Gold Strike - Part 2
by Raven, Pivot, and Storm
Written and originally posted in 1995
******** Part 11 ********
[Four Y-wing starfighters hung motionless in space amid the debris of an
asteroid field.]
"Scratch 2 to Scratch 3, Ripper? I nothin' on my scope see, anything you got?
"No Peet'y, go back to sleep. When the freighter shows up we'll handle it while
you snooze. Oh, and we'll cut up your share of the salvage!"
"Can it you guys," called the leader of the raiding party. "Target sighted. An M-class
freighter and right on time. Let's get this done before they clear the other side of the
field. Ka'jat ain't gonna buy another 'defective torpedo—sorry they got away' story.
Scratch 1 to Zip's 1 and 2, head out and check for fighters, everyone else—torpedoes only till the shields go down, then switch to ion cannons. No lasers, repeat, no lasers! We want that cargo in one piece. Let's do it!"
Thinking they had found easy prey, the pirates sprang out of the asteroid field proper
and closed on the lone freighter.
[Aboard the freighter Holmes...]
"Contact! Four Y-wings and two Z-95 fighters, at zero one-niner-niner," called the
crewman aboard the Holmes.
"Roger," replied Captain Michael "Smoke" Williams, Gold 4, now commanding the
freighter Holmes from elsewhere in the ship. "Stand by to blow the cargo hatches on my mark. Comm officer, commence jamming now!" Smoke studied the approaching ships on his personal sensor screen. The slower Y-wings posed no trouble but the speedy Z-95s could be a problem. He did not want them to be able to escape with word of what was about to happen.
"Come to course two-seven-one, azimuth seventeen, full speed," he called. The souped up freighter was much faster than it looked and it shot clean away from the Y-wings. As
expected, the Z-95s moved to cut the Holmes off from escape. "Raven, get a lock on the Z's. I want them both fried on the first pass."
The freighter's forward sensor cluster was a fake, hiding a deadly quad turbo-laser
battery underneath a flimsy veneer of welded metal. "Locked on!" came Raven's response from fire control.
"Fire!" ordered Smoke.
The sensor cluster exploded as the laser bolts fired on the passing Z-95s. Both of
the barely-shielded craft disintegrated. Smoke watched impassively as the surprised pirates barely had a chance to react before being vaped. He did one final check on the instruments of his X-wing, ensuring the ship was ready to fly. "Blow the cargo hatches, now!"
Explosive bolts in the rear cargo hold doors were fired and the massive bay doors
were blown away from the freighter. Three X-wing fighters were then catapulted out
into space, cutting in their engines and heading right for the attacking Y-wings.
The pirates realized they had stepped into a wibbers nest and tried to disengage.
But they were no match for the flying skills of Pivot, StarDuster, and Storm. Two of
the Y-wings were destroyed, but one was captured intact. At the last possible moment,
a pirate ejected from the fourth craft just as it disintegrated and was recovered alive.
Meanwhile, Wraith and his Corvette arrived, boring into the asteroid field. A quick sensor sweep located the small attack base. The turbo-lasers of the CRV reduced it to slag. Gold had their prisoners, but they still did not have the location of the main pirate base.
******** Part 12 ********
[Aboard the freighter Holmes, somewhere in the Magaen Drift...]
Gold Squad's two pirate prisoners were reluctant to tell Pivot anything
useful. He and Wraith had started questioning them as soon as they were
patched up and had sufficiently recovered from the battle in which they were
captured. After six hours they'd given up little more than their names.
A hasty conference was called aboard the Holmes to discuss the options. "We're not getting anywhere with these losers. Now I'm wondering how long would it
take to break them using truth drugs?" asked Pivot.
Wraith thought about it a moment. "A couple of days, depending, and assuming they haven't been prepared to
resist that particular type of questioning. But we'd have to take them over to
the Beowulf to do it. They have the necessary facilities, but we don't."
"And, time is short," Pivot added.
Storm spoke up. "Maybe that won't be necessary. Raven, perhaps you could use
the force on these two jokers."
Raven looked confused. "The Force? Hey, I'm Force-challenged, guys. No
premonitions, no telekinesis, no nothing. Strictly mundane."
"That's not the force I'm talking about," Storm said smiling. "I was thinking
of how you got clearance to launch that X-wing aboard the Happy Jack. You
know, the little incident that got you in so much trouble."
Understanding came to Raven's face. "Ah, you want I should ask Rory if he can
help get something from these guys?"
Pivot turned on Raven. "You brought that gundark with you on this trip
without my knowledge or permission? Bantha dung!" he hollered. The
depredations of Red Squad's unofficial mascot were legend throughout the
Alliance fighter squadrons. Wraith and StarDuster started looking innocently
around the room for previously unnoticed signs of the extra passenger.
"He goes pretty much where I go, sir," Raven replied matter-of-factly. "Hey, he
hasn't bitten ... I mean bothered anyone and I figured we could use him to fill
a chair if we got a poker game going."
"Yeah," muttered Smoke, "he's beat me out of 100 credits last time I was on the Regis."
Raven grinned at Smoke and continued. "He might be able to convince our
passengers to be more communicative, though."
Pivot considered his options for a few moments. He was more than a little
upset—both with Raven for bringing Rory along but also with himself for somehow not noticing the deadly gundark came along on the trip—but the logic of the situation began to take hold. Finally, he gathered his composure. "Well, it's worth a try. Whistle your friend up and give it a go. This had better work, mister." He turned to Smoke, "Put both our guests in the amidships cargo hold."
[A short while later the two captured pirates were securely bound to two
chairs in the middle of the large empty cargo bay. A single overhead spotlight
shown down making a circle of light about 6 meters across in the otherwise
dark room...]
"Look Peet'y," said the pirate leader, "these guys got nothing I tell you.
They're Imperial undercover or maybe Alliance cops. Just keep your mouth shut
and let me do any talking."
The other pirate did not share his boss's confidence as he nervously looked
around the room. "Sure, sure. Me, my mouth won't open, Craig. Sure."
A hatch was heard opening and then closing again. The pirates strained to see
beyond the circle of light to see who was approaching. They could hear slow
footsteps and a strange scraping sound. The sound stopped without anything
entering the light. Then a tall slim figure walked up to the two tied men.
"Howdy boys," Raven greeted the pirates. "Not too good a day for you guys is
it?
"Blow it out your ear!" the larger of the two men returned.
"Hmmm, let's see. You would be Craig Datsoon," Raven said to the man who had
spoken. He looked at the smaller pirate. "And you, Peet'y Sighast, would be."
Peet'y was caught off guard by Raven's sudden change in accent. "You from the
Drift, are?" he asked.
"Shut-up Peet'y," yelled Datsoon.
"Oh, Craig," Raven said sadly. "That's not real friendly, not at all, no, no,
no. And here I went and told my friends that you two were gonna cooperate and
tell us just what we wanted to know."
"You did that, did you?" sneered Datsoon. "Well, that saddens me, friend, it
truly does but I'd be willing to wager that it won't happen."
Raven smiled at the pirate. "Bet your life?" he asked softly. "Actually,
you've put me off Craig. I don't think we can be friends after all. But, I'm
absolutely positive that Peet'y and I are gonna be chums. The facts to me
he'll tell."
"He's not gonna tell you squat. You think just because you ask politely I'm
gonna tell you my life story? Well, I ain't telling you nothin' you got that?"
the pirate roared.
"Craig, you know, I believe you. So I'm not gonna ask you anything. In fact,
in just about five minutes you won't be able to tell me anything anyway even
if you wanted to." Raven turned and motioned to the darkness behind him. The
pirates stared wide-eyed as 2 meters of muscular mammal advanced into the circle of
light. All 16 of the claws splayed out for all in the room to see clearly.
Raven kept the introductions short. "Boys, this is Rory. Rory... the boys. Now
Craig," Raven growled through clenched teeth, his voice hard as stone, "this
is what I think is gonna happen. I'm going let my friend Rory here eat you.
Alive. And I'm going to stand waaaaay over there while he does it because I
know from experience that it's gonna make a hell of a mess. Then before he can
get hungry again, Peet'y here is gonna tell me everything we want to know.
Everything. Twice."
Rory advanced on the pirate Datsoon, a base rumbling coming from the
gundark. The rumble turned to a loud hiss and the massive jaws parted. The
pirate started fighting against the restraints and began screaming curses at
Raven. Raven smiled and looked the pirate right in the eyes. "Dinner time,"
was all he said.
Raven returned to the common room of the freighter after his "interrogation"
of the pirate captives. Sitting down at the table he handed a datacard to a
grumpy Pivot. "Here's the location of the pirate stronghold, sir. We separated
Datsoon and his little sidekick. Wraith is grilling one and Smoke the other
while Storm cross checks the data. Both agree that these are the coordinates
of the base."
Pivot took the card and slipped it into his datapad. "This is good." Pivot's
smile grew, "Raven, this is very good! Are our guests still providing
information?" he asked.
Grinning, Raven replied, "Well, it's like this, Commander. We'll probably have
to feed these guys to Rory now just to shut em up." Raven started to chuckle
and soon the room was echoing with raucous laughter.
******** Part 13 ********
[En route to the main pirate base...]
Wraith grinned as he nosed the Y-wing out from behind the
asteroid where he had been waiting. The captured pirate fighter
was dirty and banged up but handled well. He saw his target, a
supply freighter, moving slowly through the debris field on it's
way to the pirate base.
Pivot's plan was simple and direct. Using the information
obtained from their two pirate guests, the Gold infiltration
team was going to waylay a pirate supply freighter. Using the
captured craft, they would openly fly right into the pirate
stronghold.
The thought of pirating the pirates caused Wraith to chuckle as
he waited for the signal to move in. Suddenly, his comm-link
emitted hissing static. The Holmes had jammed all communications
in the area; this was the attack signal!
The supply freighter had only a single Y-wing escort. Two
Gold X-wings, flown by Smoke and StarDuster, swooped in from
their ambush positions. Smoke handily dispatched the escort and
StarDuster took down the freighter's shields. Wraith brought the
ion-cannons of his Y-wing to bear on the freighter and within
five minutes the battle was over, the freighter drifting
helplessly while her crew tried in vain to call for help.
An armored transport, one of the Group Gamma ships, docked with
the freighter and the boarding party quickly subdued the small
pirate crew. Technicians quickly installed the special equipment
that would be used during the mission and withdrew with the prisoners.
Their transportation secured, the infiltration team consisting
of Pivot, Wraith, Storm, StarDuster, and Raven transferred to
the supply freighter. Smoke would act as their Y-wing escort on
the way into the pirate base. Speed was essential now as they
did not want the supply ship reported overdue at its destination.
The base was located deep within the asteroid fields of the
Drift and, according to the intelligence Gold had acquired, it
could only be approached in normal space through a corridor that
would be closely watched for unauthorized ships. It would be
difficult if not impossible to launch a surprise attack against
the pirate stronghold.
Pivot watched the viewport. "Take her in easy," he told Storm,
who was at the freighter's controls. "Is everything prepared in
the engine room?" he asked.
Storm did not look up from the console. "Yes sir,
given the condition of the reactors in this crate, our little
diversion should be most convincing."
As the freighter approached the entrance corridor to the pirate
base, the Y-wing flown by Smoke turned back as per the standard
procedure the pirates supposedly used. Storm flipped the switch on the main
control panel that started sending what he hoped were the
appropriate clearance codes, and then crossed his fingers as they started into the corridor. Although they could not see
anything by way of defenses, they knew they were within range of
dozens of asteroid based laser platforms, camouflaged space
mines, and at least two V-150 ion cannon emplacements.
Storm continued making final checks on the freighter's flight
control system when he glanced up and caught sight of the pirate
base for the first time. Storm was 33 years old, and therefore
ancient by the standards of his chosen deadly profession. He was
an experienced, 'seen everything there is to see, several times'
starpilot, but he was totally taken aback by what he saw now.
For one thing the base itself had not shown up on the
freighter's sensors and therefore he did not expect to see
much of anything at all. For another, it was the most amazing
sight he had ever seen, including the Death Star. Storm
finally remembered to take a breath and then he let out a low
whistle. "Say guys, take a look at this," he said to his two
companions.
They all looked out the front viewscreen in wonder. Ten compact
ringlets of asteroids rotated around half a dozen planetoids in
opposing orbits. The planetoids were fixed in position creating
a hollowed-out fishbowl effect with solid rock on five sides.
From almost any position outside the corridor, the area would
resemble a dense asteroid field. In reality it was a fortress
impervious to long-range scans and attack from capital ships.
The only viable approach was down the relatively narrow corridor
through the asteroid fields that they were now passing through.
"This can't be a completely natural formation," remarked Storm.
"I'll bet they're using a combination of force fields and
gravitic wells to hold all this together. Why ... you could hide
something the size of a Death Star in that volume. This is damn
impressive."
"Raven," Pivot called, "fire up our new black box will you ...
but make sure you set it for a passive sweep, we don't want to
risk them detecting our EM signature."
"Sure thing Commander," came back the reply. "Slaving output to
Eddie's console," Raven called.
Storm started to give a running commentary on what he saw as they moved into the base proper. "Well folks, this base is absolutely unbelievable. It's no
wonder it did not show up on Wraith's sweeps through this area.
Not only do you have several miles of solid nickel, iron, and
doonium, but it looks like they're running a bio shield
generator. Its power output is off the scale … no wonder we're
not picking up any life readings." Storm was beginning to
perspire, as his admiration turned into concern. "Man, this place
was not built overnight or just as a minor hideout. This is an
attack base, and some piece of kit it is too."
Smiling, Pivot tried to stem Storm's narrative. "Okay Captain,
keep to the facts for now. We'll have time later to discuss the
niceties." They were deep inside the 'fishbowl' now. The
internal arc lights of the base were concentrated on what looked
like two deep space repair docks, which were not empty.
"Whatever they've got they're big," said Storm, checking the
readouts. "Looks like they have two ships in their space docks,
and there is a lot of work going on around the yard. Not quite
as big as Star Destroyers ... Damn! Those are a pair of old
Republic Dreadnoughts all right."
Pivot and Raven swiveled around in their seats to take a better look. Raven muttered
something under his breath. Pivot, at a loss for words, just kept
staring at the base and the huge ships. He mumbled something
that sounded like "Magnificent". Then he added, "if those
things are operational, we're in BIG trouble."
Their approach was taking them to the back wall of the fishbowl.
They were passing just below and to the port side of the two
mighty warships that had been the backbone of the Republic
Navy. Storm checked the sensor readouts from Raven's station
again. "Looks like they have the standard complement of turbolaser turrets and ion cannons ... but they've added torpedo tubes. Wait a minute," he said as he fine tuned the sensor.
"Those tubes look like they're designed to take those experimental piercing torpedoes."
A visual check of the tubes confirmed they were designed to take
the latest advanced proton torpedoes, able to pass through capital ship shields at the slight cost of payload. The telltale flange at the muzzle opening was
unmistakable. While they might not have the pop of the MG-7 warheads being used by both sides of this conflict, the ability to surprise an enemy ship with direct hits to hull components in the opening of a conflict was worth it. Many Alliance
ships were still waiting their turn to upgrade as the torps were
not being manufactured in quantity as yet.
The ships were ablaze with lights, both from the space dock and
the Dreadnoughts' own running lights. A full third smaller than
the Victory Class Star Destroyers, they were more cigar-shaped
and were ringed with turbo laser batteries and ion cannons in
bands running around the ships. Dreadnoughts were quick, much
more maneuverable than Star Destroyers, and extremely effective
in combat. The only downside of the aged ships was how crew-intensive they were to run effectively. As they passed, the huge warships dwarfed the
freighter.
Storm continued with his analysis of the base. The special
surveillance gear installed on the captured freighter allowed
them to see the entire base in minute detail. There appeared to
be some 25 to 30 connected surface domes on the back wall of the
base and clusters of 2 to 3 domes scattered on the side walls.
What appeared to be the Command and Control complex was some two
klicks away, the green and red landing lights clearly visible
now that the freighter was in the base's shadow, but the
perpetual outside "static noise" on the comm channels had
disappeared.
"They have a wide band damping field around this place, all
external comm traffic is limited to within the base, no signals
can get out. That must be how they've kept hidden for so long.
Probably can't pick up any power emanations either until you get
to the entrance. They probably use low-power hyper modulated
narrow beam link to a relay satellite for their outside
communications. We could try to piggy-back off their beam to
get a message out, but we'd blow our cover for sure. This place
is a paranoid's wet dream and is isolated six ways from
tomorrow. We are definitely on our own," whistled Storm.
Raven ran a sounding scan on the main complex. "We're getting
the corridor map now." He bent over a sighting hood and peered
at the computer image. "We've got a fairly clear image down to
level three. Some fuzzy spots, but we should be able to find our
way around," he reported. He downloaded the layout information
to datacards so each member of the team would have a map.
The freighter shook slightly. "They've just locked their tractor
beam on us. I'm shutting down the engines," Storm explained. "Two minutes to docking." Storm spoke into the freighter's comm panel next. "Roger
Control, shutting down engines." The engine monitor lights on
the console winked out. Storm then engaged a special computer
program that he had prepared earlier. The light for the
starboard engine lit up yellow. Storm looked at Pivot and said,
"30 seconds." The yellow light started flashing.
Pivot took one last look at the Dreadnoughts. "Everyone take up
your positions," he called. "Keep your helmets on and be ready
to seal your suits in case our diversion blows the airlock."
Turning to Storm he said, "Just as docking is complete you hit
the panic button."
As the ship was pulled into the landing dock on the far wall of
the base, Storm typed in a final command to the ship's computer
and flipped on the comm-link as he hurried to the main hatch.
"Control," he called into the comm, "we show a malfunction in
our starboard engine. Looks like a coolant leak, and we're
getting some oscillation. We're trying to shut it down!" He
reached the others, hiding out of sight near the hatch, just as
the door slid open. At that instant, the freighter was rocked by
an explosion in its starboard engine.
Thick, black smoke began to fill the passage. Pivot staggered
down the ramp and called to the docking crew waiting outside,
"Malfunction in the engine room!" he yelled. "We have a breach
and can't lock it down. Get a containment crew in here NOW!"
As the pirate crewmen scrambled to deal with the emergency, the
rest of the infiltration team managed to leave the freighter
unnoticed in all the confusion. As they moved further into the
base, there came the sounds of more explosions behind them as the
booby-trapped freighter's 'malfunction' turned into a bona fide
disaster. Fire alarms started to sound from the docking bay.
"That should buy us some time," said Pivot as he led the team
into a side corridor. "It'll take them a while to figure out what
happened and sort though the dead and wounded. With luck they'll
assume that the freighter's crew was killed while trying to deal
with the engine breach." They approached an intersection in the
tunnel they were moving in.
"Here's where we split up. You all know what we have to do and
we don't have much time to do it. Wraith, you and Storm find a
place where you can slice into their computer net. You've got to
take those laser platforms and cannons off-line before McDonald
and Bink enter the corridor. The rest of us will check out the
Dreadnoughts. Let's go!"
******** Part 14 ********
[Inside the pirate base Command and Control complex...]
Wraith and Storm turned down another side tunnel. The last two had been dead
ends and they were forced to retrace their path. They knew they were somewhere
near the central base complex, based on the subsurface scan they'd made when
entering the area from space.
Wraith motioned for Storm to wait as he ducked into a hatchway. A moment later
he reemerged and signaled his partner that they had found what they were
looking for. Storm entered the room and saw it was a small maintenance bay
where several droids were being recharged. Wraith was moving from droid to
droid checking the charge levels and then deactivating each droid.
"They're all about a third charged. So no one should come looking for them for
a couple of hours," Wraith explained. "Okay, there's a computer hookup on the
bench at the back of the room."
Storm was the Squad's computer slicer. He took a
portable terminal from his backpack and began hooking it up to the computer
terminal. He worked in silence for several minutes as Wraith secured the
room's hatch and looked for any other exits. There was only a small overhead
crawlway that led into a series of maintenance tunnels that looked like they
hadn't been used since this part of the base was constructed.
"Wraith, they've got some pretty sophisticated safeguards on this net. I can
run the watchdog programs in circles for awhile but eventually they'll find
our tap."
"How long 'til they know we're in the system?" Wraith asked.
"About an hour I'd guess," Storm replied.
"Well," Wraith grinned. "I'll give you 50 minutes to get everything we need
done. By then the Beowulf should show up and the locals will be too busy to
worry about us anyway. Have you found the defense grid routines yet?"
Storm's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Sure. But this is not good. See
here, the laser platform routines have built-in encrypted headers so if we
modify anything, the maintenance program will immediately delete it and
reinitialize the primary from a backup. We can't take the lasers off-line
without a three key override. And the mines are not tied directly into the net
at all. You have to preset their programs, compile it with the proper codes,
and then rebroadcast it. That'd tip the locals off that we're in their
network real fast."
"Well, Gold can handle any mines on the way in, but if we can't take the laser
platforms off-line is there any way we can warn Smoke?" Wraith asked.
"Wait! We may not have to. If we can't shut them down or tweak the primary
routines, hmmm let me see ... there! Perfect, they have a series of calibration
programs, here, and here. My guess is that they change the sweep patterns
periodically. These routines change every few hours and shouldn't have
encrypted headers." Storm slipped a datacard into his slicer terminal. "A bit
here, a bit there, almost got it. There!"
Wraith looked at Storm blankly. "There what?"
"I'm recalibrating the targeting routines. The lasers will track and fire
perfectly, only they won't be able to hit the broadside of a planet," he said
triumphantly. "Don't you see?" he said pointing to the screen.
Wraith looked at the program code on the terminal. "Hey, it's all zeros and
ones to me," he grinned. "Will that trick work for those Planet class ion
cannons?"
"No," Storm said, rubbing his hands together. "Those babies will be manned by
human crews and they'll just switch to manual targeting. Here this might
work ... I'll set up a new maintenance routine. It'll look harmless and just
monitor the gun's capacitors. As soon as they reach maximum charge," he paused
as he typed furiously, "I'll have it shunt the power from the ion generator to
their local grav generators. Every time they try to fire the cannon they'll
triple their artificial gravity for a few minutes. They'll get tired of that
real fast. It'll take a little while to set up though."
Wraith looked at Storm. "You know, at times I'm really glad you're on our
side"
Meanwhile Pivot, StarDuster, and Raven had managed to substitute themselves
for three of the crew in a work detail on the space dock and were sitting in a
rail tram approaching one of the massive Dreadnoughts.
******** Part 15 ********
The pirate strawboss slowed the tram at the entrance of one of the
Dreadnought's aft cargo holds. "Okay you jokers!" he called on the suit comms.
"Get those shielding plates loaded into the magnetic lock. Once it's all in,
everyone cycle through the seal and load it on the grav sleds inside for
transfer to engineering. Get moving!"
The crew started loading the large sheets where indicated. They moved in a
dispirited manner and Pivot suspected that many of them were pressed into
service by the pirates. Probably taken prisoner in raids and ship captures and
given the simple choice of working or trying to breathe vacuum. He used hand
signals to tell StarDuster what he wanted done. Once the shielding was loaded
into the lock the crew transferred into the ship. StarDuster waited until
there was only himself and the strawboss left.
"Well, what are you waiting for dummy?" the strawboss yelled at StarDuster, coming right up to stand in his face.
StarDuster took a quick glance around while pulling a
pellet stunner from his kit, then fired it point blank into the pirate's
chest. The pirate's pressure suit popped and he quickly slumped over.
StarDuster switched off the boss's suit comm and lowered his body into the
tram's driver seat and then proceeded into the Dreadnought.
Once inside, StarDuster addressed the crew. "The boss says we're to take
this stuff up to engineering and report to the chief up there. You and you,"
he said, indicating Raven and Pivot, "are to come with me up to the landing bay
for reassignment." The workers were used to following orders and started
loading the last of the plates on the grav sled. Pivot and Raven followed
StarDuster down the corridor.
Once out of sight of the others, the three infiltrators headed towards the
bridge. They armed themselves and moved cautiously to the transport tube. The
tube system seemed to be operational and they took a capsule moving the length
of the giant warship. "The bridge will be guarded so we'll stop at operations
and proceed to the maintenance accessway," Pivot informed his comrades. "We'll
try to avoid a fight, but once any shooting starts we must gain the bridge and
determine if this tub is operational."
The tube stopped and the three gained control of the passageway without
incident. Moving to the bridge access hatchway they spotted several armed
guards. "Use your pellet stunners," whispered Pivot. "StarDuster, Raven, you
take the two on the left, I'll take the other three standing at the ops
station."
The three stepped out of hiding and opened fire on the guards. While not
effective against body armor, the pellet stunners struck exposed skin and took down the guards with quick efficiency. The weapons made almost no noise, using air pressure to
propel a small needle-shaped concussion charge. Pivot approached the hatchway quickly and looked around. "Okay, once inside we eliminate everyone on the bridge. Raven, you get to an outlet and run the program on Datacard 1. That'll seal the bridge, close all
the bulkheads, and scramble the access codes all over the ship. StarDuster,
you run the checks on fire control and navigation, and I'll take the main
computer. Everyone ready? Good."
The battle on the bridge was anticlimactic. There were only three technicians
on the bridge running checks on the ship's systems, and none of them had a chance to even reach for their blasters before being incapacitated. Raven was at a terminal
before the last body hit the deck and soon announced that the bridge was
secure. "No one can gain access without cutting through the main hatchway," he
said. "Everything's locked down except for the cargo bay entrances and the
main hatchway. All internal doors and bulkheads are closed and locked."
"Commander," StarDuster called. "I've never seen a fire control system like
this. It does not match the Dreadnought specs we studied. There are a number
of system overrides and monitor readouts that I can't determine any use for."
Pivot was sitting in the captain's chair and was running checks on the main
computer. "By the Force," he swore. "This ship is slave-rigged. There are
remote system hookups on all major components ... navigation, weapons,
hyperspace control ... this ship must be from the Batonn insurgency!"
"The what?" asked Raven. "You can't be serious! The insurgency is a ghost
story meant to scare people off from resisting the Empire. No one has ever..." he trailed off as his eyes scanned the readout in
front of him. "Jeez, look at that," he said as he read the name of the ship on
the screen. "R-S-N, Republic Space Navy 'Fortunate', date of commission … Ah, I see now, it was a poorly run scrub job on the registration. Commander, I think you're right. Says it now belongs to the 'Batonn Freedom Front', and has thus been renamed the 'Nightswan'."
"Doesn't matter. StarDuster, report!" Pivot snapped, fully aware that time was
running short.
StarDuster scanned the screen readout in front of him. "Looks like this bird's
systems are all operational with the exception of the main engines. Lasers and
ion cannons are on-line as well as the new torpedo launching system although
I'm reading no torps in the magazines."
"Take fire control completely off-line," Pivot ordered. "Run the programs on
cards 5, 6, and 7 in order. I'll shut down all manual overrides from this
station. Raven, see if you can find out if the other Dreadnought is
operational. The strike force should enter this system anytime now."
StarDuster glanced at the screens showing the space dock. "Pivot, looks like
the pirates know we're here." Pivot looked at the screen. A steady stream of
laborers was moving out of the ship through the gangway tube that connected
the entrance hatch to the space dock main platform. A number of armed troops
were seen hurriedly entering the ship.
"They're taking the forced labor off the ship. Probably from the cargo bays as
those areas have access to the main entrance. But the pirates will have a
tough time cutting through all the bulkheads between here and there. Hmmm,
they may try to cut directly through the hull from outside. StarDuster," Pivot
called, "watch for anything approaching the front of the ship. We may need to
bring the forward laser batteries back on-line. Have card 12 loaded and ready
to run just in case."
Pivot kept feeding datacards into the main data terminal. He ran a scan
program and managed to find the base comm-net channel and put a link to his
ear and listened to the chatter coming from the central complex. "The Beowulf
and Group Gamma strike force have been spotted in the entry corridor. Looks
like the cavalry is on the way!"
[Meanwhile back at the maintenance area where Wraith and Storm are playing
havoc with the base's central computer system...]
"Wraith, look here," called Storm. "They have a missile battery hidden in the
rocks above the command dome," he said as he pointed to the schematic on screen. "I
can't do anything about that through the system here. It has its own computer
tracking system, not tied into the main system."
Wraith studied the screen and compared it to his station map. "It's about a
half klick from here. He looked up at the crawlway hatch over their heads.
"Let's go," he grinned.
******** Part 16 ********
[In the pirate stronghold Central Command complex...]
An alarm was sounding on the main console. The operations officer did not look
happy, and was speaking into a comm-link and not hearing the responses he
wanted in his earpiece. "No, I need Ka'jat. Look, I know he's busy with
that freighter accident but we have a situation developing on the Nightswan...
bridge checkpoint 2 has not checked in and we can't raise the bridge itself.
All the bulkheads on the Nightswan have closed and locked. No the access codes
don't respond ... well, yes it could be a computer malfunction, but I don't
think so ... no the guards there don't have anything that can cut through those
doors ... no, we've got work crews isolated all over the ship, look ... get
Ka'jat up here NOW!" He slammed the comm-link down and sat back in his chair. The intercom beeped, and he flipped the switch on his speaker. "Report! Tell me that it's a simple glitch!" he called.
"Sorry sir, but the boss of work detail F47 has been found ... murdered. Looks
like we have intruders in or around the Nightswan for sure," came the
response. "We're taking the workers off and are waiting for some plasma
cutters to cut the hatchways between the main hold and the bridge."
Suddenly a klaxon sounded. This alarm sent shivers down the operations
officer's back. Everyone in the command center suddenly became busy with a
feverish intensity. Unauthorized ships had entered the access corridor leading
to the hidden base.
As the ops officer assessed the incoming reports, a small
dark figure entered the control center and took the seat at the center
operations console. "Status," he barked.
The operations officer turned to the newcomer. "Ka'jat, it is almost certain
that we have intruders aboard the Nightswan. And a number of ships have just
entered the corridor." He hurriedly scanned the incoming data. "Warships, a
single Nebulon-B class frigate, a large number of transports, and what look
like Alliance fighters. Looks like a full scale raid of some kind. Could be the
Alliance, but more likely a mercenary force," he concluded.
Martin Ka'jat verified the report on his readouts. "Defenses all operational
are?" he asked.
The officer at the weapons monitoring station turned to the pirate leader.
"Yes sir, laser platforms are tracking, mines are armed, and both ion cannons
are online," he reported crisply.
"Well, unlikely it is that any ships the inner system will reach. But just in
case, all our fighters you scramble. Clean up any survivors they can. The base
now on full alert put." He turned his chair back to the operations officer.
"Sure you are just one frigate? No cruiser class ships in the corridor are?"
The operations officer swallowed hard. "No sir. Just the one frigate."
The pirate leader stared at the screens in the control room for over a minute
in silence. "Wrong this is," he said finally. "They come with too little, we
are to think this threat is less than it is. The Culoss underway
immediately get. The shields and turbo-lasers charge. The status on the
Nightswan is?" he asked.
"We do not have full control of the Nightswan, but her engines are non-op so
she's not going anywhere. Her fire-control appears to have been completely
deactivated. We cannot regain control of the ship without excessive damage to
her until we retake the bridge. All overrides have been effectively blocked,
including all the remote systems. We have a team cutting through the main
hatchways ... they'll reach the bridge in about 20 minutes."
While orders were hurriedly issued to the Dreadnaught Culoss, a weapons
tech monitoring the base defenses spoke up. "Sir, platforms 12 through 27 are
in range of the incoming ships ... all lasers are firing," he trailed off with
a puzzled look on his face.
"OUT IT SPIT, MAN!" roared Ka'jat.
"They're not hitting any targets," continued the control officer, flipping
through the various monitor readouts. "All platforms firing, no hits. Does not
appear to be a malfunction. I don't understand it." He switch to another
screen. "The mines are being destroyed by the incoming fighters without doing
much damage." He swung his seat around to another bank of displays. "Ion
cannon Maipo now in range, they're firing ... no wait they did not fire." He
spoke into his headset, turned back to Ka'jat with a confused look. "I can't
raise them. The readouts showed that they fired but our sensors report that
the cannon did not discharge," a note of panic had crept into his voice.
Ka'jat came over to the weapons station. "Our computer system into they have
tapped perhaps," he said easily. "The laser platforms you recalibrate."
"Running recalibrating routines now," the nervous weapons office said. In his
haste he did not notice that programs he was running had a different hex key
than they should have had. He was re-running Storm's bogus programs. "Laser's
firing on the frigate ... no hits."
The pirate leader turned to his operations officer. "Status?"
"The ships will be inside the base perimeter in less than 6 minutes," the man
calculated. He checked the main display, "The Culoss is leaving the
space dock now with a skeleton crew. Her hyperspace motivators have not been
installed and engines are only running at 10%. The new warheads have not been
loaded yet but her turbo-laser batteries and shields are fully operational and she
can maneuver on thrusters."
"All of our Zs and Ys move out and the incoming fighters engage and the
transports, where possible, delay," ordered Ka'jat. "The Culoss the
frigate shall attack. Short work of a Nebulon-B her lasers will make, then the
transports next destroy she can. All press gangs into the holding cells lock.
Everyone else armed and to defensive positions go." Almost as an afterthought
he added, "Alert firebase Diamond you will. Diagnostics on their systems they
are to run. But on my orders only they to fire are."
The operations officer unlocked a panel in his console and pressed a switch.
"Command to Diamond, we have hostile ships incoming. Reinitialize your
systems. Track all targets. Await orders from Ka'jat before firing."
******** Part 17 ********
[On board the Alliance Frigate Beowulf...]
Commander J. P. McDonald watched the strike force barrel down the narrow
access corridor towards the pirate stronghold. A vanguard of Gold's A-wings
spearheaded the advance, followed by the Beowulf. Spread out behind the
frigate were wave upon wave of armored transports with Gold X-wings flying
close cover.
"Defensive laser fire!" called the fire control officer. McDonald held his
breath ... if the defenses in this confined space were operational, his attack
force would be in serious trouble. Flashes appeared all around the vanguard
and the Beowulf. The fire control officer looked up from his scope. "We are
taking no hits," he said. "Repeat, no hits."
McDonald suppressed a smile. "Ignore the laser platforms but mark their
positions as we pass." He flipped on his comm-link, "Beowulf to Gold 4, watch
for mines. Have your A-wings take out any you spot once they start firing."
"Roger, Beowulf," replied Smoke, leading the Gold fighters. The Gold A-wings pulled out in advance of the strike force.
"As soon as we enter the base proper, provide cover for the transports,"
McDonald continued. "The armored transports in Gammas 1 and 2 will board the
Dreadnoughts. Gamma 3 will go for their command and control complex."
[Meanwhile on board the Dreadnought Nightswan...]
"Commander!" called StarDuster. "The other Dreadnought is leaving the dock!"
Pivot swiveled his chair and watched as the other warship slowly pull away
from the dock, snapping the dock tethers and umbilical connections and power
leads. "Bantha dung!" he exclaimed. "They must have been further along with
the engine refitting on that ship. Raven, run a scan on that ship ... give me
her weapons status," he asked.
"Shield charging ... up to 20% now, turbolasers ... on-line 10% and charging!
Damn! The Beowulf won't stand a chance against that monster," Raven reported grimly.
Pivot jumped out of the command chair and ran to the central console. He began
ripping off the access plates. "Here," he called to Raven, "help me get this
opened up. StarDuster, see if you can get Storm on the comm-link. Damn, I wish
he were here for this."
[While somewhere in the tunnels above the base's control complex...]
Storm peered into the room below the catwalk on which he stood. Turning to the
small opening in the wall behind him he whispered to Wraith, "I think we're
clear. There's several power generators below this walkway and it leads into
the missile silos."
The two Gold Squad members quickly traversed the catwalk and slipped into the
silo bank. Wraith stood before two rows of auto loading proton torpedo
launchers each with a large red diamond painted on its side. Torpedoes in
magazine tubes fed into the launchers from the room above. "Well, we can't
blow it up and live to tell our grandkids about it, that's for sure," said
Wraith after a quick mental calculation. "That leaves the power generators."
Storm snorted and smirked, nodding exaggeratedly in agreement as he bent over to examine the loading assembly more closely.
Wraith moved back into the generator room. "Let's see what we can do about
pulling the plug on these babies," he said and tying a line to the catwalk he
slid down to the dark floor below. He was joined shortly by Storm.
Wraith pulled two explosive charges from his kit and Storm started wiring them
to the generators. Looking around the floor, Wraith saw a number of container
drums lined up against the far wall. Walking over to them he shined a light on
their labels. "Hmmm," he mused, and a knowing grin spread across his face. "Hey Storm, you ever take a chemistry class?"
[The Gold Strike force has entered the pirate base...]
"Beowulf to Gold 4, bandits closing at two-two-three, mark seven true. Range
one-two klicks. Your intercept course one-six-seven mark three true. Buster."
Smoke double-clicked his mic by way of acknowledgment of Beowulf's Tactical Watch Officer. He paused a for a second to scan his CMD then addressed the
assembled starfighter force. "Gold Strike, this is Gold 4. A-wings accelerate
and engage the interceptors, X-wings intercept the bombers. Kick to Tac-1 for
ship-to-ship comms. Gold 4 out."
McDonald watched impassively as the tokens representing Gold squadron on the
Tactical Display Panel accelerated away from his ship. He turned to gaze out
the bridge viewport just in time to see a dozen flashes of orange as the
A-wings launched their first volley of concussion missiles. This moment
summed up his years of experience as an Alliance Officer. Weeks of sheer
boredom strung together with seconds of abject terror. He grinned at the
thought. The battle was joined.
"Gamma Leader to Beowulf, JP, it looks like one of our targets is underway and moving to intercept you."
"Roger, Bink. Concentrate on the Dreadnought still in the dock, we'll engage
this one. If we can get her shields down, move in to board."
The space within the pirate base that had previously appeared so immense now
seemed crowded as the fighters clashed and laser flashes filled the enclosed
space.
Smoke assessed the results of Gold's first engagement. After one period of
play, the bad guys trailed 9-0. The remaining Z-95s spread their formation to
thwart another missile volley. That's fine, Smoke mused. They were quickly
closing to laser range anyway. Time to turn the Alliance's finest loose! "Gold Strike, this is Gold 4. Break into elements of two. Engage at will."
The Pirates' starfighter defenses were neutralized in short order. Smoke's wingman
lured a Z-95 into a tail chase while Smoke himself slid in behind the hapless
pirate in a classic "drag and bag" maneuver. His concussion missile launcher
cycled with a satisfying WHUMP, scoring a fatal hit to the Z-95's port
engine. Smoke did not notice the debris from the destroyed starfighter
ricochet off of his canopy as he bore down on a pirate Y-wing that was about to
have a very bad day.
The Beowulf suddenly emerged into the station proper only to be greeted by a
pirate fighter defense in full retreat. McDonald's spirits were buoyed
considerably. Although a pirate Dreadnought moved to intercept his ship, the
lack of enemy fighters had just raised his odds to 50-50. The Beowulf's Commanding Officer watched as the enemy battle cruiser swung into view. McDonald's attention was diverted momentarily as a triumphant A-wing thundered overhead, barrel-rolled, and turned toward the approaching Dreadnought. He reminded himself to buy Smoke a drink if—when—they got home.
The smaller frigate engaged the Dreadnought, firing burst after burst
of energy bolts into the larger warship. The bridge of the Beowulf bustled
with activity. Commander McDonald looked over his shoulder to the sensor
station. "What's the status of the Dreadnought's weapons systems?"
"Sir, the Dreadnought's lasers are firing at 30% of their maximum charge,"
reported the duty officer. "They are presently shifting energy to their
shields to absorb our attack. If they get their lasers fully charged they'll
be able to reduce our shields in a few minutes. They are running on minimum
engine power, moving primarily with their thrusters."
McDonald turned to the nav station. "Get us spinning on our axis," he
ordered. "That should buy us some time as they can't maneuver worth beans on
just thrusters. Communications, any word from Commander Empson?"
"No sir," replied the communications officer. "We are picking up reports from
Gamma 2. They have boarded the Dreadnought that is still in the space dock.
Resistance is moderate but they do not report any sign of the infiltration
squad."
******** Part 18 ********
[On board the Dreadnought Nightswan...]
Pivot and Raven lay on the floor of the bridge with their heads and shoulders
inside the main console. "Try that one," called Pivot. Sparks erupted as Raven
made the connection.
"No dice," he called back. Just then they heard several loud booms that shook
the deck. "StarDuster," Raven yelled from under the console. "What's happening
topside?"
StarDuster looked at the screens and glanced out the main viewport. "Hard to
tell," he reported. "The whole sky is full of ships ... the Beowulf and the
other Dreadnought are slugging it out about 10 klicks out." He returned his
eyes to the monitor. "Whoa, the secondary bulkhead hatchway in operations just
opened. Either the pirates have cut through the lock or they've broken our
access codes."
Pivot and Raven scrambled to their feet and all three faced the main bridge
access hatch with drawn blasters. They could feel a vibration coming through
the hatch. Suddenly, it slid open and they stared into the muzzles of half a
dozen assault weapons.
Facing them was Lt. Commander Brian Bink, commanding Group Gamma. "Hi sailors, new in town?" he asked with a big grin.
"Bink!" Pivot exclaimed. "Bantha dung! You've just taken a year off my life.
What's your status?"
"We've taken this ship. We've got armored transports at each major entry point. Good
thing we came along too. The hostiles were only two decks away burning through
the bulkheads," explained Bink.
"Get your techs in here. There's a slave circuit on every major system on this
ship. If we can hook in a control panel and transmitter we might be able to
override the systems on the other Dreadnought. We've been trying to do just
that, but..." Pivot shrugged.
Bink immediately spoke into his comm-link, "This is Bink, get team X-ray to
the bridge, NOW!" Turning to Pivot he smiled. "No problem, I'm no electron
pusher myself, but if it can be done we've got some talent aboard that can do
it."
[Meanwhile on the Frigate Beowulf...]
"Our shields are at 40% and dropping!" called the duty officer. "We're taking
laser and ion blasts, plus the occasional torpedo from the pirate fighters!"
J. P. McDonald studied the tactical display before him. "Back us away from the Dreadnought. Make her maneuver again." Just then, two Y-wings shot past the viewport pursued by a single Gold X-wing. The dogfighting was fierce as the pirates tried desperately to repel the Gold attack.
"Commander!" called the fire control officer. "The Dreadnought's aft laser
batteries have stopped firing, she's swinging around to bring her bow to
bear."
"Her aft shields just went down!" yelled the duty officer.
"Bring the Beowulf around on her beam," ordered McDonald. "All batteries to fire on the Dreadnought's stern!" The two warships danced, each maneuvering
for advantage. The pirate captain matching his increasing desperation against
the capital ship experience of McDonald.
[In the Command and Control complex in the pirate base...]
Ka'jat watched as the Dreadnought Culoss pounded the smaller Alliance
Frigate. Suddenly a red light flashed on his screen. His operations officer
began to flip switches on the controls in front of him. He called, "They're
tapping into the Nightswan's slave-circuits. I'm trying to jam their signals."
They both watched the screen as the two turbolaser batteries that ringed the
rear of the Culoss stopped firing. "Damn, I can't completely jam their
signal. They must not be using the transmitter on the Nightswan."
The pirate leader watched as the aft shields were shut down and the frigate
began to fire relentlessly into the Dreadnought. "No, too well prepared our
adversaries are. Another gambit try we must." Ka'jat flipped on his comm-link.
"Outpost Diamond, the frigate, the Culoss, and the Nightswan, target you
will. Now firing commence!" The command complex shook as the hidden missile
battery fired its first salvo.
The duty officer turned to Ka'jat. "You're destroying the Dreadnoughts?" he
asked, his face a mask of horrified confusion.
"Mine they are and destroy them I will if my life on it depends!" he yelled
back. "This attack repulse we must, again the Dreadnoughts repair we will."
Ka'jat turned his attention back to his screen looking for the torpedo trails
that would spell the attackers doom. Again he spoke into the comm-link,
"Outpost Diamond, report. This Ka'jat is, now fire I say!"
"[brakkk, pop] ... this is Outpost Diamond ... sabotaged.... [crack, hiss]
explosion when we armed the launchers, generators out, some kind of gas in the
ventilators..." the transmission ended.
"Sir, Ives reporting," a disheveled man said as he ran into the control room.
He had a bruise across the right side of his face and his left sleeve was wet
with blood. "Armored transports have breached the dome. We've lost the outer
corridors on the delta side of the complex. We can't hold them," he finished grimly.
Ka'jat stared at the man, "Never such planning and luck like this have I seen.
Not during my days in the Empire even. Meet the one who could plan this like I
would," he sighed. "Come, another day fight we will." He typed in a code into
his terminal and pressed three buttons in sequence. The alarm klaxons began to
blare in a staccato pattern.
The operations officer nodded and opened his comm-link and spoke into it. "All
hands, evacuate, repeat evacuate. Abandon base." He pressed a button on
comm-link and the message began to repeat. Then as he turned to lock his
control panel two armed men in Alliance uniforms rushed through the door
opposite him. Reaching for his sidearm, he saw Ka'jat and Ives slip out the
other door, but before he could get his blaster clear he was cut down by laser
fire.
Ka'jat and Ives ran down the corridor. "This way, we go!" Ka'jat called. They
made their way to the hangar below the control complex and took the pirate
leader's personal ship, a stolen and heavily modified Nu-class attack/transport shuttle.
******** Part 19 ********
[Inside a small maintenance bay within the pirate base Command and Control
complex...]
A very dirty and tired pair of Gold Squad members climbed down from a small
hatchway in the ceiling into a small maintenance bay where several unplugged
droids waited patiently to be recharged. From a speaker in the room came a
voice repeating the same message over and over: "All hands, evacuate, repeat
evacuate. Abandon base."
Storm listened to the speaker a moment and turned to Wraith as he climbed
down. "Seems like the party's over."
Wraith pulled his comm-link out and tried to reach the rest of the
infiltration team. Finally, he heard a familiar voice. "StarDuster here. Are
you two all right? What's your status?"
"We're both okay," reported Wraith. "Looks like the pirates are pulling out.
What's the situation?"
StarDuster brought Wraith up to date. "Both Dreadnoughts have been boarded and
secured, although one of them got shot up pretty badly before it was over. The
central Command and Control complex is neutralized but has not yet been secured.
If you're someplace safe, I suggest you stay there until Lieutenant Commander Bink can
get a team to you. The pirates do appear to be abandoning the base. Everything
they've got that can fly is heading for the entry corridor. Pivot and Raven
have gone out in A-wings to help with the mopping up, but I don't think even
Gold can stop them all."
Storm took the comm-link from Wraith and sat down at the workbench where his
slicer kit was still hooked into the pirate network. "Hey, StarDuster, have
Gold chase the pirates but do not, repeat, do not let any of our ships enter
the corridor. I'll see if I can't get the pirate defense system to lend us a
hand."
"Roger that," replied StarDuster. "I'm relaying that warning now."
Wraith sat down on top of a short flat maintenance droid. "I thought you said
you can't mess with the laser platform's primary programming?" he said.
Storm's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I can't, at least I can't without a
lot more time than we've got right now. But if I can patch a buffer routine
into memory so that every time the ID program validates a ships transponder
signal I switch a friendly for a foe on the return ping, then bingo, I delete
the bogus calibration routines and it's fried pirate time."
"Oh," Wraith replied, shaking his head. "Fiendish, you are. You have
definitely been hanging around Rory too much. Have I mentioned recently that
there are times that I am actually glad that you are on our side?"
[Later aboard the Alliance Frigate Beowulf...]
"Sir," the communications officer reported. "The area is secured. The Tam'alon reports that none of the pirate ships that went into the entry corridor came out the other end. Lieutenant Commander Bink reports that the main Command and
Control complex is secure, that we now have full control of the central
computer, and he has sent teams out to the ion cannon emplacements. His troops
are still checking each of the outer domes within the base one by one, but so
far all have been empty. Also, he has found a barracks of some sort on the
port wall of the base, relative to the Beowulf's position, that contains
hundreds of conscript workers."
"Very well, have Commander Bink report to the Beowulf at his earliest
convenience along with Gold Leader. Have the Greyhound and the Tam'alon cleared for entry to the base through the outer defenses. Order Plan
Foreclosure into immediate effect."
******** Part 20 ********
[It has been several weeks since Gold Squad's strike force routed the pirate
stronghold in the Magaen Drift.]
Pivot waited with his executive officer as the shuttle
touched down in the hanger of the Alliance Frigate Beowulf. The ramp lowered,
and several people descended the walkway. Centermost and forefront was a tall
Calamarian dressed in the white uniform of an Alliance Admiral.
Admiral Ackbar walked up to the leaders of Gold Squad, who saluted smartly.
"Good day to you both, gentlemen," the Admiral said in his gruff voice. "I see
that your plan worked out very well Commander. 'Unqualified success' is indeed
adequate justification in the end it would seem."
The trio walked to the main conference room of the Beowulf. Gathered there
were Commanders Empson, McDonald, and Jackson, Lt. Commander Bink, most of
Gold Squadron, the leaders of the various Group Gamma specialist teams, and
one scruffy-looking Captain on loan from Red Squadron.
Ackbar addressed the assembled group. "Commander Empson has carried out a
difficult mission and has succeeded beyond even my rather liberal
expectations. I have given long thought to just what the success of this
mission means to the Alliance. I have therefore come here personally to do the
following things," he said as he pointed a flippered finger to his other hand.
"First, under the authority of the Alliance Council and as ordered by Mon
Mothma, I declare this base the property of the Alliance military until such
time as it can be transferred to a new Republic Senate. It shall henceforth be
designated as Comstock Base MB-G77. It shall be under the command of Commander
Empson and shall become the base of operations for Gold Squadron. The location
of this base is to remain a closely guarded secret of the Alliance." Ackbar paused, silently pleased at the shocked looks looking back at him.
"Next, under the authority of the Alliance Council and as ordered by Mon
Mothma, I recommission the Republic Dreadnoughts Nightswan and Culoss as
warships of the Alliance. The Alliance Dreadnought Nightswan shall be placed
under the command of Commander J. P. McDonald. The Culoss is placed
under the command of Lt. Commander Brian Bink. Both ships are hereby assigned
to Gold Squadron and shall be subject to the orders of Commander Empson. The automation features shall be given a thorough once-over by our techs to ensure the ships can be manned with a lower-than-normal crew count."
Ackbar paused again, reviewing his notes on his personal datapad to ensure he hadn't missed anything. Seeing one more item, he nodded and set the datapad back down on the desk. "The Alliance shall begin to transfer material and hand-picked personnel to
staff Comstock Base. Most of the Gamma teams shall be permanently assigned
here to assist in completing the refitting of the Nightswan and with the
rather massive repairs that will unfortunately be needed for the Culoss. I don't suppose you gentlemen have ideas new names of the two captured ships?"
"The Fortunate, Admiral," McDonald was quick to reply.
Bink nodded, and then raised his hand. "The Lucky Strike has a nice ring to it I think."
Ackbar nodded in agreement, and then spread his arms out slightly. "Gentlemen, I believe that this is truly a 'golden' day for the Alliance."
[Later that evening in the Command and Control complex, an impromptu party
attended by members of the Gold Squad strike force took place in the base's
remodeled rec center...]
Amidst the revels, the infiltration team members were sitting around a table
enjoying a rare vintage of the "blue stuff" that was unearthed in the pirates'
storehouse. They were joined by their new ship captains McDonald and Bink who
ducked and dodged their way through the pilots and technical specialists who
were dancing a conga around the room!
"Not bad Pivot," sighed Wraith, refilling his glass. "A few weeks work and we
get our own base and warships. How ever did we manage to pull it off?" he
laughed.
Pivot did indeed look very pleased with the current turn of events. "Oh the
usual methods, hard work, warrior's luck, and a good crew. And a small amount
of help from my friends. JP what you say?"
McDonald smiled at his long time friend. "A small amount," he said with a wink.
"Now all we have to do is figure out how to man this base and fill the billets
with the type of pilots we'll need. Ackbar assigning us the Gamma team techs
was a real windfall. If I didn't know better I'd guessed you were ransoming
his firstborn."
Gold Leader smiled. "I think Ackbar knows that we'll bring out the best in
Alliance pilots that'll want to go for the Gold and apply to fill those
billets. With the men and women that we'll get and the warships that we
already have I think we can try many of the things we've been talking about
for a long time. We can plan and execute operations that will have the Empire
reeling."
"If the last operation is any indication," grinned McDonald "the Empire is in
big trouble. I'd have to say that you really hit the mother lode on this
mission."
Suddenly, an exuberant StarDuster jumped up onto the table and calling above
the roar for everyone's attention raised his glass, a impetuous look in his
eyes. "To the new home of Gold Squadron!" he toasted. "To—The Mother Lode!"
The assembled throng went wild.
Later, as Pivot was making his way to his quarters he chanced on one of the few non-Gold members in the base. "Raven," he called. "If you're not busy may I have a word with you?"
"Sure, Commander" replied the Captain the Golds had borrowed from Red Squadron.
They proceeded to Pivot's quarters where he poured them each a glass of a
vintage single malt scotch. "What plans do you have now?"
Raven stood a full head taller than the leader of Gold Squad but he had great
respect for Pivot's abilities both in armed and unarmed fighting as well as in
the cockpit of an Alliance starfighter. "The Admiral has been kind enough to
offer me and Rory a lift back to the Independence with his staff. From there
I'll pick up a shuttle to the Regis and Red Squad."
Pivot smiled. "Don't let Ackbar play poker with that gundark of yours.
And before you leave, I'd like you to consider something."
"Been trying to figure out how to transport Rory without Ackbar noticing," Raven replied, taking a sip of his scotch.
The leader of Gold Squadron took a sip of his drink, pondered his words
carefully, and then continued. "Captain, I've watched you in action during
this mission, and you handle yourself very well in a combat situation. Based on
those observations, and on the exceptional flying skills you've demonstrated
during our mopping up of the pirate fighters, I firmly believe you are
material for Gold Squad. I'm offering you a commission in Gold starting
immediately. What do you say?"
Raven thought about what it would mean to fly and fight in Gold Squad. "I say
yes!"
******** The End ********
