Coruscant Nightmare
In the Lounge
Sipping his favorite drink, Lomiin-ale, and munching on a platefull
of nachos, at a booth in the lounge, Marc "ProwLer" Desrosiers felt
only boredom inside him. Not because life on the Liberty
was boring, mind you, but because his girlfriend and fiancé-to-be,
Lyrtia Desori, was gone again on some Top-Secret Intelligence mission
that he knew nothing about.
But boredom was really just the beginning of how he felt. He was
scared -- petrified would say it better -- that something would
happen to her.
Why, oh why, do you always have to leave? You stay for barely a
few days and then head back out to the-Force-knows-where in some
lost area of the galaxy.
Deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice the new arrivals in the
lounge. Robert "Paladin" Hasegawa and Jonathan "Valkyrie" Hu, both
members of Buccaneer Squadron, walked in. Their brows were still
dripping with sweat after a practice-duel with their swords. They
walked to the bar, each ordering a drink, and gulped down each of
their mugs. After a refill, they glanced around and noticed their
fellow Buccaneer, seated alone in a dark corner of the lounge..
" Hey Prowler, why so glum? " said Paladin, as he and his
fencing partner sat down.
Prowler looked up and said, "Ah...nothing, I'm just bored and worried
about my girlfriend. She's off somewhere, completing some Intelligence
mission." Sighing heavily, Prowler looked down to the floor.
"Oh!" answered Paladin, slightly embarrassed for asking the question.
On the other side of the table, Valkyrie was fidgeting a with a
small object that was lying beside Prowler's drink.
" What's this?" he asked.
"That," answered Prowler, "is a Numbka, a goodluck charm that my
girlfriend gave me when
joined Starfighter Command. I always have it with me. Reminds me
of her."
Paladin smiled slowly as an idea crept into him. "Um..Marc, you
haven't really told us much about yourself. None of us know you
really well. And if you feel cramped, you ought to tell someone."
Prowler frowned and said, " Well, I guess I've been keeping to
myself, it's just that if I started to explain to someone what happened
to me, it'd take hours."
Valkyrie laughed a little and called to the other pilots in the
lounge. " Hey, guys, get over here. Our friend has a tale for us."
The chatter in the lounge went up quickly as a few pilots got up
from their seats. Micheal "Mighty" Tolle, now Rogue 10, and Pashk
"Silk" V'tikan came over and sat. Eloy "Mynock" Cintron came over
too, expecting a good story.
Prowler smiled , "All right, if you insist, I will tell you a story
about my voyages among the stars " he said, waving theatrically
towards the viewport that showed the starscape.
The members of the audience smiled and nodded, signaling Prowler
that it was time to spin the yarn.
The Tale
My childhood was cut sharply to an end when my parents and sister
were killed in a freak transport accident. My family was very wealthy,
leaving a goodly-sized fortune in my hands.
That was when I ran off in a Charter-class freighter, exploring
the galaxy. At first, I simply headed out to Corellia, where I traded
money for goods, mostly equipment. Then, I flew to Coruscant, where
I wanted to visit the museums and see the Imperial Military. This
is the part I shall tell you all about?
It was a rainy day, as usual, on Coruscant. Lighting bolts flashed
everywhere in the planet-city. The traffic was heavy and the boardwalfs
were filled.
Coming out of the Cardooine Sunset, my freighter, I headed
for the main Imperial Museum.
I payed the usual fee of entry and headed strait for the top level.
There I found holos about the begining of the Rebellion, transformed
by the Empire to make it seems like an evil project, of course.
There were also booths and holos about the era of the Jedi. They
were described by the Empire as evil knights, trained to take control
of other people minds and rule the galaxy with a iron fist.
Just as I was reading this, I tripped over a wire and crashed
into the wall. The wall gave way, letting me roll away into a dusty
and dark room. Swearing away silently, I got up. I saw a strange
glow in a corner, a red-blood glow that filled me with dread.
The brightnes increased suddenly, reveling the face of a woman.
She was horribly deformed, but she held an aura of power about her.
At first, I thought she was a servant, but slowly I realised that
this woman couldn't be a servant, all servants on Coruscant were
pretty much droids.
So I stepped slowly towards her, being careful not to make a sound.
As I got closer, I saw her holding a laser welder onto a golden
coin. What the heck is she doing? I asked myself. Then I
recognized the object. It was a Jedi Credit, and she was gouging
the eyes out of the Jedi Master represented on it. Stepping even
closer, I tried to see more of her obscene act.
At that moment, she realized she wasn't alone. She whirled around
and pointed her hand at me. An unknown strengh took hold of me and
threw me against a wall.
"Who dares interrupt Yhana Melloy, the Emperor's Hand ?", she said,
in a horribly disformed voice. I didn't answer, I merely stared
in horror at here, gaping stupidly like an infant. She gripped me
again with that strengh of hers and brought me closer, "Who are
you, ignorant child, to interrupt me?" she asked. I was trembling
in horror, images flowing though my mind at the unspeakable end
my life might come to.
But somewhere, my mind clicked. Danger and fear transformed into
a cold and icy determination. My limbs seemed to tingle and my mind
opened up to me, like a dark window that only now has been opened.
Pushing against her with my will and all the strengh my mind could
muster, I propelled her grip on me away, freeing me temporarily.
Without hesitating, I dove down to the ground and crashed into a
metal casing. The casing tumbled to the floor and spilled its contents
in front of me, including an old metal tube and two shining stars.
Grabbing the stars, I threw one of them with not only my physical
strengh, but also my mental strengh. The star twirled in the air
with a high shrilly whistle and connected with the woman's torso.
She pitched in half, her hands going for the deadly object that
had just killed her.
She gasped for air, but nothing but a bloody gurgle came out. She
toppled to the floor and weased for a few seconds. Then, she said
a single sentence : "A child, and yet he has the Force with
him, incredible!" and then she died.
I stared at her in amazement and then recovered.
Turning back to the weapons on the floor, I grabbed the other star
and metal tube and ran out, just as a dark explosion rocked the
building. I barely escaped the blast, only to run into two guards.
Hesitating for a second, I threw the last star, saw it connect
with the front guard and then I jumped in a side-kick at the next
guard. The guard dove to the ground, letting me pass overhead and
crash into the turbolift entrance.
I scrambled for the control pad and hit it. For what seemed an
eternity, the door slid closed as the guard fired twice, burning
durasteel off the turbolift door. But then it locked closed and
started moving. I stopped the turbolift with the manual override
as soon as I had reached level 11, one level above the main entrance.
I popped the security-maintenance hatch on top and scrambled out,
to reveal a deep, dark pit. "Great, oh that's just great !" I muttered.
The distance between level 11 and level 10 seemed to be approximately
100 meters. A long way down if I slipped. White-nuckled, I started
downward.
After ten minutes, I reached level 10. I took the metal tube I
had found and searched for a button, trying to figure out what it
was. There was a single thumb-switch. Pressing it, a white-gold
shaft of energy leaped out of the tip of the tube. "A lightsaber
!" I said amazingly. I had found a weapon that probably dated from
the Clone Wars. I was ecstatic, especially since I like swordfighting.
Turning off the lightsaber, I walked to a wall and placed my ear
to it.
"No, Ma'am, I can't lower the price for you because you have a
family of eight? no ma'am, I can't...."
Right beside the main entrance, I thought, nice orienting.
I walked 40 meters further and thumbed on the lightsaber. I twirled
it around, amazed at the sound it made and the non-weight of the
blade, and then slid it through the wall. Sliding it up and down,
left and right, I cut a neat one-and-a-half-meter tall door. Pressing
on the metal board I had just made, I slid it forward. Then I slid
out of the backroom, and placed the board back to its spot. I looked
around and then walked rapidly to the main entrance.
Once outside, I went onto a boardwalk that was crowded, hoping
to lose the guards that without doubt would be looking for me. I
headed north for a while, and then sat down on a bench, trying to
relax.
The boardwalk was packed, at least a couple million people on it.
And many holo projectors, advertising ads for airspeeders and the
latest news about the war against the Rebellion. I was watching
the airspeeder ads when the image flickered and changed.
"Attention to all Coruscant inhabitants, this is a important holo
broadcast. Barely three hours ago, Rebel Alliance X-wing and Y-wing
pilots successfuly destroyed the Empire's ultimate superweapon,
the Death Star. Be assured, inhabitants of Coruscant, that freedom
and justice shall triumph over the evil the Empire represents, and
soon you shall all be freed of their tyrannical hand."
During the length of the message, video images showed the Y-wings
and X-wings attacking the Death Star. My mouth was wide open as
I saw all of the Y-wings but one being destroyed, and then all the
X-wings but two being destroyed. One of the two X-wings pulled out
of the trench early, leaving two others to continue their attack.
One of the last two was destroyed, guarding the rear of the lead
X-wing, which fired of two proton torpedoes into a hole in the side
of a wall. Moments later, the surviving craft were flying away at
full speed from the Death Star, which exploded moments later.
As I watched the video, a whole garrison of stormtroopers emerged
onto the boardwalk and moved into the crowd. I dove for cover behind
a bench, avoiding the searching troopers. Then, as the stormtroopers
began pushing through the crowd, I got up and charged one of the
rear troopers, my approached disguised by the noise of the crowd.
I ran at him with my lightsaber turned off. As I closed up on him,
I ignited it, spearing him through the back and pulling up through
his body. His head split in half, and splatted to the ground.
Moving quickly, I sideslipped towards another trooper. Swinging
low and not to hard to avoid overbalancing, I chopped him at the
waist. He collapsed without even twitching. Then I rolled to the
ground and came up with the lightsaber horizontaly to block the
next trooper in line, who was turning towards me. The move chopped
the muzzle of his blaster and bit deeply into his chest. Getting
up, I kicked him off and sprinted with my lightsaber clenched between
my hands and set solidly sideways. I sliced through a whole line
of troopers, leaving their upper bodies to topple to the ground
like bowling pins.
By then, pretty much all of the stormtroopers had in their minds
to shoot me. Sprinting all along, I dove off the edge of the boardwalk,
only to crash into an Imperial speeder bike. The trooper on it never
saw me. He only noticed I was there when I threw him off the speeder,
letting him fall to his death, several kilometers below.
Gripping the handles solidly, I punched the engine to the maximum
and turned on the E-web heavy repeater on the front. Glancing to
the sensors, I saw two speeder bikse were stationed barely three
klicks away. Cruising towards them, I waited until I was clearly
in range and then fired.
My first two blaster bolts hit dead on, bursting the first speeder
and its pilot into debris and flame. But the second speeder was
no longer in my sights when the area cleared of smoke.
My speeder jolted twice, prompting me to look on my six. The second
speeder was there, hugging on my rear, barely 100 meters out. Diving
for the ground, I avoided his second volley, but clearly the first
one had done some damage. Smoke was billowing out from the fuselage,
and the engine was increasing in sound. Tipping the nose of the
speeder even more downward, I aimed for another boardwalk, hoping
that it was empty. Luck was still with me, a 200 meter area was
clear of people.
Pulling back up to slow my descent, I grabbed the blaster carbine
that was in the holster on the speeder. I locked the gear strait
for the clearing, and emptied the fuel tanks. Then I turned around
and fired a stream of bolts towards the speeder bike that was still
pursuing me. None of them hit, but encouraged the pilot to jink
more. Turning back around, I waited for two seconds, and then jumped
off the speeder. I was only six meters high by then, so the fall
didn't hurt too much.
But as I hit the ground, I heard something crunch in my legs, and
I didn't get up. The speeder slammed into the boardwalk and erupted
into flames. The speeder following couldn't see anything, so he
turned around for another pass.
Breathing heavily, I fumbled for my remote and hit the homing button.
The rangefinder indicated four kilometers. Pressing the commlink
on my remote I yelled, " Go for a torpedo lock, you twit!" A positive
warble came back and then I shut down the commlink. I looked around
for the speeder. There, I thought, he's coming back around.
Grabbing the carbine, I pointed it towards the vicinity of the speeder
and fired. One bolt grazed the fuselage but did no damage.
The same could not go for his blaster bolts. They jabbed heavily
into the duracrete of the boardwalk, tracing towards me. But he
was too low to keep at it. Pulling back up, he turned, but fired
with his blaster pistol at me. His shot hit me in the gut. Screaming
in pain, I waited for the bitter end. But it never came.
A blue jet of flame passed over the boardwalk, and tracked toward
the speeder. Seconds later, the speeder bike was fuming debris.
Smiling slightly as my modified Charter-class freighter
settled on the boardwalk, I waited.
The hatch opened, revealing a human-sized droid that came running
for me.
"Master, Master, are you injured?" said Holo, my droid.
"No, of course not Holo, I 'm grimacing and wincing just for the
fun of it. Now get us out of here, quickly!"
Holo nodded, picked me up and brought me into the freighter. Propping
me into a sitting position in a passenger seat, he went to the cockpit
and engaged the modified engines. The thrum of the engines calmed
me down as we exited the atmosphere, then the shield sphere and
eventually the gravitational mass shadow of Coruscant.
"Where to, Master ?" asked Holo.
"Anywhere, but just get us out of here, ok !" I answered.
Minutes later, I was floating in my bacta tank in the rear of the
Cardooine Sunset, healing my injuries.
The Lounge
All of the pilots whistled and clapped lightly, congratulating
Marc on his story, but mostly for paying for the booze and food.
"So, " said Silk, " admit it, none of this happened,
right? That story is pretty impossible !"
Smiling broadly, Prowler said, "Ahhh... but that is what defines
a good story, the fact that nobody knows if it is real or not.."
Groaning slightly, Mighty said, Come on, you're not going to tell
us if it really happened or not...that's not fair, if you ask me."
Smiling even more, Prowler nodded, " That's right, no sense in
spoiling a good story over the question : i it true or not? Don't
you think ?"
All of the pilots laughed a little. " Ok, good story Prowler.
But you're on early duty assignements tomorrow, so I suggest you
go and get some sleep," said Valkyrie.
"Aye, sir!" answered Prowler, as he walked out of the lounge.
"Good story, " Paladin mused, turning towards his friend
and squad XO. " Think it's true? "
" No way, " Valkyrie responded. " A few of the
little things, maybe. But the story itself? Nah. Couldn't be. "
He arched an eyebrow. " Could it? "
Pulling out a tube of his pocket, he pressed a button and watched
the gold-white energy blade come to life. Ahh, the memories I've
had with you, my friend. And the number of times you saved my life.
Swinging it slightly through the air, he smelled the burnt ozone
the blade left in its wake. Bringing the blade around in one last
curve, he shut it down and walked to his quarters. The door opened
with a small hiss as he went strait for his computer terminal. Switching
it on, he checked for any new messages, but nothing was there. He
looked around the room and saw his holo-pictures. He switched it
on and watched as the pictures sifted by. First him and his family,
then him and his friends at the CAA, then him and Holo, and finally
him, Lyrtia and the gang from the Liberty.
Sighing slightly, he thought, my past is gone, and so are the
friends that came with it. Now, I'm here, defending what I think
is right, defending my friends from the evil side of the universe.
And in that, I find justice and friendship. That's good enough for
me.
