"The Last Wrinkle"
A Tale of Pello Scrambas
NOTE: This STAR WARS fan fiction short story takes place aboard Princess Leia Organa's ship, the Tantive IV, spanning the events from the ending of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and into the beginning of "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope."
I acknowledge that the STAR WARS franchise is owned by Disney and Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC.
The ending of the story is based on the ending of the "Valkyrie."
I acknowledge that "Valkyrie" is owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox.
"Launch!" screamed Sergeant Major Toshma Jefkin as the entry hatch of the Tantive IV slammed shut, silencing the cries of horror and anguish from his fellow soldiers as a menacing figure, clad in black, slaughtered them on the other side of the airlock. First Lieutenant Pello Scrambas, second officer of the Tantive IV, forcefully yanked down the lever which released the CR90 Corvette from the docking bay of the Profundity; the crippled and burning starship that was once the flagship of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. As the Tantive IV dropped from the Profundity's docking bay into the space above the planet Scarif, its crew engaged the ship's engines and it soared full ahead before escaping into hyperspace.
The ship's warning sirens were wailing and men of the Alderaanian Consular Security Force were scrambling through the ship's corridors, DH-17 blaster pistols unholstered. There were a total of thirty-six members of the security force aboard the craft. Sergeant Major Jefkin, clearly in a state of great distress, handed Lieutenant Scrambas a data card and weakly said, "Sir, we must deliver this to Captain Antilles immediately." The two rushed to the Tantive IV's bridge. They saw Captain Raymus Antilles, the ship's commander, telling one of their fellow troopers "Make sure you secure the airlock and prepare the escape pods!" These words were very unsettling. Surely since they were in hyperspace the danger was over for now. As Antilles was about to step aboard the bridge Scrambas yelled "Captain! We have the transmission we retrieved from the Profundity!" With Jefkin following behind him, Scrambas handed the message to his superior officer and the two followed him aboard the bridge. On the bridge stood Princess Leia Organa, the Senator of Alderaan.
The forty-seven years old Scrambas had been in service to the Organa Family and the Royal House of Alderaan as a guard since he was fifteen. His sandy-brown hair was now gray, but his piercing blue eyes did not betray the fact that he still fought with a ferocity that had been with him since his youth. He wore the distinct uniform of the Alderaanian Consular Security Force; a pale blue shirt, black combat vest, grey trousers and black calf-length boots, along with a distinctive white helmet with a tinted visor above the forehead. On his shoulders sat the command insignia of a First Lieutenant; a silver epaulette with two orange bars in the center. While he still served the Royal House of Alderaan, he now fought with the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He had forged a close and personal friendship with Bail Prestor Organa, the princess's father, who had preceded her as Senator of Alderaan. Scrambas had guarded her father for many years and he now served the princess. As a young sergeant, Pello Scrambas was perceptive enough to realize that the Clone Wars were going to be far more than just the local brush fire that his superiors predicted. They had told him to expect limited action and had already dismissed the Separatists as a foe that would be easily dispatched by the Clone Army. Alderaan was expected to be insulated from the worst of the fighting. However, the war engulfed the galaxy. Nowhere was safe. After the fall of Duro, Scrambas found himself fighting on the front lines as the Separatist threat came to his homeworld. After multiple tours of duty, he was reassigned to the personal guard of Bail Organa. However, Scrambas still found himself in the midst of things, as Organa was taking an unusual level of interest in the war, visiting fronts as diverse as Boz Pity, Qalydon and Metalor. Ultimately, Scrambas gained a considerable amount of combat experience during the war. His exploits were legendary amongst those under his command. His men said that Scrambas had a wrinkle for every battle he had fought in. When he heard of this, the lieutenant would smile wanly and admit it wasn't strictly true; as he would say, "Only one?" He had become one of the princess's most trusted protectors and advisors. He had even come to regard the young princess as he would any child of his own flesh.
With Scrambas and Jefkin flanking him on both sides, Antilles held the message out towards the princess, "Your highness, the transmission we received. What is it they've sent us?" The princess simply responded with one word, "Hope." As the three men exited the bridge, leaving the princess, Sergeant Major Jefkin collapsed to the floor, in shock, "That…thing. In the hallway, while we were trying to get off the Profundity. It killed at least a dozen of my men, cut them down like they were nothing. Blasters had no effect, it just kept on coming, kept on killing. It was like… like a nightmare. I've never seen anything like it, like some kind of death angel." As Scrambas and Antilles helped the man to his feet, the Tantive IV exited hyperspace and arrived in the orbit of the planet Tatooine. However, the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator had tracked the small craft and exited hyperspace directly behind the small ship.
The Devastator dwarfed the Tantive IV in size more than one hundred-fold. The ship sped forward, with the Star Destroyer in full pursuit. The Corvette's warning sirens began their high pitch wailing once again. Antilles looked directly at Scrambas and spoke loudly so that he would be heard over the ship's alarm, "Lieutenant, you have almost forty troopers aboard this vessel, I want you to utilize every single man to repel the enemy if we are boarded by Imperial forces. Have I made myself clear?" Scrambas rose to his feet, saluted his captain and replied in his typical deep, gruff, and gravelly voice with a confident and hardy, "Yes, sir!" Antilles said "Good luck" as he stepped back aboard the bridge locking the door behind him. Scrambas and Jefkin drew their blasters and headed for the Tantive IV's entry hatch. The Star Destroyer fired upon the ship; with one of its shots disabling the Corvette's main reactor, immobilizing the Alderaanian craft. The large explosion rocked the entire ship. Scrambas's worst fears had been realized, they were about to be boarded by the Empire's stormtroopers. The Devastator then began to draw the small ship into its lower hangar with its tractor beam. As the Tantive IV was being pulled into the Devastator, the corvette began to broadcast protests that it was on a "diplomatic mission."
Troopers ran to the ship's armory which was stocked to the brim with DH-17 blaster pistols and A280 blaster rifles. Lieutenant Scrambas himself carried two DL-44 heavy blaster pistols. The DL-44 is one of the most powerful blaster pistols in the galaxy, capable of delivering massive damage at close range. He was certain that it would definitely be a close-quarters fight if they were to be boarded. Men ran through the various hallways to the ship's entry hatch, taking up positions behind the ship's bulkheads, in doorways, and wherever they could find some sort of cover. With their various blasters aimed at the hatch from which the Imperials would surely enter, the men were ready. Scrambas, never above fighting side by side with men under his command, crouched down behind one of the Corvette's bulkheads; one of closer to the entry hatch and readied himself for a massive firefight. Sergeant Major Jefkin stood behind the bulkhead beside Scrambas. The sound of metal raking against metal reverberated throughout the ship. Then there was total silence. Beads of sweat dripped down Scrambas's forehead and into his eyes, stinging from the salty perspiration. He looked to the ceiling, waiting for hostile troops to cut through the ceiling and board the ship from above.
Suddenly, without any warning, the entry hatch was blasted inward by Imperial stormtroopers. Debris and shards of steel shot forward into the corridor and it began to fill with an acrid cloud of smoke. Scrambas quickly ducked behind the bulkhead to avoid being killed by the shrapnel. A squad of stormtroopers, clad in their signature white armor, swarmed through the entry hatch as a massive skirmish ensued in the Tantive IV's small entrance hallway. Scrambas yelled furiously to his troops, "Open fire!" Both parties exchanged immense amounts of blaster fire. Toshma Jefkin fell to the corridor floor. He had been shot in the chest, just below the heart. Blood poured from the wound relentlessly, turning his light blue shirt a bright red. As men were cut down around him, either dead or wounded, Scrambas rose from his position behind the bulkhead and began retreating backwards, firing with his dual blasters. He screamed to his troops, "Fall back! Fall back now!" His shots found their targets in the chests of two stormtroopers as they charged towards him. They crumpled to the ground, dead. He fired another shot into the head of yet another as a red and gray cloud of blood and brain matter spewed forth from it. The men of the Alderaanian Consular Security Force began to be overwhelmed by the much larger Imperial boarding party. As he and his remaining soldiers began to withdraw from their positions, Scrambas was wounded by enemy fire. He fell to the ground in extreme pain. The blaster bolt had struck him in the right arm and shattered his humerus. Lying on his back, he tried to prop himself up on his arm, not yet realizing the severity of his wound, when he blacked out.
The intense pain from his arm had caused him to momentarily slip into unconsciousness. He awoke lying on his back with many of his comrades dead around him. As stormtroopers surged through the Tantive IV's hallways, he looked up to see a dark figure, dressed head to toe in black. He thought to himself, "This must have been who Toshma was talking about." He heard the individual speaking to one of the stormtroopers, one which wore a blue pauldron over his left shoulder, "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans! And bring me the passengers, I want them alive!" However, a stormtrooper noticed Scrambas stirring and yanked him to his feet, "C'mon Rebel scum." Jabbing him in the back with his blaster, the stormtrooper led him in the direction of the ship's mess hall, the largest room aboard the craft. He was certain he was going to be taken prisoner and tortured for information. He swore to himself that he would never divulge anything. As the trooper led Scrambas through the hallways of the Tantive IV, he was forced to step over the bodies of his fallen comrades. With every step he took pain shot through his arm as it throbbed with searing pain. When he finally reached the mess hall, he realized that the wounded men who had survived the initial onslaught of the Imperials had been taken prisoner as well. Captain Antilles had also survived. There were about thirteen men in total that had survived. Princess Organa was nowhere to be seen. Scrambas hoped that she had been able to escape.
He was forced to kneel and instructed to put his hands on his head, fingers interlocked. The man in black he had seen before entered the mess hall. With stormtroopers surrounding him, Scrambas heard one say "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer, Lord Vader." to the mysterious being in black. The one they addressed as Lord Vader then began to walk towards Captain Antilles, noticeably breathing with the aid of some prosthetic airway of some sort. The figure grabbed Antilles by the throat and lifted him off the ground. The figure said in a deep, guttural and somewhat robotic voice, "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?! What have you done with those plans?!" As Antilles was lifted further off the ground, with his airway being slowly crushed, he managed to weakly say, "We intercepted no transmissions! This is a consular ship! We're on a diplomatic mission!" The one they called Vader then said, "If this is a consular ship, then where is the ambassador?!" Scrambas cringed as he heard the sound of his captain's neck being snapped. Antilles's body was then tossed across the room into an iron column. He then noticed yet another stormtrooper walk up to Vader, "My Lord, what should we do with the prisoners?" Vader turned and looked at them, scanning them with his dark, empty eyes. "Execute them. Let us make an example of those who serve the Rebel Alliance."
A small squad of several stormtroopers then formed up in front of Scrambas and his fellow prisoners. They leveled their E-11 blaster rifles at them. The lieutenant spat in their direction, in one last act of defiance, then stared directly at his captors. He thought to himself, "Look them in the eye…they'll remember you." The stormtrooper officer he had seen before, with the blue pauldron, then stood beside the soon-to-be executioners. Beneath his helmet, he calmly ordered his men in an emotionless voice. "Make ready… Aim…" As he was about to command his men to discharge their weapons, one of Scrambas's men shuffled over to his superior officer, still on his knees. He faced his commander with his back to the Imperials. He nodded, silently acknowledging his last act of faithfulness and dedication. "Fire." The man in front of Scrambas, along with the other eleven survivors, were simultaneously gunned down. Left as the lone survivor aboard the Alderaanian ship, the lieutenant looked at Vader and spoke; "You may hand us over to the executioners, but soon, the disgusted and harried people of the Empire will bring you to book and drag you alive through the dirt in the streets…" His comment was not recognized. The stormtrooper commander dictated his orders once more. "Ready…Aim…" Scrambas valiantly screamed his last words, "Long live the Rebellion!" "Fire." Lieutenant Pello Scrambas fell to the ground, riddled with blaster fire. All the officers, sergeants, and enlisted men of the Alderaanian Consular Security Force aboard the Tantive IV now lay dead. Said to have a wrinkle for every battle he fought in, Scrambas had certainly earned his last one in the battle that had just unfolded aboard the ship. However, it would be this hero's last wrinkle, earned in the protection of his homeworld and its royal family.