For the first time since the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance had the opportunity to strike a major blow against the Empire. Kasan Moor stood in front of the rest of the Rogues, Crix Madine and a large group of Renegade Squadron Commandos in the briefing room. "The Jade Moon is a habitable moon the Colonies. It holds a factory that produces E-11 Blaster Rifles, SE-14 Light Repeating Blaster Pistols and numerous other blaster weapons the Imperials arm their troops with. If we can raid that facility and the supply depot adjoining it, we would gain a massive amount of blaster weapons and munitions while hampering the Empire's efforts to arm their own soldiers and Stormtroopers. To cap it off, this is a major production facility and they will be hard pressed to keep supply up with the demand."

She waited while they considered. Crix Madine was about to say something when the blast door to the briefing room hissed open and Han Solo stepped in. "Sorry I'm late, General. Got held up by some bounty hunters. Ah, the Jade Moon - is that our next target?"

Madine nodded. "That it is, Captain Solo. You and I will lead the ground forces and Rogue Squadron will clear us a path and keep the skies free of enemy fighters and bombers. Any questions, Rogues?"

None were forth coming. Luke strode up to Kasan and said, "Your evaluation begins now, Kasan and you will take the last slot in the squadron. Impress Wedge and I and the position is all yours."

The former Imperial smirked and said, "Just try to keep up, Commander."

With that, she headed towards the hanger, her head up proudly with a swagger in her walk. A low whistle came from behind Luke and he turned to see Dak Ralter watching Kasan walk away. "Damn, the Coruscant accent with that body, that face and those skills - I'm telling you, Luke, I'm falling fast and hard."

Wedge shook his head with annoyance and slapped the younger pilot on the back of the head. "Ouch! You just assaulted a junior officer!"

Luke had turned away just in time to not see it and General Madine was talking to Han. Just as Luke was about to leave the briefing room, Han called him over. "Hey, Kid. I'll walk with you."

The Corellian smuggler hugged him and slapped him on the back. In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, Han said, "I heard you and Rianna broke it off. I'm sorry to hear that, Buddy."

Luke smiled up at him. "It's alright, Han. We ended it well and I'm doing better. I decided to take a break from relationships for awhile."

His older friend smiled and said, "Attaboy, Luke! Take a break from the serious for awhile and just indulge. There's plenty of Luke Skywalker to go around and I'm sure that there are plenty of women who would be willing to sample some."

Luke gave hand a sideways look and said, "Han, I'm not talking about just kriffing people."

"Well you should. Look, Luke, sometimes just blowing off steam and getting things off your chest is best and there are three really good ways to do it - blasting through space in a ship, blasting through Imperials with a blaster or blasting into a woman with your blaster."

Luke blushed as Han waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "That's not who I am, Han. I don't judge but that just isn't me."

Han slapped him on the back as they walked into the hanger. "You are who you make yourself, Kid. You are who you decide to be. Now go get to your fighter pilots. Say, who's the tall, sexy brunette with the Rogues? She's new."

Luke chuckled and said, "Lieutenant Kasan Moor, formerly the commander of the 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron and on probation."

Han gave a low whistle and said, "Well it's about time you got a woman in that squadron. She sure seems popular."

"Yeah, they're all trying to get into her jumpsuit - well at least Dak, Wes and some of the youngsters are."

Han looked at Luke with a sardonic smile. "'Youngsters', Kid? Didn't you just turn twenty?"

Luke nodded and Han said, "Ah, that reminds me, I got you something. When the mission's over, come by the Falcon and I'll give it to you."

Before Luke could object, Han went and joined the Commando's near the dropships. They were modified MAAT-Cs and there were a dozen of them, each carrying either a T2B or a T4B Combat tank. Two of them carried the experimental AAC Tanks as well - tanks with huge missile pods on them meant for long range guided missile barrages.

Wedge was rubbing his temples as Kasan handily flirted with the two youngest pilots Dak and Wes. She was enjoying positive attention from the men in her squadron instead of the barely subordinate attitude she had been used to and the open lust, contempt or mixture of the two. As Wedge watched, Dak and Wes were trying to be more like Luke - gentlemanly, gracious, soft-spoken and what not and Wedge could tell that Kasan thought it was absolutely adorable. Luke strode up right then and said, "Dak, Wes - what have I told you about scaring away the potential pilots?"

Dak scratched his head and said, "Gee, Boss, I don't think you ever said anything about it."

Wes smirked and said, "Yes he did. I believe it was something along the lines of 'Dak, stop scaring away the hot, sexy female Alliance pilots with your clumsy flirting.'"

Luke shot him a look and Kasan laughed. "Well I'm sorry you have to settle with me instead of some hot, sexy female Alliance pilots. Are we mounting up, Rogue Leader?"

"Any minute now. Rogues, do one more quick check of your ships and your droids and get ready to mount up."

Before jogging to his fighter, Dak looked at Kasan and said, "I'll watch your six."

Kasan smiled alluringly and said, "I bet you will, Ralter. I bet you will."

The young pilot blushed and hurried to his fighter. Luke was shaking his head and said, "Just let me know if I need to rein in my pilots', Kasan. They can get a little over enthusiastic, especially when it comes to attractive woman."

Kasan just chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Luke. This is good behavior compared to what I'm used to. Back aboard my old duty station, my pilots would openly talk about me. I would write them up and nothing would happen. So long as their mission results were acceptable, command didn't care. There was one time, just after I graduated that I was attacked by two men in the refresher aboard my first duty station. You see, Star Destroyers don't have separate refreshers for men and women so they followed me and it was only do to the timely arrival of my Commander and XO that I was saved. They were good men. Anyhow, even with my Commander and XO's word, a tribunal refused to prosecute the two men."

Luke was aghast. "And you waited this long to defect?"

She shrugged. "What can I say? I thought that it was part of being a woman in the Imperial military. Anyhow, it looks like we're about to load up."

The Rebel Dropships dropped the Renegades and their support off as Luke and his X-wings flew overhead. Kasan Moor flew as the third wingman in Luke's and Wedge's flight group and the rest had their flying orders. The Rogues' mission was simple: clear a path, clear the skies, watch the fun. Of course things never, ever went as planned. That's why it a was joint Rogue Squadron/Renegade Squadron mission. "Rogues Four through Nine, stay with the assault force. Rogues Ten, Eleven and Twelve, began a long patrol and call out anything you see but do not engage until I give the go ahead. Rogues Two and Three, we're going on ahead. Call out targets."

Wedge commed him on the private channel. "Luke how do you know Kasan isn't leading us right into a trap?"

Luke brushed aside his friend's doubt. "Not now, Wedge."

They acknowledged and immediately they came upon resistance - trios of AT-PT strike walkers. They were small and lightly armored but quick and maneuverable. "Engage those targets;" ordered Luke. Aside from light armor, the main weakness of a AT-PT was its inability to bring its pilot compartment very high. In sweep after sweep, Kasan, Wedge and Luke obliterated them. Luke took a moment to look on ahead and gasped at what he saw. There were emplacements ahead that would tare the strike force apart. To make matters work, the base had an energy field and Luke knew that the Strike Team would be doomed if they didn't do something about it. "Rogues Ten, Eleven and Twelve, your taking our job. Clear those emplacements and and other defenses. We need to find the energy shield generator and destroy it."

They began to circle above the base, spiraling outwards in increasingly wider turns. They blasted any emplacements they came across and successfully avoided laser fire. Luke watched as Kasan flew and was very, very impressed with her skills. She was on par with the best Rogue Squadron had. "Rogue Leader, they'll be calling in support from any patrolling ships and they'll be here and sending fighters within less than an hour. If we're still here when that happens, our chances of success without heavy losses will exponentially decrease."

Luke cursed, he hadn't even thought about nearby patrolling capital ships. "You're right. R2, boost scanners and look for a structure with major power output. Let me know when you find it."

Just then, Luke's comlink chimed and Han's voice caught him. "Luke, we can't get passed the base shield. Don't mean to be pushy but if we're just sitting here for too long, the garrison will have time to fully mobilize."

Luke nodded and replied, "Hang tight, old buddy. Rogues Four through Twelve, get to the strike team and start circling outward. Destroy any buildings you see that look to be either vehicle depots or barracks. If I'm not mistaken, it's only the main factory and weapons depot that are under the shield. Maintain visual and electronic scanning."

R2 tweetled and Luke sighed with relief. "Alright, Rogue Two and Rogue Three, come with me. My R2 unit found our target. We need to blow it in one run. Let's go."

They sped towards the coordinates provided by the little astro droid and it wasn't long before they found it. "Alright, I have two torpedoes with that building's name on it."

"Commander at this distance, there's no way you'll hit it;" said Kasan incredulously. Wedge just chuckled, "Watch and learn, Rogue Three."

Luke called out to the force and, when he felt the nudge, squeezed the trigger. Two torpedoes sailed out and slammed into the shield generator. The brilliant explosion force the pilots to avert their eyes. "Wow..." said Kasan. "That was impossible."

Wedge chuckled again and said, "Not for Luke."

Crix Madine came on the frequency and said, "Shield's down. We're beginning our attack. Did Skywalker make that shot?"

Luke grinned. "That was me."

Wedge gave a mock huff and said sulkily, "And I thought I was the best."

Luke and Kasan laughed. When they made it back to the main sight, they were pleased with what they saw. Nine X-wings were circling the sight and there were dozens of outer buildings in flames or completely collapsed. Suddenly, the blockade runner that regularly transported them hailed Luke and said, "Commander we have an Imperial Quasar Fire-Class Cruiser dropping out of hyperspace."

Luke cursed and said, "Rogues, we'll have bombers and fighters here any minute. Renegades, hate to be pushy but get a move on. We don't have long."

TIE Interceptors and TIE Bombers were on them soon enough. The AAC's fired torrents of anti-fighter rockets, aiming for the bombers. The Rogues knew that the AAC's weren't going to have enough rockets to handle them all and engaged. Luke, Wedge, Kasan and Rogues Four, Five and Six engaged the bombers while the rest worked feverishly to keep TIE Fighters and Interceptors busy. It was tense. The T4-B's used their guns to fire at the enemy but they weren't much good, some nearly hitting the Rogues. Luke commed Han, "You might need to take what you can have and blow the rest, Han. We don't have much more time here. In fact, we're pretty much out. I'd get out before one of these bombers successfully makes a run on the vehicles of the strike team."

Han replied quickly, "No need to worry about that, Kid. We found some toys to help us out. The factory has been set to blow and the we're throwing everything worth taking from the depot into cargo speeders. Give another ten minutes and we'll be set but make sure they have those heavy transports in system and ready at the landing zone."

Luke was skeptical but trusted his friend's confidence. Besides that, he needed to concentrate on the bombers still coming down into orbit. It was tense as they blasted enemy after enemy but there were too many. If they didn't move, they were doomed. Suddenly, out from the loading bay of the depot building streamed cargo and combat speeders. The Renegades had gotten their hands on six TX-130 Fighter Tanks and quite a few unarmed cargo tanks. "Get clear, Rogues. That depot is about to blow. Just watch the skies long enough for us to get back to the transports."

On a private channel, Han said to Luke, "I like these fighter tanks. They pack a punch and these turret lasers are powerful to bring down a TIE."

Luke grunted in response. Kasan said over the comms. "That Quasar has launched about half his fighters. He's going to launch the rest all at once and we need to be out of here by then."

Every meter was a fighting retreat back to the landing zone. The Blockade Runner and two transports came down. Unfortunately, the Renegades had to unload the weapons from the cargo speeder which took time. Luke was gritting his teeth as he saw a large cloud of enemy fighters and bombers approaching. "Oh we are so kriffed;" he muttered. Kasan said, "The gunships just picked up the tanks and their crews. We only have a few more minutes."

Luke target several points in the formations that appeared to be just slightly too tight and fired a proton torpedo at them until his was out. The massive concussion of the torpedoes destroyed almost a dozen fighters but the remainder continued on coming. "We're off the ground, Luke. Just keep them off a until we get out of the planets gravity well."

Luke nodded as he and his wingmen streaked towards the enemy. Four bombers soared ponderously past them and Luke called to the other Rogues to intercept. The bombers were quickly destroyed but not before one of them fired a proton torpedo at one of the transports. It was a lucky shot for the Imperial but not for the Rebels. The transport suddenly shuddered and the engines and repulsers shut down. They all watched in horror as the transport fell to ground and exploded. Immediately, Luke contacted Han. "We're fine, Kid. General Madine, Myself, Rianna and the twins are okay. Can't say the same for those poor souls."

Luke didn't reply. Sorrow and guilt washed over him. I should have been faster. I should have done more. They were the same thoughts he always felt when he lost a pilot or someone he was supposed to be protecting died.

Luke sat in his room alone, trying to cope with his guilt - trying to reason with himself. A loud thumping on the door, brought him out of his stupor. Sighing, he got up and went to the door. Wedge was outside. "Come on, Luke. Let's go to the lounge. I know you feel like shavit but the others are celebrating the first major victory against the Empire since the Death Star. They will be short blasters now and have lost a major production facility. You at least need to make an appearance and if you take my advice, get drunk and get laid."

Luke didn't argue. When they got to the lounge, Luke tried to force a smile as he entered. The party was more subdued than previous ones. Everyone cheered when Luke and Wedge stepped through the door. The smile become genuine when he saw Kasan, still dressed in her uniform while the other Rogues were in civilian clothes or at least had relaxed their uniforms. Luke poured himself a generous amount of brandy before going over to Kasan and handing her an insignia patch and saying, "As my first order to you as my newest and final squadron member - go get changed into something that isn't formal and let your hair down. Off duty, we wear whatever feels most comfortable."

She smiled and put down her drink before edging out the door to go change. Luke downed his entire drink in one go before refilling. Suddenly, a small hand grabbed his arm and pulled him to the center of the room. "Come on, Skywalker. Dance with me;" it was the blond bombshell Deena Shan from supply. Luke downed his second drink before following her onto the floor. Less than an hour later, he had drunk himself into oblivion.

Moff Kohl Seerdon looked at the redhead across from her with great displeasure. Her beauty had not diminished but she was no longer shy or sweet or anything like she had been before in the Imperial Palace. She stood proudly and had a blaster and a lightsaber at her belt. She wore a black body suit and a cloak. What she did not wear was a soft smile. "The Emperor is concerned, Moff Seerdon. Kasan Moor was one of, if not the, best pilot and commander in the Empire. After the loss of Captain Eclipse and Baron Soontir Fel transferring to the academy as an instructor, the loss of Moor is tragic indeed. Since she was under your command, Moff Seerdon, the Emperor decided that I should look in on you and even, perhaps, shadow you for awhile."

Moff Seerdon drummed his fingers on his desk. "Whatever the Emperor wills, of course, Emperor's Hand. Is there anything I can do for you while you are aboard my ship?"

"Simply set me up in any available quarters and always keep me informed of the situation. I will, in turn, keep the Emperor informed of the situation."

Moff Seerdon stood and bowed. "Of course Emperor's Hand. In the mean time, is there any way I can entertain you?"

The Emperor's Hand looked at him coolly and said, "Moff Seerdon, that only happened so that I could evaluate you for the Emperor and give a report. I was to use your profile and how you studied the Rogue Squadron files, your reactions and various other factors. He wanted me to evaluate your loyalty, competence and resolve. The only reason that your are still alive is because I reported to the Emperor that all three of these attributes are high."

She strode up to the desk and glared into his eyes. "Let me be clear; I am not here on a pleasure cruise. I am not here to entertain or be entertained. I am not here for any other reason than to make sure that your command does not become a breeding ground for treachery. Am I understood, Moff Seerdon?"

Once again, he bowed. "Of course, Emperor's Hand."

With a flap of her cloak, the Emperor's Hand turned and left the office, leaving inside a Moff with a very damaged ego.

This is the final chapter of the first part of this story. I hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review. Love you guys.

Updated 11.07.2016