formed from this buoy, which headed towards the Imperial fleet, cutting off their arrival at the other Buoy (M2-...).
"You mission is to hit this fleet hard and fast. Flank these Command Ships on the right and draw their fire as our Second Wave force comes in from behind them using Buoy "N7". Our mission is to cripple this shipment of advanced fighter craft and food-things from being delivered. Expect this fleet to be lightly armed, as their escort craft are currently lacking behind the fleet at least by ten minutes. Intel has reported that their next generation hyperdrive systems aboard their advanced fighter craft are prone to overheating while travailing through hyperspace for extended periods of time. A short cool-off period is required before they may enter hyperspace again. Fortunately for us, they have no way of knowing their escorts have fallen behind between hyper jumps, and this opportunity is good to pass up. You will depart immediately after this briefing, to report to your assigned craft. Any questions?", the CO finished.
"Yes sir.", Tashika stood up and addressed the CO.
"Yes?", the CO responded.
"Approximately how much time will he have to perform this mission?", Tashika sat down.
"You will have approximately 10...maybe 15 minutes before the escort fighters catch up to the fleet. I should also point out that your standard weapons configuration has been modified. I've had Ion Cannons installed on the fighter craft as well as special high yield Proton Torpedoes added to your weapon manifest. It's your job to take out those capital ships so that we may come in from behind and do the damage to this massive transport fleet. Dismissed.", he said solidly.
With that many shuffling began, pilots jogged from the briefing room to the hangar bay. Tashiko quickly packed up and also headed towards his ship. Upon entering the hanger bay, he was directed towards his spot, which wasn't too far from the entrance door. It looked like a standard X-Wing, only with two mounted heavy cannons mounted to the sides of the cockpit. Also along the bottom there was an additional weapon launcher attached next to the conventional launchers. Tashka climbed up the ladder and entered his cockpit, a mechanic was performing the final checks while he strapped himself in.
"Hey, will this bird be able to get off the ground with all this ordinance?", Tashka half joked with the guy.
"Yeah, it might be a little heavy, but nothing you can't handle for sure, sir. Good luck, sir!", the mechanic gave his salute and gave his thumbs up. Meanwhile Tashika heard on his transmitter, "Red-Seven, cleared for take off. Platform 2-D".
"Acknowledged.", Tashika responded clearly into the microphone, as he powered up his ship, which began to levitate. Slowly he rotated about ninety degrees to the right and slowly moved forwards. When the indicator light turned a bright green in front of him, he gave it full throttle, and slowly (more slowly than normal), ascended into the atmosphere.
"Wow, this is heavier", he said as he leveled off his ascent to prevent a stall out. He pushed a button on his front console. The small window terminal in front of him displayed the following:
Weapons Check:
* Laser Cannon (4) OK
* Ion Cannon (2) OK
* Concussion Missile (16) OK
* Proton Torpedo (6) OK
* Nuclear-Plasma Rocket (4) OK
"What the heck is a Nuclear-Plasma Rocket?", Kamado said to himself, as he entered in the coordinates for the hyperspace jump:
N7-39-A8
* HyperJump Coordinates Validated. Stand By for Jump...
A few seconds later the stars in the field in front of him skewed backwards and whizzed past him in a brilliant rainbowish effect. A few minutes later he emerged from Hyperspace...