Chapter 8:
The nav-computer signaled as we approached, and I brought the ship out of hyperspace. The swirling tunnel faded away and the stars reverted back to normal. We expected, and hoped for a congratulatory greeting over the radio, or at worst a scolding for failing to complete our objective.
A Star Destroyer sat in open space waiting for us where Desco's station had once been. It was decimated to scraps of debris and left float in space, making a lazy orbit around the colossal Imperial ship. We had no time to react before the Star Destroyer set upon us with its laser batteries, pounding our shields like a child pounding on a bug with a rock. The shield collapse alarm sounded in just seconds, and the cockpit flooded with a red warning light. A circuit ruptured and sparks flew from a control panel to my left filling the cockpit with a brief shower of fire, but the automatic fire extinguishers eliminated it. I could hear the others in the back being flung to the floor as the Starscream rocked from the impacts of laser strikes. They hardly had time to brace themselves and were at the mercy of the Star Destroyer's assault. Another circuit ruptured, this time in the lounge showering the soldiers with sparks. They hollered in frustration and fear. Pieces of the inner hull broke loose and were thrown about the ship like shrapnel.
"Get us out of here!" yelled Burmar as he tried to redirect power to the shields before they completely failed. I put the thrusters to full power and did a corkscrew-arching turn in the opposite direction of the Star Destroyer. I brought the nav-computer online with my freehand, and in a flustered hurry, I requested the calculations for Tatooine that were preloaded into the computer in the assumption that it was our next destination. The ship heaved and rocked like a boat on a turbulent, and unforgiving ocean that threatened to overtake us. I gripped the controls tighter trying to summon up whatever ability I possessed, almost tearing the controls from their moorings. My muscles tenses, my mind heaved with the ship. Burmar kept hollering directions at me, sparks flew, and the entire view of the outside from the cockpit was filled with the red blasts of turbo laser cannon fire.
"It's not an interdictor, just go somewhere! Anywhere!"
I could hear the soldiers in the back becoming more and more frightened while being slammed around as we were hit again and again. Two of them headed to the gun pods and started firing back at the Star Destroyer in an attempt to buy us seconds. An alarm sounded for imminent breach in the cargo bay. The thrusters began to stress and overheat. Then the nav-computer brought up the calculations for the hyperdrive in those eternal few seconds of bombardment. Just as I was about the activate the hyperdrive a laser blast found its way through the collapsed shields, passing through the damaged hull, and making its way into the cockpit. A bolt of the chemical laser exploded and ripped into Burmar's body, throwing him out of his seat and onto the floor behind me. That's the moment when I felt as if I left my own body, like I was looking in from the outside. I fell into myself, and the force took me over. I maneuvered the Starscream out of the way of the Star Destroyer's laser batteries and underneath it, skimming just meters from the Imperial ship's surface. Nothing else hit us. I saw myself bring the hyperdrive online and we entered the hyperspace tunnel leaving the Star Destroyer without its kill.
I came back to myself and realized what had happened. Ignoring everything else, I went to Burmar's limp body. He was burnt and smoldering from the laser blast that penetrated the hull of the cockpit on the co-pilot's side. The chair was partially charred, melted and still smoking. There was a dark, charred line from the top of Burmar's head that spread down to his torso and ended at his hip. His blackened skin gave off a strange blue smoke and an electrical odor. His one eye was closed, and the other was fused shut and the hair on his head was completely gone.
He was dead.
My ears began to ring as if someone had screamed into them and my head ached. The cockpit had the acrid odor of electricity, burnt flesh, and melted wiring. I picked Burmar up. My eyes were blurred with tears. Yaminul, bloodied and bruised from the jarring of the ship, ran into the cockpit and nearly ran into me as I held Burmar's body. He stared at me openmouthed, unable to say anything.
I don't know how many hours passed before we arrived at Tatooine. We were not pursued, and if not for Burmar's death I would have had the presence of mind to be worried, but all of us felt beaten and stranded and hopeless, and had just begun to realize what had happened.
**********
We landed at one of the many landing bays within Mos Eisley, and sent a long-range communication through a proxy to Mon Calamari, hoping they would receive it. We informed them that our base had been destroyed in a surprise attack, and that as far as we knew everyone on board was dead. In the message we gave a brief explanation about what had happened on Corellia, not using any specific names or locations, what happened when we tried to return to report to Desco, and that Burmar was killed in the escape. When we received a reply – also through a proxy - we were advised to remain low, and to keep out of Imperial sight. We were also advised to find Imperial officer Grahm'tuli Jermar, and confirm whether or not he existed, or if it was also a trap. The deathblow to our confidence that remained from our first victory at the laboratory was dealt when Mon Calamari informed us that no survivors had yet to arrive as scheduled.
The small outpost on Corellia was a trap, and I realized how foolish we were to believe that destroying the Empire's plans would have been so easy. One had to be blind to not be able to figure what had happened when we left for Corellia. Our abduction of the first Imperial officer, who the Empire more than likely killed when it destroyed Desco's station, spurred operatives within the Empire to plant that memo on the Imperial laboratory's databanks incase we made it that far. We were tricked into leaving Desco's space station on false assumptions to hunt for the rest of the Imperial commanders while the Empire ambushed Desco, killing all of those people, Alliance and survivors, and sending the remains of my parents to be scattered into the vacuum of space.
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We left the Imperial-heavy presence of Mos Eisley behind, and instead found Anchorhead to be free of Imperial's and remote enough to be relatively ignored. It was more of a waypoint for desert nomads, and for people not wanting attention drawn to themselves. We landed the Starscream in the small landing bay of the town of Anchorhead, which was their biggest landing bay. We stayed in the ship for a few days to grieve over the loss of our headquarters and everyone on it, and the loss of Burmar, before going out into the city. Luckily, no one in the town seemed to care about our occupying the landing bay. There was no significant air traffic to cause issue anyways.
Those first few days of near silence were difficult while coming to terms with what had happened. It was not just the loss of Alliance soldiers, soldiers who were prepared to die for their cause, but more so for the survivors of the Imperial prison. It hammered down on us to be reminded of the precarious situation the Alliance faced, that we faced, personified. I figured it was safe to assume then that the Empire knew of our exploits at the laboratory, and more than likely, that they knew about Corellia as well. After a few days of allowing the others, and myself to grieve, I finally took command as everyone was waiting for me to do.
"We need to contact any Alliance operatives on this planet, and I think we need to hide the ship. We just can't sit around like this, we have laboratories to find and friends to avenge."
The loyal Alliance soldier, and one who would come to be my second in command, and a very dear friend, Yaminul, snapped out of his hard stare at the blank floor, and shook his head as if to remove the thoughts from his mind.
"Yes, um. Well. We have operative in Mos Eisley, one that I know of. Bur-mar," Yaminul stuttered the Senator's name, "knew him better than I, but I will go to Mos Eisley and find him. I will need to use the land speeder."
"Take someone with you." I said. "Keep radio silence unless in an emergency." Yaminul nodded to me, and selected another to go with him. The other two looked to me for orders.
"We need to see if Yaminul gets anywhere before we make any firm or rash decisions, but we can scout this place out." I turned to the computer in the lounge and brought up a map of Tatooine, and zoomed in on a map of Anchorhead.
"Here is where we are." I pointed at the screen. "This surrounding area to the east is badlands. Mountains, canyons, and caves. If nothing else, we can set up a temporary base there. Remember, there are many more Alliance out there, we aren't alone." I added to try to boost everyone's spirits. I then turned the computer off. "Meanwhile, while they go to Mos Eisley, the rest of us will scout the town to get a pulse. From what I have learned so far, this place seems to be a bit friendlier to Alliance, or at the least neutral. I'll take care of Burmar's body come nightfall. Alright, lets get going."
They all stood up at my command. Yaminul and the other soldier, Rikot, went to the back of the ship, got in the speeder, and went down the platform and out of the landing bay and sped off into the distance. Me and the other two, Hase and Scious went out into the city of Anchorhead leaving L7 behind to secure the Starscream.
It was quiet. Few people were out. A person in a sandblasted speeder drove by leisurely, and paid us no attention. We walked around the small city watching the people and keeping our hoods down, half-watching our surroundings, half-watching the ground. There was casual interaction between some of the people that walked the streets, but no one paid any attention to us. I supposed we were less seedy than what those people were used to. There was also an abundance of diversity in the races, and most importantly, no Imperial patrols, no ships overhead, nothing. It was like an island of freedom amidst the sea of the Empire. We arrived back at the ship after a walk through the city, and no one so much as looked at us with curiosity. We got back into the Starscream, and waited for Yaminul to return.
In mimicry of how the Senator treated Ulchewbuk's remains, and in homage, I positioned Burmar's body as if he had merely been sleeping. I took a blanket from the supply closet and folded it around him as he did to Ulchewbuk. The solar system shaped Corellian Engineering Corporation symbol on the blanket covered Burmar's burnt face.
At nightfall, I snuck Burmar's body out and buried him in the sands on the outskirts of the city in an unmarked grave. I wish I could have given him more, but it was more than many fallen Alliance had received, or will receive. I reasoned that it would suffice to know where his final resting place was.
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I busied myself studying the flora and fauna of Tatooine trying to take my mind off of things, settle myself a little, and did my best to ignore the charred and empty co-pilot's chair. R2-L7 groaned drearily whilst making some repairs about the ship, as if it was depressed as well, and the two soldiers who stayed behind where lying down, resting their heads, or occasionally checking scanners, or getting something to eat. I was enamored in the lore and history of Krayt Dragons through the rest of the night, and ultimately fell asleep in front of a picture of a Krayt Dragon on the screen. It was not until that following morning when Yaminul and Rikot returned.
**********
"We're back. Drop the platform," Yaminul whispered over the radio. I opened the platform and they drove in, parking the landspeeder in the cargo bay. Pounds of sands flowed off of the speeder and onto the floor as well as off of the two Alliance soldiers.
"We found the operative," said Yaminul as he hopped out of the speeder and tried to shake the sand from himself. "We informed him of situation and ask for any help he could provide. He suggested we stay here and out of trouble. He said that tavern owner is friendly to Alliance and to speak with him, he may be willing to provide some shelter."
"Alright. Yaminul, go and speak with the tavern owner, whose name is?"
"Jaffron," offered Rikot as he stepped out of the speeder and shook sand from his body.
"We'll remain here. We're not taking any more chances. First hint of a problem and we're out of here."
"Where though?" asked Yaminul, as he was about to leave.
"Out of harm's way, anywhere. I won't lose someone else to a trap," I said. Yaminul nodded, and then saluted me on his way out.
Yaminul later came back with news that Jaffron, the owner of the Anchorhead tavern, was willing to help us, and that he had a large basement for storage that we could use as long as we needed.
**********
The tavern owner turned out to be very supportive, and vocal advocate of the Alliance's cause, and as most people, he hated what the Empire was doing, most definitively since the destruction of Alderaan. Jaffron also had a small but effective smuggling operation that later assisted us in getting equipment and supplies into Anchorhead. Jaffron would often go on anti-Imperial rants during our many conversations. I later found out that he had a son who joined the Imperial Academy and was killed in an accident. His son, Jakeben, was on routine patrol when his TIE fighter had a critical failure and re-entered the atmosphere over Coruscant. Jaffron resented his son's desire to join the Academy and came to hate the Empire after his loss, blaming the Empire for the accident.
Over the span of a several weeks we set up a makeshift base in Jaffron's basement that was once filled with empty crates, broken droids and stock for his bar. The basement spanned beyond the footprint of the main building itself, with several rooms adjacent to the main room, but we even expanded upon that. With a radio connection established, and some bedding facilities we had ourselves a base of operations. The operative in Mos Eisley met with us shortly afterwards and gave us all the information he had on Imperial movement on Tatooine, but he had no information on our target Grahm'tuli Jermar or any information regarding the prison. We had no way of knowing if the original coordinates of the prison were a decoy or not. Nothing was found at the location. Our mission went cold and we were forced to move onto other things.
After making extensive repairs to the Starscream with L7's help, who actually did most the work as I just watched and learned, and with Jaffron's help, we set up a second base in the badlands away from Anchorhead as a place to regroup incase anything went wrong again, and as a place to store the Starscream in an emergency. I had found an empty cave among the many that marked the mountainous badlands while on one of my solo-scouting missions into the wilderness. With some slick maneuvering, and after some scraped hull, I was able to fit the Starscream inside. Over the next several weeks we had a somewhat stable base of operations within Anchorhead, and a growing second base in the cave hidden in the badlands to the east to shield us from the sandstorms of Tatooine and from the prying eyes of the Empire should we be raided.
Without anything to lead us to the Imperial prison, and really no solid evidence other than a false Imperial memo, we had to expand our scope. With a growing group of Alliance recruits and allies, over time, our operations against the Empire grew and expanded from break-ins of Imperial outposts to more bold attacks on Stormtroopers and Imperial supply lines flowing into Tatooine. A particular raid changed things for me dramatically some time after our arrival on Tatooine.