THE CHAMPIONS OF ZOBEK
The GALACTIC CIVIL WAR is in full swing across the galaxy. While the heroic REBEL ALLIANCE scored a great victory after the destruction of the DEATH STAR, they have been in dire straits ever since. Constantly on the run, their bases being burned out one by one as they are pursued by the GALACTIC EMPIRE at the command of the terrifying EMPEROR PALPATINE.
A year after a great victory in the MINOS CLUSTER, a Rebel cell has picked up an Imperial communique concerning one ZOBEK THE HUTT, who has contacted the Empire with the bargain of a lifetime - a weapon that will help bring an end to the war quickly, something that could spell disaster for those fighting to bring peace and justice back to the galaxy.
Retrieving intelligence of an Imperial inspector journeying to Zobek's planet of RORAK 4 at the behest of the Emperor and the GRAND MOFFS to see this weapon that the Hutt wishes to sell, ALLIANCE HIGH COMMAND has approved of a mission to overtake and capture this inspector before they reach the planet. It is a risky and very dangerous mission, but the Rebel Alliance cell is more than up to the task before them, though a squad of X-Wings may just give them the boost they need...
"Blue Three, standing by."
"Blue Seven, standing by."
"Blue Eight, standing by."
"Blue Leader, this is Runner One. We have jammed the transmitters of the Imperial ships. You make sure none of the Imperial forces escape."
"Acknowledged, Runner One." Calen intoned into his comms. "Alright, boys...we're going in, we're going in full throttle. Shoot to disable any transports, take out any TIEs."
"Yes, sir!" The chorus came from the various fighters that were under his command and had been for the past six months.
"May the Force be with us." Calen muttered. His X-Wing trailed in a wide arc around the Lambda-class shuttle, dodging the volleys of turbo laser fire from it and from the TIEs that were accompanying it. By the time they had fired at his X-Wing, he had already moved out of the way. "Y7, make sure the shields are staying up. They get a luck shot on us and we're done for."
"On it."
"Good deal." Calen said, bringing him X-Wing up and around behind one of the TIEs in pursuit and firing a photon right into its stern and destroying it in a macabre flash of light and the rumble from the proximity detector.
"Nice shooting, Blue Leader!" The praise from Blue Seven was definitely welcomed, though Calen got a little distracted, moving right into another dogfight. Blue Squadron was doing well, keeping the TIEs away. As they started thinning the herd, Runner One radioed in.
"Blue Squadron, this is Runner One. We're sending in Canary Squadron on a bombing run to take out the outer defenses."
"Acknowledged, Runner One." Calen said. "Everyone, pair up with Canary Squadron, keep the TIEs off of them as well." A company of Y-Wings dispensed from the transport ship were now coasting through the void toward their destination.
"All wings check in. Canary Leader, standing by..."
"Canary Six, standing by..."
The roll call went on until all six members were accounted for, by which time the X-Wings of Blue Squadron were already pairing up with their six newly-added counterparts.
"We've got your back, Canary Leader." Calen chimed in through the comms.
"Acknowledged and thank you, Blue Leader." Canary Leader said. "Let's get this mission in the books."
"No argument from me." Calen said. "You heard him, Blue Squadron. Let's put the Empire in their place!" The wings moved in, the TIEs coming around for another few shots. By now, the shuttle had stopped, concentrating fire on the oncoming Y-Wings. "Draw their fire!" He called out, attempting to do just that, a few laser blasts at the turrets in an attempt to draw their marksmen away from the bombers. One member of Canary Squadron was taken out...then another...their death screams echoing through the comms as they were at the epicenter of the explosions and then suddenly...
…silence.
"We need to withdraw, we-"
"No, we can do this." Calen said to Canary Leader's protest. "Push through. We'll cover you. Head to point 0-5. We've got to take out those turbolasers!" He took another pass around the shuttle. "Y7, target the most direct weak point for the shield generators. We're taking this thing out right now." The astromech beeped and whirred as Calen's targeting computer locked onto the engine connectors. "There we go..."
Two photons were fired in rapid succession, hitting their targets dead center.
"Canary Squadron, there's your window!"
"Moving in." The Y-Wings dropped their payloads onto Shuttle. With the shields down, the shuttle was a sitting duck. The hits were taken, and soon the thing was drifting. The last of the TIEs were being moped up, unable to escape or warn any outsiders, and it seemed the task was done.
"I'm picking up three life signs onboard the shuttle. Anyone copy?"
"Looks like it." Calen said, checking his scopes. "Very faint."
"Runner One to Squadrons. We're moving in." The Rebel transport that had been keeping its distance came in, a tractor beam erupting from it and catching the now-drifting shuttle. "Good work, everyone. Return to base. Return to base." He could hear the cheers and laughter of the remaining pilots. Their mission had come at a cost, but the day was saved.
If only he had known just what it was he was getting into...
"I'm just saying, I don't see why they couldn't have picked somewhere nicer to put up a base."
"It's not like they're just handing out bases left and right...the Alliance has to put roots down where it can." Calen said to the young human pilot who was helping him unload a shipment of supplies.
"Yeah, but like...okay," Calen was starting to get a bit irate with the line of questioning and complains coming from Blue Seven, otherwise known as Varis, "I'm just saying, a bog planet of all things?"
"Bog moon." Calen corrected.
"Bog moon, whatever." Varis said, then blushed and quickly added. "Sir."
"Well, like I said...rebelling against the biggest government in the galaxy doesn't come with a nice bed and breakfast deal, we kind of have to make do." Calen said. "If you'd like, I'm sure I could put in a word with the General and get you sent off to somewhere a little cooler? Hoth, maybe?"
"N-No, sir." Varis swallowed.
"Well, alright then." Calen said, gesturing for him to get the next few boxes. "Only a few left on the loader, you can get them."
"Don't we have service droids for this?" Varis asked. When Calen opened his mouth to answer, the younger man held up his hands. "Right, right. Make do. Sorry, sir." Calen gave a small smile and nodded before turning and walking off, rolling his eyes a bit as the smile faded. The guy was young, he'd have to learn. Instead of worrying about that further, Calen journeyed back down the corridor toward his barracks.
He had become a Captain, and with his rank had come privilege. Calen slipped through the doorway into his refurbished little room. He'd never been one for decorating before and, given the transient nature of the Alliance, he wasn't about to start now. Calen did have just his uniforms, his flightsuit, the Star of Alderaan he had been awarded, some ration packs that had been neatly packed into containers in the event of a quick stowing on board his fighter before an escape, and a blaster.
The blaster that he remembered all too well from the first time he had had to use it. Calen could still remember the burn of the ozone in his nostrils and the shouted words from that day, the day that Tin Daheel had murdered Captain Caius in cold blood. And over a datacard of all things! Of course, that datacard had led to much, much more. A terrible weapon that, thankfully, was no more. If it still remained, the galaxy might be a very different place than it was now.
Questions still remained from that escapade, however. Why had the Gauntlet wanted Caius dead? Who was willing to kill him just for the third piece of the map to the Grand? It didn't add up. Unfortunately, now, Caius was dead as was Ordos. Glin had no knowledge of the heist that Caius and apparently one then-future Admiral Ayro had pulled off back in the day. Which only left Tin Daheel himself, who he'd last seen in the company of one Ijo Critus. Given what Critus had done with the Heart, Daheel was either dead or laying low. Calen couldn't help but hope it was the former rather than the latter, even as he had the information that Calen needed.
For the time, though, Calen busied himself with working within the Rebel Alliance, and he had done very well if he said so himself...and he did.
That mystery would have to stay unsolved for now, perhaps forever. Calen took some solace, knowing that Caius would have been happy to know that the Grand Perceptor's insane plan had been stopped and the weapon destroyed. He and his friends had parted not long after that day almost a year ago, but he'd thought of them often. Niyasa, the Mrlssi who had shown him the way to a power he had always had but never known. Bashin, the Abednedo, his co-pilot and fellow attempted escapee from Imperial prison. Tessa...
Oh, Tessa...
He'd thought about her often in this last year. The kiss they had shared, the thoughts of things that were yet to come if the war went on as it had. Last he had heard she had been on Ord Mantell running a Rebel cell there. Information from other parts of the galaxy was sparse at best, but Calen knew in his heart that she was not dead. He would have felt it.
Calen flopped back onto his cot, staring up at the ceiling. A moment later, he heard the beeping of the comms. He sighed and reached over, accepting the transmission.
"Captain Darkhaven here." He said.
"Captain Darkhaven, report to Ops. On the double." Glin's voice came through the speaker, and Calen was up on his feet again.
"I'll be right there." He said, leaving through the door he had come through only moments before. The next adventure was before him.
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