ViB V: “Plumbing Trouble”

By: SCO-TCT-TCS-PROF/FA Ender mBind/CS-10/SSSD Sovereign
     TCS-TCS/MAJ Johann Glorick/SSSD Sovereign [Chapter 3]
     FL/CPT Flelm/Lambda 2-1/Wing I/SSSD Sovereign [Chapter 4]

1

Wing Commander Khadgar was doing a routine check on the rosters of the wing he commanded. Things had been on the up since he got the job a few weeks ago. The rosters had been filling up nicely now the regular attrition of battle had been away for a while. Wasp was looking good particularly… good choice for the WC's Own Award of this Month perhaps? He put down a note about that. There was some gurgling noise behind him. He looked around, but the noise had stopped so he couldn't locate the source. He turned back to his data cards and pads.

Lots of pilots on leave too, but he had approved that himself. As long as they were not going into combat, the pilots might as well rest a bit. About half the wing was at their parents or family's… the whole of Scorpion and Hornet, quite some from Mantis and Python. And the pilots that were left aboard were mostly spending their time on simulators and short leaves to the Pyrath Naval Base. Now did he hear something again? He looked over his shoulder - but he still didn't see anything.
He sat like that for a few moments… then shrugged and turned back to his work once again. If he'd waited just that bit longer - he would've seen the water running from under his bathroom door into his office. The smell in his room did change though…

Not far from Khadgar's Office some pilots were playing some ZG-ball in the zero-G training room. ZG-ball is a lot like many ball games across the galaxy in that its the idea to get the bal through a hoop on either side of the field. The difference is that in ZG-ball the idea is to use the ball as a projectile to disable opponents - for a least a bit. And whoever thinks "oh its just a ball" should try to block a 1 pound ball in a zero gravity field. The players don't use their - padded - flight suits for nothing. This was a non-qualifying match between Flight II of Python and Flight II of Wasp and, much to the Pythoners chagrin, the Wasp pilots were winning.

Hawk, on the Python team, gestured his wingy Damon Kast to make dive for the opponent's hoop while he'd bounce off the ball after Kast. The Wasp pilots, also not first timers, anticipated the move and Jourdain, the Wasp team leader, immediately sent his own wingy Patrick Blastfire on a defensive course, intercepting Kast. He himself jumped, or bounced rather, zero-G sports asking for completely different types of movements; off the wall he had been clinging too to attack Hawk. Hawk would be either forced to make the same move (for which he'd have to pass the ball on to either Kast or one of his other team-mates - no bouncing while holding the ball) or to take the full impact of 80 kilograms of Jourdain going at a good enough speed.

Jourdain's team-mates saw Hawk's predicament too and both bounced off to his most likely trajectories…. This was exactly what Hawk had been waiting for. In a gigantic swirl he launched the ball at LT Mo of the Wasp team while launching himself directly at Jourdain. The ball bounced off Mo and landed exactly in Python Pilot Rothman's hands. Who made the same manoeuvre as Hawk and launched the ball at LT Paco, of the Wasps, and himself at Patrick Blastfire. The next following seconds were filled with painful collisions in mid air as all the Wasp pilots got thrown off course and the Ball ended up in LT Boris, of Python, hands - to the cheers of on looking pilots from all different Squadrons aboard. LT Boris might be on the opposite side of the arena from where kast was holding on to the Wasp Hoop… but it was clear by now that that was no longer a problem…. All the Wasp pilots had stopped their bouncing and flying - and had ended up in the middle of the room, with nothing to grab or push against. Since this meant they were permanently immobilized (well until the gravity was switched back on) It counted as a win for the Python flight - much to the joy of the other Python pilots standing outside the room and watching the fight on holoscreens…

And to the joy of the Commodore apparently - Who immediately walked up to the Wasp Commander and smiled at him wickedly. "Pay up, Jay-Dee-Ef, I won fair and square."
Jdf1984 grumbled as he passed over some credit notes to his COM. "I'm not sure about that fair… For some reason Hawkie always manages to pull off a Daki-Spitball - while its the rarest manoeuvre in ZG-Ball."
"Oh stop moping Jay-Dee," Ender said, "I'll buy you a Corellian Malt of your own money. Then at least you get some of it back."
"Yes, sure," jdf1984 grumbled. "Well at least my flight doesn't have to join you on that mission of yours." He followed Ender to the bar. He looked at the hologram of the arena once more before leaving.

Inside the arena gravity had slowly returned and the players were making their way to the showers…. The score was not going to change.
"So, you're finally doing something about that large block of ferrocrete other ships call the crew decks?" jdf1984 inquired.
"Yup… its too much of a bother keeping something as large as that hidden from the rest of the TC… and Archon found a perfect plumbing company in the yellow pages that ha the capacity to deal with our problems."
"Ahh, sounds promising… "Imperial Plumbers', right?"
"That's right," Ender confirmed while he ordered two malt whiskeys from TC-14 and put the money on the bar before Darik started to take an interest. "Biggest problem is going to be this though… Money.'
"How much do you need?"

"Well the whole plumbing system off the Vanguard will need to be replaced… If you consider that we got about 4500 toilets alone, double that amount in sinks and so on and that a regular plumber already charges 400 credits for just stopping by your house - without even having done anything…"
"Damn, I should've gone into plumbing," jdf1984 said.
"That's what me ol' dad said when he saw the whole plumbing contract of two death stars go to one company," DS-61-4 added from a barstool besides them. "But uh… are you guys supposed to talk about 'It' so openly? I thought it was still kinda secret to Khad and so on?"

"Not since my toilet exploded."
As one person all the heads in the Officer's Mess turned to Khad, who was standing in the doorway in a puddle. Shortly afterwards, most had to turn their noses away… as a carbon based life form can only take so much.
Khad walked up to Ender and the squad Commanders at the bar…who all moved away a bit again. "So why did my toilet just explode and rain lots of pieces of what looked to me like pieces of storm trooper armour over my office?"

For once Ender was glad he was one of these weird admirals that preferred to wear flight suits. He popped up his helmet and was able to approach Khadgar a bit… took a bit of pink toilet paper that was dripping off Khadgar's shoulder and threw it on the ground. "Uh, just a bit of plumbing trouble..."
"But we're working on it," assured Hizad. He had - like about everyone else in the mess who could - put on his helmet too. Besides TIE Pilots and TC-14 it had become very empty in the mess too for some reason... and someone had closed the blast doors to the kitchen. Flights II of Wasp and Python, who were only just entering the mess were glad they had their helmets on them too (TIE Pilots tend to hang their helmets from the hook on the left side of their belt. The hook is there to fix gun holsters on by the way.) and put them on.

"Nice perfume Khad," Hawk remarked, "'Eau du Urine du Yack' isn't it?"
The look Khad shot him was deadly like a laser from the Death Star but Hawk was completely impervious to it. "So what are you doing to fix it?" Khad asked angrily.
"Simple!" Ender exclaimed. "We're going to see some plumbers. Day-Es found some good ones in the yellow pages. Let's hope they accept an IOU from the Emperor's Hammer."
"Yup," Hawk said while he patted Khad on the shoulder, rethought that action and slapped the stuff off his gloves again. "Flight II of Python is escorting Bender there..."
"Since when is my droid going?" Ender asked sarcastically, "I thought I was."
"Yeah Yeah," Hawk smiled back, "We all know who I meant."
Bender looked unhappy for a bit but then looked on his chrono and said "Yes and we're going NOW Hawkie, so I hope you ate - lunch break is over."

Around him some moans were heard from Pilots.
"No you are not," Khad said, "I'm first using your shower, mine went up in the blast, and then I'm going along with you. Why the hell did you try to hide this from me anyway?"
"Uh," Ender stuttered, "Well you being new to the ship… didn't want you to get a bad first impression I guess. But yes, you fixed the Wing XV books - we're going to need a financial genius on our side. Ok, go and take shower - but use the ones at the rec centre… I just had my bathroom cleaned."
"Sure, be right back, ok?" Khad ran off, his boots making squishy noises as he did so.
"Tee see-fourteen," Ender called to the protocol droid behind the bar who had been impervious to the stench. "Please disinfect this place - we're going to have a late lunch at the Bridge Crew Bar."
"Certainly sir, immediately sir," The droid went. But Ender already didn't take any notice of him. He was motioning the pilots to come along and walked out the smelly mess hall - carefully avoiding the puddles of substance Khad had left behind.

"Here's your cut, fifty-fifty, like we agreed," Ender said, as he gave Hawkie some crednotes.
They were sitting alone on the bridge of the Luggage, the rest of Flight II of Python being in its hangars, still checking up on their fighters.
"Think they are catching on already?" Hawk asked him as he briefly counted the notes and put them in one of the many pockets of his flight suit.
"That you trained on the Daki-Spitball for 6 months straight in Avenger? Nahh…but perhaps don't use it for the next few matches. Jay-Dee-Ef was talking about how rare it was tonight…" Ender was interrupted by Lieutenant Boris, the Ship's Nurse, who also joined them.

"Man, I dunno if I should take my helmet off in here," Boris taunted his Commodore, "I wouldn't be surprised if we lost hull pressure any second now." He sat down on the couch in the corner and took his helmet off anyway. "Eww, I don't know if the Doc will let me back into the Medical Bay after being here. Is that a potted plant or a coffee mug with a weird mould on it?"
Ender ignored the comment and went right over to business: "Are all the fighters were secure in their holds?"
His question was answered by Khadgar who also entered the bridge. "As far a possible, I also checked that hunk a junk of Hawk, the Ray of Light, it's right on course. Seems locked enough for me."

Ender turned to Hawk: "Sure your droid can keep that YT of yours to tag along?"
"Yes Bender," Hawk frowned, "How do you think I let it tag along with the Van? Since you don't let me park it in the Hangar…"
Ender heard that before and waved Hawk's complaints away, "Yeah, yeah… Ok - So we're set. Let's hit hyper space." He turned around on his chair and pulled a lever. Immediately the Vanguard, the Pyrath Naval Base and the other vessels floating around the base vanished and the stars turned to stripes before giving way to the irregular patterns of hyper space.

2

"…metallic substances are main food source… these can be found in any plumbing system or sewer…" DS-61-4 read on and then stopped... "Sith Spit," he cursed and he ran out of his cabin to the nearest lift to the bridge. The Vanguard was in serious trouble.
Impatiently DS-61-4 was standing in the lift, wanting it to move faster. But it was about a click from fighter crew quarters to the bridge and these lifts were fast, but no fighter….
Suddenly the lift hit something - hard…so hard that the inertial compensators couldn't cope. DS-61-4 was picked of the floor and slammed hard into the top right corner above the door… apparently the direction the lift had been moving in.
DS hit his head on the ceiling and was knocked out before the regular gravity of the lift dropped him back to the floor…
DS couldn't see that the lift had suffered structural damage from the impact… and that brown sludge was starting to drip through several cracks in the walls. Slowly it started to fill the lift.

The Luggage came out of hyper space quite close to the Golan III Platform these Imperial Plumbers could apparently afford to run their business off. It immediately was visible to the naked eye. But then again Golan's are big of course.
"Alright, suit up and launch Python II, guys," Ender said on the Bridge, turning his chair around to face the pilots.
They didn't wait around and ran back through the tunnels connecting the bridge to the twin hangars built in either container of the freighter; two for each hangar. The last two slots of this pocket carrier were filled by Khadgar's TIE Fighter and Ender's Bomber.
Within moments the Python fighters had taken up escort positions around the freighter.
Ender popped two switches that closed the bay doors and nodded to Khadgar. "Let's Hail them, shall we?" He popped another switch and spoke into his headset." Freighter the Luggage hailing Platform Imperial Plumbers. We've got a job for you. We spoke over the holonet."
The answer from the platform was immediate:" We read you the Luggage. You wanted that Borakian Sludge Monster removed from your Star Destroyer right?"
"I guess so, Imperial Plumbers. Can we dock?"
"Yes, but leave those fighters outside."
"Roger that Imperial Plumbers. I'm on your beam signal. The Luggage out."

A high squeaking noise awoke DS-61-4. He was lying in a pond of sludge that by now had almost reached his face, while lying on his back. Quickly he sat up, the noise being a lot louder above "water". He coughed as his lungs rejected the gases forming in the lift but then quickly assessed his situation.
"Great," he sighed, "Survive a dead star and die in a stuck turbo lift by drowning in raw sewage."
He tried to focus where the sound came from. It seemed to be radiating from behind the door. But it was suddenly joined by a breaking noise behind him… the sludge suddenly rose about a meter in a few seconds and he was slammed against the door by the pressure. He grabbed his comlink.
"Bridge! Emergency in turbolift…" He looked around and saw the number above the door. "…lift 654437. Bridge! Bridge!"
"Boy, are we glad to hear from you," a voice suddenly came through clearly. "We're working on getting you out there. The boarding crew is cutting its way straight to you."
DS coughed. "Watch it with that…lot of gases in here."
"Don't worry, we're using water-cooled saws, not lasers," The bridge assured him. "You must be hearing them now."
The squeaking noise now sounded quite hopeful to DS, "I hear it Bridge, thanks…"
Did he just feel something slithering against his leg? He tried to see through still rising sludge but couldn't. "Hurry up," he prayed… not into the comlink...

"So you got a Sludge Moster on your star destroyer and if it doesn't get removed quickly it'll be destroyed with all hands?" the spokesman of the Imperial Plumbers recapped.
Ender took a sip of the very fine Corellian Brandy the Plumbers had been giving them as refreshment. "Basically, yes. But afterwards we'll going to need a whole new plumbing system too. Sinks, toilets, showers, baths… you name it."
"Well of course, quarantine rules alone would require that. Don't want it to return after all." He noticed some of the glasses on the table were getting empty. "Oh let me fill those up for you. It's expensive stuff but of course nothing compared to the money we're talking about here."
Khadgar coughed. "Yes well, that was something I wanted to address already before. How much would this whole thing cost?"
There was a twinkle in the plumber's eyes. "Nothing compared to the building price of a star destroyer I'm sure. But let me get our accountant on that."

The sludge had risen to DS' armpits by the time he saw the saws cutting through the door of the left. The saw was shortly stopped as there was swearing behind the doors. Probably the boarding crew had also gotten into contact with the sludge. But then they went on again - cutting a rectangular hole in the top of the door. A storm trooper poked his head in.
"Yo'all right?"
"I'll be alright when you get me out of here," DS said as he waded towards the hole. He tried to grab the hand the storm trooper was offering him and then was suddenly pulled under.
"Sith Spit!" The trooper cursed. He grabbed his blaster rifle and aimed into the sludge.
"Nooo!" was the last thing one of his smarter team members was able to say before fire engulfed them all.

"This is taking way too long," Commander Rothmans said to Ender.
The Vanguard team were waiting for the plumber to come back with the cost calculations. He had been away for some time. But had assured them to feel free to pour drinks for themselves. Which they had.
Actually Hawk was quite sure he was starting to feel drunk. "I need to go," he said and he uneasily stood up. "Anyone seen a lav on the way here?"
"Just ask a crewmember," Boris suggested between two hickups.
"Yeah," Hawk agreed as he staggered to the door. "Or I'll just find a nice quiet corner."
"Thjis isj sjome sjeriousjly good brandy," Ender said as he poured himself another glas.
Outside Hawk was zig zagging through the hallway, looking for a toilet. "These are bloody plumbers, they must have thousands of lavvies," he muttered. He decided to just open a random door….

The wrong one... He briefly saw a shot of their Spokes Person speaking with some uniformed Calamari. The plumber looked around surprised but determined and went for his holster, grabbed his blaster and fired off a shot at Hawk.
Later Hawk would recall of his great reflexes, but in reality he was swaying around so much already that the blaster bolt only grazed his shoulder. But that did sober him up immediately… well as far as possible. He slammed the door closed and blasted it with his own blaster. Then as he started running back towards the others he grabbed his comlink. "Bender, we have a problem!"

DS spitted out a lot of sludge as he came up again. But he didn't stop and made right for the hole in the door and crawled through it. A tentacle came out of the sludge and came just to late to grab him. He as in the tunnel the boarding crew had cut through the ship to reach him. The explosion has strewn their bodies everywhere. He saluted them and ran on towards the bridge. This time he was going to walk.
Behind him a tentacle came through the hole and started to circle itself around one of the bodies.

The Vanguard team on the platform was running now too, blasters drawn this time.
"I swear it must've been Ackbar himself or something," Hawk panted. "They were probably delaying us here so we'd loose the Vanguard."
Where the corridor met another they almost bumped into some crewmembers. Immediately each targeted a different man.
"Ok," Ender said harshly. "What the hell isj going on here, you traitorousj sjcum."
"We're loyal servants of the empire sir, don't kill us!" One of the plumbers said as he got on his knees.
Another seemed more in control and approached Ender. "What's the problem sir?"
"Back off," Ender warned. "And I'll tell you."
The plumber backed away a bit again. "There is no need to get violent sir."
"Yes there is!" Hawk said, now aiming for the leading plumber too. "Your guy shot at me."
"He did?" The plumber seemed genuinely surprised. "But that cant be!" He grabbed a comlink and pressed a button. ""Bridge, where is Peanut now?"
"Near the shuttle bay sir," the answer came.
"Right, thank you." He gestured down the corridor he had come from. "This way sirs, that rat is no longer employed by me. Let's catch him."

The Captain and the First Officer of the Vanguard seemed were really shocked by what the guy dripping in front off them had just said.
"You mean ferrocrete makes it stronger?" The Captain asked.
"Well at first it is stopped, but over time, yes… it becomes nearly unstoppable" DS explained. "If we had used regular concrete it would've been different, but we didn't."
The Captain turned towards one of the crew pits of the bridge. "Helm, set a course to the Plumbers immediately."
"At once sir," I sounded from the crew pit.
"Lets hope we get there in time," the First Officer said. "We already lost too many good men over this… the whole ship would be too much."
"Now if you please excuse me to the Medical Bay, I'm going to have a complete breakdown," DS muttered just before he collapsed on the Bridge deck.
"Medic!" The Captain yelled.

The luxury yacht was already on its repulorslifts as the Vanguard team, reinforced by some plumbers got to the hangar. The pilots took some snapshots at it with their blasters but they knew they wouldn't be able to do much with them.
"Save your fire," Ender ordered," To the Luggage, we might still catch this guy."
"I'm so sorry sirs, we screen all our personnel but…" The head plumber started, but he was interrupted by his comlink. "Captain Mario here."
"A rebel frigate just came out of hyper space at 12 clicks from here. Its opening its bay doors as we speak..."
"Power up the shields and the turrets," the head plumber ordered.
The Vanguard pilots didn't wait for the plumbers to get ready. They were running towards the Luggage as fast as they could.
Hawk was talking into his comlink as they ran. "R5, get the Ray of Light out of here immediately!"

The Vanguard came out of hyper space just as the Luggage left the hangar of the platform.
"I love that ship," Ender said as he hailed the Vanguard. "Vanguard, power up shields and turrets we have bogies coming in."
"Roger that Commodore," The Vanguard answered. "Do we launch fighters?"
Ender looked at Khadgar. "Who is not on leave?"
Khadgar thought. "Launch Echo and Flight 3 of Mantis, 2 of Wasp and perhaps 1 on standby." He looked confused. "I got no clue what's out there - but that's about all we got at the moment."
Ender nodded and spoke into his headset. "Launch 3 of Mantis, 2 of Wasp and 1 of Echo on interception. 3 of Echo on bombing and make sure 1 of Wasp is in their cockpits."
"Echo is a problem sir," the reply came. "Day-Es is in sickbay. He was attacked by the monster."
"Sithspit," Ender cursed. "Khad, a replacement quick."
"Strahd!" Khad said without thinking long about it. "The rest of his flight is on leave anyway and he's one of the best aces we got."
"Vanguard, Lieutenant Strahd is hereby Acting Commander of Echo. Launch those fighters already."
"Launching sir!"

3

The cockpit seal closed as the tech outside gave LCM Johann Glorick a thumbs up, he was ready to launch. Glorick went over a mental pre-flight, there was no time to do it for real; the Platform was already under attack, and those supplies were desperately needed. Once he saw that his fighter was clear, he hit the power switch, and gunned the engines. There was a slight pulling sensation as he passed through the MagCon field, and then there was nothing; he was in space with only himself to worry about.

Glorick punched the switch for IFF on, and targeted the nearest green blip on his sensors. This particular target was a A-wing, about 4 Klicks out, firing on T/D Wasp 2. Glorick couldn't stand a rebel firing on an Imperial ship (even if it was a Wasp), and he transferred all his beam weapon energy into his engine, only siphoning off the slightest bit to go to his laser recharge. During this time Glorick could not think about the circumstances that got him into this mess. He had always hated the leaks that were forming in his room, in which he had to use his spare boots to stop the "water" from spilling all over the place; maybe that was the reason why he had volunteered to go out in LT Kessap's craft, "Hoss," for the mission. In his mind, anyone that would stop a repair operation like this deserves to become "a new star in the night sky."

As Glorick rocketed away from the Vanguard, at speeds his ship was never designed to go, he could just make out the silhouette of the A-wing that was his prey. The two ships were closing rapidly; Glorick flipped his Comm. over to the Wasp's frequency, and shouted, "Wasp 2, break towards coordinates 125, 268.do you copy?"

The only response Glorick got, was a double-click over the Comm., he then began to see the TIE Defender whip around towards the coordinates he had been given. This would bring the TIE Defender just under where Glorick's own ship would be in just a second. Wasp 2 passed under Glorick with lightning speed, and he could see the A-Wing right on his tail. Glorick pounced on his target. He lowered his engines to 1/3 power, and whipped around, and behind the A-wing, then coming back to full throttle, he linked all four of his lasers, and began pumping his target full of quad burst energy. Before the A-Wing was slagged, it managed to veer away to Glorick's starboard side. Glorick began the simple manoeuvres to come around the A-wing for the killing shot, and then immediately hit 1/3 again, a pulled a corkscrew climbing for all he was worth.

Before Glorick had been able to fire the final shot on the doomed A-Wing, the rebel's wing-mate had began firing. The only reason Glorick was still alive today was because the wing-mate was obviously green. He had fired too far ahead of Glorick, giving him the warning he needed to avert his own death. At that point Glorick had a moment of vision. He could see the A-wing as a fireball. He pursued that vision with all his might, he quickly targeted the A-wing that had just attacked him and flipped his weapons system over to concussion missiles. Glorick heard a piece of a rebel message as he was locking on (3 take those bloody squints off our tails) He then dropped his targeting reticule over the fleeing A-wing and waited for the tone. He fired a singe missile and watched it track its target. Switching his weapons back to cannons, he fired a dingle quad burst, to make sure the Missile would slag its target. The obviously bright green rebel pilot tried to pull a hard turn the port, but the missile caught up with him, and in a glorious explosion, turned into an expanding gas cloud.

After seeing what little damage a quad burst could really do to the enemy, Glorick began to miss his own TIE Experimental Mark 1. That ships Mini-Turbolaser had more then enough power, the entire ship would buckle each time the weapon fired, but this ship was a nice change, it had been a long time since he had been able to use missiles. As Glorick was reminiscing, he had come around behind the first A-wing he had targeted; he lined up the shot and was about to fire when he had to avert his ship again. The A-Wing had exploded and the form of another ship had rocketed up just meters in front of Glorick. He quickly came around to target the ship and stopped himself just short of firing a shot into an ally. The ship was the TIE Defender he had saved earlier. Glorick flipped the Comm. back the Wasp's frequency, and said, "Leave to a Wasp to almost get himself killed by an Ally." The TIE Defender only performed a quick snap roll, and raced away to his next target. Glorick thought to himself, "Leave it to a Wasp to be so arrogant."

He then allowed himself a chuckle as he remember Wasp's new motto. Though he did not have much time to think about it, the next thing he new his hull began to blink, and he threw his ship up onto the port Solar-array, and dove. The green light above his targeting reticule told him all he needed to about his attacker. While he had been searching for another target, he had come within range of the FRG EchoHawk's guns. Glorick took a quick look at his starboard solar-array and noticed that the lower half had been reduced to slag. This infuriated Glorick, and he again, linked his lasers and charged towards his aggressor. His CMD showed that the torpedoe barrage launched by T/B Echo II had already weakened the EchoHawk; the hull was down to 53 percent, and the shields were gone. As Glorick raced towards the ship at blazing speeds, he dropped the reticule over the Engine pods, and began to fire. The quad burst tore through the already damaged hull plating and drilled right into the power core of the ship; once it had been hit, there was little time for Glorick, he had to quickly turn around and try to outrun the explosion that had once been the rebel FRG EchoHawk.

Glorick wiped the sweat off his brow, had he not turned when he had, he would have become just another fatality on the quartermaster's list. Glorick quickly calmed himself, and looked at the overall situation via the sensors. Most of the A/Ws had been destroyed by now, those that hadn't launched were stuck on the EchoHawk when it blew. There were two other groups of fighters out there that were causing the most damage, a group of "wishbones" were targeting the Vanguard, but obviously did not have the firepower to breach the shields, let alone the hull. The other group was X-Wing Crimson; Glorick quickly pulled one of these fighters onto his CMD and noticed its target, Echo 1-1. That wouldn't stand although Glorick wanted Vallyn's job, he certainly didn't want his Commander to die, just so he could get it; besides, if Vallyn were destroyed they would come after Glorick next.

Glorick threw the throttle back into full thrust and began heading for the nearest X-wing, a mere 3 klicks away. At 2.5 klicks Glorick noticed that the XW had began firing on Vallyn, Glorick thought, "Time to give you something else to worry about!" He then changed his targeting mode to Concussion Missiles, and began locking onto the "troglodyte." The reticule went red almost immediately, and Glorick fired. The missile flew towards it's target and sent it spinning as the missile was diffused by chaff. Glorick switched back into Quads and fired 4 quick burst into the XW. X-wing Crimson 7, saw his shields disappear with the first two bursts, and then burned as the last two tore his ship to shreds. By this time Vallyn had managed to subdue Crimson 8 by the Grace of the Emperor. Wasp 2 had managed to take out Crimson (quite an accomplishment) and the two Echo fighters paired up as wingmen and took on the next set of incoming X-wings. Glorick spoke into the Comm., "You take Crimson 11, I'll take 12, leave the scraps for the T/A Python." Vallyn sent back a double click, and they both move side-by-side towards their targets.

The first of the X-wings, Crimson 11, came in on a head to head, Glorick new better to accept such a challenge, and fired a quick shot at max range. A single bolt hit the XW which caused its pilot to flinch, and send his fighter down and out. The extra speed from the Beam Weapon allowed Glorick to snap around and behind the XW and fire several quads into his rear shields. The XW didn't stand a chance and was slagged after the third hit. Vallyn had subdued his target in a similar manner; only there were a few more scorch marks on his hull then before. The three Python fighters had managed to take out the last Crimson with a triple slash manoeuvre, which left only the remnant of Stealth squadron to take. Then-there was another voice over the Comm. (NightWolf here to finish the job for you guys). The squadron had begun hyping in groups of 3, and they appeared in perfect position to get wamped on; their hyper-vector made their entry point right where the last of the Crimson had met their fate. Glorick and Vallyn began pouncing on the new fighters, and with the help of both Python and the remaining Wasp fighters, managed to destroy all the new XWs in record time. By this time the Vanguard had managed to take out all of the Y-wings using her own guns and the area was finally secure. The Luggage had just finished entering the Vanguards Hanger Bay, and all fighters were ordered to return the Hanger without delay.

As Glorick waited for final clearance to enter the MagCon field, he tensed with the thought about the lecture that Strahd and Kessap were going to give him when he got back. Neither of them would be happy that the upper half of the Starboard Solar-Array was not longer a there. When Glorick was finally able to pilot his star fighter back to rest on the racks, he saw the ugly face that his Mechanic made when he saw the damage. Glorick could only ask the chief to do the best he could and await his grim future.

4

"Glorick, Johann," a stern sounding voice called from the door standing open to the WC's conference room. LCM Glorick gulped from the hallway as he thought of the lecture he expected from Khadgar for damaging the T/I that wasn't his, and cost quite a bit to repair and replace the solar panels.
As he walked into the room, he went over the events in his mind, and desperately tried to think up excuses, any excuse. Glorick began to think, "Well, it was either me or the Mario… it's a me, Mario. That's what Ill say, it's the truth, and it'll be fine." As he cleared the threshold of the chamber, he suddenly became aware of the many pairs of eyes standing there staring at him. Arrayed on either side of the tables are the CMDRs and FLs of the Vanguard, all staring at him with grim expressions. "Uh-oh, its worse than I thought…"
Luckily it appeared he wasn't the only one in problems either. Staneth, who'd done the same as him, but to a far more expensive Defender, was clearly in the same position as him. His face appeared a bit pale-greenish too, though that might still be an effect of him rolling over in space for an hour before the recovery Shuttle helped him out of his ordeal. Apparently the insides of his - pressurized - fighter looked worse then the outside. No wonder he didn't say much - though of course he might have been reprimanded before Glorick entered the room.
As Glorick tried to open his mouth to begin explaining the damage to the fighter, MAJ. Khadgar cut him off by clearing his throat. "Lieutenant Commanders, we have been going over the damage to your fighter, and, in relation to that, the events of the battle. It seems that both your cockpit recorders registered a sound… a sound of amusement just before either of you lost your solar panels. Now, what this chuckling was about, we'll overlook for the moment, but both of you were distracted in a life or death battle for the repairs of the plumbing of the ship. Even though the mission was completed successfully. I and the rest of the command staff aboard the Van agree that a punishment is in order."
"As such, every round of drinks bought in the cantina tonight will be charged to you, and immediately deducted from next week's pay. This is only fair, right guys?" 17 heads simultaneously broke into grins and nodded at the astonished Glorick and Staneth.
"Yeah, sounds fair to me." "I'm feeling a bit parched, myself." "We'd better get a move on if there's going to be any of the good stuff left, huh?"
As the 17 pilots filed out past a shell-shocked Glorick and Staneth, Khadgar came over and patted them on the shoulders. "What'd you think; we were going to let you get away with a stern lecture. This punishment will ensure you'll think twice before either of you starts making cracks about other squadrons in the midst of a fire fight, eh? Now, go on, you should be able to drink some of your own pay."

The Fighter Crew Officer's Mess of the ISDII Vanguard, commonly referred to as "The Hole", four hours later was a hedonistic scene of booze, booze, and… well, booze. Chairs piled messily in the middle of the floor with scorch marks all over them and a pile of fur around the bottom, boxers and briefs hanging messily from ceiling struts, and even pilots passed out on the floor made the bar a show of excess. Ender and Khadgar watched from the closed circuit monitors over the ship's security system.
"Remember those carefree days, Khadgar?" Ender mused. "We could do anything, and nothing mattered more than getting drunk… too bad those days are gone, and we actually have to work now, huh?" Ender turned away from the screen and faced Khadgar and DS-61-4 who were standing behind him. "Sure you want to miss out on all this, Dee-Es?"
"I need a break, perhaps work a bit for myself," DS-61-4 explained. "I've bee in the TIE Fighter Corps for as long as I remember - I need to see if I can still do something else. Also - I need a bit of time to get over what happened…" His face twisted a bit. "I've personally witnessed both battles of the Death Stars, been a part of the most violent points of recent history… But this was the drop…"
Khadgar padded him on the shoulder. "I fully understand. I'm not saying I won't allow it - I'm just saying its a shame to see you go."
"Yes," Ender agreed, "Take a bit of time for yourself, Sith knows that I did that too after Endor. But remember that there will always be a place on this ship for you - even if you're not able to fly anymore. Plenty of other jobs after all." He extended a hand towards the older Lieutenant Colonel and spoke the traditional understatement TIE pilots wished each other before going into a mission: "Good Luck and Have Fun."
DS-61-4 accepted the handshake and then shaked the hand Khadgar offered him. Then he saluted. His superior officers returned the salute as he picked up his bag and walked on towards the Shuttle Bay.
Ender turned to Khadgar. "Strahd?" He inquired.

"Strahd," Khadgar confirmed. "I'll make sure everything gets arranged." He saluted as well and left in the same direction of where DS had gone, leaving his Commodore alone in the Hangar Security Office.
Ender shrugged and started making his way towards his 'office' on top of the ordnance pod of his TIE Bomber hanging in the Hangar Bay, avoiding loose pipes and other plumbing material that had appeared all over the Vanguard since it had been docked in the Pressure Dock of the Imperial Plumbers. He had needed to conduct two ceremonies earlier that day for the two fallen pilots of Echo and Mantis and he'd needed to write a speech each. Good thing there had been a victory celebration after that or it would be far too depressive… Although… without those two pilots - there wouldn't have been a victory… which had been a good theme for his speeches.
And what a victory it had been! Only Four Flights worth of Vanguard Pilots had taken out a full Wing of Rebel Fighters, destroying over 63 craft and loosing only six. "That's the kind of stuff legends are made of", Ender thought as he entered the elevator to 'Rack Level'. "No wonder the Operations Office had been so quick in approving the medals I recommended." Damages had been minimal - even though Glorick and Staneth had practically totaled their fighters, there wasn't a (new) scratch on the Vanguard anywhere…
Ender jumped off the rack onto the top of his 'Brick', pulled out his datapad and started to made himself comfortable in the hammock he had tied between the twin pods of his craft and paused. "I can just as well get some sleep… another day tomorrow," he thought as he reached to his comlink. "Bridge, dim the lights on Hangar 4 please?"
The answer and effect came immediately. Before the bridge officer had finished his "Yes Sir", the lights had already dimmed to more comfortable levels.
"Best thing about being COM, that," Ender decided before he floated off into sleep.

Battle Submission Form

IMPERATOR II CLASS STAR DESTROYER THE VANGUARD BATTLE SUBMISSION FORM:
SUBMITTED: VA E.mBind, Vanguard Commodore
 

DATE:	12.03.0005	ABoE
LOCATION:	Pyrath System 08.7654,98.2456,457.56	"Imperial Plumbers"
ISD-STATUS:	Under Repairs (Not Battle Related)	No battle Damage
CREWSTATUS:	2 killed, no battle related injuries
DEPLOYED:	16 active fighters:	Echo I+II, Wasp II, Mantis III
	4 inactive fighters (parked):	PythonII
	1 Reinforcement	(WC)
	4 Assault Transports:	Spider II
STAND-BY:	4 fighters:	Wasp I
FIGHTERS SURVIVED: 14	ECHOI:	2 No Damage
		1 Impacted with ejected Rebel Pilot (No Structural Damage)
		1 Lost top solar panels
	ECHOII:	1 No Damage
		1 Minor Hull Damage (Targetting Computer)
	MANTISIII:	1 No Damage
		1 Minor Hull Damage (FB Sensor Radar)
	WASPII:	2 No Damage
		1 Lost top solar panels and engine power. (Had to be recovered)
	PYTHONII:	1 No Damage
		2 Minor Hull Damge (Lasers System/Warhead Launcher)
	WC:	1 Very Minor Hull Damage (Paint)
FIGHTERS LOST: 6	ECHOII:	1 Killed (FM/SL Teh'Bah Echo 2-3 )
		1 Ejected and Recovered (LCM Zero Pain)
	MANTISIII:	1 Killed (FM/SL TBahhhh Mantis 3-4 )
		1 Ejected and Recovered (LT Christopher Ball)
	WASPII:	1 Ejected and Recovered (LT Paco)
	PYTHONII:	1 Destroyed Unmanned
CIVILLIAN CRAFT SURVIVED: 5	IMPPLUMBER:	1 No Damage
	MARIO:	1 No Damage
	GERARD:	1 Minor Hull damage (Structural)
	THELUGGAGE:	1 Minor Hull damage (on docking)
	HAWK:	1 No Damage
CIVILLIAN CRAFT LOST: 1	LUIGI:	1 Unrecoverable
ENEMY CRAFT DESTROYED: 63	FRG EchoHawk, E/S Raven (2)	X/W Crimson (12), A/W Sabre (12), T/W Stealth (12), A/W Phoenix (12), X/W NightWolf (12)
ENEMY CRAFT SURVIVED: 4	SHU Eagle, MUTR Oroblram, 2 Escape Pods
ENEMY CRAFT CAPTURED: 0
ENEMY CREW CAPTURED: 20	some injured
ADDITIONAL:	All recovered pilots are in good health.	No transports were attacked.

You can fly this mission in XvT-Free#44 and in XWA-Free#50