Chapter 8

The two ships appear as if by magic as they came out of hyper-speed and everything before them comes into focus. Before them lies the garrison moon off the planet Kessel and in the distance hovers the planet itself glowing in the dark reaches of space.

Kessel looks desolate and barren in the distance with visible salt flats and craters in many shades of brown mixed with large blotches of purple, pinks and greens stirred together in a wasteland. Kessel's garrison moon is illuminated on it's planet side by the many hues projected off from the home sphere, while it's other side remains always in the dark.

' We're here sir, ' announces Leebo, ' Kessel's moon is straight ahead. '

' We'll have to circle it and come in on the lighted side, ' John Massant told Leebo. ' The moon doesn't rotate and everything is situated on the planet side. '

John moved over to Dash, who was still asleep in the cubical across the compartment area of the cockpit. He reached out and shook Dash, ' Hey Dash, wake up we're here. We're at Kessel, wake up. '

' Yeah, yeah, I hear you, ' Dash announced as he began rubbing his head, ' Man, what a trip. I feel like I've been sleeping for a week. Where did you say we are? '

' Kessel's straight ahead captain, ' Leebo called out.

Dash got up and moved across the room and stood behind Leebo. ' Kessel! Which one's Kessel? '

' That one in the distance, sir. ' Leebo told him.

' Than what's this one here? ' Dash asked.

' It's the garrison moon of Kessel! ' John said, ' Hey! Are you awake yet. You've been here before, don't you recognized the place? '

Dash rubbed his eyes, lend toward the window and opened his eyelids wider and took a longer look at the view and said, ' Oh yeah, I see it now. Boy, I think I could use another eight hours sleep. We got any coffee. I need a couple cups of coffee or something. I'm really out of it. '

' There's some coffee over there, I just made it, ' John pointed.

Dash moved over to a table where the coffee was and poured himself a cup. John followed him over and sat across from him.

' You want a cup? ' Dash asked.

' Yeah, I'll have another, ' John answered pushing a used cup Dash's way.

' Hey John, where's your ship at anyway, ' Dash asked.

' All of us, except Jose of course, parked our vessels at the spaceport here on the garrison moon. We took his vessel to Vergesso. He just got it recently and wanted to show it off, which was alright with me. I needed the vacation. ' John explained.

' When we land, Soria will have to take right off for Kessel so he can make contact with his friend. The rest of us can relax tonight and get ready for tomorrow. That's when the fur will fly. '

' Is tomorrow the sixteenth already! ' Dash asked.

' Yeah, you slept through one whole day, ' John told him, ' That's probably why you feel like shit. You were really out of it. You didn't know? '

' Hell no! The only thing that I know is that I'm hungrier than hell, ' Dash said, ' We got anything to eat around here, I'm starving! '

John opened a package and threw him a sandwich. ' They're a few hours old, but I guess you won't mind if your as hungry as you say you are. '

' I'll eat just about anything right now, ' Dash smiled and said, ' I just hope I don't eat my fingers as well. '

Dash grabbed the sandwich and wolfed it down in a matter of seconds, ' Any more! ' He asked.

John tossed him a couple more and Dash smiled and started in on them.'

' Hey John, did you ever get a hold of Han Solo and get him in on this deal. I'm sure he's got some paybacks he'd like to give Jabba the Hutt. Plus, he's a good one to have on your side in a fight.'

' I left a message with Chewbacca, but Chewy said that Han's had some kind of important business on Tatooine and he wouldn't be able to contact him for several more days. So it looks like Solo's out of this one. But you're right though, Han's would be great to have with us and he would have been one of the first into battle, but we can't wait. Time is too important and there's no way we could put this off any longer.'

While Dash fed himself, Leebo maneuvered the vessel around to the lighted side of the moon and as civilization came into view asked, ' Where do we land? '

John and Dash moved over behind him and John pointed and said, ' There! You see it. The landing dock a little to the left.. Not the one to the far left, that's for the Correctional Facility. We want to stay away from that as much as possible. The port and main part of town is that larger lighted area in the middle. The one to the far right is the Imperial quarters and main base. We probably should stay away from there as well. '

' A nice place you got us all coming to John, ' Dash quipped.

' Hey, we're protected on either side by Imperial troops, ' John laughing said. ' As long as we don't cause any trouble, we're as safe as little lambs. Besides, Prince Xizor wouldn't dare come near this place. '

' Well, I guess your right there, but I didn't expect to see any Black Sun people on Vergesso either, ' Dash remarked.

' Yeah, I know. That kind of threw me too.'

Soon the Outrider came hovering over the landing platform and started to settle down on the dock when a flagman waved to Leebo to move the vessel inside the hanger area. Moments later, the Outrider came to a stop inside the hanger to the far right.

As they were landing, another vessel was moving toward the hanger opening and flew out the portal with a loud swish and a huge rumble.

Just as that ship left, Jose's vessel came rumbling to the landing platform as the flagman rushed outside and waved him into the hanger. The attendant had Jose park his vessel in the hanger next to the Outrider, and as Dash, John and the two droids exited the ship, the flagman came walking by exhausted saying, ' I've been busier than a Aiwha on a Shaak hunt. If you know what I mean. These last two days have been the busiest all year. There must be some kind of convention or something going on, cause I've never seen so many freighters land here before in my life.'

' I guess there's a big birthday party going on tomorrow, ' Dash lied, ' That's why we're here. A friend of ours is going to be turning thirty tomorrow and all of his buddies are here for festivities. '

' I knew it had to be something like that, ' The flagman said.

' Yeah, we're all of his contractor buddies, ' John agreed, ' We all haul shipments out of Kessel and this is the closest place to have a party where everyone could make it. '

' That makes sense, ' the man said. ' I hope you all have a good time. Your ships will be safe here. I'll keep a close eye on all of them. This is a pretty safe portal. We never have any trouble here. '

' Well, thanks, ' Dash told him, ' We appreciate all that you can do to watch our vessels. That makes me feel a whole lot better. '

' Come on Dash, Let's find a cantina and have a drink, ' John said.

' Lead the way, Captain. ' Dash replied.

Jose and Yunel came walking towards them as Soria started to head for his vessel down the hanger.

' Hey Soria! Good luck, ' John called out to him.

Dash waved and added, ' Yeah, Good luck. '

' Is he alright? ' John asked Jose as he approached.

' Yeah, He's just a little disappointed he can't join us for all the fun tonight. That's all.' Jose told them. ' You guys headed to the cantina?'

' What do you think?' Dash replied, ' Of course we are.' than he turned to the two droids and said, ' Leebo, maybe you and peetwo had better stay with the ship. We're just going to be drinking and besides I don't know if I really trust that flagman. He seemed to accommodating if you know what I mean. '

' Whatever you say, sir, ' Leebo said and he stopped and turned to peetwo and said, ' I'll challenge you in a game of dejarik, peetwo. I'll give you a chance to even our score. I'm three wins up on you.'

Peetwo began beeping in several high tones followed by numerous low bass tones.

' It is too three, ' Leebo demanded, ' That last one doesn't count. Remember, you knocked over the board.'

Peetwo beeped some more and Leebo still insisted,' It doesn't matter how many pieces you had left, I had you cornered. No! It wasn't me who knocked over the board, it was you. Are your circuits getting rusty again, I can't believe you can't remember.'

Peetwo beeped some more, this time louder and longer.

' Oh, okay maybe It was me, but I still was winning at the time. So that makes me up by three games.'

' Hey Soria! ' Jose called out, ' Wait a minute fellas. If Leebo is going to be with the ship, I'll tell Soria to call them if he can't get a hold of us tonight. Leebo, you can listen for a message can't you? Great!'

Jose ran over to Soria and told him to call the Outrider if he found out anything tonight. Moments later, Jose returned and said, ' Alright, It's all set. He'll call Leebo if he finds out anything tonight. Just in case. He'll call me tomorrow as early as he can if nothing materializes tonight.'

' That should cover us, ' John said. ' Did you talk to everyone about which ship might be the target.'

' Yeah, we narrowed it down to four vessels. They all have large capacities and two of them are Jabba The Hutt's own transports. I'm putting my bet on one of those two. Anyway, Soria will find out more when he gets there.'

' Well, I guess there's nothing to do but wait now,' Dash finalized.

' Come on, I'll buy the first round,' John said as they all headed for the nearest cantina.

The cantina, The Broken Arrow, was the usual out-of-way dive that you might find on any of the outer rim moons. Drab in color with a shabby split sign swinging out over the entrance. A couple of derelicts hanging around outside the door asking for handouts and the loud noise of partygoers inside.

Dash, John, Jose and Yunel entered into the smoke filled dimly lite room and spotted several other freighter captains seated at a table across the large crowded noisy floor. As they neared the table, one of the men stood up and reached out to them, ' Welcome, welcome men to our friendly abode. Here, rest your weary bodies and partake of this wonderful brew. Waiter! Four more drinks and make haste.'

' Well, I see you've all have been here awhile,' John remarked referring to their condition.

' Oh yes, some of us have been here longer than others,' The man answered, ' And me sir, I've been here not as long but I've made up for that lack of time with my diligent duty to the devils brew. Isn't that right men,' He said as he raised glass to toast the men seated around the table.

They all responded in cheers and jeers as they drunkenly toasted each other in a loud and rowdy burst of excitement.

John turned toward Dash and assured him that these men would be alright by morning and that they were really a good bunch of freighters pilots. ' Don't worry Dash,' John told him, ' I've seen these guys under fire before and under a lot worst conditions than they are now. They'll be alright, I assure you.'

' I sure hope so!' Jose answered.

' They're just blowing off steam, that's all, ' John continued, ' They'll be ready at the first cannon fire. I guarantee it.'

' You're probably right John, ' Dash relented, ' A good night sleep and these guys will be as good as gold. Don't you worry either, I've been there before. It won't be the first time I've been in this kind of situation. I've done this myself so I know what your saying. Let's join them and relax tonight. Tomorrow will take care of itself.'

So the four joined the others at the table and begin drinking and mixing in with their company. As Dash sat down, he took a look around the room and saw numerous other freighter pilots in several other groups of mixed origins. It was a huge mixture of several planetary species with only a few that were humanoid in appearance. Mostly freighter pilots and crew members, but also a few locals thrown in as well.

The drinking and carousing continued for several hours with some talk as to the plan of attack, but the condition of the members made it hard to talk business. The four weary Captains decided to call it a night and made it an early night making their goodbyes and heading out the door and back to their vessels.

' We better get some sleep, ' Dash told the other three, ' It's going to be a long night.'

' Yeah, see you in the morning, ' Jose told them as he headed toward his ship in the hanger.

' Yeah, good night, ' John said, ' See you bright and early.'

' Well, not too early, ' Dash responded.

The next morning, after a long night of drinking and planning, Dash awakens on board the Outrider amidst the clanging of cabinet doors and the rustling of bags and equipment. Dash raises his head and peers over his shoulder at the commotion.

' What in the hell you making all that racket for?' Dash asked Leebo.

' Getting ready for the battle, sir' Leebo answered.

' Battle! What battle?'

' We just got the word from Soria, sir.' Leebo said, ' It's on for today. Captain Massant told me to ready the ship. He also said to wake you. We've only got a couple hours to get underway, sir.'

' What a way to run an attack,' Dash yelled as he scrambled out of his cubical and put on his gray freighter togs and fastened a holstered blaster slung low on his hip.

When he finished, Dash patted the side of his blaster and announced, ' Okay, let's go get 'em guys.'

Dash moved over to the cockpit and moments later the rumble of the Outrider's engines resounded in the hanger. Dash looked out and saw several other freighters rumbling and vibrating from the power of their mighty engines. He could even see some of the freighter captains through their cockpit windows and he gave them a thumbs up. They responded in kind. Moments later, one vessel lifted and moved into position to exit the hanger followed by another and another.

In position each ship soon moved out the opening of the space portal with the Outrider in the fifth position and the vessels blasted out away from the moon gathering into three sets of five ' Flying wings'.

It was the attack pattern that was decided upon during the meetings the night before. Jose Roemosa led the leading wing at point, Dash led the second and John Massant was the point on the third wing. The positions were all engineered by Massant, who set up the battle plans and took charge of the meeting. It was all laid out ahead of time and the attack formation was all agreed upon at the meeting.

' What vessel is the target?' Dash asked Leebo, ' Did they tell you?'

' Yes sir,' Leebo responded, ' The ship is being captained by a man named Colby Rosmott. He is manning a freighter owned by Jabba The Hutt that is insured by three different companies. Soria said that he couldn't get the information to us any sooner and that he'll be joining us as soon as possible. He'll be joining in with Massant's wing when he gets here if he can.'

' Well, it looks like everything is coming together just like John said it would,' Dash replied.

' As soon as Captain Rosmott signals that he is under attack,' Leebo continued,' Than we're suppose to moved in behind them and attack. We've got the battle cruiser to the right and Roemosa's wing has the one to the left. John is taking on the Star cruiser in the rear. That's the assignments, but I imagine that you already know that sir.'

' Yeah, that was decided last night,' Dash said, ' If any of us finish off our assignment, than we're suppose to join in on the Star cruiser. That should be the toughest target. Massant's wing is just suppose to keep the Star cruiser busy until one of us can join him. Anyway, that's the plan. The thing I don't like about it is we're easy targets for the Star cruiser's big guns if Massant's wing is unable to keep them busy enough.

Soon the message arrived that Captain Rosmott's vessel was under attack, and the attack armada moved out around the moon headed in an intercept course to come around behind Prince Xizor's fleet. Several minutes later, the fleet came into view and Dash could see that the freighter was under attack from the two Y-wing destroyers at the front of Prince Xizor's fleet.

' I sure hope those guys get here soon,' Colby Rosmott remarked to his second in command, John Cueto, ' We can't hold out too long. I'll have to dump the cargo and make a run for it. I'm not going to play the martyr for these guys. Not on your life will I. No sir.'

Just then two gigantic explosions rocked his vessel.

' John! Check the damage!'

'Sir, I think I can see the task force on my screen now, and according to my computer, the damage is only minor.' John Cueto replied,' But, the ship won't take too much more of this Captain.'

' Don't worry, once the attack begins, We're going to get the hell out of here.'

' Don't you think we should join the attack, sir?' asked John.

' That wasn't my agreement with Soria,' Captain Rosmott explained, ' He said he only wanted us to play the lame duck and once the attack begin we could hyper-space out of danger. After all, we're in the firing range of those two Y-wings, and we're setting ducks for their laser blasters.'

John Massant sent a message that the attack should begin. The first wing led by Jose Roemosa moved out to the left and began their attack. Dash's wing swung out to the right and closed in on the right just as planned while John Massant's wing held back and then moved around behind the big Star Cruiser, Prince Xizor's capital warship the Vendetta, in the rear. Moments later, Massant ordered his wing to attack.

' Alright! That's it.' Colby said, ' Let's get the hell out of here.'

Just then Captain Rosmott put his vessel in hyper-space and moments later his ship vanished in a flash of bright light and huge vacuum swish into deep space.

Massant held back momentarily as his accompanying vessels swarmed around the cruiser. Just than numerous A-wing and Cloakshape fighters came out from underneath the Star Cruiser and began attacking the on coming freighters. Several others fighters headed toward Jose and Dash's formations as the darkness of space filled with an array of activity and laser blast as the dog fight began.

' Oh my god!' Dash exclaimed, ' They knew we were coming! Fly in close and lay some hits on that Y-wing you guys, and keep an eye on your tail. Get your hits and circle around for more. Don't fly in a straight line for more than a few seconds, and everyone communicate.'

' Just as planned, Captain Rosmott's ship has went into hyper-space sir,' Leebo told Dash.

' Well, he could of hung around a little bit longer, don't you think, Leebo?' Dash asked his droid friend.

' Well Captain, that was the plan,' Leebo reminded him.

Dash just grinned and gave Leebo an agreeing expression and said, ' I guess so.'

Just as ordered, the freighters in Jose and Dash's attack wings charged the Y-wings and fired their laser blasters at the two Prince Xizor vessels. Several hits struck the two ships, but were fended off by the Y-wings' strong blast shields. Only a few blasts from the Outrider seemed to do any damage at all'

Dash headed the Outrider directly at the Y-wing and started firing several shots. As he continued toward the target, several of his accompanying freighters were already turning around and heading back away from the heavily armed vessel.

' That's alright!' Dash told Leebo as he bared down on his target. ' We're not afraid, are we Leebo?'

' The closer we get, the more the damage,' Dash explained.

Dash took the Outrider in close to the Y-wing, scraping the vessel with numerous laser blasts from it's tail to it's nose. Several explosions appeared along the firing line as the vessel shook with each burst.

As several ships wheeled around toward the A-wings after hurriedly firing shots at the Y-wing, the attack armada found themselves scattered throughout the battle, everyone fending for themselves. The battle became a scattered mess of individual combatants of untrained freighter pilots as dangerous to themselves as they were to Prince Xizor's forces. Laser blast going every which way with very little damage.

Dash wheeled around and met several A-wings headed toward him. He quickly fired upon them hitting three, blasting them apart in an array of colorful explosions as numerous others raced by him landing several hits to his outer shields. He then circled around and made another run at the Y-wing with several of his blasts striking the vessel with little or no damage as the ship's shields held fast.

The other ships in Dash's attack force found similar fates as several more A-wings exploded in the night sky but their own laser blast ricocheted off the Y-wing with no success. Around and around the freighters flew in huge circles and figure eights evading the more maneuverable A-wing fighters.

' Massant has got to keep the Star Cruiser busier or this is going to end badly,' Dash remarked to Leebo. ' We can't attack the Y-wings with all of those fighters on our asses.'

' Stay in close to that Y-wing fellas, so the Star Fighter can't fire on us. It's our only chance,' Dash called out to his comrades. ' If we stay close enough, It won't dare fire at us because it might hit the Y-wing. That's our only protection from their big guns. You hear me!'

' We hear you Dash!' someone answered. ' Right Captain!' came another voice.

Several more attempts at the Y-wings were made as the night sky was a huge circle of crisscross flight paths and streaks of vessels and their colorful lights and laser blasts. The crowded space saw several near misses of vessels nearly colliding with each other as the ships maneuvered every which way in order to evade each others laser blast.

The four freighters in John Massant's wing were busy with the Star Cruiser and the numerous A-wing and the Cloakshape fighters that were released toward them. They found that the massive number of fighters fending them off was just too much for them to do any damage to the Vendetta as they had their hands full with the fighters. One of the freighters did manage to penetrate the on coming attack and fired his laser at the cruiser, but was soon ran off as several fighters turned in pursuit.

' Damn, John we almost got to the Cruiser.' The Captain announced, ' I just needed some protection from them darn A-wings and I couldn't of did some real damage.'

' Get out of there, Captain!' John Massant called,' You've got several A-wings on your tail. Get the hell out of there!'

Just then several more Prince Xizor ships closed in behind Massant's wing and immediately three of the four accompanying freighters were struck by lazer blast and exploded in the dark sky in a ferocious explosion that light up the vast space.

Way back out of harm's way watching the battle was Prince Xizor on board his Star Viper, the Virago. Standing next to the prince was his second in command, Guri.

' See my dear, what happens to ill-fated and poorly trained rebels. I'll teach them a lesson that they won't soon forget. They'll know the power of the Black Sun and the penalty for crossing Prince Xizor.'

Guri shook her head in agreement as Xizor put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tight against him.

' You were right Prince!' Guri told him, ' These humans are a frail species. They'll turn on each other as easily as shooting Space Slugs. It was easy to turn our informant. These humans have no honor. '

' Yes my dear, that's what I was relying on.' Prince Xizor told her, ' They are a feeble species. One that should be extinguished from space.'

' What I don't understand is how you came by the information that they were planning something in the first place? ' Guri asked.'

' That is my little secret, ' Prince Xizor replied with a smile, ' But one thing I will say is that credits buy a lot of information and there are a lot of eyes and ears out there willing to sell that information. '

Guri knotted in a knowing agreement.

' It took the Black Sun organization a long time to get as powerful as it is today, ' Prince Xizor revealed, ' And since I've taken over, it has run like a well oiled engine. There is nothing that goes on in this little quadrant of the galaxy that I don't know about. That's what keeps me in power. '

' I am fortunate that you have choose me to be your apprentice, sir.' Guri told him.

' Yes, and some day you will take my place as the leader of the Black Sun and you will rule the entire galaxy. Not just this small part of it, but even the entire Galactic Empire itself. You will kill Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. You alone will rule. I will see to it.'

The one freighter captain who did penetrate the defenders exclaimed, ' Where did they come from? It's an ambush! We've been betrayed!'

' Admiral, concentrate all of your fire power on that last freighter near the Star Cruiser,' Prince Xizor told the commander of his ambush force.

' Yes sir,' The Admiral replied and as he turned to his gunner ordered, ' Commence fire! '

The battle Cruiser blasted away at the freighter until a direct hit resulted in an explosion that tore apart the freighter in an array of tremendous counter explosions that light up the space and shook the nearby vessels.

A large smile appeared on the face of Prince Xizor as he spoke, ' Excellent! ' and he tightened his fist and shook it at the viewing screen.

' Now let's finish this, ' Prince Xizor ordered.

The battle continued for several more minutes with blast striking the Y-wings and shots causing small explosions on several of the freighters from the pesky A-wings.

At that same moment, the Vendetta fired upon several vessels in Jose's wing and blasted apart three freighters in another spectacular array of explosions that shook the Y-wing for which they were attacking.

One of the freighters was captained by Yunel Laird, Jose's second in command in his strike force. The huge explosion of the three vessels caused the area to be littered with debris and smoke that clouded the dark sky around them as now most of Jose's attack force was lost.

' Oh my god! ' Jose screamed, ' Yunel! Oh my god! '

The Star Cruiser fired several more shots in direction of Jose's remaining attack force barely missing the vessels that were left. Jose veered his ship just in time to avoid a direct impact with the Cruiser's volley, but the closeness of the blast shook his freighter mercilessly in a violent shimmer.

' My god! The Star Cruiser is firing on us,' Dash screamed,' This is madness!'

' It's a trap!' Screamed Jose over the intercom, ' We've been betrayed! Everyone, get out!'

Just then a huge laser blast from the Star Cruiser struck Jose's freighter and his vessel exploded in a tremendous explosion that seem to shake the entire area around it as parts of his ship hurtled in every direction in a fierce and savage streak of light and thunderous rumble.

' It's loss!' Dash said to himself,' Break off the attack and let's get out of here. Everyone's on his own. Good luck to all of you!' Dash announced over the communicator. He then turned his vessel and told Leebo, ' Let's get the hell out of here, Leebo!'

Seconds later, the Outrider cleared from the attack and went into hyper drive and blasted away from the battle zone. A moment later, the other remaining freighters followed suit blasting off in several different directions headed for deep space.

Meanwhile, Soria's vessel, which had came from the planet, came to within view of the battle and he saw the destruction that Prince Xizor's attack force had caused.

' Oh my God! How could this have happened?' Soria asked his co-pilot. ' It looks like an ambush. How could Prince Xizor have known that we was going to attack. There must have been a traitor in our mist. That's the only answer. There had to be a traitor, but who!'

There was no answer from his co-pilot, as the man dropped his head in anguish.

' Well, there's nothing we can do around here. We better get out of here before we're seen,' Soria said, ' We'll head back toward the moon base. Maybe someone will meet us there.'

Meanwhile, on board the Battle Cruiser the Admiral asked, ' Should we pursue them sir?'

' No, let them go, ' Prince Xizor said and then he lend toward the screen and asked, ' Where's Jabba's freighter. Where's the shipment, Captain? '

' Sir, that freighter slipped away during the battle,' The Admiral answered.

' You mean my shipment of spice got away. This is outrageous! Tell the Vendetta Captain that I want to see him in person as soon as we return back to base. Tell him that I'm not pleased, not at all pleased. He will have to answered for his failure to capture the shipment. Not only to me, but also to the Hutt.'

' Yes sir!'

' Admiral, return to base,' Prince Xizor ordered as he and Guri turned and headed out of the command center through a sliding panel.

The order was given to return to the Prince's secret base and the hijackers turned their vessels and headed back toward one of the smaller moons off Kessel. The Admiral turned and starred out into space knowing that the Captain of the Vendetta was in serious trouble with Prince Xizor and wondering himself how the freighter could of slipped away when at one moment it was there before them. Then he breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the prince could of took his anger out on him instead.