The Starfighter Trap

Essara Till was occupied with reviewing applications for the Naboo Starfighter corps when Lieutenant Dren Melne, her wingman and romantic partner, entered to deliberate on subjects like the Agamar Governor's aspiration to form a fighter squadron, a matter Till wished to avoid, preferring to remain on Naboo. During their disagreement, a Class One Emergency was declared, and she vowed to revisit the discussion during a future picnic.

Senator Sio Bibble communicated via holopod from the briefing room, reporting that Station TFP-9 was under assault by a Hornet-class carrier accompanied by Z-95 Headhunters. He assigned Till and Melne to command another squadron, Echo Flight, which included police cruisers, alongside their N-1 starfighters from Bravo Flight.

Upon arriving at Station TFP-9, the two flights discovered the station's shields were down, with one of the two YT-1250 freighters that had been defending the station disabled and marooned, and the other missing. The Z-95 pilots were hailed and instructed to stand down, but they responded by engaging the two flight groups. Essara Till engaged one and succeeded in disabling the fighter, rendering the pilot unconscious. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the fighter bore no recognizable insignia. Echo flight reported damage to Echo's three, eight and eleven. Till assigned both Echos one and two to assist her in attacking the capital ship, at which point more Z-95s and another Hornet-class carrier emerged from Hyperspace. Captain Sorran of the carrier Velumina hailed Till, demanding that all Naboo fighters cease their attack. Till refused and continued her assault as the first carrier launched Droid starfighters. Dren Melne then revealed his treachery, declaring "my term of employment starts now" and firing upon Echo two, severely damaging it. The rest of Echo flight discovered that the new Z-95s were equipped with concussion missiles.

As Echo one was helpless before Melne, Till attempted to pursue Melne, but three droid fighters pursued her and damaged her fighter. Melne then launched two Proton torpedos at Echo one. Till shot down one, but the second struck Echo one. With Echo one disabled and the rest of the flight struggling against the droid starfighters, Till regained her composure and launched two torpedoes at Melne, only to have the warheads intercepted by the droid fighters.

Melne then revealed that his employer sought the technology of the N-1 Starfighter and wanted his and Till's fighters, along with some police cruisers, for close study to strengthen his planetary defenses. The second carrier's presence was intended to intimidate the Naboo forces into surrendering. However, Essara Till destroyed one of her pursuers and damaged the others, discovering that Dren was engaging the battered Echo flight, disabling echos seven and eight, while echos four, nine, eleven and twelve were destroyed.

Till then ordered the remaining Echo flight to surrender, but then banked for one of the Hornet carriers and managed to strike it with her torpedoes while chased by droid starfighters. As both ships shields were extremely low Rhys Dallows in Echo Five joined her, not wishing to stand down while she was attacking. Both fighters struck the carrier together, destroying it. Both then pursued Dren's ship who was engaging Echo Six destroying the fighter and the pilot, causing Till to consider any hope for him to be lost. They were about to engage Dren when the Velumia hailed Dren Melne declaring the exercise a failure and launched multiple missiles one at Rhys and Essara while the rest at Dren, despite protests. Till was only able to shoot four missiles before one struck her fighter damaging her fighter causing a cockpit instrument shrapnel to strike her face causing cuts. While Dren Melne's fighter was destroyed and his life lost. The battle concluded with only five of Echo Flight's pilots surviving.

Within five days after the battle Sio Bibble, Ric Olié, Rhys Dallows and Essara Till discussed the outcome of the battle. The Governor of Agamar denied his involvement in the attack, although an investigation revealed that Agamar had purchased Droid Starfighters and tried at least three times to purchase N-1 fighters and was refused on all occasions by the Advisory Council. Investigations into Dren Melne's accounts showed transactions from Ord Mantell to Selton but the connections to the incident were sketchy at best. Essara Till would also rely the news to Melne's family as part of their inquiry but the family was less then cooperative, as they held him in really low regard long after he left Naboo. Ric Olié and Till had one last discussion about the mission and how Till felt about Melne before both went back to work.