The CR92a was dead. Not destroyed, but at least dead in the void. Its guns were molten slag piles, its engines ruined scraps of fused metal. It was out of the fight.<br/><br/>'Nova Lead here,' Hess said over the comm. 'Transports disabled. We'll handle the corvettes and assault ships from here, Rogue Leader.'<br/><br/>'Acknowledged. We'll keep the TIEs off you.'<br/><br/>'Thank you, thank you,' she sing-songed as she led her B-Wings toward the remaining two<span style="font-style: italic">Assassins</span>. No B-Wing losses. Good so far. Better than Polearm, at least, who had lost four of their own to the furball.<br/><br/>Thor and Blenner broke off from their assault and inverted their craft, looping towards the incoming Interceptors. The other Rogues had thinned their ranks somewhat, but they sped on. Some had dispersed, tying up the other Rogues. One flight's worth of squints had already fallen to the Rogues' guns, but many, many more continued to swarm around the battlefield. One pair of squints were on an attack vector right for Nova Squadron. Out of the corner of his eye, Thor saw Three and Four in hot pursuit, only for another Interceptor to slam into Three's X-Wing. The squint bounced off the X-Wing's shields, spinning out of control. Before its pilot could right the craft, it exploded, skewered by a quad-blast from Four. Thor couldn't see the what had happened to Three or Four, but his sensor board told him that both were still alive. Before he could check more closely, he had more pressing matters at hand.<br/><br/>As one, Rogue Leader and Rogue Two flew after the errant Interceptors, who had broken off from their attack after detecting another pair of X-Wings heading their way. These guys were good, Thor thought, watching their tight, unpredictable evasive maneuvers. The moment he got a laser lock on one, the squint would juke away. But they made one fatal error. The Interceptors were using one of the corvettes as cover as they flew along its length, hoping its shields and armor would protect them from the X-Wings' guns. They would, actually, but Thor hadn't studied under Wedge Antilles for nothing. He placed his targeting brackets just slightly to the lead Interceptor's starboard and fired. Reflexively, the TIE sideslipped left, colliding with one of the corvette's comm antennae. The impact tore off its port solar wing and caused it to careen straight into the corvette's hull. Debris from the explosion peppered its wingman, tearing gouges into the unshielded fighter's frame. Thor and Blennner sideslipped to either side of the explosion, firing in sync as they simultaneously locked on the now-smoking Interceptor. Overkill, but then again, there was no such thing as overkill in the field.<br/><br/>'Nice shot, Two,' Thor said, turning his fighter back towards the thickest of the fighting. 'Three, Four, status report. Are you both still oper--'<br/><br/>Another flight of TIEs rocketed towards them, their wingtip cannons blazing. Thor pumped energy into his forward shields as green laser bolts dissipated against them, turning his cockpit view into an opaque mess of neon greens and blues. His targeting system pinged. A laser lock. He blind-fired and was rewarded with a message from his astromech: KILL CONFIRMED.<br/><br/>And suddenly the head-to-head was over. Three Interceptors rushed toward the B-Wings, while a fourth had become a dissipating cloud of molten scrap.<br/><br/>'Sithspit!' cursed Blenner over the comm. Thor could see that his X-Wing came out worse for wear, his hull streaked with laser burns. One of his engines was emitting smoke. 'Lead, I've lost my top starboard engine. Looks like they slagged my torpedo tubes, too. Orders?'<br/><br/>'Break off and back up Three and Four, Two. They'll need your help if Three's X-Wing is incapped. I'll hit the TIEs.'<br/><br/>'But--'<br/><br/>'That's an order, Deuce. Taking on squints with one dead engine is too risky.'<br/><br/>'Aye, sir,' Blenner said morosely. The Corellian kicked up on his etheric rudder pedal, flying over to Rogues Three and Four. In the meantime, Rogue Leader had three Interceptors to kill. He evened out his shields and diverted discretionary power to acceleration. He'd seen the markings on the TIEs' wing panels--black stripes, a copy of the Corellian bloodstripes on the Empire's elite 181st Fighter Group. Daala's Obsidian Wing was nowhere close to the 181st's level, but even three Obsidian pilots would reap a bloody toll among Nova's B-Wings.<br/><br/>'Rogue Leader to all units, I tally three Obsidian squints on the field, gunning for Nova. I say again, three Obsidian squints heading for Nova. Splashed a fourth just a moment ago. In pursuit now. Any other fighters available to intercept?'