Digi Wars
Disclaimer:
I don't own Digimon, or any of its characters, save any I've created myself. Digimon is the property of Toei Animation. Although it would be nice if I did…
* * *
"Veemon, Solo, get to the guns!" I cried, as I threw the ship into a spin. Then, I hit the comlink. "Coruscant Control! This is Davis Motimiya of the YT-2000…oh, I don't know what the number is! We're under attack!"
"YT-2000, what is attacking you?"
"Five TIE Shadows. That's what Solo called them."
The person at Coruscant Control sounded surprised. I heard some muffled speech, and then, "We are sending Rogue Squadron up. That should be an ample force to defend you. Coruscant Control out."
"Davis, I can't get a lock on them! They've got decoy jamming beams that hide them from targeting sensors!" Solo sounded desperate.
"Great. Hang on!"
The TIEs wouldn't leave me alone. I managed to evade most of their shots, but a few spattered against my shields. I heard Veemon's fearful yelps when we were hit, and also when a ship passed in front of his turret.
Then, I had an idea. "Solo! Can Chewie get up here with Kari and TK?"
"I'm sure of it. Call them up here, too."
"YT-2000 to Falcon! YT-2000 to Falcon! Come in! We are under attack and need your assistance!"
"Davis! This is TK! Chewie's having the Falcon refueled, so we can't get to you in it. We're going to come up in my ship! We'll bring Kari with us as gunner. Hang on!"
"Thanks. Davis out."
A new voice sounded on the comm. "YT-2000, this is Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron. Need a hand?"
"You bet!"
"All right. Nine, Ten, escort duty. We got the fighters."
"As ordered, Lead. YT-2000, this is Corran Horn and Ooryl Qrygg coming up on you. Do not fire upon us."
"Don't worry, Horn. I wouldn't dream of it."
"Ten, form up on the rear of the freighter."
"Ten understands."
"X-Wings, this is the YT-1300 Four-Two-Nine. We are friendly."
"Acknowledged, Four-Two-Nine. Glad to have you join the party."
The battle was in our favor, but by no means did the enemy slow down. They were fiercer than ever.
"Davis!" Solo's voice came through on the headset. "Switch over to ion cannons!"
"Why?"
"Ion cannons disable ships when they hit the hull enough times!"
"We thought along the same lines when we flew up here." Nine said. "That's why we're equipped with ion pulse warheads instead of proton torpedoes."
"Then why don't you use them?" Solo asked.
"Because they aren't that great against shields, Solo. Don't worry. We liberated a planet from Ysanne Isard. We can destroy five fighters easily, even without sensors."
"All right, Nine. Wedge?" Solo called.
"Yes?"
"Have Nine and Ten join you. We can protect ourselves."
"As ordered, Han. Nine, Ten, come on."
As the two X-Wings flew toward the fighters, I turned back to Vee. "Vee, can you pilot for a while? I'll fire, you fly."
"Bweep-woo!"
I hope that meant yes. I turned back and held my finger on the trigger. "Tell me when, Vee."
"Wow!"
I squeezed the trigger several times, and I managed to hit the TIE four out of five times. I saw one of the beams hit the hull, which showed shields had collapsed, and were ready for disabling. I fired three more times, and the fighter was disabled. When the other fighters saw this, they turned toward space and sped up impossibly fast.
"Rogues, do not destroy the fighter," Wedge said. "Intelligence will want to examine it."
"Thanks for the help, Rogue Squad. See you later," I called.
"Good work, Davis!" Solo was pleased. "I think you are ready for anything up here! Except maybe a Star Destroyer."
"Can we get back on the ground now?" Veemon asked.
"Sure, Veemon, hang on. Coruscant Control, this is Davis Motimiya, requesting landing clearance."
"This is Coruscant Control. Clearance granted."
I brought the ship down, but I didn't land in the hangar we came out of. I was content to keep the repulsors running while Solo climbed out and went inside. He told me I could use the hangar by his apartment, and that I was welcome to stay, because his wife, Leia, was on a diplomatic mission to Thyferra.
We landed in the hangar, and walked up to Solo's apartment. I rang the doorbell.
I heard a tinny voice. "Who's there?"
"It's Davis."
"Come in, Master Davis."
I opened the door and sat down at the couch. Threepio walked in, twittering in his tinny voice. "Captain Solo called and said that you had a problem up in space. But he simply refused to give me details. What happened, Master Davis?"
I explained the situation to him, all the while listening to his 'Oh, my's. Thankfully, Solo came back as I got to the part where I disabled the Shadow. "We should go talk to Master Luke about this," Threepio suggested.
"I already talked to him. He's coming personally to escort us to Yavin."
"What about Master Davis and his companions?"
"Don't worry about us, we can find an apartment somewhere around here," I put in.
"Actually, you kids should all come. Your little creatures, too."
"Digimon," Veemon got up.
"Whatever. Now, Davis, round up your friends, and meet me up by where we were attacked. I had Vee mark it with a rendevous marker. You'll find it okay. And come up with a name for your ship,"
"Already got one in mind. Fire of Courage."
"Come here, then. Let's get your ship registered."
We went down to the hangar, and talked to an attendant. We got my ship registered, and I was put into the databases of Coruscant as a pilot. Solo gave me a card.
"Licence. Take it. It's yours. Now, go get your friends. They've already bought their ships. Bring them here, register them just like I did for you, and then meet me up in space."
Solo walked over to the Falcon, opened the ramp, and walked inside, leaving me by myself.
I looked at my Digimon. "Veemon, let's go get the others."
We walked over to the Courage and got inside. Vee was clamped to the copilot's seat, charging up. I turned him on and got ready for liftoff.
"Veemon, hit the startup."
"If I can reach it!"
Veemon jumped up and hit the startup, but when he landed, he fell onto the floor.
"Well, that was fun." Veemon got up, rubbing his arm. "I don't like being short."
"Go strap in. I'm going to take off."
I flipped the repulsorlift switch, and as we rose off the ground, the landing gear brought itself into little compartments.
"Here we go."
We slowly went forward, easing out of the hangar, and turned toward the shop. I flew past different walkways, some people twice my age looking at me with jealousy because of my ship. Most just waved.
"Vwoop-bleep!"
"Thanks Vee." I stopped waving at people, and concentrated on landing. "Let's see, repulsorlifts, then landing gear, then power."
I gently landed on the ground, and walked out of the ship.
"Hey, nice landing, Davis!"
I turned and saw TK. "Thanks, TB! Not bad for a beginner, eh?"
"Not bad for anyone," a voice said behind me.
"Thanks," I looked back at a man wearing green with white trim, standing next to an alien.
"Name's Corran Horn. Rogue Nine. And my wingmate, Rogue Ten. Ooryl Qrygg, from Gand."
"I'm honored to meet you, Davis."
"You! Thanks a lot up there. I wasn't sure we'd make it."
"We heard you were going to Yavin. Luke Skywalker called us and asked us to escort, so the Senate decided to make it a trip to deliver supplies. And we were looking for some freighters. Know anybody?"
"My friends and I were going there with Solo and his family."
"Well, then, isn't that convenient?"
"When can you start loading the supplies?"
"Right now. I've got them all here in some hover carts."
"Then let's go. If it's all right with my friends . . . "
"They agreed earlier, while you were with Solo."
"All right. But first, we need to register everyone as pilots and their ships names. Solo wanted that out of the way."
"We'll do that now, then. Come on, I'll get the kid in the hat and the girl with brown hair. Ooryl, you get the other three."
"I understand." Ooryl turned and walked toward Ken, Cody, and Yolei.
"Hey, Kari! TE! Come here!" I said.
They walked to us. "What?"
"We need to get you all registered. You can't fly outside of the system without a valid pilot's licence and ship name," Horn said.
"Where do we do that?"
"Come with me."
We walked over to a booth with a keyboard and a computer screen. Horn sat himself down and started typing something.
On the screen, we saw the words Name of Pilot?
"All right, who's first?"
"I'll go." Kari sat herself in the seat when Horn got out.
Kari typed Kari Kamiya.
The screen said Age?
Kari typed 13 yrs.
Recommendation or diploma?
"Huh?" Kari was puzzled.
"You weren't trained at a pilot academy, were you?" Horn asked.
"No."
"Well, then type recommendation."
Recommendation.
Pilot Recommendation?
"Here, let me finish." Horn typed Lieutenant Corran Horn.
License completed.
"Now, let's register your ship. Got a name?"
"Angel of Light." Kari seemed to think the same way I had when I thought of my ship's name.
Horn typed something else, and new words popped up.
Ship type?
YT-2400.
Ship number?
835.
Date purchased?
Month Eight, Day 16.
Name of ship?
Angel of Light.
Owner?
Kari Kamiya.
Registry Complete.
Horn took out a card from the machine, and handed it to Kari. "This is your pilot's licence. Don't lose it."
"I won't," Kari said as she took the card.
"Now you." He pointed to TK. "Come on."
"Thanks, Mr. Horn," Kari said.
"Call me Corran."
"All right, Corran."
"Hey, Kari. You hungry?" I asked.
"A little. You see any place to eat as you were flying in?"
"No, but I'm sure we can find one. Come on, I'll fly you."
"Okay. Gatomon! Come on!"
I saw Gatomon run out of Kari's ship, and we all walked over to the Courage. "Hey, Corran, have them load up Kari's ship. I'm taking her to get something to eat."
"Right. Have fun."
"By the way, you know anywhere?"
"Look for a place with a lot of ships parked on a floating platform. It's great."
"Thanks." Kari and I walked up the ramp to my ship. "Come on, let's go to the cockpit. Veemon!"
"Yeah?"
"Turn the ship on."
"All right. Vee, help me."
"Bweep!"
I heard Vee unclamping himself and rolling over to the cockpit door, Veemon climbing on top of him, and the gentle thrum that meant the ship was on.
"Thanks, Veemon."
I heard Veemon say, "Thanks, Vee."
I reached the cockpit as Veemon was getting off of Vee. I walked around them and got in the pilot seat.
After going through the startup checklist, I said, "Here we go." I pushed the repulsorlift button, and slowly brought the ship out of the hangar. I pulled up and switched off the repulsors. The engines would keep us up.
"Fire of Courage calling Coruscant Control. Requesting flight clearance."
"Clearance granted, Courage. Happy flying."
"Keep your eyes peeled for that place Corran described." I looked out the window.
"Hey, Davis." Corran's voice came through the comlink.
"What?"
"I forgot to mention. That place is up in space. It's on a skyhook. Your droid should have the coordinates for it. It's called Dunari's Casino."
"Thanks. Vee?"
Vee took over flying and flew up toward a floating building.
"We'll be in the main hold. Veemon, could you take the turret?" Veemon got a look of terror. "I'm just kidding! I'll stay near them." I got up, turned around and walked out of the door. I sat down at the table in the main hold. Kari came in and sat down.
"Vee said that this table has a chess-like game on it."
"You understood him?"
"He has a screen in front of him. He printed what he said on it and I read it. So, you interested?"
"Let's go." I touched a switch the clerk had shown me, and some pieces appeared on the table. The clerk back at the store had shown me all this, so I knew how it worked. The pieces looked just like chess pieces, so I had no trouble know what could do what. I touched the space a pawn was on and then touched the space I wanted him to go to.
"Good move. But try this . . . "
We played for about fifteen minutes, when Veemon came in and said they had found the place.
"Coming." I jogged to the cockpit and sat down. I brought us down for a landing, and then walked outside. We were in a hangar, and we could smell food from the next room. We walked in and sat down. A waiter droid came in and asked us what we would like.
"Er . . . "
Vee came up and bleeped at the waiter.
"Oh, I see, well then, I would recommend the nerf medallions."
"Sounds good." My stomach writhed. "We'll take two."
"Very good. I'll be back in one minute with your food."
"So, while we're waiting, what happened when those ships attacked you out there?" Kari looked concerned.
"Well, we were just doing figure eights, practicing my skills, when we were attacked. They appeared out of nowhere, literally. We didn't stand a chance. Then Rogue Squadron showed up, and then you and TK, and they ran when we disabled one. That's what happened, basically."
"Weird. Well, let's hope it doesn't happen again."
"Right," I said as our food arrived. It smelled delicious, and looked great. I put my fork into it, and slowly brought it up to my mouth. I let my tongue touch it, just to make sure it wasn't too hot, and put it in my mouth. "Oh, yum!"
"Good?" Kari asked.
"You haven't lived until you try this stuff! My compliments to the chef!"
"I'll pass your message along, sir." The waiter droid walked away.
"You're right; it is good." Kari had just tried it.
"We gotta tell the others about this place."
"Solo must be waiting, though."
"True, and he did ask us to come. Waiter!"
"Yes, sir?" The waiter came over to us again.
"I have to go, so do you have a box or something we could put this in to take with us?"
"Of course, sir. Your bill is one hundred credits. I'll be right back." The droid went to get us our boxes and bill.
"Vee, go power up the ship, would you?" I asked. The droid rolled away. I looked at my money. "Let's see, one hundred credits, but we should leave a tip, so how about one hundred fifteen?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Okay, twenty, forty, sixty . . . "
"Oh, come on, let me pay for my share."
"Keep the money. Think of it as a gift."
"For what?"
I went red. "Christmas?"
"Your boxes, sir and madam."
Thank goodness for interruptive waiters. "Thanks."
We put our food in the boxes, paid the waiter, and walked back to the Courage. I got in the cockpit and took off while Kari strapped in. I hit the communicator to call Solo.
"Solo?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"Sorry we're so late, but we had to get everyone registered, and . . . "
"Don't worry about it, kid. Wedge Antilles contacted me and let me know, so I'm at Dunari's Casino finishing a meal."
"Funny, we're just leaving that place."
"I saw you when you walked in, but I kept quiet."
"Well, I'm heading back down to the shop. Rogue Squad has some cargo to load, and I'm the only one who isn't loaded."
"All right, then I'll meet you at the rendevous in a half hour. Luke should be here by then."
"All right. Courage out. Vee, let's go."
"Blaat!"
I brought the ship out of the hangar and flew back down toward the planet. "Vee, fly us down to the shop, okay?"
"Whoop!"
I unbuckled and went to the turret. After all, I couldn't be too careful.
"What are you doing?"
I turned to see Kari looking up at me. I grinned sheepishly. "Can't be too careful, can I?"
"No one will attack us. And even if they do, Vee will let us know, and we can hurry to the turrets then."
"Fine. I'm coming down." I grabbed the ladder and climbed down.
"Wanna play chess?"
"I guess so."
We went over to the table and started the game. I went first, moving a knight forward.
She countered by moving a pawn forward.
I moved my knight around to the left, while she got her queen out. I moved close to the king.
"Check."
She bit her lip in concentration, and used a pawn to get rid of my knight.
"Ooh, good move."
"Thanks."
The game went back and forth like this for about five minutes, until Kari gasped and stood up.
"What?" I was concerned about her.
"I just realized something. What if we never get back home?"
"I hadn't thought about it. But I guess that could happen."
"Oh, no. What if I never see Tai again? Or my mom? My dad? My cat? My friends? Oh, Davis, what are we going to do?"
She looked so sad. I walked over to her, to try to comfort her. She flung her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. I put my arm around her.
"It's okay, Kari. We'll get home. We'll find a way, no matter what."
She gradually quieted down, and said she needed to lie down.
"Come on, Kari, you can use the bunk in my quarters."
She nodded. I led her to my room on the ship and left her to lie down. Then, I went back to the cockpit and hit the communicator. "Solo?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"Any way the Falcon could tow another ship?"
"Most likely, yes, she can."
"Tow Kari's ship to Yavin. She doesn't feel well, so she's in my ship lying down."
"All right. Solo out."
Author's note: Well, this chapter was a bit longer. Sorry about the corny bit there, had to bring a couple of loose ends together for the next chapter.
Also, I'll try and have some links to some pics of the ships in the next chapter. R/R!
