Hijacked
by Raven, Foxfire, and Storm
Written and originally posted in 1995
A small forward from the Loremaster:
This is the "modified" version of this story. Raven graciously provided his copies, and similarly was a good sport regarding my wish to make some small edits. Some of these edits were just to correct syntax errors, but a few of the edits were to ensure that this and other Gold stories would fit within our group's "canon", and therefore be able to exist as our "history" within our "reality", rather than being relegated to the "Legends" section of older tales that contain too many lore-breaking items that the stories would be completely different from their intended purposes if we made the changes required.
This is not to say the original writers were bad, as they weren't! It's just that many of these stories were written in serialized form on the old CompuServe forums, which can lead to some interesting contradictions or jarring transitions. Also, being written BEFORE the prequels were even discussed can lead to some interesting contradictions as the original writers did their best to predict what some nebulous mentions were in the history, to sometimes very humorous situations. I don't think anybody knew what the clone wars were, really, until the prequels explained them, but the writers of these stories did their best to make sense of it all.
Such a Legends page WILL be created to house the aforementioned tales AS WELL AS the completely unedited version of this (and other tales that were slightly modified to fit). A proto-version of this page can be found HERE (https://renegadewing.com/lounge/legends.html) and you may enjoy those and other stories that exist as, "fiction" shall we say, in our "real" version of the Star Wars universe. Imagine as if you are sitting in your favorite reading nook and reading some fiction during downtime between CAP shifts to decompress as you read the stories posted on the Legends page.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy this story!
Bearcat, Renegade Wing Lore Master since 2020
A lone B-wing winked out of hyperspace. The pilot was greeted by an incredible panorama of scattered asteroid fields framed by the pulsing colored light coming from the Sandualan Quasar. Immediately, the S-foils were lowered and the craft pivoted 90 degrees into attack configuration. The pilot studied the Combat Multiview Display. With the punch of a key the screen was switched to Map mode. The quasar pulsed in the upper right-hand corner of the display. Damn! Right on target, the pilot thought.
Avery "Foxfire" Schroeder, Preying Mantis 7, let out a small sigh of relief. She was on a solo training flight, taking her B-wing bomber through a series of jumps and waypoints as she honed her navigation skills without the usual aid of an astromech. The B-wing, like the A-wing, had a limited navicomputer onboard and no socket for an astromech, so learning more than the basic skills of navigation were vital to pilots looking to fly these craft.
Foxfire had an eye on the Recon Officer position within Preying Mantis Squadron, and she had to have more practice at long solo flights before she felt she'd be qualified. She switched on her recorder as long range communications was not reliable this close to the quasar. "Foxfire recording ... reached the 4th jump point at 2130 hours. Exit within .2 klicks of computed point, the gravity mass of the surrounding asteroid fields kicked me out of hyperspace as expected. Will proceed to the next waypoint on the other side of the field and jump back to the Regis." She broke the recorder contact and checked her ELS settings. The navicomputer beeped with the proper coordinates, and Foxfire pointed her craft into a relatively clear path through the asteroid field.
She slowly rotated the massive starfighter in a spiral, slowly at first, but faster and faster, doing a very passable Wotan Weave in the ungraceful bomber. Something on her display caught her eye and she straightened out of the Weave. A green blip was on the CMD. Odd, she thought. This was a pretty out of the way route and she was curious as to what Alliance ship might be out here.
The Preying Mantis Squadron B-wing closed on the ship, and Foxfire saw that it was an Rebel freighter, just sitting in the shadow of a massive asteroid. She flipped on her comm-link and hailed the ship. "Ahoy, Alliance Freighter!"
The reply was immediate and very unexpected. "This is the Alliance Freighter Gamerra, where the heck have you been? We've been sitting out here for eight hours waiting for escort. What was the foul up?"
It's nice to be wanted for a change, thought Foxfire. "Mantis 7 to Gamerra, I'm glad to see you too, although I'm afraid I am not your escort. Are you in trouble? Do you need assistance?" She pulled her B-wing alongside the ship and issued a low whistle as her scanners reported that the cargo in the holds of the freighter consisted of B-wing bombers.
The cargo pilot seemed quite edgy. "Mantis 7, we're hauling a load of new B-wings and were supposed to meet an escort from Red Squadron over seven hours ago. We can't raise anyone on the comm and are getting a little nervous sitting out here by our lonesomes."
Foxfire didn't think about the situation more than a microsecond. "Gamerra, I would be happy to ride shotgun with you to the closest jump point. Shall we go?" Without further ado the relieved freighter captain agreed and the two ships headed out through the fields. Very odd, thought Foxfire. "The communications are tricky this close to a quasar but you'd think in seven hours they'd be able to get one message through," she said to herself as a small tiny bell began to ring in her subconscious. "Gamerra, this is Mantis 7, have you checked your comm equipment lately?"
"Ah, Mantis 7, we had a tech aboard just before we took on this cargo at our origination point. Wasn't a regular Alliance tech, but one of the Slayn & Korpil guys. There was some last minute mix up in personnel. Several of our crewmen came down sick and we had to scramble for replacements just before we lifted. At the moment we don't have a qualified comms tech on board."
"Roger, Gamerra." Curiouser and curiouser, thought Foxfire as the bell in the back of her mind began to ding a bit louder. Just as she was about to ask the captain of the freighter another question her computer beeped and notified her that six X-wing fighters had been detected. She checked her rear display and saw the six green dots approaching.
The comm link came to life. "Gamerra, this is Red 16, sorry we're late." Then, "Alliance B-wing, identify yourself immediately!"
Friendly guy, thought Foxfire as the bell became a loud alarm in her mind. Her hands flew furiously over her comm pad as she punched in settings and relay codes. Then she flipped on her comm-link holding down both the short and long range transmit buttons simultaneously. "Red 16 this is Mantis 7, I came upon the Gamerra while on a training flight and am providing escort. Looks like you all are running a bit late. Rapier keeping you guys busy?" she asked, releasing the short range transmit button but keeping the long range button depressed..
The leader of the X-wing escort came back with a good-natured laugh. "Roger that Mantis 7. Ah, Rapier keeps us busy all right. But we're on the job now. Thanks for the assist, but we can take it from here."
"You wish..." she said quietly to herself as she steeled her nerves. Foxfire took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She flexed her hands and she scanned her ELS quickly with her eyes. Lasers were fully charged. Primary shields up. She notched up power to the shields to charge the secondaries. Carefully, she replied to the freighter's new escort. "Happy to let you boys take it. But the nearest jump point is dead ahead so I'll be tagging along at least that far."
"Look Sugar, we don't need any karking help..." began a squeaky voice that was suddenly cut off. Red 16 came back on the comm, and in soothing tones said, "Roger Mantis 7. Always glad to have the ladies along. Maintain communications silence and take an escort position above the Gamerra."
Foxfire moved her fighter into position and watched as two of the X-wings moved out ahead of the freighter to the port and starboard sides. The remaining fighters made a loose diamond formation around the freighter with three of the ships behind her. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she checked her ELS again and took some comfort in the full load of torpedoes her ship carried.
[Some hours later half-way across the galaxy...]
The ensign buzzed his superior and waited. The viewscreen lit up and a face looked at him questioningly. "Sir, a call for you from the Rehz'nor. I've patched it through to your private comm-link."
Raven looked both pleased and surprised. "Very good," he said. Then flipping on his comm-link he said, "Captain Lee here."
A broad smile broke across Raven's face as the voice replied, "Rave! How's it going buddy?"
"Minuteman, you nut ... you're supposed to be on the air. Hell, you are on the air! I was listening to Electro's show not five minutes ago. What are you up to, dude?"
"You tell me," Rick "Minuteman" Morrissy, Green 11, replied. "I just got the strangest message on the REBL hot line. I was on the air so the recorder picked it up. Someone playing a joke on us maybe? Listen to this ... you can just barely hear it."
Raven hit the record button on his comm link and listened carefully to the broken transmission.
A female voice began, "(hiss) Mantis 7, I came upon the Gamerra while on a training (squawk, pop) bit late. Rapier keeping (braupppt, squeek), (hissssssssssssssssss)"
Then a man's voice replied, "(brupppppkkkk) Raiper keeps us busy all right (pop, pop, squawk)"
Minuteman came back on the line. "Last time I checked, Rapier wasn't Red Leader so I have no idea what the guy is talking about. And the first voice sounded familiar. Any idea what's up?"
"Nary a clue," replied Raven. "Mantis 7 is Foxfire's designation, and that could be her voice. She was on the Regis last I saw her and she certainly knows that Crazy is now leading that section of Red Squadron. It's pretty strange."
"Hey man, I've got to get back on the air, Marvin's just about done with the TSU. Let me know what's what when you put it together. Minuteman out."
Raven thought about the message and replayed it several times. Something not right here, he thought. He punched a button on his desk. "Get me the current location of Avery Schroeder, Preying Mantis Squadron." Pressing a different button, he waited until a familiar face appeared on the viewscreen. "StarDuster, old buddy, old pal. What can the best Intelligent Officer in the Drift tell me about a ship called the Gamerra?"
Forty minutes later, Raven had more questions than he had answers. The Gamerra was an Alliance freighter hauling starfighters to a Rebel depot. Mantis 7 was out on a training flight. He looked at her filed flight plan. Checking his chronometer, he plotted her approximate course and location at the time the call came into REBL. After chatting with Ash, Gold's Logistics and Maintenance Officer, he left the Comm-Center and took the tube over to the Ops dome. "Storm!" he called. "I'm going to log some A-wing hours. Want to come along?"
Eddie "Storm" Schenk, Gold 3, looked up from the planning table he was leaning over. "I know that look in your eye, sport. Is this ride illegal or just immoral?"
"Don't know for sure. Foxfire might be in a spot of bother and I've cleared it with Pivot that I should go check it out. Ash has two A-wings on the ready line. Care to join me, Captain?" Raven grinned.
"Wouldn't miss it, Captain," Eddie grinned back.
Avery kept scanning the short range comm-link frequencies. Finally, she heard some chatter that she supposed was coming from the Red Squadron X-wings.
"After the jump, Mako and Trash will make their move and we can split to Sector Q..."
"Roger, then it's cash in hand! Of course if the boss ever finds out..."
"HEY! Get off the air you idiots! We don't want our tag-along to get nervous."
Hmmm, Sector Q, thought Avery. Before joining the Alliance, she'd had quite a bit of experience doing business in Sector Q. It was a smugglers paradise and boasted a thriving black market in war materiel, including starfighters.
Noting that her shields were fully charged, Foxfire spoke into her comm-link. "Gamerra, this is Mantis 7. Captain tell me, how many of your regular crew were replaced before you lifted?"
"Ah, two out of our crew of five came down sick just before we lifted and were replaced. Why do you ask?"
"This is Red 15, cut the chatter! I ordered you to maintain comm silence!"
"Bingo," said Avery and switched her weapons system to torpedoes and targeted the X-wing ahead of her to starboard. "I thought you said you were Red 16," she replied into her comm, and hit full throttle. Her HUD beeped yellow as she swung down alongside the freighter.
"Threat warning! She's trying to lock me!" Yelled someone on the comm-link. "Get her off me!"
Laser blasts flashed by her cockpit as she got a lock on the X-wing. Foxfire squeezed the trigger and fired a dual set of torpedoes. She reconfigured her ELS for more speed and looped 180 degrees to take on the X-wings behind her. She was badly outnumbered, but undeterred. Firing on the X-wing farthest away she watched the nearer fighter line up on her. Just as the bogus Red pilot started to fire, she turned right into his path. Her ship was taking hits, but the hijacker was only using dual lasers. She returned fire, and as the distance closed she switched to torps and fired a dual shot without waiting for a lock. The torps caught the X-wing just as it pulled up and it exploded in a brilliant fireball. Foxfire's B-wing was buffeted by the debris.
The threat light switched to LOCK and Foxfire dumped laser power to her shields. A torpedo slammed into her rear shields a moment later. Time to go evasive, she thought, suddenly very glad of the lectures she had attended on the Regis. She studied her screens and saw that most of the X-wings were engaging her and only two were staying with the freighter. The B-wing was heavily armored, but the X-wings were faster and more maneuverable.
She tried the comm-link as she pounded on the shields of the X-wing she was tracking. "Mantis 7 to Gamerra, these are not Alliance ships! You may have hijackers aboard..." Avery was cut short by an unexpected reply from the freighter.
"Ah, Mantis 7, I'm afraid that the captain can't talk right now. He's, ah, all tied up!" laughed the new voice.
"Oh, shut up, geek," Foxfire muttered. Puns were one thing, but old puns annoyed her.
"Mako, cut the comedy," commanded one of the mercenaries. "Dark Claw 3 and I will stay with the freighter. Everyone else, take out the B-wing. We're almost to the jump point. Damn, two new bogies incoming! Dark Claw 3 intercept."
[Storm and Raven had dropped out of hyperspace...]
The pilots from Gold Squadron tried to make sense out of the situation they saw before them. As they watched, they saw the B-wing, three klicks behind the freighter, take a torpedo hit as X-wings buzzed around it. Storm took the scene in quickly and called, "Raven, go lend a hand to Foxfire. I'll go for the freighter."
"Roger," replied Gold 7. A moment later he pressed his comm-link. "Storm, looks like that X-wing is going to try to intercept me. I don't really want to stop and chat with him so do me a favor, will you old buddy, and shoot him for me."
"No problem," replied Storm easily, changing course.
Raven dumped full power to the engines and watched as his shield strength fell as his speed increased. His threat indicator began to flash as the pirate X-wing closed with his ship. Not sounding overly concerned, he said, "Ah, Storm ... he's getting a bit close. You will shoot him, won't you?"
"Oh, you bet," Storm replied enthusiastically. "I thought I'd get a bit closer first."
"Ah, okay," Raven responded. He paused for a moment and then said, rather helpfully, "He'll have a lock in a moment, you know."
"Did you want to shoot him?" asked Storm earnestly.
"No, no, by all means you can shoot him," Raven replied. "I don't mean to sound picky. You shoot him whenever you're ready," he said. "I'll just target the X's giving Foxfire a hard time."
Smiling to himself, Storm saw that the X was indeed too close to his friend and so he opened up with dual lasers on the renegade X-wing. The slower fighter was forced to break off his attack run on Raven's ship and tried desperately to avoid Storm's lasers. Storm easily anticipated each movement of the X-wing and never missed a shot. The X-wing exploded as Raven began to fire concussion missiles at the X-wings attacking Foxfire. Storm turned in a tight loop to engage the enemy fighter who had stayed with the freighter.
Foxfire saw the incoming missiles and searched her CMD until she saw the A-wings. Her attackers were now on the defensive and she could stop dodging torpedoes and start pounding on the hijackers. Between her torpedoes and heavy laser fire, and the speed and missiles of the A-wings, the bogus Red Squad X-wings were all accounted for in short order. In numerous pieces.
"Nice job," said Raven.
"Not bad," replied Storm.
"Guys, thanks for the assist," said Foxfire. "But before you start patting each other on the back, I don't suppose you saw where the freighter went?"
The freighter was not on the scopes; it had slipped into hyperspace while the battle raged. Foxfire quickly brought Storm and Raven up to date on all that had transpired.
"Dark Paw ... sounds like some crack-pot mercenary organization to me," said Raven.
"That was Dark Claw, not Paw, but I agree completely," corrected Foxfire. "From what I overheard they planned to take the freighter somewhere in Sector Q. My guess is they plan to sell the B-wings on the black market."
"Hmmm, weren't Dark Claw ships involved with that attack on the frigate Bal'mari a few weeks back? This could be the same group. Anyone happen to have any contacts in Sector Q," asked Storm.
"Well, it just so happens that I do," grinned Foxfire. "There are only two or three spots that a shipment of fighters that large could be disposed of. What say you we check them out?"
The Alliance could not spare a large search force until the location of the freighter was nailed down, so Storm, Raven, and Foxfire, were assigned to follow the only lead that was available.
Making their way into Sector Q, Foxfire picked the planet and landing coordinates for their first planet-fall. After securing some civilian attire they made their way to what Foxfire called "a cha shop" on the outskirts of a small spaceport where she hoped to pick up some information. Inside was an ornately decorated and brightly lit room with several tables. The trio sat down and Foxfire ordered for them in a language that sounded like a mish-mash of several dialects mixed with a little standard basic, before having a short conversation with the waiter that had little to do with refreshments.
Shortly, the waiter wheeled out a large serving cart and poured a thin brown drink into small delicate cups. Storm and Foxfire began adding condiments and stirring the liquid with tiny silver spoons.
"What is it?" asked Raven, looking at the cup before him with uncertainty.
Storm chuckled. "It's tea, old boy. You drink it, like this..." Storm picked up his cup and holding his little finger straight out took a small sip.
Taking a taste, Raven's jaw practically hit the table. "You're kidding?" he said in complete dismay.
Foxfire was valiantly trying not to laugh, without much success. "You'll have to forgive Raven," Storm said on his friend's behalf. "He's a bit provincial, but he's learning." She smiled while Raven tried to mimic Storm's handling of the small ornate cup.
While they were enjoying their friend's discomfiture, a thin dark-skinned young man slipped in from the back of the shop and sat down. He smiled at Foxfire and spoke to her in a smooth lyrical language and then switched to standard. "Avery, it has been a long, long, time. What can my tribe do to help you?"
Avery introduced this man to her Alliance friends, telling them he was a nomad, one of a group of spacefaring peoples that traveled this sector. "Zack, these are good friends of mine and are members of my adopted tribe," she said, indicating Raven and Storm. "We're looking for a stolen shipment of starfighters that may be for sale in the sector."
Frowning, Zack fingered the small metal ornament he wore in his ear and said something in the language he had first used. Foxfire replied sharply in the same tongue, then smiled apologetically at him. "Zack, I understand your concern, but I can promise you that my friends are NOT Imperials. Your tribe's completely safe."
The nomad shrugged. "Well, I've heard mention of an auction happening out in the Boreallian Breaks for some starfighters. But the opening price is high and the sellers seem too anxious to complete a transaction. So not too many are interested. It is thought that those offering the ships may have paid too dearly for them. And that perhaps that they cannot be trusted."
"Zack, I've been through the Breaks before—they're vast. It would take too long to search the auction out. Where can we get the location?" she asked.
The nomad rubbed his chin slowly. "You know Krang? He might know. You'll find him over at Felix's place, as usual."
"The self appointed General?" Avery shook her head slowly as Zack confirmed her assessment.
"Yes," replied the nomad. "Ever since the destruction of the Master Cylinder on Colony 13 he's been hanging out over there."
"Another good reason to avoid Felix's place," she said with a sigh. "Raven, remind me again how much we need those B-wings?"
"We need the B-wings," Raven responded promptly. "What's so bad about this Felix?"
"I wouldn't know where to start. But you'll like his place, I'm sure," she said laughing. "The joint gets raided regularly, and they serve some impressive liquors. The house specialty was banned a couple of years back. It tended to become unstable at room temperature."
The three Rebels rose to leave and Foxfire made their good-byes, pressing a wad of credits into Zack's hand over his protests. Once outside they climbed into a ground transport and Foxfire punched in their destination.
"So," said Storm. "We just grab this Krang and make him tell us where the auction is going to be. Hey, Rave, Rory might be an asset here. He has a way of getting people to be cooperative."
"Sorry," Raven replied, who had brightened visibly once he learned that Felix ran a bar where he could get a proper drink. "Rory didn't come along on this trip. He's working on some elaborate practical joke to play on Smoke back at the Motherlode ... at least, I think that's what he's doing. Hard to tell what goes on inside his brain sometimes."
"Guys," broke in Foxfire. "Brute strength is not always the best way to get what you want in life. I'll deal with Krang. You just watch the doors and standby. Okay?"
Storm nodded. "You're calling the shots," he said, checking the clip in his antique sidearm. Let's go."
Several hours later, Foxfire was briefing Raven and Storm on exactly where and when the auction was being held. "It's very soon, but we'll be able to make it if we leave immediately. I've got the coordinates for the location—it's a space station located near the far edge of the Breaks, sort of a trading post and open repair facility. It's called DS'alon-14. If we try to take the freighter back openly by force, well, any other bidders may be pretty upset with us. I think we might need a more subtle approach..."
******** Part 4.5 ********
[Meanwhile back in the Motherlode... oh, BTW, this has nothing to do with the
main plot of Hijacked! so you could skip it unless you're a big Rory
fan. It's just thrown in because Rory whined that he was left out of this POV
and I'm working off my gambling debts to him by doing this sub-plot. And I did
explain that this is really Foxfire's POV but he insisted so well, there you
have it. -Raven]
Michael "Smoke" Williams, Gold 4, Chief Tactical Operations Officer, was tired.
It had been a grueling day, and the command staff at Comstock Base was short
handed as Raven and Storm had been assigned to help Foxfire track down a
missing freighter and were not expected back for a while. Smoke was covering
Storm's planning duties as well as his own and Pivot was burning the midnight
oil overhauling some of Gold Squadron's General Orders.
The conversion of Comstock Base was a much larger undertaking than anyone had
counted on and everyone was getting frazzled.
Smoke approached his quarters and stopped short of the door. He carefully
looked around the door and switch plate for signs of tampering. He and Gold
Squad's mascot, Rory, had been subjecting each other to an escalating series
of practical jokes, and Smoke had learned to be very cautious.
The door seemed clear. He hit the open plate and jumped back. Nothing happened. He stood in the doorway, and pulling a IR scanner from his pocket, he did a quick sweep
of the room looking for tampering and tripwires. That gundark was damn clever, more so than any other of his species that Smoke had heard about. Still, Smoke was one up on him in their prank war at the moment, having riveted three bells to Rory's
tail after spiking his caviar. Made it harder for Rory to sneak up on him.
The room checked out. Smoke was dogged-tired and quickly got ready to crawl
into his bunk. Not so quickly that he didn't check it out very carefully
first. He switched off the lights and settled down for some much needed rest. He
was soon asleep and blissfully unaware that when he turned off the light a
hidden microcircuit was tripped, and a small pressure bottle of Marsdale swamp
gas was being silently released into the room. Soon Smoke was not only asleep
but was totally unconscious and was likely to remain so for some hours.
As Smoke snored away, a jingling of bells could be heard coming from one of the many maintenance shafts running alongside the main halls. Rory did not believe in getting even, he believed in being ahead. The jingling came closer...
A rusty Allanar N3 light freighter and a single hastily repainted Alliance A-wing accelerated smoothly through the asteroids in the Boreallian Breaks, hopefully closing on the hijacked Gamerra. Storm's A-wing was purely a contingency in the event they weren't welcome, though the freighter wasn't defenseless, sporting a trio of chin-mounted laser cannons.
Foxfire leaned forward to change the settings on the comm-link. "Approaching ships to DS'alon-14," she said in an annoyingly professional voice. "Dorothy Warner speaking. I'm an ... assistant to Tiren Andreth, here to inspect the starfighters you're offering for sale." She cut the comm-link off without waiting for a reply.
"Ah, aren't you supposed to wait until they say something back?" Raven asked.
Foxfire grinned. "Not if you work for Andreth, you're not." She switched channels to talk to Storm. "Just go ahead and dock with them—they won't bother us."
Storm considered this. "What's so magic about working for this Andreth, and can I borrow some?" he inquired.
"Well, he's as close as you can get to being in charge of the Breaks—lots of money, lots of employees, lots of power. Although I guess he might be a bit upset with me for using his name..." she trailed off thoughtfully. "If he finds out that is," she finished.
As they approached the space platform they saw several ships, some docked to the station and some larger craft floating near the station, including the Alliance freighter Gamerra, its Alliance markings painted over. The now jet black A-wing docked without any further communication, just ahead of the freighter. "You guys know the plan. Good luck," Foxfire said as she debarked the freighter, leaving Storm in his cockpit and Raven—still in the freighter's bridge—behind.
"Dorothy Warner. I'm here to look over the B-wings being offered for sale," she announced to the station manager who had approached and was busily fawning over her, impressed as much by Foxfire's appearance as by her professed employer. She casually looked over the man standing beside him.
"My name is Dorn," the little man fussed. "So glad we are to have your employer take an interest. His initial response led us to believe that the minimum requested bid was more than he cared to consider."
Foxfire stopped and stared down at him. "Are you saying that Tiren Andreth is cheap?" she asked with ice in her voice.
Dorn blanched. "No, no, no, oh my, no. I misspoke, never would I have considered..."
The other man interrupted Dorn's bubbling apology. "Cut the chatter. Let's get the inspection over with."
Eager to change the conversation, Dorn turned and introduced the man to Foxfire. "Ah yes. The inspection. Ms. Warner this is Mako," indicating the man who had spoken. "He represents the, ah, sellers in this transaction."
Mako, Foxfire thought, didn't improve on closer acquaintance—the face was as obnoxious as the puns. "My escort will remain here," she said, indicating the black A-wing. "If I like what I see, I'll be able to make you an offer that will let us avoid this whole time-consuming auction. Care to show me the fighters?"
Mako lit up like a Tatooine sunrise. "Sure toots! A little, ah, cash and carry is just what I had in mind. I've brought over a sample of the goods ... it's on display in the repair hangar. I would like to conclude a sale as soon as possible as I have ah, a pressing engagement somewhere else." After a moment, he hastily added, "Although, I'm sure I could spare some time to buy you a drink after we cut us a little deal on the B-wings."
Reaching into her jacked Foxfire felt the small expanding Strongbow crowbar, Toots, she thought angrily while keeping her business face pleasant, oh, you'll pay for that one, Mako, pay big time. To the two men she just smiled and they proceeded through the hatch into the station.
After Foxfire and the others left, Raven walked casually down the freighter's gangplank and met the waiting Storm. "This looks like an old Space Warrior class battle platform. You'd better have a word with its computer so we'll be on friendly terms with its weapons systems in case we have to leave suddenly. I'll scan the comm system for any traffic between the station and the Gammera. My guess is that everything we need is in the recorder's memory."
Storm nodded and the two Alliance Captains left the landing bay through a small maintenance hatch near the refueling tanks. They were unable to find an unattended computer terminal, so they retreated to a small crawl-way above a corridor of offices. Storm looked over the conduits running along the narrow passage and took out his slicer kit. "I'll just have to splice into the net from here. Hang on a second and I'll get a diagram of the system's wiring and find you a place to break into the comm system." Expertly, Storm looped an inductor around one of the conduits and flipped open his portable terminal. After a few minutes he smiled. "Raven, go down to the next intersection and turn left. The next junction box is the one you want. The left hand optic is the backbone to the comm-net."
Shaking his head in wonder, Raven crawled off in the direction Storm had indicated. Thirty minutes later the two rendezvoused and compared notes. "I've got the transmissions we need here," Raven said, indicating the datapad in his hand. "This will get us aboard the Gamerra. How goes the main computer?"
"No worries there," Storm said. "I've programmed what we need for our fade and have just input the necessary clearances for the shuttle in the landing bay next to where we docked. Here," Storm said as he handed a small datacard to Raven, who put it in his pocket. "Let's get this show on the road."
Storm slipped back into his A-wing and waited. Raven, meanwhile, made his way to the next bay. There was a service tech just disconnecting the fueling lines from the shuttle docked there. "I'm taking her out," Raven said nonchalantly, handing the datacard Storm had prepared to the tech.
"Yeah, I just got the message to prep her," the man replied. He swiped the datacard through his clipboard and handed it back to Raven. "Have a good flight."
Raven walked up the ramp and initiated the preflight routines. He brought the shuttle up on its repulsors and swung her through the magnetic seal and out away from the station. Checking the screens, he directed the ship towards the Gamerra and he hooked his datapad to the shuttle's computer. He pressed a button and the comm-link was activated. He set the transmitter to a narrow beam so no one on the station would overhear his side of what was about to happen. Raven had taken some interesting comm traffic from the station's computer files and had prepared a set of prerecorded transmissions.
"Trash! Look alive you worthless sack of rancor bait." Raven grinned as Mako's voice was transmitted from his datapad to the Gamerra. "I'm coming aboard."
A few seconds later, Raven heard the reply. "Hey, Mako. How'd it go, huh? Did you cut a deal? How much we getting? Did you contact the guys back at the base? Was the boss mad about our losses on this job?"
Raven grinned. "A real chatter box is our Trash-man," he chuckled. Pressing another button on his comm-pad, Mako's voice repeated, "Look alive! I'm coming aboard."
The shuttle slipped into position and docked with the freighter. Raven stood by the hatch and waited. The docking light flashed green and the hatch flew up. "Trash" came walking up the companionway. "Mako, so how much did we get? Are we rich? Did we..." Trash stopped suddenly as he realized that the person standing in front of him was not Mako.
Raven smashed his blaster upside Trash's hapless head. The pirate collapsed to the deck. "I'm sorry," said Raven, "were you talking to me?" A quick search of the ship turned up three of the original crew locked in one of the forward compartments. The freighter's captain had a serious blaster burn, was unconscious, and in pretty bad shape. Raven brought the first officer up to date on events.
"We are certainly glad to see you, Captain Lee," the first officer said as they carried his wounded superior to the small sick bay aboard the freighter. "My name is Ryc, Ryc Obmere. First Officer on the Gamerra. The captain here was shot when that scum jumped us. This is first mate Jinks," he said, indicating the other remaining loyal crewman.
"Well, we'll get him to a hospital ship as soon as we can. Jinks, I need an inventory of the B-wings and I need it right now." The crewman responded with a quick "aye-aye" and disappeared. "Ryc, get all systems checked out and prep the ship for immediate departure. We'll be leaving shortly. I'm going to set the shuttle I borrowed on automatic and send it on its way," Raven concluded.
"My pleasure, Captain." The first officer saluted and made his way to the bridge.
******** Part 5.5 ********
[Meanwhile back in the Motherlode, in the quarters of Michael "Smoke"
Williams, Gold 4, the practical joke war between Rory and Smoke takes on a new
dimension.]
Smoke slowly came awake. He felt odd. Very odd. He opened his eyes slowly. The room was dark, and he felt strangely disoriented. He reached for the console next to
his bunk but couldn't seem to move his arm. He tried to roll over but was
unable to coordinate his limbs. He stretched, feeling his muscles flex but he
did not move. His throat was dry but he managed to croak to the computer to
turn on the lights.
He was momentarily blinded by the light. At first he did not know where he was
and he experienced a moment of terrifying vertigo. Then things settled down,
and he saw he was in his quarters. He could hear the air coming in from the
ventilator. He looked around, trying very carefully to move. Suddenly
everything came into sharp focus and he finally saw his room clearly.
"YAAAAAAA!" was the first sound that came out of his mouth. Then he roared a
old Yavin hunter's oath, rich in invective. Oh, I will get even with that
damn mammal! I'll tie his tail in a knot! I'll paint him blue with
green polka-dots! Oh, I can't wait to get that gundark! Smoke's bellows of rage were
heard by a security drone in the outer corridor, and soon the door to his room
opened and two security personnel came into the room followed by Wraith, Gold
Squadron's XO. They looked around the room and at Smoke, who was still yelling
incoherently.
Wraith tried mightily to contain himself. He strained, using all his years of
experience as a leader of men to meet the situation with calm as befitted his
rank and position. But the taller of the two security guards started to
titter, her long hair shaking with mirth. Then her partner started to giggle.
Wraith bit his lip in an effort to contain himself, but the battle was lost.
He started laughing. Soon all three were in the throws of comical hysteria.
Wraith's knees went weak and he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down
into a sitting position. The security guards collapsed in laughter.
Smoke became aware of his audience and stopped yelling. He glared at them and
struggled and thrashed, trying to move. This drove the onlookers to even higher
levels of uncontrollable laughter.
Rory had glued Smoke to the ceiling.
Foxfire, in her guise as Dorothy Warner, assistant to mysterious kingpin Tiren Andreth, gritted her teeth as she forced herself to laugh at another of Mako's lame jokes. "Mako," she purred, "you are such a wit!"
The mercenary sucked in his gut and tried to stand up a little straighter. "Oh, no, not really. Although I hate to say anyone as bee-u-tee-full as you could be wrong," he replied, trying unsuccessfully to appear modest.
"Well maybe I'm just half right," said Foxfire. While Mako tried to figure out what she meant by that comment, the couple arrived back where Storm was waiting beside his A-wing in the station's landing bay. Foxfire spoke to him curtly. "We've agreed on a price for the B-wings. I will accompany Mako here to his freighter. You will provide escort. Notify Tiren that we need to transfer payment as soon as possible so that there is no problem with any other bidders who may yet show up." She turned back to Mako and they proceeded to the next bay. As she stepped through the hatch she gave Storm a subtle hand signal.
Storm nodded subtly, and as Foxfire and their mark walked away, he surreptitiously tapped a few commands into his datapad. Near the fuel tanks, a faint chirp could be heard as the ion bomb he'd rigged up was armed. If anything other than his A-wing or their borrowed freighter left the station in the next ten minutes, the device would go off, frying anything in a large radius.
In the next bay Mako stared in disbelief at the empty docking rack. His shuttle was missing. "Man! I can't believe this! I just stole ... I mean, I just bought that fargin shuttle!"
Foxfire smiled kindly. "No honor amongst thieves in the Breaks."
"Don't that just beat all," Mako grumbled, his hands running through his hair.
"Why don't we just use my freighter?" Foxfire asked innocently.
Moments later, back in their rusty freighter, Foxfire ferried Mako to the Gamerra. Mako flipped on the comm-link and hailed the freighter. "Trash, I'm coming aboard! I've got our buyers' rep with me so look alive!"
The response was immediate. "Hey, Mako. How'd it go, huh? Did you cut a deal? How much we getting?"
Mako turned to Foxfire and grinned sheepishly. "It's hard to get good help these days." The shuttle docked, and Mako led Foxfire onto the freighter. "Before we inventory the cargo, let's stop by my cabin for a drink. What do you say to that?" Mako leered.
Foxfire batted her eyelashes at Mako. "You'd better ask him first." She pointed at Raven, who was standing at the bottom of the access tube grinning at him. Mako's hand dropped to his blaster as Foxfire brought hers up to the back of his head. The Strongbow Industries Pocket Companion Model-101 pink crowbar made a solid connection with Mako's head and he tumbled down the tube like a marionette with its strings cut. "What do you say to that, Toots?" Foxfire sarcastically asked the unconscious pseudo-Don Juan.
As Foxfire closed the docking hatch, Raven took out his commlink. "First officer, we are ready to depart." He switched frequencies. "Storm, we have taken the Gamerra, we're heading out. Watch the station in case they object to our leaving."
Storm watched as the shuttle drifted clear of the freighter. "No problem, Rave, I've just taken all their offensive weapons systems off-line. Care package is armed as well. What's the status over there?"
"We have the Captain of the original crew in sick bay. He's hurt pretty bad. All the B-wings are accounted for except for the demo model that the mercs took over to the station to show to potential buyers."
Foxfire interrupted. "Raven, we need to get out of here in a hurry. Mako hinted that he's expecting company from his 'employer' anytime, but he seemed way too nervous about it. Reading between the lines I gather that he was never intended to run this operation.
We must have taken out whoever was really in charge where they jumped the freighter and I think that Mako delayed reporting in. Probably didn't want to tell his boss that they lost most of their hijack force. Anyway, I think he was planning on pocketing the money from the deal for himself and just quietly fading away. That's why he was in such a hurry to cut a deal so he could split before his friends arrive."
"Pretty sneaky," Storm replied.
Foxfire snorted. "But he had no idea of the real value of the cargo and he was asking way too high a price for the fighters. When his friends get wind of his little show and pop up, they are not going to be in a good mood."
"Sounds like a trustworthy group, all around," replied Raven.
******** Part 6.5 ********
[While Foxfire was leading her strike force out of the Boreallian Breaks; back in
the Motherlode the topic of conversation was how to scrape Smoke off the
ceiling. Literally.]
Pivot led the way to a small conference room in the Ops Dome. Trying to have
any rational conversation in Smoke's room was futile. Try as they might, someone
would glance at Smoke and the room would become filled with uncontrollable
laughter.
"Okay," Pivot said, rubbing the sides of his forehead. "How do we get him down?
Ash, any idea what he's stuck up there with?"
Ash set his datapad on the table. "None. It looks like some kind of epoxy. Smoke
is stuck from his chin to his ankles in about a half inch of the stuff,
whatever it is. When he first woke up he must of thought he was laying on the
floor. Till he realized the gravity was wrong."
"We may need to cut out a section of the ceiling and move it and Smoke to the
lab where we have more equipment to work with," said Wraith.
The door opened and Starduster stepped into the room, just barely controlling
his snickering. He tried to speak but started to break up. He set a small
pressure canister on the table and finally managed to say, "I found this a few
minutes ago in Smoke's room, under the pillow on his bunk."
On the side of the tube was scratched the word SOLVENT. "It cuts the gunk
pretty well. No residue at all," Starduster said.
Pivot shook his head. "And Smoke is okay?" he asked.
"Seems fine. Madder than a wet kzin, though. He's getting a quick once over in
medlab just to be sure."
Wraith nodded. "Well that answers how to get Smoke down. But I want to know how
Rory managed to get him up there in the first place?"
[The Alliance freighter and its lone A-wing escort began to accelerate away from the space station.]
"It'll take us about an hour to get clear of the Breaks so we can make the first jump," Raven calculated. "The Gamerra can then jump from that point directly to the base waiting for these B-wings. Once we're clear, Foxfire and I will transfer back to Allanar and go pick up our fighters."
They were about halfway to the jump point when the proximity alarm went off. Checking the sensors Raven whistled. "We've got a number of Y-wings and a light cruiser heading right for us. They're coming in from the opposite direction from DS'alon-14. Still nothing from the platform."
There was no point in going evasive. The fully loaded freighter was just too slow to try to make a run for it. Raven punched up the comm-link to Storm. "Dude, better bail out of here and round up some support—BRRRRUPKKKKKKKTTTTT" the comm-link emitted nothing but white noise. Raven turned to Foxfire and the freighter's remaining crew. "They're jamming communications. Jinks, you and Foxfire, get the captain to the Allanar; we may be leaving. Ryc," he said looking at the freighter's first officer, "key in the destruct sequence just in case we need to blow this can."
The first officer sat down at a console but immediately called to Raven. "The self-destruct system has been wiped. Those two mercs were busy while they had the run of the ship. We can't scuttle the Gamerra."
Raven grimaced. "Damn."
Just then the comm-link squawking faded to a dull hiss and a threatening voice was said, "Calling the Gamerra. Stop your engines and prepare to be boarded."
[Meanwhile nearby...]
Storm took up a position in his A-wing just off the nose of the freighter. He studied his screen. There were at least 15 Y-wings arrayed in four groups moving into an encirclement formation. The cruiser was not of a configuration he recognized off-hand, but looked vaguely Corellian. Larger than a Nebulon-B class frigate, it sported a goodly number of weapons clusters. He checked his Map Display. They were on the very fringes of the Breaks, not quite in a position where they could make a hyperspace jump but not far from it. Storm checked his chronometer.
"Time to stall," he said to himself. As soon as the pirate transmitted that the Gamerra would be boarded, he keyed his transmitter. "Cruiser, stand off or face immediate destruction! You are completely surrounded," he added. As long as the bad guys wanted to chat with him, they'd have to damp down their jamming. Storm flipped on his Alliance homing transponder.
[On the bridge of the Gamerra]
"Odd," said Raven as he checked the ping on the sensors. "Storm's just turned on his A-wing's transponder." He looked over at Foxfire sitting in the co-pilot's seat.
"We could use some support. Do you think he got a call out to the Alliance?" she asked.
"Could be," Raven replied thoughtfully. "Certainly sounds like he's stalling. Let's help him keep the bad guys attention. Start us spinning real slow."
"Spinning?" said Foxfire. "Why would a freighter, completely surrounded by a superior force, start spinning?"
"No reason I can think of," grinned Raven. "Let's hope the hijackers can't think of anything either, and that they watch us closely trying to figure it out."
[Onboard the Mercenary Cruiser]
The mercenary commander stared slack-jawed at the main viewscreen. "What do they think they are doing? Keep scanners locked on the Gamerra and the black A-wing. Damn! Where is Dark Claw? This smells like a double-cross to me." He turned to his comm officer. "I want every pilot to keep their eyes on that freighter. I mean to have that cargo of B-wings!"
[In the cockpit of the lone A-wing preparing to joust with the entire pirate force arrayed before them...]
Storm glanced behind him and saw the freighter turning slowly along its beam. He chuckled and hailed the opposing force again. "Pirate cruiser! You will stand off immediately or I shall be forced to take action!"
[The Cruiser bridge is bathed in stunned silence, only broken up by the tapping of commands...]
The mercenary commander felt his temper rising in the face of such an obvious bluff. "A-wing, you are completely enveloped and do not have long to live! The freighter will heave-to NOW, or we will be forced to disable her."
The captain looked to his crew. "Tell the pilots to use their ion cannons only. I WANT that cargo unharmed!"
[The temperature of the A-wing's cockpit began to heat up, matching the rising tension in the space ahead...]
"Probably will too if pushed to it," thought Storm. He considered the options for a moment. The enemy Y's certainly had enough ion-cannons to disable the Gamerra in no time. But most likely they would hold off till the last second as it'd take some substantial work to get the freighter repaired once they boarded her, and surely they wouldn't want to sit out here on the edge of the Breaks any longer than they had to. Finally, Storm's computer informed him of what he'd been waiting for.
"Pirate cruiser," he replied. "I'm a very reasonable guy. Disengage now, or else."
[The temperature of the cruiser bridge matched the gathering storm outside...]
The pilot's tone had pushed mercenary commander to near apoplexy. "Fire on the A-wing!" he screamed. The gunnery officer timidly pointed out that the freighter was in the direct line of fire. "The Y-wings! Have the Y-wings attack that arrogant braggart!" He raged on failing to notice that the navigator was frantically trying to direct his attention to the sensor screens.
Finally, in an attempt to be heard over his leader's harangue, the navigator yelled. "Alliance ships detected! Mark two-three-three on direct intercept, they're leaving hyperspace and vectoring in right on top of us!"
The commander looked as nearly a dozen green blips streaked in from behind their position. His mind was completely frazzled by this news, and no new thoughts or commands could fight through this dazed state.
"Another flight coming in along a slightly different vector!" announced the hapless navigator. More green blips streaked in, decelerating from hyperspace.
[The temperature of the tiny egg-shell cockpit immediately began to cool...]
Storm heaved a sigh of relief as the first friendly B-wings appeared. His call for help as they left the station was picked up after all.
Raven let out a rebel yell over the comm, temporarily deafening all on the channel. The comm-link battle channel came to life with chatter from the Rebel B-wings, "Green 11 to Storm, looks like you got your A-wing dirty!"
"Green Seven to freighter, hey Raven, is that you? You want to stop spinning like that, I mean before I get sick?"
"Green 2 to strike force, dress it up. Lock and load, boys, lock and load. Spread out and target the Y-wings"
Storm grinned as he hit his transmit button. "Gold 3 to Green 2. Hey Bill, don't forget that cruiser. I was just threatening her commander with some rather dire consequences should he fire on us."
A new voice broke into the conversation. "Thy Shok'ers has the cruiser under the guns of Preying Mantis Squadron, good sir! Morgana, Slick, close and lock torpedoes on that pirate galleon."
"Mantis 5 to Shok'wave, roger!"
"Mantis 6 here, torpedoes locked! Ready to fire."
"Zetta, take everyone else and prep for a second attack run. If that cruiser looses one erg of energy, destroy it!"
Raven watched as Shok'wave's squadron of B-wings fanned out in perfect formation.
"Foxfire to Shok'wave, good to see you Commander. Just in the nick of time too! Looks like my training flight was a bit more interesting than I'd hoped it would be."
"Roger that Foxfire!" Replied Shok'wave. "Storm, it's your call. What's the next move?"
Before Storm could reply, one of the Y-wing pilots fired a dual set of torpedoes at his A-wing. He accelerated and pulled into a loop, and just barely avoided the torps. "That tears it!" he shouted and weapons started firing on every side.
"Attack, attack, attack! Zepplin stay with me, TJ shift over to Strongbow's group," Bill Bradley's voice ordered.
"Shunt all power to the shields!" Foxfire called, and then muttered an apology when she instantly realized it had been broadcast on the comm.
Storm saw the freighter turn towards the spot where the Y-wings were thinnest. Two torpedoes slammed into the Gamerra's rear shields. Ion blasts were flying everywhere. He hauled his controls back to get into a better position to intercept more warheads. As he did so, he got a good view of the rapidly unfolding skirmish.
Minuteman's curious fighter spun in behind a pirate Y-wing and let loose a torpedo to weaken its shields. Quickly after, the tri-linked cannons began chewing apart the now unshielded pirate fighter. It exploded quickly. He acquired another target and quickly repeated the process.
Batman, Green 5, hailed him. "Rick, you got one on your tail. I'm on him."
"More torpedoes incoming!" called Foxfire. The Gamerra cut in the auxiliary thrusters, giving it a boost of speed to hopefully throw off the pirate targeting computers.
Suddenly, both torpedoes exploded short of the target. Through the expanding ball of gas and flame shot Storm, barrel-rolling his A-wing as it zoomed past the viewport.
"Way to go, buddy!" Raven crowed. Storm tried to be everywhere at once and interdict incoming torpedoes.
[The crew of the pirate cruiser are deafened by the cacophony of alarms as they attempt to deal with the tables that had turned against them.]
"Watch those bombers!"
"You watch the bombers, roll us to bring more guns to bear on them!"
The B-wings of Preying Mantis Squadron were pounding the cruiser with wave after wave of proton torpedoes. The famed precision flying maneuvers of the Mantis' made them impossible targets for the pirate defensive gunners.
Alarms were sounding all over the cruiser, "Break off, break off!" called the merc commander. "Pull us out of here. Signal all remaining Y-wings to fall back to base." He stared at the disaster unfolding all around him. "If the hot-head who started this survives I'll skin him personally."
The outlaw Y-wings that could, withdrew. Those that didn't fell prey to the deadly and implacable B-wings of Green Squadron and the much better looking pilots of Preying Mantis Squadron.
[A few hours later...]
The Alliance Frigate Rehz'nor hypered in and the injured captain of the Gamerra was transferred to her medical facilities. A replacement crew was shipped to the recently liberated freighter, and it was able to finally continue on her way, this time escorted by a flight of Green Squadron B-wings.
Storm and Raven stood by their A-wings on the Rehz'nor's landing bay, talking to Foxfire and Shok'wave. "The Rehz'nor was the closest ship to the Breaks when Alliance Command got your signal, Storm," Shok'wave was saying. "It just so happened that most of my squadron was doing field training along their route here. Green Leader sent word that one of ours was in trouble and we were only too happy to come along."
"Whatever happened to the real Red X-wings that were supposed to be riding cover for the Gamerra?" Foxfire asked.
Shok'wave shook her head. "Crazy was notified once the Alliance had your first report. Turns out his pilots had been redirected, the hijackers faked a message with bogus coordinates. They ran into some Imperial trouble when they came out of hyperspace. That's why the alarm did not get out right away. Overall it was a well coordinated hijacking and shows of some serious security leaks. Alliance HQ will be sending a team in to investigate the Slayn & Korpil shipping facility. Seems that they are a bit lax in their security." She turned to Foxfire. "Avery, overall you have performed very well. If you're ready, we'll go out and regroup with PMS. Gentlemen, good hunting!"
"It's been fun guys. Raven, say hi to Rory for me," Foxfire said. Then turning to Storm she said, "Captain, I hope we will get a chance to meet again." With a wave, she joined Shok'wave and together they made for their B-wings.
Raven turned to Storm and clapped him on the back. "Well, Captain, about time we took our leave as well before Minuteman and Strongbow decide to have your A-wing painted Green. Shall we head back to the Motherlode?"
Storm chuckled, giving his haphazardly painted A-wing a once over. "It's not that bad, is it?" He walked toward his black ship, with flecks of gold beginning to show through.
Raven began to walk toward his own un-altered A-wing, but paused. He gave the hangar of the Rehz'nor a once-over, and smirked. "It's not that bad at all, buddy," he mumbled to himself.
******** The End ********
