The Super Light Class freighter Eye of the Storm nimbly swerves
around a piece of debris, what once may have been a ship, or an asteroid.
The young man at the controls is just like his ship, nimble and quick when
the need arises, but reserved, withdrawn within a protective shield most of
the time. He is of average height at five foot eleven inches, and of a
light build. His hair is dark like the deepest of nights, and his eyes,
blue, a cold blue that reminds one of the void of space. His manner is one
of few words, unless he is provoked to say more he rarely will.
His ship is leaves the cloud of debris around Coruscant, capital of the New Republic. A docking official greets him and guides him to a docking bay near the capital city. If it needs to be called a "city" that is, Coruscant was long ago an average planet, with a temperate climate and many native species, but over thousands of years it became covered with nothing but buildings, hundreds of levels of towering structures connected by millions of walkways, tunnels and turbolift passages. The lower levels are abandoned, and quite dangerous, as many strange species of animals and aliens have made it home, while the upper levels support the rest of the life on the world, most of which is human.
Landing his ship, he enters the lounge bar to wait for the customer and pick up the
cargo. A dim room, with various tables of humans and humanoid inhabitants, greets him. The main focus of most tables seems to be Sabbac, the notorious card game. Weaving his way thorough the room, he stops in the center until he spots a table in the corner where he can wait in comfort for his "patron".
---
3 days earlier...
Another light flickers to life in the busy cockpit of the Odessas Hope, announcing the loss of the hyperdrive. A man in a blue shirt and bandana swears vehemently as he addresses the board of lights. He turns to the large man next to him and curses again.
"Viktor! Tell Tai Ho to get over to the hyperdrive now! I think we just lost the
motivator!" He shouts as he rolls the Odessas Hope to the side while more turbolasers streak by.
"Damn! Tai Ho! The hyperdrive!" Viktor shouts over his shoulder.
A man in grease stained pair of brown overalls pokes his head up above the deck from farther back into the ship.
"Damn yourself Flik! We don't make enough commission for this!" Tai Ho pulls his head back under the deck.
Scurrying down the crawlspace for a foot or two, he comes to the access plate for the hyperdrive, pulls out a hand wrench and gets to work. Fishing out a spare motivator from the bag at his side, he sets to work. Pulling wires and checking connections as fast as he can, he takes several seconds installing the part, and then shuts the access panel and begins to turn away. Suddenly it falls to the floor with a clang. Turning around to the panel, he frowns as the ship shakes again, and then checks the bolts that secure the hatch.
A bolt is snapped in half.
"That's not good." Tai Ho mutters, looking around.
Unable to find another bolt in his bag, Tai Ho mumbles incoherently for a few seconds, trying to think of something. Then, reluctantly, he pulls a hand welder and a set of goggles from his repair kit and taps the power on. He then starts to tack the corners of the plate, hoping to take it off later.
Flik pulls the ship in a wide bank, attempting to elude the tractor beam that the Imperial Star Destroyer is trying to bring to bear on him, causing a shout from below the deck.
"Sorry! I can't help it!" He shouts.
Viktor eases back a lever, giving borrowed power back to the deflector shields from the engines.
"How's it coming Tai Ho?" Viktor asks Tai Ho in a hurried voice.
"Fine! Yam Koo! Bring me some wire sealant! And a hydro-spanner!" Tai Ho shouts without coming up out of the crawlspace.
Another figure, wearing a blue technicians jumpsuit comes out of the rear storage room with handful of supplies and bends over the entrance to the repair crawlspace.
"Right here bro." Yam Koo drops the supplies down into Tai Ho's hands.
Flik turns around "Tai Ho! Is the hyperdrive up yet?" He shouts urgently.
Yam Koo bends over the hole for a second and then looks up "He says it should be ready to try, but he wouldn't bet his Fish Badge on it." Yam Koo says to Flik.
Flik turns back to the console.
"Viktor, get up into the gun well, we need to hold them off until the navcomp can
compute our jump." Flik tells him urgently, as he puts the ship through another set of evasive maneuvers.
Viktor jumps to his feet and rushes out of the cockpit to the gun well. Climbing up the ladder inside the passage, he straps himself into the chair.
"Tai Ho! Take the other gun!" Viktor calls down.
Tai Ho climbs up from the crawlspace and stumbles his way to the bottom gun well. Dropping his bag of tools into Yam Koo's hands, Tai Ho clambers down into the seat and looks up at Viktor.
"Which button fires the guns?" He calls up to him.
"You better be joking Tai Ho!" Viktor yells back as his gun powers up.
Tai Ho drops the targeting grids controls down over his lap and powers them up.
Taking the two sticks into his hands, he thumbs the SAFETY buttons to off. The grid appears in front of him, a holographic representation of the enemy TIE fighters.
The first comes up from the rear, intending to strafe the side of the freighter, moving the crosshairs in an arc; Tai Ho lets a stream of laser fire overtake the small fighter in a violent explosion. twisting the seats gyros to watch the rear of the ship, he shouts up to Flik.
"How long Flik?"
Flik glances down at the control panel. "A minute! Not much more than that. Watch out! The second wave just got launched from the Star Destroyer!" He yells, noticing the new squadron of TIE's.
Tai Ho smiles as he returns to the grid. Another fighter is coming in wide and fast, trying to make a hard target for the Odessas Hope's gunners. Tai Ho leads the TIE, sending a long stream of blaster fire in the path of the ship, but it nimbly slips under his fire. Cursing the pilot for a son of a sea bass, Tai Ho fires blindly after the TIE, missing badly.
Suddenly Yam Koo appears over the top of the gun well.
"Tai Ho! You left your lucky fish badge up here!" Yam Koo tosses it down to him.
Tai Ho gasps in astonishment and mutters, "No wonder I've been doing so badly!"
Putting the badge firmly in his pocket, he starts firing at the next TIE, blasting one of the solar panel wings off of the little fighter, which spins wildly for a few seconds before bursting apart.
"Ha! Showed you what a world class fisherman is good at!" Tai Ho yells.
Suddenly the stars in the distance vanish, becoming streaks of light moving past the ship at incredible speed, and Tai Ho leans back into the seat, sighing in relief.
His ship is leaves the cloud of debris around Coruscant, capital of the New Republic. A docking official greets him and guides him to a docking bay near the capital city. If it needs to be called a "city" that is, Coruscant was long ago an average planet, with a temperate climate and many native species, but over thousands of years it became covered with nothing but buildings, hundreds of levels of towering structures connected by millions of walkways, tunnels and turbolift passages. The lower levels are abandoned, and quite dangerous, as many strange species of animals and aliens have made it home, while the upper levels support the rest of the life on the world, most of which is human.
Landing his ship, he enters the lounge bar to wait for the customer and pick up the
cargo. A dim room, with various tables of humans and humanoid inhabitants, greets him. The main focus of most tables seems to be Sabbac, the notorious card game. Weaving his way thorough the room, he stops in the center until he spots a table in the corner where he can wait in comfort for his "patron".
---
3 days earlier...
Another light flickers to life in the busy cockpit of the Odessas Hope, announcing the loss of the hyperdrive. A man in a blue shirt and bandana swears vehemently as he addresses the board of lights. He turns to the large man next to him and curses again.
"Viktor! Tell Tai Ho to get over to the hyperdrive now! I think we just lost the
motivator!" He shouts as he rolls the Odessas Hope to the side while more turbolasers streak by.
"Damn! Tai Ho! The hyperdrive!" Viktor shouts over his shoulder.
A man in grease stained pair of brown overalls pokes his head up above the deck from farther back into the ship.
"Damn yourself Flik! We don't make enough commission for this!" Tai Ho pulls his head back under the deck.
Scurrying down the crawlspace for a foot or two, he comes to the access plate for the hyperdrive, pulls out a hand wrench and gets to work. Fishing out a spare motivator from the bag at his side, he sets to work. Pulling wires and checking connections as fast as he can, he takes several seconds installing the part, and then shuts the access panel and begins to turn away. Suddenly it falls to the floor with a clang. Turning around to the panel, he frowns as the ship shakes again, and then checks the bolts that secure the hatch.
A bolt is snapped in half.
"That's not good." Tai Ho mutters, looking around.
Unable to find another bolt in his bag, Tai Ho mumbles incoherently for a few seconds, trying to think of something. Then, reluctantly, he pulls a hand welder and a set of goggles from his repair kit and taps the power on. He then starts to tack the corners of the plate, hoping to take it off later.
Flik pulls the ship in a wide bank, attempting to elude the tractor beam that the Imperial Star Destroyer is trying to bring to bear on him, causing a shout from below the deck.
"Sorry! I can't help it!" He shouts.
Viktor eases back a lever, giving borrowed power back to the deflector shields from the engines.
"How's it coming Tai Ho?" Viktor asks Tai Ho in a hurried voice.
"Fine! Yam Koo! Bring me some wire sealant! And a hydro-spanner!" Tai Ho shouts without coming up out of the crawlspace.
Another figure, wearing a blue technicians jumpsuit comes out of the rear storage room with handful of supplies and bends over the entrance to the repair crawlspace.
"Right here bro." Yam Koo drops the supplies down into Tai Ho's hands.
Flik turns around "Tai Ho! Is the hyperdrive up yet?" He shouts urgently.
Yam Koo bends over the hole for a second and then looks up "He says it should be ready to try, but he wouldn't bet his Fish Badge on it." Yam Koo says to Flik.
Flik turns back to the console.
"Viktor, get up into the gun well, we need to hold them off until the navcomp can
compute our jump." Flik tells him urgently, as he puts the ship through another set of evasive maneuvers.
Viktor jumps to his feet and rushes out of the cockpit to the gun well. Climbing up the ladder inside the passage, he straps himself into the chair.
"Tai Ho! Take the other gun!" Viktor calls down.
Tai Ho climbs up from the crawlspace and stumbles his way to the bottom gun well. Dropping his bag of tools into Yam Koo's hands, Tai Ho clambers down into the seat and looks up at Viktor.
"Which button fires the guns?" He calls up to him.
"You better be joking Tai Ho!" Viktor yells back as his gun powers up.
Tai Ho drops the targeting grids controls down over his lap and powers them up.
Taking the two sticks into his hands, he thumbs the SAFETY buttons to off. The grid appears in front of him, a holographic representation of the enemy TIE fighters.
The first comes up from the rear, intending to strafe the side of the freighter, moving the crosshairs in an arc; Tai Ho lets a stream of laser fire overtake the small fighter in a violent explosion. twisting the seats gyros to watch the rear of the ship, he shouts up to Flik.
"How long Flik?"
Flik glances down at the control panel. "A minute! Not much more than that. Watch out! The second wave just got launched from the Star Destroyer!" He yells, noticing the new squadron of TIE's.
Tai Ho smiles as he returns to the grid. Another fighter is coming in wide and fast, trying to make a hard target for the Odessas Hope's gunners. Tai Ho leads the TIE, sending a long stream of blaster fire in the path of the ship, but it nimbly slips under his fire. Cursing the pilot for a son of a sea bass, Tai Ho fires blindly after the TIE, missing badly.
Suddenly Yam Koo appears over the top of the gun well.
"Tai Ho! You left your lucky fish badge up here!" Yam Koo tosses it down to him.
Tai Ho gasps in astonishment and mutters, "No wonder I've been doing so badly!"
Putting the badge firmly in his pocket, he starts firing at the next TIE, blasting one of the solar panel wings off of the little fighter, which spins wildly for a few seconds before bursting apart.
"Ha! Showed you what a world class fisherman is good at!" Tai Ho yells.
Suddenly the stars in the distance vanish, becoming streaks of light moving past the ship at incredible speed, and Tai Ho leans back into the seat, sighing in relief.