02: Boarding Action
Princess Kaori, light of the Rebellion, stood alone in her stateroom, watching the desert planet turning serenely far below. Like many inspiring leaders, she knew how to present a façade of invincibility, but for now it had fallen. "It's hard to believe we're so close," she said sadly, resting her fingers on the pane. "You've probably forgotten all about me… but still, I wish I could see you again."
Her vessel, the Lightning, was only pausing to recharge her solar cells before setting out on the next leg of their journey. She was a beautiful ship, with a sleek, katana-shaped hull and sweeping wings, but hardly one worthy of a Princess. Perhaps that's why Kaori liked it so much.
Kaori gave a start and composed herself as the stateroom door hissed open behind her. Only two people on the ship were allowed to enter unannounced; one would be Captain Antilles, and the other would be…
"Oh, Ms. Kagura!" she greeted the woman's reflection warmly. "Come in."
"P-- Kaorin," the other replied uncomfortably. Kagura was the captain of her personal guard, and looked the part. Lean but strongly built, tough but with a certain kindness as well, she had a soldierly charisma that Kaori sometimes envied. When the Princess said 'jump,' the men asked, 'how high?' When Kagura said 'jump,' they gave themselves concussions on the ceiling.
The only problem was that she was ever conscious of the gulf between them, never able to settle down in the presence of her old friend. Perhaps it was something that just couldn't be helped. "Is… is something wrong?" Kagura asked.
"Hm?" So she was that easy to read? While it would be nice to unburden, alas, duty came first. "No. No, nothing. Listen, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
Kaori produced a small disk and handed it to the other woman. "If anything goes wrong during this mission, at this stop or the next one, I want you to go down to Tatooine and give this to a man named Kenobi. And…" she hesitated, then also handed the soldier a tiny sealed envelope. "And give this to his apprentice."
"But I'd have to leave…" Kagura started to protest, then shook her head sharply. "Right. You can count on me." Actually, she wasn't sure how she'd manage to find this Kenobi, but since the Princess wasn't telling her, she figured she was on her own.
"I knew I could," Kaori acknowledged, and with a sudden smile, her whole manner changed. "So are you due anywhere, or do you have time for a drink?"
"Well," Kagura replied, smiling back, "If the Princess has time... huh? The ship just moved! What--?" The deck lurched under their feet with an ominous ringing sound, knocking Kaori to her knees. Kagura moved to help her up, but she was already yelling, "Go!"
The "battle" that Owen had strained to see through his aged macrobinoculars was really more of a short chase and an even shorter beatdown. A Star Destroyer, the aptly named Implacable, appeared from hyperspace right on top of them, her batteries already pouring ravening beams into space.
The Lightning's engines roared to life much faster than was healthy for them, but it was a doomed effort. The brave little blockade runner's shields were pummeled into nothingness almost instantly, and vicious tractor beams latched on to her with enough force to crumple her slender frame.
The Implacable towed her in, disdainful of the tiny green bolts her prey frantically spat. Her great turbolasers worked with surgical precision, blasting away weapons emplacements and communication equipment, and only when the smaller vessel was well and truly defanged was she drawn into the warship's cavernous docking bay.
With that, the easy part was over. Princess Kaori's personal guard gathered at the connection point, a heavily armored door at the end of a long, ribbed corridor, and took positions along its length. Kagura didn't bother giving a flowery, dramatic speech; they knew what was going on and that she was behind them.
She wouldn't have had time to anyway--everything was happening way too fast. One instant, the door was there, laser sights dancing over it like evil fireflies, the next it was skidding down the corridor at the head of a terrible concussion. The explosion's roar had barely faded from their ears before stormtroopers poured through and they were thrust into furious combat.
For well on ten minutes, the corridor became a maze of green light choked with ozone-reeking smoke. The defenders fought bravely, littering the narrow floor with armored corpses, but the tide was sorely against them. Slowly, man by hard-fighting man, they were torn from their positions and cast lifeless to the ground.
It was unfortunate, but the battle's fury made Kagura forget all about the innocuous little disk in her pocket. Her rifle clicked dry and she dropped it, drawing her sidearms and walking brazenly into the corridor, spraying bolts into the emerging troopers. For about five seconds it seemed that she was invincible… then a bolt tore through her leg and she fell, blasters skittering across the deck.
Now unopposed, the stormtroopers marched briskly through, contemptuous of the twenty yards so many of their comrades had died for. As the smoke started to clear, he arrived. That ebon-armored and sable-cloaked monster, living symbol of the Empire's terror, Dark Lord of the Sith… Darth Nochichi!
(You knew it to be true.)
Sure, he looked kind of silly, what with his ovoid body, ropy arms, stubby, tapered legs and sinister, almond-shaped eyes--but there in the flesh, he seemed like an impossible nightmare made real. His odd appearance had made him an easy target for political cartoonists, but their work would have been much funnier if the artists didn't always mysteriously disappear soon after seeing print.
So go ahead, laugh! Laugh at him! See what it gets you!
Darth Nochichi drifted into the corridor, flanked by stormtroopers, and surveyed the scene of carnage dispassionately. "Find me a survivor," he ordered in his chilling, filtered voice.
Thus Kagura was hauled to her feet by two troopers and confronted the Sith Lord. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing!" she snapped, unimpressed, "We're on a diplo—" Nochichi grabbed her by her throat and hauled her into the air. Hey! she thought inanely, How's he doing that without fingers?
"Where are the plans?" he demanded.
"Plans? What are you--?"
"Do not toy with me. This is no diplomatic mission. Where. Are. The. Plans?" With each gritted word, his grip tightened. Kagura saw spots dancing before her eyes, but didn't yield. "I don't know what you're talking about…!" she growled defiantly.
Darth Nochichi carelessly tossed her aside. She staggered against the wall, started to rise—and one of the troopers shot her in the stomach. Kagura crumpled to the ground and lay very still as Nochichi barked, "Search everywhere! Find those plans if you have to tear this ship apart!"
"Sir!" The stormtroopers spread out and the halls rang with shouted orders, the bray of blasters and the clatter of armored boots. In short time, Kagura found herself alone among the fallen defenders. It would have been safe to assume that she was dead, but they had underestimated her doughtiness… and the ablative vest under her jacket.
Now that she had the time, she felt a little shaken- and something was biting into her thigh. Of all the stupid… had she landed on her keys? It took her a moment to remember the disk and her mission from Kaori.
Kagura considered her situation. Hmm… I'm gut-shot, oxygen deprived, my leg doesn't work and the ship is full of stormtroopers. She hauled herself to her hands and knees; there'd never been any question of just lying there and dying. It's always something…
Not long after, one of the Lightning's escape pods launched, violently skipping off the docking bay wall and spiraling wildly towards the planet below. One of the Imperial gunners took a few half-hearted shots at it, but there obviously wasn't anybody at the controls.
"Don't waste the power," his officer advised. "It was probably a malfunction."
This lowly gunnery sergeant never found out that his prudence had doomed the Empire.
