The Starfighter Trap The Starfighter Trap was a short story by Steve Miller set in 33 BBY , between Padmé Amidala becoming queen and the Invasion of Naboo . It was published by Wizards of the Coast in the premier issue of " Star Wars Gamer " in 2000 . The story was inspired by the " " game . Before it was printed in " Star Wars Gamer " , it was available in three parts online . Plot summary . Essara Till was in the middle of reviewing applicantions for the Naboo ' s Starfighter corps when her wingman and lover Lieutenant Dren Melne came in to discuss matters such as the Governor of Agamar wanting to assemble a fighter contingent , which Till had no interest in getting involved , wanting to stay on Naboo . During their argument a Class One Emergency was issued and she promised herself to discuss this more during a picnic . At the breifing room Senator Sio Bibble reported over a holopod that Station TFP - 9 was under attack by a " Hornet " - class carrier with Z - 95 Headhunters assigning both Till and Melne to lead another squadron , Echo Flight which consisted of police cruisers , with their N - 1 starfighters from Bravo Flight . When both flights arrived at Station TFP - 9 they found the station ' s shields depleted and the one of the two YT - 1250 freighter s that were originally defending the station disabled and stranded and the other missing . The Z - 95s were hailed and ordered to stand down , they responded by engaging the two flight groups . Essara Till engaged one and managed to disable the fighter while the pilot was rendered unconscious , once accomplished she managed to get a glimps of the fighter to find no recognisable symbols . Echo flight reported that the enemy was on the run with damage to Echo ' s three , eight and eleven . Till assigned both Echos one and two to team up with her to attack the capital ship , when more Z - 95s and another " Hornet " - class carrier emerged from Hyperspace . She was then hailed by Captain Sorran from one of the carriers " Velumina " who demanded that all Naboo fighters to stand down . Till refused and continued the attack when the first one dropped Droid starfighters and Dren Melne then revealed his true colours by declaring his " term of employment starts now " and fires on Echo two , badly damaging the craft , while the rest of echo flight finds that the new Z - 95s are armed with concussion missiles . As Echo one was at Melne ' s mercy and Till attempted to pursue Melne , three droid fighters tailed her and damaged her fighter . Melne soon launched two Proton torpedos at Echo one which Till shot down one while the second hit Echo one . With Echo one disabled and the rest having difficulty with the other droid starfighters , Till managed to regain her composure and managed to launch two torpedoes at Melne , only for the warheads to be intercepted by the Droid fighters . Melne then disclosed that his employee was interested in the technology of the N - 1 Starfighter and wanted his and Till ' s fighter , along with some police cruisers for close study to help bolster his planetary defence forces , and the presence of the second carrier was to bring the numbers to convince the Naboo forces to surrender . However , Essara Till managed to destroy one of her pursuers and damage the rest to find the Dren was engaging the battered Echo flight , managing to disable echos seven and eight , while echos four , nine , eleven and twelve were destroyed . Till soon 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 its both ships shields were extremely low Rhys Dallows in Echo Five joined her , not wishing to stand down while she was attacking . Both fighters stuck 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 " excercise " 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 Govenor of Agamar denied his involvment 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 Coucil . 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 .