Hotshot - A Star Wars Story

Chapter 3

The battle had begun and Poe's plan was in full swing. He flew elusive as ever, evading both cannons and TIE's while simultaneously taking them out. The transports formed one long, single-file line all the way up to the Raddus, Jaycob observing each one as he regrouped with the fleet, closely followed by the MG-100 StarFortress Bombers and the rest of White Squad. Prior to the evacuation, the bombers returned from their aid mission and made a quick pit-stop to ground level to exchange their care package clips to magnocharges for a deadlier payload. As soon as Poe took out all of the surface cannons posing a threat to the bombers' safety, the main force would move in. The plan was simple enough, White Squad would destroy 4 various weak points spread along the Dreadnought so the bombers would have a clear engagement path to the ship's thermal oscillator. Without the surface cannons or the weak points destroyed, the 8 Bombers would be taken out before they reach the target zone. Though they were equipped with 2 rear-ball gun turrets and point-defense firepower, they were limited in both range and accuracy. It was up to Blue and Black Squad to provide air cover from the TIE's and cover the bombers' flanks. Unfortunately, White Squad was not given this luxury, and would have to rely on agility and quickness to complete their attack run in time for the final "drop". Jaycob repeated the plan to his squad,

"Whites, we've been tasked with taking out four weak points along the hull of the Dreadnought. We take these out, the bombers can blow the thing back to hell where it came from. We won't be given an escort party so we'll be targets for the TIE's. All we have to do is stay in formation and call them out, angle your deflector shields accordingly. Once we reach the fleet, wait for the signal."

"What's the signal?"

Replied White 2, Jaycob's Chiss wingman, Jon'Kil. Being the only pilot in White Squad to be issued an X-Wing, he would be used as the "bait". His task would be to outflank any TIE's that interfered with the attack run, and make sure the formation held together.

"You'll hear it."

Jaycob reassured him.

The fleet was positioned above the Raddus, standing by for Poe's all-clear. Tallie and the rest of Blue and Black stayed in the idle position, the bomber squads of Cobalt and Crimson lining up behind them. The stage was set, now all they had to do was wait. Jaycob pulled his ship up next to Tallie's and looked at her, returning the wink she gave earlier. But for a split second, Jaycob became nervous. He wasn't confident about this mission like he normally was about others. Now that he was emotionally attached to Tallie, he wanted nothing more than to destroy every fighter that threatened her or her A-Wing. He desperately wanted to see her survive. But he knew there was a more important task at hand.

Poe's voice came over the comms,

"Tallie, start your approach."

"Copy that."

She replied.

And just like that, the slow-moving bombers thrust forward. It was about to get ugly. The surface cannons were dust and the path was clear. Tallie spoke again,

"Bombers, keep that formation tight. Fighters, protect the bombers, don't get drawn into dogfights. Let me hear you say 'copy that', Starck."

She said to Blue 2, Stomeroni Starck, her new wingman. He had a reputation for breaking formation and eliminating targets that were either fleeing from the battle, or weren't of importance. Nonetheless, he proved his usefulness at Starkiller, so he was kept around.