The Star Destroyer Intrepid broke out of hyperspace in the Kril'dor system. The planet Kril'dor, the biggest planet in the system, appeared in front of the imperial battleship. The planet was a giant, green ball, which showed only the half of itself to the arriving spaceship, because the other half was covered in darkness. The sun didn't illuminate that half of Kril'dor.
The Intrepid approached the giant gas planet. It had many moons, orbiting Kril'dor, but most of these were useless to the Galactic Empire. Neither the Intrepid headed to the moons, but a space station, which was built by the Empire a couple of years ago. The duty of the station was guarding the valuable tibanna gas, which could have been found in the atmosphere of Kril'dor. Several mining platforms were established on the planet by the Empire, to prospect the tibanna gas, which was an important part of laser guns.
The Intrepid slowed down, and used the gravity field of Kril'dor to reach the cruising speed of the space station. When the Star Destroyer was orbiting the planet on the same course, as the station did, and with the same speed, a Lambda-class Shuttle took off from it's hangar. Two Tie-fighters escorted the Shuttle, as it approached the space station.
'This is Shuttle Steel Fist. I am Captain Garr Barbon. I am asking for a landing permission.' said the Captain into the communicator.
'Landing permission given.' replied someone from the station. 'Head to the main hangar of Kril'dor 21.'
The space station was called Kril'dor 21, as it was the 21st. "moon" of Kril'dor.
The Steel Fist headed to the main hangar of the giant space station. The Captain had been here for three times, but he was always amazed by the Kril'dor 21. It had the size of a real city, however, it was only a military facility, with no civilians on board. The station had four great hangars, and altogether more than one hundred star-fighters. It's fire power was more than four Star Destroyers', and for the twelve years of operation it defended Kril'dor successfully against the rebels, pirates or anyone, who attacked.
Captain Barbon was looking at the space station until the Shuttle reached the hangar, but he didn't notice that small, two-man cargo ship, which was docking on one of the exhaust ports.
The Steel Fist landed in the main hangar. About fifty stormtroopers were lined up in front of the spaceship. Between the troopers, the Commander of the Kril'dor 21, called Davour Planck, came to the Shuttle, followed by the vice-commander, and they both kneed before the lowering ramp.
Steam shot out of the Steel Fist, just as it's ramp reached the ground. Commander Planck felt really uneasy. He knew, what's coming now, but he was always nervous and afraid, when "he" came to the station.
Darth Vader stepped out of the Shuttle, and looked down to the Commander. His snuffling breath sounded much louder in the giant chamber of the hangar. He looked at the stormtroopers, then waved to the Commander, to stand up, and follow him.
'Are the supplies ready?' asked Vader.
'Yes, my lord.' bowed Planck.
'Good job, Commander.' said Vader. 'Send word to the rest of the Death Squadron at once! I want the Star Destroyers ready in three days.'
Planck knew, that Vader's request was impossible to be done, or almost impossible. It took long time to get a Star Destroyer ready for a longer journey, especially if the ship was probably taking part in battles during this journey. However, he assured Lord Vader, that he will do his best. Then he instructed the vice-commander to show Vader his quarters.
As soon as Darth Vader was out of the hangar, Planck turned on his communicator, and gave orders to his men.
The stormtroopers returned to their daily work, and left the hangar, just as Planck, who was heading to his office. He was the Commander of the Kril'dor 21 for twelve years, and he always did his best on his post. He had to handle countless problems from day to day, and his hair turned to white from black over the last few years. But now, he had another impossible mission to handle.
Planck was one of those imperial officers, who knew about the dreaded Death Star. That fearsome space station was still under construction in secret, but now it was powerful enough to defend itself from most of the occurrent attacks. That means, that the imperial fleet had to guard it no more, and all of the Star Destroyers were now able to concentrate on other tasks, like finding the rebels.
These rebels caused so much inconveniences to the Empire during the last few years. imperial spies reported, that the Rebel Alliance have built a whole star fleet, however, it must have been weaker than the imperial, otherwise they would have launched direct attack against the Empire. Two times Commander Planck had to deal with rebels himself, because they were trying to steal tibanna gas from the mining platforms, but both times they failed.
And now, Darth Vader ordered his Star Destroyers to gather in the Kril'dor System, and it was Davour Planck's duty to support the battleships with energy (made out of tibanna), and other supplies, which were brought to the Kril'dor 21 during the last few months. Planck really hoped, nothing will go wrong during these days.
Unfortunately to the Commander, something went wrong.
...
A big, furry creature was standing in the door, looking out on the corridor. He was obviously standing guard. In the room, there were countless giant crates, which contained mostly food supplies for the Star Destroyers. It was one of the huge storerooms of the Kril'dor 21 space station.
Suddenly the furry creature turned around, and groaned. He told something to someone, however, it seemed, he was alone in the storeroom. He had a bandoleer over his shoulder, and he was holding a laser crossbow in his paws. He was a wookie, called Chewbacca.
'Almost ready, Chewie!' shouted someone from behind a great container. A few seconds later a young man turned up on the top of the crate. He was Han Solo, a soldier of fortune from Corellia.
Chewbacca groaned again, waving his crossbow over his head.
'Blast 'em!' swore Han, and he jumped down from the container. 'Hope it'll be enough. Move it!'
They stepped to the door of the storeroom, and the corellian drew his blaster. He peeked out, and saw two stormtroopers heading to the storeroom. He raised his blaster, targeted one of the troopers, and finished him off with one precise shot.
The other stormtrooper got covered before Han could shoot him, but the corellian didn't try to kill the other. Both the man and the wookie left the storeroom, and headed to the opposite direction. Han shot a couple of laser blasts behind himself to make sure, that the stormtrooper won't leave his shelter, until they reach the end of the corridor.
But just as he turned on the corner, the whole station got alarmed. He forgot about the trooper's communicator, built into his helmet, so the soldier could warn the Commander immediately.
'Bast it!' swore Han. 'Head to the Star, Chewie!'
The Star Raider was Han Solo's ship, which was now waiting for it's two passengers on the exhaust port. Fortunately it was close to the storeroom, but not close enough.
Han and Chewie reached the place, where they could enter the tube, which took them to the ship. Han destroyed the rails, covering the tube with one shot, and he ordered Chewbacca to climb down. The wookie got into the narrow tube, in which he could barely move, but he managed to climb down to the Star Raider.
Han wanted to follow his friend, but suddenly a few stormtroopers appeared on the corridor, behind him.
'Stop there!' shouted one of the troopers, and he raised his blaster to shoot, if Han wouldn't surrender.
The corellian jumped behind a machine, which was standing on the corridor. He heard the laser blasts, and saw, that the machine won't cover him for long, because the stormtroopers are going to shoot it into tiny pieces.
Han shot a few times in the direction of the troopers, and he heard satisfied, that the Imperials stopped fighting. He looked out from behind the machine, and saw, that most of the stormtroopers got down on the floor, or pressed close to the wall to evade his laser bolts.
But Han noticed another man on the corridor, who was coming towards him recklessly. He was wearing black armour, black cape, black helmet, and a weird mask in front of his face. The corellian didn't know who was this man, but he immediately realised, he shouldn't confront him.
Han targeted the switch next to the door, and hit that with an accurate shot. The door closed just in front of the black armoured man. Han knew, he didn't have much time, so he put his blaster away, and jumped into the tube as fast as he could. A few laser blasts hit the wall over his head.
'I'm here, I'm here.' he said, when he heard the anxious voice of Chewbacca.
He entered to the Star Raider, and closed it's sluice gate. Now the ship could detach from the station. Han got into the cockpit, where were two seats, one for the pilot, and one for the co-pilot.
The Star Raider was a small ship at all, similar to a freelance cargo ship. It had the cockpit, a small toilet, and one room, where they could carry the cargo. Now, the ship didn't have any cargo aboard, so it could move faster and manoeuvre better, especially when it was controlled by Han Solo.
'Punch it, Chewie!' shouted Han.
The wookie detached the ship from the Kril'dor 21, and in the same time Han turned on the engines. The Star Raider accelerated, but Han kept it as close to the space station's surface as he could. He hoped, if he stays low, the turbo laser cannons won't be able to shoot him, and he was right.
'Set more power to the engines!' said the Captain of the Star Raider.
Han knew, that it was much easier to control a spaceship, if it had more power on it's engines. And the Star Raider was one of the best manoeuvrable ships in the galaxy, because Han and Chewie installed some special gadgets on it. With these special improvements Han could do manoeuvres, like no one else, he knew.
'Blow it up, Chewie!' shouted Han.
The wookie pressed a button on his control panel, and the charges, which Han set in the storeroom, exploded. As they looked out through the window, they could see some debris falling out of the station. However Han didn't have enough time to set every bombs, the explosion caused so much damage. They will surely get the reward for this.
If they get out of here alive!
Chewbacca groaned, and first Han thought, his buddy was laughing on the Imperials. He understood the wookie language, but sometimes even he misunderstood something. But he quickly realised, what his co-pilot said in real.
'Where the hell that Star Destroyer came from?' Han cried out loudly, when he noticed the imperial battleship on the radar.
Chewbacca was already charging the ship's deflector shields, but the Star Raider didn't have enough shield power to resist the attack of a Star Destroyer.
When Han got the ship, he modified it to a small, fast and manoeuvrable ship, but this kind of spacecraft couldn't hold a big shield generator, simply because it didn't have place for it.
'We need to jump to light-speed!' said Han. 'Set the coordinates!'
Chewbacca groaned hearing that, and probably he asked something, because he looked at his mate, waiting for the answer.
'I don't care! Just set some blasted coordinates!' replied Han nervously.
The Star Raider was still flying close to the space station's surface, but now it was too fast, and if Han wouldn't want to crash, he had to change trajectory.
The small ship got further from the station, and some of the imperial facility's cannons immediately opened fire at it. There was still a big confusion on the station, following the explosion, so only a few cannons started to shoot yet.
'These guys can't hit even a Rancorn!' laughed Han, because the Star Raider was still flying untouched by the laser bolts, and it would get out of rage in a minute.
Chewbacca groaned, warning Han to watch out for the Star Destroyer. The Intrepid moved as fast as the Star Raider, and it obviously tried to get in front of it.
'I know!' shouted Han anxiously. The Intrepid got closer and closer.
Chewbacca knew, that the Star Destroyer will get in range in a few seconds, so the Star Raider will be in crossfire between the space station and the battleship. Han was the best pilot, who the wookie met, but they have never been in a situation like this.
'Have an idea.' said Han.
Chewie looked at his buddy, and he saw that scoundrelous half-smile on Han's face, which he saw so much times. Looking at that smile, Chewie knew, that Han really had a plan, and that plan was very hazardous. He loved these plans, because all of them succeeded yet.
But this time it seemed, that Han would run into the Star Destroyer frontally, and the wookie couldn't see what the corellian's planning.
'The hyperdrive, Chewie!' shouted Han, and that reminded the wookie to set the direction of their hyperspace jump. He just entered the first coordinates which came to his mind, the coordinates of the planet Corellia.
They had been to Corellia many times, because that was the home planet of Han Solo, and he had some trustful friends there, who were mostly smugglers and outlaws. In real, Han was one of these smugglers, but the others were working in secret, and they never caused so much trouble altogether, as Han Solo alone.
'This is where the fun begins!' grinned Han, as the Star Destroyer opened fire on them.
The Star Raider moved faster than the gunners could follow it. Han manoeuvred better, than most of the pilots, and he managed to get very close to the Star Destroyer. The Star Raider's deflector shields were heavily damaged, but the corellian didn't care about that any more. He flew just a few meters above the metal surface of the Intrepid.
Now Chewbacca understood, what was his mate planning. Now most of the gunners on the Star Destroyer couldn't target him, so he had to take care about only a few laser blasts. And, the space station couldn't shoot him either, because from this distance, it was very likely, that they will miss the Star Raider, and hit the Intrepid.
Chewie groaned appreciatively.
'Thanks buddy.' said Han. 'Get the hyperdrive ready!'
Chewbacca looked at the computer. It has already calculated their position and their destination, and found the shortest hyperspace route between the two points. It also had enough energy to make the jump to light-speed.
Chewbacca groaned, and Han understood him perfectly. They were ready for the jump.
The Star Raider reached the end of the Star Destroyer. Han and Chewie could take a quick look at the gigantic engines of the Intrepid, which were almost too close. These engines were powerful enough to tear apart a smaller ship, which gets too close to them. But Han kept the right distance, so they were still unharmed.
'Punch it!' shouted Han, and the wookie pulled the control, which activated the hyperdrive engine of the Star Raider, and they jumped through the hyperspace, leaving the Kril'dor system behind.
...
'Damage report!' said Commander Planck, when he arrived at the scene of the explosion.
'The storeroom destroyed, with every food supplies in it. We had to lock twelve corridors, and some other rooms in that part of the station. There are seven dead troopers, and about twenty injured.' reported an officer.
'I can't believe this is happening to me.' the Commander shook his head.
'Commander!' said someone from behind Planck. He recognised the mechanical voice of Darth Vader.
'Yes, my lord?' saluted Planck.
'This sabotage won't stop us. I want the fleet ready in a week.' Vader said.
'But, Lord Vader, we need to get new food supplies, and that would be taking two or three weeks to collect that amount of food. Then, we have to put everything on the Star Destroyers, but I have fewer men now, and I have to repair the station too.' said the Commander.
'I will get you enough men and the supplies.' said Vader.
'Thank you, my lord.' bowed Planck.
'And Commander! I want my fleet ready. I don't care about other excuses.' said Lord Vader severely, then he turned around, and headed to his quarters. He wanted to make contact with the Emperor, and order the new supplies immediately.
'Seems I have to clean up this mess.' groaned Commander Planck. 'Lieutenant, get every stormtroopers ready for me! We must load some untouched supplies on the Intrepid as fast as we can.'