Detour
a Side Trip AU
Preface (A/N): This story picks up near the end of part three of the short novel Side Trip by Michael A. Stackpole and Timothy Zahn.
Seeing as it is an Alternate Universe story there are some things you should know before hand (note: this story might be a little bitconfusing if you haven't already read the real Side Trip.)
1. The first 2 ¾ parts of Side Trip, as told in the real story, have no bearing on what is happening (as far as this universe is concerned, they didn't happen.)
2. Instead, Corran and Hal are a part of a CorSec operation to try and catch Thyne. They have invaded his fortress and now, because he escaped down a 'mole hole,' are hunting him in the caverns under his fortress.
Grand Admiral Thrawn and the other original cast members do not play a role in this version (yes, all you Thrawn fans out there, he is cool. Trust me, I am not cutting him out because I don't think that he isn't cool (on the contrary really) there was just no was I could include him without making Corran look really stupid and arrogant, which, no matter how cool Thrawn is, I will NOT do.)
P.S. For all you out there who have read Side Trip, you will notice that part one sounds almost exactly like the story at times. That is because I simply took the original story and changed it around a bit.
Don't worry though, it gets to all my writing and plot during all following chapters.
Disclamer: I don't own 'nothin! The OC and plot are mine, but everything else belongs to Stackpole and THE ALMIGHTY GEORGE LUCAS (bows to her 'star wars' poster). Yep! Yep!
…Hn.
"talking"
walking
thinking
Part 1"Corridor widens out in to a natural stone cave. We're probably at the rear of the property."
Corran Horn glanced back at the five other CorSec agents arrayed out behind him, his eyes focusing on one in particular.
"Understood," Hal Horn, Corran's father, nodded. "Take it slow. Corran, your point, Trent, you guard our backs. Every one else go single file and wait for your position to be called before moving. Oh, and Corran, lose the light."
Corran flicked off the pinpoint glow rod and closed his eyes. He waited for a count of ten for his eyes to get adjusted to the darkness, then opened them. The others had moved to their positions behind him.
Cautiously, Corran entered the cavern. Bioluminescent lifeforms- lichen and the things that ate it- gave off a purplish glow that allowed Corran to make out shadowed shapes. Some were regular and appeared to be duraplast boxes of varying sizes, while the larger, more menacing ones were curiously hunched and gnarled stone formations.
There seemed to be little physical modification of the cave: the floor remained uneven and boxes had been wedged in various places were space allowed. Corran assumed the previous owner had kept the cave in its natural state and Thyne had stored in it precious or vital cargos that he did not trust to have any place else.
Corran crept forward, remaining low. He reached the first box and in the faint glow made out the stenciled Imperial legend proclaiming it to be full of blaster carbines. He would have opened it, but the scent of spice lingered strongly enough in the immediate area that he knew what it really contained.
Either Thyne is just storing spice in this, or Black Sun has some backdoor Imperial connections that are allowing them to ship this stuff in past Customs. I'll have to ask Loor about that.
Corran whistled short and sharp, then heard his father close the gap between them. For an older man, and one as big as he was, Hal moved pretty quietly. I felt his presence before I picked up that slight scuff of his sole against the stone. Oh, Thyne, you don't know who your messing with.
A swift set of whistles came from a position about fifteen feet to his rear, and Corran knew that the other Cor-Sec agents were now arraying themselves out in a silent search pattern behind him.
Corran felt a thrill of foreboding. Because he was so small and could move so silently he was usually sent out as a forerunner, a scout, both on missions with his father, and on group missions such as this one.
He was never really sure if he enjoyed this position or not. A lot of things (some times good, usually bad) tended to happen to scouts, and Corran wasn't sure if he enjoyed the prospect that he was almost always the first in the enemy's range of fire.
His father whistled again and Corran shoved his doubts to the back of his mind.
Crouching low, he began to move slowly and carefully, wending his way from one dark rock to another. He did his best to avoid those that were glowing, he didn't want to silhouette himself against one. Taking great care to make as little noise as possible, Corran smiled as he hunkered down behind a large black rock.
Corran looked back at his father and was set to whistle when he heard the scrape of metal on a rock. He glanced up and triggered one shot from his blaster carbine.
The azure bolt streaked past Thyne as he leaped down from a large dolmen, then Thyne's right heal caught Corran in the shoulder and spun him to the ground. His blaster carbine bounced away to the right, firing two random shots.
He felt Thyne's left arm tighten around his neck as the alien's right arm grabbed Corran's hands and twisted them behind his back. Thyne released his hands but before Corran could move Thyne pinned them there with his body as his right arm snaked down to pull Corran's blaster pistol free from his belt. Then Corran was hauled to his feet as the alien straightened up, his body shielding Thyne from fire.
The muzzle of the blaster pistol was ground under the right corner of Corran's jaw. A glow rod lit up, bathing the right side of Corran's face with light. The muscles on the arm around his neck bulged, constricting his breathing and killing any thoughts of struggling.
From her position on the right side of the search pattern Chandra saw the first blue bolt briefly illuminate a dark form near Corran's position. Moments later she heard the sounds of a scuffle and watched as her friend's carbine went sailing off into the darkness.
Oh shit, she thought as she started to move towards the fight.
She had not moved more that a step or two, though, when a glow rod lit up, and her worst fears were confirmed. She couldn't see the blaster pistol being held against Corran's face, but from the angle and direction that the light was coming from, she could only assume that there was a gun in use.
What she could see was the arm around Corran's neck and the way his hands were trapped behind his back by a figure she could only guess to be Zekka Thyne.
Sithspit she mentally swore as she halted, unwilling to move any farther forward for fear of further endangering the younger Horn.
If only Thyne wasn't standing just so I might be able to get him with out hitting Corran.
Thyne growled loudly, sending angry echoes of his voice throughout the cavern. "Your partner is dead if you don't show yourself in five seconds."