"Guy has to make a living." All the air rushed out of me as one of the rebel soldiers, who had recovered from the stun, kicked me in the ribs. "As I was saying, you are under arrest for possession of illegal substances, resisting arrest, human trafficking and assaulting a rebel officer."
"That's it? Man, I really need to expand my repertoire."
"We are not charging you for any crimes committed against imperials."
"Obviously, otherwise we would be here forever." The Officer lifted me up and escorted me through the Dilemma, and on the reb cruiser. We walked through the grey, dull hanger of the cruiser. Hundreds of pilots ran around their ships, some stopping to stare at me. "Man, would it kill you to add some colour, I mean, can't you just see a Dobeq next to this window, a barrage of laser fire rushing past, killing you all?" I almost lost my lunch as one of the officers poked me in the gut with a stun baton. We walked to the bridge and into a room furnished with a Greel wood desk with paper scattered all across it. I was shoved down onto my knees and all but one of the rebels left. I shouted to them "Be careful with my ship, it's… it's the only thing I have left."
"Don't worry, I understand. Everyone here has lost something. We'll be careful." Huh. Maybe the rebels aren't so bad, even though they made imperial security increase tenfold, and cause a ton of chaos. "Sergeant Apteron, we have caught the prisoner." Apteron. That's a name I haven't heard in years."Hertz Sundig, long time no see." A familiar voice said. The figure sitting in the chair turned around to reveal an eel-like creature. The figure slowly turned around, revealing a face that I hadn't seen since the mission that changed my life. My breath left me, and the rage started to build. "YOU LEFT ME TO DIE! I SPENT 3 YEARS IN AN IMPERIAL PRISON! THE BLACK SUN PUT A 100,000 CREDIT BOUNTY ON MY HEAD AND HAVE BEEN HUNTING ME DOWN! All because you couldn't handle one extra casualty." I jumped the desk separating us, choking him with my cuffs. Before I could finish the job, my body started convulsing, and I couldn't move. "I had to leave! You think it's bad being hunted by the Black Sun? Imagine what it's like having an entire planet of assassins after you! Having to kill people you grew up with! People you knew! People you loved! You had other crime syndicates you could go to, you could find refuge with those at war with the Black Sun. I had no one. The entire galaxy was after me. I went to the only people that weren't trying to kill me. Look," He said as he offered me a hand. "I'm sorry for leaving you. I'm sorry for shocking you. Can we both leave the past in the past? We need you for this mission. You will be well compensated" "Fine" I begrudgingly said. "But only because you're paying me." Apteron gave me his slimy, webbed hand and pulled me to my feet. I still resented him for leaving me behind, but I could tell he was sorry. Plus, I wasn't going to be hostile with 3 blasters pointed at my head. "Good. now we can meet the crew. We already commandeered your ship, and have been refitting it with equipment for our mission."
"You're lucky I wasn't running a job for anyone. Oh, and don't forget the rules about my ship. You scratch it, you pay 5% of the debt owed on it." Apteron chuckled. As I walked through the hangar doors, I saw the strangest, most ragtag group of aliens I have ever seen, and I have been in some of the seediest cantinas in the galaxy. There were 2 Shistavanen fighting and brawling with each other in a feral manner, a Dracoshark staring at me menacingly, a large birdlike creature with bright red feathers loading supplies on to, a blue Twi'lek standing next to a ZH 25 Questor, and some sort of Togruta with a Selonian's face and claws. "As usual, I'm the only human. What's our mission anyway?"
"We are going to set up a resistance cell on Naboo, and hopefully destroy the garrison near the city. Since you were formerly a member of the Imperial army, We were hoping you knew the layout of their garrisons." I put my face in my hands, and shake my head. "How many times do I have to tell you, I was Navy, not army. I know the layout of the hangers, not the garrisons. But luckily, I know someone who does. I'll take you to them. But first, I'm gonna meet the rest of the squad." Apteron slithered down on to all fours and crawled to the large Raptor like creature. I walked up to the weasel looking creature with montails and wearing Mandalorian armor because I just had to know what was going on. I approached and, using my complete lack of self-consciousness, I asked "What's up with you? Mother was a weasel and your Father a tailhead?"
"Actually, my mother was like me and my father was a selonian. Also, Twi'leks are the creatures people refer to tailheads. I'm Part Togruta"
"Do you have tendrils coming from your head? If you do, you're a tailhead. Doesn't matter what species you are. Name's Hertz. Where you'd get that armour?"
"Konah, and it was passed down to me from my ancestors." "Okay then. You're the Mandalorian tailhead. It's gonna be confusing with two tailheads." Konah stared at me emotionlessly. "I kid, of course." Konah still stared at me with her steely blue eyes. "Oooooookay then. I'm going to go over there." I said, pointing at the creature that Apteron was talking to. Apteron had moved on and was crawling on top of and examining my ship "HEY!" I shouted. "REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT DAMAGING IT!" Apteron opened a panel on the hull of my ship and withdrew the metal blade from inside his wrist. As he slowly lowered his blade to the exposed wires, I withdrew my blaster and fired a warning shot. Before I could holster my blaster, a huge mass crashed into me from the back, tackling me to the ground. I turned to see what it was that took me to the ground, and I smacked my head on the huge jaw of the creature on top of me. The thing that Apteron was talking to earlier was holding me to the ground and choking me with an electrostaff. I grabbed the vibroknife I had tied on my thigh and tried to stab the thing choking me when the blade bounced of off the creatures thick scales. Apteron leapt down from the Dilemma and, with the help of Konah and the bird creature, pulled the blue and green ball of anger off of me. I gasped for air and jumped up onto my feet. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" I yelled. "I ALMOST DIED! WHAT WERE YOU DOING?" I screamed at the hulking blue and green mass of scales in front of me. "I see you've met Drac. He thought you were trying to kill me. That's why he tried to kill you." Apteron said dryly. I turn to Drac and look at him in disgust. "Why would I try to kill him? You're dumber than Gamorrean snot!" Drac tried to lunge at me, but the three held him back. "Besides, you underestimate my skill with a blaster. I could hit the little toe of a Gizka from 200 meters away."
"But the DeathHammer has an optimum range of 30 meters, and a max range of 120 meters." said a high pitched and squeaky voice behind me "That's the impressive part," I said, turning around to see who was talking to me. I looked down and saw a brown fur ball standing at my knees, looking up at me. "An Ewok who speaks basic? And one who can not only recognise blasters at a glance but knows their range?"
"I've been off-world for pretty much my entire life."
"Not saying much." Said Konah, who was loading cargo onto the Dilemma. "Hey! 11 years old and the engineer of Demon squad."
"How? You're an Ewok. From what I've read about you, your species is technologically behind. How do you know so much?"
"I snuck aboard a ship that landed on our planet when I was very young and learned everything from there. Name's Kimut" I nodded in approval. "Impressive. But if you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, I won't hesitate to kill you." "I can't let you do that, Hertz," Apteron replied. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Kill him. Kill Kimut"
"Why would I kill him? He's the only engineer here! That's just my way of saying don't mess with my ship."
"Then why would you say you won't hesitate to kill him if you're not going to? That just sounds like an empty threat to me."
"This is why I don't like working with aliens" I mumbled under my breath. I turned to the bright red bird standing next to Apteron and introduced myself to her "Hertz. What do you do? Doesn't look like you'd be much use in a firefight."
"Alyssa and I are recon. I also am the resident cook for Demon squad." I almost didn't register what she said due to the beauty of her voice. It was like an Angel in the form of sound waves. Apteron waved his hand in my face.
"Hey. You still there? Or did her voice rupture your eardrums?" I blinked and shook my head, bringing myself back to reality. "And about not being good in a firefight? I can hold my own, but I excel in melee combat, where I can use my claws" she said, waving her poison-tipped claws in front of my face. "Sure it's safe for you to cook with those things?" Alyssa rolled her eyes at me "What do you think I am, a Lylek? I'm not a feral animal, you know" "Jeez. No need to so…venomous!" I said with a grin. Alyssa sighed and walked away. "She should've killed you for that terrible pun."
"She seems immune to my charms. That's impossible!"
"She's seen rough times. Just like all of us. Also, she's still stinging about my recently choosing Konah for my second-in-command instead of her."
"Then why is she here?"
"The same reason most of us are here. Hate for the empire. Me, Alyssa, Kimut, Wyn's in it to atone for doing some terrible stuff and hates the empire for facilitating the spice trade. And the Shistavanen twins, Droicast and Skullclaw, had their entire tribe destroyed when they were just kids. That's why they're pretty much feral"
"Then why are we taking them on such an important mission if they're feral?"
"I said pretty much feral. They can do basic stuff like shoot a blaster, track and capture a target"
"That'll be useful. There will be plenty of high priority targets. But are you sure you can control them?"
"Don't worry about your ship. I'm letting them tire themselves out right now." I looked over and, sure enough, Droicast and Skullclaw were fast asleep. "Well, If you get them aboard the ship, I'll go meet who I assume is Wyn. She's the only name you've mentioned that I haven't met." I walk towards the Questor. I started walking up the boarding ramp when a blue Twi'lek poked her head above the floorboards. "Don't come in yet. I haven't finished working." She climbed out of the panel in the floor and pushed me off the ramp and on to the floor of the cruiser. "There," she said. "Now we can talk. Name's Wyn, and this is The Rebels Revenge. Get used to seeing it, because not only am I the best pilot in the Galaxy, this is the best ship in the Galaxy." She was so proud of herself, I decided to take her down a peg. "Really? Then what jobs have you done? How many TIEs have you destroyed? How many blockades have you gotten past? I'm very interested to hear how well you've done." It was delightful watching her smile melt from her face. "Just because I'm young means I'm inexperienced?!"
"Yes, that's usually how it works. The younger you are, the less time you've had to do stuff."
"I took down an entire slave ring with Apteron!"
"What was your role in that?"
"I went undercover as a slave."
"Makes sense. You're a Twi'lek. The only thing your species is good at is dancing" Wyn scowled at me and reached into her vest, pulling out a small blaster. In the blink of an eye, I pulled out my DeathHammer and shot the small holdout blaster from her hand, sending it skidding across the floor. I blew away the smoke coming from the barrel of my blaster and winked at Wyn. "Try again, doll." Wyn, to her credit, did try again. Although she made a huge mistake, considering I still had my blaster out and she had to draw another blaster. I easily shot her second blaster out of her hand. "Ya know, I may have underestimated your experience, but I judged your intelligence PERFECTLY" Suddenly, a laser shot my blaster out of my hand and I heard a voice behind me say, "Leave her alone, Hertz. You two don't have to like each other, you just have to work together."
"I'm just talking to her the way the rest of the underworld will treat her." "She was raised in the underworld."
"Then why isn't she used to this? I'm surprised a Hutt hasn't had her killed already." "That's because, before this, she was a crime-lady herself. She was one of the bosses. And she's a good fighter."
"And she was treated with respect!? What'd she do, drug them?" Wyn lunged at me, but I stopped her by holding my vibroknife inches from her throat. "You sure you want to try this darlin?" Wyn pulled out a third blaster, but before she could fire, two bolts blasted our weapons out of our hands.
"That's enough! Both of you! I can't have you trying to kill each other every two seconds. And anyway, blaster packs don't grow on trees. I can't keep wasting my shots on your weapons instead of our targets." Wyn and I walked over to where our weapons had skidded and come to a stop. "Q-4s? You have good taste in weaponry. Afraid I can't say the same for your taste in Ships." Wyn was staring blaster holes through me "You Correlians are all the same. Slimeballs overconfident in their own ability until someone threatens their position as the top dog."
"Corellian? CORELLIAN? HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO SCUM FROM THAT DIRTBALL, YOU TAILHEAD WITCH! I'M FROM RAXUS!" I and Wyn were face to face, pressing our foreheads to each other. Konah ran over and pulled me away by the arm. "Don't you need to repair your ship?" Konah asked me. Apteron grabbed me by the shoulders and stared at me with his beady eyes "Go work on your ship, or I will charge you for assaulting a Rebel soldier and have you sent to the brig" I turned away and walked towards my ship, fuming. "Kimut! Now's your time to prove yourself." The tiny Ewok stopped loading Blasters into a crate and ran over to where I was standing. "I need you to work on my engines while I work on my targeting computer and shields." While I walked to my ship, Apteron turned to say one more thing to me.
"By the way, about the slave ring. Wyn saved my life out there." And then he turned and walked away. "That means nothing! She's playing the long con!"
I wiped the sweat off my brow, as the hum of the engines turned into a roar. "Okay, Kimut! Shut her down!" I slammed the door to the engine room shut and turned around, my face right up to Apteron's. "In the name of Vader's prosthetic parts! You need to stop doing that. Almost gave me a heart attack."
"Now that your ship is repaired, you can take us to the person that has the layouts of the garrisons?"
"If you loaded up all the supplies we need to set up the cell, then yes. Tell Wyn to set her coordinates for Nar Shaddaa."
"Alright. I'll go tell her now. Oh, and by the way, you're the one carrying the munitions."
"That's gonna cost you extra. And if Wyn is so confident in her ability, why doesn't she carry the explosives?"
"It's not a matter of confidence. It was my decision. You're carrying them because Wyn is going to be taking out any imperials we encounter on the way, and I don't want her ship being the one with the extremely volatile cargo on it."
"I'm the one with the superior weaponry and armour."
"That's why you're carrying the explosives. You won't burst into flames at the sight of a Star Destroyer's laser cannons."
"Fine. But she's going to be the one who carries the speeders and swoops"
"What do you mean? We don't have any speeders or swoops"
"We're going to have to land far away from the garrison to avoid detection, so we are going to need ground transportation. Luckily for you, I know exactly where we can get that."
"Alright then. So Alyssa will be your rotary gunner, James will be on Wyn's ship, I will be your co-pilot, Konah will be Wyn's co-pilot, Droicast and Skullclaw will be riding with Wyn, and Drac will be riding along with us."
"Great! I can try to woo Alyssa again!" I gave Apteron a big smile and two thumbs up. Apteron rolled his eyes and looked at me in disgust. "I shouldn't be surprised. You have philandering cad written in your DNA. Look, you need to leave her alone. She's damaged goods"
"I think I can handle her"
"No you can't." said that beautiful voice behind me. "You need to leave me alone, or your next meal might have a new garnish." I turn around to see Alyssa staring at me, full of hate. "Well excuse me, princess. I'm just trying to make up for us getting off on the wrong foot."
"No, we got off on the perfect foot. I know your type, and they don't work on me." Alyssa said, brushing past me. "Let's just get this over with so I never have to see you again."
"Hold on one second. Once you see my piloting skills you'll change your mind. You'll still hate me, but you will tolerate me. After all, my skill is the only reason Apteron hasn't killed me."
"Let's just say you're very lucky, you pretentious dewbeater" "I'll take it! That's a lot nicer than what you usually call me."
"Well, we're in mixed company," Apteron responded "Ugh. We get it. You're friends. A very dangerous relationship to have these days." I looked at Alyssa and rolled my eyes "Well Apteron already betrayed me. That'll fill the quota for a bit."
"Let's get going," said Apteron. "Night will fall soon."
"Yeah. Let's get muscle for brains on board and leave." I said. Alyssa stared at me in disbelief as Apteron looked at me, eyebrows raised. "What? Something in my hair?"
"Drac has killed people for less. Earlier this week I watched him kill a man by ripping his jaw off." Apteron said. Alyssa was still staring at me, slack-jawed. "Yeah, but you'll protect me."
"I know I won't." Alyssa responded, "And I can't make any promises." Apteron said. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time my mouth has gotten me into trouble."
"What's taking so long?" Wyn's disembodied voice said over the crackly intercom in my ship.
"They're waiting. We need to get going." I sprinted to the cockpit and started prepping my ship for launch. Apteron quickly followed and sat in the co-pilot seat. "So what do I need to do?" he asked. "Put on that headset and tell Wyn that we're leaving." I pulled out the flask I was hiding in my vest and took a swig. "Ah, that's good stuff. You want some?" I say to Apteron. "Should you really be drinking alcoholic beverages right before piloting a ship?" he inquired. "Ah, that's the App I know, love, and sometimes hate. It's not alcoholic. It's a drink of my own creation that I call Nectar. Its blue milk with plenty of stimulants in it." Apteron took the flask and took a small sip. Apteron gave a quick shake of his head and looked at me. "Your tongue must be frozen because that is disgusting. It tastes like bantha fodder mixed with rock worry venom" I took the flask from his hand and quickly capped it. "It's an…..acquired taste." Apteron shook his head. "Just get us out of here." I turned on the engines and felt the vibrations in the steering handle. I flew out of the hanger and into the back, inky space and an uncertain future.
We had time to kill in the hyperspace ride to Nar Shaddaa, I decided to play 20 questions with Apteron "So" I said, reclining in my chair. "How and why did you join the rebs?" "Well, as you know, I was exiled by the rest of my species because I killed an innocent on a mission due to faulty information. While I was in exile, I found out that the Empire was the people who were responsible for my faulty information. Afterwards, they hired the entire planet of Anguillians to assassinate me, which would send me off the grid for months at a time." "Why'd the Empire want to kill you? You assassinated a high ranking official or something?"
"Actually, it was more of a 'He's too much of a potential threat to be left alive,' sort of thing. Long story short, I joined the rebellion in order to get my revenge on the Empire"
"Interesting. You lead a small strike team, correct? So how'd you end up on a squidie ship?"
"Squidie ship?" Apteron inquired "That's what we'd call the Mon Calamari and their ships in the imperial academy."
"Ah. I run Stealth missions and the occasional mission that needs some more… experienced, troops for the rebellion." "Well, you are 87 years old, grandpa. I'm going to go check on Alyssa and Drac." I said, stretching out of my chair "You can stay here if you want. Just be sure to not stare out the window at hyperspace too much. You'll go mad. They actually tint the windows on Star Destroyers because of it." Apteron spun around in the co-pilot chair and got out of the cushioned seat. "I'm going to get a drink. I need to wash the taste of your so-called 'Nectar' out of my mouth." A small chuckle escaped my lips. "You can find anything delicious after eating imperial rations. They have the texture and taste of Wookie snot."
"I'd like to know the story that told you what Wookie snot tastes and feels like." I sighed "You really need to work on understanding hyperbole."
"Well, you're so full of stories that it's hard to tell what's real or not. Remember the Bantha fodder incident?"
"I thought we agreed to not bring that up!" I said through gritted teeth. I briskly walked through the sliding door of the cockpit to see Drac repeatedly shuffling a Sabacc deck in the lounge area.
"You play Sabacc?" I asked in confusion. "He's a smuggler. Of course, he plays Sabacc." Apteron said as he slapped his webbed hand on my back. I slid into the seat straight across from Drac, while he never took his eyes off of me. "Sabbac has too many rules for my taste. It also doesn't have enough elements of luck. In Sabacc, you can be good enough that luck doesn't matter. D'ya know what I mean?" Drac slowly nodded his head. "So that's why I prefer playing Pazaak." I unclipped the small pouch at my hip and placed the deck of cards on the table. "It's simple, really. The goal is to get as close to 20 as possible. The fun part is that you have a side deck to add and subtract to your total. To make the game more random, and since you don't have a side deck of your own, we will deal out the side decks."
"Playing Pazaak? Whos the old one now?" I turned to face Apteron, who had returned from the canteen, holding a drink and was looking at me with what I assumed was a smirk on his face. It's hard to read his facial expressions since Apteron's face was so uniquely shaped. "Do you want to play or not?" I asked Apteron. "Yes. Let me go ask Alyssa if she wants to play while you get set up." Apteron put his drink down and crawled away to the rotary gunner station in the middle of the ship. "Since it's your first time playing Pazaak, we'll use Senate rules. No gambling, just playing for fun. I'm a smuggler, not a thief. Well, you could make a case for me being a thief, but I digress." Drac stayed silent, observing me carefully. "Oh, you can relax. If I did anything to you, Apteron would kill me, or worse, not pay me!" To my dismay, Drac stayed silent and did not move a muscle. "Okay man, what's your problem?" "His problem is that he met you half an hour ago. It takes a while for him to open up to people."
"Welp. Guess I'm never going to have a conversation with him. I'm leaving as soon as you pay me." From behind Apteron, a voice called out. "Great. Another reason I shouldn't care about you."
"Good to know that you decided to join us, Alyssa."
"Don't talk to me. You shouldn't even be working with us. You're not devoted to the Rebellion."
"50% per cent ain't bad, deary. You're right, I don't care about the Rebellion, but I'm not working with you, darlin'. I'm working for you. And I'll tell you this right away. You might want to be more careful about what you say to me. I haven't got much to live for. My family is dead and I have no stake in this rebellion. The fall of the Empire doesn't benefit me in any way. I could fly this ship right into a star if I wanted to." I made sure to keep a smile on my face the entire time to make sure they didn't know whether I was joking or not. "There's a reason you're a smuggler and not a comedian," Apteron said from the other side of the hexagonal table. "You all are just too uptight to enjoy my humour."
"No, it's that you are insane and a danger to everyone." Alyssa snapped, clicking her beak at me. "That's where you're wrong, missy. I'm not insane. I don't repeat things expecting them to change. I know a futile mission when I see one. Like this rebellion for instance."
"Of course. You only did this for money. Why am I not surprised?"
"Actually what you're going to pay is most likely going to be peanuts compared to what I could get from the Hutts. In fact, I don't even know how much Apteron is paying me." "Let's just say you'll get what you deserve," Apteron called out. He was reviewing his cards "And I wouldn't have it any other way." I responded. "Huh. Then why did you accept? I guarantee you didn't do it out of the kindness of your heart." "Hey! Look at that!. You're not just a pretty face. You actually have some brains. You see, the thing is, Apteron literally had a gun to my head." "Actually, by the time I asked you the question, I was holding a hand out to help you up," Apteron commented, not looking up from his cards. "Are you kidding me? I never wanted to see you again. Of course, I can put that aside for this one job. Now, are we going to play, or just argue?" Alyssa slid into her seat with a huff. "So, I've been meaning to ask. What's your end goal with this rebellion? I know that you want to get rid of the empire, but what's next after that?" I asked. "You're going to have to install a new government or controlling power, otherwise there's going to be a vacuum of power. All the different crime syndicates and factions will go to war to try and control the galaxy. Everyone from the Hutts to the Hapes Consortium will be fighting. Actually, the downfall of the Empire would be beneficial to me, since there would be a lot for demand for people like me if there is a power vacuum." I was looking at my cards when my neck suddenly slammed forward and all the Pazaak cards flew off the table. "Guess we've arrived. Now, unless you want all of us to get killed, I suggest Y'all shut your mouths."
"I'm shocked at how have you not been killed considering how vulgar that mouth is." Alyssa snapped. "Thing is, I turn down my vulgarity around people I respect." I grinned as spun out of my chair and imagined how enraged the fowl was at my foul language. As I slipped into the pilots' seat, I saw one of the very few things that comforted me. The glowing ball that was Nar Shaddaa.