Introduction and Copyright Notice
Title: Mad Bantha Squadron
Part I
By Chris Stankiewicz <a href="mailto:Chris_s83@yahoo.com">Chris s83@yahoo.com</a>
(3 years after ROJ)
Introduction
Mad Bantha squadron is a group of pirates, that flies an
assortment of starfighters, and performs numerous ground
operations for one purpose - money. They'll do anything for
profit, an unsavory group of outlaws that make up a squadron
of some of the best pilots in the galaxy.
Part 1 - The Banthas attack a New Republic World, Agamar. The plan
is that six agents on the ground will steal a freighter full of Bacta,
while the rest of the squadron provides a diversion.
Disclaimer: This original story is based on characters and events created
by George Lucas. All Star Wars intellectual property is the copyright and trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd., and Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc.
No copyright infringement is intended and o profit is being made. Do not post this story anywhere without my consent.
Please send all comment and critiques to Chris Stankiewicz at Chris_s83@yahoo.com
Dramatis Personae
Mad Bantha Pirates
Bantha 1-Commander Cean Aseh (human male from Corellia) Bantha 2-Lomae Adys (human female from Bespin)
Bantha 3-Ton Zrix (human male from Svivren)
Bantha 4-Budka Rees (female Gran from Nar Shadda)
Bantha 5-Itp Bercin (Weequay male from Tatooine)
Bantha 6-Roes Troph (Verpine male from Rudrig)
Bantha 7-Eia Keyon (human female from Coruscant)
Bantha 8-Nwet Ser (twi'lek male from Ryloth)
Bantha 9-Angera Sufler (human female from Sluis Van)
Bantha 10-Bopht Orzen (human/rodian male from Nar Shadda)
Bantha 11-Eply Netion (Bothan female from Bothawuii)
Bantha 12-Ord Roset (human male from Alderaan)
Crew of the Furious Star
Captain Olma Zones (Devoronian male from Devar)
and his crew
Mad Bantha Base Personelle
Chief Mechanic Owen Kaen (human male from Uvena)
M-4P0 'Zero' (protocol droid)
Chapter One
"Ok boys and girls get ready for a fight" rumbled Captain Olma Zrones'
voice over the Furious Star's intercom. The marauder corvette was mere
minutes away from coming out of hyperspace near the planet Agamar's north
pole where Mad Banthas 7,8 and 9 would deploy. After deploying the 3 tie
fighters the corvette would rapidly proceed to the planet's south pole and deploy
3 more tie fighters; Mad Banthas 10, 11 and 12. Then she would microjump to a
nearby location and wait 10 minutes until coming back and picking up the ties.
All the Mad Banthas were ready sitting in their fighters, all systems charged and
ready to win a scrap.
"This'll be an easy one, those X-wings won't know what hit them" said Bopht
Orzen over the squadron frequency.
"Look Ten we'll talk about how easy it was when it's over" replied Bopht's
wingman Ord.
"Can't handle the pressure twelve," said Bopht with an undertone of sarcasm.
"Both of you shut the hell up! We're launching in 30 seconds" yelled Eia Keyon
over the comm in a tone that discouraged Ten and Twelve from saying another
word.
The tie fighters were crammed into the corvettes makeshift hanger, all
six of them were hanging on very strong netting, which was the only way they
could transport the ties. The hanger bay door on the floor of the corvette started
opening as the ship was coming out of hyperspace. As soon as the stars visible
beyond the door stopped spinning Mad Banthas seven, eight and nine launched
without a word. The hanger bay doors started closing, and the ship started to
accelerate before the last tie was completely clear of the doors.
In a very quick time the Furious Star released Mad Banthas; ten, eleven
and twelve over the south pole and started to move to its hyperspace point.
"This is Zrones, Banthas start your runs, see you in ten minutes" and the Star
disappeared into hyperspace.
Just as the Star dissapeared Eia had time to say "all right Mad Banthas, look
alive we have unidentified contacts incoming".
It was an overcast day on Agamar and the dirty brown clay buildings
looked shabbier than usual without sunlight. There were few people on the dirt
roads that went through the largest city on Agamar. The people scurrying around
the ugly city were mostly farmers from out of town buying supplies, they paid
no attention to the four people with large packages moving around hanger 17.
The self proclaimed Commander of the Mad Bantha pirates, Cean
Aseh looked at his timer from outside docking bay 17. Five minutes until their
aerial diversion started. One of his people should already be inside the freighter
posing as a mechanic making his way to the bridge of the bacta-filled ship by
now. He and the other three mad banthas were milling around the circular
hanger with concealed weapons, ready to swarm the target. Cean pulled out his
comlink, it was already on the group frequency, he tapped it twice and all of his
people knew that it was the signal. He undressed his imperial repeater rifle that
had been covered by a rag and started running through the short brown tunnel
into the chamber were the freighter Lady of Thyferra was docked. Cean ran
kicking clouds of dirty sand into the air, Lome' was right in front of him running
with her blaster rifle at the ready, Ton Zrix was already at the side of the ships
boarding ramp with his ion cannon smoking and a dead guards body on the
ground. The last to run into the circular hanger was Budka Rees wearing a
stormtrooper chest plate and with her BlasTech ready. The odd group proceeded
up the boarding ramp Ton first, Lome' second, Cean Aseh third and Budka Rees
fourth. Once they filed into the freighter's dark hallway and took up defensive
positions, Budka jammed the door shut so no one could get in or out. Suddenly
they heard blaster fire coming from the top level. "That would be five taking
over the bridge!" said Lome'. "Let's go help him out!" said Commander Cean
Aseh, with poorly concealed excitement. They proceeded up the freighter's
metallic ladder into the next level that was equally dark. A New republic guard
turned around from his position aiming at the bridge only to see Cean cut him
down with his repeater, at the exact time another guard fell with a smoking hole
in his chest from Budka's BlasTech. "Let's move people!" yelled Cean as he
heard more blaster fire from the bridge no doubt directed at Itb, Mad Bantha
five. It was a good 300 meters to the bridge through the narrow hallway so the
Banthas were running as fast as each of them could manage. About a hundred
meters ahead a door opened and a uniformed man jumped out and took a shot
with his blaster at the four person boarding party nearly missing Cean. Cean hit
the floor as a laser beam melted part of a console in the hallway. All the Mad
Banthas hit the deck not unlike Cean, except Lome', who kept standing, only to
put a hole between the shooters eyes in a flash. Cean was too rattled by almost
getting killed that he didn't make one of his usual smart ass remarks, he just got
up and started running down the dark and now smoky corridor toward the
bridge. The Mad Banthas were about halfway to the bridge now, and the blaster
shots emanating from the bridge had stopped, so they feared the worst for Itb.
They ran into the smoke filled bridge expecting to cut down more enemies only
to find Itb standing there grinning, surrounded by five bodies. All had smoking
holes in them. "Well it's nice to know you decided to join me," said Itb
obviously pleased with himself. "We couldn't let you have all the fun" replied
Lome' to the Weequay. "Ton, Budka!" said Cean but they were already at the
pilots and copilots chairs preparing the cfaft for liftoff. Cean locked the bridge
doors in case someone was still on the ship, something that was very probable.
Lome' coughed because of all the smoke in the bridge as more console lights
came on. The bridge was a small rectangular room with ceiling lights that made
the smoke more visible. The pilots and copilots chairs were at the front
viewscreen while there was more chairs on the sides for stations such as
communications. Cean felt cramped in the room, there was hardly enough space
for five people, not to mention the dead bodies. Cean sat down at a console with
grids and coordinates which he assumed was radar, as the freighter took off. He
turned on the screen to see numerous dots converge at the north and south sides
of the planet.
Angera Sufler swore through the comm obviously not in a good mood.
"My sensors read 6 A-WINGS coming our way not X-wings!"
"WHAT !!"
"I confirm, 9, stay together and stick to the plan"
As soon as Eia Keyon was finished saying that, the yellow missile lock
warning signal started flashing indicating someone was getting a lock on her
ship. She rolled hard to port and the light blinked of only to come back on a
second later. She rolled hard to Starboard but this time the warning light didn't
wink out. She knew she was in trouble and tried a few more evasive maneuvers
but the A-Wing pilot stayed on her like drool on a hutt. Before she knew it, the
yellow flashing light turned to a steady red and then a green warning light came
on telling her there was a missile tracking her. She targeted the missile with a
flip of a button on her flight stick. The missile would reach her in about 3
seconds. There was no tome to think just react. She pulled the flightstick
towards her putting the tie fighter into an upwards roll. She had the flightstick
pulled back towards her as much as she would dare feeling a crushing force
pressing down on her chest all the while watching the distance indicator of the
missile. 0.04, 0.03, 0.02, 0.01, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03. She breathed a sigh of relief at
the fact that the missile hadn't impacted...Yet. Now she had a chance. She
steered the fighter around to face the rear of the missile that was trying to make
a loop around her, she took a shot at it with her lasers, but the missile kept going
as green beams of destruction danced around it. Damn it, Damn it thought Eia as
her shots missed. But finally a beam hit the missle completely covering it with
it's destructive power. The missile was gone. Then the laser fire warning light
turned red to indicate someone was shooting at her. She rolled the tie fighter
right causing the red light to flicker off as her attacker went behind her. She used
the tie's superior maneuverability to get on her attackers six o'clock. The a-wing
was painted blue with a red New Republic insignia on it. She took a shoot at it
but he was too fast. She slowed down to gain better aim but he did the same. She
sped up, away from him so she could turn around and get a better shot. But
when she did turn around she only found two laser cannons pointed directly at
her. I shouldn't have done that, was her last thought before deadly red beams of
destruction reined upon her cockpit. Her last reaction was perfectly human. She
covered her face. Then the molecular structure known as Eia Keyon was
vaporized in a hot cloud of incandescent gas.
"Eia!!!" yelled the twi'lek known as Mad Bantha 8 lining up below
Eia's killer for a shot he squeezed the trigger hitting the A-wings bottom, but he
had gotten too close and collided into the bottom of the a-wing. His solar panel
was sheared off and the A-wing exploded because of a hit into the fuselage. And
Nwet's fighter was enveloped in the explosion, not that he had had a chance
anyways.
Mad Bantha nine Angera Sufler was now the maddest bantha of them
all because of the horror her eyes had just witnessed. All in she thought all in ten
seconds. She had just seen Eia vaporized, and Nwet die foolishly punching his
solar panel into Eia's killer. Angera knew she couldn't stay where she was
outnumbered 1 to 5 so she took the window of opportunity Nwet had given her
by destroying and a-wing and started flying South, descending towards Agamar.
"C'mon pretty boy" taunted a republic pilot on her comm.
Ord's day wasn't going so well either; during the first second of the
engagement Mad Bantha ten Bopht Orzen hadn't been able to shake a mark 8
concussion missile and was vaporized without his killer taking a second
switching targets. Now him and his wingman were playing a deadly game of tag
with the a-wings never getting to close never to far and never ever in front of the
a-wings. After a few minutes of evading the a-wing fire Ord asked Eply "How
much time until pickup eleven!"
"Two minutes" came the reply.
Ord glanced at his scope seeing one new friendly approaching, it was Mad
Bantha nine, with five a-wings in hot pursuit.
"Seven and eight are gone!" It was Angera's voice in Ord ear, heavy with
desperation.
"Maybe you should stop flying those shieldless scows" rang a cold voice on
Ord's comm.
"New Republic whores!" yelled Eply as she turned to port taking a shot at the
rear of an a-wing, what she didn't see was that another a-wing was lining up for
a shot on her starboard solar panel. But it was to late, the dual laser went cleanly
through her solar panel and detonated her fuselage.
Ord saw the explosion, his cockpit window went dark for a few seconds.
"Sithspawn!!" he yelled over the comm. "Angera evade their fire the Furious
Star will be here any second."
" I copy" came back Angera's voice desperation now gone, she was beyond that,
she sounded like she was certain she was going to die and had a accepted it.
"Look stick together don't even try taking a shot at them and we'll get through
this" said Ord as reassuringly as he could mange under the circumstances, the
thing was even he wasn't sure if what he had just said was true. Red laser fire
danced everywhere around his cockpit and he knew it was only a matter of time
before one actually hit. Our pickup is late he thought. As if on cue the sleek
shape of the Furious Star appeared out of hyperspace. The a-wings swarmed
away like bees from smoke but it was only a matter of time before they formed
up and started a turkeyshoot at the not-so-defenseless corvette. Angera and Ord
immediately started flying towards the still closed hanger bay doors. Captain
Zromas' voice boomed over their comm units "I went to the North pickup point
but there was no one there what th-----"
"They're gone" It was Angera with cold and bitterness, a quite rage and fury that
Ord had never heard in her voice.
"What!?" asked Zrones.
"JUST OPEN THE HANGER YOU IDIOT!!!!!" yelled Ord
The self- proclaimed Captain obeyed and Ord flew the tie fighter in the hangar
netting so fast he was afraid he was going to crash and detonate the fighter but
the tie stopped mere meters from the wall and came to a stop. "We'll be back" he
whispered into the comm. Angera came in even faster landing safely. Ord just
sat in his cockpit. The hanger bay doors closed and he heard the a-wings' fire on
the hull and he heard the return fire of the Star and after he felt a sharp
acceleration. Then he just fell asleep with his tie pilot breathing apparatus still
on forgetting what he would always call this a disaster as the Furious Star
entered hyperspace.
Cean Aseh saw the Star leave. He was now far enough from Agamar that the a-
wing squadron would never catch up to newly acquired Lady of Thyferra. As the
stars around him started spinning and transforming into a tunnel of light he
started dozing off.
Chapter Two
Aseh was furious because of what had happened just yesterday, but in
this line of work death was a possibility each of them faced all to often. He
started the best few sentimental words that came to mind. "We are here to pay
our final respects to our fallen comrades, they fought valiantly so that we may
live and fight tomorrow.", "Everyone will receive their pre-determined shares of
a thousand credits on their way out". "Aw, c'mon Cean with four less of us you
should pay us more" whined Roes Troph. "Look Troph we agreed to a certain
price no matter what happened" responded Aseh. More pilots complained about
how they deserve more. "you're right, you're right, You do deserve more but
we'll need the cash for maintaining our craft, speaking of which involves our
next mission". The complaints subsided. "We're short on people and ships so
we'll have to get both, here's how the duty roster goes. Angera and Ord you'll be
travelling to Coruscant to recruit new replacements, stick to the local bars and
cantinas recruit people that are good pilots but also have good skills in ground-
ops. Stick together and watch each others backs."
"That's not the only thing of Angera's Ord will be watching!!"
"Shutup Itb" responded Ord
"We can't start our mission until Ord and Angera return, but when they do here's
what's gonna happen. All the Mad Banthas, new and old, except two select pilots
whom I will later pick, will board our shuttle King's Bounty and fly to a deep
space Republic facility in the Hoth system called D-34. The other two pilots will
fly our y-wings to D-34 and disable any craft the station sends up. The station
will either have Z-95 Headhunters or Y-wings. Once an enemy craft has been
disabled the Bounty will dock with it, neutralize the pilot and put one of the Mad
Banthas inside so they can fly the craft to safety."
"Are you sure they'll really have Z-95's or Y-wings this time" inquired Ton Zrix.
"We can't be wrong, so Angera, Ord take the King's Bounty and leave right
away, we'll be ready when you get back." Concluded Commander Aseh.
"Understood, we'll be outta here in less than an hour" responded Angera as she
left the room. Ord followed close behind.
* * *
The Tyderian shuttle King's Bounty flew closer into the massive
building covered planet of Coruscant. The shuttle was approaching the night
side of the planet, and the artificials canyons Ord and Angera would have seen
during day were now replaced by millions of lights marking the top buildings
and towers.
"Incoming tyderian shuttle please identify yourself" rang the monotone New
Republics controller's voice on the comm. "This is shuttle Alderaanian Sea
request landing clearance." Answered Ord.
"Roger that, the defensive shield will be deactivated, follow homing beacon 113
and land on spaceport 31, pad 75. Enjoy your stay." And the comm went silent.
"That was easy"
"Just land this tub Ord and don't forget who we are"
"Right, newlyweds from Chandrilla"
The fake holo I.D's Angera and Ord had where made by the best. It identified
them as Lora and Garm Kobhar.
As Ord landed the shuttle Angera came out from the back obviously finished
changing. She looked stunning in her green dress that revealed her long legs, its
tightness exposed the numerous curves of her body, the fact it was low-cut
showed a little more than her neck and her black hair was tied up in a ponytail.
Ord was caught with his jaw dropped and gaping at a sight that no male could
ever resist. He had always been aware of her sparkling blue eyes and the curves
usually concealed under a flightsuit but had never been aware of how attractive
she could look. "Something the matter hon' " she said in her acting voice.
"No, nothing" said Ord as he attempted to take his eyes of her. "Ummm do you
have our passports" he inquired because it was better than staring. "Sure, lets go,
I can't wait to see the Botanical Gardens" she said in an all too cheery voice.
They both walked down the boarding ramp. Hand-in-hand as a recently married
couple should. The first sight of Coruscant impresses everyone, as they walked
towards the customs booth they looked up and there was no sign of the sky.
They looked down and there was no sign of the planets real surface. The
spaceport was huge hundreds of ships on many pads, there were small fighters to
large freighters and cargo haulers and a hundred medium size craft from all
kinds of exotic worlds. They approached the customs booth, the bored New
Republic customs officer immediately stood to attention at the sight of Angera.
"Can I see your passports please" he asked, directing the question towards
Angera completely neglecting Ord. Angera knew the man was only a private but
she gave him an instant promotion to establish that innocent-girl-in-a-big-city
disguise. "Sure Captain" she said politely as she handed him the passports, all
the while displaying an amazing smile.
"Lora and Garm Kobhar" The man sagged at the discovery that the woman
before him was married, he gave Ord a cursory glance before redirecting his
attention to 'Lora Kobhar' "alright mam' everything looks in order" he said as he
waved the couple along. They started walking towards the nearest turbolift.
"Wow, that was easier than I would have expected, he didn't even ask us the
purpose of our visit" said Ord
"A newly wed couple goes on a vacation, what do you think the purpose of their
visit would be?"
"I guess you're right"
"Oh and by the way to keep the disguise of a married couple we only have one
room..And one bed so don't get any ideas"
"Well frankly I am shocked that you would think I would be interested in a
sexual relationship with someone I work with" Responded Ord in a mock
serious tone.
"Good, than you'll sleep on the floor"
Ord didn't object, he was already happy enough walking along holding hands
with Angera, besides the floor wasn't so bad.
"C'mon let hop in with you this floor is cold, damp and I'm probably going to
get hemeroids just laying here." Whined Ord from the floor of room 26 of the
Stargazer hotel. His mood had changed since Angera made him leave to get
some Sullustan take-out while she was changing, and the cold floor wasn't
helping.
"Look hon if they're watching us, we better do what married couples do on their
honeymoon" said Ord from the floor.
"You try anything and I'll blow your testicles off with the blaster I have under
my pillow" replied Angera from the comfort of her bed.
"I'll take that as a maybe-later" said Ord jokingly as he made himself as
comfortable on the floor as possible to get some sleep
After a good breakfast and some holo-vid Ord and Angera made their way to a
local cantina dubbed the Thruster Burn. As Ord and Angera walked into the
smoke filled cantina, Angera made her way to the fresher', she said it was that
Sullustan food. Ord walked towards the bar that was in the center of the large
room. All kinds of creatures sat at tables and booths getting loosened up from
their drinks. Ord approached the bartender who at the moment wasn't doing
anything. "Tatooine sunburn" he said and tossed the bartender a 2 credit chip.
The man gave him the drink and collected his money in silence. Ord leaned
closer to the man and said. "Do you know which of the beings in here could be
hired as pilots" Ord inquired
"Employment offices are in the palace" replied the bartender.
"No I mean---" Ord took out a 10-credit chip "those 'other' pilots" and he put the
chip on the bar not yet releasing it. "right over there" said the bartender pointing
at a gran as he took the the chip. The gran was startled from being pointed at by
the bartender and when Ord approached it, it went for it's blaster, Ord knew he
couldn't win in the draw because he was carrying a drink in his firing hand. I'm
dead he thought, he closed his eyes and heard a blaster shot and realized he must
be dead. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and saw the gran laying on the
ground, a black scorch mark on his back and Angera standing behind him,
blaster smoking. After a couple of seconds Ord took a sip of his drink and said
"I could'hav taken care'ofit". "Good" said Angera and for the first time he
noticed the black-furred wookie standing beside her.
"Tysshyn, here says he knows some people that would be interested and I think
It's time to go" she said
Ord started following Angera and Tysshyn out the door, and found every bar
patron had been watching him, no wonder he thought. As he joined Tysshyn and
Angera outside Angera sarcastically said "So did you find anyone interested in
our job".
"Sort of" he replied as he took another sip of his sunburn.
Tysshyn led the two Mad Banthas down several blocks, into numerous turbolfits
and several different levels. Along the way Ord asked Angera "so where's the
tree trunk taking us"
"he knows a large group of mercenaries and all of them join different pirate
bands everyday, it's like an unemployment center for scoundrels" she said.
"Did you tell him what we were looking for?" Asked Ord
"Yea he knows exactly the people, all we have to do is take em home"
"Let me guess, he's one of those four people we're looking for?"
"Yea, he says he can practically carve with his bowcaster and his flying is sharp
too"
"So who are the other three newcomers?" But before Angera could answer
Tysshyn opened the door to a small townhouse. Inside there was about eight
different species and about 12 sentients in all. Tashynn merely called out a few
names. 3 creatures approached, one was a male human with half a cyborg face
and one red glowing robotic eye. Another was a Bothan male with gold colored
fur and purple eyes, and a Twi'lek female her eyes red and brain tails twitching
at the fact she was getting a job, by human standards she was attractive.
"Alright, you what's your specialty" asked Angera motioning at the cyborg.
"what's it to you" he replied. Then Tysshyn grumbled something in his native
Wookie language. After that the cyborgs attitude changed and he said "I'm
Bordas Onyskimmer, best pilot here and expert marksman, and may I ask who
the pretty lady that wants to know is?" Before Angera could respond Ord
stepped between them. "Look punkass we'll be asking the questions" he said.
The cyborg looked like he was ready to lash out at Ord but instead he said
nothing. To break the awkward pause Angera said. "You bothan what do you
do?" "Best pilot here and computer slicer" the Bothan responded. "Do you have
a name?" Angera asked.
"Urol Zeyol" the gold furred bothan said. "And you what's your specialty" she
asked pointing at the female twi'lek. "Best pilot in the room and I have a way
with unarmed combat. The name's Fiba Olduna"
"alright you four will do, how soon can you leave?" inquired Angera
"NOW!" all four said in synchrony and that was all Angera and Ord needed to
hear to decide to go back to the shuttle.
The King's Bounty came out of hyperspace near the Hoth asteroid field and Ord
who sat at the controls beside Angera started the usual run to the Asteroid base.
"Look--" he said "thanks for savin' me back there in the cantina"
"Well I guess I never thanked you for helping me pull through during the assault
on Agamar if you wouldn't have said something to me I'm sure I would have
died" She responded. "So as I see it--" she continued "--we're even and if you
think you can stand between me and another man like you tried back on
Coruscant with Bordas you're dead wrong" she said angrily.
"Look, I just don't like how that cyborg crackhead talked to you" Ord defended
himself.
"yea right, look I'm going in the back to talk to some of our new friends" she
said as she paced out of the shuttle's cockpit. Great now Angera is mad at me
thought Ord before he dodged a human sized asteroid and put his attention back
into flying.
A day later, minutes before they flew their mission Ord took a look at the new
flight roster to see who his new wingman would be.
Mad Bantha 1 - Commander Cean Aseh
Mad Bantha 2 - Lome' Adys
Mad Bantha 3 - Ton Zrix
Mad Bantha 4 - Budka Rees
Mad Bantha 5 - Itb Bercin
Mad Bantha 6 - Roes Troph
Mad Bantha 7 - Ord Roset
Mad Bantha 8 - Fiba Olduna
Mad Bantha 9 - Angera Sufler
Mad Bantha 10 - Tysshym
Mad Bantha 11 - Urol Zeyol
Mad Bantha 12 - Bordas Onyskimmer
His wingman was in fact a woman, a twi'lek one. Guess that isn't so bad he
thought. He checked the charge on his Bryar rifle and stepped onto the King's
Bounty where the rest of the boarding party was waiting just before the two Y-
wings left for their capture operation.
Officer fourth class Gilmar was having a boring third watch radar duty. No ships
hardly ever came by D-34 these days and tonight was no exception. He took
another sip of his vine-coffeine and stared blankly at his scope while listening to
his favorite band on music discs. All of a sudden two red blips appeared in
formation and seconds behind a shuttle. What the hell he thought. He got a fix
on the blips and the scanners identified them as two Y-wings and a shuttle flying
in attack formation! He grabbed the intercom and pressed the red alert button
and said "This is not a drill, our platform is under attack by unidentified
hostiles!" Suddenly the captain came over the bridge comm. "Officer Gilamar
what is our status?"
At this time Gilmar was panicking. "Ummm tw, tw, twoo, y-wi, y, y-wi"
"Get a hold of yourself soldier and tell me the strength of the attacking force"
barked the captain.
"Two Y-wings and a tyderian shuttle sir!"
"Ok send our birds up I'll be on the bridge in a sec"
"yessir!" Gilmar grabbed the intercom yet again and said "All pilots to your
ships, all pilots to your ships!"
Mad Bantha three, Ton Zrix, and Mad Bantha four Budka Rees were flying the
Y-wings. Just as the Republic Y-wings got into firing range a new voice
crackled over the comm.
"Inbound craft you have entered New Republic space" announced a dead serious
voice.
"So?" asked Budka innocently.
"Stand down or face the consequences" said the same voice but more serious.
"I'll take B. punk" said Ton Zrix as he started firing ion rounds into the enemy
Y-wing. The y-wing took 4 ion hits before starting evasive maneuvers. Three
finished the Y-wings systems off by 4 more ion blasts. The Republic Y-wing sat
there dead in space until the Bounty boarded it gagged and tied up the rebel pilot
and replaced him with Cean Aseh. Ton immediately picked a new target and
went for him but his Republic adversary slowed down to get a shot on him and
Ton couldn't avoid a collision. His left engine broke off on impact while his
enemies right broke off. Ton said "this is Three bailing out pick me up" before
he ejected into the cold hard vacuum of space, the republic pilot did the same.
The Bounty swooped down to pick up both ejected pilots. Budka Rees had
already disabled one of the y-wings but this last one wasn't easy, her shields
were already down to twenty-eight percent so she redirected her laser power to
boost them. Another laser bolt hit her rear shield as the other y-wing slowed
down. She sped up because she knew that was the key to overcoming the enemy.
After gaining significant distance between her and the enemy she turned around
to see a sweet sight; her enemies six o'clock. She fired her ions mercilessly and
disabled the last slow, wobbling pig.
After the final docking operations were done King's Bounty and the four y-wings
turned around to jump into hyperspace. Overall they had lost one y-wing, but
gained three and had captured four enemy pilots, all-in-all a success. They all
jumped out together, so they could plan their next attack.
The asteroid hanger bay was of the Mad Bantha pirates was
abuzz with activity. Tech crews were excitedly looking over the new y-
wings the Banthas had just stolen, while the pilots were drinking and
stretching their 'heroic' stories. Commander Cean Aseh, still in his
flight suit, walked down the rows of star fighters admiring his little
pirate band. Now his squadron had two Tie-fighters and four y-wings.
The y-wings weren't exactly state-of-the-art craft but strength came in
numbers. Aseh had been checking out the new ships he completely
forget about the prisoners. He immediately stood up and rapidly made
his way through the damp, dark and probably unstable asteroid corridor
to the former wine cellar where they had agreed to keep the New
Republic prisoners. Cean's only worry was that one of his pirates might
have permanently damaged their future ransom. He let out a sigh of
relief upon arriving in the wine cellar, for all the New Republic pilots
where in the cellar physically okay but clearly disgruntled, Roes Troph
the Verpine was pacing the cavern with a blaster file slung over his
shoulder.
"KILL US NOW YOU, YOU PIRATE SCUM!" Yelled one of the four
noble pilots.
Cean ignored them.
"They're not going to get out Commander" said the large Verpine.
"Good" replied Cean. "We're going to have a little gathering later, so
come on down"
"Oh yea and don't hurt the pilot boys, we'll need them for the next
mission" said Cean giving a clever smile to the pilots, before walking
out.
* * *
The rest of that day the Mad Banthas spent on getting drunk
and eating until they were full, but the next morning it was time to get their craft ready and attend Commander Aseh's mission briefing.
Chapter Three
All the Mad Bantha pilots and the crew were assembled in the
makeshift briefing room. Ord came in ignoring Angera just like she had
been ignoring him for the past two days. Bordas Onyskimmer came in
"whan are we gonna get some real action1" he asked Commander
Aseh. "Soon Bordas, soon, now sit down and shutup" responded Aseh,
it was clear he wanted to get down to business.
"alright people, now you all know our last mission was a success,
an..." Most of the pirates cheered and didn't let Aseh speak. "and so
we'll be going out for another one like it, except this time we'll be up
against X-wings." Cean could tell that no one was pleased by the news
of having to fight better craft, so he decide to tell them the really good
news. "But we probably won't have to fight them." Everyone was now
intently listening. "As you may also know last mission we took four
New Republic Navy pilots prisoner, in this mission we'll use them."
Went on Aseh. "The target is a bulk freighter, that's carrying 4 brand
new X-wings to the New Republic D-34 outpost. It looks like their fleet
has decided we're becoming a nuisance. The freighter's escorts we'll
only be two y-wings. They're too busy with the hunt for Zsinji that they
can't spare anything else. You'll be divided into three teams, and they'll
all hyper in at once. Team one will be Ord Roset, Fiba Olduna, Angera
Sufler and Tysshym, you'll all fly Y-wings for support if we need it.
Ord will be in command of that wing" Went on Aseh. "Team two will
be the boarding team that will take over the freighter, composed of
Lome, Ton, Budka and Itb. Roes and me will be team three or the
'persuasion' team as I call it. We'll be in the Furious Star with the
hostages. We're going to open a link with the two y-wings and the
freighter and tel them if they want to see their pilot friends alive the
better cooperate, and they will. After we finish our transaction we'll let
the pilots out in escape pods and take an evasive course back here."
Concluded Aseh. "Everyone clear on that? Any questions?" he asked.
Budka spoke up "actually one, after the freighter is boarded how do we
get the x-wings? Dow we capture the freighter or fly the x-wings out?"
"Good question, even though the x-wings are new they may not have
all the bugs worked out yet, and we don't want the freighter because it
will probably have a tracking device of som sort. So the mission of
team one will be two open the cargo holds and let the x-wings float out
into space, from there the Star will tractor them in and we'll be done."
Explained Aseh. "Anymore questions? No, good, we leave 0600 hours
tomorrow. Dismissed!"
One by one the pilots filed out of the briefing room and Cean Aseh was
left alone to his thoughts. Will this work?.
* * *
Ord Roset was laying in a small maintenance pit below the y-
wing which he had designated as his. Even though being an ex-Imperial
navy pilot he was more familiar with the Tie line of starfighters he
knew he could handle this y-wing. He had done it before. I have to
hand to those New Republic boys, they sure kept this rig in good shape,
he thought as he sealed up the last fuel casket and put the hydrospanner
down. He sat up in the pit and poked his out above the fighter's landing
gear. In the y-wing across from his Angera was doing something to her
fighter's cockpit, her back was turned towards him and she was leaning
over the canopy, probably calibrating something.
"So you ready to fly tomorrow" she asked. Ord a little startled didn't
formulate an answer that quickly, then he realized she must have seen
his reflection in her canopy. "yea, yea I guess... How about you?" he
asked feeling a little awkward talking to her.
"Yup my fighter was pretty much in perfect condition"
"mine too" Ord said climbing out of his maintenance pit. He wanted to
resolve the tension between them, but not being much of a people
person he didn't know what to say. Nevertheless he gave it a try. "Look
about Corusc--"
"Forget about it Ord, I guess I went a little too hard on ya, so let's just
forget about it" She cut him off. "yea ok" He was relieved. "So you
think those pilots will cooperate?" he asked
"I hope so, I don't have any thirst for blood"
" Me too, look I'll see you on the flight deck tomorrow, bright and
early" He said. Then he started the walk through the asteroid caverns to
his quarters.
Getting to his quarters he realized he was covered in black oil
from the maintenance bay so he decided to take a shower. While
warm water pored down upon him he thought about his life, and about
Angera. It wasn't the first time he realized his life was screwed up. He
had been in the Imperial Navy, a soldier, a pilot. On his home world of
Alderaan he wasn't able to get a job, too much of a hot head. So he did
the only thing he could do; fly, and even at that he wasn't do good. After
Alderaan was destroyed he fled the navy and had been hanging around
Nar Shadda doing all kinds of illegal deeds until he hooked up with the
Mad Banthas and what could he say; it gave him a fair amount of
money. But he was always a more solitary person, a loner. That's what
had kept him from getting a job on Alderaan, the lack of basic social
skills. Sure he had made some friends in his life, bur female
companionship had always eluded him. That was the thing that
bothered him most about his own life. Angera was the closest woman
he had ever had, and she was barely a friend. Why couldn't things
happen in life like the do on holo disks, everyone falls in love and/or
gets laid. That was another thing altogether that he wasn't getting. He
knew if he ever wanted to do anything with Angera he'd have to talk to
her more. Something he wasn't very good at. Blast, I can fly
starfighters, go on smuggling runs, raid convoys and get out of fire
fights but talking to a girl is too much he thought. He was disgusted
with himself. Most of the people he worked with didn't have any
problem like that, most of them probably didn't even read books, they
were despicable. He knew he was different, and so was she.
After he snapped out of his reverie he put some clean coveralls on and
laid down to read something but the weariness overtook him and he fell
asleep. He slept and dreamed about the person he would like to be.
To be continued . . .