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Behemoth 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode
IV – A New Hope “How?" "Vice-Admiral Tjar's
Star Destroyer crashed on Tessaril.
Shot down by Denubian Rebels. By the time our medics got to her, she
was too far-gone. She died before we could get her to a medical
facility." The
Imperial officer handed Colonel Jessa Tjar a copy of the report, saluted and
walked out of her office. Stunned she sat down heavily in her chair, crushed
by the news of her sister’s death. Her
communicator beeped. "Yes." She replied wearily,
answering the junior officer who had made the call. "Colonel, I have received a coded
transmission, security encryption code 977A3TJAR. Do you wish it forwarded to
your terminal?" She was
momentarily shocked. That was her sister’s private code! The young adjutant
repeated the message. "Yes. Activate code encryption and
stealth screens around my office."
There
was the sound of small generators starting up, followed by the unmistakable
hiss of an energy field. The windows of the office darkened to an opaque
black. Both Jessa and her desk were surrounded with a cube of invisible
energy. The stealth screen was her invention and stopped all forms of
transmission from within the energy field. It also stopped prying eyes,
especially those of her superiors, from knowing exactly what went on in her
office. She sat
down in her chair and activated the encryption key for the message. A
holographic image emerged from the emitter on her desk. Her dead sister. "Jess. If you've received this
message then I'm either dead or you've been informed that I am. My ship systems sent this information to a
safe location before I attempted to break the blockade around Tessaril. If I
were unable to rescind the message within a week you would have received it.
So therefore it must mean I'm dead. As you can see I haven’t changed much,
except for the fact that I'm no longer wearing an Imperial uniform." She
laughed, reaching forward beneath the range of her holographic recorder. The
image zoomed in to her face. "Now the bad news. I'm no hero. I
didn't die in the service of the Empire, and as much as they would have you believe
otherwise, I am that which all Imperials most despise - a Rebel." Jessa paused the message. She wasn't surprised. You couldn't
become a high-ranking officer in Imperial Intelligence without becoming a
good judge of people’s character. It saddened her, but at the same time made
things more …interesting. She knew she would have to keep this information
secret. She restarted the message. "I know it’s been months since you
and I last talked, and I'm sorry about the way we left things, but I still
consider my viewpoint to be correct. The Empire has become corrupt and bloated.
Maybe you don't see it so much from your office, but I’ve had to deal with
the growing reality of it every day. So, I made a decision." The viewer
zoomed out again showing the bridge of an Imperial Class Star Destroyer.
"Do you like it? She's a real beauty; full to the brim with armament, a
complete cache of TIE fighters and ground assault craft. In approximately two
hours she will be in the hands of the Rebel Alliance; that is if we are not
destroyed first." She paused, reaching across beneath the viewpoint of
the camera she was using. She picked up a drink and took a sip. Jessa could
see that she was tense and full of energy. "It’s taken years to get
together a completely loyal Rebel
command crew for a Star Destroyer. Can you imagine the intense background
checks that I have had to carry out, that you have carried out on my
behalf?" Jessa's blood
began to run cold. "You see sister, one way or another, you
are involved with my schemes. Does that worry you? I truly hope it does,
because I need your help - now more than ever. If I am dead then my crew will
also be dead. After all, they agreed to fight to the death. If I'm not, then
I will either be in Imperial Detention, awaiting trial, or meeting my crew at
a secret location that only they - and soon you - will know about. I trust
you enough to know that you will not betray us. If you do, then those
background checks you obtained for me will become public knowledge. I've
encrypted the co-ordinates of the meeting.
Be there." She paused and moved away from the camera, stood
straight and faced it again. "If I've been captured, arrange for
me to be terminated as soon as possible. I don't want to betray my friends -
or you. Take care." The end
transmission logo appeared and faded to static, a series of quad dimensional
spatial co-ordinates appeared, and then disappeared. Jessa swiftly committed
them to memory. Jessa
stood up slowly, pressing the button on the communications unit that would
erase the message and drop the security field. She had underestimated the
breadth of her sisters’ plans, and it had shocked her. Could she really say
she knew the person she had just listened to. Jessa
doubted it. So what was she to do now? Did she risk all and rescue her
sister, or did she hand her to Imperial authorities. In truth she had no
choice. Firstly, she called up an access database that was usually used for
tracking down prisoner witnesses, and typed in her sister’s name. No
response. Good. Five more
databases later and still no luck. On a whim, she accessed a series of
official report documents in sequence.
She frowned as she read the documentation. She copied a series of
files onto a datapad, switched off the terminal, stood up and put her jacket
on. Jessa looked at her own reflection in the office windows, wondering at
the same time whether she would ever see the spires of Coruscant again. Oh,
well she thought you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. The
shuttle touched down in a perfect three-point landing, upon landing pad 32 of
Amagad City. Adra Tjar powered down the engines and sat back in her seat,
relieved to be away, if for only a short time, from the clutches of the
Empires. It had been a close thing, but she had escaped with her damaged Star
Destroyer and half of her crew. The rest had defected or been injured in
combat. Shame we lost most of the TIE fighters complement, though. She
picked up her belongings and locked the ship. She knew the Lambda Class
Shuttle would create a stir, but she trusted that the local inhabitants would
give it as wide a berth as possible. She cleared the docking fees remotely
and, dressed in her Admirals uniform, exited the shuttle. Waiting for her was
a tall man in mismatched clothing. Jan
Lomona had been told about the impending arrival of a high-ranking Imperial
by his contacts within the underground, and he wasn't optimistic about her
chances of survival once she was upon planet.
His employer, and Governor of Amagad City Glann Cipple had contacted
him that morning and told him to meet her upon her arrival in order to
negotiate a price for a very big prize indeed. At least this meant that
whilst she was upon planet she would be afforded his protection. After that,
Jan knew she would be on her own. He suspected that on this point alone, she
might be able to throw some business his way. He’d negotiated for Glann in
the past, and was reasonably good at it, but he much preferred being a free
trader and often transported illicit goods or passengers when and where
nobody else could. Jobs such as this
were not his style. "Vice Admiral Tjar, I’m Jan Lomona.
I’m here on behalf of Governor Cipple." Jan held out his hand in
greeting. The Vice Admiral shook his hand warmly, a smile on her face. "Your reputation precedes you Mister
Lomona. I’d hoped we would get the
chance to meet while I was on planet. Please, call me Adra.” She looked down at herself. “I'm sorry
about the uniform, but I've been in hyper space for sixteen hours and these
were the only clean clothes I had. I hope you won't hold it against
me." She
smiled again at him and Jan had the distinct feeling that he was being
manipulated, but for some reason he didn't care. She was the most beautiful
woman he’d seen for a long time. Tall, with a well-proportioned figure and
long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, her bright green eyes glowed with
warmth. Jan was so engrossed in her that he nearly forgot to reply. He
paused, momentarily caught off guard. "Call me Jan." "Jan it is then. Will I be dealing
with you or directly with Governor Cipple?" Jan was
quicker to reply this time. "With me. Governor Cipple has
authorised me to negotiate the purchase of your goods, but first" He
paused looking around him, "lets find somewhere a bit less public." Zythlies
Dropout Parlour was, as usual, a hive of restrained activity. As Jan and Adra
entered, the volume level noticeably dropped. All eyes seemed to scan Jan and
then Adra, most resting on her gun belt, but some resting on whatever part of
Adra showed the most. Jan smiled to himself. He had offered to lend Adra some
fresh clothes and she had accepted gratefully. She had used the fresher unit
within the Berone Sunrise and
emerged a completely different woman. Jan approved. On exiting the Jans ship
she was wearing a set of semitransparent trousers that had been designed to
fit tightly but with a lot of give. The black material had been chosen by
Frans Latka, Jan’s fiancé. On Adra, who was more muscular, and a half size
bigger, the material was stretched so tight it looked like she was wearing
stockings. Her figure was emphasised by a tight top of Frans' that she had
borrowed. The one-piece red shirt extended to just below the top of her
thighs. She had placed her gun belt around it so that it gave the impression
of a mini dress. A pair of thigh high leather boots and red hair dye finished
off the transformation. The
level of conversation rose again, slowly. Jan chose an empty booth, and after
ordering off the serving droid, they started to talk. "So, is it true what they say about
the merchandise you borrowed?
It’s a MK II?" Jan was being coy about mentioning the product itself.
Adra nodded. "Yes, it’s true. However, I should
make it clear that the product was going to be delivered to the Alliance. In
its current state it is more valuable to them as an item of sale than as a
fully-fledged destroyer. The repair
costs would be too high. Consequently, I contacted Governor Cipples
organisation, named a ballpark figure, and here we are. I also told him that
I would only negotiate with someone who I knew to be trustworthy. So, what do
you need to know? And can Glann Cipple
match the price I want?" Jan was
taken aback by her directness, but was prepared for the question. "He wants me to take a look at it
first, make sure it’s in the condition you described. Then we can negotiate
on price. He’d like both parties to come away from this deal satisfied. So
I’m authorised to deal on his behalf and bargain as hard as I can." He
smiled at Adra. "I hope your negotiating skills are up to the job."
She
smiled back, and Jan felt an electric sensation jump down his spine. Adra
left Jan at the Sunrise and
walked over to her shuttle. She was about to enter the security code for the
door when it opened on its own. She drew her blaster, ready to blast whoever
had entered her ship into a thousand pieces Then she recognised her
sister. "Jessa!" She was as shocked to
see her sister there as she was to notice that she wasn't wearing her
uniform. "How in seven hells did you get here? You were supposed to meet
me at Vorathie." Jessa
looked amused and backed up the ramp slightly, allowing her sister to enter
without exposing herself to any watchers outside. "Still chasing adventure I see.
Finding you wasn't a problem. Getting
you out of here may be." Adra motioned for them both to ascend the ramp.
Jessa complied, following her sister into the multi purpose cargo area that
led onto the cockpit. It had been fitted out for comfortable travel, so both
sat down on couches. Adra reached into a cabinet next to the seat and brought
out a bottle of Fizz and two glasses. She poured one for her sister without
asking, another for herself. "So how did you find me?" She
was all business now; she had to know how she was tracked. If her sister had
traced her, then so could the rest of the Empire. Jessa relaxed into her
chair and smiled. "Relax. So far only I know about your
location. It will take another forty-eight hours or so for the rest of INTEL
to track you down, by which time we shall both be long gone." Adra was
not convinced, she needed to know how she had been
tracked so quickly. "Not good enough. How did you track
me? Who betrayed me?" Jessa frowned at the last
comment, leaning forwards so that she was closer to her sister’s face. "I don't interrogate my sisters
friends. As for tracking you, that was easy. Remember that broach I gave you
to mount your medal ribbons on?" Adra
nodded, now sure of where the conversation was going. "You bugged me? You bugged your own
sister!" Adra
stood up, clenching the glass in her hands so
tightly, Jessa thought that it would break then and there. "Calm down you nerfherder. It was to
be used in emergencies only. Don't tell me this doesn't qualify as one. It
was the only way to make sure you wouldn't get yourself killed" She
stood up squaring off to her sister. "Let’s face it,
you haven't exactly been secretive about this adventure of yours. As you said
in your message, you've been building a loyal crew for years, ever since you
became a Vice-Admiral. Do you really understand just how much of a cover-up
I've had to put in place for you?
You’re a female officer in a male dominated military force. As if you’re not scrutinised enough as it
is" Adra calmed
down and reseated herself. She took a sip from her
drink whilst her sister followed her example. It had always been this way,
quick to temper, arguing to the bone, loyal to the death. Whoever said it
would be easy being a twin was a liar. She took a deep breath. "I know of someone who might be
willing to take us off planet, but only when I've completed my business.
Until then, please stay out
of this. The less you know, the less trouble you’ll
be in." Her
sister nodded in agreement, but seemed less than happy to do so. Jan
Lomona was in a good mood but he didn't know why. In the current circumstances he should have
been as nervous as hell. This was an important job for him. Glann might trust
him as one of his best smugglers, but he knew if he failed to secure the
goods this time he would be stuffed on the worst runs doing dog work for
months. What's more, Glann would do this without a second thought. He exited
the fresher and was just about to go to change his clothes when the buzzer on
the ramp airlock sounded. Cursing his luck he jabbed the com button and spoke
into it as he ran to his cabin. "Who is it?" He was busy pulling
on his gun belt over his trousers when he got the reply. "It’s Adra. Can I come aboard Captain?" Jan smiled
to himself and flipped the security viewer on as he dashed to the airlock
door. She was standing close to the camera, big green eyes showing clearly.
He flipped the respond button and placed the security on minimum. Noticing
some movement behind her, he zoomed out the picture and saw another woman
standing in the shadows. "Sure, but tell your friend to keep
her weapon holstered, otherwise my security system will fry it." He
flipped the lock and raised the door.
Adra and
Jessa walked onboard. Jan took a double take when he saw them standing
together. Twins! He skipped a beat, but immediately regained his composure as
he realised that the newcomer had a far different composure to her sister. He
held out his hand to the other, placed his most businesslike expression upon
his face, and introduced himself. "I'm Jan Lomona, captain of the Berone Sunrise and Glann Cipple’s
representative. Welcome aboard." His voice was warm and welcoming, but
he did not expect a response. He was mildly surprised when his hand was
gripped and shaken enthusiastically. "Pleased to meet you Captain. I am
Colonel Jessa Tjar, formerly of Imperial Intelligence. I’ve heard a lot about you. From my sister that is." Jan
smiled a tight smile. He held no grudge against the Empire, his entire family
were loyal to the New Order, but they had often been a thorn in his side. He
retained his expression as alarm bells rang loudly in his head. Two ex-
Imperial representatives of the Rebel Alliance brokering a deal with Glann
Cipple was surely a recipe for disaster. Jessa smiled at him, released her
grip and laughed. "You know, for a moment there, I
thought you were going to draw that fancy blaster of yours on me." She
smiled, a cold smile unlike her sisters, and Jan could immediately tell this
lady was going to be trouble. He suspected that her relationship to Adra was
why she was here today. It didn't make Jan feel any easier but he gave her
the benefit of the doubt. He motioned them both up the ramp towards the lounge
area. "You'll forgive me if I don't take
you on face value until I've heard your story. I presume you’re here to help
your sister?" His
insight was rewarded with a frown. Jessa spoke in calm measured tones. "Until recently, I was happy to be a
silent accomplice to my sisters plans. Hiding her
actions from those who might find fault with her loyalties. However, after
hearing of her apparent death, and subsequent resurrection, I wanted to find out as much as I could about
the Rebel Alliance. Please understand I am not a sympathiser, but I can no
longer support a regime that slaughters billions of people in the name of
order, especially when they intend to slaughter my only family as well. I
have a very high security clearance, so it was easy for me to investigate the
true nature of the events that surrounded the destruction of the Death Star.
My eyes were opened, so I tracked down my sister. The rest you already
know." Jan had
heard about the destruction of the Empires new battle station – it was a
story told throughout the tapcafes and cantinas, but he had half believed it
to be just rumour. To hear it confirmed, especially from an ex-Imperial
officer, was a sobering experience. If they had the means to create one
battle station of such power, there was no reason why they could not create
another. Jan brought himself back to the issue at hand. "I suppose you want to accompany your
sister on her journey. I'll get an
extra bunk ready." He turned to Adra, "We can leave at any time.
When you give me the co-ordinates of the Destroyer, I can have a salvage crew
there within hours. All we have to do now is investigate the state of the
vessel and agree upon a price." He looked her up and down, making it
obvious that he approved of her clothing and turned to Jessa. "Will you
need a change of clothes too?" The Berone Sunrise exited hyperspace a
fraction outside the gravity well of Espiria Prime. The small green planet
filled the view ports, showing a biosphere rich in oxygen and water. Jan
spied his target on his scope seconds before he slipped into its scanning
range. The Imperial Star Destroyer Insurrection
stood out brightly against the surface of the planet ahead. As Jan drew his
ship closer he recognised the scars of heavy battle. A third of the front
plating was completely missing displaying the superstructure beneath. Large
ion and turbo laser scars pitted the remaining plating and one of the massive
deflector towers had been completely destroyed. Jan was impressed that the
ship had survived at all. He turned towards Adra, who was now sitting in one
of the co-pilots chairs. "Prepare the scanners, full sweep, high resolution." Adra
nodded, knowing that this was one of the requirements of the sale. How else
would they be able to determine the operational systems without downloading a
complete schematic? She cleared the scan levels and started the sweep, at the
same time informing the Insurrection
who they were and not to shoot upon them. Even so, Jan noted that fifty giant
turbo lasers tracked the Sunrise
as she circled the giant behemoth. Two
hours later, after looping the ship several times, Jan brought the Sunrise to a steady stop just in
front of the main bridge of the destroyer. Slipping the ship into
anti-collision mode, he uploaded the results of the sensor scans to his
console. After a further thirty minutes intense reading he again spoke to
Adra. "She's in better condition than you
gave her credit for. Sixty-eight of the turbo lasers are working at full
power and another thirty are repairable. The main reactors are still on-line
and sub light engines are running at fifty percent. I can't tell whether the
hyper drive motivator is working, but one of the shield generators is."
He turned around to Adra, raising one eyebrow in her direction. "Can she
jump out of here?" Adra
shook her head, and using the remote, enlarged a section of the destroyers
damaged superstructure. "This part of the ship is too badly
damaged. Even with full shields it wouldn't survive a hyperspace jump. I
haven't got the resources available to disconnect it and take it out of here.
Maybe Governor Cipple could?" The
question as left unanswered as the scanner board lit up with a series of
bright red blips. An alarm went off. "I have five unidentified craft
entering the system." Jessa's voice intoned
from the rear of the cockpit. "Two Z-95 Headhunters,
one large transport - about two hundred meters in length, one attack craft –
Mandalorian design." There was a note of surprise in her voice, "the
other is a lightly armed modified intra-systems shuttle." She turned
towards Jan, frowning. "Do you know these people?" Jan
smiled to himself, and punched a button on his com unit. "Yes I know them." He flipped on
his com unit, "Ryath, Ranth, good to see you again. How did you track me?" The
voice that came over the com unit was that of his friend Ryath Centaur. "It
wasn’t difficult. Glann ordered Nias Derril to strip down the shuttle and
decrypt the navigation logs. Quickly
too” Adra
fumed quietly to herself for not thinking to clear the logs. She turned
towards Jan, her fists clenched at her side.
"This had better not be betrayal
Captain Lomona. My ship still has enough firepower to take on your
friends…and you." Her anger was starting to rise. Jan turned towards
her, a serious look on his face. When he talked he was fully in control. "Firstly, Vice Admiral, I have no
intention of betraying you. Whatever price you agree with me, these people
will either start to repair or pull apart the ship immediately. Secondly, if
you look towards your scanners, you’ll see we’re now within the shielded area
of the destroyer. You couldn't fire upon my craft even if you wanted to. If
you did you'd destroy the command bridge and any hope of providing funds for
the Alliance. Lastly, there’s no way that I’m going to authorise the purchase
of a Star Destroyer without getting a team of Glann’s own people to look at
it first. Now let’s get down to business." Adra
kept up the anger for a full ten seconds more, then
smiled at Jan. "Let’s start the negotiations at a
billion credits then." Jan
Lomona laughed. Olya
Denadre fumed silently as another power conduit blew out above her head. Her
ship, the Dead Storm was really starting to get on her nerves. Fifty-six
hours ago she had exited hyperspace, hoping to find herself in orbit around
the planet Charima IV. Instead, she had been knocked out when her ship had
collided with a series of meteors and planetary debris, throwing her from her
restraining harness and into the bulkhead.
Olya had
woken up six hours later, a lump the size of a Chundra
Apple on her head. A quick scan revealed no Charima IV. Whatever had
destroyed the planet had done a good job. Her ship had been badly damaged,
and it was only luck that she had enough spares onboard to fix her. The main
hyper drive motivator had been destroyed and the secondary would only work
when she had managed to get enough sub light power to accelerate her out of
the debris field. First she would have to get the shields online and power
subsystems reactivated. That was the problem with using a small scouter that only required a crew of one; you could
always do with that extra pair of hands. She heard a beeping noise emanating
from the cockpit area and cursed as she banged her head exiting the crawl
way. Whatever
it was, it was big. Six kilometres
long and throwing out enough power emanations to blanket the system with
static. Where it had come from she didn't know, and she suspected that she
didn't want to either. It seemed to be running a tight beam sensor sweep of
the debris. Flashes of light indicated heavy turbo laser or blaster fire.
Occasionally a tractor beam would leap out into the void, ensnaring one piece
of debris or another. Olya didn't like this at all. She set the sensors to
passive scan and started to record what they saw. Then she powered down all
but the sensor systems, primed a rescue buoy and reduced life support to
minimum levels, leaving the cockpit in almost total darkness. A quick search
in the dark revealed her Biosuit, which she quickly
donned. Then, finding a hidden release, she dropped into a man-sized shielded
escape pod behind her command chair and waited. She
fancied she could feel a silent vibration run through her ship as the giant
craft approached closer. The vibrations got stronger and stronger until the
ship was visibly shaking around her. Engine
wash she thought. She was
wrong. The Inquisitor scanned the debris
field. It was not used to being challenged, but since entering this part of
the galaxy, two days ago, it had found that its need
for food and repairs was increasing exponentially. Many planetary masses had
put up an elongated struggle, and this had drained the Inquisitors power reserves. So much
so, that it had needed to destroy a planetary body to feed its need for
Carbon, Iron and Nuclear isotopes. Even now, as it scanned the giant debris
field, it was disappointed to realise that the energy expelled in destroying
the planet would barely be replaced by what it could gain from the debris
field. It was just about to finish its feeding when its ultra sensitive
scanning beam registered a form of extremely compatible energy, emanating
from a small nearby power source. Readings were minimal, but further investigation
revealed a small space faring craft, showing impact damage. The Inquisitor was intrigued,
it has assumed that the beings that inhabited the planets it had come across
were bound to the soil that they had defended. They had fought for their
existence with such ferocity. If it was indeed the case that these creatures
could span the distances between stars, then they must have purer forms of
energy than those it had recently discovered. The Inquisitor decided to dissect the small ship and add its resources
and information systems to its own. As it began, two small masses escaped the
ship at extreme speed. One sped off beneath the Inquisitor and entered hyperspace, whilst the other orbited
the giant ship for a couple of revolutions before it too escaped into
hyperspace. The Inquisitor
paid these two small masses little attention; they provided no resources so
were of little consequence. The escape pod was ejected
from the ship at extreme velocity, slamming its unprepared occupant into the
bulkhead and unconsciousness. The pod orbited the giant mass, scanning its
surface for signs of a life-bearing atmosphere. None were found, so in the
absence of any other instructions, it programmed its self with the location
of the nearest inhabited planetary system and entered hyperspace at the
earliest opportunity. Tarr
Ranth felt annoyance. Why baby-sit these
guys when I could be chasing bounties? However, the advantages far
outweighed the disadvantages. Glann Cipple controlled the majority of the
Setnin Sector, and if he was on your side, then the job was a lot easier.
Soon occasion, Ranth agreed to do jobs for Glann. And was given the latitude
to choose which ones. He swept
his craft, The Dark Star II,
out to the edges of the system. Something had briefly showed up on his
scanners and he was now engaging a full wavelength focused scans of the
systems Oort cloud. Ten
minutes later, he had narrowed down the scan to an area the size of a planet.
Five more minutes of intense search and he had found the damaged life pod. He
veered his ship towards the location and tractored the pod on to a parallel
course. Slowing both ships down he manoeuvred his
ship onto the airlock of the pod and locked on the magnetic grapples. He set
the ship on automatic and moved down to the ventral airlock. Reading the
environmental conditions, he waited no longer and overrode both airlock
seals. Jumping into the well of the pod, he braced himself and modified the
gravity field to match that of his ship. Picking up the unconscious body that
lay on the floor, he lifted the Twi’lek female through the airlock. Within
seconds he had her in his sick bay and 2-1-A was applying emergency medical
aid. He left her in the capable care of the droid and headed back towards the
pod to transfer the logs. About two hours later 2-1-A advised him that she
had started to come around. He arrived at the medical bay just in time. "Stay still please,
I am attempting to accertain your injuries."
2-1-A was all business. Tarr Ranth stood back, out of immediate view, and
watched as the droid finished its scan of his guest. "There are no
further internal injuries. I would suggest that you refrain from exerting
yourself for at least another ten hours." Tarr Ranth removed his helmet,
placing it in a locker next to the doorway, and walked back into the medical
bay. The woman started to rise. "The droid is right. You should rest.
My name is Tarr Ranth, and you’re aboard my ship. Can you tell me what
happened?" He moved into full view in front of the medical couch. She
started when she saw the full black armour, and looked ready to run. "Don't worry,
I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not a slaver." He smiled and leaned
against the wall opposite the end of the bed. "How can I
help?" "Where am I, what system?" She
sounded confused, obviously still dazed from the concussion and low oxygen
levels. Ranth pulled up a seat and relaxed into it. "This
is the Espirian System, near the edge of the Setnin Sector. According to your
navigational logs, you've been in hyperspace for twenty hours. Your pod was
severely damaged on re-entry into the system. I assume it tried to auto
navigate. They not too good at that." He paused, ready to let her jump
in, but she said nothing. "I
tried to download your sensor logs but they’re encrypted. Can you remember
what happened?" He stared at her intently, willing her to give him some
clue to her origins. She moved her legs over the side of the couch. A look of
pain moved across her features. "Is the pod in serviceable condition?"
A note of urgency filled her voice. The
com-unit on Jans belt beeped three times. Jan picked
it off and put it near his mouth, his eyes never wandering from his
inspection of the Star Destroyers power core. "Lomona here. What's the problem?" Tarr
Ranths voice seemed thin over the com unit and was almost drowned out by the
noise from the reactor systems. "I rescued a pod from the edges of
the system. The occupant has provided me with information that may point to
trouble heading our way. I want to transmit her logs to the Sunrise. That way I can get out of here and check
her story for myself." Jan
paused for a moment, and thought out the problem. He moved into a quiet area
of the reactor control centre, tapped Nias Derril on the shoulder and
motioned for his data-comp whilst he replied. "Wait a second, I'll connect the data
feed from my com to Nias's data-comp. If there really is going to be a
problem, I want to see it straight away." Ranth
agreed and soon the data was being transferred to the portable computer. The ISD Grievous and the ISD Decider exited from hyperspace
simultaneously. Within seconds they were surrounded by support ships and
frigates as more craft exited behind them. The two ships had been part of a force
of three that had been sent to apprehend the missing ISD Insurrection. The ISD
Conquest had been lost when her bridge section had been rammed by the Insurrection. It had been a bold
move by Vice Admiral Tjar and had impressed Captain Turosa. Her own ship, the
ISD Grievous, had only been
lightly damaged. She sat down lightly in her command chair and turned towards
a young officer that had been awaiting her attention. "So Lieutenant, what is the situation
with the prisoners, have they confessed yet?" The
officer shifted around nervously, obviously uncomfortable with the news he
had to impart. "Sir. No Sir. That is, seven of the
six hundred survivors have confessed, whilst the rest still submit that they
were offered the chance to join or leave. No one has tried to implicate
anyone else. They are either extremely loyal or extremely unwise, Sir. It is
possible however that some of the people still onboard the Insurrection may become
disillusioned. In which case we may be presented with more information." He
passed over a report pad, which Turosa read avidly. She was just about to
hand it back to the young officer when she noticed how quiet it had become on
the bridge. She looked up quickly. Like the calm before the storm, the
silence was shattered by the combined explosion of the collision warning
claxon and a battle-drilled crew leaping into action. Jumping up out of her
chair, she stared out of the great windows at the front of the command bridge
as a giant ship, at least twelve kilometres long, plowed
into her sister craft, the ISD
Decider. She didn't have to yell orders to her crew; they had trained
for such eventualities a hundred times and knew their roles. She did however
move over to the shields section and punched in the command codes that would
divert the turbo laser energy to the shields.
"Pilot, rotate us about so that I can
get a good look at that ship, but give us some range. Sensors,
scan that ship with all we have. Damage control, arrange rescue for the
survivors from the collision. Communications, tell the fleet to back off,
that ships about six times our size, maybe bigger!" She ran over to the
sensors station, taking a look at the read out as it flooded on to the
screens. Six kilometres long, three kilometres wide and nearly two kilometres
deep. It was the largest ship, other than the Death Star, that she had ever
seen. Its power readings were starting to climb off the scale. It didn't even
seem to have been scratched by the impact. As she looked up and moved over to
the windows, she saw bright beams of incandescent energy lance out towards
the Decider. Smashing through
the shields, they neatly sliced the power core out of the body of the craft.
Giant tractor beams slammed into the Star Destroyer, tearing the remaining
superstructure into oblivion and eventually bringing the pieces into a giant
glowing maw that had opened at the side of the craft. The reactor was the
first to disappear followed by the command section and then drive section.
Captain Turosa knew what was going to happen next. She turned towards her
crew. "Pilot, give us the fastest vector
away from that ship. Shields, put as much power between us and that giant
wrecking ball as you can. Weapons, arm proton torpedoes and all mobile
warheads. Target that ship right in the maw, I want
to give it a giant case of indigestion."
The
crew, trained under her command for ten years now, reacted as one. The
Grievous turned painfully slowly until its bow was angled away from the giant
maw of destruction. Turosa saw a brief spark of energy run along the side of
her ship as the shield power was diverted. She fancied she could see the
shudder as over a hundred proton torpedoes and concussion missiles exited
their tubes and sped towards the giant ship. They entered the giant maw, its
invisible tendrils of force still plucking debris from the now deceased Star
Destroyer, and detonated inside the giant ship. There was a brief flicker of
energy, as the shields adjusted, and then the giant craft turned almost
invisible as the shields turned a dark and opaque black. Turosa
didn't wait to find out what had happened. Ordering the fleet back into
hyperspace, she commanded all power to the turbo lasers. Ten minutes of
intense barrage and the ship showed no signs of being damaged. Now she was
getting concerned. All the time the barrage had been underway, the unknown
ship had been getting further and further away. Suddenly, the distance
started to close. Adra turned to her crew. "Launch TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers,
I want that ship delayed long enough for us to enter hyperspace." The
crew complied without question. The
fighters had no effect, their blaster fire barely causing the shields of the
giant ship to flicker. They were destroyed nonetheless. The bombers were
wiped out mere seconds later, their loads of bombs and torpedoes impacting
upon the surface shields, but they did no visible damage, though the behemoth
did slow down. Turosa cursed as she imagined the screams of her pilots. She
took solace in the fact that it gave the Grievous precious seconds in which
to gain much needed distance. Just as the fleeing Star Destroyer was about to
enter hyperspace, more than a dozen energy beams raked her stern, inflicting
terrible damage to engine and power systems, but it wasn't enough to stop her
escaping, and she leapt away from the behemoth like a scalded mynock. Captain Turosa sat down in her command chair,
feeling considerably more relief than she could show. Now she had the problem
of how to report this to her superiors. The Inquisitor was disappointed by the
escape of the other vessel. The power core from the vessel it had salvaged
was far more efficient than its own and it would have liked to compare the
two units. Already, worker drones were integrating its design into that of
the Inquisitor. However, they
had found something far more interesting when they had stripped down the
computer cores to their basic programming. Inquisitor now knew everything the
computer had known, and the computer had revealed that the craft that it used
to inhabit had something called a hyperdrive unit. Careful examination of the
debris revealed enough components to recreate a compatible version of this
device, and now the Inquisitor
was starting to incorporate it into its design. Within hours the Inquisitor would have reduced its
need for power by ninety percent, and somewhere inside its great bulk a spark
of emotion flared at the possibilities that would be opened. The Dark Star II exited hyperspace near
the last known co-ordinates of the Dead
Storm. Heeding Olya's warning he had entered
near the edge of the system, to avoid the debris field. He checked his
scanners. "If it was here, it’s gone now. Those
are high radiation readings. No wonder your pod failed, it was fried from the
outside in." Tarr Ranth raised the level of the shields to compensate
for the radiation field they would soon be entering. Whatever that craft had
been, it was leaking radiation like a sieve. He did a wide sweep of the
system, tracking the radiation trail. Olya moved up behind him in the cramped
cockpit. "Do you always rescue people in
distress?" It was the first normal conversation she had tried to start
with this strange man. She heard him chuckle. "Only those who don't shoot at
me." His reply was deadpan but she could hear the humour in his voice.
He turned towards her. "Did you escape or were you freed?" The
question was unexpected and put Olya on her guard, but she answered anyway. "Neither. My owner died. In his will he left me my
freedom and his ship." She sounded whist full, Ranth understood. Without
the ship she may soon end up in slavery again. His scanner bleeped. "We’ve got something. Big, about six klicks long. Radiation
levels are dropping off though, as if it’s fixed the problem. There seems to be a lot of starship debris
in the system." Ranth let his voice trail off. He pressed a couple more
buttons and a high-resolution scanner kicked it. "Let’s get a closer look." Ranth
engaged the security straps and settled into the pilots’ chair. He motioned
Olya to sit in the one next to him. "Basic scanners and fire control for
the weapons systems. I trust you can shoot straight?" Olya nodded, a
little scared at what she anticipated was about to happen. Ranth put the
shields up double front and boosted the engines. This was
going to be tricky. Behemoth 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode
IV – A New Hope Histories
– The first part in a sequence of stories based
around a stolen Star
Destroyer and the alien ship Inquisitor. Written by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold, this stars Tarr Ranth, Glann Cipple and
primarily Nias Derril.
Cast of Characters Nias Derril Tarr Ranth Glann Cipple Colonel Tessa Tjar Vice Admiral Adra Tjar Jan Lomona Ryath Centaur Melm Olya Denadre 2-1-A Captain
Turosa
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