Chapter One
Zaloriis Deep Space
Original Universe - Current
The darkness of space was pierced by blazing lights, bolts of ion and turbolaser fire crackling. A small disk shaped freighter, similar to the famous YT-1300's but with a centrally located cockpit, twisted and dodged with surprising agility for its mass, the pursuing TIE's barely able to keep up, let alone pass. Lumbering along well to the rear of the swift smuggling craft and falling further and further behind was the fearsome dagger-hull of an Imperial Star Destroyer, all weapons blazing in a determined and lethal attempt to stop the fleeing craft before it could escape to hyperspace and safety.
It was the darkest of times for the Rebellion, Hoth had fallen just days before, the Alliance leadership was scattered and on the run, and it appeared that the Empire was on the march from victory to victory. It was dark times for the Galaxy, as a resurgent Empire flexed it's might across a thousand worlds, crushing resistance and inspiring terror. Even more so, it was dark times for the small group of independents piloting the somewhat battered light freighter even now seeking to escape the grasp of yet another Imperial Entanglement (TM, patent pending, all rights reserved).
"I need that damn course now, Tri." the youthful Twi'lek pilot snapped, even as she twisted the freighter into a half roll and juked to the side with an élan that would have made the cockiest snubfighter jockey envious. "Shields are at 40% and dropping fast."
"I know, I know, gimme a tick, almost got it..." came the response from the young woman seated beside her as she worked furiously on her console. "Scrish and Nik only now got the comp back online."
"Well, if we don't get that course soon it won't matter at all." came the response as the freighter rocked from an impact on the shields. "22% shields. NIK!" she hollered over her shoulder, without taking her eyes from her instruments and the view through the cockpit transparencies.
Up in the dorsal turret of the YT, a massive human gripped the controls of the quad laser cannon and swung the weapon about sending darts of energy at the pursuing TIE's. Already a trail of debris marked the path of the chase as he'd managed to flame an even dozen of the swift little eyeball-shaped fighters, but there were dozens more charging up the rear of the freighter spitting blasts of their own in retaliation.
Meanwhile, a young man who'd barely started shaving was wedged into an access panel with only his feet showing while he worked, so intent on his repairs that he was not even hearing his name being hollered. It was immaterial for the moment, however, as he was already working on fixing a damaged power conduit to the aft shield generator even before the pilot had shouted for him. His toolkit lay just in reach as he frantically made repairs to the sparking wires and damaged conduits.
Down in the ventral turret, an imposing Trandoshan hunched over the controls for the lower quad-cannons, having returned to action after completing repairs to the computer. Scrish was nearly as precise and effective as his human counterpart above, flaming TIE after TIE as they struggled to keep up with the swift freighter. Bolts of energy blazed past, dodged by the expert piloting.
"Fifteen seconds, Alani, almost got it..." Triselka said to the twi'lek pilot as her fingers flew over the board. "And... got it, coordinates input and course laid in... punch it!" she almost shouted in triumph as the navigation solution glowed green on her board.
The twi'lek pilot nodded and immediately slammed the levers activating the hyperdrive forward, accompanied by the welcome whining sound of the drive spooling up.
At that very instant, the pursuing Star Destroyer got in one of those one in a quadrillion shots. A single ion cannon pulse blasted the YT-2000 even as it elongated into the characteristic Cronau flash of hyperspace. A single fraction of a nanosecond earlier and the freighter would have been a powerless hulk drifting in space, easy pickings for the Imperials. A fraction of a nanosecond later and the shot would have been wasted as the freighter would have been long gone into the safety of the hyper lanes. And even then, if there hadn’t been latent force-sensitives in close proximity to the drive core itself nothing would have happened. But all of that did happen, astronomical odds against it or no.
Instead, the shot hit precisely at the very split nanosecond that the hyperdrive peaked, the very nanosecond where the powerful energies that enabled FTL travel were surging and at their most chaotic. And in that nanosecond, the interplay of ions and electronics and the Force produced bizarre effects that would have far-reaching consequences.
Instead of the typical streaking star scape that was normal for traveling through hyperspace the view from the cockpit was insane. The streaks tumbling about themselves in random fractal patterns with no apparent rhyme or reason even as all power was lost with the failure of the main reactor. The powerful surge had managed to knock everybody on board unconscious, even as gravity and lights failed, so none of the crew actually witnessed the chaotic light show.
Moments later, the battered YT-2000 was drifting, tumbling madly, in space once more mere kilometers from where she had entered hyperspace. Only there were no TIE's present, no pursuing Star Destroyer... nothing but the stark star scape of deep space itself.
Several minutes passed, before the crew of the ship slowly regained consciousness, groggy and sore from the wild transit, only to find themselves drifting helplessly. Automatic systems had already brought the reactor back online, but the ship was still tumbling and adrift since the drives themselves were still completely offline.
"Sithspit, what happened?" Alani managed to croak out as she tried to bring up the RCS system to stabilize the freighter with a marked lack of success, simultaneously trying to ignore the crazy tumbling view out the transparencies.
Triselka was shaking her head, trying to clear it, as she focused on her softly glowing board. "No clue, most systems are still offline, red across the board." she reported, tried to make sense of the error codes and find something that was still working.
From behind could be heard a series of thumps, then the cockpit door was opened by the hulking Dosh. "Nik is still passed out, Jaond is taking care of him, and the main reactor is online and stable, have the navcomp rebooting and the droids are also coming back up. But I think the hyperdrive is completely fried." he said softly, as even he looked rather haggard from whatever it was that had happened. "No TIE's around, but we're spinning so bad I got sick looking out. Want drives or sensors up first?"
"Get the sensors up first, RCS is finally starting to respond." Alani responded, as the sickening spin started to abate under her deft hand. "First, we gotta figure out what is going on, then we can figure out where to go from there."
"Got it." was all the Dosh said, turning and heading back through the hatch to start making what repairs he could from inside the small souped up freighter.
Two years before...
Mos Espa, Tattooine
The cantina was typical, dark, smelly, crowded and loud. Music more notable for its volume than any actual rhythm or beat pumped through the air, while patrons crowded about. The crowd was rather rough, moisture farmers in the city for a day, roughnecks and goons for the various criminal outfits, smugglers, scum; all in all just the typical Tattooine crowd.
In one alcove of the cantina sat a fat human, with several Gamorreans and other thugs surrounding him and a rather pretty, in a cute sort of way, young human slave girl at his feet, dressed only in a single winding strip of nearly transparent fabric that concealed absolutely nothing, including the barely fading bruises and contusions of her last beating. The most substantial object on her was the heavy metallic collar about her neck that was fastened to a plain chain leash and gripped by the fat man in a harsh grip as he displayed his 'prize' to the scum of the galaxy.
Into the cantina came a hulking Dosh and a truly massively built human, the Dosh carrying a heavy case in one hand as if it weighed nothing while the human appeared to be acting as simple muscle, a heavy blaster rifle slung over his shoulder and a cold expression on his scarred face that intimidated anybody who dared look his way. Sensing danger, the other patrons of the cantina got out of the pairs way quite quickly as they walked towards the alcove with purposeful steps.
"You Brind?" the Dosh said shortly as he came to a halt standing front of the lounging human gang boss and his flunkies, his expression neutral and business like while the massive human beside him simply glowered and looked intimidating.
"Maybe." came the sarcastic response from the fat man as he tried to exert his own status in the underworld by being difficult. Beside him the thugs glowered balefully at the pair in an attempt to counter-intimidate the massive human while the slave girl just cowered on the filthy floor, not even daring to look up.
"Then maybe gots a delivery fer ya." Scrish replied coldly, sounding rather impatient and annoyed while Jaond simply continued glaring as if he were unaffected by the thugs trying to look threatening. "If ya aint Brind, aint got no delivery and yer wasting my time." he continued in the same chill tone, making it clear through his voice alone that that was a very bad idea.
"Then yeah, ya got the chips?" came the response after a moment, the fat gangster tugging on the chain leash in a transparent attempt to maintain his image as a harsh and cruel man causing the girl to whimper slightly as she was pulled closer to the stinking mass of lard.
"Yeah, if ya got the creds ta pay fer 'em." Scrish answered offhandedly, hoisting the case and slamming it down on the table, causing it to groan alarmingly and highlighting just how heavy the case was and thus, indirectly, showing just how powerful the Dosh himself was.
"Lemme see 'em first." the gangster blustered, leaning forward slightly, a light of greed in his beady eyes.
Suddenly the massive human's eyes narrowed, as they focused on the girl for a moment rather than the thugs, and the blaster swung around in a smooth arc that narrowly avoiding the Dosh. Jaond suddenly opened fire, the first shot catching the fat human right in the stomach before the gangster could do more than widen his eyes or his guards could even think about reacting, then the hulking soldier shifted his aim with cold, calculating precision to fire at the gangster’s guards. The thugs were caught flat-footed by the sudden explosion of violence, as was the Dosh who seemed just as surprised as everybody else as shot after unerringly lethal shot barked out, the human handling the heavy blaster like it were a feather-light toy as he stepped forward, eyes blazing with rage yet under total and complete control.
"Sithspit, JAOND!" the Dosh hollered, hastily yanking his own pistol out of its holster as the thugs started returning fire wildly missing wide as they continued to go down under the furious onslaught. That very fury, and the surprise of it all, acted as nearly perfect armor for the massive human and it was a matter of only seconds before the only three left breathing in the alcove were the slave girl, the Dosh, and the murderous soldier. Slinging his blaster, Jaond snapped the chain connected to the slave's collar with one massive hand before scooping the girl over one shoulder as if she weighed nothing. His other hand dipped into a pouch at his belt and drew out a small sphere with a glowing light at the top.
"Cantina is CLOSED." the human yelled as he stepped out of the alcove, hurling the sphere into the middle of the crowd and causing a total panic as patrons stampeded for the exits. When the Dosh made to follow, the human just grabbed him as well and shook his head, before heading for a side exit. "Got plenty time, set for a full two minutes." he said tersely, then shifted the terrified girl on his shoulder and strode along without missing a step.
"Damnit, Jaond, we'd not even gotten paid yet! What were you thinking?" Scrish followed in the wake of Jaond, muttering now to himself as he massive human forged steadily ahead. "Look, before you start shooting ASK ME FIRST." he continued almost plaintively.
Jaond just grunted and picked up the pace, almost running now towards the isolated landing bay where the Firebird was landed. Behind them a sudden blast of smoke erupted from the cantina as the smoke grenade cunningly disguised in the casing for a thermal detonator went off. Thugs and gangsters milled about, unsure about what was going on in their favored little hellhole.
"Sithspit, Jaond, if you wanted a girl there's plenty..." the Dosh cut off as the Human suddenly stopped and turned, glaring murderously at him. "Fine, fine, do it your way." he said in a placating tone, holding his clawed hands up and shaking his reptilian head. "But warn me next time, will you?"
Jaond only grunted in response and went back to running, carrying Triselka over his shoulder to the Firebird and freedom.
Unidentified Planet
18 months before...
It was dark and quiet, a faint breeze blowing between the steel walls and beams of the small Imperial outpost out in the middle of the wilderness on this backwater world. The watchtowers were fully manned, but this base was so far out in the middle of nowhere that the garrison was more concerned with staying awake than with actually bothering to do much else. Today, that inattention to their duties would prove fatal.
Four figures slipped through the Stygian darkness, moving from shadow to shadow towards the central bunker that led down to the actual base itself. A twi'lek, two humans, and a Dosh made for an unlikely team, but in the quiet of the night they were almost as silent as ghosts. Two patrolling sentries had already paid for their boredom and inattention with their lives, and the clock was ticking fast on the operation.
The smaller of the two humans slipped next to the maglocked service hatch and slipped out a tiny toolkit and popped open the lock assembly itself and hooked up her own slicing gear in order to accomplish her role in this little operation. Meanwhile the others settled down and kept watch for any surprises in the night, blasters held lightly at the ready while keeping to the darkest shadows and behind hard cover to avoid being spotted by the wall guards.
"Got it." whispered Triselka in a suppressed undertone, she was barely recognizable as the young slave girl of just six months before. Once she had accepted that she was free and the tracking capsule removed she had proven to have a natural aptitude with computers and security systems that led to her joining the team, not as just a rescued waif but as a full up valued member of the squad. Her growing knack for security systems had led to this particular little mission and her growing confidence in herself and her teammates made it possible.
The armored hatch slid open smoothly after remarkably little time and after Triselka gathered up her tools the foursome slipped silently inside. After the hatch closed all was silent outside once more. No evidence remained to indicate that anybody had used the service hatch.
Inside the dreary monotony of Imperial gray was broken only by the Aurebesh markings on the walls as the foursome ghosted through the corridors, heading deeper and deeper into the base. This far inside there was almost no security as the Imperials were confident that their perimeter would keep out any intruders. This late at night there was no traffic, no movement, nothing. The base was a ghost town yet still the strike team moved cautiously rather than take any unnecessary risks.
Deeper they went, down level after level using the stairwells rather than the turboshafts. Finally they reached their goal, coming upon the entrance hatch to the reactor that powered the entire complex from its home nestled deep beneath the central bunker.
"You take the left, I've got the right" murmured Jaond to Scrish, getting a silent nod in response before the pair tumbled around the corner, catching the two drowsing sentries at the hatch by surprise and cutting them down before they could raise the alarm with lethally accurate blaster fire.
Without missing a beat Triselka charged forward, Alani, Scrish and Jaond at her heels. Her tools came out and again she worked her slicing magic on the console beside the hatch. It was a matter of moments only before the armored slab of solid durasteel groaned and slid open.
Heading inside, Triselka and Alani split up, heading to two separate consoles and busily punching in codes. First, they overrode the standard alarms, setting them for silent operation, then they cut off the remote monitoring from the main control room and disabled the primary control links, then finally they set the reactor to overload itself, thus destroying the base.
With their mission accomplished, the four withdrew, now even more under a time limit as they only had so long before the reactor blew. Luckily they met no more guards within the base as they headed for the same service hatch they'd used for entry. Once outside, Triselka hotwired one of the utility speeders sitting in the motor pool, the four commandos piling in. With Alani at the controls, all pretense of subtlety went out the window as she floored it, a single shot from Jaond's blaster rifle frying the main gate controls and bringing the durasteel obstacle down, while Scrish and Triselka peppered the alarmed guards with fire of their own even as they screamed out into the night.
Behind them a massive explosion split the night, gouts of flame blasting out of the firing slits and ventilation grills of the bunker as the reactors buried underground overloaded and went critical, annihilating the small base in a blaze of fiery glory.
Unidentified System
Six months before...
"Got it! Scanning for targets." came the call from the pilots seat, as Alani sent the YT-2000 into another corkscrewing spin, the newly installed fixed quad autoblasters spitting blue darts of death at the swirling TIE's while streams of larger blue-white bolts ripped into the formation from the dual turrets, as the Firebird lived up to her name and blazed death to the Imperial pilots who dared try and keep her from her target.
The target was a small lumbering convoy of Imperial Bulk Freighters, and a full squadron of Rebel snubfighters followed in the souped up freighters wake, boring through the futile defenses of the squadron of TIE's that had launched from a concealed escort carrier hidden within the convoy like white hot knives through butter. More X-Wings were making runs on the lone Victory-I class Star Destroyer that was the unfortunate convoys main escort forcing the lumbering giant to concentrate on defending itself rather than its charges.
The YT-2000 settled down to make its attack run, the concussion missile launchers locked onto the lead freighter and then Alani fired, then fired again, while at the same time the turret guns switched from popping the few remaining eyeballs and started playing over a second freighter target. This raid was to destroy the convoy rather than capture it and so maximum force was being used.
Larger explosions split the darkness of space as the massive bulk freighters started to explode under the onslaught. Too deep within the gravity well to simply hyper out, with their escorts too busy defending themselves to assist the freighters were nothing but target practice for the rampaging Rebel forces.
Zaloriis System
Alternate Universe - Current
"Should have passive's up in a moment, Alani" came the call from Nik, who'd finally woken up from the nasty shock he'd gotten while in the access way. "Now... showing green here, how about up there?" he called, pulling his head out of the access panel and wiping his hands on a convenient rag.
"Got it, scanning..." came the response from the cockpit, as Triselka started looking over the data. "Well, looks like the same system, but the TIE's are nowhere in sight... waitasecond... damnit, that ISD is still here, don't think they have us on their scope though, it's pretty far off so they must think we’re dead."
"How long were we out?" Alani wondered out loud as she finally got the tumbling fully smoothed out with the battered RCS's assistance, over half of the thrusters were still refusing to respond.
"According to what I can tell, less than a minute at most but can't be sure." came the baffled response. "DAMNIT, we got spotted, the ISD just changed course and is heading this way, straight at us. NIK, get those engines up NOW" Triselka hollered, even as Alani slumped in her seat, a defeated expression on her face as her lekku drooped behind her.
"No use, Tri, hyperdrive is fried according to the readouts." the Twi'lek said. "We're not going anywhere even if we can get the sublights working. We're completely and totally screwed."
Triselka slumped herself, staring at the readouts with an equally defeated expression on her face but not saying a word. Behind her, Nik, Scrish and Jaond squeezed into the cockpit, the turrets were off line, drives were offline, so morbid curiosity drew them to where they could watch their doom bear down on them.
The battered freighter continued to drift, most of its systems offline from the ion surge, as the terrifying dagger shape of the Imperial Star Destroyer closed once more with pitiless inevitability. As it drew closer it started launching snubfighters from its ventral bays... and the rebels on the Firebird got another surprise.
Alani and Triselka both blinked as the fighters closed with the Firebird. While they were the familiar dark gray and black of Imperial designs, they weren't TIE's… they were almost the furthest thing possible from TIEs... two squadrons of what appeared to be the classic Rebel fighter, the famous X-Wing, but in full Imperial markings swept towards the battered freighter...
"OK... something is definitely really weird here..." Alani said, eyes wide in surprise as she managed to scrape her jaw off the deck, something which none of the rest of the crew had yet managed in their surprise.
Original Universe - Current
The darkness of space was pierced by blazing lights, bolts of ion and turbolaser fire crackling. A small disk shaped freighter, similar to the famous YT-1300's but with a centrally located cockpit, twisted and dodged with surprising agility for its mass, the pursuing TIE's barely able to keep up, let alone pass. Lumbering along well to the rear of the swift smuggling craft and falling further and further behind was the fearsome dagger-hull of an Imperial Star Destroyer, all weapons blazing in a determined and lethal attempt to stop the fleeing craft before it could escape to hyperspace and safety.
It was the darkest of times for the Rebellion, Hoth had fallen just days before, the Alliance leadership was scattered and on the run, and it appeared that the Empire was on the march from victory to victory. It was dark times for the Galaxy, as a resurgent Empire flexed it's might across a thousand worlds, crushing resistance and inspiring terror. Even more so, it was dark times for the small group of independents piloting the somewhat battered light freighter even now seeking to escape the grasp of yet another Imperial Entanglement (TM, patent pending, all rights reserved).
"I need that damn course now, Tri." the youthful Twi'lek pilot snapped, even as she twisted the freighter into a half roll and juked to the side with an élan that would have made the cockiest snubfighter jockey envious. "Shields are at 40% and dropping fast."
"I know, I know, gimme a tick, almost got it..." came the response from the young woman seated beside her as she worked furiously on her console. "Scrish and Nik only now got the comp back online."
"Well, if we don't get that course soon it won't matter at all." came the response as the freighter rocked from an impact on the shields. "22% shields. NIK!" she hollered over her shoulder, without taking her eyes from her instruments and the view through the cockpit transparencies.
Up in the dorsal turret of the YT, a massive human gripped the controls of the quad laser cannon and swung the weapon about sending darts of energy at the pursuing TIE's. Already a trail of debris marked the path of the chase as he'd managed to flame an even dozen of the swift little eyeball-shaped fighters, but there were dozens more charging up the rear of the freighter spitting blasts of their own in retaliation.
Meanwhile, a young man who'd barely started shaving was wedged into an access panel with only his feet showing while he worked, so intent on his repairs that he was not even hearing his name being hollered. It was immaterial for the moment, however, as he was already working on fixing a damaged power conduit to the aft shield generator even before the pilot had shouted for him. His toolkit lay just in reach as he frantically made repairs to the sparking wires and damaged conduits.
Down in the ventral turret, an imposing Trandoshan hunched over the controls for the lower quad-cannons, having returned to action after completing repairs to the computer. Scrish was nearly as precise and effective as his human counterpart above, flaming TIE after TIE as they struggled to keep up with the swift freighter. Bolts of energy blazed past, dodged by the expert piloting.
"Fifteen seconds, Alani, almost got it..." Triselka said to the twi'lek pilot as her fingers flew over the board. "And... got it, coordinates input and course laid in... punch it!" she almost shouted in triumph as the navigation solution glowed green on her board.
The twi'lek pilot nodded and immediately slammed the levers activating the hyperdrive forward, accompanied by the welcome whining sound of the drive spooling up.
At that very instant, the pursuing Star Destroyer got in one of those one in a quadrillion shots. A single ion cannon pulse blasted the YT-2000 even as it elongated into the characteristic Cronau flash of hyperspace. A single fraction of a nanosecond earlier and the freighter would have been a powerless hulk drifting in space, easy pickings for the Imperials. A fraction of a nanosecond later and the shot would have been wasted as the freighter would have been long gone into the safety of the hyper lanes. And even then, if there hadn’t been latent force-sensitives in close proximity to the drive core itself nothing would have happened. But all of that did happen, astronomical odds against it or no.
Instead, the shot hit precisely at the very split nanosecond that the hyperdrive peaked, the very nanosecond where the powerful energies that enabled FTL travel were surging and at their most chaotic. And in that nanosecond, the interplay of ions and electronics and the Force produced bizarre effects that would have far-reaching consequences.
Instead of the typical streaking star scape that was normal for traveling through hyperspace the view from the cockpit was insane. The streaks tumbling about themselves in random fractal patterns with no apparent rhyme or reason even as all power was lost with the failure of the main reactor. The powerful surge had managed to knock everybody on board unconscious, even as gravity and lights failed, so none of the crew actually witnessed the chaotic light show.
Moments later, the battered YT-2000 was drifting, tumbling madly, in space once more mere kilometers from where she had entered hyperspace. Only there were no TIE's present, no pursuing Star Destroyer... nothing but the stark star scape of deep space itself.
Several minutes passed, before the crew of the ship slowly regained consciousness, groggy and sore from the wild transit, only to find themselves drifting helplessly. Automatic systems had already brought the reactor back online, but the ship was still tumbling and adrift since the drives themselves were still completely offline.
"Sithspit, what happened?" Alani managed to croak out as she tried to bring up the RCS system to stabilize the freighter with a marked lack of success, simultaneously trying to ignore the crazy tumbling view out the transparencies.
Triselka was shaking her head, trying to clear it, as she focused on her softly glowing board. "No clue, most systems are still offline, red across the board." she reported, tried to make sense of the error codes and find something that was still working.
From behind could be heard a series of thumps, then the cockpit door was opened by the hulking Dosh. "Nik is still passed out, Jaond is taking care of him, and the main reactor is online and stable, have the navcomp rebooting and the droids are also coming back up. But I think the hyperdrive is completely fried." he said softly, as even he looked rather haggard from whatever it was that had happened. "No TIE's around, but we're spinning so bad I got sick looking out. Want drives or sensors up first?"
"Get the sensors up first, RCS is finally starting to respond." Alani responded, as the sickening spin started to abate under her deft hand. "First, we gotta figure out what is going on, then we can figure out where to go from there."
"Got it." was all the Dosh said, turning and heading back through the hatch to start making what repairs he could from inside the small souped up freighter.
Two years before...
Mos Espa, Tattooine
The cantina was typical, dark, smelly, crowded and loud. Music more notable for its volume than any actual rhythm or beat pumped through the air, while patrons crowded about. The crowd was rather rough, moisture farmers in the city for a day, roughnecks and goons for the various criminal outfits, smugglers, scum; all in all just the typical Tattooine crowd.
In one alcove of the cantina sat a fat human, with several Gamorreans and other thugs surrounding him and a rather pretty, in a cute sort of way, young human slave girl at his feet, dressed only in a single winding strip of nearly transparent fabric that concealed absolutely nothing, including the barely fading bruises and contusions of her last beating. The most substantial object on her was the heavy metallic collar about her neck that was fastened to a plain chain leash and gripped by the fat man in a harsh grip as he displayed his 'prize' to the scum of the galaxy.
Into the cantina came a hulking Dosh and a truly massively built human, the Dosh carrying a heavy case in one hand as if it weighed nothing while the human appeared to be acting as simple muscle, a heavy blaster rifle slung over his shoulder and a cold expression on his scarred face that intimidated anybody who dared look his way. Sensing danger, the other patrons of the cantina got out of the pairs way quite quickly as they walked towards the alcove with purposeful steps.
"You Brind?" the Dosh said shortly as he came to a halt standing front of the lounging human gang boss and his flunkies, his expression neutral and business like while the massive human beside him simply glowered and looked intimidating.
"Maybe." came the sarcastic response from the fat man as he tried to exert his own status in the underworld by being difficult. Beside him the thugs glowered balefully at the pair in an attempt to counter-intimidate the massive human while the slave girl just cowered on the filthy floor, not even daring to look up.
"Then maybe gots a delivery fer ya." Scrish replied coldly, sounding rather impatient and annoyed while Jaond simply continued glaring as if he were unaffected by the thugs trying to look threatening. "If ya aint Brind, aint got no delivery and yer wasting my time." he continued in the same chill tone, making it clear through his voice alone that that was a very bad idea.
"Then yeah, ya got the chips?" came the response after a moment, the fat gangster tugging on the chain leash in a transparent attempt to maintain his image as a harsh and cruel man causing the girl to whimper slightly as she was pulled closer to the stinking mass of lard.
"Yeah, if ya got the creds ta pay fer 'em." Scrish answered offhandedly, hoisting the case and slamming it down on the table, causing it to groan alarmingly and highlighting just how heavy the case was and thus, indirectly, showing just how powerful the Dosh himself was.
"Lemme see 'em first." the gangster blustered, leaning forward slightly, a light of greed in his beady eyes.
Suddenly the massive human's eyes narrowed, as they focused on the girl for a moment rather than the thugs, and the blaster swung around in a smooth arc that narrowly avoiding the Dosh. Jaond suddenly opened fire, the first shot catching the fat human right in the stomach before the gangster could do more than widen his eyes or his guards could even think about reacting, then the hulking soldier shifted his aim with cold, calculating precision to fire at the gangster’s guards. The thugs were caught flat-footed by the sudden explosion of violence, as was the Dosh who seemed just as surprised as everybody else as shot after unerringly lethal shot barked out, the human handling the heavy blaster like it were a feather-light toy as he stepped forward, eyes blazing with rage yet under total and complete control.
"Sithspit, JAOND!" the Dosh hollered, hastily yanking his own pistol out of its holster as the thugs started returning fire wildly missing wide as they continued to go down under the furious onslaught. That very fury, and the surprise of it all, acted as nearly perfect armor for the massive human and it was a matter of only seconds before the only three left breathing in the alcove were the slave girl, the Dosh, and the murderous soldier. Slinging his blaster, Jaond snapped the chain connected to the slave's collar with one massive hand before scooping the girl over one shoulder as if she weighed nothing. His other hand dipped into a pouch at his belt and drew out a small sphere with a glowing light at the top.
"Cantina is CLOSED." the human yelled as he stepped out of the alcove, hurling the sphere into the middle of the crowd and causing a total panic as patrons stampeded for the exits. When the Dosh made to follow, the human just grabbed him as well and shook his head, before heading for a side exit. "Got plenty time, set for a full two minutes." he said tersely, then shifted the terrified girl on his shoulder and strode along without missing a step.
"Damnit, Jaond, we'd not even gotten paid yet! What were you thinking?" Scrish followed in the wake of Jaond, muttering now to himself as he massive human forged steadily ahead. "Look, before you start shooting ASK ME FIRST." he continued almost plaintively.
Jaond just grunted and picked up the pace, almost running now towards the isolated landing bay where the Firebird was landed. Behind them a sudden blast of smoke erupted from the cantina as the smoke grenade cunningly disguised in the casing for a thermal detonator went off. Thugs and gangsters milled about, unsure about what was going on in their favored little hellhole.
"Sithspit, Jaond, if you wanted a girl there's plenty..." the Dosh cut off as the Human suddenly stopped and turned, glaring murderously at him. "Fine, fine, do it your way." he said in a placating tone, holding his clawed hands up and shaking his reptilian head. "But warn me next time, will you?"
Jaond only grunted in response and went back to running, carrying Triselka over his shoulder to the Firebird and freedom.
Unidentified Planet
18 months before...
It was dark and quiet, a faint breeze blowing between the steel walls and beams of the small Imperial outpost out in the middle of the wilderness on this backwater world. The watchtowers were fully manned, but this base was so far out in the middle of nowhere that the garrison was more concerned with staying awake than with actually bothering to do much else. Today, that inattention to their duties would prove fatal.
Four figures slipped through the Stygian darkness, moving from shadow to shadow towards the central bunker that led down to the actual base itself. A twi'lek, two humans, and a Dosh made for an unlikely team, but in the quiet of the night they were almost as silent as ghosts. Two patrolling sentries had already paid for their boredom and inattention with their lives, and the clock was ticking fast on the operation.
The smaller of the two humans slipped next to the maglocked service hatch and slipped out a tiny toolkit and popped open the lock assembly itself and hooked up her own slicing gear in order to accomplish her role in this little operation. Meanwhile the others settled down and kept watch for any surprises in the night, blasters held lightly at the ready while keeping to the darkest shadows and behind hard cover to avoid being spotted by the wall guards.
"Got it." whispered Triselka in a suppressed undertone, she was barely recognizable as the young slave girl of just six months before. Once she had accepted that she was free and the tracking capsule removed she had proven to have a natural aptitude with computers and security systems that led to her joining the team, not as just a rescued waif but as a full up valued member of the squad. Her growing knack for security systems had led to this particular little mission and her growing confidence in herself and her teammates made it possible.
The armored hatch slid open smoothly after remarkably little time and after Triselka gathered up her tools the foursome slipped silently inside. After the hatch closed all was silent outside once more. No evidence remained to indicate that anybody had used the service hatch.
Inside the dreary monotony of Imperial gray was broken only by the Aurebesh markings on the walls as the foursome ghosted through the corridors, heading deeper and deeper into the base. This far inside there was almost no security as the Imperials were confident that their perimeter would keep out any intruders. This late at night there was no traffic, no movement, nothing. The base was a ghost town yet still the strike team moved cautiously rather than take any unnecessary risks.
Deeper they went, down level after level using the stairwells rather than the turboshafts. Finally they reached their goal, coming upon the entrance hatch to the reactor that powered the entire complex from its home nestled deep beneath the central bunker.
"You take the left, I've got the right" murmured Jaond to Scrish, getting a silent nod in response before the pair tumbled around the corner, catching the two drowsing sentries at the hatch by surprise and cutting them down before they could raise the alarm with lethally accurate blaster fire.
Without missing a beat Triselka charged forward, Alani, Scrish and Jaond at her heels. Her tools came out and again she worked her slicing magic on the console beside the hatch. It was a matter of moments only before the armored slab of solid durasteel groaned and slid open.
Heading inside, Triselka and Alani split up, heading to two separate consoles and busily punching in codes. First, they overrode the standard alarms, setting them for silent operation, then they cut off the remote monitoring from the main control room and disabled the primary control links, then finally they set the reactor to overload itself, thus destroying the base.
With their mission accomplished, the four withdrew, now even more under a time limit as they only had so long before the reactor blew. Luckily they met no more guards within the base as they headed for the same service hatch they'd used for entry. Once outside, Triselka hotwired one of the utility speeders sitting in the motor pool, the four commandos piling in. With Alani at the controls, all pretense of subtlety went out the window as she floored it, a single shot from Jaond's blaster rifle frying the main gate controls and bringing the durasteel obstacle down, while Scrish and Triselka peppered the alarmed guards with fire of their own even as they screamed out into the night.
Behind them a massive explosion split the night, gouts of flame blasting out of the firing slits and ventilation grills of the bunker as the reactors buried underground overloaded and went critical, annihilating the small base in a blaze of fiery glory.
Unidentified System
Six months before...
"Got it! Scanning for targets." came the call from the pilots seat, as Alani sent the YT-2000 into another corkscrewing spin, the newly installed fixed quad autoblasters spitting blue darts of death at the swirling TIE's while streams of larger blue-white bolts ripped into the formation from the dual turrets, as the Firebird lived up to her name and blazed death to the Imperial pilots who dared try and keep her from her target.
The target was a small lumbering convoy of Imperial Bulk Freighters, and a full squadron of Rebel snubfighters followed in the souped up freighters wake, boring through the futile defenses of the squadron of TIE's that had launched from a concealed escort carrier hidden within the convoy like white hot knives through butter. More X-Wings were making runs on the lone Victory-I class Star Destroyer that was the unfortunate convoys main escort forcing the lumbering giant to concentrate on defending itself rather than its charges.
The YT-2000 settled down to make its attack run, the concussion missile launchers locked onto the lead freighter and then Alani fired, then fired again, while at the same time the turret guns switched from popping the few remaining eyeballs and started playing over a second freighter target. This raid was to destroy the convoy rather than capture it and so maximum force was being used.
Larger explosions split the darkness of space as the massive bulk freighters started to explode under the onslaught. Too deep within the gravity well to simply hyper out, with their escorts too busy defending themselves to assist the freighters were nothing but target practice for the rampaging Rebel forces.
Zaloriis System
Alternate Universe - Current
"Should have passive's up in a moment, Alani" came the call from Nik, who'd finally woken up from the nasty shock he'd gotten while in the access way. "Now... showing green here, how about up there?" he called, pulling his head out of the access panel and wiping his hands on a convenient rag.
"Got it, scanning..." came the response from the cockpit, as Triselka started looking over the data. "Well, looks like the same system, but the TIE's are nowhere in sight... waitasecond... damnit, that ISD is still here, don't think they have us on their scope though, it's pretty far off so they must think we’re dead."
"How long were we out?" Alani wondered out loud as she finally got the tumbling fully smoothed out with the battered RCS's assistance, over half of the thrusters were still refusing to respond.
"According to what I can tell, less than a minute at most but can't be sure." came the baffled response. "DAMNIT, we got spotted, the ISD just changed course and is heading this way, straight at us. NIK, get those engines up NOW" Triselka hollered, even as Alani slumped in her seat, a defeated expression on her face as her lekku drooped behind her.
"No use, Tri, hyperdrive is fried according to the readouts." the Twi'lek said. "We're not going anywhere even if we can get the sublights working. We're completely and totally screwed."
Triselka slumped herself, staring at the readouts with an equally defeated expression on her face but not saying a word. Behind her, Nik, Scrish and Jaond squeezed into the cockpit, the turrets were off line, drives were offline, so morbid curiosity drew them to where they could watch their doom bear down on them.
The battered freighter continued to drift, most of its systems offline from the ion surge, as the terrifying dagger shape of the Imperial Star Destroyer closed once more with pitiless inevitability. As it drew closer it started launching snubfighters from its ventral bays... and the rebels on the Firebird got another surprise.
Alani and Triselka both blinked as the fighters closed with the Firebird. While they were the familiar dark gray and black of Imperial designs, they weren't TIE's… they were almost the furthest thing possible from TIEs... two squadrons of what appeared to be the classic Rebel fighter, the famous X-Wing, but in full Imperial markings swept towards the battered freighter...
"OK... something is definitely really weird here..." Alani said, eyes wide in surprise as she managed to scrape her jaw off the deck, something which none of the rest of the crew had yet managed in their surprise.
