Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, blah blah blah. I don't own any of the characters except the ones I created (Do I own those, I am not sure?). George Lucas is a funny funny man who owns all these characters. Oh so funny! This story was created to hold you SW fans over until I finish Chaos Effect and am able to write better SW stories. It isn't my best, but enjoy!!!!!
It was a peaceful morning on the planet Tefct. The freighter Oomaroo hung in low orbit over the planet, waiting for clearance to land. A voice came over the comm unit and began to tell them the instructions for landing. "Land in docking bay 543 and prepare for a ship check. Every ship that goes through this planet must be checked for illegal goods." The comm unit on the Oomaroo clicked once, and then went silent. The freighter began it's descent to Tefct.
Forshin Alu, captain of the Oomaroo was worried, for the cargo they we're carrying was illegal. But they would pack it away in the secret compartments. "Yo Ernie, get ready, we're gonna have company. Pack that spice away," she yelled. The freighter had made some sharp turns to get through the canyon on the way to the spaceport and Forshin could hear Ernie cursing. She chuckled to herself. "Hurry it up Ernie, we're gonna be landing soon. On second thought, I'll help you. 39R, come pilot for me."
39R was a Embach Systems NV Pilot model. He had large hands with powerful servo grips to help him grab the controls. His head slightly resembled a mix of an EV model and a 3PO droid. The NV Pilots were fairly inexpensive, so that had prompted Forshin to buy one. They were also pretty smart so she was confident she could leave 39R with the controls.
In the main compartment Ernie hummed as he began picking up the spice. He knew that if they put it in the secret compartment they could not be caught. Their secret compartment had been equipped with scanner disrupters to stop detection. Ernie heaved the heavy container up on his shoulder and sang an old Corellian song as he worked. "Hey Forshin, what's taking you all day? My hair is turning gray waiting for you to come down." He walked to the secret compartment and pushed a button on his keyring to open it.
Ernie did not expect what happened next. Two Jedi Knights, at least Ernie thought they were Jedi from the looks of them, jumped out of the compartment and both kicked Ernie. The first kick landed in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The second one hit his face and knocked him down. Ernie was sure he had heard something crack. What are these guys doing here? I thought all the Jedi were dead. Ernie wiped his nose to stop the blood from trickling down on to his fine Saccorian made shirt.
Another man scrambled out of the compartment. His hair was tousled and he wore thin rimmed glasses. From the looks of him, he was not a Jedi, Ernie could deduce that. He was about five foot nine and he wore a smuggler's vest just like that Han Solo character Ernie had heard about after the Empire's defeat at Endor. The new man said in a very hushed voice, "I have the tape and the string, lets gag him." They got to work. Ernie tried to scream, but the first thing they did was put a large measure of tape around his mouth. Then they proceeded to tie his arms. Ernie couldn't count how many times they had wound the string around his arms and legs, but it was a lot. The Jedi finished by tying a Rancor's knot behind his legs and arms. They also taped his wrists together. Then he was shoved in the secret compartment.
"Good work," said Mike Wilson, Jedi Knight. "Let's go find that other pilot. We should be on the ground in no time." At that he rushed off down the corridor. Mike was about six feet tall and had a goatee. He also sported the kind of ponytail that the old Jedi used to wear and one of those beaded hair strands.
"Wait," said his brother Dan, "we're coming." He was Mike's identical twin. If you put them on a police line-up, you couldn't tell which one was which. "Hey Niles, come on, grab your blaster from the compartment." Niles Sarm was a good person to have in a blaster fight because of his deadly accuracy. But he was kind of timid, unlike the rest of their posse. Both of them followed after Mike.
Forshin was wondering why Ernie had been so quiet the last few minutes. She had decided to stop for a quick drink before helping Ernie. She had sent him a message by comm, but he never responded. Just like him, he always gets mad when I change my mind. He forgets who is the captain of this ship. Suddenly the door opened. Forshin had her back to it, so she didn't know who had entered. "Ernie, sorry, I just wanted a little drink. I was parched. You want a smoothie?"
"Yeah sure that would be nice," responded a voice completely unlike Ernie's high pitched warble. Forshin turned around. Who she gazed at was not Ernie, but a strikingly handsome man in Jedi robes. Another man, just like him raced into the room with a shorter companion. "Did I miss the show Mike?"
"Nope, what should we do to this one? Gag her too?" said Mike. The other Jedi nodded his head to show his approval. The short man with glasses brought some tape and cord to the Jedi. He had sort of a smirk on his face as if gagging and tying people up was fun. Forshin guessed it would be for these men.
The words came out of her mouth faster than a Theira who just spotted a sick Bantha. "You're not taking me without a fight, its time to die." She leapt up, grabbing her blaster out of it's holster and just as she was about to pull the trigger, the gun flew out of her hand. What the . . . But before she could finish her thought, she was pushed back against the wall, almost as if an invisible hand was pushing on her. The force of the impact knocked her out, and her wrist snapped as she hit the ground. Her body went limp and the men got to work tying her up.
Whirrr ching ching slamm. The ship had touched down on the planet. "Let's tear that droid to shreds and then blow this popsicle stand," Mike said, watching the door for any kind of movement. The reason they knew so much about the ship's inhabitants, was they had kept them under surveillance before choosing them to be their "chauffeurs." The trio raced up the ramp to the main cockpit. Mike and Dan ignited their lightsabers and looked around for the droid. It came out from behind the wall, sporting a Disintegrator 450 and a long vibrosword.
Forshin had not been joking when she had said the droid was intelligent. It not only knew how to fly, but it knew how to fight. The droid squeezed the trigger and a plasma blast shot out from it's wide barrel. The shot went way to the left of Mike, and he started to attack. Jumping into the air and doing a somersault, he landed in front of the droid. Ducking as the droid fired the weapon, he avoided the blast. Mike shoved his lightsaber up and it permanently disabled the gun. He then rolled to the side to avoid a chop from the vibrosword.
Niles was in his element. He aimed his blaster until the sights were on the droid's hand. He triggered one shot, disconnecting the hand from the droid's body and then fired a series of shots that decapitated the droid. "Too easy," he chuckled. Niles looked out the window and his eyes went wide. "Great Scott," he said in a surprised tone of voice. The portmaster is coming to check the ship. We better get out of here.
Fortunately, the trio wasn't just known for their fighting skills. "I have an idea," Mike remarked. "This is a YT-1300, right?" After getting his statement confirmed, Mike continued by saying, " all we have to do is launch the escape pod from the auxiliary terminal in the main compartment. That will surprise the portmaster and his guards. Then we just go out the back hatch and slip away unnoticed!"
"Great idea," Dan exclaimed. The main compartment was not far away and they reached it in less than a minute. Punching in a keycode and switching a few wires, they were rewarded with the sound of an escape pod disembarking from the ship and a speeder racing after it. "That thing will go for a few miles. By the time they get back we will be long gone and Forshin will get blamed for the spice and the crime." Dan jumped out of the secret back passage way and into the light of Tefct's two suns. Mike and Niles followed shortly.
Hanging in high orbit of the planet Tefct, the Super Star Destroyers Senn's Revenge and Eliminator watched the action going on below them. The citizens of Tefct could not see their fear inspiring shapes though, for they both had cloaking shields. "Prepare my shuttle for departure to the Senn's Revenge, I must meet with Admiral Senn," said General Dariv Ormav, commander of the Eliminator and Jedi Master. His aide scrambled off to fulfill his master's orders. General Ormav liked this sort of rigid command. But I still say this mission is a waste of time. And I have to deal with that idiot Admiral Senn. The rebels would never get that info back to their high command if he wasn't here, but he'll bungle it up somehow .
They had been given the mission of tracking down two rogue Jedi and their counterpart. Apparently they had duped Ysanne Isard into thinking they were Imperials and stole priority information from her. That was partly why the Death Star at Endor had been destroyed, the Jedi had given the Rebels information about the fleet and that had helped them to form a strategy. Ormav hated doing Isard's bidding, but now that the Emperor was gone, he planned to turn on her and give her the bloody death that she so rightly deserved.
Senn and the Emperor's Military Executor Sedriss had a hunch that the three Rebels would come to this planet. It had a large comm center and they could use it to send messages and information to the Rebels until they could be picked up. That is why they needed to stop them, for the precise reason that the Rebels would win major victories against the Empire with the info they would be receiving. It would not be hard to stop them, for the Empire was sending down troops to take over the planet.
There was one problem with this invasion. The world was part of the Corporate Sector, which means that sooner or later the Corporate Sector Authority would get wind of the changing of hands on Tefct. That means they would bring in a sizeable fleet and there would be a grand space battle. But Ormav had solved that problem. Inside the gas giant Sooterii, a large Imperial fleet was hidden, poised to strike at any time. They could defeat the C.S.A.
General Ormav's musings were interrupted by his aide's shrill voice. "General, General, your shuttle is ready!" Ormav followed his aide through a maze of hallways and turbolifts to the shuttle docking bay. His Orion class shuttle, The Wanderer, sat as still as stone on the docking bay floor, poised for flight. He walked up the landing ramp, lightsaber clanging against his belt and his aide scrambling up behind him like a nek puppy. The shuttle departed from the docking bay and went into the blackness of space. For a while, Ormav couldn't see any ships, but then they slipped into the cloaking field of the Senn's Revenge and it's monstrous hulk filled the viewport.
"Clearance code please," droned the voice of the traffic controller. The clearance code for the executive docking bay was 2367148, and Ormav's pilot promptly punched it in. "Good, you can dock in the executive docking bay. We'll send out some TIE Interceptors to guide you in." With those last words, the comm clicked off.
Admiral Senn sat in the meeting room with Executor Sedriss. It always spooked him being around the Executor. Senn knew that Sedriss knew a lot more than he led on. He was hiding some deep dark secrets that Senn just couldn't dig up. Senn himself had a few secrets of his own that Sedriss didn't know about. He kept them well guarded in the back of his mind, oblivious to even Sedriss' mind probes. His biggest and most well guarded secret was the Particle Cannon. This weapon was mounted in the hall of the Senn's Revenge and could destroy an entire planet in two shots. If Sedriss knew about this he would abuse it and there would only be a handful of planets left, so that's why Senn kept it a secret.
Senn was no match for Sedriss in combat though. So if Sedriss wanted to divulge this secret out of Senn than he would have to give it up or die. Senn was much shorter and lankier than Sedriss. He also didn't have the mentality to fight. Years of being around Sedriss, Isard, and even the Dark Lord of the Sith himself had worn his confidence down to where he could no longer stand up to Sedriss' apprentice Thein even. It was a low point in Senn's career, but he would strive to overcome his towardness. He had even made some plans to do so. But that was besides the point for now.
The Empire's Military Executor Sedriss sat across from Senn on the long ishi wood conference table. Senn could feel his penetrating gaze. Sedriss stared blankly at Senn, but Senn knew better than to think he was just resting. Sedriss always had one scheme or another floating around in his head. Probably to wrest control of the Empire from the chaos after the Battle of Endor or another violent twist like that. Everything about Sedriss was intimidating. His face was always blank and his eyes were cold. He had a neatly trimmed beard, and some said it was to hide a scar given to him by Vader.
At that instant, the door opened and General Ormav stepped into the conference room. "Good day, gentlemen," he uttered smiling, and taking a seat in the middle of the table. One more man walked in behind him. The man had a crew cut and a stone hard face. He wore Imperial Stormtrooper armor without the helmet. "I have taken the liberty of bringing along one of my trusted subordinates. Gentlemen, meet Captain Nova." Neither grinning, nor scowling, the man sat down at the table, his face expressionless.
"Mmm, nice to meet you Captain Nova, I predict you will be a great asset to us," declared Senn. "Now gentlemen, how will the invasion be 'organized,' if you will." He fidgeted with his pen until it rolled off the table. Embarrassed more than a nerf herder without any nerf food at a nerf food eating contest, he remained silent. Ormav gestured to Nova with a hand and for the first time, this strange man talked.
His voice was very low pitched and he talked quietly, as if there was a bug planted in this room, which Senn was assured that there wasn't for a scanning crew had checked right before the meeting. "I thought we would land most of our troops on the western and southern sides of the capital city of Greop. These regions are fairly hilly so we will land on the top of the hills, naturally gaining the advantage." He picked up the cup of caf on his table and sipped it for a second. After finishing he said, "there will also be waves of fighters flying in from the south to do some pre-attack scouting and to neutralize defenses. This group will be headed by Alix Verix."
"And who will head the other groups?" Ormav vocalized. "I assume you will be heading the one attacking from the south, because I have analyzed the topographical maps and that is by far the most challenging."
"Correct sir," said Nova with confidence. "Weent Quiluu, you know, the Rodian, will be heading the group coming in from the west. I also neglected to mention that your brother will be commanding a group of fighters supporting the western attack." He again sipped his caf mug and looked around to Senn or Sedriss for some input.
Finally Senn spoke up. "Yes, sounds like a very good plan. I can supply some other groups of fighters to come in from the north and east. After the initial attack on the capital is over we can branch out and take the whole planet before the Espos can even say bantha fodder." He smirked and continued, "we should attack at night though, because if it is in the daytime the Espos will be more alert."
"Good idea," said Ormav. "Executor, do you have anything to say?"
"No," said Sedriss.
Senn's comm beeped. "Ooops, gotta take a call in my quarters," he said. "Looks like we'll have to plan some more later. Goodbye for now, gentlemen."
Alix Verix walked down the B-corridor of the Eliminator to her bedroom in the squadron barracks. She was a beautiful young woman of 17 years old. She was also a Jedi Apprentice, well not formally because she had no master, but she could wield a lightsaber. It was a wonder that she had even passed the academy flight exam. She was perhaps the youngest pilot to achieve captain in the history of the Empire. It had only been nine months until she had gained command of Black Devil squadron. She approached the door and punched in the keycode.
All her squadronmates were in the common room. Selo and Mar were playing some sort of Jedi game on the vid console, Lily and Frax were watching a holo about a man who got eaten by a kyrat dragon, and the rest of them (Herbie, Nonml, Klik, Lori, and Jerry) were eating at the table. Selo yelled to her over the noise. "Yo captain, wanna play, I can set one of the computers to a player."
She responded. "No thanks Selo, I am tired and I want to go rest in my room. Being the captain, she was the only one with her own room. And she was grateful for it. Growing up she had lived in a room with four sisters and having her own room was a pleasure. The message console on the side beeped, telling her that she had messages. Walking over to the console, she pressed the button to hear the messages.
The first one was from Selo and Mar. Their round Xexto faces stared at her and they screamed obscenities in various languages until Nonml came over, knocked them out and turned off the message. They did this about once every month as a joke. And every time, Nonml stopped them. They would also frequently yank on Alix's ponytail and she would get angry. They were defiantly the clowns of the squadron. Black Devil squadron was very diverse. They had of course, two Xexto, Nonml was a wookie, and Klik was a Toydarian, mind tricks didn't work on him. General Ormav didn't have the prejudice against alien species that most of the Imperials had.
The next message proved to be more interesting. It was Captain . . . Alix couldn't think of it, but it had something to do with space. He began right away, his face stone cold. "You have been chosen to fly in the invasion of Tefct. Your squadron is going to come in from the south, scout the defenses and then destroy them. The battle plan has been enclosed for you." Alix selected the print option on the console and selected ten copies, one for each of her squadron mates. She took all the copies and then, giddy with excitement, went to announce the news to all of her subordinates.
"Listen up," Alix chirped with excitement, "we are to be part of the invasion of Tefct a week from now. The attack will launch at midnight and we will follow in a group of troops and ground vehicles from the south. Here is a copy of the battle plan for each of you." She handed them out to everyone and then retired to her room. It would be nice to relax, she thought. But what would come in the next few days would test her character and resolve.
"Hmm, sounds interesting, hey Mar?" said Selo. "Our first actual mission. Let's walk down to the sims with the others so we can practice. Sounds like a plan?" After getting a approving nod from Mar, Selo went around and asked the others. They all thought it was a good idea.
"Wait," said Mar, "what about the captain? Should we ask her?" He said while preparing to open the door.
"Nah," said Herbie, "she's resting now. Let her sleep." He was a human, about 34 years old. Sometimes he helped Selo and Mar with their various pranks. The nine squadron confidants walked down to the sims. In no time they were battling Espo ships and shooting down fighters.
Mike sweated in the humid of Tefct's night. He could hear some sort of a primate hollering somewhere in the forests surrounding Greop. The trio needed money for food, and to rent an apartment for as long as they were on Tefct. Apparently Niles knew a crime lord who they could squeeze money from. He usually resided in the high rollers section of the Trinity Casino and Resort at the Hervic table. They approached the casino and were asked wether they were just visiting or if they were guests. The former was their answer.
"This should be fun," said Dan with a chortle. "Niles, do you have your Frim 190 pistol? And Mike you brought along your lightsaber right?"
"Yes, mother," they both answered sarcastically. Dan was always the serious one, where the other two were jokers. They took a turbolift up to the high rollers section. Hervic was a strange game. Few knew how to play it and even fewer knew how to play it well. It involved cards and a knich or some k word like that, which nobody in the party knew.
At last the arrived at the high rollers section, walking and casually glancing for Big Remi, at least that's what Niles had said his name was. They finally found him at table 4. "What do you want?" he grunted, not even looking at them. He continued to do something with the cards and the knich.
"We want money," said Mike, slamming his fist on the table so hard it knocked the knich over. At once blaster fire erupted from the room and wall mounted blasters poked out. Remi rushed out the door at the end of a long hallway and the trio had just lost their money source. Mike instantly jumped up, ignited his lightsaber, and did a somersault in the air. As he came down, his lightsaber's trajectory intersected with a guard's midsection. The man wailed and then fell silent.
Dan and Niles were making progress also. Dan was slashing through the ranks of guards like they were rag dolls, and Niles was backing him up by shooting the ones he missed. Niles dropped and rolled as a blaster bolt zoomed over his head. He came up, stabbing the shooter with the bayonet attached to his gun. Then he gave another gunman a roundhouse kick, dropping him to the floor where he met his death.
The next thing to take care of was the wall mounted blasters. Mike was standing in the middle of a pile of bodies deflecting the bolts back to their origin. He couldn't deflect all of them, though, so Dan stepped in to help him. As usual, Niles provided backup with his Frim 190. Pretty soon the wall blaters fell silent.
The next order of business was to find Remi. They walked down the hall to the door where he had disappeared. It led them into a stairway that looked out on a maze of concrete walls. That is probably where Remi's ship was. As they walked out onto the alleyway that led to the concrete maze, three rolling droids came up to them. They unfolded and shields came up around them. Mike and Dan were no fools. During their Jedi training they had been taught to recognize different droids. These particular ones were Destroyer droids.
"Okay, I have a plan," said Mike, deflecting the first salvo of bolts. "Dan and I will wait till they shoot, and deflect the bolts. Right as we deflect them, Niles, you shoot your pistol. All those bolts should hit home and overload their shields. Okay here comes some bolts." Mike and Dan hit the bolts right on with their lightsabers, and at that instant, Niles fired. The shots hit the droid's shields, and sure enough, they overloaded. They repeated this process twice and then Niles shot at each droid once, destroying them.
The three men ran down the alleyway. But they were met with heavy opposition at its mouth. Two speeders with back mounted particle cannons, twelve humanoids and three particularly nasty Dugs stared at them. At once Mike went into action. He leapt on top of the speeder, using the force to throw the drivers out, and then shooting the particle cannon at the other speeder.
It erupted in flame and then exploded. Mike turned the cannon on the humanoid party and squeezed the trigger. A big crater replaced the smooth ground where they once stood. Then he turned his attention to Dan and Niles. They had disemboweled the dugs with relative ease.
Their troubles weren't over yet, however. A group of airspeeders came down from the sky. The airspeeders were preparing for their initial attack run. Boy this guy really doesn't want to give up his money thought Mike. The lead airspeeder dropped a human out of it's rear compartment. Mike saw the flare of a jetpack in the night sky and the figure landed. Mike had bigger problems than to figure out who the mysterious person was. He aimed the particle cannon at the lead airspeeder and fired. The shot hit the airspeeder and it was engulfed in flames. It crashed into the casino and the building also started on fire.
Mike should have paid attention to the man before he reached them. He shot a powerful blaster that tipped the speeder over and sent Mike flying. He landed, burned and cut, by Dan and Niles. After getting himself together, he froze.
The man who they saw before them was not a normal man. Not by any means. Nobody noticed the airspeeders had left, they just stared, transfixed on a point in the distance. They could see the outline of Mandalorian armor. The man who had come for them was indeed no normal man, he was Boba Fett.
"B-b-boba Fett?" inquired Niles, lip trembling. "Why have you come here for us?" The answer was obvious. Probably to collect on a bounty.
"Nope, not Boba Fett, we get confused sometimes. Name's Jodo Kast. There are subtle differences that you will notice if you see us enough. Which you don't want to, believe me." He toyed with his holster lock until it opened. Taking out a pistol, he fired a shot into the air. "As for your friend's answer, I am here to collect the Imperial bounty on you." He switched the blaster to stun with his thumb and then fired a bolt.
Mike deflected it. He jumped out of the way of another bolt and then rushed at Jodo Kast. Jodo Kast jumped in the air and turned around to face Mike. He triggered a storm of stun bolts, which Mike deflected. In the background, Mike heard the whine of a ship's engines. Kast probably has his ship slaved. Slaving was a technique, where a person would make a comm link to their ship and tell it to start up or such like that.
Kast had his blaster on Dan and Dan had his arms up. But something happened that surprised all of them. Niles shot a bolt which passed straight through Kast's gun hand, knocking it off. Kast's ship landed about thirty feet away. "Curse you all," said Kast as he picked up his hand and ran to his ship. In a few seconds his ship took off.
"That was easy," they all said.
"Almost too easy," said Mike squinting at Kast's ship. "I wonder why he left like that? Probably thought he needed to get his hand fixed as soon as possible."
"I dunno . . ." said Niles and Dan.
Big Remi, crime lord, and drug dealer walked cautiously with his guards along the path to his ship. The Luxury Yacht Remi's Pride was in the foreground. His guards were loading his belongings into Remi's Pride. He was leaving Tefct forever. In the background he could hear a distant rumbling. Remi knew what it was. Theenosaurs, the most feared predator on Tefct. They could rip a human to shreds in a few slashes. "Hurry up," Remi said nervously.
But they didn't have time to hurry. The Theenosaurs were upon them in less than two minutes. Theenosaurs were lizard/birdlike creature (like veloceraptors). Immediately, all of Remi's guards dropped what they were carrying and pulled out their blasters. The Theenosaurs raced at them, hungry for blood.
Merik Herk and Dennik Eeris were struggling to set up a cannon before the theenosaurs reached them. Merik was struggling to put the plaster on its stand, but instead he succeded in dropping it on his foot. This caused him to curse and it was nearly ten seconds before he picked it up again.
That was the mistake that cost them their lives. Two Theenosaurs rocketed at them and both jumped on Merik. Their razor sharp foot claws knocked him down, and then they proceeded to eat the rest of him. Did they see me? Thought Dennik. Maybe not. He broke into a run, but that made the Theenosaurs notice him. They rushed to intercept him. One jumped on his back and tore out his spinal cord, leaving him limp as tapioca pudding. Each Theenosaur now had a meal and they quickly gobbled it down while the rest of their pack hunted.
Remi watched all this from the relative safety of a wall. He sat on it with his most experienced guards, in case any Theenosaurs tried to get him. Some guards in the foreground were battling Theenosaurs. A blaster bolt hit one of the Theenosaurs in the face, killing it. Some other Theenosaurs jumped on the dead carcass, but others sought to avenge their friend's death. The man facing all the Theenosaurs was overpowered. In seconds Remi saw him fall to the ground with a large chest wound, and then a group of Theenosaurs jumped on him too.
Remi spotted his trusted advisor Baii in the middle of all this. How he would hate to lose Baii. But sometimes sacrifices had to be made to stay alive. Baii took his heavy blaster and pointed it at a assemblage of oncoming Theenosaurs. He let a proton grenade fly and it landed in their midst. It exploded, shooting Theenosaurs into the air. He found another band of Theenosaurs and let loose another proton grenade.
One of the Theenosaurs mistakenly thought it was food. It gobbled the grenade up. Fortunately for the others, this greatly reduced the effect of the explosion. The Theenosaur who had devoured the grenade split apart. Blood splattered on the others. They shot twoards Baii, who was looking at his good work, and in seconds they were on top of him, picking the meat off his bones.
The guards of Remi were fighting a losing battle. Theenosaur after Theenosaur killed them, usually leaving the body to eat later. Remi's only hope was that they would eat their fill and go back to their living place, content with their meal. The Theenosaurs were much too fast, strong, and smart for Remi's guards to handle. The only predator on Tefct that was larger than them was the Ormosaur, but they only lived in the forests.
An E-web cannon had been set up in front of the wall Remi was sitting on. The two Quarrens manning it fired many bursts into the night air. Some struck Theenosaurs. Others missed them or went wide. A few Theenosaurs saw the E-web and knew some fresh meat would be there. Already Morskiis had come to scavenge the dead bodies. They were too small for the Theenosaurs to eat, so they didn't mind them. They rushed twoards the Quarren, hunger in their eyes.
The Theenosaurs made short work of the Quarrens. Then they tried to jump up the wall but couldn't. They wouldn't stop trying. At this rate they'd be there until the Theenosaurs ripped them in half, which they did a few seconds later.
One of the guards sitting next to Remi must have had a light bulb turn on in their head, because they pushed him off the wall. Then they broke into a run on the wall, trying to reach the safety of the city. They left the Theenosaurs with their plump meal.
The guards ran along the thin wall until they began to see the city in view. To move at a faster pace, they jumped off the wall. The Theenosaurs would surely not attack them here, for it was too close to the city. Still walking cautiously, for they thought some of the Theenosaurs might be brave and follow them, they made their way to the entrance.
The two walked out into the luminous streetlights of the city. What they found there was not peace and quiet, but three men with guns pointing at them. "Take us to the ship," one of the men in Jedi robes said. He turned the lead guard around and shoved the blaster in his back. The other Jedi did the same.
"What if we don't want to?" inquired one of the guards. The guard then felt a stabbing pain in his back. He fell to the street, screaming for help. The Jedi must have had a shocker implanted in his gun. Shockers were gun attachments with which you could shock your captive and bend them to your will. The guard hesitantly got back up and submitted to the Jedi's order, for he did not want to get shocked again. He once again entered the mouth of the concrete maze.
The trek was short. With the help of the guards, the Jedi didn't need to use trial and error to find the ship. They walked along, guns to the guards backs. Mike's burns from the fateful speeder incident were acting up again, so he gave the job to Niles while he took care of them. All he had to do was rub some bacta on it. His face was now a virtual colony of bacta patches. But it would allow him to fight if he needed to.
What they beheld when they came to Remi's Pride's landing area was a gruesome sight. The dead carcasses of many men were lying on the ground, picked to the bone. It was a perfect time to go scavenging. Surely what gnawed on these people had not eaten their clothes. "Who did this?" Mike questioned as he looked through a man's trousers. "Eureka, 1,000 credits."
"Oh that's right, today's payday," said one of the guards. "Now I'll never get my check. And to answer your first question, Theenosaurs did this. Thery're a nasty bunch if you ask me. Wouldn't hang around too long if I were you. They'll be back, oh yes they will." With those words, both guards raced down the pathway back to the city. After Mike, Dan, and Niles had found everything they to went back with much more difficulty than on the way to the ship.
Captain Nova stretched. After checking his bedside chrono, he told himself it was time to wake up. Today was the big day, the day he would shine. He got out of bed, going to the fridge to get some juice and waffles. After his meal, Nova went to the fresher to take a shower. Today would be the biggest test he had ever faced, so he didn't want to look dirty. He walked to his dresser. Getting one of the many pairs of Stormtrooper armor without a helment that he owned, he proceeded to put it on.
When all was said and done, Nova opened the door of his room to find Alix Verix wating for him. "What are you doing here?" Nova enunciated, wiping his eyes. "Let me guess, you kids are all excited for the battle. Trust me, when you get older killing isn't as fun. Loses its luster. All you want to do is achive a higher rank. My advice to you kid."
"For the last time I am not a kid," screamed an infuriated Alix Verix. "I am a captain and I have my own squadron. Now would a kid have that? No wait, don't answer that because it will probably be smart-alecky." She ran ahead to catch up with him, trying to make eye contact with him, but he was skilled enough to keep her in his prehiphreal vision, provoking her even more.
"Men!" she shrilled and then walked down the way to her squadron barracks.
I think the best thing about teasing her is she gets irked so easily thought Captain Nova. It's so fun to ruffle her feathers. Kids these days. Nova wasn't exactly old, but he wasn't a kid either. He was thirty-one wich made him in that limbo stage where he was neither young nor old. He walked down the hall, trying to find Quiluu and Larmc Ormav, the general's younger brother.
They were already in the confrence room when he arrived about ten minutes later. Seated between them was a fuming Alix Verix. She's got to let that go, I was only being sarcastic. Also present were three men from squadrons Admiral Senn had sent over. "So gentlemen and kid, the attack will be commencing tonight, do all of you have your troops ready?" He had the pleasure of seeing Alix start to shake and thought her head might catch on fire. "Everybody has reviewed the battle plan so we all know what to do." I think you should all run sims until were ready to go. Sound like a plan?"
Everyone muttered yes and the meeting was ajourned. Nova took his troops and ran them through some battle sims. All of the groups did this until 2300 hours and then they all loaded onto Star Galleons and Assult Transports. The troops would be backed up by Strike Cruisers which could go into realatively low orbit and do devastating ground assult. An Interdictor cruiser had been hidden behind Polerib, Tefct's moon, and would stop any outgoing ships.
The Star Galleons took off from the Eliminator's docking bay and slipped into the atmosphere of Tefct. The Assult Transports folowed, and the Strike Cruiser Scythe went last. The troops were dropped off outside the city in a grove of trees. Nova climed out of the transport and could feel AT-ATs and AT-STs lumbering behind him. After making sure no Espo troops were in the vicinity, he clicked his comm on. "Yo, Verix, time to attack. We'll follow you." The fighters swooped in, and immediately the sky lit up with fire. Missle turrets shot their lethal projectiles at the oncoming fighters. In an CSA hanger right across the street from him he could hear the whine of Espo starfighters. "Head over there, and decimate the hangar," he said over his comm unit.
The lumbering AT-ATs proceeded first, flanked by AT-STs. Nova had a few suprises up his sleeve for those unscrupulous Espos. The Dark Trooper line, which most thought had been stopped, was really in production on several well guarded Imperial worlds. Nova had brought along a group of these deadly warriors. They were hidden inside the AT-ATs and would be depoyed when needed.
The AT-ATs gunned lasers which hit home and in seconds the building was in flames. "Strike Team Gamma, do you copy, what is your status," Nova vented, angry that they had not yet called him, but worried that they were dead.
"We're still here. The fighter groups coming in from the north and east are still alive and kicking too." That was Quiluu's voice. Nova was glad that they were okay. The AT-ATs continued to clump through the city, undaunted by the Espo threat that was on the horizon.
Alix Verix sweated in the heat of the battle. This was the first real mission her squadron had ever been in. If I don't screw this up, maybe I can become commander she fantasized. Nonml was her wingmate for this mission. All in all, the Black Devils were doing superb. They had already knocked out many of the missle turrets, allowing the Scythe to come in closer. In was wreaking havoc on the buildings.
Suddenly, new blips appeared on Alix's screen. TIE Wings which were TIE fighter cockpits with Y-Wing engines, X-TIEs, a TIE cockpit with X-Wing s-foils, and Planetary fighters made up the group. There were also some freighters and a Dauntless class cruiser, the Warbringer coming out of hyperspace. Alix told her squadron to concentrate on the X-TIEs first, and then take care of the rest. She designated the captain of the X-TIE squadron her main priority and switched to proton torpedoes. At first the trigger box was green, then as she got closer it turned yellow and beeped, and when she was finally in range, the target turned red with one long beep. She let loose two proton torpedoes which followed her target like Bathawks. She went into a dive as the squadron leader turned to face her. Linking her lasers to quad fire she came up out of her dive to face her advirsary. When her targeting box turned green, she shot a burst, scraping one of his wings off and forcing him to roll. The proton torpedoes caught up with him and he exploded in a brilliant burst of flame.
Nonml was also on the tail of one of the X-TIEs. Her TIE Defender's shields were at 25 precent, which could cost her her life if she made a mistake. Alix decided to drop in on any fighters following her. Sure enough, one X-TIE trailed her, mimicking her every move. She sped towards the X-TIE, but she was too late. The X-TIE let loose a concussion missle and Nonml's TIE Defender mushroomed, killing her. Alix sped in with an eye to kill the X-TIE that had slain her friend. She chased it up into the path of the Scythe's turbolasers and the X-TIE fell back to Tefct, in a ball of flame.
Naturally Selo and Mar were wingmen. They tore through the X-TIEs, making short work of them. When all the X-TIEs were gone, they broke up, half of them hitting the TIE Wings and the other half sticking it to the Planetary Fighters. In less than 30 minutes the opposition was all gone. "This is Black Devil leader, click in twice if your alive." She observed that Lori, Jerry, and Frax had not clicked in. Selo and Mar clicked in only once, as a joke, showing that even the death of their friends could not diminish their spirit. "Alright, we'll just lend support to the ground troops now," she sent a comm message to Nova who said Quiluu needed help. "Okay, we're heading over to Quiluu's position."
The AT-AT Quiluu was commanding was a black one. He insisted on it being black and had special modifications so it could shoot fatal stinger missles. It was his pride and joy. Quiluu's troops were enagaging some Espo battle skiffs and War Dragons, Espo tanks. "Okay everyone, target the War Dragons first. They will give us the least oppostion since they can't shoot at air targets. She targeted one of the War Dragons that was eyeing Quiluu's AT-AT and fired a proton torepedo, which shattered it into thousands of tiny peices.
The War Dragon and battle skiff combination was steadily pushing the Imperials back. The nastiest suprise came next, as one of the skiffs launched a interceptor class missle that Quiluu's guns couldn't destroy. The missle smashed into the cockpit of the AT-AT and it detonated, killing Quiluu. The AT-AT fell on a group of War Dragons, Quiluu's final kill. Black Devil squadron ripped through the skiffs and War Dragons. In no time, the Imperials were on the offensive again knocking the Espos back towards the city square.
The Imperial Strike cruiser had many problems on its hand also. Alix thought that they should go run interference for it while it battled the Warbringer in the upper atmosphere. Her idea was confirmed as Admiral Senn came on the comm, saying, "run interference for the Scythe while it struggles with the Warbringer. We will send droid jacks down to take over the Warbringer's control systems." Droid jacks were miniturized ships that landed on a capital ship, probed into its control systems and used the information to command the control system.
Alix's fighters hastened towards the Warbringer and started to harass it. They weaved in and out of turbolaser blasts and shot ion pulses at it. Ion pulses helped to disable a ship's shields. The droid jacks began their descent from Senn's Revenge and latched on to the Warbringer. They explored the Warbringer's computer and in minutes it was under Imperial control. The first order of operations was to shut down life support, killing the inhabitants. Once that was done the Warbringer was ready for battle.
Captain Nova watched all this action from city square. His next task was to assasinate the ruler of Tefct. Not too hard. He was also a trained assasin in addition to being a brilliant military tactician. "Yo, Verix," Nova said over his comm. "Land in city square, I want you to help me. She landed and jumped out of her TIE Defender, landing in a crouch. She followed him and a few of his trusted soldiers until they got to the Governor's mansion. This is where the governor of Tefct would be, most definitely.
"What are we doing?" asked Alix, her face questioning his motives. "Did you hear about Quiluu?" Nova nodded and his battle hardened face betrayed a hint of sadness. Quiluu had been his best friend. But he was a military man and wouldn't let it get to him. They walked down the halls of the mansion. Podracing pictures adorned the wall. "Must be a big fan," Alix muttered. "I always preferred Sebulba."
"Come on, your too young to remember Sebulba. What are you, like five or something?" Nove said sarcastically. Alix slapped him and walked on ahead, talking to one of the troopers. Nova rubbed his face and drew his blaster. In a short time, they arrived at the Governor's bedroom. They could hear the hushed voices of his wife and children. "Open the door Xervus," Nova motioned to one of the Darktroopers. Some had men inside their exoskeletons and this was one of them. It increased the chance of the Darktrooper not being destroyed because the human could override its command matrix. The Darktrooper put an IM mine on the door. It exploded sending shards of wood pelting at the Imperials.
First an older woman, probably in her eighties came up to them screaming, "no no, spare us!" Nova guessed she was a servant or nanny or something like that. He clothslined her and then shot her dead with his blaster. The Governor was huddled with his wife and children in the corner. Nova told them to line up against the wall.
Good he's not going to kill them like he did that servant thought Alix. But she was mistaken. Unlike she, who preferred to let innocents live, Nova was a true Imperial who enjoyed killing. He picked up his blaster, shot the wife threw it to his other hand, shot the first child, did a behind the back shot and killed the second child, and finally walked up to the Governor. "You killed my best friend, you dirty Espo. Maybe you should think about your family and friends before you make Captain Nova angry. I enjoyed killing them, and I will feed their dead bodys to Rancors and laugh about it."
That was the last straw for the Governor. He slammed Nova against the back wall. But Nova was no fool. He did a roundhouse kick and blood spilled down the governor's face, from his nose. Then he fired five shots with his blaster, drilling holes into the Governor's vital organs. He looked at Alix, who was on the verge of crying. "What's wrong kid?"
"I'll tell you what's wrong Nova," she said pointing her finger at him. "You killed innocent people in cold blood. Is that fun for you." She drew her blaster. "How would you like to die Nova? Long and painful, or quick and painless. Either way it's happening. I don't care if I die too, but you will be killed. Why did you have to shoot those kids and that woman, why?" She finally broke down and started crying.
"Want to know why, because of Quiluu. When he died, he was in the back of the AT-AT sending a message to his family. Is that a valiant way to die, no I don't think so. If they had let him die with honor, commanding his AT-AT, then I might have spared those innocents. I think the Governor deserved it, he was proud, and pride consumes you and those around you." He walked up to Alix putting a comforting hand on her shoulder . . . Then he pushed her down. Something cracked. "Lieutenant Grems, take her into custody. I will have her tried for attempted assasination of an Imperial officer, and you will recive my personal commendation." With those last words, Nova walked out to his shuttle, the sweltering heat not adding anything to his bad mood.
Mike, Dan, and Niles walked along the scorched streets of Greop, careful to avoid any Imperial troops. They entered a dark alleyway. Rain poured on them, making them miserable. They had to find a way off the planet. Which would be hard considering the Imperials were looking for something. And when the Imperials were looking for something, they'd find it. Had Isard put a homing beacon on the Oomaroo and told the Imperials to track them here? There was no time to worry about that now, because a stormtrooper patrol had spotted them.
Mike ignited his lightsaber. He did a jump kick and snapped the commanding stormtrooper's neck. He spun around, lopping off the stormtrooper's upper body. Mike deflected two blaster bolts into the stormtroopers midst. By this time, Niles and Dan had joined the fight. Mike calculated that there were about ten stormtroopers. Not bad odds. We should be able to beat them.
He dashed to meet two oncoming stormtroopers. He took their heads, bashed them together, and then slammed them against the far wall of the alleyway where Niles shot them both dead. Mike jumped up in the air, spinning around and landing behind a stormtrooper. Before the stormtrooper could say Bantha, Mike had shoved the lightsaber through his stomach. The stormtrooper sank to the ground, and his blood flowed down the alleyway, carried by the rain.
Dan slashed his lightsaber through two oncoming stormtroopers. He ducked a blaster bolt, rolled to the side, and cut the shooter's feet out from under him. Dan's lightsaber was there to meet the trooper on the way down. The remaining stormtroopers were closing Dan in. He jumped up onto a bar, kicked two which Niles shot, dropped down and hit the others with his lightsaber. That ended the fight. "Quick, we better get out of here before more stormtroopers come," Dan said, jumping over the wall. They raced into a speeder parking garage, hoping to find a unlocked one with a keycode starter. This would enable them to use the force to figure out the keycode and steal the speeder.
They walked up the ramp leading to a garage. The place was deserted because of the recent battle. There were speeders galore. "Shh," said Mike, cupping his hand to his ear. "I think I heard footsteps." He walked on, careful not to make any noise. "Mabey I was just imagining things. Look there's a Feriss 9001 speeder with a back mounted gun." Dan walked up to it, inspecting its features.
"Ah, yes, it does have a retractable top, keycode starter, back and side mounted guns too. Didn't see those, huh Mike?" Dan chuckled. He always loved finding something Mike didn't or being better at something then him. Even though they were twins, Mike had always seemed to be the better one. "The keycode is 4567821," Dan punched it in. "Yes, it worked." He started up the engine. "Get in guys."
"What makes you think your going anywhere? It's time to pay the piper," said a metallic sounding voice. Everyone turned around. They knew who the speaker was. Jodo Kast stared at them through the visor of his helmate. He laughed. "Why are you so suprised to see me? Did you think getting my hand cut off would stop me?" He flexed his right hand and then laughed again. Pulling out two blasters, he aimed it at the three men. "I assume your coming with me?"
"Well you know what happens when you assume," said Dan. "It makes an ass out of you and me. But this time it will only be you who will be the fool. It's time to die Kast." He and Mike ignited their lightsabers with a snap-hiss. They began deflecting bolts at Jodo Kast. Kast just jumped out of the way.
Suddenly, something happened that took all of them by suprise except Jodo Kast. The wall exploded, sending bricks and shrapnel everywhere. The ship was Kast's ship, the Plague. It was a Lloronian Systems Mark XI Headhunter class. The ship had a rounded head, a sloping neck that connected to a oval shaped body. It had two wings for atmospheric support. It bristled with concussion missle launchers and cannons.
"Now are you ready to come with me?" asked Kast. "It would be to your benifit. You would not receive a long painful death. I could talk Executor Sedriss into giving you a short one." Kast whipped out his blasters and shot a stun bolt at Niles before anyone could do anything. The shot hit Niles square in the chest, smashing him down on the pavement. Dan was so suprised, he dropped his lightsaber. That was a big mistake. Kast shot a rope out of him arm contraption and it wound around Dan. Kast let the rope go and turned his attention towards Mike. He rocketed up on his jetpack, spun around, and while in the air, shot a stun bolt at Mike. The stun bolt hit him, and Kast's mission was accompished. He loaded the men into his ship's cells for transportation to Senn's Revenge.
Hours later, the stun bolts' effects had worn off. Mike and Niles sat up, groggy and tired. Dan, who had never been shot with a stun bolt during the battle, was just fine. They were sitting in a cell on the Plague and were miserable. Jodo Kast walked in, and looked them over. "I should get the bounty. Only a few cuts and scrapes. Nothing like a decapitated laeg that would kill you before we got there. Unless any of you got a major sickness in the last few hours. Oh well, it's just me worrying."
"Destination in point eight clicks. Approaching destination, comm unit on," said the compuer on the Plague. The comm turned on and the controller's voice said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Jodo Kast. Welcome aboard, Sir. Land in the executive docking bay. The Executor is expecting you. TIE Interceptors will guide you to your destination." The comm clicked off and TIE Interceptors led the Plague to the docking bay. Jodo Kast landed the ship, and then went back to retrive his prisoners. He subdued them with drugs and led them out to the docking bay floor.
"Ah, Jodo Kast, very good," said Executor Sedriss. "You are a truly great bounty hunter." He walked up to Jodo Kast, producing a credit chit. "The payment, 345,000 credits as expected, am I right." Kast nodded and Sedriss handed him the chit. "It was not hard retriving them, I trust. What kind of death would you recommend I give them?"
"Well, since they caused me lots of trouble, I say long and painful. Make them suffer. But feed one of them to a Ormosaur, though, just for laughs." Kast turned on his heels and walked up to his ship. "If you need anything else, Sedriss, I'm your man." With those last words, he walked into his ship. The door closed. In seconds it was just one point of light in millions.
"Mmm," voiced Sedriss. "You will die painfully and long like Kast suggested, but I need to do it in an original way. First, just to spite you well I think of ways to kill you, I'll hang your weapons in plain sight across your door. But you won't be able to retreive them because I'll find a way to force proof the room. Yslmari, yes that's it. Oooo how I love me." He walked up to them, collecting their weapons. "Luntenant, take them to cell block V." A man in his early twenties walked up to them and bound their hands with handcuffs.
"Yes sir," said the man. "They will be taken to cell block V." He looked at his keypad, assesing which part of cell block V to take them to. There was section D,G,or K. K had the most available spots, two rooms. And one would have to share a room with a fellow prisoner. They were full up with ruffians and scoundrels from a battle at Ord Serni. It was hell putting up with prisoners, but it was work that had to be done. The lutenant sighed, and then took the men to cell block V, section K.
They walked down the halls of Senn's Revenge. The three men were awake enough now to scout out the halls, in case they got out of their cells. The Super Star Destroyer was a confusing place indeed. They walked up and down halls, took too many turbolifts to count, and went on millions of moving sidewalks. Finally they got to cell block K.
As it turned out, Mike was the one separated from the rest of the group. The guard led Niles and Dan to one room, and then turned his attention to Mike. "Gonna cry, come on, squirt some, baby. Cry, you know you want to do it." His attempts at degrading Mike didn't work one bit. He unlocked the door to room K-49 and threw Mike in.
Mike landed with a thud. He skidded across the ground and hit the wall. After he finished rubbing his aching body parts, he noticed another person in the room. She was a beautful woman with a black ponytail. "Hello," Mike said. "What are you in for? Oh sorry, name's Mike Wilson unless you're a undercover Imperial in which case it's Dan."
"Don't worry, I'm not an Imp, well I used to be. To answer your question, I'm in here for attempted assasination of an Imperial officer. I tried to kill Captain Nova after he killed this woman and her kids. I pulled my blaster on him, and threatened him. That's what got me here. What are you in for? By the way, my name's Alix Verix."
Mike could sense the Force coursing through this woman. "Oh, well I'm in for many things. First is appearance fraud, second is the same one you have, third is evasion of Imperial authorities and fourth is assasination of an Imperial officer, five counts. I'm in pretty deep, kid." She fumed at this statement. "Touchy subject, 'eh? Well my story is I infiltrated Couruscant as a Imperial courtier and obtained information from a certain Ysanne Isard. Well foolishly I tried to kill her, and I've been on the run since then. I killed a few Imp officials on the way." He sat up on the bench next to her. "What do they give us for food around here?"
At that instant, something that resembled food fell onto the floor. It was on cheap plastic plates. "The first time I got this I thought it was waste. I'm suprised they even give us plates here with all the paranoia about a prison revolt." Alix handed Mike a plate of something and they both started to eat. Both of them ate their food faster than you could say Malastare and then they went to their bunks to get some rest.
Mike was the one who brought the subject up first. "So, you a Jedi or something? I am." He couldn't see her because the Imperials had turned off the lights so the prisoners could sleep.
"Yeah, kind of," she said. "I know how to use a lightsaber and all, but farther than that is a mystery. If we got out of here, do you think you could teach me, like a master-apprentice sort of thing. I've wanted to be a Jedi since I was a kid. My parents told me all about the famous Jedi Knights like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia and all those others. I was always scared of the Sith too."
"Most people are. Unfortunately, I've had one too many run-ins with 'em and let me tell you, they aren't pleasant. Especially the Emporer, but he's dead now so that's not a problem. Vader isn't too agreeable either, but I shouldn't beat a dead Kadu." He laughed. 'Don't beat a dead Kadu' was one of those funny old Naboo sayings. "In answer to your question, yeah, I guess. Maybe not be a Qui Gon Jinn, but I am a pretty damn good Jedi, with good looks too."
"Come on, you didn't meet the Emporer or Vader," Alix said, hitting Mike's hand lightly, "Did you seriously think I would belive that lie? If you did, you are definately whacked. Yes sir, whacked."
"First of all, I'm the boss, applesauce, and second of all I did. You wouldn't belive it, but I went through a course at the Imperial Academy. Top honors I got. After my tour of duty, I recived an award at a ceremony, presented by Vader himself. The Emporer was there watching and I shook hands with both of them. Sedriss was there too. He never liked me, and wn't rest till he kills me. But that was 5 years ago, before the war."
"Oh, I remember hearing about you. Your name was on some plaque. The teacher said you were the best damn pilot he'd ever seen, but you went bad because of Jek Porkins, Biggs Darklighter and Tycho Celchu. Wanted to be idealistic like them he said. I never thought I'd be like either one of them. But I was proven wrong." She sighed, and Mike could sense sadness in her.
In the days that passed, they became good friends. They talked about their problems, and gave each other hope and confidence. Mike told Alix abut all his grand adventures in the Rebel Alliance and what would happen to her if they got out of here and she joined. Alix told Mike about Black Death squadron and her squadronmates. Mike even began to like the food, but that's because he hadn't had a good Bantha steak in a while.
One day, something happened that suprised them all. They heard blaster shots in the corridoor and a flutterig of wings. The lock outside was being picked. Who was it? Their answer came once the door was opened.
Klik stood there with Selo and Mar, fluttering above the ground. The two Xexto smiled, and pulled out lightsabers and blasters. Selo left and in seconds he returned with Dan, Niles and a dead Yslmari. "Ready to go, I got your friends, Jedi," said Selo. He handed weapons to each of them. "You guys got names?" said Selo. They all told them their names in turn. Mike introduced Dan and Niles to Alix, and vice versa. Once they were all settled they made their way down the corridor. The problem started when they got to the docking bay. Three voices shouted "stop" all at once. Mike, Dan, and Alix ignited their lightsabers and four of the same sounds echoed them.
"Sir, sir, we have unidentified ships coming out of hyperspace," said Perry Ganivan, hyperspace condition monitor on Senn's Revenge. "There are five CC-7700 frigates, seven Dauntless cruisers, five Corellian Gunships, three Liberator cruisers, ten Bulwark battle cruisers, two Nebulon-F frigates, five CC-9600 frigates, and several other ships. Looks like we have a CSA fleet on our hands. Should I bring out the rest of the fleet?"
Admiral Senn said, "yes call them out and slip us and the Eliminator out of our cloaking shields." Senn heard the sounds of battle as the fleet emeregd from Sooterii. The Empire and the CSA would be evenly matched, he thought. The ship rocked slightly as the cloaking shield was disingaged. The CC-7700 frigates acted as interdictors, preventing hyperspace travel. At least they won't be able to disengage.
The battle unfolded before Senn's eyes. The Liberator cruisers headed the attack, flanked by the extremely powerful Bulwark battle cruisers. Dauntless cruisers followed with the Gunships and CC-9600 frigates behind them. Other ships comprised the back lines. The CC-7700 and Nebulon-F frigates stayed in the back lines. This battle would show the CSA not to mess with the Empire.
"Tell our ships to concentrate on the Liberators first. Then they can move on to other things. We must win this battle," said Senn. "We cannot afford to lose it, not at this time."
He paced around the deck, thinking up a strategy.
Larmc Ormav piloted his TIE Experimental MI-3 fighter into the heat of the battle. For being the best squadron with the most kills, they had got to pilot these coveted TIEs. The MI-3s had two missle/torpedo launchers on the side and Ion/regular cannons. He concentrated on the capital ships. Speeding in towards a Bulwark, the Dark Silence, he switched to proton torpedoes. Setting his target to the ship's turbolaser batteries, he let loose a few proton torpedoes. The batteries were concentrating on an Imperial Star Destroyer so they didn't see the torpedoes. Both detonated, destroying the battery.
Next Larmc needed to concentrate on bringing down the shields. He decided to take down the aft shields so the Imperial Xemin class cruiser, the Qurhge, could destroy it. He and his wingmate, former Black Death squadron member Herbie Kariin swooped down, lauching concussion missles. The shields took the first few, and then turned pink, finally yielding to the third salvo. The Qurhge's turbolaser batteries flashed, digging deep holes in the Dark Silence's hull. Finally, the aft section ripped off, and the ship floated dead in space.
"Concentrate on the Liberators now," he said. Larmc assingned them a target, the Malavent. The squadron dove in, readying their lasers. They started shoting at two kliks away (for those of you who don't know, klik is aso a space measurement) and the ship opened up its turbolaser batteries. Herbie commed him saying his shields had failed, but before Larmc could do anything, a turbolaser shot punched through Herbie's MI-3.
Larmc switched his lasers to quad fire and targeted the turbolaser batteries. He punched holes in the shields and destroyed the batteries with a speedy effeciency. The Malevent began a turn, so it could train its missle launchers on the Imperial fleet, but it never got the chance. The Qurhge came in from the side and unleashed a baneful swarm of heavy rockets. The rockets bursted, ripping the Malavent's hull to shreds. Larmc could see people floating dead in space. It was a sight that made his stomach queasy.
The other Liberators were under attack. There were only two left. Senn's Revenge and the Eliminator joined the fray. The Liberators, not able to handle this attack, were decimated. Larmc was laughing when a shot rocked his ship. A CSA picket ship hung overhead. Larmc swooped up and shot proton torpedoes at the picket ship. The guns on the ship destroyed the torpedoes. Other freighters and pickett ships began to move in. Larmc didn't know what to do. He asked for help, but the CSA had jamed his transmissions. More shots tossed his ship and his shields failed. The pickett ship did not destroy him, though. It used a tractor beam to pul his ship into the docking bay. When he was inside, he shot his proton torpedoes. They exploded and he was free of the tractor beam. He accelerated his speed and went to the Eliminator to get his shields fixed quickly.
Tromin Freel, a Trandoshian, and second in command of the 123rd Imperial fighter group, flew his ship towards the Bulwark blockade line. He was in command until Larmc got back. Weaving in through the Bulwarks, he shot down many fighters. The CSA was still pushing steadily towards Tefct, where they could land their invasion ships. The Imperials couldn't hold them back forever. Ping! A message appeared on Tromin's screen. His group had a new mission. Protect the Imperial troop carriers while they take troops to the ships. The Imperials were evacuating. Why, Tromin wondered.
Keying his comm, he acknowledged and then sent a message to his group, telling them their new assignment. Tromin found a group of fighters poised for a strike on the carriers. He fired up his lasers and hit the ships. They were X-TIEs and they had no shields. The lasers burned through one of the fighter's cockpits and the others noticed Tromin. They looped around him, coming in for the attack. Tromin fired his lasers and shot the leader down. The others fired a flurry of bolts and swooped under Tromin's MI-3. He fired another few shots, knocking off two X-TIEs. There was one left, and this guy was good. Very good. He spiraled in and shot at Tromin's fighter. Tromin followed him, but never got a proper target lock.
At that instant, a few of the carriers exploded. More followed, flashing in the darkness. Curse it, space bombs thoght Tromin. The fighters were a distraction. He rushed to the space bombs loacation and targeted one, causing it to blow up. He targeted another, and another, and kept destroying them. The Imperials were losing ships at an alarming rate. There were too many space bombs to target.
Suddenly, Tromin had an idea. He set his target to one of the space bombs in a heavily populated area (by space bombs). Tromin launched a proton torpedo and it detonated when it hit the space bomb. The explosion ripped apart other space bombs. This had made a safe path for the Imperial shuttles.
Tromin had overlooked the X-TIEs, however. The one he had been chasing before the space bomb crisis swooped down at him, shooting his MI-3. Tromin composed himself and chased after the X-TIE. They looped around, spinning and striking in the vacuum of space. Tromin followed the X-TIE's every move. This guy's a novice compared to me thought Tromin.
He was mistaken. The X-TIE pilot had other plans. He went into a spinning dive and came up, shooting at a suprised Tromin. Tromin triggered a salvo of concussion missiles. They burst into nothingness before they even came close to their target. What is happening? The concussion missiles are malfunctioning. Damned missiles. They will be the end of me.
There was nothing more true he could say than those words. At that instant, three more X-TIEs raced down, and Tromin identified them as the ones who had detonated his missiles. They had shot them before they reached their target. The X-TIEs formed up around their leader and shot at Tromin. One scored a direct hit on his concussion missle tank, which consumed the ship and lit it up like a Christmas tree. Tromin was condemned to die a firey death.
The tide of the battle had turned against the Imperials. The CSA was slowly gaining ground. The Bulwarks were pushing the Imperials back as they frantically tried to destroy the CC-7700s. One of the CC-7700s had been destroyed, but there were still more left. Both sides were suffering heavy casualties. The CSA pushed and pushed, but the Imperials just pushed back. It would happen again this time. Something was needed to turn the tide of the battle.
The party of freedom fighters turned around to face their adversaries. Sedriss and Ormav stared at them, their expressions hungering for blood. Another strange being also glared at them. He was just shorter than Sedriss and had red and black markings on his face. After shedding his cloak, they could see horns adorning his head. Who was this strange being. Whoever he was, he was dangerous, because he sported a double edged lightsaber.
"I'll take Sedriss, Dan you take Ormav, and Alix, you take the strange guy because I'm guessing he is someone's apprentice and isn't that experienced," said Mike, sweat pouring down his face. He rushed towards Sedriss, extending his lightsaber blade to parry Sedriss' thrusts. Sedriss launched into and attack, spinning around and clashing his lightsaber with Mike's. They were locked in position like that and then Sedriss launched again. He pushed Mike back and back until they were in a hallway. Mike could see the battle between the other Jedi clearly. But he had no time to concentrate on that.
He jumped over Sedriss, landing and turning around to meet his enemy's lightsaber. They met for a second and then each backed away, preparing for another assault. Mike jumped up in the air, spinning around and kicking Sedriss. The Dark-Jedi flailed and fell back. Mike walked and stood over him, picking up his lightsaber which he had dropped while falling. "I could kill you now," Mike said with a note of revenge.
Suddenly Sedriss' lightsaber sprang from Mike's hand. He was suprised and that gave Sedriss the advantage. Sedriss used this to it's full extent, swinging his lightsaber around to catch Mike in the stomach. But Mike was smarter than that, and he reacted in time, repelling Sedriss' attack. The Dark Jedi was too strong for him and he felt himself weakening. But he had to go on, he had to fight, for Dan, for Alix, for Wedge (his hero) and the rest of the Rebel Alliance. Sedriss must be stopped.
Alix wasn't having much luck either. She was working against this strange being, but he stopped her every move with is double blade of fury. She tried to plunge her attacks into his weak points, but it was as if he had none. Swinging her lightsaber around, she met one of his blades, and then another by the second blade.
Her opening came then. The Sith had turned around to quickly to make an attack on her. By the time he turned around, all Alix could do was slice his lightsaber in half. He hastily picked up the second blade, iginiting it by using the auxillary controls. Now it was a little easier for Alix to block his attacks. She met one blade with a fierce parry and swung around to meet the other one.
There was one chance for her to get one blade away from him. She sharply kicked his hand, knocking the lightsaber out of it. She picked it up and rolled to the side to avoid the humanoid's lightsaber. It sliced through the floor and she jumped up, ignighting the stranger's lightsaber. He redirected his weight and spun around, his attack hitting her hand.
The burning pain paralyzed Alix for a few moments, but she recovered control. Her hand was not completely useless, the lightsaber had just burned some skin away and it was sore. She could still fight with it though. Now she had the advantage. She drove the strange humanoid back into a secluded room, where their fight could be contained. This is where he would die, she promised.
She however, was the only one who had the advantage in their fight. Mike and Dan struggled to find some way of defeating their opponents. Dan and Ormav were locked in combat. Neither admitting defeat. Dan swished his lightsaber back and forth, preventing Ormav's onslaughts from ever hitting their target. He drove his lightsaber forward, hoping to catch Ormav unguarded. His attempt failed and he was forced to fall back and prepare to defend himself.
And defend himself, he did. Showing expert coolness he guarded himself from the pushes of Ormav. Turning and shoving, shoving and turning he pushed Ormav back against a wall. "Time to die Ormav," he said, bringing up his lightsaber for a downward strike.
Ormav smiled and jumped into the air, touching down behind Dan. "No, it is you who will die," he said. Dan jerked, but a searing pain hit his shoulder. He fell down, the agony of defeat tearing at his mind. Death was so close. But he was not prepared to die. Not now. I'm too young, why me? I can't die, not now he thought, rolling around on the ground. But death was inevitable, and he floated into blackness.
"Noooooooo," said Niles, utterly stunned by the recent turn of events. Dan was lying face down on the floor, blood spilling out of his shoulder. He twitched and then went silent. Ormav brought his lightsaber up, to stab Dan one last time to make sure he was dead, but he never got the chance. Niles grabbed his blaster out of its holster. These were the longest seconds of his life. He squeezed the trigger and a red burst of energy flew out of its barrel. The bolt hit General Ormav in the back and he dropped to the plastesteel floor.
A crew of stormtroopers had been watching the action. Now they picked up a cot and ran to General Ormav. Niles fired, but they were too quick. In seconds they carted him off to the medical bay, hoping he was not yet dead. Niles couldn't hit them so he concentrated on helping his friend. Taking Selo and Mar with him, he hurried over to Dan's limp form. They picked Dan up and transported him to a Firespray class attack and patrol ship, the Lurker and found a table which they layed him on and applied some bacta patches..
Niles realized they could use this ship to help Mike and Alix. He started it up, and searched for the fighting. This ship had precison huntig blaters, that could hit a credit chit from a mile away. All he had to do was find Sedriss. He had spotted Alix and the strange humanoid, but they were inside a room, and that was a risky shot . . .
Alix was having trouble. She was in a room overlooking a lush garden area. The whine of heavy machineary was present in the background. Something was being put into the garden area, but was it something she could use to her advantage? Maybe, or maybe not, but she could at least try to kock this tattooed person out the window and into the garden and escape. "Might as well try," she said to herself.
Swinging her leg around, she kicked the stranger in the face, and cartilage snapped. She flipped over backwards, and kicked him again in the stomach. He reeled backwards and fell, hitting a table with a large thud. The table promptly fell on him and he was preoccupied trying to get it off. This was Alix's chance.
The glass was plastiglass and if she had just tried to throw him into it he would have bounced back. Plastiglass was too strong for a human to break. She jammed her lightsaber into the plastiglass and twisted it. Plastiglass started to boil and melt, dripping down the pane, forming a puddle on the floor. Alix kept twisting the lightsaber until she had a big enough hole. It wasn't quite big enough for the man to fit through, but the edges were weakened and he would shatter them.
All of a sudden, a hand tore her away from the glass. It was the strange humanoid. Alix couldn't tell if his face was all bloody because of the red markings, but it looked like it was. He slammed her against the walls and muttered, "now the Jedi must die." His hand brought the lightsaber up and prepared to send her to the God of all Jedis, but . . .
A roar rang out from behind. The Sith apprentice turned around to look. It was a hulking beast, bigger even than a Rancor (it looked kind of like a T-Rex). It roared again and smashed it's tail against the glass. Alix punched the Sith and he wobbled, letting her advance for another kick. That one sent him flying out the window. The reptilian creature, which Alix had now identified as an Ormosaur bent down. Blood flew into the air. Alix couldn't tell whose it was, but she didn't care. She ran at top speed to the ship.
Mike was also close to beating his opponent. Sedriss had gotten careless during the last few minutes of the battle and it was Mike's time to strike. He slashed forward with his lightsaber, only to be blocked by Sedriss'. He spun around and twisted in and out of Sedriss' swipes. Now the moment to strike had come.
Mike jabbed his lightsaber forward, and what he anticipated happened. His parry was met by Secriss' block and he jumped over Sedriss' saber, landing in front of him. With a back kick he knocked the lightsaber out of Sedriss' hand. It flew across the room, clanging on the floor. Mike nudged his lighsaber forward and Sedriss twisted. The lightsaber slashed through Sedriss' side, leaving a freshly cauterized wound.
Mike didn't care if he was dead or not. He ran at top speed for the Lurker. Once he got on board, he said a quick hello to everyone and landed in the pilot's seat. Niles sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "Screw pre-flight," said Mike, starting up the ship's engines. "Everybody strap in, 'cause we're in for a fight." He took the ship out into the battle and prepared to fight.
"Click twice if you're here," said Wedge Antilles, leader of Rogue Squadron. They had heard about the invasion of Tefct and naturally assumed that the Imps were looking for Mike. Hope they didn't find him, Wedge thought. The Rogues had come out of hyperspace with several Liberator class cruisers and many fighter carriers. Ready to wage war on the Imperials, they formed up and headed for the Eliminator.
"CSA command ship Starspanner, do you read me. This is Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron. We are here to help you." He clicked off his comm. A wave of TIE Interceptors was flying in at them. Wedge assingned everybody targets and he himself headed for the commander. This would be a tricky fight.
"Rogue Squadron, this is Alver Genj, commander of the Corprate Sector Authority fleet. We request your help. From the information you have sent me, I see you have assingned the Eliminator as your primary target. I am sending several Bulwarks over to help you. Good luck." The comm buzzed and then went silent. Some Bulwarks, mabey three or four came into the fray. They launched fighters and began exchanging blows withthe Eliminator.
Wedge reached the TIE Interceptor and fired his lasers. The pilot wasn't that good and the lasers cleaved his cockpit in half. The rest of the Rogues found their opposition easy too, and they were done with the Interceptors in no time.
A ship was flying towards the Eliminator. It was called the Lurker, and Wedge assumed it was an Imperial ship. But he was surprised when a familiar voice came to him over the comm. "Yo Wedge, this is your Mike, I'm flying the Lurker, so tell your guys not to shoot me." This brought a yell from Elscol Loro and the other female pilots in the squadron. Mike answered back, "Sorry ladies, I don't usually worry about political corectness during a heated battle. Alright?" They didn't have time to answer because turbolaser beams flahed at them. The Liberators launched fighters and then set their concussion missle tubes on the Eliminator.
The Lurker zoomed in by the shield generators, and launched proton torpedoes. The generators exploded and the Lurker, unaware of anything else, was grazed by a turbolaser blast and flew off into space. The rest of the Rogues snaked in and out of the turbolaser blasts. Whenever they could get the chance they triggered a shot at the turbolaser implacements.
The line of Bulwarks moved their fish-like hulls into the heat of the battle. This way they could let their shields take the hits and they could lauch proton torpedoes freely. The torpedoes sped away from the cruisers and hit the Eliminator. Hull plates ripped off, floating dead in space. The Eliminator tried a risky maneuver that could end up killing it. In an effort to destroy the Bulwarks it swung it's daggar shaped bow araound and hit the them. Without suffering much damage to its hull, it cleaved the Bulwark battle cruisers in half. But it was easy prey now, because that move had ripped off most of its bow guns.
The Liberators cmae in for the kill. They used heavy rockets and hit the bow with full force. After a few storms of heavy rockets, the bow tore from the rest of the Super Star Destroyer's hull and drifted into space. The Eliminator still had life support readings, though. So the Rogues turned their attention to the command cabin. Racing down the SSD's long hull, they quadded up their lasers and let the hail of bolts go.
The command cabin could not stand all this fire. First, the windows cracked and crumbled, letting bodies fly into the vacuum of space. Then the hull plates ripped off. Latstly, the command cabin itself could not stand the volley of lasers and it ripped free of its constraints and bolts. The Eliminator had been destroyed.
A yelp rang out from the Rogues. They had destroyed the Eliminator, but at a price. Far away, they could see Senn's Revenge. It was in the middle of the battle, but it was protected by Imperial ships. All of a sudden, two large plates opened up in the front of the ship, like a door. A large gun extended from this opening. There was a faint green ring around it.
The gun fired a projectle at the planet. The projectile slammed into the planet with full force and the crust of the planet crumbled. It charged up again, and shot. Soon, the planet's core cracked and it was nothing. Countless lives had been lost. All because Admiral Senn had to make a diversion. The Imperial fleet was being beaten back, and Senn's Revenge was jumping into hyperspace. The other Imperial ships followed suit. Soon they were all gone. The Rebels and the CSA had won, but at a terrible price.
"Sir, unidentified comm message for you, shall I patch it through to your office?" said Admiral Senn's aide. He acknowledged. Senn knew who it was. The man he most definately did not want to see right now. If in fact he was a man.
"Sso, Admiral Sssenn, how nice, it is nice isn't it, to see you. I told you that gun would come in handy some day." The black nothingness of Nom Anor's face was staring at him. It wasn't that he didn't have a face, it was that it was covered by a cloak. Nom Anor was a Yuuzhan Vong, Senn was pretty sure that was what he was called. He was from another galaxy and was still mastering his Basic. Senn had made a deal with him. He would provide Nom Anor with the way to get into the galaxy from the outer rim, (Senn knew because he used to work out there) and Nom Anor would make Senn his fleet's Admiral. Nom Anor would also wipe out all of Senn's enemies, including Sedriss.
"Anor, why are you talking to this, this human again?" said the voice of another Yuuzhan Vong. Senn recognized him as Shedao Shai, Admiral of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and Senn's rival for the endorsment of Nom Anor. Because whoever Nom Anor didn't like, well Senn didn't want to think about the possibilities. Shedao Shai was dressed in treditional Yuuzhan Vong admiral's attire, a long flowing robe. Nom Anor, however was dressed in hard black armor. Shedao had a much better command of Basic,not slurring his S sounds.
"Ignore Shaido, he is an idiot. I trust everything is going well, yes? Ok, then, Admiral, I have ssome bad news for you. The invasion of your galaxy cannot happen yet because the Yuuzhan Vong Council of Elderss does not wish me to do it yet." He tapped on his armor.
"Well when will it happen?" asked Senn. I can't wait too long. He fidgeted with the cufflinks on his uniform. Then he straightened his hat. He was nervous that the invasion couldn't happen soon, he couldn't wait forever!
"Not for about twenty-five years," Nom Anor enunciated. "I am ssorry for the delay Admiral, but the Council of Elderss has wished that a new Yamosk, our war coordinator, be birthed. It will take at least twenty years."
Senn did not wish to make him mad. That was the last thing he should do. Better to wait then be killed. Besides, I can live twenty more years, easily thought Senn. "Ok Nom Anor, end transmission." The comm unit turned off and Senn's door buzzer buzzed.
"Come in," he said. Executor Sedriss hobbled in on crutches. His side was patched up and he had been given a good dip in the bacta tank. Sedriss limped over to a chair and sat down. He looked impressed, the last thing Senn would expect somebody to look like after their subordinate had just lied to them."
"Good work Adrmiral." said Sedriss. "You did an excellent job hiding that gun from me. It is impressive too. Destroying a whole planet like the Death Star did, very impressive. You have done a good job Admiral. I will see that you get a commandation for your merit. Now let's talk about our next move." He motioned to another chair and Senn sat down. He could tell this would be a long and boring conversation.
Wedge Antilles and Elscol Loro walked down the hallway to the bridge of the CSA command ship Starspanner. Alver Genj, the commander of the CSA fleet was talking to Mike, Dan, Niles and another woman. "Yo, El, I think Mike is dating that woman," said Wedge, in an effort to make her mad. Elscol and Mike used to be an item, until she met her husband, and than it pretty much ended. She was still sore about the whole ordeal though, and none of the Rogues could pass up the chance to send sparks flying out of her head.
"Probably right, Wedge," said Elscol. "I'm over Mike though. Besides, now isn't the time for gossip. We have to talk with this CSA admiral." She walked on, quickening her pace to get away from Wedge's teasing.
"We have to meet with this CSA admiral, blah, blah, blah. I'm Elscol Loro and I'm important so you cant joke around with me Wedge, blah, blah, blah," said Wedge, mimicing Elscol's voice. He folowed her. Most of the Rogues were already in the command room, but Hobbie Klivan and Wes Janson were missing. Probably some practical joke they're playing on someone thought Wedge. They would have a good time meeting Selo and Mar.
Alver Genj stared at them, waiting for them all to asemble. His Niemodian face looked from one person to another, assessing them. When everybody was present, he began. "Thank you for your help in the recent turn of events. Even though Tefct was destroyed and millions of lives were lost, it is of no real importance. The momentous event occurred when we handed the Imperials a defeat. It was a hard thing to pull off."
Just like those CSA bureaucrats, not caring about the loss of lives thought Elscol Loro. "What is your next move Alver, Sir?" She was dissappointed with the CSA's attitude towards the destruction of Tefct.
"Let me put it in perspective," siad Mike sneering at Elscol. "What 'Miss Morals' is trying to say is that she hates your careless attitude towards the destruction of Tefct. Me, I think there are bigger Opees to fry." He smirked in Elscol's general direction. "I think you did an excellent job, Admiral. I choose to address you by that because it is your proper title, and calling you Alver would be disrespectful."
"If I may interrupt this sucking up session please," said Elscol. Mike knew how to press her buttons more than anyone else. I knew it was a mistake dating him years ago. "That guy over there is an idiot, don't listen to him." She hated Mike for one simple reason; he could do everything she couldn't. Even if he was acting like a jerk, he was still popular. He had tons of skills Elscol didn't, and he was one of the few Jedi.
"Now see, that wasn't very nice, don't you agree sir?" said Mike. "I for one, belive in being nice, becuase it is fulfilling. Unlike the disrespectful Elscol Loro, I am nice to everyone." He couldn't help but laugh, but Alver Genj didn't notice.
"I'm fed up with you, Mike Wilson," said Elscol Loro, stannding up. "I'm leaving!" He stormed out of the room, walking at a quickening pace. That was enough for her. Mike would pay for that some day.
"Now let's get bact to the subject of the post-attack review," said Alver Genj. He strode around the room. "Our fleet suffered heavy losses and we need to go to Alraris to repair the damaged ships at our docks there. Would you Rebels mind escorting us there, because the Empire might likely attack there, and with a bigger fleet this time?"
"Yes sir," said Wedge. "We will escort you to your shipyards, but after that, you're on your own." Now if you'll excuse us, we need our rest." Wedge got up and walked with the rest of the Rogues to their sleeping quarters. But first they needed to make one stop.
That stop was in the bacta treatment room. Bacta tanks lined the walls, surrounding the Rogues. Dan was just getting out of the bacta tank, drying himself off with a towel. A H-8O medical droid presided over him, scolding Dan for his actions. "You never should have gotten into a fight. You could of been killed," the droid went on and on and on about how he could have not been injured and saved it some trouble.
"Shove it," said Dan. The droid looked as though Dan had killed someone, it's lenses opened wide. Dan dressed in a maroon tunic and put his hair into a short jedi-style ponytail. "So, I missed some action, huh? How did you get here Wedge?"
"Well, we heard about the Empire's warrant on you three. Then we heard reports of Imperial troops landing on Tefct, and thoguth you might be there. So we followed our hunch and got here in the middle of the battle. Then we gave it all we had," told Wedge. "So who is keeping that ship, the . . . the Lurker?"
"Dunno," said Mike. "Dan, you and I flip a credit for it. Heads it's mine, tails it's yours." He threw the credit high into the air, and it spun and spun until it hit the floor where it wobbled for a second and then stopped. "Oh look, it's heads! Good deal for me, but not for you. You'll have to get a second-rate one later."
All the Rogues walked to they're sleeping quarters. Before Mike turned in, Wedge motioned him to come to his bunk. "Mike, I want to talk to you," said Wedge quietly. "It's about the squadron. I was wondering, well, if you'd like to join us. You did pretty well in that fight. I know you can fly a snubfighter well too. So, what do you say?" Wedge looked at Mike.
It was as if the Boonta Eve parade had gone off inside Mike's head. This was so exciting. Wedge had just asked him to be in Rogue Squadron. "Did you even have to ask? Yes, yes I'll accept your offer. This is sooo, exciting." Skipping like a school girl, Mike got into bed. He, nor any of the Rogues knew of the dark times that awaited them.
-The Imperials recooperated from their loss and Sedriss, his apprentice (the Darth Maul guy), General Ormav, and Admiral Senn survived. So did captain Nova.
-Mike, Dan, Niles and the Rogues recieved all the credit for the battle, overshadowing Alix. She hated that (and we all know where hate leads . . . hmmm hint hint hint).
-Mike and Alix's relationship didn't last long and they eventually broke up, causing Alix to seek comfort in Dan and marry him.
-The CSA fleet was defeated at Alraris, but they managed to push the Empire out of their territory. Then they covered up the whole Tefct incident as if the planet had never existed.
-Force Commander is a cool game (okay so that had nothing to do with the plot, but oh well, here's another).
-I love action figures (only Strar Wars and Jurassic Park kinds).
Mike/Dan Wilson-Me, of course, ya know I gotta have my fun.
Alix Verix-???
Admiral Senn-Greg Proops
Executor Sedriss-???
General Ormav-Ed Harris (if this is the guy who was the head of the Houston Command Center in Apollo 13 then I am thinking of the right guy.)
Niles Sarm-???
Captain Nova-???
Jodo Kast-Jackie Chan (not the voice though).
Elscol Loro-?????
That's pretty much it. Look forward to the next installment, X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Thorn of the Empire!!!!!