"Well this is going well. At least better then some of our other runs" Jeck said as he sat back in his pilot chair aboard the modified freighter Trigger Finger as they headed towards the hyperspace point after delivering their cargo. Jeck was the captain of this freighter and leader of the smuggling group. He is one of the more successful smugglers, though not nearly the best. And, like all smugglers, has accumulated a number of debts. This particular run was to help pay off one such debt. But he had suspected that his employer might betray him out of revenge. But the way that things were going, it looked like things were not turning out as he feared.
"With our luck, we should have had half the imperial fleet breathing down our necks by now"
"Only half?" said Hala, the navigator for this trip, as she input the final calculations for their hyperspace jump.
"I figures by now we would have had the other half here. And it's your luck, not ours" she said with a smile. She was one of the more senior members of this particular group, and had more navigation experience than anyone Jeck knew. He trusted her to plot a course out of the maw if it was necessary. So he was happy to have her on this run. Even despite her sense of humour.
"Yeah, well I just want some action up here" said Joey over the com system, "turret duty gets boring when there's NOTHING TO SHOOT AT!!!!" Joey was the weapons fanatic in the group. If it can shoot, cut, or explode, he loves it. And there's a good chance he knows how to shoot it, throw it, or fix it. Which is what makes him the best gunner this side of the rim.
Almost before Joey finished his sentence, the proximity warning went off.
"We have imperial ships exiting hyperspace!" Hala said, checking her sensor display, "One Interdictor cruiser and a Correlian Corvette. They are launching fighters!"
"Well Joey, looks like you got your wish." Jeck said, "Now shoot down those fighters! Hala, jam their comms. The last thing we need is a Star Destroyer to get here. But make it fast, there might be one coming in behind it"
"On it." She said, reaching of the control board, "Done, but it wont last long."
"Better be long enough. How many fighters we dealing with Joey?"
"Ten-" The thunder of the blaster cannons could be heard from inside the cockpit, and one dot winked out on the tactical display, "Make that nine"
"Make that eight!" said Hal, one of the other two gunners in the turrets.
The fighters continued to pound the ship, but the shields were holding. The fighters were disapering at a steady rate, but they were too hard to hit, dodging around the blasts from Joey and the other gunners. But they would win… unless…
Suddenly the ship lurched beneath them.
"What was that!" said Jeck, "Fighters don't pack that much punch!"
"It was the Corvette," Hala said, "it's moved into range"
"That's it! I've had enough, start firing at the interdictor! Maybe we can get them to divert power from their Grav-gerarators to their shields." An old trick to deal with interdictor cruisers was to focus all fire on the nose of the ship, where the Grav-generators were housed. The generators took up a tremendous amount of energy, wich means, when the shields, went down, they would have to take the generators off-line to keep them from getting destroyed.
"Guys, I'm taking control of the guns. Were gonna need all the fire we can bring to bear." The guns on the ship were set up in such a way that they can all be swiveld forward to bring the total firepower of the ship to bear. As Jeck opened up on the cruiser with the turrets, Hala brought the main cannons on line. The heavy laser cannons had ten times the power of the turrets combined. The Trigger Finger had a pair of them. They were not normally offline, as they required a tremendous amout of energy, but she diverted power from the engines. They no longer had manovering, but they were moving fast enough to be a difficult target for the Corvette. Not so for the cruiser, as they were headed straight for it.
"Hala, divert power from the aft shields forward."
"Got it." She reached over to the shield controls and flipped two switches. "Done, and the cannons are charged."
"Got it. Joey, you still have torpedo control, give em' a few."
"Got it" he said with a laugh.
"Al right, here goes nothing." And he fired the cannons. The front of the Finger was engulfed in light and two large beams of light shot forward and impacted on the bow of the cruiser, now identified as the Constrictor, causeing the bow shields to spark and crackle. Jeck kept up barrage, and joey finaly got a lock and unleashed the torps. Three glowing blue orbs shot out from above, and either side of the cockpit. Soon accompanied by another blast from the cannons. They both impacted at the same time, and that blast was enough to overload the shields. They collapsed… but the grav-well light stayed lit.'
"The gererator is gonna overload, why wont they shut it down and cut their losses. Unless… Hala! Divert all power to the engines! We need to put as much didtance between us and that cruiser now!
"Why, the generators is gonna overlo-"
"Yes, and why haven't they shut it down yet?"
"…… They gonna use it as an anchor! All power to the engines."
"Did I miss something?" asked Joey from the turret.
"Just keep your eyes aft" replied Jeck, turning the ship around and blasting away at full speed, leaving the remaining fighters and the corvette firing the wrong way.
And suddenly, the space where thay had been a minute ago became white. Or more precisely, a large white triangle. A very large white triangle with enough guns to turn every ship here into a pile of molten slag in seconds. But unfortunatly for Jeck and the others, it was only concerned with them.
"It'll take them a second to get their berings, how long till we can jump"
"Juging by the readings from the cruiser, id say-" on the rear view monitor, the front of the cruiser crackeled with energy, and the grav light went out. "about now" Hala finished.
"Good, now let's get out of here before they can use that tractor beam on us and we'll never get out of this..." Jeck said. He reached for the hyperspace lever and pulled it towards him. The tractor beam reached out to grab them, but they were not there anymore. The stars turned into starlines, and then to the familiar swirling tunnel of hyperspace. They were safe.
"Coming up on Ord Mantell."Hala said from the cockpit, "reversion to realspace in ten minutes."
"Got it, be right there." Jeck said, moving away from the comm panel. He was in his cabin, trying to get some sleep. After the encounter with the Imps back there, he had been trying to figure out how they had found him. Durga the Hut must have sold him out after all, because Imperial intelligence isn't… well… that intelligent. They need a plan to be in effect for at least a standard week to find it. Anyway, he would find out soon enough.
As he headed up to the cockpit, he passed Joey who was tinkering with the shields.
"Those new Blaster cannons in the turrets are great! They slag a TIE in one shot! Though a hand blaster could slag a TIE… you get the point."
"They better be, for what they cost. In fact, that cost put us on that run."
"But their worth it" Joey said defensively.
"Yeah yeah, just think of them as your birthday present, for the next ten years."
"Best present ever" He said with a silly grin.
Twenty minutes later they touched down in their base of operations. As they walked out of the ship, they spotted Mick, one of their techs, running across the landing pad towards them.
"What's up?" Jeck asked.
"Jessie's been kidnapped!" he said, gasping for breath.
"What!? How?!?" He demanded? Jessie had been his friend since before he could remember, she was basically his sister. She was supposed to be safe on a nice, legal run, so this was a total
"I don't know! She was on a food run to those protestors on Abregedo-Re, you know, that run Karrde contracted us to take over? Anyway, she was on her way back when she reported being attacked by a group of Uglies and corvettes."
"Uglies? Those are pirate ships." Uglies were a cheap ship that looked like a flying pile of scrap, usually made up of parts from two different ships. The two most common are made from a combo of an X-wing and a tie, or a Y-wing and a tie. Referred to as X-TIE's and TIE-wings respectively. Tough the latter is sometimes called a DIE-wing
"Merc actually, Durga hired them. He said so himself. We have 2 standard weeks to pay back the debt."
"WHAT??????"
"He says that nothing will happen to her if we pay up, but he won't be responsible if he doesn't get the money by the deadline."
"Damn."
"So, what do we do? Pay him?" Hala said.
"I trust a hut just as far as I can throw one. He'll kill her even if we pay. We need to get her out."
"Yesssssssss, prison break, my kind of fun!" Joey said ecstatically.
"Thought you would say that" Jeck said turning back to Mick, "I want the fighter module loaded up to the ship. We're gonna need all the guns we can muster."
"Whoa there." Hala interrupted, "have you seen Durga's fortress? Just to get passed the defence ships were gonna need a Star Destroyer."
"No prob, that's the easy part." He said with a sly grin.
"No prob? Helloooooo, did you miss the part about STAR DESTROYER??? We don't have one!"
"No, but Booster does" still grinning.
"Oh" now she was grinning.
The comm panel pinged indicating that Booster had finally responded to their communications. It had taken Jeck three hours and a favour from Karrde to track him down in the Tattoine system. Lately, he had been hiding from the imps, who don't like just anyone having a personal Star Destroyer. So he had been rather hard to find. But it's not that easy to hide a ship that size.
"What do you want Jeck?" Booster said in an irritated tone, "I'm a very busy man"
"Booster, I know for a fact that all you are doing is sitting around on the bridge trying to hide from the imps. I need a favour" Jeck said.
"And why should I do anything for you? All you ever gave me was trouble."
"Who told you where to get those turbolaser emplacements that Cracken didn't want you to have? And at such a low price?"
"Oh, yeah." He said "fine then, what do you need?"
"I need you to help me bust into Durga's fortress." Jeck replied. "Should be a good chance to test out those Turbos."
"What???? You want me to risk my ship and crew for you?? You got another think coming!"
"Its not for me, it's for Jessie, he's holding her till I pay him."
"Jessie? That's different." Booster had always had a soft spot for Jessie, probably because she reminded him a lot of his daughter, Mirax.
"Yes, and since you need a Star Destroyer to get past Durga's defences, I figured I might be able to borrow yours."
"Fine, but if it were anyone other than Jessie… You got yourself a Star Destroyer, but after this, you owe me."
"Fine, I just want her back."
"Head over and we'll figure out how do this properly, no sense in getting killed is there?"
"No there isn't, see you soon."
"Not to soon," he grumbled as he terminated the communication.
The Errant Venture was a colossal ship, an Imperial MkII Star Destroyer, 1.8 kilometres long, with 100 turbolaser cannons, and 20 ion cannons, it was a formidable fighting machine. Booster had aquirered it some years ago, but that's another story. Anyway, as the Trigger Finger landed in the docking bay, Jeck couldn't help but stare at the shear size of the ship. Durga would go running as soon as they entered the system.
As they arrived, Booster came out to greet them. "Alright, let's get this over with," he said as he escorted them into the turbolift. "I have the planning room al set."
As they stepped out of the lift and into the room, Jeck asked, "Have you come up with a plan?"
"Yes actually. I sent a small probe to the edge of the system, and his fleet is much smaller than I had expected. When we enter the system, the Venture will take care of the larger ships, and then once the furball has started you guys will launch and sweep up the fighters. I have no fighters of my own, so that will be mostly up to you. Once we have moved close enough to the planet to keep Durga from getting away, you head down to the surface and get Jessie out. You'll be on your own there, I can't help you."
"Got it," Jeck said, "How long will we have before you need to get out?"
"As long as it takes!" Booster laughed "The biggest ship he has is a Carack Cruiser, Durga's 'Fleet' is no match for the Venture"
From the bridge of the Errant Venture the swirls of hyperspace, looked even more impressive, and so did the triangular bow sticking out ahead of him.
"Reversion in thirty seconds!" said one of Boosters crew members across the bridge.
"Ready all weapons!" Booster said in his most captainly voice. Cleary enjoying this. He was dressed in an imperial admiral's uniform, one he had no doubt found in a storage closet aboard the ship.
"All weapons ready!" the crewman shouted back.
Suddenly, the swirls became starlines, and then to the familiar speckled blackness of realspace. Plus of course, one planet and about 25 warships. 1 5 more than there were supposed to be.
'What? Where did those ships come from?" Booster shouted "the original count was only 10!"
"They must have been waiting in another system. When Durga spotted the probe, he must have called for backup."
"But where did Durga get them? He doesn't have enough money for all this!" Booster shouted.
"Transponder codes decrypted" Hala said from her station, "They aren't his, their from his clan"
"Damn, we're not only fighting Durga, but his family too. Fine then, all guns, Fire! Concentrate your fire! Pick the ships off one at a time! You guys better get to your ship, I read multiple bomber launches from the frigates, the capital ships I can handle, you guys have the fighters."
"Right," Jeck said turning for the turbolift, "Guys, lets move!"
"On it" Hala said, from behind him, Joey's still there. He has the guns ready to go"
As they entered the hangar, Jeck herd the Trigger Finger running its start-up sequence, and saw Joey in the cockpit.
"Hala, get to the Night Blade and prepare for launch, we'll launch you when we need you" Jeck said as he entered the Finger "that fighter doesn't have much protection, and with that much energy flying around, one hit and your toast."
"Ok" she said as she headed aft towards the fighter module in the rear of the ship, where her fighter was docked
"Ok, guns up, engines go, torp system ready. Let's slag some Hutt butt!" Jeck said. He then increased the repulsor lifts, turned towards the bay exit, and moved out. Once he was clear of the mag field, he hit the main engines and shot away from the Venture.
The 2 assault frigates were moving to take up positions on either side of the Venture and were delivering massive broadsides to her. But this was a star destroyer, and Booster retaliated with all guns, cleaving one neatly in two pieces, and the other vanished into a firestorm, quickly followed by the two halves of the other as the reactor went critical. But the real threat to the Venture was the bombers. They each had 4 torpedoes, and could target individual parts of the ship, including the shield generators, and afterwards, the bridge. Booster was keeping them from getting a lock by firing at them with the turbo lasers, which kept them dodging, but they were to fast to target, and would eventually get a lock. Killing them was up to Jeck and the others.
"Alright, pick a target and start shooting; we need to get them before they kill the generators on the Venture. If they do, those cap ships can take her down. So get to it!" Jeck said as he flew the Trigger Finger right towards the bomber formation. "Hala, get ready."
"Lights green, just waiting for launch" she said form in her fighter.
"Alright, targets locked, here we go!" Jeck said. Unlike most armed freighters, which only had manned turrets, the Finger has 2 computer controls guns that track whatever targets they are given, or the pilot can slave them to the cockpit and shot them like a forward gun system. There were 12 bombers in total, one full squadron, and Jeck gave one of the turrets 3 of the targets, and slaved the others to him. The targeting computer weren't that effective, in this case, it was mostly to keep the fighter too busy dogging to fire.
3 of the bombers were picked of f before they knew what happened, 2 more were gone before they got smart. They split into two groups, one of 4 and 3, then they split up, going two different ways. The Finger could only follow one group, but it would only take 2 to blast the shields. But luckily, it wasn't just the Finger.
"Hala, Launch now, take the smaller group" Jeck said.
"Right" She responded. "I have them"
The Finger lurched a bit as Hala detached from the rear of the ship, and streaked at the bombers, she loosed a missile, which tore one bomber to shreds, taking all three pilots completely by surprise. The other two tried to escape, but Hala had them in her sights, she caught one in the weapons bay with her lasers as it tried to turn away, and the other was caught in the explosion. Both craft vanished in a ball of light.
The Finger was having a litme more trouble than she was.
The 4 bombers spread out, into a rough square. The Finger stayed behind what seemed to be the leader. Suddenly, the other 3 cut their engines. They dropped back behind the finger and opened up with their lasers.
"Damn, why do they have to be smart mercs." Jeck said as the ship shook from the pounding. "All shields aft. Joey, take care of them before they get a torp lock."
"Got it!" he said from in the turret, as he swivelled it around to target the ones behind.
He caught one just in front of the engines, and the blast sent it spinning off away from ship. He caught another in the wing, shearing it off, but the pilot recovered, and swerved off, heading for the carrier. The last one managed to get a lock, before Joey could get it, and launched. Joey Caught it in the nose, and the fighter exploded. But it was too late.
"Go evasive!" he screemed, and jeck instantly responded by swerving down and left. The missiles streaked past, missing the ship my meters, and the ship accelerated away. One missle continued straight, but the other re-aquired the Finger and change course after it.
"Still got one after us! Brace for impact!"
Joey waited for the blast, but instead saw a flash of laser, and Hala's fighter streak out from underneath the ship.
Thought you could use a hand." She said over the comm.
Meanwhile, Booster was exchanging fire with the remains of the fleet. It had reorganised itself into a staggered wall formation and was charging towards the Errant Venture, in the hopes of overwhelming the shields with concentrated fire. Which in many cases would have worked. But not againsed a Star Destroyer. She turned and rotated 40 degrees, exposing a large number of her guns, and opened fire on the fleet. It was utterly decimated, the fleet was crushed. One third of the fleet was destroyed in the fires volley, and more vessels badly damaged. What remained turned to disengage, and ran like mad towards the hyperspace point
"Hah, Mercs. They turn tail when the going gets tough." Booster said in a mocking tone.
"What would you do if you saw a Star Destroyer decimate your entire fleet in one shot?"
"Yeah, I know. You guys should get back on bord, Durga should be calling soon"
2 minutes later, Jeck and the others were back on the bridge.
"Communication from the planet sir." The communications officer said from the crew pit
"Putt it on up here." Booster said turning to the rear hologram pod, where a three quarter sized holo of Durga appeared.
"I congratulate you on your performance gentlemen, but you didn't need to fight your way through my fleet just to pay me. You could have just sent me the money."
"We're not here to pay you, we're here to jet Jessie back!" Jeck yelled at him.
"HO HO HO! Oh come now my boy, if you set one foot inside my Fortress, she will be killed immediately." He said with a Hut laugh.
"If you harm her, I will vaporise you from orbit, then proceed to hunt down the rest of your Clan and take all your profits." Jeck said coldly.
"HO HO HO! And whose fleet do you have that can do all this?"
"Mine" Booster said, stepping into view of the holo-cam.
"And who are you?" Durga said iritantly.
"I am supreme commander Pelleon, of the Empire. That girl is my daughter-in law and I want her back" Booster said, imitating a smug Imperial Admiral perfectly.
Durga looked at Pelleon for a few more seconds, looking slightly nervous, then barked an order to someone in Hutiese, "She will be put on a shuttle and sent up to you soon."
"Good. And any tricks Durga, and I will reduce you to something that I would scrape off the bottom of my shoe."
"Yes, yes sir" Durga said, then switched of the monitor.
"Well that went well" booster said sitting back down in the captains chair, "Fooled him pretty good."
"That was lucky," Jeck said, "He might still pull something"
"No, he won't. Even if he doesn't by the admiral thing, he knows that I still have the power to slag him down there. And this is his personal fortress, so the majority of his money will be here. And if there's one thing a Hutt loves more than his life, it his money"
"That's true"
After a few minutes, a shuttle launched from the surface, carrying Jessie up to the Errant Venture. After it landed in the hangar, the ramp descended and Jessie came running out. She ran up to Jeck and gave him a big hug.
"I missed you," Jeck said
"Same" she responded "But you had better not have let everything go to pot while I was gone!"
He tousled her hair then said thanks to Booster.
"Don't mention it" he said. "Except when you're paying me back for this."
"Hah, Hala, Joey, we're going"
"Right behind you boss" Joey said.
As the Trigger Finger left the hangar, Booster turned towards the turbolift muttering to himself. "That kid's almost as good as Han; I just hope his ego doesn't get him killed."