1 Ch 9 ~ I Just Had to Fall for a Flyboy
Tycho sat staring at the door of his cell, frustration building inside of him. He glanced over towards where Winter was sleeping fitfully. He had urged her to rest, she would need her strength later. He too had tried to sleep, hoping a solution to getting them both out of there would come in a dream. It had been a nice thought, but his injuries made him far to uncomfortable to sleep. He tenderly felt his ribs, where the two ugly red spots had swollen.
"Broken," he muttered angrily. He reached up and touched his left eye, feeling how puffy it was. "Blind in one eye…I sure hope they can fix that." He sighed and got up, pacing. "Now, if I were in an X-Wing, none of this would be a problem. For all the love of the Force, I'm a Rogue pilot and I can't get her out of here. There has to be a way. I can do the impossible, that's my job after all. I can't get out of a cell, but I've busted out of more cockpits than… Tycho swung back towards the cell door. "That's it! I knew that latch looked familiar! Winter, get up. Time to be moving."
"Ugh…right," she said, yawning in exhaustion and slowly sitting up. She looked up, expecting to see him standing over her. "Ah, Tycho, we're still in our cells."
"Not for long." His voice was confident as he peered at the latch on his cell door. Winter stood up, curiously watching him. "The latches here are the canopy latches from Tie Fighters, they're notoriously hard to open…" For the first time in a long while I'm grateful that I was an Imp. "As a pilot, you learn how to open them by any means possible." Tycho straitened up and backed up, and lashed out with a booted foot, crashing into the exact pressure point on the latch. Winter was surprised and jerked back in her cell, but the door came open, just as Tycho had promised. Neither could celebrate yet though, because a large blue alien with yellow spots opened the door to the hallway, carrying an electro stick. "Of course, someone always objects when you damage the hardware." Tycho mumbled, quickly exiting his cell and taking a defensive stance.
"What are you doing out of…" the alien started to roar, but was cut off, surprised when Tycho charged him. Tycho bent down, hitting the alien below his center of gravity. The alien cried out as Tycho lifted him over his shoulder, throwing him towards Winter's cell.
"But handling complaints isn't that hard…" he said slowly as Winter kicked out with her foot, striking the alien hard in the head, knocking him cold. "…with such able assistance." Tycho grinned at her.
"Impeccable timing Lieutenant Clechu." He smiled at her and hurriedly released her from her cell. Winter stooped to pick up the fallen electro stick.
"Step one accomplished. Now we need to figure out where we're going," Tycho mumbled as they entered the main passageway. The paused for a moment, Winter taking Tycho's hand.
"Right takes us back to Tavira…"
"Left is it then." Tycho replied firmly, holding his injured side. Winter looked at him with concern. "Don't worry, I've had worse," he assured her. She nodded. It's not as if we have any choice. It seemed that left was the right choice because Tycho stopped Winter. "I smell oil…and I hear…engines." His eyes lit up and Winter stifled a giggle. "There's some sort of landing bay or hangar around here." They moved on, Tycho leading her by the hand. Soon enough, true to Tycho's senses, they found a hangar. Both of them could see the lights of a city outside the flight opening. In the hangar there were several small transports, but Tycho's eyes landed on the Y-Wing in the far corner. Two aliens were standing by one of the transports, directly in their way. "Past them and we go for the Y-Wing," he whispered to Winter.
"And we get past them how exactly?" Winter hissed back.
"So the plan has some flaws…" Tycho shrugged.
"I just have to fall for a flyboy. Give me that thing." Winter took the electro stick back from Tycho. She tore a bit of fabric off the hem of her dress and wound it around the stick, causing it to stay lit. "This will keep the stun-charge going. I take one with a toss and you get the other one." Tycho stared at her for a moment, then looked at the two aliens who bared their escape.
"I just have to fall for a woman who thinks I'm a Stormtrooper," he muttered.
"Go!" Winter threw the electro stick and Tycho ran. The stick hit its target, taking the alien out with a painful scream. Tycho hit the other alien with a jump kick, and then knocked him out with a hard left hook.
"Hey, the plan worked…" he said through clenched teeth, touching his damaged side.
"So far, but they've sounded an alarm!" Winter ran to Tycho's side. Tycho grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the Y-Wing.
"Let's get out of here then!" he hurried up the ladder and she followed. He dropped into the pilot's seat as she lowered herself into the gunner's position. Tycho handed her a helmet as the canopy began to close with a soft whine. "Why'd a Y-Wing have to be the only two-seater here?" Tycho grumbled, the dislike for the fighter evident in his voice.
"Why a two-seater? I though you like the idea of snuggling." Winter's voice was soft and seductive as she pulled on the helmet.
"If we live to get out of this, I'll remind you of that remark." Tycho grinned despite the fact that he knew she couldn't see him. I can't believe this is happening. She wants me, and we are in the middle of a freaking escape in enemy held territory.
"Do that flyboy. I'm in and locked. Move this thing."
"As ordered." Tycho turned back to the task at hand. Although this was not his X-Wing, flying came as naturally as sleeping and his memory of the inside of an Y-Wing was impeccable. "I have engine start. Shunting power to weapons. We are green on lasers and ion cannons, red on missiles, shields coming up…Now!" Tycho flipped the last switch, giving Winter full control of the ship's armament.
"We're doing more sitting than we are flying, Tycho," she reminded him, just as she felt the ship jerk beneath her.
"Leia should have warned me you can be a tad impatient. Repulsor- lift coils engaged. Clearing ground crew, power to thrusters." Winter glanced out her window to see a futile attack being launched upon them by a scant ground crew armed only with blasters. Tycho had the Y-Wing in the air now and was cruising at an abnormally fast speed towards the exit port.
"Not impatient, polite. We've overstayed our welcome."
"I'd noticed that. Let's get out of here then find out where here is." The Y-Wing cleared the port and they burst out in the middle of a large city just as darkness was settling in. They were already being pursued by four or five fighters from the base they had just left.
"Sidelink comm channel datafeed indicates this place is called Axxila. Heard of it?" Tycho asked, scrolling through his comm feed.
"Can't recall it, and if I can't recall it…" Winter let the sentence drop as she shot at another oncoming enemy ship.
"Right. We're in the middle of nowhere." Tycho muttered as he let the Y-Wing do a lazy dip to shake avoid the attackers that were now coming from the front as well.
"Try a widebeam distress call. New Republic might have assets here."
"Without you knowing it? I doubt it. And a distress call would suggest we're…"
"In distress? Have you checked your rear scope yet?" Winter asked, trying not to laugh at Tycho's cavalier manner.
"Nope. Front is bad enough." Tycho replied, squinting through his one good eye.
"I've got two coming up."
"I've got three. Can't out-fight them… I guess we'll have to out- fly them. Hold on!" Come on Tycho, you're a pilot, and a darn good one at that. Get this show moving. Tycho initiated his best movements, and smiled when he saw instant results. Kavil's corsairs bravely pursued what they thought to be mere ship thieves. Even if they had know the truth, they would have come on just as fast, and died just as foolishly. They were no match for Tycho's superior flying skills.
"Great flying!" Winter was genuinely surprised. She had never seen Tycho really fly in a combat situation. She had read the reports, but they were nothing like this. "But we've just killed the bad pilots. Make the call." She turned around to watch Tycho nod imperceptibly. He didn't want to make the call, it was almost a sign of weakness.
"If you insist. This is New Republic pilot Lieutenant Tycho Clechu reporting an emergency. I have engaged hostiles, number unknown. Any and all aid would be appreciated." Tycho finished the broadcast and spotted a trans-highway tunnel below him. He dived the Y-Wing towards it.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Winter asked.
"As long as we're going, I'm not too choosy. Easy shots coming up."
"How's that?" Winter asked, not having time to bite the words back as they screamed in above hover cars on the highway in the tunnel.
"I boxed 'em in for you. You drop them."
"You noticed, didn't you, that we're boxed in too?" She asked curiously, taking aim at the fighter right behind them.
"We've got shields, they don't." Tycho reminded her gently.
"I'd like more of an edge." Winter muttered.
"I've got more. You're the one shooting back there, aren't you? You're edge enough for me."
"This time."
Tycho just nodded as the Y-Wing shot out of the other end of the tunnel just after Winter made her kill. "That ought to hold them for a bit…" Tycho started, then checked his front scope. "Sithspawn! Not at all what I wanted to see…" Tycho's voice grew tense. Winter strained to turn around and see.
"How bad is it?"
Tycho's reply was quiet. "Bad. Real bad. In fact, given my choice right now, I'd rather be flying through the Death Star." Ahead of the Y- Wing, there were dozens of fighters, all waiting for the single Y-Wing. Tycho swallowed hard. Come on Tyc. Maybe Wedge will show up…
Wedge and Leia were waiting patiently for word from Mon Mothma about the deal they had made with Pestage. Twenty-five worlds under Pestage's sway in return for Coruscant, the Imperial capitol. Pestage had also promised them to make Kavil bring them Winter and Tycho. Kavil was supposedly on his way to see his subordinate, Tavira, to bring back Winter and Tycho. The Rogues arrived while The two of them were waiting and reported that they had crushed the pilots they had earlier been chasing before re-assignment. Wes normally would have been helping them to explain to Wedge exactly what had happened, but he was listening very intently to the comm channels.
"Hey Wedge, there's some weird stuff coming through on the emergency comm channels." Wes turned the volume up and through the static they could make out the message.
"Any and all assis…..bzzzzzkzzzzz….would be appre…..bzzzz…."
"That's Tycho's voice!" Wedge yelled, jumping to his feet.
"He must have been taken with Winter! Wedge! Tycho was the aide! They must have escaped!" Leia hurried over.
"Light 'em up people. We've got a friend to help." Wedge was already running towards the landing bay.
"They've escaped?" Avan Beruss, a new Rogue, and great nephew to Mon Mothma asked Leia as he hurried towards his fighter.
"You think Tycho would leave Winter behind?"
"Oh, right."
"Hurry Rogues, we don't want to be late." Wedge insisted, praying that they were not already. He would see his best friend again. There could be no alternative.
Tycho sat staring at the door of his cell, frustration building inside of him. He glanced over towards where Winter was sleeping fitfully. He had urged her to rest, she would need her strength later. He too had tried to sleep, hoping a solution to getting them both out of there would come in a dream. It had been a nice thought, but his injuries made him far to uncomfortable to sleep. He tenderly felt his ribs, where the two ugly red spots had swollen.
"Broken," he muttered angrily. He reached up and touched his left eye, feeling how puffy it was. "Blind in one eye…I sure hope they can fix that." He sighed and got up, pacing. "Now, if I were in an X-Wing, none of this would be a problem. For all the love of the Force, I'm a Rogue pilot and I can't get her out of here. There has to be a way. I can do the impossible, that's my job after all. I can't get out of a cell, but I've busted out of more cockpits than… Tycho swung back towards the cell door. "That's it! I knew that latch looked familiar! Winter, get up. Time to be moving."
"Ugh…right," she said, yawning in exhaustion and slowly sitting up. She looked up, expecting to see him standing over her. "Ah, Tycho, we're still in our cells."
"Not for long." His voice was confident as he peered at the latch on his cell door. Winter stood up, curiously watching him. "The latches here are the canopy latches from Tie Fighters, they're notoriously hard to open…" For the first time in a long while I'm grateful that I was an Imp. "As a pilot, you learn how to open them by any means possible." Tycho straitened up and backed up, and lashed out with a booted foot, crashing into the exact pressure point on the latch. Winter was surprised and jerked back in her cell, but the door came open, just as Tycho had promised. Neither could celebrate yet though, because a large blue alien with yellow spots opened the door to the hallway, carrying an electro stick. "Of course, someone always objects when you damage the hardware." Tycho mumbled, quickly exiting his cell and taking a defensive stance.
"What are you doing out of…" the alien started to roar, but was cut off, surprised when Tycho charged him. Tycho bent down, hitting the alien below his center of gravity. The alien cried out as Tycho lifted him over his shoulder, throwing him towards Winter's cell.
"But handling complaints isn't that hard…" he said slowly as Winter kicked out with her foot, striking the alien hard in the head, knocking him cold. "…with such able assistance." Tycho grinned at her.
"Impeccable timing Lieutenant Clechu." He smiled at her and hurriedly released her from her cell. Winter stooped to pick up the fallen electro stick.
"Step one accomplished. Now we need to figure out where we're going," Tycho mumbled as they entered the main passageway. The paused for a moment, Winter taking Tycho's hand.
"Right takes us back to Tavira…"
"Left is it then." Tycho replied firmly, holding his injured side. Winter looked at him with concern. "Don't worry, I've had worse," he assured her. She nodded. It's not as if we have any choice. It seemed that left was the right choice because Tycho stopped Winter. "I smell oil…and I hear…engines." His eyes lit up and Winter stifled a giggle. "There's some sort of landing bay or hangar around here." They moved on, Tycho leading her by the hand. Soon enough, true to Tycho's senses, they found a hangar. Both of them could see the lights of a city outside the flight opening. In the hangar there were several small transports, but Tycho's eyes landed on the Y-Wing in the far corner. Two aliens were standing by one of the transports, directly in their way. "Past them and we go for the Y-Wing," he whispered to Winter.
"And we get past them how exactly?" Winter hissed back.
"So the plan has some flaws…" Tycho shrugged.
"I just have to fall for a flyboy. Give me that thing." Winter took the electro stick back from Tycho. She tore a bit of fabric off the hem of her dress and wound it around the stick, causing it to stay lit. "This will keep the stun-charge going. I take one with a toss and you get the other one." Tycho stared at her for a moment, then looked at the two aliens who bared their escape.
"I just have to fall for a woman who thinks I'm a Stormtrooper," he muttered.
"Go!" Winter threw the electro stick and Tycho ran. The stick hit its target, taking the alien out with a painful scream. Tycho hit the other alien with a jump kick, and then knocked him out with a hard left hook.
"Hey, the plan worked…" he said through clenched teeth, touching his damaged side.
"So far, but they've sounded an alarm!" Winter ran to Tycho's side. Tycho grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the Y-Wing.
"Let's get out of here then!" he hurried up the ladder and she followed. He dropped into the pilot's seat as she lowered herself into the gunner's position. Tycho handed her a helmet as the canopy began to close with a soft whine. "Why'd a Y-Wing have to be the only two-seater here?" Tycho grumbled, the dislike for the fighter evident in his voice.
"Why a two-seater? I though you like the idea of snuggling." Winter's voice was soft and seductive as she pulled on the helmet.
"If we live to get out of this, I'll remind you of that remark." Tycho grinned despite the fact that he knew she couldn't see him. I can't believe this is happening. She wants me, and we are in the middle of a freaking escape in enemy held territory.
"Do that flyboy. I'm in and locked. Move this thing."
"As ordered." Tycho turned back to the task at hand. Although this was not his X-Wing, flying came as naturally as sleeping and his memory of the inside of an Y-Wing was impeccable. "I have engine start. Shunting power to weapons. We are green on lasers and ion cannons, red on missiles, shields coming up…Now!" Tycho flipped the last switch, giving Winter full control of the ship's armament.
"We're doing more sitting than we are flying, Tycho," she reminded him, just as she felt the ship jerk beneath her.
"Leia should have warned me you can be a tad impatient. Repulsor- lift coils engaged. Clearing ground crew, power to thrusters." Winter glanced out her window to see a futile attack being launched upon them by a scant ground crew armed only with blasters. Tycho had the Y-Wing in the air now and was cruising at an abnormally fast speed towards the exit port.
"Not impatient, polite. We've overstayed our welcome."
"I'd noticed that. Let's get out of here then find out where here is." The Y-Wing cleared the port and they burst out in the middle of a large city just as darkness was settling in. They were already being pursued by four or five fighters from the base they had just left.
"Sidelink comm channel datafeed indicates this place is called Axxila. Heard of it?" Tycho asked, scrolling through his comm feed.
"Can't recall it, and if I can't recall it…" Winter let the sentence drop as she shot at another oncoming enemy ship.
"Right. We're in the middle of nowhere." Tycho muttered as he let the Y-Wing do a lazy dip to shake avoid the attackers that were now coming from the front as well.
"Try a widebeam distress call. New Republic might have assets here."
"Without you knowing it? I doubt it. And a distress call would suggest we're…"
"In distress? Have you checked your rear scope yet?" Winter asked, trying not to laugh at Tycho's cavalier manner.
"Nope. Front is bad enough." Tycho replied, squinting through his one good eye.
"I've got two coming up."
"I've got three. Can't out-fight them… I guess we'll have to out- fly them. Hold on!" Come on Tycho, you're a pilot, and a darn good one at that. Get this show moving. Tycho initiated his best movements, and smiled when he saw instant results. Kavil's corsairs bravely pursued what they thought to be mere ship thieves. Even if they had know the truth, they would have come on just as fast, and died just as foolishly. They were no match for Tycho's superior flying skills.
"Great flying!" Winter was genuinely surprised. She had never seen Tycho really fly in a combat situation. She had read the reports, but they were nothing like this. "But we've just killed the bad pilots. Make the call." She turned around to watch Tycho nod imperceptibly. He didn't want to make the call, it was almost a sign of weakness.
"If you insist. This is New Republic pilot Lieutenant Tycho Clechu reporting an emergency. I have engaged hostiles, number unknown. Any and all aid would be appreciated." Tycho finished the broadcast and spotted a trans-highway tunnel below him. He dived the Y-Wing towards it.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Winter asked.
"As long as we're going, I'm not too choosy. Easy shots coming up."
"How's that?" Winter asked, not having time to bite the words back as they screamed in above hover cars on the highway in the tunnel.
"I boxed 'em in for you. You drop them."
"You noticed, didn't you, that we're boxed in too?" She asked curiously, taking aim at the fighter right behind them.
"We've got shields, they don't." Tycho reminded her gently.
"I'd like more of an edge." Winter muttered.
"I've got more. You're the one shooting back there, aren't you? You're edge enough for me."
"This time."
Tycho just nodded as the Y-Wing shot out of the other end of the tunnel just after Winter made her kill. "That ought to hold them for a bit…" Tycho started, then checked his front scope. "Sithspawn! Not at all what I wanted to see…" Tycho's voice grew tense. Winter strained to turn around and see.
"How bad is it?"
Tycho's reply was quiet. "Bad. Real bad. In fact, given my choice right now, I'd rather be flying through the Death Star." Ahead of the Y- Wing, there were dozens of fighters, all waiting for the single Y-Wing. Tycho swallowed hard. Come on Tyc. Maybe Wedge will show up…
Wedge and Leia were waiting patiently for word from Mon Mothma about the deal they had made with Pestage. Twenty-five worlds under Pestage's sway in return for Coruscant, the Imperial capitol. Pestage had also promised them to make Kavil bring them Winter and Tycho. Kavil was supposedly on his way to see his subordinate, Tavira, to bring back Winter and Tycho. The Rogues arrived while The two of them were waiting and reported that they had crushed the pilots they had earlier been chasing before re-assignment. Wes normally would have been helping them to explain to Wedge exactly what had happened, but he was listening very intently to the comm channels.
"Hey Wedge, there's some weird stuff coming through on the emergency comm channels." Wes turned the volume up and through the static they could make out the message.
"Any and all assis…..bzzzzzkzzzzz….would be appre…..bzzzz…."
"That's Tycho's voice!" Wedge yelled, jumping to his feet.
"He must have been taken with Winter! Wedge! Tycho was the aide! They must have escaped!" Leia hurried over.
"Light 'em up people. We've got a friend to help." Wedge was already running towards the landing bay.
"They've escaped?" Avan Beruss, a new Rogue, and great nephew to Mon Mothma asked Leia as he hurried towards his fighter.
"You think Tycho would leave Winter behind?"
"Oh, right."
"Hurry Rogues, we don't want to be late." Wedge insisted, praying that they were not already. He would see his best friend again. There could be no alternative.