Attack on the Hellion's Dare

In 4 ABY, some weeks following the Battle of Endor, the New Republic stationed its EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate, the Hellion's Dare, under the command of the Chadra-Fan Captain Kreskian, at the planet Jiruus within the Jiruus system. The Dare's mission was to gather reconnaissance reports. Meanwhile, the Galactic Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, establishing a foothold in the Pandem Nai system, identified the Dare as a target. This action, coordinated by the fighter wing's commanding officer, Colonel Shakara Nuress, aimed to safeguard the secrecy of the 204th's newly established base. Consequently, two TIE/ln space superiority starfighter squadrons under the leadership of Lieutenant Preartes were deployed aboard the Quasar Fire-class cruiser carrier Aerie with orders to eliminate the New Republic frigate.

The Aerie, accompanied by its complement of thirty-two TIEs, then engaged the Hellion's Dare along with its two escort squadrons: Riot Squadron, composed of RZ-1 A-wing interceptors, and Hound Squadron, equipped with A/SF-01 B-wing starfighters. In the resulting conflict, the Dare and its escorts opted to escape into hyperspace. During the retreat, the 204th's TIE fighters managed to shoot down Riot Eight, Nasi Moreno, before she could make the jump. Moreno's A-wing wreckage was subsequently retrieved by the Aerie using a tractor beam, and its flight logs were analyzed to determine the hyperspace coordinates of the fleeing Hellion's Dare and its escorts.

After the Hellion's Dare managed to get away, the New Republic pilots from both Riot and Hound Squadrons conducted a funeral service aboard the frigate to honor the fallen Moreno. The 204th managed to locate the Dare and its accompanying forces approximately twelve hours after the initial skirmish in the Jiruus system. Riot Squadron engaged the TIEs, while the B-Wings remained behind to engage the few fighters that managed to get through. When the New Republic forces decided to retreat once more, the Imperial TIEs targeted Riot Seven, Sonogari, in order to repeat their tracking tactic. Following the escape, Kreskian informed his crew that they had fled into the Oridol Cluster, hoping that the cluster's dense nebula and asteroid fields would provide concealment from the 204th. A funeral was then held for Sonogari, and a number of the pilots later gathered in the recreational room, where they engaged in a game of Who? What? Where?.

The 204th once again attacked the Hellion's Dare and its escort squadrons, this time eliminating the Riot Squadron pilot Rep Boy in order to extract his jump coordinates. The fighter wing pursued the frigate into a system characterized by an exceptionally high concentration of cosmic dust, which significantly reduced visibility. This subsequent engagement was more protracted and disorganized than the previous one, and the Dare managed to remain concealed within the dust cloud, with only its cannon fire revealing the vessel's location. Hound Squadron suffered the loss of Quaysail, Togue, and Ansil before the New Republic forces were able to escape once again.

A fifth battle eventually transpired, during which the Riot Squadron pilot Kamala was shot down. The New Republic pilots began to recognize specific TIEs and assigned them nicknames based on their observed flight patterns. The TIE pilot Garl Lykan was dubbed "Snapper" due to his preferred tactic of using a flight group to pin down isolated fighters, a maneuver that became known as the "needle." Another 204th pilot, Palal Seedia, earned the moniker "Blink" after Riot Three, Wyl Lark, disabled one of her TIE's laser cannons. The Imperial pilot named Hirodin Nasli was nicknamed "Puke" due to the pilot's tendency to fire repeated bursts of cannon fire. "Char," Rep Boy's killer, was nicknamed due to the carbon scoring marks present on the TIE pilot's fighter, and "Tails" received their nickname from the ion trail emanating from their fighter.

The New Republic personnel grew increasingly concerned about the Empire's motives for attacking them. However, searches of the ship revealed no trackers or illicit communications devices. Some speculated that the ship might have intercepted a transmission concerning a third Death Star. The Sixth Battle unfolded within a visually striking blue and green system. Kreskain believed that speed might be their salvation, and three droids on the Dare's bridge attempted to calculate a slingshot maneuver around a frozen planet. This maneuver required the escort squadron's fighters to maintain maximum speed in order to keep pace with the frigate. The Imperial pilots attempted to disable Lark's fighter, but their shots missed, allowing him to jump to hyperspace.

The Hellion's Dare was sustaining increasing losses of fighters with each engagement. The Frigate and its crew were beginning to understand that each time a fighter was lost, it was being used to track the fleet. Captain Kreskain came to the conclusion that the only way to end the pursuit was to destroy, or at least severely damage, the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier. The plan involved dispatching both Riot and Hound Squadrons to attack the cruiser, which would leave the Dare vulnerable to bombing runs. As Riot and Hound Squadrons approached, they engaged the TIEs defending their ship. However, most of the Imperials focused their attacks on the Dare. The B-wings of Hound Squadron launched torpedoes and laser volleys at the Quasar's engines, disabling them. However, as the fighter wing returned from their bombing run, they found the Hellion's Dare ablaze. The TIEs avoided a fight against the combined firepower of the Nebulon-B and the fighters. Both ships were stuck for the time being.

The Dare sustained even more severe damage during the final battle, with fires spreading throughout the ship. The TIEs remained behind to defend their carrier while it underwent repairs. Each side waited for the opportunity to finish the other off as their mechanics and engineers worked frantically on repairs. During this stalemate, the New Republic pilots tried to maintain morale by sharing personal stories and songs. Three hours after the fight, Lark opened his comms. Within an hour, one of TIE pilots opened up a conversation with him. Lark realized it was the one they had called Blink after the TIE pilot recounted their last fight. Wyl told the Imperial of the story from the Tangrada-Nii people. After this story, the Imperial pilot told him that he would rot out here and closed comms. The Cruiser-Carrier broke the stalemate first by moving away to safety and all TIE fighters of Shadow descending upon the Frigate. The resulting battle saw the loss of the entire Republic fleet, except for two fighters.

The disappearance of the frigate caught the attention of New Republic Intelligence, particularly Caern Adan, who was investigating Shadow Wing. Adan collaborated with the freighter Buried Treasure and a group of newly recruited pilots to attack Harrikos-Fifteen Research Station in order to establish a staging area for locating the missing frigate. The station was successfully captured, and two surviving pilots, Chass na Chadic and Wyl Lark, were recovered from the hunt.

The attack on the Hellion's Dare was first depicted in the 2019 novel Alphabet Squadron, the first book in the Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron series, authored by Alexander Freed.