Begin Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgXXWtwLP6U Battle of Coruscant – Revenge of the Sith Soundtrack
Star Wars
Rogues and Renegades
Episode 1: Escape from Yavin
Floating harmlessly, having narrowly escaped destruction, Yavin IV hung silently with its many siblings around the gas giant of the same name, unaware of the chaos that was to come.
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Yavin IV.
A forested moon orbiting the gas giant of the same name, this hunk of rock was once home to a powerful and ancient race now long extinct called the Massassi, a tribe of primitive force sensitive’s that were enslaved; first by the Sith Lord Naga Sadow 5000 years ago who fled to Yavin with Massassi in tow, who was later killed by Jedi turned Sith Freedon Nadd. Freedon would later turn the legendary knight Exar Kun to the Dark Side, who would rule the primitives like a god. Kun would then force the Massassi to construct the vibrant temples that litter its surface and later extract their souls, killing them all into extinction so that he could rip his from his own body to hide from the Jedi that hunted him, effectively making him immortal.
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The wreckage of what was once a powerful and supposed to-be-feared battlestation floated aimlessly, with debris being dragged to the gas giant of Yavin or one of its many, many moons. Shadows of massive ships slid over the wreckage as they passed by the sun.
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It was here where the Rebel Alliance made their stand and let their presence be known to the galaxy. Thought to originally be a band of dissidents who were fighting a losing battle against one of the most evil forces in galactic history, this ragtag group of freedom fighters overcame impossible odds to deliver a crippling blow, showing that the Empire was indeed vulnerable and can be fought. From pulling off a suicidal heist at the tropical world of Scarif up to now, they were spreading inspiration across the galaxy, giving hope where there was none. And it is here where the Rebel Alliance will face its first true test as a legitimate military faction: fighting to survive.
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An enormous contingent of Imperial ships of every make from the past 19 years came out of Hyperspace, turning the black beyond of space into a grey, triangular visage of death. Tie Fighters, Loader Shutters, Lambda Shuttles, Troop Transports, and Carriers were launched, heading straight for the planet.
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Long before being assigned to rescue Jyn Erso from prison, Cassian Andor had been tasked by Senator Bail Organa, adopted father to Princess Leia Organa, to create a special squadron- one that operated off the record; a counter to the Empire’s specialized black ops. Andor knew just who to recruit: scheming, slimy low-lives who hate the Empire just as much as they do, as the Empire makes things bad for business. First, he recruited the aid of a friend of his father’s: the smuggler Col Serra. They would go from slime hole to slime hole, recruiting every smuggler, bounty hunter, mercenary, gun runner, and everything in between. They even found a couple of generals from the Clone Wars- both Republic and Seperatist- willing to join their cause. When Andor left for Scarif, he left Col in charge of their new unit, knowing full well he wasn’t going to come back from the mission. The new recruits were on their way to Yavin when the Death Star blew up…
And it was here where they would get their first real taste of warfare…
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A trio of Victory-class Star Destroyers came out of Hyperspace, the latest reinforcements for the siege. The imperial frigates made a direct beeline for the planet, launching every Tie and transport they had.
One of the pilots, a young new recruit, was scared about flying into battle for the first time, but his loyalty to the Empire insisted that he fly to battle. When his Tie Interceptor detached from the clamps, he was the first one out, taking the lead of the contingent. What he saw when he departed the destroyer took his breath away and froze his veins.
In the space above Yavin IV, it was pure and utter chaos. Rebel and Imperial ships were spread all across the planet and its moons, raining down death and destruction. There was no moon where there wasn’t some sort of battle. The sky was nothing but explosions, bodies, and wreckage.
If Hell could exist in real life, this was it.
After being launched from his destroyer with every Tie and transport they can throw out, a hopeful male named Drake Hux was ordered to reinforce the Dauntless, a Imperial-class Destroyer that was under siege. He and his unit moved to reinforce the Destroyer, while the rest of the Ties were sent off towards their own destinations, and the Transports made a beeline for the surface of Yavin IV.
A damaged A-Wing chased it’s pray, a lone Tie Bomber, though a maze of debris that was once a Corellian Corvette, the same model of ship as Bail’s flagship the Tantive IV. The Bomber made a sharp turn- too sharp for its model- and nearly rammed into the hull of a Destroyer. The A-Wing, however, was built for stunts and made the turn without a fuss. It fired torpedoes at the bomber, finally destroying it. The pilot had no time to celebrate before he was destroyed by a Tie Fighter that was chasing him- the Tie of Hux.
The soon-to-be legendary Millennium Falcon had run out of options to take and was forced to try and tear through the blockade of death and destruction on its own. It blazed through at top speed, hoping to get away with minimum damage, and for the most part, it was working. It moved too fast for Star Destroyer cannons to hit. Tie Interceptors, on the other hand, were able to get a few good shots in, taking out the top quad gun. Stray friendly fire didn't help in their escape either, adding more damage.
From behind, a Tartan Patrol Cruiser appeared and chased the Falcon as it narrowly cut between two Star Destroyers that were far too close together for their own good- something nobody seemed to have learned from Scarif. The Tartan, being twice the size of the Falcon, was able to slip between effortlessly. Once through, it opened fire on the Falcon. A Coreillian Corvette, outfitted with a missile launcher below the bridge, swooped in to the rescue, firing its own compliment of lasers to pull the Tartan away. With this aid, the Falcon was able to get far enough away from the battle to jump to lightspeed.
A squadron of A-Wings and X-Wings led an assault on a Interdictor Star Destroyer located too close to Yavin IV for its own good. The Destroyer opened fire on the approaching Rebel fighters. Its compliment of Ties had left to pursue another transport that fled the moon right near them and they were itching for a kill. That opened it up for an attack by the Rebel fighters. The A-Wings speed allowed them to pepper at the turrets in hit and run tactics while the X-Wings fired their torpedoes at the four bulbous spheres that Interdictors are known for. Their hit and run special wasn't long to last as the Destroyers defenders returned to drive them off, chasing them towards the moon below.
Two new Imperial Star Destroyers, accompanied by a Acclamator-Class Star Destroyer emerged from Hyperspace and launched their array of fresh Ties into the battle as well. The bottom launch bays of the Acclamator opened up and out of its hold came Loader Shuttles- stripped down versions of the Sentinel class, leaving behind a skeletal body to haul down boxes containing AT-ST's. Several Imperial Action Transports emerged out of hyperspace and followed the shuttles and their escort of Ties down the moon, carrying within squadrons of troops, tanks, and speeder bikes. Several Lambda-Class shuttles emerged from the ISD's and followed them down as well.
Their trip to the surface of the moon was mostly uneventful. The Imperials had wedged a line in the battlefield hours before they arrived. Even with the occasional stray shot, a fighter pilot who got too brave, or the unexpected appearance of debris, as was the case of a Arquitens Frigate, their trip down was smooth sailing.
Too bad it couldn't stay that way.
When the small fleet of transports and shuttles entered the atmosphere, they had arrived to a even more chaotic mess, with fighters of both sides dancing around like dragons. In space, you had more room to maneuver around and could reach top speed in seconds. In atmo, you don't have that luxery, and if you fly in the wrong way, you'll end up crashing into the ground, or in Yavin's case, the side of a Massassi temple.
It was here that the small fleet split up. The Action Transports and a couple of Lambda shuttles moved and headed for the main temple- the biggest building on the moon, bar none. The Loader Shuttles and the rest of the Lambda's moved to attack a Rebel Transport trapped on a isolated island surrounded by swamplands and trees.
Rebel fighters, led by Luke Skywalker himself, swooped in and went after the Action Transports, concentrating fire on one of them. After a heated barrage and several torpedo shots, one of the transports exploded, killing everyone aboard. It all happened so fast, so when it blew up, the Tie escorts moved to attack the Rebel oppressors. The X-Wings and Y-Wings scattered to draw the Ties away.
Skywalker, accompanied by Wedge Antillies and another pilot named Sarklii, fled towards the wilderness, taking most of the Ties with them. They purposefully fled towards the Loader Shutters and with fire from themselves and the Ties foolish enough to keep flying, destroyed one of them. The box it carried fell into the forest, crushing trees and prematurely releasing two AT-ST's. The island was too far away fro them, so they moved to take the main temple with the rest of the force.
The Loader Shuttles neared the Transport and dumped all the boxes into the swamp. The boxes hissed open and Saber-Class Fighter Tanks came speeding out of half of them, while AT-ST's came out the other half. The Lambda Shuttles landed behind the boxes and unloaded all the troopers they carried, joining those who were crazy enough to ride in the boxes.
The surge to the transport wasn't easy- the swamp waters made the AT-ST's legs difficult to navigate through, same for the troopers, even though it was only ankle deep. The Fighter Tanks didn't have a problem as they hovered... but that just meant they came under fire from enemy bombardment first. They foolishly thought that the transport was unguarded.
They were dead wrong. This transport was modified with laser turrets that spun in all directions. This was the transport of Renegade Squadron... and these Imps made the biggest mistake of their careers. And their lives. Most of the members of Renegade Squadron never got to Yavin. After the Death Star blew up, Rebel Command put up a warning beacon, telling all peoples inspired by their victory to stay away from Yavin for fear of an Imperial attack.
When Andor and Serra were recruiting Renegade Squadron, they knew they needed the best of the worst: pirates, smugglers, scoundrels, mercenaries, bounty hunters- whoever they could get that had a beef with the Empire. Turned out to be easy as most of Renegade Squadron were comprised of Aliens. It's no secret that the Empire has a very, very strong anti-alien policy. In some cases, they declared sentient, space-faring species like the Mon Calamari and the Wookies, as emotionless dregs of filth that exist only for slave labor. There are exceptions to the rule sometimes, like the fearsome and master Chiss strategist known as Grand Admiral Thrawn, but he is a rarity. 9 times out of 10, the Empire will enslave or kill aliens.
Behind walls and makeshift cover were most, if not all, members of the fledgling group, holding off the Imps with rather impressive means while the rest were trying to get the ship working- the damn thing just had to choose now to blow out a power circuit.
"Have i ever told you how bad an idea this was?!" A orange male Twi'Lek with brown spots by the name of Orshon shouted as he fired his sniper rifle, taking out a Imp still a long ways away, knocking off his helmet.
"We're the ones that came at a bad time." Serra replied as he fired his blaster. Col Serra was a smuggler, and one of the best. A human in his late 40's and he was a smart strategist- he's not Thrawn levels of genius, but he can work out ways others seem to overlook. One of the squadron members came up with a rocket launcher and fired it. The rocket went right into the cockpit of a fighter tank and blew it up from the inside.
"Says you." Fires the sniper rifle again. This shot missed, alerting the trooper he was aiming at.
That was on purpose so that he could move the trooper into a bad spot. He was stabbed in the ankle by a spear and pulled into the waters, much to the horrors of his compatriots. Another was dragged in, then another.
The cause of these aquatic takedowns came in the form of a crazed bloodthirsty Gungan mercenary named Kleef. Pea green in color with orange markings, this mercenary had seen some things and experienced some nasty things, resulting in the lost of his right eye, leaving a burn mark where it was. He burst out of the water and stuck his Vibroblade through the chest of one of the troopers, pinning him down under the water. His comrades fired at the Naboo native, but he was at home in the water, even if it is shallow, and swam away at amazing speeds.
A pair of yellow-green balls came from behind the troopers and knocked two more into the water. The balls unfurled into the Amani race, who fired small blasters at the remaining three troopers from this small unit. Their legs are pathetically short and their arms are incredibly long. They get around by rolling up into balls. Granted, it would give them no sense of direction, but they're slowly learning.
First Contact with the Amani's were made 10 years ago, when the Empire traveled to the planet of Maridun to mine the natural resources there. What they didn't count on was the native race: the Amani's, worms that had evolved to levels akin to the bronze age. They fought back against the Empire, who forced their way onto the planet. Between them, slavers, and corperate interests, the Amani were ultimately subjugated and enslaved. Many were taken off world to serve as exotic trophies. One would ultimately wind up in the service of Jabba the Hutt. These two, a hunter pair named Coula and Koula, were once the same person. Amani have an incredible regenerative ability. If you were to, say, remove an arm, not only would the amputated Amani regrow his arm, but the severed arm would eventually grow into another Amani, which is what happened with Coula and Koula. In a sense... you can say these two are twins. Outside of old age, the only way a Amani can be killed is incineration, as blowing them into pieces would create a small army over time.
An AT-ST burst trough the tree cover and fired at the twins. They rolled up into balls and rolled back towards the island. Kleef got their first, having grabbed a Imp blaster, and used it to fire on the approaching troopers. "Meesa thinks the situati is bad'ness." He spoke in a gravely tone, like he had seen some things no one should ever see.
"Yeah, i got that feeling." Serra ducked behind the wall and called the pilot of the transport on his comms. "How are things looking there, Taloco?"
Back at the transport, the pilot, a elderly Dug- same race as famed racer Sebulba- was screaming in frustration at the control panel as the ship once again refused to power up. "<What do you think, Serra?! The damn power regulator just will not work!!!>" He yelled in his native tongue. He also has a bit of a anger problem. He turned on the holographic interface to contact the engine room. "<i thought="" you="" fixed="" it!="">"
"{We did.}" One of the Rebel mechanics replied. "{The problem must be elsewhere.}"
A AT-ST laser blast blazed by the cockpit, making the Dug jump. "<Well, hurry it up and find it! We'll be dead if we take too long!>" A shadow was cast over the ship. He looked up and saw another Lambda-Class shuttle approached the battlezone and landed behind the temple to catch them from behind. "<Uh-oh.>" He contacted Serra. "<We have a problem.>"
"What? Is the bathroom clogged up?" He joked as he fired a Rocket Launcher at a AT-ST, taking out one of the legs and making it fall on a trio of Scout Troopers.
"{<Funny. No, a Imp shuttle is landing behind the temple. They're trying to flank us!>}"
Serra looked to the temple and saw the top wing of the shuttle as it lowered behind the temple. "We knew it was going to be a possibility. We just have to hope Galleid and Frock'sha are able to hold them off with their toys." He resumed fire on the Imp troops.
On the other side of the temple, an impressive array of automatic turrets- both laser and rocket- were set up just in case this happened. The duo that set it up hid inside the temple interior, watching through cameras as the shuttle touched down on the ground. The two of them were Bothan engineers- a couple of the best and who were in a romantic relationship. Galleid was a genius savant with machinery and taught his friend, later wife, Frock'sha everything he knew.
"Here they come." Galleid said as he held the activation switch in his hand. When the ramp lowered and troopers began to file out, Frock'sha nodded and he pressed the button. The turrets came to life and open fired on the Imp troops. The troops saw the turrets when they landed and instinctively ducked behind cover when they came off, but now they were pinned.
"How long do you think that will hold them?" Frock'sha asked.
They saw the turrets on the shuttle move down to face the temple. "... not long." He shut off the feed and got up. "Run." His wife nodded and the two ran as fast as they could before the shuttle opened up, taking out the turrets and blasting open the barricaded door. The two were barely far enough away before the door was shot open.
They ran into the control room, where Rebel technicians were busy purging the terminals there of every scrap of information. When they heard the kaboom and saw the couple running in, they feared the worse. "You may want to hurry it up!" Galleid shouted. "They just blasted down the door and the troops are going to be filing in any second."
"We're going as fast as we can, alright?!" One of them shouted.
"Well go faster!" Frock'sha shouted as she and her husband pushed down a stack of crates. They were going to make the Empire take their time getting in. They took cover behind the furthest crates and checked their ammo levels. This wasn't going to last forever, but they just needed to last until the tech heads finished their task.
When the first Imp rounded the corner, he was met by a sudden barrage of laser bolts from the couple. The next one was a little more cautious and ducked down, but was still taken out all the same. The next four tried different approaches- crouch-walking, crawling, distraction, and tossing in a grenade, but they all backfired. Especially the grenade. Galleid threw that back. Those troopers didn't last long.
Power surges shorted out one of the rebel consoles, nearly electrocuting one of the engineers. "Agh! Well, they won't recover data out of this." She said before moving on to the last.
Frock'sha peered her head out to see if any more were coming into the temple. Her heart sank when she saw a pitch-black figure ascending up the steps. At first, her mind leapt to Darth Vader, a living nightmare of a warrior who had mysteriously appeared when the Republic became the Empire. She was able to catch her breath when she saw that it wasn't Vader... but was something almost equally as dangerous: A Death Trooper, and he was packing heat. Literally.
"GET BACK!!!" She shouted.
The Death Trooper fired a rocket launcher right into the boxes. They exploded upon impact, sending plasteel and shrapnel everywhere. Frock'sha landed on her back hard. Her husband had ducked behind one of the consoles, but got a bit in his foot. Two of the engineers were taken out, leaving only two others, and they were badly hurt themselves.
Frock'sha grunted and groaned in pain as she struggled to move. Things hurt badly- it was a miracle she survived that. She rolled onto her side and looked up to see the Death Trooper enter the temple, its silhouette barely visible in the smoke. It tossed away the empty launcher and pulled out the funnel for a flame thrower.
The pitch-black trooper stood over the wounded Bothan, pointing the end of the funnel towards her. It spoke in a warbled, garbled speech that she doubts even protocol droids could translate. She closed her eyes in fearful acceptance as it pulled back on the trigger... and shot it towards the ceiling as it was stabbed in the back of the knee by a vibroknife belonging to one of the engineers. Once the pain was done, the trooper turned its funnel towards him and burned him alive.
It was all the distraction Gallaid needed to bolt up from behind his cover and slam into the trooper, sending them both to the floor. He kept one hand of the trooper pinned while grabbing the now dead technicians knife. He spun the blade around and stabbed down, piercing the fuel canister on the troopers back.
The trooper kicked him off while blasted a torrent of flame out of the funnel. Some of it struck the Bothan on the right side of his head and torso. He yelled in pain as he fell over. The trooper got up, aware that fuel was gushing out of one of the canisters. It still had more then enough to kill these last three Rebels. It got ready to fire when it got stonewalled by a literal stone wall crashing down on him. The trooper moved to avoid getting hit, but a sizeable brick crushed its foot, pinning it in place.
It could still kill the Rebels, it thought as it lifted up its flamethrower, only to find the Bothans and the last engineer rushing for the exit. The engineer spun around and tossed in a thermal detonator. Seconds later, the grenade exploded, igniting the gas and unleashed a wild torrent of violent flame that destroyed everything in the room.
"Why didn't you go for the head?" Frock'sha asked her wounded husband as she carried him out with one arm around her neck. The engineer came and put the other arm around his neck so they could get out faster.
"Because those things are tough..." Gallied grunted in pain. He held his right hand over his burnt face to keep others from seeing it. "I saw one survive a stab to the chest from a Acklay. A simple knife stab wasn't going to cut it... and at least this way, the data went with it... lucky... us..." He passed out from his wounds.
The three of them exited the temple- within, the fire from the explosion was spreading like crazy- and walked right into into a crazed warzone. Most of the trees in the swamp were flattened by tanks and walkers. Serra looked back from his cover and saw the trio descending down the steps as fast as their wounded friend could handle. "What in blue blazes happened in there?" He bellowed.
"A Death Trooper, packing a flame thrower." The engineer responded. "Its dead, thankfully, and the data is destroyed, but everyone else in there is dead and Gallied is badly burnt." They reached the bottom of the steps and made an intimidate beeline for the transport. They were going to take him straight to the medical bay. They need to get him to a medical frigate, but one problem at a time.
As the trio boarded the transport, Serra contacted the pilot again. "Now would be a good time to give me some good news!"
"<The good news is that we are going to die a quick death. I hear explosions can be a great...>" Smoke spurted out of the engines before blue pilot lights erupted out. That meant the engines were fixed and the ship could finally fly. "<... never mind.>"
The hologram of one of the engineers appeared before the Dug. "{We found the problem. It was an indigenous creature- one of those Whisper Birds i heard Ralco talking about. it must've crawled into one of the engines during the night and got roasted when we tried to leave.}"
"<i didn't="" need="" the="" complete="" story.="">" He shut the hologram off and opened up communications to everyone in Renegade Squadron. "<The engines are fixed, so get your butts in here before we become a statistic on a imperial spread sheet.>"
Serra nodded and got up, grabbing a rocket launcher with one last shot as he did. "Get to the transport!" He shouted to everyone. The dozen or so people ran towards the transport, eager to get out of the forest of death and to someplace more relaxing. He heaved the launcher onto his shoulder and fired it, striking a AT-ST right in the head, blowing it into smithereens.
Out of ammo for the launcher and on his last clip, Serra continued to fire as he backed towards the on-ramp to the transport.
A Scout Trooper in the trees lined up the shot, aiming directly at Serra's head. This trooper was a pro: he never misses his shot. All he needs to do is wait for the perfect moment to fire. Now was that time as Serra was giving covering fire to the rest of the squad. He aimed for Serra's forehead- the quick way to kill a foe. Crosshairs on the filthy rebel, he took the shot.
The shot rang out and beelined towards Serra as he boarded the ramp. It was the wrong place at the wrong time as the sniper bolt struck him in the side of his left eye, burning it horribly as it shot past and struck against the temple wall.
"AAAAH!!!" Serra called out as he spun once from the shot and collapsed onto the ramp. He held a hand over his left eye, exclaiming in pain. Blood spilled between his fingers as he felt it sizzle. "Agh... AAAH... Son of a- AGH!" The Amani twins and Kleef came down the ramp and helped him back up. Kleef grabbed Serra's rifle and fired until it ran out of ammo, giving the worms time to pull their wounded commander in. Kleef tossed the rifle away and ran in. The ramp closed behind him and the ship finally lifted up off the forest floor. Walkers, Tanks, and Troopers continued to fire at the ship until it flew out of view.
End Song.
The GR Transport skimmed along the top of the forest; Taloco felt it was the safest place to be- Tie pilots would have to pull up a lot sooner to avoid becoming a crater on the forest floor. He wasn't wrong as several had to pull up early while pulling strafing runs on the transport from above. He has this thing upgraded with State-Of-The-Art shields before coming to Yavin.
Serra grunted in pain as he was set down on a medical bench in the med bay, still holding his eye. The Medical Droid rolled over and ordered him to remove his hand so he could examine it. Nearby, Gallied was being hooked into a floating Bacta bath; his burns were that severe. Frock'sha was frantic in her button pressing; she didn't want to lose her husband, not now, not ever. Kleef and Coula left to man defensive turrets.
"How does it look, doc?" Serra chuckled in a failed attempt to bring levity to the situation.
"Very bad." The droid replied. "You're lucky the damage wasn't any worse."
He looked towards the wounded Bothan with his one good eye. "I think HE has it worse, doc."
"<You regrow eye?>" Koula asked in broken translated basic.
"Afraid not. We don't have regenerative properties like you."
The ship violently shook as something sounded like it crashed into it. Serra almost fell out of his seat. A call came in over the comm-link; it was Taloco. He reached up and answered. "What is it, Taloco?"
"{Taloco? This-- whatever.}" The voice wasn't Taloco- it belong to someone else entirely. "{This is Major Sarklii to the Transport Luminous. I need you to turn back to the main temple, pronto.}"
"This is Commander Col Serra of Renegade Squadron. We just got out of one fire and you want us to go back into another? This soon? We have wounded on this ship, so you better have a really good reason for us to go back."
"{As a matter of fact, i do. General Dodonna and his guards are still trapped in the temple; they never got to their transport in time and now the place is swarming with Imperials. Skywalker and Antillies have gone in on foot to rescue them; they recently contacted me and said they have them, but two X-Wings is not enough room for all those people and the last transport was forced to flee. They're trapped in a hanger by troops and AT-ST's.}"
"If we rescue them, we'll have an entire TIE squadron on our asses."
"{And you seem to forget whose side you are on, smuggler. I just saved your lives from a Interceptor attempting to pull a kamikaze maneuver on your bridge, but if you don't want me to stop the next two, that's your funeral.}"
Serra could taste the bitterness in his voice. It feels as if this Sarklii would actually let them all die, and they were already in one insane fight. And in hindsight, arguing with him wouldn't have solved anything, not with a entire space battle across the entire planet and its moons raging up above. "Fine. You win." He switched channels. "You get all that, Taloco?"
"<Yeah, i heard it. And here i thought we were done with fighting for the day.>"
Begin Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqkofHaFq_4 Yavin Action - Rogue Squadron III Rebel Strike Soundtrack
The Transport turned around, throwing off the aim of several TIE's that were coming in to attack. Many moved to try and get a better shot; others were too fast to pull up, either through stupidity or over-confidence, and crashed into the trees. Defense turrets rose up from the transport and fired at the incoming enemy forces. Normally, GR transports would only have two or three turrets for minimum protection. Not the Luminous. This was modified heavily.
As the ship approached the main temple, they could see Imperial soldiers and AT-ST's firing into the main hanger- where Dodonna, Skywalker, Antillies, and the last few rebels on the moon were holed up. Sarklii's X-Wing flew in first, pulling a strafing maneuver that decimated the walkers. The chaos scattered the Stormtroopers, which worked out well for the bottom gunners, allowing them to get easy notches on their killstreaks.
With the landing zone clear, the transport landed- it didn't descent the landing gears; this was only temporary. The ramp lowered to allowing the fleeing general and 3 other soldiers to board. Laser fire struck the wall above as more Walkers came out of the treeline. One of them was not match for the combined power of modified turrets and went down quick. Sarklii fired a torpedo at another, taking it out instantly.
Dodonna and his guards ran up the ramp, which closed behind the last one when he stepped through. "Where are the pilots?" The surviving engineer asked.
"They returned to their fighters." Dodonna panted. He caught his breath and ordered his guards to help out however they can. "Take me to the bridge."
The Luminous rose up from the ground and once again went through with its original escape plan. In front of another gate, two X-Wings rose up and joined with the third. "{Transport Luminous, This is Commander Skywalker. We'll cover you until you reach the edge of the battlefield. After that, you're on your own.}" They flew on ahead to attack incoming Tie's. Debris and molten metal rained down past the transport as it ascended into the clouds. The destroyed cockpit of a Interceptor bounced along the hull, scaring everyone inside.
"I always hate this part." Frock'sha shivered in fear. They could hear the raging aerial dogfight outside; the blasts of turrets and the iconic shrieking of the TIEs. "If we were on the ground, at least i could fight. Inside a transport..." She shivered again, visibly this time.
"Then be glad we have Taloco flying." Serra assured her as the medical droid wrapped a bandage around his left eye. "He's one hell of a pilot."
She wasn't so convinced about that. He seems more like a crockery, cantankerous old man if anything. "Right. Like a Dug pilot is anything to cheer about."
"<i heard that.>" His voice came over Serra's commlink. The Bothan sucked in her lips and stiffly turned away.
The Luminous rose out of the frying pan and into the literal fire, narrowing avoid the flaming wreckage of another GR transport as it fell into the atmosphere. The battle in space had raged on for a long time by this point, littering the space around Yavin with debris of every ship imaginable. And they were supposed to navigate through this? It was going to take a miracle to get through this mess.
Lucky for them, they had Skywalker and Antilles escorting them- two of the three pilots to have survived the Death Star Assault. When a Arquitens cruiser rolled up alongside the frame of a Star Destroyer to attack, Skywalker's X-Wing was the first to attack, taking out a couple turrets while Antilles and Sarklii launched the finishing blows to the command bridge with a salvo of missiles.
The transport rolled to avoid a collision with a Venator Star Destroyer- one of the last few still in active service. Those that aren't used by the Empire are used by pirates or used for patrols. Why the Empire wouldn't capitalize on the best ship design from the Clone Wars is anyone's guess. It was a narrow close call as a heavily damaged Acclamator was on a collision course with its bigger brother. The main turbolasers of the Venator was focused on keeping the wreckage from hitting it, which gave the Luminous the opening to squeeeeeeze on through the shrinking opening.
When Dodonna came onto the bridge of the transport, the first thing to catch his attention was the awful smell. He didn't know Dug's could produce a smell this awful. "Agh.. that smell."
"<As if you smell any better, General.>" Taloco sharply replied. Dodonna kept his composure against the putrid fumes and approached the main console. "<i take it you have a specific destination in mind?>"
Dodonna input the coordinates into the main console. "Ord Radama. My ship will be waiting for me there, if they managed to get out of this mess. If its not there in five hours, we'll head to Ord Mantell and connect with a rebel cell."
A Tie Bomber blew up by the main viewport, making the seasoned general and skilled pilot jump. "<Assuming we get out of this alive.>"
The Luminous sped underneath the shaft of a Nebulon-B as it was getting shot to hell by a seemingly unending barrage of laser fire from Tartan Cruisers and missiles from a Broadside Cruiser. The frigate was sawed in half by the constant barrage and eventually blew up. The ships then turned their attention to the fleeing transport.
The X-Wing escorts turned back- Sarklii banked left, Antilles's banked right, and Skywalker pulled up- and launched a counter-attack against the encroaching ships. They pooled their fire onto a Broadside- easier more dangerous then a Tartan- and under their combined fire, blew one up rather quickly. This exhausted them of their entire supply of missiles, so they were lacking in heavy weaponry. They were gonna need to chose their battles carefully.
With one Broadside destroyed, they returned to the transport and eliminated attacking Interceptors. More came to cause trouble for the transport, more then the X-Wings to handle. It was looking back if not for the timely encounter with a Corellian Corvette that has seen better days, but was still able to fight. The wounded warrior followed the Transport to the edge of the combat zone, as fast as its remaining 10 engines would allow.
Against overwhelming odds and sheer dumb luck, the Luminous and its escorts was finally out of the fire, flying though the remains of the Death Star's dish to deter any pursuing TIE's. Once they were on the other side of the wreckage of what was supposed to be a fear-inducing planet killer, the X-Wings turned back to aid the remaining rebels ships.
End Song
Taloco breathed a sigh of relief as he sank in his seat. "<Finally. We're home free.>" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the engines of the Corvette shutting down. "<Them on the other hand...>" He sat back up and opened up a channel to them. "<You all ok in there?>"
"{We've been better.}" The captain coughed violently. "{There's fires everywhere and the core shut down. We're dead in the water.}"
Dodonna leaned in to make his voice heard. "Evacuate the ship. Head to your escape pods- we'll pick you up." Taloco readied tractor beams to pick up the pods when they launch.
"{Yes sir. We'll set the ship to self destruct- make sure we don't leave behind anything for the Imps to use.}"
"<No one will notice us thanks the wreckage, at least.>" He was, of course, referring to the wrecked space station.
Moments later, every single escape pod on the Corvette launched. Tractor beams caught the pods and pulled them into various cargo holds, much to the relief of the crew of the scuttled ship. Taloco saw, however, more parts for his ship. The bigger pods have turrets; turrets he can install onto his ship, just like the vast majority of all of Luminous' armaments.
Serra came onto the bridge, with a cotton swab and bandages over his left eye. He shouldn't be moving, but he's a tough old man. "Once they are secure, set course for--"
The ship violently shook as a squadron of Tie Fighters, flanked by another Arquitens cruiser, approached the transport from behind, following the same route they did. Taloco kicked the engines into full gear and sped away at top speed. The Ties kept pace and kept on firing, as did the Arquitens, but it was slowing due to its engine frame needing to shimmy through the wreckage.
That actually worked to the Rebel's advantage. The core on the Corvette self-destructed- the resulting fireball and the debris from the Corvette struck the Arquitens HARD, taking out the bridge and the entire left-hand side of the Imperial ship.
That still left the Ties and they buzzed around the transport like bugs. There were too many for all the turrets to handle and the calculations for the jump to Hyperspace still had a few moments. They were in a really bad spot.
A hailfire of lasers came from out of nowhere, striking every single Tie fighter with deadly precision. In one second, they were there causing chaos. The next: silence.
Everyone on the transport was stunned. There was no way a ship in the Rebels arsenal could destroy all those Ties so fast and so precise. "... what just happened?"
The answer approached the transport's bridge. A small, angular, alien fighter approached the bridge- it had a opaque hull that was pretty much a orb with four stubby wings poking out of every side and a flat bottom. This was not of Mon Calamari make- their designs are bulbous in nature, and this was not a Trade Federation ship, either. After the Clone Wars, they are closely monitored to insure they don't cause another uprising again.
This was a brand new ship belonging to a brand new alien race.
Fear permeated through the ship: just what the hell was this thing? Were they friend or foe? "<... you think they're friendly?>"
The transports communications array rang as a call tried to come through; obviously, it would stand to reason that it would be coming from the alien ship. Serra looked to Taloco and Dodonna, wondering what they were thinking. "... only one way to find out." Serra reached for the button to answer the call.
Episode 2: Raid on Ithrieen
2 months have passed since that fateful day, since the Battle of Yavin and the subsequent evacuation. Most of the Rebel Staff and personnel were able to escape, but many others weren't so lucky. During those months, the Mon Calamari would officially join the Rebel Alliance, bringing with them their impressive ships. Most were destroyed at a surprise attack at a remote space station, set up by the Queen of Shu-Torun, Trios, who was loyal to the Empire. Vader came in with a giant fleet, headed by the newly completed Executor; this was the Super Star Destroyer's first appearance. Against all odds, the pilots were able to get some of the ships to safety, but most, including several high-ranking Alliance leaders, met their end. It was here, after hearing about their exploits, that Luke Skywalker was truly inspired by the sacrifices of Rogue One and officially formed Rogue Squadron, the legendary fighter squadron, in their honor. Leia would eventually get her revenge on the Queen, but that's another story.
While that was happened, the Alliance was more or less scattered to the corners of the galaxy, struggling to stay alive whilst the Empire breathed down their necks. Most couldn't show themselves in imperial territory to buy supplies from sympathetic merchants. Thanks to this, they resorted to the good ol' standby known as Guerrilla Tactics- hit the target as fast as you can and get out as fast as you can. Until they can find a new base and replenish their capital ship supply, this was all they could do.
As for Renegade Squadron, they were busy little bees. They learned from Princess Leia that her father, Bail, had encoded several locations for new bases inside a Holocron, which was one of the few things that survived Alderaans' destruction. After dealing with a Imperial patrol, they obtained the Holocron and transmitted the contents to Alliance High Command. After a run-in with IG-88 on Ord Mantell, they hurried to rescue Ackbar, who had been captured while investigating Sealucami, one of the planets on Bail's list. They rescued him above Kessel and hurried to Tatooine to rescue his crew, who had been sold by Boba Fett- the one who captured Ackbar in the first place. They were successful, unaware that Fett hid a tracker inside their R2 Unit, which lead the Empire to Sealucami. That was one world crossed off the list.
In the two months since Yavin, the Alliance was trying to find a new place to call home. Most of the worlds were no good- some had been converted into Imperial planets while others had their own set of problems. They were running out of places fast. Now, things had become a routine: the Alliance would raid a Imperial facility, steal what they need, and get out before anyone was the wiser. That's usually how things went.
Even Renegade Squadron was no stranger to this- some made their lives off of it...
Ithrieen, a rocky world located in the Mid Rim, was a hard place to build a mining facility, but the Empire, in its tenacity, ultimately found a way to make it work, installing a facility near the equator. The entire planet was covered in rocky crevices and mounts; it's a miracle a ship can fly here. That's what made it so appealing to hot shot racers who viewed the canyons and mesas as a 'gnarly' course. That was until the Empire came to harvest the Phrik the planet was lined with.
The mission for Renegade Squadron was simple: Steal a few ships. Nothing major- it could be done with their eyes closed. it wasn't the first time any of them had swiped ships, much less Imperial ships, so this was going to be a breeze. Their targets were five-fold: steal 2 Tartan Patrol Cruisers, two Sentinel Shuttles, and a Y4 Transport. This was more or less a personal mission for them as they needed defenses and transports for their base- at least this way, it also hurts the Empire.
The Sentinel Shuttle was the longer cousin of the Lambda- it could hold more people and even AT-PT's, whcih made sense as it was their military shuttle. the Y4 is a obscure type of Transport, having been first built 600 years ago. The Y4 Transports used by the Empire was one of the many ways AT units smaller then the AT-AT could be transported. Labeled a flying brick by its appearance, the Y4 can carry 4 AT-ST's or 8 AT-PT's, and have room for 40 troops and 10 speeder bikes. Its only defense was a single laser turret at the top.
10 members of Renegade Squadron were assigned to this task- since this was an Imperial facility, those assigned had to be human, as any Aliens would be caught and put to slave labor immediately. That being said, they were forced to bring in a couple of Aliens- the Ithireen facility ran on both slave and droid labor. The aliens brought were a Trandoshan pirate named Llith'wich, or Liw for short, who joined Renegade Squadron a couple weeks ago when the Empire destroyed his base, and Orshon, the Twi'lek male from Yavin. Also assigned to this mission was Takas'Reen, or Ren for short, a member of the mysterious Talortai species, who was piloting the escape ship left in orbit if things went sour, and the rest were humans: the most notable are Lowell, a Alderaanian who was offworld when the planet was destroyed, and whose unhinged tactics belonged with Renegade more then it did the normal Alliance motto, Zhane, a crackshot if there ever was one wanted for 3 murders on Taris, and Tany, a compulsive gambler. The rest were just petty criminals.
For the plan to work, they'd need to wait for the Tartans to return from patrol, which was today. six would steal the Tartans- 3 to each ship, 2 to the shuttles- one each, and 2 to the Y4. Luck was on their side as the two Sentinels and the Y4 were also docked on landing platforms, waiting to be taken. Today was the slaves break for the week, and nearly all personnel were on duty to make sure they didn't riot.
Well... two did, but it was part of the plan.
Several "troopers" dragged the yelling Tandoshan and Twi'lek to holding cells to cool them off after starting a brawl that left the two of them beaten, with welts and bruises all over.
"Let me at him! Let me at him!!" Liw screamed as he was dragged down the hallway by 5 stormtroopers- Trandoshans are strong lizards; they have to be to hunt Wookiees. "I'll make you regret ever coming to this station!!!"
"Make me, lizardlips!" Orshon yelled back as he tried to get loose from the two that held him.
Liw was thrown into his own cell. He slammed down on the floor as the cuffs came off. He got up and snarled, darting for the exit as the door slammed shut in front of him. "When i get out of here, i'm gonna have all your livers for supper, then i will use your head thingies as ornaments on my shuttle!!"
"Do that and i'll clog up your systems, you overgrown Tash-taight!" Orshon was thrown into his cell, which slammed shut on his face as well.
"Lively pair." The woman in charge of the facility said as she walked in, flanked by a pair of guards. "Much too lively for my tastes." She leaned forward, staring into Liw's cell. He swiped his hand out at her, growling and snarling like a wild animal. This wasn't her first experience with Trandoshans- she knows how far their reach was. "We'll lobotomize them tomorrow- that should get rid of their violent tendencies."
"Why not today?" One of the troopers asked.
"Because the Holonet signal is at full strength today and i wish to take full advantage of that before we lose it again." She turned to look at the guards. "I trust you can keep an eye on them without hassle?" They all nodded. "Good. If they get too rowdy, don't be afraid to blast them." She left the way they came in.
"The Holonet, ey?" The same trooper responded. "Good- i got 5000 credits on Sebulba that he'll win the Nal Hutta Cup this year."
"What? No way." Another trooper replied as they followed the head honcho out. "Bullseye has this year down."
"Bullseye hasn't won a race in 3 years- he's a washout." The conversation lasted as they walked on out. The troopers keeping an eye on the aliens watched as they left, waiting. They waited until it was silent.
The closest trooper slowly reached his blaster. "Aaaaaaand..." The voices suddenly cut off as the door closed. That will do it. "They gone." 3 of the 7 troopers suddenly sprung into action and incapacitated the other four- three were taken out by stun blasts, but the final dodged the one fired at him and reached for his commlink. He was pushed down, knocking his helmet off, and was knocked out by a punch to the face.
"And i thought what we did was violent." Orshon joked as he and Liw watched from their cells as their 'captors' salvaged blasters and the cell keys from their 'comrades.'
"Be glad they stopped us when they did." Liw said in a more calm manner. "I really would've ripped off your head thingies." Orshon shot a mean glance towards the lizard, who wasn't fazed at all.
One of the troopers stood off and took off his helmet. "I can't breath in these things." Lowell panted with a grunt. He had pitch-black hair- almost like the night sky, pure green eyes with a yellow iris, and a single scar across his nose. The other two went to release their friends while he fumbled around with the commlink, changing the frequency to the one they were using. "How's it looking up there?"
The other five members of their raid party were up at the landing platforms- three were disguised as dock workers, loading weapons and fuel into a Tie Bomber. The last two were also in Stormtrooper gear. One of the 'dock workers' stopped what he was doing to answer the call. "It's going well... so far." The blonde-haired Zhane said. "The Sentinels and the Y4 are still here, and i can see the Tartans coming in." He looked up to the sky and saw the pair of ships approaching.
"{Good. For once, a plan is going according to plan. It's a good feeling.}"
"Don't count your hens before they hatch." Tany, a blue-haired, no nonsense woman replied. "I heard reports that the Star Destroyer patrol will be back soon."
"But that's just a Victory-class with a Pelta- we can handle those."
"{It's still a Star Destroyer, and even the small ones have teeth. Contact Livvy and Vimei. I get teh sneaking suspicion that this won't be a quiet raid, and i would like to have them on standby.}"
"Yeah, yeah." Zhane blew off. "I'll deal with Vimei- you deal with your sister. She scares the crap out of me."
"Wimp." Tany joked.
Lowell switched frequency's once more as their alien companions were released. Everyone took weapons off the downed troopers- if his suspicions are correct, they'll need the extra firepower. "Livvy, you there?" No response... though it sounded like there was snoring. Lowell's eyes lidded and his lips twisted. "... Livvy!"
He heard her snort awake. "{Huh? wha? wh... yaaaaawn.... was that necessary?}"
"Yes it was." He and the rest began to move towards the exit. "The plan is about to be put into action. Warm up the Requiem."
"{Expecting trouble?}"
"In our line of work, we always need to expect trouble." One of their compatriots opened the door and they walked out. "You know we'll need you and the Ballest once you see explosions, or if the Destroyer comes back from patrol."
"{Fiiiiiiine.}" She shut off her end.
"And that lazy bag of bones is our best pilot?" Liw responded. "We're doomed."
"Ever the optimist." One of the 'troopers' commented as they made their way out of the holding cell area.
Right on schedule, the two Tartan Gunboats returned from their patrol and landed at the landing pads. Steam hissed out as their pads touched metal. The ramps lowered and the crews descended from their ships. Each ship had a crew of 70, which Renegade did not have for this operation, but that was expected as this is for a quick getaway instead of a prolonged fight. Still... that means they can't use the weaponry for defense, not unless there's a automated subroutine they can activate.
"Fuel these up, and be quick about it." One of the pilots commented as they went inside.
"Fuel these up." Zhane mockingly repeated once they were out of eatshot before sticking his tongue out.
"How mature." Tany joked again.
Lowell and his group reached the exit from the hall that led out to the landing platforms. They skidded to a halt and hid behind the walls beside the door, waiting for the combined 140 people to enter the base. The group on the landing platform did as they were asked and fueled up the Tartans; they would need it for their getaway.
Once the crews had entered the base, the rebels waited for the main doors to close before they made their move. "Aaaaand...." The doors clanged shut.
Now the raid was on.
Lowell's group came out of the doorway and headed straight for the platforms. They moved as quick as they could, knowing that someone could come out at any moment and turn this stealth operation into a chaotic mess. As they made it to the platforms, Liw spotted several red barrels, filled with fuel. He grinned as he got a evil little idea. He ran over to one, put it on it's side, and rolled it back to the main entrance.
"What are you doing?" Lowell sharply whispered.
"Planning ahead." The Trandoshan sneered. He reached the entrance way and placed it to one side. He ran back and did the same with another.
Lowell's group reached the platforms and looked back as Liw came back for one more. He rolled it back, but stopped just a couple meters short of the entry way. "... now i think i get what he's thinking of." Lowell said.
Liw found a hose and attached it to the top of the barrel. He kicked it on and fuel sprayed out like a hydrant. He aimed the hose, spraying fuel in one direction, towards the barrel he placed to the left of the door. He stopped spraying, leaving enough fuel in this one for a explosive finish. He grabbed one last barrel and placed it near the nearly spent one. He did the same with this, spraying towards the barrel on the right. Once again, he stopped before it was drained. he took a few steps back and checked the charge on the blaster he swiped before running back to join the rest.
"Wicked." Zhane commented. "I love it."
Lowell put a finger to his chin, deciding who would get what ship. He snapped his fingers when he came to a decision. "Ok, Zhane, you and Lithy'll take one of the Sentinels. Tany, you and Boosk will take the other. Orshon and Xeli will take the Y4. Liw, you, Bricks, and Tarrly will take one of the Tartans. Me, Orson, and Gail will take the last."
"How long till they finish fueling up?" Orson asked.
Tany kicked off the hose, letting it spray the last of the fuel onto the platform. "Now. I don't want to wait around for that Victory to show up." She headed to her ship, with her copilot following after her.
Begin Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_2K7QNtpI The Falcon - The Force Awakens soundtrack
"Rebels!!!" Someone shouted. They all looked back to the entrance and saw one of the troopers they had stunned in the cells was back up- based on how his armor looked and his lack of a helmet, he was the one that was punched out instead of stunned. He ran to the nearest station and hit the alarm button. "We have Rebels stealing our ships!!" Alarms began to ring.
"Dammit!" Lowell shouted. Zhane took a shot and put down the trooper- he was a crackshot, getting him right in the head. "Ok, we're going loud! Go go go!!" Everyone ran to the ships they were to take.
The doors to the base began to open back up once Liw reached his cruiser. He grabbed the blaster as his two fellows ran up the ramp to enter the belly of the beast. He stopped at the foot of the ramp and took aim at the barrels he had placed. He waited for the right moment to get the most amount of damage.
"Will you hurry up and get in already!?!" Tarrly yelled to him.
"Just... one... second..." The doors opened and the guards began to pour out. He grinned and fired, hitting one of the nearly empty barrels. It still had enough fuel to explode. This began a chain reaction, exploding the other barrel. The flames sped along the fuel lanes he had made, all the way towards the full and filled barrels near the door. Once it reached, both full barrels exploded. Many troopers were taken out by the heat and flames, while everyone else was trapped behind a triangle of fire with no way out without getting singed.
"Wow." Lithy merely said. Liw grinned triumphantly before running up the ramp. He and Tarrly reached the top as the ramp closed.
"Savage plan. Remind me not to piss him off." Gail commented as she took the co-pilots seat of the Tartan. Lowell took the pilots seat while Orson went to navigation.
Even though there was a wall of fire preventing the Imperial forces from charging them, that didn't stop them from firing at the escaping ships. Their bolts bounced off the heavier ships, but the Sentinels and Y4 took some hits to the hull. One trooper unknowingly got lucky and hit a vital part of one Sentinels wing.
The woman in charge saw all this happening from her office and, of course, got angry as can be. She slammed her fist onto the intercom, "Launch all TIES! I don't care if they have to shoot down our own ships- we can't let the rebels have them!"
The order was broadcast across the facility, which prompted the Rebels to move even faster if they wanted to get these ships in the air before the real terrors take flight.
"Can this bucket of bolts charge up any faster!?!" Zhane yelled as he pressed the startup button multiple times. His co-pilot looked at him with lidded eyes- a skilled shooter he may be, but a pilot he is not. She moved him aside and got in the pilots seat of the Sentinel, successful igniting the engine.
Lowell's Tartan was the first up off the platform. He was piloting the ship, and so drifted to where he was directly in front of the hanger doors. His co-pilot went to the gunners seat and activated the weaponry that were located on the hull. Tartan's are anti-fighter frigates; their role is to decimate enemy fighters until they are scrap metal. But it doesn't matter what role a ship has- they all do the same damage to buildings and organics, which is what he banked on as his ship opened fire.
Laser fire ripped through the facility, blasting apart the Ties that rested on the racks nearest the opening. One of the lasers hit a stack of missiles for the Bombers, causing a chain reaction that sent the missiles flying in all directions within the hanger, causing even more destruction. They weren't going to send anything to chase after them anytime soon.
"I love my job!" Lowell laughed as he kept the ship steady. Soon, the remaining four ships lifted up from their platforms and turned to fly as far away from this place as possible.
"{We're ready to go.}" Tany reported over the comms.
"Alright." Lowell turned the ship to line up with the rest. "Now let's get out of here before..." They should've gone sooner as in the skies above, a Victory Star Destroyer jumped out of hyperspace. The side wings opened up, signalling it was moving into combat maneuvers. That means Ties weren't going to be far behind. "... they... come... back... um... we may be in hot water here."
"{I wonder why that is, idiot!}" Liw shouted.
A Victory Star Destroyer can hold upwards of 24 Ties- doesn't matter the variant. The one guarding the mining facility carried within it Fighters and Interceptors and it was preparing to launch, meaning that the Rebels were going to have a hell of a time getting away from here. If they can at all.
Lowell's eyes darted back and forth, looking for a way to escape from the Ties. He noticed the many canyons and fissures that surrounded the base- that was their only plan. Going up would be suicide- the Tartans may be able to tear through the fighters like butter, but against a capital ship, even one as small as a Victory, is still dangerous, and they would be able to cover the Y4 and the Sentinels. "Into the canyons." He ordered.
"{Into the What?!}"
"I said into the canyons." He moved the control stick to aim towards the nearest canyon. "We make them work for their prizes. If we follow the canyon, we should get out of range of that Destroyer, and this way, we only have one direction to defend ourselves- Up."
"{You're insane, you know that, right?}" Orshon said.
"I've been called worse."
All five ships took a hard turn to the left and made a beeline straight towards the canyons- Zhane's shuttle had a trail of smoke trailing behind from where the random shot hit. As the Tartans were the most heavily armed and the biggest, they were the indicator to see if they could fit into the canyon at all. They could, but they didn't have enough room to maneuver- this was going to be a tight line. Lowell's Tartan was the first one in, followed by the Y4. The two shuttles followed, flanked by the other Tartan. This was as best a flight convoy they'll get that can deliver the maximum protection.
Up in the sky, the Victory launched it's entire compliment of Ties- 10 Fighters and 14 Interceptors, and they all went straight for the escaping commandeered ships. The Destroyers main turbolasers positioned themselves to fire down towards the convoy of ships. The sky light up with green as laser fire sped over the TiEs and impacted the surface with intent to kill. Speaking of lasers, the batteries on the Tartans moved to aim up towards the incoming TIE swarm, as did the Y4's singular dorsal turret. Once they were in range, the battle was on as the Ties fired at the stolen vessels, and the vessels returned in kind, filling the sky with fire.
Back at the mining facility, the last remaining few TiEs that weren't destroyed in the metallic bloodbath brought upon by their own cruiser were ready to fly out. The wind generated from their launch would extinguish the fire on the platform, at least in theory. The six remaining TIES launched out of the hanger...
... and into a hailstorm of lasers that came from the sky. The culprit of such a surprise attack flew from the direction of the sun, firing it's full compliment of lasers non-stop. The ship in question was a Y-Wing heavily modified so extensively, it's now firmly in the Ugly Category. The Y-Wing had the same frame of a stock Y-Wing, but a third nacelle came out of the top of the frame, and all three nacelle's had the wings and engines of TiE Interceptors installed, easily making it the fastest bomber in galactic history, rivaling speeds of the X-Wing. The laser cannons on the Interceptor Wings remained, making the already devastating bomber even more deadly, rendering it capable of holding its own in a dogfight. Other then the added engine nacelle and the Interceptor wings, it remained more or less the same ship, save for the red and yellow paint job.
The Y-Wing kept up its non-stop barrage, destroying every single tie that flew out of the hanger. The hailstorm of lasers pelted the platform with enough force to saw it off from the facility. When enough holes were carved in, the platform tore away, felling down into the canyon, taking all the remaining ships with it.
The Y-Wing pulled up with a turn that would've sheered a standard Y-Wing and headed straight towards the swarm of TiE's attacking the convoy. Bursts of red and green tore through the Empire's forces like they were nothing, accompanied by mind-boggling maneuvers that would be impossible for the bomber to pull off if not for that extra power.
"{Sorry i took so long.}" Livvy said over the comms, blasting a Interceptor to pieces with one burst. "{Someone left a perfectly good landing platform and i just couldn't bare to see it still standing.}"
"{Nice to see you too, sis.}" Lowell responded, maneuvering the ship to avoid a natural land bridge. The other ships followed, but Zhane's shuttle just had to fly over, clipping the underside.
"{Where's my ship, girl?}" Liw demanded.
"{Currently distracting the Victory to keep it from firing on you. You're welcome, by the way.}"
"{It's what?! Livvy, if that ship blows up, i'm gonna cut that mess you call hair right off and will use it as a oil rag.}"
"{Touch my hair and die.}"
The ship Liw was worried about being destroyed was his own ship- a Braha'tok Gunship called the Ballest. It was the Rebel's equivalent to the Tartan, but a dozen or so meters longer and not as maneuverable. Regardless, it served the Alliance well so far. The Braha'tok gunships hail from the planet Dornea, hence the other name for the vessels, the Dornean Gunship. The planet suffered a surprise attack by the Empire when they came to attack Mon Calamari, but despite being almost in the middle of nowhere, Dornea was, and still is, able to hold its own against the Empire with its impressive yet small navy and military for a almost-isolationist people. Even before then, the planet sent a few gunships to the Alliance, as they knew war was inevitable- they even took part at Scarif. The one belonging to Liw- he stole it 30 years ago an d has grown attached to that tough little ship.
The Ballest came down out of the sky and fired all its weaponry upon the Victory- it may be 10 times smaller then the Destroyer, but it's like a fly to a human; it may be small, but it can be annoying, and that is exactly what the Ballest is doing, maneuvering around the Victory, drawing the Destroyers fire towards it and not towards the ground. As it was a speedy gunship, it kept at a distance to avoid the Destroyer's fire through speed. If the Gunship is lucky, it could probably take a few turbolasers out.
Back down below, between the fire from the Tartans and the Ugly Y-Wing, it's amazing that 17 TiEs were still up in the air, causing mayhem to the crews. There were some skilled pilots here and they were showing off with their maneuverability. One interceptor rolled to avoid cannon fire and launched a burst of lasers, striking the back of the Y4- a few more inches and it would've hit the engines.
"{It there is one nice thing i can say about the Empire, they are tenacious.}" Gail said.
"{Why are you praising our enemy?}" Lithy said.
"{I'm just saying- they don't know when to quit.}"
The Interceptor was blow out of the sky and crashed into the canyon walls. The crash caused a landslide where it hit, which was nowhere near the escaping rebels... but it did give the TiE pilots a few ideas. They opened fire on the walls ahead of the convoy, causing more landslides in a attempt to bury them. They can salvage the ships from their burial.
"{Now that's just evil!!!}" Zhane exclaimed. The cannons of the Tartans moved to fire on the falling rocks, to prevent the plot of burying them from coming to fruition. Unfortunately... the TiE pilots planned for that and used the opportunity to fire upon the convoy, as they were all distracted by the rocks and boulders.
From behind and in front, the TiE's swooped in, firing their cannons relentlessly. The lasers struck the hulls of the ships, punching holes and cracking plating. All the TiE's blazed over, leaving the ships damaged and a shuttle not doing so good. A lucky shot from the Y4 cannon clipped off the left wing of a Fighter, sending it spinning out on control into a natural formation. Small spark explosions ripped through the cockpit of Zhane's shuttle, but he ignored it. His co-pilot wasn't, but he was stubborn.
"{Now would be a good time to try to leave!}" Livvy proclaimed as she took down another TiE. "{Another run like that and you are all scrap.}"
Orshon's ship shook from a boulder leaving a sizable dent in the side of the Y4. "{But there are still TiE's in the air, and we aren't out of range of that Destroyer.}"
"{But you are also half blown up. Take the risk!}"
"{She's right.}" Lowell said. "{Another attack run by those TiE's and we're dead.}" The Tartan he was piloting pulled up towards the sky. "{We don't have any choice- we're between a wall of rocks and a hard ship, and i'm taking the hard ship.}" As they truly did had little choice in the matter, the pilots all turned their ships upwards, heading for space and their escape from this rocky hellscape.
The smoking Sentinel took a wider turn, taking longer to pull up then the others- even the blocky transport was pulling a better maneuver then it. Tiny explosions riddled the bottom of the wing.
"{Come on, you bucket of bolts. Cooperate with me!}" Zhane shouted.
"{What's going on?}"
"{It's nothing i can't handle.}"
More tiny explosions ripped through the underbelly. Before long, the right wing was sheered right off, falling towards the surface and leaving the shuttle crippled. "{Like hell you can!}" Lithy shouted. "{Our wing just tore off- someone on the ground must've gotten a lucky shot! There is no way we're getting this shuttle back to base in one pi--}"
A TiE interceptor roared right in from above, firing all cylinders. The lasers pierced the cockpit and tore through through the innards. It passed over the shuttle as it erupted into a blazing fireball that fell back towards the ground.
"{ZHANE! LITHY!!}"
The Interceptor passed over the shuttle as it erupted into a blazing fireball that streaked back towards the ground. The raid crew was in shock at the sudden loss of two of their comrades, and the prize they were to take back with them.
Lowell sank in his seat and hit his fist on the arm rest. "Dammit...." The ship violently shook as the few remaining TiE's kept up their assault, and now a few of the Victory's guns were joining in on the barrage. His eyes were lit with the fires of hatred as he turned his grief into rage; he grabbed the controls and sheered a sharp turn to the right, barreling towards the Victory.
"Are you insane?!" Orson and Gail exclaimed as the ship shot towards the Destroyer, rocking from all the flak hurled its way.
"Just fire the damn guns!!!"
All the Tartan's weaponry faced forwards and fired non-stop. Between it and the Dornean, the shields took a major beating. As the Tartan got closer, the shields were penetrated and the lasers made contact, destroying several of the starboard heavy turrets and one of the sensor balls all Destroyers have on top. As both gunships passed over the bulk, the Ugly Y-Wing came streaking in and performed a bombing run, destroying all of the port-side cannons. The bombs must've hit something vital as more explosions popped up and the port wing tore off.
End Song.
As fire rose from the wounded and listing Victory, the remaining TiE's, which numbered only a paltry four, turned back to render aid to their crippled home, while the Tartan, Dornean, and the Ugly Y-Wing turned towards their fellows to finally escape with their prize. This was supposed to be a easy raid... now they lost two of their comrades to a TiE pilot who's likely cheering at their kill.
The ships regrouped as they rose out of the atmosphere and out into the cold vacuum of space. Everyone was stunned by the suden loss of their comrades. They may be criminals, but they're still sentient beings with feelings, dammit.
"{Zhane... Lithy... i can't believe their gone.}" Orshon somberly said.
"{I know.}" Liw added in. "{That prick still owes me 30 credits.}" Well... most of them were sorrowful.
"{You ass- our comrades just died, and you're more focused on the money?}"
"Shut up, all of you..." Lowell sighed. "Let's... let's just get out of here before reinforcements pop up." Everyone silently agreed with him- this was not the time and place to mourn. Gail moved to his controls to set the course to take them home. "We'll sort this out when we get back to the Spearhook."
"You may find spare credits in his quarters." Orson suggested. Gail rolled her eyes and pushed the lever forward. All six ships jumped into hyperspace.
Back down on the ground, the surviving base personnel were working nonstop to extinguish the fires. Some were dangerously close to the fuel lines, and if they ignite, the whole base blows to smithereens. Only the four TiE's in the air near the Victory were all that remained of their entire complement, and gathering supplies was going to be difficult with their landing pads at the bottom of the canyon. Only one pad was left, and it was for the bases commander... and she was simultaneously angry and somber.
"Hurry up and put out those fires." She ordered. "If the fuel lines get caught, we're all going up." The troopers and slave workers who survived worked at 110 percent; none of them want to die any time soon. As she was in another part of the facility, she go through this mildly unscathed. A rogue flame did get her on the shoulder, but she quickly brushed that off. She sat down on the crate and leaned forward, placing her head in her fingers.
"What a mess." Her second in command commented. His left arm was in a sling from shrapnel that got in. He's lucky that's all he got, since he was in the hanger during the initial barrage. Parts of a bomber fell from above, crashing down on another bomber. "I wasn't aware Rebels were capable of such ferocity."
"They destroyed the Death Star, and this is what you are surprised by?" She looked up at him. He sucked in his lips as he looked away. "... besides, that... no, they usually aren't this aggressive. Their leaders are Mon Mothma and Jan Dodonna; they abhor wanton destruction like this, and Rebels would jump at the chance to free slaves like they did with the Wookiee's a couple years ago. No, there was no way this was a Rebel raid- it had to have been pirates or a gang."
"That would explain that odd Y-Wing then. I thought they only had two engine nacelles, not three with Interceptor wings."
"I'm familiar with it." A random trooper standing guard said. The two commanders looked to him. "My cousin works at a mechanics shop on the Wheel- pilots do this all the time: they combine various parts that would't normally go together to create something referred to as an Ugly. I've seen a couple- i saw the body of a AT-PT welded together with the wings of one of those old ARC-170's, and my cousin swears he saw the cockpit of a Starviper being used as the bridge of a Corvette."
"You're speaking out of line, trooper." The second snarled.
The commander shut him up with a wave of his hand- she wanted to hear this. "These... "Uglies"... they're common in the criminal underworld?"
"Most of the time. It's usually done by pilots who are too cheap or have no money to spend, forcing them to salvage what they can."
"So they're rare?"
"Somewhat. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Rebels were using Uglies as well."
The commander put a finger to her chin whilst rubbing her face with her other hand. "... it's not much to go on, but it's still a solid lead to find these pirates or unhinged Rebels. We'll need to put a call out."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, ma'am." One of the technicians said as she approached. "The barrage took out the communications room- there's no way to send word to the outside, and the only other vessel capable of sending a transmission is the Integration... and it's not in good shape."
The Second was puzzled in his shock; they could damage a Destroyer? "They damaged a Star Destroyer?"
"Yes, they did. According to observations, the modified Y-Wing performed maneuvers a ship its class should not have been able to. It took out most of the TiE's and perform a bombing run on the Integration, damaging its port side and severing its port wing. Based on the damage, i assume that 233 people may've lost their lives on the ship."
The second added the numbers up in his mind. "Adding to our casualties here, that brings it up to 258." The commander buried her face in her hands. "And with the exception of your personal shuttle, we have no other way off this planet. Receiving supplies is going to be impossible until repairs are made."
The commander rolled her hands down her eyes, pulling down her eyelids. This day was bad enough already, but once her admiral learns about this... she won't live to see the next morning. "Uuuugh... Seerdon is going to flay us all alive for this..."
Episode 3: The Gambler's Pride
Tatooine... a lawless desert world deep within the Outer Rim territories. A wretched hive scum and villainy, the planet is famous for only six things: the sand, moisture farmers, the Tusken Raiders, the Jawas, it's owned by Jabba the Hutt, and the birthplace of the Republic hero who 'died' under mysterious circumstances: Anakin Skywalker. It was soon home to his former master and brother-in-arms Obi-Wan Kenobi, who changed his name to Ben, and his secret son Luke, who he believed died when he 'killed' Padme Amidala.
While this seemingly benign desert world that played many key roles in galactic history would make a great base... it's not where Renegade Squadron was located.
Begin Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXEVQwqnW3Q Alliance Assembly - Return of the Jedi soundtrack
The six ships from the Ithrieen raid: The Two Tartan Cruisers, the surviving Sentinal Shuttle, the Y4 Transport, the Dornean Gunship, and the Ugly Y-Wing, exited out of hyperspace near the planet, but it wasn't their destination. They turned and headed deep into the system, away from the planet. When most people come to systems, they automatically assume the planet they travel too is the only thing of interest. If only they explored further.
The ships flew for several hours, until the planet was another dot in the night sky. They approached a ruined planetoid that was crumbling apart, a effect of over-mining centuries ago. They passed the ruined world and headed towards a ruby-colored nebula at the edge of the system. Nestled between the nebula and the slowly forming asteroid belt was a infamous station.
The homebase for Renegade Squadron was located in a place the Empire would think is too on-the-nose, a place nobody would believe Rebel terrorists would hide out as it would go against their usual M.O. Most honest people try to avoid this place like the plague, but such was the fate of a infamous space station within the Tatoo system.
Welcome to the Gamblers Pride, a station built into a asteroid that has existed for more then 1000 years and has seen numerous conflicts which had damaged it. After so many centuries, it had received many new upgrades. It barely looks like its original self.. It's a portable station too, which is surprising for its size. Tatoo is its current location- previously, it was above Toydaria, but a... incident with the Hutts forced the station to relocate.
The current owners of the Pride are the Leuata Family, a family of formerly predominant Toydairan nobles who were... forced to leave after the incident. The one who owns the Pride fully is their daughter Roz, a Toydarian who has no love for the Empire after they killed her twin sister, who was also named Roz.
The current incarnation of the Gamblers Pride is a hodgepodge of scrapped, savaged, and cannibalized ships recovered from space battles or found on the junkyard planet of Raxus Prime. The Pride was originally a hollowed out asteroid shaped like a potato, and it used to be a mining operation by a now-defunct mining guild- the same guild that harvested the nearby planetoid to its crumbling status. The asteroid was taken and used as a base by pirates before finally being abandoned and found by another group of pirates who turned it into the station it is today.
The asteroid rests at a impressive size-- 4 full miles in length and 2 miles in height at both ends. Several Lucrehulk hanger arms were welded into the sides of the station- two on both sides, facing opposite directions-- It looked like puckering lips. At the back end of the asteroid were a large array of engines from all the salvaged ships. There were at least 100 engines at the back, all from ships as small as Hutt frigates to as large as a ISD. This is a portable station, after all.
Stretching out of the dip were dozens of spires and towers. These serve as guest rooms and living quarters for customers who stay overnight. Below the spires were domed habitats that offered a great view of space. The habitats include nature parks and deserts for those who require those environments to live. There is even a artificial beach and a cantina that came with its own band: Merv Chalais and the Supernova Gang; they go back and forth between Gambler's Pride and a cantina on Tatooine's surface. Several antennas stretched out of the uppermost spire and is connected to a salvaged Old Republic Shield Generator. It was abandoned by the Old Republic after the end of the last Sith War. The shield protects the spires and the habitats. There were several Star Destroyed shield orbs that cast shields over other parts of the station. Hidden all over the asteroid were hundreds of quadlaser and turbolaser turrets taken from every salvaged ship they found, hidden within the rock until they are needed to defend the base. The Lucrehulk hanger arms had exposed turrets to show they aren't defenseless- it's the hidden ones that are the true teeth.
The main "command bridge" of the Pride was the bridge of a salvaged Valor-class Star Cruiser used by the Old Republic 3600 years ago. Well, that was the inspiration. The design, a 700 meter long bulbous 'boat' with bulkheads covering 'buildings' on both sides and with a humongous engine block on the bottom, was brought back into the mainstream 36 years ago when it was used as the design for a luxury yacht. Pirates were able to capture one to use as a base, but in their raid, accidentally blasted it apart. Roz, being a shifty business woman, was able to buy it off of them and stripped it down for parts, seeing useful parts where the pirates did not. The hull was used to reinforce parts of the base that were lacking, and hide the exposed shield generator. Whatever decks could be salvaged were used to replace several of the innards after a customer caused a major hubbub that destroyed that part of the station. Everything fancy had been removed and built into luxury suites within the spires. And the bridge of the ship, along with the dual-bridges of a Venator-class Star Destroyer- one on each side, were positioned at the top of the tallest tower. Everything else that couldn't be saved was melted down.
Inside the hollowed asteroid were 15 decks, all for various use. The top 5 decks are used as casinos, racetracks, living quarters, fighting pits, and for the zen folk, meditation chambers. There's something for everyone here. Decks 6 through 11 were the hanger bays to be used as parking for the many comers and goers. The salvaged Lucrehulk arms are connected to 6 hanger decks for them all to land in. Due to the size of the Lucrehulk arms, however, there is a height limit. Anything bigger then a Blockade Runner was not going to get in. The pirates thought ahead and added docking rings to the spires. the bottom 4 decks of the asteroid were used as the cargo hold to house all the stations food, fuel, and air supply. The very back of all 15 decks housed the enormous engine room, one that was as tall as all the decks.
Docked with the Gambler's Pride was a modified Valor-Class Cruiser called the Spearhook. During the Clone Wars, there was a battle not recorded in the log books about a battle at the edge of the Tatoo system between a Acclamator called the Prosecutor and several Munificent frigates over the control of the Valor as it was holding a very important Republic dignitary who met a Separatist dignitary to formulate a peace treaty that they hoped would inspire their governments to seek action. That did not come to pass as all four warships destroyed each other and damaged the Valor to the point where it was abandoned.
After jumping the Gambler's Pride to its current location mere days before the end of the war, the first thing Roz saw when she saw the debris fields was something the station could've used before: Defense. She sought to repair the Valor to fighting status and used the remains of the nearby ships to do so. Roz brought a lot of help in from shipwrights and freelance constructors to repair the, including the the fabled Freemaker and Azzameen families. She was able to repair it to fighting status before Renegade Squadron came.
During the reconstruction process, almost all of the inside remained intact, but the Spearhook did receive extensive modifications that made it not only a yacht, but a powerful warhorse in disguise. Its old reactor was coupled with two reactors that survived the fight, belonging to two of the Munificent. And at the tail end of the ship, the observation spire of a Providence-class cruiser was installed and turned into a secondary command bridge in case the Spearhooks main bridge below was destroyed.
The turbolasers, heavy turbolasers, quad turbolasers, and point/fighter defense turrets of salvaged ships were split up; half were installed everywhere around the Spearhook, giving it some extra firepower and defensive capabilities that it didn't have before, along with its Shield Generator, making almost untouchable. As for the power needed to operate everything, they recovered the power generator and installed it at the back and on the fin, protected by layers of scavenged hull.
The Providences and Munificents still had droid crews, but most were deactivated. They, along with the droids still fit for active duty on the trashed ships, were able to reactivate the combined 100-strong engine crew that worked in areas no organic would dare tread, several hundred Battledroids that served as security and spare reinforcements, 4 Superbattle Droids to serve as security for the engine bay, 2 Droidekas to guard the main bridge, 2 Droid Gunships, and 2 dozen Vultures, Hyena's, and Tri-Fighters- eight of each. All the droids had their recharge stations installed. The droids do most, if not all, of the heavy work. The Freemakers own Battledroid, Roger, was able to program them all unique personalities, and the Battledroid called Liste was chosen to be the CIS droids personal representative. From the Providence, all they could get were a couple of LAAT's and some DC-17 Customization Blaster Rifles.
The Spearhook was near completion by the time Renegade Squadron arrived; at that point, they were just a GR-75, several personally owned ships, and a beat-up Corellian Corvette. Taloco knew Roz- he saved her life back when her family got themselves exiled. She owed him a couple favors, which he called in before handing negotiations over to Col. The first was to let Renegade Squadron use Gambler's Pride as their base of operations. She agreed to that, with the addendum that they have to pay for everything: she isn't running a charity. The second was the option to use the Spearhook. She was strongly hesitant to let them use her new baby- she spent a fortune on repairs and modifications. She was able to negotiate for them to use the salvaged combat droids and the LAAT's- the engineering crew, space defenses, and special guards were off limits-, and give them their own designated section of the massive hanger all to themselves, free of charge, and at least two missions involving the Spearhook. They accepted.
In the two months since then, after proving their worth with a couple successful raids, the Rebellion was kind enough to give Renegade Squadron a few new ships to use: a single Corellian Corvette called the Wounded Bow, a single Sphyrna-Class corvette- best known as the Hammerhead Corvette- called Chori's Den, a missile frigate in the form of a DP20 Frigate named Arrow's Light, a YV-929 Armed Freighter named Tubor, and several X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings; around 10 of each ship, three recovered LAAT dropships on top of the two given by Roz, and the last three Z-95 Headhunter starfighters under their control for them to use. Renegade Squadron may be the Alliances dirty and secretive black ops division, but that doesn't mean they're leaving them out to dry. This was the only offensive support they'd get.
Along with the ships the Rebels graciously gifted to them, Renegade Squadron also had ships of their own, such as the Luminous, the GR-75 Transport that they used to escape Yavin on, the Dornean gunboat owned by Liw, and the Tartan Patrol Boats, Sentinel Shuttle,and Y4 Transport recently acquired. There was a Marauder-class Corvette- yet another missile frigate- called the Korban Bane, which was owned by a Gand warrior named Wooh'shi, and a stylized Nebulon-B Frigate called the Dupe- this was owned by a Talz smuggler named Zo'cols. Along with the fighters given to them, they also had a full squadron of Gat-12 Skipray Blastboats, a type of fighter popular among pirate crews. Last among Renegades personal ships was a Sorosuub Luxury Yacht 3000 called the Shark's Tooth- this ship is owned by Col Serra himself.
As stated before, it would be too on the nose for a gang of pirates and smugglers working with quote unquote "terrorists" to use a traveling casino and resort as a base of operations, so who would think to look here?
But while the larger ships can be explained away as stolen by criminal elements to use as their own, the starfighters and the recently stolen vessels were not. So for now, they were to be hidden inside the Gambler's Pride until they were needed in a fight. And in the case of the stolen Imperial ships, until the heat died down.
The four ships approached the starboard hanger entrance before being flanked by the three Z-95's that were out on patrol. As they didn't have the Rebel insignia painted on or had the proper codes, they were considered enemy targets for now. "{Imperial Ships, divert your course or we will open fire.}"
A scowling Lowell smacked his palm on the communications button. "It's us, idiots..." He droned, still reeling from what had transpired hours ago.
"{Lowell... everyone here thought you were all dead- you were gone for so long.}"
"It took longer then we thought.........." He wanted to say more, but he didn't want to sour everyone's day this soon after returning. The crews still needed time to unwind. "Contact Col, tell him we got the ships..." He shutoff the comms and fell back into his chair, exhausted as he rubbed his eyes.
"You didn't tell them about Zhane and Lithy." Orson mentioned.
"I know... Col will tell everyone soon enough, i'm sure... right now, i just want to go to bed."
The convoy headed towards the starboard hanger entrance. Several civilian ships that were leaving the station moved aside, allowing the captured ships to enter. Rounding the well-known curves of the Lucrehulk arms, the ships flew into the bowels of the asteroid- six enormous hanger decks, each one housing dozens of bays large enough to house several transports apiece. There was a very sizable gap between the Lucrehulk entrances and the bays, allowing a lot of room for big ships to maneuver. It was like this on the other side, too- both hanger bays were separated by a wall that housed elevators, repair rooms, and lavatories. The only way to get to the other side that didn't involve going outside were two wide turns at both ends of the long walk.
Renegade's ships maneuvered to the right and flew down the length of the hanger decks, eventually arriving at their allotted sections. The rest of Renegade Squadron's ships were parked here. Each ship moved to a separate bay and landed with no fuss. All the ships landed on the bottom most deck- ground level.
End Song.
Now the mission was over and they can now relax; they have been on edge for over a week, fearing the plan would go wrong at some point. Dealing with the loss of their comrades was going to be hard, especially since they have to tell everyone while the wounds are still fresh, though they can imagine Roz won't shed a few tears- Zhane had worked up a incredible debt at the casino and she was looking to collect. She'll probably pawn off all his junk.
The crews left the ships they stole and departed for better pastures. With heavy shoulders and sore backs, they disembarked their ships and headed for the nearest elevator for some fun and relaxation.
"oooooogh... i am so ready soak in a nice hot bath..." Lowell grunted as he stretched his hands over his head.
"So what do we tell Shriff?" Orshon asked. Everyone came to a halt. "Lithy was helping him acclimatize, so learning she's dead may put a hamper on that. He may even leave entirely."
Lowell groaned as he pulled his arms down and buried his hands in his face. He threw his head back and gave a loud, aggravating whine. "Oh, man, that's right..." He pulled his hands down, but kept his head hanging backwards. "He's not going to respond well to this..."
"He still needs to know."
"I didn't say we should keep this a secret." He whined. "Ugh... this is not going to end well." He looked between everyone and, moving first, put a finger to his nose. "Not it!" He shouted. Everyone else followed suit- they were thugs, not therapists. Only one of them was slower then the others and she cursed herself for it. She may be fast in a ship, but that speed is not transferable.
Lit candles, lined in two circles, illuminated the inside of a spacious ship. The design was foreign in make, but the same can be said for the pilot of such a mysterious craft. In the middle of the candles, the pilot meditated. This was Shriff, and he was a member of a saurian race called a Ssi-ruuk.
Before Shriff appeared at the Escape from Yavin, rescuing the Luminous from certain destruction, nobody had ever heard of a Ssi-ruuk, and there was a reason for that. These dinosaurs, in every sense of the word, were not from the known galaxy, but were instead found in the Unknown Regions, a wild region of space that has never been charted, or if they were, the charts were lost so long ago, they've been forgotten. Nobody knows what lies within those unknown spaces. Only one race was known to exist in the Unknown Regions and that was the Chiss, a race of blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoids made known by their most famous individual: Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the few aliens actually respected by the Empire due to his masterful, almost god-tier strategies and thought processes. There were reports of other races from the Unknown Regions who appeared over the eons, but nobody bothered to follow up.
Back to Shriff and the Ssi-ruuk, they are a heavily religious race, following a holy book called the G'nnoch to the T. Within the texts rests a tale of the origin of the universe and the foundation of their race and supremacy. You see, the Ssi-ruuk believe that they are the superior race and that all others are beneath them. This superiority complex had molded them to be arrogant beyond compare. Even the Emperor, as evil as he is, isn't as arrogant as they. It seems to have worked for them, though, as they have control over an entire star cluster.
As for why they believe this, it starts with this: According to the G'nnoch, four eggs were formed at the creation of the universe. From the first hatched Sii and P'w'itthki. Ssi's children hatched from the second egg, while P'w'itthki's children hatched from the third egg. The fourth egg was reserved for those Ssi-ruuk who earned a place in the afterlife. Eventually, Ssi fought with P'w'itthki and defeated him. After his defeat, Ssi allowed P'w'itthki's hatchlings to live on the condition of serving the children of Ssi for all eternity. This myth described the beginning of the relationship between the Ssi-ruuk (hatchlings of Ssi) and the P'w'ecks (hatchlings of P'w'itthki). The myth also described the Ssi-ruuk's supremacy over all other sentient species.
It's also from the G'nnoch that the basis for their race is from. The saurians live by a rigid and very strict caste system, all contributed to the color of their scales. Everything a Ssi-ruuk can be is determined by their scales- the color will determine the caste they belong to.
Blue scaled Ssi-ruuks are the nobility and the leaders of their race, but are small in physical stature. Same is true for the next caste: The Gold scales. They belong to the religious caste; priests and priestesses who spread the glory of the G'nnoch to all corners of their cluster. It is also they and only they who can "consecrate" a world- we'll come back to that. Red scales belong to the military caste- they are the foot soldiers; the first ones into a fight. They are also the strongest and the physically biggest. Yellow scales serve the sciences- it is they who advance their technology, chart the stars, and run the ships. Green scales are the most wide-spread among the caste, but bold numbers doesn't garner respect. They are manual laborers. Black scales are the rarest, but the most honored and respected. They are the stealthiest among them all, serving as espionage agents and covert assassins.
Then there are the Browns. Like the P'w'ecks, they are the social outcasts, the pariahs. These can only come about between cross-caste breeding, and that is expressly forbidden. Those not destroyed at birth are forced to do the hardest and worst jobs imaginable. But there is hope for both Browns and P'w'ecks. One of the last passages in the G'nnoch is a prophecy about the birth of the Keeramak, a Ssi-ruuk born with every caste color that would free the oppressed Browns and P'w'ecks and bring reform to Ssi-ruuk society. After many thousands of years, it has not come to pass.
Physically, even the weakest and puniest Ssi-ruuk can stand toe to toe with a Wookiee, one of the strongest races in the known galaxy. If Shriff fought against Chewbacca, it would be a even match. They are also as tall as a Wookiee, with each caste member standing at 8 feet tall. Their scales are very durable, being able to withstand blaster fire. Even a headshot would be nothing to them, but concentrated fire from multiple sources will still kill one. Their eyesight, however, is one of their biggest weaknesses- light can blind them; all things need tinted glass on their world. They were able to work around this by developing a very keen sense of smell, backed up by two tongues that came out of their nostrils.
Now, Consecration. As told earlier, the Ssi-ruuk are a deeply religious people. Consecration revolves around the fourth egg in their creation myth, for the Ssi-ruuk and P'w'ecks believe that if they die on any world that does not belong to them, their souls would wander the universe aimlessly for all eternity, never once allowed to find peace in the paradise in the 4th egg. So, in order to prevent this nightmarish fate, the priests undergo a hour-long ceremony that would make the conquered planet and its orbit a part of the Ssi-ruuk Imperium.
There is a reason why Shriff was here, among "lesser" species. It links to the Outbound Flight, a ill-fated project that took place five years after the Blockade of Naboo. Surrounding the Galaxy and its two neighbor satellite galaxies- the Rishi Maze and the Firefist- was a energy field that prevents hyperspace travel into dark space, leaving the peoples of the galaxy confined to the main galaxy and its two dwarf neighbors. The Outbound Flight was an attempt to not only chart the Unknown Regions, but also find a route into Dark Space and travel to galaxies beyond. It wasn't to be as the Flight was attacked by a Chiss fleet, led by then-Commander Thrawn, who were convinced by reputable sources; spies loyal to Darth Sidious/Palpatine, that the Flight was a threat. Why he wanted the Flight destroyed is, to this day, unknown and the true fate of the Outbound Flight can only be assumed as there were no survivors.
The Ssi-ruuk know about this as, for hundreds of years, tensions between the Chiss and the Ssi-ruuk have been rough, at best. Many on both sides believe war is inevitable between the two races. Anyway, the Ssi-ruuk have learned about the known galaxy through hacking into Chiss communications and salvaging the only black box of the Outbound Flight they could find. After the Yellows were able to crack the black box 20 years later- this was unknown technology to them- they learned of the Republic, but after establishing a secret listening post on one of the moons of Bakura, the closest planet to Ssi-ruuk space, they learned the information was outdated and the Republic had reformed into the Empire, and of raids by a burgeoning Rebel Alliance. Regardless, this was a revelation to them and they wanted to see if the leaders of both sides can be easily manipulated and duped into turning the galaxy over to the Ssi'ruuk race, and to have cannon fodder to go against the Chiss, as they later learned that Thrawn had vanished at a planet called Lothal, which opened up a whole array of opportunities for the Ssi-ruuk- before he was banished by the Chiss, Thrawn was the saurian's biggest pain.
To that end, the King of the Ssi-ruuk, Karka'shian, proposed a tournament. For the first time, all colors and races, and even the P'w'ecks, could enter- they needed to play the fool to these powers at play, and a show of "equality" is what the King determined to be the best. The tournament lasted a couple of years and in the end, the two winners were chosen: Shriff, a red-scaled warrior, and T'shale, a master of the black-scaled assassins. They were then trained to maintain their ships by the Yellows; Shriff learned to be stealthy by the blacks while T'Shale learned hand to hand combat and blaster training from the reds. They were both given injections that would add pigment to their scales, forming two stripes that went down their backs; both had yellow on the left stripe while the right was differnet for each- Shriff got black and T'Shale red- it even made T'Shale as strong as one. They also had surgery done on their eyes to allow them to handle the intense light. It ran the risk of blinding them forever, but it clearly worked.
Was all this surgery and genetic manipulation unorthodox and against the G'nnoch? Yes, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and if war with the Chiss was to erupt, that measure is playing to cannon fodder. Before leaving, the two of them underwent surgery to enable them to talk. The Ssi-ruuk do not use Basic as most of the rest of the galaxy do, but instead through bird-like noises, clicks, whistles, and honks. They can understand Basic just fine, but if they attempt to speak it, they'll get nothing. So, after kidnapping and forcing a crazed doctor named Aphra to do the work, universal translators were implanted that would allow them to speak Basic.
Shriff had been assigned to the Rebel Alliance while T'Shale went to the Empire. After downloading the map of the known galaxy from the Black Box, which is the same style of map used even today, Shriff had arrived at Yavin just in time for the evacuation and it was his ship, the bulbous fighter called a V'Sett, that saved the Luminous. And that brings us to today: Shriff has been an observer for the last couple of months, learning everything he could about life among the galaxy through his interactions with Renegade Squadron. Alliance Command learned of Shriff through Dodonna, but they haven't called about the new alien yet.
Shirff breathed in and out steadily as he was deep into his meditation. He was at peace- he was at zen... until there was a loud knocking that came from the door to his ship, which ruined the mood and irritated him. He opened his eyes and looked to the door. "I'm meditating." He snarled.
"Aw, come on Shriff. I'm here to play nice."
He recognized the voice. It's not one he heard in days, and he was delighted to have had some peace and quiet with her gone. But now she's back. "... Lithianny. You're back... How... wonderful."
"Aw, you missed me, admit it. And i told you never to call me that. It's just Lithy."
"But it helps me to differentiate you from that other woman with the same name- Livvy."
"It doesn't sound the same and you know it. It sounds completely different! Besides... doesn't really matter now... Now come on- since we're back, Col's gonna want to call a meeting, and since you want to get to know us..."
Shriff puffed air out his nostrils in irritation. While he and T'Shale do need to know everything about the 'lesser' races before they can return home so that the King can make his decision, it is annoying that he has to play the fool and be the clueless outsider. All this stuff is beneath him. T'shale probably has a better life going for him at the Empire- he could probably look all this stuff up on the Holonet. But then he wouldn't have first-hand experience like Shriff has... much to Shriff's detriment. "I'm on my way..." He flicked a switch to the side. The ramp to the V'Sett lowered and the sudden gust of air extinguished all the candles.
He got up off the floor and grabbed his weapon. Its name would be impossible for the lesser races to pronounce, but he heard people call this a machine sniper. It fires lasers as fast as a LMG and has a huge stock frame to boot, but has the accuracy of a sniper rifle, with the long barrel and the scope to back that claim up. He can even change fire settings between single shot and full auto, once again adding to that description.
He heaved his weapon onto his back and attached it to a bandoleer that he put on. Ssi-ruuks don't believe in concepts such as clothing- it's humorous to them, and encountering beings who covered themselves in head to toe was hard to get used to. No, to them, bandoleers was all they need.
He came down the ramp, gun on his back, and joined with Lithy as they headed for Renegade's flagship- the Sorosuub Luxury Yacht. He may've been the one to save them at Yavin, but many of Renegade Squadron are still... unsure about having a alien they know nothing about among their ranks, especially Liw. They were uneasy whenever he was around. He didn't care- they were beneath him. Still, if he wanted to stay and see if this Rebel Alliance was what they needed to defeat the Chiss, he needed to be friendly. "...... how did the mission go?"
Right to the loaded question. "It...went well, all.... things considered."
He could hear pain in her voice. Something bad happened on the mission- that much was certain. Then there was what she said earlier, about the naming problem not being a problem anymore. "What happened?"
She rubbed the back of her neck- this was going to be difficult to tell him. Zhane owed a lot of people a lot of money, and Livvy... she was the first to try and make Shriff feel at home. She was even working on a translation guide to feed into their protocol droid. "It... was going well, until the end...this sounded simpler in my head... A lucky Tie pilot destroyed one of the Sentinel shuttles... Zhane and Livvy were on board." She continued walking, but she soon heard the clawed footsteps no longer following her. She looked back and saw that he came to a halt when he heard the news. Was he in shock? Can his kind even feel sorrow? "Sigh... i know it's going to be hard to accept, especially given how close you and Livvy were."
"Close?" He spoke with gusto to hide his feelings. He began walking once more. "We were never close. She was just an asset who was assisting me- nothing more, nothing less."
"You may act cold, but you still cared about her. Why else would you have stopped?" He didn't respond, even as she walked past. "Alright. Be that way."
They continued in silence. It was when they neared the exit to the hanger when he finally spoke again. "... did you at least kill the pilot?"
"... no. After they were killed, we sorta just operated on instinct. Everything was a blur, but we wrecked a Victory destroyer before we jumped, and we left behind such a huge mess at the mining facility. I will honestly be amazed if they get it working again." She rubbed her neck. "Maybe the pilot was like us and operating on primal instinct. Someone they knew may've been killed down there and they took it out on us. It's easy to forget that under that armor, they are still people."
"People trying to kill you." Shriff coldly responded before pressing the button that opened the door. On the other side was a posh hallway with red carpeting, golden lace, and enough wool on the walls to shock a Bantha. "You are at war. If you consider the enemy as people with friends and family like you, then you lost."
He walked out into the hallway, with a momentarily stunned Lithy just standing there. She shook her head and brought herself back into reality. "You are just a barrel of sunshine, you know that?"
The Shark's Tooth, the name of Col's personal Sorosuub Yacht, served as the main command vessel of Renagade's small, but growing fleet, at least until the Providence was finished. At a length of 50 meters and a height of 11 meters, this ship was designed for one thing and one thing only: pleasure. Be it entertainment or other things, this ship was built to be a party machine. Which is why Col's uncle, a known ladies man and rabblerouser, picked this ship: since it has a known history as a luxury yacht, nobody would expect it to hide military grade hardware, hidden floor panels to smuggle cargo, and even a miniature brig. Col didn't build the ship this way- he inherited it from his uncle, who died during one of the final battles of the Clone Wars and left the ship in his care. It's worked out well for him so far.
While the bridge of the Sorosuub remained unchanged, the internal hold was much different: Along the walls and before the two-way windows were rows of military-grade equipment, necessary to operate a mismatched group like Renegade. Tucked in the corner was a wet bar- just because they're part of a military organization doesn't mean they were going to follow doctrine- they're a rebellion, not the Clone Army. On top the wet bar, however, were datapads and viewscreens. But at a flick of a switch, the hardware retracted into the floor and were hidden by retractable plates, while the wet-bars screens flipped over, turning it back into a ordinary bar, complete with a Gourmet-Master 500. One thing that can't change at the flip of a switch, however, was the brig, situated where the captains quarters would normally be. The captains quarters were moved to the private party deck.
The pilot of the ship was a Rishii named Gafalaioalatlaua, or Gaf for short. The Rishii are a avian race, covered head to toe in feathers, and are native to the planet Rishi, which served as the halfway point between the galaxy and the Rishi Maze- clearly, there is a naming convention going on here.
in the center of the main floor was a CIC holographic table similar to the ones the Mon Calamari have on their bridges- like everything else, this could be hidden by flipping it with a Jetsteam Meditation Pool, AKA a spa bath. And at the table, having a heated discussion, was Col and Roz. Much like her dearly departed sister, Roz was a pinkish Toydarian with a flair for fashion. Unlike her sister, however, she was in it solely for the money. Col, meanwhile, was looking over reports at the table.
"Col, i warned you what would happen if your boys were roughing up my patrons again, and they were. They nearly caused a crash in the hanger that could've taken out dozens of people. That's lost opportunity for money and i won't have it."
Col pushed himself away from the table and looked to her. The eye he got shot in had swollen up to the size of a child's fist and turned purple. It was difficult to see out of and the medics were working on a cybernetic eyepatch to replace it with. For now, he would have to make do. "They're just rowdy and looking for a good time. Besides, you run a casino that caters to underworld types."
"Because underworld types have loads of credits that i can make bank off of. I'm no longer in Hutt space- i don't get a bonus. I have to make do with what i can get."
"You knew what you were getting into when we made the arrangement, Rozy. If you don't like it, we can always leave."
"Peh, and miss out on getting credits from your sorry lot? Everyone knows the Alliance is run by rich tycoons and senators who just don't want to give the big bad Empire their cash, and that they pay you- i ain't letting a steady stream of credits pass me by. Just keep your men under control or else they are banned from the station."
"Then you won't get their credits. And they got nowhere else to go."
"I'll charge a renters fee for the banned."
Col softly laughed to himself as he slowly shook his head. "You are something else." He heard the door at the end of the ship hiss open. He looked and saw the crew from the raid walk on in. "Excuse me." He walked right by her, leaving her to scowl. He walked up a flight of stairs to meet up with the crew. "There you all are." He said with open arms as Shriff joined him at his side. He wasn't a part of the raid, so why does he need to explain it?"You were all gone for so long, we were wondering if you were still alive... though i'm guessing by the expressions on your faces, something went wrong."
"Yeah." Lowell exhaled as Roz fluttered over. "A Interceptor got lucky and destroyed one of the Sentinels. Came at it head on, blasting open the cockpit. The whole thing went up in flames. Zhane and Livvy were on the shuttle and there was no way they could survive that."
That news was a shocker to everyone on the ship. Livvy was a sweet girl when she wasn't angry. Zhane... well, he was a good shot. "Damn..." Col exhaled, leaning back on the railing. "That's gonna be a blow. Zhane was our best sniper, and Livvy was one of the few good people." Some of the raid crew crossed their arms. "Good hearted."
"Wait, Zhane is dead?" Roz repeated. "Son of a- that jerk owed me a mountain of credits."
"Hey, show some tact, will ya lady?" Orshon retorted to her. "We just lost people."
"I know and i feel for ya, but the prude did clean out one of my slot machines and i'm looking to get my money back." She went to fly off, but was stopped when the butt of a rifle cut her off.
In the span of a few seconds, Col had grabbed Shriff's rifle by the barrel and slowly brought it up and around to stop her. She flew into the rear stock, which caught her by surprise. Shriff looked back and forth between his back and his rifle, wondering how he did it so fast. Even the raid crew as caught off guard. "Not yet, Roz." He lowered it back down, letting Shriff take it back. "We need to notify their next of kin before we do anything. Whatever they don't want, and whatever nobody here takes afterwards, you can sell it off. Until then, i don't want you or any of your goons near their rooms, understood? In fact..." He snapped his fingers, getting the attention of one of the operators to their side. "Contact the Super Battledroids guarding the engine bay- send two of them to guard the rooms of Zhane and Livvy."
"Yes sir."
Roz grumbled in aggravation; using her own droids to guard one of her rooms filled with money that should be hers. "What do you care, Col? You're all lowlifes- thieves, pirates, and smugglers, serving as unauthorized and unsanctioned black ops to a lousy rebellion that likely won't make it past half a year. I'm sure some people would kill to see what valuables they can get off. Last i checked, Zhane was loaded with all my money."
"Because unlike most people, i care. I dare say you can call me a smuggler with a heart of gold. And even if i wasn't, I respect Mon Mothma enough to follow the rules she laid out for the Alliance. It takes courage to announce and lead open rebellion against a overwhelming force."
"What you call courage, i call stupid. That same stupidity is what got my sister killed. There is a very good change you'll all die."
"We all know that. Even before we joined, we live our lives every day by that realization. Lowlifes are, by default, some of the most dedicated people in the universe. And the Empire pissed us all off enough to at least fight and die trying that not trying at all."
Liw awkwardly stuck a single finger up. "Un... are we still needed or... can we go?"
Col and Roz gave each other glares before she finally departed. He gave a aggravated groan of a sigh. "She's a hard woman to work with. And no, you can't." He gestured over to their bronze-plated Protocol Droid. The droid walked over and began recording everything they said. "I want details on what happened out there. It was supposed to be a simple torch and snatch, so what went wrong?"
"A lot." Lowell went on to recap. "We began as planned, stowing onto a shuttle and using it to deliver Liw and Orshon as slave prisoners, but then the base commander ordered us to stay on planet for new assignments, which ultimately put half of us on slave duty and the other half on the flight deck. That would've been easy to work around with, but none of the required ships were on the platform at the same time- patrols and cargo hauling, then these two were sent into the deep mines thanks to Liw's bounty, so getting them out upgraded to extremely difficult. So we had to wait, and you know us- waiting is not our strong suit. So we waited for a chance, and it eventually came. That still left these two, so we staged a fight to get them sent to isolation. With that handled, we waited for the ships to land and took our chances. Which worked out well, until Zhane and Livvy... got killed..."
"And what led to that?"
"Well, like i said, we got to the ships and were ready to escape.... buuuuut one of the troopers we knocked unconscious to free Liw and Orshon from isolation got up quicker then expected and sounded the alarm. We had to blast our way out, and we left a LOT of damage behind. We destroyed all the Ties in the hanger before they could launch, and Lithy and the Gunship wrecked their landing platforms." Lithy smugly grinned. "But then a Victory destroyer arrived and we needed to get out of its line of sight before we could even attempt to ascend into space. The ships took a heavy beating from the Destroyers cannons, from the Ties it launched, to the landslide that almost buried us. Soon, we had no choice but to risk it. That's when a lucky Interceptor got a good run on the Sentinel, destroying it and Zhane and Livvy. We got retaliation, though- we wrecked a good chunk of the Victory before we jumped."
"I see..." A flick of the switch on the main table and the holographic projections of the four stolen ships popped up. "...dozens of lives for four ships... i don't think that can be called a even trade." He turned his attention to the crew. "You all had a trying time. Take some time to relax. After suffering a week in that Imp prison, you deserve it."
"And how." Gail said as they all walked away, ready to do what they all individually do to relax. Lords above they need it.
Col pinched his eyes and sighed. He hates losing people. "Ugh... Percy."
"Yes sir?" A Blue and Green Protocol Droid replied as it approached.
"After you finish up, contact the next of kin for Zhane and Livvy."
"Of course, sir." The droid walked off to do his task, leaving Col to ruminate on what he was told. He hates losing people under his command, especially when they are skilled people. He suspects that there will be fighting between Roz and his crew over possession of their possessions, but he can't do much about that.
He ran his fingers over his face, wondering what the backlash to this from the Empire will be. "i'm pretty sure we pissed off the Moff in charge of the prison over this..." He exhaled into his hand.
And he was right. Twilight had fallen on Ithrieen, but it did not hide the flames that still rose from the inflamed hanger, nor did it hide the temper of the Moff in charge. Moff Seerdon is a cold and calculated individual when he's in a good mood. Make him mad, however... and you'll be lucky if you live to regret it. He's feared even among other Moffs thanks to his short fuse and his...... exotic pastimes. His underling, Captain Ozzik Sturn, shared in his exotic pastimes. During his tenure on Kashyyyk, more then one village fell victim to it. The both of them wore Wookiee pelts- Stern's was like a sash, while Seerdon's was a full-on cape.
Skiffs surrounded the hanger, all of which came from the crippled Victory in orbit. Beside it was Seerdon's Imperial Star Destroyer, the Torturer- a fitting name given who commands it. The surviving troops and the warden in charge had been shuttled onto the skiffs and waited with baited breath for Seerdon's reaction to this whole mess.
Seerdon leaned forward on the Skiff's railing, tapping his fingers on the cool metal. "... 10 Rebels... 10 lowly Rebels did all this?"
The Warden gulped out of fear. "Y-yes." She shivered.
"10 Rebels..." His hands closed into fists around the railing. "...planned an attack for upwards to a week, took ALL of your ships and transports, destroyed ALL of your Ties, completely ruined your hanger, and crippled a damned Victory with a ancient Y-Wing!?!"
The Warden could barley contain her terror. She had never met anyone with such a short fuse like him. "W-w-well... the Y-Wing w-w-was an U-u-ugly." Seerdon angrily scowled. "It's a term f-f-for a ship that h-h-h-had been heavily m-m-modified and--"
"I know what Uglies are! I've dealt with them before! But that doesn't help explain why 10 damn rebels, piloting stolen Imperial ships whose combined combat output could barely put them toe-to-toe with a Arquitens, was able to wreck a secure mining facility!!!"
The Warden was too afraid to speak. This is when Ozzik Sturn, ever the brownnoser, decided to speak up. "My dear Moff, it's not all bad news. According to survivor accounts and the few security cameras to have survived, the Y-Wing did have extensive modifications- it has an addition nacelle installed on the top, and all three have halves of a Tie Interceptor welded on. With at least six engines, the normally slow bomber was able to reach speeds and pull maneuvers that should be impossible for that class. And who is to say those are the only modifications? The bays could've been expanded to house far more powerful weaponry then basic Proton Bombs and Ion Blasts."
"You better be going with this, Sturn."
"It's thanks to this unique profile that makes the ship easy to find and pick out of the proverbial crowd. If we send reports all across the Galaxy, telling our forces to keep an eye out for that specific Y-Wing, along with any differently painted Tartans and Sentinels, one of those hooks will bite. Once we find those, we will find the Rebels, and once those pests flee, we can follow them to their base."
"That is a pretty big If, Sturn, but it's the only thing we have to go on. Get on it."
"Of course sir. But first, i suspect there is a pilot here in need of an accommodation." He turned to the four TiE Pilots that remained from the raid. "These are the survivors of the battle against the raiding party. And one of them deserves a medal. Pilot 19-98, approach." The pilot in question did, taking off their helmet to let her black hair fall onto her shoulders. She lifted up her face to reveal brown eyes and some chub to her cheeks. "This is Sergeant Kasan Moor and she did something that will make you happy."
Seerdon gave Sturn an unconvinced glance before approaching the pilot. "Explain."
She saluted him first. "Sir. As the Rebels were fleeing from the surface of the planet, i swooped down from above. The lasers of my Interceptor tore though the hull of one of the Sentinels. When i passed over it, the ship had burst into flames and fell to the ground- i suspect the death of their comrades is what spurned the Rebels to do what they did to the Victory."
"We pulled a couple of bodies from the wreckage of the shuttle." The Warden spoke. "If the lasers didn't kill them, the fire and the crash did." Seerdon gave the Warden a evil glare for speaking out of turn. "Un... sir."
Seerdon continued to give her a sour glare for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Kasan, with his expression changing to something more calm. "While i'm angry we won't be able to salvage and repair the Sentinel, you did keep it out of Rebel hands. That's good enough, given the bumbling circumstances you were under."
"She's also a very skilled pilot." Sturn interjected. "Graduated top of her class at the Academy on Prefsbelt IV, but received reprimands for her... 'unorthodox flying'. It has served her well so far, given that she is still alive."
"I see..." the gears turned in Seerdon's mind as he came to the conclusion that this pilot may be what he needs to complete his little project. "Very well then." He, Sturn, and their personal guard began to head towards their own Skiff. "You are coming with me."
She looked to him with a lowered eyebrow. "Sir?"
"I said you are coming with me..." he dramatically turned. "....Lieutenant Moor. I require skilled pilots for a secret project I'm undertaking on Gerrard V, and you just made the list."
Kasan was completely caught off guard by all this. A sudden promotion AND a transfer to a wealthy planet? She had hoped to get out of her position as Sergeant for years now, but to accept it would mean saying goodbye to her friends here. The planet, she can live without- it's too rocky for her taste. And thinking on it for the two seconds she did, her friends likely all died in the raid, which made her answer easier. "Sir. Thank you, sir." She jogged onto the Moff's skiff.
Their skiff began to move away, which confused the Warden and all those assigned here. They weren't done talking about the prison mine yet. "Wait!" She ran to the edge of hers. "What about us? What about our facility? We're short on food and water!"
"Repair and supply crews will be here shortly." Sturn coldly smiled. "If you are desperate for food, you can try those mindless brutes that pass for sentient beings down there. Cooked Wookiee tastes just like Bantha." The skiff ascended to the Star Destroyer above, taking their skilled pilot with them.
The base personnel were disgusted by Sturn's comment at the end there. "Eat the prisoners?" The Warden gagged. "He is seriously messed up..."
The skiff carrying the officials returned to the Destroyer and unloaded its passengers. Once they were off, the atmospheric transport flew back down to the surface. As she disembarked, Kasan noticed a squadron of Bombers being fueled and loaded. Nothing about this felt normal. "Why are the Bombers being loaded? There's no targets in the area."
"I know." Seerdon stood behind her. "They're for another purpose; reports of a potential rebel ship in a nearby system- likely their scout." He gestured to his guard. "Escort Ms. Moor to her quarters for the trip to Gerrard V." They nodded and escorted her out the hanger. She didn't buy what he said, but she knows that he is not a man to trifle with.
Once she was gone, Seerdon walked to the edge of the hanger and looked out the opening down towards the flaming prison below as the captain of the TiE squadron approached. He had made sure the ship had been filled with like-minded individuals like Sturn and the captain for this very reason. Only time will tell if Kasan will be just as like-minded. "Captain, begin the bombardment." He nodded and gestured to his pilots to begin the startup sequence for their TiE's.
The Bombers soon roared overhead and made their way to the prison, making his cape flutter in the gust they generated.
"There is no room for failure and incompetence in MY Empire."
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