Here's chapter two. I'm not sure if anyone has started reading this yet, but i hope you like it. Please read and review, and any suggestions are appreciated.
Chapter Two
"Now that we're all here, we're ready for the mission briefing," Ed said as Serek sat down in the back of the Wild Karrde's rec deck, which the MACOs were currently using as a conference room. "Doctor McCoy has already been briefed by command, so she'll host the briefing."
McCoy walked up to the front of the room as Ed sat down. She began speaking.
"Last week, an emergency transmission was received from Outpost 01 on Alto Five, better known as Apache. As you may or may not know, this planet is where the Native American tribe known as the Apache resettled a few years before the Dominion War. The Federation established five outposts on the planet during the war, and they stood up to both Cardassian and Jem'Hadar assault. However, the planet is no longer of major strategic value, and the outposts became understaffed. And now, for some reason, the Empire has chosen to attack the planet, and have already destroyed three outposts. If you'll divert your attention to the holo projector."
McCoy gestured towards the dish shaped projector as the room darkened. A hologram of Commander Johnston appeared on it. He began speaking.
"This is Apache Outpost One. We are under heavy assault, and cannot stand much longer. Captain Styles is dead, and please let the record show that he died heroically, defending this base with his last breath. We do not know why the Empire wants this planet, but now, with the exception of Outpost Five and the desert regions it protects, they have it. We cannot be saved, but Outpost 5 may be savable. There is also a native resistance brewing in the desert, with Commander York's approval and help. But as we ran out of supplies, so are they. We need help! Outpost 5 needs help! Please send…"
A large noise was heard, and Johnston turned towards it. An Imperial Stormtrooper came on the screen and ordered Johnston's surrender.
"I surrender," were his last words before the transmission ended.
The lights came back up, and the MACOs directed their attention back toward McCoy.
"We have been directed to bring supplies to Apache, and we are the only force that the Alliance could divert to the planet," she explained. "As far as we know, the planet has little strategic value to the Empire, but they have blockaded it with a small force nonetheless. That is why we've hired Captain Karrde to run the blockade and get us, as well as some relief supplies, to Outpost Five. We will receive further assignments from Commander John York when and if we arrive. There's also something you should know about the planet itself. It has very rough terrain, and travel by traditional means are impractical, at best. In fact, the primary method of transportation on Apache has become, believe it or not, the horse."
This brought on a look of interest from Ed.
McCoy sat down, and Ed took the front once more.
"Are there any questions?" he asked. There were none. "Good. Now one question from me: who here besides me has ever ridden a horse?"
Gunny and McCoy raised their hands, but the others did not.
"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," Ed observed.
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The Wild Karrde dropped out of warp as it neared the blockade.
"All hands to battlestations!" Karrde ordered. The lights on the bridge dimmed, and the crew complied with his orders. All over the freighter, the crew sat or stood, ready to run the blockade. With any luck, there would be no shots fired at all as the freighter tried to slip through. But if they were noticed, they had to be ready to shoot as they traveled past the blockade and onto Apache.
"We've found a hole in the blockade sir," said Buck Aves, Karrde's Exec.
"It's not the rat trap, is it?" Karrde asked, referring to a small hole in the blockade that Imperial ships nearly always left as a trap for would-be blockade runners.
"Now boss, don't you know me better than that?" Aves replied. "No, I found both of their traps. This is one they don't know's there."
"All right then, engage sensor blind and let's go!" Karrde ordered.
There was no physical change in the ship, but it had nevertheless changed. The sensors of the blockade ships could no longer pick them up. For the next few minutes, they were visible only to the naked eye.
The ship moved forward at one quarter speed. The blind would be active up to half speed, but Karrde preferred to play it safe except when he was in a hurry, which he wasn't. They held their breaths as they passed in between a cruiser and a Victory class Star Destroyer, but they went by unnoticed. Finally they cleared the blockade, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
All except Karrde.
"That was too easy," he observed. And he was proven right when an Imperial TIE fighter on patrol spotted them and fired their lasers. Immediately, the Destroyer and the cruiser swung around, bringing their guns to bear on the still close Wild Karrde.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Karrde ordered. "Shut down the sensor blind and bring our shields up! Gunners, target that eyeball and swat it, then aim for the cruiser!"
The crew didn't acknowledge his orders, they didn't have time. They merely complied, and did as he said without question. A stream of fire from the Wild Karrde struck the single fighter that pursued them and it exploded. The fire then diverted to the cruiser, aiming for its weapons and engines.
Meanwhile, the Destroyer had begun launching its own fighters to dog the freighter.
"Cap, we're receiving a transmission from that destroyer," one of his officers informed him.
"Put him on," Karrde ordered.
"This is the Star Destroyer Eviscerator to the captain of the fly that slipped through my blockade\," came the voice over the channel.
"This is the Wild Karrde, you've got our ear," Karrde replied.
"Surrender immediately and you and your crew may survive," the Imperial stated haughtily.
Karrde laughed.
"Yeah right!" he exclaimed. "I know what Imps do to blockade runners!"
"I will swat you like the fly that you are!"the Imperial replied angrily.
"Yes, but have you ever noticed that flies don't actually get hit all that much?" Karrde replied with a rogue grin. He slashed his finger along his throat, telling his comm. officer to cut the transmission.
"Execute evasive, and get us down to the planet," Karrde ordered.
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The Wild Karrde entered the planet's atmosphere under fire from the Star Destroyer, but not the cruiser, which had been forced to withdraw when their weapons were disabled. As for the TIEs, they had never left the hanger as Jaina used her force abilities to guide a shadow torpedo directly into it. Karrde would not explain where he got a shadow or how he planned on using it without a Jedi, but it had worked and they weren't asking questions. As they passed the point at which the Destroyer could no longer follow, Karrde reactivated the sensor blind and diverted his course while still in the heat of the atmosphere. Without shields, this was a dangerous maneuver, but they pulled it off.
The freighter finally left the atmosphere over one of the planet's most remote areas, with only one small oasis for a thousand kilometers all around. To Ed, it was just like coming home to Tatooine, complete with the scattered moisture farms his trained eye spotted as they descended.
Finally, they spotted the lone Outpost in the distance, accentuated by the small oasis that it protected. They also spotted the battalion of Imperial Stormtroopers assaulting the base and the smoking hulk that was all that remained of the Outpost's shuttle.
"Take us down by those troops and fire on them," Karrde ordered. "We can only get the ones that aren't too close to the walls, so if you want them gone, you MACOs'll have to go get them yourself."
"Roger," Ed replied as he left the bridge. He went to his quarters and grabbed his gear, quickly donning his armor and helmet as he traveled to the ship's ventral cargo bay. Once there, he met the other MACOs, who were also putting on the last of their armor.
"Let's go!" Ed shouted to Shark squad.
"K'oyacyi!" Tom exclaimed in the Mandalorian tongue he had learned from his adopted father and training Sergeant, Fi Skirata. The term had almost become a motto for the Alpha's.
"Hey Jaina," Ed asked his XO and girlfriend, who had recently been a member of the Alphas.
"Yeah?" she replied as she clipped her lightsabre to her belt.
"What's 'K'oyacyi' mean anyway?"
"Well, it actually has a few different meanings," she replied. "But in this case, it basically means 'let's go,' or 'let's ride.'"
"I like it," Ed said as he lifted his helmet. "Buckets on boys and girl, and let's ride!"
With that, the cargo bay door opened in front of them, and, one by one, they dropped the twenty feet to the desert ground below them.
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