Episode VII - The Maw

"It's the greatest weapon ever devised, and I've spent eight years of my life designing it." -Qwi Xux

Date
Year: 1 ABY

Preceeded by: Salvation

Succeeded by: Wrong Side of the War

Comeback
Airen Cracken immediately set out to learn where Garm Bel Iblis, Lando Calrissian, and Belindi Kalenda had been taken. Jan Ors, the Rebel spy known as Jan Strange, reported that they were aboard a dungeon ship, en route to Kessel to pick up a few other high profile prisoners, and then on to the Empire's top secret Lusankya prison, location unknown. Meanwhile, Deena Shan reported that the Gargantuan had been moved to a XQ6 Platform called Research in the Parmel system, and Targeter tracked the Peregrine to Kessel, to a facility called the Maw Installation.

Rogue Squadron was divided into two strike teams for the mission. Luke Skywalker, Keyan Farlander, Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Hobbie, and Wes Janson were smuggled into the Kessel system by the Errant Venture. Pash Cracken, Bror Jace, Ace Azzameen, Rookie One, Shira Brie, and Dash Rendar were transported to the Parmel system by the Pulsar Skate.

In the Kessel system, the Errant Venture laid a trap for the dungeon ship. When it arrived, Booster Terrik locked on to it with tractor beams and hit it with a full salvo of ion cannons. Disabled and adrift, Booster Terrik led the boarding party and freed the prisoners, but Bel Iblis, Lando, and Belindi were not among them. Meanwhile, the six Rogues had landed on Kessel's garrison moon and infiltrated the Imperial complex to locate the Maw Installation.

Spring the Trap
In the Parmel system, the Pulsar Skate drew the defensive forces away from the station long enough for the other six Rogues to board it and begin a sweep for the Gargantuan. Though they encountered numerous defenses, Dash Rendar noted that either Research was severely unprotected, or this had been too easy. Rookie One received a signal from the Pulsar Skate, warning them that Imperial reinforcements had dropped out of hyperspace and were forcing them to retreat.

The Errant Venture was surprised by the appearance of an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Hydra, appearing to exit the cluster of black holes called the Maw. Caught off guard, the Errant Venture tractored the dungeon ship and hid behind the garrison moon, using its mass shadow to avoid detection. However, they were too late, and the Hydra alerted the garrison moon, which launched three squadrons of TIE Fighters to engage the Errant Venture.

Suddenly outgunned by the Relentless and six squadrons of Droid TIE Fighters, the Pulsar Skate began a systematic retreat toward Research. Mirax Terrik used her main gun to score glancing blows against the Imperial Star Destroyer, while throwing all the power she could to shields, hoping to hold back the seventy two starfighters firing on her. As she neared Research, she sent a message to Rookie One, warning him that the time for extraction was now or never.

The garrison moon main computer offered no inkling as to where the Maw Installation could be, and the six Rogues found themselves in an Imperial military base suddenly on combat alert. As they retreated to their X-Wings, Wes colorfully remarked that the information they were after was probably on the approaching Star Destroyer, because that would be the most difficult to get to. Luke agreed, and the squadron signaled the Errant Venture, warning them off as the six X-Wings made a run at the Imperial Star Destroyer.

The other six Rogues tracked down the Gargantuan in a massive storage wing, but before they could get to it, Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin ordered the Imperial Stormtroopers to board the Century Tanks also in storage and destroy the Rogues. Pinned down, Dash Rendar suggested running, but Shira Brie came up with a plan to use the other Rogues to run between cargo modules and draw the Century Tanks away while she raced to the Gargantuan and rearmed its automated turbolasers. Pash commented that it was a very impossible, very Rogue plan. As the other Rogues distracted the Century Tanks, Shira Brie managed to make it to the Gargantuan with only a blaster graze, and rearmed its automated turbolasers. The Gargantuan destroyed the Century Tanks, but not before one of them could wing Rookie One. Pash and Bror Jace packed the Gargantuan into a storage module, planted a beacon on it, and got everyone inside. When the Pulsar Skate passed overhead, signaling that the time for extraction was now or never, Dash blew the airlock, sucking the storage modules into space. Pash activated the beacon, and the Pulsar Skate recovered it.

Hobbie and Wes made the first pass at the Hydra, using classic trench run tactics to avoid its guns and weaken its shields. Wedge, Tycho, Luke, and Keyan all made the second pass head-on, unleashing a proton torpedo barrage that blew out the Hydra's forward shields. Hobbie and Wes came about and bore down on the now unprotected nose, blasting away armor plating with quad-linked laser blasts and blowing craters in the superstructure with proton torpedoes. Wedge and Tycho flew for the TIE hangar, blasting the unshielded fighters as they tried to scramble and launch. Recognizing its inability to target the one-man fighter craft, the Hydra came about and proceeded back into the Maw. Wes explained that Rogue Squadron had scared the Star Destroyer into suicide by black hole, but Tycho noticed that they were charting a very specific course between the black holes. Luke volunteered that, with the Force, he could probably chart the same course. Over Hobbie's warnings, the squadron formed up behind Luke, and they proceeded into the Maw.

Suicide Mission
Despite several close calls, Rogue Squadron made it through to the Maw Installation; an artificial asteroid in a small safe zone of the Maw, protected by four Imperial Star Destroyers. Admiral Natasi Daala signaled Luke from her flagship, the Gorgon, demanding his surrender. Recognizing that Rogue Squadron was almost out of fuel, Luke agreed on the condition that all of his pilots be taken alive. Daala agreed, and Rogue Squadron was tractored aboard the Gorgon.

Although isolated and interrogated, Luke discovered several important details about the Maw Installation. First, Daala reported directly to Grand Moff Tarkin, and when he was killed on the Death Star, they fell out of communication with the Empire. The Hydra had been sent out to gather intelligence when the Rogues found it. Luke explained that the Death Star had been destroyed, Tarkin killed, and that the Galactic Civil War had grown exponentially. The Rebellion was now a major military threat to the Empire, and though they still fought a guerrilla war, both sides knew it was only a matter of time until the Rebels could match the Imps ship for ship.

Luke offered Daala the opportunity to surrender to the Alliance before they came charging into the Maw to recover him. Daala refused, and interrogated him at great length about the numbers the Rebels had, their strengths and weaknesses, but she was disappointed by his silence. After she moved on to interrogate another Rogue, Luke used the Force to easily slip his cell and appropriate his guard's uniform and weapon.

Moving from one Rogue to the next, he freed his pilots, and even captured Daala. With the rest of the Gorgon none the wiser, the Rogues conducted Daala to a shuttle, and launched for the Maw Installation. There, they located one of the Death Star's top engineers, Qwi Xux, and captured her as well. They discovered that the Peregrine had never been there, but that an Imperial superweapon, the Sun Crusher, was still in storage. The Rogues commandeered the Sun Crusher and escaped the Maw with Daala and Qwi Xux. They returned to the Kessel system, where they discovered the Errant Venture had come back for them. Flying into the Errant Venture's hangar, the Rogues conducted Daala and Qwi Xux to the brig, while Booster jumped back to Krant, as the new Rebel headquarters was Ghost Base, located in the planet's jungles.