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Spider and Fly 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode
IV – A New Hope
"Nias Derril, we meet again." Captain Desanon looked Nias Derril up and
down, walking around him as he did so. Nias yawned and tapped his feet. The
captain frowned.
"What’s so boring Derril? Already stolen your next prize?" Nias smiled widely, as the captain’s men
ransacked his ship.
"Maybe it’s your
ship I'm after Captain. You know I could if I wanted to don't you?" Nias
took one step towards the captain, lowering his voice to a mere whisper.
"We both know who really
pays our wages, don't we?" He stepped back as Desanon frowned,
uncomfortable that someone else knew he was in the pocket of ganglord Glann
Cipple. Nias simply watched his men working, picked up a porta-comp from his
command panel and started to make notes.
"What are you doing?" Nias turned back towards the voice of his
would be persecutor.
"Making an inventory of what your men look at. I'd hate to miss
anything if it got broke or was stolen." Desanons anger rose quickly. He strode
forward and ripped the porta-comp out of Nias's grasp and then turned towards
his men.
"Leave no compartment unsearched, and don't bother cleaning up
after you." The three troopers nodded their ascent, and
continued searching. Captain Desanon smiled wickedly at Derril and headed
back into his ship, taking the computer with him. Nias was unconcerned. He'd baited the trap. Captain Leoni Desanon sat at his desk aboard
the Imperial Customs Frigate Invidious
and examined his conversation with Nias Derril. He knew the man made a habit
of procuring the `unbuyable’
and he also knew that he was supposed to let him continue doing so. Lately
though, his allegiance to both the Empire and Glann Cipple had been foremost
in his mind. He had reached a crossroads in his life and career and now was
the time to choose. He depressed a button on his desk and a channel opened to
his communications centre.
"Get me Amagad. I need to
speak to the governor" The frigate pulled away from Nias's ship,
which was travelling under the assumed name of the Sabre, and leapt towards the local hyperspace lanes, its ion
engines on full thrust. Nias breathed a sigh of relief. He was lucky that his
ship only had the room for the three troopers to search. A scanning crew
would have soon picked up his hidden compartments, and the specialised
equipment contained therein. He heard a hissing sound and a concealed airlock
opened in the floor. An eight-legged droid appeared, crawled up on to the
command console and plugged itself in. A translation of its datastream
appeared on the small screen next to it.
"I see it SP1. Did you fit the tracking unit as well?" The little droid warbled a response and the
screen lit up with more messages. ++++++++++++Hyperspace
tracking unit attached++++probability of discovery
0.001%++++hyperspace inhibitor attached++++++probability
of discovery 3%+++++explosive device attached+++++probability
of discovery 35%++++++++ Nias frowned at the last set of figures. He
had hoped that they would drop below 10% but it seemed that the little droid
would have needed more time. He sighed.
"Okay SP1, good work. I'll modify your motive and cognitive sub
processors later. In the meantime scoot back to your alcove and get a
recharge." The little droid warbled its ascent and
disconnected its self, returning to the hatch from whence it had appeared.
Nias pressed a series of buttons on the command panel and a hidden hatch slid
back. A recessed communications and tracking system sat beneath the panel. He
pressed a couple of buttons. A three dimensional map of the galaxy
appeared over the command panel. Nias activated the transmitter and waited
for the ICF Invidious to enter hyperspace. It
didn't. In fact, it started to turn about and head back towards him. Nias
felt a nerve twitch in his face and an uneasy feeling crept up on him. He
checked his scanners and noticed that the weapons systems upon the Invidious were charging. He made
his decision. A large panel slid back upon the dorsal hull
of the Sabre, and a secondary
ion engine lifted out of the gloom. This was the one modification that Nias
had never hoped to use. He strapped himself into the pilot’s chair and at the
same time called his battered R3 unit into the cockpit.
"DeeThree, lock yourself to the
manoeuvring frame and plug into the ships systems." The little droid
bleeped its reply and did as it had been instructed. Nias primed the energy
cannons on front of the Sabre
and put the main ion engine into reverse. The ship bounced backwards, running
from the faster ICF. The R3 unit took control of the shields and started
calculating a series of emergency hyperspace jumps. Nias noticed the figures
that were bouncing across the screen and smiled. The Invidious was preparing to chase him into hyperspace. He knew
that he'd have to be a lot closer than that before he could activate the
explosives. Captain Desanon paced backwards and forwards
upon the small bridge of the Invidious.
Had he made the right decision?
Powerful men controlled his destiny, and would not make life easy for
him. He stopped pacing and called to his gunnery officer.
"How long until we get into range?" The officer responded without looking away
from his display.
"Thirty seconds, Sir. The ship has revealed another ion drive
system. Should we destroy that
first?" Desanon thought deeply for a second.
"No, take out the shields and the weapons first, then the
reactor. Be surgical - I want to make this last. Then destroy the ship entirely."
He couldn't afford a talking witness. His tactical officer turned towards
him.
"Sir the ship is powering up weapons, but isn’t making a run for
it. It seems to be waiting for something." Desanon thought for a moment and realised his
mistake. "Get
me Commander Relnard." Nias pressed more buttons on the panel in
front of his chair and a series of enhanced shields sprang up in front of the
ship. He angled the main transmitter towards the Invidious and prayed that his preparation had been enough. He
looked at the range readout. Only a few more seconds and he would be within
the firing arc of the Invidious.
He was nervous. He still hadn't heard from Glann Cipple, and that meant there
was trouble. On cue ships
communications board lit up - a voice only transmission. He activated the
carrier beam and started to download the communiqué.
"Mister Derril, following our conversation this morning, Mister
Cipple would like you to dispose of our mutual problem however you see fit.
We cannot allow this situation to expand beyond its current status. Melm
out." That was it. Short and to the point,
delivered succinctly by Cipple’s number two. Nias turned to the little droid.
"Power up the ion turbo and prepare for high gravity
manoeuvrability." Two more enhanced ion engines folded out of
the Sabre, one each side.
Nias checked their read-outs and altered the rotational nozzles so that they
would bring about the most dramatic of turns and jigs. The fist series of blasts took out over a
quarter of the shield energy. Nias cursed as he fought with the ships
controls and kept the more powerful front shields facing the Invidious. He pressed the
transmission stud for the explosives, but nothing happened. It must be
shielded by the engine wash. He kicked in the manoeuvring engines and brought
the ship into a fast arc, up and above the frigate. The guns followed him but
could not track as fast as his little ship could move. He punched the button
again, but there was still no response. He cursed as he remembered the little
droids notification of the possibility of discovery. Commander Relnard carefully removed the
explosive package from its cradle within the main power systems. He sighed
with relief as he removed the tiny receiver unit from it. The captain would be
pleased that he'd found this one. He noticed that the detonator was placed
inside the explosive. It would be difficult to remove. He decided that he'd
let the captain know about this as soon as he could. He picked up the little
package and headed towards the bridge. Captain Desanon was looking through all the
information stored on Nias's small computer, and was fascinated by how
successful the thief had been since they had last met. He would use this
information as a bargaining tool with Nias's various employers, once he'd
destroyed the source. He looked up from his musing and noticed that the small
ship had disappeared from the main viewer. At that moment he noticed his
second in command striding onto the bridge, a small spherical package in his
hand. Nias received a small beep from the
communications console. He looked at the readout and smiled. Another ion
blast rocked the ship, sending the shields down to 15% power. He pressed the
button on the console that would release the energy from his un-used blasters
straight into the secondary ion engine. He then pressed the transmit button
again. The explosive charge had been stored in the
weapons lockers, to the rear of the ship. Desanon smiled to himself as he
thought of the panic that must have spread across Nias's face when the
explosive didn't ignite. He picked up the computer again and started to read
off a list of future targets that Nias had listed. Then he noticed his own ship within the list
and scowled at the thought of his own overconfidence. Scanner logs still hadn't told him how the
ship had been compromised and he suspected they wouldn't. The computer beeped
in his hands, the screen cleared, and a series of numbers started to count
down. Ten Nine Eight Desanon dropped the computer and abandoned
the bridge, sprinting towards the main escape pods. Five Four Three Two One... Nias pushed the engines to the maximum, heat
readings in his thrust chambers shot off the scale and his chair creaked
against the pull of the acceleration. He felt his weight increasing fourfold
as he body fought to catch up with the rapid
increase in speed. The ICF Invidious
shrank rapidly in his main view port. He saw the spark of an explosion where
the main bridge section would have been and smiled in satisfaction as his
brain started counting up the scrap value of an Imperial Customs Frigate.
Maybe it would cover his expenses. Glann Cipple received the communication an
hour after Nias had transmitted it. His own private holo-net
was expensive to maintain but provided rapid transmission of data across much
of the Setnin Sector. He thought grimly of the trouble that might have been
caused had the captain talked to his superiors. Perhaps it was better that Desanon was ashes,
along with his ship. Or maybe he had
lost more than he could hope to gain, with another insider filtering
information from the Empire dead. He
frowned. There was still one more
loose end to tie up – a loose end that he couldn’t guarantee would keep
silent about certain…delicate matters. He pressed the hidden panel on his
desk that summoned Melm. The head of security appeared in seconds from a
hidden doorway.
"Melm, get Carlonian Feese, I need someone to close a deal with
Nias Derril. Permanently." Spider and Fly 2000 short story by
Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode
IV – A New Hope Histories –Leading up to the events of Behemoth, this Louis
Turfrey story, edited by Mark Newbold, shows more of the exploits
of Nias
Derril, and some of his dealings with both the Empire and the ganglord Glann Cipple. Cast of Characters Nias Derril Captain Desanon Commander Relnard Melm Glann Cipple |