#mazzic

"Star Destroyers!" Faughn barked from the comm console. "Coming in from lightspeed."

idk. 'faughn' and 'hart' are definitely leading into a deer theme.

"Vectors?" Gillespee snapped.

"Don't bother," Aves told him, a cold knife twisting in his gut. He could see the Star Destroyers ahead, all right, appearing out of hyperspace at the edge of the shipyards. And the Dreadnaughts, and the Lancer Frigates, and the Strike Cruisers, and the TIE squadrons. A complete assault fleet, and then some.

I love this. I absolutely love this cascade of 'oh shit'. The Star Destroyers. AND the Dreadnaughts. AND the Lancer Frigates. AND the Strike Cruisers. AND the TIEs.

You know, maybe a couple more TIEs. Why not.

And practically every fighting ship of Karrde's smuggler confederation was here. Right in the middle of it.

"So it was a trap," Gillespee said, his voice icy calm.

"I guess so," Aves said, staring out at the armada still moving into formation. A formation that seemed wrong, somehow.

"Aves, Gillespee, this is Mazzic," the other smuggler's voice came over the comm. "Looks like we've been sold out after all. I'm not going to surrender. How about you?"

"I think they deserve to lose at least a couple of Star Destroyers for this," Gillespee agreed.

ilu gillespee.

"That was my idea," Mazzic said. "Too bad Karrde isn't here to see us go out in a blaze of glory."

He paused, and Aves could feel Gillespee's and Faughn's eyes on him. They would, he knew, go to their deaths believing Karrde had betrayed them. All of them would.

MY POOR POOR BOY. I AM SO SORRY. MORE FRUITY DRINKS. ALL THE PTO YOU WANT, I SWEAR.

"I'm with you, too," he told the others quietly. "If you want, Mazzic, you can have command."

So smart. ilu aves.

Okay, but for real: Aves is giving me serious Eli vibes here. Is Eli a Booster and Aves mashup? Do I have to be more angry about Eli being a sweet sweet cinnamon roll and stealing the good bits of all my best boys?

Eli, you have fantastic heritage.

"Thanks," Mazzic said. "I was going to take it anyway. Stand by: we might as well deliver our first punch together."

Aves took one last look at the armada... and suddenly he had it. "Hold it," he snapped.

"Mazzic—everyone—hold it. That assault force isn't here for us."

"What are you talking about?" Gillespee demanded.

"Those Interdictor Cruisers out there," Aves said. "Out past that Star Destroyer group—see them? Look at their positioning."

I STG I hear this in Eli's twang. It's unnerving.

There was a moment of silence. Mazzic got it first. "That's not an enclosure configuration," he said.

"You're right, it's not," Gillespee agreed. "Look—you can see a second group of them farther back."

"It's an entrapment configuration," Mazzic said, sounding like he didn't believe his own words. "They're setting up to pull someone out of hyperspace. And then keep him here long enough to pound him."

Aves looked at Gillespee, found him looking back. "No," Gillespee breathed. "You don't suppose...? I thought they were supposed to be hitting Tangrene."

"So did I," Aves told him grimly, the twisting knife back in his gut. "I guess we were wrong."

"Or else Thrawn is." Gillespee looked out at the armada and shook his head. "No. Probably not."

Snort.

"All right, let's not panic," Mazzic said. "If the New Republic comes, it just means that much more to occupy the Imperials' attention. Let's stay on schedule and see what happens."

"Right," Aves sighed. Square in the middle of an Imperial base during a New Republic attack. Terrific.

"Tell you something, Aves," Gillespee commented. "If we get out of this, I'm going to go have some words with your boss."

"No argument." Aves looked out at Thrawn's armada. "Matter of fact, I think maybe I'll go with you."

ALL THE PTO YOU WANT, BB. ;____;