Star Wars: The Adventure of Biggs Darklighter

One Dark Future

The story so far...

Biggs Darklighter and his companions were on the run from the Empire. Desperately trying to contact the Rebel Alliance, they hoped to help in the fight against tyranny. But their journey was one of betrayal and great loss. Friends died and ships were destroyed. Even an entire planet was annihilated before their very eyes.

And yet they prevailed against the odds. Managing to overcome horrendous obstacles where others might have failed, they now continue their adventure.

{-O-}

Having successfully captured the merchant ship Rand Ecliptic, Biggs Darklighter and his companions finally make contact with the Rebellion. They are rapidly escorted to the secret rebel base on Yavin 4 where they pass on their terrible eye witness account of the destruction of Alderaan by the dreaded Death Star.

Although already aware of the Death Star's existence, the Rebel leaders are shocked and saddened by the news and immediately begin formulating plans to attack the machine. Biggs learns that they are awaiting news from Princess Leia who had been despatched to intercept the blueprints for the Death Star, stolen by rebel sympathisers. Her mission is now more important than ever.

In the meantime, Biggs and his companions, Charii and Jobe, decide to return to Dantooine and retrieve the last of the rebel fighter craft they were unable to recover on their first impromptu mission. Given a small, but fast transport ship, the group have gathered two volunteer pilots with them and race back to the abandoned rebel base.

But even though their mission is a noble one, Charii has her own reason to return to Dantooine...

{-O-}

Chapter 1 – Return To Dantooine

They accelerated through the upper atmosphere and into the cold dark void of space. The mid-sized ship curved gently as its pilot aligned them for the jump into hyperspace, taking them on a course away from the large gas giant looming overhead. The ship built up speed steadily as it pulled free of the gravity of the moon it left behind, being careful not to be drawn into the monstrous planet it orbited.

It wasn't long before the onboard computer had calculated the most efficient jump co-ordinates for their destination, and informed the pilot with a quiet, but insistent beeping. With that knowledge received, the pilot made the slight course correction needed and proceeded towards the theoretical point in space that they would make the leap from normal to hyper space.

As the ship reached the given point, the pilot pushed forward on his control levers, powering up the hyper drive and opening a hole in the fabric of space... a tiny hole, but enough to allow the ship to pass into the extra-dimensional world of hyperspace. Once there, the ship broke several laws of physics that govern its flight in normal space, allowing it to reach phenomenal speeds and cross the mind boggling gaps between the stars in a more reasonable time than would normally be allowed.

The stars streaked by, seemingly spinning about the ship in a special dance just for them. It was an awe inspiring sight, watching the universe rotate around you, the nearby stars zooming past the ship, becoming mere lines of light that you felt you could almost reach out and touch. The universe always seemed so much smaller when viewed this way. Compressed; accessible... unlike the cold reality of normal space.

And although not one of the members onboard that ship hadn't stared out in wonder on their first voyage between the stars, none now but the pilot cast a second look at the natural and unnatural sights on show outside. They had greater thoughts on their minds. Worrying thoughts of things that heralded great peril.

It had barely been a day since Biggs Darklighter had shown up at the rebel base, bringing with him the news of Alderaan's destruction at the hands of the Emperor's new toy, the Death Star. The tale he had told them was so unbelievable it just couldn't be fabricated. No-one would make up something so hideous. All the rumours of the new super weapon were true, it seemed. A planet killer. The ultimate weapon. More power combined in one, single weapon, than the rest of the star fleet combined! And in the hands of the Emperor, it would no doubt be used mercilessly. Worse still, in the hands of his minions, heaven knows what tragedy it would wrought.

But the bearer of that news had brought some hope with him as well: a small, but much appreciated collection of starships, most noticeably the merchant ship, Rand Ecliptic, complete with willing captain and crew! They could be put to good use in this fight against tyranny. And not forgetting several fighter craft, recovered from the abandoned base on Dantooine. Slightly damaged, but any war craft were eagerly welcomed into the fold. The rebellion needed all the firepower it could get. More so now than ever.

And so now they were returning once again to Dantooine as the Darklighter Expedition, or so the rebel leaders had dubbed them. They knew of at least two more craft that could be salvaged there, possibly more. But it would have to be quick. Something was in the wind and the rebel leaders had insisted they take no longer than was absolutely necessary.

Biggs sat with Charii and Jobe in the rear of the craft while one of their volunteer pilots, Kel Whestler flew the ship. He was a quiet man, but more than competent in his duties and content to sit alone at the helm. Another pilot, a female Bothan named Gyrath Hla'lyn, listened avidly as Biggs retold his adventure from Tatooine to Yavin 4. In the days since he had arrived at the secret base, he had told the story several times. But each time he reached the point where they had witnessed Alderaan's destruction, he had to pause and take a breath to compose himself. It was still too much to bare.

Charii put a hand on his leg and completed the story for him, allowing Jobe to fill in some of the details in his enthusiastic manner, much to the delight of the Bothan. Charii deliberately skipped over their journey from Bestine to Yavin. They had all agreed it was better not to mention that to anyone. Not yet. Gyrath had many questions which they politely answered, but only Jobe seemed truly interested in detailing each and every one.

Finally Kel Whestler called from the front of the ship that they were approaching Dantooine. They all straightened up in their seats in anticipation, but Charii found herself suddenly nervous. She had been the one who had insisted they fly back here for the remaining ships. It had been a convincing argument, easily justifiable under the current circumstances. And yet it was a lie; just a front for her own needs. She was deceiving her friends and worst still, the man who was slipping into her heart, Biggs Darklighter.

Why don't I just tell them? she thought. But too late now. The ship was re-entering normal space and within minutes they'd be back.

Whestler brought the ship down into Dantooine's atmosphere. They had detected no other craft in the vicinity and had decided it best to just rush in and do the job as soon as was possible. As the craft circled the abandoned base, Charii could see the burnt remains of her ship, the Lady Diver, not far from the site. Biggs and Jobe saw it too, and the former Imperial bureaucrat took a deep breath and looked away. His friend Neville had died there, along with Jand Dorric, the smuggler turned rebel recruiter who had brought them all to Dantooine in the first place.

Whestler picked a different place to land, closer to the now exposed underground hangar entrance. He brought the ship down quickly, touching down with a rough thud and shut off the engines. He and his passengers quickly disembarked, blasters at the ready. The last known Imperials to be here were all dead, as far as Biggs and the others knew, but you could never be too sure. They fanned out quickly, checking the immediate vicinity and declared it safe enough. They weren't going to be there that long, it should be okay.

Biggs, dressed in his new flight suit with his famous moustache neatly trimmed, led the group into the hangar, shining a light into the darkened corners where the sun couldn't reach. The others shone their lights as well, sweeping the entire space. It looked just as they had left it. Two craft, both Y-wings, were easily visible. Scattered about them were broken equipment and surplus supplies.

"There they are," Biggs declared. "Gyrath. Kel. You two check them out, make sure they can fly and get them prep'd. Jobe, I need you to stand guard at the entrance." Biggs wasn't technically their leader, but he had that 'quality' about him that allowed him to give orders easily. "And I want to see what else is hidden here before we go. Charii, you're with me."

Whestler and the Bothan nodded to Biggs and went to the ships. Jobe pouted a little at being given guard duty, but said nothing and went back to the hangar entrance, blaster in hand. Charii, however, lightly touched Biggs on the arm, "I have to, um, find a rest room." And she smiled shyly.

Biggs rolled his eyes, saying, "You really should have done that earlier. But okay. Make it quick."

Charii squeezed his arm and trotted off in the opposite direction. Biggs activated his hand-light and ventured deeper into the hangar. For several minutes he stumbled through the dark area, looking for anything of use. He found many boxes and crates, mostly empty or broken. As he went further, approaching the rear of the hangar, he caught sight of a recessed nook, partially obscured by more crates and containers.

He looked about for Charii, hoping she could help him move some of the pieces so he could get a better look behind. But she was still not back, so he tried to move some of the smaller ones on his own. Working his way from the edge, he managed to dislodge enough of the material so he could get a good look behind. What he saw made him smile. It was another ship!

He really needed to get to this craft. Where was Charii? What was taking her so long? He needed her.

Biggs stepped back from the blockage and worked his way back to the forward part of the hangar. Still no sign of Charii. Gyrath and Kel were busy with the two Y-wings and he could see Jobe silhouetted in the hangar entrance. Blast it, where did she go?

He strode purposefully towards Jobe, "Jobe, I can't find Charii. Have you seen her?" he asked.

Jobe jumped a little at the sudden sound of Biggs' voice, his skinny body spinning about, causing the mop of red curly hair on his head to bounce wildly. He quickly regained his composure to reply, "Yes, she rushed out of here moments after you went exploring. Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jobe. She must have gone to the ship. I'll be right back." And he started to walk across to their transport craft.

"But, Mr. Biggs! She didn't go to the ship! She went that way," Jobe told him, pointing in the opposite direction.

Biggs thought for a moment, "Why would she... oh, okay. Jobe, I'm going to go look for her. I won't be long," Biggs told him. Jobe started to follow him, but Biggs held up a hand, "I still need you to guard the hangar, Jobe. Just don't shoot me when we get back!"

Jobe half-smiled in return, mumbling to himself as Biggs walked away, "Why do I always get the boring jobs?"

"I heard that!" Biggs shouted over his shoulder.

{-O-}

It wasn't long before Biggs found Charii. He could see her in the near distance, crouching beside the ruins of her destroyed starship, the Lady Diver. He paused a moment, watching her, wondering why she had returned here. She was a beautiful woman; an exotic alien creature with flowing purple hair and dark mauve skin. About the sides of her face were the dark colourations found on all the Callite people. Not many of the Callites ventured off their homeworld, he'd been told. But he was glad she had. There was something about her that called to him.

He shook himself from his reverie and coughed softly as he walked towards his companion. She turned about quickly, blaster in hand. But as soon as she realized who it was, she lowered the gun and smiled sheepishly at him.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here?" she asked.

Biggs nodded, trying not to smile. She always made him smile. "You could say that. Especially considering it was your idea to come back here for the fighters."

Charii bent her head down in shame, "I lied to you, Biggs. I'm so sorry, but I didn't think you'd agree if I told you why I really needed to come back!"

Biggs stood silently, waiting for her to continue while Charii stared at the ground, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "There was something on my ship I had to find. It's very valuable to my family... and me." She looked up at him, "I shouldn't even be telling you about this. Family secrets are very sacred to my people. Especially this one. But I guess I have no choice now."

Biggs held up his hand, "Charii, you don't have to tell me. I trust you. But," and he looked about the charred ruins of her ship, "I'm sorry to say whatever it was could not have survived."

Charii brightened as she shook her head, "But I found it!" she exclaimed. And held up a strange looking spherical object, about the size of her hand. "The box we kept it in was destroyed, but the heirloom itself is in perfect condition!"

"That's impossible..." Biggs said, looking at the weird object. He could see it had strange markings, along with some odd indentations and two distinct holes in one side. Most noticeably it was old. No, not old, ancient. It looked hundreds, if not thousands of years old. "Just what is it, Charii?"

She turned it over in her hands, looking at it curiously, "I don't know, Biggs. It's been in my family for years." She paused, wondering if she should go on, or if she'd said too much already.

Biggs waited until he realized she wasn't going to continue. "Is there more?" he prompted her.

But Charii only shook her head in reply. "I can't tell you any more, Biggs, I just can't. My mother made me swear never to tell, and her mother made her swear... all the way back to when the stranger passed this on," and she thrust the object into his hands without thinking.

"Charii, I'm sorry, but..." Biggs fell silent as the object 'clicked' in his hand. "O-oh. Something's happening."

Charii stepped forward and grasped the object in Biggs' hand, "I better take it back before you break it." But the object 'clicked' again... followed by a slight humming.

Suddenly the sky went black, then light again, then dark, then bright... repeating until they both threw the object onto the ground. As they did so, Biggs caught sight of three ghostly figures standing beside them. Two of them looked oddly familiar but hard to make out as they appeared blurred and transparent. But they were quickly gone again.

"Did you see that, Charii?" he asked cautiously. She nodded dumbly in return. "Has your heirloom ever done that before?"

"No. Never." She looked frightened.

Biggs bent down to pick up the ancient artifact, but Charii scooped it up before he had a chance. "No use taking chances." And she quickly slid it into a large pocket on her flight suit. "We better be getting back, before the others miss us," she said.

Giving her a look as if to say 'I wouldn't break it', Biggs nodded in agreement and they headed back to the abandoned rebel base.

{-O-}

It was a quiet walk back. They were both more than a little shaken by what happened, whatever it was. Flashing lights, ghostly images. If it had happened to just one or the other of them, you could dismiss it as an illusion or hallucination. But Biggs was more practical than that. In this day and age where travelling between the stars was a common activity, and a madman could destroy an entire world in the blink of an eye, a few flashing lights and blurry looking people was of small concern.

But in the back of his mind he knew something had happened.

In his musings, he had let Charii get ahead of him. As he quickened his pace to catch up with her, she stopped dead in her tracks. "The ship's gone," she said.

Standing beside her, Biggs realised they were in sight of the base. Indeed the ship was gone. "Maybe they put it in the hangar?" But he didn't believe that even as he suggested it.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Biggs."

Walking on, he replied "Come on, let's find out what's happening."

As they approached the hangar doors it was clear that Jobe was no longer guarding the entrance. And they could hear no discernable sounds coming from within, either. No talking, no machinery and certainly no engine sounds. Where were they all?

"You don't think they left without us, do you?" asked Charii.

Biggs shook his head, "I wouldn't think so... but we better take a look." And he led them into the hangar.

What they found there shocked them both. Where the two star fighters had stood, only the shattered remains of the space craft now scattered the area. Two clear blast craters, charred and pitted, pinpointed exactly where the craft had once been. The walls of the hangar were burnt as well, clearly from the resultant fire.

The ships, destroyed. This made no sense. Biggs and Charii had only been gone half an hour at most. For one thing they would probably have heard the explosions and the fires should still have been burning.

The implications sent a cold shiver up and down Biggs' spine.

"Oh my..." murmured Charii from behind Biggs. She walked over and knelt down beside two mounds to one side of the hangar entrance. Biggs knelt beside her, reading a small, hastily etched plaque lying atop the mounds.

"Here rest Gyrath and Kel, killed while serving the Rebel Alliance," he read.

Charii looked at Biggs, "What's happening? How can this be?"

As he was about to answer, Biggs spotted a scrap of metal leaning against one of the mounds. Lifting it up, he saw it also had been etched. At the very top, it read "Mr. Biggs." Biggs smiled in reflex. A message from Jobe. He'd been calling him Mr Biggs since they first met.

Charii and Biggs read it together, "Mr. Biggs. We searched for you all day. We came back that first night and the others finished readying the ships. But they were booby trapped! Kel and Gyrath were both killed. I buried them and waited as long as I could for you. But now my food is running out and I fear you and Charii are truly dead or gone for good. I'm all alone and frightened. Where did you go? Why did you leave me? Signed Jobe Quallick"

"Oh my stars," exclaimed Charii. Biggs put his arm about her for comfort. And not just for hers.

They sat there a few minutes, each with their own thoughts before Biggs finally spoke.

"Somehow we've lost several days... maybe more," Biggs said. "It could only have been that heirloom of yours. When I took it... those weird lights..." His voice trailed off.

Charii looked at him, "Could be... I don't know."

"Charii, you better tell me what it is," Biggs insisted.

"All right, Biggs. I guess I must," Charii agreed. She took a moment to compose herself. "As I said, it's been in my family for years. The story goes that when my grandmother was a young girl, a strange little man came to the door in the middle of the night. He said he had been looking for them for years, and had finally found them. He was battered and weak, they said. Looking like he'd been in a mighty battle. How a small little creature like that could have survived such an encounter, they couldn't tell. But apparently he had more power in him than looked possible.

"After he had recovered a little, he told them that he'd had a vision years ago. A deeply troubling vision. The fate of the universe hung in the balance of what he saw. He refused to say any more than that, instead he held out a small, decorative box. Inside, he said, was an ancient artifact of great power. And that it must be kept safe until the time was right.

" "From mother to daughter you must pass it," he told them." Charii paused, clearly wondering if she should continue.

"Was that all he said?" Biggs asked her.

She shook her head, "No." And she took a breath before going on, "He told us that I, the granddaughter she wouldn't have for many, many years, was to give this to the man she truly... loved."

Charii stopped again before looking up into Biggs' eyes. "That's you, Biggs."

Biggs took her hand in his, looking into her eyes, but said nothing, just smiled gently at her.

"For the next two generations, it was passed down until I was finally given the artifact. My mother had told me the tale as I was growing up so many times that I thought it just a childish fantasy. And when the Empire came to our world, plundering it, and I was forced to leave home, I stored the box in my ship for safe keeping.

"I'm embarrassed to say this, but I forgot I even had it until I started... feeling things for you, Biggs. In fact, it wasn't until we were travelling from Bestine to Yavin that it dawned on me that I'd left it on the Lady Diver... and that it might very well have been destroyed along with my ship!"

Biggs interrupted her then, "You felt that way about me back then?"

Charii blushed, "Yes... I love you, Biggs Darklighter."

Biggs leant forward and kissed her gently, "And I love you, Charii." And they kissed again, this time more passionately. "Probably since the first time I laid eyes on you in that shuttle from Tatooine, though I didn't fully realize it." They held each other tightly, enjoying each other's presence.

After a while, Charii reluctantly pushed herself away from Biggs. "I've always considered that object as a symbol of my love... I never knew it had any real power." She paused then said, "This doesn't really help us now, though. How are we going to get back to Yavin?"

Biggs looked at her and smiled, winking, "I have a surprise for you." And he lead her back into the hangar and the ship still hidden in the rear.

"Now I'm not sure if it works, but I think we have a good shot at making it operable with all the bits and pieces still left here."

And they set about the task of unearthing the ship and preparing their escape from Dantooine.

{-O-}