From Smugglers to Heros
Chapter 1
" Spice, spice, and more spice. Is that the only important things to Hutts?"
" Quite possibly. You know how many they make off that stuff, right?"
" I don't even want to imagine. If they hunt someone down because they lost a shipment it must be worth a bundle."
"You've got that right. We just have to make sure we don't lose a shipment."
"I'll have to agree with that. If it weren't for the Imperials this job wouldn't be so bad."
"Yeah But there is nothing we can do about them, so we will just have to survive."
"That's for sure. Get ready for the hyperspace jump in 5,..4,. 3,. 2,. 1."
At that moment the stars turned into the familiar lines of Hyperspace travel. With that Ben and Luke were off to the planet Rodia to sell Durga the Hutt's monthly shipement of Glitterism. Life was exciting for these two as they traveled the galaxy doing the only thing the could do. Neither of them were highly educated so smuggling was the only job that paid well for people with low education and even that was small.
Ben's was about 29 years old. His height was about 6'4"and he weighed exactly 198 pounds. He had brown hair and brown eyes. Although farley heavy he appeared to be only medium weight. He wore a dark blue shirt with a red vest and black paints. His hair was scruffy and out of place all of the time. Being Corielian you never told him the odds although Luke was no mathematician. Luke was about 22 and his height was 5'8 and he weighed a little over 150 pounds. He too was Coriellian but he had blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore the same style clothes as Ben with the exception of the dark green vest he always wore.
"I lost again! I don't know why I even play Sabacc with you anymore." Ben complained as Luke beat him with a total of positive 15 to Ben's 11. "I taught you how to play and know you beat me all the time."
" I just can't help myself Ben. Maybe next time we are on vacation I can sit in on a real game. Maybe I could win a new ship or enough money to buy a new one."
"I don't see us having any vacation time but a new ship would be nice. I'd rather have the Millennium Falcon and all it's troubles more than this ship."
"That's odd coming from you Ben. I know how much you hate Han Solo and that Wookie friend of his."
"I was talking about the ship not the pilots."
"Right."
That was one of the only things the two of them disagreed on. Ben hated Han Solo and everything bout him. The one thing he never told anyone was he was jealous of Han's ability and he wanted to be just as good.
Luke on the other hand wanted to be just like Han Solo in every way. Han had been his hero ever since he entered the smuggling business and heard about Han's exploits. He didn't mention Han much anymore because he knew it would only make Ben mad and cause fights over a stupid subject.
The alarm rang alerting the end of their hyperspace jump. Ben had the habit off entering a system way before the planet itself. "That is not the ship we are supposed to meet up with!" Luke said ecstatically.
"I know, I know. I have a bad feeling about this."
"What are we going to do know if we get caught with this spice on board we will be executed for sure."
"That's why we get out of here fast. Plot the shortest jump to the planet Ryloth we need a hiding spot and a new ship in order to get out of this alive. Boy do I wish we were piloting a better ship."
"Coarse set."
"Punch it!"
**********
"The Rodians have contacted us and they report no sign of Ben and Luke. They did say that Imperial ships were in the area. This could be the reason the Rodians haven't been contacted by them."
"That would only be an excuse." Durga the Hutt said disgustedly in his native language."
"You can never rule out that possibility master." The majordomo argued.
" You know sometimes I feel like chocking you to death right here on the spot. The only thing that keeps me from killing you is you are the only one I can trust in this operation."
The majordomo knew the Hutt was lying. If there was one way Hutts and smugglers were alike it was they trusted no one no matter who you were.
"I'll leave the subject alone."
"I knew you would say that. When they get back they better have a good story or they will pay dearly."
As the majordomo walked away he tried not to smile. He had tipped the Imperials on the ware abouts of that run. He had also told them all they needed to know about the operation. Little did the Hutt know but it wouldn't be to long before his operation would come to an unfortunate end. Not only would the Hutt be dead but the majordomo would be rich. That was something he could not stop thinking about.
**********
"Coming out of hyperspace in 3,.2,..1." The stars went back to normal and they could see the barren planet of Ryloth.
"It's a good thing that jump was shorter than usual or we would have been toast. We must have been incredibly close to their tractor beams."
"That's for sure. What's the plan know?" Luke asked as they approached the planet.
"We need to find another ship and find a way out of here without getting ourselves killed."
"Sounds like a good idea but we don't have enough money."
"You have enough money to get into a Sabacc game, right?"
"I was only kidding when I said that."
"Well I'm not. It's the only way I can see us making enough money to buy a decent ship."
"This is going to be a long day." Luke sighed as he headed to the nearest Casino.
*********
"Admiral, you aren't going to just let them get away are you?" An impatient officer asked aboard the Emperor's Wrath.
"We will go after them in due time. We know they are headed to Ryloth. We will make them think they have outsmarted us and then we will destroy them."
"Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir."
"Dismissed private."
The Stormtrooper marched down the control room hallway and went about his business.
"General, set a coarse for Tantooine. Tell the locals we will be in orbit for a while."
"Yes sir. What do you plan to do on Tantooine."
"I plan to tell them who is boss while we give those smugglers their chance to get together before we destroy them."
"Yes Admiral."
**********
Ben scrounged up enough money to buy a Hotel room in a small city. They were in a perplexing situation. The Imperials weren't just going to leave them alone. Then he had an idea. A good and bad idea. No matter what the cost he was going to sell their shipement of Glitterism to the locals. The load was worth a total of 37 million credits. "Sounds like a good reason to join the Rebellion."
That afternoon he began selling the Glitterism. 5 ounces at 32 thousand credits was a bargain but if he sold the whole shipment it would be more than enough money. In two hours he had sold the whole shipment for 23 million credits. Now he had to go find Luke who had been playing Sabacc all day. Apparently he was better at than he thought if he still had money after this long if a period.
"I don't know how I am going to explain this to Luke but either way he is going to have a fit when I tell him what I did."
Chapter 2
Admiral Tohart aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Emperor's Wrath smiled when he found out one of Tantooine's largest moisture farms had been destroyed.
"That's enough damage for the time being. Order the bombers back to the dock, General."
"Yes Admiral. Do you want me to set a course for Rodia when they are docked."
"I hadn't ordered it General but I was getting ready to. I love a lower officer that can read my mind." **********
"Are you in for another game kid." a middle sized Rodian asked Luke.
"Why not." Luke replied
He had been having a better day than he could possibly imagine. He started the day with 100,000 credits and he had already earned 300,000 credits. The Sabacc pot had grown to an amazing 907,653 credits. If everything goes right this hand Ben will be impressed. The Rodian dealt the cards. Luke's cards were a Demise, the commander of staves, the Idiot, and the 3 of flasks, a total of 5. The dealer hit the shift button on the table. His hand turned into two Idiots, the 2 of flasks, and the 3 of staves, an Idiots array.
"I, call." Luke said keeping his composure. He threw his hand into the flux field. Everyone looked disgusted as they put their hands in the flux field. Luke had just won the Sabacc pot. He left the Casino with 1,308,053 credits. He left the table to go find Ben and look for a ship.
**********
"Are you absolutely out of your mind!" Luke yelled when he heard what Ben had done. "Every bounty hunter in the galaxy we will be after us when Durga finds out!"
"I know but we made a bundle and I found us a ship that makes our old one look like a piece of junk."
"He lead Luke to Hanger Bay 25. Their it was; a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter. It looked just like the Millennium Falcon except it was painted black with a red stripe down the top.
"Wow. Let's take a look."
The cargo bay opened up and they went down the main hallway into the pilot's cockpit.
"I decided to name it Hard Target. What do you think of it."
"It's great . It's been highly modified with a hyperdrive capable of .4 past lightspeed and twin ion cannons front and rear and dual gun turrets. This is great."
"Let's just hope we can serve the Rebellion after this is over"
"So that is your plan if we get out of this mess."
"Yeah. We can only hope to get through this."
"Well we have the ship so let's go."
At about 2 o'clock Courascant time Luke and Ben prepared the engines for take off.
"Now is as a good a time as any to take off. Let's see if this ship is worthy of it's name. " "Now we can only hope."
**********
"Another ship is being shown on the monitor Admiral."
"What type?"
"Corellian YT-1300 sir. Highly modified."
"Is it the Millennium Falcon?"
"Negative. The name is Hard Target. It is not found in the imperial records, sir."
"Then send out the fighters. We don't want them to get out of here alive."
"Yes Admiral."
*********
"10 TIES coming in at 5 click out on the starboard side."
"You take the controls. Use evasive action when you deem necessary."
"Yes Ben. Where do you want me to fly?"
"We'll worry about that when we get out of here."
"Alright."
The TIES were coming in fast. Their numbers were growing every minute. At the last count there were 35 TIES. They were coming in at different directions. They seamed to be no match for Ben who was destroying TIES left and right.
"The remaining TIES are retreating."
"Great. Turn on the comm. unit."
"Why?"
"I want them to know who they are dealing with. Imperial Star Destroyer Emperor's Wrath we are the smugglers who escaped you near the planet of Rodia. We are about to leave so have a nice day." Luke shut off the comm. unit.
"Plot a short jump to Gammor and then we will head to the Rebel base on Taanab. This is only the beginning."
Entering hyperspace in 3,.2,.1.
**********
"They're getting away Admiral?"
"Try to lock on to them with the tractors."
"Trying to Sir but we can't get a lock on it because it is moving too fast!"
They watched as the black ship jumped into hyperspace. "I guess that ship really is a hard target."
Chapter 1
" Spice, spice, and more spice. Is that the only important things to Hutts?"
" Quite possibly. You know how many they make off that stuff, right?"
" I don't even want to imagine. If they hunt someone down because they lost a shipment it must be worth a bundle."
"You've got that right. We just have to make sure we don't lose a shipment."
"I'll have to agree with that. If it weren't for the Imperials this job wouldn't be so bad."
"Yeah But there is nothing we can do about them, so we will just have to survive."
"That's for sure. Get ready for the hyperspace jump in 5,..4,. 3,. 2,. 1."
At that moment the stars turned into the familiar lines of Hyperspace travel. With that Ben and Luke were off to the planet Rodia to sell Durga the Hutt's monthly shipement of Glitterism. Life was exciting for these two as they traveled the galaxy doing the only thing the could do. Neither of them were highly educated so smuggling was the only job that paid well for people with low education and even that was small.
Ben's was about 29 years old. His height was about 6'4"and he weighed exactly 198 pounds. He had brown hair and brown eyes. Although farley heavy he appeared to be only medium weight. He wore a dark blue shirt with a red vest and black paints. His hair was scruffy and out of place all of the time. Being Corielian you never told him the odds although Luke was no mathematician. Luke was about 22 and his height was 5'8 and he weighed a little over 150 pounds. He too was Coriellian but he had blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore the same style clothes as Ben with the exception of the dark green vest he always wore.
"I lost again! I don't know why I even play Sabacc with you anymore." Ben complained as Luke beat him with a total of positive 15 to Ben's 11. "I taught you how to play and know you beat me all the time."
" I just can't help myself Ben. Maybe next time we are on vacation I can sit in on a real game. Maybe I could win a new ship or enough money to buy a new one."
"I don't see us having any vacation time but a new ship would be nice. I'd rather have the Millennium Falcon and all it's troubles more than this ship."
"That's odd coming from you Ben. I know how much you hate Han Solo and that Wookie friend of his."
"I was talking about the ship not the pilots."
"Right."
That was one of the only things the two of them disagreed on. Ben hated Han Solo and everything bout him. The one thing he never told anyone was he was jealous of Han's ability and he wanted to be just as good.
Luke on the other hand wanted to be just like Han Solo in every way. Han had been his hero ever since he entered the smuggling business and heard about Han's exploits. He didn't mention Han much anymore because he knew it would only make Ben mad and cause fights over a stupid subject.
The alarm rang alerting the end of their hyperspace jump. Ben had the habit off entering a system way before the planet itself. "That is not the ship we are supposed to meet up with!" Luke said ecstatically.
"I know, I know. I have a bad feeling about this."
"What are we going to do know if we get caught with this spice on board we will be executed for sure."
"That's why we get out of here fast. Plot the shortest jump to the planet Ryloth we need a hiding spot and a new ship in order to get out of this alive. Boy do I wish we were piloting a better ship."
"Coarse set."
"Punch it!"
**********
"The Rodians have contacted us and they report no sign of Ben and Luke. They did say that Imperial ships were in the area. This could be the reason the Rodians haven't been contacted by them."
"That would only be an excuse." Durga the Hutt said disgustedly in his native language."
"You can never rule out that possibility master." The majordomo argued.
" You know sometimes I feel like chocking you to death right here on the spot. The only thing that keeps me from killing you is you are the only one I can trust in this operation."
The majordomo knew the Hutt was lying. If there was one way Hutts and smugglers were alike it was they trusted no one no matter who you were.
"I'll leave the subject alone."
"I knew you would say that. When they get back they better have a good story or they will pay dearly."
As the majordomo walked away he tried not to smile. He had tipped the Imperials on the ware abouts of that run. He had also told them all they needed to know about the operation. Little did the Hutt know but it wouldn't be to long before his operation would come to an unfortunate end. Not only would the Hutt be dead but the majordomo would be rich. That was something he could not stop thinking about.
**********
"Coming out of hyperspace in 3,.2,..1." The stars went back to normal and they could see the barren planet of Ryloth.
"It's a good thing that jump was shorter than usual or we would have been toast. We must have been incredibly close to their tractor beams."
"That's for sure. What's the plan know?" Luke asked as they approached the planet.
"We need to find another ship and find a way out of here without getting ourselves killed."
"Sounds like a good idea but we don't have enough money."
"You have enough money to get into a Sabacc game, right?"
"I was only kidding when I said that."
"Well I'm not. It's the only way I can see us making enough money to buy a decent ship."
"This is going to be a long day." Luke sighed as he headed to the nearest Casino.
*********
"Admiral, you aren't going to just let them get away are you?" An impatient officer asked aboard the Emperor's Wrath.
"We will go after them in due time. We know they are headed to Ryloth. We will make them think they have outsmarted us and then we will destroy them."
"Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir."
"Dismissed private."
The Stormtrooper marched down the control room hallway and went about his business.
"General, set a coarse for Tantooine. Tell the locals we will be in orbit for a while."
"Yes sir. What do you plan to do on Tantooine."
"I plan to tell them who is boss while we give those smugglers their chance to get together before we destroy them."
"Yes Admiral."
**********
Ben scrounged up enough money to buy a Hotel room in a small city. They were in a perplexing situation. The Imperials weren't just going to leave them alone. Then he had an idea. A good and bad idea. No matter what the cost he was going to sell their shipement of Glitterism to the locals. The load was worth a total of 37 million credits. "Sounds like a good reason to join the Rebellion."
That afternoon he began selling the Glitterism. 5 ounces at 32 thousand credits was a bargain but if he sold the whole shipment it would be more than enough money. In two hours he had sold the whole shipment for 23 million credits. Now he had to go find Luke who had been playing Sabacc all day. Apparently he was better at than he thought if he still had money after this long if a period.
"I don't know how I am going to explain this to Luke but either way he is going to have a fit when I tell him what I did."
Chapter 2
Admiral Tohart aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Emperor's Wrath smiled when he found out one of Tantooine's largest moisture farms had been destroyed.
"That's enough damage for the time being. Order the bombers back to the dock, General."
"Yes Admiral. Do you want me to set a course for Rodia when they are docked."
"I hadn't ordered it General but I was getting ready to. I love a lower officer that can read my mind." **********
"Are you in for another game kid." a middle sized Rodian asked Luke.
"Why not." Luke replied
He had been having a better day than he could possibly imagine. He started the day with 100,000 credits and he had already earned 300,000 credits. The Sabacc pot had grown to an amazing 907,653 credits. If everything goes right this hand Ben will be impressed. The Rodian dealt the cards. Luke's cards were a Demise, the commander of staves, the Idiot, and the 3 of flasks, a total of 5. The dealer hit the shift button on the table. His hand turned into two Idiots, the 2 of flasks, and the 3 of staves, an Idiots array.
"I, call." Luke said keeping his composure. He threw his hand into the flux field. Everyone looked disgusted as they put their hands in the flux field. Luke had just won the Sabacc pot. He left the Casino with 1,308,053 credits. He left the table to go find Ben and look for a ship.
**********
"Are you absolutely out of your mind!" Luke yelled when he heard what Ben had done. "Every bounty hunter in the galaxy we will be after us when Durga finds out!"
"I know but we made a bundle and I found us a ship that makes our old one look like a piece of junk."
"He lead Luke to Hanger Bay 25. Their it was; a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter. It looked just like the Millennium Falcon except it was painted black with a red stripe down the top.
"Wow. Let's take a look."
The cargo bay opened up and they went down the main hallway into the pilot's cockpit.
"I decided to name it Hard Target. What do you think of it."
"It's great . It's been highly modified with a hyperdrive capable of .4 past lightspeed and twin ion cannons front and rear and dual gun turrets. This is great."
"Let's just hope we can serve the Rebellion after this is over"
"So that is your plan if we get out of this mess."
"Yeah. We can only hope to get through this."
"Well we have the ship so let's go."
At about 2 o'clock Courascant time Luke and Ben prepared the engines for take off.
"Now is as a good a time as any to take off. Let's see if this ship is worthy of it's name. " "Now we can only hope."
**********
"Another ship is being shown on the monitor Admiral."
"What type?"
"Corellian YT-1300 sir. Highly modified."
"Is it the Millennium Falcon?"
"Negative. The name is Hard Target. It is not found in the imperial records, sir."
"Then send out the fighters. We don't want them to get out of here alive."
"Yes Admiral."
*********
"10 TIES coming in at 5 click out on the starboard side."
"You take the controls. Use evasive action when you deem necessary."
"Yes Ben. Where do you want me to fly?"
"We'll worry about that when we get out of here."
"Alright."
The TIES were coming in fast. Their numbers were growing every minute. At the last count there were 35 TIES. They were coming in at different directions. They seamed to be no match for Ben who was destroying TIES left and right.
"The remaining TIES are retreating."
"Great. Turn on the comm. unit."
"Why?"
"I want them to know who they are dealing with. Imperial Star Destroyer Emperor's Wrath we are the smugglers who escaped you near the planet of Rodia. We are about to leave so have a nice day." Luke shut off the comm. unit.
"Plot a short jump to Gammor and then we will head to the Rebel base on Taanab. This is only the beginning."
Entering hyperspace in 3,.2,.1.
**********
"They're getting away Admiral?"
"Try to lock on to them with the tractors."
"Trying to Sir but we can't get a lock on it because it is moving too fast!"
They watched as the black ship jumped into hyperspace. "I guess that ship really is a hard target."